RTHK: Venezuelan troops seek asylum in Brazilian embassy

At least 25 Venezuelan troops have sought asylum in Brazil's embassy in Caracas, a senior Brazilian official said on Tuesday, after Venezuela's self-declared president Juan Guaido claimed soldiers had joined him.

A spokesman for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said soldiers and lieutenants were among the applicants.

The petitions for asylum came as Bolsonaro threw his support behind Venezuelans "enslaved by a dictator," a reference to President Nicolas Maduro whom Guaido is challenging for power.

"Brazil is on the side of the people of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido and the freedom of Venezuelans," Bolsonaro said in a series of tweets.

"We support the freedom of this sister nation to finally live a true democracy."

Foreign minister Ernesto Araujo reiterated Brazil's support for a "democratic transition" and expressed "hopes that the Venezuelan military will be part of this process."

Brazil is among more than 50 countries that have recognised Guaido as Venezuela's interim president.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support on Tuesday, however, disintegrated into rioting in the Venezuelan capital, sparking calls for restraint. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
NASA satellites track Tropical Cyclone Fani along Eastern India's coastline

NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites have been providing infrared, microwave and visible imagery of Tropical Cyclone Fani as it continued to move northward along the eastern coast of India.

Tropical Cyclone Fani continued to strengthen and move north through the Northern Indian Ocean on April 30 and May 1 when NASA's Aqua and Terra satellite provided imagery of the strengthening storm. Fani is located off the southeastern coast of India, north of the island of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is an island country located southwest of the Bay of Bengal and southeast of the Arabian Sea.

On April 30 at 3:35 a.m. EDT (0735 UTC) the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite analyzed cloud top temperatures of Tropical Cyclone Fani in infrared light. AIRS found cloud top temperatures of strongest thunderstorms as cold as or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 53 degrees Celsius) circling the center and in a large band east of the center. Cloud top temperatures that cold indicate strong storms that have the capability to create heavy rain.

On May 1, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite provided a visible image of Fani. Fani's center appeared to have an eye obscured by high clouds. Infrared imagery revealed that ragged eye and microwave imagery showed curved bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the eye.

Fani was located off the coast of southeastern India. It was affecting the Coramandal Coast that stretches from the southeastern tip of India to east-central India's Andhra Coast to the north.

On May 1 at 11 a.m. EST (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Cyclone Fani was located near latitude 15.2 degrees north and longitude 84.3 degrees east. That is about 520 nautical miles south-southwest of Kolkata, India. Fani was moving to the north and maximum sustained winds were near 105 knots (121 mph/194 kph).

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center expects Fani to continue moving north and intensify slightly as it moves over warm waters. Fani is forecast to move to the north-northeast. The India Meteorological Department forecasts Fani to make landfall along the Odisha coastline between Gopalpur and Chandbali on May 3 at hurricane-strength.

###

For local forecasts, visit the India Meteorological Department: http://www. imd. gov. in/

By Rob Gutro

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Tourist arrivals in areas outside Colombo are likely to fall by about 30 percent as a result of the attacks, Gomes told reporters at a travel conference in Dubai.

Sri Lanka was facing lost tourism revenues of about US$750 million this year, he told Reuters.

Sri Lankan Airlines' chief executive Vipula Gunatilleka told Reuters that the carrier had a 10 percent increase in cancellations last week and expects that number to rise.

A collapse in tourism following the attacks on churches and hotels would deal a severe blow to the island's economy and financial markets, and potentially force it to seek further assistance from the International Monetary Fund.

Tourism was Sri Lanka's third largest and fastest growing source of foreign currency last year, after private remittances and textile and garment exports, accounting for almost US$4.4 billion or 4.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2018.

Gomes said the tourism bureau had targeted 2.5 million visitors in 2019.

"We will probably reach about 2 million," Gomes told reporters. "We are looking at providing some concessions to the industry for them to be able to maintain their viability for the next few months."

Gomes said confidence could return if the military is able to give assurances on security.

"If the military can come out over the next few days and make a strong statement with respect to security that's when we will obviously offer a bit of confidence and try and work against that anticipation," the tourism chief said.
REGINASaskatchewans Court of Appeal is to release its ruling this week on whether the federally imposed carbon tax is constitutional.

A registrar for the court says the decision is to be posted online Friday at noon.

The Saskatchewan Party government took Ottawa to court over the carbon levy and the Appeal Court heard two days of hearings in February.

The ruling will come just weeks after Ontario was in court for its own legal challenge against the tax and Manitoba filed papers with the Federal Court to launch a case of its own.

Premier Scott Moe said in a statement Tuesday that he welcomes the court decision.

Saskatchewan is one of four provinces without a pollution reduction plan accepted by Ottawa that became subject to the federal tax April 1.

It was the first to take the matter to court, arguing the tax is not constitutional because it is not evenly applied across all jurisdictions.

A lawyer for the Attorney General of Canada suggested Ottawa does have the power to impose a price on carbon because greenhouse gas emissions are a national concern.

Another 16 groups from across the country, including the provincial governments of Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia, intervened in the case.
Assigned to look after trees near Spadina Ave., the work crew contracted by the city left the yard in the Port Lands where it had begun the day and headed straight to Gerrard Square shopping centre.

Maybe they needed a tool at Home Depot. Or maybe not.

Over the course of the morning, the crew watered 18 trees for 171 minutes, but reported it as 215 minutes of work. In the afternoon they spent two and half hours driving places apparently unrelated to the job. They said they watered five trees at two locations. A GPS report says they didnt even stop.

In fact, an audit of crews hired by the city to look after trees found that more than half of a sample group spent too much time at malls and coffee shops and not enough time doing the work they were paid to do.

They bypassed trees assigned for care to stop instead at residential homes, plazas and streets with no trees.

In a scathing report to the city, the audit pegged the cost in lost productivity at about $2.6 million a year.

Angered by the news, Mayor John Tory said Tuesday he wants the city to look into legal proceedings to see if it can recover some of the money from the contractors, and questioned whether the companies involved should be disqualified from doing business with the city.

Weve got to go back after the ones who didnt do work they were charging us for, said Tory.

The city has approximately 10.2 million trees and the urban forestry department uses both contractors and in-house city crews for tree maintenance work. It currently contracts three companies, which provide daily tree maintenance services, including pruning, watering and removal, at an annual contract cost of approximately $20 million, or $1.7 million a month.

The report doesnt identify any particular company as responsible for the questionable work.

Crews are required to keep logs of what they do during their eight-hour workday, but when the audit compared those logs to information from the Global Positioning System (GPS) devices on their vehicles it found discrepancies in 28 out of 45 cases.

In 28 of 45 sampled logs  62 per cent  the auditor found only 2.8 hours in the work day included work time at tree-service locations consistent with the GPS reports.

The audit found that the time spent at these locations far exceeded the 60 minutes the crews are allowed to take for lunch and breaks.

In one case, a crew started the day by going to a coffee shop and gas station that were not related to work, according to the audit. They then stopped near the assigned tree areas for 2.8 hours, but reported it as 5.7 hours for pruning four trees and waiting for parked vehicles on the street to be moved. The GPS also revealed they drove to a school, park, and down residential streets not shown in the daily log and which did not appear to be work-related.

In another example, a crew left an assigned location at around 11:30 a.m. and then made stops at Mount Pleasant Cemetery and drove through side streets and residential areas that did not appear to be related to city work, before returning to the city yard at 2:40 p.m. to end the day. The total time that should have been questioned was 2.2 hours including driving time, according to the report.

In the citys tendering document, contractors are required to provide a GPS report for all crews vehicles when requested. The audit could not conduct the same review of city crews because the citys urban forestry vehicles are not equipped with GPS systems.

But a review of a sample of 139 daily logs from both the city and contractor crews noted further problems  41 per cent  had missing data or contained entries that should have been questioned, including time reported at locations with no trees and time spent watering tree stumps.

The report also found that supervision is inadequate  too few inspections were being carried out and when they were done they werent being done correctly. Forepersons are required to perform random site inspections but instead often called crews ahead of time to let them know they were coming.

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This undermines the effectiveness of the inspections in verifying the actual onsite maintenance work, the report says.

The report also found that crews spent a large amount of time on tasks other than looking after trees, including 60 minutes a day spent waiting for assignments and handing in activity logs; 93 minutes a day on driving and 15 minutes to 3.5 hours a day spent waiting for parked vehicles on streets to be moved to access trees. It recommended ways to trim the amount of time spent on supporting activities.

Parks, Forestry and Recreation declined to comment on the report, pointing instead to a detailed management response appended to the bottom of the audit.

In that response, management says it is working on a new work management system with implementation scheduled to begin in late 2019.

The report found that while there was high compliance with storm cleanup requests (97 per cent), and reasonably good compliance with tree planting requests (88 per cent) and general tree pruning requests (90 per cent), there was low compliance with tree removal requests (62 per cent).

This is probably due to the multiple steps involved in a complete removal of a tree, according to the report.

The report also pointed out that creating inaccurate maintenance records for a tree could have adverse long-term effects, because it may be at least another seven years before the tree receives its next scheduled maintenance.

The report, which includes recommendations for reform, will be considered by the citys audit committee Friday.

With files from David Rider

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Winston Poyser, the Crowns key witness in a murder trial, admits that some parts of his memory are fuzzy in the lead-up to the fatal shooting of a teenager in a west-end Pizza Pizza.

Poyser was originally charged with first-degree murder, along with twin brothers Lenneil and Shakiyl Shaw and Mohamed Ali-Nur, in the Oct.16, 2016 killing of Jarryl Hagley inside the pizza chains Weston Rd. location.

The charge against Poyser was dropped after he implicated the trio and pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Defence lawyer Dirk Derstine, who represents Shakiyl Shaw, began his cross-examination Tuesday by demonstrating the unreliability of Poysers memory.

He challenged the 26-year-old about changing the number of times he went looking for marijuana, MDMA and booze that night, about what kind of liquor he consumed and when exactly he saw firearms for the first time that evening.

Poyser suggested the timing wasnt that important, just that it was definitely before the incident happened I was aware of two firearms.

But the witness agreed with Derstine that he was quite intoxicated that night, because of drinking and taking the Molly (MDMA) I cant pinpoint exact moments, and acknowledged being a serial drunk driver who would routinely take his mothers vehicle without asking permission, including on the night Hagley, 17, was shot to death.

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Derstine also confronted Poyser about a text message.

Poyser has testified that on the evening of Oct. 15, 2016, he went to Scarlettwood Court looking for the Shaw twins to try to find his cousins stolen cellphone. When he didnt find the brothers, Poyser said he drove to a townhouse, also in the west end, and found them there.

Derstine showed Poyser a text, sent at 7:36 p.m., that he sent to his cousin. Yo Im over here in the hood there (sic) not here the ma..

Derstine suggested the missing word was the mans  Poyser said he wasnt certain  but he agreed with the defence lawyer that he was referring to the twins and that the cellphone tower records indicate it was sent from the townhouse.

I thought I was sending that text from Scarlett ... I dont know how that ended up where that was, Poyser said.

He agreed a text sent from that location contradicted rather than corroborated his evidence, but thats not what I remember.

And your memory is so reliable, is it sir? Derstine asked.

I guess not.

But Poyser disagreed with the lawyers suggestion that he had lied about seeing the twins at the townhouse.

At the end of the day, Derstine asked Poyser if he would acknowledge several memory lapses while on the witness stand.

That would be fair, he replied.

The trial continues Wednesday.
The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has issued a shoreline hazard warning that applies to areas along Lake Ontario and the islands.

Lake Ontarios water level is approaching 75.5 metres above sea level. During the flooding of Toronto Islands in April 2017, the water level reached a high of 75.93 metres.

Properties along the shoreline and the Toronto Islands which experienced flooding during the 2017 event could begin to experience flood impacts as the water level in Lake Ontario continues to rise, the warning said.

In addition to rain in the forecast, winds at 60 km/h are expected to bring offshore waves Wednesday.

The International Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Board is forecasting that lake water levels are expected to keep rising until late May or early June.

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The TRCA recommends that people take caution around the lakes shoreline areas and avoid any areas experiencing erosion or flooding.

The flooding in 2017 resulted in Torontos islands closing for nearly three months along with all their local businesses and waterfront areas. The Island Public and Natural Science School also had to relocate to the mainland.

The flooding cost the citys parks, forestry and recreation division at least $8.45 million.
One of the leaders of the group opposed to Sidewalk Labs tech-driven vision for Torontos waterfront says theres a power imbalance  an asymmetry  between the Google sister firm and the city.

Sidewalk Labs (parent firm) Alphabet is almost a trillion-dollar company by market capitalization ... theres a factor here about influence ... they are moving into cities. Theres a power asymmetry with a company like that, that is not the same as a small- or medium-sized tech company, Bianca Wylie, one of the leaders of #Blocksidewalk, told the Stars editorial board Wednesday.

Citing moves in Europe that include antitrust fines against Google, Wylie said, The rest of the world is trying to figure out how to regulate this company (Google). The rest of the world is aware that the size of this company is a problem.

Wylie, a tech expert and open government advocate, along with Thorben Wieditz and JJ Fueser, spoke to the Star as part of their groups campaign calling for a stop and reset of the controversial beta site Sidewalk Labs wants to develop on 12 acres of land near Queens Quay and Parliament St.  and beyond that into the Port Lands if the firms goals play out.

Sidewalks plan for the beta-site calls for a mixed-use development consisting mostly of residential units. The firm is working on a master plan for the project, and has promised to deliver it to the tri-government corporation Waterfront Toronto in the coming weeks.

Waterfront Toronto must approve the plan and likely senior levels of government before it can go ahead.

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#Blocksidewalk, led by individuals from the tech sector including advocates, entrepreneurs, housing and homelessness experts, academics, environmentalists and researchers, is attacking the Sidewalk Labs project on several fronts, including raising concerns about the project contributing to mass surveillance with cameras and sensors everywhere throughout its planned neighbourhood.

The group includes the names of 500 people who have indicated they want to be kept informed about the Sidewalk Labs project and get involved in what #Blocksidewalk is doing about it.

A recent open house #Blocksidewalk organized in Toronto attracted about 150 people.

Wylie told the editorial board the group doesnt want Sidewalk Labs involved in the development of the waterfront.

She went on to say controversy around the firms project has centred a lot on the privacy issue surrounding the data Sidewalk Labs wants to collect at Quayside, but she said she also has significant concerns about the governance of the data.

And what is the impact of a big technology company like this working on a project like this on everything from municipal service delivery to the fact that we dont have a regulatory and legal environment right now that is stable? Wylie said.

This is nothing special, this is global. Were in a bit of a free fall around what technology and data means to society and our democracy, Wylie said.

Based on a recent motion from Councillor Joe Cressy that was approved by city council, Toronto is working on establishing rules and regulations that would govern how data collected at Quayside and other smart city initiatives in Toronto is collected and managed.

Wylie said while she plans to take part in the process in helping the city build this framework, she believes the city on its own doesnt have the resources to deal with the scope and complexity of the Sidewalk project  involving everything from intellectual property issues, copyright and much more.

On the issue of surveillance in the public realm and data collection that already exits, Wylie said there are trade-offs.

There is good technology and good data collection. There are things that are useful. But we need to talk about this as a society. We need to say if having all this data collected everywhere gets us a 10 per cent reduction in emissions, or transportation efficiencies, but it also means mass surveillance in the city of Toronto, is everybody fine with that?

She later added: I dont think its a good argument to say well were here already and throw our hands up and say lets do more (surveillance).

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A would-be cafe operator says a local residents association is stymying his plans for refurbishing a patio at the former home of renowned eatery Caplanskys Delicatessen he recently took over.

Alex Lau is frustrated at continued opposition to his plan to renovate the derelict patio belonging to the building at 356 College St., near Brunswick Ave. Without rebuilding the patio, the 30-year-old is worried hundreds of thousands already poured into renovations will be all for naught.

Its saddening for us, said Lau, who along with his wife took possession of the property last autumn.

They intend to convert it into a Canadian location of the Japanese dessert cafe LeTAO Sweets.

We want to make this space a landmark in the area again.

Lau was advised by the office of local city councillor Mike Layton to gather a petition to demonstrate local support for the patio ahead of Marchs convening of Toronto and East York Community Council, which was set to vote on the application.

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In freezing weather over the course of a single weekend, we walked along Brunswick and got 80 signatures in support, recalled Lau.

Petition successfully in hand, Lau says Laytons staff assured him a case was there to rebuild the patio, with the added proviso a green plan was implemented for the site. That would include removing concrete tree planters lining the area  previously flagged by city staff as a chief factor in recommending against the application  at the cafes expense.

Lau readily agreed to all of the stipulations.

On the day of the March meeting, Lau was informed the item would be postponed because of pushback from the Harbord Village Residents Association.

Lau says he soon after met with the association in an attempt to convince them of his good intentions in beautifying the patio and surrounding space and making it welcoming to the community.

What about you?

A couple of weeks later, Lau received a response, which made it clear the patio would not be supported. Instead, the group pushed forth a pre-existing, though currently unfunded, city objective to convert the location into a public green space.

Frankly we are not convinced that such an interest, particularly for a bakery/cafe that is already licensed inside, trumps a long-documented Community/City endorsed objective to return this public space to public use, board member Robert Stambula wrote in a letter sent to Lau mid-April.

Reached for comment this week, Stambula declined an interview with the Neighbourhood Voice pending further dialogue with Lau.

In a brief email message, Stambula said it was Lau who made it clear to the association that serving alcohol was the primary intention for renovating the patio, and a shared green space was untenable as a result.

We are happy with a patio, a green space, that is shared with Alexs clients and the neighbourhood, Stambula wrote.

Lau said hes not opposed to keeping alcohol off the patio, even though hes already secured a liquor license for the establishment, since liquor would be a secondary source of revenue for the cafe.

Were not looking to be a bar, said Lau. Were a Japanese cheesecake cafe. It boggles the mind why theres such strong opposition.

This corner has been empty for the last year (since Caplanskys closed), he added.

Justin Ortiz, who lives in an apartment at the same address, says he supports rebuilding the patio and readily signed Laus petition.

It would be a nice addition to the neighbourhood, said Ortiz, who added hes contacted the city on multiple occasions to report illegal dumping of garbage in the derelict space.

Lau also forwarded pictures of discarded needles to the Neighbourhood Voice and other drug paraphernalia found at the site.

Brunswick resident Matthew Celestial also signed Laus petition. The public relations professional said hes assured the new cafe will have a positive impact on the community.

People loved the old Caplanskys, it was a fixture in the neighbourhood. So having something new at the same spot will create something exciting for the community, said Celestial.

Laytons office has not responded to requests from the Neighbourhood Voice to comment on the dispute, or clarify whether the councillor will support the patio application when its debated at community councils next meeting in May. The matter was deferred in both the March and April meetings.

Lau said he might have reconsidered spending upwards of $375,000 on renovations so far had he known there would be a significant opposition to his plans.

But patio or no patio, he vows the cafe will soon become a reality.

This space has been in the works for nearly a year, he said. Were anxious to open.
Hamilton mobster Pasquale (Pat) Musitano is expected to survive, after being shot multiple times outside his lawyers office in Mississauga last week.

The 51-year-old is improving, Peel police Const. Bancroft Wright said Wednesday morning.

Hes no longer considered to be in life-threatening condition, Wright said.

The shooting is considered attempted murder and is being investigated by Peels criminal investigations bureau. While it appears Musitano will survive, its unclear what lasting damage the shooting will cause.

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The 51-year-old was shot as many as four times, including to the head, around 7 a.m. April 25 outside the office of lawyer Joseph Irving at 120 Matheson Blvd. E., near Whittle Rd. Irving had been acting for Musitano in connection with a paving and construction company allegedly embroiled in a multimillion-dollar scam.

It is unclear if the location at his lawyers office, and Musitanos ties with Havana Group Supplies, has any connection to the shooting.

Pat Musitano is the reputed boss of the Musitano crime family  one of the original traditional organized crime groups that vied for power in Hamilton in the 1960s. Pat Musitano took control when his father, Dominic Musitano, died in 1995.

The shooting comes amid a resurgence in mafia violence in Hamilton and surrounding communities in recent years, including the May 2, 2017 shooting death of Pats younger brother, Angelo (Ang) Musitano, in Waterdown.

Pat Musitanos own St. Clair Blvd. home was sprayed with bullets weeks later in what was widely seen as a warning.

Since then two other men whose families have mob ties have been gunned down in Hamilton  Albert Iavarone and Cece Luppino.

And two brothers from the only other long-standing traditional organized crime family in Hamilton  Domenico (Dom) and Giuseppe (Joe) Violi  are in prison serving sentences for drug trafficking.

The Spectator reported last week that wiretap conversations captured in September 2017 as part of the Violi brother case revealed a conversation about taking out Pat Musitano.

With all the ongoing violence and court cases, its difficult to understand who still holds power within Hamiltons criminal underworld.

With the attempt on Pat Musitanos life, those still tied to the family now face the ultimate test of allegiance, said Stephen Metelsky, a criminology professor at Mohawk College who spent 21 years with Halton police, including specializing in organized crime.

He was involved in the early days of Project Otremens  the case against the Violi brothers in which a paid police agent managed to infiltrate the mob in New York City. Metelsky retired before the cases conclusion and now writes about organized crime on underworldstories.com.

He says he can count maybe a handful of known supporters close the Musitanos and questions what they are doing now.

There is shelf life in the underworld, (mobsters) have an expiration date, he said. Usually in by the gun, out by the gun.

So who is left? While there are Musitano family members, few are known for being involved in the family business and many are dead.

The Mississauga shooting came just a day after the funeral for Pats uncle Tony Musitano  a former mobster who was said to still command respect. Pat was not seen at his uncles funeral.

Anyone with information is asked contact investigators at 12 Division criminal investigation bureau at 905-453-2121 ext. 1233. To remain anonymous contact Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or peelcrimestoppers.ca.
When planning a dinner for 320 nurses, it is nice to have the appropriate snacks. Wafer-cookie tongue depressors, red licorice clogged arteries, kidney-stone jelly beans, marshmallow cotton balls, triscuit-cracker gauze, and IV bags with liquor labels.

Sherrill Colling, class of 1966, dreamed up the treatment centre for the final Womens College Hospital School of Nursing alumnae dinner this May. Its a cheekier, tastier version of the treatment centre where they prepared supplies for patient care when they were student nurses. Colling, on the decorating committee for the bash, has also created a life-size nurse out of pantyhose, with a hand-stitched face, wig, and a nursing cap for the festivities. She looks pretty darn cute, she says.

The first nurse graduated from the program in 1917, and the last class affiliated with the hospital graduated in 1975. Until the 1970s, most nurses in Canada earned their professional qualifications through hospital-based apprenticeship programs. At Womens College there was no tuition, and room and board were provided by the hospital. In exchange, you worked  a lot. Colling and her friends made that place run  counting the medications, bathing the patients, changing their sheets, giving them back rubs, sterilizing tools for surgery. You saw first screams, last breaths, and all the hurting and healing in between.

Back then, there were essentially three career choices for women: teacher, nurse or secretary.

Really we didnt aspire to be CEOs of major corporations or anything, Colling says. It wasnt the way you looked at things.

Says Joan Hill, class of 1956: I knew I couldnt stand being a secretary. I tried typing and it gave me a headache.

For most graduates, the independence and responsibility that came with life and death during their training bonded them for life. My classmates were like sisters, Hill says. Some stayed in nursing, others left to raise their families, but they could always connect through the alumnae group  with the big yearly dinner and charity work. This year the alumnae group, which started in 1919, celebrated its 100th birthday. Since 1917, around 1,500 nurses have graduated from the program.

With no new members since 1975, membership has declined and the executive decided it was time to wind down. This years dinner will be the last, fabulous party. Theyve been planning it for two years.

They booked a large banquet hall at the Chelsea hotel for May 6, hoping for at least 250 people, and worrying they might fall short. By April, more than 300 RSVPs had arrived from across Ontario, the Yukon, the U.S. and England. Were shooting the budget like you wouldnt believe, says Hill, the groups treasurer.

We want this to be spectacular, Colling says.

As the final dinner looms, they are excited and anxious, just like those first days taking patient temperatures on the ward. They want to get it just right.

In the 19th century, hospitals had a public relations problem. They were generally seen as grim places of last resort.

If you were going to die you wanted to die at home with your family, says Kathryn McPherson, a history professor at York University who wrote Bedside Matters: The Transformation of Canadian Nursing 1900-1990. If you were sick and living in poverty, with no family to look after you, you went to the hospital. Most were run as charities by religious institutions.

As germ theory became entrenched in the late 19th century, new antiseptic techniques required space and institutional support, McPherson says. Hospitals became the home of surgical innovation, but many were still skeptical. Administrators realized if they wanted more paying middle-class customers, they needed skilled staff.

You cant just hire these old washer women who live in a room in the basement, and basically keep the fire stoked (and) stole peoples brandy, McPherson says. A nurse, committed to a treatment regimen  and not just caretaking  was the answer.

There were religious orders who dedicated themselves to nursing and health care, but sanitary reformer Florence Nightingale thought a different kind of secular nursing was needed. In the middle of the 19th century, Nightingale went to Crimea, where the British were entrenched in a war that was an administrative disaster, McPherson says. There werent enough supplies. Nightingale and her nurses became this great story, and the image of the selfless and respectable upper-middle-class woman taking care of soldiers was blasted around the world thanks to the telegraph.

The idea of women having intimate knowledge of male bodies was a tough one for Victorians, so respectability became crucial to nursings acceptance, McPherson says. Enthused readers began to send money to her foundation, and Nightingale was talked into giving it to a British hospital to start a training school.

The first nursing school in English Canada was opened at the General and Marine Hospital in St. Catharines in 1874, with two of Nightingales students as teachers. By then, McPherson says, there was a global buzz about the possibility of this new kind of nurse.

The apprenticeship model became pervasive in Canadian hospitals in the early 20th century. The Womens College Hospital school of nursing was founded in an ad-hoc way. Sarah Jane Glenn was so appreciative of the care she received at the hospital that she asked to stay and become a nurse herself.

The hospital officials agreed, and for two years, Glenn hustled up and down the stairs of the home on Rusholme Rd. that housed the hospital then, making beds, delivering meals and comforting babies. The doctors and hospital staff happily gathered in the backyard in April 1917 to present her with flowers and a custom graduation pin. More graduates followed and in 1919, an alumnae association was created.

Glenn did not live long enough to attend any dinners. She died of tuberculosis in 1922 at a Muskoka sanitarium.

Every hospital had its own uniform, and at Womens College, the nursing student dress was blue with white bibs and aprons. Most nursing students had the same first patient. Her name was Mrs. Chase, and she was a rubber woman stuffed with sawdust, a placid expression on her leather face.

She was manufactured by the M.J. Chase Co. of Pawtucket, R.I., to help students practise how to bathe a patient in bed without splashing water in her face, administer an enema, wrap a splint or pump a stomach. Everything that happened to me happened in twelves, an American nurse wrote in a tongue-in-cheek autobiography of Mrs. Chase in 1939. The students also practised giving hypodermic needles to oranges.

It was the same sort of consistency I guess as a tight buttocks, says Sherrill Colling, laughing.

Probationer nurses  probies as they were called  spent their first months in class before they were phased into life on the wards. If they made it through the first few months, they were given their nursing cap, a heavily starched piece of fabric that folded into a dainty hat, in a small ceremony.

Those first forays into the hospital ward were filled with nerve-wracking moments. I didnt know about the last breath, says Hill, remembering that shift when she was helping prepare the body of a patient who had died. When she moved the woman, the last bit of oxygen escaped her lungs. It sounded like a moan.

I ran into the hall screaming, shes not dead!

(She was dead.)

They had stints at other hospitals to learn psychiatric, pediatric and isolation care. The doctors and supervising nurses called the shots, and the students changed dressings, monitored vital signs, temperature, made poultices, and gave injections during their eight-hour shifts. By second year, they were assisting in surgery, and third year, they were essentially working on the ward. In her book, McPherson writes that Canadian hospitals relied heavily on student nurses who provided substantial portions of patient-care labour.

Everybody got their bed changed, says Donna Bryce, Class of 1966. Everybody got a bath, everybody got a back rub at night.

It was mostly female doctors and patients at Womens College, but there were sometimes male patients, even if lessons on their anatomy proved fleeting, Debby Kaplan recalls.

Our instructor stood there and said, This is the penis, this is the scrotum. She was so mortified by the fact she had to do it.

Before a residence was built, Womens College students lived in a series of rented houses near the hospital. Joan Hill lived on the third floor of one house in the 1950s, along with 12 other women, and one bathroom. At the time, there were a few red light houses near the hospital, and nursing students were advised against looking in the windows. (One student in the late 1940s remembered seeing soldiers visiting those houses regularly, and her first instinct was that the homeowners were particularly patriotic.)

Student nurses were expected to follow the rules. There was a nightly curfew and the women were cautioned about wearing too much makeup. Highly coloured nail polish, perfume and jewelry were not in good taste, according to one nursing handbook. Your hair shouldnt touch your collar. I dont even remember anyone with long hair, Sherrill Colling says.

When the Burton Hall residence opened in 1955 (on Florence Nightingales May 12 birthday), it was guarded by a few kindly house mothers. There were no shorts or slacks allowed in the main lounge. No snacks in the conversation rooms. McPherson says residences were typically a little bit cloistered to maintain the professions respectability and convince parents their daughters would be safe at school.

Male guests were not allowed above the first floor. Although it was against the rules, there was at least one case of beer, and maybe the odd boyfriend, spirited in. There were pay phones on each floor, and they would ring with invitations to parties.

It was like a grocery list: we need six girls, a couple tall, a couple short, a couple blond   Debby Kaplan says. We had one instructor who told us if youre going to go to those fraternity parties, you never go below or above the first floor, or youll be knitting booties.

When they had time off, they played cards, tried to see how many people they could fit on one bed, and explored Toronto. There was a yearly fashion show. Every day, they shared their experiences on the ward, like the time one of them accidentally knocked a sink off the wall with a bed, or their adventures in plastic surgery, assisting with nose jobs and hair plugs that didnt always stick where they were supposed to.

On graduation day, they wore white dresses and proudly pinned their black bands on their starched caps to signify they were now registered nurses. They walked two by two to the University of Torontos Convocation Hall, carrying bouquets of red roses.

As the Womens College experience came to an end Joan Hill says she and her friends wanted to see the world.

A few of us wanted to go to California to start, and some did. I didnt have enough money to get there  I got as far as London, Ontario, with another gal and then I worked in the operating room there.

Hill worked in neurosurgery, others specialized in ophthalmology, pediatrics, surgery, emergency room work. In the postwar economy, where many women were fighting for a place in the workforce, nurses were legitimated by the unique occupational service ethos and by the long tradition of female caring that the vocation represented, McPherson writes.

When Hill left nursing to raise her family, she stayed connected through the alumnae group. There was a home and hospital committee, where younger nurses checked in on older members. Some of the early graduates were missionaries without pensions, and the alumnae would raise money to help them buy glasses, girdles and other medical supplies, Hill says. There were scholarships, a student loan fund, and a retired nurses fund  and dreams of running their own nursing home for their members. (That plan didnt materialize.)

The hospitals first archivist, Margaret Robins, was a nursing graduate who attended everyones funeral and held a small memorial service at the hospital for graduates who didnt have family. We looked out for each other when we knew there was a problem, Hill says.

As the Canadian health care system modernized, nursing changed, requiring more technical knowledge, McPherson writes. University and college programs began to dominate. Ontario ended the hospital apprenticeship model in 1973. The nursing dress and starched cap eventually gave way to scrubs. Hospitals changed, and so did the type of care, many of the alumnae say.

We look at the system today and are so distraught by it, Donna Bryce says. Thats probably why well end up taking care of each other.

The Burton Hall residence was demolished in 2012. The graduates grew older, and membership was declining. After a century, 2019 seemed like the right time for the alumnae group to disband.

Joan Hill knows it makes sense, but there is a melancholy feeling she cant shake. She worries shell never see these people again. How do you say goodbye to a world youve known for 66 years?

For two years, the committee planning the party has met at Debby Kaplans North York condo, plotting the details of the final soiree.

Anita, I really like your glasses, Kaplan says with a mischievous grin as she puts on an identical pair of cherry-red cheaters with checkerboard arms. On this April day, the close-to-sold-out guest list is top of the agenda. Every year, the alumnae provide a free dinner to members celebrating their 50th anniversary  its a tradition.

This year its the class of 1969s turn, but since they will miss the classes of 1970 through 1975, they agreed to extend the perk, which is no small cost with the turnout. The women look at maps of the ballroom, and plot logistics, and the surprises they have planned. The balloon wall onstage will cost $1,000. The balloon wall is out. How will the centrepieces be distributed at the end of the night? The group decides on the natural solution: whoever has the birthday closest to Florence Nightingale.

Are people getting dressed up? Anita asks. The consensus is flowy pants, sparkly shirts. Gwen Doust looks at her phone. Three more people have registered since the meeting began. Were up to 314. The next day they will hit the rooms maximum capacity of 320. There is one person attending from the class of 1947.

For two hours Kaplan  head of the committee  keeps the conversation on track as they strategize the best way to handle the commemorative photos, what flowers need to be ordered, and how best to accommodate the crowd.

Item 13 on the agenda is Other Business.

We need to celebrate the celebration with a celebration, Kaplan says, echoing an earlier suggestion. The members of the planning committee look at their calendars  a mix of cellphones and one horse-themed agenda  and settle on a tentative date in June. The usual pot luck is quickly scuttled in favour of a restaurant.

The dinner on May 6 will be the official goodbye  but its never really over. People are already planning their next five-year reunion, Kaplan later says. The sisterhood lives on.

Correction  May 2, 2019: This article was updated from an earlier version to correct the spelling of Sherrill Colling.
As a newcomer to Canada, Taniel Tanielian struggled to adjust to his new life.

Two weeks after arriving in Toronto in 2016, he and his brother had to begin paying rent. But even though he had a degree in IT engineering from Syria, he said everywhere he applied told him he didnt have enough experience.

He took a job as a construction worker, but his ambitions layelsewhere. For a time, Tanielian said he experienced depression.

Then a few months later a job counsellor at a local YMCA recommended a free four-month program sponsored by United Way. It taught technical skills and programming languages like JavaScript. It also provided the six-month internship, that Tanielian, now 26, used to get hired and promoted twice.

On Wednesday, the United Way announced it will be investing $3.5 million into youth employment programs in Toronto, Peel and York regions over the next year.

The programs will mainly be for youth who have been impacted by poverty and face barriers entering the labour force, said Nation Cheong, United Ways vice-president of community operations and mobilization.

Folks with post-secondary education are competing for entry-level positions (because) of the change in the labour market, Cheong told the Star. Then you look at young people who, for a number of reasons beyond their control, face barriers ... (they) are even more significantly impacted by those changing labour market trends.

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In a news release, the United Way said young adults are now more likely to work in part-time, contract and temporary positions than they were in the past, noting youth unemployment has been on the rise for more than a decade.

According to Statistics Canada, young people aged 17 to 24 experienced a decline in full-time employment from the late 1970s to the mid-2010s. In 2016, StatsCan found roughly 54 per cent of youth who were not full-time students had a full-time job, down from 67 per cent in late 1970s.

The United Way investment will include both renewed funds and new investments in 30 programs that support youth who face multiple barriers, including racialized, LGBTQ, Indigenous, newcomer, low-income and disabled youth, according to the release.

Cheong said the programs aim to give young people industry-recognized skills, experience and networking opportunities that can help open doors. By 2025, Cheong said the United Way hopes the programs can help 10,000 youth, and also bring positive change to their communities.

It is about the young people, but young people live in the context of neighbourhoods, they live in the context of broader communities and investing in them is as much about investing in the health and well-being of the GTA, Cheong said.

Cheong said people who face barriers to the labour market not only need industry skills and credentials  they also need to have champions on their side.

Tanielian, who works as a senior test engineer at a management consulting company and is studying to get his masters in business administration, echoed that sentiment.

Its about the people, you know, besides the technical skills. (The program) also provided a social network and social skills. I appreciate that more than the technical skills, he said.
Toronto Islands residents are bracing for potential flooding after a shoreline hazard warning was issued for areas along Lake Ontario and the islands.

Were a bit more relaxed because weve been through this once before and know what to do, but it still creates a certain level of anxiety for us, said Wards Island resident Inese Gravlejs.

Other parts of the GTA are also bracing for flooding. The City of Mississauga issued a flood watch on Wednesday, warning residents to remain away from the waterfront.

Lake Ontarios water level is currently approaching 75.5 metres above sea level, just barely under the water level during the flooding of the Toronto Islands in April 2017, which reached a high of 75.93. That year flooding resulted in the islands closing for nearly three months along with their local businesses and waterfront areas. The Island Public and Natural Science School had to relocate to the mainland.

Properties along the shoreline and the Toronto Islands which experienced flooding during the 2017 event could begin to experience flood impacts as the water level in Lake Ontario continues to rise, said the warning from Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

In addition to rain in the forecast, winds at 60 km/h are expected to bring offshore waves.

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Were quite nervous, to be honest, said Gravlejss husband, Mike French. We just dont know how bad its going to get ... you see the water levels coming up and up and theres really not much you can do about it.

The two residents, both members of an emergency preparedness committee that monitors water levels and updates residents on flood mitigation efforts, felt the effects of the flooding in 2017 when the piping and ventilation in their home was destroyed by water damage.

Gravlejs said the damage cost them approximately $1,000 in repair work, but they consider themselves among the lucky ones given they live closer to the centre of the island and away from the shoreline.

We were lucky, to be honest. Its much more dangerous for the people that live on the periphery, Gravlejs said.

The flooding cost the citys parks, forestry and recreation division at least $8.45 million.

Since then, the city has implemented a number of measures to mitigate flood damage on the island, including new drainage systems and approximately 20 industrial water pumps.

The island is open, its business as usual, and the residents property remains safe, but were monitoring the situation closely, said city spokesperson Brad Ross. The issue today is the wind and the high waves, so were reminding residents to be cautious if theyre near a shoreline and to keep back from waves.

Ross said the city has no plans to close the islands at the moment.

Jess Harris, a spokesperson for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), said the city has invested in mitigation measures to protect the shoreline this year.

Thanks to these investments we are in a much better position than we were in 2017, Harris said in a statement to the Star.

The International Lake OntarioSt. Lawrence River Board is forecasting that lake water levels are expected to keep rising until late May or early June.

The conservation authority also recommends that people take caution around the shoreline areas and avoid any areas experiencing erosion or flooding.

With files from Temur Durrani
NEW DELHI - Maoist rebels on Wednesday attacked a van carrying police commandos in the insurgents stronghold in western India and killed 15 officers and their driver, officials said.

The rebels triggered a land mine blast in the forested Gadchiroli area in Maharashtra state as the vehicle was passing through, police officer Sharad Shelar said.

Sheler said this could be a revenge attack by the rebels after security forces killed 37 insurgents in two separate gunbattles in the region in April last year.

Maharashtra state minister S. Mungantwar said the ambush was a desperate attack by the rebels because authorities had succeeded in holding peaceful voting for national elections in the area last month. The rebels had asked people to boycott the polls.

The Press Trust of India said the rebels first struck early Wednesday by burning more than 20 vehicles of a road construction company. They hid in the forest and targeted police commandos when they came searching for them.

The Maoist rebels, who claim inspiration from Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, have been fighting Indias government for more than four decades, demanding land and jobs for tenant farmers and the poor. The rebels have thousands of fighters and are active in several parts of India.

They routinely attack government troops and officials and have been called Indias greatest internal security threat.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistans military says dozens of militants who sneaked into the country opened fire on troops in a former Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border, triggering a shootout that killed three soldiers.

The statement also said seven soldiers were wounded in Wednesdays attack in North Waziristan. The military claimed scores of militants were killed or wounded in the gunbattle, without providing details.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,400 kilometre-long border, which is about 1,500 miles. Both sides routinely accuse each other of failing to do enough to combat militant movement along the boundary that separates the two countries. The border was drawn by British rulers in 1896.

Kabul does not recognize the frontier as an international border and has objected to Islamabads efforts to erect a fence along the boundary.
NEW DELHI - Indian and Bangladeshi officials and security experts largely dismissed a fresh threat of violence from an Islamic State-aligned media group, insisting that safety measures and surveillance are adequate to keep militants from carrying out a Sri Lanka-style attack elsewhere in South Asia.

Al-Mursalat Media released a poster on Tuesday featuring a photo of five militants who carried out a 2016 attack at a cafe in the diplomatic enclave of Bangladeshs capital, Dhaka, according to global terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence.

Below the picture of the militants, depicted carrying rifles and smiling, text states that the soldiers of the khilafah, or caliphate, in Bangladesh and India have not been silenced and the anger of the mujahedeen will suddenly bring destruction upon you.

The poster, with text written in English, Hindi and Bengali and sent over the media groups Telegram channel, came as authorities in India and Bangladesh investigated activities with possible IS links while Sri Lanka pursued suspects tied to the co-ordinated Easter Day bombings at churches and hotels that killed 253 people.

Sri Lankan police late Wednesday made public the names and photographs of nine suicide bombers who carried out the series of Easter Day explosions, including the locations where their bombs were detonated.

The list of eight men and one woman included the man officials say led the attack, extremist preacher Mohamed Zahran, also known as Zahran Hashim, who was one of two attackers at Colombos Shangri-La Hotel.

M.K. Narayanan, the former chief of Indias external intelligence service, said that while he wouldnt read this as a harbinger of what theyre about to do, President Donald Trump is off the mark when he says that IS is dead.

Police in Bangladesh are investigating an Islamic State-claimed small crude bomb explosion in front of a shopping centre in Dhaka that injured three traffic police officers on Monday.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion, a security force focused on combating extremist groups, told The Associated Press that he didnt place any great emphasis on the threat released by the IS-aligned media group.

Though the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the 2016 Dhaka attack that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners, Bangladeshi authorities have repeatedly denied that IS has a presence in the country. Officials, instead, blamed local militants from Jumatual Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB.

Since then, authorities have captured and killed dozens of suspects, and said JMB has been weakened if not eliminated completely.

Maybe some small section will try to create some trouble, thats the scenario across the world, Khan said, but he didnt think any groups are capable of creating any big trouble.

In India, the National Investigation Agency, in charge of counterterrorism, took the rare step this week of publicizing the arrests of four people on suspicion of links to IS, including a 29-year-old man who they said was a follower of the alleged mastermind of the Sri Lankan attacks and was plotting a suicide bombing in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

NIA official Alok Mittal said Thursday that he had seen the Al-Mursalat Media poster but declined to comment on it.

Former Indian military and intelligence officials say the Islamic State group does not appear to have much of a foothold in India, but that the diminished caliphate is far from defeated.

The threat of attacks cant be completed ignored, said Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, a retired Indian army general who led the command in the disputed region of Kashmir. You need only a handful of such guys to carry out such attacks. Sri Lanka is a major example.

Sri Lankan security forces began investigating IS sympathizers and activity in the island nation in 2015, upon learning that Sri Lankan national Mohamed Mhuzeen Sarfaz Nilam had been killed in Syria in a U.S. airstrike. Nilams brother-in-law also later died fighting with IS.

Sri Lankas director of military intelligence, Brig. Chula Kodituwakku, said that about 35 Sri Lankans, including Nilams brother and other militants and their families, are embedded with the Islamic State group in Syria.

Kodituwakku said police are still determining whether any of the suicide bombers or other suspects linked to the Easter attacks trained or fought with IS overseas.

Mohammed Zahran, the leader of the militant group Sri Lankan authorities have identified as carrying out the attacks and himself one of the suicide bombers, trained in India, according to a Sri Lankan intelligence official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. It was unclear how long he may have stayed.

___

Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.
DARWIN, AUSTRALIAPatrick Cumaiyi boarded a small plane on the airstrip in Wadeye, one of Australias most remote Aboriginal communities, and waved to his family with shackled hands.

He was being flown to Darwin, the capital of Australias Northern Territory, to face a domestic-violence complaint. But before takeoff, an argument broke out. An officer delivered a sharp blow to Cumaiyis head with a metal flashlight, according to witnesses on board, then another officer dragged Cumaiyi headfirst onto the tarmac.

In a video from the scene, about 20 people can be heard shouting in distress. Warrundut pelpith!  He landed on his head!  screams a woman in Murrinh-Patha, the native language of the 2,200 people who live in Wadeye, a tropical outpost in Australias far north.

I just sat down and cried, said Stephanie Berida, Cumaiyis aunt, who was present. What could we do?

The treatment of Cumaiyi, which left him with a fractured skull, provides a rare glimpse into an Australia that has never fully shed the dark legacies of its colonial past. Police abuse of Aboriginal Australians, including failure to provide medical care, remains a persistent problem, with nearly 150 Indigenous people dying in custody in the past decade alone.

Cumaiyis experience adds another troubling facet: Medical records and other documentation obtained and verified by The New York Times suggest that not only was he a victim of police brutality, but also that health officials and the police covered up the causes and severity of his injuries, while the courts nodded without question.

In places like Wadeye, this casual disregard for black lives is frighteningly common. The town, which can be reached only by boat or plane during the rainy season, is a world unto itself. Systemic racism and abuse often grow unchecked in remote hamlets like this one, where a white minority dominates the police, health care and other services for a population that is almost entirely Aboriginal.

There is no scrutiny in places like Wadeye  they can do whatever they like, said Marcia Langton, an anthropologist at the University of Melbourne who has worked in remote communities. Aboriginal people are processed, and nobody pays much attention.

Cumaiyi, 31 and described as shy by relatives, was never prosecuted for domestic violence after his arrest. Nonetheless, nearly three years later, he is still in a Darwin prison after pleading guilty to other charges, including assaulting two officers and endangering the safety of an aircraft.

Now, Stewart Levitt, one of Australias most prominent lawyers, is demanding that Cumaiyis case be reconsidered. He lodged a complaint Wednesday with the Australian Human Rights Commission, accusing the Australian government of human rights violations and negligence stemming from systemic racial discrimination.

Levitt said the evidence of a coverup was clear: The official police account said nothing about the eyewitness reports that Cumaiyi was struck in the head with a flashlight and slammed onto the tarmac.

Instead, it suggests that he hurt himself the day after his arrest by jumping from a police van travelling at 50 miles, or about 80 kilometres, per hour  a claim that two medical experts dismissed as unlikely given his injuries, and that Levitt called implausible, counterintuitive and not witnessed by anyone.

The Northern Territory Police Force did not respond to requests for comment about the case.

Levitt, who won a large judgment last year for another Indigenous community confronting police mistreatment, said that there seems to have been a determined effort to deflect all attention away from the police assaults.

He added, This is an example of the racial discrimination thats so endemic.

Cumaiyis treatment fits a pattern in Australia.

In 2008, a Ngaanyatjarra elder died of heat stroke in Western Australia after being kept for hours in a prison van where temperatures reached more than 130 degrees Fahrenheit (about 55 degrees Celsius).

In 2014, a 22-year-old Aboriginal woman who had been jailed for unpaid fines died after she suffered complications from a broken rib.

A year later, David Dungay Jr., a 26-year-old Indigenous Australian with asthma, died in a Sydney prison cell after repeatedly telling officers he could not breathe.

And last month, an Aboriginal woman, Cherdeena Wynne, 26, died in the hospital five days after she became unresponsive after being handcuffed by the police in Perth.

In all, between 2008 and 2018, 147 Indigenous people  who make up 3% of Australias population but 27% of its prison population  died while under the care of the authorities.

Especially in places like Wadeye (pronounced wad-air), scholars say, Australias colonial past cannot be separated from its present. The town, about 250 miles from Darwin, has been a tribal meeting place for thousands of years. But it is also a mission town where in 1935 a Catholic priest gathered 20 different clans to be civilized.

More recently, the governments presence in Wadeye has tended to float in and out. Government housing is in short supply. There often is no full-time doctor. The towns 13 police officers typically stay for two years, then move on.

For the people flying in, what often gets set in place is an us versus them mentality, said Sean Bowden, a lawyer in Darwin who represented the town in litigation that forced a change to a discriminatory school-funding formula.

Tensions among clans and between residents and the police have often boiled over. In 2004, a police officer fatally shot an Aboriginal teenager in Wadeye; in 2017, an officer fired warning shots after being confronted by residents.

Cumaiyis own run-in with the police came a few months earlier.

Based on his investigation, Levitt said the altercation on the plane on Nov. 9, 2016, started when Cumaiyi asked for his wrist restraints to be loosened. An officer refused, leading to an argument.

Two prisoners who were on the plane with Cumaiyi, Levitt said, insisted in separate interviews that a police officer hit him with a 2-foot metal flashlight.

The official paper trail begins immediately after Cumaiyi  who stood 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds  was dragged off the plane and taken to the Wadeye Health Clinic. A nurses report states that he had been tackled twice and subdued with punches to the head and body.

It noted several injuries, including swelling to the left temporal lobe.

But Cumaiyi was not referred to a doctor, violating protocols for head injuries and potentially risking death. Instead, he spent the night in a cell. By the time he reached Darwin the following afternoon, a new story had emerged.

A referral letter sent to Royal Darwin Hospital points to a separate incident from that morning, on Nov. 10  escaping from top of vehicle as it was travelling approximately 80klms per hour.

The police asserted in court that, as they tried to drive Cumaiyi to Darwin, he kicked the roof of the van twice before jumping out. The referral letter lists his injuries as trauma to left ear, superficial abrasions to left skull, left elbow and both knees.

Dr. Timothy Peltz, a reconstructive plastic surgeon in Sydney, said it was rather comical to expect only superficial abrasions from a fall at highway speeds. Dr. John Crozier, a trauma surgeon, said that a fatal outcome would not be uncommon, with a high likelihood of multiple fractures.

One of Cumaiyis aunts, Christine Cumaiyi, said he had told her it was a setup.

Adding doubt to the police account, a CT scan performed at the Darwin hospital found a left temporal bone fracture and damage to Cumaiyis ribs  injuries consistent with those reported by the nurse the day of his arrest.

No new injuries, which would be expected if he had jumped out of a moving vehicle a day later were identified.

The Northern Territory Health Department, citing patient privacy laws, declined to answer questions about Cumaiyis diagnosis and care.

Even now, Cumaiyis family says he seems different, morose, confused, possibly suffering from a brain injury.

He was such a happy boy, said his mother, Assumpta Gumbaduck, recalling a time when Cumaiyi enjoyed music and dancing. Until this.
COPENHAGEN - Scandinavian Airlines is cancelling another 280 flights across the Nordic region through Thursday afternoon (1200 GMT), affecting 20,000 more passengers, due to a pilots strike.

The cancellation comes on top of 504 flight cancelled Wednesday and hundreds more since pilots began an open-ended strike on Friday due to the collapse of pay negotiations.

Karin Nyman, a Scandinavian Airlines spokeswoman, welcomed the resumption on Wednesday of talks with the pilots  the first contacts since talks collapsed  saying it raised hope that it will lead to constructive conversations. The talks are being held in in Oslo, Norway.
DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrias state news agency says a visiting North Korea delegation has expressed interest in helping Damascus with reconstruction efforts.

SANA said North Koreas vice foreign minister, Pak Myong Guk, was in Damascus on Wednesday. He was expected to later travel to Iran.

Syria and North Korea are longtime allies.

Deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Faysal Mikdad stressed the need for stronger bilateral co-operation in the face of western economic sanctions.

The war in Syria since 2011 has devastated the country and billions of dollars are believed needed to rebuild. But Damascus is facing European and U.S. sanctions because of the war.

North Korea is seeking to expand its commercial ties to reduce its reliance on China.

North Korea said last year it is expecting a visit by the Syrian President.
WASHINGTON - A federal judge in Washington ruled Tuesday that a group of Democrats in Congress can proceed with a lawsuit against President Donald Trump alleging his businesses violate a constitutional ban against gifts from foreign governments.

But the case could soon be bottled up if Trumps lawyers succeed in appealing the judges ruling.

In a 48-page opinion, District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that Democrats claims that Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the constitution provide a valid cause of action against the president.

Sullivan cited a Maryland federal judges ruling in a similar emoluments case against Trump that concluded the scope of the constitutional ban on foreign gifts was broad  based on overwhelming evidence.

But even as Sullivan allowed the D.C. case to go forward, it faces the same legal constraints that have bogged down the Maryland case. In that case, a federal judge gave a green light to efforts by attorneys general in Maryland and the District to gather evidence to prove emoluments violations. But Trumps lawyers blocked the move by persuading a federal appeals court in Richmond to review the case.
LOS ANGELES - A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Tuesday that a Spanish museum that acquired a priceless, Nazi-looted painting in 1992 is the works rightful owner, and not the survivors of the Jewish woman who surrendered it 80 years ago to escape the Holocaust.

Although U.S. District Judge John F. Walter criticized Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the German industrialist whose name now graces the Madrid museum where the painting by Camille Pissarro hangs, for not doing all of the due diligence he could have when he acquired it in 1976, he found no evidence the museum knew it was looted art when it took possession in 1993.

Under Spanish law, he ruled, the painting is legally the museums, although he also criticized Spain, calling its decision to keep it inconsistent with international agreements that it and other countries have signed based upon the moral principle that art and cultural property confiscated by the Nazis from Holocaust (Shoah) victims should be returned to them or their heirs.

The museums U.S. attorney, Thaddeus Stauber, said he believes the decision finally puts an end to a bitter legal fight that has pitted the family of Lilly Cassirer against the museum for 20 years.

I think it puts an end to it because the court conducted, and we conducted, what the appellate court asked us to, which was a full trial on the merits, he told The Associated Press. As a lawyer who has been involved in this case for 14 years, Im pleased that the court did conduct a full trial. We now have a decision on the lawful owner and that should put an end to it.

Walter, who has seen the case returned to court twice by appeals and conducted the trial Stauber mentioned last December, indicated in his 34-page ruling that another appeal still could be possible. A lawyer for Lilly Cassirers great-grandson, David Cassirer of San Diego, didnt say whether the family plans to appeal.

We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments, attorney Steve Zack said.

The painting at issue, Pissarros Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie, is a stunning oil-on-canvas work depicting a rainy Paris street scene the artist observed from his window in 1897.

It was purchased directly from Pissarros art dealer in 1900 by the father-in-law of Lilly Cassirer, who eventually inherited it and displayed it in her home for years. When she and her family fled the Holocaust in 1939 she traded it for passage out of the country.

For years the family thought it was lost, and the German government paid her $13,000 in reparations in 1958.

Then in 1999 a friend of her grandson, Claude, who had seen photos of the painting, discovered it was in the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It had been hanging there since shortly after a non-profit foundation funded by Spain bought the barons entire collection for $350 million and named the museum for him.

The painting had been sold and resold after Cassirer and her family fled Germany. The baron, a German industrialist who settled later in Spain, bought it from a U.S. dealer for $300,000 in 1976.

The baron never hid the painting, putting it on exhibition often.

The court finds that there were sufficient suspicious circumstances or red flags which should have prompted the baron to conduct additional inquires as to the sellers title, the judge said.

Still, despite missing and torn provenance labels, the judge concluded that the baron and the museum foundation did not know the work was looted, and under Spanish law that allows the museum to keep it.
WASHINGTON - Special counsel Robert Mueller expressed frustration to Attorney General William Barr last month about how the findings of his Russia investigation were being portrayed, saying he worried that a letter summarizing the main conclusions of the probe lacked the necessary context and was creating public confusion about his teams work, a Justice Department official said Tuesday night.

Mueller communicated his agitation in a letter to the Justice Department just days after Barr issued a four-page document that summarized the special counsels conclusions about whether President Donald Trumps campaign had conspired with Russia and whether the president had tried to illegally obstruct the probe. Mueller and Barr then had a phone call on which the same concerns were addressed. The official was not authorized to discuss Muellers letter by name.

The letter lays bare simmering tensions between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barrs summary adequately conveyed the gravity of Muellers findings , particularly on the key question of obstruction. The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Barr of unduly protecting the Republican president and of spinning Muellers conclusions in Trumps favour. And it will almost certainly be a focus of Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which the attorney general will defend his handling of Muellers report.

After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Muellers letter, he called him to discuss it, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.

In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsels obstruction analysis, she added.

Barrs letter, released just two days after the Justice Department received the special counsels report, said Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence on both sides of the question. Justice Department officials were surprised Mueller had not made a determination, prompting Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to step in and decide on their own that the evidence was insufficient to support an obstruction charge.

Though Barrs letter did say that Muellers team had not exonerated Trump on obstruction nor concluded that he had committed a crime, it did not detail the specific evidence Muellers team accumulated or describe Muellers legal analysis as he examined nearly a dozen episodes of potential obstruction, including the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

Barr has sought to downplay any disagreements with the special counsel and has brushed aside allegations that he mischaracterized Muellers findings.

Barr said Mueller answered no when he asked him whether he would have recommended indicting Trump but for a Justice Department legal opinion that says a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted. Muellers report, however, makes clear that his thought process was shaped in part by that legal opinion and that he believed it would be unfair to publicly accuse the president of a crime if he could not be prosecuted and have a trial to defend himself.

The attorney general also did not acknowledge any sort of potential disagreement with Mueller at a recent Justice Department appropriations hearing, telling a Democratic congressman, I dont know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion.

As Mueller shared his frustrations with Barr on the phone call, the men discussed whether additional context from the report could be released, Kupec said. But Justice Department officials said they decided it made more sense to release the bottom line findings of Muellers report rather than include the detailed legal analysis behind them. They also decided against releasing summaries that Muellers team had prepared. Barr has said such summaries run the risk of being either over-inclusive or under-inclusive.

The letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr. According to prepared testimony released Tuesday night, Barr will tell the committee that Muellers investigation concluded without any interference and that he never overruled the Justice Department on any proposed action.

The appearance is Barrs first on Capitol Hill since he released a redacted version of Muellers report on April 18 and comes amid deepening Democratic skepticism about his impartiality. Those concerns were fueled in part by Barrs statements at a press conference announcing the release of the Mueller report, at which he repeated multiple times that Muellers investigation had not found any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia  even though the report notes that collusion is not a legal term.

The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the letter. The newspaper said Mueller complained that Barrs summary did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this offices work and conclusions.

There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation, according to Muellers letter. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

The Justice Department confirmed the authenticity of that language.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has been negotiating with Barr over a Thursday appearance, demanded that the Justice Department produce the letter by Wednesday morning.

The Attorney General has expressed some reluctance to appear before the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday, Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement. These reports make it that much more important for him to appear and answer our questions.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said: This is exactly why I said Mr. Barr should never have been confirmed in the first place. At this point he has lost all credibility, and the only way to clear this up is for Mr. Mueller to testify publicly.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., went further in his criticism, saying Barr lied to him in testimony about Muellers report and should resign. In that hearing, Barr replied to Van Hollen that he didnt know if Mueller agreed with his conclusions about the report, including that there wasnt enough evidence in the report to support a charge of obstruction of justice.

In light of the Mueller letter, Van Hollen said Barr totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign.
HONOLULU - The Latest on a fatal Hawaii helicopter crash (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

The pilot and one of two female passengers in a fatal Hawaii helicopter crash have been identified by Honolulus Medical Examiners office.

The department said Tuesday that 28-year-old pilot Joseph G. Berridge and 28-year-old Ryan McAuliffe of Chicago were killed in the Monday crash on a residential street in Kailua, a Honolulu suburb.

Officials also said that autopsies found all three people aboard the helicopter died of injuries from the crash. They said identification of the final passenger is pending.

The department said in a statement that toxicology and other testing required by the Federal Aviation Administration may take weeks or months.

The statement said the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are leading the investigation.

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2:30 p.m.

The father of a 28-year-old pilot says his son was among three people killed in a Hawaii helicopter crash.

Bobby Berridge said Tuesday his son Joseph Berridge moved to Honolulu two weeks ago from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

He says it was his sons dream to live in Hawaii and pilot helicopter tours.

Officials say all three people onboard the tour helicopter died Monday when it crashed on a residential street in Kailua, a Honolulu suburb.

The Honolulu medical examiners office hasnt released the names of those who died.

Bobby Berridge says his sons employer, Novictor Helicopters, contacted his sons girlfriend about the crash. CEO and chief pilot Nicole Vandelaar declined to confirm the pilots name.

The cause of the crash has not been determined.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the crash site Tuesday.
WALLINGFORD  The food services director for the towns schools and the head of childrens services at the public library are leaving their positions.

Food Services Director David Mensher, who was in the post for two years, starts Monday as cafeteria general manager at theUniversity of Saint Joseph in West Hartford.

Sunnie Scarpa, Wallingford Public Library head of childrens services, starts next week as director of E.C. Scranton Memorial Library in Madison. Her last day in Wallingford was Wednesday, six years to the day she started at the library.

Scarpa has been out on leave since February, caring for her infant daughter.

Mensher said one of his professional goals is to manage a college cafeteria.

Menscher, whose salary is $81,000 annually, signed a three-year contract in July 2017 to replace interim director Alan Belchak. He said the BOE (was) flexible and supported me in this decision to depart with one year left on the contract.

He previously worked in Middletown overseeing Sodexo's operation of the school system's cafeterias.

During his tenure, student participation in the food program has increased by more than 12 percent and is now very close to breaking even on our profit and loss.

Mensher created a junior chef cooking competition for fifth-graders, and also worked on introducing an elementary school breakfast program, which has yet to be rolled out.

School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said the college position is an incredible professional achievement.

I know he will be successful, he added.

Scarpa said that her new position of library director is an opportunity to learn more and do more.

Opportunities that are worth leaving Wallingford for are few and far between, said Scarpa, who earned $80,385 in Wallingford.

This position in Madison is just really an incredibly good fit for me.

Shes also served as secretary for the Connecticut Library Association.

At the Wallingford library, Scarpas legacy will include the 650-square foot Wonder Room, which is an upcoming renovation of an underused corner of the childrens room for STEM programs and other activities.

Jane Fisher, Wallingford Public Library director, said the Wonder Room was Scarpas idea and that she helped fundraise. She also called Scarpa a very elegant leader.

She was incredibly effective as head of childrens services, Fisher said, and admired by her coworkers, our board members and the general public.

LTakores@record-journal.com

203-317-2212

Twitter: @LCTakores
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Latest on a shooting at a North Carolina university campus (all times local):

11:15 p.m.

Police have identified the suspect in a fatal campus shooting as a 22-year-old man.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police issued a statement late Tuesday identifying the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell. They say hes in custody with charges pending.

Authorities have said he used a pistol to open fire on students in a classroom building at UNC-Charlotte, killing two and wounding four.

His grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, says Terrell had moved to Charlotte two years ago with his father.

Rold told The Associated Press that the actions dont sound like his grandson. He said: This is not in his DNA.

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10:50 p.m.

North Carolinas governor has vowed to take a hard look at how to keep guns away from universities and schools after a fatal shooting at a campus.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, addressed reporters near the University of North Carolina-Charlotte campus hours after a gunman killed two and wounded four others.

He said students shouldnt fear for their lives, nor parents fear for their childrens safety when they go off to school. He said: This violence has to stop.

He didnt provide specifics other than to say he planned to review everything involved in the shooting and work on ways to prevent others from happening.

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9 p.m.

A North Carolina university police chief says officers arrived within minutes to the room in a campus building where a shooting happened, disarming the gunman.

University of North Carolina-Charlotte Police Chief Jeff Baker said that a call came in at 4:40 p.m. Tuesday that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students.

Baker said officers were able to apprehend and disarm the suspect in the room where it happened. He declined to release the suspects name.

Baker says his officers saved lives with their speed.

He said two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition. He said a fourth persons injuries were less serious.

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7:50 p.m.

Police say a suspect is in custody in a fatal campus shooting that killed two people and injured four.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a statement on Twitter Tuesday evening that one person is in custody and no one else is believed to be involved.

Police at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte were going through campus buildings to tell anyone still sheltering in place that the scene is secure.

The Mecklenburg Emergency Medical Services Agency has said two people were found dead at the scene, two others have life-threatening injuries and two others have injuries that are not life-threatening.

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7 p.m.

Emergency medical officials say two people are dead and four injured in a shooting at a North Carolina university.

Mecklenburg Emergency Medical Services Agency said on Twitter that two people were found dead at the scene, two others have life-threatening injuries and two others have injuries that are not life-threatening.

UNC Charlotte issued a campus lockdown on Tuesday after reports that shots had been fired. Its unclear whether the victims are students or whether a suspect is in custody.

Aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

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6:30 p.m.

A North Carolina university has issued an alert for students to remain in a safe location following reports of an apparent shooting.

UNC Charlotte issued a campus lockdown on Tuesday after reports that shots had been fired.

Aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone had been shot or whether a suspect was in custody. School officials couldnt be reached for immediate comment Tuesday evening.

The campus was to host a concert at the schools football stadium.
SEATTLE - A county in Washington state has agreed to provide opiate-withdrawal medication to prisoners at its jail, following a federal lawsuit.

The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued Whatcom County Jail last year, saying its practice of requiring most prisoners to go cold turkey violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Opioid addiction qualifies as a disability under the law, and the ACLU said prisoners suffering from it are as entitled to medication as those with any other condition. Nevertheless, advocates say relatively few jails provide such treatment.

In the settlement announced Tuesday, Whatcom County agreed to provide the medication to all prisoners who need it  not just pregnant women.

The jail has also been working with treatment providers in the community to ensure prisoners receive addiction treatment after their release.
WASHINGTON - Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Wednesday abruptly cancelled plans to travel to Europe, citing the crisis in Venezuela and the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Shanahan spokesman, Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, said in a statement that Shanahan decided he should remain in Washington to co-ordinate with the National Security Council and the State Department on Venezuela and the border, where the military is assisting the Homeland Security Department with the migrant crisis.

The Pentagon has thus far played no direct role in Venezuela, where opposition to Nicolas Maduros government has created a crisis amid a so-far unsuccessful attempt to spark a military uprising.

There was no indication that a U.S. military operation was in the works, but Shanahan would be expected to participate in high-level meetings to monitor the situation in Venezuela and consider U.S. options.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday that the situation in Venezuela was a little unclear today and that the U.S. was collecting intelligence to ensure that administration officials have good visibility on what was happening there. He said that, as President Donald Trump has indicated before, all options are on the table, although its mainly been economic and diplomatic efforts so far.

Buccinos statement came just three hours after the Pentagon had publicly announced Shanahans trip to Germany, Belgium and England.

Shanahan was going to attend ceremonies in Germany on Thursday and Belgium on Friday marking the installation of a new commander for U.S. European Command and NATOs Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Officials said the change-of-command ceremonies would go forward without Shanahan, who also was going to visit London for consultations with senior British officials.
JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska marijuana regulators expressed frustration Wednesday with the limited co-operation they say theyre receiving with investigations from the state Department of Public Safety.

The dispute dates to last fall, during then-Gov. Bill Walkers administration, when an acting director of the Alaska State Troopers notified the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office its investigators would no longer have access to certain databases.

Erika McConnell, the offices director, told the Marijuana Control Board access is based on one of two qualifications: being a criminal justice agency or peace officers.

She said its debatable whether the office is a criminal justice agency but said for decades the state considered investigators related to the offices work peace officers. She said shes not clear on what changed.

Earlier this year, McConnell said the department had indicated in meetings that the factor of change was the addition of marijuana to the offices regulatory responsibilities.

A message seeking comment was sent to a Public Safety spokeswoman.

The Nov. 1, 2018, letter from Major Andrew Greenstreet, then-acting director of the Troopers, said access had been granted previously by presuming the office functioned as a criminal justice agency. But the letter says the office does not meet the qualifications for that and says that while state law grants some office employees limited peace officer powers, those arent sufficient for them to be considered peace officers.

McConnell told the Marijuana Control Board, meeting Wednesday in Anchorage, the department had agreed to provide information in the databases to office investigators when requested.

She said while some timely information has been provided, some requests have been ignored or go unfilled even after repeated requests. So, this continues to be a frustration for the office.

Board member Loren Jones asked whether Attorney General Kevin Clarkson or Commerce Commissioner Julie Anderson could do something.

The chairmen of the Marijuana and Alcoholic Beverage control boards previously sent a letter to Anderson asking her to request from Clarkson a legal opinion on whether office investigators are peace officers, McConnell said.

Mark Springer, who chairs the Marijuana Control Board, said he did not receive a response.

Shawn Williams, an assistant commissioner with the commerce department, said by email late Wednesday that the new process for requesting information developed with the Department of Public Safetys help is a workable arrangement since only two of AMCOs 432 investigations in 2018 resulted in criminal charges.

To our knowledge, this process is working well and therefore, no opinion was requested, Williams wrote.

McConnell said she anticipated a letter from one or both boards being sent to Clarkson to request an opinion on the issue.

Meanwhile, the short-handed board voted to seek public comment on tweaks to first-in-the-nation statewide rules for allowing onsite use of marijuana at authorized stores.

Rules that took effect last month specify conditions stores must meet to be authorized for onsite consumption. The rules refer to stores in freestanding buildings, consistent with language in a statewide smoke-free workplace law, and have ventilation requirements.

The proposed changes would allow stores not in freestanding buildings to have onsite consumption of edibles only. They also would clarify that special ventilation systems would be required only for onsite use areas allowing smoking.

The board voted 2-1 to seek public comment on the revisions, with Jones dissenting. One board member was absent and one seat is vacant.

Springer had said all three members present would have to agree to approve something. But he was corrected after Wednesdays vote that the motion passed.

No businesses have been approved yet for onsite consumption.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - An Arkansas university is drawing criticism after accepting a scholarship endowment from the estate of a former professor who reportedly assigned graduate students books that deny the Holocaust.

Dozens of students protested Tuesday at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville against the approximately $190,900 endowment from the estate of former history professor Michael Link.

In December, the university announced the scholarship in a press release, saying the endowment will be presented yearly to a senior student majoring in history who demonstrates financial need.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, opposes the university accepting the scholarship money with Links name attached to it, and has proposed naming the scholarship only after his mother, whose name is also on the gift.

In a 2005 letter to the colleges president at the time, history professor James Moses said Link assigned students to select one of eight or nine books on the Holocaust to explore the variations in interpretation of the Holocaust in history. But three of the books Link had included alarmed Moses, who called the works ahistorical, hate-filled, neo-Nazi propaganda.

The list included Debunking the Genocide Myth, published by Noontide Press, which the ADL calls a pro-Nazi publisher, and Made in Russia, which attempts to frame the Nuremberg Trials as faked by the Soviet Union and Jews.

Moses said Link defended the choices as offering a wide range of views on the event, a defence that did not satisfy the history department.

After he sent the letter, Moses said the university took immediate steps to remove the Holocaust from the course. Moses recalls Link being removed from the graduate faculty and the university forbidding him from teaching the next semester, actions which satisfied Moses.

He also stridently argued that he had never personally heard, or was made aware of by anyone, any anti-Semitic views by the Link. It wasnt for lack of trying, Moses said, recalling how after 2005 he would sometimes eavesdrop outside of Links office, which was near his, to catch him. Nothing ever came up.

But English professor Sarah Stein, who initially raised the concern over naming a scholarship for Link in December, said shes talked with a handful people who knew the professor and who say he expressed skepticism over the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

She said that Wednesday, the universitys faculty senate voted unanimously to request that President Robin Bowen ask the estate to change the scholarships name. Samuel Strasner, a spokesman for the university, said she did not intend to do so.

Link, who started at the school in 1965, continued teaching until his death at age 79 in 2016, though he was not promoted past associate professor.

Strasner said the university has taken the concerns seriously, during a review which consulted with former students and faculty, no evidence has been found that Link taught Holocaust denial.

The university intends to keep the scholarship absent any new evidence, he said.

Aaron Ahlquist, ADLs south central region director, said if they university cant change the name, they should reject the money. The ADL cites Links dissertation and a book he published in 1977, which they say subtly blame Jews for political persecution and refer to Jewish stereotypes.

A named scholarship is a significant honour, he said. They have the evidence they need to understand that he, at his heart, was a Holocaust denier and this should not be a difficult decision.

Administrators for Links estate could not be reached for comment.

Moses said he would understand if the university rejected the money on moral principles, but also knows the scholarship money could benefit a financially distressed student.

The guy was a crank. Hes been dead three years. He has utterly no influence, no lasting legacy in this university, Moses said. But that money  oh my God, what good could that money do with students who otherwise could not afford to come here, and who then be exposed to the very sorts of classes that would be in opposition to what we assume he thought.

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Follow Hannah Grabenstein on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hgrabenstein
BALTIMORE - A Baltimore teenager was convicted of felony murder Wednesday, about a year after he accelerated a stolen Jeep and hit a Maryland police officer, killing her on a suburban cul-de-sac.

Dawnta Harris, whos 17 but was tried as an adult, faces life in prison for the slaying of Baltimore County police officer Amy Caprio. The jury in the suburban county ringing the city of Baltimore handed down the verdict after deliberating for nearly seven hours over two days.

Last week, jurors watched Caprios searing body-worn camera footage. She could be heard repeatedly ordering Harris out of the car before the 29-year-old law enforcer drew her pistol and screaming Stop! Stop! Harris ducked his head, hit the gas and the Jeep slammed into her. She fired once, the bullet shattering the windshield. Harris ditched the stolen car a few blocks away.

Three others, identified as Harris accomplices, also face murder charges in the police officers death and will stand trial. Prosecutors say they were burglarizing a home in the moments when Caprio was hit, but under Maryland law, if someones killed during a burglary, accomplices can be found guilty of the slaying along with the killer.

Harris was also found guilty of burglary, a necessary step before jurors could even consider the felony murder charge. Sentencing is set for July.

The case turned into a political hot potato. Even before Caprio was buried, various authorities in Maryland started blaming each other for having allowed Harris to be on the streets while he awaited sentencing for auto theft. He was technically still under state supervision when he ran over the Baltimore County officer.

A slightly-built ninth-grader at the time of the slaying, Harris had been deemed a high risk by Marylands juvenile services department. He had a string of arrests for auto theft, and had skipped out of juvenile custody repeatedly. His own mother had asked officials to detain him, hoping to avoid any more trouble.

Despite all that, a judge transferred Harris from a juvenile facility to house arrest with his mother in impoverished West Baltimore. Harris had been fitted with an ankle bracelet that didnt track his whereabouts, simply indicating whether he was inside or outside their apartment in Gilmor Homes, a public housing project on the citys troubled west side.

Days later, Harris went AWOL again. And a week after that, he ran over Caprio.

On Wednesday, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski thanked the jurors, saying justice was delivered. The past couple of weeks have undoubtedly been difficult for Amys family, friends, and co-workers at the Baltimore County Police Department, he said in a statement.

The courtrooms gallery was filled with Caprios loved ones and police colleagues.

Warren Brown, Harris lawyer, said he hoped the jurys verdict could serve as a kind of warning for other struggling juveniles. The Baltimore defence attorney took on the case pro bono.

This whole thing has been a tragedy. Youve got an officer who gave her life in the line of duty. Youve got a kid that is lost and finds himself in this type of predicament. As I indicated at the beginning of this trial there would be no winners, only losers, Brown said outside the courthouse.

Caprio and her husband had been planning to celebrate their third wedding anniversary before she was killed.

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Follow McFadden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmcfadd
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump may want to cast his potential Democratic rivals as a band of angry socialists, but Joe Biden is not co-operating with Trumps reelection strategy, and thats giving the president growing unease.

As the Democratic field expands to more than 20 contenders, Trump and his campaign team have been trying to lump them all together as left-wing radicals. Campaign officials believe its the best way for Trump to overcome his challenges with moderate voters, particularly in the upper Midwestern states critical to his reelection.

But Bidens working-class appeal and more pragmatic policy approach are putting the GOP framing of the 2020 race to the test. As he campaigned in Iowa this week, Biden showcased his union support and steered clear of the liberal policy debates firing up the Democratic base.

From the White House, Trump watched  and tweeted  with some concern, according to two people familiar with the presidents thinking, as Biden earned the endorsement of a prominent International Association of Fire Fighters and secured a spot at the top of Democratic polls. The firefighters backing, in particular, appeared to irk the president, who relishes the support of first responders. It was the sort of endorsement that threatened to provide Biden with credibility with the centrist voters Trump must hold onto, said the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to reveal the presidents thinking on the matter.

Trump blasted out more than 50 tweets and retweets about Biden before 7 a.m. Wednesday  a frenetic pace, even for the prolific social media user. Trump followed up by calling him Sleepy Joe in an interview with Boston Herald Radio on Wednesday, adding of Democrats, Theyre all pretty heavy leaning left, including him.

Biden had said earlier Wednesday of Trump: Ive had his attention for a while.

Bidens swift rise tests the Trump campaigns theory that no candidate can win the Democratic nomination without first embracing a slew of progressive policies that would appeal to the partys base in the primaries but put Trump in a stronger position once he has a general-election opponent he can pillory as outside the American mainstream.

The great challenge for every campaign is to define your opponent, but Democrats are doing that work for Trump, said Republican strategist Josh Holmes. The things that Bernie Sanders talked about in 2016 have been adopted by virtually every Democratic candidate for president. Theyre the admission for entry to being competitive in this race.

While Biden has begun laying out positions that tack with the direction of his party on health care, education and taxes, for example, he has taken care to avoid embracing the more drastic proposals backed by the Vermont senator and others on issues including Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.

Republicans, for their part, are hard at work trying to erode that image.

Joe Biden is no moderate, just ask him, tweeted Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. Biden proudly claims he was never labeled as a moderate in Delaware. And in a sea of 2020 socialists, Biden says hes the most progressive person running. Dont be fooled: Biden and his policies are too liberal for most Americans.

The GOPs efforts to paint all Democrats as one and the same kicked into high gear last week after Sanders said in a CNN town hall that everyone, including convicted terrorists like the Boston Marathon bomber, deserved the right to vote. Republicans pounced on what they viewed as a new liberal litmus test, immediately redistributed Sanders comments across social media platforms and in reporters inboxes, and called for other Democratic candidates to stake out a position on the issue.

It was a tactic Republicans deployed before on the Green New Deal, Medicare for All and other hot-button issues that have been championed by the Democratic Partys resurgent progressive wing. Their aim is to try to force the Democratic contenders to choose between appeasing their partys base for the primary and preserving their chance at winning over less-liberal voters in the general election.

Trump allies have tried to force the same approach with Biden.

White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway asked reporters Tuesday to press him on his health care stance, trying to frame the issue as a choice between breaking with other progressive Democrats and repudiating the signature legislative achievement of former President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served two terms as vice-president.

Is he for a Medicare for All? Because Medicare for All means that Obamacare didnt work, Conway goaded. A day earlier, as Biden launched his campaign, he embraced a Medicare buy-in option, but stopped well short of backing the proposal pushed by Sanders and picked up by several other Democrats.

Bidens education position and rhetoric are well short of that laid out by another 2020 presidential candidate, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is championing debt-free college, and Sanders, who supports government-paid undergraduate tuition. Biden has been promoting an affordable goal, guaranteed paid two-year community college for those who qualify. The effect would be, he said in Dubuque, Iowa, on Tuesday, cutting in half the cost of a four-year college because your state universities accept transfers of the credit.

The Trump campaign is papering over such distinctions.

The Democrat 2020 primary field is little more than a homogenous group of socialist extremists, said Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaigns national press secretary. Their policies threaten the very fabric of American society and will never compete with President Trumps soaring economy, rising wages, renewed trade deals, Constitution-abiding judges, long-awaited criminal justice reform, strong border security, and America leading on the world stage.

But Biden poses the clearest test of that perspective. He is a known quantity in American politics after decades in public life, and he has demonstrated appeal to the working-class voters in Rust Belt states whom Trumps team believes it can turn against Democrats.

To paint him as one of many socialists is just a way to not have a conversation about decency and experience, said Liz Allen, a former Obama-Biden official. Joe Biden has the two things that Donald Trump doesnt have that voters care about.

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Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont in Iowa City, Iowa, and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Miller on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller
BOSTON - Massachusetts regulators say the record $35.5 million in fines imposed on Wynn Resorts and its CEO are meant to serve as a deterrent as the states casino industry takes shape.

State Gaming Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said Wednesday shes confident the panel struck the right balance in fining the company.

Casino experts say the fines levied Tuesday are the largest ever penalty by a state gambling regulatory agency.

The Nevada Gaming Commission in February levied a $20 million fine on Wynn Resorts that was the largest imposed at the time.

Jennifer Roberts, of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, says the penalty is more along the lines of fines imposed on casinos by the federal government for money laundering.

Wynn Resorts has said its weighing its legal options.
DENVER - A Florida teenager obsessed with the Columbine school shooting had already killed herself by the time authorities launched a manhunt for her after learning that she had travelled to Colorado just days before the 20thanniversary of the massacre, a coroners report said Wednesday.

An autopsy summary by the Clear Creek County coroner estimated that 18-year-old Sol Pais likely died on April 15  the day authorities said she flew to Denver from Miami. The FBIs Denver office said it learned of Pais travel the following morning. Agents also learned the day after she died that Pais had gone directly to a gun store from the airport and purchased a shotgun and ammunition.

Pais was already dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by the time agents began retracing her steps, according to the coroners initial autopsy findings.

Chief Deputy Coroner Harriet Hamilton said Wednesday that the office is awaiting test results before producing a final autopsy report.

The gun purchase and other warning signs, including Pais past conversations about the 1999 Columbine shooting, led the FBI and local law enforcement to consider the young woman a potential threat to schools and issue a public warning about her, authorities have said.

Columbine and other schools tightened security the afternoon of April 16 and closed entirely on April 17 when authorities still had not located Pais. She never threatened a specific school, authorities said.

Her body was found on April 17 in the foothills west of Denver. Authorities knew Pais was last seen in the area on April 15 but it was unclear when she killed herself until the coroners report Wednesday.

Based on the information we had at the time, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with school districts in the Denver Metro area, took the necessary steps to ensure our communities, and particularly our students, stayed safe until there was no longer a threat, Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader said in a statement.

An FBI spokeswoman declined comment Wednesday.

The search for Pais came amid preparations for memorial events marking the Columbine shooting. Two teenage gunmen killed 12 classmates and a teacher at the high school in Denvers suburbs before killing themselves.
NEWARK, N.J. - A former New Jersey school superintendent who pleaded guilty to defecating on another high schools track has sued the local police department for releasing his mug shot to news outlets.

Thomas Tramaglini said in a federal lawsuit filed late Tuesday that Holmdel police violated his constitutional rights by taking the picture and then releasing it after he was issued summonses last year.

The suit said Tramaglinis due process rights were violated and alleged New Jersey law prohibits the taking of mug shots for low-level offences. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.

Tramaglini resigned as superintendent of the Kenilworth schools, and his attorney said he is now working outside the education field.

Nearly a year after his ordeal began, today Dr. Tramaglini fights back against the police misconduct that has altered his life forever, attorney Matthew Adams said Wednesday. He is severely underemployed and is fighting for any semblance of normalcy he can create for himself and his family.

An attorney representing the township, its police chief and one other officer named in the suit said in an email that he wouldnt comment on the pending litigation.

The Tramaglini case received national exposure after details came to light. The suit alleged the negative publicity damaged his reputation and was the result of the police departments unauthorized, intentional, reckless, malicious, and unlawful conduct.

Tramaglini was issued summonses in May after police said he repeatedly defecated on the Holmdel High School track. He eventually pleaded guilty to relieving himself in public on one occasion and paid a $500 fine.

Adams argued that state law prevents police from taking and releasing mug shots of people charged with low-level offences, liked the one Tramaglini pleaded guilty to. In a letter he sent to the state attorney generals office in February seeking a probe, Adams wrote that a review of township arrest reports involving similar municipal ordinances violations since 2007 revealed no instances in which mug shots were released.
National

Not party policy: Shiv Senas U-turn on burqa ban demand

Mumbai, May 1 (IANS) | Publish Date: 5/1/2019 11:39:15 AM IST

Hours after its party mouthpieces called for a ban on the use of burqas like what Sri Lanka is considering, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday evening officially dissociated itself from the demand, following a massive furore on the issue just five days before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins.

Referring to the strong editorial in Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana calling for the ban like the measure being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives, party spokesperson Neelam Gorhe stressed that every policy decision is discussed in a meeting of top leaders or announced by party President Uddhav Thackeray.

Todays editorial has neither been discussed nor been announced by Uddhavji and thus it may be a personal opinion of the editor on the current affairs in Sri Lanka, but is not endorsed by the party President or the party, Gorhe said in a categorical statement, signalling a dramatic turnaround on the issue.

State political circles indicated the sudden decision to backtrack may have been prompted by the massive potential political fallout of the Senas demand on the Bharatiya Janata Party and allies which are facing the upcoming three phases of elections in this month, barely on the eve of the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.

With the demand, addressed directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, political circles are abuzz with speculation whether BJP leadership and other allies have conveyed their displeasure to the Sena, but Gorhe declined to comment on this when asked by IANS.

Another ally, the Republican Party of India-A strongly came out against the Sena on the issue

Not all women who wear burqa are terrorists, it is their custom and their right, too. There should not be such a ban on burqa in India, its President and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owais attacked the Sena for its ignorance by seeking a ban on burqa and sought Election Commissions action in the matter.

The Supreme Court judgement on privacy clearly lays down that choice is now a Fundamental Right. Besides, it is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, aimed at creating polarization before the elections, he said.

The editorial said that the ban - something similar which the party has proposed in the past -- has already come in Ravanas (Sri) Lanka, when will it be implemented in Rams Ayodhya -- this is our question to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi.

This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security, it said.

If such religious practices or traditions interfere with national security, then it must be ended immediately, and Modi will have to do it now.

This work will require as much daring as a surgical strike. The Sri Lankan President had done it by overnight banning burqa or veils or face-covers of any types in all public places. This is a work of great courage and restraint exhibited by (Sri Lanka) President Maithripala Sirisena, it lauded.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trumps uphill effort to appoint conservative commentator Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve board may soon come to a head, the Senates No. 2 Republican leader said Wednesday.

Yet even as Sen. John Thune of South Dakota suggested Moores fate could be known as soon as Wednesday, Moore said everything was fine.

Its all systems go. I have to get all the paperwork in for Congress required background checks, Moore told reporters. He said he had not heard anything from the White House about potential problems with his expected nomination.

Numerous GOP senators have said they object to Moores disparaging past writings about women or have sidestepped questions about whether they would back him for the Fed post. That is unusual for Republican senators, who generally flock to support Trump nominees.

With Democrats likely to solidly oppose confirming Moore, as few as four negative GOP votes would be enough to derail his bid for the job. Republicans control the Senate 53-47.

Thune told reporters at the Capitol that Moore has issues up here. Asked whether Republicans have urged the White House to stop pushing Moore for the job, Thune said there are ongoing discussions and conversations about it.

Well know more about that before long, said Thune, adding that could occur perhaps on Wednesday.

But at the White House, Moore predicted, As long as its about my economic views and qualifications, Ill be easily confirmed. He said his prospect would depend on if we can get the focus back on the economy.

Trump has said he wants Moore to join the Fed but has yet to formally nominate him. Moore was one of his 2016 campaign advisers.

If Moore steps aside, it would be the second consecutive setback for Trumps effort to place political allies on the Fed board, which is supposed to manage the economy free of partisan concerns. Trump, eyeing his 2020 re-election bid, has repeatedly pressured the Fed to cut interest rates, a move that normally boosts economic activity.

Herman Cain, a Trump preference for another Fed opening, withdrew from consideration recently after questions resurfaced about past allegations of sexual harassment and infidelity. Cain, a businessman who denied the accusations, was also a candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

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Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is suggesting that the possibility of impeachment might help Democrats win more White House co-operation in congressional investigations into whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Pelosi has tapped the brakes on impeachment. But asked Wednesday by The Associated Press about some Democrats saying impeachment was the best way to reduce White House resistance, Pelosi said, The threat of impeachment is always there.

Pelosi has cautioned fellow Democrats to see where their investigations lead. Shes warned that trying to remove Trump cannot succeed without substantial Republican support.

Pelosi says Democrats favouring impeachment are expressing their views but, Theyre not exerting any pressure on me.

No. 2 House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer told reporters earlier that impeachment was the ultimate option for forcing White House co-operation.
SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The only two fraternities at Swarthmore College have opted to disband amid outrage over years-old documents containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault.

Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi announced their decisions in separate Facebook posts Tuesday night.

We cannot in good conscience be members of an organization with such a painful history, Phi Psi said in its statement.

Dozens of student protesters at Swarthmore, a highly selective, private liberal arts college in suburban Philadelphia, had occupied the on-campus Phi Psi house during a four-day sit-in, calling for both fraternities to be shut down and the buildings put to other uses. Swarthmore had suspended fraternity activity while it investigated. Its lone sorority wasnt affected.

In mid-April, two campus publications, The Phoenix and Voices, released internal Phi Psi documents from 2012 to 2016 that they said were anonymously leaked. The redacted documents included jokes about sexual assault; derogatory comments about women, minorities and the LGBT community; videos and photos of sexual encounters where all parties might not have known they were being recorded and a reference to a rape attic.

The authenticity of the documents has not been verified. The college said Wednesday it was reviewing them.

In an open letter posted Wednesday on the colleges website, Swarthmore President Valerie Smith wrote that we respect these students decision to disband the fraternities, and we appreciate their strong condemnation of the behaviour described in the leaked documents.

Smith also condemned what she called unsubstantiated attacks directed at individual students or student groups ... as too many students have recently endured, taking aim at social media posts and attempts to exclude students from open campus events based on their affiliations.

She said theres no evidence that any current student took part in the behaviour recounted in the documents.

Delta Upsilon said on its Facebook page Tuesday night that disbanding was in the best interest of the Swarthmore community, adding: We hope that our former house will provide a space that is inclusive, safe, and promotes healing.

In its post, Phi Psi said its members were appalled and disgusted by the contents of the documents, which led us to question our affiliation with an organization whose former members could write such heinous statements.

Both houses are on campus and are owned by the college. The Phi Psi house was primarily used for parties and other social activities. The college said Wednesday that both fraternities had decided to relinquish their houses, but no decision has been made about future uses of the properties.
WEST CHESTER, Ohio - Authorities continue to investigate the Sunday evening deaths of four family members found shot in their suburban Ohio home.

West Chester Township spokeswoman Barb Wilson says Wednesday the investigation is ongoing. Police have not publicly identified any suspects.

A coroner identified the man and three women killed and said all four died from gunshot wounds. She did not specify their relationship or release other details Tuesday on the autopsy results.

Authorities say they dont believe the slayings were a hate crime.

A man identified as a resident of the apartment called 911 late Sunday, saying he arrived home to find four family members down and bleeding.

Members of a nearby Sikh temple said Monday they believed the victims were members of a family that had worshipped there.
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvanias attorney general will appeal a federal judges decision to vacate the child-endangerment conviction of former Penn State President Graham Spanier.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the decision Wednesday, a day after U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick ruled Spanier was improperly charged under a 2007 law for actions that occurred in 2001.

Mehalchick gave Shapiros office three months to retry Spanier, who had been convicted for how he responded in 2001 to a complaint about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy.

Shapiro says federal courts have limited power to act in state criminal cases, and argues Mehalchick exceeded that authority.

Spanier was forced out as president shortly after Sanduskys arrest in November 2011.

The 70-year-old had been scheduled to begin serving two months in jail Wednesday.
PHILADELPHIA - Authorities say a 13-year-old boy who was shot outside a Philadelphia supermarket remains hospitalized in critical condition.

The shooting occurred around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Authorities say the boy had parked his bike and was heading into the store when at least eight shots rang out. The boy, who was hit twice in the abdomen, then ran inside of the store but soon fell to the ground.

Some people inside the store tried to help the boy before emergency responders arrived. He was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery, but further details on his injuries were not released.

The teens name has not been disclosed, and its not clear if he was the shooters intended target. No other injuries were reported.

A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
WASHINGTON - The Latest on Attorney General William Barrs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee (all times local):

8:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump says calls from some Democratic lawmakers for Attorney General William Barr to resign are so ridiculous.

Trump tells Fox Business Networks Trish Regan that he heard Barr performed incredibly well in testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The president noted that three of the senators who questioned Barr are running for the presidency and accused them of ranting and raving like lunatics, frankly.

Trump was asked about Barr declining to appear before a House panel to testify on special counsel Robert Muellers report. Barr objected to the format of letting staff attorneys conduct a round of questioning.

Trump says, They want to treat him differently than they have anybody else, adding, You elect people that are supposed to be able to do their own talking.

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6:20 p.m.

The Justice Department says the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is trying to place unprecedented and unnecessary conditions on the attorney general.

William Barr was scheduled to appear before the committee on Thursday but will not show up.

The attorney general was asked to testify before the committee about special counsel Robert Muellers report on the Russia investigation.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says committee Chairman Jerrold Nadlers insistence that congressional staffers be allowed to question Barr is inappropriate.

Kupec says the attorney general remains happy to engage directly with members of the committee to answer their questions.

Nadler accused Barr of cancelling his appearance because hes terrified of facing questioning from the panel.

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6:15 p.m.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman says Attorney General William Barr is declining to appear before the panel Thursday because hes terrified.

New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Wednesday the next step would be to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to provide a fully unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report.

Barr has objected to the committees plan to have attorneys from both sides, Democrats and Republicans, do the questioning, alongside lawmakers on the committee.

Nadler says Barr is stonewalling Congress over the Russia probe and trying to blackmail the committee by setting the terms of the hearing. The chairman says he hopes Barr reconsiders his decision not to show.

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5:55 p.m.

Attorney General William Barr has told members of the House Judiciary Committee that he will not testify before their committee Thursday.

Thats according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press. The people werent authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The attorney general was asked to testify before the committee about special counsel Robert Muellers report.

His refusal to attend the hearing is likely to cause a further rift with congressional Democrats who have accused him of trying to spin Muellers report to favour the president.

Barr appeared Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

 Mary Clare Jalonick

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3:45 p.m.

Snitty.

Thats the way Attorney General William Barr described a letter from special counsel Robert Mueller expressing concerns about his portrayal of the Russia probe.

Barr was testifying at the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday when Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut asked about the letter. Mueller wrote it March 27, but it was only disclosed publicly ahead of the hearing.

The letters a bit snitty, Barr said. He said he thinks it was probably written by someone on Muellers staff.

Barr said he called Mueller the next day and said: Whats with the letter? Why dont you just pick up the phone and call me if there was an issue?

Blumenthal characterized the letter an extraordinary act of rebuking the Attorney General of the United States and memorializing it in writing.

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2:30 p.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he didnt exonerate President Donald Trump, because thats not the job of the Justice Department.

Barr said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday that he simply decided the evidence gathered by special counsel Robert Mueller was not sufficient to prove that the president obstructed justice.

Barr said, I didnt exonerate. I said that we didnt believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offence.

The attorney general made the statement as he explained that the Justice Departments job is to identify crimes and prosecute them but not to pass judgment on behaviour thats not illegal.

He says the report is now in the hands of the American people, and if they dont like Trumps conduct, theres an election in 18 months.

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2:25 p.m.

Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono has called on Attorney General William Barr to resign at a hearing to review special counsel Robert Muellers report.

Hirono launched an aggressive line of questioning against the attorney general, asserting he hadnt been honest with Congress and calling on him to resign.

Hirono also asked Barr if it was OK for a president to ask one of his aides to lie, referencing the reports examination of whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

When Barr equivocated, Hirono grew angry, saying, Mr. attorney general, please give us some credit for knowing what the hell is going on right now.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham shot back: You have slandered this man from top to bottom.

Barr himself chimed in, asking How did we get to this point?

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12:25 p.m.

The House Judiciary Committee has voted to allow its staff to question Attorney General William Barr, throwing his scheduled testimony Thursday into question.

The Democrat-led panel voted to allow extra time for questioning. Barr was testifying in the Senate during the House panels vote Wednesday and has objected to the change. Its unclear whether Barr will testify before Chairman Jerrold Nadlers panel as scheduled.

Nadler speculated that Barr is afraid of testifying, adding, he apparently does not want to answer questions.

Republicans shot back that Democrats are conducting impeachment-like proceedings against President Donald Trump instead of legitimate oversight.

Barr on Wednesday defended his handling of special counsel Robert Muellers (MUHL-urz) report. His testimony came after the release of a letter from Mueller expressing frustration about how Barr portrayed his findings.

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12:05 p.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he saw no issue with his choice of words when he told Congress last month he believed spying did occur against Donald Trumps presidential campaign.

Barr testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee and said the word spying does not have any pejorative connotation.

Barr made the comment in April during testimony to the House Appropriations Committee. He provided no details about what spying may have taken place but appeared to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a former Trump associate.

Barr defended himself Wednesday, arguing its a common term in media reports to refer to lawful surveillance.

When pressed by Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse that the term is not commonly used by Justice Department officials, Barr responded: It is commonly used by me.

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11:35 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he believes that if special counsel Robert Mueller felt he shouldnt make a decision about whether or not the president obstructed justice then he shouldnt have investigated.

Barr testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He says he isnt totally sure why the special counsel did not reach a conclusion about whether the president obstructed justice. Instead, Mueller presented evidence on both sides of the question.

Barr says that if Mueller felt he shouldnt go down the path taking a traditional prosecutive decision then he shouldnt have investigated. He says, That was the time to pull up.

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (ROH-zen-styn) determined the evidence was insufficient to support an obstruction charge.

Mueller sent a letter saying that Barrs four-page summary of his Russia report created public confusion about critical aspects of the results.

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11:05 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr says special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL-ur) told him that Barr didnt misrepresent Muellers Russia report in a letter summarizing the probes principal conclusions.

The attorney general testified Wednesday before Congress and responded to the release of a March 27 letter from Mueller complaining that Barrs four-page letter about the report did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of the special counsels work and conclusions.

Barr says he called Mueller after receiving his complaints and Mueller told him he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report.

Barr says Mueller told him press reports were reading too much into Barrs letter and Mueller wanted the public to see more of his reasoning for not answering the question of whether President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice.

Muellers letter says that Barrs summary of his Russia report created public confusion about critical aspects of the results.

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10:55 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he was surprised that special counsel Robert Mueller and his team did not reach a conclusion on whether or not President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Barr said in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that Mueller told him of his teams plans at a March 5 meeting.

A Justice Department legal opinion says sitting presidents cannot be indicted. Barr says Mueller told him he wouldnt have recommended indicting the president even without that opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel.

Barr says Mueller told him that there may come a time when the Justice Department should consider revisiting that opinion but that this is not that case.

Mueller has written a letter saying that Barrs summary of his Russia report created public confusion about critical aspects of the results.

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10:45 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr is criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL-ur) for not identifying grand jury material in his Russia report when he submitted it.

Barr says the Mueller teams failure to do that slowed down the release of the public version of the report.

Barr testified Wednesday about his handling of the Mueller report before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The testimony comes after the release of a letter from Mueller. That letter reveals the special counsel had prepared the summaries of his two-volume report for immediate public release but Barr chose not to release them.

Barr instead wrote his own letter summarizing Muellers findings. Muellers letter says that Barrs summary created public confusion about critical aspects of the results of the Russia probe.

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10:40 a.m.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is requesting that the panel hold a hearing with special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL-ur).

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN-styn) said Wednesday in her opening statement at the committees hearing on Muellers Russia report that she had asked Chairman Lindsey Graham to invite the special counsel.

Graham has said he doesnt think Mueller needs to testify. The South Carolina senator says hes satisfied with hearing from Attorney General William Barr, who is appearing before the panel on Wednesday.

Graham said in his opening statement hes ready to move on from the report. He says that for him its over.

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10:05 a.m.

Special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL-ur) told Attorney General William Barr that Barrs summary of the Russia probes findings caused public confusion about critical aspects of the investigation.

A copy of Muellers letter to Barr was released Wednesday. In his letter, Mueller raised concerns about a letter that Barr sent to Congress detailing what he said were Muellers principal conclusions.

Mueller said Barrs letter did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of the special counsels work and conclusions.

Barrs letter was released just two days after the Justice Department received the special counsels report. It said Mueller hadnt reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence on both sides of the question.

Muellers letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr.

Barrs prepared testimony shows he plans to defend his handling of Muellers report.

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9:50 a.m.

President Donald Trump is claiming NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION as Attorney General William Barr prepares to appear before Congress for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia report.

Barrs testimony Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee comes amid new revelations that Mueller expressed frustration to Barr about how the reports finding were being portrayed.

Trump tweeted: NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION. Besides, how can you have Obstruction when not only was there No Collusion (by Trump), but the bad actions were done by the other side? The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!

Mueller found no evidence of a conspiracy between Trumps campaign and Russia in the 2016 election. Barr says he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cleared Trump of obstruction of justice after investigators reached no conclusion on that question.

Barrs prepared testimony shows he plans to defend his handling of Muellers report.

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9:25 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr is defending his handling of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation report.

Barr is to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. His appearance comes hours after it was revealed that Mueller had sent the Justice Department a letter objecting to the way his findings were portrayed.

In prepared testimony released by the Justice Department, Barr says that Mueller finished his investigation without interference and that neither he nor any other Justice Department official overruled any proposed action.

Barr also will defend his decision to release the bottom-line conclusions of Muellers report. Barr will say he did not believe that it was in the public interest to release additional portions of the report in piecemeal fashion.

Barr initially issued a four-page statement that summarized what he said were the main conclusions of the Mueller report. He later released a redacted version of the report.

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1:15 a.m.

Lawmakers have a new line of inquiry to pursue when Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Barr has been expected in Wednesdays hearing to defend his actions surrounding the release of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia report.

But it emerged Tuesday night that Mueller has expressed frustration to Barr in a letter with how the conclusions of his investigation have been being portrayed.

The letter lays bare a simmering rift between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barrs summary of the report adequately conveyed the gravity of Muellers findings, particularly on the key question of obstruction.

The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Barr of unduly protecting the president and of spinning Muellers conclusions in Trumps favour.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Latest on a fatal shooting at a North Carolina university (all times local):

7:05 p.m.

The chancellor of the North Carolina university where two students were shot and killed in a classroom says the school wont be defined by the tragedy.

University of North Carolina-Charlotte Chancellor Philip Dubois said during a vigil in the schools basketball arena that the university can be defined by how it responds to Tuesdays shooting, which also injured four other students.

Student Body President Chandler Crean fought back tears as he said Wednesday that students, professors and administrators must do all they can to make sure this never happens at another school.

Emotion caught in DuBois voice several times also. He told the thousands of people at the vigil they will forever be changed, but they will forever be stronger.

Students were also invited to an on-campus candlelight vigil later Wednesday.

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5:45 p.m.

Students are descending on the basketball arena at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte to attend a vigil for the victims of a fatal shooting in a campus classroom.

The vigil was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, a reading day before final exams were scheduled to start on the campus north of downtown Charlotte. Instead of preparing for finals, students will pay respects to the two people killed when a gunman opened fire Tuesday, killing two and wounding four.

Many students wore green T-shirts with various logos representing the school and its sports nickname, the 49ers.

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4 p.m.

The father of shooting victim Riley Howells longtime girlfriend says the young man was always ready to help others.

Kevin Westmoreland says his daughter, Lauren, and Howell dated for nearly six years and stayed together even as they went to separate colleges.

He said Howell was athletic and compassionate  and would have been a good firefighter or paramedic.

Howell was one of two students killed Tuesday by a gunman at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. The 21-year-old junior was from the Asheville area.

Police credit Howell with saving lives by tackling the shooter in the attack that also wounded four students.

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3:30 p.m.

The grandfather of the suspect in a fatal shooting on a North Carolina college campus says his grandson is under observation in police custody.

Paul Rold said Wednesday that 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell has not been allowed to speak to his father or a lawyer. Rold says Terrells father hasnt a clue about what happened.

Terrell is jailed on multiple charges including murder in the Tuesday attack on a University of North Carolina-Charlotte classroom that left two students dead and four others wounded.

Rold, of Arlington, Texas, says Terrell is on the autism spectrum but clever as can be and showed no interest in guns.

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3:15 p.m.

Authorities say the gunman who killed two students in a North Carolina college classroom didnt appear to target any particular person but did deliberately pick the building where it happened.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said he promised the father of one of the victims that his detectives will do everything they can to try to figure out why the shooter opened fire Tuesday in a classroom at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Former student 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell has been charged in the attack that killed two students and wounded four others.

Authorities did not say how many students were in the anthropology class at the time of the shooting but said it was a fairly large class.

Putney says the weapon used in the shooting was purchased legally.

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2:50 p.m.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney says one of the two people killed in a shooting in a college classroom saved lives by tackling the gunman.

Putney says 21-year-old Riley Howell took the fight to the assailant after determining he had no place to run or hide in his classroom Tuesday afternoon at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Putney said that, without Howells attack, capturing 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell might have taken longer.

Putney said the fast action by university police also saved lives. The first officer in the classroom said he has been preparing for a horrible event like this for 20 years in his mind.

Authorities say Terrell withdrew from classes this semester.

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12:15 p.m.

A spokeswoman for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte says the suspect in a shooting that killed two students and wounded four others had withdrawn from classes and was no longer enrolled as a student.

UNC-Charlotte spokeswoman Buffy Stephens said Wednesday that suspect Trystan Andrew Terrell withdrew from school earlier this year. Campus police said they disarmed and arrested Terrell in the classroom where the shooting happened Tuesday.

The university said the dead are 21-year-old Riley Howell of Waynesville and 19-year-old Ellis Parlier of Midland.

Wounded were 20-year-old Sean Dehart of Apex, 23-year-old Emily Houpt of Charlotte and 19-year-old Drew Pescaro of Apex.

Also shot was 20-year-old Rami Alramadhan of Saihat, Saudia Arabia. UNC-Charlotte Chancellor Philip DuBois said in radio interviews Wednesday that the freshman students father is coming from Saudi Arabia.

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10:45 a.m.

A university chancellor says the two people killed and four wounded in a campus shooting were all students.

University of North Carolina-Charlotte Chancellor Phillip Dubois said in radio interviews Wednesday that the two people killed were a 19-year-old from Midland, North Carolina and a 21-year-old from Waynesville, North Carolina.

He discussed the victims in interviews with WFAE and WBT. The spellings of their names couldnt immediately be confirmed.

The four wounded ranged in age from 19 to 23. Three were from North Carolina and one was from Saudi Arabia.

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1 a.m.

A shooting that killed two and wounded four at a North Carolina university left students scrambling for shelter and prompted fresh calls for ways to keep campuses safe.

A vigil was planned for Wednesday on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where the shooting on Tuesday upended the last day of class. The governor vowed a hard look at what happened in order to prevent future shootings.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, told reporters that students should not have to fear for their lives on campus. He added: In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward.
OAKLAND, Calif. - The Latest on the trial of two men in a deadly California warehouse fire (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

A defence attorney told jurors his client is a family man and artist wrongly charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in a California warehouse fire that killed three dozen people.

Derick Almenas attorney, Tony Serra, also told jurors during his opening statement on Wednesday that others are to blame for the deadly Dec. 2, 2016, Oakland fire that occurred during an unpermitted concert.

Serra blamed Oakland building department officials for failing to inspect the structure annually as required by city law.

He also said arson is to blame for the fire.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigators could not determine the cause.

Almena rented the warehouse, and prosecutors say he illegally converted it to a residence and entertainment venue. Max Harris is also charged. Prosecutors say he helped Almena collect rent and schedule concerts.

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12:05 a.m.

A defence attorney is expected to counter a prosecutors emotional opening statement by attempting to deflect blame from his client charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with a Northern California warehouse fire that killed three dozen people.

Derick Almena rented the Oakland warehouse and is accused of illegally converting it into an unlicensed living space and entertainment venue lacking fire prevention equipment like sprinklers and smoke detectors. The Dec. 2, 2016, fire killed 36 people.

Almenas attorney Tony Serra says he will tell the jury Wednesday that others, including Oaklands fire and building departments, are to blame for the fire for failing to inspect the warehouse annually as required by city law.

A prosecutor on Tuesday painted an emotional and dramatic picture of three dozen partygoers dying in a fast-moving fire during an unpermitted concert.
EDMOND, Okla. - The Latest on the fatal shooting of an unarmed, naked teenager by police in Oklahoma (all times local):

5:30 p.m.

Police in an in an Oklahoma City suburb say two officers were not wearing body cameras when at least one of them fatally shot an unarmed, naked teenager.

Edmond police identified the officers Wednesday as Sgt. Milo Box and Officer Denton Scherman. Box has worked at the department for 17 years, and Scherman was hired in September. Both followed 17-year-old Isaiah Mark Lewis after they say he broke into a house Monday.

Authorities initially said Lewis was an adult.

Its unclear who fired and how many times Lewis was shot.

Police spokeswoman Jenny Wagnon said Lewis fought with the officers and a stun gun failed to subdue him. He died at a hospital.

Wagnon said no gun was found at the scene.

___

4:40 p.m.

Police in an Oklahoma City suburb say a naked teenager was not armed when officers fatally shot him inside a house he had broken into.

The state medical examiners office said Wednesday that 17-year-old Isaiah Mark Lewis died of multiple gunshot wounds in the Edmond police shooting.

Lewis girlfriend said during a 911 call Monday afternoon that Lewis flipped out.

Police spokeswoman Jenny Wagnon said Lewis was shot about an hour after the 911 call when two officers found him running and naked , then followed him as he forced his way into a home.

Wagnon said Lewis fought with the officers and a stun gun failed to subdue him, so at least one officer opened fire. Lewis died at a hospital.

Wagnon said no gun was found at the scene.

___

9:30 a.m.

Police say a naked person fatally shot by officers in an Oklahoma City suburb was a 17-year-old high school student.

Edmond police spokeswoman Jenny Wagnon said Tuesday that the teens girlfriend called 911 Monday afternoon saying he was flipping out and beating her. Wagnon says the teen was shot about an hour after that call.

The teenagers name hasnt been released.

Wagnon says two officers found the teen running and naked and followed him as he forced his way into a home. A stun gun failed to subdue him, so the officers opened fire. He died at a hospital.

Edmond Public Schools spokeswoman Susan Parks-Schlepp says the boy attended an alternative school for students who were behind in their graduation requirements. He had been expected to graduate May 18.
MINNEAPOLIS - The Latest on a Minneapolis police officer being convicted of murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had called 911 (all times local):

4:20 p.m.

The head of Minnesotas Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is defending the agencys investigation into a police officers fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had approached his squad car.

BCA Superintendent Drew Evans says agents did a thorough and independent investigation into the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who was shot shortly after calling 911 to report a possible rape behind her home.

The officer, Mohamed Noor, was convicted of murder and manslaughter Tuesday.

Damonds father, John Ruszczyk, called the BCAs early work on the case either active resistance or gross incompetence. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman also said the BCA made early mistakes in the case.

Evans said in a statement that agents worked more than 2,000 hours on the case and worked closely with Freemans office from the beginning. He said he cant give more specifics of the way the investigation was done because it remains open pending a possible appeal by Noor.

___

3:25 p.m.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says hes asked for information from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on how it investigated a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman.

Walz said Wednesday he needs to understand what happened and how the BCAs work might need to be improved. He says he expects the BCA to follow best practices and follow the law when it investigates officer-involved shootings.

The BCA came under criticism for its early handling of the investigation into the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Former officer Mohamed Noor was convicted of murder Tuesday.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman complained during the investigation that BCA agents werent doing their jobs. But he said Tuesday that the BCA brought in new agents who did exemplary work.

___

10:30 a.m.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar says a guilty verdict for a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed a woman who had called 911 to report a crime is an important step towards justice and a victory for people who oppose police brutality.

But Omar also says in a tweet Wednesday that Mohamed Noors conviction in the death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a white woman, comes after acquittals nationwide for officers who killed people of colour. Noor is Somali American, as is Omar.

Noor shot Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, in July 2017 when she approached his squad car after summoning officers to a possible rape behind her home.

Omar says there must be the same level of accountability in all officer-involved killings.

___

8:15 a.m.

An association for Somali American police officers says it believes institutional prejudice heavily influenced the murder conviction of a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman.

Mohamed Noor was convicted Tuesday in the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of Australia and the U.S. who had called 911 to report a possible rape behind her house. Noor shot Damond when she appeared at the squad cars window immediately after what he said was a loud bang that startled him and his partner.

The Minnesota-based Somali American Police Association also said in its statement that the Hennepin County prosecutor had other motives than serving justice in going after Noor. County Attorney Mike Freeman has rejected the suggestion that race played any part in charging Noor.

Noor was fired after he was charged.

___

12 a.m.

A jury took little more than a day to convict a black Minneapolis police officer of murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed white woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime.

The guilty verdict sparked questions about whether race played a role.

Mohamed Noor is Somali American. He was convicted in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. Noor testified he shot Damond after becoming startled, and she appeared at his partners window, raising her arm.

Its rare for police officers to be convicted, but some Minnesota community members say they saw this coming for Noor because he is Somali American.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said race is not a factor in his work and the evidence shows Noor acted unreasonably.
OKLAHOMA CITY - The Latest on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to take the American burying beetle off the endangered species list (all times local):

4:25 p.m.

Biologists say the governments decision to change the classification of an endangered scavenging beetle is not supported by scientific data.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday it is proposing to downlist the American burying beetle from endangered to threatened.

Native to 35 states and three Canadian provinces, the beetle was listed as endangered in 1989 when it was found only in eastern Oklahoma and Block Island off the cost of Rhode Island. Thanks to conservation efforts, federal officials say there are now confirmed populations of the American burying beetle in nine states.

Noah Greenwald is endangered species director for the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity. He says scientific data indicates that the beetle is even more endangered now, but that President Donald Trumps administration is severely reducing its habitat protections.

___

11:50 a.m.

U.S. wildlife officials say an endangered carnivorous beetle is making a comeback and should be downlisted to threatened.

The American burying beetle was once found in 35 states and three Canadian provinces. When it was listed as endangered in 1989, it was only in eastern Oklahoma and Block Island off the cost of Rhode Island.

Amy Leuders is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services southwest regional director. She said Wednesday that conservation efforts over the past 30 years have helped the beetle recover. Leuders says populations now can also be found in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, and on Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts.

The large, nocturnal beetle eats decaying animals. Its active only in the summer and lays its eggs beside small carcasses that it buries.
WASHINGTON - The fear was persistent.

As the Russia investigation heated up and threatened to shadow Donald Trumps presidency, he became increasingly concerned. But the portrait painted by special counsel Robert Mueller is not of a president who believed he or anyone on his campaign colluded with Russians to interfere in the 2016 election.

Instead, the Trump of the Mueller report is gripped by fear that Americans would question the very legitimacy of his presidency. Would Trump, the man who put his name on skyscrapers and his imprint on television, be perceived as a cheater and a fraud?

To Trump, his victory over Hillary Clinton was both historic and overwhelming, though he won millions of votes less than did the Democratic candidate.

If people thought hed won with the help of Russia, that glorious victory might be tainted.

Just a month after Election Day, on Dec. 10, 2016, reports surfaced that U.S. intelligence officials had concluded Russia interfered in the election and tried to boost Trumps presidential bid.

The next day, Trump went on Fox News and called the assessment ridiculous and just another excuse. The intelligence community actually had no idea if its Russia or China or somebody, he argued.

It could be somebody sitting in a bed some place, the Republican president-elect added.

The presidents public narrative quickly shifted. He blamed Democrats and accused his political opponents of putting the story out because they suffered one of the greatest defeats in the history of politics.

But the intelligence communitys assessment that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to sow discord among American voters and to help get Trump elected was his Achilles heel, one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, would tell investigators.

In the months that followed, Trump reacted strenuously to investigations into links between the Russians and his campaign and transition teams.

Michael Flynn, who served on the transition team and would go on to be national security adviser, spoke with Sergey Kislyak, Russias ambassador to the U.S. Flynn asked that Russia not retaliate against the United States because of sanctions announced by the Obama administration; the ambassador later told Flynn that Russia would hold back.

In the weeks that followed, Trump paid careful attention to what he saw as negative stories about Flynn. He grew increasingly angry when a story broke pointing out that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Kislyak.

By mid-February, Flynn was forced to resign.

A day later, as Trump was set to meet with FBI Director James Comey, the president had lunch with his confidant and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. He told Christie he believed the Russia investigation would end because of Flynns departure.

Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. Its over, Trump said.

That couldnt have been further from the truth.

The fear  and Trumps anger  continued for months as the Russia investigation ensnared some of his closest confidants. Over and over, he would tell advisers that he thought the public narrative about Russian election interference was created to undermine his win. It was a personal attack, he insisted.

On May 9, 2017, Trump fired Comey. Trump would later admit in an interview that he had considered this Russia thing when he decided to fire Comey.

Days later, Trump held an Oval Office meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, White House lawyer Don McGahn and Sessions chief of staff Jody Hunt to interview candidates to be the next FBI director.

Sessions walked out of the room to take a call from his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. When he returned, he informed Trump that Rosenstein had appointed a special counsel to investigate possible co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Trump feared that his presidency, still in its infancy, could be over. And he was furious his aides hadnt protected him.

The president slumped back in his chair.

Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. Im f---ed. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me, he said.

For months, as the Russia investigation grew and more people in Trumps inner circle appeared to be under intense scrutiny from federal investigators, Trump became completely preoccupied with press coverage of the probe. The message was persistent: It raises questions about the legitimacy of the election.

At rallies and on Twitter, Trump decried what he said was a politically motivated witch hunt.

In the end, the redacted version of Muellers report cleared the Trump campaign of colluding with Russian efforts to influence the election.

Trump crowed that the report found No Collusion. But he ignored Muellers finding that Russian meddling was very real and was intended to support Trumps campaign.

Did Russias efforts lead to Trumps victory? Mueller doesnt venture an opinion, much as he does not decide whether Trump committed obstruction of justice.

But how could Trump have obstructed justice if there was no collusion to hide?

The lack of an underlying crime doesnt really matter, Mueller argued. Trump still had a motivation to obstruct the investigation  fear that people would question the legitimacy of his election.

EDITORS NOTE - Another in a series of stories focusing on events detailed in the report of special counsel Robert Mueller, drawing from the documents trove.
HALIFAXDear Dan Kinsella,

Its only been about 24 hours since you were hired as Halifaxs new police chief. I know thats not long but I already have some concerns with how your hire is being handled. On Tuesday, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police celebrated your hire with a tweet that read, in part, We train them really well in Ontario.

Would that be the Ontario where a recent Human Rights Commission report into race and policing showed that Black people were nearly 20 times more likely than white people to be fatally shot by the police?

The Ontario where the same report showed that, despite making up only 8.8 per cent of the population in Toronto, Black people made up 30 per cent of use-of-force incidents that ended in serious injury or death, 60 per cent of deadly encounters with the Toronto police and 70 per cent of fatal police shootings?

The Ontario where the Thunder Bay police services board was disbanded following a report showing a clear and indisputable pattern of racism against the Indigenous community?

The Ontario where a report by Justice Michael Tulloch in January condemned racial profiling and called for the end of carding and not just regulating the practice?

Read more:

Halifax hires new police chief from Ontario to replace Jean-Michel Blais

Black people in Halifax almost six times more likely to be stopped by police than white people, report shows

Halifax police board recommends suspension of street checks, calls for apology

I hope for the sake of our community that you do better than how police have treated Black people in Ontario. You havent been chief for very long, but it doesnt take long at all to say the words, I promise to end street checks.

Councillor Steve Craig, chair of the board of police commissioners, told the Star it was your decision whether to apologize to the Black community and that you cant be expected to do those types of things immediately.

Yes, you can be expected to do those types of things immediately. In fact, you shouldnt have been hired at all unless you committed to ending the illegal practice of street checks. If you cant run a police force without racial profiling and violating Black peoples rights, you shouldnt be here.

Im sure the people around you preparing your messaging will give you some vague, public-relations-type things to say about how its difficult and complex and youre going to consult with stakeholders about what to do.

But the Black community has been clear and unequivocal. Our experts, from law professors, to former members of the police board, to social workers, to community advocates have all said that we dont need more consultation and we dont need more delays. We are demanding a ban.

Municipal chief administrative officer Jacques Dube tells us you have a lot of experience with street checks. Thats certainly true. In 2015, data from a CBC investigation showed the Hamilton police were disproportionately checking Black people, Indigenous people and people recorded as Middle Eastern or South Asian/East Indian. One Indigenous man was checked 14 times. Chief Glenn De Caire defended these checks as a crucial and necessary practice.

In 2018, as the force was claiming to have reduced street checks, Const. Andrew Pfeifer was found not guilty of racially profiling Hamiltons first Black city councillor Matthew Green. Pfeifers lawyer said what was on trial was Greens insufferable ego. While the Black community in the courtroom shouted shame, off-duty police officers attending the trial cheered and applauded.

We dont need that in Halifax.

In Hamilton, the police created a gang task force to respond to shootings. You spoke about cracking down on gun crime. You are coming to Halifax at a time when the federal government is giving $4.7 million to the province to address gun and gang violence. The executive director of the John Howard Society cautioned that gun violence is a symptom of the problems in society. She urged that the way to prevent crime is through improving access to education, jobs and housing.

We dont need more armoured vehicles, more weaponry and more resources poured into surveilling and harassing Black communities.

What you can do as chief is reduce the police budget. Cancel the tank. Lets put city resources into youth, into mental health and into affordable housing.

Instead of asking for more and more funding for more and more police, why dont we direct the money for preventing crime to Black communities to build the programs and supports we need to address hundreds of years of systemic racism in this province?

We dont need empty words. We dont need to keep doing the same things that have been shown to not work in Ontario while pretending these are new discussions. We dont need to be told our rights arent an immediate concern. We shouldnt need to train police to see us as human and we shouldnt need to write open letters to police chiefs about our rights.

What we need you to do is ban street checks. Anything less is not leadership.

El Jones is a writer, speaker and advocate living in Halifax. The citys former poet laureate serves as chair of the Nancy Rowell Jackman womens studies program at Mount Saint Vincent University.

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The ongoing tirade by President Donald Trump against Iran and his unwavering support for the embattled Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) has emboldened the brash young prince to persevere with his crusade against dissent in the kingdom.

On April 23 Riyadh executed 37 nationals. Thirty-four of them were identified as Shiites. The Saudi government defends such executions as a powerful tool for deterrence. A Saudi interior ministry statement said those executed were found guilty of attacking security installations with explosives, killing a number of security officers and cooperating with enemy organizations against the interests of the country.

However, Amnesty International said 11 of the men were convicted of spying for Iran and sentenced to death after a grossly unfair trial. At least 14 others were convicted of violent offences related to their participation in anti-government demonstrations in Shiite-populated areas of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012.

In parts of the oil-rich Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Shiites are in the majority. For decades they have been demanding equal rights and greater religious freedom. Riyadh has been endeavouring to quash this low-intensity uprising brutally, arguing that Iran is responsible for ongoing unrest in the Saudi oil belt.

The Eastern Province is of crucial importance to Saudi Arabia. The largest Saudi oil field Ghawar, producing 3 million to 5 million barrels per day for more than five decades, is located in this province.

Saudi Arabia under MBS seems bent upon crushing all voices of dissent. PEN, the organization working to protect free expression in the United States and the world, says a number of bloggers, writers and activists have been arrested in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

At least eight activists were reportedly arrested in a fresh crackdown targeting supporters of jailed womens rights activists, according to the Financial Times. Anas al-Mazrou, a lecturer at King Saud University, was detained after asking in a public panel at Riyadh Book Fair about the whereabouts of the (arrested) rights activists, Andrew England wrote in the report, adding that MBS is still bent on quashing all forms of dissent despite intense international scrutiny of the kingdoms human rights record.

Those arrested face inhuman treatment. A few female activists have reportedly been subjected to electric shocks and lashings while in custody. A Guardian report quoting leaked medical reports understood to have been prepared for King Salman said political prisoners in Saudi Arabia are suffering from malnutrition, cuts, bruises and burns. Some are also suffering from severe weight loss and continuous bloody vomiting.

In the meantime, royal decisions and pieces of legislation  such as the counter-terror law and the cybercrimes law  have rendered any public challenges to official religious scholars decisions almost impossible. Independent religious figures who gained popularity in promoting real sociopolitical reforms through Islamic principles are now constantly targeted and excluded from any religious debate, activist Hala al-Dosari, the Washington Posts first Jamal Khashoggi fellow, wrote.

And despite the calls to force Saudi Arabia and the UAE to stop the war in Yemen, the U.S. and some western powers continue to be complicit in the Saudi effort. Last month when the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan resolution directing the president to end American participation in the war on Yemen, Trump vetoed it.

If the U.S. and its allies stop supporting Saudi Arabia in this war, it could come to a quick end. A recent leak of classified French Directorate of Military Intelligence documents shows that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are extremely dependent on the U.S. and European weapons for their war in Yemen.

The documents, released by French investigative journalism organization Disclose and translated by the Intercept, reveal that the U.S., France, and the U.K. assist coalition forces with targeting, making these countries complicit in war crimes and that France is aware that its weapons are routinely used in attacking civilians.

But the war is not coming to an end, nor is the suppression of dissent in Saudi Arabia. After all, President Trump is there to ensure the survival of MBS, at any cost.

Rashid Husain Syed is a Toronto-based political and energy analyst with insight into the Middle East.

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Rob Meikle is the City of Toronto's chief information officer. An April 27 article about Michael Kolm, the citys chief transformation officer, leaving for a private-sector job misstated Meikles title.

An April 26 article about budget cuts to Toronto Public Health mistakenly said the cost of Toronto Public Health programs that are mandated by the province are fully funded by the province. In fact, some of those mandated programs are cost shared between the city and the province.

Clarification: An April 28 article about why Canadas Conservative leaders are against the carbon tax said Canadian policy organizations that specialize in carbon pricing issues point to the success of British Columbias revenue-neutral carbon tax. The article should have made clear that although BCs carbon tax was considered revenue neutral in the past, the provinces current government eliminated the requirement in 2017.

Other corrected articles

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CWHL sells off trophies and other treasures to help pay debts
In the wake of the deadly shooting at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in California, a report from Bnai Brith Canada reminds us that Canada is, sadly, not immune from vile hate crimes directed at Jews.

Indeed, anti-Semitic incidents in this country rose 16.5 per cent year-over-year in 2018 to a 37-year record high of 2,041.

Worse, this is the third consecutive year the number of incidents has risen, leading Bnai Briths CEO, Michael Mostyn, to say he is worried that this is a disturbing new normal.

That is an appalling thought, not just for Jews but for a country whose people believe they are freer than most from the bile of bigotry.

Thats why its important for governments to commit to following up on Bnai Briths eight-point plan to tackle anti-Semitism  and, indeed, all hate crimes.

After all, in 2017 Statistics Canada reported that hate crimes were on the rise against Blacks, Muslims and LGBTQ people, too.

The Bnai Brith plan includes establishing dedicated hate-crime units in every major Canadian police force, ensuring organizations that promote anti-Semitism do not receive government funding (unbelievably some do), and developing a federal action plan to counter online hate, where 80 per cent of anti-Semitic incidents take place.

As the organizations report details, a Manitoba woman should not have to hear an anonymous caller say You Jews deserve to die and a 13-year-old Toronto student shouldnt have been harassed by a peer who threatened to shoot up a Jewish school and told her to go back to the ovens.

This report is a wake-up call that Canadas political leaders and citizens alike should heed.

No one can now say that they didnt see the warning signs.
When George Smitherman first heard that Rob Ford was thinking of running to be mayor of Toronto in 2010 he thought it was a joke.

Smitherman, who had entered the mayoral race months earlier, wasnt worried because he was riding high in the polls and saw Ford as a joke candidate and not a man for public office, given Fords notorious background as a Toronto city councillor.

But Smitherman quickly changed his view on Rob Ford and his brother Doug, now premier of Ontario.

In fact, Smitherman, the early front-runner whose dream of becoming mayor was crushed by Rob Ford, was one of the first people to totally underestimate the political appeal of the Fords. He wasnt the last.

Now, in his new book, Unconventional Candour, which goes on sale Saturday, Smitherman provides a unique close-up look at the rise of the Fords.

The former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister knows the political power of the Fords as well as anyone.

Read more:

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Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: Ford ill-prepared to be the great disruptor

Ford government hikes education spending, chops support for school boards with needy students

Thats because, as Smitherman says, hes the only politician to have lost twice to the Fords, once to Rob in the 2010 mayoral race and then indirectly in the 2018 Toronto municipal election when Doug as premier unexpectedly slashed the city council in half, leaving Smitherman to run a no-hope campaign for a city council seat in a new, combined ward against Kristyn Wong-Tam, an extremely popular incumbent councillor.

Smitherman says at first he didnt realize Fords candidacy, which was masterminded by Doug, represented a northern version of the Tea Party. He had hit a nerve in that segment of the city that was mad as hell and didnt want to take it anymore.  He adds he never expected that Ford, of all people, would effectively harness that energy and sloganize it.

Fords slogan of Stop the Gravy Train, when combined with his habit of buying his own paper clips while a city councillor, gave his message an air of authenticity that his supporters could rally around, Smitherman says.

As much as some of us might be inclined to write off his lack of intellectual depth, he writes, nobody should doubt the value of authenticity for a politicians message. After all, Ford had voted No on virtually every expenditure that came before city council.

At the same time, Smithermans team was wrong in believing Ford would say something really stupid and voters would realize he was unfit to be mayor. The elites were a little slow to realize that a lot of people were just happy that politics was entertaining for once, he says.

Smitherman admits his own campaign, while flush with policies and cash, was filled with internal problems, which he details. But his biggest failure was that he didnt go after Rob Ford more on character issues. My well-meaning admission of past drug use made it very tough for me to fight back against the Fords thuggish tactics, he writes.

Smitherman says he has no respect for Doug Ford, calling him the lowest of the low. As his brothers best friend, work colleague and neighbour, how is it possible that Doug was unaware of his brothers reckless behaviour. And why didnt Doug intervene on behalf of both his family and the city.

In the book, the former top Liberal is highly critical of many of his former colleagues, including Kathleen Wynne. He feels they abandoned him, refusing to back him in 2010 and then refusing to approve of him being a candidate for the 2018 provincial election.

While he takes no pleasure in the Liberals disastrous showing in the 2019 provincial race, he does say I-told-you-so to his critics.

All those people who have scorned me for losing to his (Dougs) brother in 2010 now understand that the Fords are not so easy to campaign against, he says.

Today, Smitherman is focusing not on politics, but on his personal life. He has two children, has recently remarried after his first spouse committed suicide in 2013 and has a new job as vice president of corporate relations for a cannabis company.

But politics is deep in Smithermans blood. Politics is what I do, he once said. Dont write him off entirely; he may be back.

Read more about:
VANCOUVERStanding at the counter of a coffee shop in Vancouvers Commercial-Broadway Skytrain station, underneath a little Canadian flag, the leaders of the resistance bicker over who gets the honour of paying for their drinks.

Louis Huang ends the standoff by shoving $5 into Gao Bingchens pocket and walking to their seats. They have bigger conflicts to discuss.

Huang and Gao, both originally from Mainland China, are the founders of the 60-member Alliance Guard of Canadian Values. Since 2009, theyve been trying to get Canadian governments to be aware, really aware about the influence of the Chinese communist government in Canada, Huang said.

Gao doesnt speak much English, so Huang does the talking. Gao sits quietly next to him, checking his phone and waiting for brief translations of what is being said.

Huang says the Canadian political class just doesnt get it. Instead of pushing for human rights in China, it cozies up to Beijing hoping to boost business. Rather than address the Communist Party of Chinas attempts to infiltrate Canadian institutions, Canadian politicians ignore the problem.

More frustrating, he said, members of Parliament havent seemed interested in hearing what they have to say about it.

Read more:

Tensions with China do not play out in our project at all: LNG Canada CEO

Scheer demands Trudeau pull funds from Chinese multilateral development bank amid canola feud

Canadian farmers to plant less canola, soybeans, lentils as trade feuds continue

But this could finally be their moment.

Since December, international relations have remained in the headlines as Beijing threatens Canada over the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. Shes awaiting extradition proceedings to face fraud and other charges in the United States.

Observers say the aftermath, including the detention of two Canadians in China and new restrictions on Canadian canola exports, has opened Canadians eyes to the reality of dealing with a totalitarian regime. Huang and Gao hope the sudden high-profile spat will turn the pernicious problem into an election issue.

We came from China because we dont like the Communist Party. We want to live in a freedom-of-speech, freedom-of-human-rights country, said Huang, a former medical doctor and researcher who now works as an education consultant.

Gao, a journalist, has a reputation for taking on powerful and connected people. He was found guilty of defamation for articles he wrote about Vancouver developer Miaofei Pan, alleging he wasnt paying his taxes.

Pan is the former president of the Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society and worked with the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations. In that capacity, he met with officials from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee of Chinas national legislature. Pan also once hosted a Liberal fundraiser at his home, with Justin Trudeau in attendance.

Nearly 300 supporters donated $70,000 to Gao for his legal defence. In the end, the judge awarded Pan only $1 in damages.

The Alliance Guard of Canadian Values also stages protests, including one in 2016 demanding former Vancouver city councillor Kerry Jang resign after he participated in a ceremony raising Chinas flag over Vancouver city hall.

We think theres a need to spread the values of Canada  human rights, freedom of speech  to spread these values in our Chinese community, Huang said. Why? Because we noticed the influence more than 10 years ago, the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in Canada.

Last year, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) issued a report warning China uses influence gained through commercial ventures to push the Chinese Communist Partys agenda abroad. In 2010, then-CSIS director Richard Fadden suggested in a television interview that numerous public officials in Canada were under the influence of the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, Canadian officials and big business continue to advocate closer trade relations with the country. A 2017 story in The Globe and Mail cited parliamentary records that show MPs and senators have accepted dozens of trips to China, paid for by Chinese business groups and arms of the Chinese government.

On Monday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer demanded Primer Minister Justin Trudeau pull Canadas funds out of Chinas Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The Liberal Party of Canada and Conservative Party of Canada did not reveal whether they plan to introduce policies on Canada-China relations during this years election. The NDP told the Star it will craft policy.

Huang and Gao said Canada has wasted enough chances to bring in proper policy and say the issue can no longer be avoided.

Gao said he himself was a victim of Chinas influence in Canada. He once had a substantial presence as a columnist in the local Chinese media but was fired from a newspaper a few years ago after a story critical of a Chinese official. He said his editor cited a complaint from the Chinese consulate in Vancouver. Hes been dropped by a number of other media outlets and suspects similar pressure is to blame.

We talk about the Chinese government using the Chinese community in Canada to make their goals, not only in business but also on a political level, Huang said. Which is more of a threat to our foundation of freedom.

Australias foreign interference law, which makes it a crime to covertly take action to influence policy at the behest of a foreign power, is something Huang wants to see discussed in Canada. He also wants Canada to challenge China on trade the way the United States has, citing a large imbalance between the two nations.

It isnt just Huang who predicts Canada-China relations will be an election issue.

Nik Nanos, chair of Nanos Research, said Canadas political parties will need issue specific policies on trade, Huawei and 5G development with China during this years election.

Canadians have had a clear indication of what Chinas really like, based on how its lashed out on the canola file, based on the rhetoric that is put out there related to the detaining of the Huawei executive, Nanos said. Its put more of a real face on how China operates and what they think of Canada.

Canada-China Policies will be especially important in British Columbia, he said, which is more Pacific oriented both culturally and economically.

It shouldnt be surprising that Canadians understand the opportunity and importance of China but at the same time are worried, as a small power negotiating with a super power, any trade deal may not work out well for us, Nanos said.

Huang warns the push for deepened relations with China  in order to appease some big Canadian business and hopefully win votes from the Chinese community  is misguided. The Chinese community in Canada is not a monolith, and such actions by Canadian politicians do Canada no favours.

The government, they dont fully understand, Huang said. They know less  just a little bit  about our society, our culture and our political views.

But expecting Canadian politicians to learn and adjust may not bear fruit, said a leading scholar on Chinas political interference in western countries, who just wrapped up a trip to Canada to examine the situation here.

Clive Hamilton is a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, Australia, who has been a harsh critic of attempts to influence his own countrys politics.

Hamilton told Star Vancouver his recent trip to Canada left him quite worried about the capacity of Canada to extricate itself from the unwelcome and undemocratic influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

He said its clear China has been cultivating friends in high places and penetrating Canadian institutions for some time. Hes worried agreements could be made by Canadas biggest political parties to avoid the topic this year.

One party breaking away and making China relations an issue could force other parties to follow suit or risk public backlash, he said.

Hamilton added its important parties hammer home they are concerned about the Chinese Communist Party, not China or the Chinese people, who ought to be welcome in Canada.

After all, theyre facing the most pressure to support Beijings actions.

Chinese Canadians are the biggest victims of the Communist Partys influence operations in Canada. Theyre the ones who have the most at stake, he said. Theyre the ones whose families are penalized or whose businesses are shut down if they displease Beijing.

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OTTAWACanadas foreign affairs minister says if legacy media can navigate publishing responsible content every day, then Silicon Valley geniuses should be able to figure it out, too.

Speaking at a forum on populism in Ottawa Tuesday night, Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said that publishers responsibility is something that needs to be brought to the conversation between the government and social media and internet giants.

We can act like the issue of what the digital platforms do  like its this incredibly complicated, difficult, impossible, how-do-you-get-your-arms-around-it challenge, and we forget that old-fashioned mainstream media guys have been dealing with it for a really long time, and dealing with it really effectively, Freeland said.

And, by the way, yes its expensive. The last time I checked they have a lot more money than the old-fashioned media guys do. So lets not act like its a bigger intellectual problem than it actually is.

Freeland was speaking at an invitation-only event at the Global Centre of Pluralism on popular discontent  or populism  and what response democratic governments can provide to it.

But the conversation with Financial Times editor Hugh Carnegy often returned to questions about journalism, fake news, and the role of digital platforms in modern democracy.

Read more:

Bots, hackers and trolls: How the digital misinformation war is being waged ahead of the federal election

After Facebook banned Faith Goldy and white nationalist groups, accounts and ads in their name remained

Opinion | Susan Delacourt: For foreign hackers, political parties are our weakest link

It also came at a time when the Canadian government is considering regulating social media to try and prevent foreign influence, domestic fake news, and general interference in the electoral system.

Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould told the Star last month that the government was examining a wide range of regulatory and legislative options to apply to internet and social media giants.

There is a concerted, multi-department effort on within the government to address these issues, sources tell the Star. But there is little time before the next federal election to actually implement changes  particularly changes so dramatic as regulating internet giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter.

Nevertheless, Gould suggested in a recent interview that the government could put something in the window to help guide whomever forms the next government.

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MONTREALThere was a time not so long ago when the arrival on the scene of a provincial government as overtly unfriendly to Quebec or at least to its political class as that of Albertas Jason Kenneys would have caused major ripples across the province.

It is hardly unknown, especially in Quebec, for party leaders to spend entire campaigns  as Kenney just did  taking shots at the prime minister of the day. The need to stand up to Ottawa has been an underlying theme of Quebec campaigns from times immemorial.

But political watchers would be hard-pressed to find in provincial election campaigns a rhetoric as adversarial to other provinces and in particular to Quebec as that which fuelled Kenneys narrative.

The closest recent analogy could be Lucien Bouchards 1995 referendum warnings that should Quebecers opt to remain in the federation, they would be exposed to an icy wind from the right courtesy of the likes of Ontarios then-premier Mike Harris.

By all indications, Bouchards dire predictions did not keep very many Quebecers up at night.

At this juncture, the same could be said of Kenneys veiled threat of reprisals on the equalization front absent Quebecs compliance with Albertas pipeline ambitions.

Read more:

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney proclaims energy bill that could turn off the taps to B.C.

Kenney talks pipelines with Trudeau after election win, calls it cordial

Opinion | Chantal Hebert: Andrew Scheers climate plans hit by floodwaters

If anything, among the premiers it is Ontarios Doug Ford  with his cavalier approach to the rights of his provinces Franco-Ontarian minority  who has so far best managed to get under the collective skin of Quebecers.

Tuesdays swearing-in of Kenneys government and the premiers move to make good on the promise to proclaim a law that would  should it hold up in court  allow Alberta to cut off oil and gas shipments to B.C. in retaliation for its opposition to the Trans Mountain expansion was a non-event in Quebec.

Premier Francois Legault has had his hands full on the flooding front. The same is true of the media.

While Kenneys throne speech will undoubtedly attract more attention, so far at least the Alberta premiers aggressive tone inspires more Quebec curiosity than trepidation.

It is not that Kenneys rhetoric about the linkage between pipelines and equalization has not registered. The Alberta campaign was covered by the Quebec media to an extent usually reserved for Ontario elections.

The fact that Kenney is a rare Conservative premier who is totally comfortable in French means he has also been able to deliver his message directly to Quebecers over the course of post-election media appearances.

But Quebecers happen to have a lot of first-hand experience with the gap between the fighting words of a premier and his or her actual capacity to win federal-provincial battles.

For decades, they sent their best and brightest to the constitutional front only to have them come back defeated.

That was despite successive Quebec premiers having the kind of leverage Kenney as premier of Alberta can only dream of in the shape of a more credible threat to the unity of the federation and a more significant weight in the federal electoral balance.

That being said, there are reasons why Legault would have cause to want to make friends with his new Alberta counterpart.

First and foremost is Kenneys superior federal expertise. As Legault demonstrated with his dirty oil comment on his maiden appearance on the first ministers stage last December, the Quebec premier has much to learn if he is to build productive alliances with his provincial partners.

And then Kenney does not only speak French. He also knows more  for having spent time in the province over the years  about the lay of the Quebec political land than his federal leader, Andrew Scheer, or for that matter the NDPs Jagmeet Singh.

That is not to say that Legault and Kenney will come to see eye-to-eye on the resurrection of the contentious Energy East pipeline project. That particular ship has probably sailed too long ago for its course to be successfully reversed.

By now, resistance to the notion of resuscitating TransCanadas defunct bid to link the oilsands to the East Coast is about as widespread in Quebec as opposition to enshrining the provinces distinct status in the Constitution is in many quarters of Canada.

But if the past is any indication, a rocky start does not always herald an unhappy future.

After he became premier, Bouchard got along famously with Harris.

Their governments remained on very different policy tracks.

While Harris kept busy shrinking the place of government in Ontarios social fabric, his Quebec counterpart presided over a pharmacare initiative and a child care program that endure to this day.

But the two premiers found a lot of common ground against then-prime minister Jean Chretien.

Despite their relationships inauspicious beginnings, it is too early to dismiss the possibility that peace could break out between Kenney and Legault

Chantal Hebert is a columnist based in Ottawa covering politics. Follow her on Twitter: @ChantalHbert

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A detente in the U.S.-China trade tensions cant come soon enough for Canada.

Theres quite a list of troubles Canadians are dealing with right now because of their exposure to that dispute  farm receipts, steel and aluminum tariffs, economic uncertainty and even the threatened lives of Canadians in Chinese prisons.

The best hope  perhaps the only hope  of alleviating that pain lies in the hands of negotiators who met in Beijing this week and will meet again in Washington next week to broker some kind of pact that would bring trade peace between the two superpowers.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wrapped up another round of high-level talks in China on Wednesday with the goal of reaching an understanding that would wind down tariffs on $360 billion (U.S.) of their goods.

The Trump White House, ever the volatile factor in trade talks as Canadians know all too well, wants results within two weeks  or else.

The trade war has put a serious dent into the global economy, dramatically slowing down trade in dozens of countries  not least of all Canada. Our economy barely grew at all at the end of last year and beginning of this year, in large part because of the disruption of global supply chains due to the U.S.-China stalemate. The Bank of Canada has warned that such global tensions are the key risk to Canadas growth for the foreseeable future, and the cause of much uncertainty within Canadas business community about where to go next with their trade and investment. If they sit on their hands, we all feel it.

Read more:

Federal government boosts loans for canola farmers amid tensions with China

This is the resistance to Chinas influence in Canada, and this is their moment

Canadian farmers to plant less canola, soybeans, lentils as trade feuds continue

The hurt is sharper for some than others.

On Wednesday, the federal government rolled out a much-anticipated aid package for those farmers in Western Canada whose lucrative, marquee canola has been blocked by China, ostensibly because the seeds dont meet Chinese standards. But the ban can only be seen as retaliation against Canada for detaining Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, at the request of the United States last December.

Canada is losing billions of dollars in trade from the canola ban alone, and now there are signs that China is throwing up barriers to other products as well.

Plus, this week a second Canadian prisoner in China was handed a death sentence on drug charges. And dont forget the other two Canadians who were imprisoned late last year for no discernible reason beyond revenge.

In a moment of uncharacteristic bluntness when it comes to China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau referred publicly to the prisoners this week as having been taken hostage.

But blunt tough talk is not the approach the government is taking here. Rather, in the words of International Trade Minister Jim Carr, its actions have been careful, deliberate and strategic. Many, especially the Conservatives, would say its meek, naive and ineffective.

Even as he announced the canola package on Wednesday, Carr rebuffed any calls for taking strong action against China. Instead, he emphasized diplomacy, talking about using science to prove Canadas canola is clean and safe. And he talked about finding new markets for Canadian producers.

The emphasis on science is undoubtedly part of the groundwork required to launch a canola case against China at the World Trade Organization, and Canada will likely send some signals soon that it is prepared to seek redress through that institution.

But WTO cases take forever to materialize, and theres no guarantee China would heed any kind of ruling or change its ways if Canada were to impose WTO-sanctioned bans of its own.

Similarly, sending a belligerent signal by going straight to retaliatory measures risks doing more harm than good when there is the safety and security of the Canadians in prison at play.

Rather, our best hope lies in persuading Mnuchin and Lighthizer to keep us in mind as they hash out a deal with China. The best-case scenario there unfolds like this: as part of the deal, the United States agrees to back off on its legal pursuit of Huawei and rescind its call for Mengs extradition from Canada. China would then back away from the two death penalties and release the other two Canadians. China would also find a way to agree with Canadas science that our canola is all fine.

And the icing on the cake? The United States would ditch its steel and aluminum tariffs, which were at first intended to keep cheap Chinese products out of the U.S. but then grouped in many other countries, including Canada.

Thats why Carr, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canadas ambassador to Washington David MacNaughton are putting as much effort into courting the White House as they are in navigating through Chinese diplomacy.

But its a slim hope at best. Fingers crossed.
Forcing private businesses to post the Progressive Conservative governments stickers on gasoline pumps is a violation of Charter rights, warns the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

In a letter to Attorney General Caroline Mulroney and Energy Minister Greg Rickford, the association urged the government to revisit a decal debacle that could see gas stations fined up to $10,000 a day for non-compliance.

The sticker as proposed constitutes compelled political speech and, at the very least, is an unreasonable violation  of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, lawyers Steven Sofer and Sandra Barton wrote Monday.

We ask that you abandon any efforts to move this legislation forward. Should this legislation pass, as is, we have been instructed to immediately commence a Charter challenge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the lawyers continued.

In this regard we would like to meet with you to discuss a schedule for that challenge.

Responding to the lawyers with his own letter, Rickford said our government is taking measures to ensure that all Ontarians know the full impact of the federal carbon tax every time they fill up at the pump.

These transparency measures will make sure that families and small business know exactly how much carbon tax adds to the price per litre at every gas pump across the province, the energy minister wrote.

Its unfortunate that the Canadian Civil Liberties Association doesnt share these values for Ontario.

The CCLA joins the Ontario Chamber of Commerce in opposing the mandatory Tory-blue stickers that tout the impact on gas prices of the federal Liberals carbon-pricing measures.

Read more:

Ontario Chamber of Commerce asks government to abandon gas pump sticker plan

No details on how province will enforce gas-pump stickers

Fords sticker shock at the gas pumps: $10,000 fines for scofflaws who forgo decals warning of cost of federal carbon pricing

Last week, the chambers president Rocco Rossi blasted the scheme as an example of unnecessary red tape.

It is both a new administrative burden and an increased cost to business thanks to the punitive and outsized fines for non-compliance, said Rossi.

Have your say

His complaint came after NDP MPP Taras Natyshak complained to Canadas chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault two weeks ago.

I am writing to you concerning what I believe could be a violation of Canadas election advertising rules, wrote Natyshak (Essex).

As you are aware, Part 16, section 319 of the Canada Elections Act, 2000 defines elections advertising as:  the transmission to the public by any means, during an election period, of an advertising message that promotes or opposes a registered party or the election of a candidate, including one that takes a position on an issue with which a registered party or candidate is associated. 

The New Democrat is concerned the stickers will still be on pumps during the federal campaign period this fall.

These stickers are clearly advertising within the definition of the Act. They are also, clearly, partisan in their aim. In the words of ... Rickford: Were going to stick it to the Liberals and remind the people of Ontario how much this job-killing, regressive carbon tax costs.

The energy minister has said the 25,000 stickers will be printed by Astley Gilbert at a cost to taxpayers of $4,954.

That expenditure is part of Premier Doug Fords $30-million crusade against the carbon levy, which includes about $1 million on a court challenge.

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner has called the decals misleading because they dont explain the federal rebates or the skyrocketing cost of insurance rates due to climate change.

Robert Benzie is the Stars Queens Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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Bloomberg photo by Zach Gibson.

CVS Health Corp. boosted its profit outlook after posting stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, an encouraging sign for the health giant after it earlier signaled that 2019 could be a tough year.

The company now expects adjusted earnings per share this year of $6.75 to $6.90, higher than the $6.68 to $6.88 that it had earlier forecast.
The name Jonathan Finer isn't the most recognizable among the film credits for the upcoming political rom-com "Long Shot," which features marquee-lighting monikers such as Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen. But Finer is at least known inside the Beltway as a Washington Post journalist turned State Department official under then-Secretary of State John Kerry, a resume that landed him the gig of political consultant to the flick.

The movie's plot is typically La La Land implausible: An uberpoised, model-gorgeous secretary of state, played by Theron, reconnects with a schlubby, out-of-work journalist (that would be Rogen's character) for whom she once babysat. The pol hires the reporter to write speeches for her, and - of course - romance ensues. But Finer's job was to inject the project with a bit of global-diplomacy realism based on his days at the State Department.

Finer, whose current gigs also include private-sector consulting, teaching at Princeton and serving as an adjunct fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, chatted with us about Rogen's ad-libbing, where the movie takes creative liberties and why you shouldn't try to smuggle your stash into the State Department HQ.

Q: So how did Hollywood come knocking?

A: The director of the movie, Jon Levine, went to college with (TV journalist) Alex Wagner, and I had worked with (Alex's) husband, Sam Kass (the former chef to the Obamas who served in various food-policy roles in their administration), at the White House. So Alex put Jon and me together. They had a draft of the script, and of that initial draft, very little survived since they were reworking scenes and writing new ones. We got together in New York, and he asked if could I give feedback about what seemed realistic and what didn't.

Q: How did you approach your fact-checking? I mean, it obviously couldn't be exactly realistic.

A: I saw the goal as being that the ridiculous things would be intentional instead of things that are very easy to get wrong. . . . Of course, I know that a secretary of state wouldn't go on a drug-fueled bender in Paris, but I thought about what it might look like if she did.

I was trying to help them get the small things right to make the big things more credible - I think people are more likely to suspend disbelief if there's some credibility to the details.

Q: What kind of changes did you suggest?

A: One early version of the script had the secretary of state meeting with the governor of Puerto Rico, and I told them that that wouldn't take place, because the secretary of state wouldn't meet with the leader of a territory - the secretary of state usually deals with foreign leaders.

Or they had a stage direction where she's talking to someone from Qatar, and they are speaking Farsi - it's Arabic there. And another thing - and this might be a spoiler here - she ends up running for president, and I suggested that she would have to resign first, because secretary of state is supposed to be a job that's separate from politics.

Q: What are your pet peeves about what TV and movies get wrong about Washington?

A: I'm not addicted to these D.C. shows - it's just not a genre I'm super into, because I like doing other things in my spare time. I've never seen "Madam Secretary," and maybe saw part of a season of "House of Cards." When you work in that world all day, it's more relaxing to watch something else. I read fiction and not nonfiction.

Q: Did you spend time on set? What was it like?

A: I traveled to Montreal, where they were filming, to look at the set and to talk to costume people and the actors. I spent some time with June (Diane) Raphael, who plays the chief of staff, since that was the job I had at the State Department. I have to say that movie people understand Washington better than I understand Hollywood, but that's a low bar.

One thing that was surprising was the humdrum aspect of filming the same scene over and over again from different angles or with slightly different dialogue. And there was a lot of ad-libbing and rewriting on the fly - I don't know if that's common. My sense is that it happened more than usual because Jon and Seth Rogen have a constant stream of ideas for new jokes. I really enjoyed watching that level of creativity. They'd film five ways to do a line and then decide which was best.

Q: I have to ask: What was Charlize Theron like?

A: She has an air of - there not being any doubt that she's a movie star.

Q: Overall, how much does the movie get right about Washington and the State Department?

A: I hope we got enough right that people won't be rolling their eyes. Some things are quite realistic even amid all the ridiculousness, like the tension between the White House and State Department. And the personal toll that those jobs can take on the boss and the staff - the grueling travel schedule is well-depicted.

The sets are good. (At the State Department,) you travel 200 days a year, so there are a bunch of scenes on the plane. I shared some pictures from my travels, and that came out incredibly realistically. And the scenes in the secretary's office - I thought they did a good job of those re-creations.

Q: Any plans to make movie-consulting a side hustle?

A: My usefulness is probably limited, but I had fun doing it. I'd certainly do it again; I just don't know how many movies there would be in this particular vein.

Q: Will Washington audiences like it? I mean, I think a lot of people here are pretty serious and might not admit to liking a Seth Rogen comedy . . .

A: Well, the part of Washington I like can laugh at itself. I suspect it will actually go over well. It's not disrespectful of the people who hold these jobs or the institutions of government. It's just pointing out some stranger and amusing aspects of them.

Q: OK, but could you really get into State Department headquarters (as - spoiler alert! - Rogen's character does) with a whole bunch of drugs?

A: Yeah, that would be a challenge.
In the 2018 election, more women than ever ran for office. "Knock Down the House" is a look at four of those campaigns. Unfortunately, the one that's already most famous overshadows the three who might be more interesting.

The Netflix documentary, which is also being released in select theaters, follows four Democratic women who challenged incumbents from their own party to bring about a more liberal agenda: Amy Vilela in Nevada's 4th Congressional District; Cori Bush, who took on Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., a member of a St. Louis political dynasty; and Paula Jean Swearengin, who ran for U.S. Senate against West Virginia incumbent Joe Manchin.

The film's fourth subject comes from the Bronx and took down a 10-term incumbent. Her name is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. You might have heard of her.

For most of the film, Ocasio-Cortez is the star. That makes sense. Not only is she charismatic, but her scrappy, grass-roots campaign is a study in what it means to be an underdog who gets her day. Unfortunately, director Rachel Lears' choice to lean so heavily on Ocasio-Cortez means that the other three women get short shrift.

It's not until well into the film, for example, that we find out Vilela was spurred to run by the loss of her daughter, whose death she blames on the current health-care system. Swearengin is a coal miner's daughter who wants to swing West Virginia's economy to green energy, and Bush began her official political career after the 2014 protests in Ferguson. These are all compelling stories that deserve telling, but Lears casts them all as supporting players in the Ocasio-Cortez show.

Luckily, that show isn't a bad one. Lears uses home movies to give viewers a sense of Ocasio-Cortez's early life and adolescence, and she's particularly gifted at making the correlation between Ocasio-Cortez's political drive and the loss of her father when she was 19. It's a great campaign story as well. In one early debate, Ocasio-Cortez stomps a clearly unprepared surrogate sent in to represent incumbent Joseph Crowley. Ocasio-Cortez is up front about not only her goals and her drives, but her insecurities: she notices that her voice goes up in pitch when she's asking people to vote for her.

One does have to think about slant; Crowley only shows up rarely on camera, and when he does, he comes off as both slightly bewildered and slightly buffoonish. "Knock Down the House" is about Ocasio-Cortez's campaign, but it also clearly takes her side.

Lears misses another opportunity when it comes to addressing why the women's campaigns are so different (all were backed by progressive groups Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats). Ocasio-Cortez has billboards and brochures, while Vilela's team is seen spray-painting poster board. Ocasio-Cortez has rallies; Swearengin delivers one speech from a porch, overgrown with vines, to a nearly empty yard.

"Knock Down the House" never addresses why there's such a vast difference in resources. Lears also has to contend with the fact that everyone knows how Ocasio-Cortez's race turns out. (Spoiler alert: she won.) That would be an opportunity to give at least some focus to the races where viewers may not know the results. Instead, the filmmaker spends mere minutes with Vilela, Bush and Swearingen on election night.

Fans of AOC will find their fondness confirmed, and others probably won't watch this movie in the first place. But if "Knock Down the House" was supposed to be about the 2018 surge of female candidates, it misses the mark by focusing too much on one of them.

---

Two and a half stars. PG. Select theaters and via Netflix streaming. Contains strong language, brief smoking and mature thematic elements. 86 minutes.

Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time.
Clovis Lim visited Italy with his family in March and immediately noticed buses, street signs and banners displayed everywhere in red and white. "Celebrando Leonardo," read one of them.

This year all of Italy - but particularly Florence, where the great artist and inventor lived - is celebrating the achievements of Leonardo da Vinci, who passed away 500 years ago.

Clovis, 9, and his mom and sister got a chance to see the inventor's side of the great man in an interactive museum in Florence filled with reproductions of da Vinci's inventions based on his original sketches.

The museum's founder, Gabriele Niccolai, grew up in Florence just like da Vinci did, hearing stories from his father about the artist's curiosity. Ten years ago, they opened the Leonardo da Vinci Museum. Niccolai and his father built the first exhibits together.

"When I was a kid I remembered going into museums and seeing signs urging me not to touch [anything]. That bothered me. I wanted to break that rule and create something where kids can actually spark their curiosity by using their hands, just like Leonardo," Niccolai said.

One of the inventions is a large wooden pulley system, or carrucola in Italian. Da Vinci used sandbags and rope to create a machine that would pick up heavy objects the way a crane does.

"It is a lot of fun to pull up and down. Also, it is cool to see how simple something like this used to be," said Clovis, who was visiting from Malaysia.

His sister, Clarice, 4, spent most of her time at the robot drummer or robot tamburellature. One of the many interests of da Vinci was how to make music by machine. Clarice rotated the handlebar on the side as the robot drummed to the beat based on her speed.

Da Vinci also had a deep fascination for flying and hoped to make flying machines that used pedals like a bike. But he knew that super strength would be needed to lift off, so he sketched a system that would let someone build muscle and strength. Today, we would call it a weightlifting machine. The wooden structure has handle bars and pedals to lift three heavy sandbags from the ground.

"It is incredible that there wasn't even flight yet and he was thinking about ways to prepare for it," Niccolai said.

Since Leonardo da Vinci's death 500 years ago, his artwork and sketches have been studied around the world. His painting of the Mona Lisa, which sits in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, is probably the most famous painting in the world. Niccolai is proud that he was able to bring Leonardo's inventions to life. He thinks da Vinci would be proud to see his work being passed on in this way.

"Kids should be open-minded and curious, and that way they could be like Leonardo. People lose curiosity as they grow older, but with Leonardo he was curious his entire life, not just when he was young."
William Barr defended his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings hours after the revelation that Mueller objected that the attorney general misrepresented his report on Russia interference in the 2016 election.

Mueller's report didn't come in the form Barr expected and he felt he needed to "notify the people as to the bottom-line conclusion" before a redacted version could be released, the attorney general said Wednesday at the opening of the first congressional hearing on Mueller's 448-page report since its release last month.

While Mueller argued that his summaries should be released quickly, Barr said, "I told Bob that I was not interested in putting out summaries and I was not interested in putting out the report piecemeal."

Mueller contacted Barr to express his displeasure after Barr issued a four-page letter in March characterizing the main findings of Mueller's investigation.

"The summary letter the department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions," Mueller wrote.

Mueller wrote that Barr's letter created "public confusion" about important parts of the results of the special counsel's 22-month probe. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations," Mueller wrote in the letter reported Tuesday evening by the Washington Post.

While the Justice Department portrayed it as a friendly difference of opinion, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said on "CBS This Morning" that Barr should resign because he "deliberately" misled Congress when he testified he didn't know whether Mueller agreed with his summary of the findings.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Judiciary panel's chairman, opened the hearings by saying he was satisfied with Mueller's report and said "for me, it is over."

But Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the committee's top Democrat, said that Mueller's report contained "substantial evidence of misconduct" and that the committee needed "to hear directly from the special counsel."

In opening testimony for Wednesday's hearing, Barr recounted and defended his process for handling Mueller's report without mentioning the disagreement with the special counsel.

The attorney general also indicated that he and other department officials would stop publicly discussing the report because it "is a matter for the American people and the political process," according to the statement.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement Tuesday evening that Barr called Mueller after receiving the special counsel's letter.

"In a cordial and professional conversation, the special counsel emphasized that nothing in the attorney general's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading," Kupec said in the statement. "But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the special counsel's obstruction analysis."

Barr said in his letter, and in a news conference shortly before the report was released, that Mueller had closed his inquiry without deciding whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice. Barr said that meant he needed to make the decision. He said that he, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, concluded that there wasn't sufficient evidence for criminal charges.

Barr's characterization of Mueller's findings stood uncontested until a redacted version of Mueller's report was released on April 18.

In fact, Mueller said he didn't make a "traditional" prosecution judgment on obstruction, mainly because he decided to abide by a Justice Department policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Yet he cited at least 10 examples of efforts to interfere in the investigation and pointedly added, "If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment."

Defending Barr's call on obstruction of justice, Graham said Mueller "said, 'Mr. Barr, you decide' -- and Barr did." Mueller never made such a request.

Graham also renewed his call for an investigation into what he and other Republicans portray as anti-Trump sentiment that they say tainted the early stages of the Russia investigation and the 2016 investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

While other Democrats on the Senate panel awaited their turns to quiz Barr, a hearing scheduled for Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee may be even more acrimonious -- if it takes place. The Justice Department has resisted a format that would let the committee's Democratic and Republican counsels grill Barr for as long as 30 minutes at a stretch after initial five-minute exchanges with lawmakers.

Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York, said Tuesday night that "the special counsel's concerns reflect our own. The attorney general should not have taken it upon himself to describe the special counsel's findings in a light more favorable to the president. It was only a matter of time before the facts caught up to him."

A House subpoena issued by Nadler calls for the production of the entire report, and underlying material, by Wednesday.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, however, expressed confidence in Barr's handling of the release of the Mueller report, according to Jessica Andrews, a spokeswoman.

"As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares for tomorrow's hearing," she said Tuesday night, "House Democrats have another opportunity to put partisan politics aside and recognize Attorney General Barr has conducted himself in an exemplary manner."

- - -

Bloomberg's Billy House and Terrence Dopp contributed.
The new Emperor was born on the evening of Feb. 23, 1960, at the Hospital of the Imperial Household in the Imperial Palace. Given the name Naruhito, he was 47 centimeters long and weighed 2,540 grams.

In his childhood, he developed an avid interest in history. In a collection of essays by graduates from Gakushuin Primary School, the Emperor wrote that his dream was to become a university teacher of Japanese history and to visit Nara with students.

After graduating from Gakushuin Boys' Junior High School and Gakushuin Boys' Senior High School, the Emperor was enrolled in the Department of History of Gakushuin University.

He continued his historical studies at the university's graduate school from 1982, then studied at Merton College of the University of Oxford for two years from 1983. He visited various places and analyzed historical records to research the history of water transportation along the Thames River during the 18th century.

The new Empress was born on Dec. 9, 1963, in Tokyo, as the first daughter of Hisashi and Yumiko Owada.

The Owada family is from an old established household in Murakami, Niigata Prefecture.

Her father, Hisashi, was a career diplomat whose duties included such positions as administrative vice foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations. The Empress spent 5 years of her childhood in New York and Moscow.

The Imperial couple met for the first time on Oct. 18, 1986, at a reception for a Spanish princess at the Togu Palace, the current Akasaka Palace. At that time, the Empress was still a student at the University of Tokyo and had just passed a diplomatic service examination.

"She was reserved, but said clearly what was on her mind," the Emperor said about his first impression of her at a press conference later. "I felt she was intelligent, and that we had something in common to talk about and were able to have our feelings well understood by each other."

"Should I give up on [marrying] Ms. Owada?" the Emperor said to his aides in desperation. It was in the autumn of 1991. Receiving a request from the then grand steward of the Imperial Household Agency, former Administrative Vice Foreign Minister Kensuke Yanagiya arranged for the two to be reunited at his home in August 1992, marking their first meeting in about five years.

Two months later, the two went on a date at the Imperial Wild Duck Preserve in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, and the Emperor proposed, saying, "Will you marry me?"

Initially, the Empress declined the proposal, saying she was "not confident." But the Emperor continued tenaciously persuading her to marry him, and the Empress accepted the proposal in December the same year.

"You may feel anxiety and concerns about entering the Imperial family, but I will protect you with all my might for the rest of my life." The Emperor's words swayed her decision to marry him.

The "Kekkon-no-gi" marriage ceremony was held on June 9 the following year. About 190,000 people lined the streets during a parade that followed the ceremony to celebrate the newlyweds.

In May 2001, it was officially announced that the Empress was pregnant.

Princess Aiko was born at 2:43 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2001, at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital. Her honorific title and name, Toshinomiya Aiko, reflected the Imperial couple's wish to see her grow up as a person who "respects and loves people."
The states attorney general is asking parents and caregivers to discontinue use of Fisher-Price Rock n Play sleepers after the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning because of infant deaths.

According to Attorney General Kwame Raouls Office, more than 30 deaths have been related to the product since 2009.

Fisher-Price said it was voluntarily issuing the recall because of the number of deaths, but said it stands by the safety of its product.

However, due to reported incidents in which the product was used contrary to the safety warnings and instructions, we have decided to conduct a voluntary recall of the Rock n Play Sleeper in partnership with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company said is a statement. Fisher-Price has a long, proud tradition of prioritizing safety as our mission. We at Fisher-Price want parents around the world to know that we have every intention of continuing that tradition.

Raoul said no parent should have to worry about the safety of products meant for children.

No parent should experience the unimaginable tragedy of losing a child, Raoul said. I urge parents and caregivers to stop using the Rock n Play sleeper immediately and check with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ensure they are not inadvertently using other recalled childrens products.

Fisher-Price is offering a refund or a product voucher for returned items, depending on when the item was bought.
Japan's new emperor Naruhito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne in a low-key ceremony, taking over his father's duties to serve as the symbol of a nation facing slower economic growth and an aging population.

In a ritual on Wednesday at the Imperial Palace, Naruhito, 59, inherited the royal regalia that serves as ceremonial proof of his ascension, including a sacred sword and jewels. A more extravagant enthronement is set for Oct. 22, which will involve visits from heads of state and government from around the world, a series of banquets and a parade through the streets of Tokyo.

"In accordance with the constitution, I vow to fulfill my responsibilities as a symbol to the nation and the people of Japan," said Naruhito, the first emperor born after World War II. "I wish for happiness and prosperity for the nation, and for world peace."

While his position no longer bestows political power or the status as a living god, Naruhito will serve as titular head of the country of 126 million. He'll bring an international background to the role, having spent two years studying at the University of Oxford in his twenties. His wife, Masako, a former diplomat, studied at Harvard and as Oxford.

"It will be interesting to see what happens with Japan's relationship with China and South Korea under the new emperor," said Yuji Otabe, professor emeritus of Japanese history at Shizuoka University of Welfare. "I think Naruhito wants to make amends with South Korea and make things better as an Asian neighbor."

Naruhito's first major diplomatic task will be to entertain President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, at a formal banquet during their state visit to Japan later this month. Trump sent his congratulations, promising to "renew the strong bonds of friendship between our two countries." Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated the new emperor, saying the two countries should work towards a bright future for bilateral ties.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in also sent salutations, urging Naruhito to remember "pain from the war" and contribute to peace as his father did. Although Akihito expressed "deepest regret" in 1990 for the suffering caused by Japan during its 1910-45 occupation of Korea, differences over the colonial period continue to strain ties between the two neighbors.

On Tuesday, Akihito, 85, became the first Japanese monarch to relinquish the throne in 202 years, voluntarily stepping down due to health concerns after a three-decade reign. He affirmed his abdication at a ceremony attended by about 300 political leaders and dignitaries, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who thanked the "emperor emeritus" for his reign and praised him for giving the Japanese people "courage and hope for tomorrow."

"It was a happy thing for me to be able to fulfill the responsibilities of the emperor with deep trust and love for citizens," Akihito said on a white stage in a morning coat, with his wife, Michiko, by his side.

The government extended its spring Golden Week holidays to an unprecedented 10 days until Monday to mark the beginning of Naruhito's reign, which has been given the official name Reiwa, or "auspicious calm."

Naruhito is the eldest of the three children born to Akihito and Michiko. He was raised from birth to be emperor, graduating in 1982 from the department of history at Gakushuin University in Tokyo, a school favored by the Japanese imperial family. He later researched medieval water transport at Oxford.

The then-crown prince married Masako Owada in 1993. Masako eventually gave birth to the couple's only child, Princess Aiko, in 2001, sparking talk of a change in the law that allow only men to ascend the throne. The incoming emperor's younger brother, Prince Akishino, is next in line.

That discussion was shelved in 2006, when Akishino's wife gave birth to a boy. By that time, Masako had largely withdrawn from public events, with the Imperial Household Agency saying she was suffering from an "adjustment disorder." Her apparent struggles with life in the imperial household make it unclear whether she will play as public a role as her mother-in-law has done over the past three decades.

Only male adult imperial family members were invited to a key ceremony for the ascension on Wednesday. About an hour later, another event open to female imperial family members was planned. Naruhito was expected to speak publicly for the first time as the new emperor.

Members of the public will be allowed into the grounds of the Imperial Palace on Saturday to see the new imperial couple and other members of the family wave from a balcony.

"When I think about the important responsibility I have assumed, I am filled with a sense of solemnity," Naruhito said.

--With assistance from Bloomberg's Youkyung Lee, Chikako Mogi and Hooyeon Kim.
ALTON  A dedicated, hard-working woman, who strives to make a difference in her community every day. Thats how Megan L. Williams, of Alton, describes herself, and she is doing just that as the assistant regional director for the Anti-Defamation League Heartland in St. Louis, a national civil rights organization with the mission of securing justice and fair treatment for everyone. Civil right and social justice are certainly where my heart lies, Williams said. Racial justice has always been very important to me. The agency does work every day toward that goal, and to be doing what I love is great.

At ADL, her job is to educate people, including personnel in law enforcement and prosecuting attorneys offices in Missouri, southern Illinois and Eastern Kansas, on a number of civil rights issues, like what is considered a hate crime - a crime motivated by factors, such as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity. She facilitates several additional programs, including one in partnership with the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, educating law enforcement officers on how to recognize bias and stereotyping in their own lives, how it impacts their job and those they come into contact with, and how to reduce the negative impact of prejudice.

Being able to contribute and make a difference for others really motivates me, Williams said. She is also working with a hate awareness program through the U.S. Attorney Hate Crimes Task Force to educate people, especially those in targeted communities. Williams previously served on the YWCA of Alton board, where she chaired the racial justice committee. In that position, she was able to secure racial justice educator and writer, Debby Irving, author of Waking up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race, as a guest speaker.

That book started a dialogue about racial justice. I have handed out at least 50 copies that I know have been passed along to three times that many people, Williams said. It helps start a conversation that we can let grow. Prior to ADL, Williams was a consultant for Lantern Network, where she established community and individualized programs in the areas of equity, business development and neighborhood development.

She was also city attorney and assistant corporation counselor for Alton, where she had a number of duties and accomplishments, including changes to policies, procedures, and professional philosophies to improve relationships between the city and the community to enhance diversity and create a welcome environment for all citizens.

Before working for the city of Alton, she practiced law at two small firms in St. Louis.

Being a litigator for nine years provided me the space and voice to speak up, and the knowledge I have of the system has made me a more effective advocate for others, Williams said. For me, the most satisfying thing is to see that my work has impacted other human beings and helped them to thrive. Sometimes, its a small thing. If I can make someone have a better day, then its been a good day.

Williams graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University in Chicago, where she earned a bachelors degree in international studies. She earned her juris doctor at Saint Louis University School of Law. She has also been involved with Boys & Girls Club of Alton, is a member of the Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis, and graduated from the FOCUS St. Louis leadership program.

Her 10-month-old daughter, Aubrey, keeps her busy, and Williams said work and family are definitely her focus. As for the Women of Distinction recognition, she said it is incredibly humbling.

I look at the long list of women who came before me, and I am so very honored to be included, she said. I was so surprised!

This is one part of a 10-part series introducing this years YWCA of Alton Women of Distinction honorees. The YWCA of Alton will host the 29th annual Women of Distinction recognition ceremony at 6 p.m., Thursday, May 2, at the Commons at Lewis and Clark Community College. Tickets are $60 per person, $480 per table of eight or $600 for table of 10. Reservations can be made at altonywca.com, at the YWCA at 304 E. Third St., or by calling 618-465-7774.
ALBANY  New York's safety regulations for limousines and buses will be examined next week in Albany during a public hearing convened by the state Senate.

It is the first of at least two planned hearings by the Senate Transportation Committee, which is expected to hear from the transportation industry, safety experts and family members of victims from last fall's fatal stretch limousine crash in Schoharie County.

The May 2 hearing is scheduled to take place a month after state lawmakers and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo approved new vehicle safety regulations in the budget.

"By banning u-turns, making information to consumers more accessible, and holding non-compliant companies more accountable, we took the first steps toward reforming an industry that has caused one senseless tragedy after another in our state," said Sen. Tim Kennedy, a Buffalo-area Democrat who leads the chamber's transportation committee.

"However, it is clear our work is not yet done," Kennedy said. "I am looking forward to hearing from the families of those who have suffered, as well as industry leaders and transportation experts about what New York state can do to ensure no one ever loses a loved one again because of negligence, mismanagement, or lax regulations on this industry."

The hearings will focus on new regulations for limousine operators and road safety concerns.

Cuomo unveiled new precautions in his state budget, including a ban on after-market stretched limousines that was subsequently dropped from the final budget deal. State lawmakers did sign off on a new $85 state inspection fee, tougher penalties for illegal limo operators who circumvent state regulations, and broad powers to remove license plates from limousines that fail inspections or do not have state certification to operate.

Some of those changes were crafted in direct response to the breakdowns and violations that contributed to the events leading up to the Schoharie limousine crash.

The budget resolution approved in March by Senate Democrats initially rejected the governor's safety proposals, saying they should first be discussed in a "hearing to incorporate stakeholders' input to ensure that passenger motor carrier safety is properly regulated while enabling the industry to function."

Last month, Sen. Neil Breslin, a Bethlehem Democrat, began pushing legislation that would significantly raise the minimum insurance requirements that upstate limousine companies carry on their vehicles.

New York doesn't differentiate between cars and limos when it comes to insurance minimums to cover injuries or death in a crash, with coverage of rates as low as $100,000 for the death of one or more people.

Breslin's bill would set the minimum payout at $1.5 million for injuries or death to one or more people in a limousine. The measure would also require that limo owners hand in their plates when coverage lapses.

Kennedy's office said the hearings could also address Cuomo's proposal requiring adults who are in the back seat of a vehicle to wear seatbelts. The language advanced by the governor was removed from the final budget agreement, but Kennedy backs the requirement.

Anyone interested in testifying should contact transportation@nysenate.gov. The hearing is scheduled to take place in hearing room A of the Legislative Office Building.

A second hearing is planned for Long Island, but a location and date have not been announced.

Additional reporting by Larry Rulison.
EAST ST. LOUIS  Life in East St. Louis  as experienced and written by a few students at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School  will soon be on stage.

This year, the students decided to write their own scenes about life in East St. Louis, said Kathryn Bentley, associate professor in the Department of Theater and Dance, about the second year of her Sankofa Residency at the Charter High School (CHS).

Bentleys weekly drama workshop gives students the opportunity to express, explore and expand their relationship with writing, acting and themselves. The workshop will conclude with a performance of the students work at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 8 in Building B, Room 2083-84 at the SIUE East St. Louis Center.

The eight-week residency includes a near-peer mentorship model, where Bentley is assisted by three of her theater performance students, seniors Justin Truman, Matthew Anderson and Michael Watkins. It is being supported by the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Targeted Funding Initiative (TFI) utilizing funding acquired through the Colleges Winter Session courses and is supplemented with other CAS internal funds. Initiated by CAS Dean Greg Budzban, PhD, and launched in 2015, the TFI has provided more than $700,000 to faculty and staff.

In one scene, written by budding playwright CHS sophomore TyAsia Alls, a native East St. Louisan finds himself trying to broaden his employees mind about his hometown.

Christopher is from East St. Louis, and Marcus was born and raised in Oakland, Calif., explained Alls. There are job opportunities in East St. Louis, but Marcus doesnt want to go, because hes heard that East St. Louis is a town full of run-down buildings and crime.

People want to say that is all East St. Louis is about, but it is not, continued Alls. There are good places here. There are good people here. There are good things happening here.

Professor Bentley has had a profound effect on TyAsia, interjected Edith Laktzian, CHS resource teacher. There was a time when TyAsia would barely talk in class. She is an amazing young lady, with great thought and a heart of gold. It has taken some time, peeling her back like an onion. Ms. Bentley and this class haved helped in doing just that.

The SIUE Charter High School is a school-of-choice for families in the East St. Louis School District 189. The mission of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School is to prepare students who are career- and college-ready upon graduation. To achieve this mission, the school and its staff will positively impact the educational and economic lives of East St. Louis, Illinois youth through individualized instruction in core academic subjects, exploration of career interests and aptitudes, assistance in realizing students talents, high academic goals, and expectations that graduates will become competitive employees for the 21st century.

Central to SIUEs exceptional and comprehensive education, the College of Arts and Sciences has 19 departments and 85 areas of study. More than 300 full-time faculty/instructors deliver classes to more than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Faculty help students explore diverse ideas and experiences, while learning to think and live as fulfilled, productive members of the global community. Study abroad, service-learning, internships, and other experiential learning opportunities better prepare SIUE students not only to succeed in our regions workplaces, but also to become valuable leaders who make important contributions to our communities.
EDWARDSVILLE  Opera Edwardsville and the SIUE Vocal Department have solidified a partnership to develop and conduct a youth program specifically for children.

Made possible by a grant awarded by the SIUE Meridian Society, under the direction of Dr. Marc Schapman, the collaboration will involve the development of an opera program performed next fall.

Schapman, who has had much experience with opera theater in St. Louis and through outreach programs for kids through SIUE, will be leading the charge for this new venture as he partners with Chase Hopkins, founder of Opera Edwardsville.

Years ago we used to do a project fairly regularly at SIUE, as far as creating some operas. Wed head out to elementary schools, community centers, and we did some performances at St. Louis Childrens Hospital, Schapman noted. As our program continued to grow up at SIUE, we had to invest in our mainstay productions and the growing nature of our program. But a lot of the shows that we used to put together are essentially the same concept that were going to be going forward with, with Opera Edwardsville.

Schapman said the opera shows for children will be similar to fairy tale stories.

For example, some of the stories weve done in the past are Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and The Three Little Pigs, he said. Its a great concept because these shows and these stories extract music from classical operas or light operettas.

The nice thing about some of the stories weve chosen in the past and some of the themes that we are going to use in this project is a lot of them are very contemporary ideas and important concepts for young kids. Things like anti-bullying, the importance of telling the truth, being an individual, and really just common important things for young kids to be learning about.

The goal is to try to give young children some exposure to classical music.

Of course everyone knows that its getting harder and harder to sustain the arts in the schools for young kids. They just dont have as much opportunity to be exposed to it. Teachers have a lot of limitations themselves, Schapman noted. Us being able to give this opportunity to the students as well as the teachers kind of supports the mission of what we want to do at the university, and Chases company. It helps the music teachers support their mission and their curriculum and helps the idea of the schools promoting citizenship to their students as well by utilizing these morals and themes that are really, really important.

He explained that the plan was to cross-pollinate some individuals from both SIUE and Opera Edwardsville. For example, the music director and stage director could be different individuals, one from each organization.

We certainly dont want it to be just SIUE representation or Opera Edwardsville. But forging a collaboration between this new company that Chase is creating and of course SIUE, which is in the same hometown, seems like a really logical collaboration and logical partnership. And utilizing some people from both sides of the coin it allows some of our students to of course network and work with some different people other than myself all the time, Schapman said.  Certainly in this kind of business those kind of connections are really, really important because they help to kind of bridge students into other opportunities later on in their career.

Hopkins and Schapman are to choose the fairy tale then once the fall semester begins, Schapman will cast the show and the Meridian Society grant will be utilized to create costumes and a mobile set.

I think its just a great opportunity to collaborate with Chase with something that I feel really passionate about because I have young kids, too, he said.

The pair will be reaching out to childrens organizations and area schools to schedule fall presentations; however, anyone interested in scheduling their organization for a performance is encouraged to email Schapman at maschap@siue.edu

The Meridian Society is an auxiliary organization of the SIUE Foundation. It invests in community-based projects and annually gifts awards each spring to fund SIUE projects that provide direct services in the community. Since 2003, the Meridian Society has distributed more than $290,000 in awards to more than 100 projects.
BLUFFS  The cancellation of Marquis Energys plans to build an ethanol plant in Bluffs is creating backlash against state regulations on business that are being blamed for the projects halt.

Residents in both Bluffs and Hennepin, as well as some state legislators, are unhappy with the cancellation, but their anger isnt aimed at Marquis Energy.

Marquis Energys move to cancel the project is no surprise, because of the states continued regulations on businesses, state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, said in a letter to the editor in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier.

The decision by Marquis Energy to reconsider their plans is not surprising, as Senate Bill 1407 will have detrimental effects on our states ability to be competitive in the region, Davidsmeyer said in the letter. While it hasnt been passed yet, the fact that bills like this are even introduced in Illinois is already driving away business from our state at a time when we need more jobs, more investment, and more opportunity for all Illinoisans.

The Hennepin-based company had planned a $500 million ethanol plant near Bluffs.

Danielle Anderson, a spokeswoman for Marquis Energy, confirmed Tuesday that the company let all of its 2-year land-option contracts  covering more than 800 acres in Scott County  expire as the end of April approached.

Companies are being put in a difficult position  especially regarding new construction  because of the states restrictions on construction contracts for companies dealing with hazardous materials, Anderson said.

SB1407 would restrict which companies are able to provide construction services to companies dealing with hazardous materials.

Marquis Energy announced the cancellation of the project last week, claiming the unknown consequences of SB 1407 may force it to look at other states for expansion.

The bill, if passed, would allow those limited companies to inflate their prices, Marquis CEO Mark Marquis said.

This legislation would inflate the cost of the development to the point the project would not have an adequate return on investment and would negatively impact our companys ability to competitively bid construction projects, Marquis said. Illinois governments anti-business and high tax policies will require us to pursue company expansions in surrounding states. State Bill SB 1407 is an example of legislation that will negatively impact our companys expansion plans  removing our companys choice in construction contractors we hire and the agreed upon price between the two parties, reducing competition and inflating costs.

Because the project has been shelved, some are saying Bluffs no longer will have the positive impact the company could bring to the community, from the creation of jobs and economic growth to the creation of a good community partnership with the company.

Bill Shafer, a Hennepin resident and former Putnam County engineer, said Marquis Energy provides benefits for any community in which it locates, including economic benefits, partnerships and help with local schools.

They will be lacking a very positive impact, Shafer said of Bluffs. Marquis are good industrial neighbors. They bring other businesses to town. They are the type of company you love to see come to town.

Shafer said the company encourages good behavior and community participation among its employees and has a good working relationship with its corn suppliers. He said they also are known for helping the communities in which they are based.

State moves to regulate businesses is something that is having a negative impact on all communities, Shafer said.

While working as an county engineer, he saw businesses look elsewhere because of the lengthy and difficult permitting process, the strict regulations and expenses the businesses have to pay just to become established in Illinois, he said.

These regulations are taking away a companys right to choose who to do business with, Shafer said. When you start telling someone who they can and cant do business with, youll get a strong negative reaction.

Davidsmeyer said the state continues to move toward a less business-friendly environment.

SB 1407 would give Illinois government the power to drive up costs on private projects, Davidsmeyer said. An expansion of legislative power to this degree infringes on Illinois companies abilities to grow and provide more opportunity for individuals to flourish. This bill does nothing to brighten opportunities for Illinois economy and skilled workers. As legislators, we need to enact policies that bring more good paying jobs and opportunity to the state, not less.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
For two years, Maya Henry regularly spent time in Swarthmore College's two fraternity houses. Every week, the modest stone structures would transform into dens of drunken revelry as partygoers packed in sweaty rooms imbibed on cheap alcohol and danced the night away to a soundtrack of the latest Top 40 hits.

Henry, however, never attended those parties by choice. Henry had a job to do.

"Most days, my job was to prevent sexual violence and my job was to make sure that somebody wasn't going to get harmed," Henry, now a junior, told The Washington Post. The 20-year-old is a member of Swarthmore's SwatTeam, a student-led organization that works to ensure safety at public campus events where alcohol is served.

"I would sprint up the stairs that lead to the bedroom that's referred to as the 'rape attic' because I knew that there was only one woman up there and a bunch of fraternity brothers," Henry said.

The alleged reference to a "rape attic" is just one of the troubling details recently revealed about the culture within the selective Pennsylvania college's fraternities that was made public in internal documents leaked to two campus publications. Redacted versions of the documents, published earlier this month by the Phoenix and Voices, have since sparked fierce protests from students, including an ongoing sit-in that started Saturday on the campus located west of Philadelphia.

Over the weekend, the growing outcry prompted administrators to suspend all fraternity activity pending the results of an investigation.

The 116-page document reportedly came from the "historical archives" of Swarthmore's chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, which is not nationally affiliated, and contains meeting minutes and details of pledge tasks. The document features graphic descriptions of members' sexual encounters, including a reference to a "rape tunnel." It also describes their conversations about women, minority groups and sexual assault that were often peppered with offensive language, such as homophobic and racial slurs. The documents chronicle activities between 2010 and 2016, the Phoenix reported.

IT'S NOT A HAZING PRANK: What waterboarding really feels like

"I absolutely condemn the language and actions described in the documents," wrote Swarthmore President Valerie Smith in a Monday statement. "What is contained within those pages is vulgar and deeply offensive to all of us. The racism, misogyny, and homophobia described within them is antithetical to the values of the College and violates the student code of conduct as well as basic decency."

But for many students, the contents of the documents were not surprising.

"It confirms people's experiences," Henry said. "It confirms the stories."

Henry said the document was difficult to read in its entirety because of how "disturbing" it was.

"It just made me remember the heightened anxiety I felt working there, trying to protect my fellow students and also trying to protect myself," Henry said.

A number of these experiences, which implicated Phi Kappa Psi as well as the college's other fraternity, Delta Upsilon, were published in a Tumblr blog that was launched earlier this month called "Why Swarthmore's Fraternities Must Go." Now, the page features more than 100 submissions from people whose identities were kept anonymous. In first- or second-hand accounts, writers described how they were allegedly assaulted at fraternity events or by members between 2015 and 2019. Other posts detailed instances in which members allegedly exhibited homophobic, racist and sexist behavior. (Names of fraternities and members were not included in the posts).

It wasn't long after the blog went up that the documents were leaked, Morgin Goldberg, a senior, told The Post.

"We realized that together it's actually a pretty damning account of fraternity violence and harm," said Goldberg, 22, one of the students who created the blog and helped organize the sit-in.

In a statement shared to Facebook earlier this month, current members of the Phi Kappa Psi chapter said they "wholeheartedly condemn the language in the 2013 and 2014 notes, as they are not representative of who we are today."

"All our current brothers were in high school and middle school at the time of these unofficial minutes, and none of us would have joined the organization had this been the standard when we arrived at Swarthmore," the statement said.

However, when Goldberg looked through the leaked files and compared them to the blog posts, which mention more recent events, she said, themes started to appear. Though jokes about a bedroom in the fraternity house known as the "rape attic" were from 2013, people are still writing about allegedly "getting assaulted in the rooms or seeing their friends get assaulted in the rooms," Goldberg said.

The fraternity has not directly addressed the allegations in the blog. A statement from Phi Kappa Psi's national headquarters said that while it has no affiliation with the group, "we were nevertheless shocked by their actions."

"From day one of their affiliation, members are taught to treat all people with dignity and respect," the statement said. Delta Upsilon did not respond to a request for comment late Monday.

Armed with the testimonials and the documents, Goldberg said she and other students took action earlier this month, demanding the college terminate its housing leases with the fraternities. Protests were held and meetings among administrators were disrupted. All the while, former members of both fraternities wrote op-eds in the Phoenix calling for the college to remove the chapters from campus. The college also has one sorority.

Similar demands have been made against the fraternities in the past, but "never manifested in actually getting rid of these frats," Goldberg said. Last year, a committee tasked with assessing campus culture recommended a moratorium be placed on the houses, which Smith decided not to impose.

When it became apparent to Goldberg and other student activists that their efforts this time around weren't yielding the results they wanted, she said they decided to push harder.

On Saturday, a group of about 50 students "rushed in" to the Phi Kappa Psi house, and soon the group grew to more than 100 people, Goldberg said. The students took over inside and occupied the lawn outside the house, hanging homemade banners that said, "CLOSE THE 'RAPE ATTIC.' TIME'S UP," and "END THE FRATS." While they did not storm Delta Upsilon, located next door, protesters hung up signs outside. One spray painted bedsheet read, "STILL A RAPE HAVEN."

"The sit-in really came after many different kinds of direct action that seemed like they were still not working even though we were putting all that we had on the table," Goldberg said. "The sit-in was our way to say, 'Actually, this space is ours.'"

Hours after the sit-in began, Smith announced the suspension of fraternity activities. She wrote that administrators had received unredacted copies of the files and were coordinating with an external investigator.

Henry said the documents were necessary to get people such as administrators, professors and those with friends in fraternities, to be "moved to do something."

"We had hard proof that somebody would take seriously," Henry said.

Despite the "win," Goldberg said students plan on staying put until the college meets all their demands, which aside from the lease termination, include dissolving both fraternities and reallocating the houses to groups that have been historically marginalized by the institutions.

The goal, Henry said, is to see the houses "get completely and radically transformed inside and out." Henry added that it has already been suggested that the buildings be turned into spaces for first generation students or minority women and non-binary students.

As of late Monday, a group of about 30 students were still inside the house and many planned to spend the night, Amal Haddad, a freshman involved in the protest, told The Post. The 18-year-old said the sit-in had drawn campus-wide support, with the exception of fraternity members.

"It's really been a community environment," she said. "It's really nice to see this space sort of looking like what it could be in the future."
Two East St. Louis preschool workers accused of making children stand naked in a closet as punishment now face criminal charges.

Teacher Mary Agbehia of Edwardsville and teachers aide Shavonda Willis of Fairview Heights were each charged with felony aggravated battery after being accused of physical contact with the children and unlawful restraint for allegedly ordering children to stand in the closet, according to the St. Clair County states attorneys office.

Agbehia faces the battery charge for allegedly taking one boys shirt off for him. The battery charge for Willis is for allegedly touching a girl with an object she used to pretend she was giving the child an injection.

The investigation and resulting charges were discussed Wednesday during a press conference at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, which runs the Head Start program where the women worked at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis.

Police believe four or five children in the class had been told to stand naked in the closet since early February, according to SIUE Police Chief Kevin Schmoll. He said the children are all 4 and 5 years old.

The teacher and classroom aide have been on paid administrative leave since a supervisor called the SIUE Police Department on March 14. Schmoll said a boy in the class told his mother what was going on, and she told the school.

Police were told kids had been forced to take off their clothes and stand inside a closet for five to 10 minutes with the door open before they could get dressed and come back to the class. That punishment was for misbehavior like talking or not listening, Schmoll said.

SIUE human resources director Bob Thumith said Wednesday that the university hadnt made a decision about Agbehias and Willis employment. They will remain on administrative leave until SIUE officials can look at the results of the investigations conducted by police and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, according to Thumith.

In light of the allegations against the women, Thumith said he reviewed the universitys screening and hiring processes for each of them for anything that could be changed in the future. The processes included background checks and criminal records checks that Thumith said were crystal clear.

Let me put it to you this way, if they were to apply today, they would be attractive candidates absent the current situation, he said.

Agbehia was hired in 2016, and Willis was hired in 2013, according to Thumith.

He said they went through extensive training on dealing with children along with the rest of the staff.

I cant explain it, Thumith said. Weve done everything in our control in terms of training Codes of conduct, codes of ethics, handbooks always prescribe behavior which is prohibited by Head Start regulations and even common sense.

Timothy Staples, the interim director of SIUE East St. Louis Center, said officials have since reminded the staff that they are required to report suspected abuse or neglect.

Bail for each of the women was set at $5,000.

Heart Start programs like the one where the women worked are federally funded and offered to families that otherwise couldnt afford preschool to get their children ready for kindergarten.
An African American woman filed a federal lawsuit against a recently desegregated Mississippi school district last week, claiming a white student was named salutatorian of their graduating class despite having a lower grade-point average.

The lawsuit comes weeks before a trial involving the same school district in which a black student alleges she was named "co-valedictorian" with a white student, even though the white student had a lower grade-point average.

In 2017, Mississippi's Cleveland School District desegregated after a federal judge found it was operating an illegal dual system for black and white children. A new school, Cleveland Central High, opened after two other schools - one on the historically white side of town, one on the historically black side of town - combined.

In May, school officials told Olecia James, a black senior at the new high school, that her weighted grade-point average would be lowered after she lost "quality points" earned in courses taken at the historically black school, according to a federal suit filed in Mississippi's Northern District.

The suit alleges the points, awarded for more challenging classes, were taken from students at the historically black school, but not from students at the historically white school.

After James objected, the suit alleges, officials said her "quality point average" of 4.41 would be restored, but still named a white male student with a 4.34 average salutatorian.

James "suffered loss of scholarships" and "humiliation" as a result, according to the suit, which seeks monetary damages, a change in school policy and a declaration that James is salutatorian.

"The defendants . . . in their angst to prevent white flight, named W.M., a white male student, as salutatorian of the inaugural class of Cleveland Central High School in 2018, a position he had not earned, and in doing so, discriminated against Olecia James, a black female who had earned the position," the suit said.

The school district's superintendent referred questions to attorneys, who declined to comment.

In an interview, James, 18, who recently completed her first year studying mass communication at Alcorn State University, she said was admitted to the University of Mississippi, but lost a scholarship for salutatorians as a result of the change. She said students from East Side High School, Cleveland's historically black school, had to "make the best" out of their new high school's grading decisions.

"I knew what I had worked for," she said. "I knew what the other East Side students had worked hard for. To see it taken away was heartbreaking."

James's case was filed weeks before a June trial in the case of Jasmine Shepard, a black student who sued the district in 2017 after she claimed she was named "co-valedictorian" with a white student who had a lower grade-point average.

Lisa Ross, who represents James and Shepard, said the school district had created a "false narrative" when it came to racial equity. Because another black student was named valedictorian at Cleveland Central in 2018, the second spot had to go to a white person, she said.

"The only reason he's No. 2 is that they took away points," Ross said.
American politics will never be the same. For the first time in our nations history, a gay man is seeking the office of president of the United States. And to make this even even more extraordinary, South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a married gay man, who sees no conflict between his sexual orientation and faith as a Christian.

Many conservative Christians, however, not only see a conflict. They regard gay Christian as an oxymoron and arent reluctant to say so. Franklin Graham, a minister and ardent Trump supporter, tweeted last month, Mayor Buttigieg says hes a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as a sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized.

I found it amusing that Graham stated he believes homosexuality shouldnt be politicized. Evidently, hes unaware that conservative Christians such as himself have been politicizing homosexuality for decades. He also seems clueless that by criticizing a presidential candidates sexual orientation on social media, hes contributing to the politicizing of this volatile issue.

Grahams tweet then slammed Buttigieg as a married gay man. The Bible says that marriage is between a man & a woman  not two men, not two women.

Genesis 2:23 records Adam as saying regarding the newly-made Eve, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. The next verse reads, Therefore shall a man leave his father, and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Since the previous verse was clearly attributed to Adam, however, its unclear whether these are also Adams words or a sudden interpolation from God.

Still, Christian conservatives are correct in maintaining that Genesis 2:23-24 indicate that marriage is a union between a man and woman. United Methodists who sought to keep their churches free of both gay marriage and gay clergy frequently cited those verses when their denomination held a conference in St. Louis earlier this year. The conservatives ultimately carried the day.

Heres the problem, however. Many Christians who claim to oppose gay marriage because it isnt Biblical seem to have no problem whatsoever acquiescing with other church policies that are every bit as unbiblical as gay marriage.

The web site of the United Methodist Church (UMC) proudly notes that its General Conference on May 4, 1956 voted to ordain women. Such an act appears to flout any number of Biblical passages. Those conservative Methodists who cite Genesis 2:23-24 as their reason for opposing gay marriage seem unaware God in Genesis 3:16 tells Eve that thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. That verse alone should preclude any women ministers, either in the UMC or any other Christian denomination.

Paul in I Corinthians 14:34 wrote, Let your women should keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak. That would seem to forbid any woman from delivering a Sunday sermon. Verse 35 is even more emphatic. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Paul seems to be saying that a woman cant even announce the date and time of a churchs upcoming rummage sale.

I Timothy 2:12 lays it on the line. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. Forbidding women to teach suggests that only men should be Sunday school instructors.

The UMC realized decades ago that, despite those scriptural verses, women should enjoy full equality in church, including ordination. Methodists and members of other denominations who oppose gay marriage should ask themselves why theyre comfortable disregarding some Biblical passages but not others.

John J. Dunphy is the author of Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois and Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 19451947.
By IANS

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, including banks, for being "hand in gloves" with the beleaguered real estate major Amrapali Group and for abdicating their responsibility in monitoring the housing projects thereby leaving lakhs of home buyers in the lurch.

"It is your own doing. You have not done anything. If you had done anything, this would not have happened. If it is not hand in gloves then what it is," Justice Arun Mishra told the Noida, Greater Noida authorities and the banks.

Pointing to the diversion of Rs 3,500 crore by the Amrapali Group as estimated by the forensic auditors, Justice Mishra said, "Rs 3,500 crore have gone away. Due to your inaction, cheating has taken place. The banks' inaction has contributed to it. Had you taken action timely, this would not have happened."

Referring to the 15 lakh people who have suffered in different housing projects of varied builders in Noida, Greater Noida and elsewhere, Mishra said, "Such large scale things happen only in India. Everybody is in the lurch." He also pointed at the lack of stringent punishment which was there for other offences.

ALSO READ | 'Amrapali Group diverted Rs 3,500 crore of home buyers money to other projects'

The court's observations came in the course of the submissions by senior counsels M.L. Lahoty and Krishnan Venugopal pointing at the abdication of responsibilities by the Noida, Greater Noida authorities and the banks in the monitoring of the progress of the residential projects.

"We know what is happening. Don't tell us," Justice Mishra said as the counsel for the Noida and Greater Noida authorities sought to offer an explanation in response to Venugopal's submission that there was lack of "policing" of the projects by the authorities.Directing the banks who financed Amrapali's projects to place before it all the records related to the financing of the projects, the court said, "Every financial institution has to ensure that the money advanced is used for the intended project and there is no diversion from one company to another company."

The court said that no project should escape the provisions of RERA.

The forensic auditors' reports pointed to instances where money moved from one company to another company of the Amrapali Group.

READ HERE | SC asks Amrapali Group to explain details of transactions, agreements with M S Dhoni

Counting Noida, Greater Noida and banks for their inaction in the face of violations by the Amrapali Group, senior counsel Lahoty pointed to the forensic auditors' report which has "very strongly condemned the banks" for being responsible for the prevailing mess.

He pointed to the forensic auditors' report saying that "without the active support of the banks this kind of large scale money laundering could not have happened."
For all his talk about judges not being political actors beholden to a president, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and his conservative colleagues on the Supreme Court may hand President Donald Trump one of the biggest political victories of his administration: the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

It also happens to be a coup with profound implications for American democracy.

At issue in Department of Commerce v. New York, which the justices considered Tuesday in an 80-minute hearing, is not the legality of inquiring on the census form about peoples citizenship status. As Justice Neil Gorsuch put it, Its not like anybody in the room is suggesting the question is improper to ask in some way, shape or form.

Instead, the case is about administrative process. Did Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, follow the proper procedures set out in federal law when he sought to include the question?

That shouldnt be a difficult question to answer. Three judges so far  including one in New York, whose ruling is now under review at the Supreme Court  have said that Ross broke federal rules when he set out to include the citizenship question. Federal courts generally defer to government agencies and officials, unless those agencies do things that are determined to be arbitrary or capricious  as has been common in the Trump era.

Thats how judges have described Ross conduct. It should be straightforward for this Supreme Court, which has long professed skepticism toward the federal bureaucracy, to investigate the actions of a bureaucrat who has had a hard time following the law.

But those skeptical conservative justices were nowhere to be found Tuesday. In a move that would presumably help Trumps party, they seemed ready to side with the administration and disregard the many irregularities in how Ross sought to push the citizenship question  which the government stopped asking in the 1950s because of the projected undercount in communities with large immigrant populations. Thats the same concern that critics of the citizenship question have today: that immigrant-rich areas of the country could be underrepresented in the count and therefore miss out on critical funding and representation in Congress. An analysis by census officials found that nearly 6% of households with at least one noncitizen, or roughly 6.5 million people, would go uncounted with a citizenship question on the 2020 census.

During Tuesdays arguments, the conservative majority showed little interest in the fact that Ross ignored the expertise of the U.S. Census Bureau, which had warned that the citizenship question would lead to significant undercounts because immigrants may be wary of participating. And it could lead to cost overruns, estimated in the tens of millions of dollars, because unresponsive households require more follow-up. Theres no question that the bureau staff preferred not to have this question on the census, Noel Francisco, the Justice Departments top Supreme Court lawyer, conceded Tuesday. But, he argued, Ross acted reasonably.

The conservative justices also seemed unbothered that Ross lobbied hard to get other federal agencies to provide a pretext for his plans  an effort to obtain cover for a decision that was already made, as one federal judge phrased it. Or as Justice Elena Kagan said, Ross was shopping for a need for the citizenship data. That shopping ultimately led Ross to the Justice Departments civil rights division, which caved to his pressure and said the data was necessary to protect voting rights.

That, too, went against standard practice. There have been lots of assistant attorneys general in the civil rights division that have never made a plea for this kind of data, Kagan noted.

Despite all this, Ross  who documents show has coordinated with anti-immigrant stalwarts close to the White House  seems likely to get his way. The statute that Congress has passed gives huge discretion to the secretary [of commerce, on] how to fill out the form, what to put on the form, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said Tuesday.

That sounds a lot like what Roberts wrote last summer in his 5-4 majority upholding Trumps travel ban, despite it dripping with anti-Muslim sentiment. Federal law, Roberts wrote, grants the president broad discretion to suspend the entry of aliens into the United States.

So it may come to pass that, no matter how ugly the underlying evidence or how antithetical this change is to an actual enumeration of everyone in the United States, the justices will once again let the administration have its way.

Cristian Farias is a columnist for The New York Times.
Job Title: Manager

 System Risk Management

Organisation: Future

Options Consulting Ltd

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Reports to:

Head of Risk Management

About US:

Future Options

Consulting Ltd is an online recruitment services which now seeks to recruit on

behalf of its valued client, a leading commercial bank operating in Uganda.

Job Summary: The Manager  System Risk Management will

identify and adequately manage increasingly complex and widespread

technology-related risks. The incumbent will ensure availability and

performance of systems, given the banks critical dependence on technology to

initiate, record, move and manage transactions; and compliance with increasing

regulatory requirements for controls, such as the Bank of Uganda risk management guidelines and ensuring

system and ICT security.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

IT Security Risk:



Perform

weekly and monthly system and network security assessments.



Conduct

IT security assessment for new IT business applications and IT infrastructure

projects.



Help

implement a Security Incident Management Framework.



Assist

in conducting IT forensics (network & system) in cases of frauds, etc.

IT Availability

Risk



Carrying

out monthly system and network availability assessments.



Assist

in the review, enhancement and implementation of the Banks Business Continuity

(with Compliance function) and IT Disaster Recovery (ITDR) Plan quarterly.



Participation

in the Banks Business Continuity Management (BCM) planning and testing.

IT Performance Risk



Work

closely with the Banks users (IT customers) on performance issues and address

with the IT team.



Review

and ensure effective usage of IT Risk Management platforms.



Conducting

IT performance reviews for new IT business applications and IT infrastructure

systems being deployed.

IT Compliance Risk



Develop

and implement an IT Risk Management Strategy and Framework, basing the IT Risk

Management Strategy on COBIT and/or RISK-IT.



Assist

in implementing international best practices for IT Risk Management.



Creation

of relevant IT baselines for every IT aspect, i.e. workstations, servers,

databases, network devices, etc.



Understand

some of the regulations and compliance issues that affect Uganda



Ensuring

strict compliance to IT Policies and Procedures is adhered to.



Perform

periodic review of IT Policies and Procedures to improvise on them consider

current trends in IT.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:



The

applicant must hold a Degree in Computer Science/Studies with a professional

qualification in CISA from a reputable institutions



At least

five years working experience in IT risk management, IT audit or IT security

management.



Familiarity

with service delivery culture and support function including change management



A

structured approach to dealing with complex and variable work environments in

an independent manner.



Ability

to balance opposing business requirements.



Ability

to balance long-term and short-term requirements independently.



Strong

evaluation, communication and reporting skills.



Able to

provide advice and cause/effect evaluation to support business decision making.



Independent

and logical thinker, yet an achiever and implementer.



Leads by

example.



Good at

managing large volumes of information and can add value through management

reporting.



Builds

relationships and networks easily.



Has a

strong service ethic.

Core Competencies

Communication:



Actively

participates in team meetings.



Confronts

issues openly and quickly.



Effectively

communicates relevant IT risk-related information to superiors and peers in

other practices.



Tactfully

communicates sensitive information.



Handles

difficult personnel situations directly, using appropriate discretion.

Management:



Serves

as focal point for all inter-office IT risk-related matters bank-wide.



Ensures

that appropriate IT managers are monitoring, analysing and evaluating

performance and working on resolution of identified IT risks and problem areas

(Performance Management).



Ensures

that support for information transfer, storage and processing is timely,

efficient and meets the service levels required.

Professional Qualities

Leadership:



Challenges

others to develop as leaders while clarifying roles and responsibilities.



Pursues

excellence in all aspects of business.



Possesses

the expert knowledge to identify opportunities for change and the ability to

convey the need for change.



Builds

expert knowledge in our industry and conveys knowledge to others.

Teamwork:



Evokes

creative and innovative thinking from team members while helping them to bring

their ideas and career plans to fruition.



Works

across practice to share lessons learned and best practices.

Client Management:



Anticipates

internal client needs and proposes appropriate business solutions.



Continually

seeks and capitalises upon opportunities to increase internal client

satisfaction and deepen client relationships

How to Apply:

All interested

candidates are invited to send their applications enclosing curriculum vitae,

copies of academic and professional certificates along with the names and

contacts of three referees. Applications should be sent by post, courier, hand

delivery or e-mail to the address given below; The Director, Executive

Recruitment, Future Options Consulting Ltd, 4th Floor, DTB Centre, Kampala

Road, P.O. Box: 34934, Kampala, Uganda. Phone: +256-414-231204/206, Email:

hr@futureoptionsug.com

Deadline: 6th May 2019

For more of the

latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or

find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline






Job Title: Project Officer  Pulse Lab

Kampala

Organization: United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Reports to: Manager



About UNDP:

The United Nations

Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations global development network.

UNDP advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and

resources to help people build a better life. The UNDP provides expert advice,

training, grant support to developing countries including Uganda with

increasing emphasis on assistance to the least developed countries.

Job Summary: The Project Officer  Pulse Lab Kampala is

responsible for all aspects of the project life cycle. S/he must be able to

apply, with directions, the below duties and responsibilities of the project

success criteria:

Key Duties and Responsibilities:



Carries

out programming processes for project implementation in conformity with UNDP

standards and policies;



Conduct

support activities for smooth project implementation and alignment with

budgets;



Prepare

workplan for initiatives under Track 1 and Track 2;



Develop,

modify and adapt appropriate implementations strategies for project activities;



Produce

concise regular updates and write report briefs for the project (implementation

progress, situational updates, operational requirements) in close consultation

with the team;



Provide

inputs for research work at the Lab with monitoring of evolving contexts and

supports knowledge building and sharing with partners and stakeholders;



Conduct

tasks for the smooth operations of the Lab including financial, HR and

corporate reporting;



Prepare,

monitor and maintain project agreements, budgets and cash flow to ensure that

project deliverables are achieved;



Conduct

consultations with government representatives, development partners, donors and

any other relevant stakeholders to implement and expand Track 1 and Track 2

initiatives;



Coordinate

event organization, capacity building activities with partners and the team and

contributions to summits and conferences when necessary.



Conduct

other activities in support of Track 1 and Track 2 implementation.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:



The

ideal applicant for the United Nations UNDP Project Officer  Pulse Lab Kampala

job placement should hold an advanced University Degree in Project Management,

Business Administration or other relevant discipline; University Degree

(bachelors degree / first level) with a combination of 10 additional years of

relevant professional experience in Project Management, Business Administration

or other areas, may be accepted



At least

eight years of experience in project management, with focus on operations,

reporting, development and coordination in either public or private sector

organizations;



Good

working backgrounds related to big data and data innovation initiatives, or

other related industries will be a plus;



Working

experience under UN system, government and other NGOs is a plus;



Good

communication and organizing skills;



Good

understanding of MS Office, ERP.



Qualifying

years of experience are calculated following the receipt of the first level

university degree recognized by the United Nations.

Competencies

Core Competencies:



Demonstrates

integrity by modeling the UNs values and ethical standards;



Advocates

and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN;



Displays

cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and

adaptability;



Treats

all people fairly without favoritism;



Demonstrates

and promotes the values of the UN in actions and decisions and acts in accordance

with the standard of conduct for international civil servants;



Shows

willingness to work without bias with all persons regardless of gender,

nationality, religion or culture;



Contributes

effectively to team-based activities, working collaboratively and sharing

information openly; works effectively with colleagues inside the UN as well as

its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals;



Facilitates

and encourages open communication in the team, communicating effectively;



Remains

calm, composed and patient when facing conflict, manages conflict productively,

focusing on mutually acceptable solutions;



Takes

initiative and seeks opportunities to initiate action;



Actively

produces and disseminates new knowledge; creates/contributes to mechanisms to

collect and share knowledge;



Actively

seeks learning opportunities; demonstrates commitment to ongoing professional

development;



Proposes

innovative ideas and new solutions to work.

Functional

Competencies:



Demonstrate

corporate knowledge and sound judgment;



Self-development,

initiative-taking, eager to learn new technologies;



Acting

as a team player and facilitating teamwork;



Facilitating

and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;



Creating

synergies through self-control;



Managing

conflict;



Learning

and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning

and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;



Informed

and transparent decision making;



Independent

and driven, and able to manage and lead without close supervision;



Flexible,

adaptable, and comfortable working in a start-up environment;



Excellent

communication skills;



Flexible,

adaptable, and comfortable working in a start-up environment.

UNDP is committed to

achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture.

Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with

disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated

with the strictest confidence.

How to Apply:

All suitably

qualified and interested candidates who so desire to join the United Nations

Development Programme, UNDP, in the aforementioned capacity should endeavor to

Apply Online by Clicking on the link below. Please further review job requirements

and if competent Click Apply Now.

Click

Here

Deadline: 10th May 2019

For more of the

latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or

find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline






Trump and Erdogan discussed trade, security concerns in northern Syria, and Turkey's planned purchase of the Russian made S-400 system, according to a White House statement.

Turkish Presidency said in a statement the same day that Erdogan had brought forward the proposal to form a working group concerning the procurement of the S-400 systems from Russia during his phone conversation with Trump.

The White House statement, however, made no mention of the Erdogan's working group proposal.

The United States has been in a feud with Turkey over the latter's purchase of Russian S-400 air defense system.

The United States argued that Russian missiles on Turkish territory could gain valuable intelligence on the technical systems of the US-made stealth F-35 jets expected to be delivered to Ankara in November.

During a congressional hearing in March, General Curtis Scaparrotti, head of US European Command, suggested that the United States should cut the sale of F-35 fighters to Turkey if Ankara adopts S-400 system.

On April 3, US Vice President Mike Pence warned Turkey against purchasing the S-400 system from Russia, despite Ankara's firm stance on the deal.

Pentagon announced early this month that it halted "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of the F-35 fighter jets program if Ankara insisted on the S-400 deal.

Washington also reportedly threatened to reject sales of Patriot missiles to Turkey in case of the latter's purchase of Russian systems.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Its another feather in the cap for Chennai, for being ranked among the top 100 cities in the world for startups, which also has Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, according to StartupBlink, a global startup ecosystem map with tens of thousands of registered startups, coworking spaces and accelerators.

As per the rating system, which evaluates IT data from startups, accelerators and coworking spaces registered on IT platforms and aims to identify the cities with the strongest startup ecosystems, Bengaluru is ranked 11th just behind Moscow, which is ranked 10th, followed by New Delhi (14), Mumbai (29), Chennai (74) and Hyderabad (75).

The report says that while Moscow moved up from 14th position in 2017 to 10th position, Bengaluru moved from 21st position to 11th position, bypassing cities such as Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong. Chennai and Hyderabad moved more than 100 positions up in comparison with 2017.

San Francisco has been crowned the worlds best city for startups. The list features more than 1000 cities in 100 countries. At number two on the list is New York, followed by London at number three.

There are more than 4,500 startups in Moscow, according to the Moscow Agency of Innovations, which provided statistics, expert and analytical information to the Ranking. Moscow boasts of a developed innovation ecosystem, which is growing rapidly,says Alexei Parabuchev, CEO of Moscow Agency of Innovations.

Head of Centre for Indian Studies of Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tatiana Shaumyan calls for Indian and Russian cities to exchange experience in the field of innovation. Moscow and Bengaluru shall be proud of going head-to-head in such a prestigious rating, she said. Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad are centres of high technology industry. I am sure that Moscow is willing to share experience with Indian cities, she added.

The rating system evaluates IT data from startups, accelerators and coworking spaces registered on IT platforms and aims to identify the cities with the strongest startup ecosystems. The rating methodology considers the number and quality of startups, infrastructure, business climate and public support for innovation.The previous StartupBlink Startup Ecosystem Ranking was published in November 2017.

Bengaluru top Indian city

In the rankings, Bengaluru takes the 11th spot just behind Moscow, which is ranked 10th, followed by New Delhi (14), Mumbai (29), Chennai (74) and Hyderabad (75)
MARGARET WEEDEN, Chariho, Girls Track, Senior; Weeden won two events for the Chargers in the first meet of the season. Weeden was first in the high jump (5-0) and the long jump 15-1.

ANNE DRAGO, Stonington, Girls Basketball, Senior; Drago scored 39 points in three games as Stonington started the season 1-2. Drago had 16 in a loss to Fitch, 12 in a win against Griswold and 11 in a defeat to Ledyard.

SYDNEY HAIK, Westerly, Girls Basketball, Sophomore; Haik scored 14 points as the Bulldogs opened the season with a victory over Cumberland. Haik had three 3-pointers, five assists and five steals.

ZANE BREWER, Wheeler, Boys Basketball, Freshman; Brewer scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Lions season-opening win over Grasso Tech. Brewer followed that with 18 points and five rebounds in a loss to Hale-Ray.

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Bhavya Burra By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Rohith Tirumalasetty, 19, has achieved what most adults only dream of. A Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy (HLCA) scholar, Rohith has visited the US Space and Rocket Centre, Alabama, twice. His first time was as a participant in 2018 where he was one among 160 students selected from all over the world. He fondly recalls meeting Robert L Gibson, a former American Naval officer, pilot and astronaut among many other scientists and engineers.

The second time was in March this year as one of the mentors, one of the four selected from the entire country. When he spoke to Hyderabad Express, he was excited to share what he learnt and experienced in the two-week leadership programme which seeks to encourage young adults from across the globe to pursue their careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.

Rohith excitedly mentions the simulated astronaut training sessions which included G-force (gravity force simulation which occurs during rocket launches) simulation. The programme also encompasses several team-building challenges including rocket designing, building, and testing among others. As a mentor, I felt I was more vocal and I loved guiding the participants in making choices during the team-building sessions. The Domalguda resident adds that the programme focuses on providing leadership skills to the participants and bridging the coding gap, creating an interest in computer science.

Apart from strengthening my childhood dreams of becoming a pilot and astronaut, the leadership programme has made me open up to other branches of science and appreciate the cultures of other countries.

Speaking of his key learnings, the NCC Cadet who is pursuing his third year in SGM College, says, he also learnt how to communicate properly with others. The HCLA programme which was started in 2010 has provided scholarships to more than 2,700 students between the age of 16 and 18. Honeywell employees fund the scholarship.
Clubcard holders can now use points towards their phone bill, Tesco Mobile has announced.

Clubcard users will be able to turn points into Tesco Mobile partner vouchers which can then be used towards their phone bill or be put towards one of its Sim-only tariffs.

Once converted into Tesco Mobile partner vouchers, they will become worth double their original value.

Savings: Tesco Mobile customers will now be able to convert this points into Mobile vouchers

For example, 10 worth of Clubcard vouchers will become a 20 voucher when used at Tesco Mobile.

Customers collect one point for every 1 they spend in store or online.

To redeem, customers collect Clubcard points when shopping at Tesco that convert into vouchers.

They will now be able to head to the Clubcard website or app and turn them into Tesco mobile partner vouchers.

Once customers have placed their order for their voucher on the Clubcard website or app, the voucher will be valid for six months.

Customers paying for multiple members of their families on one account are also able to use the vouchers to take money off their overall bill.

HOW MUCH PEOPLE CAN SAVE ON THEIR MOBILE WITH TESCO CLUBCARD Clubcard points per month Clubcard voucher amount Saving off your Tesco Mobile bill 200 2 4 a month 300 3 6 a month 400 4 8 a month 500 5 10 a month 600 6 12 a month Source: Tesco

However, customers will need to collect a minimum of 150 Clubcard points - 150 spend at Tesco - to start getting Clubcard vouchers.

The maximum transaction value is also capped at 250.

Claire Lorains, chief executive of Tesco Mobile, said: 'We are committed to bringing best-in-class service and value by offering little helps wherever we can.

'Our loyal customers can now access brilliant savings and reduce the cost of their monthly mobile bill just by doing their weekly shop.'

Tesco Mobile is a joint venture with O2. It currently has 5million customers and 500 phone shops in the UK.
With the price of Brent crude rising and Oxford Economics predicting it will be $100 a barrel before the end of 2019, BP's unexciting first-quarter results may be just the canapes with the banquet to come.

The dent in profits of 1.9billion was largely down to lower refining income. But it is still better than forecast, if sharply down on the final quarter of last year.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster of nearly a decade ago has yet to wash itself out of the system with a charge of 502million in the first quarter.

The dent in BP's profits of $2.4bn (1.9bn) was largely down to lower refining income. But it is still better than forecast, if sharply down on the final quarter of last year

The bills are down sharply, from 5.4billion in 2016, to 2.5billion last year, and are expected to drop to 1.5billion this year. The nightmare which has cost investors 52billion won't be fully expunged until 2023.

BP faces a new threat from the environmental activists who will doubtless be in evidence at the May 21 annual meeting in Aberdeen.

It already has made it clear that it will support a resolution drawn up by Climate Action 100+ which seeks a better response to greenhouse gas emissions.

After a 60 per cent revolt against chief executive Bob Dudley's package three years ago it is hopeful of avoiding censure on May 21, in spite of a pay packet of 11.3million.

The bigger political issue for BP in 2019 could well be a further jump in oil prices. Donald Trump's strengthened embargo in Iran has left deliveries to China on the high seas, intensified the slump in Iran and so far realised no increased production from Saudi Arabia.

All of which will put upward pressure on prices and will be causing anger on the forecourts.

Faith in the upward movement in energy prices has been underlined by the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, who is backing Occidental Petroleum's 42.2billion bid for Anadarko, with a 7.7billion investment in West Texas fracking.

All of this may be helpful for investors in the oil majors over the short-term, boosting profits and dividends.

But higher energy prices also are a drag on consumer spending and business, and could destabilise global output.

Inn keeper

Life ought to be much simpler now for Whitbread's chief executive Alison Brittain. After selling Costa to Coca-Cola for 3.9billion, the hospitality group is swimming in cash. It has paid off the group's pension deficit, cut debt and is to give 2billion more of the proceeds back to shareholders.

An advantage of a conglomerate model is that when one part of the enterprise is underperforming, another bit of the business fills the gap.

The new focus means that Whitbread is now more or less a pure play in the no-frills Premier Inn chain which, for the moment, is largely a domestic enterprise.

And while consumer confidence has held up well, business travellers, so important to Premier, are reacting to uncertainty about the UK's economic prospects by cutting back on regional travel.

Brittain, sensibly, is pressing on with investment regardless. So even though pre-tax profits were sharply down in 2019 and cash flow reduced, confidence in the future is shown in the shape of increased capital expenditure of 557million.

In the UK, room numbers climbed by 5.1 per cent to 76,171 in 2018, including the opening of a hub hotel in Edinburgh and an experimental Zip hotel in the Cardiff area.

Starting at 19-a-night, such accommodation  with rooms having their own en suite  is seen as a cheap and cheerful alternative to the bed and breakfast or boarding houses often used by temporary workers.

There is also a big focus on Premier becoming a major player in Germany where the idea of a national budget chain is novel. Openings have taken place in Frankfurt and Hamburg and there are 20 more planned by the end of 2020.

Brittain, rightly, is refusing to hold back.

Winter bites

Given its exposure to fast growing Asian, Middle Eastern and African markets, Standard Chartered ought to be a growth stock but has long been a disappointment.

Recovery has not been made any easier by breaches of money laundering regulations.

Former JP Morgan banker Bill Winters looks to have steadied the ship with a 10 per cent rise in profits and a pledge of a 770million share buyback.

But wouldn't the money be better spent on strengthening reserves, robust IT and compliance training?
One reader was charged twice on her insurance after mischievous mice caused a leak in her home

On December 27 last year, we noticed water marks on the ceiling of our living room and ground-floor study.

A plumber traced the leak, which had been caused by mice gnawing through a plastic coupling on a water pipe. I reported the incident to Tesco Bank Home Insurance the same day.

On January 2, we had a visit from pest control (and have since had two further visits). But, the following day, water was again dripping from the same site.

The plumber came back, and another coupling on the same water pipe was repaired.

I reported this immediately to Tesco, but was told two leaks affecting the same area would be treated as two separate incidents.

Consequently, the insurer has deducted two payments of 250 each for a voluntary excess and a compulsory excess for both incidents  so a total of 1,000 has been taken.

This is the first insurance claim we have made in 53 years.

E. W., Surrey.

You wait for 50-plus years and then two insurance incidents come along at once. At least, that's the way the drips at Tesco chose to interpret your water leaks.

Of course, to claim that these are separate incidents is utterly daft, as everyone outside of the world of insurance would agree.

Who knows whether it was the same mouse that got a taste for your water pipes or several having a nibble now and again? Partly as a result of your claim of just under 2,200 for water damage, your insurance quote also rose from 111.41 to 231.61.

However, your claim for water damage to two ceilings, including having part of one removed and redecorating, was hardly excessive.

Tesco paid out just 1,185, once it had deducted its excessive excesses. As a result, you have now cancelled your policy  and were charged an administration fee of 35.

Well, Tesco has now relented. It has now logged everything as one claim, which means that it will return 500 in excess payments to you. It has also refunded the 35 admin fee as a gesture of goodwill.

A Tesco Bank spokesperson says: 'We understand that damage to a home is a stressful situation and work hard to ensure that, when something goes wrong, we help our customers to repair their home as quickly as possible.

'The customer incurred damage to their house on two separate occasions, caused by a pipe leak that was initially recorded as two separate claims.

'But, as the damage was caused by the same pipe, we have agreed to log this as one claim and have refunded one of the excesses.'

Straight to the point My flight from London to Zurich was delayed, which meant I arrived at the Avis car hire desk later than I had expected to. The car firm then charged me almost 65 Swiss francs (about 49) as an out-of-hours fee, as I got there at 11.34pm when its office was only open until 11.30pm. I complained, but Avis pointed to its terms and conditions. S. S., London. Avis says the rental office was notified of your delayed flight, but its system mistakenly added the fee. It has apologised and issued a refund. *** I was contacted by heir hunters Blanchards Inheritance Recovery, who told me there was an unclaimed estate belonging to my grandmothers illegitimate son. I was told it would take up to nine months to sort out, but eight months passed with no contact. When I chased it up, the firm sent back my documents and said the evidence was inconclusive. S. D., Sutton Coldfield, West Mids. Blanchards says that it tried to prove you were entitled to the estate, but didnt have enough evidence. It adds that your uncles estate is still listed with the Bona Vacantia Division  the Government department that deals with unclaimed estates  if you wish to pursue your claim. As a goodwill gesture, it has offered you a free copy of your family tree and the birth and death certificates it has gathered.

I received both my gas and electricity from Spark Energy, which stopped trading last year and is now run by Ovo.

My account was in credit by 223.14 at the end of last year, but this suddenly changed to zero when Ovo took over.

I subsequently found that I could not access the previous month's figures  and then the account changed to show a debit of 223.14.

I contacted Ovo and was told that, if an account is in credit, the balance has a minus figure in front of it.

But I feel I am effectively being robbed of 446.28  the money I am owed and the extra it is charging me.

P. B., Wigan, Gtr Manchester.

Ovo was appointed as the Supplier of Last Resort for Spark Energy after the firm went under.

This is something that has happened far too often with small energy companies over the past year, and regulations need to be tightened up.

The explanation you received from Ovo does make sense. Your account was showing a minus figure in front of the amount you owed  which actually meant that Ovo owed you money.

I think there are better ways of showing this, though. It's all very well to use minus figures in internal technical documents. But surely, for consumers, credit and debit amounts should be more clearly highlighted.

You were actually in credit by 244.72 on October 31 last year. By the time you moved to your new account, you eventually had a credit balance of 188.79.

To this amount, Ovo is adding 50 as a gesture of goodwill.

***

My aunt, who is 83, has had no telephone service for 16 days. She has been a TalkTalk customer for many years and pays by direct debit.

I have called the company numerous times, as has her daughter, and we have been told it does not recognise her account number. So I sent TalkTalk a copy of her bill.

Now it says it cannot discuss my aunt's account with me due to data protection rules.

Staff said that she should go online, even though I've told them she does not have internet access.

P. K., via email.

You would think that when a company is told an 83-year-old has no telephone service, it might provoke a more urgent response than this.

TalkTalk's Press office, however, was far more helpful and sprung into immediate action.

I told them of your complaint on the afternoon you sent it and, by 7am the next morning, your aunt's phone was working  so they clearly had an urgent word in the right ear.

TalkTalk has refunded your aunt's 15.40 line rental and paid her 10 for her mobile phone usage, plus 50 compensation.

In addition, it has paid you 12 for your mobile phone usage.
KPMG failed to spot serious problems at Equity Red Star and should not have given it a clean bill of health, regulators said

Tainted beancounter KPMG has been fined 6million for a botched audit of a car and motorbike insurer.

It failed to spot serious problems at Equity Red Star and should not have given it a clean bill of health, regulators said.

Equity Red Star, part of a conglomerate which insures one in four British motorcycles, lost 194million in 2010 after failing to set aside enough cash to cover payouts for claims.

KPMG should have spotted the problems and raised the alarm, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said.

The auditors partner Mark Taylor and former partner Anthony Hulse have been fined 100,000 each for their involvement.

And Douglas Morgan, a former director of Equity Red Star, has been banned from the accounting industry for two years.

Although the fines sound large they are dwarfed by KPMGs UK revenues, which stood at 2.3billion in the last financial year.

Partners earned an average of 601,000 each.

It has been claimed that the penalties for bad behaviour are not big enough to make a difference to how the companies behave.

The FRC is being scrapped and replaced with a new authority following a damning review which found that it was failing to hold auditors to account properly.
Standard Chartered bank will purchase and cancel stock, leaving fewer shares in circulation and boosting their price

Standard Chartered bank is launching its first share buyback for more than 20 years using 770million of spare cash.

The lender will purchase and cancel stock, leaving fewer shares in circulation and boosting their price.

It unveiled the plan after making profits of 952million in the first three months of 2019, up 5 per cent on a year earlier and ahead of City expectations.

Shares rose 4.6 per cent, or 30.6p, to 700p as traders welcomed the buyback, which comes weeks after Standard Chartered was fined 842million by regulators over money laundering failures and doing illegal business with Iranians.

The bank, which does most of its business in Africa and Asia, was heavily criticised.

In one case its Dubai branch allowed a customer to open an account using a suitcase stuffed with 500,000 of cash.

Shares are down around 35 per cent since chief executive Bill Winters took charge of Standard Chartered in 2015 with a vow to clean up the banks act.
There was no doubting yesterdays big story: Sirius Minerals long-awaited 2.9billion second-phase financing.

Well, what we actually got were the mechanics of how this giant, multi-part fundraiser will work rather than the completed deal.

The cash will be used to bore a mine around a mile below the North York Moors and 23 miles horizontally to extract and transport a fertiliser called polyhalite to the River Tees.

Financing plans include tapping investors for 310million by issuing shares at 15-18p each.

Cash call: Sirius Minerals plans to bore a mine around a mile below the North York Moors and 23 miles horizontally to extract and transport a fertiliser called polyhalite to the River Tees

Market mechanics, therefore, dictated the stock would drop in anticipation of the cash call. It fell 20.5 per cent, or 4.48p, to 17.42p, wiping just over a fifth from the value of Sirius.

The debt portion is made up of a convertible bond and secured senior debt (bringing in 770million) and a revolving credit facility for just under 2billion.

Sirius has until October 30, the day before the latest Brexit deadline, to find lenders to chip in to the credit facility.

It will be interesting to see who gets a deal done first  Theresa May, or Sirius chief executive Chris Fraser.

The FTSE 100 traded sideways until Wall Street chimed in, pulling the index of blue-chips 0.3 per cent, or 22.44 points lower, to 7418.22.

Disappointing manufacturing data from China dented the performance of the miners, which supply huge quantities of iron, coal and copper to the country.

Stock Watch - Countrywide Estate agency group Countrywide is the latest firm to be laid low by the Brexit bug. It warned that first-half earnings would be 3million to 5million below the comparable period last year. The residential and commercial property markets, particularly in the South East and London, remain difficult. Broker Peel Hunt cut its underlying profits estimate from 30million to 25million, retaining its Sell recommendation. The shares fell 7.7 per cent, or 0.54p, to 6.5p.

Antofagasta was off 12.5 per cent, or 23.2p, at 908p and super-major Anglo American was down 1.6 per cent, or 31.1p, to 1981.4p.

Next (down 1.2 per cent, or 72p, at 5766p) delivered a fairly dour assessment of the retail sector in January when it set its 2019 expectations. Today, the chain delivers a first-quarter trading update.

Blue-chip property website Rightmove suffered subsidence, slipping 1.4 per cent, or 7.9p, to 540.6p after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock.

Rentokil Initial ticked up 0.8 per cent, or 3p, to 390p after the Competition and Markets Authority said it may approve proposals relating to its 40million takeover of the pest control arm of smaller rival Mitie.

The regulator had expressed concerns the takeover could present risks to prices and customer choice.

A warning on challenging markets proved toxic for shares in FTSE 250 chemicals firm Elementis, which sank 14.6 per cent, or 8.2p to 162.5p.

Shares in publican Greene King suffered from profit-taking, falling 7.5 per cent, or 51.6p, to 641p, despite like-for-like sales growth in its year-end trading update.

Asset manager Jupiter was brought down to earth after reporting net outflows of nearly 500million in its first quarter. The shares sank 2.3 per cent, or 8.7p, to 375.3p.

Among the small caps, oil minnow Cluff Natural Resources was boosted 3 per cent, or 0.07p higher, to 2.55p after Shell agreed to pay 461,000 for a 50 per cent stake in a North Sea licence.

Podcast firm Audioboom hit the right notes, rising 2 per cent, or 0.05p, to 2.5p after raising 2.8m from a premium-priced share placing.

Things were looking less bright for Griffin Mining, which slumped 10.9 per cent, or 12p, to 98p after lower zinc prices helped chop its full-year profits almost in half.

Shares in Mirriad Advertising stayed flat at 6.5p after appointing John Pearson  the former CEO of Virgin Radio and song app firm Shazam  as its chairman.

There was a strong degree of finality to investment firm Eight Peaks after it said it would delist from AIM, causing shares to crash 57.9 per cent, or 5.5p, to 4p.
Dividend: The Duke of Westminster Hugh Grosvenor

The Duke of Westminster's fortune is set to grow further after his property company announced a 44million dividend.

Grosvenor's payout for 2018 was up from 42.3million the previous year, despite a fall in profits.

The company is owned by the Duke, Hugh Grosvenor, and his family. It is known for the vast swathes of land it owns in wealthy London areas such as Mayfair.

Grosvenor, 28, became Britain's youngest billionaire in 2016 when his father died and he and his family have an estimated fortune of nearly 10billion.

Income from its international projects has benefited from the weak pound, boosting profits. But its earnings still fell from 233million to 196.6million last year.

Chief executive Mark Preston said: 'Our 2018 financial performance proved better than we had expected.

This was again largely due to our international diversification, which has helped to even out regional variations in results over the past year.'

Preston said Grosvenor was winding down its involvement in construction projects in anticipation of a slowdown.

The company pointed to Brexit, China's slowing growth and jittery markets as signs of a weaker economic outlook.

'After a remarkable near 10-year run of strong property returns, global markets have reached a mature stage in the cycle,' he added.

In the UK, the group has unveiled plans to triple the size of its strategic land business and build at least 30,000 homes to tackle the housing crisis.

In London, it will invest 1billion in commercial property and new public spaces to improve the West End.
Sainsbury's blew 46million on fees and other costs during its botched bid to merge with Asda.

The proposed 12billion tie-up was blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last week, plunging the future of Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe into doubt.

Announcing annual results yesterday, Coupe vowed to stay at the helm of the struggling supermarket chain, insisting he has 'drawn a line under the past'.

Sainsbury's proposed 12bn tie-up with Asda was blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last week, plunging the future of chief executive Mike Coupe into doubt

He said he was focused on revamping stores that critics say are shabby and poorly stocked, and cutting debt.

But the 58-year-old, who was paid 3.4million last year, also revealed the company incurred 46million of costs in its doomed pursuit of Asda.

That contributed to a 41.6 per cent drop in profits to 239million. Coupe has been criticised for losing sight of the day-to-day business as he locked horns with the CMA over the deal.

He said: 'I'm committed to the business, I've got the support of the board, the support of shareholders and we're doing all the things that we need to do in terms of adapting our business to our changing customers' needs.

'I'll still be talking to you in months and years in the future.'

Putting his money where his mouth is, Coupe bought 100,000 Sainsbury's shares for 230,650.

Chairman Martin Scicluna, who joined the board in November after the proposed merger had been announced but before it was blocked, voiced his support for Coupe, saying he was right to pursue the deal.

Scicluna said: 'I do not think it was a misjudgment, I think it was absolutely the right decision to try and merge Sainsbury's with Asda because I genuinely believe that there would have been huge benefits for our customers as well as shareholders.'

Sainsbury's said same-store sales fell 0.2 per cent in the 12 months to March 9 as it faced competition from Big Four rivals Tesco, Morrisons and Asda, as well as German discounters Aldi and Lidl.

The supermarket, which has been lagging behind its rivals as customers complain about messy stores and poorly stocked shelves, was dragged down by a disappointing performance over Christmas.

Coupe said Sainsbury's will refurbish 400 supermarkets over the next year and improve its website.

Shares rose 3.9 per cent to 231.2p as investors welcomed a 7.8 per cent rise in the dividend to 11p a share.

But analysts raised concerns over the vague plans to rejuvenate the business, warning that Coupe was still under pressure.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'His future will now depend on the execution of this new plan. We will need to see positive results soon otherwise the market won't be as forgiving as it is today.'

Clive Black of Shore Capital added: 'All in all, we remain concerned about Sainsbury's as a business.'
Total income at the LSE in the first quarter of 2019 was 5 per cent high than a year earlier

The London Stock Exchange earned 546million in the first quarter of 2019 due to a boom in big banks using its services.

Total income at the LSE was 5 per cent higher than a year earlier, chiefly driven by a surge in its clearing business LCH, which handles trades between international lenders.

Income from LCH was up 17 per cent at 182million for the quarter.

Clearing houses sit between major banks when they trade with each other, and guarantee that sellers will get money they are owed even if a buyer collapses before it is able to pay up.

They have become increasingly important since the financial crisis a decade ago, and London has emerged as by far the biggest European centre for the industry.

LSEs former boss, Xavier Rolet, had warned before the Brexit vote that Brussels could snatch away its clearing business if Leave won.

But the firm now says there has been no discernible change in customers use of the service.

Shares rose 3.4 per cent, or 172p, to 5186p.
Shevlin Sebastian By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Flying from Jorhat to Dibrugarh was very pleasant. When returning, the take-off from Dibrugarh was also very smooth. But after 15 minutes of flying, while crossing the Naga Hills, the engine developed some problem and started to produce unusual sounds which made Enasu and the other passengers feel panicky. Slowly, that sound increased and turned into a very high-pitched roar, like a Sten gun firing. Fut...fut...fut.

Suddenly, the aircraft engine stopped and the propeller became still. The plane started to descend with its nose down. Enasu could see the forest approaching. The death bell started to ring in his ears...

This is an extract from entrepreneur V J Mathews book, Devil and Deity, a just-released English translation of his Malayalam novel, Mithya. Priced at Rs 300, it is a fast-paced story about the trials and tribulations of Air Force pilot V D Enasu, who was one of the heroes of the Indo-Pak war of 1971.

Mathews has written the novel based on his own experiences. He had worked as a radar mechanic during the 1965 and 71 India-Pakistan wars.

Our job was to observe and track our flight movements as well as those of the enemy, says Mathews. There were 60 of us in an air-conditioned underground bunker, at Barnala in Punjab. Pakistan launched four bombing and three strafing attacks on the bunker, but nothing happened because we were 30 feet below the ground. Following 16 years of service, Mathews opted for premature retirement. His reasoning was simple. The salary was very low in the Air Force, says Mathews. It was only much later the Pay Commission increased the pay. Now my pension is much more than the salary I received.

Thereafter, in 1979, Mathews started his own business of making printed cartons. The Letha Group of Industries was a success from the very beginning. In 2000, when the then Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav banned the use of plastic cups, Mathews swiftly moved to develop paper ones.

And the business boomed even more. Helped by his sons Jackson and Don, they began supplying cups to Americans troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today, they are supplying to coffee chains, tea houses and airlines like Indigo and Vistara as well as many other companies. But their focus is primarily on exports to countries such as Australia, Britain and Germany.

We are the No 1 paper cup manufacturer in India, says Jackson. We make about 20 lakh cups a day.

And they have made some innovations. About 95 per cent of the paper cups worldwide have a plastic lining. But Leetha has been the first to adopt a bio-degradable and compostable product. We have received certification from the leading international body Intertek, says Don.

But despite his success story, Mathews cannot forget his poverty-stricken childhood. Memories bubble up as if the events just took place yesterday.

When he was studying at the St Thomas school in Pala, the family was too poor to even provide him with a meal. My classmates would bring lunch and eat it in class because there was no separate dining room, says Mathews. When I would get the aroma of the food, I would feel a pain in my jaws. I know that very few people have experienced this level of hunger.

In Class IX, one afternoon, owing to an empty stomach, he could not concentrate and dozed off. The teacher Sunny noticed it, came up and tapped Mathews with a scale. The latter fell to the floor in a faint. Sunny panicked. Quickly, he carried Mathews to the staff room.

Mathews was perspiring heavily. Sunny quickly took off the shirt. Then he saw the flat stomach. He said, Mathews, did you not take any food today?

The boy wept. So Sunny called a student, gave him four annas and said, Go and bring a dosa. The dosa was brought and Mathews ate it with relish. At his air-conditioned office at South Kalamassery, a few days ago, the 75-year-old Mathews says, The taste of the dosa is still there in my mouth.

Meanwhile, during his days in the Air Force, whenever he had some free time, he would start writing. Soon, he began publishing articles in Malayalam magazines and newspapers. A few months after he started his factory, Mathews wrote his first novel Adiyozhukkukal.

This was serialised in the Kerala Times newspaper and was well received when it was published. Well-known journalist cum media owner M P Veerendra Kumar wrote, There is a flood of novels, but Adiyozhukkukal has come like a Noahs Ark. The book went into three editions.

Thus far, Mathews has written 26 books. Asked when he writes, he says, Whenever I get free time. Sometimes I get up at midnight and write for an hour. Writing comes very easily to me.

Finally, on asked to give some tips for young people at the beginning of their careers, Mathews says, Be 100 per cent submissive to God. Consult Him before taking any decisions. To hear His voice, you have to meditate and think. Then you will make the right decisions. You should also work very hard because nothing comes easy in life.
Ocado boss Tim Steiner could be handed 100m if he triples the share price over the next five years

Ocado has been added to a public register of shame after a shareholder revolt over fat cat pay.

Around a quarter of investors voted against pay at the firm, in a bruising setback for founder and chief executive Tim Steiner.

The 49-year-old was paid 3.1million last year but could be handed 100million if he triples the Ocado share price over the next five years.

The stock has risen almost sixfold in the last 18 months. Steiner has already pocketed millions of pounds, selling shares as its market value soared.

But following yesterday's annual meeting in London, Ocado has been automatically placed on the Government's named and shamed list of firms that have attracted an investor revolt. Companies are added to the public register when more than 20 per cent of shareholders vote against a resolution at an annual meeting.

Andrew Harrison, chairman of Ocado's remuneration committee, said: 'The board recognises that some shareholders voted against our remuneration proposals.

'We will continue to engage with shareholders on remuneration and governance matters and are committed to consulting on the formation of the future remuneration policies.'

It is a blow to Steiner after he defied critics and turned Ocado into a stock market darling.

He has been credited with transforming it from an online supermarket to the 'Microsoft of retail' after it did deals with supermarkets in the US, Canada, France, Australia and Sweden.

Ocado will provide the overseas firms with its technology and robot-operated warehouses to power their online deliveries.

It has also secured a joint venture agreement with Marks & Spencer to provide an online food delivery service for the first time.

M&S will pay Ocado 750million for a 50 per cent stake in its retail business as part of the deal.

The tie-up was announced shortly after Ocado suffered a major setback in February when fire destroyed its warehouse in Andover, Hampshire, which meant it took a 4.8million hit on sales at the start of the year.

Steiner took a gamble with Ocado in 2000 when he quit his job as a Goldman Sachs bond trader and decided to cash in on the dotcom bubble.

He set up the firm with an old colleague and a school friend and the company went public in 2010.

He used 68million worth of shares to cover the cost of his divorce from wife Belinda Steiner, with whom he has four children, in November 2016.

He now lives with his girlfriend, Polish lingerie model Patrycja Pyka, who is almost 20 years his junior. Ocado's shares rose 1.1 per cent, or 15.5p, to 1378p.
Shares in Metro Bank tanked 20 per cent this morning after revealing last night that customers withdrew 566million at the start of 2019 following an error in its accounts coming to light.

Deposits dropped by 4 per cent in the three months to the end of March as it fights to restore its credibility after admitting in January that it miscalculated the risk of some loans.

The resulting hit means that its 15.2billion book of loans is slightly more than total deposits, which stand at 15.1billion.

Metro Bank is battling to restore its credibility after admitting in January that it had miscalculated the risk of some property loans

This means all the money it has been given by savers has been loaned to borrowers, giving it a loan-to-deposit ratio of 100 per cent.

Analysts tend to consider banks more secure if the ratio is at 90 per cent or lower, although ratios of 100 per cent or more are not unusual.

John Cronin, an analyst at Goodbody, said: These can only be characterised as a truly horrible set of numbers. Maybe the only solution is to sell to a third party.

The bank said deposits fell because a small number of commercial and partnership customers pulled their money out in January and February.

Chief executive Craig Donaldson insisted Metro does not have a credibility problem, saying: Shareholders know we take seriously what we say, and we do it.

Metro is being probed over the problems with its loans by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England.

Its woes got worse when the Mail revealed the error was discovered by regulators at the Bank of England, not its own staff as first suggested.

The banks flamboyant billionaire founder and chairman Vernon Hill is also under the spotlight. He gets 10,000 a month in expenses and an 385,000 annual salary. Metro has paid more than 25million to an architecture firm run by his wife Shirley since the bank was launched in 2010.

Shares are down 80 per cent from their peak in March last year.
Long gone are the days when you could pick up the phone and speak to someone about a complaint.

Today, customers are routinely forced to spend hours on hold, or promised callbacks that never come.

Some firms make it very difficult to track down their contact details, hoping you'll give up. Others push customers towards computer 'chatbots', where robots rather than humans try to answer their queries.

Customer service crisis? Long gone are the days when you could pick up the phone and speak to someone about a complaint

In the worst cases, firms have even introduced a two-tier system where customers have to pay extra for basic service.

Or they are reducing the hours they are available to speak to people by phone or face-to-face.

Consumer rights website Resolver says out of the 3.2 million complaints it has handled, two-thirds involved poor service.

Typical grievances include struggling to find a contact phone number and being forced to fill in unwieldy online forms.

Are we facing a customer service crisis?

THE ONLINE CHATBOTS WITHOUT A CLUE

A growing number of firms now rely on 'chatbots' to field customer questions. People are usually offered this option when trawling a website's help page.

The computer programs mimic human conversation and use keywords to attempt to resolve a complaint or query.

But this automated service is typically only able to help with very simple issues, meaning customers often find their conversation goes around in maddening circles before being referred to a helpline.

About 56 per cent of Britons have ditched an online chat as the issue is too complex for the bot, the 2018 Global Consumer Customer Service Survey from software firm Computer Generated Solutions found.

Resolver spokesman Martyn James says a chatbot should identify if it can help in a few simple interactions. If it cannot, it should connect you to a person who can.

But even live chat services staffed by real people have limitations.

Victoria Davies, who works in PR, tried to use Amazon's online live chat to report a potentially counterfeit designer Lulu Guinness umbrella that she had bought for a friend.

But Victoria, 34, from London, says the person on the other end could not understand her. She says: 'They were able to direct me to information about a refund but gave me no option to report the seller. I tried using different words such as 'fraud', 'fake' and 'counterfeit', but they didn't understand.'

Amazon declined to comment directly on Victoria's experience but says customers can get a refund if the item is damaged, defective or not as described.

TIP: Chatbots could be a quick way of requesting a phone number or email address. Or try typing in that you want to speak to a real person.

STILL HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE

Even if you are able to call a company with a complaint, you are likely first to have to deal with an automated service that will try to push you online.

And if you are lucky enough to be transferred to a real person, be prepared to wait.

HM Revenue & Customs' (HMRC) automated service directs customers to its website before connecting them to an adviser.

Even if you are able to call a company with a complaint, you are likely first to have to deal with an automated service that will try to push you online

When Money Mail called the tax helpline this week it took nearly 21 minutes to reach a real person.

Energy firms can be just as bad. Last year, campaign group Which? revealed Utilita customers typically waited 24 minutes and 19 seconds, with one call-waiting time being 72 minutes and 40 seconds.

Npower was the worst of the 'big six', with an average hold time of 20 minutes, 31 seconds.

HMRC says its digital services are popular. The average hold time on the phone has been five minutes throughout the year, it says. Utilita says waiting times measured by Which? were at a busy time of year. It says it is always striving to improve its performance.

Npower says it has improved call waiting times, with more than 60 per cent now answered within 60 seconds.

TIP: Try calling at off-peak times. Avoid first thing in the morning and lunchtimes. To check if a number is toll-free, visit: gov.uk/call-charges

'They wanted to avoid talking to me at all costs' Retired primary school teacher Gordon Butterworth was told he would have to wait up to 50 minutes to speak to the Harveys Furniture customer service team. Gordon, 70, who lives in Lancaster, ordered a 224 chair on December 12 but had to contact the furniture chain when the wrong model was delivered. It was two days before Christmas, and all Harveys stores closed for the festive period. When Gordon tried to call customer services afterwards, an automated voice informed him that the waiting time was 46 minutes. By mid-January Gordon became frustrated, returned the chair and cancelled the order completely. The grandfather-of-two says: 'Two weeks after I cancelled, there was no sign of a refund. When I rang the customer service number again, they said the waiting time would be 50 minutes.' Even when Gordon visited a Harveys store, staff said they could only contact the number he had and that any emails they sent would not be answered for five days. Gordon only got the refund at the end of January, after emailing the customer services team. 'I must have tried to ring customer services at least half a dozen times,' recalls Gordon. 'It was a relatively simple problem but they were trying at all costs to avoid that person-to-person service.' A Harveys spokesman says: 'We always, above all else, have our customers' best interest in mind, and endeavour to respond to customer complaints as quickly as possible. 'We were very sorry to hear about Mr Butterworth's frustration with the handling of his case.' The spokesman added that delays were in part due to a 'refresh' of its IT systems and that anyone who emails its customer service team should receive a reply within 72 hours.

NO EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU WANT REDRESS

Customers often want to complain by email, but many firms do not offer the option. Some have restrictive online forms, instead, that insist on information you may not have to hand, such as customer reference numbers.

Others offer links to social media pages, numbers to text, or insist on a letter.

This can deter people from making a complaint  particularly about smaller issues  as it is just too much hassle.

Argos, Apple and Parking Eye are all examples of firms that do not provide an email address on their help or contact web pages.

Snubbed: Customers often want to complain by email, but many firms do not offer the option

Other firms, such as Sky make it difficult to find email addresses, although, it insists they exist.

It says customers can also call, message via their account, text, write, or send a message by Facebook or the MySky app.

Argos says it helps customers by phone, live chat and social media. Apple says there are other ways people can get in touch. Parking Eye says the best way is by letter or via its website.

Taxpayers will be able to complain about HMRC by email from autumn this year. Currently, you can only escalate complaints about HMRC to the adjudicator's office by post, telephone or fax.

TIP: Email the company's chief executive. Most will have staff monitoring their account who will often refer your complaint to their VIP customer service team.

To find addresses try ceoemail.com or find an email of someone else at the firm and follow the same format, inserting the boss's name.

WANT HELP? THAT WILL COST YOU

Some companies are charging customers for 'support packages'. The idea being the more you pay, the faster the firm will respond. Online travel agents Gotogate and Mytrip, for example, offer three levels of customer service.

The basic one is free. But you can wait up to five days for a response; and if you need to change booking details, you will be charged 19.

The Premium package promises a response in 12 hours and free booking changes. The Platinum Support package pledges a 'quick refund', 'quick response time' and your money back if you cancel within 72 hours.

Prices for the customer service packages vary depending on the length of flight and cost of tickets. For a long-haul trip to San Francisco, you will pay 19.80 for Premium service and 39.80 for Platinum.

Some companies are charging customers for 'support packages'

A spokesman at parent company Etraveli Group says: 'Customers who fly longer and pay more for their tickets demand more advanced and more detailed support.'

Online travel agent WeDoFlights charges 10 for an 'after-sales' service if bought when you book, or 25 if you need help afterwards.

This service allows you to contact the firm to check the price and availability of alternative travel if you need to change your flights.

Energy firm Ovo offers customers money off bills if they do not need 'general assistance'. Its Self Service Reward is worth up to 60 a year.

To qualify, you have to manage your account online, pay by direct debit and submit a meter reading every three months.

If you call or email the firm, you will not get the reward  unless it was an emergency like a loss of power or the self service is not working.. The bonus is paid every three months and you can earn 7.50 for gas and electricity  15 if you have both.

Ovo claims it is merely 'rewarding low-cost behaviour'. Its website says: 'The waiting times are shorter, it's easier to maintain a high standard and we can afford to spend longer on the phone helping our customers out.'

TIP: Before signing up with a new business, such an energy firm or telecoms giant, check there is a free phone number to call in an emergency and an email address that is monitored regularly. If you are unhappy with the service you receive, ask for your complaint to be escalated to a senior manager or threaten to quit.

SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHS AND LOWS

Firms often encourage customers to contact them via social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.

Many claim to answer queries 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But Mr James says this can be a facade; as soon as you need to discuss an issue, you are told to ring the helpline  and wait like anyone else.

However, if a firm is ignoring your emails or you are spending hours on hold, it is still worth using social media to get its attention, as if your complaint is visible to other people  and potential customers  it is in the firm's interest to deal with you as fast as possible.

Some companies have Twitter accounts to handle customer service. For example, Royal Bank of Scotland posts news using its @RBS Twitter handle, but encourages customers with banking queries to contact @RBS_Help, @Natwest_Help or @UlsterBank_Help.

In 2017, more than half of customers who had complained via social media said their issue was resolved quickly, according to a survey by the comparison site GoCompare.

Firms often encourage customers to contact them via social media, such as Twitter and Facebook

A further 28 per cent of respondents said they were then given a discount or goodwill gift. On average, they were paid 32 in compensation, with some claiming to have received more than 500.

But Mr James says: 'Not everyone is on Twitter and Facebook. Why should people with access to technology get faster responses?'

What's more, there is a fraud risk. Anything you post will be on public view, so you must never include information such as your account details, address or phone number.

You should also be wary about how much detail you give about your complaint as crooks can use this to pose as the company in question.

Also, watch out for fake Twitter accounts that look similar to those of genuine businesses. These may direct you to a website designed to trick you into handing over personal details.

TIP: Tweet companies directly with an @ sign before their name. This could shame them into action but be careful not to disclose any vital personal information such as your address or account number. Genuine firms should have a blue tick next to their Twitter name.

OPEN ALL HOURS? NOT LIKELY!

The UK's biggest airline, British Airways, came under fire last year when it reduced its customer relations call centre hours to just four hours a day and stopped taking calls at weekends.

Outside the 1pm to 5pm Monday to Friday hours, customers were told to fill in an online form or send in a letter.

But since Money Mail raised concerns in October, the airline has extended its hours. The line is now open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Its customer relations team offers support 24 hours a day on social media.

Budget airline Jet2 has no customer service phone number, and says complaints must be put in writing. The carrier did not respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, face-to-face customer service is also at risk. Some of the 51 ticket offices in London overground stations threatened with closure have also been forced to cut opening hours to just two-and-a-half hours a day between 7.30am and 10am. Transport For London could not confirm which stations would be affected.

Six face-to-face Shropshire Council offices at Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Whitchurch, Market Drayton, Ludlow and Bridgnorth, will also see opening times slashed.

The smaller offices will no longer be staffed. Instead, visitors will have use of a computer or telephone to contact the necessary department. The larger centres will be staffed only on certain days.

Chris Westwood, Shropshire Council's customer services manager, says: 'Shropshire Council has not yet reduced the opening times of its face-to-face offices, but we remain committed to implementing these changes given the much smaller numbers of residents now using our face-to-face service.'

TIP: Check reviews on websites such as Trustpilot to see what customers typically complain about and if their problems are dealt with swiftly. You can also examine Ombudsman figures to see which firms ranks worse.

a.murray@dailymail.co.uk
Green bank Triodos has Brexit-proofed its UK operations after it was awarded a banking licence effective from today, meaning savers will now be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Customers of the bank, headquartered in the Netherlands, were previously covered by the Dutch deposit guarantee scheme up to 100,000, but the new licence means deposits up to 85,000 are now protected.

The bank, whose UK arm is now based in Bristol according to the Financial Conduct Authority, said the change in legal structure was 'being made to prepare for the UK's expected withdrawal from the EU.'

Extinction Rebellion protesters recently took over London calling for greater action against climate change. Triodos is a green bank that vows to only lend to 'good' causes

Triodos offers savings accounts, fixed-rate bonds, a cash Isa and a current account, which comes with a 3 a month fee and whose debit card is 100 per cent renewable.

The bank is also one of the few lenders that publishes details on its website of every organisation it has loaned money to.

This is Money previously compared Triodos' offers to the accounts in the best buy tables for those potentially inspired by the Extinction Rebellion protests to switch to an ethical bank.

Its chief executive Bevis Watts said the bank had seen a 26 per cent increase in UK customers over the last three years, while it was one of just seven banks to record a net gain of current account customers in the last quarter of 2018, according to figures published last week by the Current Account Switch Service.

It added there had been a 'bit of an uptick' in current account openings in 2019.

According to its 2018 annual report, the bank has 839,000 retail account holders across the six European countries it operates in.

Watts added: 'In these times of increased awareness around climate change and personal choices, our current account can inspire the people who make conscious sustainable choices in their daily lives to ensure their banking shares their values and is working to have a real, positive, impact on society.

'With our savings and investment options we offer the opportunity for people to see their money used to benefit them, their community and society in the long term.'
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Bayer Aktiengesellschaft operates as a life science company worldwide. It operates through Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, and Crop Science segments. The Pharmaceuticals segment offers prescription products primarily for cardiology and women's health care; specialty therapeutics in the areas of oncology, hematology, and ophthalmology; and diagnostic imaging equipment and contrast agents, as well as cell and gene therapy. The Consumer Health segment markets nonprescription over-the-counter medicines, medical products, medicated skincare products, nutritional supplements, and self-care solutions in dermatology, nutritional supplements, pain and cardiovascular risk prevention, digestive health, allergy, and cold and cough. The Crop Science segment offers chemical and biological crop protection products, improved plant traits, seeds, digital solution, and pest and weed control products, as well as customer service for agriculture. This segment also provides breeding, propagation, and production/processing of seeds, including seed dressing. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft has a collaboration agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center to develop oncology drugs; research and license agreement with Dewpoint Therapeutics, Inc. for the development of new treatments for cardiovascular and gynecological diseases; collaboration agreement with Exscientia Ltd, Foundation Medicine Inc., and Evotec AG; research collaboration with Arvinas Inc. and Forschungszentrum JAlich GmbH; strategic research partnership with University of Oxford to develop novel gynecological therapies; and research collaboration agreements with Haplogen GmbH and Kyoto University to identify new drugs candidates for the treatment of pulmonary diseases. The company distributes its products through wholesalers, pharmacies and pharmacy chains, supermarkets, online and other retailers, and hospitals, as well as directly to farmers. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany.

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Bridgepoint Education, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides postsecondary education services in the United States. Its academic institutions, Ashford University and University of the Rockies, offer associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in the disciplines of business, education, psychology, social sciences, and health sciences. The company offers its programs primarily through online; and at its campuses. As of December 31, 2017, its institutions offered approximately 1,200 courses and 80 degree programs; and had 45,730 students enrolled. The company was formerly known as TeleUniversity, Inc. and changed its name to Bridgepoint Education, Inc. in February 2004. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Amphenol: ARCAS Automotive Group (Luxco 1) S.a.r.l., AUXEL FTG, AUXEL FTG India Pvt Ltd., AUXEL FTG Shanghai Co., AUXEL S.A.S., Air LB International Development S.A., All Systems Broadband, Amphenol (Changzhou) Advanced Connector Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Connector Systems Co., Amphenol (Changzhou) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Maryland), Amphenol (Ningde) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Qujing) Technology Co., Amphenol (Tianjin) Electronics Co., Amphenol (Xiamen) High Speed Cable Co., Amphenol Adronics, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Germany GmbH, Amphenol Advanced Sensors Puerto Rico, Amphenol Air LB GmbH, Amphenol Air LB North America Inc., Amphenol Air LB SAS, Amphenol Alden Products Company, Amphenol Alden Products Mexico, Amphenol Antenna Solutions, Amphenol Assemble Tech (Xiamen) Co., Amphenol Australia Pty Ltd, Amphenol Automotive Connection Systems (Changzhou) Co., Amphenol Bar-Tec, Amphenol Benelux B.V., Amphenol Borisch Technologies, Amphenol CNT (Xian) Technology Co. Ltd., Amphenol Cables On Demand Corp., Amphenol Canada Acquisition Corporation, Amphenol Canada Corp., Amphenol Comercial, Amphenol Commercial Interconnect Korea Co., Amphenol Commercial Products (Chengdu) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Commercial and Industrial UK, Amphenol ConneXus AB, Amphenol ConneXus Ou, Amphenol Custom Cable, Amphenol DC Electronics, Amphenol Daeshin Electronics and Precision Co., Amphenol EEC, Amphenol East Asia Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Amphenol East Asia Limited, Amphenol FCI, Amphenol FCI Asia Pte. Ltd., Amphenol FCI Connectors Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Fiber Optic Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Finland Oy, Amphenol France Acquisition SAS, Amphenol France SAS, Amphenol Germany GmbH, Amphenol Gesellschaft m.b.H., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Baicheng) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Goldstar Electronic Systems (Yulin) Co. Ltd., Amphenol Holding UK, Amphenol Intercon Systems, Amphenol Interconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Interconnect Products Corporation, Amphenol Interconnect South Africa (Proprietary) Limited, Amphenol International Ltd., Amphenol Invotec Limited, Amphenol Italia S.r.l., Amphenol JET (Haiyan) Interconnect Technology Co., Amphenol Japan Ltd., Amphenol Kai-Jack (Shenzhen) Inc., Amphenol LTW Technology Co., Amphenol Limited, Amphenol MCP Korea Limited, Amphenol Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol Middle East Enterprises FZE, Amphenol Nelson Dunn Technologies, Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 1 B.V., Amphenol Netherlands Holdings 2 B.V., Amphenol Omniconnect India Private Limited, Amphenol Optimize Manufacturing Co., Amphenol Optimize Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol PCD, Amphenol PCD (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Phitek Limited, Amphenol Printed Circuits, Amphenol Provens SAS, Amphenol RF Asia Limited, Amphenol Sensing Korea Company Limited, Amphenol Shouh Min Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Singapore Pte. Ltd., Amphenol Socapex SAS, Amphenol Sunpool (Liaoning) Automotive Electronics Co., Amphenol T&M Antennas, Amphenol TCS (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Amphenol TCS Ireland Limited, Amphenol TCS de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Amphenol TFC Fios E Cabos do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol TFC MDE Participacoes Ltda., Amphenol TFC do Brasil Ltda., Amphenol Taiwan Corporation, Amphenol Technical Products International Co., Amphenol Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Amphenol Technology (Zhuhai) Co., Amphenol Technology Macedonia Dooel Kocani, Amphenol Tecvox LLC, Amphenol Tel-Ad Ltd., Amphenol Thermometrics, Amphenol Thermometrics (UK) Limited, Amphenol Times Microwave Electronics (Shanghai) Limited, Amphenol Tuchel Electronics GmbH, Amphenol Tuchel Industrial GmbH, Amphenol Tunisia LLC, Amphenol USHoldco Inc., Amphenol-Borg Limited, Amphenol-Borg Pension Trustees Limited, Amphenol-TFC (Changzhou) Communication Equipment Co., Anytek Electronic Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd, Anytek International (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Anytek International Co. Ltd., Anytek Technology Corporation Ltd, Asia Connector Services, Berg UK Ltd., Blueline Product Limited, C&S Antennas, C&S Antennas Limited, CSA Limited, Casco Automotive (Suzhou) Co., Casco Automotive Group, Casco Automotive Singapore Pte., Casco Automotive Tunisia S.a.r.l., Casco Holdings Co. Limited, Casco Holdings GmbH, Casco Imos Italia S.r.l., Casco Logistics GmbH, Casco Products Corporation, Casco Schoeller GmbH, Casco do Brasil Ltda., Cemm Thome Corporation, Cemm Thome SK, Cemm-Mex, Changzhou Amphenol Fuyang Communication Equipment Co., ContactServe (Proprietary) Limited, East Asia Connector Services, Edwin Deutgen Kunstofftechnik GmbH, Ehrlich Werkzeug & Geratebau GmbH, FCI Besancon SA, FCI Connectors (Shanghai) Ltd., FCI Connectors Canada, FCI Connectors Dongguan Ltd, FCI Connectors Hong Kong Limited, FCI Connectors Italia S.r.l., FCI Connectors Korea Ltd., FCI Connectors Malaysia Sdn Bhd, FCI Connectors Sweden A.B., FCI Connectors UK Ltd., FCI Deutschland GmbH, FCI Electronics Hungary Kft, FCI GBS India Private Limited, FCI Japan K.K., FCI Nantong Ltd, FCI OEN Connectors Limited, FCI PRC Limited, FCI Taiwan Limited, FCI USA LLC, FCIs-Hertogenbosch B.V., FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna GmbH & Co. KG, FEP Fahrzeugelektrik Pirna Verwaltungs GmbH, Fiber Systems International, Filec Production SAS, Filec SAS, Friedrich Gohringer Elektrotechnik GmbH, GE - Advanced Sensors Business, Guangzhou Amphenol Electronics Co., Guangzhou Amphenol Sincere Flex Circuits Co., Guangzhou FEP Automotive Electric Co., Hangzhou Amphenol JET Interconnect Technology Co., Hangzhou Amphenol Phoenix Telecom Parts Co., Holland Electronics, Intelligente Sensorsysteme Dresden GmbH, Invotec Circuits Holdings Limited, Invotec Circuits Limited, Invotec Group Limited, Invotec Holdings Limited, Ionix Aerospace Limited, Ionix Holdings Limited, Ionix Systems Limited, Ionix Systems Ou, Jaybeam Limited, Jaybeam Wireless SAS, KE Elektronik GmbH, KE Ostrov  Elektrik, KE Presov Elektrik, Konnektech, Kunshan Amphenol Zhengri Electronics Co., LPL Technologies Holding GmbH, LTW Technology (Samoa) Co., LTW Top Tech (Samoa) Co., Lectric SARL, Martec Limited, Mocorp Holding A/S, Nantong Docharm Amphenol Electronics Co., PROCOM, PT Casco SEA, PerLoga Personal und Logistik GmbH, Piezotech, Piher Sensors & Controls S.A., Piher Sensors And Controls, Precision Cable Manufacturing Corp. de Mexico, Procom A/S, Procom Antennas AB, Procom France SARL, Pyle-National Ltd., RSI International Limited, S.C.I. Palin, SEFEE SA, SGX Europe SP. z.o.o., SGX Sensortech (IS) Limited, SGX Sensortech China Holdco Limited, SGX Sensortech China Limited, SGX Sensortech GmbH, SGX Sensortech SA, SSI Control Technologies, STEMFI SA, SV Microwave, Shanghai Amphenol Airwave Communication Electronics Co., Shanghai Amphenol Electronics Technology Co., Shanghai Tecvox Trading Co., Shenyang Amphenol Sunpool Automotive Electronics Co., Sine Systems Corporation, Skymasts Antennas Ltd., Societe dEtudes et de Fabrications Electroniques et Electriques, Spectra Strip Limited, TCS Japan K.K., TFC South America S.A., Tecvox Europe S.r.l., Telect, Telect Mfg., Telect de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Teradyne Connection Systems, Thermometrics Mexico, Tianjin Amphenol KAE Co., Times Fiber Canada Limited, Times Fiber Communications, Times Microwave Systems, Times Wire and Cable Company, U-Jin Cable Industrial Co., Zhongshan Feisaide Electromechanical Co., and i2s-sensors.
The following companies are subsidiares of Danaher: AB SCIEX, AB Sciex Germany GmbH, AB Sciex LLC, AB Sciex LP, AB Sciex Pte Ltd., Accu-Sort Systems, Acme Cleveland Corporation, Advanced Vision Technology, American Precision Industries, Applied Biosystems, Applitek NV, Aquatic Infomatics ULC, Aquatic Informatics, Armstrong Tools, BC Distribution BV, Beckman Coulter, Beckman Coulter Australia Pty Ltd, Beckman Coulter Biotechnology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Beckman Coulter Biyomedikal Urunler Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited [irketi], Beckman Coulter Canada LP, Beckman Coulter Commercial Enterprise (China) Co. Ltd., Beckman Coulter France S.A.S., Beckman Coulter G.m.b.H., Beckman Coulter Genomics Inc., Beckman Coulter Hong Kong Limited, Beckman Coulter Inc., Beckman Coulter India Private Limited, Beckman Coulter International SA, Beckman Coulter International Shanghai Trading Co., Beckman Coulter Ireland Inc., Beckman Coulter K.K., Beckman Coulter Korea Ltd., Beckman Coulter Laboratory Systems (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Beckman Coulter Limited Liability Company, Beckman Coulter Mishima KK, Beckman Coulter Nederland B.V., Beckman Coulter Nippon GK, Beckman Coulter S.L.U., Beckman Coulter Saudi Arabia Co.Ltd., Beckman Coulter Srl, Beckman Coulter Taiwan Inc., Beckman Coulter United Kingdom Limited, Beckman Coulter de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Beckman Coulter do Brasil Ltda., Beckman Finance ApS, Beckman Holdings Ltd., BioTector Analytical Systems Ltd, Biosafe S.A., Blue Software LLC, Cepheid, Cepheid AB, Cepheid Europe SAS, Cepheid GmbH, Cepheid HBDC SAS, Cepheid UK Ltd., ChemTreat, ChemTreat Inc., ChemTreat International Inc., Cispus Hong Kong Holding Limited, Cytiva, Cytiva BioProcess R&D AB, Cytiva Biotechnology (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Cytiva Biotechnology (Hang Zhou) Co. Ltd., Cytiva Europe GmbH, Cytiva Sweden AB, Cytiva Sweden Holding AB, DH Europe Finance II Sarl, DH Europe Finance Sarl, DH Holding Italia SRL, DH Japan Finance Sarl, DH Life Sciences LLC, DH Netherlands BV, DH Technologies Development Pte Ltd., DHKAB Company AB, DTIL Ireland Holdings Ltd., Danaher (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Danaher Hong Kong Limited, Danaher Medical ApS, Delta Consolidated Industries, Devicore Medical Products Inc., Easco Hand Tools, Esko, Esko BV, Esko Finance BV, Esko Graphics BV, Esko Software BV, FHAB Company AB, Fluke, G. Lufft Mess- und Regeltechnik GmbH, GE Biopharma, Gelman Sciences Inc., Gendex, Genetix Group, Gilbarco Veeder Root, Gilzoni Ltd., Global Life Sciences Solutions Austria GmbH & Co. KG, Global Life Sciences Solutions Germany GmbH, Global Life Sciences Solutions Korea Ltd., Global Life Sciences Solutions Manufacturing UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions New Zealand, Global Life Sciences Solutions Operations UK Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions Singapore Pte Ltd, Global Life Sciences Solutions USA LLC, Global Life Sciences Technologies (Shanghai) Co Ltd., Global Life Sciences Technologies Japan KK, Hach Company, Hach Lange Finance GmbH, Hach Lange GmbH, Hach Lange Sarl, Hach Sales & Services Canada LP, Hach Ultra Japan KK, Hach Water Quality Analytical Instru. (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., HemoCue AB, HyClone Laboratories LLC, Hybritech Incorporated, Hyclone Life Sciences Solutions India Private Limited, IDBS Group, IRIS International, Imaging Sciences International, Immunotech SAS, Immunotech Sro, Intabio LLC, Integrated DNA Technologies, Integrated DNA Technologies BVBA, Integrated DNA Technologies Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies Pte. Ltd., Iris International Inc., Joslyn Holding Company LLC, KVHG GmbH, KaVo, KaVo Kerr, Kaltenbach & Voigt, Keithley Instruments, Kipp & Zonen BV, Kollmorgen, Labcyte Inc., Laetus, Leica Biosystems Imaging Inc., Leica Biosystems Melbourne Pty Ltd, Leica Biosystems Newcastle Limited, Leica Biosystems Nussloch GmbH, Leica Biosystems Richmond Inc., Leica Instruments (Singapore) Pte Limited, Leica Microsystems, Leica Microsystems (UK) Limited, Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH, Leica Microsystems Cambridge Limited, Leica Microsystems IR GmbH, Leica Microsystems Inc., Leica Microsystems Limited, Leica Microsystems Ltd. 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By PTI

MUMBAI: Soni Razdan says it is human to feel bad when attacked personally but the actor has learnt to ignore people who think they have the power to hurt her.

On Twitter, Soni has been at the receiving end of right-wing trolls for having anti-majoritarian views.

The Britain-born actor also engaged in a war of words with Kangana Ranaut's sister Rangoli, who launched a personal attack on her, questioning her stand to have opinion about the country when she does not hold Indian citizenship.

When asked, do personal attacks affect her mental health, the actor told PTI that it is only natural to feel that way, at least initially.

"Everybody is human, and I'm not an alien. I do feel bad but then at some point you have to stop feeling bad. You have to think who's trying to make me feel bad and why."

The actor said it is important to introspect and not give the power to hurt to anyone.

ALSO READ | I will be quiet, that's my stand: Alia Bhatt on attacks by Kangana Ranaut's sister

"You need to ask those questions and then you'll find the answers. And then you stop feeling bad immediately. Why give this person the power to make you sad in the first place?" Soni has been vocal about issues concerning the country, from speaking out about the situation of Kashmiri students who faced threats and violence following Pulwama attack to mob lynching.

As she gears up to promote her film "Yours Truly", which will premiere on May 3 on ZEE5, the actor said she has often been advised by people to not be vocal about her views on Twitter.

"There are people who say, 'Don't write that, just promote your films. Why do you have to make a comment about this?' I feel but why not. If I feel something, when am I going to say something? When I'm dead? "You come to a certain age in life and wonder 'I am holding back for what?' Why not just say it?" she asked.
Templeton Emerging Markets Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by Franklin Resources Inc. The fund is managed by Templeton Asset Management Ltd. It invests in the public equity markets of emerging market countries across the globe. The fund seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. It primarily invests in value stocks of companies. The fund employs fundamental analysis with a focus on such factors as long-term earnings, asset value, and cash flow potential to create its portfolio. It benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Templeton Emerging Markets Fund was formed on February 26, 1987 and is domiciled in the United States.

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Abhijit Mulye and Sana Shakil By

Express News Service

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: In a deadly land mine blast on Maharashtra Statehood Day, Maoists killed at least 15 security personnel of a quick response team of the state police on Wednesday at Jambhurkheda in Gadchiroli district, around 930 km from Mumbai. A civilian who was driving the bus in which the Gadchiroli Polices QRT was travelling, was also killed.

The incident raised questions on the preparedness of the Maharashtra police to deal with the Maoists, with security experts pointing out that the police should have taken more precaution.

A senior security official said a specialised force such as the C-60 of the Maharashtra Police or the CRPF, the lead paramilitary force to deal with the Maoists, should have been sent to the spot instead of the QRT, which has hardly any experience of tackling such situations. Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said there were intelligence inputs of a possible attack to avenge one of the most successful operations carried by the Maharashtra police last year in which 40 Maoists were killed in Gadchiroli.

Around 12.30 am, Maoists set afire 27 vehicles belonging to a construction company near Dadapur village. The arson was used as a bait to lure security personnel to the spot, security experts said.

The QRT team was rushing to the spot when it was ambushed near Lendhari bridge. They were travelling in a civilian vehicle to conceal their identity but the information somehow leaked, sources said.

After an incident, norms forbid security personnel from travelling on roads in Maoist areas. Police teams are also expected to travel by foot or in smaller vehicles in the wake of any incident.
Mayank Singh By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The late-night claim of having discovered the footprints of the mysterious Yeti on Monday from the official Twitter handle of the Indian Army has attracted mixed reactions from across the nation. Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah related it to the BJPs campaign agenda and tweeted, BJP must be working out how to fit this into the rest of the campaign.

Amid the mixed reactions on social media, sources in the Ministry of Defence informed that a report has been sought on the incident. Colonel Neeraj Rana (Retd), who led the 2009 Himalayan Mountaineering Institutions Expedition to Mt Makalu, shared that the region has many mysteries and the Yeti is the foremost.

He added, There is a skull and pieces of a forearm in Tengboche Monastery on the way to Everest base camp, which people claim belongs to a Yeti. He added that a scientific analysis of such claims is mandatory. This expedition to Mt Makalu was flagged off from Delhi on March 27, 2019 and is being led by Major Manoj Joshi.

Yeti zone

Makalu-Barun National Park has been the traditional site where several footprints have been sighted in the past. However, footprints in such large numbers have been sighted for the first time by an Army expedition team.
It may not quite feel like spring yet, but farmers are gearing up for the growing season and seeking workers. But, with a historically low unemployment rate for domestic workers, farmers are turning to foreign seasonal farmworkers using the H-2A visa system more than ever before.

Over the last three months of 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor approved over 35,000 H-2A farm job applications  a number that has increased sharply since just 2017, when the DOL approved 28,000 H-2A jobs applications in the same three-month span.

New York is among the top 10 states with the highest utilization of H-2A guest workers  a number that increased 11 percent in fiscal year 2018 from the previous year, according to the New York Farm Bureau.

New York state in 2018 received 7,634 certified H-2A workers, the eighth-largest number among all states and a figure that has more than doubled since 2012, when New York state had 3,632 foreign-born farmworkers.

The increase is largely due to a shrinking domestic workforce with potential employees more apt to seek full-time employment rather than difficult, seasonal farm labor.

A crackdown on immigration throughout the Hudson Valley by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also led farm employers to be "scared straight" into compliance with immigration law after the industry for decades was made up largely of undocumented workers, according to L.J. D'Arrigo, an Albany-based attorney who connects New York farmers with guest workers.

"Under our current (presidential) administration, the focus is no longer on finding workers here illegally. It's going after employers who are thought to be the magnet for illegal immigration," he said.

D'Arrigo said he's handling 70 H-2A job applications this year  a record number for him and nearly twice as many last year  but the complex and costly process of hiring H-2A workers can price out small family farms who need labor.

"The larger agribusinesses that hire, for them it's not a big deal," D'Arrigo said. "It's a lot of money for a small mom and pop shop to participate in the program. They may be shut out just for cost."

Employers, like Laura Ten Eyck, who runs Indian Ladder Farms, describe the H-2A system as mostly effective at filling gaps in the farm labor force, but also said the system is expensive and cumbersome.

As part of the Trump administration's "Buy American, Hire American" initiative, employers like Ten Eyck are required to advertise extensively across the region and state to find domestic workers.

But Ten Eyck said that's largely a formality, and the farm advertises every year and gets "essentially no applicants"  leading her to hire H-2A workers.

Employers have to pay processing fees for applications as well as pay for workers' visas to travel to and from their home country. Once they arrive, employers also pay for their transportation and housing.

In total, D'Arrigo says farmers can end up paying between $5,000 and $10,000 per season just to get H-2A workers on the farm.

While Ten Eyck agrees it can be expensive, she said "the alternative is worse  not having the workers that we need."

But another hole in the H-2A visa system is a seasonality requirement, which means workers can not remain in the United States for longer than 10 months.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

That's fine for fruit and vegetable farms or apple orchards, like Indian Ladder, but not for New York's largest agricultural asset  dairy farms.

Dairy farms need workers to milk cows and operate the farm year-round, and thus are excluded from being able to apply for H-2A workers.

"All major dairy farmers that employ more than six to eight people need milkers, and not being able to get H-2A visa (workers) is significant," said Sam Simon, the managing director of the Hudson Valley Fresh dairy farm partnership, which produces and sells dairy products for several Hudson Valley farms.

"Labor is hard to find," Simon said.

The New York Farm Bureau has long advocated for immigration reform that would replace the H-2A system with a "guest worker visa program that ensures a continuous, legal workforce in the future for all sectors of agriculture, including dairy," according to the NYFB.

D'Arrigo said proposals over the years to overhaul the H-2A system have included things like "blue card" initiatives that would allow workers who live in the U.S. for three years consecutively to qualify for a green card.

But no immigration proposal has gained significant bipartisan traction, and D'Arrigo said the Trump administration's immigration policy has "changed the philosophy and adjudication standards at ICE. Everything is harder, everything is under higher scrutiny."

"The philosophy is 'why would anybody ever need to bring in foreign workers,'" D'Arrigo said, describing the Trump administration policy. "The disconnect is there when you're talking to employers in the trenches about their ability to hire U.S. workers, and they have a different story than the government has."
By Express News Service

China indicated Tuesday that it could withdraw its technical hold on a fresh proposal to impose a ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed and allow the listing of its chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

The JeM had claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack and China had for the fourth time blocked the fresh proposal moved by France, the UK and the US to list Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council in March. The US, the UK and France this time stepped up pressure on Beijing by taking the issue directly to the UN Security Council (UNSC).

China said, the issue would be properly resolved but it did not give any timeline. The comments came on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan here.

I can only say that I believe that this will be properly resolved, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a media briefing.Though China can exercise its veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC, Beijing has staunchly opposed the issue to be taken to the apex UN body as it has to publicly explain its stand on its reservations to list Azhar.

China has accused the US of scuttling the progress to resolve the issue by taking it to the UNSC and insisted that it should be resolved at the 1267 Committee whose proceedings are not publicised.

Regarding the listing issue in the 1267 Committee, we have expressed our position many times and I just want to stress two points, Geng said answering a number of questions on Azhars issue.

First, we support the listing issue being settled within the 1267 committee through dialogue and consultation and I believe this is the consensus of most members. Second, relevant consultations are going on within the committee and has achieved some progress and with the joint efforts of all parties, this issue can be properly resolved, he said.On reports that China would lift its technical hold on May 1, he said, On the listing issue, China is in contact with all relevant parties within the 1267 Committee.
Albany

State officials have organized a series of seven forums across the state to discuss how the state's new clean energy policies will impact low-income communities.

The state Public Service Commission and NYSERDA, a state authority that focuses on developing renewable energy sources in the state, have been overhauling the state's energy markets over the past few years in order to prioritize more renewable energy being put onto the grid.

Dubbed LIFE, or the Low-Income Forum on Energy, the events will take place in Poughkeepsie, Lake Placid, Rochester, Corning, Woodbury and Manhattan.

The Capital Region forum will take place May 16 at the Hyatt Place in Malta off Exit 12 of the Northway from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Although a free event, the state is asking people to register ahead of time.

The forum is free and open to the public and will follow a day-long conference designed to educate social program managers and other stakeholders on the changes.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The state Public Service Commission and NYSERDA have been overhauling the state's energy markets over the past few years in order to prioritize more renewable energy being put onto the power grid.

The changes are part of what Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls his Green New Deal, which he says will translate into lower energy bills and expanded programs to aid low-income communities.

"Providing clean, affordable, and reliable energy to our most vulnerable New Yorkers is a cornerstone of Gov. Cuomo's Green New Deal," NYSERDA CEO Alicia Barton said.
Troy

Relics of the postwar boom in public housing, Buildings 1 and 2 of the John P. Taylor Apartments stand vacant and boarded up near what should be prime riverfront property.

Named for a Rensselaer County District Attorney who served a century ago, the 10-story brick and cinder block buildings are among the first things a traveler sees crossing the Troy-Watervliet Bridge into the city.

It's not a good first impression.

"It's a major gateway into the city," Steve Strichman, Troy's commissioner of planning and economic development, said Tuesday. And relief may be on the way.

The Troy Housing Authority is moving ahead with a request for qualifications, seeking a developer who would demolish the two buildings, which have been empty for at least a decade, and redevelop the site in line with the city's new Comprehensive Plan.

Russell Sage officials welcomed the news.

"Russell Sage College looks forward to working with the City of Troy in the development of the waterfront and advancing Troy's Comprehensive Plan," Christopher Ames, president of The Sage Colleges, said Tuesday.

Two other Taylor project buildings, both occupied, lie on the other side of the road that comes off the bridge and enters a tunnel under the Russell Sage College campus. One underwent a major renovation some years ago, and both are well-maintained and will remain, at least for now.

"We expect to release the request for qualifications sometime in May," said Thomas Hulihan, the authority's director of planning and program development. Hulihan said a developer could be selected "in a couple of months," with work getting under way later this year.

It's not clear what the entire project might cost. At one point the housing authority considered upgrading the two vacant buildings but balked at the $16 million price tag. The estimated cost to demolish the buildings, which together have 143 apartments, ranges as high as $2 million.

Meanwhile, Troy and Watervliet have begun studying improvements to the Troy-Watervliet Bridge, which cuts through River Street, separating the downtown portion from the area south of Ferry Street.

Drivers unfamiliar with the area who are heading south on River Street at Congress will end up crossing into Watervliet whether or not that was their intention.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The goal is to reconnect the two sections of River Street that the 1972-era bridge severed. "It would be important to reintroduce the connection," said Strichman.

The Comprehensive Plan envisions buildings at the bridge's entry to Troy to be "distinctive mixed-use buildings of a high urban design and architectural quality.

"Russell Sage College may be expanded as a joint development partner at this location to create a unique and signature arrival destination at the bridge crossing," the plan continues.

The Taylor project would take the city a step closer to creating an "eventual citywide riverfront esplanade" with waterfront access, said Strichman.

And the two abandoned buildings, with their smashed windows and graffiti, will no longer loom over the adjacent Russell Sage campus.
ALBANY -- State Attorney General Letitia James called on the judicial system to protect journalists, citing "rhetoric coming from the federal government."

"I reject the characterization that the media is the enemy of the people," James said at Wednesday's Law Day ceremony at the state Court of Appeals, using a phrase employed regularly by President Donald J. Trump to respond to negative coverage of his administration.

"We are fortunate to live in a country and in a state where (free speech) is more protected than anywhere else in the world at any time in history,"James said. "But in recent times, we have felt the threats to this fundamental principle  both at home and abroad, we have been tested once again. Attacks on the press have eroded the public's trust, testing the boundaries of our democracy."

Journalists have been the target of physical violence, including the mass shootings that left five dead at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., last June.

Last year, 66 journalists, 13 citizen journalists and five media assistants were killed while working. James said more than one-third of the countries in the world have no free press and have state-run news operations.

"While those state-run outlets might be confined to countries far away, the painful truth is that the situation is getting increasingly worse in America,"Janes said. "With the rhetoric coming from the federal government and the attacks made daily on news organizations, America is not living up to our legacy as a beacon of transparency."

Trump, whose administration has been rocked by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and Trump's attempts to meddle in the probe itself, has repeatedly lashed out at coverage of himself and his administration.

James referenced the Mueller report, saying that "we've seen illegal or immoral activity in elected officials" and that "we've seen federal efforts to obstruct justice." Asked if she was referring to Trump, James said, "I'm referring to federal elected officials and leaving up to the public to decide who I'm referring to."

Speaking to reporters after her speech, James said her reference to "rhetoric" from the federal government was a comment on "not only the president but his administration as a whole."

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

"I did not want to mention him by name," James said.

Michael Miller, the president of the New York State Bar Association, who spoke after James, said the term "enemy of the people" was used by Adolf Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, as well as Mao Tse-tung, Stalin and Lenin.

"It is frightening when any leader regularly uses language from the tyrants' lexicon," Miller said. "It is absolutely horrifying when that language is used by the President of the United States of America."

Law Day is an annual gathering at the Court of Appeals. This year's event included recognition of court employees who helped a man who was having a heroin overdose. The award is named for former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, who died in 2016.
TROY - When Meredith Powell laid eyes on the Capital Region for the first time this week, she thought, "This is opportunity."

She knows. The co-founder and CEO of Public City, which took part in the cultural tourism plan that made Austin, Texas, an international destination, saw the same potential here. The housing stock, the natural beauty, the colleges, the Capitol  all of which can add up to community that is a great place to live and visit.

Still, the most important ingredient, she told the 250 people at the Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy's "Making the Scene" event on Tuesday afternoon, are the residents. Those who live and create in the region fuel the creative economy that will allow tourism to flourish.

"It's a great place to visit because it's a great place to live," Powell told the audience of "creatives" that gathered at Troy Music Hall. "But you need to ensure that you don't lose sight of what makes it a great place to live. Each of you have a place in that."

As the keynote speaker, Powell told Austin's tale of triumph -- a music hub that led to year-round festivals in film, books, television and food.

"Arts and culture add value to the tourism industry by rooting it in the authenticity of the place and leveraging a region's unique cultures," Powell said.

Yet she cautioned that tourism success can destroy what makes the region unique. She said Austin grew so fast (now the nation's 11th largest city and also the state's capital) that it has forced out mom-and-pop businesses that made the city special and lured tourists there. It also has increasing less affordable, exiling those who once called it home.

She said the Capital Region, which she included as eight counties (Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington), is similar to Austin 20 years ago. The population, she said, is about one million, and those who live here are diverse.

"You have to look at the long game," she said, which includes not only embracing and lifting up people of color, but preparing for the pitfalls that success can bring.

"That's how the magic happens," she said.

Maureen Sager, executive director of the Alliance for the Creative Economy, which is a project of the Center for Economic Growth, said that Powell's message to the region is vital as the creative economy is the region's fourth largest.

"It's includes 47,000 people," Sager said. "We appreciate the talents of all sorts of people and that makes this place a place where we want to live and stay. We all have to be willing to come together to let's invest in cultural tourism together."

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

After Powell's talk, participants were divided into different groups that met in nearby restaurants. Over drinks, the group discussed what they took away from Powell's keynote and how it can apply it to region.

Russell Ziemba of Troy, who took part, said this kind of discussion is essential for the region's future.

"Cities are strapped and it's a struggle to maintain them," Ziemba said. "We have to reinvest in our cities to create a space where people can have all the amenities, good food, affordable rents, health insurance."

Sager would like to see that, too, and hopes to recruit all the creatives that came out on Tuesday to join in the effort.

"The Capital Region is a logical place to live and grow," Sager said. "Everybody has to be part of the conversation."

This story was updated to reflect the correct number of people participating in the creative economy.
ALBANY  Is the seemingly endless stream of arrests rocking the Capitol in recent years evidence that Albany has gotten more corrupt, or are prosecutors, watchdogs and journalists just better at exposing ethical misbehavior?

The Times Union teamed up with the Museum of Political Corruption on Wednesday to explore this question and others during a day-long symposium on New York's corruption problem, which has toppled countless public officials and seems to permeate all levels of state government.

Panelists touched on the types of corruption, the duties of public officers, what constitutes independent oversight, the influence of money in politics, state contracting, and New York's notoriously opaque budget process.

Former Assemblyman Daniel Feldman, now a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, explained how politicians inevitably  for better or worse  become more tolerant of differences through their experience in the legislature.

The personal relationships they form through the legislative process may open the heart of a bigot, but it may also compel a well-meaning public servant to consider joining ethically questionable alliances, he said.

"Over time, as a legislator, you come to think of what you are not able to do, and you think, I need more power to do those things ... ambition is a good thing and drives many desirable results, but it also can lead you in the wrong direction," he said.

Richard Briffault, chair of New York City Conflicts of Interest Board, said the law is specific about what constitutes a conflict of interest, but many political maneuvers fall into a legal gray area.

"A lot of Conflict of Interest Law is to ensure that people don't use public resources for their own benefit (or the benefit of their family). But what if you use public resources to benefit your own party? You need to work with the party, not only to get yourself elected, but to get an agenda passed," Briffault said.

Elected officials may bend their positions to gain an endorsement, perhaps, or compromise their ethics for what they perceive to be in the interest of their constituents, he said.

Briffault said the modern campaign finance structure paves an avenue of legal corruption.

Campaign finance "does skew priorities unless we have a public funding system," he said. "If we want to have a democracy, where people run for office and they are not all billionaires, we need public financing."

New York City has a decades-old public matching system, which experts say is imperfect, but overall has spurred electoral competition and empowered insurgent campaigns.

The state's 2019-20 spending plan, passed April 1, includes a limited blueprint for the creation of a statewide public financing system, the details of which will be determined by a yet-to-be-appointed panel. The public matching system would not go into effect until 2022 and there are many ways the panel's recommendations could fall short or be blocked by the Legislature.

In January, the Legislature also closed the state's infamous LLC loophole, which has enabled special interests to pour virtually unlimited funds into a single candidate's campaign.

Keynote speakers Berit Berger and Jennifer Rodgers, current and former directors of Columbia Law School's Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity, respectively, evaluated the state's ethics climate and noted the recent trend of public officials attacking the media when their ethical lapses are exposed.

Steven Pasichow, inspector general for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, bantered with two compliance experts, Kroll managing director Richard T. Faughnan and Guidepost Solutions' Joseph Jaffe, to shed light on the contracting processes of public entities.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Kroll and Guidepost Solutions co-sponsored the event.

Wall Street Journal reporter Jimmy Vielkind, formerly of the Times Union, moderated a discussion with Citizen Budget Commission director of state studies David Friedfel and Mary Beth Labate, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, on the state's budget process.

Labate, who worked as Gov. Mario Cuomo's budget director and later, as deputy budget director for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, offered an insiders perspective on the current system, while Friedfel provided the view of a budget watchdog.

The state's $175 billion spending plan has historically has been hashed out by "three men in a room,"or the governor, the Senate majority leader and Assembly speaker.

Labate highlighted the rank-and-file budget staff for negotiating and drafting the thousands of pages of legislation. She also explained the purpose of member items, sometimes derisively called "pork," which are discretionary funds lawmakers may steer back to their districts.

"They go home to their district and they have fairly modest requests that their constituents come to them with ... think of the member saying to the constituents, 'yeah the budget is $175 billion dollars but I don't have all money for this community-based program,'" Labate said.

Several panelists noted that the internet, social media and the publication of civic data online has gone a long way toward increasing transparency in state government, enabling journalists and members of the public to track the flow of money or identify discrepancies.

"We do know a lot more of who is giving to who. Peeling the onion all the way back to see who is the original donor is more difficult," Briffault said.
3 1 of 3 New York State Police Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Jacom Stephens / Getty Image Show More Show Less 3 of 3





The East Greenbush man whose body was discovered Monday evening near Schodack Island died from drowning, according to autopsy results released Wednesday by the East Greenbush Police Department.

Two men fishing in Stuyvesant found the remains of David Burden, 64, who had been reported missing on Nov. 4, 2018.
ALBANY  Assembly Democrats are backing legislation that allows undocumented immigrants in New York to apply for driver's licenses following a "robust" internal discussion on Tuesday.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Wednesday that a consensus has emerged on the issue, but before acting on the legislation lawmakers want to spend time making the case around the state that the policy is beneficial to all New Yorkers.

"I think if people understood the benefits of doing the driver's license bill, people would be much more understanding and open to having it," Heastie said.

The measure would make an estimated 265,000 people eligible for licenses and generate $57 million in annual revenue, according to a report from the liberal Fiscal Policy Institute. A 2017 Stanford Graduate School of Business study of California's implementation documented a decrease in hit-and-run accidents after undocumented immigrants were allowed to get licenses.

Senate Democrats haven't committed to passing the legislation, as it could be a problematic electoral issue for the new majority, which includes at least nine members from suburban areas that will face pressure from their constituents to oppose the measure.

A spokesman for the conference said they haven't discussed the issue to form a position.

More for you Amid protest, regional Republicans oppose driver's license bill

A March poll by the Siena Research Institute found that only a third of New Yorkers support issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. Only about a quarter of voters in the New York City suburbs and upstate New York supported were in support.

In an April radio interview, Cuomo said he has supported the issue in the past and said the legislation was "on the short list of open items for the Legislature to tackle this session."

At that time, though, he wouldn't embrace the proposal in the Legislature.

State lawmakers opposed to the measure say their position is based on preserving public safety and preventing fraud.

"This isn't about immigrants, this is about our laws, what's legal and protecting our law-abiding citizens," Sen. Daphne Jordan, a Halfmoon Republican, said at a rally last month opposing the legislation.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The commitment from the speaker represents a major step in the progress of the legislation, though, as it hasn't come up for a vote since it was reintroduced in 2003 by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, a Brooklyn Democrat.

Asked whether the Assembly Democrats were motivated by the possibility of primaries from the far left of the party, Heastie said, "We're not motivated by threats."

If the bill does come to the floor in the Assembly, the Democrats can afford about two dozen defections  most likely coming from upstate and Long Island members  and still pass the legislation without any Republican votes.

The math is more complicated for Senate Democrats, who control 39 seats and would need 32 votes to pass the legislation. The bill has 25 sponsors, with none of the six Long Island Democrats attached.

David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @poozer87
WASHINGTON - Special counsel Robert Mueller III wrote a letter in late March complaining to Attorney General William Barr that a four-page memo to Congress describing the principal conclusions of the investigation into President Donald Trump "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of Mueller's work, according to a copy of the letter reviewed Tuesday by The Washington Post.

The letter and a subsequent phone call between the two men reveal the degree to which the longtime colleagues and friends disagreed as they handled the legally and politically fraught task of investigating the president. Democrats in Congress are likely to scrutinize Mueller's complaints to Barr as they contemplate the prospect of opening impeachment proceedings and mull how hard to press for Mueller himself to testify publicly.

At the time Mueller's letter was sent to Barr on March 27, Barr had days prior announced that Mueller did not find a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian officials seeking to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. In his memo to Congress, Barr also said that Mueller had not reached a conclusion about whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, but that Barr reviewed the evidence and found it insufficient to support such a charge.

Days after Barr's announcement, Mueller wrote the previously undisclosed private letter to the Justice Department, laying out his concerns in stark terms that shocked senior Justice Department officials, according to people familiar with the discussions.

"The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions," Mueller wrote. "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

The letter made a key request: that Barr release the 448-page report's introductions and executive summaries, and it made initial suggested redactions for doing so, according to Justice Department officials. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.

Justice Department officials said Tuesday that they were taken aback by the tone of Mueller's letter and that it came as a surprise to them that he had such concerns. Until they received the letter, they believed Mueller was in agreement with them on the process of reviewing the report and redacting certain types of information, a process that took several weeks. Barr has testified to Congress previously that Mueller declined the opportunity to review his four-page memo to lawmakers that distilled the essence of the special counsel's findings.

In his letter to Barr, Mueller wrote that the redaction process "need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation."

Barr is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee - a much-anticipated public confrontation between the nation's top law enforcement official and Democratic lawmakers, where he is likely to be questioned at length about his interactions with Mueller.

A day after Mueller sent his letter to Barr, the two men spoke by phone for about 15 minutes, according to law enforcement officials.

In that call, Mueller said he was concerned that media coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and creating public misunderstandings about the office's work, according to Justice Department officials. Mueller did not express similar concerns about the public discussion of the investigation of Russia's election interference, the officials said.

Barr has testified previously he did not know whether Mueller supported his conclusion on obstruction. When Barr pressed Mueller on whether he thought Barr's memo to Congress was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not but felt that the media coverage of it was misinterpreting the investigation, officials said.

In their call, Barr also took issue with Mueller calling his memo a "summary," saying he had never intended to summarize the voluminous report, but instead provide an account of its top conclusions, officials said.

Justice Department officials said that, in some ways, the phone conversation was more cordial than the letter that preceded it, but that the two men did express some differences of opinion about how to proceed.

Barr said he did not want to put out pieces of the report, but rather issue the document all at once with redactions, and that he didn't want to change course, according to officials. Barr also gave Mueller his personal phone number and told him to call if he had future concerns, officials said.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

Throughout the conversation, Mueller's main worry was that the public was not getting an accurate understanding of the obstruction investigation, officials said.

"After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Mueller's letter, he called him to discuss it," a Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday evening in a statement. "In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel's obstruction analysis. They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released.

"However, the Attorney General ultimately determined that it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion," the spokeswoman said. "The Attorney General and the Special Counsel agreed to get the full report out with necessary redactions as expeditiously as possible. The next day, the Attorney General sent a letter to Congress reiterating that his March 24 letter was not intended to be a summary of the report, but instead only stated the Special Counsel's principal conclusions, and volunteered to testify before both Senate and House Judiciary Committees on May 1 and 2."

Some senior Justice Department officials were frustrated by Mueller's complaints because they had expected that the report would reach them with proposed redactions, but it did not. Even when Mueller sent along his suggested redactions, those covered only a few areas of protected information, and the documents required further review, these people said.

The Washington Post and the New York Times had previously reported some members of Mueller's team were frustrated with Barr's characterization of their work, though Mueller's own attitude was unknown before now.

In some team members' view, the evidence they had gathered - especially on obstruction - was far more alarming and significant than how Barr had described it. That was perhaps to be expected, given that Barr had distilled a 448-page report into a terse, four-page memo to Congress.

Wednesday's hearing will be the first time lawmakers question Barr since the Mueller report was released on April 18, and he is expected to face a raft of tough questions from Democrats.

Republicans on the committee are expected to question Barr about an assertion he made earlier in April that government officials had engaged in "spying" on the Trump campaign - a comment that was seized on by the president's supporters as evidence the investigation into the president was biased.

Barr is also scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, but that hearing could be canceled or postponed amid a dispute about whether committee staff lawyers will question the attorney general. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the panel's chairman, called for a copy of the Mueller letter to be delivered to his committee by Wednesday morning.

Democrats have accused Barr of downplaying the seriousness of the evidence against the president.

Mueller's report described 10 significant episodes of possible obstruction of justice but said that because of long-standing Justice Department policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted and because of Justice Department practice regarding fairness toward those under investigation, his team did not reach a conclusion about whether the president had committed a crime.
U.S. News & World Report released its 2019 list of high school rankings, with state-by-state breakdowns.

Click through the slideshow to see rankings for high schools in the four-county Capital Region.

New York has 1,290 schools in the 2019 rankings. The top-ranked are all in the New York metropolitan area.

Click here for the full list of New York high schools. Schools in the bottom 25th percentile were not ranked by number.

To produce the 2019 Best High Schools rankings, U.S. News & World Report teamed with North Carolina-based RTI International, described as a global nonprofit social science research firm.

Their methodology gives highest ranking to high schools "whose attendees demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math and reading state assessments, passed a diverse array of college-level exams and graduated in high proportions."

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

The publication ranked 17,245 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The list is revamped from last year, and is six to seven times larger than the number ranked in the 2018 edition.

Since the methodology changed so significantly this year, a school's ranking in the 2019 Best High Schools list can't be compared with rankings in any previous U.S. News ranking, the publication cautions.
ALBANY  Just days after "The Simpsons" slagged upstate New York in song, the long-running animated sitcom's executive producer is making a peace gesture to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Al Jean posted a photo of the letter on Twitter on Wednesday alongside a boxed set of the one of the show's most heralded seasons. After the show aired Sunday, Cuomo claimed he had never seen an episode of "The Simpsons," which will mark its 30th anniversary in December.

In the same interview, Cuomo said he was "going to write a letter to 'The Simpsons.' Now, if they respond I'll really be worried."

Jean's response is unlikely to worry him  too much.

"It has come to our attention that you have never seen an episode of The Simpsons," Jean wrote. "Please accept with our best wishes this Season 4 DVD. You might find its ideas on monorail transportation, dental plans, and local theater intriguing. Or you might just enjoy an episode or two when the demands of Albany prove too unyielding. In either case, please enjoy, and if you would like to come to LA for a 'table read' you are welcome any time."

"Simpsons" diehards will recall that Season 4 includes "Marge Vs. The Monorail," an extended parody of "The Music Man" in which an out-of-town con man attempts to convince the citizens of Springfield, the Simpsons' beleaguered hometown, to invest in a questionable infrastructure project.

Sunday's episode featured a wicked musical assault on upstate sung by Homer Simpson, the animated family's dim patriarch. While on their way to the city to redeem last-minute credit card points, Homer gives his take on upstate's places, lack of people and culinary culture in a take on Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York."

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

"We're headed to the one place that can never decline because it was never that great: upstate New York," Homer says.

"Start watchin' Fox News/Stop watchin' your weight," he sings ("The Simpsons" airs on Fox's broadcast network). "There is no fancy part of it/Upstate New York!/They're fond of their booze/Hot wing sauce is great/I'm gonna clog my heart in it/Upstate New York!"

Niskayuna makes a brief appearance, its name shown on a leaking water tower early in the song. Utica affords a view of a street-side population counter dropping like the altimeter of a plane in a power dive. The good news: Homer is depicted getting a diploma from Mohawk Valley Community College.

New York State Fair officials responded by praising upstate's natural beauty and economic prospects, and promising to send baskets of state delicacies to the sitcom's writers.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRI NAGAR: After the dismal 10.32 per cent polling in Kulgam district in the second phase of polling in Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, three ex-MLAs of the south Kashmir district, including a former PDP minister, blamed the PDP-BJP alliance and clubbing of polling stations for the low turnout.

The Homeshalibugh Assembly segment recorded 1.14% polling, Kulgam 1.72%, Devsar 16.84% and Noorbad 20.5% polling Abdul Majid, ex-National Conference MLA from Home Shalibugh said PDP-BJP alliance has turned out to be a disaster for the state, especially the Valley. My constituency witnessed many civilian killings during PDP-BJP rule. Even today, 200 youths from my constituency are booked under stringent Public Safety Act, 10 are in NIA custody while around 1,500 youths and elderly people are lodged in jails, he said.

FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

CPI (M) state secretary and ex-MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said PDP-BJP alliance has spelt disaster for J&K.It was a political flood, which has drowned us all. The militaristic approach of the Modi government, Tarigami said, has shrunk space for political activity in the Valley whether it be mainstream or moderate separatists. Ex-PDP minister and ex-MLA from Noorabad Abdul Majid Paddar said there is anger among the people against the Centre over its statements on Articles 370 and 35A.

Fighting Polls for Articles 370, 35A

National Conference vice president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday visited militancy-hit Shopian and state Congress chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir visited restive Pulwama district in south Kashmir as part of their poll campaign. Omar said the party is contesting LS polls to safeguard Article 370 (which grants special status to J&K) and 35A (which grants special privileges to J&K residents). This election is not about development. It is about safeguarding Articles 370 and 35 A, which are of utmost importance for a secure future of our younger generation. Any attack on J&Ks special status will have far reaching consequences, he said.
ALBANY - Before the annual May Day march even started, a man leaned out of a van and yelled in agreement with activists gathered in Townsend Park: "Tax the rich!"

The slogan - printed on bumper stickers plastered on bullhorns and a bucket overturned as a makeshift drum - has been the rallying cry of the Solidarity Committee of the Capital Region for three decades.

The labor organizing group joined with the International Workers of the World Upstate New York, Albany General Defense Committee and union representatives for the city's 21st May Day march. Activists marched through downtown on a radical walking tour through the region's labor organizing history - an 1800s tenant rebellion, Hilton Hotel workers' protests and strikes ranging from postal carriers to Greyhound bus drivers to Verizon employees. Along the way, the group of around 40 played music, sang and chanted as they passed state workers on lunch break.

"The People's Holiday" started in 1886 when thousands of workers walked off their jobs demanding an 8-hour workday. While Wednesday's march focused on history, its organizers said the May Day movement was still as relevant as ever - although they made few specific demands.

"The day should have more significance in the U.S. for the working class and the struggle for all the issues for the working class - struggling for worker rights or education or health care or housing - all of those issues need to be addressed," said Art Fleischner, a retired labor organizer and Solidarity Committee member.

The group Wednesday was predominantly white and older, although Fleischner said people of color and women are members or leaders in the open meetings. He said the Solidarity Committee tries to reach out to diverse communities but "I guess we could do a better job."

Unions are not without controversy in New York. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that if you work in the public sector, you can't be forced to pay a union to keep your job, which rendered New York's 1977 forced-payment law unconstitutional.

After the ruling, non-profit New Choice for NY which said it gives employees factual information about their rights, reached out to union members with a form if they wanted to leave their unions. The group said exclusive representation gave unions protection from competition and political power.

Wednesday's march, led by labor organizers, touched on worker's rights throughout history and today.

At Townsend Park, a speaker from the Albany Catholic Worker Emmaus House shared a story about a farmworker from Mexico he met two decades ago who didn't get a day off, get paid for overtime, or could organize with fellow workers. The situation is the same today.

He mentioned the Farmworker Fair Labor Practices Act proposed in the state legislature that has been pending for years. A farmworker's lawsuit for the right to unionize is also on appeal in state Supreme Court.

The group Wednesday marched down Washington Avenue to the back of the Capitol, where lawyer Colin Donnaruma shared the story of anti-rent rebellions in the region in the 1800s.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

On July 4, 1839, thousands of armed tenant farmers dressed in leather masks and calico dresses declared a "new independence day". They rose up against their landlords, refused to pay rent and even killed a sheriff. A decade later, their demands eventually led to legislative rent reforms - a topic still being debated in the state legislature.

Another organizer pointed out Verizon's office on State Street, the scene of local protests as part of a nationwide strike in 2016. Another shared about standing in solidarity in front of the Hilton Hotel with workers organizing in 2017.

At UAlbany's State University Plaza, Jim Kaufman, a retired postal worker and legislative director for the Albany branch of the national postal workers' union, talked about the week-long 1970 postal carrier strike that shut down the country.

The march concluded at Tricentennial Park, where a speaker shared stories about Albany's transportation strikes - from railroad to trolleys to Greyhound buses that led in part to the creation of the Solidarity Committee of the Capital Region.

The Solidarity Committee, which has met on the second Thursday of the month for 35 years, now at Albany's Social Justice Center, supports local strikes and workers' struggles. They also work on environmental, housing and anti-war issues.

After a free lunch in Tricentennial Park, the group was scheduled to host a 5 p.m. event at Capital District Latinos with dinner, music and program. The speaker Gabriel Hetland, assistant professor of Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino studies at UAlbany planned to speak on Venezuela politics.
SCHENECTADY  A former student is suing Union College and the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, claiming she was raped at an off-campus apartment just days after arriving at the school in 2017.

The suit, originally filed March 1, was amended last week to include the fraternity. In it, the womans legal team paints a picture of a party culture that imperils female students.

The college has permitted and condoned its all-male fraternities, including and especially TD Chi, to foster a social environment rampant with sexual violence and harassment towards women, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit, first reported by the Concordiensis student paper, also alleges that the school failed to properly investigate and handle the womans rape allegations, causing her severe mental and emotional trauma.

The womans attorney, Andrew Miltenberg, said in the complaint that he has identified at least five other women who say Union College failed to property handle rape allegations over the past few years.

Union College spokesman Phil Wajda said the school would respond to the allegations in court.

We remain confident that the facts of the case will show the college acted appropriately, timely, and in accordance with its established policies and procedures, Wajda said in a statement. As we have stated previously, the college will not comment on specific allegations involving any member of our campus community in order to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of all involved.

Wajda added that all students and student organizations are expected to adhere to the schools code of conduct.

The school previously had been accused of mishandling sexual assault complaints, according to the lawsuit. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights began an investigation into how Union College handled an alleged sexual assault episode. That investigation is ongoing, according to the lawsuit.

The college has, and continues to have, a policy of covering up complaints and instances of sexual misconduct on campus, going so far as to discourage victims from seeking outside resources or involving outside agencies such as the local police, the complaint says.

In this case, the woman was enrolled in a leadership pre-orientation program at the school, prior to first-year orientation. Three days later, she was invited to an off-campus Theta Delta Chi party.

The lawsuit claims the fraternity has a reputation on campus for being a dangerous place for female students and that fraternity members would allegedly spike partygoers drinks.

Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years.

While there, she met a senior fraternity member. She became separated from her friends and went to the mans apartment to smoke marijuana. Afterward, she said she felt dizzy and disoriented and laid down on the mans bed.

The man got on the bed and began to assault her, despite her telling him no. She said she went numb, realized her pants were around her ankles and was in a dream state.

The man walked her back to her dorm after the assault because she didnt know the way back, according to the complaint.

The next day she attended a Title IX orientation for first-year students and told the schools Title IX coordinator that she had been sexually assaulted.

The complaint alleges the coordinator failed to report the assault to the proper authorities as a mandatory reporter and failed to begin an investigation of the alleged assault.

Instead, the school's investigation did not begin until the woman filed a formal Title IX complaint in January 2018, months after her initial complaint. The suit says that the school mishandled the investigation and the hearing that was held to determine if the woman was sexually assaulted.

A panel voted 3-2 in May 2018 to determine that the man was not responsible, according to the lawsuit.

Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the news of the amended complaint was first reported in the Schenectady Gazette.
[May 01, 2019] 12 ReTech Announces Significant European Revenue Commitments Coupled With Expense Reductions.

Las Vegas, NV, Hong Kong and Zurich Switzerland, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 12 ReTech Corporation (OTC: RETC) announced today that it has signed technology license agreements with Coppola A.G. whereby they will license 12Sconti and continue efforts to grow and support its recent deployment in Zurich. They have also agreed to license the 12 AdScreen software, purchase and install hardware in order to launch the Visore advertising concept in six or more major European cities. This new structure has the effect of eliminating almost all the expenses of 12 Europe A.G. and allows the Company to turn the European operation into a royalty based business model and profit center. The Company will continue to generate revenues from the Companys proprietary technology and applications while eliminating almost all of the ongoing operating costs and the significant investment required for the expansion of 12Sconti and the implementation of Visore. Initial revenues will be derived from our licensing fees for 12Sconti, which is gaining ground with Jelmoli and additional Zurich based retailers. Angelo Ponzetta the Companys CEO commented, We had been investing heavily in the European market and started to see progress. Our initial efforts proved out the viability of our technology and retailing concepts. Now, we are transforming our operations into a more profitable business model in Europe. Our partner, Coppola A.G. will invest in all aspects of Visore and 12Sconti, continuing to build on our initial efforts. Our projected licensing fees are equivalent to the operating income that we had previously projected had we continued to develop and expand our own organization in Europe. To highlight the cost savings, we point readers to the Companys recently filed FY2018 Form 10-K, where we reported that the 12 Europe AG operation had incurred a net loss of $51,671 USD in FY2017. That loss accelerated to $283,378 USD in FY2018. Going forward, this new operating structure will reduce our European annual expenses to under $5,000 USD while generating revenues from our retail technology as we continue to make inroads in Europe. These changes should positively impact our financial statements in the second quarter and beyond as significant expenses were incurred by 12 Europe in the first quarter of FY2019. Mr. Ponzett, continued, With this new structure in place, we reduce expenses by allowing our partner to shoulder the burden and risks. We receive an attractive ongoing percentage of the fees that will be generated in all cases. This moves the Company into a highly profitable Software as a Service (SAAS) business model in Europe, which by the way, has a very expensive and highly regulated business environment that is best navigated by locals.



Mr. Coppola, CEO of Coppola A.G. stated, I have been working with 12 Europe for about 9 months and have built the team that I am absorbing, into my own company. We all strongly believe in the products that 12 ReTech has built and are strongly committed to invest our own money to build the brand, and expand its profitable reach. Mr. Ponzetta concluded, With the stroke of the pen, we have transformed our European business from a labor and cost intensive operation into a profitable SAAS business model. I have a lot of confidence in our partner, Pietro Coppola who worked with us to get us to this point and is ready, willing and able to take this to the next level. This allows both of our teams to. benefit from our efforts, and allows us to concentrate on our core businesses in the U.S.A. and Asia. By reducing the cash requirements to develop Europe and create a profitable business there, we further reduce our need for dilutive convertible debt, which we have relied upon in the past for working capital. Look for us to initiate similar cost savings in other areas of our business as we strive to achieve future profitability.

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. Investors Relations Contacts: Mark Gilbert

Magellan FIN, LLC

[email protected]

317-361-2392 (USA) Corporate Headquarters

[email protected]

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[May 01, 2019] AmeriHealth Caritas Awarded Contract to Continue Serving District of Columbia's Medicaid Population

AmeriHealth Caritas announced that the District of Columbia's Department of Health Care Finance has awarded a contract for the District's Medicaid managed care program to AmeriHealth Caritas' Washington, D.C., Medicaid plan, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia. AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia has served the District since 2013 and is its largest Medicaid health plan, managing care for more than 120,000 DC Healthy Families, DC Healthcare Alliance, and Immigrant Children's Program members. It has also been the District's top-rated Medicaid health insurance plan for three of the past four years, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance's Medicaid Health Insurance Plan Ratings 2015 - 2016, 2016 - 2017 and 2018 - 2019. The contract will allow AmeriHealth Caritas to continue helping the District's Medicaid enrollees access quality health care. The District has approximately 192,000 Medicaid managed care enrollees with diverse backgrounds and wide-ranging needs who require solutions that address their health as well as the social determinants of health, such as education, job training, transportation, and housing. "We are excited about this opportunity to continue serving the people of the District of Columbia, providing them with access to the quality care and services they deserve," saidAmeriHealth Caritas Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul Tufano. "Core to our mission is a strong belief that every individual should have access to health care, and for more than 35 years AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies has delivered that person-centered model of care to those most in need. This contract renewal allows us to continue helping our members get the care they need to stay well and to continue building a healthier District of Columbia."



AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies provides integrated Medicaid managed care services that focus on family and caregiver involvement, community-based services, successful care transitions, and intensive care management. In addition to the District of Columbia, it currently operates Medicaid managed care health plans in Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, and is slated to begin serving North Carolina and New Hampshire Medicaid enrollees later this year. In addition, AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies serves dual eligibles in Michigan and South Carolina through Medicare-Medicaid plans; and in Pennsylvania through Medicare Advantage special needs plans. It also serves Pennsylvanians and Delawareans receiving long-term services and supports.

AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia's new contract will be in place for one base year with up to four one-year extensions. 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 www.amerihealthcaritasdc.com. About AmeriHealth Caritas AmeriHealth Caritas is one of the nation's leaders in health care solutions for those most in need. Operating in 11 states and the District of Columbia, AmeriHealth Caritas serves more than 5 million Medicaid, Medicare and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) members through its integrated managed care products, pharmaceutical benefit management and specialty pharmacy services, and behavioral health services. Headquartered in Philadelphia, AmeriHealth Caritas is a mission-driven organization with more than 35 years of experience serving low-income and chronically ill populations. AmeriHealth Caritas is part of the Independence Health Group in partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. For more information, visit www.amerihealthcaritas.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005954/en/

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By PTI

NEW DELHI:The Congress on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the Election Commission's clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech in Wardha, saying it has become "crystal clear" that the model code of conduct has become the "Modi Code of Conduct".

The Election Commission (EC) Tuesday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Modi for his speech in Wardha in which he had slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad and "indicated" that the Kerala constituency had more voters from the minority community.

"Disappointed that the PM of India is permitted to go scot-free after rampant violation of Article 324 & MCC.

ALSO READ | PM Modi gets clean chit, EC says no poll code violation in Wardha rally speech

It is now crystal clear that MCC has become 'Modi Code of Conduct'!" Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

There cannot be two sets of laws for Prime Minister Modi and the rest of the country, he said.

An EC spokesperson had said: "The matter has been examined in detail in accordance to the extant guidelines/provisions of the Model Code of Conduct, the Representation of the People Act and the report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra.

Accordingly, the commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation has been noticed."

The Congress earlier this month had approached the EC and had sought action against PM Modi's "divisive" speech.

The PM, while addressing a rally in Wardha on April 1, had reportedly said, the opposition party was "scared" to field its leaders from constituencies where the majority dominates.

He made the remark in reference to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's decision to contest from a second Lok Sabha seat Wayanad in Kerala.

Rahul Gandhi is also contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi.

"The Congress insulted Hindus and the people of the country have decided to punish the party in the election.

Leaders of that party are now scared of contesting from constituencies dominated by the majority (Hindu) population.

That is why they are forced to take refuge in places where the majority is a minority," Modi had reportedly said.

The Congress had alleged that Modi had made some "hateful, vile and divisive" remarks against Gandhi.
[May 01, 2019] Baker Hill Hosts Another Successful Conference, Announces Plans for Prosper 2020

Baker Hill, a leading provider of technology solutions for common loan origination, risk and relationship management, CECL compliance, and smart data analytics, announced that Prosper 2019 was yet another successful client conference, with a record 124 attendees represented across 54 financial institutions throughout the U.S. Held in Nashville, Tennessee, this year's three-day educational conference aimed to engage, inform and connect attendees with industry and solution experts. In addition to general sessions, the conference included daily breakout sessions focused on CRM innovations, loan portfolio wellness, and profitability for consumer and small business lending. Prosper also provided attendees with valuable insight to address the digital challenges of the industry and how to be competitive with the right tools. Attendees were able to network with peers and industry leaders to prepare for upcoming changes like CECL and discuss best practices going into the remainder of the year including deposit growth. Attendees also gained in-depth knowledge about Baker Hill NextGen (News - Alert), which was recently nominated for "New Tech Product of the Year" by TechPoint, the nonprofit, industry-led growth initiative for Indana's technology ecosystem. With the most comprehensive combination of loan origination and risk management functionality in a single platform, Baker Hill NextGen empowers financial institutions to work smarter and drive more profitable relationships. Baker Hill showcased its latest enhancements to the solution and advised attendees on how to best leverage their current investments in conjunction with Baker Hill NextGen to help reduce risk and drive growth.



"I don't come to Prosper just for the fun. I come because of the people," said Debra Hess, VP, Quality Control for Community Trust Bank. "There is a tremendous opportunity to meet and network with other institutions that may be facing the same challenges, and together we can share best practices and solutions to solve those challenges. It really feels like a family and I always look forward to attending." "This is my first Prosper conference," said Jenn Sansone, Commercial Information Systems Manager for Northwest Bank. "The sessions are informative and engaging, and the networking at Prosper is invaluable. Financial institutions like ours are able to meet with others and discuss similar challenges and learn new ideas, creating a truly collaborative environment. I would absolutely encourage other bankers to attend."

"In its fourth year, Prosper is proving to be a highly-engaging event, arming attendees with actionable insight that can be applied within their financial institution to drive growth and profitability while reducing risk," said John M. Deignan, President and CEO of Baker Hill. "The feedback from both our partners and financial institution clients has been tremendous, and the level of insight provided is empowering them to supercharge profitability while shrinking risk and loss. We're proud of its success and look forward to Prosper 2020." Baker Hill has also announced plans for Prosper 2020, which will take place April 26 - 28 at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona. About Baker Hill

Baker Hill empowers financial institutions to work smarter, reduce risk and drive more profitable relationships. The company delivers a single unified platform with modern solutions to solve CECL calculations and streamline loan origination and portfolio risk management for commercial, small business and consumer lending. The Baker Hill NextGen platform also delivers sophisticated analytics and marketing solutions that support sound business decisions to mitigate risk, generate growth and maximize profitability. Baker Hill is the expert solution for loan origination, portfolio risk and relationship management, CECL compliance and analytics for financial institutions in the United States. For more information, visit www.bakerhill.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005653/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Canada Supports Sustainable Mining Practices for Clean Technologies

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /CNW/ - With growing global demand for minerals and metals to develop cleaner technologies, Canada is a partner of choice thanks to our abundant natural resources and sustainable practices. The Government of Canada recognizes this opportunity and is committed to advancing climate-smart mining, at home and abroad. Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, today attended Minerals for Climate Action, the launching conference for the World Bank's Climate-Smart Mining Facility in Washington, D.C. and emphasized the role of Canadian minerals in providing the building blocks for clean technologies throughout the world. During his visit, Parliamentary Secretary Lefebvre outlined Canada's support for sustainable mining, including the active sharing of best practices with mineral-rich developing countries and emerging economies, and other international partners. He also highlighted the World Bank's goal of advancing developing countries' sustainable mineral and metal extraction and processing. Parliamentary Secretary Lefebvre participated in a panel session focused on reducing the material impacts associated with increased extractive and processing activities. He highlighted the government's ongoing efforts to advance innovation in the sector, such as Mining Value from Waste, Impact Canada's $10-million Crush It! Challenge and the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan (CMMP).



The CMMP  developed in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments, Indigenous peoples, industry and civil society  is informed by a number of strategic directions for the future of the sector, one of which is the environment. The Plan includes a vision for the continual reduction of mining's environmental footprint; an economy where mine waste is transformed into useful products; better planning for mine closures and reclaimed mine sites; and systematic climate change adaptation planning. Launched at the Minerals for Climate Action conference, the World Bank's Climate-Smart Mining Facility marks the first step in facilitating global innovation, knowledge sharing and learning on how best to operationalize climate-smart mining and support sustainable growth in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Canada looks forward to collaborating with the World Bank and other international partners to advance these shared priorities.

Quote "Governments must play a central role in facilitating the transition to a low-carbon economy and in encouraging climate-smart innovations. We look forward to continuing our work with international partners, including the World Bank, to advance climate-smart mining. Together, we can create the prosperity we all want while protecting the planet we all cherish." Paul Lefebvre

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources Related Information The World Bank  Climate-Smart Mining: Minerals for Climate Action

Impact Canada's Crush It! Challenge

Crush It! Challenge The Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

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[May 01, 2019] DoorDash Arrives In Winnipeg, Offers Delivery From More Than 300 Local Restaurants

To celebrate, DoorDash is launching a first-ever 30 or $30 promotion* SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2019 /CNW/ -- DoorDash, the largest and fastest-growing on-demand destination for door-to-door delivery in more than 4,000 cities in the United States and Canada, today announced its official launch in its 50th Canadian city, Winnipeg. The company plans to double its Canadian footprint to more than 100 cities by the end of 2019. Today, DoorDash is live in 50 cities across Canada, serving residents in cities like Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Red Deer, Regina, Vancouver, and now, Winnipeg. DoorDash will serve all residents of Winnipeg and offers delivery available from 11 a.m.10 p.m., seven days a week. To celebrate its entry into Winnipeg, DoorDash launched a special "30 or $30" promotion* that will be live for the first 30 days of service in Winnipeg. When a DoorDash customer orders anything from stores featured in the new "30 or $30" carousel found in the app or on www.doordash.com , they will then have access to this unique, new special promotion. If the customer's food is not delivered within 30 minutes from the time they have placed the order, DoorDash will email a voucher for the value of the order, up to $30, within five business days. The "30 or $30" promotion is proof of DoorDash's confidence in its ability to offer both fast delivery from a variety of restaurants for customers and operational excellence for local merchants. In addition to the "30 or $30" promotion, DoorDash will offer $0 delivery fees on all orders over $10 for each customer's respective first thirty days on DoorDash. "We're excited to launch in Winnipeg and continue our expansion efforts in Canada, which is a priority market for DoorDash," said Brent Seals, DoorDash's Country Director of Canada. "We first expanded to Canada in 2015 and commit to expanding our footprint to 100 cities by the end of the year, as the Canadian market offers a diverse customer base that is in need of the world-class service that we uniquely provide." Adding more than 300 restaurants to its industry-leading selection of restaurants, DoorDash is also exclusively working with local and national favourites including NuBurger , Underdogs , King + Bannatyne , and Baked Expectations . Winnipeg customers can only get their cravings for these spots fulfilled by DoorDash. Other favourite Canadian merchants available for delivery through DoorDash include A&W , Boon Burger , Oh Donuts , Thida's Thai , and Peasant Cookery .



"The Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association is excited to have DoorDash as an associate partner in the Winnipeg market. The DoorDash team has shown a unified approach to last-mile logistics that correlate a unique blend of customer service both for our restaurant members and our valuable customers, who utilize this on-demand platform to supplement a dine out experience," said Shaun Jeffrey, Executive Director of Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association. "We look forward to a lengthy and strong partnership for years to come that surpasses the expectations that our members and customers have for on-demand food platform services." For more information on DoorDash's availability across Canada, visit the blog here . To search DoorDash for local favourites or to discover your next go-to, visit doordash.com or download DoorDash for Android or iOS .

*Available in Winnipeg between 10:30 AM - 10:30 PM CDT from May 1 to May 30, 2019. Available only from eligible participating merchant locations. If an eligible order is not delivered within 30 minutes, an email voucher code will be issued within 5 business days, redeemable through doordash.com for the lesser of the order value (exclusive of tax) or $30. Offer not available during events outside the control of DoorDash which may impact the ability to safely deliver the order within 30 minutes. Direct all inquiries related to the promo to [email protected]. See https://dasherhelp.doordash.com/30-or-30-promotion-terms for full terms and conditions. About DoorDash

DoorDash is a technology company that connects customers with their favorite local and national businesses in more than 4,000 cities and all 50 states across the United States and Canada. Founded in 2013, DoorDash empowers merchants to grow their businesses by offering on-demand delivery, data-driven insights, and better in-store efficiency, providing delightful experiences from door to door. By building the last-mile delivery infrastructure for local cities, DoorDash is bringing communities closer, one doorstep at a time. Read more on the DoorDash blog or at www.doordash.com SOURCE DoorDash

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[May 01, 2019] Generational Equity Advises James L. Villa in Sale to EasyPak

Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held businesses, is pleased to announce the sale of its client, James L. Villa Inc., to EasyPak LLC, a platform company of Graham Partners. The acquisition closed April 1, 2019. James L. Villa, based in Oldsmar, Florida, is a third-generation family business with a respected presence in the food packaging industry. The company specializes in injection molded and thermoformed packaging items, which are made of FDA approved materials. Some of its products include deli party platters, shrimp rings, cookie trays and fruit bowls. EasyPak is a leading thermoformed packaging provider focused on serving the healthy and natural food categories. Headquartered in Leominster, Massachusetts, the company has extensive intellectual property, a history of innovation, and state-of-the-art operations. Among other value-added capabilities, the company drives differentiation through its sustainable packaging products made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials. The addition of James L. Villa enables EasyPak to strategically grow into the Southeast while providing dditional customization capabilities and scale to EasyPak's business.



Graham Partners initially acquired EasyPak with the intention to build a top tier mid-sized thermoformer and has acquired three subsequent complementary targets, putting the company on its way to reach this goal. Generational Equity Executive Managing Director David Fergusson and Senior Managing Director Julie Sandoval's team, led by Barry DeWitt, successfully closed the deal. Executive Managing Director Edward Weber established the initial relationship with James L. Villa.

"I'm excited about EasyPak expanding its platform to include James L. Villa, which adds new capabilities and products as well as some additional key customers," said DeWitt. "It will be interesting to watch the two companies as they combine their business talents and grow their thermoformed platform presence within the grocery channel in the southeastern U.S." About Generational Equity Generational Equity, Generational Capital Markets (member FINRA/SIPC), Generational Wealth Advisors, and DealForce are part of the Generational Group, which is headquartered in Dallas and is one of the leading M&A advisory firms in North America. With over 250 professionals located throughout North America, the companies help business owners release the wealth of their business by providing merger, acquisition, and wealth management services. Their five-step approach features exit planning education, business valuation, value enhancement strategies, M&A transactional services, and wealth management. The M&A Advisor named the company the 2016, 2017, and 2018 Investment Banking Firm of the Year. For more information, visit https://www.genequityco.com/ or the Generational Equity press room. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005061/en/

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Hagens Berman Files New Class-Action Lawsuit Against Fairfax Behavioral Health

Attorneys from Hagens Berman and Disability Rights Washington filed a class-action complaint on behalf of a proposed class of hundreds of patients that were arbitrarily strip-searched and/or video recorded while receiving treatment for mental illness at Fairfax psychiatric facilities located in Kirkland, Everett and Monroe, WA.

If you were a patient at a Fairfax Behavioral Health facility and were strip-searched or feel you may have been video monitored, contact us to find out your rights 

According to the lawsuit, filed Apr. 30, 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, the suit's named plaintiff recalls being ordered to undress for an invasive strip-search and cavity search when she presented for inpatient admission, even after disclosing her history of sexual abuse to the staff member. She was not given a gown or towel to cover up during the search, and the staff member watched her undress and left the door open where other staff members could see her, and threatened to restrain her if she did not comply.

Video cameras were located in the hallway, the holding area outside bathroom and the room where the strip search was conducted. The cameras recorded her undressing and the strip-search.

The complaint states that Fairfax's practices-and its failure to limit the discretion of its staff-means that a substantial number of its mental health patients are harmed instead of receiving adequate inpatient care.

"Fairfax violated their duty of care by performing invasive searches without suspicion and using video cameras throughout the hospital," said Steve Berman. "Our class-action lawsuit seeks systemic changes to Fairfax's protocols that will create safer hospitals for patients needing help."

he plaintiffs seek punitive damages and injunctive relief restraining Fairfax from strip searching patients without an individualized assessment that the patient possesses drugs or weapons that constitute an immediate threat to life or safety and restrains Fairfax from recording patients during the search. The plaintiffs also seek an order requiring Fairfax to create protocols for conducting invasive searches that require an individualized assessment of immediate danger to self or others.







Victims Can Remain Anonymous

Your protection is our top priority. We welcome any information, and those who contact our firm may remain anonymous in their potential case. Attorneys will request that the Court permit our clients to proceed anonymously as a Jane Doe. Our attorneys have experience in protecting plaintiffs who wish to remain anonymous, both as whistleblowers and as survivors of discriminatory or sexual misconduct.

Discrimination Experience

Our attorneys are experienced in representing victims of various kinds of discrimination, fraud, negligence, abuse and sexual harassment. We take on large entities and corporations on behalf of those most vulnerable to wrongdoing, and hold them accountable.

Our team has the knowledge, experience and resources. Your claim will be handled by experts in this area of law who will care for your rights.

Your Rights and Protections

If you were a patient at a Fairfax-operated location and believe your rights were violated, we want to hear from you. Please fill out the form to contact our legal team or call Hagens Berman attorney Shelby Smith at 206-268-9370 or Disability Rights Washington attorney Alexa Polaski at 206-324-1521. Our secure messaging offers a safe space to those speaking out.

Our firm strives to protect the rights and safety of victims everywhere. Let us take a stand for you 

About Hagens Berman

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is a consumer-rights class-action law firm with nine offices across the country. The firm's tenacious drive for plaintiffs' rights has earned it numerous national accolades, awards and titles of "Most Feared Plaintiff's Firm," and MVPs and Trailblazers of class-action law. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.

About Disability Rights Washington

Disability Rights Washington is a private non-profit organization that protects the rights of people with disabilities statewide. Our mission is to advance the dignity, equality, and self-determination of people with disabilities. We work to pursue justice on matters related to human and legal rights. More information about the firm can be found at www.disabilityrightswa.org

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190430006308/en/
[May 01, 2019] Ivanti Names Daniel Wilbricht, Vice President - Americas, Public Sector Sales

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ivanti, the company that unifies IT to better manage and secure the digital workplace, today announced, during Ivanti Interchange 2019 in Nashville, Tenn., that it has named Daniel Wilbricht, vice president  Americas, public sector sales. The addition of Wilbricht marks Ivanti's continued expansion in support of sales to federal government agencies as well as state, local and education (SLED) organizations. "Today's public sector organizations are undertaking considerable IT modernization efforts and beginning to realize the value that results from the unification of IT and security operations," said Mitch Rowe, chief revenue officer at Ivanti. "Ivanti has the products and vision that rests at the core of this priority and there is no one that can help tell the Ivanti story to public sector organizations better than Dan. Under Dan's direction, the Ivanti public sector division is well positioned to capture market share across federal and SLED enterprises as they seek the trusted vendors that will best support their digital transformation goals." Wilbricht has been selling to public sector government customers for more than 15 years. A proven sales leader, Wilbricht joins Ivanti from LogRhythm where he was senior director of federal sales with responsibility for the growth and management of the company's partner, direct customer and channel development. Prior to LogRhythm, Wilbricht held federal and public sector sales leadership positions with Dell, Red Hat, Appistry, Autonomy, Stellent and Eprise. He holds a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and s actively involved in professional organizations including USO, AFCEA and Washington Executive.



"Ivanti is in a powerful position to truly make a difference for today's federal and public sector organizations," said Wilbricht. "Growing up in the federal space, I have a true sense of duty and a mission to protect our great nation. Ivanti's solutions, which unify IT and enable organizations to gain efficiencies and operational excellence, can truly help protect our nation and do it in a very comprehensive way. I'm very pleased to be able to help lead Ivanti's expansion throughout federal and SLED markets." "I've seen many times over the effective voice and influence Dan has across public sector markets," said Brian Strosser, president, DLT, a company focused on accelerating public sector growth for technology companies. "We have successfully collaborated in the past and will be pleased to work now with the Ivanti team as we help public sector organizations of all sizes realize the value in the technology investments they've already made and enable them to unify complex IT operations so that they may better respond to user demands, comply with regulations and secure their organizations."

For more information about Ivanti's products which help to improve insight, compliance and security in federal government agencies, visit: https://www.ivanti.com/solutions/industry/federal-government. For information on the Ivanti solutions which support the modern state and local government, visit: https://www.ivanti.com/solutions/industry/state-and-local-government. Information on Ivanti solutions for public school systems can be found by visiting: https://www.ivanti.com/solutions/industry/k-12-education. Ivanti: The Power of Unified IT.

Ivanti unifies IT and Security Operations to better manage and secure the digital workplace. From PCs to mobile devices, VDI, and the data center, Ivanti discovers IT assets on-premises and in the cloud, improves IT service delivery, and reduces risk with insights and automation. The company also helps organizations leverage modern technology in the warehouse and across the supply chain to improve delivery without modifying backend systems. Ivanti is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has offices all over the world. For more information, visit www.ivanti.com and follow @GoIvanti. Copyright  2019, Ivanti. All rights reserved. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ivanti-names-daniel-wilbricht-vice-president--americas-public-sector-sales-300841578.html SOURCE Ivanti

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[May 01, 2019] New Etactics' Solution Introduces Accurate, Simple, Mobile Friendly Address Correction

STOW, Ohio, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Experience the next level of transactional document management with the launch of Exact and Exact Plus on May 1, which features an entirely new user interface that was designed with portability in mind. Exact and Exact Plus are the latest innovations created by Etactics, a revenue cycle solutions provider, that allow healthcare and commercial organizations to view, correct, approve, validate, and manage their statements and invoices prior to mailing to ensure they are sending them to the right place. For more information on Exact and Exact Plus visit https://www.etacticsinc.com/exact. Exact and Exact Plus replaced Etactics' retired address correction and approval services formerly known as eCorrect and eApprove. Exact is the entry-level address correction and management experience that includes features such as address verification and correction services, USPS intelligent mail barcoding, and statement or invoice review and approval capabilities. Exact's address correction services revise spelling, abbreviation, and formatting errors of a patient's or customer's address to ass the United States Postal Service's (USPS) Delivery Point Validation requirements.



Exact Plus offers an upgraded experience by including every feature provided in Exact, plus skip-tracing, letter insertion management, and return mail management services. "We're extremely excited to enhance our address correction experience with Exact and Exact Plus," said the product's Lead Developer and Etactics' Output Solutions Business Unit Manager, Robert Sopinec. "Our philosophy is that no software solution or application is ever truly complete. With that in mind, we've already published a roadmap to develop new features for our Exact Plus offering including the manual inclusion of content messages, address data standardization, registered or certified mail services, and online postage meter management." Current Etactics eCorrect and eApprove users will be grandfathered into Exact Plus at no additional cost, loss in features, or loss of their data. The grandfathering process will take place over the course of the next couple of months. Users will be notified and work directly with an Etactics' client managers once the upgrade process begins.

About Etactics: Etactics (www.etacticsinc.com) is a leading revenue cycle solutions organization committed to providing innovative, web-based solutions that improve clients' revenue cycle management and patient experiences. Their products and services assist healthcare clients with improving their business processes, boost staff productivity, reduce expenses, increase compliance related efforts, and accelerate payment. Media Contact:

Matt Moneypenny

Etactics, Inc.

(330) 342-0568

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-etactics-solution-introduces-accurate-simple-mobile-friendly-address-correction-300841053.html SOURCE Etactics, Inc.

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[May 01, 2019] PipelineRx Launches Patient Discharge Solution, Helping Reduce Readmissions and Improve Patient Experience

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PipelineRx, a leading medication management company powered by clinical pharmacy expertise and cloud technology, today announced that its newest solution for Patient Discharge is now available to hospitals across the United States and Canada. Combining pharmacist-specific workflow with its interoperable, cloud-based technology platform, the PipelineRx Patient Discharge solution is an innovative approach for onsite or remote pharmacists to manage patients across transitions of care from the hospital to the home or a long-term care facility. Based on their clinical skillset and deep understanding of comprehensive medication management, pharmacists are the ideal providers to counsel patients on their medications before they leave the hospital. In fact, one study found a 52% reduction in readmissions when pharmacists were involved in the discharge process.1 Beyond helping hospitals reduce costly  and preventable  readmissions, hospitals saw a 10% increase in HCAHPS scores when pharmacists delivered medication education.2 CGH Medical Center uses the PipelineRx solution to focus on patients at high-risk for readmission. "This solution makes it easier for our pharmacists to deliver an effective patient discharge process," says Tim Dunphy, Director of Pharmacy at the 97-bed hospital in Sterling, Illinois. "The workflow is both intuitive and customizable for our organization, and ensures that all steps are documented in the system, even providing reminders for the pharmacists." So far, pharmacists have counseled 650 patients over the past eight months, and have identified medication interventions in nearly half of all discharges. "Our patients and their caregivers leave the hospital better informed about their new medication regimen," says Philip Joines, Director of Quality and Patient Safety at CGH. "They love the user-friendly med card and appreciate the follow-up call to address any side effects or dosing questions. We are tracking readmission rates and HCAHPS scores and are confident this program will have a significant impact on both." "As a company jointly powered by our technology platform and clinical expertise, we are always looking to provide measurable value to our clients," said Brian Roberts, CEO of PipelineRx. "We recognize that preventable readmissions represent a huge financial and clinical uncertainty to hospitals today and medication adherence is a large component of that, which is why we're tackling this issue head-on." The PipelineRx solution goes beyond workflow to deliver a comprehensive program leveraging cutting-edge technologies and advanced services, with valuable features coming, including: Medication Delivery Assurance - Real-time prescription benefits checking with meds-to-beds, pick-up, or home delivery options to ensure patients have access to needed medications. Provides pharmacists with alerts when prescriptions aren't filled.

Real-time prescription benefits checking with meds-to-beds, pick-up, or home delivery options to ensure patients have access to needed medications. Provides pharmacists with alerts when prescriptions aren't filled. Predictive Analytics  An AI-driven platform that utilizes several criteria to predict readmission risk, and learns over time based on common risk variables. Can also help identify opportunities for direct patient interventions, including the possibility for opioid abuse.

 An AI-driven platform that utilizes several criteria to predict readmission risk, and learns over time based on common risk variables. Can also help identify opportunities for direct patient interventions, including the possibility for opioid abuse. Precision Prescribing  Clinical decision support for polypharmacy drug interaction and pharmacogenomics review to help avoid adverse drug events and deliver maximum clinical impact. "For 10 years, PipelineRx has led the telepharmacy industry, beginning as a service then expanding into an advanced medication management technology platform. This solution propels medication optimization to the next level. We're very excited for the possibilities it represents," concludes Roberts. About PipelineRx PipelineRx is a leader in comprehensive medication management solutions designed to advance pharmacy towards more outcomes-focused patient care. More than 500 facilities in the U.S. and Canada depend on PipelineRx each day to process more than 20 million medication orders annually. Combining the interoperable, cloud-based platform, PowerGridRx, with expert clinical pharmacy solutions, PipelineRx delivers a holistic approach that connects patients to their medications across care settings, and helps healthcare organizations of all sizes improve patient outcomes while reducing cost. For more information about PipelineRx, please visit www.pipelinerx.com or find the company on LinkedIn , Facebook , and Twitter . 1 AJHP, May 2018

2 American College of Cardiology, March 2019







For more information, please contact:



Vera Zlidenny Jessika Parry Vice President of Marketing Next Step Communications [email protected] [email protected] 877-696-9101 x1031 781-326-1741

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pipelinerx-launches-patient-discharge-solution-helping-reduce-readmissions-and-improve-patient-experience-300841684.html SOURCE PipelineRx

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[May 01, 2019]

Pizza Hut Franchisee NPC International Serves up Exceptional Employee Experience With SAP SuccessFactors Solutions

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, California, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that NPC International (NPC), the world's largest Pizza Hut and Wendy's franchisee, has implemented SAP SuccessFactors solutions for human capital management (HCM) and SAP S/4HANA Cloud for enterprise resource planning (ERP). With the solutions rolled out to 40,000 U.S. employees, NPC has successfully streamlined operations and created a digital path for the future.

NPC, the fifth-largest U.S. restaurant operator, had been working with on-premise software. When it came time to modernize its operations and make the move to the cloud, NPC chose to deploy the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central, SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll, SAP SuccessFactors Performance & Goals and SAP SuccessFactors Compensation solutions in conjunction with SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Since the rollout, NPC has gone paperless while dramatically reducing downtime and enhancing functionality for end users, making the organization much more agile.

"Moving to the cloud with SAP SuccessFactors solutions and SAP S/4HANA was an obvious choice for us," said NPC International CIO Mike Woods. "The restaurant industry has a set of very specific challenges and complexities, and we needed to make sure none of our operations were interrupted during the migration. We're thrilled with the seamless transition. We are now able to adapt to change much more quickly, and we're providing a world-class employee experience that enables self-services, a renewed focus on personal development and easy access to accurate people and finance data. This has absolutely enabled better collaboration between our CHRO and CFO in the management of our most important investment: the people who make NPC successful every day."

The implementation also benefits NPC's internal charity, The NPC Family Fund, which grants money to employees in times of need. With the SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Payroll solution, employees can now direct contributions to the fund from their pay.

"NPC International is a long-time SAP customer that shares our mission of putting people first," said SAP SuccessFactors President Greg Tomb. "The company has a history of supporting not only its employees but also the surrounding community with charities and give-back initiatives. We're looking forward to continuing our partnership with NPC to take their people experience to the next level."







Based in Overland Park, Kansas, NPC International operates more than 1,200 Pizza Hut restaurants in 27 states and nearly 400 Wendy's restaurants across seven states and Washington, D.C. Pizza Hut delivers more pizza, pasta and wings than any other restaurant in the world, making it an iconic global brand.

SAP SuccessFactors solutions help bring organizations' purpose to life and put more meaning into people's work, creating engaged workforces that improve both performance and profit. The HCM solutions help customers use intelligence to strengthen engagement across the entire workforce, deliver new, meaningful workplace experiences and join a community defining the future of work. The industry-leading SAP SuccessFactors solutions help more than 6,700 customers around the world turn purpose into performance.

Mike Woods will be presenting at SAP's annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference taking place May 79 in Orlando, Florida. His theater presentation, "Hear About NPC International's Journey to the Intelligent Enterprise," takes place May 7, 12:00 p.m.12:20 p.m. Register here.

For more information, visit the SAP SuccessFactors solutions website or the SAP News Center. Follow SAP SuccessFactors solutions on Twitter at @SuccessFactors and SAP at @sapnews.

About SAP

As the cloud company powered by SAP HANA, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world's transaction revenue touches an SAP system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers' businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want  without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables more than 437,000 business and public customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people's lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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[May 01, 2019] Poseidon Water Vice President Scott Maloni Responds to California Governor Gavin Newsom's Executive Order

Poseidon Water Vice President Scott Maloni today issued a statement in response to Governor Gavin Newsom's executive order. "This week, California Governor Gavin Newsom delivered an executive order to develop a strategy for a climate-resilient water system. We couldn't agree more and the implementation of seawater desalination in California is a great first step," said Scott Maloni, vice president, Poseidon Water. "Many of California's existing challenges, including severely depleted groundwater aquifers and uncertain water supplies, stem from the need for a new, reliable and sustainable water resource. Seawater desalination is a proven technology that is the only truly climate resilient, new supply of water. Governor Newsom calls on the state to incorporate successful approaches from other countries, like Israel, and to invest in innovative technologies. Desalination hs been adopted by over 120 countries, with places like Israel and United Arab Emirates relying on it for the majority of their potable water. The successful three-year operation of the Carlsbad desalination plant is proof that California is ready for desalination. The Huntington Beach Desalination Project will further the technology's place as part of Southern California's climate-resilient water strategy, ensuring water security for generations to come."



About Poseidon Water Poseidon Water is a private company that partners with public agencies to deliver water infrastructure projects. The company's primary focus is developing large-scale reverse osmosis seawater desalination plants implemented through innovative public-private partnerships in which private enterprise assumes the developmental and financial risks. For more information on Poseidon's Carlsbad Desalination Plant, visit the plant website at www.carlsbaddesal.com. For more information on Poseidon's Huntington Beach desalination plant, visit the project website at HBfreshwater.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005479/en/

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By Online Desk

Well, this isn't anything surprising but just another instance of a woman slut-shaming other women for not being sanskari enough. A middle-aged Delhi woman reportedly abused young girls for wearing short dress in a restaurant. She went to an extent and even asked the men at the place to rape these girls.

A 10-minute long video posted by Shivani Gupta on Facebook consisted of visuals of a middle-aged woman, probably in her 50s, harass women for wearing a short dress and allegedly invited several men to rape them.

The women who were harassed followed the lady to a shopping centre and asked her to apologise for her disrespectful comments. Despite the woman recording the video threatening the lady that she will make her life hell and make the video go viral, she didn't bend the knee.

Amidst the huge quarrel between the ladies, the shop salespersons stood clueless as both the parties asked them to call the police. Looking at the women demanding an apology from the aunty, another middle-aged woman stepped in to support the young girls.

Sharing her piece of mind with the aunty, she said that she wouldn't mind if her daughter wears a revealing dress but the woman has no right to question them and demanded her to apologise.

In the end, the aunty on camera said, "These girls wear a short dress to encourage all to see them. All ladies who wear short or naked dress should get raped." Clapping to her own statement, she went on to advice the women's parents to control them and also asked the ladies to spread the video all over India as people need to know her views.

Watch the video here:

Narrating the incident on a Facebook post, Shivani Gupta wrote, "This middle-aged woman youll see in the video addressed seven men at the restaurant to rape us because she felt we deserved it for wearing short clothes and bashing her unsolicited opinion. For speaking up against her primitive mindset."

The video on the social media platform has gathered over 600K views so far with more than 14K people sharing it. However, the same video posted on Instagram was taken down by the platform. Meanwhile, the women are determined to take on the lady and are still waiting for her to apologise.

This is not the first time that women are being preached to. When the news of Pollachi rape scandal broke out in March, a video of a man lecturing women that they 'deserve to get raped since they asked for it.' He said that women wearing revealing clothes were 'asking for it.'
[May 01, 2019] Samuel R. Chapin Joins Rockefeller Capital Management as a Senior Advisor

Rockefeller Capital Management today announced that it has appointed Samuel R. Chapin as a Senior Advisor to the Firm. Drawing on more than three decades of investment banking experience, Chapin will work closely with the Rockefeller Strategic Advisory business in providing trusted advice to family-owned businesses, corporate and investor clients. Chapin was most recently Executive Vice Chairman of Global Corporate and Investment Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "Sam's tremendous investment banking experience spans across many clients and industries, and we are very pleased to add him as a Senior Advisor," said Gregory J. Fleming, President & CEO of Rockefeller Capital Management. "His knowledge and client relationships will be of significant value to our team as we continue to broaden our footprint." Prior to joining Rockefeller, Chapin was Executive Vice Chairman of Global Corporate and Investment Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2010 to 2016. In that role he was responsible for managing relationships with some of that firm's largest and most complex clients. He previously held a variety of leadership roles at Merrill Lynch, including Vice Chairman and a member of the Executive Operating Committee, as well as Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Investment Banking division. Chapin joined Merrill Lynch in 1984 after beginning his career at Chase Manhattan Bank in the corporate banking group.



"I am impressed by Rockefeller Capital Management's leadership and believe its focus on providing a distinctive client experience across its Global Family Office, Strategic Advisory and Asset Management businesses differentiates it from the other firms in the industry," Chapin said. "I look forward to working closely with Greg and the entire team." Chapin is a graduate of Lafayette College and received his MBA with distinction from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves on the boards of directors of PerkinElmer, CIRCOR International and the Roundabout Theatre Company, Inc. He also serves on the board of trustees at Lafayette College.

About Rockefeller Capital Management Rockefeller Capital Management is a leading independent, privately-owned financial services firm offering global family office, asset management and strategic advisory services to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families, institutions and corporations. The Firm has offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston, Salt Lake City, Saratoga Springs, Washington, DC, and Wilmington, Delaware. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005016/en/

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[May 01, 2019] SiFive Expands into Silicon Forest With new Development Office in Beaverton, Oregon

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SiFive, the leading provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP and custom SoC solutions, today announced it is expanding into the metropolitan Portland area with the opening of a development office in Beaverton, Oregon. The primary mission of the office is to provide local support to existing SiFive customers and partners as well as to help fuel the mass adoption of the RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) that is taking place in the region and throughout the world. The office will be managed by Sunil Shenoy, senior vice president and general manager of the RISC-V Business Unit at SiFive, and Ahmet Houssein, vice president of business development for HPC and data center solutions at SiFive. SiFive's current development tools team, established in September 2018 and headed by Rick Leatherman, a local technology entrepreneur and now director of development tools for SiFive, will also operate from the new Beaverton office space. "The Portland area has become an international center of open source hardware development," Shenoy said. "There is a steady stream of RISC-V based innovation at both large and small companies in the area. Establishing a presence in the robust Silicon Forest underscores our commitment to fostering the momentumof the RISC-V revolution."



Houssein added: "Having a team in Beaverton will help us better address the needs of data center designers and partners who are utilizing RISC-V based processors to achieve optimal performance. We look forward to accelerating their RISC-V based product development efforts and enabling many new and innovative use cases." The opening of the SiFive office in Beaverton coincides with the FOSSi Foundation's premier North American open source digital design conference, Latch-Up. SiFive is proudly sponsoring this event to further the advancement of the RISC-V ISA. SiFive co-founder and chief engineer, Andrew Waterman, an ardent supporter of open source hardware development, will attend. Jack Koenig, software engineer at SiFive and a maintainer of the Chisel (Constructing Hardware in a Scala Embedded Language) and FIRRTL (Flexible Intermediate Representation for RTL) projects, will present "Higher-Order Hardware Design with Chisel3." Additionally, Aliaksei Chapyzhenka, software engineer at SiFive, will present "Diagrams and System Visualization in Chip Design." SiFive will also demonstrate its Linux-capable HiFive Unleashed RISC-V reference platform. The conference will take place in Portland, May 4-5, 2019. For more information, or to register to attend, please visit https://fossi-foundation.org/latchup/.

About SiFive SiFive is the leading provider of market-ready processor core IP, development tools and silicon solutions based on the free and open RISC-V instruction set architecture. Led by a team of seasoned silicon executives and the RISC-V inventors, SiFive helps SoC designers reduce time-to-market and realize cost savings with customized, open-architecture processor cores, and democratizes access to optimized silicon by enabling system designers in all market verticals to build customized RISC-V based semiconductors. Located in Silicon Valley, SiFive has backing from Sutter Hill Ventures, Spark Capital, Osage University Partners, Chengwei, Huami, SK Hynix, Intel Capital, and Western Digital. For more information, visit www.sifive.com. SiFive and the SiFive logo are trademarks of SiFive, Inc. in the United States and other countries. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sifive-expands-into-silicon-forest-with-new-development-office-in-beaverton-oregon-300841650.html SOURCE SiFive

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[April 30, 2019] The global fiber optics market size is expected to reach USD 9.1 billion by 2025

NEW YORK, April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fiber Optics Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Single Mode, Multimode, Plastic Optical Fiber), By Application (Telecom, Military & Aerospace, Medical), And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025







Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05767975/?utm_source=PRN







The global fiber optics market size is expected to reach USD 9.1 billion by 2025., expanding at a CAGR of 4.6% over the forecast period. Rising government funding to develop secure infrastructures is anticipated to drive the adoption.



Rising terrorism is appealing government authorities and defense services of different countries to take initiatives and stringent steps to curb down such occurrences.This has led to the evolution and adoption of technologies such as body cams, wearables, and other responders that keep the security personnel connected, irrespective of user location and user fiber optics for communications.



The concept of Internet of Everything (IoE) is attracting security sector owing to increasing awareness regarding effectiveness and efficiency of the technology that aids in curbing national issues, such as riots, massacres, killings, and other criminal offenses. Need for high-speed internet, which is capable of efficiently transmitting the data, is anticipated to grow with increasing demand for IoE.



Growth prospects for fiber optics technology in telecommunications sector appears to be promising due to its growing adoption in communication and data transmission services.Fiber optics enable high-speed data transfer services in both small and long-range communications.



It also serves as a medium to cope with increasing bandwidth equirements associated with broadband services, network operators, and broadband connection providers. Rising implementation of fiber optic components in distribution cables, trunk cable forms, high density interconnect cables, and standard patch cords is expected to enhance the demand from telecom sector.







Furthermore, high initial acquisition and installation costs are hindering growth of the fiber optics market.An optical fiber system consists of a variety of components such as optical cables, transmitters, and receivers.



Installation of the entire system is a labor-intensive process, especially installation of the network for underground and undersea connections is one of costliest and tedious procedures.Fiber optics, with their advancements, have overtaken the copper-cable transmission.





However, installation process to deploy the optical networks, being an extremely high-cost part, is expected to hamper the market growth.



Further key findings from the study suggest:

 Governments of developed countries such as U.S., U.K, Germany , China , and Japan are heavily investing in security infrastructures at domestic levels. This is eventually necessitating funding for technologies, majorly across the fiber optics that would enhance the telecommunication sector infrastructure with better security measures. Therefore, the government funding in infrastructure is driving the market

 Plastic optical fiber segment is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.0% over the forecast period. POF differs from its single and multimode counterparts on the basis of the core materials used in POF cable construction. While single and multimode fiber optics have a glass core, POF cables have a polymer core. This offers a dynamic application portfolio, along with cost saving

 Market participants are diversifying their product portfolio through their innovative offerings. In March 2018 , Corning, Inc. launched a new product Corning TXF Optical Fiber that would enable high data-rate transmission over longer spans and extended reach for improved network flexibility and lower network cost

 Corning Incorporated, Optical Cable Corporation (OCC), Sterlite Technologies Limited, OFS Fitel, LLC, Prysmian Group, AFL, Birla Furukawa Fiber Optics Limited, Finolex Cables Limited, and Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Co., Ltd. (YOFC) among others are the key players in the fiber optics market.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05767975/?utm_source=PRN



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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[May 01, 2019] Dorsey & Whitney Announces California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Compliance Services Suite

International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP announced today that it is offering three levels of assessment and compliance packages to help businesses comply with the enacted California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The packages, called BASIC, BASIC+ and READY, provide options for legal services based on clients' particular needs in preparing for the CCPA, which goes into effect on January 1, 2020. This new law marks a dramatic sea change in American privacy law as it imposes significant new burdens on organizations that collect data on California residents. In addition to requiring businesses to update privacy policies and processes for dealing with personal information, the CCPA also, for the first time in US history, imposes class action statutory liability against organizations that suffer a data breach after failing to implement reasonable security practices and procedures. In response to the requirement that organizations develop "reasonable security practices and procedures" to help prevent data breaches and defend themselves from forthcoming class actions in California, Dorsey has developed a suite of packages to help businesses move toward this standard. Dorsey will work side by side with leading technical security industry organizations to offer comprehensive assessment and remediation advice and services for businesses. Included in those cutting-edge offerings are the services of edgescan, which provides vulnerability assessments with each package level. Dorsey also offers custom packages that align with an organization's budget and goals. Chair of Dorsey's Cybersecurity, Privacy and Social Media Practice Group, Jamie Nafziger, said, "Given the large financial risk CCPA poses for companies interacting with California residents, we designed these packages with a risk-based approach. Security practices and procedures will be of the utmost importance under the CCPA due to the risk of class actions with per-record statutory damages. After helping numerous clients comply with GDPR, we were inspiredto offer some fixed-fee options for CCPA-related compliance projects. We look forward to working with our clients to reduce their risk under this new law."



BASIC Dorsey's entry-level package is designed to provide clients with an initial assessment as to their existing information security and privacy gaps for not only CCPA compliance, but also for their overall posture. This fixed-fee package includes the essential components of what an organization would need to determine its next steps toward building an information security program that will meet emerging legal requirements.

BASIC+ Dorsey's primary assessment package will provide clients with a more complete understanding of their existing compliance gaps while also providing clients with several key deliverables to put them on the path toward full CCPA compliance. READY Dorsey's full CCPA compliance package is designed to fully operationalize compliance with CCPA imperatives, remedying issues identified as part of the CCPA Basic and Basic+ assessments. This package includes all items contained in the Basic+ package and is custom-tailored to equip individual businesses to meet the demands of CCPA compliance. Eoin Keary, CEO of edgescan, stated, "We are excited to be working with Dorsey & Whitney in bringing such innovative and comprehensive CCPA offerings to their clients. At edgescan, we provide fullstack vulnerability management to protect the clients' assets with expert validation, providing both peace of mind and tools that promote compliance with CCPA." For businesses that need to determine the extent to which the law applies to them and assess their current CCPA compliance posture, Dorsey will be launching an on-line assessment tool on its website in June 2019. Dorsey also continues to publish timely CCPA updates on its website. Updates can be accessed here. Dorsey's Cybersecurity, Privacy & Social Media practice group advises clients on a wide range of issues including compliance with state and federal laws, data breach responses, and litigated matters. The firm continues to advise numerous clients on the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), another sweeping change in the privacy landscape that went into effect in 2018. About Dorsey & Whitney LLP Clients have relied on Dorsey since 1912 as a valued business partner. With locations across the United States and in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients' legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world's most successful companies from a wide range of industries, including leaders in banking & financial institutions, development & infrastructure, energy & natural resources, food, beverage & agribusiness, healthcare and technology, as well as major non-profit and government entities. About edgescan edgescan is a vulnerability management service (SaaS (News - Alert)) which continuously identifies cyber security vulnerabilities across the #fullstack, provides continuous system visibility and provides support to understand, prioritize and mitigate cyber security risks on a continuous basis. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190430006337/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Banc of California Announces Participation at Upcoming May Investor Conferences

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC), today announced that Jared Wolff, President and Chief Executive Officer, and John Bogler, Chief Financial Officer, will be participating at upcoming May investor conferences as follows: On May 7, Banc of California will be meeting with investors at the D.A. Davidson 21st Annual Financial Institutions Conference to be held at the Omni Interlocken Resort, Broomfield, Colorado. On May 23, Banc of California will be meeting with investors at the 20th Annual B. Riley FBR Institutional Investor Conference to be held at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, CA (News - Alert). Conference participation is by invitation only and registration is mandatory. For more information on the conference or to schedule a one-on-one meeting, please contact a D.A. Davidson or B. Riley FBR representative. About Banc of California, Inc. Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE: BANC) is a bank holding company with approximately $10 billion in assets and one wholly-owned banking subsidiary, Banc of California, N.A. (the "Bank"). The Bank has 43 offices including 2 full-service branches located throughout Southern California. Through our 750+ dedicated professionals, we provide customized and innovative banking and lending solutions to businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals throughout California. We help our clients grow their businesses, purchase a home, create jobs, transform neighborhoods, enrich communities and empower their dreams. We also help to improve the communities where we live and work, by supporting organizations that provide financial literacy and job training, small business support and affordable housing. With a commitment to service and building enduring relationships, we provide a higher standard of banking. We look forward to helping you achieve your goals. For more information, please visit us at www.bancofcal.com.



Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "Safe-Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are necessarily subject to risk and uncertainty and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to various factors, including those set forth from time to time in the documents filed or furnished by Banc of California, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and Banc of California, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date on which the forward-looking statement is made.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190430006345/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Evoque Opens Data Centers to Multiple Carriers

DALLAS, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to the increasing demand for diverse connectivity options among both large and small enterprises, Evoque Data Center Solutions , a global colocation services company, today announced that it is opening its data centers to multiple carriers. The move is expected to benefit both data center users and carriers by fostering competition and promoting more reliable and quality connections at lower costs. Evoque also recently built dedicated Meet-Me-Rooms (MMR) in its 18 data centers across the U.S.; the MMR in the Redditch, England data center will be completed during Q3 2019. The number of carriers that will operate in each data center will depend on supply and demand. The expansion in the U.S. to carrier neutral facilities, combined with Evoque's already diverse international sites, will provide customers access to all the top tier service providers. "We have 1,100 enterprise customers that have not had carrier diversity until now," said Tim Caulfield, CEO of Evoque, which was rebranded earlier this year when AT&T sold its data center to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. "Carriers understand this and are racing to be the first wave of new carriers into the Evoque facilities so they can sell to these enterprises.



Evoque currently has data center customers throughout the globe in a variety of industries, including content and media, government and education, healthcare, retail and e-commerce, technology and telecommunications. That customer list will most likely grow with the addition of multiple carriers. "In this digital economy, carrier diversity is critical for data center customers," Caulfield said. "Being successful in bringing new carriers to our data centers will give us a stronger competitive advantage."

By providing an ISP marketplace of sorts, Evoque will facilitate better and lower-cost connections for its enterprise customers. Other benefits of these carrier-neutral data centers include reliability and flexibility. "We think it's critical to give our customers choice," said Caulfield, a 20-year information technology veteran. "A carrier-neutral colocation facility allows customers to connect their infrastructure to a range of bandwidth providers that can help improve the reach and performance of their business applications, while also enhancing protection of their critical data." Evoque's new carrier diversity also opens the door for possible new product opportunities for customers, including: Cloud on-ramps

Inter-facility connectivity

Blended IP services "We are excited about offering a range of critical services to help foster our customers' success as we continue to build the data center of the future," Caulfield said. About Evoque: Evoque Data Center Solutions, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a colocation services company that owns and operates 31 data centers across four continents and 11 countries. Evoque Data Center Solutions offers clients a secure space in a highly available and redundant environment. The company supports a diversified base of colocation customers across multiple segments, including utilities, transport, energy, communications, healthcare, and technologies. For more information, please visit our website at www.evoquedcs.com . Evoque Data Center Solutions is a portfolio company of Brookfield Infrastructure, a leading global infrastructure asset manager that owns and operates high-quality, long-life assets in the utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure sectors across North and South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evoque-opens-data-centers-to-multiple-carriers-300841026.html SOURCE Evoque Data Center Solutions

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[May 01, 2019] IT Revolution Announces Program Agenda for DevOps Enterprise Summit London 2019

Business and technology leaders from BAE Systems, Deloitte, Nike, Sky Betting and Gaming and more added to speaker list, organizing committee unveils plans for Slack workspace, Auditors' Workshop, Lean Coffee sessions, Lightning Talks and more PORTLAND, Oregon, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- IT Revolution , the industry leader for advancing DevOps, today announced the program agenda for DevOps Enterprise Summit London 2019 ( https://events.itrevolution.com/eur/schedule/ ). Located at the InterContinental London Hotel  The O2 from 25-27 June, DevOps practitioners, technologists and business leaders from across the world will convene for three full days of immersive learning about IT transformation patterns and practices. In addition, the 2019 program focuses on helping attendees achieve their desired outcomes by incorporating extended opportunities to network with the speakers and learn from domain experts in regards to the subject matters they care about most. For a limited time, a 20 percent discount on registration is available for DevOps Enterprise Summit London 2019. To register, visit ( http://bit.ly/DOES19EUR ) and use code "LON20" at checkout before the code expires on 31 May. "As a programing committee, we worked hard to create a high learning experience, combined with enabling exciting networking opportunities, and to create a forum for exchanging insights with some of the best practitioners and subject matter experts on the planet," said Gene Kim, founder of IT Revolution and co-author of The Phoenix Project, The DevOps Handbook and Accelerate. "I never learn as much in a short period of time as I do during the DevOps Enterprise Summit. It's the place where some of the most courageous and exciting transformation stories I have ever heard take place, and this year's conference in London is going to be the best yet."





New speakers added to the program agenda for DevOps Enterprise Summit London 2019 include:

Joe Aho , Chief Financial Officer, Compuware

, Chief Financial Officer, Compuware Mehnaaz Abidi , Director of Product Management, Nike Digital

, Director of Product Management, Nike Digital Nicole Bryan , VP, Product Development, Tasktop

, VP, Product Development, Tasktop Andy Burgin , Platform Engineer, Sky Betting & Gaming

, Platform Engineer, & Gaming Raj Fowler, Principal DevOps Consultant, BAE Systems

Yosef Levine , Managing Director, Global Technology Controls, Confidential & Privacy, Deloitte

, Managing Director, Global Technology Controls, Confidential & Privacy, Deloitte Rochelle Norton , Head of ERP, BAE Systems

, Head of ERP, BAE Systems Chris O'Malley , Chief Executive Officer, Compuware

, Chief Executive Officer, Compuware John Waters , Associate Director, Global Audit Cloud Architecture, Deloitte In addition to experiencing the unfolding documentary of the ongoing IT transformations that leaders are helping drive in large, complex organizations, the program agenda includes different ways to learn away from the main stage: DevOps Confessions-- At the beginning of each day, programming committee members will read anonymized stories of confessions from leaders in the DevOps community to learn about the struggles, failures and near-misses.

At the beginning of each day, programming committee members will read anonymized stories of confessions from leaders in the DevOps community to learn about the struggles, failures and near-misses. Speakers Corner-- Dedicated time and a location to ask the plenary speakers questions that go deeper on the information presented earlier that day.

Dedicated time and a location to ask the plenary speakers questions that go deeper on the information presented earlier that day. Lean Coffee -- Attendees can connect with and learn from their peers in a semi-structured format led by Dominica DeGrandis , all three days of the conference.

Attendees can connect with and learn from their peers in a semi-structured format led by , all three days of the conference. Auditors' Workshop-- An opportunity to ask an auditor everything you've wanted to in the past, but were afraid to ask. This session will be led by Yosef Levine and John Waters from Deloitte.

An opportunity to ask an auditor everything you've wanted to in the past, but were afraid to ask. This session will be led by and from Deloitte. Birds of a Feather Sessions-- More like the DevOpsDays unconference sessions, with less structure than a Lean Coffee format, these sessions are driven by specific topics that attendees want to discuss and learn about.

More like the DevOpsDays unconference sessions, with less structure than a format, these sessions are driven by specific topics that attendees want to discuss and learn about. Lightning Talks-- These are rapid-fire, must-see presentations happen from the main stage after the conference day has concluded. IT Revolution authors' book signing happens immediately afterward.

These are rapid-fire, must-see presentations happen from the main stage after the conference day has concluded. IT Revolution authors' book signing happens immediately afterward. Industry Party-- Book signing of The Unicorn Project, sponsor giveaways, food and drinks, the industry party is a great opportunity to continue conversations with fellow attendees and speakers.

Book signing of The Unicorn Project, sponsor giveaways, food and drinks, the industry party is a great opportunity to continue conversations with fellow attendees and speakers. Slack Workspace--The conference will have a shared Slack workspace for people to interact with speakers, attendees and sponsors. For more information about DOES19 London, please visit: ( https://events.itrevolution.com/eur/ ).

Share This: IT Revolution Announces Program Agenda for #DevOps Enterprise Summit #London 2019 https://events.itrevolution.com/eur/schedule/ @DOES_EUR #DOES19

About IT Revolution

IT Revolution assembles technology leaders and practitioners through publishing, events, and research. Our goal is to elevate the state of technology work, quantify the economic and human costs associated with suboptimal IT performance, and to improve the lives of technology professionals.

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[May 01, 2019] Sigma Systems Announces Sale of Company to Hansen Technologies

Sigma Systems (News - Alert), the global leader in catalog-driven software is pleased to announce its acquisition by Hansen Technologies, a leader in billing, data management and customer care solutions for the Energy, Water, Pay-TV, and Telecommunications industries. Upon closing of the sale, Hansen will acquire full ownership of Sigma Systems. Hansen Technologies is a publicly traded company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:HSN). In today's highly disruptive environment, service providers are focusing on how to accelerate product and service innovation, transforming their businesses into digital organizations that can more effectively create new innovative offerings, sell them without friction in the customer's channel of choice, and deliver those services as promised. From digital service innovation through to revenue realization and customer support, the acquisition of Sigma and the resulting combined product offerings of the two companies will further strengthen and expand the value proposition across the Telecom, Media, IoT, Energy and Utilities industries we serve. The combination of these two fast-growing companies creates an even stronger organization with greater expertise, a deeper bench of talented delivery specialist, expanded R&D scale and a broader diversification of our business across industry verticals. Andrew Hansen, Chief Executive Officer of Hansen Technologies, commented: "It's with great enthusiasm that I welcome Sigma Systems to the Hansen Technologies Group. The acquisition represents a strategic move to enhance our value proposition to the telecom, pay-tv and energy verticals. Over the course of the last ten years, we have driven an exceptional growth strategy through acquisitions, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 28% over the last 4 years. Bringing Sigma Systems onboard further strengthens our ability to provide valuable solutions to our customer base and creates new expansion opportunities to cross-sell Sigma's software solutions into our broad base of energy customers." Tim Spencer, Chief Executive Officer of Sigma Systems, commented: "With over a 23-year history serving the needs of the telecom industry, it is with great pride that we move to the next chapter in Sigma's history. In the last year, Sigma has been pursuing an aggressive growth strategy through increased focus on product and cloud adoption, growth through adjacent verticals, and an enhanced go-to-market partner strategy. The acquisition of Sigma by Hansen Technologies represents two strong companies coming together, a strong combined value proposition, and the acceleration of the Sigma strategy. We look forward to the new opportunities in front of us to drive value for Sigma and Hansen customers and shareholders of the company."



The acquisition of Sigma Systems is set to close on May 31, 2019. For further information about Sigma Systems, its award-winning products and services, and getting Next Done Now visit www.sigma-systems.com or contact us at [email protected]. For further information about Hansen Technologies visit www.hansencx.com.

About Sigma Systems (sigma-systems.com or Twitter (News - Alert) @SigmaSystems) Sigma Systems is the global leader in catalog-driven software solutions for communications, media, and high-tech companies. It serves over 80 customers in 40 countries with its award-winning products. The company's portfolio spans enterprise-wide Catalog, Configure Price Quote (CPQ), Order Management, Provisioning, Insights and Portfolio Inventory products, and offers a core set of services including professional services, cloud services, and managed services. Sigma utilizes an agile approach to implementing its B/OSS products for its customers. Sigma has offices in North and South America, Europe and Asia Pacific, with technology and integration partners globally. About Hansen Technologies Hansen Technologies is a global leader in billing, data management and customer care. With over 40 years' experience, Hansen Technologies Group employs over 1000 experts. Hansen's proven and scalable solutions as well as innovative and flexible offerings, enable more than 500 clients to deliver cost-effective end-to-end business initiatives to improve their customers' experience. Hansen has offices throughout the world in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, China, Argentina, South Africa and in the USA servicing customers in over 80 countries. www.hansencx.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005429/en/

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[May 01, 2019] EvoNexus Reports Record Results in 2018

EvoNexus, Southern California's (SoCal) leading startup incubator with locations in San Diego and Irvine, today announced it is increasing its value to the region's Innovation Economy. The premier technology startup incubator reports its Portfolio companies raised a record $226 million in funding in 2018, and made six company exits during 2018: Edico Genome by Illumina for $100M, Approved by Credit Karma, LoanHero by LendingPoint, Appulse Power by Silanna Semiconductor, Abtum by undisclosed and Pet Wireless by undisclosed. Since its inception, 77% of EvoNexus' Portfolio companies have raised funding while in residence at the incubator, of which investments came from over 175 institutional venture capital (VC) groups. 40 VCs invested in EvoNexus companies in 2018. During the last seven years, 26 EvoNexus portfolio companies have had successful exits; more than $850 million in exit value for the entire history to date. Startups participating in the EvoNexus in-residence program receive quality domain expertise mentoring, introductions to capital, collaboration with other startup CEOs and potential partnerships with strategic sponsors, and most importantly long-term residency in Class A office space for up to two years. "Financings in 2018 included angel rounds ranging from $75K - $1.5M," said Marco Thompson, President of EvoNexus, and serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and angel investor. "The financings were highlighted by Series A and B deals including Syntiant $25M, LeadCrunch $10.5M, Obsidian $20M, Omniome $60M, TenantBase $10.7M and INBRACE $20M." A sustainable pillar in the San Diego and Irvine communities, EvoNexus has deep rooted collaborations with its original strategic partners the Irvine Company, Qualcomm (News - Alert) and Viasat. Last year it announced four new long-term strategic partner sponsorships including Cubic, EMD Performance Materials, Franklin Templeton and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) - with more to be named during 2019. "Transformational long-term strategic partner sponsorships are opportunities to build out eerging ecosystems," said Rory Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of EvoNexus. "Working with our strategic sponsors we can accelerate EvoNexus and its impact on the Innovation Economy. We're now identifying and creating customized technology Portfolios within EvoNexus, and in some cases Incubators focusing on very specific tech sectors, all of which are driving new product roadmaps and infrastructure connections, while fostering the fastest way to the commercialization of novel technologies and launch of startup companies."



Earlier in the month, EvoNexus launched the SoCal's first purpose-built FinTech Incubator collaborating with founding sponsors Franklin Templeton and RBC, and last week announced its call for applications to admit new startups. The new 6,000 square feet of dedicated office space in San Diego is in the same building as EvoNexus' Technology Incubator and is set to open its doors this month. "EvoNexus continues to be a major contributor to the SoCal economy, attracting and facilitating a large fraction of startup deals in San Diego and Irvine," said Mike Krenn, CEO with The San Diego Venture Group (SDVG) Connect. "We recently announced our 2019 SDVG Cool Companies winners - more than a third of the companies are EvoNexus portfolio companies."

"EvoNexus has an outstanding history of deal flow," said Thompson. "There is no comparison with the high-quality companies we attract, incubate and launch. Our time tested selection process and incubation method produces top tier, fundable companies with viable technology." EvoNexus is attracting deal flow from the region's nationally ranked business undergraduate and graduate programs at schools in San Diego, Orange (News - Alert) County and Los Angeles areas, including University of California San Diego Rady School of Management, University of San Diego School of Business, San Diego State University Fowler College of Business and University of California Irvine Paul Merage School of Business, as well as world-class engineering programs of all levels at universities such as California Institute of Technology, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles and University of Southern California. EvoNexus hosts Deep Dive orientation sessions at our incubators for interested investors and startup entrepreneurs. The sessions are held bimonthly, typically on a Monday from 1:00-2:30 p.m. To register for the May 13 Deep Dive orientation, visit https://evonexus.org/join/monthly-tours/. About EvoNexus EvoNexus is Southern California's leading startup incubator with locations in San Diego and Irvine. We enable motivated entrepreneurs to turn their transformative technologies into fundable, commercially-viable companies. Since 2010, $1.65B in funding and acquisition outcomes have been achieved by EvoNexus startups. A total of 26 EvoNexus startups have been acquired since 2013. EvoNexus is supported by corporate investors, including some of the largest multinational corporations in the world. Its companies enjoy incubation of up to two years in Class A offices and dry lab spaces. For more information, please visit evonexus.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005384/en/

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[May 01, 2019] 2-Day Seminar: Effectively Managing Legal Risk & Preserving Reputation (London, United Kingdom - November 6-7, 2019) - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Effectively Managing Legal Risk and Preserving Reputation" conference has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This interactive two-day seminar has been designed for in-house lawyers and business people who need to work together to ensure that the relevant legal risks can be well managed with reliable, but not cumbersome, processes, as well as awareness and compliance programmes. Legal risk is just part of the framework of risk and reward which business people have to manage. Once an organisation establishes a legal or risk department, there can be a tendency for business people to abdicate responsibility and the in-house lawyer effectively confiscates the management of legal risk. Poor management of legal risk can impair the prosperity and growth of a business by an accumulation of ineptitude or the drama of a showstopper. It is undeniable that an organisation will be more agile in today's demanding environment if it is: Equipped with a good understanding of the legal implications of actions (or inactions) and the commitments entered into

Involving lawyers in the right things at the right time In today's uncertain world with political upheaval having an impact on regulatory regimes and contractual commitments, legal risk can be exacerbated by making assumptions that prove to be flawed. Brexit is just one example of this. Whilst in-house lawyers cannot reliably predict what the outcomes might be, we can assist our organisations to manage the uncertainty. Workshop A key feature of this seminar is the practical workshop on managing the multiple strands of risk - regulatory, contractual and third party - involved in three testing scenarios. Who Should Attend? In-house lawyers

Legal affairs directors and managers

Senior corporate counsel and advisers

Risk and compliance officers

Commercial and cntracts managers and directors

Business development executives

Business executives who need a greater understanding of legal risk



Agenda Day One

Introduction - what is risk? Identifying risks

Is all risk bad? Top risks for today's businesses - what to focus on Corporate failure

Product or service failure

Health and safety issues

Regulatory investigation

The black swan theory

Ultimately - what are the three things that could have the highest impact on your business? Collaborative legal risk management Business engagement at a senior level

Use of legal resources

Prioritisation

Review - an internal audit

Engagement at an individual level How to ensure effective compliance within your business First, second and third lines of defence

The impact of business culture

The chief risk officer and effective risk team

The role of the lawyer

How do you compare? PRACTICAL WORKSHOP How to deal with major risks Scenario 1: cyber attack - data breach or loss

Scenario 2: serious accident involving an employee

Scenario 3: you're broke! Identifying risks - management and mitigation Designing an effective risk programme

Risk registers - how to make them practical and effective

Looking at the positive too Implementing an effective compliance programme Design - who leads and who should be involved?

Introduction to the compliance programme

Sustaining the programme - management buy-in

Investigation Day Two Raising legal awareness across your business Upsides and downsides

Elements of a programme

Boosting credibility *Advising the board on risk management * The role of the board

The role of the audit and/or risk committee

Preparing for the questions they might ask

How you should respond

Dealing with political and economic uncertainty - Providing assurance Managing dispute resolution (including practical exercise) Being prepared - choice of forum and choice of law

Practical exercise: evaluating alternatives

Embarking on litigation - fact investigation

Costs and funding

Trends and conclusions Managing legal costs as part of managing legal risks Scoping options - identify the end goal and agree the approach

Billing options pros and cons: traditional, alternative, hybrid

Triangular visibility and communication

Tracking and review - tools and techniques PRACTICAL WORKSHOP Designing legal awareness sessions for sales and procurement teams The aim of this workshop is to provide guidance, models and confidence to raise the awareness of risk and how to manage various scenarios within your business. Preparing for media attention Media monitoring

Blocking publication hurdles and setting the record straight

Online remedies'

Political dimension

Crisis management

Media training and response rehearsal Self-help and contract automation Pre-requisites

Useful resources For more information about this conference visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/3f8h57 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005452/en/

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Brendt Christensen, accused kidnapper and killer of visiting Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying in 2017, is abandoning his mental-health defense, local media have reported.

Chicago Tribune said Monday that the suspect's lawyers said in a filing that "Christensen decided to formally withdraw" his mental-health defense notice.

This happened after U.S. District Judge James Shadid recently denied a number of restrictions Christensen's lawyers wanted to place on the examinations by the government's mental-health experts.

Wang Zhidong, legal adviser to Zhang's family, told Xinhua on Tuesday that the withdrawal of mental health defense is an unusual action for his lawyers, considering their efforts in previous months to argue that the 29-year-old suffered from severe mental illness in an attempt to avoid the death penalty.

Wang said it is still unclear why they made this decision and the aim of dropping mental health defense remains to be observed.

Christensen's trial is set to begin June 3.

Zhang, 26, went missing on June 9, 2017, after getting into a black Saturn Astra about five blocks from where she got off a bus on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.

Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, after being caught on tape pointing out people he described as "ideal victims" during a vigil in Zhang's honor. On July 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long ordered that Christensen remain detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial.
Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: The district administration of Hoshiarpur, earlier this month, cancelled the contract given to a Jan Aushadhi shop which was allegedly sub-let to private players on a profit sharing basis.

Jan Aushadhi pharmacies are managed by Red Cross Societies and cannot be operated by private individuals or companies.

The violation by the pharmacy in Hoshiarpur in Punjab came to light in a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by an activist. In 2012, the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) had informed civil surgeons of the state that all Jan Aushadhi shops would continue to be managed by RCS.The RTI was filed by activist and advocate Hari Chand to the PIO of the Red Cross Society of Hoshiarpur on March 19 this year.

The PIO provided copies of the agreement vide a letter dated April 12 and simultaneously informed him that under orders from the DC of Hoshiarpur, the agreement with the NGO has been cancelled and that the RCS had taken over.

On March 5 this year, the state Health and Family Welfare department wrote to all deputy commissioners saying, It has come to the notice of the Health Department that District Red Cross Societies are not operating the medical shops and have sub-let these properties... The patients in hospitals are hardly benefitted from these shops. Maybe the Red Cross Societies are making money, but it is doubtful if any patient or hospital is benefitted.
[May 01, 2019] Calix Releases First Quarter 2019 Financial Results

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) today announced unaudited financial results for its first quarter 2019 have been posted as a letter to stockholders to the investor relations section of its website. Please visit the Calix investor relations website at https://investor-relations.calix.com to view the first quarter 2019 financial results in our letter to stockholders, along with accompanying supplemental financial information.

A question and answer conference call to discuss these results with President and CEO, Carl Russo, CFO, Cory Sindelar, and Director of Investor Relations, Tom Dinges, will be held at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time (8:30 a.m. Eastern Time) this morning. Interested parties can listen to a live webcast of the conference call by visiting the Calix Investor Relations website at http://investor-relations.calix.com/ . The conference call is also available via teleconference by dialing (877) 407-4019 or international (201) 689-8337 with conference ID# 13688942. The conference call and webcast will include forward-looking information.



A replay of the conference call will also be available at http://investor-relations.calix.com/ following the completion of the call. The call will be archived at http://investor-relations.calix.com/ . About Calix

Calix, Inc. (NYSE: CALX) - Innovative communications service providers rely on Calix platforms to help them master and monetize the complex infrastructure between their subscribers and the cloud. Calix is the leading global provider of the cloud and software platforms, systems and services required to deliver the unified access network and smart premises of tomorrow. Our platforms and services help our customers build next generation networks by embracing a DevOps operating model, optimize the subscriber experience by leveraging big data analytics and turn the complexity of the smart home and business into new revenue streams. Investor Inquiries: Thomas J. Dinges, CFA

408-474-0080

[email protected]

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[May 01, 2019] Arcserve Solves Hybrid Cloud and Hyperconverged Data Protection Challenges

New Arcserve Unified Data Protection extends industry-proven disaster recovery and backup technologies to prevent downtime and data loss for hyperconverged and SaaS-based workloads



Removes multiple points of failure commonly found in disaster recovery strategies through full protection of on-premises, public/private cloud and virtual environments, including Microsoft Office 365 and Nutanix AHV MINNEAPOLIS, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arcserve, LLC , the worlds most experienced data protection provider, today announced the newest version of Arcserve Unified Data Protection (UDP), the industrys leading solution for comprehensive protection of every type of workload. Powered by heterogeneous, image-based technology, this release was specifically designed to remove the multiple points of failure typically introduced into IT environments through a piecemeal, do-it-yourself approach to data backup and disaster recovery (DR), including those with hyperconverged and SaaS-based applications. According to an independent global study of 759 IT decision-makers commissioned by Arcserve, 74% are not fully confident in their ability to recover critical data when needed, and most deploy numerous types of workloads that require varying levels of availability. Creating a cohesive strategy to protect the wide scope of their systems and applications often results in a highly complex IT ecosystem that is difficult and costly to manage. As the deployment of new systems and applications accelerates, its become necessary to have a data protection solution that can provide visibility into andhelp IT teams protect every type of workload, said Phil Goodwin, research director, IDC. Arcserve UDP is designed to bring technologies together in a way that simplifies the infrastructure running a combination of on-premises, virtual and SaaS-based applications and systems. Without a comprehensive solution spanning these different application environments, organizations may be susceptible to downtime and data loss.



The new release of Arcserve UDP extends industry-proven backup and DR technologies to protect every type of workload, including Nutanix AHV and Microsoft Office 365, while offering a done-for-you method to achieve seamless business continuity and disaster recovery by cutting recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) to minutes and seconds. Arcserve UDP for Microsoft Office 365

In addition to its deep support for Microsoft Azure and Hyper-V, Arcserve UDP offers backup and granular recovery for Microsoft Office 365, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. Deduplication and compression with AES encryption make it ideal for companies transitioning from Exchange to Microsoft Office 365, as well as any organization that requires offsite backup and point-in-time recovery of Office 365 and other data protection features not natively available.

Arcserve UDP for Nutanix AHV

Arcserve introduces comprehensive agentless protection for production workloads on Nutanix AHV and the ability to leverage Nutanix AHV as a DR platform. A streamlined administration experience is delivered within the same unified, web-based management console of Arcserve UDP, without the need for new or additional user interfaces. Since first launching Arcserve UDP five years ago, weve continued to push the envelope to meet the ever-changing demands of digital businesses, said Oussama El-Hilali, CTO at Arcserve. This release signals a new frontier in backup and disaster recovery innovation, and allows our partners and customers to protect their data through a single user interface to any target, whether thats on-premises or in the cloud. Reducing the complexity of managing tiered systems and data has always been our main objective, and were continuing that legacy with this new iteration of Arcserve UDP. To learn more about Arcserves capabilities for Microsoft OneDrive for Business and Nutanix AHV, please visit: www.arceserve.com/UDP7. Follow Arcserve Blog

Twitter

LinkedIn About Arcserve

Arcserve provides exceptional solutions to protect the priceless digital assets of organizations in need of full scale, comprehensive data protection. Established in 1983, Arcserve is the worlds most experienced provider of business continuity solutions that safeguard multi-generational IT infrastructures with applications and systems in any location, on premises and in the cloud. Organizations in over 150 countries around the world rely on Arcserves highly efficient, integrated technologies and expertise to eliminate the risk of data loss and extended downtime while the reducing the cost and complexity of backing up and restoring data by up to 50 percent. Arcserve is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with locations around the world. Explore more at www.arcserve.com and follow @Arcserve on Twitter. Media Contact

Leslie Keil

Arcserve

952.903.5434

[email protected] Jackie Blundell

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

857.217.2886

[email protected]

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[May 01, 2019] Experian announces financial inclusion campaign

COSTA MESA, Calif. and DETROIT, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its global commitment to financial inclusion and literacy, Experian today launched Boost America, a marketing and social media campaign that includes a collaboration to promote credit management with award-winning actor, author and philanthropist Hill Harper. Experian's goal is to inspire and empower the more than 100 million thin-file (four or less trade lines) consumers in the United States who may not have access to quality credit to try Experian Boost - a revolutionary, free online financial tool that allows consumers to add positive payment history from utility and telecommunications accounts directly into their Experian credit file for an opportunity to increase their credit scores instantly. Only Experian offers consumers direct control over a credit file with the ability to immediately affect their credit scores. "At Experian, our fundamental mission is to help consumers establish their creditworthiness. This is critical because a subprime credit score will cost the average U.S. consumer approximately $200,000 more throughout the course of their lifei," said Jeff Softley, president of Experian Consumer Services. "We believe partnering with Hill Harper, such a respected activist, will help us reach consumers across the country with credit education in a way that inspires Americans to want to better manage their credit profile." Boost America Ambassador Hill Harper Harper, currently playing Dr. Marcus Andrews on the ABC drama "The Good Doctor," is known for his activism promoting financial literacy and his bestselling financial books including "The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place." Today, he will be in Detroit at his Roasting Plant coffee shop to talk "credit over coffee" with local residents. Over the next few months, Harper will address credit management via speaking engagements, social media, blog posts, and videos. To follow Harper and b a part of the discussion, go to www.experian.com/boostamerica and follow hashtag #BoostAmerica. Consumers can also engage with Harper during Experian's Twitter #CreditChat on May 15 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. PT.



"I'm always excited to empower Americans by helping to increase their financial literacy and, now with this campaign, bring awareness to the importance of credit scores in our lives," says Harper. "With more than half of U.S. consumers (56%) having a low credit score, the time is right for an education campaign focused on credit literacy and that shows how tools like Experian Boost can benefit individuals." Consumer impact of Experian Boost

Since the Experian Boost launch in March, results show:

Cumulatively, more than 3 million points have been added to FICO Scores via Experian Boost

Nearly two-thirds of consumers who completed the initial Experian Boost process increased their FICO Score

Among those who increased their FICO Score, the average score increase has been more than 13 points, and 13% moved up in credit score category How to use Experian Boost

Consumers can visit www.experian.com/boost and sign up for a free membership with Experian. Once they have an account, they can grant permission for Experian Boost to connect to their online bank accounts to identify utility and telecommunications payments. When the consumer verifies the data and confirms that they want it added to their Experian credit file, an updated FICO Scoreii is delivered in real timeiii. About Experian

Experian is the world's leading global information services company. During life's big moments  from buying a home or a car, to sending a child to college, to growing a business by connecting with new customers  we empower consumers and our clients to manage their data with confidence. We help individuals to take financial control and access financial services, businesses to make smarter decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and organizations to prevent identity fraud and crime. We have 16,500 people operating across 39 countries and every day we're investing in new technologies, talented people and innovation to help all our clients maximize every opportunity. We are listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and are a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Learn more at www.experianplc.com or visit our global content hub at our global news blog for the latest news and insights from the Group. Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian and its affiliates. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. i According to analysis by Credit Builders Alliance. ii Credit score calculated based on FICO Score 8 model. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO Score than FICO Score 8, or another type of credit score altogether. iii Results may vary. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use Experian credit files, and not all lenders use scores impacted by Experian Boost. CONTACTS: Sandra Bernardo

Experian Public Relations

949-567-3676

[email protected] Kerry McGee

KWT Global

646-747-7149

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/experian-announces-financial-inclusion-campaign-300840748.html SOURCE Experian

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[May 01, 2019] Decoding the global AI advantage

NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In the coming years, artificial intelligence (AI) will exert an enormous impact on economic development and the nature of work. It will also radically reshape the competitive dynamics of many industries. A new Deloitte Global study released today, "Future in the balance? How countries are pursuing an AI advantage  Insights from Deloitte's State of AI in the Enterprise, 2nd Edition survey," examines the growing importance of AI and what we can learn from early adopters across seven countries. The survey found that 57 percent of early AI adopters believe it will transform their company within the next three years. Early AI adopters are using AI to improve both their external and internal capabilities  enhancing products and services and optimizing internal business operations. Sixty-three percent of early adopters say that AI technologies are "very" or "critically" important to their business success today, and that number is expected to increase to 81 percent in just two years. Yet, AI initiatives also present an array of challenges and risks, some of which are perceived differently across regions. Globally 43 percent of executives said they have major or extreme concerns about potential AI risks. Filling the AI skill gap is a significant issue, with 68 percent of global respondents indicating moderate-to-extreme skill gaps. Other top concerns include cybersecurity vulnerabilities and making incorrect decisions based on AI recommendations. "Paths to successful AI implementation and use differ greatly, and countries are at varying stages of the process. By examining countries' challenges and how they are addressing them, we can glean some essential best practices," says Paul Sallomi, Deloitte Global Technology, Media & Telecommunications industry leader. "For example, some countries are more concerned about addressing skill gaps. Others are focusing on how AI can improve decision-making or cybersecurity capabilities. While there is intense competition among counries and companies, all adopters can learn from one another and early success will depend on getting execution right."



"There is a growing realization of AI's importance, including its ability to provide competitive advantage and change work for the better," says Jeff Loucks, executive director, Deloitte Center for Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Deloitte LLP. "To tap into these opportunities and ensure AI success, organizations must excel at a wide range of practices, including strategy development, pursuing the right use case, building a data foundation, and possessing a strong ability to experiment. These capabilities are critical now because, as AI becomes even easier to consume, the window for competitive differentiation will shrink." Key takeaways from the report's country analysis of AI readiness and adoption include:

Australia is playing catch up: Organizations from Australia hold a positive view of the strategic importance of AI to their success. Seventy-nine percent believe AI will be "very" or "critically" important to their business within two years. Despite the optimism, 50 percent of AI early adopters from Australia report that AI helps them "catch up" or "keep up" to their competition, rather than establish a distinct leadthe highest rate of all countries. It appears there's a mismatch between perceived levels of urgency and readiness.

Organizations from hold a positive view of the strategic importance of AI to their success. Seventy-nine percent believe AI will be "very" or "critically" important to their business within two years. Despite the optimism, 50 percent of AI early adopters from report that AI helps them "catch up" or "keep up" to their competition, rather than establish a distinct leadthe highest rate of all countries. It appears there's a mismatch between perceived levels of urgency and readiness. Canada exhibits caution: Canada is taking a cautious approach, with only 25 percent of early adopters from Canada indicating they currently embed AI into their products and services, the lowest of all countries. Yet at the national level, Canada is making a concerted effort to bolster its collective AI capabilities. This is especially true for talent, where the government has put forth policies to make immigration an easier, more open process for those with AI-related skill sets.

is taking a cautious approach, with only 25 percent of early adopters from indicating they currently embed AI into their products and services, the lowest of all countries. Yet at the national level, is making a concerted effort to bolster its collective AI capabilities. This is especially true for talent, where the government has put forth policies to make immigration an easier, more open process for those with AI-related skill sets. China prioritizes R&D: The Chinese government is investing heavily in AI research and development, and 85 percent of respondents from China expect that in two years AI will be very or critically important to their organization's successthe highest level globally. Organizations from China are demonstrating signs of strategic maturity by putting policies, procedures, and metrics in place to succeed with AI. Almost half (46 percent) indicate they have a comprehensive, organizationwide strategy for adopting AI.

The Chinese government is investing heavily in AI research and development, and 85 percent of respondents from expect that in two years AI will be very or critically important to their organization's successthe highest level globally. Organizations from are demonstrating signs of strategic maturity by putting policies, procedures, and metrics in place to succeed with AI. Almost half (46 percent) indicate they have a comprehensive, organizationwide strategy for adopting AI. France aspires to empower its people: The French government is making it a priority to develop AI both domestically and by working broadly with the European Union. Seventy-six percent of early adopters from France believe that AI will augment human capabilities. But the survey also reveals that early adopters in France are struggling to obtain talent and to integrate AI into their organizations' processes.

The French government is making it a priority to develop AI both domestically and by working broadly with the European Union. Seventy-six percent of early adopters from believe that AI will augment human capabilities. But the survey also reveals that early adopters in are struggling to obtain talent and to integrate AI into their organizations' processes. Germany turns fears into strengths : The German government is looking to accelerate adoption and development of AI technologies, but AI early adopters appear to struggle more with some of the ethical concerns surrounding AI. Their top ethical concerns are using AI to manipulate information and create falsehoods and potential job cuts. However, the workforce concerns have translated to a more holistic approach to filling the AI talent gap - respondents from Germany are more likely than their counterparts from other countries to have a strong focus on AI training.

: The German government is looking to accelerate adoption and development of AI technologies, but AI early adopters appear to struggle more with some of the ethical concerns surrounding AI. Their top ethical concerns are using AI to manipulate information and create falsehoods and potential job cuts. However, the workforce concerns have translated to a more holistic approach to filling the AI talent gap - respondents from are more likely than their counterparts from other countries to have a strong focus on AI training. The UK bets big on AI: With a thriving startup scene and heavy government investment, the UK is an enthusiastic participant in the global AI revolution. Forty-five percent of respondents from the UK say AI will be of critical importance to their near-future success and 60 percent expect to increase their AI investment more than 10 percent next fiscal year. This is the highest rate for both of these measures among all countries surveyed.

With a thriving startup scene and heavy government investment, the UK is an enthusiastic participant in the global AI revolution. Forty-five percent of respondents from the UK say AI will be of critical importance to their near-future success and 60 percent expect to increase their AI investment more than 10 percent next fiscal year. This is the highest rate for both of these measures among all countries surveyed. US recognizes AI challenges: The US continues to be a leader in public and private AI research, but with sophistication comes recognition of the complexities and challenges. Cybersecurity is a top concern for executives in the US, second only to China . Forty-seven percent of respondents from the US are concerned about sensitive data being stolen, and 45 percent worry that outsiders will influence AI models. Please visit Deloitte Insights to read the full report: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/5189_Global-AI-survey/DI_Global-AI-survey.pdf. About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited ("DTTL"), its global network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL does not provide services to clients. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more. Deloitte is a leading global provider of audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services. Our network of member firms in more than 150 countries and territories serves four out of five Fortune Global 500 companies. Learn how Deloitte's more than 286,000 people make an impact that matters at www.deloitte.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/decoding-the-global-ai-advantage-300840645.html SOURCE Deloitte

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[May 01, 2019] JAB Announces Final Results of Partial Cash Tender Offer to Acquire up to 150 Million Shares of Coty

JAB, a global investment firm focused on long-term investing in premium consumer goods and services brands, today announced the final results of the previously announced tender offer by its affiliate for up to 150 million additional shares of Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY) Class A common stock (the "Shares") at a price of $11.65 per share in cash. The tender offer expired at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on April 26, 2019. Based on the final tabulation by Computershare Trust Company, N.A., the depositary for the tender offer, a total of 336,614,903 Shares were validly tendered pursuant to the tender offer and not properly withdrawn, resulting in a proration factor of approximately 44.56%. JAB's affiliate has accepted for purchase 150,000,000 Shares pursuant to the tender offer, representing approximately 20% of the outstanding Shares, at a price of $11.65 per Share, net to the seller in cash, without interest and less any applicable withholding taxes, for a total purchase price of $1,747,500,000. Payment for Shares accepted for purchase by JAB's affiliate will be made promptly in accordance with the terms of the tender offer. All Shares tendered in the tender offer but not accepted for purchase will be returned to the tendering tockholders. Following the purchase of the Shares pursuant to the Offer, JAB's affiliate will own approximately 60% of the outstanding Shares.



Innisfree M&A Incorporated ("Innisfree") is acting as information agent for the tender offer. Requests for documents and questions regarding the tender offer may be directed to Innisfree toll free at (888) 750-5834 (for shareholders) or collect at (212) 750-5833 (for banks and brokers). About JAB Holding Company

JAB Holding Company and JAB Consumer Fund invest in companies with premium brands, attractive growth and strong cash flow dynamics in the consumer category. Together, JAB Holding Company and JAB Consumer Fund have controlling stakes in Keurig Dr Pepper, a challenger & leader in the North American beverage market, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), the largest pure-play FMCG coffee company in the world, Panera Bread, a leading bakery-cafe company, Pret A Manger, a leading company in the ready-to-eat food market, Peet's Coffee & Tea, a premier specialty coffee and tea company, Caribou Coffee Company, a specialty retailer of high-quality premium coffee products, Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc., the leader in the North-American bagel category, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, a global leader in doughnuts and other premium-quality sweet treats, and in Espresso House, the largest branded coffee shop chain in Scandinavia. JAB Holding Company is also the largest shareholder in Coty Inc., a global leader in beauty, and owns a controlling stake in luxury goods company Bally as well as a minority stake in Reckitt Benckiser PLC, a global leader in health, hygiene and home products. For more information, please visit the company's website at: http://www.jabholco.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005408/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Business Reporter: The UK Can Be a World Leader in Islamic Finance

LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Islamic finance is reinforcing the UK's position as a global financial hub, says Amir Firdaus, CFO of the UK's oldest and largest Islamic bank, Al Rayan Bank. Hailed as the global leader for currency trading, Fintech and more, the City of London is also reputed as the pivotal centre for Islamic finance outside of the Muslim world. Assets of UK based institutions that offer Islamic finance services total more than $5bn, placing the UK in a position that can be leveraged in a time of political and economic uncertainty. Over 20 banks in the UK offer Islamic services, five of these banks are fully Sharia compliant, including Al Rayan Bank. Al Rayan Bank currently provides Islamic financial products to over 85,000 customers in the UK, and is the largest provider of Islamic home finance in the country. Last yar, Al Rayan Bank was the first bank to issue a public Sterling Sukuk (Islamic bond) in a nonMuslim country, taking enormous strides in connecting Muslim communities globally.



To learn more about the influence of Islamic finance, read the full article. About Business Reporter

Business Reporter is distributed with The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and City AM, each of our publications reaches an average of 1.5 million people. Content is also published through the Business Reporter and TEISS websites, which includes video debates, online articles, and digital magazines. This content is meant to deliver news and analysis on the issues that are affecting businesses to our global audience. In addition to publications, Business Reporter hosts conferences, breakfasts meetings, and exclusive summits. These events bring together some of the most influential decision makers and innovators in modern business. These exclusive events for business leaders complement the content and direction of editorial projects, allowing them to have direct contact with their readers. Above all, Business Reporter's commitment is to make meaningful analysis for every business owner. Whether individuals are running a small business, the head of a local company or an executive in a multinational corporation, there will be something for them at Business Reporter. https://www.business-reporter.co.uk

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[May 01, 2019] Canvas GFX and Spatial Team up to Bring CAD Support to Canvas X

Canvas GFX is pleased to announce a partnership with Spatial, a subsidiary of Dassault Systemes (News - Alert). The integration between Canvas and Spatial streamlines converting computer aided design files from the top CAD software providers into compelling illustrations and visualizations for service documentation. The combination of Spatial's renowned 3D software development toolkits and the Canvas illustration standard, used by professional technical illustrators to create incredible graphical documentation, allows for a seamless experience for engineering businesses worldwide. With the technical illustration market at $3.2B/year, and growing at 4.7% CAGR, the market for detailed visualization of complex systems is tremendous. Canvas GFX is excited to produce a specialized application that combines the design and service lifecycles that saves businesses unnecessary costs and rework. "Our customers are creating incredible visualizations of complicated machines," said Simon Tipler, Canvas GFX. "They appreciate using an all-in-one application instead of continually switching between different software. Our integrated solution with Spatial technology further simplifies workflows taking a design through to the final visual service documentation in the form of manuals, instructions, guides, and other engineering documentation." Spatial is the leading provider of 3D software development toolkits for design, manufacturing, and engineering solutions. For over 30 years, Spatial has been delivering 3D software components to the majority of industry players in the world. "We are excited to partner with Canvas GFX on extending their 3D capabilities, providing support for all the major formats their customers are using," states Frederic Jacqmin, Spatial Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Business Development. Compatible formats include:







 CATIA  STEP  Inventor  DXF/DWG  Pro/E  JT  SOLIDWORKS  STL  IGES  PDF 3D  Parasolid

About Canvas GFX Since 1987, Canvas software has been used by graphics designers to create beautiful digital images and by technical illustrators to develop visual documentation in defense, aerospace, manufacturing, and government organizations globally. Canvas applications include Canvas X 2019, Canvas X GIS 2019, and Canvas Draw 5 for Mac. For more information about Canvas X and Canvas Draw for Mac, visit https://www.canvasgfx.com. About SPATIAL Spatial Corp, a Dassault Systemes subsidiary, is the leading provider of 3D software development toolkits for technical applications across a broad range of industries. Spatial 3D modeling, 3D visualization, and CAD translation software development toolkits help application developers deliver market-leading products, maintain focus on core competencies, and reduce time-to-market. For over 30 years, many of the world's most recognized software developers, manufacturers, research institutes, and universities have adopted Spatial's 3D software development toolkits. Headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, Spatial has offices in the USA, Germany, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.spatial.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005287/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Deloitte, MIT and Datawheel Launch New 'Viz Builder' in Data USA 3.0, Enabling Users to Create Millions of New Visualizations

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Deloitte, MIT and Datawheel released the third major update to Data USA, a data visualization platform with more than 400,000 monthly visits. This third update includes a "Viz Builder" tool, which allows users to build custom data visualizations using data from over a dozen U.S. public sources. Along with this new feature, Data USA releases an improved, open source and scalable design. Data USA is a free and open, publicly available platform that has become one of the main sources for Americans to access public data. The comprehensive visualization engine integrates, visualizes and distributes publicly available data pulled from multiple public sources, such as the U.S. Department of Education, Census Bureau, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services. "The US government produces tons of valuable data every year; however, there are not many tools to make sense of it, fuse it, sift through it, and visualize it, making it inaccessible to all but the most skilled data scientists," said Matt Gentile, principal, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP and one of the creators of Data USA. "We're working to close that gap and make that data useful, relevant, and understandable, to those in the public sector, private sector, and the general population. This rlease will put relatable statistical evidence about the economy, the workforce, public health and education in the hands of everyone to drive basic decisions, such as what the best parts of the country to find a job as a nurse."



"We're very excited to unveil the newest installment of Data USA, along with all the new features that come with it," said Cesar Hidalgo, MIT Media Lab faculty and co-founder of Datawheel. "With this new update, Data USA continues to prove itself to be a flagship project showing what is next in this new wave of open data sites." Data USA 3.0 includes more data sets, but also updated features that enable users to more easily visualize public data. Features like the data cart and visualization builder allow users to dig deeper into the data than ever before. For example, users can now visualize the number of people working in an industry that belong to a specific demographic, such as an ethnic group and gender as shown here. This level of depth was not possible in previous versions of Data USA.

The new visualization builder feature allows users to see data differently, creating a consolidated view of useful data on a wide range of topics, such as: Drug overdose and death rates by county

Customer profiles across geographic regions

Black females working in the software industry by state

Admissions for universities in the Boston -metro area Deloitte, MIT and Datawheel launched Data USA in April 2016 and have continued to add more data, modify and evolve the platform. In its first year, Data USA delivered more than 2.5 million sessions, with the majority of visitors coming from organic search. About Deloitte

Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and more than 5,000 private and middle market companies. Our people work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace to make an impact that matters  delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthy society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. About Datawheel

Datawheel is an award winning software company that provides end-to-end digital transformation solutions capable of integrating, distributing, and visualizing multiple streams of data. With multiple clients in the U.S., Chile, South Korea, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Estonia, among others, Datawheel has become a leader in the development of digital transformation solutions for the public sector. Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the US member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the "Deloitte" name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deloitte-mit-and-datawheel-launch-new-viz-builder-in-data-usa-3-0--enabling-users-to-create-millions-of-new-visualizations-300841204.html SOURCE Deloitte

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[May 01, 2019] Sumo Logic Announces Support for Docker Enterprise at DockerCon 2019 to Give Joint Customers Enhanced Monitoring and Troubleshooting Across the Modern Application Stack

Leading Container Platform Provider Standardizes on Sumo Logic to Monitor Docker Hub Infrastructure and Deliver Faster Release Cycles

Sumo Logic to Co-present with Docker on How to Monitor Docker With Machine Data Analytics REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sumo Logic , the leading cloud-native, machine data analytics platform that delivers continuous intelligence , today announced at DockerCon 2019 support for Docker Enterprise to provide joint customers with improved application performance monitoring across the complete application lifecycle. Building on existing Docker capabilities, the new integration provides joint Docker and Sumo Logic customers with improved monitoring and troubleshooting of the Docker infrastructure, as well as better correlation of issues between the Docker platform and the application for faster root cause analysis. This ensures not only the health of a customers applications running on the Docker platform, but also the health of the Docker platform itself for complete visibility into the modern application stack. Sumo Logic will be showcasing its integration with Docker at DockerCon 2019 at Moscone West in booth S8. As enterprises continue to adopt cloud infrastructures they are also investing in modern tools and processes such as containerization, orchestration and serverless computing to empower them to better build, run and secure their modern application stack. The continued use of the leading containerized platform, Docker, is validated by customer data from Sumo Logics third annual  State of Modern Applications and DevSecOps in the Cloud report, which shows the usage of Docker among Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers grew from 18 percent (2016) to 28 percent (2018). As a Sumo Logic customr, Docker can efficiently and effectively monitor and troubleshoot Docker Hub infrastructure to deliver faster release cycles, and to quickly address anomalies and remediate any potential issues for end users downloading images. Docker Hub is the worlds largest library of container images for the open source and enterprise community.



Docker is built on the foundations of agility, collaboration and the desire to push the boundaries of technological innovation, said Kal De, CTO and EVP of product development, Docker. Sumo Logic shares these same values and so our decision to use Sumo Logic internally was a natural fit. Our customers rely on us to give them the freedom to build, manage and secure applications without the fear of technology or infrastructure lock in, and Sumo Logic provides us with the continuous intelligence and data insights we need to ensure our container platform lives up to that promise. Furthermore, with the Sumo Logic platform, Docker quality engineering and customer support teams are given additional tools to improve the product release process and to reduce the time needed to solve customer issues. Advanced analytics, real-time alerting and customizable dashboards from Sumo Logic make it easy for teams to quickly identify issues and push code to production faster while increasing code quality for customers.

In todays digital economy, the pressure is on organizations now more than ever to invest in technologies that improve speed to market and deliver the best customer experiences, said Christian Beedgen, co-founder and CTO, Sumo Logic. Containers provide more benefits than traditional virtualization by enabling organizations to build more efficient applications that leverage microservices architecture and can be orchestrated across private and multi-cloud environments. Our goal is to empower the people who power modern business, and to have Docker employ Sumo Logic as their machine data analytics platform reinforces the value of machine data for todays digital business and demonstrates our joint commitment to supporting the growing container platform ecosystem. For more information on how Sumo Logic supports Docker Enterprise, visit the Sumo Logic application for Docker page or visit Sumo Logic booth S8 in Moscone West in San Francisco this week from May 1 to May 2. To learn more about how Docker is leveraging Sumo Logics machine data analytics platform, dont miss the joint presentation, Monitoring Docker with Sumo Logic at DockerCon on Weds. May 1 from 1:10-1:50 p.m. PT in the partner theater. Additional Resources Read the Docker and Kubernetes monitoring solution brief

the Docker and Kubernetes monitoring solution brief Download the Docker adoption trends infographic

Sign up for a free trial of Sumo Logic About Sumo Logic

Sumo Logic is a secure, cloud-native, machine data analytics service, delivering real-time, continuous intelligence from structured, semi-structured and unstructured data across the entire application lifecycle and stack. More than 1,600 customers around the globe rely on Sumo Logic for the analytics and insights to build, run and secure their modern applications and cloud infrastructures. With Sumo Logic, customers gain a multi-tenant, service-model advantage to accelerate their shift to continuous innovation, increasing competitive advantage, business value and growth. Founded in 2010, Sumo Logic is a privately held company based in Redwood City, Calif. and is backed by Accel Partners, DFJ, Greylock Partners, IVP, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures. For more information, visit www.sumologic.com . Media Contacts

Melissa Liton

Sumo Logic

[email protected]

(650) 814-3882 Sydney Holmquist

PAN Communications for Sumo Logic

[email protected]

(407) 734-7327

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[May 01, 2019] Kramer Levin Names Paul Schoeman and Howard Spilko Co-Managing Partners

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP announced today that the firm has elected Paul Schoeman and Howard Spilko co-managing partners, effective January 1, 2020. Paul Pearlman, who has led the firm as managing partner since August 2000, will step down at the end of this year as part of a long-planned succession strategy. Executive Director Nicholas Tortorella, who joined the firm in 2001, will also be retiring at the end of the year. Schoeman is co-chair of the firm's white collar defense and investigations practice. Spilko is co-chair of the firm's corporate practice. The move comes at a time of stability, innovation and financial growth at Kramer Levin. In 2017 the firm topped $2 million in profits per partner for the first time, and in 2018 the firm did so again while recording its third consecutive year of record financial results. Last year the firm also celebrated its 50th anniversary. "It has been an honor to lead Kramer Levin, and I'm extremely proud of what we have accomplished," Pearlman said. "It is fitting that Nick Tortorella and I are retiring together, as we managed this firm together for so many years, and he has been an integral part of the firm's success. The firm is in a strong position, and I have the utmost confidence in the abilities of co-managing partners Howard and Paul to ensure Kramer Levin continues to provide the highest level of client service in the industry. They have both played important roles in the firm and epitomize the firm's creative, proactive and pragmatic approach."



"It has been a great privilege to work alongside Paul all these years and assist in guiding the firm," Tortorella said. "I am particularly proud of Kramer Levin's culture. Protecting and promoting that culture has been my highest priority, and it is gratifying to know that it is stronger than ever." "Paul and Nick have done an exceptional job guiding Kramer Levin and setting the firm on a course for continued success," Spilko said. "We are deeply grateful for the many valuable contributions Paul and Nick have made over nearly two decades of stellar service to the firm, our partners, associates and staff; they will be missed by all of us. Paul Schoeman and I look forward to building on the innovative strategies that have placed the firm in such a strong position to compete successfully in a dynamic legal marketplace."

Spilko joined Kramer Levin in 1996. He counsels and represents clients in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, with an emphasis on middle-market private equity transactions. He works with a broad range of clients, from private equity firms, hedge funds and entrepreneurial ventures to large, well-known multinational companies. Schoeman defends clients in complex and often high-profile criminal, civil and regulatory matters involving every aspect of white collar crime, including securities fraud, money laundering, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, health care fraud, insider trading, accounting fraud and tax evasion. He originally joined Kramer Levin in 2003. He left in 2007 to serve as the chief assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and then rejoined the firm in 2009. "The entire firm thanks Paul and Nick for their extraordinary leadership," Schoeman said. "As we move forward we will build on the culture of respect, professionalism and service that epitomizes the firm and empowers our lawyers to guide clients through their most significant challenges." About Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP Kramer Levin provides its clients proactive, creative and pragmatic solutions that address today's most challenging legal issues. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Silicon Valley and Paris and fosters a strong culture of involvement in public and community service. For more information, visit www.kramerlevin.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005635/en/

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Sana Shakil By

Express News Service

CHURU/JHUNJHUNU/SIKAR : Arphal Meghwal, 51, is concerned about lack of development in the arid wastes of Rajasthan. The five years gone by have been difficult, he says. Yet, he feels the countrys security is the most important issue. Desh ko bachaana hai to Modi ko hi laana padega (If we have to save India, we will have to bring back Modi), says the Jhunjhunu resident.

His statement sums up the general mood in Rajasthans Shekhawati region, where the kisan and the jawan are the main poll issues. Most people here agree that the region has barely seen any development in the last five years. Water scarcity, lack of job opportunities and educational institutions, and poor state of healthcare are major problems.

FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

However, the Pulwama attack and subsequent airstrikes in Pakistan seem to have more resonance among the voters and have significantly improved BJPs prospects in the Jat-dominated region.

The Shekhawati region, comprising three Lok Sabha seats of Churu, Jhunjhunu and Sikar, was also the epicentre of farmers protest in 2018 over poor crop prices, issues of government procurement and stray cattle. The farmers are admittedly frustrated, even furious.

But the narrative of nationalism runs high and the BJP seems to have an edge in Churu and Jhunjhunu. In Sikar, however, the Congress has an upper hand and many say they would vote on the basis of real issues such as unemployment and farm crisis, not on the basis of TV propagated nationalism.

Disappointment was writ large on the faces of farmers sitting at the Krishi Upaj Mandi in Sikar. Three of their fellow farmers collapsed and died due to heart attack in this mandi within three months. They complained the Modi governments crop insurance scheme or Fasal Beema Yojana had not benefitted them.

Jita Ram Sahni, who grows groundnut, onion and gram claims he has paid over `3 lakh in premium in three years but the government is not even clearing `1 lakh for the loss of his crops due to lack of water and poor weather conditions. This government has not done anything for farmers. I have not received a single penny under the Yojana. Every time I visit the insurance office, they ask for a new set of documents. I have all the papers, but they make excuses, he says.

Sahni is interrupted by Lakshman Sharma who terms the scheme a success. But he is shut down by other farmers who term him a commission agent. Because the government does not purchase our crops, we are forced to sell our produce to people like him at dirt cheap prices. Onions are being sold at `2 a kg. We used to get better prices earlier, says Nathu Ram.

In Jhunjhunu mandi too, farmers echo similar sentiments. Modiji said he would get black money through demonetisation. Demonetisation did no good, but wreaked havoc in our lives, says Som Lal. He has no hopes from Congresss Nyay scheme either, but expects that Rahul Gandhi will at least not force demonetisation.

Among the three constituencies in the Shekhawati region, it is Jhunjhunu that sends maximum number of soldiers to the countrys borders. Hence, the narrative of India teaching a lesson to Pakistan with Balakot airstrike is the most popular here, especially among urban voters. Sipping tea in the heritage city of Mandava, Vijender Singh, 28, says, Modiji gave free hand to our soldiers to carry out airstrikes. No other leader has done this ever. We have to vote for Modiji to teach Pakistan a lesson.

He denies that unemployment has been a problem. I was a teacher but am not working for past two years and thinking of doing business. I cannot say I lost my job. There are other people like me. Churu, which has a significant number of retired army personnel, also seems to be riding high on the sentiment of nationalism. Lawyer Sumer Singh Rathore says national security is the only issue and only PM Modi can show Pakistan its place.
[May 01, 2019] Renewable Energy Infrastructure Debt Team Joins Voya Investment Management

Voya Investment Management, the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that Thomas ("Tom") Emmons and Edward ("Ed") Levin have joined the firm as senior portfolio managers in the private credit infrastructure team. Emmons and Levin are based in the firm's New York City office and report to Chris Lyons, CFA, head of private credit. In their new roles, Emmons and Levin's primary focus will be on the origination, underwriting, structuring and management of mezzanine opportunities in renewable energy infrastructure projects. Additionally, they will work with Voya's existing infrastructure personnel to originate investment grade and non-mezzanine below investment grade opportunities in the space. "The addition of Tom and Ed represents an excellent complement to our existing infrastructure debt capabilities-where since 2001, Voya Investment Management has invested $6.5 billion in private infrastructure assets," said Lyons. Prior to joining Voya Investment Management, Emmons and Levin worked at Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private alternative asset management firm focused on providing capital tocompanies in the sustainability and wellness sectors. Prior to that, Emmons served as managing director and head of Project Finance, Americas, at Rabobank in New York, focusing exclusively on finance for renewable energy companies while Levin was an executive director, also at Rabobank, responsible for the bank's activities in the renewable energy, structured debt and tax equity sectors.



"With attractive risk/return profiles, potential diversification benefits and ESG characteristics, we believe infrastructure debt represents a compelling opportunity for insurance investors, endowments and foundations, pension plans, as well as high-net worth investors," said Lyons. "We are excited about the expertise Tom and Ed bring to Voya and look forward to leveraging their extensive industry relationships to capitalize on renewable energy debt opportunities for our clients."

About Voya Investment Management A leading, active asset management firm, Voya Investment Management manages, as of December 31, 2018, more than $203 billion for affiliated and external institutions as well as individual investors. With 40 years of history in asset management, Voya Investment Management has the experience and resources to provide clients with investment solutions with an emphasis on equities, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies and solutions. Voya Investment Management was named in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 as a "Best Places to Work" by Pensions and Investments magazine. For more information, visit voyainvestments.com. Follow Voya Investment Management on Twitter (News - Alert) @VoyaInvestments. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005603/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Exterro Expands Global Presence with European Team

PORTLAND, Ore., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exterro Inc., the preferred provider of software specifically designed for in-house legal and IT teams at Global 2000 organizations, today announced the formation of a new UK-based European team and the appointment of James Thompson, Regional Director, leading the team in London.

Exterro has a long history of working with large corporations with major presence in Europe, including HSBC, Barclays and Siemens among others. With the opening of the new UK office and addition of James and his team, we look forward to rapidly accelerating our success in Europe, said Bobby Balachandran, CEO at Exterro. Im extremely excited to be a part of the team help to formalize Exterros presence in the UK and to grow Exterros relationships with both international and local organizations, said James Thompson, Regional Director at Exterro. Exterro already has an impressive list of leading European clients whohave helped the company address and build European privacy and other region-specific workflows as part of their Orchestrated E-Discovery solution. I look forward to helping other European clients leverage the power of the Exterro platform.



For Exterro clients in the Europe, Exterros Orchestrated E-Discovery and Information Governance Suite is hosted in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Frankfurt. The Exterro platform is hosted worldwide by AWS, a scalable cloud computing platform with high availability, dependability, and versatility. The AWS global infrastructure is designed and managed according to security best practices and adheres to security compliance standards specific to the region. About Exterro

Exterro, Inc. is the preferred provider of e-discovery software specifically designed for in-house legal and IT teams at Global 2000 organizations. Built on a simple concept of process optimization, Exterro helps organizations improve and simplify e-discovery activities. With Exterros Orchestrated E-Discovery and Information Governance Suite, traditionally fractured and fragmented e-discovery efforts are mended by orchestrating and automating tasks in a coordinated workflow across the entire e-discovery process, reducing time, cost and risk associated with e-discovery. For more information, visit exterro.com.

Kristin Kolasinski Marketing Communications & Events Manager Exterro, Inc. [email protected] (503) 501-5141

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[May 01, 2019] Valimail and Gradian Join Forces to Bring Anti-Phishing Technology to U.K. and European Enterprises

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Valimail , the world's leading provider of anti-phishing technologies to stop fake email and restore trust to communications, announced that it has entered into a Premier Partnership agreement with Gradian Systems to make Valimail's solutions available to the U.K. and European markets. As a Premier Partner, Gradian Systems will be an authorized reseller of Valimail's entire product suite. Additionally, as an Authorized Onboarding Partner for Valimail, Gradian will provide implementation and support services for Valimail products for customers in the U.K. and Europe. "The European market has been desperately searching for a solution to overcome the inherent problems caused by business email compromise and email phishing attacks," said Damian Acklam, the CEO and founder of Gradian Systems. "Valimail has exactly that. We are excited to take Valimail to the market, start the work of adding trust into the secure email gateway (SEG) environment and make our customers and business partners 'spoof proof.'" Valimail's suite of services includes: Valimail Enforce, a fully automated email authentication system that stops unauthorized services and phishers from using a company's domain to send email

Valimail Defend, an authoritative solution that stops inbound impersonation attacks to ensure that the only emails reaching corporte inboxes are those sent from known, trusted domains

Valimail Brand Trust, the only product that leverages both BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) and Microsoft Business Profiles to offer companies a customizable digital watermark for confirming that their emails are authentic



For context, a recent study by the U.K. government found that phishing and fake emails cause more disruption for businesses and nonprofits than any other attack vector. Phishing and business email compromise (BEC) has exploded in the past year, with a 500-percent increase in attacks during 2018, while 60 percent of all companies have experienced spoofed email attacks in the past year.

Additionally, the FBI attributes $12.5 billion in losses to BEC over the past five years. Much of that damage is due to the ease with which attackers can impersonate trusted senders with spoofed "From" headers in emails  a weakness that Valimail corrects faster and more effectively than any other solution. ABOUT GRADIAN Gradian are messaging security and compliance specialists helping enterprises to protect their brand, data and users across the areas of mail, web and the endpoint. One of Symantec's leading Platinum security partners in the U.K., Gradian has been protecting information, infrastructure and interactions in a licencing, support and professional services capacity since 2001. For more information visit www.gradian.co.uk. 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 . MEDIA CONTACT:

Dylan Tweney, VP Communications, Valimail

650-605-3348

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/valimail-and-gradian-join-forces-to-bring-anti-phishing-technology-to-uk-and-european-enterprises-300841635.html SOURCE Valimail

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[May 01, 2019] FPT Joins Automotive Grade Linux and the Linux Foundation to Accelerate Connected Car Development

FPT, the Southeast Asia's leading IT company, has joined the Automotive Grade Linux project at the Linux Foundation, marking an important stage in FPT's automotive technology development. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005674/en/ FPT joins Automotive Grade Linux at the Linux Foundation (News - Alert) to support shared technology development for in-car technology (Photo: Business Wire) The Linux Foundation is a world-class technology consortium which enables mass innovation through open source with the prominent Connected Car project - Automotive Grade Linux (AGL (News - Alert)). As a member, FPT will contribute resources, infrastructures and knowledge to an expansive open source ecosystem. The company plans to support development of shared technology resources by providing exclusive whitepapers and articles as well as automotive engineering services and solutions to the AGL project. FPT will also collaborate with members across industries to enhance AGL capabilities in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Autonomous Driving, In-Vehicle Infotainment, Functional Safety, Virtualization and so on. AGL is an open source project that is changing the way automotive manufacturers build software. Adopting an open platform across the industry enables automakers and suppliers to share and reuse the same code base, which reduces development costs, decreases time-to-market for new products and reduces fragmentation across the industry. "FPT's mission is to offer comprehensive automotive services and solutions that facilitates the se of infotainment, telematics and autonomous driving". Said Mr. Nguyen Duc Kinh, Director of Automotive and Manufacturing industry, FPT Software. "We yearn to collaborate and contribute to the world's largest open collaboration communities to jointly develop the next-gen technologies of Connected Car."



The membership will not only further advance FPT's automotive capabilities but also strengthen the company's commitment to open innovation, which enables FPT to better serve global customers working on Connected Car particularly and automotive-related projects generally. "The Automotive Grade Linux platform continues to mature thanks to the support and technical prowess of the community behind it," said Dan Cauchy, Executive Director of Automotive Grade Linux at the Linux Foundation. "We are excited to have FPT, a leading tech firm in Southeast Asia, join the community, and we look forward to their contributions and leveraging their expertise in automotive engineering."

FPT has offered solutions and services to some 200 world's top automakers, OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, and semiconductor manufacturers in the automotive industry. The company leverages forefront innovations and provides engineering services to customers in multiple industry-specific projects, ranging from Smart Applications, HMI, Middleware to Hardware layers. By utilizing extensive experience and accumulated know-how and employing a large pool of talents including nearly 3,000 automotive experts and engineers, FPT implements solutions with processes and quality in accordance with AUTOSAR, Automotive SPICE Level 3, MBD and other global standards. About FPT FPT Corporation is the global leading technology and IT services group headquartered in Vietnam with nearly US$2 billion in revenue and 33,000 employees. FPT is a pioneer in digital transformation and delivers world-class services in Smart factory, Digital platforms, RPA, AI, IoT, Enterprise Mobility, Cloud, AR/VR, Embedded Systems, Managed services, Testing, Platform modernization, Business Applications, Application Services, BPO, and more. FPT has served over 600 customers worldwide, 100 of which are Fortune 500 companies in the industries of Aerospace & Aviation, Automotive, Banking and Finance, Communications, Media and Services, Logistics & Transportation, Utilities, Consumer Packaged Goods, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Public sector, Technology and more. For more information, please visit www.fpt-software.com. About The Linux Foundation Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 1,000 members and is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation's projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and more. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org. About Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) Automotive Grade Linux is a collaborative open source project that is bringing together automakers, suppliers and technology companies to accelerate the development and adoption of a fully open software stack for the connected car. With Linux at its core, AGL is developing an open platform from the ground up that can serve as the de facto industry standard to enable rapid development of new features and technologies. Although initially focused on In-Vehicle-Infotainment (IVI), AGL is the only organization planning to address all software in the vehicle, including instrument cluster, heads up display, telematics, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. The AGL platform is available to all, and anyone can participate in its development. Learn more: https://www.automotivelinux.org/. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005674/en/

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[May 01, 2019] St. Lawrence College Uses Artificial Intelligence to Boost Enrollment

AI-enabled chatbot communicates with new students via text; provides real-time, personalized guidance throughout the enrollment process KINGSTON, ON, May 1, 2019 /CNW/ - Incoming first-year students to St. Lawrence College (SLC) have a new resource to guide them through the admissions and enrollment process, thanks to an artificially intelligent chatbot launched in March 2019. The chatbot, known as PAL (Personal Assistant Line), was developed in partnership with AdmitHub, whose pioneering approach to conversational AI enables colleges and universities to provide applicants with proactive, personalized support and guidance. "As a new generation of digitally savvy students arrives on campus, we have an unprecedented opportunity to rethink the way we support students in the transition to college," said Stewart Clark, Director of Marketing, Communications and Recruitment at SLC. "By providing students with immediate, 24/7 support, we're able to eliminate friction in the enrollment process and unlock time for our admissions team to provide hands-on support to students who need it most." One in five accepted students never arrive on campus due to challenges navigating a maze of paperwork and financial aid requirements. Recent research, however, has shown that chatbots can reduce so-called "summer melt" -- whereby students simply lose interest and motivation to go to college -- by more than 20 percent. Since the launch of PAL, 80 per cent of SLC students have already opted in to use the chatbot, with a total of 3000 questions asked in the first month alone.



"All too often, an enrollment process designed to help students winds up creating barriers -- in the form of paperwork and deadlines -- to matriculation," said Drew Magliozzi, Co-Founder and CEO of AdmitHub. "Chatbots can simplify admissions for students who may not have support or expertise to navigate the process." AdmitHub's popular conversational AI solutions are used by a cross-section of higher education institutions across North America to provide on-demand student assistance via text message and through Facebook Messenger, answering questions in real time and connecting students to appropriate advisors and resources.

About St. Lawrence College

St. Lawrence College is an integral part of the economic life and social fabric of Eastern Ontario, with campuses in Kingston, Brockville, and Cornwall. St. Lawrence College consistently ranks as one of Ontario's leading community colleges, preparing students for the global economy with relevant, practical, and experiential learning opportunities. Offering over 100 full-time programs, St. Lawrence College is a close-knit community of 10,000 full-time students, and more than 96,000 alumni. About AdmitHub

Founded in 2014, AdmitHub is an edtech company committed to fostering college success with conversational artificial intelligence. AdmitHub's virtual assistants provide on-demand assistance via chat by gathering data, sending reminders, answering questions, surveying students, and connecting students to appropriate advisors. Currently, AdmitHub has 40+ university partnerships focusing on recruiting prospects, yielding admits, and retaining enrolled students. SOURCE St. Lawrence College

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[May 01, 2019] Motus One Names Julie Hamp As Chairman

LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Motus One is proud to announce that two executives with a wealth of valuable experience have joined the company's team in key positions  Julie Hamp and Nancie Stoddard. Julie Hamp, a seasoned executive in the automotive industry is now the chairman of Motus One, an appointment that is effective immediately. She will oversee and guide the strategy, development, staffing and training at Motus One, with a core focus on customer satisfaction attained through service excellence. With 35 years in communications, Julie helped build global brands while cultivating talent and key relationships around the world. In addition to her chairman role at Motus One, Julie holds a senior advisor position at Hawksbill Group, a global business and communications consulting firm, and is a consulting partner to Finsbury, a global leader in strategic communications. In the automotive category, Julie was the global chief communications officer and managing officer with Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. Prior to her Tokyo appointment, she was the chief communications officer of Toyota North America. Before Toyota, she held various communications positions within General Motors (GM) helping to lead their brands in North America, as well as holding roles as GM VP for the Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Europe regions.



President and CEO of Motus One, Mike Jackson, said that Julie brings tremendous credentials to the post as well as experience that is vital for today's changing mobility marketplace. "Motus One is proud to announce that one of the leading automotive public relations and communications professionals has joined our team to assist us in the ongoing transformation of our company," said Mike. "I'm confident that Julie's style, experiences and passion for the automotive industry will enhance our focus and help us always exceed the expectations of our clients and the automotive media community."

Julie furthered Mike's sentiment, "I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to working once again with my long-time friend, Mike Jackson," she said. "I love the automotive industry and am excited to be a part of it during a time when we are seeing the most significant transformations the industry has experienced since its inception."

Fritz Henderson, Hawksbill Group principal and former CEO of General Motors and SunCoke Energy, said, "The Motus One Board of Directors made an excellent choice in selecting Julie for this role. I'm confident she will advance their relationships with OEM's and the automotive media given her extensive relationship history with people in these positions of influence." Julie holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan and her post-graduate studies include participation in the GM-Harvard Business School's Executive Development Program with an emphasis on Asian studies. She is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and a member of the Arthur W. Page Society. Nancie Stoddard - vice president of finance, is another ideal candidate for the ambitious and technologically-driven objectives of Motus One and for Mike's drive to diversify the talent within the company. "Nancie is a dynamic and multifaceted financial executive," said Mike, "as her expertise comes from a history of strategic, functional and operational experience with rapidly growing technology companies. Nancie has deep experience in fleet management, including guiding a team responsible for managing a fleet of 1,200 vehicles. This combination of tech savvy and automotive know-how is critical for the success of Motus One." Nancie graduated with degrees from both University of Michigan and Michigan State University. "A champion of customer satisfaction, business innovation and continuous improvement, Nancie is a unifier and creates added-value through intellectual prowess, consistency, quality results and dedication," said Mike. Nancie also serves as an officer of Financial Executives International, Detroit Chapter and is the founder of Accounting and Finance Women's Alliance, Detroit-West. About Motus One Since its inception in 1998, Motus One, previously known as Events Solutions International (ESI), has been a leader in the fleet management industry through a focus on the care, custody and control of valued client assets. Motus One currently serves more than 1500 automotive journalists representing 72 percent of the U.S. and covers 100 percent of the luxury brand "TOP 50" automotive and lifestyle media. Recently, through a $2 million investment in proprietary technology solutions that streamline 90 percent of current processes, the company evolved from ESI into Motus One. This investment evolved the company from a dated approach into an industry-leading approach, driven by people, process and technology, that delivers transparency and value to OEM clients and to the automotive press community. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/motus-one-names-julie-hamp-as-chairman-300841799.html SOURCE Motus One

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[May 01, 2019] NC4 to Focus on Cyber Security Solutions via New Company

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NC4, a leader in revolutionizing safety and security solutions, announced today the formation of Celerium, which will focus on cyber security solutions. These cyber security solutions are already in use by information-sharing organizations involved in finance, healthcare, retail, automotive, aviation, and defense. "Our cyber defense solutions are changing the way we think about cyber security," says Aubrey Chernick, founder of Celerium. "We are working with communities to build cyber defense and community awareness into day-to-day operations while accelerating the time from awareness to defense." In addition to information-sharing organizations, the cyber solutions are also in use by international entities in Canada, Asia, and across Europe. Celerium will also support ongoing projects for the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and the Department ofHealth and Human Services.



"Our solutions support human collaboration, automated sharing of cyber threat information and community defense. Our latest innovation, Celerium's Cyber Defense Network, is focused on improving community awareness and action through a number of new and innovative capabilities ranging from specialized community dashboards to automated bots," says Karl Kotalik, President and CEO of NC4. Celerium will showcase new advancements at the upcoming AFCEA event in May and the FIRST conference in June.

About NC4 NC4 delivers revolutionary safety and security solutions that empower businesses, government organizations, and communities to collect and disseminate intelligence to mitigate risks and manage incidents. NC4 solutions are used by private sector companies involved in financial services, high-tech, insurance, retail, manufacturing, aerospace and defense, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, and other industries. In the public sector, NC4 solutions are used by federal, state, and local agencies for homeland security, emergency management and law enforcement. For information about NC4, visit www.NC4.com or call toll-free, 1-877-624-4999. About Celerium Celerium protects important industry sectors and their members by augmenting and leveraging cyber threat intelligence to more actively defend against cyber threats and attacks. Celerium's flagship solution, Cyber Defense Network, is a unique community collaboration experience combining communities, processes, and underlying technology to accelerate defensive actions for its members. Members are empowered to create, share, and receive threat information easily and rapidly, assess and prioritize relevant responses to cyber threats, and feed high-quality threat intelligence directly into key security technologies, significantly enhancing their value and member responsiveness. Celerium powers the next generation of information-sharing organizations, including ISAOs and ISACs. Relied on by government agencies, enterprise risk management teams, CISOs, and SOC analysts, Celerium supports all critical infrastructure and market sectors. Learn more at www.celerium.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nc4-to-focus-on-cyber-security-solutions-via-new-company-300841855.html SOURCE NC4

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[May 01, 2019] After Recent SEC Guidance, TokenSoft to Accept Clients from Broader Set of Law Firms

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of recent guidance about security token regulations from the SEC, TokenSoft, Inc., the leading digital asset issuance and management platform, today announced that it no longer restricts clients to use one of its previously vetted and approved law firms. "When we launched TokenSoft, we were well aware that the legal landscape was new to blockchain-based issuances of securities. In order to mitigate legal risks, we decided to perform due diligence on a select group of law firms that shared our conservative view that digital assets should follow securities regulations," said Mason Borda, CEO, TokenSoft. "In retrospect, doing this helped protect our clients and encouraged them to take a more conservative approach, which has paid off given that the regulators now echo much of this sentiment. When issuers come to us today as their technology partner for a compliant issuance, they typically have already engaged a law firm for their project, and if their counsel carries the SEC's perspective, we don't want to be a reason for changing that important relationhip."



The SEC recently issued the Framework for 'Investment Contract' Analysis of Digital Assets , which gave the market more specific guidance from which to work. In addition, most larger global law firms have created blockchain practices with attorneys with pedigrees in traditional financial securities, banking, and tax regulation. TokenSoft's sense is that market participants, including legal advisers, are now commonly taking the position that tokens are regulated instruments. The market also has the benefit of seeing an increasing number of use cases from which to learn. "For our business, this means that we are less concerned that attorneys may allow their clients to adopt an interpretation of the regulations which carries higher risk. Now, we can serve a broader client base due to this common understanding that comes from clearer regulatory guidance."

As 2019 progresses, TokenSoft is seeing steady interest from institutions and enterprises looking to issue asset-backed tokens or digital securities. If you're a law firm working with issuers of digital assets and would like to learn more about how TokenSoft can help issuers adhere to applicable regulations, please reach out at https://www.tokensoft.io . About TokenSoft

TokenSoft offers institutional-grade compliance for blockchain-based securities. The company helps clients launch and manage asset-backed tokens and digital securities on the blockchain in a compliant and secure manner, regardless of jurisdiction. Its process and suite of solutions cover the entire lifecycle of a digital asset, including onboarding, issuance, post-issuance management, and custody. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/after-recent-sec-guidance-tokensoft-to-accept-clients-from-broader-set-of-law-firms-300841676.html SOURCE TokenSoft, Inc.

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[May 01, 2019]

Unifor reverses layoffs at Bell Canada

TORONTO, May 1, 2019 /CNW/ - Unifor and Bell Canada have reached an agreement to reverse layoffs of Bell technicians.

The union and the employer have agreed to a memorandum that guarantees the full recall of all 76 employees who received surplus notice on April 18, 2019, to return to work on May 6th. The union and the company also agreed to the offer of a limited Retirement Incentive Offer (RIO) to Craft and Services employees.

"When faced with these layoffs, Unifor members took collective action to oppose Bell's decision," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "This is not a perfect solution, but it protects the work of these technicians and ensures stability for their families."

On April 18, Bell Canada issued layoff notice to 76 technicians across Ontario and Quebec. The union worked to reverse this layoff publicly and privately in successive meetings with the employer.







"Unifor members just want good jobs that they can rely on at Bell Canada. That means that we will continue to fight back against all attempts to eliminate jobs, outsource and erode the quality of unionized work at Bell," said Renaud Gagne, Unifor Quebec Director.

Employees of Bell Canada and Bell subsidiaries have long campaigned against contracting out and other forms of job erosion and will continue to do so. For current updates about this campaign, visit bellrealtalk.ca.

Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

SOURCE Unifor
[May 01, 2019] Cherwell Appoints Gary Golden as Chief Financial Officer

Cherwell Software, LLC ("Cherwell"), a global leader in service management, announced that finance veteran Gary Golden has been appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO.) He will report to Sam Gilliland, Cherwell's chief executive officer, and be based in the company's office in Denver, Colorado. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005678/en/ Gary Golden, veteran finance executive, joins Cherwell, a leader in enterprise service management, as new market grows. (Photo: Business Wire) Golden will lead Cherwell's finance organization as Cherwell expands from its well-established position in information technology service management (ITSM) to a leader in the emerging enterprise service management market.



"Gary has a tremendous range of skills and experience to bring to Cherwell as we are poised for a new phase of rapid growth," said Gilliland. "In the course of working on many significant projects together during our time at Sabre (News - Alert), I recognized Gary's rare combination of strong financial capabilities, strategic orientation, practical operating focus, and genuine personal humility." Golden joins Cherwell after serving as CFO of Bottle Rocket (News - Alert), a leader in mobile app design and development and digital transformation consulting. Prior to Bottle Rocket, Golden had other CFO roles, including for Westec Intelligent Surveillance and for Sabre's European region. He has also held senior leadership positions in corporate development, administration, business operations and law.

About his new role, Golden added, "I am thrilled to join the Cherwell team and support the company's transformative impact on organizations across industries and in regions around the world that are embracing the benefits of service management." Golden is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in business and a juris doctor in Law. He also holds a corporate finance certification. About Cherwell Software (News - Alert) Cherwell (@Cherwell) empowers organizations to transform their business through the rapid adoption and easy management of digital services. Cherwell's adaptable platform has enabled thousands of organizations to modernize their business operations with customizable service management, automation, and reporting across the enterprise. For more information, visit: http://www.cherwell.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005678/en/

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By IANS

KALYANI: Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday emphatically stated that no one will be able to separate Kashmir from India whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP were in power at the Centre, or not.

Addressing an election rally here, an area that falls under the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, Shah said if voted back to power, the saffron party will remove Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.

"Modi is India's Prime Minister now. He will be elected as the Prime Minister again. But even if a time comes when neither Modiji nor BJP is in power at the centre, even then no one will be able to separate Kashmir from India," Shah said.

"Till the time a single BJP activist is alive, we will not let that happen. Kashmir is an inseparable part of India. It is jewel in the crown of our motherland. Give us 23 seats in Bengal. We promise we will abolish article 370 from Kashmir," he told the people here.

ALSO READ: Mamata Banerjee supporting those who wish to divide India, says Amit Shah

Attacking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for inviting her former Jammu and Kashmir counterpart Omar Abdullah in the mega anti-BJP rally held in Kolkata on January 19, Shah demanded that Banerjee should clarify whether she supports Adbullah's statements seeking a separate Prime Minister for Kashmir.

"Mamata Banerjee had invited Omar Abdullah in Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground and held his hand. Omar Abdula has given a statement that there should be a separate Prime Minister in Kashmir. Tell me should there be two Prime Ministers in a country?" he asked.

"I want to ask Mamata didi whether she agrees to the statement of Abdullah. I am sure she will be silent because it is a question of her vote bank," the BJP leader said.

FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

Speaking in a region dominated by members of the Dalit Matua community, a Hindu sect who have migrated from Bangladesh, Shah reiterated that once re-elected, the Narendra Modi government will bring the citizenship Amendment Bill to ensure the citizenship rights for all the refugees in the country.

He also claimed that the ouster of Banerjee's Trinamool Congress government from Bengal will be confirmed once the results of 2019 polls are announced on May 23.

"Mamata didi, your ouster is confirmed. Once the results of the 2019 polls are announced and BJP wins 23 seats, your exit will be confirmed. The people have decided that when the election results are announced on May 23, a new sun of 'Paribartan' (change) will rise in Bengal," he added.
[May 01, 2019] Calling All Students Ages 13-18 Years Old To Participate In Global Science And Math Video Contest

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced today the launch of its fifth annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a global student science and mathematics competition designed to inspire creative thinking about fundamental concepts in the life sciences, physics and mathematics. All students must register at https://breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org and submit completed entries between May 15 and June 15, 2019. Students ages 13 to 18 from countries across the globe are invited to create original videos (up to three minutes in length) that illustrate a concept or theory in the life sciences, physics or mathematics. The submissions will be judged on the students' ability to communicate complex scientific ideas in the most engaging, illuminating and imaginative ways. One winner will be recognized and awarded a $250,000 college scholarship. The science teacher who inspired the winning student will win $50,000. The winner's school will also receive a state-of-the art science lab, designed by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and valued at $100,000. "Young people remind us to stay curious about the world around us," said Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, partner with the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. "The Breakthrough Junior Challenge encourages young people to dive into that curiosity, create something meaningful and develop a life-long love of learning. We're proud to support these young minds through this Challenge." The new Breakthrough Junior Challenge competition calendar can be found at https://breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org/timeline. A launch video with details on the Challenge can be found on YouTube at 2019 Breakthrough Junior Challenge: Have You Heard About the Challenge? The Breakthrough Junior Challenge will once again include a regional Popular Vote, which this year will be held from September 5th through September 20. The Popular Vote will take place on the Breakthrough Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BreakthroughPrize, and its winner will gain automatic entry to the final round of the overall competition. For the Popular Vote contest, up to 30 videos will be displayed on the Breakthrough Facebook page. These will include the two top-scoring submissions from each of the seven Geographic Regions (see list below), as well as remaining top-scoring videos from a judging review by the Evaluation Panel of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. People from around the world will have a chance to vote for their favorite overall video in the contest, as well as their favorite video from their own region. The seven regions are North America (US/Canada); Central America/Mexico/Caribbean/South AmericaEurope; Asia (including China); India; Middle East/Africa; and Australia /New Zealand.



The video with the highest number of combined likes, positive reactions (e.g. "love", "haha", "wow"), and Shares will be declared top scorer in the 2019 Popular Vote Challenge. The top scorer will progress automatically to the final round, bypassing the next round of judging and entering the running for overall Challenge winner. The video submissions will be reviewed by Breakthrough Prize laureates and other leaders in the fields of science, technology, and education. In addition to creating and producing their own video entries, competitors must also participate in a round of peer-to-peer assessment, in which they score some of their fellow Challengers' submissions.

As in previous years, the 2019 Breakthrough Junior Challenge winner will be announced at the internationally broadcast Breakthrough Prize awards ceremony, live from Silicon Valley, details of which will be announced at a later date. The winner of last year's Breakthrough Junior Challenge was Samay Godika from India. His video, which focused on circadian rhythms, can be viewed on The Breakthrough YouTube page. Godika, who says winning the contest was "life-changing," made a second video describing the experience. Since its launch, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge has reached 190 countries, and the 2018 installment of the global competition attracted more than 12,000 registrants. The contest is designed to inspire creative thinking about fundamental concepts in the life sciences, physics, and mathematics. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a global competition to develop and demonstrate young people's knowledge of science and scientific principles; generate excitement in these fields; support STEM career choices; and engage the imagination and interest of the public-at-large in key concepts of fundamental science. About the Breakthrough Prize

For the seventh year, the Breakthrough Prizes will recognize the world's top scientists. Each prize is $3 million and presented in the fields of Life Sciences (up to four per year), Fundamental Physics (one per year) and Mathematics (one per year). In addition, up to three New Horizons in Physics and up to three New Horizons in Mathematics Prizes are given out to junior researchers each year. Laureates attend a live televised award ceremony designed to celebrate their achievements and inspire the next generation of scientists. As part of the ceremony schedule, they also engage in a program of lectures and discussions. Information on the Breakthrough Prizes is available at breakthroughprize.org. Partners Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Khan Academy's free resources include practice questions, quizzes, videos and articles. We offer preschool through early college learning on a range of academic subjects, including math, sciences and the humanities. Our mastery learning system allows teachers to tailor instruction for every student. We offer free personalized SAT practice in partnership with the College Board and free personalized LSAT prep in collaboration with the Law School Admission Council. Khan Academy has been translated into 36 languages, and 18 million people learn on Khan Academy every month. As a nonprofit organization, Khan Academy relies upon donations from foundations, corporations and individuals around the world. For more information, please visit khanacademy.org,or join us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

The Breakthrough Prize Lab for the winning student's school is designed by and in partnership with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL). Established in 1890, CSHL has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education. Its New York campus boasts 1100 faculty, students and employees and hosts over 12,000 visiting scientists each year for world-renowned conferences and courses. CSHL's DNA Learning Center is the world's largest provider of student lab instruction in molecular genetics and teacher training. Materials and methods developed by the DNA Learning Center are accessible for free through more than 20 award-winning educational websites. The Laboratory's education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a science policy think tank and a graduate program in biological sciences. Visit www.cshl.edu. National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers  and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Contact

For more information, including competition rules, video submission guidelines and queries, go to: www.breakthroughjuniorchallenge.org. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/calling-all-students-ages-13-18-years-old-to-participate-in-global-science-and-math-video-contest-300841886.html SOURCE Breakthrough Prize

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[May 01, 2019] Lever Unveils Talent Cloud Connect; Delivers on Promise of Data-Driven HR

Lever, the company transforming the way organizations hire, announces Lever Talent Cloud Connect, the latest addition to the Lever Talent Acquisition Suite. Talent Cloud Connect delivers talent and HR leaders unified workflows and aggregates pre- and post-hire data so both teams can easily collaborate and view unified insights for the entire talent lifecycle. According to Josh Bersin, on average HR departments now have 11 systems of record and work with as many as 22 different vendors. "The majority of today's HR and hiring systems operate in silos, creating bottlenecks, inefficiencies and a lack of insight into the processes that connect HR and talent functions to the business," said Sarah Nahm, CEO, Lever. "Talent Cloud Connect solves this problem by delivering a single system of record for talent lifecycle data, increasing efficiencies and eliminating the patchwork of systems HR professionals have long settled for." For example, using Talent Cloud Connect for Workday, which is the first of several Talent Cloud Connect offerings Lever will announce this year, customers can benefit from a pre-built integration where they can easily map and automate business processes flows across Lever and Workday an also aggregate candidate and employee level data from both Lever and Workday to gain unified insights.



Benefits of Talent Cloud Connect include: Pre-built integrations: Talent Cloud Connect delivers pre-built, plug and play, integrations which significantly cut the time, effort and costs required to connect systems as compared to custom integrations.

Talent Cloud Connect delivers pre-built, plug and play, integrations which significantly cut the time, effort and costs required to connect systems as compared to custom integrations. Streamlined workflows: Talent Cloud Connect provides streamlined workflows, making it easy to take actions like creating requisitions or on-boarding new hires, in other systems.

Talent Cloud Connect provides streamlined workflows, making it easy to take actions like creating requisitions or on-boarding new hires, in other systems. Unified talent profiles: Talent Cloud Connect captures the candidate journey across all touchpoints, from first candidate engagement all the way to employee engagement.

Talent Cloud Connect captures the candidate journey across all touchpoints, from first candidate engagement all the way to employee engagement. Unified insights: Talent Cloud Connect customers can access performance data, attrition data and average tenure of employees from their HR system, which can then be used to measure quality of hire and better define talent strategies and budgets.

Talent Cloud Connect customers can access performance data, attrition data and average tenure of employees from their HR system, which can then be used to measure quality of hire and better define talent strategies and budgets. How-to playbook for talent organizations: Talent Cloud Connect offers professional services to make getting started even easier. Customers have a range of services to choose from depending on their needs from a Quick Start package to a more in-depth Talent Transformation assessment and workshop. "As we made the move from a legacy ATS to Lever, one of our major concerns was ensuring a seamless integration to Workday Onboarding," said Melissa Thompson, VP of Talent Acquisition at McGraw-Hill. The Lever implementation team was thoughtful and truly consultative. As a result, our go live went smoothly and new hires are experiencing an improved transition from candidate to employee."

About Lever Lever's Talent Acquisition Suite unifies organizations to source, nurture, interview, and hire top talent through effortless collaboration. Lever supports the hiring needs of over 2000 companies around the globe including the teams at Netflix, Hot Topic, KPMG New Zealand, and Cirque du Soleil. With an overall gender ratio of 50:50, Lever is also fiercely committed to building a team culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion. For more information, visit https://www.lever.co. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005256/en/

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[May 01, 2019] SherWeb Introduces UCaaS Integration of Microsoft Office 365 With World-Class Hosted Voice

ATLANTA, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Convey Services and SherWeb, a leading provider of cloud services based in Canada, today announced a joint initiative to introduce SherWebs advanced cloud solutions into the US telecom, cloud and IT channel market. Together they are unveiling the SherWeb UCaaS Connector, a hosted voice solution tightly integrated with Microsoft Office 365. SherWeb is rolling it out to small-to-medium sized business (SMB) through channel sales partners, VARs and MSPs. SherWeb joined the Convey Channel Accelerator program to make it easier for master agents and their agents to seamlessly offer their cloud solutions through Conveys network of master agents and over 23,000 registered partners.

SherWebs new UCaaS Connector delivers Office 365, along with migration services and tier 1 and 2 support coupled with a world class hosted voice solution, said Michael Slater, Technical Solutions Manager, Cloud PBX at SherWeb. Most sales partners avoid selling Office 365, due to the complexity of the sale, the migration and support. Our UCaaS Connector is a turnkey package that brings a dozen different business functions under a single solution. We chose Convey to help us expand in this market based on their experience in the industry, extensive relationships with master agents, and ability to help us market to partners and help them engage their prospects and customers. The channel is searching for a way to deliver Office 365, without the burden of migration or support, while at the same time earning a reasonable MRC, said Carolyn Bradfield, CEO of Convey. SherWeb has a strategy that guarantees success by providing an integrated hosted voice solution coupled with Office 365 and support Its a solution that fits the way the channel sells and will reward agents for engaging with their customers.



SherWeb is one of the largest Tier 2 Microsoft Cloud Services providers in the world, focusing on the SMB market. More than 40,000 customers in 100 + countries use SherWeb to provide Microsoft cloud solutions including Hosted Exchange, Office 365, SharePoint Hosting and now integrated UCaaS. As a member of the Channel Accelerator program, SherWebs content and training appears on Convey master agent portals to educate sales partners, along with MSPs and VARs. In addition, agents marketing SherWebs UCaaS Connector will be supported by Conveys Conduct Campaign email marketing technology that delivers pre-packed email campaigns through master agent portals. Master agents can immediately sell SherWebs services through a Channel Accelerator contract. For more information visit: https://sherweb.channelaccelerator.com

About SherWeb

Since 1998, SherWeb has been helping SMBs become a one-stop shop for best-in-class cloud services and products, including Office 365, Dynamics 365, Azure, Cloud PBX, Security & Compliance and Online Backup. SherWebs unique partnership approach  combined with an accessible team of sales, migration and support experts  help partners to streamline operations and accelerate product launch with little to no investment. For more information, visit: www.sherweb.com/partners About Convey Services

Convey Services delivers content and marketing portals and connects them into networks to inform, educate and engage channel partners and direct sellers in the telecom/cloud space, the property and casualty insurance market and food distribution industry. Conveys portal technology automates and organizes partner management, has tools to engage and educate partners and integrates email marketing technology for members to run packaged email marketing campaigns to their customers and prospects. For information visit www.conveyservices.com , [email protected] or call 888-975-1382. Press Contact

Bruce Ahern  (770) 580-0810

Chief Marketing Officer

Convey Services

[email protected]

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[May 01, 2019] Women in Technology 20th Annual Leadership Awards Gala Features Expert Panel of Past Winners

Women in Technology (WIT), the premier organization contributing to the success of professional women in the Washington, D.C.-area technology community, today announced an addition to the upcoming 20th Annual Leadership Awards Gala: an expert panel of past awardees. The WIT Leadership Awards program honors highly successful women who have made mentoring the next generation of leaders in technology a significant component of their own success. The full list of 2019 finalists can be found here. In addition to recognizing the finalists and winners of the 2019 awards, this year's Gala will feature a panel of previous award winners discussing learning moments, regrets, motivations, inspirations and advice for tomorrow's leaders. Maureen Bunyan, former DC-area news anchor and longtime emcee of the WIT Gala, will be the moderator of the panel featuring: Deb Alderson , who won the Corporate Leadership Award in 2007 and is currently the CEO of GTL (News - Alert)

, who won the Corporate Leadership Award in 2007 and is currently the CEO of GTL (News - Alert) Linda Jacksta , who won the Government Leadership Aard in 2004 and is currently Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner, Operations Support at U.S. Customs and Border Protection

, who won the Government Leadership Aard in 2004 and is currently Deputy Executive Assistant Commissioner, Operations Support at U.S. Customs and Border Protection Ginger Lew , who won a Leadership Award in 2001 and is currently Managing Director at Cube Hydro Partners LLC

, who won a Leadership Award in 2001 and is currently Managing Director at Cube Hydro Partners LLC Toni Townes-Whitley, who won the President's Award in 2006 and is currently President, U.S. Regulated Industries at Microsoft (News - Alert)



WIT will announce the winners at the Leadership Awards Gala on Thursday, May 9, 2019 at the Sheraton Tysons Corner. For information about sponsorship packages and to purchase tables or individual tickets, please visit https://www.womenintechnology.org/leadership-awards and follow us on Twitter (News - Alert): @WITWomen, #WITLA19.

About Women in Technology Women in Technology (WIT) is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of advancing women in technology - from the classroom to the boardroom. With more than 1,000 members in the Washington, D.C. area, WIT fulfills its vision by providing leadership development, technology education, networking, and mentoring opportunities for women at all levels of their careers and for girls interested in STEM. For more information, please visit: womenintechnology.org or connect with us via Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter (@WITWomen). View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005750/en/

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Vizient Blog Recognized by Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals with 2 Hermes Awards, Honorable Mention

Vizient, Inc. announced today its blog has won two 2019 Hermes Creative Awards from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) - a Platinum and Gold - as well as an Honorable Mention. Named after the messenger of the Olympian gods in Greek mythology, the award recognizes communicators' role in message delivery.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005753/en/

The three Vizient blog posts recognized are:

Platinum

Blog Single Post: Joy to the Workforce, by Kelly Randall, knowledge transfer director, about a Vizient-launched 58-hospital and health system collaborative combating employee burnout.

Gold

Blog Writing: Orcas, a Whiff of Roses and What's Right with Medicine in America, a personal reflection on gratitude by Tom Robertson, executive director of the Vizient Research Institute, after he was diagnosed with cancer.







Honorable Mention

Blog Writing: How to Use Data to Achieve a Clinically Integrated Supply Chain by Debbie Schuhardt, principal, clinical advisory solutions, which outlines how to present data in a meaningful, actionable way.

"It's a great honor to be recognized by our peers," said Kyle Pyron, senior vice president, marketing and communications for Vizient. "We have a wide variety of subject matter experts, and the blog has been a great way share insights on health care topics and trends as well as strategies to help address common pain points that hospitals are facing."

Launched in 2016, the blog is one of several media channels Vizient offers members to provide insight on trends and problem-solving in the complex health care industry. Since its inception, the blog has seen double-digit increases in page views and continues to gain readership.

The AMCP is an international organization consisting of thousands of marketing and communications professionals and has sponsored the competition for 25 years. Judges look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry.

AMCP selected winners from more than 6,000 entries received from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, public relations firms and production companies throughout the United States, Canada and dozens of other countries.

About Vizient, Inc.

Vizient, Inc., the largest member-driven health care performance improvement company in the country, provides innovative data-driven solutions, expertise and collaborative opportunities that lead to improved patient outcomes and lower costs. Vizient's diverse membership base includes academic medical centers, pediatric facilities, community hospitals, integrated health delivery networks and nonacute health care providers and represents approximately $100 billion in annual purchasing volume. The Vizient brand identity represents the integration of VHA Inc., University HealthSystem Consortium and Novation, which combined in 2015, as well as MedAssets' Spend and Clinical Resource Management (SCM) segment, including Sg2, which was acquired in 2016. In 2019, Vizient again received a World's Most Ethical Company designation from the Ethisphere Institute. Vizient's headquarters are in Irving, Texas, with locations in Chicago and other cities across the United States. Please visit www.vizientinc.com as well as our newsroom, blog, Twitter, LinkedIn (News - Alert) and YouTube pages for more information about the company.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005753/en/
[May 01, 2019] Ann Arbor SPARK Celebrates Achievements, Region's Economic Progress at Annual Meeting

Ann Arbor SPARK hosted its 2019 Annual Meeting at Eastern Michigan University highlighting results from the organization's work in 2018. The event also presented awards to three SPARK businesses driving growth in the region, welcomed guest speaker Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and featured a keynote address by Amy Liu, vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and the Adeline M. and Alfred I. Johnson Chair in Urban and Metropolitan Policy. "The Ann Arbor SPARK annual meeting is an opportunity to recap our real results, for real people, in real places including the startups we have helped grow, and the new jobs plus investments that have occurred in our region as a result of our collaborative partnership between the private, public and academic sectors," said Paul Krutko, president and CEO of Ann Arbor SPARK. "We value this time to connect with the hundreds of community and business leaders who are vested in our mission to grow regional economic prosperity." Ann Arbor SPARK's work in 2018 continued to boost the region's economy through business growth and success: Business attraction and retention of 31 successful projects, resulting in $147 million in new investment commitments, 1,280 announced jobs, and 1,149 retained jobs.

Assistance to 224 startups that currently employ 748 full-time employees and incubation of 68 startup companies New for this year's annual meeting, Ann Arbor SPARK introduced the Legends Award, honoring Duo Security for its incredible success, including the 2018 $2.35 billion acquisition by Cisco (News - Alert). David Parsigian, Ann Arbor SPARK board chair, presented the award emphasizing, "Duo's commitment to our region,combined with its ability to attract talented job seekers who want to live and work here, has led to Cisco signaling its commitment to continuing to grow here in Ann Arbor."



Two other awards were presented as well. Groundspeed Analytics received the Entrepreneurial Services Company of the Year award for its growth since its participation in Entrepreneur Boot Camp in 2015. Last year, Groundspeed closed a $30 million Series B round of funding and has plans to continue growing its team of 75 employees. KLA, which announced its selection of Ann Arbor for a new research and development center in 2018, received the Project of the Year award. This new office is expected to result in $70 million in investment in the region and the creation of up to 500 jobs. KLA, headquartered in Milpitas, California, is currently occupying Ann Arbor SPARK's "soft landing" space at the SPARK Central Innovation Center while it works on building a permanent location in the region.

Governor Whitmer presented her economic priorities for the State of Michigan budget - roads and infrastructure, drinking water, and skills training. She concluded her remarks by saying, "When we solve these fundamentals, we make Michigan a more competitive state where our kids stay, where our families thrive, and where businesses continue to invest." Keynote speaker Amy Liu began by acknowledging that Ann Arbor SPARK's emphasis on entrepreneurship and economic development is unique among the organization's peers across the country. In her presentation, Liu laid out a new framework for economic growth built on three primary strategies. The importance of nurturing a dynamic business ecosystem, building a skilled workforce which includes grooming existing talent, and creating connected places where jobs and opportunities are available throughout a well-designed economic district ideally connected by transit. Liu concluded by encouraging the community to focus on developing technical talent, sustainable placemaking, a globally connected infrastructure, and exhibiting the presence and support of a diverse population. Ann Arbor SPARK's annual meeting was made possible through support from sponsors, including premier sponsors Comcast (News - Alert) Business and DTE Energy Foundation. About Ann Arbor SPARK Ann Arbor SPARK, a non-profit organization, is advancing the region by encouraging and supporting business acceleration, attraction and retention. The organization identifies and meets the needs of business at every stage, from start-ups to large organizations. Ann Arbor SPARK collaborates with business, academic, government, and community investor partners. For more information, please call (734) 761-9317 or visit www.AnnArborUSA.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005756/en/

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[May 01, 2019] ProvenDB Announces Early Access Program for Blockchain-enabled Database Service

ProvenDB, a new, next-generation blockchain-enabled database service, today announced the availability of its early access program. ProvenDB makes it easy for developers to build cutting-edge apps which leverage the immutable public blockchain. The MongoDB-compatible database service adds the ability to maintain multiple versions of data and anchor these to the blockchain. The resulting database versions are tamper-proof, immutable and cryptographically provable. The company also announced the availability of an open-source application - ProvenDocs - which allows end users to upload documents and get blockchain-certified proofs. ProvenDB is built by a team of database experts, led by Guy Harrison, an industry leader and author of several books on databases including "Next Generation Databases." The company is funded by Toba Capital, whose founder, Vinny Smith, was the CEO and Chairman of the database management company Quest Software (News - Alert). Blockchain has emerged as a powerful, disruptive technology with the potential to revolutionize banking and other industries. Public blockchains incorporate a built-in database (or ledger) which records cryptocurrency transactions or other data elements. Elements on this ledger are cryptographically protected from modification: it's possible to state with cryptographic certainty when a data record was written and be certain it has not been altered. However, due to its low throughput, high latency, limited storage capabilities, simple data structures and poor economics, the ability of the blockchain to replace traditional database systems is limited. ProvenDB bridges te gap between databases and the public blockchain by layering on top of a standard database engine, adding core blockchain characteristics to the database. The resulting database respects all usual database "CRUD" operations (Create-Read-Update-Delete) - but also leverages the blockchain to provide an immutable, tamper-proof history of the data stored within the database.



"Blockchain has sometimes been described as the world's worst database," explained Guy Harrison, Founder and CTO of ProvenDB. "It offers poor transactional throughput, and high storage costs. However, its killer feature is the ability to anchor items to a provable timestamp, allowing us for the first time to prove the creation time of a data item and confirm its integrity. This is revolutionary for applications requiring legal or cryptographic proofs." ProvenDB provides a database service that combines the features of a familiar document database with the blockchain characteristics of immutability and tamper-proof storage. Using ProvenDB, applications can easily provide incontestable proofs of data integrity and provenance and allow users to view previous versions of the database and provide a complete and provable audit trail of data changes.

"Blockchain technology represents the largest paradigm shift for data management since the advent of the relational database more than 30 years ago," said Vinny Smith, Founder, Toba Capital. "For blockchain to go mainstream, application developers need the performance and ease of use of a centralized database with the immutability and time stamps of the public blockchain. ProvenDB will usher in a new era of applications that have high transactional throughput, low latency, and legal proofs stored on the public blockchain for transparency and auditability." The company also announced the availability of an end-user application, ProvenDocs, built on ProvenDB, which allows users to upload any document through an easy-to-use user interface. The integrity, ownership and creation date of the documents are reliably stored on the blockchain and the content of the documents can be private or shared. Developers can register for early access at provendb.com and provendocs.com. About Toba Capital Toba Capital is an early-stage investment firm committed to helping create incredible technology companies. Toba looks for businesses capable of long-term growth and teams with the potential to fundamentally shift markets for the common good. Toba Capital takes a high-conviction, hands-on, dollar-concentrated approach to venture investing. The firm has a single LP evergreen fund structure, which means its process and investment horizons are highly aligned with the teams it backs. Toba Capital was founded in 2012 by Vinny Smith and has offices in Newport Beach and San Francisco. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005060/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Millennial Workers Five Times More Likely To Seriously Consider Suicide Than Boomers

DALLAS, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Workers under 30 are more likely to consider suicide than any other age group, according to David Michel, CEO of Catapult Health. An analysis of more than 157,000 patient records by Catapult Health found that millennial workers are five times more likely to consider suicide than are boomers. The study included data from checkups conducted by Catapult in workplace settings in 44 states. The analysis reveals that 2.3 patients per 1,000 under the age of 30 have gone as far as creating a plan for ending their lives with an intent to carry it out. That compares to .4 per 1,000 for those over 60. The average across all age groups is .86 per 1,000. "The numbers may seem small," said Mr. Michel, "but if your company has 5,000 employees, that means that at any given moment four of them are probably seriously considering suicide, and the number is higher if you employ more younger workers." Suicide is the second leading cause of deaths among millennials, behind accidents and ahead of homicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of all deaths in the U.S., claiming 47,000 people annually. The analysis also found that workers under 30 are significantly more likely to suffer from depression than their older counterparts. Depression affected 4.8% of millennials tracked in the data, compared to 1.7% of the boomers. "It is imperative that employers help their employees recognize depression and provide the resources to overcome it," Michel concluded. Data in the analysis are taken from profiles Catapult Health captures of employees working at companies nationwide. The profiles include both physical and mental health indicators and provide insight into the current well-being of American workers. For a copy of the report or for more information about Catapult Health, access www.CatapultHealth.com. About Catapult Health Catapult Health conducts preventive care checkups at the workplace using both onsite and telehealth resources. Patients receive their blood chemistry, depression screening and other test results in real time, in consultation with a board-certified Nurse Practitioner.







Contact: Lee Dukes

214-906-7035

[email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/millennial-workers-five-times-more-likely-to-seriously-consider-suicide-than-boomers-300841937.html SOURCE Catapult Health

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[May 01, 2019] Xylem to attend Oppenheimer 14th Annual Industrial Growth Conference

Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL), a leading global water technology company dedicated to solving the world's most challenging water issues, announced today that Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer Tony Milando and Senior Director of Investor Relations Matt Latino will participate in small group meetings at the 2019 Oppenheimer Industrial Growth Conference at the Westin Grand Center in New York City on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. About Xylem Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to developing innovative technology solutions to the world's water challenges. The Company's products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment in public utility, industrial, residentialand commercial building services settings. Xylem also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network technologies and advanced infrastructure analytics solutions for water, electric and gas utilities. The Company's approximately 17,000 employees bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York, with 2018 revenue of $5.2 billion, Xylem does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands.



The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all - that which occurs in nature. For more information, please visit us at www.xylem.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005607/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Docker Announces Docker Foundation to Provide Inclusive Access to Education and Technology to Underrepresented Communities

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- DOCKERCON -- At DockerCon this morning, CEO Steve Singh introduced Docker Foundation, Docker's new corporate social responsibility initiative aimed at transforming the world through inclusive access to technology and education. Docker Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, will support organizations that align with its mission of enabling a more diverse generation of developers to build our future through technology, beginning with organizations that deliver social impact through education including Black Girls Code, CodePath.org and the Holberton School. Docker was founded on the principle of making complicated technology easy to use but today, many still lack access to the basic resources or education required to pursue a career in technology. The Docker Foundation will provide the funding, resources and employee time to support organizations that empower those who are underserved to meaningfully participate in the digital economy. "Our commitment of innovation isn't just about technology. It's one of building a better world through technology. And the innovation of our future depends on the inclusiveness and diversity of those building it," said Steve Singh, chairman and CEO of Docker. "We pledge to lower barriers to education and create opportunities for others. Together, we can expand the community of developers who will be building our tomorrow." The initial recipients of the Docker Foundation's support and donations include companies like CodePath.org, an organization focused on eliminating educational inequity in computer science by providing the tools and connections that empower software engineers of any race, gender, or background to access jobs in the technology industry.



"We started CodePath because we realized that there is a huge wealth of minority tech talent that has been largely overlooked. They have the potential to succeed, but they need computer science programs that are designed to work with them, giving students who did not have access to prior training opportunities to succeed and teaching the industry-relevant skills employers are looking for," said Michael Ellison, CEO and founder, CodePath.org. "It'll take path-breaking companies like Docker, which are willing to step up and invest in overlooked talent, to change the status quo for minority engineers and close the tech skills gap. We look forward to working with Docker as we redesign computer science education to cultivate a new generation of innovative, creative, inclusive programmers." Docker Foundation also joins Pledge 1%, a global philanthropy movement dedicated to giving back to those in need. Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to pledge 1% of equity, product and employee time for their communities. By committing to altruistic work through Pledge 1%, the Foundation will donate the time, funding and resources needed to remove the barriers that have prevented individuals and underserved groups from pursuing careers in technology and software development:

Donation: The foundation provides financial support to organizations that share Docker's vision of cultivating a more diverse community of developers and technologists.

The foundation provides financial support to organizations that share Docker's vision of cultivating a more diverse community of developers and technologists. Employee Time: Docker employees are afforded the opportunity to pledge their support through education, volunteerism and enablement of communities.

Docker employees are afforded the opportunity to pledge their support through education, volunteerism and enablement of communities. Support Through Product: Docker will support educational institutions in their effort to use Docker's innovative technology to serve a more inclusive population. Docker's commitment to inclusivity was also reinforced at the first-ever [email protected] Summit, with all proceeds benefiting Black Girls Code. The Summit provided a safe and open space to discuss the issues and opportunities facing professional women today at any stage of their career in any functional discipline. About Docker Foundation

The Docker Foundation believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the digital economy. Through inclusive access to innovative technologies, resources and our network of professionals, Docker Foundation aims to extend the creativity of our broader community to build a better world. Together we will transform technology to be more representative of the world. About Docker

Docker, the leader in the container platform market, provides the only independent container platform that enables a seamless desktop to cloud experience for developing and scaling distributed applications. Docker enables organizations to easily build and share any application from legacy to modern and securely run them anywhere, from hybrid cloud to the edge. Inspired by open source innovation and supported by a rich ecosystem of certified partners, Docker enables customers to pursue the right strategy for their business and adapt to new technologies, without lock-in. For more information, please visit: https://www.docker.com/ . Contact:

Gabe Taylor

Docker

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/docker-announces-docker-foundation-to-provide-inclusive-access-to-education-and-technology-to-underrepresented-communities-300841904.html SOURCE Docker

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Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: A 14-member team from the Indian Navy on Wednesday joined the ongoing search operation at a dam in Manipur to locate three missing picnickers.



Two boats, carrying 12 picnickers, had capsized in the Mapithel dam in Kamjong district and sunk during a cyclonic storm on April 28. While nine of them were later rescued by the locals, there is no trace of the remaining three.



The missing persons were identified as Saggapam Rajiv (36), Saggapam Romen (31) and Ningthoujam Rina (20), all of them hailing from Ningthoukhong Kha Khunou in the states Bishnupur district.



The Manipur government had earlier sent a request to the central government to engage Navy divers in the search and rescue operation.



An official source said the naval team, comprising 12 divers and two hydrographers (survey sailors), were airlifted from Visakhapatnam to Manipur capital Imphal on Tuesday evening by an Indian Air Force aircraft.

#InTheAidToCivil : A C-130J aircraft of IAF was launched from Panagarh to Imphal via Vizag today. The aircraft is airborne from Vizag to Imphal & picked up Naval divers from Vizag.

Naval divers will be undertaking search operation of the people missing in the Imphal boat tragedy. pic.twitter.com/K9ufZm8yK4  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) April 30, 2019

The naval diving team carried along necessary diving equipment including portable side scan sonar for locating objects underwater and commenced search operation today (Wednesday). The team has joined the ongoing search operation along with NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) team and civil authorities the source said.



The cyclonic storm had wreaked havoc in parts of Manipur damaging houses and educational institutes and uprooting trees and electric poles.



Currently, 90 personnel, 35 of them from NDRF, 15 from State Disaster Response Force, 28 from the states fire service and 12 from Navy, are engaged in the search and rescue operation. They were being assisted by the locals. The NDRF said it was using SOLAR technology, four deep diving sets and five inflatable rubberized boats.


[May 01, 2019] Best's Commentary: Assignment of Benefits Reform Bill Is Credit-Positive for Florida Insurers

AM Best believes that assignment of benefits (AOB) reform that has passed in the Florida Legislature will be credit-positive for rated insurance companies writing significant amounts of homeowners insurance in the state once signed into law. In a new Best's Commentary, titled, "Assignment of Benefits Reform Bill Is Credit-Positive for Florida Insurers," AM Best states that the bill, which is designed to address the abuse of post-loss AOBs for residential or commercial property insurance claims and limiting one-way attorney's fees related to AOB agreements, is expected to lower the number of AOB-related lawsuits. The lawsuits rose to nearly 135,000 through November 2018, from 79,000 in 2013 and just 1,300 in 2000. Florida's governor is expected to sign the bill. The operating performance of AM Best-rated entities has been challenged in recent years in part due to the rise in litigated claims. The law will diminish the frequency of lawsuits, which in turn would lower legal fees for insurers and potentially lead to pricing relief for consumers. The bill is applicable to just homeowners and commercial property owners, and does not address AOB abuse in the personal automobile line. The abuse of the AOB rule by some contrators, particularly in South Florida, have increased losses and loss adjustment expenses for companies writing homeowners policies in Florida, as well as a sharp rise in insurers' legal costs. In 2009, legal costs constituted 6% of incurred losses for homeowners' multi-peril property insurance for companies domiciled in Florida, compared with a peak of more than 16% in 2013.



Some insurers have been booking additional reserves due to the increase in lawsuits, so passage of the bill likely will lead to more favorable reserve development as reserves set aside for potential lawsuits are released. Given that insurers with exposure in Florida have partnered with reinsurers, as well as using insurance-linked securities, much of the loss creep associated with AOB issues also has affected their reinsurers. The reform bill will alleviate some of the pressures on reinsurers' reserve development as well. AM Best believes catastrophe model output also should be better informed, as models did not previously account for AOB in modeled loss estimates.

To access the full copy of this commentary, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=285089. AM Best is a global rating agency and information provider with a unique focus on the insurance industry. Visit www.ambest.com for more information. Copyright  2019 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005799/en/

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[May 01, 2019] 36 Hi-Tech Touch Screen Chromebook, Built Like a "Tank" and is "Best in Class", Charging Cart and Software for Education & Professionals by Sector 5

Sector 5, Inc. (OTC: SFIV), a fast-growing OEM provider of Chromebooks and computer equipment is pleased to announce a Complete Package of 36 Chromebooks, (CMC) and Go Guardian and Anywhere Carts for $11,800.00 that includes FREE SHIPPING. "That's under $328 a unit ALL IN!" The Sector 5 E3 Chromebook alone is valued at $350.00! Sector 5 E3 Chromebook "Best in Class" using the Intel (News - Alert) N3450 quad-core Apollo Lake processor with HD graphics, an extended battery life of all-day use; much more features such as a 10-point touch screen Bundled with Chrome Management Console and Go Guardian Software with 2-year factory warranty and a 36 Unit AC-Plus Anywhere Cart! This offer expires May 15, 2019. Sector 5, Inc. a fast-growing American OEM provider of Chromebooks and computer equipment is pleased to announce special pricing Hardware and Software Packages for School Programs, Businesses and will work with Distributors who want to support their customers! If you do not require a Cart, contact sales for special pricing. Currently we have only 40 carts left at this bundle package! https://www.sector-five.com/charging Coming up, Sector 5 will be offering a retro-fit kit for wireless charging upgrade for all charging carts on the 3rd Quarter of 2019 from 45W, 65W to 100W Wireless Charging solutions for the educators and businesses who are looking to save time and money. Sector 5 offers training on the CMC, Go Guardian Software, G Suite and other certifications to support our teachers' continued education, which looks great for a school's credentials, all for no charge! For more information about the Sector 5 E3 Chromebook: https://www.sector-five.com/chromebooks/sector-5-e3-chromebook Please Contact [email protected] or call our sales team at (425) 269-1037 for ths special pricing. Erick Kuvshinikov, CEO of Sector 5, stated, "Sector 5 is competing with the largest companies in the world. We are here to earn your business! Using our Sector 5 E3 Chromebook with CMC and Go-Guardian software educators take control of their networks with the security and proprietary software of Go-Guardian Software and have the best charging cart made in the industry."



You are able to buy or view Sector 5's new E3 Chromebook through our website at: https://www.sector-five.com/chromebooks/sector-5-e3-chromebook. About Sector 5, Inc.

Sector 5, Inc. is a publicly traded (OTC: SFIV) Nevada corporation committed to offering the best in value computing solutions for the education, business, and consumer electronics markets, and is a devoted member of the Google (News - Alert) for Education partner program utilizing Chrome OS and Android OS. We have extensive experience working with tier-1 designers, best-in-class suppliers, and Chinese factories to combine the strengths of East and West to create products with the latest technology that are easy to use and offer innovative features. We are a purpose-driven organization focused on providing reliable market-tailored solutions. Sector 5's promise to the world is defined by our pursuit of simplicity and innovation, and our commitment to service. Further information can be found at www.sector-five.com and sectorfiveblog.wordpress.com. Best in Class: https://chromeunboxed.com/sector-5-chromebook-e3-best-in-class/ Forward-Looking Statement Certain statements made in this release are "forward-looking statements" regarding the plans and objectives of management for future operations. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included herein are based on current expectations that involve numerous risks and uncertainties. Our plans and objectives are based, in part, on assumptions involving judgments with respect to, among other things, future economic, competitive and market conditions and future business and financial decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond our control. Although we believe that our assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of the assumptions could prove inaccurate and, therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this website will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein particularly in view of the current early stage of our operations and lack of sufficient financing, the inclusion of such information should not be regarded as a statement by us or any other person that our objectives and plans will be achieved. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in our periodic reports and other filings we make with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by federal securities law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005802/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Rasmussen College Celebrates National Nurses Week

Rasmussen College, a regionally accredited private college, joins the American Nurses Association (ANA) to celebrate National Nurses Week, May 6-12, 2019.1 The ANA has celebrated National Nurses Week annually since 1993 with Rasmussen College honoring the week College-wide since 2005. The week is dedicated to celebrating and elevating the nursing profession and is a time for everyone - individuals, employers, healthcare professionals, community leaders and nurses, themselves - to recognize the vast contributions and positive impact of the country's more than 4 million registered nurses. This National Nurses Week, the College is also honoring and celebrating the critical work nurses do. This year's theme, 4 Million Reasons to Celebrate, will be recognized across the College's 23 campuses and its online community. To learn more about Rasmussen College-sponsored National Nurses Week events near you, please visit your local campus's Facebook page. About the Rasmussen College School of Nursing

The Rasmussen College School of Nursing offers quality on-campus and online Nursing programs designed to help graduates enter the field with a strong foundation of real-world experience and skills. Rasmussen College offers three pre-licensure Nursing program options, including the Practical Nursing Diploma program, Professional Nursing Associate's degree program and the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Additionally, Rasmussen College has two post-licensure online Nursing program offerings, the RN to BSN Entrance Option and the Master of Science in Nursing program. Courses are taught by dedicated and experienced Nurse faculty who know what it takes to launch and advance a successful nursing career in the growing healthcare field. With four start dates throughout the year and eight for the RN to BSN Entrance Option, as well as no wait lists for qualified applicants at many campuses, students can quickly prepare to start or advance their career.



"Our School of Nursing programs are designed to give students the abilities to confidently provide safe, effective and quality care for diverse clientele," said Dr. Joan Rich, Vice President of Nursing at Rasmussen College. "We are proud to provide strong and innovative curriculums that train our students for success in an increasingly complex and demanding healthcare environment. All of our Nursing courses are taught by experienced Nurse faculty with classroom sizes that enable faculty to focus on individualized learner needs. We also have strong community partnerships that allow our students to have access to a variety of clinical opportunities allowing them to perfect their skills, grow their confidence, gain experience and make lasting connections." Honoring Strong Nursing Partnerships

According to data from the Health Resources and Services Administration, nursing is the single largest profession in the entire U.S. healthcare workforce. With more than 4 million RNs nationwide, the sheer number of nurses is astounding. As the leading educator of Professional Nursing Associate's degree students in the country in 2016 and 2017, Rasmussen College has helped train more than 12,000 graduates to enter the nursing profession. The College's Nursing programs have flourished in part by forging strong partnerships with organizations such as the ATI.

Each year, Rasmussen College designates a partner who works collaboratively and responsively to further the mission of the College as a Partner of Distinction. This year, Rasmussen College has chosen to recognize ATI. Since 2014, ATI has partnered with the College to use evidence-based practice and data to drive positive outcomes. "Our partners at ATI have put our College and our Nursing students first, which has had a direct impact on our programs and campuses and has directly contributed to the quality of our students' experiences and successes," said Rich. "Together, we can empower and offer innovative nursing education across the nation to help build the future of nursing education." To learn more about the Rasmussen College School of Nursing or apply for the Summer term, please visit www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/nursing/. 1Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. hlcommission.org | 800-621-7440 ABOUT RASMUSSEN COLLEGE:

Rasmussen College is a regionally accredited private college that is dedicated to changing lives and the communities it serves through high-demand and flexible educational programs. Since 1900, the College has been committed to academic innovation and providing the highest standard of education while empowering students to pursue a college degree. Rasmussen College offers Certificate and Diploma programs through Associate's, Bachelor's and Master's degree programs online and across its 23 Midwest and Florida campuses. A pioneer in online education, the College is helping lead advancements in innovations such as competency-based education and comprehensive student support services that help working adults advance their careers. The College is also committed to providing a positive impact on society through public service and a variety of community-based initiatives. For more information about Rasmussen College, please visit rasmussen.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005811/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Fordham Law School Appoints Pamela Bookman, Courtney Cox and Sepehr Shahshahani to Faculty

Fordham Law School announced today that Pamela Bookman, Courtney Cox (News - Alert) and Sepehr Shahshahani have been appointed to the faculty. The three professors will begin teaching classes in the fall term. "We enthusiastically welcome Pamela, Courtney and Sepehr to Fordham Law School," said Fordham Law Dean Matthew Diller. "They are all extremely accomplished and bring diverse backgrounds, intellectual rigor and exceptional teaching skills that will benefit our students and the entire law school community." Associate Professor Pamela Bookman comes to the law school from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was an assistant professor. Prior to entering academia, Bookman was counsel in the New York office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, where she advised clients on complex commercial business disputes and international litigation. At Fordham Law School, she will focus on civil procedure, contracts, international litigation and arbitration and conflict of laws. She clerked for Judge Robert D. Sack of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, President Rosalyn Higgins and Judge Thomas Buergenthal of the International Court of Justice and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the United States Supreme Court. She has been published extensively, including articles in Stanford Law Review, New York University Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review, and Notre Dame Law Review. Bookman earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia and a B.A. from Yale University magna cum laude with distinction in Russian literature. Associate Profesor Courtney Cox joins the law school from practice at Ropes & Gray LLP, where she was an intellectual property litigator. Her research and teaching focus on law and philosophy, intellectual property, property and torts law, with an emphasis on technology, time, and risk. Cox clerked for former Chief Judge Sandra L. Lynch of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She previously taught philosophy as a lecturer at Oxford's Hertford College and was a Yale Fox Fellow at Fudan University in Shanghai. Cox earned her J.D., with highest honors, from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was a Rubenstein Scholar; a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oxford; and her B.A., magna cum laude with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Yale University.



Associate Professor Sepehr Shahshahani focuses on procedure and intellectual property, with an emphasis on the application of formal and quantitative methods. Shahshahani's work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Law & Economics and the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, as well as law reviews such as the Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA and the Minnesota Journal of Law and Science & Technology. Prior to entering academia, Shahshahani clerked for Judge Ronald Lee Gilman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Judge William E. Smith of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. He was also a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Shahshahani earned a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University, LL.M. from New York University School of Law, J.D., magna cum laude, from Boston University School of Law, and B.A., with honors, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Chicago. About Fordham Law School

Situated in New York City, the global epicenter of business and culture, Fordham Law School cultivates the collaborative community, intellectual curiosity, professional craft, and commitment to service vital to creating lawyers and legal scholars who can move our profession, society and world forward. Follow Fordham Law School on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005818/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Jenzabar Introduces Jenzabar Analytics: Bringing Data-Driven Decision Making to Higher Education

BOSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jenzabar, a leading technology innovator in higher education serving the new student, today announced Jenzabar Analytics, a portfolio of descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive analytics tools. Through Jenzabar's new analytics solution, higher education institutions will now be able to gather, organize, assess, and transform data into actionable insights. Jenzabar Analytics brings visibility and data-informed decision making to higher education. Institutions are given the latest tools and technology to quickly spot and analyze relevant trends, make more accurate projections, and discover new opportunities for success. The company introduced today two Jenzabar Analytics Modules  the Data Cloud and the Financial Analytics Model. "More than ever before, today's institutions need to view their data as an asset and leverage it to take informed and strategic action," said Meghan Turjanica, Product Manager of Analytics at Jenzabar. "Our cloud-based analytics solution simplifies the process of storing, organizing, analyzing, and deriving meaning and insight from data to improve institutional and student outcomes." Jenzabar Analytics is part of Jenzabar One, the company's cloud-ready suite of higher education tchnology products and services that improves the student experience and drives institutional success. The new module's customizable, industry best-practice dashboards give flexibility to track specific data points critical to an institution.



Jenzabar Analytics: Data Cloud By leveraging cloud computing, Jenzabar provides the most relevant data needed to answer critical questions based on industry standard key performance indicators (KPIs). Jenzabar's Data Cloud leverages the massive computing power of the cloud to run state-of-the-art workflows that collect and transform data from both your core Jenzabar systems and third-party data sources. It then securely stores it in a central data warehouse and data lake unique to your institution.

Jenzabar Analytics: Financial Analytics Model Jenzabar's Financial Analytics Model provides you with key performance indicators and ratios to track the health of an institution, such as operating results, resource sufficiency and flexibility, asset performance and management, and liquidity and debt management. Analytics Services Each analytics model kicks off with a Strategic Workshop to help understand how to leverage industry best-practice KPIs for immediate maximum success. Jenzabar provides the training, tools, and associated services needed to answer questions and continue to make data-driven decisions. Availability Jenzabar's Data Cloud and Financial Analytics Model are available immediately starting today. The Analytics Services available today help institutions assess student demand, employment, competition, and strategic fit by program. About Jenzabar

Created out of a passion for education and a vision for technology, Jenzabar offers disruptive, innovative software solutions and services that empower student's success and helps higher education institutions meet the demands of the modern student. Over 1,350 higher educational campuses harness Jenzabar solutions for improved performance across campus and a more personalized and connected experience for the student. For further information, please visit www.jenzabar.com or on twitter @Jenzabar or LinkedIn. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jenzabar-introduces-jenzabar-analytics-bringing-data-driven-decision-making-to-higher-education-300841996.html SOURCE Jenzabar

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[May 01, 2019] Samepage Secures Additional Funding, Expands Free Offering in 'Free Speech Movement'

CAMPBELL, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Samepage, a leading online team collaboration platform, has announced the finalization of its second round of funding from Reflex Capital. With that, Samepage introduces significant changes to its pricing model. "We call it our 'Free Speech Movement,' as basically all Slack-like chat features are now free in Samepage," says Scott Schreiman, Co-Founder and CEO. Collaborative limits on the Samepage Free plan were lifted, including caps on guests, teams, and pages. Features reserved for the Samepage Pro plan now focus on administrative tools for larger organizations with collaborative needs that go beyond chatting. "After launching our mobile and desktop UX overhauls, we started emphasizing the benefits of Samepage as an 'all-in-one' team collaboration solution. The message is really resonating with teams that normally jump between emails, group chat, video conferencing, task management, and file sharing apps. It's exciting to watch them realize they can get it all done in one app and save a bundle of cash in the process," says Martin Viktora, Co-Founder and CTO of Samepage. "Growth is exploding. This new round of funding and our expanded free offerings are going to help us build on this momentum." "Consolidation is coming in the collaboration app space," says Ondrej Fryc, Managing Partner at Reflex Capital. "The number of apps people are using is unsustainable. The market is moving toward more feature-complete solutions, and Samepage has positioned itself perfectly. They're executing their delivery of an all-in-one solution quite well, and their growth proves it. We're very happy to continue supporting them with this follow-on round of funding, and we're excited to watch their new freemium offer boost ore adoption."



The Samepage Free plan offers unlimited access to group communication tools. Users can create any number of group text, voice, and video chats, along with unlimited chat integrations from over 1500 third-party apps such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and Typeform. Users also have unlimited access to native project collaboration tools such as file sharing & synchronization, task & calendar management, and advanced real-time document co-editing. The Samepage Free plan also includes two gigabytes of storage. Samepage offers their service through desktop browsers as well as native apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.

About Samepage Labs Inc. What began as part of an on-premise server software suite under the name of Kerio Workspace, Samepage soon spun off to become an independent cloud solution in 2016. The spin-off and successful sale of Kerio Technologies to GFI Software, led by founders Scott Schreiman, Martin Viktora, and Stanislav Kolar marked the beginning of Samepage Labs Inc., which quickly achieved substantial growth and global strategic partnerships with large collaborative firms such as Entrepreneurs Organization. Samepage differs from others in the space such as Slack, Dropbox, and similar "best of breed" apps by delivering an "all in one" platform that eliminates excessive costs of multi-app workflows. Samepage Labs Inc. has offices in the United States and the Czech Republic that now support over 275,000 users in more than 180 countries. About Reflex Capital Reflex Capital, with offices in Prague, Czech Republic, and San Francisco, USA, invests in early stage companies in CEE and U.S., run by exceptional founders. Typical investment size is in the range of $500,000 to $2 million. Committed capital in Reflex I and Reflex II funds is over $100 million. View Samepage Press Kit For more information, contact: Scott R. Schreiman Co-Founder & CEO [email protected] https://www.samepage.io View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/samepage-secures-additional-funding-expands-free-offering-in-free-speech-movement-300842017.html SOURCE Samepage

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[May 01, 2019] Concordia University's District 3 and the Fonds de recherche du Quebec Partner on a Program to Transform Student Researchers into "Scientific Entrepreneurs"

The Fonds de recherche du Quebec (FRQ) and Concordia University's innovation hub District 3 proudly announce their partnership to help Quebec's student research trainees become innovation leaders and entrepreneurs through the Quebec Scientific Entrepreneurship (QcSE) program. The objective of the program is to bring university cities across Quebec in line with startup centers in areas such as Boston, hubs where 10% of entrepreneurial ideas born in research labs are converted into new business opportunities. While Quebec-based researchers are among the world's best and brightest, all too often their work doesn't leave the laboratory. This new immersive program along with unique networking opportunities will stimulate collaboration between all Quebec universities and affiliated research centers. Together, they will integrate the intersectoral research programming put forward by the Directorate of Societal Challenges and Intersectoral Networks (DSMI) of the Office of the Chief Scientist. In so doing, they will be meeting one of the three FRQ's societal challenges identified by the Strategie quebecoise de la recherche et de l'innovation 2017-2022: fostering entrepreneurship and creativity.



"Quebec's strong economy provides powerful leverage for attracting and retaining PhD students," says Remi Quirion, chief scientist of Quebec. "This program presents an exciting option for academics: to see their laboratory work have real-world impact through their mastery of entrepreneurial skills." Beyond traditional research and teaching careers, the QcSE program positions PhDs and postdocs to help further propel job creation in Quebec where small- and medium-sized enterprises have always been significant economic drivers. Students can test their entrepreneurship potential with nascent business ideas and prepare for their entry into the marketplace. It is never too early for a student researcher to network, to understand the work required to build a company, and to draw inspiration from Quebec's entrepreneurial culture.

The QcSE program's goal is to see 10% of Quebec PhD and postdoctoral researchers turn toward entrepreneurship within the next three years. "Based on a new economic model, this program will provide the province's student researchers with the ability to build and scale research-based startups." says Christophe Guy, vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies, Concordia University. "Bridging the gap between the lab and commercialization will allow researchers to pursue an entirely new path." "Researchers are the job creators of tomorrow," says Xavier-Henri Herve, executive director of Concordia's District 3. "Their scientific knowledge combined with the right support could see a number of innovations come to market that positively impact employment in the province." The inaugural cohort currently has 45 participants from a variety of backgrounds and affiliated with universities across Quebec. The program cycles through three distinct phases of training over the course of eight months. Recruitment is currently underway for the fall of 2019. 13 Quebec universities and affiliated research centers The QcSE program in partnership with the FRQ brings different actors in entrepreneurship together to offer customized training, developped specifically for scientific trainees, across Quebec. Institutions that will be served by the program include Concordia and McGill University, Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), Ecole de technologie superieure (ETS), Universite de Montreal (UdeM), Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), Universite de Sherbrooke, Universite Laval, Universite du Quebec a Rimouski (UQAR), Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres (UQTR), Universite du Quebec en Outaouais (UQO), Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi (UQAC), Universite du Quebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue (UQAT), plus a number of these institutions' affiliated research centres. About the Fonds de recherche du Quebec Under the responsibility of the Ministre de l'Economie et de l'Innovation, the Fonds de recherche du Quebec are mandated to fund and ensure the strategic and coherent development of research in Quebec, support research training, develop partnerships to achieve their mission and promote and support knowledge mobilization. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005824/en/

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[May 01, 2019] 360 Rail Selects Ardenna's Rail Defect Detection SaaS to Fuel New Drone-based Industrial Rail Yard Inspection Services

DENVER and HAMPTON, Va., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 360 Rail Services, the leading provider of engineering, construction, operations and maintenance services for the rail industry, has announced the selection of Ardenna's Rail Defect Detection SaaS for integration with their new drone-based rail yard inspection service offering. Ardenna is the leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based defect detection software and has seen great success in main line rail, covering over 28,000 miles of rail and processing over 3 million images. Ardenna will process 100% of 360's rail yard imagery captured via drone, identifying anomalies and defects in a fraction of the time required by traditional inspection methods. In addition to providing SaaS, Ardenna will be working in collaboration with 360 to refine and introduce drone-based data collection and automated defect detection to the industrial rail sector. Industrial rail owners depend on the integrity of their rail infrastructure to safely and reliably transport goods from source to destination. Understanding not only the current condition of the rail, but also being able to predict when failures may occur is critical to efficient rail operations. The AI-based software algorithms provided by Ardenna allow track condition inspections to be conducted in a consistent, repeatable and automated manner. This not only exposes existing anomalies, but allows data to be gathered and used to predict when track repairs need to be conducted in order to prevent failure.



"360 Rail Services has earned a reputation for exceptional service by applying innovative new technologies to reduce or eliminate our customer's problems, making 360 Rail the industry's 'go to' provider of rail services", said Larry Stockton, CEO of 360 Rail Services. "We are now building on this foundation of innovation by partnering with Ardenna and selecting their automated rail defect detection SaaS to enable our new drone-based aerial track inspection services." "We are excited to be selected by 360 Rail to provide the defect detection capabilities for their new industrial rail yard inspection offering", said David Patterson, Ardenna's Director of Business Development. "Our existing rail customers have already recognized the improvements to human safety and track availability that we believe will also directly benefit industrial companies utilizing 360 Rail's new inspection service."

About 360 Rail Services Privately held and established in 2017, 360 Rail Services' Engineering, Maintenance, Construction, and Operations staff are nationally recognized for their transit, freight, and industry rail planning, design/build solutions, and quality construction, working in stride with their customers' needs and speed to market. Working on challenging projects and problem solving is what has made 360 Rail Services' staff the "go to" industry rail services provider. This reputation has allowed 360 to deliver results for a wide range of customers, including industrial, Class 1 and Short line railroads, all the way up to Fortune 500 companies. More information is available at www.360railservices.com. About Ardenna Privately held and established in 2017 as a spin-off venture of Bihrle Applied Research Inc. (www.bihrle.com), Hampton, VA-based Ardenna offers computer vision and machine learning solutions for the automated detection, classification and reporting of anomalies found during the inspection of critical infrastructure. Ardenna's RailVision solution was a groundbreaking success for Class 1 railways in the achievement of automated long-range UAS supplemental main line track inspections. RailVision, which is now being adapted for industrial and short-line rail applications, automates the detection, classification and reporting of anomalies in a consistent and repeatable way. This approach provides insightful, actionable data thus enabling track owners to correct these anomalies before they become costly problems. More information is available at www.ardenna.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/360-rail-selects-ardennas-rail-defect-detection-saas-to-fuel-new-drone-based-industrial-rail-yard-inspection-services-300842047.html SOURCE Ardenna

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[May 01, 2019] Onix Expanding Presence In Canada

Leading Cloud Solutions Provider Planning to Open Montreal Office LAKEWOOD, Ohio, May 1, 2019 /CNW/ -- Leading cloud solutions provider Onix is expanding its footprint in Canada to better serve its existing customer base as well as address growing demand for its services. The Lakewood, Ohio-based company is planning to open an office in Montreal and continue purposely growing the staff throughout Canada to keep up with demand. Onix -- which also has offices in Toronto and Ottawa -- already has 10 employees in the greater Montreal area, all of which are bilingual or trilingual. "Onix has had a strong presence in Canada for more than 25 years," said Tim Needles, Onix President and CEO. "We have brick-and-mortar offices in Toronto and Ottawa, and adding another office in Montreal will allow us to better serve existing and new customers." "A real physical presence adds to our value proposition and offers our valued customers an additional layer of commitment. Customers want to know that if they have questions, they can talk to a real erson in a real office."



This announcement comes less than a month after Onix received the 2018 Google Cloud North American Reseller Partner of the Year award for its achievements in the Google Cloud ecosystem. Onix was specifically recognized by Google for helping the City of Montreal move to the cloud from dated legacy systems by developing custom infrastructure and workplace cloud solutions. The city wanted to modernize its email to a high-performing, cost-effective, cloud-based solution for 25,000+ employees. City officials wanted to give employees an efficient, secure platform that also promoted mobility and information sharing.

Onix was founded in 1992 and has been a Google partner since 2001. About Onix As a leading cloud solutions provider, Onix has elevated businesses to the next level with consulting services, infrastructure, collaboration, devices, enterprise search and geospatial technology. The company achieves this with solutions from such industry leaders as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services (AWS), among others. Onix uses its ever-evolving expertise to solve clients' technology pain points across numerous business sectors. Onix backs its strategic planning and deployment with incomparable ongoing service, training and support. It also offers its own suite of standalone products to solve specific business challenges, including digital accessibility of websites and online documents through its Equidox brand, and cloud billing and budget management software through OnSpend. Based in Lakewood, Ohio, near Cleveland, Onix also has Canadian offices in Toronto and Ottawa. Learn more at https://www.onixnet.com. Contact: Bryan Kokish

Onix

Office: 216-529-3019

Cell: 216-513-2607

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/onix-expanding-presence-in-canada-300842048.html SOURCE Onix

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[May 01, 2019] BDC, winner of the 2019 Mercuriades contest

The Bank won the award in the category Development of a Web or Mobile Technology Presented by TELUS  Large Business MONTREAL, May 1, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - BDC, Canada's bank for entrepreneurs, is a proud recipient in the 39th edition of the 2019 Mercuriades, a prestigious Quebec business contest. The Bank won the Mercure in the category Development of a Web or Mobile Technology Presented by TELUS  Large Business for its new Express Loan application, which gives entrepreneurs faster access to financing. The Bank received the award on Monday evening, when the Federation des chambres de commerce du Quebec (FCCQ) announced the winners of the contest at the Montreal Convention Centre. The Mercure awarded to BDC for its technological innovation recognizes an initiative to develop or integrate a digital platform for improving a business process, service or product. BDC has set itself apart through its innovative business solutions, interactivity, technological creativity, adaptive design and deployment strategy. The Bank has committed to developing its oline presence and investing in improved mobile capabilities to make it easier and faster for entrepreneurs to obtain financing. With the unique Express Loan application developed by the Bank, account managers can now use iPads to authorize loans up to $750,000 in less than 30 minutes, in a single visit with the client.



"BDC is always seeking innovative ways to support entrepreneurs. Express Loan is a good example of the work our team is doing to facilitate access to financing for our clients. We are proud to have found a solution to this major technological challenge. One year after launching Express Loan, more than 2,000 loans had been granted," said Stephane Bilodeau, Chief Information Officer at BDC. About the Mercuriades

Quebec's most prestigious business contest reveals, year after year, inspiring role models for the next generation in Quebec's business and economic community. It celebrates and recognizes innovation, ambition, entrepreneurship and the performance of Quebec businesses, as well as their contributions to the community, for both SMEs and large corporations. This contest also highlights the exceptional paths of women who have demonstrated courage, influence and leadership throughout their careers.

About BDC

BDC is the only bank devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs. It promotes Canadian entrepreneurship with a focus on small and medium-sized businesses. With its 123 business centres from coast to coast, BDC provides businesses in all industries with financing and advisory services. Its investment arm, BDC Capital, offers equity, venture capital and flexible growth and transition capital solutions. BDC is also the first financial institution in Canada to receive B Corp certification. To find out more, visit bdc.ca . SOURCE Business Development Bank of Canada

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By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future".

The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted".

The ban would come into force from 6.00 AM, May 2 (Thursday).

FOLLOW OUR ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

Pragya had said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

She also had said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.
[May 01, 2019] The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship Closes with a Call to Action to Inspire, Design and Spread New Forms of Intelligent Innovations through the World Innovation Organization (WIO)

NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship ("WSIE") concluded its 2019 Annual Meeting at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City with a call to action by leaders from across 50 nations for the establishment of the World Innovation Organization ("WIO") to inspire and spread a new generation of intelligent innovations that advance business and enrich lives. The 2019 WSIE emerged as the natural forum to explore the future of intelligent innovations because of the WSIE visible commitment to, and track record in, innovation. Held under the theme, "Designing Intelligence, Shaping Work," the 2019 WSIE staged a fusion fest of unexpected collisions and unrehearsed conversations among 400 leaders to shape tomorrow's Intelligence. Featuring an impressive blend of prodigies, designers, scientists, chief executives and innovation captains from Uber, 3M, Mastercard, IBM, Nu Skin, Nokia, Verizon, NASA, DARPA, BASF, Gensler, GE, Sidewalk Labs and SAP. "At FIT, we believe that the creative industries should lead the way forward technologically, ethically and socially, so it was with pleasure that we hosted this year's World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This landmark gathering of designers, scientists and innovators, with its focus on problem-solving in the age of 'intelligence,' was rich with ideas that will enhance the lives of all who listen," said Dr. Joyce F. Brown, President of the Fashion Institute of Technology, the host of the 2019 WSIE. The key announcement that emerged from the Annual Meeting is the official launch of two initiatives of the World Innovation Organization (WIO)  the World Intelligence Festival and the World Intelligence Lab. Two brilliantly ambitious initiatives focused on designing and spreading Intelligen Innovations (X) that are more Ethical, Experiential, Explainable and Exponential (4E).



To that end, Gensler was designated as the launch partner of the WIO. Selected speakers and Fellows of the 2019 WSIE and the WIO converged at Gensler to discuss the mandate of the WIO. "Gensler was pleased to host such a diverse group and share our experiences, research, and projects at the nexus of a unique innovation initiative that shapes how we work and live," said Joseph Brancato, Regional Managing Principal of Gensler. In this context, the WSIE has secured the pledge of more than 100 Fellows to advance the promise of the WIO. Fellows are game-changers from Dassault Systems, 3M, ABB, Purdue University, IBM, MIT Media Lab, Moderna Therapeutics, RoboTerra, Boston University, Guinness World Records, Nickelodeon, NIST, SAP, University of California, Nokia, Gensler, Mastercard, Checkpoint Software, Avery Dennison, Nu Skin, Verizon, Imagineactive, to name a few.

"Our work, lifestyles and cities are facing daunting challenges. The WIO is all about the creative intersections to build a better world through concrete actions. It is established to inspire, design and spread intelligent human/machine innovations that will affect virtually all of life's activities," concluded Sam Hamdan, Founder of the WSIE and WIO Executive Chairman: "The Fellows of the WIO are aware of the most pressing challenges facing business and society and they have committed to do what they can to advance the Open Intelligence Framework (X4E) of the WIO to design and produce smarter innovations for people, products, places and peace." More information on the 2019 WSIE can be viewed at: http://thewsie.com About the World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship

The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (WSIE) was born in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), African Union, International Chamber Commerce and several multinationals including PepsiCo, Microsoft, Cisco. The WSIE was subsequently announced in the United Nations in 2006 to advance the future state of entrepreneurship and innovation as the catalyst for prosperity and peace. The 10th Anniversary of the WSIE was held at the United Nations General Assembly. About Gensler

Gensler is a global architecture, design, and planning firm with 48 locations and more than 6,000 professionals networked across Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and the Americas. Founded in 1965, the firm serves more than 3,500 active clients in virtually every industry. Gensler designers strive to make the places people live, work, and play more inspiring, more resilient, and more impactful. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-world-summit-on-innovation--entrepreneurship-closes-with-a-call-to-action-to-inspire-design-and-spread-new-forms-of-intelligent-innovations-through-the-world-innovation-organization-wio-300842074.html SOURCE The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship

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PWCK Law Firm: FINRA Arbitration Panel Awards Record-Setting $3 Million to Rochester-Area Egg-Farming Family Victimized by Convicted AXA Financial Advisor

A FINRA arbitration panel has awarded $3.2 million to an Alleghany County egg-farming family swindled in a variable annuity (VA) and life insurance scheme promoted by a former AXA financial advisor who was recently convicted for stealing from another elderly AXA client. The Whitesville, NY, victims were represented in the arbitration proceeding by the Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane law firm (PWCK). For more details about the case, go to www.brokerwatch.com/axa/upstate-ny.

The award is believed to be the largest ever paid in upstate New York and also the largest imposed on AXA in arbitration.

The elderly victims oversaw the successful Fitzpatrick Poultry Farm in Whitesville, NY, for many years before suffering millions of dollars in damages at the hands of AXA and its financial advisor, Francesco Puccio, formerly of Webster, NY. Puccio was affiliated with the AXA office in Rochester.

At a news conference today, PWCK released a fact sheet showing a disturbing pattern of AXA problems throughout Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, and upstate New York. The PWCK fact sheet documents multiple complaints, settlements, regulatory actions and fines involving AXA and AXA brokers, including the victimization of 81-year-old Scottsville, NY, widow Shirley Kerwin, who lost her entire life savings to the same AXA broker who cheated the Whitesville egg-farming family. Puccio was later found guilty of stealing from Kerwin.

PWCK Partner Jason Kane said: "AXA sent a felonious broker to serve unsophisticated and elderly clients and then completely abdicated its supervisory obligations. Nonetheless, an unrepentant AXA contended throughout the arbitration that everything was 'perfectly suitable' and 'beyond reproach.' This elderly couple may have had wealth, but they did not have investment savvy. AXA and Puccio took them to the cleaners by recommending obviously unsuitable variable annuities and life insurance policies."

"I'm not happy at all about the way AXA treated s," said Sandra Fitzpatrick, one of the egg-farming family victims. "We've learned that you can't just trust anybody. You have to be careful, and you have to ask before you sign any papers. You have to find out what you're signing them for. That's something that we didn't do because we trusted the person AXA sent to our door. We thought he was going to be honest. I would like to warn other people to know what you're signing."







PWCK Managing Partner Joseph Peiffer said: "This arbitration award sends a strong message to AXA and other financial giants that they are responsible for the conduct of the financial advisors to whom they lend their names. The definition of a suitable investment is not whatever some felonious broker can talk somebody into buying. If there are no rules of the road that AXA and other companies recognize, it will not take long before individual investors lose even more faith in a system that all too often fails them."

Speaking to her separate claim against AXA, the widow Shirley Kerwin said: "When Puccio stole my money, I was shocked. I turned to AXA. When they refused to help, I was devastated. And, I knew that I had to take action to protect myself and anyone else out there that was harmed by AXA."

The egg-farming couple fleeced by Puccio did not understand the nature of the variable annuity and life insurance products in which they invested millions of dollars. In what should have been a clear sign of their lack of sophistication, the Fitzpatricks were found to have earlier insurance policies stacked in egg carton boxes and did not seem to be aware they existed. Instead of helping them, Puccio rolled those old policies into newer and larger ones that paid hefty commissions to him. The total commissions paid out in just one year to Puccio was well over $200,000.

One of the more damning moments of the arbitration hearing occurred when Puccio was caught impersonating a Fitzpatrick family member on an audio recording and then had to admit he established a fraudulent email account to pose as the eldest member of the family. That same day he sold yet another life insurance policy to the Fitzpatricks.

Other resources available about the Fitzpatrick case include:

Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane has extensive experience in handling investment fraud cases in upstate New York and across the U.S.

In November 2017, PWCK won close to half a million dollars on behalf of a retired Brighton, NY school teacher who was advised by Frank Monte at Harbor Capital to overconcentrate her savings in variable annuities. PWCK has since filed arbitrations on behalf of 10 families in follow-up cases involving Harbor Capital's annuity advice.

Last August, PWCK took legal action on behalf of victims of an elaborate investment scheme that succeeded in large part through the credibility lent to the affair by a network of "middlemen" insurance agents, brokers, financial planners/investment advisors (IAs) and others who roped in unwary investors for Future Income Payments LLC (FIP). PWCK launched a coordinated wave of five lawsuits in and around Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, northern Florida, and Philadelphia/New Jersey targeting the seemingly legitimate financial professionals who made the FIP scheme work. Currently, PWCK has FIP-related lawsuits filed in Ohio, Illinois, California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Utah, South Carolina, and Minnesota. More at https://fiplawsuit.com.

In December, PWCK started assisting investors burned in the OptionSellers.com hedge fund collapse. Even with a focus on high-net-worth individuals, OptionSellers.com was aggressively marketed to a wide spectrum of individuals, including unsophisticated retirees with assets. In addition to $150 million or more lost in the hedge fund itself, the margin calls disclosed to date total more than $35 million but could add up to considerably more. More at https://www.optionsellerslawsuits.com/

ABOUT PEIFFER WOLF CARR & KANE

Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane, APLC is a national law firm with offices in New York, New Orleans, Cleveland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Missouri. https://brokerwatch.com/axa/.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio replay of this news event will be available as of 5 p.m. ET at www.brokerwatch.com/axa/upstate-ny.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005908/en/
Lucidea's Unrivaled ILS and KM Solutions, SydneyEnterprise, GeniePlus and Inmagic Presto at BCLA 2019

Lucidea, provider of leading innovative ILS and KM solutions SydneyEnterprise, GeniePlus and Inmagic Presto, will attend this year's BCLA Conference in Surrey, BC, May 8th through 9th. You'll find them at Booth #4, at the Sheraton Vancouver Guilford Hotel.

The British Columbia Library Conference is a great opportunity to update yourself on the latest information and research in the library field, including a look at how library automation and knowledge management applications-such as Lucidea provides-support high-performing libraries.







When you visit the Lucidea team at Booth #4 they'll give you a tour of SydneyEnterprise, the powerful ILS that offers industrial strength unified library automation and knowledge management capabilities, and GeniePlus, purpose-built to enable a smaller library staff to deliver large library impact. You'll also see Inmagic Presto, the ultimate corporate intelligence solution that combines powerful knowledge management with social sharing and collaboration.

Lucidea is delivering many new features you won't want to miss, including audit trail support, request management capabilities, enhanced crystal reports options, expanded social media functionality, watermarking for derived images, and much more.

For further information about SydneyEnterprise, GeniePlus or Inmagic Presto, visit http://lucidea.com, phone 604 278 6717, or email [email protected] with your questions.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005917/en/
[May 01, 2019] Hexion Inc. Receives Final Approval to Access Full $700 Million in DIP Financing

Hexion Inc. ("Hexion" or the "Company") today announced that it has received final authorization from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the "Bankruptcy Court") to access the full amount of its $700 million in committed debtor-in-possession ("DIP") financing. The Company had previously received interim approval from the Bankruptcy Court to access up to $600 million of the DIP financing. The Bankruptcy Court also granted final approval for several other customary motions that, among other benefits, enable Hexion to continue to meet its operational needs while moving forward with the process toward implementing its de-leveraging plan (the "Plan"). Craig A. Rogerson, Chairman, President and CEO of Hexion, stated: "This final approval from the Court provides Hexion complete access to our $700 million in DIP financing. We expect to implement our de-leveraging plan and emerge from the restructuring process this summer. Our Plan now has the support of approximately 90% of noteholders across our capital structure, further demonstrating their confidence in our businesses and our team. Upon emergence, with a significantly stronger balance sheet, Hexion will be well positioned to further invest in our specialty product portfolio, generating long-term growth and value for all our stakeholders. As always, we remain committed to providing our customers with the high-quality products and service they expect from Hexion." As previously announced on April 1, 2019, Hexion entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement ("RSA (News - Alert)") with the vast majority of holders of each of the Company's notes issuances, representing overwhelming consensus across its capital structure, on the terms of a consensual financial de-leveraging plan. To implement the RSA, the Company, including substantially all of its U.S. subsidiaries and one non-operating entity based in Nova Scotia, Canada, voluntarily filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Hexion filed its Plan and Disclosure Statement on April 24, 2019, and the Company continues to move at an accelerated pace to implement its restructuring, with a hearing to approve the Plan for solicitation scheduled for May 22, 2019. All of Hexion's global business segments are continuing to operate as normal, and Hexion's operations outside the U.S. are not included in the Chapter 11 proceedings. The consummation of the Plan is subject to Bankruptcy Court approval and satisfaction of other conditions. Additional Information Additional information regarding Hexion's restructuring is available at www.hexionrestructuring.com. Suppliers with questions can contact a dedicated hotline, toll-free at +1-614-225-2222 between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday. Court filings and information about the claims process are available at https://omnimgt.com/hexionrestructuring, by calling Hexion's claims agent, Omni Management Group, at +1-888-204-1627 (or +1-818-906-8300 for international calls) or sending an email to [email protected].



Advisors Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal counsel, Moelis & Company LLC is serving as financial advisor, and AlixPartners, LLP is serving as restructuring advisor to Hexion.

About the Company Based in Columbus, Ohio, Hexion Inc. is a global leader in thermoset resins. Hexion Inc. serves the global wood and industrial markets through a broad range of thermoset technologies, specialty products and technical support for customers in a diverse range of applications and industries. Additional information about Hexion Inc. and its products is available at www.hexion.com. Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. In addition, our management may from time to time make oral forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "plan," "estimate," "may," "will," "could," "should," "seek" or "intend" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future events and conditions and are based on currently available financial, economic and competitive data and our current business plans. Actual results could vary materially depending on risks and uncertainties that may affect our operations, markets, services, prices and other factors as discussed in the Risk Factors section of our filings with the SEC (News - Alert). While we believe our assumptions are reasonable, we caution you against relying on any forward-looking statements as it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our ability to obtain the approval of the Bankruptcy Court with respect to motions filed in the Chapter 11 cases and the outcomes of Bankruptcy Court rulings and the Chapter 11 cases in general, the effectiveness of the overall restructuring activities pursuant to the Chapter 11 filings and any additional strategies that we may employ to address our liquidity and capital resources, the actions and decisions of creditors, regulators and other third parties that have an interest in the Chapter 11 cases, restrictions on us due to the terms of any debtor-in-possession credit facility that we may enter into in connection with the Chapter 11 cases and restrictions imposed by the Bankruptcy Court, the timing for resolving and any impact of the network security incident, a weakening of global economic and financial conditions, interruptions in the supply of or increased cost of raw materials, the loss of, or difficulties with the further realization of, cost savings in connection with our strategic initiatives, the impact of our substantial indebtedness, our failure to comply with financial covenants under our credit facilities or other debt, pricing actions by our competitors that could affect our operating margins, changes in governmental regulations and related compliance and litigation costs and the other factors listed in our SEC filings. For a more detailed discussion of these and other risk factors, see the Risk Factors section in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our other filings made with the SEC. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary notice. The forward-looking statements made by us speak only as of the date on which they are made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005936/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Sacramento Homeownership to Get $6 Million Boost

Wells Fargo (News - Alert) & Company (NYSE:WFC), NeighborWorks America and its local network member, NeighborWorks HomeOwnership Center Sacramento Region, today announced an additional $6 million donation by Wells Fargo to boost homeownership through the NeighborhoodLIFT program for Sacramento County and the city of West Sacramento. This effort to create approximately 225 local homeowners follows the success of the 2012 NeighborhoodLIFT program for Sacramento that included a $7 million philanthropic investment by Wells Fargo and created 329 homeowners. "The NeighborhoodLIFT program is another example of our commitment to Sacramento and our efforts to bring forward solutions to address housing affordability," said David Galasso, Wells Fargo Greater California lead region president. "The program will help hardworking families and individuals get on the path to achieve successful and sustainable homeownership." Free NeighborhoodLIFT event scheduled May 31-June 1 Interested homebuyers are encouraged to register beginning Monday, May 13 at 9 a.m. at www.wellsfargo.com/lift to attend the free event scheduled for Friday, May 31, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday, June 1, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sacramento Convention Center, located at 1400 J St. in Sacramento. Walk-ins also are welcome while grants are available for reservation. NeighborWorks Sacramento will administer the $20,000 down payment assistance grants, determine eligibility and provide homebuyer education. To be eligible to reserve a $20,000 down payment assistance grant, annual incomes must not exceed 100% of the local area median income where the home is being purchased, which is $83,600 in Sacramento and $87,900 in West Sacramento for up to a family of four. In addition, there are special parameters for eligible military service members and veterans, teachers, law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians who may reserve $22,500 down payment assistance grants. Participating homebuyers can obtain mortgage financing from any participating lender. Approved homebuyers will have up to 60 days to finalize a contract to purchase a home in Scramento County or West Sacramento.



"This innovative public-private collaboration will create about 225 Sacramento-area homeowners," said Heather Starzynski, vice president of field operations with NeighborWorks America. "The required homebuyer education classes provided by certified professionals better prepare NeighborhoodLIFT homebuyers to achieve their goal of sustainable homeownership." Approved homebuyers must be approved for home financing with an eligible lender and be in contract to purchase a home in Sacramento County or West Sacramento. To reserve the full grant amount, participants buying a primary residence with the NeighborhoodLIFT program must commit to live in the home for five years.

"Our experienced counselors are ready to help people become homeowners with the support of NeighborhoodLIFT homebuyer education and down payment assistance," said Juan Rivera, president and CEO of NeighborWorks Sacramento. "We are pleased to join Wells Fargo and NeighborWorks America to make homeownership more affordable, achievable and sustainable for the people of Sacramento County and the city of West Sacramento." In addition, Wells Fargo has committed up to $325,000 to enable as many as 650 consumers to receive complimentary face-to-face homeownership counseling. Interested homebuyers can receive a voucher at the Sacramento NeighborhoodLIFT launch event that will provide in-person homeownership counseling at no charge with a local participating HUD-approved housing counselor in Sacramento. The homeownership counseling grant program is a resource in addition to the homebuyer education required for a NeighborhoodLIFT down payment assistance grant. In 2018, Wells Fargo increased its philanthropic impact by donating $444 million, including $75 million for the NeighborhoodLIFT program, to nearly 11,000 nonprofits to help communities and people in need. Overall, Wells Fargo has invested $456 million for the LIFT program and conducted 69 launches across the U.S. since 2012, creating more than 20,800 homeowners. A video about the NeighborhoodLIFT program is posted on Wells Fargo Stories. About NeighborWorks America and its network members NeighborWorks Sacramento is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America, a national organization that creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities. NeighborWorks America supports a network of more than 245 nonprofits, located in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Visit or https://www.nwsac.org/ or www.neighborworks.org to learn more. About Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,700 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 33 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 262,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune's 2018 rankings of America's largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005760/en/

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[May 01, 2019] U.S. designation of Muslim Brotherhood as terror organization is a crucial milestone for StopAntisemitism.org watchdog

NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) -- Yesterday's landmark announcement that the Trump administration is pursuing a foreign terrorist organization designation for the Muslim Brotherhood exemplifies the broad success of StopAntisemitism.org, the watchdog group announced today. Just seven months after its launch, Stop Antisemitism's social media reach in April exceeded a monthly high of 400,000 people on Facebook and a weekly high of 130,000 people on Instagram. This fast-growing audience benefits from unparalleled informational resources exposing and holding accountable the anti-Semites who threaten and undermine the security of the Jewish people and the broader values of the United States. Stop Antisemitism has powerfully translated its massive reach into tangible impact. After the watchdog issued a petition asking U.S. Attorney William Barr and Special Antisemitism Envoy Elan Carr to investigate the alleged terrorism ties of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), including its affiliations to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, the White House announced Tuesday that it is seeking to label the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Nearly 100,000 individuals have endorsed Stop Antisemitism's past and current petitions. The recent petition on CAIR's alleged terror ties was picked up by national media and garnered 35,000 signatures despite the fact that it was aggressively censored by Change.org.



Stop Antisemitism last Friday used a tip from one of its social media followers to be the first one to expose the anti-Semitic cartoon in The New York Times that depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog guiding the blind President Donald Trump, who was also wearing a yarmulke. After Stop Antisemitism posted the cartoon, it sparked a global uproar which prompted The New York Times to issue two apologies. Amid the rising tide of bigotry among younger Americans, more than half of Stop Antisemitism's social media followers come from the crucial demographic of users under age 35. Stop Antisemitism works with its younger social media followers on Instagram to help expose anti-Semitic incidents such as April's swastika posts and racist threats in Jacksonville, Fla. Once Stop Antisemitism's posts on that incident went viral, the teenagers involved were subjected to further discipline by the local school board. The need for this social media engagement is clearer than ever following the deadly attack at Chabad of Poway.

"It's not enough to repeat the motto 'Never Again'. Stopping anti-Semitism requires action on all our parts," said Liora Rez, Executive Director of Stop Antisemitism. "For too long, countless Americans have buried their heads in the sand as virulent anti-Semitism threatened their safety, their core values, and their way of life. No longer! Stop Antisemitism has proven a path to defeating anti-Semitism by holding anti-Semites accountable and creating consequences for their despicable behavior." About Stop Antisemitism: Stop Antisemitism holds anti-Semites accountable and creates consequences for their hatred and racist actions by substantiating the fact that they are the enemies of the American people and conflict with American values and morals. To learn more, please visit www.stopantisemitism.org. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-designation-of-muslim-brotherhood-as-terror-organization-is-a-crucial-milestone-for-stopantisemitismorg-watchdog-300842145.html SOURCE StopAntisemitism.org

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[May 01, 2019] ION reports first quarter 2019 results

HOUSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ION Geophysical Corporation (NYSE: IO) today reported revenues of $37.0 million in the first quarter 2019, a 10% increase compared to revenues of $33.5 million one year ago, driven in part by an increase in data library sales and Marlin deployments. ION's net loss was $21.4 million, or $(1.52) per share, compared to a net loss of $18.4 million, or $(1.44) per share in the first quarter 2018. The Company reported Adjusted EBITDA of $(4.6) million for the first quarter 2019, a decrease from the Adjusted EBITDA of $(1.1) million one year ago. A reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to the closest comparable GAAP numbers can be found in the tables of this press release. Net cash flows from operations were $15.4 million during the first quarter 2019, compared to $0.6 million in the first quarter 2018. Total net cash flows, including investing and financing activities, were $5.0 million, compared to $(1.3) million one year ago. At March 31, 2019, the Company had total liquidity of $78.1 million, consisting of $38.4 million of cash on hand, and $39.7 million of available borrowing capacity under its $50.0 million revolving credit facility, of which nothing was drawn. Brian Hanson, ION's President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "I'm pleased with the start to the year given the uncertain market outlook many of our E&P clients had in December due to oil price volatility. While 2019 E&P spending levels are projected to be slightly up, it remains unclear how robust exploration activity and funding will be in 2019. However, we are cautiously optimistic given the uptick in new venture interest we're seeing. "We continue to believe market fundamentals will gradually improve as it becomes increasingly critical to meet production demand in the next decade. Oil and gas projections suggest continued demand growth may create a supply gap in the middle of the next decade that shale may be unable to meet, necessitating offshore deepwater exploration and development. Due to the time it takes to develop and start producing oil and gas from new discoveries offshore, there's an increasing need to reinvest in conventional resources offshore to meet demand in the middle of the next decade. "Near-term, however, we expect exploration spending will remain very focused, with the majority of data sales tied to license rounds closing this year. We remain focused on an increase in new multi-client program development, commercialization of our 4Sea next generation ocean bottom technology and greater adoption of Marlin offshore operations optimization software in both E&P and adjacent markets." FIRST QUARTER 2019 The Company's segment revenues for the first quarter were as follows (in thousands):











Three Months Ended March 31,







2019

2018

% Change E&P Technology & Services

$ 27,103



$ 24,568



10 % Operations Optimization

9,853



8,940



10 % Total

$ 36,956



$ 33,508



10 %

Within the E&P Technology & Services segment, multi-client revenues were $23.4 million, an increase of 19%, with data library revenues increasing 67% and new venture revenues essentially flat compared to the first quarter 2018. The increase in data library revenues was primarily attributable to higher sales of recently completed 3D reimaging programs and existing 2D data offshore Brazil. Imaging Services revenues were $3.7 million, a decrease of 25%. While Imaging Services revenues declined, a significant number of new projects closed during the quarter, increasing Imaging Services backlog to its highest level since 2015. This increase in backlog should lead to an increase in Imaging Services revenues during the remainder of 2019. Within the Operations Optimization segment, Optimization Software & Services revenues were $5.0 million, a 5% increase from the first quarter 2018. The increase in Optimization Software & Services revenues was due to an increase in engineering services revenues, primarily driven by the continued increase in market adoption and deployments of ION's Marlin offshore operations optimization software. Devices revenues were $4.8 million, a 16% increase from the first quarter 2018, driven by an increase in repairs. Consolidated gross margin for the quarter was 27%, compared to 20% in the first quarter 2018. Gross margin in E&P Technology & Services was 20%, compared to 18% one year ago. The slight increase in E&P Technology & Services gross margin was a result of the increase and mix of data library revenues. Operations Optimization gross margin was 46%, compared to 48% one year ago. The slight decline in Operations Optimization gross margin was due to the mix of revenues between Devices and Optimization Software & Services. Consolidated operating expenses were $25.8 million, compared to $19.5 million in the first quarter 2018. Operating margin was (43)%, compared to (38)% in the first quarter 2018. This increase in operating expenses and decline in operating margin was due in part to an increase in compensation expense related to the Company's outstanding stock appreciation rights (SARs). Outstanding SARs are measured and adjusted to their fair value each quarter until exercised. During the first quarter 2019, the Company recorded $4.5 million of SARs expenses compared to $1.2 million in first quarter 2018. CONFERENCE CALL The Company has scheduled a conference call for Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time that will include a slide presentation to be posted in the Investor Relations section of the ION website by 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. To participate in the conference call, dial (877) 407-0672 at least 10 minutes before the call begins and ask for the ION conference call. A replay of the call will be available approximately two hours after the live broadcast ends and will be accessible until May 16, 2019. To access the replay, dial (877) 660-6853 and use pass code 13689014#. Investors, analysts and the general public will also have the opportunity to listen to the conference call live over the Internet by visiting www.iongeo.com. An archive of the webcast will be available shortly after the call on the Company's website. About ION ION develops and leverages innovative technologies, creating value through data capture, analysis and optimization to enhance critical decision-making, enabling superior returns. For more information, visit iongeo.com. Contact

Steve Bate

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

+1.281.552.3011 The information herein contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements may include information and other statements that are not of historical fact. Actual results may vary materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include the risks associated with the timing and development of ION Geophysical Corporation's products and services; pricing pressure; decreased demand; changes in oil prices; and political, execution, regulatory, and currency risks. These risks and uncertainties also include risks associated with the WesternGeco litigation and other related proceedings. We cannot predict the outcome of this litigation or the related proceedings. For additional information regarding these various risks and uncertainties, including the WesternGeco litigation, see our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, filed on February 7, 2019. Additional risk factors, which could affect actual results, are disclosed by the Company in its fillings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks filed during the year. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements. Tables to follow ION GEOPHYSICAL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2019

2018 Service revenues $ 28,128



$ 25,086

Product revenues 8,828



8,422

Total net revenues 36,956



33,508

Cost of services 22,446



22,329

Cost of products 4,598



4,326

Gross profit 9,912



6,853

Operating expenses:





Research, development and engineering 5,357



4,255

Marketing and sales 5,793



5,098

General, administrative and other operating expenses 14,699



10,140

Total operating expenses 25,849



19,493

Loss from operations (15,937)



(12,640)

Interest expense, net (3,112)



(3,836)

Other expense, net (792)



(791)

Loss before income taxes (19,841)



(17,267)

Income tax expense 1,407



1,072

Net loss (21,248)



(18,339)

Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (112)



(87)

Net loss attributable to ION $ (21,360)



$ (18,426)

Net loss per share:





Basic $ (1.52)



$ (1.44)

Diluted $ (1.52)



$ (1.44)

Weighted average number of common shares outstanding:





Basic 14,033



12,813

Diluted 14,033



12,813

ION GEOPHYSICAL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In thousands) (Unaudited)

ASSETS March 31,

2019

December 31,

2018 Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents $ 38,407



$ 33,551

Accounts receivable, net 29,104



26,128

Unbilled receivables 14,442



44,032

Inventories, net 14,094



14,130

Prepaid expenses and other current assets 7,486



7,782

Total current assets 103,533



125,623

Deferred income tax asset, net 8,594



7,191

Property, plant and equipment, net 13,257



13,041

Multi-client data library, net 66,932



73,544

Goodwill 23,592



22,915

Right-of-use assets 44,979



47,803

Other assets 1,819



2,435

Total assets $ 262,706



$ 292,552

LIABILITIES AND (DEFICIT) EQUITY





Current liabilities:





Current maturities of long-term debt $ 1,787



$ 2,228

Accounts payable 30,384



34,913

Accrued expenses 32,277



31,411

Accrued multi-client data library royalties 26,310



29,256

Deferred revenue 7,410



7,710

Current maturities of operating lease liabilities 11,964



12,214

Total current liabilities 110,132



117,732

Long-term debt, net of current maturities 119,482



119,513

Operating lease liabilities, net of current maturities 42,721



45,592

Other long-term liabilities 1,810



1,891

Total liabilities 274,145



284,728

(Deficit) Equity:





Common stock 141



140

Additional paid-in capital 953,679



952,626

Accumulated deficit (947,452)



(926,092)

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (19,472)



(20,442)

Total stockholders' (deficit) equity (13,104)



6,232

Noncontrolling interest 1,665



1,592

Total (deficit) equity (11,439)



7,824

Total liabilities and (deficit) equity $ 262,706



$ 292,552

ION GEOPHYSICAL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands) (Unaudited)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2019

2018 Cash flows from operating activities:





Net loss $ (21,248)



$ (18,339)

Adjustments to reconcile net loss to cash provided by operating activities:





Depreciation and amortization (other than multi-client data library) 1,035



2,523

Amortization of multi-client data library 11,100



9,793

Stock-based compensation expense 1,293



812

Deferred income taxes (1,398)



(117)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:





Accounts receivable (2,870)



(10,084)

Unbilled receivables 29,498



20,919

Inventories 81



(164)

Accounts payable, accrued expenses and accrued royalties (2,013)



(10,155)

Deferred revenue (333)



2,381

Other assets and liabilities 253



3,039

Net cash provided by operating activities 15,398



608

Cash flows from investing activities:





Investment in multi-client data library (8,767)



(9,240)

Purchase of property, plant and equipment (807)



(61)

Net cash used in investing activities (9,574)



(9,301)

Cash flows from financing activities:





Payments under revolving line of credit 



(10,000)

Payments on notes payable and long-term debt (715)



(29,144)

Net proceeds from issuance of stock 



47,219

Other financing activities (239)



(575)

Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities (954)



7,500

Effect of change in foreign currency exchange rates on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 81



(113)

Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 4,951



(1,306)

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period 33,854



52,419

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period $ 38,805



$ 51,113

The following table is a reconciliation of cash and cash equivalents to total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash:

March 31,

2019

2018 Cash and cash equivalents $ 38,407



$ 50,750

Restricted cash included in prepaid expenses and other current assets 398



60

Restricted cash included in other long-term assets 



303

Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash shown in statements of cash flows $ 38,805



$ 51,113

ION GEOPHYSICAL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES SUMMARY OF SEGMENT INFORMATION (In thousands) (Unaudited)



Three Months Ended March 31,



2019

2018

Net revenues:







E&P Technology & Services:







New Venture $ 13,471



$ 13,726



Data Library 9,948



5,948



Total multi-client revenues 23,419



19,674



Imaging Services 3,684



4,894



Total 27,103



24,568



Operations Optimization:







Devices 4,820



4,158



Optimization Software & Services 5,033



4,782



Total 9,853



8,940



Total $ 36,956



$ 33,508



Gross profit (loss):







E&P Technology & Services $ 5,440



$ 4,343



Operations Optimization 4,516



4,311



Segment gross profit 9,956



8,654



Other (44)

(a) (1,801)

(a) Total $ 9,912



$ 6,853



Gross margin:







E&P Technology & Services 20 %

18 %

Operations Optimization 46 %

48 %

Segment gross margin 27 %

26 %

Other  %

 %

Total 27 %

20 %

Income (loss) from operations:







E&P Technology & Services $ (1,615)



$ (794)



Operations Optimization 170



786



Support and other (14,492)

(b) (12,632)

(b) Loss from operations (15,937)



(12,640)



Interest expense, net (3,112)



(3,836)



Other expense, net (792)



(791)



Loss before income taxes $ (19,841)



$ (17,267)







(a) Relates to gross loss of previously reported Ocean Bottom Integrated Technologies segment. (b) Includes loss from operations of previously reported Ocean Bottom Integrated Technologies segment of $0.8 million and $2.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively, which includes item (a) above and operating expenses of $0.8 million and $1.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. ION GEOPHYSICAL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES

Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Loss

(Non-GAAP Measure)

(In thousands)

(Unaudited) The term Adjusted EBITDA represents net loss before interest expense, interest income, income taxes and depreciation and amortization charges. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles and should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for net income (loss) or cash flow measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles or as a measure of profitability or liquidity. Additionally, Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The Company has included Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental disclosure because its management believes that Adjusted EBITDA provides investors a helpful measure for comparing its operating performance with the performance of other companies that have different financing and capital structures or tax rates. The Company had previously reported stock appreciation rights (SARs) expense as an adjustment to its Adjusted EBITDA due to the unusual nature associated with accelerated vesting of certain SARs awards. Since such condition no longer exists and considering the recurring nature of recording outstanding SARs at their fair value, the Company has ceased reflecting SARs expense as an adjustment to its Adjusted EBITDA. To assist with comparability, the Company has reduced its previously reported Adjusted EBITDA by $1.2 million related to SARs expense in the first quarter 2018.

Three Months Ended March 31,

2019

2018 Net loss $ (21,248)



$ (18,339)

Interest expense, net 3,112



3,836

Income tax expense 1,407



1,072

Depreciation and amortization expense 12,135



12,316

Adjusted EBITDA $ (4,594)



$ (1,115)

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ion-reports-first-quarter-2019-results-300842160.html SOURCE ION Geophysical Corporation

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[May 01, 2019] Forbes Again Names Leidos Among America's Best Employers

RESTON, Va., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos (NYSE: LDOS), a global science and technology leader, announced today it has again been named to the annual Forbes list of America's Best Employers, which identifies the top 500 companies that employees like to work for and highlights the best among industry that meets its criteria. "Our 32,000 employees across the globe define who we are and what we stand for as a company: helping to make the world safer, healthier, and more efficient," said Paul Engola, Leidos Chief Human Resources Officer & Head of Business Partnerships. "Our value-driven culture and our mission attracts a highly-skilled, talented and diverse workforce adept at providing innovative solutions for our customers' most complex problems." Forbes partnered with market research company Statista to identify the companies liked best by employees to create the list. The results were derived from a series of online surveys of more than 50,000 U.S. employees across 25 different industries. The respondents rated, on a scale of zero to 10, how likely they'd be to recommend their employer to others. Additionally, survey respondents nominated other organizations within their industries. Leidos enterprise highlights include: Diversity and Inclusion: In 2018, the company launched a new Diversity & Inclusion campaign, "Inclusive Perspectives = Innovative Solutions," which reinforces the importance of an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives yield innovative solutions for our customers. The company has seven Employee Resource Groups where employees can network based on shared characteristics and life experiences. Additionally, Leidos has an ongoing commitment to hiring veterans, and 1 in 4 employees has served in the U.S. military.

In 2018, the company launched a new Diversity & Inclusion campaign, "Inclusive Perspectives = Innovative Solutions," which reinforces the importance of an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives yield innovative solutions for our customers. The company has seven Employee Resource Groups where employees can network based on shared characteristics and life experiences. Additionally, Leidos has an ongoing commitment to hiring veterans, and 1 in 4 employees has served in the U.S. military. CEO Pledge to End Opioid Addiction: Leidos is committed to its ongoing corporate responsibility efforts to help end the opioid epidemic and is furthering initiatives to educate the company's workforce of 32,000 employees. It has launched a coalition of companies to address the crisis through its CEO pledge , garnering the support of 50 companies to date.

Leidos is committed to its ongoing corporate responsibility efforts to help end the opioid epidemic and is furthering initiatives to educate the company's workforce of 32,000 employees. It has launched a coalition of companies to address the crisis through its , garnering the support of 50 companies to date. Ethics & Compliance: Leidos is recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, specifically as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. This honor underscores the company's commitment to leading with integrity and prioritizing ethical business performance. Other Forbes lists Leidos has been named to include: Best Employers for Diversity 2019; World's Best Employers 2018; Top 100 Digital Companies 2018; and Best Employers for Women 2018. More information about "Life at Leidos" and available job opportunities in science, engineering and information technology can be found at https://www.leidos.com/careers.



About Leidos Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.19 billion for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2018. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. Statements in this announcement, other than historical data and information, constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be very different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 28, 2018, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.







Contact: Melissa Koskovich Erin Tindell

(571) 526-6850 (571) 526-6996

[email protected] [email protected]

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/forbes-again-names-leidos-among-americas-best-employers-300842148.html SOURCE Leidos

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[May 01, 2019] Tyler Technologies Reports Earnings for First Quarter 2019

Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. First Quarter 2019 Financial Highlights: Total revenues were $247.1 million, up 11.7% from $221.2 million for the first quarter of 2018. Organic revenue growth was 5.5%. Non-GAAP total revenues were $248.8 million, up 12.4% from $221.4 million for the first quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP organic revenue growth was 5.4%.

Recurring revenues from maintenance and subscriptions were $167.4 million, an increase of 17.1% compared to the first quarter of 2018, and comprised 67.8% of first quarter 2019 revenue.

Operating income was $34.5 million, down 11.2% from $38.8 million for the first quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP operating income was $63.0 million, up 7.4% from $58.6 million for the first quarter of 2018.

Net income was $27.3 million, or $0.69 per diluted share, down 27.7% compared to $37.8 million, or $0.95 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2018. Non-GAAP net income was $48.3 million, or $1.22 per diluted share, up 7.3% compared to $45.0 million, or $1.13 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2018.

Cash flows from operations were $24.0 million, down 46.3% compared to $44.6 million for the first quarter of 2018.

Adjusted EBITDA was $69.5 million, up 8.0% compared to $64.4 million for the first quarter of 2018.

Tyler repurchased 71,793 shares of its common stock during the quarter at an average price of $199.03.

Software subscription arrangements comprised approximately 54% of the total new software contract value in the first quarter.

Software subscription bookings in the first quarter added $11.4 million in annual recurring revenue.

Total backlog was $1.26 billion, up 4.9% from $1.20 billion at March 31, 2018. Software-related backlog (excluding appraisal services) was $1.22 billion, up 4.8% from $1.16 billion at March 31, 2018.

During the quarter, Tyler completed the acquisitions of MyCivic and MicroPact, Inc., for a total of $199.1 million in cash, net of cash acquired.

Effective January 1, 2019, Tyler adopted the requirements of ASU No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), utilizing the modified retrospective method of transition. "Our first quarter results provided a solid start to 2019 in line with our expectations," said Lynn Moore Jr., Tyler's president and chief executive officer. "Total non-GAAP revenues grew more than 12%, once again fueled by strong subscription revenue growth, which grew 38.5% on a non-GAAP basis. Subscription agreements made up the majority of our new software contracts in the quarter, and our four largest software contracts signed in the quarter were all subscription arrangements, which put pressure on short-term top-line growth but is a long-term positive trend for Tyler. Our non-GAAP gross margin rose 130 basis points while our non-GAAP operating margin fell 120 basis points. Research and development expense rose 45%, reflecting a continued high level of investment in products across the company, including heightened investments in recent acquisitions. "This was a good quarter for bookings, which increased 17% over the first quarter of 2018, and contributed to our backlog growth of 5%. Contract signings were particularly strong for our public safety, ERP, and appraisal and tax products, and our new business pipeline remains active. "We are pleased with the continued integration of our 2018 acquisitions into Tyler and their results were in line with our expectations. We're also excited about the February acquisitions of MyCivic and MicroPact. MyCivic will elevate Tyler's current citizen-facing applications by enabling clients to provide a single app for citizens to interact with their local government in multiple ways. MicroPact is the second largest acquisition in the company's history and augments our product solutions, positions us in new practice areas such as health and human services, and presents opportunities to expand our business across new and complementary markets, including the federal market," added Moore. Guidance for 2019 As of May 1, 2019, Tyler Technologies is providing the following guidance for the full year 2019: GAAP total revenues are expected to be in the range of $1.08 billion to $1.10 billion. Non-GAAP total revenues are expected to be in the range of $1.09 billion to $1.11 billion.

GAAP diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $3.45 to $3.60 and may vary significantly due to the impact of stock option exercises on the GAAP effective tax rate, as well as final valuation of acquired intangibles.

Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $5.20 to $5.35.

Pretax non-cash, share-based compensation expense is expected to be approximately $62 million.

Research and development expense is expected to be in the range of $82 million to $84 million.

Fully diluted shares for the year are expected to be in the range of 40.0 million to 41.0 million shares.

GAAP earnings per share assumes an estimated annual effective tax rate of approximately 10% after discrete tax items and includes approximately $27 million of discrete tax benefits related to share-based compensation.

The non-GAAP annual effective tax rate is expected to be 24%.

Capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $48 million to $50 million, including approximately $22 million related to real estate and approximately $6 million of capitalized software development. Total depreciation and amortization expense is expected to be approximately $77 million, including approximately $51 million from amortization of acquisition intangibles. GAAP to non-GAAP guidance reconciliation Non-GAAP total revenues is derived from adding back the estimated full year impact of write-downs of acquisition-related deferred revenue and amortization of acquired leases of approximately $10 million. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share excludes the estimated full year impact of non-cash share-based compensation expense and employer portion of payroll tax related to employee stock transactions of approximately $62 million, and amortization of acquired software and intangible assets of approximately $51 million. Additionally, the non-GAAP tax rate of 24% is estimated periodically as described below under "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and excludes approximately $27 million of estimated discrete tax benefits that are included in the GAAP estimated annual effective tax rate. Conference Call Tyler Technologies will hold a conference call on Thursday, May 2, at 10:00 a.m. EDT to discuss the company's results. The company is offering participants the opportunity to register in advance for the conference through the following link: http://dpregister.com/10130477. Registered participants will receive an email with a calendar reminder and a dial-in number and PIN that will allow them immediate access to the call on May 2. Participants who do not wish to pre-register for the call may dial in using 844-861-5506 (U.S. callers) or 412-317-6587 (international callers) or 866-450-4696 (Canada callers) and ask for the "Tyler Technologies" call. A replay will be available two hours after completion of the call through May 30, 2019. To access the replay, please dial 877-344-7529 (U.S. callers), 412-317-0088 (international callers) and 855-669-9658 (Canada callers) and reference passcode 10130477. The live webcast and archived replay can also be accessed at https://tylertech.irpass.com/presentations. About Tyler Technologies, Inc. Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) is the largest and most established provider of integrated software and technology services focused on the public sector. Tyler's end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. By connecting data and processes across disparate systems, Tyler's solutions are transforming how clients gain actionable insights that solve problems in their communities. Tyler has more than 21,000 successful installations across 10,000 sites, with clients in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations. A financially strong company, Tyler has achieved double-digit revenue growth every quarter since 2012. It was also named to Forbes' "Best Midsize Employers" list in 2018 and recognized twice on its "Most Innovative Growth Companies" list. More information about Tyler Technologies, headquartered in Plano, Texas, can be found at tylertech.com. Non-GAAP Financial Measures Tyler Technologies has provided in this press release financial measures that have not been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and are therefore considered non-GAAP financial measures. This information includes non-GAAP revenues, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP earnings per diluted share, EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA. We use these non-GAAP financial measures internally in analyzing our financial results and believe they are useful to investors, as a supplement to GAAP measures, in evaluating Tyler's ongoing operational performance because they provide additional insight in comparing results from period to period. Tyler believes the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing our financial results with other companies in our industry, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures discussed above exclude write-downs of acquisition-related deferred revenue and acquired leases, share-based compensation expense, employer portion of payroll taxes on employee stock transactions, expenses associated with amortization of intangibles arising from business combinations, and acquisition-related expenses. Tyler currently uses a non-GAAP tax rate of 24%. This rate is based on Tyler's estimated annual GAAP income tax rate forecast, adjusted to account for items excluded from GAAP income in calculating Tyler's non-GAAP income, as well as significant non-recurring tax adjustments. The non-GAAP tax rate used in future periods will be reviewed periodically to determine whether it remains appropriate in consideration of factors including Tyler's periodic effective tax rate calculated in accordance with GAAP, changes resulting from tax legislation, changes in the geographic mix of revenues and expenses, and other factors deemed significant. Due to differences in tax treatment of items excluded from non-GAAP earnings, as well as the methodology applied to Tyler's estimated annual tax rate as described above, the estimated tax rate on non-GAAP income may differ from the GAAP tax rate and from Tyler's actual tax liabilities. Non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP measures used by Tyler Technologies may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, which has been provided in the financial statement tables included below in this press release. Forward-looking Statements This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are not historical in nature and typically address future or anticipated events, trends, expectations or beliefs with respect to our financial condition, results of operations or business. Forward-looking statements often contain words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates," "plans," "intends," "continues," "may," "will," "should," "projects," "might," "could" or other similar words or phrases. Similarly, statements that describe our business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions or goals also are forward-looking statements. We believe there is a reasonable basis for our forward-looking statements, but they are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from the expectations and beliefs reflected in the forward-looking statements. We presently consider the following to be among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and beliefs: (1) changes in the budgets or regulatory environments of our clients, primarily local and state governments, that could negatively impact information technology spending; (2) our ability to protect client information from security breaches and provide uninterrupted operations of data centers; (3) our ability to achieve growth or operational synergies through the integration of acquired businesses, while avoiding unanticipated costs and disruptions to existing operations; (4) material portions of our business require the Internet infrastructure to be adequately maintained; (5) our ability to achieve our financial forecasts due to various factors, including project delays by our clients, reductions in transaction size, fewer transactions, delays in delivery of new products or releases or a decline in our renewal rates for service agreements; (6) general economic, political and market conditions; (7) technological and market risks associated with the development of new products or services or of new versions of existing or acquired products or services; (8) competition in the industry in which we conduct business and the impact of competition on pricing, client retention and pressure for new products or services; (9) the ability to attract and retain qualified personnel and dealing with the loss or retirement of key members of management or other key personnel; and (10) costs of compliance and any failure to comply with government and stock exchange regulations. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business are described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the detailed "Risk Factors" contained in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements.







TYLER TECHNOLOGIES, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (Amounts in thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Revenues: Software licenses and royalties $ 21,793 $ 22,776 Subscriptions 67,275 49,028 Software services 48,443 45,939 Maintenance 100,152 93,897 Appraisal services 5,214 5,394 Hardware and other 4,189 4,140 Total revenues 247,066 221,174 Cost of revenues: Software licenses and royalties 818 778 Acquired software 6,682 5,382 Software services, maintenance and subscriptions 117,160 106,085 Appraisal services 3,452 3,781 Hardware and other 2,906 2,343 Total cost of revenues 131,018 118,369 Gross profit 116,048 102,805 Selling, general and administrative expenses 57,766 47,604 Research and development expense 18,941 13,048 Amortization of customer and trade name intangibles 4,850 3,315 Operating income 34,491 38,838 Other income, net 586 599 Income before income taxes 35,077 39,437 Income tax provision 7,729 1,612 Net income $ 27,348 $ 37,825 Earnings per common share: Basic $ 0.71 $ 1.00 Diluted $ 0.69 $ 0.95 Weighted average common shares outstanding: Basic 38,308 38,002 Diluted 39,585 39,836

TYLER TECHNOLOGIES, INC. RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (Amounts in thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Reconciliation of non-GAAP total revenues GAAP total revenues $ 247,066 $ 221,174 Non-GAAP adjustments: Add: Write-downs of acquisition-related deferred revenue 1,597 100 Add: Amortization of acquired leases 100 111 Non-GAAP total revenues $ 248,763 $ 221,385 Reconciliation of non-GAAP gross profit and margin GAAP gross profit $ 116,048 $ 102,805 Non-GAAP adjustments: Add: Write-downs of acquisition-related deferred revenue 1,597 100 Add: Amortization of acquired leases 100 111 Add: Share-based compensation expense included in cost of revenues 3,798 2,776 Add: Amortization of acquired software 6,682 5,382 Non-GAAP gross profit $ 128,225 $ 111,174 GAAP gross margin 47.0 % 46.5 % Non-GAAP gross margin 51.5 % 50.2 % Reconciliation of non-GAAP operating income and margin GAAP operating income $ 34,491 $ 38,838 Non-GAAP adjustments: Add: Write-downs of acquisition-related deferred revenue 1,597 100 Add: Amortization of acquired leases 100 111 Add: Share-based compensation expense 14,416 10,557 Add: Employer portion of payroll tax related to employee stock transactions 123 320 Add: Acquisition related costs 695 - Add: Amortization of acquired software 6,682 5,382 Add: Amortization of customer and trade name intangibles 4,850 3,315 Non-GAAP adjustments subtotal 28,463 19,785 Non-GAAP operating income $ 62,954 $ 58,623 GAAP operating margin 14.0 % 17.6 % Non-GAAP operating margin 25.3 % 26.5 % TYLER TECHNOLOGIES, INC. RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (Amounts in thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Reconciliation of non-GAAP net income and earnings per share GAAP net income $ 27,348 $ 37,825 Non-GAAP adjustments: Add: Total non-GAAP adjustments to operating income 28,463 19,785 Less: Tax impact related to non-GAAP adjustments (7,521 ) (12,601 ) Non-GAAP net income $ 48,290 $ 45,009 GAAP earnings per diluted share $ 0.69 $ 0.95 Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share $ 1.22 $ 1.13 Detail of share-based compensation expense Cost of software services, maintenance and subscriptions $ 3,798 $ 2,776 Selling, general and administrative expenses 10,618 7,781 Total share-based compensation expense $ 14,416 $ 10,557 Reconciliation of EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA GAAP net income $ 27,348 $ 37,825 Amortization of customer and trade name intangibles 4,850 3,315 Depreciation and amortization included in cost of revenues, SG&A and other expenses 12,426 10,797 Interest expense included in other income, net 464 189 Income tax provision 7,729 1,612 EBITDA $ 52,817 $ 53,738 Write-downs of acquisition-related deferred revenue 1,597 100 Share-based compensation expense 14,416 10,557 Acquisition related costs 695 - Adjusted EBITDA $ 69,525 $ 64,395 TYLER TECHNOLOGIES, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Amounts in thousands) (Unaudited) March 31, 2019 December 31, 2018 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 39,437 $ 134,279 Accounts receivable, net 298,980 298,912 Current investments and other assets 63,857 80,970 Income tax receivable - 4,697 Total current assets 402,274 518,858 Accounts receivable, long-term portion 22,821 16,020 Operating lease right-of-use assets 20,067 - Property and equipment, net 164,617 155,177 Other assets: Goodwill 834,572 753,718 Other intangibles, net 389,633 276,852 Non-current investments and other assets 75,318 70,338 Total assets $ 1,909,302 $ 1,790,963 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 69,835 $ 73,390 Current income tax payable 7,868 - Operating lease liabilities 5,777 - Deferred revenue 319,900 350,512 Total current liabilities 403,380 423,902 Revolving line of credit 85,000 - Deferred revenue, long-term 442 424 Deferred income taxes 42,779 41,791 Operating lease liabilities, long-term 18,956 - Shareholders' equity 1,358,745 1,324,846 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 1,909,302 $ 1,790,963 TYLER TECHNOLOGIES, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Amounts in thousands) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 27,348 $ 37,825 Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash provided by operations: Depreciation and amortization 17,308 14,112 Share-based compensation expense 14,416 10,557 Deferred income tax benefit (4,785 ) (2,658 ) Changes in operating assets and liabilities, exclusive of effects of acquired companies (30,330 ) (15,205 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 23,957 44,631 Cash flows from investing activities: Additions to property and equipment (12,320 ) (8,895 ) Purchase of marketable security investments (3,590 ) (43,962 ) Proceeds from marketable security investments 20,276 11,077 Investment in software (690 ) - Cost of acquisitions, net of cash acquired (199,130 ) - Decrease in other 564 743 Net cash used by investing activities (194,890 ) (41,037 ) Cash flows from financing activities: Increase in net borrowings on revolving line of credit 85,000 - Purchase of treasury shares (17,786 ) - Proceeds from exercise of stock options 6,528 19,298 Contributions from employee stock purchase plan 2,349 1,798 Net cash provided by financing activities 76,091 21,096 Net (decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents (94,842 ) 24,690 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 134,279 185,926 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period $ 39,437 $ 210,616 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005966/en/

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[May 01, 2019] TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. Announces First Quarter 2019 Financial Results

TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. (NYSE: TPVG) (the "Company," "TPVG," "we," "us," or "our"), the leading financing provider to venture growth stage companies backed by a select group of venture capital firms in the technology, life sciences and other high growth industries, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 and its second quarter 2019 distribution of $0.36 per share. First Quarter 2019 Highlights Earned net investment income of $9.9 million, or $0.40 per share;

Generated a net increase in net assets of $11.1 million, or $0.45 per share, resulting in a net asset value of $13.59 per share;

Signed $250.0 million of new term sheets at TriplePoint Capital LLC ("TPC"), and TPVG closed $191.0 million of new debt commitments to venture growth stage companies;

Funded $89.5 million in debt investments with a 13.0% weighted average annualized portfolio yield at origination;

Grew the investment portfolio to a record level of $457.7 million as of March 31, 2019;

Achieved a 16.5% weighted average annualized portfolio yield on debt investments, including the impact of prepayments;

Realized a 11.9% return on average equity, based on net investment income, during the quarter; and

Declared a second quarter distribution of $0.36 per share, payable on June 14, 2019; bringing total distributions to $7.44 per share since the Company's Initial Public Offering. "The first quarter marked the fifth anniversary of our initial public offering. Our brand, reputation, focus on venture growth stage companies and our track record continue to differentiate us in the market," said Jim Labe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of TPVG. "We are pleased to grow our platform and our investment portfolio while delivering attractive returns to our stockholders." "We continue to have strong demand for venture growth stage lending from high quality venture capital-backed companies," said Sajal Srivastava, President and Chief Investment Officer of the Company. "We will maintain our disciplined underwriting as we capitalize on these opportunities." PORTFOLIO AND INVESTMENT ACTIVITY During the first quarter of 2019, the Company entered into $191.0 million of new debt commitments with nine companies, funded debt investments totaling $89.5 million to nine companies and acquired warrant investments valued at $1.8 million in eight companies. Debt investments funded during the quarter carried a weighted average annualized portfolio yield of 13.0% at origination. During the quarter, the Company had $57.6 million of early principal prepayments, $5.0 million of repayments at or near maturity and principal amortization of $7.9 million. The weighted average annualized portfolio yield on debt investments for the first quarter was 16.5%, including the impact of prepayments and other activity, and 13.8% excluding the impact of prepayments and other activity. The Company calculates weighted average portfolio yield as the annualized rate of the interest income recognized during the period divided by the average amortized cost of debt investments in the portfolio at the beginning of each month in the period.1 As of March 31, 2019, the Company held 86 debt investments with 29 companies and 66 warrant and equity investments in 60 companies. The total cost and fair value of these investments were $458.2 million and $457.7 million, respectively. Total portfolio investment activity for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 was as follows:







For the Three Months Ended March 31, (in thousands) 2019 2018 Beginning portfolio at fair value $ 433,417 $ 372,103 New debt investments, net (1) 87,639 36,968 Scheduled principal payments from debt investments (12,960 ) (5,876 ) Early principal payments, repayments and recoveries (57,553 ) (8,348 ) Accretion of debt investment fees 3,235 2,948 Payment-in-kind coupon 771 605 New warrant investments 1,814 615 New equity investments 500 250 Proceeds and dispositions of investments (322 ) (3 ) Net realized (losses) gains (29 ) 8 Net unrealized gains on investments 1,183 1,988 Ending portfolio at fair value $ 457,695 $ 401,258

(1) Debt balance is net of fees and discounts applied to the loan at origination. SIGNED TERM SHEETS During the first quarter of 2019, TPC entered into $250.0 million of non-binding term sheets to venture growth stage companies. These opportunities are subject to underwriting conditions including, but not limited to, the completion of due diligence, negotiation of definitive documentation and investment committee approval, as well as compliance with TPC's allocation policy. Accordingly, there is no assurance that any or all of these transactions will be completed or assigned to the Company, even though the Company is the primary vehicle through which TPC focuses its venture growth stage business. UNFUNDED COMMITMENTS As of March 31, 2019, the Company's unfunded commitments totaled $379.7 million, of which $102.0 million is dependent upon portfolio companies reaching certain milestones. Of the $379.7 million of unfunded commitments, $218.7 million will expire during 2019, $131.0 million will expire during 2020 and $30.0 million will expire in 2021 if not drawn prior to expiration. Since these commitments may expire without being drawn, unfunded commitments do not necessarily represent future cash requirements or future earning assets for the Company. RESULTS OF OPERATIONS Total investment and other income was $17.5 million for the first quarter of 2019, representing a weighted average annualized portfolio yield of 16.5% on debt investments, as compared to $12.6 million and 14.0%, for the first quarter of 2018. The increase in investment income was driven by higher weighted average principal outstanding on our investment portfolio and an increase in prepayments and other income. Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2019 were $7.6 million as compared to $6.7 million for the first quarter of 2018. Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2019 consisted of $2.2 million of interest expense and amortization of deferred credit facility costs, $1.8 million of base management fees, $2.5 million of income incentive fees, $0.4 million of administration agreement expenses and $0.7 million of general and administrative expenses. Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2018 consisted of $2.5 million of interest expense and amortization of deferred credit facility costs, $1.5 million of base management fees, $1.5 million of income incentive fees, $0.4 million of administration agreement expenses and $0.7 million of general and administrative expenses. For the first quarter of 2019, the Company recorded net investment income of $9.9 million, or $0.40 per share, as compared to $5.9 million, or $0.34 per share, for the first quarter of 2018. Revenue increased in the first quarter of 2019, as compared to the first quarter of 2018, primarily due to an increase in weighted average principal outstanding on debt investments and an increase in principal prepayments and other income. During the first quarter of 2019, the Company recorded $(29 thousand), or $(0.00) per share, of net realized losses on investments, compared to net realized gains on investments of $8 thousand, or $0.00 per share, for the first quarter of 2018. Net unrealized appreciation on investments for the first quarter of 2019 was $1.2 million, or $0.05 per share, mainly resulting from market-related changes affecting fair value estimates, as compared to net unrealized appreciation on investments of $2.0 million, or $0.11 per share, for the first quarter of 2018. The Company's net increase in net assets resulting from operations for the first quarter of 2019 was approximately $11.1 million, or $0.45 per share, as compared to approximately $7.9 million, or $0.45 per share, for the first quarter of 2018. CREDIT QUALITY The Company maintains a credit watch list with portfolio companies placed into one of five categories, with Clear, or 1, being the highest rating and Red, or 5, being the lowest. Generally, all new loans receive an initial grade of White (2) unless the portfolio company's credit quality meets the characteristics of another risk category. As of March 31, 2019, the weighted average investment ranking of the Company's debt investment portfolio was 1.95, as compared to 1.87 at the end of the prior quarter. During the three months ended March 31, 2019, portfolio company credit category changes, excluding fundings and repayments, consisted of the following: one portfolio company with a principal balance of $14.6 million was upgraded from White (2) to Clear (1) and two portfolio companies with a combined principal balance of $29.2 million were downgraded from Clear (1) to White (2). Additional information regarding our credit rating methodology is detailed in our Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2019. The following table shows the credit rankings for the Company's debt investments at fair value as of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018. As of March 31, 2019 As of December 31, 2018 Category

(dollars in thousands) Fair Value % of Debt

Investment

Portfolio # of Portfolio

Companies Fair Value % of Debt

Investment

Portfolio # of Portfolio

Companies Clear (1) $ 81,225 19.1 % 4 $ 112,032 27.6 % 7 White (2) 293,911 69.3 20 245,544 60.6 17 Yellow (3) 40,163 9.5 3 38,982 9.6 3 Orange (News - Alert) (4) 6,886 1.6 1 6,789 1.7 1 Red (5) 2,211 0.5 1 2,000 0.5 1 $ 424,396 100.0 % 29 $ 405,347 100.0 % 29 NET (News - Alert) ASSET VALUE As of March 31, 2019, the Company's net assets were $337.2 million, or $13.59 per share, as compared to $334.5 million, or $13.50 per share, as of December 31, 2018. LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES As of March 31, 2019, the Company had total liquidity of $171.2 million, consisting of cash of $42.0 million and available capacity under its revolving credit facility of $129.2 million, subject to existing advance rates, terms and covenants. DISTRIBUTION The Company's board of directors declared a quarterly distribution of $0.36 per share for the second quarter of 2019, payable on June 14, 2019, to stockholders of record as of May 31, 2019. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS Since April 1, 2019: The Company closed $17.1 million of additional debt commitments;

The Company funded $39.8 million in new investments; and

TPC's direct originations platform entered into $95.0 million of additional non-binding signed term sheets with venture growth stage companies. CONFERENCE CALL The Company will host a conference call at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time today, May 1, 2019, to discuss its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. To listen to the call, investors and analysts should dial 1 (844) 826-3038 (domestic) or 1 (412) 317-5184 (international) and ask to join the TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. call. Please dial in at least five minutes before the scheduled start time. A replay of the call will be available through June 1, 2019, by dialing 1 (877) 344-7529 (domestic) or 1 (412) 317-0088 (international) and entering conference ID10131105. The conference call will also be available via a live audio webcast in the investor relations section of the Company's website, http://www.tpvg.com. An online archive of the webcast will be available on the Company's website for 30 days after the call. ABOUT TRIPLEPOINT VENTURE GROWTH BDC CORP. The Company serves as the primary financing source for the venture growth stage business segment of TriplePoint Capital LLC, the leading global provider of financing across all stages of development to technology, life sciences and other high growth companies backed by a select group of venture capital firms. The Company's investment objective is to maximize its total return to stockholders primarily in the form of current income and, to a lesser extent, capital appreciation by primarily lending with warrants to venture growth stage companies. The Company is an externally managed, closed-end, non-diversified management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. More information is available at http://www.tpvg.com. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, condition or results and involve a number of substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the Company's control. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "will," "may," "continue," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "would," "could," "should," "targets," "projects," and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including those described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's opinions only as of the date hereof. 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 by law. TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. Consolidated Statements of Assets and Liabilities (in thousands, except per share data) March 31, 2019 December 31, 2018 Assets (unaudited) Investments at fair value (amortized cost of $458,176 and $435,084, respectively) $ 457,695 $ 433,417 Short-term investments at fair value (cost of $49,994 and $19,999, respectively) 49,994 19,999 Cash 35,973 3,382 Restricted cash 6,014 6,567 Deferred credit facility costs and other assets 4,700 3,689 Total assets $ 554,376 $ 467,054 Liabilities Revolving credit facility payable $ 80,776 $ 23,000 2022 Notes, net 73,071 72,943 Payable for U.S. Treasury bill assets 49,994 19,999 Other payables, accrued expenses, and liabilities 13,336 16,581 Total liabilities $ 217,177 $ 132,523 Net assets Preferred stock, par value $0.01 per share (50,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding, respectively) $ - $ - Common stock, par value $0.01 per share (450,000 shares authorized; 24,820 and 24,780 shares issued and outstanding, respectively) 248 248 Paid (News - Alert)-in capital in excess of par value 331,847 331,329 Total distributable earnings 5,104 2,954 Total net assets $ 337,199 $ 334,531 Total liabilities and net assets $ 554,376 $ 467,054 Net asset value per share $ 13.59 $ 13.50 TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands, except per share data) (unaudited) For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Investment income Interest income from investments $ 17,147 $ 12,616 Other income 344 3 Total investment and other income 17,491 12,619 Operating expenses Base management fee 1,761 1,528 Income incentive fee 2,479 1,487 Capital gains incentive fee - - Interest expense and amortization of fees 2,203 2,518 Administration agreement expenses 422 407 General and administrative expenses 711 732 Total operating expenses 7,576 6,672 Net investment income 9,915 5,947 Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) Net realized (losses) gains on investments (29 ) 8 Net change in unrealized gains on investments 1,183 1,988 Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) 1,154 1,996 Net increase in net assets resulting from operations $ 11,069 $ 7,943 Basic and diluted net investment income per share $ 0.40 $ 0.34 Basic and diluted net increase in net assets per share $ 0.45 $ 0.45 Basic and diluted weighted average shares of common stock outstanding 24,782 17,730 Weighted Average Portfolio Yield on Debt Investments For the Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Weighted average portfolio yield on debt investments 16.5 % 14.0 % Coupon income 10.7 % 10.5 % Net amortization and accretion of premiums and discounts 0.9 % 0.9 % Net accretion of end-of-term payments 2.2 % 2.2 % Impact of prepayments 2.7 % 0.4 % Weighted average portfolio yield on debt investments for periods shown are the annualized rate of the interest income recognized during the period divided by the average amortized cost of debt investments in the portfolio at the beginning of each month in the period. 1 The Company's weighted average annualized portfolio yield on debt investments may be higher than an investor's yield on an investment in shares of its common stock. The weighted average annualized portfolio yield on debt investments does not reflect operating expenses that may be incurred by the Company. In addition, the Company's weighted average annualized portfolio yield on debt investments disclosed above does not consider the effect of any sales commissions or charges that may be incurred in connection with the sale of shares of its common stock. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005924/en/

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pranab mondal By

Express News Service

SINGUR (HOOGHLY) : Wounded Tata Motors left more than a decade ago, but Singur is still bleeding. Three years after Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, armed with an apex court order, returned land on which Tatas Nano plant was built, a major portion of the 997.11-acre plot remains uncultivated. Weeds run wild and cattle graze on large swathes.The TMC government had promised to make the land cultivable but it did not work. In 2016, after Mamata handed over the land to farmers, the first spell of rain washed away most of the topsoil, exposing the remains of concrete structures.

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Tata Motors pulled the plug on the Nano manufacturing plant in 2008. Mamata was at the forefront of the stir against land acquisition by the erstwhile Left Front government for the car plant in 2006. The stir helped Trinamool overpower the CPM in Hooghly district, sweeping all panchayat, Assembly and LS polls since 2008 by promising farmers return of all acquired Singur land and make it ready for cultivation. Didi kept her first promise but not the second one. It paved the way for the BJP in Hooghly. Farmers known to be CPM supporters switched sides.

I was among those who were against the Tata project. The CM returned my land in 2016 and I was told the government would help me get my plot ready for cultivation. But I could not farm because of concrete structures under the soil. I sacrificed the compensation package offered by the CPM government and refused a job offer from Tata Motors. Now, I realise my mistake. We want industry on the land now, said Amar Santra, a resident of Khasherbheri village that was the epicentre of the agitation. Santra did not hesitate to say he will vote for the BJP this time.

Samit Ghosh, now in his early 30s, was 22-years-old when he was selected for a job in Tatas Singur unit. I was one of the 267 local residents selected by Tata Motors. I did the training first at the Singur plant and later in Pune. My dream was shattered when Tata Motors decided to pull out, he said.

Singurs political narrative had a remarkable impact in the last LS elections in Hooghly. A movement that drove out Tata Motors and a promise that failed to heal Singur pain helped the BJP make significant inroads in 2014 LS polls. The BJP vote share increased from 3.42% in 2009 to 16.4%. The CPM suffered a 10.84% dent in its vote bank in 2014.

Trinamools internal conflict is another issue the BJP is banking on. Singur MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya had resigned in 2012 because of his conflict with Becharam Manna, the MLA from Haripal Assembly constituency. Bhattacharya withdrew his resignation after he was offered a chair in Mamatas cabinet. This time, the BJP has fielded actress-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee from Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency to take on Trinamools Ratna De.

The flames of the ruling partys internal conflict also damaged Trinamools vote bank in adjoining Arambagh constituency. The BJP is confident of making forays into Trinamools strongholds here too. It is here that rival factions of the Trinamool attacked each other on July 21 last year. The CPM, which once enjoyed absolute dominance in the area is not our rival. We are fighting our own colleagues, said a TMC Arambagh leader.

There was a sharp decline in CPMs vote bank in 2014 Lok Sabha polls with its vote share dipping by 25.29%. Most of them supported the Trinamool. But a large chunk of electors are waiting for an alternative political force and they have identified the BJP as their choice, said Tapan Roy, the saffron candidate from Arambagh. Roy will take on Trinamools Aparuba Poddar.

Serampore constituency in Hooghly is all set to witness a tough electoral battle on May 6 as BJPs Debjit Sarkar takes on Kalyan Mukherjee. BJP hopes for anti-incumbency to play a part. It is here that the BJP increased its vote share by 18.74% while Trinamool suffered a dent of 12.78% in 2014.
[May 01, 2019] Paramount Executes 265,000 Square Foot Lease Expansion with First Republic Bank at One Front Street

Paramount Group, Inc. (NYSE: PGRE) ("Paramount" or the "Company") today announced that it has signed a 265,000 square foot lease expansion with First Republic Bank ("First Republic") at One Front Street, a 38-story trophy office tower located on the corner of Front and Market Streets in San Francisco. The lease expansion will increase First Republic's footprint at One Front Street to approximately 515,000 square feet, or 80.0% of the building's total square footage. Subsequent to the execution of this lease, One Front Street, which was 92.0% leased at March 31, 2019, is now 100.0% leased. "We are thrilled that First Republic has elected to expand its footprint at One Front Street. As a growing financial services provider, First Republic's choice to further expand in One Front Street reflects the desiability of the building's location, efficient floorplates and exceptional views of both the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges," said Albert Behler, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company. "Since acquiring One Front Street just over two years ago, we have effectively eliminated all of the expirations that were foreseeable at closing."



"First Republic is very pleased to partner with Paramount to secure high-quality office space at One Front Street, which will support our continued growth and delivery of exceptional client service," said Jim Herbert, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of First Republic Bank. About Paramount Group, Inc.

Headquartered in New York City, Paramount Group, Inc. is a fully-integrated real estate investment trust that owns, operates, manages, acquires and redevelops high-quality, Class A office properties located in select central business district submarkets of New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Paramount is focused on maximizing the value of its portfolio by leveraging the sought-after locations of its assets and its proven property management capabilities to attract and retain high-quality tenants. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501006038/en/

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CTA Signs White House Pledge, Members Will Add Almost 400,000 Worker Training Opportunities

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and 42 of its member companies today joined the Trump administration's Pledge to America's Workers, promising to add 392,214 new U.S. worker training opportunities over the next five years.

"We should always prioritize investment in our greatest asset, the American worker, and ensure that our workforce remains the greatest in the world," said Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President. "We thank CTA and all of the members who are taking that step today by signing the White House Pledge to the American Worker."

Gary Shapiro (News - Alert), president and CEO, CTA, signed the Pledge during a White House meeting with administration officials and 31 leaders from the U.S. consumer technology sector.

"We now have 500,000 high-tech jobs open here in the U.S. - but we don't have enough workers with the skills needed to fill all these jobs," said Shapiro. "If we want to maintain our nation's global leadership as a tech innovator and keep these jobs in America, we must help our workers develop the skills to succeed throughout their careers. I'm proud to see our industry step up to ensure American workers get the training they need - both for today's job market and the rapidly-evolving future of work."

"As Bosch rapidly evolves as an Internet of Things (IoT) company, we're transforming our workforce from a manufacturing organization to an IoT organization," said Mike Mansuetti, president, Bosch in North America. "This transformation requires a commitment to the education and training of our associates. These are the people who will enable our innovation and fuel our company's growth and competitiveness. They are the key to our future."

CTA's contributing member companies include:

A&K Robotics

Alarm.com (News - Alert)

American Automation & Communications Inc.

Audio Warehouse

Bjorn's Audio Video

BloomBoard Inc.

BlueSalve Partners

Bosch

Canon (News - Alert) U.S.A. Inc.

Crestron Electronics

Digital Creative Institute

eForCity Corp.

Founders First Capital Partners LLC

Franklin Apprenticeships

FulTech Solutions Inc.

Future Ready Solutions

Hedgehog Technology Services

HiberSense Inc.

Humetrix

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Invisionate

LED Systems LLC

Living in Digital Times

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Phone2Action

Postmates

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ROYBI

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Sprint (News - Alert)

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TeamPeople

Titan Power LLC

T-Mobile

T-ROC

Up Sonder

URC

USAA

Voxx International







Since President Trump announced the Pledge in July 2018, more than 50 CTA members - including previous signatories Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Best Buy, Deloitte, Ford, HP, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft (News - Alert), Toyota, VISA and Walmart - have committed more than two million new opportunities, totaling almost one-third of total pledges. CTA is continuing to accept additional pledges. Click here to learn more.

About Consumer Technology Association:

Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM is the trade association representing the $398 billion U.S. consumer technology industry, which supports more than 18 million U.S. jobs. More than 2,200 companies - 80 percent are small businesses and startups; others are among the world's best-known brands - enjoy the benefits of CTA membership including policy advocacy, market research, technical education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CTA also owns and produces CES - the world's gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. Profits from CES are reinvested into CTA's industry services.

UPCOMING EVENTS

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501006048/en/
[May 01, 2019] Growing Cyber Threats Drive Need for Advanced Security Defenses

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The majority of C-Suite executives and policy makers in the United States believe investing in security software, infrastructure and emerging technologies is critical to protecting U.S. data from growing cybersecurity risks, according to a newly released survey. Asked what would make the U.S. government better equipped to secure data, 51 percent of C-Suite executives and 62 percent of policy makers cite investing in IT/security infrastructure; 59 percent of the C-Suite and 60 percent of policy makers cite investing in security software. When it comes to their own security investments over the next 24 months, 44 percent of C-Suite executives and 33 percent of policy makers plan to purchase new software with enhanced security; and 37 percent and 25 percent, respectively, plan to invest in new infrastructure solutions to improve security. The report, "Security in the Age of AI" detailing the views and actions of C-Suite executives, policy makers and the general public related to cybersecurity and data protection, was released today by Oracle. In addition, both C-Suite executives and policy makers rank "human error" as the top cybersecurity risk for their organizations. However, in the next two years, they are choosing to invest more in peoplevia training and hiringthan in technology, such as new types of software, infrastructure, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), which is essential to advancing security and significantly minimizing human error. Only 38 percent of C-Suite executives and 26 percent of policy makers plan to invest in AI and ML to improve security in the next 24 months. "We are at a critical juncture in our cybersecurity journey, as more decision makers in the public and private sector recognize the benefits of investing in next-generation technology designed for security to make progress on addressing previously intractable threats, instead of relying solely on people or legacy technology," said Edward Screven, Chief Corporate Architect at Oracle. "That said, there is a delta between what C-Suite executives and policy makers think is best for America's cyber future and the actions they are taking for their own organizations, indicating a greater need for business and government to understand how and why next generation technologies are so critical for their own cyber defenses." Queried about what their organization has done over the past five years to improve security, both C-Suite executives and policy makers said they had upgraded existing software (60 percent and 52 percent respectively) and trained existing staff (57 percent and 50 percent respectively). Just over half (54 percent) of C-Suite executives and 41 percent of policy makers have purchased new software with enhanced security features, with 40 percent of C-Suite exeutives and 27 percent of policy makers having invested in new infrastructure solutions.



Technology Industry Faces Great Threats and Responsibilities As for what they perceived to be the greatest security threat to the technology industry, attacks by foreign governments was ranked highest by respondents (C-Suite 30 percent; policy makers 37 percent). Seventy-eight percent of C-Suite executives, 75 percent of policy makers and 64 percent of the general public believe the technology industry is well equipped to protect data. Additionally, 79 percent of C-Suite executives and policy makers, and 64 percent of the general public trust the technology industry to behave responsibly and in the best interests of the American public, as it relates to data security. Interestingly, only one in three C-Suite executives (34 percent) and policy makers (32 percent) think it is the government's responsibility to protect consumer data, highlighting the critical role that the technology sector has to play in keeping U.S. data protected.

"While the government has an important role to play in keeping America's data safe, today's increasingly dangerous cybersecurity landscape means it can't be expected to out-innovate attackers on its own. That's our job," said Screven. "The U.S. government and businesses will need to rely on the technology sector more to advance the nation's cyber defense. We can build data centers, hire talent and secure data at scale more efficiently than any one individual customer can." Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on Security Only 33 percent of C-Suite executives and 20 percent of policy makers adopt and implement AI and ML to its fullest potential, yet they strongly believe autonomous technologies powered by AI and ML will improve the way they protect and defend against security threats. "For the past several years, our R&D efforts have been focused on ways to out-innovate the most sophisticated security threats we could imagine. That's why Oracle Cloud Infrastructure was rebuilt with separation between application and security processing and designed to run the Oracle Autonomous Database. The Oracle Autonomous Database uses AI to deliver the world's first and only self-driving, self-securing and self-repairing database that repairs, patches and updates itself," Screven added. "These and other Oracle cloud security technologies based on machine learning can become the cornerstone of an organization's cybersecurity defense strategy." In addition to benefiting the state of data security in the U.S., the majority of C-Suite executives (88 percent), policy makers (89 percent) and the general public (77 percent) believe autonomous technologies will also positively impact the U.S. economy, with "increased productivity" cited as the top benefit. Download and learn more about Oracle's Security in the Age of AI report. About the Report

In Fall 2018, Oracle commissioned technology sector researchers Paradoxes Inc. to field targeted research to understand perceptions of C-Suite executives, policy makers and the general public on the current state of U.S. cybersecurity. The survey tool was created by an experienced team of technology and policy researchers who have been working in this space for over 20 years. It was fielded over January and February of 2019 using a 15 minute-long blind online survey investigating awareness, engagement, corporate and government trust, and current and future plans with technology security practices. The survey tool did not reveal the commissioning company. Respondents to the survey were government policy makers and influencers of various levels located in the U.S. Beltway, enterprise C-Suite executive decision makers - both technology focused and data focused - and an educated and technologically engaged general population. The survey sample consisted of 775 respondents based in the U.S., 341 C-Suite executives (4 percent margin of error), 110 government policy influencers (8 percent margin of error) and 324 members of the technologically engaged public (4 percent margin of error). About Oracle

The Oracle Cloud offers a complete suite of integrated applications for Sales, Service, Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Supply Chain and Manufacturing, plus Highly Automated and Secure Generation 2 Infrastructure featuring the Oracle Autonomous Database. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com. Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/growing-cyber-threats-drive-need-for-advanced-security-defenses-300842033.html SOURCE Oracle

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Allegion to Attend 2019 Goldman Sachs Industrials & Materials Conference

Allegion plc (NYSE: ALLE) Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Patrick Shannon will discuss the company's long-term strategy at the 2019 Goldman Sachs Industrials & Materials Conference on Wednesday, May 15. The conference will be held at the Goldman Sachs Conference Center in New York City.

A live listen-only webcast will be accessible via Allegion's investor website at http://investor.allegion.com/ or directly by clicking here.







About Allegion

Allegion (NYSE: ALLE) is a global pioneer in seamless access, with leading brands like CISA, Interflex, LCN, Schlage, SimonsVoss and Von Duprin. Focusing on security around the door and adjacent areas, Allegion secures people and assets with a range of solutions for homes, businesses, schools and institutions. Allegion had $2.7 billion in revenue in 2018, and sells products in almost 130 countries.

For more, visit www.allegion.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005801/en/
[May 01, 2019] 5N Plus Held its Annual Meeting of Shareholders

MONTREAL, May 1, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - 5N Plus Inc. (TSX: VNP) ("5N Plus or the "Company"), a leading global producer of engineered materials and specialty chemicals, held its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders today in Montreal, Quebec. Over 69,049,470 shares (81.31% of outstanding common shares) were represented in person or by proxy at the meeting. As part of the formal proceedings, the Company's shareholders elected the Board of Directors and approved the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the Company. The complete voting results from the meeting are as follows: ELECTION OF DIRECTORS The Board of Directors fixed at seven the number of directors of the Company to be elected at the meeting. Each of the seven nominees listed in the Management Information Circular was elected as a director of 5N Plus. All of the nominee directors were already members of the Board of Directors. Subsequent to the meeting, the directors re-appointed Mr. Luc Bertrand as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company.







Nominee Votes For % For Votes Withheld % Withheld Arjang J. (AJ) Roshan 68,545,991 99.39 422,438 0.61 Jean-Marie Bourassa 60,602,611 87.87 8,365,818 12.13 Jennie S. Hwang 67,402,389 97.73 1,566,040 2.27 James T. Fahey 66,995,406 97.14 1,973,023 2.86 Nathalie Le Prohon 54,474,392 78.98 14,494,037 21.02 Luc Bertrand 68,550,991 99.39 417,438 0.61 Donald F. Osborne 65,815,640 95.43 3,152,789 4.57

APPOINTMENT OF AUDITORS PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants, were reappointed as auditors of 5N Plus until the close of the next annual general meeting of shareholders, and the directors were authorized to fix the remuneration of the auditors. Votes For % For Votes Withheld % Withheld 68,123,938 98.66 925,532 1.34 About 5N Plus Inc.

5N Plus is a leading global producer of engineered materials and specialty chemicals with integrated recycling and refining assets to manage the sustainability of its business model. The Company is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and operates R&D, manufacturing and commercial centers in several locations in Europe, the Americas and Asia. 5N Plus deploys a range of proprietary and proven technologies to manufacture products which are used as enabling precursors by its customers in a number of advanced electronics, optoelectronics, pharmaceutical, health, renewable energy and industrial applications. Many of the materials produced by 5N Plus are critical for the functionality and performance of the products and systems produced by its customers, many of whom are leaders within their industry. SOURCE 5N Plus Inc.

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[May 01, 2019] Nuveen Closed-End Funds Declare Distributions

Several Nuveen closed-end funds have declared distributions. These funds represent investment strategies for investors seeking diversified sources of cash flow to prepare for and sustain their income needs. For further information regarding fund distributions including earnings, undistributed net investment income, and notices please visit http://www.nuveen.com/cef. The following dates apply to today's monthly distribution declarations for the following tax-exempt and taxable closed-end funds:







Record Date May 15, 2019 Ex-Dividend Date May 14, 2019 Payable Date June 3, 2019

Monthly Tax-Exempt Municipal Distributions Monthly distributions from Nuveen's municipal bond closed-end funds are generally exempt from regular Federal income taxes, and monthly distributions of single-state municipal funds are also generally exempt from state and, in some cases, local income taxes for in-state residents. Unless otherwise stated in the funds' objectives, monthly distributions of the municipal funds may be subject to the Federal Alternative Minimum Tax for some shareholders. Monthly Tax-Free Distribution Per Share Change From Ticker Exchange Fund Name Amount Previous Month National NXP NYSE Nuveen Select Tax-Free Income Portfolio $.0455 - NXQ NYSE Nuveen Select Tax-Free Income Portfolio 2 $.0420 - NXR NYSE Nuveen Select Tax-Free Income Portfolio 3 $.0435 - NUV NYSE Nuveen Municipal Value Fund, Inc. $.0310 - NUW NYSE Nuveen AMT (News - Alert)-Free Municipal Value Fund $.0560 - NMI NYSE Nuveen Municipal Income Fund, Inc. $.0360 - NIM NYSE Nuveen Select Maturities Municipal Fund $.0265 - NZF NYSE Nuveen Municipal Credit Income Fund $.0660 - NVG NYSE Nuveen AMT-Free Municipal Credit Income Fund $.0655 - NMZ NYSE Nuveen Municipal High Income Opportunity Fund $.0595 - NEV NYSE Nuveen Enhanced Municipal Value Fund $.0565 - NID NYSE Nuveen Intermediate Duration Municipal Term Fund $.0425 - NIQ NYSE Nuveen Intermediate Duration Quality Municipal Term Fund $.0315 - NHA NYSE Nuveen Municipal 2021 Target (News - Alert) Term Fund $.0150 - NEA NYSE Nuveen AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0535 - NAD NYSE Nuveen Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0535 - California NAC NYSE Nuveen California Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0555 - NKX NYSE Nuveen California AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0515 - NCA NYSE Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund, Inc. $.0285 - NXC NYSE Nuveen California Select Tax-Free Income Portfolio $.0410 - NCB NYSE Nuveen California Municipal Value Fund 2 $.0540 - New York NRK NYSE Nuveen New York AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0450 - NAN NYSE Nuveen New York Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0480 - NXN NYSE Nuveen New York Select Tax-Free Income Portfolio $.0395 - NNY NYSE Nuveen New York Municipal Value Fund, Inc. $.0300 - NYV NYSE Nuveen New York Municipal Value Fund 2 $.0425 - Other State Funds NAZ NYSE Nuveen Arizona Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0415 - NTC NYSE Nuveen Connecticut Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0410 - NKG NYSE Nuveen Georgia Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0370 - NMT NYSE Nuveen Massachusetts Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0410 - NMY NYSE Nuveen Maryland Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0440 - NUM NYSE Nuveen Michigan Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0445 - NMS NYSE Nuveen Minnesota Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0490 - NOM NYSE Nuveen Missouri Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0430 - NNC NYSE Nuveen North Carolina Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0390 - NXJ NYSE Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0545 - NJV NYSE Nuveen New Jersey Municipal Value Fund $.0450 - NUO NYSE Nuveen Ohio Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0455 - NQP NYSE Nuveen Pennsylvania Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0505 - NPN NYSE Nuveen Pennsylvania Municipal Value Fund $.0405 - NTX NYSE Nuveen Texas Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0445 - NPV NYSE Nuveen Virginia Quality Municipal Income Fund $.0435 - Monthly Taxable Distributions Monthly Distribution Per Share Change From Ticker Exchange Fund Name Amount Previous Month Preferred and Income Securities JPC NYSE Nuveen Preferred & Income Opportunities Fund $.0610 - JPI NYSE Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund $.1355 - JPS NYSE Nuveen Preferred & Income Securities Fund $.0560 - JPT NYSE Nuveen Preferred and Income 2022 Term Fund $.1185 - Floating Rate NSL NYSE Nuveen Senior Income Fund $.0375 - JFR NYSE Nuveen Floating Rate Income Fund $.0615 - JRO NYSE Nuveen Floating Rate Income Opportunity Fund $.0625 - JSD NYSE Nuveen Short Duration Credit Opportunities Fund $.1035 - Mortgage-Backed Securities JMM NYSE Nuveen Multi-Market Income Fund $.0300 - Taxable Municipals NBB NYSE Nuveen Taxable Municipal Income Fund $.1030 - Emerging Markets Debt JEMD NYSE Nuveen Emerging Markets Debt 2022 Target Term Fund $.0375 - Global High Yield Debt JGH NYSE Nuveen Global High Income Fund $.1020 - Corporate High Yield Debt JHY NYSE Nuveen High Income 2020 Target Term Fund $.0350 - JHD NYSE Nuveen High Income December 2019 Target Term Fund $.0325 - JHB NYSE Nuveen High Income November 2021 Target Term Fund $.0415 - JCO NYSE Nuveen Credit Opportunities 2022 Target Term Fund $.0470 - JHAA NYSE Nuveen High Income 2023 Target Term Fund $.0520 - Monthly Capital Return Plan Policy Distribution JQC has adopted a capital return plan through which the fund will return to shareholders 20 percent of the fund's common assets, over a period of three years ending on December 31, 2021, through supplemental amounts included in the fund's regular monthly distribution. Distribution sources will include net investment income and return of capital and may include realized gains. The fund will provide a notice of the best estimate of its distribution sources at that time which may be viewed at: www.nuveen.com/CEFdistributions. These estimates may not match the final tax characterization (for the full year's distributions) contained in shareholders' 1099-DIV forms after the end of the year. You should not draw any conclusions about a fund's past or future investment performance from its current distribution rate. The following dates apply to today's monthly capital return distribution declaration for the following closed-end fund: Record Date May 15, 2019 Ex-Dividend Date May 14, 2019 Payable Date June 3, 2019 Monthly Distribution Per Share Change From Ticker Exchange Fund Name Amount Previous Month Floating Rate JQC NYSE Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund $.1035 - Monthly Cash-Flow Based Distributions Each of the three taxable funds listed immediately below have adopted a cash-flow based distribution program. Historical distribution sources have included net investment income, realized gains and return of capital. If a distribution includes anything other than net investment income, the fund provides a notice of the best estimate of its distribution sources at the time of payment which may be viewed at: www.nuveen.com/CEFdistributions. These estimates may not match the final tax characterization (for the full year's distributions) contained in shareholders' 1099-DIV forms after the end of the year. You should not draw any conclusions about a fund's past or future investment performance from its current distribution rate. The following dates apply to today's monthly cash-flow based distribution declarations for the following closed-end funds: Record Date May 15, 2019 Ex-Dividend Date May 14, 2019 Payable Date June 3, 2019 Monthly Distribution Per Share Change From Ticker Exchange Fund Name Amount Previous Month Mortgage-Backed Securities JLS NYSE Nuveen Mortgage Opportunity Term Fund $.1135 - JMT NYSE Nuveen Mortgage Opportunity Term Fund 2 $.1125 - Real Assets JRI NYSE Nuveen Real Asset Income and Growth Fund $.1060 - The information contained on the Nuveen website is not a part of this press release. Nuveen, the investment manager of TIAA, offers a comprehensive range of outcome-focused investment solutions designed to secure the long-term financial goals of institutional and individual investors. Nuveen has $989 billion in assets under management as of 3/31/19 and operations in 16 countries. Its affiliates offer deep expertise across a comprehensive range of traditional and alternative investments through a wide array of vehicles and customized strategies. For more information, please visit www.nuveen.com. The information contained on the Nuveen website is not a part of this press release. Nuveen Securities, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC. * Nuveen does not provide tax advice; consult a professional tax advisor regarding your specific tax situation. Income may be subject to state and local taxes, as well as the federal alternative minimum tax. 837026-INV-O-05/21 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501006063/en/

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[May 01, 2019] Dorsey Salt Lake City Office Named Pro Bono Publico Law Firm of the Year

International law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP is pleased to announce that the Firm's Salt Lake City office has been named the Utah Bar's 2019 Pro Bono Publico Law Firm of the Year. Dorsey's Salt Lake City office was recognized for the pro bono work it provides through the Utah Bar's Landlord/Tenant Pro Se Representation Program and for hours of service provided in asylum cases. Dorsey lawyers currently dedicate one day each month to advise and represent individuals who are being evicted. The firm's Salt Lake attorneys were also participants in a pilot Asylum Pro Bono Program where they represented selected individuals from Latin American countries seeking asylum in the United States, taking three cases to trial in the Spring and Summer of 2018. Since becoming a charter signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge in 1993, Dorsey has met the Challenge each year and contributed at least hree percent of billable hours to pro bono work. In 2018, Dorsey's U.S. offices logged more than 35,000 challenge pro bono hours.



"Community is a Dorsey core value, and pro bono work is one of the most important ways we give back to the community," said Bill Stoeri, Managing Partner of Dorsey & Whitney. "Our Salt Lake City attorneys exemplify that core value through their commitment and passion to help the disadvantaged in our communities obtain access to legal services. We are extremely proud of this recognition." The Pro Bono Publico awards were presented on May 1 at the Utah Bar annual Law Day Luncheon. The awards were given to four individuals and one law firm that contributed to the advancement of justice by their volunteer efforts.

About Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Clients have relied on Dorsey since 1912 as a valued business partner. With locations across the United States and in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients' legal and business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world's most successful companies from a wide range of industries, including leaders in banking & financial institutions, development & infrastructure, energy & natural resources, food, beverage & agribusiness, healthcare and technology, as well as major non-profit and government entities. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501006090/en/

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By IANS

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday called for a ban on the use of burqa by women of a particular community as it threw its weight behind a similar plan being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives.

"This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security," said the Sena in an editorial in the party mouthpieces, "Saamana" and "Dopahar Ka Saamana".

ALSO READ | Easter bombings: Sri Lanka bans all kind of face coverings in public

The Daily Mirror had quoted sources on Tuesday saying the Sri Lankan government was planning to implement the move in consultation with the mosque authorities and that several Ministers had spoken to President Maithripala Sirisena on the matter.

It had been pointed out that 'burqa' and 'niqab' were never part of the traditional attire of Muslim women in Sri Lanka until the Gulf war in the early 1990s "which saw extremist elements introducing the garb to Muslim women", the daily said.

A number of female accomplices of the suicide bombers in Dematagoda, a Colombo neighbourhood, where three policemen were killed, too had escaped wearing burqas, reports had said.
In a bit of unexpected news, AMD has posted a link on its investor website to a webcast for its 50th Anniversary Celebration that will take place on May 1, 2019, at 1:00 pm ET.

The celebration webcast takes place as AMD celebrates its 50th anniversary, but we aren't quite sure what the company will reveal during the event. A few hours ago, AMD CEO Lisa Su announced that the company's new 7nm graphics cards based on the Navi architecture will come to market accompanied by its 7nm EPYC Rome data center processors in the third quarter, so perhaps we'll learn more details about those products.

AMD has already announced a slew of collectors-edition products to commemorate the company's anniversary, including a custom Ryzen 7 2700X processor signed by CEO Lisa Su, along with a Radeon VII graphics card decked out in AMD's finest red livery. AMD's partners are also getting in on the act, too, with Sapphire launching a special Nitro+ graphics card and Gigabyte releasing the X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi-50 to commemorate AMD's 50th.

It's hard to tell if AMD will have its partners present for the event, but it's also hard to imagine that the company doesn't have something special planned for its celebration livestream. We also don't know where the event will take place, but we'll be sure to bring you the details as the event unfolds.
(Image credit: AMD)

AMD held its Q1 2019 earnings call on the eve of its 50th anniversary, reporting mixed, yet stronger-than-anticipated results. AMD CEO Lisa Su began the earnings call with news that the company will introduce its 7nm Navi graphics cards in the third quarter. AMD will also begin to ship its 7nm EPYC Rome processors in the second quarter, with the volume launch expected in the third quarter.

Su also revealed that its first graphics card bearing the 7nm Navi architecture is geared for "below where the Radeon VII is positioned from a pricing standpoint." Given the lower price point, it's safe to assume that the initial 7nm Navi GPU will not be a flagship-class product, instead catering to the larger volume in the mid-range segment. As with all graphics architectures, we expect several different cards to emerge to satisfy different segments. Su also did not reveal if the card will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing but said the company would provide updates as the card comes closer to market.

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AMD doubled its Ryzen and EPYC sales year-over-year (YoY), helping to offset lower graphics and semi-custom revenue. Revenue declined 10% on a quarterly basis, which AMD attributes to lower client processor sales. In either case, the company claimed it gained desktop PC market share for the sixth consecutive quarter, but didn't provide specifics.

Su also reiterated the company's projections that it will attain a double-digit share of the server market during the second half of this year.

Overall, AMD reported $1.27 billion in revenue for the quarter, slightly beating analyst expectations, but representing a 27% YoY decline. AMD's gross margins increased 5% to 41%, and the company netted $16 million during the quarter. These solid results come as the company is on the cusp of launching its new 7nm products in the latter half of the year, which explains the company's bullish $1.52 billion prediction for the second quarter.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Radeon Vega graphics shipments also grew by a "strong double-digit" percentage YoY and quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). AMD's data center GPU revenue also doubled YoY, which helped increase AMD's graphics average selling price (ASP) year-over-year. The company also reiterated that the PlayStation 5 would use a Zen 2 processor paired with the Navi graphics engine.

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Notably, AMD's cash reserves reached the highest levels since the second quarter of 2017 while the company continued to reduce its debt load. That positions the company well for its pending launch of new 7nm products that will span both consumer and data center segments, with Ryzen 3000-series CPUs and Navi GPUs attacking the former, while EPYC Rome processors attack the latter. We expect to learn more details about AMD's Ryzen 3000-series processors and Navi GPUs at Computex in May.
(Image credit: Flickr)

Forbes today reported that Intel had hired Devon Nekechuk from AMD. He lastly served as Senior Manager of Product Management since 2017, where he was responsible for managing Radeon GPUs throughout their lifecycle. This included everything from product definition with strategy teams, product development with engineering teams, launches with marketing teams and demand generation with sales teams. According to his LinkedIn profile, Nekechuk joined Intel in February.

Nekechuk is the latest in Intel's vast graphics-oriented hiring spree that was kickstarted in late 2017 with the establishment of the Core and Visual Computing Group under Raja Koduri, who left AMD after a sabbatical as head of the Radeon Technologies Group (RTG). This was followed by Jim Keller, who came from Tesla (which detailed its self-driving chip last week), and Chris Hook from AMDs marketing team.

Other notable people that Intel hired to Raja Koduris graphics group include Tom Forsyth, former Larrabee architect, Mark Hirsch from AMD, and few other technical people that have been previously reported. A month ago, Intel hired Tom Peterson from NVIDIA, where he had served as director of technical marketing, and most recently, earlier this month Intel snatched Heather Lennon from AMD, where she was the manager of RTGs marketing and communications.

Even before launching its first discrete graphics card (possibly as early as the middle of next year) based on the Xe architecture, Intel has already assembled a whole army of industry veterans and has also started up its Odyssey program, a community-focused graphics marketing program.

In the early days of Intels discrete graphics announcement, people would often point to Intels failed Larrabee attempt last decade, but these hires clearly signal that Intel is in the business of becoming a strong and serious competitor. However, Intel has yet to detail any specifications or other technical details of its discrete graphics line-up that will feature both consumer and data center products.
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

According to a report by the Nikkei Asian Review this week, Super Micro has told its suppliers to move production out of China, after its U.S.-based customers started becoming concerned about Chinese espionage. In December, Bloomberg reported that Super Micro chips came with Chinese backdoors and that that was the reason Apple ended its contract with Super Micro.

Backdoor Allegations Impact Super Micro Sales

Super Micro is the third-largest maker of servers, following HP and Dell, with 60% of its sales coming from U.S. customers. However, after allegations that its servers motherboards were shipping with Chinese backdoors, the sales dropped significantly. Super Micro now risks losing its third spot in the market to Amazon, Betty Shyu, a server analyst at Digitimes, told Nikeei Asian Review.

Super Micro's motherboard suppliers include Taiwan's Wistron, a small iPhone assembler, Pegatron, Universal Scientific Industrial, Taiwan's Orient Semiconductor Electronics, as well as its own Taiwanese subsidiary Compuware Technology.

Super Micro had already started shifting its motherboard production from China to Taiwans Orient Semiconductor Electronics once the trade dispute between the U.S. and China grew worse in Q4 2018, the publication's source said. The backdoor allegations only accelerated the shift.

Companies Shift Production Out Of China

In 2017, more than 90% of motherboards were being built in China. Since then, multiple manufacturers have started to move production out of China, and in 2018 less than 50% of motherboards were built there, according to Digitimes Research data Nikkei Asian Review cited.

Super Micro has mirrored this trend, and the company now also reportedly makes less than 50% of servers in China. It also plans to increase the in-house server production in the future to eliminate any perceived risk. Right now, the company mostly assembles the server components in-house, but the parts themselves are outsourced to other suppliers who have typically manufactured them in China.

Bloombergs Backdoor Report

Bloomberg report said that sources showed it documents and other evidence that Chinese hackers had infiltrated Super Micros motherboards via hardware-level backdoors. According to Bloomberg, the Chinese hack was affecting over 30 U.S. companies, including Apple and Amazon, who were Super Micros customers.

Apple and Amazon both denied the allegations that their Super Micro servers were ever hacked soon after the report came out. However, in 2017 The Information reported that in 2016 Apples Super Micro servers were updated with malicious firmware taken directly from Super Micros support site. The malware seemingly infected Apples App Store server environment, as well as the company's design lab.

Apple denied reports that it ended its contract with Super Micro over this incident and returned all the Super Micro servers it had purchased prior to the incident.

In the same report, Bloomberg also said Amazon found a tiny chip in the Super Micro servers used by a company Amazon acquired in 2015, Elemental. Bloomberg said Amazon reported the potentially malicious chip to U.S. investigators, which seem to have discovered that it was developed by operatives from Chinas Peoples Liberation Army. However, U.S. authorities denied the existence of this investigation.

Whether the embedded Chinese chip in Super Micro motherboards was real or not, it seems clear that the backdoor report has negatively affected both the confidence customers have in Super Micro, as well as Super Micros sales. The company may attempt to fix this by moving production outside of China, but winning trust back will likely not be easy.
Officer ruled justified in shooting, wounding of 18-year-old OLATHE, KS (KCTV/AP) -- Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe has determined that an Olathe police officer was justified when he shot and wounded an 18-year-old homicide suspect. Howe said said Tuesday in the ruling that Matthew Bibee Jr. made comments that indicated his intent to kill the officer.

Golden Ghetto Po-Po get a ruling in their favor as this local ALLEGED ruffian was shot by police after he reportedly threatened to kill an officer. Here's the postscript:
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV/AP) -- A woman who carried more than five pounds of fentanyl in her suitcase while traveling through Kansas City has pleaded guilty. Evelyn C. Sanchez, 33, pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing fentanyl with intent to distribute. She was arrested at a bus station in Kansas City in August 2018.
Kansas City Flood Warning Redux

Flash flood remains heavy threat for Kansas City, more storms moving in KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Several people may have had their phones going off with alerts Tuesday night due to areas experiencing flash flooding. The area of 103rd Street and Wornall Road can typically see flash flooding because it's right along Indian Creek, which tends to rise rather quickly.

Golden Ghetto Always On Alert

A network of weather sensors helps JoCo monitor floods OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - A network of sensors along creeks and roads in Johnson County help municipal leaders plan for and react to flooding during storm events. Overland Park installed the first sensor in 1985 after a powerful flood in 1984. Over the past 30 years, the "Stormwatch" program has grown to 108 sensors throughout Johnson County.

Locals Craft Slogans For Stoners

MoDOT, ad agencies take a new spin on driving while high campaign - Kansas City Business Journal The Missouri Department of Transportation is taking an unconventional approach with its new "Drive High, Get a DUI" campaign. It's going straight to the pizza box, targeting marijuana smokers with the munchies and a hankering for pizza. To create the campaign, MoDOT teamed up with advertising agencies Adzze and Bucket Media, which has a Kansas City office.

Building Kansas City Hype

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs favored to win fourth straight AFC West title AFC West Predictions Put Kansas City Chiefs as Favorite for Division Again in 2019 | Fanduel As one would expect the Chiefs (-165) are the favorites to win the AFC West again in 2019, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Local Boneyard Desecration

Families frustrated with sinking grave markers, overgrown grass at KC cemetery KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sunken grave markers in Blue Ridge Lawn Cemetery are a source of frustration for people trying to honor their loves ones. One woman said she even fell into a sunken grave while looking for a specific marker.

Local History In The Making

Kansas City artist works on Harry Truman sculpture for US Capitol KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- A Kansas City artist is getting the chance to make history, literally. Tom Corbin was the chosen artist to create a sculpture of President Harry S. Truman that will stand in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C.

Forecast For Right Now

Spotty showers late Wednesday evolving into heavy rain Thursday morning More rain is expected on Friday, and for most of next week.

Hottieremains the queen of Instagram as we consider a few news links regarding the tech:Closer to home, here's a auick collection of the more important local news links for right now as more flooding seems to be on the way. Take a peek:He has been trending on Youtube for about a week and right now Tech N9ne - Like I Ain't is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . .
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The Election Commission of India (ECI) cancelled the nomination of Samajwadi Partys candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav, the dismissed jawan of 29th battalion of BSF, from Varanasi on Wednesday.

Reacting to the cancellation, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the ruling party asking it to have the courage to face a soldier. When they are asking for votes in the name of nationalism, they should have faced a soldier. People who dismissed him from his job because he complained about food, how can those people be called real patriots? the SP chief said.

Tej Bahadur said, My nomination has been rejected wrongly. BJP wanted to prevent me from fighting against Modi in Varanasi. I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15 pm on Tuesday, we produced the evidence, and still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Apex court in this regard now.

On Tuesday, the ECI had served a notice to Tej Bahadur directing him to procure an NOC from the BSF and clarify the cause of his dismissal by 11 am on Wednesday.

The reason was a discrepancy between the two sets of nomination papers he filed first as an independent candidate and second as the SP candidate pitted in a high stake electoral battle against Prime Minister

Narendra Modi.

Tej Bahadur had omitted details of his dismissal in the second set. Tej went public with his allegations of sub-standard food in the BSF, and was dismissed in April 2017. The reason cited was indiscipline.

Varanasi district magistrate and Returning Officer Surendra Singh said, A person who has been dismissed from service from state or central government within the last five years has to obtain a certificate from the EC stating he/she hasnt been dismissed due to disloyalty or corruption. That certificate wasnt produced before 11 am, so, his nomination has been rejected.

I am being stopped from fighting elections as the nakli chowkidar (fake watchman) of the country is afraid of the asli (real) chowkidar, alleged Tej Bahadur. Meanwhile, the SP declared Shalini Yadav as its candidate to take on the PM in Varanasi.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said the sedition law would be reviewed for any weaknesses and made more stringent after his party returns to power at the Centre.

Singh, addressing a rally in Shastri Park in North East Delhi in support of party candidates Manoj Tiwari and Gautam Gambhir, paid tribute to Maharashtra policemen who were killed in an IED blast by Maoists in Gadchiroli district.

"We will see if there are any weaknesses in the sedition law after coming back to power. We will make it so stringent that it will quiver the souls of traitors," the home minister said.

He also lashed out at political parties for questioning the air force over the number of terrorists killed in air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan after the Pulwama terror blast that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans.

"Only vultures count bodies, not the warriors," Singh said. How can one give the number of terrorists killed in an air strike when the figure is too big, Singh said. "We would tell if one or two were killed, how can I answer if the numbers are so big," he said.

FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

Singh claimed that the number of security personnel killed in Naxal and terror-related violence has gone down by 65 per cent under the Modi government's five-year term.

The number of Naxalism-affected districts too has reduced to 82 from earlier 126, he said.

It is "very unfortunate" that some people are politicising the issue of national security, he said and added all the political parties should be united in favour of the soldiers and the country.

He lashed out at the Congress for demanding the resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the killing of police personnel in Gadchiroli.

Citing achievements of the Modi government, Singh said India is poised to become the third largest economy of the world.

He also asked Congress why should Prime Minister Narendra Modi not be credited for the successful surgical strike and air strike against terrorists as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was feted for the 1971 war by everyone, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

It is for the first time, after 2004, that price rise has not become a poll issue in general elections, he said.

"The rate of price rise in Pakistan is more than 9-10 per cent while it remained in 2-3 per cent range in India. We have not allowed price rise to cross Wagha border due to our effective fiscal management," he said.

Singh also attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, saying it did not fulfil its promises made to the people before coming to power in 2015.

ALSO READ | INTERVIEW | We will do well across the country: Rajnath Singh

"AAP brought a weak Lokpal Bill, stopped MCDs (civic bodies) from functioning, and also did not fulfil its promises of free Wi-Fi, equipping public transport buses with CCTVs, and opening schools and colleges," he said.

Singh asserted that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will secure a two-third majority in the Lok Sabha polls.
Shaza, the unique luxury hotel brand inspired by the cultures of the Silk Route, walked off with no less than five trophies at the World Travel Awards presentation ceremony, held 25th April at Warner Brothers in Abu Dhabi, UAE.



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - April 30th, 2019 - Shaza, the unique luxury hotel brand inspired by the cultures of the Silk Route, walked off with no less than five trophies at the World Travel Awards presentation ceremony, held 25th April at Warner Brothers in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The awards were: Saudi Arabia's Leading Hotel Residences 2019 won by the recently opened Shaza Riyadh Hotel Residences; Saudi Arabia's Leading Luxury Hotel 2019 won by Shaza Makkah; Madinah's Leading Luxury Hotel 2019 won by Shaza Al Madina. The Middle East's Leading Retreat 2019 won by Kingfisher Lodge, Sharjah Collection by Mysk, United Arab Emirates; and Oman's Leading Lifestyle Hotel 2019: won by Mysk by Shaza Al Mouj, Oman, took the awards for Shaza lifestyle brand, Mysk by Shaza.

This was a great evening for us and we truly appreciate being honoured by these prestigious awards, said Ali Ozbay, Director of Marketing & Communications The World Travel Awards are among the most coveted in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry and to win five awards across such a comprehensive spectrum of categories is high recognition of Shaza and Mysk brands as the regions best loved provider of luxury and upscale hospitality experiences .

Shaza is dedicated to offering hospitality inspired by the legendary caravanserais stationed along the fabled Silk Route in bygone days. Its hotels are exquisitely designed in a style that reflects the refined elegance of the fashionable riads of Marrakesh and are an oasis of serenity where travellers can escape from the fast moving pace of the world outside and retreat into a cocoon of luxurious comfort.

The World Travel Awards was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence.

Shaza is a member of Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands, bringing together more than 30 brands with over 550 hotels in 75 countries

GHAs award-winning loyalty programme, Shaza DISCOVERY, provides 10 million members exclusive opportunities to immerse themselves in local culture wherever they travel.

Shaza Hotels

Shaza is one of the leading luxury hotel brands in the Middle East, characterized by its dedication to offering true Arabian hospitality inspired by the traditions and culture of the legendary Silk Route and reflected by the supremely elegant Middle Eastern style decor and serene ambiance that is appreciated by the most discerning travellers.

With five hotels already operational in the Middle East  Shaza Makkah, the multiple award-winning Shaza Al Madina, Shaza Riyadh, Kingfisher Lodge Sharjah Collection UAE, and Mysk by Shaza in Oman - the brand is expanding across the region and the next opening will be the Shaza Jeddah scheduled for 2020.

Shaza is a member of Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands, bringing together more than 30 brands with over 550 hotels in 75 countries. GHAs award-winning loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, provides over 10 million members exclusive opportunities to immerse themselves in local culture wherever they travel. For more information please visit www.shazahotels.com

About Global Hotel Alliance

Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands, bringing together more than 30 brands with over 550 hotels in 75 countries. GHA uses a shared technology platform to drive incremental revenues and create cost savings for its member brands. GHAs award-winning loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, provides 14 million members exclusive opportunities to immerse themselves in local culture wherever they travel. For more information, visit globalhotelalliance.com

About DISCOVERY Loyalty

A memorable trip demands more than a comfortable stay. DISCOVERY, an award-winning global loyalty programme, provides 14 million members recognition and perks across over 550 hotels, resorts and palaces in 75 countries. Elite members have the opportunity to immerse themselves in local culture through Local Experiences, distinctive activities that capture an authentic taste of each destination. For more information, visit discoveryloyalty

For further information please contact:

Ali Ozbay

Director of Marketing

Shaza Hotels

Email: ali.ozbay@shazahotels.com

For media please contact:

Hina Bakht

Managing Director

EVOPS Marketing & PR

Mob: 00971 50 6975146

Tel: 00971 4 566 7355

Hina.bakht@evops-pr.com

www.evops-pr.com

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Alpha Destination Management is out in full force at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019 hosting over 100 high-profile international buyers from Europe, USA and Asia in association with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM)



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - April 30th, 2019 - Alpha Destination Management is out in full force at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019 hosting over 100 high-profile international buyers from Europe, USA and Asia in association with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM). An attractive hosted buyer programme has been designed for them with tailor-made itineraries to showcase Dubais main attractions including fam trips to the various theme parks as well as iconic landmarks such as the Burj Khalifa. During the four days of ATM from 28th April to 1st May, Alpha will also be receiving more than 200 tour operators at their stand to discuss stronger business to the destination in 2019.

Samir Hamadeh, General Manager of Alpha Destination Management, said, At Alpha we remain committed to work hand-in-hand with the authorities to support Dubais ambitious tourism vision aimed at being the leading travel, business and events destination targetting 20 million visitors annually by 2020. To achieve these objectives, the emirate has made massive investment in the development of world-class infrastructure, global connectivity and accessibility by growing and opening new routes, creation of diverse and iconic attractions, relaxation of visa policies and launch of dedicated tourism packages.

Samir further added, With as many as 40,000 industry professionals and key stakeholders representing 141 countries attending ATM, the exhibition presents us with the perfect opportunity to leverage awareness about these latest developments in Dubai as well as give our strategic partners a first-hand understanding of the unique experiences awaiting global travellers all year round. Our focus during ATM, where we continue to have a strong presence for the last 26 years, will be on highlighting Dubais exceptional tourism offerings and discuss strategies to drive the growth of visitors to the city.

Alpha Destination Management has recently expanded its incredible list of excursions and activities in Dubai with the creation of fascinating new tours.

Visitors to ATM can find Alpha Destination Management on Stand No. TT1130 located in Sheikh Saeed Hall 1 in Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

#AlphaTours #AlphaToursDubai #AlphaDMC #AlphaToursAe #Dubai #VisitDubai #Dxb #DubaiTourism #MyDubai #travel #tours #ilovedubai #TravelGram #hostedbuyer #IdeasArriveHere #ArabianTravelMarket #ATMDubai #ArabianTravelMarket2019 #ATM2019 #TravelTradeShow

About Alpha Destination Management

Founded in 1996, by Mr. Ghassan Aridi and his partners, Alpha Destination Management is the leading destination management company and a pioneer in the tourism sector in the Arabian Gulf. Over the last two decades, the company has established itself as one of the most credible and reputed brands not only in the Gulf region but also in the international tourism industry. Controlling a significant market share of the lucrative tourism sector in the GCC, Alpha Destination Management is a market leader in the region with the largest annual turnover and wide network of international partners offering the highest levels of service and innovative and exciting experiences. Our extensive global and local knowledge and network, outstanding expertise and sound reputation is the key to success for us and all our partners.

For more information about Alpha Destination Management visit

www.alphadestinationmanagement.com

Or call +971 4 701 9111

For media contact:

Hina Bakht

Managing Director

EVOPS Marketing & PR

Mob: 00971 50 6975146

Tel: 00971 4 566 7355

Hina.bakht@evops-pr.com

www.evops-pr.com

###
Villa Gala is a spectacular, contemporary style holiday villa in Sitges.



(TRAVPR.COM) UK - May 1st, 2019 - Sitges Hills Villa Ltd. are delighted to announce yet another wonderful addition to our portfolio of high quality holiday villas in Sitges, Spain for the 2019 season. Beautiful Villa Gala is a 5 bedroom/3 bathroom villa that sleeps 12 guests situated in a privilege hilltop position in the highly desirable residential area of Quint Mar in Sitges.

Anyone visiting Villa Gala is immediately mesmerised by the sweeping panoramic views of Sitges and the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the beautiful hills of the Garraf Natural Parc on the other.

With an easy 5-minute drive into town, Villa Gala is the ideal choice for those wanting a relaxing holiday in a spectacular but peaceful location, while at the same time being within easy reach of Sitges town centre and beaches.

Vibrant Villa Gala is modern and spacious and the living spaces are all well distributed. The mixture of warm Mediterranean colours, wood flooring and uncluttered spaces create a sense of coolness and calm throughout.

The outside spaces of Villa Gala are perfectly designed to get maximum enjoyment from the stunning views. The beautiful swimming pool is positioned to capture the views and enjoy the sunset. There is plenty of terrace space around the pool on which to soak up the sun and relax on one of the 6 sun loungers provided.

On the other side of the house is an attractive, shaded dining area with seating for 12 guests, a BBQ and beautiful views over the surrounding hills of the Garraf Natural Park. This is the perfect space for enjoying al-fresco dining and entertaining in the evenings and for breakfasts and lunches out of the hot sun during the daytime.

The Garraf Natural Parc is adjacent to the property and offers hundreds of kilometers of beautiful walking and mountain bike trails for all abilities.

Villa Gala is available all year round with weekly prices ranging from 1,850 Euros in low season to 4,200 Euros in peak summer weeks.

For more information please see https://www.sitgeshillsvillas.com/property-villa-gala-sitges.html or call us on +44 (0)20 3287 6597 or send an email to info(@)sitgeshillsvillas.com.

About Sitges Hills Villas

Sitges Hills Villas is a hand-picked and personally inspected collection of high quality holiday villas in and around the popular seaside town of Sitges in Spain. Each property has been selected for its unique character and idyllic setting and is equipped to the high standards. The company have been operating since 2009 and have developed an intimate knowledge of all their holiday rentals and can advise guests on the best choice for their holiday. A locally based management team and concierge desk is on hand to ensure that guest's holidays in the Sitges area runs as smoothly and enjoyably as possible. All of the villas in the collection are licensed holiday homes and comply fully with all local laws and insurance requirements.

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The message "Electrify Everything!" is beginning to spread.

There is a parody Twitter account I follow, The Times is on it! "Because sometimes stories in newspapers are just that obvious"  writing about stuff long after everyone knows about it. Now they are picking up on the fact that gas stoves may not be the greatest things to be putting in your kitchen.

We have been going on for some time now at TreeHugger about how we have two rallying cries for the green building revolution: Reduce Demand! and Electrify Everything! Now the Times has an article by Justin Gillis and Bruce Nilles of the Rocky Mountain Institute, titled Your gas stove is bad for the planet, subbed To help solve the climate crisis, we need to electrify everything.

Gas is now a bigger source of CO2 emissions in the USA than coal, and as the authors note,

...despite the rising chorus of climate pledges by state and local governments, none of them has really tackled the problem of gas in buildings. In fact, gas companies are still being allowed to spend billions extending new lines, connections that will have to be capped off long before the end of their useful lives if we are to meet our climate goals.

But as Bronwyn Barry notes, we have to stop doing that right now.

Ronald Reagan was right about at least one thing/Promo image

Gilles and Nilles remind us that all-electric homes were pitched by Ronald Reagan 60 years ago, and we all know what happened after: electricity prices went way up and gas prices down, and people in all electric houses were very unhappy. But then they go on to mention that technology has changed, particularly with the introduction of heat pumps. "They run on electricity, but far more efficiently than the electric appliances of our parents generation. So if we start installing them now, then as the electric grid gets greener, our buildings will be contributing less and less to climate change." Then they go off the rails a bit:

Building a new all-electric home powered by heat pumps is already cheaper than building with gas because you avoid the costs of gas lines and ventilation. For older homes the economics vary; a Rocky Mountain Institute study found the cost of installing and operating a heat pump over its lifetime can be more expensive or less expensive  plus or minus 10 percent  than having a gas system.

This paragraph troubled me. The home isn't powered by heat pumps, it's powered by electricity. Right now gas is much cheaper, and not more expensive to install thanks to subsidies from the gas company that pays for most of the gas lines. That's why I do not think it is right to pitch the "Electrify everything" mantra without "Reduce Demand!" I was critical of their study, where they go on about using smart thermostats to time-shift the use of electricity, noting:

...for new construction, it seems crazy to talk about heating systems in isolation from the building itself. Rarely in the study do they actually mention how much easier this all would be if the new homes had seriously, radically reduced demand through better insulation, windows and air sealing, how in colder climates there wouldnt be serious spikes.

Finally, they get to the subject in their title, the gas stove in the kitchen. Gilles and Nilles note that induction ranges are more precise and faster, and point to all the research that we have discussed about the effect of gas stoves on indoor air quality.

It's great that this is in the New York Times. It is a hard sell, especially when gas is so cheap that drilling companies in Texas are paying to have it taken away. But going Electrify Everything! isn't enough; we still have to Reduce Demand!
By PTI

NEW DELHI: A "comprehensive inquiry" will be ordered into the Rafale deal after the Congress comes to power at the Centre, says senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, indicating that a criminal probe could be conducted into the multi-billion dollar contract.

The role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other government functionaries and private people will be probed, he said and exuded confidence that a Congress-led government will be formed after the election results are out.

"The day we come to power, just like in 72 hours or three days, loan waivers were taken care of in states (of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh), you will have a comprehensive inquiry. We have, in fact, asked for a JPC, but really speaking even an FIR and a criminal inquiry is not out of place," he told PTI in an interview.

FOLLOW OUR ELECTIONS COVERAGE HERE

Asked if the Rafale issue has struck a chord with the people on the ground, Singhvi said one would have to wait and watch for it but he was confident that people do feel "cheated".

"I have no doubt that somewhere in the psyche of the people it is embedded that yahaan daal mein kala nahin daal hi kaali hai (not just something, but everything seems to be fishy about the deal)," he said.

On whether the Rafale deal will be probed if the Congress comes to power, Singhvi said Congress president Rahul Gandhi has already said so earlier.

"You can stonewall as much as you like. This is quicksand, the more you struggle the more you will get sucked inside," he said.

Singhvi alleged that in the last two years there has been a consistent stonewalling and blocking of any question on the Rafale issue.

The Congress has alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal and claimed that Prime Minister Modi and Union ministers, as well as private players, were complicit in the "scam".

However, the government has dismissed the allegations of any wrongdoing in the deal with France for 36 Rafale fighter jets.

On the issue of Election Commission's alleged inaction and delay in ruling on complaints of poll code violations by Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, Singhvi said the Congress has made 10 representations to the EC starting April 1 only related to the duo.

All the 10 representations can be categorised into three categories --hate statements, dragging armed forces into cheap political debate and campaigning right next to the booth or around the booth which Modi has done in earlier years as well, Singhvi said.

"How is it possible that the same EC which bans on the same principle Yogi Adityanath does nothing for 30 long days (against PM and Shah). We have told the EC why are you not deciding. We also added that non-decision is a decision itself," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

READ HERE | After apologising to SC, Rahul Gandhi fires fresh salvo at PM on Rafale in Amethi

It is sad that it needs a Supreme Court petition to activate the EC to take a decision, Singhvi rued.

On whether the Congress felt that 'justice delayed is justice denied' with respect to its petitions, he said: "Four phases are over, less than 200 seats are left. I have told the commission that the damage which had to be done is done. You cannot press the rewind button on this one, but at least take action now," he said.

The order should be of banning them from campaigning for 72 hours, 52 hours or 96 hours, he said, adding that the penalty must be much worse, but "when there is no action even this looks much better".

Asked if the country has seen the most vicious campaign this election with so many complaints to the EC, he said the quantum of complaints increase when egregious violations increase.

"No prime minister even of the BJP, Mr Vajpayee, even of the Janata Dal, Mr V P Singh, even of the United Front, Mr Gowda, even of other political colours other than the BJP and the Congress, has gone to the extent of egregious, repetitive, wanton violations," he said.

Singhvi asserted that as the "mega policeman", the EC has not discharged its duty with respect to Modi and Shah.

"It is unfortunate, that the principle that Mr Modi or Mr Shah are not above the EC, not above the Model Code of Conduct, has not been followed, and therefore, certainly there is a lowering of the prestige of the EC.

Certainly, there is a feeling that there is a hesitation totally action against the top people," he alleged.

He said even despite action now, the criticism of the EC on complaints about Modi and Shah would still be 100 per cent valid.

READ HERE | Rafale deal: Modi government gets big blow as SC says will examine 'stolen' papers

Just like the rewind button cannot be pressed, the criticism can't be taken back just by taking action, because damage has been caused for one month which is irreversible, he said.

Singhvi also alleged that there is no doubt that there had been a weakening of venerable institutions, from the RBI to the CBI to bureaucratic appointments and other institutions, saying ultimately it is the men who make the institutions.

Asked if the EC was also among the institutions eroded, Singhvi said: "Well its conduct certainly shows that it has failed on this score".

Talking about the issue of the Congress chief's contempt court case in Supreme Court (SC) over attribution of the 'chowkidar chor hai' slogan to the top court, Singhvi said: "You must realise that Rahul Gandhi is man enough, sincere enough and humble enough. Day one, he said my attribution to you (SC) is wrong. I don't intend to attribute it to SC. Equally he has repeated, that he will never apologise or regret that his stand is that Modi and his party are complicit (in the corruption in the Rafale deal)," Singhvi said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang. [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

China said Tuesday it hopes that relevant country can do more things conducive to strengthening the mechanism of international arms control and safeguarding international and regional peace and stability.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the comments after U.S. President Donald Trump announced on April 26 that the United States was withdrawing from the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which regulates international trade in conventional arms and seeks to prevent and eradicate illicit trade and diversion of conventional arms by establishing international standards governing arms transfers.

"We hope that relevant country can do more things conducive to strengthening the mechanism of international arms control and safeguarding international and regional peace and stability," Geng said at a daily press briefing.

Calling ATT an important multilateral treaty in the field of conventional arms control, Geng said that China supports the international community taking necessary measures in setting standards for international trade of arms and cracking down on illegal transfer and trafficking of arms.

China supports the purpose and goals of the ATT, and has been attending relevant conferences as an observer, Geng said, adding China has been considering joining the treaty.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Congress Wednesday welcomed the designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, but expressed disappointment that the listing "does not mention Pulwama and Jammu and Kashmir" while recounting his role in terror activities.

The Congress said it expected the Modi government to act with a "greater speed" in pursuing the case with China as several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided.

The Modi government should now push for a declaration of bounty on Azhar's head as was ensured by the UPA in the case of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Congress said.

In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations designated Pakistan-based Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal by the US, UK and France to blacklist him.

Azhar's "belated" declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step and India's fight against terrorism is resolute and the entire nation is one in fighting the menace, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement.

Designation as a global terrorist is just the first step and all his sources of funding need to be stopped, he said.

ALSO READ | UN declares Jaish chief Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'

The entire property and terror fund need to be taken over by international agencies, Surjewala said.

"We are disappointed that UN listing doesn't mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhar's role in terrorist activities," he tweeted.

The Congress demanded that the Modi government should pursue a complete international ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad and also ensure that other terrorists of JeM are similarly blacklisted by the UN.

It also demanded that the Modi government should pursue the blacklisting of Pakistan as a terrorist state by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

"We expected Modi government to act at a greater speed in pursuing declaration of Masood Azhar, but after agenda-less visit of PM Modi to China (Wuhan Summit) they did not push for this case with China in the entire period of 2018," Surjewala alleged.

"Several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided if Modi government had pushed international community, including China to agree, to declare Masood Azhar as international terrorist," he said.

READ HERE | 'Better late than never': PM Modi hails UN move to list Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'

Surjewala alleged that history is dotted with BJP's compromise of national security in tackling terrorism, which is reflected in actions like the release of Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in Kandahar, by previous NDA government.

"It is the same terrorist Masood Azhar who heads Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan and fomented terror on Indian soil everyday. Congress party's commitment to end terrorism is absolute," he said.

After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the UPA government's response was to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub, besides rallying the international community for decisive action against terrorists, he said.

Surjewala asserted that Pakistan must be forced to dismantle the entire terror infrastructure of JeM, as also other terrorist outfits operating from its soil.

All wanted terrorists like Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim, Haji Mohammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal thriving on Pakistani soil and involved in heinous terror attacks in India must be forthwith deported to India and brought to justice, the Congress said.

Surjewala also listed the UPA government's efforts in tackling terrorism and the steps it took against terrorists.

ALSO READ | All acts of terror, including Pulwama attack, relevant to Azhar's listing: Official sources

"Within 14 days of Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN," he said. The UPA ensured that a USD 10 million bounty was placed on the head of the Mumbai attack perpetrator and the founder of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed, by the US, he said.

He also listed terror mastermind David Headley's conviction to 35 years of prison and the UN Security Council putting top LeT members involved in Mumbai attack on sanctions lists, as achievements of the UPA.

He also asserted the Congress hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have noted and acted on "certain pressing issues that have repeatedly compromised India's interests" such as China building a full-fledged military complex in Doklam only 10 m from Indian Army posts and neighbouring country constructing a road in South Doklam into the "Chicken's Neck" -- Siliguri Corridor.

China is building USD 54 billion China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) through PoK and Balochistan connecting Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea to China with base for Chinese submarines, Surjewala claimed.

He also claimed that China conducts mining on Arunachal border and attempts to build tunnels, and upgrades air base near Sikkim  Surjewala also cited China's blocking of India's membership of the 'Nuclear Suppliers Group' asking for parity with rogue Pakistan, to highlight the government's "failures".

China has exponentially expanded strategic, economic and defence partnerships with Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, he said.

"All this is done, but Modi ji's 'Laal Aankh' answer remains :- 'jhoola diplomacy in Gujarat, hug diplomacy in Delhi, and agenda-less visits to China, without the mention of Masood Azhar or Doklam," he said.

Commenting on Azhar's listing, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said,"the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama and maligning" the struggle of the Kashmiris.
editorial@tribune.com

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 30

A group of 55 Indian fishermen and five civilians were repatriated to India on Monday night by Pakistan through Attari-Wagah joint check post.

The fishermen were irked at Pakistans prison authorities for giving them just five chapattis a day.

Premji Babu, a resident of Daman Diu said, The Prison staff did not physically harm Indian fishermen. However, we were provided just one chapatti in the morning, two in the afternoon and an equal number for dinner.

Dahiya (45), a resident of Una Taluka, Gujarat, said he along with four others was fishing off the Kutch coast around 13 months ago.

While fishing, we did not notice that we had strayed into territorial waters of Pakistan. It is almost impossible to figure out boundaries of both the countries with naked eyes, he said.

Dahiya said Pakistans maritime authorities immediately apprehended them and impounded their boat.

After languishing in jail for nearly 13 months in Pakistan, the fishermen took a sigh of relief after crossing the border.

Human rights activists in both the countries had constantly been seeking release of fishermen after completion of paper work.

Activists opined that as maritime boundary was not well defined, fishermen tend to stray into territorial waters of hostile nations. Therefore, they consider their imprisonment unlawful. They also cite the UN Convention on Law of the Sea which states that fishermen, who cross territorial waters can be warned and fined but not arrested. A seven-member police team led by Madan Singh Chauhan, Western Railway, Ahmedabad, took them back by train.

Meanwhile, the five civilians were held for illegally overstaying in Pakistan.

Wahid Khan of Uttar Pradesh had gone to Pakistan to meet his relatives in New Karachi in 2017. He lost his passport and did not registered the missing case with the police. As a result, he was imprisoned. Shoaib Hanif from Rajkot district (Gujarat) had gone to Karachi around five years ago.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Cupertino (California), May 1

Reiterating that India is an important market for Apple, CEO Tim Cook said the current iPhone manufacturing will see maximum growth in days to come amid the renewed push to open its branded retail stores in the country.

In an earnings call with analysts after declaring its Q2 results late Tuesday, Cook said the company has made some adjustments in India and have seen preliminary some better results there.

India is a very important market in the long-term. Its a challenging market in the short-term. But were learning a lot.

We have started manufacturing there which is very important to be able to serve the market in a reasonable way. And were growing that capability there, said the Apple CEO.

Giving an impetus to its India manufacturing plans, Apple has started the assembling of iPhone 7 at its supplier Wistrons facility in Bengaluru. Taiwanese industrial major Wistron already assembles iPhone 6S in the country.

Cook also emphasised on the companys plans to open its branded stores in India.

We would like to place retail stores there. And were working with the government to seek approval to do that. And so, we plan on going in there with sort of all of our might, said Cook.

Apple is slowly but steadily strategising its plans to make deeper inroads in a country where over 450 million people use smartphones, mostly Android and from China.

Weve opened a developer, accelerator there, which were very happy with some of the things coming out of there. Its a long-term play. Its not something thats going to be on overnight huge business. But I think the growth potential is phenomenal, Cook told the analysts as Apple posted a revenue of $58 billion for its second quarter of 2019.

In India, price is a key factor when it comes to buying a smartphone.

According to Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research, this is like a fresh start for Apple in India once it localizes assembly operations.

It needs to target the growing price segment of $400 above. Timing-wise, things are fine but Apple still need to work around its pricing strategy, Pathak told IANS.

Last one year has been tough for Apple in India, with its market share tumbling to less than 1 per cent in the first quarter of 2019.

Realising this, Apple has begun reducing the price of newly-launched iPhones in India.

The company offered a promotional offer earlier this month to bring down the cost of its Rs 76,900 iPhone XR (64GB) by as much as Rs 23,000.

Cook said that it doesnt bother him that its primarily Android business at the moment in India because that just means theres a lot of opportunity there.  IANS
Pravin Sawhney

Pravin Sawhney

Strategic Affairs Expert

One year ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had travelled to Wuhan for an informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Sold in India as Modis initiative to reset or normalise ties with China after the 72-day Doklam stand-off, the Wuhan summit was the consequence of Chinas successful military coercion. The summit paved the way for Chinas entry into South Asia. And with Indias assistance.

Speaking on Doklam at the Institute of Chinese Studies on September 27, 2018, former eastern army commander, Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, who oversaw the standoff, said that compelling the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) to build a defence habitat and forward-deploy its troops in harsh climatic conditions of North Doklam and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was a gain for India. Hitherto, while the Indian troops held the LAC round the year, the Chinese, with excellent infrastructure on their side, came in vehicles to patrol the LAC.

What escaped General Bakshi was: What if the PLAs military objective for starting the Doklam face-off was to create conditions for permanent forward-deployment and training of its troops? Doklam was carefully chosen by the PLA in the hope that the Indian Army would escalate matters, which it did. This made it easier for the PLA to renege on two Articles of the 1993 and 1996 Agreements.

Article II of the September 1993 Agreement stipulated that Each side will keep its military forces in the areas along the Line of Actual Control to a minimum level compatible with the friendly and good neighbourly relations between the two countries.

Article IV of the November 1996 Agreement said that The two sides shall avoid large-scale military exercises involving more than a division (15,000 troops) in close proximity of LAC. If either side conducts a major military exercise involving more than one brigade group (approx 5,000 troops), it shall give the other side prior notification.

The raising of the Western Theatre Command (WTC) under President Xi Jinpings 2015 military reforms against India had necessitated intensive joint training of thousands of PLA troops close to the LAC. Earlier, the LAC was held by Chinese border guards (rough equivalent of Indias paramilitary forces); focus was on building infrastructure for rapid induction (by land and air) of large PLA forces (between 32 and 34 divisions) into the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR); and surveillance of the LAC was largely by technical means. Training for war in high-altitude and mountainous terrain was not a PLA priority.

This changed with the WTC, which involved transformational structural and organisational changes. In his 2018 New Year message to the PLA, Xi Jinping, as commander-in-chief, had exhorted them to strengthen training and be prepared for war. Similarly, in the official PLA Daily newspaper editorial on January 1, 2019, training and preparation for war were listed amongst the top priorities for Chinas military.

By inducting large troops on TAR after Doklam, the PLA achieved two objectives. It could do the desired training for war. And it raised the threat level for India: from border management to forces-in-being. Border management threat implied tactical alterations on LAC like border transgressions. Credible forces-in-being suggest capabilities for war.

Between June and December 2017, the PLA built a permanent presence in North Doklam and TAR with the construction of helipads, upgraded roads, pre-fabricated huts, trenches, shelters and stores to withstand the chill in the high-altitude region. Its troops, already at height from 10,000 to 16,000 ft on TAR, were acclimatised. From the earlier six to eight Combined Arms Brigades (CABs), the numbers shot up to about 13 CABs on TAR. Each CAB, depending upon whether it is light, medium or heavy, would have between 6,000 and 8,000 troops and accompanying paraphernalia. The PLA had, within months of crisis, permanently deployed (with appropriate accommodation, defence works, and equipment) about 500 soldiers just 150 m from the standoff site, about 2,000 troops in North Doklam with Yatung, the largest town in the Chumbi Valley, having about 6,000 troops.

This worried the Modi government. With the General Election approaching, Modi sought an informal meeting with Xi. Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale initiated a series of actions to indicate conciliation towards China. The Cabinet Secretary, through a note, asked senior leaders to not attend the Tibetan Thanksgiving events planned in March 2017, and the MEA-funded IDSA think tank was instructed to cancel the Asian Security Conference which had China as the theme at the eleventh hour.

Modi met Xi on April 27-28, 2017 in Wuhan. The joint statement underlined that both leaders had given strategic guidelines to their militaries for peace on the LAC, and had agreed on strategic communications  an euphemism for how the two sides could accommodate each other's concerns. Within days of the Wuhan summit, Modi held another informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. Since Putin is the only world leader capable of influencing Xi, he was sought by Modi to perhaps be the guarantor for peace on LAC.

A key thing to come out of the Wuhan summit was disclosed by the Chinese Ambassador in India, Luo Zhaohui, who had participated in the summit meeting. Speaking to The Tribune (October 1, 2018), he said, China-India Plus can be the new model in South Asia. He gave the example of India-China-Afghanistan, India-China-Nepal and even Bhutan where India could assist China since it does not have diplomatic relations with the kingdom. Given the massive infrastructure-building technology gap and the deep Chinese pocket, the trilateral cooperation to help small nations would automatically make China the leader.

For example, all nations in South Asia, with the exception of India and Bhutan, have signed up for the Belt and Road Initiative, whose apparent focus would be on infrastructure building. This brings China in South Asia. To check whether India would abide by the Wuhan spirit, China has reportedly suggested October 2019 for the second informal summit where Xi would be pleased to come to India. India now faces a catch-22 situation: with Chinese forces-in-being on the LAC, can it wriggle out of the Wuhan spirit that it has signed for strategic peace?
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Over two months after the Balakot airstrike, the hyper-nationalist pitch seems to be losing momentum midway through the Lok Sabha elections. The ruling party has been busy projecting the retaliatory action as the NDA governments biggest achievement, even as its detractors have been lambasting it for trying to cash in on the soldiers sacrifices and heroics for electoral gains. The February 26 operation enabled the BJP to build its poll narrative around national security, with PM Narendra Modi himself saying that the country was safe only in his hands. For a while, the anti-Pakistan tirade diverted peoples attention from the governments underwhelming performance during the past five years. Amid the euphoria, the crippling impact of demonetisation and the chaotic rollout of the GST regime virtually faded into oblivion. The subsequent de-escalation of hostilities, however, have deprived war-mongering of a sense of urgency and relevance.

The Balakot offensive may not turn out to be a trump card for the BJP, partly because no clear picture has emerged so far of what exactly happened there. Pakistan continues to claim, albeit unconvincingly, that there was no damage in the airstrike, which was carried out by India less than two weeks after the Pulwama terror attack. The incorrigible neighbour has been repeatedly challenging India to come up with conclusive and credible evidence, but the response of the countrys military and political leadership has left a lot to be desired. Security and confidentiality concerns have been cited for restricting the information shared in the public domain. Its this lack of transparency that has given the Opposition as well as Pakistan the opportunity to raise doubts about the entire operation.

The undisputed truth should have been made public right away instead of banking on bluster and bombast. The sporadic efforts to nail Pakistans lies have dented the advantage gained by India through the aerial bombing. In recent weeks, the focus of the restless public has shifted to ever-important issues such as development, unemployment and farmers distress, which have a strong regional and local resonance. Its back to the basics for the electorate. And no political party can afford to overlook this scenario.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune Reporters

Karnal/Panipat/Sonepat, April 30

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday raised questions over the relationship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan and Modis Pakistan policy.

The Delhi Chief Minister made these comments following a recent statement by Imran that there were better chances of peace with India if Modi retained power.

Accompanied by Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala, Kejriwal took out a roadshow through Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal in support of alliance candidates Digvijay Chautala from Sonepat and Krishan Aggarwal from Karnal.

Kejriwal asked Modi about the alleged alliance with Pakistan. People wanted to know the agenda on which a political alliance with the Pakistan Prime Minister had been finalised, he added.

He said the atmosphere in Haryana was like it was in Delhi in 2014. He said JJP-AAP candidates had become the only option for people and the alliance would win all 10 seats.

Dushyant said BJP candidates had been seeking votes in the name of Narendra Modi. He asked them why they did not seek votes in their names or of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

He claimed that former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would lose from Sonepat. Without naming Abhay Chautala, he said INLD leaders were losing temper over the cancellation of bail to Om Prakash Chautala. He said they did not know that none could interfere in court matters.

Kejriwal highlighted achievements of AAP government in Delhi. He accused the BJP of not fulfilling its promises. The enthusiasm of our workers in the scorching heat shows desperation for a change in Haryana, he said.

We have made a sea change in education, health, water and electricity in Delhi. People of Haryana want the same change and are looking towards our alliance, he said.

Attacks Hooda, Khattar
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission Wednesday concluded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Latur last month in which he had urged first time voters to dedicate their votes in the name of the Balakot air strike heroes and the soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack, is not violative of its instructions on invoking armed forces in poll campaigns.

It also found that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's remarks on defence forces were not violative of the model code.

Attacking the prime minister, Kamal Nath had on April 14 said that even when Modi was a child, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had built the country's defence forces.

He was addressing a rally at Harsud in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.

Referring to the prime minister's statement in Latur, the commission said, "The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of 11 pages as per the certified copy sent by the Returning Officer, Osmanabad parliamentary constituency. Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted."

READ HERE | Crystal clear that MCC has become 'Modi Code of Conduct': Congress

Addressing a rally in Ausa in Maharashtra's Latur on April 9, Modi had said, "Can your first vote be dedicated to those who carried out the air strike. I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan. Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack)," Modi had said.

Local poll authorities in Maharashtra are learnt to have told the EC here that Modi's remarks are prima facie violative of its orders, asking parties against using the armed forces in their campaigns.

The EC had sought the report in the context of the EC advisory issued in March asking parties to desist from indulging in political propaganda involving actions of the armed forces.

ALSO READ | PM Modi gets clean chit, EC says no poll code violation in Wardha rally speech

"Parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," the commission said on March 19.

Since the Congress had approached EC in this regard, a response has also been sent to the party.

On Tuesday, the EC had said that Modi had not violated the model code in his speech in Wardha on April 1 in which he had slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad and had indicated that the Kerala constituency had more voters from the minority community.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 1

Jailed Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Wednesday withdrew his plea in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for suspension of his sentence for attending the wedding of an adopted daughter.

The plea was opposed by both the state and the CBI. Among other things, maintenance of law and order was cited as a ground.

The High Court had never issued a formal notice of motion in the matter, as wrongly reported by a section of the media. It had only asked the Deputy LA, CBI, to verify the facts as mentioned in the application.

The Bench had only asked the counsel for the applicant-appellant to verify as to how many daughters/adopted daughters the applicant had.
editorial@tribune.com

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, April 30

The state government has recently ordered a vigilance inquiry against a mining officer in connection with the illegal mining that took place in Yamunanagar district.

Sources said the inquiry would be conducted against mining officer Gurjeet Singh, who was transferred to Faridabad from Yamunanagar in March 2019.

The decision to have a probe by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) came on the recommendation of then Director-cum-Special Secretary, Mines and Geology, Haryana, Dusmanta Kumar Behera, who in his brief tenure of three months acted against the mining mafia and officers responsible for illegal mining.

He was transferred to the post of additional chief electoral officer, Haryana, on April 15, 2019.

Known for his honesty and strictness, Behera had suspended Gurjeet Singh and some other officials of the mining department in Panchkula district in March this year in connection with the illegal mining.

According to information, the mining mafia has damaged a large section of the 19,600-ft-long right lower down-stream embankment (RLDSE) of the Yamuna constructed close to the old Tajewala headworks, which was replaced by the Hathnikund barrage in 1999.

The illegal mining poses a threat to the RLDSE during the rainy season and may further cause damage to Hathnikund barrage besides wreaking havoc in villages of the area.

The sources added that illegal mining had now stopped in Tajewala, but it was going on without hindrance in Bailgarh, Mandewala, Lakkar and several other places in Yamunanagar district.

Meanwhile, Gurjeet Singh said he had learnt about the inquiry ordered against him.

I made all efforts, including lodging 121 FIRs (14 were filed to stop illegal mining in Tajewala village) from April 2017 to January 2019. Besides, 827 vehicles involved in illegal mining were seized and a fine of Rs1.5 lakh was recovered during this period, said Gurjeet.
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, May 1

A middle-aged woman has been accused of harassing a group of six girls at a restaurant in Gurugram over their dress choice.

A video has been doing the rounds on social media, where the woman asked seven men at the restaurant to rape the six girls as they were wearing short dresses.The incident took place late last evening from Nukkadwala restaurant on Sohna road.

The group accosted the woman at a nearby store and demanded an apology. After the girls started following her, the woman asked the staff to call the police.

The woman refused to apologise and told the girl filming the video to "go to hell".

After a while, another woman visiting the store stood up for the girls and asked the woman to apologise.

Yet another woman present there said it is women like her who encouraged males to nurture a patriarchal mentality.

The woman looked into the phone cameras of the girls and said, "These women want to wear short dresses just to encourage others to see them.

The woman also asked the parents of the girls to "control them". The woman also dared the girls to circulate the video.

This lady thinks girls wearing short dresses encourages men to rape them. . 

Woww

This is 2019 n we r still dealing with such sick minded people..

And its a woman who is trying to degrade another 

And she is nt evn sorry 4 what she said!#auntyjiapologise #Delhi pic.twitter.com/gkrJhf1ENp  a a s h i (@Aashiii8) 1 May 2019

pic.twitter.com/dsLJsUvhbb this is so sad and shocking

How can anyone pass such kind of comments on people you dont know

A middle aged woman telling a young girl that wearing short dresses is a way of her inviting men to rape her  harshu (@istanSgomez) 30 April 2019

One of the girls Shivani Gupta posted the video that went viral on social media the woman received an immense backlash.

This middle-aged woman youll see in the video addressed seven men at the restaurant to rape us because she felt we deserved it for wearing short clothes and bashing her unsolicited opinion...Our instinct was to turn away from the drama but supported by our colleagues, we took her on at a shopping centre, nearby. We gave her the chance to apologies, to no avail, of course. Nothing moved the needle for her, not even another woman who learned the story on the spot and implored her to apologies, said Gupta in her post.

Dancer-rapper Raftaar and dancer-actor-host Raghav Juyal criticised Aunty for her orthodox mindset on their social media accounts.

Raftaar posted the chunk of video on Instagram and wrote: " This is aunty. Aunty wants women in short dresses to be raped by men. Aunty is the prime example of whats wrong with society. Dont be like aunty. @sunkissedshitzu sister we are with you. Instagram can go f*#k itsef. Tell them to delete all the propaganda, videos of people harming people and animals (unless they are proofs like this video above), all the stupidity done in the name of humour etc etc first. #auntyjiapologise.

Reposting Raftaar's video on Twitter, Raghav wrote: raftaarmusic bhai this is heights This aunty needs growth, If any of her family members are seeing this post please try to educate her , throw some light on her and tell her about

The video was later deleted by Instagram for violating its community guidelines.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 30

The Congress has raised questions on the role of the police in the alleged rape of a girl in a moving car here yesterday.

State Congress president Kuldeep Rathore today claimed that the victim was not provided help despite the fact that she went to a police station before the crime.

He said action was required to be taken if there had been any lapse at any level. He added that a Special Investigation Team too had been constituted.

We have directed SIT to submit its report within 24 hours so that there can be quick response to the crime, he said. The Congress submitted a memorandum to Governor Acharya Devvrat.

Rathore was accompanied by MLA Dhani Ram Shandil, Congress candidate from Shimla, Jenab Chandel and Rajnish Khimta. Congress leaders said the incident had exposed the casual approach of the police on the security of women.

What can be more serious than the fact that the police had failed to provide security to the victim when she asked them for help, he said.

He further lamented that while the BJP regime made tall claims about the safety of women, the reality was different. Congress workers also held a protest against the alleged rape incident in the town, raising questions on the safety of women.

Dont politicise issue: CM

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the incident regarding the alleged rape of a girl in the state capital was a serious and unfortunate incident which must not be politicised.

Thakur, who arrived here, said he had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident to ensure a free and fair inquiry.

The statement of the victim is being recorded before a judicial magistrate so that she can state her plight without any fear or pressure, he remarked.

The BJP regime seems to be treading very cautiously on the alleged rape case that has come to light in the backdrop of the rape of a minor school girl in Kotkhai last year. The crime became a major issue against the Congress regime.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 30

With controversy erupting over reported adverse remarks made by Virbhadra Singh against Congress candidates and his bete noire Sukh Ram at election meetings, the former Chief Minister has been compelled to clarify his stand.

Even as the former Chief Minister chose to put the blame on media by stating that the press had distorted his remarks, he, nonetheless, had to issue a statement, considering the resentment brewing among the senior party leadership.

Some of the senior leaders have apprised the high command of Virbhadras damaging remarks, which he made in the presence of Anand Sharma and Rajni Patil. The issue of his having made remarks against Sukh Ram during an election meeting in the Mandi Lok Sabha segment and against Hamirpur party candidate Ram Lal Thakur has been brought to the notice of the high command, party sources revealed.

I am a dedicated soldier of the party and am campaigning for the party candidates with full loyalty and sincerity, he said in a statement issued here today. He said a section of the media has deliberately tried to distort his statement with regard to Hamirpur candidate Ram Lal Thakur. I have never said anything of the kind that the media has attributed to me and the fact is that Thakur is very strong candidate. I will soon be campaigning for him, he stated.

Virbhadra also clarified that he is working wholeheartedly to ensure victory of Ashray Sharma, the party candidate from Mandi. There is a wave against Ram Swaroop Sharma, the BJP candidate and both me and Sukh Ram are working to ensure Congress victory, he stated.

Virbhadra has often come under fire from his own party for praising CM Jai Ram Thakur and not criticising the BJP regime. The 15-month BJP regime has not fulfilled even a single promise and development in the state has come to a complete halt, he remarked. He added that even the works started during the Congress regime have not been completed. People are disenchanted with the Modi regime. The people have realized that it is a government of jumlas which has not kept any promise, he said.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Srinagar, May 1

Two boys were injured on Wednesday while fiddling with an explosive device in Kulgam district, police sources said.

Shahid, 12, and Eiklaq, 11, were injured at Damhal Hanjipora village. Both were shifted to hospital where doctors said their condition was stable, sources said.

Security forces have advised locals not to visit sites of encounters between the militants and the government forces unless they are declared safe by the authorities.

There have been instances of civilian casualties after these warnings were overlooked.

It was not clear whether or not Wednesdays explosion occurred at some previous encounter site or away from it. IANS
editorial@tribune.com

Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 30

In order to meet the persistent demand of border residents in Jammu and Kashmir living under the constant threat of shelling and gunfire from Pakistan side, the government has decided to construct more than 10,000 bunkers for their safety.

The government has started the work and one-fifth of them have been completed.

This was revealed in a meeting, chaired by Governor Satya Pal Malik to review the construction of bunkers in the border areas to keep the population safe and close to their homes, instead of setting up migrant camps during an eventuality.

The Governor was informed that 10,260 bunkers are to be constructed in the border districts, including Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch. These are being executed by the PWD and Rural Development Department and till date, 2,041 bunkers have been completed. A work plan has also been prepared to accomplish the remaining assignment in a time-bound manner.

The Governor expressed satisfaction over the progress in execution of the project, observing that the construction of bunkers had remained sluggish earlier, but had gained traction during the recent months. However, the executing agencies and deputy commissioners were directed to accord primacy to the construction of bunkers.
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, April 30

With just six days left for voting, poll campaign has intensified in Ladakh region with political parties and Independent candidates making last-ditch efforts to woo electors in the sparsely-inhabited region.

Ladakh, which is countrys largest parliamentary seat geographically, has an electoral strength of just 1,74,618 voters. Of them, as many as 86,752 are males, 85,064 females, 2,799 are service voters and three transgenders. The seat is going to polls in the fifth phase on May 6.

Ladakh comprises two districts-Buddhist-dominated Leh and Shia Muslim majority Kargil. Kargil district has two assembly segments Kargil and Zanskar while Leh district includes Nubra and Leh Assembly segments.

The seat is set for a quadrilateral contest. Apart from two key national players  the BJP and Congress, two Independents, including a Congress rebel, have joined the electoral race. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls too, there were only four candidates in the fray.

The BJP has fielded 33-year-old incumbent Chief Executive Councillor of Leh Council Jamyang Tsering Namgyal while the Congress has posed trust on its senior Buddhist leader and two-time CEC of Leh Council, Rigzin Spalbar (61).

Given the religious differences between two districts, the Congress rebel from Kargil, Asgar Ali Karbalai (54), and NC-PDPs consensus candidate Sajjad Hussain Kargili (37), have been contesting as Independents against two Buddhist candidates of the BJP and Congress from Leh. All the four candidates are trying their luck for Lok Sabha berth for the first time.

Even as the Governors administration has granted divisional status to Ladakh region, two major issues including demand for Union Territory (UT) status to the region and round-the-year road connectivity have again taken the centerstage in the poll campaign launched by the BJP and Congress. However, two Independents have limited their poll campaign to developmental issues.

Given the tough geographical terrains and sparsely inhabited population, there are some polling stations where the number of voters is just seven to 12. Keeping in mind the previous close contests on the seat, the Election Commissioner of India (ECI) has made all efforts to ensure that no voter is left behind from poll process.

The ECI has established two polling stations in Leh (Gaik) and Nubra (Washi) segments having seven voters each while as polling station with the highest number of voters (1301) has been set up at Leh (Shynam).

SEAT STATS

Assembly segments : 4

: 4 Voters: 1,74,618

1,74,618 Polling Stations: 559

559 Candidates: 4

Factfile
editorial@tribune.com

Sumit Hakhoo and Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Jammu/Srinagar, April 30

Nearly three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Vijaypur in Samba district, the construction work is yet to start as the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has not yet completed the tendering process for civil works.

Modi had laid the foundation stone on February 3 this year during his visit to Jammu and Kashmir. In 2015, two AIIMS were announced for J&K, one at Samba and the other at Awantipora in Pulwama district.

The one for Samba has already faced inordinate delay of more than three years due to the alleged non-serious approach of the previous PDP-BJP alliance government.

Falling on the Jammu-Pathankot National highway, it was expected that the construction would be fast-tracked, but this has not happened.

Except the boundary wall which has been completed, other civil works have not started as the process to approve tenders for starting the work is going on at a snails pace.

The office for the stay of engineers and supporting staff at the site is still under construction. Although the project is to be executed by the CPWD and directly funded by the Central government, the district administration has also remained non-cooperative to complete its share of works like providing water supply, power and access road.

No action is being taken over complaints about members of the Gujjar community knocking down the boundary wall at several places to use the area for the transport of cattle.

Right from the start, the project had landed in political controversy over the eviction of tribal Gujjars from the land for the project and the provision of basic facilities. The administration was slow in its approach and now the construction work is getting delayed, said a senior administrative officer involved in the project.

AIIMS at Vijaypur in Samba district will be spread on 258 acres and is to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,400 crore (excluding the cost of medical equipment). A deadline of four years has been kept for the completion of the project.

When completed, the 750-bedded hospital will have 75 ICUs, 18 super-specialty departments, 12 OPDs, 16 OTs, academic buildings for running as medical college for 100 students, nursing college for 60 students and school for public health.

The nodal officer for AIIMS, appointed by the state government to coordinate with the CPWD, Dr Sanjeev Puri, said, Its a Central project. Our responsibility was to provide basic facilities and the state has almost completed its share of work.

Only boundary wall in 4 yrs

Four years ago, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced AIIMS for Kashmir, but the state-of-the-art project is yet to take off.

A senior official said the latest hurdle in the construction of AIIMS in south Kashmirs Awantipora was the model code of conduct. The official said the construction work would start after the code was over.

The work would have been started but we have to wait as the model code of conduct is in effect and the entire administration is focused on the elections, the official said.

At present, one boundary wall of the institute has been completed and work on the other wall is underway, another official said.

The premier health institution will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,828 crore at Awantipora in Pulwama district. The government had in December 2016 transferred over 207 acres of state land to the health and medical education department for the institute.

The construction of the institute has suffered long delays due to regional politics. Immediately after the announcement of AIIMS in the state, a row had erupted as the Jammu region demanded a separate health institute. The controversy died down when the Union Health Minister announced that separate institutes would be set up in Kashmir and the Jammu regions.

Project timeline

February 28, 2015: During his Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced an AIIMS for J&K

June 12, 2015: Union Health Minister JP Nadda announced two AIIMS for J&K: One at Vijaypur in Samba district and another at Awantipora in Pulwama district

September 15, 2018: The Samba administration completed the rehabilitation of 280 nomad families who had encroached upon the land

February 3, 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally lays foundation stone of AIIMS in J&K
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Students willing to pursue Petroleum and Energy Graduation qualification can now apply for tuition fee waivers at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) which are going to be provided on the basis of their academic merit and can be renewed on the basis of their academic performance.

Eligibility: Students applying for undergraduate courses at UPES after clearing UPESEAT 2019, with more than 85% academic score in Class X and XII (PCM) may apply for this scholarship.

Details: Uttarakhand domicile students who clear the eligibility criteria will be provided 25 per cent(Boys) and 35 per cent (Girls) tuition fee waiver. General students clearing the criteria will be provided 50 per cent tuition fee waiver for 10 per cent seats of each undergraduate programme. The scholarship renewal in 3rd/4th semester will be provided if the scholar scores more than 8 on 10 SGPA at the institution.

Deadline: May 8, 2019

How to apply: Online

Short Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/JC/UBS3

Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowships

PhD students in India can now undertake collaborative research studies and teaching positions with host institutions in USA and India with this fellowship provided by United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF). The fellowship provides nine months financial support, lab sharing facilities and other benefits.

Eligibility: Pre-PhD degree level students of India registered at an Indian institution for Doctoral studies and academically/professionally employed doctoral candidates may apply for this fellowship program.

Details: An appropriate monthly stipend based on the merit of research proposal/study plan of the selected candidate will be provided along with USA J-1 VISA support, medical coverage, travel airfare as additional benefits.

Deadline: May 15, 2019

How to apply: Online

Short Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/JC/FDR4

Green Talents Competition

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research invites applications from scientists working in fields of environment conservation to apply for this competition with their project ideas. Winners will get financial assistance for research and opportunities to collaborate with global science community at prestigious forums.

Eligibility: Indian applicants pursuing a masters degree, Doctoral degree, Post-Doctoral qualification or already awarded with such qualifications may apply for this competition. Young professionals with maximum three years of experience may also apply.

Details: Selected scholars will be granted complete funds for research studies (up to 3 months) at an institution of choice in Germany. Theyll also be given a chance to attend the 2-week Green Talents Science Forum 2019 with all expenses covered.

Deadline: May 22, 2019

How to apply: Online only

Short Source URL: http://www.b4s.in/JC/GTC3

 Inputs courtesy: www.buddy4study.com
By IANS

JAIPUR: It's a clash of two women from the same community in Rajasthan's Dausa constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee is former Union Minister Jaskaur Meena, the Congress has named Savita Meena, wife of sitting MLA Murari Meena, as candidate.

The BJP chose Jaskaur Meena amid major slugfest over candidates of two rival factions. Jaskaur Meena heads the party's Scheduled Tribes (ST) wing and has been an MP from the Sawai Madhopur constituency in 1999. She even served as the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development in 2003.

She is banking on BJP's emphasis on nationalism, women empowerment and the Modi factor in the elections.

On the other hand, Savita Meena of Congress says: "The trust of my workers in me is my strength. My win will bring in development in education, roads, electricity, water and health in the constituency."

FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

While Congress sources confirmed that it would be tough for Jaskaur Meena to counter infighting and neutralise Murari Meena's influence in the area, BJP leaders are confident of the party's social engineering skills.

It was evident at an event on Tuesday that brought together leaders of Meena and Gujjar communities, which make up a significant population in Dausa and are traditionally known to be at loggerheads.

At the event, Kirorilal Meena and Kirori Singh Bainsla (representing Gujjars) not only shared the dias with BJP President Amit Shah but also hugged each other on the stage. BJP MLA Rajendra Rathore later announced, "No one can defeat a party that has two Kiroris standing together."

Dausa is the second constituency other than Bharatpur, where the BJP could not win a single seat in the 2018 Assembly polls. The Congress won five of the eight Assembly seats, while the remaining went to Independents.

The Lok Sabha constituency goes to the polls on May 6 in the fifth phase of elections.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Mumbai, May 1

At least 16 people, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district on Wednesday, police said.

The blast followed Naxals torching 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day, police said.

Those killed were members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of the Gadchiroli police, which was on way to inspect the torched vehicles, an official said.

The blast took place as the vehicle reached Lendhari nullah in Kurkheda area, the official said.

Police teams were reaching the spot for evacuation operation, he said.

Attack not due to intelligence failure: Maharashtra DGP

Maharashtra Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal said on Wednesday that the Naxal attack was not a result of intelligence failure.

Terming it a big loss for the force, Jaiswal said that police were ready to give a befitting reply to the Naxals.

I cannot call this an intelligence failure... The Maharashtra police will take whatever action needed against such activities. It is a big loss for Maharashtra police, Jaiswal said.

The Naxals want to overthrow the state, he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned the attack, saying perpetrators of such violence would not be spared.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten, he tweeted.

My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared, the Prime Minister said in his tweet. PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Lucknow, May 1

Five people, including a six-month-old baby, were killed in a fire that broke out in a gas stove warehouse at Mayawati Colony in Indira Nagar here on Wednesday.

Indira Nagar Police Station in-charge Amarnath Vishwakarma said, TN Singh, a resident of Pratapgarh, used to run a gas stove warehouse from his house in Ram Vihar Phase II. On Tuesday night around 1.30, the air-conditioner at his house caught fire due to short-circuit.

The smoke caused by the blaze soon engulfed the house leaving five members of the family dead, he said.

The dead were identified as Sumit Singh, his wife Julie, their six-month-old daughter, Dablu Singh and Vandana Singh. IANS
shalender@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

SURAT, April 30

The Surat sessions court today sentenced Narayan Sai, son of the self-styled godman Asaram, to life imprisonment and slapped a a fine of Rs 1 lakh on him in a rape case filed against him by a former woman devotee in 2013.

Sais three accomplices, including two women Dharmishtha alias Ganga and Bhavna alias Jamuna  who kept the woman in confinement and brought her to his room, and his close aide Pavan alias Hanuman were awarded 10-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 each. Sais driver Ramesh Malhotra, who was held guilty of providing shelter to him while he was on the run, was awarded six-month jail and slapped a fine of Rs 500.

The court also ordered payment of Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the victim. Sais advocate, however, said the sessions order would be challenged in the Gujarat High Court after carefully studying the judgment. His advocate claimed that since there was no evidence of any force used against the woman who was not a minor, life imprisonment was too heavy punishment for the crime.

Sai who managed to evade arrest for about five months after the complaint was lodged by the sevika sisters was finally held near Kurukshetra, Haryana, in December, 2013, when he was trying to reach Delhi. While the elder sister had complained against Asaram of having sexually assaulted her when she stayed in his Ahmedabad ashram between 1997 and 2006, the younger sister had accused his son of rape when she stayed in Asarams Jahangirpura ashram in Surat between 2002 and 2005.

The case against Asaram on the elder sisters complaint was still in progress in a sessions court in Gandhinagar even as he was lodged in Jodhpur jail convicted of rape of a minor girl.

The Surat court on April 26 convicted Narayan Sai of rape and held his four accomplices guilty of various crimes in aiding and abetting him in the crime but had kept the order fixing the quantum of punishment in each case reserved till today.

Crime in ashram
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 30

For the first time in months since the Congress began displaying rigidity in alliance politics, party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad today admitted to lack of generosity, explaining why it was so.

Congress general secretary and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Azad said new parties had emerged on Indias political landscape and were demanding a lions share of seats. If we concede to this demand by regional parties, they will become national parties and we will become a regional force, Azad said when asked to comment on AAP convener Arvind Kejriwals charge that Congress president Rahul Gandhi would be singularly responsible should the BJP win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Azad, who has seen the Congress evolve over the years, said his party had shown more generosity in striking alliances than any other party but the policy had cost the Congress dear. The party had ceded space to regional players at its own peril.

Azads comment clearly indicates a shift in Congress thinking which has now decided to revive itself, no matter how long the haul. I speak from my experience of decades in politics. No party has been as generous in alliances as the Congress, starting with Tamil Nadu, Kerala, UP and Bihar. But at what cost? asked Azad in the wake of Opposition leaders, including BSP chief Mayawati and SP president Akhilesh Yadav besides Kejriwal, accusing the Congress of arrogance in seat- sharing negotiations,

The parties forget how generous we have been. We reached the second,third and even fourth positions in states due to our policy of perpetual alliances. But the fact is if we keep ceding a lions share to new parties, they will grow at our cost, Azad explains.
uttara@tribuneindia.com

United Nations, May 1

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar on Wednesday was designated as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

His terror outfit, founded in 2000, claimed responsibility for many terror attacks in India, including the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.

Following is the chronology of the major events leading to his designation:

2009: India moves a proposal by itself to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. China blocks the move.

2016: India again moves the proposal with the backing of the P3the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar.

2017: The P3 nations move a similar proposal again. China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocks the proposal from being adopted.

February 27, 2019: The US, the UK and France move a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

March 13, 2019: China puts the hold on the proposal scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

March 28, 2019: The US, supported by France and the UK, directly moves a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group's chief.

April 3, 2019: China hits out at the US for threatening to use "all available resources" to designate the Pakistan-based JeM chief as a 'global terrorist', saying Washington's move is complicating the issue and not conducive to peace and stability in South Asia.

April 30, 2019: China says "some progress" has been achieved on designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN and hopes that the vexed issue will be "properly resolved".

May 1, 2019: The 1267 Sanctions Committee designates Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifts the hold on the proposal of the US, the UK and France. PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

United Nations, May 1

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

"Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support," India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US in the Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal.

When asked whether China has lifted the hold, Akbaruddin told PTI: "Yes, done". The sanctions committee makes its decisions by consensus of its members.

READ: Here's how Azhar was listed global terrorist

In recent days, there had been indications that China is likely to come around and will lift its hold on the Azhar proposal. Beijing had said on Tuesday that the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved".

Big,small, all join together.



Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list



Grateful to all for their support. #Zerotolerance4Terrorism  Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) May 1, 2019

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing Tuesday that we support the listing issue being settled within the 1267 committee through dialogue and consultation and I believe this is the consensus of most members. Second, the relevant consultations are going on within the committee and have achieved some progress. Third, I believe, with the joint efforts of all parties, this issue can be properly resolved".

Beijing put the hold on the proposal on March 13, scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar.

In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

Keeping up the international pressure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, the US, supported by France and the UK, moved a draft resolution directly in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror organization's head.

Beijing lifting its hold is a massive diplomatic win for India, which had relentlessly pursued the matter with its international allies. There had been sustained international pressure on China, particularly from the US, to remove its objection to Azhar's listing.

Hectic discussions between New Delhi, Washington, New York and Beijing had ensued after the March 13 hold by Beijing as it was clear that India will not relent on the matter.

Diplomats at the UN's principal organ had warned that responsible member-states of the Security Council may be forced to pursue other actions if China continued to block moves to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

Beijing had staunchly opposed the Azhar listing to be taken directly to the powerful UN body as it would have had to publicly explain its stand on its reservations to list Azhar, whose group JeM has already been designated as terror outfit by the UN, before exercising its veto.

Sources had told PTI that the statement of the case of the latest proposal by France had mentioned that JeM had taken responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

The statement of the case had also noted that Azhar is a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat al Mujahadin and he had given a call to volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

Found no objection

China said it lifted the hold after it found no objection to the proposal.

The 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council has detailed criteria for the listing procedures. China always believes that the relevant work should be carried out in an objective, unbiased and professional manner and based on solid evidence and consensus among all parties, a press release issued by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

"On this listing issue, China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal," he said.

"The proper settlement of the above-mentioned issue again shows that in international counter-terrorism cooperation, we have to uphold the rules and procedures of relevant UN body, follow the principle of mutual respect, resolve differences and build consensus through dialogue, and prevent politicising technical issues," he said.

He said Pakistan had made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community.

China will continue firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorist and extremist forces," Geng said. PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, May 1

The Congress on Wednesday welcomed the designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, but expressed disappointment that the listing "does not mention Pulwama and Jammu and Kashmir" while recounting his role in terror activities.

The Congress said it expected the Modi government to act with a "greater speed" in pursuing the case with China as several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided.

The Modi government should now push for a declaration of bounty on Azhar's head as was ensured by the UPA in the case of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Congress said.

Azhar's "belated" declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step and India's fight against terrorism is resolute and the entire nation is one in fighting the menace, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement.

Designation as a global terrorist is just the first step and all his sources of funding need to be stopped, he said.

The entire property and terror fund need to be taken over by international agencies, Surjewala said.

"We are disappointed that UN listing doesn't mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhar's role in terrorist activities," he tweeted.

The Congress demanded that the Modi government should pursue a complete international ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad and also ensure that other terrorists of JeM are similarly blacklisted by the UN.

It also demanded that the Modi government should pursue the blacklisting of Pakistan as a terrorist state by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

"We expected Modi government to act at a greater speed in pursuing declaration of Masood Azhar, but after agenda-less visit of PM Modi to China (Wuhan Summit) they did not push for this case with China in the entire period of 2018," Surjewala alleged.

"Several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided if Modi government had pushed international community, including China to agree, to declare Masood Azhar as international terrorist," he said.

Surjewala alleged that history is dotted with BJP's compromise of national security in tackling terrorism, which is reflected in actions like the release of Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in Kandahar, by previous NDA government.

"It is the same terrorist Masood Azhar who heads Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan and fomented terror on Indian soil everyday. Congress party's commitment to end terrorism is absolute," he said.

After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the UPA government's response was to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub, besides rallying the international community for decisive action against terrorists, he said.

Surjewala asserted that Pakistan must be forced to dismantle the entire terror infrastructure of JeM, as also other terrorist outfits operating from its soil.

All wanted terrorists like Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim, Haji Mohammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal thriving on Pakistani soil and involved in heinous terror attacks in India must be forthwith deported to India and brought to justice, the Congress said.

Surjewala also listed the UPA government's efforts in tackling terrorism and the steps it took against terrorists.

"Within 14 days of Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN," he said.

The UPA ensured that a USD 10 million bounty was placed on the head of the Mumbai attack perpetrator and the founder of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed, by the US, he said.

He also listed terror mastermind David Headley's conviction to 35 years of prison and the UN Security Council putting top LeT members involved in Mumbai attack on sanctions lists, as achievements of the UPA.

He also asserted the Congress hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have noted and acted on "certain pressing issues that have repeatedly compromised India's interests" such as China building a full-fledged military complex in Doklam only 10 m from Indian Army posts and neighbouring country constructing a road in South Doklam into the "Chicken's Neck" -- Siliguri Corridor.

China is building USD 54 billion China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) through PoK and Balochistan connecting Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea to China with base for Chinese submarines, Surjewala claimed.

He also claimed that China conducts mining on Arunachal border and attempts to build tunnels, and upgrades air base near Sikkim 

Surjewala also cited China's blocking of India's membership of the 'Nuclear Suppliers Group' asking for parity with rogue Pakistan, to highlight the government's "failures".

China has exponentially expanded strategic, economic and defence partnerships with Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, he said.

"All this is done, but Modi ji's 'Laal Aankh' answer remains :- 'jhoola diplomacy in Gujarat, hug diplomacy in Delhi, and agenda-less visits to China, without the mention of Masood Azhar or Doklam," he said.  PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, May 1

The Election Commission on Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future".

The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted".

The ban would come into force from 6 am, May 2 (Thursday).

Thakur had last month claimed that Karkare died during the 26/11 terror attack as she had "cursed" him for torturing her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad.

However, after her remarks kicked up a row, she had tendered an apology next day.

In an interview to a television channel, Thakur had said she was among the people who demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 and that she was "proud" of it.

"We removed a blot from the country. We went to demolish the structure. I feel extremely proud that God gave me this opportunity and I could do that. We will make sure a Ram temple is constructed at that site," Thakur had told the channel.  Agencies
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 30

Giving a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Election Commission today said there was no violation of the Model Code of Conduct in his speech at Wardha in which he had said the Opposition was scared to field its leaders from constituencies where the majority dominated.

Modis speech was in reference to Congress president Rahul Gandhis decision to contest the Lok Sabha election from the minority-dominated Wayanad constituency in Kerala. The PM had also allegedly sought votes in the name of the armed forces.

Announcing the decision of the poll panel, the EC spokesperson said, The matter relating to poll violation by the PM in Wardha, Maharashtra, on April 1 has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant, guidelines and provisions of the MCC, the Representation of the People Act and the report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra. Accordingly, the commission is of the considered view that in this matter, no such violation has been noticed.

Modi had accused the Congress of insulting the Hindus. Leaders of that party are now scared of contesting from constituencies dominated by the majority (Hindu) population. That is why they are forced to take refuge in places where the majority is in a minority, the PM was reported to have said.

The Congress had complained to the Election Commission against Modi for his speech and sought action against his alleged divisive speech. The Congress alleged that the PM made some hateful, vile and divisive remarks against Rahul Gandhi.

The ECs decision came on a day when the Supreme Court sought response from the poll panel on Congress MP Sushmita Devs plea accusing the Election Commission of inaction on her partys complaints of MCC violation against Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
shalender@tribune.com

Chennai, April 30

The Madras High Court on Tuesday held that Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi cannot interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the elected government of the Union Territory, a decision hailed by Chief Minister V Narayana-samy, who termed it a victory of democracy.

Allowing a petition by K Laksminarayanan, a Congress MLA, Justice R Mahadevan set aside the two communications issued in January and June 2017 by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs elevating the power of the administrator.

Referring to the Supreme Court judgment on the tussle between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lt Governor Anil Baijal, the judge said restrictions imposed on the Government of Delhi are not applicable to the Government of Puducherry.

The apex court has clearly held that there is a distinction between the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Puducherry, the judge said.

Though Puducherry was not a state, the Assembly would have the same powers as that of a state, he said.

Congress leader and CM Narayanasamy, who has been at loggerheads with Bedi over various issues, said the court order was historic and demonstrates the victory of democracy. In her reaction, Bedi said, We are examining the judgment.

The judge said, The administrator cannot interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the government. The decision taken by the Council of Ministers and the CM is binding on the secretaries and other officials.

The petitioner submitted: She (Bedi) conducts review meetings with officials directly, bypassing the government, carries out inspections and issues on-the-spot orders and thereby runs a parallel and diametrically opposite government within the government.  PTI
Atanu Biswas By

Social media is like Aladdins genie; you need a master to control it. And it is the responsibility of the institutions to control the genie

Giuseppe Porcaros novel Disco Sour (2018) depicts a dystopian future following a continental civil war. Bastian Balthazar Bux, a key member of The Federation, the European network of civil society and local governments, discovers a plan by someone named Zukowsky to sell Plebiscitum, a dating-style app that is meant to replace elections with a simple swipe, at a conference in Chile that Bux is also invited to attend. The story is about Buxs attempt to save democracy from being swiped away.

The predicted techno-future of democracy portrayed in Disco Sour must have been motivated by the Swipe the Vote campaign of dating app Tinder, released during the 2016 US presidential campaign. It let people swipe on issues in order to match them with the most appropriate candidate. Is that the future of democracy?

In 2011, the scent of jasmine from the Tahrir Square was indeed initiated by a Facebook post of a 29-year-old Google marketing executive. Internet also helped the Zapatista uprisings in Mexico.On the other hand, rumours and fake news spread like fire fanned by the wind, through Facebook posts, tweets, and WhatsApp messages, are capable of unleashing catastrophes.

The riot in the UK in August 2011 originated from some tweets! During the devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa and elsewhere in 2014, incorrect posts claiming that Ebola could spread through the air, water or food were continuously shared causing fear. There are allegations that social media played a role in spreading fear that led to lynchings and riots in different parts of India.

How can the internet influence a democracy? The response has evolved from starry-eyed hope to critical realism to despair within a span of less than two decades. And these came about as the use of social media greatly rose during this period. Social scientists will continue to struggle finding the exact role played by social mediaincluding Facebook and Cambridge Analyticain the 2016 American presidential election.

Facebook has grown bigger than any state now and the Twitter accounts of politicians across the world garner thousands of retweets from bots under fake names and identities. Social media had a definite role in Brexit, and helped achieve the slender margin that led to Britain leaving Europe. In the backdrop of the just-concluded Indonesian elections, both President Joko Widodo and his challenger Prabowo Subianto are reported to have engaged numerous buzzer teams, which allegedly spread fake news and paid news through dummy social media accounts.

During last years Brazilian election, supporters of the eventual winner Jair Bolsonaro are said to have used WhatsApp to deliver an onslaught of daily misinformation straight to the phones of millions of Brazilians. A paid keyboard army was reported to have orchestrated Rodrigo Dutertes victory in the Philippines in 2016. Fake news in social media shadowed elections across different continentsin Venezuela, Kenya, France, Malaysia and the US.

The 2008 and 2012 American presidential elections, both won by Barack Obama, were the first major electoral battles to use social media as a winning strategy. The way social media was used in Indias 2014 Lok Sabha elections was somewhat similar in nature to the 2008 US presidential election. But while social media acted as an X-factor in 2014, it might have become a weapon this time around.

With 900 million voters, 460 million internet users, 355 million smartphones, 314 million Facebook accounts and 200 million WhatsApp users in India, this Lok Sabha election is simultaneously a special opportunity and an agnipariksha for the social media companies as well. Firms like Facebook, Twitter, Google, WhatsApp and ShareChat, together with the Internet and Mobile Association of India met the Election Commission of India to discuss the role to be played by social media when the Model Code of Conduct is in force.

The companies are now committed to accepting only pre-certified political advertisements, sharing expenditure on them with the EC, and adhering to the silence period that comes into effect 48 hours before the polls. They are using Artificial Intelligence to spot and remove shady posts from social media platforms. But how effective can this be? This allegedly failed in Brazil recently. As fake news in social media spreads at a lightning speed, they might reach millions of smartphones before the harmful posts are detected and removed, if at all.

About two in five people, or more, are floating voters either completely independent, or soft supporters of some party or other, who change their support easily. And a relatively higher proportion of such people are exposed to social media. In our electoral framework, even a 2-3 per cent swing in any direction can be decisive. And although the exact influence of social media is unknown, it might very well be more than this.

It is a WhatsApp-defined world, and we have reason to take it seriously when a stand-up comedian says that WhatsApp is the best-known newspaper of the country. And, understandably it is a daunting task to control fake news, the toxic cocktail of democracy, in social media. Social media is like Aladdins genie; you need a master to control it. And it is the responsibility of the institutions to control the genie.

Well, will Bux be able to make it to the conference to Chile to prevent elections from being replaced with a simple swipe?


rchopra@tribunemail.com

Washington, May 1

Emphasising upon the need to preserve a global order based on international rules that all could adhere to, Indias Ambassador to the United States, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, on Tuesday said New Delhi would not sit back and watch subversion of this order.

In an interaction with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a top US think-tank, Shringla said it is necessary to make changes in international organisations, including the UN, based on ground realities of the 21st century.

Indias cooperation with countries like the United States and Japan, among other things, is to preserve our concept of a global order which is based on certain international rules that all of us can adhere to, he said, responding to a question during his interaction, the first one after his arrival in the US earlier this year.

The subversion of this order is not something that we will like to sit back and watch, the Indian diplomat added.

The countries like the United States, Japan and India believe there are many ways under which a transparent rules-based order could work globally, he added.

Talking about Indias ongoing general election, Shringla said it is an exercise which is unparalleled in democracy in terms of the scale and magnitude.

It is not just the scale, but also the commitment to democracy, he said.

Shringla said the outcome of the election would be largely determined by younger voters.

I think the decision as to who would run the country for the next five years will largely be made by the younger generation in India because 70 per cent of the country today is below 35. A good 80 to 90 million voters are the first-time voters who have no ideological commitment to either side, he said.

What theyre going to see is which dispensation can lead the country for the next five years. We have to keep in mind that this is an aspirational generation, a generation that is looking forward, that has a lot of hopes and dreams, he said.

Asserting that India is committed not only to multilateralism and a rule-based international governance but also to cooperation among various countries, he said India had made a very significant contribution to it.

If there is some sense of a challenge to the existing international order, it is also because there is a need to continue to reform these institutions to bring them in line with the changing realities, the top Indian diplomat said.

Many of these institutions, he said, had existed in almost the same form since the end of the Second World War.

India and a lot of other countries believe these institutions need to make adjustments necessary to make them more effective, more acceptable and more cohesive instruments of international cooperation, he said.

I think these institutions do need to change as they go along, he said.

Observing that the United States is one of the main initiators and creators of the multilateral global order, Shringla said any second thought that emanated from the US about how these institutions should be run, is something that people sit up and listen.

But the fact of the matter is that every state whether it is large or small has the right to introspect on what this order should be like. Each one of us really need to think about the best way these institutions should be run, Shringla said.

Responding to a question on Pakistan, he said India had always taken the lead in engaging with its neighbour. But any support to terrorism would not be tolerated, he asserted.

Referring to the global support that India enjoyed on the issue against terrorism, he said there is no place for terrorism.

Most people, even in Pakistan, I think, would agree that terrorism is something that has to be dealt with before we get down to issues that are important to both countries, he said.

Our focus is on development. We want to move forward economically. Want to give our citizens a better life. We have no interest in hostility and conflict because that detracts and takes us away from the core focus on the development of our country. And the sooner we settle these issues with our neighbours the better it is, he said.

But it is very clear that that we cannot have any more incidents of terrorism from across the border, because that is a serious threat to our integrity, development and our economic efforts, he said.

What is important is that the international community has to put adequate pressure on Pakistan to stop terrorism as an instrument of state policy, he said. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Jerusalem, April 30

Israel today honoured Lt Gen Jack Farj Rafael (JFR) Jacob (retd), who negotiated the historic surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka after the 1971 Bangladeshs liberation war, with a plaque on the Wall of Honour at the Ammunition Hill here.

Lt Gen Jacob, who died in 2016 at the age of 92, was one of the most prominent members of Indias relatively small Jewish community, serving as a Lieutenant General in the Indian Army and later as Governor of Goa and Punjab.

The Wall of Honour at the Ammunition Hill pays tributes to the heroism and courage of Jewish soldiers who fought in the defence of their countries they lived in implementing values of bravery, loyalty, commitment and dedication to a mission, leadership, creativity, camaraderie and sanctity of life.

The Wall has plaques honouring more than 340 persons comprising privates, high-ranking army officers, women, front line fighters and humble members of supporting units who embodied these virtues, said a senior official at the Ammunition Hill.

Ammunition Hill was a fortified Jordanian military post in the northern part of Jordanian ruled East Jerusalem. It was the site of one of the fiercest battles of the Six Day War in which 21 Israeli soldiers were killed. It is now a national memorial site where young soldiers and officers are inducted into the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and salute the flag.

The 90-feet high structure with a flag was incidentally donated by an Indian Jew, Sam Marshall, who also initiated the move to honour Lt Gen Jacob at the Ammunition Hill Wall of Honour, in association with India-born Jewish Judge Abe Sofaer of the US, who was the personal legal adviser to former US Secretary of State George Shultz.

It is a wonderful tribute that you are giving to a very fine human being. His beloved India gave him the accolades reserved for people serving the nation with distinction, Lt Gen Jacobs close friend, Marshall, told the gathering at a ceremony to unveil the plaque reminiscing the funeral ceremony Government of India arranged for its famous son where then President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were also present.  PTI
gspannu7@gmail.com

Yash Goyal

Jaipur, May 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the declaring of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations was the biggest success for 130 crore Indians.

Modi said the UN decision is a big success for Indias efforts to root out terrorism and proved that the countrys voice can no longer be ignored on the global stage.

It is a matter of satisfaction that a consensus has developed in the world on designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Der aye, durust aye (Better late than never), Modi told a mammoth election rally at VT Road ground in support of party candidates Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Rathore and Jaskaur Meena.

It is a big success for Indias efforts since long to root out terrorism, he said.

It is the roaring voice of 130 crore Indians that brought this day in the Indian history, an overwhelmed Modi said adding that now Indian voice is heard world over and it is proved by the UNSC decision.

He said under the previous remote-controlled government, even the voice of the prime minister was not heard, but now, the voice of 130 crore Indians is making an impact at the United Nations.

I want to say it loud and clear that this is just the beginning. Wait for what happens next, Modi said.

The prime minister said he was thankful to the world community for standing with India in its fight against terrorism.

He said a small section in Pakistan which wants a bright future for their country has started openly speaking out against terrorism.

The PM referred to the surgical strike and the air strike in Balakot and said that with todays development, the nation is witnessing Indias diplomatic victory.

Targeting Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, When we were working towards this, the naamdar (dynast) was expressing his happiness through his tweets. One section was very happy and they were mocking Modi. I want to tell them today that this is not just Modis success, it is the success of the whole country and its 130 crore people.

I hope they will celebrate today also. For every Indian, no matter their ideology, it is a day of pride, he added.  With PTI
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 30

In a move which has the potential to keep the poll pot boiling this election season, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has served a notice on Congress president Rahul Gandhi to clarify the factual position in 15 days on a complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy questioning his citizenship status.

Incidentally, in November 2015, the Supreme Court had rejected a PIL seeking a CBI investigation into the citizenship of Gandhi while questioning the source and authenticity of the documents attached.

The MHA said it has been brought out that a company named Backops Limited was registered in the UK in 2003 with Gandhi as a director.

Further quoting the complaint letter, the MHA said it also mentioned that in the British companys annual returns filed on October 10, 2005, and October 31, 2006, Gandhi had declared his nationality as British. Further, in the dissolution application dated February 17, 2009, of the company, your nationality has been mentioned as British, it added.

As a row erupted over the issue with ruling BJP and Congress exchanging barbs, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, it is a normal process and not a big development.

Meanwhile, in 2016, LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had forwarded to the Parliamentary Ethics Committee, headed by BJPs LK Advani, the complaint of ethical misconduct by Dr Swamy against Gandhi that he had accessed documents in which the Congress leader had declared himself British.

In his reply, Gandhi had said he had never sought or acquired British citizenship and that his identity is that of an Indian. He had also questioned the committees decision to look into a complaint that is not in order, claiming it was an endeavour to malign him. The panel had then issued him a notice, seeking an explanation to whether he had once declared himself a British citizen.

Congress chief Indian by birth
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Bhopal April 30

It cannot get any more exciting for voters in Bhopal, one of the most keenly observed constituencies in the country along with Benaras and Begusaria.

After Congress Bhopal candidate Digvijay Singh declared that CPI contestant from Begusarai Kanhaiya Kumar would be campaigning for him in Bhopal, the sadhu samaj too landed in the city to lend him support with seer Mahamandleshwar Viaragyanand Giri of Panchayati Sri Niranjani Akhara announcing a havan with 5.5 quintals of chilli for his electoral success.

Meanwhile, his rival, the controversial Sadhvi Pragya Thakur Singh, whose I cursed Karkare remark left many red-faced, has been reaching out to BJP leaders. A day after her emotional union with Union Minister Uma Bharti, the BJPs original sadhvi, Pragya today had Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan visiting her.

Mahajan has been quoted as saying; Karkare became a martyr because he died in the line of duty. But if his role as a police officer was not correct, we will say it was not correct.

Bhopal is awaiting the arrival of Kanhaiya Kumar, who Digvijay said would be campaigning for him on May 8 and 9. Blaming the BJP and the RSS for defaming the JNU leader, has been quoted as saying: I am an admirer of Kanhaiya Kumar. He has become an ideologue. I openly support him. I told my party that the RJD has made a big mistake by fielding its candidate in Begusarai. This seat should have been allotted to the CPI.

On the  sadhu samaj support to Digvijay, BJP leader Hitesh Bajpai remarked: His entire life he (Digvijay) has been going to Azamgarh. Had he gone to Ayodhya a couple of times, he wouldnt have had to call for the support of sadhus. Countering him, Congress leader Shobha Ojha claimed the sant samaj had voluntarily come to Digvijays support. No one has the right to give anyone a certificate on who is a Hindu and who is not. We are going to the people on the development agenda.

The wrangling over who is a bigger and better Hindu seems to be the flavour in Bhopal. The fight between BJPs controversial sadhvi and Congress equally controversial Digvijay may turn out a litmus test of the voters maturity, say observers.

Meanwhile, a little over 67 per cent voter turnout was recorded across the six Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh that went to the polls on Monday. Madhya Pradesh has 29 Lok Sabha seats and the remaining ones will vote on May 6, 12 and 19.
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Islamabad, May 1

The US on Wednesday rejected Pakistan's claim that India was using Afghanistan for spreading terrorism in the country saying there was "no evidence" to support Islamabad's allegations.

"I don't have the evidence what you're referring to, but our policy is clear that no country should support non-state actors," Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, said while interacting with a group of journalists at the US Embassy here.

Pakistan has long been expressing its concerns regarding India allegedly using the Afghan soil to create trouble and often presented as evidence the case of Indian prisoner Kulbushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" in April 2017.

Islamabad claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016, after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy. Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

Commenting on Pakistan's allegations regarding India's role in creating trouble in Balochistan, she urged regional countries to respect each other's sovereignty, without naming India, the Express Tribune reported.

"We recognise and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. We do not support any separatist or irredentist movements, she said. "We think it's critical that nations of this region respect one another and work to achieve peace and economic growth."

Wells, who was part of a delegation headed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, said the US would never condone or support any use of "terrorist proxies against another country". She also said the US had no information regarding Pakistan Army's latest allegations that Afghan and Indian secret agencies were funding the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), an ethnic Pashtun rights group based in tribal region.

On the possibility of resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India, Wells said Pakistan needed to demonstrate its commitment to ensure that militant groups can't take advantage of Pakistani soil".

India and Afghanistan accuse Pakistan of providing safe haven to the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani network and other militant groups that carry out attacks in the two countries.

Wells said the US welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan's public statements affirming his resolve to not allow Pakistan's soil to be used against any other country.

"I would positively note that many comments the prime minister has made in public underscoring his government's commitment to moving away from non-state actors to ensuring that the national action plan that Pakistan has forged is implemented, she said. PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

New Delhi, May 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech citing the Pulwama militant attack and subsequent Balakot strikes to ask for votes was not a code violation, the Election Commission of India said.

"The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of 11 pages as per the certified copy sent by the Returning Officer, 40 Osmanabad parliamentary constituency. Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted," the commission said.

This complaint is with regard to a speech the prime minister made in Ausa in Maharashtras Latur on April 9.

"Can your first vote be dedicated to those who carried out the air strike. I want to tell the first-time voters: Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan. Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack)," Modi had said.

Local poll authorities in Maharashtra are learnt to have told the commission that the remarks were prima facie in violation of the commissions March orders. In March, the commission had told political parties to refrain from appropriating the armed forces for election campaigning.

"Parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," the commission said on March 19.

This is the second complaint against the prime minister. The commission has already cleared him of allegations of violation in another speech, also in Maharashtra. In that speech in Wardha, the prime minister was accused of stoking communal sentiments when he mocked Congress president Rahul Gandhi for having chosen Keralas Wayanad as his second seat these elections.

Over 40 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in a suicide attack in Pulwama on February 14. The attack led to a military standoff between India and Pakistan. Agencies
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Mumbai, May 1

The Shiv Sena on Wednesday called for a ban on the use of burqa as it threw its weight behind a similar plan being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives.

It said the ban--something similar which the party has proposed in the pasthas already come in Ravanas (Sri) Lanka, when will it be implemented in Rams Ayodhya--this is our question to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi.

This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security, said the Sena in an editorial in the party mouthpieces, Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana.

If such religious practices or traditions interfered with national security, then it must be ended immediately, and Modi will have to do it now.

This work will require as much daring as a surgical strike. The Sri Lankan President had done it by overnight banning burqa or veils or face-covers of any types in all public places. This is a work of great courage and restraint exhibited by (Sri Lanka) President Maithripala Sirisena, lauded the Sena.

Many Muslims had not understood the true meaning of their religion (Islam) and they had confused it with traditions and customs like burqa, polygamy, triple talaq and resistance to family planning, the edit said.

It pointed out that there had been bans on both burqas for women and beards for men even in Muslim countries like Turkey in the past, especially when Kamal Pasha suspected that these were being misused for carrying out anti-national activities. IANS
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Colombo, May 1

Two more Indian nationals have been arrested by police here for violating Sri Lankan immigration laws during their stay in the country, authorities said.

The Indians, aged 28 and 32, were arrested on Tuesday from the Rajagiriya area without a valid visa, Welikada police station officers were quoted as saying by the SundayTimes.

The two Indian nationals will be produced before the Aluthkade Magistrate, police said.

Last week, an Indian national was among 13 foreigners arrested without valid visa in Sri Lanka.

The others arrested for the crime include ten Nigerians, an Iraqi and a Thai national staying in different parts of the Lankan capital.

The arrests have come after the Sri Lankan government beefed up security measures following the country's worst terror attacks on Easter Sunday, killing 253 people and injuring 500 others.  PTI
Sandhya Vasudev By

Express News Service

Tales of Ramayana that I heard during my childhood always culminated in Lanka with the battle between Lord Rama and Ravana. The storyteller would help me visualise the graphic details. Now we have social media and internet to keep updating us. A relative or a friend unwittingly on the site and alive to tell the tale may update his near and dear ones, but only if his cellphone network has not been jammed.

In my family, a close relative had visited Nepal and Leh on two separate occasions. Nothing extraordinary one may think. But the oddity was that soon after her familys return from those places, force majeure played its role in wrecking devastation on an unbridled scale through earthquakes and landslides. We heaved a sigh of relief on both occasions that they were back safe by then, although our minds were disturbed by the fact that hundreds of lives were lost.

Eerie but true that on Easter Sunday, the same relative had a flight to Sri Lanka. The news about the terror attacks came pouring in, but the tour operator declared courageously that come what may he would conduct the tour to the devastated place and no refund would be given. Luck was on my relatives side as emergency was declared and the tour manager had to eat his words. My daughter and her spouse had been planning a trip to Lankas pristine locales but due to some reason, the plan got shelved each time. Now it may be locked securely for some time.

I had the good fortune to have visited the famous Notre Dame in 2013 when Paris was celebrating its 850th anniversary. My family and I were spellbound by the vast space, aura and the architecture. A golden-coloured medallion made specially for the occasion was the cherished memento that I brought back home. Along with this, we happened to visit the nearby iconic book shop, Shakespeare and Company. I pampered myself with the purchase of a Collectors Library edition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the classic by Victor Hugo. It is saddening that the cathedral sustained huge damage in the April 15 fire. On yet another occasion my daughter and I visited the Yosemite National Park in California and took quite a few harmless selfies. So it was spooky to recently read about a young Indian couple who lost their precious lives taking a selfie at the very place. It is curtains down on the tale of coincidences, for now.

Email: sandhya.vasudev@gmail.com
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 30

Even as the Indian Army released pictures of massive footprints in the snow, claiming that its mountaineering expedition team could have encountered the Yeti, the mythical and mysterious snowman, leading experts have questioned the claim.

Social media has been abuzz since last night when the Army tweeted about the event. A person even compared the sighting to comic book character Tintin. In Tintin in Tibet (1960), Tintin encounters the snowman.

The Army twitter handle @adgpi said, Mountaineering expedition team has sighted mysterious footprints of mythical beast Yeti. The Yeti is also known as the Big Foot and the Abominable Snowman. The Army said footprints measuring 32x15 inches were found close to Makalu base camp on April 9. Makalu is in eastern Nepal.

Dr SP Singh, who has had a long career in studying the Himalayas, says, There is no scientific basis to name any species as Yeti.

As far as the present knowledge goes, there is no such species. Mind it, we even record extinct species like dinosaurs and woolly mammoths. This morning, Army sources said the Yeti sighting tweet is based on physical proof of on-the-spot narration, photos and videos. The tweet was aimed to excite scientific temper and rekindle the interest in the Yeti.

The evidence was shared with experts. The Army added that it held on to the photographic evidence for 10 days before handing it over to the experts. Makalu is the fifth highest mountain (8,481m), but the trek to its base camp is less-frequented due to its inaccessibility.

The Summary of the Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report (2019) released by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) also does not mention or record any such species. The report is a product of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme.

The ICIMOD is a regional knowledge development and learning centre serving eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya  Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan  and is based in Kathmandu.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Ropar/Chandigarh, April 30

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has barred AAP candidate from Anandpur Sahib Narinder Singh Shergill from contesting any election due to non-filing of details related to the expenditure incurred by him during the 2017 Assembly elections, which he had contested from Mohali.

Though the decision was taken by the ECI a few months ago, Shergill had filed an appeal before the commission, seeking revocation of the ban. The Deputy Election Commissioner, after giving a hearing to Shergill on April 25, rejected the appeal.

Since today was the day for scrutiny of the nomination papers, Shergill moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the ECI decision.

Acting on the plea, the court today directed the ECI and another respondent to provisionally scrutinise his nomination papers. Making it clear that the process would be subject to the outcome of his petition, the Division Bench of Justice Daya Chaudhary and Justice Sudhir Mittal also issued notice of motion to the ECI and the other respondent, while fixing May 2 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

Appearing before the Bench, Shergills counsel Akshay Bhan and Amandeep Singh Talwar submitted that the petitioner had furnished accounts to the District Election Officer, which were duly scrutinised and the officer had even agreed with the amount shown by the candidate against all items of expenditure, as required.

Bhan added that the petitioner then submitted his papers for the Anandpur Sahib constituency on April 29. It was to be taken up for scrutiny the next day and the petitioner appeared through his representative. But an oral intimation was sent that the representation filed by him had been dismissed on April 29. He further added that the order of rejection was, however, handed over to him this morning.

69 nominations rejected

Chandigarh: The Election Commission on Tuesday rejected the nomination papers of 69 candidates for the May 19 Lok Sabha elections, excluding the Anandpur Sahib and Ludhiana constituencies from where reports are yet to reach the head office here. The Election Commission said 321 candidates were left in the fray (excluding Ludhiana, Anandpur Sahib).
editorial@tribune.com

Arun Sharma

Tribune News Service

Ropar, April 30

Congress Anandpur Sahib candidate Manish Tewari, today alleged that SAD nominee Prem Singh Chandumajra was trying to play sectarian politics and polarise people along communal lines.

Chandumajra is the ideological cousin of Sadhvi Pragya as both have a similar past and it is not surprising that both candidates belong to the same Akali-BJP alliance, he said. He alleged that Chandumajra was associated with militants in the past and he has not come out of the 1980s mindset, when he fiddled with militancy and was jailed for it, and that is the reason he is continuously trying to divide people along communal lines.

Refuting the allegations, Chandumajra said he would sue Tewari for portraying him as a terrorist. He alleged that Tewari was issuing such statements as he was ignorant about the meaning of Panth. Panthic refers to brotherhood among all irrespective of caste and creed, he said.

Terming it a false propaganda, Chandumajra claimed that the Congress had played the terrorism card earlier also, portraying SAD leaders as terrorists, but never succeeded in its nefarious designs.

Many Akali leaders, including the then SAD president Harchand Singh Longowal, had sacrificed their lives for opposing terrorism in the state, he said, adding that he had gone to jail only once in his life and that too for opposing the Emergency imposed by the Congress in 1975.
gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, May 1

The Election Commission has issued a show-cause notice to Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Citing a complaint by a BJP worker in Gujarat, the EC notice reproduced excerpts of his speech in which the Congress star campaigner had described the prime minister as a thief while addressing an election meeting on April 17 in Ahmedabad.

The EC reminded Sidhu of a provision in the model code which bars candidates and leaders from making personal remarks against rivals during electioneering.

The notice, issued on Tuesday, gave Sidhu time till May 2 evening to respond, failing which EC would take a decision without further reference to him.

The Election Commission had last month banned Sidhu from campaigning for 72 hours for controversial remarks made by him which was seen in violation of the poll code.

While addressing a poll rally in Bihars Katihar, the Punjab leader had stoked a controversy when he urged Muslim voters to vote en bloc and defeat Modi.  PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 1

The Patiala police have cracked the Samana bank robbery case by arresting the three accused.

The police seized two pistols, a gun, a car, three two-wheelers and 30 mobile phones from them.

With this many cases of robbery and loot in Sangrur and Ludhiana have been solved.

DGP Dinkar Gupta announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for the Patiala police for cracking the case in record time.

SSP Mandeep Sidhu said many cases had been solved with the arrests of these three.
editorial@tribune.com

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 30

Defender, challenger and bystander. Thats how the election contest in Punjabs commercial capital Ludhiana is being played out.

Traditionally a Congress seat, sitting Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu does not seem as comfortably placed as in 2014 when there was a strong Modi wave in the country. His citadel  he is grandson of assassinated CM Beant Singh  is showing cracks. He is battling anti-incumbency against the two-year-old Congress government as well as infighting within the party.

Dont talk of local issues, such as broken roads, as these are insignificant in a Lok Sabha election. What you should think before casting your vote is whether you want cheaper fuel and Rs 72,000 per year as promised by Congress president Rahul Gandhi under NYAY, he tells a crowd at Humbran village on the citys outskirts, even as a woman complains she has been denied free power by the government.

It is such public grievances that Bittus rival PDAs Simarjit Singh Bains is banking on for success. He has built a reputation for himself as one who stands by his people, mostly against the administration.

No stage or chairs, voters gather around him in Kheri village in the Gill segment. He obliges one and all with selfies and carefully listens to grievances against a callous administration. He refers routine cases to his office, which functions as a sewa kendra, even as he asks his supporters to approach him with more serious matters after May 23 when the results are out. Last time, the votes were divided. This time, these will be consolidated. Vote for a credible candidate, he tells the gathering.

On the face of it, it appears a direct contest between the Congress and PDA with the Akali candidate a mere bystander. But enter inner pockets of the constituency and the pro-Modi sentiment is hard to miss. The SAD-BJP candidate, Maheshinder Singh, is banking on this sentiment to catch up with his rivals.

At an election meeting on Malerkotla road, his supporters skip Panthic issues, drawing attention to the pro-trade PM and his decisiveness. Only the NDA can ensure a stable government, he says.

The stage set, the actors are braving heat and dust to reach out to voters. As to how far they succeed will be known in three weeks from now.

DIFFERENT FOCUS
editorial@tribune.com

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

In a no-holds-barred attack, senior Dalit Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Singh Dullo today hit out at the Punjab Congress top brass for ignoring a majority of Taksali (traditional) leaders by allocating ticket to tainted outsiders for the Lok Sabha elections after accepting moneybags from them.

A number of traditional Congress men, especially Dalit leaders, had been made to sit at home as the partys state affairs in-charge and PPCC president did not give correct feedback to the party high command, said Dullo.

The outburst came a day after senior Congress leader Lal Singh asked Dullo to resign for not following the partys diktat to support the official candidate from Fatehgarh Sahib, Dr Amar Singh.

Calling it a rebellion, Lal Singh had described Dullo as a blot on the Congress, whose exit would benefit the party. The MP had no place in the Congress after his wife and son joined AAP and Dullo made an open declaration that he would not campaign for the Congress, he had said in a statement.

Dullo dubbed Lal Singh Maharajas darbari (courtier) who was out to appease his master. Stopping short of naming Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh, Dullo said it appeared Lal Singh had issued the statement at someones behest.

It is an attempt to quell the voice of a Dalit leader who speaks about ethos and culture of the Congress being eroded by certain elements in the party. My voice will not be suppressed, Dullo said.

Dullo pointed out that family members of other Congress leaders had also joined other parties. Why am I being singled out? he said, citing examples like Satrughan Sinha, whose wife Poonam Sinha is contesting on SP ticket, and Capt Amarinder Singhs brother Malwinder Singh, who joined the SAD before returning to the party.

Capt, Bhattal junior to me

"Who is Lal Singh to ask for my resignation? He is too junior to me. I am among the founder members of the Congress. Even Capt Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal are junior to me" Shamsher Singh Dullo, Rajya Sabha MP
shalender@tribune.com

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

Dalits constitute 31.9 per cent of Punjabs population  the most anywhere in the country  but why a truly representative political entity has been unable to find feet in the state is a case study for political scientists.

In post-Independence Punjab, mainly the Congress and the Left (CPI and CPM) competed to appropriate the large Dalit vote bank, before the Bahujan Samaj Party entered the scene in 1992.

The Congress and Communists have a competing support base with BSP. The BSP used the Dalit cause as political capital for the first time in 1992, recalls Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, Institute for Development and Communication.

However, despite championing the economic issues of Dalits, the Communists could not win them over as a dedicated vote bank because of their poor understanding of Dalit sociology. A fact underscored by Dr Joginder Dayal, a member of CPI's national council: Though we made great sacrifices for Dalit issues in 1960s and 1970s, we couldnt win them over completely. Because our struggle remained only against economic oppression, we ignored social oppression completely, which was very deep-rooted. That is why BSP snatched away the base from us in no time.

The BSP emerged from Punjab as its founder Kanshi Ram hailed from Ropar, but despite a sound start, the party never managed to hold its own in the state. From a 16 per cent vote share in the 1992 Assembly election, the party has been on a downward spiral. In 2017, the share was just 1.5 per cent  largely attributed to the emergence of AAP.

Rashpal Raju, state president of BSP, gives his own spin: The Dalits wanted BSP to contest in alliance with other parties, which couldnt happen for many years. So we kept on losing our base.

Dr Pramod Kumar feels one key reason behind BSPs decline has been its inability to appropriate the regional culture and economic specifications of Punjab.

The purity pollution and Manuwad that constitute the BSPs main ideological plank dont find expression in the socio-cultural domain of Punjab. The uncertain religious allegiance of the Dalits made them easy prey to parties in the state, he says.

On why a strong Dalit party has not emerged on Punjabs electoral scene, Dr Amanpreet Gill, Assistant Professor, Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College, Delhi University, says, First, there are a lot of divisions among Dalits. They have their own caste hierarchy. Second, their population is scattered, which prevents them from becoming a political force. Third, their commitment to mainstream parties remains strong.

Dr Kumar finds the answer in the long socio-economic history of the region and reformist movements. Punjab has been known for its liberal ritualistic, religious practices in relation to caste. Both Sikhism and Arya Samaj liberated the Dalits from stringent purity pollution-based behavioural patterns. This can be termed the regionalisation of caste.
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

WASHINGTON

Scientists claim to have identified a potential crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 using a new mathematical approach to analyse how debris moves around the ocean.

The 2014 disappearance of flight MH370 remains ones of the biggest mysteries in aviation.

Over USD 150 million has been spent so far to identify where the plane carrying 239 passengers crashed into the Indian Ocean, with no success.

An international team of researchers, including those from the University of Miami in the US, used what are known as Markov chain models to narrow down a potential crash location substantially north of the region where most search efforts have concentrated.

A Markov chain model predicts the behaviour of complicated systems by determining the probability of each outcome from the current state of what is being studied.

They have been used to power Google search algorithms and model financial markets.

In the study, published in the journal Chaos, the group used data from the Global Drifters Program, a publicly available dataset that uses satellites to track spherical buoys as the ocean's currents, waves and wind push them along paths over time.

In true Markovian fashion, each aimless buoy's next turn is an independent event from every other movement it has made in the past, researchers said.

The buoys were then placed on a grid with more than 3,000 virtual squares to simulate where plane debris would float to.

"Surprisingly, after more than three years, there is only a handful of confirmed debris recovered from the airplane," said Philippe Miron from University of Miami.

"This increases the errors of the model," said Miron, the lead author on the paper based on the research.

Seasonal variation in the Indian Ocean also required the team to develop three separate models to accurately predict debris movement during the protracted search effort.

"The monsoon in the Indian Ocean has important effects on the circulation of the region," Miron said in a statement.

After the analysis, the team's estimated search area was from 33 to 17 degrees south latitude along the arc of the last satellite to contact the downed plane, whose northern edge has remained largely unscrutinised.

Miron said he hopes the group's approach will encourage future efforts to deploy more trackable devices in the ocean to provide more data to solve similarly vexing problems.

He looks to use mathematical models to further understand how drifting objects move in the ocean, including the flow of hydrocarbons following undersea oil spills.  PTI
S Viswanath By

Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: The tussle between the Election Commission of India and the State government escalated on Tuesday with none of the officials turning up for the review meeting convened by Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy in the Secretariat.

A communication was sent to the Principal Secretary and Special Commissioner of Agriculture on April 24 by the ministers office, informing them that the minister was desirous of discussing with them on April 30 the measures to tackle drought and emergencies that might arise out of unforeseen natural calamities. In spite of the advance notice, the officials chose not to attend the meeting. After waiting for three hours in his chambers, Somireddy left the Secretariat without interacting with media persons.

FOLLOW OUR FULL ELECTION COVERAGE HERE

The ministers next move will gain significance as he recently announced that he would resign from his ministership and approach the Supreme Court if the Election Commission of India (ECI) barred him from holding review meetings to discuss matters requiring immediate attention. Sources said that the officials informed the ministers office that they could not attend the review as they were preoccupied with important affairs relating to Chittoor district.

However, reliable sources close to the minister said that he would wait for a clear explanation from the officials as to whether they were prevented by the Election Commission from attending his review meeting or there were any other specific reasons for their absence.

The sources were of the view that the officials could either have put off their meeting on Chittoor district or informed the minister well in advance about their preoccupation and saved him from embarrassment of waiting for hours in his chambers. The sources suspect that there was more than that meets the eye behind the two bureaucrats failure to attend the ministers meeting.

The sources further clarified that the officials forwarded the communication they had received from the ministers office on the proposed review meeting to the Election Commission seeking to know whether they could attend the meeting or not. However, the EC reportedly merely suggested that the officials take a call themselves after going through the guidelines on Model Code of Conduct. In the face of non-committal stand from the EC, the bureaucrats decided to stay off the meeting instead of inviting unnecessary headache, the sources observed.
gspannu7@gmail.com

Islamabad, May 1

Three Pakistan soldiers were killed and seven others injured in a terrorist attack along the Pakistan-Afghan border on Wednesday, the army said.

A group of 60-70 terrorists from across the border attacked the security forces fencing the Pak-Afghan border in Alwara at North Waziristan district, an army statement said.

Three soldiers, identified as Lance Naik Ali, Lance Naik Nazir and Sepoy Imdad Ullah, were killed in the attack, while seven others were injured, it said.

Several terrorists were killed in retaliatory firing by the Pakistan Army, it added.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan want peace in Afghanistan.

Speaking to a visiting delegation of Afghan politicians, academicians, journalists and businessmen, Qureshi said, Renewed push for political settlement of the conflict has created new hopes and opportunities for peace in Afghanistan and the region, which no one could afford to miss.

He also highlighted Pakistans efforts to facilitate the ongoing peace process and expressed hope that the progress achieved so far will lead to a result oriented intra-Afghan dialogue.

Qureshi also said both sides need to work closely to deepen people-to-people exchanges and steer the two nations and the region towards a brighter and more prosperous future.  PTI
harinder@tribunemail.com

Tokyo, April 30

Japanese Emperor Akihito, in his final remarks as his three-decade reign drew to a close on Tuesday, thanked the people for their support and expressed hope for a peaceful future.

Akihito (85), the first monarch to abdicate in two centuries, had sought to ease the painful memories of World War II and bring the monarchy closer to the people, including those marginalised in society.

The popular Akihito was the first monarch to take the Chrysanthemum Throne under a post-war constitution that defines the emperor as a symbol of the people without political power.

His father, Hirohito, in whose name Japanese troops fought World War II, was considered a living deity until after Japans defeat in 1945, when he renounced his divinity.To the people who accepted and supported me as a symbol, I express my heartfelt thanks, Akihito, wearing a Western-style morning coat, said at a brief abdication ceremony in the Imperial Palaces Matsu no ma, or Hall of Pine.

Together with the empress, I hope from my heart that the new Reiwa era that begins tomorrow will be peaceful and fruitful, and pray for the peace and happiness of our country and the people of the world, said a solemn Akihito, referring to the new imperial era.

Standing on a white dais flanked by Empress Michiko, who wore a long white and grey dress, Akihito bowed after he spoke.

About 300 people attended the ceremony broadcast live on television. They included Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, as well as the heads of both houses of parliament and Supreme Court justices.  Reuters

Akihito official emperor till midnight

Akihito officially remains emperor until midnight, when the new Reiwa era, meaning beautiful harmony, begins. Informal countdown events for the start of the new era were scheduled for Tuesday evening

System of Era name imported from China

Japanese traditionally refer to the date by the era name, or gengo, a system originally imported from China, on documents, calendars and coins but many people also use the Western calendar

Heisei imperial era began in 1989

The Heisei imperial era, which began on January 8, 1989 after Akihito inherited the throne, saw economic stagnation, natural disasters and rapid technological change

Trumps congratulate the couple

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania offered their heartfelt appreciation to the royal pair in a statement
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Colombo, May 1

No longer burdened by territory and administration, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi outlined the new path forward for his group: Widen your reach, connect with far-flung militant groups and exhaust your enemies with a war of attrition.

The deadly Easter attacks in Sri Lanka a week before his video appearance underscored this message in blood. It also highlighted the ease with which IS, like al-Qaeda before it, can inflict chaos through a loosely defined brand of global jihad in the most chilling way. Thats even after losing the relative safety of its so-called caliphate across stretches of Iraq and Syria.

Al-Baghdadi was letting his followers know that he was prepared to lead a guerrilla insurgency in Iraq and Syria, while not forgetting that ISIS is a global organisation, said Colin P. Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, using another acronym for the group.

Though disheveled and never standing up in the video released Monday, al-Baghdadis appearance alone contradicted past Russian and Iraqi claims the militant leader had been killed during the long war targeting the militants. It was the first time he has appeared in public since June 29, 2014, when he delivered a sermon from the pulpit of Mosuls Great Mosque of al-Nuri.

The contrasts in the appearances are glaring.

In 2014, he wore an expensive-looking watch and a neatly trimmed beard and urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the groups self-proclaimed caliphate and obey him as its leader.

In Mondays video, he sat on the floor, with an AK-74 assault rifle at his side like the one Osama bin Laden took in Afghanistan during the mujahedeens fight against the Soviets and always carried with him. He had a big bushy beard and wore a black tunic and a military-style beige vest over it.

No longer an administrator, al-Baghdadi wants to be seen as an insurgent leader. Analysts say that both glosses over the loss of territory the militants claimed would spark an apocalyptic confrontation with the crusader West and ensures he maintains his status in the extremist world.

We believe it is really an attempt to divert attention from the core groups heavy losses and to ensure that the franchise groups and grassroots supporters remain loyal to the Islamic State pole of the jihadist universe, the Austin, Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratfor said in an analysis. Many are saying that the video is a show of strength, but we believe it is more likely an act of desperation.

The loss of its territory cuts both ways, however. Foreign militants once part of the caliphate now have scattered, like they did at the end of the 1980s war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and after the 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government sheltering al-Qaeda.

Al-Baghdadi barely mentioned Iraq and Syria in the 18-minute video, except to praise the steadfastness of his fighters there. Instead, he congratulated militants in Libya, brothers in Burkina Faso, Mali, Pakistan and the Western Sahara for pledging allegiance.

The group also recently claimed numerous attacks around the world, including in Saudi Arabia, Congo and Libya. Jihadi propaganda by IS supporters online recently threatened India and Bangladesh, where IS attacked for the first time in some two years this week.

While some IS claims of late have been exaggerated or outright bogus, its focus on expanding outward follows the same pattern of al-Qaeda, which grew to have dangerous franchises in areas like Yemen.

This is part of the vengeance that awaits the crusaders and their henchmen, al-Baghdadi said in the video.

He extolled militants in Sri Lanka for striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz, a reference to the Islamic State groups last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by US-backed fighters in March. The militants involved in the attacks that killed more than 250 people followed a local extremist leader, but more than 30 Sri Lankans are believed to have once been Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

It is still unclear if any of the Sri Lanka terrorists had fought for ISIS in Syria and Iraq and were returnees, or if they were locally trained and linked up with ISIS online, an analysis from the Asia-Pacific Foundation said.

What we are witnessing has been an evolving terrorist dynamic where an attack is developed and conceived abroad but that local radicals are recruited to implement the final stage. Simply put: The new threat from the Islamic State is a lot like the old threat, except the group doesnt have a home address anymore. For years, the groups leaders huddled in IS-held cities in Iraq and Syria to plot attacks abroad, even as they terrorized residents at home.

Now mass casualty assaults like the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan theater in Paris may be planned much closer to local militants homes, like the Easter attack in Sri Lanka. One of the churches hit was just a town from where the alleged leader of that assault preached his extremist message.

Intensive military operations may weaken these groups temporarily, but airstrikes and killings only reinforce the narrative of state oppression in a way that serves the ideological cause, said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

As the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins in just days, experts warn there could be even more attacks looming.  AP
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Washington, May 1

US National Security Advisor John Bolton called Tuesday on Venezuelas defence chief and other key officials to oust President Nicolas Maduro, warning them: Your time is up.

Speaking amid a military uprising in Venezuela, Bolton reiterated that all options are on the table but said the main US objective remains a peaceful transfer of power.

The United States has thrown its full support behind opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by Washington and more than 50 countries as Venezuelas interim president.

US President Donald Trump said in a tweet he was following the situation very closely.

The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom! he tweeted.

In comments to reporters at the White House, Bolton singled out Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino, Supreme Court Chief Justice Maikel Moreno and presidential guard commander Ivan Hernandez Dala.

As is known to the opposition all across Venezuela, they committed to support ousting Maduro, he said.

And it is time for them now, if the Cubans will let them do it, to fulfil their commitments and it is time for the rest of the military to show what their own families believe ought to happen and that is Maduro needs to go, he told reporters at the White House.

Bolton repeated that message in a tweet: Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept Interim President Guaidos amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list. Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship.

Earlier, in his first and only comment so far on the crisis, Maduro said in a tweet he had been assured by the top military commanders of their total loyalty.

While Guaido was known to have been in contact with elements of the military, this appeared to be the first time that Padrino and the others had been publicly identified as interlocutors, much less possible Guaido supporters.

The threePadrino, Moreno and Hernandez Dalahad long been considered Maduro loyalists.

Bolton attributed their failure to act thus far to fear of Cuban advisors embedded in the Venezuelan military and security forces.

I think it is fear of the 20 to 25,000 Cuban security forces in the country. And I think it is fear of the consequences if adhering to the constitutional mandate of the interim president failed, Bolton said.

This has been building for a long time. If this effort fails they will sink into a dictatorship from which theyre very few possible alternatives. It is a very delicate moment.

I want to stress again, the president wants to see a peaceful transfer of power from Maduro to Guaido. That possibility still exists if enough figures depart from the regime and support the opposition and that is what we (would) like to see.

The latest crisis erupted early Tuesday when a group of soldiers declared their support for Guaido, who called on the rest of the military and the public to join in ousting Maduro.

Clashes erupted as Venezuelan security forces, firing tear gas, attempted to disperse crowds that gathered in support of Guaido near an air base in Caracas.

Video images showed armoured vehicles ramming protesters hurling stones and molotov cocktails.  AFP
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Beijing, April 30

A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian national to death on Tuesday for producing and trafficking the addictive stimulant methamphetamine, amid heightened tension between Beijing and Ottawa over the arrest of a Huawei Technologies executive.

Canadian Fan Wei was a leader in the production and trafficking scheme, the Jiangmen Intermediate Peoples Court said in a statement.

In response, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland condemned the use of the death penalty, calling it cruel and inhumane punishment which should not be used in any country. Were very concerned by this sentence. Canada stands firmly opposed to the use of the death penalty everywhere... We are obviously particularly concerned when it is applied to Canadians, she told reporters in Ottawa.

Canadas foreign ministry, in a separate statement, said Canadian officials attended the verdict and sentencing for Fan, and called on China to grant him clemency.

Global Affairs Canada has been closely following this case and has been providing consular assistance to Mr. Fan and his family since he was first detained in 2012, it added.

Another suspect, Wu Ziping, was sentenced to death but Wus nationality was not given.

The court also issued judgements against nine other people, including one American and four Mexicans.

It did not specify what sentences five of the nine received, though it indicated the minimum they got was life in prison. It said the other four were jailed but did not say for how long.

Court officials could not be reached for comment.

All 11 can appeal their sentences.

Fan is the second Canadian to be sentenced to death for drug offences in China this year, during a period of escalating tension between the two countries.

In December, Canadian police arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, at the request of US prosecutors.

US prosecutors have portrayed the company as a threat to national security and alleged it conspired to violate US sanctions. Both Meng, who is out on bail, and Huawei deny the allegations.

China recently arrested two Canadians on national security grounds.

China has also cancelled Canadian agribusiness Richardson International Ltds registration to ship canola to China this year. Reuters
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Islamabad, May 1

Pakistan on Wednesday said it would immediately enforce the sanctions imposed by the United Nations on JeM chief Masood Azhar and said it agreed to his listing after all political references, including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack were removed from the proposal.

In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations designated Pakistan-based Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal by the US, the UK and France to blacklist him.

The US, the UK and France had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a global terrorist in the UN Security Councils 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February, just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal also rejected the world bodys move as a victory for India and validation of its stance as projected by the Indian media.

Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world...the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee listing is governed by clear rules and its decisions are taken through consensus...Pakistan has always advocated the need for respecting these technical rules and has opposed the politicisation of the committee, Faisal said.

He said earlier proposals to list Azhar failed to generate the requisite consensus in the Sanctions Committee as the information did not meet its technical criteria.

These proposals were aimed at maligning Pakistan...and were thus rejected by Pakistan, he said, noting that the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama.

He also said Pakistan would immediately enforce the sanctions imposed on Azhar.

Meanwhile, United States and France have welcomed the designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist' by UN.

France along with the UK and the US had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist" in the UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February, just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We welcome the designation today, by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, of Masood Azhar on the UN's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," according to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs of France.

For many years, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack", it said.

France had adopted national sanctions against Azhar on March 15.

The UNSC's decision "signals the successful realisation of our efforts", it said.  PTI
harinder@tribunemail.com

Washington, April 30

US President Donald Trump has directed his administration to charge fees for asylum claims and handle cases within 180 days, the White House said in a statement.

The announcement came as Trump blasted what he described as the United States weak, ineffective and dangerous immigration laws on Twitter.

The memo outlined other changes, including charging asylum seekers to file work permit applications, and barring people who enter the US illegally  or attempt to  from receiving temporary work permits before being approved for relief.

It also directed officials to revoke the work permits of immigrants who receive final deportation orders.

The order came two weeks after Attorney General Bill Barr directed immigration judges to no longer allow asylum seekers apprehended after entering the country illegally to post bail, according to the US media reports.

Trump has staked his presidency on his insistence that the United States is being overrun by migrants and asylum seekers.

But opponents, mostly in the Democratic Party, say his push for building more barriers on the Mexican border and his almost daily denunciations of migrants as dangerous criminals incites racial hatred. The President declared an emergency to bypass Congress and unlock billions of dollars in funding for his controversial wall project, and has also deployed troops to the border with Mexico.  AFP
harinder@tribunemail.com

Caracas, April 30

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday called for a military uprising to oust President Nicolas Maduro and armed factions clashed at a protest outside a Caracas air base as the country hit a new crisis point.

Media witnesses said several dozen mostly young armed men in military uniform accompanying Guaido exchanged gunfire with soldiers acting in support of Maduro outside the La Carlota air base but the opposition did not appear to be about to take power by force.

Guaido, in a video posted on Twitter earlier on Tuesday morning, said he had begun the final phase of his campaign to topple Maduro, calling on Venezuelans and the military to back him to end Maduros usurpation.

Around three hours after his announcement, there was no sign of any other military activity. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Security forces earlier had fired tear gas at Guaido as hundreds of civilians had joined the group, the witnesses said.

We reject this coup movement, which aims to fill the country with violence, said Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.

He said the armed forces remained firmly in defence of the national constitution and legitimate authorities.  Reuters
Anusha Ravi By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Higher education minister G T Devegowda dropped a bomb on Wednesday when he said that JDS supporters may have voted for the BJP and not the Congress in Mysuru. While he clarified soon after that he was referring to just one gram panchayat, his statements came as no surprise to leaders of the Congress, especially those in the close circles of legislative party chief Siddaramaiah.

Gowda simply spoke what was on Siddaramaiahs mind all along, ever since phase II voting concluded in Karnataka. Sources close to the coordination committee chief suggest that the JDS leaderships inability to ensure a transfer of votes to alliance candidate Vijayshankar has him fuming. Despite the rebellion in Mandya, Congress leaders tried their best to coax their workers into voting for CM H D Kumaraswamys son Nikhil Kumar, but not a single leader of the JDS was willing to even ask the local leadership to campaign or vote for Vijayshankar, said a Congress leader close to Siddaramaiah.

Mysore Lok Sabha seat was a matter of pride for Siddaramaiah, who had bargained hard to retain it with the Congress during seat sharing agreement. With coalition candidate Vijayashankar, a Kuruba, Siddaramaiah had hoped to beat the BJPs number game with absolute consolidation of Kurub, OBC votes and gain a major chunk of Vokkaliga votes from the JDS, considering that the SC/ST vote would be split between the coalition and the BJP.

Transfering the JDS vote to Krishna Byregowda, a Vokkaliga, in Bangalore North, was not a challenge but convincing cadres to vote for Vijayshankar, a Kuruba, when another Vokkaliga  Pratap Simha  was in the fray was never going to be easy, another Congress leader said. Congress is basing its argument on voter turnout in all eight assembly segments of Mysore Lok Sabha seats. Congress has an MLA in just one of the eight assembly segments, while JDS has three MLAs and BJP has four. Madikeri, considered a BJP bastion, recorded the highest voter turnout, followed closely by Hunsur  a seat where JDS holds the sway.

Sources close to Siddaramaiah insisted that the former CM is waiting for May 23. He will speak to the central leadership on the bearing of this coalition on the Congress after elections. His argument will be based on vote share and actual transfer, said an aid of Siddaramaiah. While the Congress acknowledges that some vote transfer has taken place, will that suffice to ensure a victory to the coalition candidate, is the real question.

Coalition partners upset

They have worked well in some places but in others, because of personal rivalry, Congress workers have voted for Congress, but people from JDS have voted for BJP. I believe this has happened in many places, G T Devegowda said. He insisted that by the time Congress and JDS formed an alliance, party workers had started working in a different tangent. They could not join hands, he added.

G T Devegowdas statement was not just an embarrassment to the Congress, but also a reality check. His statements are confusing. Such statements dont bode well for a coalition. Such things wouldnt have happened had people who had taken responsibility worked well. Going by his statements, it looks like they havent worked honestly, slammed Dinesh Gundu Rao, president, AICC.

BJP seized the opportunity to poke fun at the coalition. G T Devegowda has already conceded defeat. Not just JDS, but leaders of the Congress too have supported BJP, said R Ashok, senior BJP leader. He mocked that unseen hands were at work within the coalition to topple the government. We will make no attempts to topple this government. Those unseen hands will do it, he said.
Last-minute Christmas shopping may be a cause for concern as Covid-19 cases continue to increase.

Despite the recent spike in cases and the presence of the Omicron variant, people are still flocking to crowded grocery stores, malls and retail stores.

This according to the Supermarket Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT), as it cautions people to take personal responsibility to protect themselves while shopping.
The National Trade Union Centre (Natuc) says it intends to take action if Government fails to have proper consultation and come to an agreement regarding the jab or no job Covid policy for public sector workers.

The union has not disclosed what form of action it intends to take, but said it would come in early January.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: As many as 73.7% students have passed the SSLC exams this year as against 71.93% last year. Overall, there has been a 1.77 percentage point increase this year as compared to previous years. The results of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations 2019 were announced on Tuesday by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board.

Two girl students topped securing 625/625 marks  Srujana D from St Philomena English High School, Anekal taluk, Bengaluru South district, and Naganjali Parameshwar Naik from Colaba Vithob Shanbhag Kalbagkar High School in Kumta, Uttara Kannada. The second place is shared by 11 students with 624 marks, and third place by 19 students with 623 marks. The trend of girls outshining boys has continued this year too, with girls securing an overall pass per cent of 79.59 and boys 68.46.

Among the districts, Hassan has secured first position with a pass percentage of 89.33, and has pushed last years topper - Udupi - to the fifth position (87.97 pass percentage). Ramanagara came in second with an overall pass percentage of 88.49, with Bengaluru Rural in third position. The worst performer is Yadgir in 34th position with an overall pass percentage of 56.9, with Raichur, Bengaluru South and Gadag faring slightly better.

THIS year, the department has analysed performances using two methods - one based on pass percentage and another on quality basis. Interestingly, in both, Hassan stood first. When it comes to quality-based analysis, Udupi bagged the second spot and Bengaluru Rural the third. The results were available online at sslc.kar.nic.in and karresults.nic.in, and were available at schools after 3pm on Tuesday.

On the increase in percentage, S R Umashankar, principal secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education, said, Apart from the efforts of students and teachers, one of the main reasons for improvement in results is measures taken by the department. This time, we provided remedial teaching, activity books along with textbooks, supplied handbooks,and had teachers interact with students in order to analyse their learning level.

GRACE MARKS

Over 19,000 students managed to sail through thanks to grace marks. Though the provision to give grace marks was stopped a long time back, the department still continues to do so. Dr Reju M T, Commissioner, Department of Public Instruction, said, Students who have scored 5% less than the passing marks have been given grace marks. The department is allowed to give grace marks of up to 5% in two subjects.

Keep these dates in mind

May 2: Candidates can apply for photo copy

May 6: Board will receive applications for revaluation

May 13: Last date to apply for scanned copy of answer script

May 17: Last date to apply for revaluation

June 21 to June 28: Supplementary exams to be held

Differently-abled fare well

Of the 3,683 differently-abled students who appeared for the exam, 67.71 per cent passed. Of the eight categories of differently-abled students, 87.6% of visually impaired students passed. The pass percentage for other categories are: Multiple disability (100%), specific learning disability (74.44%), physically challenged (69.31%), hearing impaired (65.03%), multiple disorder (56.6%).

govt school Students excel

The number of schools with cent per cent as well as zero per cent results have increased this year. This year, 46 schools had zero per cent results. This number was 43 last year. However, none of the government schools recorded zero percentage this year. Nine aided and 37 unaided schools recorded 0% results. On the other hand, 1,626 schools saw 100% results.

Pvt candidates fare poorly

Private candidates who appeared for the SSLC exams fared poorly. Of the 21,381 candidates who appeared for the exam, only 3.07 per cent passed. Of the 657 who passed, a majority were in the 15 to 20 age group. Similarly 2.29 per cent of the 3,965 candidates who appeared for the exam in the 21 to 25 years age category passed. The percentage decreased as the age increased. Of the 100 candidates between 46 and 50 year age group, none passed.

max pass % in English medium

Candidates who wrote in English had the highest pass percentage at 80.88%. Kannada medium students followed with 70.19 per cent pass percentage. The other language students are: Urdu (79.87%), Marathi (70.87%), Telugu (61.06%), Tamil (52.46%) and Hindi (48.81%).

Highest scoring subjects

8,620 students secured 125 out of 125 in first language while 3,404 secured 100/100 in second language. This was followed by 8,138 getting 100% in third language, 1,626 in Mathematics, 226 in Science and 3,141 in Social Science.

re-evaluation done

Following allegations that some answer scripts of English subjects were evaluated by Kannada teachers, the Primary and Secondary Education Department clarified that they have called back such scripts to the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board and re-evaluated them.

Results in JUST 26 days

The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board announced the results just 26 days after the exams. Principal Secretary Umashankar said this was possible because of the online system which was recently brought into place. This time, we made the evaluation system completely online where the marks were entered into the systems. This has completely reduced the errors in the entry of marks, which was not the case when it was done manually.

Proud of govt schools: CM

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy expressed happiness over the performance of government schools. He praised the students and thanked the officials for bringing technology into the evaluation process. One of his tweets read: Happy to know that none of the government schools have secured zero per cent results and their performance is something to be proud of. SSLC students have proven that rural students can fare better than urban counterparts.
Leaders make a difference to a vaccination drive. When they take a public vaccination, they send a message to their followers or employees that the vaccine is safe and the compassionate thing to do.

When leaders act responsibly in this way, others will follow. This behaviour modelling fits into a broader study that demonstrated that leading by example is effective (Tai Yaffe, et al, 2011).
TROY, N.Y.  A shooting attack on Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego, Calif., left one dead and three injured on the last day of Passover.

The attack came six months to the day following the shooting which killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Previous to that, synagogue and Jewish Community Centers in the Capital Region had also received threats and leaders in the Jewish community and Capital Region are reacting to the latest heinous act.

We all stand together like we did [Monday] night as we did in Schenectady, as well as in Delmar at the Bethlehem Chabad House, Shelly Shapiro, Director of Community Relations for the Jewish Federation said.

The story really is about fighting hatred at all levels, Shapiro addee. The future is in the hands of the next generation to continue the education about how prejudice leads to genocide of the Holocaust but also to the kind of senseless murder in San Diego. [Wednesday] is Yom Hashoah and it remembers that day of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Against all odds, Jews who were confined to this ghetto, who were being deported and starved, rose up and one of the songs the ghetto fighters sang was we are here and we will fight we will continue we will not give up, so I think that is the anthem of the partisans, its from a poem, never its over, never forget and thats what were doing.

So here we were [Monday} night remembering a brave woman [Lori Kaye] who was killed and those who were injured and fought back but the real fighting back has to be our whole country.

Yom Hashoah Memorial Day is for the six million who were murdered in the Holocaust and is observed around the world. Services and remembrance events are held to remember the six million who perished during the Holocaust in the hopes that Never Again will prejudice lead to genocide.

There were a number of commemorations throughout the Capital Region that started Monday evening and running through May 13.

Judith Ehrenshaft, President of Congregation of Shaara Tfille and Jewish Community Center of Saratoga Springs, was also taken aback by how nearly 75-years later this kind of hatred could still be happening and in America no less.

Some of the members of our synagogue are going to the Chabad House in Saratoga to stand with them in solidarity, Ehrenshaft said of the Tuesday evening remembrance in Saratoga.

We are heartbroken and appalled and outraged by this heinous act and why this happened just because theyre Jews? I have a personal experience growing up in a communist country I experienced first-hand what anti-Semitism is being called a dirty Jew on more than one occasion but luckily for me, the name calling was the worst of it and coincidentally yesterday April 29, my father was liberated in Dachau by the American troops and how lucky that he survived the horrors of the war and yet 74 years later the hatred over Jews has sadly not changed, Ehrenshaft said of her father who endured five years in various Nazi concentration camps.

Rabbi Abba Rubin, of Saratoga Chabad, which is also holding a commemoration Friday at 7:30 p.m. noted the importance of coming together with positive actions to drive out hate.

Our reaction is that at a time of such despair, that Jews do not get despaired or afraid, it defeats the purpose and helps the enemy, the terrorists. Our thing is to do action, do acts of goodness and kindness, to do more mitzvahs, lighting the Shabbat candles and spreading more light and goodness to fight darkness. You can fight darkness with a bat or you can light a candle and dispense the darkness, Rubin said of driving out darkness with light.

Rabbi Robert Kasman, of Temple Beth El in Troy, echoed the sentiments of the importance of the community coming together.

I think its really terrible, Kasman said of the attack.

Nows the time for attending synagogue and showing our confidence. Being together is the thing that theyre to stop so being together is the thing we have to do, Kasman noted.

Kasman, along with his fellow community leaders, acknowledged the heightened security but was thankful for the outreach and support from officials and police.

Its nice to live in a time and a place where when you call the police they arent part of the anti-Semitism theyre fighting the anti-Semitism too. When we call the Troy police or the mayors office in Troy, everybody is against hate and that wasnt true historically. We really do live in a wonderful place and time, Kasman commented.

The governor announced again theres increased vigilance as well as security, of course there [were] two police cars in Schenectady and police cars in Delmar. We have been vigilant for many years because youre frightened. We think the most important thing is law enforcement is our partner, we work together to keep the community safe and we appreciate what they do, Shapiro added of the police and government support.

Rubin and Ehrenshaft reiterated the need for an added police presence but also emphasized the importance of continuing to live and worship freely.

We need more security and at the same time, we need to do some action and vigilance. At the same time we cant stop our activities, we need to increase our activities, Rubin said of his congregation.

We are more security conscious. Who wouldve ever thought that in America that we would have to lock the doors of houses of worship? Ehrenshaft noted of the sad new reality.

We cannot stop living our lives because that would be like giving in, Ehrenshaft said.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Kollengode native Riyas Aboobacker, whom the National Investigation Agency (NIA) produced before its court on Tuesday evening, was being mentally readied by Islamic State (IS) operatives from abroad to conduct a suicide attack in the state.

Ahamed Arafat of Kaliyangad and Aboobacker Siddique of Nainmarmoola (both Kasargod district) have been interrogated for the past two days at the NIA office in Kochi, but the agency decided not to record their arrests.

It is also on the lookout for a foreign-based Kollam native, the fourth member of the module against which an investigation has been launched following the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka.

The NIA has filed a petition seeking the custody of Riyas, 28, for five days from Monday. He was brought to the court wearing a face mask.

Hes a member of the IS. He has been following the speeches of Zakir Naik and Zahran Hashim, who was involved in Lankan blasts, NIA prosecutor Arjun Ambalapatta submitted before the court.

NIA Court judge K Sathyan remanded Riyas in judicial custody and decided to hear on the custody petition on May 6.

Riyas, Ahamed and Aboobacker were made 18th, 19th and 20th accused in an IS case registered in 2015 after 15 persons from Kasargod migrated to Afghanistan and Syria. The Kollam native will be made the 21st accused. Of the 15 exited from India, eight were killed, sources said.

Following the Lankan blasts, the NIA had raided the houses in Palakkad and Kasargod on Sunday. Riyas arrest was recorded on Monday evening after two days of interrogation by a team under NIA IG Alok Mittal.

Riyas and suicide attack

Riyas was radicalised by following jihadi videos and literature after 2014. It was IS operatives from Kerala who migrated to Afghanistan and Syria who motivated him to conduct a suicide attack in the state.

The NIA investigation, however, found he has not procured explosives until now.

Rashid Abdullah, Ashfaq Majeed and Abdul Khayoom spoke to him frequently for motivating him for a suicide attack. They were providing religious lectures and literature used for preparing suicide bombers. Abdul is suspected to have been killed in Syria. He agreed to conduct the suicide attack. But the clear-cut location wasnt planned and explosives werent procured, an officer said.

Sri Lankan attack

The NIA has found Riyas, Ahamed and Aboobacker were following videos and messages of Zahran Hashim, the mastermind of the Sri Lankan blasts. These persons unfollowed Zahran soon after the Lankan attack. They were following his sermons for the past one year. Were probing whether they had any direct communication with his team in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, an officer said.
An American man has gone viral on social media after impregnating twin sisters who are his girlfriends.

Most ladies are known to easily get jealous when their man splits his attention with another lady.

READ ALSO: All eye-catching photos from Jose Chameleone's royal birthday party as he turns 40

Photo: @takeoffdemdraws / Instagram

READ ALSO: Zari Hassan hints lover bought her a house days after being accused of sleeping with men for money

However, in this case, the twin sisters do not seem to mind having the same baby daddy.

Apparently, Banks' two girlfriends are twin sisters, and he could not hide his pride as he boasted about the situation on social media.

READ ALSO: Kylie Jenner gives her baby daddy Travis Scott KSh 30 million Lamborghini on his birthday

The twin sisters do not seem to mind having the same baby daddy. Photo: takeoffdemdraws.

Sharing photos of his pregnant girlfriends, he accompanied them with a simple caption indicting he needed a show for the development.

 I bet I am the only nigga you all know with twin baby mamas and both of them are cool with it. I need a show blood," wrote Banks.

READ ALSO: Kenyan gay rights activist shows off his partner on Twitter, calls him 'my king'

Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenya's First Lesbian Pastor

Source: TUKO.co.ke
Officials with the Tulsa Regional Chamber are hopeful that a reworked version of a small-business growth tool will spur more participation in the program.

House Bill 2536, by Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, is an expansion of the Small Employer Quality Jobs program to help bolster an underused program.

The program covers up to 5% of payroll for qualifying small businesses for up to seven years.

The original law required businesses to attain 75% out-of-state sales.

Earlier this week, Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the new version of the law, which lowers the out-of-state sales requirement to 35% in the first two years and 60% during subsequent years.

For a company that is relatively young or new or ramping up expansion, that was really restrictive to their growth. Most of those companies arent able to sell out of state yet, said Jennifer Hankins, vice president of entrepreneurship of small business with the Tulsa Regional Chamber. This new version will really help them jump-start their growth as it relates to adding new employees.

By covering 5% of payroll, the program allows small businesses to add new, good-paying jobs with lowered risk.
The Bison is Oklahomas State Animal. It is also the state animal of Kansas and Wyoming and the official mammal of the United States.

A wonderful place to see them is the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, just north of Pawhuska and only an hours scenic drive from Skiatook. We are fortunate to be so close. The Preserve consists of approximately 40,000 acres of tallgrass prairie with 2,500 free-ranging bison. Roads in the Preserve are gravel so if you plan to go be prepared for dust from passing vehicles, which include oil field rigs.

The trip is well worth it, though, to be able to drive through a herd of wild bison and see them up close and personal. Bison are often referred to as buffalo but they are more closely related to cattle than they are to African or Asian buffaloes.

On the way up or back you may want to stop at Ree Drummonds The Pioneer Woman Mercantile in Pawhuska and have a great meal or check out all the neat stuff.

Follow me on Twitter @SkiatookJournal.

E-mail lindsey.chastain @skiatookjournal.com

Follow me on Twitter @SkiatookJournal. E-mail lindsey.chastain@skiatookjournal.com

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Lindsay, 16, had a passion for children with disabilities. She played softball and loved music and old trucks.

On June 20, 1997, she and her cousin, Bret McKinney, age 17, left for Texas to attend a concert and go shopping. That same day, Sherri and her husband, Steve, went to buy a truck for Lindsay and brought it home. She never got to see it.

Enroute to Texas, the teens were in a wreck on Highway 69 near Durant. Bret was driving and they ended up in a median. He overcorrected and they went into oncoming traffic where they were hit by a semi at 70 miles per hour. The car split in half.

Off-duty medical personnel who came up on the scene started working on the kids. Lindsay had no vital signs, but they brought her back to life and both accident victims were taken to Durant Hospital.

Sherri learned there was no brain activity and Lindsay needed to go to Sherman, Tex. where they would take care of her head trauma.

When they got to Texas, the family spent as much time as they could with Lindsay, praying for her severe brain swelling to go down. She was on a ventilator. The next day, doctors determined she could not breathe on her own and there remained no brain activity.
The Hargrove family found safety in the storm shelter. Some 45 minutes later when they learned the storm had cleared, Justin and a friend drove back to see what damage had happened.

I was sick  I didnt know how bad (it would be), Dad just said it got our (concession) trailer and our barn, he recalled. I was looking for pieces of the concession trailer in the roadway. When I saw they were all three there, I was a little relieved  even if one was on its side. Ill have something to work with.

The Hargroves own a concession business, and they service seven events a year across the country with their concession trailers, including the Illinois State Fair, Kansas State Fair, Tulsa State Fair, Mayfest and Rocklahoma. He said the concession trailers provide the majority of their income.

Weve got insurance, so hopefully well come out of it okay, Justin said.

As for the couples property, damage was substantial.

An 80-by-100-foot barn was primarily blown away, much of it ending up on a neighbors property on the east side of Highway 72. The south wall of the barn was blown into two of the smaller concession trailers.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: As tropical cyclone Fani ominously grew in size and power moving towards the eastern coast, anticipating the worst, the Odisha Government on Wednesday shifted gears and deployed 10 senior IAS officers in as many coastal districts to monitor relief and restoration measures.

Fani, now an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm, lay centred at about 680 km south-southwest of Puri and 430 km southsoutheast of Vishakhapatnam. It is very likely to intensify further and cross Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri around May 3 afternoon with maximum sustained wind speed 175-185 kmph gusting to 205 kmph.

This, the Government and Met agencies fear, could wreak havoc as the storm will move close to the coast retaining its strength all along the projected path that passes through coastal and northern districts of the State.

READ: Fani course towards Odisha keeps MET experts and agencies busy

With the weather agencies predicting storm surge of 29 feet, Fani is being seen as a dangerous system capable of tearing through the coastal pockets of the State and cause widespread destruction.

High tides in the coastal belts of Odisha as cylonic storm Fani gets strong.

Districts such as Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore are likely to bear the brunt with extensive damage expected to houses and communication and power infrastructure, rail and road network.

The State Government has already cancelled leaves of all doctors till May 15 and summoned them back to their headquarters while all educational institutions will remain closed till further orders. All examinations would be rescheduled.

The Election Commission of India has lifted the model code of conduct in 11 districts including Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack and Jajpur for smooth conduct of rescue and relief operations. Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha, Surendra Kumar said that the poll body has approved shifting of polled EVMs in two districts Jagatsinghpur and Gajapati. Entire shifting process will be conducted in presence of candidates & the entire process will be video-graphed, ANI reported.

According to Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi, Collectors of all coastal and adjoining districts of Gajapati, Nayagarh, Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj have been advised to identify vulnerable population near the coast or low lying areas and shift them to

multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters.

Fishermen are asked to not venture into the sea in the wake of cylone Fani.

As many as 879 cyclone and flood shelters have been kept in readiness for sheltering people to be evacuated today. The shifting exercise is targeted to be completed by tomorrow when the system gets closer.

Arrangements for free kitchen, safe drinking water, lighting, health and sanitation at the shelters are made. District Emergency Operation Centres and control rooms have been activated round the clock.

READ: Will Cyclone Fani hit TN? Tamil Nadu Weatherman comes out with the answer

Sethi said as many as 300 power boats of the Special Relief Organisation have been kept ready with crew and fuel for rescue and relief.

Meanwhile, Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said that Indian Navy is prepared for the cyclone. Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam is ready as all necessary measures have been taken. In coordination with State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, we are ready for the cyclone, he told a news agency.

READ: 74 trains running to and via Odisha cancelled

While the India Army, Air Force and Navy are on stand by for joint operation, the Coast Guard have also deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 28 teams in Odisha apart from all the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, firefighters.

High tide in sea has left two boats damaged in Ganjam district.

In Pilgrim town Puri, which would be close to landfall point, the district administration has asked tourists to vacate the hotels and move to Bhubaneswar other places.

Low lying areas and fishermen colonies are in a state of apprehension as the district officials cautioned the locals about the hazards the storm would pose.

Apart from storm surge that can cause serious damage to life and property, strong wind and heavy rains along the coastal stretch may lead to flashfloods.

Capital City Bhubaneswar, too, is under watch as it had suffered massive urban flooding. Neighbouring Cuttack and outlying areas located on the flood plains of the Mahanadi river system are also at the risk.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Balasore, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj beginning May 2 till May 5.
During the sentencing hearing in Tulsa federal court, Chatman apologized to his family and the public for putting anybody in harms way.

Im not some monster that the public would like to portray me as, Chatman told the judge.

He said he loved his seven children and would someday like to see his future grandchildren.

Im asking you, judge: Dont give me life, Chatman said.

While he did not apologize to Parsons, Chatman said the officer does seem like he is a very nice person.

I hope the best for him, Chatman said of Parsons, who was hit in a thigh by one of four bullets fired by Chatman.

In a handwritten letter to Eagan, Chatman asked for forgiveness and thanked the police.

I would like to add  with all I went through in being shot four times, that with all the oppertunity yall had, that I appreciate you not killing me, Chatman wrote.

Before the sentence was handed down, Shores argued that life sentences exist for defendants like John Terry Chatman.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday rolled out a new criminal justice reform package.

With only a few weeks remaining in the legislative session, I am keenly focused on ensuring significant movement is made on criminal justice reform, Stitt said. Lawmakers must adjourn by 5 p.m. May 31 but could finish earlier.

Oklahomans and community leaders agree that we need to reform the funding structure for our district attorneys and courts, he said. We must invest in diversion and treatment programs. We must release nonviolent offenders from prison who were sentenced on drug charges under old laws.

He believes the reforms can be done this year in a manner that keeps the public safe and ensures those facing addiction and health challenges can get a second chance.

Much more progress needs to be made, Stitt said.

Stitt is backing a new funding structure for prosecutors and courts.

It would send fines and fees to the states General Revenue Fund to be appropriated. It aims to eliminate the conflict of interest in the system between generating revenue and administering justice, he said.
Multiple fire crews responded and searched a substantial area, but Little said they werent able to find anything. He said that could change as the creek waters subside.

Barricades were in place on flooded Tulsa streets after 3.5 inches of rain fell in three hours, according to the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency.

We stand by the phrase, Turn around; dont drown, said Mike Teague, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. You dont know how deep that water is.

Teague said its easy for a person to think they know how deep water on a road is, but he said one has no way of knowing whether the roadway under the water has eroded or washed away.

The city of Tulsa, the National Weather Service and EMSA each posted messages on social media, urging residents not to take to the streets, but to little avail.

Please DO NOT DRIVE RIGHT NOW, a city of Tulsa post read. This puts everyone at risk, including emergency responders. #SafetyFirst
OKLAHOMA CITY  Gov. Kevin Stitt on Monday signed a bill designed to protect free speech on college campuses.

We have campus officials either caving to the offended or restricting speech in the name of security, said Sen. Julie Daniels, author of Senate Bill 361.

The measure will help university administrators protect free speech from those who demand ever increasing limits on when, where and what can be said, said Daniels, R-Bartlesville.

She said she was made aware of incidents of free speech being limited on campuses in Oklahoma and in other states.

The bill was based on what has passed in other states but tailored to fit Oklahoma, Daniels said.

Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, voted against the measure.

This bill cherry-picks Supreme Court rulings on free speech to tie the hands of universities responsibility to have a safe environment for civil discourse, she said. The bill does that by defining harassment that does not include one-time serious, egregious offenses.
The Attorney General says he does not understand the position of the leader of the Joint Trade Union Movement who says he supports being vaccinated against Covid 19 but is not supporting the Government's plan for all public sector workers to be vaccinated or face being furloughed from mid- January.
Ukraine's state-run enterprise SpetsTechnoExport will begin to produce 120mm Konus guided missiles for Turkeys state-held company Makina ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumu (MKEK).

The relevant contract was signed within the framework of the IDEF 2019 International Defense Industry Fair in Istanbul, Turkey. The parties agreed on the contracts costs and delivery dates.

The contract envisages that the weapons will be produced by the Kyiv-based Luch construction bureau. Then, they will be delivered to Turkey, so that the Konus missiles can be integrated into the ordnance of Turkish main battle tanks. After a partial transfer of the technologies the Ukrainian missiles will be produced by MKEK.

The agreement will be signed in the coming weeks and then production of the missiles will begin.

The cooperation with MKEK is an opportunity to supply high-precision weapons to the Turkish Armed Forces, and also to increase the presence of Ukrainian military products in other markets that use tanks with 120mm cannons and actively cooperate with the Turkish defense industry - in particular, the countries of the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
May 1-15, United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr will travel to Israel and European countries, including Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of State said this in its statement released on April 30.

From May 1-5, Special Envoy Carr will be a member of the U.S. delegation attending the International March for the Living, held in Poland and Israel. The March for the Living is an annual event to educate participants on the history of the Holocaust and the roots of prejudice, intolerance, and hatred.

Special Envoy Carr will travel to Kyiv (Ukraine) to address the Kyiv Jewish Forum on May 6. He will also meet with Ukrainian government officials and Jewish community representatives.

From May 7-9, Elan Carr will travel to Warsaw, Poland and Budapest, Hungary, where he will meet with government officials, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Jewish community leaders.

On May 12, Special Envoy Carr will travel to Belgium. In Brussels, he will meet with Belgian government officials, local NGOs, and Jewish community leaders.

ish
China successfully sent two Tianhui II-01 satellites into orbit at 6:52 a.m., Beijing Time, Tuesday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province.

A Long March 4B carrier rocket, with two Tianhui II-01 satellites, lifts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, April 30, 2019. China successfully sent two Tianhui II-01 satellites into orbit at 6:52 a.m. Beijing Time Tuesday (1052 GMT Monday) from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The satellites will be used for scientific experiments, land resource survey, geographic survey and mapping. [Photo: Xinhua/Liu Qiaoming]

The satellites were launched by a Long March 4B carrier rocket, which was the 303rd mission of the Long March series carrier rockets.

A Long March 4B carrier rocket, with two Tianhui II-01 satellites, lifts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, April 30, 2019. China successfully sent two Tianhui II-01 satellites into orbit at 6:52 a.m. Beijing Time Tuesday (1052 GMT Monday) from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The satellites will be used for scientific experiments, land resource survey, geographic survey and mapping. [Photo: Xinhua/Liu Qiaoming]

The satellites will be used for scientific experiments, land resource survey, geographic survey and mapping.
AK Mishra By

Express News Service

KORAPUT: Extreme heat conditions in Koraput district have made life miserable for people in rural pockets. With water bodies in many villages going dry, they are struggling for drinking water.About 80 per cent of the 400 ponds in the tribal areas have dried up. In the last one decade, 800 ponds were dug up in 14 blocks of the district by Government agencies as well as individuals under different schemes.

The ponds had water till the second week of March when the temperature started rising. Early summer in the district led to depletion of ground water. People in rural settlements who were dependent on natural water bodies are now traversing long distances to fetch drinking water.

Besides ponds, other water sources like dug wells and wells have dried up due to depletion in ground water level this season, a situation usually experienced in mid May in this part of the State. Water level at channels under Upper Kolab ayacut areas has been severely hit due to ecological imbalance with Jeypore, Kotpad, Kundra and Borrigumma being the worst hit.

In previous years, the water bodies were renovated before onset of summer to hold water but this could not be done this year due to model code of conduct for General Elections. The condition of water bodies should have been reviewed during February and authorities concerned could have done the needful before summer, said Sukria Pradhan, a social activist of Kotpad.

Officials of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department, Koraput, said water bodies of different villages are being taken care of and defunct dug wells repaired on a war-footing. This apart, drinking water is being supplied to villagers through pipes.

Women gherao offices for water

RAYAGADA: Women of Pitamahal village under Rayagada block gheraoed the panchayat office here on Tuesday protesting water scarcity. They then walked for six km to the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation office where they staged demonstration with empty pitchers. They said villagers are facing drinking water crisis and although they have been approaching the officials concerned to take corrective measures, nothing has been done so far. They pointed out that piped water supply has come to a halt due to frequent power cuts. The women also gheraoed SOUTHCO office here. They called off their agitation when Assistant Engineer of RWSS Ritesh Sahu assured to provide a water tanker in the village.
Spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN Oleg Nikolenko has been elected Vice-Chairman of the UNs Committee on Information.

Oleg Nikolenko (Ukraine), nominated by the Group of Eastern European States, as Vice-Chairs to the Committee for 2019 and 2020. Mr. Nikolenko was also elected as Rapporteur, the report says.

The UN is undergoing a reform of the communications department. The purpose is to make it global and reach the widest possible audience, first of all youth. Great attention is paid to the use of modern information technologies and the production of high-quality content, Nikolenko said in comments to Ukrinforms correspondent.

He added that the UN had influence on almost all areas of our life, from education and healthcare to nuclear research and solution of armed conflicts.

According to Nikolenko, the UN and the Committee on Information should pay special attention to another important area - the fight against disinformation and fake news. A dialogue on unfair information policies has already begun, and this inspires. I hope that this dialogue will result in concrete actions. The Ukrainian delegation to the UN will contribute to this in every possible way, he summed up.

ish
| By Jena Frick

Kahamari Stubbs, a sixth-grade student from West Baltimore considers himself a city kid. Living in an urban environment, Stubbs is familiar with honking cars, crowded sidewalks, and brick buildings.

On April 22, Stubbs swapped out his city views for trees and greenery when he visited the Carrie Murray Nature Center as part of a field trip with the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) CURE Scholars Program  a unique mentoring/STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education program aimed at reducing racial disparities in public health by establishing a pipeline to careers in STEM.

The CURE Scholars split up in teams of two to pick up trash along the creek bed in Gwynns Falls Leakin Park.

I dont spend a lot of time out in the woods, Stubbs said as he wandered around the nature center. Its a change for me because Im not used to it, but its an adventure so I have to do it!

(View a photo gallery.)

The trip to the nature center was certainly a new kind of adventure for Stubbs and the seven other CURE Scholars who attended. During their visit, they were able to explore the wild side of Maryland along the Gwynns Falls hiking trail and even got to meet several animals living at the Carrie Murray Nature Center including turtles, lizards, owls, several other birds of prey, and snakes.

At first, I was a little shocked because Im not used to petting animals like that, said Stubbs. They were kind of creepy, especially the snakes. For me to actually pet a snake, it was weird but fun at the same time!

(View a video below.)

For Stubbs classmate, Kamara Jenkins, also a sixth-grade student, meeting the animals was her favorite part of the trip. Jenkins has dreams of becoming a veterinarian, so she was excited to see and handle each of the animals.

Being out here is helping me learn more about animals, she said. I learned that owls have tunnel vision that can help them see farther, and they have more bones in their necks to turn their heads all the way around. It was really cool! I would really like to be around nature and animals more.

The trip was not only an exciting learning experience for the scholars, but it was also the perfect way to celebrate both Earth Day and Global Youth Service Day, a worldwide civic action event that encourages youth of all ages to take action for the betterment of their communities.

For their act of action, the CURE Scholars split up into teams of two. Armed with a trash bag, gloves, and pronged sticks, they wandered along the creek bed in Gwynns Falls Leakin Park and picked up trash.

It makes me feel good because were cleaning up the Earth which is important, and the animals can have a better environment, Stubbs said.

The scholars clean-up project at the nature center put an emphasis on how they can help the environment on a local level. It also helped to show the scholars a different side of their Baltimore community.

This opportunity is crucial for many students in West Baltimore, explained Shawdae Harrison, the volunteer coordinator for the CURE Scholars Program. The Carrie Murray Nature Center is located right in their own backyard, and this will help them really understand that West Baltimore is not just an urban environment. Hopefully by the end of the day, theyre encouraged to keep coming back and have a new appreciation for nature.

The scholars did end up walking away from the center with a new appreciation for nature. For Stubbs, he felt that the Murray Carrie Nature Center was a peaceful escape from the city that he hopes to visit again soon.

I like that there are a lot more trees out here than in my neighborhood and its quiet, he said. Its a nice place to just sit down and get your mind right and your head straight.

That message of tranquility was exactly what members of the nature center were trying to convey to the scholars during their visit.

We are really passionate about spreading environmental education in the city of Baltimore, explained James Schulte, the volunteer coordinator at the Carrie Murray Nature Center. We believe that having a strong connection with nature and having a natural environment is really important to the physical and mental health of kids growing up in urban environments.

This hands-on learning experience served another purpose for the scholars. The trip gave them a crash course in environmental science, which will help the scholars this summer when they attend an environmental science camp at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. There, they will spend a week in July learning about renewable energy sources and how science can help conservation efforts in the environment.
| By Mary T. Phelan

From the time the Presidents Fellows White Paper Project began on Sept. 6, 2018, to the time the fellows presented their paper at a symposium seven months later, 168 people in Baltimore City had been shot to death.

Findings related to how the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) can impact gun violence in Baltimore City were released by this years Presidents Fellows during a symposium April 8 at the Southern Management Corporation Campus Center. The interdisciplinary team of fellows studied the root causes of gun violence and used a team approach to examine its traumatic impact on communities. It also studied UMBs role as an anchor institution in addressing gun violence through education, research, clinical care, and service.

The topic of gun violence was chosen in the aftermath of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Feb. 14, 2018. Days later, UMB President Jay A. Perman, MD, wrote a letter to the UMB community sharing his sadness and anger at the tragic incident that claimed the lives of 17 students.

Left to right, Presidents Fellows Zachary Lee; Jenny Afkinich, MSW; and Jessica Egan; President Jay A. Perman, MD; and fellows Vibha Rao, MD 18, Nicole Campion Dialo, and Lauren Highsmith, MSW 19.

I remembered that one of the things I called for was some input from the campus community as to what the role of UMB should be in gun violence, said Perman, speaking to the fellows and an audience of about 60 faculty, students, and staff at the April 8 event. I do have a firmly held belief that most of the good ideas around here come from the students. Ive learned the importance of listening to the students, so thats what we did with the Presidents Fellows for this academic year.

The Presidents Symposium and White Paper Project is a joint initiative of the Presidents Office and the Office of Interprofessional Student Learning and Service Initiatives. It engages faculty, staff, and students from all UMB schools and academic programs in a yearlong conversation on a topic that is of interest and importance to the University and its community.

The 2018-2019 Presidents Fellows  Nicole Campion Dialo, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Zachary Lee, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law; Vibha Rao, MD 18, University of Maryland Graduate School; Jenny Afkinich, MSW, Graduate School; Lauren Highsmith, MSW 19, University of Maryland School of Social Work; and Jessica Egan, University of Maryland School of Nursing  tackled the topic and published a white paper, Addressing Gun Violence: UMBs Role as an Anchor Institution in which the fellows make 25 recommendations.

The students have really done an excellent job, said Patty Alvarez, PhD, assistant vice president of student affairs, as she welcomed those in attendance and introduced Perman. Thank you for all of your work and thank you for all of those who supported you in doing this work. We wouldnt be here today if it wasnt for the support of Dr. Perman and all of the trust and confidence that he has in our students to create meaningful change here on campus and beyond.

The University president thanked the students for their hard work on what he called a topic that is emotional and draining in itself, but I know that in what you are going to report out to us, well all be the better for it.

I know most of us feel powerless when we see a shooting in a school, when we see the carnage that I just mentioned, right outside our walls. But these folks, Perman said, gesturing toward the fellows, they dont act powerless and they decided to take on the politics and the systems and the societal inaction that had gotten us to this bad place. Interestingly  they decided to examine gun violence not only as a matter of health, but health equity.

Perman said the students looked at all the things that may sow division in the community such as fear, anger, and injustice, and explored how those conditions give rise to violence.

And then they turned the lens inward to tell us what our institution could and should be doing in our own community to mitigate gun violence and to care for those affected by it, he said.

The students collected data and interviews from a series of visiting speakers throughout the academic year, starting with the kickoff event Sept. 6 that featured Cassandra Crifasi, PhD, MPH, assistant professor and deputy director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with her address Understanding Gun Violence and Policy.

Other speakers included: former Baltimore City Police Capt. T.J. Smith, MA, MS; Carol Vidal, MD, MPH, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Jonathan M. Metzl, MD, PhD, director, Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, and professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt University; and Natasha Pratt-Harris, PhD, associate professor and coordinator of the Criminal Justice program in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Morgan State University.

Regarding our worldview, we orient our paper around one common and recurring theme that was inescapable in every study we read, in every interview we conducted, and in every recommendation we propose: Fostering healthy, collaborative relationships between the interprofessional schools of UMB, between UMB and the community, and amongst all individuals who reside in West Baltimore is key to building collective efficacy within and around our campus, the fellows wrote.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting hit close to home for Lee, the law student. He graduated from the school in 2013, as did his sister in 2015.

After what had happened on Valentines Day last year, I saw a handful of children from my hometown become the national leaders and sort of guide the conversation on what gun violence looks like in this country and I was very inspired by them, generally, Lee said. After participating in a March for Our Lives event, he said he thought this cant be the end of the conversation, so I decided to take on this task.

Egan, a bedside nurse for seven years who is pursuing her doctorate in nursing practice, said she applied for the fellowship as a way of trying to address the impacts of violence she sees as a working nurse in the city. I find gun violence particularly upsetting because it brings about a lot of human suffering that I feel should be avoidable, she said. I joined this project to try to put steps in place to make sure that we are actively addressing gun violence and the suffering that comes along with it.

Among the groups recommendations:

Commission a Universitywide scan of the exposure and impact of gun violence on students, faculty, and staff.

Organize a campuswide orientation for incoming students as an Introduction to Baltimore history and trauma-informed care.

Support and encourage faculty to utilize tools to recognize and process their own implicit biases.

Examine how service-based and violence prevention work contribute to facultys potential for promotion and/or tenure.

Create a structure that compensates faculty for the time required to complete appropriate groundwork for community research.

Institutionalize a formal community advisory board.

Host an annual open forum conducted by a professional mediator.

Support a campuswide award system recognizing students who have dedicated their educational careers to community service.

Increase the number of paid community service hours to eight (a full day) for employees.

Establish a funded award for members of the UMB community actively doing work in violence reduction and/or prevention.

Designate a community affairs liaison at each school.

Host an annual Universitywide community service event.

Invest additional resources in Social Work Community Outreach Services.

Increase support for Thread, a large network of volunteers from across Baltimore that works with city schools to support young people who are facing significant challenges such as poverty, lack of social support, and housing or food insecurity, by providing physical space for events and increasing the number of volunteers from UMB.

Create and promote a unified institutional position on public policies to mitigate gun violence.

Continue to prioritize community policing through the UMB Police Department.

After their presentations, the fellows answered questions from audience members, who praised their efforts. The 2018-2019 Presidents Fellows continue a proud tradition that dates to 2011. Past UMB student fellows have examined topics such as global literacy, entrepreneurial exploration, cultural competence, community engagement, interprofessional education, civility, and urban renewal.
Jamilla Amadou knew in elementary school that she wanted to be a nurse.

I was ready to struggle to become one. I already saw myself in a white coat, she says with a smile.

Today, this formidable woman at 50 is the head nurse in charge of 40 nurses and nurse interns in Gaos Centre de Sante de Reference. This is a general hospital serving people in the region of almost 550,000 in northern Mali, many of whom have been displaced by conflict.

That, too, was Jamillas fate. In 2012, when Gao was overrun by militants, she took her family and ran. Her family was among 80,000 who were forced to flee the city of Gao. Before the attack, Gao had a population of 100,000.

People were terrified, she recalls. We left everything, the city emptied out. We were internally displaced in Mopti (a city also in the conflict zone). There I worked with malnourished children.

People were terrified. We left everything, the city emptied out."

The militants were largely pushed out in 2013. Jamilla came back to Gao at the beginning of 2015, only to discover her hospital was a broken shell.

They smashed everything  the doors, the windows, the equipment ... They even ripped out the curtains.

With the help of NGOs and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, which paid for the installation of a second water reservoir to assure the patients needs, the hospital is now functioning almost normally again.

Her life at the hospital is a round of long days and many patients. Jamilla is technically in charge of a staff of nurses and nurse-trainees, but from 7.30 every morning she is examining patients herself.

Nurse Jamilla Amadou checks a patient's vital signs at the general hospital in Gao, Mali.  UNHCR/Mark Henley

Jamilla Amadou stands outside her home in Gao with her son Omar, who wants to study computer science.  UNHCR/Mark Henley

Jamilla Amadou with a medical colleague at the Centre de Sante de Reference.  UNHCR/Mark Henley

Patients wait for consultations at the general hospital, which has 11 doctors and 61 nurses to serve a region of nearly 550,000 residents.  UNHCR/Mark Henley

Jamilla Amadou treats patients at the Centre de Sante de Reference hospital in Gao.  UNHCR/Mark Henley

In short order she sees a 62-year-old patient with a searing headache and very high blood pressure, and Mohammed, a 33-year-old teacher with kidney problems and severe chest pains. He has travelled 450 kilometers from a town in the north because there is no hospital near him. To get to Gao took him two days and nights.

Jamilla sends Mohammed for more tests on his kidneys. Then more patients. On an average day there are up to 35 with illnesses both brutal and familiar  malaria, typhoid fever, gastroenteritis, diabetes.

See also: Bringing life back to a city in Mali ravaged by war

She is trailed through the wards by nurse interns and volunteers like 20-year-old Ali Maiga. He wanted to finish his studies to become a nurse like Jamilla but his family ran out of money. Now he works for free, hoping to find enough money some day to achieve his dream.

I want to help, he says. There are children here who have lost their parents. I want to serve the community here.

Nursing is a vocation. And for Jamilla, caring never stops. At the end of a long day, she speeds home on her motor scooter and starts over again. In the warren of rooms that make up her home she heads a family composed of her mother, her sister, her son and daughter, a nephew, two grandchildren, her 37-year-old brother Abdullah, handicapped since birth  and, depending on the week, between 20 and 30 other women who sleep on mats in two crowded rooms.

"We wont give up ... This is our region and our city. I will work for it to my last breath.

They are all internally displaced, forced to abandon their town of Hombori in the centre of the country after militants cut down their tobacco and millet crops. The gunmen denounce tobacco as sinful and return from time to time to terrorize residents and make sure no new crops have been planted.

Aminata, 33, is one of the women. She sleeps in one of the rooms with her five-year-old daughter, also named Aminata. She left three other older children with her parents in the town.

The armed groups come through from time to time, she says. There is no work there. We are all still afraid.

Jamilla wavers between pessimism and optimism. There is little future for my children. Now the schools are on strike (teachers say they havent been paid). But things have improved here, a bit. I will never say no to the people staying in the house, she says.

"We wont give up. But we need help, more outside help. This is our region and our city. I will work for it to my last breath.
Sri Lanka has yet to ratify the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, with UNHCR processing asylum claims in accordance with the agreement with the government. Asylum-seekers and refugees are not given particular status by the Government of Sri Lanka and their presence in the country is tolerated until solutions are found.

Our work in Sri Lanka focuses on working with key government stakeholders, service providers and other concerned entities to improve protection and solutions for refugees. We are working with host and refugee communities to better protect everyone affected by forced displacement, advocate for refugees access to rights including education, and increase understanding of refugee protection.

In 2018, we will provide all refugee and asylum-seeker households with protection counselling and advice, extend basic assistance to refugees and enrol primary school-aged refugee children in primary education.

For information about our work in Sri Lanka:
The decree shall come into force on the day of its signing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on a simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to certain categories of Ukrainian citizens.

In particular, such right is given to the citizens of Ukraine who do not hold citizenship (nationality) of another state, as well as to stateless persons who were born and permanently resided in the territories of the occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and left the said territories before March 18, 2014, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents, according to the Kremlin's website.

Read alsoHrymchak: Residents of occupied Donbas who get Russian passports should be deprived of Ukrainian citizenship

In addition, Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons who have a temporary residence permit or residence permit in the Russian Federation, a refugee certificate, a certificate of temporary asylum in the territory of Russia may also obtain Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure.

The decree also applies to persons who have a certificate of a participant in the state program to assist the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad to Russia, and who permanently resided in the territories of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as of April 7, 2014, and April 27, 2014, respectively, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents.

Moreover, Russian citizenship may be granted, under the expedited procedures, to foreign citizens and stateless persons, who or whose relatives in the direct ascending line, adoptive parents or spouses were illegally deported from the territory of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as their relatives in the direct descending line, adoptive children and spouses.

Read alsoUkraine preparing new anti-Russian sanctions over Putin's move on passports in Donbas

At the same time, among the documents that must be submitted by the said categories of Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons to obtain Russian citizenship are "documents confirming the absence of drug addiction and infectious diseases that are dangerous to others," as well as a HIV-negative certificate.

However, persons who have a temporary residence permit or residence permit in the Russian Federation, a refugee certificate, a certificate of temporary asylum in the Russian territory, as well as a certificate of a participant in the state program to assist the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad are not required to submit these documents.

The decree also stipulates that the period of consideration of applications to acquire Russian citizenship must not exceed three months.

The decree shall come into force on the day of its signing.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 24 signed a decree on the expedited procedure for the issue of Russian passports to residents of temporarily occupied Donbas. On April 27, Putin said Russia could simplify the procedure for granting Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians  not only to those who reside in Russia-occupied districts in the east of Ukraine.

On April 29, a center opened in the town of Novoshakhtinsk in Rostov Oblast to issue Russian passports to residents of Russia-occupied districts in Ukraine's Luhansk region.

On April 30, a center opened in the village of Pokrovskoye in Rostov Oblast's Neklinovsky district to issue Russian passports to residents of Russia-occupied districts in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
Two invaders were killed and another three were wounded on Tuesday, intelligence reports say.

Russia's hybrid military forces in the past 24 hours mounted 13 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as killed in action and another one as wounded in action.

"Russian proxy forces 13 times attacked Ukrainian positions, including two times using 120mm and 82mm mortars proscribed by the Minsk Agreements," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update published on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on May 1, 2019.

Read alsoRussian command accelerates rotation of military units in occupied Donbas  intel

In particular, 11 attacks were reported in the Skhid (East) sector, were militants fired at Ukrainian positions from 82mm mortars, heavy machine guns, and small arms near the village of Pavlopil; from antitank missile system and small arms  outside the village of Talakivka; from grenade launches of various systems  near the village of Pisky, from heavy machine guns, small arms and grenade launches of various systems (four times)  near the village of Lebedynske, from tripod-mounted man-portable antitank guns, heavy machine guns, and small arms  near the village of Opytne, from automatic grenade launchers and large caliber machine guns  near the village of Shyrokyne; and from heavy machine guns, small arms and automatic grenade launchers (twice) on the outskirts of Maryinka.

Another two attacks were reported in the Pivnich (North) sector near the village of Troyitske (120mm mortars) and the village of Luhanske (heavy machine guns).

According to intelligence reports, two invaders were killed and another three were wounded.

Since Wednesday midnight, Russia-led forces have already mounted two attacks in the Skhid sector: large-caliber machine guns were used outside Lebedynske, while the enemy opened fire from small arms near the village of Hranitne.
The situation in the area of the Joint Forces Operation remains under control of Ukrainian troops.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted six attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas on May 1, with two Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action.

Read alsoJFO: One Ukrainian soldier killed, one wounded in Donbas in past day

"Russian-occupation forces fired at positions of JF units using 120mm and 82mm mortars, tripod-mounted man-portable antitank guns, heavy machine guns, and small arms," the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an evening update on Wednesday.

In particular, all attacks were reported in the Skhid (East) sector: 120mm and 82mm mortars were used twice to attack the village of Pisky; fire from tripod-mounted man-portable antitank guns was opened near the village of Novotroyitske; Ukrainian positions near the villages of Lebedynske and Mykolaivka came under fire (twice) from small arms and large-caliber machine guns; and those near the village of Hranitne were attacked from small arms, the report said.

"To hostile provocations, Joint Forces units gave an adequate response. Reports on enemy losses are being verified," the press center added.

The situation in the area of the Joint Forces Operation remains under control of Ukrainian troops.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on April 30, Russian occupation forces violated the ceasefire in Donbas 13 times, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as killed in action, and another one as wounded in action.
He was headed for Havana, the secretary of state said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that acting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been preparing to go into exile in Cuba earlier in the day, but was convinced by Russia to stay in Venezuela.

"He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it, and the Russians indicated that he should stay," he said without mentioning who had provided the information, according to DW.

"He was headed for Havana."

Read alsoU.S. says Russia's meddling in Venezuela "fundamental" (Video)

The comments came after opposition supporters and government security forces clashed in Caracas in the wake of self-declared President Juan Guaido's call for the military to oust Maduro.

The secretary of state said he could not reveal how the U.S. obtained that information, but that Washington was talking to "scores and scores of people on the ground."

In turn, spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that Pompeo's claim was false, telling CNN, "Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war."

On late Tuesday, Maduro denied any intention of having planned to flee to Cuba.

"Mike Pompeo said that ... Maduro had a plane ready to take him to Cuba but the Russians prevented him from leaving the country. Mister Pompeo, please, this really is a joke," Maduro said.

On the evening of April 30, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an order prohibiting U.S. air operators from flying below 26,000 feet in Venezuela's airspace until further notice, citing "increasing political instability and tensions," according to Reuters.

The FAA notice said any air operators currently in Venezuela, which would include private jets, should depart within 48 hours.

As reported, a man died in clashes in the central state of Aragua. Another 69 people were injured, including two with bullet wounds, during clashes between demonstrators and security forces.

At least 25 people were detained Tuesday, according to Foro Penal, a local non-governmental organization.
More than 7,400 police are deployed in the French capital.

French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters as tens of thousands of people started marching in Paris Wednesday for May Day rallies under tight security. More than 200 arrests were made.

Riot police repeatedly used tear gas and sting grenades to try to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station for the main protest. It wasn't immediately clear how many people were injured. At least two men with head wounds were helped away from the scene by paramedics, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Associated Press reporters saw groups of hooded, black-clad people shouting anti-police slogans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or waving union flags.

Read alsoParis says "yellow vests" movement supported from beyond France

Some threw rocks and other objects at police officers, attacked a parked van in a nearby street, kicking the vehicle and breaking its windows.

Paris police said 55 people were arrested in the Montparnasse area, out of a total of more than 200 arrests on May Day. Officers also carried out more than 12,500 "preventive searches" of bags.

Philippe Martinez, secretary general of one of France's major trade unions, the General Confederation of Labor (the CGT), temporarily left the march for security reasons during the scuffles between some protesters and police.

Eventually, a vast majority of peaceful protesters started marching through the streets of Paris. They were heading toward Place d'Italie in southern Paris.

Some posters read "long live freedom, long live socialism" and "police, gendarmes, join us."

Far-left politician Eric Coquerel, member of France Insoumise ("Rebel France") said "violence is unfortunately often playing against protesters ... That's the number of protesters that will be more efficient."

French authorities have warned "radical activists" may join the Paris demonstration and renew scenes of violence that marked previous yellow vest protests and May Day demonstrations in the past two years.

More than 7,400 police are deployed in the French capital.

French police ordered the closure of more than 580 shops, restaurants and cafes on the Paris protest route and numerous subway stations were shut.

Yellow vests have joined the traditional May Day union march to show their common rejection of President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, seen as favoring the wealthier and the big businesses.

Authorities are particularly wary of the black-clad, masked and hooded extremists who have joined recent protests with the express goal of attacking police and damaging property. They often target symbols of capitalism or globalization, and turned out in the hundreds at last year's May Day protest.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Tropical cyclone Fani, first of this season, has not just kept the weather experts guessing but also left forecasting agencies engaged. National forecaster IMD has maintained that the storm, carrying wind speed of 185 km per hour, will cross the coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali with the landfall point expected closer to Puri.

However, the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JTWC) has been changing the projected path. On Tuesday afternoon, it had predicted the extremely severe cyclonic storm to cross the land near Puri and pass through the coastal pockets of Kendrapara and Bhadrak further north.

However, by evening, the projected course of the cyclone was changed. The JTWC shows the projected path over Chilika, closer to Krushnaprasad block in Puri district, heading into the land and then moving in a north-north-east direction towards Ganjam, Nayagarh, Khurda, Cuttack and further north.

These two paths have different implications. The earlier projected landfall near Puri would mean the storm will carry wind speed of 180 km with gusts reaching 205 km per hour. However, if it moves into the land over Chilika, the obstructions on the land may weaken it as well as the gale speed to about 120-150 km per hour. Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi also informed about the slightly changed course as predicted by the US agency.

Eminent weather scientist Eric Holthaus quoted the JTWC prediction and said, the latest models still show cyclone Fani strengthening to Category 4 just before landfall. The landfall location has shifted westward in the last 12 hours, reducing the risk to Bangladesh but increasing the risk to Andhra Pradesh, he tweeted.

However, Director of Centre of Environment and Climate (CEC), Bhubaneswar, Sarat Chandra Sahu said the JTWC prediction has been slightly off the mark given the frequent change in the course of the tropical storm.
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By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: Gradually gathering strength, tropical cyclone Fani tracked north-northwestwards over the Bay of Bengal for a May 3 brush with Odisha. If its current speed and intensity are any indication, it would cross the coast closer to Puri and move along the coast.

ALSO READ| Coastal Odisha readies as Fani threat looms large

As it packed power, the Odisha Government alerted all districts while issuing special instructions to 14 coastal and interior districts to remain vigilant. Evacuation of the elderly, women, children and physically challenged to cyclone shelters would commence from May 2 from the coastal districts. While the Centre pushed at least 28 NDRF teams, including 10 from outside the State, the Odisha

Government started deploying 20 ODRAF units for rescue and relief operations. It has also sought two helicopters from the Centre to assist in the post-calamity operations.

ALSO READ| Fani course towards Odisha keeps MET experts and agencies busy

Fani, now an extremely severe cyclonic storm, is expected to intensify further and may make landfall between Gopalpur and Chandbali on May 3 afternoon, Director, India Meteorological Department, Odisha HR Biswas said.

The storm will move northwestwards till May 1 and recurve north-northeastwards to hit Odisha coast with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph and gusting upto 200 kmph, Biswas said. Storm surge of around 1.5 metre height is likely to inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts at the time of landfall.

ALSO READ| Tamil Nadu Weatherman shares interesting updates on Cyclone Fani

The peculiarity of Fani, according to meteorologists, is its track which lay closer to the coast all along its path. Unlike in the past when cyclones would head into the land and weaken, Fani is expected to track alongside the coast from Puri towards Mayurbhanj. It would get enough moisture support from the sea while the existing hot and dry conditions on the land would be favourable. Thats why it does not appear to be losing intensity after making the landfall, Director of Centre for Environment and Climate of SOA University Dr Sarat Chandra Sahu said. Besides, the summer conditions may also cause strong thunderstorm activities.

Currently, the storm lay centred over southwest and adjoining westcentral and southeast of Bay of Bengal about 760 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha and 560 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, moving at a speed of 21 kmph since last six hours.

ALSO READ| Centre release of Rs 1,086 crore to Odisha, TN, WB, AP as advance assistance

According to the IMD, the storm will induce heavy rainfall in south Odisha and south-interior Odisha on May 2 and coastal Odisha and adjoining districts on May 3 and 4.

It has already issued orange alert for Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts on May 2 and red warning for 25 districts including Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Puri, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Kendrapara, Balasore and Angul on May 3. In view of the rough sea conditions during next 72 hours, the IMD has also advised fishermen those who are out in deep sea areas to return to coast by May 1.

ALSO READ| Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation on toes for cyclone onslaught

On Tuesday, the Government prepared its evacuation plan and sought two helicopters from the Centre to carry out evacuation and rescue operation in the affected areas. Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said the Government is prepared to deal with any eventuality. The NDMA and ODRAF teams have been asked to remain prepared while district administrations have also been alerted.
The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) - the Syrian Democratic Forces' (SDF) political wing, would like to meet with the government of President Bashar Assad for talks on the settlement of the ongoing conflict in Syria, SDC Representative to the United States and Member of Presidential Committee Bassam Saker told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2019) The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) - the Syrian Democratic Forces' (SDF) political wing, would like to meet with the government of President Bashar Assad for talks on the settlement of the ongoing conflict in Syria , SDC Representative to the United States and Member of Presidential Committee Bassam Saker told Sputnik.

"We want to negotiate with Damascus," Saker said. "We have sent many requests but there is no answer. We hope to meet with them."

Saker explained that the SDC is ready to negotiate with all the interested parties, including Turkey.

In 2016, the Syrian Kurds announced the creation of the Federal region of Rojava, but the Syrian government said the move had no legal basis.

The region was renamed to Democratic Federation of Northern Syria later that year.

In late September 2017, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus was ready to discuss the issue of self-determination for the Syrian Kurds' once the fight against the Islamic State terror group (banned in Russia) was over.
By Express News Service

COIMBATORE: A 37-year-old woman from Negamam in Coimbatore district died after allegedly receiving treatment for abortion at a private Ayurvedic clinic at Vadachittur on Monday. Coimbatore Rural police registered a case against the practitioner. District Health department officials followed up with a raid place and shut down the clinic.

According to the police, S Vanithamani (39) of Mettuvavi village near Negamam was in the fifth month of her pregnancy. She was already mother of five. When she experienced some trouble, the woman approached the Ayurvedic practitioner (a woman) on Sunday evening. The practitioner and her son, who had studied Siddha, reportedly attempted to perform an abortion. After the treatment, Vanithamani is said to have had severe stomach pain and was taken to a government hospital in Pollachi. However, doctors declared her dead on arrival.

Negamam Inspector D Vetrivel Rajan said that the woman, who performed the abortion, was booked under Section 314 (death caused by act done with intent to cause miscarriage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), based on a complaint filed by husband Selvaraj on Monday. However, the Ayurvedic practitioner has gone missing and police are on the lookout, he added.

The body of the woman has been sent to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem.

Later, officials of the Health Department raided the clinic run by the suspect and shut it down based on the Collectors instructions. It was being run by quacks, who had been charged under a similar case two years ago, noted Deputy Director of Health Services P G Bhanumathi . They have filed a complaint with the district superintendent of police, asking that the case be registered under sections that covered attempt to murder, she added.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The representatives of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the SDF's political wing, are still awaiting their first meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen who was appointed to the position in late October 2018, SDC's US Representative and Member of Presidential Committee Bassam Saker told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2019) The representatives of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the SDF's political wing, are still awaiting their first meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen who was appointed to the position in late October 2018 , SDC's US Representative and Member of Presidential Committee Bassam Saker told Sputnik.

"We did not meet him yet, and we are waiting to meet him. We requested a meeting. He should visit the area and meet us. He met with the regime, with the opposition, but not with us. It is a question why he doesn't meet us," Saker said.

Over the course of the armed conflict in Syria, the United Nations has been providing humanitarian aid to Syria and engaged in talks both with the Syrian government and the opposition Syrian Negotiation Committee.

In 2017, several rounds of negotiations on the Syrian settlement were held in Geneva under the auspices of the organization, however, the two sides to the conflict did not talk directly to each other.

The United Nations has been also helping to draft the list of the Syrian constitutional committee members.
Nick Fang, UTA assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, has spent more than 10 years addressing surface water and groundwater problems.

Researchers from The University of Texas at Arlington are creating a water resources modeling tool that the Trinity River Authority of Texas will use to plan water movement, storage and use.

Nick Fang, a UTA assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, who received a $60,000 TRA grant for the project, will develop the water management and planning tool by using RiverWare, a modeling platform for operational decision-making and long-term planning for water reservoirs, rivers, lakes and watersheds.

Fangs research team received the same funding from TRA to start the project in 2018. The current research to continue developing the tool is funded for 2019.

The TRA, established in 1955 by the Texas Legislature, provides services to more than 60 cities in the Trinity River basin. The basin is a multi-county area with millions of residents that runs from northwest of Dallas-Fort Worth to east of Houston. The TRAs mission is to promote conservation, reclamation, protection and development of the natural resources of the river basin for the benefit of the public.



The work that Dr. Fang and his graduate students are doing for TRA is helping to build the future of water supplies for the Metroplex, said Glenn Clingenpeel, Executive Manager of Planning and Environmental Services at the TRA. Gone are the days of prolific reservoir-building; the future will depend upon smart, multi-agency optimization of existing supplies, and that requires a sophisticated understanding of water supply allocations and operations.

Fang said he hopes to assist in developing short- and long-term strategies in water management and planning for the demanding needs caused by the rapid growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Our goal is to make this tool to assist the decision-makers in water authorities like the TRA so that the process will become less of a challenge than in years past, he continued.

In addition to the research endeavors in water resources management and planning for TRA, Fang has previously worked to help Houstons Medical District stay operational through Hurricane Harveys devastating rains with an advanced flood warning system that he developed. He has led a number of other projects encompassing a wide range of expertise, including:

Investigating the impacts from land subsidence and sea level rise on urban flooding for the Galveston-Houston region, through a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Using unmanned aerial vehicles to evaluate seashore erosion.

Producing hydrologic and hydraulic models for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to better cope with changing climate and land use.

Using unmanned aerial vehicles to measure ground moisture and crop growth with a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant.

Conducting in-situ soil moisture and infiltration tests for the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD).

Developing an advanced information dashboard for natural disaster mitigation and recovery planning with a grant from the Texas General Land Office.

The TRA project fits in with two of UTAs strategic plan themes: sustainable urban communities and global environmental impact, said Ali Abolmaali, professor and chair of the Department of Civil Engineering.

Dr. Fang is plugged into so many hydrological projects, Abolmaali said. Water has become the staple by which all development occurs. Without water and properly managing that resource, its difficult to do anything. Dr. Fangs research will continue to gain momentum and funding as long as there is a need for water in Texas.
By Online Desk

Pradeep John aka Tamil Nadu Weatherman has been tracking the moment of Cyclone Fani since the time a depression formed on the Bay of Bengal. Now, Pradeep John has come out with interesting details about Cyclone Fani and the impact it will have on Tamil Nadu in the coming days.

Pradeep John taking to Facebook said, "Fani after staying almost stationary has moved up to 14 N latitude. Will try to catch Fani in its dying stages in North East India in the weekend. Today enjoy the nice weather. The temperature in North TN like Chennai, Vellore, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram is set to increase from the weekend. As dry heat from the Rayalseema will be advected here by the North West winds."

He also stated that there are chances that districts like Salem, Dharmapuri might witness showers. He said, "Today Nilgiris, some north interiors like Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri districts might get rains. Kerala will get pull effect rains too. From tomorrow it will be totally dry in most places."

ALSO READ: Centre release of Rs 1,086 crore to Odisha, TN, WB, AP as advance assistance

On Tuesday, the weatherman had stated that "Monster Cyclone Fani is visible in Radar and its centre is located at around 84.5 E and moving up over Chennai latitude, had it come upto 82.5 E, we would have got very good rains."

Meanwhile, the Odisha government on Wednesday ordered the closure of all educational institutions in the state from May 2 in view of the cyclonic storm 'Fani', which is likely to hit the coast on May 3 afternoon.

"All educational establishments should declare holidays from May 2 till further orders. All the examinations should be rescheduled," said the office of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC).

The SRC also advised tourists to leave Puri by May 2 evening and cancel non-essential travel to the districts likely to be affected on May 3-4.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Fani' was likely to cross between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri, while 11 districts of Odisha were to be affected.

Fani triggers hot weather in Chennai

Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani, which dashed the hopes of bringing good rains in coastal Tamil Nadu, has triggered heat wave-like conditions in Chennai. On Tuesday, Chennai breached 40 degree Celsius for the first time this year and it is going to get worse by the weekend. The only chance for Chennaites to see some rainfall activity would be on Wednesday as the cyclone comes relatively closer to the city before re-curving away towards Odisha coast.

North coastal Andhra braces for Cyclone Fani impact

Cyclone Fani, which has intensified into an extremely severe storm on Tuesday night and will make landfall in Odisha on May 3, is likely to have its impact on Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts.

(With inputs from IANs and ENS)
Members of Trade Union organizations in Argentina take part in Buenos Aires May Day marches (AFP or licensors)

Amongst the Catholic leaders who added their voice of support for workers around the world on May 1st - International Labour Day - are the bishops of Argentina and Uruguay.

By Joachim Teigen

As the world celebrates International Labour Day, Pope Francis concluded his Wednesday catechesis in St. Peters Square by asking St. Joseph, the patron saint of workers, to intercede for those who have lost their jobs and those unable to find work.

Amongst the other Catholic leaders who added their voice of support for workers around the world were the bishops of Argentina and Uruguay.

In their letter to the faithful, the bishops of Argentina reminded them of the fact that Jesus dedicated most of his earthly life to manual labour as a carpenter, thus announcing the Gospel of Work. Human work, they said, is the essential key to resolving social issues, which is why we must fight the plague of unemployment.

The bishops of Uruguay expressed a particular concern for unemployment amongst the youth, and encouraged everyone to continue on the path of seeking better and more just working conditions, stressing that work is more than a source of sustenance. Rather, it is the domain par excellence in which we develop as individuals and communities.

Later in the day, the Pope reiterated his wishes on Twitter, saying:

May St Joseph, the humble workman of Nazareth, direct us toward Christ, support the sacrifice of those who do good, and intercede for those who have lost their job or who are not successful in finding a job.
Six people are dead after an attack on a Protestant church in Burkina Faso on Sunday. Pope Francis has expressed his sorrow and offered prayers for the victims and their families.

Vatican News

Six people died in the attack on a Protestant church in Burkina Faso on Sunday in Silgadji, in the north of the country, just as the Sunday service was concluding. According to security sources, unidentified armed individuals arrived on motorcycles, shooting and killing six people, including the pastor, Pierre Ouedraogo, and two of his sons.

The prayer of Pope Francis

The ad interim Director of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, told Vatican News: "The Holy Father has learned with sorrow the news of a new attack on a church in Burkina Faso and that he is praying for the victims and their families and the entire Christian community in the country.

From tolerance to violence

The West African nation of Burkina Faso has a history of religious tolerance, and this is the first such attack on a place of worship in the country. Around 60% of the population is Muslim, and about 25% is Christian. Episodes of sectarian violence have increased in recent months. Since 2016, over 200 attacks by armed groups on villages, schools and hospitals, have forced thousands of people to abandon their homes. The United Nations estimates that over a million people are now in need of humanitarian aid.


International sensation Gipsy Kings are returning to Las Vegas for a special performance at the Sandbar Stage at Red Rock Resort on Saturday, July 27, 2019 at 8 p.m.. Located poolside at Red Rock Resort, the Sandbar poolside stage is the perfect destination for a concert experience under the stars.

It has been 25 years since the Gipsy Kings captured the worlds imagination with their self-titled debut albuma record that became a genuine phenomenon, certified gold and platinum around the globe, introducing millions of listeners to a unique, irresistible blend of traditional flamenco styles with Western pop and Latin rhythms. Since then, the band has toured virtually non-stop, to the farthest-flung corners of the planet, and sold almost 20 million albums, all the while retaining the same line-up of virtuoso musicians.

Now the Gipsy Kings return with Savor Flamenco, their ninth studio album and first new release in six years. The project marks the first time in their storied career that the Kings have produced themselves and written all of the material. It also starts a relationship between Frances most successful musical group of all time and a new label, Knitting Factory Records.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: In an unexpected turn of events, irate villagers set fire to a thatched shelter in front of the house of one M Srinivasa Reddy on Tuesday, suspecting him to be responsible for the serial killings of three teenage girls  Kalpana, Maneesha and Shravani  from Hazipur before raping them in Bommlaramaram mandal in Yadadri-Bhongir district.

The villagers, who were seething with rage over the heinous act of rape and murder, gathered around his house in the morning and set fire to the thatched front portion, while a few others ransacked articles inside the house, despite the presence of police personnel. They wanted the police to hand over immediate punishment to Srinivasa, who was arrested on Tuesday, and not delay the process by filing a case in court and waiting for a judgment, which could take long.

As the villagers were livid, the police deployed additional forces in the village. Apprehending trouble, the family members of Srinivasa Reddy fled in the morning itself.

The police retrieved two bodies from an abandoned 50-feet-deep agricultural well in the village and are now looking for vestiges of the first girl, Kalpana, who went missing four years ago, in the same well. The second girl  Maneesha  was missing for the last two months, and the third girl - Shravani - was reported missing for the last few days. The police said Srinivasa had raped them before killing them.

Kalpana, who was from Mysireddypall in the same mandal, went missing while returning from a visit to her grandmother in Hazipur about four years ago. The police, after investigating the case for some time, lost interest as they could not get any clues about what happened to her.

The irate villagers also accused the police of negligence in investigating Kalpana disappearance.

Rachakonda CP Mahesh Bhagwat said they had evidence that Srinivasa had raped and murdered the three girls, apart from killing a sex worker in AP in 2016. After an argument with the woman in his penthouse, he and his friends, killed and threw her body into the overhead tank


The Welcome to Las Vegas sign is 60 & Still Lit! In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign on Las Vegas Boulevard, Marshall Retail Groups Welcome to Las Vegas Gift Shops, are honoring the landmark with an abundant selection of Welcome to Las Vegas-branded keepsakes.

Eleven participating Welcome to Las Vegas stores are commemorating the month-long celebration with anniversary items including T-shirts, footwear, coffee mugs, souvenirs, and more. Among the collection are a select number of authenticated lightbulbs taken straight from the sign for visitors to take home for themselves. The limited-edition lightbulbs will be sold during the duration of the celebration at each participating store.

The flagship Welcome to Las Vegas location at The Forum Shops at Caesars is home to one of the best selfie spots in the city, featuring one of the largest replicas of the original Welcome to Las Vegas sign at 80 percent of the size of the Las Vegas landmark. As one of the most photographed locations in the world, the tourist attraction has inspired the store design, creating a strong brand presence that is represented on a broad assortment of merchandise inside the store.

Were so proud to be a part of our citys rich history and align our brand with something so well-known and loved like the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, said Michael C. Wilkins, CEO of Marshall Retail Group.

Participating Welcome to Las Vegas locations include Ballys Las Vegas, Excalibur Hotel & Casino, Fashion Show Mall, The Forum Shops at Caesars, The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Las Vegas & The Palazzo, The LINQ Promenade, Mandalay Bay, McCarran International Airport, and Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

Marshall Retail Group and Welcome to Las Vegas stores are encouraging members of the community to engage in the momentous celebration via social media. From Wednesday, May 1 through Tuesday, May 7, followers may post their most memorable moments at the signature sign with hashtags #WTLV and #WTLV60th.

One user photo will be selected to win a $1,000 gift card from Marshall Retail Group to redeem at any of the firms retail locations. The winner will be announced at noon on Thursday, May 9 on the Welcome to Las Vegas Facebook page. Terms and conditions apply. Visit http://marshallretailgroup.com/60th-anniversary-facebook-contest-rules/ for more information and contest rules.
There is another condition that if we want to send through ship, the minimum quantity should be around 10 tonnes vegetables or fruits but whereas if it is through air, they will accept 100 kg, 200 kg or 500 kg. as the case may be. Nowadays containers with freezer facilities have come into being and hence commodities are safely despatched. If we want to send a container with this freezer facility to Singapore, it would easily cost Rs. 1 L for about 15 tonnes. The cost will be different for different countries. Care must be taken to send directly to the final destination if it is through sea. We should not send through transhipment method that is through more than one destination. . For example, Brunie has lot of demand for vegetables but there is a practical difficulty in sending it for want of direct ship service. This problem still persists.
Privately-owned enterprises are ahead of the pack in state revenue contributions, Photo: Le Toan

After nearly 20 years since opening his rice shop, Dang Dinh Kien last May decided to turn the shop into a company specialised in trading rice, selling to restaurants and people in Hanoi.

We have been expanding production and business by securing new rice suppliers from the Mekong Delta, Kien told VIR. We currently have two rice processing facilities at Hanois Quang Minh industrial park, and the companys total investment capital stands at about VND50 billion ($2.17 million).

According to Kien, since the shop was developed into Hoang Ngoc Trading JSC, they have been finding it easier to do business because the company now has a registered stamp and invoices to sign contracts with customers.

Previously, I had never thought about opening a company, but business conditions have significantly improved, Kien said.

Hoang Ngoc Trading was among nearly 131,000 newly-established enterprises last year with the total registered capital of VND1,478 trillion ($64.26 billion), up 3.5 and 14.1 per cent against 2017.

Also in 2018, operating enterprises added VND2,409 trillion ($104.74 billion) to their business, raising total capital in the economy to $168.6 billion. Besides, 34,010 enterprises resumed operations, up 28.6 per cent on-year.

In the first quarter of 2019, Vietnam saw 28,451 newly-established enterprises, registered at VND375.5 trillion ($16.33 billion), up 6.2 per cent in the number of enterprises and 34.8 per cent in capital on-year.

According to the Party Central Committees Economic Commission, these impressive figures show that private-owned enterprises (POEs) in Vietnam are growing strongly, with their confidence improved significantly.

The private economic sector has become an important propellant of the socialist-oriented market economy, said a commission report on the results from the implementation of Resolution No.10-NQ/TW.

Source: The Party Central Committees Economic Commission

Great contributions

The Economic Commission reported that since Resolution 10, the Vietnamese private economic sector has been developing by leaps and bounds. Specifically, as of June 30, 2018, Vietnam had more than 670,900 operational POEs.

Total investment ratio by POEs in the economys total development investment has kept increasing, from 38.7 per cent in 2015 to 38.9 per cent in 2016, 40.6 per cent in 2017, and 43.3 per cent last year.

The private economic sector has contributed remarkably to GDP, at 43.22 per cent in 2015, 42.56 per cent in 2016, and 41.74 per cent in 2017. It also accounts for 30 per cent of Vietnams industrial production value, nearly 80 per cent of total retail and service revenue, and 64 per cent of total transported goods.

Commending the role of the private sector, Nguyen Dinh Thang, chairman of LienVietPostBank, said that the governments efforts to spur private enterprises over the past few years have helped further strengthen the major role of these enterprises.

It is expected that Vietnam will grow 7 per cent this year. However, if the government issues more favourable conditions for enterprises to develop, such as cutting taxes and business conditions, the private economic sector will be able to help drive ther growth rate further, and make even bigger contributions to national development, Thang said.

For example, if corporate income tax is reduced, the number of private firms will rise to one million by 2020, 1.5 million by 2025, and over two million by 2030, he continued. It is expected that the private sector will hold 50 per cent of the GDP in 2020 and 60-65 per cent of the GDP in 2030.

Vietnams ranking in the World Banks annual Doing Business survey surged to 69th in the world this year, from 99th in 2013, with strong gains in contract enforcement and regulatory environment. The countrys per capita income increased to an estimated $2,572 in 2018 from approximately $1,754 in 2012.

Vietnams competitiveness index increased from 56th out of 140 nations surveyed by the World Bank to 55th out of 137 nations in 2017.

It is clear that Vietnams investment and business climate has been gradually improved, contributing to macroeconomic stability and economic development, said the Economic Commissions vice head Cao Duc Phat.

Newly-established enterprises have been increasing both in number and registered capital. The number of enterprises hit 655,000 by late 2017 and 730,000 by late 2018.

The number of POEs has been strongly ascending and the private economic sector has been growing in scale, while playing an increasingly important role in socio-economic development and international integration, Phat stressed. This has affirmed that the implementation of Resolution 10 has led to positive results, especially the enhancement of POEs confidence in the policies of the Party and the state.

A rise in revenue

After nearly two years of being implemented, the resolution has driven the private economic sector forward to make increasingly positive contributions to economic growth and the state coffers. Specifically, according to the Economic Commission, the states budgetary revenue from domestic POEs has been climbing at an average 15 per cent per annum, which is twice as high as that created by foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). Meanwhile, the state budget revenue from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has been decreasing strongly (see box).

The governments efforts to boost the startup movement and improve the local investment and business climate have created laudable initial results, Phat said.

Last year was the first time ever that POEs overtook FIEs and SOEs in state revenue contribution. These signals reflect the growth in scale and effectiveness of the private economic sector. POEs now also play a larger role in strengthening the national financial situation.

In the case of Hoang Ngoc Trading, for example, Kien said that since last May, the companys revenue has increased 20 per cent against the time the company remained a small shop.

Boosting reform needed

According to Ousmane Dione, the World Banks country director for Vietnam, government reform programmes are going in the right direction, and Resosolution 10 has created bigger spaces for the private economic sector to play. However, he stressed that more reforms would be needed. If these reform programmes are sequenced and implemented effectively, they would open many positive opportunities for Vietnam, he told VIR.

Firstly, they would help the country consolidate and enhance macroeconomic stability as well as resilience amid the fast-changing and volatile global conditions. Secondly, reforms would help Vietnam improve the quality of its economic development and lift productivity growth. This is critical for the countrys long-term sustainable growth.

Ousmane added, Lastly, I would expect an opportunity for Vietnam to benefit much more from international integration, not only in economic terms, but also through skills and technological transfers and spill-over, as well as improvements in governance.

Raymond Mallon, an Australian senior economist who has spent decades studying Vietnams economic situation, told VIR, Administrative simplification in Vietnam has reached a defining moment. If successfully applied, the reductions of sub-licences can encourage enterprises to engage more in the market and create healthy competition among enterprises. They will help foster economic growth via the improvement of labour productivity, curb corruption, and also help create a more level playing field for all enterprises.

Businesspeople like Kien from Hoang Ngoc Trading hopes the government will continue boosting reforms so that they can grow further in the country. We are planning to construct our third rice processing facility later this year. I hope that conditions will continue becoming more favourable, Kien said.

Thang from LienVietPostBank said that the government needs to create a level playing field for all enterprises of all economic sectors in order to play fairly. A favourable legal framework is one of the most important issues now, he said. This will enable enterprises to develop.
Nguyen Tuan Hong Phuc, director of Customer & Operations and Digital Consulting at KPMG in Vietnam

Can you describe what digital means to you from a corporate perspective?

Digital is not a thing, but a word that describes the world we live in today. Advancements in technologies have blurred the lines between the physical and virtual, which led to the emergence of digital disruptors. Most of these disruptors are trying to solve a pain point or multiple pain points within a business or sector and can bring a lot of value to organisations when applied correctly. Value could be new customers, new markets, new experiences or new business models.

A lot of business leaders talk about how they want to adopt digital, or they want Industry 4.0 for their business, and in the process get sidetracked by the latest digital innovations. When Im having a conversation with these leaders, I normally ask the same question to them that you asked me. Normally, this leads to a conversation about improving performance, whether its reducing costs, improving the customer experience, generating new revenue streams, or simply keeping up with competition.

Every conversation about digital should start with a desired business outcome. You need to first understand the pain points across your value chain, and how these are impacting on the performance of your business - then you can start to leverage digital technologies to enable the outcome that you are looking for.

How should companies in Vietnam embrace digital in their business?

Many companies in Vietnam are now actively seeking to leverage digital technology. This is great, but most still dont have the foundations in place to truly make a success of their digital initiatives. The vast majority of businesses still lack maturity across many of their primary business functions. Its important to get this foundation of people, process, and core technology in place first and actively drive a business awareness of its position and strategy relating to digital.

Once this foundation and understanding is in place, a business can move forward by applying digital technologies where performance pain points exist. If you look at the digital technologies available today most enable frictionless processes, such as blockchain or robotics, or effortless decision making, such as artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things. Process management is normally easy to understand, but decision management is not. Thats where the true potential lies for digital, because the real power is in the data.

If you consider a company like Grab, besides having a great technology that disrupted the transportation market in Vietnam, it also has a lot of customer data that gives it great insight into its customer behaviours. That data is very powerful when you know how to monetize it.

So, once the basic foundations are in place, a business needs to embark on a digital transformation journey. This typically begins by developing a digital roadmap which articulates the digital technologies that are relevant for the business, how and when they should be adopted, and the benefits that they will bring as and when they are deployed (see box).

So what are the practical steps to build this digital roadmap?

Historically, companies have built transformation roadmaps with an inside-out view. This means that the thoughts and views are solicited purely from within the organisation with little recourse to an external view. Now, in this digital world, where customers take centre stage, companies have to build a digital roadmap with an outside-in view.

This means, as well as understanding their own internal capabilities, a business needs to actively seek the opinions of their customers to better understand the experience that they are delivering. Through this process the pain points, as perceived by the customer as opposed to the business, can be truly understood and a digital strategy designed to address them. This design thinking approach is common when it comes to digital transformation as the customer experience must be at the forefront.

Can you give us a short preview on what to expect for your upcoming Digital Summit?

KPMG Vietnam will be hosting a Digital Summit on June 12 together with a large ecosystem of digital and technology partners to showcase what a digital world looks like, how it will impact businesses, and how businesses can more effectively adopt digital technologies to stay relevant for many years to come.

At the event we will address the fear of most chief executives, which is digital disruption. We will give our point of view regarding the digital horizon and the key technologies we believe will most disrupt the Vietnamese market. We will also bring digital technologies from KPMG as well as our partner ecosystem to showcase some of the solutions now available.

We will cover front, middle, and back office solutions and focus on many key functional areas such as enterprise applications, customer experience, procurement, HR management, and last but not least, technology risk and cybersecurity.

Scan the QR code to learn about this exclusive digital event or click here.
Professor Phan Van Truong, former commercial advisor for the French government

What can the country do to turn itself into a powerful one in the near future?

In order to realise this dream that many have, Vietnam must have a good climate for people to enhance their creativity, development, and investment. However, this can only be created when ministries and relevant agencies act in concert without central order and instructions, when localities work with the central agencies and other localities, and when people remain united voluntarily. For example, if we buy a metro system, we will link the purchase with a study programme of transport-related universities and tramcar producing workshops. The co-operation will help us develop metro technology.

Can we do that? Yes, we can. Its important to note that almost all overseas Vietnamese students have been successful when they engage themselves in foreign technological ecosystems. However, in Vietnam, state-owned enterprises fail to create ecosystems for development. Students and pupils cannot find any ecosystem for their studies and development.

While the US, Japan, and South Korea have their own private groups as national symbols, this is not the case for Vietnam. How can we create national-level symbolic enterprises, especially in the 4.0 era?

It is high time the government seriously to look at a policy to shift investment out of the property sector, which creates little value to the economy, and focus more on technological sectors. If Vietnam invests VND100 trillion ($4.34 billion) into startups, we will be able to create opportunities for 100,000 startups. About 1,000 out of these startups would succeed, including 100 big startups. Of those, 20 could make historical turning points.

That sum of money is much smaller than the money that has been invested into the property sector. Vietnam needs to have 100 big startups, and subsequently the potential for 20 breakthrough ones.

Currently big Vietnamese groups are largely well managed, but very few of them have good governance. We lack good leaders with long-term vision, knowledge, and who embodies a personal culture.

You have experience in leading many global enterprises and providing consultancy for Vietnamese enterprises. What strong points can you see in Vietnamese businesses, and what currently locks them from further growth?

We should have a mindset of always comparing ourselves with global rivals. We shouldnt stay at home and rest on our laurels. Recently there have been some bright examples, such as VinFast or the co-operation between FPT Software and Airbus.

But we see that there are very few Vietnamese enterprises that have a global mindset. I think that Vietnam has great potential for agricultural development, but domestic agricultural firms have no mindset of becoming global firms in the agricultural sector.

We should never forget that global billionaires such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg used to be students that quit their universities. They created their own firms with little money. Thats a big lesson for enterprises.

We have the ability to create startups, but few people have a mindset of supporting them. Currently I can see such a mindset in Vingroup and some other businesses.

Many young people are interested in startup development here, but only few are successful. What opportunities can you see for them to develop?

Major enterprises should earmark just 1 per cent of their profit for supporting young startups. They should remember that this must be a core in their business strategies. They should trust young people here and create an ecosystem full of Vietnamese characteristics.

What message can you give to young Vietnamese talent, the drivers of the countrys future development?

I have already met with about 10,000 young people hailing from different sectors and localities. They have passion, enthusiasm, and creativity, but they need to be led by successful startup people. They need to rely on successfully-developing ecosystems, and devote themselves to them and enhance their creativity.

We have witnessed debates that the Vietnamese educational sector has yet to encourage enthusiastic and creative people to engage in startups. They should continue enhancing their team spirit and enrich their knowledge, and should be sent abroad to work with young overseas equivalents. If we do that, we will soon be successful in creating a strong startup ecosystem for Vietnam.

It can be hard to develop a startup. If 1,000 startups are established, only several companies are successful, and this is true everywhere. The US witnesses the shutdown of hundreds of thousands of such creations every year.

Thus we must create a big startup movement across the nation, with hundreds of thousands of companies needing to be developed.

Thats why we are required to create a sound ecosystem for such development, in which I think agricultural startup needs to be developed first because agriculture will continue functioning as the mainstay of the countrys economic development.

However, it is noted that a startup ecosystem can be created only when transparency emerges in administrative procedures, legal regulations, and finance. The ecosystem must come from a synchronous combination among ministries and agencies that can solve difficulties. We shouldnt develop such an ecosystem through pompous words and ineffective policies.
Trinh Duc Chieu, deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Managements Department for Enterprise Reform and Development

The government has enacted an action plan on developing the private sector to become a key driver of the socialist-oriented market economy. How is this progress of implementation?

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has so far outlined a number of tasks set out in Decision No.209/QD-BKHDT dated February 26, 2018 on implementing the governments Resolution No.98/NQ-CP dated October 2017 on implementing Resolution No.10-NQ/TW enacted in June 2017 by the fifth plenary of the 12th Party Central Committee on developing Vietnamese private sector into an important impetus of the socialist-oriented market economy. Specifically, the MPI has drafted decrees guiding the implementation of the Law on Supporting Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and submitted them to the government for issuance.

The MPI also joined the drafting of Decree No.34/2018/ND-CP dated March 8, 2018 on establishment and operation of credit guarantee funds for SMEs to facilitate higher chances for them to get credit for production and business. It also drafted Decree No.108/2018/ND-CP dated August 2018 on amendments to Decree No.78/2015/ND-CP dated September 2015 on business registration.

Importantly, the MPI is completing draft amendments to the Law on Investment 2014 and the Law on Enterprises 2014 after sending them to the National Assembly Standing Committee for comments. Thus far, the ministry has helped remove many unnecessary business conditions.

In 2018, the majority of ministries and agencies have finished building decrees on business conditions. The Ministry of Information and Communications is highlighted with removal of business conditions in printing activities, while the Ministry of Construction simplifies them in construction management.

Although the majority of tasks set out in Decision 209 have been implemented and some completed, others have failed to meet the schedule, while yet more have not been performed in an effective manner.

Decision 209 has been issued for over a year. How have private businesses benefitted from the changes in the policies?

One of the highlights in the recent alterations of private investment attraction policies is the continuous improvements and positive assessments from international organisations, with the business climate ranking in 2018 improving 13 notches from 2016. Strong determination and bold moves from the government and its agencies are attributed to the positive result.

The MPI is establishing the National Innovation Centre based on the master-plan approved by the prime minister, aiming to encourage the private sector to join innovation activities.

In 2018, ministries and government agencies cut 6,776 out of 9,956 administrative procedures related to specialised inspections, and remove 3,346 out of 6,191 business conditions, thus helping businesses save VND6.27 trillion ($272.6 million).

Thanks to the new supporting policies, the private sector has developed strongly, annually holding nearly 40 per cent of the countrys GDP, and creating 84 per cent of Vietnams total employment. The private sector has become an increasingly important driver of the economy. Domestic private investment in 2018 rose 18.5 per cent on-year, accounting for 43.3 per cent of the countrys total investment, while foreign direct investment hiked 9.6 per cent and made up 23.4 per cent of the countrys total investment.

Especially, the private sector has seen strong development of some corporations in business scale and financial capacity. Last year also marked the first time the country has had domestic private companies named among the 10 most powerful businesses in Vietnam, with Vingroup ranking sixth.

The private sector is yet to develop fully due to particular barriers. What should the government focus on to further leverage more private investment in the economy?

Despite improvements, the quality of business condition removal is yet to meet the requirement of 50 per cent set by the government. Although some have been removed and amended, they fail to facilitate business activities. For example, some are integrated into technical regulations. In other cases, the amendment of business conditions even causes more difficulties and risks for private businesses.

Besides, specialised inspections reform proved less effective than expected. Inconsistency and overlapping in specialised inspections and management remain, thus hindering business activities.

To create favourable conditions for private companies, the government should continue to focus on the completion of a legal framework on tax, environment, land, labour, and salaries in a transparent and feasible manner.

Furthermore, it is important to take measures to implement SME-supporting policies, with a focus on innovations, and increasing access to financial resources, while encouraging links between powerful enterprises and SMEs, developing the value chain and manufacturing network to help SMEs increase access to the value chain and manufacturing network.

The government should also boost the restructuring of state-owned enterprises in an effective manner to create opportunities for the private sector to further develop.
Industry 4.0 strategy creation

According to a joint survey conducted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the United Nations Development Programme in 2017 and 2018, Vietnamese industrial enterprises level of preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) remains at a low level.

While the majority of companies are now at the starting point of a road to the digital-based approach of the future, in the list of 100 nations surveyed, Vietnam remains in a group that have yet to make sufficient preparations for the impending era of Industry 4.0.

These findings echo those of the Readiness for The Future of Production Report, released by the World Economic Forum in 2018. Vietnams ability to approach Industry 4.0 has been, and continues to be, hampered by a series of basic issues.

The first of these is the limited capacity for digitalising and connecting data within enterprises, among enterprises, and between enterprises and their partners. This has led to a very low rate of only 2 per cent of businesses that conduct self-operation and self-governance, featuring only 11-12 per cent in some sections of those businesses.

The second issue is that very few companies in Vietnam have access to smart products, which are those that are integrated with functions of IT and digital technology, offering services like localisation, self-reporting, and automatic self-identification. Smart products help companies to collect data from the use of their services and provide insight on how their customers shop, all of which can help boost sales of products and facilitate the development of new business services and models.

Similarly, only about 5 per cent of enterprises have models on data-based corporate governance. For example, the application rate of systems regarding supply chain management, product lifespan management, production planning system, and product data management is also low, at merely 2-3 per cent for all surveyed enterprises.

The final barrier is that the rate of industrial businesses that apply technologies, such as 3D printing, television wave-based identification, and Big Data related to Industry 4.0, is also at a very poor 2 per cent. The rate of those that utilise Artificial Intelligence and real-time location is about 3 per cent.

The survey also showed that 22 per cent of enterprises use data storing services, while merely 5 per cent employ data analysis services.

Businesses are being encouraged to focus on developing smart products and data collection to help understand customers on a deeper level, Photo: Dung Minh

Seeking for solutions

Industry 4.0 has been creating immense challenges for companies to keep themselves afloat amid fierce competition. It forces them to quickly invent digital solutions in order to improve their competitiveness and capacity. In the short term, enterprises are advised to focus on many things for the upcoming era of Industry 4.0.

First, they need to create their own development strategy based on the foundations of Industry 4.0. This strategy must be new, flexible, and able to help businesses adapt to changes, as continual adaption is a huge part of successful businesses long-term development strategies.

Along with this, businesses need to start considering science and technology an integral part of their investment plans and utilise them to their full potential. Results from the survey have shown that up to 44 per cent of Vietnamese businesses fail to invest anything in science and technology.

Once their strategies have been developed, businesses need to invest in equipment-to-equipment connection. The critical disadvantage of many companies in Vietnam is that 70 per cent have equipment that cannot be controlled by IT or connected with other equipment types, while 75 per cent of businesses have no single digital technical model.

In addition, companies need to secure smart operation and service development based on data. In order to increase their readiness level, companies have been advised to boost their digital transformation processes and focus on developing smart products with a view to collecting information from sales and customer behaviour. This is also an important foundation for companies to develop data-based services.

In regards to workers, businesses need to prioritise more investment in training and the development of human skills suited to Industry 4.0. There is a necessity for many skills such as data analysis, software usage, and information security and technology. According to the survey, about 76 per cent of workers in businesses are yet to be trained in these skills.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Vietnamese companies cannot barricade against the inevitable tide of Industry 4.0. Instead, they should see it as a great opportunity for the renewal and modernisation of their operations and to improve their competitiveness in the market.

In practice, this is much easier said than done, as close to 97 per cent of Vietnamese businesses are small- and medium-sized and severely hindered in regards to available resources, especially to finance. The vast majority do not possess sufficient funds to invest in foreign-made digital transformation solutions worth millions of US dollars. Thus, domestic businesses in general cannot be expected to create major breakthroughs now.

Instead, the data transformation process and development of smart factories must be conducted step by step, with smart investment into new products and solutions provided by Vietnamese companies.

The new surge

In Industry 4.0, Vietnamese businesses have great opportunities for development thanks to the rapid advance in the global digital economy. These opportunities will go mainly to Vietnamese startups and small- to-medium- sized businesses.

Manufacturing businesses will also have opportunities to improve their production capacity and competitiveness via technological renovation, boosted application of digital technologies, and a gradual shift to a digital economy model.

A wave of Vietnamese startups is surging in the application of IT and digital technology, which was highlighted and praised last year at the Startup Funding Camp, a development programme held on a nationwide scale. This is down to startups use of data-based applications, epitomised by first prize winner bTaskee and its digital app focussing on time-based housework. The second prize was presented to TopCV, which hosts a platform for connecting job opportunities with digital application forms, while the third prize went to CyHome for its digitised system of tenement management and operation.

Industry 4.0 has created major challenges for the development of each nation and its enterprises, yet, challenges can transform into opportunities with appropriate and timely measures. The application of modern technology and an unwavering commitment to renovation and innovation will become decisive factors in the bid for Vietnamese enterprises to become successful in Industry 4.0. All of this will help to boost national development and international integration of such companies as well as Vietnam as a whole.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday said it would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed by the UN on JeM chief Masood Azhar and said it agreed to his listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack were removed from the proposal.

In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations designated Pakistan-based Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal by the US, the UK and France to blacklist him.

The US, the UK and France had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist" in the UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February, just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal also rejected the world body's move as a "victory for India and validation of its stance" as projected by the Indian media.

ALSO READ | All acts of terror, including Pulwama attack, relevant to Azhar's listing: Official sources

"Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world. The UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee listing is governed by clear rules and its decisions are taken through consensus. Pakistan has always advocated the need for respecting these technical rules and has opposed the politicisation of the committee," Faisal said.

He said earlier proposals to list Azhar failed to generate the requisite consensus in the Sanctions Committee as the information did not meet its technical criteria.

READ HERE | 'Better late than never': PM Modi hails UN move to list Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'

"These proposals were aimed at maligning Pakistan and were thus rejected by Pakistan," he said, noting that "the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama".

He also said Pakistan would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed on Azhar.
Vietnam wants to boost enterprises by creating innovative facilities such as the NIC

Soon after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed to speed up the development of the National Innovation Centre (NIC), the Ministry of Planning and Investment has called for investment at an international level through visits to developed countries like Singapore and Germany.

At the first seminar in Singapore to introduce the NIC to the international market, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung received questions about policies for investing in the centre.

According to Minister Dung, innovative entrepreneurs operating in the centre will pay just 50 per cent of personal income tax. They will be supported in training, and consultancy on capital mobilisation, trade management, and marketing by the Vietnamese government. For small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the minister said that those established in five years can register to operate in the centre and be facilitated to commercialise their research results and technology development. They will also enjoy incentives of corporate income tax at the rate of 10 per cent within 30 years. Furthermore, they will also be exempt from import tax for input goods and services in support of research and development activities.

These businesses can register to establish an enterprise without listing business lines and receive a business registration certificate within 24 hours after providing the necessary information for the NIC.

Minister Dung also emphasised that SMEs can receive capital contributions, purchase shares of venture capital funds, foreign angel investors, and be supported by the NIC in administrative procedures related to investment, business, and product and service commercialisation.

Moreover, investors who fund startups operating in the centre will benefit from a 50 per cent tax reduction on transfer of shares and capital contribution if they invest for more than two years.

With such outstanding incentives, the centre will be a model in which enterprises and startups can bring into full play their creativeness and ability, Minister Dung said.

Vu Tuyet, principal at Boston Consulting Group, one of the two consultants for the NIC, told VIR that there are two notable factors that would set the centre apart from what currently exists in Vietnam.

The first is the development of a complete innovative ecosystem, especially with the presence of established big companies and links between those companies with smaller enterprises and startups, said Tuyet. The second is the experimental regulatory environment that allows the piloting of nurturing regulations and policies for new sectors to grow.

According to Nguyen Dinh Cung, director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, the centre is the place to test new institutions, including giving autonomy to the management board with a special governance model. The centres head will be hired and will play a very important role. This person must be truly talented, internationally influential, and be paid an internationally competitive salary, he said.

Cung also noted that the centre is result of the serious learning of lessons from hundreds of innovation centres across the world. These centres include 17 ones in South Korea, which help startups connect with big international and domestic corporations operating in the region like Lotte, LG, Hyundai, Samsung, and SK to take advantage of their resources and experience. Meanwhile, China has established a network of manufacturing centres, a national technological innovation centre, and a network of areas demonstrating innovative ideas. In the Made in China 2025 plan, the government plans to create a national-level network of innovation centres with 15 centres established in 2020 and up to 40 such facilities in 2025.

As one of Asias leading countries in innovation, Singapore has established JTC LaunchPad, a site over six-and-a-half acres which offers a nurturing environment for startups. This environment has helped them have the chance to share and learn from each other through common use of equipment and workshops.

According to Tuyet of Boston Consulting Group, Vietnams NIC places a lot of emphasis on talents which will be the core competitive advantage for Vietnam going forward. There is huge untapped potential of Vietnamese talents who have made their mark in the world, she said. We will provide the best working and living environment in a vibrant community around the NIC, with talents at the centre, and will provide what is required for them to prosper here in their home country, she added.

Being aware of the NIC, foreign groups like German-based Bosch Vietnam and Swedish tech pioneer ABB see new opportunities, confident with their achievements gained over recent years in Vietnam. Bosch Vietnam is now getting to know about the level of foreign investment that could get involved at the centre, while ABB Vietnams priorities in smart factories, smart cities, and digital industry provide competitive advantages and so investment in the NIC is being seriously considered.

According to Ho Duc Hoan, CEO of tech startup Edu2Review, capital is a big challenge to Vietnam private companies. Vietnam hasnt got a single information gate so that startups can find capital easily. Therefore, the NIC, with its incentives, will be a good place for startups to find capital, and share and develop their ideas. Hoan also said that the current procedure of granting investment certificates for foreign-invested enterpirses often takes from five to 10 days. When the procedure is shortened to 24 hours as proposed, it will become a great area of support from the government.

Meanwhile Ho Minh Duc, co-founder of Artificial Intelligence solutions firm VBee, said that startups need financial support. Over the years, due to lack of suitable legislation, we have witnessed a lot of startups move to neighbouring countries. This brain drain wastes Vietnamese talent. He said the mechanism of capital, tax, and business procedures will help attract and keep talent in Vietnam.
Simon Matthews, country manager of ManpowerGroup Vietnam, Thailand, and the Middle East

With some 57.5 million people in the workforce, Vietnam however still faces a serious shortage of talent. According to ManpowerGroups Vietnam Total Workforce Index for 2018, the countrys highly-skilled workforce makes up only 11 per cent of the total, while non-skilled workers account for 40 per cent and medium-skilled up to 49 per cent. All around the world, talent shortage is currently a critical problem. One important reason for this is candidates that lack both necessary technical and soft skills. Notably, the in-demand skills required by employers today are very different from those in the past, while new skills are appearing as quickly as old ones disappear. Thats why people need to be upskilled or reskilled and are required to adapt to the skills revolution.

Being employable today no longer depends on what you know, but rather what you are willing to learn. As long as people have learnability, which is the desire and ability to quickly acquire knowledge and adapt ones skill-sets to remain employable throughout their working life, they will be ready to meet the development demands in the digital age. The Vietnamese workforce is not the exception. By 2022, around 54 per cent of all employees will require significant reskilling and upskilling. Of these, about 35 per cent are expected to require training of up to six months, 9 per cent will take up to a year, and 10 per cent will require additional skills training of more than a year. To win in this revolution, companies need to promote a culture of learning, provide career guidance, and offer focussed upskilling opportunities.

Labour recruitment trend

The ManpowerGroup Skills Revolution 4.0 research, which covered 19,000 employers across 44 countries, said that the demand for tech and digital skills is growing across all functions, yet employers place increasing value on human skills as automation scales and machines prove better at routine tasks. Human or soft skills such as communication, complex problem solving, and analytical thinking really matter in the digital age: they are hard to find and even harder to teach. While 38 per cent of organisations said it is difficult to train in-demand technical skills, 43 per cent said it is even harder to teach the soft skills they need. With abundant yet medium-skilled or under-skilled workforce, employers in Vietnam should apply suitable talent strategies. An effective talent strategy we would recommend to clients is based on the four Bs. These four categories include Build (invest in learning and development), Buy (go to market to attract the talent that cannot be built in-house), Borrow (cultivate communities of talent beyond the organisation), and Bridge (help people to move on or up to new roles inside or outside the organisation).

Due to the serious talent shortage worldwide, to improve the quality of human capital of organisations, most employers are planning to build talent within their organisations. As such, companies are no longer consumers of work, instead they are becoming builders of talent.

One interesting finding from Skills Revolution 4.0 said that only 32 per cent of organisations will use contractors and other forms of alternative work models even though 87 per cent of workers said they are open to this next-generation work. Therefore, human capital should be optimised and put in the right place, depending on the demographics of a country.

Impact from free trade agreements

Under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the workforce mobility among countries will become easier, creating competition between the Vietnamese and foreign workforce. However, this can become a significant drive for the Vietnamese workforce to upskill themselves to win the competition.

These agreements will open the doors for products and services of member countries to enter the Vietnamese market, meaning that businesses and labourers here will have to face stiffening competition in their home market. The challenge is not automation or robots now for Vietnam, but the competition with the workforce from neighbouring countries.

Despite the abundant workforce, the quality of Vietnamese manpower remains a matter of special concern. The countrys labour productivity stands at $4,019, only a third of Thailands at $11,633. English proficiency is another concern as only 5 per cent of the total workforce is proficient in the English language.

Vietnamese workers need to learn to adapt to the future of work. With the opportunities to level up in skills becoming a trend among companies, the local workforce will have chances to improve their performance and quality. As such, I believe these FTAs will bring about positive impacts.

In order to benefit from the huge opportunities arising from these agreements, Vietnamese businesses should invest in a long-term human resources development strategy to equip workers with the necessary skills to increase their productivity and competitiveness in the context of global integration. The good news is that up to 84 per cent of organisations globally plan to upskill their workforce by next year.
Vu Tan Cong

Following the proposals of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has proposed to the government and National Assembly to amend some articles of the Law on Special Consumption Tax (SCT) for automobiles. As per the proposals, there will be no SCT on locally-created costs of locally-manufactured automobiles.

If the proposal is approved by the National Assembly meeting set to take place next month, the price of locally-manufactured automobiles will reduce greatly thanks to lower SCT charges, leading to a huge opportunity for local manufacturers and supporting industry manufacturers.

Currently, the SCT-calculated price of automobiles is determined by their sales price without value-added tax by manufacturers for local automobiles and by importers for imported vehicles.

Today passenger cars, pick-ups, and buses with fewer than 24 seats are subject to SCT, with the rates being the same for both locally-manufactured and imported vehicles. For passenger cars, rates are based on vehicle engine displacements, as the bigger the vehicle engine displacement, the higher the rates are. For pure electric vehicles, SCT rates are much lower than those with internal combustion engines.

Strengthening local manufacture

Realising that this policy will enable local automobile manufacturers to raise the localisastion ratio, reduce the price of vehicles, and improve the competitiveness of locally-manufactured vehicles against imported ones.

However, according to the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement, import tax rates on automobiles from other ASEAN members from January 2018 are zero if these imported vehicles reach 40 per cent in-block localisation ratios or more.

Thanks to these non-existent import tax rates, the selling price of imported vehicles are decreasing sharply. As a result, the SCT amounts on imported vehicles are much lower than the same locally-produced ones. Accordingly, prices of automobiles imported from other ASEAN countries are more competitive than locally-produced ones, which may threaten the development of the local automobile industry.

Solutions on supporting the local automobile industry, however, may violate World Trade Organization commitments and rules. To avoid this, the proposed policy is advised to be valid only for a short 4-5 years. Through this period, the Vietnamese automobile support industry will have enough time to develop.

In order to take advantage of the upcoming amended Law on SCT, local automobile manufacturers will have to use local parts and components for their vehicle assembling. This opens the market for the local automobile supporting industry (part-component manufacturing) enterprises (Tier1s).

Some of the current Tiers1s that may be capable of taking these opportunities include Hanoi Mechanical Corporation and Hanoi Plastic Company, among others.

SCT exemption for localisation - illustration photo, source internet

Currently, the Vietnamese automobile supporting industry is still undeveloped due to little market demand. Enterprises can produce automobile parts of large dimensions, low technology levels, and of low added value, such as tyres, glass, batteries, electric cable assembly, plastic parts, and bus and truck interiors.

Due to low demand, many private small- and medium-sized automotive supporting enterprises hesitate to make investments in manufacturing auto-parts and components. If the MoF proposal is approved by the National Assembly, auto-parts and component demands will increase, giving opportunities to Tier1s. In addition, the approval on the amended Law on SCT will create new price wars between local automakers and importers, benefiting consumers.

Seizing on the trend, local automobile manufacturer VinFast and plastics producer An Phat Holdings have co-operated to set up VinFastAn Phat Automotive Plastics Company to produce spare parts and accessories for cars and other vehicles. This venture expects to be one part of the automobile manufacture line of VinFast. In order to increase its ratio, VinFast established a localisation of about 30 per cent of the complex area in the northern port city of Haiphong to produce parts and accessories for cars and motorbikes.

When domestic automobile part-component demands increases, there will be more investors, both from home and overseas, making their investments in the local automobile supporting industry. In addition, existing supporting industry enterprises will make more investment in their businesses for more production volume and new technology transfer for higher added value.

With more investments and higher market demand, Tier1s will be capable to manufacture complicated hi-tech and world-class auto-parts, paving the way for them to participate in global automotive supply chains.

By doing so, the Vietnamese automobile industry will develop strongly, creating more jobs for people and providing great effects on socio-economic development, both in the short and long-term.

It can be seen that lower local vehicle prices are challenges for imported vehicles. Customers will prefer local vehicles thanks to better prices and little difference in vehicle quality. The best way for vehicle importers to survive is to reduce prices, which would benefit automobile consumers.

By Vu Tan Cong - Permanent deputy general director, Vietnam Car Industry and Trade Consulting Co., Ltd.
Companies such as VNPAY are facilitating a smoother transition for Vietnam as the world becomes less reliant on cash and more comfortable with paying for items electronically

Vietnam Payment Solution JSC (VNPAY) was ranked among the top 10 at the Sao Khue Awards in Hanoi thanks to two products: the VNPAY-QR system and the QR-MMS payment management system.

Le Tanh, general manager of VNPAY, said at the ceremony, Compared to other mobile payment solutions on the market today, VNPAY-QR and QR-MMS are most appreciated because of their speed and convenience. Customers do not need to perform multiple installation steps and businesses need not spend too much time on installation or personnel training.

This is because we place customer benefits as the main focus in development, Tanh added. The continuous application of new technologies and expanding payment points is what we are striving to achieve.

The Sao Khue Awards are a programme that selects and recognises outstanding and reputable products and services in Vietnams software and IT industry, organised annually by the Vietnam Software Association. All products and services recognised at this years event were professionally evaluated by more than 40 experts on an appraisal board, with winners boasting outstanding quality and efficiency, continual customer trust, and a competitive advantage in the market.

Through two preliminary rounds and live presentations, a general council decided to present Sao Khue Awards this year to 94 IT products and services, and also selected the 10 best based on criteria such as socio-economic efficiency, brand reputation, revenue, market share, and innovation and breakthrough technology.

VNPAY-QR payment solutions

As one of the pioneering enterprises in the field of electronic payments in Vietnam, the main focus of VNPAY is investing in research and implementing new cashless payment methods, with a view to gradually shaping a smarter life for Vietnamese people with a quick and convenient experience through just a few mobile phone operations.

Award-winning VNPAY-QR is one of the companys key products. The payment method solution uses QR Pay features on the mobile apps of banks and international payment accounts such as Visa, Mastercard, JCB, UnionPay, and electronic wallets. Through this method, there is no need to carry cash or bank cards. Customers can easily pay with their mobile phone in a fast and confidential way. For businesses, the implementation of payment methods via a VNPAY-QR code is a cost-efficient solution in terms of investment, installation, and personnel.

Businesses also have more opportunities to expand promotions and sales and reach a larger number of customers.

After nearly two years in operation, VNPAY-QR is now participating with 20 banks in adopting the QR Pay feature and has nearly 10 million customers and more than 20,000 payment points. 

Customers can easily scan to pay when dining, shopping, taking taxis, paying cable TV, Internet, and electricity bills, and shopping online, as VNPAY-QR has been and is spreading to all areas of life and becoming a new payment habit among a significant proportion of Vietnams population.

VNPAY-QR is the first code type in the Vietnamese market built, according to the standards of the State Bank of Vietnam. It meets EMVco international standards, and was certified by international standardisation organisations.

QR-MMS payment management system

QR-MMS, meanwhile, is the ultimate management system for businesses, allowing them to monitor online QR code payment transactions and report directly via a website or mobile software anytime, anywhere.

The system is built on a foundation of modern technology, with a smart, logical and flexible interface providing an easy and convenient user experience with two user levels: agents, and points of sale.

Besides the management and tracking functions, agents can create QR codes for secondary points of sale or per product and track transactions of secondary units on their own QR MMS account.

As a result, business can be more active in expanding their business and monitor, manage, or deploy their own business programmes without any support from a software management unit.
Aung San Suu Kyi, state counselor of Myanmar, and Prime Minister Hun Sen have agreed to promote and expand commercial, educational, cultural, and tourism ties between the two countries, according to Hun Sens official Facebook page.

Aung San Suu Kyi paid a two-day official visit to Cambodia this week, marking her first trip to the Southeast Asian nation.

According to a summary of the meetings published on Hun Sens Facebook page on Tuesday, Suu Kyi said: regarding cultural issues, in 2020, it will be the 65th anniversary of the formation of relations of the two countries, so we shall jointly organize an auspicious activity, promoting tourism between the countries; particularly, in Siem Reap and Bagan provinces, which are rich in temple heritages.

Regarding education, Hun Sen requested an exchange program for students of Cambodia and Myanmar under the support of the two governments.

Hun Sen also pledged to offer 10 scholarships to Myanmar, paving the way for the students of Myanmar to come to study in Cambodia.

Additionally, Hun Sen requested a review of double taxation. The two sides also discussed the expansion of trade.

Both Aung San Suu Kyi and Hun Sen agreed to promote these important sectors and agreed to offer confidence to relevant ministers of the two countries to continue working on these issues.

Chheang Vannarith, a regional affairs analyst, said both countries had similar economic reliance on China.

For the trade ties, it will be hard to push further because the exports of the two countries are perhaps similar. But I think the important thing is the connectivity in the Mekong region as well as the strengthening of the ASEAN community. Frankly speaking, Cambodia, Burma, and Laos are the poorest countries in ASEAN. So, the three countries should enhance cooperation in order to use ASEAN mechanism to reduce development gap, he added.
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton says Venezuela's interim President Juan Guaido needs the support of key figures that can help sway the country's military forces to his side. Bolton spoke to reporters Tuesday outside the White House. He said the Trump administration is monitoring developments in Venezuela. Guaido is calling for an uprising to force Nicolas Maduro to relinquish power. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: India's objective of getting JeM chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist has been achieved, official sources said Wednesday, asserting that Pakistan is "mischievously" attempting to divert the narrative and salvage something out of this diplomatic setback.

The assertion came after Pakistan on Wednesday said it agreed to Azhar's listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack, were removed from the proposal.

Sources here said Pakistan is "mischievously" attempting to salvage something out of this huge diplomatic setback for them by diverting the narrative.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him.

Pulwama happened to be the latest act of terror, however, the designation was not based on a specific incident but on the basis of evidence shared with members of the 1267 Sanctions Committee linking Azhar to terrorism, the sources said.

It is not supposed to be a biodata of a terrorist that all acts of terror committed by him would be listed in the notification, they said. However, all acts of terrorism, including Pulwama, were relevant to the lifting, they said.

READ HERE | 'Better late than never': PM Modi hails UN move to list Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'

The process of listing started in 2009.

Since then, several efforts have been made to list Azhar and this was much before the Pulwama terror attack took place.

The UN committee listed Azhar on Wednesday as being associated with Al-Qaeda for "participating in financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of, "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to", "recruiting for, "otherwise supporting acts or activities of", and "other acts or activities indicating association with" JeM.

This broadly covers all terror activities he has been involved in, the sources said.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has abruptly canceled plans to travel to Europe. Shanahan's spokesman is citing the crisis in Venezuela and the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The spokesman, Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, says in a statement that Shanahan decided he should remain in Washington to coordinate with the National Security Council and the State Department on Venezuela and the border, where the military is assisting the Homeland Security Department with the migrant crisis.

The Pentagon has thus far played no direct role in Venezuela.

Buccino's statement came just three hours after the Pentagon had publicly announced Shanahan's trip to Germany, Belgium and England.



Shanahan was going to attend ceremonies in Germany and Belgium marking the change of commanders for U.S. European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Africa has seen a wave of protests that led to regime change in three countries  Sudan, Algeria and Zimbabwe. As VOA's Mariama Diallo reports, activists are now watching to see if the changes they were hoping for will actually take place.
Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report

WASHINGTON  While the U.S. government has announced efforts to prevent or decrease the flow of Central American asylum-seekers, some migrants find themselves applying for protection, even though they had not planned to do so.



Jason Ma came to the United States from China in 2011 under a student visa. Despite his parents' stable jobs and some savings, they still had difficulty affording all of his expenses in U.S. After graduation, Ma decided to stay in the United States.



I majored in statistics  both my bachelor's and master's  and I did both my degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, he told VOA.



He qualified for the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program (MAVNI), launched in 2009 to bring immigrants with medical or language skills into the U.S. armed services, and enlisted in 2016 before the program was shut down that year.

Though Ma is officially enlisted, he is still waiting to leave for basic training. In October 2017, citing national security concerns, the U.S. government retroactively required background checks on all MAVNI applicants, including those currently serving or waiting for basic training.

Ma found out in March that he also had to apply for asylum.

Data breach

A U.S. military data breach between July 2017 and January 2018 released hundreds of immigrant recruits sensitive information. Some have quickly filed for asylum since they suddenly face potentially life-threatening situations if they were to return to their countries after serving in the U.S. military.

VOA has learned that more than 4,000 recruits information was compromised, among them 1,087 Chinese and 82 Russian immigrant soldiers. Ma recently found out his name was on the list.



To Darin Johnson, a professor at Howard University School of Law, the breach puts participants and their families in vulnerable situations.



"It subjects MAVNI recruits, who weren't necessarily subject to persecution back home, and now opens up the door for them, as well," he said.



Johnson, a former assistant general counsel to the Army Secretariat, said the U.S. is engaged in a range of Special Forces operations around the world, often in many places where you do have very repressive regimes. So, I think it's important for us to think about the danger to the MAVNI recruits themselves."



According to Chinese criminal law, those found colluding with a foreign State to endanger the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the People's Republic of China shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years.

Falling out of status

The MAVNI program allowed foreign-born recruits to earn a fast-track path to U.S. citizenship. Legal reasons are involved, as soldiers could be deployed to their original country. If they're not U.S. citizens, they could be subjected to that country's laws.

Citizenship through the military can be taken away if a person does not serve honorably for five years.

In the meantime, immigrant recruits are told to maintain their visa status until a shipping date.

But the retroactive background checks created a backlog. Those who are still enlisted through the program have been waiting more than two years to be vetted.

Without basic training, Mas expedited naturalization process does not move forward.

Though Ma still has legal status, he will run out of options to maintain his immigration status. At the end of 2017, the status of his Optional Practical Training  temporary employment directly related to an F-1 student's major area of study  had expired. He is now in danger of deportation to China.

Army is investigating

In a request for comment, the U.S. Army said officials are investigating the incident [data breach]. But at this time, it does not believe the information was widely distributed.



Margaret Stock, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who created the MAVNI program in 2008, said the Department of Defense is not giving accurate information to the press.



There were at least four data breaches that I can document, she told VOA. Some people still do not know their information is out there.



Air Force Lt. Col. Carla Gleason, a Pentagon spokesperson, told VOA the investigation ultimately determined the information was not widely distributed.



But VOA saw three official U.S. government letters addressed to different recruits that said, Some personal data maintained by the Department of Defense was released via email to individuals outside the Departments network.



The letter also states that on January 31, U.S. officials began to take action to contain the loss in accordance to PII [Personally Identifiable Information] breach procedures.  However, on March 6, the Command was made aware that this PII breach may be more extensive than originally estimated, so the Command is now re-investigating, and will continue to monitor this problem.



Stock, who is also an immigration lawyer, is assisting some people with their asylum cases and said hundreds of MAVNI soldiers started getting letters around mid-April.



Applying for asylum



Though Ma still has a contract with the Army, he is currently preparing to submit his asylum application.

I think joining the military is an honorable and great way to give back to this great nation, he said.



He now faces a new immigration process but said he is still planning to move forward with his enlistment.



I love this country, for sure, and the day that I joined the U.S. military is one of the proudest days in my life so far, he said.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr appeared before Congress on Wednesday to defend his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's March 22 report on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, saying the decision to release an early summary of the report was his and dismissing questions about his depiction of Mueller's findings.



In a hearing marked by partisan acrimony, Democrats grilled the attorney general over his four-page summary letter to Congress and Mueller's subsequent complaint about the summary.



Democrats accused Barr of grossly understating evidence of President Donald Trump's misconduct in the summary in an effort to justify his controversial decision to exonerate the president of obstruction of justice during the investigation.

WATCH: Democrats Grill Barr Over Handling of Mueller Report

'My baby'



"It was my baby whether or not to disclose it to the public," Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I determined that it was in the public interest for the department to announce the investigation's bottom-line conclusions  that is, the determination of whether a provable crime has been committed or not."



Much of the hearing focused on a letter Mueller wrote to Barr on March 27 in which the special counsel complained that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" his office's work and conclusions and urged the attorney general to release the report's executive summaries without delay.



In a subsequent phone call, Barr said, the special counsel expressed concern about how his findings were being portrayed in the media. However, he said Mueller did not characterize the summary as either "misleading" or "inaccurate."

WATCH: Senator Dick Durbin questions Barr's handling of report

Barr said he turned down the special counsel's request because he did not want to release "additional portions of the report in piecemeal fashion, leading to public debate over incomplete information." The Justice Department released a redacted version of the 448-page report on April 18.



The special counsel wrote in his final report that the evidence was not sufficient to charge any Trump campaign member with conspiring with Russian government representatives to meddle in the 2016 election, but the office did not draw conclusions about whether the president had obstructed justice.

Decision defended



That left it to the attorney general "to determine whether the conduct described in the report constituted a crime," Barr wrote in his March 24 summary letter to Congress, adding that he and his No. 2, outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, had examined the evidence and determined that it was not enough to support obstruction charges against Trump.



Barr defended his decision, saying the lack of "an underlying crime"  in this case, the absence of a criminal conspiracy between Trump and Russia  made it difficult to prove Trump's "criminal intent," which is key in proving obstruction of justice.



Asked by the committee chairman, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, if he "felt good" about his decision, Barr responded, "Yes."



The Mueller report examined 11 instances of potential obstruction of justice, including an attempt by Trump in June 2017, just weeks after Mueller's appointment, to get the special counsel fired, and then get his then-White House counsel, Don McGahn, to deny a newspaper account about it.

But Barr defended the president's right to fire a special counsel and said none of the episodes documented by Mueller constituted obstruction of justice. And when Democrats pressed him to denounce the president for getting underlings to lie on his behalf, Barr demurred.



"I'm not in the business of determining when lies are told to the American people," Barr said. "I'm in the business of determining whether a crime has been committed."

Sessions' replacement



Barr, a former attorney general in the administration of the late President George H.W. Bush in the 1990s, returned to the Justice Department in February after Trump tapped him last year to replace his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, whom he fired in November.



Barr's confirmation hearing was dominated by questions about his expansive views of presidential powers and his past criticism of the Mueller investigation. In a 19-page memo last June to Rosenstein, who then oversaw the Russia investigation, Barr called the special counsel's obstruction investigation "fatally conceived."

Democrats accused Barr of bias.



"You're biased in the situation and you've not been objective," said California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, a 2020 presidential candidate.



Republicans came to Barr's defense, with Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas accusing Democrats of impugning the attorney general's integrity.



Barr was also widely criticized for holding a news conference to discuss the findings of the Mueller report hours before either members of Congress or journalists had a chance to read it.



The attorney general told reporters that the special counsel's probe did not find that Trump or anyone in his campaign had coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 election, and that later, after he assumed power, Trump had "no corrupt intent" to obstruct the probe.

Barr said the president "took no act that in fact deprived" Mueller of "documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation."



The Justice Department informed the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday night that Barr would not testify at a planned hearing Thursday. This raises the prospect that Democrats will hold the nation's top law enforcement official in contempt of Congress.
Algeria's army chief called Wednesday for dialogue between protesters and state institutions, a day after pushing back against demonstrators' demands for top politicians to quit.



"I remain entirely convinced that adopting constructive dialogue with the institutions of the state is the only way to exit from the crisis," Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah said in a statement published by the defense ministry.



This is "the wisest way to present constructive proposals, bring points of view closer and reach a consensus around the available solutions," he added.



Salah was for years an ardent supporter of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, until demanding on April 2 that impeachment proceedings be launched against the ailing leader, who stepped down the same day.



An interim president has been put in place and elections set for July 4, but protests that pushed Bouteflika from power have not abated.

On Wednesday, hundreds of people rallied outside the General Workers' Union in Algiers, marking May Day, where they clutched Algerian flags and shouted slogans against the "system."



Police prevented them from joining other protesters gathered outside the city's iconic post office, the focal point of demonstrations that began in February and have regularly drawn vast crowds.



Salah on Tuesday rebuffed calls by demonstrators for interim leader Abdelkader Bensalah, the former upper house speaker, and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui to step down.



In a speech, the army chief said the upcoming polls  which fall within the time frame allowed by the constitution  amount to "the ideal solution to end the crisis."
Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday will face lawmakers' questions for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, in what promises to be a dramatic showdown as he defends his actions before Democrats who accuse him of spinning the investigation's findings in President Donald Trump's favor.



Barr's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to highlight the partisan schism around Mueller's report and the Justice Department's handling of it. It will give the attorney general his most extensive opportunity to explain the department's actions, including a press conference held before the report's release, and for him to repair a reputation bruised by allegations that he's the president's protector.



A major focus of the hearing is likely to be the Tuesday night revelation that Mueller expressed frustration to Barr, in a letter to the Justice Department and in a phone call, with how the conclusions of his investigation were being portrayed.

Barr is also invited to appear Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question the attorney general.



His appearance Wednesday will be before a Republican-led committee chaired by a close ally of the president, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is expected to focus on concerns that the early days of the FBI's Russia investigation were tainted by law enforcement bias against Trump.

Democrats are likely to press Barr on statements and actions in the last six weeks that have unnerved them. The tense relations are notable given how Barr breezed through his confirmation process, picking up support from a few Democrats and offering reassuring words about the Justice Department's independence and the importance of protecting the special counsel's investigation.



The first hint of discontent surfaced last month when Barr issued a four-page statement that summarized what he said were the main conclusions of the Mueller report. In the letter, Barr revealed that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had cleared Trump of obstruction of justice after Mueller and his team found evidence on both sides of the question but didn't reach a conclusion.

Barr is likely to defend himself by noting how he released the report on his own even though he didn't have to under the special counsel regulations, and that doing so fulfilled a pledge he made at to be as transparent as the law allowed. Barr may say that he wanted to move quickly to give the public a summary of Mueller's main findings as the Justice Department spent weeks redacting more sensitive information from the report.



After the letter's release, Barr raised eyebrows anew when he told a congressional committee that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, a common talking point of the president and his supporters. A person familiar with Barr's thinking has said Barr, a former CIA employee, did not mean spying in a necessarily inappropriate way and was simply referring to intelligence collection activities.

He also equivocated on a question of whether Mueller's investigation was a witch hunt, saying someone who feels wrongly accused would reasonably view an investigation that way. That was a stark turnabout from his confirmation hearing, when he said he didn't believe Mueller would ever be on a witch hunt.



Then came Barr's April 18 press conference to announce the release of the Mueller report later that morning.



He repeated about a half dozen times that Mueller's investigation had found no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia, though the special counsel took pains to note in his report that "collusion" was not a legal term and also pointed out the multiple contacts between the campaign and Russia.

In remarks that resembled some of Trump's own claims, he praised the White House for giving Mueller's team "unfettered access" to documents and witnesses. He suggested the president had the right to be upset by the investigation, given his "sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks."

It remained unclear Tuesday whether Barr would appear before the House committee. That panel's Democratic chairman, Rep, Jerrold Nadler of New York, said witnesses could too easily filibuster when questioned by lawmakers restricted by five-minute time limits. Having lawyers do the questioning enables the committee "to dig down on an issue and pursue an issue."



"And it's not up to anybody from the executive branch to tell the legislative branch how to conduct our business," Nadler said.

The committee will vote on allowing staff to question Barr at a separate meeting Wednesday, at the same time Barr takes questions from the Senate.



The top Republican on the House Judiciary panel, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, sharply criticized the plan. Nadler "has taken a voluntary hearing and turned it into a sideshow," Collins said.



The Justice Department's stance appears consistent with the Trump administration's broader strategy of "undermining Congress as an institution," said Elliot Williams, who previously served as deputy assistant attorney general in the department's legislative affairs office in the Obama administration.



He said that if he were still advising an attorney general, he would resist the idea of staff questioning a Cabinet official. "It's a rational response to not want them questioning the attorney general," Williams said.



That said, Williams added, "It's an incredibly common practice in the House of Representatives and was a practice long before President trump or William Barr took their offices and will be a practice long after they're gone."
Congressional budget experts said Wednesday that moving to a government-run health care system like ``Medicare for All'' could be complicated and potentially disruptive for Americans.



The report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office was a high-level look at the pros and cons of changing the current mix of public and private health care financing to a system paid for entirely by the government. It did not include cost estimates of Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All legislation or its House counterpart, but listed dozens of trade-offs lawmakers would confront.



``The transition toward a single-payer system could be complicated, challenging and potentially disruptive,'' the report said. ``Policymakers would need to consider how quickly people with private insurance would switch their coverage to a new public plan, what would happen to workers in the health insurance industry if private insurance was banned or its role was limited, and how quickly provider payment rates under the single-payer system would be phased in from current levels.''

Longer waits, less access



One unintended consequence could be increased wait times and reduced access to care if there are not enough medical providers to meet an expected increased demand for services as 29 million currently uninsured people get coverage and as deductibles and copayments are reduced or eliminated for everyone else.

``An expansion of insurance coverage under a single-payer system would increase the demand for care and put pressure on the available supply of care,'' the report said.



Employers now cover more than 160 million people, roughly half the U.S. population. Medicare covers seniors and disabled people. Medicaid covers low-income people and many nursing home residents. Other government programs serve children or military veterans.

Wasteful, costly



Proponents of Medicare for All say the complexity of the U.S. system wastes billions in administrative costs and enables hospitals and drugmakers to charge much higher prices than providers get in other economically advanced countries. Critics acknowledge the U.S. has a serious cost problem, but they point out that patients don't usually have to wait for treatment and that new drugs are generally available much more rapidly than in other countries.



While a government-run system could improve the overall health profile of the U.S., pressure on providers to curb costs could reduce the quality of care by ``by causing providers to supply less care to patients covered by the public plan.''

Private payments from employers and individuals currently cover close to half of the nation's annual $3.5 trillion health care bill. A government-run system would entail new taxes, including income taxes, payroll taxes or consumption taxes. Or lawmakers could borrow, adding to the overhang of national debt.



Single-payer health care doesn't have a path to advance in Congress for now.



It has zero chances in the Republican-led Senate. In the Democratic-controlled House, key committees that would put such legislation together have not scheduled hearings. They're instead crafting bills to lower prescription drug costs and stabilize and expand coverage under the Affordable Care Act.



The CBO report was prepared for the House Budget Committee, which is expected to hold hearings but does not write health care legislation.



Coalition in opposition

Within the health care industry, groups including hospitals, insurers, drugmakers and doctors have formed a coalition to battle a government-run system. Major employers are likely allies.



Polls show that Americans are open to single-payer, but it's far from a clamor. Support is concentrated mostly among Democrats, with many of them indicating similarly high levels of approval for less ambitious changes such as allowing people to buy into a public insurance plan modeled on Medicare.



A recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 42% of Americans support a single-payer plan, while 31% were opposed and one-quarter said they were neither in favor nor opposed.



By a comparison, a buy-in option got support from 53%, including more than 4 in 10 Republicans. Overall, 17% opposed a Medicare buy-in while 29% were neutral.
Political parties across Europe are kicking off their campaigns for possibly the most consequential EU election since 1979, when voters began casting ballots for a European parliament.

Turnout is normally low in all 28 member states, averaging around 43%, but the continent's new kind of populist and nationalist parties hope this year will be different. Voting is set to take place between May 23 and May 26.

Their leaders suspect high turnouts will be to their benefit as they seek to halt European integration and turn the clock back to a time, in their mind, when nation states didn't pool their sovereignty with their neighbors. According to a recent Europe-wide poll, two-thirds of all Europeans, and three-quarters of Germans, are planning to participate in the election.

For populists, pocketbook issues are taking second place to national identity, and their message is rooted in anti-migrant sentiments.

Europe's establishment parties, which are based more on socio-economic class politics, could buckle in this month's European Parliament elections under the challenge from populist parties, which base themselves on socio-cultural divides. Polls show populist support is growing.

According to British pollster Michael Ashcroft, more than half the voters in Britain don't feel represented by the main political parties. Culture and identity issues are more salient than economic ones for them, he says.

Other pollsters in Europe say they, too, are seeing cultural issues becoming more important for voters.

Macron vs. Salvini

Two conflicting visions of Europe are on offer with centrists led by French President Emmanuel Macron and nationalist populists championed by Italy's far-right leader, Matteo Salvini.The populists have turned to former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon for advice.

Macron has pitched himself as the antidote to the so-called "illiberal democracies" of central Europe and the defender of the European Union. The French leader wants to reform and revive the bloc by deepening the political and economic integration of Europe.

The 44-year-old Salvini wants not only to halt further integration, but to mount a reversal so the bloc becomes more of a looser group of nation states less hedged by Brussels and EU treaties. "We're working for a new European dream," Salvini said in March at a gathering of like-minded populist leaders from Germany, Finland and Denmark.

He wants populists to offer a joint electoral platform similar to his Lega party manifesto, which pledges to "underline and reaffirm common Christian roots, defend national identity, and the supremacy of [national laws] over European laws and directives."

Populist gains expected

Populist parties, especially in Italy, Poland, Hungary and France, expect to make major gains in the May elections for the 750-seat parliament. In France, opinion polls are suggesting Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National is running neck-and-neck with Macron's En Marche party.

Pollsters are predicting euroskeptic populists will capture a third of the European parliament's 750 seats. In last Sunday's Spanish elections, the right-wing Vox party secured parliament seats, marking the first time an avowedly far-right party has done so since Gen. Francisco Franco's death in 1975.

The populists will fall well short of the kind of parliamentary clout that would allow Salvini and his allies to re-shape the European Union and reassert the pre-eminence of national identity, or even halt deeper integration. But it would give them the opportunity to disrupt integrationist proposals and to complicate the process of appointing a new European Commission following the elections, say analysts.

Salvini, guided by Bannon, had hoped to draw together nationalist populists into a continent-wide electoral alliance, but they are unified only when it comes to their disdain for the old establishment politics.On some other key issues, they are divided and the top leaders are deeply competitive with each other.

Italy's Salvini, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and French politician Marine Le Pen are all eager to be seen as Europe's populist-in-chief. But the Italian deputy prime minister has been pressing other EU member states to take "their fair share" of migrants, helping to relieve Italy, Greece and Spain of the burden. Orban and central European leaders refuse to do so.

Polish nationalists are also deeply skeptical of the warming ties between their western European counterparts and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

No 'normal crisis'

Nonetheless, the populist challenge is shaking up European politics and this month's election is likely to bring that home. Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev, author of the book After Europe, cautions against people thinking this is a "normal crisis."

He argues "against those who are convinced that nothing can happen because the European Union is going to stay and the current crisis is a normal one. No, it's a more radical crisis than any other we have ever experienced before." He warns people shouldn't take the European Union for granted, although he doesn't believe it will disintegrate.

For centrists and Europhiles, though, there are grounds for confidence. The Brexit mess has softened some of the euroskepticism of the new populists, none of whom is advocating leaving the bloc.

And the rise of nationalist populism is also prompting a Europhile reaction  a recent survey across 10 European states by the Pew Research Center found strong support for the EU with a median 74 percent saying it promotes peace, democratic values and prosperity. But more than half worry Brussels still doesn't understand the needs of ordinary citizens.
About half of Americans don't know that John Roberts is the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Twenty-three percent believe Ruth Bader Ginsberg presides over the high court and 16% think it's Clarence Thomas.

A study of 1000 people conducted by the American Bar Association (ABA) found those gaps in Americans knowledge of history and government.

On the upside, while many Americans might not know that Roberts is the highest-ranking judge in the United States, 95% of the people surveyed are aware that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land.
By PTI

COLOMBO: Two of Sri Lanka's major cable TV operators, have dropped controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Peace TV from their channel following the country's worst terror attacks on Easter Sunday which killed over 250 people, according to a media report.

India and Bangladesh have already banned Malaysia-based Naik's Peace TV, which has often been used by ISIS recruiters for indoctrination and brainwashing the youth.

Sri Lanka's two of the largest cable operators 'Dialogue' and 'SLT' have stopped airing Zakir Naik's Peace TV.

However, an official announcement on this yet to be made, Colombo Gazette reported.

ALSO READ | Indian government pressuring Interpol for red corner notice: Zakir Naik

The move came after the deadly Easter Sunday bombings which killed at 253 people and injured 500 others.

However, the Sri Lankan government has not banned the controversial Peace TV.

'Peace TV' was launched by Naik's Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation in 2006.

An Urdu version was launched in 2009, followed by a Bangla version in 2011.

The contents in English, Urdu and Bangla are telecast from Dubai.

Naik is wanted by India for allegedly inciting youngsters for terror activities through his hate speeches.

He is being probed under terror and money laundering charges by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He had left India in July, 2016.

Naik has been granted Malaysian permanent resident status.

The NIA had first registered a case against Naik under anti-terror laws in 2016 for allegedly promoting enmity between different religious groups Bangladesh suspended the channel that featured Naik's preachings after media reported that militants who attacked a Dhaka cafe in 2016 were his admirers.
For generations, the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean have been dominated by trade with the United States. In recent years, though, a growing push by China to invest in the region, lately accelerated by the Xi Jinping administration's Belt and Road Initiative, has begun to reorient trade toward China with far-reaching consequences.

On the sidelines of a seminar sponsored by Georgetown University's Center for Latin American Studies last weekend, experts in the fields of economics, national security and diplomacy discussed their growing concern with China's increased economic and political influence in the region and their frustration that the U.S. government is doing little to counterbalance it.

"China is here to stay in the Western Hemisphere," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. "It's probably been the most dramatic shift in regional affairs that we've seen this century."

Twenty years ago, according to World Bank data, nearly 57% of exports from Latin America were sold to the United States, and 49% of goods imported to the region came from the U.S.

At that time, trade with China in either direction was mired in the low single digits. By 2017, according to the same data set, the U.S. share of that market's imports and exports had declined significantly, and China had established itself as a strong No. 2 in trade inflows and outflows, accounting for 10% of exports and 18% of imports, with both numbers on the rise.

Part of China's heavy investment in infrastructure in Latin America is driven by economic self-interest, Farnsworth said, aimed at creating new business opportunities that will help extend its economic growth.

"But there is another element, as well, and this is that clearly as China continues to mature in terms of its own political ambitions and its own economic interests globally, it's beginning to seek ways to shape the opinions of other countries and leaders around the world to try to come alongside and support what China is trying to do, or perhaps at least remain neutral in the context of China's efforts to promote a certain worldview certainly supportive of and consistent with China's own ambitions."

Trade partners, political allies

It's this latter goal  and China's methods of furthering it  that has many experts worried about a U.S. response.

There are multiple examples of China extending credit to countries that are unable to service the resulting debt, creating opportunity for Beijing to take ownership of facilities that it was supposedly building for the benefit of the host country. In other cases, debtor countries simply find themselves weakened in future negotiations with Beijing because of their unsustainable debts.

Chinese authorities have long rejected such criticism, insisting the loans they are offering are fair. However, on the same day as the Georgetown seminar, the Chinese government announced during a development summit that Beijing is taking steps to make the loans it grants to smaller countries more "sustainable," and to root out corruption and inefficiency in procurement for infrastructure projects it funds abroad.

There is disagreement over whether these so-called "debt traps" are an intentional strategy of the Chinese, or simply the result of inexperience in measuring and pricing loan risk. But some, like John Feeley, former U.S. ambassador to Panama, have little doubt that China is using its economic might to take advantage of smaller countries.

"My initial sense was, especially when I was working as an American ambassador, that the debt trap was very much a conscious ploy by the Chinese government," Feeley said.

The aim, he believes, was "to lure countries where they wanted to have either that commercial access, or they had an ulterior motive for strategic positioning or turf, literally, on land to build ports for the Chinese navy or things like that."

Additionally, he said, "You have the undeniable, repeated use [by] China of its commercially privileged access to certain markets  in the Caribbean or in Central America  that are small, asymmetrically miniscule compared to China. And we see that they've used them undeniably for diplomatic and political advantage."

This includes, for example, persuading some governments to alter their relationships with Taiwan, an independent nation that China claims as its own territory.

Regardless of whether Chinese intentions are economic, political, or some combination of the two, the fact remains that Beijing's influence in Latin America is accelerating, and according to Feeley, the U.S. isn't even trying to counter it.

"The U.S. isn't really doing much," he said. "The last big trade mission with either White House or cabinet-level participation from the United States to Latin America was back in the first Obama administration. This is not a criticism of the Trump administration, but also of the second half of the Obama eight-year period. You don't beat something with nothing."

Ideally, he said, the U.S. should be actively engaging in the emerging markets of Latin America, promoting public-private partnerships, and promoting U.S. technology, companies and services.

"The way you do that is by getting them out there, and with the bully pulpit," he said. "But the fact is, we're not very good at that ... and when there's a void, China is very opportunistic."

Chinese government influence

Much of the investment being made in Latin America is coming from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that operate under the ultimate direction of the Chinese Communist Party, meaning that even when money is not coming directly from the Chinese government, it remains closely tied to it.

And with Chinese government money comes Chinese government influence on things like norms surrounding transparency, human rights, trade practices and more.

"For a number of years, the U.S. was confused about how to properly respond, given that we have fundamental values about freedom of discourse and freedom of markets and things like that," said Dr. Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American Studies at the United States Army War College.

He said that years of a policy that amounted to "watch and express concern" have to yield to more active engagement in the region.

The object is not to keep China out of Latin America, Ellis said. "That would never work, and it would just annoy most of our partners in the region."

What's necessary, he said, "is to emphasize things like effective planning, rule of law, transparency in public procurement and good follow-up, so that while countries in the region and the U.S. are reaping the benefits of doing business with China, some of the more predatory and nefarious behaviors that come from that can be avoided."

Global threat?

While the focus of the seminar at Georgetown was on Latin America, participants made it clear that many of the same concerns apply to China's behavior on a global basis.

"We, the United States, the European community, western democracies, more or less since the end of the Second World War, for better or worse, we wrote the rules of the international order," Feeley said.

While not perfect, he said, that order, based on the premise that liberal democracy is the basis for peace and economic prosperity, has allowed for the creation of large amounts of wealth, advances in science and technology. It has also been marked by the absence of direct military conflict between great powers.

Allowing China, with its very different take on politics and human rights, to begin rewriting those rules in some parts of the world, he warned, is a serious danger.

"Do we, as Americans and Europeans, believe that authoritarian governments, suppression of dissent, a lack of democratic opportunity and liberty should be at the core of how the world does business and globalizes?" Feeley asked. "For those reasons, I do see it as one of the  if not existential  certainly one of the most challenging threats we face."
Hopes that the tech industry was on the cusp of rolling personal robots into homes are dimming now that several once-promising consumer robotics companies have shut down.

The latest casualty was San Francisco startup Anki, maker of the playful toy robot Cozmo, which upon its release in 2016 seemed like the start of a new wave of sociable machines.



That dream ended this week when Anki CEO and co-founder Boris Sofman gathered many of the company's nearly 200 employees to deliver the news that all of them would be laid off Wednesday. The bad news soon spread to fans and owners of Cozmo and its newer cousin Vector, unveiled last year in an effort to appeal to grown-ups.

"Cozmo was the first robot that felt almost alive," said David Schaefer, a programmer and robot enthusiast in Portland, Oregon, who was so enamored with the feisty machine that he created a "Life with Cozmo" channel on YouTube that's attracted millions of viewers. One of the most popular videos, called "Unrequited Love," documents Cozmo's awkward interactions with a guinea pig.

Anki's demise was part of a string of failed efforts to launch life-like robots into the market. Boston-based Jibo, founded by one of the pioneers of social robotics, went out of business less than a year after its curvy talking speaker made the cover of Time Magazine's "best inventions" edition.

Another startup, California-based Mayfield Robotics, last year stopped manufacturing Kuri, a camera-equipped machine marketed as a watchful roving nanny.

None of them have been able to compete with immobile smart speakers made by Amazon, Apple and Google, which cost less than their more physically complex robotic counterparts but are powered by ever-improving artificial-intelligence systems that serve most users' needs.

"AI without a body has caught on really well," said Yan Fossat, head of the research lab at Toronto-based Klick Health, which is exploring social robotics in the medical field. "Physical robots, with a body to do something, are not really catching up." They cost too much for the marginal service they offer, he said.

Still, Anki got farther than most of its robotics hardware peers in appealing to the masses with an emotionally intelligent machine that cost hundreds of dollars less than Jibo, Kuri or Sony's robotic dog Aibo.

"You cannot sell a robot for $800 or $1,000 that has capabilities of less than an Alexa," Sofman told The Associated Press last year. He and other company leaders declined comment Tuesday, but a spokesman said the company was "exploring all options to keep our products functioning and cloud services running."



The company reported about $100 million in annual revenue in 2017, and as of last year had sold more than 1.5 million products, including its robots and the car-racing game Overdrive.



"It does feel a little devastating," said Schaefer, who this week started the Twitter hashtag #SaveAnki in hopes that a bigger tech company or toy maker might acquire it. "Anki took steps toward robotics that other companies haven't tried yet."

Tech industry analyst Carolina Milanesi was also saddened by Anki's demise, but a premonition of the company's fate was the Cozmo sitting idly on her daughter's nightstand for the past six months. The toy market is unforgiving, and Anki may have been unable to extend its reach beyond it, she said.



"There's hype at the beginning, you have very engaged kids, and then they move onto something else," Milanesi said. "Kids grow up. She's now 11 and 'Fortnite' is everything that matters to her in life."
The former head of White House security clearances spoke with U.S. congressional investigators on Wednesday, after a dispute about his appearance on an issue that sources have said involves President Donald Trump's daughter and son-in-law.

After days of conflict over whether he would appear, Carl Kline talked with investigators from the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, chaired by Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland. Details of the discussion were not immediately known.

The committee is looking into the issuance of high-level security clearances to some staffers in the Trump White House, despite recommendations from career officials that those officials should not receive them. Two congressional sources familiar with the matter said Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were among the two dozen or so staffers who got those clearances.

Kline was in charge of White House clearances at the time. He has since left the White House and is now a Defense Department employee.

'Fighting all the subpoenas'

The committee voted on April 2 to subpoena Kline for testimony on the matter. The Trump administration initially told Kline to ignore the subpoena. Last week, Trump told reporters, "We're fighting all the subpoenas."

After Republican committee member Jim Jordan of Ohio intervened, Cummings three days ago said he was putting off holding Kline in contempt of Congress after an agreement was reached permitting him to meet with investigators.

The clearances investigation was triggered earlier this year by a whistle-blower. It is one of multiple probes being pursued by House Democrats into Trump, his presidency and his businesses. Some of the inquiries are expected to run into the 2020 presidential election season.

Before the Wednesday meeting, in a letter to Cummings, White House counsel Pat Cipollone said Kline had agreed to appear for a closed-door committee interview, despite the subpoena.

Cipollone indicated in the letter that Kline would most likely decline to answer questions from the Democratic-controlled House panel about clearances issued to specific individuals.

"No employee of the executive branch is or has been authorized to disclose to the committee information about individual security clearance files or background investigations," Cipollone said in the letter.

Cummings sought testimony from Kline after Tricia Newbold, a career White House security official, alleged that clearances initially were denied to at least two dozen Trump administration officials over concerns about possible foreign influence, conflicts of interest, questionable or criminal conduct,

financial problems or drug abuse.

In a letter to the White House last month, Cummings referred to three unnamed "senior White House officials" whose clearance histories were addressed in some detail by Newbold. Information obtained by the committee said two of those three senior officials were Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

The White House has declined to comment on issues related to the couple's clearances.

Different views

Cipollone said there are no legitimate grounds or precedents for sharing individual security clearance records with Congress.

"It has long been recognized on both sides of the political aisle that there is no legitimate need for access to such sensitive information about individuals," he told Cummings.

Cummings condemned the White House's stance, saying Cipollone's letter "ignores past precedent when the committee obtained security clearance documents, it disregards previous testimony ... from White House officials in the past, and it makes the startling and false claim that Congress has no right to obtain information from whistle-blowers."
Nations that aren't dominating headlines like the United States, Russia and China may require their diplomats to think outside the box to advance their interests in Washington  arguably the center of global politics  and around the world.

For a country that has only 10 million people and practically no big problems, it can be a challenge to get Washingtons attention when youre not the priority on the table, said Hynek Kmonicek, ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States.

Along with defending his governments policies and negotiating with diplomatic counterparts, making sure the country he represents is visible is part of his ambassadorial duty, Kmonicek said in an interview with VOA.

He spoke on the sidelines of a fashion show that his embassy and partner organizations hosted in the State Department's Dean Acheson Auditorium.

Czech style of diplomacy

For Kmonicek, linking fashion with politics is the Czech style of world diplomacy.

We live in the 21st century. The connection between fashion and diplomacy is very, very strong, Kmonicek said. Ask anyone in Washington about the first lady of the United States and her fashion. Quite often, youll get the political answer.

Marie Royce, U.S. assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, agrees.

Oftentimes, you dont even have a chance to speak to the person. But their fashion speaks for them, said Royce.

Sharing the stage with representatives from 20-plus countries ranging from Australia to Romania, the Czech Embassy sends the message that its country believes in a multicultural world.

The Africa Unions ambassador to the United States, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, walked the stage in a colorful indigenous dress, while the wife of Mozambiques ambassador, Maria Isabel Macedo dos Santos, modeled her own design in elegant black and white.

Hungarys chief envoy to Washington, Laszlo Szabo, was proud to see his wife, Ivonn Szeverenyi, introduce designers work from his country.

Hungary has 1,100 years of history. This means we are very rich in culture, he said.

The length and legacy of history are also sources of pride for Iraqs second-ranking diplomat in Washington.

According to the Assyrian calendar, Iraq boasts 6,768 years of history. But war coverage has obliterated the country's rich heritage and aspects of life that are not centered around war, said Mohamad Jawad Al Quraishy, deputy chief of mission of Iraq.

We have fashion, we have book fairs, concerts, just like other countries, he said.

Fashion aside, Kmonicek said his country, as part of the European Union, is in a complicated discussion on trade tariffs, on the car industry, with the United States.

Sometimes we agree with our American partners, sometimes, we disagree. Still, we treat each other as brothers, he said.
On posters, hustings and social media, a battle for Europe is being fought, as contenders seek votes for an EU parliamentary election in late May - but the real battle for power will come only once the count is in.

More than 400 million voters will deal the hands that leaders, of parties, nations and rival EU institutions, must play; but it will be after the May 23-26 ballot that the high-stakes poker will begin that will shape the European Union for years to come.

Then comes the real suspense: how pro-Union groups may build a majority coalition to work with the EU executive and member states to make law; how a growing eurosceptic bloc may disrupt it; how lawmakers will clash with national leaders over who runs Brussels; and whether British members might end up staying.

"The campaign determines the strength of people's bargaining positions," a senior official in the European Parliament said. "But the real game will start after the count."

The sheer scale of elections for the 751 lawmakers who will convene in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on July 2 limits scope for surprises of the kind voters have delivered in national ballots as they lose confidence in established elites.

Second only to India as an exercise in democracy but beset by low turnouts that hamstring the legislature's ambitions to legitimacy, proportional representation, a plethora of parties and a tendency for 28 national campaigns to even out shocks mean that poll data tend to be a fair guide to the overall outcome.

That points to policy continuity as the European Union tries to prove its use in defending common interests in global struggles over power, trade and the environment against nationalist critics.

Brexit Party Time

A survey commissioned by the parliament, whose projections were on the money in the 2014 election, shows the center-right EPP and center-left S&D losing 37 seats each and hence the majority they enjoy in an informal "grand coalition."

That, many lawmakers expect, will mean a broader reaching out after the vote to the likes of the ALDE liberals, who are hoping for a major boost from President Emmanuel Macron's mold-breaking French party, and also possibly to the Greens.

With Italy's populist ruling League and, at times, France's far-right National Rally and Britain's new Brexit Party topping national opinion rankings, polls show a surge for eurosceptics.

But talk of a blocking minority, with allies in more mainstream groups such as the Polish and Hungarian ruling parties, comes up against the nationalists' persistent divisions.

The uncertainties around how the parliament will line up in July are compounded this year by a number of new parties - most obviously Macron's En Marche - keeping options open on whom to sit with, but also by Brexit, since the delay to Britain leaving the EU has led to London holding a vote for 73 British MEPs.

That potentially brief presence means some officials suggest key decisions, notably parliamentary votes on who should succeed Jean-Claude Juncker and his team at the European Commission, be put off until the British have left.

Jobs Row

Even without Brexit, this year may be tricky, as lawmakers and national leaders face off over the legislature's demand that a lead "Spitzenkandidat" from a winning party succeed Juncker.

Leaders would normally agree on a successor in late June so that parliament can endorse the appointment in July. But a row with parliament could also delay the handover beyond Nov. 1.

Key appointments, including that of European Central Bank president after Mario Draghi leaves in October, will see fierce bargaining, among big states and small, the north, south, east and west of Europe, left and right, men and women, and so on.

The European Council of national leaders, which must also choose its own next president in succession to Donald Tusk, is reluctant to be tied to a choice of Manfred Weber, a conservative German MEP, or Juncker's Dutch deputy, Frans Timmermans of the Socialists.

Macron is a loud opponent of parliament's Spitzenkandidat push and Brussels is abuzz with talk that he favors others - notably Frenchman Michel Barnier, the EU's Brexit negotiator, or centrist Danish EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

Weber and his parliamentary allies will argue strongly that it is that kind of backroom carve-up which is turning Europeans off the EU. In reply, national leaders may argue that they have stronger democratic mandates to govern than a parliament for which in 2014 only 43 percent of voters cast a ballot.

Polling data suggests somewhat more people intend to vote than last time, parliamentary officials say. But there are huge variations in engagement with campaigns largely fought on domestic issues. In Belgium, where voting is compulsory and a national election is held the same day, turnout was 90 percent in 2014. But in Slovakia, it was 13 percent.
Georgian President Salome Zourabishvili says Russia's decadelong military occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has failed to break the national will to maintain sovereignty and achieve European Union and NATO accession.

"Despite the occupied territories and despite the ... constant everyday pressure with hostage-taking, with humanitarian pressure on the populations on both sides of the occupying line, this has not been a victory for Russia, because Georgia has kept its line and (determination) to join the EU and (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), she told VOA's Georgian Service in an interview in Tbilisi.

"And I think that was the ultimate aim of Russia: to effect Georgia's determination," she said, adding that, as such, "it's a victory for Georgia and not for Russia."

Despite visa-free travel and formal trade pacts with the European bloc, the EU has yet to grant Georgia membership candidacy, in part because of Brussel's trepidation about openly antagonizing Russian President Vladimir Putin following the 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula. (In Georgia, where Russian tank units maintain control over 20% of the terrain, a holdover from the August 2008 five-day war, officials had long espoused their conviction that Russia might one day attempt to annex portions of Ukraine.)

Increased American naval activity on the Black Sea  a kind of maritime gateway for trade and access to natural resources across Asia that circumvents routes through Russia  reflects not only U.S. strategic interest in the region, Zourabishvili said, but an opportunity for Tbilisi to deepen ties with Washington.

"I think the Black Sea is becoming much more important in the strategic view of the United States," she told VOA. With NATO-partnered Romania and Bulgaria on the maritime region's western flank, Georgia is vital strategic partner on the eastern shore, "and we are ready to see the Black Sea being a more important link with the United States."

Beyond established U.S.-Georgian military cooperation, former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in October praised Georgia's defense reforms and contributions to the NATO Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, where Tbilisi's 870 uniformed troops represent the world's largest per capita contributor to the mission. Zourabishvili said she would like to see increased cybersecurity cooperation and training with both the U.S. and NATO.

Asked whether she was open to hosting a U.S. military base on Georgian soil, however, she was doubtful.

"I don't think that it would be recommended," Zourabishvili said. "We don't need to take steps that might be viewed as provocations, and I don't think that the United States would be ready for having here a military base that would attract probably reactions both from Russia and from these ... terrorist movements that are very active in the region."

Meanwhile, Tbilisi's lack of diplomatic ties to Moscow means that it must depend exclusively upon interlocutors to demand that Russia respect its obligations under international law in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"Of course we know that it won't change the situation in the occupied territories today," she said. "But there might come a day, and I hope it will be soon, where that might have some effect. So we cannot let either Russia or our partners forget that the issue of the occupied territories is a very central issue for Georgia."

Russia, she said, "will never have a veto" over Georgia's transatlantic path.

Although Georgia hosts NATO military exercises and has troops serving with alliance forces in Afghanistan, NATO has set no date for membership.

Zourabishvili, 67, who was born in France, became Georgia's first woman president in December 2018.

This story originated in VOA's Georgian Service.
The recent mass execution of dozens of Saudi citizens has drawn wide criticism from rights groups and governments around the world, which have urged Saudi authorities to stop such public executions and put an end to the growing human rights abuses in the Muslim kingdom.

Saudi Arabia last week beheaded 37 Saudi men, of whom 34 were minority Shiites, for alleged terrorism-related crimes.

With an already poor human rights record, Saudi Arabia has seen a growing increase of rights violations, including mass executions, since the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman assumed power in 2017, experts say.

The Saudis have ramped up their crackdown of all forms of dissent within the last couple of years, said Philippe Nassif, the Middle East and North Africa advocacy director at Amnesty International.

Crackdown on Shiites

But the growing crackdown has increasingly targeted the Shiite minority who make up 10% to 15% of the countrys population, experts said.

The recently executed men many of them have been part of the broader crackdown against the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia. That has been going on for a long time. But it seems to have been ramped up more recently under Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, Nassif told VOA in a phone interview.

He added that Saudi officials see there is a very anti-Iranian climate in Washington and they try to link the Shiite communities of any country, whether its there or Lebanon or Yemen, to Iran all the time to justify their behavior at home and abroad.

Mass executions

Last weeks executions marked the largest number of executions in a single day in Saudi Arabia since 2016, when the government executed 47 people for terrorism-related crimes.

Among those executed in 2016 were four Shiite activists, including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whose death sparked protests among Shiite communities throughout the region. In Iran, a Shiite-majority country, protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

Saudi-Iranian ties have not recovered, and the embassy remains closed.

At the time, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the mass execution a crime against humanity.

Cautious criticism

This time, however, Iranian officials were cautious when reacting to the recent executions carried out by the kingdom.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemned the attack in a tweet last week: After a wink at the dismembering of a journalist, not a whisper from the Trump administration when Saudi Arabia beheads 37 men in one dayeven crucifying one two days after Easter. Membership in the #B_teamBolton, Bin Salman, Bin Zayed & Bibi gives immunity for any crime.

Analysts believe that Irans deteriorating relations with the U.S. under the Trump administration have forced Iran to abstain from getting involved with new issues in the Middle East.

Turning a blind eye to [executions of Shiites in Saudi Arabia] shows that the political stance has drastically changed in Tehran and decision-makers do not tend to change it in the near future, said a Tehran-based analyst, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity for fear of prosecution by Iranian authorities.

The current confrontation with Washington, through sanctions and political pressures has put Tehran in a position not looking for more drama in the region, he said.

Since May 2018, when the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the Trump administration has imposed a growing number of sanctions against Tehran for what U.S. officials call Irans destabilizing role in the Middle East.

Nassif, of Amnesty International, said these sanctions have made Iran react cautiously against U.S. allies in the region.

The Iranians see the Saudi royal family being completely protected by the United States. They are worried that the U.S. will find an excuse to continue to tighten the noose around the Iranians. So they dont want to make anything worse, he said.

Some analysts also charge that the strong reaction from the international community regarding Tehrans handling of the 2016 attacks on the Saudi embassy have made Tehran to act more cautiously this time around.

I dont think Iranian officials are willing to make a noise about this as they did in 2016, said Karim Dahimi, a London-based Iranian affairs analyst.

For example, since the mass execution last week in Saudi Arabia, we havent seen any orchestrated protests or rallies to protest those executions, he added.

U.S. stance

A State Department spokesperson told U.S. media that the United States is urging the government of Saudi Arabia to ensure fair trail guarantees for suspects under detention.

We have seen these reports. We urge the government of Saudi Arabia and all governments to ensure fair trial guarantees, freedom from arbitrary and extrajudicial detention, transparency, rule of law, and freedom of religion and belief, a State Department spokesperson told ABC News when asked about the executions carried out by Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advises the White House, the State Department and Congress, this week named Saudi Arabia as one of the 16 countries in its annual report for committing particularly severe abuses of religious freedoms.

Following the death of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill that requires sanctions on those responsible for the killing.

The bill also imposes sanctions on individuals for various activities related to the civil war in Yemen.

Analyst Nassif believes the bill could change Saudi behavior when it comes to its alleged human rights abuses.

This is scaring the Saudis because theyre seeing a bipartisan consensus [in the U.S.] to be growing against their behavior not just in Yemen but in a broader sense, he said.
Venezuela's self-declared president Juan Guaido is calling for another day of massive street protests Wednesday to try and convince Nicolas Maduro that he must go.

Guaido said late Tuesday night that Maduros claim that he still has the respect and support of the Venezuelan military is false.

WATCH: US, Venezuela

He says protests against Maduro has the world's attention and that the people have to keep up the pressure on the regime.

Maduro appeared on Venezuelan television to say the opposition is trying to impose an "illegitimate government" backed by the United States and Colombia. He said Venezuela has been the victim of all kinds of aggression.

President Donald Trump Tuesday threatened Cuba with full and complete embargo of the island and the highest-level sanctions if it does not immediately cease military and other support for Venezuela.

Minutes after Trumps tweet, his secretary of state asserted that Maduro had been prepared to depart Venezuela on Tuesday morning but was talked out of it by the Russians.

He was headed for Havana, Mike Pompeo said on CNN.

Asked to say something directly to Maduro, Pompeo replied: Fire up the plane.

Of the Cubans, Pompeo said it is unacceptable that they are protecting this thug.

Earlier in the day, National Security Adviser John Bolton acknowledged a very serious situation in the South American country and said Trump was monitoring it minute by minute.

The Trump administration blames Cuban and Russian support for maintaining Maduro in power. He succeeded, in 2013, the late Hugo Chavez, who had come to power in 1998 by winning an election following his unsuccessful coup attempt.

We expect the Russians not to interfere in Venezuela, Bolton told reporters outside the White House West Wing on Tuesday.

Bolton, further indicating the uncertainty of success for Guaido, who is backed by the United States and dozens of other countries, called for Venezuelas defense minister, its supreme court chief judge and the commander of the presidential guard to act this afternoon or evening and support the action to remove Maduro from power.

At a State Department briefing, the agencys special representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, said it appears the three top-level Maduro officials are not going forward with what they had promised during internal Venezuelan negotiations.

If this effort fails, they will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives, predicted Bolton.

In response to a VOA question about what happens next if Guaido is not able to prevail on Tuesday, Bolton replied it is possible the current situation could persist.

We don't see any indication that there's any substantial part of the military that's ready to fire on innocent civilians, their fellow countrymen, added Bolton.

The national security adviser downplayed a televised scene of a military vehicle running over demonstrators who had been pelting the armored personnel carrier with stones.

It could be an isolated incident, he said.

Bolton declined to say what kind of support the United States is currently providing on the ground besides humanitarian assistance.

As he and the president have emphasized repeatedly for months, Bolton said all options remain on the table when asked about the possibility of U.S. military intervention.

Im simply not going to be more specific to that, he added.

What is happening in Venezuela is confusing and the U.S. government is receiving conflicting information, according Abrams.

Administration officials say Guaidos attempt to take power should not be regarded as a coup attempt because the national assembly leader is already recognized as the head of state by Western governments.

Besides Cuba and Russia, countries such as China and Turkey continue to regard Maduro as Venezuelas president.
A union for Harvard University graduate students is staging a campus sit-in to pressure the school to meet its labor demands.

Roughly 20 students were gathered inside a building in Harvard Yard on Wednesday as others marched outside in support of the Harvard Graduate Students Union.

Harvard administrators and union representatives have been negotiating details of an initial labor contract for the group for about a year. The union says it's pushing for higher wages, more affordable health care and stronger protections against sexual harassment. Harvard officials did not immediately provide comment.

Harvard graduate students voted last year to unionize with United Auto Workers. They join students at several other U.S. campuses that have organized since a federal panel ruled in 2016 that graduate student employees could form unions.
Rains were still pounding parts of northern Mozambique on Tuesday, several days after Cyclone Kenneth, while the United Nations said aid workers faced an incredibly difficult situation in reaching thousands of survivors. The death toll was at 38.

U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Gemma Connell said bad weather kept badly needed supplies from arriving in the main city of Pemba on Monday. This will be a challenge in the rainy days ahead, she told The Associated Press.

The government again urged Pemba residents to flee to higher ground as flooding continued. More than 570 milliliters (22 inches) has fallen in Pemba since Kenneth made landfall on Thursday, just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique.

This is the first time two cyclones have struck the southern African nation in a single season, and Kenneth was the first cyclone recorded so far north in Mozambique in the modern era of satellite imaging.

Up to 50 milliliters (3 inches) of rain were forecast over the next 24 hours, and rivers in the region were expected to reach flood peak by Thursday, the U.N. humanitarian office said, citing a UK aid analysis.

Scores of thousands of people in Macomia and Quissanga districts north of Pemba and on Ibo island need food and shelter. More than 35,000 buildings and homes were partly or fully destroyed, the government said.

These people lost everything, Connell said. It is critical that we get them the food that they need to survive. Women and children have been the hardest hit without the basics that they need to get by, especially shelter, she said.

A lull in the rain on Tuesday allowed a first flight to leave for Quissanga with food and health supplies, the U.N. World Food Program told reporters in Geneva.

The cyclone will affect the region for months to come after it affected key livelihoods of fishing and agriculture in the largely rural region, the WFP said. Some 31,000 hectares (76,600 acres) of crops were lost at the peak of the harvest season.

The area is already very vulnerable to food insecurity, spokesman Herve Verhoosel said.

Authorities were preparing for a possible cholera outbreak as some wells were contaminated and safe drinking water became a growing concern.

With the pair of deadly cyclones  Idai killed more than 600 people last month  Mozambique is a very complex humanitarian situation, Connell said. Only a quarter of the funding needed for Idai relief efforts has come in while funding for Kenneth has been slow.

This is a new crisis,'' she said. We are having to stretch across the two operations. That is a basic reality we are dealing with every day.
Trainees learn culinary skills at a vocational school in Linxia county, Gansu province, last year, as a part of the county's poverty alleviation efforts. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will use 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion) from the surplus of the Unemployment Insurance Fund for the improvement of vocational skills and will expand enrollment at vocational colleges by 1 million this year, the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Tuesday.

Maintaining employment is crucial for steady economic performance this year, and large-scale vocational training is key to that, attendees at the meeting agreed.

"The 100 billion yuan fund and 1 million enrollment expansion plan are key measures to ensure stable employment and sustain high-quality growth," Li said. "Currently, we face employment pressure in terms of both high demand for jobs and structural mismatches in the job market. To promote high-quality development, we must first improve the educational level of our workers and instill a sense of professionalism and workmanship in them."

The country will open up over 15 million training opportunities this year and over 50 million within three years. Such training will target skilled workers, and accommodate the needs of key groups of people for employment and those having difficulty landing jobs. It will tilt in favor of quality vocational colleges, high-demand disciplines and poverty stricken areas.

Separate enrollment plans will be made for demobilized military personnel, rural migrant workers and modern professional farmers.

"The government must encourage companies to pay more attention to employee training and collaborate with vocational colleges in such training. This is of great significance for our future development," Li said.

The recent workplace safety accidents all involve violations of safe operation procedures, showing that there is still much to be desired in the professional competence of their employees, Li said.

"High caliber workers are the backbone for achieving high quality development."

Companies, especially micro and small enterprises, will be encouraged to carry out vocational training, and training of safety skills for workers in dangerous industries will be intensified.

The government will also encourage vocational schools to expand enrollment, and support companies in providing vocational training.

Private institutions will enjoy the same treatment as their publicly run counterparts in the procurement of government services.
By PTI

UNTED NATIONS: A decision on whether Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar will be listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations will be known on Wednesday as the world body's Sanctions Committee holds a crucial meeting, amid indications that China could lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar.

The Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee is expected to meet here and the issue of Azhar's listing is likely to be considered.

Sources said that the outcome of the meeting - whether UNSC permanent member China decides to lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar, paving the way for the UN to slap sanctions against him - will be known on Wednesday. Beijing said on Tuesday that the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved."

China had put a hold in March on a fresh proposal by the US, UK and France to impose a ban on the chief of the JeM which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India had moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar. In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016. In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again.

ALSO READ| China may withdraw hold on ban for Masood Azhar

However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. "I can only say that I believe that this will be properly resolved," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing.

He was responding to questions on the media reports that China has reportedly consented to lift its technical hold on a fresh proposal moved by France, the UK and the US to list Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

Keeping up the international pressure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, the US, supported by France and the UK, moved a draft resolution directly in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror organisation's head.

Though China can exercise its veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC, Beijing has staunchly opposed the issue to be taken to the apex UN body as it has to publicly explain its stand on its reservations to list Azhar, whose group JeM has already been designated as terror outfit by UN, before exercising its veto. "Regarding the listing issue in the 1267 Committee, we have expressed our position many times and I just want to stress two points," Geng said answering a number of questions on Azhar's issue.

"First, we support the listing issue being settled within the 1267 committee through dialogue and consultation and I believe this is the consensus of most members. Second, the relevant consultations are going on within the committee and has achieved some progress. Third, I believe, with the joint efforts of all parties, this issue can be properly resolved," he said.

On reports that China would lift its technical hold on May 1, he said, "on the listing issue, China is still working with the relevant parties and we are in contact with all relevant parties within the 1267 Committee and I believe with the joint efforts of all parties, this will be properly resolved."

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transit by all states through their territories by designated individuals.

Under the arms embargo, all states are required to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities.

The efforts to resolve Azhar's listing issue gathered momentum last week with the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing to attend China's 2nd Belt and Road Forum held from April 25-27.

During the visit, Khan held talks with Xi, besides meeting Premier Li Keqiang and Vice President Wang Qishan during which India-Pakistan tension following the Pulwama terror attack as well as listing of Azhar reportedly figured. An official statement of China issued after Xi-Khan meeting on Sunday said the Chinese President had expressed hope that Pakistan and India can meet each other halfway and improve their relations.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed a bill into law on Tuesday declaring all U.S. forces in the Middle East terrorists and calling the U.S. government a sponsor of terrorism.

The bill was passed by parliament last week in retaliation for President Donald Trump's decision this month to designate Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist organization.

It was not clear what the impact of the new Iranian law might have on U.S. forces or their Middle East operations.

Rouhani instructed the ministry of intelligence, ministry of foreign affairs, the armed forces, and Iran's supreme national security council to implement the law, state media reported.

The law specifically labels as a terrorist organization the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

"These two forces (Guards and CENTCOM) that are designated as terrorist groups reciprocally might confront (each other) in the Persian Gulf or any other region. The United States will surely be responsible for such a situation," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA on Tuesday.

The United States has already blacklisted dozens of entities and people for affiliations with the Guards, but until Trump's decision not the organization as a whole.

Comprising an estimated 125,000-strong military with army, navy and air units, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) also command the Basij, a religious volunteer paramilitary force, and control Iran's ballistic missile programs. The Guards' overseas Quds forces have fought Iran's proxy wars in the region.

Long-tense relations between Tehran and Washington took a turn for the worse in May 2018 when Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers, reached before he took office, and reimposed sanctions.

Revolutionary Guards commanders have repeatedly said that U.S. bases in the Middle East and U.S. aircraft carriers in the Gulf are within range of Iranian missiles.

Rouhani said on Tuesday the Islamic Republic will continue to export oil despite U.S. sanctions aimed at reducing the country's crude shipments to zero.
Israel is observing one of its most solemn days of the year  Holocaust Remembrance Day  with the president warning the government not to get too cozy with some Europeans.



"Ideas of superiority, national purity, xenophobia, blatant anti-Semitism from left and right are hovering over Europe," Reuven Rivlin said Wednesday night.



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hosted leaders from Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland  all of whom visited Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, but whose right-wing governments have been accused of downplaying their countries' roles in the mass murder of Jews during World War II.



"Not every right-wing party in Europe that believes in controlling immigration or protecting its unique character is anti-Semitic or xenophobic," Rivlin said. "But political forces where anti-Semitism and racism are part of their language, their ideology, can never be our allies."



Rivlin added that politics is not an excuse for getting cozy with those who try to distort their roles in the Holocaust.

Netanyahu spoke of anti-Semitism from all sides  the right, left and radical Islam  as he noted the deadly attacks on synagogues and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries in the United States.



He also condemned a recent editorial cartoon in the international edition of The New York Times depicting Trump wearing a Jewish skullcap leading Netanyahu, drawn as a dog, on a leash.



"We're not talking about legitimate criticism of Israel but of systematic, poisonous and shallow hatred," the prime minister said.



The newspaper apologized, disciplined the editor who ran the cartoon and cut ties with the cartoon's syndicator.



The Anti-Defamation League reported Tuesday that attacks against Jews in the U.S.  including physical assault, vandalism and murder  remained at historic highs in 2018.



Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel includes shutting down restaurants and cafes, and TV documentaries and interviews with survivors are broadcast. The day ends at sundown on Thursday and is highlighted by two minutes of silence, when Israelis stop whatever they are doing to stand in silent reflection.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Juan Guaido, his chief political opponent who declared himself interim president, are set to hold competing May Day rallies Wednesday as both men engage in an escalating battle for control of the economically wrecked country.

The rallies are being held in the aftermath of violent street protests in the capital, Caracas, after the U.S. backed Guaido called for the military to reject Maduro's rule and switch sides in a campaign he called "Operation Freedom." Guaido appeared alongside opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez who had been put under house arrest by Maduro, but said he had been "freed" by soldiers supporting Guaido.

Lopez posted a picture of men in uniform on Twitter, with the message, "Venezuela: the definitive phase to end the usurpation, Operation Liberty, has begun." But Lopez and his family later entered the Chilean Embassy to seek refuge, then moved to the Spanish Embassy.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets, with gunfire erupting and troops loyal to Maduro firing water cannons at protesters.

Television footage showed one Venezuela National Guard vehicle running over demonstrators who were throwing rocks at the military. The government said one of its soldiers was hit by a bullet.

The day ended without any sign of defections within the military's top ranks from Maduro to Guaido. But Guaido, the leader of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, appeared undaunted in a video message posted on social media late Tuesday, vowing to keep up the pressure on the embattled Maduro.

For his part, Maduro claimed victory over the uprising, which he described as a coup backed by the United States, and vowed to launch criminal prosecutions against those who orchestrated the unrest.

The president also ridiculed claims made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Maduro had been prepared to depart Venezuela for Havana on Tuesday morning but was talked out of it by the Russians.

Despite widespread food and medical shortages and a failing economy in Venezuela, the socialist Maduro regime has clung to power with the support of most of the country's military. Venezuela's two biggest creditors, Russia and China, also have continued to support Maduro.

Meanwhile, the United States, one of about 50 countries that has recognized Guaido as the country's legitimate leader, has imposed sanctions on Caracas in an effort to curb its international oil sales.

Guaido invoked the constitution to declare himself interim president in January after calling Maduro's leadership illegitimate because of election fraud.

In a related development, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued an order late Tuesday banning all U.S. airlines from flying in Venezuela's airspace below 7,000 meters until further notice, citing "increasing political instability and tensions." The FAA also ordered all air operators in Venezuela, including private jets, to leave the country within 48 hours.
New Mexico's state fairgrounds will begin to house migrant families to take pressure off border cities facing a surge in asylum seekers with no help from the federal government, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said on Tuesday.

Dormitories at state-run Expo New Mexico in Albuquerque will provide temporary accommodation to several dozen migrants, becoming one of the largest migrant shelters in the state, said a joint statement from the governor and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, both Democrats.

Lujan Grisham has called for a humanitarian response to the rise in asylum seekers, condemning a "charade of fear-mongering" by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has variously warned of a migrant "crisis" and "invasion" at the country's southern border with Mexico.

"The federal government has not provided shelter or timely adjudication at the border leaving migrants without any means to make arrangements to get to their sponsors or family members in the United States," the statement said.

Migrant shelters in border cities like El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico, are at or near capacity as record numbers of mainly Central American families cross the border to seek asylum.

The mayors of New Mexico's three largest cities - Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe - have offered resources to help charities and faith-based organizations care for migrants after they are dropped off by U.S. immigration authorities.

"Burquenos (Albuquerque residents) of every faith, ethnicity, and background have come together where the federal government has failed, to make sure the asylum seekers traveling legally through our community have the basic needs of human dignity met," Keller said in the statement.

Las Cruces has received over 2,400 migrants since the U.S. Border Patrol began to release them directly to shelters on April 12, said Claudia Tristan, a spokeswoman for Lujan Grisham.

The Expo Center will absorb the cost of housing migrants in its existing operating budget, Tristan said.

Faith-based and charity organizations will continue to provide food, medical services and transportation to migrants, who will spend a night or two at the center before traveling on to final destinations in the United States, the statement said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said her agency would work with El Paso's Annunciation House migrant organization to coordinate transportation of migrants to the Expo Center.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which runs the U.S. Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States is installing new military leadership in Europe at a moment of heightened worries about Russian aggression, doubts about the future of arms control and rising tensions among NATO allies.

These pressures are reflected in stepped-up U.S. military maneuvers in Europe, including the unusual simultaneous deployment last week of two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups in the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, the Russians are rattling nerves with talk of fielding new doomsday weapons such as a nuclear-armed undersea drone and making moves seen by some as risking escalation of the war in eastern Ukraine.

In ceremonies in Germany on Thursday and in Belgium on Friday, Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters will take over for Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti in the dual roles of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and head of U.S. European Command.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan had planned to attend the ceremonies but canceled just hours before his scheduled departure from Washington on Wednesday.

A Shanahan spokesman said he decided he should remain in Washington for consultations with the White House and the State Department on the crisis in Venezuela and the situation on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Scaparrotti, who is retiring, spent his tenure's final months dealing with U.S.-Turkey tensions triggered by Turkey's decision to buy a Russian S-400 air defense system. The U.S. and other NATO allies see the deal as incompatible with Turkey's continued participation in the Pentagon's F-35 stealth fighter program, and even its future in NATO. The two countries have been sharply at odds over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria.

Wolters has made clear his view that the fielding of a Russian air defense system by a NATO ally is unacceptable.

If Turkey proceeds down a path to procure and operate the S-400, they should not get the F-35,'' he said at his Senate confirmation hearing on April 2. I would contend that we all understand that Turkey is an important ally in the region, but it's absolutely unsustainable to support co-location of the F-35 and the S-400.

Wolters, a fighter pilot by training, had most recently served as commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and head of NATO's Allied Air Command.

The U.S. dispute with Turkey has the potential to tear the fabric of NATO unity, perhaps achieving a central aim of Russia's strategy toward the West. A Pentagon report to Congress last fall said Turkey's purchase of the S-400 would have unavoidable negative consequences for U.S.-Turkey bilateral relations, as well as Turkey's role in NATO. Turkey is among NATO member countries in which the United States stores nuclear weapons.

Some in Europe also worry that both Washington and Moscow plan to abandon a Cold War-era treaty that had banned an entire class of nuclear weapons. The U.S. and NATO accused Russia of violating the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty; Moscow denies the charge.

In NATO's 70th anniversary year, the alliance also faces a problem that two former ambassadors to NATO call unprecedented.

NATO's single greatest challenge is the absence of strong, principled American presidential leadership for the first time in its history, Douglas Lute and Nicholas Burns wrote in a report in February for Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

President Donald Trump is regarded widely in NATO capitals as the alliance's most urgent, and often most difficult, problem because of his open ambivalence about the value of the alliance, they wrote. Trump has accused key members, including Germany, of being freeloaders unwilling to pay for their own defense.

In his final appearance before Congress to present his assessment of security issues facing NATO and European Command, Scaparrotti in March said Russia was his main worry.

Russia is a long-term, strategic competitor that wants to advance its own objectives at the expense of U.S. prosperity and security and that sees the United States and the NATO alliance as the principal threat to its geopolitical ambitions, Scaparrotti said. In pursuit of its objectives, Moscow seeks to assert its influence over nations along its periphery, undermine NATO solidarity, and fracture the rules-based international order.

Ukraine is at the center of these concerns.

Although Ukraine is not a NATO member, it has a close working relationship with the alliance. So Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and its military intervention in eastern Ukraine are a source of concern in much of Europe.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin heightened those concerns by signing a decree to expedite citizenship applications from some Ukrainians living in areas held by Russia-backed separatists. The European Union called Putin's move a sign that he intends to further destabilize the country.

Philip Breedlove, who served as the top NATO commander from 2013 to 2016, said in an interview that Russia poses a multidimensional threat, and that matters only worsened as the U.S. narrowed its dialogue with Moscow in recent years.

We're moving away from each other, sadly, he said. Part of that is just because we can't depoliticize the issue of Russia in Washington, D.C. As a result, he added, relations have worsened and solutions have grown more distant. We need to move forward on a conversation with Russia to have talks that might bring some fruit.
Pakistan says a terrorist raid Wednesday from across the Afghanistan border killed at least three soldiers and injured seven others.

The militarys media wing said security forces were building a border fence in the remote North Waziristan district when a group of 60-70 terrorists from the Afghan side assaulted them.

Pakistani troops effectively repulsed the attack in Alwara area, killing and injuring scores of assailants, it added.

Militants have previously attacked construction teams, but the military vowed Wednesday that Pakistans fencing effort shall continue, despite all such impediments.

Pakistan began the unilateral construction work about two years ago to secure the 2,600-kilometer largely porous border with Afghanistan. Officials anticipate the fencing and other installations will be in place by the end of this year , saying it will help address mutual concerns of terrorist infiltration.

While Pakistan security forces are solidifying border security through fencing and construction of forts to deny liberty of action to the terrorists, Afghan security forces and authorities need to have more effective control in border regions to support Pakistans efforts, as well as deny use of Afghan soil against Pakistan, the army statement stressed.

There was no immediate reaction from Afghan authorities.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States is prepared to intervene militarily to stem the ongoing unrest in Venezuela.

"Military action is possible," the top U.S. diplomat told the Fox Business Network. "If that is what is required, that is what the United States will do."

Pompeo, however, reiterated that the U.S. would prefer a peaceful transition of power in Caracas from socialist President Nicolas Maduro to the self-declared interim president Juan Guaido, president of the National Assembly, and recognized by the United States and about 50 other countries as the legitimate leader of the South American country.

Pompeo's signal that the U.S. could send troops to Venezuela drew a quick rebuke from Russia, a strong Maduro supporter.

Moscow said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Pompeo in a phone call that further "aggressive steps" by the U.S. in Venezuela would be "fraught with the most serious consequences." The Russian diplomat denounced what he said was the United States' "interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs, calling it "a gross violation of international law."

The U.S. State Department said Pompeo urged Moscow to end its involvement in Venezuela, telling Lavrov that Russian and Cuban actions there would destabilize it and could upend U.S.-Russian relations on a broader scale.

Pompeo told interviewers that Maduro, in the face of street protests against his government, was prepared to leave Venezuela for Cuba on Tuesday, but that Russia convinced him to stay to fight Guaido's call for the Venezuelan military to join him in a push to overthrow Maduro.

Maduro and the Russian Foreign Ministry denied the Maduro departure allegation, with Moscow saying the U.S.'s claim was part of its "information war" designed to demoralize the Venezuelan army and foment a coup.

Guaido emerged at a May Day street protest vowing to demonstrators, "We're going to remain in the streets until we achieve freedom for the Venezuelan people. The regime will try to increase the repression. It will try to persecute me."

Rock- and Molotov-cocktail-throwing protesters and government security troops clashed Tuesday, with authorities firing live ammunition, water cannon and rubber bullets at the demonstrators, killing one and injuring dozens.

Television footage showed one Venezuela National Guard vehicle running over demonstrators who were throwing rocks at the military. The government said one of its soldiers was hit by a bullet.

Tear gas smoke wafted across streets in Caracas on Wednesday, with armor-clad police carrying shields to stand defiantly against rock-throwing protesters. But there appeared to be fewer clashes with authorities than on Tuesday.

Guaido said staggered industrial action would begin on Thursday, leading to a general strike.

Maduro claimed Guaido's attempted coup had been defeated.

Maduro congratulated the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes."

"This will not go unpunished," Maduro said in a television and radio broadcast.

He said demonstrators will be prosecuted "for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace."

Thousands of demonstrators have joined the street protests after the U.S.-backed Guaido called for the military to reject Maduro's rule and switch sides in a campaign he called "Operation Freedom."

Guaido appeared Tuesday alongside opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who had been put under house arrest by Maduro, but said he had been "freed" by soldiers supporting Guaido.

Lopez posted a picture of men in uniform on Twitter with the message, "Venezuela: the definitive phase to end the usurpation, Operation Liberty, has begun." Later, Lopez and his family went to the Chilean Embassy to seek refuge, then moved to the Spanish Embassy.

Tuesday ended without any sign of defections within the military's top ranks from Maduro to Guaido. But Guaido appeared undaunted in a video message posted on social media late Tuesday, vowing to keep up the pressure on the embattled Maduro.

Despite widespread food and medical shortages and a failing economy in Venezuela, the socialist Maduro government has clung to power with the support of most of the military. Venezuela's two biggest creditors, Russia and China, also have continued to support Maduro.

Meanwhile, the United States has imposed sanctions on Caracas in an effort to curb its international oil sales.

Guaido invoked the constitution to declare himself interim president in January after calling Maduro's leadership illegitimate because of election fraud.

In a related development, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued an order late Tuesday banning all U.S. airlines from flying in Venezuela's airspace below 7,000 meters until further notice, citing "increasing political instability and tensions."

The FAA also ordered all air operators in Venezuela, including private jets, to leave the country within 48 hours.
The checkpoints started just outside of an east Sri Lanka village, the strictest seen in the days after Islamic State-aligned militants launched suicide attacks that killed over 250 people.



The trucks stopped first, soldiers digging through crates and produce. Buses disgorged their passengers. Cars lined up single file so soldiers could open their hoods to inspect engine blocks and pull everything out of trunks.

The reason became clear soon after, as the sound of hymns filled the air of Thannamunai.

The small village in eastern Sri Lanka held likely the first Mass since Catholic leaders closed all their churches for fear of further attacks. Under incredibly tight security, worshippers watched a priest be ordained as they hoped for a future when Mass wouldn't require hundreds of troops armed with assault rifles to defend it.

"People wanted to celebrate Mass, they wanted to participate in this, but they  even myself  were afraid," Father Norton Johnson told Associated Press journalists who witnessed the Mass. "However, security personnel gave us good protection."



The Mass in Thannamunai, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, had been planned at least two weeks earlier to mark the ordination with the participation of some 200 priests. They had expected thousands to attend the ceremony at St. Joseph's Catholic Church.



Then came Easter. The morning of April 21, suicide bombers attacked three churches and three hotels. Soon after, the U.S. Embassy in Colombo warned against attending services at any place of worship in the multiethnic nation of 21 million Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims.

Catholic leaders closed all their churches. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, celebrated Mass this past Sunday at his residence, with the country's leaders attending. The faithful prayed on their knees at home, watching his homily on television.

Ranjith said Tuesday that parishioners would form "vigilance committees" to check IDs at church doors and keep anyone with a bag from entering when some Masses resume this weekend.



But the invitations for the ordination in Thannamunai already had been sent out. After confirming with the military, Johnson and other Catholic leaders agreed to quietly hold the Mass for the community. Johnson said he believed it to be the first Mass held in the country, outside of small gatherings for prayers quietly held at believers' homes.



What had been expected to be a crowd of 3,000 turned into several hundred. The 200 priests expected instead became 80. But still they came Tuesday morning, the priests laying their hands on the new priest's forehead as he knelt before them.

Security personnel remained tense, in part because Thannamunai is wedged between Muslim neighborhoods and authorities believe militants remain at large. The alleged mastermind of the Easter bombings also preached a violent interpretation of the Quran nearby, promising heaven to those who killed nonbelievers. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who hasn't been seen in nearly five years, appeared in a video Monday and praised the Sri Lankan attackers, who earlier pledged their loyalty to him.

During the service Tuesday, a Muslim woman rode past sitting side-saddle on a small motorbike, her black abaya billowing in the wind. Johnson made a point to say that those behind the Easter attacks were "only a few terrorists."

"In every religion, every race, there are extremists. They do certain things. But we can't blame one community for these problems," the priest said. "The Muslim community, they are afraid, and they are sorry about this incident. And what I can say is we are with them."

Police officers arranged separate lines for men and women outside of St. Joseph's. The officers carefully patted down those entering the service. Around 300 soldiers, 60 police officers and special commandos stood guard, some behind the church looking at the blue still waters of a nearby lagoon.



"It's a very risky thing," said one army officer.



But inside, worshippers prayed with their eyes closed, some barefoot. A choir sang hymns backed by a synthesizer and drums, their Tamil verses peppered with hosannas, an exclamation to give praise to God. Orange streamers hung from the rafters. Bouquets of flowers ringed its chandeliers.



St. Joseph's earlier was near the front lines of the government's decades-long civil war against the Tamil Tigers. Mortars once struck the church, damaging it, Johnson recounted. But it was rebuilt, as he hoped peace would soon be across all of Sri Lanka.



"We are all the same," he said before walking back into the church. "All of our blood is red."
Like many rural South Africans, 38-year-old nurse Olga Fokazi lives in a town that since 1994 has been ruled by the powerful African National Congress. And like the majority of voters in her area, she has faithfully supported them in every national election, most recently in 2014. The party has dominated every national poll since the beginning of democracy in 1994.

But as elections approach on May 8, the ANC is preparing to fight the toughest battle of its 25-year run. In recent years, the party has been rocked by multiple high-level corruption scandals and mounting complaints about its failure to provide basic services and end the inequalities left by the legacy of apartheid. Political polls show that the ANC is poised to lose support in this years poll, from 62 percent nationwide in 2014, to as little as 57 percent this year.

In 2016s municipal elections, the party lost several major metro areas  signaling the growing discontent among South Africas growing urban population.

But that discontent appears to have bled beyond the cities, and into smaller communities like Fokazis, where the party has long counted on support. In the sparsely populated Northern Cape province, where she lives, the ANC won a comfortable 64 percent of the vote in the last election, five years ago.

The party shouldnt count on the same this time, Fokazi says. This year, disgusted by corruption and poor service delivery in her small town, she said plans to boycott the polls entirely. Political parties are so focused on winning urbanites, she says, that they have long neglected small towns.

They just like concentrating on all these big towns, but here in the rural places, theyre not even coming, she said. Theyre not coming to us, theyre not coming to us. So I dont see why I should vote for the ANC.

Analysts say voters like Fokazi are among a growing demographic of disillusioned ANC supporters. Many are turning to opposition parties like the Democratic Alliance or the Economic Freedom Fighters, but many others are simply staying away.

Just because the ANC numbers might go down doesnt mean that the urban areas have swung to opposition parties, said professor Ivor Sarakinsky, of the University of the Witwatersrands School of Governance. The ANCs got an internal opposition in terms of the voters not voting because the voters are not satisfied with the ANC, their party of choice.

Twenty-six-year-old Mathabo Mokopane is one of those withdrawing her support for the ANC. Her own small town is ANC-run, and she also voted for them previously. Not this time, she says.

The people we are voting for, actually, when we finish voting for them, they dont look after the community anymore, she said, citing small-scale ANC corruption scandals in her small town. She also blamed the party for failing to create work opportunities in her community, a move, she said, that forced her to hitchhike to the nearest mid-size town, Kimberley, to seek work.

In the small maize-farming town of Wolmaransstad, unemployed voter Tshepo Mosoeu says hes lost hope that the ANC will bring improvements since the death of ANC icon Nelson Mandela, known by many South Africans simply as Tata.

ANC failed us, he told VOA as stood on the towns main drag on a Saturday morning, watching others queue at the bank to draw their monthly salaries. We are going to vote for EFF. Its either we go for DA or EFF. But we must change. Because of Tata  he left a legacy for us. But what about us? Theres a rate of unemployment, theres a lot of poverty, look at this road here.

But hope is alive in the nearby town of Bloemhof, says Martha Phakedi, an energetic 30-year-old mother of two who recently took to the streets of this dusty town to campaign for the opposition Democratic Alliance.

The rural areas are changing, they are starting to see the light, she said. Because they have been lied to for so many years. But to tell the truth, we as the opposition, we only need to work very hard to show these people that they have been used from 1994 until now, only for the benefits of certain families. So they are starting to see the light, and I do have hope that sooner or later the oppositions will take power here in Bloemhof.

Fokazi isnt so optimistic. She waited for hours by the side of the road on a recent Monday, hoping to hitch a ride to the hospital in Kimberley, where she works during the week. She wishes, she said, that she could work closer to home, and spend more time with her 10-year-old daughter, who she says dreams of becoming a doctor.

She worries about whether shell be able to pay university fees, or whether the underfunded local schools will provide her a good enough education  all things, she said, that she imagined would be possible when the ANC took power in 1994.

Things need to change, she said.
Tensions between Sudans ruling military council and protesters have spiked after the military warned it could remove barricades near their month-long sit-in. Protesters responded by fortifying obstacles around the protest camp and calling for a mass rally to pressure the military to hand over power to civilians.

Sudans main protest group, the Sudanese Professionals Association, has called for a mass rally to begin Thursday at one o'clock in the afternoon, with the aim of fully achieving their demand for civilian rule.

The call came a day after the Transitional Military Council said it wanted to remove protesters barricades from bridges and roads and would not allow any more chaos in Sudan.

Deputy chief of the TMC Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo said it was their duty to safeguard citizens, property, and the law. He said the barricades are paralyzing business in Khartoum and promoting criminal activity.

We don't accept any chaos and attacking citizens and their property or state properties, said Dagalo. We will handle it with required closure and acting under the law, he said.

Protesters at the main protest camp, outside army headquarters, responded by building some barricades even higher.

Sitting in a chair behind a one-meter-high fence made of stones and iron, protester Mohamed al-Tayeb is defiant.

He said in the sit-in securing committee they have noticed some attempts to clear the demonstration. But this latest threat has been met with more protesters and bigger barricades.

Sudanese have been protesting by the thousands since December for a change in government. They have refused to end their sit-in demonstration even after April 11, when the military ousted President Omar al-Bashir from three decades in power.

On Tuesday evening, the protesters were joined by a large group of supporters from Sudans war-torn Darfur region, including Mutasim Ali.

He said people should not trust the military council, and that military leaders should hand over power to civilians as agreed.

Sudans protesters have reasons not to trust the military.

It has yet to offer proof that Bashir is behind bars and has refused to turn him over to the International Criminal Court, which wants him for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

The protesters and military last week agreed in principle to a power-sharing joint council but failed to agree on which side would hold a majority of seats.

On Wednesday, the African Union shortened a deadline for Sudans military council to hand power to a civilian-led council from three months to two. The AU initially gave the military a two-week deadline to avoid suspension in the bloc, which it later extended.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: Emphasising upon the need to 'preserve' a global order based on international rules that all can adhere to, India's Ambassador to the United States, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Tuesday said New Delhi will 'not sit back and watch' subversion of this order.

In an interaction with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a top US think-tank, Shringla also said that it is necessary to make changes in international organisations, including the UN, based on ground realities of the 21st century. "India's co-operation with countries like United States and Japan, among other things, is to preserve our concept of a global order which is based on certain international rules that all of us can adhere to", he said, responding to a question during his interaction, the first one after his arrival in the US early this year. "The subversion of this order is not something that we will like to sit back and watch. The countries like the United States, Japan and India believe there are many ways under which "a transparent rules-based order," the Indian diplomat added.

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Talking about India's ongoing general elections, Shringla said it is an exercise which is unparallel in democracy in terms of the scale and magnitude. "It is not just the scale, but also the commitment to democracy," he said.

Shringla said the outcome of the elections this will be largely determined by younger voters. "I think the decision as to who would run the country for the next five years will largely be made by the younger generation in India because 70 percent of the country today is below 35 years of age. A good 80 to 90 million voters are the first-time voters who have no ideological commitment to either side. What they're going to see is which is the dispensation - which party or group of parties and persons - can lead the country for the next five years. We have to keep in mind that this is an aspirational generation, a generation that is looking forward, that has a lot of hopes and dreams,," he said.

Asserting that India is committed not only to multilateralism and a rule-based international governance but also to co-operation among various countries, he said India has made a "very significant" contribution to it. "If there is some sense of a challenge to the existing international order, it is also because there is a need to continue to reform these institutions to bring them in line with the changing realities," the top Indian diplomat said.

Many of these institutions, he said, have existed in almost the same form since the end of the Second World War. "India and a lot of other countries believe these institutions need to make adjustments necessary to make them more effective, more acceptable and more cohesive instruments of international cooperation. I think these institutions do need to change as they go along," he said.

Observing that the United States is one of the 'main initiators and creators' of the multilateral global order, Shringla said any second thought that emanates from the US about how these institutions should be run, is something that people sit up and listen. "But the fact of the matter is that every state whether it is large or small has the right to introspect on what this order should be like. Each one of us really need to think what is the best way that these institutions should be run," Shringla said.

Responding to a question on Pakistan, he said India has always taken the lead in engaging with its neighbour. "But any support to terrorism will not be tolerated," he asserted.

ALSO READ| Decision on global terrorist tag by UN on JeM chief Masood Azhar likely today

Referring to the global support that India enjoys on the issue against terrorism, he said there is no place for terrorism. "Most people, even in Pakistan, I think, would agree that terrorism is something that has to be dealt with before we get down to issues that are important to both countries. Our focus is on development. We want to move forward economically. Want to give our citizens a better life. We have no interest in hostility and conflict because that detracts and takes us away from the core focus on the development of our country. And the sooner we settle these issues with our neighbours, the better it is. But it is very clear that that we cannot have any more incidents of terrorism from across the border, because that is a serious threat to our integrity, development and our economic efforts. What is important is that the international community has to put adequate pressure on Pakistan to stop terrorism as an instrument of state policy," he said.
Cindy Saine at the State Department contributed to this report.



ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN  A United Nations Security Council committee has designated the head of the Pakistan-based militant organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as a global terrorist after China withdrew its long-held objections to the designation.



Beijing, a staunch Islamabad ally, had on several occasions since 2009 prevented the sanctions committee from blacklisting Masood Azhar, the founder of JeM, which is already designated as a global terrorist group.



The United States, France and Britain had jointly moved the designation earlier this week, asking the sanctions committee to subject Azhar to a foreign travel ban, an assets freeze and an arms embargo for promoting international terrorism on behalf of the al-Qaida terrorist organization and the Taliban.



India accuses JeM of plotting terrorist attacks on its soil, including the February 14 suicide car bombing in the disputed Kashmir regions Pulwama district that killed 40 Indian security personnel. The attack dangerously escalated military tensions, bringing India and Pakistan, both armed with nuclear weapons, to the brink of war.

Senior U.S. State Department officials commended the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee for the designation, and said his group is responsible for the Feb. 14 terrorist attack in Kashmir.

Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia. This designation was critically important, and it was a long time coming.

The State Department official said the U.S. has been trying to get Azhar designated as a global terrorist for 10 years, and strongly encouraged Pakistan to crack down on terrorism.

We do appreciate that Pakistan is saying the right things, has taken the initial steps that we are looking for but we reserve judgement, because as I indicated, we have seen backtracking in the past once a few months have passed and the heat is off.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang praised the resolution of the issue and explained why his country decided against blocking Azhars blacklisting.



Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal, Geng said.



The Chinese spokesman said Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism and that the country deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorist and extremist forces, he added.



New Delhi and Islamabad both claimed diplomatic victories of their own following Azhars designation.



We have been persistent, diligent and in a subterranean manner making all our efforts towards this goal. Today, that goal stands achieved. Grateful to the many, many countries who supported this effort, said Syed Akbaruddin, Indias ambassador and permanent representative to the U.N.



Pakistani officials noted that Wednesdays listing did not tie Azhar to the Pulwama bombing or to the insurgency in Indian Kashmir, calling it a diplomatic success for Islamabad.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told reporters Pakistan is going to immediately enforce the U.N. committees decision, rejecting as absolutely false and baseless Indian attempts of claiming a diplomatic victory for validation of their stance.

Our position is in line with the statements of Prime Minister [Imran] Khan, who clearly stated that there is no space for any proscribed organization or its affiliates to operate from Pakistani territory, Faisal said.



Pakistan has in recent weeks announced a series of measures to counter terrorism and violent extremism in the country in its bid to avoid being blacklisted by the Paris-based the Financial Action Task Force, (FATF) which monitors money laundering and terrorism financing.



The measures include an intensified crackdown on Islamist groups and major reform plans to mainstream thousands of religious seminaries across Pakistan, some of which critics say are tied to transnational terrorist organizations.
A new U.N. report says South Sudanese security agents likely executed two prominent critics of the government who vanished in Kenya in January 2017.

South Sudan's government has repeatedly denied responsibility for the disappearance of human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak and Aggrey Idri, a member of Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement In Opposition (SPLM-IO).

But the U.N. Panel of Experts on South Sudan says it verified evidence strongly suggesting that Luak and Idri were kidnapped in Nairobi by South Sudan's Internal Security Bureau, acting on orders from ISB's director general, Lieutenant General Akol Koor Kuc.

The report, released Tuesday, says ISB agents transported the two men from Kenya to Juba in a commercial plane on January 27, 2017, chartered with the help of the South Sudan's embassy in Nairobi.

It says Luak and Idri were then moved to a sprawling detention facility in Luri, about 20 kilometers west of Juba, and killed three days later.

The panel states it received and reviewed a number of independent reports from what it called highly credible and well-placed sources.

These accounts corroborate each other across a number of key details, leading the Panel to conclude that it is highly probable that Aggrey Idri and Dong Samuel Luak were executed by Internal Security Bureau agents at the Luri facility on 30 January 2017, on orders from the commander of the National Security Service training and detention facilities in Luri, the Commander of the National Security Service Central Division and, ultimately, Lieutenant General Akol Koor Kuc," the U.N. panel said.

Government denials

The report states that South Sudans government denied knowing the whereabouts of Idri and Luak. Authorities said that they did not know what had happened to the two men, adding that whatever occurred appeared to have taken place outside of South Sudan.

South Sudan's presidential spokesman, Aten Wek Ateny, has told VOAs South Sudan In Focus team on several occasions that the government is not to blame for Luak and Idris disappearance.

Rights groups

Human Rights Watch released a statement Tuesday calling on the South Sudan government to investigate the killings. Jehanne Henry, the group's associate director for Africa, told VOA the government should allow independent bodies to investigate the killings of the two South Sudanese.

"It is clearly incumbent on the government of South Sudan now to act and to look into this allegation and evidence that have been brought forward and to give access to the National Security [facility] location where they were held, talk to witnesses who saw them, access Luri and find the place of burial, Henry said.

Family concerns

The families of Dong Samuel Luak and Aggrey Idri told VOA in December that senior government officials in South Sudan were behind the disappearance of their loved ones.

Idris wife Aya Warille said she holds South Sudans first vice president, Taban Deng Gai, responsible for her husbands disappearance. Warille said Gai had been a close friend of her husband, but said since Idri disappeared, Gai ignored her phone calls and attempts for a meeting.

South Sudan In Focus requested to speak with Gai about the U.N. report but he declined, saying the Juba government would issue a statement. He did not specify when.

The U.N. Panel said the alleged deaths of Luak and Idri offered what it called sobering reflection of the challenges facing implementation of the revitalized peace agreement given the violent legacy of South Sudans conflicts, while highlighting the power of the National Security Service, of which the ISB is a part.

The panel's report noted that six months after the signing of South Sudans revitalized peace agreement on September 12, 2018, no political detainees have been released from detention. The terms of the deal required the warring parties to release all prisoners held in connection to the conflict that erupted in 2013.
The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Tuesday welcoming "new momentum" from the restart of talks on resolving the decades-old dispute over the mineral-rich Western Sahara, but Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front remain deeply at odds over its future.

South Africa and Russia abstained in the 13-0 vote, calling the U.S.-drafted resolution unbalanced.

Last year, the council called for accelerated efforts to reach a solution to the more than four-decade dispute over the territory. But two rounds of talks in December and March, brokered by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' personal envoy, Horst Kohler, made no headway.



Kohler, a former German president, cautioned after the March meeting that "many positions are still fundamentally diverging" and that nobody should expect "a quick outcome." He said a third round of talks would be held but no date has been set.

Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975 and fought the Polisario Front until the United Nations brokered a cease-fire in 1991 and set up a peacekeeping mission to monitor it and facilitate a referendum on Western Sahara's future, which has never taken place.

Morocco has proposed wide-ranging autonomy for Western Sahara. But the Polisario Front insists the local population, which it estimates at 350,000 to 500,000, has the right to a referendum.

The resolution adopted Tuesday extended the mandate of the U.N. mission known as MINURSO, which has a 235-strong military contingent, for six months until Oct. 31.

While welcoming "the new momentum" created by the talks, the Security Council also encouraged the parties "to demonstrate further political will towards a solution." The resolution also "emphasizes the need to achieve a realistic, practicable and enduring political solution to the question of Western Sahara based on compromise."

No compromise

But there was no sign of compromise from either Morocco or the Polisario Front.

Moroccan Ambassador Omar Hilale said his country is offering the Polisario Front a chance to govern Western Sahara "within the framework of the larger autonomy that it's offering," including control of its executive, legislative and judiciary bodies and "exploiting natural resources 100 percent within the Sahara for the development of the Sahara."

"The Polisario is still with the mind of the '70s," he said after the vote. "They should change their hard word. They should change their vision for the solution. Otherwise they will spend the coming generation" seeking "independence that will never come."

The Polisario Front's U.N. representative, Sidi Omar, said that "for us, the referendum is our position," because a decision on Western Sahara's future "must be validated by the people of Western Sahara to determine their status." He noted that in the early 1990s, Morocco was in favor of a referendum.



"The major stumbling block in all of this is that Morocco has not shown any sign of wanting to engage in a serious process of negotiations," Omar said. "We don't think if things continue as the way they are that we will go anywhere."
The United States and China are nearing a trade deal that would roll back a portion of the $250 billion in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, Politico reported on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the two countries completed "productive" talks in Beijing.

Mnuchin, along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, held a day of discussions with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, aimed at ending a trade war. The talks are to resume next week in Washington, where some observers say a deal announcement is possible.

"Ambassador Lighthizer and I just concluded productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He. We will continue our talks in Washington, D.C. next week," Mnuchin wrote on his Twitter account. He gave no details.

The three appeared before cameras at the end of talks at a state guest house in Beijing, chatting amiably among themselves without speaking to reporters.

"The discussions remain focused toward making substantial progress on important structural issues and rebalancing the U.S.-China trade relationship," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told pool reporters, adding only scheduling details.

Unilateral action

Politico quoted two people close to the talks as saying the sides have reached an understanding on how to enforce the agreement, but details need to be worked out. It would track closely to a framework described by Lighthizer to members of Congress: a series of meetings to address complaints about China's compliance with the accord, ending in unilateral U.S. tariff actions if the dispute cannot be resolved.

A USTR spokesman declined to comment on the Politico story. Lighthizer has insisted on a strong enforcement mechanism to hold China to any promises to address U.S. demands for reforms of Beijing's policies governing intellectual property rights, technology transfers and cyber-theft of trade secrets.

In written replies to questions on the Senate Finance Committee website on Wednesday, Lighthizer said: "To the extent that there are issues that cannot be resolved at the vice-premier level, then the United States would have the right to act unilaterally to enforce. This mechanism I described did not exist in past dialogues."

Tariff removal outline

A deal would involve immediate removal of 10 percent tariffs on a portion of $200 billion in Chinese goods affected by that duty, with a phased removal of tariffs on remaining goods "quickly," Politico said.

The United States has imposed tariffs on about $250 billion in Chinese goods, with a 25 percent duty on $50 billion worth of machinery, semiconductors, electronic and industrial components and autos.

U.S. officials have said privately that an enforcement mechanism for a deal and timelines for lifting tariffs are sticking points.

China's official Xinhua news agency, in a brief report, noted that the latest talks had taken place and said the next rounds would take place in Washington next week as planned.

Beijing and Washington have cited progress on issues including intellectual property and forced technology transfer to help end a conflict marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost both sides billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and roiled financial markets.

Chinese officials have acknowledged that they view the enforcement mechanism as crucial, but said it must work two ways and cannot put restraints only on China.

In Washington, people familiar with the talks say the question of how and when any U.S. tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods will be removed will probably be among the last issues to be resolved.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he may keep some tariffs on Chinese goods for a "substantial period.

The United States has also been pressing China to further open its market to U.S. firms. China has repeatedly pledged to continue reforms and make it easier for foreign companies to operate in the country.

In comments published Wednesday, China's top banking and insurance regulator said the government would further open up its banking and insurance sectors.
U.S. lawmakers drafting a bill to create rules governing online privacy hope to have a discussion draft complete by late May with a Senate committee vote during the summer and are intensifying efforts, but disputes are likely to push that timetable back, according to sources knowledgeable about the matter.

The issue is of huge concern to advertisers and tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabet's Google, which provide free online services to consumers but derive revenues from advertising targeted at consumers based on preferences identified via data collection.

Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal, Brian Schatz and Maria Cantwell, who are leading the effort to draft the measure along with Republican Senators Jerry Moran, Commerce Committee chairman Roger Wicker and the Senate's No. 2 Republican, John Thune, met late Tuesday and could meet again as early as next week.

The six senators involved in the privacy working group met for 45 minutes in Thune's Capitol Hill office Tuesday evening to discuss the status of the effort and look at issues where senators do not agree and will need to negotiate to resolve.

"It's all baby steps," he said. "Hopefully we can find a path forward."

Thune told reporters after the meeting senators want to review some legislative language that staffers have drafted.

"We're in the early stages," Thune said. For a big legislative undertaking he said he thought the group was in a "pretty good place" but acknowledged it is "not an easy lift" to win agreement.

Cantwell told reporters on the way into the meeting that she wants to see a bill that provides "meaningful protection for the privacy of individual consumers."

"This is the start of a conversation, but you have to have a strong law," she added.

"We're making good progress and I'm very hopeful," Blumenthal said afterward.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on the matter on Wednesday.

Republicans hope to complete a draft of the bill by the end of May so it can be introduced, debated and voted out of committee before Congress leaves for its August recess, according to the sources knowledgeable about the matter.

But that may be delayed if they fail to reach agreement with Democrats who are determined to ensure that the bill does not weaken, and then pre-empt, a California online privacy bill that goes into effect next year.

One dispute that has arisen is whether consumers whose privacy is violated by a company should be allowed to sue that company, with Democrats pushing for this to be allowed, according to one of the sources familiar with the discussions.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation advocacy group has this as one of its highest priorities in data privacy legislation. At least one key Republican disagrees.

"Senator Moran has heard serious concerns from the business community, particularly the small business community, that any private right of action would have serious ramifications in their sustainability. The senator is taking these considerations into account as he negotiates federal privacy legislation," said a representative for the senator in an email statement.

Democratic support for the privacy legislation is key since the measure will also have to pass the U.S. House of Representatives, which Democrats control, to become law. Republicans have a majority in the Senate.

California's law, which will affect any major company with an online presence, requires companies with data on more than 50,000 people to allow consumers to view the data they have collected on them, request deletion of data, and opt out of having the data sold to third parties. Each violation carries a $7,500 fine.

A privacy bill is one of the few pieces of potential legislation that lobbyists believe has a decent chance of becoming law because it is a bipartisan concern and does not cost taxpayers money, according to a source following the matter.
A decision by U.S. military officials in Afghanistan to stop tracking the amount of territory controlled by the Taliban is sparking an increasingly tense showdown with the watchdog overseeing reconstruction efforts.

The so-called district-level stability assessments, which measure the number of the country's districts under government or insurgent control or influence, have been one of the most widely cited indicators of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

But the assessments are missing from the quarterly report issued Wednesday by Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the first time the report has failed to include the data since 2015.

In a letter to SIGAR in March, the U.S.-commanded Resolute Support mission said the information had been dropped because it was "of limited decision-making value."

Ending data collection

A spokesman for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, Col. David Butler, further defended the decision to stop collecting the data Wednesday.

"The district stability assessment that was previously provided by (the Department of Defense) was redundant and did little to serve our mission of protecting our citizens and allies," he said, adding, "the intelligence community produces a district stability assessment which is available to SIGAR."

Only SIGAR, which has expressed growing alarm about the amount of information that is no longer being collected or which has been unnecessarily classified, said this is the first time military officials have raised such concerns.

"SIGAR has always gotten the district assessments from the RS (Resolute Support) command, not from the intelligence community," SIGAR spokesman Philip LaVelle told VOA, via email.

"When RS provided their formal response to our data call on this issue, they made no mention of it being discontinued because it's 'redundant' and no indication of it being made available to us from the intelligence community," he added.

Intelligence officials contacted by VOA are looking into whether the information is being collected and might be available to SIGAR.

But the assertion such data is collected would appear to contradict the letter Resolute Support sent SIGAR in March.

"District stability data has not been collected since the October 22, 2018 data submitted last quarter," Resolute Support wrote. "There are no products at command or other forums that communicate district stability or control information."

Loss of data

In a statement accompanying the report's release, SIGAR decried the loss of the data.

"Despite its limitations, the control data was the only unclassified metric provided by (Resolute Support) that consistently tracked changes to the security situation on the ground," it said.

SIGAR also noted that previous commanders of the Resolute Support mission "had previously cited its importance in public statements."

The U.S.-led mission's decision to eliminate the stability assessments comes after successive reports showed the Afghan government's control of the country falling to record lows.

In its November 2018 report, SIGAR said the Afghan government controlled or influenced only 56 percent of the country's districts, at the time the lowest level recorded since the watchdog began tracking district control in November 2015.

In SIGAR's subsequent report, issued this past January, that number had slipped to less than 54 percent, as the Afghan government lost seven districts to the Taliban.

According to some, the figures suggest U.S. President Donald Trump's strategy for Afghanistan, meant to increase pressure on the Taliban and force them to negotiate an end to decades of fighting, is not having the level of success claimed by administration officials.

Concerning data

Other data collected for the latest SIGAR report also show reason for concern.

The average number of attacks initiated by the Taliban jumped 19 percent for the three-month period ending in January. The number of casualties suffered by Afghan forces were 31 percent higher than compared to the same period last year.

The report found Afghan civilian casualties were also up, increasing 5 percent from 2017 to almost 11,000, while the number of civilians deaths jumped 11 percent, to more than 3,800.

"Ultimately, I don't think we've met all of our strategic goals there," U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko told reporters last week, ahead of the report's release.

"We were going to get the terrorists out and create a government that could keep the terrorists out," he said. "Obviously, we haven't kicked the terrorists out if they're still blowing things up and we're negotiating with them. That strategic goal has now changed."

Sopko also raised concerns that increasing amounts of information about U.S. difficulties or failures in Afghanistan is being hidden from the public.

"What we are finding now is almost every indicia, metrics, however you want to phrase it, for success or failure is now classified or non-existent," he said.

"The Afghan people obviously know which districts are controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban obviously know which districts they control. Our military knows it. Everybody in Afghanistan knows it," he said. "The only people who don't know what is going on are the people who are paying for all of this, and that's the American taxpayer."
The U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan is no longer collecting data showing the Afghan government steadily losing ground to the Taliban, telling a U.S. government watchdog the information was of limited decision-making value.

The so-called district-level stability assessments, which measure the number of the countrys districts under government or insurgent control or influence, have been one of the most widely cited indicators of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.



But the U.S.-commanded Resolute Support mission told the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in March the assessments were no longer being produced.

District stability data has not been collected since the October 22, 2018 data submitted last quarter, Resolute Support wrote in response to SIGARs request for the information ahead of its latest report, released Wednesday.

There are no products at command or other forums that communicate district stability or control information, the letter added.



According to SIGAR, U.S. defense officials also said the assessments were not indicative of effectiveness of the South Asia strategy or of progress toward security and stability.



The SIGAR quarterly report also quoted defense officials as saying it was more important to instead focus on the principal goal of the strategy of concluding the war in Afghanistan on terms favorable to Afghanistan and the United States.

When asked for about the decision to end the assessments, a spokesman for Resolute Support referred VOA to the letter sent to the special inspector general.



In a statement accompanying the reports release, SIGAR decried the loss of the data.



Despite its limitations, the control data was the only unclassified metric provided by [Resolute Support] that consistently tracked changes to the security situation on the ground, SIGAR said.



SIGAR also noted that previous commanders of the Resolute Support mission had previously cited its importance in public statements.



The U.S.-led missions decision to eliminate the stability assessments comes after successive reports showed the Afghan governments control of the country falling to record lows.



Low levels of control, influence



In its November 2018 report, SIGAR said the Afghan government controlled or influenced only 56 percent of the countrys districts, at the time the lowest level recorded since the watchdog began tracking district control in November 2015.

In SIGARs subsequent report, issued this past January, that number had slipped to less than 54 percent, as the Afghan government lost seven districts to the Taliban.



According to some, the figures suggest U.S. President Donald Trump's strategy for Afghanistan, meant to increase pressure on the Taliban and force them to negotiate an end to decades of fighting, is not having the level of success claimed by administration officials.



Other data collected for the latest SIGAR report also show reason for concern.



According to Resolute Support, the average number of attacks initiated by the Taliban jumped 19 percent for the three-month period ending in January. And according to U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, the number of casualties suffered by Afghan forces were 31 percent higher than compared to the same period last year.

Ultimately, I dont think weve met all of our strategic goals there, U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko told reporters last week, ahead of the reports release.

We were going to get the terrorists out and create a government that could keep the terrorists out, he said. Obviously, we havent kicked the terrorists out if theyre still blowing things up and were negotiating with them. That strategic goal has now changed.



Sopko also raised concerns that measuring U.S. progress in Afghanistan has become increasingly difficult, as U.S. and Afghan officials are collecting less data and are preventing other information from going public.



What we are finding now is almost every indicia, metrics, however you want to phrase it, for success or failure is now classified or non-existent, he said, adding that hiding or eliminating would appear pointless.



The Afghan people obviously know which districts are controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban obviously know which districts they control. Our military knows it. Everybody in Afghanistan knows it, he said. The only people who dont know what is going on are the people who are paying for all of this, and thats the American taxpayer.
The United States and the Taliban have begun a new round of negotiations in Doha, Qatar, in a bid to advance peace efforts in Afghanistan and to urge the insurgent group to participate in an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue.

U.S. special reconciliation envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, led the U.S. team Wednesday in talks with insurgent leaders based in the Qatari capital, officials said.

A Taliban official told VOA the discussions would focus on fleshing out some remaining details of a preliminary agreement the two sides had reached in their last meeting in early March. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, anticipated further progress in the talks, but would not speculate how long this meeting might last.

The insurgent group has underscored the need for finalizing an agreement on the withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops before it discusses other issues.

Prior to Wednesday's formal negotiations, Khalilzad met with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy Taliban leader for political affairs and head of the groups informal office in Doha.

It is absolutely vital that the two key agenda points of the previous meeting (full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from harming others) be finalized, a Taliban statement quoted Baradar as telling the U.S. chief negotiator. "This will open the way for resolving other aspects of the issue and we cannot enter into other topics before this, he stressed.

If finalized, the U.S.-Taliban agreement would bind the insurgent group to prevent transnational terrorist networks from using Afghan soil to harm other countries, and Washington in return would agree to a timetable for withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan.

Khalilzad, however, has repeatedly stated a comprehensive Taliban cease-fire and the rebel group's participation in intra-Afghan peace discussions would be key to concluding the deal.

The Afghan government has been excluded from the dialogue because the insurgent group has maintained from the outset it will not participate in any formal internal Afghan peace discussions until Washington agrees and announces a foreign troop withdrawal timeline.

Wednesdays talks came as a four-day "Consultative Peace Loya Jirga" is underway in Kabul to debate the framework for negotiations with the Taliban. The assembly, which began Monday, was convened by President Ashraf Ghani, but most of the candidates contesting upcoming presidential elections have boycotted the meeting. They called it electioneering by Ghani, who is also seeking election in the September 28 polls.

Afghan presidential envoy, Umer Daudzai, Wednesday dismissed the criticism, saying the peace process is the focus of what he described as the biggest and the most inclusive Loya Jirga of the history of Afghanistan.

Daudzai explained U.S.-led peace efforts had generated a debate inside the country and those widespread debates needed to be provided with a national direction and platform to help the peace process.

There was no other mechanism than Loya Jirga to bring all those debates together to turn it into one grand debate that will transform into a list of recommendations to the Afghan state and to international community, and perhaps to the Taliban, the presidential envoy noted.

Daudzai asserted that representatives from Taliban-control districts have also come to attend the ongoing traditional assembly in the Afghan capital, thanking the insurgents if they have not intentionally hindered the delegates from traveling Kabul.

The Taliban has already rejected the assembly as a ploy to help Ghani extend his rule and damage the groups ongoing peace talks with America.

Prior to his arrival in Qatar, ambassador Khalilzad held talks with leaders in Pakistan and sought their help to convince the Taliban to participate in intra-Afghan talks.

The Afghan-born American diplomat tweeted on Tuesday that Pakistan supports efforts to accelerate intra-afghan dialogue and negotiations, and is committed to helping reduce violence in Afghanistan.

I'm also encouraged by the role Pakistan wants to play in building regional consensus in support of the Afghan peace process. The time to implement has come, said Khalilzad.

Islamabad is accused of covertly supporting and sheltering insurgent leaders, takes credit for arranging the ongoing U.S.-Taliban dialogue. Pakistans own security and stability requires a peaceful Afghanistan, say Pakistani officials while underscoring their role in the Afghan peace process.

We strongly hope that our sincere efforts for ending decades of insecurity and establishing peace in Afghanistan will succeed, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Wednesday while talking to a visiting delegation of Afghan experts.
Popular support for media freedom in Africa has dropped to below half of adults, according to a latest survey conducted by Afrobarometer.

In the sixth of its Pan-Africa Profiles series based on recent public-opinion surveys in 34 African countries, Afrobarometer reports that media freedom supporters are now outnumbered by those who believe governments should have the right to prevent publications they consider harmful.

Declines in support for unfettered media were recorded in 25 of 31 countries tracked since 2011, including steep drops in Tanzania (-33 percentage points), Cabo Verde, Uganda, and Tunisia. While many Africans believe that media in their countries have more freedoms today than they did several years ago, this is more often seen as problematic than as progress, the data suggest, reads part of the report.

The new report also analyzes Africans news habits, showing that radio remains ahead of television as the most widely accessed source of news. Use of the Internet and social media as news sources is expanding, but a large digital divide still disadvantages poorer, less-educated, older, rural, and female citizens.

Radio is still the most widely accessed source of news, followed by television, while newspaper readership remains relatively rare on the continent. Access to Internet and social media is expanding, with majorities in some countries reporting regular use. However, there is a large digital divide: Access to digital sources is much higher in some countries than others, and is skewed in favour of wealthier, better-educated, younger, urban, and male citizens.

According to Afrobarometer, Africa, as elsewhere, mass media face increasing opportunities and threats. New technologies have made it easier for producers to share content widely and cheaply, resulting in a proliferation and diversification of information sources.

It says broader populations can access content more easily and cheaply than ever before  and contribute to those discussions themselves  through call-in programs on vernacular radio stations, Internet news sites and blogs, and social media such as WhatsApp and Twitter.

On the flip side, new competition and access to cost-free content threaten media organizations bottom lines. Consumer skepticism of media actors has skyrocketed as more people see media as propagators of falsehoods, bias, and hate speech, particularly when messages are critical of politicians or policies they support. Politicians  in democracies as well as authoritarian regimes  are more than happy to stoke this anger, which provides opportunities for governments to launch increasingly brazen legal and extra-legal attacks on media.

Prominent media watchdogs, such as Freedom House, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders, have documented increases in government regulations, censorship, and even violence against media actors in Africa and around the world.

The latest round of the Afrobarometer survey raises a red flag for free-press advocates. Popular support for media freedom  a majority view just three years ago  is now in the minority, exceeded by those who would grant governments the censors pencil.

This warning flag also marks a paradox. On the one hand, many Africans believe that media in their countries have more freedoms today than they did several years ago. However, it is not clear that people view these developments positively. In fact, among citizens who see media freedoms as increasing in their country, those calling for increased government restrictions on media significantly outnumber those who support broad press freedoms.

Afrobarometer notes that perhaps more encouragingly, those who see media freedoms as declining in their country are more likely to support freedoms than restrictions. Either way, it appears that a substantial number of Africans are dissatisfied with the current state of the media in their country, at least with regard to the demand for and supply of freedoms.

Even so, nearly all Africans turn to mass media for news.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: An Indian visitor to the US and three others of Indian origin were shot dead in Cincinnati on Sunday evening (local time), External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed on Tuesday.

Indian Ambassador in United States @IndianEmbassyUS has informed me about the killing of four persons in Cincinnati on Sunday evening. One of them was an Indian national on a visit to US while others were persons of Indian origin. /1

 Chowkidar Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 30, 2019

Swaraj, however, confirmed that the incident was not a "hate crime" as claimed by a section of the media.

The matter is under investigation by the Police but it is not a hate crime. Our Consul General in New York is coordinating with the concerned authorities and will keep me informed me on this. @IndiainNewYork /2  Chowkidar Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) April 30, 2019

The Indian Consulate in New York also assured that they were in contact with the police as well as the family of the deceased, and reiterated that prima facie, the incident is not a hate crime.

According to media reports, four people - one woman and three men - were found dead at an apartment in Ohio's Cincinnati city on Sunday evening. West Chester Township Police Chief Joel Herzog had said at a media briefing on Monday that a relative of the deceased called 911 after discovering the bodies of the four victims on Sunday night.

Herzog had also mentioned that the killer is on the run, and assured that police is "closely following" the matter.
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By PTI

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government Tuesday lifted a nationwide blanket ban on social media imposed to curb the spread of misinformation and maintain communal harmony soon after the devastating Easter Sunday bombings on churches and luxury hotels that killed 253 people.

According to the Sri Lankan Information Department, President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to lift the ban on Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and other popular platforms from April 30.

ALSO READ| Rural Catholic church defies Sri Lanka threats, holds Mass

The government has asked the public to share content on social media sites with "utmost responsibility" while bearing in mind the current situation of the country, the Sunday Times reported. Social media had remained blocked in Sri Lanka where a string of powerful blasts tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, killing 253 people and injuring more than 500 others.

ALSO READ | Catholic Church wants more vigorous crackdown on Sri Lankan militants

The government said it blocked social media in the wake of the Easter Sunday attacks to curb the spread of misinformation among the public. The Islamic State has claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) for the bombings.

Both Christianity and Islam are minority religions in Sri Lanka, with each accounting for less than 10 per cent of the population. The vast majority of Sri Lankans identify as Buddhist.
A California import, Robert Lim, has opened a childrens apparel shop at 1319 Austin Ave. It carries the catchy name Cottontail Jones.

Pretty much moved to just get out of California, Lim said in an email. Did some research on whether Waco would be a good fit for our businesses, and it seemed to be a good match.

He said response has been positive, with feedback praising the presence of a dedicated childrens store downtown.

My wife and mother-in-law came up with the name, Lim wrote. Just something fun-sounding and whimsical for kids.

The family hails from Lemoore, California, about 30 miles south of Fresno, Lim said. They relocated to Waco last August, just months removed from Lims side trip to Magnolia Market at the Silos while training with the Air National Guard in Wichita Falls.

I liked it here, with the small/medium town size and how it was up and coming, he wrote, adding it aligned with our values.

Lim said his shop sells organic items produced by brands including Little Unicorn, Ryan and Rose, Modern Burlap, Lovedbaby and LouLou Lollipop.

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Hip Hip Hooray! is the exclamation atop the invitation Kindlers Gem Jewelers is sending out to celebrate its new store in Central Texas Marketplace.

To say siblings Tammie Work and Jan Skopik and their mom, Gerda McGregor, are excited about the grand opening would be an understatement.

They have relocated from their longtime home at 5700 Bosque Blvd. to the growing retail center at Loop 340, Interstate 35 and Bagby Avenue, settling into space between La Madeleine French Bakery & Cafe and Ideal MRI. Skopik said customers still may encounter a wandering extension cord in the new shop, but deals already are being struck.

A part of the Waco retailing scene since 1971, Kindlers was founded by Eddie and Noma Kindler. Gerda McGregor went to work there in 1973, moved through the ranks to manage the store and bought the business in 1996. Her husband, Norman McGregor, died in 2001, and the mom-and-daughter team of McGregor, Skopik and Work has been calling shots most years since.
By IANS

UNITED NATIONS: In a huge diplomatic victory for India and a blow to Pakistan, the UN Security Council on Wednesday declared Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a move that was being blocked by China for nearly 10 years.

Soon after the sanctions committee that deals with Al Qaida and its affiliates voted on Pakistan-based Azhar's designation placing him under stringent sanctions that includes a freeze on his assets and travel restrictions, Pakistan announced it would comply with the mandate.

The decision of the UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee came about two and a half months after the JeM carried out the ghastly terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama killing 40 CRPF personnel, an incident which, however, did not find a mention in the resolution adopted.

India welcomed the decision - which comes while the country is in the middle of the general election - saying it was a "step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers".

READ HERE | Accepted Masood Azhar's blacklisting on India's fresh evidence: China

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the action is "in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities" of Azhar and the JeM.

"India stands vindicated", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted, adding: "... This marks a high point for the Prime Minister's (Narendra Modi's) foreign policy".

China had been blocking Azhar's listing despite a strong push by the US, UK and France, saying it did not have enough evidence to brand Masood an international terrorist. It had put a "technical hold" on the proposal four times, the latest being in March.

After the resolution was adopted, China said it ended its objection after India shared fresh evidence.

"After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, Chine does not have an objection to the listing proposal," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In a sop to Pakistan, spokesman Geng Shuang added that the international community should recognise that "Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism".

ALSO READ | All acts of terror, including Pulwama attack, relevant to Azhar's listing: Official sources

An Indian government official on condition of anonymity, said: "It (defending Azhar) was increasingly becoming untenable for the Chinese."

In Islamabad, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said that his country "will immediately enforce the sanctions", which entails "a ban on foreign travel, asset freeze and arms embargo", according to Dawn newspaper online.

According to it, Faisal said that a consensus was reached - meaning in effect that China agreed to the proposal - after "political references" and mention of the Pulwama attack were removed from it.

This could not be independently verified as the negotiations took place secretly.

The Committee said Azhar was sanctioned pursuant to him being "associated with Al-Qaida".

It noted that Azhar had founded the JeM upon his release from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Afghanistan.

Azhar has also financially supported the JeM since its founding, the committee said while giving reasoning for the action.

READ HERE | 'Better late than never': PM Modi hails UN move to list Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'

It also pointed out that the UN Security Council had listed the JeM on October 17, 2001, as being associated with Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to" or "otherwise supporting acts or activities of" Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Azhar is also "a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat ul-Mujahidin /HuM, aka Harakat ul-Ansar; most of these groups' members subsequently joined JEM under Azhar's leadership", it said.

"In 2008, JeM recruitment posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces," the statement said.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said the development was a "significant outcome" for India "because we have been at it for several years", noting that the first attempt in this regard was made in 2009 and the "goal stands achieved".

Akbaruddin expressed gratitude to "the many many countries which were supportive of this effort, that is, the USA, UK and France" and "several countries within the (UN Security) Council and outside the Council who came forward without any restraints and supported this Indian effort and not tolerating a terrorist".

An Indian official, on condition of anonymity, explained that "to say that Beijing blacklisted Azhar under US pressure was not the only factor. But the Americans going about the 1267 Committee and circulating their own draft at the UN Security Council would have surely concerned the Chinese".

"At the Security Council, the Chinese would have had to explain its position if they vetoed the resolution which is not the case at the 1267 Committee."

China had indicated on Tuesday that it would no more block the resolution, which was initially moved by India, as the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng said the "relevant consultations" at the Sanctions Committee had made "some progress" and the issue would be "properly resolved".

JeM has carried out umpteen terror attacks in India, including the one on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

The latest outrageous action by the outfit was in Pulwama on February 14, when a suicide bomber of JeM rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, killing 40 security personnel.

France, which had been vigorously pushing for listing of Azhar, immediately welcomed the decision of the 1267 Sanctions Committee, saying it signals the "successful realization" of its efforts.

A statement issued by the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said for many years now, French diplomacy has been "relentlessly pleading" for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February".
The L3-AVX prototype will meet 100 percent of mandatory requirements and exceed 70 percent of them, according to an L3 press release. The companies would deliver a safe, performance-driven, affordable aircraft capable of operating highly contested airspace and degraded environments for extended periods.

This FARA-CP solution provides L3 and AVX an opportunity to demonstrate the agility and innovation that sets our team apart in support of the U.S. Armys modernization priorities, L3 CEO Chris Kubasik wrote in the press release. We are collaborating to deliver a prototype that provides powerful leap-ahead capability for our warfighters at an affordable life-cycle cost.

The L3 and AVX team will provide the Army with an advanced, lethal and affordable reconnaissance and light-attack platform, AVX CEO Troy Gaffey wrote in the press release.
She said the hotel will also hold a construction job fair to connect contractors on the project with local subcontractors, with a focus on minority- and women-owned businesses.

Theyre not required to hire those folks, but we want them to give the best consideration they can to local contractors, Harrison said.

Construction is slated to start next year and take about two years, she said.

They definitely have an 18- to 24-month construction timeline, Harrison said.

Assistant City Manager Bradley Ford said Embassy Suites will also work with the Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau to provide blocks of designated hotel rooms for events. The buildings parking garage will include 141 public parking spaces paid for through the TIF grant.

Full-service Embassy Suites headed for downtown Waco Developers are seeking more than $4.9 million in downtown incentives to bring a full-service

Bike, scooter rentals
A 15-year-old Waco High School student was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon after a social media video spread online, showing the student carrying a knife on campus.

Waco Independent School District administration and Waco ISD police removed the student from campus late Wednesday morning after he was seen outside the school building carrying a knife he pulled from his backpack. The incident was captured on Instagram video and circulated online, causing Waco High School Principal Ed Love to call parents about the incident.

Waco ISD spokesman Kyle DeBeer said administrators were notified at about 11 a.m. by a student about an interaction between two other students on the high school campus.

Both students left the area without incident, but after the initial interaction, one of the students later took a knife from his backpack and walked around the area. A video of the student with the knife was posted on social media.

Police and administrators were already made aware of the confrontation before the video was posted on social media, DeBeer said. Police detained the student and removed him from campus on a Class A misdemeanor charge of deadly conduct.
By AFP

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traded accusations in a phone call Wednesday that the other power was destabilizing Venezuela after an aborted military uprising.

With the United States pushing to topple President Nicolas Maduro, Pompeo charged that Russia and Cuba were instrumental in keeping the leftist firebrand in power.

Pompeo "stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the US-Russia bilateral relationship," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

Pompeo "urged Russia to cease support for Nicolas Maduro and join other nations, including the overwhelming majority of countries in the Western Hemisphere, who seek a better future for the Venezuelan people," she said in a statement.

But Lavrov denounced Washington's "destructive influence" in its support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, who on Tuesday claimed the backing of members of the armed forces in a short-lived attempt to wrest control from Maduro.

"Washington's interference in Venezuelan affairs is a flagrant violation of international law," the Russian foreign ministry quoted Lavrov as saying in the call.

Lavrov took aim at President Donald Trump's assertions, made again Wednesday by Pompeo, that the United States is prepared to use force if necessary.

ALSO READ | Rioting breaks out in Venezuela amid 'attempted coup', US supports opposition leader Juan Guaido

"The pursuit of these aggressive steps is fraught with consequences," Lavrov said, adding that "only the Venezuelan people have the right to decide their destiny."

The United States is among more than 50 countries, including most Latin American and European powers, that recognize Guaido as interim president.

Maduro was elected last year in an election widely criticized as fraudulent and has presided over a crumbling economy, with millions fleeing Venezuela faced with a shortage of basic goods.

Russia and China provide crucial diplomatic support, with Moscow also offering military technical assistance and Beijing providing vital credit as it buys Venezuela's oil.

The Trump administration has also warned Cuba, a longtime foe of the United States, to stop backing Maduro by allegedly deploying thousands of troops to back up Venezuelan security forces.
Bellmead Interim City Manager Yost Zakhary announced his choice for interim chief last week, ahead of Chief Lydia Alvarado retirement this week after eight years as chief. The council has approved a salary of $80,000 to $100,000 for the next chief.

62 applications

Zakhary said as of Wednesday, he has received a total of 62 applications for police chief from 18 states since the job opening was posted on the Texas Municipal League website. He said the position will be closed by within the first two weeks of May before he will narrow the large candidate field to five finalists.

Bellmead Assistant Police Chief Kory Martin said he looks forward to working with and learning from Smith in the next several months in the interim role.

So far, hes been great and weve had a lot of communication, he said. Since Chief Alvarado has retired in the last couple of days, Maj. Smith has definitely had an interest in the department and has good ideas. He is also listening to what our officers are saying and is being really respectful in the change.
After a six-hour search, police arrested a man they believe robbed a bank Tuesday afternoon in Marlin.

Ronald James Bryant, 60, was arrested without incident Tuesday evening at a home in Lott, Falls County Sheriff Ricky Scaman said. Bryant is charged with felony robbery of a financial institution, Scaman said.

He and Marlin Police Chief Nathan Sodek received information on Bryant's whereabouts at about 6:30 p.m. and found him at the house, Scaman said. Officers found a BB gun believed to have been used in the robbery, the car used to leave the bank and an undisclosed amount of money in Bryant's possession at the time of his arrest, he said.

Officials released surveillance photos from the bank shortly after the robbery. Officials reported a man used a firearm to rob BBVA Compass Bank, 504 Live Oak St. in Marlin, of an undisclosed amount of money at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Multiple agencies, including the FBI, Waco police, Lott police, the McLennan County Sheriff's Office, McLennan County Constables and Texas Game Wardens helped Marlin police and the Falls County Sheriff's Office in the search.

Bryant was taken to Falls County Jail after his arrest. Bond information was not available Tuesday night.

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As originally proposed by Moody, HB 63 would have replaced the criminal penalties for people caught with an ounce or less of marijuana with a civil fine of up to $250. Only those fined more than three times would face misdemeanor criminal charges.

On the House floor Tuesday, just after the lower chamber gave final approval to his bill in a 103-42 vote, Moody said that Patrick was the odd man out" and that the ball is in his court.

Whatever you think about Colorado-style legalization, this isn't it. It isn't even a step toward it, Moody told his colleagues on the House floor. Mr. Patrick has been tweeting about this bill instead of giving us the courtesy of talking to us here in the House. ... Let's vote this across the hall so they can get to work on the Houses priorities and so we can see how those priorities are respected as we consider Senate bills over here over the next few weeks.

Despite Patricks comment, some advocates for marijuana reform said they still hoped to push the bill forward.

Working through the legislative process means overcoming objection that some folks may have and working with them to find common ground, said Heather Fazio, the director for Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy. That's exactly what we did in the House yesterday and what the vote yesterday demonstrates ... and we intend to bring that spirit to the Texas Senate.
Emory Darrell Dungan

May 31, 1941 - April 23, 2019

Emory (Darrell) Dungan, Jr., 77, devoted husband, beloved father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, passed away Tuesday, April 23, 2019, surrounded by family. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 pm, Friday, May 3, at Connally-Compton Funeral Directors. Funeral services will be at noon, Saturday, May 4, at the funeral home with interment to follow in Oakwood Cemetery. Afterwards all are invited to join the family for a celebration of his life, at Lakewood Christian Church, 6509 Bosque Blvd.

Darrell, born May 31, 1941 in Austin, Texas, was the oldest of five children for Emory Darrell Dungan, Sr. and Marjorie (Harris) Dungan. He grew up and attended High School in Austin. After high school he joined the United States Navy and served from 1959 to 1962 on the Aircraft Carrier, FDR. He was onboard during the Francis Scot Powers incident and often talked about what they had to do onboard ship at that time. Darrell married in Georgia and started a family of five children there. While in Georgia he worked as a pipe welder with stories of jumping into burning ditches to weld gas lines when towns in Georgia were burning. He was told by co-workers, not to go due to the dangerous conditions, but he went anyway to do the job.
VALPARAISO  Arbor Day saw a new tree planted on the Valparaiso Elementary campus, and it came with a bench too.

The tree and bench donated by Nebraska 811 came thanks to Raymond Central Fourth Grader Millie Burton and her winning poster.

Burton entered a drawing contest offered this past December by Nebraska 811, Nebraska residents are required to call 811 before digging. The Nebraska One Call Notification Act was established in 1994 to protect underground facilities, the excavating public and the general public. The Act creates one point of communication between the excavating public and the underground utilities.

Nebraska 811 Damage Prevention Liason Jill Geyer was at the school last Friday morning to congratulate Burton for being one of 11 contest winners across the state.

She said Burtons artwork stood out from the 468 entries because it not only had the call before you dig message on it, but it also conveyed this years theme, which featured a pirate.

That is exactly what Burton had hoped. She said she likes to draw and wanted to include the pirate after watching the Nebraska 811 video at school.
By PTI

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday dramatically sacked Defence Minister Gavin Williamson after a probe into the leak of an information from a National Security Council meeting of her Cabinet that Britain had conditionally allowed China's Huawei to develop the UK 5G network.

Downing Street said May had "lost confidence in his ability to serve" following an investigation into how a plan to allow Huawei limited access to help build the UK's new 5G network was leaked out of the closed-door meeting last week.

"The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council," a Downing Street statement said.

"The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed," it adds.

Williamson, who has been the UK's Secretary of State for Defence since 2017, continues to vehemently deny leaking the information.

However, May took swift action in replacing him with Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, with Rory Stewart taking charge of Mordaunt's old portfolio.

The National Security Council (NSC) is made up of senior Cabinet ministers and its weekly meetings are chaired by the British PM, with other ministers, officials and senior figures from the armed forces and intelligence agencies invited when needed.

It is a forum where secret intelligence can be shared with ministers under the UK's Official Secrets Act.

The inquiry into the NSC leak began after a 'Daily Telegraph' report on warnings within Cabinet about possible risks to national security over a possible deal with Chinese tech giant Huawei.

There has been no formal confirmation of Huawei's role in the UK's 5G network and the Chinese company denies any risk from government control in China.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: The UN declaring Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia, the Trump administration said Wednesday, expressing hope that Islamabad will take sustained and irreversible action against terror groups operating from its soil.

Welcoming China's decision to lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based JeM chief, a senior Trump administration official during a conference call with reporters said after 10 years China has done the right thing by lifting its blockade.

"I think China seems to have understood that it was increasingly important that its actions on the international stage on terrorism matched its rhetoric," the White House official said on the condition of anonymity.

Pulwama attack, the official noted was just the latest in the terrorist attacks that this 'deadly group' has conducted.

"Designating Azhar demonstrates international commitment to rooting out terrorism in Pakistan and bringing security and stability to South Asia," the official said, adding that this designation is critically important and it was a long time coming.

This designation, the official said, is in line with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's stated commitment to crackdown on militancy inside Pakistan and his acknowledgement that prosperity and development in Pakistan is contingent on maintaining regional stability.

"So we acknowledged that this designation is a good step forward and we look forward to how Pakistan would use this international designation press forward on its own stated commitment," the official said.

READ HERE | Accepted Masood Azhar's blacklisting on India's fresh evidence: China

"The US will continue to monitor the situation in Pakistan to determine whether the recent positive statements from the prime minister will translate into irreversible steps - to end terrorist and militant safe haven inside Pakistan," the official said.

"All too often the world has seen a familiar pattern of Pakistan taking temporary steps against militants following immediately terrorist attacks, only to reverse those positive steps a few months later when the heat is off," the official said, adding that the history of the effort behind this listing demonstrates Pakistan has in the past been reluctant to divorce itself from terrorist proxy groups.

"China's willingness to shield Pakistan in these policies has been unhelpful to establishing regional stability. China acting on behalf of Pakistan has prevented the designation of Azhar on multiple occasions over the last decade," the senior administration official alleged.

The official noted that this listing that will help to 'avoid a re-escalation' of India-Pak tension, by holding Pakistan accountable on its international obligations.

READ HERE | 'Better late than never': PM Modi hails UN move to list Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'

"This designation serves as a forcing function for Pakistan, to implement their stated commitments to peace and stability and to rooting out terrorism from Pakistani soil. We have seen Pakistan taking some steps against Jaish-e-Mohammed following the Pulwama attack. However, there are additional steps that Pakistan could take to show an irreversible commitment and to permanently put these kinds of groups out of business," the official said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba and Haqqani networks are the other two groups among others, the official said.

"These steps could include things like arresting leaders and disrupting their ability to communicate and travel and shutting down affiliated businesses like their charity wings," the US official demanded.

"We remain hopeful that Pakistan will continue to move in this direction and that today's designation will assist in that effort," said the senior administration official.

Responding to questions, the two senior officials who briefed reporters did not give any insight into why reference to Pulwama attack was taken off from the final resolution.

ALSO READ | All acts of terror, including Pulwama attack, relevant to Azhar's listing: Official sources

The officials said they would not go into the internal deliberations at the UN Security Council.

"China probably came to the conclusion that it needed to do the right thing, be on the right side. And that it can no longer afford for the sake of its international reputation to continue blocking what it was so obvious that down this was a deadly group and that its leader is responsible for these deadly attacks," the official said.

"China came to realise that it should match its action on international terrorism.

This was the culmination of a 10 years process," the official said.
I encourage all NLM readers to consider the sacred music workshops offered by the Magnificat Institute which are taking place June 24-19 in beautiful rural New Hampshire at the campus of Northeast Catholic College, in the town of Warner.Headed by founder, the Catholic composer Paul Jernberg , the Magnificat Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to the renewal of sacred music in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. We aim to help parishes and communities of humble means, as well as those with an abundance of resources, to recover the dignity, depth, and grace that have characterized the great traditions of Catholic sacred music.The workshop is for clergy and church musicians, as well as laity who wish to participate in the renewal of Sacred Music in the Catholic Church, and will be conducted by Mr Jernberg. He will present an overview of the newly-formed Magnificats program for formation in Catholic sacred music and its renewal today, as well as a wide-ranging repertoire which can be used in parishes, with a special focus on those with humble or modest resources. This repertoire includes new works by Mr Jernberg himself, as well as beautiful traditional chant and polyphony.For those who wish to know more about the workshops and the Magnificat Institute, their website is here . I have been talking to Paul about his insights and practical ideas for saving sacred music in parishes in a series of podcasts at thewayofbeauty.org
The US government compensates American veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange. It does not compensate Vietnamese civilians.

The United States has begun a decade-long program to clean up an air base in Vietnam where the Agent Orange chemical had been stored. The cleanup is expected to cost $183 million and be the largest such cleanup project the US has ever undertaken.

Bien Hoa Airport, outside Ho Chi Minh City, is considered the most contaminated of the former US storage facilities in Vietnam.

A similar program was finished at Da Nang Airport in November. While the Da Nang cleanup cost $110 million and took five years to complete, the contaminated area at Bien Hoa is four times larger than what was dealt with at Da Nang.

Agent Orange was used by the US military to defoliate the Vietnamese jungle and uncover the enemys hiding places. The name came from the orange band around the barrels that stored the chemical.

In an ongoing effort codenamed Operation Ranch Hand, from 1962 to 1971 around 5 million acres of forest in Vietnam were sprayed with Agent Orange and other defoliants. Around 19-20 million gallons of herbicides were used in the operation.

Agent Orange contains dioxin, which is linked to cancer and birth defects. The US Congressional Research Service found that a soil sample from the Bien Hoa site had a toxic equivalency that was more than 1,000 times the international limit.

Starting in the 1960s, Vietnamese doctors began noticing a rise in birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses that are related to dioxin.

The dioxin in Agent Orange was not added intentionally. It is a byproduct that is produced when herbicides are manufactured. Dioxins are also created when trash, gas, oil and coal are burned. The specific dioxin that occurs in Agent Orange is the most dangerous kind.

Dioxins can remain in the environment for many years, especially in soil, lake and river sediment, and animals. Human exposure mainly comes from eating contaminated foods like meat, poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs.

Dioxins are linked to cancer, even in small amounts. They are also linked to Type 2 diabetes, immune system disorders, nervous system disorders, muscular dysfunction, hormone disruption, and heart disease.

According to Vietnamese authorities, several million Vietnamese people have been affected by Agent Orange since the war. Included in that number are 150,000 children born with birth defects.

The Bien Hoa site is known to be contaminating the soil and nearby rivers with Agent Orange.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is in charge of the cleanup project. They called Bien Hoa the largest remaining hotspot of dioxin in the country.

The US ambassador to Vietnam, Daniel Kritenbrink, called the cooperation between the two former enemies nothing short of historic while speaking at the launch of the cleanup program.

The US government compensates American veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange. It does not compensate Vietnamese civilians.

Read another story from us: Court Rules in Favor of Navy Vets Receiving Benefits for Agent Orange Exposure

Rather, the US has been supplying Vietnam with US military hardware and working with the Vietnamese government to address issues like the cleanup of Agent Orange.
The offer includes language to ensure that the money is spent properly and prevent waste, fraud and abuse. The new CDBG money for Puerto Rico could be spent only after certification that most of the money previously received under the program had been used up, and with a plan in place to spend the new funds. Trump has complained of mismanagement by Puerto Rico of aid funds, and such controls are a priority for the White House.
It was also uncertain whether Trump would embrace Shelbys offer. An administration official said the White House has not seen the language or endorsed it, but that it appears to track with discussions they have been having with Hill Republicans. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.
Trump has used a take-it-or-leave-it approach when negotiating with Congress and foreign leaders in the past, but he is now handling the Canada-Mexico trade talks differently. Democrats have said they will insist on strict enforcement of labor standards in exchange for their votes, and they want union leaders to be on board with any deal. Top union officials have so far refused to endorse the deal until changes are made.
Vought said the Health and Human Services Department is likely to run out of money to provide child welfare services at the border in June. If that happens, the agency will have to divert critical resources from other programs, will cancel or scale back any services not necessary for protection of human life, and will be forced to leave children in Department of Homeland Security detention facilities where they are not supposed to stay for longer than 72 hours.
While Lears acknowledges Ocasio-Cortezs overwhelming presence in the finished film, she doesnt feel like it upsets the balance. It was always very important to us to include the stories of defeat, as well as victory. This is a film about a movement, and about what it takes to build this new pathway that allows ordinary people access to the halls of power. That does not happen with one victory. As Alexandria says in the film, In order for one of us to make it through, a hundred of us have to try. Thats very much the story of social movements and the story of this electoral movement to try to transform the face of Congress.
Tabaddor, a California judge who said she was speaking in her capacity as head of the union that represents U.S. immigration judges, said the administration has added more judges in the past two years than during any previous span. But that has not translated to a greater ability to handle more cases because clerks and other support staff have not been added, even as the Trump administration has started imposing quotas on the number of cases that judges are expected to clear.
The story opens with Heymans happier adolescent experiences then darkens as night falls. The Nazis tighten their hold on Hungarys Jews, taking her familys business, belongings and home, forcing Heyman out of her home and ultimately to the Auschwitz death camp. The storys climactic event is timed to follow Israels two-minute siren that wails nationwide Thursday, bringing the country to a standstill at 10 a.m., in annual commemoration of Jewish Holocaust victims.
First, reach out to her teachers as soon as you figure out who they are (you may ask the school for a bit of consideration on this). Via email, share some questions with the teachers that you and your daughter create together, such as: Your dream vacation or your favorite animal or your favorite dessert. These questions, although simple and a bit silly, serve to build a bridge between your daughter and the teacher. If we can find some similarities between the 9-year-old and the teacher, your daughter will feel more confident going to school. Any bit of connection helps here. Also, be sure to have a friendly back-and-forth with the teachers, letting them know you are happy to support them and are excited for the year. You dont need to spin a whole tale of woe about your daughter, but some information can be a huge help.
The gambling site sent out its prediction as an email blast on Tuesday, and when I followed up with Lester, he told me that Trump is more likely to bend the truth when he is caught up in the excitement of crowd reaction and when he is discussing policy.
Hayes St. S., 1000 block, 8:49 p.m. April 17. Two males grabbed a man from behind and robbed him of a bag. Police located the two males entering the Metro. It was determined that earlier, both males and a third male distracted a female in a store while one of them robbed her of a bag and fled. An 18-year-old Clinton male was arrested and charged. Petitions for robbery were sought for two male juveniles.
Cherry Grove Ave. S., 500 block, 4 p.m. April 22. A woman went into a store briefly and left her 2017 Hyundai unlocked with the engine running. When she returned, the vehicle was gone. After contacting area tow companies, the woman discovered the car had been towed in Baltimore, but was not drivable.
Dyson said he rushed to the school Tuesday when he learned of the incident. He said he, his wife and his son, who is the father of the 6-year-old, met with the principal. The family said it met again with school leaders Wednesday. Dyson first tweeted about the incident Tuesday afternoon, writing, Welcome again to Trumps white racist America.
In an interview, James, 18, who recently completed her first year studying mass communication at Alcorn State University, she said was admitted to the University of Mississippi, but lost a scholarship for salutatorians as a result of the change. She said students from East Side High School, Clevelands historically black school, had to make the best out of their new high schools grading decisions.
The opinion marks one of the few confirmed cases in which U.S. authorities have identified a reputed node of North Koreas illicit foreign financial system, digging for more intelligence to understand how companies may be witting or unwitting facilitators of unlawful activity, analysts said. The opinion also renews pressure on Chinas financial sector to take action against its nuclear-equipped neighbor, several analysts said.
The victim, Barry Holmes, 57, lived in Landover, Md., and worked for Capitol Paving, based in Northeast Washington. His sister said he was shot while arguing with a man he had refused to let cross the road because of construction activity.
Sugarland Run Dr., 46700 block, 12:38 a.m. April 25. Two men wearing masks entered a convenience store and removed cash from the cash register. One of them took cash from an employees wallet and made threats before fleeing from the scene.
The World Bank Group announced that it will extend its Country Partnership Framework (CPF) 20152019 with Egypt for two years, so that it will end in 2021.

In a statement on Wednesday, a copy of which was obtained by MENA, the group said that this decision was taken after the groups board of directors conducted an official review of the results of the current CPF.

Regional Director of the World Bank office in Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti Marina Weiss said that the expansion of the CPF with Egypt will allow the group to continue to support the ongoing reform measures carried out by the Egyptian government with the view to improving the living standards of Egyptians.

The World Bank Groups current engagement is guided by the Egyptian CPF 201519, which focuses on fighting poverty and inequality, informed by extensive consultations with the government, private sector, academia, civil society organisations, and youth groups.

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Police said the incident occurred about 9:25 a.m. in the 1700 block of Kenilworth Avenue, near Route 50, in the Cheverly area. The driver of the truck remained at the scene.
The hardest part for her, she said, was returning to that area after she had her son. He was born full term but weighed only 4 pounds. She got to spend three days with him in the hospital, most of that time handcuffed to her bed, before she returned to the prison. There, she said, she found her roommate was gone, and she was by herself in a locked room.
We did our job, Del. Darryl Barnes (D-Prince Georges), the caucus chairman, said after Jones was sworn in. Ive been fighting. Ive been taking hits to ensure that we get an African American to be the next speaker, and we did that. It just so happens that its twofold for us, its a woman and its an African American. So Im extremely excited where we are for the state.
The following information, provided by the Montgomery County Police Department, shows selected offenses reported to police. Crime reports may be based on preliminary information that is subject to change as a result of further investigation.
Like an overloaded 18-wheeler on a 7 percent downhill grade, it sure seems like this thing is going through, doesnt it? From the minute this was a glint in Hogans eye, the momentum has been headed in one direction. Transit options were stripped from the choices. Hogan said no houses would be harmed, then that 34 houses would be harmed  maybe. The online map showing the borders of possible construction was hard for residents to decipher.
He was nominated by Bush to one of the Democratic positions on the CFTC, where he headed the Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee and the Global Markets Advisory Committee. He was also known for his individualistic approach to financial regulation, his TV appearances, speeches and op-eds.
Lick River Lane, 5400 block, April 17. A 39-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, both of Gainesville, were arrested in connection with a March 15 incident at a worksite where the man accidentally ran over a 3-year-old boy with a piece of construction equipment he was operating. The boy was flown to a trauma center with significant internal injuries but is expected to survive. The couple were each charged with felony child abuse due to the unsafe environment in which the children were located and led to one of the them sustaining a serious injury.
Bowser has spent hours over the past two weeks meeting with homicide detectives and their supervisors getting briefed on each of the Districts killings this year. Her last meeting with two dozen investigators was Tuesday, when the homicide count was 54. A 22-year-old man was shot in Southeast just as the mayor was wrapping up; he died that afternoon, raising the number killed to 55, nearly a 30 percent increase over the same period last year. Homicides in 2018 also rose over the previous year.
In interviews with the CIA in 2012, Lee initially falsely claimed he had avoided China after he was first approached by that countrys spies and never acknowledged the assignments they gave him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Hammerstrom said in court. The following year, Lee acknowledged to the FBI he had received tasks from the Chinese. He admitted drawing a sketch of a former CIA facility abroad but said he tore it up having never shown it to the Chinese. He said he thought about giving the document on the thumb drive to the spies but did not.
The Toyotas driver and Okwadi both suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospitals. The 25-year-old driver of the Volvo was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said he would not describe details of the case until arrests are made. But he said Wednesday that the motive appeared to be robbery and that the victim was stabbed on the escalator leading from the street to the underground entrance.
Berry Rd., 10100 block, April 18. A former instructional assistant at Mattawoman Middle School was arrested at his home in connection with making inappropriate comments to a female student and having inappropriate contact with another. He was charged with second-degree rape, 4th-degree sex offense, obscene telephone misuse, stalking and related charges. The allegation of inappropriate comments was made in January and the man was immediately removed from the schools. During the investigation, a second student reported inappropriate contact.
He said MDOT needs to begin the solicitation process as soon as we possibly could to allow the state to keep our word with companies that have shown interest in the project. He noted that a leader of Transurban, the company that operates the toll lanes on Virginias portion of the Beltway, recently said the company wouldnt bid on the first phase of Marylands Beltway toll plan because it has a complex political and economic path ahead, which creates a lot of risk for the private sector, according to reports.
In recent weeks, I have visited with community leaders across the state seeking input on how I can best use the power of the governors office to make our commonwealth fairer and more equitable for communities of color, Northam wrote. My commitment today will not solve all of the issues with our criminal justice system, but I believe it is a step in the right direction.
The perpetrators of these terrible events and others like them in places like California and New Zealand are people filled with hate. They want to spread hate, and they win only if we allow ourselves to hate in return, he said. We have to push back against the evil that would divide us, the evil that seeks to create fear, hatred and destruction. We have to push back, not with violence, but with a renewed commitment to reach out to one another, to be like Kieran and seek to build new relationships, new understandings, to live with love and hope and courage. This is Kierans example to us.
The Japanese art of furoshiki can be used to wrap gifts. (The Post)

Gift wrap accounts for millions of tons of waste each year. Here's how to wrap presents like a sustainability pro.
Yarmuth said he will convene a hearing on the idea of a single-payer system later this month. It will be a sequel to a first-ever Medicare-for-all hearing held Tuesday before the House Rules Committee, focused on a measure introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), that would eliminate private health insurance within two years and extend coverage to everyone  with the government picking up virtually the entire bill. Her legislation does not spell out what the new system would cost or how it would be paid for.
Fla. votes to allow more teachers to carry guns: Florida lawmakers have passed legislation that would allow more classroom teachers to carry guns in school, the latest response to last year's mass shooting at a Parkland high school. The Republican-led House voted 65 to 47 on Wednesday to send the bill to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is expected to sign it. The measure expands a "guardian" program to allow any teacher to volunteer to carry a weapon if their local school district approves. Under current law, only teachers who also have another role, such as sports coach, are eligible to carry weapons on campus.
Australian jury convicts man in flight bomb plot: An Australian jury convicted a man of plotting to blow up an Etihad Airways plane on a flight from Sydney to the United Arab Emirates' capital with a bomb hidden in a meat grinder. Khaled Khayat, 51, had pleaded not guilty in the New South Wales state supreme court to conspiring in 2017 to plan a terrorist act. The jury convicted him and will continue deliberating on whether his brother is guilty of the same charge. The bomb plan was abandoned when a bag with the device inside turned out to be

too heavy to be taken aboard as carry-on luggage. The flight landed without incident.
What is not, or should not be, ambiguous is the political and moral essence of this volatile situation. The Maduro regime has violated human rights on a massive scale, leaving hundreds of peaceful opponents dead, and it has led Venezuela into economic catastrophe. Millions of Venezuelans have fled to other countries, including hundreds of thousands to the United States. Having first been elected in 2013, Mr. Maduro forfeited democratic legitimacy in January 2016, when he purported to deprive the National Assembly of its powers because the opposition had won control the previous month. He then manipulated the political system to create a parallel puppet legislature and, on May 20, 2018, engineered his reelection through a flawed process from which both international observers and leading opposition figures were effectively barred. His inauguration as president for a new term in January, in defiance of warnings from neighboring Latin democracies, prompted Mr. Guaido, leader of the National Assembly, to declare the presidential office vacant and himself its interim occupant, as provided in the Venezuelan Constitution  and supported by more than 50 countries, including the United States.
Marc A. Thiessens April 26 op-ed, Impeaching Trump will only help him, irked me. Mr. Thiessen wrote, Imagine that you were accused of a crime you knew you did not commit, and President Trump had to endure being accused of treason.  I get the feeling that Mr. Thiessen kind of feels sorry for Mr. Trump. This is the man whose campaign had more than 100 contacts with Russians. This is the man who lies on a daily basis, who insults his opponents, who sides with Russia over his own intelligence agencies findings and who surrounds himself with crooks, many found guilty and going to jail.
The good news is that Democrats, including the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and almost all of the 20 Democratic presidential candidates, have sworn off using hacked materials in the upcoming election, and theyve challenged their Republican counterparts to do the same. The bad news is that the challenge has gone mostly unanswered, though RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has called breaches an affront to all of us and stressed the importance of safeguarding future elections. Absent a written nonaggression pact for committees and candidates to sign, it is also unclear exactly what behavior each is vowing to refrain from. The DCCCs pledge so far is the most concrete; Democratic Party chairs in the four early-primary states are working on a more far-reaching agreement that would include forms of manipulation besides stolen material.
They could refuse to give interviews to news organizations that have practiced gender discrimination in their coverage of the campaigns and say no thanks to the magazine covers that curiously feature only them. They could call out the disproportionate attention they receive, as well as the presumption that they are more electable by virtue of their gender, and instead point out the fact that the women running have already won multiple races, written many books, and have deep executive and policy experience  claims that could not be universally made of their male counterparts.
The number of Asian American students invited into the programs at Eastern Middle School and Takoma Park Middle School are down  69 in 2018 compared to 113 in 2016  but Montgomery officials make a convincing argument that it is the result not of discrimination but, rather, a larger, more diverse applicant pool in which Asian American students were no longer the dominant demographic group. In 2016, a total of 550 students were considered for admission at Eastern and 790 were considered for admission at Takoma Park, compared with the 3,989 students in 2018 who were tapped to take a cognitive skills assessment. The subsequent selection process, in which students were reviewed up to four times, was race-blind, name-blind and school-blind. The new system resulted in a bump in the number of African American, Hispanic and economically challenged students, but the largest increase was among white students.
The convicted murderer met with the psychiatrist from January 2016 to February 2017, the last visit coming four months before he kidnapped and killed Yingying Zhang, a visiting scholar from China.
Following an attempted coup to remove Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev from power in 1991, Dick and I were convinced that the Soviet Union  a nation with more than 10,000 nuclear weapons pointed at the United States  was coming apart. We proposed spending U.S. defense dollars to secure and help destroy Soviet nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Some criticized the effort as aid to the Soviet military. But for Dick and me, this was about protecting our constituents, the American people and the world from a nuclear holocaust. It didnt matter that we were from different political parties. Together, we overcame the skepticism and got leaders in both parties to see that U.S. security depended on cooperation with Moscow to ensure that the massive Soviet arsenal was secure and safely reduced.
Whats happening in the ride- sharing market is typical of industries with massive overcapacity. In those markets, whether airlines or steel, too much capacity means brutal price wars until some of the combatants are annihilated, and the victors gain enough pricing power to cover their production costs. To be sure, you dont usually see this pattern in markets that are already dominated by only two competitors, as is the case for ride hailing in the United States. But ride sharing is special in a number of ways.
Social media sites have become Venezuelans only option amid this censorship, and the role they play in the country is a reminder of all that is ugly and all that is inspiring about the Internet at once. Just as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte flooded Facebook with misinformation to promote his brutal drug war, the Maduro regime has sought to digitally distort public opinion. (Opposition groups are also hardly innocent of pushing false stories.) Theres a reason Mr. Maduro has not yanked Twitter away from his citizens entirely, and its that broadcasting there has been as key to his strategy as it has to Mr. Guaidos.
Much of the hearing centered on the attorney generals decision to release a highly misleading representation of the findings of special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs Russia investigation. In particular, Mr. Barr failed to acknowledge the alarming nature of Mr. Muellers analysis on whether President Trump obstructed justice, and he did not explain why the special counsel declined to say whether Mr. Trump was guilty of the charge. This really matters: Given the damning account in Mr. Muellers report, what appeared to be keeping the special counsel from accusing the president of criminal acts was not the lack of evidence but the fact that the president cannot be charged under Justice Department rules.
He has that cadre of people who are very loyal to him. Do you not call upon those people simply because they raise big money or bundle dollars? Kessler said. Its unrealistic to expect that any of them would say no to that help if it was offered to them.
Biden has attempted to thwart the president with a frontal assault on Trumps morality, particularly his defense of some of the protesters at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, where white supremacists chanted anti-Semitic slogans as they marched through the streets. But Biden also is representing himself as Trumps opposite in another way: as an incrementalist throwback to the days before the president began upending the countrys institutions  hardly a socialist, but a candidate well within the norms of both capitalism and politics.
Rebecca Schuller, the executive director of Winning for Women, said in a statement in April that the groups support for Perry was our first opportunity to prove that Republicans are serious about playing in primaries to elect more women, and we look forward to continuing to lead this effort.
After Naruhito, the imperial family has only one young male heir  his 12-year-old nephew, Hisahito  and the government says it will soon reconsider the question of whether to allow women to inherit the throne to save the succession. Naruhito has also spoken out in favor of fathers becoming more involved in their childrens upbringing, something that is still relatively rare in conservative Japan.
The ninth bomber was Abdul Latheef Jameel Mohammed, who authorities said had traveled to Britain and Australia to pursue higher education. His original target was the luxury Taj Hotel, according to Sri Lankas prime minister, but his bomb ultimately detonated outside a small hotel near the zoo in Colombo on Sunday afternoon, killing two other people.
But the Taliban statement made it clear that no Afghans will participate in the talks and that the group has no intention of discussing any Afghan concerns or demands until the United States agrees on a full withdrawal of all foreign forces. The last round of talks ended with a draft framework of an agreement on the troop withdrawals but no concrete results. There are 14,000 U.S. troops in the country.
Williamson is one of the many aspirants to replace May, who is seen as especially vulnerable over her failure to deliver a European Union exit plan. Whether she resigns in the coming months, as she has indicated she might do, or is ousted more quickly, is a point of debate.
He says this is true because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites. He describes how Trump first lies privately, in an unending stream of talk, while his aides remain silent and thus complicit. Later, he writes, Trump requires acts of public fealty. He suggests (though does not state outright) that he himself fell prey to Trumps pressure before he was fired as FBI director in May 2017  failing to correct him in private or adequately defend institutions he had held dear while Trump attacked them publicly. He notes that many who work for Trump secretly believe that in a time of emergency, with the nation led by a deeply unethical person, they must find a way to remain in their jobs, playing a long game for your country, so you can pull it off, where lesser leaders have failed and gotten fired by tweet.
While I have doubts about reauthorizing the [phone data] program, Im certainly open to hearing from the intelligence community about all the authorities set to expire near the end of 2019, said Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.), the Senate Intelligence Committees ranking Democrat. He wrote in March to Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and NSA Director Paul Nakasone, asking them to make the case for keeping Section 215, but has not received a reply, he said. I imagine its going to be a tough case for the administration to make when they cannot seem to get their act together to even ask for an extension.
The Interior Ministry announced late in the day that about 164,500 demonstrators had turned out nationwide, an estimated 28,000 of them in Paris. Independent watchdogs put the Paris figure higher, around 40,000. More than 7,000 police officers were dispatched to safeguard the city from vandals who sometimes use these protests as cover.
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Equip Super and Catholic Super will become the first industry players to combine their operations in one of the largest mergers of non-government, not for profit superannuation funds in Australian history.

The funds, which came under scrutiny in the banking royal commission for failing to complete previous merger attempts with other partners, will retain their own individual brands under a unique model that will see the combined entity have more than $26 billion in assets under management by 2020.

Equip Super chairman Andrew Fairley and Catholic Super chairman Danny Casey. Credit:Stephen McKenzie

"This is such a logical merger of two of the highest-performing funds consistently over 10 years," said Equip Super chairman Andrew Fairley.

The Equip MySuper Balanced Growth fund has a 10-year rolling return of 9.2 per cent, according to industry researcher SuperRatings. The Catholic Super MySuper Balanced Fund's return over the same period is 8.9 per cent.
The father of an Egyptian engineering student who died after a fatal street assault in Nottingham last year said that British authorities have shown him no respect by not informing him of the date of a recent court hearing in the case.

Eighteen-year-old Mariam Moustafa was left in a coma a few hours after she was attacked by a group of women in February 2018 and died from her injuries less than a month later.

Six teenage girls have been accused of affray but three of them had denied the charges. However, these three admitted their part in the attack during a hearing last month, British news websites reported.

The students father, Hatem Moustafa, said in TV comments on Tuesday that he was not informed about the hearing in which the three girls admitted attacking his daughter, describing the matter as showing no respect to the family.

Everything that has to do with Mariam we should be informed about, he said during a phone interview with Egyptian satellite TV channel TeN TV.

The father expressed categorical objection of the charge of affray leveled against the defendants, describing it as very weak given the magnitude of the attack that led to the loss of his daughter.

He insisted the family has provided very strong evidence that it was beating that led to death.

Mariam was punched several times while waiting for a bus outside the Victoria Centre in Parliament Street in the centre of Nottingham, according to the police.

She had gotten on a bus but was followed by the same group of women who were threatening and abusive towards her before they got off, police said in a statement at the time.

The case has sparked anger in Egypt, with Egyptian authorities calling on British officials to provide more information about the police investigation.

The father also expressed dismay that the British forensic report said the death of his daughter was natural. He said it was strange and shocking that all parties involved in the case are working together to protect the reputation of the country and not to reveal it as a crime involving racism.

They are shutting all doors in our faces to make the matter end like that, he said, adding that all he is asking for is his daughters rights and achieving justice.

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Huawei Australia has brought in a global heavyweight from within the telecommunications giant's ranks as its new chief executive.

Former Huawei Indonesia chief executive Haosheng Hudson Liu will be the new head of the China-based behemoth's local branch, taking up the reins at a difficult period for the company. Huawei was banned from participating in Australia's 5G network roll out in August 2018.

Huawei Australia has hired a new chief executive. Credit:Bloomberg

Mr Liu was previously chief executive of Huawei Belgium and deputy managing director of Huawei Germany. He replaces outgoing CEO George Ji Huang, who had been the Australian chief since February 2018 and a Huawei employee since 1996.

The ban on the company's participation in 5G has come as a blow for its future growth in Australia. Sources close to Huawei said that in addition to lobbying for the ban's removal, there would be a renewed focus on consumer technology like devices and smartphones.
One of the few things both sides agree on in this election campaign is that we must get education right. A highly educated and well-trained workforce is our best insurance that all the benefits that digital disruption brings dont come at the cost of many people unable to find decent jobs.

As a rich nation, our workers are highly paid. Thats not bad, its good. But it does mean we have to ensure our workers continue being equipped with the knowledge and skills that make their labour valuable - to local employers and to the purchasers of the goods and services we export.

One thing it doesnt mean is that all our youngsters should go to university. There will be plenty of well-paid, safe, interesting jobs for the less academically inclined, provided theyre equipped with the valuable technical and caring skills provided by a healthy vocational education and training sector.

A top-notch technical education system will also be key to achieving something weve long just rabbited on about: lifelong learning. Being able to update your skills for your occupations latest digital whiz-bangery, or quickly acquire different skills for a job in a new industry with better prospects than the one that just ejected you.
The survey conducted online by Parents for ADHD Advocacy Australia showed a third of families was struggling with non-existent or inadequate support for their children.

Nate West has been suspended due to his ADHD, but is thriving at a school that understands his learning needs. Credit:Christopher Pearce

The national survey of 1000 parents whose children have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) also found many of the students were suspended multiple times.

A quarter of students with ADHD have been suspended for behaviour associated with their disability, a survey has found, with more than forty per cent of suspensions occuring in the first three years of primary school.

"I can't give you a number of the suspensions Nate has had over that time, because I've lost count," said his mother Cath Daly. "If Nate lashed out physically or verbally at a student or teacher, he would obviously be suspended.

"Once that happened, he deserved the suspension. Our challenge was to stop the incidents from happening."

His experience in several schools has varied depending on principals' and teachers' willingness to understand his disability. Ms Daly said there were suspensions when they refused, but when they tried to help, learning became a different, much more accepting experience.

His psychologist now meets his high school teachers every term to remind them about his triggers. "They are setting him up to succeed," Ms Daly said.

Australian researchers described ADHD as one of the most prevalent but unsupported developmental disabilities affecting school-aged children, and one which often leads them being unfairly labelled naughty, lazy or slow.
Its tough for women in the media in Donald Trumps United States of America. Just ask Jill Abramson. She should know.

While the first female executive editor of The New York Times acknowledges things have improved since the emergence of the MeToo movement  "at least there are fewer news executives who sexually assault women in the office"  they could be better, particularly in terms of women getting editorships of papers or as news anchor jobs on network news at night

Former executive editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson. Her new book is Merchants of Truth. Credit:Eddie Jim

"Im disappointed because there are so many talented women at these places I would have thought you would have seen more change just as a natural course."

That change, she says, will come only when there are more women at the top. "When you have mainly white men in power, it wont happen fast. You have to have people who actively want to promote women. In general, people who have power dont want to cede it to someone else."
Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong says race-baiting by politicians is harming Australias image abroad, but as the countrys first foreign minister of Asian heritage she would project a more independent, multicultural national image.

In the only substantial foreign policy speech by either side during the election campaign, Senator Wong has also said Australias engagement with China "needs to be redefined", though she provided few specifics on how that would happen under a Shorten government.

Penny Wong in the Senate late last year. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In remarks that were atypically political in a foreign policy speech, Senator Wong told the Lowy Institute that Prime Minister Scott Morrison was "supporting political figures who promote fear and division" through preference deals with right-wing parties.

This was damaging Australias image overseas.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale will promise to "clean up politics" with reforms to political donations and lobbying laws as he blames the power of the oil and gas industry for preventing action on climate change.

Senator Di Natale will accuse the Labor and Liberal parties of being ensnared in the "tentacles" of the fossil fuel industry in a pitch to voters to back his party to act on inequality and climate change.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale is vowing to clean up politics. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

While he will promise to work with a Labor government on climate change policy if Opposition Leader Bill Shorten wins the May 18 election, he will also attack Labor for not going far enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"People often ask me why politicians won't take action on climate change we so desperately need," Senator Di Natale says, in a draft of a speech to be delivered at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
Victorian Liberals had a disastrous day in the federal election campaign when two candidates were obliged to resign over homophobic and Islamaphobic comments.

Wills candidate Peter Killin resigned on Wednesday after publicly endorsing an attack on party colleague, Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, as a "notorious homosexual".

Mr Killin complained to fellow right-wing Liberal Christian activists in December last year that not enough of them had shown up at a preselection vote for the Liberal heartland seat of Goldstein in 2016 to prevent Mr Wilson from being selected to represent the seat.

Mr Killin made his remarks in the comments thread of Christian-right blogger Bill Muehlenberg.

Mr Killin's online attack came to light after the resignation of Jeremy Hearn, Liberal candidate for Isaacs, over extreme anti-Muslim comments that were also made online.
Business groups are calling on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to reveal the costs of his climate change policy out of concern at rising energy prices, saying they needed to see more detail to consider his plan.

Employer groups ranging from the printing to transport industries said jobs could be "exported" if the climate policies went too far, even though some of them endorse the ambition to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Shorten - visiting a steel works in Whyalla, South Australia on Wednesday - is under pressure to reveal the costs of his climate change policy. Credit:AAP

But Labor climate change spokesman Mark Butler said they had listened to "every single request" from business over the design of the Labor scheme and noted there would be a wide array of options to offset the cost of breaching any caps on emissions.

The call for detail comes after Mr Butler said on Tuesday it would be "impossible" to cost the Labor policy including baseline and credit scheme that would cap emissions for 250 of Australia's heaviest polluting companies.
Police continue to receive fresh information about the disappearance of little boy William Tyrrell, the NSW Coroners Court has heard.

William, 3, disappeared from the front yard of his grandmother's property in Benaroon Drive, in Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast, in September 2014.

William Tyrrell, wearing his Spider-Man suit, disappeared without trace from Kendall in 2014.

No trace of him has been found, despite an exhaustive years-long police investigation across the country and the offer of a $1 million reward.

The high-profile case was referred to the State Coroner in September last year, with investigators hoping it would uncover further information about what happened to William. It remains an active investigation.
The leader of an Australian white nationalist group has made veiled threats of violence while also claiming he tried unsuccessfully to recruit the alleged Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant in 2017.

Lads Society president Tom Sewell said he approached Tarrant as a member of an online community, asking him to join a project to help create a "parallel society" of only white people.

Tom Sewell of the Lads Society. Credit:YouTube

Mr Sewell said his group did not condone violence "at this stage" but that "if you make the peaceful alternative impossible, you leave only the other option."

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said all forms of extremism were taken seriously and that "using violence to force views on others is illegal and unacceptable."
Warning: This story contains images that may distress some readers.

Grieving parents who lost a mobile phone full of irreplaceable memories of their terminally ill baby daughter just days before she died have been targeted in another hoax.

Jay and Dee Windross last week lost their 11-month-old daughter Amiyah and were allegedly tricked by a woman pretending to have their lost mobile to swap for $1000.

Mr Windross, from Boronia in outer-east Melbourne, has revealed a fake GoFundMe fundraiser page was also set up to trick kind strangers and loved ones into handing over money.
Police have arrested and charged a man in connection with two ram raids in Perth last week which caused an estimated $600,000 damage.

The damage to the Brentwood deli was extensive. Credit:Nine News Perth

A Toyota Hilux stolen from an Ascot home was used in the ram raids in Riverton and Brentwood in the early hours of April 26.

A Brentwood deli was targeted first and shortly after the shopping centre in Riverton was smashed into.

"They continued through the shopping centre and into a telecommunications retailer causing damage and stealing a quantity of items," police said at the time of the Riverton incident.
Police have charged a man they allege has been following women in hostels and shopping centres across Perth.

Perth Detectives claim the 64-year-old had followed women into toilets and showers in public areas of Claremont and the Perth CBD within the past week.

After a public plea to identify a man, who was allegedly caught on CCTV, police on Friday said they had charged a 64-year-old Madely man with five counts of indecent acts in public and one count of trespass.

On several occasions over the last week police will allege he followed various women into the female toilets - including a staff toilet - at a shopping centre in Claremont.

He has also followed women into the shower area of a backpacker hostel in Perth.
New Delhi: Around 1000 Muslim refugees in Sri Lanka have been forced to flee their homes in the face of retaliatory attacks linked to the Easter Sunday bombings, according to Human Rights Watch.

Mobs have threatened to destroy the houses of Afghans, Pakistanis and Iranians - mostly part of minority Muslim sects such as the Ahmadiyya - who had fled to Sri Lanka following persecution in their homelands. Some have reported being beaten by gangs.

A soldier stands guard amid Catholics attending Mass outside St Joseph's church in Thannamunai, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday. Credit:AP

A small number of Christian refugees have also been caught up in attacks through mistaken identity.

"The people in Pakistan attacked us and say we're not Muslims," said Tariq Ahmed, 58, a Pakistani -Ahmadiyya. "Then in Sri Lanka, people attack us because they say we are Muslims."
In a handwritten statement penned on Wednesday morning, Assange apologised "unreservedly" for skipping bail, saying he had found himself "struggling with terrifying circumstances" that neither he nor his advisers could find a way out of. He had thought skipping bail would protect him from "the worst of my fears". Assanges defence lawyer Mark Summers, QC, said Assange was "just short of [having a] reasonable excuse" for skipping bail. The background was "an act of seeking and claiming asylum, itself a lawful act", Mr Summers said. "These are unusual, difficult and different circumstances [he] had strongly held fears of being removed to the United States.

"The fear was [of] onward removal from Sweden to America and even Guantanamo Bay." Summers said it was "obvious they were reasonable fears". Assange has trimmed his beard and had a haircut since his arrest in April. He was wearing a black jacket, a grey T-shirt and blue jeans. He watched proceedings attentively, occasionally sipping water. He briefly acknowledged that he had been found guilty of failing to surrender for extradition to Sweden in 2012.

The start of the hearing was delayed as a throng of Assange supporters tried to find seats in the packed courtroom. After the sentence was handed down Assange nodded and raised his fist to the public gallery, where supporters shouted "shame on you" to the judge. Summers explained the background to Assanges fears: "aggressive" statements from the US government as well as the treatment of whistleblower Chelsea Manning. "[There were] suggestions from inside the US administration that he could be kidnapped wherever he was with or without the approval of the country in which he was residing and brought forcibly to the US  that is no less than the threat of a rendition." There were even calls for him to be arrested or assassinated, Summers said.

Loading "Threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything, they dominated his thoughts and our discussions," Summers said. "They were gripping him throughout and it got worse." And he said Sweden had a history of surrendering people to states with a history of state-sanctioned torture without proper extradition processes. In Assanges mind such an extra-judicial "rendition" was inevitable, "so he took the decision to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy and apply for asylum". "He believed he was exercising his legal rights."

Summers said Assange had suffered as a result of his decision, with his time in the embassy "equitable to prison" without access to treatment for a painful frozen shoulder and chronically painful fractured tooth. Assange, 47, last month was found guilty of skipping bail. He entered Ecuadors London embassy on June 19, 2012 and was granted political asylum after exhausting his appeals against an extradition order to go to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. Assange spent almost seven years in the embassy, a small office in an apartment block behind Harrods in Knightsbridge. On Thursday, the US will begin its attempt to extradite Assange to face a charge of computer hacking, which carries a maximum five-year sentence, for his work in 2010 with US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Charlotte: A 21-year-old student killed in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte saved some of his classmates' lives by charging at the gunman and attempting to disarm him, the city's top police official said on Wednesday.

A University of North Carolina, Charlotte campus police officer carries a tactical shield after a shooting in Charlotte, NC. Credit:AP

Environmental studies student Riley Howell of Waynesville, North Carolina, one of two students killed in the Tuesday shooting, played a key role in ending the attack by a former student, said Kerr Putney, chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

"But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed," Putney told a news conference.

"He's an athletically built young man and he took the fight to the assailant. Unfortunately he had to give his life to do so," said Putney, a UNC Charlotte alumnus. "He took the assailant off his feet."
Minneapolis: Mohamed Noor, the Minneapolis police officer charged with killing Australian life coach Justine Ruszczyk Damond, could spend more than a decade in prison after being found guilty of murder and manslaughter.

A photo of Justine Ruszczyk Damond is seen at her memorial service in Minneapolis in August, 2017. Credit:AP

Noor shot Ruszczyk dead outside her Minneapolis home in July 2017 after she had called police to report a possible sexual assault.

After a day of deliberation, a jury of 10 men and two women found Noor not guilty of murder in the second-degree but convicted him of murder in the third-degree and of manslaughter.
Until they received the letter, they believed Mueller was in agreement with them on the process of reviewing the report and redacting certain types of information, a process that took several weeks. Barr has testified to Congress previously that Mueller declined the opportunity to review his four-page letter to lawmakers that distilled the essence of his findings. In his letter, Mueller wrote that the redaction process "need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation." US President Donald Trump. Credit:AP Barr is scheduled to appear on Wednesday morning, US time, before the Senate Judiciary Committee - a much-anticipated public confrontation between the nation's top law enforcement official and Democratic lawmakers, where he is likely to be questioned at length about his interactions with Mueller.

A day after the letter was sent, Barr and Mueller spoke by phone for about 15 minutes, according to law enforcement officials. In that call, Mueller said he was concerned that news coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and creating public misunderstandings about the office's work, according to Justice Department officials. When Barr pressed him whether he thought Barr's letter was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not, but felt that the media coverage of the letter was misinterpreting the investigation, officials said. In their call, Barr also took issue with Mueller calling his letter a "summary," saying he had never meant his letter to summarise the voluminous report, but instead provide an account of the top conclusions, officials said. Justice Department officials said in some ways, the phone conversation was more cordial than the letter that preceded it, but they did express some differences of opinion about how to proceed.

Barr said he did not want to put out pieces of the report, but rather issue it all at once with redactions, and didn't want to change course now, according to officials. Throughout the conversation, Mueller's main worry was that the public was not getting an accurate understanding of the obstruction investigation, officials said. "After the Attorney-General received Special Counsel Mueller's letter, he called him to discuss it," a Justice Department spokeswoman said. "In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasised that nothing in the Attorney-General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the his obstruction analysis. They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released.

"However, the Attorney-General ultimately determined that it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion," the spokeswoman's statement continues. "The Attorney-General and the Special Counsel agreed to get the full report out with necessary redactions as expeditiously as possible. The next day, the Attorney-General sent a letter to Congress reiterating that his March 24 letter was not intended to be a summary of the report, but instead only stated the Special Counsel's principal conclusions, and volunteered to testify before both Senate and House Judiciary Committees on May 1 and 2." Attorney-General William Barr speaks about the release of a redacted version of Robert Mueller's report. Credit:AP Some senior Justice Department officials were frustrated by Mueller's complaints, because they had expected that the report would reach them with proposed redactions the first time they got it, but it did not. Even when Mueller sent along his suggested redactions, those covered only a few areas of protected information, and the documents required further review, these people said. Wednesday's hearing will be the first time lawmakers will get to question Barr since the Mueller report was released on April 18, and he is expected to face a raft of tough questions from Democrats about his public announcement of the findings, his private interactions with Mueller, and his views about President Trump's conduct.
The Vermont Senate is sending a bill to Gov. Phil Scott that raises the legal smoking age to 21.

The Senate also gave preliminary approval Tuesday -- on a thirty to zero vote -- to a bill banning the internet sale of e-cigarettes in the state. Final passage is expected Wednesday and it will then go to Gov. Phil Scott, who is expected to sign it.

The bills are part of a three-pronged approach advocates are seeking to drive down youth use of e-cigarettes. Another bill that would apply the same 92 percent tax on cigarettes to e-cigarettes is still pending.

Sen. Cheryl Hooker, D-Rutland County, says the bills will help prevent youth access to e-cigarettes. "The responsibility lies with the wholesalers, so if they're selling in the state over the internet then they are responsible," Hooker said. "Hopefully it's going to lower use in youth, and that's a really big problem."

Lawmakers were motivated to act this year because of a dramatic spike last year among youth.




A FORM Four pupil at St Bernards High School in Bulawayos Old Pumula suburb was found hanging at home in Pumula North on Monday in a suspected case of suicide.





Thembelihle Gombora (16) allegedly hanged herself from the roof trusses of the familys bedroom in the evening.





She lived with her grandmother as her parents work in South Africa. Before the alleged suicide on Monday evening, Thembelihle had not slept at home on Saturday and Sunday, only coming back in the morning on the day she killed herself.





It appears she was reprimanded and decided to commit suicide after sending WhatsApp messages to her friends. Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident.





I can confirm that we are investigating a case of sudden death where a pupil from St Bernards High School allegedly hanged herself, he said.





A Chronicle news crew visited the pupils family home and family members said they were still in shock and devastated by the pupils death.





Her aunt who declined to be named said she had not shown any signs of depression.





She however suggested that the deceased had been a troublesome child.





Thembelihle was staying with her grandmother and other children here and we always got reports of her misbehaving such that gogo always complained about it. I was shocked to hear of her death because except her misbehaving, she had not shown any signs of depression suggesting she could take her life, she said.





The aunt said the pupil did not sleep home on Saturday and Sunday, only to come on Monday in the morning and hanged herself in the evening.





She was in the company of bad friends and she had strange habits considering her age. On the day she killed herself, her grandmother had told her to prepare some meat on the stove.





All she did was to burn the meat and after that, she poured a lot of water and closed the pot to hang herself in the bedroom, she said.





The aunt said before locking herself in the house to commit suicide, she was overheard sending WhatsApp voice messages to her friends.





She said the deceased did not leave any note except the WhatsApp messages, which they have not listened to yet because the phone was taken by the police.





She left a 21 minute voice note on WhatsApp but we havent listened to it because the cell phone switched off and was taken by the police. We were surprised to hear her talking on her phone because we did not know that she had a cellphone, she said.





Thembelihles aunt said the deceased used a belt to hang herself and when her grandmother found her hanging, she cut it off thinking that she was still alive.





She said Thembelihles body was taken to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for postmortem.





The aunt said they are not yet sure about funeral arrangements as they need to liase with her parents who are still in South Africa.





Her father called saying he will come today but the mother is still sorting out some things, she said.




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BRIDGEPORT  Voters have five choices Tuesday to replace the late state Rep. Ezequiel Santiago in the 130th legislative district, which includes the South and West ends and downtown.

The perceived front-runner, endorsed Democrat Antonio Felipe, is a family friend who, at 23, would become one of the youngest legislators and is half Santiagos age. Santiago died suddenly March 15 at 45.

Felipe is being aided by dad Ruben Felipe, a former aide to ex-Mayor Bill Finch, state Rep. Chris Rosario, D-Bridgeport, City Council President Aidee Nieves, and Councilman Marcus Brown, head of the Greater Bridgeport Young Democrats.

His youth, coupled with having to rent an apartment in the district because his family moved to Stratford, have caused resentment.

We have a candidate whos being pushed upon the people, one of Felipes four opponents, ex-state Rep. Hector Diaz, told the small crowd at a downtown candidate forum Tuesday night. Hes not of us (and) hes not here.

Felipe skipped the event, organized by civic group Bridgeport Generation Now and recorded and posted online, to campaign. Diaz, 58, Christina Ayala, 36, and Kate Rivera, 41, all Democrats who petitioned onto Tuesdays special election ballot, attended with Republican Joshua Parrow, 29.

Rivera, an activist and former school board member, also alluded to Felipe when one of the questions at the forum was about democracy. She touted her independence from the citys so-called Democratic machine and said, Democracy means to me we are picking the person who is going to represent us. That there is not a separate entity behind the scenes, manipulating.

In an interview Wednesday, Felipe told Hearst Connecticut Media, When Hector says Im not of us  I was raised in the district. I grew up on Laurel Avenue. ... This is where Im from. Im not just coming in as a transplant. This is my home. Im coming home.

Felipe also said he does not view any one of his opponents as his main threat  Im trying to get 50 percent of the vote  but admitted he was impressed with Riveras fundraising.

She and Felipe qualified for $21,112 campaign grants under Connecticuts clean elections program. And while Rivera, Ayala and Diaz only needed 36 voter signatures to petition onto Tuesdays ballot, Rivera collected nearly 800 signatures and over $6,000 in small donations to obtain the state dollars.

Money versus familiar names

Based on their campaign filings with the state, Diaz raised $750 while Ayala as of Wednesday had not reported any contributions.

Although Republicans are historically at a disadvantage in deep Democrat blue Bridgeport, Parrow came close to getting a state grant. He raised $5,002, but said in an interview he had some paperwork issues that were not worth a fight with the state.

I didnt think we were going to need the money, anyway, Parrow said Wednesday.

Both Diaz and Ayala seem to be relying on personal name recognition.

Diaz was a legislator in the 1990s and his late father was Town Clerk. Ayala was a recent one-term state representative and her mother is the citys Democratic Registrar of Voters.

Diaz at Tuesdays forum scoffed at the idea that state grants were needed to compete in a poor district, while Ayala told the audience, I have a small campaign, but everyone is in it because they believe in me.

But Diazs name recognition did not help him win campaigns for the City Council and the General Assembly in recent years.

And Ayala, who was elected in 2012, two years later lost her bid for a sophomore term while under investigation for using a false address when voting, campaigning and participating in the public campaign finance system. In 2015 she was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to state election law violations.

Im very human (and) I am relentless, Ayala said Tuesday. Ive been through days when it would have been very easy (to) just give up. ... Push against me, I push harder.

Both she and Diaz said their prior experience in the General Assembly would be useful given the legislative session ends June 5.

Rivera argued as an activist she is very familiar with the legislative process and will easily hit the ground running.

Felipe told Hearst, Ive been involved in one way or another (in politics) for the last seven years. People dont understand that. People take my youth as inexperience, but Ive been around.

Parrow, assistant director of development at the University of Bridgeport, pleaded Tuesday to give a Republican a shot: You keep doing the same thing  voting for Democrats and getting the same results of high taxes and a slow growing local economy.

Pot, tolls, charter schools

Based on their answers at the Generation Now event, Rivera and Parrow displayed the best knowledge of pending state legislation while Ayala and Diaz offered less specific responses.

For example, asked about his priorities, Diaz said, Any bills that have to do with getting money back to Bridgeport.

Rivera supports paid family medical leave, a $15 minimum wage, tougher gun measures and will raise Hell for more state aid for Bridgeports troubled public schools. She opposes Democratic Gov. Ned Lamonts push for highway tolls to increase revenues for transportation projects and, referring to the governors wealthy hometown, added, Tax Neds friends down in Greenwich.

Parrow too said he is against tolls and the disproportionate way thats going to effect inner city residents who commute from Bridgeport to work. He said a higher minimum wage will hurt small businesses and the citys ability to employ summer workers.

The Republican also said he is for legalized recreational marijuana because Connecticut is losing that revenue to other states.

Parrow and Diaz both said they support building a gaming casino in Bridgeport. Santiago was a vocal casino proponent.

Felipe on Wednesday told Hearst a casino, $15 minimum wage and paid family medical leave are priorities for him, as well as recreational marijuana  if the final bill expunges criminal records. He is for tolls as long as theres conversations surrounding lowering or eliminating the car tax for residents.

On Tuesday the four candidates present were asked about their support for the sometimes controversial charter schools  state-funded facilities independent of local control. Ruben Felipe is the state director for the Northeast Charter Schools Network and Antonio was treasurer for the charter school-linked Build CT Political Action Committee.

All the money and resources we have available need to go to our public schools, Rivera said.

Charter schools should be private schools, Diaz said. All our money should go to public schools.

Ayala admitted her daughter attends a charter school. She said they should be better regulated but theyre not going anywhere.

Lets be honest, a lot of us cannot afford a private school, Ayala added.
Egypts education ministry has said that five new Japanese schools will open their doors to students in the coming school year, bringing the total number of Japanese schools operating in Egypt to 40.

The new schools are part of an ambitious plan to build 100 Japanese-style state schools which will teach the same Arabic-language curriculum as other state schools, while adopting the Japanese "whole child education" system known as Tokkatsu.

Thirty-five Japanese schools opened their doors to students in the 2018-2019 school year. The five new schools are in the governorates of Kafr El-Sheikh, Daqahliya, Damietta, Assiut and Aswan.

The education ministry opened registration for the new school year on Tuesday evening. Only Egyptian students can be accepted in the Japanese schools.

Tokkatsu's course of study focuses on achieving a balanced development of intellect, virtue and body by ensuring academic competence, rich emotions and healthy physical development.

The project was agreed on during Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's visit to Japan in February 2016. Under a cooperation protocol signed between Egypt and Japan in 2017, Japan is providing the necessary technical support for the project.

Observers, teachers and parents argue that Egypt's education system is in need of a massive overhaul. Critics say that the system, which is based on rote learning, does not give students the necessary practical skills, leaving them unqualified for college and hindering their transition to the workplace.

The ministry says the new schools will focus on enhancing children's personalities, rather than scientific content, by introducing a special system that is meant to improve students' cognitive skills and behaviour while encouraging innovation and creativity.

The fees for the Japanese schools are EGP 10,800 ($630) per year, according to the education ministrys website.

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Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 42F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Ballet lovers are in for some shock and awe this week when the Royal Winnipeg Ballet whisks viewers on a whirlwind trip to Oz, courtesy of American choreographer Septime Webres million-dollar contemporary ballet The Wizard of Oz.

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Ballet lovers are in for some shock and awe this week when the Royal Winnipeg Ballet whisks viewers on a whirlwind trip to Oz, courtesy of American choreographer Septime Webres million-dollar contemporary ballet The Wizard of Oz.

BALLET PREVIEW Click to Expand The Wizard of Oz

 Royal Winnipeg Ballet

 May 1 to 5

 Centennial Concert Hall

 Tickets: $33.57-$132.57 at rwb.org or 204-956-2792

The full-length story ballet is based on L. Frank Baums fantastical childrens tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which inspired the 1939 Hollywood film classic starring Judy Garland, and later, Broadway hits The Wiz and Wicked.

The ballet first took root in August 2016 after Webre invited the RWB, the Kansas City Ballet and the Colorado Ballet to journey down the balletic yellow brick road with him as a three-way co-production.

Each troupe has equally shared the ballets budget, and it also marks the RWBs most ambitious show in its 79-year history.

Dancer Sophia Lee will don the ruby slippers to portray Dorothy in RWBs The Wizard of Oz. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

The production also features a live orchestral score by American composer Matthew Pierce, 120 costumes designed by Liz Vandal, who is renowned for her Cirque du Soleil creations, Nicolas Mahons 20 ingenious puppets, including a terrifying troop of winged monkeys and mechanical Toto operated by an onstage puppeteer, heightened further by Aaron Rhynes visual projections with lighting by Trad A. Burns.

Stepping into plucky heroine Dorothys shoes is RWB principal dancer Sophia Lee (alternating during the five-show run with soloist Alanna McAdie). The 28-year-old Lee recalls seeing The Wizard of Oz on a VHS tape as a young girl growing up in South Korea  including hearing Garlands iconic ballad Somewhere Over the Rainbow dubbed in Korean  not realizing she would someday portray Dorothy in a balletic re-telling of Baums story.

The willowy dancers strict upbringing made her struggle to identify with the gung-ho protagonist, requiring her to dig deeply into her wellspring of creativity to find ways to authentically connect with her character that would resonate with "truth."

Sophia Lee (MIkaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

"I remember having a hard time relating to this girl named Dorothy," Lee says in an interview, describing her character as a "light-hearted risk-taker who takes care of her dear friends."

"Shes a brave girl who leaves home, and takes on adventures with strange creatures... I was never allowed to have sleepovers, or even walk outside alone when I was young, so you can just imagine how shocking that was for me."

However, RWB associate artistic director Tara Birtwhistle attests that Lees flesh-and-blood portrayal of the storybook character has grown leaps and bounds since rehearsals began last month.

It grew further last week when Webre arrived in Winnipeg to further hone the company in his eclectic choreography that ranges from classical pirouettes performed en pointe to funky streetwise moves  yes, even the "floss" makes a cameo appearance  with RWB artistic director Andre Lewis likewise praising Lees "natural instincts" in crafting the Kansas farm-girl.

"Shes quite amazing, and is so suited for this role," Birtwhistle says of Lees portrayal during an interview at the RWB studios. "Shes a dance-actress to begin with, and shes really found her own Dorothy... Shes created a contemporary character that proves strong women can lead and get themselves out of a situation. Sophia knows exactly what she wants and its been wonderful to watch her journey. Shes fearless."

RWB Soloist Alanna McAdie and aspirant Cameron Fraser-Monroe. (Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press)

Its a good thing Lee is unflappable, as Webre is known for using breathtaking, intricate lifts.

In Wizard, Dorothy is carried aloft not by one partner, but often by all three of her Oz friends: Lion (second soloist Liam Caines, with alternating casts); Scarecrow (corps de ballet member Stephan Azulay) and Tin Man (soloist Yosuke Mino) creating precariously shifting centres of gravity that requires rock-solid trust between the dancers.

Puppetry brings Dorothy's dog, flying monkeys to life Click to Expand RWB aspirant Cameron Fraser-Monroe with the puppet Toto. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press) Nicholas Mahons work as a puppet and theatrical designer has taken him everywhere, from Sesame Street to the 2018 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea. So, when the yellow brick road led him to the world of ballet, the Canadian-born, Emmy-nominated designer jumped at the opportunity to create almost 20 puppets for Septime Webres The Wizard of Oz. Puppetry is absolutely unusual in ballet, Mahon says: To incorporate puppetry seemed like an exciting fit, especially for this piece. Read Jen Zoratti's full story

Lee also notably "flies" for her first time, soaring sky-high through the air in a tightly strapped double harness during the tornado scene in which Dorothys drab Kansas farm life suddenly morphs into eye-popping Oz, re-imagined by Webre as being "inside a giant disco ball."

Shes accompanied by her little dog Toto, who is so eerily realistic he appears like a real-life pooch with his onstage puppeteer, RWB aspirant/apprentice Cameron Fraser-Monroe, seeming to disappear into thin air.

"Toto! I love Toto," Lee squeals, her eyes immediately lighting up when asked about her canine companion. "Toto is so, so cute, and I actually feel hes a real dog sometimes. Whenever I see Toto during rehearsals, I just feel so happy," she enthuses of her puppet pet.

At first blush, The Wizard of Oz might seem "only" an innocent tale of childhood enjoyed by countless generations for more than a century that has weathered the storms since first penned by Baum in 1900.

However Lee, who left her parents and brother behind in Vancouver to train at the RWB School Professional Division at age 16, delves even deeper into the storys heart and soul, in which Dorothy finally realizes "theres no place like home."

"The Wizard of Oz is so deep and rich as a story about home and family. I think thats why these stories have lasted so long, because it has a core message," Lee says.

Sophia Lee preparing Dorothy's ruby slippers. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Winnipeg Free Press)

"Ive now been here for 12 years, and Winnipeg and the RWB feels more like home now than Vancouver. I really do feel different than when I started as a younger dancer, and am now dancing from a deeper place.

"I hope when people see this ballet, that it will take them back to their own childhood, and experience a sense of freedom and that feeling of wanting adventure and being curious they had when they were young," she says.

"Im just so proud of our company that we get to be a part of this collaboration, and feel deeply honoured and grateful to dance Dorothy."

holly.harris@shaw.ca
JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska marijuana regulators expressed frustration Wednesday with the limited co-operation they say they're receiving with investigations from the state Department of Public Safety.

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Three members of the Alaska Marijuana Control Board, chairman Mark Springer of Bethel, left, Nick Miller of Anchorage, center, and Loren Jones of Juneau, listen during the board's meeting Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. One other member was unable to attend the three-day meeting, and one seat remains vacant. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska marijuana regulators expressed frustration Wednesday with the limited co-operation they say they're receiving with investigations from the state Department of Public Safety.

The dispute dates to last fall, during then-Gov. Bill Walker's administration, when an acting director of the Alaska State Troopers notified the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office its investigators would no longer have access to certain databases.

Erika McConnell, the office's director, told the Marijuana Control Board access is based on one of two qualifications: being a criminal justice agency or peace officers.

She said it's debatable whether the office is a criminal justice agency but said "for decades" the state considered investigators related to the office's work peace officers. She said she's not clear on what changed.

Earlier this year, McConnell said the department had indicated in meetings that the factor of change was the addition of marijuana to the office's regulatory responsibilities.

A message seeking comment was sent to a Public Safety spokeswoman.

Alaska Marijuana Control Board member Loren Jones, of Juneau, listens during the board's meeting Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. The board expressed some frustration with the Alaska Department of Public Safety for not providing information in a timely manner to the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office's investigators. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

The Nov. 1, 2018, letter from Major Andrew Greenstreet, then-acting director of the Troopers, said access had been granted previously "by presuming" the office functioned as a criminal justice agency. But the letter says the office does not meet the qualifications for that and says that while state law grants some office employees "limited peace officer powers," those aren't sufficient for them to be considered peace officers.

McConnell told the Marijuana Control Board, meeting Wednesday in Anchorage, the department had agreed to provide information in the databases to office investigators when requested.

She said while some timely information has been provided, some requests "have been ignored or go unfilled even after repeated requests. So, this continues to be a frustration for the office."

Board member Loren Jones asked whether Attorney General Kevin Clarkson or Commerce Commissioner Julie Anderson could do something.

The chairmen of the Marijuana and Alcoholic Beverage control boards previously sent a letter to Anderson asking her to request from Clarkson a legal opinion on whether office investigators are peace officers, McConnell said.

Mark Springer, who chairs the Marijuana Control Board, said he did not receive a response.

Shawn Williams, an assistant commissioner with the commerce department, said by email late Wednesday that the new process for requesting information developed with the Department of Public Safety's help is a "workable arrangement since only two of AMCO's 432 investigations in 2018 resulted in criminal charges."

"To our knowledge, this process is working well and therefore, no opinion was requested," Williams wrote.

McConnell said she anticipated a letter from one or both boards being sent to Clarkson to request an opinion on the issue.

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Meanwhile, the short-handed board voted to seek public comment on tweaks to first-in-the-nation statewide rules for allowing onsite use of marijuana at authorized stores.

Rules that took effect last month specify conditions stores must meet to be authorized for onsite consumption. The rules refer to stores in freestanding buildings, consistent with language in a statewide smoke-free workplace law, and have ventilation requirements.

The proposed changes would allow stores not in freestanding buildings to have onsite consumption of edibles only. They also would clarify that special ventilation systems would be required only for onsite use areas allowing smoking.

The board voted 2-1 to seek public comment on the revisions, with Jones dissenting. One board member was absent and one seat is vacant.

Springer had said all three members present would have to agree to approve something. But he was corrected after Wednesday's vote that the motion passed.

No businesses have been approved yet for onsite consumption.
OTTAWA - The federal Liberals promised Wednesday to give Canada's canola farmers financial aid to lessen the impact of China's decision to ban their products as part of a trade dispute with no end in sight.

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OTTAWA - The federal Liberals promised Wednesday to give Canada's canola farmers financial aid to lessen the impact of China's decision to ban their products as part of a trade dispute with no end in sight.

The changes made to a program that advances farmers money against the expected value of their crops will raise loan limits to $1 million from $400,000, and the portion that will be interest-free is rising to $500,000 from $100,000.

Producers praised the changes on Wednesday, saying they will help farmers get through a tough spot.

"Hopefully we won't need any more help and hopefully the market smartens up and we're able to get our crop in and sell it at a good price," said Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.

The changes will help with uncertainty and stress the industry is going through as farmers worry about what to plant and how they'll deal with the falling price of canola, added Keystone Agricultural Producers president Bill Campbell.

Citing unproven concerns about pests, China has rejected Canadian canola seeds in recent months and barred shipments from two of Canada's biggest exporters in what is considered retaliation for the detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

About one-quarter of Canada's $11 billion in canola exports went to China last year, or $2.7 billion worth, and any prolonged blockage will hurt farmers, the industry and the broader economy. The seeds are the raw input for canola oil, used in cooking and industry  and nearly half of Canada's seed exports went to China.

The Liberals said changes to the advance payments program are designed to ease cashflow pressures for affected farmers.

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Canada's canola producers and farm families across the country and we will continue to listen to their needs," Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, provide an update on the government's response to the canola trade dispute with China during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 1, 2019.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

"Canada has the best canola in the world as well as a very robust inspection system."

International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr said he will lead a canola trade mission to Japan and South Korea in early June to help farmers find new markets for their products.

He also said he will be promoting canola in all of his upcoming visits, including to France.

"It is critical that Canadian exporters have other readily available markets when faced with trade disruptions," he said. "Our country's continued prosperity and job creation depends on secure markets abroad."

Conservative foreign-affairs critic Erin O'Toole called Wednesday's announcement positive, adding it is a step his party has long called for. But he warned it is a stopgap measure that does not address the underlying diplomatic tensions.

"The Trudeau government has allowed our diplomatic situation with China to descend into chaos, where we are not sure what commodity could be at risk next," O'Toole said, just outside the House of Commons.

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Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has previously called for the federal government to take a more confrontational approach with China, including launching a complaint with the World Trade Organization and cutting Canadian funding to China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to which the government has committed $256 million over five years.

Scheer has also pressed the Liberals to appoint a new ambassador to China. On his way into the Liberals' weekly caucus meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government has a strong career diplomat who is handling "the particulars of this very well."

Carr told reporters there is agreement across the sector, including with provincial governments and producers, that Canada should engage China on the stated basis of its allegation  that there are impurities in the canola despite two inspections by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Canada will navigate this challenging period with China through careful, deliberate and strategic engagement, he said.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said Wednesday's announcement buys "some breathing space" for nervous farmers and suggested China will ultimately relent because it needs canola.

"We just need to ensure that we have the relationship that we are actually able to trade that commerce and we are going to support our federal government in those conversations moving forward," he said.

with files from Andy Blatchford
Gildan Activewear Inc. is expanding its global manufacturing footprint by building a large complex in Bangladesh to complement its existing operations in the country, Central America and the Caribbean.

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Gildan Activewear Inc. president and CEO Glenn Chamandy poses for a photo following the apparel manufacturer's annual meeting, Thursday, February 5, 2015 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Gildan Activewear Inc. is expanding its global manufacturing footprint by building a large complex in Bangladesh to complement its existing operations in the country, Central America and the Caribbean.

The underwear, T-shirt and sock maker said it purchased a large land parcel last month for US$45 million to build a vertically integrated manufacturing plant that would expand its textile and sewing operations.

The large multi-plant complex would be large enough to support more than US$500 million in annual sales after opening at the end of 2021. It expects to spend about US$175 million on capital expenditures this year, up from its previous guidance of US$125 million.

"The company believes the build-out of a large-scale manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia will significantly enhance its positioning to service international markets and support other key sales growth drivers," it said in a news release.

The announcement came as Montreal-based Gildan reported that its net income for the three months ended March 31 decreased to US$22.7 million or 11 cents per diluted share, from US$67.9 million or 31 cents per share a year earlier.

The company, which reports in U.S. dollars, says adjusted profits in the first quarter were $32.8 million or 16 cents per share, compared with $74.6 million or 34 cents per share in the first quarter of 2018.

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Revenues fell 3.6 per cent to $623.9 million from $647.3 million as T-shirt and fleece sales fell 4.1 per cent and hosiery and underwear sales were 1.8 per cent lower.

Gildan was expected to post 15 cents per share in adjusted profits on $599.5 million in sales, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters Eikon.

It attributed the decreases to lower levels of distributor restocking, higher raw material and other input cost pressures. It also recorded a $24.4-million impairment charge mainly related to Heritage Sportswear, which is winding down under receivership, and about $2.5 million related to the bankruptcy of Payless ShoeSource.

Despite the quarterly declines, Gildan reaffirmed its sales and adjusted earnings per share guidance for the year.

It expects adjusted earnings of between $1.90 and $2 per share on a sales increase of around five per cent.

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CALGARY - Junior oil and gas company Trident Exploration Corp. says it is ceasing operations and will turn over care of its 4,700 wells to the Alberta Energy Regulator.

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CALGARY - Junior oil and gas company Trident Exploration Corp. says it is ceasing operations and will turn over care of its 4,700 wells to the Alberta Energy Regulator.

In a news release, the privately held Calgary-based company says its abandonment and reclamation obligations are estimated to be $329 million and it doesn't expect any financial recovery for shareholders or unsecured creditors.

It says it terminated 33 employees and 61 contractors on Tuesday.

The company blames its demise on low natural gas prices and high lease and property tax bills, along with capacity constraints on TransCanada Corp.'s NGTL gas pipeline system.

It says a restructuring and sales process with its lenders failed due to issues it linked to January's Supreme Court of Canada decision on insolvent Redwater Energy.

The high court ruled that energy companies must fulfil their environmental obligations before paying back creditors in the case of insolvency or bankruptcy, overturning lower court decisions that had favoured bankruptcy law over provincial environmental responsibilities.

"As many have speculated and we have now unfortunately proven, the Redwater decision has had the unintended consequence of intensifying Tridents financial distress and accelerating unfunded abandoned well obligations," the company stated Wednesday.

"Without regulatory collaboration and clarity, Trident is unable to address its near-term liquidity needs and has no financial ability to continue operating. We fear that many other companies may falter without clear, sound policy making post-Redwater."

The Alberta Energy Regulator said it ordered the company on Monday to properly manage its approximately 4,400 energy licenses by addressing end-of-life obligations through decommissioning its sites, posting financial security, or transferring the sites to responsible energy companies.

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It said Trident shut down operations, which are mainly natural gas, without responding to its order.

The regulator said it will ensure that the public and the environment are protected and will assess any high-risk sites to ensure there are no immediate risks.

"The AER will pursue all options to ensure that Trident's infrastructure is transferred to responsible operators, safely decommissioned, or, as a last resort, transferred to the Orphan Well Association," the regulator said late Wednesday in a release.

"Many of Trident's wells were still operating and, once transferred to responsible operators, can still contribute to royalties, keep Albertans working, and deliver value to our economy."

The AER said it will assess all options for possible enforcement.

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OTTAWA - Finance Minister Bill Morneau says a $40-billion operation to eventually ship liquefied natural gas to Asia from Canada's west coast shows the country can still get major projects done, despite corporate complaints about regulatory hurdles.

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Minister of Finance Bill Morneau responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons Tuesday April 30, 2019 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Finance Minister Bill Morneau says a $40-billion operation to eventually ship liquefied natural gas to Asia from Canada's west coast shows the country can still get major projects done, despite corporate complaints about regulatory hurdles.

The federal Liberals have been facing criticism from some political foes and business leaders over Canada's regulations, including those blamed for holding back the construction of oil pipelines out of Alberta.

With the federal election six months away, there's intense political debate about Canadian regulations as parties, especially the Liberals and Conservatives, fight over which of them one is best suited to deliver on energy projects.

Morneau insists work is already underway on the LNG Canada mega-project in British Columbia because efforts were made to listen to people opposed to the venture as well as those advancing it.

"Canada can get big things done, but we have to do it by working together," he said in an interview. "The necessity is that we go through this process, that we do it in the right way. And that's clearly different than has been the approach in the past."

But shortly after LNG Canada's approval in October the federal Conservatives, who had been in office until 2015, insisted they deserved credit for getting the project finalized.

At the time, Tory MP Shannon Stubbs said in a statement the Harper government helped LNG Canada through the approvals process. She said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "showed up for the final photo-op" and tried to take credit for it.

The head of LNG Canada says the Trudeau and Harper governments both gave boosts for the project, which will build an export terminal in Kitimat, B.C., and is on track for completion by late-2023.

Andy Calitz said in an interview this week that the project, which went through approvals between 2012 and 2018, received support from governments of different stripes over that period  in both Ottawa and B.C.

The country treated LNG Canada "extremely well" and the permits were delivered by the regulators on time, he said.

"So, in that sense Canada has treated LNG Canada well or alternatively we did our work thoroughly  or both. I'm not sure," Calitz said when asked about concerns over regulations and other obstacles faced by large projects.

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"At the same time, I am today concerned about the interprovincial strife between Alberta and B.C. and the constant regulation challenges to pipelines being built."

He added it makes foreign investors, who are part of his project's consortium, vigilant about Canada.

Calitz, the outgoing CEO, met in Ottawa this week with Trudeau and members of his cabinet to introduce them to his successor, Peter Zebedee, and to provide an update about LNG Canada.

He said he told them it had moved from the planning phase to construction. For example, the Kitimat site has been cleared and worker housing is being installed, he said.

Morneau's comments came a day before the government released a list of the types of projects that will be assessed for their environmental, health, social and economic impacts under Canada's proposed update of how major new energy projects are evaluated.

He said it's important for Canada to have a regulatory system that works, and he argued the new environmental assessment law, if adopted, will improve the process.
TORONTO - Rogers Media is adding to its podcasting business through the acquisition of Pacific Content, an independent production and marketing company formed five years ago by a number of former employees of the CBC.

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A man speaks on a mobile phone outside Rogers Communications Inc.'s annual general meeting of shareholders in Toronto on April 22, 2014. Rogers Media is adding to its podcasting business through the acquisition of Vancouver-based Pacific Content. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

TORONTO - Rogers Media is adding to its podcasting business through the acquisition of Pacific Content, an independent production and marketing company formed five years ago by a number of former employees of the CBC.

Pacific Content, which currently employs 22 people based in Vancouver, works with companies and advertisers to attract audiences using audio storytelling techniques.

One of its more recent clients is Facebook, which commissioned Pacific Content to create the "3.5 Degrees" podcast about business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Facebook's series was released Jan. 13 through the Apple, Google, Stitcher and Spotify podcast platforms.

"They wanted to make a show for a business audience," Pacific Content co-founder Steve Pratt said in an interview.

"One of the episodes has (somebody with) a very small, local hamburger business getting to meet the CEO of McDonald's and finding they have a lot in common, and can learn from each other about how their businesses work."

This type of commissioned content aims to build a sponsor's brand by attracting an audience, Pratt said.

"It has to be a really, really great show that truly is original and not a piece of marketing," he added.

"We bring a lot of expertise in terms of trying to translate brand strategy into audio shows that are great listens."

Rogers didn't disclose how much it's paying for Pacific Content but did say it will complement the Frequency Podcast Network that it launched last year.

Podcasting is a big part of the future of audio. We quickly identified its immense potential and are being aggressive in this space, Julie Adam, Rogers Radio senior vice-president, said in a statement.

Pratt said almost all of Pacific Content's employees will remain, although one co-founder will leave to open a restaurant.

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Asked about Pacific Content's pay scales, Pratt said wouldn't disclose amounts but said they were "better than average."

"Our team is the most important thing we have in the whole company and our culture is a huge part of the reason that the company works. And we want to make sure that everybody is feeling very well compensated for the work they do."

However, he said, Rogers will also help Pacific Content with its strong sales organization.

"Right now most of our clients are in the States, so being able to work with Rogers to make this happen for Canadian brands is something we're really excited about."

Rogers Communications Inc. owns one of Canada's largest media businesses, which includes 56 radio stations, 29 local TV stations, the Sportsnet specialty TV channels and the Toronto Blue Jays major league baseball team.

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BERLIN - Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labour activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.

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Workers shout slogans during a May Day rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands of workers attended the rally urging the government to raise minimum wages, ban outsourcing practices, provide free health care and improve working condition for workers in the country. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

BERLIN - Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labour activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.

The tradition of May Day marches for workers' rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners.

Over the decades, the May Day protests have also become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands. Here's a look at Wednesday's protests :

___

PROTESTERS MOURN PUERTO RICO'S PLIGHT

Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched to traditional music while protesting austerity measures, with many participants at a May Day event demanding the ouster of a federal control board overseeing the U.S. territory's finances.

Many in the crowd in San Juan waved Puerto Rican flags made in black and white rather than red, white and blue to symbolize mourning for the island's plight, especially since September 2017's Hurricane Maria.

A protester dressed as comic book superhero Superman was arrested after jumping over a street barrier and hugging a police officer.

___

PROTESTS OVER HIGH SPEED TRAIN IN ITALY

Two protesters and a police officer were injured in the Italian city of Turin when police blocked a demonstration against the construction of a high-speed rail line between France and Italy, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency.

Among the protesters were members of the 5-Star Movement, a populist party that is in Italy's ruling coalition but is opposed to the tunnel. One member, Torino city councillor Damiano Carretto, said on Facebook that he was hit in the head and on the hand by a police truncheon.

Members of the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU) attend a May Day rally in Pinetown, Durban, South Africa Wednesday May 1, 2019. The rally was attended by South African President and President of the African National Congress (ANC) Cyril Ramaphosa a week before national elections take place. (AP Photo/Patrick Chauvel)

The 35.7-mile (57.5-kilometre) long Turin-Lyon High-Speed Train tunnel link, known in Italy as TAV, is a key part of an EU project linking southern Spain with eastern Europe. But the 5-Star Movement has long opposed the project.

___

RUSSIAN WORKERS MARCH AT RED SQUARE

Authorities in Russia said about 100,000 people took part in a May Day rally in central Moscow organized by Kremlin-friendly trade unions on Red Square. Opposition activists said more than 100 people were detained in several cities, including for participating in unsanctioned political protests.

In St. Petersburg, police arrested over 60 supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Some of them carried signs saying "Putin is not immortal," in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been at the helm since 2000.

Police manhandled dozens of protesters in Russia's second-largest city, including lawmaker Maxim Reznik, who was later released. Reznik told the Dozhd TV station that police detained almost everyone in his protest group but gave no reason for the arrests.

___

AGITATORS DISRUPT MAY DAY IN FRANCE

French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fires and smashed up vehicles as tens of thousands of people marched peacefully under tight security.

France's Interior Ministry deployed 7,400 police officers in Paris to counter troublemakers, who disrupted May Day events in the last several years. About 330 arrests were made Wednesday.

Riot police used tear gas to try to control masked troublemakers near Paris' Montparnasse train station, the start of the main May Day march, and again at the end near the Place d'Italie.

They also fired flash grenades and rubber balls to disperse unruly clusters of the black-clad protesters. The Interior Ministry said 24 protesters and 14 police officers were injured.

While some of the people clashing with police wore the signature yellow vests of a French anti-government movement, the peaceful march also had participants in yellow vests as well as waving labour union flags.

An injured demonstrator is helped during a May Day rally in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

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DETENTIONS AT TURKEY'S MAY DAY RALLIES

Turkish police detained May Day demonstrators trying to march toward Istanbul's main square, which has been declared off-limits by authorities, who cited security concerns. Still, small groups chanting "May Day is Taksim and it cannot be banned," attempted to break the blockade, with dozens reportedly detained. Taksim Square has held symbolic value for Turkey's labour movement since 34 people were killed there during a May Day rally in 1977 when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.

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GERMAN UNIONS DENOUNCE NATIONALISM

Germany's biggest trade union urged voters to participate in this month's European Parliament election and reject nationalism and right-wing populism.

The DGB, a confederation of unions with almost 6 million members, warned that the political and economic turmoil in Britain following its vote to leave the European Union nationalism "shows what happens if those who stoke fear but have no plan for the future gain the upper hand."

When night fell, hooded demonstrators lit flares during a traditional May Day event put on by left-wing groups in Berlin. Police arrested several people after some participants threw bottles at officers.

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CLASHES IN SWEDEN, DENMARK

Protesters threw cobblestones and fireworks at police, included mounted officers, who were trying to keep them away from a neo-Nazi rally in Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city.

In neighbouring Denmark, helmeted police circled their vans around hooded people in black shouting anti-police slogans to keep them away from other May Day demonstrations in Copenhagen, the capital.

A handful people were detained in both countries.

Police officers take position in front of a bank entrance during a May Day rally in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

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SRI LANKA CALLS OFF MAY DAY RALLIES

In Sri Lanka, major political parties called off the traditional May Day rallies due to security concerns following the Easter bombings, which killed 253 people and were claimed by militants linked to the Islamic State group.

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KOREANS DEMAND BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS

Wearing headbands and swinging their fists, protesters in South Korea's capital of Seoul rallied near City Hall, marching under banners denouncing deteriorating working conditions and demanding equal treatment and pay for temporary workers. A major South Korean umbrella trade union also issued a joint statement with a North Korean workers' organization calling for the Koreas to push ahead with joint economic projects, despite lack of progress in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

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MAY DAY HALTS TRANSPORTION IN GREECE

Union rallies in Greece paralyzed national rail, island ferry and other transport services. Hundreds of people gathered in central Athens on Wednesday for three separate marches to parliament organized by rival unions and left-wing groups.

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SPANISH WORKERS PRESS NEW GOVERMENT

Spain's workers marched in its major cities to make their voices heard days before acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts negotiating with other parties to form a new government. Leading labour unions are pressing Sanchez to roll back business-friendly labour and fiscal reforms that have remained in place since the conservatives were in charge.

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GARMENT WORKERS SEEK MATERNITY LEAVE

In Bangladesh, hundreds of garment workers and members of labour organizations rallied in Dhaka, the capital, to demand better working conditions and higher wages. Nazma Akter, president of one of Bangladesh's largest unions, said female garment workers were also demanding six months of maternity leave and protection against sexual abuse and violence in the workplace.

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SOUTH AFRICA'S MAY DAY TURNS POLITICAL

An opposition party in South Africa used May Day to rally voters a week before the country's national election. Economic Freedom Fighters members, wearing their signature red shirts and berets, gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg to cheer populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address topics like economic inequality and land reform.

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FILIPINO WORKERS DEMAND MINIMUM WAGE RISE

In the Philippines, thousands of workers and labour activists marched near the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila to demand that President Rodrigo Duterte's government address labour issues including a minimum wage increase and the lack of contracts for many workers. One labour group said its members would not vote for any candidate endorsed by Duterte in upcoming senate elections and burned an effigy of the president.

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FOREIGN WORKERS PROTEST IN HONG KONG

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Construction workers, bus drivers, freelancers and domestic workers from outside the country joined a Labor Day march through central Hong Kong. The protesters marched from Victoria Park to the main government offices, some carrying banners reading "Maxed Out!" The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions is demanding a maximum standard work week of 44 hours and an hourly minimum wage of at least 54.7 Hong Kong dollars ($7).

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LOW-PAID WORKERS PROTEST IN JAKARTA

Thousands of low-paid workers took to the streets in Indonesia in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Laborers in Jakarta, the capital, gathered at national monuments and elsewhere, shouting demands for higher wages, better benefits and improved working conditions.

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Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to this report.
JUNEAU, Alaska - The first phase of the largest timber sale in Tongass National Forest in decades is moving ahead, and the U.S. Forest Service is asking for public comment through May 13.

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JUNEAU, Alaska - The first phase of the largest timber sale in Tongass National Forest in decades is moving ahead, and the U.S. Forest Service is asking for public comment through May 13.

The Forest Service has confirmed it plans to offer about 225 million board feet (531,000 cubic meters) of Tongass old growth timber over 15 years, CoastAlaska reported Monday.

More than a fifth of that could be in the next year alone.

But the federal agency insists this is much more than a timber sale. The agency prefers calling it a "landscape level analysis" because it's folded into other work.

That work includes stream restorations and culvert replacements. There's also improved recreation like trail building and new public use cabins and shelters that has strong local support.

Until funding is provided, the Forest Service has set aside federal dollars for ongoing commercial timber surveys. It says it intends to offer 50 million board feet (118,000 cubic meters) in the next year.

Supporters and critics alike have registered their concern with the lack of detail offered to date by the Forest Service. There have been maps of units with potential logging and other activities but no specific plans.

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Forest Service spokesman Paul Robbins says the Forest Service's current process is new for everybody.

"Before we would say, 'Hey, these are the activities we're proposing to do,'" Robbins said. "And instead, now we're saying, 'What activities do you want to do? OK, we're going to go do those.'"

Timber industry representative said there's an understanding that a timber sale is in the works even if the details aren't out yet.

"You know, when I talked to the timber sales staff, they said they had a project that they're working on, a specific timber sale project with specific units," said Owen Graham, executive director of the Alaska Forest Association in Ketchikan.

The Forest Service is holding its last round of public workshops before it begins offering specific areas for logging and deciding which restoration and recreational projects to pursue.

"Those decisions are going to be made after the comment period's done based on the information we gather," Robbins said.
OTTAWA - The Senate's ethics committee recommended Tuesday that Sen. Lynn Beyak be suspended without pay over incendiary letters about Indigenous Peoples she posted to her website.

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A picture of Senator Lynn Beyak accompanies other Senators official portraits on a display outside the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017. The Senate's ethics committee is recommending that Sen. Beyak be suspended for the duration of the current Parliament with conditions including no remuneration or reimbursement of expenses from the upper chamber.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - The Senate's ethics committee recommended Tuesday that Sen. Lynn Beyak be suspended without pay over incendiary letters about Indigenous Peoples she posted to her website.

The committee is also recommending Beyak attend educational programs at her own expense related to racism toward Indigenous people in Canada, have the Senate's administration remove the five letters from her website if she won't remove them herself, and make Beyak apologize to the upper chamber in writing.

The recommendations follow a March report from the Senate's ethics officer, Pierre Legault, who found the Ontario senator breached two sections of a code of conduct for senators by posting racist letters on her Senate website.

The letters are part of an effort Beyak has made to promote the positive side of residential schools for Indigenous children.

The government-sponsored religious schools, which operated from the 19th century until 1996, were meant to assimilate Indigenous children into European-Canadian culture. In so doing, they deprived children of connections to their homes and families. Many were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse, and several thousand died.

Legault found that while a senator is entitled to encourage historical debate, the letters of support she posted "are rife with stereotypical negative beliefs, assumptions and prejudices directed at (Indigenous people)." He said Beyak should take the letters down and apologize.

The ethics committee wrote that suspending Beyak without pay would help her "gain further perspective on the privilege of serving in Canada's upper house." Cutting off access to her Senate resources, including her office and expense account, would "foster a greater appreciation of those resources and the attendant expectations for their appropriate use," the report said.

"It's a reasonable report, it's a reasonable set of recommendations and most senators are reasonable," said Sen. Murray Sinclair, who chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that documented the legacy of the residential school system. "For the good of the Senate and reputation of this institution, I think we need to look carefully at what the committee recommended and go forward with that."

Since Beyak posted the letters, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett has repeatedly urged Beyak to remove them.

"This is really important and we await the decision of the chamber," Bennett said Tuesday. "They did an important piece of work and finding that those racist letters will have to come down."

Beyak could not immediately be reached Tuesday. She was appointed as a Conservative but the party kicked her out of caucus more than a year ago over the letters.

Conservative Sen. Raynell Andreychuk, the committee chair, said the panel was troubled by Beyak's failure to acknowledge the letters were racist and disturbed by her unwillingness to recognize the harm caused by posting them.

Beyak's actions fell short of what were expected of a senator, she said in presenting the report to the Senate. As parliamentarians, senators hold a unique public office that requires them to confront racism without reservation to ensure the integrity of the institution, Andreychuk said.

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"The Senate as a house of Parliament must defend the principle that all persons are equal in law and in dignity," she said. "The suitability of a senator to remain in the legislature is linked to the recognition and respect of this principle."

Further discussion was put on hold for another sitting day, but the upper chamber has shown a recent inclination to dispose of these matters quickly once they reach the floor of the Senate.

The last senator to face the wrath of the ethics committee to this degree was Don Meredith, who resigned in disgrace in May 2017 before the Senate was ready to vote on a recommendation that he be expelled from the upper chamber over an explosive ethics officer's report about his sexual relationship with a teenage girl.

Any decision by the Senate would only be in effect until Parliament dissolves, which will happen by the fall with the official start of the election campaign. That was the case with three senators  Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin  who were suspended without pay in 2013 until the election call in the summer of 2015.

Andreychuk said Tuesday that if Beyak didn't comply with the Senate's wishes, senators returning after the election should address her refusal as a continued breach of the conflict-of-interest code.

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City hall is developing a strategy to reduce poverty in Winnipeg.

Mayor Brian Bowman and members of his executive policy committee directed the administration Tuesday to develop a City of Winnipeg "poverty reduction strategy" and an implementation plan within 365 days.

Bowman later told reporters while poverty reduction is technically not within city halls jurisdiction, it can contribute.

"Is there a role for us to play? Yes. Is there a way for us to be mindful how we implement some of our current programs and initiatives in a way that complements an overall poverty reduction plan and the efforts of the provincial and federal governments? Thats what were really looking for," Bowman said.

"We are mindful of what our are core responsibilities but also what are we currently doing, and can we do it smarter in a way that achieves the objectives that we all, as a community, desire."

The call for a poverty reduction strategy was prompted by a administrative review of current measures undertaken by city hall and a short list of additional steps outlined by the administration that could be taken.

Included among the proposed initiatives are suggestions to enhance job opportunities for Indigenous people, and adoption of inclusionary zoning to support development of affordable housing.

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However, Bowman said he isnt prepared to support whats been proposed until he sees that it can be achieved within existing budgets.

"The challenge is we dont have additional monies to be putting forward for some of these poverty reduction initiatives," Bowman said. "I want to see the implementation plan further developed before we set ourselves onto specific courses."

EPC directed the poverty reduction strategy to be developed by the citys housing policy co-ordinator, a position that is currently vacant. A civic spokesman said a job description is being finalized for posting, which is expected to occur "in the near future."

Bowman said hes leaving for Vancouver on Wednesday to participate in a Federation of Canadian Municipalities event focusing on exploring affordable housing options.

"Regardless of the government involved, there really is a lot of people living in poverty in our community and it really should compel us all to try to work collaboratively to reduce those numbers."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
Despite Premier Brian Pallister's unrelenting teasing about the possibility he may call a snap election, the window of opportunity is getting tight.

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Despite Premier Brian Pallister's unrelenting teasing about the possibility he may call a snap election, the window of opportunity is getting tight.

By law, the next provincial general election must be held no later than Oct. 6, 2020. However, in a series of comments and speeches in the last few weeks, Pallister has made it pretty clear he wants to go sooner  in large part (or so he says) to avoid an election campaign marring celebrations for Manitoba's 150th anniversary throughout 2020.

Exactly how early could Pallister go to the polls? Although we're still at a relatively early stage of 2019, it appears there are no clear, unencumbered openings.

The first issue to consider is the government must plan ahead at least 90 days prior to an election to meet provisions of the Election Finances Act, which stipulate there must be a three-month blackout of all government communications prior to any vote. There is a provision that allows the blackout to apply only to the writ period in the event of an early election call, but given that this section is designed to ensure governing parties do not used taxpayer-funded advertising to boost their re-election chances, it would be a risk for Pallister to ignore the 90-day ban.

The second issue is Manitoba elections campaigns are, by law, between 28 and 35 days in length, with the vote taking place on a Tuesday.

Taking that into consideration, if Pallister respected the full intent of the law, and started its communications blackout May 1, it would set the stage for the campaign to start sometime between June 25 (35 days) and July 2 (28 days), with an election to be held July 30.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES If Premier Brian Pallister wants to call an early election, he has few options for dates.

There is no rule or law against a mid-summer election. But most political strategists would tell you it's a bad idea to schedule a campaign that comes precariously close to both the July and August long weekends. Hell hath no fury like a Manitoban cottager scorned.

There are other, less technical and more political considerations, as well, with this scenario.

It's unlikely the Pallister government wants to begin the blackout before it has passed legislation activating it's much-vaunted one-point cut to the provincial sales tax. That may not happen before the scheduled completion date for the current legislative session (June 3). You may need to push the media blackout a few days past that date to allow Pallister to do a public tax cut end-zone dance underneath a "mission accomplished" banner.

Taking that into consideration, if Pallister respected the full intent of the law, and started its communications blackout May 1, it would set the stage for the campaign to start sometime between June 25 (35 days) and July 2 (28 days), with an election to be held July 30

So, let's say the premier started the blackout after the end of session June 5. That would mean a writ drop sometime between July 30 and Aug. 6, with an election day of Sept. 3.

Tory premier Gary Filmon used a somewhat comparable snap election strategy in 1990, when he unleashed the so-called "7-11" campaign (it began Aug. 7 and ended Sept. 11) in a bid to shed his minority mandate and win a full majority.

Complicating matters for Pallister is the fact Manitoba children are scheduled to go back to school Sept. 3. The collision of an election with back-to-school day could be potentially disastrous if families resent the Tories for distracting them on what is easily the most hectic day of the school year.

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES In 2016, then-premier Greg Selinger, with his wife Claudette, vote during the province's last election. Manitoba elections campaigns are, by law, between 28 and 35 days in length.

Pallister could push things back further into September  like Filmon did  except that, once again, there is a complication.

Although it is not strictly forbidden in law, the Election Finances Act discourages the idea of holding a provincial campaign at the same time as a federal campaign. In the event a scheduled Manitoba election conflicts with a federal vote, the law allows the province to push back its timetable to the following April.

A federal election must be held this year no later than Oct. 21. Given federal campaigns are limited to between 36 and 50 days, that would mean Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, if he does not go earlier than Oct. 21, would have to drop a writ sometime between Sept. 1 and 15.

If Pallister were to respect the spirit of that part of the law  and there is no absolute certainty he will  he would have to wait until after the federal election to drop a writ of his own. The communications blackout could start before or during the federal campaign, but the actual beginning of a provincial campaign would have to wait until at least Oct. 22.

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Using that as writ day, a 28-day campaign would produce an election Nov. 19; a 35-day campaign would mean going to the polls Nov. 26.

A fall election is absolutely doable, except it will come after the federal vote, when donors and volunteers are already tapped out and enthusiasm for yet another election is at low tide. Most first ministers would consider that period immediately after a federal election to be a high-risk, low-return window of opportunity.

It's always possible Pallister wants less enthusiasm and scrutiny. Governments seeking re-election rarely invoke strategies to increase the voter turnout. And as the best-organized and funded party in Manitoba at the moment, the Progressive Conservatives are less vulnerable to tapped out donors and fatigued campaign volunteers.

When Pallister talks about holding an early election, he seems to imply the calendar is wide open. However, legal, practical and political considerations mean there is no easy, risk-free window for him to call an election in 2019.

Fortunately for the premier, he is not a particularly risk-averse kind of guy.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
The province's Crown corporations received new marching orders from the Pallister government Tuesday, with the main message being to increase efficiencies and trim costs.

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The province's Crown corporations received new marching orders from the Pallister government Tuesday, with the main message being to increase efficiencies and trim costs.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Corp. was told to encourage more private-sector involvement in liquor sales and distribution, while reviewing mark-up policies on its products.

Manitoba Public Insurance was told to play nice with the province's insurance brokers to come up with a modernization plan for service delivery both sides can live with.

And Manitoba Hydro was told it must work "closely" with senior government officials on any long-term sales commitments "to ensure return on investment."

The new directions came in the form of mandate letters from Crown Services Minister Colleen Mayer. Each of the major corporations were told the government expects them to reduce their workforces in line with what the Progressive Conservatives have done with the provincial civil service. That means reducing management positions by 15 per cent, overall staffing by eight per cent.

Manitoba Hydro says it has already met these staffing targets, and Mayer wasn't clear with reporters about how much more the province's largest Crown was expected to cut.

She said Hydro should consider whether future vacancies need to be filled. "Opportunities (to find savings) present themselves," she said.

"The province's efforts to achieve fiscal sustainability requires all of us to work together," Mayer said in a portion of the letters that was common to all three corporations. "In the past, our Crown corporations have struggled to properly manage their costs and strayed outside of their mandates. We expect you to scrupulously manage all operating costs, defer all non-critical capital projects without a clear return on investment and carefully examine business plans for opportunities to achieve improved financial results."

In her letter to MLL, Mayer asked the corporation to look into ways of reducing the costs of buying booze, including the possibility of shared procurement with other provinces. She also asked it to look at encouraging the expansion of local brew and distillery pubs.

Mayer said she expected MLL to increase the annual dividend it pays to the province through cost reduction. She said the increased profits should be accomplished without increasing capital investments. Recently, the government vetoed the corporation's plans to refurbish the Club Regent casino in Winnipeg.

Mayer did not offer any ideas on how MLL could boost private-sector involvement in booze sales.

However, in answer to a reporter's question, she said the government was not envisaging a fully private retail liquor system; public liquor stores would be kept.

"I'm looking for opportunities and options that will enhance the model that we currently have."

While Manitoba Hydro has previously reduced its workforce along the guidelines dictated by government, it was not immediately clear what impact the proposed staffing reductions would have on MLL and MPI.

Susan Harrison, a spokeswoman for MLL, said in an email the corporation has achieved a reduction of more than 15 per cent in management positions. But she did not say what progress had been made in reducing overall staffing levels.

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"We continually strive to carefully manage staffing levels to ensure operational effectiveness, and moving forward, we will continue to identify staff efficiencies and find opportunities to improve our financial results," she said.

Meanwhile, in a mandate letter to the Manitoba Centennial Centre Corp., Mayer asked it work with her department to develop a five-year plan "to achieve self-sufficiency."

However, she told reporters the government was not looking to eliminate grants to the corporation at the end of five years. Pressed about what she meant about "self-sufficiency," she said the government simply wanted the corporation to be "economically responsible."

She also complimented the corporation's board, saying it had "worked very well over the last several years" and turned a small profit.

The corporation includes such properties as the Centennial Concert Hall, Manitoba Museum, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Artspace (Gault Building), three surface parking lots and an underground parkade.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
They would need to find a bigger courtroom. That much was clear on Tuesday morning, before the trials opening remarks even started, when every seat was filled with observers and still more were left to wait in the dim-lit stone hallway outside. The courtroom was big, but not nearly big enough to hold all the love for Christine Wood.

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Opinion

They would need to find a bigger courtroom. That much was clear on Tuesday morning, before the trials opening remarks even started, when every seat was filled with observers and still more were left to wait in the dim-lit stone hallway outside. The courtroom was big, but not nearly big enough to hold all the love for Christine Wood.

Remember that, as the trial for her murder moves forward. Over the next several weeks, many things will be said about her, and about the events that conspired to steal her young life in 2016. But wherever those facts may lead, remember that on the day the trial opened, her legacy shone so bright a whole courtroom couldnt contain it.

Love. That is what Christine left behind, and nearly three years after her disappearance, that love hasnt faded. It is tended by her cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents, many of whom were in attendance, along with her three older brothers, who look so much like the young woman Winnipeg saw in police handout photos.

Above all, there are her parents, George and Melinda Wood. For nearly eight months after she went missing, they scoured Winnipeg for signs of her. Through it all, they never gave up on their daughter: right up to the day in June 2017 they brought her body home to Bunibonibee Cree Nation, they did everything they could for her.

On Tuesday, they did it once more, becoming the first two witnesses to testify. Outside the courtroom, Melinda fought back tears as she prepared to take the stand; shed never laid eyes on the accused, Brett Overby, until she stepped into that packed room, and the weight of that moment was almost too much for a mother to bear.

She did not bear it alone. In the hallway, family flowed into a circle around her, a halo of women lending her an embrace and a renewed strength. When Melinda took the stand, her soft-spoken voice rose clear and true; the threads of Christines death began when she left her parents. It is right that the trial began with them, too.

Their voices in these proceedings are precious. Because if a trial observer is searching for something to understand who Christine really was, they are unlikely to find it. Murder trials are not centered on the victim; the fullness of a life spreads out far beyond what justice searches for in its focused lenses.

Half the witnesses the Crown will call are police officers. They will testify about Christines death: the evidence that led them to arrest Overby, the ditch east of Winnipeg where her body was found. Of the other witnesses the Crown expects to call over the next couple of weeks, George and Melinda knew Christine for her whole life.

Still, as they took the stand, Christines life was funnelled into a series of narrow questions. Did she finish school in her home community of Oxford House? (She did.) Had she visited Winnipeg before she moved here for university in 2015? (She had.) Which parent was she closest with? (Her mother, George said with a smile.)

What the jury will likely never hear is how, when Christine was a little girl, she was a bright student who loved butterflies and excelled at reading. How she loved to strike playful poses for photos, and could be charming to anyone who met her; she once cleaned her friends whole apartment while he was at work.

If one listened between the lines of George and Melindas testimony on Tuesday, the little details of the loving family life they had with Christine sparkled through. Details like how, when George drove to join them in Winnipeg that August, his daughter asked him to bring one of her favourite dark pink Adidas hoodies from home.

One night later, that hoodie vanished with Christine. The Crown doubtless asked George about it because it will factor into evidence of what she was wearing the night prosecutors allege she died; but under a gentler light, that testimony makes a record of an everyday love, filled by all the little ways a parent cares for his child.

Or consider how, on the night Christine went missing, Melinda and George made a quick trip to a convenience store. Before they left, Melinda  who knew Christine was going out that night  testified that she took a quick peek inside her daughters white purse, checking to make sure her daughter had some money before leaving the hotel.

Just a mom, making sure her 21-year-old daughter had enough cash to get where she was going, to take care of herself if things went wrong, to get back home OK. A familiar parental ritual, soon turned to a nightmare: when George and Melinda returned from the store, Christine was gone. They would never hear from her again.

Still, it was in moments like that where Christines life fluttered most vividly into the court record. Or, it was in how theyd spent a day shopping at Value Village and Polo Park mall; the night they ordered pizza, because it was her favourite; the times Christine and Melinda went for long drives in the car, just to laugh and talk about life.

There were harder things Melinda testified about, too. About how Christine struggled with emotional pain after her childhood best friend, Molly Munroe, was killed in a 2009 stabbing at just 14 years old. Or about how, in the last weeks of her first year at university, she started staying out late and became less interested in her studies.

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That caused Melinda some concern, she agreed on the stand. But shed worried about her daughter ever since shed moved to the city. So her parents came to visit as often as they could, and Melinda texted her every day just to say "good morning." It helped that Christine always replied within minutes, or at the most a few hours.

"Everybody would be concerned," Melinda testified, of those worries. "Things happen in the city."

For Christines family, those fears became an unbearable truth. Now, it is time to hold the facts up to light: whether Overby is responsible for her murder, a jury will soon decide. But in the meantime, as witnesses line up to lay out what they know about what happened to Christine, those flashes stand as testimony to who she really was.

After the lunch break on Tuesday, the trial moved to a different courtroom, where it is expected to remain until it is over. It is the biggest one, a magnificent second-floor space with ornate finishings along the ceiling and ten tall windows that gaze out over the roof of the courthouse, and a peek of cool blue sky beyond.

There is light in it. And, above all, there is enough room for love.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca
An organization that advocates for wrongly convicted inmates is calling for the Manitoba government to launch an inquiry into the career of former star prosecutor George Dangerfield.

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An organization that advocates for wrongly convicted inmates is calling for the Manitoba government to launch an inquiry into the career of former star prosecutor George Dangerfield.

Kyle Unger, who reached an out-of-court settlement Monday for compensation for the 14 years he spent behind bars for a murder he says he didn't commit, is now the fourth of Dangerfield's high-profile convictions to be overturned after federal judicial reviews.

"Mr. Dangerfield is in a league of his own," Innocence Canada case management counsel Bhavan Sodhi said Tuesday.

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Kyle Unger was wrongfully convicted in Brigitte Grenier's killing in 1990.

"Innocence Canadas view, of course, is that even if theres potential for one more (wrongful conviction), a review is warranted... I hope the justice minister will seriously consider it."

Unger's murder conviction joins those of James Driskell, Thomas Sophonow and Frank Ostrowski prosecuted by Dangerfield in the late 1980s and early 1990s that have been quashed.

In total, the four men spent 53 years behind bars for crimes they didn't commit.

Innocence Canada has also submitted the Dangerfield-prosecuted convictions of Robert Sanderson and Brian Anderson for federal review.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Thomas Sophonow was accused, convicted and exonerated of Barbara Stoppel's murder in 1981.

"Its possible there are more (wrongful convictions)," Sodhi said. "I wouldnt rule it out. Its a question that comes up every time another Dangerfield case is uncovered."

Manitoba politicians contacted by the Free Press Tuesday were mum or non-committal when asked if theyd support such a review.

A request to interview Justice Minister Cliff Cullen was declined. A written response from Cullen was sent to the Free Press, but it did not address questions posed about the possibility of an inquiry into Dangerfields convictions.

The statement also highlighted the settlement between Unger and the RCMP and Manitoba government  the details of which have not been disclosed  was reached "without any admission of liability by any of the parties."

JOE BRYKSA/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES James Driskell was wrongfully convicted in the killing of Perry Harder in 1991.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont initially agreed to an interview, but backed out minutes before it was to commence. He then declined to respond to written questions.

A request to interview Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew or NDP Justice Critic Nahanni Fontaine was declined. A written statement from Fontaine was sent to the Free Press, but it failed to address any of the submitted questions.

In 2005, the province called a public inquiry into Driskell's conviction, headed by former Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Patrick Lesage, who found the work of several Crown prosecutors, including Dangerfield, "fell below then existing professional standards expected of lawyers and agents of the attorney general."

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Frank Ostrowski was found guilty of ordering the shooting death of a drug dealer in 1987. His conviction was quashed.

In the years since, Dangerfield has been found to have withheld information from defence attorneys, relied on dubious evidence to secure convictions and made financial deals with jailhouse informants that he failed to disclose.

Sodhi said the need for an inquiry is clear, given what is known about Dangerfield's record.

"What would be beneficial is a formal process that would allow people to make submissions, that would hopefully give the community some sort of assurance that these cases have been reviewed in light of what weve been uncovering," he said.

"We were very happy to hear that Kyle (Unger) finally settled, since its been a long haul for him... But I just think none of these people are the same afterwards. The compensation helps, it (can) make things a little bit easier, but its definitely an uphill battle."

Dangerfield, who is in his 80s and believed to be living in British Columbia, has previously declined repeated requests for comment from the Free Press.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe

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WINNIPEG - Manitoba's rules on government advertising, which have landed politicians in hot water and prompted overly cautious bureaucrats to take down public information, are in need of an overhaul, says a report released Wednesday.

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Manitoba Family Services Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross, makes an announcement on Friday, May 22, 2015 behind a sign bearing the government's Steady Growth, Good Jobs slogan. A former commissioner of Elections Manitoba says the Manitoba government needs to clarify the rules governing government advertising, especially during election periods. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Lambert

WINNIPEG - Manitoba's rules on government advertising, which have landed politicians in hot water and prompted overly cautious bureaucrats to take down public information, are in need of an overhaul, says a report released Wednesday.

Michael Green, a lawyer and former provincial elections commissioner, was hired last year to review the rules. His report calls on the province to set out clear guidelines on what is proper public information and not partisan propaganda.

"Every case requires a judgment call and it is understandable that government staff would be uneasy about making a wrong decision," the report says.

One of the rules forbids the government from most forms of advertising and publication in the lead-up to an election or byelection. There are a few exceptions for urgent matters such as public safety and government contract offers.

Two NDP cabinet ministers were found by the elections commissioner to have broken that rule before the 2011 provincial election by being involved in a media tour of a new birthing centre.

The NDP government also got its knuckles wrapped  there are no mandatory penalties or fines  for a ceremony in Winnipeg celebrating suffragette Nellie McClung in 2014. There were byelection campaigns underway at the time in two rural seats.

Over time, some government and public agency workers have become very cautious, Green's report states. The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority will not publish some health information on its website during campaign periods, and the province's Agriculture Department removes information that helps farmers decide when to spray their crops.

During a byelection last year in Winnipeg, the government did not publicly announce the results of soil tests that showed ongoing high lead levels in the St. Boniface area, although it notified affected residents by mail.

Green's report urges the province to amend the current law to allow information to be published or advertised "in continuation of earlier publications or advertisements concerning ongoing programs."

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The report also suggests the province only restrict advertising during byelection campaigns in areas where people will be voting, not provincewide.

Green also examined a proposal from the Progressive Conservative government to have the auditor general review all government advertising  even outside of election periods  to ensure it is non-partisan. While in opposition, the Tories complained the former NDP government was using taxpayer money to promote itself via a million-dollar "Steady Growth" ad campaign that touted infrastructure projects.

Green suggests that instead of having the auditor general examine all ads, the government should spell out clearly for staff and bureaucrats what is and isn't acceptable. It should also give the auditor the authority to field complaints from people who feel the governing party may be promoting itself with public money, he says.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said he accepts the recommendations in general, but finding ways to implement them will take time and isn't likely to happen before the next election.

"We certainly want to get the policy correct, and there's a lot of components within that policy to make sure we get correct," Cullen said.

"It will require further consultation with a number of individuals to get that right."
Winnipeg has welcomed wave upon wave of immigrant workers, but no individual likely had a tougher time arriving alive than sewing machine expert Sam Jarniewski.

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This article was published 30/4/2019 (968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg has welcomed wave upon wave of immigrant workers, but no individual likely had a tougher time arriving alive than sewing machine expert Sam Jarniewski.

After surviving the Holocaust and six concentration camps, Jarniewski made it to safety in Canada in 1948 under the "garment workers scheme." In 1948-49, the little-known "tailor project" opened a door for 2,500 Jewish families that had been slammed shut.

SUPPLIED Sam Jarniewski at Dachau concentration camp.

In Canada, from 1933 to 1948, there was systematic exclusion of Jews as immigrants or refugees. Prime minister Mackenzie King declared he was determined to keep Canada united at all costs and feared admitting Jews  when there was such a strong current of antisemitism in both French- and English-speaking Canada  would jeopardize that goal.

However, groups successfully lobbied for the worker immigration scheme. Immigrants like Jarniewski in displaced-persons camps in Europe were guaranteed one year of employment at equal pay and terms as other employees in a Canadian garment factory.

"After the war, he was looking for a country that would take him in," said his daughter, Belle Jarniewski. Her father had lost his entire family, including his wife, child, parents and siblings in the Second World War and Holocaust.

"He was left with no one when he was liberated from Dachau," said the executive director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, who wrote a book about Winnipeg's Holocaust survivors in 2010.

The 2019 edition of Holocaust Awareness Week began Sunday and runs through Saturday.

SUPPLIED Jarniewski recovering in German hospital after being liberated from Dachau.

Jarniewski was conscripted into the Polish army in 1939 at age 32, when his wife was pregnant with their first child. Within weeks, he was taken prisoner, with the Jewish soldiers separated from the rest and sent to concentration camps. Throughout his ordeal, Jarniewski shared his drive to survive, said his daughter, who only learned of his actions after he died in 1983.

"There are people who've written to me since his death saying, 'I survived only because of your father,'" she said.

At just 5-2, he wasn't a big man, but had a towering strength of spirit. "He inspired me throughout my life," she said.

SUPPLIED Jarniewski (on back of motorbike) with two fellow Holocaust survivors who remained friends for life.

In one case, Jarniewski had convinced the Nazis an artist who'd arrived at the camp had a special talent they could use. "He became a sign painter in the camp," she said. "His survival was due to my dad."

In 1948, Jarniewski arrived in Winnipeg to work in a fur-processing factory owned by Sam Vigod, a distant relative. With the help of community groups and employers, Jarniewski and other garment workers were given housing accommodations to rent and a loan to help them get settled. After years of displacement and hardship, Jarniewski was able to integrate and thrive in Winnipeg.

"He belonged to a Yiddish B'nai Brith lodge, where they discussed literature, and he subscribed to several Yiddish newspapers and the Winnipeg Free Press," his daughter said. He moved from garment factory worker to entrepreneur, opening the Marion shopping centre grocery store in St. Boniface.

"It was an opportunity," said Belle Jarniewski, who still marvels at her dad's optimism.

"He'd witnessed the worst of humanity and all of the atrocities and somehow he was able to be happy and had many friends," she said. "It was amazing to me that someone who suffered the trauma he did was able to carry on and be happy in life."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

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In the span of 14 days, I watched Black Widow break a dozen bad guys necks using only the strength of her inner thighs. I have seen Pepper Potts rise from personal assistant to CEO and the Wasp rise from sparring partner to superhero, and I have pondered the influence of Peggy Carter in the 1940s on Carol Danvers in the 1980s and on Maria Hill in the 2010s.

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This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

In the span of 14 days, I watched Black Widow break a dozen bad guys necks using only the strength of her inner thighs. I have seen Pepper Potts rise from personal assistant to CEO and the Wasp rise from sparring partner to superhero, and I have pondered the influence of Peggy Carter in the 1940s on Carol Danvers in the 1980s and on Maria Hill in the 2010s.

What is the practical purpose of a low-cut leather catsuit? This I have pondered, too. Should I be wearing one? Should we all?

Like many fans with too much time on their hands, I devoted a sum total of 45 catatonic hours preparing for the arrival of Avengers: Endgame by rewatching all previous 21 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Condensing the most sweeping pop-cultural movement of the past decade into a few weeks reveals a lot about how far weve come. On screen as well as off.

Consider, for example, a scene in the original Iron Man, released just 11 years ago, which is suddenly an eon in terms of our comprehension of sexual harassment. Robert Downey Jr., as billionaire Tony Stark, invites his assistant to dance at a company event. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" he asks. Yes, Pepper Potts acknowledges  it is weird to dance with her boss in a backless dress while an entire ballroomful of guests watches. "Well, you look great, you smell great," he responds. "But I could fire you if that would take the edge off."

Its meant as a joke, and its part of their dynamic: shes the organized worrywart, hes the quippy playboy. When I watched this scene in the theatre in 2008  well, I dont even remember noticing it. At the time, nothing seemed strange about a boss suggesting his underlings career could be axed if that would get them in bed faster.

Consider, for example, Iron Man 2 in 2010, when Tony wants to hire Scarlett Johanssons character only because she looks like Scarlett Johansson, and Pepper tries to block her hiring only because she looks like Scarlett Johansson... and, honestly, its hard to determine which behaviour is worse.

So imagine the joy, then, of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which came out in 2015. Pepper Potts is now the head of Stark Industries. And Scarlett Johansson, i.e. Black Widow, has not only a healthy platonic friendship with her male colleague Hawkeye, but also a friendship with his wife and kids. Sexy female assassins dont necessarily have designs on your husband; sometimes theyre just Auntie Assassin.

I mentioned all of this to a smart friend, one whose Avengers knowledge borders on obsessive. He helpfully responded with a barrage of articles: a list of the most feminist movies in the Marvel universe. A story about the creative influence of Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter, who reportedly cut back on Black Widow merchandise because he didnt think "girl" superhero products would sell  and what changed after a revamped corporate structure curtailed Perlmutters power.

It was all useful context for understanding how the sausage of pop culture is made. But it didnt really address what I was trying to get at. What I was trying to get at was the emotional experience of watching a decade fly by, commercial-free, via Netflix and Amazon, and seeing things progressively suck a little bit less. Of watching the conversations America was having  about representation, about women in the workforce or the military, about equality in romantic relationships  being interpreted on the big screen.

In Ant-Man (2015), Hope van Dyne discovers her father has finally made a superhero suit for her so she can be more than Paul Rudds trainer: "Its about damn time," she says.

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A trio of female characters in Black Panther (2018)  Nakia, Okoye and Shuri  fight battles and solve critical problems in a storyline that assumes nothing unusual about a woman being a countrys top scientist or general.

In Avengers: Infinity War (2018), a villain arrives on the battlefield and purrs that shes caught Scarlet Witch "all alone." But then, suddenly, two more female characters arrive, weapons ready. "Shes not alone," one says, and they all proceed to take care of business.

This happened, and the theatre in which I saw it erupted in cheers. Apparently, I dont remember watching Tony Stark threaten to fire his assistant, but Ill remember when a packed audience lost their minds at the novelty of this fight scene: it had taken 19 movies, but finally there was a screenful of competent woman warriors all working together.

But thats what progress looks like, isnt it? Sometimes when were in the dark ages, we dont realize were there. We let things wash over us. We dont realize when the jokes are bad, or the balance is off, or that weve sat through scene after scene of interesting characters engaging with each other, and its great, except that all of them are men.

We realize when things change, though. When, year by year or movie by movie, someone tweaks the story. Endgame will make a bazillion dollars and will break box-office records and will be a cinematic triumph a decade in the making. And me? Ill appreciate it for all of those reasons. But Ill also appreciate that when the Marvel Cinematic Universe expanded, it did so in a way that included everyone.

 Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and special counsel Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.

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FILE - In this April 18, 2019, file photo, Attorney General William Barr speaks about the release of a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WASHINGTON - Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and special counsel Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.

Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller's report, Barr faced sharp questioning from Senate Democrats who accused him of making misleading comments and seeming at times to be President Donald Trump's protector as much as the country's top law enforcement official.

The rift fueled allegations that Barr has spun Mueller's findings in Trump's favour and understated the gravity of Trump's behaviour. The dispute is certain to persist, as Democrats push to give Mueller a chance to answer Barr's testimony with his own later this month.

House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., prepares for a hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Nadler plans to face Attorney General William Barr Thursday after demanding a full and un-redacted copy of the 400-page Mueller report and its underlying materials. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Barr separately informed the House Judiciary Committee that he would not appear for its scheduled hearing Thursday because of the panel's insistence that he be questioned by committee lawyers as well as lawmakers. That refusal sets the stage for Barr to possibly be held in contempt of Congress.

At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee session, Barr spent hours defending his handling of Mueller's report against complaints from Democrats and the special counsel himself. He said, for instance, that he had been surprised that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, and that he had felt compelled to step in with his own judgment that the president committed no crime.

"I'm not really sure of his reasoning," Barr said of Mueller's obstruction analysis, which neither accused the president of a crime nor exonerated him. If Mueller wasn't prepared to make a decision on whether to bring charges, Barr added, "then he shouldn't have investigated. That was the time to pull up."

Barr was also perturbed by a private letter Mueller, a longtime friend, sent him complaining that the attorney general had not properly portrayed the special counsel's findings in a four-page memo summarizing the report's main conclusions. The attorney general called the note "a bit snitty."

Attorney General William Barr arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"I said: 'Bob, what's with the letter? Just pick up the phone and call me if there is an issue,'" Barr said.

The airing of disagreements was all the more striking since the Justice Department leadership and Mueller's team had appeared unified in approach for most of the two-year investigation into potential co-ordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The revelation that Mueller, who'd been publicly silent for the entire investigation, was agitated enough to send a letter to Barr  which could, and did, become public  lent his words extra credibility with Democrats, who accused Barr of lying under oath last month when he said he was unaware Mueller's team was unhappy with how its work had been characterized.

Barr downplayed the special counsel's complaints, saying they were mostly about process, not substance, while raising a few objections of his own in the other direction. He said that Mueller did not, as requested, identify grand jury material in his report when he submitted it, slowing the public release of the report as the Justice Department worked to black out sensitive information.

He also insisted that once Mueller submitted his report, the special counsel's work was done and the document became "my baby."

Attorney General William Barr testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"It was my decision how and when to make it public," Barr said. "Not Bob Mueller's."

Wednesday's contentious Senate hearing gave Barr his most extensive opportunity to date to defend recent Justice Department actions, including a press conference before the report's release and his decision to release a brief summary letter two days after getting the report.

But the hearing, which included three Democratic presidential candidates, also laid bare the partisan divide over the handling of Mueller's report.

Some Republicans, in addition to defending Trump, focused on the president's 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's email practices and what they argued has been a lack of investigation of them.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., left, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., right, listen as Attorney General William Barr testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Televisions across the West Wing, including one just off the Oval Office used by the president, were tuned to cable coverage of Barr's testimony. Trump told advisers he was pleased with Barr's combative stance with Democratic senators, according to an administration official and a Republican close to the White House who were not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

Trump tweeted Wednesday that the probe was "The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!" He has told those around him that, after being disappointed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he has found an attorney general loyal to him.

Democrats also moved to exploit the daylight between Barr and Mueller to impugn the attorney general's credibility. Some also called for Barr to resign, or to recuse himself from Justice Department investigations that have been spun off from Mueller's probe.

"I think the American public has seen quite well you are biased in this situation and not objective and that is the conflict of interest," said Sen. Kamala Harris of California, one of the Democratic contenders for president.

Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, greets Ranking Member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, right, as they arrive for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, where Attorney General William Barr will testify on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

They pressed him on whether he had misled Congress last month when, at an unrelated congressional hearing, he professed ignorance about complaints from the special counsel's team. Barr suggested he had not lied because he was in touch with Mueller himself and not his team.

Unswayed, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said, "Mr. Barr, I feel your answer was purposefully misleading, and I think others do too."

Neither side broke much new ground Wednesday on the specifics of Mueller's investigation, though Barr did articulate a robust defence of Trump as he made clear his firm conviction that there was no prosecutable case against the president for obstruction of justice.

The attorney general asserted that Trump was "falsely accused" during the investigation and that the president therefore lacked the criminal intent required to commit obstruction. Democrats seized on multiple instances in Mueller's report in which Trump was said to have asked aides to lie or sought to seize control of the probe, but in each instance, Barr said Trump's conduct wasn't a crime.

"I didn't exonerate. I said that we did not believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offence which is the job of the Justice Department, and the job of the Justice Department is now over," Barr said.

He was asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee's top Democrat, about an episode recounted in Mueller's report in which Trump pressed White House Counsel Don McGahn to seek the removal of Mueller on conflict-of-interest grounds. Trump later asked McGahn to deny a press report that such a directive had been given.

Barr responded, "There's something very different firing a special counsel outright, which suggests ending an investigation, and having a special counsel removed for conflict  which suggests you're going to have another special counsel."

Barr entered the hearing on the defensive following reports hours earlier that Mueller had complained to him in a letter and over the phone about the way his findings were being portrayed.

Two days after receiving Mueller's report, Barr had released a four-page letter that summarized the main conclusions.

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Mueller's letter, dated March 27, conveyed his unhappiness that Barr released what the attorney general saw as the bottom-line conclusions of the investigation and not the introductions and executive summaries that Mueller's team had prepared and believed conveyed more nuance and context than Barr's own letter. Mueller said he had communicated the same concern days earlier.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller wrote in his letter to Barr. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Barr appeared unmoved by the criticism. He said repeatedly that Mueller had assured him that Barr's letter of conclusions was not inaccurate but he simply wanted more information out. Barr said he didn't believe a piecemeal release of information would have been beneficial, and besides, it wasn't Mueller's call to make.

Barr also noted that Mueller concluded his investigation without any interference and that neither the attorney general nor any other Justice Department official overruled the special counsel on any action he wanted to take.

___

Associated Press writers Chad Day, Michael Balsamo, Jonathan Lemire and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - The Trump administration quickly declared enthusiastic support Tuesday for the Venezuelan opposition effort to spark a military uprising against embattled President Nicolas Maduro, hoping for decisive action in the political crisis that has engulfed the South American nation.

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This article was published 30/4/2019 (968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration quickly declared enthusiastic support Tuesday for the Venezuelan opposition effort to spark a military uprising against embattled President Nicolas Maduro, hoping for decisive action in the political crisis that has engulfed the South American nation.

Late in the day, President Donald Trump threatened a "full and complete embargo" and sanctions on Cuba if its troops do not cease operations in Venezuela. National security adviser John Bolton alleged earlier that Cuban troops were keeping Maduro in power in Caracas.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces a new 'ethos' statement as he addresses employees in the lobby staircase of the U.S. State Department headquarters in Washington, Friday, April 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected Trump's threat with a tweet of his own. "We vigorously reject Trump's threat of a complete and total blockade against Cuba. There are no Cuban military operations or troops in Venezuela ... Enough lies, already."

Trump and senior foreign policy figures in his administration all weighed in during the day, casting the effort headed by opposition leaders Juan Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez as a move to restore democracy, not an attempted coup like the short-lived effort to oust then-President Hugo Chavez in 2002 that seemed to have U.S. support.

"We are with you!" Vice-President Mike Pence tweeted to the opposition. Pence, who has had a lead role in the administration's effort to persuade Maduro to give up power, told the opposition group, "America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored."

Vice President Mike Pence speaks to the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association, Friday, April 26, 2019, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Likewise Trump himself tweeted that he was monitoring the situation and "the United States stands with the people of Venezuela and their Freedom!"

Lopez, the country's most prominent opposition activist, had been under house arrest, and his sudden appearance would seem to have required the co-operation of troops who guard him. However, late Tuesday, he sought refuge with his family in the Chilean Embassy in Caracas, a discouraging sign for supporters of the uprising.

Bolton said it was a "very delicate moment" for Venezuela.

"If this effort fails, they will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives," he said at the White House.

The wholehearted embrace of the rebellion reflects the goals of an administration that from its earliest days has sought the removal of Maduro. But it was also an unusually full-throated endorsement by any government for a mass protest that was turning violent.

"It's more than cheerleading. They are very actively collaborating," said Mark Weisbrot, who is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington and has called for a negotiated end to the political crisis.

National security adviser John Bolton speaks about Venezuela outside the West Wing of the White House, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The U.S. and about 50 other nations take the position that Maduro's re-election last year was irrevocably marred by fraud and he is not the legitimate president of Venezuela, a once prosperous nation that has the world's largest proven oil reserves.

In January, the administration took the unusual step of recognizing Guaido, the opposition leader of the National Assembly, as interim president. It also imposed punishing sanctions on Venezuela's oil sector, deepening the country's economic crisis.

Despite these and other measures, Maduro, the hand-picked successor to Chavez, has retained his hold on the country and the support of the security services.

That support had seemed to crack Tuesday with the launch of what the opposition was calling "Operation Freedom," which began with the early-morning release of a short video of Guaido and Lopez alongside a few dozen national guardsmen urging people to "take to the streets."

"What we are seeing today in Venezuela is the will of the people to peacefully change the course of their country from one of despair to one of freedom and democracy," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted in an early reaction. "The U.S. stands with them."

Pompeo said in media interviews and in a speech Tuesday that Maduro was on the verge of flying out of the country before the Russians persuaded him to stay. Pompeo provided no evidence for the assertion, which Maduro himself ridiculed. "Mr. Pompeo, what lack of seriousness," Maduro said.

The Trump administration was caught slightly off-guard by Guaido's decision to launch the campaign on Tuesday. Elliott Abrams, the special representative for Venezuela, said the administration had expected major marches and protests to take place on Wednesday for the May Day holiday.

At some point after that, Abrams said, U.S. officials had been led to believe that the chief judge of Venezuela's Supreme Court, the defence minister and the chief of the presidential guard would declare their support for the constitution and, by extension, renounce Maduro's leadership. Abrams said U.S. officials believed such a step would galvanize public support for Guaido.

"What was going to happen, we were told, was that they would announce their support for the constitution," he told reporters at the State Department.

That did not occur and Abrams said "the situation on the ground remains confused." Nonetheless, Abrams said he had been in contact with Guaido by text message at midafternoon and the opposition leader seemed "buoyant and determined."

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Bolton said a peaceful transfer of power from Maduro to Guaido could still occur if "enough figures depart from the regime and support the opposition."

He and others in the administration also called on Cuba and Russia to withdraw support. The U.S. has said about 20,000 Cubans provide security assistance to the Maduro government. Cuba denies that and says most of those people are medical workers.

The U.S. has been embarrassed by acting too soon in the past. In April 2002, a businessman who had repeated meetings with American officials staged a coup against Chavez. While other countries in the hemisphere denounced the move, the administration of then President George W. Bush acknowledged the new government. It had to backtrack as the rebellion fizzled.

Trump administration officials sought to draw a distinction between the two situations. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, at a conference in California, said the U.S. considers Guaido, not Maduro, the legitimate leader of the country under the Venezuelan constitution. "Importantly, we do not consider it a coup," he said.

Still, Abrams sounded uncertain as to how Guaido's bid would end and appeared to set the stage for his possible defeat.

"We know this: At the end of the day, Juan Guaido will still be the legitimate interim president of Venezuela, the United States will still be supporting him," he said. "The Maduro regime, while it exists, will still be illegitimate and completely incapable of solving the problems of the Venezuelan people."
On Thursday, May 16th, in the Saint Marys University Toner Center, Habitat for Humanity Winona-Fillmore Counties will host a celebration to honor 25 years serving the Winona community. The event begins at 5 p.m. with a social hour and silent auction, followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m.

This special evening will recognize milestones achieved and look forward to the excitement of the upcoming year  placing a family into Habitat home No. 51, opening the new Winona ReStore, continuing home repair through the A Brush With Kindness program, and breaking ground on Habitat house No. 52.

Habitat could not have accomplished so much without tremendous support from local businesses. The organization wishes to thank its returning presenting sponsors  WNB Financial, who has been a partner from the very beginning; Merchants Bank, with their continued financial support; and Miller Ingenuity, who has provided thousands of hours of volunteer work.

The vision of Habitat for Humanity and its supporters is a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

The event is rapidly selling out, so call 507-457-0003 to see if tickets are still available. The cost is $50 per person.

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Mid West Music Fest turns 10 this year. And to celebrate, it is once again bringing some of the regions best musical acts to a variety of stages in downtown Winona this weekend.

The festival has changed since AmeriCorps volunteer Sam Brown started it in 2010, but the essence of the event remains the same.

So whether you are a MWMF veteran, or if this is your first year checking out the music, heres a quick guide of what to look for Friday and Saturday as the festival takes over Winona.

Whats new in 2019?

The Winona portion of the festival was pushed back a week from its normal date to (hopefully) take advantage of better weather, and that definitely worked out this year. While Winona dealt with a spring snowstorm last week, this weekends forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with a high of 62 on Friday and a high of 69 on Saturday.

That should make for beautiful conditions at the festivals new venue  the Levee Park Stage. The Mississippi River and interstate bridge will provide a beautiful backdrop for shows such as Karate Chop, Silence with Loud Mouth Brass and Them Coulee Boys.

Theres also a Minnesota Women in Music Showcase from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Burke Music House, 226 E. Third St., which will feature intimate live performances from a trio of female artists  Aby Wolf, Humbird and Annie Mack.

And theres a Uke Fest from 1 to 5 p.m. at Alexander Mansion, 274 E. Broadway. The event, sponsored by Rock the Cause Records, will feature workshops, lessons and live performances.







The basics WHAT: 10th annual Mid West Music Fest WHEN AND WHERE: May 3-4 at various venues around Winona and May 17-18 at various venues around La Crosse. TICKETS: $20 for a day pass, $40 for a two-day pass, $75 for a four-day pass. DETAILS: To purchase tickets, see the lineup or to get more information  including a Spotify playlist  go to midwestmusicfest.org.

Tips for newcomers

MWMF director Parker Forsell calls the festival an exploratory experience, a place to sample bands and genres.

Take some chances, wander, see something you never have before, he said. A punky, or indie rock band, a heavier band, a country band.

A Mid West Music Fest ticket provides the concertgoer access to all venues, and its common for people to hear a few songs at, say, Island City Brewery before heading over to Eds No Name Bar or the Eagles Club, then ending at the Masonic Theater.

Pick out some acts you want to see in advance, but dont be too rigid, said Dave Casey, former assistant director of the festival. There is so much going on during MWMF with so many great acts, so you want to leave some flexibility to discover new things.

Jonathan Roberts, a music committee member, suggests letting your ear lead you around.

Hear something good coming out of one place, stop in, stay a while, check out Levee Park, take a stroll, pet a strangers dog (with permission), follow you ears to the next place, sip a refreshing beverage, mosey on when your feet get itchy, he said. Dont stress if you miss someone you had highlighted in your guide, might be because you are discovering your new favorite artist.

Must-see acts

With more than 80 acts performing this weekend, its almost impossible to narrow it down to a select few must-see shows. But well take a shot.

Black-Eyed Snakes: The Duluth-based electric blues band returns to MWMF for the fourth time. The group has been around for almost 20 years and will have you dancing and shaking with thick beats and rapturous, psychedelic guitar parts. They take the Masonic Theater stage at 11 p.m. Saturday.

The Mammoths: The band from Austin (the one in Texas, not down I-90 with the Spam Museum) has evolved from garage rock to sophisticated blues-funk and are known for their high-energy live shows. Catch them at 9:30 p.m. Friday at Eds No Name Bar, or 8 p.m. Saturday at the Masonic Theater.

Jimmy Duck Holmes: Holmes is the last living performer of the celebrated style of Bentonia blues. He operates Blue Front Cafe, the oldest juke joint left in Mississippi, and was a mentor to local favorite Mike Munson, who recorded his latest album in Bentonia. Holmes will play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Eagles Club; Munson will play before him at 6.

Them Coulee Boys: The folk-punk Americana band from Eau Claire will certainly draw a big crowd to the Levee Park stage at 9:15 p.m. Saturday. The bands latest album was recorded by Trampled by Turtles frontman Dave Simonett.

Clownvis Presley: We guarantee you have never seen anything like this. Clownvis is a St. Louis-based Elvis-impersonating clown. Its going to be dirty and weird, Casey said. Clownvis takes the stage at Eds at 8:45 p.m. Saturday.

Charlie Parr: It wouldnt be Mid West Music Fest without Charlie Parr, or at least it seems that way. The Duluth blues guitarist performs at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at The Masonic Temple.

Local favorites

Aside from the aforementioned Mike Munson, there are many Winona-based acts who will take a MWMF stage this weekend. Included in the group are the Amanda Grace Band (7:30 p.m. Friday, Acoustic Cafe), Ghostland Radio (7:30 p.m. Friday, Island City Brewery), Jaybone Bell (6 p.m. Friday, Island City Brewery), Sleeping Jesus (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Eds No Name Bar), Tabby (8:30 p.m. Friday, Treedome), the Heavy Set (6:30 p.m. Saturday, Masonic Theater) and Driftwood Bones frontman Will Krageschmidt (6 p.m. Friday, Acoustic Cafe).

When in doubt 

All of the Winona venues for Mid West Music Fest have something to offer, but for both first-timers and cagey veterans alike, when they cant make up their mind on what to see, a good bet is to head to Eds No Name Bar, considered by many to be one of the top music venues in southern Minnesota.

It has a reputation and people around the country know about it, especially among musicians, Casey said. It has great sound and lighting, a testament to the work Winonan Jim Trouten has put into it. It is fun showing the place off to out-of-towners during MWMF, they are often in awe of such a place in a town the size of Winona.

It also has a pretty strong lineup in 2019, with the likes of The Gully Boys, The Mammoths and The Shackletons on Friday, and The Ultrasounds, Sleeping Jesus and Graveyard Club on Saturday.

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WASHINGTON  For a conservative idea, there are few things more dangerous and discrediting than the full-on, smothering embrace of Donald Trump. When he forces himself upon an issue  grabbing it, as it were, by the policy prescription  his approach is familiar. He seizes on a half-heard contention, simplifies it beyond recognition and delivers it with the subtlety and precision of a shotgun blast.

This method is one thing when the topic is building a wall; it is another when accusing opponents of endorsing infanticide. During his April 27 rally in Wisconsin, Trump charged Democrats with generally supporting this test case: The baby is born. The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby, they wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.

This scenario comes under the category of murder, not of wrenching, beginning-of-life ethical choices. It is a completely unfair characterization of views actually held by Democrats. So let me stipulate: Trumps slander obscures rather than enlightens an important policy debate.

If anyone has the right to be angry with the president, it is Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. It is his legislation, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, that helped provoke the current confrontation. And Sasse is neither simplistic nor irresponsible in pressing his case.

Sasses bill  recently blocked by Senate Democrats  does precisely what its unwieldy name implies. It deals only with the case of an abortion or attempted abortion that results in a child born alive. And it does not mandate medical care even in these cases. Instead, it requires doctors to exercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as they would for any other child born alive at the same gestational age.

Cases in this category are admittedly tiny in number. The only remotely authoritative figures I have seen come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (by way of FactCheck.Org). In the period from 2003 to 2014, the CDC recorded 143 cases in which children were born alive after attempted abortions. (Because it is sometimes difficult for the CDC to distinguish induced from spontaneous terminations, the overall number is probably a bit higher.) In 2017, for example, Minnesota had three reported cases of attempted abortions that produced infants born alive. In one case, according to the state Department of Health, the infant was given comfort care until it died.

The Sasse bill seems designed to operate in this very narrow space. Would it outlaw abortions after 24 weeks (roughly the current line of viability)? No, the legislation has nothing to do with the conditions in which an abortion can be obtained. It covers only infants born alive after an abortion is attempted. Would the legislation force a mother and doctor to give pointless health care to an infant born at 21 weeks? No, it covers cases where abortion is attempted, not tragic cases of loss on the edge of viability. And even in these cases, the bill would not require pointless treatment, only the treatment that would be standard for other infants at the same stage of development.

Would this legislation cover the test case of a child with non-life-threatening genetic anomalies delivered live at 24 weeks in the aftermath of a failed abortion attempt? You bet it would. After birth, such anomalies are called disabilities. And we dont kill disabled people just because they are very young.

Senate Democrats have two objections to the Sasse bill: one relatively strong, the other dangerously weak.

The stronger argument is that existing federal and state law already covers almost all such cases. The infamous abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell, after all, was already tried and convicted as a child killer under Pennsylvania law.

The weaker objection  which is not quite consistent with the first  is that Sasses legislation would be too intrusive in difficult matters of life and death on the ethical borderlines, forcing the provision of health care in hopeless cases. This would be horrible if true. But it isnt. The bill only requires that infants born alive after an attempted abortion be treated in the same way as other infants. Why? Because infants should not be allowed to die only because they are unwanted. Their value is inherent.

Members of a political party not dominated by a heedless demagogue would be able to argue this. Members of a political party not dominated by pro-choice interest groups would be able to consider this. As it is, the facts have no place to stand.

Michael Gersons email address is michaelgerson@washpost.com.

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Another retail icon has bitten the dust. Shopko, around since 1962, will be closing its remaining stores sometime this summer.

Already names like W.T. Grant, J.C. Penney, K-Mart, F.W. Woolworth's (Woolco), Sears (on its last legs), Montgomery Ward, Ben Franklin and other national names have passed or are passing from the American scene. Sadly, other retail 'icons' have suffered the bitter taste of changing consumer attitudes, buying habits and corporate problems, and have disappeared over the years.

In Southern California, Zody's, Gemco and White Front stores, regional chains, were all part of the economic landscape. Though usually relatively small by today's standards, they were our "big box" discount stores. Having their starts around 1960, all three, due to various reasons, were gone by the mid 80s.

Retail history is littered with the remnants of hard work, sacrifices and fond memories of the thousands of workers who at one time were integral members of neighborhoods in large and small communities. Those businesses were cornerstones  anchors  to those very same neighborhoods as they grew and prospered, bellwethers of a growing and burgeoning economy. But no more.

While we all must share the guilt of seeing the Shopkos disappear from the American scene, the majority of shoppers nowadays have made America a nation wanting "things" fast and cheap. Only on occasion do you find service ... with a smile. In general, large-scale retailing, with "big-box" stores of varying sizes, has become impersonal and detached (frequent employee turn-over contributes to this), and the buying public doesn't seem to care. As long as it can shop for what it wants and gets it "fast and cheap" (and now delivered), that's all that seems to matter. As to future buying habits in this country, Amazon may well be the poster child for that future.

So, as we bid adieu, Shopko prepares for its final days, experiencing the death throes of an antiquated business model based on the quaintness and friendliness of shopping in smaller, customer-friendly establishments. Alas, the hominess is gone forever; only the memories, though faded, remain.

James W. Puz, Winona

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A Camp Douglas man has been charged with homicide for a fatal January 2018 crash near La Valle in which authorities say he was driving while intoxicated.

Mark S. Josett, 39, appeared by video feed Tuesday in Sauk County Circuit Court, where Judge Wendy Klicko set a cash bond of $50,000 and ordered that Josett maintain absolute sobriety and not possess any controlled substances without a valid prescription.

Makenzee Carpenter, 18, of Reedsburg, died in the crash of what an autopsy later determined to be head trauma.

According to a criminal complaint filed last week, on Jan. 8, 2018, a caller reported that a car had flipped over on Thompson Road north of North Dutch Hollow Road.

A Sauk County Sheriffs deputy who responded to the scene reported seeing a body lying on the ground next to a heavily damaged Toyota Prius. The deputy spoke to Josett, who allegedly said another man had been driving the vehicle and walked away from the crash.

Josett told authorities his brother and a woman had picked him up earlier in the evening, and they were driving back to a residence in Camp Douglas.
Almost a year in, merging University of Wisconsin-Platteville with Baraboos two-year campus has left both institutions better off than they were before, according to their leaders.

By all accounts, its going hugely well, said Ed Janairo, campus dean for UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County. Its a huge success for a variety of reasons.

Among those reasons is increased academic offerings, such as two new associate degrees that will be available at UW-Baraboo starting this fall. Platteville and Baraboo leaders held a celebration and press conference on the degrees at the branch campus Tuesday morning, where they indicated more educational opportunities will be added in coming years.

Janairo said his campus has expanded student services, bolstered community outreach and accessed greater resources as a result of the merger, which started officially in July 2018. Expanded student services include bringing Plattevilles fairly robust student success programs to Baraboo, offering more direct IT support and more disability support systems, according to UW-Platteville Chancellor Dennis Shields.
Barnard isnt the only one who has warned against the dangers of cheese. My nine loyal readers may recall that in a 2015 study, University of Michigan researchers found the casein in cheese stimulates cravings by triggering the brains opioid receptors. As much as wed like to disregard any assertion made by Michiganders, who are of course not to be trusted  they stole the Upper Peninsula from us, doncha know  their findings certainly would explain the behavior one witnesses at Lambeau Field. Call it a curd mentality.

Subjects were asked to identify the foods they crave, and scientists quickly found a common ingredient. You guessed it: asparagus. Just kidding, it was cheese. Researchers noted that while milk contains only a tiny dose of casein, 10 pounds of of milk are used to produce a pound of cheese.

You start out with a few nibbles: Just a taste, the grocer says, First ones on me. The next thing you know, youre strung out, loitering outside Sargento and begging for a hit of colby.

The studys authors used their findings to identify a potential cause of addictive eating, and to call for public policy initiatives regarding the marketing of cheese to children. Hey, kids: Cheese is no gouda for you!
Theres a passage in a new book about Holocaust scholar and survivor Elie Wiesel that is at once frustrating and satisfying in its ambiguity and anger. It happens when the author, Howard Reich, amid many conversations with Wiesel, asks Wiesel the inevitable suite of questions: Why? Why is human history in part a story of anti-Semitism? Why did the Holocaust happen? Why are Jewish houses of worship targeted for violence today?

Why do they hate us? Why? Wiesel replies. So I know all the answers. In the beginning it was religious reasons. Other times, it was social reasons. They hate us either because we are too rich or too poor, either because we are too ignorant or too learned, too successful or too failing. All the contradictions merge in the anti-Semite. And yet, one thing he knows: He hates Jews. He doesnt even know who Jews are. In general, I say, the anti-Semite  let him tell me why he hates me. Why should I answer for him?
JUNEAU  A prison inmate who left a job site and went on a crime spree in the Beaver Dam area faces additional charges in Dodge County Circuit Court.

James Pederson, 38, faces felony counts of escape, three counts of operating a motor vehicle without the owners consent, and two counts of burglary. In addition, he faces four counts of misdemeanor theft and two counts of criminal damage to property. If convicted of all of his offenses, he could face an additional 58 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, Northwoods Paper Converting, 230 Corporate Drive, reported around 2:40 a.m. on Dec. 3 that Pederson had taken car keys, debit and credit cards from an employee at the factory and left in the employees car.

That vehicle was located by a Beaver Dam Police Officer at 5:45 a.m. on the shoulder of Highway E and Hillendale Parkway. According to the criminal complaint, Pederson entered another persons property and stole that persons car and then crashed it on Highway E, where police located it.
We thought any appeals of the ALJs ruling should have gone to the courts, said Evan Feinauer, a staff attorney with Clean Wisconsin. Were where we thought we should be, just a little bit later.

Carolyn Garnett, legislative attorney for the Ho-Chunk Nation, praised Coles decision.

The permanent destruction of these rare wetlands would have a profound impact on the Nations people, land and cultural heritage, Garnett said in a news release.

Meteor attorney John Behling said the company is reviewing the decision.

DNR spokeswoman Sarah Hoye did not respond to questions about the reasons behind Coles decision, the timing, or whether the DNR would defend the permit in court.

We are open to discussions with all of the parties on the next steps toward resolution of this matter, Hoye wrote. That said, because the matter remains pending in litigation, we will not comment further.
Many of Troths family members also served in the military. He grew up in California, and after moving to Minnesota in 1993 to care for his ill grandmother, he then enlisted in the U.S. Army.

After six years of service, Troth earned an honorable discharge and studied geography and earth science at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse while supporting two children.

He later moved south and found contract work with the Lower Mississippi Conservation Committee.

It was tough to compete with people who had mastes degrees or doctorate qualifications. He had applied for more than 200 jobs and had only five phone interviews. He said hes never been one to feel sorry for himself, so he remained persistent.

Then the Great Recession hit, and Troth was out of work.

Accidental officer

Troth said although he never intended to be a police officer growing up, he has come to enjoy the role.

I never wanted to be a cop. In a sense, it found me, Troth said.

About a decade ago, he needed to find work quickly after the economy tanked.
Information is taken from the records of the Portage Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of police activity. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Between 8:02 a.m. on April 23 and 7:57 a.m. on April 30, police responded to 262 calls, including the following:

East Conant Street: Police at 10:38 p.m. on April 23 arrested Marjorie L. Crossman, 57, of Portage on a Department of Corrections warrant and bail jumping. Crossman was free on bond conditions of no drinking. A preliminary breath test indicated a blood alcohol level of 0.327.

Adams Street and East Howard Street: Police at 2:10 p.m. on April 24 deployed a K-9 team and arrested Ryan F. Mountford, 37, of Portage on charges of a sixth offense of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, possession of a concealed weapon, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Police also arrested Torin J. McGuane, 21, of Rhinelander for violation of parole and on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine.
Arab states support a transition in Sudan that balances the ambitions of the people with stability, a senior United Arab Emirates minister said on Wednesday.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia last month pledged $3 billion in aid to Sudan, throwing a lifeline to the country's new military leaders who ousted president Omar al-Bashir after weeks of mass protests.

Protesters and activists have been negotiating with the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to form a joint civilian-military body to oversee a transition, but are deadlocked over who would control the new council.

"Totally legitimate for Arab states to support an orderly & stable transition in Sudan. One that carefully calibrates popular aspirations with institutional stability," the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, said on Twitter

"We have experienced all-out chaos in the region and, sensibly, dont need more of it," he added.

Sudanese opposition groups are calling for a civilian-led council to oversee the political transition. The TMC has shown no sign of willingness to relinquish ultimate authority.

The UAE was quick to welcome Burhans appointment and said it would look to accelerate aid to Sudan. Shortly after Burhans nomination, Saudi Arabia said it would provide wheat, fuel and medicine to Sudan.

The financial aid provided by the two close allies, which includes a deposit of $500 million with the Sudanese central bank, is the first major publicly announced assistance to the African nation from Gulf states in several years.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Cazenovia author Tim Fox knew he wanted to write a series for "Journeys an Ice Age Adventure" after he published the first book in 2012. Seven years later, hes finished the second book in the series.

Fox released "Journeys 2 An Ice Age Rescue" in early April. The sequel follows brothers Mike and Barry Jamison on another adventure through Ice Age Wisconsin, one year after they traveled 11,000 years in the past and discovered a series of artifacts in the Baraboo Hills.

In the second book, both brothers are transported to Ice Age Wisconsin at Devils Lake and Mile Bluff State Parks through a series of dreams, Fox said. The book contains a kidnapping and a series of challenges both brother encounter along the way.

Fox said the second Journey book has a lot of adventure, overlapping with other themes, like friendship.

(It has) kind of a heartfelt vibe, Fox said.

Fox dedicated the first Journey book to his two sons. He decided to write and dedicate another book to his daughter before writing a sequel to the Journey series. He did so in 2017 when he released A Place for You, about a 12 year old girl named Tracy and her adventure with a stray cat in the woods.
They are pretty much the wolves of the sky, White said.

A 2011 study estimated bats save Wisconsins agriculture industry between $658 million and $1.5 billion every year with their penchant for devouring insects by the millions before the insects devour crops.

Without sufficient numbers of bats, more pesticides may have to be used to protect crops bats would otherwise protect naturally by preying on insects.

Wisconsins four species of cave-dwelling bats have been listed as threatened since 2011. The populations were beginning to stabilize at some sites prior to the arrival of white-nose syndrome, White said, but the disease wiped out that progress.

Concerned individuals can get involved to help nurture the Wisconsin bat population.

What we need to do is encourage the roosting of bats in new places because many of the old places where they have roosted and hibernated are contaminated, said Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance Executive Director Charlie Luthin. Putting up permanent bat houses on properties is one thing, not using pesticides on your yard and farm is another. Because if you kill insects, that means there are fewer insects available to the bat population.
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V., Ecolab Hygiene Kft., Ecolab Hygiene d.o.o., Ecolab Israel Holdings LLC, Ecolab JVZ Limited, Ecolab Korea Ltd., Ecolab LLC, Ecolab LUX & Co Holdings S.C.A., Ecolab LUX 1 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 2 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 4 Sarl, Ecolab LUX 7 Sarl, Ecolab LUX Sarl, Ecolab Limited, Ecolab Ltd., Ecolab Lux 10 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 12 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 13 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 14 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 15 Sarl, Ecolab Lux 9 S.a.r.l., Ecolab Lux Partner LLC, Ecolab MT Holdings LLC, Ecolab MT Limited, Ecolab Malta 1 Limited, Ecolab Malta 2 Limited, Ecolab Malta GPS, Ecolab Manufacturing IE Limited, Ecolab Manufacturing Inc., Ecolab Manufacturing UK Limited, Ecolab Maroc Societe a Responsabilite Limitee, Ecolab NL 11 B.V., Ecolab NL 15 BV, Ecolab NL 16 B.V., Ecolab NL 23 B.V., Ecolab NL 3 BV, Ecolab NL 4 BV, Ecolab Name Holding Limited, Ecolab New Zealand, Ecolab Peru Holdings S.R.L., Ecolab Pest Deutschland GmbH, Ecolab Philippines Inc., Ecolab Production Belgium B.V.B.A., Ecolab Production France SAS, Ecolab Production Italy Srl, Ecolab Production LLC, Ecolab Production Netherlands B.V., Ecolab Production Poland sp. z o.o., Ecolab Pte. Ltd., Ecolab Pty Ltd., Ecolab Quimica Ltda., Ecolab S. de R.L. de C.V., Ecolab S.A., Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Ecolab SAS, Ecolab SIA, Ecolab SNC, Ecolab SRL, Ecolab Sdn Bhd, Ecolab Services Argentina S.R.L., Ecolab Services Poland Sp. z o o, Ecolab Sociedad Anonima, Ecolab Sp. z o o, Ecolab Spain Services S.L.U., Ecolab Temizleme Sistemleri Limited Sirketi, Ecolab U.S. 2 Inc., Ecolab U.S. 6 LLC, Ecolab U.S. 7 LLC, Ecolab US 1 GP, Ecolab USA Inc., Ecolab Viet Nam Company Limited, Ecolab Water Holding LImited, Ecolab a.s., Ecolab d.o.o., Ecolab s.r.l., Ecolab s.r.o., Ecolab y Compania Colectiva de Responsabilidad Limitada, Ecolab-Importacao E. Exportacao Limitada, Ecolabone B.V., Ecolabtwo B.V., Endoclear Equipamentos Medicos Hospitalares Ltda., Enviroflo Engineering Limited, Food Protection Services, GCS Service, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd., GallayTrac Pty. Ltd., Georgia-Pacific - Paper Chemicals Business, Gibson Chemical Industries, Green Harbour Mainland Holdings Ltd, Guangzhou Green Harbour Environmental Operation Ltd., HYDROSAN LIMITED, Henkel-Ecolab, Hicopla SL, Holchem Laboratories, Huntington Laboratories, Hydenet SAS, INDUSTRIAL) UNIPESSOAL LDA, INTERNATIONAL WATER CONSULTANT B.V., Immobiliare R.E.O.P.A. SRL, Instrunet Hospital SLU, Jianghai Environmental Protection Co., Jianghai Environmental Protection Co. Ltd., KATAYAMA NALCO INC., Kay BVBA, Kay Chemical Company, LHS (UK) Limited, Laboratoires Anios, Laboratoires Anios-Distribution SAS, Les Produits Chimiques ERPAC Inc., Lobster Ink, Lobster Ink Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Lobster International S.A., London & General Packaging Ltd, MALAYSIA SDN. BHD, MANUFACTURING S.R.L., MOBOTEC AB LLC, Master Chemicals OOO, Meratech Rus Group LLC, Microtek Dominicana S.A., Microtek Italy S.R.L., Microtek Medical B.V., Microtek Medical Europe Limited, Microtek Medical Holdings, Microtek Medical Holdings Inc., Microtek Medical Inc., Microtek Medical Malta Holding Limited, Microtek Medical Malta Limited, Midland Research Laboratories, Midland Research Laboratories UK Limited, NALCO (SHANGHAI) TRADING CO. LTD., NALCO AB, NALCO ACQUISITION ONE, NALCO ACQUISITION TWO LIMITED, NALCO AFRICA (PTY.) LTD., NALCO ASIA HOLDING COMPANY PTE. LTD., NALCO BELGIUM BVBA, NALCO CHINA HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO COMPANY OOO, NALCO DANMARK APS, NALCO DE MEXICO S. de R. L. de C.V., NALCO DELAWARE COMPANY, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND GMBH, NALCO DEUTSCHLAND MANUFACTURING GMBH UND CO. KG, NALCO DUTCH HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO EGYPT LTD., NALCO EGYPT TRADING, NALCO ESPANOLA MANUFACTURING S.L.U., NALCO ESPANOLA S.L., NALCO EUROPE B.V., NALCO FINLAND MANUFACTURING OY, NALCO FINLAND OY, NALCO FRANCE, NALCO FRANCE SNC, NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO GLOBAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO HOLDING B.V., NALCO HOLDING COMPANY, NALCO HOLDINGS G.m.b.H., NALCO HOLDINGS UK LIMITED, NALCO HONG KONG LIMITED, NALCO INDUSTRIAL OUTSOURCING COMPANY, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES, NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (NANJING) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (SUZHOU) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES (THAILAND) CO. LTD., NALCO INDUSTRIAL SERVICES CHILE LIMITADA, NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS B.V., NALCO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO INVESTMENTS U.K. LIMITED, NALCO ISRAEL INDUSTRIAL SERVICES LTD, NALCO ITALIANA, NALCO ITALIANA HOLDINGS S.R.L., NALCO ITALIANA SrL, NALCO KOREA LIMITED, NALCO LIMITED, NALCO LUXEMBOURG HOLDINGS SARL, NALCO MANUFACTURING BETEILIGUNGS GMBH, NALCO MANUFACTURING LTD., NALCO NETHERLANDS B.V., NALCO NORTH AFRICA LIMITED, NALCO OSTERREICH Ges m.b.H., NALCO OVERSEAS HOLDING B.V., NALCO PAKISTAN (PRIVATE) LIMITED, NALCO PHILIPPINES INC., NALCO PORTUGUESA (QUIMICA, NALCO PWS INC., NALCO SAUDI CO. LTD., NALCO TAIWAN CO. LTD., NALCO TWO INC., NALCO U.S. HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO UNIVERSAL HOLDINGS BV, NALCO WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS LLC, NALCO ZAO, NALFLOC LIMITED, NALTECH INC., NANOSPECIALTIES LLC, NLC PROCESS AND WATER SERVICES SARL, Nalco (BN) SDN BHD, Nalco (China) Environmental Solution Co. Ltd., Nalco Anadolu Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Nalco Canada ULC, Nalco Company LLC, Nalco Contract Operations LLC, Nalco Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Nalco Gulf Response Corp., Nalco Japan G.K., Nalco Libya, Nalco Middle East FZE, Nalco Polska Sp. z o. o., Nalco Production LLC, Nalco Real Estate GmbH, Nalco Schweiz GmbH, Nalco US 1 LLC, Nalco Wastewater Contract Operations Inc., Nalco Water India Limited, Nalco Water Pretreatment Solutions LLC, Nalco Worldwide Holdings S.a.r.l./B.V., Nigiko, Nuova Farmec S.r.l., Oksa Kimya Sanayi A.S., Oy Ecolab AB, PT Ecolab International Indonesia, PT Ecolab Technologies and Services, Purate business - AkzoNobel, Quantum Technical Services LLC, Quimicas Ecolab S.A. de C.V., Quimiproductos S.A. de C.V, RP Adam Ltd, Research Fumigation Co., Royal Pest Solutions, Shield Holdings Limited, Shield Medicare Limited, Shield Salvage Associates Limited, Soluscope International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Soluscope SAS, Swisher Hygiene, Technical Textile Services Limited, Techtex Holdings Limited, Terminix, Ultrafab, Wabasha Leasing LLC, and vanBaerle Hygiene AG.
The following companies are subsidiares of BlackRock: Acero Cooperatief U.A., Acero Holdings I B.V., Amethyst Merger Sub LLC, AnalytX Hosting LLC, AnalytX LLC, AnalytX Software LLC, Aperio, Aperio, Aquila Heywood, Asia-Pacific Private Credit Opportunities Fund I (GenPar) Ltd., BAA Holdings LLC, BFM Holdco LLC, BLK (Gallatin) Holdings LLC, BLK SMI LLC, BR Acquisition Mexico S.A. de C.V., BR Jersey International Holdings L.P., Beijing eFront Software Company Limited, BlackRock (Barbados) Finco 1 SRL, BlackRock (Channel Islands) Limited, BlackRock (Luxembourg) S.A., BlackRock (Netherlands) B.V., BlackRock (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock (Singapore) Holdco II Pte. Ltd., BlackRock (Singapore) Holdco Pte. Limited, BlackRock (Singapore) Limited, BlackRock AP Investment Holdco LLC, BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited, BlackRock Advisors LLC, BlackRock Advisors Singapore Pte. Limited, BlackRock Alternative Advisors GP Holdings LLC, BlackRock Alternatives Management LLC, BlackRock Argentina Asesorias Ltda., BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland AG, BlackRock Asset Management International Inc., BlackRock Asset Management Investor Services Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Ireland Limited, BlackRock Asset Management North Asia Limited, BlackRock Asset Management Schweiz AG, BlackRock Asset Management UK Limited, BlackRock Australia Holdco Pty. Ltd., BlackRock Brasil Gestora de Investimentos Ltda., BlackRock Cal 1 Investor LLC, BlackRock Canada Holdings LP, BlackRock Canada Holdings ULC, BlackRock Capital Holdings Inc., BlackRock Capital Investment Advisors LLC, BlackRock Capital Management Inc., BlackRock Cayco Limited, BlackRock Cayman 1 LP, BlackRock Cayman Capital Holdings Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco 2 Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco 3 Limited, BlackRock Cayman Finco Limited, BlackRock Cayman West Bay Finco Limited, BlackRock Cayman West Bay IV Limited, BlackRock Cayman Z Limited, BlackRock Channel Islands Holdco Limited, BlackRock Chile Asesorias Limitada, BlackRock Colombia Holdco LLC, BlackRock Colombia Infraestructura S.A.S., BlackRock Colombia SAS, BlackRock Company Secretarial Services (UK) Limited, BlackRock Corporation US Inc., BlackRock Delaware Holdings Inc., BlackRock Enterprise Management Services (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Europe Development Management Limited, BlackRock Execution Services, BlackRock Finance Europe Limited, BlackRock Financial Management Inc., BlackRock Finco LLC, BlackRock Finco UK Ltd., BlackRock First Partner Limited, BlackRock France SAS, BlackRock Fund Advisors, BlackRock Fund Management Company S.A., BlackRock Fund Managers Limited, BlackRock Funding International Ltd., BlackRock Funds Services Group LLC, BlackRock Germany GmBH, BlackRock Group Limited, BlackRock HK Holdco Limited, BlackRock Holdco 2 Inc., BlackRock Holdco 3 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 4 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 5 LLC, BlackRock Holdco 6 LLC, BlackRock Hungary Kft, BlackRock Index Services LLC, BlackRock Infrastructure Management I LLC, BlackRock Institutional Services Inc., BlackRock Institutional Trust Company National Association, BlackRock International Holdings Inc., BlackRock International Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Australia) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Dublin) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Korea) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Investment Management (Taiwan) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, BlackRock Investment Management Ireland Holdings Limited, BlackRock Investment Management LLC, BlackRock Investments LLC, BlackRock Japan Co. Ltd., BlackRock Japan Holdings GK, BlackRock Jersey Finco 2 Limited, BlackRock Latin America Holdco LLC, BlackRock Latin American Holdings B.V., BlackRock Life Limited, BlackRock Lux Finco S.a r.l., BlackRock Luxembourg Holdco S.a r.l., BlackRock Mexican Holdco B.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura I S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura II S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Infraestructura III S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager II S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager III S. de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Manager S de R.L. de C.V., BlackRock Mexico Operadora S.A. de C.V. Sociedad Operadora de Fondos de Inversion, BlackRock Mortgage Ventures LLC, BlackRock Niagara LLC, BlackRock Operations (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., BlackRock Overseas Investment Fund Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., BlackRock PC Holdings LLC, BlackRock Pensions Limited, BlackRock Peru Asesorias S.A., BlackRock Property Consulting (Beijing) Co. Ltd., BlackRock Property France S.a.r.l., BlackRock Property Lux S.a.r.l., BlackRock Property Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., BlackRock Realty Advisors Inc., BlackRock Saudi Arabia, BlackRock Scale Holdings LLC, BlackRock Services India Private Limited, BlackRock Singapore III Pte. Ltd., BlackRock Slovakia s.r.o., BlackRock Strategic Investors GP LLC, BlackRock Strategic Investors LP, BlackRock Trident Holding Company Limited, BlackRock UK (Alpha) Limited, BlackRock UK (Beta) Limited, BlackRock UK (Delta) LP, BlackRock UK (Gamma) Limited, BlackRock UK (Sigma) Limited, BlackRock UK 2 LLP, BlackRock UK 3 LLP, BlackRock UK 4 LLP, BlackRock UK A LLP, BlackRock UK Holdco 2 Limited, BlackRock UK Holdco Limited, Blackhawk Investment Holding LLC, CIE Automotive, Cachematrix Holdings, Cachematrix Holdings LLC, Cachematrix Integrations Private Limited, Cachematrix Software Solutions LLC, Cachematrix UK Limited, FutureAdvisor Inc., Glass Mountain Pipeline, Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Advisors LLC, Global Energy & Power Infrastructure II Advisors LLC, Grosvenor Alternate Partner Limited, Grosvenor Ventures Limited, HLX Financial Holdings LLC, MGPA (Bermuda) Limited, MGPA (Exec) Limited, MGPA Limited, Mercury Carry Company Ltd., Mercury Private Equity MUST 3 (Jersey) Limited, Object Capital Technology Inc., Phoenix Acquisition B.V., Phoenix Acquisitions Holdings LLC, Portfolio Administration & Management Ltd., Prestadora de Servicios Integrales BlackRock Mexico S.A. de C.V., SVOF/MM LLC, St. Albans House Nominees (Jersey) Ltd., State Street Research & Management, Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC, Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC, Tlali Acero S.A. de C.V. SOFOM ENR, Trident Merger LLC, eFront, eFront, eFront (Jersey) Limited, eFront DMLT Holdings LLC, eFront DMLT Holdings S.R.L, eFront DR S.R.L, eFront Do Brasil Solucoes Informaticas Para Sistemas Financeiros Ltda., eFront FZ-LLC, eFront Financial Solutions Inc., eFront GmbH, eFront Holding II SAS, eFront Holdings SAS, eFront Hong Kong Limited, eFront II SAS, eFront Kabushiki Kaisha, eFront Ltd, eFront SAS, eFront Singapore Pte. Ltd, eFront Software Luxembourg S.a r.l., eFront Solutions Financeieres Inc., eFront d.o.o. Beograd, iShares (DE) I Investmentaktiengesellschaft mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, and iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC.
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will vacate the Imperial Palace some time after Tuesdayas abdication to make way for the new emperor and his family, handing over their public duties and looking forward to leisurely days.

The imperial couple will move to a temporary residence in Tokyo before settling at Togu Palace in the Akasaka Estate, currently home to the incoming emperor a Crown Prince Naruhito a and his family, once renovation work is completed.

Togu Palace will be renamed Sento Imperial Palace, which translates as athe place where the retired imperial couple live.a

Their temporary residence is the Takanawa Imperial Residence in Minato Ward, formerly home to Prince and Princess Takamatsu which has been empty since the princess a aunt of Emperor Akihito a died in 2004.

The couple has fond memories of their final home, the place they brought up their children when the emperor was crown prince.

The emperor will hand off all public duties to the new emperor immediately. The couple will pray for the country and its people after they move, and spend more time with friends, listening to music and reading, according to Imperial Household Agency officials.

A keen marine biologist, the retired emperor will periodically visit the Imperial Palace to continue his research on gobies, they said.
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.
CoreLogic, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides property information, insight, analytics, and data-enabled solutions in North America, Western Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Property Intelligence & Risk Management Solutions (PIRM) and Underwriting & Workflow Solutions (UWS). The PIRM segment combines property information, mortgage information, and consumer information to deliver housing market and property-level insights, predictive analytics, and risk management capabilities. It also offers proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with decision-making and compliance tools in the real estate and insurance industries. This segment primarily serves commercial banks, mortgage lenders and brokers, investment banks, fixed-income investors, real estate agents, MLS companies, property and casualty insurance companies, title insurance companies, government agencies, and government-sponsored enterprises. The UWS segment combines property, mortgage, and consumer information to provide comprehensive mortgage origination and monitoring solutions, including underwriting-related solutions, and data-enabled valuations and appraisals. This segment also provides proprietary technology and software platforms to access, automate, or track the information and assist its clients with vetting and onboarding prospects, and meeting compliance regulations, as well as understanding, evaluating, monitoring property values. It primarily serves mortgage lenders and servicers, mortgage brokers, credit unions, commercial banks, fixed-income investors, government agencies, and property and casualty insurance companies. The company was formerly known as The First American Corporation and changed its name to CoreLogic, Inc. in June 2010. CoreLogic, Inc. was incorporated in 1894 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

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Daimler AG, together its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures passenger cars, trucks, vans, and buses in Germany and internationally. It operates through Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans, Daimler Trucks and Buses, and Daimler Mobility segments. The Mercedes-Benz Cars segment offers premium and luxury vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand, including the Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, and Mercedes-EQ brands; small cars under the smart brand name; and ecosystem of Mercedes-Benz under the Mercedes me brand, as well as vans and related services under the Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner brands. Daimler Trucks and Buses segment offers its trucks and special vehicles under the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, FUSO, and BharatBenz brands; and buses under the Mercedes-Benz, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, and FU brands, as well as bus chassis. The Daimler Mobility segment provides financing and leasing packages for end-customers and dealers; and automotive insurance brokerage, banking, investment, and fleet management services under the Athlon brand. It also sells vehicle related spare parts and accessories. Daimler AG was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany

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The following companies are subsidiares of Cummins: Anvl, Apollo FC Holdings Ltd., Atlantis Acquisitionco Canada Corporation, Atlantis Holdco UK Limited, Brammo, CIFC Worldwide Partner C.V., CMI Africa Holdings BV, CMI CGT Holdings LLC, CMI Canada Financing Ltd., CMI Canada LP, CMI Foreign Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings B.V., CMI Global Equity Holdings C.V., CMI Global Holdings B.V., CMI Global Partner 2 C.V., CMI Global Partners B.V., CMI Group Holdings B.V., CMI Group Holdings Cooperatief U.A., CMI International Finance Partner 1 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 2 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 3 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 4 LLC, CMI International Finance Partner 5 LLC, CMI Mexico LLC, CMI Netherlands Holdings B.V., CMI PGI Holdings LLC, CMI PGI International Holdings LLC, CMI Turkish Holdings B.V., CMI UK Finance LP, CMI UK Financing LP, Cherry Island Renewable Energy LLC, Consolidated Diesel Company, Consolidated Diesel Inc., Consolidated Diesel of North Carolina Inc., Cummins (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Cummins (Xiangyang) Machining Co. Ltd., Cummins Africa Middle East (Pty) Ltd., Cummins Afrique de l'Ouest, Cummins Americas Inc., Cummins Angola Lda., Cummins Argentina-Servicios Mineros S.A., Cummins Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Cummins Aust Technologies Pty. Ltd., Cummins BLR LLC, Cummins Battery Systems North America LLC, Cummins Belgium N.V., Cummins Botswana (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins Brasil Ltda., Cummins Burkina Faso SARL, Cummins CDC Holding Inc., Cummins CV Member LLC, Cummins Canada ULC, Cummins Caribbean LLC, Cummins Center of Excellence Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Centroamerica Holding S.de R.L., Cummins Child Development Center Inc., Cummins Colombia S.A.S., Cummins Comercializadora S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Corporation, Cummins Cote d'Ivoire SARL, Cummins Czech Republic s.r.o., Cummins Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Diesel International Ltd., Cummins Distribution Holdco Inc., Cummins EMEA Holdings Limited, Cummins East Asia Research & Development Co. Ltd., Cummins Eastern Marine Inc., Cummins Electrified Power Europe Ltd., Cummins Electrified Power NA Inc., Cummins Emission Solutions (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Emission Solutions Inc., Cummins Empresas Filantropicas, Cummins Energetica Ltda., Cummins Engine (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine (Shanghai) Trading & Services Co. Ltd., Cummins Engine Holding Company Inc., Cummins Engine IP Inc., Cummins Engine Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Engine Venture Corporation, Cummins Enterprise LLC, Cummins Filtration (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtration GmbH, Cummins Filtration IP Inc., Cummins Filtration Inc., Cummins Filtration International Corp., Cummins Filtration Ltd., Cummins Filtration SARL, Cummins Filtration Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Cummins Filtros Ltda., Cummins Franchise Holdco LLC, Cummins Fuel Systems (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Americas Inc., Cummins Generator Technologies Germany GmbH, Cummins Generator Technologies India Private Ltd., Cummins Generator Technologies Italy SRL, Cummins Generator Technologies Limited, Cummins Generator Technologies Romania S.A., Cummins Generator Technologies Singapore Pte Ltd., Cummins Ghana Limited, Cummins Ghana Mining Limited, Cummins Global Financing LP, Cummins Global Technologies LLP, Cummins Grupo Comercial Y. de Servicios S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Grupo Industrial S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Holland B.V., Cummins Hong Kong Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., Cummins Intellectual Property Inc., Cummins International Finance LLC, Cummins International Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Cummins International Holdings LLC, Cummins Italia S.P.A., Cummins Japan Ltd., Cummins Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins LLC Member Inc., Cummins Ltd., Cummins Maroc SARL, Cummins Middle East FZE, Cummins Mining Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Mobility Services Inc., Cummins Mongolia Investment LLC, Cummins Mozambique Ltda., Cummins NV, Cummins Namibia Engine Sales and Service PTY LTD, Cummins Natural Gas Engines Inc., Cummins New Zealand Limited, Cummins Nigeria Ltd., Cummins Norte de Colombia S.A.S., Cummins North Africa Regional Office SARL, Cummins Norway AS, Cummins PGI Holdings Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (China) Co. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (S) Pte. Ltd., Cummins Power Generation (U.K.) Limited, Cummins Power Generation Deutschland GmbH, Cummins Power Generation Inc., Cummins Power Generation Limited, Cummins PowerGen IP Inc., Cummins Research and Technology India Private Ltd., Cummins Romania Srl, Cummins S. de R.L. de C.V., Cummins Sales and Service Korea Co. Ltd., Cummins Sales and Service Philippines Inc., Cummins Sales and Service Private Limited, Cummins Sales and Service Sdn. Bhd., Cummins Sales and Service Singapore Pte. Ltd., Cummins Sinai ve Otomotiv Urunleri Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Cummins South Africa (Pty.) Ltd., Cummins South Pacific Pty. Limited, Cummins Southern Plains LLC, Cummins Spain S.L., Cummins Sweden AB, Cummins Technologies India, Cummins Trade Receivables LLC, Cummins Turbo Technologies Limited, Cummins Turkey Motor Guc Sistemleri Sats Servis Limited Sirketi, Cummins U.K. Holdings Ltd., Cummins U.K. Pension Plan Trustee Ltd., Cummins UK Global Holdings Ltd., Cummins UK Holdings LLC, Cummins Vendas e Servicos de Motores e Geradores Ltda., Cummins Venture Corporation, Cummins West Africa Limited, Cummins West Balkans d.o.o. Nova Pasova, Cummins XBorder Operations (Pty) Ltd, Cummins Zambia Ltd., Cummins Zimbabwe Pvt. Ltd., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Costa Rica S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica El Salvador S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Guatemala Ltda., Distribuidora Cummins Centroamerica Honduras S.de R.L., Distribuidora Cummins S.A., Distribuidora Cummins Sucursal Paraguay SRL, Distribuidora Cummins de Panama S. de R.L., Dynamo Insurance Company Inc., Efficient Drivetrains, Efficient Drivetrains (Beijing) New Power Technology Co. Ltd., Efficient Drivetrains (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Hilite International, Hydrogenics, Hydrogenics Corporation, Hydrogenics Europe N.V., Hydrogenics GmbH, Hydrogenics Holding GmbH, Hydrogenics USA Inc., Markon Engineering Company Ltd., Nelson Burgess Ltd., Nelson Industries, Newage Engineers GmbH, Newage Ltd. (U.K.), Newage Machine Tools Ltd., OOO Cummins, Petbow Limited, Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) B.V., Power Group International (Overseas Holdings) Ltd., Power Group International Ltd., Quickstart Energy Projects SpA, Shanghai Cummins Trade Co. Ltd., TOO Cummins, Taiwan Cummins Sales & Services Co. Ltd., Worldwide Partner CV Member LLC, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies Co. Ltd., Wuxi New Energy Automotive Technologies Co. Ltd., and ZED Connect Inc..
The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..
A 56-year-old man has admitted to leaving knives on the desk of Prince Hisahito at a junior high school in Tokyo, investigative sources said Tuesday.

The man, who identified himself as Kaoru Hasegawa after his arrest on Monday, is suspected of cutting some of the electric wiring connected to the surveillance camera system to avoid being recorded when intruding into the school, the sources also said.

Pruning shears were discovered on the premises of Ochanomizu University after two knives were found on the 12-year-old prince's classroom desk in its affiliate junior high school around 11 a.m. Friday, according to police.

The police believe Hasegawa avoided the university's main gate when he entered the junior school.

The discovery of the knives occurred ahead of the abdication of 85-year-old Emperor Akihito on Tuesday and the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito the following day.

The imperial succession promoted Prince Hisahito, the son of Prince Fumihito -- the younger brother of Crown Prince Naruhito -- to second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne.

When the two knives were left in the classroom, Prince Hisahito, who began at the school this month, was attending a class outdoors.

According to the police, footage from surveillance cameras shows a man, believed to be Hasegawa, walking past the main gate of the university around 10:30 a.m. on Friday and near the junior high school 20 minutes later.

A man, also believed to be the suspect, did use the main gate to leave the campus around 11:10 a.m., they said, adding a person resembling him was seen at nearby Myogadani Station on the Tokyo Metro subway network.
The following companies are subsidiares of General Dynamics: 42SIX LLC, ARMA Global Corporation, Advanced Technical Products, Aeromil (Australia) Pty Ltd, Aeromil Aircraft Engineering Pty Ltd, Aeromil Aviation Services Pty Ltd, Aeromil IT Services Pty Ltd, Aeromil Marine Pty Ltd, Aeromil Pacific Pty Ltd, American Overseas Marine Company LLC, Anteon International Corporation, Applied Physical Sciences, Applied Physical Sciences Corp., Ascend Intelligence, Australian Avionics Pty Ltd, Autonomic Resources LLC, Avion Logistics Limited, Avjet Corporation, AxleTech International, Axsys, BATH IRON WORKS CORPORATION, BP-HP Pte Limited, Bath Iron Works, Bath Iron Works Australia Corporation, Bath Iron Works Canada LLC, Bluefin Robotics Corporation, Blueprint Technologies Inc., Braintree I Maritime Corp., Braintree II Maritime Corp., Braintree III Maritime Corp., Braintree IV Maritime Corp., Braintree V Maritime Corp., Buccaneer Computer Systems & Service Inc., CSC Computer Sciences Venezuela S.A., CSRA, CSRA (Costa Rica) S.A., CSRA (Guyana) Inc., CSRA (Middle East) LLC, CSRA Argentina S.R.L., CSRA BH d.o.o., CSRA Bahamas Limited, CSRA Bahrain S.P.C., CSRA Belgium SPRL, CSRA Bolivia S.R.L., CSRA Brazil Servicos de Tecnologia Ltda., CSRA Canada Inc., CSRA Caribbean Inc., CSRA Chile SpA, CSRA Colombia SAS, CSRA Commerce 2010 LLC, CSRA Consular Services Holding Company LLC, CSRA Consular Services Inc., CSRA France SARL, CSRA Guatemala Solutions Sociedad Anonima, CSRA Honduras Sociedad Anonima, CSRA Inc., CSRA Information Systems LLC, CSRA Information Technology Spain SL, CSRA Ireland Limited, CSRA Italy S.R.L, CSRA Kosovo L.L.C., CSRA LATAM LLC, CSRA LLC, CSRA Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., CSRA Netherlands B.V., CSRA Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CSRA Panama Inc., CSRA Peru S.R.L., CSRA Senegal SARL, CSRA South Africa (Pty) Ltd, CSRA State and Local Solutions LLC, CSRA Systems & Solutions LLC, CSRA Trinidad & Tobago Limited, CSRA Turkey Bilisim Teknolojileri Limited Sirketi, CSRA Uruguay S.R.L, CSRA Visa Services Israel Ltd., CSRAIT - Information Services Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Centauri Solutions LLC, Command System, Computing Devices International, Concord I Maritime Corporation, Concord II Maritime Corporation, Concord III Maritime Corporation, Concord IV Maritime Corporation, Concord V Maritime Corporation, Convair Aircraft Corporation, Convair Corporation, Creative Technology, Customer Services Ecuador CSRA S.A., Devcor, Diamond Fortress Technologies, DynPort Vaccine Company LLC, EB Groton Engineering Inc., EBV Explosives Environmental, ELCS-CZ s.r.o., Eagle Enterprise Inc., Earl Industries - Ship Repair and Coatings Division, Ebv Explosives Environmental Company, Electric Boat - Australia LLC, Electric Boat - UK LLC, Electric Boat Canada LLC, Electric Boat Corporation, Electric Boat France LLC, Electrocom Inc., Engineering Technology, Expro Finance Inc., FBD Fahrzeug und Bremsendienst GmbH, FC Business Systems, Fidelis Cybersecurity, Force Protection, Force Protection Europe Limited, Force Protection Inc., ForeSight Technology Services LLC, Freeman United Coal Mining Company LLC, GD Brazil Holdings LLC, GD European Land Systems - Steyr GmbH, GD European Land Systems Holding GmbH, GDOTS Services Corporation, GM GDLS Defense Group L.L.C., GPS Source Inc., GTE Government Systems, GWA-Datatrac FAST LLC, Galaxy Aerospace Company, Gayston Corporation - Defense Operations, General Dynamics - OTS (Global) Inc., General Dynamics AIS Australia Pty Ltd, General Dynamics Canadian Finance Inc., General Dynamics Canadian Holdings Inc., General Dynamics Commercial Cyber Services LLC, General Dynamics European Finance Limited, General Dynamics European Land Systems - Austria GmbH, General Dynamics European Land Systems - Bridge Systems GmbH, General Dynamics European Land Systems - Czech s.r.o., General Dynamics European Land Systems - Denmark ApS, General Dynamics European Land Systems - Deutschland GmbH, General Dynamics European Land Systems - FWW GmbH, General Dynamics European Land Systems - Mowag GmbH, General Dynamics European Land Systems Romania S.R.L., General Dynamics European Land Systems S.L., General Dynamics Global Force LLC, General Dynamics Global Holdings Limited, General Dynamics Global Imaging Technologies Inc., General Dynamics Government Satellite Services LLC, General Dynamics Government Systems Corporation, General Dynamics Government Systems Overseas Corporation, General Dynamics Information Technology Canada Limited, General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., General Dynamics Information Technology Limited, General Dynamics Installation Services LLC, General Dynamics International Corporation, General Dynamics Itronix LLC, General Dynamics Land Systems - Australia Pty. Ltd., General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada Corporation, General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada Services Inc., General Dynamics Land Systems - Canadian Services Limited, General Dynamics Land Systems - Force Protection Inc., General Dynamics Land Systems Customer Service & Support Company, General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., General Dynamics Limited, General Dynamics Marine Systems Inc., General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., General Dynamics Mission Systems International Limited, General Dynamics Mission Systems Overseas Company LLC, General Dynamics Motion Control LLC, General Dynamics OTS (Aerospace) Inc., General Dynamics OTS (California) Inc., General Dynamics OTS (DRI) Inc., General Dynamics OTS (Niceville) Inc., General Dynamics OTS (Pennsylvania) Inc., General Dynamics One Source LLC, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems - Canada Inc., General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems - Canada Valleyfield Inc., General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems - Simunition Operations Inc., General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Inc., General Dynamics Overseas Systems and Services Corporation, General Dynamics Properties Inc., General Dynamics Robotic Systems Inc., General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies Inc., General Dynamics Satcom Technologies Asia Private Limited, General Dynamics Satellite Communication Services LLC, General Dynamics Saudi Holdings S.L., General Dynamics Shared Resources LLC, General Dynamics Support Services Company, General Dynamics Swiss Financial Management Limited, General Dynamics United Kingdom Limited, General Dynamics Worldwide Holdings Inc., General Dynamics-OTS Inc., General Motors Defense, Gulfstream 100 Holdings LLC, Gulfstream Aerospace, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (CA), Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (DE), Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (GA), Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation (OK), Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation of Texas, Gulfstream Aerospace Hong Kong Limited, Gulfstream Aerospace LLC, Gulfstream Aerospace LP, Gulfstream Aerospace Ltd., Gulfstream Aerospace Services Corporation, Gulfstream Aerospace Sociedad de Responssabilidad Limitada de CapitalVariable (S. de R.L. de C.V.), Gulfstream Do Brasil Servicos De Suporte E Manutencao A Aeronaves Ltda., Gulfstream International Corporation, Gulfstream Leasing LLC, Gulfstream Product Support Corporation, Gulfstream Services Corporation, Gulfstream Tennessee Corporation, Gulfstream-California Inc., Hawker Pacific (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Hawker Pacific Aircraft Management Pte Ltd, Hawker Pacific Airservices Limited, Hawker Pacific Airservices Pvt Ltd, Hawker Pacific Asia Holdings Pte Ltd, Hawker Pacific Asia Pte Ltd, Hawker Pacific Australia Pty Ltd, Hawker Pacific Aviation Services Pty Ltd, Hawker Pacific NZ Limited, Hawker Pacific Pty Ltd, IPWireless, IPWireless PTE. Limited, Information Services Consulting Limited, Interiores Aereos S.A. de C.V., International Manufacturing Technologies Inc., Itronix, Janteq Australia PTY Limited, Janteq Corp., Jet Aviation, Jet Aviation (Asia Pacific) Pte. Ltd., Jet Aviation (Bermuda) Ltd., Jet Aviation (Hong Kong) Ltd., Jet Aviation (Malaysia) SDN BHD, Jet Aviation 125 Services LLC, Jet Aviation AG, Jet Aviation Brazil Holdings Inc., Jet Aviation Business Jets (Hong Kong) Limited, Jet Aviation Business Jets AG, Jet Aviation Business Jets FZCO, Jet Aviation California LLC, Jet Aviation Dulles LLC, Jet Aviation Flight Services Inc., Jet Aviation France SAS, Jet Aviation Holding GmbH, Jet Aviation Holdings USA Inc., Jet Aviation Houston Inc., Jet Aviation International Inc., Jet Aviation Malaga SA, Jet Aviation Management AG, Jet Aviation Netherlands B.V., Jet Aviation Savannah Holding LLC, Jet Aviation Services GmbH, Jet Aviation St. Louis Inc., Jet Aviation Teterboro LP, Jet Aviation Texas Inc., Jet Aviation of America Inc., Jet Aviation/Palm Beach Inc., Jet Professionals LLC, Kylmar, Longreach Energy LLC, MAYA Viz, Maricom Systems Incorporated, Material Service Resources Company LLC, Matthews Land Company, Mediaware International, Mediaware International Pty Ltd, Metro Machine, Metro Machine co, Midwest Properties Sales LLC, NASSCO, NASSCO Holdings Incorporated, NES Associates LLC, National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, Network Connectivity Solutions Corp., Newberry Holdings LLC, OOO Jet Aviation Vnukovo, Open Kernel Labs, Page Europa Srl, Patriot I Shipping Corp., Patriot II Shipping Corp., Patriot IV Shipping Corp., Plane 79 LLC, Praxis Engineering Technologies LLC, PrimeX Technologies, Prodelin India Private Limited, Proyectos Prohumane Mexico S.A. de C.V., Quincy Maritime Corporation III, Raven Acquisitions LLC, SENTECH INC., SRA International Inc., Saco Defense, Santa Barbara Sistemas S.A., Savannah Air Center LLC, Signal Solutions LLC, Southern Illinois Recovery Inc., Spectrum Astro, St. Marks Powder Inc., Stabilo Pty Ltd, Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug AG & Co KG, Sydney Jet Charter Pty Ltd, Tadpole Computer, Tecnologias Internacionales de Manufactura S.A. de C.V., Tenacity Solutions Incorporated, The Depth of Ideas for General Trading LLC, TriPoint Global Communications, Vangent, Vangent Servicios de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Veridian, Vertex Antennentechnik GmbH, ViPS, Vulnerability Research Labs LLC, and Weco LLC.
Gildan Activewear Inc. manufactures and sells various apparel products in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It provides various activewear products, including T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sport shirts under the Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Comfort Colors, American Apparel, Anvil by Gildan, Alstyle, Prim + Preux, and GoldToe brands. The company also offers hosiery products comprising athletic; dress; and casual, liner, therapeutic, and workwear socks, as well as sheer panty hoses, tights, and leggings under the brands of Gildan, Under Armour, GoldToe, PowerSox, GT a GoldToe Brand, Silver Toe, Signature Gold by Goldtoe, Peds, MediPeds, Kushyfoot, Therapy Plus, All Pro, Secret, Silks, Secret Silky, and American Apparel. In addition, it provides men's and boys' underwear products, and ladies panties under the Gildan and Gildan Platinum brand names; and ladies' shapewear, intimates, and accessories under the Secret and Secret Silky brands. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, screen printers, or embellishers, as well as to retailers and consumer brand companies. The company was formerly known as Textiles Gildan Inc. and changed its name to Gildan Activewear Inc. in March 1995. Gildan Activewear Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

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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.

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There is not enough analysis data for Invesco Senior Income Trust.

4.4 Community Rank

Outperform Votes Invesco Senior Income Trust has received 144 outperform votes. (Add your outperform vote.)

Underperform Votes Invesco Senior Income Trust has received 75 underperform votes. (Add your underperform vote.)

Community Sentiment Invesco Senior Income Trust has received 65.75% outperform votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Invesco Senior Income Trust and other stocks. Vote Outperform if you believe VVR will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote Underperform if you believe VVR will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

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Kibo Energy PLC, together with its subsidiaries, explores for and develops energy projects in Sub Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom. The company holds a 100% interest in the Mbeya Coal to Power project located in Songwe Regio, Tanzania. It also holds an 85% interest in the Mabesekwa Coal Independent Power Project located in Botswana; and 65% interest in the Benga Power Plant Project located in the Tete province of Mozambique. In addition, the company owns a 100% interest in the Bordersley power plant located near Birmingham. Further, it engages in power generation and treasury businesses. Kibo Energy PLC has a collaboration agreement with ESS Tech Inc. to develop energy storage solutions. The company was formerly known as Kibo Mining Plc and changed its name to Kibo Energy PLC in July 2018. Kibo Energy PLC was founded in 2008 and is based in Galway, Ireland.

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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 Owens Corning: 0979301 B.C. ULC, AS Paroc, Asahi Glass - Composites Business, Crown Mfg. Inc., Deutsche Foamglas GmbH, Dutch OC Cooperatief Invest U.A., European Owens Corning Fiberglas SRL, FOAMGLAS (Italia) SRL, FOAMGLAS (Nordic) AB, FiberTEK Insulation, Fibreboard Corp., Finefiber (Shanghai) Building Material Co. Ltd., Finefiber Insulation Co. Pte. Ltd., IBCO SRL, IPM Inc., InterWrap, InterWrap (Hong Kong) Ltd., InterWrap (Qingdao) Trading Co. Ltd., InterWrap Corp., InterWrap Corp. Private Ltd., International Packaging Products Pvt. Ltd., Inversiones Owens Corning Chile Holdings Limitada, Northern Elastomeric, OC Canada Finance Inc., OC Canada Holdings General Partnership, OC Celfortec Company, OC Latin American Holdings GmbH, OC NL Invest Cooperatief U.A., OC PRO CV, OC Steklovolokno AO, OCCV1 Inc., OCCV2 LLC, OCV (Thailand) Co. Limited, OCV Chambery France, OCV Chambery International, OCV Finance LLC, OCV Intellectual Capital LLC, OCV Italia Srl, OCV Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., OCV Servicios Mexico S.A. de C.V., OOO Paroc, Owens Corning (Australia) Pty Limited, Owens Corning (China) Investment Company Limited, Owens Corning (Guangde) Rock Wood Manufacturing Co. Ltd, Owens Corning (Guangzhou) Fiberglas Co. Ltd., Owens Corning (Hangzhou) Fiberglass Co. Ltd., Owens Corning (India) Private Limited, Owens Corning (Nanjing) Building Materials Co. Ltd., Owens Corning (Shanghai) Fiberglas Co. Ltd., Owens Corning (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Owens Corning (Tianjin) Building Materials Co. Ltd., Owens Corning (Xian) Building Materials Co. Ltd., Owens Corning Alloy Canada GP Inc., Owens Corning Alloy Canada LP, Owens Corning Argentina Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Owens Corning Automotive LLC, Owens Corning BM (Korea) Ltd, Owens Corning By LLC, Owens Corning CV GP LLC, Owens Corning Canada GP Inc., Owens Corning Canada Holdings B.V., Owens Corning Canada Holdings ULC, Owens Corning Canada LP, Owens Corning Cayman (China) Holdings, Owens Corning Celfortec Canada GP Inc., Owens Corning Celfortec LP, Owens Corning Composite Materials Canada GP Inc., Owens Corning Composite Materials Canada LP, Owens Corning Composite Materials LLC, Owens Corning Composites (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Owens Corning Composites (China) Co. Ltd., Owens Corning Construction Services LLC, Owens Corning Corporate Services LLC, Owens Corning Elaminator Insulation Systems LLC, Owens Corning Enterprise (India) Pvt. Ltd., Owens Corning Fabrics (Changzhou) Co. Ltd., Owens Corning Fiberglas (U.K.) Pension Plan Ltd., Owens Corning Fiberglas A.S. Limitada, Owens Corning Fiberglas Espana SL, Owens Corning Fiberglas France, Owens Corning Financial Services ULC, Owens Corning Finland Oy, Owens Corning Foam Insulation LLC, Owens Corning GlassMetal Services (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Owens Corning Global Holdings II Limited Partnership, Owens Corning Global Holdings Limited Partnership, Owens Corning HOMExperts Inc., Owens Corning HT Inc., Owens Corning Holdings 1 CV, Owens Corning Holdings 3 CV, Owens Corning Holdings 4 CV, Owens Corning Holdings 5 CV, Owens Corning Holdings Holland B.V., Owens Corning Hong Kong Limited, Owens Corning Industries (India) Private Limited, Owens Corning Infrastructure Solutions LLC, Owens Corning Insulating Systems Canada GP Inc., Owens Corning Insulating Systems Canada LP, Owens Corning Insulating Systems LLC, Owens Corning Intellectual Capital LLC, Owens Corning InterWrap Canada GP Inc., Owens Corning InterWrap Canada LP, Owens Corning International Holdings C.V., Owens Corning Japan LLC, Owens Corning Kohold B.V., Owens Corning Korea, Owens Corning Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Owens Corning Mineral Wool LLC, Owens Corning Non-Woven - Blythewood LLC, Owens Corning Non-Woven Technology LLC, Owens Corning Receivables LLC, Owens Corning Reinforcements (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., Owens Corning Remodeling Systems LLC, Owens Corning Roofing S. de R.L. de C.V., Owens Corning Roofing and Asphalt LLC, Owens Corning Sales LLC, Owens Corning Science and Technology LLC, Owens Corning Supplementary Pension Plan Limited, Owens Corning Technical Fabrics LLC, Owens Corning Treasury Services LLC, Owens Corning U.S. Holdings LLC, Owens-Corning Britinvest Limited, Owens-Corning Cayman Limited, Owens-Corning Fiberglas Deutschland GmbH, Owens-Corning Funding Corporation, Owens-Corning Veil Netherlands B.V., Owens-Corning Veil U.K. Ltd., Paroc AB, Paroc GmbH, Paroc Group, Paroc Group Oy, Paroc Limited, Paroc Oy Ab, Paroc Polska Sp. Z o.o., Pittsburgh Corning, Pittsburgh Corning (Suisse) SA, Pittsburgh Corning (United Kingdom) Limited, Pittsburgh Corning (Yantai) Insulation Materials Co. Ltd, Pittsburgh Corning Asia Limited, Pittsburgh Corning CR S.R.O., Pittsburgh Corning Europe N.V., Pittsburgh Corning France, Pittsburgh Corning Gesellschaft m.b.h., Pittsburgh Corning LLC, Pittsburgh Corning Nederland B.V., Pittsburgh Corning Singapore Pte. Ltd, Qingdao Novia Polymer Co. Ltd., SIA Paroc, Soltech Inc., The Modulo /ParMur Group, Thermafiber, Thermafiber Inc., Transandina de Comercio S.A., UAB Paroc, UC Industries, and Vitro Fibras.
Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; And Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment provides mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, group retirement and savings products, and institutional asset management services through agents and brokers affiliated with the company, securities brokerage firms, and financial advisors pension plan consultants and banks. The Insurance and Annuity Products segment offers deposit and credit products; individual life, and individual and group long-term care insurance; and guaranteed and partially guaranteed annuity products through insurance agents, brokers, banks, financial planners, and direct marketing. The Corporate and Other segment is involved in property and casualty insurance and reinsurance businesses; and run-off reinsurance operations, including variable annuities, and accident and health. It also manages timberland and agricultural portfolios; and engages in insurance agency, portfolio and mutual fund management, mutual fund dealer, life and financial reinsurance, and fund management businesses. Additionally, the company holds and manages oil and gas properties; holds oil and gas royalties, and foreign bonds and equities; and provides investment management, counseling, advisory, and dealer services. Manulife Financial Corporation was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Roper Technologies: 3089554 Nova Scotia ULC, AC Analytical Controls B.V., AC Analytical Controls Holding B.V., AC Analytical Controls Services B.V., Acumen PM LLC, Aderant Canada Company, Aderant Company, Aderant Holdings Inc., Aderant International Holdings Inc., Aderant Legal (UK) Limited, Aderant Legal Holdings (AUS) Pty Ltd, Aderant Legal Holdings (NZ) ULC, Aderant Legal Holdings Inc., Aderant North America Inc., Aderant Parent Holdings Inc., Advanced Sensors Limited, Alpha Holdings of Delaware I LLC, Alpha Holdings of Delaware II LLC, Alpha Technologies B.V., Alpha Technologies GmbH, Alpha Technologies Japan LLC, Alpha Technologies Services LLC, Alpha Technologies U.K., Alpha Technologies s.r.o., Alpha Trust Corporation, Alpha UK Holdings LLC, Amot Controls Corporation, Amot Controls GmbH, Amot/Metrix Investment Company Inc., Amphire Solutions Inc., Amtech Systems (Hong Kong) Limited, Amtech Systems LLC, Amtech World Corporation, Aplifi Inc., Ascension Technology Corporation, Assureweb Limited, Atlantic Health Partners Inc., Avitru LLC, Axium Holdco Inc., C/S Solutions Inc., CBORD Holdings Corp., CIVCO Medical Solutions B.V., Centurion Research Solutions LLC, Civco Holding Inc., Civco Medical Instruments Co. Inc., CliniSys Group, CliniSys Group Limited, Clinisys Scotland Limited, Clinisys Solutions Limited, Cointec Ingenieros y Consultores S.L., Compressor Controls (Beijing) Corporation Ltd., Compressor Controls Corporation B.V., Compressor Controls Corporation Middle East, Compressor Controls Corporation S.r.l., Compressor Controls LLC, Compressor Controls Mauritius Ltd., Compressor Controls Pty Ltd., Compressor Controls Saudi Arabia LLC, ConstructConnect, ConstructConnect Canada Inc., ConstructConnect Inc., Cornell Pump Company, DAT Solutions LLC, DATSolutions Private Limited, DCMH Group Holdings Inc., DCMH Group Holdings LLC, DCMH Holdings Inc., DI Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., DI Dutch Holdings LLC, DI Hong Kong Limited, Dash I Inc., Data Innovations, Data Innovations Canada Ltd., Data Innovations Cooperatief U.A., Data Innovations Europe S.A., Data Innovations LLC, Data Innovations Latin America Ltda, Dawning Technologies LLC, Deltek, Deltek Ajera Inc., Deltek Asia Pacific (HK) Limited, Deltek Australia Pty Ltd., Deltek Danmark A/S, Deltek France SAS, Deltek GB Limited, Deltek GmbH, Deltek Inc., Deltek Nederland B.V., Deltek Netherlands B.V., Deltek Norge AS, Deltek Sverige AB, Deltek Systems (Canada) Inc., Deltek Systems (Colorado) Inc., Deltek Systems (Philippines) Ltd., Deltek WST LLC, Dominion I Inc., Dynamic Instruments Inc., Dynisco Enterprises GmbH, Dynisco Enterprises LLC, Dynisco Europe GmbH, Dynisco Holding GmbH, Dynisco Hong Kong Holdings Limited, Dynisco Instruments LLC, Dynisco Instruments S.a.r.l., Dynisco LLC, Dynisco Parent Inc., Dynisco S.r.l., Dynisco Viatran LLC, Dynisco Viatran (M) Sdn Bhd, Dynisco-Viatran Instrument Sdn Bhd, FMS Purchasing & Services Inc., FSI Holdings Inc., FTI Flow Technology Inc., Fluid Metering Inc., Foodlink Holdings Inc., Foodlink IT India Private Limited, Foundry, Foundry Visionmongers (Ireland) Limited, GeneInsight Inc., Getloaded Corporation, HRsmart Canada Inc., HRsmart Czech Republic, HRsmart France SAS, HRsmart Germany GmbH, HRsmart Inc., HRsmart International, HRsmart International Holdings LLC, HRsmart Mexico, HRsmart SA (Pty) Ltd., HRsmart Talent Management Solutions Europe Limited, HRsmart Ventures LLC, Handshake Software Inc., Hansco Automatisering B.V., Hansen Technologies Corporation, Harbour Holding Corp., Hardy Process Solutions, Horizon Software International LLC, INPUT Inc., IPA Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., ISL Finance SAS, ISL Holding SAS, ISL Scientifique de Laboratorie - ISL S.A.S., IT Canada Holdings LLC, Innovative Product Achievements LLC, Inovonics Corporation, Instill Corporation, IntelliTrans Limited, Intellitrans Canada Ltd., Intellitrans LLC, Intellitrans Sweden AB, Job Access LTDA, K/S Roper Holding, K/S Roper Investments, Laser App Inc., Link Logistics Holding LLC, Loadlink Technologies Corporation, Logitech Limited, MED Professional Services LLC, MEDTEC Inc., MHA Long Term Care Network Inc., MHA Long Term Care Services Inc., MIPS Austria GesmbH, MIPS CZ s.r.o, MIPS Deutschland GmbH, MIPS France Sarl, MIPS Nederland B.V., MIPS Schweiz AG, MIPS Software Iberica SL, MPR Readers Inc., Managed Health Care Associates Inc., Marumoto Struers K.K., Medical Information Professional Systems NV, Medina Acquisition LLC, Metrix Instrument Co. L.P., NDI Europe GmbH, Navigator Group Purchasing Inc., Neptune Technology Group (Canada) Co., Neptune Technology Group Inc., Neptune Technology Group Mexico S.de R.L. de C.V., Neptune Technology Group Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Neptune Technology Group Services Inc., Nippon Roper K.K., Northern Digital Inc., Off-Campus Advantage LLC, Omega Legal Systems Inc., PAC (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PAC Denmark ApS, PAC GmbH, PAC Instruments (Thailand) Company Limited, PAC Instruments Asia PTE. Ltd., PB Bidco Limited, PB Holdco Limited, PB Midco Limited, PB Topco Limited, PGP UK Limited, Petroleum Analyzer Company L.P., Phase Analyzer Company Ltd., PowerPlan, PowerPlan Canada ULC, PowerPlan Holdings Inc., PowerPlan Inc., PowerPlan Intermediate Holdings Inc., PowerPlan Operations ANZ Pty Ltd, PowerPlan Operations Ltd., Project Diamond Intermediate Holdings Corporation, Project Torque Intermediate Holdings Inc., Project Viking Holdings Inc., Project Viking Intermediate LLC, QSC 1208 Limited, QSC 1209 Limited, RF IDeas, RF IDeas Inc., RI Marketing India Private Limited, RIL Holding Limited, RMT Inc., RT Merger Sub Inc., Rebate Tracking Group LLC, Resonant Software Inc., Roda Deaco Valve Inc., Roper Acquisitions Holdings Inc., Roper Brasil Comercio E Promocao De Productos E Servicos LTDA, Roper Canada Holdings LP, Roper Canada UK Limited, Roper Denmark UK Limited, Roper EUR Pte. Ltd., Roper Engineering s.r.o., Roper Europe GmbH, Roper GM Denmark Holdings ApS, Roper Germany GmbH, Roper Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Roper Holdings LLC, Roper Holdings Limited, Roper IH LLC, Roper Industrial Products Investment Company, Roper Industries Denmark ApS, Roper Industries Deutschland GmbH, Roper Industries Inc., Roper Industries Limited, Roper Industries Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Roper Industries Mauritius Ltd., Roper Industries UK Limited, Roper International Holding Inc., Roper International Holding Limited, Roper International Holding SCS, Roper LLC, Roper Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.l., Roper Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Roper Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Roper Middle East Ltd., Roper NL1 UK Limited, Roper NL2 UK Limited, Roper Pte. Ltd., Roper Pump Company, Roper Scientific B.V., Roper Scientific SAS, Roper Scot LP, Roper Southeast Asia LLC, Roper Swiss Finance GmbH, Roper UK Investments Limited, Roper UK Ltd., Roper US Finance I LLC, Roper US Finance II LLC, Roper-Mex L.P., Ropintassco 1 LLC, Ropintassco 2 LLC, Ropintassco 3 LLC, Ropintassco 4 LLC, Ropintassco 5 LLC, Ropintassco 6 LLC, Ropintassco 7 LLC, Ropintassco Holdings L.P., SHP Group Holdings Inc., SIRA LLC, Shanghai Roper Industries Trading Co. Ltd., Sinmed Holding International B.V., Societe de Distribution de Logiciels Medicaux, SoftWriters Inc., Softwriters Holdings, Softwriters Holdings Inc., Sohnar Pty Ltd, Star Purchasing Services LLC, Strata Acquisition Subsidiary Inc., Strata Decision Technology LLC, Strata Parallel II Inc., Strategic Healthcare Programs Blocker 2 Inc., Strategic Healthcare Programs Blocker LLC, Strategic Healthcare Programs Holdings LLC, Strategic Healthcare Programs L.L.C., Struers (Shanghai) International Trading Ltd., Struers A/S, Struers GmbH, Struers Inc., Struers Limited, Struers SAS, Student Advantage LLC, Sunquest Europe Limited, Sunquest Holdings Inc., Sunquest Information Systems (Europe) Limited, Sunquest Information Systems (India) Private Limited, Sunquest Information Systems (International) Limited, Sunquest Information Systems Inc., Sunquest Information Systems Pty Ltd, TLP Holdings LLC, Technolog Group Limited, Technolog Holdings Ltd., Technolog Limited, Technolog SARL, The CBORD Group Inc., The Foundry Bidco Limited, The Foundry Bidco No.2 Limited, The Foundry Holdco Limited, The Foundry Holdings Limited, The Foundry Intermediate Holdings Limited, The Foundry Midco 3 Limited, The Foundry Midco No 1 Limited, The Foundry Midco No 2 Limited, The Foundry Topco Limited, The Foundry Topco No.2 Limited, The Foundry USCo Inc., The Foundry Visionmongers Ltd., The Tidewater Healthcare Shared Services Group Inc., The Washington Management Group Inc., Torque Acquisition Holdco Inc., Transcore Atlantic Inc., Transcore CNUS Inc., Transcore Holdings Inc., Transcore ITS LLC, Transcore LP, Transcore Nova Scotia Corporation, Transcore Partners LLC, Trinity Integrated Systems Limited, UHF Purchasing Services LLC, Union Square Software (International) Limited, Union Square Software Inc., Union Square Software Limited, Union Square Software Pty, Uson L.P., Uson Limited, Utilitec Limited, Utilitec Services Limited, Utility Data Services Limited, Verathon Holdings (Delaware) Inc., Verathon Inc., Verathon Medical (Australia) Pty Limited, Verathon Medical (Canada) ULC, Verathon Medical (Europe) B.V., Verathon Medical (France) SARL, Verathon Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Verathon Medical (Japan) K.K., Verathon Medical (UK) Ltd., Vertafore, Vertafore Canada Inc., Vertafore Inc., Vertafore India Private Limited, Viastar Services LP, Viatran Corporation, Walter Herzog GmbH, WorkBook APAC Ltd., Workbook Software A/S, Zetec (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zetec France, Zetec Inc., Zetec Korea Inc., Zetec Rental LLC, Zetec Services Inc., iPipeline, iPipeline (TCP) Limited, iPipeline Canada Inc, iPipeline Co. Ltd., iPipeline Holdings Inc, iPipeline Inc, iPipeline Limited, iSqFt Holdings Inc., iSqFt Parent Corporation, iSqFt Sub Inc., iTradeNetwork Inc., and mySBX Corporation.
There is not enough analysis data for Starwood European Real Estate Finance.

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Synthomer plc operates as a specialty chemicals company in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Malaysia, China, the United States, rest of Europe, rest of Asia, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Performance Elastomers, Functional Solutions, Industrial Specialities, and Acrylate Monomers. The company offers pressure sensitive adhesives, acrylic polymers, acrylic dispersions, and other adhesives; latices for foamed bedding products and footwear; acrylonitrile butadiene rubber for glove dipping and specific needs of medical, examination, clean room, food handling, medical drug handling, and chemical laboratory applications; and artificial turf and gel foam elastomers for floor coverings, footwear, and mattresses. It also provides latices for medical devices, condoms, and balloons. In addition, the company offers binders, vinyl acetate copolymer dispersions, solvent-borne resins, and other products for various coatings applications; and synthetic binders for graphic, packaging, and specialty paper coating applications. Further, it provides compounds and aqueous curing pastes for carpets and other applications; coalescing agents for enhancing the properties of coatings; and acrylic monomers for enhancing the performance characteristics of polymer formulations. Additionally, the company offers liquid polybutadienes, polyvinyl alcohol suspending agents, polyvinyl acetates, thermosetting resins, butyl ethyl propanediol, and inorganic materials for various industrial applications; and specialty polymers for construction applications. It also provides impregnation binders, polymer dispersions, styrene butadiene copolymers, acrylic and styrene acrylic dispersions, and butadiene-based binders for textiles applications. The company was formerly known as Yule Catto & Co. plc and changed its name to Synthomer plc in 2012. Synthomer plc was founded in 1863 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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NEW HARTFORD, NY  Get a meal. Give a meal.

That was the theme Tuesday evening at the Texas Roadhouse on Commercial Drive in New Hartford.

Customers who mentioned that they were dining to support the Rescue Mission of Utica, had a portion of their bill donated to the rescue mission.

That applied to takeout orders as well.

Utica Rescue Mission Executive Director Wendy Goetz said the donations are especially needed this time of year.

Most of our donations come in around Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Easter is a reasonably good time for donations too. During the summer months, our donations do kind of fall off a bit, so this will help us out going towards the summer months.

Last year the Utica Rescue Mission served over 150,000 meals to homeless and underprivileged individuals throughout the area.

They also provided academic and job skills training to over 200 men and women at their learning center.
Two Swarthmore College fraternity chapters say they are closing their doors in response to allegations of racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior against past members that emerged in recent weeks.

The accounts were included in documents from 2013 to 2016 that were leaked to two campus publications earlier this month.

One of the document dumps, the 117-page "Phi Psi Historical Archive," included rape jokes, racist tropes and crude descriptions of hazing among the pages of fraternity meeting minutes and scavenger hunt lists.

The "archive" also included a reference to another fraternity's "rape attic" and "rape tunnel." But that fraternity, Delta Upsilon, denied that such things ever existed and called the terms "a sorry attempt at humor by a member of another Swarthmore Greek organization."

"We are not aware of any member of Delta Upsilon using those terms in any context. We have no 'rape tunnel' or 'rape attic,' and we find the continued usage of these terms inflammatory and offensive," the group said in a statement.

Protesters enter the picture

Nevertheless, the terms and other details from the documents made headlines nationwide, roiling the private Pennsylvania liberal arts college and leading to a dayslong sit-in at Phi Psi's house.

Protesters arrived Saturday with a list of demands, including the dissolution of the Swarthmore chapters of Phi Psi and Delta Upsilon, the school's remaining two fraternities.

The protesters also sought the end of the building leases to fraternities and demanded the fraternity houses go to historically marginalized groups, such as students of color, disabled students, and LGBTQ students.

In videos shared on social media, protesters cheered the two developments, which came one after the other Tuesday night.

"DU and Phi Psi have disbanded in a testament to the power of survivor-led student organizing and direct action," the protesters said in a statement Tuesday night. "They made the right decision, even as the College refused to. Our work is not finished yet."

Why the fraternities say they are closing

Delta Upsilon made its announcement first on a Facebook page that appears to belong to the fraternity.

"Over the last few weeks, Swarthmore Delta Upsilon has listened to the concerns and feelings of the campus community. After much discussion, the members of Delta Upsilon have unanimously decided that disbanding our fraternity is in the best interest of the Swarthmore community. We hope that our former house will provide a space that is inclusive, safe, and promotes healing."

Swarthmore Phi Psi Fraternity also broke the news on a Facebook page that appears to belong to the group.

"We were appalled and disgusted by the content of these minutes, which led us to question our affiliation with an organization whose former members could write such heinous statements. We cannot in good conscience be members of an organization with such a painful history," the post said.

"Since the start of our membership, we made it our mission to improve the culture and perception of Phi Psi. Unfortunately, the wounds are too deep to repair, and the best course of action for all those involved is to disband the fraternity completely and give up the fraternity house. We condemn sexual violence, racism, homophobia, misogyny, and discrimination in all of its forms, and we will continue as individuals to work to create a campus where these issues are eradicated completely."

How the school is responding

Last week, Swarthmore President Valerie Smith condemned the documents and suspended all fraternity activity pending the results of an investigation.

On Wednesday, she said the administration respects the fraternities' decision to disband and their condemnation of the documents.

She noted, however, that so far no current students were implicated in the behavior described in the documents, adding that the school would not tolerate "unsubstantiated attacks" directed at individual students or student groups.

"We have heard heartbreaking stories from students who feel unwelcome to the point of wanting to transfer out of our community. Those stories have come from across the spectrum of our student body -- from student protesters to fraternity members," she said in a statement Wednesday.

"Stories such as these reflect our failure to realize the values we so often espouse."

A task force will continue working on recommendations for improving campus culture -- and, for the future of the fraternity buildings, she said.

"While the recommendations will cover a broad range of issues related to social life, I know that the questions of fraternity leases and the future of Greek letter organizations are of foremost concern to many of you. I intend to resolve those questions unambiguously when I share my decisions on the task force recommendations."

CORRECTION: This story has been updated to give the correct name of Swarthmore College.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Two southern Indiana judges attending a judicial conference in Indiana's capital were shot and wounded in downtown Indianapolis early Wednesday by someone who had argued with them in a restaurant's parking lot, police said.

The two men were among five people shot and wounded in three separate shootings in Indianapolis during a three-hour span Wednesday.

The two wounded judges were identified as Clark County judges Bradley Jacobs and Andrew Adams, according to a statement from the Indiana Supreme Court. The statement also said Jacobs was hospitalized in critical but stable condition and Adams was in stable condition.

Deputy Chief Christopher L. Bailey of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department told The Indianapolis Star that the two judges had visited one or more downtown bars before they were shot about 3:30 a.m. in the parking lot of a White Castle restaurant.

Police initially said Jacobs and Adams were shot following a disturbance at a nearby bar involving the judges that escalated into gunfire in the restaurant's parking lot. But detectives later determined that the argument began in the parking lot before the judges were shot.

Police spokeswoman Officer Genae Cook said police have found no evidence to suggest they were targeted because they are judges. She said detectives believe their shootings were "an isolated incident" where the person who had argued with them in the parking lot opened fire and shot both men. Police did not say what the argument was about.

"There was a disturbance and then an unidentified person shot them," Cook said Wednesday afternoon.

She said no arrests had been made in the judges' shooting and police continue investigating.

Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush, who visited with Jacobs and Adams and their families after shooting, said in a statement that judges across Indiana "are heartbroken to learn of this violent act against our colleagues."

She said the court offers it prayers for the "speedy recovery" of the judges, who were in Indianapolis for a judicial conference that began Wednesday.

Adams and Jacobs were elected in 2014 to the bench in Clark County, a county along the Ohio River that's just north of Louisville, Kentucky.

Police said three other people were shot early Wednesday in Indianapolis in two separate shootings. One of those victims was in good condition, while the conditions of the two others were not immediately available.
INDIANAPOLIS (WTTV/WLFI) - A man believed to be involved in the disappearance of an Indianapolis baby was arrested in Warren County Tuesday on unrelated forgery charges.

Robert Lyons was taken into custody there for two forgery charges and two theft charges, all out of Marion County. It's unclear why Lyons was in Warren County.

He's the ex-boyfriend of Amber Robertson, the mother of 8-month old Amiah Robertson who has been missing since last month. Police said they have evidence Lyon taunted Amber Robertson over Amiah's whereabouts for days before she was reported missing.

An investigator said they do believe Lyons "played a part" in Amiah's disappearance. However, he has never been arrested in connection to the case.

The statement came moments after police completed a dig in the backyard of the child's babysitter Tuesday. Investigators said cadaver dogs searing during a warrant service Monday had indicated something may be there. WTTV reports nothing was found in the search.

Police said Amiah was last seen alive about eight weeks ago. They said Lyons has told them several places where the baby would be found, none of which proved true.

Amber Robertson told CBS4's Russ McQuaid she believed her daughter was still alive after watching investigators unsuccessfully dig up the back yard of her babysitters home.

I know that shes somewhere out here and shes very scared, said Amber Robertson. I want to be with her right now because I know how scared she is and I want to bring her home.

Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.
INDIANAPOLIS (WLFI)  A public memorial service is taking place in Indianapolis Wednesday to honor former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh. He died from pneumonia on March 14th at 91-years-old.

Bayh is best known for being the lead sponsor on Title IX in 1972 and things wouldn't be how they are now at Purdue University without him.

He made an impact on colleges all over the country just like Purdue. Title IX is a landmark law that prohibits gender discrimination in education. That law's passage came when women earned less than ten percent of all medical and law degrees.

Now, thanks to Bayh, more than half of students receiving bachelor's and graduate degrees are women.

The Terre Haute native graduated from Purdue's College of Agriculture in 1951, and it was only three years after when he entered in politics, winning his first election to the state legislature.

Bayh's family is expected to attend Wednesday's service, including his son Evan. Evan followed in his father's political footsteps, becoming Indiana's governor and later a U.S. senator. Katherine, Birch's widow, is planning to read a poem written by her husband.

Purdue President Mitch Daniels been invited to speak on behalf of the university. He told News 18 he will be proud to testify to him being a great alum, but he also came to admire Bayh in a variety of ways on a personal level.

"More and more over time I've come to appreciate the principle and the courage he brought to express in his point of view," Daniels said.

Daniels is also remembering Bayh being a co-author in the Bayh-Dole act of 1980. That allows universities to earn patents for inventions through its research.

"I think he'd be very proud that Purdue, today, is a national leader in doing just that...giving birth to new companies and new innovations all the time," said Daniels.

Governor Holcomb and House Speaker Brian Bosma are among many others who will be attending.

The public service is set for noon Wednesday in the south atrium of the Indiana Statehouse. Attendees should enter from the Capitol Street or Senate Avenue entrances.
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Belgiums economy is among the most advanced in Europe which has taken advantage of its geographical location in the continent and has developed a highly sophisticated transport network with a diversified commercial and industrial base. Belgium underwent the first industrial revolution in Europe in the 19thC and so far, it has developed a sophisticated transportation infrastructure which includes highways, railways, canals, and ports which have enabled the country to incorporate its industries with those of its neighbors. Most of the industries in Belgium are located in the most populous regions in the northern part of the country particularly in the Flanders and around the city of Brussels. According to the estimates of 2018, Belgium had a nominal GDP of about $512 billion while its GDP based on purchasing power parity in 2017 was about $529.23 billion. The country's nominal GDP ranks the 25th highest in the world and the 37th highest based on purchasing power parity. Belgium imports most of its semi-finished and raw material goods which are processed and exported as finished goods to different countries around the world. Belgium has relatively few natural resources except for coal which is no longer exploited because it is not economically viable anymore, and the fertile soils; however, different industries are found within the country which includes refining, textiles, chemicals, steel, pharmaceuticals, food processing, electronics, machinery fabrication, and automobiles among others. The service sector accounts for about 74.9% of the country's GDP and agriculture contributes approximately 1% of the GDP.

Agriculture

Arable land is one of Belgium's most important natural resources, however, only a tiny fraction of the population in Belgium engages in agriculture. The agricultural industry has been shrinking both as an employer and its significance to GDP. Approximately 1/4 of the country's land is utilized for agriculture, and they are under permanent cultivation and out of these more than 1/5 comprises of pasture and meadows. Some of the main crops cultivated in Belgium include sugar beets, flax, potatoes, cereals, and chicory. In the Flanders region, cultivation of ornamental plants, vegetables, and fruits are the main agricultural activity. The countrys major agricultural activity surrounds livestock particularly meat and dairy products which account for more than two-thirds of all farm output value. Potatoes, forage crops, oats barley, and wheat are widely cultivated across the country, but they are particularly common in the southeastern part of the country. Typically, there are two trends in agriculture observable in Belgium; the first one is the diminishing or disappearing of small family farms and secondly the increasing dominance of large-scale agribusiness. Over the last 30 years, small scale farms in Belgium declined by 80%. This trend has resulted in expanding output in agriculture as a result of adopting new technology and scientific research on crops. Although the number of small scale farms has been reducing over time, Belgium produces more and from 1995 to 1999 crop output in the country went up by 9%. In 1999, Belgium produced sugar beets of approximately 6.15 MMT, potatoes of 2.7 MMT, and wheat of about 1.3 MMT. The country has attained self-sufficient in sugar production, and it imports most of the food items from the Caribbean, which are re-exported to different countries in the European Union. Similarly, Belgium imports also raw crops and processes them for export markets.

Manufacturing

Industries in the manufacturing sector in Belgium account for approximately one-third of the countrys GDP and play a significant role in the economy. Major manufacturing activities are found in the eastern provinces of Limburg, Flanders, and Hainaut. One of the regions that has come forward as a key manufacturing zone in Belgium includes the corridor running between Antwerp and Brussels where several industries are located. Some of the dominant industries include food processing, paper manufacturing, glass, chemicals, textiles, steel, and metallurgy. Belgium is among the global leaders in processing of cobalt, zinc, copper, lead, and radium. Petroleum refineries are located around Antwerp where it is also the leading location in trading and diamond cutting. Lace from Belgium has had global fame for centuries although currently there has been a decline in the sector which has largely been depending on handwork particularly with the aging population. Currently, there are specialist schools in Binche and Mons, which have been established to train young people. In the 20th century, there was a phenomenal growth in engineering and foreign direct investment. There are numerous assembly plants in Belgium, four different foreign automobile makers, and similarly the presence of foreign manufacturing companies of heavy electrical equipment and goods. There are also numerous manufacturers of specialized plastics and machine tools.

Finance

The financial sector in Belgium has experienced tremendous growth from the early 1960s, and there are numerous banks operating across the country but most of them being foreign and they are mainly found in the city of Brussels. The countrys central bank, also known as the National Bank of Belgium, is responsible for issuing of currency and ensuring the security of national finance as well as providing financial services particularly to the Federal Government. Similarly, the European Central Bank is also located in Brussels, and it is responsible for formulating key financial and monetary policies for the European Union. The countrys stock exchange was founded in the early 19th century in Brussels and in 2000 they merged with Paris stock exchange and Amsterdam stock exchange to form the Euronext which became a wholly integrated cross-border stock and equities market. The country has been targeted by most foreign investment companies in finance and energy, especially in the 21st century.

Trade

The economy of Belgium relies heavily on trade and the country exported goods worth $250.8 billion in 2016. The country exports a wide range of items such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles, machinery, food items, textiles, diamonds, iron, and steel among many others. The leading export destination for most of Belgiums products includes the United States and several countries of the European Union especially France, Germany, Netherland, Italy, and the United Kingdom among others. In 2016, Belgium imported goods valued at $251.7 billion in 2016. Some of the import items include raw materials, raw diamond, machinery, foodstuffs, Pharmaceuticals, Petroleum, and transport equipment among others. Some of the leading import partners include Germany, Netherlands, France, the UK, Ireland, and China among others.

Prospects of the Economy

According to OECD, the economy of Belgium slowed down in 2018, and it is projected to maintain 1.5% growth in 2019 and 2020. The main driver of Belgiums economy in future will be the domestic demand, and it is expected that government investment will be strong in 2020, and similarly, the private investment will offer the much-needed support particularly in the coming two or more years.
Keynote on firearm injury to Open Society for Academic Emergency Medicine meeting

DES PLAINES, IL -- Leading firearm injury and prevention experts, Drs. Rebecca Cunningham, and Garen Wintemute, will open SAEM19 -- the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine on Wednesday, May 15 with a timely and compelling keynote address titled "with a timely presentation titled "Firearm Injury: Facts, Myths, and a Public Health Path Forward."

Firearm violence is a major public health and public safety problem, associated with nearly 40,000 deaths and nearly 100,000 emergency department visits in 2017. Mass public shootings are changing the character of American public life, and more than 40 percent of Americans are concerned that they might become victims of firearm violence. Rates of firearm homicide, firearm suicide, nonfatal firearm injury, and mass shootings are all increasing. Emergency physicians are uniquely positioned to study firearm violence and act to prevent it.

In their SAEM19 keynote address on Wednesday, May 15 at 9:30 a.m., Dr. Rebecca Cunningham and Dr. Garen Wintemute will illustrate why it is appropriate to view firearm violence as a health problem and then provide an overview of the basic epidemiology of firearm violence (including mass shootings, homicide, and suicide) for adults and children.

Their presentation will emphasize differences between risk- and population-based epidemiologic approaches and points on which common understandings are incorrect. It will include an overview of data on how firearm injuries stack up to other common causes of death, trends over the past 20 years, global comparisons, and health disparities. They will also discuss what is known about the effectiveness of common risk- and population-based policy interventions, including those directed at firearm violence specifically and those with broader impact. Their presentation will address the relative lack of knowledge about firearm violence, as compared with other comparable health and social problems, and will detail the reasons why little research has been done. They will briefly review opportunities for research, in clinical settings and otherwise.

The keynote address will close by reviewing opportunities for risk screening and direct preventive action in clinical settings, based on the "What You Can Do" initiative for physicians for adults developed by emergency physicians at UC Davis, as well as the Firearm-Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium (FACTS) video trainings developed for pediatric patients. Throughout, reference will be made to particularly salient events in recent years that have shaped our understanding of firearm violence or our ability to conduct research and intervene effectively.

Dr. Cunningham is director of the CDC-funded University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center, associate vice president for Health Sciences Research for the University of Michigan's Office of Research, professor for the University of Michigan's Department of Emergency Medicine, and professor in Health Behavior & Health Education, U-M School of Public Health. She has a distinguished career in researching injury prevention, particularly of youth and young adult populations, and has been continuously funded by NIH and CDC for over 20 years to reduce the burden of injury with a focus on emergency department as a key location of contact. Dr. Cunningham is director of the 2017 NICHD funded Firearm-Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium (FACTS).

Dr. Wintemute, MD, MPH, is the founding director of the Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) and holds the Baker-Teret Chair in Violence Prevention at the University of California, Davis. He also directs the new University of California Firearm Violence Research Center. He was among the first to study firearm violence as a public health problem, and firearm violence remains the primary focus of his research and policy work. Dr. Wintemute practices and teaches emergency medicine at UC Davis Medical Center and is a professor of emergency medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine. His current research focuses on violence risk factors and interventions to prevent violence.

In the May-June issue of SAEM Pulse, the Society's bimonthly magazine, Dr. Cunningham, in an interview said:

"Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of death among children one to 18 years old and the leading cause of death among high-school age kids ages 14-17. These injuries are preventable and well within our scope of practice in emergency medicine to be addressing. Firearm violence is not too complex to study or solve. It is not more complicated then reducing strokes or HIV. We just have not applied our scientific knowledge and resources to solve it. Also, great reductions can be made while preserving Second Amendment rights. This is an injury prevention issue, not a 'control' issue. We can accomplish massive injury prevention goals while respecting Second Amendment rights."

In the same interview, Dr. Wintemute added:

"Firearm violence is a health problem, and it can be studied and intervened with on that basis. There is an epidemiology of firearm violence, and interventions can be targeted to produce the greatest effect while minimizing unintended consequences. We still do not understand the importance of suicide, which is substantially more common than homicide and has a very different risk profile. We significantly overestimate our risk of involvement in a mass shooting. This is very sad; those events are reshaping the character of American public life, and not for the better.

"We need to believe that violence is not acceptable and is everyone's problem. We need to believe that, individually and collectively, we can make a difference. As a scientist, I will add that knowledge is power; we need more and better evidence on which to base our actions. As a clinician, I will say that we already know enough to make a difference for the better."

SAEM's annual meeting--the largest forum for the presentation of original education and research in academic emergency medicine-- will be held will be held May 14-17, 2019 at The Mirage Las Vegas, 3400 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Reporters and others may follow key developments on the SAEM19 website, on the SAEM Facebook page, or @SAEMonline, #SAEM19. To obtain press credentials to attend the plenary presentations, contact Stacey Roseen, SAEM Director of Communications and Publications, at sroseen@saem.org.

###

The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to the improvement of care of the acutely ill and injured patient by leading the advancement of academic emergency medicine through education and research, advocacy, and professional development. To learn more, visit saem.org.

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
A suspected bomb attack by Maoist rebels killed 16 Indian elite commandos on Wednesday, police said, the latest incident of election-time violence in a decades-long insurgency.

"Maoists attacked a team of commandos travelling in a private vehicle to inspect an earlier attack. So far 16 men have died," an official at police headquarters in the western state of Maharashtra told AFP.

"More teams have been sent to site for rescue and combat operations," said the officer, who did not want to give his name.

India is holding elections and attacks by Maoist rebels, who are active in several states, often spike as the country goes to the polls.

A second police official put the death toll in the latest incident in the Gadchiroli region of Maharashtra at 15.

"Maoists torched over 30 vehicles in Gadchiroli today at 12.30pm (0700 GMT). In another blast, 15 security officers were killed and rescue operations are ongoing to ascertain the damage," Gadchiroli police official Prashant Dute told AFP.

Indian forces have been fighting Maoists rebels for decades in several areas, in an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands.

The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 Indian states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand -- and Maharashtra.

India's nationwide election began on April 11 and runs until May 19.

Last weekend rebels opened fire on Indian police, killing two constables and wounding a villager in the central state of Chhattisgarh, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

One constable and an assistant constable died at the scene and the villager, shot in the chest, was taken by local residents for treatment, PTI reported.

A roadside bomb attack on a political convoy in early April killed five people in Chhattisgarh, two days before the world's biggest election began.

- Modi condemns -

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday swiftly condemned the latest attack.

"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel," Modi tweeted.

"Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," he added.

Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally of Modi, confirmed the attack on Twitter.

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals (Maoists) today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families," Fadnavis said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh called the attack "an act of cowardice and desperation".

"We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel," he said. "Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain."

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Musa Umar, the district head of Daura in Katsina state has just been kidnapped by gun men. Umar, a former Customs officer, is ma...

Musa Umar, the district head of Daura in Katsina state has just been kidnapped by gun men.





Umar, a former Customs officer, is married to the daughter of President Muhammadu Buharis sister.





He is also reported to be the father of Fatima Musa, wife of Mohammed Abubakar, Buharis aide de camp (ADC).





NAN reports that police officers are on the trail of the criminals.





Witnesses told NAN that the kidnappers stormed his residence at 7pm on Wednesday and sporadically shot into the air, scaring the hell out of bystanders, who scampered for safety.





Umar had just returned from the mosque where he took part in the evening prayer when the incident happened.





He was sitting in front of his house with some people when the gun totting men came.





A witness told NAN that the kidnappers came in a Peugeot 406 saloon car.





After the gunmen left, the Daura council chairman Malam Abba Mato and hundreds of sympathizers came to Umars residence, to discuss the bewildering incident.




The mass protest movement that forced the removal of Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the beginning of the month is continuing, with growing demands for the downfall of the regime and mounting expressions of opposition to the military.

Last Friday was the tenth successive week of protests since February 22. Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in the capital, Algiers, in Oran, Constantine, Bejaia and other cities and towns. For the second successive week, gendarmes put up roadblocks on all the major highway routes leading to the capital, turning away all traffic in an attempt to reduce the number of protesters in Algiers.

Nonetheless, AFP reported that the crowds of protesters filling the streets of the capital stretched for kilometres. The protesters chanted The system must go, and You have pillaged the country, thieves! News outlets reported a marked increase in slogans directed against the military and General Ahmed Gaid Salah, including, The people do not want Gaid Salah or Bouteflika. The Washington Postreported that demonstrators chanted, The army isnt the solution, and called for Salah to get out.

A protest last month in Bejaia

The military, which is the backbone of the government, intervened to remove Bouteflika at the end of March in order to preserve the regime while seeking, unsuccessfully, to put an end to the protests. Bouteflikas long-time ally and speaker of the legislative body, Abdelaker Bensalah, has been installed as interim president until elections are called on July 4.

Protesters have rejected this transition as a fraud aimed at removing only a figurehead while keeping the existing regime in power. They have denounced the government of Bensalah and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui as a government of shame.

We want this system to leave and all the thieves to be judged, Zohra, a 55-year-old teacher who travelled 350 kilometres to attend the Algiers demonstration with her 25-year-old son, told AFP.

Over the past two weeks, the regime has arrested a series of close Bouteflika allies in the security forces, as the military has consolidated its direct control over the state apparatus. On Monday, Abdelghani Hamel, the former head of the countrys police forces, faced trial on corruption charges.

At the same time, under the banner of an anti-corruption campaign aimed at providing a semblance of democratic reform, scores are being settled between different factions of the ruling elite. Five billionaires were arrested in the past week and are facing corruption charges, including four brothers close to Bouteflikas inner circle: Reda, Abdelkader, Karim and Tarek Kouninef.

Isaad Rebrab, the countrys richest individual and founder and chairman of Cevital, Algerias largest private company, was arrested on Monday.

The crisis facing the government, confronted with mass opposition, was expressed in the armys announcement, reported by Tout sur lAlgerie (TSA), that government ministers will not hold their first planned meeting on May 2. While the meeting was organized to provide a semblance of credibility to the government, with ministers to give oral answers to pre-written questions by the military, the event was called off for fear it would only trigger protests. TSA reported that the announcement of such an event alone was widely denounced on social media.

The ongoing protests in the working class and among young people reflect the deep opposition to conditions of social inequality and poverty. The millions who forced the removal of Bouteflika were not seeking a new fig-leaf government controlled by the military and representing the countrys billionaires and their imperialist backers, but a revolution to improve their conditions of life.

While a tiny layer of multi-millionaires and billionaires in the regime has enriched itself over decades, official youth unemployment is close to 30 percent in a country where approximately two-thirds of the population is under 30.

The explosive social anger was expressed in clashes in the eastern city of Tebessa on Sunday. Private security guards for the private bottled mineral water company Youkous fired birdshot at local villagers protesting outside the factory to oppose the lack of water for the town.

In the morning, 20 of us went to [the factory] to find a solution for the lack of water that has affected our town for a long time and has gotten worse since the building of this factory, one villager told El Watan. Around 11, we were attacked by individuals with batons, swords and other arms

When the protesters fought back, armed men began to shoot from the roof. Thirteen people were shot, including one youth. Later that day the factory was reportedly burned down.

A France Info report on April 4 indicates the scale of the crisis in the public health care system. Doctor Mohamed Taileb told the news outlet: We are lacking syringes. The gloves are torn. He said that the facial masks necessary for treating patients with tuberculosis were no longer available. This is not normal, he added. I risk my safety Many materials to operate are missing. Glasses, oxygen masks.

The growing struggles of the Algerian workers and youth are part of an international upsurge of struggles by the working class, including in Sudan, where protests are continuing to escalate against the military government, and in Morocco, where strikes are spreading.

The official opposition partiesstretching from that of the former prime minister Ali Benflis to the pseudo-left Socialist Workers Party (PST), which is allied with Frances New Anti-capitalist Party, and Louisa Hanounes Workers Partyare working to block a political struggle against the military dictatorship. They are instead seeking to channel workers and youth behind appeals for the regime to carry out democratic reforms.

Benflis issued a statement on Saturday warning the military that the holding of its sham elections on July 4 would be politically dangerous under conditions where none of the parties has any popular credibility. He wrote: To stick stubbornly to holding presidential elections  can only expose the country to an electoral parody without candidates and without voters, and as a result the president will lose all legitimacy.

Louisa Hanoune of the Workers Party (PT) is repeating the main demand of the PT and PST for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly, aiming to provide a pseudo-democratic fig leaf for the continued rule of a military dictatorship. Hanoune warned that the management of this phase of transition proceeds through a national sovereign constituent assembly, an ideal solution which corresponds to the wishes of the people desiring change

Such statements are aimed only at sowing illusions in the working class and blinding it to the dangers it confronts, while blocking a determined revolutionary offensive. While opposition is growing to the military government, which waged a brutal civil war in the 1990s that killed over 200,000 people, the regime is preparing a violent crackdown.

The social interests of the working class and the fight for a democratic government can be achieved only through the fight by the working classin opposition to all of the pro-capitalist partiesto take political power into its own hands, expropriate the billions of dollars plundered by the corporate and financial elite, and establish a workers government as part of the fight for socialism internationally.
A Minister of State in Ghana, Rockson Bukari has resigned his position after he was caught on tape attempting to bribe a journalist. ...

A Minister of State in Ghana, Rockson Bukari has resigned his position after he was caught on tape attempting to bribe a journalist.





The Minister was trying to stop the journalist from publishing damaging reports involving a mining company.





Ghana President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has since accepted the Ministers resignation and wished him well.





This was disclosed by the Communications Director at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, according to Daily Trust.

Bukari, who was the Minister of the Upper East Region at that time, was captured on tape attempting to bribe a journalist to stop him from publishing disparaging reports on Shaanxi Mining Company and a judge in 2018.





He had initially debunked the claim.





The Presidency said the former Minister tendered his letter of resignation to the President on Monday 29th April.




On Monday, President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum ordering Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, and Attorney General William Barr to impose new restrictions and attacks on asylum seekers at the US/Mexico border.

The antidemocratic and illegal measures proposed by Trump include compelling applicants to pay asylum application fees, imposing new restrictions on work permits, and requiring that all asylum cases be settled within 180 days. The current backlog of cases totals over 800,000, with an average wait time of almost two years.

The memo also mandates that migrants who attempt unauthorized entry into the United States be barred from receiving work permits until their claims are adjudicated.

The memorandum paves the way for Border Patrol cops to replace US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers in the initial credible fear interview process. These interviews are conducted to determine if migrants fears of injury or death in their home countries are credible, allowing them to proceed and present their asylum cases before an immigration judge.

Trump has reportedly expressed anger and frustration over the relatively high proportion of asylum seekers who surmount this initial hurdle. He backs the recommendation of his fascistic immigration adviser Stephen Miller that the asylum officers who currently conduct the interviews be replaced by border cops, who will be more likely to block refugees from proceeding with their claims.

In line with his denunciations of impoverished workers fleeing violence and repression in their home countries as invaders and con men supposedly gaming the system, Trump said in the memorandum: The purpose of this memorandum is to strengthen asylum procedures to safeguard our system against rampant abuse of our asylum process.

The directives in the memorandum are mandated for enactment 90 days after issuance of the order.

The aim of these proposals, which violate international and national asylum laws and protocols, is to virtually end immigration into the US across the US-Mexican border. The memorandum follows a long line of attacks on immigrants, including family separations, the building of a network of immigrant detention centers, deliberately slowing the process of accepting asylum claims at ports of entry to a crawl, deploying active duty troops to the border, and declaring a national emergency to allocate Pentagon funds, in defiance of Congress, and mobilize the military to build a wall along the southern border of the US.

Earlier this month, Trump carried out a purge of top officials in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), because, as he told reporters, We want to go in a tougher direction. The firings included the dismissal of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who had implemented all of the administrations attacks on immigrants rights but reportedly balked at resuming the forcible separation of immigrant children from their parents and carrying out measures that directly violate the law.

The same day that he signed the asylum memorandum, Trump tweeted, The Coyotes and Drug Cartels are in total control of the Mexico side of the Southern Border They have labs nearby where they make drugs to sell into the US. Mexico, one of the most dangerous countries in the world, must eradicate this problem now. Also, stop the MARCH to US.

Also on Monday, the Defense Department announced that Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan had approved a request by the DHS that the military send an additional 320 troops to the southern border, adding to the more than 6,000 already there in what has effectively become a permanent military presence.

The Democratic Party has facilitated the administrations escalating anti-immigrant campaign by a combination of silence and complicity. In recent weeks it has shifted further to the right, adapting itself more directly and openly to Trumps anti-immigrant policies.

It now echoes the White Houses talk of a crisis at the border that demands extraordinary measures. In fact, the so-called crisis is the result of Trumps anti-asylum policies, which have forced desperate refugees to cross the border in more remote areas so they can turn themselves in to the border police and apply for refuge in the US. This is combined with the catastrophic social and political conditions in Central America caused by a century of US imperialist interventions, coups, CIA-trained death squads and US-backed dictatorships, by means of which the US ruling class has economically exploited the region and its working population.

In recent days, New York Times commentator Thomas Friedman has penned a column backing Trumps border wall and his demand for a merit-based immigration system and Bernie Sanders has denounced open borders and warned of a flood of impoverished people coming into the US, supposedly threatening the jobs and wages of US workers.

On Tuesday, one day after Trumps attack on the right to asylum, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer met behind closed doors with Trump and emerged to praise the meeting as productive and reiterate their eagerness to work with the White House. Speaking to reporters, they did not say a word about Trumps asylum memorandum or any other aspect of his anti-immigrant policy.

Responding to Trumps memorandum, James Davis, an immigration attorney with Immigration Legal Services of Chula Vista, California, told the World Socialist Web Site that what they are trying to do is close the door.

He continued: I fear that people will just be denied without a fair process. They dont want so many credible fear interviews processed, even though they are nearly always denied.

Davis added: These people dont have money. To charge a fee for asylum is a way to prevent people from being able to apply for asylum. Most asylum applicants have left everything behind and they come with nothing. The conditions they are fleeing have gotten so bad, they leave their home, their job, all their belongings except what they can carry on their backs.

There are many cases where women, for instance, have been forced into servitude, raped and assaulted, even by border patrol and border agents. Everything has been taken from them and they have paid such a price. Now they say we are also going to require something more of you!

This runs contrary to international asylum law. Asylum is based on humanitarian law. You cannot charge a fee for that.
I am

each old man

here shot dead.

I am

every child

here shot dead.

Nothing in me

shall ever forget!

The Internationale,

let it thunder

when the last anti-Semite on earth

is buried forever.

In my blood there is no Jewish blood.

In their callous rage,

all anti-Semites

must hate me now as a Jew.

For that reason

I am a true Russian!

[From Babi Yar by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, translation: George Reavey]

After nearly two years of preparation, the Michigan State University (MSU) Orchestra and Choral Ensembles performed Dmitri Shostakovichs Symphony No. 13 in B-flat minor, based on Yevgeny Yevtushenkos poem Babi Yar (1961), last Saturday in East Lansing, Michigan, and Sunday at Detroits Orchestra Hall. It was conducted by Christopher James Lees and featured well-known baritone Mark Rucker, who also serves as professor of voice in the MSU College of Music.

Yevtushenkos Babi Yar is a poem that memorializes the Nazi massacre of 34,000 Jews at Babi Yar, just outside Kiev, Ukraine, on September 29-30, 1941, one of the single largest instances of mass murder carried out during the Holocaust. It took place soon after the invasion of the Soviet Union.

The rapidly intensifying political atmosphere todayincluding the rise of anti-Semitism and authoritarianism nationally and internationallyheightened the emotional and artistic significance for musicians and listeners alike. One of the most enduring and powerful musical protests against fascism and anti-Semitism, Shostakovichs Symphony No. 13 was performed in Detroit one day after another brutal anti-Semitic murder at Chabad of Poway, just north of San Diego, on the final day of Passover. The killer issued a statement that denounced Jews for their role in Marxism and communism.

The Michigan State University Orchestra with Christopher James Lees, conducting

The contemporary resonance of MSUs production Babi Yar, Remembering the Holocaust was noted by several speakers who introduced Shostakovichs work. They referenced the fascist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, the terror bombing in Sri Lanka and the slaughter of 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last October. Concert-goers included more than a dozen Holocaust survivors and a busload of older members of the Jewish Community Center, as well as many young musicians.

Socialist Equality Party campaigners distributed materials on the rise of the fascist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the fight against the extreme right and were warmly received by many. Its not just in Germany, its hereits here, one older concert-goer repeated, with unmistakable alarm.

The concert began with Charles Davidsons I Never Saw Another Butterfly (1968), in slightly abbreviated form. The piece is written for orchestra and treble choir and based on poems by Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust. The children were among the 150,000 Jews imprisoned in the Terezin concentration camp (also known as Theresienstadt). After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, the Nazis converted the Czech town of Terezin into a Jewish prison. It was not an extermination camp, but about 33,000 would die of hunger and disease there. The Soviet army liberated the camp in 1945.

The evocative poetic lines of the children were displayed above the orchestra and chorus. The heaviest wheel rolls across our foreheads, To bury itself deep somewhere in our memories. Weve suffered here more than enough, Here in this clot of grief and shame begins the poem Terezin.

The piece is alternatively haunting and mournful and lively and hopeful, as the powerful choirs give voice to the childrens contradictory feelings. Davidson, trained as a cantor and with a doctorate in sacred music, has created an ethereal and entrancing melodic sound in this now widely performed piece.

Sophia Franklin

Sophia Franklin, a Music Education and Physics major at MSU, who sang alto in the 100-plus member chorus, later told a reporter from the World Socialist Web Site, Our piece was about Terezin. It was a concentration camp, but designed by the Nazis to be the public face of the camps for visits by the Red Cross. It looked like a nice camp, but really it was just as bad. People were disappearing. They [the Jews] knew there was something very wrong even though the murders werent happening there. They were living in constant fear.

Echoing the thoughts of many of those in the hall, Sophia said, I have learned about the history of the Holocaust in middle and high school. This has happened before. Cant we learn from that?

In one of the concerts introductory lectures, MSU Assistant Professor Dr. Amy Simon explained that the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, beginning a war of annihilation. Recognizing the genocidal implications, Simon said, approximately 100,000 Jews fled Kiev before the fascist occupation. Those who remained were the sick, the elderly and many children. These Jews were forced to walk to a ravine on the outskirts, now called Babi Yar, lined up in groups and systematically machine-gunned to death.

After the wholesale slaughter of the Jews, who constituted the largest proportion of the dead, the killing would continue for months abetted by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Tens of thousands of Communist Party members, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and other anti-Nazis also perished there. It is estimated that the total number of dead thrown into the pit at Babi Yar would grow to more than 100,000 during the years of German occupation. Of the 6 million Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis, more than 2 million died in the Soviet Union as a result of mass executions similar to that at Babi Yar.

Yevgeny Yevtushenkos famous poem Babi Yar was written in protest. It begins, No monument stands over Babi Yar. A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone. I am afraid. Today, I am as old, As the entire Jewish race itself.

The poem is a brilliant and defiant attack on both anti-Semitism and the Stalinist bureaucracy. The nationalist bureaucracy pandered to anti-Semitism and was hostile to its exposure; it opposed any remembrance of the genocidal treatment of the Jews, insisting there be no special mention of the Nazis determination to eradicate Jewry. Yevtushenkos poem laments, O, Russia of my heart, I know that you, Are international, by inner nature. But often those whose hands are steeped in filth, Abused your purest name, in name of hatred. Unsurprisingly, the poem was officially denounced by Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

Kevin Bartig, MSU associate professor of music, who also spoke before the production, related the extraordinary first exchange between the poet and composer. Shostakovich, he explained, approached Yevtushenko for permission to set Babi Yar to music. The poet immediately agreed, and Shostakovich, relieved, then told him the piece was already composed.

Bartig recounted Yevtushenkos words when he first heard the composition, Some of my poems were set before, but the music hardly ever coincided with the melody I heard in my inner ear when writing my poem. I hope it doesnt sound like conceit, but if I were able to write music, I would have written exactly the way Shostakovich did. By some magic, telepathic insight he seems to have pulled the melody out of me and recorded it in musical notation.

Wonderful and apt words! Sitting in the audience of this concert, one felt an emotional and seamless unity between the music and wordseach heightening the power of the other.

Bartig noted that there were attempts to prevent the premiere of the 13th Symphony in 1962, but it was a sign of the times, that the idea of censoring a performanceas would certainly have been the case a decade earlier [prior to Stalins death]would have been more of a provocation or scandal than allowing it to go on. This was during the period of the so-called Thaw in the USSR.

The music scholar noted, The work is a meditation on repression, from anti-Semitism to the take-down of self-interested bureaucrats in the final movement. It was a risky project in the USSR. Even a few years earlier, Shostakovich might not have risked it. 

Stylistically, Shostakovich is himself as ever here using a tonal idiom, dressed up with the things that make his voice so distinctive: creating dissonances, exaggerated contrasts, and sarcasm. He concluded by noting, The themes we confront in the 13th, which sadly remain relevant in 2019, make the work one of the most unsettling and powerful in the symphonic repertoire.

Mark Rucker, Baritone, MSU Voice Professor [Credit: Michigan State University]

Explaining his decision to create the work, Shostakovich said, I was overjoyed when I read Yevtushenkos Babi Yar; the poem astounded me. It astounded thousands of people. Many had heard about Babi Yar, but it took Yevtushenkos poem to make them aware of it. They tried to destroy the memory of Babi Yar, first the Germans and then the Ukrainian government. But after Yevtushenkos poem, it became clear that it would never be forgotten. That is the power of art.

The piece is not easily classified. Requiring a bass soloist, mens chorus and large orchestra, it has five movements. Babi Yar has been variously described as a choral symphony, a song cycle or a giant cantata. The first section, Babi Yar, the Adagio, is a funereal elegy, opening with a solemn chime, dramatically invoking the Dreyfus affair in France (1894-1906), the savage Bialystok pogrom of 1906 and the story of Anne Frank. The emotional music moves from the spiritual to the literal, in the breaking down of Anne Franks door. The use of the bass soloist, the impressive Mark Rucker in this case, a male chorus and the frequent effective use of chimes and bells is widely attributed to the influence of 19th century Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky.

The second movement, Humour, is a livelier piece, but its message is just as pointed: oppression cannot silence the masses and their mocking of authority. It ends, three cheers for humourhes a brave fellow. The third (In the Store) is an ode to Soviet women, endlessly forced to line up to secure provisions for their families, ending with a quasi-religious motif. The fourth movement (Fears) evokes the menacing atmosphere under Stalinism, opening with a highly chromatic tuba solo that anticipates the composers later experiments with twelve-tone dissonance. Career, the final movement, condemns censorship and the ever-present Stalinist toadies with a lopsided opening waltz and beautiful woodwind solos, ending with a chilling final strike of the chime. It makes a bitter analogy to the Catholic Churchs trial and imprisonment of Galileo.

Joseph Jankowski

Attending the Orchestra Hall event, Joseph Jankowski, a student at the Detroit Institute for Musical Education, told us, I knew this would be powerful. But when the conductor lowered the baton, no one clapped. Then everyone started clapping and didnt want to stopthat was amazing.

It was a beautiful portrayal and 100 percent relevant. Humanity-wise we face a serious issue today in this country and around the world. Events like this are extremely important because they should serve as a reminder that not all is as it should be. Large events like the Holocausteven smaller events like Sandy Hookweve allowed them to happened. We forget.

It was amazing, absolutely amazing, said Edie, another audience member, A person just feels more emotional about it all [in the setting of] such impressive music.

International Youth and Students for Socialist Equality (IYSSE) member James said he was deeply moved by both the music and poems: In Charles Davidsons piece, the first poem, Id Like to Go Away Alone, began with heavenly violin strings that captured the feeling of hope. But when the alto choir sang Somewhere into the far unknown there, where no one kills another, the vocals were a musical suggestion of such an un-worldly place.

He continued, The lyrics captured the feelings of children who had to watch this tragedy as it happened.  The gong and flute were used a lot to symbolize the blows that Nazi soldiers used against the Jewish prisoners of war. The orchestra members walked off in a single file line to symbolize what the Jewish people experienced at that time in these concentration camps.

James also noted, The [Shostakovich] music really felt uneasy, as the poem portrays things. The baritone singing, Let the Internationale thunder as the last anti-Semites on earth are buried had me in tears. I hope the working class has more access to cultural events like this one in the future. This was a great experience for me.

The greatness of Shostakovich, Fred Mazelis notes in his WSWS article on the composers legacy, was to reflect the great struggles of his time, to find the musical language, in abstract, personal and emotional terms, through which to express not only his personal travail, but that of many millions of others.

Many of those of us who attended the soul-stirring MSU performance would strongly concur. Indeed, the struggles of his time remain the struggles of our own.
Thousands of educators across North and South Carolina are converging on the state capitals today demanding better pay, improved working conditions and better social conditions for their students. Teachers in the Carolinas are joining a worldwide movement of educators who are saying Enough is enough to low wages, overcrowded classrooms and politicians who piously declare their devotion to children while slashing public education to the bone.

A year ago, 60,000 Arizona teachers carried out their first-ever statewide strike as part of a revolt that spread from West Virginia and Oklahoma to Kentucky and Virginia. Walkouts have continued in 2019 in California, Colorado, West Virginia and now the Carolinas, with new strikes and protests set in New York City, Chicago and Detroit.

The fight against austerity and social inequality is international. Earlier this month, 300,000 Polish teachers conducted a 17-day national strike. Over the last 14 months, educators launched strikes in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Mexico, Argentina, France, the Netherlands and many other countries.

One year ago, 20,000 teachers and their supporters marched in Raleigh. The meager funding increases approved by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper and the Republican-controlled legislature still leave pay well below the national average, and the state remains 39th in the nation in per-pupil spending.

Every public opinion poll shows enormous popular support for the teacher strikes and for substantial improvements in pay and school funding throughout the country. But the Democrats and Republicans have ignored public sentiment. In at least 12 states, including North Carolina, state governments are spending less on K-12 schools today than they did before the Great Recession. In 42 states, teachers are paid less than they were in 200910.

Over the last two decades, the two corporate-backed parties have diverted virtually all of societys resources into the bank accounts of the super-rich. Whether it was Bush or Obama or Trump in the White House, both parties found trillions to bail out the financial criminals on Wall Street, fund tax cuts for Amazon and other corporations, subsidize the charter school industry and wage criminal wars to grab oil and other resources.

In the face of this bipartisan war against public education, the unions have told teachers that the Democrats will listen to their demands. We wanted to make sure they knew that we wanted public education policy makers standing up for us, and they failed to do so last year, North Carolina Association of Educators president Mark Jewell said, adding, So, we went to the ballot box on Nov. 6, and changed the policy makers. So now its time to change the policy.

But the fact is that all the policy makers, Democratic and Republican, are beholden to the giant corporations. They will not carry out any policy that impinges on the entrenched wealth and power of the capitalists.

A serious struggle is required. Not only must teachers be paid a high wage, but hundreds of billions must be spent to improve schools, finance the most advanced technologies, and make sure that all childrenregardless of family incomehave access to the highest-quality education.

The biggest obstacles to unifying educators across the country are the National Education Association (NEA), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and their state and local affiliates. Allied with the Democrats and led by union executives like AFT President Randi Weingarten (salary $514,000) and NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia (salary $414,824), whose incomes put them in the top 5 percent of income earners, the unions are hostile to any challenge to the concentration of wealth.

Teachers must draw the lessons of the last year of struggle. The teacher rebellion was largely initiated from below by teachers on social media and in defiance of the NEA and AFT. Unable to stop the strikes, the NEA and AFT did everything to isolate each struggle, wear down teachers and then sign sellout deals that included minimal pay raises largely funded by regressive taxes or cuts to other vital programs. In every case, the union officials proclaimed, Remember in November and peddled the lie that the Democrats were the friends of teachers.

Teachers require new organizations of struggle, democratically controlled by rank-and-file educators themselves, to fight for what teachers, support staff and their children need, not what the big business politicians claim is affordable. These rank-and-file workplace and neighborhood committees should reach out and fight for the broadest mobilization of the working class, including mass demonstrations and a general strike, to defend the social right to high quality public education.

Tens of millions the world over are coming to understand that meeting societys needs is incompatible with the capitalist system, which subordinates every aspect of life to the ever-greater enrichment of the corporate and financial elite.

A fundamental change in societys priorities will not be accomplished by appealing to the powers-that-be and their representatives in the Democratic and Republican parties to increase their taxes and create a more humane capitalism.

The working class must build a powerful political movement against both corporate-controlled parties to fight for a workers government and the socialist reorganization of economic and political life. This will include the expropriation of the ill-gotten fortunes of the rich, a vast redistribution of the wealth, and an infusion of resources to raise the material and cultural level of the entire population.
The class struggle in India, as around the world, is dramatically intensifying, underscoring the urgency of the struggle for workers power and the international unification of the struggles of the working class.

The Indian bourgeoisie, as exemplified by the rise to power of Narendra Modi and his Hindu supremacist BJP and Indias transformation into a frontline state in US imperialisms military-strategic offensive against China, is hurtling to the rightembracing communal reaction, authoritarian methods of rule, militarism and war.

But Indias rulers face an increasingly rebellious working class, as well as mounting protests among the rural poor. The wave of strikes and farmer protests that has swept across India since 2017 is animated by opposition not only to the austerity policies implemented by the Modi government. It is challenging the pro-market, pro-investor agenda that all governments at both the all-India and state level have pursued for the past three decades, with the aim of transforming India into a cheap-labour production hub for global capital.

Indias Stalinist parliamentary partiesthe Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its older, smaller ally, the Communist Party of Indiahave responded to this intensification of class struggle by redoubling their efforts to politically subordinate the working class to the parties and putrid state institutions of the Indian bourgeoisie.

In the name of saving democracy and saving the republic, the Stalinists are seeking to divert the mounting working class opposition to the BJP-led government behind the drive of sections of the ruling elite to bring to power an alternate right-wing government following Indias multi-phase elections, which conclude May 23. Such a government would be akin to the succession of big business governmentsmost of them Congress Party-ledthat the Stalinists propped up in parliament between 1989 and 2008. These governments invariably implemented neo-liberal reform and pursued ever-closer relations with Washington.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM spells this out in black and white in its election manifesto. Declaring the current elections the most crucial in the history of independent India, the CPM says its campaign has three interconnected goals: to defeat the BJP-led alliance; to ensure an alternative secular government is formed at the Centre; and to increase the number of MPs from the CPM and the CPM-led Left Front.

The Stalinists are mounting an Anybody but BJP campaign. They are urging workers and toilers to support whichever party or multi-party alliance has the best chance of defeating the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in a given state. This includes stumping for a host of regional and caste-based parties, many of them, like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) or the Odisha-based BJD, that have previously been allied with the BJP.

However, in much of India the CPM is openly stumping for votes for the Congress Party, till recently the Indian bourgeoisies preferred party of government. In Tamil Nadu, the CPM and the CPI (Communist Party of India) are in an electoral bloc that includes the Congress Party and is led by the DMK, a right-wing regional party that is arguably the Congress closest ally.

The CPM had hoped to form a similar electoral alliance with the Congress Party in West Bengal. But the Congress snubbed its overtures, choosing instead to prioritize wresting seats from the Stalinists in Kerala (home to eight of the 11 current Left Front MPs) by standing Rahul Gandhi, the partys prime ministerial candidate, from a Kerala constituency.

Making clear that none of this will stand in the way of the Stalinists promoting the Congress Party as a democratic, secular alternative to the BJP or supporting a Congress-led government, an editorial in the CPMs English-language weekly Peoples Democracy lamented that the Congress ideological and political disarray was hindering it from taking a wider view and rally(ing) all forces to defeat the BJP at the national level.

In an interview with Scroll.in, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury noted that governmental coalitions have been formed by rival opposition parties after previous national elections. He then vowed that in 2019 also, a new arrangement will emerge after the election, all the while making clear that the Stalinists intend to be in the thick of organizing such an alternate big business government.

Yechury has previously crowed that from 1989 through 2008 the Stalinists played a pivotal role in forming and sustaining each and every non-BJP government. This included the Narasimha Rao minority Congress government that initiated the bourgeoisies drive to forge a new economic and strategic partnership with world imperialism in 1991 and pushed through a spate of big bang, pro-investor reforms over the next five years; and the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which was largely stitched together by the CPM after the BJP suffered unexpected losses in the 2004 election. Over the ensuing decade, the UPA pushed through further social incendiary neo-liberal reforms, while consummating Indias global strategic partnership with Washington.

Workers must beware. For the past three decades, the CPM and CPI have justified their systematic subordination of the working class to the Congress and other right-wing bourgeois parties on the grounds this was necessary to block the rise to power of the Hindu supremacist BJP. The end result is that the bourgeoisie, despite mass opposition, has been able to dramatically intensify the exploitation of the working class, producing levels of social inequality on par with the British Raj at its height. And the BJP is more powerful than ever.

Due to the Stalinists political suppression of the working class, the Hindu right has been able to seize the initiative and demagogically exploit the social frustration and anger produced by rampant social inequality, endemic poverty, and gnawing economic insecurity.

The Stalinists point to the crimes of Modi and his BJP, not to indict Indian capitalism and summon the working class to struggle, but to shackle it to the bourgeoisie.

In this, the Stalinists use of the term secular plays a particularly insidious role. To be sure, the BJP promotes toxic communalism and, along with its RSS mentor, is an incubator for fascistic forces. But the differences between the BJP and its purportedly secular opponents are of degree, not kind. Appeals to caste, communal and regional identities are the stock and trade of the cesspool that is Indian bourgeois politics, serving as a means whereby different bourgeois and petty bourgeois factions fight among themselves for pelf and privilege, and above all as a mechanism for diverting social tensions into reactionary channels.

The Congress Party has a long history of adapting to and conniving with the Hindu right. In the run-up to the 2019 election, it mounted a campaign that even the corporate media characterized as Hindutva or Hindu supremacism -lite. With consummate cynicism, the Stalinists routinely bestow their secular blessing on any party that finds itself on the outs with the BJP. When the JD (U), for some two decades the BJPs most important ally, was briefly estranged from the BJP and quit the NDA, the Stalinists rushed to promote the JD (U) as a vital part of the secular opposition.

The Stalinists cheer on Modis surgical strikes

Defenders of the Stalinist betrayal of the 1917 Russian Revolution and accomplices in the Soviet Stalinist bureaucracys ultimate betrayal, the restoration of capitalism in the former USSR, the twin Stalinist parties have functioned as an integral part of the bourgeois political establishment for decades.

Today their counterrevolutionary character is exemplified by their support for the Indian bourgeoisies great power ambitions, including its reactionary military-strategic rivalry with Pakistan, and by their complicitytheir verbal denunciations of US imperialism notwithstandingin its anti-China alliance with Washington.

As in the 1930s, capitalist breakdown is engendering a resurgence of inter-imperialist and great power conflict that, absent the revolutionary intervention of the working class, will lead inexorably to a global cataclysm.

The Indian bourgeoisie is playing its own foul role in this process. Continuing down the path blazed by its Congress predecessors, the Modi-led BJP government has integrated India ever more fully into US imperialisms war preparations against China, encouraging US imperialism in its reckless drive to offset the erosion of its economic dominance through aggression and war. At the same time, the Indian bourgeoisie is seeking to leverage the support and strategic favours accorded it by Washington to pursue its own predatory aims.

The extreme dangers this poses for the people of South Asia and the world have been demonstrated by the three major war crises in which India has been embroiled since the fall of 2016twice with Pakistan and once with China.

Far from alerting the working class and oppressed toilers to the war danger and educating them in the spirit of implacable opposition to the Indian bourgeoisie, its state and its national appeals, the CPM and CPI have supported Indias rapid military expansion, including its development of a nuclear triad and blue-water navy. The Stalinists celebrated the surgical strikes that the Indian military, on Modis orders, carried out against Pakistan in September 2016, and which precipitated months of cross-border firing in disputed Kashmir.

Similarly, the CPM and CPI hailed the airstrike the BJP government ordered deep inside Pakistan in late February. While CPM General-Secretary Yechury was attending a government-convened meeting to demonstrate all-party support for the strikes, tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan were on the boil, bringing India and Pakistan closer to all-out war than at any time since the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. Subsequentlywith Modi using the war crisis to whip up jingoism and support for his BJP, as it was obvious he would do ever since he declared Pakistan responsible for the February 14 Pulwama terrorist attackthe CPM bleated that Modi was politicizing the airstrike and disrupting united Indias stand against terrorism.

The CPM does criticize the government for reducing India to a junior partner of US imperialism. But these criticisms have nothing to do with the mobilization of the working class against imperialism, to say nothing of the development of a global working-class movement against war and imperialism. They are directed at convincing the Indian bourgeoisie that it could better advance its own interests by maintaining strategic autonomy and promoting multilateralism, that is, by keeping its hands free to manoeuvre with the European and other imperialist and great powers, as well as Washington.

Even this professed opposition to US imperialism is entirely two-faced. It did not stop the CPM and CPI from propping up a series of governments in the 1990s and the first decade of the current century that pursued ever-closer relations with Washington; and when they made an issue of the US-India nuclear accord in 2008, their Congress allies called their bluff and effectively threw them out of the government.

More than a decade on, the CPM and CPI have made it abundantly clear that while they may engage in some ritualistic handwringing over New Delhis partnership with a Trump-led America, they will help bring to power and prop up an alternate right-wing government that continues and expands the Indian bourgeoisies reckless and reactionary military-strategic alliance with US imperialism.

State Parties: The Stalinists and the Indian Republic

The CPM and CPI use their affiliated trade union apparatuses, respectively the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), to contain, divert and suppress working class social opposition, and thereby stake their claim for influence within the bourgeois political establishment.

Tens of millions of workers across India joined the January 8-9 general strike to voice their opposition to the BJP governments savage austerity and pro-investor policies. But for the Stalinists the strike was a manoeuvre aimed at burnishing their oppositional credentials, the better to tie the working class to their campaign to bring to power an alternate big business government. Thus the CPMs Peoples Democracy unabashedly declared the strike merely preparatory to the big battle aheadthat is defeating the BJP in the general election.

With their claims that democracy is at stake in the elections, the CPM and CPI seek to terrorize workers and youth into voting for the Congress and other discredited anti-working class parties.

But as the past three decades have palpably demonstrated, the democratic rights of working people cannot be secured and the Hindu right vanquished by replacing the BJP with another big business government, whether led by the Congress or some federal or third front combination of right-wing regional parties.

Should such a government come to power after May 23, it will be tasked by its bourgeois masters to accelerate the pace of economic reform, increase military spending and strengthen Indias alliance with Washington. Moreover, to force through these measures in the face of mounting working-class opposition, it will invariably turn toward authoritarian methods of rule, following in the footsteps of the national Congress government that used the army to smash the 1974 railway strike, then imposed two-years of emergency rule and the Haryana state Congress government, that in 2012 orchestrated the frame-up of the Maruti Suzuki workers.

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Hindu right will batten off the mounting popular anger against the left and trade union-supported big business government

The Indian bourgeoisies turn to social reaction and authoritarianism is its response to capitalist breakdown. Its solution to that crisisthe further intensification of capitalist exploitation, great-power aggression and waris inimical to the interests of the vast majority, making it increasingly impossible for it to abide by even traditional bourgeois democratic and constitutional constraints.

Similar processes can be seen the world over, with the bourgeoisie and military-intelligence apparatuses promoting far-right forces, including the AfD, the neo-Nazi party that is now Germanys official opposition, and the Lega in Italy. This is true in even the most privileged imperialist countries, with long bourgeois-democratic traditions, such as France and the United States. In the former, the liberal Macron has used authoritarian emergency powers to push through sweeping austerity, while lauding General Petain, the head of the fascist Vichy regime that ruled southern France during the Nazi occupation. In the US, the billionaire president Trump is openly seeking to build up a fascist movement by stoking xenophobia and racism, while the Democrats conspire with the military-intelligence apparatus to unseat him so as to pursue an even more aggressive policy against Russia.

The only progressive answer to the growth of capitalist reaction is the independent political mobilization of the working class in the fight for workers power.

In the 1930s, whenlike todaybourgeois democracy was visibly rotting on its feet, the Stalinist political ancestors of the CPM and CPI suppressed, in the name of the Popular Front with the democratic bourgeoisie, the revolutionary strivings of the working class and emerged as implacable defenders of the capitalist social order. This paved the way for the triumph of reaction and fascism in France and Spain and for the second imperialist world war.

Today the CPM and CPI function as state parties that strive to subordinate the working class to the political parties of the bourgeoisie and shackle it to its state.

The Stalinists promote the Indian state and its institutions, from parliament to the judiciary, police and army, as democratic bulwarks against the BJP and Hindu right. What the Stalinists laud as Indias secular democratic republic was in fact founded through the suppression of the mass anti-imperialist movement that convulsed South Asia in the first half of the twentieth centurythrough the communal partition of the subcontinent into an expressly Muslim Pakistan and a Hindu-dominated India, and the transfer of control over the state machine that had been created by South Asias departing British colonial overlords to the native bourgeoisie.

Indian democracy was not just stunted; it was deformed at birth. The subsequent nearly three-quarters of a century have demonstrated that under the rule of the bourgeoisie and its republic none of the burning problems facing the masses could be resolved, from the eradication of caste oppression and landlordism to vanquishing communalism and religious obscurantism and establishing genuine equality among Indias myriad ethnic and religious groups.

India attests in the negative to Leon Trotskys programme of Permanent Revolution. In the countries historically oppressed by imperialism, the basic tasks of the democratic revolution can only be resolved through a working-class-led socialist revolution and as an integral part of the world struggle for socialism.

The Stalinists much-vaunted Indian Republic is characterized by the rapaciousness and criminality of its capitalist ruling elite, the incendiary role it is playing in world politics as a satrap of US imperialism, and its perpetuation of colonial divide-and-rule politics through the noxious promotion of communal and casteist politics.

The Stalinists promotion of the Indian state must be taken as a warning. Under conditions of a mass upsurge of the working class, the Stalinists will not flinch at supporting state violence and repression, just as the CPM-led West Bengal government did when it faced mass protests in 2007 against its plans to expropriate peasants on behalf of the multinational Salim Group.

After decades in which the class struggle was artificially suppressed by the pro-capitalist trade unions and Stalinist and social-democratic parties, workers around the world, including the globally connected Indian working class that has emerged as the result of the past decades of rapacious capitalist development, are striving to assert their opposition to social inequality, austerity and war. But if Indian workers are to become an independent political power rallying the rural and urban toilers behind them in the fight for a socialist solution to the capitalist crisisand they musta political reckoning with the CPM and the CPI and the disastrous consequences of Stalinist politics for the working class in India and around the world is urgently required.

This means a turn to the Fourth International. Founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938, the Fourth International has defended and developed the programme of world socialist revolution, which animated the Russian Revolution against imperialism and against all its agencies, above all Stalinism. Led since 1953 by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), it embodies all the strategic lessons of the struggles of the international working class, including its victories and defeats in the last century and the first two decades of the 21st. Alone it strives to arm the working class with a revolutionary socialist programme and unify its struggles in a global offensive against capitalism.
The WSWS recently spoke to retired UK advice worker Terry Craven about the tragic case of Stephen Smith. Smith, from Liverpool, died on April 15 aged 64, after suffering years of chronic ill health, yet was still declared fit for work by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Stephen turned to the Community Advice Service Association (CASA) for help after the DWP denied his claim for Employment Support Allowance (ESA)a benefit for those too sick to work. In March 2017, Smith failed a DWP Work Capability Assessment, losing his right to ESA. He then had to sign on each week as available for work to receive Job Seekers Allowance of just 67 a week and prove he was actively seeking work.

Terry met Stephen at CASA.

Margot Miller [MM]: Can you tell me about your work at CASA?

Terry Craven [TC]: Im an employment law and benefits advisor. I retired early from Liverpool City Council in 2005, where I was their rights officer. There was nowhere people could go to get someone to represent them in tribunalsthe independent advice centres had all been closed.

MM: What was your relationship with Stephen Smith?

TC: I was his benefits advisor, but inside 10 minutes of talking to him it was obvious that it was tribunal assistance he needed. Hed come to me three or four months out of the allotted time to make an appeal. The DWP accepted the late appeal, but his tribunal wasnt heard until January 15, 2019close to two years after he was denied ESA.

Before March 2017, he was on just over 100 a week [ESA]. Then he was sent to an assessment, conducted by [IT services corporation] ATOS, the Independent Assessment Services. Labour brought ATOS in to carry out work capability assessments, under Tony Blair. But the Tories have made it much harder to pass the tests.

Theyre getting paid millions of pounds to carry out these assessments, giving people points. I have a 94/95 percent success rate on appeal.

All that stress for people already living in poverty! A nurse scored Stephen fit for work. He went to the assessment on his Zimmer frame and he was obviously struggling to breathe. Lambs to the slaughter! He had a colostomy bag, chronic obstruction pulmonary disease, probably emphysema. He should never have been found fit for work in a million years.

The Independent Assessment Service are getting seven out of 10 assessments incorrect. If that was me doing my job or you doing your job, we wouldnt have that job for long.

MM: What was Stephen living on between March 2017 and the Tribunal in 2019?

TC: I was able to get him a personal independence payment [PIP], but they underpaid him. He was refused the mobility component and only got standard care. I submitted an appeal and his mobility payment was upped. This was a man who was using a Zimmer and could only walk five, six steps and loses his breath!

I had been able to get him a private medical and a letter from his doctor that says Stephens health would deteriorate substantially if he was found fit for work. The DWP ignored that.

MM: How did Stephen manage at home?

TC: He was telling me that his niece was going in to help him, but I think he was just coping on his own. He was very reluctant to let people help him. He was a proud man.

I asked my wife, a retired nurse, to visit Steve just before Christmas on the pretext that he had to sign something for his appeal. When she came back, she said youre going to have to keep an eye on him because hes not long for this world. I asked social services in Liverpool to go in.

We met with Steve on December 21 and you wouldnt believe the circumstances he was living in. He couldnt look after himself. The place was infested with rats. He could only live in one room. He couldnt get to the tap in the kitchen to get cold water, so he was relying on his neighbours, or his niece, to bring bottled water in. He had a colostomy bag and he suffered from incontinence. He was coping by buying new sheets and mattresses. He was living in terrible conditions.

A private landlord in Birmingham was getting the money in, but not doing anything for him. The house had a hole in the roof. He didnt have proper heating and he was just deteriorating.

He was diagnosed with pneumonia. One of his lungs was more or less completely drowned in his own fluid, the other one was half way drowned. The hospital told me he wasnt going to see Christmas.

At the time of the tribunal, Stephen Smith was still seriously ill in hospital with pneumonia.

TC: They carted him out of hospital in a bloody dressing gown and no underwear on. They had to get him in a taxi to get him down. Hes been lying in that bed in the Royal Hospital from the week before Christmas to January 19. He shouldve been out looking for work!? I thought, thats the DWP!

Terry explained the lengths the DWP went to at the tribunal to try and deny Terry his appropriate benefits.

TC: This doctor was more interested in Steves history from 20 years ago and asked him question after question. Its got written down here you were a heavy drinker and he said, No Ive never been a hard drinker.

At the conclusion of the Tribunal, the judge decided to reinstate Stephens ESA because he was so obviously sick and incapable of working.

TC: Steve was going into sheltered accommodation. We had to go to the housing association and the DWP and say hed got no furniture. When they discharged him, it was into a nursing home, waiting for the flat to be ready. He was going out in the day picking stuff that he would need in the flat.

He was awarded the tenancy from February 18 and he only was able to stay one night. That says it all. I spoke to him a week or 10 days before he died. He said things were coming on. From what I could gather, he was in the nursing home and felt the need to ring 999 and when they got him into the hospital, they got the family round and said there was nothing they could do for him. He died on the 15th April.

The irony is that the money he was awarded by the DWP is going to be used to pay for his funeral, saving them money! He would have been entitled to a funeral payment!

Steve was a plumber, then opened a shop in Pickton road, a second-hand washing machine and fridge place. He became an engineer fixing them. He had a great reputation in the area, he was very respected. He worked all his life. Hed worked years ago with asbestos, toxic substances, dangerous environments. I think thats where he got his chest condition. Hed worked from when he was 14. The only time he claimed benefits was when he became sick, around 2006/7.
General Motors reported $2.1 billion in first-quarter 2019 net profits, higher than analysts expectations, amid continuing signs of a slowdown in auto sales. The first quarter results were about double the $1.1 billion reported for the same period one year ago.

The company says that it is on target to save between $2 billion to $2.5 billion in 2019 due to its cost-cutting measures, including the closure of five auto plants in North America and the elimination of some 14,000 salaried and production jobs. The cuts are taking a widening toll as yet another company dependent on GM business, Ohio-based Falcon Transport, closed its doors last weekend.

GMs reported profits came despite a seven percent decline in new vehicle sales in the US in the first quarter and continued steep sales declines in the critical Chinese market, where GM sales fell 17 percent. The company overcame these setbacks with sales of its highly profitable light trucks and SUVs.

The companys earnings also received a boost from the upward valuation of its holdings in ride hailing company Lyft and French automaker Peugeot. GM has invested heavily in the still speculative autonomous vehicle sector. Last year, its GM Cruise, a self-driving car unit, spent $728 million and expects to invest $1 billion in 2019.

Reflecting the relentless pressure of the financial markets for ever-greater rates of return, GMs stock declined after its quarterly profit report.

Announcing the earnings report, GM CEO Mary Barra told investors that Looking at ways to cut costs is a top priority. We have assigned vice presidents to do it. We are attacking it with quite a bit of energy.

Last November, the company announced the closure of five plants including the Oshawa, Ontario assembly plant, assembly plants in Lordstown, Ohio and Detroit-Hamtramck, Michigan and two transmission plants, one outside Detroit and other near Baltimore, Maryland. Mass layoffs of salaried employees were carried out in February. Production ended in early March in Lordstown, when 1,600 workers were laid off, with only a skeleton maintenance staff remaining. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant is reduced to a crew of 700, with production slated to end there in January 2020, just after the 2019 national contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers union.

As part of its cost cutting, GM is also focusing on ways to squeeze suppliers, ensuring further attacks on auto parts workers, already one of the most exploited sectors of the US workforce.

Barra has been rewarded for her efforts; she is one of 20 highest paid US CEOs, raking in $21.87 million in 2018, about 281 times the pay of a typical GM worker.

The pressure of a continuing global sales slump and changing technologies ensures that GM and the other US automakers will insist on further concessions in the 2019 contract negotiations set to begin this summer with the UAW. Both Ford and Fiat Chrysler have carried out layoffs in recent months. GM has already made it clear that it will use the announced layoffs and plant closings as a weapon to intimidate workers and beat back demands for the restoration of past concessions, including ending the abuse of temporary part-time workers and the two-tier wage structure.

The UAW has done nothing to oppose the layoffs and plant closures and has indicated that it will use the threat to jobs as an argument for further concessions. The UAW and the Unifor union in Canada have instead sought to stoke up hatred against workers in Mexico and China to divert anger over job cuts and prevent any linkup between American workers and their brothers overseas.

The UAW is widely hated for its collaboration with management and its efforts to divide workers by pitting so-called legacy workers against temporary part-time workers and second-tier workers. This hatred has only deepened after the exposure that FCA executives paid UAW officials more than a million in bribes to sign pro-company contracts in 2015 and earlier.

GMs bumper profits are further fueling this anger as it is more and more obvious that they come directly at the expense of workers, their families and communities that are being devastated by plant closings. To add insult to injury, GM paid $0 in corporate income tax last year on $4.3 billion in profits. Since 2009 the automaker has extorted over $1 billion in tax breaks from Michigan and Ohio in the name of supposedly preserving jobs.

Some 1,300 workers at GM plants targeted for closure have already accepted forced transfers to other facilities. In many cases this involves moving hundreds of miles, the uprooting of families and the disruption of lives. Those not able to transfer, including temporary and contract workers, face the prospect of permanent layoff.

The closure of the Lordstown plant, which up until a few years ago employed as many as 5,000 workers, is already having a much broader impact throughout the economy. One casualty has been Ohio-based Falcon Transport. The trucking company employing 550 workers abruptly announced its closure Saturday night, sending a text message to employees stating, We regret to inform you that Falcon Transport is not able to continue operations and will be shutting down effective today. Please stop any work you are doing for the company effective immediately...

Many drivers were left stranded in locations all across the United States.

Falcon Transport had GM as one of its biggest customers and is apparently out of business due to the closing of the Lordstown plant. The company had been operating since 1901 and as recently as 2017 had employed 800 people. It was subsequently acquired by private equity firm Counterpoint Capital Partners, which evidently decided to cut its losses at the expense of workers.

On Monday, former Falcon Transport workers filed a class action suit noting that owners violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act that requires companies with 100 or more employees to provide 60 days notice before closing. They are asking for payment of wages equal to the sixty-day notice. One former Falcon Transport worker told local news station WKBN, It is the most terrifying, horrible situation you could possibly ever be in. I was there for almost eight years. I think I should have an explanation. I should have been, at least, told.

Already a number of supplier plants in the Lordstown area have shut down, including Comprehensive Logistics, with 180 workers, Magnas Lordstown Seating Systems, with 120 workers and Ledec, with 73 workers.

Even before the final closure of the Lordstown plant, the unemployment rate in the surrounding Mahoning Valley was 6.0 percent, far higher than the statewide average of 4.7 percent, which is the seventh worst in the US.

An April 26 report in online news journal Pacific Standard details some of the social impact of the closure of the Lordstown plant. It notes that for every job lost due to a plant closing there are typically up to 10 jobs lost in the broader economy.

Terry Armstrong, the superintendent of Lordstown schools, said he expected to lose 75 students and 21 staff and tutors due to families leaving the area. He said he had hired a therapist to counsel children whose parents had been laid off.

In Austintown, 20 miles south of Lordstown, the local school superintendent said that they are preparing to lay off 10 percent of their staff, 40 teachers.

The GM plant closures have become a battleground as the 2020 presidential election cycle begins. Both President Trump and various Democratic Party presidential hopefuls have launched barbs at GM while demagogically claiming sympathy with laid-off workers. Their solution is completely reactionary, lining American workers up behind trade war measures against the foreign rivals of US capitalism, a program whose logic leads to world war while imposing endless pay cuts on US workers.
The United States has threatened to end electronic surveillance coordination with Britain after the government gave approval, in principle, for Chinese telecom giant Huawei to assist in building the UKs next generation 5G data network.

Last week, Theresa Mays Conservative government agreed to allow Huawei to supply noncore infrastructure, in the face of US calls for a boycott of Huaweis products. The US is hostile to any of its allies using products from Huawei, warning that this threatens NATO security and allows China critical economic dominance.

The decision was immediately condemned by Rob Joyce, a senior cyber security adviser to the US National Security Agency and a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, who said, We are not going to give them [China] the loaded gun.

He added of the UKs decision, We have got to understand all the details of that and decide what that means, warning, What we will be insistent on is UK decisions cant put our information at risk, but the good news is that the UK already understands that.

The political tension between the US and China meant that the Huawei issue had to be discussed and agreed at the UK National Security Council (NSC) last week. So secret are the NSCs deliberations that the exact make up of its personnel is not known. It does include the prime minister and brings together cabinet ministers and senior officials involved in foreign and defence policy, as well as representatives from the intelligence agencies and the armed forces.

According to sources, the NSC was spilt down the middle over the decision to allow Huawei access, with the Guardian reporting that the decision at Tuesdays NSC meeting was forced through, according to one source, on the casting vote of the prime minister with a formal announcement expected later in the spring once further technical safeguards had been prepared.

The decision was expected to remain a secret until then. But political tensions in Britain, centred on exiting the European Union (EU) and post-Brexit trade strategies amid developing trade war and mounting political instability globally, meant details of the meeting were leaked within hours to the pro-Brexit Daily Telegraph .

This was the first time that deliberations from the NSC had ever been leaked, prompting an escalation of the crisis of the already dysfunctional Tory government. The leak forced senior cabinet ministers known to be opposed to developing ties to China to issue denials that they leaked the decision. These were Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Trade Secretary Liam Fox. Some are considered possible candidates to replace May in the event of a leadership contest.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill immediately announced an inquiry to uncover the source of the leak. It was reported that this might involve cabinet members who were present at the NSC meeting being asked to hand over their phones for examination and allowing access to their email records.

On Monday, the US stepped up its condemnation of the UK with Robert Strayer, a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department, stating that Huawei was not a trusted vendor and any use of its technology in 5G networks was a risk. He warned that if an ally cooperated with Huawei, the US would have to reassess the ability for us to share information and be interconnected.

With this, the Trump administration was making a direct threat to shut Britain out of the Five Eyes electronic surveillance system it leads. As well as the UK, the US is demanding that the other members, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, also exclude Huawei.

After Washingtons arm twisting, Australia and New Zealand have already blocked telecoms companies from using Huawei equipment in its 5G networks, and Canada is reviewing its relationship with the company.

These are issues of vital importance for British imperialism, following the 2016 referendum decision to leave the EU.

Writing in the Financial Times, Charles Parton, an associate fellow of the Royal United Services Institute think-tank and an adviser to Parliaments select committee on foreign affairs, declared, We might sleep more soundly at the decision over Huawei if we thought that our Five Eyes allies would not cut co-operation, as the US has threatened. This alliance underpins the UKs claims to be a global power. It is immensely important, not just for the intelligence exchanged, but for co-operation over developing methods of collecting future intelligence. The opposition of the three ministers most closely connected to the intelligence world suggests unease at the reaction of Five Eyes allies. Again, is this a risk worth taking for a Huawei system of dubious quality?

Backing up Strayer was pro-US Tory MP Bob Seely, also a vociferous opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putins government in Moscow, who stated, Robert Strayers remarks are common sense. Huawei cannot, by definition, be a trusted vendor. It is required by law to cooperate with Chinese secret services. It is close to, if not part of, the Chinese state.

The Guardian noted that sources close to Boris Johnson, a leader of the Tories hard Brexit faction who is a favourite to succeed May, were indicating the former foreign secretary could be willing to look again at the Huawei approval if he were to become prime minister.

Johnson is an outspoken supporter of the Trump administration and is demanding that the UK departs the EU in order to be free to sign free trade deals with the US and other powers globally.

However, for all the invocations of Britain stepping out of Europe and into the world, the Huawei fiasco makes clear that the US calls the shots. It will not countenance Britain taking actions seen as contrary to Americas geostrategic interests.

This is a major threat to the UK, which has sought deepening cooperation with China since it became a founder member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2015. That decision angered Washington, which saw the bank as a rival to the US-controlled World Bank in the Asia Pacific, but the Obama administration stopped short of threatening a break with the UK. No longer.

The NSC decision was followed a few days later by Chancellor Philip Hammond arriving in Beijing as an enthusiastic participant at the second Belt and Road Initiative forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Hammond was among 5,000 foreign delegates from more than 150 countries, including 37 heads of government or heads of state.

Hammond declared his support for a deepening of economic ties and hailed the truly epic ambition of the Belt and Road Initiativea massive infrastructure scheme aimed at linking China throughout Eurasia via land and sea, enhancing Chinas global position.

A Treasury statement cited Hammonds speech in which he declared there were opportunities for British companies in the fields of design, engineering financing, public-private partnerships and legal services.

He continued, The forthcoming Economic and Financial Dialogue in June will continue the golden era of relations between China and the UK. By deepening our cooperation on financial services, trade, and investment with international partners, we can ensure Britains global future.

Hammond went as far as suggesting the UK could scale back its criticism of Chinese operations in the South China Sea. This was in sharp contrast to the USs response to the conference. Not only did President Donald Trump not attend, but there was no senior American representative at the forum. Tensions between London and Washington will inevitably escalate as a result, especially as any retreat by the UK will hand in initiative to Germany, France and other EU powers in seeking relations with Beijing.
On May Day, the day of international working class solidarity, the International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site salute the growing struggles of workers throughout the world.

Developments on the eve of May Day reveal the urgent necessity for the global organization and unity of the working class in a common fight against inequality, war, and reaction. The Trump administration sharply escalated its regime-change operation in Venezuela, encouraging Juan Guaido to make an open appeal to the military and proclaim an armed uprising against the government of Nicolas Maduro. While Guaido did not succeed in overthrowing the government yesterday, the US is using the attempted coup to intensify its campaign, not only against Venezuela, but also against Cuba and Russia, risking a regional and even global military conflict.

Also yesterday, WikiLeaks announced that its founder, Julian Assange, will face sentencing today in a UK court for violating bail conditions, and there will be a hearing on Thursday on an extradition request filed by the United States. Last month, Assange was seized from the Ecuadorean embassy in London. If the US succeeds in getting its hands on him, Assange faces indefinite detention or charges that carry the penalty of death.

Along with Chelsea Manning, who is currently behind bars for refusing to testify against Assange, the WikiLeaks founder is being targeted for revealing the crimes of American imperialism.

Assange and Manning are victims of the increasingly open turn of the capitalist ruling elites to authoritarian forms of rule. The central target of the assault on democratic rights is the working class, including the millions of refugees who are being rounded up for arrest and deportation and the workers who have been victimized and persecuted for fighting back, from the imprisoned Maruti Suzuki workers in India to the fired strikers in Matamoros, Mexico.

This May Day is dominated by three interrelated social and political factors.

First, there is a worldwide resurgence of the class struggle. In the US, strikes by teachers in California, Colorado, West Virginia, Kentucky and other states are the major component of an upsurge in working class-struggle that has produced the highest level of strike activity in 32 years. This is part of an international wave of strikes by educators, including in the Netherlands, Poland, India, Iran, Mexico, New Zealand, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and other countries.

Major struggles in recent months include the strike by tens of thousands of maquiladora workers in Mexico, the yellow vest protests in France, a general strike in India, mass uprisings of workers and youth in Algeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe, and strikes by auto workers in Hungary and public-sector workers in Germany.

The second factor is the growth of support for socialism throughout the world. Not since the 1930s has there been such widespread revulsion among masses of people directed against the entire social and economic system. Thirty years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which was hailed by the ruling elite as the end of Marxism, socialism is on the minds of millions.

These sentiments are deeply rooted in historical experience. The end of the USSR was followed by unending war, deepening economic crisis, the ever-increasing concentration of wealth and the revival of authoritarianism. Billions of people born over the last 30 years have known nothing but deteriorating living conditions.

The third factor is the violent shift of the ruling elite to the right. A palpable mood of fear pervades the ruling class. The bourgeois media is replete with statements from billionaires expressing the isolation felt by a ruling elite that faces, in the words of hedge fund manager Raymond Dalio, some sort of revolution. Trump seems incapable of delivering a speech that does not include a denunciation of the menace of socialism or a pledge that America will never be a socialist country.

The more the objective movement of millions of workers finds expression in support for socialism, the more sharply the ruling class turns to police state methods and the revival of the ideological and political filth of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

All over the world, the ruling elites are seeking to find some mechanism for intensifying exploitation and subordinating the population to their preparations for war. More than a decade after the financial crash of 2008, social inequality is at record levels and a new financial crisis looms. The US has engaged in more than a quarter century of unending war in the Middle East and Central Asia and is now preparing for great power conflict with China and Russia. The imperialist powers of Europe are rearming, determined to stake their own position in global geopolitics.

In the United States, Trump is responding to a heightening of social tensions and divisions within the ruling class by making ever-more naked appeals to far-right forces, including in the military and police, combined with an assertion of presidential power unchecked by traditional constitutional restraints. In Italy, the coalition government includes the Lega party, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who has proclaimed his sympathy with the countrys fascistic past and refused to criticize Mussolini.

Far-right and ultra-nationalist parties are in power in Brazil, India, the Philippines, Hungary, Austria and Israel. Such parties have increased their political presence in Spain, France, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Slovenia. In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the leading opposition party in the Bundestag and sets the political tone for the policies of the Grand Coalition government.

Recent months have seen a spate of fascist atrocitiesthe Christchurch massacre, mass shootings at synagogues in Pennsylvania and Californiacarried out by neo-Nazis inspired in part by the demagogy of Trump and other bourgeois political leaders.

The neo-fascist right does not have mass support. Its resurgence is the product of active promotion from above and the complete bankruptcy of the organizations and parties that claim to represent the working classthe social democratic parties and trade unions. In the United States, the Democratic Party is doing everything it can to divert popular opposition to Trump behind a right-wing agenda of war, censorship and austerity.

The fight against war, the growth of fascism and authoritarianism, the ever-greater concentration of wealth, internet censorship, environmental degradationand in defense of class war prisoners such as Assange and Manningis inextricably bound up with the fight against capitalism and for socialism.

The central question facing millions of workers and young people throughout the world is: What is socialism and how can it be achieved? The fundamental political lessons drawn from the historical experiences of the working class must be the basis for the education of a new generation entering into struggle. The working class must take matters into its own hands, leading behind it all the oppressed, in a revolutionary struggle against the capitalist system itself.

The essential instrument for carrying out this most urgent of tasks is the revolutionary partythe International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist movement. The Fourth International was founded by Leon Trotsky more than 80 years ago on the basis of the defense of the Heritage of Marxism against Stalinism and Social Democracy. Events have vindicated its historical perspective.

On this May Day, we call on all workers and youth around the world to register and take part in the International May Day Online Rally on May 4/5 and join and build the ICFI.

***

The sixth annual International May Day Online Rally will be broadcast live throughout the world beginning on Saturday, May 4 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (10:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 5 in Sydney, Australia). We urge all workers and youth to register and make plans to attend.
The recent sellout agreement between Sri Lankan plantation unions and employers is part of a ruthless drive by the tea industry to boost profits by driving up productivity and destroying the limited social rights of this highly-exploited section of the international working class.

The current assault is in response to a global downturn in the industry and the impact of US-led economic sanctions on major tea purchasing countries, such as Iran and Russia.

India, Kenya and Sri Lanka, whose tea plantations were developed by British colonialists in the 19th century, are the largest tea exporters in the world.

Indias tea industry is the countrys biggest private sector employer, directly employing around one million workers and 10 million indirectly. While the northeastern India state of Assam accounts for one sixth of the worlds tea production, its plantation workers face horrendous, slave-like conditions.

The Global Business of Forced Labour, a 2018 report from the University of Sheffields Economic and Social Research Council, officially categorised Assam plantation workers as akin to forced labour.

Most plantation workers in Assam are descendants of Adivasi labourers. These members of highly-exploited communities were moved to the tea plantations from other parts of India during British colonial rule.

Subjected to ethnic minority status, Adivasi labourers are pushed onto the lowest strata of Indias racial, ethnic and caste-based hierarchies and systematically subjected to underpayment, violent discipline and control, and sub-human living conditions.

Tea plantation workers in the Indian state of Kerala face similar circumstances. Originally from Tamil Nadu, they were transferred to Kerala by the British colonialists.

In understated language, the Forced Labour report said: [M]any plantation business models are configured around generating revenues by under-providing and over-charging workers for basic services.

The report revealed that 47 percent of workers have no access to potable water, 26 percent have no toilets and 24 percent have no regular electricity supplies to their homes. Plantation medical services lack proper medicines and qualified doctors. Patients with illness, other than routine colds or minor issues, are referred to costly outside medical facilities.

The daily wage of Assam plantation workers is around 145 Indian rupees ($US2). More than one third are employed on a casual basis. The daily wage of a Kerala worker is around 312 rupees. The daily tea plucking target in Assam starts at 15 kilograms and goes up to 30; in Kerala it is 21 kilograms and goes up to 27. These targets are enforced by wage deductions and non-payments.

Wages are often illegally cut by plantation owners for services, such as electricity, which are not even supplied, and for other services that are supposed to be free of charge. Wages are so low that workers face massive debts that bind them to employers. In Assam, around 54 percent of plantations workers are in debt and 59 percent have no savings.

In Kenya, tea is the East African nations largest industry, with over 330,000 workers involved in cultivation, harvesting and processing. The industry is dominated by multinationals, such as Unilever and James Finlay, along with large local companies.

The True Price of Tea from Kenya, a 2016 report on the industry, revealed poor wages, lack of social and job security, long hours, casualisation and gender discrimination. On smallholder plantations, where family labour was used, 15 percent of the workers were children.

Kenyan plantations lay off their tea factory employees before they complete three months work and then rehire them as casuals in order to avoid providing sick pay, maternity leave, annual holidays and pension rights.

Kenyan tea pluckers are employed on a daily basis and work long hours, sometimes up to 74 hours a week. Because they are paid per kilogram, pluckers usually work without breaks and subsist on one meal a day. Injuries, such as fractures, back injuries, major skin burns, exposure to pesticides and insecticides, respiratory and water-borne diseases, are commonplace.

According to The True Price report, the average daily wage of a full-time employee of the plantation sector was around $3.40, or 62 percent of Kenyas official living wage.

The brutal exploitation of plantation workers in India, Kenya and Sri Lanka is being carried out by major global corporations based in Britain, US, Canada, The Netherlands and India. Three companiesLipton (Unilever), Tetley (Tata Global Beverages) and Twinings (Associated British Foods)dominate, setting prices and controlling the world market.

According to A Bitter Cup, a 2010 report by War on Want, a British-based non-government organization, a tea picker makes just 1p for each 1.60 box of tea bags sold in supermarkets. The report indicated that while tea producers secured 1 percent of the profits, multinational retailing giants pocketed 53 percent.

Kenyan plantation workers have been fighting for a collective bargaining agreement with tea plantation companies since 2013. But, in every case, the trade unions aid and abet the escalating attacks on estate workers.

In Sri Lanka, officials of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union (LJEWU) are ministers in the United National Party-led government. Their latest agreement was backed also by the National Union of Workers, Up-country Peoples Front and the Democratic Peoples Front.

The unions dropped the workers demand for the doubling of their daily 500-rupee basic wage and agreed to an abysmal 40 percent increase, in exchange for slashing attendance and incentive allowances. This meant that the actual wage increase was just 20 rupees. The unions also pledged to help impose the widely hated out-grower model, which transforms the worker into modern-day sharecroppers.

The Indian plantation unions are also playing a treacherous role. Tens of thousands of Assam estate workers have held repeated protests and strikes to demand their daily minimum wage be increased to 350 rupees. The last wage agreement expired in December 2017. Assam estate workers joined the Indian general strike on January 8 and 9 to press for this demand.

The Indian unions, including the Indian National Congress-controlled Assam Chah Mazdoor Sanga and the unions dominated by the two Stalinist Communist parties, have opposed any unified industrial and political action to win workers claims.

In Kenya, the plantation companies, backed by court rulings, are demanding that the daily tea-plucking rate be increased from 830 to 1,170 kilos. The Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union has responded with harmless protests and claims that it will lodge a legal appeal in the UK courts.

Kenyan plantation companies have axed over 40,000 jobs so far this year in response to ongoing drought conditions.

Tea plantation workers can end their brutal exploitation only by breaking from the unions, which function as national-based industrial police forces that defend the profits of the global tea companies. Workers in different countries and regions are pitted against each other and in the name of maintaining competitiveness are compelled to sacrifice their wages and conditions in a never-ending race to the bottom.

The basis for any genuine struggle to defend the social rights of plantation workers is internationalism. Workers need to build their own action committees independent of the unions and reach out to their fellow workers nationally and internationally in a unified struggle against the global tea corporations on the basis of a socialist program.

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Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, has assured Nigerian workers that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to uplif...

Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, has assured Nigerian workers that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to uplifting the lives of Nigerian workers and leaving behind a legacy of service and a buoyant economy.









Ngige disclosed this in a message to workers in a statement to commemorate the 2019 Workers Day celebration in Abuja on Tuesday.









Ngige said it was due to the presidents resolve to better the lives of Nigerian workers that he gave states bailout to pay salary and pension of their workers.









He also said the president was determined to fashion an economy capable of creating sustainable abundance for the people.









The Theme of this years celebration is Another 100 Years of Struggle for Jobs, Dignity and Social Justice in Nigeria.









It aligns with the vision and efforts of the president, to uplift the lots of the Nigerian workers and also leave a legacy of a buoyant economy for the country.









Ngige said the uniqueness of the 2019 workers celebration coincided with the centenary celebration of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which Nigeria proudly pioneered as the first Country Office in Africa, Lagos, in 1959.









He, therefore, commended the resilience of the nations workforce and their numerous contributions to national development.









We owe plentiful accolades to the most labour-friendly president, who took practical steps to douse the restiveness in the labour the force he inherited four years ago due to unpaid salaries and allowances.









He released bailout funds at both the state and federal level and capped it all with a New National Minimum Wage for the Nigerian working class in the public and private sectors. He released bailout funds at both the state and federal level and capped it all with a New National Minimum Wage for the Nigerian working class in the public and private sectors.









As we move to the Next Level, I have no doubt that things will get better. I wish you all a productive and fulfilling celebration, he said.
With the collusion of the Teamsters union, United Parcel Service (UPS) has imposed a five-year contract on more than 250,000 workers that had been rejected by a majority of UPS workers last year. The master contract, which was imposed after the contentious ratification of supplementary agreements, maintains poverty wages for thousands of part-time workers and enacts a hybrid second-tier of drivers that are paid less.

On Sunday April 28, a supplemental agreement in Detroit passed on the third vote with very low turnout in the aftermath of bitter fights in Pennsylvania and New York over regional and supplemental agreements. The agreements covered additional regional issues over health care, wages, quotas, overtime, etc. For the national master agreement to technically go into effect, UPS relied on the Teamsters to ram through the local agreements with threats and intimidation utilized against widespread opposition by workers.

The final unofficial tally of the vote in Detroit Local 243 for the supplemental agreement was 295 for and 121 against. Only 18 percent of eligible 2,256 Detroit UPS workers voted on the sellout supplemental agreement, with many workers disgusted with the entirely corrupt process led by the Teamsters.

Everyone knew their vote was meaningless. Even if 100 percent voted and voted No, we knew it would be pushed through, said Martin, a UPS worker from Detroit who spoke to the WSWS UPS Worker Newsletter.

The previous two votes for the supplement in Detroit were rejected by close to 90 percent, reflecting seething anger by UPS workers against the despotic moves by the Teamsters to impose the national agreement late last fall.

Despite a majority of UPS workers across the country rejecting the master agreement in October 2018, Teamsters President James Hoffa and Vice President Denis Taylor employed an obscure anti-democratic constitutional clause written more than thirty years ago to unilaterally push through a contract rejected by 54 percent of those voting.

According to the ludicrous Teamsters constitutional clause, if less than 50 percent of workers vote, a two-thirds majority is required to ratify a contract instead of a simple majority. Such a clause flies in the face of basic democratic procedures and expose the Teamsters as nothing but a labor enforcer for UPS and other large corporations.

While more than 90 percent of UPS delivery drivers, warehouse and freight workers were prepared to strike last year, the Teamsters sabotaged any effort to mount a struggle against the multinational corporation. The logistics giant made total pretax profits of $6 billion in 2018, equivalent to nearly $24,000 per worker. In the first quarter of 2019 alone, UPS made $1.4 billion in pretax profits.

There absolutely is a consensus in Detroit that this is a collusionary, concessionary, sellout deal, said Martin of the local agreements and the master agreement. The vast majority of the locals in the Teamsters as well as the IBT are company-controlled unions, he said.

Previously when the supplementals were initially rejected, Martin predicted that the Teamsters would ram it through regardless. We all feel the contract will be forced through no matter how we vote, he said. Local 243 is just attempting to save face. UPS workers are disgusted and fed up with the abhorrent blatant collusion.

Martin spoke out against poverty wages, with part-time UPS workers making only $13 an hour in the new contract, lower than the poverty wages that most non-unionized Amazon workers are paid today. In the 1990s part-time workers constituted a little more than 50 percent of the UPS workforce; today they are more than 70 percent.

Martin also spoke out against the creation of a new hybrid driver/warehouse workerknown by its contract clause number 22.4who would be paid far less than a regular full-time package delivery driver.

We have no protections for current full-time drivers, he said. The colluding Teamsters and UPS are in effect eliminating RPCD [regular package car drivers] full-time positions to create lower-paid 22.4 positions. Do the Teamsters and UPS think the people doing these jobs will not want family time and reasonable hours?

Volume will be manipulated to Saturdays and soon to Sundays. This in turn will result in extensive layoffs of RPCDs on Monday and Thursday. These RPCDs have no right to work Saturday and/or Sunday in order to reach 40 hours. UPS is also going to be putting pressure on the higher paid delivery drivers, Martin noted, as they absolutely are guaranteed 40 hours.

Hoffa and the Teamsters attempted to ram through agreements in Pennsylvania with more than two-thirds rejecting the supplementals initially, in blatant violation of their own anti-democratic constitutional clause. Fearing complete illegitimacy and potential lawsuits, they utilized other methods to reduce voter turnout in New York and Pennsylvania UPS regional agreements to hasten the imposition of the national contract along with threats of intimidation against workers who rejected the supplemental votes.

In Chicago, Rockford and other parts of the Midwest, where UPS workers have had separate local agreements from the national, similar concessions were imposed in January that mirrored the national agreements.

It is a race to the bottom, Martin said of UPS and the corporate dictatorship over workers in the United States. Its The Jungle or the shirtwaist fire all over again, Martin said referring to the novel by Upton Sinclair written in 1904, which exposed horrific working conditions for workers in the early part of the 20th century and the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City, which killed 145 workers.

The clock is being turned back as UPS workers face a company reign of terror, speedups, warehouse fires, and other dangerous working conditions, as well as death.

Since 2012, UPS has also been utilizing its Orion software and Delivery Information Acquisition Device (DIAD) technology to monitor and optimize driver routes. UPS is making further upgrades to its artificial intelligence and technological capabilities to keep pace with competitors like Amazon and to simultaneously surveil its workforce.

UPS workers confront not just the anti-worker Hoffa administration, but also the treachery of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union and the Teamsters United Faction, which have done nothing but promote illusions in the reform of a thoroughly corrupt and bankrupt organization. These factions, backed by pseudo-left publications such as Labor Notes, have no intention of mobilizing the opposition of thousands of UPS workers against the company.

Instead, they are seeking to channel it behind the dead end of the 2021 Teamsters elections, to elect a faction of the Teamsters bureaucracy, such as Sean OBrien who makes $302,403 in combined salary as an international vice president. There has been more than four decades of failures of so-called union reform with the Teamsters, which have all ended in disasters for UPS workers.

A genuine nationwide and international struggle by UPS workers against the company can be mounted, but rank-and-file workers must build new organizations of struggle, which are completely independent of the pro-company Teamsters and other unions. Rank-and-file committees must be elected by UPS workers in every hub and workplace to fight for an end to poverty wages, the various tiers of drivers and warehouse workers, and for safety and good workplace conditions.

The WSWS UPS Workers Newsletter urges workers to contact us today to learn more about forming rank-and-file committees.
A coup attempt launched Tuesday morning in Venezuela, distinguished by the brazen criminality of the US government in supporting and orchestrating it, appeared to have failed miserably by nightfall.

The attempt was launched with the posting of a video by the US-backed right-wing puppet Juan Guaido, backed by a few dozen men in military uniform outside the La Carlota air base in Caracas, calling for the military to rise up against the government of President Nicolas Maduro. While the attempt led to violent street clashes and rival demonstrations by supporters and opponents of Maduro, it provoked no significant military revolt.

Coming more than three months after Guaido, on January 23, proclaimed himself the countrys interim president, an action directly coordinated with and immediately supported by Washington, Tuesdays coup attempt took place amid flagging popular support for the right-wing opposition that has served as the political base for the US regime-change operation.

By late Tuesday, no military base had been taken by the opposition and no major figure in the Venezuelan armed forces had declared support for Guaido. While the interim president had picked the La Carlota air base as the backdrop for his video, there was no indication that any personnel there were supporting his provocation. The choice of the base was determined, rather, by its proximity to the wealthiest districts of eastern Caracas, the traditional base of the right-wing opposition.

The most significant development in the launching of what Guaido termed Operation Liberty was the presence by his side of Leopoldo Lopez, the leader of the extreme right-wing political party Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) of which Guaido is a member.

Lopez, a scion of one of Venezuelas most aristocratic families, has been under house arrest since 2017 after being convicted on charges of organizing a violent campaign in 2014 known as La Salida, or the exit, aimed at overthrowing the Maduro government. In 2002, he was one of the leaders of the abortive CIA-backed coup attempt against then-President Hugo Chavez.

The overthrow of Maduro, while ostensibly transferring the government to Guaido, who before his self-swearing-in as interim president last January was virtually unknown in Venezuela, would in reality place the reins of power in the hands of Lopez, an arch-reactionary and long-time CIA asset.

By late Tuesday afternoon, however, Lopez and his family had sought asylum in the Chilean embassy in Caracas. Similarly, some 25 Venezuelan military personnel who had joined Guaidos coup attempt sought refuge in the embassy of Brazil.

Dozens of other Venezuelan soldiers told the countrys news media that they had been tricked into participating in the provocation staged outside the La Carlota air base, awakened at three in the morning and told to grab their rifles and turn out for an important event where they would receive medals.

Guaidos provocation triggered a Twitter storm from the top echelons of the US government signaling support for the coup on Tuesday morning.

I am monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely, President Trump tweeted. The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that the United States fully supports the protests. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted a message to all the freedom-loving people of Venezuela who are taking to the streets today in #operacionlibertadEstamos con ustedes! We are with you! America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored.

Right-wing governments in Latin America, including those of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Ivan Duque in Colombia and Mauricio Macri in Argentina, also issued statements of enthusiastic support for the coup attempt.

By Tuesday afternoon, however, Brazils minister of institutional security, the retired general Augusto Heleno, issued a frank assessment of the days actions, declaring that, while there had been certain support from the armed forces this didnt reach a high level. He added that Brazil did not see any solution to the Venezuelan crisis in the short term.

One clear signal of Washingtons direction of the abortive coup attempt was a meeting the day before in Washington between Pompeo and Ernesto Araujo, the foreign minister of the government of Brazils fascistic President Bolsonaro, the strongest Latin American ally in the US regime-change operation in Venezuela. A State Department press release said that the two had discussed defending human rights and democracy in Venezuela. Early on Tuesday, Araujo issued a statement declaring that it was positive that there is a movement of the military that recognizes the constitutionality of President Juan Guaido.

Washingtons response to the faltering coup attempt in Venezuela was delivered by Trumps right-wing national security adviser John Bolton in a press conference outside the White House Tuesday afternoon. He described the situation as very delicate and insisted, despite all evidence to the contrary, that what was taking place in Caracas was clearly not a coup.

Oddly, he mentioned three times the names of three high-ranking Venezuelan officials, whom he claimed had made commitments to achieve the peaceful transfer of power to the US puppet Guaido, insisting that they had to act this afternoon or this evening to bring other military forces to the side of the interim president.

One of those named was Vladimir Padrino, Venezuelas defense minister. In the course of the day, however, Padrino issued a statement in front of massed officers denouncing Guaidos action as a cowardly terrorist act and a coup attempt on a very small scale. Padrino declared that 80 percent of the troops who responded to this call were tricked, adding, We hold responsible for any bloodshed the fascist, anti-patriotic leadership.

The second official named by Bolton was the head of Venezuelas Supreme Court (TSJ), Maikel Moreno. During the day, the TSJ issued a statement condemning the attempted coup against the Constitution and the laws of Venezuela on the part of a group of military deserters acting together with elements of the national right wing.

The third official was the commander of the presidential guard, Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala, who was still in the Miraflores presidential palace, which was surrounded by thousands of demonstrators opposing the coup attempt.

Bolton addressed a tweet to the three men saying it was their last chance to be absolved of US sanctions or go down with the ship. Bolton suggested that the three officials had been prevented from keeping their commitment by Cuba and Russia.

The Cubans, we believe, have played a very significant role in propping Maduro up today, possibly with help from the Russians, Bolton said.

Similarly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the claim, repeated as fact by the US corporate media, that Maduro had been on the verge of fleeing to Havana on Tuesday, but had been dissuaded from going only by the Russians.

Bolton repeated the incessant threat of the Trump administration: I will say again, as the president has said from the outset, and Nicolas Maduro and those supporting himparticularly those who are not Venezuelansshould know is, all options are on the table.

Trump, meanwhile, stepped up US threats against Cuba, threatening to impose a total embargo on the island.

Washingtons regime-change operation is aimed not only at asserting unrestricted exploitation of Venezuelas oil reservesthe largest on the planetby US-based energy conglomerates, but also at reasserting US hegemony over all of Latin America and countering the growing challenge particularly from China, the continents largest source of investment, but also from Russia.

The all options on the table threats are increasingly directed at not just the Maduro government in Caracas, but also against US imperialisms nuclear-armed rivals.

As for US plans in Venezuela, one indication of an escalation came with a report that Erik Prince, the billionaire head of the military contractor formerly known as Blackwater and brother of Trumps Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, had floated a plan for sending 5,000 mercenaries recruited from among former Latin American soldiers into Venezuela to support Guaidos coup attempt.

While the initial coup attempt on Tuesday appears to have failed, the dangers confronting the Venezuelan working class remain intense. It cannot rely on the Maduro government, which represents one faction of Venezuelas financial and corporate elite, having its principal pillar in the Venezuelan military and enjoying the backing of the so-called boliburguesia, a layer of corrupt officials and capitalists who have fattened off of financial speculation and government contracts.

These layers are hardly immune to the immense pressure being placed upon Caracas by US imperialism.

Should the so-called democratic transition promoted by Washington prove successful, it will result in the imposition of an extreme right-wing US puppet regime that will carry out a ruthless and bloody campaign of repression against the working class in the interests of Big Oil and international finance capital.

The working class in the US must oppose US intervention and reject the democratic pretensions of the likes of Trump, Pence, Pompeo and Bolton with the contempt they deserve. It is up to the working class of Venezuela to settle accounts with Maduro and the corrupt capitalist elements he represents, not the US military and intelligence apparatus and its right-wing puppets.
In the state of Tamil Nadu, the Naam Thamilar Katchi (NTK, We Tamil Party) has mounted a Tamil-chauvinist campaign in Indias seven-stage parliamentary elections. Amid rising class struggles in India and worldwide, and a growing danger of large-scale war, the NTK relentlessly promotes Tamil nationalism to divide workers and peasants along ethnic lines inside India and subordinate them to imperialism and the Indian state.

Recognising that workers are deeply disillusioned with the policies that Indias two national big business parties, the ruling Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) and the Congress Party, have pursued for decadesalong with their allies in Tamil Nadu, the ruling ADMK (Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)the NTK tries to block a turn to the left.

With 900,000 graduates unemployed in Tamil Nadu and indebted peasants committing suicide daily across India, NTK leader Sebastian Seeman seeks to whip up hatred against North Indian workers. We have come to the situation of losing our motherland, Seeman claims. They have occupied the capital, Chennai, and all the main cities. ... As one journalist pointed out, as many as 7 million North Indians came to Tamil Nadu. Those who lose power become slaves.

Seeman has put forward the demand that Tamils should rule Tamil Nadu, denouncing state officials who speak other Indian languages such as Malayalam or Telugu.

This reactionary rhetoric stirs up bloody conflicts with workers and oppressed people who have migrated to Tamil Nadu or live in neighbouring Indian statesall of whom face the same problems as workers and toilers who originally hail from Tamil Nadu. It expresses the interests of a narrow, grasping layer of billionaires and millionaires, who exploit ethnic and communal divisions to advance their interests against other sections of the ruling elite and, above all, to divide the working class.

Seeman has promised to make Tamil Nadu the worlds wealthiest state by building a selfless and loving dictatorship. In other words, he is proposing to ruthlessly suppress social opposition so as to provide transnational corporations with a pliant cheap-labour workforce in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) set up by the DMK and ADMK.

The main target of this nationalistic and authoritarian rhetoric is the upsurge of the international working class. Since the beginning of 2019, teachers, transport workers, government employees, and SEZ workers have launched strikes across India, as well as workers in Sri Lanka, including Tamil-speaking plantation workers. This takes place amid mass strikes also by US teachers, Yellow Vest protests in France, and mass protests against the Algerian and Sudanese regimes.

While whipping up Tamil chauvinism to divide the workers, Seeman also backs the Indian governments war policies and its alliance with US imperialism to isolate China. While stressing that India is the union of many nations, Seeman said he could support three tasks for the central state including money printing, the security of the country and foreign affairs department.

Seeman has remained deafeningly silent on the Indian governments global strategic partnership with Washington, which is aimed at building up India as a counterweight to China, and has supported the Indian army in its historic enmity with Pakistan, Chinas main regional ally. After bomb blasts at Pulwama in Indian-held Kashmir this February nearly led to all-out war between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, Seeman attacked the BJP government. However, he did not criticise the BJPs reckless and provocative bombing of Pakistan, but its negligence and administrative disruption that put in danger many soldiers lives.

In other speeches, Seeman has pledged that if he takes power, he will send the Indian navy to protect Tamil Nadu fishermen from the Sri Lankan navy. Such demagogic speeches only stoke tensions and pave the way for another disastrous Indian military intervention in Sri Lanka, as in 1987.

The NTK can only win a hearing due to the decades-long, reactionary record of the Congress Party and the Stalinist Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM). The CPI and CPM endorsed the Stalinist bureaucracys restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union in 1991, as the Congress Party integrated India into the world capitalist economy as a cheap labour source with Stalinist support. Since then, they have pursued policies of austerity and militarism that opened a path for reactionary demagogues like Seeman to mask his right-wing programme behind chauvinist populism.

Seeman specialises in trying to give his politics a popular veneer by exploiting deeply felt concerns in Tamil Nadu for the suppression of the democratic rights of Sri Lankas Tamil minority.

Seemans campaign appearances featured pictures of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the murdered leader of the Tamil separatist LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), killed by the Sri Lankan military in May 2009 at the end of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war. Summarising his nationalist perspective, Prabhakaran said, For me, the father should be he who gave me life. My leader should be a blood relation. This is our position. Our ideological thirst will be overcome only when we realise a separate Tamil country in this broadly extended globe for our Tamil nation.

In fact, the LTTEs policy of building a separate Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka ended in disaster. Having lost popular support in the parts of northern Sri Lanka that it held, the LTTE was massacred in 2009 in a barbaric Sri Lankan army slaughter that claimed the lives of over 40,000 civilians as well as the LTTEs top leadership. A bourgeois movement, the LTTE was organically incapable of appealing to workers in Sri Lanka, India and internationally to come to the defence of the Tamil people in opposing the discriminatory laws and repression of the Sri Lankan state.

Instead, the LTTE long oriented to securing the support of the Indian bourgeoisie and the imperialist powers. As its end drew near, the LTTE desperately appealed for aid from the governments of the United States, the major European powers and India. All of these powers, however, including India, turned a cold shoulder and lined up behind the Sri Lankan regimes massacre of the LTTE.

Seemans pretence of defending Sri Lankan Tamils is a political fraud. His We Tamil Party was founded on May 18, 2010, on the first anniversary of the LTTEs defeat. It intervened in the 2011 Tamil Nadu assembly elections, calling for the defeat of the DMK-Congress alliance, which was in power and had extended support to the Sri Lankan regimes communal war.

Seeman, however, ended up backing the alliance between the ADMK and the Hindu-supremacist BJP, whose Sri Lanka policy was just as reactionary as that of the DMK-Congress. Indeed, on July 7, 2010, ADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa told the Tamil paper Dinamalar: It is true that I said during the war the killings of civilians were inevitable. Even today I didnt condemn the elimination of the LTTE in the war. Seeman was supporting Jayalalithaawho as Tamil Nadu chief minister had infamously sacked 170,000 state workers for striking in 2003when this statement was published.

Seemans bellicose threats against Sri Lanka flow from the inability of the bourgeoisie to resolve any of the democratic questions posed in the region. For the Indian Tamil nationalists, fearing above all an international mobilisation of the working class against capitalism, the only mechanism to intervene in Sri Lanka is through the threat of military invasion and an ethnic war.

The working class has already had bitter experience of such interventions. From July 1987 to 1990, thousands of Tamil civilians were killed when New Delhi, having previously used the LTTE and other Tamil nationalist groups to pressure Colombo, changed course and dispatched Indias military to occupy the Tamil-majority North and East of Sri Lanka. During this period, as the Sri Lankan military also occupied parts of that region, it was turned against Sinhalese workers and rural toilers in the south. More than 60,000 Sinhalese youth were massacred by the Colombo regime.

The key question is the international unification of the working class in struggle, including workers of all ethnicities in India and Sri Lanka. History has time and again vindicated Leon Trotskys theory of Permanent Revolution. The struggle to establish democratic rights and overcome the national and ethnic divisions in the region can only be waged as a revolutionary struggle of the international working class for socialism, drawing behind it the urban and rural poor.
Mr Innocent Ajiji, the President General of Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) on Wednesday tasked the Minister of Transportation, ...

Mr Innocent Ajiji, the President General of Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) on Wednesday tasked the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, to address the poor welfare of railway workers.









Ajiji, who disclosed this to the newsmen in Abuja, said railway staff receives the lowest remuneration among the transport parastatals.









He said that Amaechi should use his good office to review the welfare of staff, the way Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) staff remuneration was improved.









The railway union has a lot of challenges, our workers welfare is very poor and that is what I keep talking about since I came on board.









I want the minister to do what he did in NPA by improving our salaries. I want him to at least upgrade our salary even above the thirty thousand naira minimum wage, he said.









Ajiji said that the government had improved on railways infrastructure across the country and urged it to complete all the projects for the benefit of Nigerians.
Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the commission is ready to fully deve...

Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the commission is ready to fully develop local content policy in the country, to reduce youth unemployment.









The Local Content Policy is an Act which defines a Nigerian Company to mean a Company registered in Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of the CAMA









With not less than 51 per cent equity shares owned by Nigerians mandate investors in the sector to consider Nigerian content is an important element in project development









Danbatta, represented by Mrs Felicia Onwegbuchulam, Director of Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC stated this on Tuesday in Abuja when members of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry visited the commission.









He said that NCC was happy about the entrepreneurial the training programme that the chamber had in place for youths.









We just came back from a retreat and one of the high points is that we hope to have local content fully developed in the country.









If you notice, most of the things we used in the Telco industry are imported and we believe that the industry has developed to a point that we should begin to produce those things.









One of the ways we can achieve that is by harnessing the potential in our youths.









It is quite interesting that your organisation has put something in place as a number of youths graduated from the training recently,  he said.









Danbatta said that training of youths was one area the commission would partner with the chamber, as one of the things the commission was looking forward to in ensuring drastic reduction in unemployment rate.









He said that the NCC goal was to empower the youths by making them employers of labour rather that allowing them to stroll the streets in search of jobs not available.









 We have creative minds, as most people go out of the country and excel with enabling environment they can also do well here. 













Danbatta said that NCC would continue to partner with the chamber, adding that strategic partnership was one of the strong pillars of the commission.









We partner with people that add value to what we do and organisations that support our endeavour to ensure we deliver on our mandate as a commission and your chamber is one of them.









Earlier, Alhaji Abubakar AI-Mujtaba, first Deputy President, Abuja, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the chamber had been in existence for 31 years with about 3,000 members.









Our coming here is not only on a courtesy visit, but also to consolidate on the relationship we have built over the years between NCC and the chamber.









The more of people like you we have, the stronger we become.









We are also inviting the EVC to become an honourary council member, he had accepted and we are happy with that,  he said.









Shoyele, Director General of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the chamber had four centres: Abuja Trade Centre, Dispute Resolution Centre, Policy and Advocacy Centre and Business Entrepreneurial Skills and Technology Centre. Mrs ToniaShoyele, Director General of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, saidthat the chamber had four centres: Abuja Trade Centre, Dispute Resolution Centre, Policy and Advocacy Centre and Business Entrepreneurial Skills and Technology Centre.









Shoyele said that the chamber trained people on vocational skills, adding that a month ago, it graduated about 240 youths in photography, website design, drawing and other things.









She said the chamber had an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Incubator hub where it could partner with NCC as part of its Corporate Social Responsibilities. (CSR).









We assist in the training of youths for phone repairs and get things right in the telecommunication sector.
The Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday warned the Federal Government and All Progressives Congress against victimising workers. ...

The Peoples Democratic Party on Tuesday warned the Federal Government and All Progressives Congress against victimising workers.









Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement lauded workers for their contributions to Nigerias stability and development. The PDP National Publicity Secretary,Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement lauded workers for their contributionsto Nigerias stability and development.









workers had been patriotic and resilient despite the challenges facing the country. He saidworkers had been patriotic and resilient despite the challenges facing the country.









He said, It is however unfortunate that at the time Nigerian workers should have been getting ready to enjoy the benefits of a new order under Atiku Abubakar, the nation is being held back by the ills of electoral manipulations.









The PDP urges Nigerian workers not to be despondent as the mandate, which was freely given to Atiku Abubakar, will be retrieved at the tribunal.









The party, therefore, calls on workers, as patriotic Nigerians, to continue to put in their best.









The opposition party said the FG should not bully or victimise workers for fighting for the N30,000 new minimum wage.
Sheridan student injured by bus dies

Sheridan student injured by bus dies

SHERIDAN (WNE)  A Sheridan student has died as a result of injuries suffered after being pulled under a school bus April 22.

After several days spent in a coma due to brain injuries, 6-year-old Esperanza Lagunes-Aarstad died on the afternoon of Friday, April 26, an extended family member confirmed.

Lagunes-Aarstad attended Woodland Park Elementary School and was transferring buses at Henry A. Coffeen Elementary School when the incident occurred.

Sheridan County School District 2 released a statement Saturday expressing its condolences.

Our district is devastated, and we are doing everything we can to support her family through this tragedy, the statement read in part. Through communication with the family, the students grandparents asked that we share their sincere gratitude with the school and community for the outpouring of support  With the guidance of professionals we will visit with our students, one classroom at a time, to answer questions and talk about how theyre feeling.

Additional counselors and school psychologists are on hand at Woodland Park, Henry A. Coffeen, and our transportation department to spend time with students and staff who need extra help, the release continued. Every student and staff member knows that our team will remain available in the coming weeks to work with anyone who needs support.

As of noon Monday, a GoFundMe page for the family has raised more than $20,000 from 383 people.



Man convicted in 2016 murder seeks new trial

ROCK SPRINGS (WNE)  A Utah man in the Wyoming State Penitentiary serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder has petitioned for a new trial claiming ineffective assistance of counsel.

Bradley Ross Fairbourn, 21, of Draper, Utah, has filed for a Rule 21 hearing to consider his contention of ineffective counsel. The hearing is set for 9 a.m. on May 8 in Sweetwater County 3rd District Court.

Fairbourn was found guilty in February 2018 of the June 2016 fatal stabbing of Naisha Rae Story and seriously injuring Linda Natalia Arce. He was subsequently sentenced in May of that year to two concurrent life sentences by Sweetwater County 3rd District Court Judge Richard Lavery.

Fairbourn continued throughout sentencing to claim he was innocent of the crimes.

Fairbourn contends ineffective counsel on the grounds that his defense attorney knowingly relied on inadmissible hearsay to introduce his case, did not peremptorily strike or ask follow-up questions regarding a potential jurors attorney/client relationship with the states lead attorney, inappropriately asked law enforcement witnesses their opinion about the guilt or innocence of the defendant or the credibility of other witnesses, and failed to object to any inadmissible hearsay evidence at trial.



Magazine ranks Jackson Hole High School best in state

JACKSON (WNE)  Teton County public school students attend the best high school in the state, according to the U.S. News & World Report.

The organization considers a best school to be one that serves all of its students, including historically underserved populations.

In the 2019 national rankings that became public Tuesday, Jackson Hole High School topped the Wyoming list. Sheridan High School, Laramie High School, Pinedale High School and Riverside High School round out the top five.

The high school comes in 663rd out of more than 17,000 schools ranked around the country. Schools in large cities far outnumber those in remote rural areas in the rankings.

A magnet school in South Carolina came in first; Massachusetts had the most schools ranked in the top 25 percent. Maryland, California and Connecticut follow in suit, with Wyoming in 41st.

Our mission with the Best High Schools rankings has always been to educate families about the schools in their district, Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News, said in a press release. By evaluating more schools than ever before, the new edition expands that focus so all communities can see which schools in their area are successfully serving their students  including historically underserved populations.

Rankings look at six factors: college readiness (participation and performance on advanced placement and International Baccalaureate exams), reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates.



Woman who led troopers on high-speed chase sentenced

CHEYENNE (WNE)  A woman who led Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers on a high-speed chase along Interstate 25 in April 2018 was sentenced Monday to 18-36 months in prison.

Michelle Peoples, 38, had pleaded guilty earlier as part of a plea agreement that would have suspended her sentence and allowed her to enter probation. But after failing to appear at an interview as part of the pre-sentencing investigation, the Laramie County District Attorneys Office declined to stand behind that recommendation.

Peoples was arrested on April 7, 2018, after being stopped by the Wyoming Highway Patrol near Interstate 25. The car she was driving matched a description of a car that had been involved in a hit-and-run in Cheyenne earlier in the day.

As the state trooper talked with Peoples in her car, she seemed agitated, and the trooper asked her to step out of the car. She refused, and as the trooper tried to remove her, Peoples drove away.

Peoples at one point was driving 110 mph on I-25 southbound while trying to flee the Highway Patrol. She was stopped when a trooper deployed a spike strip and disabled the car she was driving.

Once she was under arrest, the state troopers found a suspected heroin spoon, methamphetamine and a broken pipe in the car. The car she was driving also had been reported as stolen from Colorado.

During her booking into the Laramie County jail, about 2 grams of heroin was discovered in her possession, leading to an additional charge.



Cody man dies in Park County Detention Center

POWELL  A Cody man who was being held in the Park County Detention Center on burglary allegations has died by suicide, the Park County Sheriffs Office says.

Robert Bobby Jackson, 45, was being held at the Cody jail on allegations that hed stolen dozens of guns from a residents home in late 2018.

Fellow inmates found Jackson unresponsive in the shower area around 10:15 a.m. Sunday, said Lance Mathess, a spokesman for the sheriffs office.

Detention deputies immediately began performing CPR on Jackson, doing so until an ambulance arrived from West Park Hospital, Mathess said. Jackson was then taken to the Cody hospital and later transferred to Billings Clinics hospital in Billings, where he died Monday afternoon, Mathess said.

Jackson was facing a felony charge of aggravated burglary, which carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison. In charging documents, the sheriffs office alleged that Jackson had stolen roughly 34 guns from a rural Cody resident, then attempted to cover up the theft. The guns were stolen in December, but the theft wasnt reported until this month. Jackson was arrested April 11.

He waived his right to a preliminary hearing in circuit court last week, allowing his case to proceed toward a trial in district court. Jacksons bail was lowered from $50,000 to $30,000, but he had remained in jail.

Mathess said the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating Jacksons death.



Cody Stampede inducted into Rodeo Hall of Fame

CODY (WNE)  The ripple effect of joy throughout Cody may have jolted the Richter Scale last week when the Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede Rodeo was notified it will be inducted into the Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Stampede Board members were giddy upon learning the Colorado Springs organization voted in the century-old rodeo for an Aug. 3 luncheon ceremony in Colorado.

Were thoroughly in shock and honored, said Mike Darby, currently co-president of the board that is feverishly preparing for this summers 100th anniversary celebration.

Its so fitting with our centennial. You smile from ear to ear. It is an amazing thing.

Darby said board members were informed within the hour of receipt of last Mondays news from the Hall of Fame.

I think it gives even more credibility to what we have here in rodeo, in the community and in the region, Darby said.

The tradition of the Stampede honors the life of William F. Cody, the Old West scout and showman who helped found the community and died in 1917.

As the 100th, this years Stampede, June 30-July 4, is being heralded as a grand party.

The Stampede Board has been discussing sprucing up the sign at Stampede Park that proclaims Codys status as the rodeo capital. Now it is expected an announcement of Hall of Fame recognition will join the older wording.

In big letters, Darby said.

The 40-year-old Hall of Fame honors rodeo-connected individuals, groups and livestock in different categories.
The Police in Enugu State have arrested a palm wine tapper, Camillus Onah (75), over the death of his son after allegedly drinking ...

arrested a palm wine tapper, Camillus Onah (75), over the death of his son after allegedly drinking his product, the Public Relations Officer of the Police Command, SP Ebere Amaraizu, has said. The Police in Enugu State havearrested a palm wine tapper, Camillus Onah (75), over thedeath of his son after allegedly drinking his product, thePublic Relations Officer of the Police Command, SP Ebere Amaraizu, has said.









In a statement in Enugu on Wednesday, Amaraizu said that the incident occurred in Ebor Village in Ehalumona community in Nsukka Local Government Area on April 24.









A 75-year-old palm wine tapper identified as one Camillus Onah from Ehalumona community in Enugu State is now in hot soup over an alleged death of his son, identified as one Nnabuike Onah, after taking his tapped wine.









It was gathered that on that fateful day, the deceased alongside his friends allegedly bought palm wine from the suspect (his father) and went to a nearby corner for relaxation.









It was further gathered that shortly after drinking the said palm wine, the deceased and friends started stooling blood.









Consequently, the deceased became unconscious alongside his two friends, identified as Ostia Eze and Obetta Akeke, after complaining about stomach upset.









As the issue become severe, the deceased and his friends were rushed to a nearby hospital where a doctor on duty later confirmed the deceased, Nnabuike Onah, dead, he said.









Amaraizu said that the two others were still recovering in the hospital.









According to him, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Sulaiman Balarabe, has ordered full-scale investigation into the incident.









Amaraizu said that palm wine tapper had been assisting police operatives in their investigation.









He added that the corpse of the deceased had been deposited in a mortuary for medical examinations.
The Asian Pacific American Media Coalition (APAMC) has released report cards to the four major TV networks in regards to Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) representation for their 2017-2018 TV season. Long story short: three of them passed and one of them totally bombed.

The report cards were appropriately released on the first day of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and it is a great way to take stock of the status of Hollywoods glacial-paced move to being more inclusive. In this case, the APAMC sheds light on the AAPI community, grading the four major TV networks on their progress toward full inclusion in scripted and unscripted programming, writers/producers, directors, development, commitment to diversity initiatives, and the new category of Diversity Department Relationship with the Coalition.

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Asian Americans have been increasingly represented in network television over the past few years, but there remain many opportunities to be seized, notes APAMC Chair Daniel M. Mayeda. One need only observe the success of API-led shows on other platforms (e.g., Crazy Rich Asians, Killing Eve, To All the Boys Ive Loved Before) to realize that the public, Asian and non-Asian alike, is eager to consume new stories and enjoy new talent featuring Asian Americans. We look forward to continuing to work with the networks to elevate the presence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, both in front of and behind the cameras.

ABC was head of the class receiving an overall grade of B for the second year in a row, riding high on the strength of 24 AAPI regulars and 27 recurring. In addition to the AAPI sitcom touchstone Fresh Off the Boat, the current season of TV featured more AAPI series regulars including Melissa ONeil in The Rookie, Grace Park in A Million Little Things and Jake Choi in Single Parents.

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On the scripted side, ABC scored an A- and on the unscripted side, a C. It still remains the highest ever overall grade awarded to a network since APAMC began assessing the networks progress some 17 television seasons ago (NBC also received a B for the 2010-11 season).

Not too far behind ABC was CBS which matched last seasons overall grade of B-. The network saw an increase from 16 to 21 AAPI series regulars, but minimum screentime brought its grade down to a B-. With Magnum P.I. and Hawaii 5-0, set on the Hawaiian islands, the network manages to use AAPI characters for authenticity. With the former, we saw series regulars in Tim Kang and Amy Hill. They join Kunal Nayyar in CBS fave Big Bang Theory when it comes to AAPI representation. The latest TV season includes Suraj Sharma in God Friended Me and Nik Dodani in the Murphy Brown revival.

The network improved in hiring more unique AAPI directors to handle more episodes. CBS received top marks for Development but slid from a B+ to a B in this department. CBS Writers/Producers increased from 15 to 17 improving from a C to a C+ but that still places last among the networks  other than Fox. CBS slid in unscripted grade, going from C to C-. They were graded a B for Commitment to Diversity Initiatives and for Diversity Department Relations.

NBC saw a slight drop in grade from last year, going from a C+ to C. It maintained 11 AAPI series regulars but the number of recurring actors was cut in half. According to the APAMC, NBCs writers/producers grade improved slightly and development remained the same, but the network fell in every other category for 2017-18 and rated lowest in its Diversity Departments relationship with the Coalition. It slipped in unscripted AAPI inclusion and the network continues to not provide data on non-celebrity contestants for its reality/competition shows. Writers/producers improved slightly from 20 to 21 because the series Champions boasted Mindy Kaling as its showrunner. Nine APIs directed 10 episodes, down from 8 and 18 in the 2016-2017 season, which led to its directors grade slipping from B- to C. Due in part to AAPIs in the Diverse Staff Writers Initiative dropping markedly from 45% to 18%, NBCs Commitment to the Diversity initiatives grade fell.

On a brighter note, NBC has a fair share of AAPI characters with Nico Santos on Superstore as well as Jameela Jamil and Manny Jacinto on The Good Place. The latest TV season featured Sarayu Blue, Madhur Jaffrey and Brian George on I Feel Bad, which wrapped its 13-episode freshman run with no renewal in sight. Other AAPI actors on NBC include Parveen Kaur on Manifest and Anupam Kher on New Amsterdam.

As for Fox, it received an F/Incomplete for failing to comply with its obligations to provide data or meet with the Coalition. Last year, it received an Incomplete without an F because it provided a partial data set at the last minute.

The Coalition is very disappointed that Fox once again has violated its commitment to provide data on its diversity efforts and results, Mayeda said. We call on the new leadership of the Fox broadcasting network to quickly come into compliance with its MOU so that the Coalition can work with them to increase API presence in Foxs programming.

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'Toxic' Boyfriend Allegedly Shoots Mom in Face at Family Party, Killing Her: 'He Is a Monster' 'Toxic' Boyfriend Allegedly Shoots Mom in Face at Family Party

A Connecticut woman who went outside during a family party to talk to her toxic boyfriend ended up dead when the man allegedly shot her in the face, ran over her with his truck and left her bleeding in the driveway, say authorities.

Luisito DeJesus, 33, of Hartford, was arrested and charged Tuesday with allegedly murdering his girlfriend of six months, Nathalie Feliciano, 33, of Waterbury, multiple outlets including the Hartford Courant, WFSB and WTNH and report.

Luisito DeJesus, 33, of Hartford, Connecticut | Hartford Police Department

Mother to a 16-year-old son, Feliciano was found face-down in the driveway of her home in a pool of blood, surrounded by shattered glass, with tire marks on her body, according to the arrest warrant application obtained by PEOPLE.

She had been shot in the right cheek, the application says.

DeJesus was arrested on Monday afternoon following a high-speed car chase in Hartford after he allegedly pistol-whipped and robbed a man at gunpoint, the application states.

He had allegedly held up the man, who was helping him change his car battery Sunday night, WFSB reports.

DeJesus is charged with murder, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal use of a firearm, illegal carrying of a pistol without a permit and weapons in a motor vehicle, according to the application.

He is being held on $3.7 million bail.

At his arraignment on Tuesday, Waterbury States Attorney Maureen Platt went over a lengthy list of DeJesuss previous assault convictions and arrests, including larceny, armed robbery and an outstanding warrant for violating a protective order in Danielson, WTNH reports. If we turn to his record, it is repeat with instances of domestic violence, Platt told the judge.

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He is a monster, Jasmin Rodriguez, Felicianos sister-in-law, told WFSB outside of court on Tuesday. He took the life of a beautiful soul. And now hes going to get what he deserves.

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Its sickening to know a monster like that did that to a wonderful soul like her.  Its so surreal. She is someone who never in a million years deserved to have her life taken away, the Courant reports.

DeJesus initially told police Feliciano was playing with the gun outside her Waterbury home but then changed his story to say that the weapon accidentally fired while he was holding it, according to the application.

DeJesus was physically and mentally abusive toward Feliciano, according to the application.

On the night of the alleged murder, Felicianos family warned her not to talk to DeJesus during the party, WFSB reports.

She had gone with her mother to get a protective order against DeJesus, but changed her mind, NBC Connecticut reports.

After Feliciano died, her mother found a note her daughter left behind, asking her to take care of her son because I dont know if Im gonna be longer living, family friend Javier Andujar told NBC Connecticut.

She knew he was gonna kill her, he said.

Feliciano told him that Dejesus threatened to kill her if she left him, Andujar told the Courant.

DeJesus lured Feliciano to his car to talk before she was shot, he said.

Feliciano told Andujar that she wanted to get away and start a new life but she feared his violence, he told the Courant.

She had no choice.  She wanted to protect her family, said Andujar.
Avengers: Endgame has been billed as the definitive ending to the first 22 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which started over a decade ago with 2008s Iron Man. While the blockbuster is mostly concerned with bringing Iron Man and Captain Americas stories to a close, a new theory online suggests the film also subtly kickstarts the next phase of Marvel movies. One potential easter egg in Endgame confirms the aquatic character Namor the Sub-Mariner is heading to the MCU in the future and is already causing some trouble.

Early on in the movie after the film jumps ahead in time five years, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is seen chatting via hologram with various other Avengers about potential threats to humankind happening throughout the world. Okoye (Danai Gurira) tells Black Widow there are sub-oceanic earthquakes occurring off the coast of Africa. Black Widow asks if the earthquakes needs to be handled, but Okoye says theres simply nothing that can be done about tectonic shifts.

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The Black Widow/Okoye chat is incredibly brief and seemingly unimportant, but thats not how Marvel fans are seeing it. As Colliders Dave Trumbore and others have noted, the earthquakes off the coast of Wakanda could signal Namors upcoming introduction into the MCU. Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson fueled rumors about Namors introduction earlier this year when he posted on social media a 2011 comic book cover featuring Doctor Strange and Namor. The caption to the post read, Are you Experienced? After Derrickson deleted the image, many fans took that as a tease Namor could pop up in Doctor Strange 2.

Following the Black Widow/Okoye moment in Endgame, it appears Namor might be involved with Black Panther 2. Trumbore notes that leaders of Wakanda and Atlantis (where Namor rules) have clashed a number of times in the comic books. Namor has been portrayed as a superhero and a villain over the years, so its not entirely out of the question the character might go up against Chadwick Bosemans TChalla. That the Endgame script pays attention to underwater earthquakes off the coast of Wakanda has many believing Namor is on the way.

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Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has long wanted Namor to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is another reason the potential Endgame easter egg is picking up traction with fans. The character is an underwater mutant similar to Aquaman. In an interview with IGN in April 2018, Feige said getting the rights to Namor was complicated as film rights to the character were originally owned by Universal Pictures. Getting Namor in the MCU means negotiating with the producers who still own the rights.

The situation mirrors the use of Bruce Banner/Hulk in the MCU. Marvel has yet to make a solo Hulk movie because Universal still holds first rights to the character. Universal released the Edward Norton-starring The Incredible Hulk before Marvel was bought by Disney. The current MCU features the Hulk, but it gets around the rights issue by only including him as a supporting character in non-solo Hulk films. Perhaps a similar deal has been reached between the two studios for Namor.

Another reason the Namor theory is gaining buzz is because the MCU has allegedly teased the character before, all the way back in Iron Man 2. In the movies penultimate scene, Iron Man meets with Nick Fury to talk about the Avengers and they are surrounded by holographic screens displaying areas of superhero-related interest around the world. One spot singled out the ocean off the coast of Brazil, which fans have long believed to be the MCU first highlighting the existence of the underwater city of Atlantis. That Atlantis would be in the south Atlantic Ocean positions it somewhere between Brazil and Africa, which checks out with the earthquakes mentioned in Endgame.

Whether or not Namor pops up in phase four of the MCU remains to be seen, but Endgame is certainly giving fans something to theorize about. Endgame is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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Since the dawn of the Drug War, federal legislators have stood by, or even applauded, as millions of Americans have racked up convictions for marijuana offenses  with arrests increasing in the latest FBI crime statistics, despite nearly a dozen states having already legalized cannabis. But over the past two years, and now accelerating with Democrats in charge of the House of Representatives, federal marijuana reform has become a hot topic on the Hill. Congress is weighing measures to tax and regulate cannabis; to open the federal banking system to pot businesses; to allow the industry to claim federal tax deductions; and, most powerfully, to repair the harms created by generations of prohibitionist policies.

The federal momentum around marijuana reform is at the highest weve ever seen, says Queen Adesuyi, who coordinates federal policy for the Drug Policy Alliance. The issue has gained traction across the political spectrum, from right-wing Alaska Rep. Don Young to moderate Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to left-wing superstar Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Even former GOP House Speaker John Boehner has joined the board of a marijuana firm. Its an unprecedented moment, Adesuyi says.

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Its not a question of if were going to get a federal law, says Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat who represents pot-legal Oregon and is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. Its a question of when. At the national level, Wyden says, politicians are eager to bring order to the new marijuana reality, as half a dozen states, from Illinois to New Mexico, weigh legalization this year alone. People are seeing that were headed to a crazy quilt of state laws, he says, and it would really make sense to have a federal, uniform set of rules.

The most surprising development is that congressional efforts seem to have backing from Attorney General William Barr. In a previous stint leading the Justice Department in the 1990s, Barr authored a report titled The Case for More Incarceration, and hes made clear he opposes marijuana reform as a personal matter. But during his nomination hearing in January, Barr vowed to end his predecessor Jeff Sessions crusade against state-legal pot, citing industry investments that were made under assurances by the Obama administration that pot businesses were not a priority for federal prosecution.

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Barr then threw down a challenge for Congress. The current situation is untenable and really has to be addressed, he said, likening state marijuana reforms to a backdoor nullification of national law. (Since the early 1970s, marijuana has been classified under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I drug, on par with heroin.) If we want states to have their own laws, Barr said, then lets get there. And lets get there the right way.

The right way is ripe for debate on Capitol Hill, and in the 2020 race for president.

Marijuana businesses have rallied behind a quick-and-dirty bill that would give legal cover to the $10 billion industry. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), each hailing from marijuana-legal states, have co-sponsored the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, which was reintroduced this month.

The STATES Act does not remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. But it does exempt pot-legal states from federal marijuana enforcement, if they adhere to baseline standards. The bill also tweaks laws to improve industry access to banking and to grant pot businesses federal tax deductions. Its a very simple bill, and I think that is the selling point, says Michael Correia, director of government relations for the National Cannabis Industry Association. In March, a House committee voted to advance an even narrower bill, the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act; it would safeguard banks that serve state-regulated pot businesses from charges of money-laundering.

Other reformers in Congress, however, reject this industry-centered approach. They see pot businesses building on top of the inequality created by the racist enforcement of the Drug War. In February, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced a nonbinding resolution called Realizing Equitable & Sustainable Participation in Emerging Cannabis Trades, or RESPECT, co-sponsored by Ocasio-Cortez, among others. Noting that less than one percent of the cannabis industry is owned or operated by people of color, the resolution calls on lawmakers and the industry to address the most egregious effects of the War on Drugs on communities of color.

The Marijuana Justice Act, introduced by Lee in the House and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in the Senate, likewise insists that the case for legalization is rooted in the harms prohibition has inflicted, disproportionately, on minority communities. To say that were just going to legalize and move forward, without addressing the damage that has been done, without addressing the injustices that have been heaped upon people, to me is unacceptable, Booker tells Rolling Stone.

The Marijuana Justice Act begins by removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and making it legal under federal law. It adds provisions to expunge arrest records for past marijuana offenses, and offers a pathway to early release for many now behind bars. Most controversially, the bill creates a reinvestment fund of at least $500 million a year  a form of reparations for the communities hit hardest by the Drug War.

Introduced with little fanfare last Congress, the bill is a hot ticket today, gaining co-sponsorship by six of the 2020 presidential contenders in the Senate. Too many lives have been ruined because of the War on Drugs, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) tweeted in February, declaring her proud support of Bookers bill. We must change the system.

In gridlocked Washington, where funding the daily operation of government is a heroic feat, near-term prospects for pot reform are uncertain. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a lead sponsor of the Marijuana Justice Act, says hes optimistic the House can pass a bill centered on legalization and record expungement. But he concedes, There is a generational issue. Some of the members are having a struggle. We still have some convincing to do.

In the Senate, roadblocks abound. The Senate is not where the House is, says Wyden. But its not unthinkable that a bill could advance. Adesuyi of DPA insists that Bookers bill  building off the success in the last Congress of the criminal-justice reform bill known as the FIRST STEP Act  hits a bipartisan sweet spot. Gardner says that the STATES Act, which has four GOP co-sponsors, can pass if it reaches the Senate floor: If it has a vote, it has over 60 votes. He believes Trump supports reform; others are skeptical. Its not like we have Rand Paul as president, Khanna says. I dont think were ever going to get this administration on board, and that means its going to have to be a new president that gets this done.

Given that trajectory, reformers are thrilled the Democratic field is rallying behind the Marijuana Justice Act. Khanna, who co-chairs Bernie Sanders campaign, believes centering legalization in the election will give the next Democratic president a mandate to implement change. Booker, himself a candidate, insists the moral core of his bill can help it transcend partisanship. This is so much bigger than presidential politics, he says. This has been a driving purpose since I watched firsthand how privileged people could use marijuana without fear of repercussion, and how poor kids and minority kids have no margins whatsoever.

If the Marijuana Justice Act is a statement bill  designed to guide the national debate  other lawmakers are developing detailed legislation to disentangle marijuana from federal criminal statutes. In the House, Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is said to be working on a comprehensive legalization package. And from his perch in the Senate, Wyden has introduced a series of bills that  in a nod to the mythical numerology of stoner culture  start with S.420.

Wydens bills offer a three-step path to the full federal legalization, regulation and taxation of pot. The least controversial bill, S.422, would normalize pot businesses under the IRS tax code. Currently, because theyre trafficking in a federally controlled substance, these firms cannot claim routine tax deductions. The next step, S.421, systematically destigmatizes marijuana under federal law. It would prevent people in state-legal businesses from getting arrested or being hit with civil penalties; empower veterans, whose health care is administered federally, to obtain medical marijuana in states where it is legal; grant marijuana businesses access to banks; and create a path for people with past marijuana violations to expunge their records  opening access to federal housing and student aid, and guaranteeing that marijuana isnt a barrier for immigration and naturalization.

S.420 is the capstone bill. It would remove marijuana from the DEAs schedules. In turn, the federal government would get a cut of pot revenues, through an excise like the government now imposes on alcohol. The bill would require all pot enterprises to register with the Treasury Department, as well as offer support to states that continue to ban marijuana and dont want a flood of imports from neighboring legal states.

Wyden is optimistic that even conservatives are movable on this issue. He points to a bipartisan victory in the last Congress: It wasnt very long ago when I introduced the first hemp bill, but we ended up in a relatively short period of time having a McConnell/Wyden bill, he says. And it is now law. Hemp is no longer governed by the Controlled Substances Act, legalizing not only the industrial fiber but also the market in CBD, expected to grow to $16 billion by 2025.

Advocates say the tipping point on federal pot policy cant be reached without intense public pressure. In a web broadcast from his Senate office, Booker, with Lee, made a direct appeal to the nations pot consumers. If you are digesting an edible, if you are smoking, Booker said with a smile, dont think, Hey, Ive got my rights. No. Please be concerned about all the people who are suffering because of this prohibition.

If just the people who have used marijuana in the United States of America got behind this bill, Booker said, teeing up Lee to finish the sentence, wed win tomorrow!

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Chrissy Teigen and chef David Chang are collaborating in the kitchen, and the whole world is going to get to join in on the fun.

The two foodies are officially teaming up to develop and produce a slate of new programming for Hulu. The company announced the multi-year and multi-show partnership with Teigen, Chang and Vox Media on Wednesday. The food-focused shows are set to be part of Hulus new food programming initiative Hulu Kitchen.

Teigen, 33, and Chang, 41, will serve in roles both on and off-camera, curating and producing as well as being featured in some of the shows.

One of the first shows set to launch is Family Style, a cooking talk show co-hosted by Teigen and Chang. Another upcoming show, Eaters Guide to the World, is a docu-series about interesting cuisine around the world.

Back in January, Teigen posted cryptic shots of her and Chang in Marrakech, Morocco  presumably working on one of their Hulu shows, as Teigen captioned one of the posts @davidchang TOP SECRET PROJECT.

Fans of Teigens will not be surprised at the models new project. Following the success of her 2016 bestselling cookbook Cravings, Teigen released her follow-up, Cravings: Hungry for More, last fall.

Meanwhile, Chang is the founder of the popular Momofuku Restaurant Group and hosted Netflixs food show Ugly Delicious.

RELATED: David Chang Says He Read Every Bit of Criticism About His Netflix Series Ugly Delicious: We Did Our Best

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pair became friends when Teigen used to frequent one of Changs restaurants.

Im hoping we can keep integrating new perspectives into the conversation, telling compelling stories about our culture, and trying to change peoples ideas of what food television can and should do, Chang said about the partnership.

He continued: I think theres an audience out there that understands and celebrates the world through food, and theyre hungry for shows that feed their sense of curiosity in new ways.
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Esquire

Oh, those clever Chinese climate hoaxsters are really shooting the moon now. From the BBC:

Indonesia is moving its capital city away from Jakarta, according to the country's planning minister. m Bambang Brodjonegoro said President Joko Widodo had chosen to relocate the capital in "an important decision". The new location is not yet known. However state media reports one of the front runners is Palangkaraya, on the island of Borneo. Jakarta, home to over 10 million people, is sinking at one of the fastest rates in the world.

The capital of Indonesia, a city of 10 million people, is becoming unlivable at such a rate that they're already decided to move the capital to another location. Part of it is the fact that Jakarta has a traffic problem that belongs in a dystopian sci-fi novel. Come to think of it, all those cars probably are contributing to the other reason, too.

Jakarta is also one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world. Researchers say that large parts of the megacity could be entirely submerged by 2050. North Jakarta sunk 2.5m (eight feet) in 10 years and is continuing to sink an average of 1-15cm a year.The city sits on the coast on swampy land, criss-crossed by 13 rivers. Half of Jakarta is below sea level. One of the main causes of this is the extraction of groundwater which is used as drinking water and for bathing.

All of which makes Jakarta uniquely vulnerable to pranks by those clever Chinese hoaksters, From The New York Times:

With climate change, the Java Sea is rising and weather here is becoming more extreme. Earlier this month another freakish storm briefly turned Jakartas streets into rivers and brought this vast area of nearly 30 million residents to a virtual halt.One local climate researcher, Irvan Pulungan, an adviser to the citys governor, fears that temperatures may rise several degrees Fahrenheit, and the sea level as much as three feet in the region, over the coming century. That, alone, spells potential disaster for this teeming metropolis.

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Hydrologists say the city has only a decade to halt its sinking. If it cant, northern Jakarta, with its millions of residents, will end up underwater, along with much of the nations economy. Eventually, barring wholesale change and an infrastructural revolution, Jakarta wont be able to build walls high enough to hold back the rivers, canals and the rising Java Sea. And even then, of course, if it does manage to heal its self-inflicted wounds, it still has to cope with all the mounting threats from climate change.

The climate crisis exacerbates everything else. For example, if your capital city already was sinking, it will sink faster when the Java Sea comes calling for good. This is not a difficult problem unless your job depends on not solving it.

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Don Lemon didnt mince words Tuesday night when he made a case for collusion between Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr concerning how the Mueller report was handled. It was reported earlier in the day that in late March, Special Counsel Robert Mueller lll wrote a letter to Barr expressing frustration with Barrs four-page summary of the report. In the letter, Mueller reportedly wrote that the summary failed to fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the full report, and that it caused public confusion about critical aspects of the report. Someone, who actually works for the American people, is working on behalf of this president, Lemon said. Talk about no collusion in Russia, there appears to be collusion between the President of the United States and the Attorney General. And Lemon doesnt believe anything thats happened concerning Trump, Barr, and the Mueller report is a coincidence. You dont have to be a lawyer to understand why William Barr got this job, Lemon said, how he auditioned for it, how he conducted himself during the hearings, and how he conducted himself at the initial press conference with the letter, and the second press conference. He tried to shape the narrative. Trump, along with many republicans, claimed that Barrs summary completely exonerated him of colluding with Russia and obstruction of justice. But given the new information about Muellers letter, Lemon had a question for the Republican Party. When youre supposed to be the party of the rule of law, Lemon said, when you have a president and attorney general who are not fighting for the rule of law, but are carrying the water for indecent and inappropriate and possibly even unlawful behavior, what is gonna upset you? What are you gonna take issue with?
TORONTO  In 2008, the Mexican government sent the army to fight drug traffickers in the rugged region along the U.S. border. What at first glance seemed like an attempt to rein in the powerful cartels turned into an epidemic of state-sponsored violence, leading to the murders and disappearances of countless journalists, human rights activists, and ordinary citizens. As the violence escalated, many Mexicans in the Juarez Valley fled their homes, crossing the border to request asylum in the U.S.

In The Guardian of Memory, director Marcela Arteaga bears witness to the violence that has displaced thousands, while examining how governments on both sides of the border have exacerbated the crisis. With striking visual poetry, she provides intimate accounts of the lives Mexican migrants have left behind, while also highlighting the work of Carlos Spector, an immigration lawyer from El Paso, who fights to obtain asylum for those fleeing the violence.

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Arteaga spoke with Variety about border politics in the age of Donald Trump, U.S. complicity in the ongoing crisis, and preserving the memories of asylum-seekers who are caught between two worlds. When these people leave Mexico, they are forgotten, said Arteaga. Because here they are treated as traitors, and in the U.S. as criminals.

The story of Mexican and Central American asylum-seekers trying to enter the U.S. has been one of the dominant storylines in American politics in the Trump era. At what point did this become a story you wanted to explore yourself?

Here in Mexico, I didnt even know about these Mexicans seeking asylum. But I was very aware of the violence. You could read it in the newspapers, you can feel it in the streets. I have two daughters, and I fear for them every day. Every political discourse is about that. I kind of became an expert on the subject.

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One day, I met Carlos Spector, and I heard him talking about the stories of his clients, and people who had suffered the violence that I had been reading about in the newspapers. And I realized that I didnt know what was going on clearly. After I met all these people, I couldnt just sit down. I felt the need to do something. And the only way I can do something is filmmaking.

You offer very little context in this film outside of the characters themselves, telling their own stories. Why did you decide to make the film without providing more background about the violence?

My first film was the same. I dont like talking heads, and thats a problem for me, because there are lots of people that do. [Laughs] But if I couldnt do it this way, I would never do it. I really think that it will touch people more, it will touch the audience more deeply than if you explain things.

With this film, I had more problems than with the other one, because [viewers] got lostif the people were in Mexico, or in the United States. But I think if I had done that, then it would be another film about violence in Mexico. In this way, I think it makes it more universal, because it could be anybody in any nation.

One of the first characters we encounter in this film tells the story of her search for a yellow blouse shes left behind in Mexico. Physical artifacts play such an important visual role in the film: the camera lingers over abandoned houses, furniture, photos. What was behind that artistic choice?

It was a lot of things. One is the connection that I made with the people, and then what they told me. The same lady with the yellow blouse, she says that she had a dream that she was carrying two big suitcases. They told me these stories, and then I started to think how all these things are connected, and how could you imagine the amount of damage. The first idea that came to me was, What if we put 4,000 spoons in the desert, just to show how many are 4,000? Imagine if your life could be told by your objectsby your toothbrush, by the CDs that you have. And those are the kinds of things that we found in the abandoned houses.

Also, I thought, How can I in film explain that this was not just a mass shooting, that it was an organized thing? And thats why I decided to put all the glasses together, all the light bulbs together, in a very organized way. I connected their stories, their feelings, and the political situation. Or at least I tried to.

The phrase Mexican asylum-seekers has almost become a campaign slogan in the U.S., but those asylum-seekers arent often given a voice to tell their own stories. Was that something you wanted to change with this film?

Its true. Even in Mexico, they become statistics, not human beings that have suffered. Its a problem. Its too easy to talk about hundreds of people, or thousands of people, who have died. Its numbers. Its terrifying. And people dont want to talk about it. And I understand. If you do, then you have to realize that theres something going wrong here. Or you have to leave, or you have to do something. On the other hand, [if you ignore it], you have your life going on as if theres not a war. But there is.

Not all of the characters we meet in The Guardian of Memory succeed with their asylum requests. What was it like for you, as both a filmmaker and a witness, to see how some of their stories ended?

It was very hard, the first time Carlos said to me that one of them was deported. I interviewed him two months before. I did the interview, and he was very happy that he left. And then two months after that, they deported him to Mexico. We were all of us, the crew, we were so upset. And Carlos didnt tell us. It was his wife that told us. I interviewed Carlos asking him that, and he was almost crying.

It was very hard. They open their hearts to you, their lives, and they have the hope that something is going to change with what youre doing. Its very hard to not accomplish their expectations.

The story of Mexicos political violence, and American complicity in it, did not begin in Donald Trumps America, as you point out in the film. Is that an important message that you want to deliver to viewersthat this isnt just about Trumps wall?

Yes, totally. At the beginning, when Carlos is feeding the birds, he names one Trump. And I decided to edit that, to take Trump out of the discourse. Because its not about him. Its about a system. And also in Mexico, its not about one president or another. Its the system. Its true that it could be worse with one president than with the other one, but its a machine. Its the system, its not one person.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail Wednesday for jumping bail when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

Assange was arrested last month after spending nearly seven years inside the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault allegations. He told Southwark Crown Court in South London on Wednesday that I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done, the BBC reported.

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Assange also apologized to those who consider Ive disrespected them. Ecuadorean officials, who decided to revoke his asylum and give him up to British authorities, complained of erratic, aggressive and unsanitary behavior by Assange inside the embassy, which is located in one of toniest parts of London.

The patience of Ecuador has reached its limit, Lenin Moreno, Ecuadors president, said at the time.

Sweden dropped its investigation into Assange in May 2017, citing statute of limitations. But the U.S. has requested that Assange be extradited there face charges over the leak of a massive trove of classified American military documents. Assange and his backers have argued that he could face the death penalty in the U.S. and that Britain, which abolished capital punishment decades ago, should not send him there.

In video footage of his arrest last month by officers from Scotland Yard, Assange can be heard saying: The U.K. must resist this attempt by the Trump administration. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Shortly after his arrest April 11, Assange was found guilty of breaching bail by a judge who called him a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest.

At Wednesdays sentencing, Assanges lawyer, Mark Summers, asked that the court take into account the fear his client felt at the prospect of being delivered to U.S. authorities. As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything, Summers said.

After Assange was given his 50-week jail sentence, he reportedly raised his fist in defiance in the courtroom, which was packed with supporters who shouted Shame on you! at court authorities.

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The northern states chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to double up efforts i...





The northern states chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to double up efforts in securing the freedom of Leah Sharibu, following the release of Zainab Aliyu from Saudi Arabia detention.





Aliyu, a student of the Maitama Sule university in Kano, was released on Tuesday, after being arrested and detained by Saudi authorities for alleged possession of a banned drug.





In a statement by Joseph Hayab, public relations officer, northern CAN, the association expressed sadness at how innocent Nigerians are suffering abroad for crimes they didnt commit.





CAN northern states also commended the federal governments prompt effort in rescuing Aliyu, adding that the same energy and effort be directed towards securing the release of Sharibu.





Sharibu, who was the only Christian girl among the 112 kidnapped from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state, in February 2018, is still in Boko Haram custody.





The association charged Buhari to treat all Nigerians equally as this will make citizens proud of the government and the country.





CAN Northern states rejoices with the parents of Zainab Aliyu and the government of our country for securing her release after she was arrested and detained in Saudi Arabia for allegations of drug trafficking, the association said.





It is sad that many innocent Nigerians are suffering for a crime they know nothing about.





This prompt effort by government is commendable and should be sustained for all and in the future, because this is what we want to see from our leaders in this country.





But as we rejoice about this development, we are also compelled to ask this important question: Are all Nigerians equal or some are more equal than others?





We are aware that many innocent citizens of our country have been arrested, some killed and others are still in detention; but we have not heard any directives from Mr. President to his Attorney General to take action about them with this kind of urgency.

If we want our citizens to be proud of their government and country, then we need to show equal concern about what happens to everyone in this country.





We cannot also celebrate the release of Zainab and forget Leah Sharibu who did not commit any crime but has been in captivity for over a year now.





We, therefore, appeal to President Buhari to direct his security agencies to double their efforts and get Leah released and reunited with her parents.




In February 2017, Viacom announced plans to rebrand its once testosterone-heavy Spike channel into Paramount Network, envisioned as the companys leading scripted series brand. A limited series that had just been picked up at Spike, Waco, was selected to launch the rebranded network in January 2018. It was soon joined by the first original scripted series ordered for Paramount Network, drama Yellowstone starring Kevin Costner, as well as a slew of series originally developed/launched at sibling TV Land, American Woman, Heathers, Nobodies, Younger and First Wives Club.

Waco and Yellowstone both did very well, with the latter ranking as 2018s most-watched new cable series and second across all of cable TV series. The transplants from TV Land did not fare as well: American Woman and Nobodies were canceled, Heathers was shelved, with an edited-down version eventually getting a one-time run on the network. Following that streak, First Wives Club recently was relocated to sibling BET while Younger has returned to TV Land where it had been very successful.

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In an interview with Deadline, Kent Alterman, President of Comedy Central, Paramount Network, and TV Land, who added Paramount Network and TV Land to his Comedy Central oversight in October, talks about the programming plans for the year-old network. He also discusses the decisions to move First Wives Club to BET and Younger back to TV Land and touches on the future of original programming on TV Land where Younger is the sole original scripted series. (Fueled by the popularity of classic sitcoms, TV Land just recorded its highest quarterly share among W25-54 in nearly 9 years. )

Paramount Network, which is on a streak of six consecutive months and two quarters of year-over-year share growth, just greenlighted its third homegrown scripted series, dark comedy 68 Whiskey based on Israeli format, about Army medics in Afghanistan. It joins Yellowstone and Darren Stars upcoming dramedy Emily In Paris starring Lily Collins. Alterman talks about a couple of series in development, including Coyote starring Michael Chiklis and Heaven Of Hell, addresses the future of the Paramount Networks previously announced dramedy night that Emily In Paris, Younger and First Wives Club were supposed to be part of, speaks about closer cooperation among the three brands he oversees and unscripted strategy. He also reveals whether Heathers could continue.

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DEADLINE: What is your vision for Paramount Network in terms of style, programming, and volume?

ALTERMAN: What weve really tried to do is be very holistic and strategic and thoughtful about our approach. The first thing we did is we think about, whats the implication of the name, Paramount Network? Its movies, thats the first thing that your mind would go to. And whats the essence of movies? It really is about being transported into another time and place, escaping the preoccupations of your own day-to-day life through rich, satisfying characters and stories and just cinema in its pure form. Were trying to translate that into what were doing at Paramount Network in the sense that we really want things to be cinematic with really great storytelling and have really complex, nuanced, complicated characters where the setting really is almost like a prime character of the whole piece.

The best example of that is the one that was here when we got here, which is Yellowstone.

Its very cinematic. It has a movie star in Kevin Costner. Its got really deep, rich, complicated characters, and the great interpersonal family relationships, and it can just keep exploring a lot of different stories with those characters, my hat is off to the previous regime who developed that. The two things that were developed for Paramount Network were Yellowstone and Waco, and they both worked really well.

Yellowstone was the biggest launch last year in cable for a new show. It had over 5 million viewers an episode, and Waco really did well. I think there are certain things that unite those shows, and it can be a template for how were moving forward. Were not looking to do niche kind of dystopian world stuff that you see in the landscape a lot. Were aiming for stories and characters that are very relatable.

It almost is like having a broadcast-like, broad appeal, but not a broadcast sensibility so that its not simple-minded or working more on the surface, but it really explores more deeply, what it means to be human in the sense of nuance and complexity and contradictions and so on. For the new stuff thats coming, I think it fits in that same realm.

68 Whiskey, which we just ordered to series and are going into production soon. its from Ron Howard and Brian Grazers company Imagine. The setting is a military medical unit in Afghanistan. Its kind of like a modern-day M*A*S*H in a way. It both lays out this really rich cast of characters in a very specific place, and it really endears itself to both really dramatic elements and real comedic elements, and I think it will be really satisfying, relevant content for our audience.

Were developing a new show with Michelle MacLaren called Coyote, and we attached Michael Chiklis as the actor.

Its a part tailor-made for him; its a really complex character Hes a border patrol agent, and he is forced into retirement, and then he gets sucked into all sides of that world, the drug cartels in Mexico, the human trafficking and the authorities on the U.S. side.

The deeper he goes into that world, he discovers more complicated, sometimes dark and nefarious characters. Its almost like a Breaking Good in a way, because the more he gets sucked into those worlds, the more he gets in touch with his own humanity and keeps evolving as a better person.

It just feels like a very relatable, timely world to explore, but in a way that both has broad appeal, but is more challenging and more rewarding for someone who would invest their time in it where you can go really deep with character and exploring all of the nuances of what it means to be human.

DEADLINE: What about Heaven Of Hell?

ALTERMAN: Its a partnership with Charter and Paramount TV Studios. Rodes Fishburne created this very rich world in the south in Mississippi, very complex, enthralling family dynamics and a lot of characters interrelated in a small town. Its another one that feels like it fits right into our creative filters, and were excited about it.

DEADLINE: Are there any other projects in the pipeline through Viacoms Charter partnership?

ALTERMAN: Heaven of Hell is the only one at the moment, but yes, were digging down to talk to them about if theres other ones that will intersect our interests that we can partner up on.

DEADLINE: 68 Whiskey was originally announced as a pilot and became a straight-to-series order. Are you going to primarily order projects straight to series at Paramount Network, or are you still going to do pilots?

ALTERMAN: Well, it really depends. In the case of 68 Whiskey, we got the pilot script, and we were so blown away by it that we thought, okay, we could do a pilot first, but we were so excited about it, it feels so right for us. In this case, we also had the benefit of a pre-existing series  it is based on an Israeli format  with a great reference for us, and so when you can kind of combine that with how strong the script was, we just thought why do that step? It didnt feel necessary to us, and so we just circumvented the pilot and went straight to series order. A lot of times, you do pilots so you can really learn what works and what doesnt work and how you can make adjustments. In the case of Coyote, thats a original idea thats being developed and theres no script yet even. So well do a script and go from there.

DEADLINE: In terms of volume, how quickly are you planning to grow? What is the three-year goal?

ALTERMAN: Were looking to do probably four a year, thats what were gearing up for.

DEADLINE: Is this the goal by Year 3?

ALTERMAN: Maybe sooner. It does take time to develop and ramp up in the scripted realm, but I think were in good positions probably to do it before that.

DEADLINE: You mentioned Waco. Will you continue to do limited series?

ALTERMAN: Yes, maybe well have an umbrella where there can be different ones that fit under the same umbrella, because, yes, Waco is a good example of one that works. Its self-contained as a mini series, but it worked really well, and it really hit all the same creative filters as were aiming for for our scripted series. One project we have in development that has been announced is The Accused from David Shore.

Its more of an anthology series where each week is a different character whos going to meet their fate in the form of being found guilty or not guilty for some crime, and it really plays with time; it shifts back and forth between the present case and really unfolding the narrative that led to that point. I think that will be a really compelling one.

Younger Sutton Foster Debi Mazar

DEADLINE:

Can you talk about the decision to move First Wives Club, a reboot of the movie with a black lead cast, to BET and to keep Younger at TV Land?

ALTERMAN: When we first came in, the senior leadership team and myself, we tried to apply the same playbook that weve been doing the last few years at Comedy Central, which is, again, to take a very holistic look at everything, not just original content, but choices we make in acquisitions and programming and scheduling and being more strategic about everything.

As this team came into place a few years ago, at Comedy Central weve had 12 consecutive quarters of share growth. We started doing the same thing at Paramount Network, of really trying to simplify and clarify and be more strategic in terms of all of those issues from acquisitions and utilizing the resources and programming and scheduling.

I think weve been here six months or so at Paramount Network, and the last five months have all, for the first time ever, enjoyed five consecutive months of share growth. Part of what we did in this process of trying to be holistic and really simplify things was, we realized that the things that were working at Paramount Network were the things that were developed for Paramount Network, Waco and Yellowstone being the two prime examples.

Things like First Wives Club or Younger, they werent developed for Paramount Network. It was sort of cobbling together assets from different directions to try to make a more robust launch of Paramount Network, and I think that was a difficult proposition. We were looking at did it make sense to have something that was developed for one brand to put it on another brand?

While were examining that, BET is just desperately clamoring for First Wives Club because it fits what theyre doing so well and their creative filters, and so we just thought, okay, lets foster that to happen. These decisions to put them there preceded us, the moving Younger and moving First Wives Club, and so when we were just trying to take a holistic look at everything, as it related to Younger, we thought, well, Youngers been on TV Land successfully.

Its a very established series thats working really well with the TV Land audience, and if its not broke, why would we try to fix it, and do we really have the luxury of trying to market that show to a new audience at Paramount Network? And so we thought, you know what? It makes more sense to just keep it at TV Land where its really established, and that was really born out in season five that we just launched this year. It was the highest rated in the history of the show, which is pretty unheard of in this day and age. So a lot of it was just trying to simplify things.

DEADLINE:

In light of Younger moving back to TV Land, what is the future of original scripted programming on that network?

ALTERMAN: Right now, were just about to launch the next season of Younger, and were constantly looking at our acquisition strategy. As far as our original content, right now, were just more focused on Paramount Network. TV Land is working so well. Its being so successful right now, its not really screaming to be tinkered with, and so, were just putting our resources and time and energy more into Paramount Network.

DEADLINE: In terms of genre, Yellowstone and Waco are dramas, Emily in Paris is a dramedy, 68 Whiskey is a dark comedy. Are you going for a balanced slate or will there be a drama skew?

ALTERMAN: Well, I think were leaning more into drama, but were not opposed to comedic elements. I dont think we want to turn Paramount into a comedy network in that regard. Part of the excitement for me about Paramount Network is being able to delve into the more dramatic side of development and content and talent, and I find them all very complementary. It kind of goes back to where I started (at New Line).

68 Whiskey is a great example of one that can really embrace both sides of it, have really dramatic elements and comedic elements to it, and I think that just makes it more human. But were not looking specifically to start diving into comedy as a genre on Paramount Network at the moment.

DEADLINE: The dramedy night, is it officially gone, and is there any chance Heathers will ever continue?

ALTERMAN: Well, yes, theres no plans right now for a female-driven dramedy night. The good news is that weve achieved gender balance on Paramount Network. So were definitely embracing that and looking to continue to have a really nice gender balance, and a lot of the stuff that were doing I think really promotes co-viewing, as well, and I think thats part of the secret sauce of success on Yellowstone.

As far as Heathers goes, that came before me, so I cant really speak to that so much. Theres no plans at the moment to do anything with it.

DEADLINE: Will there be any cross-pollination now that Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land are all under your purview?

ALTERMAN: Yes, I think that were really open to that in different kinds of ways. For example, The Other Two, we just launched successfully in January on Comedy Central, it was wildly critically successful, people really adored it. We started airing that on TV Land along with Comedy Central, and it played really well, and it felt like it was an additive audience.

So I think that we are really open to the idea of things that work in that way. Another way that comes to bear a bit is, even when we have taken this holistic look at how were approaching Paramount Network, one of the things we really considered is that were not existing on an island or in a bubble. We are part of a corporate world that also has Paramount Film Studio, Paramount TV Studios over there, and a lot of Paramount channels in various territories across the world.

So were spending a lot of time now connecting with all of those other elements to start looking at ways that we can really leverage either existing IP over at Paramount and create new content, but in conjunction and in partnership with these other entities that are all part of the same corporate ownership. I think were approaching that in new ways, and were looking forward to having more things to announce in that regard down the road.

DEADLINE: One for the first original series on the rebranded Paramount Network was Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story. How big a part of the portfolio will docuseries be?

ALTERMAN: Well, the one were really leaning into right now is the I Am series. The first season has featured Sam Kinison, Chris Farley, Richard Pryor, JFK Jr., Heath Ledger, theres one on Jacqueline Onassis coming  a figure, it could be from comedy, drama, politics.

But weve been trying to ramp those up and have more of them because again, were trying to really lean into whats suggestive when you hear the name Paramount Network and its movies. Theres a lot of different ways that we can be evocative of movies, and the I Am series feels tailor-made for a really satisfying documentary series that will feed the same interests in our audience.

DEADLINE: What about your reality series? You have leftovers from Spike in hits Lip Sync Battle, Ink Master, Bar Rescue, and you recently ordered a new Wife Swap. What is the strategy there?

ALTERMAN: Well have more to say on all of that down the road soon, but yes, Ink Master and Bar Rescue are both on Paramount Network and both performing really well; were about to launch a new season of Lip Sync Battle. Wife Swap was a good example of something that just felt right for us because it has a lot of the same qualities that really work. Viewers can really transport themselves into another persons life in a way that is rich and rewarding. Its not escapist and empty calories.

The new version of Wife Swap is definitely updated for the times that were living in, and it goes up to another level in terms of not just being so traditional, like traditional marriages. It really explores the fractured times were living in  people with different political orientations, sexual orientations, family orientations, all that really come into high drama, and its like a fight and unite kind of quality.

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Ahead of a run of top-tier festival appearances this summer, Lil Wayne appears to be teasing the (possibly imminent?) release of a long-awaited project.

By way of an admirably simple but no less effective Instagram Story update, Weezy fans are convinced that the previously teased Funeral is once again being teased. In an update still live as of Wednesday morning, Wayne said simply "."

Image via Instagram

Way back in 2016, Weezythen still two years away from the release of Tha Carter Vteased the project as both a pivotal moment for his career and a reward for his most dedicated fans.

"Just let people know that that Funeral coming soon," Weezy said near the end of an interview with The Nine Club that November. "That's more music . . . I don't have a release date but I have a whole bunch of good news coming soon. If you are a Wayne fan, I know we've been going through a lot of tough times right now, but if you are a Wayne fan, we about to hold our heads high soon."

Weezy has teased Funeral since then, though a firm release date has not yet been announced.

Among Weezy's confirmed 2019 festival dates is a headlining spot on the Life Is Beautiful Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada. Billie Eilish, Chance the Rapper, Post Malone, Gunna, Maggie Rogers, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Sheck Wes have also been announced for the downtown throwdown this September.
Michael Ren Wysolovski, a 33-year-old Atlanta man who held a teen girl captive for more than a year, will not be serving time in prison. He will have to register as a sex offender for life.

On Thursday, Wysolovski was sentenced to 10 years with eight months to serve as part of a plea deal that saw charges of rape, aggravated sodomy and false imprisonment dropped, Gwinnett County Assistant District Attorney Michael DeTardo tells PEOPLE.

Wysolovski pleaded guilty to first-degree cruelty to children and interstate interference and had the eight months he spent in Gwinnett County Detention Center before bonding out count towards his sentence. As a result, he will not serve any prison time but he will serve the remaining nine years and four months on probation.

Wysolovoski was arrested in June 2017 after FBI special agents located then-missing Hailey Burns at his Duluth, Georgia, home. The teenager had been missing from her North Carolina home for 13 months.

Hailey was 16 years old when she walked out of her Ballantyne home in May 2016. From the beginning, her family knew there was an older man involved in her disappearance.

Her family told authorities that Hailey, who had been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, had left a diary behind that allegedly detailed her plan to run away with a 32-year-old man she met online.

She was safely rescued by authorities after asking for help, reportedly in an online anorexia chat room.

On Thursday, Hailey, now 17, faced her captor in court, WSB-TV reports.

The second I left my home, my life was ruined, the teenager said in front of a Gwinnett County judge, according to the station.

Hailey described how, once she got to Wysolovoskis home, he tortured her, mentally and physically abused her, and forced her to do sexual favors in return for food.

He lowered my self-esteem greatly and left me to believe I would never be loved or have a proper life if I gained weight, Hailey, who suffered from anorexia, said, according to WSB-TV. I severely mutilated myself hoping I would become unlovable so no one would hurt me like he did. I am deformed.

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DeTardo says he understands public backlash for the sentencing, but says that during a federal investigation into Haileys case, information and evidence collected made it hard to prosecute the sexual charges.

While she was missing, federal investigators searching for Hailey interviewed multiple people whod had online contact with her.

Based on those interviews, they discovered that she had been planning to run away for some time, DeTardo says. She was searching the age of consent in Georgia, which is 16, and she left her home about three weeks after her 16th birthday.

After speaking with Haileys family, he decided to offer a plea.

There were a number of things he made her do that she didnt want to do, but when you compare that with all the other information we have  the likelihood a jury would [convict him] was low, he says.

As part of the plea agreement, for 10 years Wysolovski will have to abide by more than a dozen conditions, including a lack of contact with anyone under the age of 18, random searches of his electronics and no possession of pornography.

Wysolovski had a history of going on anorexia forums to target young, vulnerable women, DeTardo says. When coming up with the agreement, he took the womens experiences into consideration and hopes the probation will protect others in the future.

The night before she was found, Haileys family received a message from a woman in Romania claiming she had been in contact with their daughter.

Hailey and the woman were chatting online when the teen revealed she was reported missing, the station reports. The unidentified woman researched her case and reached out to her family.

When an unidentified tipster contacted Hailey and asked where she was, the teen said she didnt know, so she sent a picture from the Duluth homes window. Hours later, she was found.

On Thursday, Haileys parents addressed Wysolovski directly.

You are not a monster, but you are a pitiful man who will now learn that actions have consequences, Shaunna Burns said.
When a soon-to-be-married couple decided on a nearby San Diego beach for their engagement photo shoot, they didnt anticipate that the images would provide a lifetime of laughter.

On March 14, Amy Sefton and her fiance Jake, both 26, walked to San Elijo State Beach, which is close to her apartment, with their photographer, Austin Whitesell, to capture photos for their wedding invitations.

We didnt have a ton of time for the shoot. It was after work. I wanted somewhere pretty, but we couldnt travel very far before the sunset. I was like, Well, this is right across the street from our house and also Jake proposed right there, so we can probably go back to the same spot since this area means a lot to us,  Sefton, who works in the technology industry, tells PEOPLE. And we could walk, so it was easy.

Austin Whitesell

RELATED: Dave Chappelle Surprises Couple as He Photobombs Their Engagement Shoot: He Made Our Day

But while the lovebirds were holding hands and posing for the sunset photo session, a surprise (and shocking) visitor was captured in the background of their images: an elderly gentleman wearing a white G-string.

Its a nice, fun, family-friendly beach. In this photo its just the naked guy, nobody else, but the opposite direction there were tons of families and kids around on the beach. Its totally not a nude beach, says Sefton. Actually, our photographer  he was like, Um, is this a nude beach, guys? Were like, No. 

Adds Jake of the moment when they first noticed the nearly naked man, Were like, What? No. Hes like, Turn around. And so we turn around and look.

At first glance, Sefton was shocked. I was like, Eww, and then I started laughing. I was like, What the frick? Theres kids around. But then I was like, Oh, this is actually pretty hilarious! 

Austin Whitesell

Similarly, Jake had to do a double take of the moment.

At first, I was like, I dont want to see that. And then I had to make sure what I saw was actually a nude dude walking on the beach. Where we were looking, theres a bunch of kids playing and I immediately looked back over to them, he recalls. I was like, Oh my gosh, those poor parents. Those poor kids. 

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While some may have chosen to wait until the unclothed photobomber was out of sight to continue with the photo session, Whitesell capitalized on the hilarious moment.

At first, I was trying to remember if I took the couple to a nude beach by accident. It wasnt my intention and luckily the couple I was shooting did not see him, as they were too busy looking at each other, says Whitesell. However, I saw the opportunity when he walked past me and into the shot.

He was like, Yeah, this is too funny not to capture it,  Jake recalls.

Whitesell explains that he asked them to lean back a bit so that he could snap the moment, which he describes as comical, random and very California.

Then I shifted my lens to an angle where he ended up being right in between them, he adds. I figured they would laugh about it after I took the shot, even though they were confused at first.

RELATED: Dog Photobomb Turns Couples Wedding Vows Into Laugh Out Loud Moment

In the set of images, the mystery man is flanked by the couple as he walks the opposite direction, and his bare buttcheeks are at the center of the shot. Although it requires the squinting of eyes to see the mans white G-string, the couple assures PEOPLE that he was not nude on the public beach.

But if you zoom in on the photo, hes got this like little white G-string thing thats just covering up barely in the front. I mean, pretty much he looked fully naked. So I guess technically it wasnt illegal because its not a nude beach, says Sefton. Whatever he was wearing was practically the same color as his skin. We just looked and were like, Whoa! and looked away. We were cracking up and our photographers like, Okay, we gotta get a good photo of this! 

Austin Whitesell

Adds Jake: Even if you look at his front side, your eyeballs really have to be looking for his junk to notice whether or not he was wearing something.

Although the mystery man didnt know the pair, he also realized the hilarity of the moment.

He looked at us and he started laughing, I think because he saw how ironic it was, shares the bride-to-be. Were a couple dressed up nice taking engagement photos and hes just practically nude walking through our photos.

And while the location is now filled with comical memories for the couple, who will tie the knot in June, it is also the same place where two milestones moments in their relationship took place.

That lifeguard tower in the back of the photo with the naked dude is actually where I asked her to be my girlfriend, says Jake, and then also where I proposed.
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger revealed in a memo to staff on Wednesday that the newspaper would be taking disciplinary steps toward the production editor responsible for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon in the Times international edition last week.

We are taking disciplinary steps with the production editor who selected the cartoon for publication, Sulzbergers memo read, while also noting that the Times would be updating our unconscious bias training to ensure it includes a direct focus on anti-Semitism.

The news was contained in a broader announcement of changes the paper is planning to ensure a similar error is never repeated. In addition, Sulzberger vowed to update the papers oversight protocols and stop running all cartoons from syndicates or from sources not directly linked to the Times. He added the paper would terminate their agreement with CartoonArts International, which provided the cartoon.

Also Read: New York Times Introduces Gender Neutral Bathrooms

This episode is a reminder that all of us are custodians of our trust and credibility with readers. Our journalists work hard every day to help people understand a vast and diverse world and ensure prejudices of any kind do not make it into our report, Sulzberger said. Though Ive been assured there was no malice involved in this mistake, we fell far short of our standards and values in this case.

Its unclear what the fate of the unnamed production editor will be. A rep for the Times declined to offer any additional comment.

The memo is the latest statement of contrition from the paper which faced a barrage of criticism over the weekend after publishing the cartoon. The image featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog with a Star of David collar leading a blind, yarmulke-wearing President Trump.

The cartoon featured a number of classic anti-Semitic tropes and was condemned by the right and left.

We stand with Israel and we condemn anti-Semitism in ALL its forms, including @nytimes political cartoons, Vice President Mike Pence said in a tweeted statement.

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In addition to the Sulzberger memo, the Times also published a scathing editorial and Op-Ed addressing the matter and issued a fulsome statement of apology.

We are deeply sorry for the publication of an anti-Semitic political cartoon last Thursday in the print edition of The New York Times that circulates outside of the United States, and we are committed to making sure nothing like this happens again, the paper said Sunday. The matter remains under review, and we are evaluating our internal processes and training. We anticipate significant changes.

Read original story NY Times to Take Disciplinary Steps Against Production Editor Who Published Anti-Semitic Cartoon At TheWrap
Kent Altermans plan for Paramount Network, which he took over last fall as president, is for it to steer clear of New York or Los Angeles.In fact, for Paramount Network, the setting is as much a part of the show as any of the actors. Part of what makes Yellowstone work is that its not a very L.A. or New York-centric show, Alterman told TheWrap.Setting as a character has been a really valuable piece [for us].Also Read: 'First Wives Club' Adaptation Moves From Paramount Network to BETAlterman pointed out that the networks first original program, Waco, and its first hit, Yellowstone, even derive their names from where they take place. [Yellowstone] is kind of a modern day western that really reflects the middle part of the country, he said. It has a very broad appeal, but not broadcast-level quality.Last October, Alterman, who was already the head of Comedy Central, took over Paramount Network and TV Land in a company-wide reorganization that saw Viacom reduce its brand groups from five to four. Alterman said they took the first six months to really take a step back and to formulate what Paramount Network, launched from the ashes of the former Spike TV in January 2018, was really all about.Were providing content that is an escape, but its not empty calories, he continued. If you think about the name Paramount network the association that immediately comes to anyones mind is movies.Also Read: 'Wife Swap' Revival Moves From CMT to Paramount Network Ahead of PremiereYellowstone was a much-needed hit for the fledgling network, which was supposed to be Viacoms answer to competing with top-rated cable networks like USA and TNT. Paramount was supposed to launch with buzzy hits like the Alicia Silverstone-starring American Woman, and TV adaptions of First Wives Club and Heathers.But neither American Woman and Waco did much  American Woman was canceled after 1 season  while First Wives Club moved over to sister network BET and the less said about Heathers, the better. But then Yellowstone came along and gave the channel a much-needed boost.The Kevin Costner-led drama averaged 5.1 million total viewers each week, per Nielsens live-plus-seven metric. That made it the second most-watched series on all of cable television, behind only AMCs The Walking Dead.Also Read: Why the Hollywood Studio Model Is Outdated in the Current 'Arms Race for Talent' (All Things Video Podcast)The success of Yellowstone  and the struggles with Heathers and First Wives Club  may be why Paramount isnt going all-in on mining IP from Paramount Studios vast stable of content. Alterman explained it as more of a balancing act, between greenlighting new ideas while looking for chances at studio IP.I wouldnt say its one at the expense of the other, were really talking about both, he said. We have one project with Paramount TV studios thats original IP and were exploring some other ones that are already IP that exists.On the horizon, the network has a scripted series from Younger creator Darren Star, Emily in Paris, that stars Lily Collins as an American from the Midwest who moves to Paris. Paramount is giving the series a global launch across all of its international channels. On Tuesday, the network picked up scripted comedic drama series 68 Whiskey, from Brian Grazers Imagine Television and CBS TV Studios.Paramount is also developing a crime-anthology series, Accused with David Shore, and on Wednesday, it announced a project with Breaking Bad alum Michelle MacLaren.Alterman also explained the decision to keep Darren Stars Younger at TV Land, rather than move it over Paramount. The move to change networks was a decision that was made before he took over.We really tried to keep it simple. In some ways its no more complicated than that, he said, pointing out the show had its biggest audience ever for its fifth season. If its not broken why fix it? Why put it on ourselves to try to market to bring a new audience to it at Paramount Network, or even try to convert a TV Land audience to Paramount.Read original story Paramount Network Chief Explains How They Use Setting as a Character At TheWrap

Kent Altermans plan for Paramount Network, which he took over last fall as president, is for it to steer clear of New York or Los Angeles.

In fact, for Paramount Network, the setting is as much a part of the show as any of the actors. Part of what makes Yellowstone work is that its not a very L.A. or New York-centric show, Alterman told TheWrap.

Setting as a character has been a really valuable piece [for us].

Also Read: 'First Wives Club' Adaptation Moves From Paramount Network to BET

Alterman pointed out that the networks first original program, Waco, and its first hit, Yellowstone, even derive their names from where they take place. [Yellowstone] is kind of a modern day western that really reflects the middle part of the country, he said. It has a very broad appeal, but not broadcast-level quality.

Last October, Alterman, who was already the head of Comedy Central, took over Paramount Network and TV Land in a company-wide reorganization that saw Viacom reduce its brand groups from five to four. Alterman said they took the first six months to really take a step back and to formulate what Paramount Network, launched from the ashes of the former Spike TV in January 2018, was really all about.

Were providing content that is an escape, but its not empty calories, he continued. If you think about the name Paramount network the association that immediately comes to anyones mind is movies.

Also Read: 'Wife Swap' Revival Moves From CMT to Paramount Network Ahead of Premiere

Yellowstone was a much-needed hit for the fledgling network, which was supposed to be Viacoms answer to competing with top-rated cable networks like USA and TNT. Paramount was supposed to launch with buzzy hits like the Alicia Silverstone-starring American Woman, and TV adaptions of First Wives Club and Heathers.

But neither American Woman and Waco did much  American Woman was canceled after 1 season  while First Wives Club moved over to sister network BET and the less said about Heathers, the better. But then Yellowstone came along and gave the channel a much-needed boost.

Story continues

The Kevin Costner-led drama averaged 5.1 million total viewers each week, per Nielsens live-plus-seven metric. That made it the second most-watched series on all of cable television, behind only AMCs The Walking Dead.

Also Read: Why the Hollywood Studio Model Is Outdated in the Current 'Arms Race for Talent' (All Things Video Podcast)

The success of Yellowstone  and the struggles with Heathers and First Wives Club  may be why Paramount isnt going all-in on mining IP from Paramount Studios vast stable of content. Alterman explained it as more of a balancing act, between greenlighting new ideas while looking for chances at studio IP.

I wouldnt say its one at the expense of the other, were really talking about both, he said. We have one project with Paramount TV studios thats original IP and were exploring some other ones that are already IP that exists.

On the horizon, the network has a scripted series from Younger creator Darren Star, Emily in Paris, that stars Lily Collins as an American from the Midwest who moves to Paris. Paramount is giving the series a global launch across all of its international channels. On Tuesday, the network picked up scripted comedic drama series 68 Whiskey, from Brian Grazers Imagine Television and CBS TV Studios.

Paramount is also developing a crime-anthology series, Accused with David Shore, and on Wednesday, it announced a project with Breaking Bad alum Michelle MacLaren.

Alterman also explained the decision to keep Darren Stars Younger at TV Land, rather than move it over Paramount. The move to change networks was a decision that was made before he took over.

We really tried to keep it simple. In some ways its no more complicated than that, he said, pointing out the show had its biggest audience ever for its fifth season. If its not broken why fix it? Why put it on ourselves to try to market to bring a new audience to it at Paramount Network, or even try to convert a TV Land audience to Paramount.

Read original story Paramount Network Chief Explains How They Use Setting as a Character At TheWrap
From Esquire

As a parting gift to Wisconsin, Scott Walker, the goggle-eyed homunculus once hired by Koch Industries to manage that particular midwest subsidiary, gave away most of the southeast corner of the state to Foxconn, a Taiwanese tech giant that could see a sucker coming from an ocean away. You will note that, on his visit to Green Bay on Saturday, with Walker himself sucking up from the cheap seats, El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago didn't mention the Foxconn deal while patting himself on the back for his economic genius. There's a reason for that. The Foxconn deal is on its way to being a lemon of historic proportion.

The latest examination of this ongoing, slow-rolling debacle comes from the Wall Street Journal, which tells us the tale of Mount Pleasant, a small farming town on which Foxconn has fallen like nuclear bomb.

Contractors have bulldozed about 75 homes in Mount Pleasant and cleared hundreds of farmland acres. Crews are widening Interstate 94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois state line to accommodate driverless trucks and thousands of employees. Village and county taxpayers have borrowed around $350 million so far to buy land and make infrastructure improvements, from burying sewer pipes to laying storm drains. One thing largely missing: Foxconn. President Trump and Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou hatched the factory plan in 2017, and both attended last summers gold-shovel groundbreaking in Mount Pleasant, 20 miles south of Milwaukee.

Photo credit: Andy Manis - Getty Images

As of Dec. 31, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant, famous as an Apple Inc. supplier, had spent only $99 million, 1% of its pledged investment, according to its latest state filings. The company projected as many as 2,080 in-state employees by the end of 2019 but had fewer than 200 at last years end, state filings show. The village is still awaiting factory building plans for review. Locals said Foxconn contractors have recently been scarce on the site. The impact on Mount Pleasant, by contrast, is palpable. Its debt rating has slipped. Local politics has become fraught. Neighbors have fallen out over land seizures.

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So far, then, the partners in Walker's genius deal have reneged on what they promised to build there and they've spent one percent of what they've promised to spend-not to mention the fact that they've run roughshod over the people who live there and that the company has been giving newly elected Governor Tony Evers a hard time. From AppleInsider:

Following complaints from Wisconsin's recently-elected Governor, Tony Evers, Foxconn has attempted to renegotiate the contract.

"To my knowledge, this was the first time either Foxconn or the State of Wisconsin has mentioned amending or changing the agreement approved [in] 2017," Evers has said. While not revealing Foxconn's recommendations, Evers added that Wisconsin is identifying areas that "will enable greater flexibility and transparency as the project continues to evolve." "Foxconn has never wavered from our commitment to our contract with the State of Wisconsin and the creation of 13,000 jobs as part of our broader effort to make the Badger state a global technology hub," the company said to us in a statement earlier in April.

In the meantime, the local council has decided to lease 966 acres of land back to the local farmer they bought it all from for $1.7 million last August. For the privilege, the farmer is paying $170,000 per year. Local residents who haven't accepted deals are campaigning to keep their homes, and are complaining to officials from the county about the future of the Foxconn plant. "At some point we're talking about things that are just imaginary," said Nick Demske, a commissioner in Racine County. "We're pretending."

If you've ever wondered why people are fighting the Keystone XL pipeline so hard on the grounds that foreign corporations shouldn't be stealing people's land, this is why.

Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook Page here.

Photo credit: Andy Manis - Getty Images

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Theres nothing quite like first love, and in Alice Furtados feature directorial debut, Sick Sick Sick (Sem Seu Sangue), the Brazilian filmmaker takes that idea to wild new ends. The film will premiere later this month at Cannes in its Directors Fortnight section, heralding the arrival of Furtado as a deeply visual and very talented rising star to watch.

Per the films official synopsis: Silvia is an introspective young girl who is not interested in the daily routine between family and school. Everything abruptly changes when Artur arrives unexpectedly in her class, after being banned from several other schools. Silvia is amazed by the vitality of the boy, who actually suffers from a serious illness  hemophilia. The two immerse themselves in an intense and brief coexistence, interrupted by an accident in which Artur bleeds to death. Silvia gets sick and sees her life turn into a strange nightmare. The mourning gradually becomes an obsession, and obsession becomes a goal  Silvia will do anything to bring him back to life.

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As Furtado explains, the film is about love and its destabilizing potential. Love that puts the mechanic, productive functioning of routine to test. It is also a film about desire, this strong and passionate feeling that can motivate people to be better than they ever thought they could be, but that can also lead to doom. These two feelings, love and desire, walk hand in hand as a double edge sword. They enhance each other but can also be a very destructive (and yet, powerful) combination.

While the film is Furtados feature directorial debut, shes previously directed and written shorts like When It Lifts Its Little Eyes Up, which debuted at the Pancevo Film Festival, and Duel Before Nightfall, which premiered in Cannes Cinefondation section in 2011. She also edited both films, in addition to editing Eduardo Williams first feature The Human Surge.

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Sick, Sick, Sick stars Luiza Kosovski, Juan Paiva, Digao Ribeiro, Silvia Buarque, Lourenco Mutarelli, Ismar Tirelli Neto, Valentina Luz, and Nahuel Perez Biscayart. The film was produced by Brazils Estudio Giz, in coproduction with Frances Ikki Films, Netherlands Baldr Film, and Brazils Oceano Cinematografico. Distribution rights for the film will be handled by Alpha Violet.

Check out IndieWires exclusive teaser trailer for Sick, Sick, Sick below.

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As Joe Giudice awaits an uncertain fate in the U.S. after being released from prison earlier this year, his family is publicly pleading with President Donald Trump to pardon Giudice and spare him deportation back to Italy.

The president has yet to discuss Giudices case and the White House press team did not respond to a previous request for comment. However, according to a source familiar with the administrations thinking, the pardon request is not on their radar.

This has not reached the White House, says the source, who notes that publicity alone does not carry a pardon request to Trumps desk.

The source explains: If it was worth it on the merits, this would be something, but just because [the Giudice family] is asking  

Thousands of people have through different means tried to bring different cases to the White House, says the source, who adds, The vast majority of them just dont warrant the decision.

Criminal justice reform has so far been the lone bipartisan priority for President Trump, whose policies largely turn on incendiary issues such as restricting immigration.

Last year he granted clemency to Alice Marie Johnson, a grandmother imprisoned for life in Alabama for nonviolent drug offenses. (Kim Kardashian, who has honed in on criminal justice issues as well, lobbied Trump on Johnsons behalf and has continued to work with the White House.)

In December Trump signed the First Step Act, which overhauled some sentencing guidelines.

RELATED: Teresa Giudice Confirms Shell Split From Husband Joe If Hes Deported: Its Not Going to Work



From left: Teresa Giudice, President Donald Trump and Joe Giudice | Jenny Anderson/Getty; Tasos Katopodis/Getty; Dave Kotinsky/Getty

Last week, Gia Giudice, Joes eldest daughter, created a petition on behalf of her, her siblings and mom Teresa Giudice urging Trump to intervene.

Joe completed a 41-month prison sentence in March for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. Teresa previously served 11 months of a 15-month sentence for fraud. Both pleaded guilty.

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They have made a mistake but rectified it through serving time and by finically satisfying all that was owed, Gia wrote in her petition, which has amassed more than 80,000 of its target 150,000 signatures.

Joe was a young child when his family moved from Italy to the U.S., but he never completed his naturalization to become an American citizen. Because of the crimes he committed, he is subject to deportation.

RELATED: Why Joe Giudice Can Be Deported Back to Italy

He unsuccessfully appealed to the immigration board but his removal was stayed last month by a federal court pending their own review of the case.

Gia argued in her petition: My father is not a danger to society.

He knows nothing of Italian culture, laws, societal norms, he has no immediate family and will not be able to secure work in this foreign land, she wrote. Teresa separately posted on her Instagram urging people to sign the petition.

She has said that if Joe is deported, she will leave him.

Im not doing a long-distance relationship. Im not doing it, she said in the latest RHONJ reunion, which aired in March. I want somebody with me every day.
2nd grade teacher reveals her salary in a Facebook post -- then a stranger filled her classroom with supplies originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com

A woman who revealed her teaching salary on Facebook is now thanking a man she's never met for adopting her Arizona classroom.

In 2018, Elisabeth Milich captured national attention after she disclosed her annual income -- which was $35,621.25 at the time -- while thousands of teachers marched for the #RedforEd movement at the Arizona state capitol to demand a 20% pay increase and better education funding.

Milich is a second grade teacher at Whispering Wind Academy in Phoenix. Whispering Wind is a Title 1 school, which means it has low-income students and receives federal funds to help meet educational goals.

However, Milich often dips into her own pocket to meet her students' needs, she said.

"It's hard to make a decision to spend money on your home, your own kids or spend money on your school kids that desperately need the help," Milich, a mom of three, told "Good Morning America." "I feel fortunate and blessed that I'm not a single mom. I have my husband's income where I can buy [lunch] for kids that don't have lunch for field trips but as for fun stuff, I can't buy a set of 20 paints."

PHOTO: Elisabeth Milich, an educator at Whispering Wind Academy in Phoenix, had her second grade students create this piece of art for Ben Adam, a man from New York who adopts classrooms in Arizona. (Courtesy Elisabeth Milich)

(MORE: Teachers who moonlight to make ends meet share why they're 'walking out')

Milich's story was featured on news outlets across the country and little did she know, a New York man named Ben Adam was watching.

Adam reached out to Milich on Facebook and asked if she needed help purchasing school supplies for her classroom.

"I'm thinking, 'This is crazy. This is a total stranger from New York,'" Milich recalled. "When school started, I started getting Amazon packages. I thought it was a one-time thing."

PHOTO: A photo of Amazon boxes is seen inside Elisabeth Milich's classroom at Whispering Wind Academy in Phoenix, Arizona, for a teacher who requested school supplies through Ben Adam, a man from New York who adopts classrooms in Arizona. (Courtesy Elisabeth Milich)

Adam continued to send Milich classroom supplies well into the second semester of school. She received colored paper, books, paints, paintbrushes, snacks for the kids and more.

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Later, Adam asked if he could help other teachers in Milich's school.

PHOTO: Seen in this undated photo is children's artwork inside Elisabeth Milich's classroom at Whispering Wind Academy in Phoenix. (Courtesy Elisabeth Milich)

"I'm sensitive to the people that get the short end of the stick and without complaining," Adam, a dad of three and owner of a real estate company, told "GMA." "Teachers work very hard and don't get much in return."

Adam ended up adopting five more classrooms in addition to Milich's. And last month, he launched a website, classroomgiving.org, to help other teachers who are in need of supplies.

PHOTO: Ben Adam, a man from New York who adopts classrooms in Arizona, has been fulfilling the wishes of six teachers in Arizona for classroom supplies. (Courtesy Elisabeth Milich)

Adam said that unlike crowdfunding sites, his website allows you to purchase an item off an educator's wish list, which will be sent directly to them.

"We are not asking for donations and we are not raising any funds," he explained. "It takes you to Amazon and you enter the classroom address into your Amazon address book. You send whatever you can afford and you know that item has gotten exactly to the person you sent it to."

PHOTO: Elisabeth Milich, an educator at Whispering Wind Academy in Phoenix, Arizona, received school supplies from Ben Adam of New York. (Courtesy Elisabeth Milich)

Adam's goal is to make his site go national since he received requests from teachers in Colorado, Washington, Alaska and California, for their wish lists to appear on his page.

Milich said she'd like to meet Adam in person and give him a "big hug" for making the kids "light up" in her classroom.
Health care philanthropist and wife of Nigerias Senate President, Mrs Toyin Saraki, has called for more advocacy around substance abus...

Health care philanthropist and wife of Nigerias Senate President, Mrs Toyin Saraki, has called for more advocacy around substance abuse and support for mental health practitioners.









She made the call in Lagos at the second run of High, a contemporary stage play, which tackles issues surrounding drug and prescription medication abuse in Nigeria.









According to the Public Relations agency that made the statement available to newsmen on Wednesday, Mrs Saraki thanked the cast and crew  including the shows director, Keke Hammond  for choosing to tell what she called an important story that highlighted what was a growing social problem.









As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine what its like to be dealing with a child with a drug problem and I want to thank you for this. You have shown it to us in such a reality and I think this story should be shown around schools in Nigeria.









I think that the first step to getting things right is shining a light on this issue and I will do what I can because the more we talk, the closer we will get to the solution, Saraki was quoted as saying in the statement.









She charged parents to look out for lifestyle changes in their children, wards and dependants, which might hint at a substance abuse problem  a theme which flowed through the play.









I think that every parent should watch this play because just from watching it, I could see that its actually very subtle changes. Its not something that jumps out and shows you that this person is on drugs or not on drugs, she said.
13 Signs Your Baby Loves You How do you know your baby loves you back? Here are a few sweet, surprising ways she shows it, starting with those first few weeks all the way through the toddler years.

Let's be real. Babies this little are not going to give you the kind of feedback you might desperately wish for after that grueling labor and those sleepless nights. But as you and your baby get to know each other, you'll get glimmers that a bond is forming and that can be more meaningful than a big declaration of love.

"Attachment is a process," says Debbie Laible, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Lehigh University. When you take care of your baby, he falls more in love with you every day and says thanks in his own baby ways.

Here's how.

RELATED: 30 Little Ways to Bond With Baby

1. He knows you're you

Within a few weeks, babies can recognize their caregiver and they prefer her to other people, says Alison Gopnik, Ph.D., author of The Philosophical Baby and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Partly, your little one's just following her nose: In one study, researchers put a nursing newborn between two breast pads, one belonging to her mother. The scent of Mom's milk was enough to get the baby to turn toward that pad.

Become the foremost expert on what your baby's various cries mean. Relentless and desperate usually means hunger, abrupt might mean pain, and more plaintive can signal discomfort. You'll figure it out through trial and error, eventually grasping nuances that will baffle outsiders. The better you know his language, the better you can meet his needs.

When a baby's distressed and his parents respond, he learns he can count on them for comfort and relief and that he matters, says Linda Gilkerson, Ph.D., director of the Irving B. Harris Infant Studies Program at Erikson University. But don't worry if you can't always nail the wail: You don't have to be perfect, says Gilkerson. In fact, she says, research shows that caregivers are in perfect sync with their babies only about 40 percent of the time. What's more important is that you will learn to recognize and respond when your baby needs you. Your baby learns I can rely on Mom. Even if I cry for a little bit, she gets to me soon enough that I don't fall apart, Gilkerson says.

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RELATED: 10 Things to Know About Newborns

2. She'll totally flirt with you

Within a month or so of being born, babies respond to the facial expressions of their mothers and without thinking about it, the moms start doing it right back, says Gopnik. We're talking about the smiles, the meaningful looks, the coy looking away and back again (think back to ninth-grade study hall; you get the idea!). These goofy games appear to be as important in cementing a baby's attachment as your responses to her physical needs. At around 4 months, she'll also be unable to take her eyes off of you. And who can blame her? By then, she's gotten used to life on the outside, can suck and swallow and is physiologically more regulated (i.e., is no longer eating and sleeping like a jet-lagged traveler), so she can begin to pay attention to more than just her immediate bodily needs, explains Gilkerson.

Flirt backand don't be afraid to use exaggerated expressions. Face-to-face interaction is part of how babies learn about positive give-and-take, says Gilkerson. Your child's starting to realize that with a single look, she can show you how happy she is that you're aroundand that it's a feeling worth sharing, since you'll beam back.

3. He smiles, even for a split second

You know those people who say that your baby's early smiles are just gas or an involuntary reflex? Don't listen to them. Recent research indicates that an infant's grin may mean a lot more. The goofy newborn smiles may be your baby reflecting your own smile. He's instinctively building a bond with you.

The first true social smiles start brightening moms' days between 6 and 8 weeks. Your baby may smile when he sees your faceor Dad's or a big sib's. He's starting to associate your face with feeling good. The bond deepens!

4. He'll latch on to a lovey

Babies often pick a favorite object, like a stuffed animal or a blankie, at around a year old. Gopnik explains that these transitional objects symbolize you and your affection, which explains the histrionics if youheaven forbid!put it in the wash for an hour. It represents your love, but in a way your child can control, she says.

Let your child keep his lovey close by in situations where he might feel insecure, if that's possible. Don't worry that there's some set time to get rid of it, as with a bottle. Chances are he won't be clutching it as he walks down the aisle on his wedding day (though, let's be honest, many of us still have Mr. Fuzzybear tucked away somewhere).

5. She stares at you, so intently it's practically rude

Right from birth, a baby can recognize his mother's face, voice and smell, says Laible. The next step is linking those sounds and smells he trusts with something he can see. That's why he'll start studying your face as if he's trying to memorize it. In a way, he is. He's making sure he knows what comfort -- and love -- looks like. So next time you catch your baby's eyes locked on you, give him time to drink you in.

6. He gives you smooches (sort of)

Sometime around a year old, your baby might start giving kissesand they probably won't be chaste pecks. Expect wet and sloppy ones that land (sometimes hard!) on whatever part of you is closest. "When I ask my daughter Evvi for a smooch, she crunches up her nose, tilts back her head and then swoops up to my face and plants her lips on mine," VA. "She totally melts my heart!"

Evvi's enthusiasm shows she's been paying attention to the way her mom shows affection, and she wants to do the same, says Richard Gallagher, Ph.D., director of the Parenting Institute at the NYU Child Study Center. Babies are eager learners when it comes to physical affection, and there's no one they'd rather practice on than Mom and Dad.

7. She holds up her arms so you'll pick her up

Kerry Smith recently noticed that her 6-month-old son, Leo, has a new way of expressing whom he wants the most. "When someone else is holding him and I walk up, he'll twist his body toward me and hold out his arms," says the Prescott Valley, AZ, mom of three.

Many babies adore being held right from the start, but it takes about six months until they have the physical and cognitive abilities to ask for a pick-me-up. It's a body-language expression of how much they've come to trust and adore their parents. And it can be enough, especially on one of those endless days, to make your heart lurch, too.

8. She'll pull away from you, and then run back

You'll start seeing this as soon as your baby crawls. You're your child's warm, cozy, secure base. But she's also thinking Hey, wait! I can crawl! I want to get out there and find out what's in the world! Gopnik explains. So she does, until she gets insecure. Then she's all Let me go back and make sure Mom's still there.

Freedom to exploreand then bungee back to a safe placeis what this is about, so let her do it. Of course, for many moms, this is harder than it sounds. But instead of hovering, put your energies into some extra babyproofing.

9. She's bouncing, wiggling and cheering for you

The way your baby acts when she sees you after a few hours  or a few minutes? You'd be forgiven for thinking you're a bit of a rock star. This glee isn't just cute; it's a sign of the deep attachment that's grown between you.

On the flip side are your baby's wails of distress when you leave. It's part of her development, and she'll learn that you always come back. She understands object permanence now (you exist even when you're not around), so it's rough for her to know that the object of her affection is out there and not here to snuggle.

Babies this age do their emotions big, so whether it's heartbreak that you're gone or earthshaking excitement that you're back, one thing is clear: You are loved. By a tiny, crazy little person, yes, but loved.

10. He does what you do

Whoever said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery must have known a toddler or two. Whether he's lugging a briefcase down the stairs or cooing over a baby doll, he's definitely showing how cool he thinks you are. Like all peopleadults included!toddlers imitate the activities and behaviors of the people they love most, says Laible.

RELATED: How Birth Order Shapes Personality

11. Making a beeline for you when he's hurt

When Emily Cook of Calgary, Alberta, gets a scrape or a sniffle, nothing makes her feel better like rocking on her mom's lap. The fact that your toddler runs to you for comfortand then can dry his eyes and run offmeans he loves and needs you.

Of course, you may also notice that your kid doesn't have to be that hurt to come to you wailing. Even a minor accident can make for big drama if Mom's around to see it. "Emily puts on this pout, coupled with dramatic sniffling. Then she throws in a big, unblinking stare that says 'Poor me!'?" says her mom, Heather. Yes, there's a plea for attention in there, but it really does make your baby feel better to get proof that you love him as much as he loves

12. He reserves bad behavior just for you

What mom hasn't heard "He was an angel!" when picking up a toddler from a sitter, then witnessed downright devilish behavior mere minutes later? Toddlers test limits with abandonbut most often with those people they love and trust. This isn't exactly the warmest, fuzziest way your child will say he loves you. But that's exactly what he's doing.

"You know you've done your job well if he can hold it together in public but saves his blowups for you," says Elizabeth Short, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Case Western Reserve University. "He knows that you're safehe can act up and you'll still love him." You may never welcome a meltdown, but at least you can stop thinking your thrashing, screaming toddler is out to get you. He isn't. He just loves you sooo much.

13. He'll freak out when you leave

Starting around his first birthday, and often continuing until he's 3 or so, your child may get upset when you have to partand rejoice when you return. Separation anxiety is a sign he knows that the person he loves is different from others, and he's beginning to have object permanencean understanding that people and things don't disappear the minute they're out of sight, says Gilkerson.

This is one behavior you don't want to reinforce. Because, let's face it, it can be excruciating to listen to your child's wails as you leave him in daycare. Offer reassurance: Say I know you'll miss me, but Mrs. Rosie will take great care of you and I'll be back to pick you up. Rest assured that he'll be fine, says Gopnik, and know that you're teaching him that he can count on you to come back for him later.
A 6-year-old Baltimore County student claims an older student threw him out the window of a moving bus. (Photo: WBFF)

A Maryland father is taking drastic measures, including quitting his job to relocate his family and withdrawing his six children from their school, after his 6-year-old son was allegedly thrown out of a moving school bus window by an older bully.

I just wish this would've never happened, Brian Kight, the boy's father, told WBFF. It has turned our world upside down. We're moving. We're relocating. We're taking our kids and leaving."

According to Kight, who plans to take his children to West Virginia, the past six months have been a nightmare for his kids, especially his 6-year-old, Jacion, at Featherbed Lane Elementary in Gwynn Oak, Maryland.

Earlier this month, Kight was surprised when his first-grade son didn't arrive home after school. According to Jacion, an older student called him to the back of the bus, where the student then "pushed the emergency button to open the window, and he throw me out the window," Jacion said.

He dumped me out the window, and I landed on the street, Jacion told WBFF. No car didn't run me over.

Kight says that Jacion fell head first out of the moving bus and was knocked unconscious.

I'm scared to death, Kight says. I show up, and he's already in the back of the ambulance. And I didn't even get to talk to nobody because the ambulance was in a very big rush to pull off. So, I jumped in the ambulance. I was thinking I might be losing my child. And it was terrifying.

Jacion spent three days in the hospital; according to medical reports he suffered "frontal skull fractures with small head bleed."

Kight says it was frightening to see his child completely unconscious, unresponsive. He added: My children actually approached me and said that, We are scared to go back to that school. Do we have to go? And I'm a parent. I love my children. And with them saying that and the look on their faces, I can't send them back there. I can't."

While police have yet to watch the surveillance video and the police report is ongoing, Kight says that he saw the incident and confirmed Jacion was pushed out the window. And all I could think about was, God, please help my son,' he said.

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While waiting in the hospital, Kight reached out to an attorney, Ivan Bates, who believes the incident could lead to a possible lawsuit against Baltimore County Schools and will be conducting his own investigation.

It could have been avoided, it should have been avoided, Bates said.

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Stearn Hodge lost his leg and arm in a work accident and cannot get around without an electronic scooter. (Photo: Courtesy of CBC)

A man who lost an arm and a leg in a work accident recently opened up about being forced to crawl on the floor of his hotel after airline security confiscated the batteries to his electronic scooter. Now he has hired a lawyer and is trying to get his case heard by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Stearn Hodge was attempting to board a flight from Calgary Airport in Canada, to Tulsa, Okla. with his wife to celebrate their 43rd wedding anniversary in 2017 when security personnel delivered some distressing news: He would not be allowed to fly with the $2,000 lithium-ion battery that operates his portable scooter because its a fire hazard, according to CNN. The spare battery had to go, too.

First, Hodge tried to prove to an agent with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) and a United Airlines official that he had gotten prior permission to fly with a functioning scooter. He presented documents from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which said that lithium-ion batteries do present a risk of fire, but the association makes exceptions when it comes to travelers with disabilities. The agents refused to honor the documents.

Hodge was devastated. As an amputee, he relied on his scooter to get around on his own; without it he was lost. He told CNN he once tried to wear a prosthetic leg but had to give it up because of pain and the risk of infection. What the CATSA agent offered next, though, really got under Hodges skin  a wheelchair.

Hows a one-armed guy going to run a wheelchair?Hodge asked CBC. How am I going to go down a ramp and brake with one hand? But that shouldnt even have to come up.

Hodge and his wife flew without the batteries, but by the time they got to their hotel, he found himself in crisis. He spent much of his vacation confined to his bed. When he had to use the bathroom, he resorted to crawling on the floor in front of his wife, an experience he describes as humiliating. Theyre taking my legs  and not only that, my dignity, he said to CBC.

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For the couple, their entire 3-week anniversary getaway was completely ruined.

An anniversary is supposed to be all about remembering how you fell in love  and keeping that magic alive, said Hodge. And those things were denied. Im crawling across the floor and it is pathetic.

United Airlines tried to rectify the situation with Hodge directly, but for him, their attempt just added insult to injury. In an email to Hodge, United Airlines official Tatricia OrijaIn wrote, It appears we were in violation of federal disability requirements.

She then apologized for the inconvenience and offered both Hodge and his wife an $800 travel certificate.

Inconvenience is when it rains on your holiday, said Hodge. This was a  life-changing moment for me and my wife.

While one might imagine that flying without scooter batteries is a universal safety precaution, Hodge said thats not true. He and his wife travel once or twice a year, often internationally, and he told CBC the only place he ever has a problem is Canada  in fact, hes had the same problem about a dozen times passing through Canada, and he said the anticipation of it now gives him anxiety.

I have flown through Europe, the United States and Mexico since 2015 with these batteries and have never been detained or harassed because of them, he said. It is only in Canada that I have been relentlessly detained.

Now Hodge is hoping to have his day in court. In September, the Canadian Human Rights Commission responded to a complaint from Hodge, referring it to the Canadian Transportation Agency. But the agency was not empowered to reimburse Hodge for his batteries.

On May 9, Hodges lawyer, John Burns, will ask a federal court judge to get the case in front of the commission. His legal defense will lean mainly on the Canadian Human Rights Act, which allows for up to $20,000 in damages for each count of pain and suffering, and up to another $20,000 if the discrimination is wilful or reckless, according to CBC.

Its a failure of the Canadian Human Rights Commission to grant access to the remedy that the statute provides, Burns said. People with disabilities should be taken seriously. You dont take away somebodys legs and then describe it as an inconvenience. No, this is an injury.

In a statement, United Airlines told Yahoo Lifestyle, We are looking into the allegations, and because of the pending litigation, we are unable to provide further comment. That said, the experience described falls far short of our own high standard of caring for our customers. We are proud of the many steps we have taken over the past few years to exhibit more care for our customers and we are proud to operate an airline that doesnt just include people with disabilities but welcomes them as customers.

Hodge says that since the trauma, he hasnt been the same  but he is unrelenting in his pursuit of justice. To cover his legal bills, hes even selling his beloved Corvette. But its well worth it, he feels, because hes fighting for his own honor and for that of other travelers with disabilities.

The thing I would love more than the compensation, Hodge told the CBC, is the [legal] decision that someone can go to and say, You did it here, you can do it for me.'

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Soootheres still no word on the royal baby, but, like, any day now, right?

One good thing about the delay: We have more time to speculate about every little detail! Boy or girl? And most importantly, what will Baby Sussexs name be?

According to People, the U.K. betting lists keep shifting, with the usual suspects (Elizabeth and Diana for a girl) continuously leading the pack. But theres also a wild card on the riseAllegra. (What?)

Yep, the Italian-origin girls name (which means joyous) just jumped from 100-to-1 to 20-to-1 odds, making it the sixth on the list, according to British online betting site Ladbrokes.

Ladbrokess Alex Apati told People, Were scratching our heads as to why weve seen so much interest in Allegra, but the bets are coming in thick and fast and its been by far the most popular pick of the month with punters. Huh. We can think of a few reasons why. For one, Meghan Markle reportedly loves Italy. She even named her old blog, The Tig, after Tignnello wine, which is Italian.

Buckingham Palace is already quashing rumors that theyve accidentally revealed the babys name, but we imagine royal obsessives are going to have a field day with this tiny grain of information.

And FYI, if the child is a boy, the favored names are currently Arthur, Philip, James and Albert. But all of a sudden were really pulling for Allegrait has a nice ring to it, doesnt it?

RELATED: Prince William Has No Idea When Meghan Markle Is Due
You've heard of it, you've seen the dramatic before and after shots on Instagram, and you may have even looked into getting it done yourself. For some, the Brazilian Blowout has become notorious for its transformative (and dare we say, life-changing) qualities, eliminating frizz and promoting intense shine. There are a few similar treatments out there that adopt the name, so before committing to one, you'll want to make sure the original Brazilian Blowout is what your salon carries  you can find a comprehensive list at brazilianblowout.com.

To help bust the myths circulating around the Brazilian Blowout, we asked hairstylist Jennifer Matos of New York City's Rita Hazan Salon to give us a crash-course on the hair-straightening treatment.

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"It works on just about every type and texture, even fine hair," she says. "Especially in the summer when humidity affects everyone, it can be game-changing, and your hair will be much easier to manage." Read on for your cheat sheet on the Brazilian Blowout.

What Is Brazilian Blowouts?

The Brazilian Blowout hair treatment is a liquid keratin formula that bonds to your hair to create a protective layer around each strand, effectively diminishing frizz, sealing the cuticle, and protecting against any external damage. The smoothing treatment originated in Brazil, and uses ingredients indigenous to the country including camu camu, annatto seed, and acai berry. After getting the treatment, your hair will be left hydrated, less frizzy, and more resilient to heat styling  not to mention, with an insanely glossy mirror-like shine.

RELATED: Brazilian Blowout vs. Keratin Treatment  Which One Should You Get?

How Is The Brazilian Blowout Different From Other Keratin Treatments?

Although both end results are similar, the Brazilian Blowout has a mild formula that can be tailored to your hair type, and is a little less delicate post-treatment. "After you get a keratin treatment, you don't have as many options," says Matos. "You can't tie it back in a ponytail or clip, you can't style it, and you can't wash it for the three or four days that follow. With the Brazilian Blowout, you get it done, your stylist rinses it out, and that's it. You're back to your normal life again."

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Will The Brazilian Blowout Make My Hair Completely Straight?

Not unless you want it to. Your stylist will seal in the treatment by passing a 450-degree flat iron over your hair, and the more your stylist flat irons, the straighter your hair will be.

"If you like to wear your hair curly, but just want to tame your frizz, this will help make your hair smooth. Just be sure to tell your stylist exactly what you want, and they can tailor the treatment to either preserve the texture of your hair, or make it smoother," Matos explains.

The overall goal is to make your strands less of a burden to work with, but keep in mind that if you have naturally curly hair, it won't air dry to a pin-straight texture. "You'll still have voluminous body with waves if you air dry it, but if it normally takes you 30 minutes with a blow dryer, this can help you cut down the time to just 15 minutes," she adds.

Is The Brazilian Blowout Safe?

Matos confirms that the treatment is safe on any hair type, and actually helps to improve shine as well as moisture levels. "Everyone is concerned because of the formaldehyde in the formula, but there isn't any more in this than would be in your nail polish," she says. "There is a very, very small amount, but with any chemical processing, there is always a chain reaction of bonding the treatment to your hair." The only situation in which breakage does occur is when a stylist goes too hard with the flat iron, so be sure to tell yours if your hair can't take a lot of heat.

RELATED: I Tried a Keratin Straightening Treatment and Honestly, Life Will Never Be the Same

How Long Does The Brazilian Blowout Take?

"Overall, the process takes an hour to an hour and a half," Matos says. "The longest I've ever spent doing a Brazilian Blowout was around two hours, so it all depends on how much hair you have and how thick it is." Your stylist will begin by shampooing your hair three or four times to remove all the product and create a base for the treatment to adhere. Working section by section, the Brazilian Blowout formula will be applied from root to tip, then blow-dried smooth. A flat iron heated to 450 degrees will seal it in, then it's back to the shampoo bowl to rinse out the treatment, followed by a deep conditioning mask. Finally, your hair will once again be blow-dried smooth.

VIDEO: Beauty School: How to Use a Round Brush for a Perfect Blowout

How Long Does The Brazilian Blowout Last?

Provided that you don't use shampoos that contain sulfates and chorine, your treatment should last anywhere from three to four months  possibly longer if you don't need to wash your hair as regularly as some.

Once it wears off, your hair will return to its natural curl pattern. "You'll start to see it around the hairline first," Matos says. "That's your indicator of when it's time to get it redone." Even if you don't get it touched up right away, there's no obvious line of demarcation between the previously treated hair and new growth, unlike with other relaxing or straightening methods.

Can You Get a Brazilian Blowout if You Have Colored Hair?

The Brazilian Blowout is completely safe on color-treated strands, says Matos, and since it completely seals off the hair shaft, there's a chance your hair will stay vibrant for longer. "We've had clients who have gotten color done and followed it up with a Brazilian Blowout in the same day, and that would be the perfect time to do it since the cuticle is already open from the color," Matos tells us. "If you're doing this, just be sure to let your colorist know since doing one treatment after the other can make the color a bit brighter."

What Should I Do After Getting the Brazilian Blowout Treatment?

Unlike the post-keratin treatment routine, there aren't any restrictions as to what you can and can't do in terms of activity, so you won't have to skip out on your hot yoga class. Additionally, since the treatment is rinsed out in the salon, you can wait as long or as little as you'd like to wash it, but again, just be sure to use a sulfate- and chlorine-free formula to preserve it.
Fraternities at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania have disbanded after leaked documents revealed racist, homophobic, and misogynist jokes and language were discovered.

Over the past few years, fraternities at colleges across the country have come under scrutiny for issues like hazing, racism, and sexual assault. These reports have led some to wonder if the Greek system should be phased out of college culture once and for all. Now, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that two fraternities at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania have disbanded after leaked documents showed pervasive racist, homophobic, and misogynist commentsincluding a joke about a rape attic.

Student-run newspapers The Phoenix and Voices recently published internal documents from the fraternity Phi Psi that cover the organizations activities from 2010 to 2016. The documents contained graphic descriptions of sexual activity, accounts of sexual assault, and racist jokesincluding derogatory language about black and Asian women. In one 2013 minutes document, Voices found that Phi Psi referenced the other fraternity on campus, Delta Upsilon, writing: Your parties suck, you have both a rape tunnel AND a rape attic (gotta choose one or the other).

According to The New York Times, a group of student protesters known as the Coalition to End Fraternity Violence began occupying the Phi Psi house on April 27th. The demonstrators reportedly demanded that Swarthmore give the fraternity houses to organizations representing marginalized groups, such as black or disabled students.

Update: nearly 100 students nearing the end of day 2 of sit-in at Phi Psi. Students say they have no plans to leave until demands are met. pic.twitter.com/q8HVy5MCb3  Swarthmore Voices (@swatvoices) April 29, 2019

On the night of April 30th, Voices reported that both Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi had voluntarily disbanded. Both fraternities shared statements on Facebook about their decisions, saying that the decision were reached unanimously.

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In an earlier Facebook statement, Phi Psi wrote that the language in the leaked documents was not representative of who we are today. The organizations April 30th statement echoed this sentiment noting that the current members were in high school and middle school at the time of the writing of these documents.

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In a statement shared to the Swarthmore website on May 1st, President Valerie Smith wrote:

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Smith went on to clarify that although no current Swarthmore students were implicated in the leaked documents, an investigation into the fraternities would still be held. Her statement did not say what would happen to the actual fraternity houses going forward.

The behavior described in these documents is nauseating, but were glad that concrete action has beenand continues to betaken.
At F8, Facebooks annual developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed his vision of building a privacy-focused social network as he debuted the newest version of the companys core app.

Zuckerberg said the redesigned Facebook, version FB5, will make navigation easier, load time faster, and provide a cleaner appearance. The new version also encourages private interactions within groupspart of Zuckerbergs vision to make the social network the digital equivalent of a living room. The updated mobile app is rolling out now. The desktop version will be released in the next few months.

The news came on Monday as part of a number of product updates announced during F8 at the San Jose Convention Center.

This isnt just about building features, Zuckerberg said. We need to change a lot of ways we run this company.

The changes built on six priorities for the company that Zuckerberg announced in March: private interactions, encryption, reducing the permanence of posts, improving safety, creating the ability for users to communicate between Facebooks family of apps, and securing data storage.

The new direction follows heavy scrutiny of Facebooks management of user data. The company has been plagued by public data breaches that have captured the attention of regulators worldwide.

In Facebooks latest earnings call, the company announced that it expects to pay the Federal Trade Commission a fine of up to $5 billion for allowing political data firm Cambridge Analytica to harvest information from up to 87 million Facebook users in 2016. That information was used to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Zuckerberg didnt dodge the issue at F8.

I know we dont have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, he said. But Im committed to doing this well and starting a new chapter for our products.

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Heres a look at other Facebook news from the first day of F8.

Facebook Groups

Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, detailed some of the ways Facebooks update will encourage group interactions.

New features include the ability for members within groups to anonymously post questions and share information. It also rolled out a new template for professional groups to post jobs on Facebook, allowing members to message the employer and apply through the app. And gaming groups will get a chat feature so members can create threads about specific topics within a group.

Though friends are currently central to the Facebook experience, thats about to change. With the launch of the updated app, Groups are now at the heart of the experience, said Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg also mentioned that Facebook is working to downplay recommendations from groups known for spreading misinformation, and deleting groups that break the companys community standards.

Facebook Dating

Facebook is also expanding into the dating game, with a new feature that will let users create private lists of their secret crushes within their circle of friends.

Users who opt into Facebook dating can add up to nine Facebook friends to their list of crushes. If any of their crushes express mutual interest on their secret list, theyll both be notified. If the friends listed as a crush are not on Facebook Dating, no notifications are sent.

The company has already rolled out Facebook dating in 14 countries: Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, and Suriname. The feature will roll out in the U.S. by the end of 2019.

Messengers New App

Facebook Messenger also got an overhaul, with a faster Messenger mobile app, an all-new desktop app, and some new features for business users.

The mobile app takes up less space, making it faster to load and respond. Its new desktop app, which works both on Windows and MacOS, allows users to host group video calls and collaborate on projects.

For businesses, it created an automated system that allows customers to book an appointment through Messenger.

Peoples communication styles are migrating toward messaging way faster than anyone thought, said Stan Chudnovsky, head of Messenger. And people want to communicate with businesses the same way.

Facebook is also developing features that will allow Messenger users to message and call people on Instagram and WhatsApp. The company did not announce a launch date for the feature.

WhatsApp Updates

Facebook introduced new features for users and businesses.

WhatsApp now allows users to share their location with their friends and family via the app. Zuckerberg said locations, like the messages on WhatsApp, are encrypted.

For businesses, the company rolled out product catalogs, allowing customers to view a list of products within the chat. It also allows customers to purchase an item directly within the app. The payments feature is testing in India and will be available in a number of countries this year.

Instagram Features

Instagram updates focused on giving users the ability to shop and fundraise within the app, and be more creative with their stories.

Users can now raise money for charitable causes with a new donation sticker. Facebook says 100% of the money raised on Instagram will be donated to users nonprofits of choice. The fundraising option is similar to what is already available on Facebook. It is now available on Instagram in the U.S.

Next week, Instagram plans to debut a new feature that will allow users to tag items so that other users can purchase them directly within the app. Instagram made this feature available to retailers last month.

Finally, the Instagram camera will be updated with create mode. The setting will allow users to post effects and interactive stickers without having to also record a video. The new feature will launch in the next few weeks, Facebook said.

Instagram is also testing hiding the total amount of likes a post receives. Zuckerberg said this to encourage connection between users versus posting photos and videos for likes.
Washington (AFP) - US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has canceled a trip to Europe to stay on top of the crisis in Venezuela and events at the US-Mexico border, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

"Secretary Shanahan will no longer travel to Europe as he has determined remaining present in DC would allow him to more effectively coordinate with NSA and the State Department in Venezuela and to continue coordination with DHS for support along the Southwest border," his spokesman Joe Buccino said.

Shanahan had planned to embark on a tour of Germany, Belgium and Britain, starting Thursday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier Wednesday President Donald Trump was prepared to take military action to quell the crisis in Venezuela.

Shanahan was due to attend ceremonies in Germany and Belgium marking the change of commanders for US European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

He was also expected to meet his British counterpart Gavin Williamson before his return on Saturday.

Venezuelan was bracing Wednesday for anti-government protests called by opposition leader Juan Guaido in a bid to pile pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

Pro-Maduro rallies were also expected, a day after violent clashes erupted in the capital Caracas following Guido's call on the military to rise up against Maduro, who claimed the insurrection had failed.

The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January in a bid to replace Maduro, whom he has branded as illegitimate.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron has granted Mastercard permission to hold 10 percent of Israeli bank services firm SHVA, the central bank said on Tuesday, in a step aimed at boosting banking sector competition.

Mastercard got the green light after the company signed a deal to buy the stake from Israel's Bank Hapoalim, the Bank of Israel said.

SHVA, the Hebrew acronym for Automated Banking Services Ltd, provides a large portion of the services in the payment card transaction chain in Israel.

New legislation to increase competition in the sector is forcing Israel's largest banks to reduce their stakes in SHVA to below 10 percent.

Hapoalim rival Bank Leumi last year received permission to sell a 10 percent share to Visa.

The Bank of Israel said Hapoalim, Leumi and Israel Discount Bank are preparing a public offering to sell more of their stakes in SHVA to the public to take their holdings below 10 percent.

Supervisor of Banks Hedva Ber said the payments sector is expected to undergo changes in coming years and that adding international players that specialise in payments will boost innovation and knowledge.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Tova Cohen/Steven Scheer/Jane Merriman)
Attorney General William Barr criticized Robert Mueller on Wednesday for failing to exercise his responsibility as a prosecutor to decide whether President Trump violated the law by obstructing the Russia investigation.

Was it the special counsels responsibility to make a charging decision? Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Barr at a contentious hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I think the Deputy Attorney General [Rod Rosenstein] and I thought it was, Barr replied. He then suggested Mueller had no authority to even investigate the president for obstruction  using the powers of the grand jury  if he wasnt prepared to charge him.

If he wasnt going to go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision, he shouldnt have investigated acts of alleged obstruction, Barr said.

When Mueller, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president, failed to make a decision about whether to bring charges, Barr did his own analysis and declined to bring an indictment against Trump.

Barrs comments were surprising in light of his long relationship with Mueller, dating back to the days he was attorney general under President George H.W. Bush and Mueller served under him as the chief of the criminal division.

But Barr has come under intense fire over his handling of the special counsel report, with top Democrats calling for his resignation or impeachment, after reports surfaced of a letter by Mueller to Barr disagreeing with the attorney generals public statements about the report. The letter said Barrs four-page summary, which appeared to clear the president of all wrongdoing, did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Offices work and conclusions. The letter was sent on March 27, just three days after Barr released his summary on Sunday, March 24.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on "the Justice Department's investigation of Russian Interference with the 2016 presidential election" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2019. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

The testimony pointed to growing tensions between the two old colleagues as they maneuver to defend their handling of the Russia probe. Barr has come under sharp criticism from Democrats for misleading, if not lying, to members of Congress in testimony last month about whether he knew of the special counsels objections to the summary. Asked if he was aware of concerns that Mueller and his staff had over the summary, Barr neglected to mention the letter from Mueller he had received two weeks earlier.

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Questioned closely about the matter Wednesday, Barr pushed back, conspicuously turning it into an accusation against Mueller himself.

Barr told the panel that the day after receiving Muellers letter, he called him and asked him, Whats the issue here? He asked Mueller if he thought anything in his four-page summary was inaccurate, and Mueller told him it was not but that the press reporting was inaccurate.

He was very clear to me he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report, Barr testified. But Barr said Mueller wanted him to release more information quickly that would explain why he reached his conclusions about possible obstruction by the president.

Specifically, Mueller asked Barr to release the introduction to the report and executive summaries of the two volumes. But Barr said he was not interested in putting out summaries but instead wanted to release the whole report once it was stripped of grand jury material, classified intelligence information and other material he determined could not be made public.

And Barr insisted the subsequent delay was Muellers fault, not his.

When he first met with Mueller and his senior staff on March 5 to learn about the report he was planning to deliver, he asked him to identify grand jury material so it could be removed from the public version, as required by law. But when he received the report on March 22, unfortunately it did not come in that form. As a result, it quickly became apparent it would take three or four weeks for him and Rosenstein to review the report and delete grand jury information.

And, he said, we were frankly surprised when he found out Mueller had decided not to make a decision about charging the president with obstruction of justice.

We did not understand exactly why the special counsel was not reaching a decision, Barr said. When we pressed him, he said his team was still formulating an explanation.

Democrats on the committee zeroed in on an exchange between Barr and Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., in a hearing on April 9. Crist had asked about reports that members of the special counsels team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24 letter, that it does not adequately or accurately necessarily portray the reports findings.

Do you know what theyre referencing with that? Crist asked him. No, I dont, replied Barr, who had received Muellers now-public letter  confidential at the time  two weeks earlier.

Questioned about it Wednesday, Barr insisted he did not mislead Crist with his answer, saying he did not know what members of Muellers staff were being referenced. Moreover, his March 24 letter was not a summary of the finding of Muellers report, only the bottom line principal conclusions that the president did not commit a crime.

Democrats were incredulous at the attorney generals explanation. That is masterful hairsplitting, said Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

_____

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A British judge on Wednesday sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.

Assange took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden and was only arrested last month after Ecuador withdrew his asylum status.

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Large Number of International Students from B&R Countries Come to Ningbo to Study

Details Category: On The Campus Published: Wednesday, 01 May 2019 15:10

Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, international students across the world, especially those from B&R countries, come to Ningbo, once the city along the ancient Silk Road, to pursue their study. For example, Ningbo University received 879 international students from B&R countries in 2013, and 1,445 in 2018, which registers a 170% increase. In 2018, nearly two thirds of international students admitted to the university are from B&R countries.

Up to now, institutions of higher learning in Ningbo have received over 20,000 international students from B&R countries. Some of them choose to stay in China, and some go back to their home country, becoming the cultural ambassadors between their home country and China.

Joshua, an international student from Uganda, has completed his study in the School of Medicine of Ningbo University, and is now an intern in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery in Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Eastern Hospital. He told us:

My home country lacks medical resources, and does not have enough doctors. In the future, I will go back to Uganda to help more patients with my knowledge learned in Ningbo.

Some international students in Ningbo make full use of their knowledge about their home country and China, and work to boost economic development of their home country. Ago Abel, an international student from Benin of Africa, has established Ningbo Green Dove International Trading Co. Ltd. The company mainly sells its self-produced green dove detergent, and occupies nearly 20% of Ningbos market share in one year.

Education background in China makes it easier for international students to land a job in their home country. The follow-up survey on the 1,041 international students from Indonesia who have completed their study in China finds that most of them enjoy satisfactory salary and promising career future in China-invested companies in Indonesia.

Now, Ningbo offers over a hundred of majors taught in English to international students. By the end of 2018, 5,369 international students from over 137 countries have studied in Ningbos institutions of higher learning.

In February 2019, the Memo on International Cooperation on Improving Education of B&R Countries signed between the Ministry of Education and Ningbo Municipal Peoples Government highlights education cooperation and communication with countries participating the Belt and Road Initiative in wider range, and higher level
WASHINGTON  It began with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reading from text messages between high-ranking FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

Trump is a f***ing idiot, Graham quoted from a Strzok text in his opening statement, as Attorney General William P. Barr prepared to testify about his handling of the report on election fraud and obstruction of justice by Trump campaign and administration officials. That report, written by special counsel Robert Mueller, was made public earlier this month.

Graham then apologized for using an obscenity. Sorry to the kids out there, he said.

Over the course of Muellers investigation, Strzok and Page were a central focus of the president and his supporters, who sought to use the two former officials messages as a way to discredit the FBIs investigation.

Reference to the Strzok-Page texts was an early sign that the Republican members would try to shift the hearing to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, as well as what President Trump and his allies have called an anti-Trump deep state within the Department of Justice and the FBI, as well as other federal agencies.

Grahams comments came in the context of a discussion about Clintons use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. The Strzok-Page communications were revealed in the context of that investigation, which resulted in no charges.

For many of Trumps supporters, Clintons transgressions  chronicled on a nightly basis on Fox News  remain far graver than anything Trump ever did, either as candidate or president, and remain in desperate need of investigation. That argument was on vivid display on Wednesday afternoon, limiting the time for Barr to discuss his handling of the Mueller report.

With Attorney General William Barr testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday about the special counsels report, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of President Trump, says in his opening statement that hes ready to move on from the report, insisting that for him, its over. (Photo: Scott Applewhite/AP)

When the Mueller report is put to bed, and it soon will be, this committee is gonna look long and hard at how this all started, Graham warned, in a seeming reference to the Clinton campaign and the Obama administration. He then said that the so-called Steele dossier  which contained many allegations about Trumps involvement with Russia  may have itself been Russian misinformation.

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Graham then went on to discuss various other alleged transgressions involving Clinton and her email servers, in a clip inevitably destined to become a favorite of Sean Hannity, the Fox News anchor who serves as a kind of shadow chief of staff to Trump.

Other Republicans took a similar approach. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committees former chairman, also asked Barr for more information about Strzok, Page and any other anti-Trump elements within the Department of Justice. He also said he wanted to know more about spying by the FBI on the Trump campaign, which would have been directed by the Obama administration. Barr said people in the department were looking into the matter, and that Congress would be apprised of his conclusions.

Grassley then argued that the Steele dossier was itself a form of collusion between the Russian government and the Democratic Party. He criticized Mueller for not looking into whether the dossier was a form of Russian misinformation.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, went all the way back to 2014, faulting the Obama administration for not beginning in that year to investigate Russian attempts at electoral interference. Though the administration was indeed slow to recognize that threat, by the fall of 2016, there was near-certainty by Obamas advisers that the Russians were intent on influencing the election to help Trump. Efforts to express that worry publicly, and in a bipartisan manner, was hindered by Cornyns colleague and close ally Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

We now need to know, Cornyn continued, what steps the Obama FBI, Department of Justice and intelligence community  what steps they took to undermine the political process and put a thumb on the scale in favor of one political candidate over the other  and that would be before and after the 2016 election.

An infuriated Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.., who followed Cornyn in his questioning of Barr, said Republicans were going to work together and coordinate the so-called lock-her-up defense, referencing the famous anti-Clinton refrain heard at Trump campaign rallies. For the Republican members of the committee, he said, This is really not supposed to be about the Mueller investigation, the Russian involvement in the election, the Trump campaign and so forth. It is really about Hillary Clintons emails. Finally, we get down to the bottom line, he said, banging his fist on the podium. Hillarys Clintons emails. Questions have to be asked about Benghazi along the way. What about Travelgate, Whitewater? he wondered, referencing scandals of the former President Bill Clintons administration.

Durbin said that what he deemed Republican misdirection was totally unresponsive to the reality of what the American people want to know. The majority of Americans did want the report made public, and they have eagerly consumed it since its release; a version of the Mueller report published by the Washington Post is currently the bestselling book on Amazon.

Durbins anger had little effect on his Republican colleagues. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, used his time to question potential surveillance of the Trump presidential campaign by the Obama administration in the summer of 2016. He too referenced Strzok and Page, as well as an airport tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch. That meeting, an idee fixe for some Trump supporters, has no connection to the Mueller report.

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By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The 2020 Democratic White House race, until now a cordial affair with no personal attacks and few policy disputes, is starting to get scrappy. Since former Vice President Joe Biden entered last week as the front-runner to win the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has taken a swing at Biden's support for global trade deals and his 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq war. Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke of Texas questioned Biden's backing from big-money outside political groups, and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has noted Biden's work "on the side of the credit card companies." Washington Governor Jay Inslee took aim at a different rival, criticizing O'Rourke's congressional record on climate change after O'Rourke unveiled a $5 trillion plan to invest in clean energy technology and infrastructure. With 20 Democrats vying for attention in the battle for the right to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in 2020, some in the party said it was only a matter of time before they began to turn on each other. And Biden, clearly in the lead in polls, provides an easy target for the herd now that he has formally joined the race. "It's just the beginning," said Jennifer Palmieri, a senior adviser to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. "In a big field, there will be some early skirmishes as people position themselves." The criticism of Biden, a centrist who spent eight years as President Barack Obama's No. 2, is an early glimpse of the sort of attacks he is likely to face from his more liberal rivals in a race that will be heavily influenced by the party's progressive activists. Sanders, the independent who challenged Clinton from the left during the 2016 Democratic primary, criticized Biden's past support of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade deals that he says have cost Americans jobs. "When people take a look at my record versus Vice President Biden's record -- I helped lead the fight against NAFTA, he voted for NAFTA," Sanders said on CNN on Monday night, adding that he also helped lead the fight against permanent normal trade relations with China, which Biden supported. "I strongly opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership; he supported it. I voted against the war in Iraq; he voted for it," Sanders said. "I like Joe Biden; Joe is a friend of mine," he said. "I think what we need to do with all of the candidates is have an issue-oriented campaign, not personal attacks." BIG MONEY In a fundraising appeal on Tuesday, O'Rourke's team noted Biden's support from a super PAC, one of many outside groups that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money but are not affiliated with the campaign. "We're trying to campaign the right way  the real way  by traveling across the country and listening to Americans, and by relying on the support of regular, everyday people chipping in what they can afford," the O'Rourke fundraising appeal said. Warren said at a campaign event after Biden's entrance in the race last week that Biden had taken the side of credit card companies in a 2005 vote on a bill that made it harder for some people to file for bankruptcy. Biden, who spent more than three decades as the U.S. senator from Delaware, has long been criticized by liberals for his ties to the financial industry, which is prominent in the state. Inslee, who has put his efforts to fight climate change at the forefront of his long-shot campaign for the White House, criticized O'Rourke and his climate change plan. "Beto O'Rourke will need to answer why he did not lead on climate change in Congress and why he voted on the side of oil companies to open up offshore drilling," he said in a statement on Monday. Palmieri said the attacks were flying early in a Democratic race that will not have its first nominating contest until early February 2020 in Iowa, but that was to be expected in a historically crowded field. While Sanders has always been willing to confront those he disagrees with, she said, some other top contenders might hold off until later in the year on drawing contrasts with their opponents. "Right now, no one is fighting for their life," she said. "Those who see themselves as more viable contenders can have some caution about picking a fight too early." (Editing by Kieran Murray and Jonathan Oatis)
By Eric M. Johnson and Tom Hals

SEATTLE/WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Wednesday named a new senior adviser to Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg and the board of directors as the world's largest planemaker faces its biggest crisis in years after two deadly crashes of its 737 MAX.

Crashes in Ethiopia in March and Indonesia in October have triggered the grounding of Boeing's fastest-selling plane, lawsuits, investigations and lingering concerns over the 737 MAX's safety.

The company named Michael Luttig, who has served as general counsel since joining the company in 2006, to the newly created position of counselor and senior adviser to Muilenburg and the Boeing board of directors.

Luttig, who is often listed among the highest paid general counsels of publicly traded companies, will anchor Boeing's legal defense over the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Boeing also said Brett Gerry, who has been president of Boeing Japan since 2016, is succeeding Luttig as general counsel.

Both changes are effective immediately.

The two executives are expected to play a central role in Boeing's campaign to restore the trust of customers, passengers and regulators following the crashes.

Muilenburg survived calls to break up his three-pronged job as chairman, president and CEO at an annual shareholders' meeting on Monday.

Luttig was appointed at age 37 to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, after working as assistant counsel to former President Ronald Reagan and as a law clerk to Antonin Scalia before he joined the U.S. Supreme Court. He also served as a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger.

Among those who served as clerk for Luttig were Ted Cruz, who is now a U.S. Senator from Texas, and Joel Kaplan, now Facebook Inc's vice president of global public policy.

Gerry, who joined Boeing in 2008, formerly served as chief of staff to the attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, and in the White House as associate counsel to the president, Boeing said.

He also worked in private practice and as a law clerk at both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, the company said.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del.; Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
(Adds details on Luttig and Gerry)

By Eric M. Johnson and Tom Hals

SEATTLE/WILMINGTON, Del., May 1 (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Wednesday named a new senior adviser to Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg and the board of directors as the world's largest planemaker faces its biggest crisis in years after two deadly crashes of its 737 MAX.

Crashes in Ethiopia in March and Indonesia in October have triggered the grounding of Boeing's fastest-selling plane, lawsuits, investigations and lingering concerns over the 737 MAX's safety.

The company named Michael Luttig, who has served as general counsel since joining the company in 2006, to the newly created position of counselor and senior adviser to Muilenburg and the Boeing board of directors.

Luttig, who is often listed among the highest paid general counsels of publicly traded companies, will anchor Boeing's legal defense over the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Boeing also said Brett Gerry, who has been president of Boeing Japan since 2016, is succeeding Luttig as general counsel.

Both changes are effective immediately.

The two executives are expected to play a central role in Boeing's campaign to restore the trust of customers, passengers and regulators following the crashes.

Muilenburg survived calls to break up his three-pronged job as chairman, president and CEO at an annual shareholders' meeting on Monday.

Luttig was appointed at age 37 to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, after working as assistant counsel to former President Ronald Reagan and as a law clerk to Antonin Scalia before he joined the U.S. Supreme Court. He also served as a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger.

Among those who served as clerk for Luttig were Ted Cruz, who is now a U.S. Senator from Texas, and Joel Kaplan, now Facebook Inc's vice president of global public policy.

Gerry, who joined Boeing in 2008, formerly served as chief of staff to the attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, and in the White House as associate counsel to the president, Boeing said.

He also worked in private practice and as a law clerk at both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, the company said.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del. Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago Editing by Matthew Lewis)
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Boeing Co said an alert for angle-of-attack (AOA) sensors on its 737 MAX jets was "not activated as intended" for some customers, responding to reports it failed to tell Southwest Airlines Co and the U.S regulator that the optional feature was deactivated before a crash in Indonesia in October.

Erroneous AOA sensor readings that led to aggressive nose-down inputs by a computer have been linked to deadly 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, according to preliminary reports from investigators.

Boeing offered customers two optional paid features relating to AOA. The first was an AOA DISAGREE alert when the two sensors disagreed and the second was an indicator giving pilots a gauge of the actual angle.

Southwest, the largest 737 MAX customer, in November told Reuters the alert was installed and it planned to add the indicator as well following the Lion Air crash in Indonesia.

The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that unbeknown to Southwest and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the alerts were not activated on the carrier's 737 MAX jets.

"After the Lion Air event, Southwest was notified by Boeing that the AOA disagree lights were inoperable without the optional AOA indicators on the MAX aircraft," a Southwest spokesman said on Tuesday.

Boeing said on Monday that the disagree alert had been intended to be a standalone feature on the 737 MAX, but it was "not operable on all airplanes because the feature was not activated as intended".

"The disagree alert was tied or linked into the angle-of-attack indicator, which is an optional feature on the MAX," the manufacturer said in a statement. "Unless an airline opted for the angle-of-attack indicator, the disagree alert was not operable...Boeing did not intentionally or otherwise deactivate the disagree alert on its MAX airplanes."

When Reuters contacted several 737 MAX operators about the optional features in November, only American Airlines and Singapore Airlines Ltd offshoot SilkAir confirmed they had installed both the alert and the indicator.

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Canada's WestJet Airlines Ltd and Dubai's flydubai said they had installed the alert and Air Canada said it planned to install the indicator. Boeing said the disagree alert was not considered a safety feature and was not necessary for the safe operation of the plane. However, the company said following software modifications all new 737 MAX aircraft would have an activated and operable disagree alert and an optional angle-of-attack indicator, while current 737 MAX planes would have the ability to activate the disagree alert.

Boeing CEO and Chairman Dennis Muilenburg promised on Monday to win back the public's trust after facing tough questions following the two crashes.

A FAA spokeswoman declined to comment.

(Reporting Jamie Freed in Singapore; additional reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Nick Macfie)
Nicosia (AFP) - Cypriot investigators on Wednesday examined electronic data linked to a suspected serial killer as police intensified a search for the bodies of three of seven foreign women and girls he confessed to murdering.

The search is focused on two lakes southwest of Nicosia where the suspect -- identified in Cypriot media as 35-year-old army officer Nicos Metaxas -- said he dumped the bodies in a crime that went undetected for nearly three years.

So far four bodies have been recovered: two Filipinas retrieved from an abandoned mineshaft, a suspected Nepalese woman found at an army firing range, and an unidentified woman found stuffed inside a suitcase at the bottom of a toxic man-made lake.

Three more are still missing. They are thought to be the six-year-old daughter of one of the Filipinas, and a Romanian woman and her daughter.

A team of British experts on Tuesday joined the investigation at the request of the Cypriot authorities to assist in a case dubbed the Mediterranean island's "first serial killings".

That search ended without results.

The hunt continued on Wednesday at the acidic Red Lake at Mitsero and another lake, Memi, at Xyliatos.

Police spokesman Andreas Angelides told the Cyprus News Agency witness statements were still being collected while electronic data was being examined.

The private television station Sigma said the data was from a camera and computer hard drive belonging to the murder suspect.

Angelides said the British team -- including a forensic specialist -- would conduct post-mortems on the four bodies with their Cypriot colleagues and later meet investigators to discuss the case and evidence collected.

Angelides said the woman pulled from Red Lake on Sunday, the fourth body recovered so far, has yet to be identified.

Police are still searching the waters of Xyliatos lake for the body of the six-year-old Filipina.

Authorities have called for more sophisticated equipment to search the two lakes.

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The case came to light on April 14 when tourists spotted the first body, that of 38-year-old Mary Rose Tiburcio from the Philippines brought to the surface of a disused mine shaft by unusually heavy rains.

That triggered a murder investigation which led to the army captain's arrest on April 18.

Days later, authorities found the body of a second woman in the shaft believed to be Arian Palanas Lozano, 28, also from the Philippines.

The suspect last Thursday led investigators to a well near an army firing range outside the capital where police found the body of a woman thought to be from Nepal.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank Chairman Paul Achleitner told the Financial Times that Germany's largest lender did not need to fundamentally overhaul its investment bank after attempts to create a German champion with Commerzbank failed.

Achleitner defended Deutsche Bank's strategy after merger talks with Commerzbank failed due to the risks of doing a deal, restructuring costs and capital demands.

"Every executive has to constantly adjust to a changing market environment ... but in this regard, we are not talking about strategy, we are talking about execution," Achleitner told the paper.

The idea of merging with Commerzbank has now been abandoned "once and for all" Achleitner said, adding that Deutsche Bank is aware that Commerzbank could be taken over by a foreign lender.

Deutsche Bank has struggled to generate sustainable profits since the 2008 financial crisis. It is trying to turn itself around, but has faced hurdles such as allegations of money laundering and failed stress tests.

Turnaround efforts will continue but no fundamental strategy shift is underway, Achleitner said.

"In particular, in a business like the capital markets one, which is so volatile and so rapidly changing, there will be permanent adjustments," said Achleitner, who was seen as a backer of the proposed merger with Commerzbank. He said that was his personal view.

Earnings released on Friday showed net revenue at Deutsche's sprawling global investment bank, which accounts for more than half the German bank's overall revenue and which relies heavily on its bond trading earnings, fell 13 percent to 3.3 billion euros (2.8 billion) in the first quarter.

Even strong players such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have shown weaker revenues in bond trading, an area where Deutsche has been strong.

On being asked whether Deutsche Bank would have needed 10 billion euros in extra capital to finance the Commerzbank merger, Achleitner told the Financial Times that this number was "excessive".

Deutsche Bank has considered a significant restructuring of its United States operations after the lender failed stress tests. The Federal Reserve this month said it would relax the capital and stress test requirements for the subsidiaries of foreign banks.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin and Edward Taylor; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Louise Heavens)
By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union won backing from the bloc's top court on Tuesday for its system to protect foreign companies, which proponents say is essential for future trade agreements but critics say unfairly favours multinationals.

As the EU prepares to start negotiations with the United States, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled as lawful the mechanism to settle disputes between investors and states in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada.

Belgium had asked the court to give its view on that mechanism, under which tribunals with publicly appointed judges resolve disputes brought by foreign companies.

Critics had said the special courts undermined the supremacy of the ECJ and discriminated by only allowing foreign investors, not domestic investors, to bring cases.

The system of using tribunals to settle such disputes became a focal point of mass demonstrations against the "TTIP" EU-U.S. trade talks, which are now frozen, and CETA, when EU countries were deciding whether to back the latter in 2016.

The protests forced the European Commission, which negotiates trade deals for the 28-nation EU, to rethink its preference for the much-used investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system, with private arbitrators.

The EU has convinced Canada, as well as Singapore and Vietnam, to sign up to the new court system. It would also have to be part of a future comprehensive trade agreement with Britain after it leaves the EU.

But it has yet to persuade Japan after their trade deal provisionally went into force in February. The United States has also been critical, although investor protection does not feature in the slimmed-down industrial tariff agreement the EU has proposed.

Canada's Trade Minister Jim Carr welcomed the ruling and said that CETA is generating more commerce.

"The numbers show that CETA is working on both sides of the Atlantic," Carr said in a statement. "In the first year of provisional application, we have seen an increase in bilateral trade of 9.4 percent."

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BELGIAN BLOCKADE

The ECJ case came after the Belgian region of Wallonia, then led by Socialists, threatened to block CETA in 2016. The federal government persuaded it not to do so in return for concessions. Those included a request for an ECJ opinion.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, whose liberal MR party will be fighting to stay in power in an election in May, said he was pleased with the ruling, adding in a statement that Belgian businesses had done well in the first year of CETA.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth said CETA was "legal but unfair."

CETA took effect on a provisional basis in September 2017. Its full implementation, including the investor protection parts, requires approval by all 28 EU member countries and, for Belgium, also of its regional parliaments.

The court ruled that an international agreement, such as CETA, could lead to the creation of a tribunal to rule on matters related to it. The deal did contain provisions preventing investors from challenging public decisions on issues such as consumer or environmental safety, it said.

It also said CETA did not infringe the principle of equal treatment, since Canadian investors with interests in the EU were not comparable with EU investors with interests in the bloc.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, additional reporting by Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; editing by Robin Emmott, Larry King and Bernadette Baum)
Tehran (AFP) - Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Wednesday claimed two neighbouring countries were "exaggerating" their production capacity to reassure markets after the US ended sanction waivers for buyers of Iranian crude.

Zanganeh also said Washington's stated aim to bring Iran's oil exports "to zero" was "an illusion".

The White House announced last week it would end from Thursday oil purchase waivers granted to Iran's main customers -- including China, India and Turkey.

Since then, Zanganeh claimed, "two of our neighbouring countries constantly try to reassure the market, by issuing statements and by exaggerating their surplus capacities".

These countries which he did not name were trying to signal to the world that "there would be no problem facing global supplies as Iranian oil goes off the market".

It's "an exaggeration", Zanganeh said, speaking at an oil and gas conference in Tehran.

"World affairs are not as simple as America and some of its supporters and instigators think. The oil market cannot be managed with statements, what is determining is real oil production that is placed on the market."

The end of the exemptions sparked fears of supply shortages, pushing prices to near six-month highs.

After the US announced an end to the oil waivers, Iran's regional rival and neighbour Saudi Arabia said the kingdom had no immediate plans to boost output but was committed to balancing the oil market.

"We will not leave our customers scrambling for oil," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on April 24.

Countries looking to replace Iranian crude "know which number to dial," Falih said.

"(Global) inventories are continuing to rise despite what's happening in Venezuela and tightening sanctions on Iran," he added.

Saudi Arabia, a member of the OPEC cartel, is the world's top crude exporters.

Iraq, the cartel's second-largest producer and also a neighbour of Iran, has the capacity to increase its exports by 250,000 barrels a day to compensate for any market shortfalls, an Iraqi government official said last week.
Sad news to report this morning after it was confirmed that the Malaysian citizen injured in a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in Taiwans Taroko Gorge National Park on April 18, has now died.

Forty-year-old Choo Yip Chean was hiking the Lushui Trail at the national park in Hualien when the quake occurred. He was injured when hit by falling rocks caused by the shaking.

Damage caused by the 6.1 magnitude quake in Taiwan via AFP

It was reported that at an earlier media conference in Taiwan that Choo sustained rib fracture, a collapsed lung, and blood accumulation in the pleural cavity (space between visceral and parietal pleurae of the lung).

While he regained consciousness two days after the incident, doctors maintained that he was in critical condition, having suffered serious injuries. Unfortunately, he succumbed to them late Saturday night according to Malaysias Foreign Ministry.

STATEMENT ON THE PASSING OF MR.CHOO YIP CHEAN IN HUALIEN, TAIWANIt is with deep sadness that the Ministry of Foreign  Saifuddin Abdullah  2019428

Minister Saifuddin Abdullah has said that the ministry, along with the Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center in Tapei is offering assistance to Choos family.

This article, Malaysian injured in Taiwan earthquake two weeks ago dies, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  Pacific Gas & Electric Corp.'s top financial executives said during a bankruptcy meeting Monday they still haven't determined when the utility can start compensating victims of recent wildfires started by the utility's equipment.

Victims' lawyers questioned PG&E executives during the meeting in San Francisco between the utility in bankruptcy court and its creditors.

The victims' lawyers wanted to know when the utility would file its plan to emerge from bankruptcy and pay the billions of dollars in claims pending against it. PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January, saying it faced at least $13 billion in legal claims from wildfire victims.

PG&E Chief Financial Officer Jason Wells said the utility doesn't yet know when it will file that plan.

Wells said the company recognizes it must act as quickly as possible, but said a lot of work remains to be done before PG&E can file its plan, including working with state lawmakers to pass new laws limiting its future wildfire liabilities.

"We understand the impact these fires have on their communities," Wells said.

Wells said PG&E needs lawmakers to lessen the utility's wildfire liability to attract investors and financing to help pay the pending claims. California requires utilities to pay for wildfire damages if their equipment is the cause even if the companies acted responsibly and took proper care of their equipment.

"It's frustrating," victims' attorney Jerry Singleton said of waiting for PG&E's plan. Singleton represented hundreds of wine country residents who lost their homes in an October 2017 wildfire. State fire officials say a homeowner's private electrical system caused that fire, not PG&E. Nevertheless, Singleton and several other attorneys intend to argue in court that the state fire officials were wrong and PG&E is to blame.

PG&E's equipment is the prime suspect in the cause of the Northern California fire in November that wiped out the town of Paradise, California. On Monday, Wells confirmed that the Butte County district attorney is deciding whether to the charge the utility with criminal negligence.

Internal emails exchanged between a Butte County prosecutor and lawyers for PG&E and wildfire victims confirming the criminal probe were also filed in bankruptcy court on April 15. Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey didn't return a call Monday. A criminal case could slow PG&E's emergence from bankruptcy.

Wells also said on Monday that PG&E was putting together an emergency fund to compensate uninsured victims of the Northern California fire.
The Daily Beast

Valley News Live via YouTubeWhen relatives hadnt heard from the seven members of the Hernandez family for a few days, they asked authorities in Minnesota do a wellness check on Saturday night.What police discovered shocked the community of Moorhead, a small city on the North Dakota border, to the core: all seven family members, ranging in age from 37 to 7, were lying dead in their beds in the duplex home.I went to the floor above and I entered into the room and all the family was together, Er
Milan (AFP) - Former Italian prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, 82, is recovering in hospital after undergoing an operation for a bowel obstruction late Tuesday, Italian media reported.

The billionaire had been admitted to San Raffaele hospital in Milan earlier in the day with acute abdominal pain and was expected to be released in the coming days, according to the reports, which cited sources within his Forza Italia party.

"Thank you all for the affection and for the many messages. I am fit and ready for this election campaign!" the three-time prime minister said on his official Facebook page on Tuesday evening.

Berlusconi had been due to attend a Forza Italia meeting Tuesday ahead of next month's European parliamentary elections, in which he is standing, but doctors prevented him.

A CT scan showed a small bowel obstruction and the operation revealed it was related to the removal of his gallbladder 40 years ago, according to the party sources.

A former crooner turned property and media magnate, Berlusconi was Italian prime minister for his centre-right Forza Italia on three occasions between 1994 and 2011.

Despite his regular brushes with the law and health concerns -- including open heart surgery three years ago -- the man known as "the immortal" for his longevity in politics led the Italian right for more than two decades.

Berlusconi has faced a string of charges over the so-called Rubygate scandal linked to his parties and the underaged prostitute Karima El-Mahroug, also known as "Ruby the heart-stealer".

The businessman is currently on trial accused of paying a witness to give false testimony about his notoriously hedonistic parties.

Berlusconi is also being investigated or prosecuted for alleged witness tampering in Milan, Sienna, Rome and Turin, each time accused of paying people to keep quiet about his so-called bunga-bunga parties.

Forza Italia is currently in opposition, with 105 MPs in Italy's 630-seat lower house.
MADRID (Reuters) - The leader of Ciudadanos, the third-biggest group in parliament after Spain's election, said on Tuesday the party will not form a coalition with the winning Socialists but intends to play a responsible role in opposition. With Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's center-left Socialist Party seeking allies after Sunday's vote that left it short of a parliamentary majority, the center-right Ciudadanos, which won 57 seats in the 350-seat assembly, had already ruled out a partnership. Such a deal would be welcomed by many in business and financial circles. Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera reiterated there would be no coalition, while promising not to block major international or terrorism-related legislation. "On issues of terrorism, on issues of Europe and international politics, on state issues, I am going to play for Spain," he told Telecinco television. Ciudadanos' seat total is up from 32 in the previous legislature and Rivera is jockeying with the conservative People's Party leader Pablo Casado, over who will be leader of the opposition. The PP won 66 seats, less than half what it had before. Speaking after a weekly cabinet meeting, Isabel Celaa, a spokeswoman for the outgoing government, welcomed Rivera's remarks but noted that tensions had been high between the Socialists and Ciudadanos. "If Rivera wishes to be more reasonable, well that's very welcome," Celaa told reporters. The Socialists are pondering options on how to form a government, something that is not likely to be resolved before EU, local and regional elections on May 26. "We, the Socialists, are open to talks with everyone ... to explore any (potential) agreements. We have time" before the local elections, Celaa said. The Socialists increased their seats to 123 from 84 in the previous parliament, meaning that if they joined forces with Ciudadanos they would have enough seats to form a government. But until now both parties have rejected a coalition and relations between Rivera and Sanchez were particularly tense during the campaign. Jose Luis Abalos, a high-ranking Socialist, said on Monday that Rivera had not phoned Sanchez to congratulate him on his victory. Ciudadanos said later that Rivera had congratulated Sanchez publicly in a Sunday evening speech and had sent him a message on Monday. (Reporting by Sabela Ojea; Additional reporting by Belen Carreno; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Andrei Khalip; Editing by Frances Kerry)
COLOMBO, April 30 (Reuters) - The Sri Lankan rupee closed weaker for the fifth consecutive session on Tuesday, as security alerts on possible further attacks after the Easter Sunday bombings weighed on investor sentiment, while stocks extended gains into the fifth day after hitting a more than six-year closing low last week. ** Sri Lankan officials said on Tuesday security forces were maintaining a high level of alert after intelligence reports that Islamist militants were planning fresh attacks before the start of Muslim holy month of Ramadan. ** The U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka said on Tuesday that some of the Islamist militants behind the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people were likely still at large and could be planning more attacks. ** The currency fell 0.3 percent to 176.00/30 per dollar, weaker than Monday's close of 175.50/90, market sources said. ** Analysts fear it could weaken further due to outflows from stocks and government securities. ** The island's currency lost 0.8 percent last week, but is up 4.1 percent so far this year, as exporters converted dollars amid stabilizing investor confidence after the country repaid a $1 billion sovereign bond in mid-January. ** The rupee dropped 16 percent in 2018, and was one of the worst-performing currencies in Asia due to heavy foreign outflows. ** Foreign investors bought a net 268.2 million rupees worth of government securities in the week ended April 24, the first net buying in four weeks, but they have sold a net 6.6 billion rupees worth of securities so far this year, the latest central bank data showed. ** The benchmark stock index ended 0.64 percent higher on Tuesday at 5,478.41, further moving away from its lowest close since Dec. 7, 2012 hit on April 23. On April 23, it suffered its worst percentage fall since Feb. 14, 2012. ** Turnover came in at 197.6 million rupees ($1.12 million), lower than this year's daily average of 591.9 million rupees. Last year's daily average was 834 million rupees. ** Foreign investors bought a net 39.9 million rupees worth of shares on Tuesday, but they have been net sellers of 4.4 billion rupees worth of equities so far this year. ** The latest instability follows Sri Lanka's plunge into political turmoil in October last year, when President Maithripala Sirisena abruptly removed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and then dissolved parliament. A court later ruled the move unconstitutional, and Wickremesinghe was reinstalled as premier. ** Investor sentiment took a big hit as a result of the 51-day political crisis, leading to credit rating downgrades and an outflow of foreign funds from government securities. ** For a report on global markets, click ** For a report on major currencies, click ($1 = 176.0000 Sri Lankan rupee) (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez Editing by Frances Kerry)
UPDATED with video: Former Veep Joe Biden kicked off campaigning today, after teeing up his 2020 race last week with a candidacy announcement video blasting President Donald Trump for his very fine people on both sides of the issue at the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

At that rally, neo-Nazis chanted the same bile heard in Germany in the 30s, Biden said.

Related stories

Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' To Air Live After Dems' First Two-Night Debate In June

Biden is appealing to his core demo: people alive in the 1930s, Colbert snarked. The leading Dem 2020 hopeful went after the white supremacists hero, saying when Trump made that false equivalency, he knew Trump was a threat to this nation unlike any Id ever seen in my lifetime.

Calling the ad powerful stuff, and true, Colbert commended Biden for getting Trumps knickers knotted over that video. Proof of that is that this ad did something none of the other Democrats have been able to do: put him on the defensive. After Bidens ad about Charlottesville, Trump had to answer for his Charlottesville answer again.

Trump once again is insisting the fine people reference was to those rally attendees who came to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue.

Trump thinks you should be honored because youre a good general, no matter what side you fought on, Colbert said.

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(Refiles to show chairman will travel on Tuesday, paragraph 1)

By Yimou Lee and James Pomfret

TAIPEI (Reuters) - The chairman of Apple supplier Foxconn will travel to the United States on Tuesday for a meeting in the White House that is believed to be related to an investment in Wisconsin, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Foxconn said this month it remains committed to its contract to build a display plant and tech research facilities in Wisconsin, days after the U.S. state's governor said he wanted to renegotiate the deal.

In January, Reuters reported that Foxconn is reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at a $10 billion Wisconsin campus, and said it intends to hire mostly engineers and researchers rather than the manufacturing workforce the project originally promised.

Foxconn, a major supplier to Apple Inc, has pledged to eventually create 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin, but said this year it had slowed its pace of hiring.

The source said it wasn't yet clear if Gou would meet U.S. President Donald Trump. No further details were given.

A spokesman for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, the formal name of Foxconn, said the firm wouldn't comment on the chairman's itinerary.

Gou, 69, said recently that he would step back from the helm of Foxconn, which is a major supplier for a slew of electronic giants including Apple, to try for a run at becoming Taiwan's next president in an election next January.

Gou, who owns 9.4 percent of Foxconn as its top shareholder, is Taiwans 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.

(Reporting by Yimou Lee and James Pomfret; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Louise Heavens)
A Boeing news conference at the general annual shareholder meeting.





Two men who lost 10 family members in last month's crash of Ethiopian Airlines 302 filed lawsuits on Monday against The Boeing Co., manufacturer of the grounded 737 Max 8 aircraft, as well as administrative claims against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).



Two plaintiffs' law firms, Chicagos Clifford Law Offices and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy of Burlingame, California, announced the 10 lawsuits at a press conference held hours after Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg apologised to crash victims and attempted to assure shareholders about the safety of its aircraft, while skirting calls for his resignation.



I, like many of you today, listened to Boeing and their CEO say as he began his press conference that he was sorry, said Frank Pitre, of Cotchett Pitre. And I think what weve heard today is theres a lot to question about the sincerity that Boeing has when it uses the words, Im sorry. If you look at the actions of Boeing, it portrays a very different picture.



He continued: I question, and I think these families here today, the sincerity behind the words, Im sorry.



Pitre called on Boeings entire board to resign, and for Congress to investigate serious problems at the FAA.



The lawsuits involve two Canadian families in the Toronto area: Manant Vaidya, who lost his parents, his sister, her husband and their two children in the crash; and Paul Njoroge, whose wife and three children, including a nine-month-old daughter, died in the crash.



Both gave tearful statements at Mondays press conference.



It is hard to believe that my entire family was wiped out in an incident in such a horrific way, Vaidya said. I lost three generations of my family: my parents, my sister, my nieces. If a person just lost one life, their whole life is shattered, but right now, with me, Im completely lost.



Vaidyas family was on vacation, while Njoroges had planned to visit extended relatives in Kenya.



I was left alone to lead an empty life, with pain and anguish. My life will never be the same, Njoroge said. His other children were aged six and four.



The Ethiopian Airlines flight, which killed 157 people on board after nosediving soon after takeoff, was the second involving the 737 Max 8. An October 29 crash of Lion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia killed 189 people. The FAA grounded the aircraft days after the Ethiopian Airlines crash, but after 22 other countries had already done so.



Earlier this month, the same two law firms filed a lawsuit on behalf of Samya Stumo, a U.S. passenger on the plane and niece of consumer advocate Ralph Nader.



Other lawsuits have been filed against Boeing over the Ethiopian Airlines crash, including one by another firm, Kline & Specter in Philadelphia, on behalf of the estate of Manisha Nukavarapu, a citizen of India. In a footnote in that lawsuit, Kline & Specter indicated it planned to bring an administrative complaint against the FAA.



Boeing became an immediate target following the crash. Lawsuits have linked the crashes to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation Systems (MCAS), an automated safety mechanism designed to prevent stalling that, under certain conditions, could push the aircraft into a nosedive. Monday's lawsuits also named Rosemount Aerospace Inc., a Minnesota-based unit of Farmington, Connecticuts United Technologies Corp., which manufactured the sensors.



In its quarterly report filed last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing acknowledged the suits filed over both crashes and added: We are fully cooperating with all ongoing governmental and regulatory investigations and inquiries relating to the accidents and the 737 MAX programme.



Lawsuits also insisted Boeing failed to property train pilots on the new software. Boeing originally had planned to complete a software upgrade by April but has since given no schedule on the fix.



Earlier this month, Boeing issued a statement: We now know that the recent Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents were caused by a chain of events, with a common chain link being erroneous activation of the aircraft's MCAS function. We have the responsibility to eliminate this risk, and we know how to do it.



Boeing continued: We're also finalising new pilot training courses and supplementary educational material for our global MAX customers. This progress is the result of our comprehensive, disciplined approach and taking the time necessary to get it right.



But on Monday, Muilenburg changed his tune, Clifford Laws Kevin Durkin said, noting that the CEO had refused to answer whether Boeing was at fault.



We are going to seek every single email, text message, that was between them and the FAA, Durkin said Monday. It will be our goal in this lawsuit to take that CEOs deposition, ask him questions about his shifting positions on accepting responsibility for this tragedy.
Washington (AFP) - US Attorney General Bill Barr rejected allegations in a Senate hearing Wednesday that he had whitewashed the Mueller Russian interference report to protect President Donald Trump, but then refused to appear before the House to answer similar questions.

Barr underwent tough questioning in the Senate Judiciary Committee over his decision last month to declare that Trump had been fully cleared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation -- a move which Mueller himself objected to days later in a letter.

Democratic members of the committee accused Barr of skewing the truth and deliberately downplaying disturbing behavior by the president, even if it did not add up to a crime.

But Barr rejected the criticisms, saying that after Mueller submitted his final report, it was his "baby" and his prerogative as head of the Department of Justice to sum up its conclusions.

- Barr refuses to testify to House -

After more than four hours before the Senate panel, Barr was scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, where he likely faced more rigorous questioning, including by a committee lawyer.

But late Wednesday the Justice Department announced he wouldn't appear, and would also not turn over to Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler a complete, unredacted version of the Mueller report.

"Unfortunately, even after the Attorney General volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary," said department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.

"Chairman Nadler's insistence on having staff question the Attorney General, a Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, is inappropriate."

- Impeachment debate -

Democrats are debating whether Trump should be impeached for obstruction of justice based on the evidence set out in Mueller's 448-page report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Ahead of its release, on March 24 Barr announced that the report found no evidence of crimes of conspiracy with the Russians and inadequate evidence to support obstruction charges.

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Barr's summary allowed Trump to declare "complete and total exoneration" over accusations of conspiracy with Russia and obstruction of justice, and to claim that it proved the Mueller probe was a politicized "witch hunt."

But the full report released on April 18 painted an altogether more damaging picture of the president's conduct.

Mueller said his team did not find evidence that Trump's campaign criminally conspired with Russians, but the report detailed repeated efforts by the Trump team to engage with Russians and to benefit from the sabotage.

Mueller also laid out a damning pattern of obstructive behavior by the president and suggested Congress itself should investigate. But he declined to give his own opinion on whether Trump had committed a crime.

Explaining his summary, Barr said it would have been "irresponsible and unfair" to release the report without reaching a conclusion, and he had attempted to "notify the people of the bottom-line conclusion."

- 'It was my decision' -

But Barr's stance drew more criticism after the release Wednesday of a previously unknown March 27 letter in which Mueller criticized Barr's four-page summary of the report.

Mueller complained that Barr "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his conclusions, and had generated "public confusion."

The letter also made clear that at least twice in March Mueller proposed that Barr release the investigation's own summaries first, and that Barr had ignored that idea to put out his own version.

In testy exchanges with Democrats, Barr branded Mueller's letter as "a bit snitty" and "probably written by one of his staff people."

"It was my decision how and when to make it public, not Bob Mueller's," he said of the report.

Two Democratic senators seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination lashed into Barr.

Corey Booker assailed Barr for not criticizing the behavior of Trump and his campaign documented by Mueller even if it did not rise up to a crime.

"You seem to be excusing a campaign that had hundreds of contacts with a foreign adversary," Booker said.

"Your conduct seems to be trying to normalize that behavior."

Kamala Harris alleged that Barr had conflicts of interest that should have prevented his involvement in the investigation.

Another Democratic senator, Maizie Hirono, accused Barr of a "public relations effort" to protect Trump.

"You used every advantage of your office to create the impression that the president was cleared of misconduct," she said.
China on Monday lashed out at the United States for voicing alarm over the jailing of leaders of Hong Kong's democracy movement, calling Washington's comments a "gross interference".

Four prominent activists were last week jailed for their role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests, which paralysed Hong Kong's central business district for months and infuriated Beijing with its show of anger over the city's leadership and direction.

The US State Department on Friday said it was "disappointed" by the jailing and called on the city to respect residents' rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.

"We expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to these comments," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing.

"China urges the US to respect China's sovereignty, respect the rule of law in Hong Kong, respect the judicial independence that the US claims is important, and stop interfering in Hong Kong's internal affairs in any form," Geng said.

"It is a gross interference in China's internal affairs and the internal affairs of the Hong Kong SAR (special administrative region)."

The United States last week also voiced concern over Hong Kong's plans for an extradition treaty with mainland China, under which residents of the international financial hub could become entangled in the communist nation's opaque courts.

Geng defended the policy, calling it necessary to avoid the city turning into a "sanctuary" for fugitives.

Hong Kong enjoys rights unseen in mainland China, but activists have warned of a steady erosion of freedoms.
The decision to come outas well as when and how to do sois extremely personal, and theres no one right way to do it. Recently, Matt Easton, the 2019 valedictorian at the Mormon church-affiliated (and historically very conservative) Brigham Young University came out during his graduation speech. According to local CBS affiliate KUTV, Easton was the political science valedictorian at BYUs College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences. When delivering his commencement speech on April 26thwith thousands of people watchinghe revealed that hes gay.

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Easton shared his speech to Twitter, and in a follow-up tweet, he explained that he had never come out publicly, although he had told some of his friends and family members while he was at BYU. He added that he wanted to share his identity both for myself and the LGBTQ+ community at BYU.

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The speech can also be viewed here: https://t.co/9APkoo0JFi  Matty Easton (@easton_matty) April 27, 2019

During my time at BYU, I have slowly come out to my closest family members and friends. However, this is the first time I have publicly declared it. I felt it was important to share both for myself and for the LGBTQ+ community at BYU.  Matty Easton (@easton_matty) April 27, 2019

While I dont speak for everyonemy own experience is all I can vouch forI hope that people know that we ARE here at BYU, and were not going anywhere anytime soon.  Matty Easton (@easton_matty) April 27, 2019

As a university affiliated with the Mormon church, BYU asks students to follow an honor code based on the churchs principles. According to the Honor Code, same-sex attraction is tolerated, but students are not allowed to participate in homosexual behavior. All BYU students agree not to have extramarital sex, but homosexual behavior encompasses a wider range of physical affection.

Story continues

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Easton told KUTV that he was nervous to give the speech and that some questioned his decision.

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Eastons speech is a firm reminder that LGBTQ people exist in all spaceseven ones that try to ignore or deny their very existenceand that all people deserve acceptance.
MADRID (AP)  European countries urged restraint in Venezuela on Tuesday and called for new elections as a way to settle the political crisis in the South American country, but there wasn't a unified voice immediately on whether to support or condemn the opposition's move to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

In a statement released late in the day, the European Union said it rejected any form of violence and would continue to push for "free and fair elections."

The president of the bloc's Parliament, Antonio Tajani, came out as the strongest European voice in support of the opposition. In a tweet in Spanish, Tajani called the events "a historic moment for the return to democracy and freedom in Venezuela," and described the release of activist Leopoldo Lopez from house arrest as "great news."

"Let's go Venezuela free!" wrote Tajani, a prominent conservative leader.

All but four EU members endorsed the initial, Europe-wide call in February to back opposition leader Juan Guaido when he appointed himself interim president.

The four who did not join the other EU members were Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Slovakia.

Italy has declared itself to be neutral on Venezuela, reflecting divisions within the coalition government in Rome between the right-wing League, which favors Guaido, and the 5-Star Movement, which has warned against recognizing him.

The left-wing Greek government also has rejected pressure to endorse Guaido and has not voiced support for Maduro as it has in the past, saying instead that elections are the only way out of the crisis.

A similar approach has been followed by Cyprus and Slovakia.

Slovakia does not recognize Guaido as an interim president, Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Gandel said. But he added that no Slovak representative attended Maduro's inauguration, and that showed that the country does not recognize the results of last year's presidential election.

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Spain, which has been credited for setting the EU's line on Venezuela, has walked a fine line until now. Although the Spanish center-left government was the first among European peers to back Guaido and recognize one of his aides as the "special envoy of the interim president" in Madrid, it fell short of using the term "ambassador."

That allowed Spain to maintain diplomatic ties with Maduro's administration, keeping the official Venezuelan Embassy in Madrid open. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell has warned against taking the U.S. government line of "all options on the table" to seek a "change of regime" in Venezuela, rather than facilitating free and fair elections.

A government spokeswoman said Spain "rejects a military coup," while it backs Guaido's "legitimacy to lead democratic transition" in Venezuela.

"Guaido represents the alternative," said the spokeswoman, Isabel Celaa, urging restraint from all sides to avoid bloodshed.

The Venezuelan crisis resonates strongly in Spain, where the issue divides parties across the political spectrum.

Thousands of Venezuelans have migrated to Spain in recent years or are seeking asylum in the country, including prominent members of the opposition and former officials who worked closely with late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. More than 177,000 Spaniards live in Venezuela.

Spain has promoted the role of the EU-led International Contact Group, which seeks elections and a safe channel for humanitarian aid into Venezuela. The ICG has been criticized by the Venezuelan opposition, which says the group helps Maduro hold onto power.

U.S. officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, were quick to issue statements of support for the opposition. Pence tweeted: "We are with you! America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored."

The Trump administration has led calls for countries to recognize Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader and has won the support of 54 countries. But the effort to recruit more has largely stalled as Maduro clings to power.

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the crisis in Venezuela with his top security body. Russia is a key ally of Maduro and one of his government's main suppliers of weapons.

Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin raised the topic during his scheduled meeting with his Security Council.

Peskov said the meeting "paid significant attention to the news reports about a coup attempt in that country," but he did not elaborate.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called on "the radical opposition" in Venezuela to stand down and "refrain from violence."

"It is important to avoid unrest and bloodshed," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Venezuela's problems "should be resolved through a responsible process of negotiation without preconditions."

It also urged the opposition to avoid "destructive interference from abroad."

The U.N. said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all sides in Venezuela to exercise "maximum restraint," avoid any violence and take immediate steps to restore calm.

___

Associated Press writers Nicole Winfield in Rome, Karel Janicek in Prague, Czech Republic, Nicholas Paphitis in Athens and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed.
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U.S. President Donald Trump's unexpected decision to ban all Iranian oil purchases after May 1 - ending exemptions for eight nations - came after hawkish economic and security advisors allayed the president's fears of an oil price hike, according to three sources familiar with the internal debate.

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The unprecedented move to fully sever Tehran's financial lifeline - finalized just days before the April 22 announcement - underscores the strong influence of hard-liners within Trump's inner circle. They had for months argued for tightening the sanctions over the objections of some State Department officials who favored allowing some partners and allies to keep buying Iranian oil.

President Donald Trump (Photo: Getty Images)

"No one's actually tried to take this all the way to zero," a senior administration official told Reuters, adding that forging a consensus among government agencies required "a lot of work."

President Donald Trump has been eager to halt Iran's oil exports since slapping sanctions on the Islamic Republic last November for the first time since 2015, a move intended as punishment for Iran's nuclear ambitions and its support of armed militant groups in the Middle East.

Trump initially backed a go-slow approach, providing waivers to allies and trading partners such as China, India and Turkey.

The United States currently removes about 2 million barrels of oil per day from the world's supply through sanctions on the Iran and Venezuela industries. But Washington hopes that soaring U.S. oil production - now at an all-time high of more than 12 million barrel per day - will keep global markets well-supplied and hold prices down.

By the weekend of April 20, with the initial 180-day waivers given to countries due to expire May 1, top economic and security advisors convinced Trump that the time had come to cut off Iranian oil exports completely, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The State Department had been engaged in talks with at least five of the eight economies holding waivers, according to sources - China, India, South Korea, Japan and Turkey.

Trump discussed the matter with National Security Adviser John Bolton, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

While Bolton and Perry backed ending the waivers, some in Pompeo's State Department reiterated worries about the potential for rising oil prices, the sources said, but they ultimately dropped their objections and supported the more aggressive policy on Iran.

The decision caught several U.S. allies and Iranian oil buyers off-guard. China's Foreign Ministry issued a formal complaint to the United States.

Separately, diplomats interviewed by Reuters from at least two large importers of Iranian oil said discussions about renewing their waivers continued until a few days before the announcement, suggesting the State Department had little time to brief partners on the decision.

Hassan Rouhani (Photo: Associated Press)

Oil prices struck six-month highs after the announcement, but have since eased back.

Trump has long been anxious about rising oil prices impacting the economy and raising retail gasoline prices, and in his last tweet before the waiver decision, he said global oil markets were "fragile". He has asked members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase the flow of oil to compensate for losses from Iran and Venezuela.

"This was clearly what he was balancing in his own mind," the administration official said.

One senior administration official said Trump held conversations recently with the Saudi and Emirati leaders on oil prices and received assurances that the two oil producers will ensure the market is well-supplied.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister responded by saying he saw no need to raise oil output immediately. OPEC production declined by 1.6 million barrels per day between December and March, according to the organization's figures.

The Obama administration, which had imposed sanctions on Iran in 2012 to thwart its nuclear ambitions, kept its waivers in place through the duration of its pressure campaign.

Obama's sanctions program ended with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international accord with Tehran reached in 2015 that was meant to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Trump ridiculed the deal and unilaterally abandoned it last year over the objections of the other signatories. International nuclear inspectors said at the time that Iran was abiding by the deal's terms.

State Department officials said it was the Trump administration's intention from the start to bring Iran's exports to zero. But the timing had not been right until now.

Iranian oil production (: EPA)

The National Security Council, according to two sources, played a key role in driving the argument to end the waiver program - especially Richard Goldberg, a new member of the Trump administration and a longtime advocate for confronting Iran.

Goldberg was "instrumental," one of the sources said.

Bolton added Goldberg to the NSC earlier this year. In 2018, while an adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, Goldberg told Congress that rolling back Iran's activities required a "no-holds-barred, pedal-to-the-metal approach" involving political, economic and ideological warfare, along with overt and covert operations to remove Iranian forces from Syria and Yemen.

White House economic advisors Kevin Hassett and Larry Kudlow had also called for ending the waivers, according to a second senior administration official.

"We are doing this ... in a favorable market condition with full commitment from producing countries," said Frank Fannon, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources. "We think this is the right time."
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Tuesday that a Spanish museum that acquired a priceless, Nazi-looted painting in 1992 is the work's rightful owner, and not the survivors of the Jewish woman who surrendered it 80 years ago to escape the Holocaust.
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Tuesday that a Spanish museum that acquired a priceless, Nazi-looted painting in 1992 is the work's rightful owner, and not the survivors of the Jewish woman who surrendered it 80 years ago to escape the Holocaust.

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Although US District Judge John F. Walter criticized Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the German industrialist whose name now graces the Madrid museum where the painting by Camille Pissarro hangs, for not doing all of the due diligence he could have when he acquired it in 1976, he found no evidence the museum knew it was looted art when it took possession in 1993.

"Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie" painted in 1897 by Camille Pissarro, on display in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid

The museum's US attorney, Thaddeus Stauber, said he believes the decision finally puts an end to a bitter legal fight that has pitted the family of Lilly Cassirer against the museum for 20 years.

"I think it puts an end to it because the court conducted, and we conducted, what the appellate court asked us to, which was a full trial on the merits," he told The Associated Press. "As a lawyer who has been involved in this case for 14 years, I'm pleased that the court did conduct a full trial. We now have a decision on the lawful owner and that should put an end to it."

Walter, who has seen the case returned to court twice by appeals and conducted the trial Stauber mentioned last December, indicated in his 34-page ruling that another appeal still could be possible. A lawyer for Lilly Cassirer's great-grandson, David Cassirer of San Diego, didn't say whether the family plans to appeal.

"We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments," attorney Steve Zack said.

Claude Cassirer, survivor of the Jewish woman who surrendered, with his wife

The painting at issue, Pissarro's "Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie," is a stunning oil-on-canvas work depicting a rainy Paris street scene the artist observed from his window in 1897.

It was purchased directly from Pissarro's art dealer in 1900 by the father-in-law of Lilly Cassirer, who eventually inherited it and displayed it in her home for years. When she and her family fled the Holocaust in 1939 she traded it for passage out of the country.

For years the family thought it was lost, and the German government paid her $13,000 in reparations in 1958.

Then in 1999 a friend of her grandson, Claude, who had seen photos of the painting, discovered it was in the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It had been hanging there since shortly after a nonprofit foundation funded by Spain bought the baron's entire collection for $350 million and named the museum for him.

The painting had been sold and resold after Cassirer and her family fled Germany. The baron, a German industrialist who settled later in Spain, bought it from a US dealer for $300,000 in 1976.

The baron never hid the painting, putting it on exhibition often.

"The court finds that there were sufficient suspicious circumstances or 'red flags' which should have prompted the baron to conduct additional inquires as to the seller's title," the judge said.

Still, despite missing and torn provenance labels, the judge concluded that the baron and the museum foundation did not know the work was looted, and under Spanish law that allows the museum to keep it.
As Israel marks Holocaust Memorial Day, the Anti-Defamation League issued its annual audit of anti-Semitic incidents for 2018. According to this report, US Jewish communities experienced near-historic levels of anti-Semitism, including a doubling of anti-Semitic assaults and the single deadliest attack against the Jewish community in American history.

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The report recorded a total of 1,879 attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions across the country in 2018, the third-highest year on record since ADL started tracking such data in the 1970s.

Unprecedented rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the US (Photo: Tal Segal, AP)

In a year marked by the white supremacist shooting spree at a Pittsburgh synagogue, which claimed 11 lives, and punctuated by a dramatic surge in white supremacist propaganda activity nationwide, ADLs Audit identified 59 people who were victims of anti-Semitic assaults in 2018, up from 21 in 2017. While the overall number of incidents represents a 5 percent decline from 1,986 incidents reported in 2017, the number of incidents last year remained at near-historic levels  48 percent higher than the total for 2016 and 99 percent higher than in 2015.

ADL

Weve worked hard to push back against anti-Semitism, and succeeded in improving hate crime laws, and yet we continue to experience an alarmingly high number of anti-Semitic acts, said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director. We unfortunately saw this trend continue into 2019 with the tragic shooting at the Chabad synagogue in Poway. Its clear we must remain vigilant in working to counter the threat of violent anti-Semitism and denounce it in all forms, wherever the source and regardless of the political affiliation of its proponents.

Memorial honoring victims of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting attack (Photo: AFP)

The ADL calls on Congress to hold additional hearings on the increase in hate crimes, the rise of extremist groups and proliferation of their propaganda, and support legislation, including the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, that calls on the federal government to improve coordinated responses and collect data on domestic terrorism.
Israeli researchers reported Wednesday that violent attacks against Jews spiked significantly last year , with the largest reported number of Jews killed in anti-Semitic acts in decades, leading to an "increasing sense of emergency" among Jewish communities worldwide.

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Capped by the deadly shooting that killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue on October 27, assaults targeting Jews rose 13% in 2018, according to Tel Aviv University researchers. They recorded nearly 400 cases worldwide, with more than a quarter of the major violent cases taking place in the United States.

But the spike was most dramatic in western Europe, where Jews have faced even greater danger and threats. In Germany, for instance, there was a 70% increase in anti-Semitic violence.

Last year saw the largest reported number of Jews killed

"There is an increasing sense of emergency among Jews in many countries around the world," said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, an umbrella group representing Jewish communities across the continent.

"It is now clear that anti-Semitism is no longer limited to the far-left, far-right and radical Islamist's triangle - it has become mainstream and often accepted by civil society," he said.

Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry releases its report every year on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins Wednesday at sundown. This year, the report comes just days after another fatal shooting attack Saturday against a synagogue in southern California . The attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue on the last day of Passover killed one woman and wounded three other people, including the rabbi.

In addition to the shooting attacks, assaults and vandalism, Kantor also noted the increased anti-Semitic vitriol online and in newspapers, including a recent anti-Semitic cartoon that appeared in The New York Times' international edition. It depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading a blind and skullcap-wearing President Donald Trump.

Anti-Semitic cartoon published by the New York Times

The Times has since apologized, calling the image "offensive," and vowing to refrain from publishing such bigoted cartoons again. Still, it sparked outrage among dozens of American Jewish groups that subsequently sent a letter calling on the newspaper to "become far more sensitive to anti-Semitism in the future."

"Anti-Semitism has recently progressed to the point of calling into question the very continuation of Jewish life in many parts of the world. As we saw with the second mass shooting of a synagogue in the US, many parts of the world that were previously thought of as safe no longer are," Kantor added.

"Anti-Semitism has entered gradually into the public discourse," he said. "Threats, harassments and insults have become more violent, inciting to even more physical violence against Jews. It feels like almost every taboo relating to Jews, Judaism and Jewish life has been broken."

The ascendancy of British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has also contributed to a growing sense of fear among Britain's Jewish community. Critics say Corbyn, a longtime critic of Israel, has long allowed anti-Jewish prejudice to go unchecked. Corbyn's supporters have been accused of sharing Holocaust denial and international Jewish banking conspiracies on social media. Several members of the party have quit it in protest.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused of letting anti-Semitism run amok within his party (Photo: Reuters)

Similarly, the inclusion of anti-Semitic activists in the Yellow Vests protests in France have raised greater concerns in a country in which anti-Semitic acts already account for half of all its documented hate crimes.

Kantor added that there has been an improvement in cooperation between Jewish communities and law enforcement agencies in Europe, and several European governments have taken strong steps as well, including fully adopting the working definition of anti-Semitism as outlined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.

The report says there has been a growing awareness of the threat among government agencies responsible for the well-being and security of their Jewish citizens.

Israel has also taken steps, hosting a global forum to combat anti-Semitism, and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial has reported wide participation in its online course on the origins of anti-Semitism. Netanyahu said following the attack in southern California he would be convening a special meeting over the rising anti-Semitic attacks worldwide.
My dear young boys and girls, Youth from around the world, future leaders.

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74 years have passed since the gates of hell were shut and the ovens of Auschwitz extinguished.

President Reuven Rivlin

Auschwitz as a symbol of the Holocaust, the darkest, most monstrous event in human history. Six million Jews, a third of the Jewish people  were tortured, starved, slaughtered, burned and wiped off the face of the earth, in the Holocaust.

1.5 million of them babies and children whose only crime was being Jewish.

The holocaust was horrible low point for humanity and the worst crisis in Jewish history.

Never have the Jewish people been in such danger of annihilation.

Today it is clear the Nazi destruction machine would not have succeeded in their horrific scheme, unless it was constructed on a foundation of hate-filled anti-Semitism, of Europe. The Nazi's were not alone. They were aided by others, from other nations.

Anti-Semitism remains a deep-rooted disease. It did not begin with Hitler and did not end when World War II did. It can be found anywhere; in the right and in the left, supported by nationalism or religion, manifested by hate towards Jews or by de-legitimizing the existence of the state of Israel.

Neo Nazi march, Bulgaria

In recent years we are again witnessing, the rise of hate crimes against Jews, furthermore, we now see the denial of the Holocaust, and the loss of its memory.

Half of all young people around the world, have never heard of Auschwitz. Many others know very little about the Holocaust.

A cry must come out of Auschwitz as the biggest manufacturer of death, where our innocent brothers and sisters were burned alive.

A cry to end anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate.

concentration camp inmates upon release (Photo: Reuters)

Fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of racism must be the common goal of humanity in its entirety.

It must be a strong and unequivocal fight.

We must invest in education, commemoration and history, if our promise of 'never again' is to be kept.

Holocaust survivors are fewer in number now. Within one generation, there will be none left to testify to what they have seen with their own eyes.

The commemorative torch is now passed-on to you, the younger generation. You are our future. You are our future leaders, scientists, athletes and intellectuals. In each of you lives the spirit of leadership, creativity and hope.

Auschwitz

We are counting on you to create a better, more tolerant and more compassionate world. A world that will love people, where the state of Israel can flourish in peace and security.

As you take part in the 'March of the Living', remember you are marching from Auschwitz to Jerusalem, from the Holocaust to resurrection
A few months ago, a former Google employee and the New York Times columnist - Dr. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz - wrote a troubling report that unfortunately didn't get much traction, especially in the Israeli media (which ignored it completely). The report, published by Institute for Jewish Policy Research, was titled: Hidden hate: What Google searches tell us about anti-Semitism today.

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He starts off the report by emphasizing that people are remarkably honest when it comes to their online queries. Google searches reveal interests, prejudices and hatreds that they might keep hidden from friends, family members, neighbours, surveys and even from themselves, he wrote.

He is correct in his assessment. In that search box we allow ourselves to ask the kind of questions we wouldn't want anyone to know about. This level of honesty is actually quite rare in a world of political correctness and photoshopped selfies.

With that notion in mind, Dr. Stephens-Davidowitz goes on to examine just how frequently people in Britain make Google searches containing anti-Semitic expressions. Using Google Trends (website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top search queries) he discovered that people in Britain, annually conduct on average some 170,000 searches containing anti-Semitic rhetoric with 10% of those queries containing violent phrases.

The report also finds that anti-Semitic search queries spike anytime news from Israel makes UK headlines. For instance, when Netta Barzilais song Toy emerged victorious at last years Eurovision Song Contest, queries containing anti-Semitic rhetoric rose by some 39 percent.

The volume of Google searches about a conspiracy theory that the Jewish Rothschild banking family controls the world has grown significantly among the British internet users.

But the most disturbing finding of the report is the fact that since Google has altered its autocomplete algorithm - to eliminate hateful search suggestions - the numbers of anti-Semitic search queries has lowered. This means that before the changes in the algorithm had been made, Google was encouraging users to look for anti-Semitic content.

For instance, the report cites an investigation conducted by the Observer newspaper back in 2016 that found if a user was to type are Jews into search box, the autocorrect algorithm would suggest Are Jews evil? as the first option. Meaning that even if a person had no intention to search for any anti-Semitic content, Google would still suggest it an option. The article in the British paper three years is what prompted the tech giant to change the autocomplete algorithm.

After reading the report, I decided to conduct a little experiment of my own to see whether Google autocomplete still makes hate-filled suggestions. I tried typing - in Hebrew - the words Why Arabs and the first option autocomplete provided me with was Why are Arabs bad? When I asked a general question such as Why we hate? Google suggested Why we hate the Poles?

Although I know the suggestions made by autocomplete are based on actual searches made by its users, the fact that these inciting and hateful options are not immediately removed is appalling.

I dont believe Google is interested in encouraging violence in the world, but we - as users - should do our part to stop this phenomenon. On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), I encourage everyone who encounters hateful or inciting suggestions while making Google searches, simply click on the "report inappropriate predictions options at the bottom of the autocomplete search box. Lets make Google search a safe environment.
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria's state news agency says a visiting North Korea delegation has expressed interest in helping Damascus with reconstruction efforts.

SANA said North Korea's vice foreign minister, Pak Myong Guk, was in Damascus on Wednesday. He was expected to later travel to Iran.

Syria and North Korea are longtime allies.

Deputy Syrian Foreign Minister Faysal Mikdad stressed the need for stronger bilateral cooperation in the face of western economic sanctions.

The war in Syria since 2011 has devastated the country and billions of dollars are believed needed to rebuild. But Damascus is facing European and U.S. sanctions because of the war.

North Korea is seeking to expand its commercial ties to reduce its reliance on China.

North Korea said last year it is expecting a visit by the Syrian President.
Under a fluorescent light, an archivist from Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial snaps photos and scans into her mobile database the last remnant that a pair of elderly siblings have of their long-lost father -- a 1943 postcard Samuel Akerman tossed in desperation out of the deportation train hurtling him toward his demise in the Majdanek death camp.

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"It's what we have left from him," said Rachel Zeiger, his now 91-year-old daughter. "But this is not for the family. It is for the next generations."





Holocaust survivors Rachel Zeiger 91, center, and her brother Moshe Akerman 84, left, speak with Orit Noiman, head of Yad Vashem's collection and registration center

Through its "Gathering the Fragments" program, Yad Vashem has collected some 250,000 items from survivors and their families in recent years to be stored for posterity and displayed online in hopes of preserving the memory of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, even after the last of the survivors has passed away.

Yad Vashem officials Orit Noima, left, and Simmy Allen, watch archivist Lena Shternberg reproduce holocaust era photographs and documents

Copious video testimonies have been filmed and even holograms have been produced to try to recreate the powerful impact of a survivor's recollection, which has been the staple of Holocaust commemoration for decades. This year, an Instagram account was created based on the real-life journal of a teenage Jewish victim to make her story more accessible to a younger generation.

With the passing of time, any physical links to the Holocaust and its victims have become valuable means of remembrance and evidence against the growing tide of denial and minimization of the genocide around the world.

Visitors stand near an exhibit at Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem

As Israel starts marking its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day at sundown Wednesday, Yad Vashem will be laying the cornerstone of its new campus for the Shoah Heritage Collections Center -- the future permanent home for its 210 million documents, 500,000 photographs, 131,000 survivor testimonies, 32,400 artifacts and 11,500 works of art related to the Holocaust. On Thursday, it will offer the public a rare behind-the-scenes look of its preservation work, with tours of its collection, archive and digitizing labs.

Architect's rendering of the artwork storage facilities in the Shoah Heritage Collections Center

"The German Nazis were determined not only to annihilate the Jewish people, but also to obliterate their identity, memory, culture and heritage," said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. "By preserving these precious items ... and revealing them to the public they will act as the voice of the victims and the survivors and serve as an everlasting memory."

Samuel Akerman's jarring letter to his family will soon join the collected assortment.

Zeiger and Akerman

"My heart is bitter. I unfortunately have to inform you that I, together with 950 other people, am headed toward an unknown destination," he scribbled in shaky handwriting to his two children on Feb. 27, 1943, from inside the packed transport. "I may not be able to write you again ... pray to God that we will joyfully see each other again. Don't give up hope and I am sure God will help us."

Akerman, a diamond merchant who dreamed of moving to pre-state Israel, was never heard from again.

A bystander likely found the discarded postcard on the ground and mailed it to Zeiger and her younger brother, Moshe, in occupied France, where they had fled from their home in Belgium after the Nazis invaded. After the father was deported, the rest -- mother, grandmother and the two children -- survived by assuming false, Christian identities.

Akerman's postcard

Zeiger recalls several close encounters when their cover was nearly lost. Once, the Gestapo arrived in the early morning hours to seize a Jewish family hiding in the ground floor of their building. When the Nazis knocked on their third-floor door, a teenage Zeiger presented their fake papers in her fluent French to convince them they had nothing to look for there.

"I've never felt that way in my life," she recalled from her quaint house in Ramat Gan, just outside Tel Aviv. "I had to vomit after they left. My whole body clenched."

Zeiger, her brother Moshe Akerman and Orit Noima, head of Yad Vashem's collection and registration center, watch archivist Lena Shternberg reproduce holocaust era photographs and documents at their home

The postcard remained stashed away as a vestige of their painful past for more than 75 years, until Moshe Akerman heard of the Yad Vashem campaign seeking personal effects of aging survivors.

"My kids are glad I did it so that this testimony will exist, because otherwise you don't talk about it," said Akerman, 84. "It's a small testimony to what happened, another drop in this sea of testimony. It doesn't uncover anything new. The facts are known. What happened happened, and this is another small proof of it."

Yad Vashem

Besides rounding up Jews and shipping them to death camps, the Nazis and their collaborators confiscated their possessions and stole their valuables, leaving little behind. Those who survived often had just a small item or two they managed to keep. Many have clung to the sentimental objects ever since.

But with the next generation often showing little interest in maintaining the items, and their means of properly preserving them limited, Yad Vashem launched "Gathering the Fragments" in 2011 to collect as many artifacts as possible before the survivors -- and their stories -- were gone forever. Rather than exhibit them in its flagship museum, Yad Vashem stores most of the items in a specialized facility and uploads replicas online for a far wider global reach.

"These items complement other material we have and help us complete the puzzle of the victims' stories," explained Orit Noiman, head of Yad Vashem's collection and registration center. "The personal item becomes part of the collective national memory. With the clock ticking and the survivors leaving us, this is what we can make accessible to the public."
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin addressed European Anti-Semitism at the opening ceremony of Holocaust Memorial Day being held at Yad Vashem. "Europe today, like other parts of the world, is changing its character," Rivlin said. "Europe today, has returned to being haunted by the ghosts of the past. Perceptions of superiority, nationalistic purity, xenophobia, blatant and murky anti-Semitism, from the Left and the Right, hovering across Europe.

"It must be stressed that we are not living in the 1930's. we are not on the verge of a new Holocaust or anything similar. But we cannot ignore the new-old anti-Semitism that is again rearing its head, fueled by waves of immigration, financial crises and discontent from the political establishment. From the extreme Right and Left, anti-Semitism is permeating the heart of European leadership," Rivlin added.
U.S. religious centers are buying special insurance to protect them from the financial consequences of an armed intruder opening fire in their buildings.

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Many congregations have been reassessing coverage and buying separate "active assailant" policies as shootings at houses of worship, including churches, synagogues and mosques, become more common, religious leaders and insurance representatives said in interviews.





Rabbi Yisrael Goldstein at the funeral for congregant Lori Kaye (Photo: AP)

Potential violence has become top-of-mind for many religious organizations, following a spate of shootings in recent years.

Last Saturday, a woman was fatally shot and three people injured at Chabad of Poway synagogue in suburban San Diego by a gunman identified as John Earnest, 19. He pleaded not guilty to the shootings on Tuesday.

Earnest in court (Photo: AP)

The Poway attack, on the last day of Passover, came six months to the day after 11 worshippers were shot to death at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest attack ever on American Jewry.

Other shootings in recent years killed 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in 2017; nine worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and six people at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in 2012.

Devin Patrick Kelley shot 26 people at a Texas church

Violence also has come in other forms this year, such as the burning of three predominantly black churches in southern Louisiana between March 26 and April 4.

Willow Creek bought an active assailant policy two years ago, McAuliffe said. The added insurance covers expenses that are typically excluded from general liability coverage, including medical expenses, victim lawsuits, building repairs or replacement and media consultants.

Following a shooting at a NC church

Vulnerabilities

Houses of worship face unique risks because of their mission to be welcoming, insurers and brokers said. The physical set-up of many worship centers also is a concern.

"You come in the back and everyone is facing the other way," said Peter Persuitti, who heads the religious practice for insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. "They are so vulnerable."

Willow Creek's coverage costs a "couple of thousand dollars" a year, which is a small fraction of its overall insurance budget, McAuliffe said.

Premiums for one policy backed by insurer AXA XL costs $1,200 per $1 million of coverage, said Paul Marshall, who heads the active shooter insurance program for the Ohio-based McGowan Companies, which underwrites the coverage.

Recent attacks spurred five synagogues and churches to buy the coverage this week, Marshall said.

Memorial for victims of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting (Photo: AP)

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis bought active assailant coverage last year, covering 141 parishes and 75 schools, said Mike Witka, director of risk management.

Insurance companies also are ramping up educational programs for faith-based policyholders to help them manage the risk of violent intruders. For example, nearly 200 parishioners and staff from congregations insured through Church Mutual Insurance Co packed a church in Lenexa, Kansas, last month for a half-day seminar. They learned how to develop security plans and minimize bloodshed if someone opens fire.

Mourning victims in Sutherland

The event is one of nine that Church Mutual planned for the year.

Church Mutual's general liability policy includes "catastrophic violence" coverage of up to $50,000 per victim and $300,000 per violent incident.

Other measures could change how Americans have long envisioned their religious surroundings.

"We don't really like to shut our doors because we want to be welcoming," Witka said. "But we have to start thinking that once mass starts, the doors have to be locked and shut."
Jake Matzner, the captains son, read thoughts he jotted down early last Saturday morning, as he awoke the day after his fathers passing and the realization of grief was prevalent.

He noted that the time was 6:06 a.m.

His fathers badge number just happened to be 6:06.

And in those early morning hours, he said he asked himself, What is a hero, some may ask. I dont think I told him, but he was my hero. I was so proud to be his son. He was always there to help out anyone who needed it. He would help organize a major event or fix the brakes on your truck, or travel three hours to help some friends work on a house.

Of course, there were also nearly three decades of serving his community  being one of those people who came to the rescue whenever someone needed help.

After Dad passed away, one of the first messages I received was from someone who said they respected my father, Jake said. That struck a chord with me. I wont forget that message for the rest of my time on earth.
By P.J. GLISSON

[email protected]

Bessemer  Members of the community gathered for a community safety session on Tuesday night at A.D. Johnston Junior and High School.

Held in the schools multipurpose room, the session featured trooper Jerry Mazurek of the Michigan State Police, Sgt. Brandon Lyons of the Gogebic County Sheriffs Office, and Gogebic County prosecutor Nick Jacobs.

Before the session, Lyons told the Globe that parents were the primary target for the session covering school safety, human trafficking and active shooter issues.

At the start of the evening, superintendent Dave Wineburner explained that school officials try to be as proactive as possible in protecting students.

He said schools now feature security doors with a buzz-in system, security cameras, radio communication devices, other enhancements, and trained staff.

Everybody has to be on the lookout, he said. Everyone has to be hypervigilant about whos walking through our buildings.

Wineburner said school staff and students practice fire, tornado and lockdown drills, and officials are in the midst of reviewing emergency management planning.

He added that new initiatives such as watchdogs bring fathers into the school to play classroom roles and merely to have a presence in the elementary building.

Lyons explained that when law enforcement issues a lockdown, it might have nothing to do with a problem at the school.

Sometimes, he said, a nearby situation such as a domestic dispute calls for surrounding caution.

Regarding the responsibility for safety at large, Mazurek said, Its everybodys job in the community.

Tuesday evenings spokesmen also were available for questioning after the session.

As part of the event, Cheri Marchello of Bessemer also prepared raffle baskets.
By BRYAN HELLIOS

[email protected]

IRONWOOD  The Gogebic Community College board of Trustees welcomed incoming college president George McNulty and his wife, Christie to the its meeting on Tuesday evening.

Doctor McNulty is going to be our new college president beginning July 1, John Lupino chair of the board said during a brief speech given before the meeting.

The future president asked a few questions during the meeting, but mainly just listened as Owen Ryskey described his experience while on a service learning trip to Guatemala.

They dont have as much as we d...
By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

HURLEY  The case of one of the defendants charged in connection to the killing of a Lac du Flambeau man north of Mercer appears to be headed toward a trial.

A December trial date was set Tuesday after Iron County Judge Patrick Madden heard a motion laying out the states final settlement offer to Curtis Wolfe, 27, for his alleged role in the death of Wayne M. Valliere Jr., whose body was found Jan. 1, 2018, in the Mercer area.

The five-day trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 9, with a hearing Nov. 14 for any motions needing to be addressed pr...
A Perth City Deal is essential for the city and must be prioritised by whichever political party that will win in the upcoming federal election, according to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA).

Federal and Western Australian governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to negotiate a City Deal for Perth in April 2018, but there has been no further development.

Weve been waiting for Perths City Deal to come into fruition for the last 12 months. During that time, Hobart, Darwin, Adelaide and South East Queensland have all received their City Deal, while WAs remains on the back burner, said REIWA President Damian Collins. Its essential that Perth receives a City Deal. This will provide much-needed funding and collaboration between all levels of government to ensure WA can meet the needs of its growing population.

Perths City Deal will include much needed funding for infrastructure projects and commitment by all levels of government to ensure land use policies promote infill development and the sustainable growth of Perth. The deal is also set to explore value capture that facilitates land value uplift in infrastructure corridors to help fund METRONET, a public transport program in Perth.

Hobart is already experiencing the positive impacts of a City Deal. Since having their City Deal and federal funding commitment, Hobarts economy has improved significantly. The city has seen house prices increase and consumer confidence build, Collins said. Western Australia is crying out for the same kind of federal support. Whoever is appointed minister for cities following the election must have a Perth City Deal as a top priority.
Latest News

Washington, DC - Older Americans are treasured members of our communities. They have poured their lives into our country in ways seen and unseen - often at great personal sacrifice. To current generations and to those of the future, they have given a country whose greatness is unparalleled and which is only growing stronger. During Older Americans Month, we honor these Americans, we remember their countless contributions, and we proudly renew our abiding commitment to their well-being.

Older Americans enrich our lives in innumerable ways. Their diverse experiences and time-tested wisdom guide younger generations, connect them with our countrys history, and empower them with the confidence to face the future. Older Americans devote themselves to their families. They lend their experience in the work place. They volunteer for religious and community organizations. In every context, they deepen our appreciation for country, they model selfless service to others, and they remain vibrant and contributing participants in the American experience.

My Administration is working to improve quality of life for our Nations seniors. The Department of Justice is taking action to counter the growing threat of fraud against older Americans. In addition, we are working to lower the price of prescription drugs, which declined in 2018 for the first time in nearly half a century. We are building on that progress by implementing my American Patients First blueprint, which lays out strategies for drug pricing reform, including through improved competition and better price negotiation. Many companies give European countries a better deal on drug prices than they give to the United States. This has to stop. We will make sure that our great seniors on Medicare share in the discounts these companies have given to patients in other countries. I have also signed into law legislation that will help provide patients with more information to save on their prescription drugs and reduce out-of-pocket costs. With each action my Administration takes, it will protect both Medicare and Social Security for our seniors, who have paid into these programs for many decades and have earned the benefits they provide.

More than ever before, older Americans are taking charge, striving for wellness, focusing on independence, and advocating for themselves and others. This month, as we celebrate the central role that our elders play in vitalizing our families, neighborhoods, businesses, and lives, we also recommit to listening to their voices and meeting their needs. They deserve our honor, our sincere gratitude, and our respect for all that they have done to build and sustain our great Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2019 as Older Americans Month. I call upon all Americans to honor our elders, acknowledge their contributions, care for those in need, and reaffirm our countrys commitment to older Americans this month and throughout the year.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this

thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.

DONALD J. TRUMP
Today

Cloudy with occasional rain late. Low near 60F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional rain late. Low near 60F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.

Tomorrow

Rain ending early. Breaks of sun in the afternoon. High 68F. SSE winds shifting to W at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
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The United Nations on Wednesday added Masood Azhar, the leader of a Pakistan-based Islamist group, to its list of global terrorists after China lifted its objections to the move.

The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda announced in a press release the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda.

JeM has claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops and stoked tensions between India and Pakistan.

Under the decision, Azhar, considered the founder of JeM, will be subjected to an assets freeze, global travel ban and arms embargo. JeM itself has been on the UN terror list since 2001.

China had blocked three previous attempts at the sanctions committee to blacklist Azhar and put a technical hold on a fourth request from Britain, France and the United States in March.

UN diplomats said the request was again submitted to the committee last week and that China had not opposed the move to blacklist Azhar. Any decision to add individuals or groups to the UN terror list is taken by consensus in the committee.

Azhar is linked to terrorism for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities" carried out by JeM, according to the sanctions committee.

- India-Pakistan tensions -

India applauded the move which came after its air force in February carried out air strikes on a JeM militant camp inside Pakistan -- the first time since 1971 that it had hit territory beyond divided Kashmir.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley posted on Twitter: "India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the Prime Minister's foreign policy."

Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the February attack in Kashmir that prompted tit-for-tat air raids, fueling fears of an all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Islamabad has denied any involvement in the attack.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two wars over it.

The decision to blacklist Azhar came after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan last week on the sidelines of a summit of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing.

France, which slapped unilateral sanctions on Azhar in March, also welcomed the decision and stressed it had pushed for many years for the JeM leader to be put on the list.

The United States in late March put forward a draft Security Council resolution to blacklist Azhar, ratcheting up pressure on China to remove its opposition to the sanctions.

Azhar founded JeM after he was released from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar.

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- Ghana and UK have signed a new strategic partnership agreement

- The countries pledged to focus efforts in three main areas

Ghana and the United Kingdom (UK) have signed a strategic partnership agreement to help deepen and strengthen the existing ties, as well as open up new areas for co-operation.

The two nations agreed to focus their collective efforts in three main areas for mutual benefits.

The areas under consideration are building economic development and mutual prosperity by leveraging on the work of the UK-Ghana Business Council, stability and regional security as well as improving health, education and inclusion.

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Jeremy Hunt, the UK secretary for foreign and commonwealth affairs, signed for his country, while Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the minister of foreign affairs and regional Integration, initialled for Ghana.

Per a report by Ghananewsagency.org, Ghanas vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and Iain Walker, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, witnessed the signing ceremony in Accra at the Jubilee House.

They agreed to deepen their economic relationship through prioritisation of efforts to promote sustainable industrialisation, economic diversification, job creation and greater trade and investment.

READ ALSO: Nana Ama McBrown dances to Chochomucho with her baby

On stability and regional security, the two nations recognised the changing threat to stability and security in the region, and agreed to work closely together in that regard.

They agreed to enhance co-operation between UK and Ghanaian institutions and ensure improved capacity building to address the full range of serious organised crime, corruption and border security challenges.

On health, education and inclusion, they agreed to share and develop technical expertise and foster new partnerships between UK and Ghanaian institutions to support high quality, domestically financed services in health, education and social protection.

READ ALSO: Beautiful wives of top musicians in Ghana at the moment

Ghana News Today: Okyeame Kwame's Made in Ghana Album launch| #Yencomgh

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Source: YEN.com.gh
Recently there has been lot of media coverage on use of security forces for political ends and politicisation of the security forces. The allegations and counter-allegations are all over the media. The credit being drawn by the party in power for Balakot and Uri surgical strikes has been questioned. There have been counter-claims that the UPA also carried out surgical strikes, which I have rebutted on facts in an earlier piece. Now, I would like to bring out for the readers to judge the position regarding these claims and counter claims both legal and factual.

Not many may recall a dreaded militant named Mast Gul, who allegedly escaped. Was it an escape, or it was an escape route facilitated? It is a fact that in the fire in Chara-e-Sharief occurred. Fire tenders arrived to douse the fire. The holy place got completely burnt. Then how did one person taking refuge there escape? But he did.

The fire in Charara-e-Sharief was a ruse. People may be able to corroborate, if the government declassifies the documents of those times, that he escaped in an emptied fire tender. The security forces looking for this militant had to bite dust due to this political interference.

Now, to the more recent case of Ishrat Jehan. Rajinder Kumar, the IB Special Director, was hounded by UPA government. He had made a correct assessment of the threat of assassination to the then CM of Gujarat, who is the incumbent Prime Minister, and the then Home Minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah. As per his assigned responsibility, he shared the assessment with the state government, on which the state government took required action. But that the UPA politicised this for its own gain is a now matter of record, although as a Central secretariat officer, I too got caught in the crossfire and had to bear consequences not so pleasant.

Now let me take you to Batla House saga. During the course the occurence of the event, the then Minister for Home was in Delhi Police headquarters and was getting real time information. Mohan Chand Sharma, the inspector who was killed by the terrorists' bullet, had gone there with his team to arrest the perpetrators of the bomb blasts that had rocked Delhi a few earlier.

In spite of this, the then government sought to politicalise the event. This was repeatedly done. Not once but twice. I have captured this in my book. Here, current Commissioner of Police Delhi, Amulya Patnaik, then Joint Commissioner (Crime), had investigated the entire episode, even considering forensic and ballistic evidences and concluded that this was a genuine cross fire, Now, it stands validated by the judicial order.

Many people liken the Batla House event to the martyrdom of the Hemant Karkare in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. It is unfortunate that Karkare got killed. But after that, while certain sections were demanding an inquiry into his death, there was even a discussion in Rajya Sabha on this on the 19.12.2008. The then government did not institute any inquiry into this, although both governments - in the Centre and Maharashtra - were with the same political dispensation. They conferred him with Ashoka Chakra, a gallantry award for people killed in action. Political interference was evident in itself. By conferring the award, the then government wanted to put an end to this vertical of the Mumbai attack. Let us get it right. Mohan Chand Sharma did not have any record of hobnobbing with politicians of any hue. Karkare had been hobnobbing with politicians. Digvijaya Singh had even gone so far as releasing his call records to substantiate his claim that he had spoken with Karkare hours before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks began.

Besides, recently, Tehseen Poonawala had also claimed Karkare was his close friend. Let us get it clear. The All India Service Rules expressly proscribes and prohibits serving officers from having such relations with politicians. Are they not a case of political interferences? I have further material discussed in my book about how 14 detenues of terrorist attacks languishing in Ahmedabad jails were sought to be brought on transit remand to Delhi to make good their escape or give them better treatment. SS Khandawala, DGP of Gujarat in April 2010, refused to cooperate.

Now, Karkare was conferred Ashoka Chakra. Was it an attempt to put an end to this saga so that later, whenever his role is called into question, there could be cries that a martyr is being maligned? Recent events do reflect this. Because these awards are also conferred to political darlings serving in the security forces.

I will recall a case study from 17.4.2008. The Olympic torch was to pass through Delhi on the way to Beijing. Now, the traffic mess that happened to ensure safe passage was a shame on the traffic management of any mega city, whatever be the reason.

Similarly, when in the second week of September 2008, for two days rains had lashed Delhi and the traffic on this day also put a question mark on the capacity of the traffic management bosses. I indeed believe that sheer numbers coupled with VIP movements in one case and water-logged roads in another does stretch the capacity of traffic management personnel, but that is their job.

I do not also hold any prejudice against these traffic management personnel. But what is surprising was that the Joint Commissioner of Police in charge of Traffic who oversaw these two mishaps was conferred President's Police Medal in January 2009. No prejudice meant to this officer or his professional capabilities. But this is being quoted to establish as to how these medals are handed out.

Talking of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, I would like to recall to the readers the statement of P Chidambaram in Lok Sabha on 11.12.2008. It was stated by P Chidambaram as Home Minister that, "Indian Navy had spotted the ship (in which Kasab et al were sailing) in Pakistani waters. But since no further intelligence was available they abandoned the surveillance."

I repeatedly say that once anything suspicious in spotted the security agencies only mount their surveillance and intelligence is only a force multiplier to enable them to assess and add on reinforcements. They do not abandon any such surveillance unless they have been directed to do so or redeployed. Hence, P Chidambaram should answer who redeployed the Indian Navy or asked them to abandon the surveillance.

Further, how the deployment of local resources was declined and NSG was delayed during 26/11 have been captured in my book with details. The then Air Force Chief also has come out in open that they had offered to avenge the 26/11, but the political leadership refused to give clearance.

The then government continued to rely on the unsuccessful and proforma process of dossier exchanges. I was involved in preparation of these dossiers till 2010. But P Chidambaram destroyed the credibility of Indian dossiers in March 2011, which again I have detailed in my book.

Having said that, in UPA-II even the independent Army Chief had to face the allegations of trying to revolt and organise a mutiny against the democratic government. The Indian Army had about 10,000 personnel posted in Delhi itself. They do not need to design and organise any revolt or mutiny from outside Delhi as was alleged. Further, I have worked in close association with security establishment. They are true professionals and to attribute such nefarious designs to them is sacrilege.

Last of all, let me tell the readers, that in the previous paras, I have recalled the statement of the then Air Force Chief about political leadership not giving clearances. Indeed, this statement reflects the reality. There was never an element about lack of willingness on the part of security forces. Nor were they incapable, in spite of no reinforcements or modernisation or acquisitions in terms of fighting infrastructure between 2004-2014.

Hence, the whining by certain political groups of the present government taking political advantage of the security forces is inappropriate to the extent that what stopped them from having the political will to accept the offer of the then Air Force chief. The nation seeks an answer.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to Jet Airways on a plea seeking immediate redressal of complaints of passengers who had booked flights with the airline. A division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani also issued a notice to DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation asking them to file a reply in this matter. The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 16.

A plea has been filed in Delhi HC seeking to ensure immediate resolution for all passengers who have been affected by the cancellation of Jet Airways flights by giving them a full refund of the amount in respect of their booked air ticket or accommodate them in alternative flights to ensure fair business practice. The plea has been filed by Advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi on behalf of petitioner Bejon Mishra.

The plea has alleged that suddenly without prior information or notice, more than 100 flights have been cancelled by Jet Airways and passengers are constrained to run from pillar to post for managing their urgent official and personal commitments which resulted in huge damages and chaos to take an alternative mode of travel in other airlines.

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The plea states: "It is common knowledge that all competitor airlines have exorbitantly increased airfares and the toothless and vulnerable consumers are constrained to suffer not only in terms of money, but also in terms of mental harassment of unprecedented scale."

Citing media report, it had said more than Rs 360 crore of passengers/consumers' hard earned money is under threat due to non-refund of ticket value. "The passengers have to not only purchase alternative tickets at highly exorbitant cost, but also go through lots of anxieties and mental agony. This has resulted in profiteering by other airlines at the cost of the passengers and till date no relief has been announced by the respondents (Ministry and DGCA).

"It is on record that such a situation was existing for more than two years, but was intentionally allowed by the authorities without any concern for passengers and other affected parties," the plea claimed.
A 25-year-old woman doctor identified as Garima Mishra has been found dead with her throat slit in Delhi's Ranjit Nagar. Her body was discovered in her third floor flat at 11 pm on Tuesday.

Dr Garima belonged to Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur and she used to live in the third floor flat with two other male doctors named Dr Chandra Prakash Verma and Dr Rakesh.

Dr Verma is absconding at the moment, while Dr Rakesh is currently being questioned by the police. The body of Dr Garima was discovered by her cousin who had come to check on her after she did not pick her phone despite repeated calls. Police said that Dr Garima was supposed to catch a bus in the morning for Gorakhpur but when she didn't pick her phone, her cousin went to her house only to find the door locked from outside.

When Dr Garima's cousin found the door locked from outside he asked the landlord to break the door and call the police. When police arrived at the scene of crime, they found a woman's body lying on the floor with her throat slit. Police said that all the three doctors were friends and Dr Garima and Dr Chandra Prakash had worked together in the past.

Talking to PTI, Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), said Dr Garima was allegedly killed by a male doctor, who stayed with her in the same flat.

He added that both the victim and accused were preparing for MD and it is suspected that Dr Verma fled after allegedly killing the woman. Delhi police have sent a team to Uttar Pradesh to nab Dr Verma.
Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria on Wednesday took over as the Vice Chief of Air Staff succeeding Air Marshal Anil Khosla.

Bhadauria was earlier heading the Indian Air Force's Bengaluru-based Training Command. Earlier as a Deputy Chief, he was the chairman of India's negotiating team for 36 Rafale combat aircraft deal with France.

He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned in the fighter stream of IAF on 15 Jun 1980 as the recipient of Sword of Honour. He completed his Masters in Defence Studies from Command and Staff College, Bangladesh.

Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria took over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff, today. pic.twitter.com/1KrZHvmaXf  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

He has a flying experience on over twenty six types of fighters and transport aircraft with the unique distinction of being an Experimental Test Pilot, a Cat 'A' Qualified Flying Instructor and a Pilot Attack Instructor. He was commended by the Chief of Air Staff in 1987 and he has been awarded Vayu Sena Medal in 2002, Ati Vishist Seva Medal in 2013 and Param Vishist Seva Medal in 2018.

In the past, he has also held a number of appointments which include the command of a Jaguar Squadron and a premier Air Force Station in South-Western sector, Commanding Officer of Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft and System Testing Establishment, Chief Test Pilot and Project Director of National Flight Test Centre on Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project.

He was also extensively involved in the initial prototype flight tests on the LCA. He was the Air Attache, Moscow, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects), Commandant of the National Defence Academy, Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ CAC and the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ.
In a big diplomatic win for India on Wednesday, Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and Pakistani citizen Masood Azhar has finally been listed as an international terrorist by the United Nation Security Council's 1267 committee.

Born on July 10, 1968 in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, Azhar is the third of 11 children - five sons and six daughters. Azhar's father was the headmaster at a government-run school and a cleric with Deobandi leanings.

Azhar studied till class 8 and then joined the Jamia Uloom Islamic school from where he became an alim in 1989. The madrasa was working closely with terror group Harkat-ul-Ansar and Azhar soon joined the terror group. He started his journey into the world of terrorism after getting enrolled at a jihad-training camp in Afghanistan.

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Azhar, however, failed to complete the course but took part in the SovietAfghan War and then soon became the head of Harkat's department of motivation. Azhar then became the general secretary of Harkat-ul-Ansar and was tasked with recruiting and raising funds for jihadi purposes. He visited several countries, including Zambia, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, the United Kingdom and Albania, to collect funds for jihadi purposes.

Azhar entered the UK in August 1993 for a fundraising, and recruitment tour. He used to deliver his message of jihad at some of Britain's most prestigious Islamic institutions. During his stay in the UK, Azhar succeeded in making contacts with people who later provided training and logistical support the terror plots including 7/7, 21/7 and some others.

In 1994, Azhar entered Srinagar under a fake identity. He was sent to India to ease tensions between Harkat-ul-Ansar's feuding factions of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. Azhar was arrested by Indian security agencies in February from Khanabal near Anantnag.

In July 1995, terrorists had kidnapped six foreign tourists in Jammu and Kashmir. The kidnappers, who belonged to a terror group named Al-Faran, demanded the release of Masood Azhar among their demands.

One of the hostages managed to escape whilst one was found dead. The whereabouts of others are not known since then. In December 1999, an Indian Airlines Flight IC 814 en route from Kathmandu in Nepal to New Delhi was hijacked by terrorists and landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Afghanistan was under Taliban's control at that time. The hijackers demanded that Masood Azhar and two other terrorists must be released in exchange for freeing the hostages. Indian government gave in to their demand and released Azhar and two other dreaded terrorists. The hijackers of IC814 were led by Masood Azhar's brother, Ibrahim Athar.

After reaching Pakistan, Masood Azhar made a public address in Karachi and spewed venom against India.

Azhar's banned terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed is responsible for a string of deadly attacks inside India, including the attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001, Pathankot attack, Uri attack and the February 14 attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama.
The Armored Corps of Indian Army is celebrating its 81st Armor Day today. It was on this day in 1938 that Scinde Horse (14H) became first regiment to dismount from their horses and move to tanks, Vickers light tanks and Chevrolet Armored Cars. Since then, Armoured Corps has proved its excellence in all wars and operations.

01May2019 Indian Armys Armored Corps is celebrating 81st Armor Day. Scinde Horse (14H) became first regiment on May 1, 1938 to dismount from their horses&move2 tanks, Vickers light tanks& Chevrolet Armored Cars. Since then, Armoured Corps has excelled in all wars & ops. pic.twitter.com/nBCPWdKkBu  Lt Gen K J Singh (@kayjay34350) May 1, 2019

Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat and all ranks of Indian Army have conveyed their best wishes to all ranks of Armoured Corps on the occasion of Armour Day.

General Bipin Rawat #COAS and all ranks of #IndianArmy convey best wishes to all ranks of Armoured Corps on the occasion of Armour Day. pic.twitter.com/vPIOydVLOY  ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) May 1, 2019

The Armoured Corps is one of the combat arms of the Indian Army and it currently consists of 67 armoured regiments, including the president's bodyguards.

The Armoured Corps School and Centre is at Ahmednagar. Each Armoured Regiment has its own "Colonel of the Regiment", an honorary post for an officer who takes care of the regimental issues concerning the unit.

According to Indian Army, the Armoured Corps has the elan of the horse-borne warrior of old, together with the infuriatingly languid air of confidence, of never being seen as perturbed in public. The ethos of Armoured Corps is a perfect reflection of professional competence and the operational success of Armored Corps is founded on moral strength and martial spirit.

The youngest Param Vir Chakra awardee Arun Khetrapal was also from Armoured Corps. Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal got martyred in action in the Battle of Basantar in the Battlefield of Shakargarh during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

Armoured Corps Hero- Youngest PVC pic.twitter.com/gUE7L9SoN8  Lt Gen K J Singh (@kayjay34350) May 1, 2019

Khetarpal joined the National Defence Academy in June 1967 and then he went on to join the Indian Military Academy. In June 1971, Khetarpal was commissioned into the 17 Poona Horse.
New Delhi: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday slammed the Shiv Sena's article in its mouthpiece 'Saamna' which had demanded the imposition of a ban on burqa to ensure national security.

Slamming Sena's article in its mouthpiece, Owaisi said that it was a violation of the poll code and urged the Election Commission to take notice of it. "Wearing a burqa is a matter of choice and it has become a security threat, so does the Sadhvi's outfit," he said.

Calling the article a 'Popatmaster' (bearing no meaning at all), Owaisi quipped that earlier Sena used to heavily criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi but now they have joined hands and are together.

In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, Shiv Sena called for a ban on burqa as has been done in Sri Lanka following the Easter explosions there. It said that the ban is as necessary as the surgical strikes were and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to show courage to go forward with it.

It said that the ban - something similar which the party has proposed in the past -- "has already come in Sri Lanka, when will it be implemented in Ram's Ayodhya -- this is our question to Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

"This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security," said the Sena in an editorial in the party mouthpieces, 'Saamana' and 'Dopahar Ka Saamana'.

It said 'no Mahatma Phules or Shahu Maharajs' were born among the Muslims nor were allowed to become, which has worked to the advantage of whimsical elements like Shahabuddin, Azam Khan, Owaisi brothers and Abu Asim Azmi.

If such religious practices or traditions interfere with national security, then it must be ended immediately, and 'Modi will have to do it now'.

"This work will require as much daring as a 'surgical strike'. The Sri Lankan President had done it by overnight banning burqa or veils or face-covers of any types in all public places. This is a work of great courage and restraint exhibited by (Sri Lanka) President Maithripala Sirisena," lauded the Sena.

The BJP, however, played down the demand from its alliance partner.

"Sri Lanka issued a ban because of the scale of the recent attacks there. Under PM Narendra Modi's leadership, India is safe. There is a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism and the country is safe, there is no need for any bans," party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told news agency ANI.
The extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani over west central Bay of Bengal moved north-northeastwards on Wednesday evening with a speed of about 13 kmph and is likely to hit Odisha's shores on Friday.

According to the Meteorological Department, cyclone Fani lay centred over the west-central Bay of Bengal about 570 km south-southwest of Odisha's Puri, 320 km south-southeast of Andhra Pradesh's Vishakhapatnam and 760 km south-southwest of West Bengal's Digha. It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during Friday afternoon with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph. The Met Department issued an orange alert in the three states--Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

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A warning for heavy rainfall has been predicted in north Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya. The squally wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph is very likely to commence along and off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts from Thursday morning.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has taken a series of pre-emptive measures such as the deployment of ships with disaster relief material, use of Dornier aircraft to warn fishing boats and special community interaction programmes in coastal areas, news agency PTI reported citing an official statement. To ensure that widespread precautionary measures are in place in areas likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm, the ICG is in closely liasioning with state administration as well as the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The ICG said Wednesday that its "ships have been kept on standby for mobilisation of disaster relief material" in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Odisha and West Bengal. "Four Dornier sorties are being launched every day on an average for alerting fishing boats from Chennai, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata," it said, adding "special community interactions" were conducted at 12 places such as Tuticorin, Pamban, Villupuram, Chennai and Haldia.

The ICG has kept total 20 Disaster Response Teams on standby at six places -- four each in Vizag, Chennai, Paradip and Haldia and two each in Gopalpur and Frazergunj. "Teams (are) ready for mobilisation at short notice with lifesaving equipment," the Coast Guard said.

Ahead of the impending cyclone, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has evacuated 480 of its employees from rigs operating in the Bay of Bengal. PTI sources said ONGC has also moved at least four rigs to safer waters away from the path of severe cyclonic storm Fani. The operations at Paradip port in Odisha and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh have been shut and ships ordered to move out of the sea to avoid damage.

The sea condition is phenomenal off north Andhra Pradesh coasts till Friday and off Odisha and West Bengal during Thursday-Saturday. It is very likely to be very rough to high off north Tamilnadu, Puducherry, along and off south Andhra Pradesh Coasts till Friday. The fishermen have been advised not to venture into deep sea areas.

A damage is expected in several coastal areas of Odisha--Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Balasore districts; West Bengal--east & west Medinipur, south & north 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogli, Kolkata districts and Andhra Pradesh--Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and Vijayanagaram districts.

Disruption of rail, road link at several places is also expected.

Odisha:

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who reviewed the preparedness, said around eight lakh people will be evacuated from vulnerable areas to safe places by Thursday evening. Noting that every life is precious, the chief minister directed the administration to evacuate all people from vulnerable areas. He also asked local administrations to run free kitchens.

Leave of all doctors and health officials have been cancelled till May 15. State police chief R P Sharma said leave of all police personnel have also been cancelled and those on leave have been asked to immediately report for duty. IAS officers have been put in charge of relief, rescue and restoration operations in vulnerable districts. Sharma said Superintendents of Police have been asked to constantly monitor the situation and reach relief to stricken people.

The 880 cyclone shelters in coastal and southern districts have been kept ready to accommodate the evacuees, Sethi said, adding that in districts like Gajapati and Rayagada, where such facilities do not exist, they will be housed in schools and anganwadi centres. The Election Commission has, meanwhile, relaxed the provisions of the model code of conduct in 11 coastal districts to facilitate relief and rescue operations, state's chief electoral officer Surendra Kumar said.

These districts--Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur--are likely to bear the brunt of the cyclone, which is also likely to impact Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to withdraw the model code from all coastal districts to help the state government handle the situation in the aftermath of the storm. Surendra Kumar said Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Jagatsinghpur and Gajapati districts will be shifted to safer places in the presence of representatives of all political parties. The exercise will be videographed to maintain transparency.

The East Coast Railway has cancelled 74 trains in view of the cyclone, an ECoR official said.

Tourists have been asked to leave Puri by Thursday evening, while Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar will remain closed from May 2 to 4. The higher education department has directed all state universities and colleges in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts to remain closed for three days from May 2.

Oil marketing companies have been asked to store adequate quantities of kerosene, petrol and diesel so rescue and relief efforts are not adversely affected.

with agency inputs
New Delhi: Rattled by the surgical strike carried out by the Indian Air Force jets on terrorist training camps in Balakot, Pakistan has decided to buy Russian-made Pantsir Missile System from Moscow.

Pantsir is a medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system.

Pakistan is now planning to send a delegation to Moscow to finalise the deal and also have an arrangement for training defence personnel to Pantsir Missile System.

"Pakistan is buying the latest and modernised weapons system to counter India. Pakistan is eyeing to procure tanks to anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missile system from Russia," an Indian Defence Ministry official, aware of these developments, told to Zee News.

As per an earlier report, Pakistan has drawn up a plan to also procure 360 T-90 tanks from Russia to bolster its combat power along the border with India.

T-90 tanks are the backbone of armoured regiments of the Indian Army.

Pakistan is trying to forge a deeper defence corporation with Russia, which has been India's 'all-weather' ally and shares a defence relationship that goes back to the Soviet era.

Pakistan trying for closer ties with Russia is evident from joint military exercises along with defence deals which have triggered concerns in New Delhi.

Equipped with an array of radars for tackling and target-acquisition, Pantsir system is able to counter enemy air attacks employing precision munitions at the low to extremely low ranges. It also provides air defence cover to military installations against aircraft, helicopters, cruise missile and UAVs.

In another effort to revamp its armored fleet, Pakistan has decided to buy close to 600 tanks with Chinese help. At present, over 70 per cent of Pakistani tanks have night-time operational capabilities which is a concern for India.

In the aftermath of the growing international pressure on Pakistan to reign in Islamist groups active on its soil, China has decided to come in support of its 'all-weather ally'. As per a report, China will sell long-range, technically-advanced drones called 'Rainbow' to Pakistan.

Pakistan has decided to procure Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Rainbow CH-4 and CH5.

According to an Indian intelligence agency's report, Pakistan has decided to increase the number of drones in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir so that they can increase the surveillance on the international border, including the Line of Control.

The CH-4 can carry up to 400 kilograms of explosives and can stay in the air for 40 hours. It can cover a range of up to 5,000 kilometres. On the other hand, Rainbow CH-5 can carry up to 1,000 kilograms of explosives and stay in the air up to 60 hours. The drone can fly at up to 17,000 feet.

In February of this year, the Indian Defence Ministry had approved 54 Israeli HAROP attack drones for Indian Air Force which can crash into high-value enemy military targets to destroy them completely. The IAF has an inventory of around 110 of such drones which have been renamed as P-4. But Pakistan did not have any long-range combating drone until now.
At least 16 persons, including 15 Quick Response Team (QRT) commandos were martyred on Wednesday when the private vehicle they were travelling in was targeted by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by Naxals in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra.

The attack was carried out on the Kurkheda-Korchi road near Jambhurkheda village panchayat in north Gadchiroli, a Naxal-hit area.

Talking to Zee Media, sources said that 13 inputs were provided to Maharashtra Police saying that Naxals are planning to attack security forces in Gadhchiroli.

The attack on QRT commandos was executed by a team of 40 Naxals of Platoon No 15. Sources said that at least 10 female Naxals were also part of Platoon 15 which targeted the QRT commandos.

Security forces said that Naxal commander Dunga was the mastermind of Wednesday's attack. The security forces have no photo of Dunga. It appears that the Naxals resorted to arson on Tuesday night in order to lay the bait to execute the ambush on Wednesday. Sources said that Naxals were aware of the movement of QRT commandos through that route.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned the ghastly Naxal attack and said, "Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared."

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the attack was an act of cowardice and desperation. He said he is in touch with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and assured all assistance that will be required.
Hyderabad: Days after remains of two minor girls were unearthed, police on Tuesday arrested a 28-year old man who allegedly raped and killed them and another girl and buried the bodies in abandoned irrigation wells in a village in Telangana.

M Srinivas Reddy, resident of Hajipur village in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, was arrested on Tuesday following his interrogation, police said.

A lift mechanic, he had also allegedly killed a woman in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh in 2016 and was arrested a year later along with four others. He was out on bail in the case, they said.

The serial killer, a bachelor, was addicted to alcohol and used to watch porn movies on his mobile phone, police said.

His involvement in the killings of the minor girls of Hajipur came to light when police questioned him after stumbling on the body of a 14-year old girl in his well during a search for her last Friday.

Investigations showed Reddy had offered her lift on April 25 when she was returning from school and took her to the well. After raping her inside the well, he had killed the girl and buried the body there itself, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat told reporters.

He was also involved in the rape and killing of a 17-year old girl, whose skeletal remains were found in the well Monday, more than a month after she was reported missing, the Commissioner said.

Using similar modus operandi, Reddy had offered lift to the girl on March 9 and took her to an isolated place where he sexually assaulted her and later killed her before burying the body in his well, he said.

During questioning, Reddy also confessed that in April 2015 he had abducted a 11-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her and later killed her and put her body in a gunny bag and dumped it in another well in the village, Bhagwat said.

Police said efforts were on to exhume the remains of the girl.

After Reddy was detained, a section of the villagers attacked and damaged his house while trying to set it ablaze. Police dispersed the crowd, who were seething with anger on coming to know about the serial killings.
MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday demanded that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis must resign in the wake of Naxal attack in Gadchiroli which resulted in the martyrdom of 15 policemen and a civilian.

The Congress also made similar demand and said that the state government must announce a compensation of Rs 50 lakh each for the families of the martyred jawans, all members of the Quick Response Team (QRT).

The NCP chief posted a tweet saying that since Fadnavis is also Home Minister "he should step down immediately". "Those who feel shame of conscience if not shame of public opinion would have resigned. But the people who are in power today are not going to do so," he added.

Pawar claimed that the Naxals are getting more powerful in the state because the state government is not paying any attention to law and order situation in the Naxal-affected areas.

"Hence, there is no option but to condemn the attack and express grief over the jawans' deaths," the NCP president said.

State NCP chief and former Maharashtra home minister Jayant Patil said the Naxals decided to target the QRT members on Maharashtra's foundation day because they wanted to break the spirit of the state police.

"We will not allow this attempt to demoralise the state by deliberately carrying out the attack on Maharashtra Day to succeed," Patil tweeted.

Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan said that chief minister Fadnavis should take moral responsibility of the dastardly attack and step down. "What was the home department doing when Naxals were planning such a huge attack on the foundation day of Maharashtra?" he asked.

Chavan also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that in 2016 when PM had announced demonetisation he had said that it would curb terror and Naxal activities, but this is not the case.

Sixteen persons, including 15 policemen, lost their lives after Naxals blew up their vehicle in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra district on Wednesday.

(with PTI inputs)
New Delhi: An Indian national and three persons of Indian-origin have been killed in Cincinnati in the US and the matter is being investigated by police there, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Tuesday.

However, Swaraj ruled out the possibility of a hate crime.

"Indian Ambassador in United States @IndianEmbassyUS has informed me about the killing of four persons in Cincinnati on Sunday evening. One of them was an Indian national on a visit to US while others were persons of Indian origin," she tweeted.

"The matter is under investigation by police, but it is not a hate crime," Swaraj said. "Our Consul General in New York is coordinating with the concerned authorities and will keep me informed me on this."
With all indications pointing towards China releasing a technical hold on Masood Azhar's designation as a global terrorist, Pakistan is reportedly set to detain the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief.

Sources in the Pakistani government have revealed that the Azhar could be taken into custody almost immediately after - and if - China decides to lift its technical hold on the move to designate him as a global terrorist. All pending FIRs against Azhar could also be investigated.

Pakistani media also reported that the country's Foreign Office has scheduled a press briefing for late Wednesday in this regard.

India has been demanding that Azhar be declared a global terrorist but the move at the United Nations has so far been blocked by China. Previously, it was suspected that China's technical hold on the matter may be because of its close relations with Pakistan, a country known to harbour and support terrorists like Azhar. On Tuesday, however, China's foreign ministry said that 'relevant consultations' in the matter have 'achieved some progress and that this issue can be properly resolved.'

China relenting and releasing its technical hold could be a big win for India, especially after JeM claimed responsibility for the dastardly Pulwama attack in February. It could also mean a massive snub for Pakistan which has gone to the extent of allowing Azhar's close relatives to contest in elections here. Detaining and investigating Azhar could be the only choice left for the Imran Khan government if and when the world community officially designated him as a global terrorist.
A police personnel was shot at on Wednesday evening by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar, as reported by news agency ANI.

The incident took in Srinagar's Khanyar area.

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The injured personnel has been shifted to a hospital and is currently undergoing treatment. The details of the personnel was not known yet.

The identity of the terrorist is yet to be identified.

This is a developing story. More details are awaited.
Mumbai: Following Sri Lanka's decision to ban face coverings - including burqa - in the country for a week in the aftermath of the multiple explosions in the country on Easter, Shiv Sena too wants a similar ban in India.

In an editorial in Saamna, Shiv Sena's mouthpiece, a call has been made to ban burqa in the interest of national security. Referring to the ban on burqa announced by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and also highlighting similar moves in countries like France following terror attacks there, the editorial asks why India is not considering this option in the interest of national security. It further states that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to take a big step in this direction and that banning the burqa will require as much courage as the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

The argument put forth by the editorial for a ban on burqa is that people with nefarious intentions and those who can threaten peace and national security can easily hide their identities by covering their faces. Praising Sri Lanka's courage to put national security first, the editorial also says that it is impossible to ascertain intentions of everyone who chooses to cover their faces.

While Saamna may have made a strong case for a ban on burqa on the lines of Sri Lanka's decision, not many in the island nation are too pleased with the move. While there are groups - including Muslim outfits - who have indeed supported a temporary ban on burqa, others say that more should be done to ensure safety of citizens than just banning a clothing item.
Facing flak for a demand in its editorial mouthpiece for a ban on the burqa in public places, Shiv Sena on Wednesday distanced itself from what has turned into a controversy and said that it was a personal opinion of party leader Sanjay Raut.

The editorial in Saamna called for a ban on wearing burqa in public places in the interest of national security. It said that India too should take a cue from Sri Lanka where face covering have been banned for a week following serial blasts on Easter, and said that it is as necessary as the surgical strikes were.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday was quick to rebuff the demand and party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said that PM Narendra Modi has ensured that India is safe and therefore, no such bans are necessary.

Shiv Sena, later on Wednesday, issued a statement in which it clarified that the demand for the ban on burqa was the personal opinion of Raut and not the party's view. Raut had defended the demand in the Saamna editorial while also adding that it was not meant to target members from any particular community.

The political backlash, however, was swift with AIMIM chief Asauddin Owaisi demanding that Election Commission ought to take action against Shiv Sena. He said it was a violation of the poll code and that Sena was trying to polarise voters.
Shiv Sena's demand for a ban on burqa in the country may have been opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party but appeared to find support from Pragya Thakur.

In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, Shiv Sena called for a ban on burqa as has been done in Sri Lanka following the Easter explosions there. It said that the ban is as necessary as the surgical strikes were and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to show courage to go forward with it. The BJP, however, played down the demand from its alliance partner. "Sri Lanka issued a ban because of the scale of the recent attacks there. Under PM Narendra Modi's leadership, India is safe. There is a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism and the country is safe, there is no need for any bans," party spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told news agency ANI.

While BJP may have all but rejected the demand, its candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency - Pragya Thakur - said national interest should be paramount. "Any decision taken should keep national security as paramount. Even they (Muslims) know that when an (terror) incident happens, their community is discredited. It would be better if they themselves take a call in this matter," she said.

Pragya Thakur's 'support' may be a shot in the arm for Shiv Sena, a party that has not always seen eye-to-eye with BJP on a plethora of issues. Its most recent demand too has the potential of becoming a point of friction. And while Shiv Sena may have lauded Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena for the one-week ban on face coverings, there has been a mixed reaction to this in the island nation.
Maharastra Director General of Police (DGP), Subodh Jaiswal, on Wednesday addressed a press conference and said that 15 Quick Response Team (QRT) commandos got martyred when the vehicle in which they were traveling was targeted by Naxals at North Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. The commandos were attacked when they were moving towards Khurada police station area in Gadchiroli, which is a Naxal-hit area.

DGP Jaiswal said that the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was used by the Naxals to carry out the cowardly attack. "We are prepared to give a befitting reply to this attack and operations are going on in the area to ensure that no further casualties take place," he said.

DGP Jaiswal paid tributes to the martyred commandos and said that he has talked to Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about the incident.

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The DGP said that security forces will definitely retaliate and the operations to avenge the attack on QRT commandos will be carried out in the coming day. "It would not be right to term this as an intelligence failure. It is a dastardly attack, we will try our best that such incidents are not repeated. Our people are present at the spot, more information will come out by today evening," noted DGP Jaiswal.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Governor CH. Vidyasagar Rao has cancelled the Reception and Cultural Programme organised at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai on Wednesday due to the attack on QRT commandos. The reception was cancelled as a mark of respect to the police personnel who lost their lives in the Naxal attack.

This is the second attack by Naxals in Gadchiroli in the last 24 hours. The QRT commandos were on their way to another spot where the Naxals had burnt down over 50 vehicles on Tuesday night.

QRT commando force was conceptualised and raised to battle the Naxal menace in 1992 by the then SP of Gadchiroli Police KP Raghuvansi. The men of this wing were imparted training in various types of guerrilla warfare fro reputed training institute in the country.
IMD Kolkata on Wednesday said that West Bengal would face significant damage due to Cyclone Fani.

According to IMD Kolkata, Cyclone Fani will completely damage the thatched houses in the coastal districts, while kaccha houses are set to witness extensive damage. The cyclonic storm will leave pucca houses partially damaged, said IMD Kolkata.

It is feared that Cyclone Foni would also damage roads, train lines and crop fields in the state. It may be recalled that West Bengal had suffered serious damages during Cyclone Aila in 2009 when the windspeed reached the high speed of 110-112 kmph. But Cyclone Fanis windspeed is expected to reach 120kmph and it may cause widespread damage. IMD Kolkata has called for complete suspension of tourist activities along the coast and full suspension of ferry services between May 2-4, 2019.



Kolkata Municipal Corporation has directed all engineers to remain on high alert. They have been asked to remain available on the phone at all times in case of any eventuality. 18 NDRF teams besides state DMG teams have been deployed to combat the impact of Cyclone Fani.

The Extremely Severe Cyclone Fani over Westcentral and adjoining Southwest Bay of Bengal, has moved northwestwards with a speed of about 10 kmph in last six hours about 680 km south-southwest of Puri (Odisha) and 430 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). It is very likely to move northwestwards during by the evening and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri around May 3 afternoon.

Tourists in Odisha have been advised to leave Puri by the evening of May 2 and have been asked to refrain from non-essential travel on May 3-4 in the districts that are likely to be affected by Cyclone Fani.
Maya Bazar, Ayodhya: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attacked the troika of Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party at a rally here while skipping any mention of Ram Temple.

Choosing to focus on the work done by his government in the last five years and the follies of previous governments, PM Modi launched a scathing attack on Congress, BSP and SP. "Be it SP, BSP or Congress, it is necessary to know their reality. Behen ji (Mayawati) used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but she did everything which is just the opposite of his principles. SP used the name of Lohia ji but they destroyed the law and order situation in UP," he said.

PM Modi then singled out Congress for ignoring the masses despite a plethora of promises during elections. "Congress does not care for the poor of the country. They only care about their own interests and the interests of one (Gandhi) family," he said. "The poor, the labourers want to move forward. All that they need are opportunities. Our government has worked to make their lives easier."

Highlighting the need for a strong government, PM Modi also warned that terrorism remains a massive threat. "Parties like Congress, SP and BSP have a track record of being soft on terror. And that is exactly what some in our neighbouring countries want. Terror is the biggest threat to our beliefs and customs. India needs a strong government that can ensure its peace and security," he said to scores of people who had gathered here.

Among people present here were many sadhus as well who expected PM Modi to also speak on Ram Temple. That was not to be, however, as PM Modi made no reference to what has been attached mammoth significance to by his party over the past several years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday evening hailed the UN listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) founder Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, asserting that in India's fight against terrorism, it is a big victory. He also thanked the nations who stood by India in its battle against terrorism.

Addressing a public rally in Rajasthan's Jaipur, PM Modi said, "In our fight against terrorism, it is a big victory."

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The prime minister said that today the world listens to India, adding that this is only the beginning.

"Aatankwaad ke khilaaf ladai mein vishwa samuday Bharat ke sath khada raha, is ke liye mein 130 crore bharat vasiyon ki taraf se vishva samuday ka aabhar vyakt karta hoon. Aaj Bharat ki baat puri duniya mein suni jaati hai. Bharat ki baat ko nazar-andaaz nahi kiya ja sakta hai. Aur main danke ki chot par kehna chahta hun ki ye to sirf shuruat hai, aage aage dekhiye hota kya hai. (In India's war against terrorism the global community stands with India and so on behlaf of the 130 crore Indians, I would like to thank the world leaders. Today, everybody listens to India, nobody can ignore India. I can say it with conviction that this is only the start, much more is yet to happen)," said PM Modi.

He added, "Ab desh ko jahan par se bhi khatra hoga wahan par ghus kar ke maarenge aur agar woh goli maarenge toh hum gola maarenge. (Now we'll enter and finish those who pose threat to the Indians. If they shoot us, we'll fire cannons.)"

In a major diplomatic victory for India on Wednesday, Masood Azhar was finally listed as an international terrorist by the United Nation Security Council's 1267 committee. China, earlier on Wednesday, removed its hold on the listing of Masood Azhar, the man behind several terror attacks in India.

Listing of Azhar means that travel and an arms embargo will be imposed on him which means he cannot travel outside Pakistan nor can he buy weapons. His assets will also be frozen globally. But the big message that India has been able to send is that Pakistan remains the epicentre of terror. It is interesting to know that Pakistan hosts the largest number of United Nations listed terrorist.

India has been trying to list Azhar as a global terrorist for nearly a decade. It was in first in 2009 that New Delhi tried to get Azhar as a United Nations listed terrorist. India was the lone proposer back then. In 2016, India again proposed the listing and it was co-sponsored by UK, US, France. But the move was was blocked by China.

In 2017, US, UK and France moved the proposal but China blocked the move again. The move in February of 2019 saw global support with 14 out of 15 members of UNCS backing the move for the listing of Masood Azhar. The proposal was moved US, UK, France and co-sponsored by Australia, Bangladesh, Italy and Japan.

After the Chinese hold in March, France had announced it will be putting a freeze on the assets of Azhar and will raise the issue with the European Union. A joint release by French Foreign, Interior and Finance Ministry said, "We will raise this issue with our European partners with a view to including Masood Azhar on the European Union list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts, based on this decree."

Currently, a text has been circulated among all members of the European Union for listing of Azhar as a terrorist under EU jurisdiction.
Launching a scathing attack on Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the Congress leaders hate him so much that they want to kill him.

The prime minister made the remarks while addressing a public rally in Madhya Pradesh's Itarsi. "Sochiye, Congress walon ko aapke Modi se itni nafrat ho gayi hai ki woh Modi ko maarne tak ke sapne dekhne lage hain. (Congress hates your Modi so much that they are now dreaming of killing me).

The PM made this comment with reference to a statement given by a Congress leader in which he had urged the voters to hit a six so that Modi can go beyond the border and die.

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The prime minister also hit out at Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for supporting controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik. He said that the Sri Lankan government took no time in banning Zakir Naik's TV channel after the deadly blasts that rocked Colombo on May 21. PM Modi added that it is the same Zakir Naik who was called an 'angel of peace' by Digvijaya Singh. It is to be noted that Digvijaya is Congress' candidate from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

"One of the first things Srilankan government did after the blasts was to ban Zakir Naik's TV channel. This is the same Zakir Naik in whose 'durbar' Diggi Raja was once seen. Doob maro Congress walon!," said PM Modi.

Earlier on Wednesday, while addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh, the PM had said that terror groups are still active in Pakistan and they are waiting for an opportunity to carry out terror attacks in India.

"We recently saw what happened in Sri Lanka. The situation was almost similar in India prior to 2014. We cannot forget the blasts that had happened in Ayodhya and Faizabad. We cannot forget the days when blasts would happen at some place or the other on every other day," he said.

The prime minister noted that such news has stopped coming ever since his government came to power in the Centre in 2014. "But this doesn't mean that terrorists have been finished. The factories of terrorism are still operating in our neighbourhood," he noted.
New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Wednesday appealed to the people of Delhi to vote for the Aam Aadmi Party and defeat the BJP in the national capital. In a statement, the party's Delhi State Committee said in the last five years of the NDA government an "unmitigated disaster" had been unleashed in the country.

"This government has promoted heinous attacks on Muslims and Dalits and has actively engaged in sharpening of communal polarisation. There has been a sharp increase in crimes against women and girls. The Modi government has launched severe attacks on democratic rights of the people and undermined different Constitutional authorities. It has sought to subvert the secular and democratic essence of the Constitution," the CPI(M) said.

It said the saffron party has pursued neo-liberal policies that have led to increased unemployment and heaped severe economic burden and miseries on the working class, peasantry and other toilers.

"On the other hand, it has provided numerous concessions to corporates and let corporate criminals like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi escape. It has indulged in massive corruption as is evident from the scam in purchase of Rafale aircraft.

"In Delhi it has misused the office of the Lt. Governor to obstruct the functioning of elected state government. Besides, it has reneged on its promise to grant full statehood to Delhi. For all these reasons the BJP must be decisively defeated and removed from power," the statement said.

It further said the Congress cannot provide a credible challenge to the BJP in Delhi given substantial erosion in its mass base in the state.

"It (Congress) has played a negative role vis-?-vis the AAP state government and it appears to consider the AAP and not the BJP as its main enemy in Delhi. Besides, it has adopted soft Hindutva tactics and targeted the Left by fielding Rahul Gandhi from Waynad. In light of the above, there is no question of CPI (M) supporting any Congress candidate in Delhi," it said.

Delhi goes to poll on May 12 in the sixth phase of elections.
The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday banned BJP candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours over her several remarks, news agency ANI reported.

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The ban will be implemented at 6 am on Thursday for her remarks that she is proud of the Babri Masjid demolition and also on comments on former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare. These remarks were found violative of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

Reacting to the EC order she said, "Koi baat nahi, main toh uska samman karti hoon. (It is not a problem, I respect it (EC)."

The 48-year-old right-wing activist, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has been in the eye of a storm after Bharatiya Janata Party fielded her from Bhopal against Congress veteran and former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijaya Singh.

A controversy broke out on her statement on Karkare, who died in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. She allegedly claimed that Karkare died during the terror attacks as she "cursed" him for "torturing" her when he probed the blast case as chief of the Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS).

Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer.

Thakur also claimed that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992 in an interview on television. The EC had issued a show-cause notice to Thakur in both the cases.

The EC had also served a third notice to Thakur for calling Congress' Digvijaya Singh a terrorist. During an election campaign in Madhya Pradesh's Sehore, Thakur had allegedly said that a sanyasi (ascetic) is needed to eliminate a terrorist. The EC has asked for a comprehensive report from the Collector on her statements.
New Delhi: The Election Commission has barred Gujarat BJP chief Jitubhai Vaghani from campaigning for 72 hours for "using intemperate and abusive language" and "alleged violation of Model Code of Coduct" when he addressed party workers and voters at Amroli on April 7, sources said on Tuesday.

The poll panel has stated that Vaghani cannot campaign in any part of the country for using an abusive language against the opposition party while addressing a rally recently.

The campaigning ban on Vaghani will be effective from 4 pm on May 2 to 4 pm on May 5.

Gujarat went to polls in the third phase on April 23.

The poll panel has imposed a nationwide ban on Vaghani from holding public meetings, public processions, rallies and roadshows besides interviews and public utterances in the media (electronic, print, social media).
New Delhi: Following threats by poll personnel in West Bengal that they won't conduct elections in West Bengal unless central forces are deputed for security here, the Election Commission on Wednesday decided to replace state police force at all polling booths here for the remaining three phases of Lok Sabha election 2019.

West Bengal has seen poll-related violence in each of the four phases of voting that have taken place so far. While a large number of locals had threatened to boycott elections unless central forces are deployed, poll officials too demanded that security be assured for a peaceful election here.

Now, as many as 660 companies of Central Armed Police Force will be on duty to maintain law and order across polling stations in West Bengal for the remaining three phases of voting. It is further reported that this number may be increased to 700 - the highest ever in West Bengal's history for a single phase. A number of CAPF companies will especially be deployed in constituencies in Maoist-infested/western zone districts of Bengal like East, West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia & Jhargram which goes to polls in the sixth phase. This is to prevent any pre-poll violence in the area.

While voting has so far been peaceful in almost every state, West Bengal has seen unfortunate incidents of violence. In the most-recent phase of voting last Monday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party cadre clashed in Asansol. BJP accused TMC goons of preventing its polling agents from leaving their homes while TMC hit back by saying it was BJP that was undermining the elections.

Deploying central forces for the remaining phases of polling in the state is being seen as a rebuke to the state government under Mamata Banerjee as many feel she has been unable to ensure security of not just voters at large but also polling personnel.

(Reporting from Kolkata by Pooja Mehta/Zee Media Bureau)
The Election Commission on Wednesday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he did not violate the model code of conduct while appealing to first-time voters in Latur, Maharashtra, citing the Pulwama terror attack and the air strikes at Balakot in Pakistan.

The poll panel said in a statement that it has examined the matter and after examining the transcript of the speech delivered by PM Modi in Latur, the commission is of the "considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted."

"I want to ask my first-time voters, can your first vote be dedicated to the soldiers who conducted the Balakot air strikes? Can your first vote be in the name of the martyrs who lost their lives in Pulwama?" PM Modi had said in Latur on April 9.

It is to be noted that in March a notification was issued by the EC directing the political parties to not drag armed forces into poll campaign. The poll panel had issued the order after the Congress and other opposition parties had accused the BJP of using the air strikes at Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot for political advantage.

On Tuesday, the EC had given clean chit to PM Modi over his speech in Wardha, Maharashtra, saying that he did not violate poll code during the speech.

"The matter has been examined in detail in accordance to the extant guidelines/provisions of the Model Code of Conduct, the Representation of the People Act and the report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra. Accordingly, the commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation has been noticed," the EC had said.

Earlier this month, while addressing a rally in Maharashtra's Wardha, the prime minister had made a reference to Congress president Rahul Gandhis decision to also contest from Keralas Wayanad and had said that the Congress was "scared" to field its leaders from constituencies where majority dominates.
Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat was on Wednesday rejected over "discrepancies" in the two nominations filed by him. Yadav claimed that his nomination papers were cancelled at the behest of the Centre even though he had replied to the notice explaining the difference in reasons.

"My nomination has been rejected wrongly. I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15 pm on Tuesday. We produced the evidence, still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Supreme Court. We have been told that we did not produce the evidence that was asked from us before 11 am. Whereas, we had produced the evidence," he said.

He was served a notice on Tuesday because he had given different reasons for leaving his job in the two sets of nomination papers filed -- one as an independent and the second as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

Yadav has threatened that he will move court against the order. "We had submitted the evidence that was asked from us. Still, the nomination was declared invalid. We will go to the Supreme Court," Yadav's lawyer Rajesh Gupta said.

As soon as the news of the cancellation spread, Samajwadi Party workers gathered at the Collectorate.

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Varanasi returning officer will be addressing the media at 5:30 pm on the sacked BSF jawan's nomination.

Tej Bahadur was named as the joint candidate by the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat against PM Modi.

In 2014, Modi had defeated Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal by 3.71 lakh votes. He had secured 5,81,022 votes as against Kejriwal's 2,09,238 votes. In third place was Congress' Ajai Rai who managed a measly 75,614 votes.

This year, Congress had once again fielded Rai amid speculation that Priyanka Vadra Gandhi may enter the electoral battle by contesting against Modi.

As Yadav's nomination has been cancelled, Shalini Yadav who has also filed her papers from the Samajwadi Party, is likely to be the party's candidate to fight the battle against Modi. She is the daughter-in-law of former Rajya Sabha Deputy chairperson Shyam Lal Yadav and only recently joined SP from Congress.
Delhi's Tees Hazari Court on Wednesday issued summons to officials of Election Commission of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to bring all records of documents related to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife, Sunita Kejriwal, in connection with a complaint filed against her for allegedly possessing two voter IDs.

The court said that the next hearing in this case will now take place on June 3. The complaint against Sunita Kejriwal was filed by Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana.

On Monday, Khurana had filed the complaint against Sunita Kejriwal, alleging that her name is registered on two electoral rolls, one in Sahibabad (Ghaziabad) and another in Chandni Chowk (Delhi).

In his complaint, Khurana had mentioned that Sunita was an IRS officer and is well educated and acquainted with the entire process, still she has got two voter ID cards in her name. Khurana called it an "intentional move to benefit her husband" in the election. Khurana has requested the court to summon her for the offence of making a false declaration.

The BJP leader leveled the allegation against Sunita Kejriwal days after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s East Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Atishi filed a criminal complaint against her rival and BJP candidate Gautam Gambhir for being enrolled as a voter in two constituencies.

For his part, Gambhir had rejected the charges as baseless. "When you don't have a vision and have done nothing in the last 4.5 years, you make such allegations. When you have a vision, you don't do such negative politics," he had said, adding that a call in this matter should only be taken by the Election Commission.
New Delhi: In an apparent reference to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his family, Union Minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday said the surname 'Gandhi', associated with the family is not of Mahatma Gandhi but of Feroze Gandhi, husband of late former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

"Our former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh calls himself 'Raja' (King) but stood up in queue outside Sonia Gandhi's house. Naradutta Dutt Tiwari used to pick up Sanjay Gandhi's shoes. Big leaders used to fold hands in front of Indira Gandhi. What is the speciality of this family?" Bharti asked addressing a rally here.

"The word 'Gandhi', which is associated with this family, is not of Mahatma Gandhi but of Feroze Gandhi. Feroze was not on good terms with Jawaharlal Nehru. They don't even have the right to use this surname, but they thought this surname will earn them respect," she said.

"Modi ji is the one, who is following Mahatma Gandhi's footsteps," she said.

The BJP leader also refuted allegations that her party is trying to destabilize the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

"They say BJP people want to bring down Congress government. It is written in your horoscope that you will die young. We are people who sit in the Opposition and shine. We do not care whether we are in the government or the Opposition. We want to work for the people. Their people will bring down their government, not BJP," she said.
New Delhi: In a major Naxal attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, at least 15 Quick Response Team (QRT) commandos were martyred and a civilian was killed when the private vehicle they were travelling in was targeted by an improvised explosive device (IED) on Wednesday, which also happens to be Maharashtra Day.

The attack was carried out on the Kurkheda-Korchi road near Jambhurkheda village panchayat in north Gadchiroli, a Naxal-hit area.

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This is the second attack by Naxals in Gadchiroli in the last 24 hours. The QRT commandos were on their way to another spot where the Naxals had set more than 50 vehicles ablaze Tuesday night.

The blast was triggered by the Naxals on a police vehicle.

Earlier, the Naxals had torched more than 50 vehicles and machines used for road construction in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. The incident took place early in the day when the state was getting ready to celebrate its foundation day, Maharashtra Divas; while the Maoists were in the final stages of observing a week-long protest to mark the first anniversary of 40 of their comrades who were gunned down by security forces on April 22 last year.

The targeted vehicles mostly belonged to Amar Infrastructures Ltd. and were engaged in construction works for the Purada-Yerkad sector of NH 136 near Dadapur village.

The Naxals also put banners and posters condemning the killings of their comrades last year, before setting ablaze the vehicles.

The incident has been strongly condemned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

The Gadchiroli-Chimur region had voted in the second phase of Lok Sabha election on April 28 and had recorded highest voting, at 71.58%.

QRT commando force was conceptualised and raised to battle the Naxal menace in 1992 by the then SP of Gadchiroli Police KP Raghuvansi. The men of this wing were imparted training in various types of guerrilla warfare fro reputed training institute in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday condemned the ghastly Naxal attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district which killed at least 15 Quick Response Team (QRT) commandos and a civilian. "Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," the PM tweeted.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also termed the attack an act of cowardice and desperation. He said he is in touch with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and assured all assistance that will be required.

"Attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli is an act of cowardice and desperation. We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel. Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain. My deepest condolences to their families. Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri @Dev_Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration," Rajnath tweeted.

Fadnavis too said that he briefed Rajnath about the situation in Maharashtra. "Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli QRT force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs families. Im in touch with DGP and Gadchiroli SP," he tweeted.

I strongly condemn this attack and we will fight this menace with even more and stronger efforts. I also spoke to Hon Union Home Minister @rajnathsingh ji and briefed him about the situation in Maharashtra.  Chowkidar Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) May 1, 2019

I strongly condemn this attack and we will fight this menace with even more and stronger efforts. I also spoke to Hon Union Home Minister @rajnathsingh ji and briefed him about the situation in Maharashtra," he added.

Congress also condemned the attack in Maharashtra. "We are deeply saddened by the deadly attack on our jawans. We strongly condemn this act of violence & salute our brave hearts for their sacrifice & service. We pray for the families of the victims & wish the injured a swift recovery," Congress tweeted.

We are deeply saddened by the deadly attack on our jawans. We strongly condemn this act of violence & salute our brave hearts for their sacrifice & service. We pray for the families of the victims & wish the injured a swift recovery.  Congress (@INCIndia) May 1, 2019

The attack on the QRT commandos took place when the private vehicle in which they were travelling was targeted by an improvised explosive device (IED) on Wednesday afternoon. The attack was carried out on the Kurkheda-Korchi road near Jambhurkheda village panchayat in north Gadchiroli, a Naxal-hit area.

This is the second attack by Naxals in Gadchiroli in the last 24 hours. The QRT commandos were on their way to another spot where the Naxals had set more than 50 vehicles ablaze Tuesday night.
New Delhi: In view of the 'yellow warning' issued by the Indian Meteorological Department for Odisha coast, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to postpone the polling in Patkura assembly segment.

Patnaik met the CEC Sunil Arora and other members of the Election Commission in the national capital on Monday.

The Election Commission had earlier fixed May 19 as the date for the polling in Patkura assembly segment under Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat following the death of BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwal on April 20. As per the original schedule, the polling in Patkura was supposed to be held in the fourth phase on April 29. And though the voters of Patkura exercised their franchise for the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat on April 29, the polling for the assembly elections has been adjourned till May 19.

The IMD has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places such as Boudh, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Deogarh, and Sundargarh in Odisha.

As per the disaster management division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Cyclone Fani is likely to move northwestwards on till May 1 noon and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali. From there, it will move to the south of Puri around May 3 afternoon with maximum sustained wind of speed 175-185 kmph gusting to 205 kmph.

The weather forecasting agency said sea conditions are very likely to be rough to very rough along and off Odisha Coast on May 2 and become high to phenomenal by May 4.

Issuing its 'yellow warning', the IMD advised a total suspension of fishing operations, extensive evacuation from coastal areas, diversion or suspension of rail and road traffic, no movement in motor boats and small ships. It cautioned the people to remain indoors and advised fishermen to not venture into the sea from Wednesday.

A 'Yellow weather warning' is issued by the Met office in case of severe weather possibilities for the next few days.

According to regional meteorological centre director HR Biswas, the impact of Cyclone Fani is likely to be much more severe than 'Titli', which had hit the Odisha-Andhra coast in 2018 and killed at least 60 people.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Congress general secretary in-charge eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said that her party has fielded some Lok Sabha candidates in Uttar Pradesh with the aim to cut into the vote share of BJP, not to just win the elections.

"My strategy is very clear. Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into BJP's vote share," Priyanka replied when asked whether the chances of Congress' victory are less in UP.

Priyanka said, "One does not do politics only to win."

The Congress leader claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party's Lok Sabha seats in UP will shrink considerably.

"The BJP will suffer a major setback in Uttar Pradesh. It will lose very badly," she said in Raebareli, where she is campaigning for her mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Priyanka Gandhi also rebuffed the claims of political pundits that Congress will harm the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the elections.

"Not at all," Gandhi said adding "Congress will reduce BJP's vote share," she said.

She said the Congress is contesting this election for the welfare of common citizens and not to install its Prime Minister at the helm of the country.

"We are only contesting the elections for people`s welfare and our ideology. Only Narendra Modi is worried about who will be the next Prime Minister" Priyanka said.

United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election from Raebareli parliamentary constituency.Raebareli will vote in the fifth phase of general elections on May 6.

Counting of votes will begin on May 23.
Health activists in Pakistan are outraged after Imran Khan met with a top-ranking official from British American Tobacco and accepted a donation cheque for construction of dams in the country.

While Imran Khan has been knocking on every possible door to ensure funds for dams in a country that stares at a massive water crisis, his decision to accept a cheque for Pakistani Rs 5 million from British American Tobacco has led to a massive outburst. Health activists say that accepting a cheque from the international tobacco company is in violation of Article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. According to this, government representatives cannot meet and receive funds from tobacco companies even under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Pakistan-based Dawn contacted several anti-tobacco organisations in the country and representative of all echoed similar views. "It is strange that the amount has been given just a month before the announcement of the federal budget," said Malik Imran of Tobacco-Free Kids. A representative of Coalition for Tobacco Control Pakistan also said that it was strange to see a former sportsperson accept donation from a company which manufactures cancer-causing products.

There were angry outbursts on Twitter as well with many saying that Imran Khan is trying to bring water by indirectly propagating tobacco-products.
India's stand on Pakistan being the fountainhead of terrorism got a massive shot in the arm on Wednesday after China removed its technical hold on Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) founder Masood Azhar, who was declared a global terrorist by the United Nation Security Council's 1267 Committee.

The almost 10-year-long struggle to get Masood Azhar, who has plotted and executed several spectacular terror strikes in India killing hundreds of civilians and soldiers, finally bore fruit on Wednesday evening.

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The UN Security Council Committee statement:

On 1 May 2019, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Daesh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2368 (2017) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations."

A. Individuals

QDi.422 Name: 1: MOHAMMED 2: MASOOD 3: AZHAR 4: ALVI

Title: na Designation: na DOB: a) 10 Jul. 1968 b) 10 Jun. 1968 POB: Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan Good quality a.k.a.: na Low quality a.k.a.: a) Masud Azhar b) Wali Adam Isah c) Wali Adam Esah Nationality: Pakistan Passport no: na National identification no: na Address: na Listed on: 1 May 2019 Other information: Founder of Jaish-i-Mohammed (QDe.019). Former leader of Harakat ul-Mujahidin / HUM (QDe.008).

READ | All about global terrorist Masood Azhar

Azhar was freed on December 31, 1999, along with two other dreaded terrorists Mushtaq Ahmed and Omar Sheikh by the then government of prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in exchange for the 185 hijacked passengers and crew of Indian Airlines flight IC-814. The trio of Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed and Omar Sheikh were handed over to the Taliban in Afghanistan's Kandahar where the five hijackers had forced the plane's pilot to land.

Azhar was escorted to Pakistan where he founded the Jaish-e-Mohammad and started to target India. He was the brain behind several terror strikes in India including the 2001 attack on Parliament, 2016 Pathankot Indian Air Force base attack and the February 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing.

The development is a huge success for India's diplomatic efforts to isolate Pakistan internationally on terrorism as the resolution to designate Azhar as a global terrorist was backed by the major world powers US, UK, France, Australia, Italy and Japan. While China had put a technical hold on the resolution in the past and once again did the same after the Pulwama bombing, it finally removed its objection on Wednesday, dealing a major blow to its "all-weather ally" Pakistan.

READ | India welcomes listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist

The US along with France and UK had moved a proposal to list Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, in the aftermath of February 14, Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred. But on March 13, the last day for the listing of Azhar, China had put the hold on the proposal, citing that it needed more time to understand the issue around the man responsible for the death of hundreds of Indians in terror strikes. Jaish-e-Mohammad had taken responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack, the deadliest on Indian security forces in the last 20 years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the decision, asserting that in India's fight against terrorism, it is a big victory. He also thanked the nations who stood by India in its battle against terrorism. Calling it a day of pride, PM Modi said, "In our fight against terror, the world stood with us". He said, "This is not just Modi's success, this is the entire nation's success" and "today India has proven its power in the entire world and that is the power of 130 million people of this country."

Welcoming the decision, Ministry of External Affairs, said in a statement, "This is in accordance with Indias position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Mohammad."

China, who have been blocking the move for the last 10 years, finally backed the listing of Azhar. Reacting to the development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, as quoted by news agency PTI said, "After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have an objection to the listing proposal".

But defending its all-weather ally, Pakistan, Chinese Foreign ministry added, "Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism and extremist forces."

READ | Big victory in India's fight against terrorism: PM Modi

France which is the co-chair of UNSC was the first country to react to the development. French foreign ministry in a statement said, "French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February." Calling the decision by UNSC a "successful realisation" of French efforts, the statement said, "France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism."

The UNSC giving the reason for listing said Azhar is being listed for his association with "Al-Qaida for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts" and "supporting acts... activities indicating an association with" JeM.

The listing of Azhar means that travel and an arms embargo will be imposed on him which means he cannot travel outside Pakistan nor can he buy weapons. His assets will also be frozen globally. But the big message that India has been able to send is that Pakistan remains the epicentre of terror. It is interesting to know that Pakistan hosts the largest number of United Nations listed terrorist.

Reacting to the development, India's permanent representative at the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin said that it is a significant success. "The chairperson of the UN Sanctions Committee did confirm to me that Masood Azhar is on the UN-sanctioned list. The efforts began in 2009. With several efforts being put in, they have paid. It is a significant success. This is only the first step to counter terrorism. US, UK, France and many other countries came out in support of India's effort of putting Masood Azhar on sanctioned list. The goal was set out 10 years ago," he said.

India has been trying to list Azhar as a global terrorist for nearly a decade. It was in first in 2009 that New Delhi tried to get Azhar as a United Nations listed terrorist. India was the lone proposer back then. In 2016, India again proposed the listing and it was co-sponsored by UK, US, France. But the move was was blocked by China.

In 2017, the US, UK and France moved the proposal but China blocked the move again. The move in February of 2019 saw global support with 14 out of 15 members of UNCS backing the move for the listing of Masood Azhar. The proposal was moved US, UK, France and co-sponsored by Australia, Bangladesh, Italy and Japan.

After the Chinese hold in March, France had announced it will be putting a freeze on the assets of Azhar and will raise the issue with the European Union. A joint release by French Foreign, Interior and Finance Ministry said, "We will raise this issue with our European partners with a view to including Masood Azhar on the European Union list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts, based on this decree."

Currently, a text has been circulated among all members of the European Union for listing of Azhar as a terrorist under EU jurisdiction.

The developments come just one week after Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited China and gave evidence regarding JeM's involvement in terror attacks in India. During his visit, Gokhale met Chinese officials including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
In a major diplomatic victory for India on Wednesday, Jaish-e-Mohammad founder and Pakistani citizen Masood Azhar has finally been listed as an international terrorist by the United Nation Security Council's 1267 committee. China, earlier on Wednesday, removed its hold on the listing of Masood Azhar, the man behind several terror attacks in India.

The UN Security Council Committee statement:

On 1 May 2019, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Daesh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2368 (2017) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations."

A. Individuals

QDi.422 Name: 1: MOHAMMED 2: MASOOD 3: AZHAR 4: ALVI

Title: na Designation: na DOB: a) 10 Jul. 1968 b) 10 Jun. 1968 POB: Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan Good quality a.k.a.: na Low quality a.k.a.: a) Masud Azhar b) Wali Adam Isah c) Wali Adam Esah Nationality: Pakistan Passport no: na National identification no: na Address: na Listed on: 1 May 2019 Other information: Founder of Jaish-i-Mohammed (QDe.019). Former leader of Harakat ul-Mujahidin / HUM (QDe.008).

Reacting to the development, India's permanent representative at the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin said that it is a significant success. "The chairperson of the UN Sanctions Committee did confirm to me that Masood Azhar is on the UN-sanctioned list. The efforts began in 2009. With several efforts being put in, they have paid. It is a significant success. This is only the first step to counter terrorism. US, UK, France and many other countries came out in support of India's effort of putting Masood Azhar on sanctioned list. The goal was set out 10 years ago," he said.

In the aftermath of February 14, 2019, Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred, the US along with France and UK had moved a proposal to list Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. But on March 13, the last day for the listing of Azhar, China had put a technical hold on the proposal, citing that it needed more time to understand the issue around the man responsible for the death of hundreds of Indians in terror strikes.

Jaish-e-Mohammad had taken responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack, the deadliest on Indian security forces in the last 20 years.

Zee Media's WION was the first to break the story on Sunday and Monday that China will remove its hold paving the way for the listing of Azhar.

Live TV

Impact of Masood Azhar's listing

Listing of Azhar means that travel and an arms embargo will be imposed on him which means he cannot travel outside Pakistan nor can he buy weapons. His assets will also be frozen globally. But the big message that India has been able to send is that Pakistan remains the epicentre of terror. It is interesting to know that Pakistan hosts the largest number of United Nations listed terrorist.

Global support for listing

India has been trying to list Azhar as a global terrorist for nearly a decade. It was in first in 2009 that New Delhi tried to get Azhar as a United Nations listed terrorist. India was the lone proposer back then. In 2016, India again proposed the listing and it was co-sponsored by UK, US, France. But the move was was blocked by China.

In 2017, US, UK and France moved the proposal but China blocked the move again. The move in February of 2019 saw global support with 14 out of 15 members of UNCS backing the move for the listing of Masood Azhar. The proposal was moved US, UK, France and co-sponsored by Australia, Bangladesh, Italy and Japan.

After the Chinese hold in March, France had announced it will be putting a freeze on the assets of Azhar and will raise the issue with the European Union. A joint release by French Foreign, Interior and Finance Ministry said, "We will raise this issue with our European partners with a view to including Masood Azhar on the European Union list of persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts, based on this decree."

Currently, a text has been circulated among all members of the European Union for listing of Azhar as a terrorist under EU jurisdiction.

Listing 20 years after hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 that led to Azhar's release

The listing of Masood Azhar comes 20 years after he was released when a group of Pakistan based terrorists hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814 and took it to Taliban-controlled Kandahar. The hijackers wanted not only Azhar released but also two other dreaded terrorists - Mushtaq Ahmed and Omar Sheikh - to be freed from Indian jails.

All three found safe houses in Pakistan after the release and in the years to follow masterminded many terror attacks in India. Omar Sheikh was also responsible for the beheading of The Wall Street Journal South Asia Bureau Chief Daniel Pearl.

Masood Azhar's JeM carried out many terror attacks in the years that followed his release including the 2001 attack on Indian Parliament, 2016 Pathankot Indian Air Force base attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack

Listing a week after Foreign Secretary visited China



The developments come just one week after Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited China and gave evidence regarding JeM's involvement in terror attacks in India. During his visit, Gokhale met Chinese officials including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

A statement from the External Affairs Ministry said, "We have shared with China all evidence of terrorist activities of Jaish-e-Mohammad and its leader Masood Azhar. It is now for the 1267 Sanctions Committee and other authorized bodies of the UN to take a decision on the listing of Masood Azhar."

The British High Commissioner Sir Dominic Asquith had also expressed optimism on the listing of Azhar and said, "We are strong supporters of listing of Masood Azhar for a decade. So that we will get to that conclusion shortly."
Caracas: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro, and violence broke out at anti-government protests as the country hit a new crisis point after years of political and economic chaos.

Several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally outside the La Carlota air base in Caracas, but the incident fizzled out and did not appear to be part of an immediate attempt by the opposition to take power through military force.

Guaido, in Twitter posts, wrote that he had begun the "final phase" of his campaign to topple Maduro, calling on Venezuelans and the armed forces to back him ahead of May Day mass street protests planned for Wednesday.

"The moment is now!" he wrote. "The future is ours: the people and Armed Forces united to put an end" to Maduro`s time in office.

Tens of thousands of people were marching in Caracas in support of Guaido on Tuesday, clashing with riot police along the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare. A National Guard armoured car slammed into protesters who were throwing stones and hitting the vehicle.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino called the latest instability a "coup movement" but several hours after Guaido`s announcement there was no sign of any other anti-Maduro military activity. Guaido later left a rally he was holding with military supporters at the air base.

Doctor Maggi Santi of the Salud Chacao health centre in eastern Caracas said there were 36 people injured in Tuesday`s incidents, most of them hit with pellets or rubber bullets.

Repeated opposition attempts to force Maduro, a socialist, from power through huge protests and calls on the military to act have so far failed.

Maduro, a former bus driver who took office after the death of political mentor President Hugo Chavez in 2013, said on Tuesday he had spoken with military leaders and that they had shown him "their total loyalty."

"Nerves of steel!" Maduro wrote on Twitter. "I call for maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of peace. We will win!"

The move was Guaidos boldest effort yet to persuade the military to rise up against Maduro. If it fails, it could be seen as evidence that he lacks the support he says he has. It might also encourage the authorities, who have already stripped him of parliamentary immunity and opened multiple investigations into him, to arrest him.

The United States is among some 50 countries that recognise Guaido as Venezuela`s president, and has imposed sanctions to try to dislodge Maduro, who they say won re-election last year through fraud.

"Whatever happens now, we won`t let ourselves be stopped. Our process is moving on step by step, in accordance with our constitution. We continue to stand for non-violence," Guaido told German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle in an interview released on Tuesday.

Oil prices topped $73, partly driven higher by the uncertainty in Venezuela, an OPEC member whose oil exports have been hit by US sanctions and an economic crisis.

Guaido`s efforts appeared aimed at building momentum towards the May Day mass street protests and making them a turning point in his push to oust Maduro.

Guaido has said Wednesday`s protests will be the largest march in Venezuela`s history and part of the "definitive phase" of his effort to take office in order to call fresh elections.

TRUMP BRIEFED

Venezuela is mired in a deep economic crisis despite its vast oil reserves. Shortages of food and medicine have prompted more than 3 million Venezuelans to emigrate in recent years.

The slump has worsened this year with large areas of territory left in the dark for days at a time by power outages.

"My mother doesn`t have medicine, my economic situation is terrible, my family has had to emigrate. We don`t earn enough money. We have no security. But we are hopeful, and I think that this is the beginning of the end of this regime," said Jose Madera, 42, a mechanic, sitting atop his motorbike in a protest on Tuesday.

Guaido, the leader of Venezuela`s opposition-controlled National Assembly, in January invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro`s re-election in 2018 was illegitimate.

US President Donald Trump "has been briefed and is monitoring the ongoing situation," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Tuesday. The White House declined to comment on whether the administration had been consulted or had advance knowledge of what Guaido was planning.

Carlos Vecchio, Guaidos envoy to the United States, told reporters in Washington that the Trump administration did not help coordinate Tuesday`s events.

"No. This is a movement led by Venezuelans," he said.

But Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, who is loyal to Maduro, blamed the United States.

"This is directly planned in Washington, in the Pentagon and Department of State, and by (national security adviser John) Bolton," Arreaza told Reuters.

Bolton, a foreign policy hawk, backed Guaido`s actions on Tuesday. "The FANB must protect the Constitution and the Venezuelan people. It should stand by the National Assembly and the legitimate institutions against the usurpation of democracy," Bolton tweeted, referring to the FANB armed forces.

Brazil`s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro expressed his nation`s solidarity for the people of Venezuela, who he said were "enslaved by a dictator."

MADURO SUPPORT

Maduro has appeared to retain control of state institutions and the loyalty of senior military officers and has foreign allies such as Russia and Cuba.

Russia`s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the Venezuelan opposition of resorting to violence in what it said was a brazen attempt to draw the country`s armed forces into clashes.

Maduro has called Guaido a U.S-backed puppet who seeks to oust him in a coup. The government has arrested his top aide, stripped Guaido of his parliamentary immunity and opened multiple probes. It has also barred him from leaving the country, a ban Guaido openly violated earlier this year.

Guaido, in a video on his Twitter account, was accompanied by men in military uniform and opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who had been placed under house arrest in 2017.
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Britain's government said on Wednesday Penny Mordaunt had been named defence secretary to replace Gavin Williamson, who was sacked over the leak of information about Chinese telecoms company Huawei.

Mordaunt was previously the minister for international development.

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Philippe Lubiedia, the director of economic relations at the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Al-Ahram Arabic newspaper that Chile will start later this year advanced negotiations to launch a free trade zone with Egypt.

Investors in both countries are looking forward to the establishment of a free trade zone to strengthen economic relations between the two countries, said Lubiedia.

"A feasibility study for the establishment of the free trade zone is being completed," he said.

Lubiedia added that Egypt has carried out important economic reforms during the last three years and has gained the confidence of international institutions, and the Egyptian economy has become attractive to investors.

"There are very good opportunities to encourage corporation between the private sectors in the two countries," he said.

"During our mission to Cairo, we held a number of meetings with senior government officials as well as Egyptian businessmen. We have noticed the interest of the Egyptian businessmen in the Chilean market as an important regional center for Egyptian products," Lubiedia said.

We also held meetings with the Ministry of Investment, the Suez Canal Economic Authority, and the General Authority for Investment. During these meeting officials explained the investment opportunities available in Egypt and the new procedures aimed at facilitating investment procedures.

The Chilean official affirmed that economic cooperation between the two countries includes many sectors, especially in agriculture and tourism.
Several years ago, I traveled to Cairo for meetings with Egypts president and other prominent government and religious leaders. As my plane approached the country, I watched as the Mediterranean Sea touched the shore of the ancient land.

I reflected on this extraordinary part of the world where the West meets the Orient, where the mythical Nile River fans into a delta, bringing life to the vast expanse of barren desert.

I thought of historic Egypt as well as the Christian tradition of how Jesus, Mary, and Joseph fled there after King Herod threatened their lives. I first made this trip decades ago while in college, and with some apprehension awaited to see what I would find.

Egypt has gone through a major transition in the last eight years. The demonstrations that began in Tahrir Square led to a chaotic situation in the streets, followed by the ascendency of the Morsi government and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The subsequent destabilization of the country precipitated a military intervention later followed by the election of current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. As horrific as things are in the Middle East, it is hard to imagine the consequences if Egypt had lapsed into a spiral of chaos and power struggle. The traditional seat of culture and learning in the Arab world, Egypt has the largest population in the Middle East. It is home to Al-Azhar Universitya center of Sunni Islamic learningand a sizable Christian minority of around 10 million. Given Egypts strategic, historical, and cultural significance, there is a significant need for renewal of this important relationship.

My visit with President Sisi lasted two hours. We had an extensive dialogue about security, economic stability, and the value of pluralism in a region where minority rights are under siege. The president emphasized the importance of our military-to-military relationship and the vulnerability of his country. We talked about Egyptian operations in the Sinai to combat the local brand of ISIS. Egypt also faces severe security issues along its border with Libya.

Another unique dynamic in the Middle East is Egypts security cooperation with Israel. This year, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, a framework brokered by the United States. The 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty that grew out of the Accords remains a lynchpin of stability in the region.

President Sisi attended the United States Army War College, as have many other Egyptian military personnel. He has a strong attachment to that experience. When he inquired about my thoughts regarding a developing problem with another country, I said: We dont like spit in our face. He said: No one spits in Americas face!

In light of Egypts economic situation, I asked Sisi about a somber speech he gave to his people on the subject. He was clearly laying the groundwork for the absorption of difficult economic reforms, a necessary precondition for improved economic opportunity. Sisis austerity reforms have since borne fruit, as capital investment has returned to Egypt and the financial risk profile of the country has improved.

One important sign of progress is a major gas field discovery in the Eastern Mediterraneanthat Sisi is wisely leveraging to better his countrys domestic and international position. As Egypt becomes a regional energy hub, exporting liquified natural gas to Europe and moving Israeli gas through its two terminals, the country could be catapulted back to the regional leadership mantle it traditionally held. This potential conduit for remade regional alliances has largely escaped international attention as well as recognition from armchair analysts in Washington, D.C.

One of the foundational principles of the United States is to uphold the value of human dignity as the necessary precondition of an orderly, just and, secure world. When President Sisi was first elected President, one of his early public actions was to appear on Egyptian television with both the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Christian Church and the Grand Imam, a prominent Muslim leader. Sisi stated: We are Egyptians.

This simple declaration shattered the default mode of so much of the Middle East, where sectarian and tribal allegiances routinely triumph over national identities. On the eve of Coptic Christmas, President Sisi continued his commitment to a healthy nationalism by opening up the largest Cathedral in Egypt. He followed that courageous gesture by inaugurating the countrys largest mosque, with Christians and Muslims in tow.

None of this should gloss over the internal troubles within Egypt. There are plenty of legitimate criticismsthe stagnation of the political system, the insufficient progress on human rights, the continuation of non-judicial practices, and a host of other difficulties. As in any relationship with a foreign power, there are differing perspectives and points of tension. Our expectations of Egypt will not be met fully, but we should recognize the necessity of this new stability within Egypt as we progress toward better conditions.

At home, we are justifiably anxious about security dynamics here and in the Middle East, where, even with the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, chaos and violence continue to metastasize. Egypt is literally front and center of this disorder. Near Gaza in the Sinai the Egyptian military takes casualties in the fight against ISIS. Territorial disputes with its southern neighbor Sudan, uncontrolled borders with its western neighbor Libya, and a nasty spat with Ethiopia to the south over its plan to dam the Nile River create other security concerns.

As critical as the country is to regional stability, peace, and prosperity, Egypt remains in many ways our forgotten friend. Egypt needs to find ways to retell its rich and important story  its quest for a new, pluralistic, and healthy nationalism  to America and the world. It must first, however, get over its entitlement mindset that it somehow has a right to regional leadership. Egypt must regain that rightful place. Egypt must also resist its tendency to outsource all aspects of the U.S.-Egyptian relationship to the military.

In turn, we in America must stop exclusively focusing on Egypts weaknesses and challenges. We often forget that Egypt transitioned through this recent period of great Middle Eastern turmoil without falling into chaos. Surrounded as it is by dangerous hot spots, a disordered Egypt would have had catastrophic consequences for the region and the world. But Egypt held. We need to remember that and start to focus on Egypts successes and potential. After all, thats also what friends do.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry represents Nebraskas 1st District is a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and Founder and Co-Chair of the Egypt Caucus.

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RTHK: US attorney general grilled over his Mueller memo

The US Justice Department head defended his handling of the Russia interference report on Wednesday after it emerged that lead investigator Robert Mueller had questioned his decision to declare that it cleared President Donald Trump.

Facing allegations that he "whitewashed" the Mueller report, Attorney General Bill Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee that after receiving it in March, it was his "baby" and therefore his prerogative to sum up its conclusions.

The Democrats are debating whether Trump should be impeached for obstruction of justice based on the evidence set out in Mueller's 448-page report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Barr rejected accusations that he misrepresented its conclusions when he declared in a March 24 memo that it did not support criminal charges against Trump.

In a previously private March 27 letter to Barr made public on Tuesday, Mueller complained that the attorney general's four-page summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his conclusions, and had generated "public confusion."

The letter also made clear that at least twice in March Mueller proposed that his boss make public the investigation's own summaries first, and that Barr had ignored that idea to release his version.

Barr's summary of the report, the result of a two-year investigation which saw six former Trump aides convicted of various crimes, had a significant political impact.

It allowed Trump to declare "complete and total exoneration" over accusations of conspiracy with Russia and obstruction of justice, and to claim that it proved that the Mueller probe was a politicised "witch hunt."

But when Barr released a redacted version of the full report on April 18, it painted an altogether more damaging picture of the president's conduct.

Mueller said his team did not find evidence that Trump's campaign criminally conspired with Russians, but the report detailed repeated efforts by the Trump team to benefit from the sabotage.

Mueller also laid out a damning pattern of obstructive behaviour by the president and suggested Congress itself should investigate. But he declined to give his own opinion on whether Trump had committed a crime.

Barr told lawmakers he was surprised to find Mueller not making a decision on the obstruction issue, and said it would have been "irresponsible and unfair" to release the report without reaching a conclusion.

He said his own summary had been an attempt to "notify the people of the bottom-line conclusion."

In testy exchanges with Democrats, Barr dismissed concerns about Mueller's letter, while skirting questions about his previous testimony to Congress, when he said he had not received any objection from Mueller about his handling of the report.

"It was my decision how and when to make it public, not Bob Mueller's," he said.

The hearing made clear that Democrats remain convinced that Trump did obstruct justice but are unable to decide on whether to open an impeachment action against him based on the Mueller report now that the Justice Department has declined to pursue the issue further.

More ire was directed at Barr himself on Wednesday.

"Attorney General Barr should resign," said Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

"He misled the American people with his inaccurate summary of Mueller's report. Then he misled the Congress when he denied knowledge of Mueller's concerns."

"AG Barr is a disgrace, and his alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that he's not a credible head of federal law enforcement," said Senator Elizabeth Warren in a tweet.

"He should resign - and based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President." (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Evolution of Tony Stark, From Reckless Leader to Reluctant Mentor

By Joelle Monique | Film | April 30, 2019 |

Avengers: Endgame Spoilers

By now, everyone knows that no new images exist past the Avengers: Endgame credits, only the ominous clinking of iron. The echoing ironwork leaves a feeling of rebuilding and mourning for the dearly departed. Listen closely, thats the same sound from Iron Man, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, what does that mean for the legacy of the tech billionaire playboy genius in the incredible suit? Could someone rise and take his place?

Remember back to 2008. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), captured by a terrorist group and pissed that the weapons his company manufacturers were killing their people, creates the arc reactor in secret. This core becomes the central part of Tonys identity. It represents his vulnerability, his ingenuity, and his legacy as a Stark.

Having lost his parents at such a crucial stage in his development, Tony still hasnt forgiven himself for not being the man his father wanted him to be before he died. In Captain America: Civil War, Tony creates the last memory of his parents. While defending his mother from spending another holiday alone away from home, while Howard Stark (John Slattery) works, Tony chastises his father with his usual sarcasm. You know, Howard chides back, they say sarcasm is a metric for great potential. If thats true, youll be a great man one day. His mother encourages Tony, in the simulation, to tell his father how he feels. I love you, Dad, Tony replies. I know you did your best. He ends the presentation of his latest technology by funding every project at MIT. Howards global legacy will always be his work with SHIELD, working to further technology and protect innocent lives. In so many ways, Tony was his father without even trying. It was merely his perspective that needed changing.

A hiccup in a stitch-tight plan throws Tony back in time to meet his father before he was born. Howard feels he knows his son immediately. Expressing his fear of becoming a dad, Howard allows himself to be vulnerable with a stranger in a way he never could when he was consciously speaking to his child. At this moment, Tony was able to tell his father everything he wished he had.

Tony chased that dream with booze, women, and technology. Chasing the shadow of his father, and his fathers hero Steve Captain America Rodgers, led Tony to a protegee of his own. Its not long after Tony presents Binarily Augmented Retro Framing (B.A.R.F.) that he discovers Peter Parker. Using the same dry wit Howard used on young Tony, an older Tony begins the vetting process to see if Spider-Man could be a good addition to the Avengers team. Why are you doing this? Tony asks. I got to know. Whats your m.o.? What gets you out of that twin bed in the morning? In a way Stark couldnt at that age, Peter ponders his answer. Hes already a serious human. Tragedy made Peter serious, but it did not make him coldhearted or jaded the way young Tony was. Peter demonstrates this with his response. When you can do the things that I can, but you dont, then the bad things happen, they happen because of you, Peter clumsily responded. This brief exchange cements a life-long mentorship.

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter, frustrated by the training wheels Tonys put on his development as an Avenger, begins to rebel. Disabling the training program on his Stark-manufactured spidey suit, Peter begins hunting criminals by himself. Nearly all parental figures are blindsided by teenage rebellion because it so closely follows genuine adolescence. Stark is Peters hero like Howard was adolescent Tonys hero. After nearly causing a catastrophe on the Stanton Island ferry, Tony realizes hes come face to face with himself when he had been gifted super powers. Reckless, ambitious, without a lot of forward thinking, Peter isnt a disappointment, but a reminder that becoming a hero is fraught with mistakes. A miscalculation on a superhero scale could mean a lot of innocent dead people.

At the end of the film, Peter turns down a chance to be an Avenger, choosing to be a friendly neighborhood spider instead. Once again, he surprises Tony with his action. Certainly at 15, Tony would not have passed up a chance for recognition. When hostile aliens descended into his neighborhood, Peter gets to fight in the big leagues again. Avengers: Infinity Wars shows Tony found a legacy in Peter Parker. He builds a spider-suit with major upgrades. Peter shows he can follow directions and is a team player, a state of mind Tony has always had a problem embodying. Peter is the reason Tony gets back in the fight after Thanos is killed in Avengers: Endgame. Its the second to last regret he holds onto. In Homecoming, Stark tells Peter, If you die, I feel like thats on me. In Endgame, he keeps Peters photo next to pictures of his wife and kid.

Emotionally fraught, being the leader of a team doesnt come easy. Entitled, rich kid Tony always wanted to lead without any indication of what that would mean personally. Captain America knew. Its why he lied to Tony for years about not knowing who killed the elder Starks. Its why he couldnt sign the Sokovia Accords and become a piece of property for a governing body. And its why he and Tony never truly saw eye to eye. From the very beginning, he was willing to lay his life down for the team. The final move in the battle of the invading Chitauri in the first Avengers film saw Tony flying a nuke into another galaxy with no guarantee he would return.

The truth is, Tony was never the right person to lead the Avengers, but he was the perfect rebel to kick the group into hyperdrive. A reckless disregard for the rules, plus a sense of self-awareness reserved only for recovering addicts and those whove suffered serious trauma, Stark was always willing to do what needed to be done. In his own series, Stark repeatedly denies access to blueprints to his suit and most importantly the arc reactor, which could be used to power more deadly weapons. But after meeting the Maximoff twins, Wanda (Elizabeth Olson) and Pietro (Aaron Taylor Johnson), and seeing the devastation his companys weapons caused in Sokovia, Stark wanted to make a change. He submitted to a higher power for the greater good.

Tonys legacy boils down to one thing, a tireless search to do the right thing. He was the essence of what a hero should be, wrapped in a fallible body. He was THE hero of an era. He was our Iron Man.

 Chase Bank Chides People For Being Irresponsible With Money | Review: 'Red Line' is CBS's Clumsy Attempt to Create a Woke TV Drama 

Header Image Source: Disney Marvel
Deforestation in Canada and Other Fake News Canada is not running out of trees. Nor is deforestation occurring on a massive scale. In fact, Canada has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world and surprise, surprise, the forest industry is not the major cause. The first is the myth that saving paper saves trees. Although it can seem counterintuitive, research shows that using paper and wood products is an essential component in maintaining forested land. May 1, 2019 (Two Sides) - John Mullinder started his journalistic career in New Zealand before emigrating to Canada in the mid-1980s. Over the past 27 years, Mr. Mullinder has led a national environmental council for the country's paper packaging industry. Frustrated by encounters with people who knew so little about forestry and paper production but had plenty of opinions about killing and saving trees, John was compelled to write a book called, Deforestation in Canada and Other Fake News. Many people believe that cutting down trees is deforestation and the emotional image they associate with this is an ugly clear cut, states Mr. Mullinder. I debunk these myths with hard facts, well-documented evidence, references and real images of deforestation. Deforestation is often incorrectly defined and associated with the forestry products industry. In reality, deforestation is defined as the permanent destruction of forests to make the land available for other uses. One reason Mr. Mullinder chose to show an agricultural scene on the cover of his book is to point out that the primary causes of deforestation are due to agriculture, oil and gas projects, and urbanization. Information from Two Sides and Dovetail Partners helped to debunk myths that are key to understanding the value of supporting the forestry and paper industry. The first is the myth that saving paper saves trees. Although it can seem counterintuitive, research shows that using paper and wood products is an essential component in maintaining forested land.

And the second is that digital has a minimal environmental impact compared to print. Trees are actually a renewable resource and are continuously replenished when managed with sustainable forestry practices. There are raw material, energy, and landfill environmental impacts to consider when using digital devices. We asked Mr. Mullinder what he thought the biggest challenges were to combat the misinformation around the forestry industry. He believes that the reach and impact of negative visual images and widespread misinformation on social media influences the reader's perception, especially the younger generation. Although the forest and paper industry has greatly improved its environmental performance over the past 50 years, there is still a great deal of work to be done to combat the distorted information. Mr. Mullinder believes the industry needs to continue to aggressively educate the public through organizations like Two Sides, to establish credibility while telling the strong story about the renewability, sustainability, and recyclability of forestry and paper. Click here for more information about John Mullinder or to learn more about his book. Two Sides is an independent, nonprofit organization created to promote the sustainability of print and paper. Two Sides is active globally in North America, Europe, Australia, South Africa, Brazil and Colombia. To learn more, please visit: www.twosidesna.org . SOURCE: Two Sides North America
French fashion house Celine has enlisted the talents of celebrated visual artist Christian Marclay, best known for his durational video piece, The Clock, for their latest ready-to-wear capsule collection. A marriage between Hedi Slimane's sharp tailoring and Marclay's knack for isolating the most sublime shapes in pop culture, the new unisex collection is a couture tribute to Lichtenstein-esque pop art.

Prominently featuring colorful onomatopoeia like "BEEP," "SHLUP," and "ZZHAA ZOW," the wide variety of coats, shirts, bags, shoes, and jewelry sees the traditionally buttoned up French bastion of couture at its most whimsical and, dare I say, flamboyant. The technicolor sequined jackets and kimonos that lay at the center of the capsule look like something plucked straight out of Elton John's wardrobe with a streetwear edge.

Following in the footsteps of Kim Jones' popular collaborations with KAWS and Hajima Soriyama for Dior, Slimane's Celine Art Project looks to continue his mission to modernize the label by bridging the worlds of upscale fashion and art's hottest image makers in an effort to reach an entirely new audience.

The limited edition Celine x Christian Marclay capsule is currently available to shop online. Check out some select pieces from the collection, below:
In 1974, Linda Goode Bryant, who once led educational programming at the Studio Museum in Harlem, founded a landmark non-profit called Just Above Midtown (JAM). The organization notably centered the early works of Black contemporary artists, providing a rare and necessary platform for them to show and sell their work in New York during that time.

This week, Bryant's JAM section at Frieze New York, curated by Franklin Sirmans, director of Perez Art Museum Miami, prominently features eight solo presentations of artists from Bryant's catalog of original programming, in partnership of invited galleries. Those artists are Dawoud Bey, Norman Lewis, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O'Grady, Lorna Simpson, Howardena Pindell, William T. Williams, and Ming Smith.

Related | Contemporary Latinx Art Will be Honored at Frieze

The '70s art scene in New York was indeed a tumultuous one, starting with the 1970 Art Strike, a series of actions held by artists following nationwide student-led protests of the Vietnam War. Protesting students had been shot and killed at Kent State and Jackson State universities. Police in Augusta, Georgia had killed six Black men and injured 75 more protesting the death of a Black prisoner. The strike memorialized these deaths, and the three Black students killed and 27 wounded by police two years earlier while demonstrating against racial segregation at the bowling alley at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg.

The Art Strike was collectively "expression of shame and outrage at our government's policies of racism, war and repression." It also called for museums and galleries to center the work of Black, Puerto Rican, and women artists, and to include those artists on their boards.

Ming Smith, "Ballerina (Grace Jones) NYC" (1975) Courtesy of Jenkins Johnson Gallery

Many of the artists JAM worked with in the '70s are now world-famous, and have paved the way for future generations of Black artists to present at Frieze and at other exhibitions and fairs around the world, from fine art photographer John Edmonds to Los Angeles-based Lauren Halsey. Halsey wins this year's Frieze Artist Award, and for the fair, she has created an architectural, column-based installation incorporating neighborhood ephemera, from images of du-rags to party flyers; Afrofuturism; and Black cultural iconography, including a tribute to her friend, the late Nipsey Hussle.

Sirmans said in a statement that what Bryant created with JAM, and paving the way for working artists like those mentioned is "the stuff of legend." He continues: "She gave a home to artists now considered to be part of the canon when they had nowhere else to present their work. If she only showed and worked with [David] Hammons, [Keith] Piper, and [Lorraine] O'Grady, it would be a remarkable existence to celebrate, but as it is we add so many more names to that list  evidence of the great history she created."

Additionally, a portion of the fees from the galleries in Bryant's JAM section of Frieze will be donated to support her current non-profit initiative, Project Eats, which is an urban agricultural enterprise concerned with creating sustainable food production and equitable distribution of food resources within inner-city communities. Click here to learn more about how you can support.
Last night, Pete Davidson was in Bridgeport, Connecticut in order to perform a show. However, things went south after the club's owner, Vinnie Brand, introduced Davidson by asking the audience not ask any questions about Ariana Grande or Kate Beckinsale.

Fresh off the heels of his reported split from Beckinsale  which came a few months after the calling off of his highly-publicized engagement to Grande  Davidson was obviously not here for any jabs about his love life. That said, after Brand reportedly mentioned the two, Davidson ended up walking out of the show.

In an Instagram story posted by Davidson after walking out, he apologizes to the audience for leaving, but said he felt "disrespected" by Brand.

"[He] did something I told him not to do, and I can't perform under those circumstances," Davidson said, before saying he would reschedule a free show for ticket-holders.

As a result, Brand reportedly played Davidson's video on-screen inside the club. And per TMZ, no one in the crowd was happy  with one person even yelling, "Fuck you, Pete!"

According to show attendees, Brand's mention appeared to have been, indeed, instructed by Davidson. However, per the publication's report, sources close to Davidson said that the comedian "felt like Vinnie was overly sarcastic when he told the crowd not to mention Kate or Ariana," and that he "killed the energy of the crowd by giving them the list of no-no's."

Not only that, but they also said that when Davidson refused to let Brand do an opening set for him, Brand ignored him and went ahead with a short set anyway. Yikes.
Banned Works at Tehran Book Fair Highlight Iran's Corrosive Censorship Policies

05/01/19

Source: Center for Human Rights in Iran

"People Lack Buying Power, Writers Lack Inspiration," Says Novelist

Several books by dissident authors in Iran were banned from the 32nd Tehran International Book Fair (April 24-May 4) by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.

They include the late Kourosh Asadi's novel, Kucheye Abrhaye Gom Shodeh (The Alley of Lost Clouds); Kayhan Khanjani's novel, Bande Mahkoumin (The Condemned Ward); E'dam va Qesas (Execution and Retribution) by civil rights columnist Emad Baghi; Dine Dowlati va Dowlate Dini (State Religion and Religious State) by Mohammad Ghouchani; Roshanfekri Dini va Chaleshhaye Jadid (Religious Intellectualism and New Challenges) by Iran's late Foreign Minister Mohammad Yazdi; and Faqihan va Enghelabe Iran (Theologians and the Iranian Revolution) by Hadi Tabatabaie.

The banned books had already been published in Iran with the permission of the ministry.

In an open letter sent to Minister Abbas Salehi on April 20, 2019, the Tehran Novelists Guild condemned the censorship and called for the bans to be lifted.

French Fries or Censored Books?

Several Iranians took to Twitter to criticize the banning of books from the fair and Iran's censorship policies.

Iranian user Navid Abedinpoor tweeted: "A book gets published after passing a thousand filters and censors and becomes available in bookstores where anyone can buy it but you can't get it at the book fair. Seriously, we don't have anything as stupid and ridiculous as the Guidance Ministry."

Another Iranian user on Twitter, "Sylvanas," worried about the quality of translations: "I want to go to the book fair tomorrow just to get Ulysses but I don't know what the translation is like. With the current state of censorship, I can't figure out how they allowed it to get published. Do you think it's worth buying?"

Journalist and former political prisoner Faraj Sarkohi wrote: "At the Tehran book fair, the guidance minister said that 'the world knows Iran through books.' Which world is it that knows Iran through censored and self-censored books published in 500 copies for a population of 80 million people and not through dictatorship, capital punishment, torture, poverty, discrimination, nuclear enrichment, missile production and the Quds Force?"

Author Behnam Allami explained why he boycotted the fair: "I will not participate in the book fair because of the state's continuing anti-cultural policies, unprecedented censorship of independent and well-intentioned authors, elimination of critical literary voices and, most importantly, society's deplorable condition."

Iranian user "Tiger" wrote: "The Guidance Minister said at the book fair that the world knows Iran through books! I think His Excellency meant to say censoring and burning books, declaring books un-Islamic, and killing authors! He's not that dumb."

Peyman Azad added, "The only reason to go to the book fair is the french fries, otherwise, who wants mangled, censored books?"



See photos by ISNA

Author Interview: Self-Censorship and Book-Publishing in Iran

Five years ago, during the second year of his first term, President Hassan Rouhani suggested that his government opposed censorship.

"The government is not seeking to impose state censorship," he said during a speech at the book fair's inauguration in 2014.

But many books have since been denied publishing permits or banned from appearing in the Tehran book fair.

Following the 1979 revolution, authors wishing to officially publish their books in Iran were required to comply with arbitrary censorship rules issued by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

Today, a book will go through several rounds of censorship before it can be published in Iran.

First, the author may remove lines and words that could inspire ire by the Guidance Ministry. Then their publisher will do the same before it's handed off to the ministry for the final say.

The process has deeply impacted free speech in Iran, as well as the quality of book and other literature translations.

Arbitrary Rules, Anonymous Censors

An Iranian female novelist who spoke to CHRI on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals said book censorship in Iran is an unofficial policy that runs so deep that authors often censor themselves.

"Every year, various agencies tell the Guidance Ministry not to allow certain books into the book fair and the ministry informs the publishers," she said. "They have no choice but to carry out the order."

"Keep in mind that these books are not prevented from being published," she added. "They just aren't allowed in the book fair, where many people go to find and buy new books that could benefit publishers as well as authors."

"Censorship before a book is published is unlawful," she said. "Our laws mention nothing about censoring books and yet this illegal process has been going on since the early years of the revolution."

The novelist continued: "Censorship first starts with the author who tries to suppress her own thoughts. If the author succeeds in finishing the book, it gets submitted to publishers who act as a team of censors and approve the books that have the least chance of attracting problems from the Guidance Ministry."

She added that some books are still banned after completing all the necessary approval steps: "In recent years, following complaints lodged by certain state agencies, many books have been prevented from distribution and destroyed after they were printed, leaving publishers and authors without any financial gain."

The novelist explained: "Once a book reaches the censors at the Guidance Ministry, they don't care about its literary merit. Instead they say it cannot be published because of ethical or political issues on this and that page. They order changes to be made in the text or reject the book altogether. The ministry's censors are anonymous. They don't even have an office because the entire process is illegal... so they work quietly in secret."

"People Lack Buying Power, Writers Lack Inspiration"

The novelist added that censorship rules and other obstacles are dampening Iranian writers' motivation to write:

"Most writers are lacking the desire to write and it's not just because of censorship. It's also the high cost of paper, people's decreased buying power, and print runs [amount of books published] of 300 to 500 books for novels. When you think about it, what hope is left to write? Printing only 300 books is a big joke."

US-led sanctions have also impeded Iran's ability to import paper, making it expensive for publishing houses to acquire.

The novelist explained: "Unfortunately, subsidized paper is only allocated to state-run printing houses. Private publishers are buying almost all their paper from the free market at a very high cost and therefore prefer to print fewer volumes. More importantly, they prefer to print translations because they are less problematic as far as censorship is concerned. These things make writers discouraged and depressed."

"Speaking for myself, why should I finish my next novel with this kind of print circulation?" she added. "In the past, authors and publishers included the print run in their contracts but now publishers won't specify it because they don't know how it will impact their bottom line."

"Also, when paper becomes expensive, publishers raise the price of books and in the current poor economic condition, people can't afford it," she said. "This is a faulty cycle that has worsened a lot in the past year. It's all interconnected. Many publishers are going bankrupt. People lack buying power, writers lack inspiration."

The novelist explained why the Guidance Ministry is more lenient when it comes to approving translations:

"Most of the restrictions are imposed on writers inside the country because officials are afraid that they might become too popular. [The translation of James] Joyce's Ulysses was published with only a few word changes and it's available at the book fair but if an Iranian author wanted to write something like Ulysses, it would never get published or it would be heavily censored."

The novelist added that the Rouhani administration has done little to alleviate the many obstacles authors in Iran face.

"The Rouhani administration is grappling with so many problems that, good or bad, it has not done anything for culture," she added. "But to be fair, the Tehran Novelists Guild for the first time received an operating license by the Labor Ministry under the Rouhani administration. This was a good development that happened during this administration."
Professor Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education has admonished Alumni of the University of Education Winneba (UEW) to play constructive roles in building lasting peace and reconciliation as stakeholders of the university.



Let the alumni avoid the temptation of instigating an inner rebellion or stoking the flames in the midst of current social media threats from the alumni front.



Professor Yankah made the call when he addressed the 23rd Congregation of UEW when a total of 358 graduates were awarded Diplomas, Masters and PHDs after successful completion of their courses at Winneba.



He said the Alumni have played a great role in building the University and must, therefore, avoid the temptation of bringing down that great institution they have built with their own sweat.



Professor Yankah urged the Governing Council of UEW to take steps to broker peace.



He expressed concern that a big vacuum had been created with the absence of a Chancellor and principal officers, denying the University of fatherly or motherly persona and a ceremonial head who at critical times could nip emerging crisis in the bud.



The Minister, therefore, called on the Management of University to expedite processes towards the appointment of a Chancellor to succeed Alhaji Asuma Banda whose tenure had ended.



He tasked the authorities of the University and other stakeholders to work together to create a model University that seeks to integrate the countrys diverse interest and ethnic groupings for the purpose of national development.



Universities should be quintessential enclaves for social integration, rather than typical sites for the balkanization of ethnicities and urged them to be each others keeper as Ghanaians with a common destiny.



Professor Yankah stated that being a graduate in itself may not make one rich but there was an intangible feeling of goodness, from expanding one's knowledge for the betterment of society and urged students to desire to attain higher education.

Source: GNA









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In a bid to equip young students to tackle difficult problems using practical approach, Our Lady of Grace Senior High School (OLAG) located in Mampongteng in the Ashanti Region has hosted about 11 Junior High schools to a robotic competition.



Held on the theme: Inspiring young minds and developing creative thinkers for the 21st Century, the project aimed at developing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers for students using robots. Training Partners was Asustem Robotics Academy, A non-Governmental organization focused on STEM education for Africa.



Schools that participated included: Prempeh Experimental A, Frobel International School, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Heman Methodist Model, Prempeh Experimental B, Family First International School, Atimatim Model, Roman Catholic School, Opoku Ware School, Prempeh Experimental C and Family Life International School (a visiting school from Accra).



Activities done were: Line Follower Challenge which was an autonomous robot that could move in a complex maze within 3 minutes, Mini Sumo Challenge, wrestling robots in a circular ring built in defense mechanisms and electronics. Students were also engaged in Freestyle Projects where participants were required to develop innovative robots that can solve problems.



Prempeh Experimental B emerged winners of the Line Follower category whiles Frobel International and Prempeh Experimental C won the Sumo Challenge and Freestyle category respectively. Overall quiz winner was Family First International School.



Addressing the event, the Headmaster of OLAG, Mr. Stephen Anokye observed that as the world grows increasingly coupled with technological advancement, introducing young ones to practical studies will enhance their skill and knowledge acquisition. He therefore described the robotic education project as a good course and appealed to the educational sector to embrace it for a brighter future.



Mr. Anokye congratulated the winners and the participatory schools for exhibiting their talents in a keenly contested session and urged them to utilize the knowledge acquired in their daily learning experience to drive the course.



Speaking in an interview with the media, Mr. David Asumadu-Boateng, Director of Projects- Asustem Robotics Academy (training partners) noted that as an NGO and a STEM educator, we are focused on equipping young students with knowledge and skills to tackle tough problems through practical approach using robots he said and assured to extend the training to other areas of the country to promote the educational sector through technology.



The event brought together stakeholders in the educational sector and some Board members of OLAG. Notable among them were: the Municipal Chief Executive of Kwabre East Municipality, Nana Osei Assibey Bonsu and the Director of Education for Kwabre East, Mrs. Stella Ofori-Atta.















Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has asked government to address challenges affecting workers in the country.



According to them, the welfare of workers in the country who contribute a major factor to the countrys development cannot be undermined.



Some continue to remain casual workers whilst other receive low salaries with no appointment letters.



Speaking at this years May Day Celebrations at the Independence Square Dr. Yaw Baah the Secretary General of TUC explained that some workers in the country suffer stigmatization and other labour related issues in their various work stations so government through the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to help resolve all those labour issues.



"Mr President, we will like to appeal to you to correct this flaw in our social policy. We are expecting concrete plans and a roadmap for a universal pension coverage in the 2020 budget."



He said about a quarter of the 200,000 people who are on the SSNIT pension scheme receive about GH300 a month, which he described as woefully inadequate.



According to him, the pittance pensioners received monthly has sent many of them to their early graves as they cannot afford to pay for their utilities and hospital bills.



Dr Baah also expressed worry over the inequality in pension benefits, urging government to critically look at the countrys pension scheme.



He explained that low coverage was not the only problem facing the countrys social security system and that payment of inadequate pension benefits was another challenge bedeviling the SSNIT pension scheme.



He thus wished workers a happy workers day and reminded them of the unions commitment to fight for their course.















Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









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The Ashanti Region police have called on Ghanaians to take responsibility for their personal security and safety, as the police take robust steps to beef up security in the wake of recent isolated cases of kidnapping and abduction in some areas of the Region.



The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Kwasi Mensah Duku, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, who gave the assurance in Kumasi, said the police was doing everything to get those behind the emerging disturbing cases of kidnapping for ransom, rearing its ugly head in the Region.



He, however, called on individuals to be security and safety conscious, as they went about their daily duties and be prepared to offer credible clues that would lead to the arrest of criminals, and that security is a shared responsibility.



DCOP Duku, who was addressing the Indian community in Kumasi following the recent kidnap of an Indian businessman at Ahodwo in Kumasi around 5 pm, assured of them of their safety.



Speaking for the Indian Community, Mr. Avinash Lakhani, said they had been shocked by the recent incident as we have known Ghana to be a peaceful country.



We want to see visible signs of Police action in the communities in which we live he added.



The Police recently rescued the said Indian businessman from suspected kidnappers and Akokoamon, a community near Parkoso in Kumasi, after he had been forcibly seized by three unknown men at Ahodwo in Kumasi.



The suspected kidnappers reportedly called some friends and relatives of the victim, 31-year-old Prakash Chudry and demanded USD 500,000 from them before his release.



Another kidnapping case was reported recently at Ejisu-Krapa in the Ejisu Municipality.

Source: GNA









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Mr Ridwan Dauda Abass, Member of Parliament (MP) for Sissala East, has called on the Legislature to support the National Theatre of Ghana to be well resourced to promote the various dances in the country.



According to him, the National Theatre, with its national dance company, had uplifted the various dances on the local and international levels.

Mr Abass made the call when he presented a statement on the floor of Parliament on the occasion of the International Dance Day.

The International Dance Day is a global celebration of dance, which takes place on April 29 of each year.



Before, the commencement of the Parliamentary business, members of the Ghana Dance Ensemble were at the foyer of the House to entertain the MPs and the Leadership of Parliament.



The Speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye; First Deputy Speaker, Mr Joseph Osei Owusu and the Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Majority Leader took some few steps to synchronize with the beats of the drums of the Ghana Dance Ensemble.



Mr Abass, who is also a Board Member of the National Theatre of Ghana, explained that dance as an art was an important form of communication and critical to the existence of the country, which could also be found within every culture of the world and bonded the people together.



He said dance, when performed, elicited a wide variety of emotions, happiness, excitements, peace, and sadness and announced that the National Theatre had targeted to raise GH50 million to support its programmes in communities across the country.

He elaborated that dancing in Ghana as an art form, was under the performing arts, with social, cultural and economic parameters, for which the National Theatre of Ghana took responsibility.



We on the Board have re-oriented the direction of the theatre with a vision: To be the beacon of the performing arts in Ghana.

Mr Abass also stated that, in the area of dance in particular, the Board was working to bring all that Ghana had to the fore to reap its cultural, tourism, educational, job creation and health benefits.



Mr Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority Leader reiterated the call for the National Theatre to be adequately resourced to be able to carry out its mandate.



He said dance and cultural dances were significant for the promotion of the custom and tradition of the people and charged the governing New Patriotic Party to fulfill its campaign manifesto promise to build a theatre in every region of the country.



Mrs Catherine Afeku, former Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture in her contribution stated that dance as a cultural tool, was important for the people to understand themselves and appreciate the different cultural elements in Ghana.



She said dance also served as an opportunity to create jobs for the teeming youth in the country in the area of theatre and opera adding that it reduced stress, and brought smiles to the faces of the audience of the performances.

International Dance Day is a global celebration of dance, created by the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), the main partner for the performing arts of UNESCO.



The event takes place every year on 29th April, the anniversary of the birth of Jean-Georges Noverre (17271810), the creator of modern ballet.



The day strives to encourage participation and education in dance through events and festivals held on the date all over the world.

UNESCO formally recognizes ITI to be the creators and organizers of the event.

Source: GNA









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President Nana Akufo-Addo has eulogised the late Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri, the Ghanaian Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), as a good citizen and fine soldier who had a distinguished military career and has left us to join his Maker,



Mr Akufo-Addo made the comment in a Facebook post following his visit to the bereaved family on Tuesday, 30 April 2019, and added that the government will do our best to ensure the welfare of the widow he has left behind.

President Nana Akufo-Addo has eulogised the late Major General Francis Vib-Sanziri, the Ghanaian Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), as a good citizen and fine soldier who had a distinguished military career and has left us to join his Maker.

Mr Akufo-Addo made the comment in a Facebook post following his visit to the bereaved family on Tuesday, 30 April 2019, and added that the government will do our best to ensure the welfare of the widow he has left behind.

Major General Vib-Sanziri died on 19 April 2019 in Israel.

Since joining the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in 1985, Major General Vib-Sanziri had a distinguished military career at the national and international levels. Having served as Director-General of the International Peace Support Operations at the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces since April 2017, he also served as Assistant Director, Ghana Army Operations (1996-1998), Deputy Head of the Ghana Military Academy (2002-2004), Commanding Officer of an Infantry Battalion (2004-2009), Director for International Peacekeeping Support Operations in 2009 and Army Secretary at the Army Headquarters (2010-2011). In 2014, he was appointed Director-General for Joint Operations, General Headquarters. He served as Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation from 2015 to 2017.



Major General Vib-Sanziris extensive peacekeeping experience includes deployments to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1988 and 1991, United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1993 and 1994 and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in 2007. He also served with the Economic Community of West Africa States Monitoring Group in Liberia in 1990, in Sierra Leone, in 1999 and 2000, and, subsequently, with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). From 2011 to 2014, he served as a strategic military planner in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the United Nations.



Major General Vib-Sanziri had a masters degree in military art and science from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, in the United States, a post-graduate certificate in public administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography and rural resource development from the University of Ghana. He was a graduate of the Nigerian Armed Forces Command and General Staff College, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College and the United States Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.















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The Trades Union Congress of Ghana (TUC-Ghana) on Monday disclosed that as part of the activities to mark the 2019 May Day event, its members will embark on a route march across some principal streets of Accra.



About 10,000 workers from 32 Workers groups are expected to participate in the march.



The May Day Route March will start from the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle through the Farisco, TUC Head Office, the National Theatre to the Independence Square and will also be used as educational and sensitization campaign platform to educate the masses to secure their pensions.



Mr Joshua Ansah, the Deputy Secretary General of the TUC in an interview with the Ghana News Agency ahead of the workers day celebration on Wednesday May 1, said the march would be organized with the purpose of sensitizing the public on the need to ensure the payment of their Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions.



He said all over the world, the commemoration of the day took a new trend, which made members of the organized labour to gather at a particular spot and process through town with placards meeting at a final destination for the climax.



He said the 2019 May Day would be celebrated on the theme: Sustainable Pension for All: The Role of Social Partners, which called for the need to create more awareness for workers to prioritise their pensions while they worked.



He said the TUC over the years was doing the march past at various locations, where the President and TUC Secretary-General would address them, but this year we have reviewed the process.



We seek to use the route march to send a stronger signal to the public about the need to secure their future through the pension scheme. We intend to reach a higher number of the general public with the peaceful procession through some principal streets.



Mr Ansah said the Organised Labour was determined to ensure that everybody had a feel of the May Day celebration as we march peacefully with usual placards to sensitise the public.



The Deputy Secretary-General said the march was not intended for any diabolical ambition, but to increase awareness on SSNIT contributions.



He noted that everybody in the country was either a formal or informal worker adding that pension would catch up with everyone one day, which called for the need to sustain pension scheme in the country.



In a related interview with Mr John Amegashie, the Chairman of the 2019 National May Day Committee said, there was the need for every worker to take his or her pension seriously.



Mr Amegashie, who is also the President of Union of Industry Commerce and Finance Workers (UNICOF) said the march was relevant to burn some calories of workers and urged both formal and informal workers to come out to join them.

Source: GNA









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Commissioner of Police (COP), Kofi Boakye, is set to speak on a panel during the 2019 World Press Freedom Day commemorations to be held from 2 to 3 May in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.



COP Boakye, would be expected as part of his speech to share his personal experience from the media and security/police dialogue which took place up to the elections in Nigeria.



The panel is titled, Best practice for enhancing medias coverage in elections. This years commemoration of WPFD is jointly organized by UNESCO, the African Union and the Government of Ethiopia, with the involvement of a wide range of partners.



The conference will focus on the theme: Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation.



The panel falls within the theme: Medias potential to contribute to a culture of sustainable peace and democracy.















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Authorities of the Sekondi/ Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly say they are eager to see the three kidnapped Takoradi ladies being reunited with their families.



Residents of Sekondi/ Takoradi are anxious to welcome home the three Takoradi kidnapped ladies, reason why the latest release by the police that the ladies are yet to be rescued angered many.



It is close to a year now that the three girls were kidnapped. Information about their where about is perhaps known to the alleged kidnapper, Samuel Wills, and possibly the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).



Speaking on the sidelines of the first ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the seventh Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, the chief executive, Anthony K. K. Sam noted that kidnapping has become a concern in the metropolis. As a result, security has been heightened in the metropolis and residents sensitized to avoid further occurrences of kidnap and abductions, he said.



There are more police patrol at day time and night to register police presence in the communities, the assembly has installed more streets lights on streets that did not have and together with other stakeholders enrolled kidnap sensitizations at some schools within the metropolis.



Meanwhile, Matthew Adams assembly member for Kansaworado electoral area where one of the kidnapped victims and the alleged kidnapper Samuel Wills lived, noted he doubts the police have knowledge about the whereabouts of the three ladies.



I am not sure if the police know where the girls are, I dont believe the reports because the papers are saying different things and the police are also saying something different things, Matthew Adams expressed.







Source: 3news.com









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A US-based lady, Khaliah, is currently in search of a Nigerian man who she had a fling with two years ago that resulted in her getting pregnant.



According to Khaliah, she met with the Nigerian man who goes by the name Price Solomon on Facebook. They met on a dating site, hung out in Buckhead Atlanta, had sex and then lost contact. In a mail sent to LIB, Khaliah wrote



''Hello my name is khaliah and I live in Atlanta. Almost 2 years ago, I hooked up with this man. We lost contact and I know he is somewhere. My child is growing older and needs his father. Please help me find him, this is not his real name and he doesnt know anything about his son. I have no idea where to find this man please help by just posting.



I met this man on a dating site and we hooked up a few times in Buckhead Atlanta. I named my baby boy Karter'' she wrote in a mail sent to LIB. She says she is sure the man is a Yoruba.









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The Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Hon Joseph Boahen Aidoo, has urged chocolate processing companies in European to come up with innovative cocoa products that will increase the consumption of cocoa and boost international demand.



While addressing the General Assembly of the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa in Zurich, Switzerland, Hon Aidoo mentioned the pressing need to create new cocoa products that will be more attractive to todays consumer.



He emphasized the point that there has been a lot of effort from all industry players on sustainable production of cocoa and it is time for a lot of attention to be given to sustainable consumption as well.



He pointed out that, there lies a big untapped opportunity in the promotion of cocoa powder in particular, around the world. Cocoa powder consumption can be elevated to the status of tea and coffee, so, that it as well becomes a staple at homes, offices, occasions and cafes; much like the two other beverages.



Among the three beverages; tea, coffee and cocoa; cocoa should reign supreme, he said, but it has instead been relegated to the background. Hence, during occasions and programmes and at homes, tea and coffee are usually the beverages sought after, although, cocoa is delicious and has all the health and all the nutritional benefits. We need to promote cocoa and cocoa powder, in particular, as an everyday beverage, he said.



Hon Aidoo advised that as new products are been created the issue of sugar in chocolates, which is dissuading people from consuming more chocolate, must also be addressed promptly to open up the market for the sustainable consumption of the cocoa product.



The COCOBOD Boss also asked the European chocolate processing companies to strongly consider setting up processing companies in Ghana and make the country a hub for their sub-regional operations.



There are many advantages to setting up a processing company in Ghana, he said. Besides the countrys socio-economic stability, there is easy access to the most important raw material for the processing plants, cocoa; of which Ghana produces that highest quality in the world.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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On Wednesday, 1st May, 2019, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo joined Ghanaian workers at the Independence Square, to celebrate May Day.



The President in a message encouraged all social partners, employers and enterprise owners to comply with existing pension regulations and support their staff to contribute to pension schemes.



"We should all spread the news about the importance of pensions and the structures in place to ensure transparent and effective management of pension funds" he indicated.



This years May Day events was marked under the theme, "Sustainable Pension for all: The Role of Social Partners."



Below are some pictures



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Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Member of Parliament [MP] for Odododiodio constituency, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuiye, is of the opinion that the government of the day together with the Ghana Police service have not treated the Takoradi kidnapped girls case with the needed professionalism it deserves.



They [government and police] treated this national interest story as one of those normal ones that the state leaves to die by itself, he said.



He urged the police service to charge the Daily Guide newspaper for "public deceit" in using the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) as its source in giving detailed reports on the whereabouts of the kidnapped girls.



According to him, current statements made by the President of the Republic concerning the story shows the police does not know the whereabouts of the girls as they claimed earlier on in a press conference held.



Commenting on the second-time meeting between NPP and NDC towards a lasting solution to eliminating vigilantism, the Odododiodio MP stated that issues of land guards must be treated as akin to that of vigilantism.



He added that persons who have found their way into the various security institutions by virtue of their vigilante acts, must be kicked out if they tend not to have the requisite qualifications to be recruited.



Issues of land guards must be as well be treated as part of vigilantism....and unqualified security personnel be removed from security organizations no matter the year of admission, he added.









Source: Elizabeth Semiheva Bedi/Peacefmonline.oom









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Former president John Dramani Mahama has assessed the Akufo-Addo-led government as characterized by massive job losses and unemployment. He blamed the development on unfulfilled promises of his successor.



This was contained in the former presidents May Day message to Ghanaian workers on Wednesday.



Like many disappointed Ghanaians including yourselves, I am also aware of the numerous unfulfilled promises of this government, which has led to the twin phenomenon of massive job losses and massive unemployment.



He also touched on how insecurity is impeding economic growth.



In addition, I am aware of the unprecedented insecurity in our country, which is becoming a major threat to foreign and domestic investment in our economy, Mr. Mahama said.



Read his full message below



On the occasion of the 2019 May Day, I commend, on behalf of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), all Ghanaian workers and our comrades around the world for your untiring and immense sacrifices from dawn to dusk, all year round.



Through your toils, over the years, we have added to the gains of our forebears. I am, however, aware of the present harsh and hard socioeconomic environment within which so much is still expected of you.



In addition, I am aware of the unprecedented insecurity in our country, which is becoming a major threat to foreign and domestic investment in our economy.



Like many disappointed Ghanaians including yourselves, I am also aware of the numerous unfulfilled promises of this government, which has led to the twin phenomenon of massive job losses and massive unemployment.



On this special day, I encourage you, our gallant workers and all citizens, not to despair. Dont give up on yourselves and Ghana. Lets keep hope alive and pray for better times in the coming years.



On my part, I promise you truthful, selfless and dedicated leadership, to improve the wellbeing and security of all Ghanaians.



Let me also remind government of the overarching need to work conscientiously towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in this particular case, Goal 8, which calls for the promotion of sustainable economic growth and decent work for all.



Happy May Day!









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President Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has launched a charter to guide the Ghana Beyond Aid campaign.



He says the "charter is expected to present the meaning, purpose and the calendar of implementation that will allow Ghana to reach the goal of developing the country, not through dependence on aid from development partners, but through available natural resources".



Speaking at this year's May Day celebrations at the Independence Square, the President expressed his appreciation to the Ghana Beyond Aid Committee for the good work done, holding up the document to the thousands of workers marking this years May Day celebrations at the Black Star Square, Wednesday.



He said Ghana Beyond Aid is setting our nation on an irreversible pathway of development. With the blessing of the Almighty and our collective effort, we will march boldly from poverty to prosperity so that we can create the Ghana our forefathers envisaged



The charter was drawn by a Committee Chaired by Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo.The Committee was made up of persons from varying sectors of the governance structure, including the Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta; Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah; Minister for Planning, Prof. Gyan Baffour; and the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama.



The rest were drawn from the Trades Union Congress, the Private Enterprise Foundation, the Ghana National Association of Teachers, as well as the Association of Ghana industries.



The President promised the creation of the committee during last years May Day celebrations in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital.



Ghc 200m Released For Payment Of Retirement Arrears Owed To SSNIT



He revealed that the Ministry of Finance has arranged for the payment of 200 million cedis towards the retirement of arrears owned to SSNIT.



Im informed that the Ministry of Finance has arranged for payment of GH200million and a bond of GH700 million towards the retirement of the arrears owed to SSNIT. This will leave arrears of GH800 million which will be included in next years budget, he added.



The President explained that the contribution of workers will help build a robust economy towards the development of the nation.



He reiterated his governments commitment to support and ensure the welfare of workers across the country adding that the NPP government has implemented policies that will improve the working and living conditions of workers.



He also ordered the National Pensions Regulatory Authority and the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations and SSNIT to resolve and bring to finality all issues involving workers and their pensions within three months



While commending Ghanaian workers contribution to Ghanas development the President also acknowledged the existing challenges.



I know I state the obvious but I do want to make the point that I do not need to be persuaded about the importance of work the circumstances in which we work. I also want to reiterate that the fact that we are all in it together whether it is in management or government or on the shop floor the project of our existence succeeds if we work together and pull together.Our nation Ghana at 62 remains very much a work in progress.



A lot of things remain to be done to improve upon the quality of our lives in all three stages  the period of preparation to work, the period during which we work and the period during which we take a deserved rest from work, he said.



This years May Day events was marked under the theme, "Sustainable Pension for all: The Role of Social Partners."

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
Ghanaian actor and comedian Richard Asante popularly known as Kalybos has been involved in a near fatal accident.



The funny actors brand new Dodge Charger was seriously damaged but fortunately, he survived without any serious injury.



Kalybos has confirmed the unfortunate incident to Peacefmonline.com and thanked God for saving his life.



Kalybos disclosed to Peacefmonline.com that the accident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday May 1, 2019 near Nkwakaw on his way to attend the premiere of new movie Away Bus in Sunyani.



The accident involved his Dodge Charger car, a truck and a sprinter bus. He was in his car with two other people but thankfully there were no casualties.



His damaged car is currently at Nkawkaw Police Station pending investigation and Kalybos had to continue to make an appearance at the movie premiere in Sunyani.



Kalybos shared the caption below on social media this morning to express his gratitude to God for saving his life.



"I want to borrow the song of Joyce Blessing (I Swerve it). God is the giver of LIFE, no weapon plot against the child of God shall ever prosper or see another attempt. To God be the Glory. "



Watch his damaged car in the video below:











Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com









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A special celebration for Ramadan is coming to Dearborn Heights this year.

Ramadan is the month in the holy calendar where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and a suhoor is the last meal they eat before the next day of fasting.

Organizer Hassan Chami owns Healthpro Pharmacy, 24755 Ford Road, and said its important for local business owners to support other local businesses.

As a local business owner, I think its important to keep bringing businesses to our community, he said. Its not about competing, its about working together.

Chami started the event last year in an effort to get children off the streets.

The Islamic calendar matches up with the lunar calendar so Ramadan actually moves up about eight to 10 days every year, he said. The last few years, youd see food trucks in gas station parking lots up and down Ford Road and Warren Road and too many kids running up and down the streets. I thought, Why not bring everyone together and make it a lot safer?'

In an attempt to keep order to the event, Chami said he has hired professionals to help manage the festivities.

We have parking lot professionals to help guide the vehicles in and out, he said. We will also have a police presence. I have a contract with the Dearborn Heights Police Department to ensure safety. There will also be no music and no alcohol as we intend to maintain a calm, family friendly environment.

Although this is a Ramadan suhoor festival, Chami said the event is open to everyone.

I extend my invite to all members of the community to come to this event in order to celebrate religious diversity, he said. Its important to me that communities come together to build a bridge and celebrate their diversity and promote unity. This is a place to serve and promote diversity. Come and celebrate and have food with your neighbors. I think the city of Dearborn Heights can really lead by example by promoting unity and diversity as a community.

Councilman Dave Abdallah said he admires the amount of work Chami has put into the event.

The gentleman organizing the event has come here and sat down and is willing to work with the city, Abdallah said. Hes working with the Fire Department and the Police Department and of course administration. I think this is a great thing for our residents during Ramadan for people to not only enjoy the food, but to enjoy each others company.

Councilwoman Lisa Hicks-Clayton said she believes this to be a great thing for the community.

Everyones invited, she said. Theres over 20 food vendors and other services available, which is phenomenal. I was excited to hear about the voter registration booth that will be there. I think this will bring people to our community and thats important. We are talking about supporting and developing in the spirit of our community and our diversity which we should always embrace.

The food offered will be varied.

Per the contracts, no two vendors can be serving the same food, Chami said. We wanted variety to bring in as many people as possible, so it wont be all Middle Eastern food. We have some dessert vendors. We have a brisket burger vendor, a sub vendor, all sorts of food will be available.

Chami said he hopes the event brings people together.

All of our vendors are either Dearborn or Dearborn Heights residents or business owners, he said. Its important to me that, as local business owners, we take the opportunity to encourage and promote each other. I dont want there to be any competition at this event. This is a chance for them to get experience and exposure while we all come together and work together to celebrate our diversity.

The event will be held at the north end of the Hype Center at 23302 W. Warren Ave.

The festival will run from midnight to 4 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays from May 10 to June 1. There is no entry fee.

Vendors will be charging for the food theyre selling, but thats all, Chami said. And a majority of the proceeds are going to be donated to local nonprofit charities, as well.
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UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday asked the international community to resolutely fight terrorism in Syria in order to create security conditions for the advancement of the political process.

As terrorism poses serious threats to the security and stability of Syria, the fight against the scourge is an important aspect of settling the Syrian crisis, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

Both the northwestern and northeastern parts of Syria are facing severe challenges. Terrorist organizations are having their way in Idlib, and individual terrorist fighters run amok in many other parts of the country, he told the Security Council.

The international community, taking into account the different trends and features of terrorist activities in different regions, should strengthen coordination and cooperation, unify standards, fight all the terrorist organizations designated by the Security Council so as to consolidate the achievements of counterterrorism and continuously improve the security environment in Syria, he said.
Chinese marines participated in the combat shooting program in Qingdao, April 30. /CGTN Photo

The "Joint Sea-2019" exercise by the Chinese and Russian navies are underway in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. On Tuesday, marines from both countries conducted land exercises before both fleets head for sea drills later in the week.

Teams from China and Russia are looking to sharpen their military skills in competition.

Shooting and negotiating difficult obstacles are definitely exercises that both navies want more practice in.

Tuesday's shooting competition tested the land combat capabilities of both navies. The competition opened this year's Joint Sea operations, as the 400-meter-long obstacle course tested the strength of the teams.

After fierce competition, the Chinese marines ultimately won. But they knew they had the home-field advantage.

Russian soldiers in shooting program in the land competitions of Joint Sea-2019 exercise held by Chinese and Russian navies, April 30. /CGTN Photo

A Chinese soldier said that Russian marines are not familiar with the training ground here.

But from their performance, we can see their individual quality is definitely very good, he commented.

A Russian marine praised Chinese soldiers' performances, particularly in shooting.

I hope the next time we can invite them to Russia, and hope we can perform like them, he said.

When the competition was over, both teams of marines came together for sea drills. They conducted exercises to counter piracy, and submarine rescue operations.

All these are in preparation for their joint missions out at sea from Thursday to Saturday.

Chinese and Russian marines are checking results of the competitions together in a shooting program for the land drills in Qingdao, April 30. /CGTN Photo
The Mesha Stele is an ancient slab of basalt stone from the 9th century BC. It was named for Mesha, the king of Moab (2 Kings 3:4). This stele is actually an ancient document which records the struggles of the Moabite people at the hands of the king of Israel, Omri. After the split of the Jewish monarchy, following Solomon's reign, the northern kingdom of Israel suffered political turmoil and even civil war until Omri established his dynastic line. Most of his immediate predecessors on the throne of Israel had been short-lived. Nadab lasted no more than two years (1 Kings 15:25). Elah, likewise, only lasted two years (1 Kings 16:8). In fact, it is possible that due to the manner in which years were counted, they may have reigned only a few months. Zimri, who followed Elah, lasted a whole 7 days before he flamed out, literally (1 Kings 16:18).

But Omri was different. He reigned for 12 years. He overcame a civil war. He established a new capital in Samaria. He manufactured an important political alliance with the Phoenicians through an arranged marriage between his son Ahab and daughter-in-law Jezebel. His dynasty lasted for another 100 years. In fact, he had so established himself in the northern kingdom that an Assyrian artifact known as the Black Obelisk refers to Israel simply as the "dynasty of Omri."

This seems to be, by most accounts, a hugely successful tenure as a leader. This kind of accomplishment would be like President Ulysses S. Grant taking office after the turmoil of the Civil War and Andrew Johnson's impeachment and immediately moving the capital of the nation from Washington DC to Nashville, then turning Nashville into an impenetrable citadel and a major hub of international trade. Omri was a political, military, commercial, and cultural dynamo.

But you wouldn't get this impression from the biblical account of Omri. Dale Ralph Davis makes this great point in his commentary on 1 Kings. He notes that the writer of 1 Kings sticks to the regular formula for kings: He became king during the x-year of the other king's reign. He ruled for y-years. He did some things. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He died. If you want more information look at the Chronicles of the Kings. He was followed by son. Davis then adds, "The Bible's account is as scintillating as an obituary."[1]

We shouldn't conclude that the writer of Kings was unaware of what Omri had done. He had obviously read about Omri in the Chronicles of the Kings. It wasn't a lack of knowledge, but rather the writer was making an important theological point. It wasn't that those accomplishments didn't happen, it's that they don't ultimately matter. The reason is simple. The writer's adds that Omri was the most evil of all the kings of Israel. (That is, until his son Ahab comes along and basically says, "Hold my beer." But that's another post for another day.) Omri had walked the well-worn paths of Jeroboam. And he exceeded Jeroboam, the yardstick of heterodoxy, by indulging and promoting idol worship. Omri's regency was defined not by what he accomplished in political, commercial, militaristic, or cultural areas but by his failure to make the most important thing primary.

Jesus confronts this failure when he addressed the crowd in Mark 8. After Jesus told them about his suffering, death, and resurrection that was to come, he then tells the people, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." This instruction is challenging. Jesus forces us to immediately begin doing the math. We have to start weighing the cost of faithfulness in the most important areas versus an all-too-compelling sense of self-preservation in earthly areas. It is tempting to see the value of saving our lives, building our kingdoms, and taking care of ourselves. But Jesus cuts through this spiritual calculus by explaining, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but to forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:34-36).

By many accounts Omri had gained the world. But he had forfeited his soul. He had missed the treasure in the field. He had missed the pearl of great price (Matt. 13:44-46). He had settled on what was ultimately trivial. Is your life marked by trivial accomplishments? Ralph Davis asks the piercing question, "Do the passions that drive your living and doing only elicit a yawn from heaven?"[2] That is a sobering thought. Our lives will truly count only if we do what is right in the eyes of the LORD. Our lives will elicit the commendation from Christ, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt 25:21) when we faithfully invest our lives so as to earn an eternal return. The commendation of the world will eventually fade like an obscure ancient stele. But praise of Christ lasts forever.

[1] Dale Ralph Davis, I Kings: The Wisdom and the Folly (Fearn: Christian Focus, 2016), 191.

[2] Davis, 191.
New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/01/2019 --Putting a new spin on self-help with a Book Club worthy jaunt through love, lust, and fragility, Drica Pinotti releases a new book. Entitled, "My Crazy (Sick) Love" the book uses a shot of mental instability and a large dose of humor to take women's fiction renegade. How so? By giving a bird's eye view of what it's like to be young, intelligent, wealthy, upwardly-mobile and living in New York City with a palpable problem called hypochondria. Enter the book's heroine, Amanda Loeb. Now meet Brian Marshall, he's her "main squeeze" and the purveyor of love's complications that look an awful lot like a cure. Makes one wonder how the author started with the heroine's inability to enjoy life and morphed it into a hilarious romp through the healing power of not knowing it all.



Available now on Barnes and Noble and Amazon, Pinotti's new book is described as a "laugh-out-loud" romantic comedy with a kick. The author said, "I wanted my readers to find solace in the strong female relationships Amanda has with her mother and her sister first. Their support helps her become a capable lawyer who eventually learns how to be vulnerable. Relinquishing a bit of control solves a lot. The book is beyond fun."



The book launch will be hosted by Shakespeare & Co. Bookstore on May 9 at 6:30 pm in New York City.



About Drica Pinotti

Drica Pinotti is a Brazilian-born author with fifteen books published in Brazil and Portugal. Her American debut comes with the release of her first romantic comedy entitled, My Crazy (Sick) Love.



Information:

Hardcover: Barnes and Noble/Amazon

ISBN #978-0-578-46449-7

ISBN/SKU #0578464497

Price for Hardcover: $24.95



Paperback: Amazon

ISBN #978-0-578-46073-4

Price for Paperback $12.95



E-book: Amazon

ASIN #B07NNRWZ91

Price for E-book $4.99

Or Free for Kindle Unlimited



*A copy of the book for editors/bloggers is available upon request.



Contact:

Drica Pinotti

contact@dricapinotti.com

(917) 470-2002



Website:

https://www.dricapinotti.com



Social Media:

https://wwww.Facebook.com/DricaPinotti

https://www.Instagram.com/DricaPinotti

https://www.Twitter.com/DricaPinotti
Hong Kong, China -- (ReleaseWire) -- 04/30/2019 --In a recent software exhibit attended by people from online marketing, entrepreneurship and digital media, FlipHTML5 became the crowd's favorite subject matter. This is due to the fact that the said online flyer maker has greatly contributed in many businesses' promotion and endorsement of their products and services. The designer of FlipHTML5, Anna Lee, happened to join the said event and shared her thoughts, stating, "This online flyer maker is more preferred by digital publishers because it has the capacity to convert ordinary PDF documents into more appealing online flyers. FlipHTML5 is designed to do such function and it has more features that are really beneficial to its users."



As many FlipHTML5 users would say, the online flyer maker's feature of transforming PDF documents to compelling online flyers is its best asset. For one, importing PDFs to FlipHTML5 is very easy and quick to do. This initial step further leads to the enhancement of plain PDF documents. FlipHTML5 users can fully customize the looks of their imported PDFs by applying relevant themes and using attractive templates for their online flyers. FlipHTML5 users are also left with options on setting the view mode of a certain flyer into either slide or flip.



Another thing that emboldened FlipHTML5 users to express their commendation about the online flyer maker is its easy and engaging social sharing feature. It has multiple social sharing media and platforms that enabled its users to pull more readers to view and learn more about the products and services that they offer. In most cases, these published flyers that were shared online eventually lead to generating an increased rate of business transactions than just sharing a plain PDF document.



To experience making quality online flyers, interested businesses and individuals may sign up for a free account at http://fliphtml5.com/.



About FlipHTML5

FlipHTML5 is an established digital publishing solutions provider through its capacity of converting PDF documents into remarkable online flyers. Through the years, FlipHTML5 has built a reputation as a reliable online flyer maker. Today, FlipHTML5 continues to function as an online flyer maker that provides continuously efficient digital publishing solutions to many of its users.
Old Lyme, CT -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/01/2019 --Global audio leader Sennheiser announces two new products, adding crucial capabilities to tried-and-true, top-selling Sennheiser product families in both the headset and speakerphone categories. The company has released the new SP 30 Speakerphone, a wireless conferencing solution that brings Bluetooth to its line of portable, plug-and-play audioconferencing solutions. In addition, the new premium wired, Century SC 660 ANC USB headset adds Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and proximity-sensing capabilities.



SENNHEISER'S NEW WIRELESS SPEAKERPHONE SP 30 FOR INSTANT CONFERENCES, ANYWHERE



The SP 30 Speakerphone allows mobile workers to set up a conference call via a wireless Bluetooth connection for up to eight people  anytime, anywhere. It's a flexible, easy-to-deploy collaboration tool for meetings in and out of the office, supporting calls for multiple participants with a set-up time of a matter of seconds. Its lightweight design and features such as Bluetooth and USB-C capability and multipoint connectivity with up to three devices allows the versatile SP 30 to perform as a personal device for instant conference calls on-the-go, or to be leveraged as a shared tool in huddle spaces and small- to mid-sized meeting rooms.



"Our daily meetings are becoming increasingly virtual, driven by globalization and more flexible work styles," says Theis Mork, Vice President of Product Management - Enterprise Solutions at Sennheiser. "The new SP 30 Speakerphone system enables people to collaborate efficiently and set up conference calls at a moment's notice in any location."



Two noise and echo cancelling microphones with long-range voice pick-up and an ultra-low distortion speaker with clear voice reproduction create an exceptional speech and audio experience for conference calls, music, and multimedia use. If needed, an integrated Voice Assistant is a touch away. The SP 30 and the SP 30 + variant are available from April 15, 2019. Pricing is $209 to $259.



SENNHEISER'S NEW WIRED PREMIUM CENTURY HEADSET WITH ANC AND PROXIMITY SENSOR



The addition of an ANC headset to the top-selling Century Series office headsets allows office workers who spend all day in contact centers and open noisy offices to have greater control over the level of noise pollution throughout their workdays. It's a headset solution for improved comfort and productivity in noisy open work spaces. The new model, Century SC 660 ANC USB, is for customer-centric workers who need a durable wired headset with outstanding sound quality, effective call handling, and excellent comfort.



The ANC feature can be switched on and off via the in-line call control, and the headset's innovative proximity sensor technology allows users to take a call, put it on hold, and resume the call by simply taking the headset on and off. It features thick leatherette ear pads with a high level of comfort and passive noise damping which ultimately enhances the audio music performance. Sennheiser's finely engineered Voice Clarity and the ultra noise-cancelling microphone provide a natural listening experience and impeccable speech output. The new Century ANC costs $249.



"It is crucial to businesses that employees can focus and work efficiently even in busy and noisy office environments," Mork adds. "When using a headset for calls all day, high quality is the keyword. Our new Century ANC headset lives up to a high standard of sound, craftmanship, and user experience. It offers outstanding sound performance and intuitive call handling, and enhances noise reduction, all of which helps to improve both comfort and productivity."



Sennheiser's solutions are built to address challenges in the modern workplace, to help end-users get better ROI from their communications infrastructures. "We believe that seamless collaboration and communication is essential to building strong relationships with colleagues and partners in a modern world. These new solutions deliver functionality that elevates audio beyond being simple peripheral devices in a Unified Communications network," explained Mork. "Our product innovations enable professionals, both mobile and on-site, to lead a more self-determined work life in the future, where audio is a tool that augments their capabilities."



About SENNHEISER COMMUNICATIONS

The company is a powerful joint venture between the German electro acoustics specialist Sennheiser Electronic GmbH & Co. KG and internationally renowned Danish hearing healthcare company William Demant Holding Group. The joint venture draws on the experience of the two parent companies, both of whom are global technology leaders in their respective fields. Established in 2003, Sennheiser Communications A/S has been developing award winning headsets for business professionals and the gaming community from its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. The success builds on more than 150 years of combined sound heritage, the very latest technologies, and most of all, on our team of committed experts and professionals. Sennheiser Communications specializes in combining high-end audio and sound reproduction quality with leading hearing aid and advanced digital signal processing technologies for state-of-the-art communication products for call centers, office applications, as well as headsets for gaming and mobile devices.
Activists are urging China not to repatriate seven North Koreans who were detained in an eastern Chinese province after leaving their homeland. The group, which includes a nine-year-old girl, fled North Korea last month but was detained by Chinese authorities in the northeast province of Liaoning, according to activists.

China regularly sends defectors back to North Korea, where they face punishment including forced labor, imprisonment, torture, or execution. About two dozen activists, including many who also fled North Korea, protested Tuesday in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, urging Beijing to release the group.

The nine-year-old girl's mother, who left North Korea several years ago and now lives in South Korea, also attended the demonstration. "I'm worried about my young daughter and her safety... it's been three years since I've seen my daughter," said the woman, her voice quivering.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, left a message in the Chinese Embassy's mailbox. An activist also shouted into the intercom outside the embassy entrance, but received no response.
Residents in Bayda condemns aggression crimes

[01/May/2019]

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;direction:ltr;unicode-bidi:embed">BAYDA, May 1 (Saba)  Residents and sheikhs of al-Malajam district of Bayda province a protest rally to condemn the crime of woman rape by Saudi-led coalition-hired Sudanese soldiers in Tuhytah area of Hodeidah.

At the rally, the participants stressed to move to foil the aggression coalition heinous crimes and expel invaders.

The tribes denounced the international silence towards the ugly crimes committed by the aggression against the Yemeni people.

The rally affirmed on the ongoing support to the battle fronts with fighters and food convoy to confront the aggression and defend Yemen and its sovereignty.

Ali Ahsan

saba


The Shiv Sena on Wednesday called for a ban on the use of burqa as it threw its weight behind a similar plan being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives. It said that the ban - something similar which the party has proposed in the past -- "has already come in Ravana's (Sri) Lanka, when will it be implemented in Ram's Ayodhya -- this is our question to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi."



"This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security," said the Sena in an editorial in the party mouthpieces, "Saamana" and "Dopahar Ka Saamana".



It said "no Mahatma Phules or Shahu Maharajs" were born among the Muslims nor were allowed to become, which has worked to the advantage of whimsical elements like Shahabuddin, Azam Khan, Owaisi brothers and Abu Asim Azmi.



If such religious practices or traditions interfere with national security, then it must be ended immediately, and "Modi will have to do it now".



"This work will require as much daring as a 'surgical strike.' The Sri Lankan President had done it by overnight banning burqa or veils or face-covers of any types in all public places. This is a work of great courage and restraint exhibited by (Sri Lanka) President Maithripala Sirisena," lauded the Sena.



It accused that many Muslims have not understood the true meaning of their religion (Islam) and they have confused it with traditions and customs like burqa, polygamy, triple talaq and resistance to family planning, the edit added.



"When any voice is raised against these practices, immediately there are cries of 'Islam is in danger', and it seems religion takes precedence over nationalism among Muslims. Muslim women have been sporting burqas/veils under the wrong impression that it is a Quranic tenet," the Sena said.



It pointed out that there have been bans on both burqas for women and beards for men even in Muslim countries like Turkey in the past, especially when Kamal Pasha suspected that these were being misused for carrying out anti-national activities, "proving (burqa-beard) are basically not linked with Islam".



The Sena said the country (Sri Lanka) which has just been liberated from the LTTE's terror is now in the grip of Islamic terror like India, and others like the UK, France, New Zealand.



But it lamented that the kind of tough measures being adopted by other countries were still lacking here especially since areas like Jammu and Kashmir were being destroyed by the same Islamic terrorists.






Prime Minister Narendra Modi (file photo) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday greeted the people of Gujarat and Maharashtra on their state foundation days. In a series of tweets, he also listed the characteristics of the people belonging to the state.



"Best wishes to the people of Gujarat on Gujarat Diwas. In all spheres, people from the state have made outstanding contributions. Gujaratis are known for their courage, innovation and spirit of enterprise. May Gujarat scale new heights of glory," wrote Modi, who also hails from the state.



"Greetings to my sisters and brothers of Maharashtra on the state's Foundation Day. Maharashtra is a land of revolutionaries and reformers who have enriched India's progress. Praying for the continued growth of the state in the times to come," he added.



Both the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra were formed after the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 was enacted by Parliament on 25 April 1960. The act came into effect on 1 May 1960.




Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that it was a proud day for India after the United Nations (UN) declared Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday declared Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist, a move that was being blocked by China for nearly 10 years.



"This is the result of the joint efforts of 130 crore Indians," Modi said while addressing an election rally here.



"The international community stood beside India in its fight against terror. Hence I thank the international community on behalf of 130 crore Indians," Modi said.





The decision of the UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee came about two-and-a-half months after the JeM carried out the ghastly terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama which killed 40 CRPF personnel.



Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said, "It seems I share a strong bond with Rajasthan, the land of warriors. Today I have come here with a good news. Right now I received a report from New York that the UN has declared Jem chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist."



The Prime Minister added that the diplomatic victory for India was being watched by the entire world. "When we were trying to get Masood Azhar branded as a global terrorist, the "Namdaars" were making a mockery of our efforts. Today I want to tell them that this is not Modi's success, but it is the success of 130 crore indians," Modi said.



Modi also said that India was trying to completely uproot terrorism from the country. "There was a time when India had a remote control government. In those days, even the Prime Minister's voice was not heard by the government. But today the country is witnessing how the voice of 130 crore people is roaring across the world.



"The entire world now listens to what India says. This has been proven today, and I want to say that this is just the beginning. Wait and see what comes next," Modi said, adding that India's policy was clear now, which was, "if they shoot, we shoot."



"This country trusts its 'chowkidar'. Today I have come to the land of brave soldiers and I would like to tell everyone that this is new India. We will eneter the terrorists' homes and eliminate them if the country faces threat from them. This is called a "damdaaar sarkar" (strong government)," Modi said.
Venezuela's socialist government said Tuesday that an "attempted coup" was underway in Caracas, with opposition leader and U.S. recognized interim president Juan Guaido saying there was "no turning back" in his efforts to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital, with gunfire erupting and troops loyal to Maduro firing water cannons at protesters. Television footage showed one Venezuela National Guard vehicle running over demonstrators who were throwing rocks at the military.

In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter he was "very closely" monitoring the situation, adding, "The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!"

Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton described the unfolding drama as "a very serious situation... a very delicate moment." He called on top Venezuelan officials, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, to convince military commanders to defect to Guaido. "We want a peaceful transition of power," Bolton said.

In video and Twitter messages, the U.S.-supported Guaido said, "Today brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men supporting the constitution have answered our call." He declared, "The moment is now! The 24 states of the country have taken the path, no turning back, the future is ours. People and the Armed Forces united by the cessation of usurpation."

But Maduro responded on Twitter, saying, "Nerves of Steel! I have spoken with the commanders of all the [defense regions and operational zones], who have expressed their total loyalty to the People, the Constitution and the Fatherland. I call for the maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of Peace. We will overcome!"
In a huge diplomatic victory for India and a blow to Pakistan, the UN Security Council on Wednesday declared Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a move that was being blocked by China for nearly 10 years.

Soon after the sanctions committee that deals with Al Qaida and its affiliates voted on Pakistan-based Azhar's designation placing him under stringent sanctions that includes a freeze on his assets and travel restrictions, Pakistan announced it would comply with the mandate.



The decision of the UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee came about two and a half months after the JeM carried out the ghastly terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama killing 40 CRPF personnel, an incident which, however, did not find a mention in the resolution adopted.





India welcomed the decision - which comes while the country is in the middle of the general election - saying it was a "step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers".



External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the action is "in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities" of Azhar and the JeM.



"India stands vindicated", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted, adding: "... This marks a high point for the Prime Minister's (Narendra Modi's) foreign policy".



China had been blocking Azhar's listing despite a strong push by the US, UK and France, saying it did not have enough evidence to brand Masood an international terrorist. It had put a "technical hold" on the proposal four times, the latest being in March.



After the resolution was adopted, China said it ended its objection after India shared fresh evidence.



"After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, Chine does not have an objection to the listing proposal," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.



In a sop to Pakistan, spokesman Geng Shuang added that the international community should recognise that "Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism".



An Indian government official on condition of anonymity, said: "It (defending Azhar) was increasingly becoming untenable for the Chinese."



In Islamabad, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said that his country "will immediately enforce the sanctions", which entails "a ban on foreign travel, asset freeze and arms embargo", according to Dawn newspaper online.



According to it, Faisal said that a consensus was reached - meaning in effect that China agreed to the proposal - after "political references" and mention of the Pulwama attack were removed from it.



This could not be independently verified as the negotiations took place secretly.



The Committee said Azhar was sanctioned pursuant to him being "associated with Al-Qaida".



It noted that Azhar had founded the JeM upon his release from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Afghanistan.



Azhar has also financially supported the JeM since its founding, the committee said while giving reasoning for the action.



It also pointed out that the UN Security Council had listed the JeM on October 17, 2001, as being associated with Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to" or "otherwise supporting acts or activities of" Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.



Azhar is also "a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat ul-Mujahidin /HuM, aka Harakat ul-Ansar; most of these groups' members subsequently joined JEM under Azhar's leadership", it said.



"In 2008, JeM recruitment posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces," the statement said.



India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said the development was a "significant outcome" for India "because we have been at it for several years", noting that the first attempt in this regard was made in 2009 and the "goal stands achieved".



Akbaruddin expressed gratitude to "the many many countries which were supportive of this effort, that is, the USA, UK and France" and "several countries within the (UN Security) Council and outside the Council who came forward without any restraints and supported this Indian effort and not tolerating a terrorist".



An Indian official, on condition of anonymity, explained that "to say that Beijing blacklisted Azhar under US pressure was not the only factor. But the Americans going about the 1267 Committee and circulating their own draft at the UN Security Council would have surely concerned the Chinese".



"At the Security Council, the Chinese would have had to explain its position if they vetoed the resolution which is not the case at the 1267 Committee."



China had indicated on Tuesday that it would no more block the resolution, which was initially moved by India, as the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng said the "relevant consultations" at the Sanctions Committee had made "some progress" and the issue would be "properly resolved".



JeM has carried out umpteen terror attacks in India, including the one on Parliament on December 13, 2001.



The latest outrageous action by the outfit was in Pulwama on February 14, when a suicide bomber of JeM rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, killing 40 security personnel.



France, which had been vigorously pushing for listing of Azhar, immediately welcomed the decision of the 1267 Sanctions Committee, saying it signals the "successful realization" of its efforts.



A statement issued by the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said for many years now, French diplomacy has been "relentlessly pleading" for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February".
Selbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- Aftermarket aircraft soft goods market segment will register strong growth with replacement of damaged goods and airplane refurbishment activities. OEM market will register 3% during the forecast period owing to its installation during airplane fabrication. Long term collaborations with manufacturers such as Bombardier, Boeing, and Airbus to ensure continuous product supply will escalate industry revenue from 2018 to 2024.



Upgradation in airliner interiors to improve aesthetics and enhance passenger comfort level will fuel aircraft soft goods market over the forecast period. Adoption of soft goods to reduce noise and vibration during flight will further drive its consumption in airplanes. Continuous OEM and aftermarket initiatives to develop lightweight interior products are boosting the industry growth.



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Airplane manufacturers have backlog of around 17,000 airplanes requiring over 9 years to suffice the demand. Rising airplane production will boost aircraft soft goods market share till 2024. Rising disposable income has increased air passengers resulting in augmentation of domestic and international fleet, thereby accelerating demand for seat covers, carpets, and curtains.



Manufacturers such as Bombardier and Boeing are adopting new materials to reduce weight and cost of products. Advent of materials such as nylon fabrics provide higher comfort as compared to traditional goods and replacement with synthetic leather will improve aircraft soft goods market share over the forecast period.



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Commercial aircraft soft goods market share accounts for over 85% of total revenue owing to continuously increasing air passenger traffic. In 2018, air passengers traffic registered an increase of 6% and rose to 4.3 billion from 4.1 billion in 2017. Government bodies including International Air Transport Association (IATA) addresses passenger safety, thereby boosting industry growth.



Seat cover will register robust growth during forecast timeline with increasing passengers, upgradation of seat, and armrest covers in airplanes. Requirement in executive cabins in conjunction with discretionary spending for retrofit will spur aircraft soft goods market.



Nylon blend fabric aircraft soft goods industry share will account for over 70% by 2024 owing to superior material properties including insulation, water & wrinkle resistance, and higher durability. Nylon fabrics are blended with materials such as polyester to enhance passenger comfort and elasticity cover.



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Leather materials have significant share with puncture and tear resistance; however, low wear and cost will help synthetic leather material to grow at faster pace. Polyester aircraft soft goods market will foresee healthy growth owing to chemical resistance and high durability.



North America led by the U.S. accounts for major share owing to presence of airplane manufacturers such as Bombardier and Boeing. Asia Pacific aircraft soft goods industry will register sturdy growth with increasing passenger traffic and commercial airplane industry.



Aircraft soft goods market players include Aero Floor, Anker Company, Aero Foams Tapis Corporation, Aircraft Interior Products, Spectra Interiors, Aircraft Interior Sol, RAMM Aerospace, Botany Weaving Mills, Mohawk Group, Desso, Lantal Textile, Fellfab, InTech Aerospace, E-Leather, and F-list. Industry players are enhancing product landscape to increase their share.



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New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/30/2019 -- The automotive brake system market is projected to witness a significant growth during the time of given forecast period due the automotive industry is predicted to have a very bright future in the coming years in both emerging and developed economies. Increasing concerns about the safety have enforced governments all across to lay to strict guidelines associated with safety vehicular norms is also expected to drive the growth of the market. Ever growing population coupled with changing standards of living in the middle class with an increasing spending power have made it comparatively easy to own personal vehicles in the developing countries. A higher requirement for passenger cars is naturally advantageous for the global automotive brake system market. In addition to this, the concerns over the safety of customers, the governments all across the globe have imposed strict regulations related to the safety of the vehicle and mandates to enhance the overall efficiency and safety of the vehicles. Moreover, new advancements in technology such as ABS and regenerative braking are also expected to fuel the all-round development of the global automotive brake system market.



The overall growth of the global automotive brake system is expected to be achieved with the help of an impressive CAGR of 5.7% over the course of the given forecast period of 2017 to 2022. The overall valuation of the global automotive brake system market is expected to reach a figure worth US$25 bn by the end of the given forecast period.



In terms of types of brakes the global market for automotive can be segmented into drum brakes and disc brakes. The segment of disc brakes has relatively larger share in the global automotive brake system market in the years 2017 and is estimated to reach an overall valuation of US$14 billion over the course of the given forecast period of 2017 to 2022. Nonetheless, the growth rate for the segment of drum brakes is expected to be on the rise in the coming years. The key shareholders of the global market for automotive brake system are advised to consider this possibility while devising strategies for long term. Europe accounts for the biggest contribution from a regional standpoint in the segment of drum brakes and the players in the market are advised to concentrate their efforts on this continent with lucrative opportunities for a good return on their investments.



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The segment of OEM has a revenue share of nearly fourth-fifth in terms of sales channel in the global market for automotive brake systems and is well placed to leverage the market conditions in the coming years of the forecast period. Thus, it is vital segment that the players in the global market cannot afford to avoid. The OEM segment is projected to experience an impressive CAGR of 5.5% over the course of the given forecast period of 2017 to 2022. The aftermarket sector is comparatively much smaller and consists the share of balance revenue in the global automotive brake systems market by the segment of sales channel. Along with the market in Europe, the key players in the global market should try to focus on Asia Pacific except Japan or North America, as both the regions are evaluated to have overall market valuations worth billions of dollars by the end of the given forecast period.



Some of the key players in the global market for automotive brake system include names such as ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Wabco Holdings Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH, Mando Corporation, Continental AG, Knorr-Bremse AG, Brembo SpA, Akebono Brake Industry, and Aisin Seiki among others.



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Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- HTF MI recently Announced Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems study with 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed TOC on "Global (, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems. Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems research allows you to get different methods for maximizing your profit. The research study provides estimates for Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems Forecast till 2025*. Some of the Leading key Company's Covered for this Research are Bendix CVS, Delphi Automotive LLP, Denso, Ficosa International, S.A., Freescale Semiconductor, Navteq, Valeo SA, Visteon Corporation, CTS Corporation, Gentex, Harman, Magna International Inc., Mando, Mobileye, Omron Corporation & Tung Thih Electronic.



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Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems Research for a Leading company is an intelligent process of gathering and analyzing the numerical data related to services and products. This Research Give idea to aims at your targeted customer's understanding, needs and wants. Also, reveals how effectively a company can meet their requirements. The market research collects data about the customers, marketing strategy, competitors. The Global (, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems Manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly dynamic and innovative, with more number of private players entering the industry.



Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report:



1) Who are the Leading Key Company in Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems market space?



Following are list of players that are currently profiled in the report "Bendix CVS, Delphi Automotive LLP, Denso, Ficosa International, S.A., Freescale Semiconductor, Navteq, Valeo SA, Visteon Corporation, CTS Corporation, Gentex, Harman, Magna International Inc., Mando, Mobileye, Omron Corporation & Tung Thih Electronic"



** List of companies mentioned may vary in the final report subject to Name Change / Merger etc.

2) What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be?

In 2019, the Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems market size was xx million USD and it is expected to reach USD xx million by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025.



3) What are the Market Applications & Types:



The study is segmented by following Product Type: , Adaptive cruise control, Blind spot detection systems, Head-up display & Lane departure warning systems



Major applications/end-users industry are: Light Truck, Heavy Truck, Passenger Car & Others



**The market is valued based on weighted average selling price (WASP) and includes any applicable taxes on manufacturers. All currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been calculated using constant annual average 2018 currency rates.



To comprehend Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Global (, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems market is analyzed across major regions. HTF MI also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas.



- North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico.

- South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.

- Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa.

- Europe: UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Russia.

- Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia.

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Competitive Analysis:

The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as Bendix CVS, Delphi Automotive LLP, Denso, Ficosa International, S.A., Freescale Semiconductor, Navteq, Valeo SA, Visteon Corporation, CTS Corporation, Gentex, Harman, Magna International Inc., Mando, Mobileye, Omron Corporation & Tung Thih Electronic includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc.

Research Parameter/ Research Methodology



Primary Research:

The primary sources involves the industry experts from the Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems industry including the management organizations, processing organizations, analytics service providers of the industry's value chain. All primary sources were interviewed to gather and authenticate qualitative & quantitative information and determine the future prospects.



In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources  industry experts such as CEOs, vice presidents, marketing director, technology & innovation directors, founders and related key executives from various key companies and organizations in the Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems in the industry have been interviewed to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study.



Secondary Research:

In the Secondary research crucial information about the industries value chain, total pool of key players, and application areas. It also assisted in market segmentation according to industry trends to the bottom-most level, geographical markets and key developments from both market and technology oriented perspectives.



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In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2018

Base Year: 2018

Estimated Year: 2019

Forecast Year 2019 to 2025



Key Stakeholders in Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems Market:

Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems Manufacturers

Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers

Global (United States, European Union and China) Automotive Driver Assistance Systems Subcomponent Manufacturers

Industry Association

Downstream Vendors



**Actual Numbers & In-Depth Analysis, Business opportunities, Market Size Estimation Available in Full Report.



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Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- According to the new market research report "Cell Expansion Market by Product (Reagent, Media, Flow Cytometer, Centrifuge, Bioreactor), Cell Type (Human, Animal), Application (Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research, Cancer & Cell-based Research), End User, and Region - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets



Growth in this market is largely driven by the increasing incidence of chronic diseases, government investments for cell-based research, growing focus on personalized medicine, increasing focus on R&D for cell-based therapies, and increasing GMP certifications for cell therapy production facilities.



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The media segment accounted for the largest share of the consumables segment in the Cell Expansion Market in 2018.



On the basis of product type, the consumables market is segmented into media, reagents, sera, and disposables. In 2018, the media segment accounted for the largest share of the consumables segment in the Cell Expansion Market. The large share of this segment can be attributed to its high requirement during the production of pharmaceutical products and rising R&D investments on cell-based therapies.



Browse and in-depth TOC on "Cell Expansion Market"



192 - Tables

35 - Figures

171 - Pages



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Increasing production of regenerative medicine in biotechnology & biopharmaceutical companies.



Based on end users, the Cell Expansion Market has been segmented into research institutes, biotechnology & biopharmaceutical companies, cell banks, and other end users (includes hospitals, diagnostic centers, and laboratories). In 2018, biotechnology & biopharmaceutical companies were the largest end users in the Cell Expansion Market, and the trend is the same throughout the forecast period.



Increasing production of regenerative medicine and rising awareness regarding advanced treatment methods such as personalized medicines and other cell-based therapies are the major driving factors for this segment.



North America accounted for the largest share of the Cell Expansion Market in 2018.



North America accounted for the largest share of the Cell Expansion Market in 2018. The large share of this segment can primarily be attributed to the rising incidence of cancer, increasing government funding, rising research activates on stem cell therapies, growing awareness regarding advanced treatment methods, growing geriatric population, and the strong presence of industry players in the region.



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Some of the leading players in the Cell Expansion Market include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), Becton, Dickinson and Company (US), Terumo BCT (Japan), Merck KGaA (Germany), Danaher Corporation (US), Miltenyi Biotec (Germany), Lonza Group Ltd. (Switzerland), STEMCELL Technologies Inc. (Canada), GE Healthcare (US), and Corning, Inc. (US).



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.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The growing ubiquity of smartphones has radically increased data consumption in the recent past and thereby escalated the need for stronger networks. According to a recent business intelligence report by Transparency Market Research, the players operating in the global cloud radio access network market will have strong new opportunities to replace the conventional RAN architecture with cloud-RAN in order to meet consumer demands. For instance, in November 2017, Ericsson, a Sweden-based telecommunication company, declared in its mobility report that North America owns the highest share of LTE subscriptions (nearly 80%) and some of the leading operators in the region have started their expansion in pre-standardized 5G in 2017.



Over in the emerging economies of Asia Pacific, similar strategic alliances are being observed to upgrade the services offered by both the parties. For example, in January 2017, Ericsson signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China Mobile Research Institute (CMRI), which is a research division of China Mobile. The MOU involves collaborative research and development on Cloud RAN with an aim to deploy new services based on this technology. The report identifies and profiles some of the other notable companies in the global cloud radio access network market, such as Hitachi Data Systems Ltd., Intel Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Telco Systems, Actix International Limited, Aricent Inc., Ceragon Networks Ltd., Cisco Systems, Inc., Nokia Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., and ZTE Corporation.



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If the projections of the TMR report are to be believed, the demand in the global cloud radio access network market will expand at a formidable CAGR of 10.9% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025. The analysts of the report have evaluated that the opportunities in the global C-RAN market translated into a revenue of US$814.8 mn in 2017 and have estimated it to swell up to US$1,870.8 mn by the end of 2025. Among various components pertaining to this market, remote radio units have been anticipated to provide for the maximum demand where services segment is also gaining traction. Application-wise, large public venues is the most profitable category. Geographically, North America is a highly lucrative region, promising to provide for a demand worth of US$781.6 mn by 2025.



On the back of growing inclination of consumers towards video content, that too on the move, the demand for 4G and 5G access is escalating and providing the strongest traction to the global cloud radio access network market. In addition to that, the ability of these components to provide for energy efficiency and reduce power cost are some of the other factors expected to reflect positively, prompting network operators to upgrade from their conventional RANs. On the other hand, need to comply with governance and security standards, issues pertaining to Bbu cooperation and cell clustering, and the need for high fronthaul capacities are some of the restraints obstructing the market from attaining its true potential. Nevertheless, the analysts of the report have highlighted that increasing adoption of cloud technology and consistent innovations by the telecom operators will open new revenue avenues in the global cloud-RAN market in the near future.



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RTHK: Clashes in Paris as tens of thousands mark May Day

Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hardline demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded parts of the city on Wednesday in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence.

Tensions were palpable as a mix of labour unionists, "yellow vest" demonstrators and anti-capitalists gathered in the French capital, putting security forces on high alert.

More than 7,400 police were out on the streets with orders from President Emmanuel Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" if faced with violence.

The clashes kicked off as crowds gathered on Montparnasse Boulevard, with hundreds of black-clad anarchists weaving their way to the front as thousands of unionists and yellow vests were quietly munching their lunch in the sun.

Suddenly they pounced, hurling bottles and chunks of broken paving stones at the security forces, shouting: "Everyone hates the police!"

Clouds of teargas wafted into the air as the police hit back immediately, charging at the rioters and throwing stingball grenades to break up the crowd in clashes that lasted over an hour.

But the initial violence and the sporadic clashes that followed fell short of the "apocalypse" threatened by hardliners, with the security forces heading off some of the excesses seen in recent months.

Authorities had warned this year's marches would likely spell trouble, coming barely a week after leaders of the yellow vest anti-government movement angrily dismissed Macron's offer of tax cuts.

Some 40,000 people turned out for the May Day rallies in Paris, an independent media count estimated, while unions gave a figure of 80,000 and the interior ministry put the number at 28,000.

Ministry figures for the whole country gave a turnout of 164,000 people, while France's powerful CGT union gave a figure of 310,000 at events in some 250 towns and cities.

The sudden violence caught many marchers by surprise, with union members who were caught in the crossfire infuriated by what they claimed was an indiscriminate police crackdown.

"I've never seen anything like it, not even in '68," said one union member with tears in his eyes, referring to the momentous student-led protests in Paris that took place that year.

"It was outrageous."

Caught up in the melee was top CGT official Philippe Martinez who had been waiting at the head of the march where the clashes took place.

Forced to leave the area, he later returned, visibly agitated, with sharp words of criticism for the police whom he accused of attacking "clearly-identifiable union members".

After the initial scuffles, a sense of relative calm returned as the main procession got underway.

But things degenerated again towards the end as the marchers reached Place d'Italie where the black-clad agitators tried to knock down anti-riot barriers, prompting running battles with the police as the skies quickly filled with tear gas.

In the surrounding streets, some torched dustbins, while others pried the protective chipboard coverings from shop fronts and set them alight, sending black smoke pouring into the air.

Interior ministry figures showed 24 demonstrators were lightly injured along with 14 members of the security forces, while 380 people were detained for questioning of which 330 were in Paris.

Also injured was a woman journalist with Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, who said police had hit her face and arm with a truncheon despite the fact she was wearing a helmet and an armband clearly marking her as press.

The Russian foreign ministry described the incident as "unacceptable", urging France to conduct a "meticulous investigation".

Since November, the city has struggled to cope with the weekly yellow vest protests, which have often descended into chaos with a violent minority smashing up and torching shops, restaurants and newspaper stands.

France's powerful labour unions had hoped to use the traditional May Day march for workers' rights to raise their profile after finding themselves sidelined for months by the grass-roots yellow vest movement.

Elsewhere, Turkish police arrested 127 people as they sought to hold a May Day rally in an Istanbul square in defiance of a ban, while in Saint Petersburg, police detained more than 60 people after they chanted slogans against President Vladimir Putin.

And in Manila, some 8,000 protesters torched a giant effigy of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte over his policies' impact on the nation's poor.

But all eyes were on Venezuela, where opposition leader Juan Guaido has called for huge May Day protests to up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro after calling on the military to rise up against him.

As the crisis deepened, Washington said it was ready to intervene militarily "if that's what's required". (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
"We like the current emperor. He has worked hard for the people, he is very thoughtful, and kind to everyone," said her husband, Kaname. The couple came from Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital where emperors lived until about 150 years ago.

Many people gathered outside the palace compound hours before the abdication ceremony despite unseasonably wet and cold weather, and even though they are not allowed to look inside."We came because today is the last day of [the emperor's era of] Heisei, and we feel nostalgic," said Akemi Yamauchi, 55, standing outside the palace with her husband.

In a separate ceremony he will receive the imperial regalia of sword and jewel as well as imperial seals as proof of his succession as the nation's 126th emperor, according to the official palace count, which historians say could include mythical figures until around the 5th century.

His reign runs through midnight, when his son Crown Prince Naruhito becomes the new emperor and his era begins. Naruhito will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne on Wednesday.

"Since ascending the throne 30 years ago, I have performed my duties as the emperor with a deep sense of trust in and respect for the people, and I consider myself most fortunate to have been able to do so. I sincerely thank the people who accepted and supported me in my role as the symbol of the state," Akihito said in his last official duty as emperor.

Japanese Emperor Akihito announced his abdication at a palace ceremony Tuesday in his final address, as the nation embraced the end of his reign with reminiscence and hope for a new era. "Today, I am concluding my duties as the emperor," Akihito said as he stood in front of the throne, as other members of the royal family and top government officials watched.

Messages have come from global leaders. Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed gratitude in a letter to Akihito for his emphasis on peace and contributions to developing relations between Seoul and Tokyo. U.S. President Donald Trump expressed "appreciation" for his contribution to the two countries' close relations. Trump had a courtesy meeting with Akihito during his 2017 Japan visit and will be the first foreign leader in May to meet the new emperor.

Japanese television talk shows displayed a countdown to the midnight transition, and programming was dominated by the abdication and looking back at major events in Akihito's era, including the 2011 tsunami, a deadly earthquake in Kobe in 1995, and the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack in 1995 that shook Japan's sense of safety and confidence. Security was extremely tight around the palace and across downtown Tokyo with thousands of police mobilized. Police arrested a man on Monday night on suspicion of placing a pair of kitchen knives last week on the school desk used by Akihito's grandson.

Akihito, 85, took the throne in 1989 and devoted his career to making amends for a war fought in his father's name while bringing the aloof monarchy closer to the people. With his commoner-born wife, Empress Michiko, he reached out to the people, especially those who faced handicaps and discrimination, as well as those hit by disasters, illuminating the hardships of people often overlooked by society.

Akihito was the first emperor to marry a commoner, one of many changes he brought to the palace. The couple also chose to raise their three children instead of leaving them with palace staff, and decided to be cremated upon their deaths in a smaller tomb side by side, also a tradition-breaking step.

Jeff Kingston, Asian studies director at Temple University, Japan Campus, says Akihito has served Japan's "chief emissary of reconciliation," while acting as "consoler in chief" in reaching out to the people. Akihito was also a "strong advocate of the vulnerable and the marginalized in the Japanese society," he said. "I think the people really warmed to him and felt that the monarchy was relevant to their lives because of these efforts by Akihito."

Recent media surveys have shown public support for the imperial family at 80%, the highest ever for the institution. Such respect did not come overnight. Akihito grew up during World War II and was 11 when his father Hirohito announced the end of the war on radio.

Akihito embraced his role as peacemaker and often represented his father on reconciliatory missions as young crown prince, decades before he became the emperor himself. He is the first emperor in Japan's modern history whose era did not have a war. Though he has avoided outright apologies, he has stepped up his expressions of regret in carefully scripted statements on the war. Akihito visited China in 1992 and offered what was considered the strongest expression of regret over the war. He has also visited the Philippines and other Pacific islands conquered by Japan that were devastated in fierce fighting as the U.S.-led allies took them back.

That leaves his son Naruhito -- the first emperor born after the World War II -- largely free of the burden of wartime legacy, allowing him to seek his own role. Naruhito has said he would largely emulate his father's pacifist stance and compassion for the people, but also said he hopes to seek a role of his own, possibly in issues related to water, which he studied Oxford University in the early 1980s. That, or disaster resilience, or environment, could appeal more to his people who are predominantly from postwar generations.

Akihito will be known as the emperor emeritus and will no longer have official duties after he abdicates. He won't even attend his son's succession rituals so as not to interfere with the serving emperor.

Akihito is expected to enjoy his retirement, going to museums and concerts, or spending time on his goby research at a seaside Imperial villa. Akihito and Michiko will move to a temporary royal residence before eventually switching places with Naruhito.
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- Cogeneration (also known as combined heat and power systems (CHP)) is a cluster of technologies primarily used for the concurrent generation of electricity and useful heat. This combined generation of heat and electricity is much more effective than separate generation of electricity and useful heat in a way that CHP systems offers improved energy efficiency, reduced managing cost, low CO2 emission and others. Growing data center capacity as business operate more processes, handle complex analytics with increasing storage requirements for customer data and employing rich media. Handling of such large data requires continuous supply of reliable power making cogeneration systems of primary importance. Efficiency level for cogeneration systems can reach up to 80 % against separate generation of heat and electricity which provides combined efficiency of 40-50 %. CHP systems for data centers are gaining traction in the market as using such plants as source of data center power leads to energy efficient and substantial cost reduction benefits. However, another technology commercially available for powering data centers includes fuel cells. Although CHP systems are less efficient than fuel cells but requires lesser fuel to generate the same amount of power and has a win when its ability to supply chilled water is factored. Some of the major benefits offered utilizing CHP systems for data centers are limited reliance over external power supply, increased energy efficiency, low site carbon emission and others.



Global CHP System market for Data Centre: MarketDynamics



Regions with high electricity cost are readily adopting CHP systems primarily to save on their energy cost to provide base load power and using such systems to provide absorption cooling for the facility. Moreover, government initiatives to install CHP systems in data center facilities due to low CO2 emissions is also expected to increase its adoption rate thereby increasing the adoption of CHP system in data centers.



Low economic life of data center IT equipment results in consumer reluctance towards adoption of CHP systems for data centers since these systems have equipment life of around 10-15 years in comparison to economic life of IT equipment which is only 2-3 years.



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Global CHP System market for Data Centre: Segmentation



The global CHP system market for data center can be segmented on the basis of data center types, facility size, installation type and region. By Data center types the market can be segmented into Telecoms, ISP's (internet Service Provider), CoLos (Co-located server hosting facilities), server farms, corporate data centers, university/ national laboratory and others. Based on facility the market can be segmented into less than 200 sq.ft, 200-700 sq.ft, 700-1,200 sq.ft, 1,200-6,000 sq.ft and more than 6,000 sq.ft. Based on installation type global cogeneration systems market for data center can be segmented into newly installed systems and retrofit systems. By region global CHP system market for data centers can be segmented into seven key regions namely North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East and Africa and Japan.



Global CHP System market for Data Centre: Key Players



Some of the major players identified across CHP system market for data center includes ENER-G, Korea Electric Power Corporation, National Grid plc, Exelon Corporation, NextEra Energy, Inc., Chubu Electric Power Company, American Electric Power Company, Inc. and others.



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Selbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The analysts forecast the global endotracheal tube market to exhibit a CAGR of 5.8% during the period 2019-2024. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global endotracheal tube for 2019-2024. To calculate the market size, the report considers the endotracheal tube sales volume and revenue.



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The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: regional markets, types, and applications.



Geographically, the global endotracheal tube market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa and South America. This report forecasts revenue growth at a global, regional & country level, and provides an analysis of the market trends in each of the sub-segments from 2019 to 2024.

- North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico, etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.)

- Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, etc.)

- Middle East & Africa (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, UAE, Israel, South Africa, etc.)

- South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, etc.)



On the basis of type, the global endotracheal tube market is segmented into:

- Cuffed Endotracheal Tube

- Uncuffed Endotracheal Tube



Based on application, the endotracheal tube market is segmented into:

- Hospital & Clinics

- Ambulatory Surgical Centers



The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Some of the leading players in the global endotracheal tube market are:

- C. R. Bard, Inc. (subsidiary of Becton, Dickinson and Company)

- ConvaTe

- Fuji Systems Corporation

- Medtronic plc

- Parker Medical, Inc.

- Smiths Medical, Inc.

- Teleflex Incorporated

- Vyaire Medical, Inc.

- Well Lead Medical Co., Ltd.

- request free sample to get a complete list of companies



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Objective of the study:

- To analyze and forecast the market size of global endotracheal tube market.

- To classify and forecast global endotracheal tube market based on product type, application and region.

- To identify drivers and challenges for global endotracheal tube market.

- To examine competitive developments such as expansions, mergers & acquisitions, etc., in global endotracheal tube market.

- To conduct pricing analysis for global endotracheal tube market.

- To identify and analyze the profile of leading players operating in global endotracheal tube market.



The report is useful in providing answers to several critical questions that are important for the industry stakeholders such as manufacturers and partners, end users, etc., besides allowing them in strategizing investments and capitalizing on market opportunities. Key target audience are:

- Manufacturers of endotracheal tube

- Raw material suppliers

- Market research and consulting firms

- Government bodies such as regulating authorities and policy makers

- Organizations, forums and alliances related to endotracheal tube



Table of Contents:

1. Summary

2. List of Abbreviations

3. Scope of the Report

4. Market Research Methodology

5. Introduction

5.1 Overview

5.2 Value Chain

6. Market Landscape

6.1 Market Size and Forecast

7. Market Segmentation by Product

7.1 Global Endotracheal Tube Market by Product 2014-2024

7.2 Global Cuffed Endotracheal Tube Market

7.3 Global Uncuffed Endotracheal Tube Market

8. Market Segmentation by End-users

8.1 Global Endotracheal Tube Market by End-users 2014-2024

8.2 Global Endotracheal Tube Market by Hospital & Clinics Segment

8.3 Global Endotracheal Tube Market by Ambulatory Surgical Centers Segment

9. Drivers & Challenges

9.1 Market Growth Drivers

9.2 Market Challenges

9.3 Market Trends

10. Endotracheal Tube Market in North America

10.1 Market Size and Forecast

10.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

10.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

11. Endotracheal Tube Market in Europe

11.1 Market Size and Forecast

11.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

11.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

12. Endotracheal Tube Market in Asia-Pacific

12.1 Market Size and Forecast

12.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

12.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

13. Endotracheal Tube Market in MEA

13.1 Market Size and Forecast

13.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

13.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

14. Endotracheal Tube Market in South America

14.1 Market Size and Forecast

14.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

14.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

15. Key Vendor Analysis



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Related Report:



Global (United States, European Union and China) Endotracheal Tube Market Research Report 2019-2025



In 2019, the market size of Endotracheal Tube is million US$ and it will reach million US$ in 2025, growing at a CAGR of from 2019; while in China, the market size is valued at xx million US$ and will increase to xx million US$ in 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during forecast period.

In this report, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Endotracheal Tube.



https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-united-states-european-union-and-china-endotracheal-tube-market-research-report-2019-2025?utm_source=marketwatch.comRR-SP



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The global automotive coatings market was valued at US$ 19.53 Bn in 2017 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 6.28% from 2018 to 2026, according to a new report titled 'Automotive Coatings Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20182026,' published by Transparency Market Research (TMR). The global automotive coatings market is driven by the rise in demand for these coatings in the automotive OEM segment. Asia Pacific accounts for major share of the global automotive coatings market, led by the increase in automotive production in the region.`



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Increase in Automobile Production, Especially in Asia Pacific, to Boost Automotive Coatings Market



Rise in urbanization and increase in purchasing power are boosting the demand for automobiles. New vehicle sales and number of on-road vehicles are increasing in regions such as Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. This is propelling the demand for automotive coatings in these regions. Asia Pacific has become a hub for automotive manufacturing. India, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia are some of the major countries in the global automobile production landscape. China is the leading producer of automobiles in the world. Production of automobile in India is increasing at a rapid pace. These factors are projected to drive the demand for automotive coatings in Asia Pacific during the forecast period.



Rise in Consumer Preference for Esthetically Appealing Vehicles



Esthetic appeal, scratch resistance, and durable finish are some of the features of automotive coatings that are influencing vehicle-buying decision of consumers. Buyers are increasingly looking for colors and textures that enhance the esthetic appeal of vehicles. These developments have put clear coat in focus. Clear coat is an exterior coat applied on the automotive body. Rise in disposable income of consumers and increase in GDP of developing countries such as India and China are factors augmenting the automotive coatings market.



Strict Norms Regarding VOC Emissions, Especially in Europe, Hampering Market



Solvent-borne automotive coatings are formulated by using a solvent and base resin. Upon application of this coating, the solvent material evaporates. Solvents contain significant amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are toxic and responsible for formation of ozone. Ozone at the ground level is a pollutant and can cause breathing issues. The use of solvent-based automotive coatings leads to deterioration of air quality. Its long-term harmful effects on human health are leading to implementation of strict norms on the usage of solvent-based coatings. Agencies and associations in the U.S. and Europe such as the EPA (Environment Protection Agency) and REACH (Registration Evaluation Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) have enacted stringent rules pertaining to VOC emissions. An apparent shift from solvent-based to water-based coatings has taken place in Europe and North America.



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Polyurethane Segment to Dominate Global Automotive Coatings Market



Based on product type, the global automotive coatings market has been segmented into polyurethane, epoxy, acrylic, and others. Polyurethane is the dominant segment of the automotive coatings market, as it provides resistance against corrosion and abrasion. Coatings made from polyurethane are extensively used in automotive clear coats due to their shiny appearance. They can be applied as water-borne and solvent-borne formulations. Thus, the polyurethane segment is estimated to maintain its dominance in the market during the forecast period. The acrylic segment is projected to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period. Acrylic automotive coatings are water based and contain lower amounts of VOCs. This is expected to drive the acrylic segment during the forecast period.



Water-borne Segment to Lead in Terms of Demand



In terms of technology, the global automotive coatings market can be divided into solvent-borne, water-borne, powder, and UV-cured. The solvent-borne segment accounts for major share of the market. However, demand for solvent-borne coatings is gradually decreasing, due to presence of VOCs in these coatings. The water-borne segment is estimated to expand at a rapid pace owing to its low VOC content and environment friendly nature. Powder and UV-cured segments are also anticipated to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period due to their excellent chemical resistance and high speed of curing.



Clear Coat Segment to be Dominate Global Automotive Coatings Market



Based on coat, the global automotive coatings market can be classified into e-coat, primer, basecoat, and clear coat. These are applied in the same order on automotive surfaces. Clear coat is likely to be the dominant segment in the near future. However, the basecoat segment is anticipated to lead in terms of demand during the forecast period.



Automotive OEM Application Segment to Lead Global Automotive Coatings Market



In terms of application, the global automotive coatings market can be bifurcated into automotive OEM and automotive refinish. Automotive OEM was the leading application segment in 2017. It is estimated to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. This can be ascribed to the growth in the global automotive industry. The automotive refinish segment constituted key share of the global automotive coatings market. Rise in incidence of accidents and increase in preference of esthetically appealing cars are boosting the automotive refinish segment.



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Asia Pacific Dominates Global Automotive Coatings Market



Based on region, the global automotive coatings market can be split into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. In terms of value and volume, Asia Pacific was the leading region of the global automotive coatings market in 2017. The region is estimated to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. In terms of consumption, North America and Europe follow Asia Pacific. However, the market in North America and Europe is anticipated to expand at a sluggish pace due to the implementation of stringent regulations on VOC emissions in the regions. Demand for automotive coatings is projected to rise significantly in Middle East & Africa and Latin America in the near future. In terms of demand, these regions accounted for small share of the global automotive coatings market in 2017. However, they are projected to create lucrative opportunities for automotive coatings manufacturers in the next few years.



High Degree of Competition among Market Players



The market is dominated by large players. Presence of large numbers of small- and medium-sized players makes the market highly competitive. Key players operating in the market are BASF SE, Axalta Coatings, PPG Industries, Valspar Corporation, The Sherwin-Williams Company, Akzo Nobel NV, Nippon Paint Holdings, KCC Corporation, and Jotun.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/30/2019 -- Lingerie market has occupied a significant position in the apparel industry in recent years as it not only serves its functional benefits but also is considered as an basic necessity to every woman. The global lingerie market has been bifurcated on the basis of product types into bras, knickers and panties, lounge wear, shape wear and others which includes baby doll, corsets, chemises and chemisoles among others. Bra as an essential necessity and also a fashion accessory to every women and it has captured the largest market share in 2015. Knickers and panties also occupied a significant position in the same year, thus contributing significantly to the overall market size of the lingerie industry. The market is further segmented on the basis of distribution channel into online stores and storefront. Online stores captured the largest market in 2015 due to high penetration of internet services and rapid advancements in the field of technology, thus creating a strong platform for the manufacturers of lingerie Further, the e-commerce giants are engaged in strong promotional activities due to which they provide with continuous discount options and various other offers which attract both consumers and manufacturers to avail this platform.



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Females in the developing countries are experiencing latest trends towards carrying themselves in public. They are changing their outlook towards accepting innerwear as a casual affair and take time to choose and make a purchase. The outerwear of women has undergone a dramatic change and due to this women prefer selecting inner wear, especially bras that can match with their attire. They try to purchase lingerie depending on the occasion or event, such as there are special sport wear bras for gymnasium purpose. It can be demonstrated from the product differentiation brought by the lingerie manufacturers over online and retail stores. Thus this is a key factor complementing the growth of the global lingerie market. Lingerie has witnessed a rapid acceptance in the fashion industry. Women from all backgrounds want to try out the latest trends in the inner wear segment. Most of the large brands have exclusive stores in shopping malls or independent stores. In developing countries like India and China, brands like Jockey try to reach out to customers through small roadside innerwear shops. Additionally, lingerie is available at stores as well as online. Brands like Victoria Secret have country specific websites for easier transactions and shipment.



However, the lingerie wear maintains high cost for advertisement and other marketing promotions. This is due to the cost of celebrities or models that are hired for being featured in the photo shoots. Moreover, the destination or location cost of the photo shoot depends and therefore larger brands do not compromise in keeping high cost for their lingerie wear. Therefore, this factor is majorly hindering the growth of the market and the impact of the same is likely to reduce by the end of the forecast period.



Moreover, the global lingerie market is experiencing moderate growth in the apparel segment as nowadays individuals are more inclined towards branded items, most of which are usually priced on the higher end. People from all backgrounds and income group want to avail a comfortable and lasting inner wear that can be fashionable as well as skin-friendly. There are many local brands or companies that manufacture cheap quality products to cater to the wide population in the under developed or developing countries. Mergers and acquisitions are a strategic way of entering the market and understanding the current needs and preferences of the population. Through this, the large companies will benefit in capturing the market and at the same time, will enable the small companies to fight for a better position in the market.



Moreover, in this report the study provides different countries included in different regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. North America includes U.S. and Rest of North America. Europe includes U.K., Germany, France, Russia, Italy and Rest of Europe. Asia Pacific includes countries such as India, China, Japan and Rest of Asia Pacific. In addition, Middle East and Africa includes country such as UAE, South Africa and Rest of Middle East and Africa. Latin America comprise of countries such as Brazil and Rest of Latin America



Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. Transition in the lifestyle of the consumers which is backed by rapid urbanization and increasing purchasing power is a major factor behind the high growth of this market in Asia Pacific. Further, consumer exposure to the same by way of advertisements through televisions, and print media among others is another key factor responsible for the growth of the Lingerie Market in this region.



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Some of the major key players operating in the global lingerie market are, Jockey International Inc. (Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.), Hanes (North Carolina U.S.), Groupe Chantelle (Cachan, France), LVMH (Boise U.S.), L Brands Inc. (Columbus, Ohio), MAS Holdings Limited (Colombo, Sri Lanka), Ann Summers (London, U.K.), Marks and Spencer (London U.K.), PV H Corporation (New York, U.S.) among others.



The report analyzes the factors that are driving and restraining the growth of the lingerie market. This report will help manufacturers, distributors and suppliers to understand the present and future trends in this market and formulate strategies accordingly.



The global lingerie market can be segmented as follows:-



Global Lingerie Market, by Type



Bra

Knickers and Panties

Lounge wear

Shape wear

Others



Global Lingerie Market, by Distribution Channel



Online Stores

Store Front



Global Lingerie Market, by Geography



North America



U.S.

Rest of North America



Europe



U.K.

Germany

France

Italy

Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China

Japan

India

Rest of Asia Pacific



Latin America



Brazil

Rest of Latin America



Middle East and Africa



UAE

South Africa

Rest of Middle East & Africa



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Selbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The analysts forecast the global methylparaben market to exhibit a CAGR of 5.24% during the period 2019-2024. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global methylparaben for 2019-2024. To calculate the market size, the report considers the methylparaben sales volume and revenue.



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The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: regional markets and applications.



Geographically, the global methylparaben market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa and South America. This report forecasts revenue growth at a global, regional & country level, and provides an analysis of the market trends in each of the sub-segments from 2019 to 2024.

- North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico, etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, etc.)

- Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, etc.)

- Middle East & Africa (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, UAE, Israel, South Africa, etc.)

- South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, etc.)



Based on application, the methylparaben market is segmented into:

- Cosmetic

- Pharmaceutical

- Food

- Industrial



The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. Some of the leading players in the global methylparaben market are:

- Alta Laboratories Ltd.

- Clariant AG

- Gujarat Organics Limited

- Hallstar Company

- Jiangsu Bvco New Material Co., Ltd.

- Laxachem Organics Pvt. Ltd

- Nebula Healthcare Limited

- Salicylates And Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.

- Sharon Laboratories Ltd.

- Taicang YANLIN Chemical Factory

- Taizhou Nuercheng Fine Chemical Co., Ltd.

- Ueno Fine Chemicals Industry, Ltd.

- Wuhu Huahai Biology Engineering Co,. Ltd.

- Wuxi Jiangda Baitai Technology Co., Ltd.

- Zhejiang Shengxiao Chemicals Co., Ltd.

- request free sample to get a complete list of companies



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Objective of the study:

- To analyze and forecast the market size of global methylparaben market.

- To classify and forecast global methylparaben market based on application and region.

- To identify drivers and challenges for global methylparaben market.

- To examine competitive developments such as expansions, mergers & acquisitions, etc., in global methylparaben market.

- To conduct pricing analysis for global methylparaben market.

- To identify and analyze the profile of leading players operating in global methylparaben market.



The report is useful in providing answers to several critical questions that are important for the industry stakeholders such as manufacturers and partners, end users, etc., besides allowing them in strategizing investments and capitalizing on market opportunities. Key target audience are:

- Manufacturers of methylparaben

- Raw material suppliers

- Market research and consulting firms

- Government bodies such as regulating authorities and policy makers

- Organizations, forums and alliances related to methylparaben



Table of Contents:

1. Summary

2. List of Abbreviations

3. Scope of the Report

4. Market Research Methodology

5. Introduction

5.1 Overview

5.2 Value Chain

6. Market Landscape

6.1 Market Size and Forecast

7. Market Segmentation by End-users

7.1 Global Methylparaben Market by End-users 2014-2024

7.2 Global Methylparaben Market by Cosmetic Segment

7.3 Global Methylparaben Market by Pharmaceutical Segment

7.4 Global Methylparaben Market by Food Segment

7.5 Global Methylparaben Market by Industrial Segment

8. Drivers & Challenges

8.1 Market Growth Drivers

8.2 Market Challenges

8.3 Market Trends

9. Methylparaben Market in North America

9.1 Market Size and Forecast

9.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

9.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

10. Methylparaben Market in Europe

10.1 Market Size and Forecast

10.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

10.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

11. Methylparaben Market in Asia-Pacific

11.1 Market Size and Forecast

11.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

11.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

12. Methylparaben Market in MEA

12.1 Market Size and Forecast

12.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

12.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

13. Methylparaben Market in South America

13.1 Market Size and Forecast

13.2 Market Segmentation by End-users

13.3 Market Segmentation by Countries

14. Key Vendor Analysis



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Related Report:



Asia Pacific Sodium Methylparaben Market Report (2014-2024) - Market Size, Share, Price, Trend and Forecast



The Asia Pacific Sodium MethylParaben market size is $XX million USD in 2018 with XX CAGR from 2014 to 2018, and it is expected to reach $XX million USD by the end of 2024 with a CAGR of XX% from 2019 to 2024.



This report is an essential reference for who looks for detailed information on Asia Pacific Sodium MethylParaben market. The report covers data on Asia Pacific markets including historical and future trends for supply, market size, prices, trading, competition and value chain as well as Asia Pacific major vendors?? information. In addition to the data part, the report also provides overview of Sodium MethylParaben market, including classification, application, manufacturing technology, industry chain analysis and latest market dynamics. Finally, a customization report in order to meet user's requirements is also available.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The rising demand for industrial robots across different industry verticals, regions and applications is propelling the industrial robotics market during the forecast period 2014 to 2020. Globally, Asia Pacific is analyzed to be fastest growing market largely due to the research and development infrastructure growth in countries such as Japan, Australia, China and India. The adoption of robotics in small and medium enterprises (SME's) is further expected to bolster the industrial robotics market in the Asia Pacific region.



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Additionally, the demand for industrial robots across major application segments such as electrical, consumer electronics, and automotives is further expected to fuel growth over the forecast period 2014 to 2020. Countries such as Italy, Germany, France, and the U.K are expected to be key contributors to the growth of industrial robotics market in the European region. In North America, Mexico is expected to offer tremendous potential across varied application sectors in the coming years. Thus, the market for industrial robotics is expected to witness healthy growth across varied industry verticals and regions.



The high expenses of utilizing manual labors, coupled with the related to giving advantages, for example, health and safety insurances and compensations, promotions, benefit packages, paid leaves, and surge in wages annually are the main consideration catalyzing the development towards the popularity of automation technology, fueling the growth of the industrial robotics market.



Besides, the expenses of training and employing the labors and their substitutions is high. As per the intangible advantages, laborers can't work in inhospitable or harsh situations and have below the mark satisfaction in completing dull tasks rather than robots which have far lower limitations.



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As the innovation is expected to keep on changing and evolving, the administrative structure is very complicated and updated time-to-time or altered to accommodate new advancements. A significant region of worry in the industrial robotics market is the wellbeing of the administrators, basically in collaborative robots which operate around humans.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- 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", 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.



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 and in-depth TOC on "IoT Security Market"

80  Tables

36 - Figures

144 - Pages



https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/iot-security-market-67064836.html



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.



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).



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Selbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- Lymphoma is cancer that begins in infection-fighting cells of the immune system, called lymphocytes. These cells are in the lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, bone marrow, and other parts of the body. When you have lymphoma, lymphocytes change and grow out of control.



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The China average price of Lymphoma Drugs is in the decreasing trend, from 1560 /Unit in 2013 to 1373 /Unit in 2017. With the situation of China economy, prices will be in decreasing trend in the following five years.



Scope of the Report:

This report focuses on the Lymphoma Drugs Market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.



Lymphoma Drugs Market Segment by Top Manufacturers Including:

- Roche

- CHIPSCREEN

- Johnson & Johnson

- Abbvie

- Celgene



Lymphoma Drugs Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)

South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)

Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)



Lymphoma Drugs Market Segment by Type covers

- Oral

- Injection



Market Segment by Applications can be divided into:

- Hodgkin Lymphoma

- Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma



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The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:



Chapter 1, to describe Lymphoma Drugs product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.



Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Lymphoma Drugs, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Lymphoma Drugs in 2017 and 2018.



Chapter 3, the Lymphoma Drugs competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.



Chapter 4, the Lymphoma Drugs 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, Lymphoma Drugs market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024.



Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Lymphoma Drugs sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.



Table of Contents:



3 Global Lymphoma Drugs Sales, Revenue, Market Share and Competition by Manufacturer (2017-2018)

3.1 Global Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2017-2018)

3.2 Global Lymphoma Drugs Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2017-2018)

3.3 Market Concentration Rate

3.3.1 Top 3 Lymphoma Drugs Manufacturer Market Share in 2018

3.3.2 Top 6 Lymphoma Drugs Manufacturer Market Share in 2018

3.4 Market Competition Trend

4 Global Lymphoma Drugs Market Analysis by Regions

4.1 Global Lymphoma Drugs Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Regions

4.1.1 Global Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Market Share by Regions (2014-2019)

4.1.2 Global Lymphoma Drugs Revenue and Market Share by Regions (2014-2019)

4.2 North America Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.3 Europe Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.4 Asia-Pacific Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.5 South America Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.6 Middle East and Africa Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

5 North America Lymphoma Drugs by Country

5.1 North America Lymphoma Drugs Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Country

5.1.1 North America Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Market Share by Country (2014-2019)

5.1.2 North America Lymphoma Drugs Revenue and Market Share by Country (2014-2019)

5.2 United States Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

5.3 Canada Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

5.4 Mexico Lymphoma Drugs Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



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Related Report:



Global Hodgkin's Lymphoma Drugs Market Growth (Status and Outlook) 2019-2024



Hodgkin's lymphoma is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cells called lymphocytes. Symptoms may include fever, night sweats, and weight loss. Often there will be non-painful enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, under the arm, or in the groin. Those affected may feel tired or be itchy. North America will account for the largest Hodgkin?s lymphoma drugs market share throughout the forecast period. The region will continue its market dominance because of the growing incidences of Hodgkin?s lymphoma coupled with the presence of reimbursement schemes.



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently updated its massive report catalog by adding a fresh study titled "Manganese Alloys Market Assessment Covering Growth Factors and Upcoming Trends till 2027 End". This business intelligence study encapsulates vital details about the market current as well as future status during the mentioned forecast period of 2026. The report also targets important facets such as market drivers, challenges, latest trends, and opportunities associated with a growth of manufacturers in the global market for Manganese Alloys. Along with these insights, the report provides the readers with crucial insights on the strategies implemented by leading companies to remain in the lead of this competitive market.



Manganese is a brittle, hard, grey-white to silvery metal with the chemical symbol Mn. It is primarily used in the production of steel. According to the International Manganese Institute, the global production of manganese increased to 13.8 million tons in 2018, as compared to that in 2017. This increased the demand for manganese alloys due to the rise in its use in automotive and infrastructure industries. Newly developed state-of-the-art manganese alloys treatments offer superior reliability. Manganese alloys are extensively used in the steel industry. The steel industry is one of the key consumer of manganese alloys. The global steel production in 2018 was around 1,800 million tons, out of which a majority of it is produced in countries such as India, China, Brazil, Mexico, and Iran.



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Governments of several countries are funding and supporting development and adoption of latest technologies in manufacturing environment friendly manganese alloys. The European Commission has published regulations imposing definitive safeguards on steel imported into the European Union. It aims in the development and deployment of innovative, CO2-mitigating technologies, improving resource efficiency, and fostering sustainable developments in Europe.



Rise in demand for silicomanganese due to its cost effectiveness is expected to drive the global manganese alloys market during the forecast period. Developed and developing countries are investing significantly in offshore drilling. Demand for manganese alloys in Asia Pacific is gaining momentum due to the growth in the automobile industry and steelmaking activities, especially in countries such as China, India, Thailand, and Indonesia.



This report analyzes and forecasts the manganese alloys market at global, regional, and country levels. The market has been forecast based on volume (kilo tons) and value (US$ Mn) from 2019 to 2027, considering 2018 as the base year. The study includes drivers and restraints of the global manganese alloys market. It also covers the impact of these drivers and restraints on the demand for manganese alloys during the forecast period. The report also highlights opportunities in the manganese alloys market at global and regional levels.



The report includes detailed value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the global manganese alloys market. Porter's Five Forces model for the manganese alloys market has been included to help understand the competitive landscape. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein type, application, and region are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.



The study provides a decisive view of the global manganese alloys market by segmenting it in terms of type, application, and region. Based on type, the manganese alloys market has been classified into high carbon ferromanganese, refined ferromanganese, and silicomanganese. In terms of application, the market has been divided into steel, superalloys, and others. These segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends. Regional segmentation includes current and forecast demand for manganese alloys in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa.



The global manganese alloys market has been provided in terms of volume (Kilo Tons) and value (US$ Mn). Market numbers have been estimated based on type and application of manganese alloys. Market revenue and volume have been provided in terms of global, regional, and country levels.



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The report comprises profiles of major companies operating in the global manganese alloys market. Companies such as Maithan Alloys, Arcelor Mittal, Jindal Stainless Steel, and Pertama Manganese Alloys account for majority share of the market. These players engage in developing new technologies and acquisitions to garner larger share of the market.



The global manganese alloys market has been segmented as follows:



Global Manganese Alloys Market, by Type



High Carbon Ferromanganese



Refined Ferromanganese



Silicomanganese



Global Manganese Alloys Market, by Application



Steel



Superalloys



Others (including Foundry and Welding Electrodes)



Global Manganese Alloys Market, by Region



North America



U.S.



Canada



Europe



Germany



France



U.K.



France



Italy



Spain



Russia & CIS



Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China



India



Japan



ASEAN



Rest of Asia Pacific



Latin America



Brazil



Mexico



Argentina



Rest of Latin America



Middle East & Africa



GCC



South Africa



Rest of Middle East & Africa



Key Takeaways



In terms of type, the silicomanganese segment is anticipated to expand at a rapid phase during the forecast period, as it is less costlier than ferromanganese and refined manganese



Based on application, demand for steelmaking is estimated to increase in the next few years due to rising investments in the infrastructure sector



In terms of region, Asia Pacific dominated the manganese alloys market due to the growth in the automotive industry and rise in infrastructure development



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Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- Marine Coatings Market is estimated to witness a CAGR of 7% over the period of 2016-2024. Rising demand for marine coatings during ship mending and maintenance activities will lead to an upsurge in Marine Coatings Market. These coatings offer a defense against the corrosive marine environment. Along with increasing hull performance, these coatings are as well preferred for enhancing the aesthetics. Marine coatings are also important in enhancing the fuel efficiency of a vessel by minimizing the contact of the metal body with the environment.



Stringent norms filed by the regulatory bodies will set agenda for R&D and the coating manufactures to develop biodegradable coatings giving rise to the increasing number of consumers preferring environment friendly coatings. Need for low emission and fuel saving coatings will augment the marine coatings industry.



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Based on type of marine coatings available in the marine coatings market the industry is segmented into anti-corrosion, foul release, anti-fouling, and other coatings. Anti-fouling coatings market accounted for more than 40% of the overall marine coatings industry in 2015. This product is extensively used to prevent fouling growth on the outer layer of the vessel. This segment will also witness healthy growth, owing to a large number of ships which require maintenance down the line.



Anti-corrosion coatings market is another lucrative segment anticipated to grow at a rate of 6% CAGR over 2016-2024. These coatings prevent the hull body from rusts and corrosion, in turn enhancing the performance of the vessels. These properties will boost the demand for preventive coatings thereby, stimulating marine coatings market.



Marine coatings industry find wide set of application in coastal, containers, deep sea, leisure boats, and offshore vessels. The coastal application generated over USD 3 billion in 2015, and will witness significant gains over the coming years. Coastal application includes fishing vessels, cargo ferries, tugs, dredgers, offshore supply vessels, coasters, and defense ships.



Growing consumer purchase parity in the U.S., Canada, and Western European countries will enhance the leisure boats demand in the coming years, making this application for marine coatings market a high growing segment with close to 7% CAGR.



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Asia pacific will hold sway the global marine coatings market with nearly two-third of the overall share in 2015. This heavily active shipbuilding industry in countries such as China, South Korea, Japan, and Philippines signify the growing demand in this region.



AkzoNobel N.V., Jotun, PPG Industries, and Hempel are the top marine coatings industry players along with Kansai Paint, Nippon Paint, DuPont, Sherwin-Williams, BASF, KCC Corporation, Chugoku, RPM International, and several other important manufacturers.



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.
A London court has sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail seven years ago when he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange entered the embassy in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

Sweden eventually dropped the assault investigation, but Assange remained at the embassy, fearing that if he walked out Britain, would detain and then extradite him to the U.S in connection with WikiLeaks publication of classified U.S. government documents.
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The growing adoption of operator training simulators market in the aerospace & defense industry to train pilots or astronauts for flying aircraft or space shuttle will drive the market growth. In February 2019, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. collaborated with Sankhya Infotech Limited to provide the simulation technology to pilots, operators, and maintenance crew.



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Rapid change in the electric grids globally is driving the adoption of simulation tools in the energy & power sector. The micro-grid control & process power systems are increasingly supporting the local isolation operation and interconnected operation with transmission systems and distribution. Several developed economies are engaged in modernizing and replacing traditional central station grid design with sustainable distributed power sources, booting the operator training simulators market growth.



Similarly, the developing countries are constructing new power grids with a wide range of distributed generation sources. The sector is witnessing an increase in complexities in the management of the distribution generation asset and its connection to the transmission systems, driving the need for advanced solutions.



Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) are witnessing a high adoption in the operator training simulators market due to the increased interactivity with the virtual environment. With the growing popularity and adoption of AR & VR technology, the demand for HMDs has increased. Adoption of the technology in the flight training & automotive sector is increasing at a rapid pace. It allows businesses to provide a real-world experience to their employees, enhancing the training programs. Traditional fixed display technologies are being replaced with the HMD-based simulation training modules.



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In 2018, the North America operator training simulators market accounted for around 40% of the industry share and is expected to witness a steady growth owing to the increased demand for skilled workforce in industrial sectors. With the rapid establishment of the business base of global companies, the need for industrial workforce is growing rapidly. High costs in employing skilled labors in the U.S. and Canada are encouraging companies to implement innovative technologies to promote and train their existing employees.



Moreover, the increased investments of global companies in providing training and skills to their employees will also drive the operator training simulators market share. For instance, in February 2017, Intel's new Chandler facility based in the U.S. will generate over 3,000 jobs. The company is investing nearly USD 7 billion in construction and management of the facility & staff. The simulators in the facility will help businesses to train such large number of employees with minimized cost & time, providing an impetus to the operator training simulators market demand.



Major companies in the operator training simulators market include Andritz Group, DuPont Inc., ESI Group, FLSmidth & Co. A/S, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Siemens AG, Schneider Electric SE, HyperionRSI Simulation, Honeywell International Inc, Immerse Learning, EON Reality Inc., Aveva Group PLC, ABB Group, and Applied Research Associate, Inc.



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About Global Market Insights:

Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The latest Polyether Ether Ketone Market Research Report 2024 contains complete Industry outlook, market manufacturers and key statistics analysis. The industry sales & Share, trends are all discussed, explained and analyzed. It provides marketing strategy analysis, distributors/traders list, raw materials analysis, import and export analysis, key success factors and supply chain analysis.



Growing automotive industry will propel polyether ether ketone market as it is used in place of metals in automobiles for reducing overall weight and provides efficient & environment-friendly alternative. Technology improvement in products will create opportunities for many global players to enter this industry. It is also used in assembling of bearings, pumps, piston parts, cable insulation and medical devices which will reinforce product demand.



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(PEEK) Polyether Ether Ketone Market size is mainly driven by its wide usage in end use industries which include home appliances, electrical & electronics, oil & gas, healthcare and aerospace. Increasing demand for lightweight and high-quality materials in emerging economies across the world will drive polyether ether ketone market size.



Polyether ether ketone market exists in several types which include carbon filled, glass filled and unfilled polymers. Currently, glass filled PEEK holds the largest share in terms of revenue as it is commonly used owning to its wide usage in aerospace, electrical & electronics, and automotive industries.



North America, led by the U.S for polyether ether ketone market is expected to witness significant growth. Constant growth in industrialization and chemical industries in this region will fuel the product demand. Latin America, dominated by Brazil and Mexico are as an emerging PEEK industry due to growing industrialization in this region over the projected timeframe.



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Asia-Pacific, led by India and China holds the largest share owning to growing economy and rising purchasing power of customers have led to an expansion of automobile industries in this region. It is the fastest growing region for polyether ether ketone market due to its rapid industrialization coupled with environmental concerns in manufacturing & automotive industries. Other emerging economies like Japan, South Korea and Australia are anticipated to witness rapid growth owning to rise in healthcare, automotive and manufacturing sectors in this region. Middle East and Africa is considered as another potential market for PEEK due to growing infrastructural and oil & gas industries.



Polyether ether ketone market is highly consolidated in nature owning to presence of many international firms. Some of the prominent key players are Solvay SA, A. Schulman, Stern Industries, Zyex Ltd., RTP Company, Evonik Industries, Victrex plc, Jrlon Inc, J K Overseas, SABIC, Parkway Products Inc., Jida Evonik and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. Companies are adopting strategies including, mergers, acquisitions, new product launch and expansion. In April 2017, Victrex plc, one the leading player in PEEK industry has acquired Zyex Ltd., a recognized manufacturer of PEEK based fibres. The acquisition is done to explore the upcoming growth opportunities within the industry and to provide better solutions to their customers. Company also acquired Kleiss Glass in July 2015 to deliver high class polymer gears to expand industry share.



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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.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The latest report Traction Rectifier Transformers Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Traction Rectifier Transformers market for the forecast period, 2019 to 2026. The document offers an insight into what the target customer's needs and wants. Industry experts have extracted data from various sources on size, share, growth rate, production volume, production capacity, import and export status, distribution channels and more and have analysed it thoroughly. By properly assessing the competitors and their offerings the study aims at empowering business owners to step ahead.



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Scope of the Report:

The research methodologies used for evaluating the Traction Rectifier Transformers 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 Traction Rectifier Transformers market are:

Siemens, ABB, GE, Toshiba, Areva, XD, TEBA, TWBB, Sunten, ChangChun Transformer, JiangSuXinTeBian, GuangXiLiuZhou Special Transformer



Market split by Type, can be divided into:

- Up to 500 KVA

- Up to 2000 KVA

- Up to 5000 KVA

- Other



Market split by Application, can be divided into:

- Oil & Gas

- Chemical Industry

- Automotive Industry

- Metals and Mining

- Other



Market segment by Region/Country including:

- North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)

- Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.)

- Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.)

- South America Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile etc.)

- Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia etc.)



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Estimating the potential size of the Traction Rectifier Transformers industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Traction Rectifier Transformers industry. Such information is important for firms looking to launch an innovative service or product on the market. Industry experts have measured the total volume of the given market. Researchers have calculated the industry in terms of sales by the competitors and end-user  customers. Data on the entire size of the Traction Rectifier Transformers market for a particular product or a service for the forecast period, 2019 to 2026 covered in the report makes it valuable. This information reveals the upper limit of the Traction Rectifier Transformers industry for a specific product or service.



Attracting the target audience:

First, the comprehensive report finds out why customers need a certain product or service. The study focuses on what problems a certain product and service can solve. Apart from target demographics industry experts weigh up on the factors including audience type, as well as others vital attributes about the target customer segment.



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What is the estimated growth rate of the Traction Rectifier Transformers market for the forecast period 2019 - 2026? What will be the market share and size of the industry during the estimated period?

- What are prime factors expected to drive the Traction Rectifier Transformers industry for the estimated period?

- What are the major market leaders and what has been their winning strategy for success so far?

- What are the significant trends shaping the growth prospects of the Traction Rectifier Transformers market?

- What are the key challenges expected to restrict the progress of the industry for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026?

- What the opportunities product owners can bank on to generate high profits?



There are 10 Chapters to deeply display the global Traction Rectifier Transformers market.

- 1 Traction Rectifier Transformers Market Overview

- 2 Global Traction Rectifier Transformers Market Competition by Manufacturers

- 3 Global Traction Rectifier Transformers Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019)

- 4 Global Traction Rectifier Transformers Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)

- 5 Global Traction Rectifier Transformers Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

- 6 Global Traction Rectifier Transformers Market Analysis by Application

- Continue



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Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- The traffic sensor market is characterized by the use of these components in various applications such as vehicle measurement & profiling, automated tolling (e-toll), and traffic monitoring. Traffic monitoring application segment is expected to witness fast growth owing to increasing requirements of these solutions in smart cities. These components are widely used in vehicle counting and vehicle motion tracking in monitoring applications. Weigh in motion technology is used to capture and record the weights of the vehicles. This makes the weighing process more efficient, majorly for commercial vehicles.



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Governments of various countries have undertaken initiatives to improve the infrastructure of the cities, aiding the traffic sensor market growth. For instance, in the fiscal year 2017  18, under the Digital India initiative, the Government of Indi. allocated USD 4.03 billion for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and USD 9.55 billion for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects. Such initiatives are propelling the traffic sensor industry expansion into developing countries. The European Commission is introducing innovative means to finance the transport infrastructure in Europe. For instance, in February 2017, the European Union invited innovative transportation proposals that will be provided a combined grant of up to USD 1.23 billion.



The adoption of analysis-based transport solutions is expected to provide viable growth opportunities to the traffic sensor market. These solutions make use of traffic sensors to keep track of the status and location of vehicles. Vendors provide intelligent transportation solutions such as fleet analytics, video analytics, and predictive analytics to reduce congestions using these components.



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Asia Pacific traffic sensor market is expected to hold the majority share due to the adoption of technologically-advanced systems. Growing urban population and the increasing need for real-time information systems in the region will propel the traffic sensor market growth. Growing urban population in countries including India, China, Japan, and South Korea is increasing the strain on the traffic management solutions. This is encouraging the governments to invest increasingly in smart transportation solutions. For instance, the Government of Australia has planned to invest over USD 70 billion for the development of its transport infrastructure by 2021.



Key players in the traffic sensor market are Kistler Group, International Road Dynamics, Q-Free ASA, TransCore, FLIR Systems, Inc., Kapsch TrafficCom AG, SWARCO AG, EFKON GmbH, TE Connectivity, and SICK AG. The adoption of new technology at the right time has made all these major players succeed in the industry. The traffic sensor market is characterized by strategic acquisitions and partnerships amongst the players.



Browse Complete Report Summary @ https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/traffic-sensor-market



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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.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/30/2019 -- Tyre inner tubes are the internal components of the primary tyre which are designed to sustain air pressure. Majority of the tyres which are used in motorcycles, bicycle, large vehicles such as tractors, heavy trucks, cars, and buses are designed for their application with inner tubes. These are made from impermeable materials such as synthetic, elastic, soft rubber for the purpose of avoiding air leakge and are torus shaped in nature. In addition, inner tubes which are larger in size possess the ability to be re used for other applications such as rafting and swimming. These tubes are large inflatable toruses which are manufactured for these applications while also offering a choice of decks, handles, fabric covering, colors and other various accessories, eliminating the protruding valve stem. Manufacturers such as Schrader International develop inner tubes for two wheeler vehicles which provide high performance to motorcycle tube tyres. The company provides valve vulcanization for inner tubes ensuring high quality rubber adhesion and leaks. Schrader International also provides inner tubes for other vehicles such as agricultural and industrial machinery, buses, trucks and cars.



The global inner tube industry is dependent on raw materials such as rubber suppliers as well as the buyers which mainly include automotive manufacturers. More than half of the global rubber production goes into the manufacturing of automotive tyres. In addition, the inner tube and tyre industry serve as the largest application segment in the overall rubber industry. The Rubbers Manufacturers Association (RMA) represent the rubber industry where members of the association contribute to more than half of revenues generated in the rubber industry. The industry for inner tubes has always been dependent on the automotive industry. The degree of competition between the tyre inner tube manufacturers has been strong, specifically for original equipment manufacturers (OEM) among the tyre manufacturers. Due to the fact that automobile end users are more inclined towards purchasing replaced tyres of the same product which is originally sold on the car, tyre and inner tube manufacturers have to reluctantly reduce the prices and have to make the automobile manufacturers select their product, which leads to high bargaining power of buyers.



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Besides automotives, tyre inner tubes are used largely in the aerospace industry. Large scale corporations such as Goodyear, Bridgestone Corporation, and Dunlop are significantly involved in the manufacturing of aircraft tyres that are eco-friendly, more intelligent, economical, safer and less noisy. They are consumed in significant quantities for various civil and military applications, where military operation hold huge demand on aircraft tyres where loads can be highly substantial with speed going more than 225 miles per hour. Companies such as Dunlop have been involved in the industry as a key player which manufactures tyres used in military aircrafts from the well known Vulcan and Spitfire to the modern F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Heavy military aircraft such as C-130, the Tornado and the Hawk, and the latest A400M. The company serves various segments of the military aviation industry such as marine corps, naval forces and air forces across the world with tyres designed to give maximum operation characteristics in the fluctuating environmental conditions as well.



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Bridgestone Corporation, Dunlop, Goodyear, Michelin, and Schrader International are some of the key players involved in the tyre inner tube industry.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/01/2019 -- A recent market study on the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market applies both primary and secondary research techniques to identify new opportunities for development for the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market for the forecast period, 2019 -2026. The research further screens and analyses data on the market share, growth rate and size to enable stakeholders, product owners and field marketing executives identify the low-hanging fruits and reap a significant return on their investment. Importantly, the data on the current business environment of the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market proves a boon for companies trying to identify next leg for growth.



This report focuses on the global top players which are Northrop Grumman Corp, General Dynamics Corp, DCNS S.A, BAE Systems, Singapore Technologies Engineering, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine , Engineering, Lockheed Martin, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Finmeccanica, Textron, CSSC



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Understanding the market size

The size of the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines 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 Military Shipbuilding and Submarines report.



Most important types of Military Shipbuilding and Submarines products covered in this report are:

- Ships

- Submarines



Most widely used downstream fields of Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market covered in this report are:

- On Water

- Under Water



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.



Geographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, covering:

- United States

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Southeast Asia

- India



We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level reports, for the following regions:

North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Rest of Middle East & Africa



In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Military Shipbuilding and Submarines are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2017

Base Year: 2017

Estimated Year: 2018

Forecast Year 2019 to 2026



Purchase complete report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/37943

How geography and sales fit together

The study works as a boon for all business owners trying to identify the exact size of the target audience in a specific geographic location. Military Shipbuilding and Submarines enables entrepreneurs to determine the regional market for their business expansion. The study answers the questions below:

- Where do the requirements come from?

- Where do non-potential customers reside?

- What is the buying behaviour of the customers dwelling in a particular area?

- What is the spending power of the customers in a specific region?



The specialist consulting approach adopted to study the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market by size, share. and growth form an important part of this market intelligence report. Expertise research specialist not only weight upon the company profiles of the major vendors but also significant aspects such as import and export status, supply chain management, demand and supply and distribution channel. Vital statistics on product positioning, consumption volume, a dramatic shift in consumer preferences, spending power and other are explained through resources including charts, graphs, and infographics.



Make an inquiry @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/make-enquiry-form/37943



The research provides answers to the following key questions:

- What will be the size of the market and the growth rate for the forecast period? 2019 - 2026?

- Which key driving forces will keep create more opportunities for the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market in years to come?

- Which are the most prominent players operating in the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market? What have been their winning strategies so far?

- Which trends from the yesteryears or the future are likely to shape the progress of the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market across different regions?

- What are the threats and challenges that can act like a barrier and restrict the development of the Military Shipbuilding and Submarines market?

- What are the future opportunities for prominent market players?



Browse complete report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/military-shipbuilding-and-submarines-market



Key points from table of content:

Chapter 7 Profile of Leading Military Shipbuilding and Submarines Players

7.1 Northrop Grumman Corp

7.1.1 Company Snapshot

7.1.2 Product/Business Offered

7.1.3 Business Performance (Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share)

7.1.4 Strategy and SWOT Analysis

7.2 General Dynamics Corp

7.3 DCNS S.A

7.4 BAE Systems

7.5 Singapore Technologies Engineering

7.6 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

7.7 Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering

7.8 Lockheed Martin

7.9 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Continued.



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The Senators wrote in an open letter that the IMO sulphur cap regulation will bring global standards more in line with American requirements that US marine fuel producers are already equipped to meet, allowing the US to be a global leader while also benefitting the environment.

On 1 January 2020, the IMO will implementing its revised global sulphur standards on marine fuels, changing the maximum allowed sulphur content from 3.5% to 0.5%.

The US refining system is complex but has the flexibility to meet consumer needs. With more than a decade to prepare, our nations refiners have heavily invested in infrastructure upgrades to meet the expected global demand for these low sulphur fuels. Any attempt by the US to reverse course on IMO 2020 could create market uncertainty, cause harm to the US energy industry, and potentially backfire on consumers, the Senators said in the letter addressed to President Trump.

Additionally, many foreign refiners lack the complexity required to process heavy crude oil into IMO-compliant fuel and could turn to US-produced low sulphur crude, increasing domestic oil exports. On the other hand, global competitors are likely to see demand and prices drop for their heavy crude.

The letter added: Timely implementation of the IMO 2020 standards will bring tremendous advantage to our country and serve as another success story in your mission to achieve American energy dominance. These standards will benefit workers, consumers, manufacturers, and the country as a whole.

Read more: IMO 2020 goes mainstream and its political ramifications

The letter is believed to be in response to earlier media reports that the Trump administration in the White House was considering ways to delay the IMO 2020 implementation date due to its potentially higher fuel prices that could bear a negative impact ahead of the November 2020 US Presidential elections.

Responding to the letter, Ken Spain, spokesperson for the Coalition for American Energy Security, said: After 12 years and $100bn of planning and investments, the US energy sector and American workers are prepared to meet demand for this low sulphur fuel. Its encouraging to see senators from multiple states and committees united in support of these next-generation fuels.
More than 380,000 Michigan households with K-12 students lack access to broadband internet.

That's according to Pierrette Widmeyer, director of communications for the Ann Arbor nonprofit Merit Network, which is partnering on a new initiative to address the academic achievement gap between students with home internet access and those without.

To assist underserved communities, Merit has partnered with Michigan State University's Quello Center and the Washington, D.C.-based Measurement Lab on a broadband data collection initiative called the Michigan Moonshot.

"It is imperative for communities to leverage broadband network access to eliminate the homework gap, which often reinforces socioeconomic divides," Widmeyer says.

Starting this month, the first phase of the Michigan Moonshot project will involve working with three school districts (Mecosta Osceola Intermediate School District, St. Clair County Regional Education Service Agency, and Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District) to crowdsource data relating to broadband internet connectivity. Students at the schools will act as "citizen scientists," responding to digital surveys on their ability to access class materials online.

"Current data collection methodology is flawed. Our crowdsourced data collection process will provide an accurate picture of connectivity in the state," Widmeyer says.

Data collection will eventually branch out to schools across the state, and in the second phase the Moonshot partners will seek grant funding to address broadband gaps. A third and final phase will study the social effects of broadband access. Widmeyer says the partners hope to be able to better seek planning grants and subsidies for one-time broadband construction costs.

"The long-term goal is to follow this phased approach to increase broadband availability in Michigan," she says.

Jaishree Drepaul-Bruder is a freelance writer and editor currently in based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at jaishreeedit@gmail.com.

Photos courtesy of Merit Network.
The former Michigan Growth Capital Symposium will mark a shift to a broader regional focus when it returns as the Midwest Growth Capital Symposium (MGCS) on May 14 and 15.

Hosted by the University of Michigans (U-M) Zell Lurie Institute, the 38th annual event will take place at the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest resort, 1275 S. Huron St. in Ypsilanti Township. It is the longest running university-based venture fair of its kind.

MGCS connects entrepreneurs from high-growth, early-stage companies (seeking seed, series A, and series B investments) to venture capital, angel, and commercial investors, as well as technology commercialization leadership from top Midwest universities.

"The MGCS is a productive two days to meet potential co-investors, service providers, deal flow sources, and 33 early-stage companies in the life sciences and technology sectors," says Mary Nickson, the symposiums associate director, via email.

She is expecting an audience of more than 500 investors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and business executives.

A notable highlight of this years symposium will be the inaugural VC University LIVE Midwest seminar, hosted by the National Venture Capital Association, University of California - Berkeley and the U-M Ross School of Business.

"The seminar is for investors, fund managers, and attorneys to augment their venture finance skills and build their network," Nickson says.

This new feature of the symposium will kick off at MGCSs closing keynote, which features Scott Kupor of Andreessen Horowitz and Jan Garfinkle of Arboretum Ventures.

Over the course of the two days, attendees will also enjoy a number of company presentations, panel sessions, and live pitch tracks.

More information and tickets are available here.

Jaishree Drepaul-Bruder is a freelance writer and editor currently in based in Ann Arbor. She can be reached at jaishreeedit@gmail.com.

Photo courtesy of Midwest Growth Capital Symposium.
Press Release

May 1, 2019 ANGARA: LEARN MORE ABOUT HISTORY, CULTURE BY VISITING HERITAGE SITES Reelectionist Senator Sonny Angara is encouraging Filipinos here and abroad to learn more about their history and culture by visiting heritage sites and cultural centers in Philippine embassies during the celebration of the National Heritage Month in May. "Heritage is about the things from the past which are valued enough today to save for tomorrow," said Angara, who co-authored Republic Act 10066 or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, along with his father, the late Senate President Edgardo Angara. The senator said the Philippines boasts a rich and complex history, owing to centuries of interaction and exchange among Malay settlers, Chinese and Middle Eastern traders, and several foreign conquerors, notably the Spaniards. Such heritage, he said, still stands in pockets in Metro Manila and other parts of the country and most of them are Spanish-era churches. "They are often hidden-or worse, neglected-having been overrun by skyscrapers, malls and other vestiges of urban sprawl," he pointed out. Angara said the country is also full of craftsmen and artists, like the Paete wood woodcarvers, the painters of Angono, the T'Nalak "dream weavers" from Lake Sebu, and the sabutan weavers of Baler. "Their beautiful works showcase Filipino skill and creativity, yet receive marginal attention at best," said the lawmaker from Aurora, who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara." For Filipinos abroad, Angara said they could visit Sentro Rizal, the overseas Philippine cultural center much like the Spain's Instituto Cervantes and Italy's Dante Alighieri Center. Sentro Rizal was created under RA 10066 to promote the Filipino art, culture and language to the world. So far, there are a total of 31 Sentro Rizal in different Philippine embassies and consulates in Europe, Middle East, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and New Zealand. The first Sentro Rizal was established in Madrid, Spain in 2011. Angara called on Filipinos to help protect and preserve the country's historical monuments and artworks of cultural heritage, saying these are "a part of us." Besides, Angara said heritage preservation provides an anchor for nationhood and concretizes people's sense of identity through buildings, sculptures, paintings, songs or stories. "That's why as a nation, we should do a better job in preserving our heritage, and supporting our artists and craftsmen. That should be the underlying message people should take away as the country observes the National Heritage Month," he stressed.
Press Release

May 1, 2019 De Lima denounces kid's death in shootout between cop, drug suspect Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has condemned the death of a six-year-old boy who was caught in a crossfire between a cop and a suspected drug offender in Camarin, Caloocan last April 29. De Lima, a known human rights defender, said children should never pay the price for the Duterte administration's fake war on drugs that targeted only the poor and the defenseless while allowing the police force to put law into their hands. The former justice secretary also reiterated her call for the Duterte administration to put an end to its anti-narcotics campaign which continues to promote the culture of violence in the country and waste thousands of innocent victims. "Isa na namang inosenteng bata ang napatay at tuluyang pinagkaitan ng kinabukasan at pagkakataon na matupad ang mga pangarap sa buhay. Ang trahedyang sinapit ni Gian ay bahagi lamang ng hindi na mabilang na mga batang napaslang ng ganitong madugong insidente," she said. "Ang lalong hindi katanggap-tanggap, sa halip na itigil na ang kultura ng karahasan at makidalamhati sa mga biktima at sa kanilang pamilya, itinuturing pa sila ng rehimeng Duterte na mga collateral damage. Mga walang awa't malasakit. Walang pakundangan sa hustisya, walang mga konsensya," she added. Gian Habal, a Grade 1 student, was reportedly playing outside his family residence in Bgy. 178, Camarin, Caloocan City where he was hit by a stray bullet in the head. The incident happened as Corporal Rocky delos Reyes was allegedly exchanging fire with the suspect identified alias "Botchok." The incident also wounded Habal's grandmother who was shot by the suspect in her foot when she purportedly tried to prevent the suspect from escaping. Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Oscar Albayalde said the .45 caliber pistol of the police officer will undergo ballistic examination to confirm whether the bullet that killed Habal was fired from Delos Reyes' firearm. Aside from the ballistic examination, De Lima said the regrettable incident warrants a serious investigation by the authorities to ensure that the policeman involved in the shootout adhered to the established rules of engagement to avoid unnecessary casualties during the operation. "I have repeatedly said that the attempt to bring suspected offenders to justice should not be at the expense of precious human lives. A serious investigation is necessary to ensure justice and accountability for the victim and his family left behind," she said. "Aside from finding out whose bullet killed Gian, it is equally important to know if the operation was done recklessly. This should serve as a reminder to the entire police force to know the proper response in every life-threatening situation to avoid putting innocent lives at risk," she added. The lady Senator from Bicol earlier filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 499 urging the appropriate Senate committee to investigate the successive reports of killings of children either by police or vigilantes under the government's fake war on drugs. She has also filed SRNs. 357, 358, 421, 451 seeking for a Senate investigation into the alleged involvement of some unscrupulous police officers in cases of extrajudicial killings and summary executions.
Southwest Airlines, Boeings biggest customer for the troubled 737 MAX, said this week that the airplane makers documentation incorrectly claimed that its aircraft had operable angle-of-attack disagree warning lights. But Boeing informed Southwest that the AoA function was actually inoperative only after the Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October.

Even as Boeing finishes software revisions on its 737 MAX airplanes and Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg insisted the original design met certification standards and was safe, Southwests statement suggests the airline didnt get what it paid for. In a statement, Southwest said: Upon delivery (prior to the Lion Air event), the AOA Disagree Lights were depicted to us by Boeing as operable on all MAX aircraft, regardless of the selection of optional AOA Indicators on the Primary Flight Display (PFD). The manual documentation presented by Boeing at Southwests MAX entry into service indicated the AOA Disagree Light functioned on the aircraft, similar to the Lights on our NG series. After the Lion Air event, Boeing notified us that the AOA Disagree Lights were inoperable without the optional AOA Indicators on the MAX aircraft. At that time, Southwest installed the AOA Indicators on the PFD, resulting in the activation of the AOA Disagree lights  both items now serve as an additional crosscheck on all MAX aircraft.

In its own statement, Boeing said the company included the disagree alert as a standard feature on the MAX, although this alert has not been considered a safety feature on airplanes and is not necessary for the safe operation of the airplane. Boeing did not intentionally or otherwise deactivate the disagree alert on its MAX airplanes.

But Boeing added that the disagree alert was not operable on all airplanes because the feature was not activated as intended.The disagree alert was tied or linked into the angle of attack indicator, which is an optional feature on the MAX. Unless an airline opted for the angle of attack indicator, the disagree alert was not operable.

The disagree lights are of interest because the investigations into two 737 MAX hull lossesLion Air in Indonesia and Ethiopian Airlines near Addis Ababa last monthfocus on the MAXs MCAS stability augmentation system. MCASfor Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation Systemis active when the aircraft is hand flown at high angles of attack with flaps and slats up. It rolls in nose-down stabilizer trim to lower the aircraft angle of attack.

MCAS derives data from a single AoA sensor and faulty sensors are implicated in both crashes. If the aircraft had had operable AoA disagree lights, the pilots might have known MCAS activation was being caused by faulty data. In fact, according to the summarized CVR data from the Ethiopian crash, the pilots did mention faulty AoA indications.

Shortly after the Lion Air crash, Southwest added a software update that displays the actual AoA on the cockpit primary flight displays. But, as the airlines statement suggests, Boeing documentation led Southwest to believe the AoA disagree warning would function whether the PFDs had the angle values displayed or not.

The revised MCAS software, according to an Aviation Week report, uses data from both AoA sensors and includes filters to detect anomalies that would indicate one or both sensors are unreliable. The flight computer would then inhibit MCAS.

Although media outletsincluding AVwebhave described MCAS as a stall-protection feature, Boeing now insists that it never was. MCAS was designed to address stability issues at the very corner of the flight envelope with slats and flaps retracted and at light weights with full aft center of gravity. MCAS is inhibited when the airplane is flown on autopilot.

Boeing is finishing testing on the revised software, but no firm date has been set for returning more than 350 grounded MAX aircraft to service.
Ebos' board and managers should hang their heads in shame for cutting retail shareholders out of its discounted capital raising, which clearly wasn't urgent, says outgoing New Zealand Shareholders Association chair John Hawkins.

The issue dilutes retail shareholders holdings and shows Ebos board and managers are slow learners for treating retailers so badly, Hawkins says.

The issue, which was discounted 8 percent below the market price, was a free gift to a few privileged larger organisations at the expense of many smaller investors who would have their holdings diluted as a result, he says.

The fact that demand was so strong that Ebos increased the amount raised from $150 million to $175 million just adds insult to injury.

Hawkins also took issue with the fact that Ebos had the placement underwritten by arranger UBS New Zealand when the company should have known that demand for new shares would exceed supply.

The underwriting fee, which hasnt been disclosed, is a further impost on the majority of shareholders who cannot participate, he says.

In announcing the increased amount raised, chair Mark Waller said that was to accommodate strong demand from both existing and new institutional investors in New Zealand, Australia and offshore.

Our strategy has clearly resonated with investors, Waller says in a statement.

We look forward to continuing to successfully grow both our healthcare and animal care segments to create further shareholder value.

Following the placement, Ebos pro-forma net debt-to-ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) ratio will fall to 1.51 times at Dec. 31 from 2.16 times.

Hawkins criticised Ebos reason for the issue, saying they show the capital wasn't needed urgently  chief executive John Cullity said the proceeds provide Ebos with with enhanced financial capacity for further strategic acquisitions and organic growth initiatives to continue the long-term growth of the group.

Ebos had a strong balance sheet before the issue, Hawkins says. They could have done an accelerated rights issue to achieve the same outcome, which would have treated every investor fairly, but they have deliberately chosen not to.

Hawkins says that Ebos has been a very strong performer and is highly regarded.

But this is 19th century governance in the 21st century. Ebos should hang their heads in shame. Equally importantly, unfair actions like this do nothing to encourage more people to invest in the sharemarket.

When the placement was announced yesterday, Cullity said Ebos is considering a number of bolt-on acquisitions to both its healthcare and animal care operations, including healthcare consumer brands, medical devices and pharmacy sector expansion.

He said several organic growth opportunities may also require capital, including funding the development of existing brands into new growth markets such as Asia.

The new shares will be allotted on Monday at $19.70 per share, an 8 percent discount to the $21.42 closing price on NZX on April 29. UBS New Zealand was the sole lead manager and underwriter for the placement.

(BusinessDesk)

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ANZs New Zealand chief executive says hes taking Adrian Orr at his word that the Reserve Bank governor has an open mind on bank capital requirements and will treat the current consultation period as genuine.

David Hisco says Orr has personally assured him it will be a true consultation, in addition to Orrs repeated public comments to that effect.

Thats contrary to a prevailing view in business circles that Orr is adamant that the big four banks  and ANZ is the largest of the four  will be forced to increase their tier 1 capital to 16 percent of risk-weighted assets.

I have to take him at his word. I suspect we will have plenty of good discussions before final decisions are made," Hisco says.

In December last year, after the proposed new Reserve Bank requirements were published, ANZ said its group tier 1 capital at Sept. 30 was 11.4 percent and that the proposals would require it to add another $6-8 billion to its existing capital.

Consultation on the proposals is set to end on May 17, a deadline that has been extended twice.

Hisco says the proposals are a bit of an outlier  the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority regards a tier 1 capital level of 10.5 percent as unquestionably strong and the ANZ groups tier 1 capital is about A$3.7 billion above that level.

I think the real difficulty in this is that this is a very dry topic  you dont want this to end up like Brexit. The difficulty is getting the general public to pay any sort of interest to this, he says.

If the big four local banks  which are all owned by Australias big four banks  have to raise about $20 billion of new capital, even if the parent banks accept only a 12 percent return on equity, less than theyre currently earning from their New Zealand subsidiaries, that will cost local customers about $2.4 billion a year, Hisco says.

Its very hard to get traction with the consumer until it hits their pocket. Thats usually after the even when its just too late.

ANZ, along with all the major banks, has had little to say publicly but Hisco says ANZ will be putting in a submission on the proposals. The Reserve Bank has said it will make all submissions public and that it had received 42 by April 16.

Earlier today, ANZ New Zealand reported first-half net profit fell 4 percent as profits from retail lending eased amid a slowing housing market.

Net profit for the six months ended March fell to $929 million from $964 million in the same six months a year earlier and despite a 3 percent rise in net interest income to $1.63 billion.

Profits from retail lending fell 3 percent to $510 million while profit from commercial and agri lending rose 3 percent to $286 million.

Also earlier today, Business NZ called for caution on the bank capital proposals.

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said the $20 billion in additional capital requirements would mean increased mortgage costs for borrowers or credit being rationed by the banks, making financing for business owners and home owners more difficult and expensive.

"Reducing risk always comes at a cost, and we should ensure the costs involved dont outweigh the risks, Hope said.

"New Zealands risk of bank failure, given the quality of our regulatory systems, would be comparatively low, while the costs to the economy of the proposed requirements could be high.

"BusinessNZ recommends a cost/benefit analysis of the proposals before any further steps are taken."

In a paper on the proposals released on April 8, the Reserve Bank revealed that it hasnt yet done a cost/benefit analysis, something many observers have said should have been done before the consultation process began.

(BusinessDesk)

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Asian techies aspiring to work and settle in Canada are set to get an easier pathway to achieve their dreams.

Canada is set to make the Global Talent Stream (GTS) programme, which offers a hassle-free and quick route to work in the country, a permanent scheme.

Applicants having a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) background, are set to gain the most out of this.

Under the GTS programme, processing of applications filed by sponsoring employees takes just two weeks. Those hired under the GTS route gain work experience in Canada, which will ultimately help them while applying for permanent residency under the Express Entry programme.

So far Indians are the largest group to be issued invites for permanent residency under the Express Entry programme. During 2017, 42% of the 86,022 people who received invitations for permanent residency, were Indians. During 2018 it rose further by 13% to 41,000.

We are attracting some of the most highly skilled people of the world, through our global skills strategy, the ToI report quoted Ahmed Hussen, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship Canada (IRCC), as saying in the budget document, tabled recently.

Canada's burgeoning tech sector has led to the proposal to make the GST programme a permanent one. Since launch of the pilot project in June 2017, more than 2000 work visas have been issued to highly skilled workers.

According to the daily, Canada's budget 2019 mentions that GTS has generated commitments from Canadian employers to create 40,000 new jobs for Canadian and permanent residents.

Canadas brain gain is a direct result of the new rules by the Trump Administration in America.

The change will further reduce the chances of finding a job in America, especially those with an undergraduate degree or even an advanced degree from a non-U.S. university  including doctors and IIT engineers.

Since Donald Trumps election as president, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, IBM and other major American technology companies have expanded their operations in Canada.

There are several reports of engineers from India, who were hired by Microsoft and other American technology companies, being denied visas to work in America. In July 2018, Microsoft president Brad Smith publicly stated that the company would be forced to move jobs outside the U.S., especially to Canada, if the restrictions on visas continue. Were not going to cut people loose, Smith told CNBC, the business TV channel. In the world of technology, you better stand behind your people because your people are your most valuable asset.

The big American technology companies, as well as new American ventures, are expanding in Canada in large part to be able to hire the top engineering, math and science graduates from around the world. This provides a big boost in good job opportunities for Indians moving to Canada, given that India is the major global source for such scarce talent.

The Canadian government is making an aggressive pitch to attract foreign skilled talent, especially from India. Canada, with a low unemployment rate of around 6 percent among its population of 37 million, has a rapidly aging population.

Five million Canadians are set to retire by 2035 said Ahmed Hussen, Canadas immigration minister. By 2020, the governments goal is to admit one million immigrants a year, the most ambitious immigration levels in recent Canadian history, Hussen added.

Canada has introduced several measures to attract skilled foreigners: making it easier to get student and work visas; granting express entry permanent resident visas to those with advanced skills within two weeks of their application and within six months to other skilled workers  in the U.S., in contrast, it takes an Indian engineer more than fifteen years to get a permanent resident visa; and providing over $50 million for skills training of new immigrants.

The Canadian government wants the country to be a leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning research and businesses.

Besides major technology companies, major players in the technology start-up food chain in America, of founders, business managers, and venture funds, are also expanding into Canada. In 2017, for instance, the co-founders of Palantir, Addepar, Zenreach and other new, major American technological companies, set up Terminal. With offices in suburban Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Terminal provides technical talent to Eventbrite, Plays.tv and other American emerging companies. It is backed by Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures and other top American venture funds.

It is now the tech-elites versus the Trump Administration, and it is very difficult to find common ground for economic growth (in America.) A lot of other countries are very tech-forward, building partnerships with tech companies, Dylan Serota, a co-founder of Palantir, told the Financial Times.

Big companies, as well as start-ups in Canada, are seeing a sharp increase in applicants from graduates of advanced programs and highly skilled employees from America, including from the Silicon Valley. These applicants are foreigners, many of them Indians, who cannot get work visas or do not want to face the uncertainty and long wait for a permanent resident visa in the U.S.

Ive been in tech for over 20 years in Canada and in Silicon Valley, too. Ive never seen candidates from the U.S. apply for Canadian positions from places like Silicon Valley, Roy Pereira, the CEO of Zoom.ai, told Axios. Zoom is a Toronto based company that provides automated assistants that perform tasks like scheduling meetings, introducing people and organizing travel.
Guest Commentary

By Stewart Muir

Victoria and its mayor Lisa Helps were the first to call for a class action lawsuit against oil companies last year, seemingly bringing some credence to the West Coast Environmental Law Centres years-long campaign to convince municipalities to bring litigation against these energy producers.

Yet recently, Mayor Helps backed away from this course of action, saying that because litigation can take so long to make its way through the courts, a class action lawsuit against oil companies is not a viable solution to addressing climate change.

This seems obvious. The logic behind the West Coast Environmental Law Centres litigation campaign was dubious, and the idea of suing oil companies in a class action lawsuit would only have a potential positive financial impact for the lawyers representing these municipalities. While Mayor Helps may claim that shes backing away from her citys lawsuit because it would take too long to address climate change, there are other reasons why pursuing litigation against oil companies is not only fruitless but would be difficult to defend in court.

The argument that municipalities pursuing litigation against energy producers try to make is that extreme weather is related to climate change. And, in their argument, because energy companies contribute to climate change, they ought to pay for the damage these cities incur due to extreme weather. Municipalities may claim that climate change is an existential threat  and that oil companies need to pay up  but their zoning decisions and bond disclosures are telling vastly different stories.

Zoning is one of most significant powers municipal governments have to shape how their communities ultimately grow. So, if a municipal government seriously is concerned about the infrastructure costs their government will face, their future zoning plans will reflect that reality.

Demonstrating this commitment in court would be important, showing that the municipality bringing suit against a fossil fuel company was not just looking for a payday, but had created a community that limited the use of fossil fuels for transportation. Its unlikely that any of the municipalities considering litigation against oil companies could prove such a commitment.

For example, British Columbias Premier John Horgan recently criticized municipalities for requesting provincial funding for public transportation without showing a credible investment or rezoning plan to build housing around these public transportation projects. Such projects should ideally reduce the reliance on cars  and gasoline  yet municipalities arent demonstrating a strong desire to reorient their communities around public transportation options.

At the same time, these municipalities have a much larger problem: their bond disclosures. Earlier this year, when the Union of BC Municipalities and the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities filed a resolution exploring a class action lawsuit against oil companies, they noted that local governments are incurring substantial costs in relation to the impacts of climate change, including volatile weather patterns, drought, wildfires, erosion and other impacts.

Its a similar tactic that multiple California municipalities attempted. They tried to get oil companies to pay for infrastructure that would mitigate rising sea levels. Yet their argument fell apart when their bond disclosures were examined.

While these municipalities were saying one thing to the courts, they werent telling investors about these purported climate change risks and how volatile weather patterns would certainly harm the soundness of an infrastructure investment.

The logical conclusion is that these municipalities were either defrauding investors to support projects that werent sound, or they dont believe the risk of climate change is great and are still trying to sue oil companies regardless.

Meanwhile, BC municipalities havent disclosed climate risks in their bond offerings. This opens them up to similar scrutiny should any of their cases against oil companies reach court.

Municipalities commitment to mitigating the effects of climate change must amount to more than them approaching energy companies with their hands outstretched, demanding payment. They must reflect this commitment in their zoning. Whats more, they cant claim climate change is an existential threat and then fail to disclose any climate risks in their bond offerings available to investors. Doing so destroys their case. As BC municipalities consider following WCEL, they should first look towards California municipalities to understand the blunders of following the glimmer of class action lawsuits.

There are signs that mayors are starting to see the pitfalls of agreeing to be test cases for the ideas of niche climate-law campaigners, at unknown cost to ratepayers. The discourse is already shifting and one area will surely be the question of whether the federal government is providing "inefficient tax subsidies" to the hydrocarbon value chain, a.k.a. fossil fuels.

The Department of Finance was recently asked by Canada's new Environment Commissioner to examine the question. The answer that came back was that, in reality, Canada has now phased out most tax preferences for fossil fuel production.

The idea here seems to be to force governments to shift these imagined subsidies over to renewables. Hence, the reality of number crunchers inevitably provoked the ire of the new arm of the eco-bureaucracy for the reason that Finance "focused almost exclusively on fiscal and economic considerations".

Wrong answer! The beancounters were told they should have included "the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of the tax subsidies" that Environment believes exist.

Expect to see this issue become part of the discourse at other levels of government, including the municipal one. It's yet another sign that ideology rather than practical action is prevailing in the ongoing effort to decarbonize the Canadian economy through the development of low-carbon exports.

Stewart Muir is the executive director of Resource Works, which communicates with British Columbians about the importance of the province's resource sectors to their personal well-being.
Bollywood movies are famous for group dances, pompous weddings and occasionally some off-beat topics. But it is also famous for remakes. Its not a secret that the bulk of Bollywood movies are either remakes of Hollywood movies or the ones from their regional cinemas. But we have to acknowledge that some of the remakes are so good that the audience never realise that the movies are not based on original concept. Here are five upcoming Bollywood movies that are actually remakes of famed Hollywood blockbuster classics.

1: Bollywoods remake of The Girl On The Train

So far, the name hasnt been decided but what we know so far is that it stars Parineeti Chopra. The film is based on an American psychological mystery thriller. Its the story of a girl which gets dragged into an investigation of a persons disappearance. Emily Blunt, the actress who starred in the original movie, won several awards and nominations. Hence, Parineeti is being expected a lot from. The release is expected in 2020.

2: Bollywoods remake of Rambo

Sylvester Stallones Rambo, the movie that inspired an entire generation, is set to be remade in Bollywood. Can you guess who is going to play Stallone? Tiger Shroff. And when you will have a look at him next to Rambos poster, you might not disagree with the producers choice to cast him to play one of the most iconic characters of 20th century. Rumours said that numerous other projects for Shroff and the movie director Sidharth Anand had led to the movie being shelved, but sources say it will be released in 2020 with production beginning this year.

3: Bollywoods remake of The Fault In Our Stars

Originally, the remake was titled Kizie and Manny but it was then changed to Dil Bechara. The movie is based on the novel of same title by John Greene. It was turned into a Hollywood classic in 2014. It is a story of a cancer patient who falls in love with an amputee. And to top it off, the music is given by A.R Rahman.

4: Bollywoods remake of Red

The plot for Hollywood movie Red revolved around a black-ops agent who reassembles his own team to uncover assailants. While theres no word on the cast for the remake, whats clear so far is that Anil Kapoor is producing this movie. Directed by Abhinay Deo, the movie is set for release in 2020.

5: Bollywoods remake of Begin Again

The movie is going to be directed by Shashanka Ghosh, director of Veere Di Wedding. Begin Again is a musical comedy-drama film, starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo. Knightley plays a singer-songwriter who is discovered by a struggling record label executive (Ruffalo) and collaborates with him to produce an album recorded in public locations all over New York City.

Although theres no word on when the movie is going to be released, word has it that like others, it is going to be out in theatres in 2020.
25 Venezuelan troops seek asylum in Brazil embassy: official



Brasilia, April 30 (AFP) Apr 30, 2019



At least 25 Venezuelan troops have sought asylum in Brazil's embassy in Caracas, a senior Brazilian official said Tuesday, after Venezuela's self-declared president Juan Guaido claimed soldiers had joined him.

A spokesman for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said soldiers and lieutenants were among the applicants.

The petitions for asylum came as Bolsonaro threw his support behind Venezuelans "enslaved by a dictator," a reference to President Nicolas Maduro whom Guaido is challenging for power.

"Brazil is on the side of the people of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido and the freedom of Venezuelans," Bolsonaro said in a series of tweets.

"We support the freedom of this sister nation to finally live a true democracy."

Foreign minister Ernesto Araujo reiterated Brazil's support for a "democratic transition" and expressed "hopes that the Venezuelan military will be part of this process."

Brazil is among more than 50 countries that have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's interim president.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support on Tuesday, however, disintegrated into rioting in the Venezuelan capital, sparking calls for restraint.
New round of US-Taliban talks to start in Doha: Taliban



Kabul, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019



A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US starts Wednesday in Qatar, an official for the insurgents said, as the foes seek an end of America's longest war.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP that "the sixth round of talks between Islamic Emirate and the US will start in Doha today".

While the US embassy in Kabul did not immediately comment, the US State Department has already said its peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will visit Doha, the Qatari capital, this month to meet the Taliban.

The two sides have met repeatedly to discuss the framework for an eventual peace deal, in which the Taliban would vow to stop Afghanistan ever again being used as a terrorist safe haven in return for a pull out of foreign forces.

None of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime.

That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal to end the 17-year-old war and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of an accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.

Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for an "intra-Afghan dialogue" that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table.
New round of US-Taliban talks to start in Doha: Taliban



Kabul, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019



A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US got underway in Qatar on Wednesday, an official for the insurgents said, as the foes seek a way out of America's longest war.

The talks mark the sixth round of negotiations between the two sides in recent months, and come as pressure builds for some sort of breakthrough in Afghanistan's gruelling conflict, with Washington jostling for a resolution.

According to Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, the talks "will start in Doha today".

The US embassy in Kabul declined to comment, but the US State Department has already said its peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will visit Doha, the Qatari capital, this month to meet the Taliban.

Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan and is a former US ambassador to the country, has spent several months shuttling between Asian capitals and Washington in a bid to build consensus for a deal.

On Sunday, he said Washington was "a bit impatient" to end the war, given its $45 billion annual cost to the US taxpayer and the continued toll on US forces, some 2,400 of whom have been killed since the US-led invasion in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

US President Donald Trump provided additional momentum when in December he told advisors he wanted to pull about half of America's 14,000 troops from Afghanistan.



- Mega meeting in Kabul -



Khalilzad has repeatedly stressed "there is no final agreement until everything is agreed" but the basic framework for a deal would see the US agree to pull its forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban vowing to stop terror groups ever again using the country as a safe haven.

But none of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime.

That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal to end the war and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of an accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.

An initial attempt for an "intra-Afghan dialogue", due to take place last month in Doha, collapsed in disarray at the last minute amid bickering over the lengthy list of delegates Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wanted to send.

Separately, thousands of Afghan politicians and representatives from various groups are meeting in Kabul this week at a "loya jirga" peace summit to discuss conditions under which they might envision some sort of deal with the Taliban.

Among top concerns are that the militant Islamist extremists would try to undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms and legal protections.

Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, welcomed the fresh US-Taliban talks and described how the jirga could feed into overall peace talks.

"The jirga sets a logical beginning for the peace process," Daudzai told reporters.

"The people in the jirga will decide and set boundaries and the framework of talks."

Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for intra-Afghan dialogue that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table.

Violence across Afghanistan meanwhile continues apace, and the Taliban last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive.
New round of US-Taliban talks starts in Doha



Kabul, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019



A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US got underway in Qatar on Wednesday, as the foes continue to seek a way out of America's longest war.

The latest negotiations come as pressure builds for some sort of breakthrough in the gruelling Afghan conflict, with Washington jostling for a resolution.

According to a Taliban spokesman, the group's top political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar met with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the men discussed "key aspects for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue".

Khalilzad, who has stressed "there is no final agreement until everything is agreed", has previously outlined the basic framework for a deal.

The pact would see the US agree to pull its forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban vowing to stop terror groups ever again using the country as a safe haven.

According to the Taliban, Baradar told Khalilzad it was vital those two key points "be finalised". The US embassy in Kabul confirmed only that talks were taking place.

Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, has spent several months shuttling between Asian capitals and Washington in a bid to build consensus for a deal.

On Sunday, the Afghan-born envoy said Washington was "a bit impatient" to end the war, given its $45 billion annual cost to the US taxpayer and the continued toll on US forces, some 2,400 of whom have been killed since the US-led invasion in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

US President Donald Trump provided additional momentum when in December he told advisors he wanted to pull about half of America's 14,000 troops from Afghanistan.



- Mega meeting in Kabul -



Despite several rounds of negotiations between the US and the Taliban, none of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime.

That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.

An initial attempt for an "intra-Afghan dialogue" -- due to take place last month in Doha -- collapsed at the last minute amid bickering over the lengthy list of delegates Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wanted to send.

Separately, thousands of Afghan politicians and representatives are meeting in Kabul this week at a "loya jirga" peace summit to discuss conditions under which they could envision a deal with the Taliban.

Among top concerns are that the militant Islamist extremists would try to undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms and legal protections.

Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, welcomed the fresh US-Taliban talks and described how the jirga could feed into peace talks.

"The jirga sets a logical beginning for the peace process," Daudzai told reporters. "The people in the jirga will decide and set boundaries and the framework of talks."

Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for intra-Afghan dialogue that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table.

He tweeted Wednesday he was in Doha and had met with the Indonesian foreign minister, who offered support for the talks.

Meanwhile violence across Afghanistan continues apace, and the Taliban last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive.
Acting Pentagon chief cancels Europe trip over Venezuela crisis



Washington, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019



US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has canceled a trip to Europe to stay on top of the crisis in Venezuela and events at the US-Mexico border, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

"Secretary Shanahan will no longer travel to Europe as he has determined remaining present in DC would allow him to more effectively coordinate with NSA and the State Department in Venezuela and to continue coordination with DHS for support along the Southwest border," his spokesman Joe Buccino said.

Shanahan had planned to embark on a tour of Germany, Belgium and Britain, starting Thursday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier Wednesday President Donald Trump was prepared to take military action to quell the crisis in Venezuela.

Shanahan was due to attend ceremonies in Germany and Belgium marking the change of commanders for US European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

He was also expected to meet his British counterpart Gavin Williamson before his return on Saturday.

Venezuelan was bracing Wednesday for anti-government protests called by opposition leader Juan Guaido in a bid to pile pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

Pro-Maduro rallies were also expected, a day after violent clashes erupted in the capital Caracas following Guido's call on the military to rise up against Maduro, who claimed the insurrection had failed.

The United States is among some 50 countries that recognize Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January in a bid to replace Maduro, whom he has branded as illegitimate.
Iraq rakes in $7 bn in oil revenues in April, highest in 2019



Baghdad, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019



Iraq made more than $7 billion in April from its crude exports, the highest monthly revenues yet this year, according to figures released by the oil ministry on Wednesday.

Federal authorities exported just under 104 million barrels last month, averaging at 3.47 million bpd. It had exported over 104 million barrels in March.

But a spike in its oil price to $67 per barrel meant Iraq raked in just over $7 billion in April, around $300 million more than the previous month.

Iraq is currently the fifth-largest oil producer and exporter worldwide, and the second-largest producer from among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

It has the capacity to produce 4.6 million bpd, but has trimmed back in recent months in agreement with other producers in order to boost prices.

Brent crude has indeed enjoyed a strong recovery, jumping to a nearly six-month high last week before settling at $72.28 per barrel on Wednesday.

The United States is set to end sanctions relief this month for eight countries importing Iranian crude, sparking concerns of a possible shortfall in world supply.

Iraq has said it could boost its production to meet a potential gap but would do so only in coordination with fellow OPEC members.

Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadban said OPEC countries would meet in Saudi Arabia on May 19.

According to a report released last week by the International Energy Agency, Iraq is on track to be the world's third-largest crude producer by 2030.
84 children returned to Tajikistan from Iraq: official



Dushanbe, Tajikistan, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019



More than 80 children have arrived in Tajikistan from Iraq where their parents were sentenced for joining the Islamic State group and other militant outfits, Tajikistan's foreign ministry said online Wednesday.

Eighty-four children, all Tajik citizens, had been "forced to join the ranks" of the militant groups after their parents were recruited, according to the statement on the ministry's website.

They returned on a special flight from Baghdad to Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe on April 30, it added.

In February Tajikistan's foreign ministry said it was seeking the repatriation of 75 children marooned in Iraq where 43 Tajik women are serving jail sentences for extremism-related crimes.

Repatriating the jailed women would be far more difficult, Tajik foreign minister Sirodjidin Mukhriddin admitted at the time.

The Islamic State (IS) group seized large swathes of Iraq in a lightning 2014 offensive, before the Iraqi government dislodged the jihadists from urban centres and eventually declared victory in December 2017.

The fall of the Islamic State's caliphate in Iraq and Syria has left many countries grappling with what to do with the jihadists and their relatives who want to return.

Tajik authorities have said over 1,000 citizens left the country to fight on the side of militant groups in Iraq and Syria after 2011, some after stints working abroad in Russia.

The most famous IS recruit from Tajikistan was Gulmurod Halimov, who headed the interior ministry's special forces unit before sensationally announcing his defection to IS in a video attributed to the group in 2015.
Clashes break out at Venezuela May Day protest



Caracas, May 1 (AFP) May 01, 2019



Clashes broke out between opposition supporters and Venezuela's armed forces in the capital Caracas on Wednesday as May Day protests got underway with opposition leader Juan Guaido attempting to rally demonstrators against President Nicolas Maduro.

National Guard troops fired teargas at stone-throwing protesters attempting to block a highway close to the air base in eastern Caracas where Guaido had tried on Tuesday to spark a military uprising against Maduro.

A second day of clashes between opposition supporters and Maduro's security services came as the United States said it was prepared to take military action, if necessary, to stem the crisis in the South American nation.

The US and Russia, meanwhile, accused each other of making the crisis worse, evoking Cold War confrontations of the past.

In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of "destabilizing" Venezuela. Lavrov, in turn, charged that US interference was "destructive" and "in flagrant violation of international law."

Guaido, meawhile, rallied his supporters in Caracas in May Day demonstrations, urging them to stay in the streets despite the apparent failure of a military uprising the day before.

"There is nothing for workers to celebrate," Guaido -- recognized by more than 50 countries as the country's interim president -- told supporters.

"We're going to remain in the streets until we achieve freedom for the Venezuelan people.

"The regime will try to increase the repression, it will try to persecute me, to stage a coup d'etat."

He said staggered industrial action would begin on Thursday, leading to a general strike.

In Tuesday's clashes, one person was killed and dozens injured, according to human rights monitors.

Maduro, who was leading his own Labor Day rally elsewhere in the capital, emerged on television Tuesday after a day of violent street clashes Tuesday flanked by his military and intelligence chiefs.

Maduro congratulated the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes."

Accusing Guaido of attempting to stage a coup, he vowed, "This will not go unpunished."



- 'Serious crimes' -



Hours after the revolt by military officers appeared to be fizzling out, Pompeo told CNN he believed Maduro was ready to flee to ally Cuba before he was dissuaded by Russia -- a claim Maduro later refuted as "a joke."

Brazil said at least 25 Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy.

Pompeo said Wednesday that Washington wants a peaceful transfer of power but warned that US President Donald Trump is prepared to take military action if necessary.

"The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo told Fox Business Network.

Tensions in Venezuela have soared since Guaido, who heads the National Assembly, invoked the constitution to declare himself the acting president January 23 on grounds that Maduro had been fraudulently re-elected last year.



- 'Living through hell' -



Venezuela has suffered five years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine, as well as failing public services, including water, electricity and transport.

"We're living through hell, without water, without electricity. I believe the people in the streets will be the straw that breaks the camel's back," a resident of western Caracas, Evelinda Villalobos, 58, told AFP.

The United Nations says a quarter of Venezuela's 30 million people need humanitarian aid, 3.7 million people are malnourished while another 2.7 million have fled the country's economic woes.

"Yesterday we saw soldiers recognizing our interim president. We have to stay in the streets," said Patricia Requena, 40. "I'll keep demonstrating as long as God allows me to."

Guaido published a list on Twitter on Wednesday morning of 15 gathering points for protesters, adding the message: "We continue with greater strength than ever Venezuela.".



- 'Another sunrise' -



Michael Shifter, an analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP the US approach to Venezuela was "unhelpful and often counterproductive."

"The US is right to back Guaido in his battle against Maduro," said Shifter.

"But beyond being on the right side, the administration is making it harder, not easier, to achieve a democratic transition in Venezuela."

He added that Russia had "committed fewer self-inflicted wounds than the US and seems more skillful in advancing its own interests."

bur-bc/jm
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ABC/Fred LeeHey look ma, he made it.

Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie was honored in his hometown of Las Vegas Tuesday with the Key to the City.

Urie, who grew up in Vegas after his family moved there when he was two years old, received the Key a day before he's set to take the stage at this year's Billboard Music Awards, held Wednesday in Sin City.

During the show, Panic! will play their Pray for the Wicked song "Hey Look Ma, I Made It," while Urie will open the ceremony with pop superstar Taylor Swift with a performance of their collaborative single, "ME!"

Panic! is also nominated for four BBMAs this year: Top Duo/Group, Top Rock Artist, Top Rock Album for Pray for the Wicked and Top Rock Song for "High Hopes."

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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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.
Visual Data Media Services has bought digital cinema mastering and distribution specialist Soho Digital Cinema (SDC).

The acquisition enables Visual Data to add Digital Cinema Mastering and Cinema Distribution to its services alongside its existing broadcast, streaming and VOD offerings,

Visual Data is using the acquisition to position itself as a one-stop-shop for all methods of digital content distribution so customers can now use SDCs D-Cinema services including Screenfast, the digital cinema cloud distribution platform, as well as having access to Visual Datas media distribution services and experience in distributing content to platforms like Netflix, Amazon and iTunes.

While the company will operate under the Visual Data brand, the Screenfast platform will retain its name and will continue to be developed. Symon Roue will continue to head up Visual Data in the UK, while SDCs David Margolis has been appointed Director of Digital Cinema. The SDC team will relocate to Visual Datas UK facilities in west London.

Visual Data and Soho Digital Cinema had worked together on several projects and we saw clear synergies between our two companies, with our complementary product and service offerings and adjacent or converging markets, said Symon Roue, Managing Director, Visual Data Media Services. The acquisition is a positive move for all of our customers, enabling them to master and distribute all deliverables from one place, significantly streamlining the distribution process while saving time and money.

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If youre around the neighborhood this morning, you might want to stop by Ahearn Park.

Theres a rally coordinated by Educational Alliance in response to the MTAs plan to institute Select Bus Service, eliminating several stops along the M14 A and D bus routes. Heres part of the press advisory:

The M14 bus is the lifeline for thousands of senior citizens in Manhattan. The line, including its M14A and M14D routes, serves New York Citys largest neighboring Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) on the Lower East Side and in the East Village. These New Yorkers  many of whom struggle with their mobility  will be unfairly and dangerously affected by the MTAs proposal to create Select Bus Service and eliminate several local stops on the line. There is no denying the need to improve bus service in Manhattan. The solution, however, is not to ask our most vulnerable neighbors to walk longer distances in frigid cold, driving rain, and stifling heat. Join us on the first day of Older Americans Month as we call on the MTA to #SaveOurStops.

The rally takes place today, May 1, at 10 a.m. Ahearn Park is located at Grand Street and East Broadway. Seniors will march to the bus stop at Grand and Clinton streets. Representatives from the offices of local elected officials are expected to attend.
ABC/Mark LevineWednesday night, any sort of maternity leave that Carrie Underwood was able to carve out of her busy schedule will officially be over. The "Southbound" hitmaker kicks off her Cry Pretty 360 Tour in Greensboro, North Carolina, after giving birth to her son, Jacob, in January.

Of course, Carrie's already been back at work getting ready to launch her new show.

"Rehearsals have been going really great," she reveals. "My band is amazing as always, and I feel like every year and every album, you know, they get better and better, and everybody gets more comfortable with each other and people just have even more fun on stage."

Carrie's previous Storyteller trek wrapped at the end of 2016, and is the undeniable high point of her touring life so far. But the Oklahoma native warns she's raising the stakes on the new run, which, like its predecessor, will be in the round.

"I feel like fans are really going to be able to feel the love and all the hard work that has gone into this tour," Carrie predicts. "Theres so many people that have thought long and hard about how to make this show better than anything that weve ever done before."

"I feel like its gonna be easy to sit in the audience and recognize that," she adds.

Maddie & Tae and Runaway June join Carrie for the all-girl tour, which continues on Friday with a stop in Birmingham, Alabama.

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News

English-speaking community groups rally to fight CAQ plan to close school boards

By P.A. Sevigny The Suburban QCGN President Geoffrey Chambers cites Supreme Court ruling to define English-speaking community coalition's determination to fight CAQ plan to eliminate province's school boards

Only days after assorted community groups and leaders put together APPELLE  the Alliance for the Promotion of Public English Language Education in Quebec, the broad based coalition is already getting the media attention it needs to help preserve English Language school boards throughout the province.

Our community is very alarmed by the government of Quebecs intention to abolish school boards and school board elections, said former MNA Geoff Kelley. As the coalitions new chairman, he also mentioned that ...We understand that legislation is already being prepared without any input from any of the provinces English-speaking communities.

According to Kelley, the future of the English communitys children depends upon the communitys ability to provide the bilingual and bicultural education that does so much to define English-speaking communities throughout the province. As a former member of the federal senates Standing Committee on Official Languages, Senator Joan Fraser  APPELLEs vice-chairman  told her audience that Quebecs Anglophones understand whats at stake and how important their schools are for English- speaking communities outside of Montreal.

As one of Canadas official minority-language communities, said Fraser, English-speaking Quebecers already understand the critical role schools play in the vitality of our communities across Quebec.

As a member of the committee that produced the Senates report (2011) on the realities faced by English-speaking communities throughout Quebec, Fraser added that English-speaking communities must preserve control and management of our institutions and have a real say in how they will be governed, if they wish to maintain their presence as well as their vitality as a minority community within Quebec.

According to Kelley, the government should have the good sense to begin an extensive consultation that would include both the empirical evidence as well as the collective public opinion they will need to proceed with their plan to reform primary and secondary education throughout the province. As an extensive consultation would ...reposition the debate on school reform in a positive way, Kelley believes that initiative would avoid unnecessary conflict, and possibly achieve a broad consensus from the provinces working teachers and other working professionals as well as from parents and the community at large. While he did mention that it was too early to start talking about taking the issue to court, the APPELLE coalition is already on solid legal ground as Canadas Supreme Court has already ruled that Canadas minority school boards have a right to manage their own affairs. During a previous media interview, QCGN (Quebec Community Groups Network) President Geoffrey Chambers said that ...the Supreme Courts ruling in Mahe v. Alberta was crystal clear!

The court, said Chambers, ... ruled that minority language communities have the right to control and manage the educational facilities in which their children are taught both to ensure and enable that their language and culture can flourish.

However, as the Legault administration is already threatening to use the Canadian Constitutions Notwithstanding clause to preserve and protect their its new Bill 21, it remains to be seen if they will be doing the same thing in order to close the provinces school boards in order to impose their own control over primary and secondary education in Quebec.
Attendees listen to PENNCREST School Board candidates speak at a town hall held Tuesday in Guys Mills. The public forum was organized by a student paper in the PENNCREST School District, The Panther Press.
The value of Bahrains national origin exports increased by nine per cent as it reached BD587 million ($1.54 billion) during the first quarter (Q1) of the year versus BD538 million for Q1 2018, said the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) in its foreign trade report.



The top ten countries account for 82 per cent of the exported national origin value and 18 per cent for other countries.



Saudi Arabia was ranked as the first country importing from Bahrain with BD139 million, United Arab Emirates came as second with BD95 million and the US came third place with BD74 million.



As for national export products, agglomerated iron ores and concentrates emerged as the top products exported in the first quarter of 2019 with BD83 million; aluminium wire were positioned second products imported with a value of BD44 million; and unwrought aluminium alloys stood third place for exported products with BD26 million.



In regards to the re-exported field, the value of re-exports increased by 66 per cent as it reached BD196 million during the first quarter of 2019 versus BD118 million for the same quarter of the previous year. The top ten countries account for 84 per cent of the re-exported value and 16 per cent for other countries. Saudi Arabia was ranked as the first country to re-export from Bahrain with BD50 million, UAE ranked as the second with BD44 million, and China as third with BD26 million.



Four-wheel drive cars emerged as the top product re-exported from Bahrain with BD24 million, agglomerated iron ores and concentrates came as second products with BD21 million, and parts for piston engines came as third with BD19 million.



The trade balance, difference between exports and imports, the value of the deficit of the trade balance reached BD375 million during the first quarter of 2019 versus BD637 million for the same quarter of the previous year with a decrease of 41 per cent.



The value of imports decreased by 11 per cent as it reached BD1.157 billion during the first quarter of 2019 versus BD1.293 billion for the same quarter of the previous year, while the top ten countries account for 67 per cent of the imports value and 33 per cent for other countries.



According to the report, China was ranked as the first country which exports to Bahrain with BD158 million, the UAE as the second with BD92 million whereas Brazil was ranked third with BD84 million.



Non-agglomerated iron ores and concentrates emerged as the top product imported to Bahrain with BD102 million, while the aluminium oxide as the second with BD77 million. Four-wheel drive cars were the third products with BD52 million during the first quarter of 2019.  TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain Steel has announced that it has signed a 20-year agreement with Anglo American Marketing Limited (Anglo American) for the supply of pellet feed for its pelletising plants located in Hidd region of the kingdom.

Anglo American is a leading global mining organisation with operations in various parts of the world, producing iron ore, diamonds, platinum group metals, copper, nickel, coal and manganese and employing 90,000 people.

The contract, which is valued at worth $15 billion over its duration and will reach a total of 8 million wet tonnes a year, provides Bahrain Steel with approximately 60 per cent of its expected needs for pellet feed at its annual rated capacity of 12 million tonnes of finished pellets.

This contract is a significant milestone in its strategy to maintain full production capacity and the uninterrupted delivery of high quality iron ore pellets to steel producers it supplies around the world, said Bahrain Steel, the worlds largest merchant pelletiser which currently sources iron ore from Brazil, Chile, Sweden and Canada.

It is fully owned by Foulath Holding Company, which in turn is owned 50 per cent by Gulf Investment Corporation, Kuwait; 25 per cent by Qatar Steel Company; 10 per cent by Gulf Cables & Electrical Industries Company, Kuwait; 10 per cent by National Industries Group Holding, Kuwait; and 5 per cent by Kuwait Foundry Company, Kuwait.

Signed in London, where Anglo American is headquartered, the agreement provides for iron ore grade to be supplied at a minimum 67 per cent Fe and 2 per cent or less total gangue.

Deliveries under the contract have already started, sourced exclusively from Anglo Americans Minas-Rio mine in Brazil, one of the largest in the world, rated at an annual output of 26.5 million metric tonne.

Bahrain Steels pellets are used for steelmaking using either the Direct Reduced/Electric Arc Furnace or the Blast Furnace/Basic Oxygen Furnace route.

The companys growth is being driven by its reputation as a reliable supplier of consistent quality Direct Reduction (DR) grade iron ore pellets and currently it has an estimated 26 per cent share of the iron ore pellet market in the GCC countries, where demand is put at approximately 22 million tons a year and growing.

As per a report produced by McKinsey, the demand for iron ore pellets is set to increase in the seaborne markets with the Mena region continuing to be the main driver of growth in demand for seaborne pellets at a rate of 2.6 per cent to reach a total demand of 46 million tonnes by 2027.

Bahrain Steel chairman Khalid Al Bassam said: "We are delighted to have reached this momentous deal with Anglo American, which will provide important safeguards to the pellet feed supply required to serve the needs of our customers in the Mena region and beyond, which are increasingly relying on Bahrain Steel for their supply of DR pellets."

"From May 2018, we have been involved in intense negotiation with Anglo American to agree this new mutually beneficial 2019 supply agreement, which replaces an earlier 2012 agreement. The discussions were conducted by a Board sub-committee under the chairmanship of my colleague, Board Member Khaled Al Sabah, supported by our Group CEO Dilip George, and a team of senior management," he stated.

"The thanks of the company and its shareholders go to them for their hard work in bringing these negotiations to a highly successful conclusion," he added.

Peter Whitcutt, CEO Marketing, Anglo American said: "We are thrilled by our new partnership with Bahrain Steel. This long-term agreement allows us to increase our support to the steel industry, extending the reach of our high-grade ore throughout the Mena region."

"We look forward to working together with Bahrain Steel to develop our business together over the next twenty years," stated Whitcutt.

"With the conclusion of this iron ore supply agreement with Anglo American, Bahrain Steel is now better positioned than ever to continue to meet the needs of our customers while also providing operational benefits," said the senior official.

"In line with customer demands, these supplies enable us to produce high grade DR pellets with Fe levels of over 67 per cent with combined silica and alumina levels of less than 2.5 per cent and BF pellets that have Fe levels of 65 per cent with combined silica and alumina levels of 3.5 per cent," added Whitcutt.-TradeArabia News Service
Air Arabia, a leading low-cost carrier from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region has announced plans to launch daily nonstop flights from its hub Sharjah to Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

The announcement was made by the Emirati budget carrier during a joint promotional campaign with Tourism Malaysia, a leading organisation under the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.

It will be the first direct flight from the region to Malaysia by a low-cost carrier, said a statement from the Sharjah carrier.

Air Arabia will be launch its direct flights on Sharjah-Kuala Lumpur sector starting from July 1.

The seven-hour flight will operate daily. Flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays depart Sharjah International Airport at 2.55pm local time arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 2.25 am local time.

On return, the flights depart Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 3.35am and arrive in Sharjah at 6.50am.

Flights operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays depart Sharjah International Airport at 9.20pm and arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 8.50am local time. The return flights depart Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 9.55am and arriving in Sharjah at 1:10pm local time.

The campaign will run across the GCC, Iraq and Egypt market, said Datuk Musa Hj. Yosuf, director general of Tourism Malaysia, after signing the deal with Adel Al Ali, group chief executive officer of Air Arabia on the sidelines of Arabian Travel Market 2019 in Dubai.

The campaign aims to promote the enhanced connectivity between Malaysia and the Middle East in line with the goals of the countrys Visit Malaysia 2020 initiative, which seeks to attract 30 million tourists and around Dh89 billion ($24.2 billion) in tourism receipts by the year 2020, he stated.

Air Arabia will operate its brand new Airbus A321 neo LR aircraft on this route with a capacity of 215 seats, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Cebu Pacific (CEB), the Philippines largest low-cost carrier (LCC), showcased its products and services, highlighting the concept of no-frills flying  a pay for what you need system, at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2019 in Dubai, UAE.



Being the oldest and the only LCC servicing the Dubai-Manila route, Cebu Pacific has enabled over a million UAE-based Filipino passengers to experience no-frills flying which allows them to come home to the Philippines more often, an airline statement said.



Candice Iyog, vice president for Marketing and Distribution at Cebu Pacific said: Since the launch of its Dubai-Manila route, Cebu Pacific has proven to be a travel enabler with its value-for-money flights and no-frills travel. Through CEBs services, we ensure that the hard-earned money of overseas Filipino workers will not be wasted and can be enjoyed at the destination. Our participation in ATM is definitely a great opportunity for CEB to highlight this concept as well as our home country as one of the top tourist destinations in the world.



In addition, the video of Cebu Pacifics newest campaign, Fly to More Fun, was featured in its booth.



Launched during Cebu Pacifics 23rd anniversary this year, the campaign aims to attract UAE residents to discover the Philippines hidden gems and to experience its beauty through Cebu Pacific. The low-cost airline currently services to over 200 nationalities and plans to expand its reach by servicing to over 200 million passengers by 2020.



In addition to providing cost-effective services to OFWs, Cebu Pacific is committed to boosting the Philippine tourism. We have been working with the Philippine Department of Tourism and we have recently launched our Fly to More Fun campaign. We aspire to take travellers to local destinations through our domestic networks  the widest in the Philippines, Blessie Cruz, director of Marketing and Communications at Cebu Pacific added.



Cebu Pacific is extensively expanding its route network and upgrading its fleet to bigger and more fuel-efficient aircraft, according to the statement.



And to support the carriers expansion plans, CEB has procured 12 brand new aircraft that include 6 Airbus A321NEO, 5 A320NEO, and an ATR 72-600. And earlier this year, they received one A321NEO and are expecting the delivery of remaining 11 with 2019.



Cebu Pacific has accelerated its growth by increasing its frequency as well as servicing nationalities from across the globe and a platform like ATM allows them to showcase our offerings to the customers.



Arabian Travel Market is the leading global event for the Middle East inbound and outbound travel industry, is held from April 28 to May 1 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.  TradeArabia News Service
Dhaka, Apr 30 (UNI) Saudi Ambassador Abdullah Bin H M Al-Mutairi on Tuesday bid farewell to Bangladesh President M Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban here.

After the meeting, Presidents Deputy Press Secretary (DPS) Abul Kalam Azad briefed media, "The head of the state congratulated the Saudi ambassador for the successful completion of his four-year tenure in Bangladesh."

Recalling the past relations of Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, President said that the existing bilateral relation between the two brotherly countries is on an excellent note and will get stronger in future.
UW Announces Spring 2019 Commencement Programs

A New York advertising executive and University of Wyoming graduate, an alumnus who is dedicated to improving rural mental health, and Wyomings superintendent of public instruction are the keynote speakers for UWs spring commencement ceremonies Saturday, May 18.

They will be joined by three student speakers for the three ceremonies in UWs Arena-Auditorium.

UW is scheduled to accord degrees upon 1,420 undergraduate students, 401 graduate students, 61 College of Law students and 43 School of Pharmacy students.A

Each ceremony is scheduled to last about two hours, featuring a keynote speaker, student speaker, a reading of all graduates names and presentation of diplomas to each student. The ceremonies will be broadcast live via UWs WyoCast system.

The first ceremony, set for 8:30 a.m., is for students graduating from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the College of Business, the College of Engineering and Applied Science, the College of Health Sciences, and the School of Energy Resources. The WyoCast link is: https://wyocast.uwyo.edu/WyoCast/Play/e9302c67ecb4469ca7a0913a03ad50cb1d.

The second, starting at 12:15 p.m., is for all UW graduate students. The WyoCast link is: https://wyocast.uwyo.edu/WyoCast/Play/f4ab06b1efaf4fc593d91a54a9e51d3b1d.

The third, beginning at 3:30 p.m., is for students graduating from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, and the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources. The WyoCast link is: https://wyocast.uwyo.edu/WyoCast/Play/5034221c046b435091b01d852c7463d21d.

UWs College of Law will hold its own commencement ceremony at 10 a.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts. The WyoCast link is: https://wyocast.uwyo.edu/WyoCast/Play/c4b987c6f4ab4d14bae5fa0dea86c9431d.

Two honorary degree recipients also will be honored at the undergraduate ceremonies.

The keynote speakers, student speakers and honorary degree recipients for the May 18 ceremonies are:

Keynote Speakers

-- 8:30 a.m. ceremony: Peter Sherman, executive vice president for Omnicom Group, a New York-based worldwide advertising company. A 1986 UW journalism graduate who grew up in Cheyenne, Sherman is a member of the UW Foundation Board of Directors. His career in the advertising world has included running agency operations in New York, Europe and North America from San Francisco, London, Milan and New York City.

-- 12:15 p.m. ceremony: Julian Good, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner in Cheyenne. After growing up in Sheridan, he received bachelors (2001) and masters (2002) degrees in nursing from UW, then worked as a family nurse practitioner in North Dakota. In 2006, he joined UWs Family Practice Residency Program in Cheyenne. He returned to UW as a student to obtain his post-masters certificate as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (2012) and received a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from North Dakota State University in 2017. His dissertation, conducted at the UW Family Practice Residency Program in Cheyenne, focused on improving residents ability to screen for mental health disorders.

-- 3:30 p.m. ceremony: Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, who was elected to her second term in 2018. After growing up in Laramie and Gillette, she received a bachelors degree in elementary education from UW (1993) and a masters degree in education from Regis University (2005). She taught for more than a decade in Wyoming classrooms and was an adviser to former Gov. Matt Mead.

Student Speakers

-- 8:30 a.m. ceremony: Lauren Elliott, of Cheyenne, graduating with degrees in kinesiology and health and in Spanish, with minors in nutrition and honors.

-- 12:15 p.m. ceremony: Rachel Ratliff, of Laramie, graduating with a masters degree in mental health counseling.

-- 3:30 p.m. ceremony: Benjamin Audevart, of Rock Springs, graduating with a degree in secondary English education.

Honorary Degree Recipients

-- 8:30 a.m. ceremony: Judy Shepard, of Casper, president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation Board of Directors and renowned civil rights advocate.

-- 3:30 p.m. ceremony: Judy Catchpole, former Wyoming superintendent of public instruction, education advocate and community volunteer.
The courageous efforts of a policeman stopped a train in time to save a suicidal man in Taiwan. At approximately 11:30 a.m. on April 5, a man suddenly laid down on the train tracks near the Wuri Train Station in an apparent attempt to commit suicide. People who saw him called the police, exclaiming: Someone has just laid down on the train tracks!

Officer Jiang Hongjie rushed to the scene and found the 68-year-old man, Mr.Chen, laying on the tracks and refusing to move. At that time, the crossing gate was coming down as a train was leaving Wuri Train Station. The policeman was not sure how long it would take to remove Mr. Chen since he might put up a struggle so he immediately pressed an emergency button that warns the train engineer and rushed along the track toward the train waving frantically for it to stop. Fortunately, the train stopped in time just in front of the officer.

According to the police report, Mr. Chen was distraught over the recent passing of his father, which drove him to attempt to take his own life. Chen apologized for his actions and thanked officer Jiang for saving his life.

Officer Jiang commented that it was a very critical moment. He knew that both Mr. Chen and the passengers on the train were in danger; it was a life or death moment. He ran in the direction of the train without hesitation. He is not normally a very fast runner, but knowing that a life was at stake, he pushed himself as hard as he could. Thankfully because of his efforts, the train stopped in time and a tragedy was averted.

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Govt Publishes Bill for Pensions in the Private Sector

On the eve of the 1st of May Workers Day celebrations, the Government has today, by Extraordinary Gazette published a Bill for an Act that will ensure that private sector workers are entitled to have a choice, by law, on whether they wish to make a contribution to a pension plan.

The Bill provides that, should an employee choose to participate in a pension plan, the law will require the employer to contribute towards that employees pension plan.

Employers in the private sector will therefore have an obligation to provide a pension to employees.

The Bill sets out the minimum that will be required from employers in the private sector; although any employer wishing to do more  as many already do - can, at any point, increase their contributions.

With this Bill the Government says it ensures that every member of the community, even those in the private sector, are protected financially in their later years. By ensuring that everyone has access to a pension plan, an individual can then contribute more to that pension plan.

The implementation of the proposed law is phased so that smaller employers have more time to deal with the requirements and have a longer period to make the requisite adjustments. Large employers will be required to comply with the provisions of the Act by July 2021, medium employers will be required to contribute by July 2022, small employers by July 2025 and micro employers by 2027. The definitions of whether the employer is small/medium or large will follow the definition in the Companies Act 2014, with the requisite changes so that the definitions also apply to employers who are not companies.

The draft law envisages that workers on lower incomes will be able to contribute to a pension plan to be established by the Government.

Workers will be free to choose not to participate in a pension scheme but there will be a duty on employers to notify the Pensions Commissioner if the employee would like to participate in a pension scheme or otherwise. If the employee chooses not to participate, there is a relevant form for that employee to fill in.

Workers will be entitled to take the benefit of this law once they are 15 years of age, they are earning at least 10,000 per annum, and must have been employed by that employer for a year.

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo QC MP, said: I am very pleased and very proud to see the publication of this Bill on the eve of May Day. The purpose of this law will be to begin to remedy the discrepancy that exists between private sector workers and public sector workers in respect of pension provision, to ensure that all workers in Gibraltar are adequately protected in their later years. We have consulted very widely indeed with unions and with employer organisations and I know that this Bill is a compromise in respect of the positions that each of those interest groups have presented to the Government. But it is right that we should be taking steps forward now in this respect, having had to pause progress whilst we dealt with the challenges of Brexit. Now it is time to move forward with this important new law which will be of great benefit to workers in the private sector who presently have no law requiring that pension provision should be offered to them; although many of our best private sector employers already offer schemes much more generous than the requirements of this law.
May Day Rally

Unite the Union, NASUWT and the GGCA along with Action for Housing held a joint rally today at the Piazza for International Workers Day.

The rally began with a one minute silence for Willy Serfaty who passed away on Monday and had been a strong proponent for the Self Determination of Gibraltar and supporter of Unite.

The first speech was given by Victor Gonzales, president of Gibraltar NASUWT who highlighted the importance of unions in Gibraltar for securing workers rights and urged political parties to view the rights for which they campaigned as good in themselves.

Alex Nunez, Unites Young Members Chair in Gibraltar spoke next about the unions successes, most recently in securing permanent employment contractors to the 200 public sector workers who had been on supply contracts. He urged attendees that there was still a lot more work to be done and highlighted the need to bring back apprenticeships and training opportunities in Gibraltar.

Henry Pinna from Action for Housing spoke about housing issues and poor living conditions in Gibraltar. He urged all three political parties to work with them and see first-hand the appalling housing conditions that still exist and what could be done to rectify them. Henry also laid out that the group believed more affordable housing for rent needed to be developed and urged the parties to enshrine this goal in their manifestos.

Victor Ochello, the outgoing Unite regional officer for Gibraltar spoke about the history of trade unions in Gibraltar and their importance in securing rights as vital as the right to vote and to social security. He reiterated the need for training and apprenticeship opportunities as well as urging the government to tackle the long list of issues that faced workers in Gibraltar, not just Brexit.

Wendy Cumming, president of the GGCA, spoke about how happy she was to see the three unions united and how she believed they needed to work together to face the three biggest dangers she saw to workers in Gibraltar: privatisation, non-consultation and unfair distribution of wealth. She stated that the government had not done enough to work with unions in the past and laments that many of the issues such as walkouts from the IT&LD departments as well as the pay cap for civil servants could have been avoided with proper consultation.

Stuart Davis, Unite national officer for Gibraltar spoke next and highlighted the need to reject privatisation and austerity in Gibraltar, overt or covert. He called on the government to publish the legislation recognising private sector unions. Stuart thanked the Moroccan community of Gibraltar for their support, especially during the Franco era in Spain and stressed that the resurgence of the far-right in Europe was a grave cause for concern. Stuart concluded the speech with a call for those interested to join Unite or get more involved with the group to secure the futures of all workers in Gibraltar.

The rally was closed by a presentation of plaques to the families of former unionists who had helped secure rights for the workers of Gibraltar: Luis del Rio, Manuel Sanchez, Oscar Mackintosh and Jaime Federico.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 30, 2019 | 06:19 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY

Persson and LaGore were charged on drug offenses, and Turner was charged on drug and firearm offenses.



LaGore was also charged on an outstanding felony probation violation warrant out of Graves County that stemmed from a prior unrelated conviction for possession of methamphetamine.



All three were taken to the McCracken County Regional Jail.

On Tuesday, detectives with the McCracken County Sheriffs Office executed three search warrants, which led to the arrest of three different individuals on drug and other offenses.Detectives with the drug division conducted investigations that led to the execution of three different search warrants in McCracken County on Milliken Road, Burkhart Lane, and Oaks Road.Fifty-five-year-old Tamara Persson was arrested at her Milliken Road home, 50-year-old David LaGore was arrested at his Burkhart Lane home, and 42-year-old Jeramiah Turner was arrested at his Oaks Road home.
Two arrested on drug and gun charges following suspicious activity in storm damaged area
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 01, 2019 | 03:17 PM | MURRAY

The estate and parents of an Indiana 19-year-old who reportedly died of alcohol poisoning at a Murray State University fraternity house have filed a civil lawsuit.Through attorney David Oakes, the estate of Zachary Wardrip, along with Jerry and Lisa Wardrip of Evansville, filed the lawsuit in Calloway Circuit Court on Monday. They are suing the Epsilon Lambda house of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, the Lambda Chi Alpha house and fraternity, and Andrew Noyes, whom Zachary was visiting when he died on April 29, 2018.The lawsuit states that Noyes and Wardrip attended a party at Pi Kappa Alpha house, where Wardrip was illegally served or allowed to drink alcohol and became intoxicated. They then reportedly walked to Lambda Chi house, where Noyes was a member. It was there that Wardrip was found dead the next morning.The Murray Ledger and Times reported in November that investigators determined Wardrip died of accidental ethanol intoxication, and a grand jury ruled that no one was criminally liable in the death, and no charges were filed. A report by Murray Police said the party was BYOB and no alcohol was provided, and said security video showed Wardrip carrying a bottle of rum into the building.The lawsuit claims Noyes and Lambda Chi were negligent and wanton by not giving aid to him and leaving him alone. It claims Pi Kappa Alpha was negligent, wanton, and in violation of the law by providing alcohol or permitting Wardrip to drink while underage, and didn't prevent him from drinking excessively on their property.The suit seeks punitive damages, costs, and any other relief, as determined by the court, for an unspecific amount in excess of $5,000.

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The Thailand final round of 18th "Chinese Bridge," an annual Chinese language and culture proficiency competition for foreign college students, was held on Tuesday, while two Chinese enterprises were also invited there to offer internship opportunities for Thai students learning Chinese language.

About a hundred of Thai students learning Chinese watched the competition on Tuesday, which was held in the Tio Chew (Chaozhou) Association of Thailand in Bangkok.

A total of 20 students, who came out of 146 students, got on stage in turns to show their Chinese proficiency and talents. Natnaree Banluepaophong, a senior student from Chiang Mai University, won the first prize and the opportunity to further compete with participants from other countries. Chutikarn Saelee, a sophomore student from Mae Fah Luang University, won the opportunity to watch further competitions in China.

This year, the Thailand final round competition was not just a competition as two Chinese companies, ICBC (Thai) Bank, China Southern Airline's Bangkok office, were invited to set booths to introduce themselves to Thai students and offered internship opportunities.

"It's the first time that we invites enterprises to be here in the competition," said Wang Huichang, representative of the Confucius Institute Headquarters Thailand office.

In recent years, there are more and more Chinese enterprises coming to invest in Thailand while there are more and more Thai products exported to China, which generate a great demand of Thais who can speak Chinese and thus they coordinated with the two Chinese enterprises to offer some 30 internships, Wang said.

Zhao Yang, general manager of China Southern Airline's Bangkok office, told Xinhua that the competition is a rare chance for them to meet so many Thai students learning Chinese and they were waiting for Thai students who are interested in jobs related to airlines.

Li Zhigang, chairman of the Board of Directors of ICBC (Thai) which also sponsored the competition on Tuesday, said 95 percent of their 1,200 employees are Thais and they want more Thai employees who can speak Chinese and understand China well for the growth of the bank in Thailand.

"If any student is good in the internship, he or she can become part of our bank," he said.

Thai student Chutikarn Saelee told Xinhua that she is glad that internships are offered at scene and she asked those Chinese enterprises to offer more opportunities to sophomore, junior students besides senior students.

According to representative Wang Huichang, his office is to work together with Chinese-Thai Enterprises Association and Thai officials to launch a job fair to bridge Chinese enterprises in Thailand and Thai students learning Chinese.

(Source: Xinhua)
Wrexham Glyndwr University rises 45 places in Whatuni Student Choice Awards

This article is old - Published: Wednesday, May 1st, 2019

Wrexham Glyndwr University has risen 45 places in this years Whatuni Student Choice Awards University of the Year awards  joining the UKs top 100.

The institution is now placed 68th in the UK overall and is also rated in the top twenty in the UK for its courses and lecturers  after moving up to eleventh in the country in that category.

Altogether, Glyndwr has also chalked up rises in the league tables for Job Prospects, Student Union, Student Support and Clubs and Societies in the awards  which are described as an annual celebration of the best universities and higher education institutions in the UK.

The awards are voted on by students at each institution, with more than 41,000 taking part across the UK.

Wrexham Glyndwr University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Maria Hinfelaar, said: At Wrexham Glyndwr University, we are very much student-centred and that has been reflected in these student-led awards.

Its wonderful to see the work we put into our courses reflected in the scores of the students who take them, with the university in the UKs top twenty for courses and lecturers.

Im delighted, too, to see the university rise so many places to join the UKs top 100 institutions.

Of course, we intend to build on this years success  we have been working over the last couple of years to transform the university and that work continues.

We are continuing to improve the quality of our teaching and research and are seeing more and more fantastic achievements from our graduates.

We have also already unveiled several new student-centred improvements as part of our ambitious Campus 2025 estates renewal programme, including innovative teaching and social learning spaces.

We fully intend for that work to continue  with major plans for our Wrexham campuses set to go before Wrexham councillors later this year.

More information about the Whatuni Student Choice awards can be found here.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-30 16:15:10|Editor: Xiaoxia

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Myo Naing, 26, hearing-impaired, works at pastry kitchen of a well-known hotel in Yangon, Myanmar, March 28, 2019. Myo Naing is currently working as Commis II at the pastry kitchen of Novotel Yangon Max, listed in Myanmar's finest hotels. (Xinhua/Wai Yan)

By Khin Zar Thwe

YANGON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A man in white uniform is preparing desserts amid the noises in a busy kitchen of a well-known hotel in Myanmar's largest city of Yangon.

Myo Naing, 26-year-old hearing-impaired person, is currently working as Commis II at the pastry kitchen of Novotel Yangon Max, listed in Myanmar's finest hotels.

Being immune to the sounds and voices seems not to be a barrier to his passion of creating sweet and savory desserts, but strengthens his attention and concentration on pastries.

"My parents found out my impairment when I suffered from a serious illness at the age of 7," Myo Naing told Xinhua, with the help of a sign language interpreter.

"Through my parent's connection, I was sent to the Mary Chapman School for the Deaf. At first when I arrived at the school, it was tough to adapt to the new environment, especially in learning sign language which was very new to me. It took at least three months for me to overcome it by practicing hard," he said.

He studied until secondary education and he has no trouble in reading and writing.

The culinary training course at the school was his starting point to enter the culinary world, which ignited his passion for cooking.

One day in 2017, he got an offer to apply for a training program at Novotel Yangon Max, through the support of Shwe Min Tha Foundation, a disabled people's organization and his school, Mary Chapman.

"We offered a total of 15 positions for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and 15 people including Myo Naing were chosen out of the shortlisted PWDs who could meet our job description requirements," Chit Chit Naing, director of Talent and Culture of Novotel Yangon Max said.

"We didn't mind if they had working experiences as we had training sessions for them under the guidance of senior staffs and sign language interpreters and we hired Myo Naing just because of his enthusiasm," she said.

She said that there were some difficulties in communication at first as they had different impairments. But most of their colleagues can communicate with them using sign language now.

After a year since his debut at the hotel, Myo Naing was given the talent award for trust in recognition of his honesty and liability for the guests and the hotel in 2018.

He was mentioned by his superiors and colleagues as a reliable and cooperative person with a positive attitude.

But, not everything went smoothly for Myo Naing. He had unpleasant experiences of being humiliated by some people before, but he did not care and continued efforts to reach his goal of being a successful pastry chef.

"I would like to encourage and urge people who suffer from impairments that you all should try your utmost no matter how people humiliate you. Don't lose yourself!" Myo Naing said, thanking his colleagues who willingly accepted him.

The young man is now going all out to reach his goal -- "A Notable Pastry Chef" at a busy kitchen, by giving a full concentration on delicious cakes and desserts in his silent world without being bothered by surrounding noises.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-30 22:45:21|Editor: Xiaoxia

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A vendor (L) sells white flour to customers at a public market in the southern port city of Aden, Yemen, April 30, 2019. Several days ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, the Yemenis, like other Muslims worldwide, flock to the local markets to prepare for the most valuable religious event. But the markets across the war-ravaged country, which usually thrive ahead of Ramadan due to a sharp increase in demand for various commodities, have seen sluggish business this year. The dire living conditions of many people in Yemen and other factors, including the decline of families' purchasing power, have negatively affected the business in Yemen's markets. (Xinhua/Murad Abdo)

by Murad Abdo

ADEN, Yemen, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Several days ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, the Yemenis, like other Muslims worldwide, flock to the local markets to prepare for the most valuable religious event.

But the markets across the war-ravaged country, which usually thrive ahead of Ramadan due to a sharp increase in demand for various commodities, have seen sluggish business this year.

The dire living conditions of many people in Yemen and other factors, including the decline of families' purchasing power, have negatively affected the business in Yemen's markets.

Many families with low income, which are barely able to afford the basic goods as result of the skyrocketing prices, have decided to reduce their expenditures during Ramadan by stopping buying additional goods.

In some government-controlled southern cities including Aden, traders and business owners complained about the recession that hit the markets ahead of Ramadan.

Jamal Radwan, owner of a small store in Aden, told Xinhua that many traders stopped stocking more goods as the demand for various kinds of food have declined significantly this year.

"The business is so slow. Many families came to my store and left without buying anything after they knew the prices," he said.

"Some big merchants used to import large quantities of goods ahead of Ramadan, but this year everyone is afraid as the markets are suffering from recession," Radwan said.

For Mohsen Khaled, a wholesaler, the country's turbulent economic situation and the collapse of Yemen's national currency were the key reasons that led to the recession.

"The economic situation is very bad as we are still in a war that is aggravating. Most of the Yemeni families lost their income sources during the past years," he told Xinhua.

He said that the sales have dropped dramatically compared with last year, because the country's economy continues to deteriorate.

All sellers believed that the situation is unlikely to change in the near future, as the chance to reach a longstanding political solution to the current crisis seems pretty dim.

In addition, the continuing depreciation of Yemeni riyal further worsened the economic condition of the country. In the street markets in Aden, one U.S. dollar is traded for 534 riyals, up from 215 riyals before the war.

Um Abdul-Kareem, a housewife shopping at a grocery store in Aden, said that for this year's Ramadan, she will drop a lot of things from her shopping list and only get the necessary items due to the high prices.

"I really wanted to buy many things like in past years, but the salary of my family's breadwinner is not sufficient to buy them all," she said.

Many other Yemeni families, who were badly affected by the protracted military conflict that is still raging in many provinces of the country, mainly depend on humanitarian aid to obtain Ramadan food.

Um Fatima, a displaced woman, said her family was still waiting for assistance from charity organizations.

During Ramadan, which is to begin in early May this year, Muslims all over the world abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.

Immediately after sunset, families, neighbors and friends share the Iftar meals to break their fast together.

Yemen has been locked in a civil war since the Shiite Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, in 2014.

Saudi Arabia leads an Arab military coalition that has intervened in Yemen's conflict since 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after Houthi rebels forced him into exile.

The prolonged military conflict has aggravated the suffering of Yemenis and deepened the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 02:00:09|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in the south of the country restarted operation after temporarily shutdown for technical overhaul, Eghtesad online news website reported Tuesday.

"The plant will operate for 298 days and generate 7.3 billion kilowatt-hours of power," Hossein Ghaffari, head of the plant, was quoted as saying.

The facility was shut down for maintenance in March.

Ghaffari said that 13 experts from eight countries checked the plant recently and approved its compliance with international standards.

The report said that the Bushehr nuclear reactor has generated over 35 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity since 2011.

The construction of the Bushehr plant started in 1975 with the help by several German companies.

However, the work was halted when the United States imposed an embargo on hi-tech supplies to Iran after the 1979 Revolution. Russia signed a contract with Iran to complete the construction in 1998.

The power station became officially operational and was connected to Iran's national grid in September 2011, generating electricity at 40 percent capacity.

The plant reached its maximum power generation capacity, namely 1,000 megawatts, in August 2012.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 04:11:08|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAKU, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved on Tuesday a new five-year strategy which will guide its investments and policy in Azerbaijan, according to the state-run news agency AZERTAC.

The 2019-2024 strategy will see the EBRD continue assisting Azerbaijan in diversifying its economy through supporting the development of the non-oil sectors and strengthening governance of private and state-owned companies.

Another priority set out by the strategy includes the expansion of access to finance for local businesses by encouraging lending by banks and non-bank financial institutions as well as by helping develop local currency and capital markets.

The bank will also boost its support to Azerbaijan's green economy, including financing for renewable energy sources, increased energy efficiency and cleaner transport and sustainable infrastructure.

Head of the EBRD's office in Baku Ivana Duarte expressed the bank's readiness to help Azerbaijan develop its non-oil sector, strengthen local lenders and boost investment in green economy. "We see a huge potential in the renewables sector and aim to make a real impact in this area." She noted the importance of the Azerbaijani authorities' continued efforts to reform the energy market and improve the business climate "in unlocking our own funds and mobilizing financing from other sources."

The EBRD has invested almost 3.3 billion euros (about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars) in various sectors in Azerbaijan so far, including energy, infrastructure, banking, industry and commerce.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 06:52:17|Editor: zh

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China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ma Zhaoxu (Front) addresses a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 30, 2019. Ma Zhaoxu on Tuesday asked to leverage the role of the United Nations as the main channel of mediation so as to advance the political settlement process in Syria. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday asked to leverage the role of the United Nations as the main channel of mediation so as to advance the political settlement process in Syria.

The United Nations should strengthen coordination with the Syrian government and push for the early formation of a constitutional committee that is broadly representative and acceptable to all parties, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

The legitimate concerns of the Syrian government and other parties should be accommodated in order to initiate a sustained and effective political process, he told the Security Council.

The international community should support the mediation work of UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, support the Astana process, and help foster synergies through diplomacy, he said.

Members of the Security Council should remain united and speak with one voice in an effort to create an enabling atmosphere and favorable conditions for a political solution, said the Chinese ambassador.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 07:02:21|Editor: Liu

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UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday asked the international community to resolutely fight terrorism in Syria in order to create security conditions for the advancement of the political process.

As terrorism poses serious threats to the security and stability of Syria, the fight against the scourge is an important aspect of settling the Syrian crisis, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the United Nations.

Both the northwestern and northeastern parts of Syria are facing severe challenges. Terrorist organizations are having their way in Idlib, and individual terrorist fighters run amok in many other parts of the country, he told the Security Council.

The international community, taking into account the different trends and features of terrorist activities in different regions, should strengthen coordination and cooperation, unify standards, fight all the terrorist organizations designated by the Security Council so as to consolidate the achievements of counterterrorism and continuously improve the security environment in Syria, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 07:22:27|Editor: Liu

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Apple Inc. said Tuesday that it has generated revenue of 58 billion U.S. dollars for its fiscal 2019 second quarter, down 5 percent from the year-ago quarter, but its earnings beat market expectations of about 57.4 billion dollars.

In a report on its financial results for the fiscal second quarter ending on March 30, 2019, the company said its quarterly earnings per diluted share declined by 10 percent to stand at 2.46 dollars, and international sales made up 61 percent of the quarter's revenue.

"We generated operating cash flow of 11.2 billion dollars in the March quarter and continued to make significant investments in all areas of our business," said Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company has set a new quarterly record as its revenue from services, including Apple Music, the App Store and other businesses, reached 11.5 billion dollars for the second quarter of 2019.

"Our March quarter results show the continued strength of our installed base of over 1.4 billion active devices, as we set an all-time record for Services, and the strong momentum of our Wearables, Home and Accessories category, which set a new March quarter record," he said.

Apple said it has spent 27 billion dollars on share buybacks and dividends during the second quarter, and it will set aside 75 billion dollars for share repurchases.

Apple no longer provides specific unit sales numbers of iPhone, iPad and Mac devices in its financial report, as it announced last year.

The Cupertino, California-based company forecast its revenue will be between 52.5 billion dollars and 54.5 billion dollars for fiscal third quarter of this year, with operating expenses standing between 8.7 billion dollars and 8.8 billion dollars.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 07:22:29|Editor: Liu

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CHICAGO, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Brendt Christensen, accused kidnapper and killer of visiting Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying in 2017, is abandoning his mental-health defense, local media have reported.

Chicago Tribune said Monday that the suspect's lawyers said in a filing that "Christensen decided to formally withdraw" his mental-health defense notice.

This happened after U.S. District Judge James Shadid recently denied a number of restrictions Christensen's lawyers wanted to place on the examinations by the government's mental-health experts.

Wang Zhidong, legal adviser to Zhang's family, told Xinhua on Tuesday that the withdrawal of mental health defense is an unusual action for his lawyers, considering their efforts in previous months to argue that the 29-year-old suffered from severe mental illness in an attempt to avoid the death penalty.

Wang said it is still unclear why they made this decision and the aim of dropping mental health defense remains to be observed.

Christensen's trial is set to begin June 3.

Zhang, 26, went missing on June 9, 2017, after getting into a black Saturn Astra about five blocks from where she got off a bus on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.

Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, after being caught on tape pointing out people he described as "ideal victims" during a vigil in Zhang's honor. On July 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long ordered that Christensen remain detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 07:47:37|Editor: Xiaoxia

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UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen speaks to journalists following a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 30, 2019. Geir Pedersen on Tuesday expressed cautious optimism about the prospects of the political process in Syria. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Tuesday expressed cautious optimism about the prospects of the political process in Syria.

"After eight years of conflict, this process will be long and difficult. But I think it is possible to move forward step by step," Pedersen told the Security Council in a briefing.

Many earlier differences over the constitutional committee, a key element in the Syrian political process, have been narrowed down, he said.

"While nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, we have a clear understanding on balanced co-chairing arrangements, a formula for decision-making, a shared acceptance of the United Nations' facilitation role, and a political commitment to the safety and security of all who would be involved," he said.

Both the Syrian government and opposition have been constructive on these points, said Pedersen. "I believe the final terms of the mandate can be agreed with a modicum of goodwill."

It is also agreed that six specific names on the list of civil society representatives on the constitutional committee need to be removed, he said.

Work continues to identify a set of names that can have the support of all concerned, that can enhance the quality and credibility of the list, while striving to achieve the objective of at least 30 percent female participants, he said.

"I have expended a lot of effort to build buy-in for the way forward on this. If everyone is prepared to compromise just a little, this can move."

But he cautioned that the situation for Syrians remains dire.

There has been "a very troubling surge" of violence in recent weeks in and around the Idlib de-escalation zone, causing civilian casualties and further displacement, he said.

De-escalation must be cemented. Idlib is not the only part of Syria that remains heavily militarized, or where Syrians continue to suffer, he warned.

The situation in the northeast is calmer, for now, but underlying dynamics remain unresolved. There are also reports of growing tensions and violence in the southwest, he said, adding that Syria still contains many threats for renewed escalation or even threats to international peace and security.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 09:28:23|Editor: Xiaoxia

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UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's envoy to the United Nations (UN) on Tuesday said the attempt by foreign powers to spark a civil war to open the doors for a military intervention from abroad and impose a puppet government in his country has failed.

The government of President Nicolas Maduro acted rapidly and isolated the "focal point of public disorder" and the country "is in total normality throughout the national territory," Venezuelan Permanent Representative to the UN Samuel Moncada Acosta said at a press briefing.

Maduro showed once again that "his government is the fundamental and only guarantor of peace and legitimate constitutional order in Venezuela," he said.

The attempted coup "has no roots in Venezuelan society," as the majority of the Venezuelans want to live in peace and with full exercise of their sovereignty, independence and right to self-determination, he said.

The attempted coup "should be a reason" for the UN to convene a meeting, he said, adding that President of the UN Security Council Christoph Heusgen has said "we are ready to discuss that (convening such a meeting)."

The envoy called upon the international community to reject the attempt promoted by foreign powers to destroy the constitutional order in Venezuela.

On Tuesday morning, opposition leader Juan Guaido showed up along with some military personnel outside La Carlota aviation military base in the east of the capital city of Caracas, according to local media.

Guaido called on civilians and military to act against the government of Maduro.

"The end of the usurpation began, and at this moment I am meeting with the main military units of our armed forces, beginning the final phase of Operation Freedom," he tweeted.

In response, Maduro tweeted that military commanders from all regions and defense areas of the country have "expressed their loyalty to the people, the Constitution and the country."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 09:53:29|Editor: Xiaoxia

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YANGON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A forest fire has destroyed over 100 acres ( 40.5 hectares) rubber and bamboo plantations in Yangon region, according to the country's Fire Services Department late on Tuesday.

The forest fire broke out at a rubber farm in Potethinnyo village in Hlegu township of the region on Monday afternoon.

The fire occurred due to scorching sun heat in the rubber farm and the blaze spread to bamboo plants inside the farm.

The fire, which lasted for more than six hours, was put out by 160 firefighters using three fire engines.

No injuries to human and animals were reported yet.

Hlegu is a small town which is about 45 km northeast of downtown Yangon and is located on both sides of the Ngamoyeik Chaung River.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 10:03:32|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese dance drama "The Railway to Tibet" returns to the stage of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) from May 1 to 11, in commemoration of the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

Produced by NCPA, the drama is themed on the construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which links Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China with the rest of the country.

Featuring elements of Tibetan dance, it tells a story of friendship between railway building soldiers and local Tibetans during the railway's construction.

The NCPA production made its debut in June 2018 in tribute of the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up.

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway started operation on July 1, 2006. It is the world's highest and longest railway built on a plateau.
Machines line up during a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a 190-km expressway stretching from capital Phnom Penh to the deep-sea port province of Preah Sihanouk in Kampong Speu, Cambodia, March 22, 2019. China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) invests about two billion U.S. dollars for the project, which will be taken four years to be constructed, starting from March 2019 to March 2023. (Xinhua/Mao Pengfei)

PHNOM PENH, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese aid and investments are crucial to support social and economic development in Cambodia, Sok Touch, president of the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said here on Tuesday.

"China's aid has no strings attached and has an intention to help develop Cambodia with the respect for the country's sovereignty," he said during a roundtable discussion here.

The top academician said Chinese investments in transport infrastructure, energy, real estate, construction, and agriculture as well as a huge influx of Chinese tourists are vital to boost Cambodia's economy and to reduce poverty.

About 2 million Chinese tourists visited the Southeast Asian nation last year, up 67 percent year-on-year, according to tourism ministry's data.

Diep Sophal, a history professor at the University of Cambodia, agreed that Chinese aid, investments and tourists are good for Cambodia's development, and praised China for its Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

"The principles open the way for all countries to unite," he said.

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence include mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 10:48:50|Editor: zh

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COLOMBO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Colombo on Tuesday evening confirmed the death of four Chinese scientists in the Easter explosions in Sri Lanka.

The embassy said in a statement that the four Chinese scientists were from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and arrived in Sri Lanka in the mid of April for research purposes. Their bodies had been found and identified by family members.

The embassy said another five people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences were also injured during the explosions, all of whom already went back to China for further treatments.

In the statement, the Chinese Embassy strongly condemned the terror acts, offered deep condolences over the death of the four scientists, and thanked the Sri Lankan government for its assistance.

A string of suicide bombings exploded in hospitals and churches across Sri Lanka on April 21, killing more than 250 people. According to Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, 42 foreign nationals are among the casualties.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 10:48:51|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China has acted to ensure travelers a safe trip during the May Day holiday starting Wednesday.

The Ministry of Public Security has warned the public of the risks including peak flows on expressways and around tourist sites, heavy rainfall, and more traffic violations.

Police have been drafted to secure major transportation hubs such as key railway stations and trains.

Tighter security checks are required and patrol has become more frequent, railway police authorities say.

Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency, estimated that about 160 million trips will be made during this year's four-day May Day holiday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 10:48:53|Editor: zh

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UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday called for the advancement of the political process in Syria by leveraging the role of the United Nations (UN) and by promoting national reconciliation.

The international community should continue to leverage the role of the UN as the main channel of mediation, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN.

The UN should strengthen coordination with the Syrian government and push for the early formation of a constitutional committee that is broadly representative and acceptable to all parties, he told the Security Council at a meeting.

The legitimate concerns of the Syrian government and other parties should be accommodated in order to initiate a sustained and effective political process, he said.

The international community should support the mediation work of UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, support the Astana process, and help foster synergies through diplomacy, he said.

Members of the Security Council should remain united and speak with one voice in an effort to create an enabling atmosphere and favorable conditions for a political solution, said the Chinese ambassador.

The Syrian parties must put the future of their country and the fundamental interests of the people in the first place, and meet each other halfway to resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation, he said.

The international community should encourage and support the Syrian parties in building trust and promoting national reconciliation through measures such as exchanging prisoners of war, said Ma.

Political negotiations are the only realistic way to resolve the Syrian crisis in a lasting manner, he said.

In advancing the political process, Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity must be respected, said the Chinese ambassador.

He also asked the international community to resolutely fight terrorism in Syria in order to create security conditions for the advancement of the political process.

The international community should strengthen coordination and cooperation, unify standards, and fight all the terrorist organizations designated by the Security Council so as to consolidate the achievements of counterterrorism and continuously improve the security environment in Syria, he said.

China stands ready to strengthen communication and coordination with the UN and other relevant parties, jointly push forward the Syrian political process, vigorously improve the humanitarian situation in Syria, and support the Syrian government's efforts in facilitating the return of refugees and in economic and social reconstruction, said Ma.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 10:53:59|Editor: Xiaoxia

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TOKYO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Emperor Naruhito declared his succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday to mark the start of a new imperial era in Japan.

"I have hereby succeeded to the throne pursuant to the Constitution of Japan and the Special Measures Law on the Imperial House Law," the emperor said in his declaration.

"I will act according to the Constitution and fulfill my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people of Japan," he said.

In a ceremony called "Kenji to Shokei no gi" held earlier in the morning, the 59-year-old emperor, dressed in a formal black suit, inherited the imperial regalia as proof of his ascension to the throne.

The regalia, known as "Sanshu no Jingi," constitutes the sacred mirror, sword and jewel.

In the ritual, the new monarch received the jewel and a replica of the sword, along with the state and privy seals. At the same time, an aide of the emperor was scheduled to visit a shrine inside the Imperial Palace where a replica mirror is kept.

According to local media reports, the original mirror is kept at Ise Jingu, a Shinto shrine in Mie Prefecture in central Japan, and the original sword at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya in nearby Aichi Prefecture.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 11:04:05|Editor: Xiaoxia

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by Peter Mertz

GRAND CANYON, the United States, April 30 (Xinhua) -- National Park Service (NPS) officials in the United States have amped up warnings to a record number of visitors expected to see the Grand Canyon in the next few month after a spate of people falling to their deaths down the canyon's walls.

"Our security personnel are keeping an even closer eye on guests near the rim these days," David Leibowitz, a spokesman for Grand Canyon West (GCW), told Xinhua Monday.

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided 277-mile (445.7-km) canyon near the Nevada and Utah borders in northern Arizona, carved by the Colorado River, and is up to 18 miles (28.9 km) wide and a mile (1.6 km) deep.

Millions of years of erosion through limestone and red sandstone have created this spectacular American national treasure that is visited by 6 million people a year.

The Grand Canyon West's Skywalk opened in 2007 and is 250 miles (402 km) by road from the Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim, the canyon's most visited spot.

The privately-owned Skywalk is a horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass floor located above a side canyon that features a vertical drop of up to 800 feet (240 meters), according to United States Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps.

On March 28, a Macao man in his fifties plummeted 1,000 feet (304 meters) to his death near the Skywalk after going off the marked trails to take a selfie.

"People underestimate the dangers of the Grand Canyon," said Marcus Vanata, a student at the nearby Prescott College who also worked as a part-time wilderness guide.

On March 26, another male body was discovered by authorities in a forested area near a hiking trail. On April 3, rangers also recovered a 67-year-old man's body 400 feet (122 meters) below the South Rim in the Grand Canyon Village.

The third fatality in a week concerned authorities, although statistics show three deaths are below the norm.

CANYON CASUALTIES

The Grand Canyon National Park celebrated its centennial anniversary on Feb. 26. Although it's known for its stunning landscape and rock formations, the geological masterpiece has also become the site of hundreds of deaths over that time.

At least 770 people have died at the park since the mid-1800s, CityLab reported.

In 2018, Grand Canyon National Park drew nearly 6.4 million guests, another annual record-breaking number. However, the popular tourist destination saw 17 fatalities last year.

The NPS posted immediate warnings after the last death in April, saying "Have a safe visit by staying on designated trails and walkways, always keeping a safe distance from the edge of the rim and staying behind railings and fences at overlooks."

The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles also issued an office notice earlier in April, urging Chinese tourists to follow signs installed by NPS throughout the park and private areas, and to steer clear of the edge since rim has no barrier between tourists and the edge.

"It is foolhardy to stray off-trail and bushwhack near the rim," said Vanata, who has led many expeditions into the canyon.

"It's actually life-threatening -- people must respect park officials who know the dangers."

Park officials stressed the infrequency that tourists errantly hike off the park's many marked trails and fall to their deaths. The NPS posted "Odds Death in the Grand Canyon are 1 in 400,000 Visitors" on its website this year.

Dying from heat or dehydration is more common than falling off the edge of the Grand Canyon, officials say.

The NPS and the Grand Canyon Skywalk (GCW) that is technically located outside park boundaries and privately owned by the Hualapai Indian tribe, are adding warning signs -- especially for some 80,000 plus Chinese tourists who are expected to return to the park this year.

"All of the Grand Canyon West observation areas have extensive signage -- in multiple languages including Mandarin -- warning guests about the potential for danger," Leibowitz told Xinhua, adding that the recent tragedy was his area's first fatality "in many years."

Most fatal falls happen in the areas that see heavy tourist traffic on the south and north rims of the canyon, statistics show.

According to the Arizona Daily Sun, since 2015, of the "55 who have accidentally fallen from the rim of the canyon, 39 were male and eight were "hopping from one rock to another or posing for pictures," the article said.

A 38-year-old father from Texas, pretending to fall to scare his daughter, then actually fell 400 feet to his death, the Sun reported. Gom Dang, 30, who was posing for a photo, lost his balance and fell 280 feet (85.3 meters) to his death in 2017, his family told KCCI News in Des Moines, Iowa.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 11:19:11|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China has acted to ensure travelers a safe trip during the May Day holiday starting Wednesday.

The Ministry of Public Security has warned the public of the risks including peak flows on expressways and around tourist sites, heavy rainfall, and more traffic violations.

Police have been drafted to secure major transportation hubs such as key railway stations and trains.

Tighter security checks are required with more personnel and facilities involved and patrol has become more frequent, especially in densely populated areas, railway police authorities say.

Plainclothes police have been sent to major train stations and on board to crack down law violations, including theft and fraud. Random inspections of suspicious luggage or items will also be made on trains bound for cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

More police will be arranged to watch and prevent potential safety hazards from natural conditions, such as heavy rainfall and geological disasters, according to railway police authorities.

Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency, estimated that about 160 million trips will be made during this year's four-day May Day holiday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 11:24:13|Editor: Xiaoxia

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YANGON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar President U Win Myint on Wednesday urged workers and employers in the country to work for raising the productivity with harmony and mutual understanding, while the government is placing emphasis on conducting policy changes for improving the livelihood of workers step by step.

U Win Myint, in his message on the occasion of International Workers' Day, also called on all citizens in the country to overcome challenges faced with collective strength at a time when the government is striving toward achieving all-round and sustainable development goals.

With the aim of establishing peaceful and stable worksites through improving tripartite relationship between government, employers and workers, national tripartite dialogue forums are being held once every four months and matters relating to amending labor law as well as labor affairs are discussed and decided.

In order to effectively implement workers affairs in accordance with the accepted international workers norms, a total of 2,932 labor organizations at grass root, township and state or region levels were formed under the country's labor organization law, he said.

He said that the government is also drawing up a complaint mechanism together with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to eradicate forced labor.

He also said that a national level work program 2018-2022 on migrant workers has also been drawn up, while working out and implementing a policy to obtain foreign employment opportunities.

The government is also placing great emphasis on producing expert workers, he said, calling on workers on their part, to strive for becoming such expert workers to meet the demand of the market.

The president pledged to work with special regard to ensure all the workers' entitled rights under law.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 11:24:17|Editor: Xiaoxia

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WASHINGTON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose a "full and complete" embargo on Cuba if "Havana continues to support Venezuela militarily."

Trump said via Twitter that if Cuban troops and militia do not cease their operations in support of Venezuela immediately, Cuba would suffer "a full and complete embargo" as well as "highest-level sanctions."

Washington has repeatedly alleged that Havana has thousands of intelligence and security forces in Venezuela to shore up the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which Washington is openly seeking to oust from power.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez immediately responded via Twitter, saying "there are no Cuban troops in Venezuela; nor are there any Cubans taking part in military or security operations there."

Rodriguez said Cuba had only sent medical staff to Venezuela for humanitarian missions.

"I strongly reject Trump's total blockade threat," he added.

Currently, around 20,000 Cubans, mostly doctors and healthcare workers, work in Venezuela as part of a cooperation agreement that dates back to 2000, according to the Cuban government.

U.S.-Cuba ties have deteriorated under Trump, who has rolled back the detente initiated by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

The White House earlier this month announced a new round of punitive measures against Havana. Washington also announced a cap on remittances to the island and restrictions on non-family-related travels, a move that could affect American cruise companies and airlines that sail or fly to the island.
ABC/Randy HolmesMetallica's James Hetfield makes his dramatic film acting debut in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a new movie about Ted Bundy, and his performance has earned rave reviews from one of his co-stars.

During an interview on Tuesday's episode of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Zac Efron, who plays the infamous serial killer in the film, said that Hetfield "absolutely nailed" his part as Officer Bob Hayward, the Utah highway patrolman who first arrested Bundy in 1975.

"He just crushed it," Efron exclaimed. "It's like he'd been acting his whole life. He had no fear. He did a great job."

Efron admitted that he was prepared to share some acting tips with Hetfield, but he, "didn't ask for a single one."

"James Hetfield is the s***!" Efron declared.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is directed by Joe Berlinger, who previously worked with Hetfield on the 2004 Metallica doc Some Kind of Monster. The film, which also stars Lily Collins, Jim Parsons and John Malkovich, premieres on Netflix this Friday, May 3.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 12:04:24|Editor: Xiaoxia

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Japan's new Emperor Naruhito (1st L) and Empress Masako (2nd L) attend a ceremony to receive the first audience after the accession to the throne, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan, on May 1, 2019. Japan's Emperor Naruhito declared his succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday to mark the start of a new imperial era in Japan. (Xinhua/Imperial Household Agency Handout)

TOKYO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Emperor Naruhito declared his succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday to mark the start of a new imperial era in Japan.

"I have hereby succeeded to the throne pursuant to the Constitution of Japan and the Special Measures Law on the Imperial House Law," the emperor said in his declaration.

"When I think about the important responsibility I have assumed, I am filled with a sense of solemnity," he said.

"I will act according to the Constitution and fulfill my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people of Japan, while always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them," he said.

"I sincerely pray for the happiness of the people and the further development of the nation as well as the peace of the world," the emperor added.

In a ceremony called "Kenji to Shokei no gi" held earlier in the morning, the 59-year-old emperor, dressed in a formal black suit, inherited the imperial regalia as proof of his ascension to the throne.

The regalia, known as "Sanshu no Jingi," constitutes the sacred mirror, sword and jewel.

In the ritual, the new monarch received the jewel and a replica of the sword, along with the state and privy seals. At the same time, an aide of the emperor was slated to visit a shrine inside the Imperial Palace where a replica mirror is kept.

According to local media reports, the original mirror is kept at Ise Jingu, a Shinto shrine in Mie Prefecture in central Japan, and the original sword at Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture.

Former Emperor Akihito, 85, in his final speech as a monarch on Tuesday declared his abdication and said he sincerely hoped for a stable future for Japan and peace and happiness around the world.

In a rare video message broadcast in 2016, the former emperor expressed his desire to step down, saying he was concerned that owing to his age, he might not be able to fulfill his official duties.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 12:54:43|Editor: Liu

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HERAT, Afghanistan, May 1 (Xinhua) -- At least four militants were confirmed dead and nine others injured as fighting aircraft targeted a Taliban hideout in Chushti Sharif district of the western Herat province on Tuesday, provincial police chief Aminullah Omarkhil said Wednesday.

The airstrikes, according to the official, were launched Tuesday afternoon and killed four insurgents and injured nine others. Four more militants have gone missing in the battle.

Taliban militants haven't made a comment yet.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 12:54:45|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina on Wednesday exchanged congratulatory messages to celebrate the first anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between their countries.

In his message, Xi said that China and the Dominican Republic formally established diplomatic relations in May 2018, opening a new chapter in bilateral relations.

Noting that Medina paid a successful state visit to China last November, Xi said that during the visit, the two leaders jointly drew the blueprint for the future development of bilateral relations and reached many important consensuses.

Thanks to joint efforts, exchanges and cooperation between China and the Dominican Republic in various fields are advancing steadily, said Xi, adding that the establishment of diplomatic ties keeps bearing fruits.

Facts have proven that the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and the Dominican Republic is a far-sighted and correct political decision made by both sides, and has won the unanimous support of the two peoples, said Xi.

Noting that he attaches great importance to the development of bilateral ties, Xi said he is willing to work with Medina to continue to deepen cooperation and promote common development so as to bring benefits to the two countries and peoples.

Medina said in his message that since the establishment of bilateral ties, important progress has been made in exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and the content of bilateral relations have been enriched.

He also noted that his country has become an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Dominican Republic has high expectations for the future of bilateral relations with China based on equality and mutual benefit, said Medina, adding that he is willing to continue to strengthen cooperation with China so as to benefit the two peoples.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 12:59:50|Editor: Xiaoxia

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YEREVAN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) reached an agreement here on Tuesday to expand economic and trade cooperation, local media reported.

At a meeting of the EAEU's Inter-governmental Council, participants agreed to enhance mutual trade, eliminate barriers within the EAEU's internal market and strengthen the union's integration, said the report

At the session, particular attention was paid to the EAEU's digital agenda which encourages the development of e-commerce within the union.

The next meeting of the council will be held in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, in August this year.

The EAEU comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, with an aim to encourage regional economic integration through free movement of goods, services, and people within the union.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 13:04:53|Editor: Xiaoxia

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WASHINGTON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller expressed concerns in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that Barr's four-page summary to Congress "did not fully capture" his 448-page report on the 2016 presidential elections, U.S. media outlets reported Tuesday.

In the letter and a subsequent phone call to Barr in late March, Mueller said the initial account of the his report in Barr's letter to Congress caused public confusion, local media quoted sources from the Justice Department and people familiar with the affair as saying.

The special counsel suggested that Barr release the brief summary sections of the Mueller report.

Mueller probed the alleged Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections and possible ties with President Donald Trump's campaign, and submitted a report to Barr in March.

"The summary letter the (Justice) Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions," Mueller wrote in his letter to Barr.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations," he said.

Barr has testified to Congress previously that Mueller declined the opportunity to review his summary letter to lawmakers that distilled the essence of the special counsel's findings.

Barr's letter to Congress said the Mueller investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." It also said the special counsel's investigation "did not draw a conclusion - one way or the other - as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction."

Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that he had demanded a copy of Mueller's letter by Wednesday morning.

Barr is scheduled to testify about the investigation before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 13:04:55|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday lowered the payment by enterprises for their employees' insurance.

The share borne by employers for urban workers' basic aged-care insurance was lowered to 16 percent across the country, according to a plan released earlier by the State Council.

A reduced enterprise contribution to employee's unemployment insurance and another one to employee's work injury compensation insurance were maintained and extended to April 30, 2020.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 13:10:00|Editor: Xiaoxia

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UNITED NATIONS, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Tuesday stepped up its level of concern for civilians caught up in the continued clashes in the Libyan capital Tripoli and the High Commissioner for Human Rights echoed its call for humanitarian aid corridors.

"The United Nations is very much concerned about the continued clashes and their impact on civilians," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "The UN continues to provide humanitarian support and call for humanitarian pauses and a ceasefire."

"The escalation of attacks in residential areas, including the use of artillery, rockets and airstrikes is deeply worrying," said the human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet. "Thousands of children, women and men's lives are at risk."

She said that 22 civilian deaths and 74 injured civilians have been documented, noting the actual number is likely to be higher.

"I remind all parties to the conflict that the use of explosive weapons with indiscriminate effects, in densely populated areas is a violation of international humanitarian and human rights law," the high commissioner said.

The International Organization for Migration estimated 43,000 people have now been displaced by fighting.

Almost 30,000 people have received some form of humanitarian assistance since the start of the current hostilities, including assistance to displaced families at collective shelters, assistance to refugees and migrants, including evacuations, and restocking of medical facilities, said Dujarric, the spokesman.

He said the Tripoli Flash Appeal for 10.2 million U.S. dollars is "urgently needed to assist people impacted by the clashes."

The army based in Libya's eastern region, led by Khalifa Haftar, has been leading a military campaign since early April to take over Tripoli, where the UN-backed government is based.

Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid insecurity and chaos ever since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 13:30:09|Editor: Xiaoxia

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BANGKOK, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday that the Kingdom has donated humanitarian contribution in the amount of 100,000 U.S. dollars to Iran, which was hit by floods in late March.

Damrong Kraikruan, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, handed over the aid to Iranian ambassador Mohsen Mohammadi, the statement said.

The donation is in response to the severe flash floods in the southern part of Iran in late March, which caused a large number of casualties and extensive damage to properties and infrastructure in the area.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 13:35:13|Editor: Xiaoxia

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WASHINGTON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on Tuesday called on the Democrats to approve a new trade pact that the United States negotiated with Canada and Mexico.

"You could stay status quo ... which is just NAFTA. You could withdraw from NAFTA, which the president has talked about many, many times," Mulvaney said at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), signed by leaders of the three countries late last year to replace the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), needs to be ratified by lawmakers of the three countries before going into effect.

"Your real two plan Bs are either NAFTA or withdraw from NAFTA," Mulvaney said, rejecting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's demand to renegotiate elements of the USMCA.

The deal faces a tough road ahead in a split U.S. Congress, as Democrats have repeatedly questioned the deal's enforceability, especially related to labor and environment protection.

"She (Pelosi) controls the floor, and if it doesn't come up for a vote, it's not going to see the light of day," Mulvaney said.

Mulvaney's remarks came as U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday met with congressional Democrats to discuss infrastructure investment. During the meeting, Trump repeatedly pressed Democratic leaders on passage of the USMCA, according to media reports.

Besides Democrats' objection, Chuck Grassley, a top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has also warned that Congress will not approve the USMCA unless the Trump administration lifts steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

"If these tariffs aren't lifted, USMCA is dead. There is no appetite in Congress to debate USMCA with these tariffs in place," Grassley wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on Monday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 14:40:43|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 50 activities aimed at showcasing Beijing's achievements in ecological progress and image as a historical and cultural city will be held during the four-day May Day holiday at the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition, local officials said.

These activities also aim to showcase the development of Beijing as an international metropolis and the city's achievements in foreign exchanges.

Over 300 representatives from four international organizations, 48 countries and regions, government departments and companies attended the opening ceremony of a series of activities hosted by the Beijing municipal government.

Lin Bin, deputy head of the city's trade promotion council, said artistic performances, display of intangible cultural heritage, economic and trade exchanges and professional conferences will be held during the period to promote cooperation between Beijing and the rest of the world.

A culture and art carnival staged by central and eastern European countries will also be featured at the expo, with over 100 performers in 18 troupes from 12 countries in the region performing folk dancing, pop music, comedies, puppet shows and children's plays for tourists.
The group Reinvent Albany, which pushes for greater government transparency, doesnt mince words when it comes to nailing down once and for all who is responsible for the MTAs poor performance in that area.

In our analysis, Governor Cuomo is the biggest single problem with the governance of the MTA, the organization wrote in a 170-page report released Wednesday on ways to improve trust in the transit authority. When people say decisions at the MTA are politicized, they really mean that the Governor has interfered with the MTAs professional staff or a public consensus process within the Board.

Cuomo, the report states, maintains ultimate power over the MTA. The Governor proposes the state budget, which the State Legislature cannot change wholesale, but can approve or disapprove in part, it continues. The State Legislature can pass new laws changing how the MTA is governed, but the Governor can veto them.

The governors office disagrees with that assessment.

"The MTAs management problems have existed since the agency was created because no one has been in charge and they have been accountable to no one, Cuomo spokesperson Patrick Muncie said in a statement. The Governor laid out a very aggressive agenda to reform the MTA, which the legislature passed, and it will lead to a reorganization and change the way they do business. The Governor has stepped into major projects that no one else wanted to touch andwhether it was completing the Second Avenue Subway or averting a massive shutdown of the L traincountless New Yorkers have benefited from his leadership. This report is yesterdays news.

The report pins additional blame for the lack of MTA transparency on 11 entities that have jurisdiction over the MTA, including the State Assembly, which hasnt held a hearing on the subways since 2015. The report also calls out the Capital Program Review Board, which is tasked with oversight of capital projects, and which meets only in private by phone; the report claims that the board is in violation of the state Open Meetings Law for not holding public meetings. (The MTA did not respond to questions about the CPRB.)

The exhaustive report goes on to make 50 recommendations for improving the MTA. including reforming the FOIA or open records process, something newly installed Chairman Pat Foye has pledged to do.

We have begun exploringincluding through a discussion with Reinvent Albany two weeks agowhat FOIL and FOIA best practices are at government entities around the country, Foye wrote in a statement. At the same time, we are making important strides in transitioning our financial information into an open format and will have started sharing that data this summer.

The report calls the MTAs efforts, such as publicly releasing data through sites like the Capital Program and budgets in PDF forms, fake transparency because the data is not searchable and must be manually scraped and entered into a spreadsheet.

The MTA Board's *median* household income is $555K - roughly *10 times* the median income of riders. https://t.co/6jzMoAdTpG  Noah Manskar (@noahmanskar) May 1, 2019

The report also suggests the MTA Board be revamped. By taking contract approval off the boards plate and letting the state Comptroller handle those, it says, it would allow the board to focus on big-picture issues.

The MTA Board process is basically a waste of the Boards and publics time, the report states. The MTA professional staff controls the agenda information and steers the Board discussion. Huge fiscal and project management issues are ignored while volunteer, and often poorly informed Board members, deep dive into esoteric service problems. Despite having a fiduciary duty to the MTA, the Board behaves like a public ombudsman rather than the governing body of a $17 billion entity.

Max Young, a spokesperson for the MTA, defended the board, writing, The board and senior management are fiduciaries of this agency, take that role seriously, and do it well.

Stephen Nessen

Stephen Nessen is the transportation reporter for WNYC. You can follow him on Twitter @s_nessen.

We the Commuters is a weekly newsletter about transportation from WNYC and Gothamist. Sign up below for essential commuting coverage delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

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Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 14:45:47|Editor: Xiaoxia

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NEW DELHI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- India's main ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday rejected demand of its alliance partner Shiv Sena (SS) to ban "burqa" (a veil worn by Muslim women to cover their faces) in a bid to check terror incidents.

The SS had in an editorial in its mouthpiece "Saamna" demanded a ban on "burqa" taking a cue from Sri Lanka, which banned the piece of Muslim women's garment in the aftermath of recent multiple blasts killing more than 250 and injuring around 500.

In the aftermath of the blasts, the Sri Lankan authorities on April 29 issued a ban on all facial coverings in the country.

The BJP is the second constituent of the country's ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), after the Republican Party of India (RPI), to oppose the SS' demand banning the Muslim women's face-wear.

Four phases of the India's parliamentary polls are over, while three more phases are to take place on May 6, 10, and 19. Results are to be announced on May 23.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 14:45:48|Editor: Xiaoxia

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CARACAS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on Tuesday accused the U.S. government of backing an attempted coup in Venezuela.

"The heads of the coup d'etat acknowledge their backer without scruples," Arreaza tweeted.

Arreaza made the remarks after U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton called on Venezuelan military leaders and other key officials to support opposition leader Juan Guaido.

On Tuesday morning, Guaido showed up along with some military personnel outside La Carlota aviation military base in the east of the capital city of Caracas, according to Venezuelan media.

Guaido called on civilians and soldiers to act against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

In response, Maduro said late Tuesday in a televised speech that his government had defeated the "small" coup attempt organized by those wanting to provoke a "massacre."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 14:45:50|Editor: Xiaoxia

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CANBERRA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Greens have proposed a coalition with the center-left Australian Labor Party (ALP) to fight climate change.

Addressing the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Greens leader Richard Di Natale appealed directly to ALP leader Bill Shorten for the two parties to work together on climate change.

According to the latest Newspoll released on Monday, the incumbent Liberal-National party coalition (LNP) trails the ALP 49-51 on a two-party preferred basis before the general election on May 18.

Shorten has pledged to reduce emissions by 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 if elected prime minister but Di Natale argued the target was not ambitious enough.

"People often ask me why politicians won't take action on climate change we so desperately need," he said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The answer is that Australia's coal, oil and gas industry has bought our political system.

"We have no hope of cleaning up our environment until we clean up politics.

"That's why the Greens will make it our first order of business to cap political donations and get dirty money out of our politics.

Labor reached an agreement with the Greens in 2010 to form a minority government after neither the ALP or the LNP managed to win the minimum number of seats required to govern in their own right.

"Our history shows that we can work constructively with Labor," Di Natale said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 14:50:52|Editor: Xiaoxia

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MEXICO CITY, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador reiterated on Tuesday his call for a peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela.

The position of the Mexican government "is the same as always," Lopez Obrador said at his daily press conference, adding that his country will adhere to its Constitution and the principles of non-intervention, self-determination of the peoples, and peaceful settlement.

"We hope that there is a dialogue (and) respect for human rights and that there is no violence in any country in the world," he said.

Lopez Obrador made the remarks after the Venezuelan government denounced an attempted coup.

On Tuesday morning, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido showed up along with some military personnel outside La Carlota aviation military base in the east of the capital city of Caracas, according to local media.

Guaido called on civilians and soldiers to act against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

In response, Maduro said late Tuesday in a televised speech that his government had defeated the "small" coup attempt organized by those wanting to provoke a "massacre."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 14:50:54|Editor: Xiaoxia

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SYDNEY, May 1 (Xinhua) -- After a decade-long search, a pair of researchers have found a critically endangered carnivorous aquatic plant in one of Australia's most remote regions - the Kimberley.

Several thousand of the unusual botanical species known as Aldrovanda vesiculosa or the aquatic Venus flytrap, were located in a billabong on the Theda Station in the northwest of Australia.

"When I first saw it, I thought it was just another common species that has similar whorls of leaves, but when I got closer and saw the traps at the end of the leaves, I couldn't believe my eyes," Dr. Adam Cross from Curtin University's School of Molecular and Life Sciences who made the discovery said on Wednesday.

"This is the first time this species has been found in the Kimberley for more than 20 years. The only other known population from Western Australia is more than 2,000 km away near Esperance in the State's south, where a small population of only a few dozen plants was discovered in 2007," Cross said.

"This new location in the remote northern Kimberley is one of the largest populations ever discovered in Australia, in an area where habitat is still relatively pristine. This discovery gives us hope that northern Australia is still a stronghold for the species in the face of its continuing global decline," Cross said.

Producing an underwater snapping trap to capture and digest insects, there are only 20 known populations of the strange plant across four continents, making the latest discovery extremely important for future conservation.

"Adam was just looking at me with this look of complete amazement and I immediately knew he had found something very, very exciting," research partner on the expedition Thilo Krueger said.

"Although it was once widespread around the world, it is now considered critically endangered," Krueger said.

"Habitat loss and changes to water quality have seen the species become extinct in up to 30 countries, so the fact that we have found several thousand plants in Western Australia is significant," Krueger added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 15:00:59|Editor: Xiaoxia

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CARACAS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday called on other countries "which continue to support the coup opposition" to rectify their positions.

"I want to make a call to those governments that are supporting the coup opposition. Open your eyes. We are just showing part of the evidence of a coup that was intended," said Maduro in a televised address to his nation.

Accompanied by military leaders and other senior officials, the Venezuelan president rejected U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's claim that Maduro, after the violent events, had a plane ready to flee to Cuba.

Maduro also said U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton had "given orders to high authorities and civilians to join the coup d'etat."

The Venezuelan president thanked "the pronouncements of solidarity, of support for the Constitution, for democracy, for the Bolivarian Government" by leaders, governments and social movements around the world.

Earlier Tuesday, opposition leader Juan Guaido urged Venezuela's public and military to take to the streets and help depose President Nicolas Maduro and his government. He also released video footage of himself accompanied by a group of soldiers near the La Carlota military base.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said security forces had defeated the attempted coup.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 15:06:03|Editor: Xiaoxia

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Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen (3rd R) takes selfies with garment factory workers in Kandal province, Cambodia on May 1, 2019. Hun Sen on Wednesday celebrated the International Labor Day with some 3,700 garment workers in a factory in southern Kandal province. (Xinhua/Li Lay)

PHNOM PENH, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Wednesday celebrated the International Labor Day with some 3,700 garment workers in a factory in southern Kandal province.

At the event, Hun Sen allowed workers to take selfies with him, and he also danced and had a solidarity lunch with them.

"To celebrate the day, some choose to have solidarity lunches at factories, others opt to stay at home, and the others rally to demand this or that. This is the right that has been carried out in our country," the prime minister said.

In a separate event, approximately 2,000 people, mostly garment and footwear factory workers, gathered and marched near the historic site of Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh to demand better working conditions and higher wages.

"We urge the government to set the minimum wage of 250 U.S. dollars per month for workers in the garment and footwear sector," said Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation which organized the event.

The current minimum wage for workers is 182 U.S. dollars per month.

The garment and footwear sector, the kingdom's largest foreign exchange earner, is composed of more than 1,000 factories with some 750,000 workers, mostly women, according to the Ministry of Labor.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 15:06:07|Editor: Xiaoxia

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HAVANA, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Tuesday expressed support for the Venezuelan government and rejected the U.S. threat to impose more sanctions on Cuba for its alleged military support of Caracas.

Calling Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government the "legitimate government of Venezuela," Diaz-Canel tweeted that his country "stands by" Caracas.

In another post, Diaz-Canel refuted Washington's allegation that Cuba is supporting Maduro's government militarily.

"There are no Cuban military operations or troops in #Venezuela," said Diaz-Canel, adding that the Cubans "strongly reject threat by #Trump of full and complete embargo against #Cuba."

"We call upon the international community to stop dangerous and aggressive escalation and to preserve Peace," he added via Twitter.

Earlier in the day, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed via Twitter that if Cuban troops and militia do not cease their operations in support of Venezuela immediately, Cuba would suffer "a full and complete embargo" as well as "highest-level sanctions."

Washington has repeatedly alleged that Havana has thousands of intelligence and security forces in Venezuela to shore up Maduro's government, which Washington is openly seeking to oust from power.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reportedly showed up early Tuesday morning along with some military personnel outside an aviation military base in the east of Caracas. He called on civilians and the military to act against the government and urged Maduro to step down.

Later in the day, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said security forces had succeeded in frustrating an attempted coup, calling the scale of the rebellion "very small" and "insignificant."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 15:36:13|Editor: zh

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by Xinhua writers Yao Yuan and Yu Pei

WUHAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- When a Chinese toddler raises the ultimate question "Where did I come from?" the most common answer, or fudge, from the parents is "We found you in a roadside dust bin."

There are other variations, depending on the adults' imagination and quick wits, but do not expect any mention of sperm, wombs or sex organs.

Imparting the secrets of life and sex-related knowledge to small children makes most Chinese parents squirm, due to the country's traditional reticence on sex. That is where a bevy of imported picture books are finding success.

With cute cartoons and tactful explanations, such books are quickly gaining popularity among Chinese parents who find it hard to teach children to protect their private parts or answer questions like "Why is there milk in mom's boobs?"

In the provincial library of central China's Hubei, Liu Hong was reading the American picture book "Your Body Belongs to You" to her 4-year-old daughter, explaining why strangers are not allowed to touch certain parts of her body.

"I try not to use the picture books as materials of 'sex education' but more as a gentler explanation of differences between boys and girls. The cute pictures help kids understand their bodies without shame," Liu told Xinhua.

Librarian Xu Feifei said the library has been buying more sex education books for children and adolescents in recent years to cater to the growing demands from borrowers.

In big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, sex education picture books are also found in bookstores, shedding light on the genre's greater reception in China's two-child era, as well as younger parents' open attitude toward sex.

Li Bo, chief editor of the Chinese version of Japanese bestsellers "The Story of Willy" and "The Story of Boobs," said their books are also selling well online, thanks to the country's booming e-commerce.

The editor with the Beijing Poplar Culture Project Co., Ltd. said online sales of the two books have more than tripled in the past two years to reach nearly 190,000, a figure unimaginable when they were first introduced in 2012.

"We had a really hard time deciding whether to import the two books into China," she said. "In the beginning, the sales growth was slow ... some parents blast their 'lewd' content, and kindergartens refused to buy them."

Chinese parents used to keep mum on sex topics in the presence of young children, while teachers, despite the opening of sex education classes in schools, often skip over such content.

Experts, however, have stressed the importance of early-age sex education to children's self-protection and emotional development. Hu Ping, an expert on children's sexuality psychology and sex education, said sex education influences children's attitudes toward love, marriage and family, which is "sometimes neglected in China's test-oriented education system."

While rising public awareness helped open up the demands for sex education books in recent years, Li said such books are still scarce in the Chinese market.

"Chinese are reserved on sex topics, so many popular foreign books that deal with the issue more openly may not sell well here. In terms of imports, we don't have many choices," said the editor.

Original works are also hard to find, as the genre, new to most Chinese writers, requires both profound knowledge on the issue and abundant experience with children. The good news is that strong market demands are drawing more resources into this sector.

"We're planning on creating our own sex education picture books for children. We believe in the near future, Chinese families will have more choices when educating their children about sex."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 15:56:20|Editor: zh

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 30 (Xinhua) -- An innovation and technology summit held in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday called for greater openness, diversity and inclusiveness in future innovation-oriented technology amid a globalized world.

The 2019 Global Innovation and Future Technology Summit (GIFTs) featured a wide range of topics including future technology, smart cities and diversity in innovation, with an aim to improve the quality of life for people worldwide.

Hosted by Z-Park, a professional innovation platform hailed as China's Silicon Valley, the summit brought together global leaders from education, industry, innovation, government, investment and science sectors to share their insights and solutions on these topics.

"The GIFTs conference focused on global collaboration and groundbreaking innovation, and it is what we want to provide to the whole community," Ella Li, senior director of investment at Z-Park, told Xinhua.

"Z-Park as a professional platform is dedicated to providing global acceleration services to local innovation communities with integrated solutions for cross-border development," she said.

Tsu-Jae King Liu, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), who is known for her innovations in semiconductor devices and technology, underscored the importance of diversity and inclusiveness in the university's success.

In a globally connected society, international partnerships are "a valuable mechanism by which we can give our students and professors experience in developing intellectual proficiency and inter-cultural competency," Liu said in a keynote speech.

She stressed the role of international partnerships in transforming the culture of engineering to educate inclusive leaders in a diverse global society.

Among the international partnerships since the College of Engineering was established, she said, the most prominent one is the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute.

"Dozens of UC Berkeley's professors teach at the institute and hundreds of students are trained in information technology, design, health and well-being, as well as energy and environment," Liu said.

"We really are in the business of transforming lives ... the innovations that come out of our multi-disciplinary research groups really are intended to have a positive impact on society to transform life for the better," she said.

Wei Luo, chief operating officer at Z-Park, said Tuesday's summit aimed at having the latest scientific achievements and thoughts about trends in industry and investment shared by the attending leaders benefit the whole society.

As the VIP guests have said at the forum, globalization helps break the barriers between countries for dialogue on a more open basis, he said, adding that China and the United States, as the two largest economies in the world, should expand and enhance their cooperation amid increasing globalization.
May Day is traditionally marked by demonstrations observing International Workers Day, but this year, activists in New York and New Jersey are spending today rallying in support of bills in both states that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses.

Efforts to expand access to licenses have been slowly gaining traction in recent years. Connecticut and Vermont, alongside 10 other states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico have all passed legislation allowing people to get drivers licenses without having to prove their immigration status. Advocates including Make The Road and 32BJ Service Employees International Union say the issue is the top priority of the immigrants rights movement.

Its the issue that gets our members out of bed at 6 in the morning to go Trenton, to miss a days pay, to lobby and to fight for licenses, and it keeps them up late at night thinking about whether theyll be detained when dropping their kids off at school or when driving to take them to a doctors appointment, Make the Road NJ director Sara Cullinane said at a May Day rally in Jersey City, with the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty.

Advocates said allowing undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses will make the roads safer for all drivers, and raise tens millions of dollars in registration fees to boot. Twenty-one-year-old Rutgers University student Esder Chong, who also attended the Jersey City rally, said the ability to drive freely means a lot for immigrant families looking to establish themselves in the U.S.

Thousands of DACA recipients and DACA students are in our schools," said Chong, who said she is the daughter of undocumented immigrants and is a DACA recipient herself. "Without the ability to drive we cant commute to school, do activities, go to our professional opportunity events like internships and jobs. A lot of us are working to pay for our family living expenses, commuting to work while paying full tuition out of pocket.

But while top Democrats in New York and New Jersey have pledged their support and promised to sign legislation, obstacles remain.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has long supported plans to give undocumented immigrants access to drivers licenses, but for years he blamed the Republican-controlled State Senate for holding up legislation. Now that the Senate and Assembly are controlled by Democrats, and their leaders support the bills, some might think the measure is all but assured. However, some Democratic lawmakers, like Assemblyman John McDonald, are leery about voting for a bill that could put them in the hot seat.

States are having this discussion because of failed federal policies, Republican and Democrat, McDonald, who represents Cohoes, Rensselaer, and parts of Albany and Troy, told Spectrum News. Its not one party versus the other.

Meanwhile, Republican legislators and other opponents held a press conference last week blasting the legislation as opening the door to identity theft and voter fraud.

The concept of this legislation is bad, its poorly written and must be defeated, said Saratoga State Senator Daphne Jordan, a Republican. I say: Hit the brakes on licenses for illegal immigrants.

The New York bill has a tangled history. Undocumented immigrants used to be able to obtain drivers licenses, but that changed after 9/11, when Republican Governor George Pataki signed an executive order restricting the rules after the terrorist attacks. Governor Eliot Spitzer tried to drum up support to once again offer drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants in 2007, but he backed down after pushback from Democratic lawmakers and county clerks.

Across the Hudson River in New Jersey, the powerful state Senate President Steve Sweeney has endorsed the move, and Democratic Governor Phil Murphy has pledged to sign any bill that passes the legislature. And lawmakers in the state Assembly have introduced a measure to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses.

The truth is, undocumented immigrants are already operating motor vehicles on our roadways, on our highways, said Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, Majority Whip of the New Jersey state Assembly who sponsored the drivers license bill. He also attended the Jersey City rally. Why wouldnt we want them to be licensed and with vehicles that are registered and with insurance? It allows us to hold all drivers accountable.

However, those efforts appear to have stalled out. Advocates supporting the measure are concerned that with all 80 Assembly seats up for election in November, Democratic Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin is keeping the issue off the docket in order to protect his members from facing a hard vote ahead. For weeks they have organized rallies and protests outside his office in Perth Amboy. A spokeswoman for Coughlins office told NorthJersey.com that he is still meeting with lawmakers and stakeholders while he reviews the legislation.

Shumita Basu is a host, producer and reporter in the newsroom. You can follow her on Twitter @shubasu.

Danny Lewis is an associate producer for WNYC's All Things Considered. You can follow him on Twitter at @dannydoodar.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 16:01:23|Editor: zh

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GAZA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Israeli naval forces on Wednesday arrested two Palestinian fishermen and wounded another one off the coast of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said.

The sources added that Israeli boats chased two fishing boats off the coast of the sea in the north of Gaza city, arrested two fishermen and wounded a third one by rubber bullets who was on another boat.

On Tuesday, Israel announced the re-downsizing of fishing zone in the Gaza Strip to six miles after only four weeks of extending it.

Avichai Adraee, Israeli army spokesman, said in a statement that Israel decided to reduce the fishing zone in the Gaza Strip to six nautical miles until further notice in response to the launch of a rocket from the Gaza Strip towards Israel two days ago.

On April 1, Israel extended the fishing zone to 15 nautical miles, the largest range Israel has allowed since it imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007.

The move came amid Egyptian efforts to broker a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement that runs Gaza.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 16:46:40|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- In his address to the nation on Tuesday night, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro claimed the "coup" led by opposition leader Juan Guaido had been defeated.

Nevertheless, world leaders urged restraint and political settlement by Venezuela's political parties as the uprising has aroused concern worldwide.

THWARTED UPRISING

On Tuesday, Venezuelan opposition leader Guaido, who had proclaimed himself as Venezuela's interim president, reportedly called on the Venezuelan people and military to take to the streets to overthrow Maduro.

In response, Maduro tweeted that military commanders from all regions and defense areas of the country have "expressed their loyalty to the people, the Constitution and the country."

Later in the day, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said security forces had succeeded in frustrating an attempted coup thanks to "intelligence" work, describing the scale of the rebellion as "very small" and "insignificant."

In a televised address on Tuesday night, Maduro declared that the "coup" had been defeated and called on other countries "which continue to support the coup opposition" to rectify their positions.

GLOBAL REACTIONS

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called for "maximum restraint" in Venezuela to avoid violence and restore calm.

"The secretary-general urges all sides to exercise maximum restraint and he appeals to all stakeholders to avoid any violence and take immediate steps to restore calm," Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.

Also on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Venezuelan crisis should be resolved via a responsible negotiation process without preconditions.

"We call on all sides to renounce the use of violence. It is important to avoid disorder and bloodshed," the statement read.

Any actions should be taken exclusively within the confines of the law, in strict conformity with the Constitution and without destructive interference from outside the country, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned the coup attempt, tweeting, "As a country which has experienced the negative consequences caused by coups, we condemn the coup bid in Venezuela."

The United States, the first country to recognize Guaido and one that openly seeks to depose Maduro, has renewed its support to the Venezuelan opposition.

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that he was closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela, while Vice President Mike Pence and State Secretary Mike Pompeo have both demonstrated their support for Guaido via Twitter.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 16:46:41|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Expo Central China 2019 will be held from May 18 to 20 in Nanchang city, Jiangxi Province, the Ministry of Commerce said.

As of Monday, over 740 enterprises from 29 countries and regions had applied to exhibit, said Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen.

During the expo, a forum will be held to discuss the problems and difficulties multinationals have encountered in China, especially in the country's central region, and seek their advice about improving China's investment environment, Wang said.

He expressed the hope that foreign investors can enhance their understanding of China's central provinces through the expo and increase investment in the region to share the fruits of China's economic development.

Various companies will present their flagship products and latest innovations in a total exhibition area of about 70,000 square meters.

Foreign investment in the country's six central provinces reached 15.93 billion yuan (2.38 billion U.S. dollars) during the first quarter of 2019, up 9.7 percent year on year. The growth rate was 3.2 percentage points higher than the national average, Wang said.

Jiangxi Province attracted 4.03 billion yuan of foreign investment during the period, representing a remarkable year-on-year growth of 38.3 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 17:12:11|Editor: zh

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Photo taken on April 30, 2019 shows the "May 1" International Labor Day Commendation Conference for Outstanding Staff of CSCEC Egypt held in Egypt's under-construction new administrative capital city, some 45 km east of the Egyptian capital Cairo. China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), a world leading construction company, honored the most distinguished 29 workers, including 19 Egyptians and 10 Chinese workers, during a ceremony to mark the International Labor Day. (Xinhua/Li Binian)

by Mahmoud Fouly, Zhu Yingqi

CAIRO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- With smiles and thumbs up, tens of Egyptian and Chinese workers were standing in rows for a group picture while holding their honor certificates at a renowned Chinese firm in Egypt's under-construction new administrative capital city, some 45 km east of the Egyptian capital Cairo.

The honor certificates were provided by China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), a world leading construction company, during a ceremony to mark the International Labor Day that falls on May 1 every year.

CSCEC is currently carrying out the construction of the huge Central Business District (CBD) in Egypt's new capital city. The CBD is designed to consist of 18 tall buildings, including the 385-meter-high Iconic Tower, which is expected to be the tallest skyscraper in Africa.

"Excellent workers and employees are golden symbols created with sweat and wisdom. These ideal workers are the stars of the CBD project for Egypt's new capital," Chang Weicai, general manager of CSCEC Egypt, said during the ceremony.

CSCEC has more than 3,000 Egyptian and Chinese employees working in the four-year CBD project that started in May 2018.

Chang praised the enthusiasm, hard work, devotion and high-quality production of all CSCEC Egypt staff, stressing that the CBD project goes in line with the goals of China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for multinational common development and with Egypt's Vision 2030.

During the ceremony, CSCEC honored the most distinguished 29 workers, including 19 Egyptians and 10 Chinese workers.

"I am so proud of working for CSCEC and wearing its uniform that does not distinguish between staff members, whether they are managers, engineers or workers," Ahmed Ibrahim, a supervisor of a concrete station, said on behalf of the honored workers.

He added that the Chinese company provides massive capabilities and advanced equipments, including highly accurate labs for quality control to ensure implementation of the highest international standards.

"CSCEC is a living example of cooperation and teamwork for goal achievement. This is why it is one of the top world corporations in the field," said the Egyptian worker.

Egypt's new administrative capital city is being built on an area of 714 square km and is expected to be a new home to most government buildings and offices including ministries, the cabinet and the parliament.

The new city will also have 20 residential neighborhoods that can accommodate 6.5 million people, luxurious hotels, malls, parks and many other venues, making some room in the congested and overpopulated traditional capital Cairo that is home to about one fifth of the country's 100-million population.

The Chinese staff expressed a spirit of cooperation with their Egyptian counterparts in the project, hoping that they are all taking part in building the future of Egypt.

"I feel extremely happy and proud to be one of the constructors of this key BRI project in Egypt, which is also the largest project carried out by a Chinese company in the country," Chinese steel worker Wang Leiguo, who joined the CBD project in December 2018, said during the ceremony.

The event was attended by Zhou Jingfeng, deputy general manager of CSCEC Egypt, Ahmed al-Banna, the project manager from Dar Al Handasa, the Egyptian designer and consultant of the project, and Mohamed Abdel-Maksoud, head of the New Administrative Capital Authority.

"All the workers in the project, whether Egyptians or Chinese, are very distinguished and they have demonstrated hard work and massive expertise," Abdel-Maksoud said.

He emphasized that the CBD project is still in its initial stage and it had a strong beginning and will certainly have a stronger end.

"The project is a main and important shift in the history of the Egyptian-Chinese relations and would further strengthen the ties between the two countries," the chief of the New Administrative Capital Authority added.

CSCEC entered Egypt in 1984, and has been carrying out several projects over the past 35 years, of which the most remarkable one is Cairo International Convention Center.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 17:12:12|Editor: Liangyu

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TOKYO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo police said they found the body of a man Wednesday at an imperial burial site in Tokyo, with his death thought to have been from suicide.

Police finding the dead body coincided with an historic day for Japan as a number of ceremonies and events have been taking place in honor of Emperor Naruhito ascending the throne, following Emperor Emeritus Akihito abdicating on Tuesday.

The body was found by an official from the Imperial Household Agency at the Musashino Imperial Graveyard in Hachioji, on the outskirts of Tokyo, in the morning, police officials said.

A number of imperial family members have been buried at the graveyard, including the great-grandfather and grandfather of Emperor Naruhito.

The household representative notified the police in the morning, prior to Emperor Naruhito making his first public address and as the nation was waking up to welcome the new Reiwa Era, which began at midnight when Emperor Naruhito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Police investigators said they believe the man killed himself with a crossbow, as a bolt was found in his body.

The crossbow itself was recovered from near the scene in an area that had been closed off for construction, the police said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 17:32:21|Editor: Yurou

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Leader of the opposition in the Australian senate Penny Wong gives a speech to the Lowy institute in Sydney, Australia, May 1, 2019. Wong said on Wednesday that China is vital to the future of Australia. (Xinhua/Hao Yalin)

SYDNEY, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Leader of the opposition in the Australian senate Penny Wong said on Wednesday that China is vital to the future of Australia.

In a speech to the Lowy institute on Wednesday, Wong, who also serves as the shadow foreign minister, told her audience that despite the differences between the countries, "the China relationship is a critical relationship for Australia -- it is both complex and consequential."

"Labor's approach to foreign policy will bring a more considered, disciplined and consistent approach to the management of Australia's relationship with China."

Wong described the current international climate as one of change and shifting power, emphasizing the need for cohesion and the embracing of diversity.

While she acknowledged that at times there might be differences of approach between the countries, engagement is crucial for understanding to be reached.

"In this next phase in the relationship, we believe that engagement remains in best interests of Australia and China," she said.

"We will be clear about where Australia and China's interests come together."

She called on all stakeholders, including government, business, industry and Australia's Chinese communities to lend their voice towards a "deeper engagement where our interests coincide and to manage difference constructively."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 17:47:32|Editor: Liangyu

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NEW DELHI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 policemen and a driver were killed Wednesday after Naxals triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeting their vehicle in western Indian state of Maharashtra, officials said.

The attack was carried out at Jambhulkheda-Kurkheda in Gadchiroli district, about 916 km east of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra.

"A powerful IED blast was triggered targeting a police vehicle here today in which 15 policemen and driver were killed," a police official posted in Gadchiroli told Xinhua.

Gadchiroli district borders Naxal affected Chhattisgarh state.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has expressed anguish over the killing of policemen in the attack.

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by Naxals today," Fadnavis wrote on twitter. "My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families. I'm in touch with Director General of Police and Gadchiroli Superintendent Police."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 17:57:40|Editor: Liangyu

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KANDAHAR, May 1 (Xinhua) -- "Thank God that I have recovered, and I am satisfied with the outcome of the treatment received here at the Mirwais Regional Hospital, and I can go home in sound health now," whispered Abdul Ahmad, 63, from Kandahar province recently.

Ahmad, who had suffered from headache and rheumatism for a long time, expressed gratitude to the doctors at the hospital, saying that he feels much better and walks easily after being discharged from the sanatorium.

The Mirwais Regional Hospital, locally known as the "Chinese Hospital", was built by China in 1974 and put into operation in 1979 on 44 acres of land in Kandahar, the largest city in the southern region as a gift to the Afghan people.

Appreciating the hospital as a sign of friendship between Afghanistan and China, the head of Provincial Health Department of Kandahar, Abdul Qayum Pukhla, told Xinhua that the hospital has increased its beds from 250 to 350 now.

"Our plan is to upgrade the capacity of the hospital from 350 beds at the moment to 600 beds in the future and to achieve the goal we need financial support," Pukhla told Xinhua.

The Mirwais Regional Hospital is the largest health center in Afghanistan's southern region that provides health services to the people of Kandahar and neighboring Zabul, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, Pukhla said, adding that patients even from Nimroz, Farah and Daikundi provinces travel to the regional hospital to receive medical treatment.

The hospital provides all services free of charge, Pukhla said, adding ICRC has been supporting the hospital since 1995.

According to the official, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) finances four million U.S. dollars annually to the Mirwais hospital to cover the hospital's expenses including medicines and staff bonuses.

The hospital provides almost all kinds of services to patients ranging from diagnosis of diseases to surgery of war victims, childcare and maternity.

Hundreds of patients visit the hospital daily to receive medical treatment.

China has also rebuilt the Jamhuriat Hospital (Republic Hospital) in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul which provides health services to scores of people daily.

"I am very much sound and stable and feels no pain at the moment," Nizamudin, 28, who went under surgery to remove his appendix at the Mirwais Regional Hospital recently, said to Xinhua with joy.

Thanking China for building the hospital and expressing gratitude to the doctors and hospital staff for taking care of him, Nizamudin said that the Mirwais hospital is an everlasting gift to provide health services to the needy people.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 18:02:42|Editor: Liangyu

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NADI, Fiji, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The 52nd annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Board of Governors kicked off here on Wednesday with the participation of finance ministers, central bank governors, government officials, private sector representatives, development partners and media from Asia and the Pacific region.

The theme for the five-day event is "Prosperity Through Unity." Among the issues to be discussed at the meeting are sustainable tourism and its potential to boost national and regional development efforts, the role of private sector financing for disaster risk management and climate resilience, and the importance of actions to improve ocean health.

There will also be discussions on ways to respond to heightening global economic uncertainty, the role of digital technologies for financial inclusion, and new tools for sustainable infrastructure development, among others.

Fiji is the first Pacific island nation to host such a conference and this provides the participants an opportunity to discuss important and pressing development issues facing Asia and the Pacific region.

More than 400 Fijian police officers have been deployed to ensure the safety and security of more than 2,000 delegates attending the meeting.
One day before a scheduled state assembly hearing on proposed reforms to New York's rent laws, a new report by housing advocates says that a 25-year-old provision allowing landlords to raise rents on renovated apartments has fueled rampant speculation in the citys real estate market and led to the deregulation of thousands of affordable units.

The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD), in partnership with the Housing Rights Initiative, examined a database of 118 apartment rent histories, which encompassed 52 buildings and three landlords, and found that monthly rents on these units more than doubled on average following the renovation increase  from $1,089 to $2,149, a 107.5 percent jump.

According to the reports authors, the magnitude of the rent increase suggests that landlords are using an increasingly scrutinized rule known as the Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs) that was introduced under the Rent Regulation Reform Act, passed in 1993. The provision provides landlords with a formula to legally and permanently raise monthly rents for an apartment one-fortieth of the renovation cost (one-sixtieth in larger buildings).

As recent lawsuits and news reports have pointed out, the law has opened the door for some landlords to dramatically inflate the cost of improvements. In a strange loophole, landlords are not required to submit proof of the renovations to the state agency that oversees rent-regulated apartments.

Its the legalization of fraud, said Aaron Carr, the founder of Housing Rights Initiative, a housing watchdog group which collects data on suspected predatory landlords. How can you enforce the largest affordable housing system in New York if you arent even willing to verify the truth?

Under the current system, the states oversight agency, the Department of Housing and Community Renewal, does not even vouch for the reported rent histories provided by landlords, much less the improvements they say they have made. (DHCR did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)

But Carr and Benjamin Dulchin, the executive director of ANHD and the lead author of the report, write that the "IAI formula itself actively incentivizes landlords to significantly increase rents and remove apartments from rent regulation.

IAI is "fundamentally designed and legally used to drive speculation and displacement," they write, adding, Even if the IAI loophole is used with no fraud, the formula allows a major, sudden, permanent increase in rent for a relatively small investment in the apartment 

The introduction of IAI rent hikes in New York City, Dulchin told Gothamist, "changed the way investors talked about [rent-regulated] buildings, which went from being seen as a secure, but backwater investment to an underutilized asset.

Victor Sozio, the co-founder of Ariel Property Advisors, a real estate brokerage and debt provider, agreed. Sozio, who has worked in the New York City market for 15 years and whose company markets rent-regulated properties, said that the reform law in 1993 made aging multi-family properties a lot more appealing.

What emerged was a business model for value-added multifamily real estate, he said.

Dulchin and Carrs report cites a Commercial Observer interview Sozio gave in April, where he laid out the concerns from landlords and investors over the current proposals in Albany to strip away landlord incentives like IAI.

Sozio told Gothamist that some of the objections regarding oversight were valid. He also acknowledged that over the years the real estate industry had seen bad actors, some of whom had overleveraged themselves to buy large portfolios of buildings and felt pressured to turn a quick profit.

On Thursday, the state legislature will convene hearings on a package of rent reform bills that includes a proposal to eliminate IAIs as well as its counterpart, Major Capital Improvements (MCI), which allow building owners to pass on some costs of building-wide improvements to tenants in the form of rent increases. But unlike renovations on individual apartments, landlords seeking to use MCIs must at least submit proof that the work was done.

Those in the real estate industry like Sozio have said that such provisions encourage landlords to maintain and invest in aging buildings, which helps tenants and neighborhoods in the long run.

But Carr disputed that argument. They are legally required to take care of their buildings, he said, by the real property law's warranty of habitability.

Carr and other housing advocates are asking state lawmakers to remove IAIs and beef up enforcement. Currently, HRI culls information on buildings by looking at publicly available property data. For rental data, his organization approaches tenants, who can request a full rental history for their own apartments from the state regardless of how long they have occupied the unit. A startup with a shoestring staff, Carr's group has to date produced research that has resulted in more than 55 class action lawsuits against dozens of landlords.

If we can do this, [the state] can do it better, he said. The question is, do they have the political will to do anything at all?

UPDATE: In response to the story, Jay Martin, the executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, a landlord group, issued the following statement: This is not a report - this is a press release with photos and cribbed portions of an HRI lawsuit thats already been partially dismissed. If advocates were interested in reporting real, unbiased numbers, theyd acknowledge that the number of rent stabilized units has increased year over year and that building costs, as reported by the de Blasio controlled Rent Guidelines Board, continue to exceed rent increases. 
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 18:48:13|Editor: Xiaoxia

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ADDIS ABABA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) on Wednesday urged the Sudanese military to hand over power to a civilian-led authority within 60 days.

Recalling its previous call made at a meeting on the 15th April to the Sudanese military to step aside and hand over power to a transitional civilian-led political authority within 15 days, the Peace and Security Council of AU in its latest meeting on Tuesday extended the deadline for an additional period of up to 60 days for the military in the Sudan to hand over power to a civilian-led authority.

The Council noted with deep regret that the Sudanese military has not stepped aside and has not handed over power to a civilian-led transitional Authority by the expiry of the period of 15 days set by the Council's previous decision.

It acknowledged the gradual progress made so far by the Sudanese parties in the negotiations towards an agreement on the modalities, structures and timelines of a civilian-led Transitional Authority that will lead the process to the organization and holding of free, fair and transparent elections.

In this respect, the Council encouraged the Sudanese stakeholders to continue to pursue constructive dialogue to ensure the setting up of the Civilian-led Transitional Authority in the Sudan, without further delay.

Extending the deadline for 60 days, the Council urged that the military and the Sudanese stakeholders should continue to work together towards urgently completing the negotiations and agreeing on the composition of a civilian-led Transitional Authority.

It further called on the Chairperson of the AU Commission to continue to pursue and intensify his engagement and interaction in support of the efforts deployed by the Sudanese stakeholders, with a view to reach an agreement on an inclusive and consensual civilian-led Transition.

It underscored the need for all Sudanese stakeholders to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any act or declaration that could jeopardize the efforts so deployed in the search for a sustainable solution to the current crisis, based on respect for constitutional order and reflecting the aspirations of the people of Sudan, within the framework of the relevant AU instruments.

The Council expressed readiness to take further appropriate measures and instituting the full range of sanctions on individuals and entities whose acts, conduct and utterances could compromise the search for a solution to current crisis in Sudan.

On Monday, Sudan's Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the opposition Freedom and Change Alliance concluded the third round of talks without reaching consensus on formation of a civilian government.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 18:53:17|Editor: zh

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China plans to launch a Long March-11 carrier rocket at sea this year, which is expected to lower the cost of entering space.

The rocket has been named "CZ-11 WEY" under an agreement between the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, China Space Foundation and a Chinese automobile producer.

China's first seaborne rocket launch is scheduled for mid-2019 in the Yellow Sea, said Jin Xin, deputy chief commander of the rocket, at a press conference of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation earlier this year.

A seaborne launch has many advantages over a land launch. For instance, the launch site is flexible and falling rocket remains pose less danger. Using civilian ships to launch rockets at sea would lower launch costs and give it a commercial edge, said experts.

The seaborne launch technology will help China provide launch services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Long March-11, with a length of 20.8 meters and a takeoff weight of about 57.6 tonnes, is the only rocket using solid propellants among China's new generation carrier rockets. It has a relatively simple structure and can be launched in a short time.

The rocket can carry a payload of up to 350 kg to a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 km and 700 kg to a low-Earth orbit at 200 km. It is mainly used to carry small satellites, and can take multiple satellites into orbit at the same time.

The Long March-11, which made its maiden flight on Sept. 25, 2015, has so far sent 25 satellites into orbit in six launches with high reliability and good performance rates.

In addition, Chinese space experts are also developing the engine for a modified version of the Long March-11 rocket, which is expected to carry up to 1.5 tonnes of payloads to the sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 km.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:13:30|Editor: Xiaoxia

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NEW DELHI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The election nomination of Tej Bahadur Yadav, the candidate of a "grand alliance" who was contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Varanasi parliamentary constituency, was rejected on Wednesday for want of some "formalities."

Yadav was the candidate of the "grand alliance" formed by three regional parties - the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal in northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Initially he was contesting as an Independent candidate. However, on April 29 the Samajwadi Party announced him as its official candidate to take on Modi.

Polling of votes in Varanasi is slated to take place on May 19, the last and seventh phase of the ongoing parliamentary elections.

A couple of years ago Yadav was sacked from his job in the Border Security Force (BSF), after his video went viral on the social media wherein he complained about "poor quality" of food served to the BSF personnel and also the "poor" service conditions. He had also alleged "corruption" among senior officials of the BSF.

Later, he was dismissed by the Summary Security Force Court, a court of inquiry which found that he had damaged the "image of the BSF."

Speaking to media persons in Varanasi, Yadav said that he will soon approach the country's apex court, the Supreme Court of India, against the cancellation of his nomination papers.

He said his nomination papers were "purposely" cancelled as a part of conspiracy.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:13:32|Editor: Xiaoxia

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LONDON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail here on Wednesday for breaching bail conditions.

Assange was sentenced for breaching his bail by entering the Ecuadorian embassy seven years ago.

Ahead of his sentencing at Southwark Crown Court in south London, Assange apologised for skipping bail in a letter read by attorney Mark Summers.

He said he found himself "struggling with terrifying circumstances" and did what he thought best.

He apologised to those who "consider I've disrespected them," a packed Southwark Crown Court heard.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said.

As he was taken down to the cells, Assange raised a fist in defiance to his supporters in the public gallery behind him.

They raised their fists in solidarity and directed shouts of "shame on you" towards the court.

Assange sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

But Ecuador evicted him on April 11.

The judges in the case against Assange rejected that the WikiLeaks founder was already punished by being holed up in the embassy for seven years.

"I reject the argument you were living in prison conditions," the judge said.

A judge at an earlier hearing said the 47-year-old hacker's offence "merits the maximum sentence."

He faces a separate court hearing on Thursday over a U.S. extradition request on charges of conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the U.S. in response to allegations that he conspired with former U.S. intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:18:34|Editor: Xiaoxia

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TEHRAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iranian and Iraqi navy commanders discussed military cooperation, Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

The talks were held between the visiting Commander of Iraqi Naval Forces Ahmed Jasim Maarij, and Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Ali Reza Tangsiri, in the capital Tehran.

The two sides discussed promoting naval cooperation by forming a joint commission, holding joint educational, scientific and research courses, sharing academic experiences, and staging joint naval exercises.

During the meeting, the Iraqi commander praised Iranian military forces for working in close cooperation with Iraqi forces in the fight against terrorism.

In July 2017, Iran and Iraq signed an agreement to boost military cooperation in a host of areas.

Based on the deal, Tehran and Baghdad would promote interaction and share experiences in the fight against terrorism and extremism, work together to ensure border security, and provide each other with training and logistical, technical and military support.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:23:36|Editor: Xiaoxia

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ISLAMABAD, May 1 (Xinhua) -- At least three soldiers were killed and seven others injured in a cross-border attack by militants from the Afghan side on Pakistani security forces, a military statement said on Wednesday.

About 60 to 70 militants attacked Pakistani army personnel busy in border fencing in the country's northwest tribal district of North Waziristan, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in the statement.

The security forces effectively foiled the attack by taking timely action against the militants, killing and injuring scores of them, and forcing the others to retreat.

The military reiterated its resolve to continue fencing the border despite challenges in moves to curb cross-border terrorism and asked Afghan authorities to take measures to stop militants who use Afghanistan's soil for terror plots.

"While Pakistan security forces are solidifying border security through fencing and construction of forts to deny liberty of action to the terrorists, Afghan Security Forces and the authorities need to have more effective control in the border region to support Pakistan's efforts as well as deny the use of Afghan soil against Pakistan," the ISPR said.

Earlier in a press briefing, ISPR Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor said that his country has completed fencing of some 1000 km border with Afghanistan, and a major decline in the number of cross-border attacks and other terrorist activities along the border areas have been witnessed after the fencing.

Pakistan shares a 2200-km-long border with Afghanistan, and the ISPR officer said that further improvement is expected after the completion of the fencing in the remaining area.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:34:54|Editor: zh

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Parents and their children catch fish in a paddy field in Meiping Village of Jiande City, east China's Zhejiang Province, May 1, 2019. Various activities were held in Meiping Village for parents and children from cities to experience country life during the May Day holiday. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:33:39|Editor: Xiaoxia

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BEIRUT, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Interior Minister Raya El Hassan assured that Lebanon is stable and secure and is taking measures to receive more tourists this year, local media reported on Wednesday.

"Lebanon is more secure compared with other countries in the region. I have assured ambassadors to be at ease with regard to the safety of tourists and their peaceful stay in Lebanon," El Hassan was quoted as saying by the National News Agency.

El Hassan also called upon other countries to remove the travel ban against Lebanon to allow their citizens to come and visit the country in the summer.

In November 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait warned their citizens against traveling to Lebanon amid a Lebanese-Saudi crisis sparked by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's controversial resignation announcement in Riyadh which he rescinded soon after.

Saudi Arabia lifted the travel warning against Lebanon over two months ago given improved security in the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:38:42|Editor: Xiaoxia

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PARIS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- French police on Wednesday arrested three Spaniards suspected of planning violent acts during a May Day rally in the French capital as part of the government's preventive measures against violence, local media reported.

Citing a police source, French news channel BFM TV said the three suspects have been detained in the 10th district of Paris. There, police found in their bags materials that could be used as projectiles, including hammers and screwdrivers in addition to incendiary products, namely three gas cylinders and two cans of gasoline.

They also found a map detailing the route of the main unions' protest which is planned from Montparnasse train station to Place d'Italie metro station in southern Paris, about 2 km apart.

As a heady mix of labor unionists, "yellow vest" demonstrators and other radical activists was expected to hit the streets on May 1, the French government took a "zero-tolerance" approach against violence.

With orders from French President Emmanuel Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" against any kind of violence, more than 7,400 policemen were deployed across Paris, with identity checks and bag searches being reinforced, especially in sensitive sites including train stations.

Fearing violence and destruction of public property, authorities have banned protests and barricaded the neighborhood near the Elysee Palace, the National Assembly and Notre Dame Cathedral.

They also called on shops, restaurants and cafes, located on the demonstration's path, to close by Wednesday afternoon, erect barricades and board up windows for fear of looting.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:43:44|Editor: Xiaoxia

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TEHRAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran warned Wednesday that the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and world powers is at the risk of collapse due to the U.S. behavior, Tasnim news agency reported.

Iran gave enough chances to diplomacy on the deal but "enough is enough. Iran's patience is running out," Iran's deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday.

The U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal, also known as the JCPOA, is a violation of UN Security Council resolution, Araqchi was quoted as saying.

"Even worse, the U.S. is calling on other countries including other members of the Security Council to do the same and violate the Security Council resolution," he added.

Due to the U.S. behavior, "diplomacy and negotiation are losing ground and the concept of resistance is gaining ground due to the U.S. policy on the region," he said.
A pants-less man recently broke into a Queens home while its owners vacationed in Florida, apparently just wanting to root around a bit without anyone interrupting.

Fortunatelyor unfortunately, depending on how comfortable you feel with watching a bottomless intruder have his way with your home while you watch from a thousand miles awayMarie and Andy Katsihtis had installed Nest security cameras throughout their Bayside house. Last week, as they conducted a routine, remote review of the camera footage, they noticed that one of the cameras had been obstructed. Unsettled, the couple took a closer look at the history, and discovered that an intruder had been prowling their halls in his underwear.

"It was almost like a scene from 'The Ring' where you're approaching out of the water, it was really surreal to me and unreal," Marie told WABC. I don't remember that scene, myselfthe one where the stringy ghost girl climbs out of her very haunted well??but because WABC published the footage, I can confirm that watching it imparts a distinctly bizarre feeling, because why is this adult man crawling around on the floor like a diapered baby? And why did he make his job appreciably more difficult by shrouding his head and shoulders in a tangly fabric trap?

The sheet, as you may have guessed, served as a cover for the camera: In the video, you can see the man bumble up the stairs on his hands and knees, rising gingerly to his feet to throw his makeshift cape over the Nest device. "And then from that point on, we don't know where he went inside the house," Andy told WABC.

Because the burglar wore a mask and bedclothesbut not, and I can't emphasize this enough, any pants at allthe Katsihtises could identify neither his face, nor his motives. But the couple was rattled to return home and find absolutely nothing disturbed. They suspect the man entered their yard through an unlocked gate, then power-tooled his way through a basement window. Yet he meticulously repositioned the decor items on that windowsill when he made his exit, taking nothing with him when he left. Police are reportedly investigating nonetheless, because as WABC points out, even if the half-naked man didn't rob the couple, he still stole something from them: "Their security in their very own home."

Andy also said that "every cop that [they] talked to has said, 'I've never seen anything like this,'" but in fact, bottomless burglars do surface from time to time: On the severe end of things, the Golden State Killer sometimes shed his pants when breaking into victims' homes, as did this man who tried to creep into a Waffle House through the restaurant's ceiling. (For less dastardly purposes, I hope.)

Meanwhile, in Irving, Texas, home security cameras captured a fully clothed criminal drilling his way into an apartment through the front door. And in Vallejo, California, a woman recently checked her camera footage to find that a man in a red hoodie had been sneaking through her house, checking in on her slumbering children before stealing her electronics.

Sometimes these interlopers make their presence known, but sometimes they just slink quietly around while we sleep. Just think of all the pants-less miscreants who went undetected before WiFi-enabled home security came into existence!
A visitor views an artwork at the second Belt and Road Afro-Sino Art Exchange Exhibition in National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe, April 29, 2019. The second Belt and Road Afro-Sino Art Exchange Exhibition opened in Zimbabwe's capital Harare Monday evening with more than 120 pieces of art from China and Africa on display. (Xinhua/Chen Yaqin)

HARARE, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Chapter of the Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange Association was launched here on Tuesday amid efforts to further boost cultural ties between China and southern Africa.

The launch was done under the auspices of the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Afro-Sino Art Exchange Exhibition that is underway in Zimbabwe's capital Harare.

Visitors view artworks at the second Belt and Road Afro-Sino Art Exchange Exhibition in National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe, April 29, 2019.(Xinhua/Chen Yaqin)

The three-day exhibition opened Monday evening with more than 120 pieces of art from China and Africa on display, while more than 21 artists from China are also participating in the exhibition, the brainchild of Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange Association headquartered in Kenya.

The SADC chapter is the first of five regional chapters that the Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange Association hopes to establish in Africa by August next year.

Speaking at the launch, Chairperson of the Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange Association Franklin Asira said the association was in response to China's growing call for closer cultural ties between China and Africa under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Visitors view artworks at the second Belt and Road Afro-Sino Art Exchange Exhibition in National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe, April 29, 2019. (Xinhua/Chen Yaqin)

He said while Chinese and African governments already have agreements on cultural cooperation at government level, the association's aim was to have these cultural ties cascaded down to the grassroots level.

"The idea behind the initiative (association) was to trickle all the way down to the grassroots so that the common you and me will actually share in the beauty of cultural exchange," Asira said.

He said he felt proud on the launch of the SADC chapter, which will be headquartered in Zimbabwe.

Visitors view artworks at the second Belt and Road Afro-Sino Art Exchange Exhibition in National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe, April 29, 2019.(Xinhua/Chen Yaqin)

The SADC chapter will be led by the director of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, Nicholas Moyo, who will be deputized by Chinese entrepreneur Steve Zhao.

Moyo said the launch of the SADC chapter in Zimbabwe was significant.

"Beyond today, we will start organizing ourselves into a formidable body that will push and promote the development of the voice of the artists through various platforms and activities within our country and beyond Zimbabwe," Moyo said.

"There are many Chinese artists and Chinese communities found in southern African countries and our desire is to create a bridge between the two communities and ensure that there are synergies at various levels within those Chinese communities that are in our countries," Moyo said.

He said Zimbabwe will do its best to ensure that arts and culture is brought into the center of economic development in southern Africa.

Visitors pose for selfie at the second Belt and Road Afro-Sino Art Exchange Exhibition in National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe, April 29, 2019.(Xinhua/Chen Yaqin)

Chairman of the Afro-Sino Cultural Fund Liu Qitong said his organization is keen to grow synergies between artists from China and Africa.

"We would like to provide a platform to help the artists to do more cultural exchange programs. We wish those kind of cultural exchange programs can promote our arts industry," he said.

Meanwhile, an Afro-Sino cultural forum was also held where artists and officials from the two sides exchanged views and ideas on growing cultural ties.

Dean of Academy of Arts and Design at China's Tsinghua University Lu Xiaobo underscored the need for African artists to produce high-quality art and cultural products for easy marketing in China.

He also spoke on the need for the two sides to continue preserving their local cultures in the face of globalization.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:53:49|Editor: Xiaoxia

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LONDON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn is under fire for reportedly writing a foreword to a book seen as anti-Semitic.

The Jewish Labor Movement told local media on Wednesday that the opposition leader should "consider his position" following reports that he wrote the foreword.

"Once again, Labor members find that their leader has endorsed anti-Semitic propaganda," it said.

British media claimed that Corbyn wrote the controversial foreword in 2011 for a new edition of John Atkinson Hobson's 1902 book Imperialism: A Study.

Labor has said "Jeremy completely rejects the anti-Semitic elements" of the book, which argued that Europe's banks and press were controlled by Jewish people.

On Wednesday, Labor MP Wes Streeting wrote on his social media account, urging his fellow MPs not to defend Corbyn.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 19:53:51|Editor: Xiaoxia

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LAGOS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people have been killed following an attack by gunmen in Nigeria's northwestern state of Katsina, local police said on Wednesday.

The gunmen came on about 150 motorcycles on Tuesday evening and attacked Gobirawa and Sabawa villages in Safana area of the state, Gambo Isah, a police spokesman told reporters in the state capital of Katsina.

Isah added that the "bandits" rustled a number of animals and took away other valuables after killing the innocent persons.

According to him, the police immediately dispatched police patrol teams to the affected communities, engaged the gunmen in gun duel and chased them away, noting that the police are making efforts to arrest them.

A series of gunmen attacks have been reported since the beginning of this year.

A total of 1,071 people were killed in crime-related cases across the country in the first quarter of 2019, said the acting Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu on Tuesday while addressing a Northern Traditional Rulers' Council meeting in Kaduna state.

He said the killings were most prevalent in the north where 767 people were killed, with the northwest region topping the list with 436.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 20:05:22|Editor: zh

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Guo Hui (L) and a member of her group discuss the techniques of carving the Nixing pottery in Qinzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, April 27, 2019. Guo Hui, a 35-year-old potter, has been dedicated to promoting Nixing pottery culture after graduation. After learning pottery techniques in Yixing of east China's Jiangsu Province, Guo returned to Qinzhou in 2009 and formed a group to make Nixing pottery wares. Guo also provided internship for local college students of related majors, as a way to boost dissemination and development of the well-preserved tradition in Nixing. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 20:13:56|Editor: Xiaoxia

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MOGADISHU, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The African Union's top envoy in Somalia on Wednesday hailed the pan African union's troops for their efforts in stabilizing the Horn of Africa nation.

Francisco Madeira, special representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, said the military, police and civilian components have made significant contribution in degrading the capacity of al-Shabab in Somalia and brought relative peace and stability to the country.

"This has yielded significant peace dividends including allowing for the state-building process to thrive and elections to take place in Somalia," Madeira said in a statement issued to mark the International Labor Day.

Madeira, who is the head of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), said efforts of the AU personnel are contributing to the consolidation of the ongoing peacebuilding efforts, humanitarian, stabilization and early recovery activities.

"As we celebrate this year's Workers' Day, I urge AMISOM personnel to continue to play their part in ensuring a successful implementation of the 'Somalia Transition Plan' (STP)," said the AU envoy.

"In the course of discharging our duties in Somalia, many young Africans have paid the ultimate price. The African Union, the people and the government of Somalia are forever obliged to these African heroes and heroines," he added.

Madeira paid tribute to the leadership of the troop and police contributing countries for their unwavering pan-Africanism and resolve to ensure that their security officers continue to work tirelessly with their Somali counterparts to further degrade al-Shabab and other violent groups in Somalia.

He hailed the Somali workers for their resolve to continue to strive for the social and economic development of their country despite al-Shabab violence and atrocities.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 20:23:59|Editor: zh

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CANBERRA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China is making progress in its environmental protection efforts, an Australian expert said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"What we see is a 30 percent improvement in air quality levels in Beijing over the last five years," said Howard Bamsey, honorary professor at the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University and chairman of Global Water Partnership. "We see real progress being made."

According to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, average density of PM 2.5 in Beijing in 2017 saw a decrease of 35.6 percent from 2013.

A 2018 study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago showed that concentrations of fine particulates in Chinese cities have decreased by an average rate of 32 percent since 2014.

"China has been able to reduce pollution in cities, and that will help sustain economic development," said Bamsey. "It is a great step and progress, showing that both Chinese people and the Chinese government have upgraded the importance of environment protection and ecosystem."

Environmental problems are often associated with rapid development, he said.

"I think it's really important for China to maintain its economic growth while dealing with its environmental problems," he said, noting the environmental problems in China have become spurs to its "high-quality development" rather than obstacles. "It is very important to focus on this at the Belt and Road forum and the horticultural expo in Beijing," he said.

The expert also said: "Green development is the only form of sustainable development now. China has many opportunities to green its own development and to green the development of countries it is working with on the Belt and Road."

Bamsey especially talked about China's efforts in reducing emission from vehicles and factories. "China has given priority in the current five-year plan to increasing the proportion of electric vehicles ... and making electric vehicles economically accessible," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 20:24:03|Editor: Xiaoxia

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BANGKOK, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Thai government plans to negotiate a mega-billion-baht compensation pay with Hong Kong construction firm Hopewell for an elevated rail project, which was scrapped over two decades ago, said Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith late on Tuesday.

The cabinet on Tuesday acknowledged the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling delivered last Friday for the Ministry of Transport and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) to follow the ruling of an ad hoc committee of arbitrators issued in November 2008 on the 60-km-long rail project.

In Tuesday's press conference, Arkhom confirmed that the SRT has been notified of the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling for the rail agency to follow the arbitrators committee's ruling to the extent that it provide 11.88 billion baht (about 371.5 million U.S. dollars) in compensation pay, plus a 7.5 percent interest per annum, to Hopewell Co. for the termination of the unfinished project.

He said the Ministry of Transport and the SRT, which is subject to the ministry, are yet to negotiate the compensation pay with Hopewell Co. in accordance with the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling and to find an appropriate financial source to fund it.

A working group, consisting of officials of the SRT, the Office of Attorney General, the Budget Bureau and the Ministry of Finance, will be set up to prepare measures for the compensation pay.

Nevertheless, an ad hoc committee will also be set up by the Ministry of Transport and the SRT to investigate and take legal action against those who may have been allegedly involved in the termination of the project.

The project, Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System, was approved by Thai cabinet in 1989, which would see the construction of some 60 km elevated tollways and railways across the Thai capital with a investment of some 80 billion baht then.

The Ministry of Transport, SRT and the only company tendered for the project, Hopewell (Thailand) Co. with its headquarter in Hong Kong, signed a contract in 1990 with a 30-year concession.

Hopewell would invest in the project to complete the construction in eight years, operate the project and pay Thai government shares of its benefit according to the contract.

However, The contract was officially terminated in 1998 by the Chuan Leekpai-led Democrat government, when Suthep Thaugsuban was transport minister, saying the construction was largely behind set targets.

After that, both sides took legal actions against each other, asking the opposite to compensate the great loss.

On April 22, 2019, the Supreme Administrative Court, revised verdict of a lower court and ruled that Thai government cancelled the contract unfairly and should compensate Hopewell (Thailand) Co. in 180 days.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 20:29:09|Editor: Xiaoxia

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WARSAW, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Poland is celebrating on Wednesday its 15-year membership in the European Union (EU) since the country joined the regional bloc in 2004 in what was the largest enlargement wave of the union so far.

Ten countries joined the EU in 2004: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia. In 2007, Romania and Bulgaria entered the EU as well, followed by Croatia in 2013.

A series of events are taking place in Poland to mark the anniversary, including a government-sponsored massive concert at Warsaw's National Stadium on Tuesday night, attended by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

On Wednesday, the Warsaw municipality is hosting a 'European festival' in the city center. There are activities for kids, and a 28-meter table where regional Polish products are served and a concert where Beethoven's Ode to Joy, the official anthem of the European Union, is played.

In the run-up to elections for the European Parliament this month, the Polish ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has intensified efforts to present itself as pro-European despite its numerous conflicts with Brussels on issues ranging from the rule of law to taking in refugees.

"Membership of the EU is a requirement of Polish patriotism," said PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski during a party conference April 27.

However, PiS has also been arguing that the crisis-ridden Union needs reform, especially to restore more power to national capitals.

"For us, for me, the European Union is above all the European living standards, the European purchasing power, the individual freedom, the economic freedom, but also equality within the European Union, for which we are fighting very strongly and over which we sometimes spar with our European partners," Prime Minister Morawiecki said in an interview with portal Wirtualna Polska on Wednesday.

In parallel to the celebrations of EU accession, Poland is hosting on Wednesday a special summit of leaders of the countries which joined the EU since 2004.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila are some of the leaders attending the "Together for Europe" summit.

"We want to point out that the countries which entered the EU in 2004 have offered a lot to Europe," Polish Secretary of State for European Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Konrad Szymanski, said on Wednesday, while speaking to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) before the summit.

"These countries are not simply beneficiaries of European funds - that's a superficial, even populistic perspective. These countries brought a lot to Europe," Szymanski said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 20:34:11|Editor: Yamei

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Photo taken on April 30, 2019 shows participants attending a round table in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Public Diplomacy Center in Uzbekistan Tuesday held a round table to discuss SCO's practice in strengthening international relations through public diplomacy. (Xinhua)

TASHKENT, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Public Diplomacy Center in Uzbekistan Tuesday held a round table to discuss SCO's practice in strengthening international relations through public diplomacy.

The international event, titled Public diplomacy as a factor of international relations: the practice of the SCO, was organized by the center and Uzbek University of World Economy and Diplomacy.

Members of Uzbekistan's Senate, government officials, national and foreign experts, and the representatives of diplomatic missions of the SCO member states and observer countries took part in the round table, according to the Public Diplomacy Center's statement.

The round table participants discussed the role of public diplomacy in today's world and the SCO member states' experience in using it as an effective tool of international relations, according to the center.

The SCO, established in 2001, now includes China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, accounting for over 20 percent of the global economy and nearly half of the world population.

In June 2017, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed an initiative to create a public diplomatic center in Tashkent at the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of SCO in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Zambian President Edgar Lungu inaugurates the Jiangxi Multi-Facility Economic Zone in Chibombo district, Zambia, Nov. 21, 2018. A consortium of Chinese firms will construct a Multi-Facility Economic Zone in central Zambia's Chibombo district, with President Edgar Lungu saying the project will go a long way in helping the country in its endeavor to ensure value addition to local products. It will cover 600 hectares of land, with an initial investment of 300 million U.S. dollars in the first phase which will create more than 5,000 jobs. (Xinhua)

LUSAKA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A peace and development specialist has called on African countries to document stories of China's support to the continent so that younger people and future generations will appreciate the cordial relations long existing between China and their respective countries.

Lawrence Banda, who is Vice Chairperson of Universal Peace Federation Zambia Chapter, said much of the assistance that China has rendered to African countries is not known by the youth because it has not been fully and properly documented.

"Zambia has a lot to show for the friendship that has long existed between China and Zambia. From the building of Tanzania-Zambia Railway line that served as a lifeline for import and export in the region during a difficult period in history to the current infrastructure projects and areas of people-to-people exchange."

"Unfortunately, not many young people are aware of this," said Banda.

According to him, setting up of space in museum depicting the good and long-standing relations between Zambia and China is one way of honoring this great friendship.

Yusuf Dodia, an economic and business development consultant, said the relationship between Zambia and China has been growing from strength to strength as seen by China's increased assistance in infrastructure development.

Dodia, who is Private Sector Development Association President, observed that China has been instrumental in helping the government of Zambia improve health delivery through the building of infrastructure such as the Levy Mwanawasa University Hospital and the Levy Mwanawasa Medical University.

He also pointed out that the putting up of new airports and upgrading of existing airports, which have been on the Zambian government's agenda for some years, as something worth noting.

The Chinese government and the Chinese people have been very good development partners, said Dodia.
Lawyers for NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo have asked a state supreme court judge to delay his disciplinary trial in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, arguing that the Civilian Complaint Review Board  the citys police watchdog agency  lacks the jurisdiction to act as the prosecutors in the trial.

The CCRB investigates complaints made by the public and prosecutes the most serious allegations. Pantaleo's lawyer, Stuart London, challenged the validity of the complaint in the Garner case. He argued that the woman who called the CCRB the day after Garner died didn't really witness what happened. London called her story inconsistent and also questioned whether she was a woman or not.

She made one phone call. Thats it. And the tape is really bizarre. Its a dude. Its a guy, I mean, 100 percent, London said outside the courthouse following Tuesdays hearing. As he spoke, a few protesters shouted to try and drown him out.

State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden will hear arguments from both sides on May 9th.

The disciplinary trial is scheduled to begin four days later, on May 13th. Pantaleo faces no criminal charges. A Staten Island grand jury declined to indict the officer in 2014.

Gwen Carr, Garners mother, attended the hearing with her daughter. Joining other police reform advocates outside the courthouse, Carr accused Pantaleo of pulling a last-minute stunt to get the trial dismissed.

I am just appalled, Carr said. We as Americans, we as New Yorkers have to stand together and say this is not right.

Fred Davie, chairman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, issued a statement that also said Pantaleo was making a baseless claim to delay prosecution.

With closure for the Garner family hanging in the balance, the trial for Officer Pantaleo must proceed as scheduled and not be further delayed by these meritless maneuvers, Davie said.

Advocates pointed out that justice, in the form of the disciplinary trial, has been slow to come following the day in July 2014 that Garner died at the hands of police while under arrest for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. Pantaleo is accused of putting Garner in a chokehold, a banned procedure.

After Garners death, the NYPD said it would wait to bring misconduct charges against Pantaleo until the U.S. Department of Justice concluded their investigation into the case. But last year the police department, with the federal probe ongoing, allowed for disciplinary proceedings against Pantaleo to move forward, citing an extraordinary passage of time since the incident.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board, under a memorandum of understanding with the police department, will prosecute Pantaleos case.

A few weeks ago, Pantaleo sought to have the disciplinary trial dismissed. He brought the claim to an administrative judge at the NYPD, citing a determination by the NYPDs chief surgeon that Pantaleo did not, in fact, use a chokehold on Garner. The administrative judge denied the request to dismiss the case.

In 2014, the NYC Medical Examiners office concluded that Garners death was a homicide caused by compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.

Loyda Colon, a co-director of the organization Justice Committee, said on Tuesday that Pantaleos attempt to have a state court judge dismiss the trial  this time questioning the CCRBs authority to prosecute  was a stall tactic.

It's infuriating that we have to be here today, Colon said. It's almost five years since Eric Garner was choked to death by Daniel Pantaleo, while other officers just stood around and did absolutely nothing to help Eric while he screamed I can't breathe 11 times.

One other officer, Sergeant Kizzy Adonis, the supervising officer on the scene after Garner was arrested, was stripped of her gun and badge and put on desk duty in January 2016 but has since been reinstated.

If Pantaleos disciplinary trial moves forward, he could ultimately lose his job. He is now on desk duty, earning an annual salary of nearly $120,000.

Yasmeen Khan is a reporter covering crime and policing at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter @yasmeenkhan.



Cindy Rodriguez is the urban policy reporter for New York Public Radio. You can follow her on Twitter at @cynrod.


Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 20:49:18|Editor: Yurou

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Chief Executive of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Chui Sai On (R) meets with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in south China's Macao, May 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

MACAO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Macao will carry out more cooperation with Portugal including cultural exchanges, the special administrative region (SAR)'s chief executive said here on Wednesday when meeting with visiting Portuguese president.

Macao SAR Chief Executive Chui Sai On met with Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa who arrived in Macao on Tuesday, which was part of a state visit to China.

Chui said both sides paid great attention to the teaching of Portuguese language skills in Macao, and that the Macao SAR government had agreed in principle to Macao Portuguese School's expansion plan and would continue to support the institution's development.

The Portuguese president said Macao's historic links with Portugal would contribute to the friendly relations between Portugal and China.

He added that he had enjoyed the distinctive features of Macao SAR, including people-to-people bond and the harmonious co-existence of different cultures.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:04:27|Editor: Xiaoxia

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MOGADISHU, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the civil societies resolved on Wednesday to work together to stabilize the country which has been facing security challenges for the past two decades.

The AU mission said it reached an agreement with representatives of Somalia's civil society to come up with programs that will help empower citizens to actively participate in the affairs of the country.

"We have a shared responsibility. As AMISOM, our mandate here is to ensure peace and security, however the success of the country depends on the positive efforts made by the citizens," Francisco Madeira, special representative of the chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, said in a joint statement issued in Mogadishu.

The AU mission has been working closely with the major players in Somalia to ensure that the transfer of security responsibility to national security forces proceeds smoothly and to ensure gains already made in the stabilization process are secured, Madeira said.

"We want you to take over and AMISOM is ready to help the people of Somalia make the country a better place to live in," he said.

AMISOM, through its civilian component, is working with the civil society in the promotion of inclusive politics, human rights, protection of vulnerable groups; preventing and countering violent extremism; rehabilitation of disengaged combatants and stabilization and early recovery, Madeira said.

He told the civil society representatives that AMISOM is not in Somalia to substitute the government and state institutions but to work with all partners to restore peace and stability and empower Somalis to effectively govern their country.

Babatunde Taiwo, AMISOM head of political affairs, urged the civil society to support AMISOM efforts.

"We want to give you a good sense of what AMISOM does to help you understand us better and also know the limits of AMISOM as an organization and what to expect in terms of support," Taiwo said.

Since the end of the civil war that left thousands dead, according to AMISOM, the civil society in Somalia has been playing a major role in peace-building and conflict resolution by helping bring warring factions to the negotiation table.

The organizations have also supplemented AMISOM and federal government efforts in improving the lives of vulnerable groups.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:09:31|Editor: Xiaoxia

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by James Asande and Yang Zhen

NAIROBI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The China funded Standard Gauge Railway(SGR) linking the Kenyan capital Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa has revitalized growth of small town along its 480 kilometers corridor since its launch on May 31, 2017.

Kenya's modern railway line that has been described as a game changer in transport, regional integration and cross border trade, will later extend to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Locally, it has shortened the passenger travel time from Mombasa to Nairobi from 10 to four hours, whereas the freight trains complete the journey in less than eight hours.

China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) began construction of phase one SGR project in October 2013 and managed to create 30,000 local jobs.

At the bustling Voi town located about 329 kilometers south east of Nairobi, the SGR project has become anonymous with an economic windfall that has been felt by residents.

Janet Oben, Taita Taveta County chief executive officer for Tourism, said the SGR has raised the visibility of Voi town, which has lately been receiving a high number of tourists.

"Convenience and comfort has seen to it that many tourists travelling to Mombasa stop at Voi and visit many of our scenic attractions and cultural centres before they continue with their journey," said Oben adding that SGR has improved relationship among investors and working class communities.

"Someone can depart Nairobi in the morning and have a meeting in Voi at lunch hour and leave in the afternoon. Before, people would book flights to Mombasa and travel by road to Voi. The SGR has saved travel time to most tourists and business people, "She added.

Oben said that economic vitality of Voi town has been accompanied by job opportunities for the youth.

The county official said plans are afoot to launch a marketing campaign to showcase investment opportunities within Voi town in strategic areas like tourism and agro-processing.

Japhet Njagi, assistant shift attendant at Voi station, said before the SGR arrived, the town was in a sleepy mode, a factor which has drastically changed.

"As you can see, the town has experienced huge growth since the SGR arrived two years ago. Even the GDP of Voi town has grown considerably, a positive move that can be attributed to the trains that stop here," Njagi told Xinhua.

The 29-year-old's day job includes arranging of shifts to make sure passengers are accorded efficient services at the station from the booking office to the waiting room and ensure they get the best experience up to the time they board the train in line with regulations.

Njagi started working in Voi station in 2017, the same year the SGR commenced operations.

"Our number one priority is safety because of the train's speed, so basically we are the passengers' stewards, "said Njagi.

He said tourism is on the rise and that so many tourists pass through the station heading to Tsavo East and Tsavo West national parks, adding that Voi is the best place to be for the youth.

Jacob Odhiambo, 19, who studies at Taita Taveta University, said he uses the SGR because of speed, convenience and comfort.

"I have used SGR for the last one year and it has opened up the transport sector, especially roads that link to the station which have been developed to ease movement of commuters," said Odhiambo.

Aj Ringera uses the SGR whenever he is traveling between Nairobi and Mombasa because it is convenient and fast.

"Time is money so when I board the SGR, I spend only four hours, as opposed to a bus that takes more than six hours, so it saves time, which in return helps the economy of Kenya," said Ringera.

"It also cuts by half the cost of travel, but many people haven't yet realized it. I wish it can continue up to Kisumu or the border of Uganda where it can save a lot of people," he added.

Anderson Mjomba Mshila, a tuk-tuk driver, has positive view of the the SGR because he earns a living ferrying passengers from the station to their destination.

"There is also some new developments in the housing sector, which has happened because of the SGR as many people moved to invest in this area," said Mshila.

"Since the arrival of the SGR I can make a profit of over 1,000 shillings daily (about 10 U.S. dollars) and this is after catering for the daily expenditures, so in a good day I make over 25 U.S. dollars," he added.

William Lewa Mawowo, a taxi driver, said he can ferry a customer from the SGR station in Voi to their respective destinations and earn extra coins.

"So the least I can say is that business is good," said Mawowo.

Augustine Mwanake, general manager of Voi Wildlife Lodge, said tourism has for the last one year been on the rise with visitors who book online traveling to the facility using SGR passenger train.

"Majority of our visitors come from Europe, especially Italy, Germany and Poland. Some come for a one day stop-over after visiting the park whereas some spend their weekend with us," said Mwanake.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:14:33|Editor: Xiaoxia

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TEHRAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday urged unity of the country amidst what he called the "threats" against Iran, official IRNA news agency reported.

"The enemy has formed a battle array against the Islamic republic and adopted aggressive measures in the economic and political fronts," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

"The United States and Zionist (regime of Israel) are plotting and acting against Iran in all areas," Khamenei told a group of his public visitors.

"They have also attempted to infiltrate in Iran's intelligence sector and deal blows to the Iranian establishment through the virtual space," he said, urging national unity and solidarity.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:24:41|Editor: Xiaoxia

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PARIS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Violence broke out on Wednesday in a traditional May Day rally when labor unions, yellow vests and ultra activists took to the Parisian streets to denounce President Emmanuel Macron's policy and demand better work conditions.

TV footage showed police fired tear gas to push hooded individuals who had converged at the front of march, in Montparnasse Boulevard in Paris. They pelted anti-riot officers with stones and bottles and smashed a van's windows.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner warned on Tuesday of violence during May Day rally after far-left anarchist groups known as Black Blocs called on social media to make Paris "the capital of rioting".

Authorities said up to 2,000 radical activists from France and neighbor European countries would converge to the French capital to wreak havoc on the sidelines of union rallies.

According to Paris police headquarters, at least 165 people have been detained at 1100 GMT.

Earlier on Wednesday, police arrested three Spaniards suspected of planning violent acts. Police found in their bags materials that could be used as projectiles, including hammers and screwdrivers in addition to incendiary products, namely three gas cylinders and two cans of gasoline.

They also found a map detailing the route of the main unions' rally which is planned from Montparnasse train station to Place d'Italie metro station in southern Paris, about 2 km apart.

With orders from Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" against any kind of violence, more than 7,400 policemen were deployed across Paris, with identity checks and bag searches being reinforced, especially in sensitive sites including train stations.

Fearing violence and destruction of public properties, authorities have barricaded the neighborhood near the Elysee Palace, the National Assembly and Notre Dame Cathedral.

They also called on shops, restaurants and cafes located along the route of the rally to close by Wednesday afternoon, erect barricades and board up windows for fear of looting.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:29:44|Editor: Xiaoxia

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by Dong Hua

HO CHI MINH CITY, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The wedding of Ngoc Quang, a specialist at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, has recently been held in both the city and the countryside.

"One wedding took place over a week in my parents' house in my hometown in the countryside near the capital city of Hanoi, and another over one day at White Palace (the name of a luxury wedding service center in Ho Chi Minh City)," Quang told Xinhua.

According to Quang's parents, their wedding decades ago and their son's countryside wedding in early 2019 have many things in common, including the time, the venue and ways of organizing the ceremonies.

"Most of our villagers hold weddings in the cooler months from November to February leading up to Tet (Lunar New Year festival), so that newlyweds can enjoy cool weather and then celebrate Tet together. And the weddings are held at houses of brides or grooms' parents," Quang's mother said.

While city families often employ an event organizer, or use a wedding service to help them with their ceremony, most people in the countryside still do it themselves with the help of relatives and neighbors. A mountain of works lie ahead for the big day, including pitching up the marquee, writing wedding invitations, and slaughtering pigs and chickens to prepare for the wedding dinner.

Several evenings before the main wedding day, young villagers usually gather in the marquee to sing, dance or even gamble through the night, something rarely seen in the city.

"Because a wedding is like a festival for the whole village, some guests sing karaoke or play cards till early morning. However, local authorities have discouraged such activities because they either affect neighbors' sleep or violate laws," the mother said, noting that local police rarely arrest gamblers at weddings because they play cards at a small scale and mainly for fun.

"The only noticeable change in weddings today is the costume. In the past, brides wore ao dai (Vietnam's traditional long dress). Now, brides and young women guests often opt for western-style dresses," she said, noting that brides still wear ao dai in relevant ceremonies leading up to the main wedding day, but choose western-style dress to create a new image.

Quang said that like many other villagers, his family invited some 300 guests, mostly their relatives, friends and neighbors, to his wedding in the countryside. The guests sat at some 50 tables.

Instead of buying a gift for the bridge or the groom, most of guests to weddings in Vietnam give them cash. In rural areas, people usually give the money directly to the bride or the groom or their parents.

In urban areas there is often a heart-shaped box, jokingly referred to as the "charity-box," at the entrance to the wedding venue where guests can drop in their gift or cash in envelops.

A city wedding is usually held at a wedding service center or a star-rated hotel for a day, or just a morning or an afternoon. It usually costs 180-300 U.S. dollars per table.

"At a city wedding, few people know each other. It's much more entertaining to take part in a countryside wedding where you can talk, share jokes and meet old acquaintances," said Ngoc Mai, who works for an export company in Hanoi.

However, she acknowledged that having shorter weddings allow city dwellers to spend more time in managing their work, and capturing their special moment forever.

Couples in cities prefer having a perfect set of wedding photos taken at studios or landscapes before the main wedding day, and then having a honeymoon in Vietnam or abroad.

According to local culture experts, as a Vietnamese proverb goes "Plenty breeds pride," when people become wealthier, they tend to make their wedding ceremonies more impressive.

Rural ideas seeped into the cities as thousands of people from the countryside joined the urban population, said well-known scholar of culture Vuong Tri Nhan, adding that instead of a simple ceremony among groups of people based around their home neighborhood, now there are huge events with the attendance of the relatives, acquaintances and work colleagues.

On the contrary, a number of low-wage workers opt for a simple wedding party with sweets, cakes and tea, even a mass wedding ceremony. The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Assisting Young Workers started holding mass wedding ceremonies in 2007 to help couples and promote tradition.

On Sept. 2 last year, which was Vietnam's national day, a mass wedding ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City for 100 couples, who were dressed in traditional marriage attires.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:39:48|Editor: Liangyu

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BAGHDAD, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi top officials on Wednesday pledged to support the Iraqi workers on the occasion of the International Labor Day, calling on workers to contribute effectively to the reconstruction of the country after the victory over the extremist Islamic State (IS) group.

The Iraqi President Barham Salih said in his statement of congratulations "on this occasion, we emphasize the need for give the working class the required attention and care as well as improving their living standards."

"We also urge to activate the labor unions to defend their rights as well as to work and coordinate with the Council of Representatives (Parliament) to pass legislation necessary to promote the status of the working class just like the other countries of the world," Salih said.

"The next phase will require the mobilization of all efforts and capacities to rebuild and reconstruct the cities that have been sabotaged and destroyed by the terrorist gangs of Daesh (IS group)," Salih added.

A statement by the office of the Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said "May 1 is an occasion to enhance the value of work. Without it, there would be no economic or security stability. It is also an important opportunity to strengthen all efforts to ensure that the working environment is healthy and legally-protected that would preserve the workers' rights, whether in the private or public sectors."

Abdul Mahdi also confirmed Iraq's commitment "to the international charters that regulate the working environment in various labor activities in order to ensure sustainable development, which we rely on to promote Iraq's progress," according to the statement.

The Iraqi parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi said in another statement issued by his office that "we extend our warmest greetings and appreciation on this occasion (Labor Day), and call for continuous efforts for all the good and progress of our beloved country. You represent the basic pillar of building and construction at this important stage."

Al-Halbousi confirmed that the parliament "is in the process of passing legislation that will contribute to providing decent living for all labors and guarantee their legitimate rights," the statement added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:44:54|Editor: Liangyu

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NAIROBI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- As Kenya joined the world in marking Labor Day on Wednesday, among those who were being celebrated in the east African nation for creating jobs are young people.

The young people, some informal workers while others businesspersons, are creating jobs by starting businesses in various sectors that include agriculture, transport, hospitality, housing and carpentry.

The businesses have become key in offering employment to thousands of people who are jobless, therefore, boosting incomes in a country where formal jobs have become scarcer.

Fred Ajwang, a resident of Busia in western Kenya, is among young people who have created jobs for fellow youths.

The businessman has eight motorbikes and runs a spare parts and repair shop in the district that borders Uganda.

"I have 11 workers in total who I have employed directly and others that I hire on casual basis when need arises," said Ajwang on phone.

The businessman has agreed with the riders that they give him 400 shillings (4 U.S. dollars) each day, from the average 8 dollars they make daily as they traverse the rural areas of the populous region.

"I take it with pride this Labor Day that I have created jobs for my fellow youths," said the 38-year-old.

"My plan is to come up with even more because there are hundreds who are unemployed and any job makes a difference in their lives," he added.

Caleb Karuga, a former journalist, who farms in Kajiado County, provides employment for close to 30 people on his fish, vegetables and poultry farms, a majority of them women.

According to him, women generally provide the most reliable labor on the farm as compared to men, and this is because they are better organized.

"Women provide arguably the most reliable labor on the farm given that most men love the bottle," said Karuga, who quit journalism to farm.

At his carpentry workshop in Kayole on the east of Nairobi, Bernard Oloo employs five people directly and several others that include taxi and push cart operators indirectly.

"I went into business after working for an Indian family that was also engaging in carpentry for years. I used the skills I gained from them to start the business four years ago," said Oloo, 36, who makes couches, dining tables, wall units, beds and TV stands, among other furniture.

Such businesses run by young people, some in white collar jobs while others in businesses, are replicated across the east African nation, making the youth some of the biggest job creators.

The Economic Survey 2018 released last week shows that the number of persons engaged outside small-scale agriculture and pastoralist activities rose from 16.9 million in 2017 to 17.8 million in 2018.

Some 762,200 jobs were created in the informal sector last year, down from 795,000 jobs the previous year, with the decline attributed to expiry of hired temporary workers services by the electoral commission during the 2017 polls.

On the contrary, the formal sector created 78,400 jobs compared to 114,400 jobs in 2017, with the decline attributed to poor performance in the private sector.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics notes that at least 7 million Kenyans are unemployed, out of the number, 70 percent are the youth (KNBS).

Out of the informal jobs created in 2018, agriculture contributed 336,000 jobs, followed by manufacturing at 310,000 jobs.

Agriculture is the principle employer in Kenya, where millions are engaged either as workers or farmers, a good number of them young people.

Besides agriculture, other activities offering informal jobs include forestry and fishing, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles, according to KNBS.

Beatrice Macharia of Growth Point, an agro-consultancy, noted that more youth are taking up agriculture more than before, not only on the farm but across the value chain.

"Some youths are in value addition, others are offering cold chain services while some are transporters or consultants like myself. I have employed two agronomists who help me work with farmers. The youth have the capacity to alleviate the country's job crisis if given opportunity, finance and they get favorable policies," said the 29-year-old.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 21:54:56|Editor: Liangyu

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STOCKHOLM, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A total of 20,000 passengers are expected to be affected when 280 flights are canceled throughout Scandinavia on Thursday, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced in a press release on Wednesday.

"Every canceled flight is a failure, therefore we work hard to limit the number of canceled flights," said Karin Nyman, communications director at SAS.

Due to the strike, SAS announced to furlough about 1,000 employees in Norway, Swedish Television(SVT) reported. This reportedly includes 930 cabin crew and 70 baggage handlers and comes into effect as of May 1.

Knut Morten Johansen, head of media relations for SAS in Norway, explained that this is a response to an unprecedented situation. "The strike affects our passengers to an extent we have not seen in modern times. It is a stressful and dramatic situation and we are doing everything we can to find a quick solution," SVT reported.

Pilots from all three Scandinavian countries took part in the strike since last Friday, demanding better pay and working conditions, including more predictable schedules.

SAS is the leading airline in Scandinavia, operating a third of all flights to and from the region. While the airline is an important link across Scandinavia, it also runs long-haul international flights to the U.S. and Asia. Domestic, European and long-haul flights will be affected by the strike.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:15:09|Editor: Xiaoxia

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KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Argentinian Vice President Marta Gabriela Michetti will make a two-day official visit to Malaysia to strengthen bilateral ties, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

She is scheduled to meet with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to discuss matters of common interest related to trade, human rights and women empowerment besides other Malaysian cabinet ministers, the ministry said in a statement.

"The visit is expected to further reinvigorate Kuala Lumpur-Buenos Aires ties and give new impetus to the bilateral relations in various areas such as trade and investments, empowerment of women and people with disability as well as food and agriculture industry," it said.

Bilateral trade totaled 1.34 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, with Malaysian exports to Argentina valued at 140 million U.S. dollars and imports from the Latin American were valued at 1.20 billion U.S. dollars.
New York City is paying out $3.5 million in a settlement to Alexis Rodriguez, who says her boyfriend, the late Rolando Perez, had his epilepsy medication withheld by Correction officers while he was at Rikers Island, The New York Daily News reports.

Perez, who resided in the Bronx, was at Rikers in early 2014 for a burglary charge but hadn't been convicted. He died in solitary confinement that same year, at the age of 36. Perez had been placed in solitary after allegedly getting into a fight.

In a harrowing video obtained by ABC7, inmates say that they heard Perez "screaming" for his medication. Following his death, an autopsy showed that he died from heart problems and a seizure, the outlet reports. Later, Perez's family said they would be suing the city. After Perez's death, one officer was fired and another was "disciplined," the Department of Correction told Gothamist in an email statement.

The News reports that the city settled the case last week. Rodriguez's lawyer, Jeffrey Guzman, did not immediately respond to Gothamist's request for comment.

"We care deeply about the health and well-being of all individuals in our custody," DOC Spokesperson Peter Thorne said in a statement provided to Gothamist. "The city has also replaced its healthcare provider for people in custody. In 2016, New York Health and Hospitals officially took over the duties of providing care for people in the city's jails from the scandal-plagued private contractor Corizon.

The de Blasio administration is aiming to close Rikers Island over the next decade and open four new jails in four boroughs, despite community opposition and the recent revelation that there has been an an uptick in the number of people jailed at Rikers for technical parole violations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:15:11|Editor: Xiaoxia

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AYBAK, Afghanistan, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified armed men gunned down six civilians including a local politician in the northern Afghan province of Samangan on Wednesday, head of the Provincial Council Hajji Raz Mohammad said.

According to Mohammad, the bloody shooting happened outside the provincial capital Aybak in the wee hours of Wednesday during which Hajji Abdul Wasi, provincial chief of the National Islamic Movement headed by First Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, was killed along with five others.

Police have yet to make comment on the deadly attack.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:15:13|Editor: zh

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TRIPOLI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A total of 376 people have been killed and 1,822 others injured in the fighting between the UN-backed Libyan government and the east-based army in and around the capital Tripoli so far, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

"As the armed conflict in Tripoli, Libya continues into May, the toll for all of April 2019 is 376 dead and 1,822 wounded," WHO tweeted Wednesday.

"Grave concerns for thousands of trapped civilians in conflict-affected areas in Tripoli. UN Human Rights Chief M. Bachelet urges creation of safe humanitarian corridors and joins calls for an immediate cease-fire and resumption of political talks," WHO demanded.

The east-based army, led by Khalifa Haftar, has been leading a military campaign since early April to take over Tripoli where the UN-backed government is based.

The UN Higher Commission of Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday said that the fighting displaced more than 42,000 people so far.

"In the most conflicted-affected areas, there is an increasing sense of desperation. UNHCR staff in Libya say people are afraid to leave their homes. Water is in short supply, power is regularly cut off and there is scarce access to food, fuel and other key basic items," UNHCR said.

Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition amid insecurity and chaos ever since the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:25:18|Editor: zh

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TOKYO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Japanese people were immersed in a celebratory mood as new Emperor Naruhito ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday, marking the start of a new imperial era in Japan.

"I have hereby succeeded to the throne pursuant to the Constitution of Japan and the Special Measures Law on the Imperial House Law," the emperor said in a statement.

"I will act according to the Constitution and fulfill my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people of Japan, while always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them," he said.

Era names, or "gengo" as they are known in Japanese, are used in Japan for the length of a monarch's reign. The new era name, "Reiwa," means "beautiful harmony," while the former era "Heisei" means "achieving peace."

Japanese citizens were keen on attending celebrations such as countdown events and fireworks across the country.

Some Japanese couples planned to get married on Wednesday, and some elementary school children and their parents in Okayama prefecture experienced the name change "midair" by jumping all at once at midnight Tuesday at a gymnasium.

In Yokohama near Tokyo, many young people born in the Heisei era gathered early Tuesday to place 11,070 dominos which represented the 11,070 days of Heisei. Dates were marked on the back of each domino, while days of important events were highlighted. The organizers said they hoped to display the Heisei era through the line of dominos.

When the midnight bell rang, a young Japanese girl flipped the first domino, starting the "running" of about 30 years of the Heisei era. Finally, the Chinese characters of "Reiwa" appeared, which received hail and applause from the audience.

At the crossroad of Shibuya in Tokyo at midnight Tuesday, people who came from all over Japan gathered in the rain to celebrate the countdown for the new era. They shouted out "Reiwa" when the clock stroke at midnight. A female university student who was born in Heisei said that she hoped to become braver to face the challenges and achieve growth in the Reiwa era.

Some Japanese chose to embrace the new era on the train. At Tokyo's Shinjuku station, a train of the Keio Line packed with passengers started running at midnight. Many chose to board the train with the hope to start forging ahead with the Reiwa era.

A Hokkaido railway company has also arranged a special trip for passengers to buy commemorative tickets with the words "bound for Reiwa" and to get a commemorative boarding pass as well. The train set off from Hakodate at 11:25 p.m. on Tuesday. At midnight, the train blew its whistle and the passengers aboard the train raised their glasses together to toast to the new era.

On social media, the first change of a Japanese era name in three decades has also drawn many people's attention.

Instagram users uploaded pictures of themselves holding up a board with the two Chinese characters symbolizing the new era, imitating what Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, nicknamed "Uncle Reiwa" by young people, did when he announced the new era name on April 1. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:25:21|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Workers march during a rally marking the Labor Day in Thessaloniki, Greece, May 1, 2019. The Greek government pledged to implement measures to improve workers' life after nine years of financial crisis, as labor unions staged Labor Day rallies on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Dimitris Tosidis)

ATHENS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Greek government pledged to implement measures to improve workers' life after nine years of financial crisis, as labor unions staged Labor Day rallies on Wednesday.

"May 1st is a day of memory, struggle and claim for the working class all over the world... It is our government's duty to be next to the workers and that is why we are taking measures to strengthen their rights, to improve their income and their negotiating position," Minister of Labor Effie Achtsioglou told Greek state news agency AMNA.

For example, the planned 120-installment debt settlement to social security funds will provide relief to 1.3 million Greeks, said the official.

Meanwhile, labor unions, parties and grassroots movements organized symbolic demonstrations in the center of Athens and other cities across the country demanding bolder policies to heal the wounds of the crisis.

Although unemployment rates now stand at about 18 percent, down from 28 percent at the peak of the crisis, the average household in Greece has seen its income slashed by 30 percent and savings evaporating.

Labor unions have protested that workers' rights have also suffered in recent years as some employers exploited their agony for a job position.

"May 1st is a day of honor and commemoration of the dead of the working class in Chicago in 1886 and in Thessaloniki in 1936," Thanassis Koutsouras, president of the Federation of Construction Workers in the northern city port of Thessaloniki, told Xinhua during the rally.

The Labor Day march in Thessaloniki ended on the site where the first worker was fatally injured by police 83 years ago. Nine people lost their lives during the workers' strike in the city of Thessaloniki in 1936.

"The working class gave blood to win 8 hours of work. After so many years, the working class is still in the same dire position due to policies implemented by all governments which are against workers' rights," Koutsouras added.

"We are here to support the workers' movement. We are struggling for peace without exploitation, against imperialism, the system that causes wars," Nikos Zokas, head of the Greek Committee for International Detente and Peace in Thessaloniki, told Xinhua.

"The message is for workers to rise up," said Nikos, another protestor.

Gevsi Kakoulidou, was also among demonstrators on Wednesday. She is a low paid cleaning lady. Her children are also earning barely enough to make ends meet.

"The working class is wounded and still in fear. We should all be here fighting today... My colleagues are signing that they get Easter and Christmas bonuses and their employers do not give it. The employees are just signing the documents so that they will not lose their jobs the next day," she said.

Labor unions have received numerous complaints in recent years that part-time employees in many cases are forced to work overtime without extra payment, and full-time employees are obliged to sign receipts of payment for bonuses they never actually receive, under the threat of dismissal.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:50:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu paid a visit to Iraq last weekend in a bid to enhance bilateral trade and energy cooperation, and seek business opportunities in the reconstruction of Iraq.

Following his visit in Baghdad, Cavusoglu said Turkey is targeting a trade volume of 20 billion U.S. dollars with Iraq.

"We need a second door to increase our trade. And this door needs to be opened in order for Iraq to be a trade center connecting the Gulf to Europe through Turkey," the minister said on his Twitter account after talks with Iraqi officials, referring to the years-long plan for Ovakoy cross-border gate, which lies between Turkey and Iraq's autonomous Kurdish administration in the north.

The Turkish minister held talks with many Iraqi politicians, from the officials of Baghdad central government, to the officials of Basra and Erbil, the de-facto capital of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

As part of Turkey's ambitions engagement in its neighboring country which is trying to get over with years of struggle against the Islamic State, Cavusoglu unveiled plans to reopen consulates in Mosul and Basra provinces and to open new ones in Kirkuk and Najaf.

The Turkish top diplomat also announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would pay an official visit to Iraq this year for a high-level meeting with Iraqi President Bahram Salih. Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi is also expected to visit Turkey in the coming months.

Turkey has offered a 5-billion-U.S. dollar loan to Iraq for its reconstruction. Turkish businesses are also seeking to participate in the investment and rebuilding projects in Iraq, which are estimated to cost some 88 billion dollars.

On April 25, Turkey and Iraq held a construction forum for the rebuilding of Iraq. Turkish contractors have signed important deals worth 90 billion dollars.

Nearly 100 Turkish construction companies will attend the Re-Construct Iraq International Exhibition for Construction and Power Industries, which will take place in the northern Iraqi province of Erbil on June 26-29.

Iraq is a crucial market for Turkey, according to Jale Ozgenturk, economy columnist of daily Hurriyet.

She argued that both countries are expected to put the economic ties back on track after a meeting was held between Erdogan and Salih in January.

Ozgenturk noted that Turkish exporters and contractors are waiting for the Iraqi government to launch the reconstruction projects.

Emin Taha, chair of Turkey-Iraq Business Council, said an increase of 20-25 percent in trade with Iraq is expected by the end of 2019.

Turkey's trade with Iraq stood at 11 billion dollars in 2013, but decreased dramatically in 2018 mainly due to the war declared against the IS group. The political ties also saw ups and downs during the years, said Taha.

Since 2015, hundreds of Turkish soldiers have been deployed in Bashiqa camp, some 30 km northeast of the Iraqi northern city of Mosul, triggering a dispute between Baghdad and Ankara, as Baghdad repeatedly said Turkish forces violated Iraq's sovereignty by entering the country without permission.

Moreover, secret oil accords between Turkey and autonomous administration of Iraqi Kurds, who exported its oil independently without Iraq's central government via loading terminals at Ceyhan of Turkey's Mediterranean coast, have infuriated Baghdad and prompted it to file an arbitration case against Ankara in 2014.

However, an independence referendum of the KRG in 2017 paved the way for rapprochement between Ankara and Baghdad as they both fiercely opposed the "illegitimate" referendum.

Cavusoglu's visit to Erbil was the first since the referendum and aims to restore ties with Iraqi Kurds as well in the north, where he met with several KRG senior officials, including the Kurdish leader Nechirvan Barzani.

His visit came after the United States stopped issuing waivers to countries, including Turkey, that import Iranian oil. So Turkey is looking for alternative suppliers, such as Iraq which has rich oil reserves.

Ankara eyes oil-rich provinces of Basra and Kirkuk where a pipeline was operating since 1976 but ceased operation after it was damaged in the fight against the IS.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:50:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ATHENS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Greece is aligned with the European Union's stance on the Venezuelan crisis, Greek Foreign Minister George Katrougalos said on Wednesday.

"Yesterday the democratic Europe was clearly and responsibly placed. It asked for a solution only by peaceful, democratic means, elections, in order to avoid bloodshed," Katrougalos tweeted.

"We reiterate that there can only be a political, peaceful and democratic way out for the multiple crises the country is facing," Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on Tuesday in a statement.

"The EU rejects any form of violence and calls for utmost restraint to avoid the loss of lives and an escalation of tensions," she added.

"We will continue to spare no efforts to achieve a reinstatement of democracy and rule of law, through free and fair elections, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution," Mogherini noted, adding "The European Union firmly stands with the Venezuelan people and its legitimate democratic aspirations."

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday via twitter that military commanders from all regions and defense areas of the country have "expressed their loyalty to the people, the Constitution and the country."

Earlier on Tuesday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who had proclaimed himself as Venezuela's interim president, reportedly called on the Venezuelan people and military to take to the streets to overthrow Maduro.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 22:50:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GUANGZHOU, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The third phase of the 125th China Import and Export Fair opened on Wednesday, giving a global stage to agricultural products from poverty-stricken areas.

Also known as the Canton Fair, the fair is held from April 15 to May 5 in Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong Province.

The third phase, from May 1 to 5, will display textiles, clothing, food and medical products. Special exhibition spaces for agricultural products are established to boost foreign trade in poverty-stricken areas and help them shake off poverty.

About 770 companies from 22 poverty-stricken cities and provinces are expected to attend the fair free of charge, said Xu Bing, a spokesperson for the Canton Fair.

The Canton Fair has served as a platform for participating companies in poor areas to access the international market, seek potential partners and establish a global marketing network, companies said.

The fair, widely seen as a barometer of China's foreign trade, 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 along the Belt and Road, including Russia, Poland, the Philippines and Israel.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:00:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between China and Brunei, pledged on Wednesday to carry out tree planting efforts across a total land area of 200 hectares in the near future as one of its initiatives to protect Brunei's environment.

Hengyi Industries CEO Chen Liancai told Xinhua that such tree planting programs play a vital role as the company will enter its operation phase this year.

Hengyi Industries is a joint venture between China's Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co. Ltd. and Damai Holdings - a wholly owned subsidiary under Brunei government's Strategic Development Capital Fund - owning 70 percent and 30 percent respectively. Hengyi's investment into Brunei's Pulau Muara Besar (PMB) is the largest foreign direct investment into Brunei from China so far, which is expected to help Brunei upgrade its industries, alleviate its dependency on oil export and boost economic and trade cooperation between Brunei and China.

The oil refinery and petrochemical plant at PMB is expected to begin operations by the year end and is estimated to contribute 1.33 billion U.S. dollars to Brunei's GDP in its first year of operation.

"We would like to do our part in contributing to the environment by initiating this tree planting program," said Chen.

"May the trees we plant serve as a reminder of our commitment towards a sustainable future and inspire everyone to protect and preserve the environment," he said.

The program kicked off with the planting of some 500 tree saplings in an area of 0.5 hectares at the Berakas Forest Reserve.

Approximately 120 people including Hengyi Industries' staff and personnel, government officials and volunteers from non-profit organizations participated in Wednesday's tree planting event.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:05:46|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA/RAMALLAH, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip marked on Wednesday the Labor Day and demanded for their rights.

Dozens of workers and leaders of various Palestinian factions and political powers rallied in the West Bank city of Ramallah upon the call of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions to mark the day.

The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and carried banners calling for improvement of their living condition and protection for the rights of Palestinian workers, who have been suffering from a severe recession in the Palestinian territories.

Nasri Abu Jeish, the Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Labor, said that his ministry has prioritized the amendment of the minimum wage of workers on its agenda in the next phase.

He added that the situation of workers would witness a significant change in the era of the new Palestinian government, noting that all issues that affected the workers' living condition were put on the table of discussion and dialogue.

Shaher Saed, secretary general of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, called on the Palestinian businessmen who live abroad to invest in Palestine, adding "investment in Palestine would contribute to reducing unemployment rates."

Saed, who unveiled that there are 400,000 unemployed Palestinians, called on the international community to help the Palestinians end the Israeli occupation and ensure a life of dignity for the Palestinian workers.

In the Gaza Strip which is ruled by Islamic Hamas movement, dozens of workers demonstrated to mark the day. They waved Palestinian flags and carried banners written "workers without work."

The demonstrators also called on Israel to end a blockade of around 12 years that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007. They said that the Israeli blockade had caused unprecedented high rates of poverty and unemployment.

Sami al-Amassi, representative of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in Gaza, called on the international community to exert heavier pressure on Israel to lift the blockade on Gaza.

"The siege that Israel imposes on Gaza brought the entire situation to a catastrophe," he said, adding that "Israel has turned the Gaza Strip into the biggest and largest prison in the world."

He said that the number of unemployed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has reached 295,000 and the rate of unemployment climbed to 52 percent while the rate of poverty reached 80 percent.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Businessmen Association warned of further deterioration of the workers' living situation in the Gaza Strip in the coming year, if the Israeli siege is not lifted.

Ali al-Hayyek, chairman of the association, said that both the Israeli siege and the internal Palestinian division between Hamas and Fatah Movement are major factors for the high rate of unemployment.

He unveiled that the 12-year siege had damaged 500 industrial establishments in the enclave, adding "we have to make plans in order to save our economy."

Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip right after Hamas movement violently seized control of the enclave in 2007. Since then, the economy in the enclave has been deteriorating and created a hard living situation for local people.

The Gaza-based Popular Committee against the Israeli Siege said in a press statement that the daily income of the Palestinian individual in the Gaza Strip is 2 U.S. dollars per day.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:05:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- A Beijing court fined a Chinese wine dealer for infringing the trademark rights of famed wine brand Lafite.

The Beijing Intellectual Property Rights Court made the ruling on Tuesday on the trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

The plaintiff sought damages from two wine dealers Guangdong Shantou Fajiala Trade Co, Ltd and a Beijing-based firm Laofanke Trade Co., Ltd for using trademarks that are similar to the Lafite's.

The court ruled that Guangdong Shantou Fajiala Trade Co, Ltd violated Lafite's rights to the trademark and orders it to pay two million yuan (about 297,000 U.S. dollars) in damages to the company and other expenses.

Laofanke, a smaller company that distributes a wide range of retail products other than wine, does not need to pay the damages, the court ruled.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:05:49|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The research arm of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations+3 (ASEAN+3) predicted that Brunei's economy will grow by around 2 percent in the next two years though the sultanate's high reliance on the oil and gas sector was seen as "major risk" to the economy.

Data from the 2019 ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook released on Wednesday showed that Brunei's economy was expected to grow by 2.1 percent this year and 2.0 percent in 2020.

This was up from 0.1 percent in 2018, but the figures were the lowest in Southeast Asia, according to the report published by the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office.

It said the growth in 2019 will be supported by stronger foreign direct investment inflows and Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd's refinery production, which is slated to begin operations later this year.

Hengyi Industries is a joint venture between China's Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co. Ltd. and Damai Holdings - a wholly owned subsidiary under Brunei government's Strategic Development Capital Fund - owning 70 percent and 30 percent respectively.

On the other hand, domestic factors such as the high reliance on the oil and gas sector poses major risks to the economy.

"Following the price recovery since 2016, an unexpected shortfall in oil and LNG production in 2018 has affected economic growth. It will also hamper the government's ability to support the economy," it said.

It added that external risks, apart from the possibility of a sharp decline in global oil and gas prices, are expected to have less impact on Brunei's economy.

"Brunei is less susceptible to spillovers from the global trade conflicts given its relatively low engagement in the global value chain," it said.
File Photo: Egyptian policemen shoot teargas booms to disperse pro-Muslim Brotherhood students outside the campus of Cairo University, Cairo, capital of Egypt, on March 26, 2014. (Xinhua/Pan Chaoyue)

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Washington is working to identify the Muslim Brotherhood as a "foreign terrorist organization"(FTO), U.S. media reported on Tuesday, citing White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

Sanders acknowledged to media in a statement that U.S. President Donald Trump had consulted this issue with his national security team and regional leaders, and the designation "was working its way through the internal process."

U.S. media reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged Trump to take that step during his visit to Washington in early April.

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton and State Secretary Mike Pompeo supported the idea while the Pentagon, career national security staff, government lawyers and diplomatic officials have voiced legal and policy objections, according to reports quoted officials familiar with the matter.

On April 8, the United States designated Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as an FTO, which was the first time that Washington had named a part of another government as a terrorist organization.

Founded in 1928 in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is an influential Islamist political movement with millions of members across the Middle East.

Egypt labeled the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Many of its members and loyalists, including former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, are currently jailed, and many have received appealable death sentences and life imprisonments over charges varying from inciting violence and murder to espionage and jailbreak.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:16:10|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DOHA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Officials representing Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on Wednesday took part in the senior officials' meetings of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in the Qatari capital Doha.

The 16th edition of the ACD kicked off in Doha, where representatives from 34 countries, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, attended with the objective of pushing forward mechanisms of joint action and buttressing Asian partnerships.

The event was inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who delivered an inaugural speech in which he urged building of sound relations among countries based on respect for international legitimacy.

"Disputes must be solved through peaceful means in a way guaranteeing justice, enhancing mutual confidence and achieving genuine partnerships through more effective mechanisms in the light of the Asian cooperation vision 2030," said the Qatari foreign minister.

This is the first time that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which boycott Qatar along with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, attended meetings in Doha since the Gulf crisis broke out in June 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:16:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HANOI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam had 27,500 places accepting payment via mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) in 2018, posting a year-on-year increase of 99 percent, according to the Vietnam Bank Card Association.

Data from the association's annual report in 2018 also showed that the traditional POS payment acceptance network decreased by 8 percent against 2017, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

This shows that banks and payment units no longer focus on developing traditional payment channels, but on new payment channels such as mPOS, Quick Response (QR) code and e-commerce.

Last year saw an explosion in the number of QR code acceptance units, with nearly 58,000 payment points, up 600 percent against 2017.

However, total payment transactions via QR were only 70 billion Vietnamese dong (3 million U.S. dollars). According to local experts, this shows that customers were still not familiar with QR code payment.

Although international cards accounted for only 13 percent of all types of cards, its payment revenue took 52 percent of total card payment transactions in Vietnam last year.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:46:27|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WARSAW, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of 13 countries joining the European Union since 2004 signed on Wednesday so-called Warsaw Declaration, in which they highlight their importance for the block and set out demands.

"We are grateful for what we get from the European Union, but we want to underline that we are giving back at least as much through opening our markets, our talents, and even hard money in the form of dividends we pay," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during a press conference after their meeting.

"We represent almost half of the countries in the EU and we are the locomotive of economic growth in Europe," Morawiecki added, saying that currently countries from the former socialist bloc recorded higher economic growth rates than some of their western European counterparts.

The leaders present in Warsaw on Wednesday -- including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila -- all signed the Warsaw Declaration on the Reunification of Europe-Our Union, Our Future.

According to Morawiecki, the Warsaw Declaration shows that the newest member states of the EU are ready to speak with one voice, and thus in the future could be more efficient in defending their interests in front of western European countries.

A first opportunity to manifest this unity will be an informal summit on the future of the European Union to take place May 9 in Sibiu, Romania, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

"The governments of all member states must take part in the EU decision-making process on the same principle and in the spirit of loyal cooperation and unity," writes the Declaration, according to the Polish Prime Minister's Office.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:51:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MAPUTO, May 1 (Xinhua) -- About 45,000 Mozambican people marched on Wednesday in Maputo, marking the International Labor Day.

Speaking to the press, Samuel Matsinhe, a senior member of the Mozambican Workers' Organization, said the minimum wages in force in the country are far below meeting the basic needs of the workers and their families.

"As we calculated, each month a family needs 18,000 meticais (about 300 U.S. dollars) for basic groceries, if the minimum wage in the country is still at 4,300 meticais, then just imagine how can a worker with his family live," said Matsinhe.

In a greeting message on Wednesday for the International Labor Day, President Filipe Nyusi said that the government will continue to improve decent work conditions by promoting fundamental principles and rights.

"Promoting the dignity of workers is a necessary condition for increasing production, productivity and promoting the competitiveness of the economy," said the president.

Nyusi said the celebration of the day will be a moment of reflection on the needs to fight for labor rights, to incorporate the duty and to promote a culture of work, because only with work will people achieve prosperity.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-01 23:56:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WARSAW, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of 13 countries joining the European Union since 2004 signed on Wednesday so-called Warsaw Declaration, in which they highlight their importance for the block and set out demands.

"We are grateful for what we get from the European Union, but we want to underline that we are giving back at least as much through opening our markets, our talents, and even hard money in the form of dividends we pay," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said during a press conference after their meeting.

"We represent almost half of the countries in the EU and we are the locomotive of economic growth in Europe," Morawiecki added, saying that currently countries from the former socialist bloc recorded higher economic growth rates than some of their western European counterparts.

The leaders present in Warsaw on Wednesday -- including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila -- all signed the Warsaw Declaration on the Reunification of Europe-Our Union, Our Future.

According to Morawiecki, the Warsaw Declaration shows that the newest member states of the EU are ready to speak with one voice, and thus in the future could be more efficient in defending their interests in front of western European countries.

A first opportunity to manifest this unity will be an informal summit on the future of the European Union to take place May 9 in Sibiu, Romania, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

"The governments of all member states must take part in the EU decision-making process on the same principle and in the spirit of loyal cooperation and unity," writes the Declaration, according to the Polish Prime Minister's Office.

PRINCIPLE OF SUBSIDIARITY

During the press conference, Morawiecki said the principle of subsidiarity, a basic rule of the EU, must be restored and strengthened. It means, if decisions can be more efficiently made at the national level, the EU shall not interfere.

The principle of subsidiarity regulates the exercise of powers by the EU. It seeks to set actions taken by the EU institutions within specified bounds.

The principle of subsidiarity means that, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the EU can act only if the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states, either at central level or at regional and local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at EU level.

The principle of subsidiarity is laid down in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The criteria for applying it is set out in Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality annexed to the Treaties.

Poland, Hungary and other countries represented at the summit in Warsaw have been reprimanded repeatedly by Brussels for problems connected to the rule of law, independence of the judiciary or taking in refugees.

The Polish governing Law and Justice party (PiS) has been calling for a reform of the EU to return more power to national governments from Brussels.

According to Morawiecki, representatives of the newest member states present in Warsaw complained about "double standards" in the European Union when it came to respecting EU rules.

When the free market rules were in the advantage of the new member states, "we face obstacles", claimed Morawiecki, but when they work in the advantage of older member states, the rules are enforced.

There was also a problem with tax havens in the EU, the Polish Prime Minister argued, with poorer European countries being deprived of tax revenue because of tax havens located in Western Europe.

The newest member states of the EU would also fight for a next EU budget (to be approved this year and valid between 2020-2027) that is more beneficial to the less well off EU countries than initially proposed by the European Commission, Morawiecki said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 01:52:26|Editor: Yamei

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The file photo taken on Nov. 20, 2018 shows that Gavin Williamson arrives at Downing Street for a cabinet meeting in London, Britain. Downing Street said on May 1 in a statement that Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson had been sacked by the Prime Minister for "unauthorized disclosure of information". The British government has appointed Penny Mordaunt as new defense secretary to replace Williamson. She was previously the international development secretary. (Xinhua/Han Yan)

LONDON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Downing Street said Wednesday in a statement that Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson had been sacked by the Prime Minister for "unauthorized disclosure of information".

A Downing Street spokesperson said, "The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defense Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet.

"The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorized disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

"The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candor during the investigation and considers the matter closed."

Williamson has been defense secretary since 2017 in the wake of Michael Fallon's sudden resignation.

The British government has appointed Penny Mordaunt as new defense secretary to replace Williamson. She was previously the international development secretary.

British media said Mordaunt is the first woman to take the role of defense secretary, while Rory Stewart, current Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice, will be the new international development secretary.
In this file photo taken on Jan. 8, 2019, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London. (Xinhua/Tim Ireland)

LONDON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Downing Street said Wednesday in a statement that Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson had been sacked by the Prime Minister for "unauthorized disclosure of information".

A Downing Street spokesperson said, "The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defense Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet.

"The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorized disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

"The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candor during the investigation and considers the matter closed."

Williamson has been defense secretary since 2017 in the wake of Michael Fallon's sudden resignation.

The British government has appointed Penny Mordaunt as new defense secretary to replace Williamson. She was previously the international development secretary.

British media said Mordaunt is the first woman to take the role of defense secretary, while Rory Stewart, current Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice, will be the new international development secretary.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 03:33:19|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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KIGALI, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Rwandan workers' trade union on Wednesday made a fresh appeal for the government to expedite establishing a new minimum wage as the world marked Labor Day.

There is need to fast track the setting up of the minimum wage which is commensurate with changing cost of living, said the Rwanda Workers' Trade Union Confederation in a statement.

A new minimum wage is critical in reducing high income inequalities, the statement said.

It also decried that in many private organizations in the country employee wages are paid haphazardly without clear guidelines, which violates workers' rights.

Rwanda's current minimum wage was set in the 1980s at 100 Rwandan francs (0.11 U.S. dollar) per day, and labor unions argue that it is outdated and is not in line with the current cost of living.

Under the theme "Quality Work, A Catalyst for Sustainable Development", the national Labor Day celebrations in Rwanda were marked in Nyagatare district in eastern Rwanda together with centenary celebrations of the International Labor Organization.

Quality work is important across all sectors of work including agriculture, livestock farming, education and business, said Fanfan Rwanyindo, Rwandan minister of public service and labor, at the celebrations.

Rwanyindo called for collective efforts to enable the government to meet its target of creating 1.5 million decent jobs under its seven-year program from the end of 2017 to 2024.

She also called on Rwandan workers to love their work, be good time managers and support local production.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 04:08:39|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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by Murad Abdo

ADEN, Yemen, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The years-long war in Yemen has pushed millions of workers into unemployment as well as thousands of families into miserable living conditions full of poverty, hunger and diseases.

As the world celebrates International Workers' Day, Yemen's internal military conflict is continuing for the fifth consecutive year, leaving the country's workers to suffer unbearable living conditions and unemployment.

Since August 2016, monthly salaries of the public sector's employees in Yemen have been suspended, with some of them being paid in irregular ways.

In the private sector, millions of Yemeni employees lost their jobs, especially those who were working in vital sectors such as industry, commerce and agriculture.

Official statistics indicate that nearly 5 million Yemeni workers affiliated with the private sector lost their jobs as a result of the ongoing war.

Earlier on Wednesday, Yemen's Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Ebthaj Al-Kamal said in a statement that workers are the most affected by the ongoing war in the impoverished Arab country.

Al-Kamal said 5 million workers of Yemen's private sector, accounting for about 60 percent of the labor force, were deprived of their jobs as a consequence of the war.

She said the instability forced many local and foreign companies to cease their operations and activities in the war-ravaged country.

The Yemeni government has made hard efforts to improve the economic situation through re-invigorating development programs in different fields, the statement said.

The government started with certain measures to reduce the workers' sufferings by declaring a 30-percent increase in salaries for all government employees, it noted.

The armed confrontations raging between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the Iranian-backed Houthis since March 2015 dramatically increased the poverty levels, leaving millions of people in harsh conditions.

According to the United Nations reports, more than 24 million Yemenis need humanitarian assistance, accounting for about 80 percent of the population.

Rashid Haddad, a Yemeni economic researcher, told Xinhua that the International Workers' Day comes as the country is still engulfed in an ongoing war for the fifth year and many workers lost their jobs as well as their legitimate rights.

"More than 850,000 public sector's employees are left without salaries during the past three years," Haddad said.

"The ongoing war largely affected the country's infrastructure and the business sector, leading to a complete cessation of companies, factories, domestic and international investment, and deprived millions of private sector's workers of their jobs," he added.

Yemeni private sector's workers in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, where the largest and most important factories and commercial companies are located, have been severely affected by the fighting in the city.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi rebels overtook the capital Sanaa and toppled the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since March 2015, a long-running war which has left tens of thousands dead or injured including at least 17,700 civilians as verified by the United Nations.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, an estimated number of 3.3 million people remain displaced in 2019, up from 2.2 million last year.

The number of sites hosting the internally displaced people has increased by almost half over the past year.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 04:33:52|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ROME, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The need for jobs and investments to kickstart the nation's stagnant economy were the dominant themes as Italy on Wednesday marked International Workers' Day, or May Day, with official celebrations, trade union marches, and traditional outdoor concerts.

In a speech to the nation at the Quirinal presidential palace in Rome, President Sergio Mattarella expressed his solidarity with the unemployed, the underemployed, and the underpaid.

"Jobs and public education...have been the most efficient tool to bring about social equality in republican Italy," Mattarella said in reference to social policies fielded to eradicate poverty and illiteracy in postwar Italy since the country became a republic in 1946.

"Without jobs, the right to citizenship itself is rendered incomplete, the dignity of the individual is mortified, and social solidarity and the very possibility of development for society are compromised," Mattarella continued, going on to express his solidarity with "all those who are looking for a job and still can't find one, those who have lost their jobs, those who are employed on an insecure or occasional basis, and those who work but aren't paid enough to support themselves and their families."

On Tuesday, national statistics agency ISTAT reported that the overall unemployment rate dipped month-on-month by 0.4 percent to 10.2 percent and the youth jobless rate fell by 1.6 percent to 30.2 percent in March compared to February.

While the drop in the unemployment rate is a positive sign, Mattarella said "it is not a level that can satisfy us. Jobs are lacking in large areas of the country. And the consequences of this condition are serious."

The president went on to warn that the Italian economy is "facing a time of weakness" in addition to "the objective burden of public debt, which imposes on us the need for particular care and attention in order to strengthen investor confidence (and) strike a balance between realistic spending programs and financing."

Italy's current rightwing-populist government, which took office in June 2018, has been widely criticized by trade unions, the business sector, and the opposition for choosing to finance costly welfare measures through deficit spending, thereby driving up Italy's bloated public debt while doing little to stoke the economy through public investments.

By the end of 2018, Italy's public debt stood at upwards of 2.3 trillion euros or 132.2 percent of GDP, according to the Bank of Italy. This means that Italy owes far more than it produces, and therefore it lives on borrowed money -- a fact that policymakers must deal with if they want to finance their budgets without alienating investors and driving the country into an economic tailspin.

This sentiment was echoed by the leaders of Italy's "big three" national trade unions -- CGIL, CISL and UIL -- which, according to official union membership numbers, represent about 10.8 million workers, and which this year held their traditional May Day march in the northern city of Bologna under the slogan "Our Europe: Jobs, Rights, the Welfare State".

At least 30,000 people reportedly turned out for the march, during which union leaders said recent ISTAT data showing that Italian gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.1 percent in the first three months of the year compared to that of 2018 is nothing to be overjoyed about.

"0.1 isn't even a phone prefix," Maurizio Landini, the secretary-general of the Italian General Labor Confederation (CGIL), the biggest and most leftwing of the "big three" unions, told Sky TG24 private broadcaster in an interview during the march. "If we look at the data, we still have extremely high unemployment and the lowest investment level in Europe: policies must change, and radically."

"Those who do work, are still poor," Landini added. "If the government truly wants to change this situation, it must accept that it needs to change its economic and social policies."

Landini promised that if policymakers won't listen, labor will show its dissent with a series of upcoming national strikes in sectors including farming, steel, civil servants, and pensioners.

"The numbers don't add up," he said in reference to the government's budget. "The wealth that is being created must be redistributed in order to create jobs and make investments."

"Plus 0.1 percent or minus 0.1 percent is not the issue," Italian Confederation of Workers' Unions (CISL) leader Anna Maria Furlan said in televised comments. "The fact is we still have one million unemployed people...we need to talk seriously about growth and development, therefore about employment. The government's economic policy needs to change, because the current one has blocked the country."

Also in televised comments during the march, Italian Labor Union (UIL) chief Carmelo Barbagallo called for the government to cut taxes for the working class and pensioners and to raise the minimum wage -- a promise the populist Five Star Movement led by Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio made in a May Day statement on its official website.

Smaller May Day marches were also held in a number of other cities across the nation, including in Turin, where activists from the "No-TAV" movement -- which opposes the building of a high-speed rail link between the northern city and the French city of Lyon, and which made up part of the grassroots that gave birth to the Five Star Movement -- tussled with activists from the center-left opposition Democratic Party. Police had to intervene, and were seen swinging their billy clubs at protesters in televised footage.

May Day for Italians is also synonymous with "big concert" in Rome, with smaller outdoor concerts held in other cities such as Naples, Milan, Pescara, and Taranto.

May Day has been celebrated in Italy since the end of the 19th century.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 04:43:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Some 1.7 million people in Somalia are expected to face crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity until June, following a second consecutive failed rainy season that has led to livestock losses and widespread crop failure, said the United Nations on Wednesday.

Malnutrition rates are rapidly escalating due to the drought conditions and 954,000 children are anticipated to be acutely malnourished, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The UN humanitarian country team is preparing a drought response plan to address food gaps in the most severely affected areas and to prepare for substantial increases in needs between May and October, the spokesman told a regular press briefing.

So far, Somalia's 2019 humanitarian response plan, which is seeking 1.08 billion U.S. dollars, is only 19 percent funded. Insufficient funding has led to the scaling back of water, sanitation and hygiene activities despite serious water shortages across the country, he said.
An acute malnourished child is measured the arm perimeter by a UNICEF staff member inside the IDP camp in Doolow, a border town with Ethiopia, in Somalia, on March 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Some 1.7 million people in Somalia are expected to face crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity until June, following a second consecutive failed rainy season that has led to livestock losses and widespread crop failure, said the United Nations on Wednesday.

Malnutrition rates are rapidly escalating due to the drought conditions and 954,000 children are anticipated to be acutely malnourished, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The UN humanitarian country team is preparing a drought response plan to address food gaps in the most severely affected areas and to prepare for substantial increases in needs between May and October, the spokesman told a regular press briefing.

So far, Somalia's 2019 humanitarian response plan, which is seeking 1.08 billion U.S. dollars, is only 19 percent funded. Insufficient funding has led to the scaling back of water, sanitation and hygiene activities despite serious water shortages across the country, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 05:39:21|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ANKARA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and the United States have been working on a possible visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to Turkey, local media reported Wednesday citing Turkish presidential sources.

"We are working on alternative dates including July for Trump's visit," Turkish presidential sources were quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation with Trump on Monday amid tensions between the two NATO allies over Turkey's purchase of Russian S-400 defense systems.

Their discussion was followed by a phone conversation between foreign policy aides of the two presidents, Ibrahim Kalin and John Bolton, on Wednesday.

They discussed the S-400 air defense system and Trump's visit to Turkey, presidential sources said.

Tensions between Ankara and Washington have intensified recently as Turkey is set to receive the Russian surface-to-air missile system, which Washington says will jeopardize Ankara's role in the F-35 fighter jet program and could trigger U.S. congressional sanctions.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 05:44:25|Editor: huaxia

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NEW YORK, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices declined on Wednesday, as the market was affected by a sharp increase in U.S. crude stockpiles last week, which partly offset the influence over political tensions in Venezuela.

For the week ending April 26, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories surged by 9.9 million barrels from the previous week, said the U.S. Energy Information Administration in its latest weekly report.

At 470.6 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are at the five-year average for this time of year.

However, investors continued following closely the developments surrounding a rebellion against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which was led by opposition leader Juan Guaido earlier this week.

The tensions caused further worries over the country's crude exports and tightening global supply, following U.S. sanctions on Venezuela's oil earlier.

The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery decreased 0.31 U.S. dollar to settle at 63.60 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery decreased 0.62 dollar to close at 72.18 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2019-05-02 05:59:37|Editor: Yamei

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MOSCOW, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday denounced Washington's support for the Venezuelan opposition in their attempt to seize power as an intervention in the country's internal affairs.

In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Lavrov noted the latest situation in Venezuela where the opposition had tried to seize power with "obvious support" from the United States, according to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"The Russian side stressed that Washington's interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and threat against its leadership is a gross violation of international law," the statement said.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who had proclaimed himself as the interim president, reportedly called on the Venezuelan people and military to take to the streets to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which was later frustrated by security forces.

Lavrov said that only the Venezuelan people have the right to determine their destiny and that destructive external influence has nothing to do with a democratic process.

On the other hand, Pompeo criticized that Russia's role in Venezuela is "destabilizing" for the nation and urged Moscow to "cease support for Nicolas Maduro", according to the U.S. State Department.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reportedly rejected Pompeo's claim that Maduro was preparing to leave Venezuela but was talked out of it by Russia.

"Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war," she was quoted by Tass news agency as saying.
Mircea Lucescu, anunt categoric: NICIODATA nu voi reveni la echipa nationala

Tehnicianul Mircea Lucescu a declarat, joi, la Digi Sport, ca nici el si nici Razvan Lucescu nu au vreo intentie sa revina la echipa nationala. El a precizat ca selectionerul trebuie sa fie sustinut de opinia publica si este de preferat sa [citeste mai departe]
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The Pro-Kremlin militants violated the ceasefire regime four times, including the Minsk-banned weaponry, in the Donbas combat zone. The Joint Forces operation HQ reports this.

In the Donetsk region, the enemy opened fire three times at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They fired with grenade launchers of various systems near Pisky village, with automatic easel grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms near Lebedynse settlement, and with automatic easel grenade launchers and small arms near Mariinka.

In Luhansk region, the Russia-backed militants shelled with the 120 mm mortar near Troitske village.

As a result of the attack, one Ukrainian serviceman was wounded.

Earlier, since the early hours of April 30, Russian armed occupants twice attacked Ukrainian positions in Donbas.

The ministry specified that both attacks occurred in Donetsk region.

Ukrainian forces sustained to casualties over the mentioned period, the official concluded.
The enemy shelled the positions of the Joint Forces operation 13 times

82 mm mortar mine in the ground, Donbas Open source

April 30, the Pro-Kremlin militants violated the ceasefire regime 13 times, including with the Minsk-banned weaponry, in the Donbas combat zone. One soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine died and one more was wounded. The Joint Forces operation HQ reports this.

The enemy violated the ceasefire regime and used the Minsk-banned weaponry  120 mm and 82 mm mortar. They shelled our defenders with anti-tank missile complex and grenade launchers of various systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

Thus, in Donetsk region, the enemy fired at positions near Pavlopil, Talakivka, Pisky, Lebedynske, Opytne, Shyrokyne, and Mariinka villages.

In the Luhansk region, the enemy fired the positions of Ukrainian Armed Forces near Troitske and Luhanske villages.

As a result of shells, one soldier of the Joint Forces operation died and one more was injured. According to the surveillance data, two occupants were killed and three more were wounded on April 30, the report said.

The enemy has opened fire twice at the Ukrainian positions near Lebedynske and Hranitne settlement since the beginning of this day, May 1.No casualties have been spotted.
Open source

Soldier of the Joint Forces operation Volodymyr Kutsyk died in the Donbas combat zone on April 30, as 24th brigade reported on Facebook.

The man perished near Marinka yesterday, April 30. Kutsyk was on duty at the observation post of the platoon point of one of the brigade units and carried out a combat mission.

The occupants opened fire with new Russian sniper 12.7 mm rifle during his shift. One of the bullets targeted the soldier and wounded him. The man was evacuated and provided with the first medical help, but the injuries were too heavy, so he died.

Responsible, friendly, sincere, always ready to help and teach. Regarded with respect to his commanders, despite the fact that he was much older than them. His team respected him a lot  we will remember such Volodymyr, the report said.

Volodymyr Kutsyk was born in Stoyaniv village of Lviv region in 1968.

As it was reported, April 30, the Pro-Kremlin militants violated the ceasefire regime 13 times, including with the Minsk-banned weaponry, in the Donbas combat zone. One soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine died and one more was wounded.
Ulyana Suprin to insist on saving the current achievements and reaching new ones; the second stage of the medical reform in Ukraine is supposed to start in summer

Ukraine's Acting Healthcare Minister Ulyana Suprun stated that she would agree to lead the authority on the condition that the people in the government do not impede the ongoing reforms. She said that in her interview with Deutsche Welle.

Suprun said that her candidacy was upheld by the current parliamentary coalition.

'We often say that certain matters of healthcare are a bit beyond the politics because people get sick regardless of the political situation, and we're bound to help everyone and provide high-quality medical services. We'll be following the situation over the next six months, and we're ready to cooperate with any well-reasoned political force in order to explain the course of reforms and provide the necessary funding for this field', Suprun said.

The official admitted that she'd insist on saving the current achievements and reaching new ones; the second stage of the medical reform in Ukraine is supposed to start in summer. The third one will follow in 2020.
Donald Trump, the President of the U.S. NBC

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed he was ready to impose additional and very severe sanctions against Cuba in case they will not withdraw their troops from Venezuela.

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba, Trump wrote on Twitter.

U.S. President expressed hope that all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island.

Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that the President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro was ready to leave the country and go to Cuba, but Russia talked him into staying.

Pompeo clarified that Maduro intended to escape to Havana.

Besides, the Secretary of State did not comment on the fact whether Washington would allow Maduro to go to Cuba. Instead, he pointed out "Mr. Maduro understands what will happen if he gets on that airplane.
Open source

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands to immediately cancel all unlawful decisions on the Russian passportisation of Ukrainian citizens. The corresponding note of protest will be handed to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the press service of the department reports.



The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine strongly condemns the next step of the Kremlin regime to expand the categories of Ukrainian citizens who can be granted Russian citizenship in a simplified manner. This is another gross violation of the international law and state sovereignty of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the ministry stated.



The diplomatic department also said that Ukraine reserves the right to take effective measures to protect national security, the legal rights and interests of its citizens in accordance with international law.



It is also planned to continue active work on increasing the sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation.



Foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine are instructed to immediately inform foreign capitals about the passport aggression of the Russian Federation. We expect our international partners to strengthen sanctions against the Kremlin regime, the agency added.



The corresponding note of protest will be immediately handed to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

On May 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting the right to a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship to certain categories of citizens of Ukraine.



On April 24, Putin signed a decree that simplifies the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for residents of the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Applications for entry into citizenship of the Russian Federation, which are received from residents of ORDLO, should be considered no more than three months from the date of submission.



Zelensky, in response, said that Ukraine would grant citizenship to representatives of all peoples suffering from authoritarian and corrupt regimes, and first of all to the Russians.



He also said that Russia should not waste time trying to seduce Ukrainian citizens with Russian passports.



The current president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, said that the issuance of Russian passports in the Donbas is an attempt to justify and legitimize Russia's military presence in the occupied part of Ukraine. Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that Ukraine is preparing a new package of sanctions.



Ukraine appealed to the UN Security Council after Russia simplified the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship. The representative of Ukraine at the UN called it a bold step, contrary to the Minsk agreements.
Ukraines Permanent Representative to the UN Volodymyr Yelchenko Ukrinform

Russia, violating the Budapest Memorandum, destroyed the entire UN security system and is now developing the infrastructure for deploying nuclear weapons in the occupied Crimea creating threats to the European continent and the world. This was stated by Volodymyr Yelchenko, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, speaking at the preparatory committee for the Review Conference on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty, reports Ukrinform.



"The gross violation of international commitments, including the Budapest Memorandum by Russia, a nuclear power and a permanent member of the UN Security Council, undermined the entire UN security system," the Ukrainian diplomat said.



Yelchenko also blamed Russia for the current crisis of the Treaty on the Elimination of Short and Medium-Range Missiles. According to him, the US withdrawal from the treaty was justified and was only the result of the systematic violation of its obligations by the Kremlin.
Open source

A powerful tornado overturned a bus in Romania, 12 people injured. It is reported by BBC.

Passengers on the bus were hurt and one passenger was treated for severe trauma, local reports said.

Drivers left their cars to stare at the rare tornado as it swirled through fields, picking up a tower of dust.

The tornado narrowly missed a village Calarasi but 10 buildings lost their roofs.

The freak weather early on Tuesday evening was a result of a cold front from Bulgaria, to the south, which collided with far warmer, moist air in southern Romania, said meteorologists. The tornado's speed was estimated at 90km/h (56mph).

"We're really talking about a great and powerful tornado that has formed as a funnel from top to bottom and bottom to top," meteorologist Mariana Fratila told Adevarul newspaper.

Drivers posted videos of the tornado on social media as they drove past the swirling funnel of dust.

Earlier multiple tornadoes hit the Turkish city of Antalya, the country's southwestern region, according to Severe Weather Europe.

Up to five tornadoes have been reported. Significant damage is observed at Antalya airport: planes were damaged by moving and flying debris, vehicles, including an airport bus, hit and damaged.

Serious damage was caused both to the city center and its surroundings.



The Severe Weather Europe notes that at least 12 people were injured at the airport; they were in one of the buses that crashed into a plane because of a tornado.

According to preliminary calculations, more than 200 buildings were damaged in the city, CNN Turk reports.
Open source

Ukraine and Turkey have signed a contract for the supply of 120-mm guided missiles produced by the Luch state-owned construction bureau. This is reported by Ukrinform.

The Ukrainian side was represented by the Spetsnoeksport company, the Turkish side - by the state-owned Makina ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumu corporation (MKEK).



During the first stage of the contract, Konus guided missiles and guidance devices are planned for integration into Turkish main battle tanks. Subsequently, as a result of the partial transfer of technologies, Ukrainian guided missiles will be produced at MKEKs facilities, explained Spetstekhnoexport. .



The completion of the contract signing procedure and the commencement of the production of an export batch of missiles is planned for the coming weeks.
ABC/Image Group LAMorgan Evans second American single, Day Drunk, is currently climbing the country top 40 in the U.S., but its already been named Country Work of the Year in his native Australia.

The Aussie picked up the award from the Australian Performing Rights Association on Tuesday Down Under. The recognition follows his debut American hit, Kiss Somebody, which made it to the top of the chart.

Morgans late manager Rob Potts, who inspired the title track of his album Things That We Drink To, was also honored with the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
On Wednesday, April 1, Google launched the doodle in honor of the International Day of labor.

This holiday commemorates the working protests in Chicago which began on May 1, 1986. On that very day, hundreds of thousands of the biggest working industrial centers in the USA demanded the implementation of the 8 hours working day.

That is why this day is believed to be The Day of the national fight for the workers rights.

For the first time, May 1 was celebrated in 1980 in many countries of the world, in particular in Lviv. The mass demonstrations and protests took place in Vienna, Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Paris, and Milan.

In 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine introduced amendments to Article 73 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, according to which the Day of International Solidarity of Workers was renamed into the Labor Day.
Petro Poroshenko with his wife after first exit polls were announced, April 21, 2019 Volodymyr Ariev Facebook

Petro Poroshenko will do everything possible in order to strengthen sanctions against Russia in his last day of presidency. Poroshenko posted this on Facebook.

Poroshenko pointed out that he was adhering to the strategy of Ukraine to become a member of the EU and NATO. He hopes that Volodymyr Zelensky will support this strategy and will work on this as well. Poroshenko urges that the sanctions against the Russian Federation should be strengthened very soon.

What we should do immediately is to show all our partners that we have united Ukrainian position at the time when Kremlin is making another stage of hybrid war against Ukraine with granting passports to Ukrainian citizens on occupied territories. Putin prepares the new reason for the aggression under the pretext as if protection of the citizens of the Russian Federation, Poroshenko said.

Poroshenko will be working on the strengthening of sanctions against Russia during the last days in office. He also pointed out that he spoke on the phone with Zelensky and they arranged the meeting very soon.

Earlier, Petro Poroshenko reported that he was ready to meet personally with the official winner of the presidential elections in Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia Open source

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on a simplified procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship to certain categories of citizens of Ukraine. The decree "On certain categories of foreign citizens and stateless persons who have the right to apply for the citizenship of the Russian Federation in a simplified manner" was published on the Kremlin website on May 1.



In particular, Ukrainians who do not have citizenship of another state, who were born and permanently residing in Crimea, left the Republic of Crimea until March 18, 2014, as well as their parents and their children, including adopted children, now have such a right.



Ukrainians and stateless persons who have a temporary residence permit in the Russian Federation, a residence permit, a refugee certificate, a certificate of temporary asylum in the territory of the Russian Federation or a certificate of participation in the State program on the voluntary resettlement in the Russian Federation of compatriots living abroad permanently residing in the territories of certain districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine as of April 7, 2014 and April 27, 2014, respectively, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents can also obtain Russian citizenship under the simplified procedure.

The document says that the decree was signed "in order to protect human and civil rights and freedoms, guided by generally accepted principles and norms of international law, in accordance with Article 29 of the Federal Law of May 31, 2002 No. 62-FZ" On Citizenship of the Russian Federation ".



On April 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree according to which the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship for residents of Donetsk and Luhansk regions is simplified. Applications for entry into citizenship of the Russian Federation, which are received from residents of ORDLO, should be considered no more than three months from the date of submission.



Zelensky, in response, said that Ukraine would grant citizenship to representatives of all peoples suffering from authoritarian and corrupt regimes, and first of all to the Russians.



Zelensky also said that Russia should not waste time trying to seduce Ukrainian citizens with Russian passports.



The current president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, said that the issuance of Russian passports in the Donbas is an attempt to justify and legitimize Russia's military presence in the occupied part of Ukraine. Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that Ukraine is preparing a new package of sanctions.



Ukraine appealed to the UN Security Council after Russia simplified the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship. The representative of Ukraine at the UN called it a bold step, contrary to the Minsk agreements.



Putins decree was condemned by Poland, Canada, France and the United States.
Filaret congratulated the newly elected president of Ukraine with the victory on the elections and urged Zelensky to use the obtain power for encouraging good and fighting evil

Newly elected president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with honorary Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Filaret. The meeting between Zelensky and Filaret was attended by the rector of the church of the Nativity, Archpriest Mykola Salabai. The press service of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine reported about this.

Filaret congratulated the newly elected president of Ukraine with the victory on the elections and urged Zelensky to use the obtain power for encouraging good and fighting evil. Zelensky thanked the patriarch for the meeting and his words. Afterward, Filaret presented the newly elected president a remarkable gift.

Winner of Ukraine's presidential election Volodymyr Zelensky and leader of Ukrainian Orthodox Church (former Moscow Patriarchate) Metropolitan Onufriy met in Kyiv. The latter hosted the president-elect at his residence on April 30.

Zelensky and Onufriy exchanged congratulations on Easter; the churchman also congratulated the future head of the state on being elected as the top official, wishing him 'God's blessing on the new and responsible path of serving Ukraine and its people'.
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!)
Runs through 05/18/2019.

Named after the wounded Fisher King of Arthurian Legend, A Prairie Fisher King espouses the notion of home as both a site of idealization and a locus for wounding. Drawing from memory, a narrative is woven in the form of photographs and text of the rural Iowa countryside where my family has lived for generations.

A Prairie Fisher King is an ongoing body of work reflecting on the nature of familial hardship and generational connection through the lens of place. An undertone of violence embodies the emotional distress accumulated with age as well as a looming threat posed upon the landscape.

Initially conceived as a bittersweet love letter to home, A Prairie Fisher King considers the various myths we construct in order to survive in the face of inevitable change. Through the accumulation of intimately described detail a search for reconciliation becomes palpable. I assume the role of reluctant hero and return to seek the damaged king, to seal old wounds and to salve the land.

__________________________________________

Chelsea Darter received her MFA at Columbia College Chicago in 2018 and her BFA from The University of Iowa in 2013. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and featured online by Light Leaked, Aint-Bad, and Fraction Magazine. Her personal work explores themes of place attachment, class, familial connection and local mythologies. She lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Eric Williams Photography

Money, guns and weed control were the super-sexy April agenda items for the Bernalillo County Commission at their last meeting. No, not that kind of weed was involved, but yes, big money was discussed.

More Money Please

Its going to take $313 million in the general fund to keep County services humming along during fiscal year 2020, according to next years budget passed during the April 9 meeting. Some of the perks include: a 3 percent raise for non-union employees; $2.5 million to tear down the old jail at Fifth and Roma Avenue; $500,000 for sheriffs department dashboard camerasthat Sheriff Manny Gonzales may not accept as he has been opposed to their use; $1.1 million to cover replacing the ultra-toxic weed killer glyphosate (brand name Roundup); $250,000 for operations of the Tiny Home Village; and $100,000 for Innovate Albuquerque.

Paper and Paper Products

Public money of a different kind took center stage at the April 23 meeting where the Commission approved more than $20 million in Industrial Revenue Bonds for an expansion at Roses Southwest Papers. Roses is a minority-owned, family-owned business that produces high quality paper products such as toilet paper, napkins and paper towels. It is located on south Second Street and employs about 225 people, with plans to hire another couple dozen in the expansion.

Its About Guns

We refuse to give up our guns, said one speaker during the April 9 administrative meeting of the Bernalillo County Commissionwhich made no sense since no one suggested she give up her guns. The guns for everyone speakers asked the Commission to push the idea of Bernalillo County becoming a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary county like several of the rural counties in New Mexico did when they jumped on the guns for all rhetorical bandwagon, apparently without actually reading about the extension of background checks approved by NM lawmakers.

Sanctuary advocates have been asking the Commission to go against its bipartisan and sensible support of statewide universal background checks meant to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them. The Albuquerque Police Department, by far the states largest police department and often regarded as the best trainedfor sure the blues that bear the brunt of the flood of guns on the streetssupported the sensible gun legislation requiring background checks for people like convicted domestic violence offenders or the mentally ill.

Several other speakers said they were part of another local spinoff group called Gun Rights Are Womens Rights also spoke about infringement of their inalienable right to own guns. A couple other speakers said they were not going to take it and made veiled almost-threats that referenced the statewide universal gun background checks passed by legislation representing the will of the voters, and signed by the Governor, set to go into effect on July 1. Lawlessness is never the answer, of course. There were not as many give guns to all speakers at the April 23 meeting, which is good, and maybe in part a result of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham meeting with a few of the states sheriffs.

It appears they agreed to work together on any future gun legislation, and on ways to implement the background check lawwhich is what elected sheriffs should do when charged with protecting citizens as much as possible from senseless gun violence.

The new statewide legislation does not say anything about keeping or taking guns away from people who can legally have them. There is plainly no impact on the federal Second Amendment if a state requires sensible background checks to stem gun proliferation. Too many people, including cops, have been killed by mentally ill persons with guns.

With a few days left in the month of April, the Albuquerque Journal reported that there had been at least 114 shootings in 112 days in Bernalillo County, of which Albuquerque is the epicenter. The diversity of the victims of these recent gun shootings include a murder by an emotionally upset teenager of a beloved mail carrier on his route, a suicide of a 76-year-old, and a random shooting that killed an 8-year old in her home. New Mexico ranks tenth in firearm-related deaths, another statistic we can help try to change with sensible gun laws. Its an incremental step in the right direction.

More Bees, Less Weeds

Over the next year, Bernalillo County workers will transition away from using the herbicide glyphosate, which is ultra-toxic to children and other living things, bees included. And the Commission put its money where its spray nozzle is, by passing a budget that includes $1.1 million to implement the use of less lethal chemicals and the use of more manual labor to keep county properties spiffy and as weed free as possible.

The county uses about $13,000 a year worth of the cancer-causing chemical in and around its roughly 123 properties, on about 2,209 acres, including Rio Grande Bosque trails. Some county folks on the front lines of the weed war said more native plants will have to be used and that will make parks and other properties look weedy and more like the mesa.

But there are a number of other safer alternatives to glyphosate, not to mention giving those that want to work the option of an old-fashioned weed-whacking job.
via heinrich.senate.gov

Its not through accidental happenstance that Weekly Alibi supports and advocates for progressive solutions to governance, here at home, in our enchanting state and in the land we all call America, too.

One of the basic tenets of any forward-looking, moderately futuristic rendering of the map that shows where we want to gowhere well be as a culture in say, in 200 yearshas to do with providing all citizens with adequate opportunities for food, shelter and education.

Thats an academic way of saying that until all of our fellow Burquenos, Nuevo Mexicanosla gente en todo, esehave access to the basic necessities of life we will not be able to solve problems like crime, drug addiction, child abuse and a myriad of other issues that perpetually keep our species from achieving its potential.

Though its a clear message, it sometimes gets lost as it makes its way through the crowd of readers who wander through here. Some who read similar analysis in these pages believe its just hippie-dippy preaching to the choir stuff that gets printed here. But were serious: if we change even one persons mind, if we can convince merely one reader per week that what we publish in these editorial pages is worth their attentionthat the issues we speak to demand morethen weve done our job.

And that statement brings us to the focus of this weeks On Assignment. That has to do with Senator Martin Heinrich and the stand he recently took on affordable housing, a matter we consider to be of great importance.

Heinrich has long stood for such progressive values. He has been able to forge an identity that truly represents New Mexicos future without eschewing traditional beliefs and practices, we might add.

In our conversations with the Senator, weve found that hes committed to bringing our state to the fore through this combination of idealism and practical action. Those operating factors are clear in the latest developments on Capitol Hill, but particularly in the Senators involvement with a bipartisan letter sent to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development that strongly calls for increased funding for affordable housing programs under the aegis of Housing and Urban Development.

In particular, Heinrich and 40 of his fellow legislators urged action on Section 4 of the Capacity Building Program, an affordable housing and small business finance program that has been marked for elimination by the Trump administration.

In 2018, this source of funding provided $215,000 to recipients in New Mexico, helping subsidize essential affordable housing programs sponsored by the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, Ohkay Owingeh and Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authorities, the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative and Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation.

Affordable housing is more important to New Mexico families than ever according the the legislators who wrote, We are disappointed that the Presidents budget has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development. Since the HUD Demonstration Act was authorized in 1993, Section 4 has proven to be a valuable and cost-effective program that has produced tangible results. Through a nationwide support network, Section 4 provides programmatic and training assistance to local organizations, ensuring program goals are met while granting the necessary flexibility to meet community-specific needs. As communities across the country continue to look for ways to expand economic development and provide affordable housing, funding for Section 4 remains critically important.

The conclusion of the letter urges subcommittee chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) to support funding for affordable housing because it works, a fact that is reiterated throughout the communique but best summarized as a function of the good economics that such funding bestows on American culture: For each dollar of Section 4 funding, a total of $20 or more in private investment has been brought into local communities for economic and community development. From 2014 to 2018, Section 4 helped 973 local community development corporations nationwide leverage approximately $7.7 billion for community and economic development and helped to build or preserve more than 39,000 homes in low-income neighborhoods. 

Yeah, its pretty damn discouraging that Trump and company want to put the kibosh on such progress-oriented examples of good governance. But it is indeed encouraging that Senator Heinrich and a good number of federal legislators from both sides of the aisle continue to provide a clearly ethical and progressive voice as an alternative to such damaging detours from a sustainable path.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Mainly clear. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low near 60F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Measles outbreak in Morang, Dang and Kapilvastu raises concern

Nepal has made significant strides in vaccination but measles outbreaks in some districts have become a cause for concern.
Meet the people who keep Kathmandu running

Every day, Rana copes with the stink from the open drains, and his palms have numerous wounds and blisters. He is not happy with the work, he says, because society looks down on his profession.
Opposition lawmakers, rights body officials object to bill to amend Human Rights Act

A meeting of the parliamentary Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights on Tuesday saw a heated exchange of words between opposition lawmakers and Minister for Law and Justice Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal over the bill to amend the National Human Rights Commission Act-2012.
Social security scheme, after being launched with pomp, receives lukewarm response

The launching of the scheme had seen massive promotions from the government, which claimed the scheme as the beginning of a new era in the country.
10 injured as clash breaks out after a cyclist is killed by a truck in Lamki

Ten people were injured when a clash broke out at Lamki Bazaar in Kailali district following the death of a 19-year-old cyclist after being hit by a truck on Tuesday.
iStock(DANIA BEACH, Fla.) -- A man told police that he fled the scene of a deadly South Florida crash because he went home to stash his drugs.



Police arrested 37-year-old Terrance Pressey last week after he told authorities he fatally hit a pedestrian in Dania Beach, Florida, last fall, but went home to "drop off his weed" instead of seeing if the person was OK, according to a newly released arrest report.



Madhusudhan Bhetwal, 53, died at the scene of the crash after Pressey slammed his white Dodge Charger into the man as he crossed the street, police said.



Authorities said Pressey dialed 911 after leaving the crash site and told dispatchers that he had hit someone, according to a police report obtained by ABC News on Tuesday. He was still on the phone with 911 when he returned to the scene.



Witnesses said they heard the impact of the crash and saw the driver hit his "brakes and stop in the road," the report said. One witness said they saw the "driver's-side door open, then close and then the driver fled," according to the report.



The suspect initially said he left the scene to drop off his passenger, according to the report. He later changed his story, admitting that he was alone and had to go home to "drop off his weed," the report said.



Police said Pressey told authorities that he saw the victim's "body on the windshield, but continued to drive away after the impact."



"Pressey reported securing the marijuana inside of his residence prior to returning back to the crash to the crash scene and calling 911," police said in the report.



After taking the suspect's statement on the scene, an officer said they drove Pressey back to his home where he "voluntarily surrendered a small amount" of marijuana, according to the arrest report.



Pressey was arrested last Thursday, charged with leaving the scene of a deadly crash and possession of marijuana. He was being held on $20,000 bond as of early Wednesday. Authorities did not explain why they waited approximately five months to apprehend him.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Abducted boy, 12, rescued from India

Police rescued a 12-year-old boy, who was abducted from Saptari district on April 26, from Indian territory on Monday night.
Arrest warrants issued against nine people for abetting Indian nationals bid to acquire Nepali citizenship

District Police Office (DPO) in Jhapa has issued arrest warrants against nine persons, including two elected peoples representatives, for their alleged involvement in recommending an Indian national to acquire Nepali citizenship by descent.
Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade.
ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Wednesday, May 1

Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (May 1, 2019).
Insurance Board unveils incentives to encourage insurers to merge

The Insurance Board unveiled an array of incentives to encourage mergers among insurance companies after several failed attempts to get them to increase their paid-up capital.
Labour pains

Labour laws have guaranteed rights but employment creation will still be key
Legal experts doubt success of Ncell and Axiatas international arbitration move

Although Ncell and its parent company, Axiata, have sought international arbitration over the capital gains tax determined by the Nepal government citing Bilateral Investment Treaty between Nepal and the United Kingdom, legal experts doubt success of the mobile companys move, saying that the treaty does not allow international arbitration on the issue of taxation.
Murder cases over petty issues on the rise in Province 5

The number of murders has increased in Province-5, as per the data of the Provincial Police Office, Tulsipur, Dang.
Mystery illness in Tajakot under control; throat swab samples sent for test

The influenza-like illness that claimed nine lives in Tajakot Rural Municipality of Humla has gradually come under control, according to the authorities concerned.
10:35 | Lima, May. 1.

Likewise, Juan Sanchez Balbuena, the judge presiding over the court, ordered house arrest of former Petroperu Vice-President Miguel Atala, who made a voluntary confession and claimed he acted as a frontman for deceased ex-President Alan Garcia
16:35 | Lima, May. 1.

Below is the joint statement released by the regional bloc after Venezuela's Interim President Juan Guaido called for uprising against the Government of Nicolas Maduro.

Lima Group Statement

Express their full support for the constitutional and popular process undertaken by the Venezuelan people, under the leadership of Interim President Juan Guaido , to restore democracy in Venezuela , and reject the qualification of this process as a coup d'etat.
A group of diverse but like-minded individuals, the members of ARC have come together in their common desire to fight hatred, bigotry, intolerance and violence because of the harm these antisocial behaviors cause to our society. In that effort, we will not use or sanction the use of illegal actions (such as violence or intimidation) in pursuit of our desired aims and if we learn of anyone who does use these unethical methods we will report those individuals to the authorities. Instead, we will use the guarantees found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensure freedom of legal speech and expression.
Our struggle is to bring social, political, and economic justice to our nation. This is an effort of the Chicano/Mexican American Digital History Project. https://sites.google.com/site/chicanodigital/
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, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. As the world is celebrating International Workers' Day, aka Labor Day today, on May 1, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian addressed the nation to congratulate on this occasion.

Dear Compatriots,

Today is Labor Day, and I congratulate you all on this occasion.

All assets and everything that has a value  from the daily bread to the newest technologies, from cultural values to economic achievements - are created by human labor. It is no accident that human capital is the most precious thing in the world.

Labor motivates us to think, to dream, to create, and to produce. In the constantly changing world, labor fortified by knowledge and skills is a guarantee of success. At the same time, it is very important that any person who has the right to work, has also the opportunity to work and because of that work provide for a decent life. Safety of a country is conditioned by the prosperity of its society.

In any country of the world, we can see creative hands of our compatriots and the fruits of their searching minds. However, Armenia is the source of our greatest achievements - our forthcoming success will be forged here.



It is through our labor that we will ensure Armenias current and future development and not only through the innovative approaches but also by employing the modern experience and the best practices for the labor management and protection of workers rights. I am confident that through our joint efforts, we will make our common Armenia even more beautiful.

I once again congratulate you all. My special congratulations go to the veterans who have passed on to us responsibility and respect for labor as well as centuries-old crafts and skills.

I wish that you all have the opportunity through your work, thanks to your work realize your physical, mental, spiritual, and material abilities and potential, knowledge, experience, and imagination.

I wish you happiness, prosperity, and all the best, Sarkissian said in an address published on his official website.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. An organized crime group consisting of Indian and Armenian nationals has been busted by Armenian police in what appears to be an international cybercrime syndicate that has scammed unsuspecting internet users by stealing personal data.

Police said they received a report that a Yerevan-based office, Piconet Technologies, are using tech support scams online to steal money from internet users in the United States and Canada.

Users would get fake security warnings on their screens and were told to call a toll-free number to get it fixed. Unsuspecting internet browsers would call the number and employees of the company would answer the calls and scam from 100 to 2000 dollars.

Police said the company has been set up in Yerevan by an Indian national.

A criminal investigation is underway and the office of the company has been searched. 14 computers and other items have been confiscated. Police said there were 4 Armenians and 4 Indians at the office at the time of the search.

Police said it believes the organized crime group has scammed nearly 15000 dollars from nearly 60 US citizens.

The investigation continues.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. Acting Patriarch Archbishop Aram Atesyan and the chairman of the synod of Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople Bishop Sahak Masalian on April 30 had a meeting with Governor of Istanbul Province Ali Yerlikaya at his office.

Atesyan and Masalian officially requested the Governor permission to initiate an election of a new patriarch.

Governor Yerlikaya offered condolences on the passing of Mesrob II and vowed to provide the necessary response from Ankara in the shortest possible time, according to the patriarchates press service.

The request must pass through the Turkish Ministry of Interior, which by law is authorized to permit or deny the holding of elections.

Earlier on April 30, nearly two months since the death of Patriarch Mesrob II, the synod of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople said it has made a decision to submit a request to the Governor of Istanbul asking permission to organize the election of a new patriarch.

Mesrob II died at the age of 62 on March 8. He was serving as patriarch since 1998. Since 2008, Mesrob II was hospitalized in a dementia-related coma. The incapacitation led to the synod electing Atesyan as acting patriarch in 2010.

Despite the Turkish-Armenian communitys requests to organize new elections, the Turkish government refused to allow it citing the 1863 Constitutional law that permits patriarchal elections only after the death of the patriarch.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has addressed Armenians on Labor Day, congratulating on the May International Workers Day.

The objective and goal of the Armenian Government is to carry out an economic revolution in the country. Like in the political revolution, in this case also the main and key tool for us continues to be individual effort. This means that our main toolbox must e to encourage citizens, people to work, create, engage in economic activity, believe in their own powers and success, the Armenian PM said in the address.

We must together move towards the implementation of this objective, stand tall, believe in our strengths and get rich and enrich with our work. The Government of Armenia is also focusing on the protection of rights of employees, and we are planning to carry out coherent steps in this direction also. Our country must get out of the status of a country having low-qualified labor force, therefore we wont spare effort for Armenia to be a country of highly-qualified labor force. With his purpose, the Government of Armenia will carry out actions aimed at improving the educational system in order for it to provide our state with highly qualified labor, and that at the moment of graduation students have a status of a competitive specialist.

Dear countrymen,

The Armenian people always stood out with their work and diligence, vigor and creative mind. I am sure that together we will achieve the realization of our goals and with our work we will develop and improve our country, he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Threats to press freedom have only increased in Nepal, says report

The grim picture of press freedom in Nepal comes less than two weeks after Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group on issues relating to freedom of information and freedom of the press, described Nepals press freedom as victim of political vicissitudes.
YEREVAN, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. On April 30, the delegation of the Republic of Artsakh led by Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan met with former Mayor of Buenos Aires, Secretary of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Argentine Parliament, member of the Radical Civil Union Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, Facundo Suarez Lastra, the Artsakh Foreign Ministry said in a news release.

During the meeting, Masis Mayilian briefed on the goals of the visit of the Artsakh delegation. The sides also touched upon the current situation in the South Caucasus and the prospects of establishment of stability in the region.

On the same day, the Artsakh delegation met with former Foreign Minister of Argentina, Chairman of the influential Justice Party, member of the Mercosur Council Jorge Taiana.

The sides touched upon the processes of peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh. They also discussed a range of issues of mutual interest.
YEREVAN, MAY 1, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian soldier who was shot and wounded by Azerbaijani armed forces in a cross-border shooting attack on April 30 underwent a successful surgery, Ministry of Defense spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS.

It was a long and difficult surgery, but everything was completed successfully, there is a positive dynamics. His life is out of danger, he is under intensive care, Hovhannisyan said, adding that the soldier will have to receive a lengthy treatment afterwards.

The soldier, Argishti Sepkhanyan, was shot in the head across the border from Azerbaijan while on-duty in the Tavush Province. He was airlifted to Yerevan for urgent medical treatment.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
The Armoured Engineer Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle (AENBCRV) version of the AV-8 Wheeled Armoured Vehicle (WAV) developed by the FNSS and DRB HICOM Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (DEFTECH) partnership for the Malaysian Army is preparing for delivery in the first half of this year.



Armoured Engineer Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Reconnaissance Vehicle (AENBCRV) version of the AV-8 at IDEF 2019, defense exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey. May 1, 2019. (Picture source Army Recognition)

Passing all tests with flying colours, the AV-8 AENBCRV entered the second and final stage of the qualification process, during which its endurance was tested.

The AV-8 AENBCRV is fitted with CBRN detection equipment and systems to detect and classify of any type of chemical, biological, radioactive or nuclear agents. The vehicle can determine and classify the hazard zone and alert other military units and civilians of potential dangers, thus enabling them to take the necessary countermeasures.

Possessing a complex and modern system architecture and mission-specific equipment, the AENBCRVs initial vehicle development processes  comprising conceptual design, detailed design, manufacturing and assembly  was carried out entirely by FNSS. The ongoing qualification tests serve to demonstrate that the vehicle fully and comprehensively meets the requirements set by the user. The first stage of these tests, involving Land Performance Tests and CBRN System Tests, has already been completed after being carried out at FNSS facilities in Ankara. The second stage of the tests  the Endurance Tests  were launched in Malaysia in February 2019. Following the successful completion of these tests, the acceptance and delivery of the first vehicle to the end user will take place in Malaysia in the upcoming days.

Under the project, four AENBCRV vehicles will be delivered, the first of which will be the vehicle that completed its qualification tests. The remaining three vehicles will be manufactured and delivered by FNSS by 2020.

The AV-8 AENBCRV stands out as the first 8x8 CBRN vehicle to be developed by FNSS. The components of the CBRN system, as the main mission equipment aboard the vehicle, was procured from domestic and foreign suppliers in line with the users preferences, and the integration solutions were applied together with the Environics company of Finland. FNSS has also conducted indigenization works on some of the CBRN systems subsystems, thus aiding domestic subcontractors in acquiring new competencies.

Commenting on this latest milestone reached by the company with the AV-8 WAV project, K. Nail Kurt, General Manager and CEO of FNSS, said: The AV-8 WAV project continues to be the single largest defence system export contract signed by Turkey in the field of land systems, and it is also one of the most complex projects in its field due to the large number of vehicle configurations involved. Integrated with a wide variety of mission equipment, the AENBCRV is one of the AV-8s most challenging configurations to date. We have fashioned the vehicle in close contact with the user, ensuring they are supplied with the specific capabilities they need.

Our vehicle is now proving itself in rigorous tests, and I believe that it will pass all of these with great success, becoming the best in its class and joining the inventory of the friendly and allied nation of Malaysia. With this vehicle, both FNSS and the Turkish defence sector have acquired very important capabilities. In the upcoming period, we are ready to meet with the best solutions any need that the Turkish Armed Forces and friendly and allied nations may have in this particular area.
World premiere at IDEF 2019, the Defense Exhibition in Istanbul, for the MAV Marine Assault Vehicle dubbed ZAHA designed and developed by the Turkish Company FNSS. This a new generation of tracked amphibious armored vehicle which has been greatly anticipated by the sector due to a limited number of comparable vehicles in the same class, principally because of the challenging requirements and highly specialized mission definition associated with these vehicles.



New FNSS MAV Marine Assault Vehicle ZAHA at IDEF 2019, defense exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey. May 1, 2019. (Picture source Army Recognition)

Visitors to the FNSS stand will have the opportunity to see the first prototype MAV named ZAHA, whose main role is to support the combat capabilities of marine forces in line with the requirements of the 21st century combat environments.

MAV is being developed as part of the Armored Amphibious Assault Vehicles (Zrhl Amfibi Hucum Araclar, ZAHA) Project being conducted by the Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) to meet a need of Turkish Naval Forces Command. Within the project, FNSS will deliver a total of 27 vehicles, including 23 personnel carriers, two command and control vehicles and two recovery vehicles.



In addition to enabling the safe landing of units during amphibious operations, the armored amphibious assault vehicles also serve as armored personnel carriers after reaching the shore.

During the amphibious assault phase of an operation, these vehicles are launched from Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) and rapidly cover the distance between the vessel and shore, allowing forces to land under protection and with minimum delay. Once on land, these vehicles can continue taking part in operations side-by-side with other armored vehicles. As vehicles with a dual role due to their mission requirements, armored amphibious assault vehicles need to exhibit superior performance both at sea and on land, and only a few countries around the world have such vehicles in their inventories. Among the NATO countries and allies, there is only one company other than FNSS producing vehicles of this class.

With ZAHA, FNSS takes armored amphibious assault vehicles into the 21st century, and the project has now reached the Critical Design Review phase. Venturing outside classical approaches within the defence projects, FNSS has completed its evaluation of the vehicles design not only on paper but also on the prototype, for this review. The review will be on executing on the prototype vehicle in the integration hall.

K. Nail Kurt, General Manager and CEO of FNSS, emphasizes that MAV is a very special vehicle: MAV has to make sure that marines reach the shore in the shortest time possible, both to ensure rapid movement and to minimize their exposure to threats while at sea. Once ashore, it should be able to operate effectively as an armored combat vehicle, while also safeguarding the troops inside with superior ballistic and mine protection.

To put it briefly, until the MAV made its appearance, there was no such vehicle on the market. We are developing MAV in response to the requirements of the Turkish Naval Forces, which carried out one of the most important amphibious operations in the last 50 years with great success. We are confident that friendly and allied nations with high amphibious operational requirements, particularly island countries like Indonesia, will also look to take advantage of MAVs superior characteristics; and we look forward to working with them in the future.
After further thought, I also saw this as an opportunity to learn more about a project undertaken by one of the eleven women profiled, Alphonse Huvi, who had my genuine admiration as a literary innovator. Alphonse had just successfully published the Devare Adventist High School Anthology .

I referred the budding authors to PNG Attitude, my own extensively documented experience with My Walk to Equality and Francis Niis discussion about publishing as a Papua New Guinean author.

Shortly after the article appeared, I received an email from a Lae-based womens collective enquiring about the process of compiling and publishing an anthology.

The eleven women profiled impressed an audience of more than 4,000 people and generated wide interest and hopefully admiration for the efforts of these women.

BRISBANE & PORT MORESBY - A recent collaborative article by Keith Jackson and Rashmii Bell celebrated a number of Papua New Guinean women considered influential in terms of the theme of 2019 International Womens Day, Think smart, build smart, innovate for change.

In a three year long distance conversation with Alphonse I had captured an understanding of her creative writing interests, despite an unreliable internet, and her pursuit of a professional career as a teacher in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

At about the same time, the collaboration with Keith Jackson inspired me to work with writer Caroline Evari in embarking on an interview with Alphonse.

Upon the completion of my Paga Hill writers fellowship last year, I was contacted by Caroline who sought mentorship with a focus on developing skills I had acquired through the various activities and influential mentors associated with my development as a writer.

This article is our collaborative effort.

Throughout the process of this project, my admiration for Alphonse further deepened as a result of her vigour, diligence and enthusiasm to share her experience. From initial contact through to the interviews conclusion, Alphonse was fastidious in keeping me informed of her progress.

Alphonse Huvi

Caroline Evari

So here in its entirety is Carolines interview with Alphonse Huvi.

Caroline Evari: Can you explain how you came up with the idea for the anthology, and who you worked with to receive submissions, edit and publish?

Alphonse Huvi: The Devare Adventist High School Anthology was a solo project. During our Social Science and English lessons there were some exercises that required writing and thats when the opportunity arose.

I created assignments out of the exercises for the students, marked the assignments and handed it back to the students to see their marks. After seeing their marks, they return the assignments to me and I start typing and editing them.

My intention for the book was to have it typed and printed for the students to read as compiled stories. Our library did not have a lot of reading books, so I told my students, Why dont we write and get to read the stories ourselves? As I typed the manuscripts, I realised how good the students were in expressing themselves and this prompted me to compile their writings for publication.

The students who contributed to this anthology have moved on. I try to keep in touch with them via Facebook or catch up with them when they visit the Unity Library or the Public Library in Buka and Arawa to read their stories in the anthology.

The Devare Adventist High School Anthology

I have donated a copy of the anthology to the Unity Library in Buka and will also donate a copy to the Arawa Public Library. I have also informed the students that even if they do not make it back to Devare Adventist High School, their siblings and relatives will read their work and to see it as a contribution to the reading capability of those that come after them.

There were 138 students from the Challenge Takers class who contributed towards the anthology and 24 additional contributors who contributed in 2017. A total of 162 students have accepted the challenge as pioneer writers in contributing towards the Devare Adventist High School Anthology.

Caroline: What was the theme for your anthology, and why was this theme chosen?

Alphonse: Every year at Devare, our graduating Grade 10s would choose a class name. The ones who completed Grade 10 in 2016 chose the class name Challenge Takers and their class motto was: Journey but not Destiny.

I used their motto as the theme, Journey but not Destiny, because what they have written will stay on for others to read. It also means that their journey in education does not end.

Caroline: What type of writing is in the anthology?

Alphonse: The book is a collection of jokes, legends, poems, riddles and short stories.

Caroline: What was your timeframe for your anthology project, from submissions process to book publication?

Alphonse: I type like a snail, so it took me four years to compile this anthology. The first two years of typing was while the Challenge Takers were still in school in 2015-2016. It was then that I sought interest from the other 24 contributors who also gave me their submissions.

I continued typing and editing through 2017 and finalised everything in 2018 before sending the manuscript to Philip Fitzpatrick and Keith Jackson hoping to get it published by the Pukpuk Publications. Philip and Keith advised me to check with Jordan Dean of JDT Publications as Pukpuk Publications was winding down. Through JDT Publications, and after four years of typing, the anthology was published.

Caroline: Could you briefly describe the contributors to the anthology, their age range where are they from, and have they always been interested writing?

Alphonse: At Devare Adventist High School, the students are grouped into six cultural groups according to the primary schools they come from or where they reside. Every Sunday evening, they have fellowships in these groups.

Their student leaders also took the lead in this activity and it enabled them to get together and communicate in their local vernacular language, Tok Pisin or English. The six cultural groups and where the authors come from: Buin- 33 students; Kieta- 20 students; Nagovis/Siwai/Torokina/ Kunua/Kereaka- 36 students; Wakunai-24 students; Taonita Teop Tinputz-28 students; Buka/Atolls- 21 students.

Most of the students were born in these three-year categories: 1992-1994 - 19 students; 1995-1999 - 132 students; 2000-2002 - 11 students.

After typing a few pages of the manuscript in the first two years, I interviewed each student and told them of my intention to publish their work. I also explained the process of copyright to them. Most of them were not exposed to writing so I explained that they are the authors of the book Im compiling. It was a morale booster for them knowing that their names would appear in the book and they urged me to continue.

Just recently I met some of the authors and showed them their published work in the Devare Adventist High School Anthology and when they flipped through the book they said things like: Ai turu ah? Laka? Neim blong mi stap tu lo buk. Na planti lain bai ridm stori blong mi tu? [Is it for real? Gosh! My name is in the book. Will many people read my story?]

When I nodded in approval they gave me their best smile and said: Thank you.

Caroline: Can you describe your process, for example, what did you do each day to make sure you finished the anthology in the timeframe you set for yourself?

Alphonse: I am a teacher. Some say being a teacher is like having a headache. But for some of us, teaching is our passion and so is writing. I sometimes teach 20 or 30 periods in a week depending on the subject loads per year.

Teaching a smaller number of lessons is much better as I would some have free periods to do extra work. I made us of the free periods I had to complete the book. Currently I am teaching 14 periods of English for two Grade 9 classes and 20 periods of Personal Development for the four Grade 10 classes our school have.

Caroline: Can you describe the things that made your anthology project easy to deliver?

Alphonse: Although not a regular contributor to the PNG Attitude blog, I stop by regularly to read. This has helped me to seek answers to my unsolved questions about who to negotiate with. Taking part in the Crocodile Prize literary competition also helped me to establish connections with Philip Fitzpatrick and Keith Jackson whom I very much acknowledged for everything that was done.

When my piece My Challenging life appeared in the My Walk to Equality Anthology, this encouraged me to also promote the students work I was doing.

Caroline: Can you describe the things that made it challenging to produce your anthology- how did you overcome these difficulties?

Alphonse: The Digicel tower at Devare went up in flames in June 2015, so we had to walk 30 minutes to the Kepesia beach to get signals from other networks. I would bring my laptop to and fro to do emails. Once in 2016, I was trying to send a submission when the sea waves went right up to where I was sitting and washed everything I was using.

I tried to control the tears that swelled in my eyes, but it was no use. I blamed myself for being careless with my laptop. My hopes were crushed. I stopped working for quite a while. After purchasing another laptop, I continued typing again. Typing the manuscript and saving it to a flash drive saved my efforts.

In the first two years of typing the manuscript there was enough power supply from the schools generator to the staff house I was occupying. In the last two years of typing, I had to carry my laptop to the administration block seeking power.

I tried to get help from the people around me, but everyone seemed busy. I utilised my weekends, the holiday breaks and non-contact periods to do the typing. I nearly gave up hope and often asked myself what I was doing. But I had promised my contributors that they would one day read what I was typing so that promise kept me going.

The anthology My Walk to Equality was compiled in 2016 by Rashmii Amoah Bell and published quickly. That was like a challenge to me, so I tried my best to type the students work quickly.

Caroline: What are your plans for future publishing? Will there be a volume 2?

Alphonse: There is another collection of stories underway. The manuscript is in typing process. With the tight schedule of teaching I will try my very best to complete it.

Caroline: How can readers support your project work? How can readers purchase copies of the anthology?

Alphonse: Currently, there are no established distribution channels for PNG writers. Authors must market their books themselves. There are two options: purchase directly from Amazon if readers have a Visa card or purchase from the author.

The readers can support my work by purchasing copies from the school which we have ordered. The contributions will help our library. We are in Buka, so the reader will have to meet the cost of the book plus airfreight via Office Express Mail Service (EMS) or DHL.

Caroline: Please add anything else you would like readers to know about your anthology project, your feelings about the experience of delivering the project.

Alphonse: Seeking funds from sponsors to do something sometimes take a long time. The reason why I have compiled the Devare Adventist High School Anthology is to use the skills in writing that our students had to do something worthwhile. I told them that if we had to start something, the best approach is by using the available resources and that is our human resource as in skills in writing.

The Chairman of the Board of Governing Council of Devare and President of the Bougainville SDA Mission, Pastor Andrew Opis, was willing to do the book launch during a recent meeting. To acknowledge the writers, I gave extra copies of writing pieces to some current Grade 9 students who were siblings to the Challenge Takers to read their older siblings writing piece during the launching.

Books in the Unity Library include plenty of copies of My Walk to Equality

I am targeting the schools where t most of the anthology have attended to give a free copy to the library. Those who are in the villages can have a look at the anthology when they come to the school to pick their certificates. Those living around Central Bougainville and South Bougainville will also have the chance to read their writing pieces from a copy donated to the Arawa Public Library.

Those from North Bougainville will read theirs from a copy donated to Unity Library in Buka. I want the contributing students to read what they have written while they were students at Devare. It will then encourage them to continue to write or give them pride knowing that they achieved something in writing.
Erap food security station: despite government boasts, dying a slow death from neglect

JULIE BADUI OWA | My Land, My Country

LAE - The recent flooding of an important agricultural station in Morobe Province has revealed years of neglect by the National Department of Agriculture and Livestock.

The food security station at Erap outside Morobe was once a central player in agriculture research and animal husbandry.

But the station has deteriorated over 20 years with many of the staff leaving for other jobs.

Food Security Officer Richard Ngahan who has lived at the station for seven years says every year they see less support coming from the national and provincial governments.
John Bonny said the K30,000.00 forms the basis for raising funds this year and he stressed the importance of business community involvement along with key government departments and schools to ensure that one of the worlds great shows will be maintained.

Members representing various organisations have come together to form a strong team including Phil Kelly from Tinining Limited, Pim Mamandi from Paiya Tours, Pauline Grove from Trans Niugini Tours and James Wakapu from Western Highlands Provincial Tourism, Arts and Culture.

A successful team lead by John Bonny has brought forward K30,000 from last year to enhance preparations for this years annual cultural festival.

PORT MORESBY - 2019 has brought changes to the Mount Hagen Cultural Show committee in setting priorities designed to regain corporate sector confidence leading to the staging of another colourful cultural extravaganza in August.

With a history that dates back almost 60 years, the Mount Hagen Cultural Show is one of Papua New Guineas finest and most popular cultural events.

The annual show draws tribes from all over the Western Highlands as well as neighbouring provinces for cultural performances, singing and ancient rituals.

Moropangi Dakua men from Bonga, Lower Tambul

Its a vibrant display of colour, culture and craft. The first event was hosted in 1961 long before Papua New Guineas independence in a bid to peacefully share and preserve the regions traditions.

The rhythmic thumping of kundu drums is the first hint of the festival you will hear if you are around Mount Hagens vicinity.

With the last of the early morning fog yet to lift, the field behind Kagamuga showground is already a sea of towering headdresses, colourful flowers and plants, and paint-encrusted faces emitting venue with pulsating chants.

Preparation and dress rehearsals by each tribe take at least two hours. Across the field, hundreds of people are seen in various stages of readiness  tucking leaves, arranging feathers, painting bodies, examining mirrors.

For visitors, it's an opportunity to experience first-hand the customs of some of PNGs 1,000 tribes in one of the most culturally intact places in the world. This is nothing but a showcase of pride of a tribe.

At Kagamuga showground on that day in August, you watch the sun's rays catch the morning dew as all the men honour their ancestors by dressing as old men with beards, black, red and yellow painted faces and legs mudded with white clay.

Young Western Highlands girl (Peter Kinjap)

When they dance  holding hands and jogging on the spot in several lines  the rattling of shells, bones and seed necklaces form a mesmerizing percussion to their low chant.

War-like cries and whooping draws the attention of the crowd as the men march round the field forming a circle with spears and traditional axes.

Tourists duck and weave between performers, jostling for the best camera angle - snapping selfies and snapping at other tourists to get out of the way. Curious onlookers are chased and mock-threatened with spears and axes.

Performers are proud to be celebrities for a weekend, and admire and pose with endless patience.

In every corner of the field, performers continue to stamp their feet and shake their as gras (the leaves tucked into the back of their belts).

The closing dance for the day, known as waipa in the Mepla language of Western Highlands, is and usually performed by youngsters in courtship mood, giggling as they hold hands tightly and joggling in a clockwise direction chanting descants of love.

Boys start the circle and jump around with regular chants. Girls look to spot their boyfriends or someone whom they know who they can tap on their back to join them in the waipa ring. When they find their best man, they go round and round joggling through the afternoon until dark.

This year the Mount Hagen Cultural Show is scheduled for the weekend of 17-18 August.

Peter S. Kinjap is a freelance writer and a blogger, email pekinjap@gmail.com
(In April 28 story, fixes reference to Podemos in last paragraph to far left, not far right)

MADRID, April 28 (Reuters) - The head of Spain's centre-right Ciudadanos ('Citizens') said his party would take on the leadership of the country's opposition, after the Socialist Party of Pedro Sanchez claimed victory in Sunday's national election.

"We will keep a close eye on the government of (Socialist Pedro) Sanchez and Podemos ... We are now heading the opposition," Albert Rivera told supporters in Madrid.

With more than 99 percent of votes counted, Ciudadanos was on 57 seats in the 350-seat parliament, against 66 for the mainstream conservative People's Party (PP). The PP had 137 seats in the outgoing parliament.

The Socialists won 123 seats and far-left Podemos 42, according to the same Interior Ministry tally, leaving them 11 seats short of a majority. (Reporting by Belen Carreno, writing by John Stonestreet)
(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for Next China, a weekly email on where the nation stands now and where it's going next.

For months, Huawei Technologies Co. has faced U.S. allegations that it flouted sanctions on Iran, attempted to steal trade secrets from a business partner and has threatened to enable Chinese spying through the telecom networks its built across the West.

Now Vodafone Group Plc has acknowledged to Bloomberg that it found vulnerabilities going back years with equipment supplied by Shenzhen-based Huawei for the carriers Italian business. While Vodafone says the issues were resolved, the revelation may further damage the reputation of a major symbol of Chinas global technology prowess.

Europes biggest phone company identified hidden backdoors in the software that could have given Huawei unauthorized access to the carriers fixed-line network in Italy, a system that provides internet service to millions of homes and businesses, according to Vodafones security briefing documents from 2009 and 2011 seen by Bloomberg, as well as people involved in the situation.

Vodafone asked Huawei to remove backdoors in home internet routers in 2011 and received assurances from the supplier that the issues were fixed, but further testing revealed that the security vulnerabilities remained, the documents show. Vodafone also identified backdoors in parts of its fixed-access network known as optical service nodes, which are responsible for transporting internet traffic over optical fibers, and other parts called broadband network gateways, which handle subscriber authentication and access to the internet, the people said. The people asked not to be identified because the matter was confidential.

Opinion: The West Finally Has Its Huawei Smoking Gun

A backdoor, in cybersecurity terms, is a method of bypassing security controls to access a computer system or encrypted data. While backdoors can be common in some network equipment and software because developers create them to manage the gear, they can be exploited by attackers. In Vodafones case, the risks included possible third-party access to a customer's personal computer and home network, according to the internal documents.

Story continues

The Trump administration, arguing such end-runs around security in Huaweis equipment could invite espionage by the Chinese state, is trying to persuade Western allies to block the company from the next generation of mobile networks. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it creates backdoors and says its not beholden to Beijing.

Read more: The U.S. Is Losing a Major Front to China in the New Cold War

Huaweis ability to continue winning contracts from London-based Vodafone, despite the carriers security concerns, underscores the challenge facing the U.S. as it tries to hinder the worlds top telecom equipment vendor and No. 2 supplier of smartphones. Huawei is vying against a stable of Western companies including Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB to roll out fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless networks.

Vodafone has defended Huawei against the U.S. onslaught, which has placed EuropeHuaweis largest market outside Chinain the middle of a trade battle between two superpowers. At stake is leadership in key areas, principally 5G technology thats designed to support the internet of things and new applications in industries spanning automotive, energy to healthcare. Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Nick Read has joined peers in publicly opposing any bans on Huawei from 5G rollouts, warning of higher costs and delays. The defiance shows that countries across Europe are willing to risk rankling the U.S. in the name of 5G preparedness.

In a statement to Bloomberg, Vodafone said it found vulnerabilities with the routers in Italy in 2011 and worked with Huawei to resolve the issues that year. There was no evidence of any data being compromised, it said. The carrier also identified vulnerabilities with the Huawei-supplied broadband network gateways in Italy in 2012 and said those were resolved the same year. Vodafone also said it found records that showed vulnerabilities in several Huawei products related to optical service nodes. It didnt provide specific dates and said the issues were resolved. It said it couldn't find evidence of historical vulnerabilities in routers or broadband network gateways beyond Italy.

In the telecoms industry it is not uncommon for vulnerabilities in equipment from suppliers to be identified by operators and other third parties, the company said. Vodafone takes security extremely seriously and that is why we independently test the equipment we deploy to detect whether any such vulnerabilities exist. If a vulnerability exists, Vodafone works with that supplier to resolve it quickly.

In a statement, Huawei said it was made aware of historical vulnerabilities in 2011 and 2012 and they were addressed at the time. A company spokesman said the flaws in the equipment related to maintenance and diagnostic functions common across the industry, as well as vulnerabilities. There is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that Huawei conceals backdoors in its equipment.

However, Vodafones account of the issue was contested by people involved in the security discussions between the companies. Vulnerabilities in both the routers and the fixed access network remained beyond 2012 and were also present in Vodafones businesses in the U.K., Germany, Spain and Portugal, said the people. Vodafone stuck with Huawei because the services were competitively priced, they said.

While backdoors are common in home routers, they are usually fixed by manufacturers once disclosed, said Eric Evenchick, Principal Research Consultant at Atredis Partners, a U.S. based cybersecurity firm. Evenchick called the situation with Huaweis equipment very concerning.

Founded in 1987, Huawei entered the European market in 2000. Landmark contracts with Britains BT Group Plc and Norways TeliaSonera helped Huawei win market share fromand eventually surpassNokia and Ericsson.

Vodafone started buying wifi routers from Huawei in 2008 for its Italian business and, later, for the U.K., Germany, Spain and Portugal. Routers are specialized machines that assist in directing voice and other kinds of data coursing over the internet.

Vodafone managers had concerns with the security of the routers almost right away. They were the topic of an internal presentation from October 2009 that pointed to 26 open bugs in the routers, six identified as critical and nine as major. Vodafone said in the report that Huawei would need to remove or inhibit a so-called telnet servicea protocol used to control devices remotelythat the carrier said was a backdoor giving Huawei access to sensitive data.

In January 2011, Vodafone Italy started a deeper probe of the routers, according to two reports from April of that year. Security testing by an independent contractor identified the telnet backdoor as the greatest concern, posing risks including giving unauthorized access to Vodafones broader Wide Area Network (WAN is a network that spans a large footprint). The telnet had undocumented functionality inserted by Huawei without notifying Vodafone, including a hidden Telnet daemon program giving anyone aware of the backdoor's existence the ability to take administrative control of a router. Vodafone noted that its an industry practice by some router manufacturers to use a telnet service to manage their equipment, but the company said it didnt allow this.

The documents chronicle a two-month period during which Vodafones Italian unit discovered the telnet service, demanded its removal by Huawei and received assurances from the supplier that the problem was fixed. After further testing, Vodafone found that the telnet service could still be launched.

Vodafone said Huawei then refused to fully remove the backdoor, citing a manufacturing requirement. Huawei said it needed the telnet service to configure device information and conduct tests including on wifi, and offered to disable the service after taking those steps, according to the document.

QuicktakeHow Huawei Became a Target for Governments

Unfortunately for Huawei the political background means that this event will make life even more difficult for them in trying to prove themselves an honest vendor, Vodafone said in one of the April 2011 documents authored by its chief information security officer at the time, Bryan Littlefair.

What is of most concern here is that actions of Huawei in agreeing to remove the code, then trying to hide it, and now refusing to remove it as they need it to remain for quality purposes, Littlefair wrote.

Huawei declined to comment on the concerns raised by Littlefair. Littlefair didnt respond to requests for comment.

Theres no specific way to tell that something is a backdoor and most backdoors would be designed to look like a mistake, said Stefano Zanero, an associate professor of computer security at Politecnico di Milano University. That said, the vulnerabilities described in the Vodafone reports from 2009 and 2011 have all the characteristics of backdoors: deniability, access and a tendency to be placed again in subsequent versions of the code, he said.

Huawei called software vulnerabilities an industry-wide challenge. In a statement, it said: Like every ICT vendor we have a well-established public notification and patching process, and when a vulnerability is identified we work closely with our partners to take the appropriate corrective action.

Huawei has expanded its relationship with Vodafone well beyond routers and is now its fourth-largest supplier behind Apple, Nokia and Ericsson. Huaweis gear is found across Vodafones wireless networks in Europe; in the U.K., equipment from Huawei accounts for about one-third of the radio-access network, a critical piece of the infrastructure.

Some telecom companies have taken steps to limit Huaweis exposure from the most sensitive parts of their networks, amid the added government scrutiny. In January, Vodafones CEO Read said the company had paused purchases of Huawei equipment for the core of its mobile networks in Europe, citing too much noise around the situation.

Still, carriers including Vodafone are fighting against the threat of Huawei being banned in Europe because theyve come to rely so heavily on the supplier. Abandoning Huawei for 5G, with Europe already lagging behind China and the U.S., could force them to rip out the suppliers 4G gear, a process that could take years and cost billions of dollars.

(Updates with comment from Huawei in eleventh paragraph.)

--With assistance from Tommaso Ebhardt, Tom Giles, Thomas Seal, Frank Connelly and Patricia Suzara.

To contact the author of this story: Daniele Lepido in Milan at dlepido1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net, Rebecca PentyBrian Bremner

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Upper Trishuli 3A to start producing power by May 15

Technicians successfully conducted structural and performance tests on the Upper Trishuli 3A Hydropower Project.
Bachelor In Paradise star Elora Murger was booted off last night. Photo: Channel Ten

Bachelor In Paradise star Elora Murger says she was completely robbed by producers in relation to having a real chance at finding love on TV.

The reality star says shed now be open to appearing on Married At First Sight, though isnt certain the controversial social experiment would be as genuine either.

I see how difficult it is for the people in there [on MAFS] and I think when they come out of it, they struggle a bit, Elora tells Yahoo Lifestyle Australia.

I think Id really have to think about it on a mental health point of view. I do believe I would say yes to the opportunity because there is no way Im going to say no to any opportunity that comes my way, she continues, before expressing her reservations about the shows process.

Elora says she'd consider going on Married At First Sight, but would want to be positioned like Martha and not Jess. Photo: Channel Nine

It doesnt mean the experts are really going to give me a chance at love because I dont believe the experts, she admits. Like sometimes they do it for love, sometimes they do it for drama.

Martha for example, was given that little Disney love, and I would love to be that. But I wouldnt want to be Jess, for example. Shes lovely but she was paired with someone who was not for her.

Last night Elora arrived in Fiji for her second stint on Bachelor In Paradise, however she was booted off very soon at the rose ceremony.

She believes she was used by producers as a test on the island, to determine just how strong the established couples were ahead of the finale.

Producers got me in thinking, Shes going to test the relationships, says Elora.

She says she's sceptical of how genuine the experts are when matchmaking. Photo: Channel Nine

Theyre probably thinking, Shes a strong card to play now, because if someone came in with no personality or no confidence, then they would have a wallflower as they like to call it.

Im flattered in a way that they sent me in but I think all the other contestants should see me as a test.

It means Eloras time was limited and apart from some brief TV airtime, she didnt get what she was really looking for.

I was completely robbed. I have never been given a real chance at love I think, besides on The Bachelor, she claims.

Story continues

Elora only stayed in Fiji for two days, and says producers put her there as a 'test'. Photo: Instagram/eloratahiti

Elora shot to fame after appearing on The Bachelor in 2017, where her attempt to spontaneously kiss Matty J was shut down by the bachelor in a very awkward scene.

Since then, Matty has gone on to pursue a romance with the shows winner, Laura Byrne, and the couple are not only expecting a baby, but just got engaged over the weekend.

Bachelor In Paradise continues tonight at 8:40pm on Channel Ten.

Elora first appeared on Matty J's season of The Bachelor in 2017. Photo: Channel Ten

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Police in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday broke up a sanctioned May Day opposition rally and detained more than 60 people after protesters chanted slogans critical of President Vladimir Putin, a monitor said. Supporters of top opposition leader Alexei Navalny were among some 2,000 anti-Kremlin protesters. Anti-Kremlin protesters held up portraits of the Russian president, chanting "Putin is a thief!" and "This is our city". Several thousand members of the ruling party, Communists and other activists also turned out at Nevsky Prospekt, the city's main thoroughfare Kremlin-friendly marchers were allowed to rally freely, but police used force to break up the opposition column soon after it set off. "The march is over, please disperse," a policeman told the protesters through a loud-hailer. More than 60 people were detained in the former imperial capital, including local lawmaker Maksim Reznik, said OVD-Info which tracks opposition arrests. Police refused to say how many people were detained. Activists yelled "fascists" and "you will not scare us" as police violently detained protesters, an AFP reporter said. "Incredible," Navalny said on Twitter. "They dispersed a sanctioned march for no good reason." Lawmaker Reznik posted a picture showing five policemen in riot gear dragging him along the ground. He was later released but called his detention an example of "lawlessness". "They are protecting Putin the bandit," said 70-year-old Galina Onishchenko, pointing to several prisoner transport vehicles. Thousands of Communists and members of trade unions also demonstrated in the capital Moscow and across the country, waving red flags, in celebrations harking back to the Soviet era. More than 100 people were detained across Russia, OVD-Info said. Popular discontent has been building in Russia over recent years amid a controversial pension reform and falling living standards following numerous rounds of Western sanctions over Ukraine and other crises. The Russian president's popularity ratings have fallen and in March he signed off on a law that allows courts to fine and briefly jail people for showing disrespect to the authorities. Police in Saint Petersburg used force to break up an opposition protest during May Day rallies A Russian opposition protester is arrested -- one of more than 60 reportedly held at a May Day rally in Saint Petersburg Thousands of Communists demonstrated in Moscow and across Russia on May Day, waving red flags, in celebrations harking back to the Soviet-era
An Australian woman is among the three killed in a helicopter crash in Hawaii.

Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky Monday (local time) in a suburban Honolulu community as a tour helicopter crashed and killed all three people aboard, officials and witnesses said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed to Yahoo News Australia in a statement an Australian woman had died and it was providing consular assistance to her family.

A pilot who moved to Hawaii two weeks ago from New Mexico also died in the crash, along with a tourist from the US mainland.

The Honolulu medical examiners office hasnt released the names of those who died.

The crash occurred in Kailua, a town of 50,000 people about a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.

Debris lies on the ground where parts of a helicopter hit a parked car. Source: AP

The crash site was on a two-lane road amid one and two-story homes.

All you could see was fire, witness Melissa Solomon said, explaining that she was driving on the street when she looked up to see flames and a helicopter plummeting in front of her.

She said she had turn onto another street because she was afraid more pieces were going to fall from the sky onto her and her 16-year-old daughter sitting in the front passenger seat.

Investigators near the wreckage of the tour helicopter. Source: AP

We could have been smashed by it, she said.

Darel Robinson was doing construction work at a house about 800 metres from the crash site when he heard what sounded like helicopter blades thumping and then a loud boom.

It was going nose down and parts were starting to fly off, he said.

Pilot moved to Hawaii two weeks ago

Jospeh Berridge, 28, who moved to Hawaii two weeks ago from New Mexico, was the pilot who died along with two passengers when a tour helicopter crashed on the Honolulu street, his father said.

It was always my sons dream to go to Hawaii and fly tours for a couple of years, Bobby Berridge said.

His sons girlfriend and dog were preparing to join him.

The tail of a crashed helicopter is seen in the middle of the street. Source: AP

The cause of the crash has not been determined.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the crash site Tuesday.

Story continues

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Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Wednesday claimed two neighbouring countries were "exaggerating" their production capacity to reassure markets after the US ended sanction waivers for buyers of Iranian crude. Zanganeh also said Washington's stated aim to bring Iran's oil exports "to zero" was "an illusion". The White House announced last week it would end from Thursday oil purchase waivers granted to Iran's main customers -- including China, India and Turkey. Since then, Zanganeh claimed, "two of our neighbouring countries constantly try to reassure the market, by issuing statements and by exaggerating their surplus capacities". These countries which he did not name were trying to signal to the world that "there would be no problem facing global supplies as Iranian oil goes off the market". It's "an exaggeration", Zanganeh said, speaking at an oil and gas conference in Tehran. "World affairs are not as simple as America and some of its supporters and instigators think. The oil market cannot be managed with statements, what is determining is real oil production that is placed on the market." The end of the exemptions sparked fears of supply shortages, pushing prices to near six-month highs. After the US announced an end to the oil waivers, Iran's regional rival and neighbour Saudi Arabia said the kingdom had no immediate plans to boost output but was committed to balancing the oil market. "We will not leave our customers scrambling for oil," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on April 24. Countries looking to replace Iranian crude "know which number to dial," Falih said. "(Global) inventories are continuing to rise despite what's happening in Venezuela and tightening sanctions on Iran," he added. Saudi Arabia, a member of the OPEC cartel, is the world's top crude exporters. Iraq, the cartel's second-largest producer and also a neighbour of Iran, has the capacity to increase its exports by 250,000 barrels a day to compensate for any market shortfalls, an Iraqi government official said last week. Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh (C) says US efforts to bring Tehran's oil exports to zero 'is an illusion'
The mum of a young girl who died on a waterslide has revealed it was the 10-year-olds excitement that tragically killed her.

London Eisenbeis died in hospital on February 27 last year after her heart went into an abnormal rhythm while on the largest waterslide at Zehnders Splash Village in the US state of Michigan just nine days earlier.

Speaking out for the first time since the horrific death, her mother, Tina, has revealed a defibrillator could have saved her daughters life.

She told The Sun her daughter had a hidden heart condition, Long QT syndrome, which is potentially fatal as it causes irregular heart rhythms.

London had dreamt of riding the Super Loop Speed Slide at the water park, which starts with a four-storey straight drop through an 83-metre, 360-degree loop.

It takes just 6.9 seconds to make it to the end of the waterslide.

London Eisenbeis died after going into cardiac arrest due to her 'excitement'. Source: Facebook

In the seconds after London was sent spiralling through the waterslide on February 18, her heart rate spiked and she went into cardiac arrest.

She died in hospital just nine days later after being on life support.

Tina said London had not show any signs of her condition and the little girl was doing flips the previous day before the tragedy.

In a tragic video less than an hour before London went on the waterslide, the 10-year-old is heard saying they were going to get footage of their waterslide rides.

Right before London rode the Super Loop Speed slide, she looked a her dad, gave two thumbs up and smiled.

The Super Loop Speed Slide at Zehander's Splash Village in Michigan. Source: YouTube/Zehander's Splash Village

The excitement threw her rhythm, Tina told The Sun.

The slide she went down has a heartbeat sound at the top that my husband said made it even scarier.

Who would have ever thought she would come out the bottom without one?

In the wake of Londons death, her parents have started the charity London Strong to raise money to install defibrillators around the community.

A defibrillator was not used on London after she went into cardiac arrest and her mother believed it could have helped save her daughters life.

Story continues

Yahoo News Australia has contacted Zehnders Splash Village for comment.

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From the air, Ibo island on the Quirimbas Archipelago off Mozambique's northeast coast, was speckled with flattened homes and water-logged farmland, testament to the destructive force of Cyclone Kenneth. The popular tourist destination had gone without large-scale food aid since the cyclone struck six days ago, and the human cost of the disaster was only now being revealed. "On the day, it was a terrible thing to live through because it was so strong," said 50-year-old islander Armando Watela, as he cleared up the damage. The storm tore off his roof and punched a door-sized hole in his front wall. "We couldn't have imagined it would be so strong," he added. "Some people stayed at home, others went to stay at the fort for shelter, others went around looking for a safe place. Almost everybody lost their belongings. "My pregnant daughter was in a room when the walls started to fall in, so we took the whole family to the fort." His daughter gave birth two days after the cyclone struck and is now recovering in a clinic on the island. But 7,000 people were trapped in an increasingly desperate situation until World Food Programme helicopters reached the island on Wednesday. - 'No one has escaped' - The UN had described the challenges of reaching areas like Ibo after the cyclone -- the first to hit Mozambique's north in the modern era -- as "incredibly difficult". The island can only reached by air or boat -- a sometimes perilous sea crossing as it is also vulnerable to the elements. And according to initial estimates, 90 percent of structures there have been damaged. On Wednesday, some residents tended to their mangled or missing roofs, while others sat quietly as a 4X4 delivered packages of high-calorie biscuits. "If somebody hasn't lost everything, he's a lucky guy because no one has escaped," said a motorcycle taxi driver who declined to give his name. Abdala Moto, who has an extended family of 16, told AFP: "Everything fell and now we are staying in a neighbour's house while we are trying to rebuild our own." - 'I'm concerned no one will come' - Cyclone Kenneth killed at least 41 people and destroyed thousands of homes across northern Mozambique. Ibo was particularly hard hit. The island described itself as "the ultimate unique magical Mozambique holiday destination" and offered luxury lodges to tourists and honeymooners. Before the storm, it was a haven of golden sands, unspoiled coral reefs and lush greenery. Now, uprooted trees litter the ground, swathes of greenery have been killed by flooding and the choppy sea is a murky grey. Eliza Miquidade, 27, had recently completed construction of her new blue house. "I'm now desperate because I don't know if I'll get another," she told AFP in front of her shattered home, its roof hanging off. "We're sleeping at the neighbours'. We don't expect to have it rebuilt by the government or anyone else." Traditional healer Atija Alida, 50, said that she, along with her husband Momade Chabane, three daughters and one son, had lost everything. "The bathroom is gone, and the children are now all sleeping in one small room," she said as her possessions dried in the yard outside her house. "I'm concerned no one will come to help the family -- but we're going to build again." World Food Programme (WFP) helicopters flew in much-needed food supplies to Ibo Island and Quissanga in northern Mozambique Heavy rains from a powerful cyclone lashed northern Mozambique have sparked fears of flooding Before the storm, the island was a haven of golden sands, unspoiled coral reefs and lush greenery
A mum claims her Easter long weekend was ruined after Virgin lost her familys baggage, which included a babys pram and formula.

Danni Hewitt was travelling from Melbourne to Queenstown, New Zealand on a Virgin flight on Good Friday when she claims the mishap occurred.

In a complaint posted to the airlines Facebook page, Ms Hewitt said they really only got to enjoy one day of their holiday.

After arriving in Queenstown at 2.30pm, the family discovered their baggage was missing and had no clue when it would arrive in the New Zealand city.

Im not sure if you understand how stressful this is with a baby, she wrote on Facebook.

We had no clothes for her, no formula, no sleeping bag, limited number of nappies, nothing to wash her  and it was Good Friday  so hardly anything was open.

Danni Hewitt said she could only enjoy one day of her trip to New Zealand. Source: Facebook

We were finally able to leave the airport at 4.30pm to rush to go shopping  we found what we could  a different formula to what she has at home and the limited amount of baby clothes they have there.

Ms Hewitt claims the family was told they would receive an email with a reference number for their bags within 30 minutes.

She said they never received the email and by time they arrived at their accommodation at 7pm, the first day of the holiday was gone.

At 11am the next morning Ms Hewitt said she called the airline. She said she discovered the form they had filled in and gave to customs was never submitted and the airline had no record their bags had not reached Queenstown.

After 30 minutes on the phone I was told they were arriving on a flight from Sydney at 3.40pm and later told to be at our accommodation to wait for the bags between 6 and 9pm, she wrote.

The woman claims she lost her baggage on a flight from Melbourne to Queenstown on Good Friday. Source: AAP

Second day of our holiday gone  and dinner plans had to be cancelled. We went and bought a change of clothes for ourselves and more formula for our daughter  still a different one.

Due to the change in baby formula, Ms Hewitt said her seven-month-old daughter was sick all over their clothes.

Story continues

Ms Hewitt said she had to change into her partners T-shirt and the baby was wrapped in a blanket before their bags arrived at 8pm.

The mother claimed the pram arrived missing a part and they only had one day left of their holiday to enjoy.

Virgin makes contact

What made the mother more furious was an email from Virgin asking her to fill out a statutory declaration and send itinerary, receipts, bank details and passport.

Ms Hewitt said she was livid as she had already given the airline all those details.

The mother said she has since received a phone call from the airlines premium guest experiences manager, who will get back to her within two days.

She was very empathetic and asked me loads of questions and called me on her mobile and said to call her direct if I had anything else to tell her, Ms Hewitt said.

A Virgin Australia spokesperson said it took considerable care when transporting guests bags.

We are sorry to hear of this guests experience and inconvenience caused. Weve investigated this incident and provided a resolution to the guest, the spokesperson said.

Virgin Australia said the guests claim was handled within the required timeframe, which is seven days as stated on the Virgin Australia website.

The guests claim has now been finalised and all expenses claimed will be reimbursed, the spokesperson said.

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The family of Australian woman who died in a helicopter crash in Hawaii has paid tribute to the "beloved" great-grandmother.

Jan Burgess family said she was on holidays with relatives when the tragic incident involving a tour helicopter crashed and killed three people onboard.

Fire and helicopter parts rained from the sky on Monday (local time) in a suburban Honolulu community, officials and witnesses said.

In a statement, the family of Ms Burgess, who was known to family as Jammie, said they were trying to understand and deal with the sudden loss at this time.

The family of Australian woman Jan Burgess, who died in a helicopter crash at Hawaii, has paid tribute to the "beloved" great-grandmother. Source: DFAT

Jammie is a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunty and friend to a wide network of family and friends. We are all in pain at this time, the statement read.

We are also mindful that this tragic incident is also affecting two other families and friends.

We would like to recognise the brave and selfless efforts of the local community who rushed to this accident scene to assist those that were injured and also the response from the local emergency services.

The wreckage of a helicopter lies on the street after crashing in Kailua, Hawaii, on Monday. Source: Bruce Asato/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP

The crash occurred in Kailua, a town of 50,000 people about a 30-minute drive from downtown Honolulu.

A pilot who moved to Hawaii two weeks ago from New Mexico also died in the crash, along with a tourist from the US mainland.

The Burgess family confirmed it was being assisted by the Australian Consulate in Hawaii, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, and representatives of various US Federal and Hawaiian Government Agencies.

Investigators stand around the wreckage of the helicopter in Kailua, Hawaii. Source: AP Photo/Marco Garcia

Our sole focus is on reuniting all of our family home in Australia so that we can assist each other with remembering and celebrating Jammie in the manner that she deserves, the family said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed to Yahoo News Australia it was providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian woman who has died in Hawaii.

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet the German and British leaders this month facing a raft of trans-Atlantic disputes, on a trip that will also affirm US interests in the Arctic. Pompeo heads to Berlin on May 7 to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and a day later will see Prime Minister Theresa May in London, the State Department announced Wednesday. Merkel has not hidden her differences with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly taken the unusual step of criticizing the close ally, especially over the chancellor's welcome of migrants. The US administration has sharply diverged with Europe on a series of key issues including climate change and Iran, with Trump pulling out of widely backed international accords. In London, Pompeo will be laying the groundwork for a June 3-5 state visit by Trump, whom May is welcoming despite his attacks on her handling of Britain's exit from the European Union. Pompeo will start his trip by attending a meeting of ministers of the Arctic Council in the northern Finnish city of Rovaniemi. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also expected to attend, meaning that the adversaries' top diplomats could meet on the sidelines over issues such as Venezuela's political crisis, on which they are backing rival sides. Pompeo is to close his trip on May 9 with two stops in Greenland, one of a number of countries where rising Chinese infrastructure investment has alarmed the United States on security grounds. Pompeo will travel to the capital Nuuk and to the western town of Kangerlussuaq, where he will meet troops of the New York Air National Guard who are deployed to assist climate research in an island heavily affected by rising temperatures. Pompeo has said he accepts that climate change is real but does not consider it a top priority. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to Germany and Britain with the US administration sharply diverged from Europe on a series of major issues including climate change and Iran
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed into law a "sovereign internet" bill which will allow Russian authorities to isolate the country's internet, a move decried by rights groups. Russian lawmakers insist the new law is necessary to ensure the security of Russia's online networks but critics say the vaguely worded bill gives new censorship powers to government monitors. The text of the law was published Wednesday but it will not come into effect until November. The measures include creating technology to monitor internet routing and to steer Russian internet traffic away from foreign servers, ostensibly to prevent a foreign country from shutting it down. The authors of the initiative say Russia must ensure the security of its networks after US President Donald Trump unveiled a new American cybersecurity strategy last year that said Russia had carried out cyber attacks with impunity. Thousands of people recently rallied in Russia against this and other bills that critics say aim to restrict information and communication online. Separately, Putin in March signed controversial laws that allow courts to fine and briefly jail people for showing disrespect towards authorities, and block media for publishing "fake news". The laws are part of an ongoing Kremlin clampdown on media and internet freedoms that has seen people jailed for sharing humorous memes. Last week 10 international rights organisations called on Russia to scrap the internet bill. "The bill created a system that gives the authorities the capacity to block access to parts of the Internet in Russia," said a statement backed by Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and others. The blocking would be "extrajudicial and non-transparent," the statement said. Under the new law Russian Internet access providers will also need to ensure that their networks have the technical means for "centralised traffic control" to counter potential threats. This control will pass notably to the Russian FSB security service and the telecoms and media monitoring agency Roskomnadzor, which is often accused of arbitrarily blocking content on the web. In recent years Russian authorities have blocked online sites and content linked to the opposition, as well as internet services which fail to cooperate with them, including the Dailymotion video platform, the Linkedin online social networking site and the encrypted messaging app Telegram. In recent years Russian authorities have blocked online sites and content linked to the opposition, as well as internet services which fail to cooperate with them
A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US got underway in Qatar on Wednesday, as the foes continue to seek a way out of America's longest war. The latest negotiations come as pressure builds for some sort of breakthrough in the gruelling Afghan conflict, with Washington jostling for a resolution. According to a Taliban spokesman, the group's top political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar met with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the men discussed "key aspects for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue". Khalilzad, who has stressed "there is no final agreement until everything is agreed", has previously outlined the basic framework for a deal. The pact would see the US agree to pull its forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban vowing to stop terror groups ever again using the country as a safe haven. According to the Taliban, Baradar told Khalilzad it was vital those two key points "be finalised". The US embassy in Kabul confirmed only that talks were taking place. Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, has spent several months shuttling between Asian capitals and Washington in a bid to build consensus for a deal. On Sunday, the Afghan-born envoy said Washington was "a bit impatient" to end the war, given its $45 billion annual cost to the US taxpayer and the continued toll on US forces, some 2,400 of whom have been killed since the US-led invasion in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. US President Donald Trump provided additional momentum when in December he told advisors he wanted to pull about half of America's 14,000 troops from Afghanistan. - Mega meeting in Kabul - Despite several rounds of negotiations between the US and the Taliban, none of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime. That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in. An initial attempt for an "intra-Afghan dialogue" -- due to take place last month in Doha -- collapsed at the last minute amid bickering over the lengthy list of delegates Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wanted to send. Separately, thousands of Afghan politicians and representatives are meeting in Kabul this week at a "loya jirga" peace summit to discuss conditions under which they could envision a deal with the Taliban. Among top concerns are that the militant Islamist extremists would try to undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms and legal protections. Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, welcomed the fresh US-Taliban talks and described how the jirga could feed into peace talks. "The jirga sets a logical beginning for the peace process," Daudzai told reporters. "The people in the jirga will decide and set boundaries and the framework of talks." Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for intra-Afghan dialogue that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table. He tweeted Wednesday he was in Doha and had met with the Indonesian foreign minister, who offered support for the talks. Meanwhile violence across Afghanistan continues apace, and the Taliban last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive. The US State Department has already said its peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will visit Doha this month to meet the Taliban
The United Nations on Wednesday added Masood Azhar, the leader of a Pakistan-based Islamist group, to its list of global terrorists after China lifted its objections to the move. The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda announced in a press release the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), over his ties to Al-Qaeda. JeM has claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops and stoked tensions between India and Pakistan. Considered the founder of JeM, Azhar was hit by an international assets freeze, a ban on global travel and an arms embargo. JeM itself has been on the UN terror list since 2001. China had blocked three previous attempts at the sanctions committee to blacklist Azhar and put a technical hold on a fourth request from Britain, France and the United States in March. UN diplomats said the request was again submitted to the committee last week and that China had not opposed the move to blacklist Azhar by the Wednesday deadline. Any decision to add individuals or groups to the UN terror list is taken by consensus in the committee. India applauded the move which came after its air force in February carried out air strikes on a JeM militant camp inside Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is campaigning for re-election, told a rally on Wednesday that the decision was "late, but it's the right thing", and described it as a "success of India's long-term fight against terrorism". Pakistan stressed that the designation of Azhar had nothing to do with the Pulwama attack in February. Islamabad has denied any involvement in the suicide bombing, one of the deadliest attacks on Indian security forces. Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Faisal told reporters in Islamabad that it would be "false and baseless" for India to claim that the sanctions on Azhar were a victory. - India-Pakistan tensions - Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the February attack in Kashmir that prompted tit-for-tat air raids, fueling fears of an all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two wars over it. The decision to blacklist Azhar came after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan last week on the sidelines of a summit of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing. France, which slapped unilateral sanctions on Azhar in March, also welcomed the decision and stressed it had pushed for many years for the JeM leader to be put on the list. In March, the United States had ratcheted up pressure on China by putting forward a draft Security Council resolution to blacklist Azhar -- a move that would have forced Beijing to use its veto to block the measure. "After 10 years, China has done the right thing," a US administration official said. Beijing seems to have "understood that it was increasingly important that its actions on the international stage on terrorism match its rhetoric." Azhar is linked to terrorism for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities" carried out by JeM, according to the sanctions committee. Azhar founded JeM after he was released from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar. Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based Islamist Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group who was put on the UN terror list, arrives at Karachi Press Club to address a press conference in 2000
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the administration of President Donald Trump was prepared to take military action to stem the crisis in Venezuela. "The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo said on Fox Business Network. Pompeo said the US would prefer a peaceful transition of power, with President Nicolas Maduro leaving and new elections held to choose new leaders. "But the president has made clear in the event that there comes a moment -- and we will all have to make decisions about when that moment is and the president will ultimately have to make that decision -- he's prepared to do that if that's what's required." In a separate interview with CNN, National Security Advisor John Bolton said Pompeo would be speaking later today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the situation. Bolton and Pompeo have accused Russia and Cuba of standing in the way of a change in the regime in Caracas. Pompeo said Tuesday that Maduro was set to leave the country for Cuba but apparently was talked out of it by the Russians. "The Russians like nothing better than putting a thumb in our eye," Bolton said. "They're using the Cubans as surrogates. They'd love to get effective control of a country in this hemisphere." "It's not ideological, it's just good old fashioned power politics. That's why we have the Monroe doctrine which we're dusting off in this administration, why the president indicated last night that the Cubans better think long and hard about what their role is," he added. The Monroe doctrine is a 19th century US policy opposing interference in the western hemisphere by European powers, which later was invoked to justify US intervention in Latin America. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, pictured in 2018, said the US would prefer a peaceful transition of power
Gov. Andrew Cuomo renewed criticism of the International Joint Commission, a bi-national panel that oversees boundary water bodies between the U.S. and Canada, as Lake Ontario continues to rise and shoreline communities prepare for flooding.

"This is not a sustainable situation. It's just not," Cuomo said at a press conference in western New York Wednesday. "We can't go through this every year. The IJC has to figure out a better way to manage the water, period. That is their job."

The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board, which is overseen by the commission, manages water levels. The board was created after the adoption of Plan 2014, a water management plan developed by the commission.

As of Tuesday, the lake was at 247.3 feet  more than a foot above the historical average for this time of year and slightly below water levels on the same date in 2017.

When lake levels rose in February, Cuomo called on the IJC to maximize outflows to prevent flooding.

The board maintained high outflows  307,600 cubic feet per second on April 13  until more than two weeks ago. Outflows steadily declined over that period. On April 23, outflows were 197,800 cubic feet per second.

Outflows were reduced because of flooding along portions of the St. Lawrence River. There has been major flooding in eastern Canada. Heavy rainfall and melting snow have been blamed for the floods.

With flooding possible again along Lake Ontario, Cuomo directed state agencies to take action to protect against rising water levels. More than 200,000 sandbags have been deployed to communities along the lake, including the village of Fair Haven in Cayuga County.

But Cuomo believes the IJC needs to do more. He said the state "has been disrespected" and "has been asked to shoulder more pain and more damage than the surrounding jurisdictions."

While there was flooding in New York two years ago, there was serious flooding in Ontario and Quebec. More than 5,000 homes were affected by the floods, which led to evacuations and road closures.

"The IJC continues to make every effort to reduce flooding impacts in New York, Ontario and Quebec, but we cannot eliminate flooding when water supplies are extremely high," said Frank Bevacqua, an IJC spokersperson.

Cuomo said state representatives will meet with the IJC Thursday. He revealed that the state has an "ongoing dialogue" with the commission.

He incorrectly stated that New York has representation on the commission. President Donald Trump nominated Jane Corwin, a former New York state assemblymember, to serve as U.S. section chair on the commission. But Corwin hasn't been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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Spring encourages us to rejoice in all things green and growing. The Southern Cayuga Anne Frank Tree Project continues to gather the community for conversations that celebrate our ability to learn and grow. As the community assembled for spring programs, I could almost hear Anne Franks voice: How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

On March 22, the community gathered to share a meal, discuss books and view the film Book Thief, based on the book of the same title by Markus Zusak. Zusak was inspired by a true story his mother told him. She related watching Jews being marched down the street by Nazis when a boy offered a struggling old man a piece of bread. In response, the German soldiers took away the bread and whipped the man and the boy. Zusak saw this as the ultimate symbol of the difference between kindness and cruelty. Death narrates the story of Liesel, a girl growing up in Germany during World War II. Liesel is raised by foster parents and first steals a book from the gravediggers who bury her young brother. Books sustain Liesel for their power to preserve the truth and overcome even death in keeping stories alive. Program participants were encouraged to bring a book that they would hide from any tyrant wanting to control the truth by burning books. One young reader needed the group to vote on the proper pronunciation of Aesop," with either an A or E as initial sound. The vote was inconclusive, and her wise mother commented, It really doesnt matter how you pronounce the authors name, you just need to read the Fables and discuss them.

Some adults brought books that had been required reading. Of Mice and Men sparked a conversation by a group who vividly remembered discussing the nature of evil in English classes in the 1960s. Conversations sprang up between those whose books were by the same authors, John Steinbeck and J.K. Rowling, and by those who loved fantasy, science fiction or classics like Crime and Punishment, the Bible or To Kill a Mockingbird.

After the meal, the group moved to the auditorium for the Book Thief" movie. At the end of the film, two seniors in their team jackets towered over the group. I was delighted to hear these young men discussing the nature of death, and how the voices of death and god could be confused. I imagined a young Anne Frank joining in their conversation.

On April 2, high school students gathered in the auditorium for a production of Little Bits of Light: An Adaptation of 'I Never Saw Another Butterfly' by playwright Amanda Faye Martin. The play intertwined poems and artwork from children at the concentration camp Terezin with major historical events and the playwrights familys history. The story follows Pepicek, an optimistic Czech boy, and Werner, an isolated young man who only recently discovered hes Jewish, during their time at Terezin. The camp was used by Nazis to cover up the crimes rampant in camps by censoring and fabricating what visitors learned. When the Red Cross is scheduled to visit the camp, Werner conspires to use the visit to expose the Nazis and tell the truth. During the question-and-answer session at the end of the play, a student asked the actors how they prepared for the role of the manipulative and evil Nazi staff. Actors recounted the hours of research and discussion that went into their performance. Another student observed, It was interesting that even among the young captives, they bullied the new kid.

On April 3, Bill Zimpfer led the community in a discussion of Hidden in France: A Boys Journey Under the Nazi Occupation by Simon Jeruchim. The author tells his story, beginning in September 1939, when France was invaded. He and his siblings were sent into hiding around the countryside of Normandy by their parents and partisan friends. Their parents, unbeknownst to the children, were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where they perished.

The group discussed the courage and persistence of the children and the French partisans who sheltered them. Young Simons optimism mirrored that of his contemporary, Anne Frank. Simons vivid memories of those who did and did not survive reminded the group that everyone has an obligation to keep their own stories alive for their children and future generations

The Southern Cayuga Anne Frank Tree Project Committee invites you to participate in our next conversation. At 6 p.m. Friday, May 3, at Southern Cayuga High School, our keynote speaker Anthony Gaenslen will discuss his French familys connection to Simon Jeruchims story during World War II and his own decision to join the Freedom Riders in the 1960s to register black voters and stand for social justice.

Elaine Meyers, of King Ferry, is a member of the boards of the King Ferry Food Pantry, ABC Cayuga and the Southern Cayuga Anne Frank Tree Project, and a member of the Southern Cayuga Garden Club. She coordinates a literacy support program at Southern Cayuga Central School.

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Wells College has announced that its 2019 student commencement speaker will be Antonio Oliveri, of the class of 2019.

A double major in political science and English with a concentration in literature, Oliveri will be the college's first male student commencement speaker since the tradition began in 2014.

He has served as the class of 2019 president, a Community Court representative, executive board chair of the Dance Collective, a library archivist, student activities coordinator and senior poetry editor for the college's literary journal, in addition to being a campus activist and leader, Wells said in a news release.

"Its the greatest honor I can imagine: to have the opportunity to represent and thank all of the wonderful people who make Wells such a truly wonderful place. I arrived here feeling like the ultimate outsider, only to find I was home, Oliveri said in a news release.

As one of the only Korean-Americans on campus, Oliveri has also worked to introduce his peers to the culture of his heritage, and spent a semester studying abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul.

My mother, Im Su Jung, has been a wonderful source of love and support for me throughout my time at Wells. My grandfather, Im Jaesong, recently passed and the loss definitely propelled me forward in thinking about my Korean identity, Oliveri said in the release. I care deeply about family, history and tradition, and at Wells I was able to find all of those things in abundance while also serving as the unofficial ambassador of Korean culture in our community here, and I take great pride in that.

The main commencement address will be given by Rebecca Haag, a 1974 alumna of Wells and an expert in social policy. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18, on the lawn and steps of Macmillan Hall on the campus, 170 Main St., Aurora.

For more information, visit wells.edu.

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The work of two Cayuga County students was richly rewarded at the 40th annual Central New York Science & Engineering Fair in March.

Organized by the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology in Syracuse, the fair took place on the campus of Onondaga Community College. Entries from 10 central New York counties were eligible.

Cato-Meridian High School senior Jay Hunter was one of three senior grand prize winners, while Auburn High School junior Div Patel received a SUNY Cortland scholarship for his efforts.

Jay Hunter

Hunter said he was so surprised when he was declared a grand prize winner at the fair that he didn't move.

He said he was so stunned that it wasn't until his sister Rebecca Hunter, who had won a presidential Le Moyne College scholarship at the fair a few years ago, told him to accept his award that he went to the stage, he said. Hunter said he was happy he was able to "one-up" his sister at the fair, but was nonetheless in disbelief at how well he did.

"I just was in shock," Hunter said. "My competition was so much better than me."

As a grand prize winner, Hunter won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair in Phoenix, where he will compete against hundreds of students from over 75 countries.

In light of concerns about teen substance abuse involving everyday objects and over-the-counter medications, Hunter's project looked at nutmeg, anti-diarrhea pills, alcohol and the mind-altering substance kratom, which is legal in New York state. He then introduced each of them to daphnia, a small crustacean, and observed how the organism reacted. Hunter found that the substances weren't fatal to the crustacean separately, but gave them heart attacks when combined.

Hunter said he wanted to see how all those substances reacted to each other. While he believes there is widespread awareness of teen drug abuse, he advocated for more education among parents, teachers, students and doctors on the abuse of substances found in household objects. He noted that his teacher Krista Kolodziejczyk, who sponsored him for the fair, was able to easily obtain the kratom at a smoke shop for the project, as she was given free samples of the product.

Work on the project began in October, Hunter said, and he finished the poster board for the visual part of his presentation two days before the fair. He said he went through various revisions to make his work as high quality as possible.

At the fair, Hunter presented his project to college students acting as representatives of schools such as Syracuse University and Cornell University. He said he wasn't as intimidated by the representatives as he was by their schools, and that he wanted to excel when presenting.

"You really want to shine in that moment," he said.

Hunter said Kolodziejczyk, who is his advanced biology teacher, consistently pushed him to improve his work and helped him when he was frustrated by obstacles in his way.

He will head to SUNY Oswego in the fall, and plans on pursuing a master's degree in biomedical science, as he wants to go into drug research. While he acknowledged the competition will be fierce in Arizona next month, he said he's not completely dismissing himself, either.

"Honestly, the experience itself is worthwhile," Hunter said.

Div Patel

Patel, an Auburn High School junior, said it didn't quite dawn on him at first when he won a five-figure scholarship at the fair.

Patel, 17, received a $12,000 scholarship from SUNY Cortland for his project, "How to Use Stem Cells to Bio-engineer a Kidney," a study on how stem cells can be made into kidney cells. As he was walking away from the stage at the fair after being acknowledged, he then realized what had happened. He said the project was inspired by reading in a medical book about the deficiency in the number of kidneys available for transplants. The project involved writing a lab report and creating a visual representation with a poster board.

At the fair, Patel gave his presentation to several representatives over a two-hour period. He was nervous during the first couple presentations, but he eventually became more assured in his ability as they continued, streamlining his explanations while emphasizing certain aspects of his work.

Teacher Prin Furst, who sponsored Patel for the event, said he is an "incredibly impressive student" who is involved with numerous activities at school and has a great work ethic. Furst said Patel often works on complex projects, speaks four languages fluently and was recently accepted into a Syracuse University internship program researching mercury contamination of fish and water within the state.

Speaking with The Citizen in early April, Patel said he hadn't settled on where he wants to go to college but is strongly considering Cortland, and wants to go into biochemistry and bioengineering. Now that he has taken on medical biology at the fair, he said, he is thinking about looking at the agricultural side of biology for next year, for "something bigger and something better."

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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In an effort to combat the ongoing opioid crisis, the city of Auburn is pursuing a civil litigation agreement against opioid manufacturers and distributors who've fraudulently marketed their drugs.

On Thursday, the city council will vote on a resolution that could authorize a special counsel agreement between the city and the attorneys of Napoli and Shkolnik, PLLC. The agreement would retain the firm in order to relieve any damage Auburn residents have suffered through from the deceptive marketing opioid companies have allegedly pushed.

According to Auburn Corporation Counsel Stacy DeForrest, Napoli and Shkolnik represents several municipalities throughout New York state in claims against opioid manufacturers. In a memo she addressed to the council, DeForrest said approximately 1,800 lawsuits of this kind have been filed nationwide, including hundreds in New York.

Overdose spike in Auburn causes concern Three overdoses in three days in Auburn have police and community groups concerned.

In March, New York state sued Purdue Pharma, an OxyContin manufacturer, for allegedly marketing opioid painkillers without acknowledging the risks of addiction. In a court-filed supplemental complaint, prosecutors said the company may have ended its "deceptive marketing spree," but it had done nothing to "correct the misinformation they propagated in the medical community."

"These are serious cases," DeForrest said Wednesday. "We need to address that these (opioid manufacturers) that have been dishonest need to be held accountable and be responsible for the damage done."

The special counsel agreement, if passed by council, would come at no cost to the city, Councilor Dia Carabajal said Wednesday. Any monetary sum awarded through litigation would be given to the city by a fraudulent manufacturer, and any legal fees that Auburn would owe Napoli and Shkolnik would come out of the award. As far as how or if the remaining money would be given to Auburn residents who've suffered from the crisis, DeForrest could not provide details as of Wednesday.

Throughout her four years on council, Carabajal said the opioid crisis, which "drops a burden on local and state governments," comes into council conversations "monthly, if not more."

Carabajal said Wednesday that fighting the crisis has been and continues to be a city priority. She highlighted continuous efforts made by the city's police department, health care services and emergency respondents.

Additionally, Carabajal praised the police department's drug drop-box program, which provides residents a way of properly disposing unwanted or unused medications.

"Properly disposing unused opioids is big when it comes to preventing addiction," Carabajal said as she acknowledged effort made by Auburn Police Chief Shawn Butler to get the program running.

In February 2018, the Cayuga County Legislature's Government Operations Committee voted for the county to join about a dozen other counties in a similar lawsuit against fraudulent opioid manufacturers. The committee hired Napoli and Shkolnik for representation.

Staff writer Dan Orzechowski can be reached at (315) 282-2239 or dan.orzechowski@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @OrzechowskiDan.

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A Moravia man already serving a prison sentence for burglary was charged this week with committing a burglary in Auburn in 2018.

The Auburn Police Department said that Juan F. Amezquita, 19, was charged Tuesday with second-degree burglary, a class C felony, fourth-degree conspiracy, a class E felony, and fourth-degree criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor.

Police said an arrest warrant was issued for Amezquita in April 2018 for a Jan. 25, 2018, burglary. Auburn homeowners returned to their residence that day to find it had been broken into, noticing a window was broken, police said.

Nothing appeared to be stolen, but police said that Amezquita may have been looking for cash, as the homeowners also owned a business.

Police said evidence was collected at the scene and after Auburn police connected with an Onondaga County investigator, the suspect was identified as Amezquita.

Amezquita is currently in custody at Greene Correctional Facility for committing a burglary in Onondaga County, according to the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Police said it was fortunate that Amezquita was arrested because suspects are often not found in cases like these. Co-defendants from the Auburn burglary have not yet been arrested, police added.

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WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP)  An upstate New York judge who stoked social media outrage for sentencing a former school bus driver to probation in the rape of a 14-year-old is getting "numerous vitriolic" phone calls, court officials said Tuesday.

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky last week sentenced Shane Piche to 10 years of probation, sparking an online wave of condemnation from people arguing that the punishment was too lenient. The 26-year-old was accused of raping the teenager at his residence in Watertown, New York, last summer. Piche, who was a bus driver in the victim's school district, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February.

Piche also was required to register as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest of three categories based on the risk of another offense. Three orders of protection were issued and Piche was ordered not to be left alone with anyone under the age of 17.

The sentencing drew national media attention and harsh criticism. Twitter users posted the phone number and address of McClusky's chambers in Watertown.

"The Judge's chambers have received numerous vitriolic calls regarding the case, the vast majority from out of State, by individuals who know nothing about the facts and circumstances of the case, thanks to social media," state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen wrote in an email.

Chalfen said the judge was "well within" the sentencing range for this type of negotiated plea conviction. The maximum state prison time he could have received would have been from 1 1/3 to 4 years, he said.

Jefferson County chief assistant district attorney Patricia Dziuba said all parties acted within the parameters set by law and that the prosecutor handling the case sought up to six months of jail time along with probation, supervision and treatment. She declined to criticize the judge's sentence.

Piche didn't make a statement during his sentencing.

Calls seeking comment were left Tuesday with McCluskey and Piche's attorney, Eric Swartz.

"He'll be a felon for the rest of his life. He's on the sex offender registry for a long time," Swartz told television station WWNY of Watertown.

The station said a victim impact statement given to them by the victim's mother read, "I wish Shane Piche would have received time in jail for the harm he caused to my child. He took something from my daughter she will never get back and has caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety."

Chelsea Miller, of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said based on the mother's statement, it's possible that the judge and court officials didn't understand the harm the survivor experienced.

"Unfortunately, this can discourage survivors who see jail or prison time as a form of accountability," Miller said.

Other judges also have faced public pressure over sex-crime sentences in recent years.

In a prominent example, California voters recalled Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky last year after he sentenced college swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail on a sexual assault conviction. Turner denied the accusation.

Persky cited a probation department recommendation, Turner's youth and his clean criminal record in departing from a minimum sentence of two years in prison. California's Commission on Judicial Performance ruled that the sentencing was done correctly, but critics said the punishment was too light.

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UNION SPRINGS  The village of Union Springs Board of Trustees voted Tuesday night to approve a $1.54 million 2019-2020 budget and an increase in water rates.

The approved budget keeps the village just within the allowable tax cap of a 2.46% increase over last year's tax levy.

The tax rate will increase 10 cents per $1,000 of assessed value from last year, up to $4.51 per $1,000.

With an estimated revenue of $1.27 million, the village will raise $268,181 through taxes. General fund appropriations are budgeted for $864,609 with $604,820 in revenue. The water fund has $232,500 in appropriations and is matched by revenue, while the sewer fund will appropriate $438,342 and generate $428,850 in revenue.

For water users within the village, the rate will increase from $3.15 to $3.21 per 1,000 gallons, while the rate for non-village customers will go from $4.73 to $4.82 per 1,000 gallons.

Mayor Bud Shattuck said the village had been raising water and sewer rates for the past several years after having been "way behind" what they should have been.

At this point, sewer rates have caught up to where they should be, currently billed at $93 per unit, Shattuck said, so no raise was necessary for sewer rates, just water.

"It's a small amount but it actually helps us balance our budget," Shattuck said.

Board member Bill Boyd Jr. expressed concern about having enough money should the village need to pay for something like a major water main break, but was satisfied with Shattuck's reassurance that the town had enough in reserves  approximately $700,000  to cover such an expense if needed.

Earlier this year, in the midst of state budget talks, the village voted to override the tax cap in response to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed cuts to Aid and Incentives for Municipalities.

As in several previous village budgets, an override was ultimately not needed. While AIM funding was restored in the state budget, money for the program comes from a newly-approved Internet sales tax, which counties will be responsible for distributing to towns and villages even if the state collects less than is estimated.

Given the potential uncertainty of receiving AIM funding because of the change, Shattuck said he opted not to budget for the funding rather than build a budget that depends on it.

Staff writer Ryan Franklin can be reached at (315) 282-2252 or ryan.franklin@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @RyanNYFranklin.

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MONTREAL, QCNoir Male, the new gay porn studio specializing in interracial content, has named its Noir Male Man of the Month for May, selecting Aaron Reese for the spotlight treatment. All month, Reese will be showcased, featuring exclusive scenes on www.noirmale.com, and is now in the running to be named Noir Male Man of the Year 2019.

Noir Male director Chi Chi LaRue commented, A true exhibitionist, Aaron Reese loves to be naked! With a body chiseled from stone and a dick just as hard, he is the whole package!

Aaron Reese joins the Noir Male roster of gay stars including GayVN Award winner Max Konnor who was named Januarys Man of the Month, Februarys Jacen Zhu, Marchs Zario Travezz and April rising star Dillon Diaz. A new Noir Male Man of the Month will be chosen each month, putting 12 notable men in the running for Noir Males Man of the Year 2019. The ultimate winner, as voted by fans, will claim the title and a Noir Male contract. Pheonix Fellington is the reigning Man of the Year for 2018.

Commenting on his Noir Male Man of the Month title, Aaron Reese stated, Im honored and humbled to be Noir Males Man of the Month for May. Working with such an amazing team has been an awesome experience and Im more than excited for the opportunity to be the face of May. Thank you guys for such an amazing opportunity.

Aaron Reeses Man of the Month showcase featuring a steamy solo scene plus exclusive content and hardcore galleries can be viewed here.

Aaron was a natural choice for our Man of the Month. Fans love him and he is ideal to work with, giving a top performance every time, said Noir Males Head of Production.

Noir Male celebrates the full range of sexuality and fantasy fulfillment that men of color have to offer, in a product that breaks free from the stereotypes and conventions of typical interracial porn. No body part is off-limits, and no desire out of reach, in scorching hot black and interracial encounters where the preconceptions of tops and bottoms and expected sexual scenarios become a thing of the past. Noir Male was recently awarded Cybersockets 2019 Best New Site.

For the latest Man of the Month information, exclusives and BTS previews follow Noir Male on Twitter and Instagram @OfficialNoirMale.
White wines are especially refreshing as temperatures warm from spring into summer. Below are my favorite whites under $20, as selected from recent tastings. Each is a fine bargain for quality and character.

J. Lohr 2017 White Riesling Bay Mist, Monterey County ($10): This nicely priced Riesling has expressive fruit on the attack and quickly develops attractive balance, complexity and personality that persist for pleasing length.

MontGras 2018 Sauvignon Blanc Valle de Leyda, Chile ($10): This excellent buy is appealing to both nose and palate. Lean in style, theres fine balance of fruit and crisp acidity, as well as surprising complexity for its price.

Cline 2018 Viognier North Coast ($11): Impressive all-around, especially for the cost. Beautiful hue, strength and complexity on both nose and palate, forward personality and great length. Far out-performs its price.

Domaine Laurier non-vintage sparkling wine Brut, California ($11): Exceptional for its cost, the bubbles are mouth-filling, and theres strength on the palate with crisp fruit, as well as complexity, integration and an extended finish.

Farmhouse 2017 white blend Natural, California ($11): This intriguing blend of six grapes has fine texture on the attack, followed by development of enjoyable fruit, acidity, complexity and length.

Lesse-Fitch 2017 Chardonnay California ($12): This personal favorite among modestly oaked Chards is a bit light on the eye and nose, but attractive on the palate with strong fruit, excellent balance, pleasing complexity and impressive length.

MAN 2018 Chenin Blanc Coastal Region, South Africa ($12): Strong all-around with character, forward fruit, clear crispness and very appealing complexity, all of which carry through a lingering finish.

Sea Pearl 2018 Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, New Zealand ($12): My favorite among twenty Sauv Blancs tasted for this column. Sea Pearl is finely crafted and especially pleasing on the palate with well-balanced fruit, attractive complexity and prolonged length.

Marco Felluga 2017 white blend Just Molamatta, Bianco, Friuli, Italy ($14): This blend of Chardonnay and three other grapes has an expressive, lean-styled personality on the palate. Crispness, complexity and integration carry throughout an extended finish.

Alois Lageder 2017 Pinot Bianco Dolomiti, Italy ($15): Features a strong, lean personality with forward fruit, delightful crispness, very good complexity, seamless integration and excellent length, all belying its light color.

Anne Amie 2017 sparkling wine Amrita, Cuvee A, Willamette Valley ($15): Strong on the palate with well-balanced, attractive fruit combined with voluminous fizz, forward personality and a long finish.

Butternut 2017 Chardonnay California ($15): Appealing all-around, with strength and rounded body on the palate, robust but well-balanced fruit, medium-soft oak, pleasing complexity and lingering length.

Fess Parker 2017 Riesling Santa Barbara County ($15): Attractive across the board, featuring an attack with forward fruit and a bit of sweetness pairing with very good complexity, integration and length.

Nobilissima 2017 Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, Italy ($15): My favorite among Pinot Grigios tasted for the column is expressive on the palate with finely balanced fruit, as well as complexity, refinement and extended finish.

Borealis (by Montinore) non-vintage white blend Willamette Valley ($16): This highly attractive blend of four grapes has pleasing color and a forward nose, as well as strength on the palate with full body and good balance, as well as fruit, complexity and character.

J. Wilkes 2017 Pinot Blanc Santa Maria Valley ($18): Appealing all-around, especially on palate with strength carrying from entry through lingering length, along with complexity, integration and refinement.

Kunde 2016 Chardonnay Sonoma Valley ($18): Yet another finely crafted Chardonnay from Kunde, with all-around quality exceeding its price. Beautiful to the eye, complex on the nose and highly pleasing on the palate over great length.

Fess Parker 2017 Chardonnay Santa Barbara County ($19): Loved the gorgeous color depth. Very strong, with an emphasis on fruit and fine crispness, with attractive complexity, integration and refinement through a prolonged finish.

King Estate 2017 Pinot Gris Willamette Valley ($19): This Oregonian outperforms its price, especially on the palate. Strong with delicious, well-balanced fruit, appealing complexity and an elongated finish.

Ponzi 2017 Pinot Gris Willamette Valley ($19): This smooth drinking, strong, well-rounded Pinot Gris is finely crafted with forward fruit and a style richer than typical for Oregon bottlings.

John Vankats Wine Pick of the Week is published every Wednesday. Wines can be ordered from local wine stores unless indicated otherwise. Prices may vary. John can be reached at azpinewine@yahoo.com.

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The nonprofit Quality Connections is hosting a grand opening and ribbon-cutting celebration of their new express retail location in Sunnyside Market of Dreams on Friday, May 3 from 1 to 4 p.m. at 2532 East 7th Avenue in East Flagstaff.

QCoffice Express is a small office supplies retail store that provides employment and training opportunities for workers with disabilities, while providing the Flagstaff business community and Sunnyside residents with a local retail option for office supplies.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 2 p.m., followed by refreshments and fun activities for the whole family. The event will feature live remote broadcasts from KVNA-FM 100.1 - Arizonas Adult Alternative, and KSZN-LP 101.5 - Radio Sunnyside, another of Sunnyside Neighborhood Associations projects.

Flagstaffs newest arts nonprofit, Tynkertopia will be there with fun creative activities. Lowell Observatory will have fun science activities and solar telescope viewing. Warners Nursery will be there with their mobile plant sale - Warners on Wheels. The event will also feature Pilot pens, the Tres Amigos Mexican Food truck, and giant Jenga.

Marshall Magnet hosts violin performance downtown

Marshall Magnet Elementary School will have its 19th annual Suzuki Violin performance at Heritage Square in downtown Flagstaff on Thursday, May 2 at 12 p.m. The event is a showcase featuring hundreds of Marshall students and their dedication to learning the violin through the schools unique magnet offerings.

We couldnt be more excited to share our students music with the community, shares Marshall Magnet Elementary Schools principal, Janelle Reasor. This program wouldnt be possible without the support of our community and the dedication of our students. We are grateful to share their culminating work with the public.

NAU Shrine of the Ages Choir to perform free concert

The Northern Arizona University Shrine of the Ages Choir, celebrating its 86th year, will present a concert at Shepherd of the Hill Lutheran Church at 1601 N. San Francisco Street on Friday, May 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Founded in 1933 by Dr. Eldon Ardrey, the Shrine of the Ages Choir brought tremendous recognition to the mountain campus through its annual participation in the Easter Sunrise Service at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The service was broadcast nationally over NBC radio affiliate stations until 1968, including broadcasts overseas to servicemen during World War II. Shrine performs a major choral/orchestral concert each spring with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. In May 2020 Shrine will tour South Korea and Hong Kong.

Under the direction of Dr. Edith A. Copley, regents professor of music and director of choral studies at NAU, Shrine will perform historic and contemporary choral works by Thomas Weelkes, William Billings, Benjamin Britten, and Shawn Kirchner. The featured work will be a Baroque oratorio by Giocomo Carissimi entitled Historia di Jephte featuring student soloists and NAU voice faculty soprano, Christine Graham.

Alexandra Wittenberg can be reached at 928-913-8624 and awittenberg@azdailysun.com.

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Wednesday, May 1

American Legion Bingo: 7-10 p.m. 204 W. Birch Ave., Flagstaff. The doors open at 5:30, Kitchen starts serving at 6:00 and the special games start at 7:00. The regular packet games follow immediately following. Betty Luther, asiamaeaz@gmail.com, 559-639-7631. $5 and up. flgal3.org.

Basic Buddhism: 6:30-8 p.m. Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 510 N. Leroux, Flagstaff. In this series, we will introduce essential elements of the Buddhist way of life. The emphasis will be on the practical application of Buddhist ideas and practice to find solutions to everyday problems. Topics in this series includes:Who is Buddha? Understanding the mind, Past & future lives, What is Karma? Lynn Sorrentino, epc@meditationinnorthernarizona.org, 928-637-6232.$10 or $5 Students. meditationinnorthernarizona.org

Grand Canyon Science - The next 100 Years, A Future of the Colorado Plateau Forum: 6-8 p.m. Museum Of Northern Arizona, 3101 N. Fort Valley Rd., Flagstaff. Climate change, drought, and new ways of doing science will make the next century of research at Grand Canyon National Park very different from the last. Come hear scientists describe what that might look like, then offer your ideas and recommendations. John Graham will moderate the discussion and there will be expert presenters. Seating is limited. Reserve a seat at https://grandcanyon100.eventbrite.com. info@musnaz.org, 928-774-5213. musnaz.org.

Hospice Compassus Grief Support Group: 5:30-6:30 p.m. 1000 N. Humphreys St., Suite 214, Flagstaff. Anyone seeking bereavement support is welcome to attend. For more information, call (928) 556-1500. marlene.letvin@hospicecom.com, hospicecom.com.

Baby Laptime: 9 a.m. East Flagstaff Community Library, 3000 N. 4th St., Suite 5. Enjoy songs, stories, fingerplays, knee bounces, rhymes, and more with your infant. Ages 0-2. flagstaffpubliclibrary.org.

Wednesday Weed Pull at Picture Canyon: 7-10 a.m. Picture Canyon, 3920 N. El Paso Flagstaff Rd. Did you know that Invasive plants can impact native vegetation and disrupt the environment and the species that live there? Be a weed warrior and join the Wednesday Weed Pull. Meet at the Picture Canyon parking lot. Susan M Holiday, naris123@cs.com, 928-699-6123.

Forever Love Pet Loss Support Group: 6-7 p.m. Federated Community Church, 400 W Aspen Ave, Flagstaff. Dave Smith, 1864dave@gmail.com, 928-963-1340. facebook.com/FlagstaffPetLoss.

Single Retirees Group: 5-7 p.m. Interested in meeting new single and retired people for conversation, food and drink? Call Julie for location information at 928-699-0044, jannbur4296@gmail.com.

Sinagua Middle School Code Red Blood Drive: 2-6 p.m. 3950 E. Butler Ave., Flagstaff. Sadly, fewer and fewer people are donating; as some members of our older generation have become ineligible to donate, many millennials are not stepping up to donate regularly and take their place. Pizza Hut would like to thank you for giving blood with a voucher for "The Ultimate Hershey's Chocolate Chip Cookie." Vcfors@vitalant.org, 1-877-258-4825. bloodhero.com.

Social Dancing: 6:30-8:30 p.m. The Peaks, 3150 N. Winding Brook Rd., Flagstaff. Beginning class 6:30-7:15. Intermediate class 7:20-8:15. Each month starts a different dance series. Must pre-register to take the class. Donation to our local dance group of $8 for the series. Call Gary 928-853-6284, email: garmillam@gmail.com.

Stand Tall - Don't Fall: 2-3 p.m. Joe C. Montoya Community Center, 245 N. Thorpe Rd., Flagstaff. Want to improve your balance? Your mood? Your flexibility and coordination? Your mental clarity? This class is unique so come check it out. Multi-faceted, safe and fun, we draw from over 100 sensory motor movements and cognitive and spatial awareness tasks. All movements can be done sitting and can be adapted for any physical limitation. First class is free, then $7/class. Christina@highpointaz.com, 928-863-0595. highpointaz.com/brain-gym-seniors.

Flagstaff Ukulele Jam: 6:30-8 p.m. Montoya Community Center, 245 N. Thorpe Rd., Flagstaff. Interested in the ukulele? Want to get together and jam? Flagstaff Ukulele Jam welcomes all levels and ages of ukulele players. Join us once a week to play with others in our community. In town for the evening, come on by and play with us. https://flagukejam.weebly.com. flagukejam@gmail.com.

Thursday, May 2

Astronomy on Tap - Cultural Astronomy: 6:30-9 p.m. Southside Tavern, 117 S San Francisco St., Flagstaff. Astronomy on Tap Flagstaff is a free night of engaging science presentations, interactive trivia, and prizes! Topics range from telescopes to black holes and galaxies. Presenters will include astronomers from area observatories, universities, and other scientific institutions. This month's presentations will be Astronomy Under Arabian Skies by Dr. Danielle Adams and The Living Navajo Constellations by Misha Pipe. Heather Craig, hcraig@lowell.edu, 928-268-2906. https://astronomyontap.org/locations/flagstaff-az.

53 Paths to Freedom - The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: 6:30-8:15 p.m. Federated Community Church, 400 W. Aspen, Flagstaff. In this year long series, we will explore the Four Foundations of Mindfulness from historical and traditional points of view, with a focus on learning practical meditation techniques that can help modern practitioners find liberation from the daily challenges that can hold us down. Pez Owen, Pez@dakotacom.net, 9288149851. http://StillpointMeditation.weebly.com.

Advocate for Commonsense Gun Laws: 6-7:35 p.m. Flagstaff Downtown Library, 300 W. Aspen Ave., Flagstaff. Meet and build relationships with others committed to stopping gun violence in all its forms. Join us for our monthly meeting. We will be preparing for our upcoming Wear Orange event in honor of Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 7th. Learn about this campaign and others. Mary Grove, mfgrovesmart@gmail.com. facebook.com/MomsDemandActionAZ.

A walk to the Cheshire Wetlands to see Restoration Projects: 5:30-7 p.m. Museum of Northern Arizona, 3101 N. Fort Valley Rd., Flagstaff. Join the Friends of the Rio on Cheshire wetlands. Meet at 5:30 at the northwest end of the parking lot of the MNA. Ed Schenk, with the City's Stormwater team will provide an overview of past activities at the pond and potential restoration and monitoring options including dredging the core pond to provide perennial surface water, wetlands plantings to increase biodiversity, and citizen science potential to engage the community in local watershed protection initiatives. Kathy Flaccus, kkflaccus@gmail.com, 928-221-9384. friendsoftheriodeflag.org.

HCH New Volunteer Orientation: 5:30-6:30 p.m. High Country Humane, 11665 N. Hwy 89, Flagstaff. Come and find out how you can help our animals find loving homes. Must be 16 years or older. Shanna Harris, sharris@highcountryhumane.org, 928-526-0742. highcountryhumane.org.

NAMI Peer and Family Support Groups: 5:30-7 p.m. Hope Community Church, 3700 N. Fanning Dr. NAMI Flagstaff (National Alliance on Mental Illness) offers free weekly peer support and family support groups for those affected by mental health challenges. (928) 214-2218.

Bicycle Advisory Committee: 4:30-6 p.m. City Hall Chambers, 211 W. Aspen Ave., Flagstaff. The public is invited and encouraged to attend!Bicycle issues currently under consideration include:Missing bike lanes inventory and prioritization; Bicycle parking; FUTS trail planning; Bikeways network planning; Active Transportation Master Plan; Bike to Work Week. Emily Melhorn, emelhorn@flagstaffaz.gov, 310-402-7949. flagstaff.az.gov/1822/Bicycle-Advisory-Committee.

Bagpipe lessons: 4-6 p.m. Epiphany Episcopal Church, 423 N. Beaver St., Flagstaff. Lessons for beginning and intermediate bagpipers. Students need to buy The College of Piping Tutor Book and a practice chanter. Martha Shideler, flagcelt@aol.com, 928-853-4597. $10. swskyepipesdrums.com.

Lego Club: 3:30-4:30 p.m. East Flagstaff Community Library, 3000 N. 4th St., Suite 5. You bring the imagination, we'll supply the Legos for fun-filled afternoons of creating and building. Grades K-5. http://flagstaffpubliclibrary.org.

Guitar Class for Fun: 3-5 p.m. Montoya Community Center, 245 N. Thorpe, Flagstaff. Ongoing fun and relaxed hour-long class, multiples styles, beginners and beyond. Ages 13+. Songs chosen from students' requests. $30/5 classes, $5 materials. Limited to nine students; registration required. 928-221-0418. Marc Worthington, IntegratedHealingFlag@gmail.com, 928-221-0418.

Getting Parental Control Over Someone Else's Child: 12-12:45 p.m. Coconino Law Library, 200 N. San Francisco St., Flagstaff. Join us for this free Legal Talk by Jennifer Ruben about the different ways to get parental control of someone else's child. We'll go over the steps in a guardianship or non-parent custody case and learn about Power of Attorney as an option. Or register for our virtual classroom at: azcourthelp.org/public-events.

Family Read and Sing: 10 a.m. East Flagstaff Community Library, 3000 N. 4th St., Suite 5. Bring the whole family and enjoy a morning of stories, songs, puppets and more. All ages. http://flagstaffpubliclibrary.org.

City of FLG Parks and Recreation Blood Drive: 12-5 p.m. City of Flagstaff Aquaplex, 1702 N. 4th St., Flagstaff. Sadly, fewer and fewer people are donating; as some members of our older generation have become ineligible to donate, many millennials are not stepping up to donate regularly and take their place. Pizza Hut would like to thank you for giving blood with a voucher for "The Ultimate Hershey's Chocolate Chip Cookie." cfors@bloodsystems.org, 1-877-825-4825. bloodhero.com.

Impulse - Theatrical Bodies in Motion: 7:30-9:30 p.m. Studio Theater, NAU Campus, Performing Arts, Building 37. Performance showcase of theatrical movement and classical styles of acting. theatre@nau.edu, 928-523-3781. nau.edu/theatre.

Celebrate Recovery: 6-8 p.m. Greenlaw Baptist Church, 3400 E. Lockett Rd., Flagstaff. Celebrate Recovery is a Christian 12-Step recovery program that welcomes anyone who is struggling with hurts, habits, and hangups. We meet in the main sanctuary for a weekly lesson or testimony every Thursday evening at 6 p.m., followed by separate men's and women's open share groups. Coffee and snacks are available afterwards. Pastor Manny Martinez, pastormanny1@gmail.com, 928-527-0551.

Drop In to Mindfulness Meditation: 6:30-8:15 p.m. Flagstaff Federated Community Church, Room 24, Upstairs, 400 W. Aspen Ave. 6:30 p.m. instruction, 7 - 8:15 p.m. sitting and walking meditation. Come and go anytime. Free and open to all levels of experience and any (or no) religion. pezatdakotacom@gmail.com, 928-814-9851.

Flagstaff Dancin' Grannies: 1-3 p.m. YMCA, 1001 N. Turquoise Dr., Flagstaff. Women's 50+ tap dance group, beginner-advanced. Tap shoes available. Call Cherie (928) 607-7488. flagstaffdancingrannies@gmail.com. flagstaffdancingrannies.org.

Dark Sky Trivia: 7-9 p.m. Dark Sky Brewing Company, 117 N. Beaver St., Flagstaff. (928) 235-4525. https://brewcruizer.com/event/trivia.html.

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The Flagstaff Police Department and Coconino County Sheriff's Office would like to make the following sex offender notifications.

Henry Joe Valencia, 63, is living at 2316 N. Main St. in Flagstaff. In 1985 Valencia was convicted of attempted sexual abuse.

Edward Patrick Branigan, 55, is living at 2401 W. Route 66 in Flagstaff. In 2004 Branigan was convicted of interstate travel to engage in sexual assault of a minor.

Walter Perry Christopher, 41, is living at 8500 Slayton Ranch Road near Flagstaff. Christopher was convicted in 2005 for attempted sexual abuse and again in 2013 for failing to register as a sex offender. In 2015 Christopher was convicted of luring a minor for sexual exploitation and attempted child prostitution.

Sex offender notifications are required by Arizona law. Resident abuse of this information to threaten, intimidate or harass sex offenders will not be tolerated by the police department.

For more information on sex offenders in the Flagstaff area, visit the Arizona Department of Public Safety sex offender website at www.azsexoffender.com.

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1. Yes. If a department head is doing a bad job and the city manager wont act, its needed.

2. Yes. Its a crucial safeguard against poor hiring decisions and conflicts of interest.

3. No. It would only muddle the leadership structure and damage employee morale.

4. No. It would make it harder to recruit and retain qualified city leaders at all levels.

5. Unsure. Council oversight may be good, but perhaps not to such a significant extent.

Vote

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Prevention efforts by Doney Park residents and the Arizona Department of Agriculture have stopped an infectious poultry disease from spreading beyond the flock where it was discovered.

Virulent Newcastle disease is a highly contagious disease that targets a birds respiratory system. More than 400 cases have been reported in Southern California since May 2018, when the outbreak started. The Doney Park incident is the first reported case in Arizona since the last outbreak in 2003.

It is the same strain as in California, but how it got here, we have no idea, State Veterinarian Peter Mundschenk said.

He added that because no known chickens were relocated from California to Coconino County, the virus was likely transmitted through manure or on someones clothes.

Virulent Newcastle disease cannot spread to humans by eating products of infected birds; however, exposure to these birds has been linked to conjunctivitis (pink eye).

For chickens, though, the disease is fatal.

Most of the chickens will die within 3 days of contracting the disease. Its a very fast, rapid disease. Theres no treatment and it can even affect a vaccinated flock, Mundschenk said.

He said the disease usually appears in commercial flocks, not backyard flocks.

The local outbreak was reported to the state after the owner, a Doney Park resident who could not be reached for comment, brought in a sick adult chicken to their veterinarian after noticing the symptoms, like difficulty breathing and swelling around the birds eyes and neck.

This person never had any of his adult birds get sick or die and suddenly he had lost two or three adult birds, Mundschenk said.

Following an autopsy, the veterinarian contacted the Department of Agriculture, which sent a group of inspectors to Flagstaff to test all the chickens within a kilometer of the infected flock.

The entire infected flock, which Mundschenk said totaled about 15 birds, was euthanized to prevent suffering and further contamination.

Neighbors said they were surprised by the four inspectors from the Department of Agriculture, who knocked on doors throughout the area, hazmat suits in hand, to ask owners about the origin of their chickens and if they sell the eggs.

They were having trouble finding everyone that has chickens being that there isnt a chicken registry for them. So they relied on word of mouth for chicken owners so they could be tested, Jesse Fagan, Doney Park resident and owner of 22 chickens, wrote in a Facebook message.

Although all the chickens tested negative for Virulent Newcastle disease, the process strained both owners and their pets as each chickens mouth had to be swabbed and sent in for analysis.

I felt so bad because its not just a little in their mouth, its down their throats. You have to hold them down, DeAnn Stottlemyre said.

Her four chickens had to be tested twice because the first results were inconclusive.

Stephanie Stress, who operates a daycare out of her home, was told she would need to consider closing her business if any of her 35 chickens tested positive because of the increased possibility of pink eye.

We had a sick bird when [the inspectors] were by, so I thought, 'oh, were all doomed.' But she was sick with something else, Stress said.

During the two days it took for results to be determined, residents were told to quarantine the birds and practice proper biosecurity measures by disinfecting hands, clothes, shoes and anything else in the area with the chickens.

Stress said when she wanted to put her ill chicken out of its misery, she needed permission; the motto during the testing period was none in, none out. After receiving approval, she had to dispose of the bird properly so that crows or other wildlife would not carry a potential virus to another location.

Although these longtime Doney Park residents said they have never had their backyard flocks tested like this before, Mundschenk said statewide testing is routine. Surveillance flocks in counties throughout the state are swabbed quarterly to monitor for diseases like West Nile virus, he said, and calls about sick birds are always investigated.

When there is a high incident of death, we always follow up on those and take those pretty seriously, he said. [Virulent Newcastle disease] is not endemic in this country and we try to keep it that way.

For more information about the outbreak, or to report a sick bird, contact the Arizona Department of Agriculture hotline at 1-888-742-5334.

Kaitlin Olson can be reached at the office at kolson@azdailysun.com or by phone at (928) 556-2253.

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For the second year in a row, three of Northern Arizona Universitys students have been named national Goldwater Scholars, among more than 1,200 nominations from 443 schools.

The award, to recognize undergraduate students pursuing research in STEM fields, was awarded to NAUs Christopher Keefe, a sophomore studying computer science and biology; Kyle Ghaby, a junior studying chemistry and biomedical science; and Megan Gialluca, a sophomore studying physics.

Keefes goal is to use computational methods to progress the areas of ecology and human health. Ghaby hopes to earn a doctorate in computational biochemistry after graduating and eventually work in the field of gene-editing. Gialluca conducts exoplanetary research and also works for Lowell Observatory. She has plans to earn a doctorate in astrophysics.

Keefe and Gialluca, sophomore recipients of the award, will be given two years of funding up to $7,500, while juniors like Ghaby are given one year of funding up to the same amount.

Congress established the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation in 1986 to honor Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. Since then, nearly 9,000 scholarships have been awarded  totaling more than $68 million.

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London restaurateurs James Lowe and John Ogier are to open a new wine bar, bakery and restaurant concept at Borough Market.

Lowe and Ogier, the names behind Lyles  one of the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants  are to open Flor in June.

The new business is inspired by the buvettes (bars/cafes) of Paris and the pintxos bars in San Sebastian. It will be open all day, with a focus on sourdough bread and Viennoiserie, produce- and provenance-led cooking, and an approachable wine list.

Flor will open at 8am Monday to Friday and will feature a bakery counter with sourdough loaves and pastries, such as croissants, brioches filled with sourdough caramel, birch syrup Kouign-amann, seasonal Danishes and a raw cream bun.

Bakers will use British stone-ground wheat from Dorset, milled in-house at Lyles where the mother for the sourdough was created five years ago, and is still going strong.

The lunch menu will take cues from the informality of European dining culture, while dinner will comprise simple plates, including burrata, grilled bread and salted tomatoes and Vin Jaune flatbread. To finish, theres a choice of individual chocolate sabayon tarts, loganberry fool or simple desserts made with fruit the team pick themselves from the farm Lyles uses in Sussex.

On Saturdays, Flor will be open for brunch from 10am, serving options such as eggy bread with maple and black pudding.

We have decided to open a bakery, restaurant and wine bar that we like to think of as the little sister of Lyles, following the same philosophy with a love of good-quality ingredients but with baking at the heart, said Ogier.

Whereas at Lyles we focus on the best produce that Britain has to offer, with Flor we will be paying homage to the variety of European ingredients available in London, particularly with Borough Market on our doorstep. It will be a smaller, more laid-back space, but with a big personality.
Beachy Dating Advice: Three Wowing Central Oregon Coast Make-Out Spots

Published 05/01/2019 at 3:53 AM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Newport, Oregon)  Whether it's trying to find a place to really impress someone on a first date or provide a little zing into an ongoing relationship, the Oregon coast is hard to beat. Though theres a lot thats cliche about romantic getaways along the shoreline, and its easy to veer into very unsurprising territory (Above: 15th St. ramp, Lincoln City).

So, what can you do on these beaches that is different and really romantic? This article looks at three places on the central Oregon coast to wow and woo that first date in a very singular way (while in a previous article suggested North Oregon Coast Romantic Surprises).





Pier at South Beach. Newport has tons of lovely beach area, but not a lot thats unpopulated unless youre wandering at night. One spot, however, is a manmade beauty by day or night, sitting on the other side of the bay from Newport.

Park in or around the marina, close to the south jetty, and youll find a pier stretching out a hundred feet or so into Yaquina Bay. Mostly, youll find crabbers and their crab pots  if you find anyone at all. But at night theres usually not a soul here. The lights of the bayfront shimmer and twinkle on the water, and the sound of the waves in the distance is quite lulling. Cuddling together to keep warm in this somewhat exposed spot is another kiss-inducing plus. Lodgings in Newport - Newport Virtual Tour





SW 15th Street Beach Ramp, Lincoln City. In many ways, this central Oregon coast spot doesnt stand out for natural beauty or the possibility of being really alone. In fact, its sort of the opposite: theres a lot of people on this one, with their cars, and its a tad on the greasy side because of the oil from the auto traffic.

However, the fact it allows cars on the beach offers some unique opportunities for interesting romantic moments. Hit this beach later at night, and youll likely find yourselves alone. Slip in your sweethearts favorite romantic, slow dance tune into your vehicles CD player or I-pod port. Then engage in a gushy slow dance on the sand with the surf nearby.

Youll be the hero for what appears to be a spontaneous tender moment and for thinking outside the box.

After dark, the ramp is lit up in an especially lovely way, and either the sloped pavement or the stairway will make for a nicely atmospheric stroll down to the beach should you decide to not take your vehicle down there.

If you do take a rig thats not well equipped for driving on the sand, be careful to stay on the wet and hard parts, and watch for the mushy sections. Its quite easy to get stuck here.

During the day, this spot does provide some fascinating rocky areas at the tideline, which can yield engaging tide pool life. Lodgings in Lincoln City - Lincoln City Virtual Tour











Intoxicatingly Lovely in Lane County. In that 20-mile or so stretch of central Oregon coast between Yachats and Florence, there are copious possibilities for finding yourselves the only two people on the beach. Even on the busiest of weekends, its not hard to find a chunk of sand to yourselves. Its a smorgasbord of kissy-kissy possibilities.

Various hidden accesses lie next to better-known spots like Ocean Beach Picnic Area, Ten Mile Creek or Neptune State Park. These are all hidden enough and even rough enough in landscape as to make them largely unusable at night, unless youve got a really good flashlight. But even then things get so dark and bumpy its a tad comfortable for a totally romantic vibe. However, this all depends on how adventurous the two of you are.

Daylight provides a whole lotta lovin opportunities around here, however.

On the southern side of the little blob-like hill of Ocean Beach Picnic Area sits Rock Creek Campground and Roosevelt Beach. Just south of the campground and the bridge over the creek youll find some hidden accesses trailing off through the shrubbery. These lead to parts of Roosevelt Beach, which is one seriously enchanting tract of sand mixed with rocky structures. Youll pretty much never find anyone here.

This beach, like many along this area, is not wide. So these are big no-nos during high tide events or stormy conditions. But the big plus is that theyre surrounded by high bluffs from which to watch the tidal melee while smooching. Along this part of 101 sit many little overlooks, which make this an awesome spot for wintry dates as well, especially if you want to remain hidden from the elements in your car. And what can be more perfect than making out in your car with a wild beach view, as the wind and rain batter your rig? Lodgings in Yachats - Lane County Virtual Tour











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More than one person called Friday's session of the Nebraska Legislature a group therapy session. Or it might have been a Festivus moment with the airing of grievances.

When senators hit their buttons to speak, the talk was about partisanship and sexism. It came at the end of a hard week that included debate on the death penalty filled with passionate speeches and peevish comments, and as senators looked toward next week's start of late nights and upcoming debates on a tight state budget and contentious property tax proposals.

The session got underway with Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue responding to a news release issued after Thursday's adjournment with comments from Ryan Hamilton, executive director of the Nebraska Republican Party.

Blood called her speech "a point of privilege for the greater good of the body."

Hamilton chastised Blood and Sens. Lynne Walz and Dan Quick, all Democrats, for being excused and not voting on the death penalty repeal bill, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers. Hamilton said they lacked strength of conviction, and their constituents deserved better representation than that. He noted they face reelection in 2020.

He did not mention the Republicans who were either excused or present not voting: Sens. Tom Brewer (excused), Robert Hilkemann (present), Mark Kolterman (present) and Brett Lindstrom (present).

Blood explained she had already told Chambers she wouldn't support his bill. Then she got caught in her office on a phone call in which she was trying to arrange transportation for her adult son who has a disability, and then another call from her daughter, whose duplex neighbor died suddenly.

Partisanship has to end, Blood said, adding she represents her district, not a party.

Blood also talked about the "conservative shock jocks," including former Sen. Chip Maxwell, who last year had called her use of the term "vagina-gate" vulgar.

"I used anatomically correct words on this floor that I will use again in the future," she said.

Another "shock jock" allowed people to make comments about her breasts, how much makeup she wears, and the size of her body.

"Shame on you guys that aren't bold enough to come and speak to me, that use social media to tell me what's wrong with me physically. Because right now, I think my body is serving me well," she said.

When men are taken to task, people aren't talking about their bodies, she said.

Senators can pretend this kind of thing is not going on, she said, but it is.

"I am sick and tired of the backstabbing," she said. "I am sick and tired of you looking the other way while particular parties and people who are your minions tear people apart on this floor."

Blood said she had heard from people in seven districts outside of her own asking her to continue to speak on behalf of women in the Legislature, because they need to be heard. The battle women face is much different than the ones men face in the Legislature, she said.

"I know it's tough to be a woman in this body right now," Blood said. "It's probably tough in every state."

Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh noted that systemic sexism exists in the Legislature. Telling female colleagues not to share thoughts and feelings is sexist.

"Our constituents know who we are. And if we get emotional, or we're not emotional at all, that's our prerogative," she said. "It would be great if everyone could treat the women with the respect that we have earned from our constituents, just as you have earned it from yours."

Men in the Legislature aren't criticized for putting on a few pounds during the session, because it's stressful, or for what their hair looks like, or what outfit they are wearing.

Omaha Sen. Sara Howard, as she has talked to at least a couple of her male colleagues this session in her role as chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee, has observed how they behave with her as a female leader as opposed to how they would behave with a male chair. Like bullying her when they disagree with a decision or explaining what doesn't need to be explained.

"I'm really trying to make sure those boundaries are clear," she said. "Everyone that I've talked to about it has apologized."

Howard takes an old-school approach to how senators conduct themselves in the Legislature.

"I rest very heavily on civility. I rest very heavily on transparency, on talking to every single person," she said.

Knowing about what's going on in people's lives will help senators remember they are working with people not parties, because parties don't belong there, she said.

"So whenever we feel like we have those moments where it's like, 'I want to get on the mic and I want to do a gotcha and I want to make you look foolish,' try to remember that everyone here is fighting battles that we don't understand and we maybe don't know about," Howard said.

Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks warned of what happens when parties get involved inside the chamber.

"We're fighting tooth and nail to make sure we remain independent," Pansing Brooks said. "Nebraska, I hope you're hearing this, because you have an opportunity to continue to force, and advocate for, your senator to remain as independent as possible."

Reach the writer at 402-473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSLegislature.

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Visitors of Homestead National Monument of America had a chance to express their creative sides this week, under the guidance of an artist in residence.

Cara Calvert-Thomas is the latest artist in residence at Homestead National Monument of America. The program will bring 10 artists to the prairie this year to draw inspiration for their work, while also holding a public event at some point during their stay.

Calvert-Thomas grew up in Alaska and currently resides in California.

She works for Pinots Palette as both an artist instructor and director of artist training. Previously, she was an art teacher in Ponca City, Okla.

She is the descendant of homesteaders in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and said her own background was one reason she wanted to visit Homestead.

I looked at it and thought it was the perfect starting point because my mom and dads family are originally from the Kansas-Oklahoma area, Calvert-Thomas said. On my moms side in particular, we have several homesteaders. It was kind of like bringing it home and taking it to my roots.

Its a topic I was very familiar with, but also wanted to research more into. As I learned more it was really impactful to me how much modern society has developed because of the Homestead Act.

Charlotte McDaniel with Homestead said Calvert-Thomas and the other artists who visit Homestead bring their own views, which they share with the area.

We have 10 artists coming out this year who offer a unique perspective to not only visitors, but staff, she said. They look at this place in a different way and having them here creating this work allows us to share that perspective with them. Its a wonderful way for the public to see them at work.

Members of the public had a chance to work with Calvert-Thomas during an interactive painting workshop.

Visitors created watercolor landscape paintings imposed with influential homesteaders.

I created some printouts that had images of either homesteaders or people whose lives were greatly influenced by homesteading, either positively or negatively, and then some biographical information about those people, Calvert-Thomas explained. We created watercolor landscapes based on the area that they either homesteaded or originated from. We cutout the images and created a mixed media collage.

Her advice for anyone interested in painting or other art who may feel intimidated is to essentially just dive in and experiment.

The first thing is to play, Calvert-Thomas said. Go to someplace that has art supplies and see what looks interesting to you. Grab it and play with it. Its art. Its about creating and experimenting.

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The painting was part of a private collection of 19th century European art that was sold recently by Sothebys auction house in New York. It sold to an anonymous buyer for $543,000 and then landed in Billings on a special loan through July 22, a period of 90 days.

Such loans are unexpected and are not something the museum seeks out, Barnett said. They are something that has been offered to us by an anonymous collector. Its a special opportunity.

This painting is on its way to a final destination, though Barnett doesnt know where it will end up. Even if I did, I probably wouldnt be able to say.

Its no accident that the YAM received such a rare and valuable artwork. The YAM is the largest accredited art museum in a state that doesnt charge sales or use taxes, one of only five states without these taxes including Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire and Oregon, according to Americans for the Arts.

Bought in New York, this painting was exempt from that citys sales tax because it was immediately shipped out of state. Often, a "use tax" is paid in the state where the art is "used."
He was sentenced to prison for 18 years and four months, and fined $200,000 by U.S. District Judge Brian Morris. The case has been appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Weber faces 10 more charges stemming from alleged child sexual encounters on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The Pine Ridge accusations span 13 years occurring after Webers time in Montana.

Now retired, the pediatrician receives more than $100,000 a year in retirement benefits. Daines has asked IHS to cut off Webers benefits, which the agency has said would be difficult.

Weahkee told the Appropriations Committee the health service is weighing its options concerning Webers pension.

I have personally submitted a letter requesting Dr. Webers retirement pay be discontinued and we are working through the legal counsel, whether or not we have the authority to do that, Weahkee said. Dialogue continues as we evaluate whether or not we have current authority or were going to need to seek legislative support to make those changes.
Cloud Peak Energy chose not to pay a debt installment on March 15 of $1.8 million, taking advantage of a 30-day grace period. The company received a second reprieve from repercussions -- which would mean the creditors could demand the entire debt be paid in full due to default -- on April 14 until May 1.

That forbearance will continue until May 7.

Unlike coal giants Peabody Energy and Arch Coal, Cloud Peak did not face bankruptcy and layoffs that characterized the coal downturn in 2015 and 2016. However, the company also missed the debt elimination that benefited those bankrupt firms in the long run.

Coal experts argue that the Powder River Basin is under increasing pressure from the contraction of the coal for power market in the U.S. Cloud Peak and other producers have been forced to adapt to fewer and fewer customers for their product. Wyomings largest mines are likely to reduce coal production in 2019 as a result.

Follow energy reporter Heather Richards on Twitter @hroxaner

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BISMARCK, N.D.  A volunteer firefighter accused of setting in fires in southwestern North Dakota, including one which destroyed a farm equipment dealership, has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

KXMB-TV reports John Iszler has agreed to plead guilty in federal court. The former Elgin firefighter is charged with endangering by fire or explosion and criminal mischief. He's accused of setting a number of structure fires in the winter of 2017, including one at Dakota Farm Equipment and another at an apartment building.
JACKSON, Wyo.  The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has opted not to hold a grizzly bear hunt this year.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that the decision last week follows a bill passed by the Wyoming Legislature this winter that authorized state wildlife officials to hold a grizzly bear hunt in spite of the species' "threatened" federal status.

But the commission voted unanimously against drawing up grizzly hunting regulations.

Commissioner Patrick Crank explained to his fellow board members that 230 years of case law supported the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which establishes the precedence of federal laws over state law.

Crank says if the state authorized a grizzly hunt, hunters who killed bears could face federal prosecution.

An estimated 700 grizzly bears reside in and around Yellowstone National Park.

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President Donald Trump, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and so many other leaders reached out to Rabbi Goldstein and supported the Jewish community at large. We have seen an outpouring of love and support from so many, expressing Americas true colors. We have seen the best that America and the American way of life has to offer. Yes, we have bad apples everywhere, including in Montana, but Jewish Americans and all those who adore our country and its founding principles, will not be deterred. The Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Byzantines, Ottomans, Spaniards, Bolsheviks, Third Reich, and every other entity that tried to destroy us are gone, remaining only in sad history books, and those whove sought religious freedom and spread light, are thriving. Am Yisroel Chai.
In April 1943, Americans had been fighting World War II in Europe and in the Pacific for 17 months since the attack on Pearl Harbor. Under Adolf Hitler's leadership, Germany had been persecuting Jews for a decade, systematically ratcheting up campaigns of scapegoating, displacement, imprisonment and mass murder.

In the spring of 1943, there were few news reports in The Billings Gazette about the Jewish genocide that is now known as the Holocaust. But on April 29, 1943, The Gazette reprinted the article below from The Oregonian newspaper. Why are we bringing up this horrifying piece of history?

May 2 is the day Congress has designated this year to commemorate Days of Remembrance of the Holocaust, as we were reminded by Uri Barnea, a retired rabbi and orchestra conductor who lives in Billings. The Holocaust is personal for Barnea; his parents barely escaped from the Nazis and many of their family members were killed in German concentration camps.

Holocaust remembrance is important for Americans who aren't Jewish, and especially for those of us too young to have lived through World War II.
A Bismarck man who was struck and killed in a crash on Tuesday while riding his bicycle in north Bismarck is remembered as a loving family man with an affinity for music.

Don Hruby, 76, was struck by a vehicle driven by a 17-year-old girl Tuesday afternoon, according to police. The girl drove her vehicle onto the sidewalk and struck him.

Cori Radke, Don Hruby's daughter, said her father was "a hard worker," who "always wanted the best for everybody."

Don Hruby enjoyed playing the accordion, and often visited local nursing homes to play for the residents there, she said.

Radke said her father and mother, Lou, started their band, The Don Hruby band, years ago, and they played at wedding dances, anniversaries and other events.

After her father retired in 2007, he wanted to continue to play music and started playing at the nursing homes and assisted living facilities, often a few times a week.

"(The residents) looked forward to him," said John Hruby, Don Hruby's cousin.

Don Hruby grew up in Wilton, and he farmed, raised cattle and pigs before getting a job at the Falkirk Mine, according to his family.

He has four children, one who died at a young age, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her father was "Mr. Perfectionist," but still loved to joke around with people, Radke said.

"His Ukrainian heritage was very, very important to him," she said.

Bismarck police continue to investigate the crash, and said they will not be releasing the name of the 17-year-old girl.

John Hruby said he and his family are "doing good" since the crash, and he said they feel remorseful for the girl involved.

"We actually feel more sorry for the young girl," he said. "Her whole life changed in an instant."

Don Hruby's family asked that any donations instead be made to a local nursing home in his name.

(Reach Blair Emerson at 701-250-8251 or Blair.Emerson@bismarcktribune.com)

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A North Dakota bill reducing penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana is not expected to significantly alter judicial practices or blunt legalization efforts.

Under a bill approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature but still awaiting Gov. Doug Burgum's approval, people caught with less than a half-ounce of marijuana would face an infraction, which carries a maximum fine of $1,000. Marijuana possession is currently a Class B misdemeanor with maximum penalties of 30 days in prison and a $1,500 fine.

David Owen, the leader of a group that unsuccessfully pushed a legalization ballot campaign last year, said Tuesday they're planning to start collecting signatures later this year for a November 2020 measure that will include more regulations, such as possession limits. He said lawmakers fell well short of decriminalization because an infraction still creates a criminal record.

"It shows that once again when it comes to marijuana, the Legislature is not willing to have a serious conversation," Owen said.

Possession of more than 500 grams, or just over a pound, of marijuana would go to a Class A misdemeanor under the bill.

Aaron Birst, executive director of the North Dakota State's Attorneys' Association, expected House Bill 1050 to have few on-the-ground effects. He said prosecutors have "very seldom ever maxed out someone for a marijuana charge because society doesn't expect that."

"The legislation, although technically changed the level of offenses, it just brings it in line with what the current practice in the courts were," Birst said.

As of late last year, 22 states and the District of Columbia had decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, including Minnesota, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A previous version of the North Dakota bill would have imposed a noncriminal fine of $250 for possessing less than a half-ounce of marijuana. The Senate approved that version with some lawmakers warning another legalization measure was on the horizon, but the bill was later scaled back in a House-Senate conference committee.

Sen. Michael Dwyer, R-Bismarck, who was a member of that panel, said lawmakers were wary of inching too close to legalization. He said lawmakers shouldn't "legislate based on what somebody might do with a measure."

"That just doesn't seem like a very good way to legislate," Dwyer said.

Rep. Shannon Roers Jones, R-Fargo, who championed decriminalization efforts during this year's session, worried that lawmakers didn't do enough to deter a legalization push. She said a measure with more regulations than last year's wide-open Measure 3 would have a better chance at the ballot box.

Roers Jones successfully pushed separate legislation allowing offenders to petition to have certain criminal records sealed if they stay out of trouble for several years, though she said the bill wasn't a response to Measure 3's provisions calling for marijuana records to be automatically erased. Owen said the new measure won't include expungement.

The marijuana penalties bill lawmakers approved asks for an interim legislative study on the implications for a ballot measure allowing for recreational marijuana. A legislative panel is scheduled to pick topics to study in late May.

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The POW/MIA flag will fly permanently in front of North Dakotas Capitol, a symbol thats especially meaningful to Korean War veteran Vern Huber.

The 90-year-old from Mandan raised the flag Wednesday after Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill that requires the flag to be displayed daily at the south entrance.

Huber, an Air Force pilot who was shot down and spent about 16 months in prisoner of war camps, was recognized during a flag-raising ceremony.

Its a great honor for me and a privilege to be able to raise the flag knowing that its a remembrance of so many people who have done so much for the country, Huber said.

Navy veteran Dell Lind encouraged Rep. Pat Heinert, R-Bismarck, to introduce the bill.

The flag honoring prisoners of war and service members who are missing in action has been displayed at the All Veterans Memorial on the Capitol grounds, but was not displayed daily in front of the Capitol.

Its long overdue, Lind said.

Butch Olson, a member of the Viet Nam Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club, said the meaning behind the flag has transformed from not only recognizing POWs, but also all soldiers going to war.

Its something that we recognize on a daily basis what it stands for, said Olson, an Army veteran. We think the public should not forget.

The bill approved by lawmakers last week included an emergency clause to make it effective as soon as the governor signed it. The bill also puts into law that the POW/MIA flag continues to be displayed at the All Veterans Memorial and east of the Heritage Center.

Burgum called the bill terrific legislation that he was honored to sign. During the ceremony, Burgum acknowledged the 82,000 Americans who remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars and other recent conflicts.

This flag is a powerful symbol for us to remember those that may be gone but theyre not forgotten, Burgum said.

The POW/MIA flag will be displayed beneath the American flag, which Huber said he finds fitting.

Allowing the POW flag to be flown beneath the American flag is very right because, if it were not for the men and women the POW/MIA flag represents, there may not be an American flag, Huber said.

(Reach Amy Dalrymple at 701-250-8267 or Amy.Dalrymple@bismarcktribune.com)

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On this episode of Acton Line, Caroline Roberts speaks with Andrew Kloster, deputy director of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University, about the student debt crisis. Kloster claims that the student debt crisis is the greatest moral hazard of our Nation and explains how he sees the crisis panning out in the future. On the second segment, Actons director of research, Samuel Gregg, sits down with Mustafa Akyol, senior research fellow at the Cato Institute, to address the topics of Islam and Freedom. Reformist trends in Islam reinterpret religious law by referring to the moral teachings at its core resulting in an intellectual battle going on in the Muslim world, where some believers condemn freedom as a Western invention while others praise it as Allahs blessing. Is Islam compatible with ideas of individual freedom?

Check out additional resources for this podcast:

Read Student Loans: Perhaps our Nations greatest moral hazard problem, by Andrew Kloster

Student debt and moral hazard: To forgive or not to forgive?

Warrens Free College Time Machine

Heres why millions of millennials are not homeowners

Warrens College-Loan Plan Is a Subsidy for the Comfortable Class

Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty

The Creeping Liberalism in American Islam

Video: Mustafa Akyol on the prospects for liberty in the Islamic world

New to the Acton Line podcast? Subscribe here! We also recommend starting with these episodes:

Mourning the Notre-Dame cathedral inferno; Rev. Robert Sirico on education

F.A. Hayeks Road to Serfdom; The media vs. Unplanned

Rev. Robert A. Sirico on the reality of socialism; Interview with a Venezuelan dissident

Do you have feedback for the Acton Line podcast team? We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] Lastly, if you like what you heard on todays episode, please leave a review and rating on iTunes.
For months, French President Emmanuel Macron has asked European leaders to crack down on fake news. At last, someone has taken his advice.

Last month, Vladimir Putin signed a law banning Russian websites from posting fake news stories. The government, of course, will be the arbiter of truth and falsehood. Coincidentally, the same day he signed a bill punishing websites that post stories insulting Vladimir Putin. The Moscow Times reported:

The legislation will establish punishments for spreading information that exhibits blatant disrespect for the society, government, official government symbols, constitution or governmental bodies of Russia. Online news outlets and users that spread fake news will face fines of up to 1.5 million rubles ($22,900) for repeat offenses. Insulting state symbols and the authorities, including Putin, will carry a fine of up to 300,000 rubles and 15 days in jail for repeat offenses.

A Kremlin spokesman specifically cited European laws censoring fake news to justify the move. This sphere of fake news  is regulated fairly harshly in many countries of the world, including Europe, he said. It is, therefore, of course, necessary to do it in our country, too.

Thats an oblique reference to the Code of Practice against Disinformation, proposed a by the European Commission last April. Google, Facebook, and Twitter readily signed onto the protocol, which leaves decisions about censorship in the hands of an anonymous independent network of fact-checkers.

But the hand-in-glove relationship between big government and big business has again reared its head. Massive technological giants are better situated to comply with the burden of supranational government regulations.

Start-up platforms may find themselves locked out in the cold by stifling regulation. Thats where the unintended consequences of fake news laws really kick in. As Victoria Hewson writes at the Institute of Economic Affairs:

[A]s argued by Julian Jessop in the IEA briefing Supervising the Tech Giants, It is notable that fake news appears to be more successful where there is less competition  in Russia, for example. Diversity in media sources is therefore essential. Indeed, this may be one way in which the internet actually reduces the threat from fake news, which is why so many authoritarian regimes choose to restrict access to it. In Jessops view, the media should be viewed in the same way as any other economic activity. This means that, in general, consumers should be free to decide what to watch, hear and read, without having their choices limited by politicians, regulators or a handful of dominant producers.

Consider this more proof that overbearing government regulations have unintended consequences  in politics as well as economics.
Speaking at a recent a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) event, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said there there is a need for banning right-to-work laws. Its unclear how Harris plans to do this from the federal level, as Right to Work laws are state laws that guarantee a person cannot be compelled to join or pay dues to a labor union as a condition of employment.

Kamala Harris wants to make absolutely sure that we know shes an authoritarian, says Elizabeth Nolan Brown at Reason.

Right-to-work laws are often framed by Democrats as an anti-worker policy. In fact, all they say is that employees cant be told to join a union or pay union fees as a condition of employment. Theyre still welcome to do so; they just have to make that choice for themselves. In the topsy-turvy world of Harris and other Democrats, however, giving workers options is no good. If elite forces in Washington think workers would be better off joining unions, then theyre just going to override the will of individual employees and state governments across the country. Do as they say! Or else! For your own good. Sure, some low-income workers might think their hard-earned dollars are better spent on securing immediate material well-being for them and their families. But Harris thinks their dollars would be better off with a massive and bloated international organization that can help her presidential campaign. I mean, have you seen SEIUs massive mansion across the street from the White House? How could any group so swampy be wrong?

Read more . . .
When you come across a think piece so catastrophically wrong as David Bentley Harts April 27 New York Times column, Can We Please Relax About Socialism? you marvel at the effort, intentional or not. Hart, an Eastern Orthodox theologian and, as the Times puts it a cultural critic, says he knows that, in this country we employ terms like socialism with wanton indifference to historical details and conceptual distinctions. Hes right, but not in the way he thinks hes right.

After nearly 30 years of explaining economic theory to theologians, its clear that Actons work is not done. Fortunately, Acton editors are up to the task of explaining why Harts shambolic defense of socialism was wrong on history, on economics, and shot through with a breathtaking animus towards honest critics of socialism. Heres one example from Harts column:

Only here is the word socialism freighted with so much perceived menace. I take this to be a symptom of our unique national genius for stupidity.

In a new commentary at The Stream, Rev. Ben Johnson looks at the The socialist bizarro world of David Bentley Hart and enumerates five reversals of the paschal call to peace (The Eastern Church celebrated Easter, or Pascha, on Sunday). Im sure Fr. Ben, an Orthodox priest and editor of Actons Religion & Liberty, could have found more reversals. But lets start with the first one:

Reversal 1: Thats Not Real Socialism

Hart wants his readers to believe socialism is just a noble tradition of civic conscientiousness. To pull that off, Hart attacks the dictionary definition of the word. He insists that Venezuela, the USSR, and North Korea never practiced real socialism. Thats a notion Kristian Niemetz comprehensively refutes in his latest book. Then Hart conflates socialism with the most benign intentions of social democracy. This even after European scholars have gone out of their way to clarify that Nordic countries are not socialist.

Read to the end of the piece for Fr. Bens explanation of why Dostoyevsky would understand Harts upside-down decision to spend Holy Week preaching the Gospel of socialism.

When youre done with Fr. Bens devastating critique, stay on the PowerBlog to re-read Joe Carters devastating critique, David Bentley Harts sophomoric defense of socialism.

Home page image: HugoChavezAndNicolasMaduro-MuralOnWall-Venezuela-PublicDomain
A bill under consideration in Illinois would effectively end academic redshirting in the state.

The practice of holding a child out of kindergarten for a year to give the child an advantage over his or her peers is popular among some parents. Others argue that it simply allows a child who isnt ready either academically or socially to mature and perform better.

The proposed law in Illinois would require children in the state to attend kindergarten if they are 5 on or before May 31. Parents of children with summer birthdays would be allowed to decide whether to send them to kindergarten or wait until the following year.

The measure has already passed the state Senate and is under consideration in the state House.

This is really aimed at closing the achievement gap for children, which eventually becomes, unfortunately, the wage gap and the quality of life gap and, way too often, the life expectancy gap, the bills sponsor in the House, Rep. Kam Buckner of Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune .

Bruce Atchison is a principal at the Education Commission of the States , a nonprofit and nonpartisan group of researchers who track policies related to education. He says he doesnt see any drawbacks to the bill.

A child might enter kindergarten pretty far behind in terms of language development and social-emotional development, said Atchison. By requiring children to start school a little bit earlier theres the potential that you are indeed helping to close the achievement gap.

If this bill becomes law, Illinois would join 11 other states that require children to attend kindergarten at 5. Atchison notes that 24 states require attendance at age 6, while 13 do so at age 7. Two states dont require attendance until 8, but Atchison says its rare to see a parent hold their child out that long. The majority of parents put their kids in school as soon as they can, he said.

Katie Colt of Willmette, Ill., supports the bills aim to reduce the achievement gap as well as the flexibility that it gives parents in her situation.

My almost-4 year old has a summer birthday, and while he is physically tall for his age, it will be an important decision we come to as a family when it is time for him to enroll, and given hed be the youngest in his class, I appreciate that option, said Colt.

Katherine OBrien of Chicago also supports the bill. She says Chicago Public Schools already prohibit redshirting, and she thinks having the same policy statewide would make the educational system more equitable.

In other parts of the state, redshirting at parent discretion allows those with the mostly socioeconomic privilege of doing so to game the system in an attempt to give their kids the edge that comes with being older: more mature, physically bigger and stronger, greater executive function, and readiness to learn, said O Brien.

Image by Getty
"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

 ROBERT MUELLER, in a letter to Trump attorney general Bill Barr.

The WaPo reports tonight that Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Bill Barr, in which the special counsel told Trump's handpicked attorney general his charm offensive in advance of the redacted report's release failed to capture the true 'context, nature, and substance' of the report's contents.

In his letter, Mueller made an important demand to Barr: release the 448-page report's introductions and executive summaries. Mueller even offered suggested redactions, Justice Department officials told the Washington Post.

Mueller is effectively saying he was betrayed by Barr.

Barr lied.

From the Washington Post's Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky:

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III wrote a letter in late March complaining to Attorney General William P. Barr that a four-page memo to Congress describing the principal conclusions of the investigation into President Trump "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of Mueller's work, according to a copy of the letter reviewed Tuesday by The Washington Post. At the time the letter was sent on March 27, Barr had announced that Mueller had not found a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian officials seeking to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Barr also said Mueller had not reached a conclusion about whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, but Barr reviewed the evidence and found it insufficient to support such a charge. Days after Barr's announcement, Mueller wrote a previously unknown private letter to the Justice Department, which revealed a degree of dissatisfaction with the public discussion of Mueller's work that shocked senior Justice Department officials, according to people familiar with the discussions. "The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions," Mueller wrote. "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Read the rest: Mueller complained that Barr's letter did not capture 'context' of Trump probe [washingtonpost.com]

Moments after the WaPo piece hit the wires, a parallel and confirming report came out in the New York Times, citing as sources "the Justice Department and three people with direct knowledge of the communication between the two men." Read more: Mueller Objected to Barr's Description of Russia Investigation's Findings [nytimes.com]

And within the hour, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler tweeted, "I have demanded the letter and Barr must answer for this. Mueller must be allowed to testify."
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in jail for skipping bail. Assange took refuge in London's Ecuadorean embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over two alleged sexual assaults, but was finally handed to the police earlier this month.

Sentencing him, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of the offence. "By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK," she said. She said this had "undoubtedly" affected the progress of the Swedish proceedings. His continued residence at the embassy and bringing him to justice had cost taxpayers 16m, she added.

Assange apologized thus:

I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended. I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done  which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears. I regret the course that this took; the difficulties were instead compounded and impacted upon very many others. Whilst the difficulties I now face may have become even greater, nevertheless it is right for me to say this now.

He has trimmed the beard, adds the BBC.
Christ, what an asshole.

Wow, this sure was a moment for the ages in today's Capitol Hill grilling of Trump's coverup man, aka our Attorney General, Bill Barr. What a massive disgrace this guy is, and what damage he is doing to the nation. Watch this video and see how he splits hairs over whether presidential campaigns should maybe contact the FBI when offered hostile dirt on an opponent from a foreign government.

Another doozy of an excerpt from Aaron Rupar's thread.

OMG  Barr hesitates before acknowledging that presidential campaigns that are offered dirt from hostile foreign governments should probably contact the FBI pic.twitter.com/eqFkHjmBJj  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2019

Barr is so transparently bullshitting here pic.twitter.com/CMUPliMqfk  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2019

So much to be shocked by.

"I'm not in the business of determining when lies are told to the American people. I'm in the business of determining when a crime has been committed."

Yes, Attorney General William Barr.

The entire hearing was bizarre.

I just have to say this hearing with the attorney general is totally surreal.  Kasie Hunt (@kasie) May 1, 2019

BARR: "I'm not in the business of determining when lies are told to the American people. I'm in the business of determining when a crime has been committed." pic.twitter.com/ueJvsLNnsQ  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2019

Justifying the means of committing the crimes is usually the last thing the criminal does before the caper is up.

What Kasie said. I'm still replaying Barr saying he doesn't recall if he has discussed criminal investigations with the White House and President Trump. Barr said I had no "substantive" conversations and I can't recall. That's stunning. https://t.co/9o4DGp54IK  Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 1, 2019

53) Mazie Hirono exposed William Barr so badly, Lindsey Graham had to jump in and make a fool of himself just to distract from it.  Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) May 1, 2019
Privacy International's blockbuster Digital Stop and Search report details how British police forces have quietly procured phone-searching tools (including mobile "kiosks" that let them probe devices in the field), often from companies with a track-record of abetting some of the world's worst human rights abusers, and they use these in secret to capture all the data they can from phones taken from suspects, victims and witnesses.



The guidance on the use of these tools is patchwork and incomplete (and many forces wouldn't disclose whether they had any procedures in place for their use). Many services retain the data they harvest indefinitely, and some have been caught storing (and losing) the data without encryption: for example, in 2017 the Greater Manchester Police were found to have lost data from victims of violent and sexual crimes, which had been stored unencrypted on DVDs and sent through the post.





Some of the tools they use have the capacity to crawl cloud accounts connected to mobile devices as well, bringing in data stored off the phone as well as the data stored on the phone. Some tools, like those provided by the notorious Israeli-founded, Japanese owned Cellebrite, can sometimes access encrypted data on devices.





Police forces rarely if ever inform people that they've had their data taken, and they provide no information on which data they've taken nor on how it's being used nor on how it's being stored.





Police do not obtain warrants before searching phones.

Police in the UK have now told survivors of sex crimes that their cases will not be pursued unless they surrender their phones.

Searching a mobile phone is not like searching a home or even a physical body search. A phone search is far more exhaustive, because of the vast amount of personal data that we now store on our devices. Modern mobile phones are not just phones, but mini computers that hold thousands of pictures, videos and apps and track our location, all of which can reveal so much about us, and potentially even our friends' and family's political, sexual and religious identities. Given the sensitive nature and breadth of data stored on mobile phones and other electronic devices, Privacy International believes that PACE is insufficient and outdated to justify its wholesale extraction. There must be a clear legal basis for such action, national and local guidance, and the police should be required to obtain a judicially-authorised warrant prior to using extractive tools. As noted in the landmark US ruling of Riley v California64, an element of pervasiveness characterises mobile phones with data that can go back years and shed light on nearly every aspect of a person's life. The US Supreme Court ruled that whilst data on a mobile phone is not immune from search, a warrant is generally required before such a search, even in connection with an arrest. The warrant requirement was held to be "an important working part of our machinery of government", not merely "an inconvenience to be somehow 'weighed' against the claims of police efficiency".

Digital stop and search: how the UK police can secretly download everything from your mobile phone [Privacy International]





(via Dan Hon)





(Image: Cellebrite)
If you went to a showing of 'Avengers:Endgame' last Thursday/Friday in Southern California, read on, there's a list of showings that authorities say *may have been* exposure sites for measles.

The LA Times reports that "Orange County officials say a woman with measles may have exposed others in the region to the contagious disease, including people who were at a midnight showing of "Avengers: Endgame" in Fullerton late Thursday/early Friday."

This is a highly contagious disease that is fully preventable by a decades old vaccine.

Almost all cases of measles in the U.S. begin with people who traveled to countries where measles is prevalent.

The latest measles outbreak in L.A. County this year began when an area resident visited Vietnam earlier in 2019 and contracted measles, officials say.

That contaminated individual then spread measles to three other people in L.A. County.

From the Los Angeles Times:
Russia claims did not tell Venezuela's Maduro to flee, disputes Pompeo and Bolton

The crisis in oil-rich Venezuela has a number of interested parties, one of which is Russia.

On Wednesday, Russia rejected allegations put forth by Trump administration members Mike Pompeo and John Bolton that the Russian government had "persuaded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to flee the country the previous day, calling the assertion a calculated attempt to demoralise the army and escalate the crisis there," Reuters reports.

Excerpt:

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told broadcaster CNN on Tuesday that Maduro was prepared to leave the country that morning in the face of a call for an uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaido, but reversed his plan after Russia intervened. Pompeo suggested Maduro had been planning to fly to Cuba, which Maduro himself has since dismissed. Russia, which has acted as a lender of last resort to Venezuela and supplied it with weapons, has accused the United States of trying to foment a coup against Maduro, someone Moscow counts as one of its closest allies in Latin America. Asked to comment on Pompeo's comments, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said they were part of an "information war". "This was absolute disinformation and fake news," she said. Washington realised that the army's continued support was crucial for Maduro which was why it was focusing its efforts on trying to sow doubt in it ranks, she added. Venezuelans were expected to take to the streets on Wednesday, a day after Guaido called for the military to oust Maduro. Zakharova said the United States had in the past waged a similar disinformation campaign about Syrian President Bashar-al Assad, another close Russian ally, which had flopped.

The Kremlin said Russia has sent 100 "military specialists" to Caracas to help out.

Mike Pompeo is scheduled to discuss Venezuela with Russia's Sergei Lavrov today, White House national security adviser John Bolton told reporters this morning.

"This is our hemisphere," Bolton said. "It's not where the Russians ought to be interfering."

Might tell that to your boss, mustache-man.

Read more: Russia denies U.S. claim it told Venezuela's Maduro not to flee

PHOTO: Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks next to Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and Remigio Ceballos Strategic Operational Commander of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, during a broadcast at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela April 30, 2019. Miraflores Palace/Handout
Senior Google employees Meredith Whittaker and Claire Stapleton were key organizers of last year's string of googler protests, including the 20,000-employee walkout over the company tolerance and rewarding of execs who engaged in sexual harassment; last month, Whittaker and Stapleton revealed that they had been targeted for retaliation by the company; now, a group of googlers around the world have staged another walkout in solidarity with Whittaker and Stapleton, this one a "sit-and-knit" that was also held in solidarity with women who've had their sexual harassment claims mishandled by Google.


Over the weekend, someone set fire to two dozen bee colonies in Alvin, Texas belonging to the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association. The perpetrator also dumped some of the bee boxes into a nearby pond. The Beekepers Association and the police are offering rewards for information leading to the conviction of the idiot who did it. From KTRK-TV:

"We're looking at 500,000 to 600,000 that have been destroyed out of that environment," said (beekeeping supplier Steve Brackmann)





"It takes a long time to establish a colony," Brackmann said. "It can take a year to get a full one, but the queens were probably killed, which means those that survived have nowhere to go."





One comment on Facebook referred to it as ecoterrorism, and Brackmann doesn't disagree with that. Bee populations are dropping rapidly across the country because of insecticides and herbicides which take away the plants on which bees forage.
Stephen Moore, the gold bug economics writer nominated by Trump for the board of the Federal Reserve, has a history of making racist and misogynist statements. For example, in 2000 he told C-Span:

"It's not a good thing that black women are making more than black men today. In fact, the male needs to be the breadwinner of the family, and one of the reasons I think you've seen the decline of the family, not just in the black community, but also it's happening now in the white community as well, is because women are more economically self-sufficient. So, I would like to see an increase in black earnings because black men have not closed the gap as much as black women have."

And after Trump was elected, Moore told an audience how much he "loved" a racist joke about the Obama family:

"By the way, did you see, there's that great cartoon going along? A New York Times headline: 'First Thing Donald Trump Does As President Is Kick a Black Family Out of Public Housing,' and it has Obama leaving the White House. I mean, I just love that one. Just a great one."

This week, when Moore was interviewed by PBS and shown video clips of his statements, he seemed to have trouble defending them.

.@StephenMoore explains his 2016 joke about Donald Trump moving into the White House and kicking "a black family out of public housing." Moore says, "That is a joke I always made," adding he didn't mean it "like a black person" lived there. "I shouldn't have said it," he says. pic.twitter.com/9EO9JzBgtW  Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) April 30, 2019

.@StephenMoore said "the male needs to be the breadwinner of the family" in 2000. He now says he "shouldn't have said that." Watch how he puts it now. pic.twitter.com/lBddLYqLPF  Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) April 30, 2019

Via New York Magazine

Image: Twitter
News / National

by Staff reporter

Bulawayo Publicity Association (BPA) has been given the opportunity to market the City of Kings and Queens and the country at large in South Africa after it was invited to exhibit at Africa's Travel Indaba in Durban.The exhibition runs from tomorrow till Saturday at the Durban International Convention centre."Africa's Travel Indaba is a premier travel show like our own Sanganai/Hlanganani World Travel Expo. This show is hosted by Durban on an annual basis to create business linkages for players in the tourism industry and its support industries," Tshuma said."This show attracts players from various countries, therefore, as a means of increasing our promotional efforts and attracting investment and tourism into Bulawayo, the association decided to take part in this year's edition and will endeavour to do so in other upcoming similar shows."BPA has set up meetings with potential partners and investors with the hope that they will invest in the country's second city."I have already set up a number of appointments with potential partners, investors and I hope that this will generate more traffic into Bulawayo. The exhibition is also part of promoting the brand Bulawayo in line with the national rebranding exercise led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa."We have Bulawayo to showcase and we will be handing out DVDs with information about the City of Bulawayo. The exhibition is an opportunity that should not be taken for granted because this offers a great opportunity of turning Bulawayo tourism around," he said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

National carrier, Air Zimbabwe, yesterday took delivery of an Embraer ERJ145 aircraft bought from the US as efforts to revive its fortunes gather momentum.The plane landed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport yesterday morning.Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa revealed the development during her weekly presentation of the Cabinet decision matrix."The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development (Joel Biggie Matiza) informed Cabinet that the long-awaited Embraer plane has now been delivered to the country, having landed at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport around 9AM," she said."This marks a significant step in efforts to revive the national airline, Air Zimbabwe." Minister Matiza told the briefing that President Mnangagwa was expected to launch the aeroplane soon."The plane will be flying regional and domestic routes, although the specific routes have not been done yet, but that will be done once we do our inaugural flight which will be graced by His Excellency the President," Minister Matiza said.Apart from the Embraer plane, Air Zimbabwe is also expected to take delivery of two Boeing 777-200 ERs and they are expected in the country soon.The acquisition comes at a time when the airline's only plane that was operational hit birds on Friday while flying from Bulawayo to Harare resulting in sparks coming from the engine.It experienced a malfunction on one of its engines resulting in a brief tail pipe fire as it was flying from Johannesburg to Harare on Sunday.In an interview earlier yesterday Air Zimbabwe corporate affairs manager, Mr Tafadzwa Mazonde said: "Government has delivered on its commitment and promise to resuscitate Air Zimbabwe after the national airline took delivery today of the first additional aircraft, an Embraer ERJ145 purchased from the United States of America. The 50-seater jet is expected to go through the local registration process as well as all mandatory checks, tests and certification before it enters into service within the next 21 days."Mr Mazonde said all the crew and engineers licensed for the aircraft have been drawn from within the current human capital pool, a sign of the high level of competent skills available in Zimbabwe.News of the new plane's delivery came as the airline also said yesterday investigations into the incident in which its Boeing 767-200ER's left tail light caught fire as it was flying from Johannesburg to Harare was complete. In a statement, Air Zimbabwe said the fire was as a result of a foreign object ingestion on the left engine at take-off and the engine has since been replaced."The left engine has since been replaced. Mandatory test flights and checks have been successfully carried out. The aircraft is expected back in service in the evening on Tuesday, 30 April 2019," reads the statement.The airline, which has been consistently underperforming in the last few years, was placed under reconstruction on October 4 this year in terms of the Reconstruction of State-Indebted Insolvent Companies Act (Chapter 24:27). It is under the administration of Mr Reggie Saruchera of Grant Thornton whose mandate is to turn around the bottom line of the national airline.The move was designed to allow Air Zimbabwe an opportunity to clear its debt thought to be upwards of $334 million. During the reconstruction process, all payments towards debts accrued by the company prior to October 4 last year, would be temporarily suspended and settled in terms of this process.Air Zimbabwe, like most parastatals, has been going through difficult times for a long period due to mismanagement, resulting in its withdrawal from the lucrative Harare-London to avoid the seizure of its aircraft.One of Air Zimbabwe's long haul aircraft, a Boeing 767-200 popularly known as Victoria Falls, was impounded by American General Supplies at Gatwick International Airport in London in December 2011 over debts amounting to $1,2 million.In 1980, Air Zimbabwe had 18 aircraft flying into 31 destinations but it is now limited to Harare-Johannesburg, Harare-Bulawayo and Harare-Victoria Falls and Harare-Dar es Salaam routes.
By Damali Mukhaye.

The opposition members of parliament are slated to conduct parallel consultation of farmers growing sugar cane on the sugar bill which has been put on halt.

President Museveni yesterday stopped parliament from debating the sugar bill 2016 which was reintroduced on ground that it does not address concerns of big manufacturers of sugar.

Addressing journalists in parliament, the Mukono MP Betty Nambooze says that they are also going to be led by the leader of opposition to conduct parallel consultations as Museveni is also doing consultations.

She says that president Museveni should not take over the role of MP asserting that farmers should always be protected by the government rather than concentrating on manufactures only.

Related Stories.

M7 to bring back sugar bill
News / National

by Mandla Ndlovu

Required are suitably qualified candidates to be trained as Officer Cadets to fill existing vacancies within the Zimbabwe National Army.Candidates should: Have a minimum of six (6) points at 'A' level and 5 'O' level passes with grade 'C' or better including English Language and Mathematics. Any higher qualification is an added advantage. Be aged between 18 -22 years for 'A' level holders and up to 24 years for those with Diplomas and / or Degrees. Be single. Be of minimum height of I 68cm for males and 155 cm for females. Should weigh not less than 57 kgs for ma les and 55 kgs for females.Applicants to check on reporting dates and selection centres in their respective provinces over period 06 to 30 May 2019 on the following contact details:Matabeleland North Province Headquarters 1 Infantry Brigade (Mzilikazi Barracks) Bulawayo telephone number (0292 209436).Matabeleland South Province Headquarters Bulawayo District (Lookout Masuku Barracks) Bulawayo telephonenumber(029266687).Mashonaland East Province Headquarters 2 Infantry Brigade (Kaguvi Barracks) Harare telephone number (0242743446).Manicaland Province Headquarters 3 Infantry Brigade (Herbert Chitepo Barracks) Mutate telephone number(0202063002).Masvingo Province Headquarters 4 Infantry Brigade (Gaya Musungwa Zvishavane Barracks) Masvingo telephonenumber (0392263187).Mashonaland West Province Headquarters Mechanised Brigade (Inkomo Barracks) telephone number (067 2192497).Mashonaland Central Province Headquarters Artillery Brigade, Domboshava telephone number 0242336372).Midlands Province Headquarters 5 Infantry Brigade, Kwekwe telephone number (05525 70375). Successful candidates will undergo selection at the Zimbabwe Military Academy in Gweru on dates to be advised at the above military camps. This will be followed by 18 months training programme at the Zimbabwe Military Academy. On completion of t he course, candidates will be commissioned as SecondCandidates are to report at the aforementioned centres with original and certified photocopies of:> National Identity Card.> Long Birth Certificate.> Educational Certificates.> Professional Certificates.> Reference letters from previous employers, colleges/schools or Chiefs/ Headmen /Village Heads.Candidates who face difficulties in contacting Formation Headquarters in their respective provinces are to inquire with the Zimbabwe National Army Recruiting Office in Harare on the following telephone numbers; (0242-707459) or (0242- 793262).Package: In addition to a good remuneration, the Army provides: Free uniforms. Free medical and dental care. Housing and transport allowance Generous leave conditions.The ZNA does not engage third parties in the recruitment process nor charge a fee on applicants.
News / National

by Staff reporter

The MDC and labour federation the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) have both threatened rolling mass action "to bring independence" to the country.MDC leader Nelson Chamisa told a paltry crowd gathered by the ZCTU to commemorate Workers Day on Wednesday that he has the capacityThe MDC leader has consistently claimed he was robbed of victory in last year's presidential election despite a Constitutional Court petition failing dismally for lack of evidence to support his claims of rigging.Government early this week claimed it had unearthed a sinister plot by the opposition, civil society groups and unnamed foreigners to topple Mnangagwa. But Chamisa said the government's failure to resolve the economic crisis could trigger social upheaval.Mutasa also warned the labour federation could be forced to consult workers and ordinary Zimbabweans to roll out protests.Home Affairs Minister Cain Mathema this week declared government would use brute force to quell any attempts to remove Mnangagwa from power through protests.
Opinion / Columnist

The struggle for emancipation by the Zimbabwean workers has its roots in the happening of the late 19th Century. After obtaining the Rudd concession the whites did not stop but rushed to obtain the royal charter from the Queen of England. If one reads this colonial document together with the Rudd concession they would realise that it was these documents that stripped the Zimbabwean people of their right to own resources and turned them ito labourers. The 1893 and 1896 rebellions were efforts by our ancestor to reject being reduced into second class citizens. THE First Chimurenga was not only a fascinating protest and African struggle and rallying against colonialism but a rejection of the colonial socio-economic system. However due to superiority of fire power we lost and the whole nation was turn into a reserve of labourer for the emerging Rhodesian state.The Africans were forced into tribal trust land while the whites not only took the best farming lands but also began to fashion out an industry, because of harsh economic conditions in the reserves blacks found no choice but to turn to the whites for wage labour. Gradually a new type of African man who depended on wage labour emerged. To keep the Africans coming the whites not only treated these workers as subhuman but offered them very low wages. As early as 1910 the Afrikans began to organise themselves to challenge not only the low wages but the whole ideas of having to be treated as subhuman yet they were the means by which the white economy grew. In 1914, the Matabele National Home Movement became vocal in denouncing plans to reduce the size of reserves which was a means to further impoverish the Afrikans so that they could provide cheap labour to the white.In 1922, there was a referendum on whether to have ties with South Africa but only 60 out of the 900 000 African workers and their families were eligible to vote. In response, Abraham Twala, a Zulu Anglican teacher wrote: "Experience has taught us that our salvation does not lie in Downing Street." Surprising that it's now over 100 years and yet we the Afrikan workers are still yoked to the same forces that forced Twala to sound these words of protest. Experience should be teaching us that our salvation does not lie at the factory door but it lies in parliament. Experience should be teach us that our salvation does not lie at the tripartite negotiating table but lies in the August house that fashion the laws.Our predecessors realised that and they began to rally behind the ideas of revolutionary men like Twala. Twala went on to form the Rhodesian Bantu Voters' Association. The Federation of Bulawayo African Workers' Union led by Jasper Savanhu and the African Workers' Voice Association led by Benjamin Burombo and other nationalist movements continued to gather momentum. These Zimbabwean forerunners of the workers movement organised being pushed by the realisation that a cry for better wages was not the solution. Instead they realised that the solution was to take over the seat of power. Their quest though disguised as a struggle for the right to vote was aimed at taking over government so that they could place the plight of the Zimbabwean worker in the hands of the workers themselves.Meanwhile the Zimbabwean society at the hands of the colonialist continued to evolve especially because of the post Land Apportionment Act dislodgments (post-1930); the Land Husbandry Act (1951); urbanisation; the developments of the Federal era where the politics of 'racial partnership' of the United Federal Party (UFP) regime increasingly wedged the gap between 'modern' Africans(the 'Master farmers', the educated elites and other groups of middle-classAfricans) and 'traditional', poor (mainly rural dwellers) Africans. An array of taxes including the hut tax, effected in 1894, dog tax, cattle tax, among others and forced labour on farms, forests and mines and other forms of slavery continued to inspired our worker ancestors to take the fight to parliament.White colonial repression continued to mount while a disguise of racial harmony was advocated and dangled by the proponents of racial partnership.The objective was to pacify the workers' quest for self-determination and to emerge new African elites to bridge the racial divide but playing second fiddle to the white liberals. The idea was to divert and subvert the gains of the noble workers' revolution while perpetuation white supremacy and entrenching the hold of capitalists on the political and political power. Experience surely should have taught us that agents of capital never allies of the workers' revolution. Experience should have taught us that the war is not won by piece meal concessions or negotiated settlements.In 1945, the first major offensive by workers occurred Zimbabwean Railways workers downed tools bringing that sector to a standstill. The same year the African National Congress (ANC) was revived under the leadership of Reverend Thompson Samkange giving rise vibrant worker revolutionaries like Benjamin Burombo taking the colonialists head on. In 1951 the Native Land Husbandry Act which forced rural families to reduce their cattle herds and change land tenure practices was introduced to cow down the workers' efforts. In August 1955 the workers' revolutionary crescendo took a pitch higher when four young workers, James Chikerema, George Nyandoro, Edson Sithole and Dunduza Chisiza formed the City Youth League which later changed to the African National Youth League (ANYL). This grouping later emerged as political and military leaders bend on and propelled by the desire to see the total emancipations of the Zimbabwean workers.Feeling the heat, the settlers declared a State of Emergency in 1959. The ANC which had taken over was banned with 500 of its members getting arrested and 300 detained. The unrelenting worker formed the National Democratic Party (NDP) on January 1 1960 with an interim executive of Michael Mawena who was the president of the party, deputised by Morton Malianga. On July 19 1960, three members of the NDP were arrested and these were Mawema, Leopold Takawira and Samkange. They were sentenced to five years imprisonment or pay fines of 1 000 pounds each. In the backdrop of all this, the NDP was banned in December 1961, three days after the 1961 Constitution was put into effect. On December 171961, the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) was formed, 10 days after the banning of NDP. Joshua Nkomo was president while Samuel Parirenyatwa was the Vice President, Ndabaningi Sithole, chairman, Jason Moyo, was treasurer, Robert Mugabe was information and publicity secretary and Takawira was external secretary, at the request of Joseph Msika. The following year, ZAPU was banned but this time there was no stopping the popular movement. On August 8 1963 ZANU formed leading to the execution of the war which was eventually won by blacks.From this time on things began to change. The whites realised how determined the workers were especially with the liberation of Malawi and Zambia. They entrenched their hold on Zimbabwe declaring UDI in 1965. The majority of the leaders of the workers' revolution were put behind bars. It also became clear to the workers that they had to take up arms. In 1966 our forerunners sought arms and began a protracted war which lasted until 1980. This war threatened the whole capitalist fabric which the whites had created. Our detractors became wiser. The capitalists slowly began to sneak into our struggle their agents. Men and women who had been groomed to take over and subvert the revolution. The top leadership of our political and military wing were then captured by agents of imperialism and capital who were given top government posts at independence.Instead of giving up they devised ways to subvert the struggle. Using their handler, Anglo American Corporation they began to penetrate our struggle and persuaded us to the negotiating table. In 1979 during the famous Lancaster House conference they tricked us into thinking that we had won. In 1980 they sent a Lord Sormes to come and preside over a paper independence. We rejoiced thinking we had won only to realise later that the real core of production was still in their hands and we remained the same. Workers! Experience should have taught us that independence is no independence without owning all aspects of the production system.We, the workers (students, farmers, traders, citizens in diaspora and citizens of the Republic of Zimbabwe) realise that Zimbabwe is our land and here by commit to take charge of the social, economic, environmental and political processes that enable this country to go forward. Unfortunately, because of naivety, greed and corruption we created divisions among our ranks and let our erstwhile enemies creep back in and subvert the revolution. As a result all arms of government remain captured by agents of capital and neo-colonialism and they have through the years systematically undermined the people's government. For them perpetuate control they continue to lead an onslaught on wage labour reducing all workers and citizens into destitution.The case of the Zimbabwean worker today is a sad story which has seen over 80% of the working class living below the living wage. The remainder of Zimbabwean workers were forced to seek economic refugee in foreign lands where they not only sell their labour cheaply but work under conditions which can be referred to as modern day slavery. These gallant sons and daughters of the Zimbabwean soil are riling under xenophobic attacks in countries like South Afrika and Botswana. To make matters worse the agents of imperialism stripped Zimbabwe of its national dignity by taking away its investment power the Zimbabwean dollar. Without a local currency Zimbabwe is not able to create meaningful wealth to cause economic growth. In the year 1999 we the workers formed the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to try to avert a looming economic crisis. Unfortunately the neo-colonialists saw through our vision and sneaked into our ranks and again diverted our revolutionary efforts. Instead of championing the cause of the citizens the MDC is now working to advance the interests of our former colonisers. This has been evidenced by its call for the imposition of sanctions on our motherland and the creation of an atmosphere of political intolerance and hate. It is also sad to realise that despite having given birth to MDC we, the workers and citizens no longer have a voice in the movement.We the workers and disadvantaged groups of Zimbabwe also realise the spirit of Pan Afrikanism which fueled the revolutions for political emancipation resulting the formation of the Organization of Afrikan Union has died. We therefore take it upon ourselves to work starting in Zimbabwe to rekindle this flame and push fellow workers throughout Afrika to redirect the Afrikan effort towards getting Afrika take her seat at the table of continents on an equal footing. In doing so we want to go into the world wielding our formidable resource and labour power which for years has been used to develop Europe and the United States of America. It's no robbery for Afrikan labourers to demand the humane treatment of the Afrikan and the refusal by Afrika to be referred to as a third world. We have developed cultural values and technologies which have contributed immensely to the modernization of the world and demand fair treatment.To redirect our efforts to achieve full economic potential with a generational mandate we have decided to regroup under a new banner. In a show of resilience we are reorganizing as Labour, Economists Afrikan Democrats (LEAD). In this renewed existence we want to apply all our efforts towards reclaiming our revolution for the Zimbabweanness.Experience has taught us that the issue is not about salaries.Experience has taught us that the issue is note about the cost of living. Experience has taught us that it's not about prizes of goods.Experience has taught us that it's all about governance.As long as we the workers are not in government nothing will change. We will not stop until we have taken over government. We will not stop until all the means of productions are in the hands of a worker's government. We will not stop until we have created a social democratic society directed by a workers' government it's time to LEAD!!!! Together we can!!!!!Vanhu Tese!!!!!! Abantu Sonke!!!!!Linda Tsungirirai MasariraLEAD President
Opinion / Columnist

It's all gloomy faces across the country as workers celebrate the workers day with empty stomachs.May Day is a public holiday usually celebrated on 1 May. It is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the festivities.In the late 19th century, May Day was chosen as the date for International Workers' Day by the Socialists and Communists of the Second International to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago. International Workers' Day can also be referred to as "May Day", but it is a different celebration from the traditional May Day.Zimbabwean workers have been exposed and vulnerable to wantonly price hikes with poor remuneration.Companies are closing down and laying off workers. Workers are working under very tough conditions and not having enough protection. Miners are being trapped in mines. Safety of workers has not been spelt well to most of the workers and they work under squalid conditions.We don't have any factories and functional industries to talk about in the country. Most workers have been working for more than six months without any payment in anticipation that one day they will get their salaries.Workers of late have been now donating labour in Zimbabwe and their pensions have been heavily eroded for the past 10 years. A Zimbabwean worker has become the most useless person in our motherland as they toil all year around with nothing to show off at the end of he year.Farmers have not been spared. Farming inputs are always hard to access and farmers get a raw deal at the markets with their produce fetching very low prices.It is sad to learn that most of the workers in Zimbabwe have been reduced to street vendors. What is there to celebrate if people can't afford to put a decent meal on their tables? Workers cannot afford to access medication which is beyond their reach.Workers have been working very hard for their families. Internet data has gone up whilst the prices of most basic commodities have shot up. It is sad to learn that most of the workers in Zimbabwe have been reduced to street vendors. The country is in dire need of spiritual intervention. Vendors are finding it hard too everywhere. Things have fallen apart. Most mining towns have become ghost towns. Workers have been shortchanged and all hope has been lost.The dilapidation and erosion of the workers moral has been a cause of concern. Inflation is spiralling upwards and the days of 2008 are beckoning. Zimbabwe is waiting to celebrate the real workers day where workers will celebrate what they have worked for.My only experience of the workers day celebrations were during the time when the late Dr Morgan Tsvangirayi was a President of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union. Every time he delivered his commemoration speeches on the podium to address the crowd everybody would clap their hands. Those were days when the government listened to the plight of workers both serving in the public and private sector.Our government has dismally failed to address issues affecting the workers at national level. Workers rights are being abused everyday and no one takes action. Workers are being fired without being represented.It is regrettable that most of the young workers have not seen a pay slip in Zimbabwe. Corruption is so rampant and it has been a cancerous disease in the country. The government has failed to implement issues to do with workers social welfare.ContactsFacebook - Leonard KoniTwitter - @LeokoniWhatsApp - +27616868508Email - konileonard606@gmail.com
5 Questions to Ask Before Moving in Together

Should You Move In Together? What to Consider Before Living With a Partner

Moving in together is undoubtedly one of those major milestones you cross in a long-term relationship. It suggests that youre ready to take on new responsibilities together with a future in sight. Youre even willing to deal with each others potentially irritating quirks on a daily basis. If thats not true love, what is? But given all that it entails, this is not a move that should be made hastily. There are certain things you should know about your partner  and your relationship  in order to ensure smooth sailing once you become roomies.

RELATED: Moving a Relationship Forward

Moving in together has the potential to make or break your relationship  after all, youre about to be sharing a bathroom, divvying up household chores and paying bills together.That, my friend, means a whole new level of intimacy you may not have experienced before. The more information youre armed with from the get-go, the greater your chances of making a wise decision. So before you sign a lease and start packing up those boxes, be sure to ask yourself these key questions:

1. Is It Too Soon?

Its pretty difficult to determine an exact timeline for which a couple should move in together. Thats because it depends on so many other factors that can be more meaningful than time, such as whether youve had honest conversations about your future goals, bounced back from a big fight or navigated a challenging problem together. That said, according to a 2015 study, most couples (37 percent, to be exact) become roommates after dating for six months to a year.

Dr. LeslieBeth Wish, a nationally recognized licensed psychotherapist, says that waiting at least six months before moving in together is a reasonable benchmark to abide by.

More importantly, though, is what you've learned about yourself, your partner, and your relationship within the time frame that youve been together, she adds.

Hows the quality of your communication? When it comes to where you want to live, starting (or not starting) a family, and other major points, does it seem like your visions of the future are aligned? These are the kinds of things to think about as you prepare to move in together. David Schlamm, founder and CEO of City Connections Realty, says its also crucial to know that you have a healthy way of dealing with conflict.

Youll need to manage each other's expectations as there are going to be fights and disagreements  and now, you can't just go home when that happens, he says.

2. Are We Doing This for the Right Reasons?

Why are you moving in together? And more specifically, why now? If your answer has something to do with feeling pressured or wanting to save on rent, you may want to rethink your decision. If you rush things and move in together for the wrong reasons, theres a chance it could take a hefty toll on your relationship.

According to Wish, its natural to feel some pressure to move in with your partner if all of the couples you know are doing the same. If one of you is struggling to make ends meet, you may also feel obligated to become roommates because it just makes sense financially. Theres also the possibility that your partner could have given you an ultimatum about moving in together by a certain time, Either way, moving in together for any of those reasons is unwise.

Ask yourself, do we form a good and formidable problem-solving team? says Wish. What differing skills and assessment abilities do we each bring? A wise choice of partner will add to your abilities.

If you feel genuinely excited to take this step because youre confident that you and your partner are super compatible, youre prepared to communicate about your needs and expectations. If you can genuinely see a future with them, then those are all good signs that youre moving in together for the right reasons.

3. Can We Still Respect Each Others Individual Space?

When you live by yourself, you can invite your buddies over to watch a playoff game whenever you please. Once you and your significant other become roomies, however, you have to factor them into these decisions. Thats why Laurie Malonson, a realtor for Keller-Williams in Massachusetts, recommends getting a sense of your partners needs for space and solitude before moving in with them.

While having this honest discussion, Malonson suggests asking what your partner is OK with when it comes to get-togethers and guests at your home. How do they feel about family members dropping by unannounced? Do they need a certain amount of alone time during the weeknights? Once you hash this out, you can determine how to be respectful of each others needs.

4. Are We on the Same Page About Finances?

Money is an awkward topic, no doubt. But you know whats even more awkward? When your partner cant pay their share of the rent because theyve blown an entire paycheck on strange items from Amazon.. Thats why Schlamm recommends having a pretty strong sense of not only your partners income, but also their spending habits.

Be transparent about your finances and make sure both of you agree on the financial responsibilities of living together, he says.

Rent and utilities are not the only financial responsibilities youll share, either. Youll also be buying groceries and household cleaning products on a regular basis. Malonson recommends figuring out how youll be handling all of those responsibilities ahead of time. Will you switch off doing the weekly shopping, or will you shop together and one person will Venmo the other? Will one person take care of grocery expenses while the other covers another cost of living together? These are all things to discuss to avoid problems down the line when it comes time to pay for things.

5. Are We Compatible in Terms of Cleanliness?

Needless to say, if your significant other is a slob and youre a neat freak, theres bound to be some tension once you move in together. Thats not to say you cant cohabitate happily, however. As with almost anything else in a relationship, its all about communication and compromise. In other words, dont expect your partner to change if you dont bring it to their attention that their habits bug you.

In relationships in general, we can learn to live with each other's peculiarities and habits, however, in day-to-day close proximity, those little differences can become glaring problems, says Malonson. For instance, some people can live with clutter around and be quite relaxed while for others a cluttered environment causes undeniable angst. Having open, honest discussions about needs and expectations before taking the leap will go a long way to a smoother adjustment period, or may reveal some very good reasons to wait.

RELATED: How to Keep a Relationship Interesting

Schlamm recommends talking about any concerns about neatness before you move in together, so you can figure out how to coexist peacefully. For example, you might set some basic guidelines for maintaining your sanity, such as no leaving dirty laundry talk about how youll divvy up the chores.

Moving in together is definitely not a decision to be made hastily. And the more you know about your partner and potential roomie, the better prepared you are to embark on this new chapter with ease. By simply asking yourself these questions, youll be able to figure out what each of you needs to do to build a harmonious home together.

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Professionals Share Their Tips for College Grads

Nine Super Successful People Share Their Advice for New College Grads

Graduation is a major milestone in anyones life. Not only is it a time to celebrate the culmination of all youve worked for over the past four years, its a time to prepare for the exciting yet precarious world of #adulting that lies ahead.

Youre bidding farewell to campus, classmates, late-night study seshes and rousing rounds of beer pong, and entering into a new phase of your life  one that doesnt include semesters and spring break. It might feel daunting to leave student life behind, but you should take this time as an opportunity to reflect on your accomplishments of the past and find inspiration for your future.

RELATED: Executives Share Their Best Career Advice for 2019

While motivational commencement speeches can be a good source of inspiration, they can also be cliche and unrealistic. So to give you a little boost for the journey ahead, we checked in with professionals from a wide array of fields and asked them to share their best advice for new college grads.

Even if you sported your polyester grad gown decades ago, these words of wisdom are sure to come in handy.

1. Always Be Learning

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Just because you're graduating doesnt mean you have to put your zest for learning on the shelf. Always be on the lookout for exciting new opportunities. Learning does not stop after graduation, says Dr. Velimir Petkov, Medical Director at Premier Podiatry in Clifton, NJ.

Whether its attending conferences or taking part-time courses, Petkov recommends finding ways to continue to learn and develop new skills  not only in the post-grad phase but throughout your career. Look into adding a professional certificate or two to your resume. There are [certificates] suitable for both newcomers and seasoned professionals in most industries.

2. Find Mentors

While its important to dream big as a graduate, its also important to get some concrete information from the people who are living out your dream job scenario on the daily. If you have an idea of the field you'll be going into, look around for people whose jobs appeal to you and ask what they had to do to get there, suggests Raffi Bilek, LCSW-C at Baltimore Therapy Center.

Bilek notes that many grads leave school without a lot of information on how to turn their degree into a career. Having a conversation with a mentor or a person whose career you would like to emulate will not only help you make connections in your industry, but it will help you construct a tangible plan to reach your goals. Ask questions such as, what kind of license might I need? How important is marketing to get to where you got? Would you recommend taking a business class? Find out what you don't know you don't know.

3. Dont Get Too Hung up on Salary

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From student loans and rent to groceries, leaving the student world behind also often means taking on more adult expenses. While you might be inclined to take the job that offers the highest salary, there are other factors to consider. It is very unpopular to tell a new graduate that after spending more than four years in school that they need to not care about finding a job that pays a lot of money. [However], the most effective way to get ahead is to learn about the industry at any cost, even if that means working for free or for very little money, says David Reischer, Esq. Attorney & CEO of LegalAdvice.com.

Of course, you should always ensure you have enough savings to take care of yourself and stay out of debt, but if you can afford to work at a lower salary for a little while, it could pay off in the long run. The clearest indicator of commitment to a future employer is when a person wants to learn and money is a secondary factor. As such, a new graduate needs to get a few years of experience under their belt in their industry before they can command a high salary.

RELATED: MVMT Founder Jake Kassans Tips for Professional Success

4. Know That Success Takes Time

You might feel like you need to land your dream job and start working your way towards a spot on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list as soon as you leave campus, but try not to get caught up in other peoples success stories and focus on your own journey. As we look to stories in the media of tech prodigies such as Mark Zuckerberg, our society is becoming increasingly obsessed with early achievement. These stories often make the rest of us feel like if we aren't prodigies, we've failed. But the fact of the matter is, many of us are late bloomers who might have talents and passions that arent visible to others initially. says Forbes publisher and author of Late Bloomers, Rich Karlgaard.

Its OK to not be entirely sure of your post-grad path. Dabble in the waters and open yourself up to new experiences. There is evidence that people who stay engaged in new activities rather than falling into repetitive jobs and internships right away actually enjoy intellectual advantages over their more fixed counterparts in the work world. Don't be afraid to explore and develop your own timeline for success.

5. Dont Forget to Take Care of Your Health

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While you might think you need to hustle 24/7 to accomplish your goals and kick ass in the workplace, you wont be doing yourself any favors if you arent taking care of your body mentally and physically. Prepare your mind and body like a pro athlete. Be certain that you're getting the adequate amount of sleep and exercise, organize your personal life and find yourself in an environment that will allow you to thrive, says Ron Rudzin, CEO of Saatva.

Mental health, too, should not be ignored. It's important to be aware of your mental health, anticipating tough situations at work and having positive thoughts. It's hard to be successful if you're not keeping track of these small but vital areas of life outside of business hours.

6. Be You

Yes, be yourself is fairly cliche advice, but its built up such a popular reputation for a reason. As Douglas Merrill, CEO of ZestFinance and former CIO of Google says: Wear your own shoes, not someone elses. Everyone will tell you who you should be, how you should dress and whether you (like me) should wear nail polish. Black nail polish is not for everyone, which is cool, but its part of me. Dont tell me that so-and-so wont take me seriously if I wear it. If thats true, so-and-so is never going to take me seriously.

Of course, every workplace will have its own unique set of rules, including a dress code to abide by, but following company protocol shouldnt come at the cost of suppressing who you are. They hired you to be you, not Michael down the hall.

7. Clean up Your Social Media

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Before you start firing out your resume, take some time to comb through your social media profiles. You might not have anything incriminating on the gram, but that photo from last spring breaks tequila shot competition isnt something your interviewer needs to see. Headhunters, recruiters and the executives where you apply will all want to know about your background, says Reuben Yonatan, Founder and CEO of GetVOIP.

Unfortunately for your generation and everyone behind you, your social media is going to be scrutinized during the hiring process. None of this is to say that you can't have a personal opinion, but you should present yourself as someone a company won't be afraid will turn into a liability three to six months down the road. Look at your profile, tagged photos and exchanges on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc and adjust your privacy settings if you want to keep certain things private.

RELATED: Sensible Career Advice to Become Successful

8. Aim High

When it comes to searching for jobs, it often seems like the best ones require a few years of previous work experience. While you might only have an internship or two under your belt, take a chance, write a kickass cover letter and go for it. Charlie Robinson, President of CRP Marketing, shares: Many college grads are hesitant to apply for positions that require a few years of experience, but in my experience, ambitious and eager grads have been some of the best employees and quickest learners.

Look past the years of experience and look at the tasks outlined in the job description and the other required skills to see if you meet those expectations  those are often strong indicators of what the job entails. I have watched so many recent grads sell themselves short because they do not believe they're able to get a jump-start on their career. My advice to them is to reach for the stars and never give up.

9. Make a Plan

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The idea of mapping out your life for the next 10 years might sound daunting, but starting with a big-picture plan will help you nail down the little goals you need to achieve to get there. To start, plan where you want to be in 10 years. Then break things down into smaller goals to hit along the way. Create 1-year and 5-year career plans, so you can check in to see where you are, says criminal defense attorney Lance J. Robinson.

Not only will this plan come in handy when interviewers inevitably ask: "where do you see yourself in five years?" but it will also help you decipher if you need to further your education at some point in the future. Just remember, nothing is set in stone. Its okay to change your plan if you switch career paths or if your priorities change. In fact, thinking about where you want to be in one, five and 10 years can help you decide whats right for you and if you need to make a change.

The post-grad experience can be unpredictable and stressful  to say the least  but it is also a time bursting with opportunity and excitement. Keep this advice in mind as you begin to navigate the wild world of adulting, and dont forget to celebrate yourself for all youve accomplished thus far.

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Restaurant Brands International (TSX:QSR)(NYSE:QSR) released its first-quarter results on Monday, which again showed disappointing results for Tim Hortons. Despite all the initiatives that the company had planned, including offering kids meals, it has failed to generate any same-store sales growth for the popular coffee shop. It was the only of the major brands owned by Restaurant Brands that didnt see any organic growth. Burger King and Popeyes were both up 2.2% and 0.6%, respectively.

Tim Hortons, meanwhile, saw sales slip by 0.6% in stores that were already open a year ago. And even if we look at system-wide sales, Tim Hortons was also well behind its counterparts, growing at just 0.5% and well short of the 6.8% growth rate achieved by Popeyes and the 8.2% that Burger King rose by. A year ago, the numbers were a bit higher for all the brands, but it still told a similar story: Tim Hortons was just not doing that well.

Restaurant Brands is hoping that expanding the coffee shop into other parts of the world, including China, will help stimulate some much-needed growth for Tim Hortons. Despite the disappointing numbers, however, management remains optimistic for the future. CEO Jose Cil stated, Overall, we are confident in the long-term growth prospects for each of our three iconic brands and remain focused on providing a great guest experience while driving franchisee profitability.

However, actions speak louder than words, and the efforts the company has been making recently to try and grow Tim Hortons suggests to me that Restaurant Brands knows it has some problems. Although the coffee shop is still very popular among Canadians, with many different options to choose from and competition getting more intense, growing sales isnt going to get any easier.

Ultimately, Restaurant Brands ended up missing expectations for the quarter with earnings per share of $0.53 coming in well below the $0.58 that was being expected by analysts. The good news for the company was that despite the struggling sales, Tim Hortons still brought in the highest adjusted EBITDA of the three brands, although these figures were also down from the prior year.

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Should investors be concerned?

Although Tim Hortons might be struggling to grow its sales, thats going to be expected in a very saturated market, especially given that its still a brand that depends heavily on Canada. As Restaurant Brands builds the brand outside its domestic borders, there will be more of an opportunity to lessen the dependence on Canada for its sales, and thatll be key to more organic growth in future years.

Its still rare to not see a long lineup outside a Tim Hortons location, so I can see that for all the controversy that has surrounded the brand, the coffee shop is still a popular choice for Canadians. The problem is just saturation and over the long term, which is going to be fixed as the brand gains access to other markets.

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Fool contributor David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of RESTAURANT BRANDS INTERNATIONAL INC and has the following options: short October 2019 $82 calls on Restaurant Brands International.

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
RTHK: New Japanese emperor ascends to the throne

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on Wednesday, a day after his father's historic abdication, and vowed to stand with the people as the country begins a new imperial era.

In a brief address, his first to the nation since inheriting the throne, Naruhito vowed to "act according to the Constitution" while "always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them".

Naruhito officially became emperor at the stroke of midnight but the process was formalised in the ritual on Wednesday morning, which was off-limits to female royals -- even his wife Masako.

The emperor entered the Imperial Palace's Pine Room in formal Western clothing and a heavy gold chain of office, accompanied by male family members including his brother Akishino.

The 59-year-old was presented with the items his father Akihito relinquished a day earlier: sacred imperial treasures of a sword and a jewel, as well as the seal of state and his personal imperial seal.

The sole woman invitee was the only female member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet.

The ceremony took place on the first day of the new imperial era of Reiwa, meaning "beautiful harmony", which will last throughout Naruhito's reign.

Shortly afterwards, Empress Masako arrived by car at the palace in a diamond-studded tiara to join Naruhito, the nation's 126th emperor.

He said he would "reflect deeply" on the example set by his popular father Akihito, and that assuming the throne filled him with a "sense of solemnity".

Abe, replying on behalf of the people, said: "We are determined to create a bright future for a proud Japan filled with peace and hope at a time when the international situation is changing dramatically."

After heavy rain dampened celebrations for the abdication on Tuesday, Japanese took advantage of sunnier weather to flock to the Meiji Shrine in the heart of the capital where free sake was served ahead of a display of horseback archery.

Naruhito will make his first public appearance on Saturday when he will again address the people of Japan.

But the real pomp and ceremony will wait until October 22 when he and Masako will appear in elaborate traditional robes for a ceremony in the palace before parading through the streets of the capital to be congratulated by a host of world leaders and royals.

Naruhito will greet his first foreign head of state as emperor later this month, when US President Donald Trump visits Japan to meet the new monarch.

The Oxford-educated Naruhito faces the delicate balancing act of continuing his father's legacy of bringing the monarchy closer to the people while upholding the centuries-old traditions of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Like his popular father Akihito, he has warned of the need to remember World War II "correctly," without downplaying Japan's early 20th-century militarism.

He has also spoken of the need to modernise the royal family, and vowed when he married Masako -- who left behind a promising diplomatic career -- to protect her "at any cost".

She has struggled, however, to adjust to palace life, including being subjected to enormous pressure to produce a male heir, and has suffered stress-induced "adjustment disorder" for much of their marriage.

The couple have one child, a 17-year-old daughter called Aiko, who cannot inherit the throne because she is female.

In a statement released on her birthday in December, Masako pledged to do her best despite feeling "insecure" about becoming empress.

In the candid statement, she said she was recovering and could "perform more duties than before", crediting the "powerful support" of the public.

Naruhito is ascending the throne in a very different Japan to the one his father took over when he became emperor in 1989.

Then, Japan ruled the world economically, its technology was the envy of every industrialised nation, and its stock market was at highs unlikely to be matched again.

But following a "lost decade" after the bubble burst, Japan is locked in a battle against deflation and sluggish growth while its population ages rapidly.

Akihito's abdication, the first in 200 years, has resulted in an unprecedented 10-day public holiday for the famously hard-working Japanese, with many taking advantage of the break to travel.

But despite the holiday exodus, and steady driving rain on Tuesday night, crowds still gathered at Tokyo's famous Shibuya crossing at the clock struck midnight to welcome the Reiwa era.

"The emperor was a good person... He was the symbol of Japan," said Rika Yamamoto, a 24-year-old company employee sheltering under an umbrella on the crossing.

"I hope the new emperor will carry on the kindness the old emperor had." (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Benjamin Jumbe.

A new report by Twaweza reveals that 6% of Ugandans are now taking loans from community saving groups (SACCO) and mobile money account services.

Reading the report finding today, Maries Nanyanzi from Twaweza noted that this has left fewer people at 4 % taking loans from the commercial banks.

She said most of the respondents interviewed attributed the shift from banks to SACCOS, and mobile money to the ease associated with acquisition of loans as compared to banks.

Most of the loans taken are soft loans meant to cover school fees, medical bills among other social services needed by mainly the poor Ugandans.

The findings were carried out between 2017/18 across the country.
One out of every 50 private dwellings in Charlottetown was listed for rent on the website Airbnb, according to an analysis of the site by CBC News.

CBC News captured listings on the site for 17 Canadian cities on Apr. 10.

The 331 listings captured for Charlottetown represent 1.93 per cent of all private dwellings in the city. That's the second-highest proportion among all the cities included in the analysis. Whistler was highest at 18 per cent.

David Wachsmuth, a professor with the School of Urban Planning at McGill University, has been studying the short-term rental industry. He said even if just one per cent or less of a city's housing is converted into short-term rentals that will have a "really serious" impact on the availability of housing.

"That one per cent number looks small when you compare it to the amount of housing in general, but if you compare it to the amount of housing that's available for new tenants or new homeowners, it actually is a much, much higher percentage," said Wachsmuth.

"If you're a tenant  looking for an apartment to rent, it doesn't matter what's happening in 99 per cent of the houses that already have residents in them. What matters is what are the apartments that are vacant and available for rent."

Apartment vacancy rate falling

Charlottetown had a record low vacancy rate in 2018.

In November the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported the apartment vacancy rate for Charlottetown dropped to 0.2 per cent, down from 0.9 per cent the year before.

Airbnb declined an interview but said in a statement that "in any city with an Airbnb presence, homes listed on our platform account for a tiny percentage of the total local housing supply."

The company said it supports cities' efforts to protect the supply of affordable housing.

"Responsible home sharing strengthens neighbourhoods and generates meaningful economic impact for communities and our hosts," the company said.

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CBC's data includes only listings where an entire house or apartment is offered for rental, not listings where part of a private dwelling is offered.

Not home sharing

CBC's analysis also found more than half the rentals for Charlottetown (56 per cent) were listed by Airbnb users who had more than one listing.

At the top of Charlottetown's list was a single user with 13 properties listed for rent. In bigger Canadian cities, the top Airbnb hosts aren't individuals looking to share their homes with visitors, but corporations listing as many as 238 rental units.

John MacDougall/Getty Images

"Most of what's happening on Airbnb isn't home-sharing," said Wachsmuth.

"It's something much more like commercial short-term rental operations."

The City of Charlottetown has passed first reading of a bylaw that would have the city apply its tourism accommodation levy on all vacation rentals, including those rented out through websites like Airbnb and VRBO.

Struggling to regulate the market

In January the city said it was working on developing further regulations with the province.

In P.E.I.'s recent provincial election campaign the PCs, Greens and NDP all pledged to introduce further regulations or restrictions on the short-term vacation rental industry.

PC leader Dennis King, who's poised to form a minority government, has suggested a limit on how many units in a new building can be devoted to short-term compared with long-term rentals.

"Maybe we have to get into the weeds a little bit on that because if not, if it's just the wild west that's allowed to proceed here, I think maybe the housing crisis will continue to grow," King said.

According to data from Statistics Canada revenues from the short-term rental industry grew by 6,500 per cent on P.E.I. from 2015 to 2018.

Like the CBC, StatsCan relied on data "scraped" from websites like Airbnb and its competitor VRBO to conduct its analysis. At the time StatsCan released its study, Airbnb disputed the figures.

"Tens of thousands of Canadians are embracing home sharing as a way to earn extra money and pay the bills and while we appreciate the interest in studying our community across the country, this report is based on inaccurate, scraped data provided by third-parties," said company spokesperson Lindsey Scully.

Airbnb said its hosts earned $11 million on P.E.I. in 2018. StatsCan said short-term vacation rentals in the province that year were worth $29.8 million that year, but that figure includes sales from other websites including VRBO.

More P.E.I. news
Chris Hemsworth Is a 'Superhero in the Kitchen' as He Makes School Lunches for His Kids

Chris Hemsworth is a dad with many talents  and that includes making his childrens school lunches!

The 35-year-old Avengers: Endgame star stopped by his childrens school on Monday to help fellow parents prepare sushi rolls for lunch. (Parents in Australia are encouraged to visit their childrens school to help out in making meals for students.)

His wife, actress Elsa Pataky shared several videos of herself and Hemsworth working together with other parents and hilariously comparing their respective piles of sushi roles just waiting to be consumed by young kids.

I might have a bigger pile than you do right now, Hemsworth jokingly told her as she filmed him rolling up the meals.

As he continued working, he sang, Roll, roll, roll your boat.

Pataky lovingly wrote, Always helpful to have a superhero in the kitchen!! as her husband was seen packing up containers containing lunch ingredients.

Elsa Pataky Instagram

Elsa Pataky Instagram

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The actor shares three children with Pataky: daughter India, 6, and twin sons Sasha and Tristan, 5.

Hemsworth opened up about raising their children in October, saying they had affected how he views his career and money.

I remember saving up for a surfboard when I was younger. The surfboard was 600 bucks and I saved up for a whole year with dads help, he told GQ Australia at the time. I didnt even want to surf on it for fear of damaging it. It taught me so many lessons about appreciation and working hard for something.

RELATED: Chris Hemsworth Says He Doesnt Want His Kids to Feel Like Theyre Privileged Due to His Wealth

Elsa Pataky Instagram

He continued, When I think about my kids, I dont want them to miss that joy. Elsa and I talk a lot about how we instill that same appreciation and respect for things.

I dont want them to feel like theyre privileged in any way. The fact that we have money and their parents are famous, that somehow theyre special, that scares me because we grew up with no money, he added.

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RELATED: Elsa Pataky on Raising Her and Chris Hemsworths Kids in Australia: It Was My Dream Growing Up

But Hemsworth said his kids have already learned the importance of having each others backs.

The other day, we were in the park and something happened with Tristan and another kid. He comes over in tears. Im like, Whats wrong? but he didnt want to tell me, he said. Sashas like, Tristan, what happened? Theyre four, by the way. Another kid pushed me. Sasha goes over to this older kid, taps him on the shoulder and says, Whyd you push my brother? Im stood there thinking, I should step in, but this is awesome.
Deaf Man Adopts Rescue Puppy Who Also Cannot Hear and Teaches Him Sign Language

A Maine man who was born deaf has found the ultimate companion in a dog who, like him, also cannot hear.

Since Nick Abbott adopted Emerson last month, the pair have formed an unbreakable bond  in part due to the fact that they both are deaf.

Despite their respective disabilities, Abbott, 31, and Emerson have learned to communicate in their own special way, with the owner now teaching his pooch sign language, as they embark on this journey through life together.

Abbott first expressed interest in adopting the young black lab mix from NFR Maine in March, after the nonprofit animal organization rescued the pooch and put him up for adoption, Good Morning America reports.

Emerson had a particularly tough past, as NFR Maine explained that after he was found on the streets with his siblings, he began to have seizures.

Once hospitalized, Emerson contracted a case of parvo, a highly contagious viral illness that can come as an intestinal or cardiac form, according to Pet MD.

Emerson | Lindsay Powers/Facebook

RELATED: After Patiently Waiting For 1,145 Days, Geronimo the Shelter Dog Finds His Perfect Forever Home

Though Emerson had recovered and was healthy and adorable at the time of his listing, NFR Maine feared that people wouldnt be interested in the 12-week-old pup as he was now deaf and visually impaired  that is until Abbott came into the picture.

Abbott found Emersons disabilities to be the most appealing thing about the little pooch and reached out to the foster-based rescue, explaining how he was also deaf.

Nick said he was interested in meeting Emerson because they would understand each other, being that they both share the same hearing difficulties, a rep from NFR Maine recalled to their followers on Facebook.

Speaking to CBS News, Nick echoed those sentiments. I was drawn to him right away because we had similarities. I felt I could understand him, he said.

RELATED: California Family Fighting to Get Their Dog Back After Pet Runs Away and Is Adopted By New Owners

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It was a match made in heaven, the organization explained, as the duo immediately hit it off on their first interaction.

When Nick and his Mom walked into the house to meet Emerson, Emerson made a direct line for Nick and sat at his feet. Thats all it took, the rep wrote on Facebook. I was sold that this was fate, and these 2 belonged to each other.

After officially bringing home Emerson, Nick began to teach his new dog how to communicate.

Because of their disabilities, vocal and sound cues wouldnt be effective so instead, Abbott has relied on sign language to teach Emerson commands of sit, lay down, and come, according to his mom Richelle.

If Nick reaches up and shakes his ear lobe, Emerson will bark  its so cute, she told GMA, adding that the pair heavily rely on each other. Its amazing. Whenever theyre together, Emerson is always finding a way to lean on Nick.

RELATED: Energetic Pup Is Returned to Shelter 5 Times Before Finding Calling as Police Dog

In the time since the adoption, Abbott has created a joint Instagram account with Emerson to document their new life together as two deaf boys and their adventures! 

Please follow Emmy and I on our journey though life together. We will share updates, new tricks learned, and our adventures! Abbott wrote in a post on Tuesday.

As for NFR Maine, the rep said on Facebook that this heartwarming story goes down as her favorite and encouraged people to use Abbott and Emersons story as inspiration to adopt their own furry friends.

This will go down in history as one of my all-time favorite adoptions stories. This will be the story I tell people when they ask Why/how can you foster like that, the rep said.

This boy deserved nothing short of a fairy tale ending and that is EXACTLY what he got!! they added of little Emerson.
A Winnipeg care home where two residents recently died has confirmed it served frozen food from Thailand that was later linked to the Canada-wide outbreak of salmonella.

Golden West Centennial Lodge told staff and families on Tuesday morning it had given residents cream puffs that are now on the recall list.

"We may never know the exact cause of our outbreak, but this appears to be a strong possibility," executive director Joyce Kristjansson said in an email.

Two residents at the 116-bed personal care facility in the Sturgeon Creek neighbourhood died in March, and a third was sickened. All three tested positive for salmonella.

The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the three cases at Golden West are linked to the outbreak which has struck 73 people nationwide.

Investigators have linked the bacteria-caused gastrointestinal illness to Celebrate-brand frozen profiteroles and mini chocolate eclairs.

Knowing my mom, she would have said yes to an eclair. - Evelyn Sorenson

Evelyn Sorenson's mother  84-year-old Iris Soloniuk  was among those who died at Golden West. She says she's in shock and still has questions about her mother's death.

"We're dealing with the shock of, you know, you put your mom into a senior home to get care and this happens," Sorenson said. "It's so sad."

"Knowing my mom, she would have said yes to an eclair," Sorenson said. "She loved her sweets."

At first, Sorenson says, her mother was thought to have the flu. She was taken to Grace Hospital for dehydration, but her condition quickly took a turn for the worse. Doctors diagnosed her with salmonella.

On March 8, Sorenson's sister called to ask her to fly home from Vancouver Island. Sorenson made it to Winnipeg to see her mother before she died March 9.

"We were concerned  the fact with the nursing home, [that] it took them so long to realize it wasn't the flu, it was salmonella," Sorenson said. "And why hadn't she been put in hospital sooner?"

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Sorenson says she was told by health officials that her mother was too dehydrated for a CT scan to show clear images.

"Sitting in B.C. not knowing  what did they serve her? What did they eat? So you're just not getting any answers," she said.

Warren Kay/CBC

The cream puffs were made in Thailand, and the Thai government says it's investigating. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is also investigating, a spokesperson said.

Anyone who still has the recalled products should dispose of them and sanitize anything used to handle them, officials say.

"My mom's death was needless," Sorenson said, "because the Sunday before, she was fine."

Holly Doan, who lives in Ottawa, says her 94-year-old mother has lived at Golden West for several years.

Outbreaks happen, says Doan, but she still wants answers.

"I"m glad they've identified the source," Doan said. "My family still doesn't know if my mother ate one. So what does that tell us about the communication?"

Recalled products:
A new Canada Post stamp featuring the Nanaimo bar isn't getting a stamp of approval from bakers and dessert lovers.

The stamp, released earlier this month, features the West Coast confection in full colour.

It's one of five Canadian delicacies  alongside butter tarts, sugar pie, Saskatoon berry pie and blueberry grunt  getting the honour.

But the image of the iconic B.C. delicacy has been hard to swallow for some in the business of baking and eating sweets.

'Is it a cheesecake?'

Apparently, the ratio of custard filling to crumbly base depicted in Canada Post's image is all wrong.

The yellow filling is overly voluminous, while the crumbly base layer is too thin.

To get to the bottom of the tasty controversy, CBC Radio show Edmonton AM reached out to an expert.

Jeff Nachtigall, owner of Sugared and Spiced Bakery, has been baking and eating the bars for years.

"I was so excited to hear there was a set of dessert stamps. The Nanaimo bar especially got my attention," Nachtigall said in an interview Tuesday with CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

"I, with a great excitement, opened this package of ten stamps and discovered an impostor."

The structural integrity of the "alleged" bar is highly questionable, Nachtigall said. He wonders whether the illustration depicts a different dessert entirely.

"The base and the custard filling should be about seven-eighths of the bar combined with a not-too-thin layer of chocolate on top, but this Canada Post imposter has more than half of the bar represented by filling.

"I don't know what this is. Is it a cheesecake?"

'Strong views'

As evidence of the wonky dimensions, Nachtigall attempted to bake a bar according to Canada Post's proportions. The results were not pretty.

In a statement, Canada Post said it wanted to "best represent the many adaptations and variations of each recipe that occur as professional bakers, chefs and those who love baking at home prepare them for customers friends and family."

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"For the Nanaimo bar, we have depicted the layers of chocolatey coconut crust, rich custard and chocolate topping."

The statement goes on to say that the Crown corporation understands there are some strong views on the layer proportions, but there are many variations of bars across the country.

"That factored in to our image decisions."

Canada Post

Leonard Kroeg, mayor of Nanaimo, said his constituents have been going a little postal over the controversy.

"Unfortunately, no one apparently consulted with anyone here in Nanaimo," Kroeg said.

"We should never look at a gift horse in the mouth and one hesitates to be critical.

"I'm a great supporter of the postal service and Canada Post, but it's not a very accurate depiction and most people in Nanaimo know that."
Royal baby watch is officially on!

Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys first child is set to arrive any day  and Buckingham Palace just announced that the Duke of Sussex will visit the Netherlands on Wednesday, May 8, and Thursday, May 9  just one week from now. That likely means that the royal couple will welcome Baby Sussex within the next few days.

Harry will undertake an official engagement in Amsterdam before traveling to The Hague, where he will officially launch the one year countdown to the 2020 Invictus Games being held there.

Royal fans already suspected that the newest member of the family would arrive before the second week of May, as Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, previously announced that they will visit Germany on May 7 for a three-day tour. Since Charles and Camilla are expected to be nearby when Meghan and Prince Harrys first child is born, it was assumed that Baby Sussex would be born prior to their departure.

Yui Mok - Pool/Getty Images

Prince Harry | Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images

Its almost fitting that Meghans pregnancy will end with an Invictus Games event. After all, the couple announced their exciting baby news just ahead of their October tour of Australia, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand  and a major reason for the trip was the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney. And they made their debut as a couple at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at the 2018 Invictus Games | Samir Hussein/WireImage

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Even though Meghan previously said the baby was due in late April, Prince Harry has continued to appear for royal engagements in recent weeks including this past weekends London Marathon, Easter church and Anzac Day services. However, they have all been surprise appearances, as the royal was not announced to attend just in case his child had already arrived.
Thailand's King Announces He Has a New Queen Just Days Before His Coronation Thailand King Marries Consort, Names Her Queen

Thailand has a new kingand queen!

King Maha Vajiralongkorn  who will have his official coronation on Saturday  announced Wednesday that he had married his consort, General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, and named her Queen Suthida, according to the Associated Press.

The announcement was reportedly made in the Royal Gazette, although it did not give a date of the wedding. Thai television stations broadcast the royal order on Wednesday along with a video of Suthida, wearing a pale pink dress, laying before the king and presenting him with a tray of flowers and joss sticks, AP reports. Suthida, 40, was presented gifts in return.

The couple also signed a marriage certificate book, also signed by the kings sister, Princess Sirindhorn, and Privy Council head as witnesses. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and other senior officials were also in attendance at the ceremony.

Bureau of the Royal Household/AP/Shutterstock

King Maha, 66, became monarch after the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016. The exact reason for the delayed formal coronation is unknown, although it was initially said to be due to a mourning period for the kings father.

The Thai monarch has had three previous marriages. He divorced his most recent wife in 2014.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya | Bureau of the Royal Household/AP/Shutterstock

Little is known about Thailands new queen. The couple reportedly met on a flight when she was working as a flight flight attendant for Thai Airways International.

In 2013, Suthida joined the palace guard. King Maha then appointed Suthida as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit. He made Suthida a full general in December 2016 after he became king, and the deputy commander of the kings personal guard in 2017. He also made her a Thanpuying, a royal title meaning Lady.
A move to annex the occupied territories would corrode Israels international standing, rupture its relationship with the American Jewish community and likely extinguish any remaining chance for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.

Yishai Fleisher is the International Spokesman of the Jewish Community of Hebron and an Israeli broadcaster.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh. blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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..Dailywire.com..30 April '19..The recent landslide election of Benjamin Netanyahu and the ascendancy of the Israeli Right has deepened the rift between Israeli and American Jews  the latter of whom disproportionately identify with the political Left.Days after the Israeli election, nine leading American liberal Jewish groups sent a letter to the American president they hate so much and worked so hard to prevent his becoming a president. In it, they urged Trump to preserve the "two-state solution" in the face of a pledge by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the so-called "West Bank" territory, also known as Judea and Samaria.Four ostensibly pro-Israel Jewish Democrats  Reps. Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey of New York, Ted Deutch of Florida, and Brad Schneider of Illinois  released a similar letter warning Israel not to annex parts of Judea and Samaria because, yet again, such a move would endanger the two-state solution.And in an article days after Netanyahus election, Daniel Sokatch, the CEO of the ultra-liberal umbrella group New Israel Fund, wrote:We have reached a point where American Jews are calling upon the American president to override the will of the Israeli people on matters of Israeli national security.Such is the clamor of American liberal Jewish leadership to preserve the failed two-state solution  which calls on Israel to cut 20 percent of its New Jersey-sized landmass and give over the most storied stretches of the Promised Land to the corrupt crooks of the PLO and the terrorist group Hamas.Yet the last Israeli election proved, and many polls reflect, that Israelis  as opposed to the American Jewish liberal leadership  are done with the two-state solution. In the aftermath of the 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the immediate takeover by jihadist group Hamas which led to three full-out wars and innumerable rockets being fired on Israel, most Israelis came to the conclusion that the "land for peace" policy is a failure. Israelis have now voiced that opinion democratically.Much to the frustration of the American liberal Jewish establishment, the Israeli sovereignty movement, to which Netanyahu alluded and which calls for Israel to control the ancestral Jewish homeland of Judea and Samaria, is gaining momentum. And in Washington, the Trump Administration is the first presidential administration not to be reflexively pro-two-state solution. Indeed, rumors from the Beltway whisper that the Trump Administration's much-ballyhooed "Deal of the Century" does not call for Palestinian statehood at all.Being an Israeli Jew with conservative nationalistic leanings, I am often asked, especially when visiting the American heartland, why is it that American Jews are predominantly liberal? American gentiles are downright mystified as to why any Jewish person would be against what they perceive to be a natural link between conservatism and Judeo-Christian biblical values  values which, one would think, would be commonly held by Jews. Many gentiles also want to know why liberal Jews are anti-Trump and pro-Palestinian  a staunchly pro-Israel president and a pseudo-entity that many Americans perceive to be the enemy of the Jewish state.In his 2018article entitled, "How Americas Jews Learned to Be Liberal," Steven Weisman quotes an American Jewish Committee poll which found that "Israelis approve of President Trumps handling of United States-Israeli relations by 77 percent But only 34 percent of American Jews feel the same way."Weisman concludes:To be sure, there are many American Jews on the political Right who agree with Israeli nationalist policies, and there are Israelis on the political Left who are much closer to the American Jewish liberal consensus. However, the broad trends of American Jewish liberalism and Israeli Jewish nationalism are apparent.Throughout the centuries, from Ukraine to England, and from Yemen to Syria, Jews lived in countries prone to anti-Semitic violence. Jews were often victims of intolerance, xenophobia, and exclusion. Yet they were able to thrive in these places by succeeding financially, excelling educationally, and by gaining social status.In an effort to mitigate the dangers of the host country, Jews also employed a sophisticated defense mechanism  the teachings of liberalism. At the university, in the courts, in the banks, and in their dealings with local authority, Jews sent out a message of tolerance, diversity, and inclusion in hope that the host society would internalize those values and that the Jews would benefit and be spared. This strategy worked until catastrophes such as the English Edict of Expulsion of 1290, the Spanish Expulsion of 1492, and the rise of Nazism in Germany came along.Todays American Jews may not feel themselves to be living in a hostile country  and America is indeed a great country that has allowed Jews to thrive and live in peace. Still, the U.S. is a majority-gentile host country and not a Jewish state. Even with a high rate of public success and participation, Jews living in America feel a 2,000-year-old subconscious impulse to broadcast the values of tolerance and multiculturalism in an effort to mitigate any potential ferocity on the part of the ruling host.The anti-Trump fervor that has seized American Jewry can be readily understood in this light. The American Jewish Left sees in Trump a personification of ultra-nationalism which, their collective memory tells them, leads directly to violent anti-Semitism. While President Trump seems to be completely pro-Jewish, American liberal Jews manage to paint him in anti-Semitic colors, seeing him as the source of white nationalism and the dangerous "alt-Right.""Bring him down before he brings us down! Stop the growth of nationalism before it becomes full blown Nazism! Defang the potentially violent ruler using the messaging of liberalism while you still can!" These are instinctive and classical reactions of liberal diaspora Jewry.In contrast, the modus operandi of Israeli Jews is not like that of the Diaspora Jews at all. The Jewish state is just that: An ethnic-national Jewish state in the ancient Land of Israel. The collective unconscious of Israelis tells them that they live in their own land, speak their ancient language, are rightful sovereigns, and are in the process of rebuilding the Third Commonwealth.The message that is conveyed to the elected officials from the average Israeli citizen is not of liberalism at all, but is rather: "Rule in strength! Defeat the enemy! Defend our family nation-state and do not be overly-liberal to our foes! Never again!"In this light, Israeli support of the current American president makes sense: Trump is understood to be a determined, defense-minded fellow sovereign, a strong ruler, and an ally.Many American Jews are dumbfounded at the nearly ubiquitous Israeli approval of a man they detest so much. But from across the pond, and in the tough Middle East reality, things look quite different. Trumps nationalism and certitude might threaten American liberal Jews, but these characteristics play well in Israel where those very characteristics are needed and admired.Another example of the difference in outlook between American and Israeli Jews can be seen in immigration policy. American liberal Jews perceive themselves to be an ethnic-religious minority in America and descendants of recent immigrants. They tend to identify with potential incomers  and therefore call for a liberal immigration policy. Unsurprisingly then, Trumps tough stance on Muslim and Mexican immigration is perceived as a direct attack on American liberal Jews and their values.The Israeli Jew, however, sees it quite differently. For many Israelis, African or Arab migration to Israel is seen as a threat  a concerted effort to chip away at the Jewish state from the inside and endanger Israels stability. In Israel, Trumps wall policy is understood to be a normal course of action for a sovereign nation surrounded by hostile countries. Indeed, Israel itself has put up defensive walls!Clearly, the contrast in the reality of Israeli Jews and American Jews leads to policy prescriptions that are drastically different. The very modes of thinking about these problems are oceans apart.So if Israeli Jews are red-state Jews and American Jews are blue-state Jews, it is not surprising that they often collide with one another.American liberal Jews tend to see the "Palestinians" as a downtrodden minority, but Israelis, in large measure, see them as part of hostile Arab Middle East majority. Similarly, the "West Bank" which the American liberal establishment continues to see as "occupied" is seen by a majority of Israelis as an integral part of our ancestral homeland. The same goes for the behavior of the Israeli army, which American liberals often see as being too forceful, while Israelis, whose children serve on the front lines, often see as being too restrained.In turn, many Israelis discount American liberal Jewrys policy prescriptions. Without verbalizing it, Israelis wonder whether American Jews, whose approach to statecraft is one of a powerful and vocal minority in a host country, can give useful advice to Israeli Jews who drive tanks and fly jets in defense of their own threatened yet sovereign Jewish state.Recently, I was in Washington and sat with a Christian red-state congressman. We talked about Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and the position of the "settlers"  Jews proudly living in the ancestral homeland and blocking a jihadist takeover  who clearly favor Israeli control of the areas in which they live. Suddenly, the congressman asked me: "OK, but what will my colleagues, the Democratic Jewish congressmen, say about this?"I replied: "Congressman, do you ask these Democratic Jewish congressmen how to vote on issues of abortion? Of course not. So why would you ask them about Judea and Samaria? What should be done with these territories is an Israeli issue  not a Jewish issue. The American liberal congressmen dont serve the Israeli constituency, they haven't served in the Israeli army, and they dont bear the burden of dealing with jihadism. They dont own this issue."Indeed, when it comes to policy issues in the Jewish world, there should be a distinction between general Jewish issues and local ones. General Jewish issues might be the question of conversion, or even of religious control at the Western Wall. However, the issues of Israel foreign policy, Israel security, dealing with Palestinians, decisions on Judea and Samaria, Knesset election  these are not general Jewish issues, but rather are Israeli issues. The loud parading and weighing-in of the collective American liberal Jewish voice on strictly Israeli issues is illogical, patronizing, and shameful.American Jews and Israeli Jews are two related communities living across the ocean who share DNA, familiarity, goodwill, a love of the Torah, and a love of the homeland. However, we live very different lives and have consequently developed a very different mindset.Rather than fighting about it, the way forward is to adopt a posture of mutual respect and support where possible  but also allow for some daylight between one another when dealing with respective regional policy issues. Its great to pipe up because it shows love and care, but on the other hand, since the American Jewish and Israeli realities and perspectives are so different, it is also good to know when to butt out.Those American Jews who publicly defend Israels choices give voice to the Israeli policies in the halls of American power  and that is an important task. Yet those American liberal Jewish voices who have become detractors from Israeli policy should have less sway. They endanger the U.S.-Israel alliance and, frankly, endanger Israels security. They advocate for bad policy, like the misbegotten "two-state solution," for a region they do not understand and in circumstances they do not share. They go against the will of the Israeli people and give Jewish cover to anti-Israel forces. Their mindset and behavior are that of a minority ethnic group living in a host country, and not like that of Israel  a sovereign state, an American ally, and a burgeoning regional power dealing with the harsh everyday reality of the Middle East.
Though it was technically eliminated from the United States in 2000, measles is making a comeback. And public health officials say its a reminder of the importance of vaccinations.

The pages of the Chatham Monitor from the 1800s show many references to measles, both in its coverage of families who reported cases and in the many elixirs and tonics advertised to treat the disease. Before the development of the vaccine and its widespread use starting in 1963, measles was a fact of life for many families, affecting as many as three or four million people in the U.S. each year.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, measles spreads more easily than almost any other infectious disease, carried by droplets from coughs, sneezes or even speech. Those droplets can remain airborne for up to two hours, and readily infect un-vaccinated people who breathe them in. Symptoms mimic a cold or the flu, with a cough, high fever, runny nose and red, watery eyes eventually giving way to a red, blotchy rash that starts on the face and then spreads to the rest of the body. Most at risk are children under age 5, adults over 20, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

While the current outbreaks are localized, they are a good reminder that the disease hasnt been completely eradicated, Chatham Health Agent Judith Giorgio said. Several years ago, she saw estimates of the percentage of vaccinated people in each town in the Commonwealth, and Chatham, in particular, was on the low side, she said. At the time, there were several parents who had declined to have their children immunized.

Vaccinations are required for children who attend public school, but waivers are provided for parents who object on religious grounds, and I dont believe there is any standard of proof for that, Giorgio said.

A highly successful vaccination program caused the number of measles cases to plummet in the U.S., but the disease remains endemic in other parts of the world, where it claims tens of thousands of lives annually. When people from these areas visit the U.S., the disease can take hold in places where vaccination rates are low. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports nine outbreaks around the nation, including certain counties in New York where there are more than 200 confirmed cases centered around a community of Orthodox Jews.

According to state officials, a person diagnosed with measles went to various Cape locations between March 26 and March 28, and was at the Whole Foods store in Hyannis on the 28th between 11:55 a.m. and 2:05 p.m. People who were at that store during those times likely would have developed symptoms several weeks ago, and there are no reports of new cases on the Cape.

Children should receive their first dose of measles vaccine, usually included with vaccines against mumps and rubella, before the age of 15 months, with a second dose before they enter school. Adults should have at least one dose of vaccine, unless they are in a high-risk group like international travelers, health care workers and college students. Adults born before 1957 are considered immune to the disease from past exposures.

Younger adults should check their medical records, and if they are unsure, can get re-vaccinated. An additional dose of MMR vaccine is not harmful, officials say.

It can help, but it cant hurt, Giorgio said. The vaccine is very effective; two doses provide about 97 percent protection, and one dose is about 93 percent effective.

Despite ample scientific evidence to the contrary, rumors persist that challenge the safety of childhood vaccinations.

Its difficult, Giorgio said. People are set with their ideas and believe what they want to believe. But I think education is the best tool we have, she said. The CDC provides comprehensive information about vaccines at www.CDC.gov/vaccines. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes an outbreak to boost vaccination rates.

When you get communities that have an outbreak and people are getting ill, that helps people understand the need for the vaccine, Giorgio said. I think were seeing that in Brooklyn, where some of the Orthodox people are now getting vaccinated.
HARWICH  The pet cemetery debate is expected to be the hot topic in town meeting, with three articles addressing the burial grounds on Queen Anne Road.

Town meeting will begin Monday at 7 p.m. at the community center on Oak Street with voters facing 69 articles. The major financial issue facing voters is a debt exclusion request estimated at $4.6 million for the reconstruction of 2.25 miles of Lower County Road.

The request for the town operating budget is $39,593,836. The town share of the Monomoy Regional School District budget is $26,643,415 and the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School budget is $2,332,198, which includes $910,435 to cover the new school construction debt.

READ THE HARWICH ANNUAL TOWN MEETING WARRANT HERE

The pet cemetery has been a topic that has divided the community for more than a year, heating up last spring when residents began focusing on a proposal by the cemetery commission to add an animal cremation facility to the 2.25 acre parcel the commission identified for a pet burial ground at 276 Queen Anne Rd. Town meeting had approved the use of the site in 2016 for the burial ground.

Opponents to the project raised a number of questions about the use of funds from a cemetery account in laying the groundwork for the burial ground and argued there was no detailed business plan for the operation. They questioned whether this was the best use for the property, located in the town's industrial district. Town meeting last May voted to indefinitely postpone the $577,950 crematory article.

That did not end the furor over the use of the land for a pet burial ground. Tom Birch, who operates his landscaping business just a few hundred yards from the town land along Queen Anne Road, argued because of the absence of industrial land on the Lower Cape, the parcel was worth more than $1 million and could be sold quickly. He said money from such a sale could be used to purchase 30 to 40 acres of conservation land.

It is way more valuable as a commercial use and there are a lot of people who are working from their homes that could be using this land, Birch told The Chronicle. I could sell this land in a week for $1 million to $1.2 million.

Birch filed a petitioned article in January seeking to rescind Article 57 in the 2016 annual town meeting, which allowed selectmen to transfer the property to the cemetery commission. His article seeks to return the land to the selectmen.

Both the selectmen and the finance committee recommended the petitioned article be indefinitely postponed. The finance committee states in its explanation on the recommendation: The cemetery commission has publicly stated that they will not declare this land surplus which they would have to do in order to revert the control back to the board of selectmen.

The selectmen and finance committee endorsed the following article, which would establish the revolving fund for the pet burial ground. However, the selectmen and finance committee have yet to take a position on the third article, which seeks $60,720 for the completion of the pet cemetery and an additional $70,280 to reimburse the general fund for work done in preparing and improving the property.

The town has had some issues with the funding of the pet burial ground. Town Administrator Christopher Clark, speaking in a forum sponsored by the voter information committee, called it an innovative project in Massachusetts but added there were legal complications relating to the use of the cemetery revolving account to fund it. Town counsel recommended a separate revolving account be established for the pet burial ground. Article 58 would create that revolving account, where funds from the sale of the lots would be placed and used to complete the project and pay back the money that had been used from the cemetery revolving account.

Cemetery Administrator Robbin Kelley said the concept came about because people wanted to bury their pets in cemetery lots with them, but the state does not allow such burials. The commission instead came up with the pet burial ground concept. Kelley said last week there are more than 200 people on a list waiting to have the cremated remains of their pets buried there. The ultimate decision will rest with votes.

There was good news on the Lower County Road reconstruction project. As DPW Director Lincoln Hooper had projected, the low bid on the project was favorable, with MCE Dirtworks, Inc. of Eastham bidding $4,007,500. The initial projected cost of the project was $5.5 million. The article carries a debt exclusion number of $4,560,475. Hooper said they have also committed $1 million from the town's annual road maintenance fund to offset the cost of the project. The bids have been taken under advisement.

I'm not going to recommend an award until after town meeting and the ballots are voted to make sure we have the funding, Hooper said this week.

The town will need about $500,000 for police details and a very small contingency fund for the project, he said. The project will address poor road surface conditions, structural defects with the base, non-compliant sidewalks and old and failing drainage systems. The town's water department has done $1.2 million in infrastructure upgrades along the road in anticipation of the surface upgrade.

The town will not receive state or federal funds because the road layout is not wide enough to meet Complete Streets standards. The use of the $1 million in road maintenance funds will help soften the impact on taxpayers, Hooper said.

This [project] will never be cheaper than it is right now and anyone with reservations about this project should drive that road, Hooper said.

Town meeting voters will face a number of petitioned articles, including proposals to prohibit the use of water and other beverages in single use plastic containers of any size, and the sale of the beverages in such containers on town property. There is also a bylaw proposal to ban single-use plastic straws in the community.

There is a proposed charter change to update the name of selectmen to select board. The explanation accompanying the petitioned article states that it seeks To amend the charter to reflect that not only men are elected to the board of selectmen and to ensure that the town is viewed as inclusive to all. The finance committee recommended the article be adopted and referred to the bylaw/charter review committee to report recommendations to the next annual town meeting.

Another petitioned article will ask voters to support legislation to change the Massachusetts seal and motto, seeking to ensure they accurately reflect and embody the historic and contemporary commitments of the Commonwealth to peace, justice, liberty and equality as well as basic respect for members of Native Nations residing in the Commonwealth, according to the language of the measure.

Still another petitioned article seeks a non-binding resolution to have the town refrain from using money and resources to enforce federal immigration laws to the extent permissible by law. The explanation states the town is being asked to affirm its current policy regarding immigration enforcement and its police mission statement, which provides legitimate and equitable enforcement with a strong focus on active community engagement and community service.

There are eight Community Preservation Act requests, including one seeking to fund the affordable housing trust's efforts to create and preserve affordable housing in the amount of $310,000, with another $30,000 to fund a part-time housing coordinator.

There is also an article that seeks to transfer the care and custody of several parcels of land from tax custodian, board of selectmen or other board or officers to the affordable housing trust for the purpose of affordable housing. The parcels include two on Oak Street, one containing 1.58 acres and the other 1.32 acres; a one-acre parcel on Depot Street; several parcels near 0 Depot Rd., including 1.41 acres and 17.35 acre lots; one at 0 Orleans Rd. containing 4.59 acres; a parcel at 728 Main St. with 1.38 acres; and a parcel at 265 Sisson Rd. containing 1.11 acres.

The newly founded affordable housing trust will use these properties to create housing for qualified persons The trust will explore the ability to develop each for affordable housing over the next few years, the explanation accompanying the article reads.

The warrant also has a number of capital planning projects and four zoning amendments to be acted upon. Copies of the full warrant are available on the town's website as well as www.CapeCodChronicle.com.
By Juliet Nalwooga.

As Uganda joins the rest of the world to commemorate the international Labour Day, Ugandans have been urged to develop a saving culture to plan well for life after retirement

The call has been sounded by the chief executive officer National Social Security Fund, Richard Byarugaba.

He has also appealed to workers to save beyond the mandatory 5% and 10% for better returns later on in life.

He meanwhile dismisses claims that majority people die before accessing their NSSF savings saying only 2% die without assessing this money.

However to the workers they maintain the current NSSF Act should be amended to allow workers access their funds at the age of 45.

Currently workers access their funds at the retirement age of 55.
Pentagon after the September 11 attacks in 2001 (Pixabay)

Prince William has appealed for an end to extremism in an address to survivors of a terrorist attack on Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Duke of Cambridge also referenced the attacks on churches and hotels that killed over 200 people in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday as he praised New Zealanders for standing together.

"A terrorist attempted to sow division and hatred in a place that stands for togetherness and selflessness. He thought he could redefine what this space was," he said.

"I am here to help you show the world that he failed."

He said that a "warped ideology that knows no boundaries" was fuelling acts of violence around the world as he called on people to unite against extremism.

He also said people of all faiths and backgrounds could "learn a great deal" from the compassion and forgiveness shown by Muslim families affected by the March 15 mosque attacks in which 50 people died.

"The example provided by New Zealand will prove to be of enduring value to all nations. What happened here was fuelled by a warped ideology that knows no boundaries," he said.

"The world has rightly united to fight the extremism that has made sorrowful brethren out of cities like New York, Paris, London, and Manchester and that has taken so many lives in Sri Lanka in recent days.

"And so too we must unite to fight the violent brand of extremism that has led to fatal shootings in a church in Charleston, South Carolina and a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; a van attack on the streets of Finsbury Park in London; the murder of an MP in West Yorkshire; and now so many deaths in two mosques here in Christchurch."
A recent Sydney Morning Herald article described a situation in the United States when a husband when using his wife's private password on their shared computer, so as to read her G-mail, discovered from these emails a dalliance of adultery.

The article went on to explain that after Leon Walker, 33, of Michigan, discovered this adultery, his wife Clara Walker filed for a divorce, which was granted in December.

In the Australian context and most Western countries there is 'no fault' divorce, so you do not even have to prove adultery or any other transgression to obtain a divorce.

Mr Walker was obviously peeved, as he told The Oakland Press of Pontiac that he was trying to protect the couple's children from neglect and called the case a "miscarriage of justice."

He somehow wanted her to stay with him and their children when clearly she was finished with the marriage.

The twist on this story, is that he now faces trial on felony computer misuse charge, as Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sydney Turner says, the charge is justified and the case will go ahead.

Privacy law writer Frederick Lane told the Detroit Free Press the law typically is used to prosecute identity theft and stealing trade secrets. He says he questions if a wife can expect privacy on a computer she shares with her husband.

Although this issue will be determined by the court, it raises some interesting questions. Why would a husband and wife, shared a computer, with such intimate correspondences was stored.

A small hand bag computer can be purchased today even in Australia for under $400 and on ebay even cheaper.

Why would a husband and wife even want their partner's private password. Mark Tronson says that in his experience, husbands and wives have very different interests and correspond with their own respective friends and acquaintances. If there is something of interest, that news is passed on verbally.

Moreover many women talk to their friends on many intimate subjects that most men consider to be idle nonsense and would run a mile rather than get involved.

There is a sense in which one's sanity might be put into question whereby a wife would correspond with a lover on a shared computer and he for admitting that he illegally used her password without her consent. They both had other available alternatives.

The old adage that truth is stranger than fiction. There is something to say about the tried and true message in the 'old book' of the fun and joy of trusted fidelity in the marriage bed.

Photo - Honey is a true food substance
Photo - Cartia Moore, young writer video producer

Saturday (4 May) sees the annual young writers Brains Trust meeting in Melbourne chaired by Sydneys Sam Gillespie.

The Brains Trust have been meeting for some years as a consultancy body to the young writers program, focused mainly on the nature of the internal mechanisations of Press Service International.

The young writer program has been functioning since 2009 as a ministry within Press Service International and Christian Today, a program now with 105 young writers from Australia, New Zealand and with numerous internationals.

The internationals come from England, Canada, USA, China, South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam and the West Indies. They make up 16 young writers 18-30 years in Week 1. Then there are 7 in the Over 31s in Week 5.

Photo - Capt., Peter Brookshaw, 2018 Over 31s Basil Sellers Winner is part of the Brains Trust

May 4

This upcoming 4 May Brains Trust discussions will also include the two new video producers  Cartia Moore (Sunshine Coast) who presents a video every couple of months on PSI matters, and Amy Manners (Adelaide) who features the newsy bits.

One success story though has been the Weebly updating the CV sites of each young writer. Mr Basil Sellers AM expressed his astonishment that I had been doing this fine data base work for so many years. Josh Hinds the web master of the PSI site has issued every young writer their own code so as to update their own CV sites with their articles.

This plan to have the young writers upload their own CV sites along with an explanation sheet by Brent Van Mourik and a DVD by Cartia Moore issued last November has been sparingly engaged which was issued again in late January. It is also advantageous to the editor of Christian Times. China who is going to the CV sites to ascertain which articles to republish.

The Brains Trust has a lot on its plate on Saturday 4 May.

Photo - Amy Manners, young writer video producer

Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.

Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
A few years back it was announced that the Paris Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld had called it quits after 10 years at the helm of the world's number one fashion magazine. Her years as the top editor were marked by "constant growth" both in terms of circulation and advertising.

Like those high profile people within the more visible fashion industry, many other areas of necessary, but not so public, high pressure 'top of the tree' positions have huge demands upon the people who work in those specific areas.

British Vogue said that Roitfeld had "decided to concentrate on personal projects" while the New York Vogue said she had told them she "had decided to do something different".

Although she may have seemed formidable as a thin woman with extremely high heels and often a fashionable trench-coat type of outfit, she had a reputation for being friendly and approachable.

She pushed the content of Paris Vogue to the limit of respectability, compared with the more puritan US counterpart, some of her recent spreads seeming risquA even by more traditionally open European standards.

In the area of Christian ministry, Reverend Dr Rowland Croucher of John Mark Ministries has made a life time study of Christian Ministers who have found themselves in such 'positions'. It is no less a feat to establish a Church or Christian ministry that has captured the imagination of many people, and to continue to see it expand and grow.

Rowland Croucher over many years has spoken of Christian Ministers who after highly visible and remarkably distinguished ministries have moved on from that particular ministry to another.

The late Reverend Dr Gordon Moyes AC perhaps for many years Australia's most distinguished Christian minister and Churchman moved from Superintendent of Wesley Mission to a NSW Parliamentary role.

Reverend F P McMaster MBE (the late) after twenty nine years at the Canberra Baptist Church moved to the role of ACT Baptist Churches Superintendent.

Reverend Dr Rowland Croucher moved from the largest Australian congregation (Melbourne) of his era to establish a specialist ministry to Ministers going through a difficult period in their ministries, John Mark Ministries.

Reverend John Edmondstone AOM moved from the Superintendency of NSW Baptist Churches, in what has been described as the greatest period of Baptist Church expansion, to a media ministry with Radio 2CH.

Reverend Norm Nix moved from a rural NSW congregation where church growth was remarkable and where he served as a Deputy Mayor of the Shire Council, to NSW Baptist head office to establish a Church Growth Department in that same great era of Baptist life.

Such examples in Christian ministry abound. Therefore it is not only in the very public arena, such as the editor of Paris Vogue, where people who have given their professional lives to improving their own area of business or ministry, realise it is time to hand over the reins to people with (hopefully) even greater and fresher ideas to take their passions forward into the next generation.

Photo - Tronson du Coudray art Passion

Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.

Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
A major company will be passing on this years IPCPR Trade Show and Convention. Today, in an open letter from Villiger Cigars North America President Rene Castaneda, he announced his company would not be attending this years trade show.

In the letter, Castaneda explains his company will direct its efforts toward the Tobacco Products Expo (TPE) in Las Vegas this coming January. Castaneda explained that IPCPR is focused around the premium hand-made cigar segment. While he reaffirmed Villigers commitment to that segment, he also noted Villiger also has cigarillo and machine-made segments and thus has decided to focus on TPE.

With Villiger skipping the 2019 IPCPR Trade Show, it is one of the larger companies to stay home from IPCPR in recent years.

The text of the letter appears below:

Greetings to all our peers, customers, business associates, and friends: We at team Villiger have been overwhelmed by the support that has been afforded us, by all of you over the last few years. Villigers North American operation has grown by leaps and bounds, and we look forward to continuing this trend, as we work together with you. With the above stated, I also wish to share the news that Villiger North America has made the decision to not attend the IPCPR this coming June 2019. As we all know the IPCPR as an organization does an amazing job of catering to the handmade premium cigar segment. Villiger at its core is a cigar company that produces premium handmade cigars, cigarillos, premium machine-made cigars, and pipe tobacco. For this reason, we as a company have decided to direct all our efforts toward the Tobacco Plus Expo (TPE) in Las Vegas, Nevada this upcoming January 29-31, 2020. This decision is in no way a reflection on our commitment, to the handmade premium cigar segment. We have placed much effort into creating highly rated handmade cigars, such as the Villiger La Flor De Ynclan, Villiger La Vencedora, and now the U.S. release of the Villiger La Meridiana El Mundo el Tabaco. We will also be announcing more products in the handmade premium segment, in the very near future. We would like to thank the IPCPR. for all it has done for this wonderful industry, and we will continue to support the IPCPR. via monetary donation. We consider the tobacco industry a unified family, and will continue to stand side by side, with all of you. Kindest regards, Rene Castaneda

President, Villiger North America

Photo Credit: Villiger North America
The year 2018 saw many brands and industry personalities commemorate anniversaries and milestones. This resulted in the release of many special cigars to mark the occasion. In the case of My Father Cigars, the celebration was a little more unique as the company celebrated two milestones. First, its the 15th anniversary of company patriarch Don Pepin Garcia setting up shop at the El Rey de los Habanos factory in Little Havana as well as the 15th anniversary of the Don Pepin Garcia brand. A few years later, Pepins son Jaime Garcia went to Nicaragua and started work on a blend unbeknownst to his father. Eventually, he would give the cigars to his father, who would fall in love with them. Jaime named that cigar My Father, which would not only develop into a brand name, but became the company name of the Garcia family. 2018 marked the 10th anniversary of that My Father cigar. To commemorate these milestones, My Father Cigars has created two cigars: the Don Pepin Garcia 15th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 and the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018. Today we take a closer look at the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018.

With the exception of 2014, each year My Father Cigars has released at least one limited edition cigar. These cigars have varied across the brands. There have been two common denominators: 1) The blend incorporates Nicaraguan-grown Pelo de Oro tobacco 2) Each of these cigars has had a single 6 1/.x 52 Toro release (The Don Pepin Garcia 15th Anniversary also had a Robusto size released).

A complete listing of the My Father limited edition offerings is below:

* Denotes coffin release.

There may be a little confusion between the My Father Limited Edition 2015 5th Anniversary and this years My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018. One reason for this confusion is that the 5th Anniversary and 10th Anniversary releases were released three years apart. This is because the 5th Anniversary cigar commemorated five years of the My Father Limited Edition Series while the 10th Anniversary commemorated ten years of My Father Cigars.

As for the names, the 2015 release has 5th Anniversary at the end of the name while the 2018 release has 10th Anniversary after the My Father Name. See the writing on the boxes below.

Without further ado, lets break down the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The blend for the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 features an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan tobaccos grown on the Garcia family farms. As mentioned, there is a component of Pelo de Oro used in the blend.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Factory: My Father Cigars SA

Vitolas Offered

The My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 comes in one size  a 6 1/2 x 52 Toro. Each cigar is packaged in an individual coffin. The coffins are presented in 14-count boxes.

Appearance

The Ecuadorian Habano wrapper to the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 was as aesthetically pleasing a wrapper as I have seen. It had a rich caramel color to it with a light coating of oil. The wrapper seams were all hidden. There were some thin visible veins and the wrapper had a slight bumpiness to it.

There are two bands on the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018. The primary band is the classic peach/pink, green, gold, and white My Father Cigars band found across the line.

The secondary band sits below the main band. At the center of the band, on a gold background is the text Limited Edition in red cursive font. Below that text is 10th Anniversary in black and red cursive font (and an embellished A on Anniversary). There are three gold ribbon designs toward the bottom of that band. The center ribbon is slightly below the other two. On each ribbon (from left to right) is the text HAND, MMXVIII, and MADE respectively  all in black font. To the left and right side of the secondary band is an orange background. The left side contains a black MF insignia stamp while the right side contains the signatures of Pepin and Jaime Garcia in gold font along with the text MY FATHER CIGARS in black font. On the lower left and right side of the band is the text 20 and 18 respectively in black font on a peach background.

The footer contains an orange ribbon around it with the MF (My Father) initials insignia and the text 2018 in gold font.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A straight cut was used to remove the cap of the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw. The pre-light draw delivered a mix of natural tobacco and earth. There was a mix of bitter and sweet components to the natural tobacco. It wasnt the most exciting pre-light draw, but it still was one that was satisfying. At this point, it was time to pull off the footer ribbon, light up the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 and see what the smoking experience would bring to the table.

Tasting Notes

The My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 started out with a mix of earth, natural tobacco, exotic pepper spices, and cedar. It didnt take long for the natural tobacco notes to move into the forefront. These notes demonstrated a mix of sweet and bitter qualities that varied in intensity. Meanwhile, earth, exotic spice, and cedar settled in the background. There was also an additional layer of white pepper on the retro-hale.

During the second third, the earth notes moved into the forefront and displaced the natural tobacco as the primary notes. The natural tobacco settled into the background, joining the pepper and cedar. During this phase, the natural tobacco continued to exhibit both sweetness and bitterness. There also was a gradual increase in the pepper during this phase.

The last third of the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 saw the pepper move into the forefront with the earth. The natural tobacco helped round out the profile by still exhibiting sweetness and bitterness. In addition, there still were touches of cedar in the background. This is the way the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 came to a close. The resulting nub was slightly soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 has some excellent construction and this was reflected in the scores of the burn and draw. The My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 maintained a straight burn path and straight burn line from start to finish. The resulting ash was light gray and skewed on the firm side. Meanwhile, the burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

Draw

In terms of the draw, the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 had a touch of resistance to it  which is something I like. At the same time this was a low maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

In terms of both strength and body, I found the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 to be one of the more dialed back cigars with the My Father name on it. This is a cigar that started mild to medium in both strength and body. Both the strength and body gradually increased in a linear fashion from start to finish. By the second half, both attributes were in medium territory. The strength and body of the My Father 10th Anniversary Limited Edition 2018 balanced each other nicely with neither attribute overpowering the other.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

Over the years, I have enjoyed and looked forward to the limited editions coming out of My Father Cigars. Some I have enjoyed better than others. This one falls into the latter category. To me, something was just missing from this cigar  call it the secret sauce if you may. It didnt have the robustness and complexity that I have come to expect from a My Father Limited Edition release. The flavors werent bad, but they werent very interesting and midway through this cigar I was quite bored with it. Since this is not an inexpensive investment, my advice is to try one first and see what you think.

Summary

Key Flavors Natural Tobacco, Earth, Exotic Pepper, Cedar

Burn: Excellent

Draw: Excellent

Complexity: Low to Medium

Strength: Mild to Medium (1st Half), Medium (2nd Half)

Body: Mild to Medium (1st Half), Medium (2nd Half)

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Try a Sample

Score: 87

References

News: My Father La Gran Oferta Launched at 2018 IPCPR

Price: $24.00

Source: Purchased

Brand Reference: My Father

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop, except where noted
The month of April ended quite differently than I expected when it came to covering the world of cigars. An announcement was made that will potentially be the biggest cigar media story of the year  namely, Imperial Brands planning to exit the cigar industry.

With the IPCPR Trade Show scheduled to start at the end of June, May pretty much will mark the beginning of our IPCPR Pre-Game coverage. While that has its ups and downs, it still is a positive time of the year, and it marks a busy season. However, from a person covering the cigar industry, the future of what happens with the cigar properties under Imperial Brands is something that is even more exciting than IPCPR season.

If you follow this website and other online media sites, you have seen many brands get sold and acquired by others. Three notable ones are the sale of the Torano brands to General Cigar, the sale of Drew Estate to Swisher International, and the sale of Oliva Cigar Company to J. Cortes. The sale of Torano involved more of a sale of the brands and inventory to General, and really wasnt a full company sale. Essentially General acquired the brands, but didnt acquire everything else that went on with the company. The Drew Estate and Oliva sales involved full company sales where everything was sold lock, stock, and barrel.

The looming sale of the cigar-related properties under Imperials Tabacalera division (most notably Altadis, Habanos S.A., JR Cigar, Casa de Montecristo, and Santa Clara Cigars) is much bigger. The three examples of Torano, Drew Estate, and Oliva simply dwarf what Imperial stands to divest. In fact, analysts predict 1 to 1.5 billion British pounds (thats 1.3 to 2 billion U.S. dollars).

We can speculate on where things might head with this divestiture. The bottom line is that there arent many companies that have a premium cigar division who will be potential purchasers here. Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) is one possibility, but their interest level in giving a home to the cigar properties of Imperial Brands is an unknown. Most likely STG is able to raise the capital for such a transaction.

Another large company with a premium cigar division is Altria, owner of Nat Sherman. Altria is capable of pulling off such a transaction, but the reason it acquired Nat Sherman was less about Nat Shermans premium cigars and more about its cigarette business. While Nat Shermans cigar business goes on, I dont get any indications they are looking to take on premium cigars on a large scale.

British American Tobacco is certainly big enough, but it also got out of premium cigars a couple of years ago when it discontinued the Dunhill brand. Japan Tobacco is also big enough. There was talk a little over a year ago about a potential takeover of Imperial Brands, but that never materialized. Im not sure they would cherry pick the Tabacalera piece from Imperial.

Bottom line, when you look at potential buyers in the tobacco world, its the companies that deal in cigarettes (and now e-cigarettes) that have the money. However premium cigars probably arent something looked upon as strategic. The margins in premium cigars are less  especially considering the handmade nature of many of them. This leads one to believe buyers could come from outside of the tobacco business or from a private equity group. Prior to Altadis being acquired by Imperial, there was talk of a private equity group taking it over. That didnt materialize. Finally, another possibility is that Imperial Brands splits up the properties under Tabacalera.

On my personal/experimental semi-regular podcast Prime Cuts, I went through some details on some of this speculation. I expect a lot more talk on our Prime Time and Special Edition shows in upcoming weeks.

While many premium cigar enthusiasts can feel a personal connection when small companies such as Ezra Zion acquire brands such as Nomad Cigar Company; who acquires the premium cigar business from Imperial Brand is going to be different. It most certainly will have the feel of a corporate transaction, and most likely cigar enthusiasts wont have a personal connection.
By EPHRAIM KASOZI.

A group of Members of Parliament from the ruling National Resistance Movement has asked the Constitutional Court to nullify President Musevenis sole candidature for the 2021 elections and beyond citing violation of the Constitution.

On February 19 this year, the Central Executive Committee of NRM sitting at Chobe Safari Lodge in Nwoya District resolved to adopt President Museveni who doubles as the NRM party chairman as the sole candidate for 2012 presidential elections and beyond.

But a group of NRM leaning MPs is seeking for orders declaring the act of NRM CEC inconsistent with various Articles of the Constitution and hence null and void.

They also want court to declare that the current NRM CEC whose tenure runs between July 2015 to June 2020 has no mandate, legitimacy and power to declare Museveni or any other person a sole candidate and or flag bearer for 2012 elections and beyond.

In the petition filed against NRM before the Constitutional Court, eleven MPs including Theodre Ssekikubo, Monica Amoding are seeking for orders declaring null and void the decision reasoning that it is in contravention of the Constitution.
Between was a German-based musical collective with writing ideas contributed mainly by Peter Michael Hamel (keys), Robert Eliscu (flute, oboe), and Roberto Detree (string instruments). Eliscu also played with Popol Vuh for most of the 70s, and much of the best music of Between is evocative of the simple, meditative style of that group. The second half of the show is dedicated to solo music from Peter Michael Hamel, which goes even further in a contemplative/meditative direction.

Triumphzug Kaiser Maximilian I

Between - Einsteig Barcelona Rain

Between - Einsteig Happy Stage

Between - And the Waters Opened Listen to the Light

Between - Dharana The Voice of Silence

Peter Michael Hamel - The Voice of Silence Nada

Peter Michael Hamel - Nada - Gingko
The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency has announced that a Disaster Recovery Center is scheduled to open in Columbus early next week.

From 9 a.m.  6 p.m. May 6-10, Platte County residents and those in surrounding communities affected by the severe March flooding are encouraged to stop by the Eagles Club Post 1834, 3205 12th St.

The Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) places flood victims in contact with recovery specialists from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) who can provide information on available services, explain assistance programs and help survivors complete or check the status of their applications.

Over the course of the past months, those with immediate inquiries have been able to visit DRCs erected in surrounding Butler and Colfax counties. But, it will be a positive that Platte County residents have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips without having to travel as far, Platte County Emergency Manager Tim Hofbauer previously said of when the center opens.

First and foremost, representatives at the Columbus DRC will be able to help individuals apply for Individual Assistance Aid provided through the federal government. Not everyone who applies will receive assistance  this amount is generally $4,000 - $5,000  but they will still be able to have DRC representatives walk them through the process.

As of Monday, the information provided by the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency shows that 5,377 applicants in designated counties have applied for Individual Assistance. In total, FEMA has provided nearly $21 million in Individual Assistance statewide. This includes $18,495,501 for housing assistance and $2,248,258 for other disaster-related needs.

The deadline to apply for Individual Assistance is May 20.

Elizabeth Vargas, an SBA representative from Houston currently serving Nebraska counties, encourages area residents affected by the natural disaster to swing by the DRC to at least learn what all of their best options are.

While Individual Assistance through FEMA provides some help, it isnt designed to drastically alleviate peoples expenses. The SBA, she said, offers low-interest loans to businesses of all sizes, most private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters.

Businesses and nonprofits are eligible for up to $2 million in loans, homeowners $200,000 and $40,000 loans for homeowners and renters needing to cover personal property loss. Residents, as with Individual Assistance, have until the May 20 deadline to apply for aid through the SBA.

Vargas noted that though a lot of the conversation happening at most DRCs revolves around aid registration and application, government representatives are happy to assist however they can.

They are there to answer all sorts of questions, Vargas said. Residents who go (to the DRC) can learn a lot and benefit from it.

To register with FEMA, those interested are encouraged to visit www.DisasterAssistance.gov.

Sam Pimper is the news editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at sam.pimper@lee.net.

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" " When it comes to zero-day vulnerabilities, it means we don't know about a security problem until it's too late. scyther5/iStock/Thinkstock

A zero-day vulnerability is a hole or flaw in a software program for which there is no patch or fix, usually because the vulnerability is unknown to the software vendor [sources: Hoffman, Symantec].

The term comes from the fact that developers have "zero days" from the time the flaw is discovered to protect against a possible cyberattack. In some cases, an attack itself is the first indication the security problem exists [sources: Bu, Palermo, PC Tools, Peterson].

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Once a software vendor discovers a zero-day vulnerability, programmers scramble to correct the flaw and release an update containing the necessary patch. If the vulnerability is exploited by cyber criminals before it can be corrected, the resulting attack is called a zero-day exploit or zero-day attack [sources: Palermo, PC Tools].

According to the 2014 Internet Threat Report published by Symantec, 23 zero-day vulnerabilities were discovered in 2013, more than in any other year the company has tracked [source: Symantec]. Fortunately, zero-day vulnerabilities are often reported to software vendors by "white hat" hackers (the good guys), and in July 2014, Google launched a team called Project Zero, whose mission is to identify and report flaws in widely used programs before they can be exploited for malicious purposes [sources: Evans, Palermo, Peterson].

Zero-day attacks have been used to steal sensitive customer data, gain remote access to computer systems and carry out industrial espionage [source: Peterson].

The Heartbleed bug, a zero-day vulnerability in the Open SSL encryption library used to secure traffic between Web servers and computers, existed for two years before its discovery in April 2014 [source: Strohm]. When it was first discovered, programmers were unsure whether the Heartbleed flaw had been exploited, but it is now believed to be the source of a hospital breach affecting 4.5 million patient records in the United States [source: BBC News].

In August 2014, Russian hackers were suspected of exploiting a zero-day vulnerability to hack into the computer systems of JPMorgan and at least four other U.S. financial institutions [source: Greenberg].

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Managing the available resources and meeting one's business objectives using the same is a talent which every business owner seeks today. However, managing finances and simultaneously keeping the profit ratio higher within a company is not every businessman's cup of tea. With increasing income and affluence in India, wealth management is slowly establishing itself as a very important form of service that can be utilized by all especially people who may not have sound financial background but are interested in safe guarding and growing their wealth in a systematic way. Sensing the rising need for process-based investment services as an opportunity, PR Dilip, an industry veteran with over two decades of experience in Indian Capital Market, teamed with few professional friends in 1994 and established Impetus Wealth Management. Set up initially as an equity research firm, today Impetus has evolved into a full-fledged wealth management company, providing Portfolio Management Services under the Portfolio Manager Regulations of SEBI.Headquartered in Mumbai, Impetus Wealth Management was built with a clear motive of providing research based investment advisory services for institutional as well as individual investors. A SEBI registered Portfolio Manager; this company is globally renowned for its unique range of services which include Portfolio Management, Wealth Management services, Estate Planning, Transaction Platform for Equity, Mutual Fund Schemes and Insurance products. In an attempt

to address the stumbling blocks of wealth management industry, Impetus has also created its own Investor Profiling System (IPS)that has helped the company address the investment needs of large number of High NetWorth Individuals (HNI) from different walks of life from different parts of the world.



"Impetus Wealth Management has successfully evolved into a full-fledged wealth management company, providing services under the Portfolio Manager Regulations of SEBI"



Keeping up with their objective, Impetus assists its customers to clearly define their financial goals, time frame, risk appetite and available resources. Based on the results of its exhaustive client-profiling process, Impetus suggests suitable portfolio of assets to the respective investor, while also considering the key aspects such as capital preservation and optimum risk adjusted growth. Once an investor understands and accepts the suggested investment philosophy and process, the dynamic team of Impetus welcomes them to Impetus family through an agreement as per the relevant regulations and thus the journey begins. Acknowledging the client-centric services of Impetus, Cap. Ganesh Raja Dhanuskodi, a Merchant Navy Professional adds, "If it can be summed up in short, I would describe the work done by P.R.Dilip as,`having thorough knowledge of the subject and executing with utmost integrity'. The combination is a rare commodity. One need not think twice in recommending him for the area of work he is involved in."



The Enabling Process

"At Impetus, we believe that, as the financial goal of each individual is different from another, the financial planning for each individual also has to be different and personalized. We are an unbiased wealth management firm and our agenda is not to sell any financial product to our investors. Instead, we educate our investors about the need-based financial planning rather than trend-based investments as what is in trend
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Cape Town, May 1, 2019  The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over a $500,000 civil defamation lawsuit filed against the Roots 102.7 FM radio station and two of its hosts by the Liberian minister of state for presidential affairs, Nathaniel McGill.

On April 15, McGill filed the suit against Roots FM, a privately owned radio broadcaster based in Monrovia, and Henry Costa and Fidel Saydee, two hosts of the stations popular Henry Costa Show, according to Costa, who spoke with CPJ, and a copy of the filing, which CPJ reviewed.

Liberia repealed its criminal defamation laws in February, but civil suits demanding large damages can still result in the closure of news outlets and jail time for the accused for nonpayment, according to CPJ reporting and Tiawan Gongloe, a Monrovia-based human rights lawyer, who spoke with CPJ.

Liberias gross national income per capita in 2017 was $620, according to the World Bank.

Civil defamation lawsuits involving massive claims for damages remain a major challenge to press freedom in Liberia, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator, from Johannesburg. Nathaniel McGill should stop trying to harass or bankrupt Roots FM and its journalists, and the government of President George Weah should build on its successful repeal of criminal defamation and sedition from Liberias penal code by reforming civil defamation laws.

The suit, filed in the Montserrado county civil court, alleges that Roots FM, Costa, and Saydee slandered, badmouthed, vandalized and vilified people for political gain by alleging financial improprieties surrounding the 2017 Liberian elections. The filing calls the Henry Costa Show a very divisive program that rivals the pre-1994 Radio Rwanda style of broadcasting.

McGill told CPJ via WhatsApp that he filed the suit to clear his name and denied that the shows claims fell under the umbrella of press freedom.

Costa told CPJ that he and Saydee have hired lawyers and will fight the case.

The case is scheduled to be heard at the Monrovia Temple of Justice courthouse on June 17, according to the summons.

Liberian Information Minister Lenn Eugene Nagbe told CPJ that the government was considering placing reasonable limits on damages in civil defamation cases, and said that such cases should not result in imprisonment, but added, freedom of speech is not freedom to destroy character and malign people.

His comments echo the concerns of a 2018 report by David Kaye, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, which called on Liberia to establish strict limits on damages available in defamation suits.

In two instances earlier this year, Roots FM was temporarily forced off-air after its radio transmitter was sabotaged and then stolen, as CPJ reported at the time.
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Washington, D.C., May 1, 2019  Russian authorities should allow journalists to freely cover protests and must investigate the alleged assault by police of Timur Hadjibekov and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

A group of at least five police officers assaulted and then arrested Hadjibekov, a freelance photojournalist who works under the name George Markov, and arrested Oleg Nasonov, a photojournalist with St. Petersburg-based online news outlet Dva Stula, while they were covering a May Day march in St. Petersburg today, according to Nasonov and Hadjibekov, who spoke with CPJ, and local media reports.

Police officers approached Hadjibekov and Nasonov, who were near the demonstrations which included several political parties and activists shouting anti-Putin slogans; Hadjibekov identified himself as a journalist, and police then punched him in his ribs and head and arrested him, he told CPJ. Nasonov told CPJ that police grabbed him and threw him to the ground before arresting him.

Police attacking journalists covering a demonstration is completely unacceptable, said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said from New York. Russian authorities should immediately investigate the alleged assault of Timur Hadjibekov at todays march and ensure that journalists can cover protests freely and safely.

Hadjibekov said that the officers took him to a police station without giving any reason for his arrest, and held him there for about two hours. He was then taken to a hospital to receive treatment for his injuries, he told CPJ.

Officers told Nasonov he was under arrest for disobeying a police officer, and held him at a police station for about four hours, he told CPJ. When he was released, officers said that he was charged with violating public order, and will be required to appear in court, he said. According to the Russian administrative code, he could be fined between 10,000 and 20,000 rubles ($152 to $305) if found guilty.

Hadjibekov said he intends to file an official complaint against the St. Petersburg police. Nasonov told CPJ that he plans to submit his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The St. Petersburg police press office did not immediately respond to CPJs emailed request for comment.

Thousands marched through the streets of St. Petersburg and other Russian cities to mark Labor Day, and more than 100 were detained by authorities, according to news reports.

Editors Note: This text has been updated throughout to include Nasonovs comments to CPJ.
George Gardner, age 94, died peacefully at his home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on April 30, 2019. His first wife, Marian (nee Shoemaker), died in 1987. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth V. Gardner and six children: David (Chaesuk) Gardner, Mary (Mark) Adams, Michael (Paula) Gardner, Nancy (Morris) Margolis, Jennifer (Gary) Dunn, and Jon (Lorna) Gardner, as well as 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He was predeceased by his son Martin. He is also survived by a sister, Norma Wyerman, of Hollidaysburg, PA.

George Fisher Gardner was born in 1924 to George and Viola Gardner in Alexandria, PA and grew up in nearby Hollidaysburg. He joined the Army during World War II, serving with a military police battalion attached to the 4th Corps. While in the Army, he received electronics training at both the University of Pennsylvania and Manhattan College. After his military service, he returned to Penn State University and graduated in 1949 as an electrical engineer.

Mr. Gardner was a hard-working entrepreneur his entire life, regularly working 12-hour days well into his 70s. He was employed briefly by Sylvania Electric Products in Seneca Falls, NY before venturing out on his own to found the Pennwire Television Company in 1951 in Lewistown, PA. Also, in 1951, Mr. Gardner formed one of the first cable industry product distribution companiesTelevision and Electronics Service Corporationto sell equipment (designed by Gardner himself) for building and operating cable television systems. In 1962, he sold the Lewistown system and founded TV Cable of Waynesboro. That same year, he bought and began rebuilding the cable system in Carlisle, which he operated for more than 30 years.

Under the Raystay Company, which he formed in the 1970s, Mr. Gardner became involved in other small cable systems. In the late 1990s, Gardner sold Raystay and got out of the cable business, after which he purchased and ran several hotels.

Mr. Gardner was honored as a Founder by the Pennsylvania Cable Television Association and the Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia Cable Television Association. He served as a member of the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Cable Television Association and as its president, treasurer, and secretary. He was an early member of the Cable TV Pioneers, an honorary society recognizing individual achievements in the cable television industry.

Mr. Gardner enjoyed boating and fishing in Florida and spending time in the mountains of central Pennsylvania. He was an avid private pilot and was part-owner and a director of the Carlisle Airport from the 1960s to the 1990s. He was active in the Carlisle Kiwanis Club. In the late 1980s, Mr. Gardners keen interest in genealogy led to his involvement in the Cumberland County Historical Society, where he served on its board of directors and its technology, library, and buildings committees. A lifelong musician, he was first clarinet in the Penn State Blue Band in the late 1940s and he played in local bands in both Carlisle and his winter home of Fort Lauderdale, FL. He and Elizabeth worshipped at the First United Church of Christ in Carlisle.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of the many charities George Gardner supported, such as the Carlisle Area Science Advisory Committee, Project SHARE or the Carlisle Band. In addition, donations may be made to the charity of your choice.

A Memorial Service will be held at the First United Church of Christ in Carlisle, PA on Sunday, June 16 followed by a private burial service.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Hoffman Funeral Home and Crematory, 2020 West Trindle Road, Carlisle, PA 17013.

To sign the guestbook, please visit www.hoffmanfh.com.
Lower Allen Township police are looking for a man who stole items from Weis Markets in the 1100 block of Carlisle Road twice in the same day.

The man arrived at 7:30 p.m. April 23 in a blue Honda with a Pennsylvania registration and entered the store with at least one acquaintance, police said. He took crab meat and Dove products, concealed them, and left without paying for $210.48 in merchandise.

He returned at 11:20 p.m. and stole $226.40 in additional Dove products, police said.

The thief was a white man with a shaved head, glasses, a neck tattoo and wearing a long-sleeved green shirt, shorts and a backpack. The acquaintance was a black man wearing a Philadelphia 76ers cap.

Anyone with information about either man or information regarding the theft is asked to contact township police at 717-975-7575.

Daniel Walmer covers public safety for The Sentinel. You can reach him by email at dwalmer@cumberlink.com or by phone at 717-218-0021.
By Ritah Kemigisa.

As Uganda joins the rest of the world to celebrate international Labor Day, the Workers Member of Parliament Dr Sam Lyomoki has asked fellow legislators to support the amendment of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Act of 1985 that will allow workers to access their savings at the age of 45.

The Act in its current form only allows a fund member to attain the NSSF savings only during their retirement age which is between 55 and 65 years.

Lyomoki who was granted leave of parliament to introduce the bill says if the act is amended, it will go a long way in improving the social security sector.

Economists have since said the amended act will have ripple effects on the economy.
Each legislative session thousands of bills and amendments are introduced in the Pennsylvania Legislature. Only a fraction become law, and an even smaller portion receive wide media coverage.

These bills impact the lives of people living in Pennsylvania every day. Each week The Sentinel will highlight one bill that has not received widespread attention.

About the bill

Tanner Rutz loves to perform live music in Cumberland County and elsewhere, but his opportunities are limited because he isnt 18.

A Pennsylvania law forbids (without narrow exceptions) minors from performing music in establishments that sell alcohol.

State Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland County, wants to change that. House Bill 561 would allow minors to perform at wet hotels, restaurants and clubs, as long as they are not compensated and are supervised by a parent or guardian.

I have a very accomplished musician in my district who is a minor, Delozier said in a co-sponsorship memo, referring to Rutz. This young man, with the consent and supervision of his parents, would like to gain more experience in performing his music by doing so in licensed establishments. My legislation will allow him to continue to grow his talents.

Rob Rutz, Tanners father, thanked Delozier on Twitter for introducing the bill.

However, resistance has come from a surprising quarter: other musicians, who worry it will create competition for live acts who want to be paid. One podcast dubbed it The Pennsylvania Bill That Should Worry Musicians Nationwide.

Professional performing artists have long been at odds with venues willing to do whatever was possible to bring in free music, particularly when it is done under the guise of getting exposure, said Wade Sutton, founder of record label Rocket to the Stars, in the podcast. He said the bill institutionalizes the continuing devaluation of music in live form.

According to Delozier, criticism of not paying minors misses the point. State law already forbids compensation of minors at establishments that sell alcohol, and her bill does nothing to change that.

What you dont like is existing law, she told one critic on Twitter. (A)dvocate to change that, not for pulling a bill that opens a performance avenue for many that dont have one now in PA.

Daniel Walmer covers public safety for The Sentinel. You can reach him by email at dwalmer@cumberlink.com or by phone at 717-218-0021.

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Members of the Carlisle Chapter of American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters and YWCA Carlisle will host a Carlisle Area School District candidates forum May 15 at YWCA Carlisle,301 G Street, Carlisle.

The forum runs from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with each candidate receiving an opportunity to answer a series of questions that impact students and their families in the Carlisle schools. Admission is free.

The Carlisle School District encompasses Carlisle Borough, Dickinson Township, Mount Holly Springs Borough and North Middleton Township.

The six candidates are Jon W. Tarrant, Linda A. Manning, Bruce R. Clash, Paula Bussard, Gerald E. Eby and Sophia Parker. Five board members will be elected for for 4-year terms.

All candidates have been invited to participate, introduce themselves to voters and speak on issues concerning residents. The forum will be facilitated by YWCA Carlisle Executive Director Robin Scaer. Attendees will have the opportunity for a short Q&A at the end of the evening.

AAUW is a nonprofit organization that advances equity for women and girls through nonpartisan advocacy, education, philanthropy and research. The Carlisle Branch of League of Women Voters was established to promote informed and active participation in government, to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and to influence public policy through education and advocacy.

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India will mark its second appearance worlds oldest Biennale Art event to be held in Venice, Italy. This year 2019 is its 58th session in which, 16 out of 400 Haripura session posters will go up on walls of India pavilion at 58th Venice Biennale.

Many countries such as Pakistan and Ghana will host pavilions for first time.

Indias Participation

India is participating in event after a gap of eight years.

This will be only second time India will have a pavilion of its own at Venice Biennale.

India decided to showcase Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi to ensure a memorable show at art event. Indias pavilion will be putting 16 Haripura posters on its walls.

The task force for Arts of the Confederation of Indian Industry, will be propelled by Kiran Nadar Museum of Arts (KNMA), and seven Indian artists will be shown at India Pavilion

The Ministry of Culture, Government of India has laid down theme for the Indian Pavilion as 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi .

. In 1938, Mahatma Gandhi commissioned Indian modern artist Nandalal Bose to create 400 posters portraying different aspects of Indian life to be displayed at Indian National Congress session in Haripura, Gujarat.

58th Venice Biennale 2019

Duration: It will take place for 6 months period from 11 May 2019 till 24November 2019.

It will take place for 6 months period from 11 May 2019 till 24November 2019. Theme for Biennale 2019 is Our Time for a Future Caring .

for Biennale 2019 is . The 58th International Art Exhibitions overarching title is May You Live In Interesting Times.

The Venice Biennale
After special counsel Robert Muellers letter to William Barr complaining about his summary of the Russia investigation was revealed on Tuesday, top legal scholars  including a longtime Harvard law professor  condemned the Attorney General for allegedly misrepresenting the special counsels findings, with some calling on him to resign or be impeached.

The New York Times and the Washington Post reported on the existence of the letter, sent by Mueller to Barr in late March, earlier today, where the special counsel told the Attorney General: The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions.

There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation, Mueller added in his letter sent days after Barr released his four-page summary of the special counsels findings, according to the Post. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, a constitutional legal expert who has taught at the leading academic institution for almost half a century, condemned Barr for misleading public opinion in a statement posted to Twitter, and called for the attorney general to be impeached for his actions. Mueller says AG Barr misrepresented the context, nature & substance of his probe. What else is there? Barr is a total disgrace and a phony, Tribe wrote . He must now testify under Rep. Jerry Nadlers rules, then resign.

Mueller must now testify as well. This is a new ballgame, the professor continued . AG Barr flat-out lied to the American people about the Mueller reports incrimination of President Trump. Hes been outed as a total fraud. We cant let Barr  or Trump  get away with such gross abuse of power.

Barr must be impeached if he doesnt resign first, Tribe added.
Small farms are booming in Missouri, and nearly all farms in the state are family-owned.

Missourians are proud of our family farming tradition, and new data prove the tradition remains strong. Every five years the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducts a nationwide census. USDA released findings from the 2017 census in early April. Results also show that more young people are getting involved in agriculture across Missouri.

Although 20 states are physically larger than Missouri, the Census of Agriculture found that our state is second in the nation in total number of farms, with 95,320. The only state with more farms is Texas, but it has the advantage of being about four times the size of Missouri. The census also found that more than 96 percent of Missouri farms are considered family-owned. These data together show that small family farms are much more common in Missouri than most other states.

Small farms are not just hanging on in Missouri  theyre showing dramatic growth. Over the past five years, the number of farms under 10 acres grew by 41 percent and farms from 10 to 50 acres grew by 10 percent.

Farming is also a more common profession in Missouri than most other states. Missouri is second only to only Texas in the number of female farmers, farmers with military service, and those classified as young farmers or new and beginning farmers.

Media coverage of the census primarily focused on the average age of farmers. The national average age of primary producers on a farm climbed by one year in this census to 59.4 years old. Missouris average age was almost identical, at 59.3. However, there are some signs of a youth movement in Missouri, with the number of farmers aged 25 to 34 increasing seven percent since 2012.

Judging by the data, many of these younger farmers are getting involved in livestock and specialty crops, which often have lower barriers to entry than row crop operations. The average age of Missouri farmers in the hog and pig category was only 46.4 years old, nearly 13 years younger than the average. Farmers younger than age 35 made up over one-quarter of this category.

Young farmers also appear to be flocking to poultry and eggs. Missouri has more than doubled its number of egg laying operations over the last 20 years, from 3,707 to 9,052. In the same time, the number of poultry farms and turkey farms have each increased by 40 percent. Much of this growth has been driven by younger farmers, with the sectors average age standing at 49.5 years.

While the Census of Agricultures mountains of information can overwhelm anyone, the bottom line is simple. Small family farming is thriving in Missouri, and opportunities abound for those willing to work hard, whether they are young or old.

Eric Bohl, of Columbia, Mo., is the Director of Public Affairs & Advocacy for Missouri Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization.

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The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Anthony Caruthers can not be forced to undergo a mental evaluation.

Caruthers is accused of murdering businessman Michael VanStavern in November of 2016. The Bonne Terre man is charged with a class A felony of murder in the first degree, felony armed criminal action, a class C felony of burglary in the second degree, a class C felony of tampering with a motor vehicle in the first degree, a class D felony of tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution, and a class D felony of resisting arrest/detention/stop by fleeing, creating a substantial risk of serious injury or death to any person.

In the State of Missouri ex rel. Anthony Caruthers v. the Honorable Judge Wendy Wexler Horn, the high court ruled in favor of Caruthers in an opinion issued on Tuesday.

The ruling states that on or about April 12, 2018, counsel for Caruthers filed a second supplemental response to the states request for discovery through which the defense disclosed anticipated expert testimony by Dr. Stacie Bunning.

When the defense had completed the written reports, they were submitted to the state on or about April 20, 2018.

The ruling states that on or about April 23, 2018, the state filed a motion (States 552 Competency Motion) requesting a competency evaluation to determine Caruthers mental capacity to stand trial. On about May 2, 2018, the state withdrew their original motion and refiled a second motion for a mental examination based on a different statute (States 552 Diminished Capacity Motion).

The ruling states that at no time did the defense or the counsel for the defense file a motion or enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI).

Based on the facts of the case, the Supreme Court ruled that Caruthers is entitled to an order prohibiting the state from ordering a mental evaluation because cause law and statute cited by the prosecution and courts rely solely on a defendant having entered a plea of NGRI.

The court also noted that there was no reasonable cause shown to trigger the ordering of a competency evaluation.

In early May of 2018, Judge Horn denied a motion from the defense to stop Caruthers from having a mental exam and ordered that the exam proceed as scheduled. On May 10, 2018, Presiding Judge Colleen Dolan of the Missouri Court of Appeals ordered a stop on the previously-ordered mental health exam, which was scheduled for the next day. Despite this, Caruthers was transported to the Missouri Department of Mental Health on May 11, 2018 and underwent a mental health examination.

The murder investigation

According to a probable cause statement, during a recorded interview Reed explained that Caruthers killed VanStavern, of Farmington, at the Red Cedar Lodge in Bonne Terre on Nov. 2, 2016.

Reed stated that Caruthers contacted him by phone and picked him up at his house in Park Hills.

Reed told investigators that Caruthers was driving VanStaverns Porsche SUV and Caruthers asked for Reeds help with something but didnt initially give any details. Reed stated Caruthers, while driving him to Red Cedar Lodge, explained to him how he had killed VanStavern.

Reed told investigators they went into room 14 and Caruthers told Reed that VanStavern's body was under the bed. Reed said he lifted up the mattress and found VanStavern.

Reed told investigators he assisted Caruthers in removing VanStavern from the hotel room. Reed said they purchased items from a local business to assist them in concealing the body while they removed it from the hotel room and placed it into the back of Porsche.

Reed told investigators he had some items at his residence that belonged to VanStavern. He said he and Caruthers took the items there after leaving the Red Cedar Lodge.

During a subsequent questioning of Caruthers he confessed to killing VanStavern by strangling him with a belt. Caruthers told investigators he called Reed and then they both went to VanStaverns apartment in Farmington.

Caruthers said they used VanStaverns key to get in the apartment, the key which he had taken off the body. He added he and Reed removed several items including, but not limited to, clothing and watches from the apartment.

Caruthers said he attempted to pawn the items taken from VanStaverns apartment at multiple pawn shops in the Jefferson County area, but was unsuccessful. Caruthers and Reed also reportedly further conspired to dispose of VanStaverns body. They purchased items to conceal the murder and clean the crime scene.

Then on that Thursday morning a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper saw the driver of a Porsche SUV commit a traffic violation on U.S. 67 at approximately 10:30 a.m. He activated his lights and siren in an attempt to stop the vehicle.

The driver, later identified as Caruthers, failed to stop and instead exited the highway at Desloge, went toward Cedar Falls Road, ran through a fence, across a yard, through another fence, crashed into a tree line in the back of the house, jumped out of the SUV and fled on foot.

At the time the pursuing officer was unsure if there had been more than one person in the SUV at the time. The trooper spotted Reed running from the wreck and gave chase, catching him a short distance away.

When the officer returned to the SUV with Reed he discovered the body wrapped inside a sleeping bag and another item, and the incident turned into a homicide investigation.

Reed was taken to the Desloge Police Department for questioning and it was determined that a second male had been in the SUV and had fled on foot. A stop and hold was put out on Caruthers after Reed gave a description.

Authorities searched the area of the crash site as well as an area at College Road and Penny Lane in Leadington for over several hours before Caruthers was located at about 3 p.m. not far from the crash scene outside Desloge.

An autopsy was performed at which time it was confirmed that VanStavern had died as a result of strangulation.

Reed was charged with a class C felony of burglary in the second degree and a class D felony of tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. He pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Matt McFarland is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3616, or at mmcfarland@dailyjournalonline.com.

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DEAR ABBY: I'm married to a man 21 years my senior. "Joe" and I have been married six years. I have recently realized I'm gay and have fallen in love with another woman.

Although Joe isn't infirm or mentally deficient, he has a hard time making decisions on his own. He'll read something, hand it to me and ask me what I think. He can't form an opinion on his own, but God forbid you challenge an opinion he DOES have.

Over the course of our marriage, he has become "crotchety" and burned all his bridges. Because of this, I have lost friends, business opportunities and my reputation. He got fired from his job three years ago and has never actively tried to find another one. I have carried the family on my own financially.

He literally has no one but me. He's past retirement age, and I'm half that. I have more life to live being who I really AM, but I feel guilty leaving him high and dry. I no longer love him; I love my girlfriend. I want to be out and proud and live what I realize now is my real truth. How can I tell him I want out? -- TRAPPED IN CALIFORNIA

DEAR TRAPPED: Before telling your husband anything, discuss this with a divorce lawyer. Leaving him may be complicated because you have been his sole support for a while. Once you know what your financial responsibilities may -- or may not -- be, you will be in a better position to give your husband the bad news. When you do, a way to start would be to tell him you have realized that you are a lesbian.

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Mason," and I have been dating for eight months, and it has been going well. However, there is one thing standing in our way -- his mom and sisters.

Mason is the only boy. His parents divorced when he was young. His mom never remarried, but his father did. His two sisters (one older, one younger) don't have boyfriends. The three of them constantly make comments whenever Mason and I go out and do things -- that he's spending too much money or isn't at home enough. They critique everything Mason does, from what he wears to how much money he earned in his last paycheck. It's like they're obsessed with him.

They plan vacations while I'm around and don't invite me. I haven't been invited over for any holidays or family functions. I love Mason and want a future with him, but I can't continue dealing with the nonsense from his jealous mom and sisters. It's causing a huge strain.

Mason knows how upset I am. He says he has talked to them, but their behavior hasn't changed. If he won't take matters into his own hands, should I? -- COMPETING IN NEW JERSEY

DEAR COMPETING: No! Until Mason is mature enough to put his foot down, his mother and sisters will continue to decide for him who he dates, how much time he spends with her and whether he is earning "enough" money to be seeing anyone. You cannot and should not compete with his family because it isn't healthy for you or your relationship. Remember, Mason will likely always be a package deal, and if you can't accept it, you should end things.

DEAR ABBY: I'm an 18-year-old guy who's having troubles regarding my family. My parents are divorced, and I moved out of my mom's house after I graduated.

After the divorce, I flipped back and forth between living with either Mom or Dad. I moved into my mother's after an argument with my stepmom, who insists that I call her "Mother." I don't consider her my mother. My father is an alcoholic and was completely impaired when he married her. I've never forgiven him. When I visit, I can't help but feel no longer welcome.

My mother (a hypocritical tiger mom) made my high school career so stressful it pushed me into severe depression, so I spoke to a doctor who prescribed medication for me and gave me therapist referrals. Since I moved out, I've never been happier.

My siblings and I have never been close, other than at times when we needed someone to talk to about our parental situation.

I have been thinking about disappearing and starting a new life on my own with no thought of my family past. I'm not sure if it's worth fixing the mess my family has become. Advice? -- BREAKING AWAY

DEAR BREAKING: For your stepmother to demand that you call her "Mother" was wrong. She is not and never will be your mother. (Besides, you already have one of those.) For your mother to have pushed you to succeed academically is normal when a parent thinks her child has potential that isn't being realized. That she was so heavy-handed that it had the opposite effect is very sad.

If you would like to move away and start a new life, no one can stop you. At 18, you are considered an adult. But I do NOT think it would be healthy for you to do it in anger and without mending fences, if that's possible. Running away will not have the effect you're looking for because your family will still be living in your head.

DEAR ABBY: Should I marry someone who doesn't love me more than anyone in this world? -- JIM IN VIRGINIA

DEAR JIM: I think that depends on who else the person loves.

DEAR ABBY: A few months ago, I informed my bosses I was pregnant. Within a week, they were trying to fire me and blame it on other things at work that made no sense and hadn't been issues before. They made me sign a letter of reprimand in our first meeting about the "issues."

I spoke with a co-worker who told me she had a similar experience when she announced her pregnancy. I work for a company with a "boys club" mentality, so I didn't try to speak to HR because I was afraid for my already threatened job.

A couple weeks later, I miscarried and everything at work went back to normal. I actually got a raise a month later. Last week, I learned I'm pregnant again. My husband and I are excited about it, but I'm scared to tell my bosses for fear I'll have a repeat of last time.

When should I tell them about my upcoming arrival? And is there anything I can do to protect my job? I have been looking for employment elsewhere, but haven't found anything yet. I need this job or else I would have already left it. -- SCARED IN UTAH

DEAR SCARED: Pregnancy is a natural condition and you should not be punished for it. The first thing you should do is document everything that happened during your first pregnancy. Be sure to include what your co-worker told you happened to her, and how -- after your miscarriage -- all your problems at the office disappeared. Then schedule an appointment with an attorney to ask how you can protect yourself in the months to come.

I am the matron of honor and she also has a maid of honor (which I am confused about; can you have both?). She is still planning her destination wedding because she won't consider herself "really married" until the formal ceremony. Save-the-date notices were already sent.

I told her I didn't feel comfortable throwing a bachelorette party since she's already married. She was fine with it, and mentioned the maid of honor may have a bonfire with their friends.

I thought a lingerie bridal shower would be nice since they have been living together for some time and don't need household items. Is a bridal shower appropriate after a wedding? I feel it should be lightheartedly disclosed on the bridal shower invitation that they are already married. Is this OK? -- JESSICA, MATRON OF HONOR

DEAR JESSICA: If you wish to throw a lingerie shower, I think it would be sweet, although showers are technically not supposed to be hosted by family members. Her friends would probably enjoy it. But to disclose on the invitation that your sister is already married -- lightheartedly or not -- would be in poor taste.

DEAR ABBY: I have never had a good relationship with my father. He was extremely abusive and controlling when I was growing up. Regardless, I have tried to maintain a relationship with him -- albeit a superficial one -- now that I'm an adult.

For the past few years, Dad has been seeing a woman my age. I have tried my best to maintain a relationship with her as well. The problem is, they are extremely touchy-feely when they're together, and it makes me very uncomfortable. For example, they're always rubbing each other, hanging on each other, or she sits on his lap when we're out for drinks.

I tried to talk to my father about it. He became extremely angry when I asked if they could keep it to a minimum around me. Moreover, they recently let it slip that they started dating before she was 18. I don't feel comfortable with their relationship at all. Am I wrong to feel this way? -- UNCOMFORTABLE IN THE WEST

DEAR UNCOMFORTABLE: I don't think so. Your feelings are your feelings, and you are entitled to them. Because being around your father and this young lady makes you uncomfortable, consider seeing him one-on-one, apart from her, if he can manage to separate from her for a half-hour or an hour.

DEAR ABBY: I have been married to my husband for 16 years. His brother died suddenly, and he was devastated. We dropped everything and drove 1,000 miles to attend the funeral. When we arrived and went to be seated, he asked me to sit four rows back because the front row was "immediate family only." I felt I was immediate family, but didn't want to cause a scene, so I did as he asked. When I sat down, I received odd looks and sad looks. I'm not angry, but my feelings are hurt. Am I wrong? -- LEFT OUT IN THE EAST

DEAR LEFT OUT: If the spouses of your husband's other siblings -- and children, if there are any -- were also asked to sit elsewhere, then you should not feel hurt. However, if you were the only one told to sit in "Siberia," your feelings are justified.

DEAR ABBY: Our daughter, "Joan," and her husband, "Frank," have been married 19 years. Their only child will be 4 next month. A year and a half ago, Frank came out as a transgender female. Joan is handling this exceptionally well. Our son, "Alex," is not.

Our family will never have the traditional holidays again because Alex doesn't want his daughters, ages 13 and 10, around Frank. We are heartbroken, worried for our children and confused about how to handle this new family dynamic. Joan plans on remaining in her marriage. Frank is legally changing his name to "Anissa," taking hormones and excited to live her "real life."

In the meantime, we feel like outsiders looking in. These individuals, all in their 40s, are able to do what they want with their lives -- yet they're our children. We have enjoyed so many years of what we thought was a normal life. The thought of never having our family all together in our home again is upsetting. I suppose this scenario happens often, but how do you suggest we cope? -- OUT OF SORTS IN WASHINGTON

DEAR OUT OF SORTS: Cope by taking it day by day and making adjustments as necessary. You are not on the outside looking in. You are full-fledged participants in this scenario.

Your new daughter-in-law is the same person she has always been. She's not a danger to anyone's daughters. If your son can't accept that, there is nothing you can do about it. Let him know he is always welcome -- as is Anissa -- at family celebrations. If he can't bring himself to attend, see him and the girls separately.

If I have learned one thing in my lifetime, it is to take each day as it comes and make the most of it. Do not look back, pining for days gone by, and do not obsess about things you can't control. Think positive and you will get through this.

DEAR ABBY: Our neighbor has been hospitalized for six months because of a serious accident that left him paralyzed. His wife has been staying in the city near the hospital so she can be with him. My husband and I have been keeping an eye on their house and, at their request, moving their truck in the driveway so it appears someone is home.

The husband returned home a few weeks ago. We received a thank-you card from his wife. Inside was $50 in gift cards. We appreciate the thought behind the gift, but would like to return the gift cards. We helped them out with no expectation of anything in return. How do we go about returning them without offending our neighbors? -- GOOD DEED NEIGHBORS

DEAR NEIGHBORS: I don't think you should return them. To not accept them in the spirit in which they were given would be doing the couple a disservice. Sometimes the burden of gratitude weighs heavy. This is your neighbors' way of showing you how much your efforts meant to them, so accept the gesture graciously.

DEAR ABBY: My wife gave birth to our twin girls almost a year ago, and for the most part, things have been great. They are happy and healthy, but I'm not sure how happy my wife is. I'm afraid she may be suffering from postpartum depression, but she won't see anyone about it.

She's always putting the girls first and is stressed out because there's never enough time in the day to do everything. From day one, I have made sure that I'm doing my part. I help cook and clean and change poopy diapers. I feel I'm very hands-on, and she agrees. I know twins can be stressful, but I'm pretty relaxed about the process and go with the flow.

I have begged her to talk to someone, but she thinks if she does she will have to take antidepressants and won't be able to breastfeed. It's starting to affect our marriage because she takes out her frustration on me. I get yelled at for stuff that doesn't make sense or hasn't really happened.

Would it be wrong to tell her we are going to lunch and take her to see someone instead -- like a mental health intervention? Or should I let her figure this out on her own? -- BABY BLUES IN MICHIGAN

DEAR BABY BLUES: To shanghai your wife into a mental health intervention would be a mistake. Be honest with your wife. Tell her you are deeply concerned, and that her stress level is affecting your marriage. Then tell her you will be making an appointment for her with her OB-GYN and accompanying her. The doctor can tell her what the alternatives are for treatment, if she needs it. Her fears may be groundless, and medication may not be necessary, but it is important that her doctor evaluate her.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069

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Everyone eligible should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel or employment.

Vaccination should be voluntary but those who don't get vaccinated should be frequently tested for COVID-19 as a condition of long-distance travel and employment.

Both vaccination and testing should be voluntary and not required as a condition of long-distance travel or employment.

I defer to the judgment of lawmakers as long as they base their decisions on a consensus of medical professionals.

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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.
Odisha, on High Alert as Cyclone Fani Set to Intensify Into 'Very Severe Storm'

by Anand ST Das

May 01,2019 | Source: News18

Cyclone Fani, which intensified into a 'severe cyclonic storm' on Monday evening, is now headed towards the Odisha coast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said, adding that it could take the shape of an 'extremely severe cyclone' by Wednesday.



The weather prediction has prompted the government to put the National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Coast Guard on high alert, officials said. The Odisha government has issued a high alert in the coastal districts in view of the intensifying cyclonic storm which is headed towards the Odisha coast. It is likely to make landfall by Friday afternoon. Disaster management teams have been kept on standby.



The current trend of the cyclone has offered hints that the storm may pass through the Odisha coastline between Puri and Balasore. We have, therefore, directed all district authorities to remain alert to tackle any eventuality, said Bishnupada Sethi, the states Special Relief Commissioner (SRC).



The impact of the cyclonic storm would be felt in the state by May 2, warned the Regional Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, saying that southern and coastal Odisha and adjacent districts are likely to receive heavy to very rainfall. Coastal and interior parts of the state are likely to be lashed by extremely heavy rains on May 3 and 4 with wind speeds touching 150 to 170 kmph.



In its 9pm bulletin, the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said the storm currently lays about 620 km east-northeast of the Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, 770 km east-southeast of Chennai and 900 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam.



The Cyclonic storm 'Fani' (pronounced as Foni) over Southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood moved north-northwestwards with a speed of about 16 kilometres per hour in last six hours, intensified into a severe cyclonic storm. It is very likely to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm during next 24 hours and into an extremely severe cyclonic storm during subsequent 24 hours. It is very likely to move northwestwards till May 1 evening and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards towards the Odisha coast," the bulletin said.



The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the countrys top body to deal with emergency situation on Monday took stock of the situation arising out of the cyclone and assured the state governments concerned of all assistance from the central government to face the storm. The Centre has also ordered release of Rs 1,086 crore to four states as advance financial assistance for undertaking preventive and relief measures to deal with the cyclone, PTI reported.



Following a decision of the NCMC, the Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered for advance release of financial assistance to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) of the four states, an official statement said. Of the sanctioned amount, Odisha will receive Rs 340.87 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs 309.37 crore, West Bengal Rs 235.50 crore and Andhra Pradesh Rs 200.25 crore.



The move has been made to assist the states to undertake preventive and relief measures in response to the cyclone. The NDRF and the Indian Coast Guard have been put on high alert and the fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea as Fani is expected to intensify into a very severe storm by Tuesday, the Home Ministry said.



The wind speed of a cyclonic storm is 80-90 kilometres per hour with wind gusting up to 100 kmph. In case of an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm', the wind speed goes up to 170-180 kmph and could gain the speed of 195 kmph. Light to moderate rainfall at a few places is very likely over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and south coastal Odisha as well as Kerala on Thursday.



The precipitation is likely to increase intensity with 'heavy to very heavy rainfall' at isolated places over coastal Odisha and adjoining districts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh from Thursday. Light to moderate rainfall is expected at many places. Downpour at isolated places is also very likely to start over coastal districts of West Bengal from Friday, the IMD said.



The NCMC met here under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha and took stock of the situation. Chief secretaries, principal secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal attended the meeting through video conference. Senior officers from the central ministries and agencies concerned also attended the meeting. The NDRF and the Indian Coast Guard are coordinating with the state governments.



During the meeting, officers of all the state governments concerned confirmed their full preparedness to deal with any emerging situation arising out of the cyclonic storm. Further, the state government highlighted that there is a seasonal ban on fishing in sea up to June 14 due to breeding season.



The state governments were advised to effectively enforce this ban. According to the IMD, the cyclone's landfall over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is ruled out. However, the possibility of landfall in Odisha is under continuous watch.



Regular warnings have been issued since April 25 to fishermen not to venture into the sea and asking those at sea to return to the coast. The IMD has been issuing three hourly bulletins with latest forecast to all the states concerned. The Home Ministry is also in continuous touch with the state governments and the central agencies concerned, the statement said.



The NCMC meeting followed directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is closely monitoring the situation. The NCMC will meet again Tuesday to take stock of the situation. The ministry of home affairs has ordered an advance release of Rs 340.87 crore to Odisha to intensify relief and rescue measures well in time before the storm makes a landfall in the state.



Leaves of all state government officials have been cancelled in view of the upcoming storm. Block and tehsil-level officials have been asked to stay in constant touch with the district collectors from time to time for updates. According to officials familiar with the ongoing relief and rescue preparations, 879 cyclone shelters are currently being stocked up and kept ready in the state.
Mark Keller retired four years ago after working as a soil scientist with the United States Department of Agriculture.

He and his wife, Pam, moved from eastern Oregon to a home between Lebanon and Sweet Home. As they began to put down roots in the community, they looked for volunteer opportunities and settled on FISH of Lebanon.

We really liked the program. They do quite a few good, local things, Keller said. Were helping people on a one-to-one basis, and what could be more fun than giving away food.

The Kellers are among the 62 individuals who currently volunteer with the organization. Valerie Lacer, the president of FISH of Lebanon for the past 20 years, said she could use a dozen more.

FISH of Lebanon is made possible by all the great volunteers that we have, Lacer said.

She said the volunteers play key roles in helping to pick up, organize and distribute the vast quantities of food the non-profit organization provides to the community. Other individuals support programs which help individuals obtain government identification and drivers licenses.

Volunteers are also needed to staff the organizations hotline, which takes calls from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

We have a lot of volunteers, but we need a lot of volunteers, Lacer said.

The organization was founded in 1976 and the food pantry has been located in the basement of the First Presbyterian Church, 145 W. Ash Street, since 1977.

The food pantry is open on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. On Friday, April 26, the pantry provided food for 97 people in 31 families.

In 2018, FISH served food to 7,575 people in 2,217 families.

The food pantry is the most well-known service offered by FISH, but the organization offers a wide range of assistance to individuals and families. The non-profit provides financial assistance with rent, utility bills, prescriptions, and other individual needs.

There was a lady who recently called who needed a battery for her wheelchair. It was $300 and we raised funds for that, Lacer said.

One area of growing need is assistance with rent. In 2014, FISH provided rent support to 47 families. That held steady in 2015 (51 families) and 2016 (48 families). But requests climbed in 2017 as 78 families received assistance and went even higher in 2018, with 106 families getting help.

During the first three months of this year, FISH provided rent support to 26 families. FISH offers $200 per family, per year in rental assistance.

The organization has received two grants this year which will help fulfill its mission. Samaritan Health Services provided a $7,500 grant in January which will cover operational costs and support the rent payment program, among others.

And in April, FISH received a $1,000 grant from the Pacific Power Foundation specifically to support the rent payment program.

Lacer said the grants are important because no donations from the public are used for the organizations operational budget. Grant funds and donations from volunteers provide all of the organizational support.

All donations, money that comes in, goes right back into the community. We have no paid positions and overhead is not taken from the donations, Lacer said.

This is also a key time of year for fundraising. FISH will hold its annual flower basket sale at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 11 in the parking lot of the former Mega Foods location. They have a supply of 200 baskets, which will be sold for $25 each.

The flowers always sell out early, Lacer said. Last year they sold 200 baskets by 2 p.m.

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ALBANY POLICE

Failure to appear  Friday, no time listed, 900 block Pacific Boulevard. Timothy Ivane Ayoutt, 26, was arrested on a warrant for felony first-degree failure to appear.

Assault  Sunday, no time listed, 300 block Seventh Avenue SW. Gregory Lee Priddy, 18, was arrested on a charge of third-degree assault. The assault allegedly occurred at Pops Branding Iron, 901 Pacific Blvd., at about 2 a.m. on Sunday. Another individual in the case, Cassius McGinty, 18, was charged in Linn County Circuit Court on Monday afternoon with third-degree assault.

LINN COUNTY SHERIFF

Burglary, BBQ theft  10:08 a.m. Monday, 36200 Highway 226, Albany. Two .22 caliber rifles were taken along with a pit stainless steel barbecue on a single-axle trailer. The barbecue and trailer were worth about $3,500.

Dog doo  9:44 p.m. Monday, 800 W. Fifth Street, Halsey. A caller reported that juveniles were putting dog poop on his porch. One of the juveniles had returned to the scene to apologize.

SWEET HOME POLICE

Theft  11:08 a.m. Friday, 600 block Oak Terrace. A woman reported that a large sum of money was taken from her bank account. A report was taken for first-degree theft, with $8,000 missing.

LINN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

Burglary  From Tuesday afternoon. David John Slack, 36, was charged with first-degree burglary and first-degree criminal mischief. The crimes allegedly occurred on April 14, and Slack reportedly broke into a bathroom at Waterloo County Park, causing more than $1,000 in damage.

CORVALLIS POLICE

Car fire  At 6:08 a.m. Sunday, officers responded to reports of a car on fire in the alley behind an apartment building in the 600 block of Southwest Seventh Street. A black 2008 Acura RDX was fully engulfed, and a Honda Civic parked nearby was damaged by the flames. No one was injured, and the Corvallis Fire Department extinguished the fire before any structures were damaged. The incident remains under investigation.

Fraud  2:47 p.m. Monday, 700 block NW Fourth St. An officer went to a home for a fraud report. A woman said she had sent $4,000 in gift cards to someone pretending to be a Corvallis police officer who said she had "legal issues." No suspect has been identified,

Harassment  3:26 p.m. Monday, 2220 SW Third St. An officer went to the Les Schwab Tire Center for a suspicious person complaint. A man in the parking lot called a man of Middle Eastern descent a terrorist, knocked a cup of coffee out of his hand and attempted to restrain him. Jesse Jack Mason, 36, was arrested on a charge of harassment. Mason allegedly said he should have killed the other man and reportedly had a glove with a nail rigged inside it, possibly as a weapon. Mason was convicted in 2007 of two counts of second-degree intimidation for spitting at two men he believed were of Middle Eastern origin and using racial slurs against them.

Stolen car  7:57 p.m. Monday, 450 SW Third St. An officer was dispatched to Safeway, where a man said his car was stolen from the parking lot while he was inside shopping. The stolen vehicle is a white 1996 Honda Accord sedan, license number 174-GQP.

Threats  At 5:08 p.m. Tuesday, an officer was dispatched to the vicinity of the Community Outreach homeless shelter at 865 NW Reiman Ave. for reports of a man yelling that he was going to stab people. The suspect, identified as Neil Dwayne Arnold III, 19, was found to have six active warrants from Albany Municipal Court on charges including assault, harassment, disorderly conduct, trespassing and obstructing government. He was arrested on the warrants and booked into the Benton County Jail.

BENTON COUNTY SHERIFF

Injury accident  1:03 p.m. Thursday, Highway 99W and Coffin Butte Road. A deputy found a white 2002 GMC box truck on its side and a gray 2019 Toyota Tacoma pickup with heavy front-end damage. The driver of the GMC, Eddy Fernando Lorenzo Velasco, 31, of Vancouver, Washington, reportedly said he was driving east on Coffin Butte Road and had come to a stop at the highway. Thinking the intersection was a four-way stop, he started to drive across the highway into Camp Adair Road and was struck in the side by the Toyota, driven by David Phillip Gerstein, 66, of Salem. Gerstein was transported to the emergency room at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis.

Drugs, warrants and dogs  At 2:45 a.m. a deputy on patrol encountered three people in a Toyota Camry parked at McBee Park near Alsea Falls. Two of the occupants  Shelby Ann Baker, 24, and Justin Ojazs Truman, 30, both of Eugene  reportedly had felony arrest warrants, and all three allegedly had drugs in their possession. Truman allegedly tried to flee and was tracked down and bitten by a Linn County Sheriff's Office police dog. All three were cited for possession of methamphetamine and heroin. Truman and Baker were arrested on the warrants and taken to the Benton County Jail.

Fraud  7 p.m. Monday, 31800 block Whitman Way, Philomath. A deputy was dispatched responded to a fraud complaint. A woman said she received a phone call from someone claiming to be Sgt. J. Marr of the Corvallis Police Department who said there was a warrant for her arrest. The caller demanded that she provide personal information and send him $3,000 in payment vouchers. A bank teller told her it was likely a scam, so she called law enforcement instead of sending the vouchers.
An emergency preparedness evacuation exercise is set for Saturday in the Skyline West neighborhood in northwest Corvallis.

Its for both the community and responding agencies to work through the process, said Dave Busby, emergency planning manager with the Corvallis Fire Department. This is not normally something we get a chance to do.

Skyline West was chosen because the community is isolated, with just one road, Northwest Ponderosa Avenue, available for residents to escape a fire or other emergency.

Skyline West residents will get the word to leave their homes at about 9:15 a.m., Busby said, with the assembly point the Northwest Hills Community Church on Walnut Boulevard.

A challenge for exercise participants is that first-responders will be heading up the same road, Northwest Ponderosa, that evacuees will be heading down to the church.

Busby said the exercise is a good opportunity for Skyline West residents to walk through the process of evacuation in a safe learning environment. Key goals for the residents, Busby said, are to take a hard look at their go-kits (the three days of supplies people will need after an evacuation) as well as plans to get your pets to safety.

Participants also are supposed to get in touch with someone out of state when they get to the church to test communication readiness. An after-action briefing will take place at about 10:30 a.m.

Thats the biggest value, that discussion afterward, Busby said. This went well and we need to fix that  identify areas that you need to improve.

Busbys a-ha moment with emergency work came in 2003 when he was living in the San Diego area. The Cedar Fire, which eventually consumed almost 275,000 acres, hit in October and November.

Busby a retired sailor, was living in Lakeside in the eastern part of San Diego County. He had to evacuate his family, four cars, five horses and four dogs.

It was a scramble, he said. We were not prepared. That was like holy crap! We still have to get this right and help the community get better prepared. I know what it feels like and it was not fun at all. Im really passionate about this stuff.

Busby and other agencies also are planning an active threat exercise for June 22 at Crescent Valley High School. The drill will follow up on an earlier, smaller one that took place at Philomath High School.

Busby also said he and his team hope to build on the Skyline West exercise and put together an even larger one for next year.

Were looking for more coordination, more agencies and more resources, he said. We want to work on it at a larger scale.

Contact reporter James Day at jim.day@gazettetimes.com or 541-758-9542. Follow at Twitter.com/jameshday or gazettetimes.com/blogs/jim-day.

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Benton County health officials discussed some of the factors driving the departments complicated financial picture Tuesday during the fourth meeting of the Benton County Budget Committee.

Benton County Health Services is the countys largest administrative unit and consists of two divisions, the Community Health Center and the Health Department. Together, they account for close to a third of the countys proposed $311.8 million budget for 2019-21.

The Community Health Center which operates four health clinics in Benton County and two in Linn  has grown rapidly in recent years, experiencing a large increase in patients after the federal Medicaid expansion added thousands of Oregonians to the rolls of the Oregon Health Plan.

The proposed budget calls for the Health Center to get $52.9 million in the next biennium, up from $43.5 million in 2017-19. Its staff size is expected to increase from 109.24 full-time-equivalent positions to 140.12 FTE. And work is nearing completion on a $7.6 million remodeling project at the divisions main building at 530 NW 27th St., which includes a new dental clinic.

While some of the Health Centers funding will come from the county general fund, a large share will come from state and federal grants and from charges for services provided to patients.

Director Sherlyn Dahl also pointed out that the clinics in Lebanon and Sweet Home are entirely self-supporting.

There are no Benton County dollars that go into the Linn County clinics, she said in response to a question from a Budget Committee member. That is totally state and federal funding and (patient) revenue.

The Health Department, by contrast, is more or less holding steady. Its proposed budget for 2019-21 is $39.3 million, up only marginally from the current $38.6 million, while its staffing level is actually expected to shrink slightly from 100.77 to 97.27 FTE.

From the Health Department side, we are not experiencing growth, said Dawn Emerick, who recently stepped in as director following the retirement of Mitch Anderson. Right now we are in a holding pattern.

Morrie McClintock, who prepared the budget request for Benton County Health Services, said hes projecting a 13.7 percent revenue increase over the next biennium but had to be conservative in predicting state and federal funding, which is expected to be flat.

The budget request also reflects a degree of uncertainty about what could happen to those state and federal funding sources in the political arena.

What happens to Medicaid is going to have a significant impact on what happens to the Health Center because 55% of our patients are on Medicaid, Dahl said.

Emerick echoed her concern, saying efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act pose a threat to Benton County Health Services.

If the ACA is dismantled, she told the committee, it will not only hurt the Health Center, it will hurt Public Health as well.

In other presentations on Tuesday, the Budget Committee heard from three other departments:

 The Human Resources Department would get almost $2.4 million for 2019-21 under the proposed budget, up from about $1.9 million in the current biennium. The department would add one full-time position, a data analyst, raising the headcount in HR to seven FTE.

 The two-year budget for Information Technology is in line to increase from $7.9 million to $8.5 million, with staffing holding steady at 17 full-time jobs.

 Funding for Public Information Officer Lilia Nevilles one-person office is set to grow from $87,350 in the current two-year budget cycle to $140,650 in 2019-21, with much of the increase going toward a community satisfaction survey, advertising buys and licensing fees for new software programs.

The committee will meet again on May 8, when it will hear the remaining departmental and outside agency presentations and hold a public hearing on the full $311.8 million budget proposal for 2019-21.

On May 29, the committee is scheduled to approve a budget and set the tax rate for the next two years, with an additional meeting set for May 30 if necessary.

Reporter Bennett Hall can be reached at 541-758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at @bennetthallgt.

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The Senate Committee on Campaign Finance gathers for its regular meeting this afternoon at the Capitol, and our hope is that lawmakers don't ignore one of the measures on the agenda  a relatively small bill (with a relatively small price tag) that could pay off for Oregon voters in a big way.

The measure, Senate Bill 755, would establish an endowment fund and operating subaccount for the Citizens' Initiative Review Commission, a small but important step toward making this worthwhile effort financially sustainable.

At this point, you probably need a reminder about the work of the Citizens' Initiative Review Commission, and that's fine: This extremely promising experiment in democracy hasn't been in the news much lately.

The commission is a semi-independent state agency, charged with convening citizen panels to review selected ballot measures and prepare statements on the measures that are printed in the Oregon voters' pamphlet. Following a series of pilot programs, the Legislature permanently established the commission in 2011.

So, as funding allows, the commission randomly selects a group of men and woman from throughout the state and brings them together for a four-day effort in which participants take a long and careful look at a single ballot measure. Panelists are paid, and their room and board is covered. A recent session convened in August 2016 at Western Oregon University examined Measure 97, the proposed gross-receipts tax on Oregon businesses that went on to get thumped in the November election.

During the process, the citizens on the panel are briefed on the background behind the measure and the details of the measure itself. They get a chance to ask questions of proponents and opponents. Eventually, they make a decision on the merits of the measure and hash out statements that appear in the voters' pamphlet.

Those statements often are the only chance that other voters have to find out what other citizens who had a chance to study the measure thought about it; in a state where our debates about these vital initiatives usually take place within the context of a 30-second sound bite, these statements (and the process that went into crafting them) never have been more important.

(In the case of Measure 97, the 20 panelists were closely split on its measure: In all, 11 panelists said they supported it, while nine were opposed. But their pro-and-con statements on the measure were well-crafted and offered perspective that often gets lost in the heat and dust of an election campaign.)

We got a chance to observe part of that Measure 97 session, and were impressed by the seriousness with which the panelists tackled their duties. It was a bracing jolt of democracy in action.

The problem is that the commission typically doesn't have the money to perform reviews on every initiative that would benefit from such a close examination. Each review costs about $100,000, and state law places limits on the commission's funding: It cannot accept contributions from a political committee, a for-profit corporation or a union  as well as any other source the commission determines might be used to transfer money from any of those entities. Foundation grants have made up much of the commission's funding, but establishing an endowment would ease fundraising and help provide a measure of financial stability.

And it makes sense that Senate Bill 755 is assigned to the Senate Committee on Campaign Finance. After all, if the committee is seeking to find ways to counter the ways in which big money can shape the narrative around a ballot measure, one way to do that is to help out a process meant to place unbiased, thoughtful analysis into the hands of the voters.

Analysts say the fiscal impact of the measure almost certainly will be minimal. This should be an easy call for the committee: Let's pass Senate Bill 755. (mm)

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But I dont want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you cant help that," said the Cat: "were all mad here. Im mad. Youre mad."

"How do you know Im mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldnt have come here.

 Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland





With freedom comes responsibility.

 Eleanor Roosevelt




I am a retired newspaperman. I live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 44 years, Lou Ann. I grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather.



Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com
If you go down deep enough into the netherworld of fetid right-wing sewage, you inevitably come to hate talk radio host (Behind the Curtain) and failed Republican Party lobbyist Jack Burkman and his crackpot sidekick Jacob Wohl. Wohl, just 21 and the son of far right psychopath David Wohl, is severely impaired mentally and has been banned by the National Futures Association for life for ripping off clients and by Twitter for creating and operating fake accounts. Wikipedia's bio of Wohl describes him (in the first sentence) as a "far right conspiracy theorist, fraudster and internet troll." He is a Trump fanatic obsessed with sex, making unfounded claims to smear Robert Mueller, Hillary Clinton, Ilhan Omar, Kamala Harris, Seth Rich and most recently-- with Burkman-- against Pete Buttigieg.

Burkman-- who can't stop thinking about male genitals-- drew some attention to himself about 5 years ago for putting together a protest against the Dallas Cowboys when they hired an openly gay team member, Michael Sam. He worked with Wohl to attempt to frame Robert Mueller -- on behalf of Trump-- for sexually assaulting a woman who later admitted she never met Mueller and that Wohl and Burkman offered her $20,000 to claim Mueller had attempted to rape her. Burkman is the founder and head of a phony organization called Lobbyists for Trump.

This morning, a team of reporters at theexposed Burkman's and Wohl's latest plot-- an effort recruit gay Republican college students to claim McKinsey Pete had assaulted them: Far-Right Smear Merchants Try to Slime Pete Buttigieg with Bogus Sex Assault Claim . This is what Trump has brought the Republican Party too. It's what the Republican Party now is.

The details of the operatives attempt emerged as one man suddenly surfaced with a vague and uncorroborated allegation that Buttigieg had assaulted him. The claim was retracted hours later on a Facebook page appearing to belong to the man.





A Republican source told the Daily Beast that lobbyist Jack Burkman and internet troll Jacob Wohl approached him last week to try to convince him to falsely accuse Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, of engaging him sexually while he was too drunk to consent.





The source who spoke to the Daily Beast said Burkman and Wohl made clear that their goal was to kneecap Buttigiegs momentum in the 2020 presidential race. The man asked to remain anonymous out of a concern that the resulting publicity might imperil his employment, and because he said Wohl and Burkman have a reputation for vindictiveness.





But the source provided the Daily Beast with a surreptitious audio recording of the meeting, which corroborates his account. In it, Wohl appears to refer to Buttigieg as a terminal threat to President Donald Trumps reelection next year.





Neither Burkman nor Wohl responded to repeated requests for comment on this story. But after the Daily Beast contacted them last week, traces of the scheme disappeared from the web and social media.





On Monday, a separate individual using the name of Hunter Kelly published a post on the site Medium in which he alleged that Buttigieg sexually assaulted him in February. That post was tweeted out [and since deleyed] by David Wohl, Jacobs father, and quickly re-written by the site Big League Politics , which is known as a landing ground for right-wing conspiracy theories.





Kellys supposed Medium and Twitter accounts both say they were created this month. His Facebook page includes several posts lauding Trump and criticizing Hillary Clinton. He appears to have responded to Jacob Wohls posts on Instagram in the past.





The Daily Beast reached out to Kelly on a cellphone listed to him in the student directory at his Michigan college. Told we were reporting on apparent efforts by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to drum up false sexual assault allegations against Buttigieg, Kelly replied, I was unaware this was happening. But yes it is true.





Kelly wrote that he did not control the newly created Medium and Twitter accounts that posted the allegations under his name. When asked if he could verify his identity, he texted the Daily Beast a selfie that matched the photo seen on Medium and on Kellys longstanding Facebook accounts.





Here is a selfie of me, sorry I have been crying, he wrote. Today and the promises made didnt go as planned.





Kelly declined to provide more details. But two hours later he posted a message to his Facebook timeline headed, I WAS NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULTED.





...The pitch by Wohl and Burkman wasnt detailed, the source said, but it resembled past attempts by the duo to peddle dubious sexual assault allegations against perceived political foes. It would involve the accuser giving a press conference where he would publicly make his accusations about Buttigieg. The source said Wohl and Burkman seemed to want him to figure out many of the details, including a window of time during which he and Buttigieg were both in Washington, when the fabricated offense may have occurred.





When the source expressed reluctance, they assured him the scheme would make him wealthy, famous, and a star in Republican politics. Wohl cited the national recognition given to Christine Blasey Ford after she accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault during his confirmation hearings last year.





Wohl and Burkman described the sources role as a catalyst whose false allegations would prompt actual victims to come forward. They promised that a number of such victims were waiting in the wings.





The goal, Wohl and Burkman stressed, was to hobble Buttigiegs ascendant campaign, according to the audio of the conversation. The South Bend mayor has rocketed into the top tier of 2020 Democratic contenders, to the surprise of many national political observers.





Last Monday, Burkman wrote on Twitter, 2020 is shaping up to be more exciting than 2016. Looking like it will be Trump vs. Mayor Pete! Get the popcorn ready!
Pelosi and Pallone-- allies of the Sickness Industry... betrayers of Democratic voters



Two powerful Pelosi lieutenants, Frank Pallone (NJ)-- the corrupt head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee-- and Richard Neal (MA)-- the corrupt head of the House Ways and Means Committee-- have both painted primary targets on their own backs. I want to share some numbers before we proceed. Since 1990, this is how much Pallone and Neal have taken in legalistic bribes from the Health Sector:

 Frank Palone- $6,152,155 (#1 in Congress)

 Richard Neal- $2,515,526

Since 1990, this is how much Pallone and Neal have taken in legalistic bribes from the drug manufacturing industry:

 Frank Palone- $674,920 (#4 in the House)

 Richard Neal- $400,700

Since 1990, this is how much Pallone and Neal have taken in legalistic bribes from the pharmaceutical companies:

 Frank Pallone- $1,377,855 (#3 in the House)

 Richard Neal- $780,271

The lesson here is not that Pallone is even more corrupt than Neal; both are plenty corrupt. And both owe their success inside Pelosi's Democratic House caucus to the Sickness Industry, for which they are always doing favors and are about to help out again. Pelosi and Hoyer and their henchmen-- Pallone and Neal among them-- have promised the Sickness Industry to never allow Medicare-For-All the become law and have promised the drug industry to never seriously cut prices.





Tangent Warning: A drug I need is called locasamide (VIMPAT). Under Republican Medicare Part D, that used to cost me $3,000/month. Then I realized I could buy it in Thailand for $600/month (same drug made in the same factory). I bought a lot last time I was there and just ran out. On Monday, my doctor suggested we check with Medicare again, hoping the price had come down. It didn't. It went up and now costs $3,400/a month. Why? Because they can. Because Congress lets them. Luckily, I like Thailand a lot-- and Turkey, which is another country where it sells very inexpensively. It sells inexpensively everywhere in the world in fact, in except in our country.

The Hill reported that the Pelosi wants to lower the prices for drugs a little bit, a kind of sop for the base that put her in the speaker's chair again. As you know, she's better than a Republican. Democrats are better than Republicans. My grandfather once explained to me when I was very young that the only thing in politics worse than a Democrat-- and they were less horrible then than they are now-- is a Republican. Yesterday afternoon,reported that the progressives in the House who Pelosi is trying to neuter are pressuring Pallone and Neal "to support a far-reaching drug pricing bill that would allow the government to strip drug companies of their monopolies if they refuse to sell drugs at a reasonable price."

The progressives also pushed back on a competing proposal under discussion that would allow an outside arbiter to help set drug prices, warning that the idea would be too weak.



The meeting comes as House Democrats try to bridge a divide that has opened up within the party on the best way to move forward on lowering drug prices, one of their signature issues.



Lawmakers said the chairmen listened during the meeting and expressed openness to different ideas while not offering a plan of their own.



Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) office is working on a drug-pricing proposal that would use arbitration, though lawmakers leaving the meeting Tuesday did not mention the Democratic leader when criticizing the arbitration idea.



Progressive Caucus leaders said a bill using arbitration-- instead of the stronger mechanism of stripping monopolies-- could lose many of their votes.



"There are members in our caucus who, if it comes out to be a weak arbitration bill that doesn't include a comprehensive list of drugs, I would have a hard time seeing something like that personally, as well as many other members," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, said after the meeting.



Neal did not rule out the stronger bill that the progressives want, which is sponsored by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), when leaving the meeting.



Asked about that bill, Neal said, "All of these will be parts of the conversation, yeah, and I think the conversation is going to continue."



Asked if he is wedded to the idea of using an outside arbiter to set drug prices, Neal simply said, "No."



Doggett said leaving the meeting that it was a positive discussion and said he appreciated that the chairmen were not ruling out ideas.



"I don't view arbitration as really negotiation, it is just a way of shifting responsibility to an unaccountable third party," Doggett said.

Earlier, Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), co-chair with Pocan of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, spoke for her members, saying "We wanted to make it very clear that it needs to be something bold that has teeth in it, and I think thats what Rep. Doggett's bill has in it." Pelosi, who laughably claims to be a progressive because she once was a couple of decades ago, will not allow that. She would rather support the source bribery for her members from the Sickness Industry than fulfill her oath to the voters who put her party in power in the House.

Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) is standing up to Pelosi and Her PhRMA allies

When Doggett introduced the same bill, Medicare Negotiation and Competitive Licensing Act of 2018 (HR 6505), last year, he hard 104 co-sponsors . In February Doggett re-introduced the bill (H.R. 1046) and now has 122 co-sponsors , all the members of the House who are serious about lowering drug prices. Pelosi and her cronies are not among them and even though more than half the Democrats are behind the bill, she refuses to accept her caucus has moved on and left her in the policy dust.





Eva Putzova is a progressive Democrat running for a swing district seat in Arizona. The Democratic Party should be overjoyed. Instead toxic DCCC chair Cheri Bustos is snarling, menacing Eva's race, furious that she is challenging an "ex"-Republican Blue Dog, Tom O'Halleran, in a primary. Unlike the corrupt O'Halleran, Eva doesn't take corporate bribes-- and vows she never will. Yesterday she told us that she "will never accept a single penny from any corporation or a corporate PAC, because that's the only way we can ensure we legislate in the interest of the people and not corporations. We institutionalized, legalized and sanitized corruption and now we have to undo it by replacing incumbents who are bought by (not only) big PhRMA."

In 2020, San Francisco voters will have an alternative to Pelosi if she decides to run again. Shahid Buttar is, like she used to be many, many years ago, the real thing. "Prescription drug prices today reflect a broad-based market failure," he told me this morning, "and allow pharmaceutical firms to gouge patients forced to secure their medicines at any cost. Too many Americans ultimately risk bankruptcy or homelessness simply because they fell ill. Arbitration is literally 'arbitrary,' and we need more powerful tools to ensure that medicines remain affordable. HR 1046 is a thoughtful and important proposal to subject companies enjoying regulated monopolies to consider the public interest when setting pharmaceutical prices. San Franciscans deserve a representative who will stand up for their right not to be preyed upon by drug companies instead of throwing us under the bus."

Tomas Ramos is a progressive community activist in the South Bronx, who is aiming to replace retiring Congressman Jose Serrano. Last night he told me that "It's unconscionable to think that there are lawmakers who don't deem it necessary to pass common sense legislation to rein in the reach of big PhARMA. I support the progressive caucus' efforts to clamp down on this industry, and I look forward to joining them once I'm elected."

Aside from Pelosi, others on her craven and disgraceful leadership team who want to feather the drug makers' nests-- and refuse to co-sponsor Doggett's legislation-- are Steny Hoyer (MD), Ben Ray Lujan (NM), Jim Clyburn (SC), Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Cheri Bustos (IL), Frank Pallone (NJ), Richard Neal (MA) and Katherine Clark (MA). SHAME! Freshman members who have signed on and are backing their own constituents over Pelosi's allies at PhRMA are:

 AOC (NY)

 Ilhan Omar (MN)

 Rashiba Tlaib (MI)

 Ayassa Pressley (MA)

 Joe Neguse (CO)

 Katie Porter (CA)

 Andy Levin (MI)

 Katie Hill (CA)

 Jared Golden (ME)

 Andy Kim (NJ)

 Chuy Garcia (IL)

 Susan Wild (PA)

 Debra Haaland (NM)

 Veronica Escobar (TX)

 Ed Case (HI)

 Josh Harder (CA)

 Joseph Morelle (NY)

 Mary Gay Scanlon (PA)

 Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL)

 Tom Malinowski (NJ)

 Antonio Delgado (NY)

 Gil Cisneros (CA)

 Abigail Spanberger (VA)

 Dean Phillips (MN)

 Max Rose (NY)

 Elissa Slotkin (MI)

 Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)

 Jason Crow (CO)

 Susie Lee (NV)

 Sean Casten (IL)

Maybe someone should ask Central Valley freshman TJ Cox is he thinks voters in Bakersfield don't want more reasonable drug prices. Greg Stanton in Phoenix might be asked the same question. Ditto for "ex"-Republican Harley Rouda. Sure, Rouda is very, very wealthy but does he think voters in Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach don't want fairer prices for the prescription drugs they need? Lucy McBath is nuts if she thinks voters in Alpharetta, Sandy Springs and Roswell only care about gun control and not also about high drug prices. Maybe Donna Shalala has been hibernating this month but voters in Miami want fair drug prices too and if she doesn't wake up and smell the roses she's going to wind up with even more time to sleep after November of 2020. The detestable Republican-lite brigade of Kendra Horn (OK), Sharice Davids (KS), Joe Cunningham (SC), Xochitl Torres Small (NM), Ben McAdams (UT), Chrissy Houlahan (PA), Angie Craig (MN), Jeff Van Drew (NJ), Colin Allred (TX), Elaine Luria (VA), Mikie Sherrill (NJ) and Anthony Brindisi (NY) can always be expected to oppose anything and everything that's good for working families; so why should fair drug prices be any different? Only primaries can save us from Pelosi and her team and the mindless freshmen who do whatever she says with no regard for the folks back home-- which is exactly why she gave Cheri Bustos the OK to squelch primaries.





What a shame that Pelosi, Hoyer and Bustos decided to skip the hearing-- just like Kevin McCarthy and other opponents of Medicare-For-All:
Stripe International expects to have 23 more stores in Vietnam this fiscal year compared to the last. Photo courtesy of Stripe International.

Japanese casual clothing company Stripe International is expected to be Vietnams top womens apparel seller by the end of this fiscal year.

The firm plans to expand its operations in Vietnam before its rivals, Fast Retailing and Ryohin Keikaku, do. Specifically, it intends to open stores in more cities besides Hanoi, including HCMC and Da Nang within the fiscal year of 2019. It expects to have 23 more stores in Vietnam this fiscal year compared to the last.

"When small cities develop, offices will come along. Thats where our group sees opportunities for new stores," said Tsutomu Harigae to Nikkei Asian Review, general director and CEO of Stripe Vietnam.

Stripe also bought Vietnamese apparel firm NEM Group in 2017, which helped it gain popularity among locals, especially among working women in their 20s and 40s under the NEM brand.

The company aims to have its sales increased by 30 percent on year to $46.4 million in Vietnam, and sales of $71.6 million and an operating profit margin of 25 percent in the country in the long run.

Stripe is not the only Japanese clothing brand planning to up its game in Vietnam. Last year, Uniqlo also announced its plan to open the first store in HCMC this fall, and has begun to recruit staff earlier this month.

Japanese household products and apparel chain Muji also plans to open its first outlet in Ho Chi Minh City early next year.

Vietnam's fashion revenue is expected to grow 22.5 percent a year in the 2017-2022 period, reaching $988 million yearly by 2022, according to German research firm Statista.

Vietnams revenue from the fashion segment amounted to $486 million in 2017 and $557 million in 2018, and is projected to reach $661 million this year.
The ongoing heat wave has pushed electricity consumption in Ho Chi Minh City to its highest in 10 years.

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC), the highest power consumption on a day in April was measured at nearly 90.04 million kWh, a 10-year high, 2.5 times higher than the figure recorded on February 6 at 35.5 million, the lowest so far this year.

Electricity consumption for last month is projected to reach 2.5 billion kWh, the highest in a decade.

Higher than normal temperatures up to 40-42 degrees Celsius have led to the record-breaking power consumption as families and businesses have air conditioners and fans going at full blast. Electricity bills are set to go two or three times higher than last month, observers say.

But many customers have also expressed shock and complained to the citys power corporation that their electricity bills have increased two to four times against previous months.

Vietnams electricity prices went up 8.36 percent since March 20 after remaining unchanged for two years. A senior official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade told VnExpress that prices have gone up from VND1,720 (7.4 cents) per kWh to VND1,864 (8 cents), exclusive of VAT.

EVN HCMC has warned companies and households to minimize electricity consumption, especially during peak hours, to avoid overloading the grid, which would lead to power cuts.
Firework displays in different parts of Saigon marked the 44th Reunification Day (April 30) and the Labor Day (May 1).

Fireworks were shot simultaneously from the Thu Thiem Tunnel in District 2, the Dam Sen Park in District 11 and from Landmark 81 at 9 p.m Wednesday.

Fireworks explode over a glittering city, in the park in front of the Landmark 81, Vietnam's tallest building, in Binh Thanh District.

A shot taken from the fourth floor of a building near Khanh Hoi Bridge in District 4.

Thousands of people gathered at the Bach Dang Park on Ton Duc Thang Street in District 1 and along the banks of the Saigon River to enjoy the fireworks.

A father carries his child on his shoulders to give him a better view of the fireworks.

"The weather in Saigon was quite hot today. So our family decided to come to the Saigon River to watch the fireworks and get some fresh air," the husband said.

The fireworks were shot from the Landmark 81.

Many residents took photos or recorded videos of the firework displays that lasted 15 minutes.
Vietnam has asked Indonesia to release a group of Vietnamese fishermen arrested in the two countries' EEZ delimitation area.

"While operating within Vietnam's waters, in an area where Vietnam and Indonesia are delimiting our exclusive economic zones (EEZs) and 5.5 nautical miles north of the 2003 continental shelf delimitation line on April 27, Vietnamese fishing boat number BD 97916 TS and 14 fishermen on board were arrested and towed away at high speed by Indonesian ship number 381, causing the Vietnamese fishing boat to sink," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement Tuesday.

Hang said that the Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance's vessel number 213 discovered the incident in time while performing its duties in the area, rescued two of the fishermen and demanded that the Indonesian ship leave Vietnamese waters.

However, the remaining 12 fishermen were taken into Indonesian waters.

Vietnam's Foreign Ministry has since sent a diplomatic note to the Indonesian embassy in Hanoi, asking Indonesia's authorities to verify the information, investigate to clarify the incident and not to let similar incidents happen in the future.

Vietnam has also demanded that Indonesia immediately release the crew of the sunk vessel, treat them humanely and provide adequate compensation for the Vietnamese fishing boat and for the fishermen.

Hanoi has also asked Jakarta to strictly abide by the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), of which both countries are members.

The Vietnamese embassy in Indonesia has been instructed by the foreign ministry to urgently contact local authorities, verify information and take necessary measures to protect the countrys citizens.

Last year, Indonesia destroyed 86 Vietnamese fishing boats for allegedly illegally catching fish in its waters. Vietnam has several times called on Indonesia not to use violations against Vietnamese fishing boats and fishermen in a manner that goes against the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Vietnam has made teaching prevention of sexual abuse mandatory in elementary schools across the country starting this year. Photo by VnExpress.

First graders are set to be taught the "underwear rule" about not allowing strangers to touch them and how to react and seek help.

The Ministry of Education and Training has made teaching prevention of sexual abuse mandatory in elementary schools across the country starting this year, with illustrated manuals added to the list of basic teaching equipment for first grade.

The manuals must include two illustrations on primary prevention from sexual abuse, the circular stated.

One must show the rules of body protection for both boys and girls, with the message, "Remember! Do not let anyone touch parts of your body usually covered by underwear, unless you need to be examined by a doctor."

The other is required to provide guidance on how to react and where to seek help, such as running away from a dangerous situation and telling their loved ones about what happened to them.

The changes come in response to increasing awareness of incidents of child sexual abuse in the country.

In Da Nang, a teacher explains about sexual harassment as part of her efforts to teach children how to defend themselves from potential abusers. Photos by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong

In 2018 nearly 1,300 cases of sexual violence against children were reported, according to the Ministry of Public Security. They believe however that many more simply went unreported.

In most incidents, the perpetrators were found to be people familiar to the children, such as teachers, school security officials, relatives, and neighbors, prompting lawmakers and non-governmental organizations to call for parents to be more alert and pay more attention to their children.

Last month a primary school teacher in the south-central province of Binh Thuan was taken in on allegations he had molested eight girl students. A few days earlier a secondary school teacher in the northern Lao Cai Province had been arrested for allegedly impregnating his 14-year-old student.

Another incident that shook the nation occurred in Ho Chi Minh City. Footage from an apartment elevator in District 4 showed Nguyen Huu Linh, 61, a retired deputy chief prosecutor in the central city of Da Nang, approaching a little girl, wrapping his arm around her neck and kissing her.

This sparked public outrage, especially after authorities took two weeks to act against Linh. On April 21, 18 days after the event, the Saigon police pressed child molestation charges against Linh.

Vietnam languishes at the bottom of a global list, released earlier this year, in its response to child sex abuse.

The report by the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Vietnam 37th out of 40 countries it examined, far behind regional peers like the Philippines (16th), Malaysia (20th) and Cambodia (23rd).
Facebook's Fidji Simo speaks about the Facebook Dating app during Facebook Inc's annual F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, US on April 30, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Stephen Lam.

Facebook Inc on Tuesday unveiled a redesigned app and rolled out its dating feature to 14 more countries as it tries to boost user-engagement on its social network.

The revamped app makes it easier for users to engage with groups of people who share similar interests, the company said in a blog post.

Facebook said countries including Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia will now have access to its dating service, which has been updated with a feature called "Secret Crush" that allows users to explore potential romantic relationships within their friend circle.

The company also said that its users will soon be able to ship Marketplace items anywhere in the continental U.S. and pay directly for purchases.

"This means sellers who opt to list items for shipping can reach more buyers and get paid securely - and buyers can browse from a wider selection and be confident that their purchase is protected with buyer protection," Facebook said.

Facebook also introduced a new Events tab that allows users to see whats happening around them, get recommendations, discover local businesses and coordinate with friends to make plans.

The number of Facebook users in Vietnam is the seventh highest in the world, with over 58 million people as of last year, an increase of 16 percent over 2017, according to a report by social media marketing and advertising agency We Are Social.

It also said that Vietnamese are online seven hours a day and spend a daily average of 2.5 hours on social networks. Facebook and Google's YouTube are the most accessed sites with user ratios of 61 percent and 59 percent, respectively.

Private messaging

Facebook Inc debuted an overhaul of its core social network on Tuesday, taking its first concrete steps to refashion itself into a private messaging and e-commerce company as it tries to move past scandals while tapping new revenue sources.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a fresh design for the worlds biggest social network that de-emphasized its News Feed. It also ditched the signature blue banner that has been on the app since its launch.

The new design showcases Facebooks messaging app, online marketplace and video-on-demand site, while giving greater prominence to the popular photo-driven Stories feature.

"As the world gets bigger and more connected, we need that sense of intimacy more than ever. Thats why I believe that the future is private. This is the next chapter for our services," said Zuckerberg, speaking at Facebooks annual F8 conference, where the company gives developers a peek at product releases.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks about privacy during his keynote at Facebook Inc's annual F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., April 30, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Stephen Lam

Investors greeted the announcements, mostly launching lower-margin businesses, with a lukewarm response. Facebook shares ended down 0.7 percent on Tuesday.

Zuckerberg in March promised changes to the advertising-driven social media company, which has come under regulatory scrutiny over propaganda on its platform and violations of users data privacy.

He identified private messaging, short-lasting stories and small groups as the fastest-growing areas of online communication. In the last three years, the number of people using Facebooks WhatsApp has almost doubled.

Building up those more intimate and encrypted forms of communication could also reduce pressure on Facebook to clean up misinformation and abusive content. In the wake of its scandals, the company has spent heavily on tools to catch banned material.

The social media company is now working on "LightSpeed" in order to make its Messenger app smaller and faster.

Facebook will also introduce a desktop version of Messenger for Mac and Windows and launch a feature called "Product Catalog" for WhatsApp Business. The desktop app will be available this fall.

Later this week, Facebook will run a test in Canada for a major change to its Instagram app that would remove the number of likes on photos as well as video views from users feeds, permalink pages and profiles.

Facebook had delayed rolling out certain products at last years F8 event, which came soon after revelations it inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million users with British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

"I know that we dont exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, to put it lightly," Zuckerberg said.

Other Facebook executives introduced changes within the Messenger and Instagram apps aimed at helping businesses connect with customers, including appointment booking and a tool to lure customers into direct conversations with companies via ads.

The online ad market is largely dominated by Facebook and Alphabet Incs Google. But the field is more diverse for messaging, e-commerce and payments, with big players like Amazon.com Inc , Microsoft Corp and eBay Inc as well as fast-growing Silicon Valley unicorns like workplace messaging app Slack and video conferencing service Zoom Video Communications Inc.

"Weve shown time and again as a company that we have what it takes to evolve," Zuckerberg said.

Making money

The shift also comes as Facebook is looking beyond advertising for future income.

Facebook pulled in nearly $56 billion in revenue last year, almost of all which came from showing ads to the 2.7 billion people who access its family of apps each month.

But the company is no longer adding many new users in the United States and Europe, its most lucrative markets, and it must find additional sources of revenue if it is to sustain growth.

The product releases at F8 indicated that its answer involves efforts to keep users on its apps for longer, coupled with e-commerce tools Facebook is hoping businesses will pay to use.

Features that drive the most user engagement, like Stories and videos, are being decked out with new tools and given increased prominence across the platforms.

One new feature will allow users to watch videos together in Messenger, while also viewing each others reactions in simultaneous texts and video chats.

Facebook Dating will be expanded into 14 new markets, including places in where Facebook has high user growth. The "Secret Crush" feature will allows users to explore potential romantic relationships within their friend circle.

New shopping and other business-to-consumer interactions, already popular in Chinese social apps like WeChat, could also help squeeze revenue out of Facebooks messaging services.

Instagram is expanding a sales system introduced last month, allowing public figures, known as influencers, to tag products in their posts so fans can buy them right away.

Sellers on Marketplace will likewise be able to receive payments and arrange shipping directly within Facebook, while users of WhatsApp and Messenger will be able to send money to each other as easily as sharing a photo, Zuckerberg said.
The moment is now! Juan Guaido made his strongest call on social media. The future is ours: the people and Armed Forces united.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.

Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent. But by Tuesday afternoon an uneasy peace had returned and there was no indication that the opposition planned to take power through military force.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN that "as we understand it" Maduro had been ready to depart for socialist ally Cuba, but had been persuaded to stay by Russia, which has also been a steadfast supporter.

Maduro did not make a formal speech on Tuesday but said on Twitter: "Nerves of steel! I call for maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of peace. We will win!"

He said he had spoken with military leaders and that they had shown him "their total loyalty."

Other U.S. officials said three top Maduro loyalists - Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, Supreme Court chief judge Maikel Moreno and presidential guard commander Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala - had been in talks with the opposition and were ready to support a peaceful transition of power.

"They negotiated for a long time on the means of restoring democracy but it seems that today they are not going forward," said U.S. envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said: "All agreed that Maduro had to go." Neither provided evidence.

Venezuelas U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada rejected Boltons remarks as "propaganda."

Flanked by uniformed men, Padrino said in a broadcast that the armed forces would continue to defend the constitution and "legitimate authorities," and that military bases were operating as normal. Moreno issued a call for calm on Twitter.

Guaido, in Twitter posts, wrote that he had begun the "final phase" of his campaign to topple Maduro, and called on Venezuelans and the armed forces to back him ahead of May Day mass street protests planned for Wednesday.

"The moment is now!" he said. "The future is ours: the people and Armed Forces united."

Guaido, the leader of the National Assembly, invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduros re-election in 2018 was illegitimate. But Maduro has held on, despite economic chaos, most Western countries backing Guaido, increased U.S. sanctions, and huge protests.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a ceremony to mark the 17th anniversary of the return to power of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela April 13, 2019. File photo by Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

Bold, but risky move

Tuesdays move was Guaidos boldest effort yet to persuade the military to rise up against Maduro. If it fails, it could be seen as evidence that he lacks sufficient support. It might also encourage the authorities, who have already stripped him of parliamentary immunity and opened multiple investigations into him, to arrest him.

Tens of thousands of people marched in Caracas in support of Guaido early on Tuesday, clashing with riot police along the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare. A National Guard armored car slammed into protesters who were throwing stones and hitting the vehicle.

Seventy-eight people were injured in the incidents, most of them hit with pellets or rubber bullets, said Doctor Maggi Santi of the Salud Chacao health center in Caracas. None of the injuries were life-threatening, he added.

Venezuela is mired in a deep economic crisis despite its vast oil reserves. Shortages of food and medicine have prompted more than 3 million Venezuelans to emigrate in recent years.

The slump has worsened this year with large areas of territory left in the dark for days at a time by power outages.

"My mother doesnt have medicine, my economic situation is terrible, my family has had to emigrate. We dont earn enough money. We have no security. But we are hopeful, and I think that this is the beginning of the end of this regime," said Jose Madera, 42, a mechanic, sitting atop his motorbike.

In a video on his Twitter account, Guaido was accompanied by men in military uniform and leading opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, a surprise public appearance for a man who has been under house arrest since 2017.

Chiles foreign minister said later Tuesday that Lopez and his family had entered Chiles diplomatic residence.

Oil prices topped $73 before easing, partly driven higher by the uncertainty in Venezuela, an OPEC member whose oil exports have been hit by the U.S. sanctions and the economic crisis.

Who backed who?

The crisis has pitted supporters of Guaido, including the United States, the European Union, and most Latin American nations, against Maduros allies, which include Russia, Cuba and China.

The White House declined to comment on whether Washington had advance knowledge of what Guaido was planning.

Carlos Vecchio, Guaidos envoy to the United States, told reporters in Washington that the Trump administration did not help coordinate Tuesdays events.

"This is a movement led by Venezuelans," he said.

But accusations flew back and forth, with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza saying the events had been "directly planned" in Washington and Bolton saying that fears of Cuban retaliation had propped up Maduro. Neither provided evidence.

Trump threatened "a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions" on Cuba for its support of Maduro.

Brazils right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro threw his support behind Guaido and said Venezuelans were "enslaved by a dictator." But his security adviser, a retired general, said Guaidos support among the military appeared "weak."

Russias foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the Venezuelan opposition of resorting to violence in what it said was a brazen attempt to draw the countrys armed forces into clashes. Turkey also criticized the opposition.

The United Nations and other countries urged a peaceful solution and dialogue.
The U.S. Department of States Rewards for Justice Program is offering a reward of up to one million dollars for information leading to the identification or location in any country of a key leader of the al-Qaida terrorist organization: Hamza Bin Laden, son of deceased former al-Qaida head Usama Bin Laden.

Born in Saudi Arabia in the late nineteen-eighties, Hamza Bin Laden has released audio and video messages on the internet since 2015 calling for terrorist attacks against the United States and its Western allies. He has threatened attacks against the United States in revenge for the May 2011 killing of his father by U.S. service members.

Hamza Bin Laden is married to the daughter of Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, an al-Qaida senior leader who was indicted and charged by a federal grand jury in November 1998 for his role in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.

Letters by Usama bin Laden seized from his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan after his death indicate that Hamza bin Laden was being groomed to replace his father as leader of al-Qaida.

Since its inception in 1984, the Rewards for Justice program has paid in excess of one hundred and fifty million dollars to more than 100 individuals who provided actionable information that helped bring terrorists to justice or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide.

More information about these reward offers is located on the Rewards for Justice website at www.rewardsforjustice.net.

We encourage anyone with information on Hamza bin Laden to contact the Rewards for Justice office via the website; e-mail: info@rewardsforjustice.net; phone: 1-800-877-3927 in North America; or mail: Rewards for Justice, Washington, D.C., 20520-0303, USA. Individuals may also contact the Regional Security Officer at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

All information will be kept strictly confidential.
It may sound cliched, but in todays era, learning a new language and having good command over it can unlock plenty of opportunities for a candidate. Whether viewed from the financial or social aspect, being able to communicate in a foreign language helps individuals to make real connection with people and provide a better understanding of their motives. The desire to become prominent in a language other than their native language is expanding globally, where ambitious students are opting for various foreign courses. Fulfilling this demand with its best-in-class courses is Aiuto Consulting, a Kolkata-based foreign language training institute with specific design of courses for the specific needs of the desired candidates and working professionals. We capture the requirements of the candidate and customize the curriculum for them. We then design the modules in such a way that people who have opted for language training program will enjoy the whole curriculum, content and duration of the class, states Shekhar Vats, Founder - Director, Aiuto Consulting.

Bringing Proficiency in Foreign Languages

Aiuto offers an array of foreign language training in the form of short term and long term courses, which cover around 16 languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, Arabic and many more. But the most opted language is German, as many candidates from India are now visiting Germany for perusing their career in Medical. The institute also offers pre-eminent training on the second most opted languageSpanish, as many people who have the love for music, art & designing, prefer to move to Spain. Candidates also prefer learning French besides Arabic which adds advantage to their Aviation and Information Technology career.



"Aiuto offers an array of foreign language training in the form of short term and long term courses, which covers around 16 languages"



Deploying all kinds of Audio/Video technologies and creative methods used across its courses, Aiuto believes that listening is imperative to learn a language when compared to speaking and writing. The institute provides entire materials required to the students and round the clock support for their doubts. The course duration in Aiuto differs from 24-120 hours based on the level of the certification and the courses. Most importantly, all the courses are provided with free lifetime membership, wherein candidates can avail practice sessions free of
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.
On April 30, 2019, Northern Power Systems Corp ("Northern" or the "Company") through its wholly owned subsidiary, Northern Power Systems, Inc. ("NPS"), executed an Asset Purchase Agreement with Erie Renewables, Inc. ("Erie") pursuant to which Erie acquired the assets relating to NPS's US Service Business. At closing, (i) Erie hired two (2) NPS employees and (ii) NPS received proceeds of approximately $230,000, subject to transactional off-sets of $123,709.35. In connection with this transaction, NPS made a payment to Comerica of $106,290.65 leaving an aggregate amount of $193,709.35 due and payable to Comerica by NPS under that certain Amended and Restated Loan and Security Agreement by and between NPS and Comerica dated December 31, 2013 and as amended ("Loan"). The Company is a guarantor of NPS's obligations under the Loan.

In addition, on April 25, 2019, Richard Hokin, a member of the Board of Directors (the "Board") of the Company provided the Board with a notice of his resignation from the Board, effective immediately. Following Mr. Hokin's resignation, the Company has a Board of Directors consisting of one person.

On February 7, 2019, NPS entered into the Second Amended and Restated Forbearance Agreement by and between Comerica Bank and NPS, Inc. (the "Amended Forbearance Agreement"). On May 29, 2018, Comerica informed NPS that NPS was not currently in compliance with two covenants (collectively, the "Covenants") under that certain Loan. Ultimately, Comerica and NPS entered into (i) a Forbearance Agreement dated August 2, 2018 which the Company previously disclosed on a Form 8-K dated August 2, 2018 and an Amended and Restated Forbearance Agreement dated November 30, 2018 which the Company previously disclosed on a Form 8-K dated December 4, 2018 (the "Forbearance Agreement). The Amended Forbearance Agreement amends and restates the Forbearance Agreement. As of April 1, 2019, NPS is in breach of its obligations under the Amended Forbearance Agreement and Comerica may immediately call the Loan. Further, Comerica has demanded NPS pay-off the Loan in its entirety as of April 30, 2019. NPS will be unable to fully discharge its obligations to Comerica under the Loan by April 30, 2019. However, in connection with the disposition of NPS's US Service Business described in above, NPS did make a payment to Comerica of $106,290.65 leaving an aggregate amount of $193,709.35 due and payable to Comerica by NPS under the Loan.

Continued and prolonged cash constraints, the on-going breach of the Amended Forbearance Agreement with Comerica, the current lack of accessible commercial loans or other financing, and the continued delay in the implementation of a new Feed in Tariff in Italy with respect to distributed wind have significantly strained the Company operationally, commercially and financially. Further, the Company continues to explore all strategic alternatives and transactions for Company, including the sale of the business or some or all of its assets and business lines including its distributed wind and Italian service business segments.

It is uncertain if the Company's efforts (i) to address its cash constraints and its legal difficulties with Comerica and/or (ii) to effect one or more strategic transactions will be successful. Even if the Company is successful in identifying and completing a strategic transaction, the likelihood of any economic return to the equity owners of the Company at this point is remote.

About Northern Power Systems Corp.

Northern Power Systems designs, manufactures, sells and services distributed wind turbines. With approximately 21 million run-time hours across its global fleet, Northern Power wind turbines provide customers with clean, cost-effective, reliable renewable energy. NPS turbines utilize patented permanent magnet direct drive (PMDD) technology, which uses fewer moving parts, delivers higher energy capture, and provides increased reliability thanks to reduced maintenance and downtime.

Northern Power has been a technology innovator for over 40 years and serves clients around the globe from its US headquarters and European offices. To learn more, visit www.northernpower.com.

Notice regarding forward-looking statements:

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Northern Power Systems and its business, which may include, but is not limited to, product and financial performance, regulatory developments, supplier performance, anticipated opportunity and trends for growth in our customer base and our overall business, our market opportunity, expansion into new markets, and execution of the company's growth strategy. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "is expected", "expects", "scheduled", "intends", "contemplates", "anticipates", "believes", "proposes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Northern Power Systems. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, including risks regarding the wind power industry; production, performance and acceptance of the company's products; our sales cycle; our ability to convert backlog into revenue; performance by the company's suppliers; our ability to maintain successful relationships with our partners and to enter into new partner relationships; our performance internationally; currency fluctuations; economic factors; competition; the equity markets generally; and the other risks detailed in Northern Power Systems' risk factors discussed in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including but not limited to Northern Power Systems' Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on April 2, 2018, as well as other documents that may be filed by Northern Power Systems from time to time with the SEC. Although Northern Power Systems has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Northern Power Systems undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and accordingly may not be offered or sold within the United States or to "U.S. persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act ("U.S. Persons"), except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Company's securities to, or for the account of benefit of, persons in the United States or U.S. Persons.

CONTACT

Northern Power Systems Corp.

William St. Lawrence, Interim Co-CEO

ir@northernpower.com
Hafslund Nett, Norway's largest grid company has contracted Siemens to supply a new Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) for the operation of the regional power grid in Akershus, Oslo and stfold. The fully integrated grid operating center will enable monitoring and control of the complete power grid covering all (high-, medium-, low-) voltage levels. At the same time, it will allow easy integration of third-party IT/OT systems, such as customer information systems, workforce management or geographical information systems. The project is expected to be operational at the beginning of 2022.



The scope of supply encompasses the ADMS, which integrates Distribution SCADA as well as Outage Management to track faults and restore the system in one common user environment. Furthermore, the Distribution Network Applications (DNA) that include automated Fault Analysis, Network Analysis, and Load Forecast is part of the order. These applications are used in real-time to support the operator in assessing the state of the entire grid; to improve the normal operation of the grid through control optimization; and to resolve abnormal grid conditions such as faults or limit violations.



"With our Spectrum Power portfolio, Siemens was able to offer an advanced grid control solution in one platform ", said Nils Klippenberg, Nordic Managing Director at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. "This will help our customer to ensure a high level of energy reliability, fast fault detection based on smart meter information, network-wide optimization and blackout prevention measures."



"Hafslund is looking forward to getting a modernized control center with Advanced Distribution Management functionality based on Spectrum Power 7. We have an extensive procurement process, and the choice fell on Siemens, as we concluded that Spectrum Power ADMS best fits in with our current and future needs," said Sigurd Kvistad of Hafslund.



This press release and a press picture is available at www.siemens.com/press/PR2019040253SIEN

For further information on Siemens Smart Infrastructure, please see www.siemens.com/smartinfrastructure



Siemens Smart Infrastructure (SI) is shaping the market for intelligent, adaptive infrastructure for today and the future. It addresses the pressing challenges of urbanization and climate change by connecting energy systems, buildings and industries. SI provides customers with a comprehensive end-to-end portfolio from a single source - with products, systems, solutions and services from the point of power generation all the way to consumption. With an increasingly digitalized ecosystem, it helps customers thrive and communities progress while contributing toward protecting the planet. SI creates environments that care. Siemens Smart Infrastructure has its global headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, and has around 71,000 employees worldwide.



Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. With its publicly listed subsidiary Siemens Healthineers AG, the company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment - such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems - and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2018, which ended on September 30, 2018, Siemens generated revenue of 83.0 billion and net income of 6.1 billion. At the end of September 2018, the company had around 379,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com

Contact for journalists

Eva-Maria Baumann Phone: +49 9131 17-36620; E-mail: eva-maria.baumann@siemens.com

Follow us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/siemens_press
The U.S. Department of Energy, Israel's Ministry of Energy, and the Israel Innovation Authority have announced a $16 million Call for Proposals of the U.S.-Israel Center of Excellence in Energy, Engineering and Water Technology (Energy Center). Commercial companies, research institutes, and universities from the U.S. and Israel are encouraged to form consortia of at least two unrelated entities from each country and apply for these awards.

The U.S. and Israeli governments will provide $8 million each for the initial two-year launch of the Energy Center. With five-year awards envisioned, and 50 percent cost share required from awardees, the total value of the Energy Center awards could reach $80 million, subject to Congressional appropriations.

"The research, development, and testing to be completed by the U.S.-Israel Energy Center consortia will contribute significantly to science and innovation in the four technical areas, and will strengthen the unparalleled partnership between the United States and Israel," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Secretary Perry.

"It is an honor to announce the publication of the Call for Proposals for the U.S. Israel Energy Center, expanding the highly successful R&D collaboration between the U.S. DOE and the Israeli Ministry of Energy to areas such as exploration, production and utilization of natural gas, energy storage, energy-water nexus, and cybersecurity for energy infrastructure. I am certain the Energy Center will be a source of creative partnerships," said Dr. Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Minister of Energy:

"Promoting innovations in the field of energy technologies is a joint goal of the Israel Innovation Authority, and the US. This collaboration brings significant value for the development of the energy industry in both countries as well as the promotion of additional sectors through effective energy management," said Dr. Ami Appelbaum, Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Economy and Industry and Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority.

Four awards will be made, one in each of four research topics. The 4 topics are:

Fossil energy; Energy storage; Energy cyber and physical security in critical infrastructure; and Energy-water nexus.

The maximum award for a single consortium is $10M for a period of five years ($2M per year per consortium), subject to the availability of funding. The grant will be divided between the U.S. and Israel, according to their respective workshares.

The goal of the Energy Center is to promote energy security and economic development through the research and development of innovative energy technologies, while facilitating cooperation among consortia of U.S. and Israeli companies, research institutes, and universities.

The establishment of a joint U.S.-Israel Energy Center was first authorized by Congress in the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014. The U.S. DOE and the Israeli Ministry of Energy signed an Implementation Agreement on June 25, 2018, establishing the Center and its four initial topic areas. In FY 2018, and again in FY 2019, Congress appropriated $4 million for the Center, which will be matched with funding from the Israeli Government as well as a minimum 50 percent cost share from award recipients.

In February, DOE announced the BIRD Foundation as the operating agent of the Energy Center. The BIRD Foundation was established by the U.S. and Israeli governments in 1977 to generate mutually beneficial cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies, including start-ups and established organizations. DOE manages the BIRD Foundation's BIRD Energy program for the U.S. side.

The submission deadline for full proposals in August 15, 2019. More information on the Calls for Proposals and how to apply can be found on the BIRD Foundation website HERE.

News Media Contact: (202) 586-4940
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has fined Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) $8,058,200 million for failing to issue and prorate timely monthly customer bills, resulting in higher than normal bills, and extending the billing period for a significant number of customers. Of the total penalty amount, $4.7 million will be allocated to the 47,000 customers that received delayed bills during the winter of 2015 and 2016 as a one-time $100 bill credit.

On May 4, 2017, the CPUC opened a formal investigation to determine whether SoCalGas violated any rules pertaining to billing practices from 2014 to 2016, following an informal investigation conducted by CPUC staff in response to approximately 700 billing-related complaints received by the CPUC.

The CPUC determined that SoCalGas violated state regulations by:

Failing to issue more than 13.57 million bills to customers between 2014 and 2016, and extending the billing period of approximately 140,000 customers in November and December 2015, resulting in higher than normal customer bills (Gas Tariff Rule 14.A violation); Failing to prorate 153,358 of the extended 13.57 million bills where proration was required (Gas Tariff Rule 14.D violation); and, Failing to issue timely monthly bills to approximately 47,000 customers during the winter of 2015-2016 because of delays in its bill validation process, despite its mitigation efforts (Gas Tariff Rule 12.A violation).

Of the total fine amount, $3,365,000 ($3,000,000 for Tariff Rule 14.A and 14.D violations and $365,000 for Tariff Rule 12.A violation) will go to the State's General Fund, and $4,693,200 will go to the 47,000 customers that received delayed bills during the winter of 2015 and 2016 as a one-time $100 bill credit.

Furthermore, SoCalGas will not be allowed to recover from consumer rates the $542,152 cost of incremental meter readers, and the $150,000 cost of the temporary workforce related to bill validation issues.

"This fine sends a clear message that we expect utilities to comply with the billing provisions in their tariffs, and that if they do not, we will take appropriate enforcement action," said Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen.

The proposal voted on last Thursday by the CPUC's Commissioners is available at: http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M257/K711/257711445.PDF.

Documents related to this proceeding are at: https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=401:56:0::NO:RP,57,RIR:P5_PROCEEDING_SELECT:I1704021.

The CPUC regulates services and utilities, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians' access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.
In a move that takes the roadmap for rebuilding Iraq's power sector a step further, Siemens and the Ministry of Electricity of the Republic of Iraq signed an implementation agreement to kick off the actual execution of the roadmap.



The agreement builds on the exclusive Memorandum of Understanding signed between the ministry and Siemens in October last year, and outlines the specific projects, associated budgets and timelines for the execution phase, covering all essential elements of the electrification of Iraq. This includes the addition of new and highly-efficient power generation capacity, rehabilitation and upgrade of existing plants and the expansion of transmission and distribution networks. The document was signed by Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens AG, and Luay al-Khatteeb, Iraq's Minister of Electricity, in Berlin in the presence of Adil Abdul- Mahdi, Prime Minister of Iraq and Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.



Within the implementation agreement, the parties also agreed on the award of contracts valued at approximately 700 million euros for Phase 1 of the Roadmap.



These include the EPC construction of a 500 megawatt gas-fired power plant in Zubaidiya; the upgrade of 40 gas turbines with upstream cooling systems; and the installation of 13 of 132 kilovolt substations along with 34 transformers across Iraq.



The Siemens Roadmap for the Electrification of the New Iraq' is a series of short, medium and long-term plans designed to meet the reconstruction goals of Iraq and support the country's economic development. Along with the electrification scope, Siemens had also committed to the donation of a smart health clinic, a 60 million US-dollar software grant for universities of Iraq, and the training of more than 1,000 Iraqis in vocational education. The clinic will be equipped with the company's medical devices to make healthcare more accessible to Iraqis and will support the rehabilitation of populations in liberated areas of the country, with the capacity to treat up to 10,000 patients per year. As for the grant, it will empower local university students with the digital skills essential for the future.



The economic viability of the plan is secured by billions of US dollars in potential fuel savings and revenue generation for the electricity sector. The company also envisions the creation of tens of thousands of jobs over the course of the projects. The roadmap focuses on energy, education, compliance and financing, aiming to advance sustainable economic development, national security and quality of life for the people of Iraq. Siemens initially presented the Roadmap to the Government of Iraq during the Iraq Reconstruction Conference in Kuwait, in February 2018.



"Our mission is to secure reliable and affordable electricity for the Iraqi people and help them rebuild their country," said Kaeser. "This binding agreement addresses the various aspects of the roadmap. We are also committed to supporting Iraq in arranging financing for the projects, creating attractive jobs and opportunities for small and medium enterprises. Investing in the country's future workforce through education and training is close to our heart. Contributing to social and economic development is at the core of what we do and forms a significant part of this agreement."



This press release and a press picture is available at www.siemens.com/press/PR2019040254COEN



Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of power generation and distribution, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, and automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Through the separately managed company Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is shaping the world market for passenger and freight services. Due to its majority stakes in the publicly listed companies Siemens Healthineers AG and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital healthcare services as well as environmentally friendly solutions for onshore and offshore wind power generation. In fiscal 2018, which ended on September 30, 2018, Siemens generated revenue of 83.0 billion and net income of 6.1 billion. At the end of September 2018, the company had around 379,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

This press release and a press picture is available at www.siemens.com/press/PR2019040254COEN

Contact for journalists

Tamara Hamdan

Phone: +971 56 511 8100; Email: tamara.hamdan@siemens.com

Alfons Benzinger

Phone: +49 9131 17 34649; Email: alfons.benzinger@siemens.com

Yashar Azad

Phone: +49 173 1595901; Email: yashar.azad@siemens.com
ELKO  The Reno Phil celebrates the American West with a special performance in Elko. The concert will feature the newly commissioned work Transcend by Grammy-nominated composer Zhou Tian, inspired by the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. May 4 at the Elko Convention Center.

We cannot wait to share new understandings of just how incredible this achievement was, said music director and conductor Laura Jackson. This project shows such a significant connection into Nevadas history, being that the Transcontinental Railroad gave life to the City of Elko.

Zhou Tian has been invited by the Reno Phil to create a unique piece of music to celebrate both the Reno Phils 50th milestone anniversary and the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. The orchestra will also be performing the New World Symphony, a piece written by Czech composer Dvorak, that was named during the 1890s while exploring the U.S.

Home Means Nevada is another highlight of the evening. The Elko High School Choraliers will open the concert.

After the performance in Elko, 12 orchestras across the country whose cities and states were connected by the railroad will perform the new piece.

The Transcontinental Railroad connected our country 150 years ago and we love how Transcend will connect them in a musical way again today, Jackson said.

Since the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads linked the East and West coasts, it connected the nation and gave new life and excitement to the city of Elko.

Tickets are on sale now, starting at $20 for general admission. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday evening.

Visit www.renophil.com or call 323-6393 to purchase tickets, view available seating and see a list of participating orchestras.

The Reno Phil is northern Nevadas largest performing arts organization. Celebrating its 50th year anniversary, the orchestra, led by music director Laura Jackson, is composed of more than 80 professional musicians who perform more than 30 concerts annually throughout the Reno-Tahoe region.

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ELKO  At California Trail Days, a teacher and his students from Paradise, California will present a special program about their experience travelling on the California Trail in Nevada.

The program, Lessons Learned: From the California Trail in Nevada to Paradise, California, will take place May 18, at 11 a.m.

Last September, teacher and living historian Dave Vixie and his students took a modern day trip on the California Trail in northeast Nevada. For five days they lived like pioneers, wore pioneer clothes and walked beside wagons as they endured the heat and dust of the Trail.

But then in November, tragedy struck as the most destructive wildfire in Californias history devastated their hometown of Paradise and the surrounding communities.

Vixie and his students will share their experience of walking in the footsteps of California Trail emigrants in Nevada and will discuss how the lessons they learned from the Trail helped them cope and rebuild following the catastrophic wildfire.

We are grateful that Mr. Vixie and his students are willing to share their powerful stories and experiences, said Supervisory Park Ranger Alex Rose. We look forward to learning from them.

The California Trail Interpretive Center will present the 16th annual pioneer reenactment, California Trail Days, on May 18-19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The family-friendly event is free and open to everyone.

The following additional May programs are free and open to everyone:

May 4, 10 a.m.: Folk Medicine and Plants of the Great Basin

Throughout history, Great Basin Native Americans have passed the knowledge of the plants and their usefulness from generation to generation. Join Great Basin Institute Technician Breana Esparza and find out why grandmas homemade remedies actually make sense.

May 5, 2 p.m.: Junior Ranger Program: Survive and Advance

California Trail emigrants made tough decisions while traversing the West. One decision could often be the difference between successfully making it to California  or not.

Join Park Ranger Greg Feathers for a game of skill and chance. Junior rangers will travel on a scaled down version of the Trail and make a series of tough choices. The stakes are high, and the outcomes of your decisions will determine whether you make it to California and start a new life, or fail and perish. Age 8 and up.

May 11, 1-4 p.m.: An Introduction to Wet Felting

The process of binding fibers together through wet felting has been around for centuries. Join Deb McFarlane and learn how to felt and create your own colorful, felted cellphone purse.

The program uses ancient techniques to create a useful, modern purse. Materials provided. Class size is limited, and registration is required. To register, call 738-1849.

May 12, 2 p.m.: Junior Ranger Program: Archaeology for Kids

Attention all kids: Learn how to locate and identify artifacts and hidden treasures. Join Great Basin Institute Technician Cody Walton and learn field techniques used by archaeologists. Junior rangers will learn how to identify ancient tools found throughout Nevada.

May 18 -19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: California Trail Days

California Trail Days brings history to life. Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the pioneer encampment and Shoshone summer camp. Young visitors can learn how to shoot a bow, pan for gold, play pioneer games, and much more.

This years theme is Trails to Rails. The event will provide a variety of programs focused on the Transcontinental Railroad. For a program schedule, visit www.californiatrailcenter.org.

May 25, 10 a.m.: Whats for Dinner? Mammoth! The Atlatl and Prehistoric Hunting Techniques

The atlatl revolutionized hunting for prehistoric people, and enabled them to take down large prey from long distances. Evidence suggests that the atlatl was used throughout the world for over 25,000 years, but the invention of the bow and arrow ended the atlatls reign as a premier hunting weapon.

Do you have what it takes to bring down a mammoth with an atlatl? Join BLM Elko District Archaeologist Dayna Reale as she presents an overview of the history of the atlatl, followed by an interactive live demonstration.

May 26, 2 p.m.: Junior Ranger Program: Corn Husk Dolls

Childrens toys have changed a lot over the years. Corn husk dolls were first made by Native Americans and later adopted by the settlers. Join Jordan Thomas and learn how to make your own cornhusk doll.

The California Trail Interpretive Center is located eight miles west of Elko on I-80, Hunter exit 292. The Center is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.

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TORONTO  McEwan Mining Inc. released their first quarter results Tuesday, saying the company has advanced toward commercial production at the Gold Bar open pit mine in Eureka County. Commercial production at Gold Bar was expected to begin in the first quarter of 2019, but has now been postponed to the second quarter.

The operational challenges we experienced in the first two months of the quarter have largely been resolved, the report said. Nevertheless, the temporary production delays at Black Fox (at Timmins, Canada) and a slower start-up at Gold Bar did lower our revenue in the first quarter, contributing to our consolidated net loss of $10.1 million, or $0.03 per share. Our consolidated production rebounded during the month of April with approximately 16,500 gold equivalent ounces, and we are back on track to deliver our guidance for 2019.

The results report said, The first gold ingot was poured at Gold Bar on Feb. 16. During Q1, pre-commercial production totaled 2,030 GEOs. Revised production and cost guidance for 2019 are for 50,000 GEOs at cash cost and all-in sustaining costs of $930 and $975 per GEO, respectively.

The ramp-up of production at Gold Bar is progressing and we are addressing commissioning challenges with the crushing and screening plants. Issues related to material handling have been resolved and the throughput of the ore handling and stacking system is increasing. Other aspects of the mine are performing as designed. Guidance has been revised from 55,000 to 50,000 GEOs as a result of the slower than expected start-up.

In addition to the Gold Bar and Black Fox mines, McEwans principal assets include the San Jose mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49 percent interest); the Fenix Project in Mexico; and the large Los Azules copper project in Argentina, advancing toward development.

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ELKO  An 8,800-foot peak north of Wells could be added to Nevadas growing list of place names derived from the Shoshone Indian language.

A proposal from the Nevada State Board on Geographic Names will seek feedback from Elko County Commissioners on May 1 to rename Black Butte to Tucubits Peak. It is located in the Snake Mountains at the Tabor benchmark.

Discussion and consideration by the county commissioners of this and other such proposals are a regular part of the surveying process, said Christine Johnson, NSBGN executive secretary.

We serve only as an advisory to have a survey of our institutions, Johnson said. The state does not determine names. Only the U.S. Board on Geographic Names [can do that].

The NSBGN meets three times a year and sifts through name change applications. After research by the board, the requests must be approved in three hearings before advancing to the federal level for final approval. Comments from the public and governing entities are encouraged at every step of the process, Johnson said.

The application to change Black Buttes name was submitted to the board by Ron Moe of Carson City, an avid hiker and peak-bagger, according to Jan. 8 meeting minutes. It passed the first hearing that day, and it was advanced to a second hearing scheduled for May 14.

Tucubits  meaning wildcat  could join the list of other Shoshone names that are sprinkled throughout the state.

Jarbidge and Pequop are two well-known Shoshone names in Elko County. Jarbidge is derived from one of two words  Jahabich and Tswhawbitts  that describe a mythical crater-dwelling giant who roamed the Jarbidge Canyon for many years, according to Helen S. Carlson s 1974 book, Nevada Place Names.

The mountain range between Wells and West Wendover has less of a fanciful origin story, according to Carlson, as Pequop is a Shoshone word applied to a band of Indians.

Elsewhere in the state, other Shoshone words are well-known. Toiyabe translates to mountain and is one half of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, the largest national forest in the U.S. outside of Alaska. Tonopah, the county seat of Nye County, means spring in Shoshone.

Interestingly enough, some Elko County names that may seem Shoshone-based are not. Carlson writes that Owyhee comes from the original name of the Owyhee River which was once known as The Sandwich Islands River. When the maps correctly identified the islands as Hawaii, the name was rewritten phonetically.

Tuscarora has roots in the Iroquois-language family, Carlson wrote, which actually translates to hemp gatherers. Descendants of the Tuscarora bands are living in North Carolina, New York, and Ontario, Canada.

James Beard, a North Carolina native, named the historic mining site and living ghost town, Carlson said.

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PP chief Pablo Casado on Tuesday. ULY MARTIN

The 2019 general election may be over, but Spains political parties are still in campaign mode. With just 25 days to go until the regional, municipal and European Union polls due to take place on May 26, the leader of the Popular Party (PP) is changing tack after the conservative group saw the worst result in its history at Sundays national vote.

After a conspicuous silence in the wake of securing just 66 seats in Congress  down from 137 at the 2016 elections  PP chief Pablo Casado did an about-turn on Tuesday, after his strategy of moving the party to the right  mostly in response to the emergence of far-right group Vox  had obviously failed. Speaking to the press, Casado referred to Vox as the ultra-right, and announced a new campaign slogan: Centrados en tu futuro, which could be translated as focused on your future, but in Spanish has a clear appeal to the center voter, whom the PP managed to lose in Sundays vote.

In Spain there is only one center-right party: the Popular Party

Popular Party leader Pablo Casado

Prior to speaking to the press, Casado  who took over as party chief in the wake of the successful no-confidence motion filed last year against then-PP Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy  had held a meeting of the partys executive committee, at which the electoral fiasco was analyzed. During the three-hour encounter, party chiefs lamented the loss of the moderate supporter at the ballot box.

Where just last week, at the close of the election campaign, Casado was open to offering ministries to Vox, should they need to do a deal to form a government, on Tuesday he used the term ultra-right to refer to the party, and slammed its leader, Santiago Abascal, for having taken money from foundations and gravy trains, in reference to his time working for public entities in the Madrid region, where he was paid salaries of up to 80,000 a year.

He also went back on his own words on election night, which were echoed the day after by his mentor, former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, that the party had lost because of the fragmentation of the right  voters could choose between the PP, center-right group Ciudadanos (Citizens) and Vox. On Tuesday, Casado stated that the responsibility for the poor results lay squarely with the party for not having convinced the electorate. The voter, like the customer, is always right, he said.

Casado has also made changes to the partys organization in the wake of the general election. Javier Maroto, who was in charge of the campaign ahead of Sundays vote, will not be repeating his role for the May 26 elections. Instead, Cuca Gamarra  vice-secretary of Social Policies for the PP  and Isabel Garcia Tejerina  vice-secretary of Social Projects  will be taking over the regional and local campaign and the European Union campaign, respectively.

They wanted to put us in government and now they are insulting us

Vox leader Santiago Abascal

The leader of the Asturian branch of the PP, Mercedes Fernandez Cherines, explained that Casado had proposed these changes to the campaign team. Maroto got more things wrong than right, she added.

Its not true that there are three right-wings in Spain, Casado told the press on Tuesday. In Spain there is only one center-right party: the PP. There is a far-right party, Vox, and a social-democrat party, Ciudadanos, which is disguised as a liberal group. At most it is a center-left party. We are not interchangeable.

His words were in marked contrast to the overtures that the PP has made toward Vox in recent months. Last December, an inconclusive election in the Andalusia region saw the party eventually form a government thanks to the support of Ciudadanos and Vox, the far-right group playing the role of kingmaker thanks to its surprise success in those polls, forcing out the Socialist Party from power for the first time in 36 years. And earlier this year, before elections were called, the leaders of the three parties  Casado, Albert Rivera (Ciudadanos) and Santiago Abascal (Vox)  posed together for photos at a protest organized in Madrids Colon square, aimed at forcing then-Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call elections. Now Casado is putting distance between himself and Abascal, describing support for Vox as a pointless vote.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal (3rd from left), PP chief Pablo Casado (c) and Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera (r) posed for a photo after a rally in Madrid. Europa Press

Abascal was quick to respond to Casados U-turn yesterday, writing via his Twitter account: They wanted to put us in government and now they are insulting us. [The Popular Party] is determined to self-destruct. Only they know who their enemy is. We will be the only opposition to the progressive dictatorship and the treasonous separatists. Vox is the future. Welcome to the resistance.

Casado made clear on Tuesday that he was not planning on resigning, and nor would he do so should the results at the May elections be equally disappointing. The PP chief called for the time that his predecessors  such as Rajoy  had, who won on the third try, or Ciudadanos chief Rivera, who has just lost his fourth elections. They have not been able to defeat us nor will they be able to, he continued. Neither with the dark arts nor with warped campaigns. Were out to get them all. We need to rebuild the party, brick by brick, after these difficult months, he said in conclusion.

English version by Simon Hunter.
The Spanish government confirmed on Wednesday that the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, his wife Lilian Tintori and their daughter (the couple have another daughter and son) are currently in the Spanish embassy in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.

Spanish government sources have confirmed that Lopez has not asked for political asylum

According to the Spanish government, the three are staying in the residence of the Spanish ambassador to Venezuela, Jesus Silva Fernandez. Like all embassies and consulates, the ambassadors residence is inviolable, meaning the Venezuelan politician cannot be arrested while inside the premises. Sources from the Spanish government have confirmed that Lopez has not asked for political asylum.

Lopez is one of the opposition leaders who has been most targeted by the government of Nicolas Maduro. He was put under house arrest in July 2017 for inciting violence at the 2014 opposition protests and was freed on Tuesday by a group of Venezuelan military members who support Juan Guaido, the head of Venezuelas National Assembly who has been recognized as the countrys acting president by more than 50 countries, including Spain. Speaking after his release, Lopez explained that military members responsible for keeping the opposition leader under house arrest had turned their backs on Maduro and decided to support Guaido.

Lopezs presence in the Spanish embassy poses a diplomatic problem for Spain, which, despite recognizing Guaido as acting president, has not broken ties with the Maduro government. Spains Foreign Minister Josep Borrell is currently on a scheduled to trip to Jordan.

Nicolas Maduro. AP

After first going to the Chilean embassy in Caracas, Lopez and his family asked the Spanish delegation and the government of acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for permission to move to the Spanish embassy in the city, a request that was approved.

Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero was the first to reveal that the Venezuelan opposition leader had moved to the Spanish embassy. In a message on Twitter, Ampuero wrote: Lilian Tintori and Leopoldo Lopez  of Spanish descent  have moved to the Spanish embassy. It is a personal decision, given that our embassy already had guests.

Who is Leopoldo Lopez?

Lopez was born in Caracas on April 29, 1971. He has a degree in economics from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a masters degree in public policies from the same institution. In 2000, he co-founded the political party Primero Justicia (Justice First) with Henrique Capriles Radonski, Carlos Ocariz and other young leaders. The party became one of the leading opposition forces against the government of then-president Hugo Chavez. That same year, Lopez was elected mayor of Chacao, an upper class area in Caracas and one of the countrys opposition strongholds.

Lopez is now the leader of Voluntad Popular (Popular Will), a party that he founded in 2009. Although Lopez comes from a conservative and affluent family, his party aims to provide a social-democratic alternative to Chavismo, the left-wing political ideology based on the ideas of Chavez.

The opposition leader was arrested in February 2014 and sentenced in 2015 to 14 years in prison for criminal association, inciting violence and destroying public goods. He was placed in maximum security Ramo Verde prison in Miranda before being moved to house arrest.

Spain granted Spanish nationality to Lopezs parents. Indeed, the conservative Popular Party (PP) has named Lopezs father, who is also called Leopoldo Lopez, as a candidate for the European elections on May 26. As well as granting nationality, Spain has welcomed other Venezuelan opposition leaders, such as the former mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, who fled house arrest in Venezuela, and the activist Lorent Saleh.

May Day protests

After around 100 people were injured on Tuesday in clashes between opposition and government forces, Guaido and the Maduro government have called for more street protests to coincide with May Day on Wednesday. Guaido asked for all of Venezuela to take to the streets to stage a peaceful rebellion to overthrow the Maduro government.

An injured demonstrator is assisted by others during clashes with government security forces in Caracas on Tuesday. CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS (REUTERS)

Maduro, in his first message since Lopezs escape, insisted that Venezuelans continue the active resistance against the opposition and called for people to mobilize in their millions.

English version by Melissa Kitson.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called his successor Volodymyr Zelensky and congratulated him on his victory in the election; they agreed to meet soon and discuss the policy on the Russian track.

"Now we must show all our partners a unified Ukrainian stance while the Kremlin is conducting the next stage of the hybrid war against Ukraine by means of the issuance of Russian passports in the occupied territories. This way Putin is preparing the grounds for the new round of military aggression under the pretext of allegedly protecting Russian citizens' rights," Poroshenko said in a statement posted on his Facebook page on Tuesday evening.

"The Russian Federation deserves considerable tightening of the sanctions against it," Poroshenko said.

"This issue will be the main thing I will dedicate the last week of my presidency to. But continuing and concluding to resolve this issue is already an area of the new president's responsibility. Therefore, I believe, we should coordinate our efforts," Poroshenko said.

During the telephone call, the parties agreed to meet in the near future, he said.

"The electoral competition is in the past now. We must not give any chance to Putin to use the transitional period in Ukraine and our democratic process of the handover of the authority. I expect that the president-elect will support this stance too," Poroshenko said.
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.
Kyiv said that the enemy had shelled the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces 13 times in the past 24 hours, a Ukrainian serviceman has been killed and another one wounded.

"Armed units breached the ceasefire 13 times, two of them using the 120 mm and 82 mm mortars that are proscribed by the Minsk Agreements," according to the posting on the Facebook page of the press center for the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) headquarters.

"As a result of shelling, one serviceman of the Joint Forces has been killed, and another one wounded," it said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree granting the right to the facilitated acquisition of Russian citizenship to the certain categories of Ukrainian citizens, the Kremlin press service said.

From now on, such right is granted to the citizens of Ukraine who do not hold citizenship or nationality of other countries, were born and permanently resided in the territories of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol and left the aforementioned territories before March 18, 2014, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents.

Stateless persons, who were born and permanently resided in the territories of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol and left the aforementioned territories before March 18, 2014, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents, can acquire Russian citizenship under the new procedure.

The decree also applies to Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons, who have a temporary residence permit in the Russian Federation, a residence permit in the Russian Federation, a refugee certificate, a certificate granting temporary asylum in the Russian Federation or a certificate of a participant in the state program to assist the voluntary resettlement of compatriots living abroad, and who have permanently resided in the territories of the certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine as of April 7, 2014, and April 27, 2014, respectively, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents.

The right to apply for the facilitated acquisition of Russian citizenship was also granted to the foreign citizens and stateless persons, who or whose relatives in the direct ascending line, adoptive parents or spouses were illegally deported from the territory of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, as well as their relatives in the direct descending line, adoptive children and spouses.

The citizens of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Republic of Iraq, the Yemeni Republic, and the Syrian Arab Republic, who were born in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and previously held the Soviet Union's citizenship, as well as their children, including adopted, spouses and parents, can apply for the facilitated acquisition of Russian citizenship as well.

According to the decree, Ukrainian citizens, other foreign citizens and stateless persons can file applications to acquire Russian citizenship under the form listed in the annex at the local branch of the Russian Interior Ministry in the place of their residence or stay in Russia.

The decree also envisages that the period of consideration of applications to acquire Russian citizenship must not exceed three months.

The decree was signed "in order to protect human and civil rights and freedoms, on the basis of universally recognized principles and norms of international law, in accordance with Article 29 of Federal Law No. 62-FZ 'On citizenship of the Russian Federation' of May 31, 2002."
Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories Yuriy Hrymchak has stated that the purpose of issuing passports of Russian citizens to the residents of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions not controlled by the government (ORDLO) is to destabilize the situation in the region and legalize militants.

At the same time, he noted that those citizens of Ukraine who receive such passports risk losing the citizenship of Ukraine.

"The Constitution of Ukraine says that a Ukrainian should have only one citizenship - the citizenship of Ukraine, therefore those people who will receive or have already receive citizenship of the Russian Federation may lose their citizenship of Ukraine," the official said.

"And I think that this will have to be done - to cancel the passports of Ukraine, foreign passports, internal passports and so on," the deputy minister added.

According to him, the issuance of Russian passports to the residents of the Ukrainian Donbas will lead to the fact that the Russian Federation will have grounds in the future to declare that it protects its citizens in the east of Ukraine. He also said having a passport of the Russian Federation will help the employees of the occupation administration of the so-called DPR and LPR to avoid criminal prosecution by Ukraine.
British court sentences Assange to 50 weeks in prison for violating terms of release on bail

A court in Britain has imprisoned Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, for 50 weeks for violating the conditions of release on bail, the British television reported on Wednesday.

"It's hard to imagine a more visual case of such a violation of the law. The sentence is 50 weeks," a Sky News correspondent quoted the judge as saying.
Kyiv's District Administrative Court has decided to ban the competition commission on selecting candidates for the post of a judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) from Ukraine from taking certain actions regarding such a competition.

The press service of the court said the District Administrative Court, in particular, decided to prohibit the tender commission from taking actions to accept documents from the persons who wish to participate in the tender, testing, interviewing them, as well as actions to select candidates, form and publish the list on the official presidential website from three candidates for election as a judge of the ECHR from Ukraine.

In addition, the court prohibited Natalia Kuznetsova, the head of the tender commission, from taking actions to submit the relevant list of candidates to the Foreign Ministry for submitting it to the Council of Europe in the prescribed manner and taking actions to conduct the specified competition. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is prohibited to perform testing activities to determine the competition participants' level of knowledge of the official languages of the Council of Europe.
Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Serhiy Kryvonos has declared that Russia is not interested in a strong Ukraine, the press service of the NSDC has said.

"Russia is not interested in a strong Ukraine. The goal of the military leaders of Russia is to return the status of a superpower. To do this, they need to return 40 million Slavs to the bosom of the former Russian empire, and now Putin's empire," Kryvonos said on the air of TV Channel Five.

Kryvonos noted that "it is absolutely unprofitable for Russia to return the territories and end the war, which, according to their plan, should continue as long as possible."
Iran has reacted to the flare up of tensions and violence in Venezuela by reiterating its support for the embattled president Nicholas Maduro, but also calling for negotiations between the opposing sides.

Earlier on Tuesday, opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a final phase to push out Maduro and called for the people and the military to support the constitution.

Irans foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said, Unrest and chaos in no way can solve political differences in Venezuela.

He added, The best path is to start talks and establish the necessary mechanisms between all sides for solving the problems facing the people by forces loyal to progress and the well-being of the country, under the leadership of the lawful government in Venezuela.

From the start of Guaidos open challenge to Maduro for the presidency, Iran along with Russia, China and Turkey have supported the incumbent.

Guaido, who has declared himself president is supported by the United States and fifty other countries around the world.
Clashes have erupted between opposition protesters and members of Venezuela's armed forces, as opposition leader Juan Guaido called for more protests against President Nicholas Maduro.



National Guard troops on May 1 fired tear gas at protesters who attempted to block a highway close to an air base in eastern Caracas where Guaido had called for a military uprising against Maduro.



The clashes came one day after Guaido called for a military uprising to oust Maduro -- a call that appeared to fall short.



Some protesters said they were disappointed by the failure of the military to respond to the call to oust Maduro. Others said they were frustrated by the relatively small turnout of demonstrators.



Maduro has accused Guaido of trying to stage a coup.



Meanwhile, the U.S. national security adviser said that Maduro was surrounded by "scorpions in a bottle" and it was only a matter of time before he leaves power.



John Bolton told reporters at the White House that key figures in Maduro's leadership, including the defense minister and head of the presidential guard, had been "outed" as dealing with the opposition.



In an April 30 interview with CNN, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed that Maduro was ready to leave his troubled country for exile in Cuba but was persuaded by Russia to remain.



That assertion was rejected by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said Pompeo's statement was part of an "information war."



Pompeo also spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on May 1, and the Russian diplomat scolded Pompeo for what the Foreign Ministry called the United States' "aggressive steps."



"Washington's interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, and threats against its leadership are a gross violation of international law," the ministry said in a statement. "The continuation of these aggressive steps will be met with the most severe consequences."



The State Department said in a statement that during the call with Lavrov, Pompeo "stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship."



Pompeo "urged Russia to cease support for Nicolas Maduro and join other nations, including the overwhelming majority of countries in the Western Hemisphere, who seek a better future for the Venezuelan people," department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.



Russia, Iran, China, and Cuba are among countries supporting Maduro, who started a second term in January following a May 2018 election marred by an opposition boycott and claims of vote-rigging, leading to mass street protests.



Russia, which has substantial economic ties to Maduro's government, in March sent planes carrying nearly 100 military personnel the U.S. government believes included special forces and cybersecurity experts to Venezuela.



Also May 1, a top Pentagon official told U.S. lawmakers that the Defense Department had not been given orders to prepare for war and was stressing support for diplomacy.



Asked whether the U.S. military had been given instructions to prepare for conflict, acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Kathryn Wheelbarger told the House Armed Services Committee, "We of course always review available options and plan for contingencies."



"But in this case we have not been given [the] sort of orders that you're discussing, no," Wheelbarger said.



In a separate congressional hearing, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the U.S. military was also focused on collecting intelligence on the situation in Venezuela.



"We are doing what we can now to collect intelligence and make sure we have good visibility on what is happening down in Venezuela and also be prepared to support the president should he require more from the U.S. military," General Joseph Dunford said.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and TASS
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was ready to leave his troubled country for exile in Cuba but was persuaded by Russia to remain.



"He had an airplane on the tarmac.... He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated that he should stay," Pompeo told CNN on April 30.



Pompeo added that Washington had been told in recent weeks by "senior leaders" within the Venezuelan government that they would defect in the event of an uprising.



Pompeo did not identify the people or speak further on details of potential defections.



Pompeo also did not answer directly when asked by reporters if the United States would ensure Maduro's safety if the embattled socialist president fled to Cuba, saying only that the Venezuelan leader was aware of U.S. "expectations."



The reports come as tensions reached new heights in the South American country.



Violence flared as U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido urged the military to help oust Maduro from the presidency.



Thousands of Venezuelans came out in the capital, Caracas, early on April 30 to support what Guaido called the "final phase" of a campaign to assume power as his supporters rallied outside an air base.



Officials in Maduro's government denounced Guaido's actions as an attempted coup and said they retained the support of the military.



Guaido, whose claim as interim president is backed by the United States and more than 50 other countries, appeared in a video recorded next to the La Carlota air base surrounded by several heavily armed soldiers backed by armored vehicles.



U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that Washington stands with the "People of Venezuela and their Freedom." Vice President Mike Pence said on Twitter that "America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored."



Trump also threatened a "full and complete embargo" and sanctions on Cuba if its troops did not cease operations in Venezuela after U.S. national security adviser John Bolton alleged that Cuban troops were keeping Maduro in power.



Bolton said it was a "very delicate moment" for Venezuela.



"If this effort fails, they will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives," Bolton added.



Russia, Iran, China, and Cuba are among countries supporting Maduro, who started a second term in January following a May 2018 election marred by an opposition boycott and claims of vote-rigging, leading to mass street protests.



Russia, which has substantial economic ties to Maduro's government, in March sent planes carrying nearly 100 military personnel the U.S. government believes included special forces and cybersecurity experts to Venezuela.



Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Venezuela, among other topics, with members of his Security Council, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

With reporting by AFP, Reuters, dpa, and TASS


Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

This year, PwC Azerbaijans Marshals Team celebrated the fourth year of success, leading the legendary Sector 1, which is known as one of the most intensive and responsible sectors of the Baku City Circuit.

On the track, the PwC team of 42 marshals worked together, demonstrating the outstanding performance and a great team spirit.

In addition, two members of PwC Azerbaijans Rena Rzayeva and Namig Hajiyev also contributed to the success of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2019: Rena was the Chief Observer and Namig was a member of the Scrutineering Team.

"This experience is a great opportunity not only for personal development but also a demonstration of how we apply the values and behaviours in the real life. Here we have to act and decide quickly, respond with agility to the situation, care about each other and reimagine the possible. We will continue to participate at Formula 1 as it helps us learn new skills and know each other", PwC Azerbaijan's Country Managing Partner, Movlan Pashayev, said.

The performance and energy the team showed during the 2019 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was exceptional and highly praised by both the local and international F1 management.

---

At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems of our clients. We achieve this by offering client centric solutions in tax, legal, assurance and advisory from strategy through execution.

Over 140 professionals from 6 countries working in PwC Azerbaijan share their thinking, values, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice for our clients. We are a network of firms in 158 countries with more than 250,930 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services.

Find out more and tell us what matters to you by visiting us at www.pwc.com/az
Check concentrate feeder accuracy

WITH the cost of dairy cow concentrates rising farmers have been urged to check the accuracy of their feeders to ensure they are not overfeeding, or indeed underfeeding, their livestock.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

The "QFAB-250 LG" air bomb created at the enterprises of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense Industry and demonstrated for the first time at the IDEF-2019 International Defense Industry Fair Exhibition in Turkey, caused great interest, Trend reports referring to the Ministry.

A 250-kilogram high-explosive bomb "QFAB-250 LG" was developed on the basis of a joint project of the Research Institute of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense Industry and the Turkish company ASELSAN.

Three samples of air bombs have already been created and are planned to be tested.

The air bomb meets the NATO standards. As expected, it can be also exported in the future.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 24 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said May 1, 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, May 1

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

US may host a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in the future, Trend reports citing Deputy Chief of US Mission in Azerbaijan William R. Gill.

As you know, the US is the co-chair of the Minsk process and we are committed to working with the sides to help find a negotiated settlement to the conflict. US may host a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in the future. The discussions on this opportunity are ongoing. We hope we will have a positive news to share about that in the future days, he told reporters May 1.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

The Mustafa Kemal Ataturk-2019 Azerbaijani-Turkish joint tactical live-fire exercises started on May 1, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The exercises are held according to the Agreement on Military Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Turkey.

The main objective of the exercises is to achieve the coordination of interoperability between the military units of Azerbaijan and Turkey, by preparing joint headquarters plans, increasing the level of combat readiness of military personnel and developing their skills in conducting joint operations, as well as maintaining a high level of mutual relations and mutual understanding of the servicemen of the two countries.

The joint exercises involved troops, armored vehicles, artillery mounts and mortars, combat and transport helicopters of the Air Force, as well as Air Defense units and Anti-Aircraft Missile units of the armies of the two countries.

The exercises will last until May 3.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, who is on a visit to Istanbul, has met with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on May 1, Trend reports referring to the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense.

During the meeting, the prospects for the development of military cooperation between the two countries, as well as the role of the Azerbaijan Army and the Armed Forces of Turkey in ensuring stability in the region were discussed.

The parties exchanged views on cooperation in military, military-technical, military-educational spheres, conducting joint military exercises and other issues of mutual interest.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

The American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham Azerbaijan) organized its monthly members luncheon.

The esteemed Guest Speaker  Mr. Mukhtar Babayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan  spoke on the environmental protection and preserve of the ecological balance in Azerbaijan, measures undertaken by the Government towards solving existing environmental problems, as well as the tasks and challenges the Ministry is facing in its activities aimed at addressing environmental issues.

Mr. Babayev expressed gratitude for the face-to-face channel of communication with the business community provided by the Chamber.

Additionally, the Luncheon highlighted several member presentations. More than 100 AmCham members and partners attended the event, including representatives of diplomatic corps.

AmCham Azerbaijan Members Luncheons are organized monthly by the Chamber and feature participation of high ranked government officials, members of parliament and representatives of diplomatic corps.

AmCham Azerbaijan is a leading private, non-profit business association supporting and promoting the interests of foreign and local businesses in Azerbaijan. Established in 1996, the Chamber is composed of over 280 members companies active in every sector of the Azerbaijani economy.

AmCham Azerbaijan represents nearly 80% of all foreign investment, as well as a significant portion of local investment, in Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:

Azerbaijan may begin exporting milk to Saudi Arabia, the Azerbaijan Milk and Dairy Products Producers and Exporters Association (ASEB) Chairman of the Board Samir Eyyubov told Trend.

Eyyubov noted that the main task of the association is to meet the demand for milk and dairy products at the domestic market.

"We also plan to introduce new standards and are taking steps to stimulate the development of dairy farming in Azerbaijan," he said.

The Azerbaijan Milk and Dairy Products Producers and Exporters Association was established on January 26, 2018. Presently, the association brings together 20 companies. The negotiations are underway with new companies.

Milk production in Azerbaijan in the 1Q2019 amounted to 467,500 tons, which is 2 percent more compared to the 1Q2018.

Whole milk production amounted to 236,300 tons, which is 2.8 percent more than in the 1Q2018.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

KazTransGas (KTG) revealed strong financial results for 2018 on the back of increasing gas sales to China, it is expected to maintain strong credit metrics going forward, Trend reports via Standard & Poor's.

KTG continues to enjoy a moderately high likelihood of extraordinary support from the state, if needed, and remains strategically important to its parent, KazMunayGas (KMG), said the company.

The stable outlook mirrors that on KMG, and reflects the view that KTGs solid performance will continue, with funds from operations to debt remaining above 30 percent on a sustainable basis, and that the level of state support will remain unchanged.

"At the same time, the companys stand-alone financial performance has improved thanks to increasing gas export volumes to China, a favorable difference between gas purchase and gas sales price, and completion of key capital expenditure (capex) projects," said the report.

"Although we believe future profits from export sales could be volatile, depending on price evolution, the funds from operation to debt are to stay above 30 percent," the company said.

In October 2018, KTG and PetroChina International Co. Ltd. signed a sales and purchase agreement for 10 billion cubic meters annually for the next five years. In 2018, KTG sold 5.5 bcm to China and 2.4 bcm to Russia, which was the main factor behind EBITDA growth.

KTG expects that additional cash flows from gas trading will support solid credit metrics at the KTG level, with FFO to debt remaining above 30 percent on a sustainable basis.

KTG has almost completed its large investments in order to increase the pipeline capacity of its export route to China, and it is forecasted that capex will decrease to 100 billion - 110 billion tenge in 2019 and 80 billion tenge in 2020 after peak capex of 116 billion tenge in 2018.

"We further anticipate the company will be in a position to fund its investment program with internally generated cash flows," said the report of the company.

The stable outlook mirrors that on KTGs immediate parent KMG, and it is expected that the companys investment program will decrease to a moderate level after peak spending in 2018, FFO to debt will comfortably exceed 30 percent, and that the group structure will not change significantly.

The report said the upside of KMG's performance limits ratings upside would depend on KTGs performance rather than support from the parent or the state.

KTG is the 100 percent controlled gas subsidiary of Kazakhstan's national hydrocarbon company KMG, which in turn is 100 percent state owned. KTG operates 46.000 kilometers of gas distribution networks, 18.000 km of gas transmission pipelines, 56 compressor stations, and three underground gas storage facilities.

KTGs liquidity is considered adequate, based on the assumption that liquidity sources will exceed uses by more than 2 times over the next 12 months.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 1

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

A delegation of the Ministry of Industry and Communication of Turkmenistan and the Turkmenaragatnashyk (Turkmen communication) Agency is on a working visit in Kazan city of Russias Tatarstan Republic, Trend reports with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Informatization and Communication of Tatarstan.

The purpose of the visit is familiarization with the experience in creating an e-government, certification center, in ensuring the protection of communication networks from cyber threats, introduction and development of the digital economy, the report said.

Head of the Information and New Technologies Department of the Ministry of Industry and Communication of Turkmenistan Annanur Sukhanberdiev met with Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan - Minister of Informatization and Communication Roman Shaikhutdinov.

The delegation of Turkmenistan visited the main objects of Innopolis town of Tatarstan, the Interregional Competence Center - Kazan College of Informatization and Communication, as well as the high-tech technology park "IT-Park". The main IT projects of Tatarstan were presented, including the electronic document management system, digital services "People's Control" and "Peoples Inspector" , as well as others.

In the beginning of this year, Turkmenistan started the implementation of the Digital Economy Development Concept, which is designed for the period up to 2025.

The project consists of a roadmap for technological transformation in all industries and their state management, the formation of a knowledge economy based on the country's resource and production potential.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

In the coming months, the production of new Peugeot 207 will begin in Azerbaijan's Neftchala industrial site, Chairman of the Board of AzerMash OJSC Emin Akhundov told Trend.

Production will begin this summer, he noted.

"The price of Peugeot 207 cars, equipped with an automatic transmission will be 17,500 manats. We are currently negotiating with the French side and are discussing some details, and we plan to start production in early July," Akhundov said.

He noted that the assembly of the Peugeot model 407 began at the car plant in the Neftchala in February 2019, and the cars produced are already on sale in the country's car market at a price of 17,500 manats.

The official opening of the car plant Azermash took place March 29, 2018. The plants founders are Iran Khodro and Azerbaijans AzEuroCar.

The plant is located in the Neftchala industrial district in the south-east of Azerbaijan. All cars produced at the plant comply with Euro 5 standards.

In 2018, over 1,000 Khazar cars were produced at the Azermash plant, and 95 percent of them were sold. The cost of the Khazar LD car is 18,000 manats ($10,600), Khazar SD  16,000 manats ($9,400).

The Azermash plant plans to produce 3,000 cars in 2019.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova
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Page: 1 2 Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change BLAME TRUMP

lop guest

User ID: 453356

05-01-2019 03:53 AM











Post: #1 Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

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"We have one last chance to unleash the ingenuity and political will of hundreds of millions of Americans to meet this moment before it's too late." O'Rourke told MSNBC host Chris Hayes. "The actions we're announcing today will help us get there."



The interview was part of a rollout for O'Rourke's environmental plan, which would see the United States spend around $1.5 trillion over the course of the next 10  beginning with Beto's hypothetical inauguration in 2021, hence the "ten years." He's not counting the next two years of Trump's presidency.



The plan, which, like the Green New Deal, focuses on energy innovation and massive changes in American industry and infrastructure, would represent the "largest investment in fighting climate change in history," according to CBS News.



The plan is more focused than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY). It avoids pushing for an almost entirely socialistic economic regime, and limits government takeover of industry to the oil and gas sector. It would also reform the crop insurance program for middle American farmers to promote a "greener" agricultural industry, and force the United States to re-enter the Paris Climate Accords, reversing one of the first Trump administration decisions.



But O'Rourke's plan has its flaws, not least of which is the $1.5 trillion price tag, which O'Rourke says will be covered by raising taxes on the rich  a fairly common, if unreliable source of income for progressive programs.



https://www.dailywire.com/news/46592/bet...ly-zanotti Former Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke will take your prediction that humanity has a mere dozen years to address "climate change" or face potentially catastrophic consequences, and up the ante. In an interview Monday night, O'Rourke claimed that civilization has only ten years left before rising seas and choked air threaten the very fabric of human civilization."We have one last chance to unleash the ingenuity and political will of hundreds of millions of Americans to meet this moment before it's too late." O'Rourke told MSNBC host Chris Hayes. "The actions we're announcing today will help us get there."The interview was part of a rollout for O'Rourke's environmental plan, which would see the United States spend around $1.5 trillion over the course of the next 10  beginning with Beto's hypothetical inauguration in 2021, hence the "ten years." He's not counting the next two years of Trump's presidency.The plan, which, like the Green New Deal, focuses on energy innovation and massive changes in American industry and infrastructure, would represent the "largest investment in fighting climate change in history," according to CBS News.The plan is more focused than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY). It avoids pushing for an almost entirely socialistic economic regime, and limits government takeover of industry to the oil and gas sector. It would also reform the crop insurance program for middle American farmers to promote a "greener" agricultural industry, and force the United States to re-enter the Paris Climate Accords, reversing one of the first Trump administration decisions.But O'Rourke's plan has its flaws, not least of which is the $1.5 trillion price tag, which O'Rourke says will be covered by raising taxes on the rich  a fairly common, if unreliable source of income for progressive programs. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499652

05-01-2019 04:18 AM











Post: #2 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

Sorry Beto, but that ship sailed way back in the 1950's ..... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 352770

05-01-2019 04:19 AM











Post: #3 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

There really are.



And yes. trump is to blame for not moving fast enough and blatantly denying climate change



What does your name mean btw?



Are you saying that trump is blameless? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 229141

05-01-2019 04:35 AM











Post: #4 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

I have been hearing "we are going to die from climate change in 10 years" for the past 40 years......

Beta nice person O'Rourke can shove it up his ass..... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 352770

05-01-2019 04:42 AM











Post: #5 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 04:35 AM) I have been hearing "we are going to die from climate change in 10 years" for the past 40 years......

Beta nice person O'Rourke can shove it up his ass.....

People have died in storms that were influenced by climate change. yes. People have died in storms that were influenced by climate change. yes. Mr ifnoc nli

lop guest

User ID: 499653

05-01-2019 04:54 AM











Post: #6 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

There is not ten years. There is not, and never will be a way to stop it. All they can manage is buying a little time. That's it. Natura Naturans

Registered User

User ID: 497797

05-01-2019 05:00 AM



Posts: 13,155









Post: #7 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change





"Britains richest man, the Brexit supporter Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and two of his key lieutenants at chemicals firm Ineos have reportedly been planning to save up to 4bn in tax after moving to Monaco.



The company, which is valued at about 35bn, is working with tax experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to create a new structure for the business to dramatically reduce the tax paid on its global revenues, according to the Sunday Times.



Ratcliffe, who has lobbied to weaken green taxes and reduce restrictions on fracking, owns 60% of Ineos, which made profits of more than 2.2bn last year and employs 18,500 people. His top two lieutenants at Ineos, Andy Currie and John Reece, each own 20% of the company worth 7bn and were also reported to be moving to Monaco and involved in the tax avoidance plan."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/201...onaco-move Taxing the rich suffers one fatal flaw. You can't stop them from moving to a lower tax jurisdiction. The UK decided they would tax the rich more, and their richest man bailed and moved to Monaco where he will save 4 billion pounds the first year:"Britains richest man, the Brexit supporter Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and two of his key lieutenants at chemicals firm Ineos have reportedly been planning to save up to 4bn in tax after moving to Monaco.The company, which is valued at about 35bn, is working with tax experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to create a new structure for the business to dramatically reduce the tax paid on its global revenues, according to the Sunday Times.Ratcliffe, who has lobbied to weaken green taxes and reduce restrictions on fracking, owns 60% of Ineos, which made profits of more than 2.2bn last year and employs 18,500 people. His top two lieutenants at Ineos, Andy Currie and John Reece, each own 20% of the company worth 7bn and were also reported to be moving to Monaco and involved in the tax avoidance plan." The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 352770

05-01-2019 05:01 AM











Post: #8 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

Natura Naturans Wrote: (05-01-2019 05:00 AM) Taxing the rich suffers one fatal flaw. You can't stop them from moving to a lower tax jurisdiction. The UK decided they would tax the rich more, and their richest man bailed and moved to Monaco where he will save 4 billion pounds the first year:



"Britains richest man, the Brexit supporter Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and two of his key lieutenants at chemicals firm Ineos have reportedly been planning to save up to 4bn in tax after moving to Monaco.



The company, which is valued at about 35bn, is working with tax experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to create a new structure for the business to dramatically reduce the tax paid on its global revenues, according to the Sunday Times.



Ratcliffe, who has lobbied to weaken green taxes and reduce restrictions on fracking, owns 60% of Ineos, which made profits of more than 2.2bn last year and employs 18,500 people. His top two lieutenants at Ineos, Andy Currie and John Reece, each own 20% of the company worth 7bn and were also reported to be moving to Monaco and involved in the tax avoidance plan."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/201...onaco-move

Sure you can, when they resign their citizenship, tax them on the way out, have treaties with other countries to enforce it. Sure you can, when they resign their citizenship, tax them on the way out, have treaties with other countries to enforce it. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499272

05-01-2019 05:04 AM











Post: #9 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

They said the same lies 20 years ago and nothing has changed LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499656

05-01-2019 05:05 AM











Post: #10 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

Mr ifnoc nli Wrote: (05-01-2019 04:54 AM) There is not ten years. There is not, and never will be a way to stop it. All they can manage is buying a little time. That's it.

are you blind??

it is already happening IN YOUR FACE!!



https://watchers.news/



http://strangesounds.org/ are you blind??it is already happening IN YOUR FACE!! SkeptiSchism

Registered User

User ID: 450243

05-01-2019 05:34 AM



Posts: 36,972









Post: #11 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

Even if the planet is warming on net, (it's not) and even if it was the fault of CO2 emissions (it's not) government is the very last entity that you want trying to deal with the problem.



Look at government's track record. The war on drugs? More people are dying of drug overdoses than ever before. The war on poverty? More people are living at or below poverty than ever before. The war on illiteracy? More people can't read than ever before. Public education? Kids are dumber than ever, they can only get through college by lowering standards. And on and on and on, every problem the government claims to solve it makes the problem far worse.



It's this mass delusion people are under that government is a positive force and can be a magic genie granting every wish. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499657

05-01-2019 05:46 AM











Post: #12 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

So they said 30 years ago LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 461961

05-01-2019 07:54 AM











Post: #13 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 04:35 AM) I have been hearing "we are going to die from climate change in 10 years" for the past 40 years......

Beta nice person O'Rourke can shove it up his ass.....

That is about right.



Sh*tferbrains O'Rourke (BA in Literature) wouldn't recognize atmospheric science if it bit him in the ass.



There is plenty of evidence that CO2 is beneficial and no statistically significant evidence of harm.



The four biggest pieces of bullshit are:



1. "Storms are getting worse"

2. "The ocean will turn to acid".

3. "We will have runaway global warming"

4. "The ocean will rise 2+ meters"



All bullshit. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 431208

05-01-2019 08:24 AM











Post: #14 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

potentially catastrophic consequences



Looks to me that fossil fuel use has made the US a foreign meddler supreme that murders millions, which creates adversaries that can lead to world war 3.



The real problem seems war over oil. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 461961

05-01-2019 01:45 PM











Post: #15 RE: Beto O'Rourke: There Are Now Only TEN Years To Address Climate Change

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 08:24 AM) potentially catastrophic consequences



Looks to me that fossil fuel use has made the US a foreign meddler supreme that murders millions, which creates adversaries that can lead to world war 3.



The real problem seems war over oil.

Moar bullshit.



How much oil did the US get from attacking Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Afghanistan???



Less than zero (0).



And that is before you factor in oil consumed by US forces.



We get less oil from Iraq than before the first Gulf War. Advertisement



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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

Saparkhan Omarov, The Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan held a meeting with Majid Samadzadeh Saber, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Kazakhstan, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

During the meeting, the topic of the preparation for the 16th intergovernmental meeting in Nur-Sultan (former Astana) was discussed, due to the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan being the Co-chair of the Kazakh-Iran Intergovernmental Commission on trade and economy, scientific and technological and cultural cooperation.

The issue of the increase of the agricultural goods turnover was also covered and the agreement on the ways to increase the turnover up to $3 billion in the following years was reached.

Both parties especially highlighted the importance of the investment cooperation. Iranian side displayed interest in the realization of joint projects on agricultural production in Kazakhstan to be exported to Iran.

Reportedly, the Kazakh-Iran goods turnover on agribusiness production almost doubled in 2018 compared to the statistics of 2017 (from $197.8 million to $364.7 million).

"Kazakhstans export of agribusiness production to Iran increased by 1.9 times in 2018 compared to 2017 (from $169.3 million to $328.9 million)," reads the message.

"Irans export of agricultural business production to Kazakhstan increased by 25.7 percent in 2018 compared to 2017 (from $28.5 million to $35.9 million)," the report said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan and Hungary are to cooperate on the digitalization of the tax and customs administration sphere, Trend reports via the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan.

The meeting on the topic was held in Nur-Sultan (former Astana) between Berik Sholpankulov, Vice Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Mihaly Varga, the Minister of Finance of Hungary.

The parties got acquainted with the structure of the two institutions, discussed the macroeconomic situation of both countries, as well as the further finance market cooperation.

The especial importance of the digitalization of the tax and customs administration sphere was displayed. With an idea of the experience-sharing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the digitalization of the tax and customs administration sphere was signed.

At the end of the meeting both parties noted that they look forward to the successful cooperation of two countries.

Kazakhstan is among major trading partners of Hungary. In 2018 the goods turnover amounted to $139.2 million ($26.2 million accounted for export and $113 million accounted for import), while in 2017 it totaled $156.4 million (according to the customs statistics).
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Kheyraddin Nasirzade - Trend:

In the 1Q2019, the investment company PASHA Capital led the ranking of brokers in the market of state and corporate securities of Azerbaijan, Trend reports referring to Baku Stock Exchange (BSE).

During the reported period, the investment company provided brokerage services in the amount of about 2.55 billion manats. The second place in the ranking was taken by AzFinance, which carried out operations worth 839.8 million manats. The third top company was InvestAZ with 567.02 million manats.

Ranking of brokers in the securities market of Azerbaijan in terms of services rendered in January-March 2019:

Brokers Ranking (by amount of services rendered) TOTAL (AZN) Government bonds (AZN) Corporate bonds (AZN) Shares (AZN) REPO (AZN) Derivative financial instruments (AZN) PASHA Capital 1 2,549,317,421.98 2,482,812,294.56 18,608,405.85 5,104.68 47,891,616.89 - AzFinance 2 839,790,173.53 642,110,953.96 61,529,014.01 - 136,150,205.56 - InvestAZ 3 567,027,867.98 167,696,246.70 649,544.19 1,287,064.80 - 397 395 012.29 Xalq Kapital 4 564,163,765.93 562,600,835.98 1,522,021.95 40,908.00 - - Unicapital 5 491,601,692.25 81,420,390.26 3,532,671.00 18,860.00 9 234 758.70 397 395 012.29 PSG Kapital 6 59,315,013.70 26,527,739.73 28,014,644.63 12,000.00 4 757 927.85 - BTB Kapital 7 21,386,938.53 17,257,675.84 - 4,112.00 4 125 150.69 -
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

In March 2019, the volume of cargo transshipment from the US and Israel through the ports of Turkey amounted to 8,244,782 tons, Trend reports referring to the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.

During the reported period, the volume of cargo transshipment from the US through Turkish ports amounted to 4,578,422 tons.

In March 2019, the volume of cargo transshipment from the US by ships sailing under the US flag amounted to 38,868 tons, and the vessels flying the Turkish flag accounted for 116,327 tons of cargo, while those flying flags of other countries carried 4,423,227 tons.

According to the ministry, in March 2019 the volume of cargo transshipment from Israel through the ports of Turkey amounted to 3,666,360 tons.

During the month, the volume of cargo transshipment from Israel by ships flying the Turkish flag amounted to 545,732 tons. In the meantime, the volume of cargo transshipment by ships flying the Israeli flag amounted to 34,402 tons, and vessels flying flags of other countries accounted for 3,086,226 tons of cargo.

In March 2019, 4,200 ships arrived at Turkish ports, the gross registered tonnage of which amounted to 69.218 million tons.

During this period, 1,500 ships sailing under the Turkish flag and 2,700 ships sailing under flags of other countries arrived at Turkish ports.

The gross registered tonnage of ships arrived at Turkish ports under the Turkish flag during the period amounted to 10.799 million tons, and vessels under the flags of other countries accounted for 58.419 million tons of cargo.

In the 1Q2019, Turkish ports received 11,700 ships, the gross registered tonnage of which amounted to 190.350 million tons.

In the 1Q2019, most of the ships arrived at the ports of Izmit (1,400) and Aliaga (861 vessels).

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

Creation of Houses of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises will expand the range of services rendered to the enterprises in Azerbaijan, said Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Mammadov made the remarks in Baku during the presentation of the SMEs House project, Trend reports on May 1.

"Earlier, the first meeting of the Coordination Group consisting of plenipotentiaries of the state agencies was arranged. The Group operates under the Agency for the Development of SMEs, he added.

At the meeting, effective discussions were held, Mammadov said. It was recommended to improve the coordination of the policy of developing SMEs and address issues related to the creation of SMEs Houses. I think that joint cooperation within this format will make a significant contribution to the implementation of the course of reforms announced by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev."

The development of the SMEs sector has become a special sphere of the state policy for the development of modern economy, to which particular importance is attached, he said.

"The development strategy being implemented under the leadership of the president has always focused on the development of SMEs sector in the country. which demonstrates the trend of sustainable development, Mammadov said. "Systemic measures in this direction have been implemented within the state programs adopted over the past years.

significant results are achieved as a result of important measures such as the creation of a legal framework for entrepreneurship development and the use of modern organizational models supporting this work, he said. Moreover, the private sector has taken an important position in the development of the non-oil sector, employment and foreign trade.

The role of entrepreneurs has grown in the society, Mammadov added. Entrepreneurs have become an active force supporting the course of economic reforms in Azerbaijan."
Details added (first version posted on 13:36)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

Creation of Houses of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises will expand the range of services rendered to the business entities in Azerbaijan, said Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Mammadov made the remarks in Baku during the presentation of the SMEs House project, Trend reports on May 1.

"Earlier, the first meeting of the Coordination Group consisting of plenipotentiaries of the state agencies was arranged. The Group operates under the Agency for the Development of SMEs, he added.

At the meeting, effective discussions were held, Mammadov said. It was recommended to improve the coordination of the policy of developing SMEs and address issues related to the creation of SMEs Houses. I think that joint cooperation within this format will make a significant contribution to the implementation of the course of reforms announced by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev."

The development of the SMEs sector has become a special sphere of the state policy for the development of modern economy, to which particular importance is attached, he said.

"The development strategy being implemented under the leadership of the president has always focused on the development of SMEs sector in the country, which demonstrates the trend of sustainable development, Mammadov said. "Systemic measures in this direction have been implemented within the state programs adopted over the past years.

Significant results are achieved as a result of important measures such as the creation of a legal framework for entrepreneurship development and the use of modern organizational models supporting this work, he said. Moreover, the private sector has taken an important position in the development of the non-oil sector, employment and foreign trade.

The role of entrepreneurs has grown in the society, Mammadov added. Entrepreneurs have become an active force supporting the course of economic reforms in Azerbaijan."

Mammadov stressed that there is a big potential in the countrys economy in the sphere of growth of the sector of small and medium businesses.

"Sustainable development priorities have put forward new requirements for this sector and this must be taken into account, he said. The creation of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the documents signed by the president to ensure its activity testifies to the attention paid to this sector and cover the issues that will lead to the fundamental changes in the development of the SME sector.

The mission of the agency is to improve the efficiency of the SME regulation system and ensure sustainable development of SME sector on the basis of the protection of the interests of business entities, Mammadov added.

The main task of the agency is to turn the structure into a carrier of such an important mission as a friend of an entrepreneur, he said. Despite the short time from the date of its establishment, the agency carried out important measures aimed at the realization of this mission and fulfillment of the important tasks assigned by the president, and started implementation of a number of strategic projects.

Mammadov added that the new bill On the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses designed to strengthen the legislative framework for the development of small and medium-sized businesses is an important initiative in terms of creating the legal foundations of this sector at the first stage.

"The project was discussed at a joint meeting of the parliamentary committees on legal policy and state-building, economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship with the participation of representatives of international organizations and public associations, he said.

The bill outlines the main elements of the strategic course determined by the Azerbaijani president for the development of entrepreneurship, Mammadov added.

In particular, the project envisages new mechanisms such as the creation of a unified register of micro, small and medium businesses entities, rendering of services on behalf of the state through the unified e-information systems and the creation of favorable conditions for the participation of micro, small and medium businesses entities in public procurement, the formation of infrastructure supporting entrepreneurs, and rendering public services for business entities in a single area, he added.

At the same time, more than 10 legal acts encouraging the activity of SMEs in the country by the agency and envisaging various state support mechanisms that are currently being coordinated with the state agencies have been prepared, he added.

Mammadov highlighted the amendments made to the Tax Code to create new organizational models to support and stimulate the activity of SMEs. "The amendments made to create clusters of SMEs, develop start-ups and stimulate this work will have a great positive impact on the development of SMEs and the realization of its innovative potential," he said.

Mammadov added that the work of the agency has been organized upon the requirements by using new management models.

In this context, the process of creating the network Friend of SMEs, which serves the implementation of the strategic course of the countrys president entitled The state is the best partner for the entrepreneur was launched, he added.

"The activity of the agency in the districts is to closely cooperate with entrepreneurs on the basis of their requirements through the "Friend of SMEs" network, Mammadov said. The first structure Friend of SMEs began to operate during the opening ceremony of the industrial zone in Masalli district in September 2018 with the participation of the president.

During a short period this work was organized in 12 administrative-territorial units of the country, namely, Khachmaz, Siyazan-Shabran, Guba, Gusar, Yevlakh, Fizuli, Gabala, Absheron, Ganja, Sumgayit and Baku, Mammadov added.

The activity of Friends of SMEs is aimed at creating new SMEs, realizing the potential for the development of the region through the development of existing facilities, he said. Another important sphere of "Friends of SMEs" is to support SMEs.

Being in contact with entrepreneurs, Friends of SMEs, through surveys, will consider the needs of their development, Mammadov said. The "Friends of SMEs" network is planned to be created in all cities and districts of the country."

He said that high quality public services play an important role in the activity of entrepreneurs.

"Along with social goals, effective public services influence the creation of a favourable investment sphere, business development and the promotion of broad participation of citizens in Azerbaijans economic life," Mammadov added.
Details added (first version posted on 13:36)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

Trend:

Creation of Houses of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) would expand the range of services rendered to the business entities in Azerbaijan, said Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Mammadov made the remarks in Baku during the presentation of the SMEs House project, Trend reports on May 1.

"Earlier, the first meeting of the Coordination Group consisting of plenipotentiaries of the state agencies was arranged. The Group operates under the Agency for the Development of SMEs, he added.

At the meeting, effective discussions were held, Mammadov said. It was recommended to improve the coordination of the policy of developing SMEs and address issues related to the creation of SMEs Houses. I think that joint cooperation within this format will make a significant contribution to the implementation of the course of reforms announced by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev."

The development of the SMEs sector has become a special sphere of the state policy for the development of modern economy, to which particular importance is attached, he said.

"The development strategy being implemented under the leadership of the president has always focused on the development of SMEs sector in the country, which demonstrates the trend of sustainable development, Mammadov said. "Systemic measures in this direction have been implemented within the state programs adopted over the past years.

Significant results are achieved as a result of important measures such as the creation of a legal framework for entrepreneurship development and the use of modern organizational models supporting this work, he said. Moreover, the private sector has taken an important position in the development of the non-oil sector, employment and foreign trade.

The role of entrepreneurs has grown in the society, Mammadov added. Entrepreneurs have become an active force supporting the course of economic reforms in Azerbaijan."

Mammadov stressed that there is a big potential in the countrys economy in the sphere of growth of the sector of small and medium businesses.

"Sustainable development priorities have put forward new requirements for this sector and this must be taken into account, he said. The creation of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the documents signed by the president to ensure its activity testifies to the attention paid to this sector and cover the issues that will lead to the fundamental changes in the development of the SME sector.

The mission of the agency is to improve the efficiency of the SME regulation system and ensure sustainable development of SME sector on the basis of the protection of the interests of business entities, Mammadov added.

The main task of the agency is to turn the structure into a carrier of such an important mission as a friend of an entrepreneur, he said. Despite the short time from the date of its establishment, the agency carried out important measures aimed at the realization of this mission and fulfillment of the important tasks assigned by the president, and started implementation of a number of strategic projects.

Mammadov added that the new bill On the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses designed to strengthen the legislative framework for the development of small and medium-sized businesses is an important initiative in terms of creating the legal foundations of this sector at the first stage.

"The project was discussed at a joint meeting of the parliamentary committees on legal policy and state-building, economic policy, industry and entrepreneurship with the participation of representatives of international organizations and public associations, he said.

The bill outlines the main elements of the strategic course determined by the Azerbaijani president for the development of entrepreneurship, Mammadov added.

In particular, the project envisages new mechanisms such as the creation of a unified register of micro, small and medium businesses entities, rendering of services on behalf of the state through the unified e-information systems and the creation of favorable conditions for the participation of micro, small and medium businesses entities in public procurement, the formation of infrastructure supporting entrepreneurs, and rendering public services for business entities in a single area, he added.

At the same time, more than 10 legal acts encouraging the activity of SMEs in the country by the agency and envisaging various state support mechanisms that are currently being coordinated with the state agencies have been prepared, he added.

Mammadov highlighted the amendments made to the Tax Code to create new organizational models to support and stimulate the activity of SMEs. "The amendments made to create clusters of SMEs, develop start-ups and stimulate this work will have a great positive impact on the development of SMEs and the realization of its innovative potential," he said.

Mammadov added that the work of the agency has been organized upon the requirements by using new management models.

In this context, the process of creating the network Friend of SMEs, which serves the implementation of the strategic course of the countrys president entitled The state is the best partner for the entrepreneur, was launched, he added.

"The activity of the agency in the districts is aimed at close cooperation with entrepreneurs on the basis of their requirements through the "Friend of SMEs" network, Mammadov said. The first structure Friend of SMEs began to operate during the opening ceremony of the industrial zone in Masalli district in September 2018 with the participation of the president.

During a short period, this work was organized in 12 administrative-territorial units of the country, namely, Khachmaz, Siyazan-Shabran, Guba, Gusar, Yevlakh, Fizuli, Gabala, Absheron, Ganja, Sumgayit and Baku, Mammadov added.

The activity of Friends of SMEs is aimed at creating new SMEs, realizing the potential for the development of the regions through the development of existing facilities, he said. Another important sphere of "Friends of SMEs" is to support SMEs.

Being in contact with entrepreneurs, Friends of SMEs, through surveys, will identify needs of their development, Mammadov said. The 'Friends of SMEs' network is planned to be created in all cities and districts of the country."

He said that high quality public services play an important role in the activity of entrepreneurs. "Along with social goals, effective public services influence the creation of a favorable investment sphere, business development and the promotion of broad participation of citizens in Azerbaijans economic life," Mammadov added.

He stressed that on the one hand, Houses of SMEs will promptly and transparently provide entrepreneurs with all the necessary permits based on the single window principle, and on the other hand, in these Houses entrepreneurs will be supported and get consultations in various spheres.

At the next stage, these services will be carried out through an electronic platform 'e-House of SMEs' and implemented via the non-stop-shop principle, he added.

Mammadov expressed confidence that the "Houses of SMEs" will be presented to the world as Azerbaijans new innovative brand.
Tehran, Iran, May 1

Trend:

Over the past few years, Iran's Airlines had three goals - fleet development, airports development and training of personnel, spokesman of Iran Civil Aviation Organization Reza Jafarzadeh told Trend.

Although we certainly had some limitations, we did not get off the development path, he added.

What's important is that we comply with the high-level plans and the rules and regulations that have been implemented by the ICAO, Jafarzadeh said.

The restrictions imposed against Iran's aviation are not welcomed for any country or airline, he said. But we certainly tried to prevent the Americans from reaching their goals.

He went on to add that Iran has taken "very effective steps" over the past four decades, as far as airlines go.

Jafarzadeh went on to speak about Iran's purchasing of new airplanes.

The issue of fleet development is prioritized by the Civil Aviation Organization and it is being pursued, but it is time-consuming, he explained.

"The companies are working to increase their flight capacity and they're also trying to replace old airplanes. We currently have about 150 airplanes active in the country," he said.

During the New Years Eve, in spite of the problems that have occurred in many of the country's provinces due to floods and bad weather, from March 19 to April 5, more than 3,777 million passengers were transferred by flights, Jafarzadeh noted.

Over 1,700 extra flights were licensed by the National Aviation Organization during the New Year holidays," he said.

The official went on to say that the Civil Aviation Organization has always been keen on investing in the aviation sector and has tried to provide its own support to meet the passengers` demands.

Despite sanctions, he said that flights to Iran continue.

There are many airline companies that scheduled their own flights to our country according to the previous plans, and these flights continue, he said referring to foreign airlines' schedule in Iran for the last 2 months.

Recently, no one has cut off its flight, he said.

Jafarzadeh also said that the Minister of Roads and Urban Development of Iran and the Turkish Minister of Transportation have recently talked about the possible increase of flights between Iran and Turkey.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Ilhama Isabalayeva  Trend:

Tour packages to Turkey have risen in price for this season in Azerbaijan, Nahid Baghirov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Tourism Association (AzTA), told Trend.

According to him, the reason for this lies in the growing interest in holidays in Turkey and the resulting rise in the prices of hotels.

"A large flow of tourists from Russia, Ukraine and other countries is expected to Turkey this year, therefore some hotels in the country are already fully booked. The number of rooms in hotels is limited, so prices have risen by 5-15 percent, he said.

Baghirov noted that there is a significant increase in the prices of hotels in resort areas of the Aegean Sea coast including Bodrum and Antalya and that Azerbaijani tourists also prefer to travel to Turkey more during the summer.

According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, 858,500 Azerbaijani tourists visited Turkey in 2018, which is 12.5 percent more compared to 2017. Last year, Azerbaijan citizens made up 2.17 percent of those tourists who visited Turkey.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 1

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov during a working meeting has instructed to speed up the sowing of raw cotton, Trend reports with reference to Watan newspaper.

This instruction was addressed to the leadership of Akhal, Balkan, Lebap, Mary and Dashoguz regions and those overseeing these regions in the government.

The head of state drew attention to the fact that strict adherence to the norms of agricultural technology in agricultural work is a major factor in obtaining a bountiful harvest.

Cotton growers started sowing in Turkmenistan in late March. This year, 550,000 hectares are allocated for cotton in the country, and it is planned to harvest 1,050,000 tons of raw cotton. For the first time, private agricultural producers who have received plots from a special land fund will begin to cultivate it in 25,567 hectares of land.

Moreover, in October 2018, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov ordered to stop the sale of cotton fiber to foreign countries.

Cotton was previously a significant export item of Turkmenistan, and is currently a highly demanded raw material for the countrys rapidly developing textile industry. Until recently, up to 70 percent of the cultivated raw materials were processed domestically.

The Turkmen textile industry is represented by a wide range of exports - from cotton fiber and yarn to finished garments and knitwear, produced by the largest complexes in Central Asia which are located in the capital and in all regions of the country.

A significant part of the products exported from Turkmenistan consist of home textiles, sportswear and jeans, released under world famous brands such as IKEA, Puma, Wal-Mart, Lidl, Bershka, Pull&Bear, River Island, and Costco.
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El Camino Del Diablo Road - The Devil's Highway silversides

The bare necessities of life

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05-01-2019 06:18 AM



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Post: #1 El Camino Del Diablo Road - The Devil's Highway

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBdI2_Moczk





Ride from Ajo, AZ to Yuma, AZ along the Mexican border road El Camino Del Diablo, the Highway of the Devil.



--------------------------------------



El Camino Del Diablo

The Devil's Highway

Photos and Text by Gordon Burhop





El Camino del Diablo  the Highway of the Devil  once a 250-mile link between the northwestern frontier of Mexico and the colonies of California, began at Caborca, in Mexicos state of Sonora. It extended north-northwest across the desert to what is today the United States/Mexican border. It turned west-northwest and followed the border through a phantasmagoric landscape of organ pipe cactus, desert flats, drifting sand dunes, ancient lava flows and searing summer heat, passing through the southern edges of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. Marked by graves and headstones, it reached a merciful end at Yuma, Arizona.



The landscape has changed little since the coming of the early Spanish explorers, who chronicled their own passage across the region but gave us few insights into the local tribes they encounteredthe Sand People or Sand Papagos, Yuhas and others.

El Camino del Diablo entered history when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado arrived in 1540, having led his famed expedition from Mexico City to begin exploring the Southwest in search of the mythical seven cities of Cibola with their streets of gold. At an Indian village near where Caborca now stands, Coronado heard of a juncture of two major rivers some three to four weeks travel to the west. He dispatched one of his captains, Melchoir Diaz, to lead a side expedition to investigate the report.



...

Read more: Mele Kalikimaka

El Camino Del Diablo Highway of the DevilRide from Ajo, AZ to Yuma, AZ along the Mexican border road El Camino Del Diablo, the Highway of the Devil.--------------------------------------El Camino Del DiabloThe Devil's HighwayPhotos and Text by Gordon BurhopEl Camino del Diablo  the Highway of the Devil  once a 250-mile link between the northwestern frontier of Mexico and the colonies of California, began at Caborca, in Mexicos state of Sonora. It extended north-northwest across the desert to what is today the United States/Mexican border. It turned west-northwest and followed the border through a phantasmagoric landscape of organ pipe cactus, desert flats, drifting sand dunes, ancient lava flows and searing summer heat, passing through the southern edges of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, and the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range. Marked by graves and headstones, it reached a merciful end at Yuma, Arizona.The landscape has changed little since the coming of the early Spanish explorers, who chronicled their own passage across the region but gave us few insights into the local tribes they encounteredthe Sand People or Sand Papagos, Yuhas and others.El Camino del Diablo entered history when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado arrived in 1540, having led his famed expedition from Mexico City to begin exploring the Southwest in search of the mythical seven cities of Cibola with their streets of gold. At an Indian village near where Caborca now stands, Coronado heard of a juncture of two major rivers some three to four weeks travel to the west. He dispatched one of his captains, Melchoir Diaz, to lead a side expedition to investigate the report....Read more: https://www.desertusa.com/desert-trails/...z5mdwhivaE silversides

The bare necessities of life

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05-01-2019 11:20 AM



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Post: #2 RE: El Camino Del Diablo Road - The Devil's Highway





The name, like its other historic name Camino del Muerto, ("road of the dead")[2] refers to the harsh, unforgiving conditions on trail.



Original route[edit]



El Camino del Diablo in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge

The southern terminus of the original route was located in Caborca, in what is today the Mexican state of Sonora. From there, it continued through Sonoyta, then past Quitobaquito Springs, then through the lava fields of the Sierra Pinacate, then through the Tule Desert and Tule Mountains. After passing just south of Tordillo Mountain, the route ran to the rain fed tinajas of the Tinajas Altas then crossed the Tinajas Altas Mountains through the nearby Tinajas Altas Pass and then continued northwestward following the western border of the Gila Mountains, before finally reaching the Yuma Crossing of the Colorado River. From Yuma Crossing, travelers could cross the Colorado Desert to reach the Spanish colonies of California.



In reference to points on the route, names used in the past include Sonora Trail, Sonoyta-Yuma Trail, Yuma-Caborca Trail and Old Yuma Trail.[2]



History of the trail[edit]

El Camino del Diablo is believed to follow Native American footpaths dating back at least 1,000 years. In 1540, accompanied by native guides, Captain Melchor Diaz led a detachment of the Coronado Expedition through this vicinity en route to the Californias. The first Europeans definitely known to have transited the route were in the party of Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino, Commander Juan Matheo Mange, and Father Adamo Gilig, who  along with attendants and Native American guides who knew the location of vital water sources needed along the route  first made the crossing in February 1699.[4] The trail offered a shorter route than sailing around Baja California, while avoiding most of the more hostile Native American tribes.



However, the 1781 Quechan Indian uprising at Yuma Crossing on the Colorado River prevented travelers from reaching the Californias via the trail. Although Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Fages managed to rescue captured Spanish survivors of the uprising in December of that year, El Camino del Diablo largely fell into disuse until 1848-1849, when the California Gold Rush brought many new migrants from Mexico, especially from Sonora to the gold fields of California. Afterwards, the trail was used by both United States and Mexican Boundary Survey teams, mapping and cataloging the land purchased in the 1853 Gadsden Purchase. A second wave of Sonoran miners used the trail in the 1860s, when placer gold was discovered along the Colorado River.



Many of these migrants, not used to travel in the desert, would die from thirst and heat exhaustion en route. As a later traveler noted, "frequent graves and bleaching skulls of animals are painful reminders of unfortunate travelers who died from thirst on the road."[5] The most difficult stretch of the trail was the 130-mile (210 km) stretch from Sonoyta, Mexico, to what is now Yuma, Arizona. An estimated 400  2000 travelers have lost their lives on the trail,[6] primarily from dehydration, heat stroke, and sunburn, but also from hypothermia. In summer, temperatures here soar to 120 F (50 C), and people require 2 US gallons (8 litres) of water a day just to survive. Most of the graves line the last 30 miles (50 km) of the trail to Yuma; by one count, there are 65 graves near Tinajas Altas.[7]



Use of the trail declined sharply after the Southern Pacific Railroad reached Yuma in 1870. While prospectors and transient visitors continued to visit the area, El Camino del Diablo never regained its status as a major migration route. Occasionally the route was used by cartographers and boundary survey parties, who documented numerous remains of both humans and domesticated animals.

In recognition of its historic significance, El Camino del Diablo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It can still be transited by visitors to the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1939 to protect desert wildlife. With the exception of one United States Border Patrol station (Camp Grip), the section of original trail between Las Playas and Tinajas Altas remains virtually unchanged.[7]



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_del_Diablo El Camino del Diablo (Spanish, meaning "The Devil's Highway") is a historic 250-mile (400 km) road that currently extends through some of the most remote and arid terrain of the Sonoran Desert in Pima County and Yuma County, Arizona. In use for at least 1,000 years, El Camino del Diablo is believed to have started as a series of footpaths used by desert-dwelling Native Americans. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, the road was used extensively by conquistadores, explorers, missionaries, settlers, miners, and cartographers. Use of the trail declined sharply after the railroad reached Yuma in 1870. In recognition of its historic significance, El Camino del Diablo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It has also been designated a Bureau of Land Management Back Country Byway.The name, like its other historic name Camino del Muerto, ("road of the dead")[2] refers to the harsh, unforgiving conditions on trail.Original route[edit]El Camino del Diablo in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife RefugeThe southern terminus of the original route was located in Caborca, in what is today the Mexican state of Sonora. From there, it continued through Sonoyta, then past Quitobaquito Springs, then through the lava fields of the Sierra Pinacate, then through the Tule Desert and Tule Mountains. After passing just south of Tordillo Mountain, the route ran to the rain fed tinajas of the Tinajas Altas then crossed the Tinajas Altas Mountains through the nearby Tinajas Altas Pass and then continued northwestward following the western border of the Gila Mountains, before finally reaching the Yuma Crossing of the Colorado River. From Yuma Crossing, travelers could cross the Colorado Desert to reach the Spanish colonies of California.In reference to points on the route, names used in the past include Sonora Trail, Sonoyta-Yuma Trail, Yuma-Caborca Trail and Old Yuma Trail.[2]History of the trail[edit]El Camino del Diablo is believed to follow Native American footpaths dating back at least 1,000 years. In 1540, accompanied by native guides, Captain Melchor Diaz led a detachment of the Coronado Expedition through this vicinity en route to the Californias. The first Europeans definitely known to have transited the route were in the party of Jesuit priest Eusebio Francisco Kino, Commander Juan Matheo Mange, and Father Adamo Gilig, who  along with attendants and Native American guides who knew the location of vital water sources needed along the route  first made the crossing in February 1699.[4] The trail offered a shorter route than sailing around Baja California, while avoiding most of the more hostile Native American tribes.However, the 1781 Quechan Indian uprising at Yuma Crossing on the Colorado River prevented travelers from reaching the Californias via the trail. Although Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Fages managed to rescue captured Spanish survivors of the uprising in December of that year, El Camino del Diablo largely fell into disuse until 1848-1849, when the California Gold Rush brought many new migrants from Mexico, especially from Sonora to the gold fields of California. Afterwards, the trail was used by both United States and Mexican Boundary Survey teams, mapping and cataloging the land purchased in the 1853 Gadsden Purchase. A second wave of Sonoran miners used the trail in the 1860s, when placer gold was discovered along the Colorado River.Many of these migrants, not used to travel in the desert, would die from thirst and heat exhaustion en route. As a later traveler noted, "frequent graves and bleaching skulls of animals are painful reminders of unfortunate travelers who died from thirst on the road."[5] The most difficult stretch of the trail was the 130-mile (210 km) stretch from Sonoyta, Mexico, to what is now Yuma, Arizona. An estimated 400  2000 travelers have lost their lives on the trail,[6] primarily from dehydration, heat stroke, and sunburn, but also from hypothermia. In summer, temperatures here soar to 120 F (50 C), and people require 2 US gallons (8 litres) of water a day just to survive. Most of the graves line the last 30 miles (50 km) of the trail to Yuma; by one count, there are 65 graves near Tinajas Altas.[7]Use of the trail declined sharply after the Southern Pacific Railroad reached Yuma in 1870. While prospectors and transient visitors continued to visit the area, El Camino del Diablo never regained its status as a major migration route. Occasionally the route was used by cartographers and boundary survey parties, who documented numerous remains of both humans and domesticated animals.In recognition of its historic significance, El Camino del Diablo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It can still be transited by visitors to the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1939 to protect desert wildlife. With the exception of one United States Border Patrol station (Camp Grip), the section of original trail between Las Playas and Tinajas Altas remains virtually unchanged.[7] Mele Kalikimaka

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05-01-2019 11:43 AM











Post: #3 RE: El Camino Del Diablo Road - The Devil's Highway

Yep words naming a area scratched into the ground and covered with asphalt silversides

The bare necessities of life

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05-01-2019 11:49 AM



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Post: #4 RE: El Camino Del Diablo Road - The Devil's Highway



Chris Cordes / June 30th, 2016

Editors Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Fall 2015.



El Camino del Diablo translates to The Road of the Devil. The name itself evokes an eerie feeling of discomfort, and it should. Over the last 1,000 years this barren track has earned its name with soaring temperatures, waterless expanses, and an ever-rising death toll. It comes from humble beginnings as a Native American footpath, but earned its infamy with the Spanish in 1540. During his march from Mexico to the fabled cities of gold, conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado dispatched a small expeditionary force to seek out a rumored river junction to the north. Although the expedition did return, the immense hardship encountered during their journey led the soldiers to name the path after the Devil himself.

Over a century later, a Jesuit priest named Eusebio Kino retraced the route, this time mapping the water sources and punching through to the Pacific. Unknowingly, Kino paved the way for over 300 years of travelers to follow, including immigrants, gold seekers, smugglers, and more recently, four-wheel drive enthusiasts.



https://expeditionportal.com/overland-ro...el-diablo/ Overland Routes | El Camino Del DiabloChris Cordes / June 30th, 2016Editors Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Fall 2015.El Camino del Diablo translates to The Road of the Devil. The name itself evokes an eerie feeling of discomfort, and it should. Over the last 1,000 years this barren track has earned its name with soaring temperatures, waterless expanses, and an ever-rising death toll. It comes from humble beginnings as a Native American footpath, but earned its infamy with the Spanish in 1540. During his march from Mexico to the fabled cities of gold, conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado dispatched a small expeditionary force to seek out a rumored river junction to the north. Although the expedition did return, the immense hardship encountered during their journey led the soldiers to name the path after the Devil himself.Over a century later, a Jesuit priest named Eusebio Kino retraced the route, this time mapping the water sources and punching through to the Pacific. Unknowingly, Kino paved the way for over 300 years of travelers to follow, including immigrants, gold seekers, smugglers, and more recently, four-wheel drive enthusiasts. Mele Kalikimaka

silversides

The bare necessities of life

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05-01-2019 03:58 PM



Posts: 32,449









Post: #5 RE: El Camino Del Diablo Road - The Devil's Highway











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAXlBKdNHto



Three Toyota 4Runners tackle one of the deadliest roads in american history: El Camino Del Diablo. Join us on this adventure as we tackle the heat of the Sonoran Desert traveling from Yuma to Ajo, AZ along the United States border with Mexico. No Roads No Masters: El Camino Del DiabloThree Toyota 4Runners tackle one of the deadliest roads in american history: El Camino Del Diablo. Join us on this adventure as we tackle the heat of the Sonoran Desert traveling from Yuma to Ajo, AZ along the United States border with Mexico. Mele Kalikimaka



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Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 1

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) is holding a seminar in Ashgabat on US security policy in South and Central Asia, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

The event is being held with the assistance of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry. Representatives of the ministries of defense, national security and the state border service of Turkmenistan are also taking part in the seminar.

During the seminar, which will continue its work until May 3, such issues as the analysis of US security interests in Central and South Asia, the situation in Afghanistan, fight against radicalization and extremism, as well as the general situation in the region, will be discussed, the report said.

NESA was established in 2000 and is a US Department of Defense institution.

Earlier, the State Customs Service of Turkmenistan hosted a meeting with the delegation of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency under the US Department of Defense.

The parties discussed the possibilities of cooperation in the field of security and the exchange of ideas regarding the management of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear emergency cases, disaster response as a result of man-made and natural disasters, as well as problems associated with weapons of mass destruction.

Turkmenistan, having the status of positive neutrality, has a long border with Afghanistan and has repeatedly offered to hold talks in Ashgabat under the auspices of the UN to restore peace in the neighboring state.

A large-scale project to lay gas pipeline to India and Pakistan for the supply of Turkmen gas is also related to the territory of Afghanistan, where unstable situation has remained for a long time. Observers believe that the implementation of this project may contribute to the restoration of Afghanistan, as it will allow creating jobs and provide the country with guaranteed income from transit.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

The process of refusing to supply fuel to Iranian airplanes by some European countries is still in force, Maqsood Asadi Samani, secretary of the Iranian Aviation & Space Industries Association, told the Young Journalists Club (YJC), Trend reports.

According to Asadi Samani, some countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Kuwait and a number of European countries, have stopped supplying fuel to Iranian airplanes since the US pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Asadi Samadi added that this issue creates problems for the airplanes belonging to Iranian air carriers.

"Despite the problems, none of the airline companies have ceased their flights," he said.

Pointing out that some European countries did not give fuel to Iranian airplanes because of their strong ties to the US, Asadi Samani added that, after holding consultations, some European countries did not impose any restrictions on the supply of fuel to Iranian airplanes.

Commenting on the delay in flight hours, Asadi Samani noted that these delays are mainly due to security  something which cannot be overlooked.

"Some flights are delayed due to weather conditions or technical malfunctions. A number of measures have been taken to reduce aircraft malfunctions, he said.
American and Taliban officials are meeting on Wednesday in Qatar to resume talks aimed at ending a 17-year war in Afghanistan, a Taliban official said, reports Trend citing to Reuters

We are expecting the meeting to start in the next two hours as the U.S. delegation has already arrived, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told Reuters.

The sixth round of talks will be led by U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad in the Qatari capital Doha. The U.S. delegation will focus on a declaration of a ceasefire to pave the way to an end to fighting, said a western diplomat who is closely monitoring the talks.

But the Talibans demands will focus on firstly the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.

Khalilzad, the Afghan-born American diplomat heads a team of U.S. negotiators who have held several rounds of direct negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar since October.

He has earlier acknowledged that both sides had drafted a preliminary agreement on how and when U.S.-led foreign troops will withdraw from Afghanistan in return for insurgent assurances that hardline militant groups will not be allowed to again use Afghanistan to attack other nations.

An official working closely with Khalilzad said he is expected to encourage the insurgent group to engage in Afghan-to-Afghan talks to find a political settlement to the 17-year-old war in the country.

The United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission, known as Resolute Support, that is training and assisting the Afghan governments security forces in their battle against Taliban fighters and extremist groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to reach an agreement to end his countrys longest-ever war, which dislodged the Taliban from power in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
An Australian court on Wednesday found a man guilty of plotting to blow up an Etihad Airways flight out of Sydney at the behest of the Islamic State militant group, by hiding a bomb in the luggage of his brother, reports Trend with reference to Reuters

Police had accused the man, Khaled Khayat, and another brother, Mahmoud Khayat, of planning two terrorist attacks that also included a chemical gas attack on the flight to Abu Dhabi in July 2017, police said.

The third brother was unaware that he was carrying a bomb, disguised as a meat mincer, in his luggage, as he tried to check in at the airport, police said.

But the device was taken out of his luggage when it was deemed too heavy and the bomb never made it past airport security.

Khaled and Mahmoud Khayat were arrested weeks later after a series of raids in Sydney.

The jury this afternoon returned a guilty verdict for Khaled and is still deliberating in respect of Mahmoud, a spokeswoman for the New South Wales Supreme Court said.

Police had alleged that high-grade military explosives used to make the bomb were sent by air cargo from Turkey as part of a plot inspired and directed by Islamic state.

Khaleds sentence hearing has been set for July 26. The charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in November the likelihood of a terror attack in Australia remained at the probable level, after a fatal stabbing in Melbourne that police said was inspired by Islamic State.

Australia has a five-level terror threat ranking system and probable is its midpoint. The threat likelihood has been set at probable since the system was introduced in 2015.

In December 2014, two hostages were killed during a 17-hour siege by a lone wolf gunman, inspired by Islamic State militants, in a cafe in Sydney.
Arab states support a transition in Sudan that balances the ambitions of the people with stability, a senior United Arab Emirates minister said on Wednesday, reports Trend citing to Reuters

The UAE and Saudi Arabia last month pledged $3 billion in aid to Sudan, throwing a lifeline to the countrys new military leaders who ousted president Omar al-Bashir after weeks of mass protests.

Protesters and activists have been negotiating with the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to form a joint civilian-military body to oversee a transition, but are deadlocked over who would control the new council.

Totally legitimate for Arab states to support an orderly & stable transition in Sudan. One that carefully calibrates popular aspirations with institutional stability, the UAEs Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, said on Twitter

We have experienced all-out chaos in the region and, sensibly, dont need more of it, he added.

Sudanese opposition groups are calling for a civilian-led council to oversee the political transition. The TMC has shown no sign of willingness to relinquish ultimate authority.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia are backing council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, through their participation the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

The UAE was quick to welcome Burhans appointment and said it would look to accelerate aid to Sudan. Shortly after Burhans nomination, Saudi Arabia said it would provide wheat, fuel and medicine to Sudan.

The financial aid provided by the two close allies, which includes a deposit of $500 million with the Sudanese central bank, is the first major publicly announced assistance to the African nation from Gulf states in several years.

The UAE and Saudi have worked to counter the rise of political Islamist movements across the region and supported Egypts military leader President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after the overthrow of its first democratically elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.
The African Union said on Tuesday that Sudans military rulers should hand over power to a civilian-led transitional authority within 60 days, Trend reports citing Reuters.

In a statement, the AU said it noted with deep regret that the military had not stepped aside and handed power to civilians within a 15-day period set by the AU last month.

The 60 days were a final extension for Sudans Transitional Military Council to hand over power to civilians, the AU said.
China and the United States began their latest talks in Beijing on Wednesday aimed at ending a bitter trade war, after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he had a nice working dinner the night before with China Vice Premier Liu He, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Mnuchin, along with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, are holding a full day of discussions, before Liu goes to Washington next week for another round of talks in what could be the end game for negotiations.

Liu greeted Mnuchin and Lighthizer as they arrived at a state guest house in Beijing and the three men exchanged pleasantries, but did not make comments directly to reporters.

Nice to see you, its good to be back here, Mnuchin told Liu. They then all went straight into the meeting room.

Liu had entertained his US guests on Tuesday night just after they arrived.

We did. We had a nice working dinner, thank you, Mnuchin told reporters at his Beijing hotel, when asked if he had met with Liu on Tuesday. He did not elaborate.

Beijing and Washington have cited progress on issues including intellectual property and forced technology transfer to help end a conflict marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost both sides billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and roiled financial markets.

But US officials say privately that an enforcement mechanism for a deal and timelines for lifting tariffs are sticking points.

Chinese officials have also acknowledged that they view the enforcement mechanism as crucial, but say that it must work two ways and cannot put restraints only on China.

In Washington, people familiar with the talks say that the question of whether and when US tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods will be removed will probably be among the last issues to be resolved. US President Donald Trump has said that he may keep some tariffs on Chinese goods for a substantial period.

The United States has also been pressing China to further open up its market to US firms. China has repeatedly pledged to continue reforms and make it easier for foreign companies to operate in the country.

In comments published in Wednesday, Chinas top banking and insurance regulator said the government will further open up its banking and insurance sectors.
Earlier, Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito's ascension ceremony started in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo with the main Japanese TV channels broadcasting this event, Trend reports referring to Sputnik.

On Tuesday, 85-year-old Emperor Akihito officially abdicated the throne in favour of his 59-year-old son, Naruhito. He has become the first Japanese emperor to voluntarily step down. Prince Naruhito's ascension marks the end of the Heisei era and the beginning of the Reiwa era.

The ceremony was attended by male adult male members of the imperial family, as well as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the cabinet ministers and representatives of legislative, judiciary and executive branches. Satsuki Katayama, the minister for regional revitalization and female empowerment, has become the first woman in centuries to witness the ceremony, which is usually off-limits to women. Naruhito's wife and incoming empress Masako and other female members of the royal family were not allowed to attend under the Imperial Household Law.

During the ceremony, imperial chamberlains placed the two of the sacred imperial regalia  a sword and a jewel  along state and privy seals in front of the emperor as symbols of his succession. Legends say that the imperial regalia, which also include a mirror now kept in the Grand Shrines of Ise, were handed over by the Shinto sun goddess, Amaterasu, to her grandson Ninigi-no-Mikoto, who is believed to be the ancestor of Japans first emperor Jimmu.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will visit Turkey, Trend reports via Turkish media.

Stoltenbergs visit to Ankara is scheduled for May 6.

According to media reports, he will hold meetings with senior Turkish officials, including Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar.

During the talks, a number of issues, including Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense missile systems, will be discussed.

On April 29, it was reported that Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems will be delivered to Turkey in two cargoes.

As was announced earlier, Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems may be installed in the south and west of Turkey. According to preliminary reports, they may be installed in western Turkey and the provinces bordering the Aegean Sea as well as in the province of Hatay on the border with Syria.

On April 11, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that specialists from the US and NATO could come to Turkey to make sure that Russian S-400 air defense systems do not pose a threat to NATO.

"Although the US urges Turkey to abandon the purchase of Russian S-400 air defense missile systems, it does not guarantee that it will sell us Patriot air defense systems," Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

Initial reports of negotiations between Russia and Turkey on the supply of S-400 surfaced in November 2016.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Police dispersed demonstrators on Taksim Square in Istanbul, Trend reports with reference to Turkish media.

About 100 demonstrators tried to break into Taksim Square, where holding of May Day rallies is prohibited.

The police detained 7 demonstrators, according to the report.

It was earlier reported that Istanbul police fenced off the Taksim Square in connection with the expected May Day rallies.

The roads leading to Taksim Square are also blocked.

The rallies will be held May 1 in Istanbul in connection with the International Workers Day.

The Turkish authorities allowed holding the rallies in the Bakirkoy and Maltepe districts of Istanbul.

In 2010, the Turkish authorities allowed May Day rally to be held at Taksim Square, but in 2013 the ban was imposed again.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
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Page: 1 2 US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS) ALADIN

* weird wizard1*

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05-01-2019 12:16 PM



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Post: #1 US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

Advertisement







 US Air Force / Staff Sgt. Chris Drzazgowski

Nearly three years after the US Air Force declared F-35As fit for combat duty, two of the stealth jets have finally seen real action over the mountains of Iraq, bombing Islamic State targets, the military has announced.



The strikes in support of Operation Inherent Resolve were carried out by two US Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft over Wadi Ashai, Iraq on Tuesday.



#USAF#F35A Lighting II conducted its first combat employment.

 US AFCENT (@USAFCENT) April 30, 2019



The F-35As conducted the airstrike using a Joint Direct Attack Munition to strike an entrenched Daesh [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIS] tunnel network and weapons cache deep in the Hamrin Mountains, a location able to threaten friendly forces, the statement said.



This strike marked the F-35As first combat employment.



Fifteen years after Lockheed Martin won the contract to make the plane, the US Air Force declared F-35As ready for deployment in August 2016. It then took nearly three years to use the fifth-generation combat aircraft in warfare. Israel beat the US to it by becoming the first country in the world to carry out an operational attack using the stealth fighter last May.



Despite the two confirmed combat missions, the flagship stealth jets continue to suffer technical problems.



https://www.rt.com/usa/458020-f35-first-combat-mission/



It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a ma s k on their nose and mouth ... US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS) US Air Force / Staff Sgt. Chris DrzazgowskiNearly three years after the US Air Force declared F-35As fit for combat duty, two of the stealth jets have finally seen real action over the mountains of Iraq, bombing Islamic State targets, the military has announced.The strikes in support of Operation Inherent Resolve were carried out by two US Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft over Wadi Ashai, Iraq on Tuesday.#USAF#F35A Lighting II conducted its first combat employment. https://t.co/MQIsHH5j8K#AirForce#Aircraf...wiiiA4kF8m  US AFCENT (@USAFCENT) April 30, 2019The F-35As conducted the airstrike using a Joint Direct Attack Munition to strike an entrenched Daesh [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIS] tunnel network and weapons cache deep in the Hamrin Mountains, a location able to threaten friendly forces, the statement said.This strike marked the F-35As first combat employment.Fifteen years after Lockheed Martin won the contract to make the plane, the US Air Force declared F-35As ready for deployment in August 2016. It then took nearly three years to use the fifth-generation combat aircraft in warfare. Israel beat the US to it by becoming the first country in the world to carry out an operational attack using the stealth fighter last May.Despite the two confirmed combat missions, the flagship stealth jets continue to suffer technical problems. General Anonymous

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05-01-2019 12:30 PM



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Post: #2 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)





Against Taliban.



Interesting US Special Force operation in Afghanistan was the recent event where prisoners captured by the Taliban were freed.



Interesting thing was that these liberated captives were DAESH fighters. OTOH it's like business as usual.



https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/...stan-video I seem to remember that there was a previous combat run by F35(s) in Afghanistan , it wasn't by the USAF but by Navy?Against Taliban.Interesting US Special Force operation in Afghanistan was the recent event where prisoners captured by the Taliban were freed.Interesting thing was that these liberated captives were DAESH fighters. OTOH it's like business as usual. (This post was last modified: 05-01-2019 12:30 PM by General Anonymous .) LoP Guest

lop guest

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05-01-2019 12:31 PM











Post: #3 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

Given that it's a zero opposition environment they have been remarkably reluctant to deploy them there, I wonder why... General Anonymous

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05-01-2019 12:42 PM



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Post: #4 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 12:31 PM) Given that it's a zero opposition environment they have been remarkably reluctant to deploy them there, I wonder why...

One US chopper was downed in Afghanistan by a Manpad originally provided to the Syrian "democracy activists", I think that led to a policy revision.



The USA should be grateful that Russia and China play by the rules and don't follow the American play book, that is, the times when Rambo fought with the Jihadists --and with Osama bin Laden -- against the Soviet Union supported government and the Soviet troops. Stingers were every where.



The Americans talking from the moral high ground is despisable.. One US chopper was downed in Afghanistan by a Manpad originally provided to the Syrian "democracy activists", I think that led to a policy revision.The USA should be grateful that Russia and China play by the rules and don't follow the American play book, that is, the times when Rambo fought with the Jihadists --and with Osama bin Laden -- against the Soviet Union supported government and the Soviet troops. Stingers were every where.The Americans talking from the moral high ground is despisable.. (This post was last modified: 05-01-2019 12:49 PM by General Anonymous .) LoP Guest

lop guest

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05-01-2019 01:21 PM











Post: #5 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

First one? Fibbers.. LoP Guest

lop guest

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05-01-2019 03:07 PM











Post: #6 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

What a waste of money.



Meanwhile americans and their infrastructure crumble. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442897

05-01-2019 03:10 PM











Post: #7 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 03:07 PM) What a waste of money.



Meanwhile americans and their infrastructure crumble.

Oroville Dam, kicker Oroville Dam, kicker LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 481418

05-01-2019 03:14 PM











Post: #8 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

Tranny Pilots? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443451

05-01-2019 03:18 PM











Post: #9 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 03:14 PM) Tranny Pilots?

Did you mean trainee? Did you mean trainee? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499449

05-01-2019 03:29 PM











Post: #10 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 12:31 PM) Given that it's a zero opposition environment they have been remarkably reluctant to deploy them there, I wonder why...

You need stealth to attack ISIS?



:yeahright:



Maybe it's a study of the f35s capabilities in a hostile environment

Something bigger at play and fishy to say the least. You need stealth to attack ISIS?:yeahright:Maybe it's a study of the f35s capabilities in a hostile environmentSomething bigger at play and fishy to say the least. tamarack

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05-01-2019 03:37 PM











Post: #11 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 03:29 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 12:31 PM) Given that it's a zero opposition environment they have been remarkably reluctant to deploy them there, I wonder why...

You need stealth to attack ISIS?



:yeahright:



Maybe it's a study of the f35s capabilities in a hostile environment

Something bigger at play and fishy to say the least.

They're attacking Ishtar worshipers? They're attacking Ishtar worshipers? ALADIN

* weird wizard1*

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05-01-2019 03:39 PM



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Post: #12 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

USAF F-35As Flew First-Ever Combat Strikes With Radar Reflectors And Sidewinders Fitted



The F-35As flew in a less than stealthy configuration as the aircraft's low observable capabilities weren't neededat least not yet.











You can see the AIM-9X on the canted wing pylon and the radar reflectors located just before the vertical tails in this photo as a KC-10 refuels an F-35A over the Middle East on its first combat sortie.



This all may be true, but in the case of this mission, and likely most those supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the F-35s are not leveraging their low-observable (stealth) capability. The aircraft are clearly seen fitted with AIM-9X air-to-air missiles on their wingtip pylons and radar reflectors bolted on atop and below their fuselages. This gives them a large radar signature, which makes sense as they are operating over areas like Iraq where low-observability isn't an advantage as air superiority is largely assured.



Since the F-35As are already flying in an unstealthy configuration, the inclusion of AIM-9Xs makes sense as why not include them? All America tactical jets usually fly with Sidewinders for self-defense even in relatively benign air combat environments like Afghanistan. The F-35 can carry a pair of AIM-120 AMRAAMs in its weapons bays along with a full internal bomb load, but those missiles don't have the same capabilities in the within-visual-range air combat environment as the super-nimble and high-off boresight targetable AIM-9X.



The practice of flying the F-35 in non-stealthy configurations could change if the F-35As venture into Syria and take on the roving 'quarterback' role that the F-22 Raptor provided for years over the troubled country. There is a tradeoff to doing so, though. Flying in full-on low-observable configuration could allow a peer state like Russia, which has its most advanced air defense and electronic surveillance systems deployed to the country, to collect intelligence on the aircraft's low observable capabilities. Albeit this is less of an issue if the F-35As stay well into the eastern part of the country.



https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/27...9xs-fitted The F-35As flew in a less than stealthy configuration as the aircraft's low observable capabilities weren't neededat least not yet.You can see the AIM-9X on the canted wing pylon and the radar reflectors located just before the vertical tails in this photo as a KC-10 refuels an F-35A over the Middle East on its first combat sortie.This all may be true, but in the case of this mission, and likely most those supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, the F-35s are not leveraging their low-observable (stealth) capability. The aircraft are clearly seen fitted with AIM-9X air-to-air missiles on their wingtip pylons and radar reflectors bolted on atop and below their fuselages. This gives them a large radar signature, which makes sense as they are operating over areas like Iraq where low-observability isn't an advantage as air superiority is largely assured.Since the F-35As are already flying in an unstealthy configuration, the inclusion of AIM-9Xs makes sense as why not include them? All America tactical jets usually fly with Sidewinders for self-defense even in relatively benign air combat environments like Afghanistan. The F-35 can carry a pair of AIM-120 AMRAAMs in its weapons bays along with a full internal bomb load, but those missiles don't have the same capabilities in the within-visual-range air combat environment as the super-nimble and high-off boresight targetable AIM-9X.The practice of flying the F-35 in non-stealthy configurations could change if the F-35As venture into Syria and take on the roving 'quarterback' role that the F-22 Raptor provided for years over the troubled country. There is a tradeoff to doing so, though. Flying in full-on low-observable configuration could allow a peer state like Russia, which has its most advanced air defense and electronic surveillance systems deployed to the country, to collect intelligence on the aircraft's low observable capabilities. Albeit this is less of an issue if the F-35As stay well into the eastern part of the country.



It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a ma s k on their nose and mouth ... ALADIN

* weird wizard1*

User ID: 493119

05-01-2019 03:53 PM



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Post: #13 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

Quote:



F-35As flying off a KC-10's wing during a mission over the Middle East. Note the AIM-9Xs mounted on the aircrafts' canted wingtip pylons and the radar reflectors on their bellies.



In fact, the F-35A is less capable in certain respects than an F-16 for strike missions against insurgents. It's targeting capabilities via its Electro-Optical Targeting System mounted under its nose inside a sapphire-glass encrusted framework is based on 15-year-old technology and pales in comparison to the image fidelity and certain key modes offered by latest Sniper and Litening targeting pods carried by 4th generation fighters. The F-35's EOTS is supposed to upgraded under the still as yet to be fully approved Block IV upgrade program that will enhance the F-35's software and some of its key components in the coming decade.







As I have posited before, giving the F-35 the ability to carry a bolt-on Advanced Sniper pod would make sense in the interim for close air support and counter-insurgency duties. In the case of their first combat action, the F-35As hit pre-planned targets with JDAMs that don't need the aircraft's EOTS at all. We'll have to see how the jet does in more dynamic air support missions as its deployment continues, but since it flies these missions in unstealthy form, giving it the same ability to use advanced targeting pods that 4th generation fighters use seems incredibly logical.



The fact of the matter is that most of the missions the F-35 will fly will not require its low observable capabilities at all. So these types of configurations, where external stores are carried, will be more common than not as the Joint Strike Fighter fleet expands its operations abroad.



Regardless, today is a big deal for the USAF and the F-35 program, one that has been in the making for decades. With any luck, we will get more details about the F-35A's feats over the Middle East in the coming days as the force gets better situated and the mission tempo heats up.







It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a ma s k on their nose and mouth ... (This post was last modified: 05-01-2019 03:56 PM by ALADIN .) Bao2

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Post: #14 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

44575 Wrote: (05-01-2019 12:16 PM) over the mountains of Iraq, bombing Islamic State targets, the military has announced.

So they are bombing the citizens that are fighting the ISIL (mercenaries by CIA/Mossad) So they are bombing the citizens that are fighting the ISIL (mercenaries by CIA/Mossad) LoP Guest

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Post: #15 RE: US Air Force deploys F-35As on their FIRST combat mission (PHOTOS)

What an ugly plane. You can tell just by looking at it that it's a failure. Advertisement



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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 1

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

US President Donald Trump may soon visit Turkey, Trend reports on May 1 with reference to Turkish media.

As reported, this decision was made after a telephone conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Donald Trump held on April 30.

The work is underway to prepare Trumps visit. He may visit Turkey in July or even earlier.

Earlier Ibrahim Kalin, press secretary to the Turkish President, says that Ankara hopes that US President Donald Trump will visit Turkey. According to Ibrahim Kalin, Ankara repeatedly stated its readiness to receive Trump and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself invited the US President to visit the country. In his words, the administration of the US President also does not exclude Trumps visit to Ankara in 2019.

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
The Trump administration on Wednesday asked Congress for $4.5 billion in immediate emergency funding to help address a surge in migration at the U.S. southern border, saying the situation has overwhelmed government resources, Trend reports citing Reuters.

President Donald Trump earlier this year designated the immigration influx a national emergency, a declaration that empowered him to redirect more than $6 billion in government spending to projects to build a wall on the border, a central pledge of his 2016 presidential campaign.

But the new request for another $4.5 billion is on top of the wall funding, and is necessitated by record numbers of Central American families seeking asylum in the United States, straining capacity at migrant shelters in border cities such as El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Agencies are literally running out of funds, a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call.

The request includes $3.3 billion for shelter, food and other requirements for migrants in custody, $1.1 billion for personnel, and $178 million for information technology and other needs, officials said.
Days after serial blasts, cable operators in Sri Lanka blocked Islamic preacher Zakir Naiks Peace TV, according to sources. India and Bangladesh have already banned Peace TV, which has often been used by ISIS recruiters for indoctrination and brainwashing youth. As per reports, two of the largest cable operators of the country, "Dialogue" and "LT" had stopped airing Zakir Naik's Peace TV. However, an official announcement regarding the development is yet to be made.

also read: International Labour Day 2019: History, origin and theme of the day

The move came after the deadly Easter Sunday bombings which killed at least 250 people. However, the Sri Lankan government hasn't banned the controversial Peace TV. Bangladesh suspended the channel that featured Zakir Naik's preachings after media reported that militants who attacked a Dhaka cafe in 2016 were his admirers.

The controversial Islamic preacher Naik is being probed by Indian agencies since 2016 after the Centre banned his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) organization for five years. Naik, who is being investigated for suspected links with terror organizations, is currently living in Malaysia to avoid arrest in India. Meanwhile, the Islamic State (ISIS) group has claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka bomb blasts, with its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi claiming in a recently released video that ISIS operatives had carried out the blasts in the island country to avenge ISIS losses in Syria.

also read; US and China Begin Fresh talk to resolve trade disputes in Beijing
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena party on Wednesday demanded a burqa ban in public places and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow Sri Lankas suit, which banned face veils after deadly bomb blasts ripped through the country on Easter Sunday. Calling for the burqa ban, Shiv Sena said in the editorial that when it could be outlawed in Ravans Lanka, when will it happen in Rams Ayodhya?

also read: 'Congress Has Lies in Its DNA, How Will It Give Nyay': Adityanath Hits Out At Opposition

For the security measure, Sri Lanka banned all kinds of burqa, niqab or any kind of face-covering veil across the island nation, after eight bombs targeted three churches and three high-end hotels in the country on April 21, leading to the deaths of at least 250 people and more than 500 people injured. Shiv Sena said that its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should follow Sri Lankas example in the matter and execute a burqa ban.

Shiv Sena, which is in alliance government with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra, claimed in the editorial that the need of the hour was to not only ban triple talaq in the country but also the burqa. The editorial argued that those hiding their faces in public could become a threat to national security and hence the government needs to ban the burqa from public spaces.

In the response on the statement, Union Minister and Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale opposed Shiv Senas demand for a burqa ban, stating that the traditions of any community cannot be banned. While Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut defended the partys demand and clarified that they were not targeting any particular community. It is not a religious issue, it is an issue of national security. If our Muslim brothers think that a burqa ban is against Islam, then I disagree, Raut told Times Now.

also read: UP CM Yogi Adityanath does not know how to use Laptop: Akhilesh Yadav
" " Oprah Winfrey accepts the 2018 Cecil B. DeMille Award during the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 7, 2018, in Beverly Hills, California. Her speech had several fans wondering if she'd run for president. Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Although she's said in the past, she'd never do it, Oprah Winfrey's electrifying speech at the 75th Golden Globe Awards left many wondering (hoping?) she'll run for president of the United States in 2020. The last line in her speech "A new day is on the horizon," sure sounds like a good campaign slogan. Here are five reasons Oprah might really run for president this time.

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1. No Political Experience Necessary.

If Donald Trump's presidency has taught us anything, it's that lack of political experience is no obstacle to holding the top job in America. Winfrey noticed that too after Trump's election. "I thought [at first], 'Oh gee, I don't have the experience, I don't know enough.' And now I'm thinking, 'Oh. Oh!'" she said in March 2017, during an interview with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg.

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2. She's Already Proven She Can Move Mountains.

Companies already know an endorsement from Winfrey is worth more than its weight in gold. Getting a book selected for her book club makes it a guaranteed best-seller. For instance, "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy sold just 156,000 units before being selected for Oprah's Book Club in 2007. Afterward, it sold 1.4 million units. "Oprah's Favorite Things," a list of Oprah-approved gifts that appeared on her talk show  and now in her magazine, O  also generates huge profits for the selected products.

Winfrey's negative opinions have major consequences, too. Back in 1995, during an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" about mad cow disease, Winfrey mentioned that she would stop eating hamburgers after a guest said that feeding processed livestock to cattle had been linked to mad cow disease in Europe. A group of Texas cattle producers claimed her comments caused beef prices to tumble and cost them $12 million. They sued her for libel, but she won.

However, Winfrey endorsed both Barack Obama (who won the presidency) and Hillary Clinton (who lost), so her endorsement doesn't mean automatic success.

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3. Money Is No Obstacle.

Nowadays, you need a lot of money to run for political office. (The Clinton and Trump campaigns in 2016 together spent $1.16 billion.) And Winfrey is no slouch in that department. Forbes estimated her worth at $2.8 billion in early 2018. The publication also listed her as the wealthiest female celebrity for 2017 (the wealthiest celebrity was George Lucas, worth $5.5 billion). Most of that money comes from her long-running talk show, which ended in 2011. But she's also CEO of her own television network (OWN), a 10 percent shareholder in Weight Watchers, a correspondent for "60 Minutes" and an actress in numerous films. Not to mention her own magazine (which features her on the cover every month), inspirational books and podcasts. Most impressively, her wealth is self-created, as she came from humble circumstances.

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4. She Is Almost Universally Beloved.

Like Trump, Winfrey is very well-known, even without a political stage. Unlike him, her approval ratings are sky-high. A March 2017 poll by Public Policy Polling showed Winfrey leading Trump 47 versus 40 percent in a hypothetical presidential matchup. She also had a favorability rating of 49 percent; Trump's was 43 percent.

Winfrey has appeared on several lists of the most admired or most influential people in the world. She is also well-known for her philanthropy, including her leadership academy for girls in South Africa; her $12 million donation to the Smithsonian African-American museum; and her $400 million to educational causes.

On the other hand, she had an unfavorability rating of 33 percent in the same Public Policy Polling survey, which means she'd have to overcome some resistance. Some might question her lack of political experience; others, her enthusiasm for New Age spirituality. Some racists might be unable to bring themselves to vote for a black (let alone black female) candidate. And would she have to marry longtime partner Stedman Graham to win over some conservative voters?

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5. "Sources" Say She's Looking Into It.

After the Golden Globes speech, CNN reported unnamed "close friends" as saying that Winfrey is "actively thinking" about running for president, but hadn't made up her mind. Graham told the L.A. Times, "It's up to the people ... She would absolutely do it." However, during a brief backstage interview at the Globes, after being told Oprah2020 was trending on Twitter, Winfrey said that she did not plan to run. As to whether she means it, we'll just have to wait and see.

Now That's Interesting Oprah Winfrey's Golden Globes speech brought attention to the story of Recy Taylor, who died in December 2017. Taylor, an African-American woman, was gang-raped by six white men in 1944 while walking home from church. Her attackers were never charged, but her case was investigated by an NAACP member named Rosa Parks, who later became famous in her own right.
France 24

La Administracion de Medicamentos y Alimentos de Estados Unidos (FDA en ingles) autorizo el uso de emergencia de la pastilla contra el Covid-19 de la farmaceutica Merck y desarrollada con Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Luego de varios estudios quedo demostrado que el farmaco, conocido bajo el nombre de Molnupiravir, reduce las hospitalizaciones y muertes por coronavirus en casi un 30%.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- In collaboration with the University of Kentucky, the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Rush University Medical Center, the University of Cambridge in the U.K., and other institutions, Mayo Clinic researchers helped to establish a name for a degenerative brain disease that afflicts the elderly and mimics features of Alzheimer's disease. This working group describes "limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy," or LATE, as an underrecognized risk for public health and calls for an urgent focus on research to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The report appears in the journal, Brain.

"LATE is a prevalent but underrecognized condition in the elderly," says Dennis Dickson, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neuropathologist. "We have been studying this protein for many years, but now we have a common goal to target, which is something we want to make clinicians aware of. LATE needs to be recognized and differentiated from Alzheimer's disease."

Researchers from Mayo Clinic were among the leaders of the working group, with the University of Kentucky leading the study. Dr. Dickson and colleagues identified the first pathological manifestation of LATE in 13 elderly patients with dementia and brain changes in 1994. Other groups have built and expanded on his and others' early work.

"Given that persons of advanced age (past 80 years) are at greatest risk for LATE and constitute a rapidly growing demographic group in many countries, LATE has an expanding but underrecognized impact on public health," the report says.

The report is a call to action, says Melissa Murray, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic molecular neuroscientist. "This consensus paper is an accumulation of research from multiple groups that have spent the past decade working on this. We've come together to declare that LATE is its own disease entity -- a disease in and of itself."

Clifford Jack Jr., M.D., a Mayo Clinic neuroradiologist, and Rosa Rademakers, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic neurogeneticist, also are co-authors of the report.

Among the goals of the working group was to agree to a name and common nomenclature for the disease. Age-related TDP-43 proteinopathy has been known to clinicians for about a decade, but a common terminology was lacking. Identifying the disease is an important step in catalyzing future research, the report says.

The working group recommends that TDP-43 testing be performed as part of routine autopsy evaluation in all older patients. Also, more investigation is needed to test for memory and nonmemory symptoms that distinguish LATE from other degenerative disorders. No diagnostic tests are available to identify patients with LATE, though an exciting area of research will be the development of biomarkers for brain imaging, with the goal of revealing the disease early in the patient's progression, Dr. Murray says.

Research on neurological diseases such as LATE has been made possible by resources in the Brain Bank at Mayo Clinic's Florida campus. This Brain Bank, which contains more than 6,000 specimens, is one of the largest repositories of brain tissue specimens in the world.

The LATE research, says Dr. Murray, is an "example of how crucial organ donation programs are to advancing scientific knowledge."

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Funding included grants from the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health. Full funding and conflict of interest information can be found in the publication.

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to clinical practice, education and research, providing expert, comprehensive care to everyone who needs healing. Learn more about Mayo Clinic. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network.
African apes adapted to living on the ground, a finding that indicates human evolved from an ancestor not limited to tree or other elevated habitats. The analysis adds a new chapter to evolution, shedding additional light on what preceded human bipedalism.

"Our unique form of human locomotion evolved from an ancestor that moved in similar ways to the living African apes--chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas," explains Thomas Prang, a doctoral candidate in New York University's Department of Anthropology and the author of the study, which appears in the journal eLife. "In other words, the common ancestor we share with chimpanzees and bonobos was an African ape that probably had adaptations to living on the ground in some form and frequency."

The way that humans walk--striding bipedalism--is unique among all living mammals, an attribute resulting from myriad changes over time.

"The human body has been dramatically modified by evolutionary processes over the last several million years in ways that happened to make us better walkers and runners," notes Prang.

Much of this change is evident in the human foot, which has evolved to be a propulsive organ, with a big toe incapable of ape-like grasping and a spring-like, energy-saving arch that runs from front to back.

These traits raise a long-studied, but not definitively answered, question: From what kind of ancestor did the human foot evolve?

In the eLife work, Prang, a researcher in NYU's Center for the Study of Human Origins, focused on the fossil species Ardipithecus ramidus ('Ardi'), a 4.4 million-years-old human ancestor from Ethiopia--more than a million years older than the well-known 'Lucy' fossil. Ardi's bones were first publicly revealed in 2009 and have been the subject of debate since then.

In his research, Prang ascertained the relative length proportions of multiple bones in the primate foot skeleton to evaluate the relationship between species' movement (locomotion) and their skeletal characteristics (morphology). In addition, drawing upon the Ardi fossils, he used statistical methods to reconstruct or estimate what the common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees might have looked like.

Here, he found that the African apes show a clear signal of being adapted to ground-living. The results also reveal that the Ardi foot and the estimated morphology of the human-chimpanzee last common ancestor is most similar to these African ape species.

"Therefore, humans evolved from an ancestor that had adaptations to living on the ground, perhaps not unlike those found in African apes," Prang concludes. "These findings suggest that human bipedalism was derived from a form of locomotion similar to that of living African apes, which contrasts with the original interpretation of these fossils."

The original interpretation of the Ardi foot fossils, published in 2009, suggested that its foot was more monkey-like than chimpanzee- or gorilla-like. The implication of this interpretation is that many of the features shared by living great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) in their foot and elsewhere must have evolved independently in each lineage--in a different time and place.

"Humans are part of the natural world and our locomotor adaptation--bipedalism--cannot be understood outside of its natural evolutionary context," Prang observes. "Large-scale evolutionary changes do not seem to happen spontaneously. Instead, they are rooted in deeper histories revealed by the study of the fossil record.

"The study of the Ardi fossil shows that the evolution of our own ground-living adaptation--bipedalism--was preceded by a quadrupedal ground-living adaptation in the common ancestors that we share with the African apes."

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A 12-year retrospective clinical study of patients who received peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) for malignant neuroendocrine tumors demonstrates the long-term effectiveness of this treatment, which also allows patients to maintain a high quality of life. The study is featured in the April issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

While PRRT has been used for more than 20 years to treat patients with inoperable or metastatic somatostatin receptor-positive tumors, knowledge of long-term outcomes has been limited. A number of clinical studies have demonstrated PRRT's efficacy, and the overall response rate (including complete response, partial response, minor response, and stable disease) is about 70-80 percent for the two most commonly used radiopharmaceuticals: yttrium-90 (90Y)-DOTATOC (best suited for treating larger tumors) and lutetium-177 (177Lu)-DOTATATE (preferred for smaller tumors). For patients who respond to PRRT, the prognosis is generally favorable, with a median time to disease progression of three to four years.

This study included 44 patients (27 men and 17 women) with advanced tumors and enhanced somatostatin receptor expression. Mean age at initial diagnosis was 60 years (age range of 40 to 84). Median follow-up was 80 months. For 177Lu-PRRT, the mean number of cycles administered was 5.3  2.5; for 90Y-PRRT, the mean number of cycles administered was 5.5  2.6.

Median overall survival was 79 months, but 32 percent of the patients (14 of the 44 patients--6 men and 8 women) were still alive more than 12 years after starting PRRT. Progressive disease occurring early after therapy began resulted in a poor prognosis, while women and patients with no more than two tumor sites seemed to benefit the most from PRRT.

"This study clearly demonstrates the long-term efficacy of PRRT over more than a decade in patients with metastatic tumor disease of neuroendocrine origin," explain Michael Gabriel, MD, and Irene J. Virgolini, MD, of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria. They add that the research shows, "PRRT can be repeatedly used with limited side effects. From this perspective, a relatively stable tumor situation can be achieved over many years in a large number of patients. None of the patients who were still alive at the end of the observation period were dialysis-dependent, and most of the patients showed a still very high KPI (key performance indicator), which underlines the positive effect of PRRT in terms of the quality of life."

Gabriel and Virgolini also point out the value of molecular imaging in therapeutic decision-making and, looking ahead, recommend "new prospective studies combining the nuclear medicine therapy approach with other therapeutic modalities to further increase efficiency."

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Authors of "Twelve-Year Follow-up After Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy" include Michael Gabriel, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Endocrinology, Kepler University Hospital, Linz, Austria; Bernhard Nilica and Irene J. Virgolini, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria; and Bernhard Kaiser, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Endocrinology, Kepler University Hospital, Linz, Austria.

For more information or to schedule an interview with the researchers, please contact Rebecca Maxey at (703) 652-6772 or rmaxey@snmmi.org. Current and past issues of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine can be found online at http://jnm.snmjournals.org.

About the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, vital elements of precision medicine that allow diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes.

SNMMI's more than 17,000 members set the standard for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine practice by creating guidelines, sharing information through journals and meetings and leading advocacy on key issues that affect molecular imaging and therapy research and practice. For more information, visit http://www.snmmi.org.
Insurance is one of Warren Buffett's favorite businesses, and it's a favorite of some of our Motley Fool contributors as well. We recently asked three of them for their favorite insurance stock right now, and here's why they think investors should take a closer look at Aflac (NYSE: AFL), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), and Chubb (NYSE: CB).

A quackin' good value

Matthew Cochrane (Aflac): Aflac will never be a sexy stock pick. But it's more than capable of delivering steady earnings gains, and has a shareholder-friendly management that returns capital to investors through share repurchasing and dividends. Aflac provides supplemental health insurance to more than 50 million policyholders in Japan and the United States for things such as workplace injuries and cancer.

Hand touching blue hexagon with insurance written in the middle.

Image source: Getty Images.

In the insurer's 2019 first quarter, revenue rose to $5.66 billion, a 3.5% increase year over year, while earnings per share -- adjusted for the impact of foreign currency -- rose to $1.13, a 7.6% increase over last year's first quarter. There were $490 million in share repurchases in the first quarter, and management projects 2019 full-year buybacks to fall between $1.3 billion and $1.7 billion.

Aflac currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.27, giving the stock price a dividend yield of 2.18%. The payout ratio, a metric showing how well the dividend payout is supported by earnings, is just 24% (the lower the better), meaning that there is plenty of room for management to raise the dividend. Given the company's current track record of raising the dividend for 36 consecutive years -- placing it in the elite Dividend Aristocrat class -- this seems like a good bet.

This health insurer just raised guidance and reported impressive growth

Matt Frankel, CFP (UnitedHealth Group): One insurance stock that's on my radar right now is UnitedHealth, the largest health insurer in the U.S.

For starters, recent results have been quite strong. In addition to beating expectations for both revenue and earnings, UnitedHealth added 880,000 members to its health plans over the past year and posted a medical care ratio (premiums versus the cost of delivering benefits) that came in better than analysts had expected. Plus, insurance premiums jumped by nearly 8% year over year.

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The company's Optum pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) is doing exceptionally well, with a 12% year-over-year revenue jump for that unit.

To be fair, there are some political headwinds that are important to mention. Congress has been keeping a close eye on health insurers and PBMs, and several Democratic presidential candidates could spell trouble for health insurers if elected.

As a result of its strong performance, UnitedHealth raised its full-year earnings forecast, and shares trade for less than 15 times 2019 earnings based on the midpoint of the guidance range. Despite the political overhang on the healthcare industry in general, this is still a remarkably cheap valuation for a company that just grew earnings and revenue by 23% and 9%, respectively, compared with the same quarter last year. While it isn't without risk, UnitedHealth certainly appears to make sense from a risk/reward standpoint.

Insurance that pays dividends

Dan Caplinger (Chubb): Jordan Walthen, a fellow Fool contributor, has taught me a lot about Chubb over the past year, highlighting the insurance giant's operational prowess as a hands-on player that takes a direct approach to avoiding unnecessary losses. With hundreds of the top businesses in the world on its client list, Chubb has developed a reputation for excellence that spans the globe. It doesn't hesitate to offer policies in a wide range of business lines, using its extensive capital reserves to protect itself against risks that other insurance companies wouldn't dare to take on.

For investors, Chubb has another source of appeal: an impressive history of paying dividends. For 25 straight years, Chubb has boosted its dividend on an annual basis, including a 3% increase early last summer. Already, the company has said that it will recommend a 26th straight boost at its annual shareholder meeting, scheduled for May 16, and investors can expect a similar-sized increase that will take the payout up to $0.75 per share on a quarterly basis.

Insurance is a cyclical business, and there's no guarantee that adverse events in the short run won't cause Chubb and the rest of the industry to see share prices fall. However, the company has proven time and time again that it can withstand the most difficult conditions in insurance, and there's every reason to believe it will be able to prove its dominance once again no matter what the future holds.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Matthew Cochrane has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Matthew Frankel, CFP has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Aflac and UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
(Adds background on ethanol rivals, link to story about industry woes)

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU, April 26 (Reuters) - Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant's profit, which tumbled 41% in the first quarter.

A major cause was the "bomb cyclone" blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of grains. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

"The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected," said Chairman and Chief Executive Juan Luciano, citing weaker earnings in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit for the quarter ended March 31.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

Ongoing turmoil in the ethanol industry also hurt ADM and "limited margins and opportunities" for the business, said Luciano.

ADM has been looking to strengthen its core businesses of trading, processing and transporting corn, soybeans and wheat and other crops as the U.S.-China trade war continues to roil global agriculture.

ADM is expecting the trade fight to end before the U.S. harvest this fall, Luciano told analysts on an earnings call Friday.

That, in turn, would help strengthen ADM's performance in the second half of the year, and bolster U.S. grains and livestock producers, Luciano said. The U.S. agricultural sector is expecting to export more ethanol to China to meet growing demand for the biofuel and more protein as African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread.

China is struggling to control the ASF epidemic, which some analysts predict could kill up to 200 million pigs or lead to them being culled this year, causing a huge shortage of pork in the world's top producer.

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ETHANOL UNIT

Despite bullish signals for U.S. ethanol demand, Chief Financial Officer Ray Young told analysts "a case for consolidation" remains in the sector, which is in a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

Rival producers such as Green Plains Inc and Pacific Ethanol Inc have laid off workers and idled or sold plants to stay afloat during the sustained downturn.

ADM is creating an independent ethanol subsidiary which would allow options such as a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders, the company said. The unit will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

ADM also said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

ADM shares fell 2.2% to $40.79 shortly after midday.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, versus analysts' average estimate of 60 cents according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama, David Gregorio and Richard Chang)
Amazon is revving up its Virginia hiring binge.

This week, the online retail giant posted the first job listings for their new Arlington, VA headquarters, dubbed HQ2.

After pulling the plug on a planned outpost in New York City amid local opposition, the company listed five jobs in Crystal City, the first of what is expected to be a big hiring push in the Virginia/Washington DC suburb. Those positions include three global category managers, a senior financial analyst, and a HR Specialist.

While the number is small, these employees will help build the foundation of our workforce and workplace, Ardine Williams, Amazons vice president of workforce development, wrote in a blog post.

The retail giant did not disclose exact salary figures, but the company has said in a memorandum the average job salary would be $150,000. Williams wrote they are on pace to create 400 new jobs this year, and a total of 25,000 over the next decade plus.

Dealbreakers Executive Editor Thornton McEnery believes the retail giant will keep its end of the bargain it made with state and local officials, who gave Amazon an incentive package worth $750 million.

You create 25,000 jobs, you get the [financial incentives] we talked about. Period. End of discussion, McEnery told YFi PM.

Ahead of schedule

Amazon will be leasing temporary space in Crystal City for its first employees to start in June. The company has originally planned to start in October this year.

The company has pledged to invest $2.5 billion dollars to occupy 4 million square feet of energy efficient office space, and says its ahead of schedule for starting operations.

Last year, the company held a highly publicized process to select its second headquarters, but drew heat over proposed tax incentives officials made to reel Amazon in. The controversy grew amid accusations the company has paid zero federal income for two straight years.

Amazon originally decided to split HQ2 between two locations, Crystal City and Long Island City in Queens, New York. Yet the plan was foiled as a vocal contingent of politicians, including newly-elected Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, voiced opposition.

Over the opposition of New York Citys mayor and the states governor, Amazon then cancelled its New York plans  a decision some have called rash.

This was a mistake. Things got a little too hot too quickly, McEnery told YFi PM.

This deal wasnt perfect and no one came out looking like the best actor, he added.
Apple's Tim Cook says Chinese stimulus is working  and he's not the only one

Apple CEO Tim Cook said improved trade dialogue between the U.S. and China as well as stimulus measures from Beijing were improving consumer confidence in the country "in a positive way."

The comments add to a growing list of CEOs, policymakers and investors expressing more optimism on the outlook for the Chinese economy.

The Chinese government has initiated a series of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures this year to boost the economy.

Apple AAPL CEO Tim Cook says he is a lot more bullish on China than he was three months ago  and he's not the only one.

On Apple's earnings call Tuesday, Cook said improved trade dialogue between the U.S. and China as well as stimulus measures from Beijing were improving consumer confidence in the country "in a positive way." The comments add to a growing list of CEOs, policymakers and investors expressing more optimism on the outlook for the Chinese economy.

"We certainly feel a lot better than we did 90 days ago," Cook said.

In January, China reported its official economic growth rate was 6.6% for 2018, the slowest pace since 1990 . In response to weakening growth, the Chinese government initiated a series of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures, including a cut to the value-added tax rate for key sectors such as manufacturing, transportation and construction. In addition, China's central bank cut the ratio of cash banks must hold as reserves.

Business leaders and policymakers say the measures are paying off. Goldman Sachs GS CEO David Solomon said Monday "there's no question China has responded better to stimulus." The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its growth forecast for China last month to 6.3% for the year, citing fiscal and monetary stimulus and increased prospects of a trade deal.

"China has done a fantastic job of stabilizing its economy through fiscal policy. We have steadfastly remained to be constructive on China," BlackRock BLK CEO Larry Fink told CNBC's Hadley Gamble last week.

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At the start of 2019, American companies ranging from Ford to Tiffany's warned billions of dollars in tariffs on goods exchanged between the U.S. and China were casting a shadow on sales outlook . First-quarter earnings reports now reveal that some companies are already seeing a brighter path ahead.

Take Apple, which lowered its revenue guidance in January citing weak demand from Chinese consumers and trade tensions. On Tuesday the company reported $10.22 billion in sales in the Greater China region in its March quarter, down 22% from one year ago but an improvement from the prior quarter.

"While we acknowledge that a 22% decline in China revenue is far from a resurgence, Tim Cook did highlight that iPhone declines in the last few weeks of March were significantly smaller than they were to start the quarter," analysts at Jefferies wrote in a note Wednesday.

Other consumer brands have also reported strength from China in the second quarter. Starbucks SBUX reported stronger-than-expected sales growth in its China stores, while Yum China YUMC reported strong sales growth in its KFC division in the country.

Not everyone is as bullish. General Motors GM reported a slowdown in vehicle sales in the first-quarter , with CEO Mary Barra saying she sees "more downside risk than upside risk in the near term" in China. 3M MMM blamed headwinds in China for its weak earnings .

Ric Deverell, chief economist and global head of macro strategy at Macquarie Group, said economic indicators show it's "very clear" the low point for growth in China was in December.

"I think the recovery is still happening it's just happening gradually," Deverell told CNBC's Capital Connection.





More From CNBC


(Bloomberg) -- Signs of a recovery in demand for Apple Inc.s iPhone reassured investors and sparked positive commentary on Wall Street, even as many analysts remain reluctant to get significantly more bullish on the stock after a 33 percent run-up this year.

The tech giants fiscal second-quarter results and third-quarter forecast will help fuel the bull case, according to analysts at Jefferies. The bank was one of several that raised its price target on Apple shares after the results. The average analyst target among 36 firms tracked by Bloomberg is now $213, up from $206 on Tuesday, but that implies just 1 percent upside from the current price.

The stock rose 4.4 percent at 9:35 a.m. in New York. Apples market value will likely remain below the closely watched $1 trillion threshold when the company discloses how many shares are outstanding in its quarterly regulatory filing, expected after the close of trading.

Heres what analysts are saying about Apples results:

JEFFERIES (Timothy OShea)

Apples second quarter results will help fuel the bull case with a nice beat on revenue and EPS and third quarter revenue guidance ahead at the midpointInvestors will react favorably to commentary around improvements in China demandApple continues to be a Services and Wearables-led growth story, and Jefferies was particularly encouraged by the Services number considering the lack of mobile game approval in China drove App Store weaknessJefferies has hold rating; target increased to $210 from $160

PIPER JAFFRAY (Michael J Olson)

Fundamental performance was strong and Apple will be returning more cash to shareholders Expects limited excitement around this years iPhone launchesHowever, as long as services revenue continues to perform at or above expectations, this will tide investors over until anticipation for 5G iPhones begins to buildPiper Jaffray has an overweight recommendation; target raised to $230 from $201

MORGAN STANLEY (Katy L. Huberty)

Story continues

Better-than-expected June quarter guidance and more bullish iPhone commentary were positive surprises against cautious investor positioningDemand was helped by trade-in and financing programs, stimulus in China such as VAT tax reduction, and improved consumer confidence from advancing trade dialogue between the U.S. and ChinaNext catalysts are a re-acceleration in Services in the second half and the launch of 5G in 2020Morgan Stanleys rating is overweight; price target raised to $240 from $234

WEDBUSH (Daniel Ives)

Better-than-expected headline numbers will be a major sigh of relief for investors and will give the bulls another feather in their cap going into the next few quartersWhile China appears to be soft, Apple saw strength in the last few weeks of the quarter across the board on a rebound in iPhone demandCompany beating the Street will put shares on a path to make new highs over the next three to six monthsWedbush has an outperform rating; price target raised to $235 from $225

HSBC (Erwan Rambourg)

Apples 3Q guidance looks reassuring in terms of sales, although not as solid from a cost/margin perspectiveInvestors may be reassured by China comments and impressed by the cash returnHowever, HSBC does not expect many upgrades to come through to operating income given sales look in-line or a bit better, but costs were a bit heavier than expectedHSBC has a reduce rating and a target of $180, among lowest on Street, according to data compiled by Bloomberg

GOLDMAN SACHS (Rod Hall)

Pleasantly surprised by positive trends in iPad, Wearable and Mac in both reported revenues and guidance, although iPhone numbers were weaker than Goldman expectedOperating expense guidance implies operating margins of around 21 percent, the lowest since 2008Believes fundamentals get more challenging as the year progresses and that the stock remains toward the top of its valuation range versus the S&P 500Goldman has a neutral rating and price target of $184

What Bloomberg Intelligence says

Apples year ahead may not be as bad as feared. The company expects continued strength in all non-iPhone categories and marginally better iPhone growth relative to the first quarter, suggesting the worst may be over.-- John Butler, senior telecom analyst-- Click here for the research

(Updates price target in second paragraph and shares in third.)

--With assistance from Ryan Vlastelica and William Canny.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kit Rees in London at krees1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Catherine Larkin

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asanko Gold Inc. (Asanko or the Company) (TSX, NYSE American: AKG) is pleased to announce further drill results from the Phase 1 drilling program at the Tontokrom exploration target, part of the Asanko Gold Mine (AGM) concession in Ghana, West Africa. The AGM is a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Gold Fields Ltd (JSE, NYSE: GFI) which is managed and operated by Asanko. Please refer to the news release dated April 8, 2019 for the results from the first six holes of Phase 1, also included in the summary below.



Highlights - Tontokrom Target

Drilled 10 holes consisting of 3,140m total (1,080m reverse circulation and 2,060m diamond drill)

Hole TTPC19-008 intersected 74m at 1.9 grams per tonne gold from 185m

Hole TTPC19-009 intersected 57m at 3.0 grams per tonne gold from 99m

Hole TTPC19-010 intersected 44m at 1.7 grams per tonne gold from 191m

Mineralization open along strike to the southwest and plunging north

Extending Phase 1 program with additional six drill holes planned to step out a further 250m along strike to the southwest

Commenting on the drilling program, Greg McCunn, Chief Executive Officer, said: The drilling program at Tontokrom continues to deliver exceptional results, clearly demonstrating this deposit has encouraging widths of mineralization and grade in multiple parallel zones. With the deposit still open along strike, Tontokrom has the potential to become a bulk tonnage, open pit source of ore feed for the existing milling operations at the AGM. As a result of the success, we have decided to expand the Phase 1 program to test the length of the strike along the southwest.

Once the additional Tontokrom drilling has been completed, we expect to start the 5,000 meter drilling program at the Fromenda target soon afterwards, which will seek to confirm the encouraging historic drill results over a strike of 600m.

Tontokrom Target

The Tontokrom target is located approximately 10km south of the AGM processing plant on the Miradani Mining Lease, It is situated along the Fromenda shear structure, part of the prominent northeast southwest Asankrangwa structural corridor which hosts all nine of AGMs gold deposits. The area is highly prospective and the site of numerous historic small scale and alluvial mining operations along multiple mineralized parallel structures along the 3km strike under investigation. Historical geochemical anomalies are coincident with the targets, and primary and secondary structures known to control mineralization in the belt have been interpreted from the airborne VTEM and magnetic surveys and extensively mapped on the ground.

Story continues

Phase 1 Drill Program  Tontokrom Target

The Phase 1 drill program was designed to test the 320m strike length of the existing artisanal pit. The 3,140m program consisted of 12 holes pre-collared to various depths with reverse circulation (RC) drills and completed with HQ diamond drilling. Drill holes were set back from the pit edge resulting in longer holes than would normally be drilled in an initial drilling program. Of the 12 holes completed in the program, nine were drilled to their intended depth and three were abandoned due to poor down hole conditions before reaching their intended targets. Sample results have been received for all drill holes (refer Table 1).

The Phase 1 drilling has delineated a strongly mineralized zone hosted within hydrothermally altered sedimentary and granitic host rocks. Mineralization encountered to date is over an approximate 250m strike length, a 250m vertical depth and over a total width of up to 120m horizontal. Mineralization is hosted in wide zones of brittle deformation and alteration with individual true widths of individual mineralized domains within the greater mineralized envelope of up to 50m wide.

Mineralization remains open to the southwest along the structural trend of the shear zone, as shown by very encouraging results in hole TTPC19-006A. Similar to all other deposits in the Asankrangwa Belt, mineralization is hosted in brittle quartz carbonate veins emplaced within altered sedimentary and granite host rocks and is controlled by a series of anastomosing shear structures making up the Fromenda shear corridor. Initial interpretation from geophysics suggested that the mineralization is associated with structural intersections between major north-east trending shears and conjugate east-west faults. Mineralization appears to be dipping steeply to the north west and plunging to the north. This interpretation is supported by the lack of economic intercepts in TTPC19-003 drilled furthest to the northeast.

Mineralization at Tontokrom is encouraging, with economic intercepts being encountered in eight of the nine drill holes that reached their intended targets. The Phase 1 drilling program has now been expanded to include six additional holes to test the continuity of mineralization a further 250m along strike to the southwest. This program is expected to commence imminently.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5daf6009-2cf9-4739-8b4a-b0fbeb438856

Table 1: Summary of Significant intercepts from the Phase 1 drill program*

Hole ID From To Interval Grade Intercept (m) (m) (m) (g/t) TTPC19-001 128 141 13 2.62 13m @ 2.62 g/t TTPC19-001 162 173 11 1.00 11m @ 1.00 g/t TTPC19-002 64 85 21 0.94 21m @ 0.94 g/t TTPC19-002 91 107 16 1.73 16m @ 1.73 g/t TTPC19-002 136 178 42 2.63 42m @ 2.63 g/t TTPC19-002 156 178 22 1.24 22m @ 1.24 g/t TTPC19-002 189 228 39 1.82 39m @ 1.82 g/t TTPC19-004 199 211 12 1.45 12m @ 1.45 g/t TTPC19-005A 342 382 41 1.12 40.7m @ 1.12 g/t TTPC19-006A 181 204 23 1.04 23m @ 1.04 g/t TTPC19-006A 242 276 34 2.23 34m @ 2.23 g/t TTPC19-006A 281 297 16 2.38 16.4m @ 2.38 g/t TTPC19-008 90 122 32 1.46 32m @ 1.46 g/t TTPC19-008 185 259 74 1.93 74m @ 1.93 g/t TTPC19-009 80 94 14 1.14 14m @ 1.14 g/t TTPC19-009 99 156 57 2.96 57m @ 2.96 g/t TTPC19-010 191 235 44 1.72 44m @ 1.72 g/t

*Note: Mineralized intercepts have been re-calculated using a 0.3 g/t lower cut-off from the 0.5 g/t lower cut-off used in the news release dated April 8, 2019. The lower cut-off provided a better fit between calculated intervals and the geological interpretations compiled to date. For full drill intercepts and relevant sections, please see Appendix 1 of this news release.

Fromenda Target

The Fromenda Target is located approximately 10km further southwest of the Tontokrom Target along the same highly prospective Fromenda Shear Corridor. Results from historic drilling were positive and identified mineralization. A 5,000m drill program has been designed to confirm the mineralization as well as to step out along strike and to depth. This is expected to commence after the Phase 1 drilling program at Tontokrom has been completed.

QA/QC

Drill samples are being analyzed at the Intertek Laboratory in Tarkwa, Ghana by 50g fire assay. Initial observations indicate some coarse gold component and follow up screen fire assay analysis is being considered. Intervals are calculated using a 0.3 g/t cut-off and three metres maximum internal dilution. Reposted widths are drilled intervals and true widths vary depending on drill orientation and are not fully understood at this time. Assay values are uncut.

Qualified Person Statements

Benjamin Gelber (P.Geo), Group Geology Manager, is the Asanko Qualified Person, as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Mineral Disclosure), who has approved the preparation of the technical contents of this news release.

About Asanko Gold Inc.

Asankos flagship project, located in Ghana, West Africa, is the jointly owned Asanko Gold Mine with Gold Fields Ltd, which Asanko manages and operates. The Company is strongly committed to the highest standards for environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities. For more information, please visit www.asanko.com .

Forward-Looking and other Cautionary Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address estimated resource quantities, grades and contained metals, possible future mining, exploration and development activities, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices for metals, the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses, the timely renewal of key permits, lower than expected grades and quantities of resources, mining rates and recovery rates and the lack of availability of necessary capital, which may not be available to the Company on terms acceptable to it or at all. The Company is subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's Annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Neither Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note to US Investors Regarding Mineral Reporting Standards:

Asanko has prepared its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. Terms relating to mineral resources in this press release are defined in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum (the CIM Council) Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (the CIM Definition Standards). The Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) has adopted amendments to its disclosure rules to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for issuers whose securities are registered with the SEC. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, SEC will now recognize estimates of measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources and inferred mineral resources that are substantially similar to the corresponding terms under the CIM Definition Standards. In addition, the SEC has amended its definitions of proven mineral reserves and probably mineral reserves to be substantially similar to the corresponding CIM Definitions. United States investors are cautioned that while the above terms are substantially similar to CIM Definitions, there is no assurance any mineral reserves or mineral resources that the Company may report as proven reserves, probable reserves, measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources and inferred mineral resources under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared the reserve or resource estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules.





Appendix 1

Table 2: Collar location table for Tontokrom Phase 1 exploration drilling program

Hole ID Easting Northing RL Azimuth Dip Depth RC Pre-collar

(m) Total Depth

(m) TTPC19-001 611065.81 691976.53 145.04 130 -45 111 248.7 TTPC19-002 610979.25 691931.85 144.49 130 -45 111 255 TTPC19-003 611137.33 692015.77 145.27 130 -45 66 249 TTPC19-004 610918.42 691900.85 147.29 130 -45 102 300 TTPC19-005 611210.78 691736.45 163.23 310 -45 114 360 TTPC19-005A 611212.42 691734.05 163.35 311 -45 114 422.5 TTPC19-006 611125.58 691690.12 165.93 310 -45 61 61 TTPC19-006A 611126.64 691691.45 165.85 310 -45 102 350 TTPC19-007 610930.97 691916.97 153 130 -58 102 101.5 TTPC19-008 610931.32 691919.15 146.27 130 -58 72 453.2 TTPC19-009 610976.27 691930.68 144.82 130 -61 60 366.2 TTPC19-010 611047.36 691998.69 145.35 130 -56 65.5 350

Table 3: Drill results from the Tontokrom Phase 1 exploration program

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Dip Depth

(m) From

(m) To (m) Length

(m) Grade

(g/t) Grade

Thickness

(m) TTPC19-001 611066 691977 145.04 130 -45 248.7 128 141 13 2.62 34.06 Including 132 139 7 4.08 28.56 162 173 11 1.00 11.00 197 207 10 0.69 6.90 TTPC19-002 610979 691932 144.49 130 -45 255 64 85 21 0.94 19.74 91 107 16 1.73 27.68 114 124 10 0.77 7.70 136 178 42 2.63 110.46 Including 151 152 1 75.68 75.68 189 228 39 1.82 70.98 Including 211 218 7 3.40 23.80 TTPC19-004 610918 691901 147.29 130 -45 300 31 38 7 0.58 4.06 83 88 5 0.86 4.30 104 108 4 1.15 4.60 148 152 4 0.84 3.36 159 175 16 0.77 12.32 182 189 7 1.52 10.64 199 211 12 1.45 17.40 Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Dip Depth

(m) From

(m) To (m) Length

(m) Grade

(g/t) Grade

Thickness

(m) TTPC19-005A 611212 691734 163.35 311 -45 422.5 293 321 28 0.74 20.72 341 382 41 1.12 45.92 385 399 14 0.59 8.26 402 422 20 0.64 12.80 TTPC19-006A 611127 691691 165.85 310 -45 350 36 39 3 1.67 5.01 181 204 23 1.04 23.92 242 276 34 2.23 75.82 280.6 297 16.4 2.38 39.03 Including 293.5 294.5 1 19.09 19.09 303 309.3 6.3 1.25 7.88 315 319.1 4.1 2.19 8.98 TTPC19-008 610931 691919 146.27 130 -58 453.2 90 122 32 1.46 46.72 185 259 74 1.93 142.82 TTPC19-009 610976 691931 144.82 130 -61 366.2 80 94 14 1.14 15.96 99 156 57 2.96 168.72 162 179 17 0.44 7.48 192 200 8 1.16 9.28 204.5 223.2 18.74 1.05 19.68 TTPC19-010 611047 691999 145.35 130 -56 350 145 153 8 0.84 6.72 175.5 181.5 6 0.79 4.74 191 235 44 1.72 75.68 244.8 251 6.2 0.84 5.21 257.7 270 12.3 0.51 6.27 268 270.3 2.3 0.83 1.91 288.8 295.2 6.4 1.43 9.15 Intervals calculated with a 0.3 g/t cut-off and three metres maximum internal dilution. True widths vary depending on drill orientation. UTMs are WGS84 - Zone 30N. All grades are uncut.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3fba781f-06a3-4ff8-aa01-20d7a3abe67d

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/93ceda1c-8932-4057-84b0-22b48512ac4c

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c1bcbb76-0c84-4de9-83d3-6a16db65c0b2

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/814b2c30-cf91-4f9e-a28c-964a6b0db6d6

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a406e955-f8bc-469d-be4d-bed7fcb96b0b

Enquiries:

Alex Buck  Investor & Media Relations

Toll-Free (N.America): 1-855-246-7341

Telephone: +44 7932 740 452

Email: alex.buck@asanko.com
Applications for the CAE Women in Flights scholarship program are now open to applicants of American Airlines cadet training program, American Airlines Cadet Academy. Apply today at www.cae.com/womeninflight



MONTREAL, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (NYSE: CAE; TSX: CAE)  CAE announced today at the World Aviation Training Symposium its fifth partner for the CAE Women in Flight scholarship program, American Airlines.

We are very excited to collaborate with American Airlines to offer a scholarship to aspiring female pilots in the US, said Nick Leontidis, CAEs Group President, Civil Aviation Training Solutions. The program encourages passionate and exceptional women to accomplish their goal of becoming professional pilots and inspire a new generation of female pilots.

CAE is a training provider of the American Airlines Cadet Academy, delivering training at the CAE aviation academy located in Phoenix, Arizona. This first-of-its-kind scholarship program provides an opportunity for future pilots to become first officers at one of American Airlines three wholly owned regional carriers, with the opportunity to eventually fly larger aircraft at the airline.

The CAE Women in Flight scholarship recipient will receive a full tuition scholarship that will cover the entire cost of training in the American Airlines Cadet Academy program at CAE, including accommodations and travel. Additionally, the recipient may have the opportunity to become a certified flight instructor (CFI) and work at the CAE aviation academy in Phoenix to gain the number of hours required for certification.

American Airlines joins four other global airline partners who offer CAE Women in Flight scholarships to cadet pilots: Aeromexico, AirAsia, Cityjet and easyJet. CAE will unveil the first scholarship recipients this summer.

About CAE Women in Flight

CAEs Women in Flight scholarship program is a competitive program seeking female ambassadors who demonstrate leadership skills, active involvement in their communities, perseverance and who are passionate about aviation. Eligible female candidates who meet the requirements of the American Airlines Cadet Academy program are invited to submit their CAE Women in Flight scholarship application via CAEs website at cae.com/womeninflight. More details about the program can also be found online.



Story continues

About CAE

CAE is a global leader in training for the civil aviation, defense and security, and healthcare markets. Backed by a record of more than 70 years of industry firsts, we continue to help define global training standards with our innovative virtual-to-live training solutions to make flying safer, maintain defense force readiness and enhance patient safety. We have the broadest global presence in the industry, with over 9,000 employees, 160 sites and training locations in over 35 countries. Each year, we train more than 220,000 civil and defense crewmembers, including more than 135,000 pilots, and thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide. www.cae.com

Follow us on Twitter: CAE_Inc

This press release was issued to Trade Media

CAE contacts:

General Media:

Helene V. Gagnon, Vice President, Public Affairs and Global Communications

+1-514-340-5536, helene.v.gagnon@cae.com

Trade Media:

Frederic Morais, Director, Marketing & Strategy, Civil Aviation Training Solutions

+1-514-506-8331, frederic.morais@cae.com

Investor Relations:

Andrew Arnovitz, Vice President, Strategy and Investor Relations

+1-514-734-5760, andrew.arnovitz@cae.com
April 30 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Tuesday, as an unexpected contraction of economic growth soured investor sentiment, offsetting gains in the energy sector.

* At 9:37 a.m. ET (13:37 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 5.02 points, or 0.03 percent, at 16,595.89.

* The index is on pace to rise for the fourth straight month.

* The Canadian economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1 percent in February, pulled down in part by weakness in the mining sector and bad weather that hurt rail transport, Statistics Canada data showed.

* Underscoring weakness in railroads, Canadian National Railway Co blamed higher operating expenses due to prolonged extreme cold weather for a lower-than-expected quarterly profit. Its shares fell more than 2 percent.

* Six of the index's 11 major sectors were lower.

* Among gainers was the energy sector, which climbed 0.8 percent on the back of higher oil prices and upbeat earnings from the likes of Encana Corp and Secure Energy Service.

* U.S. crude prices were up 1.1 percent per barrel, while Brent crude added 1.2 percent.

* The heavyweight financials sector gained 0.1 percent, while the industrials sector fell 0.6 percent.

* The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.3 percent.

* On the TSX, 134 issues were higher, while 94 issues declined for a 1.43-to-1 ratio favouring gainers, with traded volume touching 10.94 million shares.

* The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Encana Corp, which rose 3.5 percent, after the oil and gas producer raised forecast for cost savings from its acquisition of Newfield Exploration, and reported a rise in quarterly adjusted profit.

* Secure Energy Services was the second best performer, which rose 3.2 percent after better-than-expected first quarter revenue.

* Capital Power Corp fell 2.9 percent, the most on the TSX, after its results. The second biggest decliner was Hexo Corp, down 2.8 percent.

Story continues

* The most heavily traded shares by volume were Prometic Life Sciences Inc, Encana Corp and Hexo Corp.

* The TSX posted three new 52-week highs and no new low.

* Across all Canadian issues, there were six new 52-week highs and three new lows, with total volume touching 20.74 million shares. (Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel)
Quebec mining.jpg





In Canada, individual provinces are responsible for energy issues, and their interest in Bitcoin mining is growing as several provincial governments have already offered low-cost energy incentives to attract mining operations to their provinces.

Quebec, the largest Canadian province, wants in on the action and has overruled its energy provider Hydro-Quebecs request for a rate increase for Bitcoin businesses, in order to allow Bitcoin miners to have the same hydro rate as the largest industrial customers.

Bitfarms, the only major Bitcoin mining company in Quebec, will continue to be billed at the LG industrial rate (for high-power customers) of around CAD $0.05 per kWh.

Bitfarms founder and president Pierre-Luc Quimper told Bitcoin Magazine:

This decision helps to secure our long-term operations in Quebec as we enter a new era of operational growth. We are excited to continue our collaboration with Hydro-Quebec, municipal energy distributors and municipalities.

Quimper added, With green hydroelectricity at a competitive price, innovative universities and this recent decision by the Energy Board that clearly supports the industry, Quebec has all the ingredients to become a blockchain hub,

The Energy Board decision ordered Hydro-Quebec to set aside an extra 300 megawatts for the crypto industry, on top of 368 megawatts already committed, and rolled back Hydro-Quebecs plan to make crypto businesses compete in an auction.

As with some other parts of Canada, a cool climate and abundant hydroelectric power make Quebec a natural fit for Bitcoin mining.

Bitfarms operates one of the largest vertically integrated mining operations in North America and has four computing centers located in different locations in Quebec: a head office in Brossard, a microelectronics laboratory in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and an electrical contracting company in Bromont (Volta electrique), in addition to an expansion currently underway in Sherbrooke.

Story continues

The company told us they have built 36 megawatts of capacity, with another 125 megawatts in their pipeline, and have approximately 220 PH/s of installed hash power. The new Sherbrooke facility will add another 30 megawatts to their capacity.

Wes Fulford, CEO of Bitfarms, told us:

The LG rate remains one of the most competitive in North America and will allow Bitfarms to continue its expansion in Quebec, particularly Phase 1 and Phase 2 of our new modern computing centre within the municipality of Sherbrooke.

A Sustainable Approach to Mining

On their website, Bitfarms emphasizes the importance of green, sustainable energy use, saying, We prioritize a sustainable approach just as much as a healthy bottom line.

Bitfarms president Pierre-Luc Quimper was an active participant in government energy hearings held in the summer and fall of 2018 and has been a leader in proposing green energy solutions, including load-shedding agreements during peak consumption periods.

The company is also working on a project evaluation grid to determine hydro use and economic spin-offs.

Jonathan Hamel, a Bitcoin technology consultant with the Montreal Economic Institute and founder of Academie Bitcoin, told Bitcoin Magazine:

The decision of the Quebec Energy Board is a major victory for Bitcoin miners in Quebec but also for Bitcoin in general. Its a clear demonstration that Bitcoin-related businesses are operating within the scope of the law of the land.

He pointed out that, initially, Hydro-Quebec was in favor of accommodating the demand of large-scale mining operations, but they reversed course when the situation got political.

The former provincial government (defeated in October 2018) imposed a decree forcing the Bitcoin mining industry to accept a 300% rate increase and a potential price auction for future energy block allocation. This ruling is promising because it legitimizes the Bitcoin mining industry on a national scale.

Reacting to the Hydro Quebec announcement, Francis Pouliot, a Quebec native and Bitcoin entrepreneur, expressed his disappointment with the previous government:

If Quebec had kept electricity rates low for Bitcoin miners 5 years ago with clear regs/guarantees (it's the now) we'd currently be top 3 Bitcoin producers and perhaps top exporter of bitcoins worldwide. With gas, hydro and cold Canada is poised to become the Bitcoin El-Dorado.  Francis Pouliot  (@francispouliot_) April 30, 2019

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.
* Fan Wei sentenced to death for making, selling meth

* Ten others, including 5 foreign nationals, sentenced

* Ruling comes amid diplomatic row between China and Canada (Adds further Canada government comment)

BEIJING, April 30 (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian national to death on Tuesday for producing and trafficking the addictive stimulant methamphetamine, amid heightened tension between Beijing and Ottawa over the arrest of a Huawei Technologies executive.

Canadian Fan Wei was a leader in the production and trafficking scheme, the Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court said in a statement.

In response, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland condemned the use of the death penalty, calling it "cruel and inhumane punishment which should not be used in any country."

"We're very concerned by this sentence. Canada stands firmly opposed to the use of the death penalty everywhere... We are obviously particularly concerned when it is applied to Canadians," she told reporters in Ottawa.

Canada's foreign ministry, in a separate statement, said Canadian officials attended the verdict and sentencing for Fan, and called on China to grant him clemency.

"Global Affairs Canada has been closely following this case and has been providing consular assistance to Mr. Fan and his family since he was first detained in 2012," it added.

Another suspect, Wu Ziping, was sentenced to death but Wu's nationality was not given.

The court also issued judgements against nine other people, including one American and four Mexicans.

It did not specify what sentences five of the nine received, though it indicated the minimum they got was life in prison. It said the other four were jailed but did not say for how long.

Court officials could not be reached for comment.

All 11 can appeal their sentences.

Fan is the second Canadian to be sentenced to death for drug offences in China this year, during a period of escalating tension between the two countries.

Story continues

In December, Canadian police arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, at the request of U.S. prosecutors.

U.S. prosecutors have portrayed the company as a threat to national security and alleged it conspired to violate U.S. sanctions. Both Meng, who is out on bail, and Huawei deny the allegations.

China recently arrested two Canadians on national security grounds.

China has also cancelled Canadian agribusiness Richardson International Ltd's registration to ship canola to China this year. (Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel and Bernadette Baum)
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Page: 1 2 Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail BLAME TRUMP

lop guest

User ID: 453356

05-01-2019 10:51 PM











Post: #1 Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

Advertisement



Assange was granted diplomatic asylum and stayed in the embassy for seven years before he was kicked out and had his asylum revoked. On April 11, he was removed from the embassy in handcuffs and taken to jail.



Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange that he was guilty of "exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country."



She pointed out that Assange's decision to hide out in the embassy cost the British taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million) over the seven years he remained confined inside.



Assange wrote a letter apologizing "unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case."



I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy.



I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done - which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears.



Assange is facing extradition to the United States on federal conspiracy charges over his alleged role in helping former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning download classified information. If he is extradited and convicted he faces up to five years in jail.



https://kogo.iheart.com/content/2019-05-...s-in-jail/ Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks behind bars for skipping bail in 2012 when he was facing extradition to Sweden on charges of sexual assault and rape. Assange denied the allegations and sought refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London because he was concerned he would be extradited to the United States.Assange was granted diplomatic asylum and stayed in the embassy for seven years before he was kicked out and had his asylum revoked. On April 11, he was removed from the embassy in handcuffs and taken to jail.Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange that he was guilty of "exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country."She pointed out that Assange's decision to hide out in the embassy cost the British taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million) over the seven years he remained confined inside.Assange wrote a letter apologizing "unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case."I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy.I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done - which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears.Assange is facing extradition to the United States on federal conspiracy charges over his alleged role in helping former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning download classified information. If he is extradited and convicted he faces up to five years in jail. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499715

05-01-2019 10:52 PM











Post: #2 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

rot in prison you bastard Bao2

Banned

User ID: 422170

05-01-2019 10:57 PM



Posts: 12,562









Post: #3 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

BLAME TRUMP Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:51 PM) Assange is facing extradition to the United States on federal conspiracy charges over his alleged role in helping former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning download classified information. If he is extradited and convicted he faces up to five years in jail.

That is key for the whole democrat sh*t going down to hell.

Assange will cooperate and help to bring the dem castle down. That is key for the whole democrat sh*t going down to hell.Assange will cooperate and help to bring the dem castle down. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499719

05-01-2019 10:57 PM











Post: #4 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

Most revealing leaks of WikiLeaks



The most outstanding revelations of the portal led by Julian Assange include:



-391,831 documents leaked from the Pentagon on the Iraq War, covering the period between 2004 and 2009, including a video showing US helicopters firing at civilians.

-Washington imperialist plots against Hugo Chavez.

-Evidence that one of the goals of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP, in English) promoted by the US is to limit the freedom of access to the Internet in 12 countries.

-Diplomatic cables that show that the US armed the Islamic State.

-Documents about Iran and torture under the George W. Bush Administration.



https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/313...-sentencia The most outstanding revelations of the portal led by Julian Assange include:-391,831 documents leaked from the Pentagon on the Iraq War, covering the period between 2004 and 2009, including a video showing US helicopters firing at civilians.-Washington imperialist plots against Hugo Chavez.-Evidence that one of the goals of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP, in English) promoted by the US is to limit the freedom of access to the Internet in 12 countries.-Documents about Iran and torture under the George W. Bush Administration. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499723

05-01-2019 10:58 PM











Post: #5 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:52 PM) rot in prison you bastard

Zuck- i sell your private info to corporations, im man of the year



Assangw- i give away info on corps for free, im literally hitler...



War is peace Zuck- i sell your private info to corporations, im man of the yearAssangw- i give away info on corps for free, im literally hitler...War is peace LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 481418

05-01-2019 11:01 PM











Post: #6 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:57 PM) Most revealing leaks of WikiLeaks



The most outstanding revelations of the portal led by Julian Assange include:



-391,831 documents leaked from the Pentagon on the Iraq War, covering the period between 2004 and 2009, including a video showing US helicopters firing at civilians.

-Washington imperialist plots against Hugo Chavez.

-Evidence that one of the goals of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP, in English) promoted by the US is to limit the freedom of access to the Internet in 12 countries.

-Diplomatic cables that show that the US armed the Islamic State.

-Documents about Iran and torture under the George W. Bush Administration.



https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/313...-sentencia

Americans support their evil satanic gov crimes Americans support their evil satanic gov crimes LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499716

05-01-2019 11:02 PM











Post: #7 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

Bao2 Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:57 PM) BLAME TRUMP Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:51 PM) Assange is facing extradition to the United States on federal conspiracy charges over his alleged role in helping former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning download classified information. If he is extradited and convicted he faces up to five years in jail.

That is key for the whole democrat sh*t going down to hell.

Assange will cooperate and help to bring the dem castle down.

Blablabla. Blablabla. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499719

05-01-2019 11:02 PM











Post: #8 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:01 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:57 PM) Most revealing leaks of WikiLeaks



The most outstanding revelations of the portal led by Julian Assange include:



-391,831 documents leaked from the Pentagon on the Iraq War, covering the period between 2004 and 2009, including a video showing US helicopters firing at civilians.

-Washington imperialist plots against Hugo Chavez.

-Evidence that one of the goals of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP, in English) promoted by the US is to limit the freedom of access to the Internet in 12 countries.

-Diplomatic cables that show that the US armed the Islamic State.

-Documents about Iran and torture under the George W. Bush Administration.



https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/313...-sentencia

Americans support their evil satanic gov crimes

YES

They are guilty as them



YESThey are guilty as them LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 481418

05-01-2019 11:05 PM











Post: #9 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:02 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:01 PM) Americans support their evil satanic gov crimes

YES

They are guilty as them





War crimes killing of Women and Children War crimes killing of Women and Children LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 494835

05-01-2019 11:05 PM











Post: #10 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:52 PM) rot in prison you bastard

Said the hater of truth and lover of lies Said the hater of truth and lover of lies LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 496394

05-01-2019 11:05 PM











Post: #11 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 10:52 PM) rot in prison you bastard

Wah. Julian caused muh Hitlery to woose.



Wah. Julian caused muh Hitlery to woose. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499719

05-01-2019 11:12 PM











Post: #12 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:05 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:02 PM) YES

They are guilty as them





War crimes killing of Women and Children

YES

Do not expect anything from the american people

They are totally submitted, subjugated by the elites

They will obey whatever the elites planned for them

They have no remedy

Mined will, morally weaked, mind controled by lies, psyops, fake news, fake "resistance"

They are lost YESDo not expect anything from the american peopleThey are totally submitted, subjugated by the elitesThey will obey whatever the elites planned for themThey have no remedyMined will, morally weaked, mind controled by lies, psyops, fake news, fake "resistance"They are lost engineering

Banned

User ID: 326133

05-01-2019 11:21 PM



Posts: 5,299









Post: #13 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

He spent 7 years locked up in that embassy vs not even a year in a high class jail where he will get everything.

How stupid... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 494835

05-01-2019 11:21 PM











Post: #14 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:12 PM) LoP Guest Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:05 PM) War crimes killing of Women and Children

YES

Do not expect anything from the american people

They are totally submitted, subjugated by the elites

They will obey whatever the elites planned for them

They have no remedy

Mined will, morally weaked, mind controled by lies, psyops, fake news, fake "resistance"

They are lost

And the british or australian? And the british or australian? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 499723

05-01-2019 11:24 PM











Post: #15 RE: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Sentenced To 50 Weeks In Jail

engineering Wrote: (05-01-2019 11:21 PM) He spent 7 years locked up in that embassy vs not even a year in a high class jail where he will get everything.

How stupid...

Lol... a us federal prison.... real classy Lol... a us federal prison.... real classy Advertisement



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By Sheila Dang

May 1 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp unit Sky said on Wednesday it has adopted a new tool to improve audience data for its advertisers, as Comcast looks to expand its reach following its $40 billion acquisition of the UK pay-TV provider.

Sky will use CFlight, a metric created by Comcast's NBCUniversal arm, which unifies the way viewership of advertisements is counted, regardless of whether an ad is viewed on television or streaming platforms like Hulu.

This is the first time CFlight, which NBCUniversal launched last year, will be used outside the United States, the companies said.

The advertising world has long sought an industry-wide standard to measure TV audiences whether they're watching content through a cable box or a streaming service.

Better data will make it easier for advertisers to buy ads to fit their targets and compare how the ads are performing, the companies said.

"We need to make sure it's easy for advertisers to track and measure their money with us," John Litster, managing director of Sky Media, said in an interview.

On linear television, or programs watched on broadcast networks or through cable and satellite, viewership for an ad is determined by the average commercial minute viewing, or the average rating over the course of a show when the ad was aired.

For digital ads, CFlight's standard requires the ad to be watched from beginning to end. Combined, the metric is able to determine the total views of an ad across linear and digital.

Sky Media's Germany and Italy segments will also use CFlight in the future, Litster said.

Sky is also in early talks with its competitors in Britain, TV channels ITV and Channel 4, to get them to adopt CFlight, he said.

Media company Viacom and TV advertising company Simulmedia are already using CFlight in the United States.

The metric is open-source, meaning anyone can see the methodology that CFlight uses to measure ad impressions, and the companies using it are not "grading their own homework," said Kavita Vazirani, executive vice president of strategic insights and analytics at NBCUniversal, in an interview.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang Editing by Sonali Paul)
Solution gives building occupants personal control of spaces via app or mobile device

Atlanta, GA, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acuity Brands, Inc. (AYI) (Company) today announced that Distech Controls , an innovation leader connecting people with intelligent building solutions, launched the ECLYPSE Sky Ecosystem platform. The platform provides occupant control for offices and hospitality spaces as well as healthcare and educational buildings. By utilizing Bluetooth wireless communications, the ECLYPSE Sky Ecosystem platform allows occupants to easily manage comfort settings within their space using familiar technology, such as a mobile device.



Because the average person in the United States spends the majority of their life indoors, much of that in buildings such as hospitals, schools or office spaces, there is an emerging focus on optimizing the indoor environment, said Charles Pelletier, Director of Product Management at Distech Controls. We all have different, often subtle, preferences for temperature and light levels. Our new platform allows occupants in building spaces to have greater personal control over these elements in their indoor environment through the my PERSONIFY app on their mobile device.

The ECLYPSE Sky Ecosystem platform includes the Allure UNITOUCHTM touchscreen, my PERSONIFY app, and EC-Multi-Sensor sensing and communicating device. The cutting-edge user interface of the Allure UNITOUCH is fitted with its own touch sensor. With its built-in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, it can be paired with a smartphone for quick and easy adjustment of room comfort settings such as HVAC, lighting and sunblinds. The EC-Multi-Sensor BLE features a motion detector, light sensor, temperature sensor, and a BLE transceiver that together enable the wireless control of comfort settings in building spaces. The my PERSONIFY app is easily customizable for each user through its intuitive interface.

Occupant well-being is an increasingly important consideration for optimizing workplace performance, reducing absenteeism and boosting morale.1i

Story continues

Occupants using our new platform technology can quickly and easily modify the environmental conditions according to their own requirements in spaces such as hotel rooms, cellular offices or classrooms said Martin Villeneuve, President of Distech Controls. We were able to create an occupant-focused and mobile-accessible platform, putting employees or guests in charge of their own spaces to maximize comfort, control and well-being, the interface of which can blend aesthetically in the environment as it is available in black and white finishes.

To learn more, please visit https://www.distech-controls.com/en/us/ble-innovation/ .

# # #

About Distech Controls

Distech Controls connects people with intelligent building solutions through our forward-thinking technologies and services. We partner with customers to deliver innovative solutions that can provide better health, better spaces, and better efficiencies. Our passion for innovation, quality and sustainability guides our business, which serves multiple market segments through worldwide business divisions, service offices and a superior network of Authorized System Integrators and Distributors. For more information visit www.distech-controls.com .

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. (AYI) is the North American market leader and one of the worlds leading providers of lighting and building management solutions. With fiscal year 2018 net sales of $3.7 billion, Acuity Brands currently employs approximately 12,000 associates and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with operations throughout North America, and in Europe and Asia. The Companys products and solutions are sold under various brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Antique Street Lamps, Atrius, DGLogik, Distech Controls, DTL, eldoLED, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lucid, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, Peerless, RELOC Wiring, ROAM, Sensor Switch, Sunoptics and Winona Lighting. Visit us at www.acuitybrands.com .

# # #

Media Contacts:



Monica Sanchez

770-860-2948

monica.sanchez@acuitybrands.com

Sarah-Jane Demolliere

+33 4 78 45 94 58

sjdemolliere@distech-controls.com

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

i https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/health-and-wellbeing/health-wellbeing-work-2/
The market expects Copa Holdings (CPA) to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on lower revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended March 2019. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on May 8. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call will mostly determine the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations, it's worth having a handicapping insight into the odds of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This holding company for Panama's national airline is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.64 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -49.1%.

Revenues are expected to be $672.27 million, down 6% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 5.54% 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 Copa Holdings?

For Copa Holdings, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -7.07%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Copa Holdings 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 Copa Holdings would post earnings of $1.06 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.04, delivering a surprise of -1.89%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates just once.

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.

Copa Holdings doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
By Aaron Saldanha April 30 (Reuters) - Most Latin American stocks and currencies fell on Tuesday, with assets in Argentina the exception, a day after the country's central bank said it would ease limits on its interventions in the currency market.

Investor appetite for risk diminished across the region after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called on the nation's military and civilians to seek the "definitive end" of President Nicolas Maduro's government.

MSCI's index of Latin American stocks fell 0.7%, on the back of declines in Mexico and Brazil, whose stocks have the largest weighting on the benchmark.

However, the likelihood of dollar sales signaled by Argentina's central bank on Monday, as it aims to temper volatility in the peso, continued to support the currency on Tuesday and underpin sentiment towards assets in the country.

Argentina's stocks benchmark gained 1.1% to make back some ground lost during Monday's 3.9% slide.

The peso was 1.3% firmer and was on track for its best two-day showing in nearly seven months, with a 5% gain.

Brazil's real softened 0.3% and stocks slipped 0.2%, largely on a lack of new developments around the progress of a proposal to reform the pension system.

Mexico's peso - one of the developing world's most liquid currencies - gave up initial gains to trade a shade lower. The country's economy, Latin America's second largest, shrank 0.2% in the first quarter, preliminary data showed.

Stocks were down 1.2% after hitting their lowest level in more than three weeks, with America Movil shares tumbling 4.9% after the telecommunications provider posted first-quarter results that displeased investors.

Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de CV was 3.4% lower after a 47% rise in first quarter net profit it posted late on Monday failed to cheer the lender's investors sufficiently.

Chile's peso fell 0.3%, while stocks slipped 0.1%.

Colombia's peso, a currency loosely correlated with oil prices by virtue of the country's energy exports, firmed 0.4% as energy prices jumped on the turmoil in Venezuela, the country with the world's largest petroleum reserves.

Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1426 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1078.98 -0.36 MSCI LatAm 2742.47 -0.69 Brazil Bovespa 96042.81 -0.15 Mexico IPC 44428.37 -1.18 Chile IPSA 5163.57 -0.12 Argentina MerVal 29147.23 1.11 Colombia IGBC 12781.38 -0.71 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 3.9485 -0.21 Mexico peso 19.0365 -0.12 Chile peso 680.2 -0.10 Colombia peso 3231.2 0.53 Peru sol 3.305 0.15 Argentina peso 43.7500 1.42 (interbank) (Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru)
(Adds call between Kalin and Bolton)

ANKARA, April 30 (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that an F-35 fighter jet project would collapse if Turkey did not participate, and that it would be an injustice to exclude Ankara over its plan to buy the Russian S-400 air defence system.

Turkey's announcement has strained its ties with Washington, which has said it would compromise the security of Lockheed Martin F-35 jets and warned of potential U.S. sanctions.

Like other NATO allies of Washington, Turkey is both a prospective buyer and a partner in production of the F-35, which has been beset by cost overruns and delays, and entered service in the United States in 2015.

Ankara has proposed a working group with the United States to assess the impact of the S-400s, but says it has not received a response from U.S. officials.

Speaking at a defence industry fair, Erdogan said those trying to exclude Turkey from the F-35 project had not thought the process through, and were ignoring its interests.

"We were surely not going to remain silent against our right to self-defence being disregarded and attempts to hit us where it hurts," Erdogan said. "This is the kind of process that is behind the S-400 agreement we reached with Russia."

"Nowadays, we are being subject to a similar injustice - or rather an imposition - on the F-35s ... Let me be frank: An F-35 project from which Turkey is excluded is bound to collapse completely," Erdogan said, adding that Turkey was also rapidly working to develop its own air defence systems.

Erdogan's comments, his strongest challenge yet to warnings that Turkey could be removed from the F-35 project, came a day after he discussed the purchase of the S-400s and the working group proposal by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. sources have dismissed Turkey's arguments that it would be impractical to exclude it from F-35 production, and said the trillion-dollar program can proceed without Turkish components.

The broadcaster NTV reported that Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin had also discussed the S-400 system and the F-35 programme with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton, as well as a date for Trump to visit Turkey.

Turkey said two weeks ago it expected Trump to use a waiver to protect it against penalties over its purchase of the S-400s, after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Ankara could face retribution for the deal under the U.S. Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CATSAA). (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay; Editing by Dominic Evans)
FILE PHOTO: The headquarter of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is seen in London, Britain, November 22, Britain 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

(This April 29 story corrects to remove reference to German and French resistance to Africa plans, removes reference to redrafting of meeting agenda and adds details on shareholder vote.)

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Several shareholders of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, including the United States, have reservations about its plans to expand into sub-Saharan Africa, three sources at the London-based development bank told Reuters.

Set up in 1991, originally to help ex-communist countries of eastern Europe shift to market economies, and majority owned by G7 top economic powers, the EBRD has spread rapidly over the last decade to more than 35 countries from Morocco to Mongolia.

Ambitions to continue that into sub-Saharan Africa were laid out last year. But some governments including its biggest shareholder, the United States, and some eastern European members have reservations about a possible overreach of the bank's aims, two of the three sources said.

The issue will be on the agenda at the bank's annual meeting in Bosnia next week, all three of the sources said. Despite the tensions, the final agenda for the meeting, including the wording on Africa, was backed by around 95 percent of shareholders at a vote early this month, the sources said.

The reservations revolve partly around whether the EBRD should expand into a geography where other institutions, including the African Development Bank and World Bank, are already active, particularly given the cost of setting up operations, the sources said.

The eastern European countries have expressed misgivings over whether resources will be directed away from them, the sources said.

The EBRD declined to comment when asked whether there was disagreement among shareholders over its Africa plans. The U.S. representative at the EBRD also declined to comment.

An internal analysis published in March showed only a fraction of a proposed 3 billion euros-a-year (2.58 billion) increase to the EBRD's near 10 billion euro annual lending could be deployed in its existing bloc. That has focused attention on where the bank might expand its operations.

There would be continued emphasis on more lending in existing EBRD member states as well as potential expansion into countries including Algeria and Libya should their political situations allow, the sources said.

Story continues

Any final vote on the EBRD's plans for Africa would come in May 2020 at the earliest.

Sixty-seven countries are EBRD shareholders and previous expansion plans have required a unanimous vote.

But the bank has been discussing with shareholders changing its procedures to allow approval by a qualified majority - a system which would weight the vote according to each member's stake. The United States is the biggest shareholder, with 10 percent of EBRD shares, while Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Japan each hold 8.5 percent.

A raft of other issues are on the agenda for the annual meeting in Bosnia, the sources said.

Among the topics is that the EBRD has yet to quantify a potential increase to its financial buffers to give it additional protection if a European and global slowdown worsens and causes losses on its loans.

Shareholders will also discuss disbursing some of the bank's identified surplus capital to governments for the first time, a possibility the bank had promised to review after it received a 10-billion-euro capital increase in 2011.

In addition, one of the sources said some of the EBRD's Turkish investments were on an internal watchlist after the country's slump into recession. The EBRD declined to comment. Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak is due to give a presentation at the meeting.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
By Alastair Macdonald

BRUSSELS, April 30 (Reuters) - In three weeks, Europeans will vote for a new European Parliament but the real struggle for power over the bloc will begin only after votes are counted. Here's why?

WHO'S VOTING AND FOR WHAT?

More than 400 million people in the European Union's 28 member states can vote from May 23 to 26, including nearly 50 million Britons who were due to leave the bloc in March. Their votes for 73 lawmakers who may have to quit within weeks has upset some calculations after a delay to Brexit agreed in April.

By proportional representation, Europeans will elect 751 members to the European Parliament, which divides its time between Brussels and Strasbourg. Ranging from Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus with six seats each to Germany with 96, for five years Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will pass laws proposed by the European Commission, subject to approval by national governments in the EU Council.

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

Issues range from spending - though the EU budget is just 1 percent of members' gross domestic product - to climate change and labour rights. But some who want the EU broken up see it as a Brexit-style referendum on the EU's survival, pitting advocates of historic, ethnic-based nations against the idea of pooling sovereignty to defend Europe's wealth and values in a world of rising authoritarian powers and global corporations.

Caught up in this centre-versus-states debate are refugees. Nationalists blame the EU for a surge in arrivals in 2015. Federalists say only cooperation can control migration.

Leaders of some eastern states such as Hungary and Poland criticise Brussels over migrants and its complaints that they are undermining EU rules on democracy in Warsaw and Budapest; some westerners speak of cutting their EU subsidies in retaliation.

The election in Britain is seen by some as a new referendum on Brexit, one that could help block withdrawal - or accelerate it - as Britons go on debating how, and whether, to leave.

ARE THERE EU POLITICAL PARTIES?

Story continues

Yes. And no. Eight party groups sit in the chamber. The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) has 217 seats and ensures an establishment majority by often cooperating with the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D - 186) and ALDE liberals (68). Two right-wing, anti-EU groups led by Britain's UKIP and France's National Rally share 78 seats.

But all the groups are unruly and EU elections are mainly contested by national parties on issues familiar to voters.

IS BRITAIN A PROBLEM?

Some EU officials suggest a delay in approving key post-election appointments until after British MEPs leave, to avoid accusations parliament's decisions will lack legitimacy.

The British vote will favour eurosceptics, Socialists and Greens but hurt the EPP, which has no members in Britain since the ruling Conservatives quit the group to form their own bloc.

By taking part, Britain has forced the EU to postpone the redistribution of 27 of 73 UK seats to other countries. France, for example, will elect 79 MEPs, five more than it has now, but those five will not be able to take up their seats until after Britain leaves and parliament shrinks by 46 members to 705.

DOES THE WINNER GET TO RUN THE EU?

Not really. Well, maybe. Parliament's leaders say they are the heart of European democracy. National leaders scoff at the 43 percent turnout in the 2014 EU elections. In practice, states wield most power and little happens that big countries dislike.

The EU executive Commission is led by Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg. A historic power struggle between Parliament and Council will get an airing in the election. Parliament has pledged to force the Council to nominate as Juncker's successor a lead candidate from a winning party in the vote. Leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron say they won't be bound by that. Parliament could reject the Council's Commission nominee.

I'M CONFUSED. SO WHO REALLY RUNS THE EU?

It's complicated. But the voting and lead candidate rumpus is part of horse-trading among governments to get compatriots or allies into top positions, not just in the Commission and Council but also in the European Central Bank.

Germany and France, the two biggest states, have the most clout, but even the smallest can play. Juncker is the third EU chief executive from little Luxembourg.

SO WILL THE ELECTIONS CHANGE MUCH?

A push by eurosceptics could mean a bigger, more cohesive minority to disrupt EU legislation. But EU optimists say a campaign that grabs more people's attention could reinvigorate post-Brexit efforts to pull the EU together.

Polls suggest the far-right could increase its share but probably not enough to sound the death knell of the EU. It seems improbable that either camp, for or against closer integration in Europe, can land a knockout blow.

(Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
(Bloomberg) -- The first of more than a dozen active investigations into large U.S. technology companies by Irelands privacy office could wrap up by the end of the summer, Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon told a congressional panel in Washington Wednesday.

Dixons office is investigating companies including Facebook Inc. and its Instagram unit, Twitter Inc., and Apple Inc. for violations of the European Unions data privacy rules, according to Dixons prepared testimony at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on privacy. The office is investigating 17 tech companies among a total of 51 large-scale privacy investigations the office has launched since May 2018, she added.

"In the coming months, over the summer, we will conclude decisions in some of them," Dixon told the panel. The investigations are complex and take time to resolve because "the sanctions are significant" and the office has to allow the companies ample time to respond at various stages along the way, she said.

Dixons investigation of Facebook is the most advanced and likely to conclude by August or September, Dixon told Bloomberg Law last month. She has said she is willing to bring maximum penalties for gross violations of the EU privacy law. The probe into the company is still poised to be the first to wrap up, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

Facing Fines

Companies can face fines of up to 4 percent of annual revenue or 20 million euros ($22.5 million), whichever is greater, for violating the General Data Protection Regulation. If Dixons office finds that Facebook did so, it could result in over $2 billion in fines for Facebook, based on its fiscal year 2018 revenue of $55.8 billion.

Facebook, which is facing multiple investigations around the world into its privacy practices, estimated April 24 it will cost as much as $5 billion to resolve a U.S. Federal Trade Commission probe into whether its handling of data that was transferred to political consultancy Cambridge Analytica violated a 2011 privacy settlement. Facebook took a $3 billion charge related to the matter.

Story continues

The panel, which is at the forefront of congressional efforts to pass a national data privacy law, also asked Dixon about the EUs approach to regulation as it works on a measure that would regulate vast swaths of the digital economy in the U.S.

John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, who was recently added to a bipartisan group of committee members working on the issue, told reporters after a Tuesday meeting of the lawmakers that "there are a number of pieces of it that I think have been agreed upon."

Democrats still want concessions before they would agree to a bill that overrides state laws, including Californias privacy statute that passed last year, said Thune, of South Dakota.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, is open to pushing through the final bill and said it would be "a possibility to get through the Senate," Thune added.

Companies are also pressing for a federal law, spurred by concerns about the headaches of complying with proliferating state requirements. Consumer advocates have said preemption of state laws would weaken the toughest legislative protections and Democrats have warned they wont sign onto legislation that dilute existing rules.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut who is also part of the working group, said during the hearing that he would "oppose any effort that preempts state laws so as to weaken protection for consumers." He called for a bill that was "even more rigorous and more protective" than Californias.

During the hearing, the panels chairman, Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, called for giving consumers "a strong, consistent federal law" as well as "more transparency, choice and control over their information," along with simplified privacy notices.

Washington state Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the committee, also joined the working group, which includes Wicker, Blumenthal, Kansas Republican Jerry Moran and Hawaii Democrat Brian Schatz. Wicker, in announcing the move, said Thune and Cantwell would help the group "develop the consensus needed to move this legislation forward in the coming months."

During the hearing, Cantwell called for "a more proactive approach to cybersecurity" as a part of efforts to ensure privacy.

"We need to make sure that the culture of monetizing our personal data at every twist and turn is countered with the protection of peoples personal data," she said.

(Updates with the status of privacy legislation from the seventh paragraph.)

--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis.

To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel R. Stoller in Washington at dstoller1@bloomberg.net;Ben Brody in Washington at btenerellabr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net;Keith Perine at kperine2@bloomberg.net

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- One of Facebook Inc.s biggest issues in trying to stop the spread of fake news on its platform is being able to train its algorithms on good examples of truth and falsehoods.

"Often there is not common agreement on whether something is false news or not," Joaquin Quinonero Candela said in a phone interview ahead of his talk at the F8 developer conference in San Jose, California. "At our scale, there are not enough professional fact-checkers in the world to do it."

Facebook has been under pressure from governments and users around the world for not doing enough to check the spread of misinformation, extremist propaganda and hate speech on its platform.

The company in April unveiled new artificial intelligence tools to help flag posts potentially containing false information by letting them point to trusted sources that contradicted the post. But Candela acknowledged such a system could potentially be gamed, particularly in countries where most news sources have political biases, or by users teaming up to flag an accurate piece of information as false.

"This is a huge concern," he said. "It is very important not to let the bias flow into the labels themselves."

Alongside developing its AI, Facebook has sought to address the issue by hiring thousands of human reviewers, often through contractors, but the company has been continually caught out -- for instance, failing to block the live video transmission of the gunman who attacked two mosques in New Zealand in March and then struggling to prevent the same video from being reposted.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive officer, has repeatedly told U.S. lawmakers that artificial intelligence would soon be able to automatically filter content from Facebooks two billion users to flag objectionable posts. But, today, the technology remains too immature to do this well.

Candela said that even if ground truth could be determined, Facebook needed to guard against bias in the way the algorithm classified content, and in how moderators chose to act when confronted with content flagged as false, extreme or hateful.

Story continues

"Our community reviewers bring personal opinions and biases to the process themselves and we want to make sure all content is being treated the same no matter where it is coming from," he said.

This ambition may prove too difficult for Facebook. Candela said that when figuring out when the algorithm will flag content to a reviewer, the company wants to use the same rules for all content. But Candela said the company was aware that this definition of fairness -- that all groups be treated the same statistically -- might not satisfy all users.

For instance, certain language may be unacceptable for an outsider to use to refer to a member of a particular group, but suitable within that same group.

Candela said the company knows there are no easy answers to these questions. Referencing the time he spent learning the complex mathematics that underpins machine-learning algorithms and comparing it to the thorny problem of content moderation, Candela said, "I feel like when I was doing super-complicated math, that felt a lot easier than this."

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Kahn in London at jkahn21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giles Turner at gturner35@bloomberg.net, Nate Lanxon

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
RALEIGH, N.C., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (First Citizens Bank) announced that the merger of First South Bancorp, Inc. and its subsidiary, First South Bank, into First Citizens Bank is effective today (May 1).

The First South branch offices will initially operate as First South Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. Customers should bank as they normally do at their existing branches. At a later date, First South customer accounts will be converted to First Citizens Banks systems.

Frank B. Holding Jr., chairman and CEO of First Citizens Bank, said: We welcome First South customers to First Citizens. We bring 121 years of retail, business and commercial banking experience to supplement First Souths own capabilities in these areas. Were looking forward to getting to know our new clients and further building our South Carolina presence.

On April 24, the shareholders of Spartanburg, S.C.-based First South Bancorp voted to approve the merger agreement with Raleigh, N.C.-headquartered First Citizens Bank. The merger previously was approved by bank regulatory authorities.

First South Bank customers should continue to use their current checks and cards. They will continue to have the same online and mobile access to their accounts. Customers with questions about their accounts can contact a representative at any of the First South Bank division branches. For questions about First Citizens Bank, they can call the First Citizens Customer Care Center, 1.877.456.7318, between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time daily.

The completed merger will complement First Citizens operations in South Carolina. In addition to the four First South division branch locations (Spartanburg, East Spartanburg, Greenville and Bluffton/Hilton Head) and loan production office in Columbia, First Citizens operates 138 branches in South Carolina (19 branches in Spartanburg and Greenville counties, three in Beaufort County and 20 in Richland and Lexington counties).

Story continues

Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., First Citizens Bank serves customers at more than 550 branches in 19 states. First Citizens Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (FCNCA), which has $35 billion in assets. For more information, call toll free 1.888.FC DIRECT (1.888.323.4732) or visit www.firstcitizens.com. First Citizens Bank. Forever First.

Contact:

Barbara Thompson

First Citizens Bank

919.716.2716
(Bloomberg) -- Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive officer of Google and one of the largest stakeholders in parent company Alphabet Inc., will step down from Alphabets board in June.

Schmidts departure leaves the technology giant without one of its most recognizable political advocates as it faces rising scrutiny about its size, data collection practices and influence.

Schmidt, 64, ran Google from 2001 to 2011, overseeing some of the companys most enduring acquisitions and skyrocketing revenue growth. In 2011, after co-founder Larry Page returned as CEO, Schmidt shifted to executive chairman. He also became Googles de facto ambassador, handling relationships with politicians and pushing the companys point of view in prickly global fights that Page and his successor, Sundar Pichai, have mostly shunned.

Schmidt is one of three men who control Alphabets Class B shares, which have 10 times the voting rights of regular shares. He was the third-largest owner of those shares with 8.6 percent, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. Google co-founders Page and Sergey Brin each own more than 40 percent.

Diane Greene, a board member since 2012 and the former chief of Googles cloud-computing unit, will also leave the board, Alphabet said Tuesday in a statement.

Schmidt and Greene agreed to step down during the boards meeting on April 24, according to a company filing. Schmidt will serve as a technical adviser with a salary of $1.

Alphabet named Robin L. Washington, chief financial officer of Gilead Sciences Inc., as a director. Washington also serves on the board of Honeywell International Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc. She has worked at Gilead, a pharmaceutical firm, since 2014. Alphabet has a variety of efforts in biotechnology and health care, including subsidiaries Verily and Calico.

Eric has made an extraordinary contribution to Google and Alphabet as CEO, Chairman, and Board member. We are extremely grateful for his guidance and leadership over many years, John Hennessy, Alphabets current board chair, said in the statement.

Story continues

Schmidt stepped down in December 2017 from his role as chairman with little explanation. He was an outspoken backer of Democrat Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign for president. A consulting firm backed by Schmidt, Civis Analytics, announced this week it would work with Joe Bidens Democratic presidential campaign.

Schmidt and Greene will serve on Alphabets board until their terms expire June 19. Greene, an enterprise software veteran, ran Googles cloud division from 2015 until leaving that role in January.

The pair are leaving as the board is under fire for the way it has handled the departure of several former executives. Multiple shareholders have accused the directors of signing off on bonus payments to Andy Rubin, a former Google executive, despite knowledge of credible sexual harassment charges against him. When news of the payouts came out, thousands of Google employees marched out of their offices in protest.

(Updates with shareholdings in the fourth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Bergen in San Francisco at mbergen10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Former Vice President Joe Biden gets a polling boost in his first week on the 2020 presidential campaign trail

Former Vice President Joe Biden gained steam among Democratic voters in his first week as a declared candidate for president, putting more distance between himself and the crowded field of primary candidates already in the running.

Two national polls published Tuesday show Biden, who was already the early front runner, gained substantial ground after formally joining the Democratic presidential primary contest last week following months of hesitation.

Biden centered the launch of his campaign on his ability to defeat President Donald Trump, particularly in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Former Vice President Joe Biden gained steam among Democratic voters in his first week as a declared candidate for president, putting more distance between himself and the crowded field of primary candidates already in the running.

Two national polls published Tuesday show that Biden, who was already the early front-runner, gained substantial ground after formally joining the Democratic presidential primary contest last week after months of hesitation.

Biden centered the launch of his campaign on his ability to defeat President Donald Trump, particularly in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. He has earned more attention from the president , who dubbed him "Sleepy Joe," than his Democratic fellow contenders.

Biden, a longtime former senator from Delaware, gained 11 percentage points in April, according to a poll conducted by SSRS for CNN last week. Another survey, conducted by Morning Consult, shows Biden gained 6 percentage points since a week before. Both show that Biden is leading Sen. Bernie Sanders, his nearest competitor, by double digits.

Biden is the favorite of 39% of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents according to the CNN poll and of 36% of registered voters likely to vote in the primary, according to Morning Consult . In the same polls, Sanders holds 15% and 22%, respectively.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala Harris and former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke are the only other candidates with 5% support or greater.

Story continues

Of course, things could change. With nearly a year before the first primary contest, a majority of Democrats consistently tell pollsters that they have not finalized their choice. Historically, though, early polling does provide some insight into the likely primary victor.

Inside the numbers

Notably, Biden's lead stretches into states where Sanders has structural advantages. A poll conducted by Suffolk University and The Boston Globe , released Tuesday, showed that Biden leads Sanders in New Hampshire by 8 percentage points. Sanders, a popular longtime senator for Vermont, prevailed by more than 20 percentage points in the Granite State's 2016 primary contest against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The two national surveys show that Biden also holds a commanding lead among nonwhite voters, a demographic that could be key to the fortunes of the Democratic primary field.

Half of nonwhite voters told CNN that Biden was their top choice for the Democratic nomination. In comparison, Sanders received the support of only 14% of nonwhite voters. Warren received 7% of nonwhite voter support, while Harris and O'Rourke tied for 4%.

Biden also leads black voters according to Morning Consult, with 43% support compared with Sanders' 20%. In the Morning Consult survey, Harris was the favorite of a tenth of black voters, Warren picked up the support of 6% and Sen. Cory Booker received 5%.

Buttigieg hits a snag

Meanwhile, Buttigieg, who has emerged in recent weeks and zoomed to the front of the pack , continued to lag voters of color in both surveys, a possible hurdle to building on his momentum.

Buttigieg, who has made efforts in recent days to increase his outreach to black voters, was the favorite of 3% of nonwhite voters in the CNN poll and 2% of black voters according to Morning Consult.

On some issues, nonwhite voters appear to have preferences that could prove to be a challenge for the Midwestern mayor.

Read more: South Bend's poor residents say Pete Buttigieg left them behind

For instance, last week, Buttigieg said during a CNN town hall that he did not support letting felons vote while they are in prison.

According to the CNN survey, two-thirds of nonwhite voters told CNN that they believe it is very or somewhat important that the Democratic candidate support restoring voting rights of convicted felons "regardless of the severity of their crime or whether they have finished serving their sentence."

Nonwhite voters are also more likely to prioritize a candidate who will beat Trump and who has "experience to be president," according to the survey. While nonwhite voters are more likely than white voters to say they want a candidate with an outsider's perspective, in neither demographic group does a majority say it is extremely or very important.





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Company Achieved Organic Automotive Revenue Growth Despite Industry Headwinds

Secured $400 Million in Automotive Awards

Maintains Full-Year 2019 Guidance and 2021 Outlook

NORTHVILLE, Mich., April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gentherm (THRM), the global market leader and developer of innovative thermal management technologies, today announced its financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2019.

First Quarter Highlights

Product revenues of $257.9 million decreased 2.5% from $264.6 million in the 2018 first quarter. Excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, product revenues were flat year over year

Excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, divested assets and assets held for sale, product revenues increased 3.0% year over year

GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.25 as compared with $0.35 for the prior-year period

Adjusted diluted earnings per share (see table herein), was $0.55. Adjusted diluted earnings per share in the prior-year period was $0.52

Secured automotive new business awards totaling $400 million in the quarter

Phil Eyler, the Company's President and CEO, said I am pleased with the continued progress we are making with our focused growth strategy, validated by our improving operating performance, innovative technology advances and our first Automotive News PACE award. Despite the production headwinds in the industry, we achieved organic revenue growth in automotive, significantly outperforming our key markets. We delivered year-over-year revenue growth in Climate Control Seat (CCS) for the third consecutive quarter and secured $400 million of new awards from top auto makers around the world. In Medical, we delivered double-digit revenue growth both sequentially and year over year. In addition, we continue to improve our cost performance through the Fit-for-Growth program.

2019 First Quarter Financial Review

Product revenues for the first quarter of 2019 decreased $6.7 million, or 2.5%, as compared with the prior-year period, essentially due to a $6.6 million decrease in the Industrial segment. Excluding the impact of divested assets and assets held for sale, product revenues increased $0.8 million, or 0.3%, year over year. Excluding the impact of foreign currency translation, divested assets and assets held for sale, product revenues increased 3.0% year over year.

Story continues

Automotive revenues were flat due to higher sales in Climate Control Seat (CCS) and Battery Thermal Management (BTM), offset by lower sales of seat heaters, steering wheel heaters and automotive cables. Adjusting for foreign currency translation, organic Automotive revenues increased 2.8% year over year.

Organic Automotive revenues grew despite lower than expected automotive production. When compared with IHS Markit's mid-February forecast for the first quarter of 2019, actual light vehicle production was approximately 2 percentage points below forecast. In addition, when compared to the first quarter of 2018, actual light vehicle production declined by approximately 6.7% in the Companys key markets.

The revenue decline in Industrial resulted primarily from lower revenues from the Cincinnati Sub-Zero (CSZ) industrial chambers business, which was sold on February 1, 2019 and Global Power Technologies (GPT), which was classified as assets held for sale in the quarter. The decline was partially offset by a 12.3% growth in the medical business year over year.

See the Revenues by Product Category table enclosed herein for additional detail.

Gross margin rate declined to 29.2% in the current-year period, as compared with 30.7% in the prior-year period, primarily as a result of higher labor costs and the timing differences between annual customer price decreases compared to supplier cost reductions. These were partially offset by higher volume leverage and Fit-for-Growth cost reduction initiatives.

Net research and development expenses of $18.9 million in the 2019 first quarter decreased $4.4 million, or 18.9%. R&D expenses declined year over year, as a direct result of the Companys focused portfolio and Fit-for-Growth cost reduction initiatives. Additionally, R&D expenses declined year over year due to higher customer reimbursements.

Selling, general and administrative expenses of $32.6 million in the 2019 first quarter decreased $3.8 million, or 10.5%, versus the prior-year period. The year-over-year decline was primarily driven by the impact of the Fit-for-Growth cost reduction initiatives and the sale of CSZ industrial chambers business in the quarter.

During the quarter, the Company recognized $1.9 million in restructuring expenses which resulted from completed actions associated with its Fit-for-Growth initiatives. Total implemented actions to date are expected to deliver annualized savings of approximately $41 million. The Company has identified a total of $65 million of savings against its annualized target of $75 million by 2021.

As described more fully in the table included below, Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA, the Company recorded Adjusted EBITDA of $35.2 million in the 2019 first quarter compared with $34.5 million in the prior-year period, an increase of $0.7 million or 2.0%.

Income tax expense in the 2019 first quarter was $6.9 million, as compared with $3.0 million in the prior-year period. Adjusting for the $10.5 million non-deductible impairment loss, the effective tax rate for the quarter was 26.7%. This rate differed from the Federal statutory rate of 21%, primarily due to higher tax rates in foreign tax jurisdictions.

GAAP diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2019 was $0.25 compared with $0.35 for the prior-year period. Adjusted diluted earnings per share, excluding restructuring expenses, unrealized currency gain, and expenses and other impacts related to acquisitions (see table herein), was $0.55. Adjusted diluted earnings per share in the prior-year period was $0.52.

Guidance

The Company maintains its full-year 2019 guidance, excluding divested assets and assets held for sale, that was initially provided on its year-end 2018 earnings call on February 21, 2019:

Product revenues are expected to grow between 4% and 6% to a range of $1.01 billion to $1.04 billion

Operating expenses between 19% and 20% of product revenues

Gross margin rate between 28% and 30%

Adjusted EBITDA between 14% and 15% of product revenue

Full-year effective tax rate between 28% and 30%

Capital expenditures between $40 and $50 million

The Company also maintains the following outlook for 2021:

Product revenue growth of high single-digit CAGR for the 2018 to 2021 period

Operating expenses between 15% and 17% of product revenues

Gross margin rate between 30% and 32%

Adjusted EBITDA margin of high teens

ROIC of greater than 20%

Conference Call

As previously announced, Gentherm will conduct a conference call today at 8:00 am Eastern Time to review these results. The dial-in number for the call is 1-877-407-4018 (callers in the U.S.) or +1-201-689-8471 (callers outside this U.S.). The passcode for the live call is 13689375.

A live webcast and one-year archived replay of the call can be accessed on the Events page of the Investor section of Gentherm's website at www.gentherm.com .

A telephonic replay will be available at approximately 2 hours after the call until 11:59 pm Eastern Time on May 14, 2019. The replay can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (callers in the U.S.), or +1-412-317-6671 (callers outside the U.S.). The passcode for the replay is 13689375.

Investor Relations Contact

Yijing Brentano

investors@gentherm.com

(248) 308-1702

Media Contact

Melissa Fischer

media@gentherm.com

248.289.9702

About Gentherm

Gentherm (THRM) is a global developer and marketer of innovative thermal management technologies for a broad range of heating and cooling and temperature control applications. Automotive products include variable temperature Climate Control Seats, heated automotive interior systems (including heated seats, steering wheels, armrests and other components), battery thermal management systems, cable systems and other electronic devices. Medical products include patient temperature management systems. The Company is also developing a number of new technologies and products that will help enable improvements to existing products and to create new product applications for existing and new markets. Gentherm has over 13,000 employees in facilities in the United States, Germany, Canada, China, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Vietnam. For more information, go to www.gentherm.com .

Except for historical information contained herein, statements in this release are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent Gentherm Incorporated's goals, beliefs, plans and expectations about its prospects for the future and other future events. The forward-looking statements included in this release are made as of the date hereof or as of the date specified and are based on management's current expectations and beliefs. Such statements are subject to a number of important assumptions, risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual performance to differ materially from that described in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. Those risks include, but are not limited to, risks that new products may not be feasible, sales may not increase, additional financing requirements may not be available, new competitors may arise or customers may develop their own products to replace the Companys products, currency exchange rates may change unfavorably, pricing pressures from customers may increase, the Companys workforce and operations could be disrupted by civil or political unrest in the countries in which the Company operates, free trade agreements may be altered in a manner adverse to the Company, cost-savings measures may not be achievable or may need to be reversed, assets held for sale may not be sold quickly or at all, the Company may be unable to repurchase its shares of common stock at favorable prices or at all, due to market conditions, applicable legal requirements, debt covenants or other restrictions, compliance with covenants and other restrictions under the Companys credit facility, medical device regulations could change in an unfavorable manner, oil and gas prices could fluctuate causing adverse consequences, and other adverse conditions in the industries in which the Company operates may negatively affect its results. In addition, such forward-looking statements do not include the potential impact of any business combinations, acquisitions, divestitures, strategic investments and other significant transactions that may be completed after the date hereof.

The foregoing risks should be read in conjunction with other cautionary statements included herein, as well as in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.





GENTHERM INCORPORATED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (In thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended

March 31, 2019 2018 Product revenues $ 257,921 $ 264,586 Cost of sales 182,614 183,344 Gross margin 75,307 81,242 Operating expenses: Net research and development expenses 18,897 23,304 Selling, general and administrative expenses 32,613 36,424 Acquisition transaction expenses 38  Restructuring expenses 1,914 865 Total operating expenses 53,462 60,593 Operating income 21,845 20,649 Interest expense (1,368 ) (1,180 ) Foreign currency gain (loss) 203 (4,578 ) Gain on sale of business 4,970  Impairment loss (10,484 )  Other income 143 1,111 Earnings before income tax 15,309 16,002 Income tax expense 6,895 3,036 Net income $ 8,414 $ 12,966 Basic earnings per share $ 0.25 $ 0.35 Diluted earnings per share $ 0.25 $ 0.35 Weighted average number of shares  basic 33,573 36,766 Weighted average number of shares  diluted 33,733 36,873





GENTHERM INCORPORATED REVENUE BY PRODUCT CATEGORY (Unaudited, in thousands) Three Months Ended

March 31,

2019 2018 %

Diff. Climate Control Seat (CCS) $ 94,354 $ 88,218 7.0 % Seat Heaters 73,920 84,220 (12.2 ) % Steering Wheel Heaters 16,970 17,557 (3.3 ) % Automotive Cables 23,749 26,865 (11.6 ) % Battery Thermal Management (BTM) 10,745 4,161 158.2 % Electronics 12,852 15,188 (15.4 ) % Other Automotive 9,767 6,212 57.2 % Subtotal Automotive $ 242,357 $ 242,421  % Remote Power Generation (GPT) 3,959 4,662 (15.1 ) % Industrial Chambers 3,418 10,213 (66.5 ) % Gentherm Medical 8,187 7,290 12.3 % Subtotal Industrial $ 15,564 $ 22,165 (29.8 ) % Total Company $ 257,921 $ 264,586 (2.5 ) %







Total Core Businesses (Automotive and Gentherm Medical) $ 250,544 $ 249,711 0.3 %





GENTHERM INCORPORATED RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO ADJUSTED EBITDA (Unaudited, in thousands) Three Months Ended

March 31, 2019 2018 Net income $ 8,414 $ 12,966 Add Back: Income tax expense 6,895 3,036 Interest expense 1,368 1,180 Depreciation and amortization 10,980 12,820 Adjustments: Restructuring expenses 1,914 865 Impairment of assets held for sale 10,484  Gain on sale of a business (4,970 )  Acquisition transaction expense 38  Unrealized currency (gain)/loss (994 ) 3,642 CFO transition expenses 1,065  Adjusted EBITDA $ 35,194 $ 34,509

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In evaluating its business, Gentherm considers and uses Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of its operating performance. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, deferred financing cost amortization, transaction expenses, debt retirement expenses, impairment of assets held for sale, restructuring expenses, unrealized currency gain or loss and unrealized revaluation of derivatives. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful measure of liquidity and the Company's ability to service debt because it provides a measure of cash available for such purposes. Management provides an Adjusted EBITDA measure so that investors will have the same financial information that management uses with the belief that it will assist investors in properly assessing the Company's performance on a period-over-period basis.

The term Adjusted EBITDA is not defined under GAAP, and is not a measure of operating income, operating performance or liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and when assessing the Company's operating performance, investors should not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation, or as a substitute for net income or other consolidated income statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Gentherm compensates for these limitations by relying primarily on its GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA only supplementally.





GENTHERM INCORPORATED ACQUISITION TRANSACTION EXPENSES, PURCHASE ACCOUNTING IMPACTS

AND OTHER EFFECTS (Unaudited and in thousands, except per share data) Three Months Ended

March 31, Future Full Year Periods (estimated)

2019 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Thereafter Transaction related current expenses Acquisition transaction expenses 38  38     Non-cash purchase accounting impacts Customer relationships amortization 1,828 2,665 7,251 5,991 5,461 5,143 18,574 Technology amortization 482 998 1,913 1,909 1,901 1,843 4,759 Inventory value adjustment 39 30 39     Trade name amortization        Other effects Restructuring expenses 1,914 865 1,914     Gain on sale of a business (4,970 )  (4,970 )     Impairment loss 10,484  10,484     Unrealized currency (gain)/loss (994 ) 3,642 (994 )     CFO Transition 1,065  1,065    

Total acquisition transaction expenses, purchase accounting impacts and other effects

$





9,886





$

8,200

$

16,740

$

7,900

$

7,362

$

6,986

$

23,333 Tax effect of above 212 (2,098 ) (1,465 ) (1,950 ) (1,825 ) (1,735 ) (5,791 ) Net income effect $ 10,098 $ 6,102 $ 15,275 $ 5,950 $ 5,537 $ 5,251 $ 17,542 Earnings per share  difference Basic $ 0.30 $ 0.17      Diluted $ 0.30 $ 0.17      Adjusted earnings per share Basic $ 0.55 $ 0.52      Diluted $ 0.55 $ 0.52     





GENTHERM INCORPORATED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In thousands, except share data) (Unaudited) March 31,

2019 December 31,

2018 ASSETS Current Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 38,769 $ 39,620 Restricted cash 2,500  Accounts receivable, less allowance of $1,068 and $851, respectively 175,044 166,858 Inventory: Raw materials 66,316 61,679 Work in process 4,830 5,939 Finished goods 40,979 44,917 Inventory, net 112,125 112,535 Derivative financial instruments 857 92 Prepaid expenses and other assets 55,577 54,271 Assets held for sale 17,009 69,699 Total current assets 401,881 443,075 Property and equipment, net 168,371 171,380 Goodwill 54,721 55,311 Other intangible assets, net 53,188 56,385 Operating lease right-of-use assets 14,058  Deferred financing costs 575 647 Deferred income tax assets 61,032 64,024 Other non-current assets 9,220 12,225 Total assets $ 763,046 $ 803,047 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS EQUITY Current Liabilities: Accounts payable $ 91,286 $ 93,113 Accrued liabilities 60,907 65,808 Current lease liabilities 4,203  Current maturities of long-term debt 2,949 3,413 Liabilities held for sale 7,009 13,062 Total current liabilities 166,354 175,396 Pension benefit obligation 6,755 7,211 Non-current lease liabilities 9,307  Long-term debt, less current maturities 97,604 136,477 Deferred income tax liabilities 1,649 1,177 Other non-current liabilities 2,890 3,087 Total liabilities 284,559 323,348 Shareholders equity: Common Stock: No par value; 55,000,000 shares authorized, 33,653,179 and 33,856,629 issued and outstanding at March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively 134,486 140,300 Paid-in capital 14,513 14,934 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (43,152 ) (39,500 ) Accumulated earnings 372,640 363,965 Total shareholders equity 478,487 479,699 Total liabilities and shareholders equity $ 763,046 $ 803,047





GENTHERM INCORPORATED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands) (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 Operating Activities: Net income $ 8,414 $ 12,966 Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 11,052 12,892 Deferred income taxes 1,749 (707 ) Stock compensation 1,968 2,202 Defined benefit plan (income) expense (617 ) 298 Provision of doubtful accounts 229 41 Loss on sale of property and equipment 178 85 Operating lease expense 1,333  Impairment loss 10,484  Gain on sale of business (4,970 )  Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable (8,293 ) (9,691 ) Inventory (229 ) 1,903 Prepaid expenses and other assets (5,553 ) (4,881 ) Accounts payable (2,079 ) 1,290 Accrued liabilities (6,785 ) (10,808 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 6,881 5,590 Investing Activities: Proceeds from the sale of property and equipment 28  Proceeds from the sale of a business 47,500  Final payment for acquisition of subsidiary, net of cash acquired  (15 ) Purchases of property and equipment (5,150 ) (8,378 ) Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 42,378 (8,393 ) Financing Activities: Borrowing of debt 10,428  Repayments of debt (49,627 ) (35,492 ) Cash paid for the cancellation of restricted stock (376 ) (659 ) Proceeds from the exercise of Common Stock options 214 751 Repurchase of Common Stock (8,040 )  Net cash used in financing activities (47,401 ) (35,400 ) Foreign currency effect (209 ) 5,513 Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 1,649 (32,690 ) Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period 39,620 103,172 Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period $ 41,269 $ 70,482 Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: Cash paid for taxes $ 3,466 $ 6,870 Cash paid for interest $ 1,252 $ 981 Supplemental disclosure of non-cash transactions: Common Stock issued to Board of Directors and employees $ 1,581 $ 1,362








Google Will Now Auto-Delete Some User Data -- If You Ask

(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.s Google said it will let users set up their profiles to automatically delete location and web-browsing data, giving people a middle ground to the internet giants always-on or always-off data hoovering mechanisms.

Users can now choose to have their data deleted after a three-month or 18-month period, the company said Wednesday in a blog post. The change gives people more control over their information, but it also may stop some users from opting to block out Googles data collection altogether. While people can stop all collection now, the company relies on user data to target ads that feed its multibillion-dollar revenue machine.

Google has struggled to convince customers and regulators that it respects their privacy and keeps the reams of data it collects on people safe. It shut down the Google Plus social network last year after finding a glitch that exposed the personal information of half a million users.

Google and fellow online ad giant Facebook Inc. have become some of the most-valuable companies in history by collecting billions of data points on billions of people and selling targeted access to advertisers. Politicians, consumers and privacy advocates around the world are questioning those business models, and whether giving up personal information is worth the services provided by the companies.

Googles latest privacy tool comes as a long-promised feature from Facebook to delete some of the data it collects on people hasnt yet materialized. Facebook said its still working on the feature and plans to introduce it later this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gerrit De Vynck in New York at gdevynck@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.
The market expects Hawaiian Electric (HE) to deliver a year-over-year increase in earnings on lower revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended March 2019. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The stock might move higher if these key numbers top expectations in the upcoming earnings report, which is expected to be released on May 7. 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 the parent of Hawaii's largest electricity generator is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.39 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +5.4%.

Revenues are expected to be $578.84 million, down 10.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that 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.

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Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for HEI?

For HEI, 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 HEI 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 HEI would post earnings of $0.47 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.45, delivering a surprise of -4.26%.

The company has not been able to beat consensus EPS estimates in any of the last four quarters.

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.

HEI 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



Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Health officials in St. Lucia quarantined a cruise ship after confirming a female crew member has the measles.

St. Lucia's Chief Medical Officer Merlene Fredericks-James declined to name the ship that's under quarantine.

She said a small ship with fewer than 300 passengers and crew is under quarantine.

Health officials in St. Lucia quarantined a cruise ship after confirming a female crew member has the measles.

St. Lucia's Chief Medical Officer Merlene Fredericks-James declined to name the ship that's under quarantine on the Caribbean island, though she said in a statement it's a small ship with fewer than 300 passengers and crew.

The ship has not left St. Lucia. The crew member is in isolation on board the ship and other crew members and passengers are not allowed to disembark, she said.

For more on investing in health-care innovation, click here to join CNBC at our Healthy Returns Summit in New York City on May 21.

Measles is highly contagious. The disease can live in the air up to two hours after a person sneezes, infecting 90% of unvaccinated people who are exposed it.

The Dutch Caribbean, the ship's last port of call before arriving in St. Lucia, alerted officials in St. Lucia that a lab test confirmed the female crew member had the measles.

St. Lucia officials are in "close communication" with regional and international health agencies, such as the Pan American Health Organization and the Caribbean Public Health Agency, Fredericks-James said.

Multiple measles outbreaks are occurring throughout the world. The U.S. is experiencing the worst year for measles in 25 years, with 704 cases confirmed this year, with nearly three-quarters of this year's cases occurring in unvaccinated people.





More From CNBC






Imagine a smart health care world where X-rays and scans are co-read by intelligent machines as well as human technicians for greater accuracy, where hospital rooms are equipped with Alexa devices to answer patients questions or summon nurses, where patients from pregnant mothers to heart attack survivors are monitored remotely and require fewer office visits, where surgeons operate using a robotic arm while watching a magnified monitor, where doctors and hospitals can be paid almost instantaneously with little patient effort.



All those scenarios and more are in various stages of use or development in the U.S. health care industry. Now, imagine the in-house lawyers needed to make it all work.



General counsel Loretta Cecil doesnt have to imagine it. She knows one of the hottest in-house counsel tickets right now lies at the intersection of technology, health care and the law.



Thats the story of my life. Im seeing it every day, quipped Cecil, executive vice president and GC of Change Healthcare. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company, previously called Emdeon, operates the largest financial and administration information exchange in the U.S. for health care providers, payers and patients.



And Cecil is always looking for talent. Indeed, the explosive growth in technology within the health care industry in the past few years has most general counsel continually recruiting. Cecil has about 100 lawyers in her department now, but says she is steadily hiring two or three new attorneys a month. Well probably top out around 120, she says.



But she has competition. As more major companieslike Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Walmart Inc. and even United Parcel Servicemove into the health care space, the demand for health tech attorneys rises. Nancy Reiner, a managing director at legal placement firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, notes that the health care industry is the largest employer in the United States, and there is always fierce competition for the top attorneys.



Everybody under the sun is getting involved in health care now, Reiner said. So were seeing a big increase in searches for health care attorneys. And Ive not had a search for a health care attorney yet where they did not also want some technology experience.



HOW ITS CHANGING



Long gone are those simple days when a patient visited a doctors office, received treatment, paid the $10 or $20 fee and walked out. Today, at the very least, a patient provides identification and proof of insurance, signs a privacy statement, and approves the release of information into the payer system. The providerdoctor, hospital or pharmacysends the patient information through a billing system, such as Cecils Change Healthcare, which transforms the data into a coded format and sends it in batches along to the third-party payer, such as Medicare or an insurance company.



And every one of those steps is regulated. Corporate legal recruiter Michael Evers says health care companies have a large appetite for regulatory attorneys, especially those with privacy and cybersecurity experience.



Two industries most sensitive to data breaches are financial and health care, Evers said. Thats the most valuable and private information there is. His Chicago firm, Evers Legal Search, recruits for companies throughout the country and also offers experienced in-house counsel to companies on an adjunct basis.



Reiner says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is becoming more involved with health care startups, so now health care lawyers are being hired in that startup area at an earlier stage. Regulatory lawyers, especially those with experience dealing with the FDA, are in high demand, and we are seeing multiple suitors for the same attorney, she said.



Cecil says she seeks a mix of talent for her legal department, including those with regulatory or insurance company backgrounds. But she also looks for lawyers from non-health care, highly regulated industries that have experienced technological changes.



A phenomenal hire for me has financial industry tech experience or communications tech experience, and not necessarily health care, the GC said. Those industries have seen it and done it, and they can troubleshoot what we are going to be doing in health care.



Cecil herself has been in health care information technology for 14 years, after working 17 years in-house for AT&T as the communications industry underwent deregulation and high tech changes.



Cynthia MacLean also has made a successful career combining health care and tech for the past 20 years. As general counsel of GE Healthcare Groups commercial activity in the U.S. and Canada, MacLean said she expects all her lawyers to be data-fluent.



Back in the day, she said, if you knew how to do licensing, that was sufficient. But not now. Now you need to know more about how technology is brought to market, and its not by licensing, as well as about data security and privacy. Its highly technical.



MacLean began her career at a law firm, but after eight years moved in-house as senior counsel with Philips Medical Systems. From there she moved into General Electric Co.s digital health care group and eventually became general counsel of that unit for three years before moving into her current GC job two years ago. There has always been a steady demand for lawyers who understand technology in health care, she said.



Christopher Mensoian, assistant general counsel at Wolters Kluwer Health, also knows the value of a tech background. In 2009, Mensoian moved in-house, leaving his transactional practice in a law firm to indulge his fascination with health care and technology law.



After working a succession of three health care software companiesDaedalus Software, athenahealth and Orion Healthhe joined Wolters Kluwer three years ago. His company provides information through texts and software for professionals and students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and allied health sectors. It also publishes Health Law Daily, an online legal newsletter.



Mensoian said, Given the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence, analytics and reporting, health care technology apps, and the health information exchange standard, lawyers need proficiency in this new technology.



He predicts: Health care tech is only going to keep growing.



FUTURE CHALLENGES



The U.S. has one of the largest and most complex health care systems in the world, accounting for about 20 percent of this countrys gross domestic product, according to figures from the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. And its still growing. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show the industry will continue to drive the nations employment increases through 2026 by adding around 4 million new jobs, accounting for about a third of the countrys total job growth. And lawyers will be a vital part of it.



Dale Van Demark, a partner in the health advisory practice at McDermott Will & Emery in Washington, D.C., sees a blending of health care, technology and the biosciences. Van Demark said, Were seeing technology companies, traditionally information tech companies that perhaps have a business or consumer market, beginning to explore health care and life sciences in a variety of ways.



He draws an analogy to how information technology has disrupted some other industries, but adds that health care and life sciences are more complicated than other segments of the economy due to the extreme amount of regulation and the third-party payer system. In other words, providers cant eliminate the middleman in health care as easily as Amazon has eliminated retailers.



Talking about information technology within the health care sector holds a remarkably diverse set of implications, Van Demark said. Well be seeing the effects of it for a long time.



He says any general counsel of a health care company looking for a lawyer, or of a tech company wanting to get into health care, will need to hire someone who really understands health care, and who can deploy technology in a way that is financially sustainable.



He explains it is easy on paper to make the health care industry a lot more efficient, but savvy health tech lawyers know better: What people find in reality is that the reason those arent being done is the regulatory structure prohibits it.



Cecil, Change Healthcares GC, tends to agree, saying her legal team and her company are on a journey to make health care more efficient. Part of that is implementing new technology. In order for us to be successful well need not only consumers and stakeholders, like providers and hospitals and payers, but also the regulators, she said.



Technology is always ahead of the regulation, Cecil noted. And so within the legal community we have to partner with our regulators and legislators to make sure we are not slowing down implementation with over-regulation.



A previous version incorrectly listed Christopher Mensoian's former companies as Daedalus Inc. and Athena Health Care Systems. They are Daedalus Software and athenahealth.



Sue Reisinger, a senior reporter at ALM since 2004, covers general counsel and white collar crime. She is based in Florida. Contact her at sreisinger@alm.com.
Wholesale colocation and cryptocurrency activities accelerating based on continued momentum in cryptocurrency market

Boden, Sweden--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Hydro66 Holdings Corp. (CSE: SIX) (OTCQB: HYHDF) ("Hydro66" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its cryptocurrency operations, which form part of its three-pronged strategy consisting of ultra-low emissions Enterprise colocation for High Performance Computing ("HPC") and both direct and wholesale cryptocurrency operations.

As the cryptocurrency market has seen a gradual improvement, Hydro66 has been able to utilize advantageous hedged power contracts to profitably deploy its own GPU and ASIC equipment to provide hash power to mining pools. The Company continues to selectively purchase GPU and ASIC equipment as difficulty and pricing of computing equipment, combined with in-house analysis, suggests that there is a substantial opportunity to generate cashflow.

Additionally, one of Hydro66's larger wholesale colocation customers has resumed operations again in its facility and there has been an increase in new sales enquiries and current customer expansion.

Anne Graf, CEO, Hydro66 commented, "Hydro66 is well positioned at the right point of the next crypto upcycle. We now own approximately 1.25 MW of GPU and ASIC equipment, which provides high leverage to a rising cryptocurrency market. We will continue to closely monitor the crypto market and use our substantial in-house expertise to benefit from the upswing as we continue to build out our Enterprise colocation business."

There has also been positive momentum in the Company's Enterprise sales efforts. The colocation pipeline has been growing with accelerating interest both within Sweden and from neighbouring countries, particularly Germany.

For additional information, contact: investors@hydro66.com

On Behalf of the Board

Anne Graf, CEO

About Hydro66

Hydro66 owns and operates an award-winning colocation data center in Sweden specializing in High Performance Computing ("HPC") hosting. The Company hosts third party IT infrastructure, utilizing 100% green power, at amongst the EU's lowest power prices and within an ISO27001 accredited facility.

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Hydro66 is uniquely positioned to capitalize on opportunities in blockchain infrastructure as well as the traditional Enterprise colocation data center market. The Company provides truly green power at a leading price, purpose-built space and cooling, telecoms, IT support services and 24/7 physical security in their facility in Boden, Sweden. www.hydro66.com

Forward-Looking Information

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

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44449
By Davide Barbuscia

DUBAI, April 29 (Reuters) - Algeria needs to focus on avoiding economic instability during its political transition after the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

Jihad Azour, IMF's Middle East and Central Asia director, also told Reuters the OPEC member should carry out reforms to help cut deficit and reduce reliance on oil and gas.

Bouteflika resigned on April 2 amid mass demonstrations against his two decade rule, and the protests have not stopped, with activists seeking the departure of Prime Minister Nouredibe Bedoui and interim president Abdelkader Bensalah.

Bensalah is in charge of a 90-day transition period set to end with a presidential election on July 4.

Algeria has been under financial pressure due to a fall in global oil prices since mid-2014. It has failed to diversify the economy away from crude and gas which account for 60 percent of the budget and 94 percent of total exports.

"Structural reforms will allow Algeria to diversify outside oil and to use its strengths, both in terms of a young population, geographical location and wealth it has in different sectors," Azour said.

Algeria's economy grew 2.3 percent in 2018 due to higher oil prices, up from 1.4 percent the previous year, but below a 4 percent government forecast, according to the finance ministry.

The non-energy sector grew 4 percent last year, against 2.2 percent in 2017.

The government last year started implementing changes that allow the central bank to lend directly to the treasury to fund internal public debt. The budget deficit is projected at 9.2 percent of gross domestic product for this year, up from 9 percent in 2018.

"What is important economically for Algeria is to preserve economic stability during this political transition," Azour said. There will also be a need to "anchor stability in the medium term by reducing gradually the level of the budget deficit and avoiding any monetizing of the deficit," he added. (Editing by Ulf Laessing and Peter Graff)
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

We've lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. 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 Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE:LPX).

What Is Insider Selling?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. As Peter Lynch said, 'insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.'

Check out our latest analysis for Louisiana-Pacific

Louisiana-Pacific Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

The Independent Director, Lizanne Gottung, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$205k worth of shares at a price of US$29.25 each. So what is clear is that an insider saw fit to sell at around the current price of US$24.75. While we don't usually like to see insider selling, it's more concerning if the sales take price at a lower price. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern. The only individual insider seller over the last year was Lizanne Gottung.

You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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NYSE:LPX Recent Insider Trading, May 1st 2019

I will like Louisiana-Pacific better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Louisiana-Pacific insiders own 0.4% of the company, worth about US$12m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Louisiana-Pacific Insiders?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Louisiana-Pacific shares in the last quarter. Our analysis of Louisiana-Pacific insider transactions leaves us cautious. But it's good to see that insiders own 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.

But note: Louisiana-Pacific may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free 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.
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For many investors, the main point of stock picking is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But the risk of stock picking is that you will likely buy under-performing companies. Unfortunately, that's been the case for longer term China Ludao Technology Company Limited (HKG:2023) shareholders, since the share price is down 29% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return of around 42%. It's up 4.9% in the last seven days.

View our latest analysis for China Ludao Technology

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Although the share price is down over three years, China Ludao Technology actually managed to grow EPS by 82% per year in that time. Given the share price reaction, one might suspect that EPS is not a good guide to the business performance during the period (perhaps due to a one-off loss or gain). Or else the company was over-hyped in the past, and so its growth has disappointed. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

We note that, in three years, revenue has actually grown at a 18% annual rate, so that doesn't seem to be a reason to sell shares. It's probably worht worth investigating China Ludao Technology further; while we may be missing something on this analysis, there might also be an opportunity.

You can see how revenue and earnings have changed over time in the image below, (click on the chart to see cashflow).

SEHK:2023 Income Statement, May 1st 2019

Take a more thorough look at China Ludao Technology's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

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A Different Perspective

While it's certainly disappointing to see that China Ludao Technology shares lost 0.8% throughout the year, that wasn't as bad as the market loss of 4.3%. Of course, the long term returns are far more important and the good news is that over five years, the stock has returned 2.5% for each year. In the best case scenario the last year is just a temporary blip on the journey to a brighter future. Before forming an opinion on China Ludao Technology you might want to consider these 3 valuation metrics.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
For more than two decades, the iShares MSCI Canada ETF (NYSE: EWC) was the primary game in town for U.S. investors looking to access Canadian stocks via the exchange traded funds wrapper. From its debut in March 1996 until the third quarter of 2018, EWC essentially had the U.S. market for Canada ETFs to itself.

What Happened

EWC gained significant competition in August 2018 in the form of the JPMorgan BetaBuilders Canada ETF (CBOE: BBCA). BBCA posed an immediate threat to EWC's market share because the former charges 0.19 percent per year, or $19 on a $10,000 investment, while the iShares fund carries an annual expense ratio of 0.47 percent.

The two Canada ETFs are not mirror images of each other. EWC tracks the MSCI Canada Custom Capped Index and holds 91 stocks while BBCA, the JPMorgan product, follows the Morningstar Canada Target Market Exposure Index and has 100 holdings.

Why It's Important

This year, the differences between the two Canada ETFs are on full display. EWC entered Monday with a year-to-date gain of 18.78 percent. While impressive, that trails the 19.36 percent returned by BBCA this year.

Investors are taking notice. As of April 25, investors had added $1.3 billion to BBCA since the start of the second quarter, good for the seventh-best total among all ETFs trading in the U.S. To put BBCA's second-quarter inflows into context, the addition of $1.3 billion to that fund is almost half the $2.62 billion in assets under management at the rival EWC.

The BBCA-EWC rivalry is further proof that when it comes to ETFs with similar exposures and investment objectives, fees are often the deciding factor for advisors and investors. Year-to-date, BBCA has added $1.36 billion in new assets while investors have yanked $130.66 million from the pricier EWC.

What's Next

BBCA now has $3.73 billion in assets under management, easily making it the largest Canada ETF trading in New York, a status attained by that fund in less than a year on the market.

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Nearly 90 percent of BBCA's holdings also reside in EWC and the overlap by weight between the two Canada ETFs is 94 percent.

Related Links:

A Bunch of Fee Cuts From Vanguard

Tech ETFs In Focus This Week

See more from Benzinga

 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
OXFORD, Mass., April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IPG Photonics Corporation (IPGP) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019.

Three Months Ended March 31, (In millions, except per share data and percentages) 2019 2018 Change Revenue $ 315.0 $ 359.9 (12) % Gross margin 47.3% 56.5% Operating income $ 68.3 $ 141.1 (52) % Operating margin 21.7% 39.2% Net income attributable to IPG Photonics Corporation $ 55.2 $ 106.3 (48) % Earnings per diluted share $ 1.02 $ 1.93 (47) %

Management Comments

"We were pleased to deliver first quarter results in line with our guidance given the challenging macroeconomic, geopolitical and competitive backdrop," said Dr. Valentin Gapontsev, IPG Photonics' Chief Executive Officer. "During the quarter business trends improved in China driving sequential growth in orders. More importantly, we have met competitive challenges head on through a combination of substantial reduction of component and manufacturing costs and introduction of unmatched product features that improve processing speed, flexibility and quality for our customers. We continue to demonstrate meaningful traction in ultra high power fiber lasers, and invest in new products and applications. We believe this progress substantially expands our addressable market and opens up opportunities that will drive the company's growth for many years."

Financial Highlights

First quarter revenue of $315 million decreased 12% year over year. Materials processing sales accounted for 96% of total revenue, decreasing 11% year over year due to lower sales in cutting and 3D printing applications. Sales into other applications decreased 32% year over year but with strong order growth in communications and government applications. The acquisition of Genesis Systems Group contributed $24 million during the quarter.

Sales of high power continuous wave (CW) lasers, representing 57% of total revenue, decreased 22% year over year. Sales of fiber lasers at 6 kilowatts of power or greater were nearly 50% of all high power CW laser sales, and high power CW lasers at 10 kilowatts or greater increased more than 40% year over year. Sales of other high power lasers declined year over year due to the weaker demand environment in China and Europe and lower average selling prices. By region, sales decreased 24% in China, 24% in Europe and 20% in Japan but increased 65% in North America on a year over year basis.

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Earnings per diluted share ("EPS") of $1.02 decreased 47% year over year. Slightly lower than expected absorption of fixed manufacturing costs and a higher inventory provision reduced EPS by $0.04 relative to guidance. In addition, higher R&D material expenses, nonrecurring legal costs and foreign exchange losses reduced EPS by $0.04. The effective tax rate in the quarter was 24%, which benefited from certain discrete tax items. During the first quarter, IPG generated $46 million in cash from operations. Capital expenditures were $33 million, which included $21 million for the purchase of a new facility in Massachusetts.

Business Outlook and Financial Guidance

"We have seen further signs of improving business conditions in China, our largest region, with sequential growth in orders and good momentum through the first three weeks of the second quarter. Our first quarter book-to-bill ratio was above one, in line with normal seasonality, albeit off a lower base given the weaker macroeconomic climate. If this momentum in China is maintained, it should continue to drive better performance. Performance in Europe is generally stable but down from peak levels, reflecting reported economic trends in the region. We expect pricing headwinds related to competition in China to continue. We believe our innovative new products, accessories and complete solutions, which provide customers with a superior value proposition, both cement and enhance our market leadership position." said Dr. Gapontsev.

For the second quarter of 2019, IPG expects revenue of $340 million to $370 million. The Company expects the second quarter tax rate to be approximately 25%. IPG anticipates delivering earnings per diluted share in the range of $1.25 to $1.55, with 53.0 million basic common shares outstanding and 53.9 million diluted common shares outstanding.

"Commentary from our largest machine tool OEM customers continues to improve, but we do not yet have clear visibility into their full year order plans. As such, we do not believe it is appropriate to provide full year revenue guidance at this time. As a reminder, we would expect year-over-year trends to improve in the back half of 2019 driven by market recovery and strength in new products and solutions," added Dr. Gapontsev.

As discussed in more detail in the "Safe Harbor" passage of this news release, actual results may differ from this guidance due to various factors including, but not limited to, product demand, order cancellations and delays, competition, tariffs, trade policy changes and general economic conditions. This guidance is based upon current market conditions and expectations, and is subject to the risks outlined in the Company's reports with the SEC, and assumes exchange rates relative to the U.S. Dollar of Euro 0.89, Russian Ruble 65, Japanese Yen 111 and Chinese Yuan 6.73, respectively.

Supplemental Financial Information

Additional supplemental financial information is provided in the First Quarter 2019 Financial Data Workbook available on the investor relations section of the Company's website at investor.ipgphotonics.com .

Conference Call Reminder

The Company will hold a conference call today, April 30, 2019 at 10:00 am ET. To access the call, please dial 877-407-6184 in the US or 201-389-0877 internationally. A live webcast of the call will also be available and archived on the investor relations section of the Company's website at investor.ipgphotonics.com .

Contact

James Hillier

Vice President of Investor Relations

IPG Photonics Corporation

508-373-1467

jhillier@ipgphotonics.com

About IPG Photonics Corporation

IPG Photonics Corporation is the leader in high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers used primarily in materials processing and other diverse applications. The companys mission is to make its fiber laser technology the tool of choice in mass production. IPG accomplishes this mission by delivering superior performance, reliability and usability at a lower total cost of ownership compared with other types of lasers and non-laser tools, allowing end users to increase productivity and decrease costs. A member of the S&P 500 Index, IPG is headquartered in Oxford, Massachusetts and has more than 25 facilities worldwide. For more information, visit www.ipgphotonics.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Information and statements provided by IPG and its employees, including statements in this press release, that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks and uncertainties. Any statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, introduction of unmatched product features that improve processing speed, flexibility and quality for our customers, meaningful traction in ultra high power fiber lasers, and investment in new products and applications, expanding our addressable market and opening up opportunities that will drive the company's growth for many years, momentum in China continuing to drive better performance, continued pricing headwinds related to competition in China, our innovative new products, accessories and complete solutions providing customers with a superior value proposition, cementing and enhancing our market leadership position, improving commentary from our largest machine tool OEM customers, and revenue and earnings guidance for Q2 2019. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with the strength or weakness of the business conditions in industries and geographic markets that IPG serves, particularly the effect of downturns in the markets IPG serves; uncertainties and adverse changes in the general economic conditions of markets; IPG's ability to penetrate new applications for fiber lasers and increase market share; the rate of acceptance and penetration of IPG's products; inability to manage risks associated with international customers and operations; changes in trade controls and trade policies; foreign currency fluctuations; high levels of fixed costs from IPG's vertical integration; the appropriateness of IPG's manufacturing capacity for the level of demand; competitive factors, including declining average selling prices; the effect of acquisitions and investments; inventory write-downs; asset impairment charges; intellectual property infringement claims and litigation; interruption in supply of key components; manufacturing risks; government regulations and trade sanctions; and other risks identified in IPG's SEC filings. Readers are encouraged to refer to the risk factors described in IPG's Annual Report on Form 10-K (filed with the SEC on February 27, 2019) and its periodic reports filed with the SEC, as applicable. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to rely on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. IPG undertakes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

IPG PHOTONICS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME Three Months Ended March 31, 2019

2018

(In thousands, except per share data) Net sales $ 315,047 $ 359,864 Cost of sales 166,136 156,502 Gross profit 148,911 203,362 Operating expenses: Sales and marketing 19,275 13,516 Research and development 32,496 28,546 General and administrative 27,212 25,495 Loss (gain) on foreign exchange 1,613 (5,295 ) Total operating expenses 80,596 62,262 Operating income 68,315 141,100 Other income (expense), net: Interest income, net 3,952 311 Other income (expense), net (9 ) 443 Total other income 3,943 754 Income before provision of income taxes 72,258 141,854 Provision for income taxes (17,342 ) (35,520 ) Net income 54,916 106,334 Less: net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests (243 )  Net income attributable to IPG Photonics Corporation $ 55,159 $ 106,334 Net income attributable to IPG Photonics Corporation per share: Basic $ 1.04 $ 1.98 Diluted $ 1.02 $ 1.93 Weighted average shares outstanding: Basic 53,001 53,694 Diluted 53,874 55,182





IPG PHOTONICS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS March 31, December 31, 2019

2018

(In thousands, except share and per

share data) ASSETS

Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 548,938 $ 544,358 Short-term investments 481,139 500,432 Accounts receivable, net 231,850 255,509 Inventories 417,817 403,579 Prepaid income taxes 50,961 43,782 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 61,389 57,764 Total current assets 1,792,094 1,805,424 Deferred income taxes, net 17,438 19,165 Goodwill 110,349 100,722 Intangible assets, net 93,280 87,139 Property, plant and equipment, net 570,756 543,068 Other assets 41,954 18,932 Total assets $ 2,625,871 $ 2,574,450 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY

Current liabilities: Current portion of long-term debt $ 3,688 $ 3,671 Accounts payable 39,970 36,302 Accrued expenses and other liabilities 153,151 154,640 Income taxes payable 13,007 51,161 Total current liabilities 209,816 245,774 Deferred income taxes and other long-term liabilities 106,988 80,734 Long-term debt, net of current portion 40,779 41,707 Total liabilities 357,583 368,215 Commitments and contingencies IPG Photonics Corporation stockholders' equity: Common stock, $0.0001 par value, 175,000,000 shares authorized; 54,538,307 and 53,108,213 shares issued and outstanding, respectively, at March 31, 2019; 54,371,701 and 52,941,607 shares issued and outstanding, respectively, at December 31, 2018 5 5 Treasury stock, at cost (1,430,094 shares held at both March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018) (224,998 ) (224,998 ) Additional paid-in capital 746,926 744,937 Retained earnings 1,903,659 1,848,500 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (157,751 ) (162,896 ) Total IPG Photonics Corporation stockholders' equity 2,267,841 2,205,548 Noncontrolling interests 447 687 Total equity 2,268,288 2,206,235 Total liabilities and equity $ 2,625,871 $ 2,574,450





IPG PHOTONICS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS Three Months Ended March 31, 2019

2018

(In thousands) Cash flows from operating activities: Net income $ 54,916 $ 106,334 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 22,802 19,223 Provisions for inventory, warranty & bad debt 9,912 9,318 Other 16,212 11,829 Changes in assets and liabilities that used cash: Accounts receivable and accounts payable 24,808 9,076 Inventories (19,719 ) (49,744 ) Other (63,381 ) (6,383 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 45,550 99,653 Cash flows from investing activities: Purchases of property, plant and equipment (32,839 ) (39,113 ) Proceeds from sales of property, plant and equipment 181 210 Purchases of investments (178,101 ) (70,777 ) Proceeds from sales of investments 202,856 70,161 Acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired (20,005 )  Other (134 ) 76 Net cash used in investing activities (28,042 ) (39,443 ) Cash flows from financing activities: Principal payments on long-term borrowings (911 ) (895 ) Proceeds from issuance of common stock under employee stock option and purchase plans less payments for taxes related to net share settlement of equity awards (6,149 ) 3,113 Purchase of treasury stock, at cost  (20,071 ) Net cash used in financing activities (7,060 ) (17,853 ) Effect of changes in exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents (5,868 ) 16,866 Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 4,580 59,223 Cash and cash equivalents  Beginning of period 544,358 909,900 Cash and cash equivalents  End of period $ 548,938 $ 969,123 Supplemental disclosures of cash flow information: Cash paid for interest $ 749 $ 799 Cash paid for income taxes $ 51,438 $ 19,546





IPG PHOTONICS CORPORATION

SUPPLEMENTAL SCHEDULE OF ACQUISITION RELATED COSTS AND OTHER CHARGES Three Months Ended March 31, 2019 2018 (In thousands) Step-up of inventory (1):

Cost of sales $  $ 282 Amortization of intangible assets: Cost of sales 1,346 1,169 Sales and marketing 1,810 602 Research and development 160 160 Total acquisition related costs and other charges $ 3,316 $ 2,213

(1) 2018 amount relates to step-up adjustments on inventory sold during the period.



IPG PHOTONICS CORPORATION

SUPPLEMENTAL SCHEDULE OF STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION AND ACCOUNTING STANDARD IMPACTS TO NET INCOME AND EARNINGS PER SHARE Three Months Ended March 31, 2019

2018

(In thousands) Cost of sales $ 2,039 $ 1,568 Sales and marketing 787 556 Research and development 1,857 1,416 General and administrative 3,455 2,875 Total stock-based compensation 8,138 6,415 Tax benefit recognized (1,916 ) (1,431 ) Net stock-based compensation $ 6,222 $ 4,984




SANTIAGO, Chile, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ITAU CORPBANCA (NYSE: ITCB; SSE: ITAUCORP) announced today its Management Discussion & Analysis Report (MD&A Report) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019.



The financial information included in the MD&A Report is based in our managerial model that we adjust for non-recurring events and for additional reclassifications of P&L lines in order to provide a better understanding of our performance.

For the full MD&A Report, please refer to the following link:

https://ir.itau.cl/files/doc_financials/quarterly_reports/2019/q4/2019-Q1-MD-A.pdf

On Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 11:00 A.M. Santiago time (11:00 AM ET), the Companys management team will host a conference call to discuss the financial results. The call will be hosted by Gabriel Moura, Itau Corpbancas Chief Financial Officer, and Claudia Labbe, Itau Corpbancas Head of Investor Relations.

Conference Call Details:

Participants should dial into the call 10 minutes before the scheduled time using the following numbers: +1 (877) 790-7811 (US Toll Free Dial In), or +1 (647) 689-5491 (Standard International Dial-In). Please quote "Itau Corpbanca" to the operator.

A telephonic replay of the conference call will be available Friday, May 9, 2019, by dialing +1(800) 585-8367 (Encore Dial In). Access Code: 9461549#

Slides and Audio Webcast:

There will also be a live, and then archived, webcast of the conference call, available through the Companys website. Participants in the live webcast should register on the website approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the webcast. The webcast can be found at:

https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1957313/4642EEAFB0F531A975CF8C2382371326

About Itau Corpbanca

ITAU CORPBANCA (NYSE: ITCB; SSE: ITAUCORP) is the entity resulting from the merger of Banco Itau Chile with and into Corpbanca on April 1, 2016. The current ownership structure is: 38.14% owned by Itau Unibanco, 28.57% owned by the Saieh Family and 33.29% owned by minority shareholders. Itau Unibanco is the sole controlling shareholder of the merged bank. Within this context and without limiting the above, Itau Unibanco and CorpGroup have signed a shareholders agreement relating to corporate governance, dividend policy (based on performance and capital metrics), transfer of shares, liquidity and other matters.

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The bank is the fifth largest private bank in Chile and as per its mandate is the banking platform for future expansion in Latin America, specifically in Chile, Colombia and Peru. Itau Corpbanca is a commercial bank based in Chile with additional operations in Colombia and Panama. In addition, Itau Corpbanca has a branch in New York and representative offices in Madrid and Lima. Focused on large and medium sized companies and individuals, Itau Corpbanca offers universal banking products. In 2012, the bank initiated a regionalization process and as of the date hereof has acquired two banks in Colombia Banco Corpbanca Colombia and Helm Bank becoming the first Chilean bank with banking subsidiaries abroad. The merger with Banco Itau Chile and the business combination of our two banks in Colombia, represent the continued success of our regionalization process.

As of February 28, 2019, according to the Chilean Superintendency of Banks, Itau Corpbanca was the fifth largest private bank in Chile in terms of the overall size of its customer loan portfolio, equivalent to 10.1% market share. As of January 31, 2019, according to the Colombian Superintendency of Finance, Itau Corpbanca Colombia was the seventh largest bank in Colombia in terms of total loans and the eighth largest bank in Colombia in terms of total deposits, as reported under local regulatory and accounting principles. As of the same date, its market share by loans reached 4.7%.

Investor Relations  Itau Corpbanca
Former Vice President Joe Biden says impeachment is the only "constitutional resort" Congress could turn to if President Trump blocks followup investigations of Robert Mueller's Russia report.

Biden tells "Good Morning America" that Mueller's 448-page report included several areas of inquiry that were "left undone."

Trump and his business sued to block a subpoena seeking information from an accounting firm about Trump's finances. The president and his family also sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One to block House subpoenas for his financial information.

Democratic 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden said Congress will have "no alternative" but pursuing impeachment if President Donald Trump or his associates block investigations based on special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report.

In an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America" broadcast Tuesday, Biden said that Mueller's 448-page report on Russian election interference included "about seven or eight things that are left undone."

"The Congress is attempting to take that up" for investigation as they should be doing, said Biden, who launched his presidential campaign last week. "And if in fact [Trump or his associates] block the investigation, they have no alternative but to go to the only other constitutional resort they have," which Biden said "is impeachment."

Read more: Joe Biden gets a polling boost in his first week in the 2020 campaign

Biden has taken aim squarely at Trump since announcing his candidacy, and now has established his own line in the sand on impeachment. But he said in the ABC interview that "my job in the meantime is to make sure he's not back as president of the United States of America."

The White House did not immediately provide a comment on Biden's remarks.

The fight over the Mueller report

The findings of the special counsel's 22-month probe into Russia's meddling, potential collusion with the Trump campaign and possible obstruction of justice by Trump himself were finally revealed this month with the release of a redacted version of the report.

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Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to show that Trump or people connected to him coordinated with the Kremlin. He made no determination on whether Trump obstructed justice, but noted 10 instances of potential obstruction by the president. Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that an obstruction-of-justice charge was not warranted, based on the report.

Trump and Republicans have claimed that the outcome of the investigation offers a total exoneration of the president. Democrats, however, have seized on many of the details in the report, raising alarms about Trump's conduct and vowing to continue their own probes of Russian interference and other matters related to the president, including his finances.

Trump has made clear he intends to put up a fight. Last week, Trump and his business sued Democratic House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings to block a subpoena seeking information from an accounting firm about Trump's finances. And Trump and his family filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Deutsche Bank and Capitol One to block more subpoenas from House Democrats.

The White House has refused to let some members of the administration comply with requests from House Democrats to testify. And Barr himself, scheduled to testify before House Democrats on Thursday, has reportedly threatened not to show up because of disputes with lawmakers over the format of the event. If he does skip the hearing, Democrats may subpoena him to testify.

The question of whether to pursue impeachment proceedings has split Democrats , including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several 2020 hopefuls. Presidential contenders Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., are among those who support impeachment .





More From CNBC


BERLIN (AP)  The latest on May Day events and rallies around the world (all times local):

9:15 p.m.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched to the rhythm of traditional music and tambourines while opposing austerity measures, with many demanding the ouster of a federal control board overseeing the U.S. territory's finances.

Protesters in San Juan also called Wednesday for much faster federal help in the island's recovery from September 2017's Hurricane Maria.

Many in the crowd waved Puerto Rican flags made in black and white rather than red, white and blue to symbolize mourning for the territory's plight.

Participants also urged the local government to save a public pension system that faces nearly $50 billion in payments it doesn't have funds to cover.

A protester dressed as comic book superhero Spiderman was arrested after jumping over a street barrier and hugging a police officer.

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7 p.m.

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have taken part in the country's annual May Day march, filing past former President Raul Castro and successor Miguel Diaz-Canel in an event dedicated to denouncing new restrictions and sanctions announced by the U.S. government.

The crowd held an enormous white banner that read, "Unity, Commitment and Victory" in red letters.

The U.S. recently said it would place a new cap on the amount of money that families in the United States can send relatives in Cuba and moved to restrict "non-family travel."

Loudspeakers blared the words of a march leader: "No foreign or extra-territorial law will take decisions in our country."

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4:30 p.m.

Italian news agency ANSA says two protesters and a police officer were injured when police blocked a demonstration to oppose construction of a high-speed rail tunnel between France and Italy.

ANSA said none of the injuries on Wednesday were reported to be serious.

The group of protesters who assembled on a street in Turin included members of the 5-Star Movement, which opposes the tunnel through the Alps. Torino city councilor Damiano Carretto said on Facebook he was hit on the head and hand with a police truncheon.

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The movement's partner in governing Italy, the League, has supporters that consider the tunnel vital. The 35.7-mile (57.5-kilometer) long Turin-Lyon High-Speed Train link is a key part of a European Union project linking southern Spain with eastern Europe.

A deputy with the Democratic Party has accused the rival 5-Stars of pushing and verbally abusing Democrats at May Day celebrations.

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4:15 p.m.

French police and some violent protesters have clashed again during a May Day march in Paris.

Some of the troublemakers, wearing masks and black hoods, could be seen throwing rocks and other objects at riot police, who responded with tear gas and flash grenades near the Place d'Italie square.

More than 7,400 police officers were deployed on Wednesday for May Day events in Paris. More than 200 people had been arrested by mid-afternoon.

Authorities had warned against the presence of "radicalized protesters."

The masked protesters clashed with police earlier at the starting point of the main march, near Montparnasse train station.

Activists with France's yellow vest movement joined the traditional march to show solidarity with labor unions in rejecting French President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

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4:00 p.m.

An activist group says more than 100 people have been arrested at May Day rallies across Russia, with over half of the detentions taking place in St. Petersburg.

The OVD-Info group said Wednesday that at least 68 people were detained in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, in an anti-government contingent that authorities had sanctioned as part of the main May Day demonstration. Two people reported injuries.

Police brutally manhandled people in the opposition contingent, including local lawmaker Maxim Reznik. He was released quickly because of his status as a public official.

Reznik told the Dozhd TV station that officers detained almost everyone in his protest group and would not give the reason for the arrests.

Some of them were carrying placards saying "Putin is not immortal" in reference to President Vladimir Putin who has been at the helm of the country since 2000. Most of them are supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

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3:35 p.m.

Police have briefly clashed with protesters in Goteborg, Sweden's second-largest city, and in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, as May Day rallies were being held.

In Sweden, protesters threw cobblestones and fireworks at police as they were being kept away from reaching a rally by a neo-Nazi movement that had received official permission to march.

In Copenhagen, helmeted police circled their vans around a group of hooded people in black who were shouting anti-police slogans, trying to keep them away from other May Day demonstrations.

A handful of people were detained in both countries.

The heaviest May Day clashes in Europe took place in France, where police clashed with stone-throwing protesters as tens of thousands of people started marching in Paris on Wednesday under tight security. More than 200 arrests were made.

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2:30 p.m.

Car-sharing companies are urging customers in Berlin not to park vehicles in areas where May Day protests are expected.

Miles, which has a fleet of cars in the German capital that can be reserved with an app, warned customers against leaving them in parts of the Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain district s until Thursday.

Rallies and May Day celebrations are planned in both areas and have in the past erupted into violence, with protesters torching vehicles.

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1:10 p.m.

French protesters and police have clashed briefly in Paris as thousands of people gather for a May Day march.

Authorities fear some troublemakers could join anti-government protesters and union workers.

Police used some tear gas to control a crowd near Paris' Montparnasse train station.

AP reporters observed groups of hooded people in black shouting anti-police slogans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or waving union flags.

French authorities warned "radical activists" may join the Paris demonstration and renew scenes of violence that marked previous yellow vest protests and May Day demonstrations in the past two years.

More than 7,400 police have been deployed in Paris.

Yellow vests have joined traditional May Day union march to show their common rejection of French President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

___

1 p.m.

Spain's workers are marching on May Day in major cities to make their voices heard days before acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts negotiating with other parties to form a new government.

Spain's leading labor unions are pressing for Sanchez to roll back business-friendly labor and fiscal reforms that have remained in place since the previous conservative administration.

Sanchez's Socialist party won Sunday's election on Sunday, but will still need other parties to form a government and pass laws. Sanchez will meet with the leaders of the three other top vote-getters next week. The far-left United We Can party is offering to enter the new Socialist government.

Unai Sordo, leader of Spain's CCOO union, says in Madrid that "the result of the general elections gives us the possibility for a progressive political majority."

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12:30 p.m.

Activists say more than a dozen people have been detained in Russia's second-largest city for participating in an unsanctioned political protest on May Day.

The OVD-Info group that monitors detentions of political activists says that at least 15 people were detained at the May Day rally in St. Petersburg. Most of them are supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The activists were marching with the main May Day demonstration through central St. Petersburg. Some of them were carrying placards saying "Putin is not immortal" in reference to President Vladimir Putin who has been at the helm of the country since 2000.

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12:15 p.m.

An opposition party in South Africa is using May Day to rally voters a week before the country's national election.

Economic Freedom Fighters members, wearing their signature red shirts and berets, gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg to cheer in support of populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address issues like economic inequality and land reform.

The EFF has made some South Africans uncomfortable, however, with comments about foreigners and whites.

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12 p.m.

Greece has been left without national rail, island ferry and other transport services for a day as unions hold strikes and rallies to celebrate May Day.

Hundreds of people gathered in central Athens Wednesday for three separate rallies and marches to parliament organized by rival unions and left-wing groups.

The Greek capital was left without public bus, trolley bus and urban rail services all day due to a 24-hour transport union strike, although the city's metro trains were running most of the day.

The national train and island ferry services are set to resume Thursday.

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11:55 a.m.

Russian authorities say that about 100,000 people are taking part in a May Day rally in central Moscow.

Moscow police said on Wednesday that the rally organized by Kremlin-friendly trade unions on Red Square attracted around 100,000 people.

Over the years, the May Day in Russia has transformed from the occasion for rallies for workers' rights to an official event carefully orchestrated by Kremlin-controlled groups.

Opposition activists, however, often try to use the May Day to promote their agenda.

The respected activists' group OVD-Info which compiles police reports on detentions of political activists said that six political activists have been detained in Moscow before the morning rallies. Separately, in the remote Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia's Far East, police have detained at least 10 people who showed up at the local May Day rally wearing yellow vests in an apparent nod to the protest movement in France.

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11:45 a.m.

Turkish police detained May Day demonstrators who tried to march toward Istanbul's symbolic main square in defiance of a ban.

Turkey declared Taksim Square off-limits to May Day celebrations citing security concerns. Roads leading to the square were blocked Wednesday and police allowed only small groups of labor union representatives to lay wreaths at a monument.

Still, small groups chanting "May Day is Taksim and it cannot be banned," attempted to break the blockade. The official Anadolu news agency said more than two dozen were detained.

Trade unions and political parties will mark the day with rallies at government-designated areas in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara.

Taksim holds symbolic value for Turkey's labor movement. In 1977, 34 people were killed there during a May Day event when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.

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11 a.m.

Ahead of a May Day rally in over a dozen German cities, Germany's biggest trade unions are urging voters to participate in this month's European elections and reject nationalism and right-wing populism.

The DGB, a confederation of unions with almost 6 million members, said Wednesday that the European Union has helped ensure peace on the continent for decades and brought significant benefits to millions, from paid holidays to maternity protection.

The unions called for ambitious EU-wide investments to boost employment and growth, saying "people must feel that the EU improves their lives in a lasting and tangible way."

The unions warned that the political and economic turmoil in Britain following its vote to leave the European Union nationalism "shows what happens if those who stoke fear but have no plan for the future gain the upper hand."

___

10 a.m.

Thousands of trade union members and activists are marking May Day by marching through Asia's capitals and demanding better working conditions and expanding labor rights.

A South Korean major umbrella trade union has issued a joint statement with a North Korean workers' organization calling for the Koreas to push ahead with engagement commitments made during a series of inter-Korean summits last year.

Many of the plans agreed between the Koreas, including joint economic projects, have been held back by a lack of progress in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

May Day rallies are also being held in the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar and elsewhere in Asia.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 (Reuters) - Malaysia will defer the imposition of an export duty on crude palm oil to Dec. 31, the primary industries minister said in a report on Wednesday, in a bid to boost palm oil exports and expand into new markets.

Palm oil stockpiles in Malaysia, the world's second-largest producer, climbed to the highest in at least 19 years in December, a situation made worse by a European Union move to cut out its use after the European Commission determined that palm oil cultivation has resulted in excessive deforestation.

The deferment means the export duty on Malaysian palm oil will remain at zero percent, minister Teresa Kok said, according to a report by national newswire Bernama.

"The ministry encourages producers and exporters to use this opportunity to export more palm oil. This will also benefit oil palm smallholders," Kok said. (Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Kim Coghill)
April 30 (Reuters) - Massachusetts gaming regulators said on Tuesday that Wynn Resorts Ltd can retain its gaming license needed to run a $2.6 billion casino built outside of Boston with a fine and license conditions.

The watchdog said it would impose a $35 million fine on Wynn and a $500,000 fine on Chief Executive Officer Matthew Maddox, in addition to a series of license conditions, including an independent monitor to oversee the company's adherence to policies.

The decision follows the Massachusetts Gaming Commission's investigative report earlier in April that concluded that former executives of Wynn Resorts concealed sexual misconduct allegations against the casino operator's billionaire founder, Steve Wynn.

"We are in the process of reviewing that decision and considering the full range of our next steps," Wynn Resorts said in a statement.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru and Nate Raymond)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that military action is on the table in Venezuela, he told FOX Business on Wednesday.

The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistentmilitary action is possibleif thats whats requiredthats what the United States will do, he told FOX Business Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday. "We are trying to do everything we can to avoid violence Wed prefer a peaceful transition of government there where Maduro leaves and a new election is held.

Protests erupted across Venezuela on Tuesday after opposition leader Juan Guaido called for the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro. Secretary Pompeo said that he expects lots of people taking to the streets today to defend their democracy.

President Trump accused Cuba of propping up Maduros government and threated a full and complete embargo and sanctions, if its military did not immediately stop operations in Venezuela.

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In addition to a handful of actions already taken by the Trump Administration to stop Cubas support, there are more that we will continue to work on, Pompeo said adding that well do the same for the Russians.

As President [Trump] saidthey gotta goand the Russians need to have the cost for that race, he said. We are focused on making sure that we do we can to take this malign activity, which is undermining Juan Guaido, who is the dually elected leader of Venezuela and take these supports out from underneath him so that he will depart the country.

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More than 100,000 millionaires packed their bags and moved to an entirely new country last year, according to new research.

About 108,000 people with assets valued at $1 million or more picked up and moved, according to a report from New World Wealth released on Tuesday, a 14 percent year over year increase.

Overall, total private wealth was about $204 trillion as of the end of 2018. It is estimated that number will rise by another 43 percent through 2028, reaching $291 trillion.

There are about 14 million people with assets of more than $1 million across the globe, including 560,000 with assets of at least $10 million and 25,000 with at least $100 million.

The number of global billionaires totaled 2,140.

Heres a look at where those wealthy individuals migrated in 2018:

Australia

Australia saw a net inflow of high-net-worth individuals last year of 12,000 individuals  the most of any country. Those figured represented a 3 percent increase.

According to the study, Australia has consistently been a top destination for the worlds wealthiest people because of its low-crime rate, growing economy, favorable climate and tax rates. While Australia actually charges income and corporate tax rates that are relatively high, it does not impose an inheritance tax, which allows wealthy people to build up businesses to pass on.

United States

About 10,000 high-net-worth individuals migrated into the U.S. last year, however, on the whole, the U.S. saw no net increase in the number of those residents.

Among the benefits luring rich people to the U.S. are the economy, its status as a world economic leader and the fact that many top companies are headquartered there.

While wealthy individuals within the country appear to be avoiding some of the most populous cities  which tend to be located in high-tax states  inbound migrants gravitated toward New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami, according to the study.

Canada

Canada received 4,000 inbound individuals with assets valued at more than $1 million  boosting its share by 1 percent.

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Commonly-perceived tax havens were among the top 10 destinations for migrating millionaires  including Switzerland (5), the United Arab Emirates (6), islands in the Caribbean (7) and Singapore (9).

On the other hand, millionaires were quick to leave some other countries in droves, thanks to financial concerns, taxes, standards of living, religious conditions, government oppression  among other items.

Heres which countries saw the highest outflows:

China

Fifteen-thousand wealthy people left China last year. While researchers noted that the outbound rich is not necessarily concerning for the country  which is still producing more wealthy people than it is losing  it could lose more if a trade war with the U.S. continues.

Russia

Following China, Russia took the second highest spot for outbound millionaire migrants, at 7,000.

Similar to China, researchers noted the outflow wasnt concerning in the broader scope of wealth formation in Russia.

India

India lost about 2.0 percent of its residents with at least $1 million in assets, which was equal to about 5,000 people.

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Mundoro Capital Inc. (TSXV: MUN) (www.mundoro.com) ("Mundoro" or the "Company") reports that it has been notified by Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC") of its decision to undertake the Stage Two Earn-In on the Borsko-Jezero ("Borsko") license under the Earn-In Agreement between Mundoro and JOGMEC. Mundoro is also pleased to provide an update on the exploration activity under the Company's option agreements with earn-in third parties.

Under the Earn-In Agreement with JOGMEC, Mundoro granted to JOGMEC an earn-in option on four of Mundoro's Serbian exploration licenses: Dubrava, Padina, Borsko Jezero and Zeleznik located within the northern portion of the Timok Magmatic Complex in northeastern Serbia. Under the terms of the Earn-In Agreement, JOGMEC was required to spend US$4 million to earn-in a 51% interest. JOGMEC spent US$5.09 million over the course of the Stage One Earn-In, which included US$500,000 in operator fees payable to Mundoro. JOGMEC has now elected to undertake the Stage Two Earn-In to sole fund exploration on the Borkso license. If JOGMEC completes the Stage Two Earn-In, JOGMEC will acquire an additional 24% interest in that license by having sole funded exploration and development expenditures of no less than US$32 million over a five-year term. JOGMEC may choose to cease sole funding at any time. JOGMEC has notified Mundoro the remaining three licenses: Zeleznik, Dubrava and Padina will be relinquished and revert 100% to Mundoro.

Teo Dechev, CEO & President of Mundoro commented, "Mundoro has benefited from establishing earn-in relationships to fund exploration programs. As a result of having optionee funded exploration programs, Mundoro conserves cash. At the end of Q1-2019, the treasury of the Company was approximately C$3.2 million. Mundoro continues to have discussions with interested third parties seeking options on our available projects, confirming the growing interest in exploring the Tethyan Belt in Timok, Serbia as well as Bulgaria."

Story continues

Update on Exploration Activity under the various Option Agreements

JOGMEC-Mundoro Project in Serbia

Mundoro has been appointed as the Operator for the JOGMEC-Mundoro Project and will receive an operator fee for operating the program. The Year 1 exploration program for the Stage Two Earn-In at Borsko is scheduled to commence in May 2019 and will focus on completing further geophysics and further drill testing in the second half of 2019.

Freeport-Mundoro Project in Serbia

Mundoro completed the initial target testing drill program at Savinac and Bacevica licenses, sole-funded by Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation (" Freeport ") as part of the Earn-In Agreement with Freeport, in which Mundoro has granted to Freeport an option to earn-in to the Freeport-Mundoro Projects. This exploration program included initial target test drilling of 4,778 meters over 7 drill holes (see Mundoro's press release dated April 5, 2019 at www.mundoro.com).





The Company is Operator for the Freeport-Mundoro Project and receives an operator fee for operating the program. The program for the remainder of 2019 is focused on completing geophysics, alteration mapping, interpretation and potentially further drill testing of targets in the second half of 2019.

JOGMEC Generative Program Alliance in Bulgaria

The Company entered into a strategic alliance with JOGMEC in which Mundoro is carrying out activities in Bulgaria under the direction of a joint Technical Committee with a view to identify areas of interests that merit additional exploration and/or development work. The activity commenced with data acquisition to create a dataset with multiple layers incorporating historical information including but not limited to, geology, metallogeny, geophysics, alteration, geochemistry, structural analysis and other data. The dataset has been set up in a manner to maximize its use for interpretation to identify exploration targets.





Mundoro is Operator for the Generative Program Alliance and receives an operator fee for operating the program. The generative program is ongoing and will continue throughout 2019.

Additional Third-Party Discussions

Mundoro continues to have discussions with third parties regarding optioning the Company's available projects. The projects available to third parties include in Serbia: the two Timok South licenses, Sumrakovac and Osnic, the relinquished Timok North licenses, Zeleznik, Padina and Dubrava as well as various licenses in Bulgaria.

About JOGMEC

JOGMEC was established in February 2004, following the integration of the former Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC) and Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ). It is a corporation under the Japanese Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI), with a mandate of investing in developing minerals projects worldwide to help secure a stable supply of natural resources for Japanese industry.

About Mundoro

Mundoro is a Canadian mineral exploration and development public company focused on building value for its shareholders through directly investing in mineral projects that have the ability to generate future returns for shareholders. The Company holds a diverse portfolio of projects in Serbia and Bulgaria as well as an investment in a producing gold mine in Bulgaria. There are eight licenses in Serbia, one of is optioned to JOGMEC, two licenses are optioned to Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation and five licenses are available for joint venture. In Bulgaria, Mundoro has formed a Generative Alliance with JOGMEC. Mundoro's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "MUN".

For further information please contact:

Teo Dechev, CEO, President and Director of Mundoro Capital Inc. at +1-604-669-8055

Qualified Person

Technical information contained in this Press Release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. G. Magaranov, P. Geo., Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This News Release contains forward-looking information and statements ("forward-looking statements") under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included or incorporated by reference in this News Release are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the completion of exploration work on any projects and licenses and results of that exploration work, the prospect of one or more joint ventures and other statements regarding activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in the future. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "promising", "encouraging" or "continue" or similar words or the negative thereof. The material assumptions that were applied in making the forward-looking statements in this News Release include expectations as to the Company's future strategy and business plan and execution of the Company's existing plans. There can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which these forward-looking statements are based will occur. We caution readers of this News Release not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements contained in this News Release, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include general economic and market conditions, changes in law, regulatory processes, the status of Mundoro's assets and financial condition, actions of competitors and the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities. The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this News Release are made as of the date of this News Release and Mundoro undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and for a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Corporate Logo

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44471
By Noah Browning

LONDON (Reuters) - From algorithms to track "dark" ships smuggling stolen crude oil to an online licensing system to undercut corruption, one Nigerian government agency hopes it can use new technology to tackle theft which has cost the country billions.

But the initiative by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) may be too late to stem the migration of energy majors to the relative safety of drilling at sea, driven offshore by an illegal trade that Nigeria's sprawling bureaucracy has for decades proved unable or unwilling to tackle.

Deep in the maze of creeks in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, thieves tap pipelines and siphon the crude via rubber hoses up to 2 kilometres long into barrels aboard small craft.

They then sail alongside larger vessels, allowing the contraband to be pumped ship-to-ship into oil tankers bound for export, usually to Asia -- mixed imperceptibly in a ratio as small as 10 percent with the legitimate product.

Africa's top oil exporter has turned to French data firm Kpler, just six years old and staffed by a hundred mostly young employees, to help it ferret out the smugglers from the thousands of ships plying Nigerian waters.

The DPR began its collaboration with Kpler in December and unveiled it this month, among other tech-focused plans to detect what it calls "rogue" or "dark" ships. Kpler and the DPR declined to specify the value of their contract.

They could face an uphill battle to mollify investors in Nigeria's oil sector.

"The frustration with the level of sabotage and environmental damage caused by the theft is high and a major factor pushing business interest to the offshore," said a source working for an international firm operating in Nigeria.

CCTV

From Kpler's shared WeWork office space far away in London, the head of its partnership with Nigeria, Antoine Pillet, zooms in on a lonely vessel deep in the Delta's river system using satellite data and the firm's own software.

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Sitting above the Forcados crude pipeline and away from a crowded main shipping channel, the ship is surrounded by swamps stained black by spills and forests hollowed out in places by wildcat construction -- tell-tale signs of theft and refining.

"In some ways, we're the CCTV of what's going on in Nigerian waters," Pillet joked. "We provide the data, but don't really give opinions on what may be going on."

Kpler's platform monitors 24/7, logging erratic journeys like this and changes to ships' drafts which indicate on or off-loading of cargoes into an algorithm it is training the DPR to interpret.

"This technology is a way of improving the way we do things. Of course there are problems here and there, but we don't have inherent problems," Paul Osu, the DPR's head of public affairs, told Reuters.

"Technology is the way to boost transparency of operations and improve investor confidence," he added. Asked how a mooted "inter-agency forensic team" cited by the DPR would stop any illicit trade, Osu did not elaborate.

SABOTAGE UP

The United Nations Security Council estimates that Nigeria lost $2.8 billion of revenue to oil theft in 2017, although Kpler says the minimum 100,000 barrels per day -- $3 billion to $8 billion a year -- identified in a 2013 Chatham House report better approximates current losses.

The DPR is also rolling out other plans to record oil and gas flows into a real-time central database.

But the projects come many years past the point at which oil majors lost patience and began diversifying offshore -- for safety and in pursuit of tantalizing new gas resources.

"We are looking to concentrate on a smaller (onshore) footprint," Royal Dutch Shell's Nigeria country chair Osagie Okunbo told reporters in August. Shell is the largest major operating onshore.

Shell alone recorded 128 oil spills resulting from sabotage in 2018, more than double the previous year and the highest since 2014.

"Hopefully from there (we can) contribute to discussions on the wider Niger Delta issue and that will reduce some of the big problems we have with spills and illegal activities there," Okunbo added.

(Reporting By Noah Browning; Editing by Catherine Evans)
It was a week where oil prices settled lower but natural gas futures gained.

On the news front, integrated majors ExxonMobil XOM, Chevron CVX and TOTAL S.A. TOT reported first-quarter earnings.

Overall, it was a mixed week for the sector. While West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 1.2% to close at $63.30 per barrel, natural gas prices gained 3.1% for the week to finish at $2.566 per million Btu (MMBtu). (See the last Oil & Gas Stock Roundup here: Schlumberger & Halliburton's Q1, ConocoPhillips' Asset Sale)

The U.S. crude benchmark pulled back from multi-month highs after the Energy Department's latest inventory release showed that stockpiles recorded a surprise weekly increase. The commoditys downward movement could also be attributed to the prevailing uncertainty in the market following President Donald Trumps statement that he asked OPEC to bring down prices.

Nevertheless, oil has climbed more than 40% this year, 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.

Meanwhile, natural gas prices rebounded slightly from their three year lows despite a government report showing higher-than-expected increase in supplies. The gain could be attributed to weather-associated tailwinds that might lead to robust heating demand. While the fundamentals of natural gas consumption continue to be favorable, record high production in the United States and expectations for explosive growth through 2020 means that supply will keep pace with demand.

Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories

1. The largest publicly-traded integrated energy company, ExxonMobil, reported weak first-quarter 2019 results due to significant lower contributions from its downstream and chemical businesses. The supermajors earnings per share of 55 cents lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 75 cents. Moreover, the bottom line declined significantly from the year-earlier figure of $1.09.

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Liquid production increased year over year to 2.327 million barrels per day (MMB/D) from 2.216 MMB/D, courtesy of the ramped-up activities in the prolific Permian Basin. However, natural gas production was 9.924 BCF/d (billions of cubic feet per day), down from 10.038 BCF/d in the year-ago period.

During the quarter under review, ExxonMobil generated cash flow of $8.5 billion from operations and asset divestments, down from almost $10 billion in the year-ago quarter. This energy giant returned $3.5 billion to its shareholders through dividends. Following its significant investment in the prolific Permian Basin in the United States, the companys capital and exploration spending shot up 42% year over year to $6.9 billion. (Read more ExxonMobil Earnings & Revenues Miss Estimates in Q1)

2. America's No. 2 energy producer Chevron reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, boosted by production gains. The U.S. energy major reported earnings per share of $1.39, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.26. However, the Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)companys bottom line fell from the year-ago profit of $1.90 on lower crude price realizations and drop in profits in its downstream business, which refines crude oil into fuels like gasoline and diesel oil.

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Chevrons total production of crude oil and natural gas increased 6.5% compared with last years corresponding period to 3,038 thousand oil-equivalent barrels per day (MBOE/d)  the second successive quarter where volumes exceeded 3 million barrels per day. The U.S. output rose 21% year over year to 884 MBOE/d while the companys international operations (accounting for 71% of the total) increased 1.7% to 2,154 MBOE/d.

Chevron delivered a solid cash flow performance this quarter  an important gauge for the oil and gas industry  with $5.1 billion in cash flow from operations, up marginally from $5 billion a year ago.. (Read more Chevron Q1 Earnings Beat, Downstream Woes Continue)

3. French oil major TOTALreported first-quarter 2019 operating earnings of $1.02 per share (0.90 per share), lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.09 by 6.4%. The bottom line also declined 6.4% from the year-ago figure of $1.09 per share (0.89 per share). This decline was primarily due to softness in the prices of commodities compared with the previous year.

Total hydrocarbon production during the first quarter averaged 2,946 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 9% year over year. The increase was due to higher contribution from Egina in Nigeria, Kaombo North in Angola, Ichthys in Australia, and Yamal LNG in Russia, along with the integration of Maersk Oil, partially offset by natural field decline and deterioration of safety conditions in Venezeula.

TOTALs 2019 upstream production is expected to increase 9% from a year ago. It expects the startup of lara 1 in Brazil, Kaombo South in Angola, Culzean in the U.K., Johan Sverdrup in Norway and the ones already started in 2018 to boost production levels. In 2019, it aims to invest in the range of $15-$16 billion and is targeting cost reduction of $4.7 billion. (Read more TOTAL Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates, Volatile Price Hurts)

4. Independent refiner Valero Energy Corporation VLO posted first-quarter 2019 income of 34 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 20 cents. The topline of $24.3 billion also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $23.6 billion. The better-than-expected results can be attributed to higher average ethanol production volumes and the expansion of the Diamond Green Diesel plant.

Valero returned $411 million to its shareholders, of which $36 million was used to repurchase around 414,000 shares of its common stock and award shareholders with dividends worth $375 million.

Valero expects capital expenditure of $2.5 billion for 2019 and 2020. Around 40% of the budget will be used in growth projects. Notably, the companys Houston alkylation unit and central Texas pipelines and terminals are projected to be completed in the second and third quarters of 2019, respectively. The Pasadena terminal, St. Charles alkylation unit and Pembroke cogeneration unit are expected to come online in 2020. Moreover, the companys Diamond Green Diesel expansion and Port Arthur Coker projects are scheduled to be completed in 2021 and 2022, respectively. (Read more Valero Q1 Earnings & Sales Beat on Higher Ethanol Output)

5. Hess Corporation HES reported adjusted first-quarter 2019 earnings per share of 9 cents against the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 26 cents and the year-ago quarter adjusted loss of 27 cents. Revenues increased to $1.6 billion from $1.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. The top line also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.5 billion. The strong first-quarter results were attributed to higher hydrocarbon production, backed by prolific plays like Bakken and Gulf of Mexico.

Quarterly hydrocarbon production was 299 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 17.3% year over year. Crude oil production increased from 134 thousand barrels per day in first-quarter 2018 to 164 thousand barrels per day in first-quarter 2019. Natural gas liquids production totaled 40 thousand barrels compared, up from 37 thousand barrels in the prior-year quarter.

Quarterly net cash flow from operations was $238 million at the end of the first quarter. Hess capital expenditures for exploration and production activities totaled $542 million, up 41.1% from $384 million in the prior-year quarter. As of Mar 31, 2019, the company had $2,300 million in cash & cash equivalents and $6,550 million in long-term debt. The debt-to-capitalization ratio at the end of the quarter was 39.4%. (Read more Hess' Q1 Earnings Beat on Bakken Production Volumes)

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 -0.8% -0.5% CVX -2.3% +8% COP -4.7% -9.1% OXY -0.8% -15% SLB -5% -17.8% RIG -0.5% -28.3% VLO +2.3% -2% MPC +1% -14.2%

The Energy Select Sector SPDR  a popular way to track energy companies  edged down 1.4% last week. The worst performer was oilfield bellwether Schlumberger SLB whose stock slumped 5%.

Longer-term, over six months, the sector tracker is down 2.3%. Offshore driller Transocean Ltd. RIG was the major loser during this period, experiencing a 28.3% 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 and the 2019 Q1 earnings, with a number of S&P 500 members plus few supermajors coming out with quarterly results.

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Valero Energy Corporation (VLO) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures ended little changed on Wednesday after supply curbs, including further talk on an extension to OPEC-led cuts, offset rising U.S. crude inventories and record production. An intensifying political crisis in Venezuela that threatens oil exports already reduced by U.S. sanctions and Washington's May 1 deadline to halt Iranian oil sanction waivers were also supportive. Brent crude oil futures settled at $72.18 a barrel, up 12 cents, or 0.2%, after falling as low as $71.30. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) ended 31 cents, or 0.5%, lower at $63.60 a barrel, up from its $62.77 session low. U.S. crude inventories jumped 9.9 million barrels last week to 470.6 million barrels to their highest since September 2017 as imports grew to their highest since January and refining rates dropped below 90 percent of total capacity, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude output in the United States, the world's top producer, rose to a record high of 12.3 million barrels per day last week. "A drop in refining activity and a rise in imports has helped propel crude inventories to another large build," said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData. "The vast majority of the build was on the U.S. Gulf Coast - with refinery runs ticking lower and waterborne imports on the rise." However, Brent reversed its downward course after Oman energy minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhy said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was intending to extend supply cuts at its June meeting. Crude prices have risen over 30% so far this year, supported mainly by an OPEC-led deal to cut 1.2 million bpd of supply for six months. In April, Brent increased about 6.5% and WTI rose 6.3%, their fourth consecutive month of gains. While Washington has demanded the group increase output to make up for the shortfall from Iran, OPEC's de facto leader Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it had no immediate plan to do so, and that the pact could be extended to the end of 2019. The market also watched for developments in Venezuela, where thousands of marchers rallied to opposition leader Juan Guaido's call for a May 1 uprising against President Nicolas Maduro. Many observers feared the protests could lead to escalating violence and further disruptions to crude supply, though the OPEC-member nation's oil-producing regions are far afield of the capital of Caracas. The unrest adds to a range of fluid geopolitical factors, including the U.S. sanctions on Caracas and Tehran, which have roiled the oil market in recent months. Washington last week said no waivers on the Iranian oil sanctions would be granted after Wednesday, but it remains unclear whether Iran's top oil customer China will comply. Iran's oil minister Bijan Zanganeh on Wednesday said "those who use oil as a weapon against two founding members of OPEC are disturbing the unity of OPEC and creating the death and collapse" of it. (GRAPHIC-U.S. crude oil production & exports png link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2ULQiTd). (Additional reporting by Noah Browning in London, Stephanie Kelly in New York, and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Mails Letter to Shareholders Highlighting Strength of Long-Term Strategy and Operating Plan



Highly-Qualified and Engaged Board Urges Shareholders to Vote For All Three of Companys Nominees on the WHITE Proxy Card

DENVER, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PDC Energy, Inc. (PDC or the Company) (PDCE) today mailed a letter to shareholders in connection with its 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (2019 Annual Meeting), scheduled for May 29, 2019. PDC shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 1, 2019 will be entitled to vote at the 2019 Annual Meeting.

Highlights of the letter include:

Under the leadership of the Board of Directors and management team, the Company has taken decisive steps to reposition the portfolio and operated with excellence through dynamic industry cycles.

PDCs Board is highly qualified, has demonstrated a commitment to leadership and strong governance, including recent refreshment, and remains open-minded, engages with shareholders and regularly evaluates the business and industry to seek out new ideas and perspectives to create additional value.

Independent industry analysts have recognized PDCs strategy and the prioritization of free cash flow.

Activist shareholder, Kimmeridge, has brought forward dangerous and ever-changing demands that demonstrate a lack of public company operating experience, a lack of focus and suggests escalating certain ongoing PDC initiatives to levels that threaten the stability of the Company.

The Companys letter to shareholders can be found at votewhiteforPDC.com/letters. Additional materials regarding the Boards recommendation for the 2019 Annual Meeting can be found at votewhiteforPDC.com.

EVERY SHAREHOLDERS VOTE IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT,

NO MATTER HOW MANY SHARES THEY OWN.

Shareholders who have questions or require any assistance voting their shares

should contact PDC Energys proxy solicitor:

MacKenzie Partners, Inc.

Stockholders may call toll-free: (800) 322-2885

Banks and Brokers may call collect: (212) 929-5500

Story continues

About PDC Energy, Inc.

PDC Energy, Inc. is a domestic independent exploration and production company that acquires, explores and develops properties for the production of crude oil, natural gas and NGLs, with operations in the Wattenberg Field in Colorado and the Delaware Basin in Reeves and Culberson Counties, Texas. PDCs operations are focused in the horizontal Niobrara and Codell plays in the Wattenberg Field and in the Wolfcamp zones in the Delaware Basin.

NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and the United States ("U.S.") Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding our business, strategy, the 2019 Annual Meeting, and potential nominees for the board of directors. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in and incorporated by reference into this report are "forward-looking statements." Words such as expect, anticipate, intend, plan, believe, seek, estimate and similar expressions or variations of such words are intended to identify forward-looking statements herein. Although forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect our good faith judgment, such statements can only be based on facts and factors currently known to us. Forward-looking statements are always subject to risks and uncertainties, and become subject to greater levels of risk and uncertainty as they address matters further into the future. Because such statements relate to events or conditions further in the future, they are subject to increased levels of uncertainty.

Further, we urge you to carefully review and consider the cautionary statements and disclosures, specifically those under the heading "Risk Factors," made in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on February 28, 2019, and other filings with the SEC for further information on risks and uncertainties that could affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, which are incorporated by this reference as though fully set forth herein. We caution you not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance occurring after the date of this press release or currently unknown facts or conditions or the occurrence of unanticipated events. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

PDC has filed a definitive proxy statement and WHITE proxy card with the SEC in connection with its solicitation of proxies for the 2019 Annual Meeting. PDC SHAREHOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT (AND ANY AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ACCOMPANYING WHITE PROXY CARD AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Shareholders may obtain the proxy statement, any amendments or supplements to the proxy statement and other documents as and when filed by PDC with the SEC without charge from the SECs website at www.sec.gov. Investors and shareholders can also obtain, without charge, a copy of the definitive proxy statement and other relevant filed documents from PDCs website at http://investor.pdce.com/sec-filings.

CERTAIN INFORMATION REGARDING PARTICIPANTS

PDC, its directors and certain of its executive officers may be deemed to be participants in connection with the solicitation of proxies from PDCs shareholders in connection with the matters to be considered at the 2019 Annual Meeting. Information regarding the identity of potential participants, and their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the proxy statement and other materials to be filed with the SEC. These documents can be obtained free of charge from the sources indicated above.

Contacts: Investors Michael Edwards Senior Director Investor Relations 303-860-5820 michael.edwards@pdce.com Media Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher Andy Brimmer / Andrew Siegel 212-355-4449




Utility and telecom plays have been among biggest bets for Australian investment manager, but it's also selectively added U.S. port assets.

Macquarie Group's (ASX: MQG) $1.78 billion purchase of the Long Beach Container Terminal is not its biggest deal ever. But it is one of its biggest bets in the maritime sector and the continued growth in the Southern California import gateway.

As reported in FreightWaves, a private equity fund backed by the Australia-based investment manager came out on top in the auction for the terminal owned by container shipping company Orient Overseas International, now part of Cosco.

Macquarie is one of the largest owners of hard assets in the world, with a $129 billion global portfolio spread across 70 different public and private funds. The company touts that 100 million people daily use its infrastructure assets.

The LBCT deal is the third and the largest for Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV, which raised $5 billion last year.

The fund previously bought Aligned Energy, a manufacturer of data-center pods and cooling devices, and data service provider Bluebird Network.

Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, which focuses on U.S. and Canadian assets, raised $8.5 billion across its three previous funds, according to capital data provider PitchBook.

Led by 16-year Macquarie veteran Karl Kuchel, the funds previous big bets have been on utilities and cell towers. Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III was part of a $4.9 billion buyout of Louisiana power provider Cleco Holdings. Macquarie Infrastructure Partners I led a $1 billion buyout of cell phone tower owner Global Tower Partners in 2007, and five years later selling the firm for $4.8 billion to American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT).

Its first move into the maritime sector was to buy a minority stake in the terminal and stevedoring business of Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) (JPX: 9101) in 2014 for an undisclosed sum. NYK owns the Yusen Terminal in the Port of Los Angeles.

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Macquarie and NYK clubbed together on a deal to acquire Maher Terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey in 2016.

Maher is one of the biggest terminals in the Northeast, handling up to 3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) per year.

Long Beach Container Terminal handles about 2 million TEU annually. But the Middle Harbor Terminal Redevelopment Project, which is expected to be completed in 2019, will bring Long Beach Container Terminal's capacity up to 3.3 million TEU annually.

Republicans see IMO 2020 threat in White House

Senators said to have written letter to President Trump to support high-sulfur fuel ban. (Seatrade Maritime)

Hoegh Autoliners readies for IMO 2020

Operator of pure-car-and-truck-carriers lays out plans for fuel stops and types of low-sulfur fuel. (Maritime Professional)

Slow steaming may not be carbon solution

U.K. shipping chamber says slower vessels will mean more capacity gets built. (Maritime Executive)

President Trump asked to look at LNG Jones Act waiver

Proposal would allow non-U.S. flag carriers to bring LNG to Puerto Rico. (MarineLink)

Image sourced from Pixabay

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(Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc. gave a lackluster third-quarter sales forecast, citing weaker demand for smartphones in China. The disappointing outlook overshadowed the benefits of settling a prolonged legal dispute with Apple Inc., sending the shares down in extended trading.

Fiscal third-quarter revenue will be $9.2 billion to $10.2 billion, the San Diego-based company said Wednesday in a statement. Excluding a one-time payment from Apple, revenue in the current period will be $4.7 billion to $5.5 billion. At the midpoint, that fell short of the $5.26 billion average estimate of analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Youre going to see Chinese weakness reflected in the next couple of quarters, Chief Executive Officer Steve Mollenkopf said in a telephone interview. Qualcomm wont disclose the terms of its settlement with Apple or what the iPhone maker will pay in licensing fees but we ended up with a resolution thats consistent with our program, he said.

Qualcomm stock fell about 3 percent in extended trading following the quarterly results and forecast. The stock had surged more than 50 percent since the Apple deal was announced April 16, closing Wednesday at $86.37 in New York.

The stock decline was amplified by the lack of details offered by Qualcomm executives about Apples future royalty payments. That caused confusion among analysts and investors, who peppered executives with questions about the topic during a conference call, said Mike Walkley, an analyst at Cannaccord Genuity.

The stocks had a huge run and the guidance at first blush was disappointing, Walkley said. He estimates that Apple will pay about $7.50 per phone in royalties, much higher than the $5 he had projected previously. Theyve gotten an excellent deal, better than most people thought they could salvage, Walkley said of Qualcomm.

Mollenkopf had long insisted that the chipmakers legal troubles were just a commercial dispute that would be resolved when 5G services came along and focused the industrys attention back on growth, and the settlement with Apple validated his view.

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Investors now want to see Qualcomm, in its projected fifth year of revenue declines, convert its claimed leadership in that fifth-generation wireless technology into growth again. Before that happens, the company, like the rest of the industry, is struggling with lackluster consumer demand for smartphones from consumers.

Qualcomm is unique because the majority of its revenue is generated by selling chips that connect handsets to cellular networks, but the bulk of its profit comes from licensing patents it says cover the fundamentals of all modern, high-speed data phone systems. The licensing rights were challenged by Apple, which argued in court and in submissions to regulators that Qualcomm was unfairly jacking up rates using its strength as a supplier of chips.

In the settlement of the litigation, Apple said it would make a one-time payment to Qualcomm, and the two reached a multiyear agreement, in which Qualcomm will sell chips to Apple and collect royalty payments from the iPhone maker in exchange for licensing its technology. Qualcomm said the deal will be worth $2 a share in profit when shipments of chips ramp up.

Qualcomms fiscal third-quarter forecast includes revenue of $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion from the Apple payment and the release of our obligations to pay or refund the iPhone maker and its contractors as a result of the litigation, the company said.

The companys earnings and outlook also provide a window into demand for products made by some of the worlds biggest technology companies, such as Samsung Electronics Co. Like the rest of the industry, Qualcomm has struggled to grow as consumer excitement about smartphones has cooled. In the first quarter, global shipments fell 4 percent to 330 million, according to Strategy Analytics.

In response, Qualcomm is trying to push wireless technology into new areas such as automobiles, personal computers and connecting everyday devices to the internet.

Qualcomm reported that revenue declined 4.6 percent to $4.98 billion from $5.22 billion in the quarter ended March 31. Profit was $663 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with $330 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average estimated earnings of 47 cents a share on sales of $4.8 billion.

Qualcomm isnt completely free of legal entanglements. A judge in California is still considering a case brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission accusing Qualcomm of acting like a monopoly. The company also is still in a dispute with Chinas Huawei Technologies Co. about licensing fees and is only receiving partial payment.

The Chinese company is making some payments on royalties while the two sides work toward a deal, Qualcomm said. The settlement with Apple will help resolve that disagreement, the chipmakers executives said on the call.

(Updates with analysts comment in fifth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Andrew Pollack

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
MADRID (Reuters) - Santander is planning to undertake branch reductions in Spain as part of the integration process with Banco Popular and would begin talks with unions next Monday, its chief executive officer said.

"We will start the negotiation process with the unions next Monday. We already integrated 600 branches out of 1,500 we expect to finish at the end of July, more or less", CEO Jose Antonio Alvarez said.

"After that we will start the reduction in the number of branches provided we reach an agreement with the unions," he added.

As part of its focus on efficiency in Europe, Santander said earlier in April it was expecting 250 million euros (215 million) of additional cost savings in Spain due to the integration of Popular to boost its underlying profitability.

(Reporting By Jesus Aguado; editing by Paul Day)
FILE PHOTO: SAS airplanes are seen parked on the tarmac as SAS pilots go on strike at Oslo Airport in Gardermoen, Norway April 26, 2019. NTB Scanpix/Ole Berg-Rusten via REUTERS

By Niklas Pollard and Anna Ringstrom

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Scandinavian airline SAS canceled more than 500 flights scheduled for Wednesday, which will ground some 47,000 passengers, as a strike by pilots entered a fifth day with no sign of talks between management and unions.

More than 300,000 travelers have been hit by the stand-off over wages and other pilot demands which analysts estimate could cost SAS $10.5 million a day, threatening to wipe out the airline's annual profit.

SAS, which is part-owned by the Swedish and Danish governments, said that union demands entailed "significant cost increases" that would threaten competitiveness and jobs.

"SAS has clearly stated that we are prepared to continue negotiating and find a solution," SAS Chief Executive Rickard Gustafson said on Tuesday.

Pilots at the airline went out on strike on Friday as wage talks broke down, grounding around 70 percent of SAS flights.

The SAS Pilot Group, a union body representing 95 percent of the airline's pilots in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, has said the dispute concerns more than simply wages, pointing to demands for more predictable and transparent working hours.

"The unions have not yet indicated that they are ready to release their ultimate demands and return to the negotiating table, which means that we remain in a deadlock," Gustafson said in a statement from the airline.

STRIKE TAKES TOLL

As the strike dragged on, DNB Markets lowered its rating on SAS shares, sending them 3.9 percent lower by 1034 GMT, and estimated the strike could cost the airline as much as 100 million Swedish crowns ($10.5 million) per day.

DNB Markets lowered its rating to "hold" from "buy" after nearly halving its 2019 earnings per share estimate for SAS due to the strike and high fuel prices, and said it may cut estimates further unless the strike is ended by Wednesday.

"We believe investors will remain lukewarm as long as the earnings trend remains negative and as the pilots' strike puts the targeted 3 billion crown cost savings by 2020 in jeopardy," it said in a note.

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The aviation industry's employer body in Sweden has said pilots sought a 13 percent wage hike despite what it called already high average wages of 93,000 Swedish crowns ($9,777 ) a month, demands it labeled as "extreme".

The SAS strike does not affect flights operated by its partners, which make up roughly 30 percent of all departures.

Rival Norwegian Air said separately it would add 35 extra flights from May 1-3 to meet additional demand during the SAS strike.

(Reporting by Niklas Pollard and Anna Ringstrom, additional reporting by Johan Ahlander in Stockholm and Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; editing by Ed Osmond and Alexander Smith)
By Katya Golubkova

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will not rush to boost oil supply to make up for a loss of Iranian crude due to U.S. sanctions, and will stick to a global deal on oil production, which could be extended to the end of 2019, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told RIA news agency.

The United States decided last week not to renew exemptions from sanctions against Iran granted last year to buyers of Iranian oil, taking a tougher line than expected. Oil prices rose on concerns of a tighter oil market.

Falih was speaking to Russia's RIA news agency on Tuesday, without specifying whether, or by how much, output levels could change after June.

The Saudi minister's comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump said last week he had called OPEC and told the group to lower oil prices, without specifying to whom he spoke or whether he was referring to previous discussions with OPEC officials.

Oil prices have surged by almost 40 percent since January, lifted by the OPEC+ supply cuts as well as by U.S. sanctions on producers Iran and Venezuela. Brent crude futures (LCOc1) were trading at $72.40 at 0855 GMT on Tuesday. [O/R]

Falih, commenting on Trump's statement, told RIA that the world's top oil exporter was ready to meet consumer demand after the Iran oil waivers expire in early May, including by replacing Iranian oil with Saudi supplies.

But Riyadh will not voluntarily exceed output levels set by the global oil reduction deal, Falih added.

"I confirm our commitment to meet all these requests (to replace Iranian oil). But at the same time, we will do this remaining part of the OPEC+ deal, we will stick to it. We do not need to voluntarily exceed the limits set," he said.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other producers, an alliance known as OPEC+, agreed to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from January for six months in an effort to boost oil prices.

The oil producers meet on June 25-26 to decide whether to extend the pact or adjust supply targets.

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Earlier in April, Moscow signalled OPEC and its allies could raise oil output from June because of improving market conditions and falling stockpiles.

"We will look at (global oil) inventories - are they higher or lower than the normal level and we will adjust the production level accordingly. Based on what I see now ... I am eager to say there will be some kind of agreement," Falih RIA.

"It may remain the same, or could change up or down, I don't know."

One of the key players on Moscow's policy towards OPEC is Igor Sechin, head of Russian state oil company Rosneft.

Sechin, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, says Russia is losing market share to the United States, which is not participating in production cuts and has boosted output to record levels of some 12 million bpd.

Last week, Sechin signalled Russia would not help replace Iranian oil on the market after the expiration of waivers on U.S. sanctions against Tehran's crude exports.

Iranian exports were not significant, Falih said.

"The only indicator I have is consumers' demand for Saudi oil ... These figures are moderate at the moment, the demand is healthy, there is nothing to worry about... There is no shortage on the (global oil) market," he said.

Saudi oil production until the end of May would be below the level set in the global deal: "significantly less" than 10 million bpd, with exports below 7 million bpd next month, Falih said. Under the OPEC+ deal, Riyadh can pump up to 10.3 million bpd.

"We are comfortable with the overall situation on the (global oil) market: it is healthy, it is well-supplied, nothing to worry about," he added.

A panel of energy ministers from major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, known as the JMMC, meets on May 19 to discuss the oil market and make recommendations before the June meeting, OPEC sources said.

(Writing by Rania El Gamal and Katya Golubkova; additional reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Anton Kolodyazhnyy; Editing by Dale Hudson and Louise Heavens)
* Siemens to get bulk of Iraq's $14 bln electricity refit

* Project includes power station, grid upgrades

* GE also expects to be awarded Iraq power projects

* Siemens commits to build clinic, provide training (Adds GE statement)

BERLIN, April 30 (Reuters) - Siemens is well placed to win the bulk of orders flowing from a $14 billion scheme to rebuild Iraq's electricity infrastructure following years of war, the country's Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said in Berlin on Tuesday.

The announcement, at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is a blow to arch-rival GE, which has also been in the running to upgrade the country's power grid

The U.S. company later said it expected to win other projects in the country and said it was in talks with Baghdad on electricity projects.

"We expect to deliver a number of other key power projects, including 750MW of additional power by the end of the year," GE said in a statement.

Abdul-Mahdi, speaking after bilateral talks between the two leaders, said Siemens had a good chance of being awarded a majority of contracts generated by the project.

Siemens said it had already signed three contracts worth a total of $700 million - one to build a 500 MW gas-fired power plant, one to upgrade 40 gas turbines and another to install dozens of substations and transformers across Iraq.

Last year, Iraqi officials said they had come under heavy pressure from the U.S. government to choose GE over the German company.

As part of the deal, Siemens has committed to building a health clinic, donating $60 million dollars of software to Iraq's universities, and providing training to 1,000 Iraqis.

Over the longer term, the roadmap signed between Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser and Electricity Minister Luay al-Khateeb, envisages building new generation capacity, upgrading existing power plants and expanding transmission grids.

"We are also committed to supporting Iraq in arranging financing for the projects, creating attractive jobs and opportunities for small and medium enterprises," Kaeser said in the company's statement.

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Iraq was engulfed in the overspill from Syria's civil war in 2014, when Islamic State militants grabbed large swathes of the country.

Since the militant group's loss of its last piece of territory in March, Iraq has become a target of Western and Gulf investment and aid interest, as Riyadh and Washington seek to counter Iran's growing influence in the country.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Michelle Martin. Additional reporting by Alexander Hueber. Writing by Thomas Escritt. Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jane Merriman)
POMOANO BEACH, Fla., April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Southern Airways Corporation, the parent company of Southern Airways Express and Mokulele Airlines, has announced a strategic minority investment by SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW).





Southern now has more than 200 pilots in its combined pilot corps, many of whom are looking to advance their aviation careers to regional and mainline carriers. SkyWest is the largest regional carrier in the world as measured by fleet size, number of passengers carried and cities served. This strategic investment by SkyWest will enhance Southerns recruiting capabilities by providing a career pathway from flight school through Southerns cadet program and ultimately to SkyWest. Those interested in applying to Southern should visit the Careers tab on the companys website, www.iFlySouthern.com.





"The airline marketplace is incredibly competitive, and we are pleased with this opportunity to firmly cement our brand alongside the most respected regional industry giant,said Stan Little, chairman and CEO of Southern Airways. Southern Airways is committed to remaining the most reliable and economical carrier in our class and to working with our partners to create win-win solutions like this one.





SkyWest is pleased to acquire a minority equity interest in Southern Airways,said Wade Steel, chief commercial officer of SkyWest, Inc. Putting a pilot pathway program in place with Southern enhances our pipeline of future Part 121 professional aviators.



Southern, with operational footprints in the Gulf South, the mid-Atlantic and South Florida, recently acquired Mokulele Airlines, a carrier providing service throughout the Hawaiian Islands and in Southern California.





Southern began service in 2013 by offering flights from Memphis, Tenn. to Destin, Fla. using a total of four pilots and three aircraft. In 2015, Southern acquired Executive Express Aviation, an Illinois-based charter company that was previously contracted to operate the Southern flight schedule. In February 2016, Southern acquired Sun Air Express, an airline operating Essential Air Service (EAS) routes in the mid-Atlantic. Three years later, in February of 2019, Southern acquired Mokulele. Following the integration of the two airlines, expected to be complete by mid-summer, the new Southern Airways will operate 1,380 weekly flights, more than any other carrier in the 50 states.



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For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Todd Smith ( t.smith@iFlySouthern.com 615-202-7944) or Southernschief marketing officer, Keith Sisson ( k.sisson@iFlySouthern.com 228-313-9920).





Founded in 2013, Pompano Beach, Florida-based Southern Airways Express has quickly grown to become one of the largest commuter airlines in the United States. Operating a fleet of Cessna Caravans and Grand Caravans, Southern, along with its new subsidiary, Mokulele Airlines, serves 30 cities with more than 220 peak-day departures from hubs at Baltimore, Dallas/Ft.Worth, Honolulu, Kahului, Kona, Memphis, Palm Beach and Pittsburgh. For more information, go to http://www.iFlySouthern.com or visit us on all major social media sites.

###

Attachment

Todd Smith

Southern Airways Express

615-202-7944

t.smith@iFlySouthern.com



Keith Sisson

Southern Airways Express

228-313-9920

k.sisson@iFlySouthern.com


States are taking aggressive actions to rein in high prescription treatment costs from pharmaceutical firms and curb potentially illicit behavior from middlemen price negotiators, as Congress and the White House pursue their own steps to potentially upend the health care industry.

After years of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and drugmakers trying to pass the blame between each other for the cost of prescription treatments, perhaps for the first time in the modern era lawmakers are eager to take a holistic view of what is driving the high prices.

And also for the first time, both sectors appear unable to use their influence to block adverse policy proposals or potentially incriminating investigations.

In Maryland, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is weighing whether to sign legislation passed earlier this month to create an independent panel to review both expensive medications and those that undergo significant price hikes, a measure vehemently opposed by the industry that experts predict will be replicated other states.

The Maryland move comes after a California law went into effect in January that requires drugmakers to give 60 days notice before significantly raising prices. And as in prior years, statehouses around the country are weighing a slew of proposals that address everything from the transparency around cost-setting to allowing individuals to import cheaper drugs from places like Canada.

Meanwhile, the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is suing top pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Optum Rx, owned by UnitedHealth, alleging that it committed fraud in the contract with the states workers compensation agency.

His office is seeking $16 million in overcharges from the Irvine, California-based company and recently proposed a number of policy ideas intended to address how the PBM industry contracts with Ohio.

An Optum Rx spokesperson did not respond to request for comment.

In Pennsylvania last year, auditor general Eugene DePasquale suggested, among other proposals, that the state no longer used PBMs to manage prescription drug benefits. And Connecticut, Kentucky and others are all seeking more transparency from the industry and pursuing investigations into their contracts with state agencies.

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Customers like state Medicaid agencies have eyes wide open about these practices and they are going to start asking more questions, said Lindsay Bealor Greenleaf, director at health care consulting firm ADVI Health.

Because pharmacy benefit managers often contract with health care managers who work with state agencies, the actual details of contracts can be opaque. But recent efforts from Ohio, Pennsylvania and others are shedding light on the secretive industry that is facing escalating scrutiny in Washington D.C.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, previously solicited an outside attorney to investigate the role of Optum, CVS Health and Express Scripts, owned by health insurer Cigna, in Ohios Medicaid program and pension funds.

A state audit recently that found CVS and OptumRx retained $224 million through so-called spread pricing, or a practice in the industry in which the PBM keeps the difference between what an insurer pays and what is reimbursed to pharmacies.

Some of that cost is used to cover administrative costs at the benefits manager, the sector argues. A clearer picture of the method could be coming after Republican Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley of Ohio and Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the panels top Democrat, asked a top federal health auditor to probe the practice in the U.S. Medicaid program.

State Medicaid agencies are waking up and realizing that PBMs are profiting to a great extent off of spread pricing and they didnt even know it, Greenleaf said.

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Analysts say the industry is unlikely to take a financial hit in the near-term, as Congress, the Trump administration and states continue work on the issue of drug pricing.

The White House, for example, is finalizing a rule to end the drug rebate program that pours billions of dollars annually into the coffers of CVS Health, UnitedHealth and others. The administration previously said it would allow insurers to ease into the new requirements.

Related Articles
A pedestrian walks past a branch of SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., a unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.,

SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., a unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., in Tokyo. Photo: Akio Kon/Bloomberg



Veteran in-house counsel and compliance whisperer Andre Burrell has joined Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. in its effort to bring its New York branch into compliance with requirements demanded last week by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.



Burrell left his job at Microsoft Corp. to begin this month in New York as managing director and Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering officer for Sumitomos Americas division. Corporate Counsel spoke briefly with Burrell on Tuesday confirming his appointment, but he was not immediately available for an interview.



Tokyo-based Sumitomo brought in Burrell after federal bank examiners discovered deficiencies in the New York branchs compliance systems. On April 25 Sumitomo entered a written agreement with the regulators to improve its New York branchs program for compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and related U.S. anti-money laundering laws and regulations, which were found to be inadequate by the Federal Reserve Bank.



In a statement, the bank said it has already taken actions to improve compliance with U.S. requirements and the bank is fully committed to complying with all of the terms set forth in the written agreement. It did not receive a financial penalty.



Burrells work is cut out for him because the Fed agreement lists more than seven pages of requirements, and the bank consented to complying with each and every provision of this agreement.



The document says within 60 days of the deal, the bank and the branch must jointly submit a plan to enhance corporate governance and management oversight; upgrade its Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering compliance program; enhance customer due diligence; ensure timely and accurate suspicious activity monitoring and reporting; and do independent testing of the branchs compliance with all requirements.



Each of those areas in the agreement contains lengthy components imposing numerous requirements. The written plan shall contain a timeline for full implementation of the plan or program with specific deadlines for the completion of each component, according to the document.



The agreement also states the bank and branch shall provide for management of the branchs BSA/AML compliance program by a qualified compliance officer, who is given full autonomy, independence, and responsibility for implementing and maintaining an effective BSA/AML compliance program ... , has meaningful decision-making authority and is supported by adequate staffing levels and resources.



Enter Burrell, who began his career in 1996 as an attorney at the New York Fed, and in 2002 became deputy general counsel and chief compliance officer of Independent Community Bank of New York, according to his bio on LinkedIn. He joined Deloitte Financial Advisory Services in 2006 as a senior manager, heading projects at international banks involving anti-money laundering and Office of Foreign Assets Control violations and remediation efforts.



In 2008, Burrell was named chief compliance officer at Israel Discount Bank of New York, where he led the bank through the lifting of two cease and desist orders and a deferred prosecution agreement.



In 2012, while still at Israel Discount Bank, he worked with the Central Bank of Kenya and the Kenyan telecom industry on integrating anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism programs into cellphone payment systems.



Burrell left Israel Discount Bank in 2015 for Microsoft in Redmond, Washington, where he worked the last four years. He served first as senior director of compliance, and then as its strategy leader on cloud solutions for banking and capital markets fighting financial crime.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A Swiss anti-corruption lobby group has filed a criminal complaint against Credit Suisse over alleged fraud in the arrangement of $2 billion (1.5 billion) of loans to Mozambique, the group said on Monday.

Mozambique, one of the most indebted countries in the world, in 2016 admitted to billions of dollars of undisclosed borrowing, sparking a debt crisis and leading to the arrest of government officials and international bankers in the United States, United Kingdom and South Africa.

Three former Credit Suisse bankers were arrested in London in January on U.S. charges of conspiring to violate anti-bribery law and to commit money laundering and securities fraud, while former Mozambique finance minister Manuel Chang was arrested in South Africa as part of the same case.

Public Eye, a Switzerland-based advocacy group focused on financial crimes, said even though the transactions were facilitated by Credit Suisse's UK subsidiary, the bank should also be investigated in its home jurisdiction.

"With its criminal complaint, Public Eye is calling on the Office of the Attorney General to investigate whether Credit Suisse Group AG fulfilled its corporate responsibility to oversee its subsidiary and prevent unlawful conduct as required of companies by the Swiss criminal code," the pressure group said in a statement.

The Office of Attorney General, which previously said that no criminal proceedings had been opened in Switzerland, confirmed it had received the complaint and would review it to see whether it warranted opening a criminal case.

Credit Suisse said it continued to cooperate with regulatory and enforcement authorities in connection with multiple investigations related to the Mozambique maritime transactions.

"Credit Suisse is not currently in a position to disclose details of those processes, given pending investigations, a spokesman for the bank in London said.

The maritime transactions, or so called tuna bonds, refer to a fleet of sea vessels bought by Mozambique using loans arranged by international banks for a self sustaining fishing programme that never materialised. The cash came in the form of a government-backed bond to state tuna-fishing company Ematum.

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London and Michael Shields in Zurich; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of French telecoms group Orange is seen at the entrance of the Cyberdefense division headquarters at Nanterre, France, October 5, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

By Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic

PARIS (Reuters) - Telecoms group Orange's quarterly revenues in France fell for the first time in two years, highlighting the tough competitive environment in the country where rivals are engaged in a race to win market share.

First-quarter sales in France, which represents more than 40 percent of its activity, dropped by 1.8 percent on a comparable basis to 4.41 billion euros (3.8 billion).

The French telecoms market remains one of the toughest in Europe, with Orange's rivals Altice Europe, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad all controlled by billionaires who have failed to consolidate their position in the market through mergers over the past few years.

"You have no country in Europe with recurring lifelong promotions like this," said Orange Chief Financial Officer Ramon Fernandez.

"And it's a specificity in which some operators have locked themselves, favouring volume over value," he added.

The Paris-based company managed to add 19,000 mobile customers and 49,000 broadband customers in the first quarter, a sign that its strategy of heavy investments on networks and combined mobile-fixed offers is bearing some fruit.

Investments on the deployment of high-speed broadband technology and the extension of fourth-generation mobile network intensified over the first quarter, with capital expenditure growing by 8.4 percent groupwise and weighing on operating cash flow, which fell by about 10 percent.

NETWORK SHARING

The group offered more details on the mobile network-sharing deal signed with Vodafone last week in Spain.

The agreement, which aims to enable faster deployment of 5G technology and cover small cities, will generate 800 million euros in gross savings in 10 years, it said.

The deal will also involve a 300 million-euro investment over four years, including 100 million in 2019.

Orange's overall group revenues over the period were stable, slipping 0.1 percent to about 10.2 billion euros, roughly in line with the market consensus.

Its core operating profit grew by 0.7 percent to 2.58 billion euros and Orange also confirmed its full-year targets, including a higher operating cash flow in 2019 than in 2018, and announced a 0.70 euros dividend for the current fiscal year.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
FILE PHOTO: A Thomas Cook Airbus A321-200 airplane takes off at the airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, July 28, 2018. REUTERS/Paul Hanna/File Photo

By Kate Holton and Clara Denina

LONDON (Reuters) - Thomas Cook has set a deadline of May 7 for expressions of interest in its airline business, with Indigo Partners and Lufthansa among the likely bidders, sources said.

The heavily-indebted British travel group put its profitable airline business up for sale in February after profit warnings in 2018 left it needing to raise cash.

Thomas Cook's airlines business consists of Germany's Condor, as well as British, Scandinavian and Spanish operations.

A sale of the business, in whole or in part, would enable the world's oldest tour operator to invest more in its own hotels and improve its online sales.

A source familiar with the discussions said that Indigo and Germany's Lufthansa appeared most interested in the business.

British Airways owner IAG should not be ruled out and easyJet has engaged in talks but is seen as less interested, the source added.

It is not clear whether Ireland's Ryanair would bid.

Another source said that private equity groups KKR and Apollo might also look at taking over the whole of Thomas Cook.

The airlines business would provide access to valuable European slots linking Britain to Spain, Greece and Turkey.

Thomas Cook, Indigo, IAG and easyJet declined to comment, while Lufthansa and Ryanair were not immediately available.

Lufthansa executives have said repeatedly that the German airline wants to "play an active role" in consolidation.

Indigo, the private equity firm managed by Bill Franke, the veteran U.S. low-cost airline investor, has previously made investments in several airlines including Hungary's Wizz.

Thomas Cook has been revamping different parts of its business this year, closing high street stores and reviewing its money division as it focuses on holidays.

The company was hit badly in 2018 when a hot European summer deterred customers from booking holidays through the year.

One banking source said the airline would fetch less than 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion). Thomas Cook has a current market value of just over 400 million pounds ($522.68 million).

Sources said that competition issues could influence which parts of the business different suitors go for.

Sky News has said China's Fosun International, a Thomas Cook shareholder, was interested in its tour business.

(Reporting by Kate Holton and Clara Denina in London; additional reporting by Alistair Smout and Georgina Prodhan in London and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Oil prices spiked to nearly six-month highs last week because President Donald Trump is tightening sanctions on Iran, says BP CEO Bob Dudley.

Whether or not he follows through on the policy is the key wildcard for oil prices right now, according to Dudley.

Dudley says oil prices crashed last fall in large part because Trump backed off his tough stance on Iran.

President Donald Trump is about to launch the latest phase of his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, and BP BP.-GB CEO Bob Dudley says the commander-in-chief to deal the oil market a major wildcard.

When the clock strikes midnight on Thursday, the United States will officially end sanctions waivers that allow eight countries to import Iranian oil. Dudley says the move, which is meant to drive Iran's oil exports to zero, is responsible for sending oil prices to nearly six-month highs last week.

"Now the U.S. is saying they're going to ... take away those waivers again, and the oil price is clearly drifting up because of that," he told CNBC's Brian Sullivan during an interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California on Tuesday.

"I think the key  the wildcard key  is will the U.S. at the last minute give some more waivers or not?" Dudley said.

The answer to that question will influence whether oil prices rise or fall, says Dudley.

While the Trump administration insists there will be no grace period for Iranian oil buyers, it has surprised the market on more than one occasion.

Trump's threat to impose tough sanctions on Iran drove Brent crude oil to nearly four-year highs at $86 a barrel last October, according to Dudley. The president's decision to allow several of Iran's biggest customers to continue importing Iranian barrels in November contributed to Brent's collapse to $50 a barrel, he says.

Last week, the Trump administration said it will stop issuing the exemptions on May 2. The market widely expected Trump to extend them for another six months, tightening the waivers but not ending them outright.

Story continues

Analysts are still trying to determine how many Iranian barrels will come off the market. China and Turkey, two countries that received waivers, have condemned the U.S. sanctions and are widely expected to seek ways to continue importing Iranian oil.

Oil prices plunged on Friday after Trump said he had "called up" OPEC and told the producer group to take measures to tame gasoline prices. U.S. officials say they have secured pledges from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to fill the gap left by Iranian supplies, but the OPEC members have not explicitly committed to pumping more oil.

Crude futures have clawed back some gains this week after Saudi and OPEC sources denied that Trump spoke to top officials about cutting fuel costs. Prices also got a boost after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih suggested on Tuesday that OPEC could extend a deal to cap output through the end of 2019.

The plunge in oil production in Venezuela, which is also under U.S. sanctions, has also contributed to the run-up in oil prices, Dudley said.





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By Rich McKay

(Reuters) - President Donald Trump, his three oldest children and the Trump Organization have sued Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp to try to block them from responding to U.S. congressional subpoenas issued by Democrats seeking financial records.

The lawsuit filed late Monday opens a new front in Trump's battle to stop the Democratic-led House of Representatives from probing the Republican president, his family, his businesses and his administration after Special Counsel Robert Mueller finished his inquiry into Russia's role in the 2016 election.

The lawsuit said urgent action was necessary because both banks signalled they would begin responding to the subpoenas unless a court intervened by May 6.

Deutsche Bank has long been one of the main banks for Trump's real estate empire. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, asked Capital One's chief executive in March for documents related to potential conflicts of interest tied to Trump's hotel in downtown Washington and other business interests.

In the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Trump, his adult children Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, and the Trump Organization accused House leaders of pursuing records for no legitimate or lawful purpose, hoping they would "stumble upon something" they could use as a political weapon against Trump.

"The subpoenas were issued to harass President Donald J. Trump, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family," the complaint said.

Only the banks were named as defendants.

Representative Maxine Waters, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, and Representative Adam Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said on April 15 their panels had issued subpoenas to multiple financial institutions for information on Trump's finances.

"The president will do anything and everything that he can to obstruct justice ... to shut down an investigation," Waters told reporters on Capitol Hill.

She also said Trump has "cast a gauntlet and he has said that he is going to fight," referring to her investigation of Deutsche Bank. "We will fight him," Waters added.

Story continues

Deutsche Bank said it was "committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations."

Capital One was not immediately available for comment.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs were also not immediately available.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama.

Michael Stern, who served as senior House counsel from 1996 to 2004, said the lawsuit was unlikely to succeed because judges do not like second-guessing lawmakers' motivations in investigations.

Stern also said Trump's decision to sue only Deutsche Bank and Capital One appears to have been strategic because the banks would not try to pick sides and were less likely to contest an injunction blocking a subpoena.

Andy Wright, a former White House lawyer under Obama now at the law firm K&L Gates, said: "Courts have been really reluctant to assess whether or not Congress has a legitimate interest or not. They have been very deferential in the past."

DEFYING LAWMAKERS

Trump, who is seeking re-election next year, has aggressively sought to defy congressional oversight of his administration since Democrats took control of the House in January, including possible dealings with Russia, and said "we're fighting all the subpoenas" issued by the House.

That battle could herald a major showdown between the executive and legislative branches testing the separation of powers spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.

The White House is also resisting other House subpoenas, including for Trump's personal and business tax returns, and sought to block current and former administration officials from cooperating with House investigators.

Waters and Schiff in a joint statement called the lawsuit part of Trump's "unprecedented stonewalling" of congressional oversight.

In the complaint, the plaintiffs said House leaders ignored constitutional limits on Congress' power to investigate, and any probe needed to further some "legitimate legislative purpose" and could not be an end in itself.

They also said the subpoenas violated the plaintiffs' privacy rights, and the refusal of House committees to even provide copies of the subpoenas to the plaintiffs made it impossible to know, or negotiate, their scope or breadth.

Deutsche Bank stood almost alone in extending credit and managing money for Trump before he became president, as other banks avoided him because of his poor track record in paying back loans. The German lender has extended a substantial amount of capital to the Trump Organization in the past decade, according to documents and media reports.

A 2017 financial disclosure form showed that Trump had at least $130 million of liabilities to Deutsche Bank.

In March, the New York Times detailed other financial relationships, including more than $2 billion of property loans and private banking services.

(Reporting by Rich McKay; Additional reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York, and Richard Cowan, Amanda Becker, Pete Schroeder and Jan Wolfe in Washington; Editing by Richard Pullin and Will Dunham)
(Bloomberg) -- Walmart Inc. says it hired about three-quarters of the participants from a training program for tech professionals returning to the workforce after taking time off, part of an ongoing industry effort to increase diversity and find new sources of talent.

Walmart Labs, the retailers California-based engineering division, will triple the number of slots in the so-called returnship program to accept as many as 100 participants, Bobbie Grafeld, who heads human resources at the unit, said in a blog post Wednesday. The company will also roll out the program in other offices in California, Arkansas and Virginia.

The four-month, paid program is designed for professionals with at least five years of experience who have been out of the workforce taking care of children or elderly parents or for other personal reasons -- a group that typically includes more women than men.

Walmart will continue to work with Path Forward, a nonprofit organization that has developed similar programs with Apple Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and NBCUniversal. On its website, the group says that among more than 40 internship programs at companies including Campbell Soup Co. and PayPal, 82 percent of the participants have been retained by the host company and 90 percent are still working.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan at jgreen16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Janet Paskin at jpaskin@bloomberg.net, Nick Turner

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Welcome back for another week of Whats Next, where we report on the intersection of law and technology. This week, we check in with OMelvenys Melody Drummond Hansen for a tune up on the full-throttle future of autonomous and connected vehicles. Plus, Amal and George Clooney launch an artificially intelligent app to monitor courtroom corruption. And lawyers share plans to devote a bigger chunk of change to a growing field.





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Melody Drummond Hansen of OMelveny & Myers.





The Road to Legality for Autonomous Vehicles





OMelveny & Myers chair for its automated and connected vehicles industry group did not own a car until she moved to the firms Silicon Valley office a few years ago. Melody Drummond Hansen grew up in rural South Carolina in an area where paved roads were a bit harder to come by. As the firms intellectual property and technology partner, Drummond Hansen helps companies maneuver around the regulatory and litigation risks, as well as data and privacy concerns on the path to self-driving ubiquity. "I am a long way from that dirt road in South Carolina, she said.



We caught up with Drummond Hansen to check in on the emerging law around automated vehicles, which she suspects will begin regularly transporting passengers any day now. First, however, the legal community and consumers need to get up to speed.



>> What are the newest developments around autonomous vehicles?



There are myriad developments that can be challenging to track. We have a fun widget on our website that tracks federal and state regulations, but one of the most interesting trends were seeing is some cooperation among different folks in the industry to educate and collaborate in the space.



Theres a coalition called Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) that was launched earlier this year. It brings together a couple dozen industry leaders, academics and policy advocates, with engineering association SAE as one of the founding members.



The initiative was announced at CES and it hopes to respond to the fact that theres a lot of incomplete information out there. Not only for consumers, who might be swayed by the types of stories the media usually covers, but also agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which are working really hard to adapt. Its a challenge to reach consensus even on what commonly used terms such as autonomous mean.



I think the other major development is around data and privacy. We are all in a time of reckoning about data and privacy more generally, including for connected technology. How do we deal with security, privacy, who owns the data and monetization? Were trying to strike those balances, and there are efforts that are more tailored to autonomous and connected vehicles.



>> What are some laws that are shaping data and privacy in connected vehicles?



When you think about the many laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, when you get passed the definitional concerns, were talking about four different areas: minimization, anonymizing or compartmentalizing, notice or advertising, and responses to incidents and concerns.



The minimization piece asks companies to only collect, store and use what you need. You can do this by minimizing on the front end of what you collect. Just think about a video. How far around or within a vehicle are you going to record a video? You can fuzz out information that youve collected. Can you take the info you need and discard what you dont?



A related but distinguishable concept is anonymizing and compartmentalizing. When the data is being stored or transferred, can you make it very difficult or impossible to view personal information? Can you break up data into pieces to make it more difficult to connect to individuals?



Notice and advertising is what you tell people about what data you collect and how youre going to use it. And how you respond to a security or privacy breach when it happens is a really important issue. I love the scene in Taken when hes talking to his daughter on the phone and says, This is very importantyoure going to be taken. I think theres an aspect to that in AV data security. Some may be asking, How can I make an unhackable AV? The answer is youre not going to. Youve got to assume hacks and breaches will happen, and having a robust response plan is key.



>> What are some lesser known legal complexities of AV?



International investments and cross-border development is one piece. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States develops strategic areas where they may restrict foreign investment in industries the country has identified as key areas of technology. AI has been one of those in the past. It can affect where companies can expand, where they can get investments from and cross-border activity.



There are a lot of open questions about how federal interest in this space might complicate the ability of countries to establish international locations and to share data. When it comes to technology, China is very interested and invested in the space and has a lot of technical investment in electric, hydrogen, AI and 5G. In light of the current climate of trade policy, the question is where is this going to be headed for cooperation and for competition?



>> When do you think well see autonomous vehicles carrying passengers outside of a pilot?



I have an optimistic view of this. My answer is any day now. We have deployment permits already issued in California. Waymo has been giving passengers rides in their vehicles in Arizona for a while now. There now have been permits issued in California from the California Public Utilities Commission to participate in a driverless pilot.



The announcements that youre seeing are announcements for 2020. The technology is really ready, and thats why youre seeing this permitting. California is one of the most consumer protectionist states in the country, so I view it as a big vote of confidence that the state has granted these permits and is forging ahead. I dont think 2020 would be unrealistic, and the date of that probably depends less on the tech and more on regulatory environment and consumer acceptance. The development of an education program is really significant. Consumers need the opportunity to get up to speed on this and the AV industry is working hard to address their concerns.





Story continues







A Watchful Eye





Last week, noted human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and her husband, some guy named George, took the stage at Columbia Law School to introduce a new project called TrialWatch. The project, in their words, aims to be the first comprehensive global program scrutinizing criminal trials, with human and non-human monitors providing insight into places with a risk of corrupt and sham courts, with a focus on trials involving journalists, LGBTQ persons, women and girls, religious minorities, and human rights defenders.



Its a laudable goal, to be sure. But what interests me is less of the what and more of the howespecially when it comes to those non-human monitors in question. Thats why Im intrigued by the TrialWatch App in particular, which Clooney noted has been in development in partnership with 20 Microsoft engineers, some working on it full time.



The app provides a user-interface to guide a monitor inside the courtroom, including asking the right questions, getting data and documents, and uploading information into the cloud quickly, she said. From there, legal experts will assess the trial against human rights standards and produce a fairness report, and where necessary and possible, the report will be followed up with legal advocacy to assist a defendant in pursuing remedies in regional or international human rights courts, according to the Clooney Foundation news release. The app will also allow local language inputs and use AI cognitive services technologies to transcribe and translate content into English.



The non-human part of the process may not mean full automation, but Id argue that it doesnt necessarily have to be. As Ive written before, the best solutions are sometimes the most straightforward onesand especially given that one of the toughest problems in watching these courts is simply manpower, using technology to significantly lower the barrier to entry to become a court watchdog, rather than trying to automate the process up front, seems like a prudent course of action. Plus, part of the program is indeed to more easily promote collaboration between those on the ground and leaders in other countries. Technology is a natural way to facilitate that impact. Zach Warren











Cyber-Insecurity





Robert Half Legal recently released a new survey that found lawyers intend to increase cybersecurity spending over the next year as part of an ongoing trend. Compiled from responses of more than 200 U.S. lawyers either working at firms with 20 or more employees or at legal departments with 1,000 or more employees, 76 percent said their organization would increase spending on cybersecurity-related resources over the next 12 months, reports Frank Ready at Legaltech News. And thats probably a good thing, because the Federal Bureau of Investigation released its annual report last week that found the cost of global cybercrime in the U.S. has nearly doubled to more than $2.7 billion in 2018 from $1.4 billion a year earlier, according to its annual internet crime report. Complaints of internet-enabled fraud, theft and exploitation increased 17 percent from 2017 to 2018. The most costly complaints concerned business email compromise (where hackers break into email accounts and target wire-transfer payments), romance or confidence fraud, and investment scams, according to the center. MP McQueen.



















On the Radar





Getting A Second Opinion: As the Silicon Valley saga between Oracle Corp. and Google LLC chugs along in its ninth year, the Supreme Court is asking the solicitor general to weigh in on the ongoing copyright litigation a second time. Four years ago, the SG dubbed APIsor 11,500 lines of code that form a structure for basic programming functionscopyrightable. This time, the high court has asked for guidance on copyrightability and whether Googles adoption of the APIs in its Android operating system was fair game. Read more from Scott Graham here.



NSA Gonna NSA: In the name of national security, the government won summary judgement in a mass surveillance case. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of the Northern District of California shot down a lawsuit on behalf of AT&T customers who claimed the National Security Agency illegally dragged their internet communications into its investigations. White said the court finds that it has reached the threshold at which it can go no further. White said he more thoroughly described the governments national security defenses in a sealed order. Read more from Ross Todd here.



Goodwin, Latham Get in on Slack IPO: Goodwin Procter and Latham & Watkins are getting a piece of this years IPO boom. Richard Kline, Goodwins capital markets practice co-chair, will lead Slack Technologies Inc.s direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Kline has also taken on leading roles in the public offerings for ride-sharing company Lyft and Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. Latham & Watkins will represent the companys financial and associate advisors. Read more from Meghan Tribe here.



Gig Economy Gets a Boost: The growth of the app-driven gig economy mightve just gotten an extra gust of momentum. The U.S. Department of Labor issued an opinion declaring workers involved in a virtual marketplace rightfully categorized as contractors. The definition allows employers to skirt minimum wage, benefit offerings and overtime rules. The opinion marks a reversal in an Obama-era effort to narrow the definition of independent contractors. Read more from Cheryl Miller here.
Denbury Resources Inc. DNR is expected to release first-quarter 2019 results on May 7, before the opening bell.

The Plano, TX-based company has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the prior four quarters, with the average being 27.3%.

Denbury Resources Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Denbury Resources Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | Denbury Resources Inc. Quote

Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Which Way are Estimates Treading?

Lets take a look at estimate revisions to get a clear picture of what analysts are thinking about the company before the earnings release.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate of 8 cents for first-quarter earnings has seen one upward and three downward revisions by firms in the past 30 days. This figure indicates a year-over-year decline of 33.3%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $307.5 million for the to-be-reported quarter, indicating a fall of 13% from the year-ago reported figure.

Factors at Play

Denbury Resources has a relatively low-risk business model as it produces oil by applying tertiary recovery techniques in mature fields. In this regard, its Cedar Creek Anticline and Tinsley Field Cotton Valley properties are expected to have created promising exploiting opportunities, which will be reflected in the to-be-reported quarter.

The company has an oil-heavy portfolio (comprising 97.3% of the total volume in the last reported quarter). Hence, changes in crude price will affect its bottom line. Notably, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude price in first-quarter 2019 was lower than the year-ago period. In January, February and March, WTI averaged $51.38, $54.95 and $58.15 per barrel, respectively, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In comparison, WTI averaged $63.70, $62.23 and $62.73 per barrel, respectively, in the first three months of 2018. Lower oil price realization will likely hurt the companys first-quarter 2019 results. In such a situation, quarterly earnings are likely to fall 33.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Story continues

What Our Model Unveils

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Denbury Resources is likely to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the quarter to be reported. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. Unfortunately, this is not the case here as elaborated below.

Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as the Most Accurate Estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are both pegged at 8 cents.You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Denbury Resources currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. Though a Zacks Rank of 3 increases the predictive power of ESP, a 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

We caution against Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Ranks #4 and 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Energy Stocks With Favorable Combination

Here are some companies from the energy space which, according to our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in the upcoming quarterly reports.

Frisco, TX-based Comstock Resources, Inc. CRK has a Zacks Rank #2 and an Earnings ESP of +11.95%. The company is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on May 9.

San Antonio, TX-based Abraxas Petroleum Corporation AXAS has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of +133.33%. The company is slated to report first-quarter earnings on May 6.

Oklahoma City, OK-based Chaparral Energy, Inc. CHAP has a Zacks Rank #2 and an Earnings ESP of +110.00%. The company is set to report first-quarter earnings on May 9.

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White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says the U.S. should know in the next two weeks whether it will reach a trade deal with China.

The Trump administration is trying to strike an agreement to end a potentially damaging trade conflict.

Mulvaney also casts doubts on whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will move to ratify a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Trump administration should know more about whether it will sign a key trade deal with China within two weeks, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Tuesday.

When asked about Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's suggestion that the White House could announce an agreement with Beijing in the next two weeks, the top Trump advisor said, "I think that's fair."

"Someone asked me how long is the negotiation going to go on and I don't have a specific answer to that," he said at the Milken Institute Global Conference. "It won't go on forever. I think at some point in any negotiation you realize: 'OK: we're close to getting something done so we're going to keep going.' On the other hand, at some point you just throw your hands up and say 'you know this is never going to get anywhere.'"

"I think you'll know one way or the other in the next couple weeks," he said. "I think that's probably fair."

The White House has pushed for a deal to revamp its trade relationship with China and address concerns about trade deficits, intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers. While the Trump administration has shown optimism about striking an agreement and ending a potentially devastating trade conflict between the world's two largest economies, final sticking points have tripped up talks. Investors have watched the negotiations closely, as success or failure in reaching a deal could affect a wide range of companies.

Mulvaney stressed the U.S. would not accept an agreement with China unless it was a great deal. The two sides have appeared to disagree not only on whether the U.S. would lift its $250 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods as part of an agreement, but also on how to enforce provisions to crack down on what Trump has called Beijing's trade abuses.

Story continues

Outside of his discussion about China, Mulvaney cast doubts on the Trump administration's other major trade initiative: its replacement of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Congress so far has not moved to ratify the deal, dubbed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, amid Democratic concerns about environmental and labor protections.

Trump currently faces one of the most pivotal stretches in his promise to overhaul U.S. trade relationships, which he argues have battered American workers and sapped wages.

While Mulvaney contended that the deal would "pass overwhelmingly and bipartisanly" if it got to the House floor, he showed doubts about whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would bring it to a vote.

"She controls the floor and if it doesn't come up for a vote, it won't see the light of day," the White House chief of staff said.

Not just Democrats have raised opposition to ratifying the deal. In a Wall Street Journal column titled, "Trump's Tariffs End or His Trade Deal Dies," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged the president to remove tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and China before lawmakers approve the agreement.

If Congress does not move to ratify the agreement, Trump could stick with NAFTA or revive his threat to pull out of the agreement, Mulvaney said.

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A senior police officer in Northern Ireland has warned there is still a significant threat to sites with ATMs after two men were arrested following the theft of a cash machine from a forecourt in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Speaking on April 30, detective superintendent Rachel Shields said: During the early hours of this morning police arrested two men following the theft of the cash machine from a service station at Nutts Corner.

At around 3.30am we received reports from a number of vigilant members of the public that a digger was being used to remove an ATM from the premises on the Tully Road. We immediately directed a significant number of resources to the area. Two men, aged 26 and 31, were detained and remain in custody being questioned on suspicion of theft and a number of other offences.

It was as a result of this information from the public that we were able to make these arrests and also recover the stolen ATM. I would like to thank the local people and also take this opportunity to renew our appeal for any suspicious activity noticed around ATMs or building sites to be reported to police on 999.

There have been more than 10 attacks targeting ATMs in Northern Ireland this year and the Police Service of Northern Ireland has set up a special team to combat the crimes.

DS Shields added: This mornings arrests demonstrate how the community and police can successfully work together to tackle crime. However, this does not mean we will be complacent as we recognise there are a number of gangs carrying out these attacks on ATMs and the threat of more thefts is very real. Every single one of these attacks impacts the community significantly  denying access to money and on many occasions causing inconvenience as the shop or filling station is forced to close for repair.

We will continue to do all we can to catch those responsible. Tonight again we will have local police patrolling areas which could be vulnerable to an attack and detectives remain dedicated to investigating the thefts that have taken place. I assure you this remains a key priority for police.
With several months focus on World Visions ongoing effort to provide and sustain clean water in many countries, PLC Sunday school has centered on clean water awareness and help for those without access.

On Saturday, check-in is 9-9:30 a.m. From 9:30-10:30 a.m., walkers, families and friends will walk the perimeter of the PLC green. Donations given (checks payable to Peace Lutheran) will be forwarded entirely to World Vision International. The PLC challenge includes consideration of a monthly water billing, as donation for clean water for others, or simply attend with a friend to enjoy walking, and cross the finish line to help provide for those who need clean water for daily life.
Nebraska National History Day held its 39th annual state contest on April 6 with over 370 students presenting research projects related to this years theme, Triumph and Tragedy in History.

Fifty-four middle and high school students from 24 schools across Nebraska were awarded first and second-place rankings, earning an opportunity to compete at the National Contest held June 9-13 at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Nebraska National History Day is an annual competition for students in grades sixth through 12th and is associated with the National History Day program in Washington, D.C. Students compete individually or in groups within five categories: historical paper, exhibit, performance, documentary, or website. Approximately 2,500 students in Nebraska utilize the program in their classroom. Students ranking in the top three or four places at district competition were invited to the state contest. Historians and educators from across Nebraska adjudicated the 216 entries created by students.

In addition to the selection of national qualifiers, several entries received special awards or honorable mentions given by the Nebraska Press Association Foundation, Nebraska State Historical Society, NEBRASKALand Foundation, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and the Michael Berg Memorial Award. One exhibit will represent Nebraska at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. during a special exhibit on June 12.

Steve Wills, associate professor of history at Nebraska Wesleyan University and department chair, serves as State History Day coordinator. Shari Sorenson, service learning and community outreach coordinator at Nebraska Wesleyan, is the programs event coordinator.

The seven district contests are sponsored by Chadron State College, Durham Museum, Hastings State College, Northeast Community College, Peru State College, Southeast Community College, and University of Nebraska-Kearney. The state contest and statewide program is funded in part by Humanities Nebraska, the Dillon Foundation and Nebraska Wesleyan University. Supplemental travel stipends are provided through Humanities Nebraska and History Nebraska and awarded to all students attending the National Contest in College Park, Md.

In the senior group performance category, Logan View students Corbin Irvin and Noah Fowler placed first with their entry, Andrew Jackson: The Failed Promises.

Reagan Klein of Logan View placed first and earned the Michael Berg Memorial Award in the senior individual web category. Kleins entry was titled, Standing Bear: The Life and Legacy of an Equal Man.

The Logan View students teacher is Nick Hegge.

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Concordia University, Nebraska's ninth annual Academic and Research Symposium featured 55 academic projects from a variety of disciplines presented by 57 students on April 24 in the Thom Leadership Education Center on Concordia's campus.

Students presented a variety of semester or yearlong projects at the symposium, including poster and oral presentations in art, biology, education, English, health and human performance, linguistics, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, psychology, sociology and theology. Faculty members also supervised the students' work to ensure readiness by providing them with feedback and guidance.
The next meeting of the Fremont Area Association of Retired School Personnel will be Wednesday, May 8, at St. James Episcopal Church at Fifth and D streets. A lunch will be served promptly at noon for $7.

Tina Walker will be the featured speaker on the plans to expand Keene Memorial Library. Members are asked to bring peanut butter for donating to the food pantry.

All retired school personnel are invited. Reservations are required and may be made by calling 402-727-5217.

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After the historic blizzards and flooding rolled through Nebraska and devastated our communities, weve heard countless stories of neighbor helping neighbor, and donations and help pouring in from across the country for our hurting communities, farms, and businesses.

I have been working hard in Congress to provide our state with relief  and I am proud to introduce legislation that would give a hand up to individuals and businesses.

Recently, along with Congressman Adrian Smith, I introduced the Disaster Tax Relief Act. This bicameral, bipartisan measure would deliver much-needed tax benefits to communities that were recently designated as disaster areas.

Id like Nebraskans to know some of the specifics of what the Disaster Tax Relief Act would do and what it would mean for our citizens and businesses impacted by the catastrophic weather conditions.

This legislation lifts regulations for the use of retirement funds. Currently, those who make early withdrawals from their retirement accounts are charged with a 10-percent penalty. But as we have seen in the wake of the severe weather, many Nebraskans are forced to dip into their retirement funds to restore their home or rebuild their farm or business. This bill would waive the 10-percent early withdrawal fee for those affected. Plunging into hard-earned retirement savings is disheartening on its own, Nebraskans should not be penalized in the process of putting the pieces back together.

The Disaster Tax Relief Act would also temporarily eliminate the cap on deductions for charitable donations within a disaster area. Charitable deductions are normally capped around 30 to 50 percent of income. Without these limitations in place, this legislation can provide even more incentive for donations to Nebraska communities that need the most assistance.

Usually, the IRS offers a limited deduction for destroyed property. This bill would expand the deduction so it can be claimed for damages not covered by other insurance or federal programs.

Targeted changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in the bill would help alleviate financial pressures some of our friends and neighbors are facing. EITC recipients generally receive credit based on the amount of money they have earned, but as floods have caused our businesses to halt operations, wages could fall. This bill would allow affected Nebraskans to claim their previous years credit if their wages decrease.

This legislation would help families keep a steadier stream of income as they recover. A tax credit would be made available for employers in disaster areas who continue to pay their employees. In some cases, this would give businesses the flexibility to continue paying their workers while they recover.

The bottom line is this: the Disaster Tax Relief Act offers more flexibility and frees Nebraskans from regulations, so they can make the right decisions for themselves and their loved ones as they recover.

Nebraskans are strong and tough. Day-by-day we are reopening doors and restoring our communities in the Good Life. I believe this common-sense tax relief measure would only help to speed up the process of getting back on our feet.

The passage of the Disaster Tax Relief Act would be an important step in the right direction. I will continue to fight to ensure that Congress quickly enacts this bill into law to lighten the load for our hurting families.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you next week.

Deb Fischer is the senior senator from Nebraska. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012. She can be reached in Washington D.C. at 454 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 20510 (202-224-6551); in Lincoln at 440 North 8th Street, Suite 120, Lincoln, NE, 68508 (402-441-4600); in Omaha at 11819 Miracle Hills Dr. Suite 205, Omaha, NE 68154 (402-391-3411).

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Online retail giant Amazon confirmed Wednesday it will open a permanent delivery station later this year near the Colorado Springs Airport that will create "hundreds of work opportunities for small businesses and independent contractors."

The Seattle-based company confirmed its plans less than a day after Colorado Springs sold 18.7 acres in the airport's Peak Innovation Park . A unit of New York-based Fortress Investment Group paid $2.25 million Tuesday for the land where the 66,000-square-foot delivery station is already under construction and will be leased to Amazon.

The sale agreement with the city requires the company and its landlord to build a "warehouse-distribution facility of not less than 60,000 square feet within 12 months" of the purchase, according to the sale agreement obtained by The Gazette through a Colorado Open Records Act request. Total construction cost for the building is expected to be $8.44 million, according to the agreement.

Amazon said in a news release that the station will "power Amazon's last-mile deliver capabilities to speed up deliveries for customers in the surrounding area."

The company said small businesses and independent contractors can make $18-$25 an hour delivering for Amazon. Details are available at flex.amazon.com/.

"Im delighted to welcome Amazon to Colorado Springs and Im certain they will find this an excellent place to do business," Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said in an email statement. "Amazon is an innovative and visionary company, and were very pleased to be a part of their future. It is our sincere hope that Amazon will prosper here in our community and that they will continue to grow their presence in Colorado Springs in the years ahead."

Amazon.com Services leased 4 acres at 7704 Milton E. Proby Parkway in November and opened a 17,000-square-foot tent facility with 150 employees. Amazon is paying $10,000 a month for the land through March 31, 2020, and likely will keep that structure until the permanent center is finished.

The Tuesday purchase, which city officials hinted at for months, could be the start of Amazons major expansion in the Springs. The Colorado Springs City Council agreed in November to sell the 19-acre parcel and a second 70-acre parcel to a Fortune 500 company for a pair of warehouse-distribution facilities that would generate a significant number of jobs, according to information presented to council members. No plans have been submitted for the second site.

Amazon map The shaded lot shows where an Amazon delivery station is being built at the Colorado Springs Airport.

The Colorado Springs delivery station will be Amazon's fourth in Colorado. The company employs more than 3,500 people statewide and also operates four fulfillment and sorting centers, Prime Now, Tech and Amazon Air hubs and 19 Whole Foods Market stores (including one in Colorado Springs) as well as several other storefront locations.

Amazon announced plans Tuesday to expand its Denver Tech Hub with 400 more employees, including software and hardware engineers and cloud computing and advertising specialists. The company said it has spent more than $1.5 billion over the past three years, pumping more than $1 billion into Colorados economy. Thats part of the $160 billion Amazon has spent nationwide over the past seven years on corporate offices, research and development centers, fulfillment centers and payroll offices.
A purchase of 18.7 acres at the Colorado Springs Airport was finalized Tuesday to accommodate online retail giant Amazons new delivery center, which could employ 600 people, replacing a temporary tent operation that opened in November.

A $8,4 million, 66,000-square-foot warehouse  about the size of a large grocery store  will be used as Amazons delivery station when completed in mid-September. The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department issued the building permit last week.

CF Capybara, a company created by New York-based Fortress Investment Group, bought the site for $2.25 million and will lease the completed building to Amazon, documents show. Fortress entities also bought properties last year for major Amazon distribution centers in North Carolina and Ohio.

The Tuesday purchase, which city officials hinted at for months, is only the start for Amazons major expansion in the Springs. The Colorado Springs City Council in November approved selling the 18.7-acre parcel and an adjacent 70-acre parcel to the same buyer. No plans have been submitted for the second site.

Amazon.com Services leased 4 acres at 7704 Milton E. Proby Parkway in November and opened a 17,000-square-foot tent facility with 150 employees. Amazon is paying $10,000 a month for the land through March 31, 2020, and likely will keep that structure until the permanent center is finished.

The tent station gave Amazon the final link to use companies or individuals to deliver its goods, spokeswoman Amanda Ip said.

Amazons local expansion comes as the company grows its footprint across Colorado and nationwide to get merchandise to customers more quickly, sometimes within two hours. To speed deliveries in Colorado, the company opened a robot-aided distribution center in Thornton last summer with plans for up to 1,500 employees.

Mayor John Suthers, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the transaction. An Amazon spokeswoman also declined to comment.

Amazon also announced plans Tuesday to expand its Denver Tech Hub with 400 more employees, including software and hardware engineers and cloud computing and advertising specialists.

The company is building office space in Denvers Lower Downtown at 1515 Wynkoop St., former headquarters for Chipotle. There, workers will build products and services for Amazons retail and advertising businesses as well as Amazon Web Services, a company news release said. Amazon said it has spent more than $1.5 billion over the past three years, pumping more than $1 billion into Colorados economy. Thats part of the $160 billion Amazon has spent nationwide over the past seven years on corporate offices, research and development centers, fulfillment centers and payroll offices.

Amazon employs more than 3,500 statewide  at the Thornton sorting center near Denver International Airport, a delivery station in Aurora, an engineering operation in Boulder focused on digital advertising and cloud computing, and several retail stores. It also opened an advertising office last year in Boulder.

The new delivery station will be built on one of two parcels in the Peak Innovation Business Park.

Amazons role in the purchase of both parcels was revealed as part of a settlement with Fourth Estate News, which sued the city in 2018 to reveal the buyers identity and plans for the site. Fourth Estate was created by Tim Hoiles, a former owner of Freedom Communications, one-time owner of The Gazette.
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Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper talked to interested potential voters at a house party in his honor in Dubuque, Iowa, on Saturday, March 8, 2019. Hickenlooper was making a whirlwind tour of towns and cities in Iowa in his 2020 president campaign. (Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)
Steve Zansberg is a First Amendment lawyer at Ballard Spahr in Denver. He is the President of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and a Past Chair of the American Bar Associations Forum on Communications Law.
With a cursory stop in the Colorado House, the state Climate Action Plan should be on its way to the governor's desk to become official policy.
A measure to expand Iowas medical marijuana program will open the door to more patients and new products to help treat them, according to the states medical cannabis manufacturer.

In the last days of the 2019 legislative session, lawmakers approved a proposal to expand aspects of the medical cannabidiol program, including patient access and the type of providers who can recommend treatment.

If you look at the bill in its entirety, it is very clear that it is patient-focused, said Lucas Nelson, general manager of outsourcing services for Kemin Industries, lead consultant for MedPharm Iowa of Des Moines.

MedPharm Iowa was the first company awarded a state license to manufacture cannabidiol products. Its products went on sale for the first time Dec. 1 at five state-certified dispensaries, in Davenport, Waterloo, Windsor Heights, Council Bluffs and Sioux City.

The latest proposal  passed on the final day of the session  removes the 3 percent cap on tetrahydrocannabinol, or the psychoactive component of cannabis known as THC.

Instead, the bill limits the amount of medical cannabis a patient could have to 25 grams over a 90-day period.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has not said if she will sign the bill into law.

Nelson applauded removal of the cap, saying it makes it easier for patients to get the dosage they need without taking excessive amounts of the product, which can be cost prohibitive.

In addition, it will allow MedPharm to develop vapor products.

Vapor is fast acting, Nelson said. It wont last as long over the course of the day  maybe an hour, maybe less or more for some  but it will take effect within minutes.

Vapor would be ideal for chronic pain patients, Nelson said. Some of the patients experience sudden, exponential increases in pain from certain activities and need a fast-acting supplement to their daily dosage.

Under the 25-gram limit, Nelson estimates, about 90 percent of MedPharms patients still would get the dose they need in their cannabidiol products, which can be used for conditions such as Parkinsons disease, seizures and ALS, among others.

The cap could impact cancer patients, chronic pain patients and those dealing with terminal illness.

Well learn as the program grows how many patients are left out, he said. I am confident at least where program stands, we will be able to treat many of our patients, if not all.

Language in the bill also changes its current definition of untreatable pain to severe or chronic pain  a less cumbersome definition that more providers should be confident about, Nelson said. This change likely would allow more providers to comfortably certify chronic pain patients to receive medical cannabis products.

As of April 18, more than 2,500 patients have been issued registration cards by the state  nearly 60 percent of whom qualify under the untreatable pain condition, according to the Iowa Office of Medical Cannabidiol.

Edward Mitchell, chief operating officer for Have A Heart Compassionate Care, also applauded this change in the legislation. The Seattle-based cannabis retailer operates the dispensaries in Davenport and Council Bluffs.

It really opens the door for more people to get help, Mitchell said.

The legislation Iowa lawmakers approved this past week also allows physician assistants and nurse practitioners to recommend patients for the program  a necessary step Iowans must take before they are awarded a license by the state.

This is a significant point for rural Iowans, who may not have regular access to a physician in their region, or for Iowans who typically see nurse practitioners or physician assistants for their regular primary care.

According to the Iowa Office of Medical Cannabidiol, more than 600 health care providers have certified patients for the program by April 18.

Since products went on sale Dec. 1, Mitchell said Have A Heart Compassionate Cares dispensaries in Iowa have lost money for every month were doing work here.

The program still is too restrictive, he said, but the company has taken this model on in states such as Iowa, which is just venturing into the medical cannabis field.

We have to do that as a business, Mitchell said. We have to let them see the benefits (of cannabis) until the stigma is lifted.

The company also operates in states that allow recreational use, which enables it to generate a profit, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he expects lawmakers to continue expanding the program as more Iowans see positive results.

Any move ahead is better than no move, Mitchell said. What weve seen as far as legislative changes in other states, its a step-by-step process.

A second manufacturer awarded a license by the state to produce medical cannabis is slated to complete construction on a facility in southwest Cedar Rapids later this year. Iowa Relief, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Acreage Holdings, must have products available for sale by July 1.

Acreage Holdings did not return requests for comment.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)  A man armed with a pistol opened fire on students at a North Carolina university during the last day of classes Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four, police said. Officers who had gathered ahead of a campus concert raced over and disarmed the suspect.

The shooting prompted a lockdown at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and caused widespread panic across campus as students scrambled to take shelter.

"Just loud bangs. A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind," said Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friend's art show.

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said authorities received a call in the late afternoon that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students. He said officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman in the room where the shooting took place.

"Our officers' actions definitely saved lives," Baker said at a news conference.

He said two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition late Tuesday. He said a fourth person's injuries were less serious. Students were among the victims, but officials would not say how many.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22. They said he's in custody with charges pending.

Monifa Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots. She said she directed students fleeing the scene to take cover inside a parking deck.

"I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me," she said. "We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we're in the parking deck and there's a shooter and we don't know where he is, he won't have a clear shot."

She added: "My thought was, I've lived my life, I've had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that's what I was going to do."

The suspect's grandfather Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, said that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died. Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language learning program his grandfather bought him and was attending UNC-Charlotte, Rold said. But Terrell never showed any interest in guns or other weapons and the news he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning, said Rold, who had not heard about the Charlotte attack before being contacted by an Associated Press reporter.

"You're describing someone foreign to me," Rold said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. "This is not in his DNA."

Shortly after UNC Charlotte issued a campus lockdown, aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department later said that the campus had been secured and that officers were going through buildings to let people who were hiding know that it was safe to come out.

The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas.

Spenser Gray, a junior, said she was watching another student's presentation in a nearby campus building when the alert about the shooting popped up on everyone's computer screens.

She said she panicked: "We had no idea where he was ... so we were just expecting them at any moment coming into the classroom."

Susan Harden, an UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner, was at home when she heard of the shooting. She went to a staging area, she said, to provide support.

Harden said she has taught inside the Kennedy building, where the shootings occurred.

"It breaks my heart. We're torn up about what's happened," Harden said. "Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety."

Gov. Roy Cooper said at a briefing late Tuesday that a "hard look" was needed into how the shooting happened and how to keep guns off campus and out of schools.

"A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses," the Democrat said. "Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school. And I know that this violence has to stop. ... In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward."

___

Associated Press writers Martha Waggoner and Emery Dalesio in Raleigh contributed to this report.

___

This story has been amended to correct the spelling of Monifa Drayton's first name.

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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | ACCEPTED ENTRIES | LIVE RESULTS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M With a fewmeets remaining to register qualifying times for the NCAA Westpreliminary round, nine runners from The University of New Mexico track and field team are heading to the elite Payton Jordan Invitational held at Stanford University for the one-day meet on Thursday.

Of the nine runners, the Lobos will have 11 entries in seven events.

Already holding the top time overall in the NCAA in the 5000-meters, sophomore Weini Kelati is entered the run in the 1500-meter and the 10,000-meter to establish a qualifying time in those events, while also running the 5000-meter as the sophomore looks to improve on her 15:23.46 result.

UNM will have a total of three runners in the 5000-meter race with Ednah Kurgat and Emily Martin scheduled to run. Martin previously ran 15:59.80 at the Stanford Invitational on Mar. 29, which currently ranks 16th on the NCAA West Outdoor Qualifying list, however, Thursdays race will be the first opportunity for Kurgat to register a time in the event.

The Lobos will also have multiple entries in the 3000-meter steeplechase with Adva Cohen and Charlotte Prouse. Neither runner has competed in the steeplechase this season.

UNM will have two entries in the mens 1500-meter race with Ian Crowe-Wright and Iolo Hughes set to run. Of the two, Hughes is the only one to have previously run the event, clocking a 3:45.92 at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 17, which currently ranks just outside of the qualifying cutoff at 52nd.

Michael Wilson returns to Stanford and Cobb Track and Angell Field looking to improve on his previous time recorded at the Stanford Invitational of 1:48.77. The seniors time checks in at the 24th-best time in the West region.

Also looking to improve his time and standings, Jonny Glenn will be competing in the 3000-meter steeplechase. The junior logged a time of 8:57.60 at the Bryan Clay Invitational two weeks ago, ranking him 30th in the event.

Live stats will be available and will be posted once established. Heat sheets will be released Wednesday evening, with the first Lobo event estimated to be at 8:14 p.m. MT with the mens 800-meter. FloTrack will stream the meet and can be found HERE, although viewing will require a subscription.
Haifa is on the "front line" in any action in the north but this blog looks at life in the shadow of danger to all of Israel
After going through something as life-altering as a car accident, the best thing you can get out of it is...
Technology in the livestock industry is catching up to our brethren on the cropping side. We can now point to livestock activity monitors, robotic milkers, GPS livestock tracking systems, and pasture biomass readers as breakthroughs for the way livestock are managed.

All technology has growing pains, but a recent news release from The Ohio State University (OSU) regarding a grazing technology still in womb really caught my attention. If it works, rotational and strip grazing will take on a whole new dimension of easier.

This new technology is an invisible fence for cows  think about an invisible fence for pets without the buried wire.

Anthony Parker, an animal science professor at OSU, is the lead researcher who is testing the virtual fence.

Each cow (or other animal) wears a solar powered, GPS-enabled collar. With the collar, animals can easily be tracked. The technology being used was developed and patented by Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and is licensed to Agersens, an Australian-based company. Its marketed as eShepherd.

In addition to OSU, Agersens also has memorandums of understanding with Kansas State University and the University of Idaho to test the technology in the U.S.

Tracking animals with GPS is not unique, but the technology also allows the farmer to draw grazing boundaries on a laptop computer or tablet. If it works, this will reduce the need for moving portable fence.

When the animal approaches the boundary, they hear a warning sound first. If they continue forward, a shock is felt, similar to the pet fences used by many homeowners.

Will cattle cooperate?

When it comes to livestock behavior and handling, what looks good on paper doesnt always translate to reality. How well the cattle heed the warning sound and shocks is fundamental to this systems effectiveness. Also, Parker points out that the behavior and tolerance to shock will likely differ among animals.

The eShepherd testing at OSU will be done after the researchers receive the approval of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of OSUs Office of Responsible Research Practices.

Parker will investigate whether the shock provided through the collar is sufficient to keep cattle within the designated boundaries.

According to the news release, they plan to do this by placing hay and additional feed just outside the boundary of the invisible fence. They then will monitor animal behavior to see how many shocks, if any, a cow will tolerate to get to the feed.

If the eShepherd system is able to contain livestock to a designated area, it would be huge benefit for managing pasture growth, rest periods, and allow for more frequent movements without taking multiple trips to the pasture or range. It would also provide an easy mechanism for keeping livestock out of environmentally sensitive areas and water sources.

Where the technology will go from here is anybodys guess, but the concept is intriguing. It wont replace the need to monitor pasture forage growth and livestock with boots on the ground. I also would be hesitant to rip out boundary fences.

Nevertheless, its good to see that technology is making strides in the most basic of livestock systems  that of grazing.

Below is a video that originates from the Agersens website that demonstrates the technology.
" " Worrying actually can be beneficial. SIphotography/iStock/Thinkstock

Calling all worrywarts and anxious Annies  you may not have to, well, worry about your worrying habits.

Kate Sweeny, psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside, recently published an article in the journal Social and Personality Psychology Compass that suggests worry provides opportunities for people to take control, avoid aversive events and seek desirable ones.

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Worrying, or having consistent, unpleasant thoughts about the future, is in the family of aversive emotions like fear, hatred and disgust. There's no debating that excessive worrying can be detrimental, causing depressed moods and even mental illness. According to the World Health Organization, 615 million people had depression and/or anxiety in 2013, which is a 50 percent increase in a span of just slightly more than 20 years  so the negative effects of worrying are nothing to scoff at.

Sweeny and her co-author, doctoral candidate Michael D. Dooley, don't discount or advocate for excessive worry. But they did find that when channeled the right way, worry can serve as a motivator, encouraging preventive and productive behavior. Too much and too little worry can decrease motivation, but according to Sweeny's analysis, "the right amount of worry can motivate without paralyzing." Worry can also act as an emotional buffer, helping the worrier prepare for the worst and brace for impact. This way, the stressor is no longer on the sidelines, but out front, in an effort of proactive coping (facing a feared outcome head-on).

Prior studies by Sweeny and other researchers have explored worry's relation to preventive behavior. For instance, feelings of worry about skin cancer predicted sunscreen use in one study, and displaying harmful physical side effects of cigarettes through text and images instilled more worry and put a damper on smoking for young smokers and nonsmokers. Think of motivation as worry's cheerleader, jumping up in hopes of drawing a person to goal-directed actions.

The researchers suggest worriers use mindfulness to acknowledge their feelings and evaluate whether worry serves a useful purpose in that deciding moment. Even though worry may not be beneficial for everyone, as the researchers note, there is good evidence that dwelling on the future and anticipating negative outcomes can promote preparedness and help manage emotions.

Now Thats Interesting "What Worries the World," a monthly poll taken in 25 countries, lists unemployment, financial/political corruption and poverty/social inequality as the world's biggest worries.
" " In a new study, seniors ages 65 and older demonstrated an astonishing 106.7 percent increase in alcohol use disorders during an 11-year span. susan.k./Getty Images

The opioid epidemic has reached critical mass in the United States as tens of thousands overdose each year from the drugs. But scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University say another insidious and damaging public health problem is gripping the country  alcohol abuse.

Researchers say the number of Americans that are "high-risk" drinkers  five drinks or more per occasion for men at least weekly (four or more for women)  increased from 20.2 million in 2001-2002 to 29.6 million in 2012-2013. The results were reported in the August 2017 issue of JAMA Psychiatry.

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Even more shocking, the number of Americans with an alcohol-use disorder AUD (more commonly referred to as alcoholism) increased an astonishing 49 percent, from 17.6 million to 29.9 million during that decade. That means roughly one in eight adult Americans  or 30 million Americans  now meets the diagnostic criteria for alcoholism as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-IV). The study authors call this increase "a public health crisis" on par with the opioid epidemic.

The study examined how drinking patterns changed among various demographic groups between 2002 and 2013. Researchers surveyed more than 40,000 people ages 18 years or older from two national surveys conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 20012002 and 20122013 and found that drinking habits had substantially changed.

When researchers first conducted the survey in 20012002, 65.4 percent of Americans said they drank alcohol. When researchers went back in 2012, that number increased to 72.7 percent. Plus, the number of drinkers that fall into the "high-risk" category jumped nearly 30 percent from 9.7 percent to 12.6 percent. While high-risk drinking is defined by the amount of alcohol a person consumes, people with alcohol-use disorders also experience certain psychological effects, such as whether their drinking interferes with work, school, interpersonal relationships, or whether they deal with physical withdrawal symptoms like the shakes or nausea.

Women, African Americans and seniors showed the greatest increases in alcohoI-use disorders during the 11 years examined. Seniors ages 65 and older in particular demonstrated an astonishing 106.7 percent increase in AUDs, while AUDs surged 92.8 percent for African-Americans and 83.7 percent for women. The trend is especially worrisome for older-age drinkers who are more likely to be taking multiple medications that can have an adverse reaction when combined with alcohol.

"These findings portend increases in many chronic comorbidities in which alcohol use has a substantial role," the researchers write. Specifically, the study's authors note that alcohol abuse drives a number of health problems, including "fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, liver cirrhosis, several types of cancer and infections, pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes, and various injuries."

Heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder contribute to diseases that are also on the rise, study coauthor Bridget Grant, an epidemiologist at NIAAA in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a press statement. Death rates from cirrhosis increased between 2009 and 2013, which hasn't happened since the early 1970s, she said.

During the study years, heavy drinking increased for all demographic groups, particularly those between ages 18 and 64. What is even more alarming is that nearly 25 percent of adults under the age of 30 meet the diagnostic criteria for alcoholism.

The findings are especially telling as the nation finds itself in the grip of an opioid-abuse crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 88,000 people a year die of alcohol-related causes, while the annual death toll of opiate overdose was 33,091 in 2015.

The data the researchers used came from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), which is administered by the National Institutes of Health. Researchers categorized a person with an alcohol-use disorder if they met criteria for either alcohol abuse or dependence.

The article "makes a compelling case that the United States is facing a crisis with alcohol use, one that is currently costly and about to get worse," Dr. Marc A. Schuckit, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine wrote in an editorial accompanying the research. "The article reminds us that the chilling increases in opioid-related deaths reflect a broader issue regarding additional substance-related problems ... Once you get into the more heavy drinking ranges, the probability is you're cutting 10 years off people's lives."

The study comes as a wakeup call, since previous research indicated that drinking patterns from the 1970s through the 1990s was in decline. Since the early '90s, however, more Americans have been drinking  and a growing number are drinking heavily.

Now That's Interesting! According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly nine out of 10 people ages 18 or older (86.4 percent) say they had an alcoholic drink at some point in their lives, while 70.1 percent say they've had a drink in the past year.
The E.W. Scripps Co. closed Wednesday its acquisition of 15 television stations, including two in Helena.

KTVH, an NBC affiliate, and KXLH, a CBS affiliate, were purchased alongside 13 other television stations including those in Butte, Bozeman, Great Falls and Billings. Scripps announced the purchase last October. The company purchased 15 of the 16 stations owned by Cordillera Communications, which effectively exited the broadcast television market with the sale.

Scripps announced in a press release that the acquisition expands its local television footprint to 52 stations in 26 markets. Scripps announced that across all its networks, nearly 21% of U.S. households are reached.

"Scripps is proud to welcome KTVH and KXLH into our portfolio of television stations," said Brian Lawlor, president of local news for Scripps. "We are excited to bring our 140-year history of serving local communities to Montana. Over the coming weeks we will be working closely with local management to better understand the uniqueness of the local market and the opportunity to best serve Helena through quality journalism, memorable storytelling and unique opportunities for our advertisers."

Lawlor said any changes will be part of the company's long-term strategic plans to serve viewers and customers. No changes to the stations' programming was announced at this time.

Previously, Scripps had a primarily ABC roster. This acquisition adds more NBC and CBS stations to the company's lineup.

KTVH has a long history of swapping owners. From 1997 until 2014, it was owned by the now defunct Intermountain West Communications Co., formerly Sunbelt Communications. In May 2014, Intermountain announced plans to sell the company to Gray Television.

Gray sold the station to Cordillera Communications in July 2015. The Cordillera purchase brought KTVH and KXLH together, making them sister stations.

The Scripps deal marks the third time KTVH has been sold in the past six years.

Scripps runs a collection of national journalism and content businesses, including Newsy and Court TV. However, the company probably is most famous for its nonprofit venture -- the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The company recently announced an acquisition of eight TV stations from the Nexstar-Tribune merger. Once completed, Scripps will operate 60 stations in 42 markets, making it the fourth largest broadcaster in the U.S.

E.W. Scripps Co. is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Montana Television Network declined a request for comment.

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One person died and five were injured as two boats capsized in the Upper Holter Lake area Sunday, according to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office Capt. Alan Hughes.

"One boat capsized and then the other boat came back to help them and then also capsized," Hughes said.

It is unclear why the boats capsized, but Hughes said he doesn't believe they collided with each other.

Five people were taken to St. Peter's Health and a male died at the scene.

Hughes said the coroner's office will determine the exact cause of death, and an investigation will be carried out by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Hughes couldn't say for certain but suspected the wreck may have been weather-related. The area was under a National Weather Service advisory, and temperatures hovered around 32 degrees in Helena.

While it was initially reported that a third boat was involved, Hughes said, officials learned that only two of the boats had capsized. The third boat was in the same party as the two boats that capsized, but left earlier than the rest of the group and became stranded.

Hughes said it was his impression that the occupants of the boats were on the lake to fish.

Officials are waiting for calmer weather to attempt to retrieve the capsized boats, he said.

Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office, its wet team, Montana Highway Patrol, West Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Lewis and Clark Search and Rescue, emergency medical technicians and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks all responded to the Gates of the Mountains boat launch to assist.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct some details that were provided in initial reports.

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KALISPELL This summers grizzly bear management to-do list leads off with finding ways to reduce the number of bears dying of unnatural causes. But that raises a dilemma: Do you go after the causes or the solutions?

The choice could lean toward fixing an issue like poaching, which killed the highest percentage of bears in 2018. Or the solution could aim at saving the highest number of bears, perhaps by reducing roadkill.

It could concentrate on saving bears inside their core area (where theyre already numerous) or in the plains and urban areas where theyre recently appearing (and their activities are most controversial).

If one of these things brings the highest mortality and we dont have a solution, that forces us to ask the tough questions, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 Supervisor Randy Arnold told a spring meeting of Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly bear managers on Tuesday. If we keep saying we cant affect that, then we have to ask: why not?

The conference of state, federal, tribal and related agency bear managers must report to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee later this summer on how it prioritizes conflict reduction. Last year was an outlier year for grizzly deaths in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

FWP bear biologist Cecily Costello said the agency knew of at least 45 grizzly deaths inside the 16,000-square-mile demographic monitoring area, which comprises Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and nearby areas. Another seven died outside that area, mainly in the plains east of the Rocky Mountain Front. And state biologists assume at least another 44 grizzlies died last year which were never found, bringing the estimated total to 96 for 2018.

Nevertheless, Costello said those deaths did not exceed the conservation strategys threshold for a recovered population.

We still believe the population is on an increasing trajectory at this point inside the DMA, Costello said. Even with the high death numbers we saw last year.

About one in every five unnatural grizzly deaths since 1975 occurred by poaching or other malicious activity. Another 15% died after bear managers determined a grizzly was a safety hazard. Automobiles and trains killed 13%. Livestock conflicts and self-defense incidents each accounted for 12%. Black bear hunters mistakenly killed another 8% of the grizzlies in the file. And one in 10 died in unclassifiable circumstances, like drowning in an irrigation canal.

The statistics can mislead if not teased apart by time. For example, trains killed many grizzlies along the border of Glacier National Park during the 1980s and '90s because frequent derailments left huge deposits of spilled grain that attracted scavengers to the rail lines. That issue has been addressed, to the point that most transportation-related grizzly deaths now come from automobiles on highways.

Marias River Livestock Association Vice President Trina Jo Bradley said ranchers and farmers needed reassurance that bear management considered the safety of their families and livestock.

If its a bear dying or my 11-year-old daughter dying, Im going to make that decision quickly, Bradley said about dealing with bear threats. Sometimes you just have to.

Grizzly protection advocate Mike Bader suggested the agencies take a harder look at how they enforce road closures. He cited the findings of Canadian grizzly studies, which determined that 82% of poached bears died within 500 meters of a road.

When youre looking to curb poaching, you cant change the attitude but can reduce the opportunity, Bader said. But he added that depends on keeping vehicles off closed roads and not adding new roads to remote areas grizzlies use to raise cubs or feed.

FWP grizzly specialist Mike Madel noted that education and prevention had very different needs. While a trainer can hold classes on bear spray use anywhere with an audience relatively cheaply, building an electric fence to keep grizzlies out of a ranchers calving grounds was an expensive and specific project.

In the end its not just about saving bears, Costello said. Its about generating more support for having bears among the public.

Weve made progress since the 1970s. I think the public has taken on the responsibility of living in bear country. We dont have the same attitudes in the country as we had in the 70s.

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Before he was sentenced to 10 years in the Montana State Prison for sexually assaulting at least six women patients, longtime Butte physician Patrick McGree said he was sorry.

He apologized to everyone he hurt  his children, grandchildren, other family members, his profession and the whole community.

But he focused most of his apology on his victims, including three who were in the courtroom for Wednesdays sentencing hearing.

I groomed you, I set you up over time and I misused you sexually, McGree said. I used the faith and trust you had in me for my own self-pleasure. I misled you. I used your vulnerability to my advantage and I abused you.

I want you to realize that I am the one responsible for these actions, he said. You are not the reason for my actions. I wanted sexual activity. You did nothing to initiate or perpetrate my actions. It is not your fault.

District Judge Kathy Seeley, ruling from the bench in Butte, sentenced McGree to 20 years in prison but suspended 10 of those years. McGree will have to register as a sex offender when he gets out.

The sentence was exactly what was called for in a plea agreement between McGree and prosecutors and he was immediately remanded to custody and transported to the state prison in Deer Lodge following the hearing.

Mary Cochenour, a prosecutor with the Montana Attorney Generals Office, said more than any other defendant in sex-offense cases she has handled, McGree accepted responsibility immediately. He also voluntarily spent 90 days in a sex-offense treatment program in Minnesota while his case was still pending.

But she said there had to be some prison time.

You cannot go abusing people in your trusted position without some kind of punishment and seeing the inside walls of the Montana State Prison, she said.

Seeley agreed.

This was not a one-time crime, the judge said. It was not one victim. It was not over five years. It was over many years that he did these things. I think there has to be punishment.

McGree, wearing a white, short-sleeved dress shirt and a black tie, spent most of the hour-long hearing at the defendant's table with his hands folded and his head down. He wept silently a few times.

Seeley is a district judge in Helena but oversaw the case because when charges were brought in late 2017, Buttes two district judges at the time  Kurt Krueger and Brad Newman  recused themselves.

McGree pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault in January. He admitted to assaulting six women but as part of a plea deal, the assaults were consolidated into a single charge that carried a possible sentence of up to 100 years in prison.

McGree admitted to knowingly having sexual contact without the consent of the women during the course of treatment in an exam room, causing them to suffer forms of mental impairment.

He was charged in December 2017 with two felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent, three felony counts of sexual servitude for allegedly using prescription pain pills for coercion, and two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault. Those charges were based on interviews with three former patients.

In late December 2018, state prosecutors filed three additional felony charges against McGree after interviewing three more women who say he sexually assaulted them in his office. The assaults occurred between 2012 and 2017.

When initial charges were filed, McGree had been a physician in Butte for 31 years, working from an office on South Clark Street in recent years and also practicing at the North American Indian Alliance clinic in Butte.

In accusations that led to the initial charges, women patients said McGree felt and groped their private parts and penetrated two with his hands during exams that had nothing to do with those body parts, among other sexual acts.

The women, ages 37, 47, and 52, all had received prescriptions from McGree for pain medication. One said McGree groped her and was saying things like Oh, so you need your prescription, you need your other refill, prosecutors said.

They said McGree told investigators he had become attracted to his patients and had felt breasts on six to eight occasions.

Two of the victims addressed the court Wednesday and one had a victim advocate read a letter she had written.

One who spoke said she had left a bad marriage because of sexual abuse, had sought help for that, gotten better over the years, and now Im back to square one. She also said she was not a drug addict and didnt believe any of the victims were.

Another victim said she went to McGree after an auto accident and trusted him only to be sexually assaulted. It still affects her, she said.

I wont go into a doctors office without someone with me and the door open and I still dont get out in public like I used to, she said.

She also told a courtroom packed with people, including many of McGrees relatives, that many in Butte simply could not believe he could commit such offenses.

I knew better, she said. I sat struggling with it. I feel vindicated that he has pleaded guilty and I feel like maybe now after three years we can start the healing process. But I think he needs to be punished."

Cochenour, the state prosecutor, said three victims who did not appear in court submitted letters but did not want McGree to do prison time.

McGrees attorney, John Smith of Missoula, said the word that best describes his client now is contrition and being humbled by guilt. He said he accepted responsibility from day one, voluntarily sought treatment in Minnesota and was OK with prison time.

Patrick accepts his punishment, Smith said. He is ready to do his penance.

McGrees brother John said Patrick was a good man who has made mistakes. Despite them, he said, his brother had been a dedicated doctor who gave physicals at schools, took care of the elderly in rest homes and took care of people who couldnt afford to pay.

He was incapable of introducing himself as Dr. McGree  just Pat. Humility was his hallmark, John McGree said.

Patrick McGrees son, Kyle, said he was heartbroken for the victims, everyone in his family and the 40-year marriage between his mother and father that was now over.

"I want to make it clear that I don't condone the behavior that my father has admitted to and I'll never understand how it got to this point in his life," Kyle McGree said.

He is a broken man. We want him to receive treatment and come out on the other side less broken.

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Lloyd Barrus, the suspect implicated in the 2017 killing of Broadwater County Sheriff's Deputy Mason Moore, will be medicated for trial.

Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Kathy Seeley ruled Tuesday that Lloyd Barrus will be medicated with antipsychotic drugs, by force if necessary.

Lloyd Barrus and his son Marshall Barrus were part of a May 16, 2017, high-speed chase that started after the pair allegedly shot and killed Moore near Three Forks, 60 miles south of Helena. The chase ended in a shootout with law enforcement and the death of Marshall Barrus and the arrest of Lloyd Barrus after 184 miles of high-speed pursuit on Interstate 90.

Lloyd Barrus has been charged with deliberate homicide, two counts of accountability to homicide, assault on a peace officer and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted person, all felonies. But he is also currently considered incompetent to stand trial by the court.

If Lloyd Barrus does go to trial and is convicted, he would face multiple life sentences in the Montana State Prison.

Tuesdays ruling is the result of a Sell Hearing, a legal procedure to determine if the state can forcibly medicate someone to return them to competency, which was held in December 2018 and January 2019. A Sell Hearing requires the state to prove that important government interests are at stake, involuntary medication would make the defendant competent, involuntary medication is necessary, other alternatives are unlikely to work, and the use of drugs is in the patients best interests.

Lloyd Barrus suffers from a battery of mental illnesses, including delusional disorder with a persecutory type and mixed personality disorder with antisocial and narcissistic features, which made him unfit to stand trial. He refused to take antipsychotic drugs to treat his delusional disorder, which manifests in Lloyd Barrus beliefs that he is either Jesus Christ or Michael the Archangel, according to testimony from Dr. Virginia Hill, the head psychiatrist at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs.

Over the five days of the hearing, experts provided dueling testimony about the dangers of giving Lloyd Barrus antipsychotic medication and the side-effects of possible forcible medication. The defenses expert, Dr. Robert Cloninger, argued that Lloyd Barrus age and the depth of his delusional disorder made forcibly medicating him a proposition that would do more harm than good and pushed for psychotherapy alone to treat Lloyd Barrus. The states experts, San Francisco Dr. Robert Newman and Dr. Hill, said medicating Lloyd Barrus with a conservative dose of antipsychotics would mitigate any health concerns and would make him competent.

Seeley determined that the states argument for medicating Lloyd Barrus was the clearest way to move the case forward. In her findings, the judge determined that trying him for the homicide of Moore was an obviously important governmental interest, that previous instances of being prescribed and taking antipsychotic medication showed the states plan had the ability to work, and that if Lloyd Barrus kept refusing medication the state hospital would be able to safely administer the drugs to him.

Defendants condition cannot be cured, Seeley wrote. The aim is to have his delusions fade enough to enable him to assist in his defense, reduce his irritability, and help him accept treatment.

That might take a while, according to Dr. Hill. In December, she testified that it could take up to two years for Lloyd Barrus to be competent enough to stand trial.

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Gov. Steve Bullock has signed legislation meant to lower premiums for Montana customers who receive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's individual marketplace.

Bullock signed the bill Tuesday creating a reinsurance program to help reimburse insurers for high-cost claims so those costs aren't included in determining individual marketplace premiums for the following year.

U.S. health officials also must approve the plan, which is estimated to offset 2020 premium increases by 10% to 20%.

"This is one of the most important mechanisms that Montana as a state can deploy to not only make health care more affordable for the 55,000 people who are purchasing an insurance plan in this market, but also to stabilize this market," said John Doran, divisional vice president of external affairs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana.

Blue Cross sells policies on the individual exchange along with PacificSource Health Plans and the Montana Health CO-OP.

"Typically a very few people contribute the majority of costs of any given (insurance) pool," Doran said. "Those high cost claims drive up premiums for everybody else."

Under the legislation, sponsored by Republican Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick, the state will assess a 1.2 percent premium tax on all major medical policies sold in Montana, which will raise an estimated $15 million. The tax does not apply to self-funded group insurance plans.

The reinsurance program also will receive about $60 million in federal money that would have otherwise been used as premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. A five-member board of directors will oversee distribution of that estimated $75 million to the insurance companies for high cost claims, likely ranging from $40,000 to $1 million. The board will include one member representing each of the three companies that sell policies on the exchange. It is scheduled to hold its first meeting next Wednesday.

Bullock vetoed a reinsurance bill passed by the 2017 Legislature, saying his administration was concerned that bill did not meet the requirements to apply for a federal waiver.

Bullock and the Department of Administration created a work group to study the issue in September and it drafted the reinsurance bill for the 2019 Legislature.

Alaska, Oregon, Hawaii, Minnesota and Wisconsin are among the states that have reinsurance pools, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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The 66th Legislative Session adjourned on Thursday, April 25.

Ahead of the session, I heard my neighbors messages: We want a budget that is responsible, accountable and fair to the taxpayer." The House Republicans set forth to reduce the size of the government by eliminating almost 200 full-time employees  saving over $10 million per year; to reduce the governors proposed spending; and to restore the governors cuts to essential services. One goal was to find waste in the spending of your tax dollars, including the elimination of government jobs that had been vacant for more than a year. Based on the funds available, we were able to prioritize many critical programs while minimizing the tax burdens on Montanas families. We were able to redirect wasted spending toward a proposal to provide rate increases for Direct Care Workers for the elderly and disabled; and the proposed Good Neighbor Authority Program allowing the state to cooperatively manage forests owned by the federal government with the aim of reducing the number and severity of forest fires.

In the House Tax Committee, we tabled over half of the proposed tax rate increases. These included taxes on fireworks; carbon taxes; luxury sales taxes; local options taxes; plastic grocery bags; and sales taxes on car rentals. We also tabled a bill to limit the ability of restaurants to distribute plastic straws. The House passed a Senate bill to increase the exemption of social security income for individual income tax. The governor unfortunately vetoed this bill.

On the Second Amendment, we were able to pass a bill to allow people with concealed carry permits to move to a difference city or county without having to notify local law enforcement, and to remove the requirement of providing a social security number when applying for a concealed carry permit. Both of these were signed by the governor. Other gun rights bills passed through the legislative process and await final actions and/or signatures.

Some pro-business and jobs bills passed through the legislature and have been signed by the governor. These include an increased quantity of green timber that can be harvested by commercial permit; a reduced tax rate for certain oil production; and clarification of allowed and banned practices for pharmacy benefit managers. Other bills pending final signatures include the extension of funding to the coal board, and revision of the criminal code to combat organized shoplifting.

Our Montana military veterans issues received high priority during the session. The governor signed a bill to revise hunting privileges for Purple Heart recipients, and another to increase the amount of funds available from the Coal Tax Trust Fund for a Veterans home loan mortgage program.

A property rights bill is still in play: it declares that private water rights from a well or developed spring where the diversion works are located on private property and is used for a state land lease does not provide state ownership interest in the water. One of the most interesting and highly-participated-in bills was actually a House Joint Resolution urging the BLM to consider the overall impact of 18 allotments being altered out in the Missouri River Breaks. The resolution urges the BLM to deny bison grazing as proposed by the American Prairie Reserve. This was signed by the House Speaker on April 16.

Some Pro-Life bills made it through the legislative process as well. The Senate president signed both the Montana Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, and the Provision of Required Information before an Abortion. Still pending are the Montana Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and a bill to Generally Revise Human Trafficking Laws.

While most Republicans were leading the charge to reduce the cost of health insurance premiums and prescription drug costs, others focused on the Medicaid Expansion Reform. As I stated during the House Floor debate on the Medicaid Expansion bill, 64 percent of HD 80s voters said NO last fall to continuing this program. In the end, it passed, but with some work requirements for able-bodied, childless adults; enhanced asset testing; premium increases for long term beneficiaries; and a sunset date to re-evaluate program effectiveness.

On the education front, I sponsored a bill to provide support for rural school recruitment and retention which passed the House on second reading; however, it was not considered as a high-priority by the Appropriations Committee. This bill would not have increased taxes; only redirect funds currently on the books for a program that expired. Bills to fund career and technical education program in K through 12 schools, along with creating a grant program to encourage work-based learning at school, both passed the House, but were tabled in the Senate. The House Speaker signed a performance based education program to implement transformational learning. Its not yet been signed by the Governor.

The final budget for the biennium is set at $10.3 billion with about $210 million for the state to deal with emergencies or if revenues come in lower than expected. Our States cash infrastructure projects totaled $273 million, and bonded infrastructure totals $80 million.

The Legislatures work was strengthened with your help. Ive appreciated your input and testimony during the 2019 Legislature Session. Its my honor to serve as your House District 80 Representative and to help raise your voice.

Rep. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, represents House District 80 in the Montana Legislature.

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DECATUR  A 33-year-old Decatur man was arrested early Monday in connection with several incidents, including an April 19 aggravated kidnapping.

Police took him into custody at 12:42 a.m. in the parking lot of Walmart, 4625 E. Maryland St., according to several sworn police affidavits describing three separate incidents over the past month.

The first took place on April 6, when police said the man stole a checkbook out of a victim's mailbox and cashed two checks to himself worth more than $500. Officers saw the man on surveillance video from the credit union where the checks were cashed, according to the affidavit.

In the April 19 incident, police said he fled from officers in a stolen Jeep Cherokee with a 1-year-old child, who was eventually returned safely. The situation started when officers went to the 800 block of West Wood Street to check a report that one man was on a roof handing objects to another person on the ground, the affidavit said. Police found two men in the alley sitting in the Jeep.

The passenger, 36, appeared nervous and told officers there was a warrant out for his arrest, so he got out of the car and was handcuffed, the affidavit said. As the passenger was being searched, the 33-year-old suspect fled with the child in the backseat.

The sworn affidavit said the vehicle was located by two other county agencies and fled from both when they tried to stop the vehicle. The child was safely dropped off with a woman at a Decatur gas station.

Law enforcement caught up to the man again at 7:37 p.m. Friday, when a Macon County sheriff's deputy saw a light green Lexus RX-350 speeding west on U.S. 36, the affidavit said. A check of the registration with dispatch showed that the vehicle had been stolen.

The affidavit said the officer tried to initiate a traffic stop at Airport Road and Beacon Drive, but the suspect accelerated and got away.

Late Sunday night, the same deputy was searching for the stolen car and spotted it in the Walmart parking lot near the south entry doors.

After the suspect opened the vehicle's rear hatch, deputies approached in their squad cars before pursuing on foot, the affidavit said. Deputies ordered the suspect to the ground while holding their Tasers, and he did not resist.

The suspect was taken into custody at 12:42 a.m. Monday, the affidavit said. The affidavit said the suspect admitted to stealing the vehicle, driving it and fleeing from the deputy two days prior. Police said they also found that he had 2.8 grams of methamphetamine.

He was booked at 4:34 a.m. into the Macon County Jail on preliminary charges of aggravated kidnapping, obstructing/resisting an officer, burglary, possession of methamphetamine, two counts of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, unlawful possession of three or more debit/credit cards, felony driving while suspended and attempting to elude police.

Preliminary charges are subject to review by the Macon County State's Attorney's Office. He was being held in the jail in lieu of $85,000 bond.

2019 mug shots from the Herald & Review

Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985. Follow her on Twitter: @KNolenWrites

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SPRINGFIELD  A graduated income tax package that differs slightly from one proposed in March by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker advanced out of the Senate Executive Committee on Tuesday along partisan lines.

The three bills include a repeal of the Illinois estate tax and a conditional property tax freeze for school districts provided certain state funding requirements are met. All of the measures passed without any Republican support.

The Senate version  included in Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 687  raises the top income tax rate to 7.99 percent from 7.95 percent in the governors plan and separates the rate structures for single- and joint-filing persons. For single filers, the maximum rate kicks in at $750,001 and applies to every penny of income. For joint filers, that rate takes effect on earnings greater than $1 million, the same as in the governors plan.

The corporate tax rate would be raised to 7.99 percent as well, slightly higher than Pritzkers proposed 7.95 percent hike from its current 7 percent rate. Businesses also pay a corporate property replacement tax, however, which makes the top corporate rate 10.49 percent under the Senate plan.

Park districts receiving first OSLAD grants from state in 4 years SPRINGFIELD  Residents of the northern part of Hoffman Estates, a Cook County suburb northwest of Chicago, were thrilled when they heard a lo

Sponsor Toi Hutchinson, an Olympia Fields Democrat, said lowering the threshold for the top rate of single filers was an attempt to address the so-called marriage penalty without drastically decreasing anticipated revenues.

She said a Center for Government Forecasting and Accountability analysis shows the tax will bring in an added $3.57 billion in revenue from individual taxpayers and $350 million from raising the corporate tax rate. These estimates were based on 2016 figures, Hutchinson added.

State Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, questioned whether the figures were reliable, and suggested using a three-year trend from 2014 to 2016 to project 2021s revenue.

Barickman said uncertain estimates, along with lowering the top bracket from Prtizkers initial proposal, were indicators that nothing would prevent the General Assembly from voting to raising taxes on lower income earners in the future.

Hutchinson responded that the General Assembly already has the authority to raise taxes on everyone, and the flat tax would have to be increased from its current 4.95 percent rate to at least 6 percent on all Illinoisans to generate the revenue projected from the graduated tax.

While the Senate plan is not final, Pritzkers office released a statement in support of the committee process Tuesday.

From day one, Governor Pritzker has made clear that he prioritizes negotiations with the General Assembly on the fair income tax, spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh wrote. Today represents another important step in the negotiations, and we look forward to continuing those conversations with stakeholders in the House as well. Governor Pritzkers focus on making our system more fair means that 97 percent of Illinois taxpayers will pay the same or less in income taxes, while only those making more than $250,000 will pay more.

Outside of the top brackets, the marginal tax rates in the Senate plan are 4.75 percent from $0 to $10,000; 4.9 percent from $10,001 to $100,000; 4.95 percent from $100,001 to $250,000; 7.75 percent from $250,001 to $500,000 and 7.85 percent from $500,001 to $1 million.

For single-filing persons, tax rates are the same up to $250,000, while the 7.75 percent rate applies from $250,001 to $350,000 and the 7.85 percent rate applies from $350,001 to $750,000.

Republicans also questioned a provision in the bill requiring Illinoisans to file their state income taxes with the same joint or single status they list on their federal forms. For couples living in different states, committee Democrats said, only money earned in Illinois could be taxed in the state, which is the same as current law.

Doug Finke: Statehouse Insider: An up and down week for Pritzker SPRINGFIELD  You could say it was a bit of an up and down week for Gov. J.B. PRITZKER.

The Senate plan includes an additional $100 million for the Local Government Distributive Fund, which helps pay for the administration and infrastructure costs of local governments. This fund faced several cuts in recent years.

The package also includes a $100 income tax credit per child, which would not be available once a single filers income exceeds $80,000 and a joint income exceeds $100,000.

Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 690, carried by Bunker Hill Democratic Sen. Andy Manar, would offer property tax relief provided the state fully funds K-12 education in its operating budget beginning in 2021. This would require $350 million annually for the new school funding formula and about $300 million for mandated categorical payments, Manar said.

If those needs are met, the property tax rate would be frozen for the coming year and every year in which the state meets the payment requirements. The process would take place annually and would take effect only if the graduated tax amendment becomes law.

The bill contains exceptions for levy increases for debt approved through a local referendum and for pension payments.

The concept here is to put a credible proposal on the table to do what I think we all want to do, which is turn off the spigot of property taxes and make the state budget the predominant source of how we fund public schools in the state, Manar said.

Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, also advanced Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 689, which would repeal the estate tax. This repeal is also contingent on passage of the graduated tax amendment, and would phase out about $300 million in revenue, according to a fiscal year 2020 estimate from COGFA.

In order for a graduated tax to become permissible in Illinois, three-fifths of each the state House and Senate must vote to put an amendment question on the 2020 presidential ballot, at which time voters will have the final say on its passage.

Pritzker has said he would like the Legislature to approve a specific rate package prior to the publics vote on the amendment question, and it would be signed into law if the amendment passes.

GALLERY: J.B. Pritzker announces tax plan

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SPRNIGFIELD  Some Illinois lawmakers received a letter threatening violence against them if changes aren't made to state pensions.

The letter, first reported by the Capitol Fax newsletter, is titled "Dead People Can't Collect Fat State Pensions" and is addressed to state officials, public employee union leaders and state employees and "Bondholders in the United States."

"You may think you can extract more money from us. We would advise you to think again," states the letter that was sent from Champaign.

It goes on to say the pension protection clause of the state Constitution should be removed before a graduated state income tax is enacted. It also says state funded pensions should be capped and reduced.

"Don't bother about new gun laws: from arson to strangulation, there are many other effective means available," the letter states. "Are you sure that recent accidental deaths on the highways or train platforms really are accidents -- or the conscious decisions of people with nothing left to lose to 'take one with me' "?

The lengthy letter concludes with "If the state soaks the taxpayers again, there will be a surprise ending, a final payment. Repeal or requiem. Last chance or last rites. Choose wisely."

The letter has been turned over to the State Police. Secretary of State Police have increased manpower and patrol activity for the Capitol Complex, said Elizabeth Kaufman, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Jesse White, whose office is in charge of Capitol security.

The exact number of lawmakers who received the letter is unclear. Senate Democrats said they are aware of one member getting it. Senate Republicans said at least four members got it. Several House Republicans received it said spokesman Eleni Demertzis.

"Several of our members have received the letter, including Leader (Jim) Durkin," she said. "We receive or are subject to numerous letters of a threatening nature. Unfortunately, it seems the rhetoric and intensity of these letter campaigns has increase in recent weeks."

She said those letters are compiled and turned over to law enforcement.

Illinois lawmakers return to long to-do list Lawmakers return from a two-week spring break this week to begin the final push to wrapping 

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SPRINGFIELD  A graduated income tax package that differs slightly from one proposed in March by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has advanced out of the Senate Executive Committee along partisan lines.

The three bills include a repeal of the Illinois estate tax and a conditional property tax freeze for school districts provided certain state funding requirements are met. All of the measures passed without any Republican support.

The Senate version, Senate Bill 687, raises the top income tax rate to 7.99 percent from 7.95 percent in the governors plan and separates the rate structures for single- and joint-filing persons. For single filers, the maximum rate kicks in at $750,001 and applies to every penny of income. For joint filers, that rate takes effect on earnings greater than $1 million, the same as in the governors plan.

The corporate tax rate would be raised to 7.99 percent as well, slightly higher than Pritzkers proposed 7.95 percent hike from its current 7 percent rate. Businesses also pay a corporate property replacement tax, however, which makes the top corporate rate 10.49 percent under the Senate plan.

Sponsor Toi Hutchinson, an Olympia Fields Democrat, said lowering the threshold for the top rate of single filers was an attempt to address the so-called marriage penalty without drastically decreasing anticipated revenues.

She said a Center for Government Forecasting and Accountability analysis shows the tax will bring in an added $3.57 billion in revenue from individual taxpayers and $350 million from raising the corporate tax rate. These estimates were based on 2016 figures, Hutchinson added.

State Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, questioned whether the figures were reliable, and suggested using a three-year trend from 2014 to 2016 to project 2021s revenue.

Barickman said uncertain estimates, along with lowering the top bracket from Prtizkers initial proposal, were indicators that nothing would prevent the General Assembly from voting to raising taxes on lower income earners in the future.

Hutchinson responded that the General Assembly already has the authority to raise taxes on everyone, and the flat tax would have to be increased from its current 4.95 percent rate to at least 6 percent on all Illinoisans to generate the revenue projected from the graduated tax.

Outside of the top brackets, the marginal tax rates in the Senate plan are 4.75 percent from $0 to $10,000; 4.9 percent from $10,001 to $100,000; 4.95 percent from $100,001 to $250,000; 7.75 percent from $250,001 to $500,000 and 7.85 percent from $500,001 to $1 million.

For single-filing persons, tax rates are the same up to $250,000, while the 7.75 percent rate applies from $250,001 to $350,000 and the 7.85 percent rate applies from $350,001 to $750,000.

Republicans also questioned a provision in the bill requiring Illinoisans to file their state income taxes with the same joint or single status they list on their federal forms. For couples living in different states, committee Democrats said, only money earned in Illinois could be taxed in the state, which is the same as current law.

The Senate plan includes an additional $100 million for the Local Government Distributive Fund, which helps pay for the administration and infrastructure costs of local governments. This fund faced several cuts in recent years.

The package also includes a $100 income tax credit per child, which would not be available once a single filers income exceeds $80,000 and a joint income exceeds $100,000.

The bill contains exceptions for levy increases for debt approved through a local referendum and for pension payments.

In order for a graduated tax to become permissible in Illinois, three-fifths of each the state House and Senate must vote to put an amendment question on the 2020 presidential ballot, at which time voters will have the final say on its passage.

Pritzker has said he would like the Legislature to approve a specific rate package prior to the publics vote on the amendment question, and it would be signed into law if the amendment passes.

GALLERY: J.B. Pritzker announces tax plan

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SPRINGFIELD  Lawmakers on Tuesday warned of problems that could arise from a lack of blood donations from the states minority populations.

I know this may not be a mainstream issue affecting the African-American community, said Rep. Maurice West, a Democrat from Rockford, but Im learning that its one of the biggest issues that we face.

West joined other lawmakers and representatives from the Illinois Coalition of Community Blood Centers at an afternoon news conference encouraging minorities to donate more blood.

While Latinos and African-Americans make up 32 percent of Illinois population, they account for only 5 percent of the states blood donations, according to Sen. Laura Murphy, a Democrat from Des Plaines.

The majority of Latinos, however, have type O blood, which is consistently in highest demand, as it can be transferred to people with different blood types in an emergency.

African-Americans, on the other hand, are prone to greater rates of certain rare blood traits and diseases, including sickle cell anemia, hypertension, lupus and prostate cancer, according to the blood center coalitions news release.

Such illnesses often require frequent blood transfusions.

The more transfusions a patient receives, the harder it is to find a compatible match, ICCBC President Linda Gerber said.

The least risky match available to these patients, Gerber added, would be that of someone with a similar ethnic background.

But African-Americans provide less than 1 percent of the countrys blood supply, leading to many difficulties in finding matches.

We, as African-Americans, are putting each other at risk, West said.

Republican Rep. Tom Bennet, of Gibson City, did not attend the event, but shared a personal story about the importance of well-stocked blood supplies.

I have great appreciation for how quickly your situation can change and how, when blood is needed, it has to be tested, on the shelf and ready to go at a moments notice, said Bennett, who was badly injured in an auto accident in Bloomington in early March.

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ASHLAND, Ohio  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has endorsed a proposal to lower the legal voting age from 18 to 16 in federal elections and several Democratic presidential hopefuls also are touting the idea.

Whatever you might think initially of the concept, its important to consider it against the following backdrop.

In 2014, a nationally representative sample of 9,100 eighth-grade students were administered a test designed to measure the civics knowledge and skills that are critical to the responsibilities of citizenship in America.

Only 23 percent of the students answered enough questions correctly to demonstrate proficiency in the subject and just 2 percent scored at the advanced level.

A similar test  part of the quadrennial National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), Americas so-called Nations Report Card  was given in U.S. history.

This test was taken by 11,200 eighth-graders. The scores were even worse, with 18 percent of the students judged to be proficient and just 1 percent scoring at the advanced level.

Those former eighth-graders will be eligible to vote for the first time in next years elections.

This was not a one-off bad year for U.S. students. It was part of a consistent, ongoing pattern, and theres little reason to believe that 2014s eighth-graders learned much more about our countrys government and history in grades nine through 12.

In fact, the last time these tests were given to high school seniors  in 2010  just 12 percent scored at or above the proficient level in history and just one in four or 24 percent performed at that level in civics.

Eighth-graders that year were equally clueless. For example, when asked to identify a purpose of the Bill of Rights, fewer than half came up with the correct answer.

When asked to choose the definition of our governments system of checks and balances, only 10 percent made the right choice. And this was a multiple-choice question; one of the choices was the correct answer.

The reason we find ourselves in this situation has nothing to do with the quality and dedication of Americas teachers or the ability of American students.

We work closely with high school and middle school history and civics teachers from around the country and find them, as a group, to be able, dedicated and genuinely enthusiastic about these subjects.

As are their students, when theyre exposed to the exciting story of America and the well-thought-out  and vigorously debated  architecture of our government.

The trouble is: Most students are not exposed to such details in their schools. Little more is required of them in most states than cursory knowledge of these important topics.

For example, California, the nations most populous state, requires just a half year of civics and a year of U.S. history  and no exam in either  for students to graduate from high school.

According to an October 2018 survey by Education Week, only eight states require a full year of civics, 31 states require a full year of U.S. history, 19 states require students to take a civics test and 15 states require a U.S. history exam.

But, Education Week cautions, students are not necessarily required to pass some of these exams. Fifteen states have no specific requirement for any civics classes at all; 11 have no history requirement.

Regardless of the legal voting age, we do our students a disservice by not giving them the knowledge and skills necessary to be responsible citizens  and our country suffers because of it.

Rather than focusing on changing the voting age, which has the appearance of legislating for political gain, lawmakers should instead commit themselves to reinvigorating civics and history education, which would benefit all of us.

Patrick Maloney is deputy director of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio.

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" " Flickr ( CC By-NC-ND 2.0 The Korean War Veterans Memorial, located near the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated on July 27, 1995.

Seventy years ago, on June 25, 1950, North Korean tanks rolled across the 38th parallel, the line that separated communist North Korea from U.S.-backed South Korea. As a top secret U.S. intelligence cable from Tokyo to Washington concluded, the incursion wasn't just a mere raid. "The size of the North Korean Forces employed, the depth of penetration, the intensity of the attack, and the landings made miles south of the parallel on the east coast indicated that the north Koreans are engaged in an all-out offensive to subjugate South Korea."

The Korean War, which ultimately would pit the U.S. against China in the first-ever confrontation between the two superpowers, would claim the lives of an estimated 2.5 million military members and civilians, including nearly 34,000 Americans. The fighting would cease with an armistice on July 27, 1953, but the Geneva Conference of 1954 failed to produce a peace treaty, and the North and South remained tense enemies.

That's the way things pretty much have continued, though in 2018, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae In announced that they would work together toward a peace treaty. But after the collapse of a February summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, those tensions seem likely to remain for a while longer.

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The "Forgotten War"

In the U.S., the Korean War is sometimes called the "forgotten war" because it's overshadowed by the conflicts that came before and after it  the stirring victory of World War II and the lengthy, painful ordeal of the Vietnam War. "Modern Americans don't think about it much," explains Edward Rhodes, a professor on the faculty of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and an expert in American foreign and national security policy. "Vietnam was more traumatic, and World War II was more victorious."

Nevertheless, the overlooked conflict has exerted a powerful influence that is still felt today. According to Rhodes, the war forever changed the course of U.S. foreign and national security policy, compelling the U.S. to accept a permanent military involvement around the globe, even in peacetime. It also helped drive the creation of a vast U.S. nuclear arsenal to deter possible communist aggression with the threat of annihilation, and a global nuclear arms race that still continues.

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Why North and South Korea Split

All this happened, according to Rhodes, after Korea, a nation that had been occupied by the Japanese from 1910 to 1945, was split in two by the U.S. and the Russians after World War II. "It was a practical matter," he explains. "There were Japanese armies that had retreated into Korea from Manchuria, and they needed to be disarmed. We split that large task with the Soviet Union, with the understanding that the Soviets would disarm the Japanese in the north, and we would do it in the south." But as the Cold War developed between the U.S. and its European allies and the Soviets, the temporary partition turned into a permanent one, with the formation of a communist regime headed by Kim Il Sung in the North and an authoritarian pro-American government headed by Syngman Rhee in the South. Each regime saw itself as the real government of Korea and its rival as illegitimate, Rhodes explains.

Kim Il Sung decided to settle the matter by invading South Korea, and in May 1950, finally obtained reluctant approval from his patron, the Stalin regime, according to this Soviet diplomatic cable. About a month later, Kim launched a surprise attack, which initially had devastating results. "The South Korean forces just dissolved," Rhodes says.

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Truman Goes to War Without Congress

The U.N. Security Council  taking advantage of a Soviet boycott of the body  then passed a measure calling for member nations to assist the beleaguered South Koreans. That mandate enabled U.S. President Harry Truman to respond militarily without having to go to Congress for a declaration of war.

Up until that point, the U.S. hadn't seen South Korea as having much strategic importance, Rhodes says. "But when the North Korean tanks rolled across the border, the image that flashed in Truman's mind was that this was a repeat of what the Nazis did," he explains. "His response is to stand up, thinking that if we had stood up to Hitler early on, the world would have been a better place."

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General Douglas MacArthur in Command

An outnumbered contingent of U.N. forces formed a desperate line of defense around Pusan, the only part of South Korea not captured by the communists, and managed to hold off the invaders for two months. That gave Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who had been placed in overall command of the U.N. forces, enough time to make an audacious amphibious landing at Inchon, near the South Korean capital of Seoul on Sept. 15, 1950, cutting off the overextended North Koreans.

MacArthur's forces chased the invaders back north across the 38th parallel, and by mid-October had captured the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. But MacArthur, overconfident, kept pushing the North Koreans back to the Yalu River, the border with China. China then responded with a massive counterattack of between 130,000 and 300,000 troops. This time, it was the U.N. forces who were driven back. A bloody stalemate on the ground developed, as the U.S. pounded North Korea from the air. MacArthur eventually was relieved of his command by Truman and replaced with Gen. Matthew Ridgeway. The U.S. abandoned the idea of a total victory and shifted to a holding action against the communist forces.

" " Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Washington in action in Korea. U.S. Army

"MacArthur embraced the idea that there's no substitute for victory," Rhodes says. "You beat the enemy, and they surrender." But after the Chinese intervention, "we're in a situation where there's got to be a substitute for victory, because how are we going to fight the manpower of China. There's a realization that we can't fight this war to victory, and it's hard for the American people to accept."

The longer the war stretched on, the more unpopular that it became back in the U.S. Many of the soldiers sent to Korea were reservists who had served in World War II. "They've got homes and families and jobs, and then they were called up and sent to fight another war," Rhodes explains. "There was a feeling that this wasn't fair."

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Eisenhower Ends the Fighting

Eventually, Truman's successor, President Dwight Eisenhower, ran on a promise that he would go to Korea and seek an end to the conflict, and actually did that a month before his inauguration in 1953, as this article from the Eisenhower Presidential Library explains.

But though Eisenhower had ended the fighting, the Korean War still shaped his policies. "Eisenhower looked at this as the wrong war at the wrong time, using the wrong weapons," Rhodes says. "He reaches the conclusion that with the Cold War going on with the Soviets, we have to plan for the long haul. We're going to sustain this kind of military deterrence." That led to resources being pumped into the development of a massive nuclear deterrent that could be used to contain the Soviets. Additionally, Eisenhower began attempting to form alliances with more and more countries, in an effort to create a unified front to hold off communist aggression.

"The U.S. was forced to take China more seriously as a military power after fighting to a stalemate in the Korean War," Charles K. Armstrong, the Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences at Columbia University, says in an email. "Gen. MacArthur [had] severely underestimated the Chinese military's willingness to confront the U.S. and capacity to fight, leading to a bad rout for U.N. forces in the initial months after China entered the war."

China's participation in the Korean War also consolidated Mao's rule and dashed the hopes of some Americans the communist regime could be "rolled back" and replaced by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists, Armstrong says.

"Mao's willingness to support the North Koreans directly, as opposed to Stalin's reluctance, helped to solidify China-North Korean relations and cause the North Koreans to be more distrustful of the Russians," Armstrong says. "For the U.S., China was seen from the Korean War onward as the primary ally of North Korea and the primary great power that was an enemy of the U.S. in Korea."

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Korean War Set the Table for Vietnam

The armistice ended the fighting, but North Korea, now backed by the Chinese, remained as a belligerent enemy to South Korea. That ongoing threat meant that U.S. forces couldn't just withdraw and come home. "The North Korean invasion in the emerging Cold War convinced American policy-makers that the U.S. needed a permanent military presence in Asia and Europe in order to contain communist aggression," Armstrong notes.

Additionally, the Korean War helped set the table for another, even bloodier and more painful future conflict. According to Armstrong, Korea led directly to the U.S. decision to help the French against communist-led insurgency in colonial Vietnam, and then, after the French defeat, to intervene in support of an anti-communist regime in South Vietnam, which blocked an election called for by the 1954 Geneva Conference. That helped set the stage for the Vietnam War.

" " General Douglas MacArthur observes the naval shelling of Incheon during the Korean War. Nutter/CCO Public Domain

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A Lasting Legacy

"The most lasting legacy of the Korean War for the U.S., was the establishment of a global military presence over the long term, and a commitment to confront communism throughout the world during the Cold War, and for Korea and East Asia, ideological and military confrontation that has lasted seven decades," according to Armstrong.

That's included a U.S. force stationed in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea, which in turn has a massive array of long-range artillery and rockets equipped with chemical and biological weapons aimed at Seoul, according to this recent article from the Council on Foreign Relations. That's in addition to the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile arsenal that Trump so far has been unable to persuade the North Korean regime to give up.

Learn more about the Korean War in "The Coldest War" by James Brady. HowStuffWorks picks related titles based on books we think you'll like. Should you choose to buy one, we'll receive a portion of the sale.

Now That's Interesting As Rhodes explains, North Korea isn't like most countries, where the state typically develops a political system with parties and organizes an army to protect it. Instead, in North Korea, "the state is a superstructure that floats on top. What's really fundamental is the party and the army."

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Originally Published: May 1, 2019
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Climate Gains in the West, Exported Pollution in the Rest

Recently, President Duterte slammed Canada for sending waste to the Philippines. Yet, the challenge is huge. Exported pollution from advanced economies penalizes the rest of the world and distorts climate gains.



President Dutertes statement ensued after environmental groups renewed call for Canada to take back waste sent to the Philippines in the Aquino era, some six years ago.



According to the Pacific Center for Environmental Law and Litigation (PCELL), Ontario-based Chronic Inc. shipped 40-foot containers to the country in 2013, which is considered illegal traffic under Article 9 of the Basel Convention. More than 100 shipping containers arrived in Philippine ports around 2013-14.





The toxic discovery, made on Mindanao, is the third time in recent years that the Philippines has served as a dumping ground for hazardous foreign trash. South Korea has been the culprit on two occasions. Along with the Philippines, both South Korea and Canada are signatories to the Convention.



In the 2017 ASEAN Summit, Canadas PM Justin Trudeau pledged to Duterte that Canada is working hard to resolve the issue. Trudeau portrays himself as a committed proponent of carbon tax at home and of climate-change struggle internationally.



Yet, little progress has been achieved.

Exporting pollution



Effective since 1992, the international Basel Convention was created to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations and to prevent transfer of hazardous waste to the Third World.



Yet, it failed to contain the fatal practices. As a result, China, in summer 2017, imposed a ban on more than 20 types of waste imports, including recyclable plastic. As it became effective in January 2018, the waste plastic commodity market took a hit and behind-the-facade dumping likely intensified elsewhere  as waste shippers sought to escape regulatory penalties at home.



In the early 1990s many advanced economies still refused to take responsibility for the waste in the Third World saying they had little or nothing to do with it. The statements relied on research claiming that only 4% of hazardous wastes that came from OECD countries were shipped across international borders.



In reality, recent studies of carbon trade indicate that 25% or more of the worlds total emissions have been offshored into less-wealthy economies. Heres the bottom line of the pollution haven hypothesis: When major advanced economies set up factories or offices abroad, they often look for the cheapest option in terms of resources, labor, land, and material access. Consequently, environmentally unsound practices expose vulnerable developing economies, which tend to have less stringent environmental regulations.



For instance, when Americans turn spent batteries to be recycled, they often end up in Mexico, where the lead is extracted by crude methods that are illegal in the U.S., due to tougher environmental standards on lead pollution. To avoid costly regulation at home, U.S. battery industry exports the lead to Mexico, which thus serves as Americas pollution heaven.



Today, there is increasing awareness of the detrimental impact of CO2 pollution on the world climate, yet countries vary widely in how they design and enforce environmental laws. That allows some multinational firms to look environmentally friendly in their advanced economies, even as they dump waste into less prosperous economies, which are then charged for pollution.



According to new research, firms headquartered in countries with strict environmental policies perform their polluting activities abroad; in countries with relatively weaker policies. Typically, these effects are stronger for firms in high-polluting industries and with poor corporate governance characteristics.



Although firms export pollution, they nevertheless emit less overall CO2 globally in response to strict environmental policies at home and use it as a resource for new green technologies  two birds with one stone, if you will.

Pollution gains in the West, by penalizing the rest



Heres the dilemma: The U.S. and particularly the EU have made major strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions at home. But when international trade is taken into account, advanced economies have effectively outsourced a big bulk of their carbon pollution overseas, by importing more steel, cement and other goods from factories in China, emerging Asia and elsewhere.



The UK, the first industrializer, cut its domestic emissions within its borders by one-third between 1990 and 2015. However, if these figures are re-assessed in terms of emissions from imported steel, the UKs total carbon footprint has actually slightly increased. In the same period, progressive advanced countries, such as Japan and Germany, cut their own emissions, but doubled or tripled the carbon dioxide they offshored to China.



As long as no coordinated, long-term international effort is undertaken to address all contributing factors in climate change, key stakeholders, including multinationals, will find ways to partially circumvent strict environmental regulations in their wealthy home markets, while moving production capacity into relatively poorer emerging and developing economies.



When President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, had vital environmental regulatory practices dismantled and then began the push for made in America coal and steel (his trade hawks have deep ties with steel industry) and started oil exports for the first time in decades, he virtually ensured that environmental progress in the 20th century America will be undermined in the 21st century.



Yet, the problem is an old one. In 1992, Jim Puckett of Greenpeace, coined the term toxic colonialism for the dumping of industrial waste from the advanced West onto the territories of emerging and developing countries.



Environmental pollution has not disappeared from the advanced West; it has been exported to more vulnerable economies.

Dr Steinbock is the founder of the Difference Group and has served as the research director at the India, China, and America Institute (USA) and a visiting fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more information, see http://www.differencegroup.net/

 2019 Copyright Dan Steinbock - All Rights Reserved

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Dan Steinbock Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




In the USCIRF annual report, published on Monday, Iran was listed as one of 16 countries that warranted particular concern based on conditions in 2018.

Irans designation has been made by the State Department since 1999, which allows the US to impose travel restrictions and other sanctions on Iranians responsible for abuses of religious freedom.

USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer said: Sadly, this year [our report] shows no progress in Iran at all between last year and this year. [Iran] continues to persecute various religious minorities including Muslim minorities that dont agree with its Shiite regime.

Iran is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation led by Shiite clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Roughly 99% of Iranians are Muslims, with 90-95% being Shiites and 510% being Sunnis.

While Iran does technically allow some religious minorities to practice their religion, the mullahs often put huge restrictions on this, such as not allowing Shiite Muslims to convert to Christianity and refusing repeated requests to build an official Sunni mosque in Tehran.

Followers of other faiths, like Sufis and Bahais, are subjected to more repression including denial of education and employment or mass arrest for peaceful protests, simply because the Iranian Regime does not recognise their religion.

Even recognised religious minorities, like Christians and Jews, face mass arrests for merely practising their faith or are forced to hear Regime leaders calling for their annihilation.

Bauer said: The Iranian government regularly calls for a second Holocaust when they call for the destruction of the only Jewish state in the world.

USCIRF called on the US government to speak out about severe religious freedom abuses in Iran and urged them to punish Iranian officials responsible for such abuses by freezing their assets and barring their entry into the US. USCIRF said the US should press for the release of all prisoners of conscience in the country.

Bauer said: We have asked both the [Trump] administration and Congress to keep religious liberty and human rights as a central part of our dealings and negotiations with Iran.

The Trump administration wants to negotiate a new deal with Iran to end the Regimes malign behaviours. The US pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers last May.
Ordinarily, the Iranian judiciary delays the execution of such offenders until after they have passed the internationally-recognized age of majority. However, Iranian law allows for boys to be held legally responsible at the age of 13, and girls at the age of nine. This principle has been variously reaffirmed by Iranian judges after international outcry helped to encourage the review of relevant cases, only for the vast majority of death sentences to be upheld on the basis of the courts claim that the alleged criminals were sufficiently mature at the time of their offenses.

Despite the rarity of vacated death sentences, the reexamination of juvenile offenders cases has generally been regarded as part of an effort to defray some of the international condemnation that almost invariably emerges from public appeals by Amnesty International and other human rights defenders. The Iranian regimes effort to control its notoriety without altering its practices is presumably also the reason why most juvenile offenders are not executed until after they have turned 18.

But this practice was not repeated in the context of the case most recently highlighted by Amnesty and by Western media. The defendants in question, Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat, were abruptly executed on April 25, although both boys were still only 17 years old. They had been arrested on allegations that they committed rape at the age of 15, and the boys were held in pretrial detention for two months, during which they were repeatedly beaten by their interrogators.

Amnesty International also reported that the resulting trial, like a great many prosecutions in the Islamic Republic, was unfair and was characterized by a lack of legal representation for the defendants. Furthermore, the verdict in that trial was apparently not communicated to the condemned boys or to their families until the time of their execution. Sohrabifar and Sedaghat were transferred to a new prison, without explanation, just one day before they were hanged. Their families were then invited to visit them, but were not informed that they had been scheduled for execution until the following day, when they were instructed to collect the victims bodies. Examination of those bodies indicated that both boys were flogged shortly before their deaths.

By maintaining such secrecy regarding the case, authorities were arguably working to compensate for their decision not to hold back the executions until after the boys had grown somewhat older. That scheme was apparently successful in the sense that it prevented serious outcry about the case from flaring up in advance of the execution. However, with multiple reports stemming from the Amnesty statement, the incident stands to add significantly to international recognition and condemnation of Irans human rights violations, particularly as they relate to children.

A Pattern of Child Abuse

Relevant statistics about Irans recent and long-term juvenile executions have re-emerged in those reports. CNN pointed out, for instance, that at least 97 incidences have been recorded of juvenile offenders being executed between 1990 and 2018. And according to Al Jazeera, the Islamic Republic put to death at least seven such individuals last year alone, while the total number of executions for people of all ages was recorded as 253. This represents a decline over previous years, owing perhaps entirely to a reform of the nations drug laws that ostensibly gets rid of the mandatory death penalty for non-violent traffickers. Nevertheless, the death toll is adequate to maintain Irans status as the leading abuser of the death penalty, and the Sohrabifar/Sedaghat case reaffirms that there are still serious human rights issues to be found among non-drug related sentencing.

At the same time, the practice of juvenile executions calls attention to Irans broader disregard for the rights of children. Since 1994, the Islamic Republic has technically been a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. This and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights both prohibit the execution of juvenile offenders under all circumstances. Yet the Iranian regimes adoption of the Convention was accompanied by a proviso declaring itself immune from any aspect of the document that was deemed to be at odds with Iranian law or Islamic law. It is presumably this principle that is invoked by the Iranian judiciary each time it reviews a juvenile death sentence and upholds the death sentence on the basis of Irans own conception of legal maturity.

On Tuesday, IranWire referenced Irans selective and ultimately arbitrary enforcement of the Convention while reporting on the recruitment and deployment of child soldiers. The article noted that children as young as 13 routinely fought in Irans war against neighboring Iraq between 1980 and 1988. More than 22,000 persons under the age of 18 were killed in combat during that time, though it is not known how many minors received training from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in total.

Whatever this number may have been in 1988, it has continued to grow ever since. IranWire notes that human rights groups have warned about child soldiers being deployed from Iran to fight as part of paramilitary groups tasked with the defense of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. At the same time, even among minors who are not actually deployed to combat zones, there is a common trend of appearing in state propaganda that emphasizes youths supposed commitment to the IRGC and military defense of Iran and its theocratic revolution.

Although this practice has been roundly condemned throughout the world, IranWire concludes that there is ultimately nothing the international community can do, legally speaking, to halt the practice. The use of child soldiers was banned worldwide in an Optional Protocol added to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2000. And although Irans Foreign Minister signed the document in 2010, it has never been ratified by the Iranian parliament. Concerted hardline opposition to such ratification serves to underscore the clerical regimes refusal to be bound by international standards of behavior, even where the rights of children are concerned.

As yet another example of Irans disregard for this issue, Iran Human Rights Monitor reported last week that the latest statistics show 4,000 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 as having been married in North Khorasan Province alone, during the Iranian calendar year that ended in March 2019. This reflects a nationwide phenomenon that has left 24,000 girls widowed nationwide before the age of 18. This latter statistic speaks to the fact that the marriages in question are often arranged marriages involving a young girl and a much older man, often motivated by the economic hardship of the girls family.

According to Parvaneh Salahshouri, the head of the womens delegation in the Iranian parliament, a staggering six percent of married Iranian women had their wedding between the ages of 10 and 14. Early marriages comprise 24 percent of total marriages annually, according to other government officials. But even this statistic presumably refers only to marriages involving girls aged 13 or older, since this is technically the legal age of marriageability. However, younger girls may be married under certain circumstances, and in other cases, the relevant law is simply not enforced.

Girls Hardship Continues Through Adulthood

Noting that the practice of child marriage has been institutionalized by the Iranian government, IHRM identifies it as one of the examples of violence against women. In fact, there are potential signs that the situation in the Islamic Republic is presently growing worse for women and for children, and thus especially for young girls. Regime authorities have been engaged in a years-long effort to reinforce hardline principles regarding gender and sexuality, as by pressuring young women to avoid the workforce in favor of starting large families at an early age, and extending bans on mixed-gender activities to include school-aged boys and girls.

Naturally, though, the most prominent example of the ongoing crackdown on womens rights relates to the laws that mandate Islamic head coverings for all Iranian women, in all public places, even when outside the country or out of public view. Opponents of forced veiling have been boldly protesting the law, with 2018 being marked by a series of protests dubbed Girls of Revolution Street, in which participants removed their hijabs while standing on elevated structures in public. Those women were almost invariably arrested, and some have been handed multi-year prison sentences, while a prominent lawyer who sought to defend the protesters was recently given a sentence of 33 years.

The Revolution Street protests were an outgrowth of the White Wednesdays movement, which simply encouraged women to wear white hijabs on Wednesday as a symbol of silent protest against the forced veiling laws. The main organizer of that movement, UK-based Iranian activist Masih Alinejad, was previously known for popularizing the My Stealthy Freedom campaign, which involved women removing their veils in private spaces, such as in their cars, then posting them to social media. Though seemingly private in nature, such activism generated backlash from regime authorities that is still ongoing to this day.

IHRM reported on Tuesday that hundreds of Iranian women had recently received text messages summoning them to appear before the countrys morality police in connection with allegations that they had violated the Islamic dress code while driving their cars. Tehran police commander Hossein Rahimi confirmed via state media that the messages were official warnings, then declared, The police will identify and deal with vehicles whose passengers remove their veils. Persons who responded to the summons were reportedly released after signing a statement pledging not to repeat the violation, and they were informed that failure to abide by that statement would result in criminal charges.

Any such prosecution would be in keeping with a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent that has been by no means limited to the sphere of womens rights. Meanwhile, the use of text messaging as a tool of intimidation reflects the regimes broader efforts to leverage information technology for the purpose of enforcing hardline principles while limiting the ability of the general population to use those same resources for organizing and open discussion.

Part of a Larger Crackdown

Of course, the internet has presented a number of battlegrounds for that effort, and Iranian authorities may be on track toward issuing a ban on Instagram, the last major social media platform to be officially tolerated in the country. In the meantime, some of those same authorities are taking steps to enforce vaguely defined standards of behavior in virtually all online communications. As reported by the Center for Human Rights in Iran on Monday, a committee within the governments Supreme Cultural Revolution Council recently passed an amendment to academic disciplinary regulations which could set the stage for punishment of Iranian university students whose online activities are deemed unethical by regime authorities.

That term is not defined by the standards, and this opens the door for criminalizing any expression of dissent or any challenge to the countrys hardline, Islamist identity. Indeed, CHRI points to previous instances of Tehran cracking down on students online activities in just this way. While some of those examples were attacks on dissent, as when Mojtaba Dadashi was sentenced to three years in prison for criticizing the regime as un-Islamic, others were reminiscent of the crackdown on womens rights and the overall effort to preserve and defend the regimes worst impulses.

Multiple students have been suspended from school and summoned before government authorities over social media posts containing images in which they violated the Islamic dress code while on vacation abroad. This prompted one student activist to say of the regimes response to such activities, Imagine what they will do now that theres a law against it.

Accusations of unethical behavior carry no defined sentence in Iranian law. However, such accusations can easily be connected to established but vaguely characterized crimes such as spreading corruption on Earth or enmity against God. These and other such charges may be used as legal justification for capital punishment in the Islamic Republic, and Irans latest executions of juvenile offenders strongly suggest that the judiciary would rarely feel compelled to hesitate in doing so.
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 learn more about the MEK, we have created an in-depth series. In this part, we will learn about how the Regime tried to discredit the MEK for their role in the 2009 uprising through a series of statements by Regime officials and state-run media outlets.

During the 2009 uprising over the rigged election, many thousands of people were arrested, including MEK members and supporters. Irans Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) said in documents about the uprising that roughly 60% of the young people there had been involved with or influenced by the MEK.

Most Regime members acknowledged the key role of the MEK in the uprising, which proves that the MEK is not insignificant at all; a charge that the mullahs often like to levy against the MEK. Lets look at some of the statements

Irans Deputy Minister of Intelligence said that MEK members attended the protests after a rallying call from MEK members, while MOIS media outlet Neday-e Enghelab said that the MEK had a comprehensive and well-calculated plan to increase the protests. Fars News Agency also advised that many MEK members were present and working to overthrow the regime.

However, Irans Deputy Minister of Intelligence called them opportunistic, a term that doesnt fit freedom fighters. He also used a slur to describe them, pretended that the MEK was part of an armed rebellion against Iran, and accused them of waging war on God. The MEK had laid down their arms about five years before this uprising and they were only seeking to overthrow the mullahs, not kill God or destroy Iran. While Fars repeated the lie that the MEK was planting bombs.

Arrests

Many MEK members were arrested for taking part in the protests, as should be clear from above, but lets look at some of the statistics.

Seven MEK members arrested by MOIS agents in Ghazvin province, about 150 km northwest of Tehran for protesting in Ghazvin and Tehran

16 MEK members tried before the notorious Judge Salavati in December 2009; five sentenced to the most severe punishment, which is execution

Six MEK members executed for their roles in the protests at some point in 2010, according to Tehran Chief Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi

MEK members Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei were executed in January 2011 for their involvement in the protests

Abdolreza Mohabati, a deputy prosecutor in Tehran, said that the MEK members taking part in the protests were trained at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, but it is unclear what he means by that or if it is true.

In our next piece, we will look at how the Regime uses propaganda against the MEK to try and trick the Iranian public and the world at large into thinking the MEK are somehow insignificant or evil.
The circumstances of this change suggest that the new leader Salami and the former leader Jaafari are basically the same in terms of hardline stances. Both of them do what the Supreme Leader tells them to do. Neither has any say on escalation and calm in conflicts with the rest of world.

Therefore, I think Khameneis decision may have come from his feeling that Salami is better to implement his instructions in the next phase.

Khamenei founded his decision on what he called the need to change the leadership of his terrorist militias and the experience of Major General Hussein Salami, because of your competence and valuable experience in public administration and your response to the various responsibilities of the revolutionary, jihadist and popular bodies of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

According to the Supreme Leader, Major General Jaafari requested that this change be made to his desire to work in the cultural field and to play a role in the soft war. He was then appointed head of Baqiyatullah Al-Azam Cultural and Social Headquarters.

The narrative is dubious, however. The commander of the Revolutionary Guard would not express his desire to withdraw at this particular time. Khamenei seems to have wanted to keep a high morale among the terrorist militia, so he made up the story that Jaafari wanted to be discharged.

Between 2007 and 2019, Jaafari was in charge of the Revolutionary Guard. The man has served beyond the usual period of militia leadership, which usually lasts ten years. Nevertheless, he still did not complete the entire extension period approved by Khamenei in July 2017. His term was to last until 2020.

Jafaaris request for the end of his term of office just one year before the end of his term, not to retire, but to switch to soft power, does not make sense.

In my opinion, the reasons for changing the commander of the Revolutionary Guards have nothing to do with the role of the Revolutionary Guards in other countries. The Qods force led by General Qassem Soleimani is the one in charge of that.

Perhaps the change is related to the role of the Iranian Guards inside Iran and the countrys ability to defend itself in the event of a surprise military attack.

Under the new chief, the level of aggressiveness of the Revolutionary Guard is not going to change. Salamis radical position towards the US and Israel, for example, is part of the role-playing game by the mullahs.

Besides, Khamenei is the one who sets the tone between escalation and de-escalation for everyone in the Iranian regime. Khamenei runs the system with an iron fist.

Salamis hard-line statements on several occasions were not different from those of other former and current commanders of the Revolutionary Guards.

If this change is intended to send a threatening message to the outside, Khamenei may have sent the wrong message. The message brought the opposite of what he wanted. Many, including myself, believe that the change in the leadership of the Revolutionary Guards at the present stage reveals the high level of anxiety, panic and fear among the Iranian leaders.

Perhaps Khamenei reduced the next step to psychological warfare and verbal threats between Iran, on the one hand, and Israel and the US, on the other. But that would not take promoting the Deputy Commander of the Militia and removing his boss.

Salamis position as deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard did not prevent him from making statements threatening Israel. The Revolutionary Guard generals often made inflammatory statements, but no one of them has dared to launch a single attack on Israel, despite the numerous and violent air strikes they have suffered on their camps in Syria.

The replacement in the leadership of the Revolutionary Guard was likely brought about by a sense of imminent danger in the minds of the mullahs. Their entire regime is in danger.

All evidence suggests that the regime is facing the most serious crisis in its history. Its only way out is by complying with the conditions laid down by the US.

Salem Al Ketbi is an Emirati political analyst, researcher and opinion writer. Member of @ChathamHouse and @londonpressclub.
The Australian arm of Chinese telecommunications equipment vendor Huawei Technologies has appointed a new chief executive on the same day that it announced it had sales revenue of $735 million in 2018, a 18% increase year-on-year.

The results come after a tough year for the company in Australia, with the government banning it from bidding for contracts in the rollout of 5G.

Haosheng Liu (Hudson Liu), who joined the company in 1998, is the new CEO. He has already served as deputy managing director of Huawei Germany, CEO of Huawei Belgium and, most recently, CEO of Huawei Indonesia.

In a statement, Huawei Australia said its carrier business had grown 20% year-on-year, with strong network investment from Optus and Vodafone being major drivers.

Enterprise business sales were pushed up 19% year-on-year by the company winning a $136 million contract to build and maintain digital radio services that would provide voice and data services across the rail network in Perth.

And the company also saw 20% growth year-on-year in its consumer business with high-end smartphone sales the main driver.

Huawei Australia chairman John Lord said the results were the best recorded by the company in its 15 years in Australia.

Its fair to say we had a challenging year on the political front, but our Australian customers valued and trusted our world leading technology and purchased it in record numbers, he said.

Huawei technology is cutting edge, safe and secure and thats why we have become the largest supplier of mobile network infrastructure in Australia.

These results make it very clear Huawei is the leading supplier of innovative telecommunications solutions and its a great shame Australians will miss out on our 5G technology.

Countries that choose to work with Huawei will gain an advantage for the next wave of growth in the digital economy."

Lord said Huawei was retaining its focus on improving existing 4G networks.

Of the new appointment, Lord said: "Hudson joins us from Indonesia where, as CEO, he drove incredible growth, led Huaweis telecommunications modernisation and digital transformation projects. The board and I look forward to working with Hudson to help continue Huaweis ongoing success in Australia.
The American news agency Bloomberg has been caught on the hop again with a technically inaccurate report, this time claiming that Vodafone had found what it called "hidden backdoors" in software that "could have given Huawei unauthorised access to the carriers (Vodafone's) fixed-line network in Italy".

But Vodafone denied it had made any such claim. A company spokesperson told iTWire that the so-called backdoor that Bloomberg referred to was telnet, a protocol used for communication using a virtual terminal connection, adding that it was not exposed to the Internet.

"Bloomberg is incorrect in saying that this 'could have given Huawei unauthorised access to the carrier's fixed-line network in Italy'," the Vodafone spokesperson said.

"In addition, we have no evidence of any unauthorised access. This was nothing more than a failure to remove a diagnostic function after development. The issues were identified by independent security testing, initiated by Vodafone as part of our routine security measures, and fixed at the time by Huawei."

Asked for his take on the Bloomberg story, former NSA hacker Jake Williams said practically every manufacturer had placed engineering access features in their products at one time or another.

"Obviously this includes Huawei, but also includes other telecom giants like Cisco and Fortigate. The claimed backdoor appears to have simply been a hard-coded account and access method for engineers to provide remote support," he said.

"While these are bad for security, they aren't backdoors to be used by the Chinese Government."

Williams, who worked for the elite Tailored Access Operations unit while with the spy agency, said there were many reasons to be sceptical of Huawei. "But these arguments should be limited to facts. Hyperbole like calling engineering features backdoors trivialises the important discussions about trust in Huawei we should be having," he added.

This is not the first time that Bloomberg has published a technology story with such a major error. Last year, the agency filed a story claiming that China spied on Apple and Amazon using server chips. The story was met with stout denials from Amazon, Apple, the US Department of Homeland Security and the British National Cyber Security Centre.

But the very next week, Bloomberg went one better by claiming that a big US telco had been hit by hardware tampering. Both stories drew heavily on anonymous stories and could not be verified by any tech news site.

The agency has a practice of paying higher annual bonuses to those who write stories that move markets. The story about Apple and Amazon resulted in Lenovo shares falling by as much as 23% across Asia, while the stocks of ZTE Corporation, China's biggest telecommunications equipment maker, fell by about 14% in Hong Kong trading. And both Apple and Amazon lost a little less than 2% of their value following the report.

For Tuesday's story, Bloomberg cited Vodafones security briefing documents from 2009 and 2011 which it claimed to have seen, as well as unnamed people involved in the situation.

iTWire has contacted Bloomberg to inquire whether the agency plans to correct its story. The news agency also had a related op-ed titled "The West Finally Has Its Huawei Smoking Gun".

Reuters also reported the story, but referred to "security flaws", "security vulnerabilities", and "software vulnerabilities", rather than backdoors.

Huawei said in a statement that the story published by Bloomberg was misleading. "It refers to a maintenance and diagnostic function, common across the industry, as well as vulnerabilities, which were corrected over seven years ago," a spokesperson said.

"There is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that Huawei conceals backdoors in its equipment.

For more than two years, the US has been pushing countries it considers allies to avoid using equipment from Chinese companies, Huawei foremost, in 5G networks. But Washington has produced no proof to back up its claims that these products could be used to spy for China.

Only Australia and New Zealand have fallen in line with Washington's dictates, but Wellington has indicated that the initial refusal for telco Spark to use Huawei gear is not the end of the matter. That stance was reiterated by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern during a one-day China visit in April. Huawei sued the US on 7 March, seeking to be reinstated as a telco supplier in the country.
WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for skipping bail in 2012 and taking refuge in the Ecuador embassy in London.

Assange was arrested by British police on 11 April after Ecuador withdrew its asylum and appeared in court shortly thereafter. He was found guilty of skipping bail and remanded to custody.

Julian Assange's sentence is as shocking as it is vindictive. We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.  WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 1, 2019

He was separately charged in relation to the US indictment and will appear in court on 2 May (Friday AEST) in connection with these charges.

The US indictment says the charges levelled at Assange carry a maximum prison term of five years.

Assange's lawyers argued on Wednesday that he had skipped bail as he was desperate to avoid extradition to the US over the release of thousands of documents relating to the US invasion of Iraq and the Afghanistan operation.

But Reuters reported that Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange: Whilst you may have had fears as to what may happen to you, nonetheless you had a choice.

The judge that sentenced Assange today in Southwark Crown Court is the same judge that sentenced us in 2013, heh.  Mustafa Al-Bassam (@musalbas) May 1, 2019

It is difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offence.

In a letter to Judge Thomas, read out at the hearing, Assange apologised for the way things had turned out.

I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended, he said in the letter read out by his lawyer, Mark Summers.

I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best.
CHARLESTON  The arrest of the juvenile police say shot a man Sunday in a Charleston apartment building went over peacefully.

Charleston Police Chief Chad Reed said Mount Vernon police were tipped off that the unnamed shooter got a ride back to Mattoon on Monday night. That information was then relayed to the Charleston authorities, and a warrant for his arrest was executed.

The suspect was said to be "cooperative" when Mattoon police arrested him at approximately 1 p.m. Tuesday at a residence in Mattoon, Reed indicated. Police aren't releasing the name of the alleged shooter because he is a juvenile.

Reed noted there have been no arrests for aiding the suspect in an attempt to elude police.

He did say that detectives are still investigating whether any others might have been involved in the shooting.

To date, there are three people in custody in connection with the shooting of 20-year-old Trevor Pinkstaff at 24 Buchanan Ave.

Also in custody are Shannon M. Barnes, 19, and Alyssa A. Jenkins, 19. All three who were arrested are from Mount Vernon, where they were said to have fled following the incident.

The juvenile suspect, who was said to have been transferred to the Vermilion County Juvenile Detention Center, is scheduled for a court hearing on May 10, according to the Coles County State's Attorney's Office.

Barnes and Jenkins have been charged with aggravated battery offenses that would require prison time with a conviction. Barnes also faces a residential burglary charge that also has a required prison term upon conviction.

All the charges include the allegation that Barnes and Jenkins either committed the offenses themselves or had some legal responsibility for another person who did.

Prison time would be mandatory for the aggravated battery charges because they include the allegation that a firearm was used. The sentencing range is six to 30 years. A residential burglary conviction requires a four- to 15-year prison sentence.

Both appeared in court on Tuesday, when they received court-appointed attorneys and their next hearings were scheduled for Monday.

During the hearing, Circuit Judge Mark Bovard set Barnes' bond at a level that would require $7,500 to be posted for release from jail. The judge set Jenkins' bond at a $5,000 level.

The two suspects remain jailed and bond conditions for both include evaluations for substance abuse treatment and other pretrial supervision requirements.

Police have yet to confirm whether the firearm was legal.

Pinkstaff's condition has not been released. It was previously reported that Pinkstaff was airlifted to Carle Foundation Hospital, but hospital officials said they had no information on this person.

Mount Vernon, Mattoon and Eastern Illinois University police departments; the Coles County Sheriff's Office; and states attorneys office have assisted with the investigation.

This is the second shooting in two months in Charleston, but Reed indicated these incidents were isolated and the circumstances of each shooting were different.

The other shooting took place March 3 at a party on Seventh Street. The only arrest made in connection with that shooting involves an obstruction of justice charge against Tatyana L. Jackson for allegedly hiding information about the incident and providing a false name.

Contact Jarad Jarmon at (217) 238-6839. Follow him on Twitter: @JJarmonReporter

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MATTOON  Marshalls is coming to the Cross County Mall this fall.

Rural King Realty, the owners of this shopping complex in Mattoon, confirmed the addition of the department store in a note to mall tenants. The Journal Gazette and Times-Courier office is located in the mall.

Rural King Realty announced in early April that it was in talks with TJX Companies, parent company of Marshalls, after a marketing image of the mall began circulating online with a future Marshalls location shown as being somewhere in the center of the mall between Joann Fabrics and Scotty's Brewhouse.

TJX Companies has not made any announcements at this time regarding the possibility of a Marshalls department store opening at the Cross County Mall.

"I am not able to confirm that location. We have no official announcement yet," said TJX Companies spokeswoman Katie Babb on Tuesday. She added that they usually do not officially announce an opening until two to three weeks before the store debuts.

TJX Companies reports in its investor information online that it operates off-price apparel and home fashions stores in nine countries across three continents, and that it sees growth opportunities both in the U.S. and abroad.

The note to Cross County tenants also mentioned other updates, including the addition of day lockers and hangers to keep belongings safe while patrons shop and of new vending options near the old Grinders coffee shop location.

Mall fitness walkers Cheryl Hickox and Donna St. John, both of Mattoon, said last week that they tried out the lockers and are glad to have them available. Hickox said she appreciates the improvements that Rural King has made to the mall and is hopeful that new stores will open there to help replace the Carson's department store that closed last year.

"We have a nice mall here," St. John said.

The Mattoon based Rural King company purchased the mall in late 2017 and moved its Mattoon store into the former Sears space there in January. Scotty's opened in December.

In February, Rural King and local officials announced that a Cross County Innovation Center for entrepreneur development will open this fall in office space at the mall with the help of $325,000 in Google grant funding.

The note to tenants stated that the RK Realty team have worked hard to bring in new businesses to the mall to bring more businesses to the community.

Contact Rob Stroud at (217) 238-6861. Follow him on Twitter: @TheRobStroud

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CHARLESTON  Part of Illinois Route 316 between Charleston and Mattoon is scheduled to be closed for bridge repairs starting next week.

The work will be on the bridge over Riley Creek about six miles west of Charleston and is scheduled to begin Monday, according to a news release from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The release said access to the road in other locations will be open during the construction, which is expected to be completed by Aug. 1.

It also said motorists can expect delays during the construction and should allow extra travel time or use alternate routes.

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Chicago Tribune

The possibility is sickening to contemplate: 5-year-old AJ Freund didn't have to die. His death, allegedly at the hands of his parents, could have been prevented by a well-run child welfare system.

Witnesses in all corners of AJ's life saw signs of abuse or neglect. Many of them sounded alarms that were recorded by the courts and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which once again finds itself struggling to explain why a child on its watch is now dead.

Last month, the tiny victim was Ja'hir Gibbons, age 2. Two years ago, it was Semaj Crosby, 17 months, of Joliet Township. There have been too many others over the years.

The failings at DCFS run right to the top of the organization. There has been a revolving door of leadership for years. Managers and investigators are tasked with the difficult job of looking into the private lives of troubled families and making responsible decisions about the welfare of children. Even the best-run agency would be challenged. DCFS is beleaguered.

Of immediate concern is how DCFS weighs the risks to children against the department's desire to keep families intact.

The DCFS worker and supervisor who handled AJ's case have been placed on administrative duties. On the bigger issues of how to effectively manage high-risk families, DCFS officials didn't have sufficient answers, but they remain accountable.

When children are identified as being at risk, it becomes DCFS' responsibility to keep them safe. That system failed AJ Freund.

The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan

In the wake of violence, a community often asks itself  as it should  how did this happen? Why did this happen here?

A theme has emerged in this particular conversation as our community processes the information we have so far.

People have wrongly said  and often incorrectly say, when it comes to gun violence in Carbondale  that SIU students from Chicago are to blame. If only SIU would stop recruiting from Chicago, the violence would stop, they say.

Invoking Chicago anytime a gun is fired in Carbondale helps no one. It only furthers stereotypes, and walks us two steps back as we attempt to move forward. There are plenty of legitimate questions to ask in our journey to seeking a solution to gun violence: How did the suspects get their guns? Why were they driven to use guns? Was there anything that could have been done to prevent this?

Carbondale is not, as it is often called in the wake of gun violence here, "little Chicago." The violence that happens here is a product of our own community. Chicago has nothing to do with it. The issue of gun violence in Carbondale is Carbondale's to solve. This is our violence. The suspects are the young men that our community has raised.

If we are to heal, if we are to find solutions, then we must ask the right questions. We must look within.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register

The news earlier this month about the population in Illinois was grim, but not surprising.

The state as a whole lost 0.4 percent of its population from July 2017 to July 2018, bringing the population of Illinois to 12,741,080 as of last summer. Every major metropolitan area in Illinois saw population decline during that time, and only 16 of the state's 102 counties saw an uptick in residents.

Population decline in Illinois is nothing new: The population of the state as a whole declined for the fifth year in a row, according to Census data that came out last December. Some of it can be chalked up fewer children being born as one of the largest generations in history, the baby boomers, starts to die out.

But the general state of affairs for Illinois  unbalanced state budgets (if there is a budget at all), huge stack of unpaid bills, high overall tax burden, massive unfunded pension liabilities at the state and local levels, and a perception of being unfriendly to businesses  are just a few realities that contribute to people choosing greener pastures to call home.

The state has to create a new trajectory for Illinois, and that means trying a different way of conducting business. The last five scheduled weeks of this year's spring session of the General Assembly is an ideal time to start that new path.

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Occidental announced its counter offer last week setting up something not seen for years in the oil patch  a potential bidding war.

"Even if we look back at two decades of history, this is virtually unprecedented," said Pavel Molchanov, senior vice president and equity research analyst at Raymond James & Associates.

If Anadarko does walk away from Chevron, it would have to pay a $1 billion breakup fee under its agreement.

Yet the entry of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway could lead to the exit of Chevron, which is more than five times the size of Occidental.

That was the perception of how things would play Tuesday on Wall Street.

Shares of Chevron rose 3 percent with many investors believing it would choose not to escalate the fight for Anadarko by raising its $50 billion bid.

In his annual letter to shareholders this year, Buffett said he was having difficulty finding large-scale investments with which to plow a portion of his roughly $130 billion pile of cash and short term investments.

It appeared Tuesday that he found at least partial solution.
CHICAGO  McDonald's turned to a sure thing in the first quarter, bacon, and it paid off.

Global rose 5.4% at stores open at least a year, a key metric of a retailer's health. That beat Wall Street's forecast of 3.4%, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Bacon was a big driver. McDonald's kicked off the year with an hour-long offer of free bacon in U.S. stores, generating hype for its new bacon cheesy fries and bacon Big Mac and Quarter Pounder. In France, same-store sales rose to their highest level since 2011, thanks in part to Le Big Mac Bacon.

The world's biggest burger chain  with 13 Lincoln restaurants and one more in Waverly  on Tuesday reported a first quarter profit of $1.33 billion, or $1.72 per share. That was the same profit it reported in the January-March period a year ago.

The latest quarter included 6 cents per share of additional income tax costs related to the 2017 tax law, while the weakening of the euro and other currencies hurt earnings per share by 9 cents.

McDonald's revenue fell 3.5% to $4.95 billion but topped Wall Street's expectations. Revenue was expected to fall as McDonald's puts some company-owned stores back in the hands of franchisees. Around 90% of the company's stores globally are run by franchisees; McDonald's wants to bring that to 95%.

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Georgia at a glance

By Nalifa Mehelin

The life of an average economics student revolves around various jargons and phrases. Ceteris Paribus, GDP, GNP, PPP, Consumption, Stock, Share and what not. The cherry on top is the economic models. The models, with their numerous never-ending graphs, seem too scary for the naked eyes. In reality, these models try to predict matters of our mundane lives. One such matter is an investment. In the context of Georgia, the star performer country, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a buzzword. A close look at FDI can highlight the importance and role of FDI in the Georgian economy.For short-run growth, saving and investment play a crucial role in the economy. Although the Solow growth model in Macroeconomics talk about long-run economic growth and discount the factor of investment rate in the long run, in the short run, the model talks about the importance of higher economic investment. In a strictly economic sense, higher saving and investment raises the rate of growth of national income and product. However, higher saving and investment rate has little or no impact to sustain growth in the long run. In the case of Georgia, the economy will need enough investment to accumulate more national capital to proceed in the later stage of attaining long-run growth. Therefore, investment, specifically FDI, has a crucial role to play. In simpler terms, when a firm or an individual from one country invests in the business climate of another country, the act is called a foreign direct investment (FDI). The investment is usually made in the currency of the country investing, rather than the country invested in.Georgia is performing really well in terms of attracting FDI. An analysis of the FDI pattern in Georgia from 2014-2018 reveals that Azerbaijan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United States are among the top five countries investing in Georgia. Furthermore, sectoral analysis discloses the most FDI prone sectors. With 28.4% investment share, the transport and communications sector received the most investment; followed by financial sector (12.8%), construction (12.5%), energy (10.3%), manufacturing (8.3%), real estate (6.9%), hotels and restaurants (5.8%), mining (3.7%), and other sectors (11.3%). Among the other sectors, the agricultural sector is the least attractive (0.8%). Despite facing a downward trend from 2014 to 2016, 2017 witnessed an increase followed by a sharp decline in 2018. The free trade agreements with China and the European Union (EU) are assumed to be the cause for this decline.Georgia has earned praises for its business climate which encourages FDI. Georgia earned a 16th position in the Ease of Doing Business Index by The Heritage Foundation. The Index of Economic Freedom ranked Georgia 13th for ensuring a balanced environment for business. The renewed rules and regulations in the private sector, a liberal visa process, and the overall governance contributed significantly to boost FDI. On the other hand, Georgia needs to improve the quality of its labor force for sustainable growth.FDI ominously contributed to expanding Georgias economy. It is indeed praiseworthy to grow so rapidly in such a short span of time. Rapid and far-fetched changes in policy warranted short-run growth. In the near future, it is only expected that Georgia will incur growth in the long run as well.
Rachel Ourada started Rachel O's Fabulous Whimsy as a side business in 2010 and started selling her signature fabric buttons and earrings made with custom-designed fabric in 2012. They became so popular that she quit her full-time job the next year to concentrate on her own business.

However, it was when she started selling on the Amazon Handmade online store for artisans in 2015 that things really took off.

"I got my first Amazon sale just minutes after they launched, and its been a big part of my business ever since," Ourada said.

She sells her items on Etsy, eBay, through wholesale and in stores in Omaha, Lincoln and more than a dozen other cities nationwide.

But she said Amazon is the largest source of her retail sales.

"Its a significant part of my overall business," Ourada said.

And it appears to be a significant source of sales for other small businesses around the state.

On Wednesday, Amazon released a list of the 10 states with the fastest-growing small- and medium-sized businesses selling in Amazons stores, and Nebraska ranked second, outpaced only by Mississippi.
That proposal has been spotlighted as the alternative if the Legislature does not act.

Linehan said the tax reform proposal would move Nebraska from 47th to about 20th among states in providing state support for schools, supplying strong state funding assistance for every student whether he or she lives in Omaha or the Sandhills.

"It's tax-neutral," Linehan said, "and it will depend on the people to help us get this across the finish line.

"We are trying to fix the property tax, not raise more taxes," she said.

During Tuesday's sometimes tense and occasionally volatile committee discussion, it was noted that agricultural interests may be willing to accept a decrease in the current $224 million state property tax credit fund to a $115 million minimum in order to help finance the legislative plan for property tax reduction.

Although the bill has been amended to address urban school concerns, some of them still remained.

The amended bill would raise $372 million in new revenue atop the $224 million already in the state property tax credit fund.
A Lincoln judge told a Beatrice man, shot by law enforcement officers outside a Lincoln apartment building last year when he tried to get away in a stolen vehicle as they closed in to arrest him, that what happened was all his fault.

"I continue to hear you got shot and that somehow that should mitigate what you did that day," Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret told Thomas Sailors, 27, before sending him to prison for five years. "It doesn't."

If anything, she said, it exacerbated the situation, because he not only had put himself at risk, but also the community.

"It was your fault that anything that happened that day happened," Maret said.

At about 8 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2018, in a parking lot near 17th and Prospect streets, a U.S. marshal, who had spotted Sailors in the stolen 2007 GMC Yukon Denali and followed him there, struck the SUV's front bumper with the front of his unmarked pickup.

The U.S. marshal started firing as Sailors backed up, forcing a Lincoln police officer to dive into his cruiser, his feet being dragged on the pavement.

Police said the officer was left with minor injuries.
A Norfolk man has been sentenced to nearly 16 years in federal prison in connection to an 18-pound load of methamphetamine intercepted by agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration as it came from California to Lincoln.

Gail Tift, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

In the written plea agreement, federal prosecutors say in February 2017, the DEA intercepted the drugs, then attempted a delivery to a drug-trafficking operation in Lincoln.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Martin Conboy said Tift had been sent by a co-conspirator to meet with the driver.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Rossiter Jr. sentenced Tift to 15 years and eight months in federal prison, plus four years of supervised release.

His co-defendant, Cody Tift, 29, is set for sentencing in August for his part in the conspiracy. On Jan. 30, 2018, investigators served search warrants and seized 13 pounds of meth that had been transferred from a van in Cody Tift's garage in Lincoln.

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Key priorities: Lowering taxes is his main goal. Housing costs, the cost of living, the economic vitality of a city, attracting workers and growing businesses all relate in some way to the city's tax rates, he said.

"It touches so many other areas that are important and solves so many problems," he said.

Defining moment: With the birth of his first child came a massive paradigm shift, he said.

"You don't view yourself as the primary point in your own life," he said. "It's your children now."

The city's role in development: Herrold believes the city has played a heavy-handed role in development projects through tax-increment financing, or TIF, and he'd like to see it curtailed.

"TIF has been overused and abused in the last decade," he said.

In his opinion, the Haymarket may meet the state's legal definition of blighted, which allows cities to use the urban renewal development mechanism, but the conditions in the area don't square with the spirit of the law. "It's been a stimulus, but sometimes stimulus goes too far," he said.
A Lincoln man has been promoted to the rank of chief warrant officer 5 in the Nebraska Army National Guard.

Gregory J. Reicks serves as the Nebraska National Guard's defense movement coordinator and traffic management specialist at the Joint Force Headquarters in Lincoln.

Reicks joined the U.S. Army in 1986 and served five years on active duty. He transitioned to the Nebraska Army National Guard in 1992 to continue to serve his country while attending college. He had one combat deployment to Iraq from 2003-2005.

Reicks is a graduate of Southeast Community College and Bellevue University.

He and his wife, Ann, live in Lincoln.

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The images and evident suffering are all too familiar. Local economies will eventually recover, but the human impact is all too real.

A bomb cyclone batters the region, as more than 650 Nebraska residents rush to shelters while water rescues begin. Historic flooding is blamed for at least three deaths in Nebraska and Iowa. And a swelling Missouri River topples levees, causing enormous damage to local infrastructure.

The storm that recently devastated the Midwest caused flood damages estimated at more than $1 billion in Nebraska. That included around $450 million in damage to roads, levees and other infrastructure and another $440 million in crop losses. More than 2,000 homes and 340 businesses were damaged or destroyed by the flood.

The truth is that floods have always been a large risk in the U.S. Now storms are getting more severe. And yet, only one in six American homes has flood insurance. Flood recovery happens slowly and inevitably, but its governments and ultimately the taxpayer that pick up much of the bill.

Making a bad situation worse, many people think they are covered by their homeowners' policy  but they usually aren't.
Increased militarization of the occupied Abkhazia

By Levan Abramishvili

On April 23, a military exercise was launched by the Russian forces in the occupied Abkhazia region. According to the Abkhazian media outlet, Apsnypress, around 3000 soldiers and up to 400 military equipment are involved in the training.The exercises are carried out in The Southern Military District of Russia and are a part of the combat training plan of the de facto Ministry of Defense.The participating troops made military drills to the exercise destination, where, throughout the week, they will prepare for the challenging conditions of the mountainous and wooded areas.For the demonstration of practical actions, both the air force and navy will part in the exercises.Both the ruling party and the opposition agree that the exercises in occupied Abkhazia are yet another demonstration of power from Russia and a clear violation of international norms.Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, the State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, spoke about the exercises and called them Russias reaction to the development of Georgias security - Unfortunately this is not news. Throughout last year, more than 120 military exercise and maneuvers of different sizes were held. This time, the exercises are on a large scale with 3000 participating soldiers.  said the Minister, she went on to assess what this type of exercise implies  this indicates two things: first, that our occupied regions have virtually turned into military polygons for years now; and second, that this is Russias policy, which, according to them, is a reaction to every step that Georgia takes to strengthen its security by collaborating with the American partners and getting close to NATO, which we often underline that is not targeted towards anyone.While talking about the exercises, Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the Parliament emphasized the increased militarization in the occupied regions - We are appalled with the increased militarization we, unfortunately, witness in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region and these trainings are the best demonstration of this fact. He expressed that the support of the international community is very important in this regard - We will keep the consultations to at maximal extent prevent the problems related to militarization.Unfortunately, Russia continues strengthening its spheres of influence its always ready for a serious response if its so-called border is threatened even theoretically  Said Gigi Tsereteli, a member of the European Georgia political party.Vladimir Konstantinidi, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, mentioned that exercises like the one thats conducted in occupied Abkhazia from on April 23-30 undermine the peace processes and pose a threat for the stability in the region at large.According to Konstantinidi, Russias actions go against the international norms and are a part of militarization, which Russia conducts in our occupied regions.As mentioned above by the officials, this is not the first time Russia conducts major military exercises in the occupied regions of Georgia. This comes directly after the visit of NATO ships to Georgia last month, as well as continuous supportive statements of organizations officials regarding the future of Georgia-NATO relations.In November of last year, the head of United States Transportation Command, General Steve Lyons visited Tbilisi. He met with the Georgian Defense Minister Levan Izoria, where they discussed plans to build a military airport in Vaziani.This information was enough for the defacto Abkhaz foreign ministry to issue a statement condemning the increase of Georgias defense capabilities. The statement read - "For its part, Abkhazia keeps developing military and technical cooperation with Russia and is ready to take appropriate measures against adventurist actions of Tbilisi.Just after a month of the Izoria-Lyons meeting, a subunit of military police was created in the breakaway Abkhazia at the Russian military base stationed there. These actions are clear evidence of reactive politics carried out by Russia and the so-called government officials of the occupied regions.As Russia continues the militarization in the occupied regions, all Georgia can do is further increase its defensive and military capabilities and strengthen its ties with the NATO allies. Even if this means the responsive military exercises in the breakaway regions.
Here are some ways to cope with loneliness during the holiday season, five foods that can help prevent cold and flu, and more videos to improv
RACINE PUBLIC LIBRARY

RACINE  The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., is offering these free programs:

Anti-Racism Book Group, 2 p.m. Monday, May 6. A weekly book group discussing themes of race and racism.

Computer Basics workshop, 9:30 a.m. May 7 or 8, or 1 p.m. May 9. Learn how to use a mouse, keyboard and other computer basics.

Jerry Apps: A Farm Story, 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 8.

Minecraft Club, 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 8.

Checkmates, 4-5 p.m. Thursday, May 9. Open to all ages and chess experience levels.

Pokemon Club, noon Saturday, May 11. Registration required.

Intro to Dungeons and Dragons, for grades six to 12, 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11.

Call 262-636-9217 or go to www.racinelibrary.info for more information or to register for an event.

WATERFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY

WATERFORD  The Waterford Public Library, 101 N. River St., is offering these free programs:

Imagination Library, 9:30-10 a.m. Monday, May 6. Includes stories and crafts. Each child in attendance will receive a free book.

Celebrating Lives and Providing Solutions, 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 6. Attorney Jessica Sippel and Cindi Schweitzer, funeral director from Integrity Funeral Home, will provide a discussion about end of life preparation.

Star Wars Trivia Night, 6-7 p.m. Thursday, May 9.

For more information, call 262-878-2910 or go to www.waterford.lib.wi.us.

GRAHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY

UNION GROVE  Graham Public Library, 1215 Main St., will host a presentation titled Women of World War II: On the Front Lines & the Home Front from 6:30-7:45 p.m. Wednesday May, 8. For more information, call 262-878-2910 or go to www.uniongrove.lib.wi.us.

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RACINE  A Racine woman is facing charges after reportedly using the debit card of a local nonprofit organization, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Racine and Kenosha Counties, to withdraw money from two ATM machines.

Kennythia R. Igkurak-Steele, 41, is charged with a felony count of unauthorized use of an entitys identifying information or documents and misdemeanor theft.

According to the criminal complaint:

On Nov. 19, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Racine and Kenosha Counties representatives filed a fraud report after discovering unauthorized transactions on the nonprofits debit card from ATM machines at a Sturtevant gas station and a Kenosha Walgreens.

The card was for company use by only a few select employees and was kept in a locked safe, nonprofit employees told authorities.

The investigator went to the Walgreens in question and received surveillance footage and a receipt from Sept. 9 for a purchase of cigarettes and alcohol made by the same person who used the ATM. The birth date provided for the purchases reportedly matched Igkurak-Steels.

Footage showed the woman, later identified by Big Brothers/Big Sisters staff as Igkurak-Steele, a former volunteer/intern who would have had access to the card and pin number.

On Dec. 11, an investigator called Igkurak-Steele to ask her about a fraud investigation. She agreed to come to the department, but did not show up for the appointment. Several subsequent calls also went unreturned.

Igkurak-Steele remained in custody on a $5,000 signature bond as of Wednesday afternoon, online records show. A preliminary hearing is set for May 15 at the Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave.

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OAK CREEK  Standing in front of pictures of some of the six Sikhs killed in the Aug. 5, 2012, shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers delivered a proclamation designating April as Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month during a Tuesday morning visit to the temple.

Almost seven years after the tragedy here, Sikhs are working to enhance their national visibility as states across the country, including California, Delaware, New Jersey and Indiana have made similar dedications, with Wisconsin being the latest to join that group.

I am honored to be here with you to present a proclamation that the State of Wisconsin is committed to better understand, recognize and appreciate the rich history and shared experiences of Sikh Americans, Evers said.

The proclamation honors the estimated 500,000 American Sikhs and 30 million worldwide, the 130-year history of Sikhism in America and the 550th birthday of Guru Nanak, Sikhisms founder. Oak Creeks temple, 7512 S. Howell Ave. (Highway 38), is one of two Sikh temples in the Milwaukee area; the other is in Brookfield.

While our state and our country still have much left to do to create a culture of mutual understanding, the message has always been very clear: We are one, Evers said. The Oak Creek community is a great reminder of how we have the capacity to show up each day with love, courage, perseverance  even when that seems impossible.

After speaking, Evers took his shoes off and donned a religious head cover. Temple leaders then led him around the building for a tour. He was shown the altar and boards chronicling Sikhs in American and worldwide society. He also sampled some food from the temples kitchen, which was serving up dishes including beans, rice and meat, as well as desserts.

Tragedy remains relevant today

For Jaspreet Kaleka of Greendale, whose father-in-law Satwant Singh Kaleka was killed in the 2012 attack, Evers visit and proclamation offered a chance to elevate conversations about targeted hate crimes, such as those that have rocked the nation in the months and years since the Oak Creek attack. Just this past Saturday, a gunman stormed a synagogue in Poway, Calif., killing one woman and wounding three.

The suspected shooter is a 19-year-old white supremacist.

Every April now (after Evers proclamation), when the younger generations are going to school, I think at least theres something to talk about with their friends because its still happening  even in middle and high schools, Kaleka said. People are being targeted, and that doesnt seem OK, especially (because) were in 2020 almost. Thats crazy that were still dealing with things that should have ended hundreds of years ago.

Sikhs have been targeted for decades, partly because of some Americans misperceptions about people wearing turbans, said Dr. Kulwant Dhaliwal, chairman of the temples Board of Trustees. During the 1970s and 80s, Americans saw foreign adversaries such as Irans Ayatollah Khomeini and Al-Qaedas Osama bin Laden on the TV all the time and associated turbans with terrorism, Dhaliwal, a retired allergist from Mount Pleasant, said.

We realized that we have an identity problem, and we want to tell the American people who Sikhs really are  educate them about Sikhs and Sikhism, he said. This proclamation is really part of that.

Jim Santelle was the U.S. attorney for Wisconsins Eastern District from 2010-15 and oversaw the FBI office investigating the Oak Creek temple shooting. He said outreach helps close the gap of ignorance.

Even though the messages are out there about continuing to understand that everyone is a part of the community, we still have those people out there we need to reach, Santelle said.

Further awareness

Looking to the future, Kaleka said she wants to see April become Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month nationwide, not just for the states that currently celebrate it.

But in southeastern Wisconsin, the Sikhs have found some of the visibility they seek nationwide. In Racines 2017 Fourth Fest parade, the Sikh temple had a float, led by Dhaliwal. Along the route, the Sikhs received thunderous cheers and standing ovations from the crowd.

On the fifth anniversary of the shooting, the temple hosted a weekend filled with events to remember the lives lost in the attack. Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz said at the time that the citys residents, despite the tragedy, had become closer and more diverse.

That understanding and support in Oak Creek had a ripple effect across the state, Dhaliwal said, but work must continue.

Its very difficult to change the minds of adults, so we are hoping that maybe at the school level  if the campaign starts at the school level when they are still open to opinions suggestions  in a generation it will be better, he said. But its an ongoing process, and we keep doing it wherever we can.

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BURLINGTON  Dr. Robert R. Spitzer, a researcher, author, educator, conservative thinker, farmer, businessman, third president of the Milwaukee School of Engineering and member of President Gerald Fords administration, died of natural causes Tuesday night in hospice care at Aurora Burlington Medical Center, three days before his 97th birthday.

Spitzers decades-spanning resume left literally millions of individuals  not only in Wisconsin, but worldwide  touched by his legacy. Never slowing down, Spitzer seamlessly transitioned from public to private life throughout his illustrious career.

His long and impressive list of accomplishments (is) only outnumbered by his many acts of kindness toward others, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said in a statement. He went out of his way to share his gifts and expertise by mentoring others, which included me.

Burlington Mayor Jeannie Hefty publicly mourned Spitzers death on Facebook, writing Wednesday morning that Burlington has lost an icon.

Under Ford, Spitzer was head of the State Departments Food for Peace program from 1975-76, which since its creation in 1954 has benefitted more than four billion people worldwide, according to the United States Agency for International Development. He also served as the U.S. delegate to the United Nations World Food Program.

Beyond his public contributions, he was CEO of Murphy Products Co. in Burlington from 1947-76, trustee and director of Roundys Foods, director and senior mentor of Kikkoman Foods in the Village of Walworth and Tokyo, chairman of the Wisconsin Manufacturers Association and president of the Milwaukee and Burlington Rotary clubs, according to a list of his accomplishments from the Wauwatosa School District, from which he graduated from in 1939.

MSOE

In 1977, Spitzer became MSOEs third president, a post he filled through 1991. During that period, the school added eight undergraduate degree programs and one graduate program including architecture, biomedicine, computer and industrial engineering, management systems and technical communication, according to an MSOE website archive.

He was beloved by the entire MSOE community, the school said Wednesday in a statement. Dr. Spitzer was dedicated to MSOEs vision and his vast experience in education and the business world helped him bring energy, passion and a new global awareness to the university.

Current MSOE President Dr. John Walz said: Bob Spitzer was a true friend and adviser. His energy and positive spirit were infectious, and his passion for MSOE knew no bounds. Even in retirement, Bob was a steadfast supporter of the university and we are grateful for the lasting impact he made on MSOE.

The Wisconsin Historical Society in 2010 named Spitzer a Wisconsin History Maker for his significant contributions to history in the state, across the nation or around the world. Last July, Spitzer donated a collection of some of his professional documents to the Historical Society.

"Dr. Robert Spitzer was a dear friend to the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Foundation and he will be deeply missed," WHS Director Christian Overland said in a statement. "We were honored when Dr. Spitzer donated the papers from his distinguished career and life of service, which will be useful for generations to come. Our thoughts are with Delores and his family during this difficult time.

The Journal Times frequently covered Spitzer and his latest accomplishments. One of the earliest stories on him, published Jan. 29, 1948, was about him founding Burlingtons local University of Wisconsin alumni club. He was quoted as recently as 2002 when Burlington residents spoke against the then-proposed Walmart Supercenter.

Spitzer was known for his intellectualism and love for America exhibited in his writings, filmography and speeches. On Sept. 3, 1961, The Journal Times reported that Spitzer took a 21-day, 20,000 mile European tour to study Soviet agricultural methods.

His conclusion? Russian farms were highly inefficient by American standards, he told The Journal Times.

His involvement in conservative advocacy is an inspiration, Vos said. He was the true definition of a compassionate conservative.

His long and impressive list of accomplishments is only outnumbered by his many acts of kindness toward others. He went out of his way to share his gifts and expertise by mentoring others, which included me. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, speaking about Robert Spitzer

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BURLINGTON  Unless a sponsor steps up, this years ChocolateFest will go on without a bang  at least from a pyrotechnics standpoint.

Bil Scherrer, who has been organizing Burlingtons biggest event since 1999, said that as long as hes been involved Ruzheimer International, the Waterford-based corporate travel and expense analysis firm, has donated as much as $20,000 to fund the fireworks show.

Rex (Runzheimer) had a heart of gold, said Scherrer. If he was in town, he helped set them up.

Officials with Boston-based company Motus, which was merged last year with Runzheimer by a private equity firm, told Scherrer last year that the company would not donate to ChocolateFest for 2019.

Scherrer said to make the show worth the investment, they would need something around the $20,000 range.

We dont want to put on a $1,000 show, said Scherrer. Theyre not cheap. Its a beautiful show, but its very expensive.

He also said festival organizers cant afford to pull those funds from other donations.

All our sponsors give us money to put the festival on and to then take it from somewhere else, thats a big chunk, said Scherrer. Thats one-fifth of our sponsorship money.

Theres been some discussion, but no solid offers have come through. The fireworks company they normally commission for the festival has said it would give them up until a week before the show to decide. Scherrer wants to have funding in place by mid-May.

The festival is scheduled to run May 24-27 at the ChocolateFest grounds on Maryland Avenue, just off Milwaukee Avenue.

The new normal

Craig Powell, president and CEO of Motus, told The Journal Times last year that the Runzheimer Foundation was not included in the merger.

According to tax documents, the foundation donated almost $1 million to national organizations such as the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association as well as organizations in western Racine County, such as the safety patrol, Burlington Area School District and Love, Inc.

Kristen Dooley, Motus chief people officer, said the companys philanthropy will be directed by its employees.

Giving back is one of the core parts of our culture, Dooley stated in an email. The philanthropic events and contributions were making today are guided by whats important locally to our team members and weve been proud to participate in several contributions over the past year.

Motus provided a list of charitable donations and events, including:

American Lung Associations Fight for Air Climb in Milwaukee.

Adopt a Puppy Day with the Lakeland Animal Shelter, which is based in Walworth County.

Service day to benefit Paws for Ability, in which the Motus team made fleece training toys and assembled treat bags for service dogs that support disabled kids and vets.

Employees attended the Wish Gala Night for the local Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Motus sponsored equipment and a race for an employees auto racing team.

A Motus spokesperson said the company is evaluating several other sponsorships based on recent team member requests.

Whats new at ChocolateFest?

Scherrer said that in spite of working with a trimmer budget this year, ChocolateFest will have several new features:

A Cantina stage which will feature Latin music to appeal to the growing Latino population.

Town of Burlington-based Reesman Co. and the City of Burlington Fire Department will bring vehicles and equipment for kids to see up close.

Remote control cars from Burlington Hobbies and RC Track, 456 Milwaukee Ave.

Overall, were going to have a very nice year this year, said Scherrer.

Scherrer said the festival is seeking volunteers to help run the event. Those who are interested in volunteering can contact Scherrer at bils@att.net.

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- Pope Francis met with 230 hairdressers and beauticians at the Vatican

- He urged them to work in a Christian style and treat their customers with kindness

- The pontiff also encouraged them to cut of gossiping at work

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Pope Francis met with about 230 hairdressers, stylists, and beauticians at the Vatican on Monday. KAMI learned that the Argentine pontiff urged them to cut off gossiping while at work.

Practice your profession in a Christian style, treating customers with kindness and courtesy, and always offering them a good word and encouragement, Pope Francis said, as reported by the GMA News.

Avoiding giving in to the temptation of gossip that easily creeps into your work environment, that we all know about. he continued, according to a report by the Vatican News (author Robin Gomes).

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The pontiff also encouraged the hairdressers and beauticians to follow the example of Saint Martin de Porres, the patron saint of barbers, innkeepers, and racial harmony.

Born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579, St. Martin died on November 3, 1639. He was declared a saint by St. Pope John XXIII in 1962.

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In this video, we played a public prank on other people as one of our team member dances to Blackpink's Kill This Love! Check out more of our videos - on KAMI HumanMeter Youtube channel!

Source: KAMI.com.gh
- Baron Geisler is taking a huge leap in his life as he is already planning to marry her non-showbiz girlfriend

- He met his newfound love namely Jamie Marie Evangelista, who is a Psychologist

- They met in Cebu and they are also planning to exchange "I do's" anytime soon

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Baron Geisler is already set to unfold a new chapter in his life as he is now planning to marry his non-showbiz girlfriend, Jamie Marie Evangelista.

As reported by Leo Bukas of Philippines' Ultimate Showbiz Hub (PUSH), Baron said that he is already staying in Cebu for a year and it was where he met his future wife.

He also added that Jamie is a Psychologist and now working on rehab as a freelance psycho-therapist. She also teaches college students, according to the versatile actor.

Psychologist si Jamie. She works sa rehab, freelance psycho therapist siya. She teaches college students also. Kinukuha siya ng mga rehab center para tumulong sa mga addict at alcoholic," he stated.

Baron admitted that he thought before that he no longer had a place in showbiz to return to.

He revealed that Jamie was there to support him when he had nothing.

Shes very patient sa akin. Alam niya kung paano ako templahin. Super happy ako kasi maalaga siya. When I had nothing, wala pa yung barber shop ko, nung walang-wala ako she supported me."

"Kasi ang buong pag-aakala ko wala na akong babalikan sa showbiz, kaya nagtayo na lang ako ng business, he narrated.

He also added that the wedding is still being planned, but there is no tentative date yet.

According to him, it could be next year or sooner as long as they are done with their financial payables.

He also added that their wedding is up to God's hands.

Pinaplano na namin yung tungkol diyan, pero wala pang date. May mga kailangan kaming bayaran, and then, baka its either next year or sooner. Bahala na si God, but we want it as much as possible," Baron said.

The former child actor has now a barber shop in Cebu which he named 'Gents Barber', which is located at the 2nd level of the Gaisano Country Mall.

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In a previous report by KAMI, Baron Geislers first episode in Ang Probinsyano as Dante drew mixed reactions.

Baron Geisler is an award-winning film and television actor who became controversial for being addicted to alcohol. He won the highly-coveted Best Actor award during the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival in 2008.

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Georgian Minister of Infrastructure Takes Part in One Belt-One Road Forum in China

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Georgian delegation headed by Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure and Vice Premier Minister, Maia Tskitishvili is paying a working visit to the People's Republic of China in terms of "One Belt - One Road" Forum. Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Genadi Arveladze and General Director of JSC "Georgian Railway" Davit Peradze are in Georgian delegation as well."One Belt- One Road" is a short title of the "Silk Road Economic Girdle" and "21st Century Silk Road" presented by China's President Xi Jinping in 2013. It aims to promote joint development between the European and Asian countries through strengthening cooperation in various fields. The "One Belt- One Road" initiative has been supported by more than 100 countries and international organizations in the last years. Georgia is one of the most active participants.Within the framework of the visit, Vice Prime Minister delivered a speech at the forum "Economic and Traditional Cooperation Forum". Maia Tskitishvili emphasized the importance of the "one belt, one road" initiative in strengthening trade and investment links between Silk Road countries and creating a favorable environment for entrepreneurial activities.Georgia is among first countries who signed the Memorandum of Understanding on "Cooperation on the Development of Silk Road Economic Growth" in March 2015. This initiative will be considered as an unprecedented mechanism for strengthening bilateral trade and investment relations and the development of a number of infrastructural projects. In order to promote bilateral trade and economic relations, in January 2018, an agreement on free trade between China and Georgia entered into force. I am proud that today Georgia is the first country in the region that has free trade agreements with the EU (DCFTA) and China," said Vice Premier.Maia Tskitishvili also spoke about the importance of Georgia in the region. She pointed out that strategical positioning in the region along with well-developed transport and customs infrastructure, business-friendly politics and strong external trade relations will help the country in aspiring its goal to be the shortest and safest route for circulating cargos between China and Europe.Among other things in her speech, Tskitishvili devoted time to the development of free industrial zones in Georgia. The Minister noted that Georgia welcomes the activation of foreign companies in the free industrial zones of the country in order to use the 2.3 billion markets using their preferences. According to the Vice Prime Minister, there are 5 free industrial zones currently operating in Georgia with special taxation regime."In 2017, in order to utilize more of the potential of trade relations between Georgia and China, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed on the development of economic zones. Such zones help to deepen trade-economic relations, development of business potential and entrepreneurial clusters. The development of economic and trade cooperation zones is important for strengthening trade relations between the Silk Road countries, encouraging entrepreneurs, which in turn activates many sectors of economic activity, creates more jobs and contributes to improving living standards," said Maia Tskitishvili.At the end of her speech, after thanking Chinese side for invitation and hospitality, Tskitishvili encouraged all participants of the Forum to attend the third Silk Road Forum which will be held in Georgias capital city of Tbilisi in October 2019.
Chandan Kumar Mandal is the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife.
Enrolment in social security scheme remains low as deadline expires for Valley

The Contribution Based Social Security Scheme, which was launched amidst excessive fanfare last year in November that invited both praise and criticism, has failed to attract private firms.
Ncell and Axiata go for international arbitration on their capital gains tax determined by Nepal

Ncell and its parent company, Axiata, have knocked the door of International Centre for Settlement of Investment Dispute, a body under the World Bank, claiming that Nepals conduct in relation to capital gains tax imposed on the mobile company is against the Bilateral Investment Treaty between Nepal and the United Kingdom
This weeks question was asked by a nephew.

QUESTION: Why dont we have a moon colony yet?

ANSWER: Theres a feeling among many scientists that the only reason to go to the Moon is to see the Moon. Its not a good place to colonize. Mars is much better. Some say that the Moon is a good source of raw materials. But asteroids are better for mining purposes.

Others say that Mars is not good for space colonization. Scientists may want to go to Mars, and yes, some tourists might want to go to Mars. But as a place to live, not really good. Orbital colonies are the way to go. What are our options and goals for the future of space? Opinions vary widely.

Any space colony will require some basic necessities; oxygen to breathe, food, water, shelter from temperature extremes, protection from cosmic radiation and clothes. Those are the basics to sustain life.

Predictions of a lunar colony go way back to 1638 and was suggested by Bishop John Wilkins. Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, early rocket pioneer, advocated such a colony in the early 1900s. In 1954, science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke proposed a lunar base of inflatable modules covered in lunar soil. He included an algae-based air purifier, small nuclear reactor for power, electromagnetic cannon to launch cargo and fuel up to orbiting craft.

Currently Elon Musk of Tesla Motors fame, and Jeff Bezos, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Amazon, have expressed interest in a Moon base. Bezos certainly has the bucks to accomplish putting a permanent base on the Moon. As of July 2018, Bezos was declared the richest man on Earth, with a net worth of a mere $150 billion.

What are some advantages of constructing and maintaining a Moon colony?

1. A lunar base could be a launch site for spacecraft to Mars. Launching rockets from the Moon takes less thrust than launching from Earth, because the Moons gravity is lower.

2. The energy or power to launch from the Earth to the Moon is lower than going to any other body.

3. Transit time is only three days. Transit time to Mars is eight months.

4. A colony on the Moon would set up a test to see how humans live, work and survive in low gravity for long periods of time.

5. The round-trip communications time between the Earth and the Moon is a bit under three seconds. The round-trip communications time between Earth and Mars varies from eight minutes to 40 minutes, depending where Earth and Mars are located in their orbits around the sun.

6. The lack of an atmosphere on the Moon makes it an ideal place to plant a telescope.

There are some disadvantages to constructing a Moon colony.

1. The lunar night is about 14 days long . That means that solar power is a problem unless the lunar colony is built near the poles. Waiting 14 days for sunrise means that batteries would have to be taken to the Moon that could store tons of electrical power.

2. The Moon has very little nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon.

3. It remains controversial if the Moon has usable water. Its not a sure thing.

4. Its uncertain if the one-sixth lunar gravity has long-term health effects on bone and muscle mass and the human immune system.

5. Our Earths atmosphere acts as a protective shield from cosmic rays and the solar wind (a stream of protons). No such shield exists on the Moon.

6. The lack of an atmosphere ups the chances of being struck by meteors. Even small pebbles and dust can damage or destroy above-ground structures.

7. Moon dust is an extremely abrasive glassy substance formed by micrometeorites and it sticks to everything. The American astronauts found that out the hard way. All 12 suffered from respiratory problems on the return flights. Same with the six that did not land on the Moon but remained in the orbiting Apollo craft.

8. Growing crops on the Moon will not be easy. The soil is nitrogen poor. There are no bees for pollination.

9. There is no carbon dioxide for plants to take in.

10. Establishing a lunar base may not have the public support that the Apollo program had in the 1960s and 1970s.

Those are some of the pros and cons for establishing a lunar colony. The best guess it that most funding must come from private sources. We, the United States, are deeply in debt. Its doubtful the public will back an expensive lunar outpost.

Send questions and comments to: lscheckel@charter.net.

Larry Scheckel is a retired Tomah High School physics teacher.

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A 29-year-old Sparta woman was referred to the Monroe County District Attorney for possession of methamphetamine after an April 13 traffic stop.

Victoria Rose Mosier was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Andrew Charles Sherman, 28, Melrose. Police pulled over the vehicle for a defective stop lamp and determined that one of the passengers, Andrew L.C. Grunow, 23, Sheboygan, had an active arrest warrant for drug offenses and was arrested. Sherman had a bond condition that prohibits him from associating with known drug users and was arrested for a probation/parole violation.

Police searched the vehicle and located a clear plastic gem bag on the floor board where Mosier was seated. It contained white residue which tested positive for methamphetamine. When asked about the gem bag, Mosier and Sherman both denied any knowledge of it.

Sherman was also referred for second-offense driving without a valid drivers license.

In other Tomah Police Department news:

Garrett Anderson, 38, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for operating after revocation/drunk driving-related and failure to install an ignition interlock device. He was pulled over April 9 after police ran a registration check on the vehicle.

Jasper J. Kluender, 21, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for third-degree sexual assault and abuse of an individual at risk. He is accused of assaulting a woman April 11.

Aaron J. LaBorde, 31, Warrens, was referred to the district attorney for operating after revocation/drunk driving-related, tampering with an ignition interlock device and possessing an open intoxicant in a vehicle.

Police observed a vehicle parked against traffic on Juneau Street April 9. The owner told police it has been parked there by LaBorde, who police recognized from previous contacts. Police asked the owner about LaBordes possible whereabouts and were directed to the Crow Bar, where LaBorde was sitting at the bar. Police arrested him for violating a bond condition that prohibits him from entering establishments where alcohol his served.

Upon returning to the parked vehicle, police observed an open can of beer in a cup holder on the drivers side and the absence of an ignition interlock device.

Tyler David Peregrin, 20, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for bail jumping. He is accused of violating a no-contact order.

Andrew Bradford Hoffmann, 30, Cottage Grove, Minnesota, was referred to the District Attorney for second-offense drunk driving after police responded to an April 11 call of a driver doing donuts in the parking lot of U.S. Cellular shortly before 1 a.m.

Police found the vehicle that fit the description and initiated a traffic stop on West McCoy Boulevard. Police asked who was doing the donuts, and the passenger, Andrew Michael England, 30, Epworth, Iowa, said it was him. During the conservation, police could detect the odor of alcohol and that both Hoffmann and England had bloodshot and glassy eyes.

Due to inclement weather, Hoffmann and England were transported to the Tomah Police Department for field sobriety tests. Both failed the test. Hoffmanns preliminary breath test recorded a blood-alcohol level of .164, and England registered .159.

England was issued a citation for first-offense drunk driving.

Layne Dean Sasse, 39, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for disorderly conduct. He is accused of hitting and pushing a woman during an April 11 altercation.

Kavian Dametrisfrances Lebeauf, 33, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for bail jumping. He is accused of a violating a 9 p.m. curfew. Police identified Lebeauf shortly after 9:30 p.m. during an April 12 traffic stop.

Dennis Matthew Pakutz, 37, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for second-offense drunk driving and operating after revocation/drunk driving-related after an April 14 traffic stop.

Police recognized that Pakutz was operating a vehicle in violation of his driving restrictions shortly after 5 p.m. and initiated a traffic stop. Police could detect alcohol emitting from Pakutz, who told police he had consumed one beer and one bowl of marijuana.

The report described Pakutz as anxious and restless. He failed a field sobriety test and took 38 seconds to estimate how long 30 seconds elapsed, which police believe is consistent with marijuana intoxication. A preliminary breath test recorded a blood-alcohol level of .012.

Katie A. Brodeur, 20, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for disorderly conduct. She is accused of yelling and taking a swing at a woman during an April 15 altercation at an Alyssa Street residence.

Eric L. Mathison, 42, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for bail jumping. He is accused of violating a bond condition that prohibits him from consuming alcohol. A preliminary breath test recorded a blood-alcohol level of .351.

Royal V. Gollobith, 33, Tomah, was referred to the district attorney for child neglect after police responded to a report a toddler banging on the door of a McLean Avenue residence yelling, Daddy. The report says the child was outside April 14 in 37-degree weather wearing only a thin pair of pajamas and socks.

Police were able to gain access to the residence and make contact with Gollobith, who said he didnt know how long the child had been outside.

Tomah Journal editor Steve Rundio can be reached at steve.rundio@lee.net.

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The first workshop led by Viroqua artist Anne Butera will be held Thursday, May 9, from 5:30-7 p.m. and will focus on essential elements for an artists website. Butera will show examples of current sites and lead a discussion on the options available for building and housing your website. In the second workshop on Thursday, May 16, from 5:30-7 p.m. Butera will be joined by Matthias Mining from Mac Help in Viroqua for a structured study lab to work directly with artists on the creation of a website.
Saturdays snow didnt stop walkers and runners and a few dogs from participating in the seventh annual 5-K-9 Run/Walk and Kids Fun Run to support the Vernon County Sheriffs Office K-9 Unit.

About 16 children 11 and younger took part in the quarter-mile kids fun run, while 60 people participated in the 5-K run/walk.

At the end of the races, which began and ended at the Sheriffs Office in Viroqua, trophies and medals were awarded, and Deputy Mark Bellacero and K-9 Myk gave demonstrations of how they work together.

As Bellacero and Myk demonstrated how they search for drugs in suitcases, Lt. Jason Crume told the audience that Myk is trained as a dual purpose K-9 certified in patrol work, including narcotics, tracking/searching, obedience and apprehension. Crume said Myk can alert on the following drugs: marijuana, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine and their derivatives.

Myk alerted Bellacero when he detected drugs in two suitcases  27 grams of meth in one and 27 grams of heroin in another.

There was also a demonstration of how Myk can protect Bellacero if needed on patrol. A volunteer wearing a bite suit acted agitated toward Bellacero and on command, Myk was released from his leash and took down the volunteer. Myk didnt release the volunteer until Bellacero gave another command.

Following the demonstrations, Myk was presented a raw ground beef cake in celebration of his ninth birthday, which was April 26. While Myk ate his cake, runners and walkers sang Happy Birthday.

According to the Sheriffs Office website, Myk is a German Shepard Sable who started training at 6 weeks old in Germany before being imported to the United States in April of 2012 by Steing Tal K-9 Academy. K-9 Myk was assigned to Bellacero in October of 2016, after Deputy Sheriff Adam Malin was no longer able to be Myks handler. Bellacero attended K-9 Handler training at Steinig Tal K-9 Academy in November of 2016.

Next years run/walk will be held the last Saturday of April, with a start time of 9 a.m.

Angela Cina can be reached at angie.cina@lee.net.

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After a nearly yearlong review, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has declined to reinstate a wetland permit for a controversial Monroe County frac sand operation.

In a decision signed Tuesday, DNR Secretary Preston Cole closed his departments review without taking any action on a decision by Administrative Law Judge Eric Defort to revoke a permit allowing Meteor Timber to fill 16.25 acres of wetlands.

The decision leaves the Georgia company without the permit it says it needed to complete the $75 million processing and loading facility that would serve two nearby mines on land the company acquired when it purchased nearly 50,000 acres of Wisconsin forest.

Cole said the issue would be best resolved by mutual agreement or in the courts, where a parallel case is currently on hold.

Despite finding that the project would result in permanent and irreversible impacts and the loss of 13.4 acres of exceptional quality imperiled habitat, the DNR granted the Georgia company a permit in May 2017 that included dozens of conditions and questions. The agency issued a final permit five months later with some of those questions unanswered.

Clean Wisconsin and the Ho-Chunk Nation challenged the permit, which they said would open the door to the destruction of more rare wetlands.

Defort revoked the permit in May 2018 after a weeklong hearing, ruling that the DNR didnt have all the information required by state law.

On May 24, former DNR Secretary Dan Meyer, who was appointed by Gov. Scott Walker, agreed to Meteors request to review the judges decision.

The company also challenged Deforts ruling in court, but a Monroe County judge put that case on hold pending the DNR review.

We thought any appeals of the ALJs ruling should have gone to the courts, said Evan Feinauer, a staff attorney with Clean Wisconsin. Were where we thought we should be, just a little bit later.

Carolyn Garnett, legislative attorney for the Ho-Chunk Nation, praised Coles decision.

The permanent destruction of these rare wetlands would have a profound impact on the Nations people, land and cultural heritage, Garnett said in a news release.

Meteor attorney John Behling said the company is reviewing the decision.

DNR spokeswoman Sarah Hoye did not respond to questions about the reasons behind Coles decision, the timing, or whether the DNR would defend the permit in court.

We are open to discussions with all of the parties on the next steps toward resolution of this matter, Hoye wrote. That said, because the matter remains pending in litigation, we will not comment further.

The case has spanned several years, multiple courts and two administrations as well as a boom-and-bust cycle for Wisconsins frac sand industry, which supplies silica used to extract oil and gas from deep rock formations.

Twice last spring Republican lawmakers in the state Assembly passed legislation that would have allowed Meteor to proceed with the project even while the appeal was pending. Both bills died when the Senate declined to take them up.

As part of its permit application, Meteor proposed to restore and preserve more than 640 acres of other lands near the 752-acre site. However, the DNR determined those mitigation efforts are not likely to fully compensate for the lost wetlands.

Meteor said the project was the only way to prevent the forest being cut down by the current landowner, who needs money to pay off fines for previous wetland violations.

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The dean of UW-Madisons College of Letters and Science is one of three finalists for provost, but his handling of a sexual harassment case may create an obstacle to his hire for the No. 2 job at the university.

Two women questioned dean John Karl Scholz at his finalist presentation Tuesday afternoon about how he responded to complaints regarding Harvey Jacobs, a former UW-Madison professor whom students and staff accused of inappropriately touching, staring and commenting as part of a pattern going back years.

The position of provost requires experience in dealing with grievances, complaints and crises, according to the job description.

Jacobs retired in May amid a university investigation into his behavior. He categorically denied all allegations substantiated by an investigator in a 2018 report.

In fall 2017, the Wisconsin State Journal reported on a pervasive pattern of sexual harassment in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning that an investigator said required immediate, serious attention.

A faculty review committee report on the department noted: At all levels, there is awareness of and discomfort about the legacy of sexism ... (apparently this is an issue that has been brought to the Deans office).

Within days of the State Journals report, Scholz acknowledged a failure to provide a safe environment for victims to come forward.

Confronted by the professors accusers Tuesday, Scholz said that he uses every tool available as dean to address these problems, including gathering information, writing letters that outline behavioral expectations and imposing sanctions of increasing severity.

And in every case that Ive encountered as dean, we have acted promptly, consulting with other campus officials about appropriate remedies, he told the small crowd gathered in Gordon Commons. Having said that, its not enough. ... The challenge is every administrator operates in an environment constrained by policies and procedures, by legal requirements, by HR norms and by precedent.

Scholz has spent almost all of his career at UW-Madison. He became dean of the college in 2013.

Former graduate student and employee Clare Christoph says she was sexually harassed by Jacobs and tried reporting the behavior multiple times beginning as early as 2015, but was met with skepticism from the departments head and warnings from the universitys legal department that she would be on her own if she were sued by the professor for defamation.

Christoph asked Scholz on Tuesday about a 2017 email exchange the dean had with Jacobs in which the professor thanked Scholz for earlier characterizing Jacobs situation as having a Kafkaesque quality.

Scholz later told an investigator that he made the Kafkaesque comment, but as a way to explain these sorts of problems are among the most difficult a dean faces.

What actions are appropriate absent a formal complaint? Without due process it is possible that (unverified) complaints can lead to a Kafkaesque situation, Scholz told the investigator, according to a footnote in the report.

Victims have two options to report sexual harassment at UW-Madison. The first, a formal grievance process, requires a named, on-record report that can lead to discipline as severe as termination. The second avenue, and the one Jacobs complainants chose, is an informal resolution process that allows for anonymous complaints but cannot result in discipline.

Scholz declined to address specifics of the case on Tuesday, as well as a follow-up question by Christoph on where he received his information about the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and whether he reached out to any of the women making allegations.

No support was ever extended to victims  only complete silence, Christoph said after the presentation. The people of the UW need and deserve better than this. Its appalling.

Emily Reynolds, another women who questioned Scholz, says she experienced and witnessed daily instances of harassment in the department when she worked there. She moved to a different campus office in 2016.

I am concerned that the way Dean Scholz handled sexual harassment in that department shows that he is not adequately prepared or equipped to thoroughly, carefully and thoughtfully deal with major problems like sexism and bullying, even though being a watchdog for these issues is part of what the provost does, she said.

Scholz thanked the women during the presentation for their questions and for their courage in coming forward. He tried to talk to them afterward but they declined, saying he had years before the presentation to do so.

He later declined to talk to a reporter at the event.

The other two finalists for provost are Gretchen Ritter, a government professor at Cornell University, and Rachel Croson, dean of the College of Social Science at Michigan State University.

The campus community can submit feedback online at go.madison.com/provost-search by 5 p.m. Friday.

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NGO head claims transport company hides problems of Tbilisi metro

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

Head of Tbilisi Transport and Road Association David Meskhishvili says that the leadership of Tbilisi Transport company hides problems related to the Tbilisi metro and this may pose threats to those using the transport.Meskhishvili made the statement in response to the technical problems in the metro late on Wednesday when passengers were forced to leave carriages and had to take other transport.Several of such technical problems have taken place over the last several months.The source of the problems is the low qualification of top management [of the transport company] and outdated infrastructure which is already dangerous to passengers, Meskhishvili said.Meskhishvili grilled Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze for his most recent announcement regarding the construction of the overground Lilo-Samgori metro station.The construction was announced when almost all metro stations are outdated and causing threats to people. It would have been better the 90 million USD, necessary for the new metro station, to be used on the renovation of existing stations, Meskhishvili said.The Tbilisi Transport company dismissed the accusations concerning the low qualification of its staff and stated that the Asian Development Bank has allocated 15 million USD for the replacement of electrical systems in the metro.According to them, the incident on Wednesday was related to the electricity system failure.Tbilisi metro was opened in 1966, under the Soviet Union.It comprises two lines, 27.3 kilometers (17.0 mi) in total length, serving 23 stations.Tbilisi metro transports more than 100 million passengers annually.Last year fourteen people received injuries as the ceiling collapsed in the Varketili metro station.Investigation over the cases has not been completed so far.
Just say youre sorry, Joe.

Take a deep breath, stand up tall and say it:

Im sorry, Anita Hill, for how I treated you.

Simple. See?

Apologies, of course, are never simple, even when the words are. They require the relinquishing of pride, the acknowledgment of harm inflicted, a humility that can feel humiliating. So far the courage of such humility has eluded Joe Biden.

On Thursday, the former vice president announced that hes running for president, news that once again inflamed the public debate over his behavior toward Anita Hill.

Remember that? I do. If you were an adult in 1991, you remember, too. The whole nation sat riveted to the TV as Hill, a young lawyer, testified before a committee of U.S. senators that Clarence Thomas, the new nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, had sexually harassed her while he was her supervisor.

In a vast, wood-paneled hearing room, a phalanx of men sat on a high platform looking down at a lone young woman. They were all white. She was black. Their questions and remarks were frequently curt, mocking, denigrating. I remember feeling I was witnessing an assault.

The committee was led by Sen. Joe Biden.

In the 28 years since, the world has evolved, as we like to say, and so, it seems, has Biden. As a society, we take sexual harassment far more seriously, and Biden has acknowledged the wrong done to Hill.

What happened, he has publicly stated, was she got victimized again during the process.

What he hasnt clearly recognized is that he was a big part of that process.

Biden is sometimes described as an Everyman, a politician who can hobnob with the powerful but who also understands the regular people.

He displays a genuine, if cagey, folksiness and, at the age of 76, wears a patina of experience that can pass for wisdom. He has endured great personal loss, most recently of his son, with dignity. He seems like a decent man.

And if to some detractors, hes just another old white guy, hes also seen by his supporters as the candidate best fortified to beat the 72-year-old white guy currently in the job.

In pursuit of that job, Biden has made feints at apologizing to Hill.

In a recent public appearance, he called her brave and said she paid a terrible price for her courage.

She was abused in the hearing, he said. She was taken advantage of. Her reputation was attacked. I wish I could have done something.

On Friday, in an appearance on ABCs The View, he said, Im sorry for the way she got treated.

But?

I dont think I treated her badly.

A few days ago, The New York Times reported that Biden recently called Hill to express regret over what happened. His words fell on her ears as less than an apology.

She says she doesnt think Bidens behavior during the confirmation hearings disqualifies him. Im really open to people changing, she told The New York Times.

But, the Times noted, she said she cant support him for president unless he takes full responsibility for his conduct.

Anyone who has been in politics for a long time is apt to have things to apologize for. Making mistakes comes with the job. So does changing with the times, or it should.

Joe Biden of today seems more enlightened than the Biden of 1991. He championed the Violence Against Women Act. He has worked with a social movement called Its On Us, which encourages men to take responsibility for stopping sexual assault and harassment. In those ways, he has stepped up to meet the times.

But Bidens reluctance to fully acknowledge his role in what happened to Anita Hill suggests a troubling blind spot.

Is it one that will be a make-or-break issue for voters? I wouldnt bet on it. Theres even a theory that hes sidestepping a full apology because theres a group of voters  those drawn to President Donald Trump  who wouldnt want him to seem to cater to such liberal sensitivities.

But there are a lot of other voters waiting for Biden to prove that hes in touch with the new age, that he really has changed.

Come on, Joe. Exercise the strength of humility.

Keep evolving. Apologize. Its a form of leadership.

Mary Schmich writes for the Chicago Tribune.

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Between 2014 and 2017, thousands of Southern California residents opened their gas bills and discovered they were on the hook for way more money than they expected.

So many of them complained to the California Public Utilities Commission, that the regulatory agency opened an investigation into Southern California Gas Company.

This week, the investigation concluded that SoCal Gas had violated the rights of consumers by delaying bills for more than a month. It also criticized the company for using estimates based on previous usage patterns, instead of actual meter readings.

The company was fined $8 million.

$4.7 million of the fine will be used to compensate some 47,000 gas customers whose bills were delayed 45 or more days. Meaning 47,000 customers will each receive $100 in credit towards their future gas bills.

Starting around 2014, during a period when SoCal Gas was busy swapping out analog meters for digital ones, the company fell behind in their readings. Turnover of staff during that time also hindered the company's meter-readings.

So the company, which is required under state regulations to bill monthly (billing cycles being 27 to 33 days) began extending the duration of its billing cycles, from 34 to 60 days. It also began estimating the bills for 2015 and 2016 based on usage patterns established in 2014.

Some customers didn't even get bills for several months. Millions of the company's bills had irregularities, according to the CPUC decision.

People whose bills arrived over three months late during the winter of 2015-16 will be eligible for $100 in credits. It turns out that if a utility fails to send a bill for several months, and then sends one to catch up on payments, the most it can collect is three months' worth, said Mindy Spatt, of the consumer advocacy group TURN.

"You can't just turn to your customers after six or eight months, or however long it was, and say oh by the way you owe us X hundreds of dollars," Spatt said.

For its part, SoCal Gas says it is reviewing the decision and has not yet decided whether to file an appeal.

"We maintain that our billing practices during the period in question were consistent with our CPUC approved tariffs," SoCal Gas spokeswoman Christine Detz said in an emailed statement.

The company says it has completed replacing gas meters so it "has all but eliminated estimated bills."

Read the full CPUC decision here.
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When California legalized recreational cannabis at the start of 2018, the city of Los Angeles wanted to use the opportunity to right some of the wrongs inflicted by the War on Drugs.

Under the city's rules, people from low-income neighborhoods with disproportionately high prior cannabis arrests would be among the first to get approval to launch new cannabis businesses.

Nearly a year and a half later, candidates for the city's "social equity" program are learning they'll have to wait a bit longer for their chance to apply for a limited number of pot shop licenses.

The City Council voted Tuesday to open the application window by early September. But many social equity candidates say they can't afford to keep waiting.

"It's like they're setting people up to fail -- people that don't actually know what kind of money it takes to do something like this," said Moises Estrada, who hopes to open a shop in Downtown L.A.

Estrada said he qualifies for the social equity program due to a prior cannabis conviction. Like many hoping to enter the industry, Estrada signed a lease in early 2018 for a building that complies with the city's strict cannabis zoning rules.

But he's not sure he'll be able to hold on to the property long enough to apply for a license. He said his investors have backed out, frustrated by the delays. And his landlord is considering eviction.

"I'm pretty much tapped," Estrada said. "I'm almost ready to go bankrupt here, and so are the rest of my associates."

The city has already given licenses to existing dispensaries. In its second phase of licensing, it licensed established cultivators, distributors and manufacturers. But it has not begun Phase 3, which will provide licenses to new businesses -- with priority given to social equity applicants.

Ahead of Tuesday's city council meeting, Department of Cannabis Regulation executive director Cat Packer said the city's timeline could keep social equity applicants waiting until nearly the end of 2019.

"Based on the policies currently under consideration, the earliest Phase 3 could begin is November," Packer wrote last week in a letter to city council members.

She said the city's proposed budget does not fully address the needs of the social equity program and that delays in licensing new retailers could lead to the city missing its projected cannabis tax revenue.

During public comment at Tuesday's council meeting, speakers said they were ready to open their businesses and urged the city to move faster. Council members acknowledged the delays.

"Everything we've done so far with this process has gone much more slowly than we expected," said Westside Councilman Paul Koretz.

Council President Herb Wesson moved to amend the rules, requiring Phase 3 licensing to begin no later than September 3. The motion passed 15 to 0.

Transforming L.A.'s cannabis industry from a vast black market into a fully licensed, regulated and socially equitable industry has not been easy, according to city officials.

"Our goal is to do this the right way, not the quick way or the easy way. And we've always been very clear about that," said Alex Comisar, spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti.

The mayor's proposed budget includes new funding for LAPD to go after unlicensed pot shops, which have been siphoning customers away from legitimate businesses.

"Before we can create the stability in the legal market needed for social equity to work, we need to eliminate the illegal market," Comisar said.

Kika Keith qualifies for social equity because she is from the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw neighborhood. She hopes to open a retail space in the area selling cannabis-infused beverages and other products.

She said she expects to make it through the application process, but waiting for more than a year has come at a high price. Landlords are charging cannabis entrepreneurs like her a premium, she said, and her rent has doubled since she secured her location in early 2018.

"Fortunately, I have a well-funded investor, but most of us don't," Keith said. "We don't have big budgets. We're people from the community looking at starting and building this from scratch."

Donnie Anderson is president of the California Minority Alliance, a group advocating for the inclusion of people of color in the cannabis industry. He said further delays would lead to a lack of diversity in the world of commercial cannabis.

"It would be white, and it would shut people of color out," Anderson said. "Where's the justice for the negatively impacted?"
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In the months since the Los Angeles City Council legalized sidewalk vending, officials have been working out their plans for permitting vendors and for enforcement of the new rules. Permits are expected to be made available by next January.

But some street vendors who cheered the council's move back in November are now worrying about whether they'll be able to afford the cost of operating legally. Others are upset about having to leave the no-vending zones the city created, including busy and lucrative Hollywood Boulevard.

L.A.'s street vending law grew out of years of debate and community input, including from brick-and-mortar businesses that opposed legalization. City officials hurried to pass the ordinance ahead of a new state law that kicked in this year, which says cities can't cite street vendors unless they have rules in place for regulating them.

Legalization came with restrictions. Vendors must follow a complex set of rules, such as keeping a certain distance from one another and not blocking a public right-of-way.

There are also several busy zones around the city where street sales are prohibited, such as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Universal Studios and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument. On event days, vendors must also stay clear of Staples Center, Dodger Stadium, the Hollywood Bowl, and the L.A. Coliseum.

FREE TO SELL ELOTE CON TAKIS

One recent afternoon, on a side street off Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights, a small crowd of people lined up to buy elotes (corn on the cob) from the "Memo's Munchies" food cart.

Owner Guillermo Morales took an ear of corn slathered in butter and mayonnaise and rolled it in a large container of crushed-up, spicy Takis snack chips. He handed the resulting fiery-red ear of corn to an eager customer.

"I have the best corn from Boyle Heights, this is the elote con Takis," Morales boasted. "I've got the other one with hot Cheetos, for the homies right here."

Morales said the authorities have generally let him be since the council legalized street vending last fall.

"When the police come by, it's like 'Hi, everything okay?'" he said. "We don't have to run, we don't have to go hide in the alleys."

City officials say for now they're more focused on educating vendors about the new rules than giving them tickets.

Even so, some vendors are anxious about the future.

Street vendor Guillermo Morales hands a customer an elote, Mexican-style corn on the cob, smothered in crushed, spicy Takis snack chips. The Boyle Heights street vendor says the spicy snacks are his specialty. (Photo by Leslie Berenstein Rojas/ LAist)

PERMITS, PERMITS AND MORE PERMITS

Down the street from where Morales sold his bright-red corn, Graciela Quiroz chopped chiles to go with that L.A. street food staple, bacon-wrapped hot dogs.

As she grilled the dogs at her little cart, Quiroz said she recently attended a workshop with city officials, where she learned what she'll need to do to apply for a permit next year.

(James Bernal/LAist)

"We have to take a food preparation class, for example," she said in Spanish.

That's just one prerequisite. To get a city permit, vendors will first need a permit from the state, which may require a security deposit to cover unpaid taxes. The amount of the deposit can vary, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

Officials in L.A. government said they have yet to determine how much the city permits will cost.

Vendors that sell food will also have to pay for the use of a county-approved commissary, where they can prep their food and store their carts. Commissary fees vary depending on the facility, according to the county. One fruit vendor who has a county health permit said she pays $3,000 a year in commissary fees.

Food vendors will also need a county health permit for a mobile food cart, which according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health can range from nearly $400 to more than $700 a year, depending on what kind of food is sold.

The carts will have to pass muster with county health inspectors to make sure they comply with state regulations.

"They've told us that ... there will be a special cart for hot dogs, or for those who sell tacos, or roasted chicken," Quiroz said.

A new cart can cost up to a few thousand dollars, according to vendor advocates.

Quiroz knows her old, banged-up cart won't make the grade. She said she doesn't earn enough to save for a new one, let along all the expenses that will go along with operating legally.

"I personally earn only enough for rent and bills," she said. "There's not enough left over" to buy a new cart.

Maria Campos with her cart on Hollywood Boulevard. (James Bernal/LAist)

"THIS ISN'T ANYTHING CRAZY"

Vendor advocates are trying to persuade the city and county to provide street sellers with access to small business loans, said Rudy Espinoza, executive director of the Leadership for Urban Renewal Network.

"This isn't anything crazy," he said. "These people are business owners and they have income, they have expenses, and they sell products. We just have to make sure we treat them as such."

Espinoza's organization has developed a microloan program that so far has loaned money to about 40 vendors in need of start-up capital. The loans have ranged from $1,000 to $35,000, he said.

But there are not nearly enough microloans available for the estimated 50,000 street vendors in the L.A. area, 10,000 of whom sell food.

"That's part of the work of 2019, in bringing partners that have sources for loans," said Isela Gracian, president of the East L.A. Community Corporation, another group that has advocated for street vendors.

Some vendors are reluctant to take out even small loans, because they worry about earning enough to cover monthly payments and interest.

"You can get the credit, but what if there are no sales?" said Merced Sanchez, a street vendor organizer who sells sunglasses, hats and clothing in downtown L.A.

The city ordinance will limit permits to three per individual, but some vendors worry about being squeezed by investors who can afford multiple carts and permit costs.

"Realistically, many people who have money are going to want to get two or three permits and cart and rent them to you," Sanchez said.

(Photo by James Bernal/LAist)

"TOURISTS LOVE TO SEE US THERE"

Vendors are also unhappy that the city has banned them from certain busy areas. Recently no-vending signs have gone up in areas like Staples Center and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where businesses have long complained about vendors on the crowded sidewalks.

But these busy spots can be great for business. Maria Campos has been grilling hot dogs on the Walk of Fame for 18 years. She said hot dogs have put her oldest son through college.

"These are the areas where we can earn some money," said Campos, grilling onions as a street performer with a pet boa constrictor entertained tourists a few feet away. "If they're going to send us to an area where there are no people, what are we going to do?"

The police haven't asked Campos and other vendors on Hollywood Boulevard to leave yet. The Bureau of Street Services, which will take the lead in enforcing the street vending program, says it's staffing up for enforcement, and vendors who are asked to leave and don't comply will eventually be cited.

A sign that recently went up at Hollywood and La Brea. City officials have designated the Hollywood Walk of Fame as one of the city's no-vending zones. (Photo by Leslie Berestein Rojas)

Some vendors are proposing a special district for Hollywood Boulevard - one that would allow a small number of them to take turns selling from a limited number of spots. Last week a few vendors met with staff from Councilman Mitch O'Farrell's office in City Hall.

"A lot of tourists love to see us there," said Hollywood hot dog vendor Samaidi Sanchez, Merced Sanchez's daughter. "They should be giving us an opportunity to give a better presentation of [the] street vendors on the Hollywood Walk of Fame."

O'Farrell's staff said he supports working with vendors to come up with rules that guarantee public safety. But there's no guarantee any plan would win over local business owners.

While a number of vendors are anxious about all the new expenses they'll be facing once they have to get permits and other approvals, Guillermo Morales in Boyle Heights is optimistic.

As customers waited for elotes under his cart's two multicolored umbrellas, he said he's not so worried about what it will cost to be a legal street vendor. In fact, Morales sees this year as a good time to save up -- including for a new cart.
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Today is International Workers' Day, and per tradition, thousands of people gathered in the heart of Los Angeles for a collection of rallies and marches in support of worker and immigrant rights.

Local labor unions, immigration advocacy groups, democratic socialists and more will converged on McArthur Park at 3 p.m. to rally before marching through downtown.

Activist groups like @CHIRLA as well as local unions are gathering at MacArthur park now for the #MayDay demonstration that calls attention to issues of fair living wages and immigrant rights. @LAist @KPCC pic.twitter.com/woX83pLiKT  Emily Elena Dugdale (she/her) (@eedugdale) May 1, 2019

Demonstrators are set to travel east on 6th Street through Westlake, over the 110 Freeway and into downtown, then north along Spring Street to Grand Park and City Hall.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation provided a traffic plan for Wednesday's event, which shows more than 30 street closures around the march route (click the image for a better look).

(Courtesy LADOT)

Those closures will begin as early as 1 p.m., LADOT officials said, so expect much more than the usual delays and congestions if you're planning to navigate downtown this afternoon or evening.

A Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman told LAist there will be a "sufficient" police presence at the rally and march, but did not elaborate on how the department would operate during the event.

CHIRLA protestors call for immigration reform at the 2019 May Day rally downtown. (Emily Dugdale/LAist)

The DTLA event might be the biggest, but it's not the only one happening today. Slightly east in Boyle Heights, the neighborhood's fifth annual May Day event is set to begin around 4:30 p.m. Organized by the Centro Community Service Organization, demonstrators will start near Mathews Street and Cesar Chavez Avenue, then march to the LAPD's Hollenbeck Station to protest police killings in the community before continuing west and ending at Mariachi Plaza.

This is a developing story. Check back for more information.

UPDATES:

10:40 a.m.: This article was updated with information about a community May Day event in Boyle Heights.

4:27 p.m.: This article was updated with photos from the rally and tweets from reporter Emily Dugdale.

This article was originally published at 8 a.m.
Georgian Women Winemakers  EU-Georgian Business Council is launching a new initiative.

By Inga Kakulia

On April 25th, in the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia, Women Winemakers presented their own products as a part of the new initiative aimed at promoting women-entrepreneurship, as well as Georgian wine making business. The initiative first came to be during the visit of EU Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstroem, when among the many entrepreneurs, there was a significant amount of women producing wine under their own label. As Chris Schlueter, The Chairmen of the EU-Georgia Business Council mentioned in his opening speech, while Georgia has a 8,000-year long wine history, there has not been nearly enough recognition of women who have been involved in the process for centuries...This new initiative puts Women Winemaker in the spotlight, helping them gain more recognition and celebrate their efforts and make way for export.All these women have dedicated most of their time and energy towards developing caring for the vine, developing unique concepts and making distinguishable wines. The Range of presented wine labels was impressive with each of them displaying a quite bit of personality.It is no secret just how much effort and time it takes to care for vines, most of the people producing vines often compare the process to that of caring for a child,The different wine companies varied in size and types of wine, but what seems to be present and universal to all of them was the love and excitement over creating a product of quality. It was evident through and through just how much thought and hard work goes into the finished product. From the unique techniques of production to the unconventional designs of bottles, all of these wines are completely memorable and with their own character.As anyone who has ever experienced the winemaking process in Georgia would have noticed, women have been crucial in creating this unique product, that currently makes up for the 10% of Georgias export and much bigger percentage of Georgian Pride. This initiative serves as a well-deserved recognition for all the work done behind the curtains and opens a bigger platform for women to produce and get involved in the winemaking business.There is a lot of history and a lot of hard work put into each and every one of these wine companies.The wine companies ranged from the ones producing 10,000 bottles a year to ones with just over a hundred bottles. The diversity in sizes of the companies also seemed like a generous gesture towards encouraging smaller companies and giving them much-needed exposure.When speaking to a few of the women behind these wine production companies it was impressive to see the rich history behind them. Mariam Chanturia produces wine under the label Khvanchkara Wine Cellar, the factory that has been around since 1927. They produce 9 different types of Georgian wine, exporting to countries such as Germany, Czech Republic, Sweden Ukraine and more. Mariam also said that they are currently holding talks with China about potentially exporting there as well. About a year ago they registered their own wine Khvanchkara XO which proved to be quite popular.On the other end of the spectrum, Nia Natsvlishvili from the Alexander Destillery only produces wine through individual orders. The concept Wine and Art distinguished the label with its personalized bottle design featuring painting from the artists ranging from Pirosmani to Cezzanee. Alexander Destillery uses a patented technology for their own whiskeys while also producing Asuretuli, a wine made from the vines only found in one village in Georgia Asuretuli is unique to this particular company. Sharabat wine produced base on the recipe from the Incomparable Carabadine (11th-century Georgian medical monument) is made with Sapheravi, 8 spices and whiskey and is then stored in oak barrels for 4 months.When speaking to Chris Schlueter, The Chairmen of the EU-Georgia Business Council, about where this idea came to be, Mr. Schlueter mentions the prominent energy that was evident during the visit of the EU Trade Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstroem. During the session on business interchange there was a noticeable number of winemakers, particularly women winemakers.It became evident that the sheer number of women participating in the winemaking business was not talked about or recognized enough by the general public, because it came as such a surprise. This project evolved from recognition to celebration of Georgian Women Winemakers. This initiative has the potential to distinguish Georgia on the international market and further contribute to the increased global interest in Georgian Wine.When talking about the future plans Mr. Schlueter mentioned a positive trend in regards to the EU-Georgia trade relations, particularly the increased export from Georgias side. One of the crucial things for Georgia right now, according to the Chairman of the EGBS is brand recognition. Georgia doesnt just market wine; it markets quality and that recognition is growing in Europe.- said Mr.Schlueter.The presentation was attended by the EU Ambassador to Georgia, HE Karl Hartzell as well as different members of diplomatic corps. During his opening speech, Mr. Hartzell mentioned the importance of promoting women entrepreneurs as well as inspiring future generations to pursue winemaking.Another discovery of the event was Keti Jurhadze, Winemaker that also runs the school for the young wine enthusiasts that want to get the necessary education for winemaking. The school for the beginners has been running for 3 years and has produced many successful winemakers.The event was an inspiring celebration of Women Winemakers and all their efforts to contribute to the growth and development of the Georgian market as well as the preservation of the oldest Georgian tradition while adding the elements of contemporary art and technology.
Posted Wednesday morning, May 1, 2019. Originally posted June 24, 2018.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shakes hands with Indonesian Foreign Ministry Director General Retno Marsudi upon her arrival in Bali, Indonesia for the ASEAN and East Asian summits. November 17, 2011. U.S. State Department photo via Wikipedia .

[A note from your faithful correspondent: Mentioning Ben Rhodes memoir The Word as It Is and Hillary Clintons rather raw relationship with the political press in yesterdays post reminded me of a passage in Rhodes book, which I wrote about it when I was reading it back in June of last year.]

My working theory about why the political press hates her has been that she cant hide her impatience and scorn when they focus on what she regards as trivialities instead of on the important issues and policies that affect peoples day to day lives, specifically whether they eat or go hungry, get sick or get well, work or go broke, live or die.

These are complicated questions and require serious thought and...intelligence to even begin to formulate let alone answer. Political journalists dont like to have to do homework. Clinton has always done hers. So thats another thing. They hate it when she refuses to act the part of political animal and monster of ambition theyve assigned her. She hates that theyre intellectually lazy if not just plain dumb. I happen to think its part of the job of politicians to play to the vanity of journalists. She resents having to do that and shows it, and there we are.

In November of 2011, the United States took part in the East Asian economic summit meeting in Bali and as Secretary of State Clinton was there as one of our chief representatives. At the summit, the President intended to announce that he was sending Clinton on to Burma to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi who had just been released from prison by the Burmese military government which was working to hand the governing off to a civilian-led one. Suu Kyi had won the Nobel Peace Prize and twenty years in prison for her efforts to bring freedom and democracy back to Burma. So the announcement of the meeting of the U.S. Secretary of State with one of the worlds great dissident heroes should have been big news. Which leads me to this short anecdote Ben Rhodes recounts in his memoir The World as It Is:

In Bali, we stayed at a hotel with balconies that looked out on a pond of giant lizards. We met up with Hillary, who was joining us for the summit. Our press was always eager to get access to her, and she agreed to do a series of interviews, but lamented the fact that they would likely focus more on her political future than the issues she was working on. How many questions do you think Ill get on Asia? she said. Maybe one?

See what I mean?
By

by Mike Gulett 

The California Lemon Law is intended to protect customers from defective and unrepairable vehicles that are still under the original manufactures warranty. Subsequent owners to the original owner are protected as well as long as the original manufactures warranty is valid. It is important to note that the manufacture is the responsible party and not the dealer. Sometimes the dealer can help resolve the dispute as you will see in the second case below.

Other US states and other countries may have similar laws but this article today is only about the California Lemon Law because that is all I know and it reflects my experience.

Below I describe two cases where I have asked for my money back from two well known car manufactures. I am not identifying these manufactures and simply calling the vehicles Car No. 1 and Car No. 2.

Below is an Overview of the California Lemon Law  From the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

The California Lemon Law requires a vehicle manufacturer that is unable to repair a vehicle to conform to the manufacturers express warranty after a reasonable number of repair attempts to replace or repurchase the vehicle. Although there is no set number for reasonable repair attempts, Californias Lemon Law Presumption contains guidelines for determining when a reasonable number of repair attempts have been made. The California Lemon Law covers the following new and used vehicles sold or leased in California that come with the manufacturers new vehicle warranty:  Cars, pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs.

 The chassis, chassis cab, and drivetrain of a motorhome.

 Dealer-owned vehicles and demonstrators.

 Many vehicles purchased or leased primarily for business use.

 Vehicles purchased or leased for personal, family, or household purposes. The California Lemon Law applies throughout the duration of the vehicle manufacturers original warranty period. Consult your vehicle manufacturers warranty manual for warranty periods pertaining to your vehicle.

The repurchase of the vehicle includes refunding all money spent on the car including actual purchase price, sales tax and license fees. There can be a reduction in this amount based on the miles driven, or value received by the owner.

Below are summaries of my experience with two different manufacturers. Both of these cars were luxury 4-door sedans which I bought new.

Car No. 1

This car was originally bought new for my wife as her daily driver in 2001. Unfortunately in the first few weeks she experienced engine failure which required a tow truck to haul the car to the dealer for repair. After the second failure she tossed me the keys and said here it is you car now. We do not expect a new car to ever leave us in need of a tow truck.

So in an effort to keep peace in the family I accepted it as my daily driver because I had selected this car for her. I drove it for more than one year without any problems. Then one day I had the same failure she had experienced. The engine felt like all the cylinders were not working and it seemed like I would not make it home. I had it towed to the dealer for repair (now this was the third time for this failure).

The dealer repaired it and after picking it up I experienced the same failure on the way home! I barely made it home and needed another tow truck to haul it back to the dealer. They repaired it again and I was able to drive it home successfully. This was the fourth failure for this defect.

After some thought and research I decided that I had a lemon and I wanted my money back. I contacted a lawyer who spent all of her work time on California Lemon Law cases so I figured she knew what she was doing.

She investigated my situation in detail. I sent her the services records and explained the situation over the phone. I had to convince her that I had a serious case because she only takes cases that she believes she will win.

She took the case and we signed an agreement where I agreed to pay her a small retainer fee and another fee after we won the case. The manufacturer also pays a fee to the lawyer after the case is over, which in my case was the same amount as I paid.

Her approach on all her cases is to go directly to the manufacturer and not take it to court. This approach works because the legal departments of these manufacturers know her reputation  she only accepts cases she will win. This approach of avoiding the court system saves money too.

Her first advice to me was to park the car and not drive it. She opened a case with the manufacturer and they wanted to inspect the car at the dealer. The lawyer would have preferred that the car was still not functioning with the engine defect but she was convinced after my experience that even though the car was working properly now I had no confidence that I could successfully drive it without the aid of another tow truck.

I took it to the dealer for an inspection of the engine problem and as advised by the lawyer I watched the entire inspection by the dealer technician in person. He did show me where there was an error on the computer analysis.

It wasnt long after that that we were negotiating with the manufacturer for a repurchase of the car. They wanted to replace it but I insisted on a refund so I could then decided what to do next. They agreed and I received a refund of the purchase price (with a small deduction because I had driven it a few thousand miles in the two years or so of ownership), sales tax and two years of registration fees.

The manufacturer had the chance to repair the car and sell it as a used car to someone else and get some of their money back. Because this was all done outside the court system I believe the manufacturer was not required to brand the car as a California Lemon Law car.

I was happy to see the end of that car and I was very happy with the outcome.

Car No. 2

Car No. 2 is a different story because I am a big fan of this manufacturer. I traded in a different model made by this same manufacturer on Car No. 2, a luxury 4-door sedan, in 2007.

The issue began right away, although it did not require a tow truck it was a problem we do not expect from a luxury car, or any modern car.

When the wheels were cold, driving first thing in the morning, the rear wheels would vibrate causing a rough ride for 15 minutes or so until they were warmed up and then the ride was smooth and normal. This was not as serious as the problem with Car No. 1 but it was serious enough to motivate me to do something.

The wheels were an option upgrade and were a larger diameter than the standard wheels. This car came from the factory with these wheels as an expensive option and they were listed on the window sticker.

After several attempts by the dealer to address this problem with no solution I wanted this car to be bought back by the manufacturer. I decided that I would handle this myself without a lawyer and with the aid of the dealer who certainly wanted to sell me another car.

The dealer arranged for a factory representative to fly over from Europe to inspect my car and try to resolve this matter. This factory rep and the dealer service manager came to my home at 8AM one morning so we could take a drive when the wheels were at their coldest. The service manager rode in the back seat and the manufacture rep was in the front passenger seat and both clearly felt the vibration with the service manager making statements about how rough the ride was. I made it clear to the factory rep that I was likely to be a customer of his company in the future but I wanted this problem solved now.

The manufacture rep did not have a solution then but he went back to the factory to discuss it with engineering. Their thought was that somehow the larger diameter wheels were the problem, even though they could not find a problem with these specific wheels. The proposed solution from the factory was to replace my wheels with the standard smaller diameter wheels.

My response was something like this, no, I bought this car with these wheels from the factory, they are listed on the window sticker and are part of the car and if they dont work then buy the car back.

Soon thereafter the dealer contacted me with a proposal to trade this car, where I would receive full purchase price plus tax and license, for another model that I could specify. I liked this idea and specified a car that they found on a boat on the way to the US East Coast. The manufacturer redirected this car to me in California where I received 100% of my investment in Car. No. 2 as trade in value and paid a reasonable price for the new car.

I was happy, the dealer was happy and I think the manufacturer was happy too. I drove this new car for many years and continue to be a positive supporter of this brand.

~~~~

There you have it  my two experiences convincing manufacturers to buy back cars that had unrepairable defects. This is probably only possible with the threat of the California Lemon Law (or a similar law) providing an ultimate protection for customers.

Have you had an experience with a Lemon Law? Let us know what you think in the Comments.
ALERT: Rep. Maxine Waters Statement on the Release of a White Nationalist Who Plotted to Kill Elected Officials

WASHINGTON  Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) issued the following statement after a federal judge ordered the release of Christopher Hasson, a self-described white nationalist who plotted to kill Rep. Waters, several Members of Congress, and journalists:

I am deeply appalled by Judge Charles Days decision yesterday to release Christopher Hasson, a devout and self-described white nationalist Nazi sympathizer, from federal custody because of federal prosecutors decision not to charge Hasson under federal terrorism, attempted murder, and other statutes outlawing threats of violence against federal officials. This is outrageous. Federal agents found 15 firearms, many rifles, and over 1000 rounds of ammunition inside of Hassons basement apartment in Silver Spring, MD  mere miles from the Capitol where many of his targets work. Agents also uncovered Hassons admiration of Andres Breivik, a right-wing extremist who was convicted of killing 77 people in a 2011 bomb-and-shooting attack in Norway. Investigators also found a letter Hasson had drafted to a known American neo-Nazi leader. In that letter, Hasson described himself as a white nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for focused violence in order to establish a white homeland. In that letter Hasson wrote: We need a white homeland as Europe seems lost. How long we can hold out there and prevent niggerization of the Northwest until whites wake up on their own or are forcibly made to make a decision whether to roll over and die or stand up remains to be seen.

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There is no credible justification that can explain why a federal judge would allow someone as clearly dangerous and unrepentant as Hasson to walk free while he awaits trial. Christopher Hasson is a terrorist. He targeted for execution the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Richard Blumenthal, me, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, several Democratic candidates running against Donald Trump for the presidency including Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris, and he targeted members of the press from networks and outlets the president has referred to as enemies of the people. There is no reason this white nationalist should be free to potentially carryout additional threats if he so desired. I am as disgusted with the judges decision to release this menace back into society as I am with the U.S. Attorneys for failing to use every available avenue available to ensure Hasson was kept behind bars until his trial.

Those of us in Congress and among the Presidents enemies of the people cannot be assured that Hasson would be kept at bay with the minimal level of oversight the federal judge would prescribe. Even more alarming, Hasson is but one of a growing list of radicalized white supremacist neo-Nazi sympathizers who are all supporters of President Trump and view it as their mission to vindicate and defend his supremacy  even by means of mass violence and devastation. These extremists are becoming more vocal and brazen in their efforts. I have been the target of several very serious threats from across the country in the last year because of my vocal opposition to the Trump Administrations policies. There have already been five convictions in these instances, including Cesar Sayoc, another self-described white nationalist who mailed pipe bombs to high profile Democrats last year.

This is an outrage and the Judges decision cannot stand. The Department of Justice must take action, lest anyone presume the Administration implicitly condones the federal judges decision to go easy on a white nationalist. Moreover, Members of Congress must now recognize that many of us who have taken hardline positions against the Trump Administration are walking targets and we must use every resource at our disposal to protect ourselves since we cannot expect any assistance from the current Administration.
Kamala Harris, Colleagues Call for DOJ Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility to Investigate Attorney General Barrs Handling of the Mueller Report

WASHINGTON, D.C.  U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) joined Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), along with 10 of their colleagues, in urging Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Director of the Department of Justices Office of Professional Responsibility Corey Amundson to investigate Attorney General William Barrs conduct while handling Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation and report.

Attorney General Barrs actions raise significant questions about his decision not to recuse himself from overseeing the Special Counsels investigation, whether his actions with respect to the release of the report complied with Department of Justice policies and practices, and whether he has demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue overseeing the fourteen criminal matters related to the Special Counsels investigation that were referred principally to other components of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Senators wrote. In light of these concerns, we respectfully request that the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility immediately begin investigations of these issues.

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Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jack Reed (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) also signed the letter.

In their letter, the Senators outlined their concerns about Attorney Generals conduct and called for investigation into the following matters:

Whether Attorney General Barrs decision not to recuse himself from overseeing the Special Counsels investigation was proper and consistent with ethical rules and practices within the Department of Justice;

Whether Attorney General Barrs four-page letter dated March 24, 2019, regarding Special Counsel Muellers report was misleading and whether it was consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

Whether Attorney General Barrs actions in permitting President Trumps private attorneys to review the entire Special Counsels report at length before sharing the report with Congress, other individuals named in the report, and the public, was appropriate and consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

Whether Attorney General Barrs press conference on April 18, 2019, regarding Special Counsel Muellers report, which took place well before he released a redacted version of the report, was misleading and consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

Whether Attorney General Barr has demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue overseeing the ongoing matters related to the Special Counsels investigation referenced in Appendix D of the Special Counsels report;

Whether Attorney General Barr took any steps related to the transfers and referrals listed in Appendix D of the report that were contrary to the advice of career prosecutors at the Justice Department or the Departments policies; and

Whether any of Attorney General Barrs other actions or statements call into question his impartiality such that they warrant his recusal from particular matters or are relevant to the Senate Judiciary Committees oversight into the Department of Justice.

Click here to download a signed PDF of the letter. The letter text is available below:

April 30, 2019

The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz

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Inspector General

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20530

Corey R. Amundson

Director and Chief Counsel

Office of Professional Responsibility

U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 3266

Washington, D.C. 20530

Dear Inspector General Horowitz and Director Amundson:

We write regarding the serious concerns that have been raised about the actions of Attorney General William Barr with respect to his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report. Attorney General Barrs actions raise significant questions about his decision not to recuse himself from overseeing the Special Counsels investigation, whether his actions with respect to the release of the report complied with Department of Justice policies and practices, and whether he has demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue overseeing the fourteen criminal matters related to the Special Counsels investigation that were referred principally to other components of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In light of these concerns, we respectfully request that the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility immediately begin investigations of these issues.

Six months before his nomination to be Attorney General, Mr. Barr wrote an unsolicited 19-page memo to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel Steve Engel criticizing Special Counsel Muellers investigation of obstruction of justice by Donald Trump. In his memo, Mr. Barr conceded that he was in the dark about many facts, and yet he asserted that Muellers obstruction theory is fatally misconceived and premised on a legally insupportable reading of the law. Mr. Barr also argued that Mueller should not be permitted to demand that the President submit to interrogation about alleged obstruction. Despite this memo, which presents, at the very least, an appearance of bias, Mr. Barr refused to recuse himself from directly overseeing Special Counsel Muellers investigation when he was confirmed as Attorney General. While the Justice Department stated that Attorney General Barrs decision to not recuse was consistent with the advice of senior ethics attorneys, it provided few details about the nature of this seemingly anomalous decision. Given the Attorney Generals subsequent troubling actions in handling the Special Counsels report, further investigation of the process leading to his non-recusal decision is warranted.

Attorney General Barrs actions following the completion of Special Counsel Muellers report raise further questions regarding his impartiality towards the Special Counsels investigation and the appropriateness of his conduct as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. After notifying Congress and the public on Friday, March 22, 2019, that he had received the Special Counsels report, Attorney General Barr released a four-page letter on March 24, 2019, that purported to summarize the principal conclusions reached by the Special Counsel. The letter, however, selectively quoted fragments from the Special Counsels report. Moreover, the subsequent release of the redacted report revealed that the Attorney Generals letter had presented quotations from the report out of context or with key words omitted to suggest that the President had been cleared of wrongdoing. Given that the Special Counsels report included executive summaries that seem to have been readily available for public release, we found the letter particularly concerning as a possible effort to mislead the public.

We are also troubled by the Attorney Generals use of his March 24 letter to summarily conclude that the evidence developed during the Special Counsels investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. The letter asserts, without any justification, that the Special Counsels decision not to reach any legal conclusions leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime. It is unclear what statute, regulation, or policy led the Attorney General to interject his own conclusion that the Presidents conduct did not amount to obstruction of justice, particularly when he had not yet released the redacted Special Counsels report, which explicitly noted that if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. The Attorney Generals conduct is even more concerning given that the report itself identifies Congresss impeachment authority and future prosecution once the President leaves office as possible ways to address the obstruction of justice evidence. But the report does not refer to a purported role of the Attorney General to make legal conclusions that the Special Counsel expressly declined to make.

In addition, we found disturbing that Attorney General Barr provided the Presidents personal attorneys access to the Special Counsels report before Congress and the public. News reports indicate that the Attorney General granted Rudy Giuliani, Jay Sekulow and two other Trump lawyers access to review the full redacted report for two days before providing the redacted report to Congress and the public. While the Attorney General asserted that the Presidents personal attorneys request to review the redacted report before its public release was consistent with the practice followed under the Ethics in Government Act, we have serious concerns about the propriety of the Attorney Generals decision to grant access to the full redacted report, particularly when he did not appear to grant other individuals named in the report similar access and he did not limit review to the portions of the report referencing Donald Trump. This decision to purportedly act consistent with the practice under an expired law merits exacting review to determine whether the Attorney Generals action was appropriate and justified, given that he ignored other provisions of this law, such as those requiring Congress to be provided with information necessary to enable it to conduct proper oversight.

We further believe that Attorney General Barrs decision to hold a press conference to assert his own views regarding the report well before releasing the redacted report and his statements at the press conference warrant serious scrutiny as to whether they were proper and consistent with Justice Department policies and practices. At the press conference, Attorney General Barr appeared to make statements that were inconsistent with the Special Counsels findings and demonstrated a lack of impartiality. For example, the Attorney General claimed that the White House fully cooperated with the Special Counsels investigation, despite the Special Counsels detailed findings of President Trumps efforts to obstruct the investigation, refusal to be interviewed by the Special Counsel, and submission of inadequate written responses. The Attorney General also repeatedly asserted that there was no collusion, defending the President as frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency.

Moreover, the Attorney Generals statements at the press conference compounded the misleading impression he created in his March 24 letter regarding the Special Counsels determinations regarding the criminality of the Presidents conduct. In both his March 24 letter and his statements at the press conference, Attorney General Barr gave the misimpression that the guidelines from the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) against indicting a sitting president played little to no role in the Special Counsels decision to not charge the President with obstruction of justice. The redacted report, however, makes clear that the OLCs guidelines played a significant role in the Special Counsels decision, stating that the Special Counsels office accepted OLCs legal conclusion for the purpose of exercising prosecutorial jurisdiction. These statements and actions, along with the Attorney Generals prior statements, such as his claim that the federal governments investigation of the Trump campaign constituted spying, also indicate that he lacks the impartiality to continue overseeing ongoing matters stemming from the Special Counsels investigation.

Given these concerns, we therefore urge the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility to initiate immediately investigations of the following matters:

Whether Attorney General Barrs decision not to recuse himself from overseeing the Special Counsels investigation was proper and consistent with ethical rules and practices within the Department of Justice;

Whether Attorney General Barrs four-page letter dated March 24, 2019, regarding Special Counsel Muellers report was misleading and whether it was consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

Whether Attorney General Barrs actions in permitting President Trumps private attorneys to review the entire Special Counsels report at length before sharing the report with Congress, other individuals named in the report, and the public, was appropriate and consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

Whether Attorney General Barrs press conference on April 18, 2019, regarding Special Counsel Muellers report, which took place well before he released a redacted version of the report, was misleading and consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

Whether Attorney General Barr has demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue overseeing the ongoing matters related to the Special Counsels investigation referenced in Appendix D of the Special Counsels report;

Whether Attorney General Barr took any steps related to the transfers and referrals listed in Appendix D of the report that were contrary to the advice of career prosecutors at the Justice Department or the Departments policies; and

Whether any of Attorney General Barrs other actions or statements call into question his impartiality such that they warrant his recusal from particular matters or are relevant to the Senate Judiciary Committees oversight into the Department of Justice.

Thank you for your consideration of this important matter. We look forward to a prompt response.

Sincerely,
Rep. Elijah Cummings Releases Report on the Soaring Prices of Diabetes Drugs in his District

Elijah Cummings courtesy photo

Catonsville, MD  Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, released a Committee Staff Report on the prices of diabetes drugs for seniors and the uninsured in Marylands 7th Congressional District. More than 30 million people in the United States, including more than one in four seniors, have diabetes. Patients with diabetes rely on prescription drugs, including insulin, to help manage their conditions.

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For people with diabetes, access to their medications is a matter of life and death. In spite of this, drug companies have repeatedly increased the price of their diabetes drugs, including insulin, over the past twenty years. Tragically, these high prices have led many individuals to ration or stop taking their medications, said Congressman Elijah E. Cummings. We cannot sit back as diabetes patients are compromising their health, and even dying, due to the high price of their medications. Its time to take action to rein in the out-of-control costs of insulin and other diabetes drugs.

Im grateful to Congressman Cummings for his leadership on this issue, said Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski. Our seniors deserve the right to have affordable medication. We need to do all we can to ensure we are protecting their ability to live a healthy and active life.

Im extremely grateful for Congressman Cummings and his work highlighting the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs, said Baltimore County Councilman Tom Quirk. Its simply outrageous, disgusting and unacceptable that the high prices of insulin are keeping people from getting the treatment they critically need which has caused tragic deaths, more costly long-term illness, and increased the overall health care costs for the entire system. Enough is enough and we need to radically change the way diabetes drugs are priced as many other countries already have.

We have made enormous strides in recent years in caring for patients with diabetes, said Sherita Golden, M.D., M.H.S., Endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. But those advances dont benefit patients who cant afford their medicine. I commend Congressman Cummings for his leadership and commitment to making treatment affordable and accessible for people who need it.

We commend Rep. Elijah Cummings for all his terrific leadership on the prescription drug affordability issue, said Vincent DeMarco, President of the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative. We in Maryland are doing our part to help in this effort with the landmark Prescription Drug Affordability Board legislation which passed in the 2019 General Assembly Session. This measure would make Maryland the first state in the nation to so directly address making prescriptions drugs more affordable for our people.

The report found that:

There are approximately 42,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Marylands 7th Congressional District who have been diagnosed with diabetes.

In Marylands 7th District, the 50 most popular brand-name diabetes medications cost the Medicare program and beneficiaries nearly $21 million in 2016.

For seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries in Marylands 7th District, the cost of a widely-used insulin would be 92 percent lower at Australian prices, 88 percent lower at UK prices, and 87 percent lower at Canadian prices.

There are 39,000 uninsured residents in Marylands 7th District who may bear the entire burden of their high prescription drug prices.

For a one-month supply of that brand of insulin, uninsured patients in Marylands 7th District pay 23 times as much as patients in Australia, 16 times as much as patients in the United Kingdom, and 14 times as much as patients in Canada.

A full copy of the report can be found here.

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In January, Congressman Cummings introduced the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act, to allow the federal government to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D. As Chairman, Congressman Cummings launched an investigation to determine why drug companiesincluding insulin makersare increasing prices so dramatically and what they are doing with the proceeds.
Rep. John Lewis Speaks Out Against Rampant Violence in Places of Worship

America is reeling from another attack on a synagogue just one day before the end of Passover. A young shooter, allegedly a 19-year-old man currently in police custody, walked into the Chabad of Poway, a 33-year-old synagogue in the outskirts of San Diego and opened fire with an assault rifle on worshippers. One person is dead and three others were injured in the shooting, which the Mayor of Poway, Steve Vaus, has called a hate crime based on statements the shooter made as he entered the synagogue. Rep. John Lewis made this statement in response to the tragedy:

It has come to a point where the people of this nation, and citizens of the world, cannot attend church or safely worship at synagogues or mosques. Violence is so pervasive in our society and in the world community that it has broken through the consecration of the sanctuary and violated our most sacred spaces. How many more lives do we need to lose before we decide to do all we can to bring an end to wanton gun violence in this country?

My heart goes out to the victims, their families and the members of the Chabad of Poway. The continuous prayers of the people of the fifth congressional district are with them. We must honor their lives by taking action to end gun violence in our society.

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Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Like its federal counterpart, Minnesota Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6) provides an exception to the rule against hearsay for

A statement offered against a party who wrongfully caused or acquiesced in wrongfully causing the declarant's unavailability as a witness and did so intending that result.

In effect, this is a witness tampering rule, and the Minnesota courts have held that the proponent of evidence under this hearsay exception must prove four elements

(1) that the declarant-witness is unavailable; (2) that the defendant engaged in wrongful conduct; (3) that the wrongful conduct procured the unavailability of the witness; and (4) that the defendant intended to procure the unavailability of the witness.

So, what happens when the proponent of evidence under this "forfeiture by wrongdoing" exception has direct evidence to establish (1), (2), and (4), but not (3)? That was the question addressed by the Court of Appeals of Minnesota in its recent opinion in State v. Shaka, 2019 WL 1890550 (Minn.App. 2019).

In Shaka, Ronnie Bila Shaka was charged with violating a domestic-abuse no-contact order (DANCO) protecting his wife, S.S. At Shaka's trial,

the state informed the district court, the defendant, and defense counsel that S.S. had not appeared pursuant to the states subpoena to testify. The state also informed the court that, after jury selection ended on the first day of trial, the jail recorded...phone calls by Shaka, who spent the evening finding people to seek out [S.S.] and make sure she didnt come to court. The state sought a brief continuance of the trial, or in the alternative, asked the district court to apply the forfeiture-by-wrongdoing exception to the Confrontation Clause, and permit Bergin to testify that he had interviewed S.S. on the first day of trial and she confirmed that she was the female voice on the recordings that had been received into evidence. The district court granted a continuance until the next morning and issued a bench warrant for S.S. to appear.

When S.S. again didn't appear on the next day of trial, her statements were admitted under Minnesota Rule of Evidence 804(b)(6).

After Shaka was convicted, he appealed. In that appeal, "Shaka concede[d] that the district court did not err in determining that three of the four elements in the forfeiture-by-wrongdoing exception appl[ied] to the contested hearsay evidence." But he claimed that the district court had no direct evidence that he caused S.S.'s unavailability. The Court of Appeals agreed with Shaka that "[t]he district court acknowledged that it did not know why S.S. did not comply with her subpoena and appear to testify."

That said, the Court of Appeals found that this did not create an issue. While this was an issue of first impression in Minnesota, the court noted that

-In State v. Maestas, the New Mexico Supreme Court held that causation in the forfeiture-by-wrongdoing exception need not be established by direct evidence or testimony because rarely will a witness who has been persuaded not to testify regarding an underlying crime come forward to testify about the persuasion;" and -Likewise, in United States v. Scott, the Seventh Circuit stated that [i]t seems almost certain that, in a case involving coercion or threats, a witness who refuses to testify at trial will not testify to the actions procuring his or her unavailability.

Therefore, like these courts, the Court of Appeals of Minnesota found that it could infer from Shaka's calls and S.S.'s nonappearance that Shaka had caused her unavailability. As a result, the court affirmed Shaka's conviction.

-CM

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2019/04/like-its-federal-counterpart-minnesota-rule-of-evidence-804b6-provides-an-exception-to-the-rule-against-hearsay-for-a.html
Wednesday, May 1, 2019

The Oklahoma Supreme Court has denied reinstatement to a petitioner but set conditions for reapplication in six months

Hutson, a former police officer, became a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association on September 25, 1991, after graduating from law school. Her post-law school graduation work consisted primarily as an attorney in the District Attorney's office covering various counties including Muskogee, Cherokee, Wagoner, Adair, and Sequoyah. She also worked in private practice, and was appointed as a special prosecutor by the Oklahoma Attorney General in 1995 to prosecute the notorious Baby Luke case in Pittsburg County.

According to the petitioner, she suffered from anorexia off and on her entire adult life. In the early 2000's, her life began to tailspin and she started abusing cocaine. She attributed her tailspin to her traumatic childhood due to her father's alcoholism and criminal behavior, her deteriorating marriage, depression, anxiety, anorexia, her youngest son joining the military and being deployed to Iraq, and her youngest granddaughter being born with spina bifida. In 2003, she sought treatment in Arizona for anorexia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression, and in 2005, she took an overdose of Xanax.

The incident giving rise to her suspension occurred on February 22, 2005, when she attended a drug bust at a search scene. While at the scene, she placed a bag of methamphetamine in her purse. After the drug scene, investigators reported that drugs were missing from the crime scene, Hutson admitted that she discovered the missing drugs in her purse. She insisted that they stuck to the rubber gloves that she was wearing when she took them off and put them in her purse. She adhered to this story, testifying before the Multicounty Grand Jury on September 22, 2005.

As the investigation continued, it became apparent that the petitioner took the drugs from the scene, and altered the contents of the bag. Consequently, she faced a perjury charge in Oklahoma County, and charges of offering false evidence and possession of controlled dangerous substance in Wagoner County, Oklahoma. On September 8, 2006, she pled guilty to the charges, received a five (5) year deferred sentence, and paid $3500.00 in each county for a total of $7000.00 in fines and court costs.

She was permitted to resign from the bar. In 2011, the conviction was expunged.

In 2016, Hutson filed a Petition for Reinstatement, but voluntarily withdrew it after she became overwhelmed with the process, realized she was not ready for reinstatement, and decided that she needed independent attorney representation which she could not afford. She submitted another Petition for Reinstatement on July 25, 2018. The Professional Responsibility Tribunal (PRT) held a reinstatement hearing on October 17th and 18th, 2018...

At the hearing, ten people testified, with sixty exhibits admitted. The first to testify (via telephone) was Penny Ross Miller, a licensed professional counselor. The counselor also provided a letter dated October 5, 2018, which verified that the petitioner began weekly therapy sessions on September 21, 2018. The letter noted that Hutson had attended three counseling sessions, and had agreed to maintain weekly sessions for the foreseeable future. The counselor's testimony expanded on the letter and identified an additional counseling session that Hutson had attended.

Another client of the counselor had recommended that Hutson seek counseling and attend AA meetings. Hutson maintains that she has remained free of illegal substances for 13 years and had recently completely abstained from alcohol. The recent counseling appears to be the only counseling the petitioner has had since her resignation in 2007. The counselor encouraged AA attendance if any type of narcotic abuse was an issue.

Next, District Judge Jeffrey Payton, attorney Brett Smith, and attorney Amy McFarland testified in support of her reinstatement regarding the many years they have known petitioner. They believe in the petitioner's moral character, legal skills and knowledge of the law, and they all supported reinstatement. Smith also sponsored the Muskogee County Bar Association's unanimous resolution of support for Hutson's reinstatement. Hutson's current employer, attorney William Connor II, also praised her current moral character and described her current work product as spectacular. Additionally, the petitioner offered seven letters from other judges and lawyers who supported her reinstatement.

Emett Hutson, the petitioner's husband, testified that he had never witnessed her using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol and that she had stopped drinking completely after agreeing to participate in Lawyers Helping Lawyers. The petitioner's son, Master Sergeant Christopher Bickel, also supported his mother, noting that she was remorseful, accepting of responsibility, and that she had high moral character. He described her as having a much better work-life balance than she did at the time she lost her license.

Clint Johnson, who served as a supervising agent District 27 Drug Task Force at the time of the incident giving rise to Hutson's resignation, gave additional details about the drug raid. He testified that the bag of methamphetamine that Hutson returned was not of the same type/quality that she took from the crime scene. He also testified that Hutson told him he should tell anyone that asked that she did not intentionally take the drugs. Ultimately, all of the drug charges against the individuals who were arrested in the raid were dropped due to the tainted evidence.

Issues

Hutson testified that she did not intentionally omit the Arkansas public intoxication and two civil lawsuits, but that it was an oversight. She also stated that when the Bar questioned her about them, she readily admitted them. The public intoxication occurred in the summer of 2011, as a result of her being a passenger on a motorcycle driven by her intoxicated husband.

The omitted lawsuits, and additional lawsuits corroborate the petitioner's account that her life was in a tailspin beginning in the early 2000's. For example, she was involved in a medical debt collection in 2000, a foreclosure in 2002, a small claims indebtedness in 2003, a malpractice case in 2003 which was dismissed, a collection for a loan she co-signed for her son in 2004, a default loan in 2005, a small claims breach of contract in 2007, a small claims indebtedness in 2008, a tax collection in 2008, public intoxication in 2009, a medical debt collection in 2010, and two minor traffic citations in 2013 (one of which was dismissed). Nothing significant has been filed since 2010, almost a decade ago.

At the time of the hearing, the petitioner also had incurred student loan debt, tax liability to the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC), and to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). She owed $7,240.87 plus penalties and interest and fees for tax years 2009 through 2014 to the OTC, $11,431.18 to the IRS, and $183,000.00 in student loans. She explained her tax liabilities were the result of a former employer's refusal to provide W-2 forms.

Recommendation

On December 18, 2018, the PRT filed its report and recommendation. It concluded that Hutson had not established by clear and convincing evidence that she met all of the requirements for reinstatement. The PRT unanimously recommended that Hutson not be reinstated, but that she re-apply after completing a contract with Lawyers Helping Lawyers, continuing to receive treatment by mental health professionals, attending a twelve step program and demonstrating consistent servicing of her financial obligations. The cause was assigned on January 29, 2019, and the final briefs were completed on February 20, 2019.

The court

Today, we follow Albert , supra. Caselaw since Albert involving attorneys engaged in similar behavior to the petitioner has resulted in reinstatement being granted, and, in some cases, denied. Furthermore, other cases in which drugs or alcohol were not involved, but in which the conduct was as serious as the petitioner's misconduct have also resulted in reinstatement, with a few exceptions. Here, more than a decade has passed before seeking reinstatement. However, given the severity of her afflictions, and her misconduct, the surrounding circumstances, and the fact that a criminal case was affected by her behavior, we are not convinced that she met the burden placed upon her by the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings and the precedents set by this Court in regard to those rules at this time.

Although she had begun counseling, she had only attended three sessions at the time of her application for reinstatement. We recommend that she reapply for reinstatement in six months after doing the following: 1) maintain sobriety, and refrain from abusing prescribed medications or illegal drugs; 2) submit to random drug testing and pass; 3) abide by her Lawyers Helping Lawyers Contract, continue counseling, and have her counselor submit monthly progress reports of her continued care and treatment; 4) follow her counselor's recommendations regarding attendance of Twelve Step Program meetings; and 5) continue to make regular payments to her tax and student loan obligations.

GURICH, C.J., KAUGER, WINCHESTER, EDMONDSON, REIF, JJ., concur.

COLBERT, J., concurs specially.

COLBERT, J., concurring specially: I would admit her at the present time. DARBY, V.C.J., and COMBS, J., concur in part and dissent in part. (Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2019/05/the-oklahoma-supreme-court-has-denied-reinstatement-hutson-a-former-police-officer-became-a-member-of-the-oklahoma-bar-ass.html
An advanced degree in advertising will give you an in-depth education in the creative and research elements of advertising, as well as preparing you for a managerial career in the industry. Read on to learn more about advertising graduate degree options and common course offerings.

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How Can I Get Into a Good Graduate Advertising Program?

Although a bachelor's degree is the more common offering for schools with advertising programs, several schools do offer master's degrees in advertising. One college--The University of Texas at Austin--even offers a doctoral program. Many students combine their graduate studies in advertising with an education in other industries. A bachelor's degree is required for admission to all graduate programs, but the degree doesn't necessarily have to be in advertising. Some schools require students to complete core marketing-related courses before beginning graduate studies, however.

Basic Degree Information Master's degrees available to bachelor's degree-holders University of Texas at Austin Master of Arts and PhD in Advertising Boston University Master of Science in Advertising Michigan State University Master of Arts in Advertising, two available concentrations Graduate Degree Benefits Can help graduates get senior-level or research positions in advertising

What Are My Graduate Degree Options at the University of Texas - Austin?

The University of Texas offers several graduate programs in advertising through the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations on its Austin campus. The Richards School, which is located within the university's Moody College of Communications, is one of the rare dedicated advertising departments in the nation. Its advertising programs have been ranked the best in the nation by both Campus Explorer and the Journal of Advertising Education. The school offers both a Master of Arts and a PhD in advertising. Students in the master's program can choose between a regular track or a thesis track. Each curriculum consists of 36 credit hours and educates students in areas including persuasive communication, copywriting, advertising campaign planning, and social media.

UT Austin's four-year advertising doctoral program is highly competitive and only admits about 30 students per year, according to school literature. It provides students with in-depth skills and experience in advertising research skills and execution, preparing them for careers as academic researchers upon graduation. Students customize their curriculum in their areas of interest by selecting two mandatory program concentrations to supplement their advertising coursework. These are often in related areas like consumer psychology, media studies, or marketing. The third required concentration area of the doctoral program is always research methods, and students must prepare and defend a dissertation in order to graduate.

What Graduate Programs Does Boston University Offer?

Students at Boston University can earn a Master of Science degree in advertising through the school's College of Communications. The three-semester, twelve-course curriculum is a blend of core course requirements, areas of concentration, and electives. The core course curriculum teaches students about the foundations of advertising and its most critical elements, including handling accounts, planning creative components of ads, and analyzing consumer behavior. It also requires one hands-on course in AdLab, the school's on-campus advertising lab where students work on ad campaigns for real clients. The program also matches students with ad industry internships, both in Boston and in their study abroad program in London. In addition to the core requirements, common elective course topics include:

Art direction

Brand marketing

Design strategies

Political ad campaigns

Interactive marketing

What Graduate Programs Does Michigan State University Offer?

Graduate students at Michigan State University can earn a Master of Arts degree in advertising at the school's East Lansing campus. As is common in graduate programs, students can choose between a thesis and a non-thesis track. Both programs require at least 30 credit hours for completion. In lieu of a research project, non-thesis students must present a poster relevant to their specific area of study in the final semester before graduation. In order to encourage students to customize their course curriculum, the program offers two degree concentrations, one in nonprofit fundraising and one in media and information studies. The nonprofit fundraising concentration teaches students how to strategize a successful fundraising campaign, while the media information studies concentration offers an in-depth education in conducting advertising research.

What Are the Benefits of Having a Graduate Degree in Advertising?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the standard education requirement for advertising managers is a bachelor's degree. Master's degrees are common for those interested in a career in advertising research, be it within an academic setting or as an analyst of media and consumer informatics for an advertising agency. Having a graduate degree in advertising can also give you an advantage if you're seeking a senior-level managerial positions in this competitive industry, although top positions generally require several years of work experience, too. Still, several of the schools detailed in this article mention within their degree program information that getting a master's degree will help students stand out among applicants to high-level positions. Many advertising manager and director positions advertised on Monster.com state that advanced degrees are ideal or preferred.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday called for the military to oust President Nicolas Maduro. But Maduro said that military leaders had shown him their total loyalty.

Guaido spoke at a gathering outside an air base in Caracas. Guaido supporters at the demonstration and soldiers began to fight. Other clashes took place at similar demonstrations across the country.

The early-morning rebellion, however, seems to have only limited military support.

Venezuelas Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez appeared on national television surrounded by the countrys generals. He condemned Guaidos move to seize power as a terrorist act and said that it was bound to fail.

Early on Tuesday, Guaido posted a video on Twitter saying that he had begun the final phase of his campaign to oust Maduro. He called on Venezuelans and the armed forces to support him ahead of large street protests planned for Wednesday.

Standing with Guaido was Leopoldo Lopez, Venezuelas leading opposition activist. Lopez has been under house arrest by Maduro but said he was "freed" by soldiers supporting Guaido. Lopez declared, I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers.

As the two were speaking, troops loyal to Maduro fired tear gas from inside the air base. Several thousand demonstrators fled for cover. A tank then drove into a crowd of demonstrators who were throwing rocks at soldiers.

Guaido had declared himself the countrys interim president in January. The leader of Venezuela's National Assembly said Maduros re-election should not be recognized because he had barred his opponents from running against him.

Guaido told German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle in an interview released Tuesday, Whatever happens now, we wont let ourselves be stopped. Our process is moving on step by step, in accordance with our constitution. We continue to stand for nonviolence.

Guaido has said Wednesdays protests will be the largest march in Venezuelas history.

Venezuela is dealing with an economic crisis along with its political one. Food and medicine shortages are severe. Earlier this year, the United States banned the sale of Venezuelas oil in U.S. markets, adding more financial pressure on the country.

U.S. backing Guaido

In Washington, D.C., White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump has been briefed and is monitoring the ongoing situation. She would not say whether the administration knew of Guaidos plan before Tuesdays events took place.

Other American officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security advisor John Bolton expressed their support for Guaido on Twitter. Pence wrote, To @jguaido, the National Assembly and all the freedom-loving people of Venezuela who are taking to the streets today in #operacionlibertadEstamos con ustedes! We are with you! America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored."

Russias foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the Venezuelan opposition of an attempt to draw the countrys armed forces into clashes. In recent weeks, Russia also sent soldiers and officers to help in Venezuela defense operations.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on Associated Press and Reuters news reports. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

accompany - v. to go together

accordance - n. in a way that agrees with or follows

monitor - v. to watch, observe
The Goldman Environmental Foundation recognized six environmental activists this week. They are winners of the 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the Green Nobel. It honors ordinary men and women who take great risks to protect the natural environment. They are often community leaders from small villages or areas that lack financial resources.

Liberia

Alfred Brownell, a lawyer from Liberia, is one of the prize winners. The foundation says that, in 2011, he noted severe damage to a tropical rain forest in his country. The Upper Guinean forest is home to many kinds of animals and an important place for carbon, which is stored in plants. The Goldman Environmental Foundation has called Liberias forests the lungs of West Africa.

Alfred Brownell found that machines were taking down trees. Water was becoming polluted. Even some burial grounds were getting destroyed.

Brownell blamed the damage on a company that signed a deal with Liberias government to develop palm oil operations on the land. He also blamed the government officials who supported the project. In answer, he worked with people in the community to object formally. Their efforts forced the company to stop work. In time, they saved about 50 square kilometers of forest, along with some of the elephants, pygmy hippopotamuses and other animals that live there.

Alfred Brownell and community members clashed repeatedly with company officials and police over the issue. Brownell and his family have since fled Liberia. They now live in the United States.

Yet his work has had an ongoing effect in Liberia. The palm oil farms developers say they are trying to improve land-clearing practices. And an official in the current government says Liberia has stopped permitting businesses from expanding into the country until all the international requirements are met.

Chile

Another 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize winner is Alberto Curamil. He is part of the Mapuche community, a group of people who have historically lived in central Chile. Many depend on rivers in the area to earn their money. The group considers the rivers holy.

But a few years ago, the Chilean government moved to build large hydroelectric projects on the rivers. Officials planned to work with two private companies to control the water flowing in the rivers and use it to make energy instead. The plan risked damaging the native plants and animals.

In answer, Curamil organized a large protest and legal campaign. He brought together native peoples, environmental groups, researchers and others. Their efforts persuaded the government to cancel both projects.

Last year, Chilean police arrested Curamil for suspected criminal activity. He remains in jail.

United States

And in the United States, Linda Garcia worked to stop plans to build an oil export terminal in her community. Garcia lives near the Pacific Ocean, in the western state of Washington. Businesses wanted to send oil, coal and natural gas on trains through a river valley to her town. From there, ships could export the fuels overseas.

But Garcia worried the plan would damage the river valley and create more air pollution. She was also concerned about possible explosions a train accident would cause.

Garcia was not physically well and faced opposition to her ideas. But she joined with private citizens and government officials to launch a campaign against the plan. Their efforts brought attention to the environmental effects of the proposal. In January last year, the developers were forced to cancel the project.

The other Goldman Environmental Prize winners are from North Macedonia, Mongolia and the Cook Islands. Together, they have helped protect endangered animals and sea creatures.

Im Kelly Jean Kelly.

Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press and Goldman Environmental Foundation website. George Grow was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

ordinary - adj. normal or usual : not unusual, different, or special

tropical rain forest - adj. a tropical forest that receives a lot of rain and that has very tall trees

lungs - n. the two organs that people and animals use to breathe air

practice - n. something that is done often or regularly

terminal - n. a building where buses or trains regularly stop
Emory junior Darien Penny McElwee has been named one of just 18 Beinecke Scholars nationwide. After conducting extensive undergraduate research, she plans to pursue a PhD in psychology, exploring how children develop resiliency.

Learn more about scholarships Students interested in learning more about Beinecke Scholarships and other prestigious awards should contact Megan Friddle in Emory's National Scholarships and Fellowships Program. Find more information or schedule an appointment through the National Scholarships and Fellowships Program website.

As a child, Darien Penny McElwee thought she wanted to be a veterinarian, then a marine biologist.

Support from her parents and encouragement from Emory College of Arts and Sciences to explore her interests made McElwee realize, though, that she was more interested in the science and behavior of humans rather than animals.

Now a junior psychology major with a quantitative sciences minor, she has researched everything from minority health disparities to the impact of maternal depression in children. For her thoughtful and compassionate research and her campus leadership, McElwee has been named one of just 18 Beinecke Scholars nationwide this year.

The prestigious award comes with $34,000 to help defray the cost of graduate school: $4,000 prior to entering and the rest while attending the graduate school of her choice to pursue a PhD in psychology, with a goal to study how children develop resiliency.

Looking back, I had so many barriers to get here, McElwee says. If I can understand how we maintain motivation in a child the way it was instilled in me, if we can discover the interventions that can work, I could help kids globally attain their dreams.

The Beinecke award is designed to encourage exceptional students to be courageous in their pursuit of graduate study in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

McElwee demonstrated that courage as early as second grade, when she began traveling two hours  each way, every day  from her home to one of Texas top public schools. The travel time was the same through high school, when she added volleyball and other activities to her day.

At Emory, she works as a resident advisor and volunteers with Emory Reads, tutoring in underserved metro Atlanta schools and coordinating with school principals on student outcomes. She also volunteers with the non-profit Hands On Atlanta, coordinating a Saturday tutoring program.

After her first year at Emory, McElwee was one of 20 first-year students named a Deans Achievement Scholar, and spent that summer assisting with a longitudinal study on first responders empathy and job effectiveness.

The questions of resilience, adversity and achievement that power Pennys research also direct her engagement on our campus and in the Atlanta community, says Megan Friddle, director of the National Scholarships and Fellowships Program at Emory College. Penny clearly has the maturity, discipline and academic record to step directly into a top graduate program in psychology.

A time to explore

McElwee sees her path as a winding road. Her parents, professionals who met at Howard University, encouraged her to prioritize education but did not push any specific career.

An AP psychology class had captured her attention in high school. So had an opportunity to study language and culture during a visit to China the summer before she arrived at Emory. McElwee entered college unsure of what to study, choosing to dive into Emorys expansive liberal arts offerings.

The coursework allowed her to connect the dots of her interests to a single theme: understanding why people behave the way they do.

Being able to explore my identity at Emory and all of my academic and intellectual interests gave me the opportunities to grow, McElwee says. It started connecting how I could use research to better help people in the real world.

McElwee spent her sophomore year working as a research assistant on two separate depression-focused studies. At the Emory Brain Health Centers Fuqua Center for Late-Life Depression, McElwee used some of her data skills in maintaining a patient database. She also worked with patients by going through their diagnostic assessments with them.

She wanted more opportunities to interact with people in research that aligned with her interests in racial disparities and the link between individuals and their environment. She found that last summer, conducting independent research as part of National Science Foundations Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

Examining data from Canada, she ran a social network analysis to investigate how Inuits self-perceptions compared to their willingness to seek help with problems as varied as domestic violence and finding jobs.

The correlations she found, which are under review for publication, won her an Outstanding Researcher Award in social sciences for the summer program, and a travel award to present at the Emerging Researchers National Conference.

Sherryl Goodman, Samuel Candler Dobbs professor of psychology, hired McElwee last fall as a volunteer research assistant in her popular Children's and Mothers' Emotions lab. Goodman notes that she found out about McElwees honors by reading her resume, since she did not mention them in her interview.

She has such a calm and humble presence, youd never know shes such an accomplished person, says Goodman. She just quietly puts herself out there and takes everything in stride, even as she has such high expectations for herself.

McElwee has distinguished herself in Goodmans lab. First, she learned to code infant gaze direction, contributing to a study of a possible connection between babies emotional regulation and mothers depression. Second, she is helping her graduate student mentor, Meeka Maier, collect data on infant-mother interactions to learn what maternal reactions best comfort distressed babies.

Recently, McElwee also was selected as an Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) Scholar, which provides her with research support that includes full-time research in Emorys Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program. She will immerse herself in projects in Goodmans lab and begin to develop her senior honors thesis research.

First, though, McElwee wants to pursue her questions about how systematic, political discrimination adversely affects child development. She will do so before starting her SURE project, when she travels to South Africa to study the effects of apartheid on child development as a Global Research Fellow with Emorys Halle Institute for Global Research and the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry.

McElwee will complete a capstone paper on her South Africa research next year, when she also serves as senior residence advisor at Harris Hall and continues her volunteer work.

I am always going to be interested in knowing why we are the way we are, McElwee says. Children are the answer because everything begins with them. Just think of all the things children could attain if we knew more about the one thing or things that most shape them into who they become.


On Tuesday, the Indian Army found mysterious large footprints in the snow. The military group, on an outing in Nepal, took pictures and later put them on Twitter. Their conclusion: the footprints belong to the Yeti, also known as the abominable snowman.

Most experts in the scientific community say the Yeti is a myth, an imaginary story.

The man-like creature is part of Nepali tradition and is said to live high in the Himalayan mountains.

In the tweet, the Indian army said it found the footprints close to a camp near Mount Makalu on April 9. The footprints measured 81 centimeters by 38 centimeters.

The tweet did not explain how a mythical beast could leave footprints.

Reactions on social media

The Indian armys Twitter post has drawn criticism by some on social media. One user, for example, put an image of a pothole in Bombay and noted that Yeti footprints could be found there.

Other users noted that the supposed Yeti tracks appeared to be a single foot line. One user suggested the Yeti may have been riding a kind of strange bicycle.

Mount Makalu and the Yeti

Mount Makalu, where the Indian Army took the photographs, is one of the highest mountains in the world. It stands near the Makalu-Barun valley, an area very far from human population.

The area has already been explored by researchers looking for the Yeti.

Daniel C. Taylor is one of them. He wrote a book on the mystery of the Yeti. Taylor noted that the footprints likely came from a bear.

Taylor told the Reuters news agency that if the footprints came from an animal or a single animal, its the size of a dinosaur.

Taylor added, One needs to really confirm those measurements of the footprint size because we know for sure that there are no dinosaurs living in the Barun valley.

Since the 1920s, tales of a wild beast have captured the imagination of climbers in Nepal and around the world.

In 2008, Japanese climbers returning from a mountain in western Nepal told Reuters they had seen footprints, which they thought belonged to the Yeti.

Although they carried cameras, video equipment and telescopes, they had not seen or taken any photographs of the creature.

In 2017, a group of international researchers studied multiple Yeti samples. The researchers concluded the samples belonged to bears.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Devjyot Ghoshal reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it with the use of other sources for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

beast  n. a wild animal that is large, dangerous, or unusual

pothole  n. a deep, round hole in a road or some other surface (such as the bottom of a river)  sometimes used figuratively

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For years, the Portuguese city of Cantanhede has been known for its wine products and roasted suckling pig, a local specialty. But the city has something new: Portugals first medical cannabis production farm.

The cannabis plant produces cannabinoids  chemical compounds used in treating health disorders. Parts of the plant are used to make the drug marijuana as well as a number of products containing the compounds CBD and THC.

Portugals sunny weather is ideal for growing cannabis. The weather caught the attention of Brendan Kennedy. He is Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian company Tilray, one of the worlds largest producers of medical cannabis.

Kennedy traveled around Europe from 2015 to 2017 in search of the perfect place for Tilrays newest production facility. Not only did Portugal have the ideal climate, but Kennedy also liked the countrys agricultural industry and young, educated workforce.

Infarmed is the Portuguese government agency on medicines and health products. In 2017, the agency approved Tilrays request to start a medical cannabis farm, which covers 2.4 hectares in a biotechnology park outside Cantanhede.

Tilray then hurried to import its first baby plants and recently reported its first two successful cannabis harvests.

Kennedy opened the facility to visitors for the first time at a ceremony last week.

Some of our competitors are located in Denmark and northern Germany, where there isnt that much sun. So we think we can produce a more environmentally-friendly product here, he told Reuters news agency.

By having the farm in Portugal, Tilrays products are tax-free within the European Union, or EU. That is the market the company is targeting as other EU governments legalize medical marijuana.

On legalization

Kennedy noted that Europe is moving toward legalization, and the demand for medical marijuana is growing. He is hopeful that, over the next two years, We will see every country in Europe legalizing it.

Last year, Portugals parliament approved a bill to legalize marijuana-based medicines. The move followed the legalization of such drugs in countries like Italy, Germany, Canada and parts of the United States. Britain made medical marijuana legal in July 2018.

At the $22.29 million Tilray facility, cannabis is grown indoors and outdoors. The facility also has research laboratories and processing and delivery centers for medical marijuana and products made from cannabinoids.

Tilray supplies medical cannabis products with the compounds CBD and THC to patients in many countries. It also supplies these products through agreements with pharmaceutical companies.

Earlier this year, the European Parliament demanded an EU-wide policy on medical cannabis and financing for scientific research.

We are at point where almost every doctor around the world recognizes "the medical value of cannabis, Kennedy explained.

The World Health Organization has stated that several studies showed cannabinoids can help patients with cancer and AIDS.

In addition, some drug makers already use chemicals from cannabis. One of them is GW Pharmaceuticals Sativex, which is approved for treating symptoms from the disease multiple sclerosis.

Based on information from advisory service Prohibition Partners, the EU cannabis market will be worth 123 billion euros by the year 2028.

Im Alice Bryant.

Catarina Demony and Rafael Marchante reported this story for Reuters news agency. Alice Bryant adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

compound  n. a substance created when the atoms of two or more chemical elements join together

facility  n. something (such as a building) that is built for a specific purpose

biotechnology park  n. a facility created mainly to promote a group of small and medium biotech businesses

locate  v. to put (something or someone) in a particular place

delivery  n. the act of taking something to a person or place

pharmaceutical  adj. of or relating to the production and sale of drugs and medicine

symptom  n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its yearly report this week. The report identifies 16 nations as countries of particular concern for their systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.

The commission is part of the U.S. federal government, but operates independently. It serves as a watchdog group and offers advice to President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Congress.

Tenzin Dorjee is head of the commission. He said that in the past year, "severe violations of religious freedom have increased. He pointed to the jailing of individuals accused of blasphemy in several countries. He also noted the detention of over one million Uyghur Muslims in China.

Dorjee wrote that people working for religious freedom must work to make this right a reality for everyone, everywhere."

Thirteen of the 16 countries named as the worst religious freedom violators are in Asia. They include China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The six others are Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

The report also accuses three African nations -- Central African Republic, Eritrea and Nigeria -- of suppressing religious freedom.

Chinas treatment of Uyghur Muslims

The commission condemned China for its treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority. They live mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The estimated 15 million Uyghurs in China have long accused the government of oppression.

The report said that the government continued to persecute all faiths" in an effort to make them behave more Chinese. It said that China has "a campaign to destroy not only the independent exercise of religion, but also the culture and language of smaller religious and ethnic minorities.

The report said that Uyghur Muslims are always being watched and have their telephones taken or scanned by the government. It also said their children are not permitted to attend religious services.

It added that the government has ripped entire families apart by imprisoning between 800,000 and 2 million Uyghurs in camps and sending their children to orphanages.

"Families cannot contact one another because of fear that the government is listening, so many Uyghur Muslims have no idea where their families are or if they are alive," the report said.

The commission said that while the United States and a few foreign governments have condemned China for these "egregious abuses," the government has not faced any consequences.

After years of increasing abuse, the international community has tragically missed the (chance) to prevent what is now happening to Uyghur and other Muslims in China," it said.

China has denied that it has internment camps and reeducation centers for Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other mostly Muslim groups in Xinjiang.

Kazakhs are the second-largest ethnic group in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. Xinjiang is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

The government says the camps are "vocational education centers" aimed at helping people stay away from terrorism. It says their goal is to help Uyghurs reintegrate into society.

The report also accused China of oppressing Tibetan Buddhists in addition to the Uyghurs and others.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Voice of America and Radio Free Europe reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

egregious  adj. shocking; extremely bad

watchdog  n. a person or group whose job is to observe the actions of others

blasphemy  n. the act of showing disrespect to God

persecute  v. oppress or mistreat; torture

scan  v. to examine or study all parts of something carefully

orphanage  n. a home for the care and education of children who have lost both parents

consequence  n. a result of effect of something

vocation  n. a trade or career

reintegrate  v. the action of returning someone to society

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Bruce Sams is no stranger to fighting for his life and fighting to save others lives. As a McMinnville firefighter, its right there in his j
Of those who attended the event, Berke said three generations of the community were represented. She said the Key is attended by everyone from young adults who are just starting their families, to those who are older with grown children and those who secure in their careers. It is a great blend of ages and backgrounds, she said.

We give a general thanks to everyone who participated and volunteered, said Berke, We appreciate all the ways the volunteers and participants contributed to the success and it couldnt be done without them.

Each year as the Key unfolds I am impressed by the generosity of all the volunteers and patrons and their shared commitment to the continuous improvement of our community, said LCF Committee Chairman Curt Rickertsen, It is one of the things that makes me proud to call Lexington home.

We are so fortunate as a foundation to have the support we do, Berke said, After 18 years I am still blown away by all the support we receive.

The mission statement of the LCF is to, encourage and strengthen philanthropy in order to provide a permanent source of funding for opportunities to improve the quality of life, strengthen the sense of community and benefit future generations in Lexington.
Ned Snow (University of South Carolina) has posted Who Decides Fair Use  Judge or Jury? (Washington Law Review, Vol. 94, No. 1, 2019) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

For more than two-hundred years, the issue of fair use has been the province of the jury. That recently changed when the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decided Oracle America, Inc. v. Google LLC. At issue was whether Google fairly used portions of Oracles computer software when Google created an operating system for smartphones. The jury found Googles use to be fair, but the Federal Circuit reversed. Importantly, the Federal Circuit applied a de novo standard of review to reach its conclusion, departing from centuries of precedent.



Oracle raises a fundamental question in jurisprudence: Who should decide an issue  judge or jury? For the issue of fair use, the Seventh Amendment dictates that the jury should decide. The Seventh Amendment guarantees a right to a jury where an issue would have been heard by English common-law courts in 1791. Fair use is such an issue: early copyright cases make clear that juries decided fair-use issues at common law. Furthermore, the recent Supreme Court case of U.S. Bank National Assn v. Village at Lakeridge, LLC instructs appellate courts to employ a deferential standard in reviewing mixed questions of law and fact that resist factual generalizations. The question of fair use resists factual generalizations, turning on circumstances and factual nuances specific to each case. U.S. Bank thus suggests a deferential review. Importantly, this conclusion is consistent with the Supreme Courts instruction in Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises, where the Court applied an independent review of a district courts finding on fair use. The context of the Harper Courts independent review was a bench trial, and at that time, courts treated the review of fair use at a bench trial differently from the review of fair use at a jury trial. Finally, juries are simply better positioned than judges to decide the sort of issues that arise in fair-use cases. Those issues call for subjective judgments that turn on cultural understandings and social norms, and the heterogeneous perspective of a jury is particularly valuable in making these judgments. Thus, the Federal Circuit in Oraclewrongly applied a de novo standard. The Constitution, precedent, and sound policy mandate deference to the jury.
UPDATED at 6 p.m. with statement from merger campaign

ST. LOUIS  The St. Louis Democratic Central Committee has voted to oppose the Better Together plan to consolidate the city with St. Louis County through a statewide vote.

Committee chairman Michael Butler, who also is the city's recorder of deeds, said the panel voted 38-0 on Saturday to oppose the proposal. He said two members abstained and 16 were absent.

"An overwhelming amount of citizens in the city do not believe that the Better Together proposal and the statewide ballot initiative is the right path for city-county merger," Butler said.

He added that the plan has "too many unanswered policy questions" and provides conflicting information on finances.

In response, Ed Rhode, a spokesman for Unite StL  the merger campaign organization  said "it's no surprise the opposition to the Better Together proposal continues to come from politicians who are comfortable maintaining the status quo."

He said that has been the case in cities across the country that have passed reforms.
A Cambodian court on Sunday charged three Chinese nationals with money laundering after the men were allegedly caught carrying more than USD3.5 million without proper provenance for the money. According to police authorities, the three men said that some of the money was won gambling in Macau, and some was borrowed from relatives. They said the money was brought to Cambodia to invest in real estate. The men were arrested, however, and the money was confiscated due to not having the proper provenance, the website said. The three were officially charged with money laundering under Cambodias Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Financing of Terrorism. If convicted, the men could face 10 to 20 years in prison.

DSEJ head calls for calm in solving disputes

The Director of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ), Lou Pak Seng, is calling on local parents to solve childrens disputes in a calm manner. Recently, two local little boys got involved in a fight, with one of the boys getting injured. The injured boys father then hit down the other boys grandfather. The DSEJ provided consultation to one of the two boys. DSEJ chief Lou Pak Seng later said that there are different opinions and disputes regardless of whether they occur inside schools or in public. Lou urges the residents to solve disputes in a calm manner.

Second phase of Ka Ho prion to be completed June

The second phase of the construction of Ka Ho prison is expected to be completed in June, the Director of the Correctional Services Bureau said earlier this week. The second phase of the prison project includes the prisoners cells, among other buildings. The third and fourth phases will start right after the completion of the second phase. They will include the installation of an internet system, a telecommunication system, and of a security surveillance system. The new prison can shelter a total of 2,700 prisoners. Currently, the bureau is hiring an additional 73 prison police officers.
Democracy activist Scott Chiang was back at Macaus Court of First Instance yesterday, repeating proceedings from last year that were found by Macaus second court to have been improperly handled.

Although the session had been described by the Court of Second Instance as a re-trial, Chiang yesterday told the Times that it was not the case that the entire trial would be repeated.

He said that yesterdays session was a not the chance to re-examine the fact or the witnesses, but instead merely a [reassessment] of the conclusion of the events.

Last year, Chiang and lawmaker Sulu Sou were found guilty of the crime of unlawful assembly, even as they had been brought to Macaus first court on charges of the more serious offence of aggravated disobedience. Chiang appealed the courts decision, but lawmaker Sou opted to waive his right to appeal in order to return to his Legislative Assembly seat as soon as possible.

There were many unorthodox aspects to the initial ruling of the Court of First Instance, according to lawyers familiar with the case.

For one, the defense lawyers, had not been given the opportunity to prepare an adequate defense for his client since the charge had been altered during the sentencing.

Another point of concern involved the fact that the first courts ruling had not detailed the exact provision in the law Chiang and Sou were said to have violated.

The Court of Second Instance sided with the activists appeal and ordered that the case be re-trialed.

However, Chiang said yesterday that the court session did not afford his defense the chance to reexamine the facts or witnesses involved in his sentencing.

It was not the re-trial that we [previously] thought it would be. The Court [of Second Instance] stated that the lower court did not need to redo the whole process, just the part that was handled incorrectly when the charge was changed.

Asked whether he could or would appeal that decision, Chiang said: I suppose we could but I dont really see the point.

The Court will announce its verdict on May 14. DB
A court in southern China handed down sentences yesterday to at least six foreigners involved in an international methamphetamine operation, including a Canadian given the death penalty.

The Jiangmen Intermediate Peoples Court in southern Guangdong province sentenced 11 people who produced more than 63 kilograms of methamphetamine, an illegal drug.

Among them were one American and four Mexicans, who were all given life sentences or death sentences suspended by a period of two years. The court statement did not make clear which individual received what sentence, nor did it give their full names,

The Canadian sentenced to death was identified as Fan Wei, but it was unclear whether thats the persons legal name. A person identified as Wu Ziping, whose nationality was not specified, was also handed the death sentence.

The sentence is likely to further strain Sino- Canadian relations, which have frayed since Canada arrested a Chinese tech executive last December at the request of the U.S. Since then, China has detained two Canadians and delayed some Canadian exports in apparent retaliation.

According to the court, Fan Wei and Wu conspired to manufacture and sell the drugs in 2012, and brought the others  described as drug- making technicians  on board. Between July and November of that year, the court says, the group set up a den in Guangdongs Taishan city, where they produced and sold more than 63 kilograms of methamphetamine and 365.9 grams of dimethyl amphetamine.

A court employee reached by phone declined to give further details on the case.

In a separate drug smuggling case, China sentenced Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death in a sudden retrial January  one month after Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained on vague national security allegations. The moves were widely seen as punishment for Canadas arrest of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom company Huawei.

China has also suspended the license of two major Canadian canola exporters, alleging that officials discovered hazardous organisms in canola seed shipments. Yanan Wang, Beijing, AP
Japanese Emperor Akihito announced his abdication at a palace ceremony yesterday in his final address, as the nation embraced the end of his reign with reminiscence and hope for a new era.

Today, I am concluding my duties as the emperor, Akihito said as he stood in front of the throne, as other members of the royal family and top government officials watched.

Since ascending the throne 30 years ago, I have performed my duties as the emperor with a deep sense of trust in and respect for the people, and I consider myself most fortunate to have been able to do so. I sincerely thank the people who accepted and supported me in my role as the symbol of the state, Akihito said in his last official duty as emperor.

His reign runs through midnight, when his son Crown Prince Naruhito becomes the new emperor and his era begins.

Naruhito will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne today. In a separate ceremony he will receive the imperial regalia of sword and jewel as well as imperial seals as proof of his succession as the nations 126th emperor, according to the official palace count, which historians say could include mythical figures until around the 5th century.

Many people gathered outside the palace compound hours before the abdication ceremony despite unseasonably wet and cold weather, and even though they are not allowed to look inside.

We came because today is the last day of [the emperors era of] Heisei, and we feel nostalgic, said Akemi Yamauchi, 55, standing outside the palace with her husband.

We like the current emperor. He has worked hard for the people, he is very thoughtful, and kind to everyone, said her husband, Kaname. The couple came from Kyoto, Japans ancient capital where emperors lived until about 150 years ago.

Messages have come from global leaders.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed gratitude in a letter to Akihito for his emphasis on peace and contributions to developing relations between Seoul and Tokyo. U.S. President Donald Trump expressed appreciation for his contribution to the two countries close relations. Trump had a courtesy meeting with Akihito during his 2017 Japan visit and will be the first foreign leader in May to meet the new emperor.

Japanese television talk shows displayed a countdown to the midnight transition, and programming was dominated by the abdication and looking back at major events in Akihitos era, including the 2011 tsunami, a deadly earthquake in Kobe in 1995, and the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack in 1995 that shook Japans sense of safety and confidence.

Security was extremely tight around the palace and across downtown Tokyo with thousands of police mobilized. Police arrested a man on Monday night on suspicion of placing a pair of kitchen knives last week on the school desk used by Akihitos grandson.

Akihito, 85, took the throne in 1989 and devoted his career to making amends for a war fought in his fathers name while bringing the aloof monarchy closer to the people.

With his commoner-born wife, Empress Michiko, he reached out to the people, especially those who faced handicaps and discrimination, as well as those hit by disasters, illuminating the hardships of people often overlooked by society. Akihito was the first emperor to marry a commoner, one of many changes he brought to the palace. The couple also chose to raise their three children instead of leaving them with palace staff, and decided to be cremated upon their deaths in a smaller tomb side by side, also a tradition-breaking step.

Jeff Kingston, Asian studies director at Temple University, Japan Campus, says Akihito has served Japans chief emissary of reconciliation, while acting as consoler in chief in reaching out to the people. Akihito was also a strong advocate of the vulnerable and the marginalized in the Japanese society, he said. I think the people really warmed to him and felt that the monarchy was relevant to their lives because of these efforts by Akihito.

Recent media surveys have shown public support for the imperial family at 80%, the highest ever for the institution.

Such respect did not come overnight. Akihito grew up during World War II and was 11 when his father Hirohito announced the end of the war on radio. Akihito embraced his role as peacemaker and often represented his father on reconciliatory missions as young crown prince, decades before he became the emperor himself.

He is the first emperor in Japans modern history whose era did not have a war. Though he has avoided outright apologies, he has stepped up his expressions of regret in carefully scripted statements on the war.

Akihito visited China in 1992 and offered what was considered the strongest expression of regret over the war. He has also visited the Philippines and other Pacific islands conquered by Japan that were devastated in fierce fighting as the U.S.-led allies took them back.

That leaves his son Naruhito  the first emperor born after the World War II  largely free of the burden of wartime legacy, allowing him to seek his own role. Naruhito has said he would largely emulate his fathers pacifist stance and compassion for the people, but also said he hopes to seek a role of his own, possibly in issues related to water, which he studied Oxford University in the early 1980s. That, or disaster resilience, or environment, could appeal more to his people who are predominantly from postwar generations.

Akihito will be known as the emperor emeritus and will no longer have official duties after he abdicates. He wont even attend his sons succession rituals so as not to interfere with the serving emperor.

Akihito is expected to enjoy his retirement, going to museums and concerts, or spending time on his goby research at a seaside Imperial villa. Akihito and Michiko will move to a temporary royal residence before eventually switching places with Naruhito. Mari Yamaguchi, Tokyo, AP
Veteran advisor Paulo Cardinal who was dispensed by the Legislative Assembly in August last year without plausible cause breaks the silence and in an interview with the Times speaks about his dismissal, about Ho Iat Seng, Sulu Sou and the paranoia of security that has damaged the respect for fundamental rights in Macau.

Cardinal says he wants to stay in Macau although I dont have a normal job yet. After more than 25 years living in the territory, he charges I will not be disposed of like chewing gum.

In the interview, Cardinal contends that Portugal should be vigilant towards Macaus affairs. Portugal is a contracting party to the Joint Declaration. Therefore, if Portugal intervenes in this regard, it will have complete legitimacy  Publicly Portugal does not do this, the legal expert lamented.

There is a sort of progressive siege against these values in our system, whether in Macau or in Hong Kong. Without fundamental rights, without the rule of law, there will truly be no second system. Hence, we must be resilient.

The interview with Paulo Cardinal started with the dismissals of him and his colleague, Paulo Taipa, where he lays out the alternative theories for his sacking, and vehemently refutes each one.

Macau Daily Times (MDT)  Do you know already why you were dismissed?

Paulo Cardinal (PC)  The rationale that was passed on to us, subsequently made public, and used as justification was that of a restructuring of the legal team. This is not an acceptable argument to me and the fact that it has not generally been accepted as valid is well known. This has given rise, especially in a small parish-like place as this, to the circus of theories and conjectures, some leading to character assassination. The justification given [by AL President] does not correspond to reality. On the one hand, two good jurists are dispensed with in this restructuring, as was reaffirmed by the President of the AL. He said there were two people too many. On the other hand, precisely two people are hired. This reversal of intentions proves that the justification presented by the AL does not conform to reality. It also proves that it made a mistake and sought to remedy it.

MDT  It was said that information was passed from the advisors to Sulu Sou.

PC  I did not have access to the internal process [leading to Sous suspension], and I personally challenge anyone  and Im willing to rescind of my right to privacy in this case  to demonstrate whether there were phone calls, emails, SMSs or any messages exchanged via Viber, Skype, WhatsApp, whatever, between me and Sulu Sou. The first time I spoke to Sulu Sou was in the AL after his return from the akward suspension.

For many years in my work at the AL, I dealt with very complex and sensitive processes, involving people in high places, and never ever has anyone questioned my honesty in the dispensing of my duties, much less to ever have leaked confidential documents.

A different matter is to ask me if I agree with Sulu Sou. And the answer is clear and it is not secret. Any advocate of more and better democracy and more and better respect for human rights will naturally agree with Sou on many issues.

MDT  There was one person or people who accused you of prying. But how, and about what, if you had no access to privileged information?

PC  This is a regrettable situation and not deserving of attention because it only represents human misery: the filthiness of the anything goes principle; a lack of a conscience in the constant gossip about groundless accusations inside and outside the institution. When someone is flawed in competence, in integrity, in courage, one seeks a scapegoat and invents and exhorts some tale of betrayal. You dont look at the means, you do not look to the persons (who may even have saved ones colleagues job in the past), you dont care about the consequences. Human misery. Filth.

MDT  But do you agree with lawyer Jorge Menezes that the ultimate intent was the discomfort they represented by devoting themselves courageously to the defense of the BL, the Rule of Law, to the defense of the legality and integrity of the juridical system?

PC  The defense of constitutionality, that is of the Basic Law (BL), of the legality, of the Rule of Law, of the fundamental rights, for me, are natural and necessary to effectively exercise the advisory role. Otherwise, it will not be an advice but a different thing. More like a rubber stamping service.

MDT  Do you think that your sackings will affect the impartiality of other advisors at the legislative and executive levels, who are expected to apply the law and not succumb to political pressure?

PC  Yes, of course it does. There is sheer incompetence of blunt ignorance of the law. The most pernicious incompetence is not having the character and courage to duly perform the duties [of a legal advisor]: willing to do anything to keep the job and [receive] a salary at the end of the month. Of course, people will think if veterans like Paulo Cardinal and Paulo Taipa can be dismissed just like that, it can happen to me, to anyone. And that creates fear and anxiety among people, especially when the reasons for the dismissal were not explained. But there are still competent advisors in the AL.

SULU SOU

MDT  Did the Board of the AL and President Ho violate the Members Statute or the Rules of Procedure in the process of suspending lawmaker Sou? Was Sulu Sou in the end illegally suspended?

PC  From a technical-legal point of view, several legal norms and norms with weight of law, the Rules of Procedures, were violated in this intra-parliamentary conflict. Some shamelessly. Violated in such a gross manner, that in a couple of cases at least, any reasonable first-year law student would stumble onto these abuses. I said it on TDM-TV before being sacked that in this internal conflict of the Legislative Assembly I agreed about 80% with Sulu Sou. In essence, what I did not agree with regarding Sous defense, from what I read in the press, was with the foregoing conclusion that his was not a political act. For me, notwithstanding some doubts about certain doctrine, it seems to me that this would be a political act. Mr Sou was struck down in this process by successive violations of the Basic Law, the Members Statute and the Rules of Procedure. There is no doubt about that. And the very TSI decision [on Sous appeal], if you read it carefully, often criticizes the performance of the AL and its various bodies.

It is also important to note that the responsibility for the suspension of Sulu Sou does not sit with the AL. It started before, with other stakeholders, that should not be overlooked.

MDT  The TSI considered that it had no jurisdiction to hear the case. But are you saying that reading between lines the court understood that Sulu Sou was right and was, indeed, illegally suspended?

PC  Yes, the decision of the case is based a priori, we would say, without technical rigor. The issue of [ruling on] the political act. Well, the judge-rapporteur left relatively clear indications that the law and the Rules of Procedure had been violated at several points in the process: The Commission [of the AL], which had met twice, drew up a document which it called Opinion [between commas], which is to say, it is not actual opinion [parecer]. And when referring to the intended or implied purpose of the decision to suspend [Sous] mandate, it is written [in TSIs ruling], We are not saying whether or not it was executed well.

The Court of Second Instance said that it had no jurisdiction to hear the case because they considered it (the suspension of the mandate) a political act. In this part, I disagree with the position of the court, as I stated publicly and expressly in a debate at TDM while I was still ALs coordinating advisor.

MDT  There are those who argue that when a political act violates a fundamental right, the courts have jurisdiction to judge this matter.

PC  Yes, the modern doctrine of legal systems in which the rule of law prevails, in several jurisdictions, supports this. This position derives from the need to remove the political act as a tool to escape the jurisdiction and control of the courts. You can see this in Portugal, Spain, Costa Rica, Brazil, Mexico, France This is my position. For several reasons it would be tedious to present this fully here. As one instance, under the Basic Law only Acts of State are withheld from coming under the jurisdiction of the courts of Macau. So, the Macau courts should have assessed the substance of Sous appeal. Then they could agree or disagree with the alleged violations of fundamental rights.

MDT  Scott Chiangs re-trial was held yesterday. Do you think Chiang (and Sou) committed the crime of unlawful assembly? I believe you are able to comment on this as you drafted the Commissions Opinion on this law.

PC  I do not know the case. Also, I can only comment here on what is public and published. And I have published articles on these subjects. On this subject, I must say that the decision in the second court [to re-trial] did not surprise me. It is in line with persistent jurisprudence which in the end says, not anything goes. No surprise decisions are allowed. In this regard, what most disturbs and worries me is the twisted use of legislation for the protection of fundamental rights that are [instead] adulterated and used as tools to undermine fundamental rights. In the case of the bill of rights of assembly and demonstration, that has been evident. Another is the law regarding the protection of personal data. There seem to be cases of criminal charges laid which, in the normal course of things, should not have arisen.

HO IAT SENG

MDT  From what you know about Ho Iat Seng do you think he would be a good CE?

PC  In this particular context I must refrain from making comments. If I speak badly, the credibility of my comments will be questioned, and it may be regarded as some sort of revenge. To speak well of him, well, to be honest I do not feel so inclined. But above all, I do not want to speak well of him  and there are, of course, good things to say. He always was, or at least up to one year ago, a very educated, cordial and respectful person. Even this speaking well of him can be read as an attempt to re-enter his good graces, now that he may have the opportunity to become CE. It is absolutely indifferent to me to be either in his good or bad graces.

MDT  If the new CE is elected as a single candidate, could this be harmful to the democratization of the MSAR?

PC  First, remember that I am not a voter. Neither I nor you can elect the CE. We must not forget this. Then, it is not yet known if there will be other candidates. In the face of publicly spoken names from the outset, there would be candidates that could potentially be better for Macau and there would be candidates who could potentially be worse than Ho Iat Seng for Macau.

I do not know the platform. That is, he announced that he wants to improve the well-being of the population. Of course, I agree with him. If he is elected CE, as a Macau citizen, obviously I wish him the best of luck in performing his duties. The better he does it, the better it will be for the population.

A different question is what I desire from the new CE. I would like to see a reversal of the paranoia of securitization; I would like to see improvements in the quality of life  health, environment, etc.; I would like to see a real reinforcement of fundamental rights; I would like to see an end to the prosecution of people for taking part in peaceful demonstrations.

POLITICAL REFORM

MDT  You are a critic of the current political system. Shouldnt we have advanced further with political reform?

PC  Yes, clearly. That was the letter and spirit of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration (JD) and the Basic Law: A promise of gradual democratization. It has not happened. Note that under the Macau BL, unless the mini-constitution itself is altered, the Legislative Assembly can never be fully elected. But it could [feasibly] have a single appointed legislator and the rest elected by universal suffrage. The power thus would become more legitimized and fall in line with the intentions, with the original promises made.

MDT  The current model, as far as I remember, was based on positive discrimination. Does that argument still make sense under the current circumstances?

PC  No, not at all. Before the handover, the mixed model of representation of the AL was indeed based on positive discrimination to allow the Chinese community to have a seat at the legislative branch, at a time when the vote was an exclusive right of Portuguese citizens. When participation in direct elections was made universal, during the mandate of Governor Almeida e Costa, the [accommodations made] were to protect the Portuguese/Macanese minority representation at the AL with either appointed or indirectly elected members. Now, this model makes no sense because there is no longer any positive discrimination. Do you see any Portuguese/Macanese or any other representation of the non-Chinese communities?

MDT  Currently, the President of Portugal is visiting Macau. Do you think that Portugal should play a more active role in the protection of fundamental rights and the rule of law in the MSAR in view of the Joint Declaration and its historical responsibilities?

PC  Portugal is a contracting party to the JD. This is a truly international treaty and has been submitted by both parties, Portugal and China, to the United Nations. Therefore, if Portugal intervenes in this regard, it will have complete legitimacy. It will not be an intrusion. It would be vigilant to ensure compliance with this bilateral treaty, which granted this population the right to live in a different system from that of the mainland. Publicly Portugal does not do it, I do not know if it does in other ways, through diplomatic channels, for example. The U.K. does it, publicly, with by-annual reports on Hong Kong.

MDT  In China, however, there are voices, with institutional weight, who believe that the Joint Declaration was extinguished with the enforcement of the Basic Law. Does this make any sense?

PC  It does not make any sense. I know of those statements and attempts. They are perverted and politically motivated and reveal a difficult cohabitation with International Law. And the will to rewrite history: it is inadmissible. Moreover, after one more of these acts about a year ago which had implied that the JD is not in force, is merely a historical relic,China itself, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came out publicly saying that the Joint Declaration was still in force.

I WANT TO STAY

MDT  Returning to the beginning of the interview. Your life was naturally affected on several levels. I know that you are finishing a doctorate in Coimbra: from a professional/academic point of view has this been affected? At what stage is the dissertation?

PC- Yes. [My life has been] Deeply altered. And with the bitter taste of injustice. Professionally I do not regret anything, I must say. My conscience is clean regarding the fulfillment of my duties and functions until December 31, 2018. I have dedicated more time to the dissertation but not just that.

MDT  What is the topic of the dissertation?

PC  The topic is Autonomy and Fundamental Rights in Macau.

MDT  Do you think that autonomy and fundamental rights are threatened in Macau?

PC  I think they are being threatened, degraded. Infrequently there is a sort of progressive siege against these values in our system, whether in Macau or in Hong Kong. Without fundamental rights, without the rule of law, there will truly be no second system. Hence, we must be resilient.

MDT  Do you want to continue in Macau? Despite having seen many doors close, will you continue in Macau?

PC  Yes. For various reasons, like family reasons, which I shall not elaborate here. But not only these. I was wronged. I was [politically] sacked. Doors didnt open to me on January 1, 2019. It was said that, modesty aside, with my CV, I would not be short of offers. January went by as did February and March. But Im resilient. I have no weight on my conscience, and I am not a piece of chewing gum to be used, chewed and thrown away. I will continue here, where I have lived for more than a quarter of a century, where I was married, where my son was born, while I can and want to.
China has pledged to help Cambodia if the European Union moves forward with its threat to withdraw its lucrative tariff agreement, the Southeast Asian countrys leader said.

The announcement, posted to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sens Facebook page at the conclusion of a five-day visit to Beijing on Monday, followed meetings with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. He did not specify what the agreement entails.

One of Chinas biggest supporters in Asia, Cambodia has come under attack by its traditional western partners in recent years for undermining democracy and alleged human-rights violations.

Last year Hun Sen extended his 33-year-rule in what was widely regarded as a sham election, prompting the EU in February to trigger an 18-month process for withdrawing Cambodias tariff-free access for most goods under the Everything But Arms initiative. Hun Sen, meanwhile, blasted the EU for interfering in his countrys internal affairs.

If the EU follows through on its threat to withdraw from the trade agreement it could devastate Cambodias USD5 billion garment sector, the countrys largest industry employing some 750,000 people.

In addition to the promise of protective aid, Hun Sen also returned home from China with an $89 million package to bolster Cambodias military and a preliminary contract with mobile telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. to develop a 5G network.

China has invested vast sums of capital to bolster the Cambodian economy in recent years. By far the countrys largest foreign investor, China has provided $12.6 billion in foreign investment from 1994 to mid-2018, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia.

Most recently, China funded a $2 billion expressway linking the capital Phnom Penh to coastal Sihanoukville as part of Chinas ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. That project broke ground in March. Philip J. Heijmans, Bloomberg
Starting tomorrow, nationals from 53 countries can enjoy a 144-hour visa- free period when transiting through southern Chinas Guangdong Province.

The new move, approved by Chinas State Council, is an extension of the 72-hour visa-free transit policy currently adopted in the province.

They can enter Guangdong via its three airports, namely Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Shenzhen Baoan International Airport and Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport, and exit via the provinces 32 ports.

The policy applies to passengers from 53 countries including Britain, the United States, Australia, Japan, Denmark, France, Germany and Russia. They are required to carry effective international travel documents and have onward travel tickets with confirmed dates and seats within 144 hours.

Lin Weixiong, vice director of the Guangdong provincial public security department, said the policy was expected to attract more overseas tourists and boost tourism and civil aviation in the Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

Since 2013, the State Council has approved 72-hour visa-free transit in 18 cities for eligible international travelers and later extended the period to 144 hours in a number of cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shijiazhuang and Shenyang. Xinhua
A government official in Hengqin has proposed providing visa-free access to foreigners who enter the island from Macau, according to a report by public broadcaster TDM.

The proposal was told by the Director of the Administration Committee of Hengqin New District, Yang Chuan, to Zhou Peng, deputy head of the economy department of the Liaison Office in Macau.

Zhou led a group to Hengqin to visit the districts special tourism project, and also to attend a talk featuring the development plan of Hengqins international tourism and leisure island.

During the talk, Yang made several other proposals: to form a Hengqin tourism association as soon as possible; to enhance communications between Macau and Hengqins tourism industry; to explore cooperation between the two regions tourism industries; and to study a cross-border tourism project.

Regarding the visa-free proposal, Yang hopes that more overseas travelers who come to Macau visit Hengqin without having to apply for a Chinese visa.

Although the proposal was made, there has been no news yet concerning any visa-free access scheme for tourists to enter Hengqin.

Previously, mainland China granted several convenient visa schemes for foreign visitors, including visa-free access to Hainan island, and a 144-hour visa- free transit facility for some cities on the mainland.

However, the above mentioned visa mechanisms China has issued for foreigners come with a batch of restrictions. For example, tourists who wish to use the 144-hour transit visa-free scheme are only given permission to visit certain cities in the vicinity of the port through which they entered China. JZ
Most people wouldnt dream of leaving Bali right before the eve of Nyepi, the March new years carnival of firecrackers and giant monster puppets, but Tony Fadell had a different party in mind.

Last month, he left his family on the Indonesian island and flew to Singapore, where he beamed as he high-fived the team running one of his investments, Impossible Foods Inc. The executives were there to commemorate their plant-based meat substitute making its way into dumplings and skewers in a handful of Singaporean restaurants, the latest step in Impossibles expansion into Asia.

Fadell, who oversaw the design of the iPod and iPhone and went on to co-found smart-thermostat maker Nest, had pride of place among the hubbub of investors and celebrity chefs.

He became an early convert and consigliere to Impossible five years ago, long before the Silicon Valley companys products could be found throughout Hong Kong and before Burger King announced the Impossible Whopper in the U.S. When he first invested, early attempts at the plantburger cost several hundred dollars to make.

Since then, the 50-year-old hardware pioneer has offered Impossible a steady stream of strategic advice and helped connect the company with potential investors and recruits, says Nick Halla, Impossibles senior vice president of international.

This is what its all about, Fadell says in an interview, the first about his 10 months (and counting) in Asia. Truly important things take a long time to create.

After three decades in Silicon Valley, Fadell moved his family to Paris in 2016, where he developed a European network for his investment portfolio, Future Shape. The company has funded more than 200 startups, and Fadell is looking to up that number in Asia, visiting a startup incubator in Hyderabad and biotech labs in Singapore.

A firsthand look at how Indonesians get by without bank accounts or credit cards led him to invest in financial technology startups he declined to name. Hes excited about an unnamed battery company, and evaluating startups that are trying to deal with Asias sea of plastic garbage.

But in China, the biggest venture market after the U.S., he finds it difficult to process the sheer number of startups and is avoiding direct investments.

China is completely different from the rest of the world, and my pattern-matching mechanism just doesnt work there, he says. So I just left that to experts over there.

Fadell discovered his wanderlust as a young employee of Apple spinoff General Magic in the early 1990s, when business trips to Sonys Tokyo headquarters took him outside North America for the first time. I was like, Whoa! he recalls. A few years later, he spent 16 weeks backpacking across Latin America, then traveled the Middle East in similar fashion. If you are a designer or entrepreneur, you have to see different ways of living, he says. Its the sights, sounds and smells that inspire you.

The engineer went on to fortune and glory at Apple, leaving in 2010 to start Nest, the maker of internet-connected thermostats and other devices. He formed Future Shape around the time he sold Nest to Google for USD3.2 billion in 2014.

Unlike typical venture capital firms, Future Shape runs entirely on Fadells moneya very healthy nine figures is as much as hell say. That means he can both act faster and be more patient than most comparably sized investors. Eric Gilmore, the founder of logistics-software startup Turvo Inc., says Fadell cut off his pitch with a characteristically loud Lets go! and got him a check within days. But thats not to say Fadell is careless. Founders hes backed describe him as extremely hands-on, with sometimes maniacal attention to detail. One says Fadell rewrites almost all of his startups press releases.

Fadell doesnt lead financing rounds or take board seats, but when hes in, hes all in. He pushes founders at all hours via email, phone, WhatsApp, and Skype. Heres a typically wide- ranging and rapid-fire email, sent to CashShield Chief Executive Officer Justin Lie in December:

What a great set of customer logos!How are your staffing plans coming along? Got some recruiter(s) yet?Product marketing and UI/UX any progress?Customer journey?Sales plans/strategy for 2019?Patent strategy?How was your team trip to Bali?

Lie and other founders in the Future Shape portfolio say they appreciate Fadells brotherly strictness, and that one of his most frequent questions is, How can I help? Often, that means working his Apple connections. Eric Almgren says Fadells contacts were key to getting Foxconn Technology Group and Samsung to partner with and invest in his data-transfer company, Keyssa.

Fadell, whose home base remains Paris for now, says hes trying to pass on the lessons he learned from Bill Campbell, a longtime Apple board member who died in 2016.

Bill always knew the right questions to ask at the right moment, he says. He had an infectious energy that enabled him to dig deep and have the tough conversations, but also helped you see the bigger picture. Which is another way of saying, dont worry if the burger costs a few hundred bucks to make todaythink about what it might be worth in a few years.Yoolim Lee, Bloomberg
The President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, arrived yesterday in the Macau Special Administrative Region. His agenda for today is very full, as he will be touring several locations and meeting with both the local authorities and the Portuguese officials in the region.

The agenda will open with a meeting with the Chief Executive (CE), Chui Sai On, to take place at the government headquarters at 11:30 a.m.

After that, de Sousa will meet the Portuguese Consul-General in the MSAR, Paulo Cunha Alves, for a lunch in the Portuguese Consulate, where he will also meet with other representatives of Portuguese community institutions and associations.

In the afternoon, de Sousa has a visit to the Macau Portuguese School scheduled before heading to a welcome dinner hosted by the Macau government at the MGM Macau, which will close the official visit programme.

The visit to Macau is part of the Portuguese Presidents visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese President Xi Jinping which commenced last Thursday.

Before Macau, de Sousa toured Beijing and Shanghai, participating in the second Belt and Road Forum from April 25 to 27, held in the Chinese capital.

The visit of de Sousa to Chinese territory is held ahead of the upcoming visit of Chui to Portugal later this month, when Macaus CE will make his last official visit in the capacity of Macau CE to Portugal between May 11 and 19.

During Chuis visit to Portugal, he will have meetings scheduled with de Sousa and also with the Premier, Antonio Costa.
Two U.S. warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, Taiwans defense ministry said Monday, in a move that Beijing said threatened to hinder U.S.-China relations.

The ministry said the ships made the passage on Sunday, sailing from south to north through the waterway that divides the self-governing island from mainland China.

Beijing frequently objects to the movement of foreign military vessels in the strait based on its claim to Taiwan as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.

Taiwans defense ministry said U.S. ships were free to sail through the Taiwan Strait as part of their strategic Indo-Pacific tasks. Despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, the U.S. is a key ally of Taiwan and provider of defensive weapons.

China has been increasingly willing to protest actions by foreign militaries in areas it considers its home waters or sphere of influence. That especially applies to the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, which China claims almost in its entirety.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Monday that China has expressed concern to the U.S. about the warships.

The U.S. should handle Taiwan-related issues prudently in order to avoid negatively impacting its relationship with China, Geng said, adding that the Taiwan issue is the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-U.S. relations.

Last week, Beijing complained to France about a French warship traversing the Taiwan Strait, and blamed British naval activity in the South China Sea for a downturn in bilateral relations.

Chinas defense ministry said the French warship entered its territorial waters, but Chinas recognition of the boundary between territorial and international waters is often blurred. China has sought to restrict the activities of foreign militaries in its surrounding waters and maintains its own interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which defines the rights and responsibilities of nations sailing the worlds oceans. AP
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday he hopes for substantial progress in talks with Chinese officials aimed at ending a tariff war over Beijings technology ambitions.

Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer were to have a working dinner and then meet today with Chinese negotiators to discuss the standoff between the two biggest global economies, which has rattled financial markets.

We hope to make substantial progress, Mnuchin told reporters.

The secretary said he wouldnt talk about specific issues but said, weve made a lot of progress.

A Chinese team is scheduled to visit Washington next week for another round of negotiations.

Mnuchin expressed hope Monday the two sets of talks will progress enough for U.S. officials to recommend to President Donald Trump whether to make a deal with Beijing.

President Donald Trump raised U.S. duties on USD250 billion of Chinese imports in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.

Washington is pressing China to scale back plans for government-led creation of globally competitive companies with advanced technologies in robotics and other fields. Beijings trading partners say such support violates its market-opening commitments.

Beijing has retaliated by raising import duties on $110 billion in U.S. goods.

Financial markets have been steadied by statements from both governments that they are making progress, but no formal agreements have been announced.

The negotiators are still discussing how to ensure that Beijing would adhere to whatever commitments it makes, and whether the Trump administration would keep tariffs on Chinese imports to maintain leverage over Beijing.

Mnuchin told Fox Business Network that an enforcement mechanism just needs a little bit of fine tuning.

U.S. officials and businesses assert that China has failed to keep past promises concerning its trade practices.

Trump also wants to narrow Americas huge trade deficit with China  $379 billion last year  by pressing Beijing to agree to accept more U.S. exports.

Critics worry any agreement might hurt other countries by shifting Chinese demand away from them. They also worry it might marginalize the World Trade Organization, which is meant to enforce global free trade rules for everybody. Sam McNeil, Beijing, AP
President Xi Jinping urged Chinas youth to maintain self-reliance in a nationalist-themed address to mark the 100th anniversary of a popular uprising against the governments failure to stop foreign interference.

Xi spoke before an audience of young Chinese in Beijing yesterday, ahead of the anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, during which college students led mass protests in the capital. The demonstrations were triggered by negotiations in France over how divvy up Germanys colonial possessions, with Chinese settlements such as the port of Qingdao  then Tsingtao  going to Japan.

Xi presented the ruling Communist Party as the legitimate heir to the aspirations of the May Fourth  and a China in which patriotism and revolutionary fervor are best channeled through the ruling party. The movement played a part in inspiring later protests, including the Tiananmen Square demonstrations 30 years ago.

The youth of the new era must maintain composure in the face of external temptations, uphold the rules, Xi told a crowd that including top party leaders at the Great Hall the People. Refuse to be opportunistic and stay away from thinking oneself too clever. Think about where your happiness comes from and understand how to repay it with a grateful heart. Thank the party, thank the country and thank society and the people.

Through the May Fourth Movement, the youth of China discovered their own power. The Chinese people and the Chinese nation discovered their own power, Xi said.

He added that the Chinese people have unprecedented confidence in their path, in their theory, in their system, and in their culture, a reference to the doctrine of self-confidence that has been part of his efforts to centralize power.

Xi is tightening his grip on power ahead of a series of politically sensitive anniversaries for the country. June 4 will mark 30 years since the bloody Tiananmen massacre, whose commemoration will be prohibited. The 70th anniversary of Mao Zedongs founding of the Peoples Republic of China, in October, will be widely celebrated.

KEY ANNIVERSARY

The student-led movement against the Treaty of Versailles talks helped inspired future communist revolutionaries including a young Mao and Zhou Enlai, and modeled the kind of grassroots patriotism the party has long hoped to inculcate in the countrys youth.

But spontaneous student protests are hardly something the government wants to encourage just a month before the anniversary of Tiananmen, which saw tanks quash student-led calls for democracy. The party has spent almost three decades teaching the virtues of patriotism after launching a patriotic education campaign in the aftermath of Tiananmen.

In his speech, Xi called on young Chinese to integrate their narrow conceptions of themselves into a broader conception of the nation.

Chinas youth must continue to uphold the spirit of May Fourth and take the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation as their duty, Xi said. Bloomberg
Jurors are considering the interior piece first at an open meeting on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the YMCA on Cottage Grove Road.
Students at Wright Middle School were formally recognized by the Madison School Board on Monday for their success at the 25th annual African American History Academic Challenge.

The contest, which is sponsored by the group 100 Black Men of Madison, saw teams of students from across the district compete to see who knew the most African American history. The winning group from Wright will compete in June at the national level in Las Vegas.

Teams from Cherokee and Whitehorse middle schools finished second and third in the regional challenge, respectively.

Its not the first time Madison students have dominated the competition. Wright is currently the defending national champion. Spring Harbor Middle School won the 2017 competition, according to Floyd Rose, president of the 100 Black Men of Madison chapter.

Madison-based teams have won the national competition seven times in the last 25 years.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Dane County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan have both said that the south tower option is the most cost effective.

The Public, Protection & Judiciary; Public Works & Transportation; and Personnel & Finance committees will review the jail renovations options in the coming weeks. To move forward, the board will need to vote on a budget amendment, which would likely occur in June.

At the Committee of the Whole on Thursday, supervisors will have time to ask questions, but there is no public comment time scheduled. There will be public committee in committees and when the budget change comes before the full board for a vote.

Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.
Like it or not, cashless stores are coming, editorializes the Racine Journal Times. The paper comments that while some consumers are rebelling against stores that won't take good, old American cash, the writing's on the wall, so get used to it.

Two of the Wisconsin Legislature's more conservative senators, Tom Tiffany and Duey Stroebel, team up on a column that is running in WisOpinion, to decry Wisconsin's much ballyhooed stewardship program as a hidden tax on the state's citizens. The two, not noted for their environmental views, claim the program, begun by Republican Warren Knowles and fostered by Democrat Gaylord Nelson, has bought too much land and we can't afford it.
OAK CREEK  Standing in front of pictures of some of the six Sikhs killed in the Aug. 5, 2012, shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers delivered a proclamation designating April as Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month during a Tuesday morning visit to the temple.

Almost seven years after the tragedy here, Sikhs are working to enhance their national visibility as states across the country, including California, Delaware, New Jersey and Indiana have made similar dedications, with Wisconsin being the latest to join that group.

I am honored to be here with you to present a proclamation that the State of Wisconsin is committed to better understand, recognize and appreciate the rich history and shared experiences of Sikh Americans, Evers said.

The proclamation honors the estimated 500,000 American Sikhs and 30 million worldwide, the 130-year history of Sikhism in America and the 550th birthday of Guru Nanak, Sikhisms founder. Oak Creeks temple, 7512 S. Howell Ave. (Highway 38), is one of two Sikh temples in the Milwaukee area; the other is in Brookfield.

While our state and our country still have much left to do to create a culture of mutual understanding, the message has always been very clear: We are one, Evers said. The Oak Creek community is a great reminder of how we have the capacity to show up each day with love, courage, perseverance  even when that seems impossible.

After speaking, Evers took his shoes off and donned a religious head cover. Temple leaders then led him around the building for a tour. He was shown the altar and boards chronicling Sikhs in American and worldwide society. He also sampled some food from the temples kitchen, which was serving up dishes including beans, rice and meat, as well as desserts.

Tragedy remains relevant today

For Jaspreet Kaleka of Greendale, whose father-in-law Satwant Singh Kaleka was killed in the 2012 attack, Evers visit and proclamation offered a chance to elevate conversations about targeted hate crimes, such as those that have rocked the nation in the months and years since the Oak Creek attack. Just this past Saturday, a gunman stormed a synagogue in Poway, Calif., killing one woman and wounding three.

The suspected shooter is a 19-year-old white supremacist.

Every April now (after Evers proclamation), when the younger generations are going to school, I think at least theres something to talk about with their friends because its still happening  even in middle and high schools, Kaleka said. People are being targeted, and that doesnt seem OK, especially (because) were in 2020 almost. Thats crazy that were still dealing with things that should have ended hundreds of years ago.

Sikhs have been targeted for decades, partly because of some Americans misperceptions about people wearing turbans, said Dr. Kulwant Dhaliwal, chairman of the temples Board of Trustees. During the 1970s and 80s, Americans saw foreign adversaries such as Irans Ayatollah Khomeini and Al-Qaedas Osama bin Laden on the TV all the time and associated turbans with terrorism, Dhaliwal, a retired allergist from Mount Pleasant, said.

We realized that we have an identity problem, and we want to tell the American people who Sikhs really are  educate them about Sikhs and Sikhism, he said. This proclamation is really part of that.

Jim Santelle was the U.S. attorney for Wisconsins Eastern District from 2010-15 and oversaw the FBI office investigating the Oak Creek temple shooting. He said outreach helps close the gap of ignorance.

Even though the messages are out there about continuing to understand that everyone is a part of the community, we still have those people out there we need to reach, Santelle said.

Further awareness

Looking to the future, Kaleka said she wants to see April become Sikh Awareness and Appreciation Month nationwide, not just for the states that currently celebrate it.

But in southeastern Wisconsin, the Sikhs have found some of the visibility they seek nationwide. In Racines 2017 Fourth Fest parade, the Sikh temple had a float, led by Dhaliwal. Along the route, the Sikhs received thunderous cheers and standing ovations from the crowd.

On the fifth anniversary of the shooting, the temple hosted a weekend filled with events to remember the lives lost in the attack. Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz said at the time that the citys residents, despite the tragedy, had become closer and more diverse.

That understanding and support in Oak Creek had a ripple effect across the state, Dhaliwal said, but work must continue.

Its very difficult to change the minds of adults, so we are hoping that maybe at the school level  if the campaign starts at the school level when they are still open to opinions suggestions  in a generation it will be better, he said. But its an ongoing process, and we keep doing it wherever we can.
From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by SSM Health
Two Edgewood High School students' science project will be launched into space Wednesday to take residence in the International Space Station.

Seniors Kristin Kiley and Joana Pashaj won a state competition to grow the biggest and highest quality crystal last year, and their project was chosen to be continued on the space station while in orbit.

Kiley and Pashaj worked with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space and the UW-Madison Molecular Structure Laboratory to devise an experiment to be done at the station based on the optimum growing conditions for their crystal.

Kiley and Pashaj will be comparing the resulting crystal grown in the micro-gravity of the space station compared to the crystal formed on Earth.

The project will travel to the space station on the Falcon X rocket, launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Edgewood College business ethics professor Denis Collins, 63, was eligible for the buyout. He turned it down because he plans to work three more years before retiring.

Its change and change is hard, he said. Were being challenged to respond to economic issues in a compassionate and humane way. The challenge is not how you do this when times are good but when the times are bad and do you continue to live up to your core values?

Collins, who serves on the colleges faculty affairs committee, commended administrators for seeking faculty input throughout the process.

Flanagan said he anticipates enrollment for next fall to decline, though by how much is unclear at this point.

Administrators plan over the next few years to phase out the smallest course sections in which other sections of the same course are still offered.

But for many students, the draw to campus is specifically because of its small class sizes.

Flanagan said that in his conversations with students, many told him that 15 to 20 students was an ideal class size, so bringing sections up to that range would not change the universitys mission.

Its still smaller than at a lot of high schools, he said. We think we can still deliver on our promise for small class sizes.

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Scholz declined to address specifics of the case on Tuesday, as well as a follow-up question by Christoph on where he received his information about the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and whether he reached out to any of the women making allegations.

No support was ever extended to victims  only complete silence, Christoph said after the presentation. The people of the UW need and deserve better than this. Its appalling.

Emily Reynolds, another women who questioned Scholz, says she experienced and witnessed daily instances of harassment in the department when she worked there. She moved to a different campus office in 2016.

I am concerned that the way Dean Scholz handled sexual harassment in that department shows that he is not adequately prepared or equipped to thoroughly, carefully and thoughtfully deal with major problems like sexism and bullying, even though being a watchdog for these issues is part of what the provost does, she said.

Scholz thanked the women during the presentation for their questions and for their courage in coming forward. He tried to talk to them afterward but they declined, saying he had years before the presentation to do so.
Building on a new site and renovating the Public Safety Building would cost about $164.5 million, with staffing costs of $41.4 million a year.

Renovating both the Public Safety Building and the jail in the City-County Building as well as building a facility on another site would cost about $161 million, with staffing costs of $45.9 million.

Of these options, it looks like building the tower (at the Public Safety Building) is the best option, County Board Chairwoman Sharon Corrigan said.

Building a tower connected to the Public Safety Building would keep the jail next to the county courthouse, allowing for easier transportation of inmates to court, and its Downtown location would make it easier for work-release inmates and visitors to access public transportation.

Mahoney last week said he wants the county to consolidate all jail services into one facility but said he didnt have a preference on whether that site was the Public Safety Building or a new site.
In this week's political podcast  click the play button above to listen  Milfred and Hands play clips from the president's rally in Green Bay last weekend, debunking his bluster while assessing his chances against the Democrats in 2020.

Donald Trump talks a big game, but he barely squeaked out a victory in Wisconsin in 2016 against Hillary Clinton, and will have a hard time repeating. A big part of his problem is that his self-adoring hyperbole doesn't match facts on the ground across our state.

Center Stage: Is Dane County a 'sanctuary' for undocumented immigrants? In this week's political podcast, Milfred and Hands play clips from Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney talking about his three trips to the Oval Office to discuss immigration with Republican President Donald Trump. Mahoney, a Democrat who faced no opposition in last fall's election, denies he's a 'sanctuary sheriff,' though he doesn't cater to federal immigration officials at his jail.
An adult and a juvenile were taken to St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center after a motorcycle and SUV crashed into each other near Harrison Street and Orchard Drive. The two injured people were riding the motorcycle, police said; the occupants of the SUV were not injured.
Idaho Gives events

Stanton Healthcare at Twin Beans

7:15 a.m., Twin Beans Coffee Co., 144 Main Ave. South, Twin Falls

Twin Falls School District Education Foundation at Milner's Gate

7 p.m., Milner's Gate, 205 Shoshone St. N., Twin Falls

Stanton Healthcare at KOTO Brewing

4:30 - 10 p.m., KOTO Brewing Company, 156 Main Ave. W. Twin Falls

Make a donation and receive a token for a free beer.

Voices Against Violence at Yellow Brick Cafe

9 a.m., Yellow Brick Cafe, 136 Main Ave W, Twin Falls

The cafe will donate 25% of sales to Voices Against Violence.

Idaho Gives "Yappy Hour"

5 - 7 p.m., Mountain Humane, 101 Croy Creek Road, Hailey

Mountain Humane is kicking off their monthly Yappy Hour event series by hosting a collaborative Idaho Gives celebration with their friends from Higher Ground, The Hunger Coalition, Sawtooth Botanical Garden and the Wood River Land Trust.

A donation of $10 or more to any participating non-profit includes a complimentary drink and a raffle ticket for each gift you make. Enjoy a cocktail from Yappy Hour sponsor Party Animal Vodka.
JEROME  Jerome Fire Chief Jeremy Presnell has turned in his resignation.

Presnell was placed on paid administrative leave March 6, City Administrator Mike Williams told the Times-News. Hes been on paid leave ever since, and his last day was April 30.

Jerome Mayor Dave Davis had previously declined to disclose the reasons for the leave because it was a personnel issue. In a press release issued Wednesday, the city of Jerome said Presnell is pursuing other professional opportunities.

We thank Jeremy for his 10 years of service to the City of Jerome and wish him well in his future endeavors, Davis said in a statement.

Presnell has been with the Jerome Fire Department since 2008, staring as a firefighter/engineer. He also held the positions of fire captain and deputy fire chief before becoming the departments chief in 2018.

Presnell earned a bachelors degree in fire science from Columbia Southern University, has multiple fire and rescue certifications and finished his masters degree in public administration earlier this year.

Deputy Chief Mike Harrison will serve as the acting fire chief until a replacement is selected.

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SHOSHONE  A man died Tuesday evening after the pickup truck he was driving was struck by a train west of Shoshone.

The Shoshone Police Department said it responded to an injury crash at 6:45 p.m. at the railroad crossing on West Pole Line Road near Arkoosh Road. Upon arrival, law enforcement determined that the white Chevrolet pickup had been hit by a Union Pacific Railroad train. Police and emergency responders found the male driver of the truck, who had died at the scene.

The incident is still being investigated and next of kin has been notified. The conductor and engineer on the train were not injured, and the train did not derail. Police have not released names of the people involved.

The Shoshone Police Department and Lincoln County Sheriffs Office were assisted by the Gooding County Sheriffs Office because of the crash location at the Gooding County/Lincoln County border.

Also responding were Idaho State Police, Lincoln County EMS, Shoshone City & Rural Fire, the Lincoln County Coroner and the Union Pacific Railroad.

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TWIN FALLS  Matt Sandberg has been named publisher of the Times-News and the Elko Daily Free Press in Nevada.

Sandberg most recently was director of marketing and innovation for Swift Communications in Frisco, Colo. He served as publisher of the Summit Daily News and Ski Hi News in Frisco from 2010 to 2016. He previously was director of sales for the Vail Daily and Summit Daily News in Vail, Colo. He began his career in publishing as a sales consultant with the Summit Daily News in 2003.

Matt is a creative, high-energy executive with a strong record of success in our industry, said Lee Vice President and Group Publisher Nathan Bekke. Im confident the Times-News and Daily Free Press will continue to provide great service to the Twin Falls and Elko communities under his leadership.

The Times-News also publishes two weekly papers, the Mini-Cassia Voice and the Magic Valley Messenger.

Sandberg is a youth literacy advocate and supporter of youth journalism programs. He holds a bachelors of science in visual communications from Westwood College. He and his wife, Shannon, have two children.

Despite his corporate attire, Sandberg is a farm boy at heart. As a young boy growing up in Nebraska, he raised a grand champion pig  and still smiles about it.

I grew up in the cabs of Massey Ferguson tractors, Sandberg said Wednesday.

He said hes already had time to marvel at the variety of farm implement dealerships in town.

He and his wife were both impressed by Twin Falls sense of community.

Its a vibrant, growing city, he said.

But the scenic outdoors just outside of Twin Falls is what cinched the deal for the couple.

Shoshone Falls literally took my wifes breath away, Sandberg said.

And the Snake River Canyon?

Pretty spectacular.

As an avid winter sports fan, Sandberg is looking forward to seeing snow in the hills but not in his driveway.

He succeeds Kevin Kampman, who left the company in March.

Im excited to join the talented teams in Twin Falls and Elko and look forward to becoming a part of these vibrant communities, Sandberg said.

The Times-News and Elko Daily Free Press have an outstanding history of service. Im eager to begin meeting readers, along with civic and business leaders, and share our passion to provide exceptional value and exceed expectations in all facets of our business.

The Times-News and Elko Daily Free Press are owned by Lee Enterprises, which has newspapers in 50 markets across the country.

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June 27, 1966April 24, 2019

Sarah Louise Bill-Ball passed away peacefully on April 24th at 8:34 PM in Wilder, Idaho. Sarah was in the comfort of her home, and in the presence of her family. She was 52 years old. Sarah was born June 27th, 1966, in Burley, Idaho, to Leo Leon Bill, and Loretta June Bill. She was the youngest of seven children.

Surviving Sarah is her loving husband, Richard Ball, and her children, Jodean, Cassie, Sandy, Jessica, Kasen, Eric, Katie and Jaelynn, as well as many grandchildren, whom she adored. She was preceded in death by her two boys Derek and Donald, her father Leo, and her sisters Becky and Ruthie.

Sarah graduated Minico High school in 1985. She was a brilliant woman, who aspired to help as many children as she could. She went to the University of Phoenix and was on her way to obtaining her associate degree in psychology.

Sarah worked hard every single day of her life. Whether at her job, being a mother, or at school, she did her utmost best. She worked several jobs and had many skills. In the years prior to learning of her illness, Sarah worked as a wild land firefighter. She loved working alongside heroes, and she loved being able to help protect the land and homes from further damage. Afterwards, she focused on her education.

As much as Sarah worked hard, she played harder. Sarah loved to draw, paint, and write. She had painted large murals for businesses and had written many poems and books, which she was planning to get published. She also loved doing arts and crafts with her children and grandchildren. She created many fond memories for the children who were privileged enough to know her. Easter, her favorite holiday, was the best one for sharing her love of art. She made it a competition to decorate eggs, and had every single child involved, no matter their age. There was never a dull moment if Sarah was involved.

Kindhearted and determined, she was always willing to help those who needed help. She was such an amazing caregiver; she was a nurse to her brother, and a teacher to her children and all those who knew her. She encouraged every person she came in contact with to live life with love and courage, and to live to the fullest. She lit up the room with her presence. It wasnt uncommon to hear people refer to Sarah as Sarah the angel or Sarah the sweetheart. She wanted to bring a little light to the world, and she did. Sarah will be missed. The world will be a little darker without her here, but as she would remind us if she could, we will all be together again someday.

A viewing for family and friends will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at the Hansen Mortuary in Rupert, Idaho. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, 2019 also at Hansen Mortuary. Burial will take place in the Paul Cemetery immediately following the funeral service. Arrangements are under the direction of Joel Heward Hansen Mortuary.
Pun intended.

Thursdays Business Day Breakfast hosted by the Twin Falls Chamber of Commerce featured Governor Brad Little as keynote speaker. After hearing about two Lifetime Achievement Awards and the annual Person(s) of the year award, attendees were convinced that our community is blessed with people, some of whom own or work for local businesses, who are interested in the well-being of all the residents in our community. Governor Little followed on with kudos for successful initiatives he has been a part of. He singled out the college of Southern Idaho and Pres. Jeff fox for mention about many of them.

Governor Little spoke about the areas where he is making improvements in the life of people in Idaho. All of these are clustered around a goal of making Idaho a place where our kids will want to stay as adults or return to when their other adventures are over. I approved of all the areas he spoke about (any difference is in the details of execution), but I am very enthusiastic about one in particular.

Little spoke about something that has many parts and is hard to find language to summarize. He settled on Confidence in Government. Complaining about a government at all levels or, for that matter, the management of a company, is an American pastime. Our Declaration of Independence leads us to believe that we have the right, and the Constitution implies the duty, to speak out about governments faults. However, in the minds of some, these faults have been combined into reasons to distrust government absolutely. He told us that his number one charge to his administrators is to do the thing most likely to be seen as listening to the public regardless of inconvenience to the department This, I believe includes transparency, empathy, and good old customer service.

He spoke of something else which pertains to Government Confidence while talking about developing or growing a business. It was a suggestion that one point of contact for situations involving many permits, licenses, and bits of information is an answer to making business growth less burdensome. Idaho is already doing some of that with the Health and Welfare department. There are now social workers (navigators) who are tasked with taking on the whole person (or family) and rounding up the bundle of social support available to them to get them onto their feet. All of us who have ever had to put together a group of people or a collection of facts to advance a project can appreciate the wisdom of this.

He also spoke about the need to move production to consumer. I would also add the need to move supplies to the producer. He was talking about transportation infrastructure. He insisted that there should be a reliable amount of funding for transportation every year. He did not talk about tax revenue, and I would. I have lived in Idaho for 15 years, and there has never been enough revenue to fund our transportation infrastructure. Increased taxes are the only method for getting the revenue needed.

Just as property tax has different mill levys, why not designate an (increased) percentage of income and/or other taxes toward roads bridges and public transportation? Business, I believe, should shoulder a bigger burden because good transportation benefits them directly. Gov Little mentioned the number of bridges needed to cross our canal systems. Perhaps canal companies should pay and pass the costs on to the farmers and homeowners who use canal water. Idaho should investigate some high-speed rail, including (gasp) rails through the wilderness in order to bring us closer together. I believe that a combination of extra vehicle registration fees, user fees, and municipalities contributing in order to be connected along with long term bonding would pay for it. The federal government could grant the easements to lay the track over government property.

In response to my question, the governor mentioned that there is now a high-speed internet task force. This pretty much cinched my impression of our governor as someone who is doing a credible job, and I can say is the best governor I did not vote for. Now, the Lt. Governor is another story for another column.

Linda Brugger retired from the Air Force and is a former chairwoman of the Twin Falls County Democrats.

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Acting Idaho Gov. Janice McGeachin observed the 24th anniversary of the bombing at Oklahoma City on April 19 by encouraging the ideology that sparked it.

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and injuring more than 680. It remains the nations deadliest act of domestic terrorism.

McVeigh justified his actions by saying he hoped to wake Americans up to the tyranny of government.

His ideological heirs are a group of self-styled extremists calling themselves the Three Percenters  militia-minded types who have declared the same credo: When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.

In other words, they alone define when the government has become tyrannical; they alone decide when to take up arms against it.

Among that group would be Eric Parker of Hailey, who struck a snipers pose from an overpass, aiming an assault rifle toward law enforcement officers during the 2014 Bunkerville, Nev., standoff between federal agents and public lands grazer Cliven Bundy. Parker served 18 months in federal custody.

Although some need no encouragement toward insurrection, McGeachin offered it anyway by presiding over a rally outside the Idaho Capitol.

Perhaps the most egregious rhetoric came from Rep. Chad Christensen, R-Ammon, who observed: the greatest enemies of the Constitution are not to be found in the sands of some far-off land, but rather right here at home.

But Christensen is merely a freshman House backbencher who lacks the ability to compose a single original sentence. He apparently lifted his remarks wholesale from anti-government activist and radio host Adam Kokesh.

McGeachin, on the other hand, is the duly elected lieutenant governor, who serves as Idahos acting chief executive whenever Gov. Brad Little leaves the state.

When he did so briefly Friday, McGeachin used her fleeting moment of authority to administer an oath of office to the Three Percenters.

But not just any oath of office.

She read from the oath administered to National Guard members, in which they swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States ... against all enemies, foreign and domestic, ... that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. ... So help me God.

The Three Percenters hold no military or civil office in the state.

Exclaimed Idahos acting chief executive: Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, indeed.

McGeachin conveniently omitted most of the text  including a critical clause of the oath that obligates a person to obey orders of the president of the United States and the governor of the state of Idaho.

Let that settle in. The acting governor of Idaho on a day of unmistakable significance edited a service persons oath of office in such a way to convey the states approval toward rising up against enemies, foreign and domestic without answering to civilian authority or any outside authority.

Who knows who was listening or what lesson they learned?

One can only hope they take McGeachin no more seriously than she deserves to be  but in this environment, thats more of a prayer than a realistic expectation.

Idaho is no stranger to such outrageous official misbehavior. A quarter-century ago, it was the late former Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth-Hage, who responded to Oklahoma City by criticizing those in Congress who didnt understand the grievances among anti-government activists.

But this is becoming a pattern for McGeachin. Earlier this year, she made a point of showcasing her support for Boundary County resident Todd C. Engel  who is serving 14 years in prison for brandishing an assault rifle at federal officers at Bunkerville  with two Three Percenters.

As the Post Register noted, at least one of the bodyguards who accompanied her to a public television debate last fall was wearing a Three Percenter tattoo.

What she does on her own time and with her own office is a matter between McGeachin and the voters.

But only Little can extend the prestige of his office to her. Any time Little leaves the state, the powers and duties of the chief executive transfer down the chain of command. First in line is Idahos No. 2.

Obviously, McGeachin has proved herself unfit.

So what does Little have to say about this? Its been nearly a week since the Statehouse rally. Does McGeachin speak for him?

If not, why has he remained silent?

More than that, Little needs to guarantee there will be no recurrence.

Even if it means limiting his travel out of state, Little cannot leave Idaho in McGeachins treacherous hands.  M.T.

Marty Trillhaase is the opinion editor of the Lewiston Tribune, where this editorial originally appeared.

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Illustration of a banquet for the town fiesta in Santa Cruz hosted by the parish priest, 1881. From Luzon and Palawan, Marche.





A good rice harvest in those days actually meant considerable exportation of the staple food to Manila and Tayabas (Quezon Province). Marinduque in those days also had the reputation of producing the finest abaca in the country. Livestock was likewise exported to Manila and fish abound in the island waters.





Some of these were entered into his journal by Alfred Antoine-Marche, the French traveler and explorer who is reputed to have undertaken the first systematic excavation of precolonial artifacts in the Philippines. In Marinduque he excavated a lot of these including precolonial gold. One that would eventually lead to present-day speculations (some insistent that they're no longer speculations but fact), on what this remarkable island was all-about in the beginning.





Marche timed his visit to Santa Cruz as the whole town was preparing for the town fiesta (May 3, 1881). He wrote:

At Santa Cruz they lodged us, my two friends and me, in the most beautiful house of the town, and invitations rained on us-invitations to dinner, to dance.

I had travelled through a great part of Luzon; everywhere I have found the population, Indian women and mestizas, inclined to dance and to entertain, but on the island of Marinduque this double passion was carried to the extreme. Life is easy there. The soil, prodigiously generous, amply gives the necessary rice, even during the bad years, and during the good ones it produces enough rice to permit its considerable exportation to Manila and Tayabas.

Abaca, cultivated on the side of the mountains, is the finest, the longest in all of the Philippines. Sugarcane thrives there; wood for construction, for cabinetwork and for dyeing, abound there, the meadows are savory there and their livestock are exported to Manila; the sea abounds in fish; in short, whoever wants to move his ten fingers a little, lives there "in clover." It is a real land of plenty.

Holy Cross Parish in Santa, Cruz, Marinduque. Happy Town Fiesta on May 3.

Photo credit: Seller Nolos





 The next day was the feast of the town. After the religious ceremony at the church, a procession attended by all the faithful went through the streets of the town, adorned with canopies of greenery and garlands of flowers. In the evening, a big banquet was given by the parish priest of Santa Cruz. He was the son of a Frenchman and a Spanish woman, but he did not know a word of the paternal language. He also had his collection, from which he was willing to deduct a few shells for me..





"In clover", enjoying a life of money and comfort. Marche's journal has been praised and criticized. Some say it was written "to capitalize upon the romantic craving of nineteenth century Europe for popular accounts of exotic land and bizarre customs." Marche's journal has been praised and criticized. Some say it was written "to capitalize upon the romantic craving of nineteenth century Europe for popular accounts of exotic land and bizarre customs."





Nevertheless, his excavation on the island of Marinduque of burial caves endowed with skeletons and artifacts including pre-Hispanic gold has engendered some reader interest. No wonder some of it eventually became part of the historically intriguing exhibition, Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms in New York.





And were just starting to share a snippet of this very long, extremely compelling narrative.





Speaking of gold...









In a book found in Spain entitled Collecion General de Documentos Relativos a las Islas Filipinas, the author has described how to locate Ophir. According to the section "Document No. 98", dated 1519-1522, Ophir can be found by travelling from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, to India, to Burma, to Sumatra, to Moluccas, to Borneo, to Sulu, to China, then finally Ophir. Ophir was said to be "[...] in front of China towards the sea, of many islands where the Moluccans, Chinese, and Lequios met to trade..." Jes Tirol asserts that this group of islands could not be Japan because the Moluccans did not get there, nor Taiwan, since it is not composed of "many islands." Only the present-day Philippines, he says, could fit the description. Spanish records also mention the presence of Lequious (big, bearded white men, probably descendants of the Phoenicians, whose ships were always laden with gold and silver) in the Islands to gather gold and silver. Other evidence has also been pointed out suggesting that the Philippines was the biblical Ophir. Link

And one day soon this will lead you to...









(Music)

Gold

Always believe in your soul

You've got the power to know

You're indestructible, always believe in, 'cos you are

Gold

I'm glad that you're bound to return

There's something I could have learned
Glimpse into the left side of a human skull, about 1651. Credit: Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013

In an age of modern anatomy atlases and freely available online body-browsers, Leonardo da Vinci's drawings of organs and body parts done with quill, ink and red chalk may strike us as aesthetically pleasing, yet antiquated. Nevertheless, almost everyone in Germany carries a reproduction of his famous Vitruvian Man with them  on their health insurance card. Alessandro Nova, Director at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, on the other hand, explores Leonardo's work in the light of the scientific knowledge it generates.

Anyone who examines Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings will probably first ask themselves to what extent the detailed studies correlate to today's state of medical knowledge. The depictions seem all too familiar, hardly deviating from the way we see things today.

Yet it is important to note that Leonardo was a pioneer in this area and wasn't able to refer to anything even approximating such graphic visualizations of the inner workings of the human body. Medical-historical research has already extensively compared the knowledge that Leonardo garnered in his day with that of today's anatomical information, just as his specific morphological and physiological discoveries have long been fully appreciated. The extensive inventory of drawings has also been philologically classified and sub-divided into anatomical units such as skeletal system, musculature, nervous system and circulatory system, as well as into today's established systems, which had not yet been identified in Leonardo's day. In short, it can be said that the anatomical studies have since been well researched.

But perhaps it was just that that motivated Alessandro Nova, Director at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz since 2006, to take a fresh look at the drawings, not so much by examining their results, but by pursuing the question of what role the process of drawing, the genuine artistic act, played in the generation of scientific knowledge.

Veiled in the shadow of ignorance

Giorgio Vasari (1511 to 1574), who paid tribute to numerous Renaissance artists with comprehensive biographies, also turned his attention to Leonardo's anatomical studies and shed light on his association with the physician and anatomy professor Marcantonio della Torre (1481 to 1511). According to Vasari, "he was one of the first that began to illustrate the problems of medicine with the doctrine of Galen, and to throw true light on anatomy, which up to that time had been veiled in the thick and gross shadow of ignorance. And in this he found marvelous aid in the brain, work and hand of Leonardo, who made a sketchbook with drawings in red chalk retouched in pen and ink: the bodies that he dissected with his own hand were drawn with the greatest diligence."

Less is more: In drawing the female organs and vascular system, Leonardo left out the stomach and intestine. Credit: Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013

Leonardo was at the height of his anatomical research when he met della Torre in Pavia around 1510. The artist had turned his attention to anatomy as early as 1487 in Milan  something that would occupy him for the rest of his life. In the beginning, his investigations into traditional medical knowledge played an important role, at least as far as he was able to tap into such information. After all, it must be borne in mind that Leonardo was self-taught in this area, and could read neither Latin nor Greek. In his day, he was considered to be a man without a classical education, which made it much more difficult for him to gain access to the academic world.

This was especially the case with the work of Galen of Pergamon (129 to 199 A.D.), whose doctrines went unchallenged back then. It has been proven that Leonardo's library contained a copy of Johannes de Ketham's Fasciculus Medicinae, whose illustrations could at least visually con-vey Galen's teachings before an Italian edition was published in 1495. When Leonardo carried out his first corpse dissections, his goal was to understand and verify the centuries-old views of the Greek anatomist and physician; however, his meticulous autopsies brought him increasingly into conflict with this handed-down knowledge. A challenging situation arose, which from then on would also be reflected in Leonardo's drawings. The contradictions he encountered spurred him on to create his own illustrated work that could record his observations and that was ultimately intended to convey no less than a new understanding of the human body.

Virtuosity with chalk, pen and silverpoint

Leonardo's encounter with della Torre twenty years later was an important experience for both of them. Leonardo benefited from the exchange with a scientist who had a command of the terminology and rules of the field. Della Torre, on the other hand, was able to make good use of the artist's extraordinary skills as a draftsman. "However, it would be incorrect to reduce Leonardo's role to that of an artist who simply placed his eye and hand at della Torre's disposal," says Alessandro Nova, whose research picks up here. For, although none of Leonardo's contemporaries was as adept at drawing with a pen and silverpoint or with black and red chalk as Leonardo was, his anatomical works are anything but an exact mimetic recording of the reality that would have presented itself to anyone who took a close look at the dissected corpses. "Their graphic clarity stems, rather, from an enormous intellectual capacity that previously systematized and grasped that which he observed," emphasizes Nova. "I call this a 'manipulation of the visual data' or the 'constructed view'. Leonardo masterfully interwove various techniques with each other, such as the assembling of sever-al views to form a new image, the magnification, separation or dismantling of details, and the simplification or fragmentation of physicality to the benefit of a transparent figure."

Leonardo's drawing of the female organs, for instance, which he completed shortly before his encounter with della Torre, is an ingenious construction that, although it would never be found in reality, nevertheless conveys an image of the morphology and functioning of the female body in a precision that had not existed until then. Leonardo gave due consideration to the graphic figurative modes: while he drew the uterus as transparent, he depicted the windpipe three-dimensionally and fully formed. In contrast, he rendered the heart in a sectional view, and the digestive organs, like the stomach and intestine, he left out completely in favor of a clearer arrangement. This example clearly shows  and this holds true for most of Leonardo's anatomical drawings  that they are stylized representations and that it is their high degree of abstraction that ensures their compelling readability to this day.

In the sketch that shows the brachial plexus and muscle strength, for the sake of clarity, Leonardo refrained from showing the surrounding bones. Credit: Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013

Clarity through the art of omission

In order to illustrate the musculature of the foot and lower leg, Leonardo also made use of the art of omission and simply extracted the entire skeleton, as this would have obscured the structure and organization of the muscles and tendons. By disassembling the spine into its individual parts, he graphically illustrated their structure, which would otherwise have had to be explained at great length. To this end, he enlarged certain bones disproportionately to emphasize their particular functionality; with others, he considered it necessary to show them from various perspectives to facilitate understanding from all sides. "Leonardo himself explained: 'Through this tersest way of drawing from various perspectives, one provides full and true knowledge of them,'" says Alessandro Nova, quoting the artist and scholar.

This methodical understanding can already be seen in Leonardo's early anatomical drawings, like the skull studies from 1489. Only the combination of depictions from different perspectives, for example the orthogonal projection and the top view, can provide the viewer with a comprehensive and informative image of the inner workings of the skull. The drawing is thus not a portrayal of the skull, but a symbol that can't be seen in this form in reality. Furthermore, Nova can convincingly attest to the model-like character of such an assembly by comparing Leonardo's sectional drawings of the central structure of a domed church: "He adapted the methods of depiction that he was familiar with from his work as an artist for his anatomical studies."

In the company of quartered corpses

Incidentally, in a new preface to his anatomy treatise in 1509, Leonardo listed what he considered to be the necessary requirements for modern anatomical drawings. "In the process, he explicitly points out that it requires much more than expert draftsmanship," says Nova with a grin, in light of Leonardo's apparent foresight, and goes on to quote Leonardo's words: "But though possessed of an interest in the subject, you may perhaps be deterred by natural repugnance, or if this does not restrain you, then perhaps by the fear of passing the night hours in the company of these corpses, quartered and flayed, and horrible to behold. And if this does not deter you, then perhaps you may lack the skill in drawing essential for such representation, and even if you possess this skill it may not be combined with a knowledge of perspective, while if it is so combined you may not be versed in the methods of geometrical demonstration, or the methods of estimating the forces and power of the muscles; or you may perhaps be found wanting in patience so that you will not be diligent."

The perspectival studies of the anatomy of the foot and the transparent depiction of the lower leg and foot musculature bear witness to da Vincis extraordinary talent as a draftsman. Credit: Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013

Drawing is a cognitive act for Leonardo

Leonardo thus deliberately edited his drawings and constantly worked on improving the forms of representation. As a natural scientist, he penetrated the surface of the body, delving into the interior while dissecting it. As an artist, through the medium of diagrams, he again returned to the body as a whole, which he pieced together anew from the information he considered important. His drawing features a density of information that could never have been gleaned from a single autopsy. Only several dissections finally generated the "data" that flowed into a collective representation and yielded the overall image. As a result, by pondering over the way to arrive at the best depiction, Leonardo simultaneously attained a deeper understanding of the object. "As such, for him, drawing is not a reproductive, but a cognitive act," explains Hana Grundler, who is working with Alessandro Nova on this project. "In his drawings, Leonardo doesn't simply represent "fixed" knowledge. It is rather the act of drawing itself that sets free renewed reflec-tions about what is being drawn. This, in turn, leads to a modified view of the research object." Grundler continues: "The processuality in the acquisition and generation of knowledge also becomes visible in the numerous correc-tions and improvements that have been identified in the drawings."

New observations versus ancient knowledge

Of course, Leonardo's research began with nature studies, which are what gave him cause time and again to un-dertake the complex efforts required for performing autopsies, whether in Milan, Florence or Rome. Through empirical studies, he succeeded in revising traditional scientific representations, and a brief look at the illustrations in Ketham's book is all it takes to appreciate the progress in Leonardo's drawings, which denote a new epoch in the history of the depiction of the human body. "However, on occasion, he didn't completely break with tradition," stresses Nova, citing the studies in which Leonardo and della Torre turned their attention to the heart and its ventricles. While, on the one hand, they made the pioneering discovery that the heart's system included four  and not just two  ventricles, on the other hand, Leonardo's drawings of this, which recorded their discovery, depicted the heart's septum as porous and permeable for blood, which he could not have observed on an exposed heart. "He could only have taken the hypothetical existence of these pores between the ventricles from the literature of the times. The precision of new observations here still collides with the fictions of conventional knowledge as it was imparted in Galen's teachings," con-cludes Nova.

A mere footnote in the history of medicine

Although the drawings are at the heart of Nova's research, they can't be fully understood and analyzed without the accompanying texts that Leonardo added in his famous mirror writing. Text and image form an inseparable whole. From a very early stage, Leonardo planned to publish the results of his dis-sections in a richly illustrated work with the title De figura umana  "of course, it's a pity that, as with so many of the projects in his life, he was ultimately unable to bring this undertaking to completion," Nova finds. This is why there is only the occasional reference to Leonardo in today's history of science and medicine. Only the written elucidations make it possible to explain functional correlations and communicate the primary morphological observation from a physiological perspective.

Does agony and suffering characterize dying? The tranquil death of a 100-year-old man inspired Leonardo to create this memento mori, while, for his anatomical treatise, he acknowledged the discovery of the four ventricles extensively in the famous mirror writing. Credit: Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2013

Findings drawn up in dialog form

To this end, over the decades, Leonardo even altered the concept of his treatise. While, in 1489, he assumed there would be a tight, balanced synthesis of words and images, in which, however, the drawings would ultimately have predominated, he decided, starting in 1509, to draw up the results in dialog form, which was standard for many written works during the Italian Renaissance, and which could better express doubts, opinions and unresolved issues. Leonardo came to recognize that one could limit oneself to the medium of drawing only "if it were possible to observe all of the things that are depicted in these drawings in a single figure. But it is better to render and describe."

"In the end, it was another physician who profited from Leonardo's achievements," says Alessandro Nova. "It was Flemish anatomist Andreas Vesalius who, in 1543, was the first to publish an illustrated anatomical work based on dissections of the body: the compendium De humani corporis fabrica. But it is believed that he may have known Leonardo's drawings."

The anatomical subject matter and the comprehensive accompanying texts go beyond what an art historian usually deals with, making an interdisciplinary approach virtually inescapable. In 2008, a conference was held in Florence that brought together physi-cians and science historians, philologists and linguists, and last but not least, art historians. The results were published in 2011 in a collection of essays entitled Leonardo da Vinci's Anatomical World. Language, Context and 'Disegno'. In this publication, Leonardo's language is examined and light shed upon the philosophical and literary works that he dealt with and that influenced his texts. It may come as a surprise that, up until that point, and despite the immense body of literature about the life and work of Leonardo, no one had ever turned their attention to the books and treatises written by della Torre, even though he was, for a short time, working in such close collaboration with Leonardo.

The search for the seat of the soul

As the study of the human body was far more than an empirical-scientific project for Leonardo, the metaphysical aspects can't be overlooked. "While I thought I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die," he once philosophized, and it comes as no surprise that the search for the seat of the intellect, the soul and the emotions repeatedly accompanies his anatomical studies. The encounter with a 100-year-old man in Florence around 1507/1508 with whom Leonardo spoke shortly before the man's death and whose body he then dissected induced him to look for traces of dying in the specific anatomy of the deceased. Since, in those days, the process of dying was particularly associated with agony and suffering, the tranquil passing away of the old man had strongly impressed Leonardo.

In the meantime, Alessandro Nova has also begun to turn to other scientific areas in his exploration of Leonardo's drawings. To this end, he invited young scholar Rodolfo Maffeis to join him in conducting research into Leonardo's studies concerning light and astronomy. In contrast to the anatomical drawings, the astronomical sketches haven't been historically-philologically examined, meaning that they must first be classified and embedded in the knowledge context of the time. Moreover, 2011 and 2013 saw two further conferences devoted to Leonardo's optical studies and to his concept of nature. "When it comes to optics, we also encounter the typical triad: appropriation of traditional knowledge, contraposition of his own experiments and observations, and recording of the results in texts, sketches and drawings," says Nova, reporting on the first results. As with anatomy, optics preoccupied Leonardo his entire life, so that it isn't far afield to interpret his meticulous scientific studies as a permanent subtext to his artistic accomplishments.

Or did they even constitute the main text? The further exploration of the interrelationship between art and science, which, in the past, were very closely tied to each other, could offer vital impulses to research into Leonardo da Vinci. Thanks to Alessandro Nova, this interrelationship has finally found a bastion at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz.

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Patricia Dankers. Credit: Eindhoven University of Technology

A gel that can be injected into the abdominal cavity to deliver very local chemotherapy for weeks, could be a better alternative to the chemo abdominal rinses that are common today. Professor Patricia Dankers of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), who led the development of this hydrogel, will now test it in a four-year preclinical study together with researchers from Maastricht UMC+ and Catharina Hospital. The Dutch KWF Cancer Society is backing this research to the tune of almost 600,000.

The developed hydrogel is programmed in such a way that it is liquid during injection, but becomes more solid after it is released into the body. The gel is filled with a widely used anticancer drug (better known as chemo), which is released over a period of days or even weeks. Dankers: "This new treatment combines the advantage of local chemotherapy with a non-invasive, long-term administration method. Patients who are not eligible for current forms of treatment are therefore likely to be able to receive treatment using this technique."

Severe current treatment

Abdominal cancer, also called peritoneal cancer, is mainly caused by metastases, or spreading, of intestinal cancer. One in eight patients with bowel cancer develops metastases in the abdominal cavity. At the moment, the only promising treatment is an operation, in which the metastases are surgically removed, combined with a flush of local chemotherapy. In this local treatment, the abdominal cavity is rinsed for 90 minutes with chemo (so-called Hypertherme Intra Peritoneal Chemotherapy or HIPEC). Ignace de Hingh of Catharina Hospital: "The effect of this flush is limited because of its short duration. In addition, a large group of patients (1 in 4) is not eligible for this treatment because they are considered insufficiently fit to undergo this severe treatment. The effect then does not sufficiently outweigh the distress suffered by the patient."

Injectable chemo gel is liquid during injection, but becomes more solid after it is released into the body. Credit: TU Eindhoven

Illuminating tumor cells

The preclinical rat study that the consortium will now carry out consists of a series of experiments to investigate the safety and efficacy of the chemo gel. "For this we use tumor cells that we make visible by illuminating them so that a special camera can externally, and based on the intensity of the light, determine how many tumor cells are present in the abdomen and thus how successful the treatment is," says Nicole Bouvy of Maastricht UMC+. For example, the tests should show whether the combination of the gel with the anticancer agent is safe, whether the gel works just as well or perhaps better than the rinse, and whether the gel is still successful after surgery. The extensive laboratory study has now been completed and shows promising results. If the preclinical study proves successful, the researchers will be one step closer to the clinical application for patients.

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Skeletal muscle tissue. Credit: University of Michigan Medical School

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have mapped the structure of an important channel in human muscle cells. The new insights about the chloride channel can contribute to greater understanding of muscle diseases such as ALS, and the findings may enhance drug development at NMD Pharma.

Small molecules such as hormones and ions are constantly transported in and out of cells, regulating cell activity. Researchers are trying to understand what controls the different channels in cells, and have now greatly improved this understanding for muscle cells. In the new study, an international and interdisciplinary team involving researchers from the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen have mapped the structure of a channel that transports chloride into muscle cells. Detailed structures of the chloride channel will provide vital information in the quest to fully understand its regulation and thereby optimize development of better treatments of important diseases such as ALS, SMA or Myasthenia gravis.

"This channel in the muscle cells may be essential for the group of illnesses we call neuromuscular diseases. That applies, for instance, to ALS, which many people might know from the late physicist Stephen Hawking. Others have discovered that blocking the channel can alleviate the symptoms of ALS. Our new findings will spark ongoing development efforts to block the channel," says Pontus Gourdon, associate professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

Cryo-electron microscopy

The researchers have investigated proteins that exist in the cell membranes of human cells using a state-of-the-art cryo-electron microscope. It uses rays of electrons to visualise the 3-D structures of different biological molecules. In this instance, the researchers have taken what one might call a 3-D-photography of this chloride channel in muscle cells. Visualisations like these pave the way to more efficient drug development because they allow a more rational effort on medical compounds that can bind to that specific 3-D-structure.

NMD Pharma

Previous work from Aarhus University revealed that the chloride channel is critical for maintenance of skeletal muscle function during physical activity, leading to the formation of NMD Pharma, a pharmaceutical company that is pursuing new treatments for neuromuscular disorders by targeting the chloride channel.

The researchers have now initiated a collaboration with NMD Pharma that will use the new knowledge for drug development. A postdoc from the research group at the university will collaborate closely with scientists of NMD Pharma to help make the most of the new findings.

Value in society

The new post-doc employment is part of the public-private partnership called BRIDGE between university and industry. The goal is to make sure that knowledge from research results makes it beyond scientific publications and has a positive impact in society. The program is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

"We are extremely proud of the fact that our research might lead to real impact in society through this collaboration. And also of the fact that the industry can see the values of our findings," says Pontus Gourdon. He emphasizes that drug development can take a long time and that approval of new drugs is no quick process either.

The new results are especially relevant for neuromuscular diseases such as Thomsen's disease, a heritable disease named after the Danish physician Asmus Julius Thomas Thomsen, who described it in 1876. Many in his family, including himself, suffered from the disease.

The new study is published in PLOS Biology.

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More information: Kaituo Wang et al, Structure of the human ClC-1 chloride channel, PLOS Biology (2019). Journal information: PLoS Biology Kaituo Wang et al, Structure of the human ClC-1 chloride channel,(2019). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000218
A federal agency has issued a final report confirming its earlier finding that people who lived near a St. Louis County creek contaminated with nuclear waste could face a higher risk of developing certain types of cancer.

The report released Tuesday by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry addressed concerns about Coldwater Creek. A preliminary report issued in June said people exposed to the creek from the 1960s to the 1990s may have an increased risk of bone cancer, lung cancer and leukemia. The final report concurs with those findings.

Nuclear waste from World War II weapons production contaminated the creek decades ago. The waste was dumped at sites near Lambert Airport, next to the creek that flows to the Missouri River in north St. Louis County. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been cleaning up the creek for two decades.

More than 140 current and former residents have filed federal lawsuits in recent years alleging nuclear waste exposure caused illness or death.

Mark Behlman, 61, lost his 51-year-old wife to lung cancer a decade ago. Though she smoked, her oncologist told her smoking was not the cause. She grew up two blocks from Coldwater Creek.

Behlman is active in a volunteer group called Coldwater CreekJust the Facts, which has tracked roughly 6,000 former and current residents of the area who have been diagnosed with cancer, including extremely rare cancers such as appendix cancer.

"They put these maps together and started tracking this years ago, and it's just amazing how many dots (signifying people with cancer) follow the creek," Behlman said.

Missouri health officials requested federal assistance after a 2014 report indicated high rates of leukemia, breast, colon and other cancers in the areas surrounding Coldwater Creek. The toxic substances agency, which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, launched a study 2 1/2 years ago into the potential link between the creek contamination and cancer cases.

The agency determined that those exposed daily to the creek starting in the 2000s, when cleanup began, could have a slightly increased risk of lung cancer.

Cancer clusters are difficult for scientists to investigate because of the complexity of the disease. The agency's investigators used historical data from soil testing to determine exposure level estimates.

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Dr. Colleen Dell, of the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, researched the effect of meeting a therapy dog on patients waiting for care in hospital Emergency. She found the experience reduced patients' levels of distress and made them feel happier and more comfortable. Credit: David Batstone

A visit from a dog can reduce the distress of patients waiting for emergency treatment in hospital, a study by the University of Saskatchewan (USask) shows.

Patients who spent 10 minutes with a visiting therapy doga four-year-old springer spaniel named Murphyreported they felt more comfortable, happier and less distressed while waiting for emergency care in hospital.

The study, published in the Patient Experience Journal, found a significant increase in comfort levels and positive feelings after spending time petting, cuddling or interacting with the experienced canine.

The study was carried out at the Royal University Hospital (RUH) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewanthe first emergency department in Canada to introduce therapy dogs to improve the experience of waiting patients.

There is growing evidence that therapy or comfort dogs can be beneficial to human health and can reduce anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure. Interaction with a dog increases production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, which reduces the stress hormone cortisol.

Professor Colleen Dell, Research Chair in One Health & Wellness at USask's College of Arts and Science, co-led the study with emergency physician Dr. James Stempien, MD, Provincial Department Head, Emergency Medicine in Saskatchewan. The research was supported by the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient-Oriented Research.

"Emergency departments are hectic and confusing places. Most people waiting for treatment feel nervous, and waiting can increase their pain. It is well-known that interacting with animals can help humans feel calm and relaxed. Our study showed a noticeable improvement in the patient's mood after interacting with a therapy dog," Dell said.

"With waiting times consistently high in emergency departments, it suggests that therapy dogs may have a broader therapeutic role to play comforting patients in distress and pain."

RUH is the first emergency department in Canada to allow therapy dogs to visit, with up to six trained therapy dogs now visiting several days a week.

Murphy, a therapy dog, met patients waiting for Emergency hospital treatment in Saskatoon Canada. Research by the University of Saskatchewan found that patients interacting with the spaniel felt less distressed, more comfortable and happier. Credit: Jane Smith

Patients met the dog for between 10 and 30 minutes and included people with cardiac complaints, fractures, psychiatric issues, and those suffering chronic pain.

The 124 patients were waiting in curtained-off cubicles and found their distress levels decreased, and their perceived comfort levels increased after interacting with the spaniel, a certified St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog and its handler. The distress of patients meeting Murphy decreased regardless of the length of their wait.

Patients filled out questionnaires about their well-being and feelings before and after meeting Murphy. The most common themes were feeling 'happy', 'okay', 'better' and 'calm', and 80 per cent expressed happiness during the visit and said they felt calmer after the visit.

Sixty six per cent of those visited by Murphy patted him, stroked him or cuddled him. One patient gave the dog a massage and some snuggled up to him or let the dog put his head on their chest. In almost a quarter of cases, the dog's 'intuition' when interacting with a patient was noted.

Logan Fele-Slaferek, a co-author of the paper and patient advocate, met Murphy on several occasions while an RUH inpatient for a recurrent health condition. On one occasion, after a six-month-long treatment program had failed and he was feeling 'crushed and hopeless', the spaniel jumped on Logan's lap and fell asleep.

"I was a little skeptical about his helping at first, but that all changed five minutes later. The dog picks up on your mood or temperament better than most people would. He helped my recovery immensely. It's something about being next to an animal that exudes nothing but love and kindness," Fele-Slaferek, an undergraduate at USask, said. "The emergency department can be so hectic, but time slows down when you are with a therapy dog. His presence is soothing."

Jane Smith, Murphy's handler, said it is clear the therapy dog enjoys meeting the patients, and sometimes does not want to leave them.

"When Murphy enters the emergency department, the mood changes quickly. You can see patients, doctors, and staff smiling, even before he actually visits anyone," she said. "During the visits he looks at patients with big, brown eyes, settling in to enjoy the pets and cuddles. Sometimes, Murphy needs extra encouragement to leave a patient. It is actually hard to tell who enjoys the visit more."

This preliminary study has led to Dell and her team being awarded a research grant of $20,000 from the Royal University Hospital Foundation to undertake further research at RUH into the impact of therapy dog visits on adult emergency department patients and their experiences of pain.

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Photo 2019 New England Journal of Medicine

(HealthDay)The Connecticut 9-year-old knew something was wrong. Three days after a routine day in the school playground, he felt something "foreign" in his right ear and persistent buzzing noises.

Doctors who examined the boy's ear at Yale-New Haven Hospital quickly ascertained the cause: An eight-legged visitor, a tick, had taken up residence on his eardrum, which was clearly inflamed.

"Removal of the tick with guidance from an operative microscope was attempted in the office, but the tick could not be removed," Drs. David Kasle and Erik Waldman reported in the May 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

So the boy (whose name was not released) was taken to surgery and placed under general anesthesia. This time, doctors could clearly see the tick's feeding apparatus burrowed into the eardrum membrane, although the underlying layer of this crucial hearing structure "remained intact."

Using a microscope to help guide them, surgeons used a tiny hook to disengage and remove the tick from the boy's ear.

"After extraction of the tick, the patient had no signs or symptoms suggestive of systemic illness," Kasle and Waldman reported. The boy's hearing was unharmed and his eardrum has since healed.

Two doctors well-acquainted with the inner ear said it's not uncommon to have unwanted visitors creep in.

It's "a frequent occurrence," said Dr. Darius Kohan, who directs otology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "We have often removed roaches, flies, all sort of bugs, including ticks, attached to the canal or eardrum."

This occurs more often in children than adults, Kohan said. "We believe the wax in the ear attracts the bugs and they get stuck behind hairs into the wax, orlike in this casepenetrate the skin or eardrum," he said.

Dr. David Hiltzik, director of Head and Neck Surgery at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City, has also dealt with such casesand not just insects.

"As an otolaryngologist, in the last several months I have had to remove crayons, beads, batteries and even diamonds from the ear canal," he noted. "Bugs and worms are less common, but cockroaches and maggots that have crawled in are also seen from time to time."

Kohan explained how they set out the remove the pests. "Fortunately, the bugs usually do not survive for long, and they are not difficult to remove," he said. "For children, we take them to the operating room for sedation since it is difficult for them to cooperate in the office during a procedure.

"For adults, usually a local anesthetic in the ear is all they need. If the bug is alive, irrigating the ear with mineral oil and waiting 10 minutes usually suffices to kill them before we remove them under microscopic guidance or with endoscopes," Kohan said.

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More information: Darius Kohan, M.D., director, otology/neurotology, Lenox Hill Hospital, andManhattan Eye Ear and Throat Hospital, New York City; David Hiltzik, M.D., director, Head and Neck Surgery, Staten Island University Hospital, New York City; May 2, 2019, New England Journal of Medicine Darius Kohan, M.D., director, otology/neurotology, Lenox Hill Hospital, andManhattan Eye Ear and Throat Hospital, New York City; David Hiltzik, M.D., director, Head and Neck Surgery, Staten Island University Hospital, New York City; May 2, 2019, The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery offers more about how the ears work. Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine

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Efficacy results - Table of abstract 150O_PR "Pertuzumab (P) + trastuzumab (T) with or without chemotherapy both followed by T-DM1 in case of progression in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC)- The PERNETTA trial (SAKK 22/10), a randomized open label phase II study (SAKK, UNICANCER, BOOG)" by J. Huober et al Credit: European Society for Medical Oncology

De-escalation approaches in the treatment of women with HER2 positive breast cancer need to be personalised, according to Dr. Carmen Criscitiello, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. Her comments come on the occasion of the presentation of updated research results at the inaugural ESMO Breast Cancer Congress 2019, 2-4 May, in Berlin, Germany.

"The introduction of anti-HER2 therapies has brought a huge survival benefit in early and advanced HER2 positive breast cancer, thus there is now a need for reducing the intensity and side effects of the treatment administered," said Criscitiello. "However, the priority is to identify which patients might be spared some toxic therapies without worsening the survival benefit."

A de-escalation strategy omitting chemotherapy in the first line treatment of HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer was attempted in the PERNETTA trial. As previously reported, the strategy does not worsen two-year overall survival but significantly shortens progression-free survival.

The phase II trial randomly allocated 210 patients to trastuzumab plus pertuzumab alone versus trastuzumab plus pertuzumab combined with chemotherapy until progression. After progression, both groups received T-DM1 as second line therapy. The primary endpoint of overall survival at two years was reached by 77% of patients receiving antibodies alone and 76% of those who also had chemotherapy. Progression-free survival after first line therapy was 8.4 months with antibodies alone and 23.3 months with antibodies plus chemotherapy group.

New findings revealed today at the ESMO Breast Cancer Congress 2019 show that the results were similar regardless of hormone receptor status, and overall quality of life was also similar between groups during first line treatment. But according to analyses of adverse events and patient reported symptoms, those receiving antibodies alone had less hair loss, mouth sores, nausea, and fatigue.

Trial design of abstract 150O_PR "Pertuzumab (P) + trastuzumab (T) with or without chemotherapy both followed by T-DM1 in case of progression in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC)- The PERNETTA trial (SAKK 22/10), a randomized open label phase II study (SAKK, UNICANCER, BOOG)" by J. Huober et al Credit: European Society for Medical Oncology

The difference in progression-free survival between groups has prompted the investigators to look for predictive factors to identify patients who could receive targeted therapy alone with little or no detriment in progression-free survival. They are using the PAM50 test to profile tumours of all patients in the trial.

First author Prof. Jens Huober, of the University Hospital Ulm, Germany, said: "Trials of HER2 positive breast cancer in the neoadjuvant setting have shown that the HER2 enriched subtype is the most sensitive to anti-HER2 therapy. Our hypothesis is that this also applies to the metastatic setting. If the progression-free survival difference is smaller in this subtype, then omitting chemotherapy in the first line may be a good option for these patients."

Huober noted that the trial was conducted to discover if it is safe to omit chemotherapy from first line treatment of patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer who receive dual anti-HER2 therapy followed by T-DM1. "We looked at two-year overall survival because physicians are afraid they will lose patients early if they don't give the maximum treatment. Progression-free survival was shorter but did not seem to affect overall survival in the long run. Omitting chemotherapy in the first line could be discussed as an option with patients who have a low to intermediate tumour burden. However, a phase III trial is needed for definitive proof that patients are not at risk of early death if they start with antibodies alone."

ESMO spokesperson Criscitiello emphasised that it is important for studies in this field to select a specific population in which to attempt treatment intensity optimisation and agreed that using the PAM50 test to select patients with the HER2 enrichment subtype may be an effective approach. "There was no biological selection of patients in the PERNETTA trial," noted Criscitiello, who also highlighted the choice of primary endpoint. "Here we have a progression-free survival that is almost two times less than that achieved with chemotherapy. The short overall survival endpoint did not capture if denying a treatment which is demonstrated to be meaningfully most effective impacts on long-term survival. In addition, the sample size is very small to detect a difference in overall survival. Avoiding chemotherapy in HER2 positive disease is appealing for patients and investigators, but it has to be done safely."

Academic trials are now crucial in breast cancer, added Criscitiello. "The prognosis of patients with breast cancer has dramatically improved thanks to several new available treatments; we might see a reduced interest from industry to further invest in this disease, especially in trials designed with de-escalation attempts. Independent academic supported trials are very important to investigate research questions which are relevant for patients and doctors, like de-escalation to less toxic and demanding treatments and the identification of patients who may benefit the most from such an approach."

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More information: 1. ESMO Breast Cancer Congress: 1. ESMO Breast Cancer Congress: www.esmo.org/Conferences/ESMO-Breast-Cancer-2019 2. Abstract 288PD 'PERNETTA - A non comparative randomized open label phase II trial of pertuzumab (P) + trastuzumab (T) with or without chemotherapy both followed by T-DM1 in case of progression, in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC): (SAKK 22/10 / UNICANCER UC-0140/1207)' - Jens Huober et al. - Presented at the ESMO2018 Congress. Annals of Oncology, Volume 29, 2018 Supplement 8, DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdy268 3. Abstract 150O_PR 'Pertuzumab (P) + trastuzumab (T) with or without chemotherapy both followed by T-DM1 in case of progression in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC)- The PERNETTA trial (SAKK 22/10), a randomized open label phase II study (SAKK, UNICANCER, BOOG)' will be presented by Jens Huober during the Proffered Paper session 1 on Thursday, 2 May, 14:30 to 16:00 (CEST) in the Vienna Hall. Annals of Oncology, Volume 30, 2019 Supplement 3, DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdz095 Journal information: Annals of Oncology
Credit: University of Michigan

For some people, getting enough exercise and quality sleep can alleviate depressive symptoms almost as effectively as antidepressants alone, research has shown.

But a new University of Michigan study suggests that exercise and sleep impact depression differently in men and women.

Principal investigator Weiyun Chen, an associate professor of kinesiology, and first author Ana Cahuas looked at exercise and sleep patterns in more than 1,100 college students at Beijing University. Participants completed three questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, physical activity habits and sleep patterns.

For men, vigorous and moderate physical activity helped protect against depression, Chen said. However, for women, no level of physical activity significantly impacted depression. Although there's a dearth of female-focused research, this contradicts general conclusions that regular physical activity helps reduce depression.

This finding may have happened because so few women compared to men exercised at high intensity, Chen said. As a result, any protective effect of high-intensity exercise was not detectable in women when researchers analyzed the data by gender.

The researchers also examined seven sleep variables, and found sleep was significantly associated with depression levels in both genders. On average, students reported quality sleep, but 16 percent of males and 22 percent of females reported poor sleep quality.

Credit: University of Michigan

Overall, students in the study did not report feelings of depression, which surprised Chen, as Beijing University is a pressure-cooker environment similar to Ivy League schools in the U.S. However, more females (43 percent) than males (37 percent) reported depression.

"This is consistent with existing research that higher rates of depression are found among women, with approximately a 2:1 ratio of diagnosis, although suicide rates are 3 to 5 times higher among men," Chen said.

The connection between sleep, exercise, and mood might also help explain females' higher rate of depression, Chen said.

Males in the study exercised more and at higher intensity than females, whose higher levels of depression may have decreased likeliness to exercise and negatively impacted sleep quality.

Depression and mood disorders are a serious problem in adolescents, with up to 20 percent of teens diagnosed with a mental, emotional or behavioral disorder, said Cahuas, who was a student in U-M's Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program when she wrote the paper under Chen's guidance.

Credit: University of Michigan

Roughly 1 in 7 college students is diagnosed with depressionwith suicide the second-leading cause of death among them. College students are at particular risk for depression because of heavy workloads, stress and sleep deprivation.

Major depression involves symptoms persisting for at least two weeks, and can occur multiple times throughout life. Persistent depressive disorder, or dysthymia, is depression that lasts at least two years, and fluctuates in severity. Studies show that only about half of people with depression receive treatment.

Participants were recruited from one university in China, so results cannot be generalized to all college students.

The study appeared online in the Journal of American College Health.

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More information: Ana Cahuas et al. Relationship of physical activity and sleep with depression in college students, Journal of American College Health (2019). Journal information: Journal of American College Health Ana Cahuas et al. Relationship of physical activity and sleep with depression in college students,(2019). DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2019.1583653
Yoav Adam uses both red and blue light, a homemade video projector, a brand-new microscope, complex software, and a treadmill to record neural waveforms like those shown here. Credit: Yoav Adam

Red and blue lights flash. A machine whirs like a distant swarm of bees. In a cubicle-sized room, Yoav Adam, a microscope, and a video projector capture something no one has ever seen before: neurons flashing in real time, in a walking, living creature.

For decades scientists have been searching for a way to watch a live broadcast of the brain. Neurons send and receive massive amounts of informationToe itches! Fire hot! Garbage smells!with impressive speed. Electrical signals can travel from cell to cell at up to 270 miles per hour.

But, neural electricity is just as hard to see as electricity in a telephone wire: To the unassisted eye, the busy brain looks as lifeless as rubber. So, to observe how neurons turn information (toe itches) into thoughts ("itching powder"), behaviors (scratching), and emotions (anger), we need to change the way we see.

A new study, published in Nature, does just that.

Adam Cohen, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics at Harvard, first author Dr. Yoav Adam, and their cross-disciplinary research team sheds literal light on the brain, transforming neural electrical signals into sparks visible through a microscope.

Tricking nature

In the 1980s, during an ecological survey of the Dead Sea, an Israeli ecologist found an organism that performs a neat trick: converting sunlight into electrical energy in a primitive form of photosynthesis. But, for almost 30 years, the organism and its talented protein (Archaerhodopsin 3) floated undisturbed in the waters of the Dead Sea.

Then, in 2010, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) dusted the protein off, introduced it to a brain, and got the tiny tool to perform its light trick in neurons. When they trained light on the protein-enhanced brain, the tool converted the light into electricity. The researchers could then change the firing of the neurons and, if they chose well, even manipulate the animal's behavior.

Cohen was intrigued. He wondered: Could we reverse the trick? Could the protein convert the electrical activity of neurons into detectable flashes of light? After a few years of hard work, he discovered his answer: Yes. It can.

Honing the tools

When illuminated with red light, Archaerhodopsin can turn voltage into light (this and similar tools are known as genetically encoded voltage indicators or GEVIs). The protein acts like an ultra-sensitive voltmeter, that, like the hair on your arm, changes with an electric jolt.

The Cohen lab pairs this protein with a similar one that, when illuminated with blue light, sparks electrical impulses in the neurons. "This way," Yoav says, "we can both control the activity of the cells and record activity of the cells." Blue light controls; red light records.

The paired proteins worked well in neurons outside the brain, in a dish. "But," Cohen says, "the holy grail was to get this to work in live mice that are actually doing something."

Neurons, which fire in response to or to provoke certain behaviors, send signals back and forth at speeds up to 270 miles per hour. Now, researchers have found a way to see how, when, where, and potentially why they fire. Credit: Adam Cohen and Yoav Adam

The elusive "holy grail" came after five years of intense, interdisciplinary collaboration between 24 neuroscientists, molecular biologists, biochemists, physicists, computer scientists, and statisticians. First, they tweaked the protein to work in live animals; then, with some adept genetic manipulation, they positioned the protein in the right part of the right cells in the mouse brain. Finally, they built a new microscope, customized with a video projector to shine a pattern of red and blue light into the live mouse's brain, and onto specific cells of interest.

"You basically make a little movie," Cohen says.

With red and blue light patterned on the brain, Yoav can control when and which neurons fire and capture their electric activity as light. To identify individual neural signals in the bright chaos, the team designed one final new tool: A software that could extract specific neural sparks, like individual fireflies from a swarm.

Clarity from chaos

But neural signals travel far faster than fireflies. In a third of the time it takes for you to blink, the Cohen team can capture precise, intimate details of a neuron's spike patternlike the shifting wing positions of a firefly in flight. They can record up to ten neurons at a time, a feat otherwise impossible with existing technologies, and, three weeks later, find the same exact neurons to record anew.

Yoav is not the first to record neural signals: Hair-thin, glass tubes, inserted into brain tissue, can get the job done. But, such devices record only one or two neurons at a time and, like a splinter, must be removed before causing damage. Other tools monitor calcium, which floods neurons when they fire. But, according to Cohen, "depending on exactly how you do it, it's 200 to 500 times slower than the voltage signal that Yoav is looking at."

Now, Yoav can expand his vision further and look at how behavioral changes impact neural chatter. For his first attempt, he started simple: A mouse walked on a treadmill for 15 seconds and then rested for 15. During both stages, Yoav projected blue and red light onto the hippocampus region of the brain, a hub for learning and memory.

"Even just with simple changes in behavior, walking and resting," Yoav says, "we could see robust changes in the electrical signals, which also varied between different types of neurons in the hippocampus."

"Some go faster, some go slower," Cohen adds.

Yoav also observed different types of activity patterns: Some neurons exhibited complex spikes, like the undulating Appalachian mountain range, while some shot out big, sharp peaks, like Mount Everest. Such spikes can be detected by probes outside the cellular membranes. But, Yoav can see the smaller voltage signals that ultimately determine whether a neuron spikes. These sub-threshold details have rarely been seen or studied in live animals: The right tools just didn't exist.

Next, Yoav and team will add more complexity to the mouse's treadmill environment: rough Velcro circles, whisker flicks, and a sugar station. Yoav, in particular, wants to learn more about spatial memoryfor example, can the mouse remember where to find the sugar station? "No one knows what a memory really looks like," Cohen says. Soon, we might.

In the meantime, the interdisciplinary team will continue to sort through their intricate data, and improve their optical, molecular, and software tools. Better tools could capture more cells, deeper brain regions, and cleaner signals. "A mouse brain has 75 million cells in it," Cohen says, "so depending on your perspective, we've either done a lot or we still have quite a long way to go."

But Yoav, who pushed through five years of development challenges to reach their "holy grail," will keep pushing forward. To him, the end result always looked possible: "I could see the light."

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More information: Voltage imaging and optogenetics reveal behaviour-dependent changes in hippocampal dynamics, Nature (2019). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1166-7 Journal information: Nature Voltage imaging and optogenetics reveal behaviour-dependent changes in hippocampal dynamics,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1166-7
Patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis often are affected by functional disability a year or two before the disease is diagnosed, according to new Mayo Clinic research.

The results of the study, to be published in June in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, suggest that daily activities such as eating, dressing and walking are affected early in the course of the disease, and that most rheumatoid arthritis patients are affected by functional disability issues.

"This is a new finding and a finding that is quite intriguing," says Elena Myasoedova, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic rheumatologist and the study's primary author. "It may reflect an accumulation of symptoms between the time of first onset and the time required for providers to actually diagnose patients."

Also notable is that persistent excess in functional disability continued even after diagnosis and treatment, Dr. Myasoedova says, which may be due to a growing burden of mental and physical pain, use of glucocorticoids and antidepressants, increasing expectations for relief from symptoms, and other factors.

The study's implications for additional vigilance by patients and physicians in the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis are especially relevant since May is National Arthritis Awareness Month. More than 50 million U.S. adults have some form of arthritis. About 1.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease that most commonly affects the joints but also has an impact on other body systems.

Rheumatoid arthritis significantly affects quality of life and well-being, and is one of the most common chronic conditions associated with functional disability in the U.S.

The study is the first to quantify the long-term trends in prevalence of functional disability in rheumatoid arthritis patients, with trends noted for patients' ages and genders, as well as the length of time that disabilities were reported and the duration of the disease after diagnosis. The study also is the first to show that functional disabilities manifest one to two years prior to a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.

"These findings suggest that the burden of functional disability affects most patients with RA, begins early in the disease course, and may precede RA diagnosis," the study says.

The retroactive, population-based study accessed information from the Rochester Epidemiology Project database of medical records, and examined questionnaires from 586 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 531 people without the disease. The prevalence of functional disability was more than twice as high in those with rheumatoid arthritis as those without. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis had a 15 percent or greater prevalence of functional disability than individuals without rheumatoid arthritis in most age groups.

Dr. Myasoedova says the study shows the prevalence of functional disability for rheumatoid arthritis patients and the importance of early treatment. "Alerting your health care provider to difficulties in daily living can assure that patients receive the help they need," she says.

Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may include joint pain or swelling, though 40 percent of patients experience symptoms that don't involve the joints, such as fatigue, fever and loss of appetite. Early rheumatoid arthritis tends to affect smaller joints first. In most cases, the symptoms occur in the same joints on both sides of the body.

Unlike osteoarthritis, which occurs as cartilage that cushions the joints breaks down over time, rheumatoid arthritis affects the lining of the joints. This leads to swelling that can cause bone erosion and joint deformity, as well as damage to other parts of the body. In addition to medical treatment, daily physical activity and a healthy lifestyle are among the best ways to relieve symptoms and overcome functional disability, Dr. Myasoedova says.

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Drs. Sravan Kavuri, Bal L. Lokeshwar, Vinata Lokeshwar, Martha Terris and Santu Ghosh in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University laboratory. Credit: Phil Jones, Senior Photographer, Augusta University

Two new urine tests appear to accurately detect bladder cancer, determine its severity and detect its recurrence, investigators report.

The tests look at activity and levels of V1, a gene variant upregulated in bladder cancer that dissolves natural sugars in the mucosal lining of the fist-sized bladder, making it more vulnerable to cancer.

Investigators hope the tests will one day improve patient outcomes and reduce costs for a cancer that has both high mortality and treatment costs, says Dr. Vinata Lokeshwar, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

Today there is no good, noninvasive method to determine if you have bladder cancer, says Lokeshwar. She's principal investigator on a new $2.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute and $608,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense that are helping determine if these tests can meet that need.

While there are several biomarker tests on the market, they are often expensive, don't necessarily provide a lot of useful information, and have high rates of false positives and/or low sensitivity for cancer detection, says Dr. Zachary Klaassen, urologic oncologist and director of clinical urologic research at MCG and the Georgia Cancer Center.

Consequently, Klaassen does not use these tests frequently but would definitely like one that provides good information about the cancer's grade and recurrence risk.

That's why he is a co-investigator on these new studies that are pitting the new urine tests against the traditional methods he and others use for diagnosing and monitoring bladder cancer. They include frequent cystoscopies, where physicians place a small camera through the urethrathe tube through which urine flowsand into the bladder so they can directly see what is going on.

Suspicion of bladder cancer can surface with a nonspecific symptom like blood in the urine, called hematuria, which can indicate a wide variety of problems from infections to kidney stones.

In fact, while painless hematuria is the most common sign of bladder cancer, only about 10-25 percent of patients with blood in the urine are found to have bladder cancer after an extensive, invasive workup, Lokeshwar says.

The new tests look in the urine for V1, the gene variant Lokeshwar found a decade ago that is elevated in bladder cancer, even higher in aggressive, high-grade tumors and can be measured in the urine.

They already have evidence in human tissue that it's a good prognosticator of patient outcomes, for early detection of muscle-invading disease and even for response to chemotherapy drugs routinely given to those patients whose cancer has invaded the bladder's muscular wall.

One test looks at the activity level of the enzyme which V1 codes for and which actually degrades sugar polymers in the bladder's lining. The other test measures the amount of V1 by looking at the expression of its mRNA in cells that are exfoliated in urine from the bladder.

Together they appear to paint a pretty clear picture about whether bladder cancer is present, what it looks like at that moment and how it may behave in the future.

Previous work in human tissue has shown both tests are about 90 percent effective at detecting bladder cancer. The V1 test is about 95 percent accurate at detecting higher-grade cancers, including those that have spread to the muscular wall of the bladder, which likely results in patients having their bladder removed and sets the stage for spread beyond the bladder.

The investigators are performing the new tests concurrently on patients receiving standard evaluation for blood in their urine to see how they compare. In patients being monitored for recurrence, they are also examining issues like whether a positive urine test on a patient who had a negative cystoscopy accurately predicts a future recurrence and whether increasing levels of V1 can predict how rapidly recurrence happens.

They also are looking at whether V1 levels are an accurate predictor of patient outcome, like whether the cancer will metastasize. Pilot studies have indicated that the tests can detect high-grade tumors six months before cystoscopy.

They also are looking further at how V1 itself supports tumor progression and chemotherapy resistance.

Their work to date indicates the urine tests outperform standard urine tests that look for cancer cells as well as two Food and Drug Administration-approved bladder cancer tests.

Today about 50 percent of patients with low-grade bladder cancer and about 80 percent with high-grade have recurrence within three years.

Five-year survival for patients with metastatic bladder cancer is about 15 percent.

While bladder cancer rates are currently higher in males, female prevalence is increasing, likely because their rates of smoking also are approaching that of males, Klaassen says.

In women the diagnosis of bladder cancer is often delayed because when women present with blood in their urine at their primary care doctor's office, the presumption is that they have a urinary tract infection, Klaassen says.

If the blood is not noticeable, it takes longer for the diagnosis, as the hematuria associated with bladder cancer is often painless. So patients do not even know that they need to go to the doctor, if they have no visible symptoms, Klaassen says.

When they find blood, microscopic or otherwise, particularly in high-risk individuals like smokers, physicians often next do a urine test to look for cancer cells, ultrasound or CT imaging of the urinary tract, as well as cystoscopy, where they can actually see the urinary tract, including the bladder lining, the prostate in males and the urethra.

Cystoscopy is typically done again every few months after bladder cancer diagnosis to check for signs of recurrence and may be used periodically lifelong. Klaassen notes that while unnecessary cystoscopies hopefully can be reduced with the aid of an accurate biomarker test, when patients do have cancer, there is no substitute in his mind for periodically taking this first-hand look.

Recurrence is a problem for both low-grade and high-grade bladder cancer, happening in about half of patients with low-grade cancer and about 80 percent with the more aggressive, high grade.

Bladder cancer typically starts in the layer of cells that line the inside of the bladder, which is directly exposed to urine. Areas of metastasis include nearby lymph nodes and the bone.

When a low-grade cancer is detected, the tumor is removed and the patient is monitored by cystoscopy for occurrence of a new tumor in the bladder. The schedule is usually every three months for two years, every six months for two to five years and yearly thereafter. But when there is recurrence, the clock starts again. High-grade tumors tend to invade bladder muscle, so if it hasn't yet, the patient is treated mainly with immunotherapy directly introduced into the bladder, once the tumor is removed,

With the high-grade tumors, when the cancer invades the muscular wall more than 50 percent of patients develop metastasis within two years. Once it has moved into the wall, physicians usually give the patient a 12-week course of systemic chemotherapy with the goal of killing off cells that have wandered beyond the bladder, before removing the bladder.

Investigators think one way the new tests will help is by preventing this multi-week delay in some patients by identifying those who won't respond to the drugs, rather might benefit more from earlier removal of the bladder.

Once the bladder is removed, urine collection can be handled with an external bag, called a urostomy pouch. Surgeons like Klaassen also can create a new bladder out of a portion of the patient's bowel called a neo bladder.

V1 is a variant of a gene that encodes for an enzyme that degrades glycosaminoglycans, or GAGs. GAGs are basically sugar polymers that keep our tissues hydrated and lubricate our joints. GAGs such as hyaluronic acid are present in several beauty creams promising a younger looking skin. In cancer though, GAG-degrading enzymes such as V1, may help tumor cells escape into blood circulation and consequently spread to vital organs. Since high-grade bladder tumors have a tendency to metastasize, it makes sense that they express V1, says Lokeshwar.

Smoking is absolutely the number one risk factor for bladder cancer, Klaassen says, as the carcinogens you inhale find their way into the urine then sit in the bladder.

Spinal cord injury patients with bladder catheters also are at increased risk, as are individuals exposed to some chemicals, like in paints and dyes.

Dr. Martha Terris, chief of the MCG Division of Urology and a coinvestigator on the new studies, reported in the British Journal of Urology International a decade ago a link between Agent Orange exposure and the risk of aggressive recurrence of prostate cancer in veterans. More recently, exposure to the chemical has also been linked to bladder cancer.

For the studies, biostatistician Dr. Santu Ghosh, in the MCG Department of Population Health Sciences, will analyze the extensive patient and test data they will be collecting, so they can ultimately answer questions like how well test findings compare with cystoscopy.

Other coinvestigators include Dr. Sravan Kavuri, anatomic pathologist in the MCG Department of Pathology, and Dr. Bal L. Lokeshwar, molecular oncologist in the MCG Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Georgia Cancer Center and J. Harold Harrison MD Distinguished University Professor.

Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer among U.S. military personnel. A survey by the U.S. Department of Defense found that about 14 percent of personnel self-reported smoking. About three in 10 U.S. military veterans use some form of a tobacco product, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall smoking rates in the United States are about 15.5 percent, a decline from 20.9 percent in 2005, according to the CDC.

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At one particular residential school in Thailand, theater  along with some travel  is the basis for most of the students' education.

"We are learning by home-school method, and the world is a big classroom for them," said "Gai" Chingchai Saisin, a teacher at the Moradokmai Theatre Community and Homeschool.

That explains why six students were getting an impromptu lesson in tap at the Downtown Dance Collective this week. They carved out some time while stopping in Missoula on a four-month tour of their play, "Lonely Tossakan," which Chingchai wrote. It's brought them from San Francisco to North Carolina, with stops in Washington, D.C., where their "classroom" has been in places like the Smithsonian Institution.

The school has been touring the United States every year for the last six or seven years. It was founded by Chandruang "Chang" Janaprakal, who came to California for college in the 1970s. He had to pay his own way, and saw a job posting in Yellowstone National Park. While there, he heard more and more about Glacier National Park. He wanted to be close by, and so he transferred to Flathead Valley Community College, and then came to UM for his MFA in theater. He still refers to Randy Bolton, a UM theater professor, as his "guru."

Moradokmai is a free residential school based on communal living, including growing their own food, and they use theater as a teaching method.

"We teach every subject through theater. If you wanted to learn about science, then we made a story about Einstein," Janaprakal said. Mason Wagner, who leads an independent theater troupe called BetweenTheLines, went to the school last September and taught them Western theater methods. He led a production based on "Hamlet," and helped the group line up its stop here, with a show at Free Cycles on Thursday.

A traditional tale

The students translated "Lonely Tossakan," into English, line by line, as they made their way across the U.S., predominantly performing for Thai communities.

"Lonely Tossakan" is adapted from a classic Thai tragedy that the country in turn adopted from India, he said. It's a play about good and evil and choosing wisdom to control your impulses.

It opens with Rama, a king, preparing to go into battle to save his queen, Sida, who has been kidnapped by Tossakan, a demon with 10 heads that symbolize characteristics like ego, lust, anger and greed.

Rama has sent all of his allies into battle to save her, but they've all been killed except for Hanuman, a monkey warrior who symbolizes wisdom. Hanuman can't save her, though, and so Rama decides, against warnings, to undertake the task himself, with potentially tragic consequences.

"The whole thing is a metaphor for fighting the evil ways within yourself," Janaprakal said.

Chingchai said they want to be contemporary without leaving the roots of "a real Thai epic."

The story will be portrayed by the students with an adapted version of Thai mask theater. In keeping with tradition, they won't speak while wearing the ornamented masks  a narrator might step in. Or they might remove the mask and use it like a puppet.

They don't wear the traditional, tightly-fitting garments of Thai theater, but employ some of the movements, such as stiff body gestures. They've brought in techniques they learned in America, such as contemporary dance or jazz, in a "fusion" of older and newer Western and Eastern styles.

There's a live band that does the same, with touches of rock and jazz and traditional Thai instruments such as xylophones, a Thai oboe and percussion.

"The kids are versatile. They sing, they dance, they perform, they play music," he said.

He thinks it should appeal to those familiar or unfamiliar with Thai culture.

"Do you like Thai food? It will be more delicious after you watch it. And for those who haven't had any taste of Thai, then this is the first taste," he said.

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University police recovered several empty liquor bottles from the dorm room where a student reportedly shot a pistol multiple times out the window two weeks ago, according to recent court filings.

The student told detectives in an interview the day after shots were reportedly heard from his dorm window that he "did not recall much of the night in question due to being under the influence of alcohol."

Still, the student told police "I know I (expletive)ed up."

Search warrant records filed in Missoula County District Court on April 25 by a University of Montana police detective show four spent 9-millimeter bullet casings were also recovered from the Aber Hall dorm room, as well as four empty liquor bottles and a number of marijuana paraphernalia items.

No charges related to the incident have been filed against the student at this time, so the Missoulian is not naming him.

University police began investigating the April 16 incident after a Coca Cola deliveryman reported hearing possible gunshots around 6 a.m. near Aber Hall toward Mount Sentinel. Other students in the area reported hearing the sound of gunshots coming from a different direction. University police eventually pinpointed the room in Aber Hall; the sound echoed off the surrounding buildings causing confusion as to where the sounds were coming from.

According to the court filing last week, university police also received an anonymous report later that day identifying the student who fired the gun. Police contacted the student's parents, who brought him to the university's police department for an interview.

The search warrant records say police arranged to have the lock changed so the student could not re-enter the room.

University Police Chief Marty Ludemann said Tuesday the matter is still under investigation, although the student has been referred to university officials for review of a possible conduct violation. Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst confirmed no charges had been filed against the student as of Monday.

Paula Short, director of communications for the university, was out of the office but said Tuesday the process for disciplinary action for a violation of the student code of conduct is likely already underway. She was unable to say whether the student has been suspended from campus.

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The Missoula County Commission passed a resolution Wednesday morning to cover the cost of two new deputies with dual roles: school resource officers during the school year and community policing at river access sites in the summer.

The two new deputies, at a total cost of $154,343, will bring the county's school resource deputy program up to a total of three officers. A position left vacant last September, after an incident involving a duty weapon left in a school faculty bathroom, has yet to be filled due to staffing issues.

Sheriff T.J. McDermott on Wednesday said there is a growing appetite in the county schools for the police presence that allows for safety, but also training of school staff and potential counseling roles.

"It just seems like there was both a need for a school resource deputy program and a presence in our schools," McDermott said. "We tried to sustain a program with only one deputy and that just was not enough."

Wednesday's meeting drew input from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the city's Parks and Recreation Department. Asking officials for two more deputies was more palatable, McDermott believes, when the summertime patrol on recreation and river access sites became part of the conversation.

The sheriff teamed up with Commissioner Josh Slotnick to reach out to the residents who live near those sites and who wanted to see a police presence in hopes of cleaning up the occasional drinking, fights and parking issues.

There was really broad support from all the entities, Slotnick said. Those neighborhoods are really affected with the high recreation use in their midst. These places are loved to death. These folks will provide a presence and community policing; not just heavy-handed enforcement but will be a real change on the landscape.

He said theyll use the same relational skill set during the school year. This is a really exciting development. People will notice the changes.

The sheriff's office dipped into its own reserve funds for $120,000 to soften the long-term hiring costs, while Frenchtown school officials who had directly requested an SRO put their own funds down to make it happen with a $30,000 contribution to the SRO program.

With 10 schools in the county, McDermott said one SRO will likely cover the elementary, middle and high schools in Frenchtown; the second will serve Lolo and Target Range schools, while a third will take the schools east of Missoula, such as Clinton, Bonner and Potomac.

With the Seeley Lake region fully staffed by the sheriff's office, deputies there will handle the Seeley and Condon schools, McDermott said.

While staffing issues have kept deputies in the patrol division of the sheriff's office, the next step is hiring deputies into the new positions. Hoping to get them patrolling recreation sites by mid-summer and school campuses by the coming school year this fall, McDermott said his office is looking to recruit deputies who are already Public Safety Officer Standards and Training (POST)-certified to shorten the time between hiring and their first shift.

"It just seemed like these two positions serve two things that our community really needs enhanced, as far as public safety goes," McDermott said.

Reporter Eve Byron contributed to this story.

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The University of Montana has joined a growing number of U.S. campuses shuttering Confucius Institutes, which operate to promote Chinese language and culture with funding from the Chinese government, a UM director confirmed Tuesday.

UM's website previously boasted the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center was "the proud home of the only Confucius Institute in the Northern Rockies." Launched in 2008, the institute provided education, public programs, and teacher training on Chinese language and culture in Montana.

Last summer, lawmakers across the country were growing increasingly concerned the institutes were being used by China to covertly influence public opinion. At least 10 of the more than 90 institutes that had operated in the U.S. had closed as of January 2019, according to Inside Higher Ed.

Tuesday, Mansfield Center director Deena Mansour said the decision at UM came as part of the flagship's effort to set program priorities for the campus, a project aimed at addressing a budget shortfall. She said the arrangement with China for UM to host a Confucius Institute concluded in March.

We appreciate the cultural programs provided to our community by the Confucius Institute, and especially the leadership of its director, Suhan Chen," Mansour said in a statement. "We look forward to expanding our partnerships in China as we continue to support globally-minded leaders of integrity.

She said Suhan is no longer at the Mansfield Center but remains at UM to close out the Confucius Institute. Suhan could not be reached Tuesday.

Mansour noted the Office of the Provost and Office of the President had been involved in the decision. UM has stressed it provides a global education, and Montana has historic ties to Asia through the late Sen. Mike Mansfield; former U.S. Ambassador to China and former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, and other diplomatic and trade relations.

UM spokeswoman Paula Short said the campus remains committed to providing Montanans with exposure to world cultures and languages.

We continue to reimagine our approach to delivering language through the lens of culture, Short said in a statement.

However, Mansour said money from the Confucius Institute was designated for specific purposes, and different sources of money would allow more flexibility.

Last year, the Mansfield Center estimated the Chinese government funded about $150,000 of its $5 million budget.

"Identifying alternate funding sources will allow us the freedom to assess the best way to support mutual relations between the U.S. and China within the Priorities for Action framework," Mansour said in an email Tuesday, referencing UM's plan to set priorities.

Some institutes on other campuses teach Chinese to university students, but the one at UM focused on kindergartners through high school students, offering language lessons and cultural festivals.

Mark Thane, superintendent for Missoula County Public Schools, said through a spokesperson the district is in conversation with the Mansfield Center to determine the best way to meet the needs of students studying Chinese. The number of children served was not immediately clear.

"We have appreciated the long partnership with the Mansfield Center on developing unique educational opportunities for our students, including language and culture instruction, speakers and international exchange programs," Thane said in a statement.

Federal legislation last summer had prevented Pentagon spending on Chinese language teaching by Confucius Institutes. The Mansfield Center housed both the Confucius Institute and the Defense Critical Language and Culture program, the latter funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.

At the time, former Mansfield Center Director Abraham Kim had said he did not believe the institute at UM was in peril of closure due to legislation, although he noted rules had not yet been developed. But he said the institute at UM was structured in a way that protected academic freedom and kept a firewall between funding streams.

In January, Inside Higher Ed reported at least 10 campuses announced Confucius Institute closures in the last year as political pressure mounted. Newsweek reported more closures were expected.

The federal prohibition required institutions that host the Chinese hubs and receive Department of Defense funding to receive waivers. However, Newsweek said the Pentagon confirmed it has granted no waivers to any applicants.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a Montana Republican, has stressed the importance of U.S.-China relations in the past.

But Press Secretary Julia Doyle said in response to UM's decision that Daines "and others, including the FBI, have long had concerns about the threat to our academic freedom that these Chinese government-run Confucius institutes pose.''

Mansour noted the Mansfield Center will continue to foster links with China and education about the global power. She said the institute provided Chinese language instruction in local high schools and across the state via the Montana Digital Academy.

"Such programs will continue with alternate funding sources, such as the Mansfield Foundation endowment, appropriated by Congress at the Centers founding," Mansour said.

Please sign up on Missoulian.com to subscribe to Under the M, the weekly email about the University of Montana and higher education news in Montana.

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From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by Rockin Rudy's
The 66th legislative session has come to an end. As speaker of the House, it was my goal to uphold the integrity of the House. As a leader in my caucus, it was my goal to foster unity, not conformity. We can be united behind the primary ideals of our party without losing individuality. It has been an honor to be selected by my peers to fill this roll.

In looking at our accomplishments this session, several positive actions stand out. First, it was a goal of ours to keep taxes low and we were successful in stopping over a billion dollars in increased taxes or fees proposed by Gov. Steve Bullock and legislators who support a tax and spend policy. Some of those taxes included, raising individual income taxes, a tax on carbon, a tax on rental cars, tobacco tax and a tax on alcohol. In addition to these proposed tax increases, we were able to stop an elimination of the capital gains credit.

A Republican goal for the session was to look for waste in state government and trim in those areas. Our Republican-led Appropriations Committee took aim at waste in state government agencies in the form of vacant positions. We cut over 200 positions which had been vacant for more than a year. This resulted in a savings of over $12 million a year. It was, in effect, a slush fund and poor management.

Republicans were leading the charge to reduce the cost of health insurance premiums and prescription drug costs. We sent the governor two bills aimed at transparency by prescription drug middlemen, and reducing the cost of prescription drugs. We also passed a bill seeking to reduce individual health insurance premiums by 12-14%.

We authorized federal, state and local spending of over $1 billion for infrastructure needs across the state. This includes needed water, sewer, bridge and road projects.

We were able to send the governor several pro-life bills, including a ban on abortions after a baby can feel pain, at 20 weeks; as well as the Infant Protection Act, which simply stated that an infant born alive could not be deprived of medical care.

We sent the governor several pro-gun bills, a bill to reduce taxes on seniors living on Social Security, bills to improve the business climate like the Good Neighbor Authority, which will provide jobs and reduce forest fires. Finally, we passed bills to address the critical problem of missing indigenous women. Time will tell if the governor will accept or veto these good pieces of legislation.

This was my fourth and final session serving in the House of Representatives. It has been one of my greatest honors to serve my district and the state I love.

Speaker of the House Greg Hertz is a Republican from Polson.

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As many Montanans know, concerns about forest conservation and affordable housing are of special interest in regions like ours, where logging is primarily devoted to providing lumber for human housing.

What may be less known is that the pairing of forest and housing policy has had a long and colorful history spanning the past 70 years.

In his 1947 book "Breaking New Ground," Gifford Pinchot, an early head of the U.S. Forest Service, wrote that, The rightful use and purpose of our natural resources is to make all the people strong and well, able and wise, well-clothed, well-housed with equal opportunity for all and special privilege for none.

Back then, Americas political leadership was responsive to the real need of being well-housed. In 1949, America passed its Housing Act, which stated that it is the policy of the United States to provide a decent home and suitable environment for every American family.

With this, Congress stated a clear end-use of forest products when logging delivers wood to the market.

That was the end-use then. It hasnt been that way for years. In 1995, for example, Winton Pitcoff summed up the state of housing in America for March/April issue of "Dollars & Sense." Pitcoff reported that, Thirty years ago the nation boasted a surplus of housing affordable to low income people. Today there is a shortage of more than four million units.

In the U.S., the Mortgage Interest Deduction has played an important role in this switch. Tax givebacks under the Mortgage Interest Deduction let borrowers deduct interests costs of borrowing for bigger and more luxurious homes. This tax deduction has been fundamental to the size and price of homes that lenders finance, and builders then build.

Cushing Dolbeare, founder of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, was cited in a "Dollars & Sense" interview saying, If we were willing to spend as much on low and middle income housing as we do on the Mortgage Interest Deduction, wed have more than enough to solve the housing crisis.

Thats plainly not what happened. Instead, as The Wall Street Journal reported in early 2000, the American home was getting more extravagant, with more flourishes than ever before.

One home builder interviewed by the Wall Street Journal was quoted as saying, "Does anybody need all this? No.

Indeed, the Journal observed, Need is hardly a consideration these days.

The effects of neglecting need havent stopped with Montanas housing unaffordability problem. A November 2011 Ambio article by heavyweights in climate science described the broader situation well enough.

A team including Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen, and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber begin the abstract of their article by saying Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced 

They end it saying, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.

But it doesnt take a scientist to get the drift of whats been going on.

Liam Denning has worked as an investment banker, columnist for Financial Times, and editor of one of the Wall Street Journals most closely read columns Heard on the Street. Writing for Bloomberg on Feb. 11 about need for the Green New Deal, Denning warns that, We have built our standard of living on forms of energy that we now know pose a threat to our very existence, and that, this is a conversation that is long overdue  and necessarily begins with a shout, not a whisper.

Lance Olsen follows climate and related environmental and economic trends.

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Montana has for decades been at the forefront of wildlife conservation among states in the West. We have the best hunting and angling in the country, and Montana has long set the standard in hunting ethics.

As Montanans we value fair chase as an essential part of our sporting heritage, and thats why we banned game farms nearly two decades ago. We also have many laws and regulations on the books to ensure that fair chase hunting persists. Put simply, fair chase means the animal has a reasonable chance to get away.

But one area in which Montana has fallen behind other states is in the protection of wildlife location data. In todays world of high technology, data using GPS devices can give a hunter an animals location with incredible accuracy and specificity. And in some cases, people are using that information to give themselves an overwhelming advantage in hunting.

We were disappointed to see a bill to address the issue of how we regulate that data go down in the Legislature.

Senate Bill 127, sponsored by Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, would have made it illegal for people to sell specific wildlife location data. Weve seen this trend in other states, and Montana had a chance to get ahead of the curve and ban the sale of this data. People sometimes spot a trophy animal in an area after theyve filled their tag, or just while out hunting for something else, and make it available to other hunters. Some people have chosen to act as brokers, collecting the data and then offering it for a fee to people willing to pay.

The bill passed the Senate, but died in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee. Legislators who voted against it expressed vague concerns over First Amendment issues, but really didnt give any valid reasons for opposing the bill.

However, on a positive note, the Legislature did pass Senate Bill 349, also sponsored by Cohenour. This bill makes it illegal to use wildlife location data from Montana FWP biologists to hunt or harass wildlife. Its an important step, because FWP needs to be able to collect data on wildlife habitat use, migrations, denning sites and other things.

While SB 349 is a step in the right direction, FWP still cannot deny people the information. Yet other states have gone further and have passed laws giving their state wildlife agencies that ability.

Montana needs to look at the issue and decide whether FWP needs that ability too. And thats where SJ 30, sponsored by Cohenour, comes in. The resolution calls for a legislative study to look at FWPs data, how its used and whether we should give the agency the ability to protect that data from some users.

Its a difficult issue, because Montana has strong public interest laws protecting the publics right to public information. At the same time, most Montanans would agree that giving someone the exact location of an animal gives a hunter an incredibly unfair advantage that flies in the face of fair chase ethics.

Montana will only maintain our standing as setting the standard in our ethical hunting culture if we strengthen our laws that protect specific wildlife location data. Its a big issue in the 21st century, and one that will only get bigger as technology continues to advance.

Kathy Hadley is a hunter and landowner near Deer Lodge. She is past president of the Montana Wildlife Federation and current president of the National Wildlife Federation.

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Avocados, cherries and coffee are just a few of the many crops that bees pollinate year-round. More specifically, 100 crops provide 90% of the worlds food. We rely on bees to pollinate 71 of these worldwide crops.

For about the past two years the bee population has dropped by 30% every winter through the use of harmful pesticides such as neonicotinoids. These statistics worry me when I think about my communitys future. If we lose bees, we lose food. But food as a whole is more than nutrition.

Food brings people together. If we lose bees, we lose family dinners. We lose time with friends. We lose quiet coffee shops.

When I look at the bee decline as whole, I think about what generations will miss if we lose the culture of food. Therefore, as Montanans, we must protect the bee population through state legislation. I am asking Gov. Steve Bullock to save the bee population, and protect family meals, friendship, and coffee spots through a pesticide ban on neonictinoids.

Caroline Fowler,

Missoula

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My name is Sam Orr and I reside here in Missoula County. I also have a very important issue I want to address as it applies to everyone in this state.

As it may not be widely known, Montana ranks second in the nation for its pollinator industry. Producing 15 million pounds of honey annually from 200,000 beehives, this puts $31 million back into the state economy. However, with climate change and the increasing threat of pesticides, especially neonicotinoids, which are commonly used, I would like to call Gov. Steve Bullock to action.

Over his tenure as governor, Bullock has made strong commitments to keeping our public lands open and accessible as well as a legacy for clean air and clean water. Governor Bullock, why dont you set that same standard for neonics and ban the use of them in our state? Beekeepers report that they lose 30% of their bee colonies annually, so I think Montana should join Maryland and Connecticut in banning neonicotinoids to preserve and protect our already thriving bee economy.

Gov. Steve B, save the bees.

Sam Orr,

Missoula

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" " A protestor wears stickers on his face during a Tax Day demonstration in New York City. Dozens of protesters demonstrated against loopholes that allow banks and corporations to pay lower income taxes than most individual filers. Justin Sullivan/ Getty Images

In a series of semi-recent decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court has come to the grand conclusion that corporations are more or less people in the eyes of the law. As such, they have certain legal rights and protections. Just like you and me, they also have taxes to pay. It appears, however, that companies may be a little better than us regular folks at finding ways to cut down what they owe Uncle Sam at the end of the year.

The corporate income tax has been in place in the United States since 1909, the same year that the government decided once and for all to keep taking a piece of taxpayers' income for the public coffers. The tax derives from the power that was granted to Congress when the 16th Amendment was ratified four years later. It states that "Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." In those early days, individual and business taxes were used largely to fund U.S. involvement in wars.

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Today, the federal tax rate for businesses is the highest in the developed world, at as much as 35 percent. But not all income is considered "taxable" under the law. This is a shadowy, grey area that businesses often take advantage of to reduce their bills [sources: Tax Analysts, KPMG].
" " You don't have to be 65 to have a reason to visit the Social Security office. Kameleon007/Getty Images

If you're an American citizen or permanent resident years from retirement age and lucky enough to be healthy and fully employed, you may not think much about Social Security. But for more than 80 years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has provided a critical financial safety net for Americans of all ages.

Older Americans rely on monthly Social Security benefits to partially or fully fund their retirement. Disabled adults who can't work to support themselves and their families may qualify for Social Security disability benefits. Social Security also provides financial support for wounded veterans, and surviving spouses and children after an untimely death. You can apply for most Social Security benefit programs online by creating a my Social Security account.

There are more than 1,200 Social Security field offices in the United States, and you can find the closet office at this Social Security website. With so many services available online, why would you need to go into the office itself? Here are a few reasons why you might need to visit a Social Security office:

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1.You Didn't Get Your Newborn a Social Security Number in the Hospital

If you have a baby at most hospitals in the U.S., you will be asked there if you want to apply for a Social Security number. The hospital staff will use the same information provided for the baby's birth certificate (both parents' names and their Social Security numbers) to generate a brand new Social Security number for the new arrival.

If you decide not to get the Social Security number in the hospital, or you have the baby in a small birthing center or at home, then you will have to go to a Social Security office to get the little munchkin his or her number. Don't forget to bring the baby's birth certificate and identifications providing your identity and relationship to the child.

If you wait until the child is 12 or older to apply for a Social Security number, then the child has to appear in person for an interview at the office, even if you're signing all the paperwork.

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2. You Need a Replacement Card and You Live in One of 16 States

If you lose your original Social Security card, you're allowed up to three free replacements a year and 10 over your lifetime. But not everyone can apply for a replacement card online. To apply online for a replacement card, you have to be 18 or older and you can't be requesting a name change (if you recently got married, for instance). Also, you need to provide a driver's license number from a participating state.

You cannot currently apply online for a replacement Social Security card if your driver's license was issued in one of the following states:

Alabama

Alaska

Connecticut

Hawaii

Kansas

Minnesota

Nevada

New Hampshire

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

South Carolina

Tennessee

Utah

West Virginia

In those states, you'll have to make an appointment with your local Social Security office to get a replacement card.

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3. You Want to Apply for Retirement Benefits, but Don't Speak English

If you're at least 61 years and 8 months old, you can start to collect Social Security retirement benefits. The amount of the monthly check depends on how many years you worked and the age at which you apply to collect benefits. Technically, "full" retirement age is between 66 and 67, at which point you qualify for the largest benefit.

The SSA has made it easy to apply online to start receiving Social Security retirement benefits, but only if you can read and understand English. If you can't complete the online application in English, the SSA recommends calling your local Social Security office to make an appointment with a staff member who speaks your language.

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4. You're Overwhelmed by the Four Different Parts (!) of Medicare

Medicare is America's government-run health insurance program primarily for people 65 or older. The SSA handles the Medicare application process, which can be done entirely online.

But Medicare is anything but simple and straightforward. There are four different "flavors" of Medicare (Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D). One is free, one charges a monthly premium, one covers only prescription drugs and the other covers hospital stays. If you can make heads or tails of this baffling SSA Medicare brochure, then by all means apply online. But if you need some advice about which Medicare plans best fit your situation, you might want to apply in person at a Social Security office.

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5. You Want to Apply for Survivor Benefits

When a loved one dies, widows and widowers (plus children under 18) are entitled to collect any remaining Social Security benefits of the deceased. Those are called survivors benefits. Although in most cases the widow/widower must be over 60 to collect, if they are caring for the deceased's child who is under 16 or else disabled, they can collect at any age.

The SSA does not currently allow you to either report a death or apply for survivor benefits online. The funeral home will usually report the death to the SSA, but you will need to call the SSA and make an appointment at a local Social Security office to apply for survivor benefits.

Now That's Cool The SSA has a plan in place for serving "limited English proficiency" customers in 150 different languages through on-site and remote interpreter services.
From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by Town Pump
Soon the decorative window that has adorned the Sewells building on East Park Street for over 100 years will shine a little brighter, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and local historic preservation officials.

The Butte-Silver Bow Historic Preservation Commission, Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization and building owner Joe Floreen are combining forces to enlist Great Falls craftsman Mike Winters to help clean and repair the window, made up of hundreds of pieces of glass tiles.

The tiles, known as Luxfer or prismatic glass, are ribbed on one side and are designed to cast light much farther than traditional flat glass, reducing the need for artificial lighting.

The home of the glass fixture is the transom, an area above the doorway of a building, at 221 E. Park St., a circa 1910s building across the street from Sparky's Garage.

The building was once home to Sewells hardware store, which enjoyed a more than 60-year history in Butte.

According to a previous article in The Montana Standard by Butte historian Richard Gibson, Walter J. Sewell started the business sometime before 1911. Eventually the business found its way to the current building at 221 E. Park St., which was built for $5,000 in 1916. After Sewell died in 1952, his son Walter J. Sewell managed the business until he retired and closed the store in 1971.

While Sewells hardware store is no more, the window that bears the family name lives on, boasting five panels totaling 30 feet and featuring red stained-glass pieces at its center that spell the Sewells name in bold lettering. All of the panels feature an ornamental border of dewdrop prism tiles.

Mary McCormick, the countys historic preservation officer, noted that after over 100 years of exposure to the Butte elements  Butte grime, as she called it  the window is in clear need of some TLC.

Before being taken down in preparation for the upcoming restoration, the fixture was sagging and buckling in some places, while many of the tiles are caked in years of exhaust and dust. Parts of the framing that hold the individual tiles in place also have to be repaired. Called lead, the framing is actually made of zinc and has started to crumble in places.

Floreen, the building owner, has been using the building as a warehouse for a book and magazine distribution business. Floreen previously wanted to replace the fixture with a plain window, but after consulting with the Historic Preservation Commission, he decided to partner with the organization and CPR on a restoration project.

It was really becoming in a dilapidated condition, said Floreen of the fixture. It was time, he added  meaning that it was time to either replace or restore the window.

When all is said and done, the restored prismatic sign will be installed behind a new glass window to protect it from the elements.

Recently, the Sewell project was awarded a $3,250 grant from the Montana History Foundation, which is being administered by the county.

Those funds will go toward hiring Winters who will oversee a group of volunteers to clean and repair the fixture.

Modest in nature, 81-year-old Winters calls himself proficient in glasswork, but his wife Barbra isnt afraid to tell it like she sees it.

Hes the best craftsman in the state and Im not kidding, said Barbra by phone.

As McCormick notes in the grant application for the project, Winters and his wife operated Winters Stained Glass in Great Falls for over 40 years. During that time, the couple built or restored stained glass windows in 42 churches in Montana, among the completion of many other projects.

Recently, Winters expertise was enlisted to restore a window in the Belt Theater in northern Montana.

In Butte, Winters will hold six five-hour volunteer workshops, where hell instruct volunteers on how to clean, replace deteriorated framing, tamping glass into alignment and soldering the joints of the framing, which is also called came. Should all go according to plan, the workshops will start in late May.

Winters said he was honored that a group of individuals in the historic preservation field 150 miles away from his hometown has called on him to help with their project.

Thats a good feeling, he said.

Coordinating volunteers will be Lee Whitney, CPR administrative coordinator.

Pulling volunteers from the community is going to be really significant, said Whitney, noting the communal nature of the project.

She and McCormick said they see the project not only as a way to get people involved, but also as a way for contractors, builders and other specialists to get some training that they can use on later projects. In all, the group is hoping the project can have a ripple effect.

McCormick said a number of Butte buildings feature similar fixtures in their transoms.

But this one is so unique because it has the red stained glass and (the Sewells) name. And thats what people are so attached to, she said.

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NorthWestern Energy issued a warning Wednesday that scammers are targeting Montana customers, threatening immediate utility shut offs unless payment is made.

The company says customers have reported that they have received a call in which a recording instructs the customer to call a 1-800 number to avoid having their utility service interrupted.

Customers who called the phone number report that the person who answers the call demands immediate payment.

The scammers appear to be calling utility customers throughout Montana.

NorthWestern says it does not call customers and demand immediate payment of past-due bills. The utility will provide multiple past-due notices before terminating service.

If you get a cancellation notification, the company recommends dialing the customer service number on your utility bill to verify the notification. NorthWestern never asks customers to use a prepaid debit card for payment.

NorthWestern Energy has reported the scam and the phone number being used to authorities.

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Tech again earns 'best value' ranking

For the second year in a row, the website Best Value Schools has placed Montana Tech at the top of its list of the nations 50 best value engineering schools.

In naming Tech to the top spot, the site noted the schools average early salary of over $80,000, its net cost of $11,000 a year and its 98 percent placement rate.

Tech student presents research in DC

Ben Suslavich, a senior majoring in metallurgical and materials engineering at Montana Tech, presented his Army Research Lab/Montana Tech Summer Undergraduate Research Project funded poster in Washington D.C. at the Council on Undergraduate Researchs 23rd Posters on the Hill event on April 30.

To be selected, students research projects went through a rigorous and highly competitive review process. Suslavich will graduate on May 4 and will continue on to graduate school at Montana Tech pursuing a masters degree in Metallurgical Engineering.

Animal Control impounds listed

These are animals that have been picked up by Butte Animal Control. If you think one of the following animals is yours please call Chelsea Bailey Butte-Silver Bow Animal Shelter at 406-497-6528 or stop by from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Cat:

One to two-year-old shorthaired, black-and-white male picked up Wednesday near Silver Bow Homes.

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As nearly 100 Opportunity residents seeking a more thorough environmental cleanup await their day in court, the U.S. Solicitor General recommended Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court justices not take up the case and warned that the Environmental Protection Agency could step in and squash the residents cleanup plan, even if they win a Montana jury trial.

The case began 11 years ago, when Opportunity and Crackerville residents sued Atlantic Richfield Company in an effort to force a more extensive and expensive cleanup.

After wending through the Montana court system for 10 years and the states highest court, the suit was supposed to go to jury trial in Butte last year. But that was put on hold when the Atlantic Richfield Company petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to consider taking up the case in the spring of 2018.

Since that petition was filed, the U.S. Supreme Court has been considering taking up the case.

What the U.S. Supreme Court justices will do now that Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, has made his recommendation is unknown.

Francisco recommended the case go before a Montana jury instead of directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the Opportunity residents win at a trial before their peers, Atlantic Richfield could still petition the U.S. Supreme Court for an appeal, he noted.

But Francisco said it may not even come to that. Because of Superfund law, even if the residents do win at trial, EPA may prevent the residents from moving forward with their own cleanup plan.

Francisco wrote in his brief that EPA is not bound by the Montana courts judgment.

If respondents (the Opportunity residents) seek to undermine remedial measures that are inconsistent with EPAs cleanup, the government can use any of the mechanisms that (Superfund law) provides, including administrative orders and enforcement actions, to ensure that EPAs remedy is not undermined, he wrote.

Atlantic Richfield said in its petition to the U.S. Supreme Court last year that it has already spent $470 million implementing the Anaconda Superfund cleanup, which seeks to remediate the effects of a century of copper smelting.

Francisco also wrote that another outcome of the case could be that Atlantic Richfield argues during jury trial that, under Montana state law, the proposed remedial activities are not "feasible or appropriate."

Francisco said that Montana state law limits residents entitlement for restoration damages with a need for proof that their proposed remedial activities are feasible and appropriate.

Even under the Montana Supreme Courts interpretation of (Superfund law), petitioner (Atlantic Richfield) can argue at trial that the proposed activities are not feasible or appropriate because they would be contrary to federal law, and that the state-law prerequisites to a restoration-damages award therefore are not satisfied, he wrote.

He said that requiring Atlantic Richfield to pay additional sums as state-law restoration damages to fund additional cleanup measures would conflict with the federal scheme.

The residents want Atlantic Richfield to spend $50 to $57 million more than it has in order to remove an additional 650,000 tons of soil.

Francisco says the residents want the soil brought to 8 parts per million of arsenic. EPA says that roughly 25 ppm of arsenic in the soil would be approximately the natural amount.

To determine that natural amount, EPA had to look outside of Anaconda, where the soil has been so disturbed by smelter contamination that it was impossible to find a natural benchmark within the city-county.

EPAs cleanup standard is 250 ppm of arsenic in the soil. That is true for both the Anaconda Superfund site, which includes both Opportunity and Crackerville neighborhoods, as well as for the Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund site.

The Opportunity and Crackerville plan would also include taking away two feet of topsoil, instead of EPAs depth of 18 inches. The Opportunity and Crackerville residents also want an 8,000-foot trench dug into the ground to protect their drinking water wells against an underground plume of arsenic contamination that EPA says is under control.

Francisco wrote that these proposals do not seek to simply supplement the Superfund cleanup. Rather, they would directly impact the cleanup, he wrote. He said tearing up the current protective cap or layer of clean soil on the residents yards could expose the neighborhood to an increased risk of dust transfer or contaminant ingestion."

He also said in the brief that trying to persuade a state court jury that such a restoration plan is proper constitutes a challenge to EPAs selected response. He said in writing that EPA is not a party in this case and is not bound by the Montana Supreme Courts conclusion that the Opportunity and Crackerville residents are not potentially responsible parties.

Indeed, EPA informed respondents (the residents) in April 2018 that the government considers them potentially responsible parties (PRPs)  and that they cannot proceed with any remedial action without EPAs authorization. Respondents (the residents) do not appear to dispute this understanding, Francisco wrote.

How Opportunity and Crackerville residents could dispute EPAs understanding is not clear.

Doug Benevento, former EPA Region 8 administrator, told a crowd of about 100 people during a public meeting in April 2018 that residents could be liable if any damage was done to the current cleanup in Opportunity or Crackerville.

At the time, Benevento said the comment was not intended to scare people and said it was better to be up front rather than surprise residents later on. But some in Anaconda said after the meeting they felt the comment was threatening. Rose Nyman, long-time Anaconda government watchdog, who attended the meeting said at the time that she took it as a threat.

Francisco called the Montana Supreme Court's 6-1 decision in 2017 to allow the case to go to jury trial "flawed," but he said the proceedings at jury trial "may shed further light" on the issues and "clarify" the "relationship" between the Opportunity residents' wishes and EPA's response action. Therefore, Atlantic Richfield's petition to take the case to the highest court in the nation should be denied, he said.

Justin Stalpes, the Bozeman-based lawyer who represents the Opportunity and Crackerville litigants, declined to comment.

Wyn Hornbuckle, deputy director for the Department of Justice's office of public affairs, and Atlantic Richfield Company also declined to comment.

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Butte Sunrise Kiwanis meet at 7 a.m. at Perkins. Guest speaker will be Matthew McLaughlin, manager of Macs Tavern, the new Irish bar and eatery in Uptown Butte.

Warped Weavers meet 6 to 8 p.m. at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, third floor, 226 W. Broadway St. Curious about weaving? Come watch, ask questions; there may be a loom for you to try. Details: 406-782-5784.

Butte High class of 1961 luncheon is at 11:30 a.m. at Christinas Cocina.

Overeaters Anonymous meets at 6 p.m. at Gold Hill Lutheran Church, 934 Placer St. Details: 406-533-5454.

Women's AA meetings are at 6:30 p.m. at The Springs, 300 Mount Highland Drive.

Elks Lodge of Butte will host a bingo night at 7 p.m. Details: 406-299-2443 or 406-490-3329.
The 33-year-old man convicted for leaving and partially burying an infant in the woods outside Lolo Hot Springs last year now faces a federal gun charge.

Francis Crowley pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to illegal possession of a firearm. The indictment states Crowley, having been convicted of a felony, had a 12-gauge shotgun on the same day he was arrested for the incident in the woods.

Last July, police first responded to reports of a man threatening to fire a gun at Lolo Hot Springs. Responding police spoke with witnesses, including the baby's mother, at the hot springs who said Crowley, who admitted to being exceptionally high that day, crashed a car with the baby. County and federal law enforcement spent the next several hours frantically searching the hillsides for the car and the baby, whom they found partially buried under twigs and branches, but alive.

Crowley's public defender, John Rhodes, on Tuesday said he was "concerned for (Crowley's) competency" and asked U.S. Magistrate Jeremiah Lynch to enter a not guilty plea on his client's behalf. Lynch obliged.

The gun possession charge carries a maximum 10-year sentence in federal prison, as well as a three-year term of supervised release.

Crowley, now in custody of the U.S. Marshals, is set to appear for his next court hearing on May 8.

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Before he was sentenced to 10 years in the Montana State Prison for sexually assaulting at least six women patients, longtime Butte physician Patrick McGree said he was sorry.

He apologized to everyone he hurt  his children, grandchildren, other family members, his profession and the whole community.

But he focused most of his apology on his victims, including three who were in the courtroom for Wednesdays sentencing hearing.

I groomed you, I set you up over time and I misused you sexually, McGree said. I used the faith and trust you had in me for my own self-pleasure. I misled you. I used your vulnerability to my advantage and I abused you.

I want you to realize that I am the one responsible for these actions, he said. You are not the reason for my actions. I wanted sexual activity. You did nothing to initiate or perpetrate my actions. It is not your fault.

District Judge Kathy Seeley, ruling from the bench in Butte, sentenced McGree to 20 years in prison but suspended 10 of those years. McGree will have to register as a sex offender when he gets out.

The sentence was exactly what was called for in a plea agreement between McGree and prosecutors and he was immediately remanded to custody and transported to the state prison in Deer Lodge following the hearing.

Mary Cochenour, a prosecutor with the Montana Attorney Generals Office, said more than any other defendant in sex-offense cases she has handled, McGree accepted responsibility immediately. He also voluntarily spent 90 days in a sex-offense treatment program in Minnesota while his case was still pending.

But she said there had to be some prison time.

You cannot go abusing people in your trusted position without some kind of punishment and seeing the inside walls of the Montana State Prison, she said.

Seeley agreed.

This was not a one-time crime, the judge said. It was not one victim. It was not over five years. It was over many years that he did these things. I think there has to be punishment.

McGree, wearing a white, short-sleeved dress shirt and a black tie, spent most of the hour-long hearing at the defendant's table with his hands folded and his head down. He wept silently a few times.

Seeley is a district judge in Helena but oversaw the case because when charges were brought in late 2017, Buttes two district judges at the time  Kurt Krueger and Brad Newman  recused themselves.

McGree pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault in January. He admitted to assaulting six women but as part of a plea deal, the assaults were consolidated into a single charge that carried a possible sentence of up to 100 years in prison.

McGree admitted to knowingly having sexual contact without the consent of the women during the course of treatment in an exam room, causing them to suffer forms of mental impairment.

He was charged in December 2017 with two felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent, three felony counts of sexual servitude for allegedly using prescription pain pills for coercion, and two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault. Those charges were based on interviews with three former patients.

In late December 2018, state prosecutors filed three additional felony charges against McGree after interviewing three more women who say he sexually assaulted them in his office. The assaults occurred between 2012 and 2017.

When initial charges were filed, McGree had been a physician in Butte for 31 years, working from an office on South Clark Street in recent years and also practicing at the North American Indian Alliance clinic in Butte.

In accusations that led to the initial charges, women patients said McGree felt and groped their private parts and penetrated two with his hands during exams that had nothing to do with those body parts, among other sexual acts.

The women, ages 37, 47, and 52, all had received prescriptions from McGree for pain medication. One said McGree groped her and was saying things like Oh, so you need your prescription, you need your other refill, prosecutors said.

They said McGree told investigators he had become attracted to his patients and had felt breasts on six to eight occasions.

Two of the victims addressed the court Wednesday and one had a victim advocate read a letter she had written.

One who spoke said she had left a bad marriage because of sexual abuse, had sought help for that, gotten better over the years, and now Im back to square one. She also said she was not a drug addict and didnt believe any of the victims were.

Another victim said she went to McGree after an auto accident and trusted him only to be sexually assaulted. It still affects her, she said.

I wont go into a doctors office without someone with me and the door open and I still dont get out in public like I used to, she said.

She also told a courtroom packed with people, including many of McGrees relatives, that many in Butte simply could not believe he could commit such offenses.

I knew better, she said. I sat struggling with it. I feel vindicated that he has pleaded guilty and I feel like maybe now after three years we can start the healing process. But I think he needs to be punished."

Cochenour, the state prosecutor, said three victims who did not appear in court submitted letters but did not want McGree to do prison time.

McGrees attorney, John Smith of Missoula, said the word that best describes his client now is contrition and being humbled by guilt. He said he accepted responsibility from day one, voluntarily sought treatment in Minnesota and was OK with prison time.

Patrick accepts his punishment, Smith said. He is ready to do his penance.

McGrees brother John said Patrick was a good man who has made mistakes. Despite them, he said, his brother had been a dedicated doctor who gave physicals at schools, took care of the elderly in rest homes and took care of people who couldnt afford to pay.

He was incapable of introducing himself as Dr. McGree  just Pat. Humility was his hallmark, John McGree said.

Patrick McGrees son, Kyle, said he was heartbroken for the victims, everyone in his family and the 40-year marriage between his mother and father that was now over.

"I want to make it clear that I don't condone the behavior that my father has admitted to and I'll never understand how it got to this point in his life," Kyle McGree said.

He is a broken man. We want him to receive treatment and come out on the other side less broken.

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Federal officials canceled without explanation all upcoming meetings of an advisory panel that had been created by the Trump administration to make it easier to extract fossil fuels from publicly leased land and offshore sites.

The Royalty Policy Committee was established two years ago by former Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke. Its goal was to eliminate obstacles to drilling and mining faced by oil, natural gas and coal companies while ensuring a fair return to taxpayers.

The committee's charter expired April 21, Interior Department spokeswoman Molly Block said. Upcoming meetings scheduled in Pittsburgh later this week and Salt Lake City in August were canceled, she said.

A January meeting in Phoenix had been previously postponed.

The committee attracted sharp criticism from conservationists and others who alleged its membership was stacked in favor of the energy industry.

They asked a federal judge in Montana last year to disband the group and strike down its recommendations, including changes to how energy companies calculate what they owe taxpayers for pumping natural gas from public sites.

Block declined to give a reason for why the group's charter was allowed to expire. That left critics to speculate that it may have been disbanded because of legal pressures.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in January that the committee had an obligation to make its meetings and records open to the public.

"We will continue to work to stop the Trump administration and its industry allies from making public lands policy behind closed doors," said Charisma Troiano from Democracy Forward, which is representing the Montana-based Western Organization of Resource Councils in the case before Molloy.

But energy industry representatives said the committee could yet be revived under Zinke's successor, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for oil and gas companies.

It's possible Bernhardt simply has not gotten around to renewing the committee's charter, said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the industry-backed Western Energy Alliance and an alternate member of the committee. Another possibility is that Bernhardt has decided to focus on recommendations already made, she added.

"It may be better to actually get some of those priority recommendations done within the next year and a half rather than identify new issues to tackle," Sgamma said.

The committee's members included industry executives; officials from energy states such as Texas, Wyoming and North Dakota; tribal representatives; academics and at least one industry consultant.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in California reinstated an Interior Department rule adopted under President Barack Obama that was intended to increase royalty payments from companies that extract fossil fuels from federal land. The Interior Department had revoked the so-called valuation rule during Zinke's tenure.

Watchdog groups and lawmakers long complained that taxpayers were losing hundreds of millions of dollars annually because royalties were being improperly calculated.

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There have been no reported cases of measles in the state of Montana as of Tuesday morning, but at least one local health official believes it is likely the virus will be seen at some point in Montana due in part to the state's proximity to areas with known recent outbreaks.

"I fully expect that at some point along the way we'll get a case," said Kim Bailey, the communicable disease program manager at RiverStone Health in Billings. "With the outbreak that was in Washington, they're very close neighbors with us and there are a lot of people that travel back and forth and it just is very likely to happen."

Currently, known measles outbreaks are in Maryland, Georgia, California, New Jersey, Michigan, and New York. An outbreak that began in southwest Washington state and afflicted more than 70 people is believed to be over, due to no new infections having been discovered within the past six weeks, the Associated Press reported Monday. That outbreak was first reported about four months ago.

In 2019 cases of measles have also been reported in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Texas and Tennessee.

The United States has the greatest number of measles cases reported since 1994. Measles was declared eliminated in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Through April 26, 2019, a total of 704 individual cases of measles have been confirmed in 22 different states, according to the CDC.

A fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes and sore throat are all beginning signs of measles, which can then develop into a body rash, according to the CDC. Children younger than 5 and adults older than 20 are the most likely groups to suffer complications from measles.

Those complications can be fatal. Common complications include ear infections and diarrhea. Pneumonia, also known as an infection of the lungs, occurs in one out of every 20 children with measles. Brain swelling, known medically by the term encephalitis, is another complication that has been observed in children with measles. One out of every 1,000 children with measles develops brain swelling, which can cause "intellectual disability," deafness, or death, per the CDC. Both pneumonia and brain swelling complications from measles can kill children. The CDC reports that between one and two children out of every 1,000 infected by measles die.

The measles virus is present in the nose and throat mucus of infected people and can be spread through coughing and sneezing. The CDC reports the virus can live for hours in airspace where an infected person coughed or sneezed, and that an infected person remains contagious for four days before they develop the measles rash and four days after.

"Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune will also become infected," according to CDC information.

Bailey recommends people be informed about their own vaccination status and act accordingly. The measles vaccination is administered in what is called an MMR vaccine, which vaccinates against mumps and rubella in addition to measles.

In order to be effective the vaccine must be administered twice, and at least 28 days must pass between the first and second doses, Bailey said.

The earliest a child can be vaccinated for measles is at 6 months of age.

If someone believes they've been exposed to measles Bailey said RiverStone's "strong preference" is that they call a health care provider rather than showing up at the facility.

"We don't want them just going to the emergency room or same day care when they could possibly be infectious and exposing large numbers of people," Bailey said. "So we would want them to call ahead and talk with the receptionist at their provider and tell them what their situation is and get some advice about where to go and how to be seen."

Someone who thinks they have been exposed to measles would likely be asked about their travel history, if they've had out-of-state visitors from areas with known measles cases, what kinds of signs and symptoms they've experienced and the timing of those signs and symptoms.

"And we would just do an assessment like that to get a feel for what their unique situation is," Bailey said. "We would look at their immunization record and we'd take those things into consideration and then if we felt like it was very possible we would help make that arrangement for where a person could be seen and provide other direction as needed."

Vaccines do not cause autism, but the unfounded fear that they do has cut into vaccination rates in recent years. One of the more common debunked theories is that mercury-based preservative thimerosol, which the CDC says is used to prevent contamination of multidose vials of vaccines, causes autism. The CDC states on its website that it has funded nine different studies since 2003 "that have found no link between thimerosol-containing vaccines and ASD (autism spectrum disorder), as well as no link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and ASD in children."

The Washington Post reported in October 2018 that the percentage of children younger than 2 who haven't received any vaccinations "has quadrupled in the last 17 years."

In Yellowstone County, data from 2016 shows that 86 percent of kids from 24 months to 35 months have had at least one measles, mumps, rubella immunization, according to Bailey. That puts the area below the national average for 2016, which was about 91.1 percent, she said.

Currently, 97 percent of students in Yellowstone County from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade are up-to-date on their immunizations, Bailey said.

Ultimately, Bailey said vaccination is something that benefits not only individuals but the communities they live in.

"There are always those people who are vulnerable who will contract the disease and will have very serious complications from it and could even die from it," she said. "It's not just about that particular person, it's about our community as a whole and doing the right thing not only for ourselves but for others."

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On what turned out to be nearly the last day of the 2019 Montana Legislature, an April 22 Billings Gazette editorial called on legislators to pass good legislation without tying it to dubious last-minute deals.

Many Montanans communicated similar messages to their state senators and representatives. A majority of lawmakers listened to constituents, who supported a solid proposal for protecting Montana's history without significantly burdening Montana taxpayers. Senate Bill 338 was virtually the last piece of legislation to receive final approval in the last hour of the session after nearly being killed, blasted out of committee, approved on second reading and then delayed six days amid reports that its passage depended on approval of whatever legislation NorthWestern Energy finally settled on in a series of bids to circumvent normal state regulations of the rates it charges 370,000 Montana customers.

Historically, NorthWestern Energy, a South Dakota corporation that is the largest monopoly utility in Montana, has gotten most of what it wants from the Montana Legislature  as did its predecessor, Montana Power Co. Not this time.

In 2019, common sense and consumer protection prevailed  thanks to the public's right to participate in our state government and Montana journalists who reported the facts about this utility legislation. The professional staff at the Public Service Commission and legal staff at the Montana Consumer Counsel analyzed the NorthWestern bills, and pointed out that both SB331 and its predecessor SB278 would shift risk away from NWE shareholders and onto the company's Montana customers. The language of the bills changed, but none of the versions were a better deal for Montana ratepayers than present law.

The demise of SB331 doesn't prevent NWE from acquiring a larger ownership share of the Colstrip Plant, nor is the utility prohibited from acquiring a larger share of transmission lines. Such acquisitions would be subject to Public Service Commission review, if NWE wanted Montana ratepayers to pay for them.

At one point, it was reported that the fate of Medicaid coverage for 96,000 Montanans was linked to SB331. Fortunately, that didn't happen either.

In the end, the legislative manipulations of Senate President Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, and Majority Leader Fred Thomas, R-Stevensville, Sen. Tom Richmond, R-Billings, and Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, failed. On April 25, the last day of the session, House leadership declined to create a free conference committee to transform a completely different bill into SB331, which had failed to pass the House on a 37-60 vote on April 16.

Attempts to ram leadership priorities through at the session's end make a mockery of the hard work of legislative committees and testimony from Montanans who traveled to Helena, texted or called with their opinions on legislation.

There were also attempts this session to resurrect a pre-kindergarten program that had previously been rejected, and an effort to amend a comprehensive rewrite of state DUI law into another bill after Senate Bill 65 stalled. Although we agree that Montana should fund pre-kindergarten and we support most of the DUI law changes in SB65, we abhor the secretive tactics employed to force support for these bills.

The defeat of SB331 was a victory for open government and the public's right to participate as guaranteed by the Montana Constitution.

Billings Gazette

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As I reflect on the 66th Legislature I cannot but help to tell you my utmost truth, because to me truth is much more interesting than political cliche.

Minority Leader Casey Schneider is correct. All his party's major goals were accomplished. His minority party, along with the moderate Solutions Caucus Republicans, controlled the deciding votes this session.

To be forthright myself and most legislators voted for the civil and criminal revisions on child sex assault, firefighters compensation benefits, and Hannas Act. There are issues everyone can agree on. What I cant for the life of me understand is the division within the Montana Republican Party.

I walked into a room with a lot of lines already drawn as I entered the Capitol this January. People with biases and grudges I was not aware of. Our hard-working speaker Greg Hertz had to manage egos and division within his own caucus. Greg did an amazing job this winter. His work ethic and leadership gave me pride to serve with him. Unfortunately for him, and the rest of our minority conservative caucus, we were the unrepresented minority in deciding votes that raised our taxes. As Conservatives we created a meme, our real vote count was 38-62, the 38 special. Conservative voices were kept out of the discussion on major issues. It was fascinating to watch.

While the conservative caucus was a minority this session, I see success for our belief systems and our party in the future at a state-level. We will have genuine federal leadership next election cycle in regard to health care.

With a Republican state governor all the solutions caucus games stop. The solution for conservatives is to primary those within our party who we disagree with politically. We must do this by having better candidates, and greater conservative energy in our central committees. Let us not resort to name-calling, whining and disparaging remarks on the internet or salacious attacks. The correct path forward is to find better candidates and win the vote where it belongs, at the doors of our constituents next summer.

David Dunn, Whitefish

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CEDAR RAPIDS  Maybe the third times the charm, Charles Menge hopes.

He liked Joe Biden in 1988 and 2008, and Menge, of Cedar Rapids, is backing the former vice president in the race this time for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

He has the grasp of what America is all about, Menge said after attending Bidens Iowa campaign kickoff Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. Hell repair the damage thats been done and make sure it doesnt get worse with four more years.

That was at the core of Bidens message to about 300 people at Veterans Memorial Building where he spoke for about 30 minutes and didnt take questions.

The 2020 election will be different because the very core values of our nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything thats made America America is at stake, and we know why, Biden, 76, said as he kicked off his first campaign swing through the first-in-the-nation caucus state. He made stops in Monticello and Dubuque, and will be in Iowa City on Wednesday. Doors open at 12:15 p.m. for a rally at Big Grove Brewery and Taproom, 1225 S. Gilbert St.
Police prepping for evacuations | 38 days above flood stage and no end in sight | People need your help: How to volunteer | The latest on road closures | More rain in the forecast. How bad will it get? | Fifth-highest level ever as of this afternoon. The 1993 record will be threatened | Police issue travel warnings
South African startup Custos Media Technologies has created an innovative solution to combat piracy worldwide using blockchain technology and game theory.

The company offers a copyright protection solution which encourages pirates to anonymously snitch on their comrades in return for a Bitcoin reward.

This solution has proven effective among the companys clients, and the user-friendly way it is packaged makes it an attractive proposition for content distributors looking to prevent incidents of leaks and piracy.

MyBroadband spoke to Custos co-founder and chief operating officer Fred Lutz about how the company was founded in South Africa and grew to offer its anti-piracy product to international clients.

Blockchain hotspot

Lutz said that the Custos team first got the idea for their technology around the coffee pot in the MIH Media Lab at Stellenbosch University in 2013.

The lab focused on new media research and had post-graduate students from various faculties, Lutz said.

You had engineers working on VR applications, socio-informaticists and political scientists researching social media trends, computer scientists developing next-gen game physics engines, mathematicians applying graph theory to AI, and I was doing my degree in Economics on piracy and dark economies.

Lutz said that Bitcoin and the blockchain technology behind it were just starting to get attention, and the Media Lab was uniquely positioned to be a hotspot, given the diversity of specialisations contained therein.

Simon de la Rouviere launched a cryptocurrency focused on musicians called Cypherpunk there. We invited Vinny Lingam over to do a talk on the future of Bitcoin.

Helgardt Avenant started a cryptocurrency project in the lab that has evolved to ReHive, a wallet creation platform. Simon de la Rouviere and I started a blockchain consultancy called Auconomy and consulted on some ICOs before they were called that, he said.

Stellenbosch to success

It was in this environment that the two directors of the Lab, G-J van Rooyen and Herman Engelbrecht  both professors in Engineering  and I speculated on combining watermarking and monetary incentivization to combat piracy, Lutz explained.

This was a combination of G-Js expertise in signal processing, Hermans specialization in distributed computing, and my background in economics.

The trio realised that there was a big issue in the traditional approach to fighting piracy, and theorised that anti-piracy solutions should instead place a credible threat of detection on infringements.

What our solution does is to turn every pirate into a potential bounty hunter  and to boot paying them to anonymously rat out their compatriots.

The team immediately knew it had something special and took the idea to Innovus  the technology transfer office of the university.

We patented the technology, incorporated Custos Media Technologies, and raised initial grant funding from the Technology and Innovation Agency to test the appetite for the technology in Hollywood, and the rest is history, Lutz said.

Custos technology has seen widespread adoption both locally and abroad, and has proven greatly effective at reducing instances of piracy in the movie industry.

Now read: Cryptocurrency owners targeted in Microsoft Outlook data breach
The U.S. push to challenge Chinas dominance in the production and sale of electric vehicles has at least one weak link: Most of the raw materials needed to make the batteries are dug elsewhere.

Both Chinese and U.S.-based companies have invested heavily in lithium mining projects in Chile, Australia and Argentina, some of the worlds top producing nations. But unlike the U.S., Chinese companies have also invested at home, with the Asian nation producing almost eight times more lithium domestically than the U.S.

The raw materials gap will be discussed at a May 2 meeting in Washington expected to draw government officials, carmakers, mining companies and consultants on the need for streamlining the U.S. permit process for new lithium projects and stockpiling purchases.

It has been decades since a lithium refining facility has been built in the United States, said Eric Norris, the lithium president of North Carolina-based Albemarle Corp., the worlds largest producer of the mineral. Any new project will take time to develop, as the regulatory bodies determine required permits, potential community impact, etc.

Boosting local production of the raw minerals would be the first step toward building out a rechargeable battery industry thats so far been concentrated in Asia. The U.S. controls only about 13 percent of the global lithium cell production capacity, with no growth expected, according to BloombergNEF. China now controls about two-thirds of that industry and BNEF is forecasting it could grow to about 73 percent by 2021.

The difference is already showing up in sales. About half of the worlds electric vehicles are sold in China, a figure thats on the rise. Sales jumped by 150 percent during the first quarter of 2018, compared with the previous year, according to BNEF.

You cant build half a million electric vehicle battery packs without a secure supply of several critical raw materials, said Chris Berry, a battery-metals analyst at House Mountain Partners. If the U.S. lags in the build out of lithium or cathode capacity, its supply chain dynamism and competitiveness around the new energy theme is put at risk.

Chinas Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co. acquired 37.5 percent of the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina, which is set to start producing in 2021. Tianqi Lithium Corp. paid $4 billion for a 24 percent stake in Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile and the same company is part of the Talison joint venture, which controls the giant Greenbushes lithium mine in Australia.

The metals needed in making rechargeable batteries used in everything from Teslas to energy storage to iPhones, include graphite, manganese, nickel, cobalt and lithium. The U.S. imports at least half of each of those metal requirements, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

This weeks meeting in Washington is hosted by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, an industry consultant that specializes in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. In testimony before the U.S. Congress in February, the firms leader, Simon Moores, warned that the U.S. current role in the supply chain was being outflanked by China. Moores confirmed the meeting in an email. Albemarle will have representatives at the meeting in Washington, the company said.

Theres no reason why companies cant raise capital and build and operate lithium mines in the U.S, Berry said. The permitting process can be somewhat longer in the US relative to other parts of the world, but with so much focus on sustainability and transparency of the supply chain, environmental safeguards are a must.

But with demand for lithium set to boom from above 300,000 tons a year to a million tons by 2025, mining companies need to grow fast and they prefer to do so in jurisdictions they know well. Albemarle, the only company producing lithium in the U.S., said in a written answer to questions it is focusing on expanding current operations in Australia and Chile.

It is too early to comment on viability or timing of an expansion at Silver Peak, a mine that produces 6,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year, Albemarles Norris said. The company completed an exploration program at a hard rock site in Kings Mountain, but Norris described it as a long-term asset in very early stages of assessment.

No lithium mines are expected to start producing in the U.S. over the next three years and no substantial lithium production is set to hit global markets within the next five years, according to Bloomberg Intelligence chemicals analyst Christopher Perrella.

Still, some junior mining companies are looking to build new mines over the medium and long term. Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp is hoping to have permits approved for its Thacker Pass project in Nevada in 2020. Construction of the mine, with an initial annual capacity of 30,000 tons, could start next year if the company can raise the $581 million needed to build it.

The challenges are building it quick enough and attracting capital, said Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Evans. If you look at a three to five year period from now, the market for electric vehicles and stationary storage batteries will be really growing, so its key for the investment to come now.

Now read: Tesla rushing to complete new assembly plant in China
I'm with the NPP to help ...
The middle aged woman sitting in my exam chair had a patch of white gauze taped to the side of her neck. Years ago she had had skin cancer, and now had a sore that wasnt healing. I gingerly removed her homemade dressing and was shocked to see her carotid artery exposed and pulsating in a deep, open wound in her neck where cancer had eroded the skin, the fat, and the muscles that protect the artery. It would not be long before the artery ruptured.

She needed university care for treatment, but for some it can take weeks to get a visit approved. She didnt have time to wait. I sent her to the Emergency Department at Queen of the Valley Medical Center and called a consultant friend at UCSF. My patient spent many hours in the emergency room, and after multiple phone calls she was able to receive her needed care.

How do people get to this point in America? Inability to afford health insurance? Job loss? Too young for Medicare and ineligible for Medicaid? This is just one story. We doctors have many such stories. Most of you know someone who has delayed care due to no insurance or a high deductible, or incurred large medical bills despite insurance. All of the money we spend on premiums, deductibles, patient portions, medications, and out-of-network care can add up to enormous sums annually for many individuals and families. Medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. Health insurance is a major expense for employers, too, which slows business growth and reduces our incomes.

Australia, Canada, Taiwan and Spain have had successful single payer systems for years. Everyone is covered from birth to death. Health care, like police and fire services, is paid for through taxes. Everyone needs health care, and everyone pays into a fund. When health insurance is a choice, as it is now, many people opt out, and the unpaid costs of the care they ultimately need is shifted to our hospitals. This drives up prices for the insured and has resulted in bankruptcy and closure of many hospitals and emergency rooms.

Our health care dollars provide large profits for health insurance companies. In 2017 Blue Cross Blue Shield alone made $1.3 billion in profits. $908 million was spent on brokers commissions and $41 million on advertising. Kaisers profits in 2017 were $3.8 billion. We pay insurance companies to issue denials, limit medication access, and process authorizations, referrals and claimsslowly. This requires medical offices and hospitals to hire employees to get authorizations, appeal denials, check eligibilities, and collect patient portions. We are No. 1 in the world in administrative costs.

What if that money were spent on providing health care?

Single payer health care for all minimizes administrative costs and eliminates insurance profits, leaving more money for health care. Single payer encourages preventive care and early care, which results in better community health and is significantly less expensive than treating an advanced illness like my patient had. Single payer eliminates restrictive insurance panels. You have the freedom to choose any physician or specialist. Hospitals and physician practices are still privately ownedthere is no government takeover but all reimbursement is from the government.

Our elderly and our poor have government-funded health care. We need to extend those benefits to working families who may be working multiple jobs to get health benefits. Part time workers are not entitled to employer covered health care and may be least able to afford it. Many families must change insurance plans and their doctors with a job change, and job changes are much more frequent now than 70 years ago when health insurance was first tied to employment as a benefit.

Recent polls have demonstrated a growing interest in the United States for single payer Medicare for all. A new bill in Congress, HR 1384, provides for changing our system to single payer to allow us to join other countries with lower costs and better health care outcomes. 107 members of Congress have signed support for the bill, including our districts Mike Thompson. Thousands of physicians nationwide are supporting Single Payer Medicare for All.

Wed like to invite you to our Napa community forum: Single Payer/Medicare for All: What it means for your family, your doctor, and your community. Guest speakers include Napas public health physician Dr. Karen Relucio; pediatrician Dr. Ana Malinow; and me. The forum is Wednesday, May 8 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 625 Randolph St. Participation is free. Please come with your questions.

Single payer may be a new concept for many of us, but it has a proven record in other countries. Single payer is more humane, more efficient, and less costly. Single payer is simply the right thing to do.

Dr. Kathleen M. Healey is a Napa-based physician.
St. Helenas Cameo Cinema will host the Napa Valley premiere of director Bernardo Ruiz Harvest Season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7.

As part of our Community Arts programming we wanted to showcase this documentary about the behind-the-scenes Mexican Americans who are essential to our premium California wine business, said Cathy Buck, the theaters owner and creative director. There will be a Q&A following the screening with Vanessa Robledo of Robledo, Black Coyote and noted winemaker Gustavo Brambila of Gustavo Wines, both featured in the film.

Harvest Season delves into the lives of people who work behind the scenes of the premium California wine industry during one of the most dramatic grape harvests in recent memory. The film follows the stories of Mexican-American winemakers and migrant workers who are essential to the wine business, yet are rarely recognized for their contributions.

Their stories unfold as wildfires ignite in Napa and Sonoma counties, threatening the livelihoods of small farmers and winemakers who are already grappling with a growing labor shortage, shifting immigration policies, and the impacts of a rapidly changing climate.

Ruiz said his original idea for the film was to tell the story of unsung heroes of the wine business by exploring all the stages of wine production and by focusing on the individuals working in the fields with the grapes and taking them all the way to bottle.

Anyone who has ever set foot on a working vineyard, knows that without workers, there is no wine, said Ruiz. Yet rarely will you find stories in the media, dedicated to the food and wine industry, about the daughters and sons of vineyard workers becoming winemakers themselves.

A co-production of Independent Television Service (ITVS) and Latino Public Broadcasting, the film will be presented in Spanish and English with English subtitles.

The Cameo Cinema is located at 1340 Main St. in St. Helena. Tickets are $8 and available online. For additional information and to watch the trailer, visit cameocinema.com.

Editors Note: This story has been modified to fix spelling mistakes.
A luchador match in a vineyard was among the highlights of a children's carnival held Tuesday at the St. Helena Public Library in honor of Dia del Nino (Children's Day). The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Tuesday's carnival featured games, food and a Spanish storytime.
In the last year of her career, St. Helena Primary School second-grade teacher Ana Canales has been honored as the St. Helena Public Schools Foundations Teacher of the Year.

Canales is a talented, innovative teacher whos remained at the cutting edge of educational best practices with an experiential, project-based approach, said Dianne Maher, vice president of the St. Helena Public Schools Foundation.

Shes made it her lifes work to empower lifelong learners, Maher said as she announced the award during Tuesdays Big Thanks celebration at Merryvale.

Canales, who is retiring at the end of this school year, was also an enthusiastic cornerstone of the primary schools former Multi-Age Program, Maher said.

Canales was on a long-planned trip to London, so her daughter Dagan Janev accepted the award on her behalf and read a statement from Canales.

My hope is that somewhere along the way I have sparked a curiosity, a love of reading and learning for the young people that Ive had the honor to serve, Canales said.

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These days it isnt uncommon to find Help Wanted signs in storefronts throughout Napa Valley. The low unemployment rate of 2.5 percent has employers scrambling to hire people for the busy summer season.

To address the short supply of workers, the Upper Valley Campus of Napa Valley College in St. Helena organized a job fair on Wednesday, April 24, that included more than 20 local businesses. But within the first hour, only a few people had arrived.

Theres a shortage of people and too many opportunities. So, the ball is in their [the applicants] court, said Alejandro Tovar, the Director of Hospitality at Madrigal Family Winery, who needs to hire tasting room associates and cellar workers.

Local government agencies are suffering more. We cant compete with hospitality jobs. The fast-food industry pays more for per hour for flipping burgers, said Lisa Tyler, the Parks and Recreation manager in Yountville. She explained Parks and Recreation programs are essential to the community. They support young families by providing after-school care and summer programs for children.

However, Calistoga doesnt have a problem staffing its summer camps and recreational positions. Most of the citys seasonal and part-time employees are local students  a population that doesnt exist in some towns. Yountville, for example, has 3,000 residents but half are veterans living at the Veterans Home of California. Yountville has to attract workers from other towns to fill the age gap.

The 2020 U.S. Census is also looking for applicants. It is important for the future of Californias political representation in Congress and the distribution of federal funds. According to the Public Policy Institute of Californias data from 2017, 72 percent of Californians belong to one or more groups that are considered hard-to-reach.

The other problem? Housing. All the employers agreed that lack of affordable housing makes it even harder to attract and retain qualified candidates. The average price for an apartment in downtown Napa is $2,373, which is 6 percent higher than last year. Californias current minimum wage is $12 an hour.

Lack of affordable housing also increases traffic congestion, which is already at a breaking point from the 3.5 million tourists who visit the Napa Valley each year. Many seasonal workers commute long distances from other counties because they cant afford housing in Napa Valley. For example, the head of the after-school program in Yountville commutes from Fairfield.

But some locals feel differently about more housing, even affordable housing. Steve Schifflett, who escorted his son to the job fair, said, St. Helena neighbors want to keep the town small and local. Look at Calistoga, its a resort town now. Residents want to preserve the local charm of the Napa Valley they know and love, but they also have to adjust to this new era of extreme tourism.

Although the job fair was sparsely attended, employers want to see it become a regular event because its difficult to connect with people from all over the county. This opportunity brings education, the community, and local businesses together, said Dr. Sherry Tennyson, a career consultant for the Napa Valley College.

Interested? Another job fair is taking place from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2, at the McCarthy Library Plaza, located in the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center, 2277 Napa Vallejo Highway in Napa. For more information, visit napavalley.edu/careercenter.
Summer is around the corner and things are heating up at the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber has an upcoming free social-media workshop for our members scheduled for June 25. For those who want to improve or establish a better presence in your market niche or better connect with your audience, this workshop is for you! It will primarily focus on Instagram, Instagram stories, and digital ads. For more information, you can email me at amy@sthelena.com.

Speaking of social media, the Chamber and City of St. Helenas Instagram accounts are growing! Moreover, we saw an overall social-media presence for Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook grow 51 percent. Our social-media engagement is up 85 percent. This is a huge enhancement to help boost tourism and destination marketing and overall authority for experience seekers for the city of St. Helena. We currently have nearly 14,000 followers on Instagram! Follow us at @sthelenaca for some of the best: Travel and lodging tips, St. Helena highlights, behind-the-scenes winery tours, dining features (that will make you drool) and much more.

The Chamber has several upcoming mixers for our members to gather, make friends and strengthen their networks. Our annual Upper Valley Joint Mixer is scheduled for June 19 at Clif Family Winery from 5:30 to 7 p.m. We hope to see our members there!

If you havent shopped for mom this Mothers Day, come to St. Helena for our biggest sidewalk sale of the year! St. Helenas Sidewalk Sale kicks off at 10 a.m., Friday, May 3. Come shop Main Streets favorite stores as they mark down some of their inventory for the citys best block sale. Dont forget to stop inside the Welcome Center at the Chamber for complimentary wine tasting to help make your shopping experience even better.

The Chamber has teamed up with a social-media food blogger!

Foodies, friends and neighbors ... join popular social-media food influencer and author Teri Turner of @nocrumbsleft in celebration of her new cookbook, No Crumbs Left: Recipes for Everyday Food Made Marvelous. On June 15, Teri will be hosting an author talk and in conversation with Napa sommelier Amanda McCrossin at Cameo Cinema at 10 a.m. Following the talk, enjoy wine tastings and book signing at 11:30 a.m. at the St. Helena Welcome Center. After you get your book signed, remember to shop Main Street!

Lastly, the Chambers Summer Concert Series kicks off June 13 with Dennis Johnson and the Mississippi Ramblers. The musical series, sponsored by St. Helena Family Dentistry, will feature food, wine, farmers market vendors, desserts, and more for concertgoers. So mark your calendars every second and fourth Thursday of the month (June through August) 6-8 p.m. Well see you there!

Amy Carabba-Salazar is the CEO for the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce.
Listen up, St. Helena. Theres talk of a new hotel in our midst, and were not talking about the Adams Street property.

Jackson Family Wines is proposing a 72-room hotel at the Freemark Abbey property north of the city limits, and we should all pay attention as it works its way through the countys approval process.

The Jackson family acquired the winery in 2006 and did a wonderful job restoring the original stone building dating back to 1888. The design for the hotel is also thoughtful, attractive, and worthy of the propertys historic nature.

Three representatives of the Jackson family  Geoff Scott, LeeAnne Edwards and Ari Jackson  outlined the project to our editorial board last week. They call it The Inn at the Abbey.

They told us the hotel will use existing wastewater facilities and wont need any additional city water beyond whats already allocated in Freemark Abbeys water contract. Water consumption will be at or below historic levels for the property.

The two most important factors, in our opinion, are housing and traffic.

Edwards said the Jackson family has a long history of providing housing for its workers in Sonoma County, and is committed to doing the same with this, their first project in Napa County.

Some existing houses on the south side of Lodi Lane, amounting to about 40 beds, will house hotel workers. Those houses are on ag-zoned land, so the applicants cant build any additional on-site housing, aside from some accessory dwelling units.

Theyve also talked to Our Town St. Helena about supporting other housing around the city, although they havent identified a specific site.

Housing has to be a crucial element of the project, and it could be the most important in terms of winning the communitys support. We encourage the applicants to plan  and spend  accordingly in pursuit of a creative solution.

As for traffic, the Jackson family plans to use Lodi Lane as the primary point of access. Northbound traffic may also use the entrance along Highway 29, but a new median will force southbound traffic to use Lodi, which will get new turn lanes for traffic turning onto 29.

Like housing, the traffic situation cries out for a creative solution, maybe involving a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 29 and Lodi Lane.

The restaurant space, currently home to Roadhouse 29, will remain as an important component of the hotel. Wine education will also be an important aspect, with on-site sommeliers interacting with guests. The hotel would be run by a separate operator  the Jacksons have talked to a few but havent announced a deal.

The applicants expect the use permit approval process to take 12 to 18 months, with construction three to five years away. Expect plenty of public hearings at the county level and probably some discussion at the city level as well.

We cant even come close to endorsing the project until its been thoroughly vetted by the county, but it does have a few points in its favor.

It would further beautify a historic property and eliminate the old A Dozen Vintners building thats always been an eyesore. Additionally, the projects scope is nowhere near as gargantuan as the Four Seasons resort thats under construction in Calistoga.

The Inn at the Abbey would bring visitors within a stones throw of downtown St. Helena, which could use the customers. Private shuttles and Ubers would be a great way to transport hotel guests downtown while minimizing traffic.

The Jackson family did a great job with the restored stone building, so we know theyre capable of pulling off a tasteful project. Theyre open to community input and understand the need for workforce housing. They were open to our suggestion of offering conference space to nonprofits at a discount.

This is a promising project. Lets keep an open mind as it gets fleshed out.

The Star editorial board consists of editors David Stoneberg and Sean Scully and community volunteers Norma Ferriz, Christopher Hill, Shannon Kuleto, Bonnie Long, Peter McCrea, Gail Showley and Dave Yewell. Yewell did not contribute to this editorial.
SAN FRANCISCO  Alexei Ratmanskys Shostakovich Trilogy returns to San Francisco Ballet May 712, closing the companys 2019 Repertory Season at the War Memorial Opera House.

Called a fascinating, thrilling, bewilderingly ambiguous evocation of life in Shostakovichs Russia (The New York Times), and simply, a masterpiece (San Francisco Chronicle), Shostakovich Trilogy is Ratmanskys homage to the composer, using three of his full-length works: the Symphony No. 9, Chamber Symphony, and Piano Concerto No. 1.

Co-commissioned by San Francisco Ballet, Shostakovich Trilogy premiered in full in 2013 at American Ballet Theatre. The triptych includes Ratmanskys 9th, 10th, and 11th ballets set to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, which  alongside stories of Stalinist era-censorship of his works  has long been of interest to Russian-born Ratmansky, who served at the artistic helm of the Bolshoi Ballet before joining American Ballet Theatre as artist in residence in 2014.

He expected arrest every night. His friends and relatives were arrested and killed, Ratmansky said in a 2012 interview with The New York Times. [His music] is nihilism He takes something very seriously, and then he crushes it with the most vulgar melody from the street. In 2014, Shostakovich Trilogy awarded Ratmansky his second Prix Benois de la Danseone of the worlds most prestigious ballet awards, named after the seminal artistry of Ballet Russes designer Alexandre Benois.

The trilogy opens with Symphony #9, in which Ratmansky creates a work for 21 dancers, highlighting two lead couples and a solo male to Shostakovichs opus 70 (1945), set against designer George Tsypins backdrop of grays, with penciled sketches and splashes of red recalling works of Socialist realism. In the following Chamber Symphony (set to an orchestration of the composers String Quartet No. 8 from 1960), dedicated by Shostakovich in memory of victims of fascism and war, Ratmansky takes a biographical approach to his choreography, representing each of Shostakovichs three wives as solos in the dance. The program closes with the Piano Concerto #1 after the kaleidoscopic, neo-baroque Concerto in C minor for Piano, Trumpet, and String Orchestra from 1933. Keso Dekkers sleek red and blue-gray bodysuits highlight the best of Ratmanskys neoclassical choreography.

Additional Meet the Artist interviews occur on May 10 and May 12, when a Meet the Orchestra discussion takes place with Music Director and Principal Conductor Martin West. More information, including Shostakovich Trilogys program notes, is available on San Francisco Ballets website, in its Discover section. Shostakovich Trilogys Pointes of View lecture with Carrie Gaiser Casey, PhD, is May 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Cinco de Mayo at La Toque

La Toque's continues chef Ken Frank's Cinco de Mayo tradition of transforming his Michelin-starred restaurant into El Toque for the fifth year on May 5.

They will serve a menu of family recipes prepared by La Toque staff, along with margaritas, tequilas and ice-cold Bohemia, Negro Modelo and Corona beers. Trio Sol de Mexico will provide music.

The five-course Mexican dinner will be available from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. for $65 with a suggested $25 donation to Puertas Abiertas at the door.

La Toque is at 1314 McKinstry St., Napa. Info, 1-888-627-7169, westinnapa.com

Cinco de Mayo at La Calenda

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at La Calenda in Yountville from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., on Sunday, May 5.

During a street festival, from 1 to 5 p.m., there will be pinatas on the hour, face painting and mariachi music.

Al pastor tacos, chicken or squash tamales, chips and salsa, elote and popsicles will be for sale, in addition to margaritas, beer, and nonalcoholic beverages.

The restaurant will also be open for its regular service from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The patio is now open for dining al fresco.

Buy tickets for food and drinks in advance at finessethestore.com and at the event.

La Calenda is at 6518 Washington St., Yountville. Info, 833-682-8226, lacalendamex.com
A planned wine warehouse more than twice the size of the American Canyon Wal-Mart Superstore finally won Napa County approval following a nine-month delay after a union challenged the environmental documents.

The Nova wine warehouse is to be located on 23 acres near Devlin Road in the countys airport industrial area, officially known as Napa Valley Business Park. It is to have 391,934 square feet of warehouse space and 8,566 square feet of office space.

On Wednesday, the county Planning Commission unanimously granted its approval.

I think this is precisely where a project like this should be going, in this area, Commissioner Jeri Hansen said. Theres clearly a need for it based on vacancy rates.

Attorney Rebecca Davis on behalf of Laborers International Union of North America Local 324 said after the meeting that the union has yet to decide whether to appeal the Planning Commission decision to the Board of Supervisors. She asked the county to require an environmental impact report for the project, as opposed to a less-detailed mitigated negative declaration.

The warehouse proposal first went before the Planning Commission on July 18, 2018. Laborers International Union of North America Local 324 called for more research on how the project might affect the California red-legged frog, Swainsons hawk and other wildlife, as well as greenhouse gas emissions and traffic.

Then-Planning Commissioner Terry Scott said at the July meeting hes seen cases of unions using delaying tactics so they can negotiate for contracts. Davis said she was concerned about environmental issues.

Since then, the applicant has added new information to the environmental documents. No new mitigation measures or project revisions are proposed.

One issue with development in this part of the county is traffic added to nearby Highway 29, which is congested during rush hour. Caltrans estimates the highway in this area handles 44,000 to 65,000 vehicles daily.

The warehouse is to have 20 full-time and 20 part-time employees, generating an estimated 202 trips daily. The negative declaration found this to be insignificant.

Laborers International Union of North America claimed the traffic analysis should be based on warehouse floor area, not the expected number of employees, leading to an incorrect estimate. The square footage formula would require a traffic analysis for 138 employees.

Also, Davis on Wednesday told commissioners that the analysis for the project failed to adequately scrutinize cumulative impacts. The union wants a deeper look at how this project, combined with past, present and reasonably foreseeable future projects, would affect the environment.

Attorney Andrea Matarazzo on behalf of Nova Business Park, LLC disagreed. The county addressed cumulative impacts in its master plan for Napa Valley Business Park. This particular project adds no significant, incremental impacts, she said.

The union argued that the surveys for possible endangered species on the site didnt go far enough. Commissioners disagreed.

I think just because nothing was found doesnt mean the analysis was done incorrectly, Hansen said.

Bret DeMartini of Colliers International in July 2018 wrote to the county in favor of the Nova wine warehouse.

In terms of demand, the market has never been stronger, DeMartini wrote. Rents are increasing and the vacancy rates are at or near all-time lows.

Michael Glavin of Top It Off Bottling also supported the project in a July 2018 letter.

Warehousing in south Napa is in high demand, Glavin wrote. With our wine customers trying to avoid the up-valley congestion, its becoming more difficult for them to find space.

Commissioners Anne Cottrell, Joelle Gallagher, Hansen and Dave Whitmer voted in favor of the Nova wine warehouse. Commissioner Andrew Mazotti was absent.

At a total of 400,500 square feet, the planned Nova wine warehouse wont be the largest in the area. For example, a warehouse in American Canyons Napa Logistic Center used by IKEA is 644,000 square feet.

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A team of 12 Naval divers and two hydrographers (survey sailors) have joined the search operation to locate the missing picnickers in Imphal river.

Sources said the Naval diving team was airlifted from Visakhapatnam by an IAF aircraft to Imphal on Tuesday evening.

The naval diving team is carrying necessary diving equipment including portable side scan sonar for locating objects underwater and commenced search operation today, said an official.

The official said the team has joined the ongoing search operation along with NDRF team and civil authorities in locating three missing persons.

Three picnickersS Rajib (35), S Romen (29) and N Rani (19) from Ningthoukhong Kha-Khunou village in Bishnupur district, were drowned when their boat capsized in a storm in the reservoir of Mapithel dam in Kamjong district of Manipur on Sunday afternoon.

There were 12 picnickers in two boats when the storm raged across the state around 4 pm on Sunday. Both the boats capsized. Boatmen rescued nine others but these three picnickers could not be traced.

The storm damaged many houses, educational institutions, uprooted trees, electric poles and disturbed power supply.
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Lights of main Christmas tree in Yerevan switched on

Aram Vardevanyan: Armenian employees no longer obliged to pay for PCR tests, this is unconstitutional

NEWS.am daily digest: 23.12.21

Azerbaijan addresses Bosnia & Herzegovina for identification of remains

Armenia's Pashinyan is in a meeting with ruling faction MPs

Armenia Constitutional Court: Employees don't need to pay for COVID-19 testing

Baku is still complaining about Valerie Pecresse's visit to Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia Constitutional Court announcing decision on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and testing (LIVE)

Turkish court rules to leave Osman Kavala in custody

Anti-Corruption Committee: Armenia Prosecutor General's Office's instruction under Aghvan Hovsepyan's case is groundless

Dollar drops in Armenia

Tumo mobile center to be built in Armenia's Kapan

Price of Russian natural gas being supplied to Armenia to remain stable for 10 years

Armenia FM presents to Stanislav Zas situation on country's eastern border

Putin lets reporters shout from their seats at his press conference

More exchange of fire on Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border

Stanislav Zas visits Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex

French presidential candidate visits Artsakh

Biden states condition under which he will run in 2024 presidential elections

Armenia premier receives CSTO Secretary General

Turkish minister informs which airline company of Turkey will carry out flights to Armenia

Iranian FM: New chapter has begun between Azerbaijan and Iran, with positive effects

Armenian deputy parliamentary speaker: Armenia reaffirms its support to India regarding Jammu and Kashmir

Biden says those responsible for storming US Congress must be held accountable

Armenia PM to answer media, NGOs questions live on Facebook

275 million people test positive for COVID-19 globally

Armenias Pashinyan: Next wave of Covid will inevitably come

Death penalty abolished in Kazakhstan

White House says the time to restore the deal with Iran is running out

Biden will enjoy Christmas evening at White House with his family and friends

Pashinyan to new mayor of Yerevan: You enjoy government and my full support

Health minister on Covid inoculations: 1,591,809 people vaccinated so far in Armenia

Armenia Police special forces forcibly apprehend Parakar village residents who closed off motorway

Armenia health minister: We have pretty good epidemic situation at the moment

Residents of Armenias Parakar block motorway

Armenia premier: Many historical, cultural masterpieces are endangered

Azerbaijan demands removal of Armenian place names in Karabakh from Google Maps

1 more person dies of coronavirus in Artsakh

Social affairs minister: There is natural increase in Armenia due to birth of 3rd child in families

129 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia legislature opposition on proposal to meet with PM Pashinyan: Closed-meeting format unacceptable

Explosion takes place at garbage processing plant in Turkey

Russia peacekeepers congratulate, give presents to Karabakh children on upcoming holidays

Azerbaijan which destroys monuments is attempting to conceal its vandalism

Newspaper: Armenia PM proposes parliament opposition to meet, discuss Artsakh negotiation topic

Situation tense in Armenias Parakar

Newspaper: Next step is to launch criminal case against now ex-mayor of Yerevan

Armenia opposition MP on Security Council chief statement: He has lied

Armen Grigoryan clarifies why Ruben Rubinyan was appointed Armenia's envoy for negotiations with Turkey

Armenia Security Council Secretary on '3+3' format: If there is opportunity, we will go to Baku and Ankara

Armenian Security Council Secretary: There is still no Armenia-Turkey agenda, we need to sit at table and talk

Security Council Secretary: Document signed by Armenian, Russian MODs was not about pullout of Armenian troops in Syunik

Yerevan Council of Elders member Lilit Pipoyan also drops mandate

IRGC uses suicide drones during drills in southern Iran

U.S. diplomat arrested on suspicion of selling fake passport to Syrian citizen for $10,000 in Turkey

Iran FM: '3+3' format may contribute to strengthening of peace and stability in the region

Robert Kocharyan expresses condolences over the death of National Hero Karen Demirtchyan's wife

Baku admits that it is blocking opening of communications in region by setting forth different conditions

Member of 'My Step' faction of Yerevan Council of Elders applies to leave, but says he won't drop mandate

Armenia President: Azerbaijan has been using its position of victory to impose that game

17-year-old boy commits suicide in Armenia's Ararat Province

Russian companies have pretension to participate in development of Karabakh's sector occupied by Azerbaijan

Iranian FM reminds Aliyev about Iran President's invitation to visit Tehran

Body of 34-year-old citizen of Russia found at parking lot of Dvin Hotel in Yerevan

Russia MOD: Russian Armed Forces are guarantor of peace in Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh

Yerevan mayor's spokesperson Hakob Karapetyan quits

NEWS.am daily digest: 22.12.21

Lavrov, Mirzoyan agree on steps to launch practical activities for demarcation of Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Turkey hopes construction of Igdir-Nakhchivan natural gas pipeline is launched as soon as possible

Inter-agency task force holds first session at Armenia Emergency Situations Ministry

Armenian and Russian FMs hold phone talks

Georgian and Azerbaijani MODs sign 2022 Bilateral Cooperation Plan

Deputy PM: Armenia seeks to diversify its energy system

Analyst: At this rate, Armenia's authorities might refuse to visit Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex soon

Papikyan, Zas discuss CSTO priorities during Armenia chairmanship

Iran-Armenia Friendship Group member: Tehran won't tolerate any territorial change in the region

Armenia opposition party leader is arrested

One dollar falls below AMD 480 in Armenia

Erdogan rejects possibility of snap elections in Turkey

Iranian FM: Iran welcomes further economic and trade cooperation with Azerbaijan

Peskov says Putin-Biden video call might be held before end of the year

Lavrov urges NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to resign
STEPANAKERT.  In Argentina, a delegation from the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR), and led by Foreign Minister Masis Mayilian, on Tuesday met with Facundo Suarez Lastra, former Mayor of Buenos Aires, Secretary of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Argentine Parliament, and member of the Argentine ruling coalitions Radical Civic Union party.

Mayilian briefed on the objectives of the Artsakh delegations visit to Argentina, the information and public relations department of the Republic of Artsakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed. The sides also touched upon the current situation in the South Caucasus, and the prospects for establishment of stability in the region.

On the same day, the Artsakh delegation met also with Jorge Taiana, ex-FM of Argentina, Chairman of the Justicialist Party, and member of the Mercosur Council.

The interlocutors reflected on the processes of peaceful settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, and the international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh. They discussed a range of matters of mutual interest, too.
The United States has welcomed the adoption on Tuesday by the UN Security Council of Resolution 2468 that renews for six months the MINURSO mandate, and underlined the importance of reaching a realistic, pragmatic, and sustainable solution to the Sahara issue through negotiations.

At the end of the vote on the resolution Tuesday, Rodney Hunter, the political coordinator for the US mission to the United Nations, underlined the importance of the ongoing consultations between the Un Secretary Generals Personal Envoy and Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario.

These consultations aim to find a realistic, feasible and sustainable solution to the Sahara conflict, and are essential to lay the foundations for a negotiated settlement.

We welcome the Councils strong statement of support for the efforts of the UN Secretary-Generals Personal Envoy, Horst Koehler, to achieve a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution to the Sahara conflict, he added.

The US diplomat stressed further that the goal of the Security Council should be to propose a timely and mutually acceptable political solution.

Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario met in December under the auspices of the UN in Geneva. In March, the delegations met again and began in-depth discussions with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable political solution, he recalled seemingly upbeat about the outcome of these discussions.

Representatives of several other members of the Security Council have renewed support to the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, which is, as put by Kuwaits representative to the UN a constructive option to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the Sahara conflict.

The Kuwaiti diplomat also stressed the imperative necessity to respect Moroccos Sovereignty and territorial integrity and expressed Kuwaits support to the political process under the aegis of the United Nations.
Story Highlights More Indians felt safe in 2018 than in Modi's first year in office

Women in India continue to trail men in perceptions of safety

Confidence in military and local police has increased during Modi's tenure

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Perceptions of safety in India remain relatively high ahead of what some are calling the country's "national security election." Nearly seven in 10 Indians (69%) say they feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where they live, up 17 percentage points from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first year in office in 2014.

Findings from a Gallup World Poll survey conducted in India in October-December 2018 underscore that perceptions of safety remain relatively high despite continuing safety concerns in the nation. According to the most recent government statistics, published in 2016, the crime rate increased slightly during the first few years of Modi's tenure, with an increase of kidnappings and abduction despite a decline in murders. Additionally, there were nearly 1,000 terrorist attacks in the country in 2017, third most in the world behind Iraq and Afghanistan.

Urban (72%) and rural Indians (69%) have similar perceptions of safety. The biggest differences are regional: 78% of residents in East India and 75% in South India feel safe walking alone at night, versus 60% of those in North India. North India includes Delhi, the second-largest urban area in the world and the city with the highest crime rate in India, according to the most recent government statistics. Delhi also has the highest rate of crime against women in the country.

Perceptions of Safety Vary by Region in India Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live? Yes No % % Central 64 36 East 78 21 West 69 30 North 60 39 South 75 21 Gallup World Poll

Gender Gap Remains in Perceptions of Safety

Despite recent increases in Indians' perceptions of safety, fewer women (65%) than men (73%) report feeling safe walking alone at night. This gap is not unusual, because even countries rated highest in gender equality, such as Norway, Finland and Rwanda, see lower percentages of women than men saying they feel safe walking alone at night.

Some experts have rated India as one of the world's most dangerous countries for women, but there are signs that Indian women today feel safer than during Modi's first year in office: 49% reported feeling safe in 2014, versus 65% of women in 2018.

Under Modi, the government has implemented a "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" (save daughters, educate daughters) program to protect Indian girls, and his party has also pushed for stricter punishments for sexual violence. Yet the most recent government statistics suggest that the levels of most categories of crime against women remain high, even if subjective evaluations have improved.

Currently, Indian women in urban areas (75%) are more likely to feel safe than women in rural areas (64%). Some have documented that sexual violence is less likely to be reported and prosecuted in rural areas, which may contribute to this lower perception of safety among women in rural India.

Increasing Confidence in Security Sector Under Modi

Indians also have more confidence in the security sector than when Modi first took office. Indians in 2018 expressed nearly universal confidence in their military (94%), which is the second-highest of any country in South Asia.

While the national military has consistently had highly positive evaluations from Indians, local police have not historically been viewed as favorably. In 2014, 66% of Indians expressed confidence in their local police. This, however, increased to three-fourths of Indians expressing confidence in their local police in 2018.

Modi has emphasized police reforms during his time in office, including funds for modernizing local police forces and improving training. Yet some have speculated that the momentum of these reforms has slowed, and some Indians have been critical of how the police have handled riots in parts of the country, which may have contributed to the decline in confidence since its peak in 2017.

Bottom Line

National security and safety issues have become a central issue in India's current election. Modi has used India's military actions in his election appeals, while also evoking the Easter Sunday bombings in neighboring Sri Lanka to rally voters around national security. This strategy may prove effective, given Indians' positive assessments of their personal safety and confidence in key institutions. While perceptions of safety and confidence in local police have dipped slightly since 2017, Indians as a whole have improved perceptions of security since Modi and his party won in 2014.

Despite these improvements, there is room for progress in some regions of the country, as well as with improving safety conditions for women. While a majority of women feel safe walking alone in the area where they live, many women in rural areas in particular still lack a basic feeling of security.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.
(Adds details on automation of fresh food, number of warehouses and workers; changes dateline, previous WASHINGTON)

By Nandita Bose

BALTIMORE, May 1 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc dismissed the idea of running a fully automated warehouse in the near future, citing the superior cognitive ability of humans and limitations of current technology.

Scott Anderson, director of Amazon Robotics Fulfillment, said technology is at least 10 years away from fully automating the processing of a single order picked by a worker inside a warehouse.

There is a misperception that Amazon will run fully automated warehouses soon, Anderson said during a tour of Amazon's Baltimore warehouse for reporters on Tuesday.

The technology for a robot to pick a single product from a bin without damaging other products or picking multiple products at the same time in a way that could benefit the e-commerce retailer is years away.

Amazon is exploring a variety of technologies to automate the various steps needed to get a package to shoppers, Anderson said.

"In the current form, the technology is very limited. The technology is very far from the fully automated workstation that we would need," Anderson said.

The tour came at a time when the company has come under fire from labor groups and other Amazon critics for allegedly poor working conditions in its warehouses and for increasingly automating jobs and reducing its dependence on human labor.

The largest online retailer is also not employing robots in its warehouses that handle fresh food, said Derek Jones, global director of environment, health and safety, who oversees Amazon's fresh food offerings like Amazon Fresh and Amazon Pantry.

"Just imagine if you want bananas. I want my bananas to be firm, others like their bananas to be ripe. How do you get a robot to choose that?" he said.

Amazon runs 110 warehouses in the United States, 45 sorting centers and about 50 delivery stations. It employs 125,000 full-time warehouse workers in the country.

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The warehouses that employ robots mostly handle general merchandise, which includes everything from lamps and clothing to kayaks and bikes.

The company said it is not changing the level of productivity at its warehouses to catch up with its recent one-day shipping announcement. It is instead making changes to the transportation and delivery process.

Last month, Amazon said it plans to deliver packages to members of its loyalty club, Prime, in just one day instead of two.

Anderson said Amazon's current target is four hours from the time a product is ordered to the time it leaves the warehouse, and the company is sticking with that.

The e-commerce company did not share details on how the decision to raise its minimum wage to $15 had impacted workforce turnover.

However, it said applications for seasonal jobs doubled to 850,000 at the end of October last year from the record number of applications the company received in August 2017, when it held a national job fair.

Amazon raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour for U.S. employees in November, giving in to critics of what they said was poor pay and working conditions.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Baltimore, Maryland Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Bill Berkrot)
The US Africa Command has announced the holding of joint military exercises bringing together Britain, Morocco and the USA.

The two exercises called Judicious response and Epic guardian 19 started on April 29 in and around the city of Agadir, said Africom in a statement.

Africa Command and subordinate service components will conduct the joint exercise in which the military personnel of the Royal Armed Forces and the British Defense Ministry personnel will participate alongside the Americans.

Exercises Judicious Response and Epic Guardian have previously been held as two separate, annual exercises that promote cooperation and understanding between the regional allies and partner nations of the United States, the statement said.

Previous Epic Guardian exercises were held in Ghana, Malawi, Cameroon, Djibouti, Cabo Verde, Burkina Faso, and the Seychelles.

This is the second time that Judicious Response is held on the African continent. All prior editions were held in Stuttgart, Germany, host of Africom headquarters.
(Adds shares, details on realized price, outlook)

May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas producer Apache Corp missed analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, as lower crude and natural gas prices offset higher output from the Permian basin in the United States and the UK North Sea.

Average price per barrel of oil fell 10 percent, while gas prices dropped 17 percent per cubic feet in the first quarter ended March 31, the company said.

Apache temporarily halted production at its Alpine High assets in the Permian basin late in March, curtailing output of about 250 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, responding to extremely low prices.

The lower prices offset a 19 percent jump in adjusted production to 436,713 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

Apache, which also operates in Egypt, reiterated its 2019 forecast of production growth of 6 percent to 10 percent and capital expenditure target of $2.4 billion.

The Houston-based company said adjusted earnings fell to $38 million, or 10 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $124 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.(http://bit.ly/2IVoAAU)

Analysts had on average expected a profit of 12 cents per share.

Revenue fell 6.4 percent to $1.64 billion.

Shares fell 2.2 percent to $30.21 in after-hours trading.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
* Critics cite communion for divorced, abortion, homosexuality

* Francis' stance on religious diversity attacked

* Letter blames Pope for "one of worst crises" of the Church

* Plan online signature drive

* One signatory is prominent, others aren't (Edits, adds reaction from theology professor)

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, May 1 (Reuters) - A group of 19 Catholic priests and academics have urged bishops to denounce Pope Francis as a heretic, in the latest ultra-conservative broadside against the pontiff over a range of topics from communion for the divorced to religious diversity.

The most prominent of the group is Father Aidan Nichols, a 70-year-old British priest of the Dominican order who has written many books and is one of most recognized theologians in the English-speaking world. The others are less well known.

"We take this measure as a last resort to respond to the accumulating harm caused by Pope Francis's words and actions over several years, which have given rise to one of the worst crises in the history of the Catholic Church," they said in a 20-page open letter.

The letter attacks Francis for allegedly softening the Church's stance on a range of subjects. They say he has not been outspoken enough against abortion and has been too welcoming to homosexuals and too accommodating to Protestants and Muslims.

It was published on Tuesday by LifeSiteNews, a conservative Catholic website that often is a platform for attacks on the pope. Last year, it ran a document by the Vatican's former ambassador to Washington, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, calling on the pope to resign.

A Vatican spokesman had no comment on the letter, which includes dozens of footnotes, Bible verses, pronouncements by previous popes, and a separate bibliography. The letter invites people to join an on-line signature drive.

Addressing the bishops, the letter says "We therefore request that your Lordships urgently address the situation of Pope Francis's public adherence to heresy."

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It asks them to "publicly to admonish Pope Francis to abjure the heresies that he has professed."

Deciding whether a Church member is a heretic is the job of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog department.

Massimo Faggioli, a well-known professor of historical theology at Villanova University in the United States, said the letter was an example of the extreme polarization in the Church.

"There is overwhelming support for Francis in the global Church on one side, and a tiny fringe of extremists trying to paint Francis as a pope who is heretic. The problem is that there is very little legitimate, constructive critique of Francis' pontificate and his theology," he said in an email.

A significant part of the letter concentrates on "Amoris Laetitia" (The Joy of Love), a 2016 papal document that is a cornerstone of Francis' attempt to make the 1.3 billion-member Church more inclusive and less condemning.

ULTRA CONSERVATIVES TAKE AIM

In it, Francis called for a Church that is less strict and more compassionate towards any "imperfect" members, such as those who divorced and later remarry in civil ceremonies.

Under Church law they cannot receive communion unless they abstain from sex with their new partner, because their first marriage is still valid in the eyes of the Church, unless they have received an annulment. The Church does not allow divorce.

Francis has opened the door to some exceptions, allowing the decision whether the person can be fully re-integrated and receive communion to be made by a priest or bishop jointly with the individual on a case-by-case basis.

After Amoris Laetitia was published, four conservative publicly challenged the pope, accusing him of sowing confusion on important moral issues. He has thus far not responded to their demands that he clear up their doubts.

The new letter lists pages of what it calls "Evidence for Pope Francis being guilty of the delict (crime) of heresy."

It attacks him for having once said that the intentions of Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, "were not mistaken." It says he has not condemned abortion strongly enough and is too lenient with homosexual Catholics.

The letter criticized Francis for signing a joint statement with Lutherans in 2016 in which the pope said Catholics were grateful for the "theological gifts" of the Reformation.

It attacked the pope for a common statement with a prominent Muslim leader in Abu Dhabi in February which said the pluralism and diversity of religions was "willed by God." Conservatives say the Roman Catholic Church is the only true one and that members are called to convert others to it. (Reporting By Philip Pullella, Editing by William Maclean)
(Updates with details, background)

By Bart H. Meijer

THE HAGUE, May 1 (Reuters) - A Dutch court said on Wednesday it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of activists executed by the Nigerian government in 1995.

In a preliminary decision, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, a rare win in a decades-long legal fight, though the claimants must still prove their case. Shell denies wrongdoing or responsibility.

"The court considers itself capable" of hearing the case, said presiding judge Larissa Alwin, reading the decision of a three-judge panel. "This procedure will continue."

Dutch courts do not award large punitive damages claims, though the case has the potential to embarrass Shell and provide a measure of comfort for the activists' families if it finds the company bears responsibility in their deaths.

The men executed were a group that became known as the "Ogoni Nine" - activists who included writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. They had protested against Shell's exploitation of the Niger Delta until they were arrested and hanged after a trial widely seen as flawed.

Relatives have sought to hold the Anglo-Dutch energy company partially responsible in foreign courts, after exhausting legal possibilities in Nigeria.

Shell, headquartered in the Hague, paid $15.5 million to victims' families in the United States in a 2009 settlement in which it also denied any responsibility or wrongdoing. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected U.S. jurisdiction in 2013.

"I am glad that the (Dutch) court has found it has jurisdiction," said lead plaintiff Esther Kiobel, whose husband Barinem Kiobel was among the executed activists.

"My husband was killed like a criminal. I want him to be exonerated."

Judge Alwin cautioned that the three-judge panel did not agree with assertions by the widows that Shell should have done more to prevent their husbands' executions.

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But she ordered the company to turn over documents that could help the claimants' case, including any evidence that Shell might have made payments to people who gave false information to Nigerian law-enforcement officials.

"We continue to deny all the allegations in the strongest possible terms," Shell representative Igo Weli said.

"Shell was not responsible for what happened. Shell actually made an appeal for clemency, but sadly this was not heard."

Weli, who works for Shell's Nigerian subsidiary, said the company would give the claimants access to internal documents as ordered.

No date has yet been set for a next hearing. (Reporting by Bart Meijer. Writing by Toby Sterling; Editing by Dale Hudson)
* Anarchists and "yellow vests" hijack May Day rally

* Police arrest more than 380 people

* Protests come after Macron response to months of discontent

* Less violence than at May Day rally in 2018 (Adds final figures, end of protests)

By Clotaire Achi and Antony Paone

PARIS, May 1 (Reuters) - Dozens of masked and hooded anarchists clashed with riot police in Paris on Wednesday, burning bins, smashing property and hurling bottles and rocks, hijacking a May Day rally that was focused on protesting against President Emmanuel Macron's policies.

Tens of thousands of labor union and "yellow vest" protesters were on the streets across France, days after Macron outlined a response to months of street protests including tax cuts worth around 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion).

In Paris, riot police used tear gas and water cannon, and charged sporadically at several points along the traditional International Workers' Day rally to disperse groups of masked protesters who had immersed themselves in the crowd.

Some 7,400 police were deployed and they made 380 arrests. Thirty-eight people were wounded, including 14 police officers with one being hit on the head with a paving stone.

The main march crossing the southern part of the capital was finally able to move amid relative calm after being prevented from setting off by the clashes, although it appeared that yellow vests and more radical elements rather than labor unions were dominating the march.

The hard-left CGT union denounced police violence and said its secretary general had been tear-gassed.

"This current scenario, scandalous and unprecedented, is unacceptable in our democracy," it said in a statement.

The Paris police department denied excessive violence.

On the whole, compared to a year ago and some recent yellow vest protests, the violence was contained, did not spiral out of control and the protests appeared to end peacefully.

French police had warned on Tuesday that there could be clashes with far-left anarchist groups, known as Black Blocs, after calls on social media for radicals to hit the streets.

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Authorities had said they expected some 2,000 Black Bloc protesters from France and across Europe to turn up on the sidelines of the rallies.

The yellow vest protests, named after motorists' high-visibility jackets, began in November over fuel tax increases but have evolved into a sometimes violent revolt against politicians and a government seen as out of touch.

'NOBODY CARES'

Macron issued a series of proposals last week in response to the protests, but many in the grassroots movement, which does not have a leadership structure, have said they do not go far enough and lack detail.

The banners in the crowd reflected the anger among some in the movement who feel abandoned by Macron's economic policies.

The 41-year-old former investment banker pushed a reform blitz during the first 18 months of his presidency that impressed investors but infuriated low-paid workers, who feel he favors big business and is indifferent to their struggle to make ends meet.

"Here are the thugs," one banner read, showing Macron, European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde.

Another targeted the president directly: "Macron, what have you done to us?"

Thousands of people also demonstrated in cities from Marseille to Bordeaux and Lyon.

Some 300 yellow vest protesters tried to storm a police station in the Alpine town of Besancon and clashes broke out in Toulouse.

The Interior Ministry said some 164,500 people had demonstrated across the country, more than in 2018, including 28,000 in Paris. The CGT said there had been 310,000 in France, including 80,000 protestors in the capital alone.

"We have been trying to fight, to make ourselves heard, for six months and nobody cares. People don't understand the movement, though it seems pretty simple: We just want to live normally," said Florence, 58, a trainer in a large company who was marching in Paris. (Additional reporting by Lucien Libert, Benoit Tessier, Ardee Soriano, Elizabeth Pineau, Emmanuel Jarry and John Irish in Paris, Catherine Lagrange in Lyon, Jean-Francois Rosnoblet in Marseille and Claude Canellas in Bordeaux Writing by John Irish Editing by Kevin Liffey and Frances Kerry)
(Adds details, quote)

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - The expansion of London's Heathrow Airport moved a step closer on Wednesday when a High Court judge rejected legal challenges from environmental campaigners opposed to the building of a third runway.

British judge Gary Hickinbottom told the court he did not accept the arguments made by environmental campaigners and said the government's transport minister did not act unlawfully when he approved the expansion of Europe's biggest airport.

The decision to expand Heathrow, owned by Spain's Ferrovial , the Qatar Investment Authority, China Investment Corporation and other investment companies, follows almost half a century of indecision on how and where to add new airport capacity in densely populated southeast England.

Under the current 14 billion pound ($18 billion) plan, which was approved by parliament last year, building work on the third runway should begin in 2021 before it becomes operational in 2026.

"The court held that none of the climate change grounds was arguable," a court summary of the judgment said.

Environmental groups and local boroughs have complained about the impact a new runway would have on air quality, climate change and noise levels. The campaigners can still appeal the ruling. ($1 = 0.7650 pounds) (Reporting by Alistair Smout; writing by Kate Holton; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
* New emperor assumes post after first abdication in 200 years

* Naruhito said he feels solemn, gratitude for parents' service

* Pledges to work as symbol of Japan and unity of its people

* Japanese celebrate with countdowns, sales (Adds South Korean president, graphic)

By Elaine Lies and Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO, May 1 (Reuters) - Japanese Emperor Naruhito formally took up his post on Wednesday a day after the abdication of his father, saying he felt a "sense of solemnity" but pledging to work as a symbol of the nation and the unity of its people.

Former Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko stepped down after three decades in their roles on Tuesday in a brief and simple ceremony, with Akihito thanking the people of Japan and saying he prayed for peace.

Naruhito, 59, technically succeeded his father just as Tuesday became Wednesday but his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne was formalized in a mid-morning ceremony, the first part of which his wife and other royal women could not attend.

Naruhito, the first emperor born after World War Two and the first to be raised solely by his parents, expressed gratitude for their work and said he felt solemn at the thought of the burden he is taking on.

"I pledge that I will always think of the people, and while drawing close to them, fulfill my duties as a symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people in accordance with the constitution," Naruhito, wearing a tailcoat and several large medals, said with a small smile.

"I sincerely hope for the happiness of the people and further progress of the country, and for world peace," he said in the Imperial Palace's "Matsu no Ma," or Hall of Pine.

In the first stage of the ceremony, imperial chamberlains carried state and privy seals into the hall along with two of Japan's "Three Sacred Treasures" - a sword and a jewel - which together with a mirror are symbols of the throne.

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They are said to originate in ancient mythology.

Naruhito was flanked by his brother and heir, Crown Prince Akishino, during the ceremony, which lasted about five minutes.

His wife, Empress Masako, was not in the room in accordance with custom barring female royals, but for the first time a woman did watch - Satsuki Katayama, who was taking part as a member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet.

Masako, wearing a floor-length white dress and a tiara, entered the room for the second part of the ceremony with the other adult royal women.

NEW ERA

Abe said Japan looked up to the emperor.

"We are determined to create, amidst the fast-changing international environment, a bright future for a proud Japan that is peaceful and full of hope," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who will be the new imperial couple's first diplomatic test when he visits Japan this month, extended his congratulations.

"As the Japanese people embark upon a new era, we will renew the strong bonds of friendship between our two countries," he said in a statement.

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his best wishes, according to state news agency Xinhua, as did South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who said he hoped that Naruhito would, as his father did, "remember the pain of war and continue to take solid steps toward peace."

Japan's ties with its Asian neighbors have long been plagued by bitter wartime memories, and while relations with Beijing have improved lately, those with Seoul are frosty.

Given the backgrounds of Naruhito and his wife, Masako, a 55-year-old former diplomat - which include extended experience studying and living overseas - hopes are high they may be more international in their outlook and closer to the lives of many Japanese.

"The curtain has gone up on a new era that will be filled with hope," said Hiroshi Takahashi, 78, outside his 'wagashi' traditional Japanese sweets shop.

"The new emperor has an admirable personality and I hope he creates a fine royal household that expresses his own personality," he said.

The last imperial succession in 1989 took place during mourning for Akihito's father, Hirohito.

COUNTDOWNS AND FIREWORKS

This time the mood is more festive. Japan has been draped in banners welcoming Reiwa - the name of the new era for Naruhito's reign - during an unprecedented 10-day holiday.

Countdown events were held on Tuesday night in clubs across the nation, with people cheering as the clock ticked down to midnight and fireworks shooting into the sky in some areas.

On Wednesday morning, electric signs in Tokyo's subway system bore messages "congratulating the emperor on his accession" and workers in a downtown Tokyo electronics store wore red shirts saying "Happy New Era Reiwa."

His formal enthronement will take place at a more elaborate ceremony in October attended by dignitaries from Japan and around the world.

Though the royal family is broadly popular, opponents of the imperial system clashed with right-wingers at a demonstration on Tuesday, and the two groups had to be separated by police.

Japanese media said two people were arrested.

Naruhito's passion for water conservation dates from his study of medieval transportation and includes an interest in other environmental issues. Masako has expressed an interest in topics related to children in trouble or living in poverty.

Though Masako struggled with a stress-related illness described by palace officials as an "adjustment disorder" that kept her largely out of the public eye for years, her public appearances have recently increased.

(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg and Malcolm Foster, writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Linda Sieg, Sam Holmes and Darren Schuettler)
* Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in jail

* Assange's lawyer: he feared extradition to United States

* Assange was convicted last month

* United States has requested Assange's extradition (Adds quotes, edits)

By Michael Holden

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court on Wednesday for skipping bail when he holed up in Ecuador's London embassy for seven years until police dragged him out last month.

Assange sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid an extradition order to Sweden over an allegation of rape, which he denies.

His lawyer argued it was an act of desperation to avoid being passed to the United States to face action over the release of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.

Many of the documents related to wars, national security and other issues, and some were often highly critical appraisals of world leaders such Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Saudi royal family. The United States has charged him with conspiracy and seeks his extradition.

But handing down what was nearly the maximum possible sentence, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange he had exploited his privileged position to flout the law and express his disdain for British justice.

"Whilst you may have had fears as to what may happen to you, nonetheless you had a choice," Taylor told Assange, dressed in a black jacket and grey sweatshirt, at Southwark Crown Court.

"It is difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offense."

Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.

To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. But to others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security.

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After his sentence was announced, supporters in the public gallery got to their feet to cheer him, before raising their arms and chanting "shame on you" to the court.

The case in Britain arose after Australian-born Assange, 47, was accused by two Swedish women of sexual assault and rape in 2010. Assange fought through the courts to get an extradition order and the preliminary investigation dropped.

He fled to Ecuador's embassy in June 2012 after exhausting all legal options and was granted asylum two months later. The Swedish allegations were dropped in 2017, but authroities there might revive them.

Just hours after police finally removed from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11, U.S. prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer. He was convicted on the charge of jumping bail the same day.

"TERRIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES"

In a letter read out at the hearing in London, Assange said he regretted how matters how panned out.

"I apologize unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended," Assange said in the letter to the judge read out by his lawyer, Mark Summers.

"I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best."

Summers told the court that Assange had "strongly held fears" in 2012 that he would be sent from Sweden to the United States and ultimately to the Guantanamo Bay detention center in a U.S. naval base in Cuba.

Summers cited the arrest and treatment of Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army soldier who served seven years in military prison for leaking classified data while she was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.

Assange's lawyer said Manning, who is transgender, had been subjected to sleep deprivation and forced to parade naked in front of military personnel.

Summers said the fact Assange chose indefinite detention in small rooms at the Ecuadorean Embassy, in a state of depression and pain for various medical ailments, rather than spend 12 months in a British jail, showed the extent of his fears.

But Judge Taylor rejected the arguments, saying they offered limited mitigation for his actions and that it had cost British taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million) to ensure he was arrested when he left the embassy.

The sentence does not end British legal proceedings. On Thursday, there will be hearing in another London court as part of a U.S. extradition case.

"Tomorrow...is the start of the big and most important fight," Kristinn Hrafnsson from WikiLeaks said outside court. "What is at stake there? It could be a question of life and death for Mr Assange." ($1 = 0.76 pounds) (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Alison Williams)
(Adds details, color from memorial assembly)

By Gabriella Borter and Brendan O'Brien

May 1 (Reuters) - A 21-year-old student killed in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte saved some of his classmates' lives by tackling the gunman and attempting to disarm him, the city's top law enforcement official said on Wednesday.

Environmental studies student Riley Howell of Waynesville, North Carolina, one of two campus students shot to death on Tuesday evening, played a key role in ending the attack by a former student, said Kerr Putney, chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

"But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed," Putney told a news conference.

"He's an athletically built young man, and he took the fight to the assailant. Unfortunately he had to give his life to do so," said Putney, himself a UNC Charlotte alumnus. "He took the assailant off his feet."

The other student killed in the shooting was Ellis Parlier, 19, officials said. Four students left wounded in the attack were identified as Drew Pescaro, 19; Sean DeHart, 20; Emily Houpt, 23; and Rami Alramadhan, 20.

Police in Charlotte arrested former UNC Charlotte student Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, who has been charged with two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder. Authorities offered no explanation for a possible motive.

'I SHOT THE GUY'

Local news footage on Tuesday showed police escorting the suspect, a tall, lanky figure with shaggy hair from a patrol car. As he was taken into a station house he looked over his shoulder with a smile and yelled a comment to reporters. Television station WBTV quoted the remark as: "I just went into his classroom and shot the guy."

Police said the suspect had used a legally purchased handgun and was carrying a large amount of ammunition. He was familiar with the classroom building where the attack occurred, but it was unclear if he knew the students who were shot, Putney said.

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"We can't really discern the why just yet," Putney said. "The randomness is what is most concerning."

He added that police believe Terrell acted alone.

Terrell was due to make an initial court appearance on Thursday, a spokeswoman for the local prosecutor said. First-degree murder in North Carolina carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without parole, and a conviction would make Terrell eligible for the death penalty, the spokeswoman, Meghan McDonald said.

All four of the wounded students are expected to recover, and Houpt is due to graduate this month, university Chancellor Phil Dubois said.

MEMORIAL ASSEMBLY

The shooting started in a classroom at about 5:40 p.m. on Tuesday, the last day of classes, police said. Tristan Field, a student who witnessed the violence, told CBS News as many as 50 classmates tried to flee through two doors.

"A chair fell in front of the door, so people were tripping over that, like, trying to climb over it," he said. "Some people fell down. It was like water through a funnel but wasn't fast enough."

Several thousand students, faculty and others - many wearing green T-shirts emblazoned with the school's "49ers" nickname - filled the campus sports arena to capacity on Wednesday evening for a student-organized memorial honoring the shooting victims.

Addressing the grieving assembly, including Governor Roy Cooper and other state and local civil leaders, Dubois drew thunderous applause as he hailed the heroism of police and Howell in confronting the gunman.

"We are heartsick that anyone would act with such disregard for human life," he said, lamenting that nothing could bring back the lives lost. "But with your help we will find a way to remember their presence."

The campus, located in the heart of North Carolina's largest city, has about 30,000 students enrolled and employs some 5,000 faculty and staff.

The deadliest mass shooting on a U.S. college campus took place at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007, when a student killed 32 people, then himself.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Alex Dobuzinskis and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Writing by Scott Malone, Editing by Bill Tarrant, Bill Trott and Chris Reese)
(Adds details on Larrea, Lopez Obrador comment)

MEXICO CITY, May 1 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged on Wednesday to recover the more than 60 remaining bodies of miners killed in a massive coal shaft explosion in 2006, a mission he described as a humanitarian promise made to victims' families.

The announcement came on Mexico's Labor Day holiday, and Lopez Obrador said he did not expect the company that operated the mine to oppose him.

"This is an act of justice and it's a commitment we made going back a long time," the president told reporters at his regular morning news conference.

He did not put a price tag on the mission, saying that "whatever is necessary" would be spent.

The Pasta de Conchos mine blast took place in northern Coahuila state.

The mine was operated by Grupo Mexico, one of Latin America's largest miners. The company has maintained that the blast was an unfortunate accident and said it has compensated families, spending some $30 million on trying to find the 63 remaining miners.

Grupo Mexico did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shortly after the explosion, just two bodies were recovered.

A special prosecutor for the case blamed Grupo Mexico for allowing a deadly mix of methane, heat and oxygen to build up in the mine, failing to build proper ventilation shafts or to neutralize explosive coal dust. Government inspectors who failed to enforce the necessary safety precautions were also implicated.

Lopez Obrador said the recovery effort would begin soon, and that German Larrea, the head of Grupo Mexico and one of Mexico's richest billionaires, had been sought out but that this was a government decision.

"If (Larrea) helps, that's welcome. If he doesn't help this is something we will do," said Lopez Obrador.

In the moments following the blast, the workers were likely buried by thousands of tons of rock.

Investigators also said it was possible that many of the men were incinerated.

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In the years since the incident, concerns have been raised about the danger to potential rescue workers in any further recovery efforts.

The leftist president and reclusive tycoon have a history of clashes.

About a month before Lopez Obrador's landslide election victory last year, Larrea wrote an open letter warning of a "populist" risk that would imperil investment, but without referencing him by name.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Lizbeth Diaz; editing by Bill Berkrot and Diane Craft)
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

William Barrs letter summarizing Robert Muellers report was a high point in the Trump presidency. It set off wild celebrations in the White House, and inspired Trump and his defenders to declare total vindication in the Russia Witch Hunt/Hoax.

The letter was also a tightly crafted spin job, selectively presenting the facts in the softest form. The misleading nature of the letter has grown increasingly evident  first as Muellers prosecutors leaked complaints, then as the report itself painted a far more damning portrait than Barr allowed, and finally last night as the Washington Post reported Mueller himself objected to Barrs account.

One conclusion from the report is that Barr clearly misled Congress in his testimony earlier this month. Barr testified on April 9, weeks after receiving Muellers letter complaining that Barrs summary did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the report. Representative Charlie Crist asked Barr about reports that members of the special counsels team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24th letter, that it does not adequately or accurately necessarily portray the reports findings.

Do you know what theyre referencing with that?, he asked. No, I dont, replied Barr.

At the Senate hearings, Senator Chris Von Hollen asked, Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion? Barr replied, I dont know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion.

At worst, Barr perjured himself. At best, he deliberately withheld information in order to give a misleading response.

It is a fairly safe assumption that news of Muellers written objections to Barr were leaked in advance of Barrs latest testimony by Barrs side. The advance leak reduces the explosiveness of what would have been a live revelation, and it also contains explanatory accounts from Barrs supporters, but not from Muellers. The Posts account summarizes a phone call between Mueller and Barr. It reads an awful lot like Barrs side of the story:

In that call, Mueller said he was concerned that media coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and creating public misunderstandings about the offices work, according to Justice Department officials. Mueller did not express similar concerns about the public discussion of the investigation of Russias election interference, the officials said.

When Barr pressed Mueller on whether he thought Barrs memo to Congress was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not but felt that the media coverage of it was misinterpreting the investigation, officials said.

According to this account, then, Mueller may have written that Barrs letter mischaracterized the report, but he admitted to Barr he didnt mean that! He really just meant he disagreed with some news reports about the letter.

Ever hear somebody boast about an argument they had where they destroyed the other guys position and forced them to admit they were wrong? This sounds like one of those stories. Mueller wrote that Barrs letter did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of his work. And the fact that he made the effort to record his objections suggests he had serious grounds for dispute. But apparently Barr got Mueller to admit on the phone that Barr did nothing wrong.

Given all we know about Barrs behavior, it seems skepticism of the accuracy of the account might be called for. Instead, Trumps defenders have seized on this part of the story to prove that Mueller didnt really object to Barrs letter at all:

Mueller emphasized that nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24th letter was inaccurate or misleading. -- WaPo, April 30, 2019. https://t.co/axALPjg73t  David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) May 1, 2019

We've read the Mueller report. We know what it says. It obliterates the conspiracy theories. And Mueller said Barr's letter *wasn't misleading*, just that media coverage overread it. But this is the 3-year-history of this story: one-day media hysteria on Twitter that goes nowhere https://t.co/chFGVuLzA9  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 30, 2019

For 3 years in this story, there are always key lines in these new BLOCKBUSTER! articles that negate the 12-hour Twitter meltdown that evaporates into nothing. This is that sentence here. We've read the Mueller Report and know what it says about collusion, and that this is true: pic.twitter.com/yLaIvThllv  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 30, 2019

Again, this line that Mueller supposedly admitted there was nothing misleading in Barrs letter comes from Justice Department officials who have already mislead the public about Muellers position repeatedly.

The fact that Trumps defenders would invest so much credence in a demonstrably untrustworthy official like Barr shows how much they have invested in Barrs summary. It is the Barr letter, rather than Muellers extremely damning report, upon which they have hinged their claims of vindication.
(Updates with final tour numbers for first day, adds quotes, changes dateline from previous CAWKER CITY, Kansas)

By Julie Ingwersen

COLBY, Kansas, April 30 (Reuters) - Crop scouts on the first day of an annual three-day tour of Kansas hard red winter wheat fields projected on Tuesday an average yield of 46.9 bushels per acre (bpa) in the northern portion of the state.

The figure is above the Wheat Quality Council tour's five-year average for the same area of 39.5 bpa and up from the tour's year-ago finding of 38.2 bpa.

Delayed maturity of this year's crop, however, leaves the wheat vulnerable to weather stress in the coming weeks as the kernels mature and start to fill out, scouts said.

"Overall, the yield estimates are quite good. But the crop this year is way behind. It's probably going to go through grain-fill during heat stress, if temperatures are anywhere (near) normal," said Kansas State University Extension Wheat Specialist Romulo Lollato, who is on the tour.

Kansas is the top U.S. producer of winter wheat and was the second-largest overall wheat state in 2018 after North Dakota. The United States is the world's No. 2 wheat exporter after Russia.

The tour's first-day yield average of 46.9 bpa, based on 240 field stops, was the highest since 2016, a year when Kansas produced a record-high state wheat yield of 57.0 bpa.

Lollato said the current crop is further behind developmentally than the 2016 crop, reflecting planting delays last autumn and cold, wet conditions over the winter and spring.

Soil moisture was generally plentiful in northern Kansas but wheat was shorter than normal, scouts said on Tuesday, and the heads of the plants, which hold the kernels, had not emerged from the stems in most fields.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a weekly state crop report said 64 percent of the Kansas wheat crop had reached the jointing stage of growth by Sunday, lagging the five-year average of 75 percent.

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Wheat production in Kansas will be limited by the fact that the state's farmers seeded only 7 million acres of the grain for the 2019 harvest, the fewest in USDA records dating to 1919.

Plantings were curtailed by widespread rains in October.

"We would have planted 30 percent more wheat, if we had had the chance," said Matt Everhart, a crop consultant and seed dealer from Gypsum, Kansas, who met with one group of tour scouts.

About 76 scouts are on the three-day tour, which assessed fields on Tuesday between Manhattan, Kansas, and Colby. The tour will travel from Colby to Wichita, Kansas, on Wednesday before releasing a final yield estimate on Thursday.

(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by James Dalgleish and Tom Hogue)
(Updates story with context and additional quotes, changes media slug)

WARSAW, May 1 (Reuters) - Poland should stop treating the European Union as a money-making machine and make a more substantial financial contribution in the future, European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said on Wednesday.

He also said the EU's Article 7 procedure, under which the bloc could sanction Poland over changes that Brussels says undermine the rule of law, had not yet had any impact on Warsaw's behavior.

"The EU is not just a money machine, a cow that you can milk," Katainen told journalists in Warsaw ahead of a summit of countries, mainly from Europe's formerly Communist east, that have joined the EU since 2004. "We are expecting a more substantial contribution from Poland for the future of Europe."

He said Poland's "economic development has been remarkable" thanks to its membership of the bloc, through which it has received over 100 billion euros in EU funding.

But he said Poland had put itself in a weaker position within the bloc because of its conflict with the EU over the rule of law.

The Article 7 procedure could theoretically lead to Poland losing its voting rights in the EU, although Katainen acknowledged that the cumbersome process had so far drawn little response from Warsaw.

"The current situation is not good because we have had Article 7 procedure in Poland but unfortunately nothing has happened," he said.

Katainen also said Poland is ready to join the euro zone, even though the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) has said it should only adopt the common currency when its economy is as big as Germany's.

"Poland is a fiscally prudent country and it would benefit a lot from euro zone membership," Katainen said. (Reporting by Joanna Plucinska, Writing by Alicja Ptak and Joanna Plucinska, Editing by Catherine Evans)
(Adds Saudi, Bahraini officials attend Doha event)

By Eric Knecht

DOHA, May 1 (Reuters) - Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East, has spoken out against Washington's decision to block all exports of Iranian oil, saying unilateral sanctions were unwise because they hurt the countries that rely on the supplies.

The United States has demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face the prospect of sanctions, ending six months of waivers that had allowed Irans eight biggest customers, most in Asia, to import limited volumes.

"The sanctions should not be extended because they have an adverse impact on countries benefiting from Iranian oil," Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Wednesday.

"In Qatar, we do not believe unilateral sanctions bring positive effects for crises which must be solved through dialog and dialog only," he told a news conference following a meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Qatar's capital Doha, which was attended by his Iranian counterpart.

Qatar, the world's leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, is at odds with other Gulf Arab states who are strong supporters of tighter U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism, which Qatar denies, and of cosying up to their regional foe Iran. They cut trade and diplomatic ties with Qatar in 2017, a boycott that Qatar says is aimed at curtailing its sovereignty.

The White House has said it is working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure oil markets, which have already tightened this year due to supply cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), were adequately supplied."

Qatar, which despite its large gas exports sells comparatively little oil, quit OPEC in December, a move seen as a swipe at the organization's de facto leader Saudi Arabia.

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Officials from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain attended Wednesday's conference in Qatar, the first time they have done so since the boycott began. Sheik Mohammed called their participation "limited" and said there was no sign of a thaw in relations.

"Unfortunately, we still see the same behavior of the blockading states of stubbornness and denial. We hope that one day they will go back to wisdom and will come back to the table and address the grievances in front of us," he said.

In November, the minister said Doha would continue to deal with Iran, which helped Qatar secure supplies when the boycott was first imposed, and that it was ready to mediate between Washington and Tehran. (Reporting by Eric Knecht; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
(Recasts to adds quotes, details, context)

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW, May 1 (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday rejected a U.S. allegation it had persuaded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to flee the country the previous day, calling the assertion a calculated attempt to demoralize the army and escalate the crisis there.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told broadcaster CNN on Tuesday that Maduro was prepared to leave the country that morning in the face of a call for an uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaido, but reversed his plan after Russia intervened.

Pompeo suggested Maduro had been planning to fly to Cuba, which Maduro himself has since dismissed.

Russia, which has acted as a lender of last resort to Venezuela and supplied it with weapons, has accused the United States of trying to foment a coup against Maduro, someone Moscow counts as one of its closest allies in Latin America.

Asked to comment on Pompeo's comments, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said they were part of an "information war."

"This was absolute disinformation and fake news," she said. Washington realized that the army's continued support was crucial for Maduro which was why it was focusing its efforts on trying to sow doubt in it ranks, she added.

Venezuelans were expected to take to the streets on Wednesday, a day after Guaido called for the military to oust Maduro.

Zakharova said the United States had in the past waged a similar disinformation campaign about Syrian President Bashar-al Assad, another close Russian ally, which had flopped.

Russia has accused Venezuela's opposition of resorting to violence, and President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation there with his Security Council on Tuesday.

Russia has sent nearly 100 military personnel to Caracas, a contingent the Kremlin has described as military specialists.

Pompeo was scheduled to discuss Venezuela with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov later on Wednesday, White House national security adviser John Bolton said.

"This is our hemisphere," Bolton told reporters. "It's not where the Russians ought to be interfering." (Editing by John Stonestreet)
(Updates number of strikes, changes dateline, previous CAIRO)

ADEN, May 1 (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has launched 13 air strikes targeting an air base adjoining Sanaa's airport, residents told Reuters on Wednesday.

Al-Masirah TV, which is controlled by the Houthis, also said 13 air strikes targeted al-Dulaimi Air Base in Sanaa as well as Sanaa Airport.

There was no confirmation from the Saudi-led coalition, which said previously that Houthi forces were using the air base in the capital to launch drone and ballistic missile attacks.

"Planes have been flying for more than an hour, and sounds of violent explosions rocked the north of the city where the airport and the military base are located," said one of the residents.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Sunni Muslim allies have been fighting since March 2015 against the Houthis, who drove the country's internationally recognized government into exile in 2014.

The Houthis control much of north Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

The war has devastated the country's infrastructure and driven much of its population to the brink of famine (Reporting by Mohamed Ghobari in Aden, writing by Marwa Rashad and Hesham Hajali; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
(Adds details)

KABUL, May 1 (Reuters) - American and Taliban officials are meeting on Wednesday in Qatar to resume talks aimed at ending a 17-year war in Afghanistan, a Taliban official said.

"We are expecting the meeting to start in the next two hours as the U.S. delegation has already arrived," Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told Reuters.

The sixth round of talks will be led by U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad in the Qatari capital Doha. The U.S. delegation will focus on a declaration of a ceasefire to pave the way to an end to fighting, said a western diplomat who is closely monitoring the talks.

But the Taliban's demands will focus on firstly the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country.

Khalilzad, the Afghan-born American diplomat heads a team of U.S. negotiators who have held several rounds of direct negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar since October.

He has earlier acknowledged that both sides had drafted a preliminary agreement on how and when U.S.-led foreign troops will withdraw from Afghanistan in return for insurgent assurances that hardline militant groups will not be allowed to again use Afghanistan to attack other nations.

An official working closely with Khalilzad said he is expected to encourage the insurgent group to engage in Afghan-to-Afghan talks to find a political settlement to the 17-year-old war in the country.

The United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission, known as Resolute Support, that is training and assisting the Afghan governments security forces in their battle against Taliban fighters and extremist groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to reach an agreement to end his countrys longest-ever war, which dislodged the Taliban from power in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. (Reporting by Abdul Qadir Sediqi, Ahmad Sultan, Writing by Rupam Jain; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Michael Perry)
A healthy economy is a good thing in theory, but when jobs are plentiful, employees risk losing valuable talent when competing opportunities abound. If that's been the case at your company, then you might rethink everything from your compensation strategy to your workplace culture to your willingness to invest in career growth. But while improving salaries, benefits, and education is apt to cost money, here's one thing you can do to retain talent without spending a dime: Be more flexible.

Flexibility matters

Many employees today struggle to achieve a decent work-life balance. By being flexible with your workers, you effectively help make that possible -- and once you do, you're likely to experience an uptick in loyalty. In fact, businesses that support remote work opportunities have 25% less employee turnover than companies that don't. And over 75% of workers say they'd be more loyal to their employers if they offered flexible work options.

Professionally dressed man and woman at laptop, smiling

IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.

Or, to put it another way, if you don't get on board with being more flexible, you might lose some of the valued employees you've worked hard to train. Case in point: A good 61% of employees have either left or considered leaving a job because it wasn't flexible enough for them.

Why workers crave flexibility

There are lots of reasons why workers want the ability to set their own hours or work from the place of their choosing, whether it be home or another remote location. For one thing, flexibility helps workers with kids better manage child care. It also helps employees keep up with personal obligations -- things like household maintenance and the like.

There's also the idea of not having to commute that's a major perk for many workers today. A stressful trip to and from work can sour an otherwise decent experience, and not having to deal with travel on a daily basis could be reason enough for some of your best workers to decide to stay put, even if higher-paying opportunities arise elsewhere.

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Furthermore, flexibility tends to go hand in hand with worker appreciation. When employees are granted more leeway on the job, it makes them feel valued. And the better they feel about themselves, the more inclined they'll be to stick with you, even during periods when it's generally not so difficult to find work elsewhere.

If your company has yet to adopt any sort of flexible work policy, it's time to reconsider that strategy, especially if employee retention is a key goal. Remember, that flexibility can take different forms. It can be a simple matter of allowing workers to leave a bit early or come in a bit late to tend to personal matters, or it can extend all the way to telecommuting. Of course, the more flexible your company is able to be, the better, but if you start with baby steps and work your way up, your employees will, at the very least, note the effort on your part and perhaps be a bit more hesitant to blast out their resumes.

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(Adds details, analyst comment)

By Rachit Vats

May 1 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Wednesday reported a fall in U.S. auto sales for April, as rising prices, higher interest rates and reduced incentives kept away buyers.

Although new-vehicle sales are expected to drop this year, major U.S. automakers now pin hopes on a robust economy and strong labor market to increase demand.

Toyota said its U.S. sales fell 4.4 percent to 162,506 vehicles in April, hurt by slack demand for its sedans, including Corolla and Prius.

Smaller rival Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV too reported a 6 percent drop in sales in the United States, hurt by lower demand for its Jeep SUV brand and Dodge sedans.

"The industry may be shaking off the first quarter sluggishness, but shoppers are coming into showrooms and buying," FCA U.S Head of Sales Reid Bigland said. The No. 4 automaker in the U.S. said it sold 172,900 vehicles in April, compared with 184,149 units a year earlier.

The average price of a new car in the United States is expected to climb to $36,718 in April, the highest level seen so far in 2019, while interest rates hovered above 6 percent for the fourth straight month.

RISING INVENTORY

A weak demand is also pushing automakers' inventories higher, which may prompt companies to come out with consumer discounts as well as incentives.

"Slower April sales didn't do much to eat into the industry's mounting inventory levels, so we might start to see manufacturers and dealers begin to loosen the reins on incentives," Edmunds analyst Jessica Caldwell said.

General Motors Co, the No.1 U.S. automaker, said on Tuesday it was "bullish" on pickup truck sales for this year. The company said it already had inventories of Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks for four months since April, which is seen as a high level in view of weak demand.

GM CFO Dhivya Suryadevara, however, said that the company's inventory would be brought down over the course of the year without offering heavy consumer discounts.

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Last week, Ford said it was confident that its 2019 results would be better compared to the previous year.

U.S. auto sales are expected to be about 16.9 million units this year, a 2.2 percent fall from 2018, according https://in.reuters.com/article/us-autos-outlook-idINKCN1S21F1 to industry consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive.

(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru and Nick Carey in Detroit; Editing by James Emmanuel)
(Adds details on National Security Council role, paragraphs 2 and 7-9)

By Humeyra Pamuk and Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's unexpected decision to ban all Iranian oil purchases after May 1 - ending exemptions for eight nations - came after hawkish economic and security advisors allayed the president's fears of an oil price hike, according to three sources familiar with the internal debate.

The unprecedented move to fully sever Tehrans financial lifeline - finalized just days before the April 22 announcement - underscores the influence of hard-liners within Trumps National Security Council, which two of the sources said were the biggest advocates for the decision. They had for months argued for tightening the sanctions over the objections of State Department officials who favored allowing some partners and allies to keep buying Iranian oil.

"No one's actually tried to take this all the way to zero," a senior administration official told Reuters, adding that forging a consensus among government agencies required "a lot of work."

President Donald Trump has been eager to halt Irans oil exports since slapping sanctions on the Islamic Republic last November for the first time since 2015, a move intended as punishment for Irans nuclear ambitions and its support of armed militant groups in the Middle East. But he initially backed a go-slow approach, providing waivers to allies and trading partners such as China, India and Turkey.

The United States currently removes about 2 million barrels of oil per day from the world's supply through sanctions on the Iran and Venezuela industries. But Washington hopes that soaring U.S. oil production - now at an all-time high of more than 12 million barrels per day - will keep global markets well-supplied and hold prices down.

By the weekend of April 20, with the initial 180-day waivers given to countries due to expire May 1, top economic and security advisors convinced Trump that the time had come to cut off Iranian oil exports completely, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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The National Security Council played a key role in driving the argument to end the waiver program - especially Richard Goldberg, a new member of the Trump administration and a longtime advocate for confronting Iran, according to the two sources. He was "instrumental," one of the sources said.

National Security Adviser John Bolton added Goldberg to the NSC in January.

Previously, Goldberg was an adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) think-tank headed by Mark Dubowitz, a leading advocate for tougher handling of Iran since the United States' first round of sanctions against the country under former President Barack Obama.

In 2012, Goldberg was an aide to then-Senator Mark Kirk, a Republican, and delivered a blow to Tehran by writing legislation that closed Iran's last legal loophole in selling oil under the Obama sanctions. That legislation targeted the Belgium-based SWIFT financial messaging system over which Iran was conducting billions of dollars in oil trade.

White House economic advisors Kevin Hassett and Larry Kudlow had also called for ending the waivers, according to a second senior administration official.

Trump discussed the matter with Bolton, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

While Bolton and Perry backed ending the waivers, some in Pompeo's State Department reiterated worries about the potential for rising oil prices, the sources said, but they ultimately dropped their objections and supported the more aggressive policy on Iran.

At the time, the State Department had been engaged in talks with at least five of the eight economies holding waivers, according to sources - China, India, South Korea, Japan and Turkey.

SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT

The decision caught several U.S. allies and Iranian oil buyers off-guard. China's Foreign Ministry issued a formal complaint to the United States.

Separately, diplomats interviewed by Reuters from at least two large importers of Iranian oil said discussions about renewing their waivers continued until a few days before the announcement, suggesting the State Department had little time to brief partners on the decision.

Oil prices struck six-month highs after the announcement, but have since eased back.

Trump has long been anxious that rising oil prices could hurt the economy and raise retail gasoline prices, and in his last tweet before the waiver decision, he said global oil markets were "fragile." He has asked members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase the flow of oil to compensate for losses from Iran and Venezuela.

"This was clearly what he was balancing in his own mind," the administration official said.

One senior administration official said Trump held conversations recently with the Saudi and Emirati leaders on oil prices and received assurances that the two oil producers will ensure the market is well-supplied.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister responded by saying he saw no need to raise oil output immediately. OPEC production declined by 1.6 million barrels per day between December and March, according to the organization's figures.

'THE RIGHT TIME'

The Obama administration, which had imposed sanctions on Iran in 2012 to thwart its nuclear ambitions, kept its waivers in place through the duration of its pressure campaign.

Obamas sanctions program ended with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international accord with Tehran reached in 2015 aimed at preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Trump ridiculed the deal and unilaterally abandoned it last year over the objections of the other signatories. International nuclear inspectors said at the time that Iran was abiding by the deal's terms.

State Department officials said it was the Trump administration's intention from the start to bring Iran's exports to zero. But the timing had not been right until now.

"We are doing this ... in a favorable market condition with full commitment from producing countries," said Frank Fannon, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources. "We think this is the right time."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland Editing by Richard Valdmanis, Brian Thevenot and David Gregorio)
(Updates number of detained)

ISTANBUL, May 1 (Reuters) - Turkish police said they detained 137 people in Istanbul on Wednesday for trying to hold illegal demonstrations in various parts of the city to celebrate May Day.

Police had cordoned off Istanbul's central Taksim square, but small groups of demonstrators converged there anyway.

"Squares belong to the people, they cannot be closed off. Long live May 1!" protesters shouted as police hauled them away, covering their mouths.

Protests for May Day, the international workers' holiday, are an annual occurrence in Turkey and have in the past been characterized by police action against demonstrators. Protests have often centered on Taksim Square where 34 people were killed during demonstrations on May 1, 1977.

Turkish police regularly prevent the staging of protests in central Istanbul and elsewhere. Ankara tightened restrictions after the imposition of emergency rule following an attempted coup in 2016. The state of emergency was lifted last July.

Earlier on Wednesday, police allowed a ceremony by a few union leaders to go ahead in Taksim Square, and another group laid carnations on a street nearby.

Authorities only allowed mass celebrations in the Bakirkoy district, located some distance from the city center.

By 1600 GMT, Istanbul police said they had detained 137 demonstrators in various parts of Istanbul, including the central districts of Besiktas, Sisli and Beyoglu.

In Besiktas a small group of protesters began shouting slogans and waving red flags of the leftist People's Liberation Party (HKP). Television footage showed police scuffling with protesters, rounding some up and putting them in police vans.

Ozgur Karabulut, general manager of Dev Yapi-Is Union, said the celebrations were continuing smoothly in Bakirkoy, with participants from all parts of society.

The Interior Ministry said some 303,000 people had participated in 138 legal May Day events around Turkey. (Reporting by Murad Sezer, Ali Kucukgocmen, Ece Toksabay and Bulent Usta Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Demonstrators throw petrol bombs to military forces at the air force base La Carlota on April 30, 2019 in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo: Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images

On Tuesday, the tension between the government of Nicolas Maduro and supporters of opposition leader Juan Guaido turned into open conflict when Guaido appeared with soldiers at a military base in Caracas and called for an uprising. Today, brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men attached to the Constitution have followed our call, Guaido said, adding that the definitive end of the usurpation starts today.

It was by far Guaidos most aggressive move since declaring himself the interim president in January, and by the end of the day it appeared to have failed. On Tuesday evening, Maduro declared victory over the coup-mongering far right and called for his supporters to fill the streets on Wednesday for a large, millions-strong march of the working class. Guaido also called for a demonstration, setting the stage for another clash. Meanwhile, U.S. secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned of possible U.S. military intervention. Heres everything we know about whats happening in Venezuela.

At Least 69 Injured in Street Clashes in Caracas

According to CBS News, at least 69 people were injured in the clashes between the opposition and forces loyal to Maduro.

Pro-Maduro paramilitary groups have reportedly fired shots from a government building in Chacao, a suburb of Caracas.

At one point, an armored vehicle plowed through a crowd of demonstrators.

!!! Intense clashes, a Venezuelan military vehicle just drove into a crowd of civilians on the highway. #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/pcSTd3TwMf  Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) April 30, 2019

Venezuelan Government Calls Guaidos Maneuver a Coup Attempt

On Tuesday morning, Maduro dismissed Guaidos call for an uprising as an attempted coup and claimed on Twitter that military leadership had affirmed their total loyalty to the people, to the Constitution and to the fatherland. Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez added in a tweet that the government was in the process of deactivating a small number of traitorous military personnel.

Venezuelas U.N. ambassador, Samuel Moncada, argued that politicians in the United States and in South America were complicit in the violence on Tuesday and that the clashes are an attempt by foreign powers to spark a civil war.

On Tuesday evening, Maduro was on TV alongside military and civilian leaders denouncing Guaido. We will continue to be victorious in every juncture that follows, he said. Our cause is crystal clear. Its the cause of the defense of the country.

U.S. Government Says Guaidos Move Is Not a Coup

National security adviser John Bolton stated that Tuesdays action is clearly not a coup. We recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela. But as Splinter News notes, the White Houses perspective effectively renders coup status impossible, as it already has determined that Guaido is the countrys legitimate head.

NEW: "This is clearly not a coup. We recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate interim-president of Venezuela," White House national security adviser John Bolton says. https://t.co/V9dPDF2Jyo pic.twitter.com/r7cmGgEnl9  ABC News (@ABC) April 30, 2019

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed strong pro-Guaido sentiments throughout the day. What we are seeing today in Venezuela is the will of the people to peacefully change the course of their country from one of despair to one of freedom and democracy, Pompeo tweeted. The U.S. stands with them. On CNN, he claimed that Maduro was prepared to vacate the capital of Caracas before being persuaded to stay by Russia:

Pompeo on CNN just now said Maduro had a "plane on the tarmac" ready to leave Venezuela today but the "Russians indicated he should stay"  Dave Lawler (@DavidLawler10) April 30, 2019

There is no way Maduro can stay in a country that he has so decimated, Sec of State Mike Pompeo tells @wolfblitzer on @CNNSitRoom. And so its time for him to leave Venezuela.  Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) April 30, 2019

On Fox Business Wednesday morning, Pompeo said the U.S. wants a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela, but warned that the U.S. will take military action, if thats whats required.

Senator Marco Rubio, the most vocal Republican calling for Maduros ouster, tweeted: This is the moment for those military officers in #Venezuela to fulfill their constitutional oath & defend the legitimate interim President. Vice-President Mike Pence added:

To @jguaido, the National Assembly and all the freedom-loving people of Venezuela who are taking to the streets today in #operacionlibertadEstamos con ustedes! We are with you! America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored. Vayan con dios! #FreeVenezuela  Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) April 30, 2019

President Trump began the day by stating he was monitoring the situation in Venezuela. By the afternoon, he announced he would impose a full and complete embargo on Cuba if the country did not withdraw its troops from Venezuela. (Considering the historic dearth of U.S.-Cuban trade, it might not be the most impactful threat.) The two countries are close political and economic allies, and as the New York Times noted in January, the exact number of Cuban advisers in Venezuela is unclear: Former military officials who have fled Venezuela have reported the involvement of Cubans within the security and intelligence forces, [but] experts say the extent of that involvement remains shrouded in mystery.

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

....embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

Whats next?

Tuesdays events made the situation in Venezuela more complicated for both Guaido, whose attempt to take power failed, and Maduro, who survived the most significant attempt to remove him from power. Both men have called for demonstrations on Wednesday. Guaido has asked supporters to take to the streets for a day of peaceful rebellion, while Maduro is calling for a march on Wednesday to win the peace.
* Barr stoutly defends Trump, tangles with Democrats

* Some Democrats urge Barr's resignation after hearing

* Mueller sent letter asking Barr to release more data (Updates with Justice Department refusal to comply with subpoena)

By Andy Sullivan and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday canceled plans to testify before the House of Representatives about his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, further inflaming tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress.

Barr was due to face the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but pulled out after the two sides were unable to agree on the format for the hearing.

"It's simply part of the administration's complete stonewalling of Congress," Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Nadler's proposal to have committee lawyers question Barr was "unprecedented and unnecessary," saying questions should come from lawmakers.

The Justice Department also said on Wednesday it would not comply with a Nadler-issued subpoena seeking an unredacted version of Mueller's report and underlying investigative files from the probe.

Earlier on Wednesday, Barr spent more than four hours before the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee where he fended off Democratic criticism of his decision to clear Trump of criminal obstruction of justice and faulted Special Counsel Robert Mueller for not reaching a conclusion of his own on the issue.

In his first congressional testimony since releasing a redacted version of Mueller's report on April 18, Barr also dismissed Mueller's complaints that he initially disclosed the special counsel's conclusions on March 24 in an incomplete way that caused public confusion.

Illustrating tensions between the two men, Barr described as "a bit snitty" a March 27 letter from Mueller in which the special counsel urged him to release broader summaries of his findings - a step Barr rejected. Trump seized on Barr's March 24 letter to declare that he had been fully exonerated.

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Several Democrats on the Senate committee called for Barr's resignation.

Democrats have accused Barr of trying to protect the Republican president, who is seeking re-election next year. They pressed Barr on why he decided two days after receiving the 448-page document from Mueller in March to conclude that Trump had not unlawfully sought to obstruct the 22-month investigation.

"I don't think the government had a prosecutable case," Barr said.

'ALLEGATIONS NOW PROVEN FALSE'

The report detailed extensive contacts between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Moscow and the campaign's expectation that it would benefit from Russia's actions, which included hacking and propaganda to boost Trump and harm Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The report also detailed a series of actions Trump took to try to impede the investigation.

Mueller, a former FBI director, concluded there was insufficient evidence to show a criminal conspiracy and opted not to make a conclusion on whether Trump committed obstruction of justice, but pointedly did not exonerate him. Barr has said he and Rod Rosenstein, the Justice Department's No. 2 official, then determined there was not enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction.

Barr often appeared to excuse or rationalize Trump's conduct, asserting that the president may not necessarily have been trying to derail Mueller's investigation.

Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono told Barr that he had sacrificed a "once-decent reputation for the grifter and liar that sits in the Oval Office."

Senator Lindsey Graham, the committee's Republican chairman, rushed to Barr's defense, telling Hirono: "You've slandered this man."

Trump had been unfairly smeared, Barr said, by suspicions he had collaborated with Russia in the election. "Two years of his administration have been dominated by the allegations that have now been proven false. To listen to some of the rhetoric, you would think that the Mueller report had found the opposite," Barr said.

Barr was critical of Mueller for not reaching a conclusion himself on whether Trump obstructed the probe.

"I think that if he felt that he shouldn't go down the path of making a traditional prosecutorial decision, then he shouldn't have investigated," Barr said.

Barr was asked about the report's finding that Trump directed then-White House counsel Don McGahn in June 2017 to tell Rosenstein that Mueller had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the order. Rosenstein had appointed Mueller the prior month.

Barr, appointed by Trump after the president fired his predecessor, Jeff Sessions, seemed to minimize the incident and said Trump believed "he never outright directed the firing of Mueller." Trump could have presumably appointed someone else to do the job after Mueller was fired, he said.

"We did not think in this case that the government could show corrupt intent," Barr said.

'INTENTION WAS VERY CLEAR'

Democrats on the panel were unconvinced.

"I think the president's intention was very clear. He wanted this to end," Senator Dick Durbin said.

Under questioning by Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, a 2020 presidential candidate, Barr acknowledged he did not review the investigation's underlying evidence before deciding to clear Trump of obstruction.

Barr disputed the view that Mueller was handing the baton to Congress for possible impeachment proceedings. "That would be very inappropriate," Barr said. "That's not what the Justice Department does."

The Democratic-controlled House would start any such impeachment effort, but Trump could not be removed from office without approval by a two-thirds majority in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Democrats also accused Barr of misleading Congress, by saying in April that he did not know whether Mueller agreed with his characterization of the report - failing to mention Mueller's March 27 letter that Barr's initial summary did not "fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office's work."

Barr testified that Mueller was unhappy with the way the conclusions were being characterized in the media, not his account of the conclusions, although Mueller's letter did not mention media coverage.

"The letter is a bit snitty," Barr said, using a word meaning disagreeably ill-tempered, "and I think it was probably written by a member of his staff."

Several Democrats demanded that Mueller testify before the committee, but Graham ruled that out.

Committee Republicans did not focus on Trump's conduct but rather on what they saw as the FBI's improper surveillance during the 2016 race of Trump aides they suspected of being Russian agents, as well as on the Kremlin's election meddling.

Barr indicated that to him, the matter was closed.

"The report is now in the hands of the American people," he said. "We're out of it. We have to stop using the criminal justice system as a political weapon."

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, Sarah N. Lynch and David Morgan; Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Writing by Andy Sullivan and James Oliphant; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney)
(Recasts with comments from SEC commissioner)

April 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. Securities and Exchange commissioner on Tuesday criticized a settlement between the regulator and Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk over his use of Twitter.

The head of the electric car maker reached a deal with the SEC on Friday, agreeing to submit his public statements about the company's finances and other topics to vetting by its legal counsel.

However, SEC commissioner Robert Jackson registered his dissent after the deal was approved by a federal judge earlier on Tuesday.

"Given Mr. Musk's conduct, I cannot support a settlement in which he does not admit what is crystal clear to anyone who has followed this bizarre series of events," Jackson said in a statement.

"Musk breached the agreement he made last year with the Commission - and with American investors," he added.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan approved the deal worked out on Friday that settled the dispute in which the SEC had sought to find Musk in contempt of a securities fraud settlement last year.

Earlier this month, Nathan had ordered the parties to work out an arrangement between themselves.

The new deal lays out in more detail what types of statements by Musk must be reviewed by Tesla's legal counsel before publication, such as financial statements, previously unreported production or delivery numbers, and other topics.

Regulators had claimed that a February tweet by Musk about Tesla's production numbers violated the earlier settlement, as it had not been vetted by the company's attorneys. Musk countered that the tweet was not material.

The SEC sued Musk last year for making fraudulent statements after he tweeted on Aug. 7 that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share.

The parties eventually settled, and the deal called for Tesla's lawyers to pre-approve written communications, including tweets with material information about the company.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage in San Francisco and Mekhla Raina in Bengaluru ; Additional Reporting by Katanga Johnson and Jan Wolfe in Washington ; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall, Lisa Shumaker and Darren Schuettler)
(Adds Hunt comment, details)

By David Milliken and Elizabeth Piper

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May fired her defense minister on Wednesday over a leak of discussions in the National Security Council about Chinese telecoms company Huawei, the latest of her allies to be ousted from government.

The sudden dismissal of Gavin Williamson, who "strenuously" denied involvement in the leak, was another blow for May, whose own premiership hangs by a thread after her failure so far to usher Britain smoothly out of the European Union.

The firing also underlined how seriously her team treated the leak from the National Security Council, which discusses Britain's national security, intelligence coordination and defense strategy, and involves only certain ministers from her cabinet to keep its talks as secret as possible.

That secrecy was broken last month when the Telegraph newspaper reported Britain would allow Huawei a role in building parts of its 5G network, setting London at odds with Washington over the next generation of communications technology.

Sources were forced to say that the role would be limited.

In a letter to Williamson, May wrote that an investigation into the leaks had provided "compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure."

"No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified," she added after putting the "latest information from the investigation" to Williamson earlier on Wednesday.

Williamson, who rose quickly up the ranks of the governing Conservative Party after backing May to become prime minister in 2016, denied responsibility.

"I am sorry that you feel recent leaks from the National Security Council originated in my department. I emphatically believe this was not the case."

"I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position."

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May appointed international development minister Penny Mordaunt to succeed Williamson as defense secretary, and named prisons minister Rory Stewart to Mordaunt's former role. Mordaunt will be Britain's first woman defense minister.

May has overseen several departures in her cabinet, with many quitting rather than being pushed.

One notable exception was Boris Johnson, now one of her strongest rivals, who quit last year in protest at her plans to keep close trade ties with the European Union after Britain leaves the bloc, stirring rebellion in her partys ranks.

'CRISIS'

For some in the Conservative Party, Williamson was an odd choice for defense minister after his predecessor, Michael Fallon, quit in a sexual harassment scandal in 2017.

Best known for his role as chief whip, the Conservatives' parliamentary enforcer, Williamson coaxed lawmakers to toe the party line, sometimes by introducing them to his pet tarantula Cronus, named after the god of time who swallowed each of his children according to Greek mythology.

Many in the Conservative Party felt his promotion to defense minister was little more than a prize for his role as whip, which included brokering a deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party to prop up May's government.

He caused a stir last year when he told Russia to shut up and go away after a nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent in the English city of Salisbury.

His colleague, foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, said he was sorry over Williamson's firing "but given the gravity of the situation there was no other alternative outcome," the Press Association quoted Hunt as saying as he arrived in Addis Ababa.

Opposition parties called for a criminal investigation into the leak, with the main opposition Labour Party describing the Conservative government as chaotic and "incapable of sorting out their own crisis."

"Conservative infighting has undermined the basic functioning of government, and has now potentially put security at risk. The police must urgently investigate," Nia Griffiths, Labour's defense policy chief, said in a statement after Williamson was fired.

For many Conservatives, the National Security Council leak increased doubts over how much control May had over her ministers after she offered to resign if lawmakers backed the Brexit deal she reached last year with the EU.

They did not back it and she has yet to win its approval after asking parliament three times.

Last week the culture minister, Jeremy Wright, said leaks from the NSC endangered the ability of the committee, which is made up of senior ministers and hears regularly from intelligence agency bosses, to get unequivocal and frank security advice from experts.

Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of concerns it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying.

Huawei has categorically denied this. (Reporting by David Milliken and Elisabeth O'Leary Writing by Elizabeth Piper Editing by Peter Graff and Frances Kerry)
(Recasts with Shanahan comments)

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday appeared to downplay any active preparations to directly intervene in Venezuela to topple President Nicolas Maduro, but acknowledged detailed contingency planning as political turmoil in the oil-rich nation deepens.

Hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was prepared to take military action, if necessary, acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the United States had carried out "exhaustive planning" on Venezuela.

But he and other officials continued to emphasize diplomatic and economic pressure as a way to help oust Maduro, as opposed to a U.S.-military led regime change.

Asked at one point whether the U.S. military had been given instructions to prepare for a conflict in Venezuela, perhaps by prepositioning U.S. troops, Kathryn Wheelbarger, the acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said: "We, of course, always review available options and plan for contingencies.

"But in this case we have not been given (the) sort of orders that you're discussing, no," Wheelbarger told the House Armed Services Committee.

So far, the U.S. military has been largely a spectator amid the unfolding U.S. foreign policy decisions on Venezuela, although it offered small contributions, like helping shuttle humanitarian aid to Colombia for further transport to Venezuela.

It has also ramped up its intelligence collection and intelligence sharing with allies, like Colombia, while planning for a possible non-combatant evacuation of Americans from Venezuela, should the need arise. Such planning is standard in any crisis of Venezuela's magnitude.

The top uniformed U.S. military officer, Marine General Joseph Dunford, said he was focused on intelligence gathering and being prepared to respond, if Trump sought greater involvement by the Pentagon.

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But he stressed that the military should act in a way that deepens its partnerships in Latin America -- where the prospect of U.S. military intervention is deeply unpopular.

"I think it really is very, very important that we work with others in the region to solve this problem," Dunford said.

DAY AFTER MADURO'S FALL

Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's president by some 50 countries including the United States, has so far failed to enlist Venezuela's military leaders in his bid to remove Maduro from power. He faced a high-profile test of support on Wednesday after calling for the "largest march" in Venezuela's history.

U.S. Navy Admiral Craig Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. forces in Latin America, said a big focus for the United States and its partners in the region would be helping to restore vital Venezuelan economic infrastructure after Maduro's exit -- something he called "Day Now" planning.

"We call it 'Day Now' because there is going to be a day when the legitimate government takes over, and it's going to come when we least expect it -- and it could be right now," Faller said.

When asked if he saw a role for the U.S. military in actually overthrowing Maduro's government, Faller said: "Our leadership's been clear: It has to be, should be, primarily a democratic transition."

Still, he said Southern Command was ready to act if called upon for any scenario.

"We're on the balls of our feet," he said.

In a sign the crisis was grabbing the full attention of Trump's national security leaders, Shanahan canceled a planned trip to Europe on Wednesday, in part to help coordinate with the White House National Security Council and State Department on Venezuela.

The National Security Council scheduled a meeting for Wednesday afternoon to discuss next steps. (Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Makini Brice and Mike Stone Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Tom Brown)
(Adds details from decision, background)

April 30 (Reuters) - Massachusetts gaming regulators on Tuesday fined Wynn Resorts Ltd $35 million for not disclosing sexual misconduct allegations against founder and former CEO Steve Wynn but allowed the casino operator to keep the license for its new $2.6 billion casino near Boston due to open in June.

The commission said it was "profoundly disturbed" by "repeated systemic failures and pervasive culture of non-disclosure" at the company. The decision follows the commission's investigative report earlier in April that concluded that former executives of Wynn Resorts concealed sexual misconduct allegations against billionaire founder Wynn.

Brian Kelly, Wynn's lawyer, had said at the time that his client "denies all allegations of non-consensual sex and nothing in this report changes that."

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission released its decision after a year-long investigation and three-day hearing into allegations of sexual assault, misconduct and other inappropriate behavior and how Wynn Resorts handled them.

However, the commission added that there was not enough evidence to revoke Wynn Resort's gaming license. (http://bit.ly/2J2gTZb)

The Las Vegas-based company received its Massachusetts license in 2013, allowing it to move forward with building the 671-room "Encore Boston Harbor" in Everett, Massachusetts. It is expected to open in June.

The watchdog said it would impose a $35 million fine on Wynn Resorts and a $500,000 fine on Chief Executive Officer Matthew Maddox, in addition to license conditions including an independent monitor to oversee the company's adherence to policies and organizational changes.

"We are in the process of reviewing that decision and considering the full range of our next steps," Wynn Resorts said in an emailed statement.

The report by the commission's investigations and enforcement bureau followed a January 2018 article by The Wall Street Journal detailing allegations that Wynn had engaged in a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct.

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His subsequent exit as the company's chief executive and sale of his stake in Wynn Resorts made him one of the most prominent executives to lose his job amid the #MeToo movement, which has highlighted longstanding patterns of sexual harassment and abuse in major U.S. institutions.

The commission said in its decision that Wynn Resort's culture favored the CEO in ways that left the "most vulnerable at great risk."

"While the company has made great strides in altering that system, this commission remains concerned by the past failures and deficiencies," the 54-page decision said. (http://bit.ly/2J6Bnjy)

Nevada casino regulators, following a similar investigation, in February fined the company $20 million. (Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru and Nate Raymond; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
A bomb attack by suspected Maoist rebels killed 15 Indian elite commandos and their driver on Wednesday, police said, in the latest incident of election-time violence in a decades-long insurgency.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the 1960s in several areas of India in clashes between security forces and guerrillas first inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

In the latest incident, "Maoists attacked a team of commandos travelling in a private vehicle to inspect an earlier attack. So far 16 men have died," an official at police headquarters in the western state of Maharashtra told AFP.

The attack, the deadliest carried out by the Maoists since 2017, happened in the densely forested Gadchiroli region of Maharashtra, deep in the Indian interior.

Gadchiroli police official Prashant Dute told AFP that the police commandos had been on their way to the scene of the earlier attack in the same area in which more than 30 vehicles were torched.

The Maoists insurgents are believed to be present in at least 20 Indian states but are most active in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Thousands of armed men and women -- also known as Naxals -- say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribal people, including for land, resources and jobs.

India's current election began on April 11 and is due to run until May 19. Attacks by Maoist rebels often spike as the country goes to the polls.

Last weekend rebels opened fire on Indian police, killing two constables and wounding a villager in the central state of Chhattisgarh, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

One constable and an assistant constable died at the scene and the villager, shot in the chest, was taken by local residents for treatment, PTI reported.

A roadside bomb attack on a political convoy in early April killed five people in Chhattisgarh, two days before the world's biggest election began.

The rebels often call for a boycott of elections as part of their campaign against the Indian state.

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- 'Red corridor' -

The Gadchiroli district, some 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of state capital Mumbai, has long been a hotbed of violence, with at least 17 police killed there in 2009.

It is a key transit point for the guerrillas, connecting western India with central and southern states in a restive tranche known as the "red corridor".

On April 11, the day voting began, a landmine planted by Maoists exploded near a polling centre there. There were no injuries.

In April 2018, raids on rebel camps in the region killed at least 37 insurgents, police said. Many of the slain rebels were women, police said.

Wednesday's attack was the deadliest by Maoists in India since 2017 when at least 25 paramilitaries were killed in the Sukma district of central Chhattisgarh state.

That in turn was the deadliest since Maoists killed 75 paramilitary soldiers from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in 2010 in the same state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday swiftly condemned the latest attack.

"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel," Modi tweeted.

"Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," he added.

Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally of Modi, said he was "anguished" by the "cowardly" attack.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh called it "an act of cowardice and desperation".

"We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel," he said. "Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain."
(Adds share price, background)

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Allergan Plc shareholders have voted down a nonbinding proposal that sought an immediate split of the roles of chairman and chief executive, with 61.3 percent of shareholders backing Chairman and CEO Brent Saunders.

Billionaire investor David Tepper's hedge fund Appaloosa LP made the proposal, arguing that drugmaker Allergan currently has a questionable business strategy and excessive pay for executives.

Proxy advisory firms backed keeping the current structure. However, Appaloosa's success in attracting the votes of a substantial minority highlights the displeasure of many investors.

The voting results represent 85.9 percent of shares eligible to vote, Allergan said in a statement on Wednesday.

Allergan, under pressure to rescue the company's falling stock price, launched a review of its strategy last year. But that review is only likely to result in the sale of its relatively small infectious disease unit.

Appaloosa has voiced its discontent with the results of the review, and has called for a breakup or sale of the company, citing recent clinical failures such as that of its depression treatment rapastinel.

In an effort to fend off Appaloosa, Allergan agreed in March to split the chairman and CEO roles, but only at its next leadership change. Saunders, 49, has no plans to step down, a source close to the company told Reuters then.

The company has also replaced more than half of its board since 2017.

Saunders put together the current version of Allergan through a series of deals to roll up several pharmaceutical companies in 2014, and has run the company since then.

He built his reputation as a dealmaker, but he has struggled since Pfizer Inc walked away from a $160 billion deal to buy Allergan in 2016. Allergan's shares have lost nearly half their value since then.

The company's shares closed at $147 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Reuters on Tuesday had reported that enough votes had been cast for Allergan to prevail against Appaloosa. (Reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Saumya Sibi Joseph in Bengaluru Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Jonathan Oatis)
(Adds quote, reaction, details)

By Steve Scherer and David Ljunggren

OTTAWA, May 1 (Reuters) - The Canadian government, as expected, on Wednesday offered more financial assistance to canola seed farmers who have been hit by a Chinese ban on imports and said it was looking to diversify into other markets.

China is blocking imports of canola seed from two companies on the grounds that it discovered pests. The ban threatens to cause major problems for farmers, given that China is Canada's biggest export market for canola.

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said that for 2019 an existing aid program would offer all farmers as much as C$1 million ($745,000), up from the current C$400,000. The interest-free portion of loans to canola farmers only will rise to C$500,000 from C$100,000.

Trade Minister Jim Carr said he would lead a trade mission to Japan and South Korea in early June in a bid to boost existing canola exports.

"Our government is taking action both at home and abroad to find lasting solutions to this situation. We will not rest until this issue is resolved for our Canadian producers, workers and their communities," he told a news conference with Bibeau.

Canada-China ties turned icy last December when police in Vancouver arrested Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant. She is awaiting an extradition hearing and is next due in court on May 8.

An expanding list of Canadian farm exports such as soybeans, peas and pork is hitting obstacles at Chinese ports.

Ottawa said in a statement it was "prepared to respond to support producers of other commodities should further trade actions occur."

Although the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is under increasing pressure to retaliate against China, Carr said Ottawa wanted to focus for the time being on the scientific aspects of the case. Canada dismisses the suggestion of pests in its canola exports.

China accounts for about 40 percent of Canada's canola seed, oil and meal exports, according to the Canola Council, with seed exports to China worth some C$2.7 billion ($2 billion) a year. The council said the federal aid was good news.

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Mike Ammeter, who farms near Sylvan Lake, Alberta, said the assistance would help farmers finance the cost of planting this year's crop.

"Cash flow has been a concern. It's a welcome announcement," he said by phone.

Farmers intend to plant their smallest canola crop in three years, down seven percent from 2018, according to a recent Statistics Canada survey.

($1=1.3391 Canadian dollars) (With additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; editing by Bernadette Baum, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
(Adds reaction, background)

By Alistair Smout

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - The expansion of London's Heathrow Airport inched closer on Wednesday when a High Court judge rejected legal challenges from environmental campaigners opposed to the building of a third runway.

Judge Gary Hickinbottom said he did not accept the arguments made by environmentalists and did not believe the government's transport minister acted unlawfully when he approved the expansion of Europe's biggest airport.

"The court held that none of the climate change grounds was arguable," a summary of the judgment said. The campaigners can apply for permission to appeal the rulings.

Britain has spent almost half a century trying to decide whether or where to build a new runway in the densely populated southeast of England. If finally opened, it will be the first full-length runway built in the London area for 70 years.

Prime Minister Theresa May's government has argued that an expansion will show Britain is open for business and able to develop stronger trading ties with Asia after it leaves the European Union - although Brexit has been delayed by a parliamentary deadlock over the terms of departure.

But the expansion plan is still opposed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and a lengthy legal wrangle still lies ahead if the campaigners decide to launch another appeal in the next seven days.

The No. 2 man in the opposition Labour party, finance spokesman John McDonnell, described the court ruling as "bizarre" after he attended the hearing in London.

"This is just the first stage in defeating 3rd runway and protecting our environment," McDonnell said on Twitter.

The airport, which is jointly owned by Spain's Ferrovial , the Qatar Investment Authority, China Investment Corporation and other investment companies, is in McDonnell's constituency.

The expansion plan, endorsed by parliament last year, is forecast to cost around 14 billion pounds ($18 billion).

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Under the current plan, the third runway is expected to become operational by 2026.

"We are delighted with todays ruling which is a further demonstration that the debate on Heathrow expansion has been had and won, not only in parliament, but in the courts also," a spokesman for Heathrow said.

Environmental groups say the expansion will damage the quality of air and increase noise levels. They had argued the plan was inconsistent with pledges made as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

Tim Crosland, a director of one of the groups that made the legal challenge and an adviser to the Extinction Rebellion group that protested across London last month, said the court judgment was disappointing but it was increasingly difficult to see how the third runway could actually go ahead.

"Following the recent Extinction Rebellion protests there is widespread recognition that we are in a state of climate and ecological emergency," he said. ($1 = 0.7650 pounds) (Writing by Kate Holton Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Heinrich)
Bill Barr. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The night before Attorney General Bill Barrs appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a letter from Robert Mueller informing Barr that he objected to his four-page summary of the special counsel investigation leaked to the Washington Post. There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation, Mueller reportedly wrote to Barr on March 27. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

The timely leak drew new attention to a moment from Barrs previous testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee. During an April 10 hearing, Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen asked Barr if Mueller supported his four-page summary. Barr said, I dont know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion. As House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler and Senator Van Hollen have stated, this suggests an attempt at misdirection, as Barr received the letter two weeks prior to his Senate testimony. Some eager commenters began to claim that the U.S. Attorney Generals April 10 comments could fall under the definition of perjury.

But as Lawfare executive editor Susan Hennessey wrote, the legal purview of perjury is incredibly narrow, and Barr had most likely worded his response in a way that would avoid such a charge.

Barr's testimony seems plainly dishonest & people will surely start throwing around accusations of perjury. Good time to recall that perjury is exacting legal standard & Barr was likely careful to be accurate in strict technical sense. Doesn't make it ok but probably not perjury. https://t.co/8FNi9h2pZp  Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) May 1, 2019

Regarding a past instance in which a Trump administration figure was accused of perjury, Lawfare contributor Helen Klein Murillo wrote:

Perjury is extremely difficult to prove. A prosecutor has to show not only that there was a material misstatement of fact, but also that it was done so willfully  that the person knew it was false when they said it. In Bronston v. United States, a unanimous Supreme Court held that a literally true but unresponsive answer could not form the basis of a perjury conviction even if the individual intended to mislead.

Legally, Barr is almost certainly in the clear on a perjury charge: It appears that his I dont know response to Senator Van Hollen could fall under the definition of an unresponsive answer. But politically, the fallout for what appears to be an intentionally misleading statement is already intensifying the calls for Barrs resignation or impeachment. Certainly, the release of the letter wont make his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday any easier.

Just spoke with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who says a lot of remedies need to be on the table for congressional response to Barrs conduct. He does *not* rule out possible impeachment proceedings. Calls Mueller letter stunning and a game changer for [Barrs] legacy.  Robert Costa (@costareports) May 1, 2019

Federal judges have repeatedly been impeached and removed from office for committing perjury, making false and misleading statements, impeding an official investigation, and lying under oath. Those descriptions seem to fit William Barr tonight.  Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 1, 2019

On April 20th, I asked Barr, Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion? His answer was, I dont know whether Mueller supported my conclusion.



We now know Mueller stated his concerns on March 27th, and that Barr totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign. pic.twitter.com/rod404BbYo  Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) May 1, 2019

Why would Bill Barr flush his reputation & credibility down the toilet? I don't care.



What we should care about is that he is still in charge of @TheJusticeDept. Bill Barr should resign and then apply to be the next White House press secretary, where he can lie all he wants. https://t.co/iUQvm4Cymz  Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 1, 2019
(Adds comment by senior U.S. administration official, details throughout)

By Michelle Nichols and Saad Sayeed

UNITED NATIONS/ISLAMABAD, May 1 (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a decade-long diplomatic impasse.

Pakistan's ally China had repeatedly opposed efforts at the United Nations by Western powers to directly sanction JeM founder Masood Azhar, even though the group had already been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council in 2001.

JeM has carried out several high-profile attacks in India and claimed responsibility for a February suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir, an attack that brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war.

However, to win China's support for the sanctioning of Azhar, the United States, Britain and France removed a reference to the February attack in the Indian city of Pulwama from their request to the U.N. Security Council's Islamic State and al Qaeda sanctions committee.

The 15-member committee, which operates by consensus, agreed on Wednesday to subject Azhar to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze.

Azhar's freedom within Pakistan has been a sore point in the relationship between Western countries and Pakistan, and has led to repeated accusations by India that Islamabad uses and harbors militant groups to further its foreign policy agenda. Pakistan denies such accusations.

A senior U.S. administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Pakistan had taken some steps against Jaish-e-Mohammed after the Pulwama attack.

"However, there are additional steps that Pakistan could take to show an irreversible commitment and to permanently put these kinds of groups out of business," said the official, also citing militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Haqqani network.

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"These steps could include arresting leaders and disrupting their ability to communicate and travel, shutting down affiliated business and charity wings," the official said.

After the February attack, the United States, Britain and France asked for Azhar to be sanctioned. But the move was opposed by China, which said it wanted more time to study the request. Beijing had previously prevented the sanctions committee from imposing sanctions on Azhar, including in 2016 and 2017.

The United States, Britain and France stepped up their push to blacklist Azhar in late March by proposing a resolution, which would have needed nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass.

After further negotiations, they instead submitted the revised request to the committee on Sunday to sanction Azhar.

PAKISTAN TO ENFORCE SANCTIONS

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had studied the new designation request and that the issue was now "appropriately resolved."

"I would like to emphasize that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to the fight against terrorism, which should be fully affirmed by the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to fight terrorism and extremist forces," Geng added, without elaborating.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Islamabad backed Azhar's designation after the removal of references to the February attack.

"Were going to enforce this decision forthwith," Faisal told reporters in the capital, Islamabad, referring to the travel ban and asset freeze.

In a statement, India's foreign ministry welcomed the sanctioning of Azhar as "a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers."

JeM, a predominantly anti-India group, also forged ties with al Qaeda. In December 2001, JeM fighters, along with members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked India's parliament, which almost led to a fourth war between the two countries.

The February attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir prompted India to carry out an aerial bombing mission inside Pakistan, the first such move since a 1971 war. Pakistan carried out its own aerial bombardment the following day, and the two countries even fought a brief dogfight over Kashmir skies.

Tensions began to ease when Pakistan, amid pressure from global powers, returned a downed Indian pilot shot down over Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan has been on a charm offensive in recent months to avoid the country being blacklisted by a global financial body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and terrorism financing.

Islamabad has vowed to crack down on anti-India militants and other groups operating on its soil. It has shut down some madrassas linked to violent groups and as part of the crackdown also detained relatives of Azhar in "protective custody."

"It's too early to say whether Pakistan will indeed uphold its international obligations, but we remain hopeful," the senior U.S. administration official said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; additional reporting by Saad Sayeed and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; writing by Drazen Jorgic and Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Phil Berlowitz)
(Adds Taliban statement, details)

By Abdul Qadir Sediqi and Rupam Jain

KABUL, May 1 (Reuters) - American and Taliban officials resumed talks in Qatar on Wednesday aimed at ending a 17-year war in Afghanistan, while the Afghan government hosted a rare assembly in Kabul to ensure its interests are upheld in any peace deal.

The Taliban issued a statement saying the U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, had met the Taliban's political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is heading the Islamist militants' delegation.

"Views were exchanged about key aspects for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue," its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The talks are part of U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to end America's longest war, which began when U.S.-backed forces ousted the Taliban weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Since October, U.S. and Taliban officials have held several rounds of talks aimed at ensuring a safe departure for U.S. forces in return for a Taliban guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used by militants to threaten the rest of the world.

"It is absolutely vital that the two key agenda points - full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and preventing Afghanistan from harming others - be finalized," Mujahid said. "This will open the way for resolving other aspects of the issue and we cannot enter into other topics before this," he said.

In this round, Khalilzad and his delegation are expected to focus on a declaration of a ceasefire as a first step to end the fighting, said a western diplomat in Kabul.

An official working closely with Khalilzad said he is expected to encourage the insurgent group to engage in Afghan-to-Afghan talks to find a political settlement to end the war, but Mujahid said the Afghan representatives were not allowed to attend the ongoing talks. "No other side except the U.S. and Taliban representatives in the meeting, but some Qatari officials will remain present as hosts," he told Reuters.

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This week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani convened a rare grand assembly known as the Loya Jirga to set out Kabul's conditions for peace talks with the Taliban.

The Jirga has a purely consultative function, but it carries significance in Afghan politics and society.

An intra-Afghan meeting involving the Taliban was scheduled to take place in Doha last month but a dispute about who should participate and in what capacity prompted the Islamist group to pull out at the last minute.

The Taliban has so far refused to talk to Kabul and have labeled the Afghan government as a "U.S. puppet."

Ghani believes that backing from members of the Loya Jirga will strengthen his bid to be recognized as Afghanistan's legitimate representative in the peace talks.

The assembly includes 3,200 tribal elders, politicians and community and religious leaders from all 34 provinces.

But opposition politicians and government critics, including former president Hamid Karzai, are boycotting the meeting. They accuse Ghani of using it as a platform to boost his status as a leader in an election year.

Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, said at the assembly he welcomed the U.S.-Taliban talks in Qatar but Afghan voices should be heard at the negotiating table.

"The Loya Jirga is the rational and logical start of the peace talks," he told reporters, adding that the assembly would also examine the role of foreign powers in Afghanistan.

The United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission, known as Resolute Support, that is training and assisting the Afghan government's security forces in their battle against Taliban fighters and extremist groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.

Intense fighting is still going on all over the country, and while the Taliban are negotiating, they now control and have influence over more territory than at any point since 2001. (Additional reporting by Ahmad Sultan, Orooj Hakimi, Editing by Michael Perry and Darren Schuettler)
Three Democratic presidential candidates sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and they took full advantage of the national spotlight to show their toughness against Attorney General William Barr in his contentious hearing Wednesday.

Senators Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey zeroed in on Barrs four-page memo characterizing the 448-page report by special counsel Robert Mueller, which detailed 10 episodes that Democrats have argued amount to obstruction of justice by Donald Trump.

Barr, in his March 24 memo, which he repeatedly argued before Congress was not a summary, stated that the special counsels probe found no conspiracy between Trumps campaign and Russia and that he along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.

Harris, a former prosecutor and California attorney general, questioned Barr closely on how he reached that decision.

In you reaching your conclusion, did you personally review all of the underlying evidence? she asked.

No, said Barr. We accepted the statements in the report as the factual record. We did not go underneath it to see whether or not it was accurate, we accepted it as accurate.

U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker listen as U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on "the Justice Department's investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2019. (Photos: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images (2), Andrew Harnik)

Barr also said he wasnt aware if Rosenstein had reviewed the evidence and confirmed that no one in his office had done so either.

Yet you represented to the American public that the evidence was not sufficient to support an obstruction-of-justice offense, said Harris.

Barr defended taking the characterization of the evidence as true, saying it was not a mysterious process.

Harris fired back: As the attorney general of the United States, you run the United States Department of Justice. If in any U.S. attorneys office the head of that office when being asked to make a critical decision about, in this case, the person who holds the highest office in the land, and whether or not that person committed a crime, would you accept them recommending a charging decision to you if they had not reviewed the evidence?

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Well thats a question for Bob Mueller, said Barr. Hes the U.S. attorney, hes the one who presents the report.

But it was you who made the charging decision, said Harris. You said it was your baby, what did you mean by that?

It was my baby to decide whether or not to disclose it to the public, Barr responded.

Earlier, Harris had stumped Barr by asking whether the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?

After stammering for a few moments, Barr asked Harris to repeat the question.

It seems youd remember something like that, Harris said drily.

Barr eventually admitted he didnt know.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., asks U.S. Attorney General William Barr questions during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing May 1, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Mueller, before the full report was released to the public mid-April, complained to Barr in a March 27 letter that the attorney generals summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions.

After he received the letter, Barr testified, he had called Mueller to discuss his objections. That seemed to contradict his testimony at a hearing in early April, when he was asked by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., if Mueller supported his conclusion on obstruction. Barr said he didnt know.

Klobuchar took up that line of questioning.

I think when Senator Van Hollen and Representative [Charlie] Christ asked you if the special counsel disagreed with you, under oath you had to go out your way not to at least mention the fact that he had sent you this letter. But you didnt mention it, said Klobuchar.

The Minnesota senator, who also has a background as a prosecutor, probed the evidence cited by Mueller outlining multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations.

The report mentioned threats by Trump against his former lawyer Michael Cohen and statements about his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former White House counsel Don McGahn.

Before Cohen was to testify before Congress about his tenure in the Trump Organization, Trump lashed out at his ex-attorney who he accused of lying to reduce his jail time and said people should watch [Cohens] father-in-law!

This is a man in the highest office in the most powerful job in our country, and he is basically  Im trying to think how someone would react ... if the president of the United States is implying, getting out there that your family members have committed a crime, said Klobuchar. You dont consider that any attempt to change testimony?

Klobuchar moved onto Manafort: The report found that the presidents personal counsel told Paul Manafort that he would be taken care of, she said. That you dont consider obstruction of justice?

No, not standing alone, said Barr.

And I think that is my point here, interjected Klobuchar. You look at the totality of the evidence.

The report found that after Manafort was convicted, the president himself called him a brave man for refusing to break.

That is not obstruction, said Barr. What the presidents lawyers would say ... is that the presidents statements about flipping are quite clear and expressed and uniformly the same which is by flipping he meant succumbing to pressure on unrelated cases to lie and compose in order to get lenient treatment on other cases.

Discouraging flipping, in that sense, he added, is not obstruction.

In her final attempt to prove a pattern of obstruction, Klobuchar asked whether Trump was interfering in the investigation when he asked McGahn to deny media reports that the president ordered him to have Mueller fired.

If you dont see that as obstruction and directing him to change testimony, do you think that would create a false record to impair the integrity of evidence? she asked.

It fails, Barr responded. The evidence would not be sufficient.

He continued: The government has to prove things beyond a reasonable doubt, and as the report shows, there is ample evidence on the other side of the ledger that would prevent the government from establishing that.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks as U.S. Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee May 1, 2019, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Booker said the Mueller report described a deep litany of lies and deceit and misconduct: the president of the United States instructing people to lie and be deceitful, evidence of people trying to cover up behavior that on its face is morally wrong, whatever the legal standard is.

You said, We know that the Russian operatives who perpetrated these schemes did not have the cooperation of President Trump or Trump campaign. That is something that all Americans can and should be grateful to have confirmed, said Booker, reading Barrs statement on the reports release. I find your choice of words alarming. It calls into question your objectivity when you look at the actual context of the report. Should the American people really be grateful that a candidate for president sought to benefit from material information that was stolen by a foreign power in an effort to influence an election?

Im not sure what you mean by seek to benefit, said Barr. Theres no indication that they engaged either in the conspiracy to act or that they engaged in the action with respect to dissemination that was criminal.

Barr argued that foreign governments and citizens frequently try to contact candidates' campaigns, citing the 2016 Clinton campaign, which Republican senators also brought up throughout the hearing.

If we were right now to go and look at, for example, Hillary Clinton's campaign during the time frame, you would see a lot of foreign governments trying to establish

And thats, I guess, what Im trying to say to you, interrupted Booker. We right now have a new normal in our country. We have a document that shows over 200 connections between a presidential campaign and a foreign adversary, sharing information that would be illegal if you did it with a super-PAC.

He continued: My point is that your willingness to seem to brush over this and use words like the American people should be grateful  whats in this report, nobody should be grateful. Concerted efforts for deception and for misleading, inappropriate action after inappropriate action, that is clear.

And on top of that, added Booker, at a time that we all recognized that we had a foreign power trying to undermine our election, you, the chief law enforcement officer, not only undermined your credibility as an independent actor when theres ongoing investigation still, using the presidents own words, having it criticized by Mueller himself. But the challenge we now have is that were going into an area where you seem to not even be willing to be in the least bit critical in your summarizations.

Booker said Barrs position called his credibility into question.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., questions U.S. Attorney General William Barr as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on "the Justice Department's investigation of Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2019. (Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

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Read more from Yahoo News:
Mongers' Provisions. | Photo: Benjie K./Yelp

Looking to get to know the newest businesses to open in Detroit? From a modern European restaurant to a specialty cheese and chocolate shop, read on to see the newest spots to land around town.

Balkan House

Photo: dino m./Yelp

Balkan House is a modern European and Mediterranean spot and creperie located at 3028 Caniff St in Hamtramck. With four stars from five Yelp reviews, so far it is a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

The restaurant features a traditional appetizer menu, with selections like chicken wings and mozzarella sticks but then transitions into its authentic European and Mediterranean menu for entrees, soups, salads and desserts. Start with the Supska (a Bosnian salad) before diving into Turski Sendvic (a Turkish gyro). Of course, remember to leave room for Turkish coffee and a homemade crepe.

Yelper Amir R. raved, "The staff was very welcoming and polite. The food was exceptional. There's not many places you can go and you're guaranteed everything fresh and homemade."

Destination 1905

Photo: Destination 1905/Yelp

Destination 1905 is a bar that recently opened at 8130 Kercheval Ave. in Indian Village. A 4.5-star rating out of four reviews on Yelp indicates that the new spot is garnering positive attention from patrons.

Located on the main floor of a historic home that has been renovated, this bar is open Wednesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight and features cocktails, beer and wine from around the world. The drink menu rotates on a monthly basis, so customers will always be treated to new concoctions. Light appetizers are also served.

Yelper Rebecca R. shared, "It's a small intimate space. There is a little patio with a few picnic tables on the porch. You feel as though you are hanging out in a friend's living room having a drink. I liked it and will be back."

Mongers' Provisions

Photo: benjie k./Yelp

Mongers' Provisions is a meat and cheese shop and chocolatier that recently opened its doors at 4240 Cass Ave., Suite 111 in Midtown. Yelpers give the new spot 4.5 stars from four Yelp reviews, revealing excitement about its selections.

In addition to a variety of cheese and charcuterie boards and specialty chocolate, Mongers' Provisions also features wine and beer, gift baskets and boxes and merchandise. It also offers guided cheese and chocolate tastings for groups of 15 people or under and sponsors in-store events, such as learning to build a cheeseboard. Finally, it will cater weddings and other large events for 25 people or more.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Sharomka/Shutterstock

There was no single incident that made Kim Black of River Ridge, LA, realize that all was not sunshine and warm fuzzies between her son Harrison, then 7, and his second-grade teacher. Rather, it was a constellation of things:

Harrison insisting that "the teacher doesn't like me," that she yelled at him frequently in class, that she was picking on him in particularas well as the dramatic change in her son's disposition. "I'd had this happy-go-lucky child, and now he's coming home crying every day as he gets off the bus," says Black, a mom of four.

So before the end of the first month of school, Black went to speak with Harrison's teacher. "I said, 'My son doesn't feel like you like him,'?" recalls Black. "She was very defensive, saying, 'Of course I like him. I like all the children.'?" Black quickly explained that she wasn't accusing the teacher of doing anything wrong, but that she was simply trying to make her aware that Harrison felt this way, and to understand why. The teacher insisted she had no idea.

"I think that started us off on the wrong foot," says Black, noting that things deteriorated from there and that she had "opened a can of worms." Harrison grew to dislike going to school, and his grades suffered. Ultimately he was moved to a different class, but not without much angst all around.

RELATED: The Smart Way to Talk to Teachers

It's hard to know what to think (or do) when your child comes home clearly upset, or with a specific beef like Harrison's. "You hear things like, the teacher plays favorites, we all get punished if somebody's bad, she's impatient with me, or that he's bored," says Susan Etheredge, associate professor of education and child study at Smith College. Some of the complaints can be about social issuesfor instance, there's a problem with another child and the teacher isn't stepping in, says Etheredge, who adds that the beginning of the year is the peak time for all these concerns.

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Depending on your style and whether or not your child is particularly sensitive, it may be tempting to advise him (in age-appropriate language, of course) to grow a pair. More likely, however, a part of you will want to elbow your way into the classroom like Nancy Grace on steroids and fight for your kid.

Totally understandablealthough more likely to get you branded as the cuckoo mom to be humored than to resolve the problem. Instead, use our step-by-step guide to sorting out your child's trouble with his teacher. You'll find that he may soon be looking forward to schoolor at least showing up and learning something.

Step 1: Play Reporter

Sometimes kids will make generic claims, like "The teacher's mean to me." You want to find out what that means. Etheredge calls this "unpacking" what your child is saying. Try to get as much detail as possible.

Ask, "What exactly did she say? What was happening in the class when she said it?" (You might want to inquire casually, so your child doesn't clam up or exaggerate.) "Mean" might mean "She makes me do my work," in which case you could explain that the teacher is trying to show the kind of behavior you need to have at school; after all, some things are very reasonable under the circumstances, but they may not seem that way to a 6-year-old. The idea is not so much to uncover "the truth" of what went down but to get a more concrete sense of what your child is seeing.

Step 2: Play Advocate

Tell your child that you're going to write down what she's saying so you can go have a conversation with the teacher. (Give her a chance to elaborate on her storyit's hard for kids to remember every detail.)

"Let the child understand that you, her teacher, and the principal are partners working to help make school a great experience for her," says Jan Harp Domene, a mother of three in Anaheim, CA, and president of the National Parent Teacher Association. This serves several purposes: Your child knows that you care about what's happening, that her concerns are going to be heard, but also that you're not just going to march in and "fix" a problem. Domene advises saying something like "Mom and Dad are going to talk to the teacher to find out why you feel this way"not "why the teacher did this."

"It's your child's feelings you're dealing with. Until you talk to the teacher, you don't have the whole picture," says Domene. You might also be able to give your older kid some tools to handle the situation herself. Suggest options, such as approaching the teacher after class and pointing out, for instance, that she doesn't think she gets called on very often. Sometimes the teacher may not be aware of how your child feels.

Step 3: Play the Diplomat

If you decide you need to speak with the teacher, set up a time (not at dropoff or pickup), and go in as someone seeking help in solving a problem. Using inclusive language is important, says Etheredge. Say something like "I'm coming to you with a problem I don't completely understand, but I'm hoping together we can best figure out Mark's concern." Here's where you explain what your child told you and when, using his words as often as possible.

"This de-escalates the situation," says Etheredge. You're not saying "Mark says you do this." Instead, you're saying "I need help understanding what's bugging Mark." Whatever you do, assume innocence all around. Your child may well have done something to annoy the teacher, who may have reacted with, well, annoyance.

"I have seen some parents absolutely assume that their child would never do anything wrong, and when you do that, the chances really dwindle for a successful school year," says Domene. "We need to realize that kids are kids and we love them, but they also can say stuff that may not be entirely true."

Despite your light touch, the teacher might feel criticizedsome people are sensitive, particularly beleaguered, tired and underpaid educators who do occasionally deal with parents who are a little overzealous on behalf of their perfect little angels. Do your best to reassure her that you're not blaming her.

"You don't want her to get defensive, because then you're in a hole and you're starting from behind," says Etheredge. If she rears up, just stay calm and keep repeating that you're simply trying to understand what's going on.

RELATED: Helping a Child With ADHD Succeed in School

Ideally, the teacher will shed light on why your child feels as he does, and you can have a mutually informative conversation that will help her teach your child most effectively. If your child says the teacher "never" calls on him, when you talk to her she might tell you that your son often knows the answers, but she's trying to give the shier kids a chance.

Or the teacher may not have done anything at all. Maybe the teacher is a grump, and your child is taking it personally. Getting a firsthand taste of how the teacher communicates may illuminate the situation. Then you can talk to your child about how some people are not as smiley or are maybe less patient than the other adults in his life, but that doesn't mean they don't like him, says Domene.

A pleasant face-to-face helps in other ways: The teacher will see you as an ally and be more likely to confide in you, of course. But if the teacher is, let's say, better suited to another line of work, you're sending her a signal that you're paying attention and are involved. If the teacher is, in fact, singling out your child, a little I'm-onto-you might be enough to get her to lay off.

Because the truth is, while teaching is the most noble profession, not all teachers are as noble as one would hope. Juliet Goldberg*, a mom of two girls in Vancouver, British Columbia, felt that way about her daughter Sara's first-grade teacher a few years ago.

"The parents just could not believe this woman was teaching our kids," she recalls. "I kept saying to Sara, this is not what school is supposed to be about.'?" The teacher made callous comments, teased kids about sensitive issues, and told stories about her personal life in class, says Goldberg, adding, "Sara hated going to school."

Goldberg spoke with the teacher several times (something the experts advise) and volunteered in class two days a week so she could get a better sense of what was going on. When that didn't help, she decided to take the next step. Which is...

Step 4: Play Tattletale

No one wants to go to the principal's office, and that includes parents, but if you've raised your concerns with the teacher several times and you feel she isn't doing her best to resolve the problem, you have a choice to make: You can decide to turn the unpleasant situation into a "sometimes life sucks, kiddo" learning opportunity for your child, or you can go over the teacher's head. The first tactic, while perhaps not as just as the second, might ultimately be what's best for your kid. "The truth is, most kids will do fine" even if they don't like their teacher, says Etheredge. Ask yourself, is she learning what she needs to be?

This is what happened to Christine Klepacz of Bethesda, MD. Her tween daughter's teacher was strict and not very nurturing. To help get Alysia through the year, Klepacz told her that even though the teacher had a different personality than she was used to, she was academically challenging, and Alysia was meeting the challenge. It was a good lesson: Alysia learned she could work with all types of people.

But if, like Goldberg, you feel that what's going on in the classroom is turning your child off to school, by all means, speak to the principal or whoever is next on the school food chain. Tell the principal the steps you've already taken, and "keep bringing it back to the child's perceptions," says Etheredge. "Your attitude is still, we all want her to have the best year possible."

Explain how you've tried waiting and discussing it with the teacher, but what's going on is interfering with your child's education. Depending on the principal's style, she either will arrange for you to have another conversation with the teacher or will speak with him herself. In Goldberg's case, the principal admitted to her privately that the teacher was a poor choice and promised the parents in that class that the following year their kids would get an excellent teacher, which they did.

When things reach this point, of course, you may not exactly be the teacher's pet parent, which may cause problems for your child. But if it's something important, as in Goldberg's case, advocating for your child is more crucial than being labeled the annoying mom.

Step 5: Play Hardball

If you suspect the teacher is taking her frustrations out on your child, especially after you speak to the principal, that's the time to make it clear to the principal, firmly and calmly, that you're not going away. As a last resort, request a change of classroom. Schools are very reluctant to do that, says Etheredge, but may if a child is truly suffering and the situation is unlikely to change.

After much persistence, Harrison was ultimately moved out of his second-grade class and was much happier (and got better grades) with his new teacher. Still, Black saw a similar pattern developing with her second son, and moved both boys to a new school.

"If you do nothing but defend your child and don't investigate the issues, you are not helping matters," she says. "But if a problem is repeated year after year and you've done what you need to do with your child, you know it's the school." At this point, both her sons are thriving at their new schooland that makes all the difference in the world.
(Photo: 5B)

The individuals who supported the patients dying of AIDS in the early days of the disease  before scientists even understood what it was  didnt provide comfort and care for the glory. But in the new film 5B, theyre being recognized for their heroic efforts.

The documentary, which was acquired and will be released by Verizon Media (Yahoos parent company), sheds a light through first-person interviews on the nurses, staff, volunteers and caregivers who built Ward 5B at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) in 1983.

According to the University of San Francisco, AIDS (then still an unknown illness, it wasnt formally named until later) was discovered in 1981 in New York and California. Within two years, 1,000 people had died, prompting San Francisco, where a large cluster of the cases were cropping up, to open the United Statess first in-patient AIDS clinic at SFGH. The special unit was the first of its kind and, to this day, remains a national model of care, shaping how AIDS patients were treated during a time of uncertainty.

The result is an uplifting yet candid and bittersweet monument to a pivotal moment in American history and a celebration of quiet heroes worthy of renewed recognition, the press release states of the movie.

The film, presented by RYOT (also part of Verizon Media), will hit theaters in June.
4300 Congress Ave. | Photos: Zumper

Curious just how far your dollar goes in Oak Lawn?

According to Walk Score, this Dallas neighborhood is quite walkable, is relatively bikeable and offers many nearby public transportation options. Data from rental site Zumper shows that the median rent for a one bedroom in Oak Lawn is currently hovering around $1,265.

So, what might you expect to find with a budget of $900 / month? Read on for a roundup of the latest rental listings, via Zumper. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

2805 Reagan St., #104

First, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment over at 2805 Reagan St., #104. It's listed for $895/month for its 600 square feet of space.

The building has on-site laundry and outdoor space. In the apartment, there is hardwood flooring, a dishwasher and a walk-in closet. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are welcome. Be prepared for a $500 deposit.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

3443 Mahanna St.

Next, check out this 500-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom that's located at 3443 Mahanna St. It's listed for $875/month.

In the unit, you'll have a dishwasher, in-unit laundry, a walk-in closet and a balcony. Good news for animal lovers: both dogs and cats are welcome here.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

4300 Congress Ave., #103

Located at 4300 Congress Ave., #103, here's a 425-square-foot studio apartment that's listed for $865/month.

In the unit, you can anticipate hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, a dishwasher, ceiling fans and a walk-in closet. For those with furry friends in tow, know that cats and dogs are permitted on this property. The listing specifies a $500 deposit.

(See the complete listing here.)

3911 Prescott Ave., #7

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Listed at $850/month, this 700-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment is located at 3911 Prescott Ave., #7.

The building offers on-site laundry, outdoor space and extra storage space. The unit features a master bedroom with two closets, extra storage space and kitchen appliances. Neither cats nor dogs are welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has canceled a planned trip to Europe on Wednesday to help him better coordinate with the Trump administration on Venezuela as well as on deployments to the U.S. border with Mexico, the Pentagon said.

The announcement came as the White House National Security Council scheduled a meeting for Wednesday afternoon to discuss next steps on the political turmoil in Venezuela. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu)
Joe Biden speaks at a campaign rally at Teamsters Local 249 Union Hall on April 29 in Pittsburgh. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Joe Bidens presidential campaign is less than a week old, but the former vice-president is already positioning himself as the candidate of blue-collar America, with some success. In a move they first signaled weeks ago, the International Association of Firefighters have already endorsed Biden. The candidate packed a Pittsburgh Teamsters hall at his official campaign kickoff on Monday. There, he described himself as a union man, and said that the dignity of work is my measure. He returned to that refrain again in remarks to Iowa voters on Tuesday. As he delivered a pitch for his health-care proposal  which consists, right now, of the option to buy into Medicare  Biden spoke again of the dignity of work:

Biden: "We can do all that we need to do to make this country grow and restore the dignity of work, all the things we have to do, if we just eliminate unnecessary loopholes. We dont have to raise any new taxes." #iacaucus  Stephen Gruber-Miller (@sgrubermiller) April 30, 2019

Bidens use of the term immediately earned comparisons to Ohio senator Sherrod Brown, who recently concluded his Dignity of Work tour with the announcement that he would not run for president. But while Brown may have popularized the phrase in recent weeks, he didnt coin it. Conservatives and liberals alike refer often to the dignity of work; for both groups, the phrase can function alternatively as a justification for cutting welfare in the name of personal responsibility, or as a stand-in for workers rights. Biden himself has used the phrase in older speeches, a tendency that may reflect his Catholic faith; Catholic social teaching holds that there is dignity in all work. My parents taught us to live our faith and to treasure our families. We learned the dignity of work, and we were told that anyone can make it if they just try hard enough. That was Americas promise, Biden told crowds at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Barack Obama, he added, understood that work is more than a paycheck. Its dignity. Its respect. Its about whether or not you can look your children in the eye and say: Were going to be all right.

Ten years after he delivered that speech to rapt Democratic delegates, Biden seemingly believes that its message will still resonate with voters. And he may be right. Unemployment is low, but in other respects, the average American worker lives in challenging times. Though the labor market is tightening, wage growth is slow, and it isnt evenly distributed to all workers. The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, reported in February that wage growth has largely been concentrated in the top ten percent of high-wage workers since 2007. Overall, wage growth hasnt kept pace with rising rents or with medical expenses; a 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that employers are gradually shifting more medical costs to workers, as insurance premiums continue to rise.

But Americas persistent economic inequities also put Biden in a difficult position. Key moments in his long record of public service undermine his professed commitment to the American worker and raise questions about how exactly he defines the dignity of work  whether he believes dignity rests in work itself, or whether it flows instead from the human beings who perform that work.

The national wealth gap did not spring to life the moment Donald Trump took the oath of office. Though Obama is hardly responsible for the recession of 2008, and wealth inequality had already begun to worsen by the time he and Biden entered the White House, Reuters reported in 2015 that during the Obama presidency, the economy had added jobs at the top and bottom of the wage scale, but not the middle. Income gains made over the course of the nations recovery from the recession werent evenly distributed, either. Reuters, citing the Federal Reserves Survey of Consumer Finances, found that the average net worth of families in the top 40 percent of income earners grew from 2010 to 2013; for everyone else, incomes declined. The Affordable Care Act is a notable bright spot, as it extended necessary affordable health-care coverage to millions of Americans without it, but the home foreclosure crisis is a stain on Obamas inequality record. Obama the candidate ran on allowing bankruptcy judges to cut balances on primary mortgages; Obamas administration actively whipped against the policy, David Dayen ably argued in a 2016 piece for the Atlantic. Obamas transition team earmarked up to $100 billion in funds appropriated through Bushs bank bailout to mitigate foreclosures; eight years later only around $21 billion has been spent. Obama the president promised 4 million mortgage modifications; to date less than a million have been successfully achieved.

As Obamas vice-president, Biden cant exactly argue against his complicity in the administrations foreclosure failures. His record in the U.S. Senate implicates him even more directly in Americas inequality crisis. Senator Elizabeth Warren had good reason to accuse Biden of being on the side of the credit-card companies at a recent Iowa rally. As Business Insider reported in April, Warren referred to a 2005 fight over the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Consumer Protection Act. Biden championed it, but Warren testified against it in her capacity as a Harvard Law School professor, arguing that it would make it more difficult for individuals to file for personal bankruptcy without penalizing credit-card companies for predatory lending practices. Biden enthusiastically supported Bill Clintons welfare-reform bill, which tied benefits to work, and which has, according to some research, exacerbated levels of deep poverty in the U.S.

Even some of Bidens noneconomic policies, like his stance on crime, have had a negative impact on inequality. He spent decades championing the war on drugs, and wrote 1994s Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act, which increased the number of death-penalty offenses and contributed to an increase in mass incarceration while doing little to reduce violent crime. People born into poverty are more likely to spend time in prison, and incarceration itself has been linked to poverty; the tough-on-crime policies that Biden supported helped put millions of mostly brown and black Americans in a trap from which there are few means of escape.

Bidens notion of bankruptcy reform didnt assault the dignity of work. Neither did welfare reform, nor did the crime bill. Instead, these laws assaulted human beings in need. Bidens own record reveals his catchphrase to be not just a cliche, but a cliche that links human dignity to a rigid definition of human productivity. As campaign rhetoric, it invokes arguments for welfare reform, which frame government assistance like its a toxin that sickens everyone who encounters it. For policy to meaningfully improve the lives of Americans suffering under the nations inequalities, it must reframe dignity as a human quality with no relationship to a persons work or to their lack of it. There is no dignity to labor that human beings themselves do not bestow on it. But at certain significant moments in his career, Biden championed policies and systems that ignore, and diminish, that basic human dignity. Most incarcerated people, for example, work for less than a dollar an hour, Vox reported in 2018. Nobody loses their dignity when prison bars close in behind them, they simply enter a system where authorities pretend that dignity doesnt exist.

Americans dont need further grandstanding about the purported dignity of work. They need policy reforms that reflect the innate dignity of human life, and Joe Biden isnt the candidate to deliver them.
Johannesburg (AFP) - Six psychiatric patients are tied to their beds in two tiny, dimly lit cubicles in the emergency ward of South Africa's biggest hospital, where the country's dire healthcare crisis is starkly evident.

Some of the group are restrained using just medical bandages, while one screaming female patient is tied to a bed that is itself haphazardly secured to a pillar.

The scenes at the vast Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, in the township of Soweto outside Johannesburg, provoke little visible reaction from hurried staff or from other patients.

Staff say the hospital always has serious mental health cases in its casualty unit waiting for a bed.

According to a doctor who wished to remain anonymous, some are left for three days with little food and water -- one sign of chronic lack of resources in South Africa's healthcare system, which has been a political battlefield ahead of the May 8 general election.

"We can't move psychiatric patients on fast enough because it takes a long time for them to get better and the wards are full," said the doctor. "They are the forgotten people."

Voting this year will mark 25 years since the end of apartheid rule, but hopes have been dashed that the new era would produce a modern, accessible public health service.

- Grim tragedy -

The grim cost of the failing system was highlighted in a recent scandal when 144 mental health patients died in 2015 and 2016 in a botched government plan to relocate them from a private hospital to poorly-prepared local facilities as a cost-cutting measure.

Many of the deaths occurred due to mistreatment, pneumonia, dehydration and diarrhoea.

Last year Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, of the ruling ANC party, broke down as he apologised for what he described as "one of the most painful and horrible events in the history of post-apartheid South Africa".

When it came to power in 1994 at the end of white-minority rule, the African National Congress party vowed to introduce "affordable health care, to ensure that all South Africans are guaranteed basic treatment."

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The ruling party's solution now is for a National Health Insurance (NHI) system, similar to that in many European countries.

Health spending in South Africa accounts for 8.8 percent of GDP. However less than half of that is spent within the public sector and 4.6 percent of GDP is spent within the private sector.

In 2017, that imbalance was reflected by only 10 percent of the black majority having health insurance, compared to 71.7 percent of the white minority.

But the ANC proposal is "entirely unfeasible and places the stability of the national fiscus at risk," according to the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party.

DA policy is to work with private healthcare insurance companies to extend low-cost coverage to more than 50 percent of citizens.

Speaking outside Baragwanath, DA provincial shadow health minister Jack Bloom said the flagship hospital was at breaking point.

"I know that people here can wait as long as three years to have a hip operation, and the medical negligence claims in the maternity section are sky high," he said.

Over 60 vacancies for doctors and 300 for nurses have been left unfilled at the hospital -- which has a total staff strength of around 6,000 -- due to budget cuts.

- Budget 'falling behind' -

"They promised us they were going to build five hospitals in Soweto to take the pressure off and all they have done is built one," said another hospital doctor who did not wish to be named.

The vast and crumbling Baragwanath hospital has approximately 3,200 beds for some 1.5 million surrounding residents while also serving as a teaching hospital and a referral hospital from across South Africa and even across Africa.

Deputy director-general for health in South Africa Yogan Pillay told AFP it was clear the government budget "is falling behind the need".

"Budgets are allocated to a facility on the basis of the people in that catchment area but if we have an influx -- including internal migration -- then people run short of supplies," he said.

"We have to increase the efficiency in both the public and the private sector."

South Africa has made strides in its treatment of AIDS and tuberculosis, but the election seems to offer little immediate hope of improvements to healthcare.

The system is crippled by "poor leadership and governance at all levels," said senior lecturer and public health specialist doctor Kerrin Begg.

"It will need to be strengthened substantially, especially in terms of physical infrastructure and human resources."
Attorney General William Barr said during his Wednesday congressional testimony that he is reviewing the question of whether the infamous Steele dossier was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

Barr was asked about the origins of the opposition-research file compiled on then-candidate Donald Trump by former British spy Christopher Steele during his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Can we state with confidence that the Steele dossier was not part of the Russian disinformation campaign? asked Senator John Cornyn (R., Texas).

No, I cant state that with confidence and that is one of the areas that Im reviewing. Im concerned about it, and I dont think its entirely speculative, Barr replied.

The Steele dossier, which was initially commissioned by the Clinton campaign, alleged in part that then-candidate Trump had been compromised by Russian intelligence agents who obtained a recording of him engaged in lewd acts with prostitutes. Muellers investigation, which failed to establish any coordination between Trump campaign associates and Russia, disproved many of the claims in the dossier, including the allegation that Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to meet with Kremlin agents who were orchestrating payments to hackers.

The FBI agents investigating the Trump campaigns connections to Russia relied on information contained in the dossier in determining the trajectory of their probe. The agents reliance on the dossier was made clear in their use of the unverified opposition research to obtain a FISA warrant to surveil Trump campaign national-security adviser Carter Page, as well as their lengthy description of the dossier in a 2017 draft counterintelligence report.

Steele, who worked in Russia and Eastern Europe during his time as a British intelligence officer, relied on Russian sources, who, he admitted in court, may have fed him disinformation.

More from National Review
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. APD has been awarded the on-site oxygen and nitrogen supply for POSCO Chemical's new cathode material manufacturing site in Gwangyang, South Korea.



POSCO Chemical is an affiliate of POSCO Group, the biggest integrated steel producer in Korea. Air Products will construct, own and operate two air separation units to support POSCO Chemical's new production line. These units are slated to come online next year.



Air Products has been supplying pipeline oxygen to POSCO Chemical's existing site in Gumi, South Korea for making cathode materials for secondary batteries. Cathode materials are a key component of secondary batteries and are generally used in devices including mobile phones, consumer devices, energy storage systems and electric vehicles. POSCO Group has been expanding its business into the growing secondary battery market.



According to Air Products, demand for secondary batteries is rising sharply in Korea, partly driven by the rapid growth of electric vehicles and energy storage systems due to environmental trends. The company will continue to look for opportunities to provide reliable and efficient gas solutions to this rapidly growing industry.



Air Products, which is among the prominent players in the chemicals space along with DowDuPont Inc. DWDP, Eastman Chemical Company EMN and LyondellBasell Industries N.V. LYB, topped earnings expectations in second-quarter fiscal 2019. Its adjusted earnings rose 12% year over year to $1.92 per share in the quarter, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.88.



The company logged fiscal second-quarter revenues of $2,187.7 million, up around 2% year over year on the back of higher volumes and pricing. However, revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,199.4 million.



Air Products raised its adjusted earnings per share guidance for fiscal 2019 to the range of $8.15-$8.30 from the previous expectation of $8.05-$8.30. This suggests 10% rise year over year at the midpoint.



The company expects adjusted earnings for third-quarter fiscal 2019 in the band of $2.10-$2.15 per share, which indicates 8-10% rise year over year. Also, it increased capital expenditure expectations for fiscal 2019 to the range of $2.4-$2.5 billion, from the previous range of $2.3-$2.5 billion.



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Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. ARE reported first-quarter 2019 funds from operations (FFO), as adjusted of $1.71 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.68. The figure also improved from the year-ago quarters reported tally of $1.68.

Further, quarterly revenues of $358.8 million outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $348.1 million. Revenues jumped 12.1% year over year.

Results reflect decent internal and external growth. Particularly, the company witnessed impressive rental rate growth of 24.3% on a cash basis in the first quarter. This indicates the highest quarterly cash rental rate growth over the past 10 years.

Behind the Headline Numbers

Alexandrias total leasing activity aggregated to 1,248,972 rentable square feet (RSF) of space during the March-end quarter.

On a year-over-year basis, same-property NOI grew 2.3%. It climbed 10.2% on a cash basis. Occupancy of operating properties in North America remained high at 97.2%.

As of first-quarter 2019, investment-grade or large-cap tenants accounted for 50% of annual rental revenues in effect. Furthermore, 77% of the annual rental revenues are from Class A properties in AAA locations.

Notably, during the January-March quarter, the company acquired 10 properties, for $383 million, in key submarkets.

Liquidity

Alexandria exited first-quarter 2019 with cash and cash equivalents of $261.4 million, up from $234.2 million reported at the end of the previous quarter. The company had $2.7 billion of liquidity as of the end of the reported quarter.

Outlook

Alexandria revised its guidance for adjusted FFO per share for 2019 to $6.90-$7 from the prior outlook of $6.85-$7.05. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same is currently pinned at $6.96 and lies within the range.

The companys 2019 guidance is backed by expectations for occupancy in North America (as of Dec 31, 2019) in the band of 97.7- 98.3%, rental rate increases for lease renewals, and re-leasing of space of 26-29%, and same-property NOI growth of 1-3%.

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Our Viewpoint

Alexandrias Q1 FFO per share and revenue beat is encouraging.

Further, in February 2019, the company received a credit rating upgrade from S&P Global Ratings to BBB+/Stable from BBB/Positive. Moreover, the company hiked dividends for first-quarter 2019.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise





Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Quote

Alexandria currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other REITs

Cousins Properties Incorporated CUZ reported FFO per share of 20 cents in the January-March quarter, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The figure came in higher than the prior-year reported tally of 15 cents.

Duke Realty Corporations DRE first-quarter 2019 core FFO per share of 33 cents surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 32 cents. Moreover, the figure came in ahead of the year-ago quarters reported tally of 30 cents.

Ventas, Inc. VTR delivered first-quarter normalized FFO of 99 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 96 cents. The reported figure, however, came in lower than the prior years $1.05.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO)  a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE: ARE)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

April 30, 2019, 3:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to the Alexandria Real Estate Equities First Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) Please also note today's event is being recorded.

At this time I'd like to turn the conference call over to Paula Schwartz with Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Paula Schwartz -- Investor Relations

Thank you and good afternoon everyone. This conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities Laws. The company's actual results might differentially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in the company's periodic reports filed with the SEC.

And now I would like to turn the call over to Joel Marcus, Executive Chairman and Founder. Please go ahead Joel.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Thank you, Paula and welcome everybody to the first quarter 2019 earnings call. With me today are Steve Richardson, Peter Moglia, and Dean Shigenaga. First quarter of 2019 was probably as close to a picture-perfect quarter as Alexandria has had in quite a long time, although we had many great quarters.

But in addition to stellar earnings results, we had stellar leasing results which will be talked about in stellar's same-store results. And I want to thank the entire team and make sure we're focused on continuing our relentless passion to further our human health mission each and every day with operational excellence in an ego-less and high-integrity environment really important.

At the grand opening of one of our latest developments the home -- West Coast home of research for Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Jennifer Ferguson the mother of two children with cystic fibrosis noted about Alexandria's unique world-class design of this building and said, this building is going to be more than steel and concrete. It is a life-saving cure for my kids. It is amazing to think about what is going on or what is going happen in this building. And that's how we feel about everything that we do day to day and how we take our charge and our mission very seriously.

Story continues

The first quarter was also the 25th anniversary since the start of the company when we did a Series A round closing I think on January 5th, 1994 of $19 million with family and friends. We have grown methodically and steadily and try to learn every day and every week and every month and every year along the way to become an investment grade S&P 500 company with a total market cap as of the end of the first quarter approaching $22 billion.

We've got one of the strongest client tenant bases in the entire REIT industry with a whopping 50% of annual rental revenue from investment grade or large cap publicly traded companies. Our weighted average remaining lease term is approximately eight and a half years. High quality tenants with long lease duration and strong annual steps is certainly good.

I also want to make a couple of comments about -- and we've -- I think in the press release we've highlighted this the opioid epidemic and the issue of overdosing. The health and fitness -- this is the health and safety crisis of our lifetime. We've teamed up 50-50 with Verily, the life science subsidiary of Alphabet and I'll talk about this in a moment. But 115 deaths per day in the United States more than have died each year or more die each year than did in the entire Vietnam War. And I think it's pretty clear that we could not as a mission-driven company focus on human health stand idly by and not here critically need a call to action.

With a heartfelt undertaking, we've pioneered a comprehensive care model with Verily in a safe campus environment which has rehabs, sober living, family reunification, and community transition. The goal is to help people recover from addiction and live healthier lives while revitalizing the community.

We hope the scale of the components of this model will drive superior outcomes and be a model for the rest of the country. And the restoration of the health and well-being of the community is good business for sure.

We chose Dayton Ohio which has the highest per capita overdose death rate of any U.S. city. Many of you may know and many of you may not know more patents per capita in the first half of the 20th century were developed in Dayton, home of the Wright Brothers among 35 leading industrial cities in America, and was the site for many new companies forming in the first half of the 20th century were developed in Dayton, home of the Wright Brothers among 35 leading industrial cities in America and was the site for many new companies forming in the first half of the 20th century. It turned out to be a very prosperous transportation hub between or among Indianapolis, Columbus and Cincinnati.

From the late 50s to present, Dayton lost their manufacturing, they closed, GM closed. NCR closed, the number of Fortune 500 companies were reduced down to two and the population declined about half. So we've tried to -- our purpose is to -- there is to create a tech-enabled recovery ecosystem focused on helping people recover from the opioid addiction and live healthier lives while revitalizing the community and the team is developing a tech-enabled system of care that will offer treatment center, rehabilitation, housing, wrapped around services all in a state-of-the-art campus.

I want to move on to the life science industry for a moment and talk about our five drivers of demand that we track for life science industry all continuing strongly positive. NIH funding at an all-time high. FDA regulatory continuing positive. The new interim commissioner Ned Sharpless, who comes from the National Cancer Institute and who has a strong background in cancer research should maintain the pro-innovation environment.

Charitable philanthropy is continuing to reach all-time highs. Venture capital flows very strong at over -- approximately $6 billion in the first quarter and 70% of that has been to ARE clusters and biopharma R&D investment has been strong in their pipelines. I want to mention one of the topics of the day which is the Medicare for All fallacy.

Interestingly enough if you look at Bernie Sanders, home state of Vermont, they actually attempted a single-payer system and failed miserably because it would have taken an additional 10% increase for all state income tax in Vermont plus an additional 12% tax on all payroll for businesses and turned out to be totally unacceptable. So today, we've got about one-third covered by Medicare, two-thirds covered by private insurance and there is about 8% to 10% uninsured group that we're struggling to figure out how to bring them into the system. And it makes no sense to throw away the baby and not the bathwater so to speak.

So we can't have a government solution that excludes all other insurances and Medicare may not even be the right agency. And in fact conversations with the people at CMS they think it's an impossible task. And the veterans administration that's another very challenging government-run healthcare effort. What is really needed is expanded affordability, expanded access and portability. Even today, the challenge of having portable electronic medical records is a myth. It just doesn't exist in many cases.

Medical costs are actually much higher than pharmacy costs and these will be increasingly exposed. And often times pharmacy costs are embedded in hospital cost and recently there's been a whole rash of disclosures about drugs being marked up 10x by hospitals and then embedded in overall bills to cover big losses in emergency rooms. So little bit of a view of what's going on out there.

When we talk about future growth of Alexandria, it's fair to say, that Alexandria does not see the slowing of its own earnings growth. We've given a five-year framework to double the rental revenues from 2018 through 2022. And you can see from the 2019 pipeline, we have a strong highly leased very robust pipeline. In the coming months, we'll unveil details about 2020 and talk about starts and leasing velocity. And the team has included on Pages 41 and 42 some of the pipeline opportunities for 2021 -- 2021 and 2022.

So with that as kind of a background and intro let me turn it over to Steve for some details on the quarter.

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Joel. Good afternoon, everybody. I'd like to focus on Alexandria outperforming in all of its key clusters. The company is driven by its most important asset our best-in-class team used with our unique business model has and will continue to outperform in each of our key clusters. The life science industry we serve as Joel just highlighted and noted in our recently released annual report is undergoing a knowledge explosion.

And Alexandria is pioneering and now dominant position creating highly desirable world-class campuses and ecosystems in urban settings adjacent to the countries most productive life science research universities and institutions is providing excellent financial results.

I'll go ahead and run through the market and really highlight the outperformance with again significant contributions from each of the markets. In Cambridge, our franchise-leading campuses totaling 5 million square feet now are uniquely positioned to continue capturing growth in the immediate term.

Rents have grown to the upper 80s, with one in fact eclipsing $90 triple net. And market's 0.2 vacancy rate and three-point million square feet of demand, an increase over the 2.8 million square feet of demand last quarter provides ample opportunity for Alexandria to continue its strong renewal and releasing rent growth over the next several quarters, without having to wait several years or more to capitalize on this strong market.

The San Francisco region has an availability rate of 1.9%, down from 3% last quarter with demand up from 2.5 million square feet to 2.9 million square feet. The 480,000 square foot lease with Pinterest at 88 Bluxome highlights another superb example of the trusted partnerships we've created with our tenants, as we will embark together on the efforts to secure our Prop M allocation and create a world-class destination, a truly remarkable achievement and kudos to the entire San Francisco team.

In addition, two separate renewals totaling 83,000 square feet with rental rate increases ranging from 37% to 58% paired with modest tenant improvements contributed significantly to this quarter's record cash increase.

Moving down to San Diego, have a very healthy market with just 5% to 6% direct vacancy in the core UTC and Torrey Pines clusters and demand now of 1.6 million square feet has increased over the 900,000 square feet from last quarter. Another important renewal rate that was 20% higher for 54,000 square feet in this market also supported the cash increases.

Seattle's vacancy rate remains very low with 2.5% and demand ticked up to 611,000 square feet versus the 400,000 square feet from last quarter. And Peter will touch on the excellent leasing activity at our waterfront facility 188 East Blaine which positions the company well for future growth in this critical cluster.

And finally, Alexandria's unique product offerings are increasing in RTP as demand has grown from 277,000 square feet to 392,000 square feet. Maryland as well continues to be in a contributor with a 35,000 square foot suite released at 35% increase against the backdrop of a market vacancy of just 4.4% and demand now nearly 300,000 square feet.

So, in conclusion, as we look at these markets, our strong competitive advantage derived from our broad-based value proposition to the life science industry is clear from the financial results posted in each of our markets.

The future for our operating and near-term development pipeline is very robust and we are energetically reaching well into our intermediate pipeline with significant leasing activity, as evidenced by the large lease with Pinterest.

On this positive note, I'll hand it off to Peter.

Peter Moglia -- Chief Financial Officer & Chief Investment Officer

Thank you, Steve. I'm going to spend the next few minutes updating you on our near-term pipeline, recent lab office comps and provide an update on construction costs.

As we noted on page two of the supplemental, we've delivered 1 million square feet over the past two quarters, including 481,000 square feet in the first quarter. After a delay noted on our last call due to work performed by the city of Cambridge that interfered with our glazing installation and delay caused by the power company who were months late in hooking up permanent power, we delivered 123,403 square feet at the 399 Binney Street building in January, only one month over our pro forma delivery date.

More good news is that we've increased our stabilized cash yield to a 7.2% yield which is a solid increase of 50 basis points over our original pro forma of 6.7%. At today's cap rates for lab office in Cambridge, we believe we've developed to a value accretion margin in the range of 60% plus when comparing our current stabilized yield with current market cap rates.

Anchored by Alphabet's Life Science subsidiary Verily, we delivered 139,810 square feet or 66% of the 279 East Grand building in South San Francisco in the first quarter at a very healthy 8.1% yield. Green Street's current NAV model applies a 5.3% nominal cap rate to South San Francisco assets. So the 280 basis point spread over that benchmark makes 279 a significant new contributor to NAV.

188 East Blaine, our new flagship building on Lake Union in Seattle, delivered 90,615 square feet or 46% of the building at a 6.7% initial stabilized cash yield. Steady leasing progress continued as we move from 49% leased at the end of 2018 to 67% leased at the end of the first quarter. And the limited supply in the market has enabled us to push rents above $60 net for the first time in our history there.

As of the end of the first quarter, we've delivered 56,137 square feet or approximately half of Phase 1 of Alexandria Center for AgTech, also known as 5 Laboratory Drive in RTP. This project has been very well received by the market and has reached 97% lease within 15 months of the commencement of construction.

It is the latest of eight properties containing over 0.5 million square feet within our asset base that serves AgTech research and development and it will expand our leadership in the sector by providing a multi-tenant, multifunctional, amenitized research and development project that will serve as the center of gravity for the industry in RTP.

We delivered 66,000 square feet of the 142,400 square foot 681 Gateway building this past quarter and remain on target to meet our outsized yield of 8.5% for this redevelopment of office space allowed at our South San Francisco Gateway campus.

In Palo Alto we delivered 48,547 square feet at Alexandria Park completing the first phase of redevelopment there at a 6.2% yield, which was slightly higher than what was originally projected. Credit tenant Workday leased all of that space.

Rounding out the first quarter deliveries was 10,250 square feet at our multi-tenant 80,000 square-foot building at 704 Quince Orchard in Gaithersburg, Maryland where we are successfully targeting a growing cadre of early stage company there.

As we typically do, I'll discuss a couple of lab office sales comps that occurred this quarter. Both are in Cambridge and were reported to have had significant interest from several institutional investors, which correlates well with the enthusiasm we're hearing from brokers and investors about the demand for life science and real estate investments.

I'll also note a sale in Mission Bay of a pure office building that illustrates investor enthusiasm for that market. 610 Main Street North, 610 Main Street South and 710 Main Street were sold by MIT in April. The purchase price was $1.1 billion or $1,625 per square foot, representing a 4.3% cap rate for the approximately 677,000 square-foot campus, which includes a 650-car parking garage. The properties are subject to a ground lease and are anchored by Pfizer and Novartis.

1030 Massachusetts Avenue was sold by Bain Capital representing Harvard's endowment for $128 million, or $1,640 per square foot and a 4.7% reported cap rate. The 78,049 square-foot property is in mid-Cambridge between Harvard and Central Square and it's fully leased to a mix of life science tenants including Astellas and private biotech Obsidian Therapeutics.

I'll wrap up this commentary with a notation that 550 Terry Francois a 289,408 square foot office building leased to the Gap in Mission Bay was sold by Hines in December for $342.5 million or $1,183 per square foot, representing a 4.1% cap rate. The property is adjacent to our 1455-1515 Third Street and 455 Mission Bay Boulevard south properties in Mission Bay.

So a quick update on construction cost. They've remained stable in our markets, except for Seattle where our GCs are projecting 2019 and 2020 to escalate 0.5% higher than our previous projections and we've adjusted our pro formas accordingly. This is being driven by demand for skilled labor.

For our consultant in New York City, escalations may be growing -- or may be slowing there, but we're keeping them at our current levels of 4.5% to 5% until we see further evidence in our pricing. As for the impact of tariffs, we've accounted for them in current project budgets that are under GMP and are included in our escalation assumptions for those that are not. In addition to monitoring escalations, we're also assessing and including the impacts of increased project costs due to anticipated energy efficiency and resiliency programs both our internal goal and those that will be required from various regulatory agencies.

I'll go ahead now, and pass it on to Dean.

Dean A. Shigenaga -- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

Thanks, Peter. Dean Shigenaga here. Good afternoon, everyone. I'll briefly cover four key topics today, including our first quarter results and our strong start to 2019; second, lease accounting matters; third, our venture investment portfolio; and fourth, and last our updated guidance for 2019.

Our financial and operating results across the board were truly outstanding for the first quarter and highlights that our team is off to a strong start for the year. The first quarter highlights included continued strong leasing velocity and rental rate growth. 680,000 rentable square feet of development and redevelopment leasing that was executed.

Well, side almost 510,000 rentable square feet of lease renewals and releasing the space at significant rental rate increases of 32.9% and 24.3% on a cash basis and approximately 50% of this leasing volume related to contractual explorations beyond 2019. So rate of renewals continue to drive leasing velocity.

Our unique and differentiated business strategy focuses on high-quality cash flows from our collaborative life sciences and technology campuses in key urban innovation clusters. Class A properties in AAA locations generated 77% of our annual rental revenue. Additionally we have an industry-leading high-quality tenant roster with 50% of our annual rental revenue from investment-grade rated or publicly traded large-cap entities.

We reported solid growth and same property net of operating income of 2.3% and 10.2% on a cash basis for the first quarter. The strength and consistency of our same-property NOI growth was driven by among other items continued positive real estate in life science industry fundamentals, high velocity of leasing, and solid rental rate growth and our favorable lease structure.

Our adjusted EBITDA margin was very strong at 70% and represented another top statistics within the REIT industry. As expected, we adopted new accounting rules for leases effective January 1 of 2019. Key points that I will highlight include; income from rentals on our consolidated income statement include both tenant recoveries together with base rent.

We also separately provided disclosure of tenant recoveries in our same property results and in footnote five to our Form 10-Q that expect to file later today or tomorrow. As of March 31, 2019, our balance sheet includes $240 million of right-of-use asset and related lease liability, primarily for our ground leases, in which we are lessee.

G&A expenses include approximately $1 million related to internal leasing costs that under the new accounting rules no longer qualify for capitalization.

Now briefly on G&A expenses. Just want to remind everybody we have a very unique and differentiated business strategy. Importantly with a very unique and highly experienced and tenured team, it is simply inappropriate to compare a team and business to the average REIT today.

Our company is well more than just a typical real estate company is. Our core vertical is real estate, but we importantly focus on three other strategic verticals including venture investments, thought leadership, and corporate responsibility and we are a leader in each of these four core verticals. These verticals align well with the strategic business imperative of our client tenants.

It's also important to recognize when -- that when you review all-in G&A cost regardless of classification since it does vary from REIT-to-REIT and search for the best measure for how to how efficient a REIT is operating you'll likely end up reviewing EBITDA margins. We have an industry leading adjusted EBITDA margin as I mentioned earlier at 70% today.

Turning to venture investments. What began in the early days in the company's history really has developed into a unique and important component of our real estate business. Our venture investment business verticals strategically aligned with our real estate vertical with both focused on working with some of the world's most innovative entities, developing new therapies and technologies to improve quality of life for people throughout the world.

I give kudos to our science and technology team, we have one of the highest quality tenant rosters in the REIT industry and our team has proven track record for underwriting high-quality innovative tenants. When thinking about a run rate for gains, I always like to look back at what we have done. Looking back over the past three years, realized gains included in FFO as adjusted from our venture investments have been approximately $15 million, $10 million and $28 million and have averaged $8.9 million per quarter over the last three quarters.

As a percentage of range, looking at net operating income, and realized venture gains in 2018 as an example, 97% was generated from our unique and differentiated real estate vertical and 3% of our overall earnings was generated from realized gains on our venture investment vertical.

Moving to our balance sheet. We kicked of 2019 as you know with the strongest balance sheet in the history of the company. Our team has been busy again on liability management matters and extended our weighted average remaining term of debt to seven years. In our release yesterday, we announced the following, $850 million issuance of unsecured senior notes with a weighted average interest rate of 4.1 years, and a term of 14.6 years including the tranche consisting of 30-year notes, in support of our overall sustainability initiatives $550 million or 65% of this deal related to green bonds. We repaid two secure notes payable aggregating $300 million at a weighted average interest rate of 4.88% including one note with a rate of 7.75%. These repayments resulted in an increase in our unencumbered net operating income to 95% of total NOI.

Subsequent to quarter end, we entered into an agreement to extend the maturity date from 2024 to 2025 related to our unsecured term loan that should become effective later in June of 2019.

Briefly on guidance for 2019, we narrowed the range of guidance to $0.10 with EPS in the range from $2.65 to $2.75 and FFO per share as adjusted in the range from $6.90 to $7, with no change in the midpoint of our FFO per share guidance. We also increased our projected guidance for rental rate increases, up 1% and 2% on a cash basis at the midpoint of the ranges.

Page 6 of our supplemental package includes our detailed guidance assumptions for 2019 for your reference. I'll pause there and turn it back to Joel to open it up.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Okay. Operator, if we could go to Q&A please.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today comes from Manny Korchman from Citi. Please go ahead with your question.

Emmanuel Korchman -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Hey, good afternoon, everyone. Steve, the Pinterest lease that you guys signed at Bluxome what happens if you don't get the Prop M allocation or -- I was making it more specific. What if you don't get that allocation this year or next year?

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, Manny let me walk through the process again. The Central SoMa plan was approved by the Board of Supervisors in December of 2018. As we've talked about you had four challenges were filed at that time. Those parties continue to work with the city and work through a process and at the same time very consistent with what we've said all along. There are huge community benefits of value to all stakeholders here. So the city in fact has very affirmatively and proactively continued the approval process. We view this as another step in the process. We expect as we've said for a couple of quarters now to be in front of the Planning Commission in the late summer of this year.

We expect to secure our approvals and then would expect that the lawsuits will be resolved at the end of the year. So of course, there's a hypothetical out there, but it could take longer could be another quarter or two. But everything has pointed and we've seen this time and time again things do get delayed, but ultimately they would get resolved here. So Pinterest is working with us arm in arm and we expect to have a very successful outcome here.

Emmanuel Korchman -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Thanks. And maybe switching close to Boston, at NECO on the Seaport it looks like you've got it under development delivery schedule as an after -2022 event. When would you start construction there? And then, does that end up being a cluster or one-off or trial? Or how do we think about your concentration in Boston Seaport?

Dean A. Shigenaga -- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

Yes. So I think Manny at the moment, we'd prefer not to make any comment on that. There are a lot of moving parts and I think in the future quarter or so we could give better color on kind of our view of the world. But at the moment, I think we're going to not make any comment.

Emmanuel Korchman -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Okay Joel. Since I didn't get an answer on that one, can I ask another one?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Sure.

Emmanuel Korchman -- Citigroup -- Analyst

The tech IPO market right now is pretty hot. Any impact on your tenants or markets or marketable securities balances from new IPOs?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Well, I think Pinterest, we did have an equity investment there and that will get marked up to market when we report I guess next quarter. And I guess it was this quarter, we do have a stake in Uber, so when that goes public that will get mark-to-market. And we have still Google stock, we bought in 1998. Although Google was down -- Alphabet down 8% or something today, but -- so we've done some highly selected investing in certain technology companies and I would continue to imagine that most money managers view the tech sector as one of the most positive sectors these days in the general market. So I think its best we're viewing it things are pretty solid and we stuck to really high quality either big cap public companies or selected unicorns we feel have really legitimate business models and highly disruptive impact to the economy.

Emmanuel Korchman -- Citigroup -- Analyst

Thanks Joel.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yeah, thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jamie Feldman from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead with your question.

James Feldman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Great, thank you. Joel thanks for color on Dayton venture with Verily. Can you talk about -- I mean is this something you could see doing multiple ventures like this and expanding to more markets? Or is this more of a one-off? And then how do we think about the economics?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yeah our goal was not to get into the business of being a provider of real estate to the users here which are the dispensers of healthcare services. This is very unique. But what we did feel is we could make a difference and we spent a lot of time over a number of years trying to find the best place where we could make the best and biggest impact and that's Dayton for the reasons I enunciated. And we're trying to do a unique campus and a unique set of data-driven services that have never been done before from intake, literally from The Street to job placement. Not just you come in, you detox and you're out on the street in 28 days. I think the -- literally all those efforts fail wherever we've seen them.

I don't think were going to be doing lots of sites or multiple sites because that's not our core business. But what we do feel is this is a model for every community in America which is hit hard and we'll make it -- we're going to make our secret sauce as available possible to the -- to other communities. Because we think this is something that private industry and the government should be partnering to really build throughout the country. So we're trying to be the tip of the spear, but not the spear.

James Feldman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Okay.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

And our -- we own the real estate 50-50 with Verily. Our payback period's about a 25-year payback period. So it's not fast. Our returns aren't as great as Peter's enunciation of our other things. But I do believe, this was a critical call to action where we have unique skills and Verily has unique skills. And I -- we could not have done it with something we really compelled to do.

James Feldman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Okay that's helpful and I appreciate it. As we think about shifting gears, I guess to Dean on page 6. Your capital sources plan. So it looks like you've got the $438 million of sales done. But can you talk about some of these other buckets and the timing to get them done the debt the other and the common equity?

Dean A. Shigenaga -- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

Sure Jamie. It's Dean here. That's basically done if you look at the bottom of the table on the right side on page 6. We did complete the issuance of our unsecured notes. In fact, upsized it opportunistically, which allowed us to retire some additional secured notes on our balance sheet. So that's been taken care of.

What we are laser-focused on and that's pretty true every year. We've always had a component of dispositions going through. So on top of the 75/125 partial interest sale, we have another at the midpoint roughly $300 million of dispositions predominantly spread over two transactions that are in process, so stay tuned there. And then I assume you're also asking about common equity. We never really disclosed when that happens, but it's an open item for us to focus in on through the remainder of the year.

James Feldman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Okay. I mean, do you think asset sales could take the place of that or they have anything else in the pipeline?

Dean A. Shigenaga -- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

No, I don't -- not necessarily. It's possible that a little of it, but Jamie we already have $750 million at the midpoint of our asset disposition program for 2019. So it's a pretty healthy volume. As we make our way through the two key transactions that are in process, we can give you more color once we get through those too.

James Feldman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Okay. And then just finally, I guess, back to Joel or anyone on the team. Appreciate your thoughts on Medicare for All, but any thoughts on just the drug pricing legislation particularly maybe the international comparison pricing? How that might impact the business and tenants, if you have any latest thoughts?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yes. So that's actually a good question. I happen to see that in your note. We actually a group of us have actually been at Center for Medicare Services not just for pharma industry, but a wider group and we have been working pretty intensively with CMS on this issue. This issue would only cover the third of people covered by Medicare.

The international pricing mechanism is probably not the best, because the U.S. is supporting pricing to some extent overseas, which is kind of unfair. So not only the drug -- or the biopharma industry, but I think payers providers and a group of people all feel like there are some alternatives that are better and those are under intense discussion with CMS as we speak.

James Feldman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yes.

Operator

Our next question comes from Sheila McGrath from Evercore ISI. Please go ahead with your question.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Yes. On the other investment bucket, I'm just wondering if we should expect this year to be a little bit more elevated because so many of the companies that you mentioned are coming public and you would look to possibly sell just to get rid of some volatility in that line item.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yes. So I'll let Dean answer that. But I think as you probably know Sheila, on the IPO, there is a standard six months lockup for all IPOs so that despite whether we wanted to or not selling after the IPO was limited to all participants. But Dean, can give you his view on.

Dean A. Shigenaga -- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

Yes. Yes Sheila, so let me comment in two areas. First, as I mentioned in my prepared commentary, our run rate for last three quarters has been actually interestingly consistent averaging $8.9 million per quarter over the last three quarters. That might give you some sense of recent activity.

To the extent that this type of environment with the types of investments we do hold, it's not unusual as to see something with a really great multiple come out. And to the extent there is one individual transaction like that, we'll exclude it from our run rate as we have historically. But hopefully, the commentary and you just look back over the last few quarters though as far as what they expect may be a better barometer, since we actually haven't provided specific guidance on that line item in our results for 2019.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. And then on the Verily announcement in Dayton. I'm sorry, if I missed this, but how much capital do you estimate that project will require? And do you envision hiring an outside operator? And then just when you say tech enabled, just curious a little more detail what that means?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yeah. Sheila, so the total investment is $20 million, split 50-50 between Verily and Alexandria. The operator is actually a consortium. We have put together a non-profit consortium. I don't want to get to details, because there is a kind of a big grand opening in public announcement kind of mid-June where the Governor of Ohio and the Mayor of Dayton will participate with us and the Verily folks.

But it is a -- when you think about tech or information driven, think about if you were able to understand the all of the data, human data from or as much as you can from everyone you intake, who has been impacted by opioid addiction or overdosing, and you build a database, the treatment mechanisms can be much more individually tailored if you have a set of data that is valuable versus just giving everybody the same detox schedule. It's like cancer.

And everybody knows, everybody has a cancer patient in their family, and literally virtually there are no two cancers that are identical. It's one of the most heterogeneous sets of diseases that you can possibly imagine. And so treatment has to be really tailored for each patient, and that's what we're trying to get to. So people are treated almost like cattle. They're just brought in detoxed and thrown back on the street. That's just a recipe for disaster, and that's why we have 115 people every day dying.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. And one last quick question. Just on Launch Labs, you press released activity in Cambridge, and then another AgTech kind of Launch Labs in RTP. I was just wondering if you could update us on that product for Alexandria.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yeah. We think -- I mean think about what we have said on the call, half of our revenue is generated by investment-grade tenants, and/or big cap companies. And so we also believe in the Life Science industry that you have to really be a part of the entire ecosystem, which means from seed stage to grown-up stage. A good company example that I always like to use, we were involved in the Series A start-up of Alnylam up in Cambridge with our Science Hotel product.

I think they took 4,000 or 7,000 feet. Today, they occupy hundreds of thousands of feet, and are multiple billions of dollars in market cap. So it's good to be there at the beginning, so we can pick the winners of the future, especially given the amazing progress and disruptive technologies today. So that's our goal in dealing with that product.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Great. Thank you.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yep.

Operator

Our next question comes from Tom Catherwood from BTIG. Please go ahead with your question.

Tom Catherwood -- BTIG -- Analyst

Thanks. Good afternoon, everybody. Sticking with the question on RTP, and the AgTech Center down there, how does -- how do the companies and the lease structures in the AgTech world differ from what you would be doing in Cambridge or San Francisco? Is there any material difference?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

No, they don't. Tom, this is Joel. There are three products. One is lab -- lab office, and then the other is greenhouse, and they're all triple net leases and the lease structure is exactly the same. We just felt that -- and I think I may have mentioned. If I didn't, venture capital certainly is one indicator went from something like $8 billion over $16 billion over the last two years in the AgTech, and it didn't fall on deaf ears when we tracked those statistics to understand that more and more this world is about not only fighting disease, but it's about gaining good nutrition.

And this is an industry -- especially, given the huge consolidation among the big guys. Now there's only three, and the Chinese own one of them. That's really important for what we think is a huge launch of innovation in this area. So that's why we've kind of gone after that particular niche.

Tom Catherwood -- BTIG -- Analyst

Got you. And then when we think about the -- Steve I think you mentioned the 392,000 square feet of demand in RTP. Is that primarily private industry backed by those venture funds that you were talking about Joel? Or is this university-related tech transfer? Kind of how does that ecosystem round out?

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Hi. It's Steve. That's a wide breadth of companies there. So as you annunciated it, it's all of the above.

Tom Catherwood -- BTIG -- Analyst

Okay. And then...

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

In fact -- I mean, it's much like New York. We've got I don't know 50-plus tenants in our campus in New York. Not a single one of them other than one that I can remember did research in New York before we had the campus. So the -- some of the AgTech stuff in north -- in the Research Triangle region as we call it -- really these are new companies being seeded by venture people, sometimes institutional investors and sometimes the big majors to do things outside of the big corporations. And so a lot of these are very new companies. Some are big, big existing companies, but there's a broad range of demand that gives us comfort down there.

Tom Catherwood -- BTIG -- Analyst

Got you. Got you. Then one last one Steve. Demand in San Francisco, you mentioned that picking up at 2.9 million square feet. Is that demand concentrated in any specific submarkets? And how is it trending in your Greater Stanford cluster?

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

I think we're seeing it very well distributed. You have continued demand in Mission Bay. The challenge of course is the supply constraint there. Equally strong in South San Francisco and we are seeing very positive demand down in the Greater Stanford cluster just as we anticipated. So it is broad-based in each of these core clusters, Tom.

Tom Catherwood -- BTIG -- Analyst

Excellent. Thanks everyone.

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Rich Anderson from SMBC Nikko. Please go ahead with your question.

Richard Anderson -- SMBC Nikko -- Analyst

Thanks. Good afternoon everyone. So Joel, you mentioned the 50% number that is rental revenue from IG or large cap. What makes that the right number? I'm curious, if you see that going up, because 77% of your portfolio is defined as Class A. I don't know why, but I would think that the 15 to 77 should perhaps be closer together. Is that the wrong way to think about it?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yes, because I mean if you look at Cambridge as an example and we are working day and night with tenants to try to direct them sometimes out of Cambridge most people want to be in Cambridge and our product is new Class A campus-like or rehab -- Class A rehab and that's where they want to be. They want to be in the best locations. And you have to remember that rental expenses aren't generally the biggest part of their budget. So I think that's why you see that that split.

They're a lot of NewCos, same thing in San Francisco where they want to be in the best locations for interaction with UCSF et cetera. Going out to the burbs or to concrete tilt up buildings in lesser locations just aren't of great interest. So I think that's why you see -- I don't know that there's any right answer for what our credit amount should be, but I think 50%-plus is where we've been for a long time and fairly comfortable given lease durations of what we have.

Richard Anderson -- SMBC Nikko -- Analyst

But in the extreme -- and it may be for anyone in the room, the extreme case of Cambridge where you have five million square feet or more of demand and basically no availability. I mean at what point do people just acquiesce and say, OK, I got to be in Boston or some place somewhat close. And if that were to happen to increasing degree would you be willing to follow that demand?

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Well I think that relates to the question that was asked earlier about Seaport and some of the other locations. I think naturally you have to look at other locations, because doesn't matter how much capital you have there's a limited amount of land and limited amount of buildings in Cambridge. And so clearly people have to look at other locations in some fashion.

Richard Anderson -- SMBC Nikko -- Analyst

Yes. Okay. And last for me. You're putting off these huge mark-to-markets whether you look at cash or GAAP. I'm not asking for 2020 guidance or 2021 guidance, but when you think about the sort of the geographically where assets are going to be having lease expirations. To what degree can we maintain levels in these huge ranges?

Considering the fact that where leases expire is perhaps an important component to why you're getting the type of growth that you're getting?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Well, I think if you just -- I'll ask Steve and Peter to comment as well because they're very granular with this. But if you look at the 2020 expirations, I think 24 we've got what 1.7 million square feet of -- which is about what 5.9% of the annual rental revenue.

But if you look at the rental rates on the right-hand side in the markets, many of these are well below market.

Richard Anderson -- SMBC Nikko -- Analyst

Yeah.

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Rich this is Steve. I mean when you start looking at the mark-to-market in Cambridge right about 21%, San Francisco you got Mission Bay at 18%, South San Francisco as much as 27%, San Diego and UTC 11%, Seattle about 10%. So, in each of those markets, the mark-to-market opportunity is pretty significant.

When you get into the individual sweeps that might be rolling, there may be a mix there. So that's not necessarily guidance for how it's all going to shakeout, when you roll it up. But I think across the board in those markets in particular, you can see it's pretty healthy.

Richard Anderson -- SMBC Nikko -- Analyst

Yeah.

Peter Moglia -- Chief Financial Officer & Chief Investment Officer

Yeah. This is Peter. I just want to add, that we're roughly a third Greater Boston, a third Bay area, and a third everywhere else. Of course there's been a great run in Greater Boston and San Francisco everybody knows about.

But I think what is going to help power -- it's an extended run like we're having is that these other regions like Maryland, Research Triangle region, New York City, San Diego are also doing very well, just given what Joel, set the stage for early on with the indicators of the industry.

There are positive. They've been positive. And as we roll or release in all the regions, they're just all contributing which we can't say has happened throughout our history but we're just happened in a great time where everything is clicking on truly also owners.

Richard Anderson -- SMBC Nikko -- Analyst

Okay great. Thanks and kudos on the Dayton project.

Peter Moglia -- Chief Financial Officer & Chief Investment Officer

Thank you very much Rich.

Operator

Our next question comes from Dave Rodgers from Baird. Please go ahead with your question.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

Yeah, maybe for Steve or Joel just on the 88 Bluxome and the Pinterest lease. Do you anticipate or is there any discussion about the recapturing the existing Pinterest space? Or would this be purely expansion?

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Dave, hi it's Steve. No, it is purely expansion. That was the clear intent. And that's the way this is a new expansions stand-alone lease. So they're very excited about that. And they are thoroughly enjoying their existing billing at 505 Brannan which has actually won a number of design awards. So that's an important facility for them.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

Great and then on the 2020 delivery, I guess you haven't laid out in the supplement. You've got about $1.9 million square feet plus or minus, may be planned for delivery as you've got about 350,000 started under construction.

Do you anticipate delivering a larger number of maybe shells to tenants next year? Do you have the ability to kind of deliver some of these bigger buildings of 530,000 or 208,000 square foot buildings, in that kind of year to 15 or 16 month time frame? Any color on that?

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yeah. So I said in the beginning we would give over the next couple of quarters more granular visibility into 2020, but maybe just keep it high level. I think it's pretty clear we'll be able to deliver way more than shells in 2020.

I think we've got a very robust pipeline. I think we have a lot of great activity. And will save it for another quarter but we have a lot of confidence in the 2020 pipeline. I think if you look at this year's pipeline, just think about that as continuing on into 2020.

Peter Moglia -- Chief Financial Officer & Chief Investment Officer

And this is Peter I'll just comment a bit about, how we're able to deliver in a timely fashion. We're pretty proactive when we put these assets into our land bank. And start entitlement work almost right away if not right away. So we'll be able to come out of the ground if we're not already out of ground pretty much at any time we need to this year.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

That's helpful. Thank you. And then maybe last one just for Dean. Given the equity forward that you've done, I think last year maybe how do you view your experience of that? And whether that's on the table again this year as well?

Dean A. Shigenaga -- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

Dave, its Dean here. Every year we look at our capital line carefully. Each year is slightly different and the needs. And it's interesting it's only April. Well, it's almost May. It's a day from May and we've knocked down a good chunk of our capital needs which we're very pleased with.

The bond deal is very successful the JV sale 75/125 Binney Street was an outstanding transaction. And so over -- as we go through and look forward Dave we'll provide more color. We never really get into the weeds on timing and structure.

I think it's safe to say that we'll remain disciplined in our approach and we want to be prudent and disciplined in how we go about raising capital. Eventually we'll be able to lock-in great returns on the cost to capital here whenever we get to the race.

And then it will allow us to move on to whatever else remains open on sources and uses of that point probably. We talked about our dispositions but we're working on that as well. So, surely in the year but we're firing up on all cylinders right now.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Yes. The big focus at the moment is on the two additional dispositions that Dean spoke about so that's kind of where our focus is.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

All right. Great. Thank you all.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Thank you.

Operator

And ladies and gentlemen at this time we'll conclude today's question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference call back over to Mr. Marcus for any closing remarks.

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciated and look forward to talking to on the second quarter.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's conference call. We do thank you for attending. You may now disconnect your lines.

Duration: 59 minutes

Call participants:

Paula Schwartz -- Investor Relations

Joel S. Marcus -- Executive Chairman & Founder

Stephen Richardson -- Chief Executive Officer

Peter Moglia -- Chief Financial Officer & Chief Investment Officer

Dean A. Shigenaga -- Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer

Emmanuel Korchman -- Citigroup -- Analyst

James Feldman -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Tom Catherwood -- BTIG -- Analyst

Richard Anderson -- SMBC Nikko -- Analyst

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

More ARE analysis

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By Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's army chief of staff said on Wednesday the military will ensure the country does not descend into violence, state TV reported, as mass protests that prompted President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to quit on April 2 continue. Bouteflika's exit has not quieted protesters, who are now demanding the dismantling of an entire ruling elite entrenched for decades, a shift towards more democracy and a crackdown on systemic corruption and cronyism. Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah said the ongoing marches showed there was consensus on how to get out of the crisis, state TV reported. He did not elaborate but some protesters have welcomed an effort by Salah to prosecute members of the ruling elite close to Bouteflika. The army remains the most powerful institution in Algeria, a major oil and natural has producer, having swayed politics from the shadows for decades. It has so far patiently monitored the mostly peaceful protests that at times have swelled to hundreds of thousands of people. On Tuesday, Salah - who helped push out Bouteflika after having him declared unfit for office - said several big corruption cases would come to light in a crackdown on graft, the private Ennahar TV station said. Algeria's ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party on Wednesday endorsed Salah's approach and called on protesters and opposition parties to pursue dialogue to end the crisis. "We hail the army's leadership for its harmony with the people," newly-elected FLN leader Mohamed Djemai said in televised comments. "Dialogue is the only way to get out of this situation." Djemai, a 50-year-old businessman, replaced Moad Bouchared on Tuesday as chief of the FLN, which has governed the North African country since independence from France in 1962. Mass protests broke out on Feb. 22 to demand the departure of the entire ruling elite, including the FLN. "We feel pain and some party members cry when we hear 'FLN, go," Djemai said, referring to a slogan commonly chanted by protesters. "We ask the people forgiveness if we have made mistakes." Hundreds of people demonstrated again in Algiers on Wednesday for more reforms, TV footage showed. (Reporting by Asma Alsharif, Ali Abdelati and Hamid Ould Ahmed; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
John Singleton. Photo: Mary Evans/Ronald Grant Archive/Everett Collection

In 1923, the predominantly black town of Rosewood, Florida, was burned to the ground. White locals had become convinced that a black drifter had raped a white woman and sought vengeance against their black neighbors, killing at least six and as many as 27 of them. It was not an isolated attack: Rosewoods fate mirrored that of more than a dozen black communities in the late 1910s and early 1920s, during the 73-year stretch of vigilante violence known as the lynching era, which claimed at least 4,000 lives from 1877 to 1950. Black sections of Longview, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, had been razed by white mobs under similar circumstances in 1919 and 1921, respectively. Both communities survived their massacres. Rosewood was wiped off the face of the earth.

Survivors who fled Rosewood were silent about their ordeal in public until local reporters stumbled across their story in the early 1980s. News and magazine reports followed. National interest grew as the victims descendants initiated a claims case against the state of Florida for failing to protect their families. They launched a media blitz to draw attention, discussing the killings on news programs and daytime talk shows including 60 Minutes and The Maury Povich Show. The lawsuit fizzled, but state legislators took up the case, commissioning a study aimed at determining reparations. Between 1994 and 1995, Florida awarded the Rosewood survivors $150,000 each. Nine of them were alive to collect.

Cinema thrives on dramatizing perseverance, so it is remarkable how few films exist about black Americans experiences with white terrorism. One reason for this paucity is that these stories subvert Hollywoods myth-making function  the lynching era is harder to shroud in heroism than, say, frontiersman-ship or fighting in the Second World War. But John Singleton forced his audiences to confront it anyway. Six years and three feature films after writing and directing the Oscar-nominated drama Boyz n the Hood in 1991, the South Central Los Angeles native  who died on Monday at age 51  decided to bring the story of Rosewood to the silver screen. The eponymously titled result is far from perfect. It condescends to its audience by plopping the plot of a Western in the middle of an otherwise affecting portrait of black community and racism in the 1920s. But it accomplishes a feat that few other films have: telling the truth about what was required  beyond the law  to maintain Americas racist hierarchy during the period between emancipation and the civil-rights movement.

The value of such a feat is perhaps self-evident, but as further confirmation of its importance, it should be noted that historical films often serve as popular record. A 2009 study about historical education from Washington University in St. Louis found that films about history help students retain lessons, but often supersede those lessons in their memories if the information they contain contradicts that in historical texts. In the same way that Amadeus (1984) etched in popular consciousness that Mozart was a childish boor  despite historical evidence to the contrary  misleading or absent cinematic depictions of black hardship between the Civil War and the civil-rights era have left a gap filled by misinformation and propaganda. The urtext of postCivil War white-supremacist terrorism on film  D.W. Griffiths silent epic Birth of a Nation (1915)  depicts the Ku Klux Klan not as villains, but as valiant protectors of the Old South against the purported vice and corruption of black political leadership during Reconstruction.

The Klan in Singletons Rosewood (1997) is undoubtedly villainous, but its villainy pales compared to that of the regions more ordinary white residents. White hoods are seen in a handful of scenes dispersed among mobs peopled more frequently by local workers and sheriffs deputies, unmasked and unabashed. The carnivalesque atmosphere that defined many lynchings is on vivid display. Killers pose in broad daylight in front of incinerated black corpses while photographers take pictures. Women and children picnic at the feet of black bodies hanging from trees. Local law enforcement deputizes white locals to hunt down an escaped black prisoner  a figure who never actually materializes in the film, but whose specter serves as a vessel in which whites can store their spiraling racist outrage and then weaponize it against their black neighbors.

Most important, the white people of Rosewood are depicted as human beings rather than caricatures. As was the case in real life, the threat of a neighbor gone berserk was more terrifying for black people  and more likely to occur  than any monster they could imagine. This is not to say that Singletons film is a faithful historical portrayal. It arguably exaggerates the reported death toll of the attack, and the Eastwood-esque Mann character played by Ving Rhames is a clear and unfortunate fabrication. But the starkest fault in how this era has been portrayed on film is atmospheric and hinges on misleading dynamics  that, for example, racist white people during Jim Crow were inhuman ghouls, or in the case of Griffiths film, crusaders motivated by patriotism and black defect. Rosewood bucks this trend by depicting lynch mobs as consisting of ordinary human beings brought together, with varying degrees of trepidation, by a vicious practice that was nonetheless normal for its time. It is perhaps the closest an American film gets to an honest assessment of the lynching era. And as a valuable supplement to written materials on the subject, it demythologizes how white community was crafted and affirmed in many parts of the United States.

There should be more films like Rosewood, imperfect though it was  both narrative and documentary. One of Singletons most important legacies is that he was one of the few filmmakers who dared to try and had the clout to pull it off. Recent developments like the opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, have since affirmed his mission, making the history of lynching more available for public consumption. But more cinematic intervention is warranted too. And 22 years after Rosewood, Singletons death casts a harsh light on Hollywoods failure to meet the challenge.
Pool

POWAY, CaliforniaJohn T. Earnest pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder charges for an attack on a local synagogue that killed one person on Saturday, a crime the district attorney alleged he committed with terror on his mind.

Earnest, 19, entered court looking sullen and angry but said nothing during the brief arraignment. Dressed in a blue jail jumpsuit, he watched from a glass box as a public defender entered his not-guilty plea.

A judge ordered Earnest held without bail as requested by the D.A.s office, calling him an obvious and extraordinary risk to public safety and to the community.

Authorities say Earnest entered Chabad of Poway and opened fire with an assault-style rifle during Passover services. He is charged with murdering Lori Kaye, 60. He is also charged with three counts of attempted murder for wounding Noya Dahan, 8, and her uncle, Almog Peretz, 34, who was also hurt while he helped usher children to safety.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein credited Kaye for saving his life by stepping into the line of fire, he said at her funeral on Monday. Goldstein, 57, was seriously wounded in both hands, losing at least one finger. His son was seated in the front row of the courtroom during the arraignment with several other members of Chabad of Poway.

Earnest was chased out of the synagogue by an Army veteran before he called 911 to turn himself in.

District Attorney Summer Stephan did not say if Earnest confessed, only saying charges are consistent with statements he made after calling police.

He had terror on his mind, Stephan said at a press conference following the arraignment.

Earnest fired a legally purchased AR-15 between 8 and 10 times in the synagogue, Stephan said, and carried five 10-round magazines of unexpended rounds. The attack was captured on synagogue surveillance video, according to Stephan.

There came a moment where it appears that either the gun jammed or that he wasnt able to release the magazine to reload, Stephan said. Goldstein said the miraculous jamming prevented more bloodshed.

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In a manifesto posted online just before the attack, Earnest said Jews deserved to be killed for trying to destroy the white race through immigration, a baseless far-right conspiracy theory. Earnest said in the manifesto he was inspired by a white-power terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 50 people in March.

Stephan said her office will determine later whether to seek the death penalty for the murder charge. Earnest faces a combined 95 years to life in custody for the attempted murder counts, which along with Kayes murder are being prosecuted as hate crimes.

A status conference in Earnests case is set for May 30, and a preliminary hearing for July 8. Stephan acknowledged Earnest could face federal charges as well.

Earnest also pleaded not guilty to a charge of setting fire to the Islamic Center of Escondido, California, a month before the synagogue attack. Earnest claimed credit for the mosque arson in his manifesto, saying it too was inspired by the New Zealand massacre. Graffiti was found at the scene citing Christchurch, authorities said at the time.

On Monday, Earnests parents released a statement in which they said their son is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries.

Read more at The Daily Beast.
(Changes first paragraph to show resolution would have been non-binding)

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Allergan Plc shareholders have voted down a non-binding proposal that sought an immediate split of the roles of chairman and chief executive, with 61.3 percent of shareholders backing Chairman and CEO Brent Saunders.

Billionaire investor David Tepper's hedge fund Appaloosa LP made the proposal, arguing that Allergan currently has a questionable business strategy and excessive pay for executives.

Proxy advisory firms backed keeping the current structure.

Reuters on Tuesday had reported that enough votes had been cast for Allergan to prevail against Appaloosa. (Reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Saumya Sibi Joseph in Bengaluru Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Allergan Plc shareholders have voted down a nonbinding proposal that sought an immediate split of the roles of chairman and chief executive, with 61.3 percent of shareholders backing Chairman and CEO Brent Saunders.

Billionaire investor David Tepper's hedge fund Appaloosa LP made the proposal, arguing that drugmaker Allergan currently has a questionable business strategy and excessive pay for executives.

Proxy advisory firms backed keeping the current structure. However, Appaloosa's success in attracting the votes of a substantial minority highlights the displeasure of many investors.

The voting results represent 85.9 percent of shares eligible to vote, Allergan said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Allergan shareholders are clearly dissatisfied with management's performance, business strategy and board oversight, as nearly 40 percent of voting shareholders want more pressing change than what the board is offering," Appaloosa said in a statement.

The hedge fund said it still believes that separating the chairman and chief executive roles is a necessary first step "toward arresting the steady decline of what was once a great company".

A large number of investors are left frustrated as the vote was "clearly" helped by proxy advisor recommendations, noted RBC Capital Markets analyst Randall Stanicky.

Allergan, under pressure to rescue the company's falling stock price, launched a review of its strategy last year. But that review is only likely to result in the sale of its relatively small infectious disease unit.

Appaloosa has voiced its discontent with the results of the review, and called for a breakup or sale of the company, citing recent clinical failures such as that of its depression treatment rapastinel.

In an effort to fend off Appaloosa, Allergan agreed in March to split the chairman and CEO roles, but only at its next leadership change. Saunders, 49, has no plans to step down, a source close to the company told Reuters then.

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The company has also replaced more than half of its board since 2017.

Saunders put together the current version of Allergan through a series of deals to roll up several pharmaceutical companies in 2014, and has run the company since then.

He built his reputation as a dealmaker, but he has struggled since Pfizer Inc walked away from a $160 billion deal to buy Allergan in 2016. Allergan's shares have lost nearly half their value since then.

The company's shares were down 1.5 percent at $144.8 in late morning trading.

"The existing strategy has clearly not worked, the pipeline has disappointed meaningfully and needs to be replenished and the current platform is unfocused," said Stanicky, adding that a lack of change in strategy would further pressure shares.

Allergan is set to report its first-quarter earnings next Tuesday.

Reuters on Tuesday had reported that enough votes had been cast for Allergan to prevail against Appaloosa.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Saumya Sibi Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Bernard Orr)
By Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc dismissed the idea of running a fully automated warehouse in the near future, citing the superior cognitive ability of humans and the limitations of current technology.

Scott Anderson, director of Amazon Robotics Fulfillment, said current technology is at least 10 years away from fully automating the processing of a single order picked by a worker inside a warehouse.

"There is a fallacy in the initial understanding of 'Are we going to be a lights-out fulfillment network in the next few years?'" Anderson said during a tour of Amazon's Baltimore warehouse for journalists on Tuesday.

For example, he said, the technology for a robot to pick a single product from a bin without damaging other products or picking multiple products at the same time in a way that could benefit the e-commerce retailer is years away.

Anderson said Amazon is exploring a variety of technologies to automate the process of packing merchandise into boxes but it could take a decade or more for the company to do that.

"In the current form, the technology is very limited. The technology is very far from the fully automated workstation that we would need," Anderson said.

The tour came at a time when the company has come under fire from labor groups and other Amazon critics for allegedly poor working conditions in its warehouses and for increasingly automating jobs and reducing its dependence on human labor.

The company said it is not changing the level of productivity inside its warehouses to catch up with its recent one-day shipping announcement. It is instead making changes to the transportation and delivery process.

Last month, Amazon said it plans to deliver packages to members of its loyalty club, Prime, in just one day instead of two.

Anderson said Amazon's current target is 4 hours from the time a product is ordered to the time it leaves the warehouse and the company is sticking with that.

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The e-commerce company did not share details on how its decision to raise its minimum wage to $15 had impacted workforce turnover.

However, it said applications for seasonal jobs doubled to 850,000 at the end of October last year from the record number of applications the company received in August 2017, when it held a national job fair.

Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour for U.S. employees in November, giving in to critics of what they said was poor pay and working conditions. (Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington Editing by Phil Berlowitz )
By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM, May 1 (Reuters) - E-commerce giant Amazon has reached out to Israeli retailers to enable them to sell directly to customers in Israel using its online platform.

Amazon sent a letter to a select number of Israeli retailers inviting them to join its local delivery program that allows firms to use their current Amazon.com seller account to fulfill orders directly to customers in Israel, using local inventory.

"This new service is a positive addition to the current Amazon shopping experience for Israeli customers, providing them with quicker and cheaper delivery, while also offering a great opportunity for local, Israeli businesses to grow their businesses on Amazon," said a source close to Amazon on Wednesday.

News of Amazon's planned expansion into Israel jolted shares of large local retailers and shopping malls.

Azrieli Group, which owns 13 shopping malls in Israel, was down 1 percent in Tel Aviv on Wednesday after shedding 3.4 percent on Tuesday. Retailer Fox was 1.5 percent lower after a nearly 10 percent drop on Tuesday.

There has been widespread speculation in Israel's media that Amazon plans to expand further into the country by opening a local fulfillment center since many Israelis already order from Amazon's sites in the United States, Britain and Germany.

With the cost of living high, sites such as Amazon have become increasingly popular in Israel since orders below $75 are exempt from taxes, while orders up to $500 are free from customs taxes.

Newspapers have also reported that Amazon began developing a local website in Hebrew and was looking for translators and editors who specialize in Hebrew to English translation.

The company, in the letter seen by Reuters, said that customers outside of the United States will be able to purchase products from Israeli vendors when they enable local delivery.

Ilanit Scherf, head of research at the Psagot brokerage, said small businesses should benefit since Amazon's platform puts them on the map, gives them a broader marketing base and an ability to reach customers they couldn't in the past due to high costs of mall rentals.

She estimated that Amazon "views Israel as an important target, given local growth, the developed consumption here and the business development capability that the global company can do in this part of the world through local developments."

(Reporting by Steven Scheer Editing by Keith Weir)
Dubai (AFP) - Amnesty International on Wednesday condemned the prolonged detention of 10 journalists by Huthi rebels in Yemen, saying it reflected "the dire state of media freedom" in the war-torn country.

The 10 journalists have been held since the summer of 2015 and are being prosecuted on trumped-up spying charges, according to the rights group.

It said the men have been tortured, held incommunicado and deprived of medical care.

"The unlawful and prolonged detention, torture and other ill-treatment of these 10 journalists is a shocking reminder of the repressive media climate facing journalists in Yemen and illustrates the risks they face at the hands of all parties to the conflict," said Rasha Mohamed, Amnesty's Yemen researcher.

"These men are being punished for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.

"The de facto Huthi authorities should release them immediately and drop all the charges against them," he said in a statement.

In December 2018, the men were charged with a series of offences, including spying -- which carries a death sentence in Yemen -- and cooperating with the Saudi-led coalition backing the government, said Amnesty.

It was unclear when their trials will start.

The Iran-aligned Huthi rebels control the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen.

According to Amnesty, some of the journalists worked for online media outlets affiliated with Al-Islah, an Islamist party that opposes the Huthi rebels.

Nearly 10,000 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed and more than 60,000 wounded since March 2015, when the coalition intervened in the Yemen war.

Rights groups estimate the actual death toll could be several times higher.
LEWISTON, Maine (AP)  For the second consecutive year, an asylum-seeker from Maine has made it to the final round of a national spoken poetry competition.

The road to the Poetry Out Loud National Finals Wednesday night was less bumpy for 18-year-old Joao Victor than it was last year for Deering High School junior Allan Monga, who had to sue to participate in the event hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Sun Journal newspaper reports that Victor came to the U.S. three years ago from Angola and speaks seven languages. He's also fluent in the language of poetry.

Victor said he was inspired by Monga, who fled Zambia.

Isabella Callery, a student from Minnesota, won the competition Wednesday night.
Anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. remained at near-record levels in 2018, according to an Anti-Defamation League report released Monday.

The annual ADL audit of anti-Semitic incidents showed that, compared with 2017, assaults against Jews had more than doubled  the worst of which was the mass shooting at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue in October, when a white supremacist killed 11 worshippers. That case alone was one of 39 reported physical attacks on the Jewish community in 2018, representing a 105% increase from the year before.

In total, the ADL found there were 1,879 cases of assault, harassment and vandalism perpetrated against Jewish institutions and Jews throughout the country, making it the third-worst year the organization has recorded since the 1970s, when it began tracking such statistics.

From October to November, there was a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents, occurring squarely between the Pittsburgh massacre and the midterm elections.

Harassment was up by 5%, however, vandalism dropped by 19%, making it the only category to decrease in 2018.

Whether the trend will continue in 2019 remains to be seen. In March, 59 headstones in a historic Jewish cemetery in Massachusetts were vandalized with graffiti of swastikas and phrases including Expel the Jews, Heil Hitler and Oy vey! This is MAGA country, apparently using the acronym for President Donald Trumps Make America great again slogan.

In a statement addressing the report, ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt cited improvements on hate crime legislation but called the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2018 alarmingly high, pointing also to the recent shooting at a synagogue near San Diego.

On Saturday, an alleged white supremacist gunman entered the Chabad of Poway, California, killing one worshipper who shielded the rabbi from the bullets. The rabbi is among three people who were left injured.

The suspect is believed to have used 8chan, a racist message board where extremism brews, and claimed to have been behind a recent arson at an Escondido mosque, northeast of San Diego.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump and his team are still twisting the findings of the special counsel's report on the Russia investigation.

At a Senate hearing Wednesday, Attorney General William Barr echoed Trump's refrain of "no collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia, insisting that any and all allegations of collusion have been "proven false." That's not the case.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham also got it wrong when he asserted that special counsel Robert Mueller had asked Barr to make a ruling on whether Trump obstructed justice.

A look at the claims:

TRUMP: "NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION."  tweet Wednesday.

BARR: "The evidence is now that the president was falsely accused of colluding with the Russians and accused of being treasonous. ...Two years of his administration have been dominated by allegations that have now been proven false."  Senate hearing Wednesday.

GRAHAM, Republican senator from South Carolina: "Mr. Mueller and his team concluded there was no collusion."  Senate hearing.

THE FACTS: Allegations of "collusion" were not "proven false" in the Mueller investigation, nor was the issue of "collusion" addressed in the report.

The Mueller report said the investigation did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, saying it had not collected sufficient evidence "to establish" or sustain criminal charges.

The report noted that some Trump campaign officials had declined to testify under the 5th Amendment or had provided false or incomplete testimony, making it difficult to get a complete picture of what happened during the 2016 campaign. The special counsel wrote that he "cannot rule out the possibility" that unavailable information could have cast a different light on the investigation's findings.

The report also makes clear the investigation did not assess whether "collusion" occurred because it is not a legal term. The investigation found multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, and the report said it established that "the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts."

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___

GRAHAM: "As to obstruction of justice, Mr. Mueller left it to Mr. Barr to decide after two years, and all this time. He said, 'Mr. Barr, you decide.' Mr. Barr did."  Senate hearing.

THE FACTS: Not true. Mueller did not ask Barr to rule on whether Trump's efforts to undermine the special counsel's Russia investigation had obstructed justice.

According to the report, Mueller's team declined to make a prosecutorial judgment on whether to charge partly because of a Justice Department legal opinion that said sitting presidents shouldn't be indicted.

As a result, the report factually laid out instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, specifically leaving it open for Congress to take up the matter or for prosecutors to do so once Trump leaves office.

Barr wrote in a March 24 letter that 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 of justice.

Barr subsequently acknowledged that he had not talked directly to Mueller about making that ruling and did not know if Mueller agreed with him.

___

Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

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EDITOR'S NOTE _ A look at the veracity of claims by political figures
Attorney General William Barr's first appearance before Congress since the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election featured some political fireworks during exchanges between Democratic senators and America's top law enforcement officer.

Barr  recently appointed to the role by President Donald Trump  defended his supervision of Mueller's investigation, his decision to summarize the report's principal conclusions and his determination that Trump did not obstruct justice during an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Democrats, on the other hand, expressed their frustration with Barr on those three points and indicated they were not satisfied with his responses, at times accusing the attorney general of not being honest with his answers.

Here are some of the top moments from Barr's sometimes tense exchanges with senators on the Judiciary Committee:

William Barr: Mueller report was 'my baby'

"His work concluded when he sent his report to the attorney general," said Barr. "At that point it was my baby, and I was making a decision as to whether or not to make it public... it was my decision how and when to make it public, not Bob Mueller's."

In his opening statement, Barr took responsibility for his handling of the report's release as well as his earlier release of a four-page summary of the report's findings. Yesterday, the Department of Justice revealed that special counsel Robert Mueller had submitted a letter to Barr, dated March 27, criticizing his release of the report.

Lindsey Graham on Mueller report: 'Can't say I've read it all'

5/1/19 10:03:34 AM -- Washington, DC, U.S.A -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham holds the Mueller Report during opening statements before Attorney General William Barr would testify before the House Judiciary Committee hearing about special counsel Robert Muellers report and his handling of the investigation. -- Photo by Jack Gruber, USA TODAY staff ORG XMIT: JG 137975 Bill Barr is on 5/1/ (Via OlyDrop)

"Can't say I've read it all, but I've read most of it," Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., confessed during his opening remarks as he held aloft a copy of the 448-page report.

Graham said Mueller found "no coordination" and "no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government." He then moved on to the FBI's handling of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and used the full "f-word" while reading a quote from former FBI agent Peter Strzok.

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Dick Durbin: 'It is really about Hillary Clinton's emails'

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., mocked Republican committee members who focused their questions for Barr on the effect of potential political bias in the probe into Clinton's emails.

More: Read what Attorney General William Barr plans to tell Congress about the Mueller report

"I've been listening carefully to my Republican colleagues on the other side and it appears that they are going to work together and coordinate the so-called 'lock her up defense,'" Durbin said referring to a common chant at Trump's political rallies.

"This is really not supposed to be about the Mueller investigation, the Russian involvement in the election, the Trump campaign and so forth. It is really about Hillary Clinton's emails. Finally, we get down to the bottom line," Durbin said, sardonically suggesting that the committee should also explore previously investigated matters involving Clinton such as the Whitewater and Benghazi affairs.

Pat Leahy: Your answer is purposefully misleading

I think your answer is purposefully misleading and I think others do too, Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., told Barr. Leahy was referencing Barrs congressional testimony earlier this month in which he denied knowing that members of Muellers team were frustrated with his portrayal of their findings.

Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., asked Barr on April 9, during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, about news reports describing such frustration and if he knew what the reports were referencing. No, I dont, Barr said at the time.

But on March 27, Mueller wrote a letter to the Justice Department that said Barrs summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the report.

Mazie Hirono: 'America deserves better. You should resign'

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, sharply criticized Barr and called on him to resign for lying to Congress that he did not know about Mueller's criticism of his summary of the report.

"Now, we know more about your deep involvement in trying to cover up for Donald Trump. Being attorney general of the United States is a sacred trust. You have betrayed that trust. America deserves better. You should resign."

Hirono was part of a group of 11 Democrats who had sent a letter to the Department of Justice calling on the Department to investigate Barr's handling of the investigation.

John Kennedy: 'Include the Mueller team' in investigations of leaks

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Barr, "When you are investigating leaks at the Department of Justice and the FBI, I hope you will include the Mueller team as well."

Kennedy wanted further information on how the FBI counterintelligence investigation into Trump's campaign was started, as well as the disclosure of all documents from "the FBI and the Justice Department pertaining to the 2016 election."

Kamala Harris: Has Trump 'asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?'

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif. asked Barr, "Has the president or anyone at the White House asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone?"

Barr initially didn't directly respond to Harris, saying that "I'm trying to grapple with the word 'suggest.' There have been discussions of matters out there that they have not asked me to open an investigation."

Harris' comments come as Barr confirmed to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during the hearing that the Department of Justice was investigating the origins of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

After leaving the hearing room, Harris called on Barr to resign.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'America deserves better. You should resign': Key moments from William Barr's testimony
Senate Democrats criticized Attorney General William Barr for misleading and hairsplitting in his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation at a hearing Wednesday.

In a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democratic lawmakers pressed the attorney general over his initial summary of the Mueller report, which they said falsely made it seem like Mueller had exonerated President Donald Trump; a letter from Mueller to Barr critiquing his handling of the summaries; and Barrs previous testimony to Congress.

At one point, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy argued that Barr was not forthright when he said under oath at a previous hearing that he was not aware of any criticism from Muellers team, despite the fact that he had received Muellers letter. Barr made a distinction between Muellers criticism and anonymous critiques from Muellers team that had surfaced in news reports.

I feel that your answer was purposely misleading, and I think others do too, Leahy replied. Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse later called Barrs response to a similar question masterful hairsplitting.

Much of the criticism centered on a four-page letter Barr sent Congress on March 24 outlining what he saw as the principal conclusions of Muellers investigation.

In the letter, Barr said that Mueller had not found evidence that Trump or anyone associated with his campaign conspired with Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 election. But on the question of whether Trump had obstructed justice with his response to the investigation, Barr wrote that Mueller decided not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgement, adding that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had then decided the evidence was insufficient.

But when a redacted version of the report was later sent to Congress, Democrats argued that Barrs summary failed to note that Mueller had concluded that only Congress had the authority to determine whether Trump had obstructed justice through its own investigation.

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Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the Presidents corrupt exercise of the powers of office, Mueller wrote in the report. That conclusion, he said, accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.

Indeed, Mueller himself wrote Barr on March 27, arguing that Barrs initial summary of the report did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Offices work and conclusions. The existence of that letter did not become public until the Washington Post reported it on Tuesday, and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released it Wednesday morning.

In his testimony, Barr pushed back on arguments that he had misled the public.

Barr also said Mueller noted emphatically several times that the Office of Legal Counsels policy against the indictment of a sitting President was not a factor in his decision. He acknowledged that Mueller had told him he wanted to put out executive summaries, but that Barr was opposed, because he did not want the report released in piecemeal. And Barr insinuated that Mueller slowed the release of the report, claiming that he had asked him to identify the redacted grand jury material, which he did not do.

The Special Counsel offices former spokesman Peter Carr  who has since resumed his duties in the criminal division of the Department of Justice  declined to comment. But Mueller may soon get his day to speak. The House Judiciary committee has requested that Mueller testify by May 23.

While Barr stated last month  and reiterated Wednesday  that he would have no objection to Mueller testifying, TIME reported April 26 that, according to a committee source, there is still no agreed-upon date, nor a commitment from the Department of Justice that it will happen.
WASHINGTON  As "Medicare for All" increasingly becomes a battle cry for Democrats on Capitol Hill and those running for president, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office weighed in Wednesday on how difficult it could be to move to a single government health care system.

"The transition toward a single-payer system could be complicated, challenging and potentially disruptive," budget analysts wrote.

The report was issued a day after a House committee held a hearing on a bill supported by more than 100 House Democrats that would move the nation to a single, government insurer in two years.

CBO said establishing a single-payer system would be a major undertaking that would involve substantial changes in how people get health care, what care they get, how much providers are paid and who pays the bills.

The report also said:

A single-payer system could substantially reduce the number of uninsured, which currently averages about 29 million people a month. But if undocumented immigrants are not allowed to participate, about 11 million U.S. residents could end up without coverage. (About half of undocumented immigrants have coverage now.)

The changes could significantly affect the U.S. economy. The magnitude of the effect on the nation and individuals is hard to predict because the evidence CBO would rely on to make those predictions comes from much smaller changes to the health care system.

Whether the nation  and individuals  would end up spending more or less on health care would depend on key features such as how much health care providers would be paid, what services would be covered and whether patients would be required to share some of the costs.

Benefits of a single-payer system could include lower administrative costs and more incentives to improve peoples health. But patients may also have longer wait times or reduced access to care if there arent enough physicians to meet increased demand. Patients may also have less choice than they have now.

Expanding access to health insurance through a multi-payer system instead of a single-payer model could be less disruptive and give patients greater choice. But the nation would probably spend more on health care than it would under a single-payer system.

People rally in favor of single-payer health care in South Gate, California, in June 2017.

Most Democrats running for president have voiced support for some version of a Medicare for all system  such as allowing some people without insurance to purchase coverage through Medicare.

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But not all go as far as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who made it a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Still, support for a single government plan has grown enough among the party base that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  who does not back such an approach  allowed the House Rules Committee Tuesday to hold a hearing on a proposal similar to Sanders.

The CBO report was requested by Rep. John Yarmuth, the Kentucky Democrat who heads the House Budget Committee. Yarmuth said he wanted to hear from experts how policy choices would affect costs and care before the Budget Committee holds its own review.

Yarmuth said Wednesday that it's "no longer a matter of if we will have a single-payer health care system in our country, but when."

Many Republicans are eager for Democrats to advance a proposal, hoping to gain a political advantage in the next election by portraying it as a radical government takeover of the health care system.

"We heard all about the majoritys highest priority this Congress, which is  in my view putting everyone on a one-size-fits-all government-run health plan that will double everyones taxes, eliminate choice and put Medicare at risk," Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, the top Republican on the House Rules Committee, said Tuesday.

Polling by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation shows broad support for incremental approaches to nationalizing health care, including letting some people buy into Medicare or Medicaid. But public opinion can shift dramatically depending on how the idea is framed.

A slight majority  56%  surveyed by Kaiser in January backed the idea of all Americans getting insurance from a single government plan. Support shot up to 71%, and opposition fell to 27%, when respondents were told Medicare for all could guarantee health insurance as a right for all Americans.

Levels of support and opposition flipped when respondents were asked their views if the proposal would lead to delays in people getting some medical tests and treatments.

Larry Levitt, senior vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, said the CBO report didn't answer the most important questions of how much a single-payer system would cost or save consumers, the health system, and the federal government.

"Probably the most important message from the CBO report is that the details of how a Medicare-for-all proposal is designed will matter a lot for how much it costs," he tweeted. "Who is eligible? How much cost-sharing do patients have, if any? How much do providers get paid? Which taxes go up?"

Want to read more? Download the USA TODAY app

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Medicare for All' system could be complicated, potentially disruptive, say budget analysts
WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that U.S. military action "is possible" in Venezuela to bolster opposition leader Juan Guaido's bid to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent  military action is possible. If thats whats required, thats what the United States will do, Pompeo told Fox Business on Wednesday.

Pompeo and other officials, including President Donald Trump, have said "all options are on the table" but focused mostly on economic sanctions and other diplomatic tools.

"We are trying to do everything we can to avoid violence.  Wed prefer a peaceful transition of government there where Maduro leaves and a new election is held, Pompeo told Fox.

Soon after Pompeo's remarks, the Pentagon announced that acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan scrubbed a trip to Europe to stay in Washington to coordinate the U.S. response to developments in Venezuela and on the southern border with the Department of Homeland Security.

Pompeo said Tuesday that Maduro was ready to flee Venezuela but changed his mind after Russia persuaded him to stay.

Juan Guaido and the power struggle: What you need to know about the crisis in Venezuela

Venezuela: How the Venezuelan 'coup' didn't get beyond street demonstrations supporting Juan Guaido

He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it, and the Russians indicated he should stay, Pompeo told CNN on Tuesday evening. He said Maduro was headed to Cuba, a close ally of the socialist leader.

Maduro and Russian officials denied Pompeo's account. "Mr. Pompeo, please, what lack of seriousness," Maduro said during a televised meeting.

Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, said at the White House on Wednesday that Maduro would fall if not for the support of as many as 25,000 Cuban soldiers in Venezuela propping him up.

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An anti-government protester walks near a bus that was set on fire by opponents of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro during clashes between rebel and loyalist soldiers in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan GuaidA took to the streets with a small contingent of heavily armed troops early Tuesday in a bold and risky call for the military to rise up and oust Maduro. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

"If this afternoon, 20,000-25,000 Cubans left Venezuela, I think Maduro would fall by midnight," Bolton said. "It's this foreign presence that sits on top of the military, sits on top of the government, that makes it impossible for the people's voice to be heard."

Cuban officials denied Bolton's assertion, saying the country does not have troops or security forces in the country.

Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cubas director-general of U.S. affairs, told The Associated Press there are roughly 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela but virtually all are medical workers.

Bolton and Pompeo have frequently highlighted Maduro's alliance with Cuba and Russia, portraying the internal Venezuelan conflict in broader geopolitical terms. Trump threatened a "full and complete embargo" and the "highest-level sanctions" on Cuba if the country's police and security forces didn't withdraw.

"If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete ... embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba," Trump tweeted Tuesday evening.

Bolton did not elaborate on Trump's threat but said he planned to hold a National Security Council meeting Wednesday afternoon to consider the administration's next move.

"We'll be considering a lot of steps," he said.

Bolton said several top officials in Maduro's regime, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, had been in talks with the opposition and signaled their desire to abandon the socialist leader. Those officials failed to make good on that move, Bolton said, but they remain possible defectors.

"I think Maduro is now surrounded by scorpions in a bottle, and its only a matter of time," Bolton predicted.

Tuesday, Guaido called for a popular uprising and urged the military to support him in his bid to end Maduros usurpation.

Only one high-ranking officer and a small group of soldiers have broken publicly with Maduro, according to The Associated Press.

Across Venezuela, the situation remained fluid Wednesday as Guaido urged Venezuelans to take to the streets for mass protests.

State security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters gathered in a middle-class neighborhood in western Caracas, and National Guardsmen on motorcycles arrived at the El Paraiso neighborhood as opposition demonstrations got underway.

Protesters shouted at the agents, Stop firing at the people!

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook; The Associated Press

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Military action is possible' in Venezuela, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says
More than two years after U.S. President Donald Trump walked away from a regional Asia-Pacific trade agreement, the U.S. and Japan  the worlds largest and third-largest economies  are negotiating a deal of their own. Both sides insist they want a win-win outcome, but as evidenced by the Trump administrations tariff battles with China and the European Union, theres also potential for serious economic damage if things go bad.

1. What are the two sides after?

Trump abhors trade deficits, and the U.S. is determined to reduce the one with Japan, particularly by gaining access for exports by American farmers and automakers. Japan, under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, wants to head off Trumps threatened penalties on auto exports, which could tip it into recession, as well as any currency clause directed at the Japanese yen.

2. Why are these talks happening?

After Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 11 other members (including Japan) went ahead without the U.S. to forge a successor. That pact, which entered into force Dec. 30, and another that Abe struck in 2018 with the EU, have left U.S. farmers at a disadvantage: They risk losing their 22 percent share of Japans food-import market to rivals with lower tariffs. Abe dragged his heels on bilateral talks in the hope that the U.S. would rejoin the TPP rather than press for a better deal. He only agreed to talks in September after Trump hit Japans steel and aluminum exports with punitive tariffs and threatened to impose levies of as much as 25 percent on all imported cars, including those made in Japan.

3. Whats being negotiated?

In addition to agriculture, the first round of talks between Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer included talks on other goods such as autos and auto parts, which make up the biggest portion of the U.S. trade deficit. The U.S. side wants a deal that would help sell American cars in Japan, while Japan wants to avoid damaging tariffs on autos and auto parts that would dent its already lackluster economy. The two sides will also hold discussions on digital trade, but other types of services are off the table, at least for now.

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4. What about the currency clause?

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the U.S. wants any trade deal with Japan to include language that would prevent competitive devaluations  currency moves designed specifically to boost exports. The U.S. made sure similar language was included in its proposed revised trade deal with Mexico and Canada, and that prohibition is expected to be part of any U.S.-China deal. Japan, though, wants to avoid any clause that might tie the Bank of Japans hands. It has argued that currency moves and export volumes no longer correlate. Motegi has repeatedly said that any discussion on currency is between Japans Finance Ministry and the U.S. Treasury Department, under a joint agreement reached in February 2017.

5. How big is the U.S. trade deficit with Japan?

In goods trade, it was 6.5 trillion yen ($58 billion) in 2018. That was down 8.1 percent compared with 2017, the result of weaker car exports from Japan and more imports of aircraft and oil, according to Japans Finance Ministry. Autos and auto parts make up the biggest portion of that deficit, and Trumps trade policy is particularly focused on that sector. The U.S. actually has a trade surplus for services, which has slowly been increasing over the past decade.

6. Whats the timetable?

Both sides have said they want to move quickly, but as with most trade talks, the end date is murky. Abe and Trump are set to meet three times between April and June, potentially giving the talks more momentum. One date to watch is May 18, by which (unless theres an extension) Trump is supposed to decide whether to levy threatened tariffs of as much as 25 percent on imported cars.

7. Whats motivating Japan?

Goldman Sachs estimates that with new tariffs of just 10 percent, Japans gross domestic product could be cut by more than 0.2 percentage point. Abe also plans to raise the national sales tax in October, to 10 percent from 8 percent, to bolster the governments revenue base. With the Japanese economy already flirting with the possibility of a technical recession, that could have a host of other consequences, including forcing the Bank of Japan to take action.

8. What about the U.S.?

With a presidential election in 2020, Trump will face questions on his achievements in rebalancing Americas trade relationships, one of his major campaign pledges. For now, the report card is full of incompletes: Theres resistance in the U.S. Congress to ratifying the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, known as USMCA, Trumps preferred alternative to the deal known as Nafta. The trade war in China, meantime, has hurt both sides. Lighthizer told U.S. lawmakers in March that hes aware of the precarious situation American farmers are in, and that winning market access for agriculture products in Japan is a high priority. Farm states were an important block of support for Trump in 2016.
Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

The latest round of must-see D.C. testimony took place today, as Attorney General William Barr sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions about Robert Muellers report on Russian election interference. Heres what happened:

Lindsey Graham admitted that he hasnt read the full report.

Before Barrs testimony, Committee chairman Lindsey Graham set the stage by declaring that he hasnt read the full Muller report. But I can say I read most of it, he said. He went on to defend the Trump campaign and use a string of words very important the man in the White House. No collusion, no coordination, no conspiracy, Graham said.

.@LindseyGrahamSC begins the hearing with a self-own, admits he hasn't read the whole Mueller report pic.twitter.com/6CLDARzlB6  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2019

Then he called Trump a fucking idiot (sort of).

Graham then started talking about the Clinton campaign, the investigation into her email server, and the text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. During this section of his statement, Graham said, Trump is a fucking idiot, quoting a text from Strzok, the former FBI agent who led the investigation into Russian interference.

sir this is an Arby's pic.twitter.com/PaTsQyjdzc  Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 1, 2019

Barr threw Mueller under the bus.

Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that Mueller wrote to Barr complaining that the AGs four-page summary of his report did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the full investigation. Barr snapped back early in his testimony, blaming Mueller for the long delay in releasing the full report.

Barr begins his testimony blaming the Mueller team for not identifying grand jury material after being asked (according to Barr), making clear how wide open the breach between them is now.  southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 1, 2019

Barr then pushed Mueller even further under the bus.

Barr just basically said Mueller didn't do his job when he chose not to make a recommendation on obstruction.  Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) May 1, 2019

BARR: "The other thing that was confusing to me was that the investigation carried on for awhile as additional episodes [of obstruction] were looked into. The question is, or was, why were those investigated at the end of the day If you werent going to reach a decision?"  Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 1, 2019

Feinstein tried to establish obstruction.

As the first Democrat to have a shot at Barr, Senator Dianne Feinstein honed in on Trumps attempt to get former White House counsel Don McGahn to oust Mueller. Barr defended Trump in a few different ways, including by saying that the big guy was just cranky.

Unbelievable. #Barr is saying that the fact that President Trump didn't like the investigation was a legitimate ground to fire #Mueller. That would excuse Nixon's cover-up of Watergate.  Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) May 1, 2019

Dick Durbin did a comedy routine.

Not 20 minutes into the hearing, the Illinois Democrat was already tired of hearing Republicans talk about Hillary Clintons emails.

Dick Durbin is going in on the GOP's diversionary Hillary tactics and Barr and he came to slay all day, folks. pic.twitter.com/9O04klX4ba  Real Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) May 1, 2019

Barr reminded senators of the chain of command.

During questioning by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Barr made it clear that he is in charge at the Justice Department, not Robert Mueller. And when Mueller turned is his report to the DOJ, Barr said, it became my baby.

Barr says he thought of Mueller report as "my baby" after Mueller turned it over to his office pic.twitter.com/65PZ2686Ru  TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) May 1, 2019

Ben Sasse went off on Oleg Deripaska.

Senator Ben Sasse was one of the few Republicans on the panel to not use his time to talk about Hillary Clinton. Instead, he wanted to talk about the rules governing the involvement of foreign governments in elections. He also called Oleg Deripaska, a Russian metals magnate and friend of Vladimir Putin, a bottom-feeding scum sucker.

Should a campaign contact the FBI after a foreign government offers its help? Yes, Barr said.

Senator Chris Coons asked Barr what a campaign should do if a foreign adversary were to offer a presidential campaign dirt on his or her opponent. Should they immediately contact the FBI? Barr hesitated, then said yes, specifying that if a foreign intelligence service were to offer the dirt, then a campaign should reach out to the FBI.

Why does this matter? Because the Trump campaign was offered dirt on Hillary Clinton in the summer of 2016, leading to the now-infamous Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and members of Trumps team. The offer, though, came via a British music publicist.

AG Barr says a 2020 presidential campaign should contact the FBI if a foreign intelligence service reaches out with "dirt" on another candidate https://t.co/VVR9ntwuBq pic.twitter.com/ONKxhAr9Wv  CBS News (@CBSNews) May 1, 2019

Mazie Hirono called on Barr to resign.

Senator Mazie Hirono got right down to business, beginning her questioning by saying that Barr had sacrificed his reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office. She accused Barr of behaving as Trumps lawyer and lying to Congress. She also called on him to resign.

Sen. Mazie Hirono to Attorney General William Barr on his handling of special counsel Muellers report: Youve chosen to be the presidents lawyer and side with him over the interests of the American people. https://t.co/TfPZTJ4wu7 pic.twitter.com/1wC01QAREe  ABC News (@ABC) May 1, 2019

But Lindsey Graham jumped in to defend Barr.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) interrupts Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and shuts her down after she repeatedly "slandered" Attorney General Bill Barr at his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. pic.twitter.com/1qMkT9ydTb  Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) May 1, 2019

Kamala Harris broke Barrs brain.

The third presidential candidate to take a crack at Barr, after Senators Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker, Senator Kamala Harris was the first to nail him down. The moment come when she asked if the White House had asked Barr to open an investigation on anyone.

This was a straight forward question from Sen. Harris, Barr's inability to answer it is .... odd



HARRIS: Has the president or anyone at the White House asked you to open an investigation into anyone?



Barr: uhhhhh \_()_/ pic.twitter.com/e8J84bbcbC  Lis Power (@LisPower1) May 1, 2019

Booker was among the many who appreciated Harriss performance.

i am cory booker's left eyebrow as kamala harris is grilling bill barr pic.twitter.com/rA2EK1QHgx  Oliver Willis (@owillis) May 1, 2019

When I asked voters at early Harris events how they heard about her, it was usually televised exchanges like this. Barr making an in-kind contribution. https://t.co/uJfaNH6jgG  Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) May 1, 2019

The other senators should hire Kamala Harris to be like a player/coach designated questioner instead of all wasting time with their rambling.  Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) May 1, 2019

Hi, 911? I'd like to report a murder.



Kamala Harris just killed AG Barr's credibility. #BarrHearing  Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) May 1, 2019

Another key exchange between Harris and Barr came after she asked the AG if he personally reviewed the evidence underlying the Mueller report prior to making a decision on whether Trump committed obstruction.

WATCH: Sen. Kamala Harris grills Attorney General Bill Barr on whether he reviewed all of Mueller's evidence before making a decision on obstruction. pic.twitter.com/LYcx34TlfB  Axios (@axios) May 1, 2019

Barr made a big admission.

AG Barr now admits under questioning from Sen Durbin that he had already been working on decision saying Trump did not commit obstruction -- before receiving the Mueller report or having anyone look at it.  Susan Glasser (@sbg1) May 1, 2019
An Arizona couple is speaking out after their 1-year-old daughter Mila was returned from day care covered in bite marks last week.

Rocio Enriquez told KGUN that when her husband, Rylee Umsted, went to pick up their daughter on April 25 from day care at Sunrise Preschools in Maricopa, he discovered large bite marks all over the child's back.

"She was shaking and I knew she didn't want to be there," Umsted told the station.

According to the couple, day care employees claimed the incident took place about twenty minutes before Mila's father picked her up, adding that it happened in a "very short" time span.

"[The employee] told me there were three children in the classroom including my daughter," Enriquez said. "A teacher was changing a diaper ... when another child went on top of her and started biting her."

However, Enriquez says she remains skeptical of the school's version of the story.

"One bite mark that you look at you'd be like, she'd be screaming bloody murder," she added. "So I want to know if someone heard a scream, where was management?"

Dana Vela, the president of Sunrise Preschools, issued an apology following the incident, writing that the caregiver responsible "has been suspended without pay pending further investigation" and the child who bit Mila has been expelled.

"This incident was heartbreaking and unacceptable and we are working diligently to ensure it does not happen again," Vela continued. "We are reviewing all policies and procedures and will take whatever steps are needed to prevent this rare but serious matter from repeating itself."

In response, Lashawna Goulburne, the mother of the 2-year-old boy who bit Mila, defended her toddler son, asserting that "he's not at fault here."

"He's 2 and we pay," she told KGUN. "Not only me, but the other family. We pay for our children to be protected and be monitored and safe."
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas university is drawing criticism after accepting a scholarship endowment from the estate of a former professor who reportedly assigned graduate students books that deny the Holocaust.

Dozens of students protested Tuesday at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville against the approximately $190,900 endowment from the estate of former history professor Michael Link.

In December, the university announced the scholarship in a press release, saying the endowment will be presented yearly to a senior student majoring in history who demonstrates financial need.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, opposes the university accepting the scholarship money with Link's name attached to it, and has proposed naming the scholarship only after his mother, whose name is also on the gift.

In a 2005 letter to the college's president at the time, history professor James Moses said Link assigned students to select one of eight or nine books on the Holocaust to "explore the variations in interpretation of the Holocaust in history." But three of the books Link had included alarmed Moses, who called the works "ahistorical, hate-filled, neo-Nazi propaganda."

The list included "Debunking the Genocide Myth," published by Noontide Press, which the ADL calls a pro-Nazi publisher, and "Made in Russia," which attempts to frame the Nuremberg Trials as faked by the Soviet Union and Jews.

Moses said Link defended the choices as offering a wide range of views on the event, a defense that did not satisfy the history department.

After he sent the letter, Moses said the university took immediate steps to remove the Holocaust from the course. Moses recalls Link being removed from the graduate faculty and the university forbidding him from teaching the next semester, actions which satisfied Moses.

He also stridently argued that he had never personally heard, or was made aware of by anyone, any anti-Semitic views by the Link. It wasn't for lack of trying, Moses said, recalling how after 2005 he would sometimes eavesdrop outside of Link's office, which was near his, to "catch" him. Nothing ever came up.

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But English professor Sarah Stein, who initially raised the concern over naming a scholarship for Link in December, said she's talked with a handful people who knew the professor and who say he expressed skepticism over the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

She said that Wednesday, the university's faculty senate voted unanimously to request that President Robin Bowen ask the estate to change the scholarship's name. Samuel Strasner, a spokesman for the university, said she did not intend to do so.

Link, who started at the school in 1965, continued teaching until his death at age 79 in 2016, though he was not promoted past associate professor.

Strasner said the university has "taken the concerns seriously," during a review which consulted with former students and faculty, "no evidence has been found" that Link taught Holocaust denial.

The university intends to keep the scholarship absent any new evidence, he said.

Aaron Ahlquist, ADL's south central region director, said if they university can't change the name, they should reject the money. The ADL cites Link's dissertation and a book he published in 1977, which they say subtly blame Jews for political persecution and refer to Jewish stereotypes.

"A named scholarship is a significant honor," he said. "They have the evidence they need to understand that he, at his heart, was a Holocaust denier and this should not be a difficult decision."

Administrators for Link's estate could not be reached for comment.

Moses said he would understand if the university rejected the money on moral principles, but also knows the scholarship money could benefit a financially distressed student.

"The guy was a crank. He's been dead three years. He has utterly no influence, no lasting legacy in this university," Moses said. "But that money  oh my God, what good could that money do with students who otherwise could not afford to come here, and who then be exposed to the very sorts of classes that would be in opposition to what we assume he thought."

___

Follow Hannah Grabenstein on Twitter at www.twitter.com/hgrabenstein
London (AFP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in jail for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.

The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador gave him up, will serve the nearly one-year sentence while fighting a separate attempt to transfer him to the United States.

The 47-year-old, his shaggy beard neatly trimmed, raised his fist to supporters in the public gallery at London's Southwark Crown Court as he was taken down to the cells.

They shouted "Shame on you!" towards the court.

WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson called the sentence an "outrage" at a press conference outside and said that focus would now shift to preventing Assange's extradition to the US.

"It will be a question of life and death," he warned.

Assange fled to Ecuador's embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.

He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over the release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.

At the sentencing hearing, his lawyer Mark Summers said Assange had been "gripped" by "reasonable fears" that he would face rendition to the US.

"As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned," the lawyer said.

In a letter read out on his behalf, Assange expressed regret, saying: "I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done."

But judge Deborah Taylor said it was "difficult to envisage a more serious example" of breaching bail, accusing Assange of exploiting "your privileged position to flout the law".

There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed.

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However, Assange is facing a US extradition request, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest, when he was dragged shouting from the embassy by police.

- US hacking conspiracy charge -

Assange appeared in court within hours of his arrest, and a judge found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions.

The biggest concern for his lawyers is the US extradition request. An initial hearing in the case has been scheduled for this Thursday.

The US indictment charges him with "conspiracy" for working with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password stored on Department of Defence computers in March 2010.

Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing US military wrong-doing in the Iraq war and diplomatic secrets about scores of countries.

Assange could face up to five years in jail if found guilty, although his team is fighting his extradition and the process could take years.

The charge has raised serious concerns among free speech advocates, including politicians such as British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

WikiLeaks is also back in the news in the United States, over its alleged role in the leak of Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 US presidential election.

The Swedish claims against Assange date back to 2010, when he was at the centre of a global storm over WikiLeaks' exposures.

The sexual assault claim expired in 2015, but while the rape claim was dropped in 2017, the alleged victim wants the case reopened.

If Stockholm makes a formal extradition request, Britain must decide whether to consider it before or after that of the United States.

A group of British lawmakers have urged the Swedish case to take precedence, saying the rights of the alleged victims must not be lost in the political row.
Atlanta-based b2b company SalesLoft has secured $70 million in Series D funding, according to company database Crunchbase, topping the citys recent funding headlines. The cash infusion was announced on April 25.

According to its Crunchbase profile, "SalesLoft is the leading sales engagement platform, helping sales organizations to deliver a better sales experience for their customers. More than 2,000 customers use the companys category-leading sales engagement platform to engage in more relevant, authentic and sincere ways, including Square, MuleSoft, Alteryx and Dell. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional offices in San Francisco and New York, SalesLoft has more than 300 employees and was recognized as the best place to work in Atlanta."

The eight-year-old company has raised six previous funding rounds, including a $50 million Series C round in 2018.

The round brings total funding raised by Atlanta companies in sales and marketing over the past month to $107 million, an increase of $87 million from the month before. The local sales and marketing industry has seen 19 funding rounds over the past year, yielding a total of $179 million in venture funding.

In other local funding news, e-commerce and marketing company FullStory announced a $32 million Series C funding round on April 24, led by Stripes Group.

According to Crunchbase, "FullStory is an app that captures all your customer experience data in one powerful, easy-to-use platform. Its tiny script unlocks pixel-perfect session playback, automatic insights, funnel analytics and robust search and segmentation  empowering everyone in your organization to help build the best online experience for your customers."

Founded in 2012, the company has raised three previous rounds, including a $15 million Series B round in 2017.

Meanwhile, supply chain management company STORD raised $12 million in Series A funding, announced on April 5. The round's investors were led by Kleiner Perkins.

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From the company's Crunchbase profile, "STORD gives companies of all sizes the warehousing and freight coverage, real-time inventory visibility and high-touch operations support needed to grow customers, out-deliver the competition and adapt to change. Powered by a nationwide network of trusted 3PL partners, innovative software, and great people, STORDs One Network, One Platform, One Partner solution makes it easy to build, enhance and optimize distribution. The company's mission is to empower modern shippers to move products brilliantly."

STORD last raised $2.6 million in seed funding in 2018.

This story was created automatically using local investment data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
District Atlanta. | Photo: Jennifer L./Yelp

If you love to take advantage of the live music offerings near you, this week offers several great reasons to leave the house.

From a violinist to a folk duo, read on for a local music to-do list to fill your calendar this week.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

The Brookses



The Brookses will take the stage at this concert event. It will help launch the release of their new debut album. The father-daughter duo specializes in folk music.

When: Thursday, May 2, 8 p.m.

Where: Red Light Cafe, 553-1 Amsterdam Ave. NE

Price: $5

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Borgeous



Borgeous will take the stage during this concert event. He specializes in house music. District Atlanta is hosting the 21 and older show.

When: Friday, May 3, 10 p.m.- Saturday, May 4, 3 a.m.

Where: District Atlanta, 269 Armour Drive NE

Price: $20 (General Admission). More ticket options are available.

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Timmy Trumpet

Timmy Trumpet specializes in psychedelic trance and electro house music. This is a 21 and older show. Ravine is serving as the host venue.

When: Friday, May 3, 10 p.m.- Saturday, May 4, 3 a.m.

Where: Ravine, 1021 Peachtree St.

Price: $20 (General Admission). More ticket options are available.

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

This story was created automatically using local event data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Photo: Keagan Henman/Unsplash

If you love to take advantage of the live music offerings near you, this week offers several great reasons to leave the house.

From a concert by psychedelic rock band Blac Rabbit to live music on the banks of a lake, read on for a local music to-do list to fill your calendar this week.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Blac Rabbit at the Mohawk

From the event description:

The Mohawk is hosting psychedelic rock band Blac Rabbit on Thursday. Growing up surrounded by hip hop culture and all its glory in Brooklyn, the Amiri and Rahiem Taylor had more exposure in their house to pop, funk and soul music from the 60s, 70s and 80s. After graduating from high school, the identical twins formed Blac Rabbits and began playing original psychedelic rock tunes.

When: Thursday, May 2, 8 p.m.

Where: Mohawk // Inside, 912 Red River St.

Price: $10

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Xeno & Oaklander at the Mohawk

From the event description:

Catch the musical duo, Xeno & Oaklander, on Friday as they bring a rich love of analog synths, melody and mythology with eloquent nuance and a nod to the heritage they draw from. From the film scores to the traditional albums theyve recorded in their Brooklyn studio, theyve both spurred and fostered the global synth wave revival through a commitment to analog-only production and performance, as well as a strident respect for the medium. Plastic Ivy and Bridle are the supporting acts.

When: Friday, May 3, 8 p.m.

Where: Mohawk, 912 Red River St.

Price: $12

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Friday Rooftop Party

From the event description:

On the rooftop of Maggie Mae's, take in the views of downtown while partying to the sounds of Austin DJs, A/C and Ken indamixx and enjoying drink specials.

When: Friday, May 3, 9 p.m.-2 a.m.

Where: Maggie Mae's, 323 E. Sixth St.

Price: Free

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Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Lakeside Live Free Music Shows

From the event description:

For the entire month of May, the Ski Shores Cafe is hosting Lakeside Live with free music shows every weekend. The first show is with Stephen Newberry.

When: Saturday, May 4, 5-8 p.m.

Where: Ski Shores Cafe, 3103 Pearce Road

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Cinco De Mayo Silent Party  Up to 59% Off

From the Cinco De Mayo Silent Disco deal description:

Celebrate Cinco De Mayo at a silent disco dance party where attendees don wireless headphones and turn them to various stations, then boogie on the dance floor amidst other revelers dancing to whatevers in their headphones. Expect to choose from top 40, Electronic Dance Music, tunes from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, as well as hip hop and R&B.

When: Saturday, May 4, 10 p.m.

Where: 501 Brushy St., East Austin

Price: $6 (50 percent discount off regular price)

Click here for more details, and to get this deal

This story was created automatically using local event data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
In a big win for India, the United Nations Security Council has designated Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. He was named a global terrorist by the UNSC 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee on Wednesday after China lifted its hold on a proposal in this regard by the United States, United Kingdom and France.

Confirming the UN decision on Masood Azhar, Syed Akbaruddin, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, tweeted: "Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in UN Sanctions list."

Big,small, all join together.



Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list



Grateful to all for their support. #Zerotolerance4Terrorism  Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) May 1, 2019

The UN decision to designate Masood Azhar a global terrorist marks a major victory for India's decade-long diplomatic efforts towards this goal. At the same time, US, UK and France have been continuously holding negotiations with China at the UNSC to withdraw its hold on including Azhar's name in the UNSC sanctions list. China had placed a hold on the proposal back on March 13.

This is also the first time that a terrorist is being listed by the UN following an attack in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Masood Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammed had taken the responsibility for the attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 security personnel in February this year.

In the past, the designations were consequent to acts of violence in various parts of India, except for Jammu and Kashmir. Lashkar-e-Taiba and its leaders Hafiz Saeed, and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi were banned for 2008 Mumbai terror attack. Jaish-e-Mohammad was designated a banned organisation after the 2001 parliament attack. None for their involvement in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The dossier on Masood Azhar submitted by India stated that he had close ties with Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in the past. The document claimed that Azhar had been active in the jihadist circles in Kashmir, Afghansistan and Somalia. Of late, he has also expanded Jaish's operational focus by joining the Afghan Taliban in attacks against the government and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The dossier also stated that Jaish has ramped up its induction drives and fund raising efforts.

ALSO READ:WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange sentenced to jail for almost a year
Australia will see a "step change" in engagement with Asia and a more "considered" policy toward China if Labor wins the next election, the party's would-be foreign minister vowed Wednesday.

Penny Wong -- who would become the country's first Asian-Australian top diplomat if her party continues to lead the conservative government into the May 18 vote -- signalled the election would bring a foreign policy pivot to Asia.

Promising policies that would see more Asian languages taught in Australian schools and an increase in Aussie diplomats abroad, Malaysian-born Wong also signalled her wish to have a more constructive relationship with Beijing.

"We don't pre-emptively frame China only as a threat," she said, drawing contrast with Prime Minister Scott Morrison's administration.

Like Labor governments before, she promised a "more considered, disciplined and consistent approach to the management of Australia's relationship with China."

Successive Australian administrations have struggled to balance a vital trading relationship with China and the Chinese government's authoritarian reflex.

That balance has become more fraught as Xi Jinping has consolidated power and looked to exercise China's regional clout to take advantage of waning US influence.

- 'New phase' -

Wong acknowledged that the relationship with China "may become harder to manage in the future."

"At times our interests will differ. And challenges in the relationship may intensify... We must be grounded in the realities. China is not a democracy nor does it share our commitment to the rule of law."

But she said the realities of the region were changing: "Those realities include the fact that China will remain important to Australia's prosperity."

"It is not simply a matter of a 'diplomatic reset.' Fundamentally, we are in a new phase in the relationship."

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Across Asia, smaller nations like Australia are grappling with a China that is both more important and less wedded to the rule of law -- more willing to act in retribution if its growing influence is challenged.

A decision to limit Huawei's role in developing Australia's 5G network has brought furious condemnations and coincided with some Australian coal exports to China being blocked at ports of entry.

Donald Trump's ascent to the US presidency and his limited interest in international rules, norms and decades-old alliances has only complicated matters further for Canberra, traditionally one of Washington's closest allies.

Wong backed a relationship with the United States that is "fundamental" to Australian security, but acknowledged "power is shifting."

"The global order we have known and relied upon since World War Two is being transformed."

That change has raised difficult questions in Australia, which has long seen itself as an outpost of Westernism in the South Pacific, but which demographically, culturally and economically is becoming more closely intertwined with Asia.

"Australia's prosperity and security is shaped by the region in which we live  the Indo-Pacific," Wong said, adding that the possibility of an Asian-Australian foreign minister was testament to that fact.

"What is significant about that possibility is not my personal attributes," she said, "rather, what would be significant about an Asian Australian being our foreign minister is what it says about us. What it says about who we are."

"Southeast Asia is not just our region, it is where I was born"

Painting Australia as "independent, multicultural" and "confident of our place in the world", Wong said her first visit abroad as foreign minister would be to Indonesia and Malaysia.
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An Australian court on Wednesday found a man guilty of plotting to blow up an Etihad Airways flight out of Sydney at the behest of the Islamic State militant group, by hiding a bomb in the luggage of his brother. Police had accused the man, Khaled Khayat, and another brother, Mahmoud Khayat, of planning two terrorist attacks that also included a chemical gas attack on the flight to Abu Dhabi in July 2017, police said. The third brother was unaware that he was carrying a bomb, disguised as a meat mincer, in his luggage, as he tried to check in at the airport, police said. But the device was taken out of his luggage when it was deemed too heavy and the bomb never made it past airport security. Khaled and Mahmoud Khayat were arrested weeks later after a series of raids in Sydney. "The jury this afternoon returned a guilty verdict for Khaled and is still deliberating in respect of Mahmoud," a spokeswoman for the New South Wales Supreme Court said. Police had alleged that high-grade military explosives used to make the bomb were sent by air cargo from Turkey as part of a plot "inspired and directed" by Islamic state. Khaled's sentence hearing has been set for July 26. The charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in November the likelihood of a terror attack in Australia remained at the "probable" level, after a fatal stabbing in Melbourne that police said was inspired by Islamic State. Australia has a five-level terror threat ranking system and "probable" is its midpoint. The threat likelihood has been set at probable since the system was introduced in 2015. In December 2014, two hostages were killed during a 17-hour siege by a "lone wolf" gunman, inspired by Islamic State militants, in a cafe in Sydney. (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Australia's tax authority is stepping up its effort to police the use of cryptocurrencies, fearing many investments and gains are not correctly declared.

The Australian Taxation Office is to begin monitoring transaction data from selected crypto providers in a bid to weed out evasion, Deputy Commissioner Will Day told AFP Wednesday.

"This is the first time the ATO has used its formal information gathering powers to obtain bulk customer and transaction data on cryptocurrency from a number of designated service providers," he said.

Between 500,000 and a million Australians are believed to have invested in crypto-assets such as bitcoin.

Authorities around the world have long been concerned about the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal transactions linked to drug trafficking, terrorism and money laundering.

But as investing in such assets has become more mainstream, governments have also focused efforts on getting their fair slice for the public purse.

According to data provider CoinMarketCap there are more than 2,000 cryptocurrencies in existence, with Wall Street banks and traditional financial firms getting in on the act.

In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service has issued limited guidance on the tax implications of investing in virtual currencies, but enforcement remains a work in progress.

Day said the data would tell the Australian authorities about purchases, sales and ultimately verify whether capital gains tax and other taxes are correctly declared.

The providers were selected to "ensure we have good coverage of the cryptocurrency market", said Day.

"The data will be collected on an ongoing basis and we will continue to expand the number of providers from which we will acquire data from over time."

Day added "it is difficult to measure the full extent of compliance behaviour" or how much money would be recouped.

"Cryptocurrency activity is not a specific label on the tax return and is included in labels that relate to capital gains tax, amongst others, depending on the nature of the activity."
Vienna (AFP) - Austria's far-right leader and vice chancellor on Wednesday denounced what he called "population replacement", using a controversial term his critics insist is rooted in racist conspiracy theory.

Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party (FPOe), said "population replacement" in Austria was "a reality that cannot be denied", in comments to journalists following a cabinet meeting.

He was responding to criticism of remarks in an interview with the Sunday newspaper Kronen Zeitung, in which he said his party was fighting "population replacement".

This term is associated with a racist conspiracy theory popular in far-right circles, known as the "great replacement". It argues that the white, European -- and Christian -- population is being "replaced" by a population of non-white, Muslim migrants.

On Wednesday, Strache dismissed criticism of the term as "quibbling" designed to stifle discussion of a real problem.

"Population replacement", he said, was "a concept that we have always used. We have always warned against the mistaken policies of massive immigration", he added.

Strache occupies the second-highest position in government and his party is part of the ruling coalition with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's centre-right People's Party (OeVP).

- 'Extremely dangerous signal' -

On Sunday, several Austrian opposition figures denounced what they saw as Strache's reference to this theory, the Liberal NEOS party describing it as "an extremely dangerous signal".

But Strache insisted Wednesday that nobody could tell him what language to use.

He was standing next to Chancellor Kurz at the news conference, who a few hours earlier on state television channel ORF had himself expressed his disapproval of the use of the term.

But in the same interview, Kurz defended his coalition with Strache's FPOe party. "When you have a coalition partner, there are always moments when something doesn't suit you," he said.

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It is not the first time in recent weeks that Kurz has had to distance himself from his coalition partners.

In April, he condemned a poem written by the FPOe deputy mayor in Hitler's home Braunau, Upper Austria, that compared foreign migrants to rats. Strache intervened and the party announced that the politician responsible would be stepping down.

In March, the FPOe expelled two of its local councillors after a police investigation revealed that they had shared Hitler photos and quotes on WhatsApp.

And the FPOe was recently accused of having links to the extremist Europe-wide Identitarian Movement (IBOe), whose Austrian leader received a donation from the suspect in the New Zealand mosque shootings.

Strache has insisted his party has nothing to do with the movement. But opposition politicians have denounced what they say is a system of thought inside the party, which was founded in the 1950s by former Nazis.
PARIS/DUBAI, May 1 (Reuters) - Bahrain's foreign minister gave a frosty response on Wednesday after French President Emmanuel Macron urged the Gulf Arab state to resume political dialog with the opposition.

Bahrain's ruling Sunni Al Khalifa family has kept a lid on dissent since the Shi'ite opposition staged a failed uprising in 2011 in the country, base of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. The state has ruled out any dialog after reconciliation talks collapsed in 2014 and accused the opposition of working with arch enemy Iran.

Macron, after a meeting with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Paris, "encouraged the Bahraini authorities to continue their efforts to re-establish a political dialog that includes all components of Bahraini society," said a presidency statement issued on Tuesday.

"He stressed that the guarantee of rights was inseparable from stability," it added.

Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on Wednesday that no such dialog took place, posting on Twitter that Macron "did not raise any subject related to a political dialog.."

He said the Gulf Arab state had legislative institutions through which political dialog continuously takes place and said Macron praised King Hamad's policies of "reforms and openness and encouraged to continue on that approach."

A French presidential source, responding to a Reuters' request for comment on the Twitter post, said the French government had contacts with Bahraini authorities on Wednesday on various subjects including "inclusive political dialog."

Since the 2011 protests, quashed with the help of Saudi forces, Bahrain has prosecuted hundreds of activists in mass trials and banned the main opposition groups. Most of the country's leading opposition figures and rights activists are imprisoned or have fled abroad.

The government denies using repressive methods against the opposition and says it is protecting national security. (Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai and Marine Pennetier in Paris; editing by John Stonestreet)
William Barr defended his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers findings hours after the revelation that Mueller objected that the attorney general misrepresented his report on Russia interference in the 2016 election.Muellers report didnt come in the form Barr expected and he felt he needed to notify the people as to the bottom-line conclusion before a redacted version could be released, the attorney general said Wednesday at the opening of the first congressional hearing on Muellers 448-page report since its release last month.While Mueller argued that his summaries should be released quickly, Barr said, I told Bob that I was not interested in putting out summaries and I was not interested in putting out the report piecemeal.

Mueller contacted Barr to express his displeasure after Barr issued a four-page letter in March characterizing the main findings of Muellers investigation.

The summary letter the department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, Mueller wrote.

Mueller wrote that Barrs letter created public confusion about important parts of the results of the special counsels 22-month probe. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations, Mueller wrote in the letter reported Tuesday evening by the Washington Post.

While the Justice Department portrayed it as a friendly difference of opinion, Representative Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said on CBS This Morning that Barr should resign because he deliberately misled Congress when he testified he didnt know whether Mueller agreed with his summary of the findings.

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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the Judiciary panels chairman, opened the hearings by saying he was satisfied with Muellers report and said for me, it is over.

But Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, said that Muellers report contained substantial evidence of misconduct and that the committee needed to hear directly from the special counsel.

In opening testimony for Wednesdays hearing, Barr recounted and defended his process for handling Muellers report without mentioning the disagreement with the special counsel.

The attorney general also indicated that he and other department officials would stop publicly discussing the report because it is a matter for the American people and the political process, according to the statement.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement Tuesday evening that Barr called Mueller after receiving the special counsels letter.

In a cordial and professional conversation, the special counsel emphasized that nothing in the attorney generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading, Kupec said in the statement. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the special counsels obstruction analysis.

Barr said in his letter, and in a news conference shortly before the report was released, that Mueller had closed his inquiry without deciding whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice. Barr said that meant he needed to make the decision. He said that he, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, concluded that there wasnt sufficient evidence for criminal charges.

Barrs characterization of Muellers findings stood uncontested until a redacted version of Muellers report was released on April 18.

In fact, Mueller said he didnt make a traditional prosecution judgment on obstruction, mainly because he decided to abide by a Justice Department policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Yet he cited at least 10 examples of efforts to interfere in the investigation and pointedly added, If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.

Defending Barrs call on obstruction of justice, Graham said Mueller said, Mr. Barr, you decide  and Barr did. Mueller never made such a request.

Graham also renewed his call for an investigation into what he and other Republicans portray as anti-Trump sentiment that they say tainted the early stages of the Russia investigation and the 2016 investigation into Democrat Hillary Clintons use of a private email server.

While other Democrats on the Senate panel awaited their turns to quiz Barr, a hearing scheduled for Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee may be even more acrimonious  if it takes place. The Justice Department has resisted a format that would let the committees Democratic and Republican counsels grill Barr for as long as 30 minutes at a stretch after initial five-minute exchanges with lawmakers.

Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York, said Tuesday night that the special counsels concerns reflect our own. The attorney general should not have taken it upon himself to describe the special counsels findings in a light more favorable to the president. It was only a matter of time before the facts caught up to him.

A House subpoena issued by Nadler calls for the production of the entire report, and underlying material, by Wednesday.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, however, expressed confidence in Barrs handling of the release of the Mueller report, according to Jessica Andrews, a spokeswoman.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares for tomorrows hearing, she said Tuesday night, House Democrats have another opportunity to put partisan politics aside and recognize Attorney General Barr has conducted himself in an exemplary manner.
A total of 16 security personnel have been killed in an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) blast carried out by Naxals in Gadchiroli area of Maharashtra on Wednesday. The high-intensity land-mine blast was executed by Naxals on a police vehicle, which was carrying 16 security personnel, reported ANI. The blast took place on the Kurkheda-Korchi road in Gadchiroli when a team of the C-60 commandos, an anti-Naxal unit, was patrolling the area. The attack happened a day after Naxals torched as many as 36 police vehicles on Tuesday night. Heavy exchange of fire is underway between police and Naxals at the site of blast in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. Condemning the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the perpetrators of such violence would not be spared. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also said the attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli was an act of cowardice and desperation.

Here are the latest updates on IED bast in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra.

3:44PM: "It would not be right to term this as an intelligence failure. It is a dastardly attack, we will try our best that such incidents are not repeated. Our people are present at the spot, more information will come out by today evening," said Maharashtra DGP Subodh Jaiswal.

Subodh Jaiswal, DGP Maharashtra: It would not be right to term this as an intelligence failure. It is a dastardly attack, we will try our best that such incidents are not repeated. Our people are present at the spot, more information will come out by today evening. https://t.co/Mp2Yt1TsW7  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

3:35PM: "We are prepared to give a befitting reply to this attack (Gadchiroli Naxal attack). Operations are going on in the area to ensure that no further casualties take place," said Maharashtra DGP Subodh Jaiswal.

Subodh Jaiswal, DGP Maharashtra: We are prepared to give a befitting reply to this attack (Gadchiroli Naxal attack); Operations are going on in the area to ensure that no further casualties take place. pic.twitter.com/wZeKfEzAh2  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

3.15 PM: Congress party indulges in politics over the killing of jawans: "...390 Jawans have been martyred in Naxal attacks in past 5 years that expose hollow claims by Modi Govt of securing India," says Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Strongly condemn the attack on C-60 Commandos in Gadchiroli. My condolences to their families. Their sacrifice would not go in vain. 390 Jawans have been martyred in Naxal attacks in past 5 years that expose hollow claims by Modi Govt of securing India. https://t.co/RH7yCkcyQE - Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) May 1, 2019

I strongly condemn this attack and we will fight this menace with even more and stronger efforts. I also spoke to Hon Union Home Minister @rajnathsingh ji and briefed him about the situation in Maharashtra. - Chowkidar Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) May 1, 2019

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families. I'm in touch with DGP and Gadchiroli SP," says Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

2.45 PM: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also condemned the attack, saying attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli "is an act of cowardice and desperation".

Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri @Dev_Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration. 2/2 - Chowkidar Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 1, 2019

Attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli is an act of cowardice and desperation. We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel. Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain. My deepest condolences to their families. 1/2 - Chowkidar Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 1, 2019

2.41 PM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly condemned the despicable attack on security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. "Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," he tweeted.

2.39 PM: "The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," says Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

2.36 PM: Exchange of fire underway between Police and Naxals.

#UPDATE Maharashtra: 10 security personnel injured in an IED blast by naxals in Gadchiroli. The blast was executed by naxals on a police vehicle which was carrying 16 security personnel. pic.twitter.com/PXBJaqPuF1  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

2.32 PM: Gadchiroli Naxal Attack: It was a high-intensity land-mine blast, says agency reports.

2.28 PM: A total of 15 police personnel and a driver have lost lives in this incident, confirms Maharashtra state minister.

Sudhir Mungantiwar, Maharashtra Minister on Gadchiroli naxal attack: We suspect that 15 police jawaans and a driver have lost their lives in this incident. pic.twitter.com/M2NSkF1DoW  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

2.27 PM: The attack happened a day after Naxals torched as many as 36 police vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district on Tuesday night.

2.24 PM: The blast took place on the Kurkheda-Korchi road in Gadchiroli when a team of the C-60 commandoes, an anti-Naxal unit, was patrolling the area.

2.20 PM: The blast took place between Jamborkheda and Lendhari in Gadchiroli, claims agency reports.

2.10 PM: Initial reports said 10 jawans had been injured.

BREAKING: Naxals target police vehicle - carry out IED blast in #Maharashtra's #Gadchiroli; 36 vehicles torched; 15 jawans injured pic.twitter.com/I0Zi0kIj4W  Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) May 1, 2019

Lok Sabha Election 2019 Live Updates: PM Modi chants 'Jai Shri Ram' in Ayodhya, pledges to protect people's belief
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Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). By way of learning-by-doing, we'll look at ROE to gain a better understanding of Hi Sun Technology (China) Limited (HKG:818).

Our data shows Hi Sun Technology (China) has a return on equity of 7.4% for the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every HK$1 worth of equity in the company, it was able to earn HK$0.074.

See our latest analysis for Hi Sun Technology (China)

How Do I Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit  Shareholders' Equity

Or for Hi Sun Technology (China):

7.4% = HK$278m  HK$4.6b (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 the capital paid in by shareholders, plus any retained earnings. The easiest way to calculate shareholders' equity is to subtract the company's total liabilities from the total assets.

What Does Return On Equity Signify?

Return on Equity measures a company's profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, as a general rule, a high ROE is a good thing. That means ROE can be used to compare two businesses.

Does Hi Sun Technology (China) Have A Good Return On Equity?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. As shown in the graphic below, Hi Sun Technology (China) has a lower ROE than the average (12%) in the IT industry classification.

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SEHK:818 Past Revenue and Net Income, April 30th 2019

Unfortunately, that's sub-optimal. It is better when the ROE is above industry average, but a low one doesn't necessarily mean the business is overpriced. Still, shareholders might want to check if insiders have been selling.

How Does Debt Impact Return On Equity?

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow 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 debt used for growth will improve returns, but won't affect the total equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same.

Combining Hi Sun Technology (China)'s Debt And Its 7.4% Return On Equity

Hi Sun Technology (China) has a debt to equity ratio of just 0.0022, which is very low. Although the ROE isn't overly impressive, the debt load is modest, suggesting the business has potential. Judicious use of debt to improve returns can certainly be a good thing, although it does elevate risk slightly and reduce future optionality.

But It's Just One Metric

Return on equity is useful for comparing the quality of different businesses. In my book the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. The rate at which profits are likely to grow, relative to the expectations of profit growth reflected in the current price, must be considered, too. So I think it may be worth checking this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
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If you own shares in Bathurst Resources Limited (ASX:BRL) then it's worth thinking about how it contributes to the volatility of your portfolio, overall. In finance, Beta is a measure of volatility. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory. Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories. The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio. The other type, which cannot be diversified away, is the volatility of the entire market. Every stock in the market is exposed to this volatility, which is linked to the fact that stocks prices are correlated in an efficient market.

Some stocks see their prices move in concert with the market. Others tend towards stronger, gentler or unrelated price movements. Beta is a widely used metric to measure a stock's exposure to market risk (volatility). Before we go on, it's worth noting that Warren Buffett pointed out in his 2014 letter to shareholders that 'volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' Having said that, beta can still be rather useful. The first thing to understand about beta is that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price.

Check out our latest analysis for Bathurst Resources

What we can learn from BRL's beta value

Given that it has a beta of 1.37, we can surmise that the Bathurst Resources share price has been fairly sensitive to market volatility (over the last 5 years). If the past is any guide, we would expect that Bathurst Resources shares will rise quicker than the markets in times of optimism, but fall faster in times of pessimism. Beta is worth considering, but it's also important to consider whether Bathurst Resources is growing earnings and revenue. You can take a look for yourself, below.

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ASX:BRL Income Statement, May 1st 2019

How does BRL's size impact its beta?

Bathurst Resources is a rather small company. It has a market capitalisation of AU$214m, which means it is probably under the radar of most investors. It takes less money to influence the share price of a very small company. This may explain the excess volatility implied by this beta value.

What this means for you:

Beta only tells us that the Bathurst Resources 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. In order to fully understand whether BRL is a good investment for you, we also need to consider important company-specific fundamentals such as Bathurst Resourcess financial health and performance track record. I highly recommend you dive deeper by considering the following:

Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for BRLs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for BRLs outlook. Past Track Record: Has BRL 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 BRL's historicals for more clarity. Other Interesting Stocks: It's worth checking to see how BRL 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.
Joe Bidens entry into the presidential race and Elizabeth Warrens impressive performance on the campaign trail are bad news for Bernie Sanders.

Three polls released this week gave the former vice president a huge bump following his announcement that he was entering the crowded Democratic field, widening his lead over Sanders by a significant margin.

Mondays Morning Consult poll had Biden leading the Vermont senator by 14 percentage points, a gain of 8 points from the previous week. Tuesdays CNN survey showed Biden ahead of Sanders by 24 percent, up from an 8-point advantage the month before. And Quinnipiacs latest poll, also released Tuesday, had Biden up on Sanders by a whopping 27 points, a 17-point rise from a poll the university conducted in March.

Quinnipiacs results also showed Warren edging out Sanders for second place.

That shift was not lost on Sanders, who wasted little time going after Biden.

Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. (Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: AP, Getty Images)

I helped lead the fight against [NAFTA]. He voted for NAFTA, Sanders said in a Monday interview with CNN. I helped lead the fight against [trade relations] with China. He voted for it. I strongly opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He supported it. I voted against the war in Iraq. He voted for it.

While political analysts caution that polling the race this far ahead of the first primaries and caucuses doesnt accurately predict who will win the nomination, Bidens bounce has impressed.

I didnt expect Biden to have a surge and he did. I think thats a good thing for him, Howard Dean, the former head of the Democratic National Committee and a presidential contender himself in 2004, told Yahoo News. Dean noted that when he ran in the Democratic primary in 2004, he was virtually unknown to voters at this stage in the race. Then, suddenly, I was leading the pack.

I do think Bidens move is significant, but we have so far to go, Dean said.

Veteran political consultant Bob Shrum, who worked on the presidential campaigns of John Kerry, Al Gore and Ted Kennedy, agreed that the jump in Bidens lead over Sanders is noteworthy.

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Its early and other polling doesnt report the same results except for a Biden surge, Shrum said.

The Quinnipiac survey had more bad news for Sanders, with Warren, the Massachusetts senator, besting him in a poll for the first time.

Longtime friends, Warren and Sanders draw much of their support from the same progressive political base. The two met at Warrens Washington condominium in December to discuss their presidential ambitions, with both ultimately deciding that there was room on the left for two progressives to run.

Sanders, who ran conspicuously to the left of Hillary Clinton in his 2016 campaign, has yet to try to distinguish himself from Warren.

For her part, Warren has emerged as the candidate in the field with the most specific and numerous policy proposals, but also as someone whose energy and enthusiasm engages voters on the stump.

This is a campaign of ideasand you bet I have a lot of them. Its about identifying whats broken and how were going to make the structural change to fix it. pic.twitter.com/O2BNnsJJCA  Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 30, 2019

While Sanders raised more money  $20.7 million  than any other candidate in the Democratic field in the first quarter, Warren came in second with $16.5 million. Biden reported raising more on his first day in the race, $6.3 million, than any other Democratic candidate.

Although its too early to tell whether Warrens lead over Sanders will hold, its clear that if Warren is seen as a viable candidate, she could end up siphoning voters away from Sanders.

Warren is a point ahead of Sanders, which is well within the margin of error. But this survey does suggest that while Sanders has a hard-core base, he may have trouble expanding it, and theres no sign hes doing so now, Shrum said. Warren marches to her own drummer, with a rapid succession of substantive proposals, and has gained ground at the expense of Sanders  if this polling is right.

Dean cautions that theres still too little evidence to show definitively that Warrens strength is making Sanders weaker.

Theres no way of knowing that because nobody knows why people are voting for Warren, Dean said. Maybe theyre voting because they like her as a person, maybe theyre voting because of her policies. You can speculate all you want. Even a pollster with a really extensive poll couldnt know that.

Yet Warren is showing that her candidacy may not flame out quickly, as many pundits initially predicted. For Dean, who knows a thing or two about quick exits from a presidential race, Warren appears poised to emerge from the pack.

Theres going to be five or six people who are going to make it through the first four contests, which is a lot, and then California is going to be the great sifter, Dean said.

For Sanders to reclaim his standing as the frontrunner, he will need to draw voters away from Biden, Warren and the rest of the field by demonstrating that he has the quality Democratic voters want above all: the ability to win in 2020.

I believe the Democratic primary campaign will not be an identity derby or an ideological showdown; instead, the dominant and decisive question will be who has the best chance to beat Trump, Shrum said.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
Some time ago, President Trumps team produced a $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, which was really a $200 billion infrastructure plan with some wishful thinking attached. The president now says he never supported any such thing  Garys thing, he calls it, referring to Gary Cohn, the Democrat and Goldman Sachs veteran who once served as Trumps principal economic adviser  and now the president has joined forced with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer on something new: a $2 trillion infrastructure plan, which also is composed mainly of wishful thinking.

Call us bipartisan, but when Trump, Pelosi, and Schumer all agree to spend $2 trillion  without quite deciding what theyre going to spend it on or where the moneys coming from  we start to hear from our inner Patrick Henry.

Instead of Garys thing, we have Garys thing with 33 percent more loot. What could possibly go wrong?

You can tell this is backward by the fact that the triumvirate has settled on a price tag  an incomprehensibly large one  but is remarkably fuzzy on whats to be bought with that $2 trillion. Imagine taking your car to the mechanic and hearing, Thatll be $10,000  without ever being told whats actually being repaired. You might begin to suspect that something is not entirely on the up-and-up.

We have been here before, with Barack Obama and his shovel-ready projects. The lesson of Obamas failed stimulus bill  which was in considerable part an infrastructure program  is that doing things backwards does not work. Appropriations first, projects second, is as backwards as it can be. Thats apparent in both the specific successes and general failure of the Obama stimulus. For example, Michael Grabell of the New York Times cites the decommissioning of the nuclear plant at the Savannah River Site at Aiken, S.C., as a model of how these projects should work. The cleanup was, in fact, ready to go: All that was needed was $1.6 billion to make it happen. As soon as the money arrived in the summer of 2009, the retired cold war nuclear plant hired thousands of workers to decommission reactors . . . . The countys unemployment dropped to 8.5 percent from 10.2 percent in a matter of months. The local economic improvement was a happy side effect of the federal government doing a job that needed doing and that was ready to be done. Compare that with vague programs calling for weatherization or other ill-defined improvements.

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Infrastructure is not an undifferentiated commodity, a lump of all-purpose putty that we can just order up more or less of as circumstances dictate. Infrastructure instead consists of many thousands of discrete projects, some of which are mainly federal responsibilities, some of which are primarily state and local jobs that may or may not merit federal assistance. And that is how infrastructure should be dealt with: on a case-by-case basis. That is why we have this splendidly specialized array of committees and subcommittees and bureaucracies and congressional procedure. And that, not a once-in-a-generation all-in multitrillion-dollar fix, is how responsible adults deal with roads and bridges and the like.

We note that figuring out how to pay for this is at the bottom of the current agenda. To the extent that its being talked about at all, there already is fundamental and probably unbridgeable disagreement: Some of the Democrats want to undo the 2017 tax cuts, others want to raise the federal gasoline tax. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) insisted: It is up to President Trump to work with us by identifying new revenue to support that investment. But revenue bills originate in the House of Representatives, not in the Oval Office.

This is not a sane way to proceed. If you arent willing to spend the money for particulars on a case-by-case basis, then you shouldnt be spending the money as a generality in one big heap.

Congressional Republicans already have made known some reservations about this plan. In particular, they have preemptively said no to rolling back the 2017 tax cuts, which Senator Schumer insists is a precondition for exploring other options, such as raising the gasoline tax. The thing is already a mess before it has got started.

It is not going to get any better. The infrastructure scheme deserves to die an early and unlamented legislative death. Its just another variation on Garys thing.

More from National Review
A transgender weightlifter has received backlash from Olympians after she announced she had broken four world records at the 100% Raw Weightlifting Federation competition in the US.

Mary Gregory claimed on Instagram she won nine out of nine events, which included setting a new Masters world squat record, open world bench record, Masters world deadlift record and Masters world total record.

What a day, 9 for 9! Masters world squat record, open world bench record, masters world dl record, and masters world total record! Still processing, full meet recap to come a bit later but I do want to thank a few people, she wrote.

Unfair playing field

But former Great Britain Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies appeared to take exception to Gregory competing in the female weightlifting competition.

Davies has previously spoken out against transgender competition claiming on Twitter: Any records set by trans woman ( those born males with male biology & advantages) should be removed when all of this confusion & unfairness is sorted out.

This time she claimed it was an unfair playing field.

This is a trans woman a male body with male physiology setting a world record & winning a womans event in America in powerlifting. A woman with female biology cannot compete.. its a pointless unfair playing field, she wrote.

This is a trans woman a male body with male physiology setting a world record & winning a womans event in America in powerlifting. A woman with female biology cannot compete.. its a pointless unfair playing field. https://t.co/sI9i3AFANB  Sharron Davies MBE (@sharrond62) April 28, 2019

Another British track Olympian, Kelly Holmes, commented on Davies Twitter post claiming she was getting ready for biological women to boycott certain events.

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Its a bloody joke and all getting ready for biological women to boycott certain events.Have a trans category if need be but even better a trans games.Otherwise im starting to worry about the backlash and abuse that the trans community will get from spectators. It will happen!  Kelly Holmes (@damekellyholmes) April 28, 2019

But Gregory thanked the Raw Powerlifting Federation for treating her as just another female lifter.

As a transgender lifter I was unsure what to expect going into this meet and everyone- all the spotters, loaders, referees, staff, meet director, all made me welcome and treated me as just another female lifter- thank you, she wrote.

Mary Gregory after she announced she set four new records. (Image: @75marylifts)

And thanks to all the fans in the audience who cheered me on and congratulated me.

Yahoo Sport Australia has contacted the Raw Powerlifting Federation for comment.
Bobby Cho, the man who helmed DRW's crypto trading operation, announced Wednesday that he is stepping away from the company.

Launched in 2014, Cumberland was one of the first instances of mainstream financial services entering the digital currencies market. "At that time, the market was still fairly quiet having just been in a bear market for all of 2015," Cho wrote in a Medium post about his exit.

"It's bittersweet to announce that I will be stepping down from my role as COO at the end of May," Cho said. "There's never a right time to step away from something you've guided for the past 3+ years."

Cho is not leaving to join another firm, he told The Block. His exit follows that of former Goldman Sachs exec James Radecki, who The Block first reported in March was leaving Cumberland after a year stint.

Recently, Cumberland rolled out a new electronic trading platform, dubbed Marea, to interact with its trading counter-parties.

It was a move that followed its Chicago cross-town rival Jump Trading and other market makers in crypto that have modernized their marketplaces. Still, even as such firms strove to take the market to the next level they've struggled to keep their Wall Street talent on the payroll.

"There are too many things to be proud of, but the thing Im most proud of was that we had a team-first mentality. We took an aggressive, inclusive approach to tackling problems, qualifying ideas and constantly challenging the status quo," Cho wrote.
By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE, May 1 (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Wednesday named a new senior adviser to Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg and the board of directors as the world's largest planemaker faces its biggest crisis in years after two deadly crashes of its 737 MAX jetliner.

Crashes in Ethiopia in March and Indonesia in October have triggered the grounding of Boeing's fastest-selling plane, lawsuits, investigations and lingering concerns over the 737 MAX's safety.

The company named Michael Luttig to the newly created position of counselor and senior adviser to Muilenburg and the Boeing board of directors. It also said Brett Gerry, who has been president of Boeing Japan since 2016, is succeeding Luttig as general counsel.

Both changes are effective immediately.

The two executives are expected to play a central role in Boeing's campaign to restore the trust of customers, passengers and regulators following the crashes.

Muilenburg survived calls to break up his three-pronged job as chairman, president and CEO at an annual shareholders' meeting on Monday.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle Editing by Matthew Lewis)
AfghanTaliban-US to have new round of talks in Qatar today

The Afghan Taliban and the United States are likely to begin a new round of talks in Qatar today (Wednesday) to hold detailed discussions on withdrawal of foreign troops and to stop terrorism from Afghan soil against other countries.



Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen did not reply when a query was posted on WhatsApp for confirmation. Zabihullah Mujahid, who reports about Taliban activities, did not confirm, but said he was making efforts to get information. Taliban and US negotiators in their last round of talks from February 25 to March 12 had reported progress in the longest round, but failed to reach any agreement.



The Taliban had stated earlier that extensive and detailed discussions had taken place on two issues  withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan and preventing anyone from harming others from Afghan soil  and how and when will all foreign forces exit Afghanistan and through what method?



They said both sides had also reviewed options as to how the United States and its allies would be given assurances about post-withdrawal Afghanistan. The Taliban and the US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will be meeting for the first time after the Taliban launched the spring offensive in April that marked beginning of the fighting season Khalilzad had condemned the Taliban offensive Al-Fatah and had also urged Pakistan and Qatar to condemn the Taliban decision.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Boeing Co said an alert for angle-of-attack (AOA) sensors on its 737 MAX jets was "not activated as intended" for some customers, responding to reports it failed to tell Southwest Airlines Co and the U.S regulator that the optional feature was deactivated before a crash in Indonesia in October.

Erroneous AOA sensor readings that led to aggressive nose-down inputs by a computer have been linked to deadly 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, according to preliminary reports from investigators.

Boeing offered customers two optional paid features relating to AOA. The first was an AOA DISAGREE alert when the two sensors disagreed and the second was an indicator giving pilots a gauge of the actual angle.

Southwest, the largest 737 MAX customer, in November told Reuters the alert was installed and it planned to add the indicator as well following the Lion Air crash in Indonesia.

The Wall Street Journal on Sunday reported that unbeknown to Southwest and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the alerts were not activated on the carrier's 737 MAX jets.

"After the Lion Air event, Southwest was notified by Boeing that the AOA disagree lights were inoperable without the optional AOA indicators on the MAX aircraft," a Southwest spokesman said on Tuesday.

Boeing said on Monday that the disagree alert had been intended to be a standalone feature on the 737 MAX, but it was "not operable on all airplanes because the feature was not activated as intended".

"The disagree alert was tied or linked into the angle-of-attack indicator, which is an optional feature on the MAX," the manufacturer said in a statement. "Unless an airline opted for the angle-of-attack indicator, the disagree alert was not operable...Boeing did not intentionally or otherwise deactivate the disagree alert on its MAX airplanes."

When Reuters contacted several 737 MAX operators about the optional features in November, only American Airlines and Singapore Airlines Ltd offshoot SilkAir confirmed they had installed both the alert and the indicator.

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Canada's WestJet Airlines Ltd and Dubai's flydubai said they had installed the alert.

An Air Canada spokeswoman said on Tuesday that since November the alert and indicator had been installed on its fleet. Boeing said the disagree alert was not considered a safety feature and was not necessary for the safe operation of the plane. However, the company said following software modifications all new 737 MAX aircraft would have an activated and operable disagree alert and an optional angle-of-attack indicator, while current 737 MAX planes would have the ability to activate the disagree alert.

Boeing CEO and Chairman Dennis Muilenburg promised on Monday to win back the public's trust after facing tough questions following the two crashes.

A FAA spokeswoman declined to comment.

(Reporting Jamie Freed in Singapore; additional reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Nick Macfie)
Boston-based biotechnology company Zageno has secured $20 million in Series B funding, according to company database Crunchbase, topping the citys recent funding headlines. The cash infusion was announced April 23 and led by General Catalyst.

According to its Crunchbase profile, "Zageno, Inc. has become the world's largest marketplace for life science products. By integrating the needs of researchers, laboratories, procurement departments and vendors into one single solution. Zageno's online marketplace for life-science research enables straightforward integration of ordering and purchasing processes into existing software systems."

The four-year-old startup has raised two previous funding rounds, including an $8 million Series A round in 2017.

The round brings total funding raised by Boston companies in commerce and shopping over the past month to $599 million. The local commerce and shopping industry has seen 31 funding rounds over the past year, raking in a total of $1 billion in venture funding.

In other local funding news, risk-management company Censinet announced a $7.8 million Series A funding round on April 22, led by Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

According to Crunchbase, "Censinet fundamentally redefines the way vendor risk is managed in healthcare. Unlike other solutions, Censinet not only streamlines and simplifies workflows, but also standardizes risk questions with breadth and accuracy of risk ratings. Only Censinet was developed exclusively by and for healthcare providers, which makes Censinet the first and only collaborative cloud platform for vendor risk management."

Founded in 2017, the company has raised two previous rounds, including a $500,000 round in 2018.

This story was created automatically using local investment data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Boston Children's Museum. | Photo: Rosie Q./Yelp

If you love to take advantage of the live music offerings near you, this week offers several great reasons to leave the house.

From global works to an open rehearsal, read on for a local music to-do list to fill your calendar this week.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Global is Local/Local is Global

From the event description:

Highlighting music that knows no borders, three local artists take the stage at Hostelling International Boston for a night of global music. Hear their music and listen to their stories as each up-and-coming artist shares their own cultural and artistic journeys in a facilitated Q & A following each performance.

When: Thursday, May 2, 7-10 p.m.

Where: HI Boston Hostel, 19 Stuart St.

Price: $15

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Andris Nelsons Conducts Strauss, Currier and Stravinsky, featuring Violinist Baiba Skride

From the event description:

BSO Open Rehearsals offer audience members a unique perspective on the creative dynamic between orchestra and conductor. Gain a better understanding of how the orchestra strives to refine its performance by occasionally repeating passages or focusing on a particular movement.

When: Thursday, May 2, 10:30 a.m.

Where: 301 Massachusetts Ave.

Price: $18-$30

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Berklee World Strings and Berklee Indian Ensemble: Bright Colors on a Dark Canvas

From the event description:

Nothing has touched the collective musical imagination of our community more than the plight of friends and families forced to leave their ancestral homes. "Bright Colors on a Dark Canvas" evokes the flavors of displaced people with original music, stories and responses from Berklee students and alumni.

When: Thursday, May 2, 8 p.m.

Where: 136 Massachusetts Ave.

Price: $10

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

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Young People's String Orchestra Concert

From the event description:

Hosted at the Boston Childrens Museum, this concert is fun for all ages.

When: Friday, May 3, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Where: Boston Children's Museum, 308 Congress St.

Price: Free

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Philharmonix

From the event description:

Calling themselves The Vienna Berlin Music Club, this unique ensemble brings together three members of the Vienna Philharmonic, two Berlin Philharmonic soloists, one of the most versatile Austrian pianists, and an improvising and singing violinist for a deliciously heady and high quality cocktail of classical, jazz, klezmer, Latin and pop music at Boston's Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory. The Golden Rule of Philharmonix programs: anything goes, as long as its fun.

When: Friday, May 3, 8 p.m.

Where: Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory, 30 Gainsborough St.

Price: $52.20

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

This story was created automatically using local event data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Brasilia (AFP) - In the fantastical world of Sunrise Valley in Brazil, women wear dresses and veils inspired by mythical sorceresses and men don Roman-style capes as they practice a melange of beliefs inspired by past and future civilizations.

This eclectic community, called Vale do Amanhecer in Portuguese, is some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital Brasilia. It holds its most important ritual of the year on Labor Day to honor the mediums who communicate with good and bad spirits.

As part of the ceremony followers gathered to receive a powerful burst of energy channelled though an eye-shaped monument that overlooks the Sunrise Valley temple complex.

The group combines a range of religious practices, including Christian and Hindu, with symbols borrowed from the Incas and Mayans, as well as a belief in extraterrestrial life and intergalactic travel.

Neiva Chaves Zelaya, or Aunty Neiva as she is known by followers, founded the group 50 years ago when the widowed mother of four was working as a truck driver on the construction of the Brazilian capital.

Zelaya had visions which she believed were messages from the reincarnation of Saint Francis of Assisi -- Father White Arrow, an indigenous figure dressed in a celestial tunic with head feathers and a white spear in his hand.

With hundreds of temples around the world, the religious movement claims to have 800,000 members, according to Kelly Hayes, an expert on Brazilian religions at Indiana University.

"One of the things that is specially striking ... is its cosmology, how it synthesized a remarkably wide range of influences into a master narrative in which Valley members share a collective identity that expands past, present and future," Hayes said in a YouTube video of a 2014 lecture about her book on the peculiar religious community.

On the outskirts of Planaltina, a satellite city of Brasilia, is the Sunrise Valley temple complex where the group carries out rituals for the thousands of people who come seeking healing for all kinds of evils every month.

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Followers dress in exotic flowing robes. Some of the women look like sorceresses, armed with silver spears and their long, colorful dresses decorated with stars and crescent moons.

Some of the men look like they stepped out of a Harry Potter film, wearing hooded capes that almost drag on the ground. Others pretend to be ancient Egyptian priests.

Passersby barely seem to notice members of the group wandering around the small city, shopping in bakeries and supermarkets.

"My spiritual life is very good, but it wasn't like that before," said Ronaldo Lopes, an English professor who has lived in the community for six years.

"Through the teachings I have found peace and I feel good."
Brussels (AFP) - An exhibition tracing the private life of screen icon Audrey Hepburn through hundreds of photos and personal items opens in her hometown of Brussels this week to mark the 90th anniversary of her birth.

The "Intimate Audrey" show features nearly a thousand objects gathered by one of her two sons, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, born from her relationship with the US actor and producer Mel Ferrer.

Alongside the glamour of the star who shot dizzyingly to Hollywood fame -- winning an Oscar at just 25 for her role alongside Gregory Peck in "Roman Holiday" -- the exhibition focuses on Hepburn's life as a mother and as a UNICEF ambassador, a role she threw herself into during the five years leading up to her death in 1993.

"Fundamentally we don't learn anything new, but when we get to the end, we see that the girl that the world fell in love with... has blossomed into this woman. You see it, you feel it," Sean Hepburn Ferrer told AFP on the eve of the opening.

The show reveals a simpler side to the star whose appearance in a dazzling Givenchy gown in "Breakfast At Tiffany's" -- perhaps the most famous "little black dress" of all -- became one of the defining images of 20th century glamour.

"This woman who was a style icon basically lived in a little cotton dress all her life -- a simple life," Hepburn Ferrer said.

Hepburn was born Audrey Ruston on May 4, 1929 in the Brussels district of Ixelles, to a Dutch mother and a British father who was then working for a Belgian subsidiary of the Bank of England.

The exhibition of around 800 photos, some previously unpublished, include black and white portraits that evoke the severity of Dutch aristocracy -- a world she knew as a child.

Then come the first steps in London, where a teenaged Hepburn dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer -- only to have to give it up, her son said, after the traumas of war left her physically too weak for the rigours of professional dance.

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That left acting "as a default choice".

A meeting with French writer Colette while shooting in Monte Carlo gave Hepburn her big break, with the author choosing her for the lead in a stage adaptation of her short story "Gigi".

"It was of course she (Colette) who brought her to New York in 1950-51," Ferrer Hepburn said. The move led to her role in the romantic comedy "Roman Holiday" and subsequent stardom.

A photo of the two women annotated in Colette's hand features in the exhibition, along with drawings, writings by the star, the dress she wore at her wedding to Ferrer and the second Oscar statuette she was awarded in 1993 in recognition of her humanitarian work.

The exhibition in Brussels runs until 25 August, with profits going to the fight against rare diseases and cancer.
Among a sea of men in black tailcoats, there was one guest, dressed in a light silk kimono, who easily stood out during the rituals-steeped accession ceremony for Japans new emperor: Satsuki Katayama.

As the only female minister in the current governments cabinet, Katayama, 59, earned herself a place in the history books today as she became the first woman in modern times to officially witness the ceremony.

The Regalia Inheritance ceremony, which took place at 10.30am this morning inside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, is traditionally off limits to all female members of the Imperial family, with neither the incoming nor outgoing empresses attending.

Katayama, 59, was the only woman among a small exclusive group of otherwise all-male guests, including representatives of three branches of government and adult male royals in line to the throne who witnessed the historic event, the first stage of Emperor Naruhitos accession to the throne.

During the ceremony, the Imperial chamberlains entered the room and placed the state and privy seals, along with cases containing a sword and a jewel, two of Japans Three Sacred Treasures, on cypress wood stands in front of Emperor Naruhito as proof of his rightful succession.

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito receives the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel as proof of succession at the ceremony at Imperial Palace in Tokyo Credit: AP

Later in the morning, female members of the Imperial family and the female spouses of government officials  including the kimono-clad wife of prime minister Shinzo Abe - were able to enter the same state room, before the new emperor made his inaugural address to the nation in his new role.

While the nations mood was widely optimistic as a new era dawned, the absence of female royalty at the ceremony cast a critical spotlight on the role of women in Japans Imperial family and its traditionally archaic rules.

A vehicle carrying Japans Empress Masako arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo Credit: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP

Among the most well known is its controversial male-only succession law, which prevents women from coming to power, while female members must also officially leave the royal family upon marriage.

The ceremonys VIP guestlist also highlighted the dire scarcity of women reaching the upper echelons of the political world in Japan, despite the governments highly publicised push for policies of so-called womenomics to improve the nations poor track record in gender equality.

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Satsuki Katayama Credit: ERIKO SUGITA/Reuters

Katayama, 59, is a high-flying anomaly in a male dominated world of politics. A law graduate from prestigious University of Tokyo, she is currently minister of state for both regional revitalisation and gender equality  and the only woman among 19 men at the highest cabinet level of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan.

Following a successful career as a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Finance, she was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2005, and served as a deputy minister of economy, trade and industry, before losing her seat four years later. She was reelected three years ago, with her profile swiftly rising in Mr Abes current government.

One of dozens of so-called Koizuimi Children, the launch of her political career was initially championed by popular reformist former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who hailed her as a madonna of reform.
Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Calix (NYSE: CALX)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

May. 01, 2019, 8:30 a.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:





Operator

Greetings. Welcome to the Calix Q1 2019 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Tom Dinges, director of investor relations.

Mr. Dinges, you may begin.

Tom Dinges

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our Q1 2019 earnings conference call. Today on the call, we have president and CEO, Carl Russo; as well as chief financial officer, Cory Sindelar. As a reminder, this morning, we released our letter to stockholders in an 8-K filing, as well as on the Investor Relations section of the Calix website.

This conference call will be available for audio replay in the Investor Relations section of the Calix website. Before we continue, I want to remind you that in this call, we refer to forward-looking statements, which include all statements we make about our future financial and operating performance, growth strategy and market outlook, and actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results and trends to differ materially are set forth in today's letter to stockholders and in our annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC. Calix assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their respective dates.

More From The Motley Fool

Also, on this conference call, we will discuss both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in our letter to stockholders. Unless otherwise stated on this call, we will reference non-GAAP measures. With that, let me turn the call over to Carl.

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Carl?

Carl Russo

Thank you, Tom. Our pursuit of an all-platform model to rise the wave of disruption moving through our industry continues in 2019. Our first quarter was a good one in every respect except one. Bookings were in line with our plan, delivering solid 7% year-over-year growth.

Gross margin expanded by 380 basis points year over year. And now our pace of innovation continued unabated, even as our investments were tightly controlled, with opex declining more than 10% year over year. The one aspect that did not go well is that one of our supply chain partners did not meet our needs nor did they meet their commitment. While they are improving, they are not yet at their committed production rate, and we expect some dampening of revenue in the second quarter as a result.

I am disappointed, and I am sorry for the impact this has had on our customers, our employees and our stockholders. What isn't dampening is the enthusiasm for our platforms. As of today, bookings are ahead of plan for the second quarter. This is exciting and a direct result of our customers seeing the value of our platforms.

Some examples of the value derived by our customers are marketing campaigns that are yielding ROIs greater than 50 times; increased take rates on marketing campaigns to 80%; increased service revenue by over 30% in the first year, reducing truck rolls by 30% within the first three months of deployment; reduced service technician interventions by 83%; reduced support call times by 50%; and reduced OSS/BSS integration from 18 months to 10 weeks. And these were just some of the benefits we have already announced. Given these benefits, it is no surprise that in the first quarter, another 25 new customers choose Calix to build their next generation service offerings, and we're just getting started. Stay tuned to hear more outstanding outcomes like these in the coming months.

In conclusion, we have it right. We have the right platforms and the right services at the right time, and a temporary supply chain issue will not slow us down. With that, I strongly encourage each of you to download our stockholder letter and get all the details on the first quarter and a view into the future for Calix. Let's open the call for questions.

Operator?

Questions & Answers:





Operator

[Operator instructions] Our first question comes from George Notter, Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.

George Notter

Hi, guys. Thanks very much. I guess I wanted to sort of go back to the supply chain issues, and I read the letters certainly. But I guess I'm wondering what the outlook is right now in terms of that manufacturing partner, coming up to speed.

Anymore you could tell us about the nature of supply chain problem would be great as well. I'm just trying to handicap kind of how and when we get past this?

Carl Russo

So first of all, thanks for getting up early, George. I know this is probably not early for you, but I do appreciate it. We believe it will be largely in balance by the end of the quarter. That being said, we have clearly dampened our revenue guidance for the quarter based upon what we perceived to be, as these issues will not be complete.

So I mean, if you're asking me for a ballpark, we think greater with this manufacturer. Greater than 80% of it will sort of be there, but they still have quite a bit of work to do. Production is flowing, so let me give you, at least, a present-tense statement. There are production unit flowing, and we are, in essence, rationing them out to our customers to make sure that we keep them in deployment mode.

But we're being very sensitive about shipping our inventory to, if you will, their inventory because if we do that, we're not helping our other customers. What else I can tell you? Has that given you enough color at least to start, and maybe I could follow on --

George Notter

I guess -- yes, sure. My assumption is that this is a new manufacturing partner that's outside of China that we're ramping for the first time. Was there something different or unusual about this program that surprised you in terms of the ability to ramp and get the volume? I guess I'm just trying to understand exactly what the precise issue was? And then why we're going to get past that this quarter?

Carl Russo

So let's put -- so let me paint the picture back to where we started. As you know, we've been slowly and deliberately reengineering our supply chain to fit our all-platform model, and then we have plans to continue that over the next couple of years. When the U.S. tariffs were imposed, we're now in a situation where you're dealing with 10% threatening a 25% tariff.

And so we made the decision to accelerate that reengineering. We moved to, in essence, two new vendors. We have three major vendors in our supply chain. We moved to two new ones in that process.

There is no magic here, so these are not new products being manufactured for sale. These are existing products that were simply being moved. They were being moved to a world-class manufacturer. And they -- I mean, to be blunt, they simply did not execute.

If I compare the risk of this versus the risk of eating the tariffs, that's a no-brainer. This is the correct risk to take. We went ahead and bought ahead on inventory, and we're counting on them to ramp late in the quarter, and they got off to a late start. There's not much more to it.

They are ramping now. And to be blunt, they are paying all of the expedite fees and overages, so they understand what occurred, and they'll remedy it accordingly. But there's no magic here.

George Notter

Got it. OK. And then just in terms of the allocation of products to customers, I guess I was surprised to hear you say that the commentary about 25 new customers in the quarter. Does it makes sense to be more convenient to customers, given these supply chain constraints right now? I guess I'm just kind of wondering how you're allocating product across the customer base right now and fulfilling the demand.

Carl Russo

Well, remember, we have a set of products that don't have hardware associated with it, so, yes, it absolutely makes sense for us to continue our marketing efforts and the demand for what we are offering is in the market. And so, for sure, we're going to continue to market and grow the business. If this was an unconstrained problem, then I think your -- the answer to your question would be probably no. But it's not an unconstrained problem.

It's a matter of a number of weeks behind the initial ramp that they are committed to. And so, again, we believe we'll be largely through it in this quarter. So, no, we would make no pause in that.

George Notter

Got it. OK. All right. Thank you very much.

I appreciate the commentary.

Carl Russo

Thanks, George.

Operator

[Operator instructions] Our next question comes from Christian Schwab, Craig-Hallum. Please proceed with your question.

Tyler Burmeister

Hi. This is Tyler on for Christian. Thanks for taking a quick question. So you stated in the letter that you expected to reach supply/demand equilibrium in Q3.

It looked like the shortfall to your demand was about $15 million in Q1. So I was wondering, I guess, first, what was the shortfall to demand, revenue-wise, in Q2? And then do you expect that revenue to be made up in the second half? Or is this kind of loss revenue, and then we'll return to kind of a normal level in Q3, Q4?

Carl Russo

Yes. So I'm not sure I would characterize the short fall in demand in Q2 much more than saying that was significant but not enormous. And, look, we expect over time that demand to be fulfilled in the second half.

Tyler Burmeister

All right. That works. That's all for me. Thanks, guys.

Carl Russo

Thanks, Tyler.

Operator

[Operator instructions] Our next question comes from Timothy Savageaux, Northland Capital. Please proceed with your question.

Timothy Savageaux

Hey, good morning. A couple of questions for me. There's is a comment to the letter to the extent that larger customers were stronger for you in Q1, maybe medium-sized customers a bit weaker. I think there was probably some reference to Windstream there kind of being in that category.

And I wonder if those -- that comment applies to bookings or revenue or both? And whether -- how you could characterize kind of your 10% customer situation? Whether you might have had any new ones in the quarter, having referenced strength to your kind of customers deploying next-gen access networks?

Carl Russo

Thanks, Tim. So let me see if I can address your question by segment. So let's go to the headwinds, first. So the headwinds in the ROX.

So those are the publicly traded wireline companies continued into the first quarter. And so we are planning the ROX to be down this year. Obviously, you had Windstream's bankruptcy announcements consolidated recently, eliminated their dividend. You hear themes of deleveraging from Consolidated and from CenturyLink.

So we expect them as a group to be down. On the larger customers, we're continuing to see very positive momentum. We did not have a new 10% customer, but it is the significant customer, to be sure. And I will stand on my earlier comments that there will be 10% customer in a given quarter this year.

As you are probably aware, following their earnings announcements, they are quite robustly committed to delivering their One Fiber network and intelligent edge network over these next couple of years. So they continue unabated. So does that sort of shape for you what's going on?

Timothy Savageaux

It does. And maybe I could add to that, whether you've seen any initial ramp with your new-create customer? Or what your sort of expectations are for that project rolling out through the year? And I have one follow up.

Carl Russo

Yes. That has started, but it's the early days. That's correct. Go ahead and have your follow up, Tim.

Timothy Savageaux

Great. Well -- and this is kind of going back to your -- well, to Verizon, really. I mean, obviously, in addition to One Fiber there. Clearly in Vanguard in terms of 5G rollout.

And I wonder if you could discuss both their -- and I'd say more generally, as you look at market opportunities, the extent to which some of the fiber access, front-haul, backhaul-type infrastructure opportunities for you are beginning to converge with carrier 5G plans in any way or not?

Carl Russo

I think you actually, in your question, phased it correctly. I think you have the technology leader that's always been an engineering-oriented company. And Verizon, that's out of your fund of what's going on in this market. So there's no question that technologies converge, and will be deployed as such.

But I think we are so in very, very early days of this next wave of deployments. So I think 99% of what's going to happen in 5G is in front of us, not obviously behind us. If your question is one of timing, I think this is another five- to 10-year build. And I think you're seeing Verizon lead that pack.

Does that help shape it for you?

Timothy Savageaux

It does. Thanks very much.

Carl Russo

Thanks, Tim.

Operator

[Operator instructions] There are no further questions at this time, and I will now turn the call back over to Tom Dinges for closing remarks.

Tom Dinges

Thank you, operator. Calix management will be participating in a number of investor conferences during the second quarter of 2019. Information about these future investor events is posted on the events and presentations page of the Investor Relations section of calix.com. Once again, thank you to everyone on this call and on the webcast for your interest in Calix, and thank you for joining us today.

This concludes our conference call. Goodbye for now.

Operator

[Operator signoff]

Duration: 18 minutes

Call participants:

Tom Dinges

Carl Russo

George Notter

Tyler Burmeister

Timothy Savageaux

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No evidence against India using Afghan soil against Pakistan: Alice Well

The United States on Tuesday said it does not have the evidence suggesting that India is using the Afghan soil to perpetrate terrorism in Pakistan, and that it had no information regarding the Pakistan Armys latest allegations that Afghan and Indian secret agencies were funding the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).



I dont have the evidence what youre referring to, but our policy is clear that no country should support non-state actors, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells said in response to a question while interacting with a group of journalists at the US Embassy.



The US diplomat, who was in Islamabad as part of a delegation headed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, was asked about Pakistans longstanding allegations against India for sponsoring terrorism from Afghanistan. The statement appears to suggest that the US is far from convinced with Pakistans narrative on India.



Pakistan has long been expressing its concerns regarding India using the Afghan soil to create trouble and often presented the case of Indian spy Kulbushan Yadhav as evidence. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Asif Ghafoor had laid out a charge sheet against the PTM leadership on Monday. One of the allegations leveled against the group was about getting funds from the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) and Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).NDS



The US diplomat, nevertheless, made it clear that US would never condone or support any use of terrorist proxies against another country. We have been working very actively with Pakistan to combat whether its al Qaeda or TTP. Any terrorist attacking Pakistan is enemy of ours and we share very strong counterterrorism objectives in defeating extremist forces, Wells emphasised. When her attention was drawn towards Pakistans concerns regarding Indias role in creating trouble in Balochistan, she urged regional countries to respect each others sovereignty without naming India.



We recognise and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. We do not support any separatist or irredentist movements, she said, adding, We think its critical that nations of this region respect one another and work to achieve peace and economic growth.



Wells, who held a series of meetings with civil and military officials in Islamabad, also said the US welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khans public statements affirming his resolve not to allow Pakistans soil to be used against any other country. I would positively note that many comments the prime minister has made in public underscoring his governments commitment to moving away from non-state actors to ensuring that the National Action Plan (NAP) that Pakistan has forged is implemented, she said. She said the steps the government had so far taken to implement the NAP were positive. The government had briefed the diplomatic corps and international community on the detention of leaders of proscribed groups, the seizure of assets and provincial control over some of the physical infrastructure, she noted.



Wells said that under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Action Plan, Pakistan had to take specific steps to deal with the terror financing. Ultimately, she said it would not be the US but FATF that would determine the steps taken by Pakistan.



She, nevertheless, added the US appreciated recent steps hoping that would continue until the threat was eliminated. About the prospects of resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India after the polls are over in the neighbouring country, Wells apparently linked the progress to Pakistans commitment to not allowing its territory to be used against India.



She said Pakistan needed to demonstrate its commitment to ensure that violence is prerogative of the state that the militant groups cant take advantage of Pakistani soil. When asked to specify the US concerns regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Wells said while Washington did not object to infrastructure investment by China, the question remained whether such projects met international standards. She argued that such investments should be transparent, sustainable and should produce benefits for the country.
Ottawa (AFP) - Canada increased loans to farmers Wednesday after China blocked shipments of canola -- its most valuable crop -- amid diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and Beijing.

The government said it would more than double the amount of money available to individual farmers under an existing aid program to Can$1 million (US$750,000).

Canola farmers in particular will also not have to pay interest on the first Can$500,000.

"Canada will continue to navigate this challenging period with China through careful, deliberate, and strategic engagement," Trade Minister Jim Carr told a press conference.

He said he would also lead a trade mission to Japan and South Korea in early June as part of ongoing efforts to diversify Canada's export markets.

And he will promote canola at upcoming OECD and APEC meetings, building on recent trade outreach to the UAE, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Germany and France.

"It's critical that Canadian exporters have other readily available markets when faced with trade disruptions," Carr said.

According to the industry, canola generates one quarter of all farm cash receipts in Canada, supporting 250,000 jobs. Ninety percent of it is exported as seed, oil or meal.

China, which took in 40 percent of the total Can$11 billion in Canadian canola exports last year, recently banned imports from two major Canadian canola firms -- Viterra and Richardson International -- saying it detected harmful organisms in shipments, which Canada disputes.

There are "no scientific reasons for this action," Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has said, while China has defended its ban as "completely reasonable and legal" to protect the health and safety of its citizens.

Relations between Ottawa and Beijing have been frosty since the December arrest in Vancouver of a top executive of telecom giant Huawei on a US extradition request related to Iran sanctions violations.

In a move seen as retaliation, Chinese authorities have detained two Canadian nationals -- a former diplomat and a business consultant -- on suspicion of endangering national security, and sentenced two others to death for drug trafficking.
Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/Photos Getty

When Conor McGinn, head of the Innovation and Robotics Lab at Trinity College Dublin, and his team began piloting their robot Stevie in the U.S., they were surprised to find that many of the applications we might anticipate robots doing, such as fetching objects, arent what people actually want.

People want quality of life improvements. They want to have more fun, more social interaction, McGinn said.

Because of that observation, Stevies priority shifted would be to combat isolation and loneliness by bringing people together through activities such as game-playing.

And they found a surprising audience starving for attention and friendship: the elderly.

And theres quite a market for Stevie. Elderly populations around the world are soaring, doubling to an estimated 2.1 billion people worldwide over the age of 60 by 2050. But the workforce caring for the elderly is dwindling. Robot nurses such as Pearl and RIBA already help mitigate staffing shortages in countries such as Japan, which has the highest proportion of elderly people of any country, and whose government directs considerable funds into the development of care robots.

Now, nursing homes and assisted living facilities everywhere are beginning to recognize the benefits of robotic caretakers.

Sayabot, a humanoid service robot created by Asimov Robotics, is one of these robots. A mobile robot with dexterous arms, a humanoid face with eyes equipped with cameras, and speech capabilities, Sayabot can be customized for patient use and is already seen in banks and restaurants.

According to Jayakrishnan T., CEO of Asimov Robotics, the robot assisted patients between 60 and 85 years old in clinical trials last year, performing tasks such as helping patients use the restroom, providing mental stimulation through conversation and games, 24/7 monitoring, and dispensing food, drinks, and medicine. Sayabot and other care-bots can also call for human assistance if theres an emergency.

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But creating a robot that interacts productively with patients is more challenging than designing a robot for other customer service interactionsthe stakes are higher, as is the need for sensitivity.

For one thing, the appearance of a care-bot is importantit should be human-like but not so much that it triggers an uncanny valley response.

Sayabots design is based on studies that have found a sweet spot between human and machine, Jayakrishnan told The Daily Beast.

Details matter, such as Sayabots eyelashes, which humanize its face enough to make it appear engaged, but not creepy. Jayakrishnans team has also developed Sayabots voice, volume, and modulations to be pleasant; a robot cant be helpful if its voice is grating or frightening.

Sayabot also monitors patients gestures and facial expressions to determine the best strategy and demeanor for care. Even if the robot has to nag a patient by repeatedly reminding them to take their medicine, it will be thoughtfully done at the best suitable time, Jayakrishnan said. Thats based on data gleaned from clinical trials, as well as from individual patients; over time, these robots learn what approaches work best for the people with whom they interact.

So how do humans respond to Sayabot? In experiments with Sayabot, some patients expressed apprehension and skepticism about having a machine around instead of a human for care. But according to Jayakrishnan, it only took about two days for patients to grow comfortable with the robot.

While situations for which robots have not been expressly trained pose challenges and require constant feedback and updating, every new situation helps robots like Sayabot and their designers learn more about the functionality necessary to provide effective care. And unlike humans, robots dont get tired or short-tempered, which helps ease patients stress and worries about being burdensome.

Being freed from the worry that theyre inconveniencing or irritating human caregivers helps facilitates a real relationship between patients and the robots looking after them, and its not surprising that humans soften towards their care-bots. When a French hospital brought in Zora, a friendly-looking robot just under two feet tall with sensors and speech capabilities, residents developed attachments to it. The same goes for PARO, a robotic seal that elicits emotions and boosts interactivity among users. Zora and PARO dont fulfill medical tasks and arent caretakers in the traditional sense, but they help mitigate the loneliness that plagues residents of assisted living and nursing homes.

Being friendly and fun might not seem like health care, but given how loneliness and isolation adversely affect peoples health and motivation to live, it makes sense to couple companionship and care.

Which brings us back to Stevie. One of the most interesting results of the trial programs with Stevie is how much residents enjoyed being part of the focus group. They got to provide feedback about what they liked and didnt like, and what they want and didnt want, which facilitates feelings of ownership and purpose.

The residents wanted to help create the robot. They wanted the responsibility and took pride in helping to shape Stevie, McGinn said.

Soliciting and implementing feedback from residents has been so integral to Stevies benefits that McGinn realized that process shouldnt end when the pilot programs do, but should be part of the product offering.

Residents organize committees to show each other how to use the robot. Theyre facilitators, not just customers. Stevie gives them motivation to do things that are good for them, he said. The unanticipated benefits of using Stevie outweigh the expected ones, which suggests that more paradigm shifts might arise from the use of such robots in facilities.

The biggest concern about robotic caregivers is that they shift care away from humans and become an excuse to pass off the care of the sick or elderly onto machines. Its potentially very dangerous taking people out of the loop, McGinn acknowledged, but I dont think thatll happen anytime soon. The tech isnt even close to being able to circumvent all people.

Pilot programs with Stevie were illuminating, especially regarding assumptions most of us make about what drives caretaking needs.

People who are worried about tech replacing people havent spent time in nursing homes. The people who work with these patients dont spend quality time with patientstheyre stressed and getting beeped constantly. The truth is that older people are alone all the time, starved of care and interaction, McGinn said, emphasizing that robotic caregivers dont replace interactionsthey add to them, especially in situations where those interactions arent currently taking place.

While robots such as Stevie might not be affordable for individuals, theyre cost-effective solutions for facilities in which a single robot could assist 20 people.

According to Kimberly Stanley, Healthcare Sector Leader with EYP, an architectural design firm that works with healthcare organizations, its easier to picture robots assistant with more time-consuming jobs that are not patient-facing. However, it doesnt take much imagination to envision a day when empathetic, patient-facing robots are commonplace.

Read more at The Daily Beast.
Santo Coyote. | Photo: John K./Yelp

It's the United States' favorite day to celebrate Mexican culture, but it's not, as many believe, Mexico's Independence Day  that comes Sept. 16.

Cinco de Mayo instead commemorates a significant military victory, in which the Mexican army defeated French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Want to celebrate the occasion and show off your newfound knowledge of Mexican history? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best Mexican restaurants in Oakland, using both Yelp data and our own methodology. Use our list to score a delicious Cinco de Mayo meal.

1. El Paisa

Photo: El Paisa/Yelp

Topping the list is El Paisa. Located at 4610 International Blvd., the counter-order spot that specializes in street-style tacos is the highest rated Mexican restaurant in Oakland, boasting 4.5 stars out of 185 reviews on Yelp.

2. La Mexicana Restaurant

Photo: Mike D./Yelp

Next up is St. Elizabeth's La Mexicana Restaurant, which can be found at 3930 International Blvd. With 4.5 stars out of 161 reviews on Yelp, the family-run sit-down spot has proven to be a local favorite.

3. Santo Coyote

Photo: Art S./Yelp

Santo Coyote, located at 4806 International Blvd., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the Jaliscan restaurant, which serves thick corn tortillas, rich stews and more, 4.5 stars out of 142 reviews.

4. Molcajete Cocina Mexicana

Photo: Dana E./Yelp

Molcajete Cocina Mexicana is another go-to, with four stars out of 427 Yelp reviews. Head over to 1734 Webster St. (between 17th and 15th streets) to try Yucatecan chochinita pibil, Pueblan mole or stone-grilled steak, chicken, chorizo and shrimp.

5. La Casita

Photo: Spencer W./Yelp

Finally, over in Harrington, check out La Casita, which has earned 4.5 stars out of 96 reviews on Yelp. You can find the Mexican spot, which is known for its pozole, at 3659 Foothill Blvd. (between Harrington and Bridge avenues).

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Its not just the celebrities that get to live the high life! Their squads boast some pretty impressive real-estate claims too, and hairstylist-to-the-stars Jen Atkins recent purchase is a prime example. The mane expert for the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez, Sofia Vergara, Chrissy Teigen, and more just bought a gorgeous pad off Los Angeless Miracle Mile for $3.36 million.

Built in 2018 by Urban Asset Group, designed by Obermeyer Architecture, and decorated by Stephanie Hauptli, the modern, nearly 5,000-square-foot boxlike abode would definitely be Kimye approved. The sleek interior is filled with open, sunlit spaces and the rooms on the main floor flow seamlessly into one another, with light hardwood floors and plenty of cabinetry throughout. In both the office and living room youll find fireplaces, and the huge eat-in kitchen has a long marble backsplash and showstopping island countertop. A maids bedroom can also be found on the first floor.

Upstairs are three en suite bedrooms and a stunning master suite with a fireplace and double walk-in closets. Although Atkins bathroom isnt quite as modern as Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's, it does have a breathtaking marble shower, soaking tub, and skylight. And the entire house is hooked up to state-of-the-art technology. Everything from security to the sound system can be controlled at the touch of an iPad.

The outside space, though small at .17 acres, is noteworthy as well. The hairstylist has a grassy lawn, swimming pool, spa, and covered terrace for outdoor dining. Theres also a two-car garage.

Atkin recently gave fans a nearly 13-minute home tour on social media, showing off the moving and decorating process. In February, she and her photographer husband, Mike Rosenthal, sold their nearby house, which was featured in a 2017 issue of Architectural Digest, for $3.195 million.
A gunman killed two people when he opened fire on the Charlotte campus of the University of North Carolina, medical officials said.

Their bodies were found at the scene according to the Mecklenburg Emergency Medical Services Agency, which added that two people sustained life threatening injuries in the attack.

Another two were injured, but their injuries were not thought to be life threatening.

The university tweeted that an active shooter had been reported near the universitys Kennedy Hall administrative building shortly before 6pm local time. Students should run, hide, fight, it said. Secure yourself immediately, it added. Monitor email.

On its website it said that the campus was on lockdown and that students and staff should remain in a safe location.

The injured were taken to Carolinas Medical Centre.

It was not immediately clear whether the victims were students or whether a suspect was in custody, but Nasim Fekrat claimed on Twitter that one of the injured was a 20-year-old from Saudi Arabia.

Mr Fekrat who describes himself as a blogger and learner, wrote: The shooter was detained immediately," he tweeted.He ran out of bullets, emptied one magazine and that was it.

He added later that they were surrounded by police.

Students being led by an officer down sidewalk of UNCC campus. @WBTV_News pic.twitter.com/BIx9LOqIv3  Amanda Foster WBTV (@AFosterWBTV) April 30, 2019

Video footage posted to social media showed students evacuating campus buildings with their hands raised as police officers ran past them towards the scene of the shooting.

Police officers were sweeping buildings across the campus, the university tweeted, telling students to follow officer commands.

A spokeswoman for Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department confirmed there had been an active shooter at the university but declined to give any further information.

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Officials at the university which has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff, could not be reached for comment.

The police department set up a media staging area nearby.
1164 N. Dearborn St., #506. | Photos: Zumper

It can be challenging to find a bargain when apartment hunting. So what does the low-end pricing on a rental in the Near North look like these days  and what might you get for the price?

Per Walk Score ratings, the neighborhood has excellent walkability, is convenient for biking and is a haven for transit riders. It also features median rents for a one bedroom that hover around $2,000, compared to a $1,550 one-bedroom median for Chicago as a whole.

A look at local listings for studios and one-bedroom apartments in the Near North, via rental site Zumper, paints a picture of what price-conscious apartment seekers can expect to find in this Chicago neighborhood.

Read on for the cheapest listings available right now. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

1164 N. Dearborn St., #506

Listed at $1,120/month, this studio apartment, located at 1164 N. Dearborn St., #506, is 29.6 percent less than the $1,590/month median rent for a studio in the Near North.

On-site laundry is listed as a building amenity. In the unit, you're promised central heating and hardwood flooring. Pet owners, take heed: cats and dogs are welcome.

(See the complete listing here.)

1100 N. Dearborn St., #2002

This studio apartment, situated at 1100 N. Dearborn St., #2002, is listed for $1,325/month.

In the unit, the listing promises hardwood floors and both central heating and air conditioning. The building features a roof deck, a fitness center and on-site laundry. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are welcome.

(See the complete listing here.)

1140 N. LaSalle Drive

Here's a studio apartment at 1140 N. LaSalle Drive, which is going for $1,325/month.

The building offers outdoor space and on-site laundry. In the unit, you're promised hardwood flooring and a dishwasher. Good news for cat lovers: kitties are allowed.

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(See the full listing here.)

440 N. Wabash Ave.

And here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 440 N. Wabash Ave., which, with 582 square feet, is going for $1,650/month.

Amenities offered in the building include garage parking, a swimming pool, a fitness center, outdoor space, an elevator and on-site laundry. In the unit, which comes furnished, look for both air conditioning and central heating, hardwood flooring, a deck, a walk-in closet and a dishwasher. Cats are welcome; sadly dogs are not. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(Check out the listing here.)

1122 N. Clark St., #2505

Over at 1122 N. Clark St., #2505, there's this 700-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom abode, going for $1,775/month.

In the unit, look for a deck and both central heating and air conditioning. Pets are not welcome. The building features a swimming pool, a fitness center and on-site laundry.

(View the listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
The Irish Rover. | Photo: M R./Yelp

Spending time in Clifton? Get to know this Louisville neighborhood by browsing its most popular local businesses, from a traditional Irish pub to a specialty ice cream shop.

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top places to visit in Clifton, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of neighborhood businesses. Read on for the results.

1. North End Cafe

Photo: tracie u./Yelp

Topping the list is traditional American breakfast, brunch and lunch spot North End Cafe. Located at 1722 Frankfort Ave., it's the highest-rated business in the neighborhood, boasting four stars out of 338 reviews on Yelp.

The breakfast and brunch menu features items like bacon and cheddar pancakes and house-smoked trout hash. For lunch, options range from appetizers to sandwiches to entrees. Try the fried goat cheese ravioli to start your meal and dig into the chicken fettuccini Alfredo for your entree. Not that hungry? Try a spinach salad.

2. The Irish Rover

Photo: Stephanie M./Yelp

Irish gastropub The Irish Rover is another top choice. Yelpers give the business, located at 2319 Frankfort Ave., four stars out of 257 reviews.

Located in a 150-year-old building, The Irish Rover strives to create a traditional Irish vibe, which isn't that difficult when the owner is purely Irish and the Guinness is shipped directly from the motherland. Immerse yourself in the cuisine with an appetizer of scotch eggs, an entree of bangers and mash and topped off with a sticky toffee pudding.

3. Bourbons Bistro

Photo: sam v./Yelp

Bourbons Bistro, a Southern and New American spot and cocktail bar, is another neighborhood go-to, with four stars out of 186 Yelp reviews. Head over to 2255 Frankfort Ave. to see for yourself.

Bourbons Bistro features over 140 different kinds of American bourbon and whiskey, along with a straightforward food menu of starters, salads, entrees and desserts. Pair your favorite glass of bourbon with Knob Creek maple bacon wings and an 8-ounce filet of beef. Save room for the bourbon bread pudding.

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4. Time 4 Thai

Photo: sam l./Yelp

Check out Time 4 Thai, which has earned four stars out of 168 reviews on Yelp. You can find the Thai and Asian fusion spot at 2206 Frankfort Ave.

Enjoy traditional noodles, fried rice, Thai curry, duck and a selection of entrees and chef's specials, like the Thai spiced coriander chicken and the crispy garlic frog legs. Authentic Thai desserts include mango sticky rice and homemade Thai coconut ice cream.

5. Comfy Cow

Photo: karen g./Yelp

Finally, there's Comfy Cow, a local favorite with 4.5 stars out of 141 reviews. Stop by 2221 Frankfort Ave. to hit up the spot to score ice cream and more next time you're in the neighborhood.

Established in 2009, this sweet spot offers classic and specialty ice cream flavors, ice cream pies, cookies, brownies and smoothies. You can even pick up a pooch pop for your four-legged friend. To fill your own stomach, try the brown butter peanut brittle in a waffle cone or the black raspberry chip in a cake cone.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Want to get to know the newest restaurant and retail additions to Austin? From a cocktail bar to a chicken wings spot and beer bar, read on for a rundown of the newest businesses to open for business around town.

Velouria

New to 3801 S. Congress Ave., Suite 116, in St. Edwards is Velouria, a cocktail bar, offering coffee, specialty drinks and more.

With custom wood fixtures, green velvet furniture and retro lighting, this spot is all about the vibe. Grab coffee and pastries in the morning and drop by after work for a glass of wine, champagne or a signature cocktail. Hungry for a bite? Consider the charcuterie board of cheese or meats or a pastry item.

Comedor

Photo: SCOTT M./Yelp

Stop by 501 Colorado St. downtown and you'll find Comedor, a new Mexican spot.

It serves authentic and exotic cuisine, such as Spanish octopus in a black garlic mole and scallops in a fermented pineapple sauce. Pair menu items with a cocktail, craft beer or glass of wine. (Click here to view the full menu.)

Cuba 512

Photo: CUBA 512/Yelp

Cuba 512 is a new Cuban and Caribbean spot that's located at 906 Congress Ave.

You'll find an extensive drink list boasting beer, wine, sangria and Cuban specialty cocktails like daiquiris, margaritas and mojitos.

Must-try menu items include the papa con carne, ceviche and the ropa vieja. In the mood for something sweet? Try the mango mousse and Cuban coffee for dessert.

Vamonos

PHOTO: JING C./YELP

New to 4807 Airport Blvd. in North Loop is Vamonos, a Tex-Mex spot.

This spot draws inspiration from traditional Texas ranch cooking and features local, hormone-free ingredients, according to the restaurant's website. Keep an eye out for its classic platos, grilled specials and extensive tequila list. (See the full menu here.)

Left Wing Bar

Photo: LEFT WING BAR/Yelp

Stop by 2416 Guadalupe St. in West University and you'll find Left Wing Bar, a beer bar, offering chicken wings and more. It's the first U.S. location for the Korean fried chicken chain.

This spot promises juicy, crispy wings that pair well with a cold brew. Customize your wing order with a sauce that matches your desired heat level: choose from original, sweet and spicy, house special (a spicy garlicky sauce), go-bachi (Korean chili barbecue), and khan-bachi (soy teriyaki barbecue).

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian national to death on Tuesday for producing and trafficking the addictive stimulant methamphetamine, amid heightened tension between Beijing and Ottawa over the arrest of a Huawei Technologies executive.

Canadian Fan Wei was a leader in the production and trafficking scheme, the Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court said in a statement.

In response, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland condemned the use of the death penalty, calling it "cruel and inhumane punishment which should not be used in any country."

"We're very concerned by this sentence. Canada stands firmly opposed to the use of the death penalty everywhere... We are obviously particularly concerned when it is applied to Canadians," she told reporters in Ottawa.

Canada's foreign ministry, in a separate statement, said Canadian officials attended the verdict and sentencing for Fan, and called on China to grant him clemency.

"Global Affairs Canada has been closely following this case and has been providing consular assistance to Mr. Fan and his family since he was first detained in 2012," it added.

Another suspect, Wu Ziping, was sentenced to death but Wu's nationality was not given.

The court also issued judgements against nine other people, including one American and four Mexicans.

It did not specify what sentences five of the nine received, though it indicated the minimum they got was life in prison. It said the other four were jailed but did not say for how long.

Court officials could not be reached for comment.

All 11 can appeal their sentences.

Fan is the second Canadian to be sentenced to death for drug offences in China this year, during a period of escalating tension between the two countries.

In December, Canadian police arrested Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, at the request of U.S. prosecutors.

U.S. prosecutors have portrayed the company as a threat to national security and alleged it conspired to violate U.S. sanctions. Both Meng, who is out on bail, and Huawei deny the allegations.

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China recently arrested two Canadians on national security grounds.

China has also cancelled Canadian agribusiness Richardson International Ltd's registration to ship canola to China this year.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel and Bernadette Baum)
President-PM messages on Labour day

President Arif Alvi and the premier both have released special messages on Labour Day.Both leaders reiterated the government's commitment towards effectively protecting the rights of workers so they can meet the emerging challenges of globalisation, Radio Pakistan reported.



The president said that the government will do its best to improve the socioeconomic conditions of workers in the country. He said Labour Day is not only a reminder of the struggle of workers, but also an acknowledgement of their importance for national growth and progress.



Prime Minister Imran in his message said that the day affords us an opportunity to recognise the valuable contributions being made by workers. Dividends of inclusive economic growth cannot be realised if workers are deprived of their rights and opportunities, the premier noted.



The prime minister said that the government is trying to strengthen the labour market and plans to create 10 million jobs in five years in key sectors such as housing, small and medium enterprises, health, education, green economy and tourism. Prime Minister Imran Khan will launch the Mazdoor Ka Ehsas programme today in Islamabad.



International Labour Day is being observed across the world on Wednesday in tribute to workers in Chicago who were killed by police while protesting for an eight-hour workday in 1886.



Pakistans first labour policy was devised in 1972, in which May 1 was declared an official holiday. Labour Day is celebrated in over 100 countries by over 65 per cent of the world's population. The theme of Labour Day this year is 'Uniting workers for social and economic advancement'. Special programmes have been planned by labourers, traders, and organisations to highlight the significance of the day.
Deborah Osburn had a vision. The industry veteran founded tile company Cle in 2013 when readers of her blog, Tile Envy, asked how to purchase featured pieces. She began internationally sourcing heirloom-quality tiles, producing them in collaboration with creatives like Erica Tanov, Timorous Beasties, and Ruan Hoffmann. Now, Cle is making moves again, bringing on Remodelista cofounder Sarah Lonsdale as creative director to launch new partnerships and products, and help design the next phase of the brand with the first brick-and-mortar store for the company.

The point of the showroom was not so people could see and feel the tiles, because e-commerce sampling already allowed for that, but rather, to be a playground to challenge and explore one's ideas of architectural surfaces, says Osburn.

Photo: Matthew Baum

Osburn knew shed need a lot of space to create said vision. She took over a 12,000-square-foot former Sears warehouse in San Rafael, California, transforming it into a studio with showroom, offices, and a so-called tile guild"serving as both an R&D lab for the company and incubator for local artists. She set to work installing a bank of skylights, tiling surfaces, and setting the stage for the showroom of her dreams. Furnishings include vintage and bespoke pieces; on view are Faye Toogood's Roly Poly chair by Driade, Lambert & Fils lighting, artwork by Ruan Hoffmann, and mirrors from Erin Martin Design.

The first floor pays homage to Cy Twombly's Roman palazzo and major works of Carlo Scarpa. Offices on the second floor juxtapose the studios deep colors (emerald, port wine, azure velvet) with the airy and spartan space (featuring bone whites, natural terra-cotta, steel, and iron).

Photo: Matthew Baum

Each office has its own vibe, taking the neutral zellige, then giving it a twist," Osburn says. "For example, our creative director's is the most avant-garde with pink wallsa random tessellation of glazed colored tiles, with occasional 24-karat gold accents.

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In the atrium, Moroccan flourishes abound with multiple installations of the brand's zellige collection. The back wall of the studio features a 10-foot brass-topped bar, backed by a soaring wall clad in Fornace Brioni Acanti tiles, while the bathrooms showcase multiple uses of terrazzo, the brand's new Strata line, and walls of malachite on limestone. All the tiles in the studio, outside of certain stand-alone vignettes, take their color direction from classic Italian spaces.

Photo: Matthew Baum

I see our studio as being more of a hall of exhibition for Cle and exploration for our clients, notes Osburn. Knowing that the studio would be ever-changing, I wanted its introduction to come from my most emotional encounters with tiles and surfaces, which not surprisingly were from my Italian inspirations. I wanted it to feel like I was on the set of I Am Love [at] Villa Necchi, from the grandeur of the villa to the earthy, woodsy culinary labclassic yet design-forward.

The studio opens its doors on May 13. Current vignettes recreate Lisbons Santa Clara 1728 hotel, a gentlemens bar, and an Upper East Side apartment entry.
Los Angeles (AFP) - An award-winning film producer who co-founded the Sundance Film Festival pleaded guilty Tuesday to child sex abuse.

Sterling Van Wagenen, 71, entered his plea in the western state of Utah and faces between six years and life in prison at sentencing in July.

His attorney, Steven Shapiro, said in court that the filmmaker plans to plead guilty to another charge involving the same victim later this week.

Shapiro told the judge that his client, who is Mormon, wishes "to acknowledge wrongful conduct," The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Prosecutors had charged Van Wagenen of inappropriately touching a girl between the ages of seven and nine on two occasions between 2013 and 2015 in two different cities in Utah.

The case came to light after Van Wagenen admitted in a secretly taped interview released in February by the Truth and Transparency Foundation of assaulting in 1993 a 13-year-old boy who was at a sleepover with Van Wagenen's son.

In the recording, taped in 2018 by the now-adult victim, Wagenen admitted to the abuse and said he had informed police and leaders of the Mormon Church -- or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- of his actions but was never criminally charged.

The case for which he has pleaded guilty was uncovered after The Truth and Transparency Foundation, a watchdog of the Mormon Church, released the tape.

Van Wagenen subsequently resigned from his part-time teaching position at the University of Utah's Film and Media Arts Department.

Van Wagenen co-founded a Utah film festival in 1978 that later became known as the Sundance Film Festival with Robert Redford -- who was once married to Van Wagenen's cousin -- at the helm.

However, Van Wagenen has not been involved with Sundance since 1993.
Lotus Grill. | Photo: Malini S./Yelp

Looking for a delicious Chinese meal near you?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable Chinese restaurants around Columbus, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to satisfy your cravings.

1. Asian Kitchen

Photo: sarah d./Yelp

Topping the list is Asian Kitchen. Located at 2828 Stelzer Road in Somerset, the Chinese spot is the highest-rated budget-friendly Chinese restaurant in Columbus, boasting four stars out of 102 reviews on Yelp.

Serving up authentic and affordable Asian cuisine seven days a week, Asian Kitchen offers menu items such as Pad Thai, Lo Mein, wonton soup and fried rice.

2. Sun Tong Luck Asian Cuisine

Photo: mirabelle l./Yelp

Next up is Misty Meadows' Sun Tong Luck Asian Cuisine, situated at 2500 Bethel Road. With four stars out of 162 reviews on Yelp, the Chinese and vegan spot, offering soups and more, has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for a budget-friendly option.

Sun Tong Luck has been in the Columbus area since the early 1980s. Its menu features appetizers, soups, noodle and rice dishes, Pad Thai, vegetarian specialties and a host of chicken, pork and beef entrees.

3. Lotus Grill

Photo: malini s./Yelp

Crosswoods' Lotus Grill, located at 150 Hutchinson Ave., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the cheap Chinese spot four stars out of 116 reviews.

Try the meatball soup, the chicken with chili sauce or the beef with broccoli.

4. Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

Photo: pat e./Yelp

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup, a Chinese spot that offers noodles and more in the Ohio State University, is another budget-friendly go-to, with four stars out of 86 Yelp reviews. Head over to 10 E. 12th Ave. to see for yourself.

Try the Chinese beef noodle soup, as Yelpers consistently rave about this dish. Other favorites include the dumplings and the Chinese eggplant dish.

5. Joy's Village

Photo: joy w./Yelp

Finally, over in Indiana Forest, check out Joy's Village, which has earned four stars out of 79 reviews on Yelp. Dig in at the Chinese spot by heading over to 2060 N. High St.

Try the duck pan fried noodles and the scallion pancakes.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Anticipating her family's inevitable questions, Mary Beth Barone prepared an informational pamphlet before going on a date.

"They are a CURIOUS bunch," she told Mashable through Twitter DM.

Barone, who's a comedian based in New York, attended a wedding in North Carolina last year and hit it off with another guest, who was from Miami. Barone happened to have a family vacation planned about an hour from Miami a few weeks later, and wanted to sneak away from her family for the date. But there was a flaw in her plan  as the youngest of five siblings traveling with 20 to 30 extended family members, it would be difficult for her to leave without a decent excuse. Barone said she had three options in order to successfully sneak away with the family's rental car: lie, try to hide it, or over communicate.

"I knew once I mentioned it to one person, everyone would have questions," she said. "So instead of answering them all in a flurry, I decided I'm just gonna foresee the line of questioning."

She came up with a pamphlet titled, "I'm Going on a Date While We're on Vacation," made around 15 copies, and passed them around. She shared pictures of the pamphlet on Twitter on Wednesday, where it quickly took off.

yes, I did pass these out on my last family vacation. pic.twitter.com/B7Q9P99kQu  mary beth barone (@marybethbarone) May 1, 2019

Through an FAQ section, she told her "nosy and caring" family that she was meeting up with her "friend Sarah's brother," and no, they're not dating, they're "just getting to know each other."

SEE ALSO: Facebook 'Secret Crush' is here to enable your creepiest nightmares

"More questions?" she concluded at the end of the FAQ. "Don't."

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Barone said she's a "planner through and through," and added that her brothers had a "field day" with the pamphlet. She explained that it was a way to "control the narrative in a way" since writing down all of the information left no room for interpretation.

"I was strategic, I passed it out merely hours before my departure," she said. "So no time for them to bug me!"

She did acknowledge that her family is only so nosy because they love her and they care, and they thankfully didn't ask for "dirty deets" when she came back the next morning after a night of drinking rose and getting breakfast with her new boy.

"The guy did end up ghosting me, which isn't ideal but ... [it] somehow is the classic ending to a whirlwind romance these days," Barone joked.

While she doesn't have a date lined up for the next family vacation, she mused about making more informational pamphlets for other family events.

"I'm thinking it would be a good idea for the next holiday season to efficiently update everyone on my comedy career," Barone said.
Our company willing buy straw pellets from Belorussia. We have interest in wholesale volume. We need pellets to be packed in 15 kg bags and big bags. Diameter 6 mm and 8 mm. Please send prices (DAP, EXW) and specifications.
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A group of 19 Catholic priests and academics have urged bishops to denounce Pope Francis as a heretic, in the latest ultra-conservative broadside against the pontiff over a range of topics from communion for the divorced to religious diversity. The most prominent of the group is Father Aidan Nichols, a 70-year-old British priest of the Dominican order who has written many books and is one of most recognized theologians in the English-speaking world. The others are less well known. "We take this measure as a last resort to respond to the accumulating harm caused by Pope Francis's words and actions over several years, which have given rise to one of the worst crises in the history of the Catholic Church," they said in a 20-page open letter. The letter attacks Francis for allegedly softening the Church's stance on a range of subjects. They say he has not been outspoken enough against abortion and has been too welcoming to homosexuals and too accommodating to Protestants and Muslims. It was published on Tuesday by LifeSiteNews, a conservative Catholic website that often is a platform for attacks on the pope. Last year, it ran a document by the Vatican's former ambassador to Washington, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, calling on the pope to resign. A Vatican spokesman had no comment on the letter, which includes dozens of footnotes, Bible verses, pronouncements by previous popes, and a separate bibliography. The letter invites people to join an on-line signature drive. Addressing the bishops, the letter says "We therefore request that your Lordships urgently address the situation of Pope Francis's public adherence to heresy." It asks them to "publicly to admonish Pope Francis to abjure the heresies that he has professed". Deciding whether a Church member is a heretic is the job of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog department. Massimo Faggioli, a well-known professor of historical theology at Villanova University in the United States, said the letter was an example of the extreme polarisation in the Church. "There is overwhelming support for Francis in the global Church on one side, and a tiny fringe of extremists trying to paint Francis as a pope who is heretic. The problem is that there is very little legitimate, constructive critique of Francis' pontificate and his theology," he said in an email. A significant part of the letter concentrates on "Amoris Laetitia" (The Joy of Love), a 2016 papal document that is a cornerstone of Francis' attempt to make the 1.3 billion-member Church more inclusive and less condemning. ULTRA CONSERVATIVES TAKE AIM In it, Francis called for a Church that is less strict and more compassionate towards any "imperfect" members, such as those who divorced and later remarry in civil ceremonies. Under Church law they cannot receive communion unless they abstain from sex with their new partner, because their first marriage is still valid in the eyes of the Church, unless they have received an annulment. The Church does not allow divorce. Francis has opened the door to some exceptions, allowing the decision whether the person can be fully re-integrated and receive communion to be made by a priest or bishop jointly with the individual on a case-by-case basis. After Amoris Laetitia was published, four conservative publicly challenged the pope, accusing him of sowing confusion on important moral issues. He has thus far not responded to their demands that he clear up their doubts. The new letter lists pages of what it calls "Evidence for Pope Francis being guilty of the delict (crime) of heresy". It attacks him for having once said that the intentions of Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, "were not mistaken". It says he has not condemned abortion strongly enough and is too lenient with homosexual Catholics. The letter criticized Francis for signing a joint statement with Lutherans in 2016 in which the pope said Catholics were grateful for the "theological gifts" of the Reformation. It attacked the pope for a common statement with a prominent Muslim leader in Abu Dhabi in February which said the pluralism and diversity of religions was "willed by God". Conservatives say the Roman Catholic Church is the only true one and that members are called to convert others to it. (Reporting By Philip Pullella, Editing by William Maclean)
Quebec is enticing major crypto miners by offering cheap electricity using renewable hydro energy. | Source: Shutterstock

By CCN.com: Canada aims to lure cryptocurrency miners by offering cheap electricity in Quebec. The citys energy authority, Regie de lenergie, has asked its largest power provider to set aside an additional 300 megawatts of discounted energy for new bitcoin mining projects.

Until now, crypto mining has been fiercely concentrated in China. But as Beijing mulls an outright ban on bitcoin mining, the industry is flocking to Canada.

Decision de la Regie de l'energie entourant l'industrie des chaines de blocs. Bonne nouvelle, car nous pourrons aller de lavant avec un processus de selection selon lequel un bloc de 300 MW sera octroye a des nouveaux clients de ce secteur.https://t.co/1UP95swUzv  Hydro-Quebec (@hydroquebec) April 29, 2019

Quebec: cheapest bitcoin mining rates in N. America

The leading power provider Hydro-Quebec had previously set aside 368 megawatts of discounted energy for crypto miners. Under the new regulation, Hydro-Quebec will add an extra 300 specifically to attract new projects, totalling 668 megawatts.

New miners will submit an application outlining plans for job creation and attracting new investment to the region. The projects will also be expected to offer a plan for heat recovery to offset the energy waste from mining.

Hydro-Quebec generates an energy surplus using renewable hydro energy. Source: Hydro-Quebec

Despite the strict criteria, Hydro-Quebec is confident in attracting big players:

Read the full story on CCN.com.
The Block is delighted to bring you expert cryptocurrency legal analysis courtesy of Stephen Palley (@stephendpalley.) In the following interview, Palley dives into English law as it applies to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology with Ed Chapman, an M&A and transactional lawyer from the English firm of Royds Withy King. Palley asks the questions, to which Chapman replies.

Introduction

We hear a lot about the application of U.S. securities (and other) laws to blockchain projects. I had the chance recently to spend the day with Ed Chapman, an M & A and transactional lawyer from the English firm of Royds Withy King, who focuses his practice on crypto. I thought it would be interesting to get a solicitors view on the state of play in the U.K., and asked Ed over a cup of tea to give us a 1,000-foot view of English law and what to expect in the near future.

First, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a corporate lawyer at Royds Withy King based in Bath in the UK, specializing in M&A and contractual matters in the technology and financial services sectors. I am currently on secondment at Anderson Kill (an Interleges network partner firm) in their New York office, and am working on a research project regarding use cases of blockchains and the regulatory landscape for cryptoassets.

How did you get into crypto / blockchain?

I was at a tech event in Bristol a couple of years ago and one of the presenters was Seamus Cushley, director of new ventures and blockchain at PwC in the UK. We started talking and, after explaining what I did for a living, he suggested that I retrain as distributed ledger technology would automate the majority of corporate transactions within the next 10 years. I researched the space and read a number of books and papers, including Satoshi Nakamotos original paper (Bitcoin: a peer to peer electronic cash system), Blockchain Revolution, The Bitcoin Standard and Blockchain and the Law: The Rule of Code. Distributed ledger technology has the potential to change both how our clients operate and how legal services are delivered. Code may not (yet) be law, but new use cases for blockchains are emerging on an almost daily basis and tokenization can revolutionize how shares are held and help bring corporate decision making into the 21st century.

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Who are the main UK governmental bodies that regulate cryptoassets?

The three key regulatory authorities in the UK are:

Bank of England (BoE)  central bank (like the Federal Reserve)

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)  US Securities and Exchange Commission

HM Treasury (HMT)  US Department of Treasury

The BoE, FCA and HMT together formed a Cryptoassets Taskforce early last year, and it issued its final report on distributed ledger technology in October 2018[1]. It concluded that while DLT is at an early stage of development, it has the potential to deliver significant benefits in financial services and other sectors in the future.

The FCA subsequently issued draft guidance on cryptoassets in January 2019, and their final policy statement should be released in the summer. Based on the draft the FCA is not proposing to regulate what it calls exchange tokens, which include Bitcoin or Litecoin, or utility tokens in the majority of cases.

However it does expect to regulate security tokens, by reference to existing capital markets legislation in England and Wales (in particular the Regulated Activities Order (contained in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000). In short, if a token looks like a security (e.g. it has share or debt like characteristics) it is likely to be caught and will be characterized as a regulated activity. There is a general prohibition on carrying out regulated activities in England and Wales unless the relevant party is authorised by the FCA or is otherwise exempt (which includes law firms).

HM Revenue & Customs (akin to the Internal Revenue Service in the US) have also stated that cryptoassets are liable to capital gains tax on disposal if a profit is made, and individuals will also be liable to pay income tax and national insurance on cryptoassets received from an employer as a non-cash payment or via mining.

Pros and cons of raising money via a token sale in the UK now / other considerations?

In light of the draft FCA guidance, a key question to be answered is whether a token is classed as a security. If it is not (and is instead seen as an exchange or utility token) then it is likely to fall outside the regulatory oversight of the FCA.

However, even if a token is not subject to FCA oversight, another key development that needs to be considered is the upcoming implementation of the EU 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5MLD). 5MLD extends KYC / anti-money laundering (AML) checks to cryptoasset exchanges, which are defined as providers engaged in exchange services between cryptoassets and fiat currencies (for example, Coinbase or Circle).

On April 15 HMT launched a consultation on the implementation of 5MLD[2], and is seeking input on whether the scope of 5MLD should be extended so that customer due diligence (CDD) is needed for the following:

Cryptoasset ATMs

Crypto to crypto exchange services

Peer to peer exchange services

Issuance of cryptoassets  ICOs

Publication of open-source software (this proposal is the most alarming and it is unclear how this would work in practice, or what it is intended to achieve)

As it stands exchanges and token issuers have had little to no AML / CDD compliance requirements. Crypto to fiat exchanges will be required to comply with 5MLD, and it is possible that this regulatory burden may extend to token issuers. In such circumstances Identifying and verifying investors would become a key risk factor for issuers.

I expect 5MLD to be transposed into English and Welsh law regardless of the outcome of the ongoing Brexit negotiations, not least because the UK played a key role in its negotiation.

The UK may end up enacting more stringent AML laws than the rest of Europe, which may drive firms to other jurisdictions with more light touch compliance regimes. Another possibility is that a more robust regulatory regime may engender confidence in the UK as a place to deal with cryptoassets (as is the case with existing public offerings). Time will tell.

Where do you see the space evolving in the next 3-5 years?

Where there is regulation enforcement action, sanctions and litigation will follow. I expect the FCA to take the lead here and establishing its regulatory perimeter should lead to greater certainty and will hopefully maintain the UKs position as one of the leading cryptoasset jurisdictions.

While the upcoming FCA guidance will help provide much needed clarity I expect litigation to follow around the classification of tokens as the market develops. In particular there is a grey area between utility tokens and security tokens and consumers may be prejudiced by a token not being classed as a security.

I see security token offerings (STOs) becoming part of the investment landscape and, in certain circumstances, they offer an innovative method of fundraising. It may also be seen as a badge of honor to launch a STO that is FCA compliant. However investors should carefully consider the viability of the company itself. A company with little underlying value or potential does not suddenly become a good prospect merely by pursuing a STO.

The FCA has also strongly hinted that it will ban the sale of crypto derivatives such as contracts for difference and futures to retail investors later this year, on the basis they carry a high risk of loss.

I also expect to see the continued development of permissioned enterprise blockchains, and anticipate such platforms will be integrated into existing architecture to the extent that end users are unaware they are interacting with a blockchain (much in the same way people use web browsers without any awareness or knowledge of HTML).

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cryptoassets-taskforce

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/transposition-of-the-fifth-money-laundering-directive
By Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta HAVANA (Reuters) - Millions of Cubans took to the streets on Wednesday in protest over new sanctions imposed on the Caribbean island by the Trump administration and U.S. efforts to topple the government of socialist ally Venezuela. "We will give a strong, firm and revolutionary response to the statements loaded with threats, provocations, lies and slander of the Yankee empire," tweeted Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel as dawn broke over Havana. The annual marches across the Communist-run country, marking International Workers Day, provided the first opportunity to publicly protest a U.S. offensive against socialism in the region declared by U.S. national security advisor John Bolton late last year. That was followed by a series of new sanctions against Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua and the appearance of shortages of basic goods on the island. "We denounce the maneuvers aimed at destabilizing the left and progressive governments, particularly in Venezuela and Nicaragua," according to a statement read at the start of the march in Havanas historic Revolution Plaza. The Cuban government has proved unable to counter new U.S. sanctions and attacks on Nicaragua and especially Venezuela, Western diplomats say. "They are doing what they can through diplomatic channels to support dialogue in Venezuela and certainly still have influence with African and other developing countries," a European ambassador said. "And they are certainly using the situation to strengthen political support at home and drum up support abroad where they can. There is not much more they can do," he said. On Tuesday, Trump threatened a "full and complete embargo https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-trump-tweet/trump-threatens-full-embargo-on-cuba-over-venezuela-security-support-idUSKCN1S62PD" and more sanctions if Cuban troops continued to prop up the Venezuelan government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Those remarks came after Bolton said there were more than 20,000 Cuban military personnel in Venezuela and that potential high-level defectors feared Cubas wrath. Cuba has repeatedly denied it has troops on the ground. "Bolton is a pathological liar who misinforms President Trump. There are no Cuban troops in Venezuela or Cubans participating in military or security operations," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez tweeted on Tuesday. While the marches throughout Cuba were organized by the government, there is little doubt Cubans are in shock and angry over the rapid deterioration of relations with the U.S. in recent months. They also see Venezuela as an ally and source of sustenance. The once-robust economic ties between Cuba and Venezuela, which included an oil-and-cash-for-doctors barter arrangement, numerous joint ventures and other deals, have frayed since Venezuela plunged into crisis in 2015. However, Venezuela still sends between 40,000 and 50,000 bpd of oil to Cuba, which has some 22,000 doctors and other professionals working in Venezuela, on both sides about half of the levels preceding 2015. The U.S. administration's decision this month to fully implement the Helms-Burton Act as of Thursday, a 1996 law, marks a significant strengthening of sanctions on Cuba, according to experts. Title I and II of the Act codify all previous sanctions into law and set conditions for Congress to lift them. But previous presidents, both Republican and Democrat, suspended Title III, which allows U.S. citizens, including Cuban-Americans, to sue anyone profiting from their nationalized or confiscated properties. They also failed to fully enforce Title IV, which bans executives and their closest relatives from the United States if they profit from those properties. "Trump threatens us with doubling down on the economic blockade, trying to put a new rope around our necks," said Eduardo Garcia, 55, a telecommunications technician, and one of an estimated million marchers in Havana. (Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By Jayson Mansaray

LONDON (Reuters) - Meghan Markle will give birth by Monday night to a little girl to be named Diana - at least that's what the bets placed by punters suggest.

Britain's Prince Harry and his American wife are due to welcome their first child any day now, just ahead of their first wedding anniversary on May 19.

Speculation has long been rife on the baby's gender, name and up until Wednesday - birth month.

Many people expected the baby would arrive in April so those who bet on a May birth are likely to see a return, William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said. He added the bookmaker had yet to settle April bets on the "unlikely" chance the baby was already born in secret.

Harry and his former actress wife announced in October they were expecting their first child this spring.

Meghan told well-wishers in January she was six months pregnant, adding the couple did not know the baby's gender.

"We actually believe it's going to be this week and we make today, Wednesday 1 May, the favorite at 4/1," Sam Rosbottom, PR executive at Betfair said.

Odds for Thursday or Friday were 5/1, he added. Should the baby arrive on May 2, the young royal would share a birthday with cousin Princess Charlotte, Prince William's daughter.

William Hill has odds of 3/1 for Wednesday.

"We reckon it's imminent now...we're odds on 1 to 2 that the baby arrives by Monday night," William Hill's Adams.

Bookmakers say for weeks, odds have favored the baby to be a girl, with the name Diana, after Harry's late mother, leading the pack with odds of 4/1 at William Hill and 3/1 at Betfair.

"The big news right now is all about Allegra," Adams said of a new addition to top list of girl's names. "Allegra was 100 to 1 just two days ago, suddenly it's in at 12/1."

That name has also proved popular at bookmakers Ladbrokes, which earlier this week had the same odds for it.

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Other names include Victoria and Elizabeth, after Britain's monarch and Harry's grandmother. For a boy, Arthur has odds of 12/1 at Betfair while Charles, after Harry's father, is at 14/1.

"We've seen quite a lot of money in the past 72 hours for Mary - that's gone from 40/1 to 14/1, also looking at Grace at 7/1 and Alice at 10/1," Rosbottom said.

(Reporting by Jayson Mansaray; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Editing by William Maclean)
Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - Residents of a northeastern Nigerian village torched by Boko Haram fighters said Wednesday that nine more bodies of their relatives had been found, taking the total massacred to 30.

The jihadists, packed into four trucks and flanked by gunmen on motorbikes, swept into Kuda in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state late on Monday afternoon, shooting down villagers as they ran away.

When survivors returned on Tuesday to bury the dead left amid the smoking ruins of their homes, they counted 21 people killed.

Later, the villagers said they found the bodies of nine more people in the surrounding forest, murdered as they tried to escape.

"They were pursued and shot dead as they tried to flee into the bush," resident Paul Waramulu told AFP on Wednesday.

Two-thirds of homes in the village had been burnt and grain stores looted, he added.

"The total number of the recovered bodies is now 30," said Simon Damina, a villager on the search team scouring the bush. "The toll may increase, as we are still searching for more bodies."

Kuda lies in the Madagali district of Adamawa state, 285 kilometres (177 miles) north of the state capital Yola.

The attack is the latest in a long line of massacres carried out by Boko Haram in the area, who have hideouts in the dense forests nearby.

There was no immediate official response from the army or police.

The decade-long jihadist conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions from their homes.

The violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition against the jihadists.
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - A jawbone found in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau in China is providing surprising insights into Denisovans, the enigmatic extinct cousins to Neanderthals and our own species, including that they were pioneers at enduring high-altitude environments.

Scientists on Wednesday described the pivotal new fossil: the right half of the lower jaw of an adolescent, including two teeth, dating from 160,000 years ago.

The only previously known Denisovan fossils were three teeth and some bone fragments unearthed 1,500 miles (2,400 km) away in Siberia at a site called Denisova cave.

The Chinese fossil, found by a Buddhist monk in 1980 in China's Xiahe county and later turned over to scientists, revealed intriguing details about the geographic spread of Denisovans, their physical appearance and their unexpected ability to conquer extreme environments.

The fossil from Baishiya Karst cave, situated 10,760 feet (3,280 meters) above sea level, showed not only that Denisovans once were widely distributed in eastern Eurasia but also that they inhabited an inhospitable high-altitude, low-oxygen setting.

"It must have been really tough to live there as a hunter-gatherer, and still they managed to be there," said University of Copenhagen molecular anthropologist Frido Welker, one of the researchers in the study published in the journal Nature.

Our species, Homo sapiens, did not populate that area until about 40,000 years ago, having first appeared in Africa a bit more than 300,000 years ago.

"Denisovans might have adapted to a wide range of different environments," archaeologist Dongju Zhang of China's Lanzhou University said.

The researchers were unable to extract DNA from the fossil, but extracted proteins from one of the molars to determine its Denisovan identity.

"Proteins can survive about 10 times longer than DNA in fossils," paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany said.

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The proteins came from collagen, a component of connective tissue in body parts including dentin, a part of teeth.

The existence of Denisovans was unknown until researchers in 2010 announced the discovery of the Siberian remains, with DNA tests showing them to be a sister group to Neanderthals, the stoutly built extinct human species that resided in parts of Eurasia. Both experienced significant interactions with Homo sapiens, including interbreeding, before vanishing for reasons not fully understood.

The new fossil offers clues about what Denisovans looked like. "The chin area is strongly receding and the preserved teeth were exceptionally large," Hublin said.

Some far-flung modern Asian populations, particularly in Papua New Guinea, possess small but significant amounts of DNA derived from Denisovans, suggesting they had a broad geographical presence. (Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A jawbone found in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau in China is providing surprising insights into Denisovans, the enigmatic extinct cousins to Neanderthals and our own species, including that they were pioneers at enduring high-altitude environments. Scientists on Wednesday described the pivotal new fossil: the right half of the lower jaw of an adolescent, including two teeth, dating from 160,000 years ago. The only previously known Denisovan fossils were three teeth and some bone fragments unearthed 1,500 miles (2,400 km) away in Siberia at a site called Denisova cave. The Chinese fossil, found by a Buddhist monk in 1980 in China's Xiahe county and later turned over to scientists, revealed intriguing details about the geographic spread of Denisovans, their physical appearance and their unexpected ability to conquer extreme environments. The fossil from Baishiya Karst cave, situated 10,760 feet (3,280 meters) above sea level, showed not only that Denisovans once were widely distributed in eastern Eurasia but also that they inhabited an inhospitable high-altitude, low-oxygen setting. "It must have been really tough to live there as a hunter-gatherer, and still they managed to be there," said University of Copenhagen molecular anthropologist Frido Welker, one of the researchers in the study published in the journal Nature. Our species, Homo sapiens, did not populate that area until about 40,000 years ago, having first appeared in Africa a bit more than 300,000 years ago. "Denisovans might have adapted to a wide range of different environments," archaeologist Dongju Zhang of China's Lanzhou University said. The researchers were unable to extract DNA from the fossil, but extracted proteins from one of the molars to determine its Denisovan identity. "Proteins can survive about 10 times longer than DNA in fossils," paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany said. The proteins came from collagen, a component of connective tissue in body parts including dentin, a part of teeth. The existence of Denisovans was unknown until researchers in 2010 announced the discovery of the Siberian remains, with DNA tests showing them to be a sister group to Neanderthals, the stoutly built extinct human species that resided in parts of Eurasia. Both experienced significant interactions with Homo sapiens, including interbreeding, before vanishing for reasons not fully understood. The new fossil offers clues about what Denisovans looked like. "The chin area is strongly receding and the preserved teeth were exceptionally large," Hublin said. Some far-flung modern Asian populations, particularly in Papua New Guinea, possess small but significant amounts of DNA derived from Denisovans, suggesting they had a broad geographical presence. (Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Photo: Dolo Iglesias/Unsplash

If you love live music, there's no time like the present when it comes to getting out and about in Denver. From a musical water performance to an alcoholic-themed concert, here are the local shows worth checking out this week.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Colorado Wind Ensemble: "Water Music"

From the event description:

Let the Colorado Wind Ensemble move you with their bold renditions of contemporary and classical music. Dr. David Kish leads this symphony of woodwinds, brass and percussion as they perform cutting-edge works in concerts around the Denver metro area and at arts festivals throughout the region. Now in its 36th season, the ensemble's inventive slate of programming at The King Center is set to include concerts featuring guest artists and conductors with works by award-winning modern composers.

When: Friday, May 3, 7:30 p.m.

Where: The King Center, 855 Lawrence Way.

Price: $8.50

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Tetzlaff-Tetzlaff-Vogt Trio

From the event description:

Three of the most sought-after performers in classical music, Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Tanja Tetzlaff (cello) and Lars Vogt (piano), will perform together on our series a part of their first North American tour in three years.

When: Tuesday, April 30, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave.

Price: $10-$40

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Music & Margs

From the event description:

On Friday, May 3, we're kicking off margarita season! Come celebrate at Howl at the Moon because there is no better way to enjoy a holiday than with a bucket of booze with your friends, singing along to a live band on stage and dancing the night away.

When: Friday, May 3, 7 p.m.

Where: Howl at the Moon, 1735 19th St.

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

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Liberati Swings

From the event description:

Liberati Swings combines great Italian food, oenobeers, jazz and good company for a swingin' Sunday brunch on May 5.

When: Sunday, May 5, 12 p.m.

Where: Liberati Osteria & Oenobeers, 2403 Champa St.

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

This story was created automatically using local event data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Al-Mashahada (Iraq) (AFP) - After plentiful winter rains, Iraq is heading into summer with overflowing reservoirs and lush marshes. But don't be fooled, observers warn: its water woes and related protests are not over.

Far from last year's shortages, "the land between the two rivers" is expected to hold 42 billion cubic metres (1.48 trillion cubic feet) in its reservoirs at the start of summer, more than twice the 2018 amount.

But that has not washed away longstanding challenges: poor infrastructure, few funds, sharing disputes with neighbours, climate change and population booms.

Nestled between palms and tall reeds north of Baghdad, the Al-Mashahada pumping station is punched through with bullet holes, its metal pipes and cisterns rusted.

Broken plastic pipes litter the dirt road leading up to it.

At another overgrown station nearby, a main tank leaks a steady stream, day and night.

These stations are par for the course in Iraq, whose water infrastructure dates back decades and has been worn by consecutive wars, sanctions blocking spare part imports, the US-led invasion and finally, the Islamic State group.

Parts of the network were installed over 60 years ago in soil that can be corrosive when wet, said Iraqi environmental expert Azzam Alwash.

"So you have a network with corroded pipes full of holes," he said, that could leak out as much as 60-70 percent of pumped water before it reaches households or farmlands.

Once there, it is hardly used responsibly, with farmers relying on wasteful flood irrigation and families leaving taps running unnecessarily.

The United Nations estimates Iraq's daily per capita water consumption is nearly double the world standard of 200 litres (52 gallons).

- 'Almost zero' -

In 2014, Iraq prepared a 20-year, $180-billion plan to manage its water crisis. But it was stillborn, as IS seized a third of the country the same year and money was diverted to fight it.

"We've needed a new station for years, but the funding totally froze in 2014 for military purposes," said Ahmad Mahmud, who heads Al-Mashahada's water resources.

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Despite IS's defeat in 2017, promised funds never came, he told AFP, and a new station is now being built by UN children's agency UNICEF.

"I couldn't afford pipes without them," Mahmud admitted.

Mehdi Rasheed, who heads Iraq's dam projects, said the ministry's budget was "almost zero" as Iraq fought IS.

Last summer, massive protests over water shortages put the spotlight squarely on services, and Iraq's government appeared to take notice.

It allocated nearly $760 million to the water ministry for this year -- about 60 percent higher than for 2018.

"It's reassuring, but it's just a good start," Mehdi said.

It remains one of the smallest ministerial budgets, around 15 times less than the electricity ministry.

Even Iraq's premier has admitted the water systems are not ready for summer, when temperatures in Iraq can reach a blistering 55 degrees Celsius (130 Fahrenheit).

"I would not be faithful if I said infrastructure is ready to receive all this," Adel Abdel Mahdi said, speaking in English.

- 'God's will'? -

Iraq's shortages can also be sourced beyond its borders.

Roughly 70 percent of its water originates from its neighbours, according to the International Energy Agency, with the Euphrates winding from Turkey through Syria, while the Tigris -- also from Turkey -- is fed by rivers from Iran.

As Turkey and Iran have developed their own dams and reservoirs, flows to Iraq have dropped.

"We used to get about 15 billion cubic metres of water a year from Iran, we no longer get that," due to dams and rerouted rivers, said Alwash, the expert.

And when Turkey fills its massive Ilisu dam, levels in the Tigris are expected to sink even further.

Iraq is negotiating with both neighbours to reach water-sharing agreements, but its position as a receiving country gives it little leverage.

Grinding on slowly behind the man-made disasters is climate change, with the World Bank predicting more severe droughts for Iraq starting in 2020.

"One year we have to deal with a drought, the next year we have floods. This is the climate extremism we see worldwide," said Kareem Hassan, manager of the massive Tharthar barrage north of Baghdad.

Despite Hassan's nod to climate change, his answer to how Iraq should respond was less reassuring: "It was God's will to bless us with rain this year, so we'll see what next year brings."

The apparent lack of planning is stark, considering Iraq's population of 40 million is projected to grow by another 10 million before 2030.

That will leave the country with a 37 percent deficit in its water supply, according to the Iraq Energy Institute.

That gap was already on Mahmud's mind as he looked at the fresh paint on Al-Mashahada's UN-funded station.

"It's great now, for the 300 families here. But in three years, there will be double that number here," he said.
After a two-year wait, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday green-lit the sale of a new gadget that heats tobacco instead of burning it.

The device, which is called IQOS (pronounced EYE-kose) and made by Philip Morris International, works by heating tobacco-filled sticks, called Heatsticks, to produce a nicotine-rich aerosol. The FDAs decision means the device may now be marketed in the U.S.  but even though IQOS has been shown to produce fewer of the cancer-causing chemicals found in traditional cigarettes, the FDA has not yet approved a separate application to call IQOS a lower-risk alternative to cigarettes. Its also not entirely clear whether IQOS will help smokers quit.

Philip Morris USA and its parent company Altria will sell IQOS in the U.S., according to a company release, and it will first be introduced in the Atlanta area in 90-120 days, an Altria representative told TIME. Specific pricing information is not available, but the spokesperson said it will be priced to incent adult smokers who are looking for alternatives to cigarettes.

Heres what to know about the IQOS device  and why some public-health advocates are concerned that teens will illegally use it.

How does IQOS work?

Traditional combustible cigarettes produce smoke when tobacco is burned at high temperatures. By contrast, the FDA says the pen-like IQOS device heats, but does not burn, tobacco-filled sticks wrapped in paper, creating an aerosol that contains nicotine. Marlboro, an Altria brand, will make the tobacco sticks used inside the cartridge, which will come in menthol and unflavored versions.

Is IQOS safer than cigarettes?

The FDA has yet to make a ruling on that question, so its too soon to say. While the FDA says that levels of cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke, including acrolein and formaldehyde, are lower in IQOS aerosol, it does not mean these products are safe. All tobacco products are potentially harmful and addictive and those who do not use tobacco products should continue not to, the FDA said in its release.

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Erin Calipari, an assistant professor of pharmacology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, says its important to cut down on harmful byproducts of smoking, but its also important to remember that nicotine is an addictive drug on its own, and is not without risks.

Nicotine is a stimulant. Stimulants have effects on the brain, and they have cardiovascular effects as well, Calipari says. We make a huge deal about the tar and the byproducts in cigarettes, but the drug addiction is incredibly important as well. Just because this minimizes other aversive outcomes doesnt mean its safe.

Can IQOS help adults quit cigarettes?

Maybe  but that doesnt necessarily mean it will be good for public health, says Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health.

If there was no such thing as e-cigarettes and this just came onto the market, it would be a step forward, Siegel says. The problem is that we now have electronic cigarettes, a non-tobacco product that is intended to do the same thing.

While e-cigarettes may come with their own risks  some early research has linked them to heart problems, respiratory disease and DNA damage  and their long-term effects arent known, Siegel says they have a safety edge compared to IQOS since they dont contain tobacco. (E-cigs produce an aerosol by heating and vaporizing a liquid that usually contains nicotine.) So while IQOS could theoretically be good for public health if it helps cigarette smokers quit outright, it could do damage if it draws current or former smokers away from e-cigarettes and back to tobacco, Siegel says.

E-cigs are not absolutely safe, but theyre moving in the right direction, he says. I dont see IQOS as helping that cause.

Dr. Jonathan Avery, an addiction psychiatrist at NewYork-PresbyterianWeill Cornell Medical Center, says the market doesnt need another cigarette-mimicking device. There are plenty of good, FDA-approved [smoking cessation] treatments, Avery says, including nicotine-replacement gum, patches and drugs. I cant see how adding more of these devices is going to make a significant impact on adult smoking.

Is youth use a concern?

Though theyre only legally available to adults, e-cigarettes have grown popular among teenagers, sparking concerns that theyll get kids hooked on nicotine. In response, the FDA has cracked down on e-cig sales and marketing to keep them out of kids hands. (Altria invested $12.8 billion in the most popular e-cig brand, Juul, last year.)

But IQOS will probably not be as popular among teens, the FDA says, since it does not come in fruity or sweet flavors and will have a relatively high price point. Data out of Italy and Japan, where the device is already for sale for the equivalent of about $70, also suggests that its not popular among youth and non-smokers, the FDA says. But to be safe, the FDA will require that IQOS advertisements are targeted toward adults, and will prohibit television and radio advertising.

Siegel agrees with the FDAs assessment. But Avery, who has treated kids addicted to vaping, says he fears the same thing will happen with IQOS.

Kids like flashy, new things, Avery says. I cant imagine that adolescents, who are increasingly in the market of using these new devices, are not going to turn to this one as well, which contains the same addictive product that we worry about.
One of the bits of conventional wisdom being circulated about Joe Bidens entry into the 20-candidate Democratic presidential field is that Biden is the 2020 equivalent of Jeb Bush. The implication is that Biden will follow the same trajectory as Bush, who started with the most money, endorsements, and name recognition in the 2016 Republican field, collapsed in the polls by the end of the summer of 2015, and dropped out of the race after getting 3 percent of the vote in Iowa, 11 percent in New Hampshire, and 8 percent in South Carolina.

Except Joe Biden is not Jeb Bush.

True, Bidens campaign has some important parallels to Jebs. Like Jeb, Biden enters the race as the presumptive front-runner, a favorite of the party establishment and the wealthy donor class. Like Jeb, he seems like the answer to a question nobody among the partys opinion leaders and activists is asking. Like Jeb, he may be rusty after years off the campaign trail. Like Jeb, he is a creature of his partys past in ways that put him badly out of step with the energy of its activist grassroots. These factors may well hobble Biden as a candidate. But there are five important ways in which Biden 2020 is different from Jeb 2016.

First, Biden is not from a political dynasty. Americans have elected a great many members of political dynasties to high office, but there remains a lingering skepticism about such legacy candidates. Dynastic concerns were a drag on Hillary Clinton in 2008 and 2016 and weighed heavily on Jeb Bush, who bore the accumulated burden of critics of his father and older brother along with a general sense of Bush fatigue. By contrast, even when hes telling his own life story rather than Neil Kinnocks, Biden is a real, live up-from-the-bootstraps guy; he may be running on Barack Obamas record, but he got where he is without the aid of family name or connections.

Second, speaking of Obama, a major reason why Jeb was unsuccessful in 2016 was that George W. Bushs presidency remained unpopular with a lot of Republican voters unhappy over Iraq, Afghanistan, the 2008 financial crisis, immigration policy, and the overall decline of Republican fortunes. Obama, by contrast, remains overwhelmingly popular with Democratic primary voters, including those Bernie Sanders supporters who want the party to take a significantly different direction going forward. Biden may not be able to restore the Obama political coalition, but his connection to Obama remains an asset upon which he will lean heavily.

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Third, Jeb Bush was very much a creature of the Republican donor class who had to reach outside that world to try to appeal to blue-collar voters. He was wonkish, low-key, and born to wealth. He worked at Lehman Brothers in the run-up to 2008, and built much of his platform around the kinds of policies that appeal to business owners and investors. All of that conspired to make him easy pickings for Donald Trumps blustery populism. In fact, his campaign went so poorly that it is hard to imagine hed have won the nomination even without Trumps presence in the field. Joe Biden has his own ties to industries long disliked by Democratic populists (Delaware-based banks and credit-card companies, big oil companies), but his political identity for decades has been that of an old-style union-hall Democrat. His backslapping, glad-handing, emotional-Irishman persona and his Trumpian propensity for gaffes makes him a natural populist. In style if not in substance, he is as much at home with working-class voters as anyone in the Democratic field, an old-school, mom-and-apple-pie, law-and-order patriarch. However much it may turn off progressive pundits and activists, this ethos still maintains political potency, as Trump himself showed in 2016.

Fourth, Jeb was an easy target on the debate stage, and Biden is not. Jeb came off as overly earnest, plodding, and easily bullied, with his self-deprecating humor, slouching, and sitcom-dad shrugs. Biden, as we have seen in his past debates and Senate hearings, is utterly shameless, willing to shout over his opponents and if anything too prone to double down when cornered. He may have difficulty navigating todays woke landscape, as his recent ham-handed apologies for a number of his past stances attest. He may end up alienating women if hes as rude to one of the many female candidates onstage as he was to Paul Ryan in their 2012 vice presidential debates (though his comparatively toned-down demeanor against Sarah Palin suggests hes capable of threading that needle). But he wont be a doormat.

Fifth, unlike Jeb, who was weakened by the presence of his one-time protege Marco Rubio in the field, Biden has no immediate competitor in his primary lane. One of the major dynamics of the 2016 Republican primary was the fact that Jeb and Rubio had served together as close allies in the same state, where they shared many supporters and donors. As a result, each recognized that the other was a mortal threat. Jebs campaign and his outside backers spent tens of millions of dollars attacking Rubio that could have been spent attacking Trump, and some of Jebs debate-stage tussles with the younger, nimbler Rubio further hurt his chances. While there may be other Democrats trying to edge their way into Bidens lane, nobody else starts out there, which will help him.

Im still inclined to regard other candidates, like Kamala Harris and possibly Pete Buttigieg, as having better odds to win the nomination than Biden. And Biden has distinct baggage (including his advanced age) that could bring him down as hard and as early as Jeb fell. But expecting him to fail as spectacularly as Jeb ignores the important ways in which he is a different animal.

More from National Review
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Grubhub Inc. (NYSE:GRUB), which is in the online retail business, and is based in United States, saw significant share price movement during recent months on the NYSE, rising to highs of $86.08 and falling to the lows of $64.07. 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 Grubhub's current trading price of $65.67 reflective of the actual value of the mid-cap? Or is it currently undervalued, providing us with the opportunity to buy? Lets take a look at Grubhubs outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

Check out our latest analysis for Grubhub

What's the opportunity in Grubhub?

According to my valuation model, Grubhub seems to be fairly priced at around 11.69% above my intrinsic value, which means if you buy Grubhub today, youd be paying a relatively fair price for it. And if you believe the companys true value is $58.79, theres only an insignificant downside when the price falls to its real value. So, is there another chance to buy low in the future? Given that Grubhubs share is fairly volatile (i.e. its price movements are magnified relative to the rest of the market) this could mean the price can sink lower, giving us an opportunity to buy later on. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for share price volatility.

What kind of growth will Grubhub generate?

NYSE:GRUB Past and Future Earnings, May 1st 2019

Investors looking for growth in their portfolio may want to consider the prospects of a company before buying its shares. Buying a great company with a robust outlook at a cheap price is always a good investment, so lets also take a look at the company's future expectations. With profit expected to more than double over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for Grubhub. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

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What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? GRUBs optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we havent considered today, such as the track record of its management team. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at the stock? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below its fair value?

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping an eye on GRUB, now may not be the most optimal time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the optimistic prospect is encouraging for the company, which means its worth diving deeper into other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters  the fundamentals  before you make a decision on Grubhub. You can find everything you need to know about Grubhub in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in Grubhub, 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.
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Today I will take a look at Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.'s (NYSE:HE) most recent earnings update (31 December 2018) and compare these latest figures against its performance over the past few years, as well as how the rest of the electric utilities industry performed. As an investor, I find it beneficial to assess HEs trend over the short-to-medium term in order to gauge whether or not the company is able to meet its goals, and ultimately sustainably grow over time.

Check out our latest analysis for Hawaiian Electric Industries

Could HE beat the long-term trend and outperform its industry?

HE's trailing twelve-month earnings (from 31 December 2018) of US$202m has jumped 22% compared to the previous year.

Furthermore, this one-year growth rate has exceeded its 5-year annual growth average of 4.4%, indicating the rate at which HE is growing has accelerated. How has it been able to do this? Let's see whether it is only because of an industry uplift, or if Hawaiian Electric Industries has experienced some company-specific growth.

NYSE:HE Income Statement, May 1st 2019

In terms of returns from investment, Hawaiian Electric Industries has fallen short of achieving a 20% return on equity (ROE), recording 9.2% instead. Furthermore, its return on assets (ROA) of 2.2% is below the US Electric Utilities industry of 4.3%, indicating Hawaiian Electric Industries's are utilized less efficiently. And finally, its return on capital (ROC), which also accounts for Hawaiian Electric Industriess debt level, has declined over the past 3 years from 3.8% to 3.7%.

What does this mean?

Hawaiian Electric Industries's track record can be a valuable insight into its earnings performance, but it certainly doesn't tell the whole story. While Hawaiian Electric Industries has a good historical track record with positive growth and profitability, there's no certainty that this will extrapolate into the future. You should continue to research Hawaiian Electric Industries to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at:

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Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for HEs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for HEs outlook. Financial Health: Are HEs operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why weve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 31 December 2018. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
A Domino's restaurant employee in Texas channeled his inner Hulk when he beat a co-worker for spoiling "Avengers: Endgame."

Justin Surface, 33, was cited for assault on Sunday after Friendswood police said he attacked a fellow employee for ruining what is now one of the highest grossing movies of all time, according to ABC13.

"That's hilarious," one customer said when interviewed by the station. "That just seems kinda insane to me."

In fact, a similar incident occurred in Hong Kong not too long ago, Deadline notes. A man was beaten outside a cinema in Causeway Bay after he yelled out spoilers to eager fans who were waiting in line to watch the film. An image of the alleged victim quickly circulated online and shows him sitting on the street with blood leaking from his head.

In an open letter shared on Instagram on April 16, directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo pleaded with fans who already watched the superhero film to remain tight-lipped.

"Because so many of you have invested your time, your hearts, and your souls into these stories, we're once again asking for your help," the letter reads. "When you see Endgame in the coming weeks, please don't spoil it for others, the same way you wouldn't want it spoiled for you."

RELATED: Take a look at the stars of "Avengers: Endgame" who graced the red carpet:
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump promised a group of Republican lawmakers Wednesday he would not suspend shipping restrictions on natural gas, which would have allowed foreign tankers to transport fuel and energy supplies to Puerto Rico and the Northeast.

The president gave his word, said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.

Trump had considered waiving the requirements of the Jones Act, a nearly century-old federal law that dictates only U.S.-flagged vessels can transport fuel between U.S. coasts.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello requested a 10-year waiver from the law so more fuel and supplies can reach the island, which is still recovering from devastating effects of Hurricane Maria. Some energy leaders also have called for broader changes to the law.

Lifting the laws requirements, if only temporarily, would allow foreign tankers to move liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Puerto Rico and help facilitate shipments to the Northeast, where there arent enough pipelines to supply the region with the fuel.

But lawmakers from states that are home to ports or shipbuilding interests opposed waiving the requirements, arguing that such a move would threaten national security and American jobs.

Our maritime industry is part of the lifeblood of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast economy, said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. It would be foolish to push aside those jobs in favor of foreign-made and foreign-crewed ships.

Cassidy, Kennedy and lawmakers from Alaska and Mississippi met with Trump and other administration officials at the White House on Wednesday to argue that lifting the requirements would be a mistake.

Trump assured the group he would oppose any changes or waivers to the law, Cassidy said.

More: Disaster debacle: Divided Senate split on emergency aid that would help Puerto Rico, Midwest, California

The Jones Act, which went into effect in 1920, requires that all vessels moving cargo between U.S. ports be built and owned in the United States and operate with U.S. crews. The purpose of the law was to protect the countrys ability to build and maintain a fleet of ships for the national defense and to respond to natural disasters.

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The Jones Act has been suspended in the past in response to natural disasters, but only for short periods.

The Trump administration suspended the laws requirements for two weeks in 2017 to allow shipments to Texas and Florida after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Puerto Rico was included under that waiver for petroleum products.

Trump also ordered a 10-day suspension of the requirements for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria wiped out the power supply, destroyed cell towers and led to massive fuel shortages on the island that relies on diesel for much of its power.

When that suspension expired, the Department of Homeland Security said an additional waiver wasn't needed.

More: Trump's feud with Puerto Rico looms over congressional standoff on disaster aid

Some energy leaders are encouraging the administration to lift the Jones Act 's requirements altogether, arguing that the law is protectionist and increases fuel costs for U.S. consumers.

"The Jones Act has become an obstacle to using U.S.-produced LNG to meet domestic energy needs, said Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance.

Issuing a waiver for LNG vessels would help circumvent actions by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has blocked pipelines that would serve several northeastern states and would deliver much-needed resources to the Northeast, Pyle said.

The U.S. shipping fleet doesnt have any vessels that comply with the requirements of the Jones Act, which forces U.S. companies to import the fuel from overseas and at higher prices.

But Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure sent a letter in February to the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that such waivers should be restricted to rare cases where it is necessary for national defense.

It is our belief that no valid national defense rationale exists to support this waiver request, wrote the committees chairman, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and the top panels top Republican, Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri.

The letter also was signed by Reps. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., and Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio.

In Wednesday's meeting, Kennedy said he argued that lifting the requirements would devastate Louisiana, where thousands of jobs depend on the maritime industry.

"I made the case that the livelihood of Louisiana families is at stake," he said.

Asked how confident he was that Trump would not go forward with the waivers, Cassidy said: "Everyone walked out feeling confident."

Want more to read?: Download the USA TODAY app

More: Census Bureau: Puerto Rico metro areas lost population 2017-18; Florida, Texas metros gained

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump says he won't grant shipping waivers that could send more fuel to Puerto Rico
Omdourman (Sudan) (AFP) - Sudan's main opposition chief on Wednesday warned protest leaders against any provocation of the country's army rulers, saying they will soon hand power to a civilian administration as demanded by demonstrators.

The call by Sadiq al-Mahdi, chief of Sudan's opposition National Umma Party, comes amid a deadlock in talks between the protest leaders and the 10-member army council on forming a joint civilian-military body to rule the country three weeks after leader Omar al-Bashir was ousted.

"We shouldn't provoke the army council by trying to deprive them of their legitimacy, deprive them of their positive role in the revolution," Mahdi, 84, told AFP in an interview at his residence in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum across the Nile.

"We must not challenge them in a way that makes it necessary for them to assert themselves in a different way," the veteran politician said.

Mahdi's elected government was toppled by Bashir in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.

The former premier fought Bashir politically, and in January threw his weight behind the protest movement that finally saw the military topple the leader on April 11.

Since then the army has resisted transferring power to a civilian government as demanded by the protesters, who have camped in their thousands outside its Khartoum headquarters in a round-the-clock sit-in.

The military has been pushing for a 10-member joint civilian-military council including seven army representatives and three civilians.

Protest leaders want a majority of civilians on a 15-member joint council with seven military representatives.

- 'Asking for trouble' -

Leaders of the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protest movement, insist the army generals are not serious about handing power to civilians.

Protest leader Mohamed Naji al-Assam told reporters on Tuesday that the military had actually been seeking to "expand its powers daily".

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The protest leaders have even called the military council headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan "a copy cat of the toppled regime".

In a move to step up pressure on the army rulers, the protest movement's leaders have called for a "million-strong march" on Thursday.

"I think there are some signs that some of them (the army) have been provoked by some statements from the opposition that seem to belittle their role," said Mahdi, dressed in a traditional Sudanese turban and robe.

"If we provoke ... the armed forces which contributed to the change, we will be asking for trouble."

Mahdi, whose party members are involved in the negotiations, expressed optimism the military would transfer power.

"They will hand over executive power to a civilian government if we present a credible, viable form of a civilian government," he said.

This, he said, was "because they know if ultimately they settle for a military dictatorship, they will be in the same position as Bashir".

Mahdi said it was the armed forces that had averted major bloodshed when the protesters began the sit-in to push for Bashir to go.

"Bashir was so much hostile to this that he wanted to dispel (the sit-in) even if a third of the population as he said was killed," said Mahdi.

- 'Counter coup' -

He said top security officials had faced a choice either to follow Bashir's order or oust him.

"They decided to oust him instead of killing the people," Mahdi said.

Mahdi warned that the days ahead were critical when it came to handling of negotiations.

"All the elements that supported the previous regime are there," he said.

"And any kind of feeling that there is chaos will be exploited by them for some kind of counter coup," he said, describing Bashir's regime as one that was "despotic and unjust".

However, he said that the current deadlock over talks between protest leaders and army rulers will end.

"Within days we will achieve some kind of roadmap ...but what we aspire for may take weeks," said Mahdi.

"I assure you that ultimately this will be resolved, because all of us have a great interest in making this revolution a successful story."
Clad in elaborate headdresses representing dragons and wizards, Myanmar's ethnic Pa'O fire huge, homemade rockets into the sky -- an annual call for plentiful rains and a chance for a windfall of cash.

The Pa'O are one of the largest of the country's minority groups, numbering around 1.2 million people and living mainly in Shan state's highlands.

They are overwhelmingly Buddhist but many intertwine animism with their faith, believing they descend from a she-dragon and a wizard with mystical powers, known as a "weiza".

Twelve days after Myanmar's new year celebrations, as temperatures rise to over 40 degrees, Pa'O communities travel to Nantar village for the annual rocket competition, which ends on Wednesday.

"Calling the rain like this every year means we get bumper rice harvests," co-organiser Rike Kham tells AFP at the Pwe Lu Phaing festival's 144th edition.

- Dragons and wizards -

People dress in their finest, donning dark tunics and trousers in mourning for the kingdom they lost to the Bamar (Burmese) nearly 1,000 years ago.

But their headwear make up for their sombre attire.

Many women opt for a traditional bright orange cloth, symbolising the dragon.

Others, like Nan Pyone Kha Cho, 21, choose a more modern approach, sporting turbans of scarlet, gold or silver.

A golden hairpin is the "mother dragon's fang", she explains.

Men wear rolled-up cloth of various hues on their heads in the image of the "weiza" as they parade singing and dancing into the village, holding aloft their homemade rockets.

- 'Safety first' -

In the past, these were crafted entirely from bamboo and would carry up to 40 kilos of explosives.

Now they are made with bamboo-wrapped metal, holding five different grades of gunpowder.

For "safety reasons" the maximum length is three feet (0.9 metres) and the diameter must not exceed three inches (eight centimetres).

A monk blesses each device, praying for a safe and long flight, then one-by-one the teams are called to the 10 metre-high bamboo firing rig.

Story continues

The rocket is laid in position, the trajectory carefully adjusted.

The team captain takes a drag from a cigarette then uses it to light the fuse, before clambering down the bamboo rungs as the rocket lifts off with a deafening roar.

They can land up to seven or eight kilometres away, creating craters 1.5 metres deep in the fields.

A team of "linesmen" note the landing positions so they can later be collected.

- High stakes -

Accidents are rare, says Rike Kham.

Aside from an unlucky water buffalo hit in 2016, nobody has been hurt since two people died ten years ago after "badly mixing the gunpowder".

The whole village celebrates a good flight -- they after all clubbed together to fund the rockets that cost around $170 each.

Judged by distance, the villages behind the top three placed rockets each take a share of the pooled entry fees.

With 75 rockets in this year's competition, the prize money amounts to some $4,000 -- enough to upgrade a road, build a bridge or connect more homes to the grid.

- Girl rocket power -

One group of women is challenging the traditionally testosterone-driven festivities.

They dance into the village for the second year holding high their own rocket, albeit full of donation money rather than gunpowder.

But next year they will take part with "real rockets", Mhoe Phar Ohon Ye, 67, said smiling, adding that women from other villages are following their lead.

As the sun sets and the rockets fall silent, the next generation is in training.

Groups of boys set off fireworks to squeals of delight and fire toy guns into the air in celebration.
THE HAGUE, May 1 (Reuters) - A Dutch court said on Wednesday it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against energy company Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of activists executed by the Nigerian government in 1995.

In a preliminary ruling, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, but cautioned that they did not agree with assertions by the widows that Shell should have done more to prevent their husbands' deaths.

The men executed were a group known as the "Ogoni Nine" - activists who had protested against Shell's exploitation of the Niger Delta and who were executed after a trial widely seen as flawed.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Dale Hudson)
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Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

April 30, 2019 9:00 a.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2019 earnings call. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our VP of investor relations, Kevin Hern.

Please go ahead.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for joining us for Eli Lilly and Company's Q1 2019 earnings call. I'm Kevin Hern, vice president of investor relations.

Joining me on today's call are: Dave Ricks, Lilly's chairman and CEO; Josh Smiley, our chief financial officer; Dr. Dan Skovronsky, president of Lilly Research Laboratories; Christi Shaw, president of Lilly Bio-Medicines; Anne White, president of Lilly Oncology; and Enrique Conterno, president of Lilly Diabetes and Lilly U.S.A. We're also joined by Kim Macko and Mike Czapar of the investor relations team. During this conference call, we anticipate making projections and forward-looking statements based on our current expectations.

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Our actual results could differ materially due to a number of factors, including those listed on Slide 3 and those outlined in our latest forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The information we provide about our products and pipeline is for the benefit of the investment community. It is not intended to be promotional and is not sufficient for prescribing decisions. As we transition to our prepared remarks, a reminder that our commentary will focus on non-GAAP financial measures, which exclude the financial contribution from Elanco during the first quarters of both 2018 and 2019, and present earnings per share as though the full disposition of the Avid exchange offer was complete on January 1, 2018.

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We believe this view provides insights into the drivers of our underlying business performance as a dedicated pharmaceutical company and provides for cleaner comparisons to future and prior periods. Now I'll turn the call over to Dave for a summary of our progress in Q1.

Dave Ricks -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Kevin. The company's focus in 2019 is to execute on a broad and exciting range of new products and indication launches, to build and accelerate our pipeline and continue to improve the focus and competitiveness of our company. We are pleased with the progress on these objectives in Q1 2019. First-quarter revenue grew 5% in constant currency despite a significant decline in U.S.

Cialis revenue due to the recent loss of exclusivity. We made significant investments in key commercial and late-stage pipeline products and delivered non-GAAP EPS of 2%, putting us on track to meet our full-year financial guidance. Our key growth products, which all launched since 2014, contributed meaningfully to our performance and account for 39% of our revenue. While still relatively early in their product life cycles, these products continue to drive growth led by Trulicity, Taltz, Verzenio and in collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim, Jardiance and Basaglar.

Total volume growth across the entire portfolio was 7% and, excluding Cialis, was nearly 13%. U.S. diabetes contributed strong volume growth of nearly 17%. Oncology growth accelerated in the U.S., Japan and China.

And our international markets grew volume by 9% as global launches of key brands continue across our major geographies. Excluding the impact of FX on international inventories sold, Q1 non-GAAP operating income as a percent of revenue decreased by nearly 600 basis points versus Q1 2018, reflecting a decrease in gross margin and investment in recent launches and multiple late-stage pipeline opportunities. On the same basis, operating income as a percent of revenue in Q1 increased by nearly 80 basis points versus Q4 2018, reflecting progress toward our 2019 full-year margin goal of 28%. We ended Q1 on track with our plans for the full year.

We've invested in our future growth while delivering strong volume growth across the business. Importantly, several pipeline assets achieved milestones this quarter, including: the regulatory submission of the Trulicity REWIND study for a CV outcomes label in the U.S. and in Europe; the FDA granted priority review for Emgality for cluster headache in the U.S.; the submission of Ultra Rapid Lispro for type 1 and type 2 diabetes in both Europe and Japan; the U.S. submission of our first connected device, a Connected Care prefilled insulin pen; and we had several Phase III data readouts.

We also announced an updated time line for expected regulatory action timing for nasal glucagon. We received notification the FDA has extended the review timeline by up to three months to analyze information requested late in that review cycle. We remain confident in nasal glucagon's submission package and look forward to FDA action in the coming months. In terms of capital deployment, we continue to utilize our strong operating cash flow to access value-creating external innovation, which will enhance our future growth prospects.

We completed the acquisition of Loxo Oncology, adding key pipeline assets and expanding our presence into precision medicine. We completed the full separation of Elanco Animal Health via an exchange offer, retiring 65 million Lilly shares with approximately $8.2 billion. We entered into a global licensing and research collaboration with ImmuNext, focused on new medicines for autoimmune disease. We announced a global licensing and research collaboration with Avidity, focused on potential new medicines in immunology and select other indications.

We announced an agreement to sell the rights in China for two legacy Lilly antibiotic medicines, as well as a manufacturing facility to Eddingpharm, a Chinese-based specialty pharmaceutical company. And we returned an additional $3.5 billion to shareholders via a previously announced accelerated share-repurchase program and $600 million in dividends, representing a 15% increase per share versus 2018. Moving on to Slides 5 and 6, you'll see more details on key events since our February earnings call, including our announcement to introduce Insulin Lispro, a low-priced version of Humalog in the U.S. Now I'll turn the call over to Josh to review our Q1 results and to provide an update on our post-Elanco financial guidance.

Josh Smiley -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Dave. Slide 7 summarizes our presentation of GAAP results and non-GAAP measures, and Slide 8 provides a summary of our GAAP results. Looking at the non-GAAP measures on Slide 9, you'll see revenue increased 3%. Excluding the impact of FX on international inventories sold, gross margin as a percent of revenue was 80.2%, in line with our long-term goals for manufacturing efficiency and profitability.

On the same basis, gross margin declined 130 basis points compared to Q1 2018 driven by production timing and lower volumes from postpatent products. Total operating expense increased 12% with marketing, selling and administrative expense increasing 13% driven primarily by increased investment to support our recent launches, including DTC campaigns to drive awareness for Emgality, Verzenio and Taltz. R&D expense increased 11%, reflecting the ramp-up of multiple late-stage pipeline assets, the addition of the Loxo Oncology portfolio and Incyte communicating to us that they would no longer cofund the development of baricitinib, which reduces the royalty we will pay them moving forward. As a result of the investments described above, operating income decreased 8% compared to Q1 2018, which put our operating income as a percent of sales at 26.2% for the quarter.

As our recent launches continue to drive revenue and operating leverage, we expect income growth and improvements in operating margin during the remainder of 2019. Other income and expense was income of $86 million this quarter, compared to income of $70 million in Q1 2018 driven by over $100 million in gains of mark-to-market of public equities held through venture capital investments and strategic partnerships partially offset by higher net interest expense. Our tax rate for the quarter was 12.9%, a decrease of 260 basis points compared with the same quarter last year, driven primarily by timing associated with the impact of the U.S. tax reform.

At the bottom line, net income declined 4%, while earnings per share increased 2% due to a reduction in shares outstanding from share repurchases. Recall that our non-GAAP comparisons remove the 65 million shares retired through the Elanco exchange for both 2018 and 2019. While income declined this quarter versus Q1 2018, we made important progress on several fronts that will drive future growth as demonstrated by: growing revenue despite significant headwinds from the loss of exclusivity of Cialis in the U.S.; investing behind key growth brands such as Emgality, Verzenio, Taltz, Jardiance and Trulicity; and advancing several pipeline assets to the next phase of development, including multiple regulatory submissions. Slide 10 provides a reconciliation between reported and non-GAAP EPS.

And you'll find additional details on these adjustments on Slide 23. Moving to Slide 11. Let's take a look at the effect of price rate and volume on revenue growth. This quarter, foreign exchange reduced revenue growth by 2 percentage points.

As Dave mentioned earlier, worldwide revenue grew 5% on a performance basis driven by a 7% increase in volume partially offset by price. Q1 is the ninth straight quarter our business grew volume in each major geography. U.S. revenue increased 3%.

Like last quarter, Trulicity, Taltz, Verzenio and Basaglar were the key drivers of 6% volume growth, partially offset by price. Excluding Cialis, volume grew nearly 15% in the U.S., highlighted by diabetes products delivering nearly 17% volume growth. Consistent with our 2019 financial guidance, U.S. price declined 3% driven by increased utilization of patient affordability programs mainly for insulin and Taltz, adjustments through estimates from rebates and discounts and higher contracted rates primarily related to Trulicity, which were partially offset by favorable segment mix across the portfolio.

Moving to Europe. Strong volume growth of 9% was largely offset by the negative effect of foreign exchange and, to a lesser extent, price. Volume growth was led by Trulicity, Olumiant and Taltz. In Japan, strong volume growth of 7% driven by Cymbalta, Verzenio and Trulicity was largely offset by a drag of 6% from price as a result of the government-mandated price decreases that went into effect in 2018.

Revenue in the rest of the world increased 9% on a performance basis this quarter led by volume growth from Humalog, Trulicity, Cialis, Jardiance and the recently launched Tyvyt, a China-only anti-PD-1 immunotherapy agent in collaboration with Innovent Biologics. As shown on Slide 12, our key growth drivers were once again the engine of our worldwide volume growth. These products drove 14.8 percentage points of volume growth this quarter, an increase of over 100 basis points versus their contribution to growth in Q4 2018. Brands that have experienced loss of exclusivity provided a drag of 530 basis points driven primarily by Cialis.

You may recall, the generic versions of Cialis entered the U.S. market at the end of September last year, and as expected, we've seen a rapid erosion of sales. When excluding LOEs, the rest of our products posted robust Q1 volume growth of nearly 16%. Slide 13 provides a view of our key growth products.

In total, these brands generated nearly $2 billion of revenue this quarter, representing 39% of revenue. Trulicity continues to post robust growth, having achieved over 45% total share of the U.S. market in a rapidly expanding class that grew nearly 30% this quarter. Similarly, Jardiance posted impressive U.S.

share gains and volume growth, now capturing 50% and 64% share of market in total and new prescriptions, respectively. Both products continue to be the market leaders in their classes. Emgality's launch trajectory continued to be strong with nearly 33% share of market for new prescriptions in the U.S., an increase of almost 13 share points from where we finished 2018. We expect increasingly strong performance in the U.S.

combined with best-in-class access to drive meaningful sales contribution in the second half of 2019. Continuing with our non-GAAP explanations on Slide 14. Foreign exchange rate had a modest impact on our revenue but have more meaningful impact on cost of sales due to the effect in last year's quarter, resulting in the mid-single-digit impact to operating income and EPS. Turning to our 2019 financial guidance on Slide 15.

You'll see that we've maintained a non-GAAP pharma-only expectations we shared in February and with the Elanco exchange offer complete, are now providing EPS on the same basis. Our non-GAAP earnings per share range is $5.60 to $5.70, an increase of $0.05 versus our previously issued guidance range which included Elanco. While the line items remain unchanged from the previously communicated pharma-only expectations, I'd highlight two items that impact our outlook for the remainder of 2019. First, we will manage expenses to deliver within our SG&A range while investing thoughtfully to drive continued revenue growth.

And second, in Q1, OID benefited from mark-to-market equity gains, and our tax rate benefited from a net discrete item. We are maintaining our full-year outlook for these items, however, as these items are highly variable, and it is early in the year. Touching briefly on our updated GAAP guidance. We expect earnings per share to be in the range of $8.57 to $8.67, which includes the $3.7 billion gain on the disposition of Elanco recorded in discontinued operations.

On Slide 16, we provide an update on our recent activity regarding capital allocation. Consistent with our strategic priorities, we spent over $8 billion on initiatives to drive future growth. In addition to investing in internal R&D, we closed the Loxo Oncology acquisition, which augmented our pipeline and returned over $4 billion of cash to shareholders. As Dave mentioned earlier, we completed the successful divestiture of Elanco this quarter via an exchange offer.

We exited Elanco with an attractive price and recognized a $3.7 billion gain on the disposition. In addition, the exchange offer was substantially oversubscribed and resulted in an earnings accretion in 2019 from retiring Lilly shares. As we have returned to growth, our confidence in our business outlook has been reflected in meaningful dividend increases in 2018 and 2019. As we move ahead, our ability to continue to generate strong operating cash flow supports our pursuit of external innovation to enhance our long-term growth and create shareholder value.

Now we will turn the call over to Dan to highlight our progress on R&D.

Dan Skovronsky -- President

Thanks, Josh. Slide 17 shows select pipeline opportunities as of April 24. Movements since our last earnings call includes: the regulatory submission of Trulicity REWIND data for CV outcomes label in the U.S. and Europe; submission of our Connected Care prefilled insulin pen for type 1 and type 2 diabetes in the U.S.; submission of a fixed-dose combination of empagliflozin, linagliptin and metformin XR for type 2 diabetes in the U.S.; and submission of Ultra Rapid Lispro for type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Europe and Japan.

We also highlight the initiation of Phase II testing for our IL-33 monoclonal antibody and immunology, the initiation of Phase I testing for three new molecular entities, including our GIP/GLP glucagon tri-agonist and the attrition of two Phase II molecules. With the submission of Ultra Rapid Lispro, we're now on track to deliver 12 NME approvals since 2014. Therefore, a common question I get is, "What's next?" As we replenish our late-stage pipeline in the past 12 months, we've made four big innovation bets with mirikizumab, pegilodecakin, our recently acquired RET inhibitor, and tirzepatide. Moving to Slide 18.

Mirikizumab is our IL-23 and Phase III for psoriasis and ulcerative colitis with expected data readouts in 2020 and 2021, respectively. We see first-in-class potential for ulcerative colitis, a disease with high unmet need and growing incidents where we saw strong Phase II efficacy in clinical response and endoscopic healing. Based on positive Phase II data on Crohn's disease, which we'll be presenting in a few weeks at DDW, we're now moving quickly into Phase III for Crohn's disease yet this year. Pegilodecakin is our first-in-class PEGylated IL-10 from ARMO BioSciences.

We see strong biologic rationale, a single agent activity in renal cancer. There's also an intriguing signal in combination with both chemotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors in several tumor types. We're looking forward to data readouts from the Cypress 1 and 2 non-small cell lung cancer studies by the end of this year, as well as the Phase III pancreatic cancer trial in 2020. We'll also be starting a clinical program in renal cell carcinoma this year.

Our most recent late-stage entry is our potential first-in-class and best-in-class RET inhibitor from Loxo Oncology. Currently in the Phase II portion of the LIBRETTO-001 study, we look forward to having both additional data readout and a regulatory submission by the end of this year. This molecule has received breakthrough designation from the FDA for three indications: RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, RET mutant medullary thyroid cancer and RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer. We're excited about the data we've seen to date, which has shown robust response rates and encouraging response durations.

We look forward to presenting new data at a medical meeting in the second half of this year. Finally, tirzepatide, our novel first-in-class and best-in-class GIP/GLP dual agonist incretin which started its Phase III SURPASS program in late 2018 on the heels of presenting impressive Phase II results in October at EASD. We believe tirzepatide could provide levels of efficacy not seen with existing products. All SURPASS studies for the global submissions should start by the end of the year with data expected in 2021.

We also expect to initiate Phase III studies in obesity and a Phase II study in NASH later this year. We look forward to presenting new data at ADA in June on tirzepatide, including the additional dose escalation data from a Phase II trial in diabetes, data from a Japan clinical trial and new biomarker data from our Phase II trial supporting potential efficacy for NASH. We're excited about this cohort of innovative, first-in-class late-stage assets, each with a potential to improve the standard of care across immunology, oncology and diabetes. We look forward to what's next from these assets as they achieve important milestones and readouts over the next 12 months.

Slide 19 shows a tally of the significant progress we've made since our last earnings call and key events we're monitoring for 2019, including submissions across four key line extensions or NMEs that I described earlier: the regulatory submission of Emgality for episodic cluster headache in Europe; positive results from CAROLINA CV outcomes study of Trajenta; positive results for a Phase III study of Taltz for non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis; results from two Phase III studies of tanezumab, the first in patients with chronic lower back pain and the second, a long-term safety study in patients with osteoarthritis pain; positive results from a Phase III study of CYRAMZA for first-line EGFR non-small cell lung cancer. We also note that we received notification that for technical reasons, the FDA has refused to file the supplemental NDA for empagliflozin in type 1 diabetes, and that we have made a decision to not pursue the development of Olumiant for psoriatic arthritis. In addition to the late-stage highlights I shared with you today, we're growing our early stage pipeline through both enhanced internal productivity and external innovation. We'll highlight several examples in upcoming earnings calls.

Now I'll turn the call back over to Dave for some closing remarks.

Dave Ricks -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Dan. In the first quarter, we delivered strong volume-based revenue growth of 5% on a constant-currency basis driven entirely by our key growth products. We made strategic investments in commercial and late-stage products, which will enhance our future growth prospects. We've seen good pipeline progress this quarter, including a number of regulatory submissions.

In addition, we bolstered our early phase pipeline by advancing multiple assets into the clinic and signing research agreements. We also completed two significant transactions that will allow us to simultaneously focus the business and accelerate our pipeline of innovative medicines: the disposition of Elanco and the acquisition of Loxo Oncology. Finally, we returned over $4 billion to shareholders either dividend and share repurchases. Speaking for the entire team at Lilly, we remain incredibly excited about the prospects in front of us to reach millions of people who need better medicines for difficult diseases.

And we are eager to continue to execute on the growth opportunity in front of the company. This concludes our prepared remarks. And now I'll turn the call over to Kevin to moderate our Q&A.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Dave. [Operator instructions] Karen, please provide the instructions for the Q&A session, and then we're ready for the first caller.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

[Operator instructions] We'll go to the line of Chris Schott from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.

Chris Schott -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst

Great. Thanks very much for the questions. The first one from me was just elaborating a little bit more on Trulicity dynamics this quarter, particularly as you think about price. I just want to make sure I heard the comments in the prepared remarks properly.

But how should we be thinking about net pricing and the overall pricing environment for Trulicity in 2019? And were there any one-time impacts or true-ups of rebates for Trulicity this quarter? My second question is just a really quick one on Emgality. And just how we should be thinking about where net pricing is going to shake out for this one? And should we think about second-quarter results reflecting maybe a more normalized gross to net than we saw with the Q1 results? Thanks very much.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Chris. We'll go to Enrique for Trulicity and then Christi for Emgality.

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

Chris, thank you for your question. Allow me to provide some color on Trulicity's overall performance. We continue to be very excited about the underlying business fundamentals of the product. When we look at volume growth, we are basically the beneficiary of very strong share growth.

We're now sitting at 46%, which is an all-time high for Trulicity, and with the tailwind of very significant class growth now sitting at 30%. Something to note is when we look at sequentially at volume, while scripts basically increased for Trulicity from Q4 of '18 to Q1 of '19 by about 5%, 6%, our actual shipments declined by 7%. So I want to make sure that we are looking at the underlying business fundamentals, not necessarily just some shift in retail or wholesale or inventory dynamics. When it comes to pricing, there's -- there hasn't been a step change when it comes to pricing.

I think, of course, we see pricing pressures across all diabetes categories, but it's important to note that our price this quarter was comparable to our price in Q4 of '18. Now what we basically see in terms of pricings relative to Q1 of '18 is high rates when it comes to managed care and rebates; growth in highly rebated segments, whether it's the Department of Defense, VA and so forth; and then we also had a negative impact due to changes in the estimates for rebates and discounts.

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

And Chris, on Emgality, your question on net pricing, and will it be more normalized on gross to net in Q2. What we saw in Q1, first of all, in demand, very excited about the fact that we are now the No. 2 CGRP passing JoVE in both new prescriptions and total prescriptions, and we're on track in Q2 to pass Aimovig in new prescriptions. As we look at the net, we saw a higher-than-typical free goods as reimbursement was coming on.

To give you a little bit of flavor, the first quarter had a 57% of commercial claims were reimbursed. We exited Q1 at 67% or two out of every three prescriptions or claims, commercial claims being reimbursed. So as the reimbursement comes on in Q2, we should see improvement in that.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Chris. Next caller, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to the line of Jason Gerberry, Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Jason Gerberry -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

All right. Great. Thanks for taking my questions. Christi, just a follow-up on the Emgality comment.

I know that a lot of companies in this space have kind of framed second half payer environment as a little bit fluid. So is your comment that -- where you exited 1Q -- should we be thinking about that as a linear trend? Are there any puts and takes going on, changes in the reimbursement of CGRP biologics? Just wanted to get a better sense there. And I guess, my follow-up, probably staying with you, AbbVie's SKYRIZI got pretty good early access. And so I'm just sort of curious your thoughts, winners and losers there, either via the established novel interleukins, or do you see this as more as cannibalization of AbbVie's own Humira franchise? Thanks.

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

Sure. So continuing on Emgality in terms of access, first of all, we saw very good receptivity by the payers for this class, really giving doctors and patients choice, and also not having many, if any, real restrictions for primary care prescribing. On the -- so on the reimbursement side, we see the payers coming onboard and more and more coming onboard. Right now, our access ending Q1 is 82%.

So we do expect that to get better and better over the course of the year. So I hope that answers your question there. On SKYRIZI, you know the data on SKYRIZI is as expected. And as we look at Taltz' ability to compete, the competitive landscape that we -- environment that we're in really doesn't change.

Access is very similar. SKYRIZI and Tremfya, Taltz, all of the newer agents really coming to market have helped increase the expectations that patients and doctors should have on real skin clearance. And so it's a competitive marketplace, but we like our chances because with Taltz in the dermatology office, we know clear skin very fast, and it lasts up to five years. We've seen data that it's sustained and no new safety signals.

And we also have the head-to-head versus an IL-23 that will be coming out this year, which will demonstrate that speed and clearance at 12 weeks and 24 weeks for the IL-23s really show their peak efficacy. So we're looking forward to that. And in rheumatology, we'll continue to compete there as we just released our head-to-head data versus Humira showing superiority and then later this year being able to look at the regulatory approval of AxSpA. So the competition is fierce, but our chances and our odds with Taltz are extremely good.

And we don't see a huge difference in the landscape because of SKYRIZI coming on.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you for the questions, Jason. Next caller, please.

Operator

Seamus Fernandez from Guggenheim. Please go ahead.

Seamus Fernandez -- Guggenheim Securities -- Analyst

OK. Thanks. So just a couple of quick questions. As we think about the evolving competitive landscape in the insulin space, we've seen Admelog take up quite a bit of share in a short period of time, and then there's also the threat of potential biosimilars reaching the market in the next couple of years[Audio gap]the evolving landscape and how that potentially impacts your portfolio as it relates to Humalog or also for the long-acting insulins going forward.

And then just a second quick question for Dan. You guys have some data on your ERK inhibitor at ASCO. Just hoping that you could give us your thoughts on data coming at ASCO for that product and perhaps any other data sets that you think we should be watching for. Thanks.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you. Enrique, if you want to answer the insulin question, then we'll go to Dan.

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

Sure. Clearly, there are new competitors in the insulin space. I think in the case of Admelog, I think it's important to reflect that their -- most of their share gains really have been driven in Managed Medicaid. Outside, when you look at Humalog outside of Managed Medicaid, our overall scripts are basically flat.

Clearly, there's an evolving landscape when it comes to insulins with the potential entry of other insulin follow-ons. As you know, the insulin categories are going to be transitioning to BLAs in the 2020 time frame. Clearly, there's questions about interchangeability and when is that going to play out. As we said in the past, we don't view interchangeability as something imminent.

We eventually think this is going to happen, but there needs to be more clarity. So this is likely something that won't happen before 2021. Now it's difficult for us to predict when insulin follow-ons will come into the market in particular in the U.S. given that some of these product have expressed certain expectation when it comes to launch timelines but have been delayed.

Importantly to note as well is that we continue to evolve our overall insulin strategy. And we like to say that we are reimagining insulin systems and insulin delivery by basically bringing Connected Care platforms to be able to improve patient outcomes in a much more meaningful way. So we're excited about our overall innovations with systems, Connected Care but also bringing new insulins like our Ultra Rapid insulin Lispro that we're developing.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Enrique. Dan?

Dan Skovronsky -- President

Yeah. Thanks for the question on our ERK inhibitor. This is a Phase I program, but it's still very early, but we're still pretty excited about it. The reason that we're excited about this pathway is because the MAP kinase pathway is implicated in driving about 30% of solid tumors.

So it's a great opportunity to drive that pathway. At ASCO, we have a couple of presentations on the ERK inhibitor, including some of the early Phase 1 data in a variety of patients and some data in lung cancer patients as well. So we look forward to being able to share that, but again, it's an early program. I think we have a few other disclosures at ASCO that we're excited about.

I'll turn it over to Anne to comment on a late-phase disclosure.

Anne White -- President of Lilly Oncology

Yeah. So one of the disclosures that we're very excited about at ASCO is the results of our EGFR mutation-positive first-line lung cancer study in CYRAMZA, so this is the RELAY study. And we shared top-line data in March that the study was positive and met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival. So we will be submitting to regulators globally midyear.

And approval on this would make the sixth indication that we've achieved for CYRAMZA. Importantly, we're excited about the data, and we look forward to this oral presentation at ASCO. Osimertinib is currently the standard of care in this setting, and we know that our magnitude of benefits must be competitive with that. We look forward to providing more answers for patients in this setting and also providing more options for physicians as they look to sequence therapy for the best outcomes for their patients.

So we look forward to sharing more with you at ASCO.

Seamus Fernandez -- Guggenheim Securities -- Analyst

Thank you.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Seamus. Next caller, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to Tim Anderson with Wolfe. Please go ahead.

Tim Anderson -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst

Thank you. On the REWIND data for Trulicity coming up at ADA without -- before learning the data, can you just talk about your level of excitement? And if this is data where once it's presented, do you think the prescriber community is going to say, "Wow, that's really a game changer."? And then second question on tanezumab. I think a lot of investors feel this program is probably dead based on the Lilly's data disclosure from you and Pfizer. Can you just share your perspective?

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Yup. So we'll go to Enrique on REWIND. And then Dan, if you want to talk about the tanezumab results.

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

Yeah. We continue to be excited about the REWIND results for Trulicity. I'm going to -- I have a plot here for my investor relations call is that we have an investor -- we're planning on an investor call at the ADA post the disclosure of the REWIND results, so we hope to either see you there or hope that you can either connect or be there in person.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you. Dan?

Dan Skovronsky -- President

Great. Thanks for the question on tanezumab. Before I address your question on the future of tanezumab, I think it's important to comment on why we entered into this partnership with Pfizer and why we have pursued this program. It's obviously because of the dramatic unmet medical need here.

There are nearly 60 million Americans suffering with chronic pain from osteoarthritis and chronic lower back pain, many of whom have moderate to severe disease and aren't getting relief from currently available therapies. When you put that in the context of the drawbacks of the therapies that are currently available, including, in many cases, opioids, you can just understand how important it is to have new non-opioid mechanisms to address pain. So that's why we entered into this program. And as we said before, we entered in with a high level of confidence on the efficacy of this mechanism.

But what we sought to discharge was a safety risk through this program. And so that brings us to the final study, which, of course, was designed to fully understand the safety risk of this mechanism. For that reason, the study enrolled a different population of patients than we enrolled in the others. We wanted to compare it to end-stage, and therefore, we had to enroll patients who were getting some measure of relief and can tolerate chronic NSAIDs.

So we're continuing to analyze the results from that study from 1058. We're looking at that, though, in the context of all of the available data on tanezumab. Our plan then is to discuss the totality of the data with regulators in the coming months. And that will help us decide on what the next steps are, and then we'll be able to share an update with you when that's going.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, Dan. Next caller, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to the line of Geoff Meacham from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Geoff Meacham -- Barclays -- Analyst

Hey, guys, good morning, and thanks for the question. For Dan on Olumiant and atopic derm, what do you guys see as differentiation in the data so far among the JAKs? I know you still have data coming up. And in this indication is your review from the field how attractive oral options are versus injectables. And then just a real quick one for Enrique.

In Trulicity, just want to ask your view on the class growth differences in the U.S. versus OUS, and how durable this is. I know this has been a big driver, independent of the share gains that Trulicity has gotten over the years. Thank you.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Geoff. So Dan, and then we'll go to Enrique.

Dan Skovronsky -- President

OK. Well, maybe I'll start with a comment on differentiation and toss it to Christi for the commercial insights on patient interest in an oral here. Although I should just say it's premature to speculate on differentiation versus other molecules where we haven't seen the full data from theirs or even ours, but we're excited about the opportunity to be first here in atopic derm. Christi?

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

Yes. Exactly. Right now, DUPIXENT is available, but it's just an injectable for the more severe type of atopic derm, and there's so many more patients out there suffering, millions of patients. In fact, our dermatologists tell us that atopic derm space reminds them of the psoriasis space about 15, 20 years ago.

So we do think it's a large opportunity, and we do plan to be the first to JAK to market. We released the fact that our first two studies were positive. You probably saw that. We have three more studies to read out this year.

And then based on the totality of that data, if they continue to be positive, we'll be submitting next year.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, Christi. Enrique?

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

So when it comes to Trulicity class or GLP-1 class growth, I think we see the same dynamics in most markets. The drivers are similar, which is the updated guidelines that having recently released. So when we look outside of U.S., we are -- GLP-1 class growth is in the mid-20s. Given the maturity of the class in the U.S., it is impressive that the growth in the U.S.

is even higher than that, but it's very exciting to see. And as a corollary to that, I think Trulicity's performance is very consistent across many markets.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Geoff, thanks for the questions. Next caller, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to the line of Andrew Baum from Citi. Please go ahead.

Andrew Baum -- Citi -- Analyst

Thank you. Just going back to SKYRIZI for the first question. What's your first-line market share for Taltz in psoriasis? And do you expect to be able to grow it now that SKYRIZI has been introduced into the market? I'm obviously referencing AbbVie, the enormous rebate influence, as well as the profile of that drug and what it may mean for the contraction of the more refractory lines of therapy. And then second, perhaps, Dave could comment on the timing and the impact of the proposed rebate reform on your diabetes business, expressly on the near-term impact for realized pricing because of the Medicare math, assuming it does get implemented at the beginning of next year.

Many thanks.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Andrew. So we'll go to Christi for the comment on SKYRIZI. And then, Enrique, if you want to talk about the impact on diabetes for the proposed rebate safe harbor rule.

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

Yeah. So in dermatology specifically, our total prescriptions are a little over 15%, and we do see growth continuing, absolutely. We see actually with the new therapies that have come to market, it actually has increased the market growth. So right now, the market is growing at 13%.

And the more the newer agents come to market, I think the more you'll see the older TNFs be used for shorter periods of time or potentially not used first line in the future. And so we do see our growth coming from the fact also our ability to compete in dermatology, so the Tremfya versus Taltz head-to-head will be another place for us to go 5-year data sustained efficacy. And we really are the only one that's been able to show not only clear PASI 100 but the ability to do it fast in one to two weeks and that sustainability. So our growth continues, and we continue to have very high confidence that that growth will continue.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Enrique?

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

The biggest impact from the -- on proposed rebate rule is really at the patient level because patients will have access to medicines at more affordable prices. And if you take that thread forward, I think what you will basically see is better adherence, and I think that's something that we all want when it comes to healthcare, which is better adherence to medicines. So the impact that is not often talked about is really when it comes to maybe an impact on volume. When it comes to some of the mechanics and so forth, honestly, I view it pretty neutral overall.

Dave Ricks -- Lilly's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Let me just jump in, Andrew, on maybe both those points. I think it's important to note in psoriasis, two things: one, that there's four-step into TNFs for almost every patient. If that were to change, I think that's a big positive for the newer innovations, so the doctors could select appropriate therapy for patients with psoriasis, noting that TNFs don't work nearly, as well as the new classes, and among those, we think Taltz is the best profile. Also within derm, there's a lot of switching anyway, so the front-line market is -- versus the total is much smaller than other immunology indications.

That's an important thing to keep in mind. On the rebate rule, we do -- we are planning for implementation January 1. I think Enrique rightly notes the volume upside. The thing one would worry about is rate compression because, presumably, you'd have more facial and transparent pricing, but I think across our portfolios, because of the high consolidation on the payer side, the rates are pretty compressed already.

There aren't big differences between what the payers are paying. So that's why we lean into this one. We think it's the right policy answer to help seniors with medication costs and to shift the debate from list pricing to net pricing, which we see is our long-term interest.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks for your questions, Andrew. Next caller, please.

Operator

We'll go to Vamil Divan from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

Vamil Divan -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

Hi. Great. Thanks for taking the questions. So just first on Olumiant, I think I asked this question before.

But just the U.S. opportunity there against our limited sales this quarter, I think you said in your prepared remarks you're not going to be filing for psoriatic arthritis. Just correct me if I misheard that. And then I'm just trying to get a sense of how you think about getting the four milligrams to the market and sort of the opportunity in the U.S.

with that product and also the implications from the data Pfizer recently released from their long-term trial, showing some additional questions around thrombosis. And then the second one, just following up on the psoriasis questions. You mentioned mirikizumab and the data there in psoriasis. I know you said you'd be first in GI.

I'm just curious what the differentiation, if any, would be in psoriasis for that product. Or does it relate more just from a GI focus as we think about? Thanks.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Vamil. We'll go to Christi for Olumiant and mirikizumab questions.

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

OK. So for Olumiant, yeah, I think what we see in the U.S. is it will be slow and steady in Olumiant two milligrams RA. Your question about psoriatic arthritis, you did hear correctly.

As we look at the opportunities for us to be best-in-class, first-in-class and really enter market with unmet need, in psoriatic arthritis and the ankylosing spondylitis nonradiographic AxSpA as well, we already have Taltz, and Taltz has shown very remarkable results. And so we feel very good with that play as we look to study Olumiant in other indications like atopic dermatitis. Remember, lupus got fast track designation in December. We are studying both two and four milligrams in that indication, as well as atopic dermatitis.

And we have our alopecia areata study where Phase II will read out later this year and, if positive, will move to Phase III. So we're still very big on the opportunity of baricitinib as a whole. The RA two milligrams will be slow and steady growth, and four milligrams is being studied, and we look to see the efficacy results there and bring it to market if they're positive. In regards to the Pfizer question about what read out on their JAK high dose, so we -- as we look at the data that we have in 55 countries that have approved Olumiant, we haven't seen unusual safety signals in DTEs.

And we continue to study. Obviously, post-marketing research that we're doing in collaboration with the agreement with FDA both on real-world evidence and in randomized clinical trial, those will continue as well. So no news on -- no unusual news on our side on Olumiant like the Pfizer announcement. And then lastly, on mirikizumab.

So yes, we're in Phase III studies with both psoriasis and ulcerative colitis. We are very excited about the GI space because mirikizumab should be the first IL-23 to ulcerative colitis. We also finished our Phase II data on Crohn's disease. That data will be released at DDW in just a few weeks here in May, so look for that.

And then, yes, in psoriasis, we are doing a Phase III clinical trial with some competitive endpoints and head-to-head data. So when that study reads out, we'll be looking to see if we're going to have stronger and more sustained results than current IL-23s on the market.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Vamil, thanks for your questions. Next caller, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to Umer Raffat from Evercore. Please go ahead.

Umer Raffat -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Hi. Thanks so much for taking my questions. First, can you quantify for us what percentage of TRx are paid versus free on Taltz, as well as Emgality? And secondly, I noticed one of the trials reading out for you this fall, the IL-10 plus Opdivo trial in second-line lung, has been shrunk from 100 down to 50 patients. Is that simply a function of increasing Keytruda use in first line? Or is there another dynamic here as well? Thank you very much.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

OK. Thank you. We'll go to Christi for the questions around Taltz and Emgality. And then Anne will talk about pegilodecakin.

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

Sure. First of all, Lilly believes in really open access and giving choice to patients and physicians, so we continue to work with payers on access with Taltz. In spite of that, we -- the barriers that we've had, we've had very good uptake with Taltz. And as we look at our programs, patient-specific copay card, etc., being able to allow patients on drug and then transition to insurance coverage, we see that two-thirds of patients in the market on Taltz are paid for.

On Emgality, as I said before, the commercial claims that have been submitted, we see in Q1 that 57% of those have been reimbursed. And as we exited Q1, we saw that in the mid-60s, two out of every three patients that submitted a claim, we had reimbursed coverage for.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Christi. Anne?

Anne White -- President of Lilly Oncology

Yes. On the question on pegilodecakin, this is the Cypress 2 study you're referring to, so this is the second-line lung study -- Phase II study in IO-naive patients, so following first-line treatment but not in immunotherapy. And then it's in combination with Opdivo in low expressors. And what we're finding, as you know well, is that IO-naive patients in the second line are becoming increasingly rare.

So what we decided to do was analyze that data and have that inform the next steps for the program but not continue to further enroll patients in this somewhat diminishing population. We have remained confident that the greatest opportunities for pegilodecakin remain in lung cancer both on the first-line setting and then later line and also in renal cell cancer. So as Dan mentioned, we'll be starting a renal cell study later this year, but we look forward to readouts in lung at the end of this year and then also in pancreatic cancer early next year and remain confident in the opportunities for pegilodecakin across those tumor types. So look forward to hearing more toward the end of the year both on Cypress 2 and on the Cypress 1 study, which is in the first-line setting.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks for the questions, Umer. Next caller, please.

Operator

We'll go to David Risinger, Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

David Risinger -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Yes. Thanks very much. I have two questions. The first is for Dave.

I'm hoping that you can help us understand a little bit better how you're thinking about the forthcoming HHS action on the elimination of rebates and how that will negatively impact companies that use volume-based discounts such that a product like Taltz will be able to step up on the formulary and maybe move into a formulary position that another larger player held in psoriasis. And then second, Enrique, with respect to Trulicity, just hoping that you can help us with a little bit more of a bridge. So you said that Rx increased sequentially by 5% to 6%. Actual shipments declined by 7%.

So does that mean there was an inventory work-down of 12% to 13%? And could you also quantify the negative dollar change in reserves? Thank you.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you. Dave and then Enrique.

Dave Ricks -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Thanks, Dave. So on the rebate rule, again, we are planning for this January 1. Of course, it's Part D, there are some legislative efforts to look at regulating commercial markets.

I guess at this point, my speculation would be that looks more challenging either for political or practical reasons. But I do think once Part D changes, and I think we're, as I said, planning toward that, you will start to see increased interest from payers that are not -- the government systems or commercial payers to have similar benefits provided to their beneficiaries, particularly in chronic disease where list price effects have created a lot of distortion and increased out-of-pocket costs. So we've all heard the outcry around that really centered on insulin, frankly. So I think your logic is the right one in the sense that today, with rebates, which are not shared with patients and confidential payers have a strong incentive to keep those confidential and use those to compete on premiums, that's the way it works.

I think in a future world where that can't be the way they can use those rebates, they'll need to compete for premiums in other ways, efficiency, presumably, and patients will have a choice at the counter based on net pricing. I would assume that doctors are informed about those net prices, and that also becomes an influencer on prescribing. So for new innovative therapies, hypothetically, one in a specialty market or in a general practitioner market like Emgality, I think that will be an important part of any company strategy to understand the net price that will officially be there for the consumer. The final comment is, of course, Part D is a senior program, so the demographics will affect us mostly in our diabetes franchise initially, and that's where a lot of our planning is focused right now.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Dave. Enrique?

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

Whenever we look at sequential growth, you -- there's what I call the colloquially a double whammy effect. We could be dollar counting here. It doesn't simply add up. One good way to think about it is just if we were to shift 5% of the units from Q4 to Q1, that explains 10 percentage points of difference.

But in reality, you're only shifting 5% of units from one quarter to the -- to another. That's a long way of saying that I would have your estimate likely the -- we don't have full visibility into the retail inventories, but my assessment is about six points.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you. Dave, thanks for the questions. Next caller, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to Steve Scala from Cowen. Please go ahead.

Steve Scala -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst

Thank you. I have a couple of questions. We were expecting Verzenio data in 2019 from monarchHER and MONARCH plus. I'm wondering if they're still on track.

And then secondly, Enrique, one of the concerns with the upcoming REWIND readout is that the benefit might be driven by the 30% or so of patients in the trial with preexisting cardiovascular disease, and that the remaining patients add little to the overall outcome. So overall, the benefit might be a solid but unspectacular 20%-or-so reduction in risk, which won't offer opportunity for differentiation. Just wondering, can you tell us not to be concerned about this point? Thank you.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

I will go to Anne for the question on Verzenio and then Enrique on REWIND.

Anne White -- President of Lilly Oncology

Yeah. So you are correct. So we're looking to deliver our new data to drive additional growth, and one of them is the HER2+ study, which we will report results on toward the end of the year at a medical meeting. The MONARCH 2 overall survival data will read out, as we had communicated in the past, in 2020.

And then we also have, importantly, the Adjuvant study reading out in 2021. And I appreciate asking about Verzenio because there has been an encouraging start to the year. The revenue grew 30% over Q4, and we also are seeing nice uptake across Japan and European markets. So we look forward to these additional data readouts helping contribute to that message but look forward to those readouts coming as we had communicated in the past.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Anne. Enrique?

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

We are unable to provide additional comments on REWIND, but look -- we look forward to seeing you at the conference call.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Steve. Next call, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to the line of Alex Arfaei, BMO. Please go ahead.

Alex Arfaei -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

OK. Thank you, and good morning. On tirzepatide, your -- good to see the program formally, I guess, extended in obesity and NASH. Regarding your Phase III obesity trial, could you give us a little bit more color in terms of the outcomes you're looking for, the competitor you're using and the potential readout? And you mentioned you'll have dose titration data at ADA.

Can you comment on the extent to which that data shapes your dosing for the Phase III trials, particularly the high dose? Thank you.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Enrique?

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

Yeah. So we are very excited about tirzepatide and being able to start our Phase III type 2 diabetes study and basically pursuing both obesity in Phase III and NASH in Phase II. We are not providing additional color on the specific obesity trials that we're conducting -- that we're going to conduct. Clearly, we need to have the appropriate discussions with the FDA as we engage in this Phase III trial.

But we plan to do some time -- that some time in the future. And as far as the titration question, yes, we do plan to have presentation at ADA looking at some of the additional titration data for tirzepatide.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks for the questions, Alex. Next caller, please.

Operator

Next, we'll go to Louise Chen, Cantor. Please go ahead.

Louise Chen -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. So my first question is on mirikizumab. You'd mentioned that you'll likely be the first IL-23 to market in UC and Crohn's.

I'm just curious, in addition to that, what are the competitive advantages do you see as it relates to other ILs in development and also JAK? And then, the second question I had was on, LOXO-292. You showed very good ORR, median duration, percentage of patients on therapy. How do you think that will hold up into the Phase II readout? And how do you think you might compare with other RET inhibitors in development? Thank you.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks. We'll go to Christi for mirikizumab and then Anne on RET inhibitor.

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

Thanks, Louise, for the question on miri. So to be clear, we expect to be first into the market on ulcerative colitis and first of a couple to market on Crohn's disease. So you never know. We've been speeding up the Phase II trial and look forward to the -- to entering the next, but that's where we are on GI.

We're very excited because our studies are set up to be a best-in-class. And so if they read out positively, we expect to not only be first-in-class but best-in-class in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thank you, Christi. Anne?

Anne White -- President of Lilly Oncology

Yes. When we have thoughts on the LOXO question, when we start to move into precision medicine and to obtain a RET inhibitor, we really thoroughly surveyed the landscape and selected the molecule on the portfolio that we believed to be first and best-in-class, and we continue to believe that today. We intend to submit in the U.S. by the end of the year and in Europe shortly thereafter.

So to answer your question, we remain very confident in the efficacy safety profile and the duration of our RET inhibitor, and we will continue to expect that we'll deliver first in both lung and thyroid cancer. So we'll actually be having -- we're presenting an update on the registrational data in the second half of 2019 at a major -- a couple of major medical meetings in advance of that potential regulatory filing. And importantly, as you look at this data set, we now have over 400 patients enrolled across tumor types of RET fusion or mutation. And so we fully expect the data to continue to bear out what we saw last year, which is, in response rates as you said, from 60% to 80% with well over 90% of patients remaining on studies.

This is the data reported last year, and then we'll provide an update later this year.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Anne. Louise, thanks for your call -- questions. Next caller, please.

Operator

[Operator instructions] Next, we'll go to Navin Jacob from UBS. Please go ahead.

Navin Jacob -- UBS -- Analyst

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. So No. 1, I just want to -- I'm sorry to beat a dead horse on GLP-1 pricing, but Enrique, if you could just dig in a little bit further.

I just want to understand, in Q1 of this year, how much of the lower price was related to Medicare Part D, on whole changes versus other rebate-related changes? Because you mentioned that there was rebate estimate adjustments. I want to understand, is that a one-time impact for accrual accounting-related issues or is it something that we should be thinking about as continuing on going forward? And so overall, just want to understand where is the GLP class going in terms of pricing? Is there going to be continued pricing pressure over the next couple of years? And then secondly, just on op margins, if you could help us understand longer term where the op margin profile for the human health business would look like. Can we expect margins to reach mid- to high-30s, in line with some of your other peers? I appreciate the help.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Navin. We'll go to Enrique for Trulicity and then Josh on the op margin questions.

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

Yeah. So I -- just first to address the question about the donut hole. The donut hole becomes a little more important in Q2. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I -- in the case of diabetes medicines, maybe Q1 is maybe only about 10% of the overall donut hole from an accounting perspective what we're going to see throughout the year.

So when we think about Trulicity, while there was some impact of the donut hole, it was not material to the pricing result. As we -- as I mentioned, when we look at Trulicity, we do have high rebates in managed care and so forth relative to Q1 of last year. The change is due to estimates -- change in estimates for rebates and discounts, that -- yes, that is basically changing because of how we had accrued and based on a full review of the claims that we received later, basically changes the information that we have on hand, and we need to account for that as soon as we know that information. So yes, that is a particular impact that was from other quarters that basically is impacting this particular quarter.

So that's probably as much details I can provide.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Enrique. Josh?

Josh Smiley -- Chief Financial Officer

Operating margins for the quarter, we were slightly above 26%. Our guidance for the year is to be at 28%. We're confident we'll get there. I think you'll see through the remainder of the year that we'll see, per our guidance, top-line growth netting out currency effects similar to what we're seeing this quarter, and we'll see sort of operating expenses at a more constant absolute level than what we're seeing in Q1.

So we're confident in our 28% for the year. And then for 2020, our goal is 31%. We are confident as well in achieving that. That's for pharma-only, so that's on our new basis excluding Elanco.

We see good opportunity to get to the 31%, so we're -- no change there. I think if you look past 2020, we'd expect margin expansion to continue. We have limited patent expirations in the first half of the next decade. And we still have the new products that we're launching now, will still be in their growth phase.

So we definitely see margin expansion opportunities post 2020, but we haven't given a specific goal.

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Thanks, Josh. Next caller, please.

Operator

There are no further questions in queue at this time. Dave Ricks, please go ahead.

Dave Ricks -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

All right. Thank you. Thank you all for joining us. We appreciate your participation in today's earnings call and your interest in Eli Lilly and Company.

We began 2019 with a lot of momentum and made meaningful progress in our first quarter. Although Q1 was a period of investment, we remain committed to our revenue and profitability goals for 2019 and 2020. We continue to advance our innovation-based strategy through progressing internally discovered medicines, augmented with external innovation. We completed two transformative transactions this quarter as well, with the full separation of Elanco and the addition of Loxo Oncology.

With a robust pipeline and volume-driven revenue growth, Lilly continues to be a compelling investment. Thanks, again, for dialing in. Please follow-up with our IR team if you have additional questions that were not addressed on today's call. Have a great day.

Operator

[Operator signoff]

Duration: 67 minutes

Call Participants:

Kevin Hern -- Vice President of Investor Relations

Dave Ricks -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Josh Smiley -- Chief Financial Officer

Dan Skovronsky -- President

Chris Schott -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst

Enrique Conterno -- Senior Vice President, President of Lilly Diabetes, and president of Lilly USA

Christi Shaw -- President of Lilly Bio-Medicine

Jason Gerberry -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Seamus Fernandez -- Guggenheim Securities -- Analyst

Anne White -- President of Lilly Oncology

Tim Anderson -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst

Geoff Meacham -- Barclays -- Analyst

Andrew Baum -- Citi -- Analyst

Dave Ricks -- Lilly's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Vamil Divan -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

Umer Raffat -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

David Risinger -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Steve Scala -- Cowen and Company -- Analyst

Alex Arfaei -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Louise Chen -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Navin Jacob -- UBS -- Analyst

More LLY analysis

This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

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Kathmand, Nepal, May 1, 2019: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has returned home on Wednesday morning after spending about one week long state level visit of neighboring China.





Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, cabinet ministers and high-ranking government officials reached at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) to receive president Bhandari.





The president Bhandari visited China at the invitation of her counterpart Xi Jinping.





As this visit was the first state visit of the Nepali head of the state to the northern neighbor China since Nepal became Federal Democratic Republic following the overthrow of Monarchy in 2008, it was taken importantly from different sectors.





During her stay in China, President Bhandari held bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi and other high level Chinese officials in Beijing.




A federal judge said Tuesday a lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump of violating the Constitutions emoluments clause could go forward, rejecting an effort by the White House to get the case thrown out.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan sided with nearly 200 members of Congress who have sued Trump, alleging his ongoing ties to a sweeping business empire continue to enrich him while in office. The lawmakers allege Trumps business dealings have repeatedly violated the emolument clause, which prohibits those in federal office from accepting any payments or gifts from foreign governments without first seeking the consent of Congress.

This decision is a tremendous victory and vindication of a common sense reading of the Constitution, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), one of the lawmakers behind the suit, said in a statement. The court soundly rejected the presidents absurd argument that he is above the law.

Trumps legal team had argued that the term emolument should be used only when it comes to payments that are specifically used as bribes, but not more broadly for any payment that could flow from one of Trumps properties into the presidents pocket. Sullivan disagreed, writing in a 48-page opinion that the clause was written broadly to achieve its purpose of guarding against even the possibility of corruption and foreign influence.

The Court is persuaded that the text and structure of the Clause, together with the other uses of the term in the Constitution, support plaintiffs definition of Emolument rather than that of the President, Sullivan wrote.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kelly Laco told Politico the government would continue to oppose the suit, saying: As we argued, we believe this case should be dismissed, and we will continue to defend the president in court.

If the case goes forward, investigators could potentially gain access to some financial documents related to Trump and his businesses, which the president has vehemently guarded amid a bevy of probes. Earlier this week, Trump and his family sued to stop two banks from releasing his bank records in response to subpoenas from congressional committees.

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The emoluments case is likely to head to a federal appeals court and could ultimately end up before the Supreme Court, The Washington Post notes.

A separate case related to the emoluments clause has been held up in the court system. The attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, D.C., sued over the presidents hotel in the capital, saying Trump had violated the provision by accepting money from foreign guests.

The attorneys general were temporarily blocked from gathering evidence or issuing subpoenas in the case by an appeals court in December.




And with a snap of his fingers, Iron Man ended the journey he began back in 2008.

Across 11 years, three phases and 22 films, fans followed the adventures of Tony Stark and his band of superhero colleagues-slash-friends in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) arc known as the Infinity Saga. Although Spider-Man: Far From Home is technically considered the last film to close out the third phase, Avengers: Endgame marks a definitive end for several key characters, and to their rational world as weve come to know it. The Marvel Studios head, Kevin Feige, did exactly what he said hed do: he gave us a finale.

Related: Avengers: Endgame  who survived Thanos' finger-click? Discuss with spoilers

From the credits of Endgame, we know any future Avengers film will look pretty different from what were used to. To recap what happened: using Ant-Mans quantum tunnel and Iron Mans GPS system, the Avengers devise a plan to hop back at different points in time, steal the infinity stones, and create their own gauntlet to bring everyone back to life. However, almost all their plans go sideways, and in the end some sacrifices must be made. Tony does wield all six Infinity Stones and turns Thanos and his entire army to dust, but the act kills him. Black Widow dies in exchange for the soul stone. In the aftermath of Thanoss defeat, Thor joins the Guardians of the Galaxy and leaves Valkyrie as leader of New Asgard. Captain America is tasked with returning the stones exactly to the moments they were taken, yet he never returns on the time platform; instead he reappears offscreen as an old man, and we learn he lived out his life with his love, Peggy Carter. Hulk and Hawkeye are still around, though drastically changed as people. It didnt quite deliver the definitive deaths we were expecting, yet for most of them, we know this is probably goodbye.

With that in mind, we have a vague idea of what the next batch of films will look like in phase four. Black Panther, Doctor Strange and Guardians of the Galaxy all have sequels confirmed, but no set release dates. Jac Schaeffer is writing a Black Widow film, but its been rumored to be a prequel. Considering the tragic events of Endgame, theres some hope that that description is a little misleading, and the movie will give us some clarity on whether Steve was able to bring Natasha back when he returned the soul stone.

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Chloe Zhao is directing the Angelina Jolie-led The Eternals  about a race of human-looking near immortals created by the Celestials (like Peter Quills father)  and Destin Daniel Cretton is directing a Shang-Chi film, the first Asian actor-led film in the MCU. Sonys Amy Pascal is producing a live-action Silk movie about Cindy Moon, a Korean-American classmate who gets bitten by a radioactive spider alongside Peter Parker. Since Spider-Man: Homecoming actually introduced a background character named Cindy, played by Tiffany Espensen. Its not yet clear if shes meant to appear in the MCU as Tom Holland does, or is going to be a standalone like Venom. Miles Moraless uncle, Aaron Davis (played by Donald Glover), was also introduced in Homecoming. Feige has confirmed a Ms Marvel film is in the works, centering around Kamala Khan, Marvels first teen Muslim superheroine. And then theres the newly re-acquired X-Men and Fantastic Four, but Feige has said it will be a very long time before they show up.

Scarlett Johansson in Avengers: Endgame.

Scarlett Johansson in Avengers: Endgame.Photograph: null/AP

Marvel is keeping mum about the schedule, and is probably waiting until San Diego Comic-Con or the D23 Expo in the summertime to reveal solid dates. A more intriguing question, though, has to do with Disneys own streaming platform and how Endgames convoluted time hopping plays into its planned spin-off shows.

When it comes to time travel in Endgame, the directors kept it vague about what the full repercussions were. We only know how it doesnt work: as Bruce says, unlike Back to the Future, altering the past cannot change the future. Thats why killing 2014 Nebula doesnt cause 2023 Nebula to immediately disappear, and why War Machines suggestion to kill baby Thanos simply wouldnt work. Its also why their only option is to steal the stones and use them in the present, rather than try to stop a past Thanos from snapping his fingers. Think of the Avengers as railroad attendants, and each action they take while in the past like the flipping of a train track. While all the Avengers are able to hop back and forth in a linear fashion, every change they make just creates a new reality that branches off theirs. Were not told how big or small the alterations have to be to trigger this; according to the butterfly effect, the very act of them appearing backwards in time could ripple out in enormously damaging ways, creating an endless multiverse where anything could happen.

Bruce and the Ancient One seem to agree that returning the stones from the very moment they were taken after Thanos is defeated will simply erase all these divergent realities. But are they sure? Considering Bruce turned Ant-Man into a baby and the Ancient One didnt foresee Doctor Strange giving up the time stone to Thanos, perhaps neither of them are actually all that versed in the intricacies of time travel and alternate universes.

The fact that returning the stones doesnt actually collapse out all the alternate realities would explain several of the upcoming Disney+ shows. It sounds like only two of the shows take place within the current timeline: Hawkeye features Clint passing on the mantle to a young Kate Bishop, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is probably going to be about Sam eventually accepting that hes now Captain America (which is keeping in line with a recent comics run). Others, like the Loki and WandaVision shows, hint that Steve didnt quite succeed in closing out all other universes. Loki from 2012 got a hold of the Tesseract, something that was glossed over in Endgame but will probably be the lead-in for him to wreak havoc on his own show. Vision was never revived in Endgame, and yet his show involves him and Wanda living out in the 1950s; we can only guess how in the world that would work, but it does sound like time and/or universe hopping would be involved.

Jeremy Renner in Avengers: Endgame.

Jeremy Renner in Avengers: Endgame.Photograph: null/AP

There are also the divergent timelines created when Thor talks to his mother and Iron Man to his father, and then the major one is when Steve decides to stay with Peggy. (Steve from 2023 even speaking to past Peggy would immediately create an alternate reality, by the way, which means when he reappears on that bench, he probably traveled dimensions, not time. My guess is that alternate universes Doctor Strange zapped him there.) We have no idea what could happen in each of those timelines. Is it possible theres a world where Frigga never dies? Or one where Howard Stark becomes more altruistic, and thus Tony never becomes a war profiteer? Does the Steve who lives with Peggy ever intervene with Hydra, or rescue Bucky before hes tortured (thus, again, changing the course of Tonys life, if Bucky never kills his parents)? And lets not forget that theres now a 2014 where Thanos, Gamora and Nebula no longer exist.

The fact of the matter is there are endless possibilities, and the door is wide open, really, to introduce any number of new and interesting characters  such as Amadeus Cho, Jennifer Walters, Goddess Thor or Riri Williams  and just attribute it to the creation of a multiverse. Characters like Doctor Strange and Ant-Man, and animated films like Into the Spider-Verse, even tell us its not impossible for characters from alternate dimensions to suddenly come crashing into our present one. Its possible Disney+s What If series will explore exactly all these intriguing permutations.

While its sad we now must say goodbye to several characters weve grown to love and root for over the years, we shouldnt see Endgame as simply the end. Instead, think of it as a great, wild beginning.
San Francisco (AFP) - Google-parent Alphabet said Tuesday that Eric Schmidt, who was chief of the internet giant for a decade, will leave the board in June.

Schmidt, who turned 64 this month, stepped down as chairman of the Alphabet board at the start of last year, remaining a member but shifting to a role as a technical advisor.

Schmidt will not seek re-election to the board when his term expires in June, but will continue to advise on technical matters, according to Alphabet.

"Eric has made an extraordinary contribution to Google and Alphabet as CEO, chairman, and board member," board chairman John Hennessy said in a statement.

"We are extremely grateful for his guidance and leadership over many years."

Schmidt was on the board for more than 18 years, joining in March 2001. He was chief executive of Google from the middle of that same year until March 2011.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin recruited the proven businessman and skilled software engineer as chief executive in 2001, bringing a mature hand to the helm of the then three-year-old internet search company.

Schmidt, Page and Brin were considered a power triumvirate in control of Google. Page replaced Schmidt as chief executive a decade later.

Google unveiled a surprise corporate overhaul in 2015, forming a new parent company dubbed Alphabet to include internet search and a handful of independent companies.

Page became chief executive at Alphabet, a holding company for the tech giant's search products and "other bets" such Waymo self-driving car unit and Google Fiber internet service.

Sundar Pichai was promoted to chief of Google.

Schmidt was at Google's helm during pivotal years during which it grew into an online advertising and search juggernaut, the company name becoming a verb in the process.

When stepping down as chairman of the board, Schmidt said he intended to spend more time on philanthropic, scientific and technology endeavors.

His net worth was estimated to be around $14 billion by Forbes.
Beirut (AFP) - Fighting in northwestern Syria has displaced nearly 140,000 people since February, the UN said on Wednesday, as the regime and its ally Russia have stepped up their bombardment.

"Since February, over 138,500 women, children and men have been displaced from northern Hama and southern Idlib," said David Swanson of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.

"Between 1 and 28 April, its estimated more than 32,500 individuals have moved to different communities in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama governorates," he told AFP.

Idlib has been protected from a massive regime offensive by a September deal inked by Damascus ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

But the region of some three million people has come under increasing bombardment since former the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group took full control of it in January.

The escalation has killed more than 200 civilians since February, the UN said last week.

A new wave of shelling and airstrikes this week targeted schools and medical centres, according to Swanson.

"The UN is deeply concerned over the recent escalation," he said.

The attacks targeted parts of Hama and southern Idlib, including the village of al-Qasabiyah.

"The majority of the Al-Qasabiyah village residents reportedly displaced to safer villages due to hostilities in the area," Swanson said.

AFP correspondents saw intense bombardment of Al-Qasabiyah Wednesday, with bombs dropped by warplanes sending huge plumes of grey smoke billowing into the sky.

Vehicles loaded with mattresses, carpets and even household appliances like refrigerators and washing machines could be seen leaving villages in southern Idlib.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday said that regime shelling over the past two days has been the most intense since the agreement between Moscow and Ankara.

The monitor said at least seven civilians were killed in the bombardment on Wednesday.

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The United States on Tuesday urged Russia to abide by its commitments and stop an "escalation" in Idlib.

"The violence must end," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

An estimated three million people live in Idlib and adjacent rebel-held territory, 1.7 million of whom were already displaced from other parts of Syria since the conflict erupted in 2011.

The figure for those displaced there since February is more than double the number of people forced to move during battles against the Islamic State group in eastern Syria between December and March.

OCHA on Wednesday said more than 63,000 people were displaced from territory held by IS in southeastern Deir Ezzor between December and March as a US-backed force snuffed out its self-declared "caliphate".

The civil war in Syria has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it began.
ROME, May 1 (Reuters) - The European Parliament's main center-right group must forge an alliance with populist, nationalist groups after the forthcoming European Union elections and shun the left, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

Orban's ruling Fidesz Party was suspended from the mainstream European People's Party (EPP) in March over its record on rule of law, freedom of the press and minorities rights.

Orban has denied violating any EU principles and has said he wants to remain part of the EPP. But in an interview with La Stampa newspaper published on Wednesday, he said the group had to drop its aversion to the far right.

"The EPP is preparing to commit suicide and wants to tie itself to the left," Orban said.

"We need to find another path via co-operation with Europe's right wing," he added, referring to a Europe-wide alliance of nationalist, anti-immigration parties that Matteo Salvini, head of Italy's far-right League, is trying to put together.

Voters in the 28-nation EU vote later this month to elect a new European Parliament. The EPP is expected to win the biggest share of seats but fall short of a majority, meaning it will need to form partnerships with other groups to control the chamber and shape the EU for years to come.

EPP leader Manfred Weber has made clear he prefers hooking up with pro-European Socialists and Liberals rather than the eurosceptic, sovereignist forces drawn to Salvini's flag.

"The nationalists will be our enemies," Weber said last month, launching his EU election campaign.

Salvini, who also serves as Italy's deputy prime minister and interior minister, is eager to win Orban over to his cause and is due to meet the Hungarian leader in Budapest on Thursday.

Orban has shown no sign of wanting to leave the EPP, which gives him mainstream respectability and influence that other European populists lack.

But he heaped praise on Salvini and applauded him for having drastically reduced the flow of migrants looking to leave Libya and reach Europe over the past year.

"For this, I think Salvini is the most important person in Europe today," he said. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer, editing by Larry King)
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Today we'll evaluate Tencent Holdings Limited (HKG:700) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea. Specifically, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), since that will give us an insight into how efficiently the business can generate profits from the capital it requires.

First, we'll go over how we calculate ROCE. Then we'll compare its ROCE to similar companies. And finally, we'll look at how its current liabilities are impacting 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. In general, businesses with a higher ROCE are usually better quality. Overall, it is a valuable metric that has its flaws. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since 'No two businesses are exactly alike.'

So, How Do We Calculate ROCE?

Analysts use this formula to calculate return on capital employed:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

Or for Tencent Holdings:

0.15 = CN80b  (CN724b - CN202b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.)

Therefore, Tencent Holdings has an ROCE of 15%.

See our latest analysis for Tencent Holdings

Is Tencent Holdings's ROCE Good?

When making comparisons between similar businesses, investors may find ROCE useful. It appears that Tencent Holdings's ROCE is fairly close to the Interactive Media and Services industry average of 15%. Independently of how Tencent Holdings compares to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears decent, and the company may be worthy of closer investigation.

SEHK:700 Past Revenue and Net Income, April 30th 2019

When considering ROCE, bear in mind that it reflects the past and does not necessarily predict the future. Companies in cyclical industries can be difficult to understand using ROCE, as returns typically look high during boom times, and low during busts. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. What happens in the future is pretty important for investors, so we have prepared a free report on analyst forecasts for Tencent Holdings.

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How Tencent Holdings's Current Liabilities Impact Its ROCE

Current liabilities are short term bills and invoices that need to be paid in 12 months or less. The ROCE equation subtracts current liabilities from capital employed, so a company with a lot of current liabilities appears to have less capital employed, and a higher ROCE than otherwise. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets.

Tencent Holdings has total liabilities of CN202b and total assets of CN724b. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 28% of its total assets. A fairly low level of current liabilities is not influencing the ROCE too much.

Our Take On Tencent Holdings's ROCE

Overall, Tencent Holdings has a decent ROCE and could be worthy of further research. There might be better investments than Tencent Holdings out there, but you will have to work hard to find them . These promising businesses with rapidly growing earnings might be right up your alley.

I will like Tencent Holdings better if I see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
* Thirteen nations discuss EU future at Warsaw summit

* Polish PM warns against centralisation, two-speed EU

* Eurosceptic parties seen doing well in EU polls this month

By Joanna Plucinska

WARSAW, May 1 (Reuters) - The mostly ex-communist countries that have joined the European Union in the past 15 years want Brussels to return more powers to national capitals, Poland's prime minister said on Wednesday after hosting a summit of the 13 newcomers.

Mateusz Morawiecki also rejected the notion of a 'multi-speed' Europe that would allow groups of member states to press ahead with deeper cooperation in certain chosen policy areas.

His comments highlight a serious rift between many of the former eastern bloc states, which say they are made to feel like second-class EU members, and, on the other side, the European Commission and older club members such as France.

"Where it doesn't have to, the European Union should leave member countries to their own competences... We say this with a single Central European voice," Morawiecki told reporters, summing up the discussions held at the one-day Warsaw summit.

That message will be enshrined in a declaration and will be discussed at a pan-EU summit in the Romanian town of Sibiu on May 9. It comes just weeks before European Parliament elections in which populist, eurosceptic parties are expected to do well.

As the leaders of the 13 nations met in Warsaw on Wednesday, several hundred far-right supporters marched through the Polish capital in a protest rally that highlighted the growth of anti-immigrant, nationalist sentiment in the EU.

POLISH-EU SPAT

The EU has launched a legal procedure against Poland over reforms of its judicial system it says undermine the separation of power and the rule of law. Warsaw says the reforms make the system more effective and that the EU should not interfere.

While the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) is eurosceptic, it broadly supports Poland's continued EU membership and has no plans to follow Britain in exiting the bloc.

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Earlier on Wednesday, European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen warned Poland - a net beneficiary of the EU budget - against treating the EU as a "money machine" and also said its dispute with Brussels over the rule of law had weakened Warsaw's position in the bloc.

Katainen spoke in Warsaw where he was representing the EU executive Commission at the summit.

In an op-ed published on Tuesday in POLITICO Europe entitled "Poland's vision for Europe," Morawiecki said the EU risked harming democracy in its push to integrate, calling such an approach "dangerously misguided."

He said the EU should focus on strengthening its single market, bolstering its position against illegal immigration and avoiding dual standards of products and services between Western and Eastern Europe.

Hungary and Romania have also faced EU censure over what Brussels sees as their erosion of the rule of law, but Morawiecki warned against double standards.

"It is unacceptable for EU authorities to criticize some countries' institutions for practices that do not raise objections elsewhere," he wrote in the op-ed.

Poland is by far the largest of the countries that joined the EU in 2004. The others are Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta.

Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. (Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Alicja Ptak, Writing by Joanna Plucinska, Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Gareth Jones)
Police were called to Kelownas Kerry Park on Sunday afternoon after receiving complaints about a man allegedly grabbing a child from their mother.

A former WHL player has been charged with assault and willfully obstructing a police officer after allegedly grabbing a child from a stroller in Kelowna, B.C.

Harold Giffen Clarkson Nyren, 30, was charged Monday and appeared in court Tuesday.

Police were called to Kelownas Kerry Park on Sunday afternoon after receiving complaints about a man allegedly grabbing a child from their mother.

Witnesses said that the man ran away with the infant, eventually let the child go, took off all his clothes, then tried to escape by swimming away in Okanagan Lake.

The suspect was apprehended by police without his clothes.

Nyren played in the WHL from 2006-10, spending time with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Kamloops Blazers and Calgary Hitmen. The defenceman last played for Amiens in the French league during the 2018-19 season.

More hockey coverage from Yahoo Sports
As the U.S. and China conclude yet another round of trade talks, negotiators have made progress on key issues  while sticky issues like how exactly to roll back punitive tariffs remain.

Im not sure exactly how they get to the end of this particular negotiation, American Action Forum President Douglas Holtz-Eakin told Yahoo Finances On The Move (video above). Theyve done the easy stuff which is agree to close the bilateral deficit But the hard thing is the enforcement and dropping the tariffs.

A recent brief trip to Beijing by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, aimed at improving relations, was said to end productively. As more hope builds related to ending the painful trade war, Holtz-Eakin believes the markets are going to reward simply stopping the war.

Investors, business leaders, and the Trump administration are hoping that U.S. and Chinese officials can finish building a comprehensive deal in the next few weeks.

Holtz-Eakin noted that in any deal, the global trading community would want the tariffs to go away. (The American Action Forum is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit issue advocacy group based that promotes center-right public policy.)

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, poses with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, before they proceed to their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

Trade uncertainty has caused volatility in the market on both ends. And while there is eagerness to move forward in a deal, many industries would prefer the U.S. to negotiate further in order to truly address the current problems at stake.

The real question is how can [a resolution] happen? I think the enforcement and the tariffs are tightly linked in the Presidents mind, Holtz-Eakin said. He thinks of keeping the tariffs in place as the mechanism that forces the Chinese to comply with whatever agreement theyve reached.

Remaining issues include U.S. concerns over intellectual property theft and forced technology transfers, tariffs between both counties, supply chain disruption, enforcement of any deal, and how markets would weigh any announced resolution.

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn,YouTube, and reddit.
(Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido appeared alongside armed, uniformed men on Tuesday in his strongest call yet to the military to abandon President Nicolas Maduro, a day before planned mass protests aimed at toppling the socialist leader. In the more than three months since Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, citing fraudulent elections, Maduro has so far kept a grip on the levers of power including the military and security forces. Guaido says Maduro must step aside for a transitional government to organize new elections. Maduro has resisted calls for an early vote or that he leave power early before his six-year second term ends in 2025. Below are some of the factors that could decide who prevails: THE MILITARY Venezuela has a long history of military rebellions and coups, notably the 1958 overthrow of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, and the failed attempt by Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez, to take office by force in a 1992 army coup. After being elected to office, Chavez himself survived a putsch a decade later. Now Guaido is seeking a widespread army uprising against Maduro, who has overseen a 50 percent collapse in the economy and shortages of food and medicine that have led more than 3 million Venezuelans to leave the country since he took office in 2013. Although the young opposition leader was accompanied at a rally in Caracas on Tuesday by several dozen armed troops, it did not immediately appear that he had won much support from the country's 200,000-strong armed forces, and 25 of the soldiers with him later sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy. Since declaring himself interim president in January, Guaido has repeatedly made overtures to the military, offering an amnesty from prosecutions if they join him, with only marginal success. Several hundred soldiers have defected and left the country for Brazil or Colombia in recent weeks but not in numbers high enough to threaten Maduro's grip. One risk is that a military split leads to prolonged violence among different armed factions. NEGOTIATED TRANSITION Maduro's offer of negotiations with Guaido, moderated by the Vatican, Mexico or Uruguay, has been rejected by the opposition, which says previous rounds of talks allowed the government to stall for time without making any real concessions. While some 50 nations, including the United States, have declared support for Guaido, Maduro still has powerful backers, notably Russia and China. Others allies include Cuba, Iran and Turkey. U.S. national security advisor John Bolton has called on Russia to drop its support for Maduro, which includes military advisers. While some believe Moscow could negotiate an exit and safe passage out of Venezuela for the president, there are few signs Putin is willing to give up on the government that gives him most geo-political clout in the Americas. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN on Tuesday that Maduro was prepared to leave Venezuela on Tuesday morning but reversed his plan after Russia said he should stay. Bolton said on Tuesday the opposition had won commitments from leading members of Maduro's administration that the president had to go, but there was no public sign of high-level splits within the government that could lead to a transition. U.S.-BACKED MILITARY OPS Erik Prince - the founder of private security firm Blackwater and a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump - has been pushing a plan to deploy a private army to help topple Maduro, sources told Reuters. Prince's pitch will only add to speculation that the United States, while unlikely to invade Venezuela to bring down Maduro, might resort to irregular military action, such as the kind of intelligence service-backed covert operations used by Washington a number of times in 20th-century Latin America. A person familiar with the Trump administration's thinking said the White House would not support such a plan. Although some former Venezuelan security officials opposed to Maduro are now based in Colombia and have claimed involvement in a drone attack on the president last year, there is little evidence that such operations are being prepared at the moment. (Reporting by Luc Cohen, Vivian Sequera, Angus Berwick in Caracas; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Aram Roston, Eric Beech and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Peter Cooney)
By James Mackenzie and Sanjeev Miglani

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, May 1 (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Masood Azhar, on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a long diplomatic impasse.

Jaish-e-Mohammad had taken responsibility for the deadliest attack on security forces in Indian Kashmir in 30 years of insurgency, ratcheting up tension between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors.

India has said the group and Azhar enjoy free rein in Pakistan, and demanded that Pakistan act to stop militant groups operating from its soil.

Pakistan had condemned bomb attack in February that killed 40 paramilitary policemen but denied any complicity.

India blamed Jaish for a series of attacks including a 2001 raid on its parliament in New Delhi that led to India mobilizing its military on the border.

WHO ARE THE JAISH-e-MOHAMMAD AND WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?

Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), or Army of Mohammad, has ties to other Sunni militant groups in Pakistan such as Lashka-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It was banned in Pakistan in 2002 but U.S. authorities say it still operates there openly.

Founded in 2000 after the release of Azhar from an Indian prison in exchange for 155 hostages from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane, it has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, which is also claimed by Pakistan.

The group, which aims to unite Kashmir with Pakistan, has repeatedly caused tension between India and Pakistan. Along with LeT, it was involved in attacks in 2001 on the Indian parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly building.

Pakistan rejects Indian accusations that it harbors and sustains the group. Pakistani authorities have linked JeM with two assassination attempts on former President Pervez Musharraf in 2003 as well as the kidnap and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

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WHERE DO THEY OPERATE AND WHO IS MASOOD AZHAR?

While Kashmir is the focus of Jaish operations, the group was based in Bhawalpur, a dust-blown Pakistani town on the border with India in the south of Punjab province. Media reports and Indian intelligence sources have suggested that a walled headquarters, as well as another large premises on the outskirts of the city, are used to recruit and train youngsters from the impoverished region.

The Jaish is listed as one of 33 banned organizations by Pakistan's National Counter-Terrorism Authority, which states on its website that the ban was issued on Jan. 14, 2002. But the group has never hidden its existence, frequently issuing videos threatening India, and also the United States.

After a period of silence, Azhar surfaced in a video in 2014, boasting of 300 suicide bombers at his command and threatening to kill Narendra Modi if he became India's prime minister.

Despite many rumors, his whereabouts have been officially unknown since a 2016 attack on an Indian air force base in Pathankot in Indian Punjab.

WHAT IS THE DIPLOMATIC WRANGLE ABOUT?

In 2001, the U.N. Security Council blacklisted the Jaish, tying it to al Qaeda, and accusing it of participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of al Qaeda acts.

But the group has floated in and out of the shadows and a U.S. State Department report last year said Pakistan had not cracked down on the activities of JeM and other groups that aim mainly to operate outside its territory.

"The government failed to significantly limit LeT and JeM from openly raising money, recruiting, and training in Pakistan," it said.

While Jaish was blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council, India's efforts to get Azhar sanctioned have been blocked by China, it says. China has until now put a technical hold each time India has pushed the issue in the council.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement that Beijing had no objections to Azhar's listing after studying revised proposals at the United Nations and that the issue was now "appropriately resolved."

(Editing by Frances Kerry)
By James Mackenzie and Sanjeev Miglani ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Masood Azhar, on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a long diplomatic impasse. Jaish-e-Mohammad had taken responsibility for the deadliest attack on security forces in Indian Kashmir in 30 years of insurgency, ratcheting up tension between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors. India has said the group and Azhar enjoy free rein in Pakistan, and demanded that Pakistan act to stop militant groups operating from its soil. Pakistan had condemned bomb attack in February that killed 40 paramilitary policemen but denied any complicity. India blamed Jaish for a series of attacks including a 2001 raid on its parliament in New Delhi that led to India mobilizing its military on the border. WHO ARE THE JAISH-e-MOHAMMAD AND WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), or Army of Mohammad, has ties to other Sunni militant groups in Pakistan such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It was banned in Pakistan in 2002 but U.S. authorities say it still operates there openly. Founded in 2000 after the release of Azhar from an Indian prison in exchange for 155 hostages from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane, it has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, which is also claimed by Pakistan. The group, which aims to unite Kashmir with Pakistan, has repeatedly caused tension between India and Pakistan. Along with LeT, it was involved in attacks in 2001 on the Indian parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly building. Pakistan rejects Indian accusations that it harbors and sustains the group. Pakistani authorities have linked JeM with two assassination attempts on former President Pervez Musharraf in 2003 as well as the kidnap and murder of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. WHERE DO THEY OPERATE AND WHO IS MASOOD AZHAR? While Kashmir is the focus of Jaish operations, the group was based in Bahawalpur, a dust-blown Pakistani town on the border with India in the south of Punjab province. Media reports and Indian intelligence sources have suggested that a walled headquarters, as well as another large premises on the outskirts of the city, are used to recruit and train youngsters from the impoverished region. The Jaish is listed as one of 33 banned organizations by Pakistan's National Counter-Terrorism Authority, which states on its website that the ban was issued on Jan. 14, 2002. But the group has never hidden its existence, frequently issuing videos threatening India, and also the United States. After a period of silence, Azhar surfaced in a video in 2014, boasting of 300 suicide bombers at his command and threatening to kill Narendra Modi if he became India's prime minister. Despite many rumors, his whereabouts have been officially unknown since a 2016 attack on an Indian air force base in Pathankot in Indian Punjab. WHAT IS THE DIPLOMATIC WRANGLE ABOUT? In 2001, the U.N. Security Council blacklisted the Jaish, tying it to al Qaeda, and accusing it of participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of al Qaeda acts. But the group has floated in and out of the shadows and a U.S. State Department report last year said Pakistan had not cracked down on the activities of JeM and other groups that aim mainly to operate outside its territory. "The government failed to significantly limit LeT and JeM from openly raising money, recruiting, and training in Pakistan", it said. While Jaish was blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council, India's efforts to get Azhar sanctioned have been blocked by China, it says. China has until now put a technical hold each time India has pushed the issue in the council. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a statement that Beijing had no objections to Azhar's listing after studying revised proposals at the United Nations and that the issue was now "appropriately resolved". (Editing by Frances Kerry)
By Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration faces a critical test of its Venezuela policy as opposition leader Juan Guaido, bolstered by vocal U.S. support, pressures the country's military to abandon socialist President Nicolas Maduro and mounts mass protests to force him out. In its biggest political and diplomatic intervention in Latin America in years, the U.S. government has rolled out waves of punitive measures against Venezuela, including several rounds of sanctions on its leadership, vital oil sector and banks. With fewer levers left to pull and protests apparently petering out on Wednesday, President Donald Trump could suffer a setback if Guaido's latest push fails to ignite a broader uprising against Maduro. Here are Trump's challenges and remaining options: GETTING THE MILITARY TO TURN U.S. officials appeared to have been overly optimistic about quickly sparking a military revolt against Maduro after Washington recognized Guaido as interim president in January. Maduro seems to have retained the loyalty of most officers. Hawkish national security adviser John Bolton and other Trump aides chafed on Tuesday over what they said was the failure of three senior Maduro loyalists who purportedly had negotiated with the opposition to change sides but then reneged. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Maduro had been expected to flee the country on Tuesday but Russia convinced him to stay. The Kremlin denied this. Strong doubts remain whether Guaido's offer of amnesty and U.S. promises to lift sanctions will be enough to spur the military to abandon Maduro in large numbers. TIGHTENING FINANCIAL NOOSE The Trump administration has relied more than anything else on sanctions to put bite in its anti-Maduro policy. The sanctions are aimed at choking off cash flow to his government - and more measures are coming, say U.S. officials. While some of the toughest steps have already been taken, the administration could add to its list of blacklisted Venezuelan banks, companies and individuals - though it is unclear whether this will have significant impact. It could also act against remaining foreign partners of state oil company PDVSA, using "secondary" sanctions of the type Washington has threatened against foreign companies doing business with Iran. Potential targets are Spanish oil company Repsol, Russian state oil major Rosneft and India's Reliance Industries. Such moves, however, would anger their governments. U.S. MILITARY OPTIONS Trump and his aides have repeatedly said military options are on the table. But there is deep skepticism whether the president, who is trying to extract the United States from Syria and Afghanistan, is ready for a new foreign conflict. The Pentagon on Wednesday appeared to downplay any active preparations for military action in Venezuela, but acknowledged detailed contingency planning. Just hours earlier, Pompeo said the United States was prepared to act militarily "if that's what's required." But U.S. officials continued to emphasize diplomatic and economic pressure as the best way to help oust Maduro. PRESSURING RUSSIA AND CUBA The Trump administration has become increasingly critical of Russia and Cuba, accusing them of propping up their staunch ally Maduro. But neither Moscow nor Havana are heeding U.S. warnings. Pompeo, in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, said intervention by Russia is "destabilizing" for U.S.-Russia relations. Lavrov told Pompeo further "aggressive steps" in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, the Russian foreign ministry said. Russia, which has supplied Venezuela with weapons and loans and recently sent in about a hundred military personnel, says the United States is trying to encourage a coup. Trump on Tuesday threatened a "full and complete embargo" on Cuba if its Communist leadership did not withdraw security backing for Maduro. U.S. officials have said Cuba has 20,000 to 25,000 military and intelligence personnel in Venezuela. Cuba has repeatedly denied it has troops in the country. LOOKING TO 2020 ELECTION Trump's handling of Venezuela is one of the few foreign policy initiatives that has won bipartisan support, and what happens in coming months could also have implications for his 2020 re-election bid. His toughened stance on Cuba and Venezuela has gone down well among Cuban Americans in south Florida, an important voting bloc in a political swing state seen as crucial to his chances of retaining the White House. However, if Maduro is still firmly in power, it will be hard for Trump to tout Venezuela as a foreign policy success. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Lesley Wroughton; Writing by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Mary Milliken and Rosalba O'Brien)
Mamas Asian Noodle House. | Photo: Tanya C./Yelp

Visiting East Central Fresno, or just looking to better appreciate what it has to offer? Get to know this Fresno neighborhood by browsing its most popular local businesses, from a sandwich deli to a barbecue spot with a picnic feel.

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top places to visit in East Central Fresno, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of neighborhood businesses. Read on for the results.

1. Sam's Italian Deli & Market

Photo: Jeremy C./Yelp

Topping the list is deli and international grocery store Sam's Italian Deli & Market, which offers beer, wine and spirits and more. Located at 2415 N. First St., it's the highest-rated business in the neighborhood, boasting 4.5 stars out of 608 reviews on Yelp.

On the menu, expect to see sandwiches and specialty deli items. Pick up any last minute groceries inside the market after ordering from the deli.

2. Noodle Q Home Style Fresh Noodles

Photo: May L./Yelp

Next up is Noodle Q Home Style Fresh Noodles, a spot to score noodles, situated at 2648 E. Ashlan Ave. With four stars out of 517 reviews on Yelp, it's proven to be a local favorite.

Noodle Q Home Style Fresh Noodles offers rice, sushi, noodles and appetizers. On the menu, look for the potstickers, fried rice, spicy tuna roll and more.

3. Mamas Asian Noodle House

Photo: Tanya C./Yelp

Laotian and Thai spot Mamas Asian Noodle House, which offers noodles and more, is another top choice. Yelpers give the business, located at 4787 E. McKinley Ave., four stars out of 316 reviews.

The family-owned restaurant features menu items like beef Pho, pork Laab with spices and mints and wok-fried chicken with chili garlic.

4. Maw n' Paw BBQ

Photo: Jeremy C./Yelp

Last but not least, Maw n' Paw BBQ, a spot to score barbecue and more, is another neighborhood go-to, with four stars out of 221 Yelp reviews. Head over to 2686 N. Clovis Ave., Suite 101 to see for yourself.

The restaurant spot feels like a backyard barbecue with casual picnic table seating. On the menu, try the brisket, potato salad, pork ribs and more.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Photo: Charcoal Town Hookah & Shawarma/Yelp

Interested in checking out the freshest new spots in Washington? From a Latin American cocktail bar to a Middle Eastern hookah bar and eatery, read on for a list of the newest destinations to open for business recently.

Seven Reasons

Photo: Ally T./Yelp

Seven Reasons is a cocktail bar and much more, featuring Latin American fare in small and large plates, that recently opened at 2208 14th St. NW in the U Street Corridor. The food also honors flavors from the Caribbean and the Amazon, the business owner notes.

Cinder BBQ

Photo: angie h./Yelp

Now open at 800 Upshur St. NW in Petworth, Cinder BBQ offers Texas brisket, dry-rubbed ribs, smoked wings, pulled pork and whole chickens "all carefully smoked for hours," according to its website.

Charcoal Town Hookah & Shawarma

Photo: Charoal Town Hookah & Shawarma/Yelp

Charcoal Town Hookah & Shawarma, which has another location on U Street, is a new addition to Georgetown, located at 1027 31st St. NW. Yelpers have taken to the new spot, giving it four stars out of 11 reviews.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Looking to discover the freshest new spots in Washington? From Trinidadian and Italian restaurants to a rooftop bar, read on for a rundown of the newest hot spots to land around town.

Cane

A newcomer to Capitol Hill, Cane is a Trinidadian spot that's located at 403 H St. NE. With five stars out of four reviews on Yelp, it is getting a warm welcome from patrons.

Chef Peter Prime offers his twist on street food from his Caribbean island, the website says. Menu selections include oxtail brisket, jerk wings, cumin-spiced pork belly and Indian bread.

12 Stories

Photo: TJ C./Yelp

New to the District Wharf is 12 Stories, a new lounge at 75 District Square SW, Floor 12. The business has been hitting a high note with patrons, scoring five stars out of three reviews on Yelp.

The rooftop bar at the Intercontinental Hotel offers a panoramic view, as well as a variety of cocktails, wine and beer. The menu also offers bites and small plates, including oysters, an array of cheeses, cauliflower croquettes and zucchini tempura.

Nicoletta Italian Kitchen

Photo: Rich K./Yelp

Nicoletta Italian Kitchen, offering "three-day dough" pizza and salads, recently opened its doors at 901 Fourth St. NW in Mount Vernon Square. With five stars out of four reviews on Yelp, the bistro is already making a positive impression.

The menu also features house-made pastas and three kinds of meatballs, plus chicken, burgers, a crispy veal cutlet and grilled Mediterranean sea bass.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew R.C. Marshall LONDON (Reuters) - After paralyzing parts of London, the co-founder of environmental group Extinction Rebellion has a message for the world: We've only just begun. The group disrupted London with 11 days of protests that it cast as the biggest act of civil disobedience in recent British history. Iconic locations were blocked, the Shell building defaced, trains stopped and Goldman Sachs targeted. The aim: A rebellion against the political, economic and social structure of the modern world in time to avert the worst devastation outlined by scientists studying climate change. So what's next? For the next phase of what she describes as "a movement fueled by love", Gail Bradbrook, a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, told Reuters she wanted to provoke a mass refusal to repay debt that would upend the financial system. "Economic growth tends to require the taking of resources from the Earth. So something has to change on a debt-based economy," said Bradbrook, sitting in the group's central London headquarters next to a coffin with "Our Future" written on the side. "That would entail a mass refusal to pay off mortgages and student loans," she said. "Debt resistance" groups in Britain, the United States and elsewhere argue that refusing to pay debts would spark discussion about alternatives to the global economic system. Extinction Rebellion wants non-violent civil disobedience to force governments to cut carbon emissions and avert a climate crisis it says will bring starvation and social collapse. The group is backed by hundreds of researchers and scientists who fear that most people are unaware of the scale of the risks posed by accelerating environmental breakdown. It is a revolt against the extinction of species including, the group says, our own. It made a "declaration of rebellion" against the British government outside parliament in October. "I want the system to change so I think you could call that a revolution," said Bradbrook, who graduated top in her year in chemistry at university before doing a molecular biophysics PhD. With peaceful stunts - such as blocking Oxford Circus and Waterloo Bridge and stopping traffic outside the Bank of England - the group has garnered massive publicity. Police said 1,130 arrests had been made since the main protests began. A picture of a semi-nude protest in parliament went viral. One activist glued her breasts to the road outside Goldman Sachs European headquarters on Fleet Street. London police chief Cressida Dick said she had never seen a protest like this during her 36-year career. Bradbrook said protesters also planned to disrupt other British cities. LIFE ON EARTH Extinction Rebellion's headquarters in London look like a grungy version of a tech start-up. Activists with laptops sit at cluttered desks or on run-down furniture amid bags of clothes, boxes of campaign literature and mock skeletons. Unfurled across a wall is a banner that reads "NO BREXIT ON A DEAD PLANET". Beneath the apparent chaos is a well-oiled organization that has inspired copycat actions across Britain and worldwide. "The big goal - and it sounds crazy - is to save as much life on Earth as possible," Bradbrook said. "So that's not been achieved yet." The group is inspired by a variety of figures - from Nelson Mandela and India's Vandana Shiva to Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh and Austrian Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. Bradbrook, once "a girly swot par excellence", said Extinction Rebellion was also partly inspired by the clarity she gained taking psychedelic substances including iboga and ayahuasca, both powerful hallucinogens, in Costa Rica in 2016. The experience, she wrote, "rewired" her brain. She returned to the UK, left her husband and, with a handful of others, founded the movement that became Extinction Rebellion. The group has been criticized as largely middle-class, but Bradbrook's father worked at a coal mine in northern England. She lives with her two sons in Stroud, a picturesque town in southwest England with a reputation for new-age activities. "Everyone is into yoni steaming," she said of a therapy favored by actor Gwyneth Paltrow involving squatting over herb-infused water. "I've done it once," she laughed. Asked about the future, however, Bradbrook was more somber, describing herself as "about as optimistic as a person could be who also understands the science". "Has it landed with you that your kids probably won't have enough food to eat in a few years' time?" she asked. She said a climate catastrophe was coming and food security, not civil disobedience, should really be our main priority. "For every degree of warming you get a one percent collapse in growth. So just do the maths .... We're heading for about four (degrees). That crashes the global economy." She added, with more hope: "I do have this belief in humanity . . . It's time to stop as a human species and say, 'It's not really working, folks. What else shall we do?'" (Additional reporting by Matthew Green, Editing by William Maclean)
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By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said it was mandating new flight control software and parts to Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner to address what it called an unsafe operating condition of certain products on the plane.

The FAA's airworthiness directive to plane operators makes compulsory changes Boeing outlined in service bulletins in 2017 and early 2018 for certain areas in 787's tire and wheel "threat zones" that may be susceptible to damage, the company said.

Boeing's carbon composite 787, of which there are nearly 800 in service, mostly competes with European rival Airbus' A350. These widebody planes represent hundreds of billions of dollars in sales over 20 years.

"This issue has been long since resolved with system improvements that have been incorporated into production for all 787 models," Boeing said by e-mail.

The FAA said damage to the 787's tire and wheel "threat zones" could result in the loss of braking and steering power on the ground at certain speeds.

The FAA said it requires installing hydraulic tubing, a pressure-operated check valve and new flight control software.

The work has been completed on existing 787s and incorporated into the manufacturing process, Boeing said.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; editing by James Dalgleish and Cynthia Osterman)
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half a dozen committees of the U.S. Congress are investigating President Donald Trump, who is refusing to cooperate with most of them since the April 18 release of the Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, setting up a likely court battle. The clash between Trump and the Democrats who lead the House of Representatives committees intensified after Trump framed Special Counsel Robert Mueller's findings as an exoneration, though Mueller neither charged nor exonerated the president. The report, in the view of Democrats, provided plentiful leads for their further inquiries into ties between Moscow and the 2016 Trump campaign, as well as Trump's subsequent efforts to stifle the long-running Mueller probe. Committees are also looking into Trump's still undisclosed taxes, potential conflicts of interest involving the sprawling business interests he has not divested since taking office, and other aspects of his turbulent presidency. Congressional subpoenas are being issued and contempt-of-Congress citations are being considered for administration officials who are being advised by Trump to ignore the probes. Civil enforcement actions in the courts may follow. With the 2020 election campaigns underway and casting both sides' efforts in an increasingly partisan light, here are the key congressional committees involved. HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE The committee's Democratic chairman, Jerrold Nadler, is an old foe of Trump, going back years to a fight between the two New Yorkers over a large Trump real estate project in Manhattan. Nadler's panel has subpoenaed the Justice Department seeking the full, unredacted Mueller report and underlying evidence, as well as former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in May. Nadler and Justice Department officials are at odds over whether Attorney General Barr will appear before his committee to discuss Mueller's report. Judiciary Committee investigators are also focused on contacts Trump's campaign had with Russia during the 2016 presidential race. Any effort to impeach Trump would likely begin in the committee. In a book he published in 2000, Trump called Nadler "one of the most egregious hacks in contemporary politics." SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE The Senate Judiciary Committee was the first panel to question Barr after the release of the Mueller report. Barr on Wednesday defended his decision to clear Trump of criminal obstruction of justice by attempting to impede Mueller's Russia inquiry and criticized Mueller for not reaching a conclusion of his own on the issue. Barr was asked about findings that Trump directed then-White House Counsel McGahn to ask the department's No. 2 official, Rod Rosenstein, to fire Mueller over the special counsel's alleged conflicts of interest. McGahn told Mueller's investigators that he refused to carry out the president's request. Barr said Trump believed "he never outright directed the firing of Mueller." HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND REFORM COMMITTEE Democratic Chairman Elijah Cummings' panel in February held 2019's first public hearing on Trump's many issues, taking testimony from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who is scheduled to report to prison next month. On April 2, the committee voted to subpoena Carl Kline, a former White House official, over a probe into security clearances granted by the administration. The White House said it told Kline to ignore the committee's subpoena. Cummings said the panel will soon vote on whether to hold Kline in contempt of Congress over the matter. Trump has filed an unprecedented lawsuit attempting to squash a committee subpoena seeking his past financial records from Mazars USA, an accounting firm long used by Trump. The administration has rebuffed a committee request for an interview with John Gore, an official who was involved in a decision to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census. Also, the White House has refused a request from the panel for Trump's top immigration aide Stephen Miller to testify. HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE The House tax committee, led by Democrat Richard Neal, has asked the Treasury Department's Internal Revenue Service to hand over six years of Trump's personal and business tax returns. Unlike presidents in recent decades, Trump has refused to disclose his returns, which committee Democrats want to obtain and review. Committee Republicans argue the committee's request oversteps its authority. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin did not meet an April 23 committee deadline for handing over the returns and said that a "final decision" on the request would be made by May 6. HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE The committee's chief, whom Trump has mocked as "sleazy" and "little pencil neck Adam Schiff," is examining Russian influence in U.S. politics and whether any foreign countries hold leverage over Trump, his family, his business or his associates. Like other panels, Schiff's has expressed an interest in having Mueller testify about his findings. SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE Republican Chairman Mark Warner's committee is also looking into Russia's role in influencing U.S. elections. The committee could release its findings later this year. In late March, Trump adviser Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, made a second appearance before the panel, according to congressional sources. Topics discussed in the closed-door sessions were not made public. HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE Democratic Chairwoman Maxine Waters, whom Trump has also frequently mocked, is leading a probe into Trump's ties with Deutsche Bank AG, one of the world's largest financial institutions, as well as potential Russian money laundering through the bank. The committee oversees the financial services industry including banks. Waters has said the House should impeach Trump. (Reporting by Ginger Gibson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
By Panarat Thepgumpanat

BANGKOK, May 2 (Reuters) - Thailand's coronation ceremonies for King Maha Vajiralongkorn on May 4-6 will be the first the Southeast Asian nation has seen in 69 years, when the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej was crowned in 1950.

A monarch's coronation is given the utmost priority in Thailand, where kings have traditionally long held a divine status, and that is reflected in some astounding numbers.

- 1,000,000,000 - Total cost in Thai baht of the coronation ceremonies, equal to about $31.2 million.

- 69 - Years since Thailand's last coronation, in 1950.

- 12 - The 12th coronation for kings of the reigning Chakri dynasty.

- Up to 200,000 - The number of citizens expected to line streets in Bangkok to view the ceremony. Millions will watch on television.

- 40,000 - Security personnel deployed during the ceremonies.

- 41,000 - Temples nationwide where monks will pray simultaneously and bless the king as he receives a golden plaque with his official name and title.

- 17,568 - Number of royal volunteers in Bangkok across the three days of the coronation.

- 795 - Number of "salute" gunpowder pellets fired by the armed forces - including army, navy, and air force - separately over three days of the ceremonies.

- 1,000,000 - value in baht (about $31,340) of one limited-edition platinum coin to mark the coronation. More than 200 orders have been made.

MAY 4: BATHING AND CROWNING

- 10:09 - The time in the morning when coronation ceremonies officially begin on Saturday with purification rites. Nine is an especially auspicious number in Thai culture.

- 117 - Sources of water from around the country that have been brought to Bangkok to be blessed by Buddhist monks before being combined for the royal purification rituals on May 4. The sources include five major rivers, four sacred pools, across 77 provinces.

- 8 - Sides of the wood-carved throne on which the king will sit to receive the waters of purification. The eight sides represent cardinal and ordinal directions on a compass. The number eight is also auspicious.

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- 1,000 - Streams of water that will from the canopied fountain that showers the king's head in the ablution ceremony.

- 7.3 - Weight in kilograms, equal to 16 pounds, of the intricate gold-and-gem-inlaid crown that will be placed on the king's head in the ceremony. The multi-tiered crown is 66 centimeters (26 inches) tall.

- 9 - Tiers of the royal umbrella under which the king will officially ascend to become a living god according to Thai beliefs.

- 4 - Ancient cannons from the 19th century, used specifically for the coronation, which will fire 10 volleys each.

- 343 - Personnel physically carrying the king in a royal palanquin from the Grand Palace to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha to proclaim himself the Royal Patron of Buddhism, ending the first day of the ceremony.

MAY 5: PROCESSION

- More than 1,300 - Number of personnel and officials in the Royal Procession, including the prime minister, members of the cabinet, a cavalry, and a marching band.

- 7 - Distance in kilometers the royal procession will cover on foot, from the Grand Palace to three temples and back, walking at about 75 steps per minute.

- 16 - Personnel carrying the royal palanquin, changing every 500 meters.

- 500 - Length of the royal procession of more than 1,300 personnel, in meters.

- 6 - Royal songs composed by late King Bhumibol that will be played by the marching band in the royal procession. (Additional reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng Writing by Kay Johnson and Patpicha Tanakasempipat Editing by Robert Birsel)
WASHINGTON  A young Michigan man claims he became an unwitting participant in a plot by right-wing provocateurs Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to smear Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.

Hunter Kelly, 21, said he was offered an opportunity to help President Donald Trump get re-elected  but ended up the face of a false sexual assault allegation that Kelly claims he wanted no part in.

"I am, from the bottom of my heart, truly sorry for everyone involved in the very serious #MeToo movement," Kelly said in a statement Tuesday. "I will continue to use my voice and HONESTY to make a difference. Jack Burkman may have promised me a lavish lifestyle, but at a price that would cost me the two most important things to me: honesty and integrity."

This is the first attempt from the right-wing duo to inflict a damaging accusation against a 2020 presidential candidate. Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is a rising star in the Democratic primary, who has dominated headlines by exceeding first quarter funding expectations and creating viral moments during a number of televised town halls.

Wohl, a Trump supporter, admitted to attempting to starting disinformation campaigns against Democratic candidates going into the 2020 elections during an interview with USA TODAY in February. Shortly after that story was published, Twitter banned Wohl. Wohl had created fake Twitter accounts to carry out his plans, a violation of the sites terms of service. In addition, Wohl earlier this year created a plot to accuse special counsel Robert Mueller of sexual assault  something that also turned out to be a hoax.

According to a statement by Kelly, Wohl reached out to Kelly about a month ago on Instagram and Signal, the secure messaging app.

More: Twitter bans Trump-supporting hoaxster after USA TODAY expose

More: This 21-year-old tweeted lies about Robert Mueller and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Now, hes eyeing the 2020 election

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Wohl, however, claimed in an interview with USA TODAY that it was Kelly who reached out to Wohl after he began "investigating rumors" of possible misconduct allegations against Buttigieg. Wohl did not disclose where the rumors came from, proof of the rumors or past correspondence with Kelly to corroborate his claims. Wohl acknowledged his past hoaxes as "things of the past."

On April 25, Wohl and Kelly had their first conversation over the phone, in which Wohl told Kelly that he could assist in gathering opposition research on Buttigieg, according to the statement by Kelly.

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The 21-year-old agreed, prompting Wohl to book a plane ticket on April 27, according to Instagram messages supplied by Kelly. Wohl sent Kelly a plane ticket to fly from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Baltimore the following day.

Afterwards, Wohl and Burkman picked Kelly up from the Baltimore airport and then traveled to Burkmans Arlington, Virginian home, according to Kelly. At Burkman's residence, the conservative duo proceeded to present Kelly with an article that Kelly thought was just a draft, detailing the allegations against Buttigieg, Kelly said in his statement.

"I told him I was not sure how I felt," Kelly said of the draft post in the statement, adding that shortly after he messaged Wohl "via the Signal application that I was incredibly uncomfortable and not on board with their plan."

More: Who is running for president in 2020? An interactive guide

Kelly claimed in a statement that he woke up Monday morning to the post on Medium of an accusation of sexual assault, in which a man appearing to be named "Hunter Kelly" accused Buttigieg of sexual assault. The article was also promoted by a twitter account with the handle @RealHunterKelly, and the same name as the post and with Kelly's photo.

Wohl presented USA TODAY with photos of Kelly along with his school ID and Michigan driver's license, claiming they were taken to send to Medium to confirm that Kelly authorized the post and that it was not fake after the website reached out to the account that created the post. Kelly did not comment on the photos and Wohl did not provide proof that Medium asked for the photos.

The accusation did not take long to appear on right-wing sites like Big League Politics and the Gateway Pundit. Within hours, though, the sites published updated stories with Kelly's latest comments. Within 24 hours, both Twitter and Medium had taken down those Hunter Kelly accounts by the time of publishing. Twitter and Medium have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Kelly in a statement Monday evening said the allegation was fabricated. According to Kelly, Burkman and Wohl wrote the draft article and statement without talking to him.

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2020 Democratic presidential candidate South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks during a town hall meeting, Tuesday, April 16, 2019, in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Kelly told USA TODAY in a text message that Wohl and Burkman were behind the effort and confirmed that they were the men when shown pictures of them.

Recognizing what had happened, Kelly said in a statement that he confronted Wohl and Burkman about it. He said they told him that leaving Burkmans home was not an option, and offered to give gifts to Kelly if he cooperated and signed a statement certifying that the allegations were true. Kelly reluctantly signed the script after he said he wanted to leave and expressed concern that the statement was false. He then fled the Burkman home once his sister, who lives near Washington, arrived to pick him up.

Wohl and Burkman presented USA TODAY a copy of the signed statement of fact signed by Kelly detailing the allegations, with Burkman claiming that Kelly was his client as a lawyer. However, the statement of fact was also inconsistent with the original Medium post, saying that the alleged assault happened in Washington, D.C., whereas the Medium post said that the assault happened in Michigan.

The conservative pair in interviews with USA TODAY maintained that they believed Kelly's claim, but could not offer evidence further than the signed statement. Wohl said without evidence that he believes Kelly's "family is pressuring him to make increasingly audacious claims to attempt to portray himself as, unfortunately, a victim of us."

Burkman and Wohl declined to answer additional questions.

Buttigieg dismissed the accusations to reporters on Monday.

"I'm sure it's not the first time somebody is going to make something up about me. It's not going to throw us," he said. "Politics can be ugly sometimes, but you have to face that when you're in presidential politics."

Erin Perrine, deputy communications director for the Trump campaign, distanced the president's 2020 campaign from Wohl's and Burkman's hoax.

"This had nothing to do with the campaign and we condemn fake allegations, whether they are against candidates for president or nominees for the Supreme Court," Perrine said in a statement.

Political commentators and consultants on both sides of the aisle denounced Wohl's latest scheme.

GOP consultant Rick Wilson tweeted Monday: "The Wohl's aren't a family. They're a continuing criminal enterprise." Wohl has not been charged with a crime.

Matt McDermott, a member of the campaign board for the LGBTQ Victory Fund, campaigned for Buttigieg off of the fake allegations.

"Want to counter bigots like Jacob Wohl? Join me. RT and drop Pete Buttigieg $10," McDermott tweeted.

One fellow Democratic presidential candidate also came to Buttigieg's defense.

"Hey @PeteButtigieg hang in there. Dont let the bastards get you down," Rep. Tim Ryan tweeted in regards to the assault hoax.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pete Buttigieg targeted in operation by right-wing provocateur Jacob Wohl
Savannah Roesch, Katie Seper and Brenden Bulger attended a St. Louis Cardinals-Cincinnati Reds game on Sunday to support organ donation and honor their late brother, Donovan Bulger. Little did the family know that the event would unite them with the very recipient of their siblings heart.

Now a video of the chance encounter is going viral.

Today was a day I will NEVER EVER forget!!!!! This is definitely an amazing experience & am just SO blown away!! Roesch wrote on Facebook detailing the unexpected encounter. We would have walked past each other & would have never met!

On Aug. 9, 2016, Roeschs younger brother, Donavan, was declared brain-dead following a car accident. His heart was donated two days later to John Sueme, who had been in heart failure for five years, saving the mans life.

Rosesch, 33, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that her family received an anonymous letter from Sueme nearly a year ago. Because of strict patient-donor confidentiality policies and laws, contact during the first year after a transplant is only allowed if the correspondence does not reveal either partys identity. Roesch wrote back and had been waiting for a reply ever since.

It took me four months to write back, but I wrote who we are and how awesome my brother was, Roesch tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Youre so close to that moment youre waiting for but you just dont know.

Fast-forward to Sunday, when Roesch and her siblings attended the annual Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Transplant Center and the St. Louis Children's Hospitals Transplant Awareness Day event in honor of Donovans decision to donate his organs.

The group even wore matching custom-made lime green t-shirts for the occasion that read Brother, Organ Donor & HERO! with a portrait of Donovan on the front. The bright shirts were hard to miss in the crowd of people at Busch Stadium. Fortunately, they caught the eye of the family whose life was changed by Donavans good deed.

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Savannah Chaves Roesch embraces the man who received her younger brother's heart. (Credit: Savannah Chavez Roesch)

After the group finished posing for a photo, Roesch was speaking to the photographer when someone approached her.

I hear in the background, Are you Donovan's family?I thought it was someone he knew from school that wanted to give their condolences, says Roesch. But to her surprise, the group was Donavans heart recipient and his family. They recognized Donavans face on their t-shirts from the photos she had sent.

There was a lot of crying and we were in complete and utter shock, says Roesch. I cant even explain it.

After spending time getting to know the family, Sueme offered to let the siblings listen to Donovans heart in his chest. It was like hugging my brother again when he listened to his heart. Its a piece of him. A piece of him is literally living inside of him, Roesch says. A video of the unexpected encounter shows Roesch and crying as she presses her ear to his chest, listening to her brothers heart. After Roesch recovered from the shock of their fortuitous meeting, Roesch and her siblings posed for another picture with their newfound family.

Savannah Chavez Roesch and her family members pose with their brother's heart recipient and his family. (Credit: Savannah Chavez Roesch)

There is a special connection between all those affected by organ donation and transplant. Each person has a story to tell about their own journey or that of their loved one, says Gene Ridolfi, director, Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital Transplant Center. The organization organizes the Transplant Awareness Day event with the St. Louis Cardinals every year. Our Transplant Center has performed more than 10,000 transplants and I have been fortunate enough to witness many of these reunions. The chance meeting between Mr. Sueme and the family of Donovan Bulger was truly special  it is a testament to the life-saving impact of organ donation.

Roesch echoes the sentiment, saying that hearing about Suemes second chance at life gave her family a sense of peace that [Donovan is] living on through others.

John has three daughters and a grandson. Yes, we lost our brother but he has a new chance at life, Roesch tells Yahoo Lifestyle. My brother was so giving and loving and did so much for so many people. It continues when hes not even here. Its so important to us as siblings to share this because its really promoting the importance of organ donation.

For Roesch, the fortuitous meeting was a moment she will never forget. But, she believes it was more than chance that brought the two families together.

Theres no doubt in my mind that this was definitely my brother planning this because weve all just suffered so much from this, says Roesch.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

 The surprising reason why this celebrity chef developed asthma in her 30s

 John Singleton's family raises awareness about hypertension, the 'silent killer'

 Mom says judge threatened to take her baby away because she was breastfeeding in the courtroom

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
President Donald Trump lashed out at the countrys largest firefighter union on Wednesday, claiming to have done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do after the organization endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary.

But the unions president is defending the endorsement and the unions role advocating for worker rights. Im just going to continue to communicate out what we do and not directly respond to unpleasant and unseemly and inaccurate tweets, Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, tells TIME.

In his statement announcing the endorsement, Schaitberger called Biden the strongest candidate on our issues. He runs in the middle of the political spectrum on a worker-focused platform  and thats where we have to be a strong voice, he said.

While Biden spent his first rally of the 2020 campaign on Monday touting his ties to unions, Trump ramped up criticism of union leaders, accusing them of being people who rip-off their membership with ridiculously high dues.

Our member dues money is spent to address issues like cancer within the fire service that is right now at epidemic levels, Schaitberger says. Our dues are spent focused on the behavioral health issues that (are) so critical within our profession.

We spend our dues to protect their retirement plans that too often come under attack, he adds.

Early Wednesday morning, Trump retweeted about 60 responses to a conservative pundit who commented on the IAFF endorsement of Biden and claimed none of the firefighters he knows would support the former Vice President.

Labor unions have often endorsed Democratic candidates, but Trump has argued recently that rank-and-file union members would support him, even if he fails to win endorsements from union leaders.

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Ive done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO! https://t.co/Tw0qwTiUD6

 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019

The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me. Some things never change!

 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2019

Schaitberger says he knows not all IAFF members would vote for Biden, and he knows some are Trump supporters.

Ive been very straightforward about this unions membership because I believe its a perfect reflection of the landscape politically in this country. I have Republican members, I have some conservative Republican members, I have Democrats, Ive got some progressive Democrats, Ive got independent members that choose not to associate with a political party, and Ive got members that just dont particularly like the whole political environment at all, Schaitberger says.

This is a very politically diverse union, and we recognize that and celebrate that. But our unions responsibility is to make our political decisions on the issues that affect the livelihoods and professions and economic future and retirement future (of our members).

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF)  which represents about 300,000 firefighters across the U.S.  polled a sample of the 160,000 union members who are likely to vote in the 2020 Democratic primary and found Biden in the lead, Schaitberger said.

At his first 2020 campaign rally on Monday, Biden touted his union ties. I make no apologies, he told a crowd in Pittsburgh. I am a union man, period.

Following a year that saw a 30-year high in the number of U.S. workers involved in labor actions, many of the Democratic presidential candidates have sought to show their support for unions. California Sen. Kamala Harris plan to boost teacher pay won praise from the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, both major teacher unions. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined a picket line of striking Stop & Shop workers in the state last month, bringing them Dunkin Donuts. And Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders voiced support for his campaign staffers, who became the first in presidential history to unionize.

Im proud that our campaign is the first presidential campaign to unionize.



We cannot just support unions with words, we must back it up with actions. On this campaign and when we are in the White House, we are going make it easier for people to join unions, not harder. https://t.co/JNv3dpss6D

 Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 15, 2019

There are many fine people who are running in the Democratic primary right now, some that have strong positions and records on labor, Schaitberger says. Our position in not just Joe Biden because of a 40-year career of clear and consistent support, but also the person that can win.
Photo: Courtesy of Flea Style

Owner Brittany Cobb may have just opened the first location of Flea Style in Deep Ellum in 2018, but the momentum of the sprawling Dallas marketplace of artisanal goods and antiques is continuing with a second outpost already on the way, set to open at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters, The Star, later this summer. The 6,200-square-foot space will open in August 2019 and will feature a store, an event space, and a restaurant named Heirloom Haul.

This [space] is brand-newwere the first tenants to ever occupy itso we will do what we can to make it feel unique through incorporating antique, vintage, and one-of-a-kind elements, says Cobb.

Cobb will bring the space to life with 12-foot antique teak doors to separate the event venue and retail areas, and add a vintage camper in the restaurant. She plans to use Moroccan tiles in the kitchens and bathrooms, vintage light fixtures and antique rugs around the restaurant booths, and an 1850s antique cash wrap in the retail store.

Photo: Courtesy of Flea Style

Flea Styles second location will sell what the first store is known for: handmade, vintage, and unique home decor objects, textiles, rugs, and glassware. With additional space, the home decor section will be larger, with a quarter of the offerings sourced by Cobb herself from local flea-market trips across Texas and global excursions to Morocco and Paris.

Once Flea Style opens at The Star, keep a look out for the creative workshops Cobb will host on-site, like floral arranging, macrame, and candlemaking. On Fridays, guests can attend live tapings of the podcast Fridays with Flea Style, which features diverse voices like Carson Kressley and India Hicks.

Im thrilled to expand Flea Styles footprint to Frisco and further support Texass amazing maker community, says Cobb. We cant wait to open our doors and celebrate the small businesses that have helped us build this brand thats all about championing one-of-a-kind style and services.
Nicola Mason, 46, a Maryland mother of two, was left badly scarred from a botched surgery at one of the more troubled cosmetic surgery centers in Miami.

After years of rampant deaths in Florida's cosmetic surgery clinics, state lawmakers approved sweeping legislation Wednesday that calls for some of the nation's strictest controls of the industry.

If signed by the governor, the new law would allow the state for the first time to punish dangerous plastic surgery facilities and shut down the worst offenders.

The legislation passed after years of no regulation in Florida, where private investors opened high-volume, discount clinics that became magnets for women seeking cosmetic procedures.

"It's been long overdue," said Crystal Call, 34, of New York, whose mother found her in a locked recovery room nearly bleeding to death after her surgery in Miami. "[It's] sad that so many people had to die or have serious injuries to do so."

The effort to toughen the law began two months ago after an investigation by USA TODAY and the Naples Daily News that showed eight women died after procedures at a plastic surgery business owned by one doctor.

In April, a second story revealed the state tried unsuccessfully to pass legislation four times that would have cracked down on the centers, even as felony offenders opened their own facilities with no background screening by the state.

In those businesses, at least 13 women died after cosmetic surgeries and nearly a dozen others were critically injured, including two hospitalized in septic shock.

The majority of the patients who lost their lives were African American or Hispanic women  ethnic groups singled out in the clinics' advertising blitzes.

State Sen. Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican who led the drive, said it was time to close a dangerous loophole that allowed the state to regulate doctors who owned clinics but not the private entrepreneurs who began opening facilities more than a decade ago.

People are dying and being horribly disfigured, she told Senate colleagues before their vote on the bill. We are going to take a step to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."

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The House finalized the legislation Wednesday, passing it unanimously. It heads to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.

The legislation, which would take effect in January, would give the state the power to suspend a clinic's operations or even revoke its registration if the state found the facility posed an imminent threat to the public.

Floridians deserve better. Ensuring these centers are licensed, safe & liable when something goes wrong. Im filing legislation this session to protect Floridians & those who visit from danger from these pop-up cosmetic surgery centers. #Session2019 https://t.co/P8XmmoqN8d  Sen. Anitere Flores (@anitere_flores) January 31, 2019

Each clinic owner would have to appoint a doctor to ensure a facility was safe for patients  a role now filled by anyone in charge of the center. If a surgery office was shut down, the state could ban the owner and the doctors from working in another center for five years.

The legislation is the most successful effort to regulate surgery centers since the late 1990s, when plastic surgery was a cottage industry in Florida dominated by traditional clinics and board-certified practitioners.

Shelia Powell, 35, a Mississippi mother of twin daughters whose lung was punctured during her tummy tuck surgery last year, said the measures could save lives.

"Lots of people came there and died there," Powell said. "It was like they could do whatever they wanted to do, and there were no consequences."

For patients who are injured, the regulations would require all clinics to carry at least $250,000 in malpractice coverage.

Patients have had to fend for themselves, at times losing their jobs and getting buried in medical debts, said Andres Beregovich, an Orlando lawyer who investigated the clinics on behalf of patients.

"How is that fair?" he asked.

Beregovich said his main concern with the new legislation is whether the state will require the clinics to show health authorities proof of that coverage.

Patient advocates applauded the changes but were harshly critical of the loss of one protection during negotiations over the bill: a requirement to screen owners for criminal records.

The background checks were pulled off the table after the Agency for Health Care Administration raised concerns about the costs, including the possibility of having to pay for seven new staff positions, records show.

Former state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, who tried unsuccessfully three times to get legislation passed, said removing the requirement was "crazy," citing USA TODAY's story exposing the state for allowing four people with felony convictions to open businesses where patients died.

Dave Aronberg, Palm Beach County's state attorney, questioned whether the state would have needed to hire seven new people.

"It just seems like an inflated number," he said. "The fact that [the background checks] are not being done because they are too expensive is not a legitimate reason to jeopardize public health."

Flores acknowledged she and other supporters of the bill had to strike some compromises. But she said the core of the plan remains, giving the state "the tools" to shut down problem centers.

Seven other states and the District of Columbia have laws that permit health departments to crack down on cosmetic surgery facilities with sanctions including suspensions and fines, according to the Policy Surveillance Program at Temple University.

Flores said that among the things that most disturbed her was that, even after highly publicized death cases, clinic owners remained open by simply removing a troubled doctor and substituting another dangerous surgeon.

"In these cases where someone dies in a clinic, the place will simply shut down for 24 hours and open up the next day," Flores said. "Not a big deal, not a problem."

Many doctors working in the clinics were not adequately trained in plastic surgery or had been disciplined by medical boards for charges including unethical conduct and malpractice in death cases, USA TODAY found.

During an impassioned speech last week to the Senate, Flores reminded her colleagues that the women traveling to Miami for their surgeries were not only from Florida.

This is not a Miami problem. Its not a South Florida problem. Its a national problem, she said. There was a young woman from West Virginia. Her name was Heather Meadows, 29 years old, left behind two children. And her kids are never going to see her again because, quite frankly, we dropped the ball.

Since filing her bill in February, Flores said she has been contacted by parents who lost their adult children and doctors who treated patients who suffered injuries in the cosmetic clinics.

If there is a silver lining in there, it is that your family members  death was not in vain, she said. It was because of that tragedy, today were going to take a step to make sure that doesnt have to happen to anybody else.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida plastic surgery center safety: New rules for dangerous clinics
By Daniel Trotta

May 1 (Reuters) - Florida's legislature on Wednesday passed a bill allowing teachers to carry guns in the classroom, expanding a program launched after the deadly high school shooting in Parkland with the aim of preventing another such massacre.

Florida's House of Representatives voted 65 to 47 to pass the bill after hours of debate over two days in which the Republican majority thwarted Democratic efforts to amend, stall or kill the measure. Florida's Senate approved it 22 to 17 last week.

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law, enabling school districts wishing to take part in the voluntary Guardian program to arm those teachers who pass a 144-hour training course.

On Feb. 14, 2018, a former student armed with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people and wounding 17 others.

President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association have argued an armed teacher could provide the best defense against a shooter bent on mass murder.

Opponents questioned whether the solution to gun violence should be the presence of even more guns and warned of the danger of a teacher misfiring during a crisis or police mistaking an armed teacher for the assailant.

Passage marks a victory for gun-rights advocates, who were on the defensive a year ago when Parkland students inspired nationwide protests in favor of gun control.

After the Parkland shooting, Florida lawmakers rushed through legislation that required schools to place at least one armed staff member or law-enforcement officer at each campus.

The law also imposed a three-day waiting period for gun purchases and raised the age limit for buying rifles from 18 to 21 - remarkable measures in a gun-friendly state.

Although last year's law allowed some school personnel to carry weapons, guns were still banned from the classroom.

Backers of arming classroom teachers revived the issue this year, arguing that school shootings often erupt too quickly for law enforcement to respond.

In anticipation of passage, school employees in 40 of Florida's 67 counties already enrolled in or planned to take the 144-hour course, a spokesman for the Speaker of the House said. Some counties have resolved not to participate in the Guardian program.

Florida's gun-control advocates had made stopping the proposal a top priority, among them Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense, which is funded by billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta; additional reporting by Steve Gorman)
* Sydney-London flights require maximum duty time of 23 hours

* Fatigue, pilot experience are issues to discuss - union

* Flights could start in 2022 if business case stacks up

By Jamie Freed

SINGAPORE, May 1 (Reuters) - Qantas Airways Ltd, which hopes to buy planes this year for record-breaking 21-hour flights between Sydney and London has two hurdles left to overcome: getting pilots and Australia's aviation regulator to agree to unprecedented duty times.

Airlines around the world are planning longer flights to compete with one-stop rivals and collect a fare premium of about 20 percent on non-stop routes, which are especially popular with corporate travelers.

Airbus SE and Boeing Co say their aircraft are ready, with only details like seat configuration left to hammer out, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.

But there is a human cost to flying from Sydney to London or New York that must be resolved before tickets are sold, Joyce added.

"We don't have the ability to do that length of duty today so you do need to negotiate that and get the regulator comfortable with it," Joyce told Reuters in a phone interview. "If the business case works ... (we can) put an order in by the end of this year and have aircraft arriving in 2022."

Qantas pilots say the unprecedented length of the new flights means the airline needs do more research, consider more training, use more experienced pilots and change what they say is a flawed fatigue-reporting system.

The maximum pilot duty time on the Sydney-London flights is expected to be around 23 hours, more than the current limit of 20 hours. "Duty" includes time on the ground before and after flights during which the flight crew is working.

Qantas already has 17-hour non-stop journeys between Perth and London with four pilots onboard.

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) will evaluate the proposed longer duty time based partly on a study of pilot fatigue on the Perth-London route, agency spokesman Peter Gibson said.

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It could approve longer hours, reject the proposal, approve a shorter duty time or require new measures like a more experienced crew or extended rest periods.

"The technological change is obviously there but the human physiological side hasn't changed since the Wright brothers flew," said Mark Sedgwick, the head of the Qantas pilots union, The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA). "We really need to understand the effects on human performance on the flight deck of these ultra-long range flights."

REPORTING FATIGUE

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau in January released a study on pilot fatigue that found 60 percent of long-haul pilots had experienced moderate to severe fatigue on their most recent flight.

One issue: take-off times that work best for passengers on long flights are not ideal for easing pilot fatigue.

"From a passenger's point of view, a night flight at the end of the day makes it easier to adjust to the time," former Qantas head of safety Ron Bartsch said. "Obviously being up the front end, (the pilots) are doing some work."

Managing fatigue is a serious issue for airlines globally, and CASA is overseeing a new data-driven fatigue risk-management system at Qantas. The agency says the new system, which also takes into account fatigue reports from pilots, will create a flexible framework for duty times rather than prescriptive rules.

CASA and AIPA are also sponsoring a detailed fatigue study by Monash University that monitors sleep patterns of pilots on the Perth-London route.

Measures to fight fatigue could include putting more flight crew onboard; adding crew beds; requiring more rest before and after flights; providing transport home; and reducing subsequent duty periods, Gibson said.

According to Qantas, pilots who feel too fatigued must complete a report.

The time off is then treated as sick leave, the airline said, but Brad Hodson, a Qantas captain and union official who has flown from Perth to London, said the policy could lead to under-reporting.

"It is easier just to go sick because you don't have to fill in reports," he said.

How pilots are paid when they take time off because of fatigue is an "industrial issue" outside CASA's jurisdiction, Gibson said.

Qantas and AIPA are negotiating a new union contract for long-haul pilots. Joyce said he hoped for an agreement this year.

"AIPA is supportive of the commercial benefits that may flow to Qantas in being able to operate these long premium routes with minimal competition," Sedgwick said. "We want to make sure the safety and fatigue management issues are adequately addressed in the process of enabling these flights."

EXPERIENCE LEVELS

Crew experience on long-haul flights also will be part of contract negotiations, Sedgwick said.

The world's longest flight is Singapore Airlines Ltd's almost 19-hour journey from Singapore to New York.

Singapore's aviation regulator said in a statement that it requires the airline to have two captains and two first officers on shifts of more than 18 hours, including time before and after takeoff, to "optimize their alertness throughout the flight."

Qantas, which has a maximum duty period of around 20 hours on its Perth-London flights, also has four pilots. Crew can rest in bunks.

But the Australian airline uses one captain, one first officer and two second officers. Second officers are paid less, can fly only at cruising altitudes and cannot take off or land.

Hodson said Qantas did not necessarily need to put two captains and two first officers on each flight. More training for second officers or adding a first officer in place of one second officer were options, he added.

"I think having another qualified pilot who could sit in the seat for take-off and landing would ameliorate a lot of the issues there," Hodson said. "But Qantas won't like that because it costs money."

Joyce said the final crew mix and training had not been decided.

"We will need to work through the safety case and our requirements and then talk to pilots and regulators," he said.

(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Ohio City Galley. | Photo: Rachel G./Yelp

Hungry for something new?

If you love to eat and drink, this week offers a great chance to explore the world of Cleveland food and beverage. From a summer kick-off party to a craft beer brewing competition, here's what to do on the local food scene this week.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

Mingle at OCG Singles Night

From the event description:

This event is the launch of Ohio City Galley's new singles program. Attendees who purchase a drink or stop by one of the sponsor tables will receive an orange wristband that shows they are taking part in the event. After that, just find other guests wearing their orange bands and mingle. This is a 'no pressure' evening...no awkward speed dates and no matchmaker tests, just simple conversation.

When: Thursday, May 2, 7-9 p.m.

Where: Ohio City Galley, 1400 W. 25th St.

Price: Free

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Azure Rooftop Lounge Summer Kick-Off Party

From the event description:

Summer is on its way, and rooftop season is here. Plan to be at Azures on Friday night for its season-opening event. The evening will feature an unparalleled city view and the unveiling of new food and cocktail options. The ticket price includes all seasonal food and beverage samples.

When: Friday, May 3, 6-9 p.m.

Where: Azure Rooftop Lounge, 2017 E. Ninth St.

Price: $50

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Iron Brewer 5 Competition

From the event description:

If you are interested in or, better yet, skilled at brewing your own craft beer, you'll want to attend what will be the most unique homebrew competition of the year in Cleveland. Inspired by the legendary cooking show The Iron Chef, hosts The HomeBros and The Cleveland Brew Shop will put attendees' brewing skills to the test by revealing a secret ingredient the day of the competition that they must use to brew their beer. Six weeks later, The Cleveland Brew Shop will host a tasting party so the beers can be tasted, judged, and awarded.

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When: Saturday, May 4, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Where: The Cleveland Brew Shop, 4142 Lorain Ave.

Price: $30 (Team of One); $50 (Team of Two)

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

Up to 42% Off Mead Tasting at Western Reserve Meadery

From the Western Reserve Meadery deal description:

This deal from Groupon is for anyone interested in the process of making mead. Experts at Western Reserve Meadery will explain how mead is crafted from the finest varieties of honeys, fruits and spices and comes in a wide range of styles, including still, sparkling, dry and sweet. Each attendee will receive mead samples and a take-home glass. Ages 21 and over only.

When: [Editor: look up date and time options to make sure can be redeemed during story timeframe. If not, delete event. If no specific date, delete "When" field.]

Where: Western Reserve Meadery, 2135 Columbus Road

Price: $20 for One Person (33 percent discount off regular price); $35 for Two People (42 percent discount off regular price)

Click here for more details, and to score this deal

Up to 31% Off Brew Tour from City Brew Tours

From the City Brew Tours deal description:

Craft beer lovers will want to grab this Groupon deal, which includes a guided beer-pairing dinner, tastings of up to 16 different beers, a behind-the-scenes craft brewery tour and interactive lessons covering beer culture and history. Round trip transportation is also provided.

When: [Editor: look up date and time options to make sure can be redeemed during story timeframe. If not, delete event. If no specific date, delete "When" field.]

Where: City Brew Tours, 1111 Lakeside Ave. East

Price: $79 for Tour for One (28 percent discount off regular price); $150 for Tour for Two (31 percent discount off regular price)

Click here for more details, and to score this deal

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By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, May 2 (Reuters) - Australian Radomir Kobryn-Coletti has no commitment to any political party, right or left, but his job right now is churning out incendiary Facebook memes for a controversial senator, wooing the far-right ahead of this month's elections.

"There's tight competition for the alternative right-wing vote," said Kobryn-Coletti, 23, who works for Queensland Senator Fraser Anning, frequently posting on his smartphone from his bed, from the beach, waiting for a plane or stuck in traffic.

"For your political candidate to win, you have to energize the base, and you don't energize the base with corporatised, clean, sanitary content. It's what will get the maximum of attention."

With at least six far-right groups with limited funding vying for what political analysts believe is one available Senate seat in the largely rural state of Queensland, victory in the May 18 election is down to who can get the most eyeballs for the least money.

There are 76 Senate seats nationwide but whoever wins a seat as an independent gets outsize influence, given neither of the mainstream parties, the ruling Liberal-National coalition and opposition Labor, is expected to win the 38 needed for outright control of the upper house.

Currently 19 Senate seats are held by independents or minor parties. Anning is running for "Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party."

"Facebook is definitely the go-to for these groups to easily spread their message to a potentially large audience," said Jordan McSwiney, a researcher at University of Sydney's Department of Government and International Relations who specializes in far-right politics.

"The cost of a coordinated meme campaign on Facebook is dramatically cheaper than other forms of advertising."

In a recent Facebook posting, Kobryn-Coletti declared "White South Africans are being murdered, tortured and kicked off their land, yet the left remains completely silent," with a photo of a black man holding a sign saying "KILL ALL WHITES."

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Senator Anning would "ensure our Boer brethren get emergency visas," the post added.

After two days, the post had 5,100 likes and 2,700 shares. A Labor party meme posted the same day on saving overtime pay had just 360 likes and 58 shares.

Australian fringe politics is not confined to hardline conservatives but anti-immigration sentiment has surged since two hostages were killed during a 17-hour siege by a "lone wolf" gunman, inspired by Islamic State militants, in a Sydney cafe in 2014.

Rightwing groups used Facebook to communicate and organize - until March 15, when 50 people at two New Zealand mosques were shot dead. Facebook swiftly deleted dozens of anti-immigration pages, but not those of politicians.

A suspected white supremacist has been charged with 50 counts of murder and will next appear in court in June.

"Unless there's some sort of violence inherent in the (post), for the most part (social media companies) toe this sort of conservative line, 'don't stir up too much trouble by banning an elected official'," said Joshua Roose, a political sociologist at Australian Catholic University who advises the federal government on violent extremism.

A Facebook spokesman said the company applied its community standards to politicians and other public figures but "at times we will allow content that might otherwise violate our standards if we identify that it is newsworthy, significant, or important to the public interest."

"We do this only after weighing the public interest value of the content against the risk of real-world harm," he said.

Facebook has removed certain posts on Anning's page, and even taken down the page itself temporarily, according to Kobryn-Coletti.

CROWDED FIELD

Kobryn-Coletti's output has seen his client's Facebook following explode to 130,000 - he got 19 direct votes at the 2016 election and assumed office only when another senator left mid-term - but most analysts believe Anning will lose his seat because of a coordinated effort by rival parties to urge voters to direct ballot preferences away from him.

Under Australia's complicated voting system, if no candidate gets more than half the primary vote, the candidate who comes last is removed from the ballot and voting starts again, with voters' next preference counted instead. This continues until a candidate gets a majority.

Adding to the challenge, Anning's former party, One Nation, is running candidates for the Queensland Senate in the hope that two decades of name recognition will neutralize a series of scandals involving undercover footage taken by Al Jazeera of its senior officials on a trip to Washington DC.

A recent poll showed One Nation's support falling but its lost votes would probably return to mainstream parties, said Adrian Beaumont, an associate at University of Melbourne's School of Mathematics and Statistics.

"Greater polarization between the major parties is drawing more voters back to them," Beaumont said.

Kobryn-Coletti, who learned his craft by studying the social media activity of U.S. President Donald Trump before the 2016 election, meanwhile said he would consider working for other parties after the election, including the Greens and Labor, if he agreed on an issue.

"I'm working for Fraser," he said. "But I've worked for a lot of different people and I'll continue to work for different people." (Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Nick Macfie)
A former CIA officer could spend the rest of his life behind bars after pleading guilty on Wednesday to spying for China, the Justice Department said.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 54, was arrested in January 2018, suspected of having provided information on a CIA network of informants that was brought down by China between 2010 and 2012.

Lee pleaded guilty before a US District Court judge in the Eastern District of Virginia to conspiring to provide national defense information to China, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Lee, a former CIA case officer, left the Central Intelligence Agency in 2007 and moved to Hong Kong.

According to the Justice Department, he was approached by two Chinese intelligence officers in April 2010.

They offered to pay Lee $100,000 for information and to take care of him "for life" in exchange for his cooperation, it said.

The Justice Department said that in May 2010, Lee created a document on his laptop that described where the CIA assigns officers and the "particular location and timeframe of a sensitive CIA operation."

It said the FBI had also recovered handwritten notes made by Lee related to his work for the CIA.

"These notes included, among other things, intelligence provided by CIA assets, true names of assets, operational meeting locations and phone numbers and information about covert facilities," the Justice Department said.

John Brown, the FBI's assistant director for counterintelligence, said that Lee's actions had "dangerous ramifications."

"By knowingly aiding a foreign government, Mr Lee put our country's national security at serious risk and also threatened the safety and personal security of innocent people, namely his former intelligence colleagues," Brown said.

Ron Rockwell Hansen, 58, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official, faces 15 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year under a guilty plea to a charge of attempting to sell classified information to China.

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Former State Department official Kevin Mallory was arrested in 2017 for spying for China.

And another US diplomat, Candace Marie Claiborne, was also arrested recently for taking money from Chinese intelligence officials, though she was not directly accused of supplying information in exchange.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week that China poses the most serious intelligence threat to the United States.

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, Wray said China poses a "multi-layered" threat to US interests.

"They're doing it through Chinese intelligence services, through state-owned enterprises, through ostensibly private companies, through graduate students and researchers, through a variety of actors all working on behalf of China," he said.

Lee is to be sentenced on August 23. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Sacked British defense minister Gavin Williamson denied that he had any role in the leak of information about Chinese telecoms company Huawei, after Prime Minister Theresa May dismissed him on Wednesday.

"I am sorry that you feel recent leaks from the National Security Council originated in my department. I emphatically believe this was not the case," he wrote in a letter to May that he published on Twitter.

"I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position," he added. (Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Fraternities at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania have been suspended following days of outrage over leaked documents featuring racist, homophobic and misogynist language, including references to a rape attic.

The redacted 116-page documents, first published by student-run news outlets The Phoenix and Voices, appear to document Phi Psi fraternity activities from 2010-2016 including fraternity "meeting minutes."

Minutes from 2013 refer to the school's other fraternity, Delta Upsilon, saying, "Your parties suck, you have both a rape tunnel AND a rape attic (gotta choose one or the other).

The documents include other jokes about sexual violence; derogatory comments about women, minorities and the LGBT community; pornography and descriptions of hazing activities.

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Dozens of students have been protesting the Phi Psi chapter at the private liberal arts school in suburban Philadelphia since Saturday. Demonstrators held a sit-in at a building owned by the college and leased to the fraternity used mainly for Phi Psi parties and other social activities.

Organizers with the Coalition to End Fraternity Violence released a statement in Voices demanding the lease be ended, saying "there is no question about whether the fraternities are disproportionately racist, homophobic, and sexually violent."

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"The violence, harm, bigotry, and exclusion of 2013 is the violence, harm, bigotry, and exclusion of 2019," the statement continued. "The hazing tasks have stayed the same, and so have the attitudes of entitlement and impunity."

Update: nearly 100 students nearing the end of day 2 of sit-in at Phi Psi. Students say they have no plans to leave until demands are met. pic.twitter.com/q8HVy5MCb3  Swarthmore Voices (@swatvoices) April 29, 2019

President Valerie Smith announced Monday that all fraternity activity at the school is suspended pending the outcome of an independent investigation.

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I absolutely condemn the language and actions described in the documents from 2013-16. What is contained within those pages is vulgar and deeply offensive to all of us, Smith wrote in a statement. The racism, misogyny, and homophobia described within them is antithetical to the values of the College and violates the student code of conduct as well as basic decency.

She added that a task force created last year to examine social life on campus, including Greek life, will deliver its recommendations by Friday.

This is not the first time the fraternity, which is not affiliated with a national organization, has faced allegations of misconduct. Phi Psi was suspended in 2016 for violating Swarthmore's alcohol and drug policy, according to the Associated Press, and it reopened for parties a year ago.

A Tumblr titled "Swat Fraternities" has posted dozens of anonymous first-or second-hand accounts of sexual assault, racism, homophobia and other inappropriate behavior that occurred at fraternities between 2015 and 2019.

Callen Rain, a former member of Phi Psi, wrote an op-ed in The Phoenix describing the failures of fraternities to hold members accountable for misconduct and calling for their removal from campus.

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"I can confirm these are not isolated instances but come from a culture that pervades this institution," Rain wrote. "During my time at Swarthmore, the leadership of Phi Psi consistently failed to expel members of the group or otherwise sanction them for their behavior, which primarily took the form of sexual violence, and homophobic and misogynistic language."

Phi Psi fraternity members released a statement on April 17 saying they wholeheartedly condemn the language of the 2013 and 2014 notes, as they are not representative of who we are today.

All our current brothers were in high school and middle school at the time of these unofficial minutes, the statement continued. And none of us would have joined the organization had this been the standard when we arrived at Swarthmore.

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Contributing: The Associated Press

Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fraternities suspended after document referencing 'rape attic' sparks protests at Swarthmore
By Clotaire Achi and Antony Paone

PARIS (Reuters) - Dozens of masked and hooded anarchists clashed with riot police in Paris on Wednesday, burning bins, smashing property and hurling bottles and rocks, hijacking a May Day rally that was focused on protesting against President Emmanuel Macron's policies.

Tens of thousands of labour union and "yellow vest" protesters were on the streets across France, days after Macron outlined a response to months of street protests including tax cuts worth around 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion).

In Paris, riot police used tear gas and water cannon, and charged sporadically at several points along the traditional International Workers' Day rally to disperse groups of masked protesters who had immersed themselves in the crowd.

Some 7,400 police were deployed and they made 380 arrests. Thirty-eight people were wounded, including 14 police officers with one being hit on the head with a paving stone.

The main march crossing the southern part of the capital was finally able to move amid relative calm after being prevented from setting off by the clashes, although it appeared that yellow vests and more radical elements rather than labour unions were dominating the march.

The hard-left CGT union denounced police violence and said its secretary general had been tear-gassed.

"This current scenario, scandalous and unprecedented, is unacceptable in our democracy," it said in a statement.

The Paris police department denied excessive violence.

On the whole, compared to a year ago and some recent yellow vest protests, the violence was contained, did not spiral out of control and the protests appeared to end peacefully.

French police had warned on Tuesday that there could be clashes with far-left anarchist groups, known as Black Blocs, after calls on social media for radicals to hit the streets.

Authorities had said they expected some 2,000 Black Bloc protesters from France and across Europe to turn up on the sidelines of the rallies.

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The yellow vest protests, named after motorists' high-visibility jackets, began in November over fuel tax increases but have evolved into a sometimes violent revolt against politicians and a government seen as out of touch.

'NOBODY CARES'

Macron issued a series of proposals last week in response to the protests, but many in the grassroots movement, which does not have a leadership structure, have said they do not go far enough and lack detail.

The banners in the crowd reflected the anger among some in the movement who feel abandoned by Macron's economic policies.

The 41-year-old former investment banker pushed a reform blitz during the first 18 months of his presidency that impressed investors but infuriated low-paid workers, who feel he favours big business and is indifferent to their struggle to make ends meet.

"Here are the thugs," one banner read, showing Macron, European Union Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde.

Another targeted the president directly: "Macron, what have you done to us?"

Thousands of people also demonstrated in cities from Marseille to Bordeaux and Lyon.

Some 300 yellow vest protesters tried to storm a police station in the Alpine town of Besancon and clashes broke out in Toulouse.

The Interior Ministry said some 164,500 people had demonstrated across the country, more than in 2018, including 28,000 in Paris. The CGT said there had been 310,000 in France, including 80,000 protestors in the capital alone.

"We have been trying to fight, to make ourselves heard, for six months and nobody cares. People don't understand the movement, though it seems pretty simple: We just want to live normally," said Florence, 58, a trainer in a large company who was marching in Paris.

(Additional reporting by Lucien Libert, Benoit Tessier, Ardee Soriano, Elizabeth Pineau, Emmanuel Jarry and John Irish in Paris, Catherine Lagrange in Lyon, Jean-Francois Rosnoblet in Marseille and Claude Canellas in Bordeaux; Writing by John Irish; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Frances Kerry)
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - For Warren Buffett, when all else fails, repeat what works. Berkshire Hathaway Inc's plan to inject $10 billion into Occidental Petroleum Corp's takeover bid for Anadarko Petroleum Corp extends Buffett's strategy of extracting high-yielding preferred shares and stock warrants to fatten his company's bottom line. The move came as the billionaire slogs through the fourth year of a drought in finding major acquisitions for Berkshire, which ended 2018 with nearly $112 billion of cash. Berkshire already owns more than 90 businesses such as auto insurer Geico, BNSF railroad and Dairy Queen ice cream. "This is one of the best things Berkshire could do," said Steven Check, president of Check Capital Management Inc in Costa Mesa, California, which invests one-sixth of its $1.5 billion of assets in Berkshire. "This is a template for a model that has been very good for the company." Berkshire did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Occidental offered last week to buy Anadarko for $38 billion, topping the $33 billion that Chevron Corp had agreed to pay. The companies are battling for Anadarko's prized assets in West Texas' Permian shale oil field. Anadarko said on Monday it had agreed to start negotiations with Occidental. Buffett entered the battle two months after he said in his annual shareholder letter that acquisitions of whole companies did not look imminent because prices were "sky-high for businesses possessing decent long-term prospects." He will likely be questioned about Occidental and Berkshire's cash at his company's annual meeting on Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska, which typically draws more than 40,000 people. "This transaction falls short of an outright acquisition by BRK, something the market is craving," CFRA Research analyst Cathy Seifert wrote. She rates Berkshire a "hold." LENDER OF LAST RESORT Buffett has been seen since the global financial crisis as a lender of last resort to blue-chip companies desiring a financial boost and his imprimatur. From 2008 to 2011, Berkshire invested more than $25 billion in high-yielding stocks and bonds of such companies as Bank of America, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Goldman Sachs and Harley-Davidson. Occidental follows that template. Berkshire would buy $10 billion of preferred stock throwing off $800 million of dividends annually for at least 10 years. The 8 percent payout is roughly double the yields on Occidental's longer-term debt. Buffett would also get warrants to buy up to 80 million Occidental shares at $62.50 each, 4 percent above their Monday closing price. Analysts said Berkshire's financing looked expensive for Occidental but could help it buy Anadarko without taking on too much leverage. "We are thrilled to have Berkshire Hathaway's financial support," Occidental Chief Executive Vicki Hollub said. And for Buffett, fear of overpaying may be allayed by the dividends and the knowledge that as a preferred shareholder he ranks ahead of common stockholders if something goes wrong. The Bank of America investment has been among Berkshire's most lucrative in recent years. In 2017, Berkshire exercised warrants to acquire 700 million common shares, which it paid for by swapping $5 billion of preferred shares it had bought six years earlier. By the end of 2018, Berkshire owned 918.9 million Bank of America shares worth $22.6 billion, its largest common stock investment other than Apple, and sat on an $11 billion profit. Other investments have been less successful. Berkshire received since-redeemed preferred stock in Kraft Heinz when that packaged food company was created in a 2015 merger. But in February, Berkshire took a $3 billion writedown on its 26.7 percent stake in Kraft Heinz, which failed to adapt to changing consumer tastes. Buffett has said Berkshire overpaid in the merger. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Gannett headquarters in McLean, VA.

Gannett reported declining revenue but an increase in paid digital subscriptions in the first quarter as the owner of USA TODAY and more than 100 other publications tries to fend off a hostile takeover attempt by a hedge fund-owned newspaper company.

The earnings report released Wednesday comes as Gannett is waging a fight with hedge fund Alden Global Capital's MNG Enterprises over its future.

"Overall we are very pleased with our first quarter results and weve delivered better-than-expected performance in print advertising and circulation," Gannett CEO Robert Dickey said on an earnings conference call.

Gannett's stock price rose 3.4% to close at $9.66.

MNG, also known as Digital First Media, in January made an unsolicited offer to buy Gannett for $12 a share, saying it could run the company more efficiently and maximize profits.

Gannett rejected the offer, saying it was not credible and criticizing Alden's track record of steep cuts at newspapers and its investments, including retailers Payless and Fred's. Gannett says it is pursuing a digital transformation, quality journalism and responsible cost cuts that will benefit shareholders.

MNG criticized Gannett's first-quarter results, saying that if the figures "represent a 'solid start' as Gannett says, shareholders must wonder where this ends."

"Todays earnings announcement underscores the stark choice between MNGs nominees, who will serve as a catalyst for immediate value creation, and the entrenched incumbent directors, who endorse a failing risky, multi-year digital transformation that we believe is extremely unlikely ever to produce a $12 valuation," MNG said in a statement.

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Gannett shareholders will vote May 16 on eight board members, including the eight members that Gannett favors and the three nominees proposed by MNG: Alden President and MNG Vice Chairman Heath Freeman, Cogent Group Principal Dana Goldsmith Needleman and MNG CEO Steven B. Rossi.

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Alden is opposing the reelection of three Gannett board nominees, including the two with the most direct journalism experience: Stephen Coll, the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner; and Larry Kramer, who currently serves as chairman of business news service TheStreet and who formerly served as publisher of USA TODAY, and founder and CEO of MarketWatch.

The tug of war features disagreement over Gannett's focus on building the digital revenue side of its business, which executives and analysts view as critical to the company's future. MNG, which owns 7.5% of Gannett, has called for the McLean, Virginia-based company to halt digital acquisitions, saying it has wasted resources on them.

The decline of traditional print revenue, including ads and newspaper subscriptions, has undermined media industry finances as consumers look online for news and information.

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Gannett opposes deal: Says MNG's proposed deal would be overloaded with debt

Media analysts view paid digital subscriptions as increasingly important to the news industry amid stiff competition against Google, Facebook and Amazon for digital ad dollars.

Gannett's digital-only subscriptions rose 39% year-over-year to 538,000 in the first quarter. Related revenue rose 70%.

"We again drove robust growth in paid digital-only subscribers while at the same time increasing our subscription rates," Dickey said on the earnings conference call.

Print revenue declines continued to leave a mark on Gannett, which took several steps recently to reduce expenses, including an early-retirement offer for long-time employees and layoffs. Print advertising revenue fell 17.6% in the first three months of this year.

The media company reported a net loss of $11.9 million, which included $17.4 million in one-time costs that included restructuring expenses. A year earlier, Gannett had a net loss of $377,000. Analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence had predicted a profit of $8 million.

Gannett had a net loss per share of 10 cents, compared with Wall Street expectations of a profit of 7 cents per share, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization (EBITDA) and other one-time costs totaled $63.3 million for the period, up 15%.

Dickey said the company is "making significant progress toward our transition to a digitally led product and revenue model" and has had "robust new client acquisition in March and April."

Dickey, who is retiring in a week, said Gannett continues to make progress on its CEO search and expects to make an announcement sometime after the annual meeting.

Michael Kupinski, director of research for Noble Capital Markets, who tracks Gannett, said the company exceeded our expectations with its cash flow performance.

It indicates that the company is executing on its cost strategies and at the same time investing in its digital businesses, which we think is key to the performance of the stock, Kupinski said in an interview.

He said the companys digital investments are proper while acknowledging that the print side continues to decline like the rest of the industry.

I dont find anything in the Gannett numbers that would cause me to have concern or (indicate) that the management team is not executing, he said. If you look at the management of their costs, I would say its exemplary.

Gannett's operating revenue totaled $663 million in the first quarter of 2019, down 8% compared with a year earlier. S&P Global Market Intelligence had projected revenue of $678 million for the period.

Digital revenue totaled $246 million, representing about 37% of the company's revenue.

Of Gannett's $179 million in digital advertising and marketing services revenue, 49% was digital.

Also Wednesday, Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president of USA TODAY Network and publisher of USA TODAY, announced that Randy Lovely is retiring as vice president of community news at USA TODAY Network.

He will be succeeded by Amalie Nash, USA TODAY Network's executive editor for local news.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gannett revenue falls, digital subscriptions rise as fight continues with MNG
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has been sacked by Theresa May. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Gavin Williamson has been sacked as Defence Secretary over the unprecedented leak of information from a National Security Council meeting, Downing Street has announced.

A probe was launched after highly confidential and sensitive details about Theresa Mays plan to allow Chinese telecoms firm Huawei to build part of the UKs 5G network were handed over to The Telegraph.

It is the first time a minister has been sacked for leaking secrets in modern times.

Mr Williamson denied being the leaker today, writing in a letter to the prime minister that neither he nor his team were responsible.

I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position, he wrote.

Opposition MPs have called for a criminal investigation. Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson said: If he has leaked from the National Security Council, Gavin Williamson should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act.

After the meeting the Telegraph reported Mr Williamson was one of a small group of ministers who objected to Mrs Mays decision but were overruled.

La primera ministra britanica Theresa May en el Parlamento en Londres el 1 de mayo del 2019. (Camara de los Comunes/PA via AP)

Critics of the deal with Huawei argue it risks allowing China to spy on and interfere with UK communications.

In a meeting with Mr Williamson on Wednesday evening, Mrs May confronted him with information which she said provided compelling evidence that he was responsible.

In a letter confirming his dismissal, she wrote: No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.

Mrs May said that the leak from the April 23 meeting was an extremely serious matter and a deeply disappointing one.

Women and Equalities minister Penny Mordaunt has been appointed Defence Secretary, becoming the first woman to ever hold the post.

Penny Mordaunt is the new Defence Secretary (Getty Images)

A Downing Street spokesman said today: The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet.

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The Prime Ministers decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed.

Top civil servant Sir Mark Sedwill launched the investigation and demanded ministers co-operate with his inquiry.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright warned the government cannot rule out the possibility of a criminal investigation after the secrets were handed to the press.

While leaks from ministerial meetings are not uncommon, it is unprecedented for secrets from a forum where the most senior people in Government are briefed by heads of the security and intelligence agencies to reach the public.
OUAGADOUGOU, May 1 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Burkina Faso and four other West African countries millions of euros in new German aid on Wednesday to help fight terrorism in the region and support economic development.

At the start of a three-day visit to the region, Merkel promised Burkina Faso more than 20 million euros ($22 million) and said Germany would send a further 60 million to the G5 Sahel group, to which Niger, Chad, Mali and Mauritania also belong.

Western governments, including former colonial power France and the United States, are alarmed by the rise of jihadist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in West Africa's lawless Sahel region.

Merkel, who also plans to offer German aid of 35 million euros to Niger, is aiming to stimulate private investment in the region with the money.

"Africa needs a self-supporting economy," she told reporters in Burkina Faso, one of the poorer African countries with gross domestic product (GDP) of less than $1,000 per person.

Her aim is to help ease the poverty which, along with political instability and violence, has encouraged large numbers to head for Europe. But with Africa's population growing at almost 3 percent a year, the task is enormous. ($1 = 0.8933 euros) (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Ouagadougou (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday promised aid to strengthen security in jihadist-hit Burkina Faso after arriving in the West African country.

Merkel, who also attended a G5 meeting of Sahel country leaders, is due travel on to Mali and Niger.

"We talked about the deteriorating security situation and we want to be on the side of Burkina Faso, especially in terms of cooperation on security," Merkel told reporters after a meeting with Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

"This is necessary because in the east and north of the country there is a situation where children cannot go to school, where populations seem to live in insecurity," she said.

"We need to end these problems as quickly as possible," she added.

President Kabore said the aid would help Burkina Faso to tackle the closure of schools due to jihadist attacks which have seen teachers forced to flee.

"Germany has announced 46 million euros ($51 million) in aid which should enable us to take better charge of the security issue in the north and east and take action that will strengthen the resilience of these populations," he said.

- 'Fragmentation' of Libya -

The presidents of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou and Chad, Idriss Deby Itno were also in Ouagadougou to attend the G5 meeting.

The countries are bound in a French-backed alliance, called the G5 Sahel, to fight jihadism on the southern rim of the Sahara.

After the meeting ended, Merkel said Europe shared responsibility for dealing with the threat.

"It is not only the responsibility of these five states but it is a responsibility that concerns Europe too, because if chaos takes over -- which we want to avoid at all costs -- it also has an impact in other areas," she said.

President Kabore also spoke of the situation in Libya, accusing the West of not listening to Africa.

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"We have asked the big nations to take their responsibility to solve the Libyan question. It is clear that the African vision... was swept aside... The solution that was chosen was to get rid of (Libyan leader Moamer) Kadhafi and his ouster has led today to a fragmentation of the country into several sub-groups with large quantities of arms...

"Europe must take a common position, so that we can find a definitive solution which will freeze the supplies to these terrorist groups across Libya," he added.

Burkina Faso has suffered from increasingly frequent and deadly attacks attributed to a number of jihadist groups, including the Ansarul Islam group, the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.

Jihadist raids began in 2015 in the north before targeting the capital Ouagadougou and other regions, notably in the east.

A total of 350 people have been killed since 2015 -- mainly in hit-and-run raids -- according to an AFP tally.

Around 4.3 million people have been driven from their homes in the worsening violence that has engulfed the entire Sahel region, including one million over the past year, according to UN humanitarian officials.

Former colonial ruler France has deployed some 4,500 troops in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad in a mission codenamed Barkhane to help local forces try to flush out jihadist groups.
Is it better to hoard gold or Bitcoin? The cryptocurrency company Grayscale is making the case for Bitcoin with an unprecedented multi-million dollar marketing campaign that includes a year of national TV commercials.

The campaign, which is called Drop Gold and kicked off on Wednesday, features a 39-second commercial that shows a man and woman who race frantically around a financial district while people around them are weighed down by bulky gold.

Why did you invest in gold? the ad asks. Are you investing in the past?

According to Grayscale, the ad (which you can watch below) will run all year on broadcast and cable networks and on streaming services like Hulu. The company will also be advertising heavily on social media sites.

All of this amounts to a bold bet that the ad campaign will produce enough new Bitcoin buyers to offset Grayscales major marketing expenses. But how many people will actually be persuaded to give up investing in gold in favor of Bitcoina digital currency that exists only as bits of computer code?

Unsurprisingly, Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert, whose company will profit if investors drop gold for Bitcoin, thinks people will make the leap. In his view, Bitcoin is a superior store of value becauseas the commercial suggestsit is a lighter and more practical way to hold a long-term investment. Silbert also believes a generation who grew up with the Internet is less enamored with precious metals.

Whats a 23-year-old going to do with a gold bar? Im highly confident theyre going to sell it, he said, adding that he believes those who receive gold as an inheritance in coming years will seek other investments.

Currently, the total value of gold in the world is worth approximately $8 trillion, while the current supply of Bitcoin is worth around $95 billionsuggesting the digital currency has a long way to go to catch the yellow metal. Gold, of course, has also been prized since biblical days while Bitcoin is barely a decade old.

Story continues

Golds pedigree is a big reason a certain class of investors, known as gold bugs, view it as a way to own something that will hold its value even if conventional assets like stocks and bonds collapse. Its unclear how many gold bugs would put their trust in Bitcoin instead.

Silbert, however, believes people are underestimating the shift in generational attitudes, and notes that Bitcoin has risen 45% in value since the start of the year while the price of gold has been basically flat. Of course the price of Bitcoin dropped over 80% following the bubble of late 2017 when it hit nearly $20,000. Currently, Bitcoin trades at around $5,300.

Silbert also attributes much of the market interest in gold to an aggressive marketing campaign by the World Gold Council, the industry trade group that helped promote the first gold ETF in 2004. The arrival of the ETF coincided with soaring gold prices, and many think the same will happen if regulators approve an ETF for Bitcoin (though the Securities and Exchange Commission has emphatically refused to do so).

Question what youve been told by the World Gold Council for the last 20 years, said Silbert. Were not suggesting you should go sell your Microsoft stock and buy Bitcoin, but it should be an allocation.

Grayscales marketing campaign will nudge people towards the companys Bitcoin trust product, which is traded on the OTC markets. But Silbert says he is content if other cryptocurrency firmswhich sell Bitcoin directly, typically at a lower pricebenefit from its marketing campaign.
Top US and Chinese trade negotiators held productive talks in Beijing on Wednesday, the American side said, as the economic superpowers head towards an endgame in a dispute that has hit businesses with bruising tariffs.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a close aide to President Xi Jinping on economic matters, met with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ahead of possibly decisive talks in the US next week.

The world's two leading economies have exchanged tariffs on $360 billion worth of goods since President Donald Trump launched a trade war last year.

"Ambassador Lighthizer and I just concluded productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He. We will continue our talks in Washington, DC next week," Mnuchin wrote on Twitter.

The US and Chinese officials posed for pictures but made no statements to journalists about the outcome of the talks after they emerged from their hours-long meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house.

Liu and the Americans exchanged pleasantries before and after the behind-closed-door talks, joking about wearing the same colour red ties. The Chinese vice premier gave US Ambassador Terry Branstad a blue album with the Chinese state crest on it.

Mnuchin told reporters earlier that he had a "nice" working dinner with Liu on Tuesday night.

- Deal or no deal -

Liu is due in Washington on May 8 for the next round of talks.

Mnuchin said earlier this week that the negotiations were in a decisive phase, telling the Fox Business channel "there's a strong desire from both sides to see if we can wrap this up or move on".

"We hope within the next two rounds -- in China and in DC -- to be at the point where we can either recommend to the president we have a deal or make a recommendation that we don't," he said.

Mnuchin said negotiators were close to agreement on tough enforcement provisions in any trade pact.

The US side is pressing China to overhaul its industrial policy by further opening its market to foreign firms, stopping massive subsidies to domestic companies and curbing the alleged theft of American technology.

Story continues

Beijing has made public displays of concessions, with Xi last week saying China would abolish "unjustified regulations, subsidies and practices that impede fair competition and distort the market".

China has also passed a foreign investment law that promises to protect the intellectual property of overseas companies.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Trump was dropping a key demand in the negotiations, with the US likely to accept a watered-down commitment from China on commercial cyber theft.

Such a concession could remove a major obstacle for a final deal in the fraught talks.
Niko Goodrum hit a two-run home run to lift the visiting Detroit Tigers past the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 on Tuesday.

Nicholas Castellanos had two hits for the Tigers, who snapped their four-game losing streak.

Tigers starter Tyson Ross had been scheduled to start but was placed on the paternity list. Spencer Turnbull (2-2) got the start and was fairly effective, allowing three hits and one run in six innings.

He struck out five, tossed three wild pitches, walked two and hit two batters in an odd outing.

Shane Greene picked up his 12th save after throwing a scoreless ninth.

The Phillies struggled offensively, managed only four hits and left seven runners on base.

Phillies starter Vince Velasquez (1-1) lasted only 3 2/3 innings before being replaced by Edubray Ramos. Velasquez gave up six hits and three runs and threw 99 pitches.

Philadelphia entered this game on a three-game winning streak.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Rhys Hoskins hit an infield single and Andrew McCutchen scored on a throwing error by Detroit second baseman Ronny Rodriguez.

The Tigers loaded the bases with two outs in the second but Velasquez struck out Turnbull to end the threat.

In the third, the Tigers tied the score at 1 on an RBI single to left by Miguel Cabrera. Goodrum followed with a two-run homer to right for a 3-1 Tigers advantage.

The Phillies went without a hit from the third through the eighth and trailed 3-1.

Detroit had a runner at third with one out in the eighth, but Phillies reliever Adam Morgan escaped by getting Grayson Greiner to ground out to Jean Segura at shortstop. Jordy Mercer grounded out to Maikel Franco to end the inning.

In the ninth, J.T. Realmuto had an impressive nine-pitch at-bat and singled to center off Greene. Then, Nick Williams and Cesar Hernandez struck out swinging. Franco was Philadelphia's last chance and he struck out as well.

--Field Level Media
By Sheila Dang

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google, the largest U.S. digital advertising platform, is facing increased competition from sites where people purchase products and places thought to be safe from potentially offensive content, advertising buyers say.

Alphabet's shares fell 7.5 percent on Tuesday, a day after the company reported its slowest quarterly revenue growth in three years. About 85 percent of the company's revenue comes from Google's ad business.

"One word: Amazon," said Mat Baxter, global chief executive of Initiative, an ad buying agency owned by IPG Mediabrands whose clients include Amazon.

Baxter said in an interview that clients are starting to pivot and move ad dollars from platforms where people search for products to places like Amazon Inc, where they are making the purchase, in order to be closer to the moment of transaction.

Monica Peart, forecasting director at research firm eMarketer, offered a different take, however. "Amazon is of course a growing part of advertisers' ad budgets and some of its growth is indeed coming at the expense of what would have gone to Google. But this is not a major impact to Google's ad revenue growth at this time," she said.

Google's massive size, which still had revenue of $36.3 billion in the first quarter, means that growth must slow as global digital ad budgets and international economies have also slowed, said Peart.

Amazon's ad business, which is combined in an "advertising and other sales" segment, brought in $2.7 billion in the first quarter, less than one-tenth of Google's ad sales.

Google's streaming video platform YouTube has also struggled to stop the spread of disturbing or adult content on the site, prompting some major advertisers including AT&T Inc to remove its ads for fear they could appear next to offensive content.

"Some clients have made the decision to pull back a bit," said Jon Stimmel, chief investment officer at Universal McCann, an ad buying agency and a unit of IPG Mediabrands, referring to YouTube. Those clients have repositioned to streaming platforms considered more brand safe, such as Hulu and Roku, he said.

Given that search engine marketing, or promoting websites in search results, has not become less expensive on Google, YouTube must be the main reason for the revenue decline, said Barry Lowenthal, chief executive of ad agency The Media Kitchen, adding that his clients still spend more money on Google than many other ad platforms.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang; Additional reporting by Paresh Dave in San Francisco and Angela Moon in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
Travelling circuses face a ban on using wild animals (Pexels)

Travelling circuses in England will be banned from using wild animals from next year, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said.

Mr Gove announced a new bill to prevent animals such as reindeer, zebras and camels being forced to perform in circuses in England.

The Wild Animals in Circuses Bill follows the Government's pledge in February 2018 to introduce a ban by the time the existing interim licensing regulations expire in January 2020.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced a new bill to prevent animals being forced to perform in circuses in England (PA)

It comes after the Scottish Government was the first in the UK to pass legislation to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses in 2017.

In July last year, the then Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones announced the Welsh Government will introduce similar legislation in the next 12 months.

Mr Gove said: "Travelling circuses are no place for wild animals in the 21st century and I am pleased that this legislation will put an end to this practice for good.

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

Julian Assange jailed for 50 weeks for breaking bail

Labour rejects calls to commit to second referendum

Convicted fraudster pours acid on himself in court

Animal welfare charities which have been campaigning for a ban welcomed the news (torange.biz)

"Today's announcement follows other measures we have taken to strengthen our position as a world leader on animal protection.

"This includes our ban on ivory sales to protect elephants, and delivering Finn's Law to strengthen the protection of service animals.

Animal welfare charities which have been campaigning for a ban welcomed the news.

David Bowles, head of public affairs at the RSPCA, said: "We really welcome the Government introducing a Bill to ban the outdated practice of using wild animals in circuses.

"We've campaigned against having wild animals in circuses for many years. They have complex needs that cannot be properly met in a circus environment.

"It's high time keeping wild animals in circuses is consigned to the history books and we look forward to the day that it is banned for good in England."

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
A 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant died while in U.S. government custody on Tuesday, the latest in a series of child deaths as Central Americans continue flooding across the southern border.

No health concerns were observed by Customs and Border Protection personnel when they picked him up, and the child did not report any health problems when he was transferred to a shelter on April 20 operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a statement from the department.

By the next day, the boy "became noticeably ill including fever, chills and a headache," according to the statement. That started a chaotic week when the boy was taken to three different hospitals, including two emergency room visits and a stay in the intensive care unit of a children's hospital in Texas.

The department said the boy's brother and Guatemalan consular officials were allowed to visit the boy in the hospital. His family in Guatemala was also given "frequent updates" directly from hospital staff.

But after several days in the ICU, the boy died on Tuesday, according to Health and Human Services.

The cause of death of the boy, who was not identified, is under investigation, and the department is initiating a "full review" of the death. But the case may restart debates in Washington over the Trump administration's treatment of the record number of families and children pouring across the southern border.

Central American migrants -traveling in a caravan- hold a demonstration following the death of 7-year old Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal -who died in a Texas hospital two days after being taken into custody by border patrol agents in a remote stretch of New Mexico desert- outside a temporary shelter downtown Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on December 15, 2018. Demonstrators also demand US authorities to stop family separations and to open borders.

Eight-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo from Guatemala died in a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve after being held at a Border Patrol facility. Earlier that month, Jakelin Caal Maquin, a 7-year-old from from Guatemala, died in a Texas hospital after being held at a Border Patrol facility.

Those deaths prompted the Department of Homeland Security to expand medical screenings of migrant children held in its custody. And on Wednesday, the White House requested emergency funding from Congress to deal with the "crisis" at the border, including $3.3 billion for humanitarian assistance.

Story continues

But the administration has spent the past year focusing more on the law enforcement threat of arriving migrants than on processing their cases or expanding their ability to safely house them.

Read more stories: Download the USA TODAY app

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guatemalan migrant, a 16-year-old boy, dies in government custody in Texas
London (AFP) - London Mayor Sadiq Khan, along with environmental charities and local councils, on Wednesday lost a court battle to prevent an expansion of Heathrow, Britain's busiest airport.

Opponents to the introduction of a third runway at the west London airport cite the negative impacts on noise and air pollution, habitat destruction, transport congestion, and climate change.

But the High Court dismissed the legal challenges against Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.

The hearing "was only concerned with the legality, and not the merits, of the Airports National Policy Statement," judge Gary Hickinbottom, sitting with judge David Holgate, said in the ruling.

Grayling has now called for "public bodies not to waste any more taxpayers' money" in delaying the "vital" project further.

May's Conservative government argues that the A14 billion ($18.3 billion, 16.3 billion euros) plan will provide a major boost to Britain's post-Brexit economy and could create up to 114,000 local jobs by 2030.

Yet campaign groups are resolved to continue their opposition.

In a joint statement on behalf of the legal charity Plan B and Extinction Rebellion, an environmental campaign movement that has been holding protests across the capital, Plan B director Tim Crosland said the ruling was "disappointing".

"But it is increasingly difficult to see how the government's reckless plans to expand Heathrow Airport can proceed," he said.

"Following the recent Extinction Rebellion protests there is widespread recognition that we are in a state of climate and ecological emergency."

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said the environmental charity would continue to oppose the project as the government had "lost the argument over whether it's morally justifiable".
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Remarks on the Approval of the Listing of Masood by the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council

2019/05/01

Q: On May 1, the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council approved the proposal to add Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar to the ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions List. What's your comment?

A: The 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council has detailed criteria for the listing procedures. China always believes that the relevant work should be carried out in an objective, unbiased and professional manner and based on solid evidence and consensus among all parties.

On this listing issue, China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal.

The proper settlement of the above-mentioned issue again shows that in international counter-terrorism cooperation, we have to uphold the rules and procedures of relevant UN body, follow the principle of mutual respect, resolve differences and build consensus through dialogue, and prevent politicizing technical issues.

I would like to stress that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorist and extremist forces.
Helsinki boasts some of the worlds best buildings: Eliel Saarinens 1919 Central Station, Alvar Aaltos 1971 Finlandia Hall, Steven Holls 1998 Kiasma art museum. Into that mix comes Oodi, a stunning library-plus by ALA Architects, where you can gaze out from spectacular terraces, watch movies or live performances, try 3-D printers, and dine in the two cafes. The project debuted this winter right on the heels of Amos Rex, a new underground art museum that incorporates a splendidly renovated (aboveground) Art Deco movie theater and restaurant.

In Helsinki, great design is everywherefrom Aaltos iconic Savoy restaurant to communal saunas like the angular Loyly and Lonna. And at newcomer Uusi Sauna, co-owner Kimmo Helisto enforces the rule (The only rule of Finnish saunas is to be comfortable) while towel-clad visitors alternate between hot sweats and frosty beers. As the black-and-white photos of 19th-century saunas make clear, Finns are honoring the past while embracing everything new under the Nordic sun.

Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo/Courtesy of Helsinki Marketing

Photo: Carl Kleiner

Where to Eat Helsinki chefs are making astonishing use of local ingredients. At Ultima, herbs are grown hydroponically while mushrooms double as centerpieces. The futuristic restaurant is a collaboration between sibling architects Kivi and Tuuli Sotamaa and chefs Henri Alen and Tommi Tuominen, known for dishes like Jerusalem artichoke with sun-flower praline (restaurant-ultima.fi). Opposite in ambience, though equal in excellence, is homey, Michelin-starred Ora, where chef Sasu Laukkonen explains every dish to every diner. It tastes like Finland, he says of grilled beetroot with reindeer salamiand it does (orarestaurant.fi).

Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo/Courtesy of Helsinki Marketing

Where to Stay Set in a historic building, the year-old Hotel St. George groups 153 sleek but soft-edged rooms around a glass-roofed courtyard. An Ai Weiwei sculpture in the entry signals the hotels ambitions; so do the superb bakery, Finnish-Turkish restaurant, and pool and sauna (stgeorgehelsinki.com).
Photo by fPat Murray from Flickr

Staying informed about the institutions that keep Boston running can be a full-time job.

Hoodline analyzed the city's past week on Twitter, focusing on accounts that are dedicated to civic life  local government, media, nonprofits, unions, transit and utilities. We wanted to discover and report on the tweets that drove your social media discussions on those topics.

Media

Keep informed what's happening around the city with Hoodline's curated list of the most popular recent tweets from the city's media.

Boston had a rise in Twitter conversations by and about local media last week  1,707, compared with 1,353 the past week.

One of them with high local popularity was this tweet from @wbz:

JUST IN: Tom Ellis, Legendary Boston TV News Anchor, and Dies At 86 https://t.co/6KdpN27Ztl https://t.co/GOgXpb3KcN  WBZ | CBS Boston News (@wbz)

In all, the tweet got 14 local retweets, 28 local quotes and 176 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

There was also this Wednesday tweet from @AdamMKaufman:

Bruce Cassidy is a gem. #Bruins https://t.co/XVvkXasMnH  Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman)

The total impact from that was 33 local retweets, seven local quotes and 1,258 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

On Tuesday, @AbbeyNBCBoston tweeted:

Meet Isa. The 10 year old helped bring a new kind of crosswalk to Medford. Youve gotta meet her on @NBC10Boston @necn. https://t.co/7CpMrPXHpx  Abbey Niezgoda NBC10 Boston (@AbbeyNBCBoston)

The tweet tallied 12 local retweets, 21 local quotes and 254 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

On Sunday, @TheDRnews tweeted:

Take a look at the @MIT Dome after hackers turned it into Captain America's Shield in honor of the release of #AvengersEndame (Video Courtesy Raymond Huffman). #Boston25 https://t.co/Ul5aNw2Odr  David Rothstein (@TheDRnews)

In all, the tweet totaled up 11 local retweets, six local quotes and 139 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

Story continues

Government

Hoodline makes it easy to keep up with the latest news and announcements from local government on Twitter.

Boston saw little change in Twitter conversations on the subject of government last week compared with the week before.

One of them with a good level of local interest was this tweet from @CityOfBoston:

What was once a Franklin Park Zoo exhibit is now a hidden gem in the Franklin Park woodlands. Thanks to Community Preservation funds and we'll be able to restore this piece of artwork from 1912 of two bears holding the CIty of Boston seal: https://t.co/1k4g8L4Uhv https://t.co/IyWwtzuLdG  City of Boston (@CityOfBoston)

As of this publication, the tweet earned 16 local retweets, 10 local quotes and 103 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

On Thursday, @TheCityofMalden tweeted:

Water main break on the corner of Greenleaf and Clifton Street. Crews are on site assessing the leak and repairs will be made as soon as possible. Surrounding streets water service may be affected during repair. Contact Malden DPW at 781-397-7160 if you have any questions. https://t.co/W7oJPNRCNZ  City of Malden (@TheCityofMalden)

All told, the tweet earned four local retweets and nine total retweets, quotes and favorites.

Nonprofits

They're working to improve the community. Find out how with the most popular recent tweets from local nonprofits.

Boston saw approximately the same volume of Twitter conversations regarding nonprofit last week compared with the previous week.

One of them with the most local attention was this tweet from @Transforming_Ed:

Sarah Kang, 7th grade teacher @RDGuidance, and writes our latest blog post about how her students developed #socialawareness & #empathy when partnering with @goforefront to build a #cleanwater source in India. Read about the project here: https://t.co/4SYpz7Mcir  Transforming Ed (@Transforming_Ed)

In all, the tweet got one local retweet and four total retweets, quotes and favorites.

Utilities

Got power problems? If so, your neighbors probably do too. Here's the latest from the city's utility.

Boston witnessed little change in Twitter conversations regarding utilities last week compared with the previous week.

Yet some tweets proved popular. One was this tweet by @nationalgridus:

Volunteers headed out to Waltham Fields @CommunityFarms today to work the soil. This sustainable local farm provides educational outreach and fresh produce to local families. Were happy to support their work! #GridGoesGreen https://t.co/9qLdaBIyzG  National Grid US (@nationalgridus)

In all, the tweet racked up one local retweet and 10 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

Unions

Here are the latest and most compelling tweets from and about the city's unions.

Boston had about the same volume of Twitter conversations on the subject of unions last week as the previous.

Yet some tweets proved popular. One was this tweet by @BCGEU_UAW:

BREAKING Boston City Council passes resolution sponsored by @LydiaMEdwards in support of the Graduate Employees Union at @BostonCollege! Thank you councilwoman Edwards!!!  https://t.co/pmwJgPZ2Oi  BC Grad Employees (@BCGEU_UAW)

The tweet had 16 local retweets, five local quotes and 145 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

Additionally, @BTU66 tweeted this Tuesday:

We are fighting for the schools our #StudentsDeserve! https://t.co/Tfz0SfC0g0  BostonTeachersUnion (@BTU66)

As of this publication, the tweet racked up nine local retweets and 17 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

There was also this Friday tweet from @SEIU509:

Congratulations to our 509 brothers and sisters of Triangle Inc - the recipients of the 2019 @MassJwJ Peoples Voice Award! Despite the odds against them and these members fought and won for the union they demand and deserve! #1u #solidarity https://t.co/FpDkpF3Bog  SEIU Local 509 (@SEIU509)

As of this publication, the tweet had garnered one local retweet and 15 total retweets, quotes and favorites.

This story was created automatically using data from Twitter, then reviewed by an editor before publication. Click here for more about how and why Hoodline is automating local news. Got thoughts about what we're doing? Go here to share your feedback.
(This April 30 story has been refiled to remove extraneous punctuation and fixing typo in thirteenth paragraph.) By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional committee on Tuesday formally asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump backer Erik Prince for possible crimes, charging he made repeated false statements under oath to U.S. lawmakers probing Russia's 2016 election interference. The Democratic-run panel's request represented the latest shot fired in an escalating battle between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration over findings of the report that Special Counsel Robert Mueller released on April 18. Perjury before Congress is a crime that can carry a punishment of up to five years in prison and a fine. In a letter to Attorney General William Barr, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said that Prince's "false statements" impaired the panel's efforts to "fully understand" Russia's meddling and develop remedies to "counter future malign operations." Russia denies interfering in the election in which President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, defeated his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. "We refer this matter to the (Justice) department to consider whether criminal charges should be brought," Schiff wrote. "I believe there was very strong evidence that he (Prince) willingly misled the committee, made false statements to the committee," Schiff told a Washington Post event earlier on Tuesday, citing a January 2017 meeting between Prince and a Russian banker in the Seychelles. "The evidence is so weighty that the Justice Department needs to consider this." The Department of Justice declined to comment. At issue are discrepancies between Prince's testimony to Schiff's committee in November 2017 and what Mueller's report detailed about Prince's contact with Kirill Dmitriev, who reports directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin as head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund.[nL1N2201TM] In the letter to Barr, Schiff said the committee identified "six different categories of materially false statements" by Prince. Those statements, he wrote, included Prince telling the panel that he and Dmitriev had one chance encounter when both were staying at the same Seychelles hotel, whereas the Mueller report said an adviser to the ruler of the United Arab Emirates arranged for them to meet and that they saw each other twice. Schiff charged that Prince also misled the panel about the topics of the pair's discussions, including setting up a U.S.-Russia communications channel, and that Prince told lawmakers he did not brief former Trump aide Steve Bannon about the meetings with Dmitriev, whereas the Mueller report said he did. Matthew L. Schwartz, a lawyer for Prince, rejected Schiff's allegations. There "is nothing new here for the Justice Department to consider, nor is there any reason to question the special counsel's decision to credit Mr. Prince and rely on him in drafting its report," he said in a statement. Prince "cooperated completely" with Mueller's investigation, said Schwartz, a partner at the firm of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Separately, Prince has been pushing a plan to deploy a private army to help topple Venezuela's socialist president, Nicholas Maduro, four sources with knowledge of the effort told Reuters. [nL1N228178] U.S. Representative Mark Meadows, head of House Republicans' Freedom Caucus, separately told the Post event that Republicans were considering sending their own criminal referrals for two to three individuals. He declined to name them or give many details, but said two of them were linked to Fusion GPS. Fusion GPS is a research and intelligence consultancy that hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to investigate Trump and Russia. "There are two or three individuals that we believe could have potentially given false testimony to Congress," said Meadows, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform panel. That committee and the Intelligence Committee are among several congressional panels examining Russian interference in American politics, including in the 2016 presidential election. Meadows added that Trump had not personally encouraged House Republicans to make any referrals to the Justice Department over congressional misstatements, and that he had not spoken to the president about the issue "from a criminal referrals standpoint." (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Writing by Jonathan Oatis; Editing by Howard Goller and Tom Brown)
The Maryland House of Delegates has a new speaker. Speaker Pro Tem Adrienne Jones, who dropped out of the running, was elected Wednesday, making history as the first African-American and first female speaker of the House. Jones had dropped out of the running due to lack of support. The Baltimore County delegate had announced her support for Prince George's County Delegate Dereck Davis. Jones said she talked separately with Davis and Baltimore City Delegate Maggie McIntosh, and both said they wanted her to be nominated. Those two could not get 71 votes.
ALMATY/NUR-SULTAN, May 1 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Kazakhs rallied in their two main cities on Wednesday, calling for a boycott of June presidential elections that they dismissed as a cover for an orchestrated handover of power.

Crowds gathered in the main amusement park in the commercial hub Almaty and a square in the capital Nur-Sultan in protests called by one of the main rivals of veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev.

In Almaty, protesters chanted "I have a choice" and "Old man, go away" and waved banners reading "No to despotism and dictatorship," as families on a day out looked on and techno music blared.

Police, who have broken up smaller anti-government protests in the past, only detained a handful of people who tried to take the demonstration outside Almaty's Central Park, and a few stragglers left after the rally ended in the capital.

Nazarbayev abruptly resigned in March after almost three decades in power and endorsed ally and former Senate speaker Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, all but guaranteeing his success.

The political transition in the central Asian state neighboring Russia and China is closely watched by foreign investors who have pumped tens of billions of dollars into its energy and mining sectors since independence.

The rallies were organized by supporters of Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former banker and government minister who lives in France. Ablyazov is wanted in Kazakhstan on charges ranging from fraud to murder - which he denies - but a French court has ruled against his extradition.

Nazarbayev retains sweeping powers in the former Soviet republic of 18 million and has so far remained actively involved in running the government.

Parliament voted unanimously to rename the capital, formally knows as Astana, in his honor after his resignation. His eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, succeeded Tokayev as Senate speaker.

The 78-year-old leader has acknowledged planning his succession, and said he is using legal powers to choose the most worthy candidate.

Tokayev, who last month called a snap election for June 9, attended Day of Unity celebrations in Almaty on Wednesday, but did not mention the protests in his speech. (Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva in Almaty and Tamara Vaal in Nur-Sultan Writing by Olzhas Auyezov Editing by Andrew Heavens)
The stock market doesnt need FAANG to reach all-time highs, according to one analyst.

FAANG is dead, Mike Antonelli, Robert W. Baird & Co. managing director and chief market strategist, told Yahoo Finances On the Move, referring to Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX), and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG). The term doesnt have much meaning anymore. This entity of FAANG isnt needed to lead the market.

Antonelli saw the demise of FAANG when each individual company began to face troubling issues that sent them in different directions. These companies all used to have momentum behind them, but then Facebook was hit with privacy issues and Apple saw a decline in iPhone sales and they started disconnecting, he said.

Antonellis comments followed Alphabets disappointing earnings release Monday. The companys first-quarter miss sent Alphabet shares down by as much as 8% Tuesday.

Despite Alphabets miss, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon delivered strong earnings for the quarter. And on Tuesday, Apple crushed top- and bottom-line quarterly results, beating expectations and reporting strong guidance. Apple stock surged Tuesday after the earnings report.

The logos for Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., sit on smartphone and tablet devices in this arranged photograph in London, U.K. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Antonelli acknowledged that tech has been the best performing sector so far this year and said that the companies are all still great American companies with great leaders and business prospects.

FAANG companies will continue to be successful on their own but the stock market should not rely on them any longer as an entity known as FAANG, he added.

Instead, Antonelli points to a broad set of sectors (financials and industrials) that could carry the markets. We should be fine with that, he said.

Valentina Caval is a producer for Yahoo Finances On the Move.

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Representative Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) blamed the U.S. on Wednesday for the devastation in Venezuela and accused America of bullying the countrys socialist regime.

Asked by Democracy Now! about the U.S.-supported coup attempt against President Maduro, Omar said that Americas push for regime change in Venezuela does not help the countrys citizens.

A lot of the policies that we have put in place has [sic] kind of helped lead [to] the devastation in Venezuela, Omar said. And weve sort of set the stage for where were arriving today.

This particular bullying and the use of sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not help the people of countries like Venezuela, and it certainly does not help and is not in the interest of the United States, she added.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the U.S. supports the Venezuelan oppositions effort, led by self-declared interim president Juan Guaido, to oust President Nicolas Maduro. After Guaido called for opposition protesters to take to the streets, they gathered in Caracas  Venezuelas capital  and states around the country Wednesday, with some carrying the Venezuelan flag while others constructed molotov cocktails. Armored military trucks allied with Maduro were caught on film ramming into crowds of anti-government protesters.

Omar has been highly critical of U.S. policy in Latin America, and of Special Envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams in particular. During Abramss testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in February, she said that she doubted his truthfulness, referencing his 1991 conviction on two counts of withholding information from Congress about his part in the Iran-Contra scandal.

People like Elliott Abrams, neocons and warmongers, you know, for so long have pushed for policies that are now  we can see, not only in Central America, but many parts of the world, the kind of devastations that theyve had for decades, Omar said Wednesday.

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Long term investing works well, but it doesn't always work for each individual stock. It hits us in the gut when we see fellow investors suffer a loss. For example, we sympathize with anyone who was caught holding China Ever Grand Financial Leasing Group Co., Ltd. (HKG:379) during the five years that saw its share price drop a whopping 88%. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 37% over the last twelve months. Furthermore, it's down 31% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

We really feel for shareholders in this scenario. It's a good reminder of the importance of diversification, and it's worth keeping in mind there's more to life than money, anyway.

View our latest analysis for China Ever Grand Financial Leasing Group

China Ever Grand Financial Leasing Group isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

Over five years, China Ever Grand Financial Leasing Group grew its revenue at 8.8% per year. That's a pretty good rate for a long time period. So it is unexpected to see the stock down 35% per year in the last five years. The market can be a harsh master when your company is losing money and revenue growth disappoints.

The chart below shows how revenue and earnings have changed with time, (if you click on the chart you can see the actual values).

SEHK:379 Income Statement, May 1st 2019

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

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We regret to report that China Ever Grand Financial Leasing Group shareholders are down 37% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 5.0%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 35% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. Shareholders might want to examine this detailed historical graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
By Jatindra Dash

BHUBANESHWAR, India (Reuters) - India began evacuating hundreds of thousands of villagers on Wednesday and shut down operations at two major ports on its east coast ahead of an impending cyclone expected to make landfall on Friday.

The state of Odisha has also moved in thousands of disaster management personnel to help those living in mud-and-thatch homes in low-lying areas take shelter from Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani.

"We are making best efforts to inform them about the cyclone and move these vulnerable people to cyclone shelters," Bishnupada Sethi, the state's special relief commissioner, told Reuters.

Tourists have also been advised to leave the coastal temple town of Puri, a sacred destination for Hindu pilgrims.

India's cyclone season generally lasts from April to December with severe storms leading to evacuations of tens of thousands, widespread deaths and damage to crops and property, both in India and Bangladesh.

Authorities at ports in Paradip and Visakhapatnam ordered ships to move out to sea to avoid damage.

"Paradip port operations will be suspended from tonight, all vessels have been told to leave the port," S.K Mishra, traffic manager at the port told Reuters.

Two decades ago, a super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours, killing 10,000 people. In 2013, a mass evacuation of nearly a million people saved thousands of lives.

Tropical Storm Risk cyclone tracker labelled Fani a category 3 storm on a scale of a low 1 to a powerful 5.

(Additional reporting by Neha Dasgupta in NEW DELHI; Writing by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Kirsten Donovan)
Indian police charged a would-be election candidate with animal cruelty Wednesday after he rode a donkey to file his application for the national ballot.

Mani Bhushan Sharma, a perennial long-shot candidate, filed his nomination papers on Monday followed by a short donkey ride outside the local election office in Jehanabad town, eastern Bihar state.

"We have filed a case under prevention of cruelty to animals against the politician," Shree Maneesh, Jehanabad police chief, told AFP.

Maneesh did not elaborate on the exact charges against Sharma, and donkey and mules rides are legal and common in India.

Convictions under the animal cruelty law -- that mostly deal with physical harm, violence or abandonment of animals -- can result in fines or prison terms up to seven years.

Sharma defended his actions, saying it was symbolic to show the plight of common people that are taken for a ride by politicians.

"Common people are dedicated towards building a better society and nation like donkeys (and) unlike politicians who only work for themselves. We are beautiful and hard working, like donkeys," he told AFP.

Sharma has unsuccessfully contested four elections in the past, and his application on Monday was rejected due to discrepancies in his documents.

India last month began mammoth national elections for the lower house of the parliament that stretches for six weeks, with results expected on May 23.

Nearly 900 people are eligible to vote in the elections that sees thousands of candidates, including many perennial no-hopers, join the electoral fray.
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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 we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Chongqing Iron & Steel Company Limited (HKG:1053).

What Is Insider Selling?

It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

We don't think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. 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 Chongqing Iron & Steel

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Chongqing Iron & Steel

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Hung Sang Ng bought HK$12m worth of shares at a price of HK$1.38 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being HK$1.27). 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. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay 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 Hung Sang Ng. Notably Hung Sang Ng was also the biggest seller, having sold HK$5.2m worth of shares.

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Hung Sang Ng bought a total of 9.9m shares over the year at an average price of HK$1.36. You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

SEHK:1053 Recent Insider Trading, April 30th 2019

Chongqing Iron & Steel is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It appears that Chongqing Iron & Steel insiders own 0.8% of the company, worth about HK$173m. This level of insider ownership is good but just short of being particularly stand-out. It certainly does suggest a reasonable degree of alignment.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Chongqing Iron & Steel Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchase. And an analysis of the transactions over the last year also gives us confidence. Once you factor in the high insider ownership, it certainly seems like insiders are positive about Chongqing Iron & Steel. One for the watchlist, at least! 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.

Of course Chongqing Iron & Steel may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of high quality companies.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

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 we'll take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Da Ming International Holdings Limited (HKG:1090).

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Harvard University study found that 'insider purchases earn abnormal returns of more than 6% per year.'

See our latest analysis for Da Ming International Holdings

Da Ming International Holdings Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Executive Director Changhong Jiang for HK$431k worth of shares, at about HK$2.69 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being HK$2.00). 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. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares is very important. It is generally more encouraging if they paid above the current price, as it suggests they saw value, even at higher levels.

In the last twelve months insiders paid HK$1.1m for 410k shares purchased. Da Ming International Holdings may have bought shares in the last year, but they didn't sell any. 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

SEHK:1090 Recent Insider Trading, May 1st 2019

Da Ming International Holdings is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Insider Ownership

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. From looking at our data, insiders own HK$19m worth of Da Ming International Holdings stock, about 0.8% of the company. But they may have an indirect interest through a corporate structure that we haven't picked up on. We consider this fairly low insider ownership.

So What Do The Da Ming International Holdings Insider Transactions Indicate?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Da Ming International Holdings shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders own shares in Da Ming International Holdings and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow for free .

If you would prefer 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.
* Support from business, trader network boosts ruling BJP * BJP has unleashed ad blitz, Modi merchandise * It outspends Congress by six times on Facebook, Google ads * Centre for Media Studies sees $8.6 bln total election spending By Alexandra Ulmer and Aftab Ahmed MUMBAI/DELHI, May 1 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is flush with cash, giving his Hindu nationalist bloc a massive advantage over the main opposition Congress party as he seeks to win a second term in India's general election. Opaque campaign financing in the world's largest democracy makes it tricky to get a full picture of money in politics here. But current and former BJP supporters, opposition politicians, businessmen and activists interviewed by Reuters say Modi has an unprecedented advantage, thanks to support from businesses and expectations he will be the winner. Staggered voting in the general election is currently in progress across India, with results to be declared on May 23. The BJP war chest has allowed it to unleash a massive amount of advertising on social media and send Modi and party officials crisscrossing India to campaign. The ruling party has showered money on Facebook and Google advertisements, spending six times more than Congress since February, according to data from the two firms. Modi merchandise abounds, as do Modi marketing sites. The money puts the BJP in an extraordinarily powerful position, even over logistical issues like how to get its leaders to election rallies. A Congress official said the BJP had the funds to reserve most of India's fleet of helicopters for hire for 90 days, making it difficult for opponents to get hold of them. "We have never ever seen an election with such disparity. Financially, we cannot compete with them," said another veteran Congress politician, who asked to remain anonymous. He and another high-ranking Congress official said they expected the BJP to outspend them by a factor of ten. A third Congress source estimated the disparity at twice that. Two BJP officials declined to provide an estimate of spending, but one said the "BJP definitely has a big war chest and has more funds at its disposal than the Congress." Congress has received far fewer funds because of a perception it is unlikely to win the election, political strategists said. The opposition party has been hampered by its inability to forge a national alliance to take on Modi and has struggled to capitalize on discontent against the BJP over a lack of jobs and distressed farm incomes. Modi has been topping polls as India's most popular politician, well ahead of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. LONG ELECTION Money has become critical in elections given the country's 1.3 billion population, its voting over 39 days and the sheer complexity of the electorate, in terms of region, religion, language, and caste. A tradition of doling out freebies to sway voters only adds to costs. Authorities say they have seized goods and cash worth about $456 million since March 26. "This war chest gives the BJP significant advantages," said Milan Vaishnav, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's South Asia program. "Money is useful for wooing voters but also for keeping networks of party workers and influencers well lubricated." Parliamentary candidates' expenditure is capped at up to 7 million Indian rupees (about $100,000), but the limit is widely flouted, and political parties are allowed to spend freely. For a factbox on campaign finance rules, see: The New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies (CMS) estimates almost $8.6 billion will be spent on this year's vote, roughly twice the 2014 election. The figure would surpass OpenSecrets.org's estimate that $6.5 billion was spent in the 2016 U.S. presidential and congressional elections. Recent reforms under Modi may have fueled the spending spree: Companies can fund parties anonymously through new 'electoral bonds' and they no longer face a donations cap. Activists say that gives corporations too much sway and obscures ties between politicians and businessmen. About 95 percent of electoral bonds snapped up in a first tranche offering last year went to the BJP, according to data reviewed by Reuters through a Right To Information request and BJP filings. When asked whether the BJP had a financial advantage, party spokesman Anil Baluni said "it is not an unfair advantage." "I guess maybe the BJP does believe in taking maximum donations by check or through bonds... We are the largest political party in the country," Baluni added. He said he did not have information on the provenance of funds or the uses. Pawan Khera, a Congress spokesman, said this was "turning out to be the most unequal election," but did not provide specifics. MODI RETAINS BACKERS Modi was elected in 2014 as a darling of the business community. His star has dimmed somewhat, in part due to fallout from a shock 2016 decision to scrap then circulating high-value bank notes, but with some businesses wary of a fragile opposition coalition coming to power, Modi retains backers. "Modi has made business easier," said businessman Sunil Alagh, who heads consulting firm SKA Advisors and sits on several boards. Still, business titans tend to give to several parties to hedge their bets, politicians and executives say. Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man and the boss of the Reliance Industries conglomerate , hails from Modi's home state of Gujarat and his family has praised the prime minister publicly. Ambani even splashed Modi's face on advertisements for the Reliance Jio telecoms launch in 2016. But last month, Mumbai-based Ambani endorsed Congress candidate Milind Deora, appearing in a video saying "Milind is the man for South Bombay." Deora's politician father was a close friend of the Ambanis. BIND OVER BONDS Under the electoral bond scheme announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last year, individuals and companies can anonymously buy as many bonds as they wish to in denominations ranging from 1,000 rupees to 10 million rupees and deposit them in a party account at the State Bank of India (SBI). "The electoral bond scheme .... envisages total clean money and substantial transparency," Jaitley said in a Facebook post. Activists say the opposite is true. "If you do not know the donor and you do not know who the money is given to, where is the transparency? Dubious donations are now legitimized," said Jagdeep Chhokar, a founder of the Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms. When Reuters reporters visited SBI branches during bond sales in Delhi and Mumbai this year, a handful of men who described themselves as politicians or company representatives were waiting to open bank accounts or buy bonds. SBI officials declined to provide details on the sales. ($1 = 69.8980 Indian rupees) (Additional reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal in Delhi Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan Edited by Martin Howell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
By Kieran Guilbert

LONDON, May 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Big investors must look beyond the clamor over climate change and compel companies to tackle modern slavery as well, the head of a United Nations-backed group pushing for responsible investment said on Wednesday.

Fund managers can put trillions of dollars worth of pressure on businesses that fail to stop slave labor by uniting to demand improvements and monitor progress, said Fiona Reynolds, head of London-based Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI).

Otherwise a host of ethical issues risk falling from view, with consumer pressure over global warming providing handy cover for companies that drag their feet on modern slavery.

"Look for the laggards, target them and point to best practice from the top performers in their sector," she said. "Give them time to improve, and measure the change ... it must be a collaborative and collective, long-term engagement."

While top asset managers such as BlackRock have increasingly focused on climate-related risks, Reynolds said modern slavery had not made the same sort of mark on investors who weigh environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

"There are a lot of ESG conversations around climate change ... but it is interlinked with modern slavery," Reynolds told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

"We see many climate migrants and refugees who end up vulnerable and at risk of being trafficked," she added.

The PRI represents more than 2,200 investors that manage a combined $82 trillion worth of assets. Once seen as irrelevant by many financial executives, ESG issues have become a vital tool for asset managers hoping to stand out.

The U.N. estimates that some 40 million people are trapped in modern slavery, from factory jobs to forced marriages.

Amid a U.N. goal of ending by 2030 a trade thought to generate annual profits of $150 billion, Reynolds said investors must team up to identify firms that are behind the curve on tackling slavery and use their financial clout to demand change.

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The PRI in 2017 adopted tougher rules aimed at making fund managers deliver on pledges to pay heed to ESG issues, and said it would start delisting stragglers next year.

TURNING POINT

Reynolds said companies must be pushed to implement and enforce robust anti-slavery policies, carry out investigations within their supply chains and closely monitor sub-contractors.

"We can't think about modern slavery alone, there needs to be a holistic human rights approach that considers fair wages, labor laws, freedom of association," Reynolds said. "You won't fix any one of these issues without addressing the others."

Several supermarket chains have made strides in tackling slavery - pushed by both investor and public pressure as consumers demand to know more about their goods - she said.

Britain's six biggest tea companies have all revealed their suppliers, while fashion giant H&M has done the same for each garment on its website amid rising pressure on firms to be open.

"Transparency is at the heart of good governance but it is just a starting point," said Reynolds, also chairwoman of the Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, which launched last year.

The initiative is backed by several governments and aims to fight money laundering by traffickers, boost ethical investment and offer opportunities to people who are vulnerable to slavery.

But Reynolds said there was a long way to go.

"The turning point will be when we don't have to talk about responsible investment but just investment ... and can move beyond the mindset of making profit at any cost," she added. (Reporting by Kieran Guilbert, Editing by Lyndsy Griffiths. 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)
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Does the May share price for AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for AstraZeneca

The model

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. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. 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, so we need to discount the sum of these future cash flows to arrive at a present value estimate:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Levered FCF ($, Millions) $4.92k $4.64k $5.46k $8.87k $10.35k $11.50k $12.44k $13.20k $13.81k $14.31k Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x9 Analyst x5 Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 11.14% Est @ 8.16% Est @ 6.08% Est @ 4.63% Est @ 3.61% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 7.3% $4.59k $4.03k $4.42k $6.70k $7.28k $7.54k $7.60k $7.51k $7.33k $7.08k

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= $64.07b

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"Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St

The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 10-year government bond rate of 1.2%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.3%.

Terminal Value (TV) = FCF 2029  (1 + g)  (r  g) = US$14b  (1 + 1.2%)  (7.3%  1.2%) = US$239b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV) = TV / (1 + r)10 = $US$239b  ( 1 + 7.3%)10 = $117.98b

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 $182.05b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. This results in an intrinsic value estimate in the companys reported currency of $138.78. However, AZNs primary listing is in United Kingdom, and 1 share of AZN in USD represents 0.768 ( USD/ GBP) share of NYSE:AZN, so the intrinsic value per share in GBP is 106.54. Relative to the current share price of 57.26, the company appears quite good value at a 46% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

LSE:AZN Intrinsic value, May 1st 2019

The 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 AstraZeneca 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 7.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.913. 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:

Although the valuation of a company is important, 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. What is the reason for the share price to differ from the intrinsic value? For AstraZeneca, I've put together three essential aspects you should further examine:

Financial Health: Does AZN 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 AZN'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 AZN? 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.
The marijuana industry has strong potential especially after legalization for recreational and medicinal use. Moreover, the industry is enjoying benefits of expansion into other industries like food, beverage, tobacco and cosmetics.



The much-awaited Cannabis Banking Bill was finally passed by the House Financial Services Committee on Mar 28. This opens up avenues for legal and effective financing for marijuana companies in the United States.



However, investors should be careful as several stocks of this industry have already skyrocketed even as the industry has been tagged as highly volatile.



Cannabis Banking Bill: A Key Catalyst



On Mar 28, the House Financial Services Committee voted 45-15 in favor of passing the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019 or the SAFE Banking Act. The bill seeks to safeguard the process of financial lending to cannabis companies in the United States. This would not only protect the industrys credit lines but also aid cannabis ancillary industries in the country. The ancillary sector has been suffering from financial uncertainties associated with the legal status of marijuana in the past.



Cannabis is getting approval from many U.S. states for recreational uses, in addition to medical usage. Though pot remains entirely illegal at the federal level, currently 47 U.S. states offer some form of legalized marijuana for sale.



Strong Market Potential



Research firm Euromonitor has estimated that the American market for legal marijuana products will reach $20 billion by 2020 from a mere $5.4 billion in 2015. According to the Arcview Market Research, the U.S. legal cannabis market is expected to reach $23 billion by 2022. Research firm Cowen projected that the market size of the U.S. legal cannabis industry will reach $75 billion in by 2030, surpassing the carbonated soft drink market in 2017.



Per a study conducted by Colorado cannabis consulting firm Freedman & Koski, Illinois annual marijuana market could be between $1.69 billion and $2.58 billion. Overall, U.S. consumer spending on legal cannabis is expected to reach $22.2 billion by 2022, while Canadian spending is estimated to hit $5.9 billion, per a January report by Arcview Market.



Extremely Volatile Industry



The marijuana industry is considered extremely volatile. Most of these companies are in their early stages of development and characterized as risky for investors. Even a minor negative development may cause major stock price fluctuations.



Notably, in October 2018, the news of supply shortages resulted in panic selling as investors look to offload risky stocks. According to some industry experts, 5-10% share price volatility daily should not be considered as unnatural for this industry.



Potential Winners



Cannabis stocks are solid long-term bets. Of these, stocks with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better and solid long-term growth potential are worth trying out despite the latent risks. We have narrowed down our search to five such stocks.



The chart below shows price performance of our five picks year to date.

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GW Pharmaceuticals plc GWPH a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing cannabinoid prescription medicines using botanical extracts derived from the Cannabis plant. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 20.5% and 64.5% for the current quarter and next year, respectively. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter and next year has improved 0.4% and 6.7%, respectively, over the last 60 days. The stock has surged 73.8% year to date.



Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. IIPR is focused on the acquisition, ownership and management of specialized industrial properties leased to experienced, state-licensed operators for their regulated medical-use cannabis facilities.



The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 94% and 56.9% for the current and next year, respectively. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current and next year has improved 0.4% and 4.9%, respectively, over the last 60 days. The stock has surged 87.5% year to date.



Canopy Growth Corp. CGC engages in growing, possession, and sale of medical cannabis in Canada. Its products include dried flowers, oils and concentrates, softgel capsules and hemps. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 41.9% and 57.9% for the current quarter and next year, respectively. The stock has surged 88% year to date.



Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB produces and distributes medical cannabis products. It is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across various segments of the cannabis value chain. The Zacks Rank #3 stock has surged 83% year to date.

The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 25% and 85.3% for the current quarter and next year, respectively. The Zacks Consensu Estimates for the current quarter and next year has improved 40% and 33.3%, respectively, over the last 60 days.



KushCo Holdings Inc. KSHB is the parent company to a diverse group of business units primarily in the cannabis, CBD and other related industries. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company has an expected earnings growth rate of 101.1% next year (starting from September 2019).



Biggest Tech Breakthrough in a Generation



Be among the early investors in the new type of device that experts say could impact society as much as the discovery of electricity. Current technology will soon be outdated and replaced by these new devices. In the process, its expected to create 22 million jobs and generate $12.3 trillion in activity.



A select few stocks could skyrocket the most as rollout accelerates for this new tech. Early investors could see gains similar to buying Microsoft in the 1990s. Zacks just-released special report reveals 7 stocks to watch. The report is only available for a limited time.



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GW Pharmaceuticals PLC (GWPH) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (IIPR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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KUSHCO HOLDINGS, INC. (KSHB) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Investors were ready for bad news.

Going into this earnings season, there was an expectation that corporate profits would take a hit in the first quarter of 2019, declining from the robust results seen in the same period last year. Some analysts had S&P 500 profits down as much as 4% year-over-year, citing the diminishing one-time effects of the Trump tax cuts and an expected slowdown in GDP growth.

So far, that hasnt been the case. The U.S. economy grew at a 3.2% rate in the first quarter, exceeding expectations considerably, while the S&P 500 keeps setting all-time highs as it approaches the 3,000-point mark. With nearly half of the S&P 500 having reported earnings at the end of last week, financial data firm FactSet revised its previous expectation of a 3.9% earnings decline this quarter to a more modest 2.3% drop on April 26noting that 77% of all companies to have reported earnings as of April 26 had beaten their estimates. Credit Suisse, meanwhile, reversed its forecast of a 2.5% decline to a year-on-year increase of between 2.5% to 3%.

The 2018 tax cuts were a big part of why earnings were so high last year, according to Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwabs Schwab Center for Financial Research. There was a pretty broad consensus that we would see an earnings recession in Q1 Were only halfway through [earnings season] and things can change, but I cant imagine [earnings are] going to go negative.

In fact, an earnings recession, as its known, would actually entail two consecutive quarters of declining earnings for S&P 500 companies. But even if that should pass over the first two quarters of 2019, some market participants are far from worried about what that could mean as far as the state of the market.

Brendan Connaughton, the founder and managing director of San Francisco-based wealth management firm Catalyst Private Wealth, says that its a question of whether a market-wide decline in earnings is impactful enough to indicate that investors should be concerned about a slowdown. He notes that Catalyst is expecting a 0.5% drop in S&P 500 profits in the second quarterwhich, coupled with a first-quarter decline, would technically qualify [as an earnings recession], but it wont feel like it.

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Likewise, BMO Wealth Management released an analysis this week noting that six-month S&P 500 returns between 1995 and 2018 are actually highest in [periods] that begin with year-on-year earnings declines, as long as those declines last only for one or two quarters.

If an earnings decline just lasts a couple of quarters, it doesnt actually have a lasting impact on the markets, Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment strategist at BMO Wealth Management, told Fortune. The markets actually perform better, as long as that decline doesnt last [three or more] quarters. He noted that, like other market observers, BMO is expecting to see [earnings] growth in the second half of 2019.

So why all the fuss over the prospect of a dreaded earnings recession? TD Ameritrade trading strategist Shawn Cruz cites a lot of uncertainty over the ongoing effects of the Trump administrations tax reform bill, which proved a major boost to first-quarter earnings last year. There was a concern that because companies had such a big benefit last year, that was going to make it difficult to match those numbers this year, according to Cruz.

As such, the prospect of a slowdown in profits has been a topic of conversation on Wall Street for some time now, which gave the market ample time to take note, digest and react. And when the markets didnt reactinstead continuing their steady climb upwardthat was a sign that perhaps things wouldnt be so bad after all.

Andrew Slimmon, a managing director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, notes how he wrote about the risk of an earnings recession in a note at the start of the year; by March, he adds, everyone knew about [the possibility of] this earnings recession.

Yet the markets kept rising. When everyone highlights a risk but the market doesnt react to it, Slimmon says, then its probably not going to happen.

At least not this quarter.
DOHA (Reuters) - Iran criticised a U.S. plan to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in Doha on Wednesday.

"The U.S. is not in position to (..) start naming others as terror organisations and we reject by any attempt by the U.S. in this regard," he told reporters on a sideline of a conference. "The U.S. is supporting the biggest terrorist in the region, that is Israel."

President Donald Trump is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organisation, the White House said on Tuesday, which would lead to sanctions against Egypt's oldest Islamist movement.

(Reporting by Eric Knecht; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by John Stonestreet)
On Wednesday of last week, the allocation of funds for a permanent Pulse memorial had dropped to $0. But Florida lawmakers quickly reversed course, bumping that back up to $500,000 later in the week.

Our budget chairs have listened to us in our sincere and authentic attempt to secure funding for the @pulseorlando Memorial and should be applauded, tweeted Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando).

Its been almost three years since the Pulse massacre took place in June 2016 in Orlando where 49 people were killed. Since then, a temporarymemorialhas been built at the former site of the gay nightclub.

After the shooting, Pulse owner Barbara Pomalaunched the non-profit, onePULSE Foundation, to build a permanent memorial.

But the Florida legislature has so far refused to fund it.

Last year though, the legislature allocated $1 million in funding for a memorial at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland where a gunman killed 17 students and teachers in February 2018.

Theres been a tremendous focus on Parkland, as there should be, Rep. Holly Raschein(R-Monroe) told SFGN in March. But we should memorialize and remember the lives lost at Pulse as well.

The money would go to the onePULSE Foundation, who would oversee the project. In October, the foundation was awarded up to $10 million in hotel-tax revenues by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners to fund the memorial and museum.

On the Senate side, Sen. Linda Stewart(D-Orlando) has led the charge to fund the memorial.

Stewart also filed a bill to create a speciality license plate paying tribute to Pulse. The license plate would include the words Orlando United. The proceeds of the plate would go to the onePULSE Foundation, the Mental Health Association of Central Florida, and the Two Spirit Health Services.

Even though the money has been put back in the budget its still not a done deal. The money could still be stripped from the final budget. Gov. Ron DeSantis also has the power to veto the funds.
DOHA (Reuters) - Iran criticized a U.S. plan to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in Doha on Wednesday. "The U.S. is not in position to (..) start naming others as terror organizations and we reject by any attempt by the U.S. in this regard," he told reporters on a sideline of a conference. "The U.S. is supporting the biggest terrorist in the region, that is Israel." President Donald Trump is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, the White House said on Tuesday, which would lead to sanctions against Egypt's oldest Islamist movement. (Reporting by Eric Knecht; writing by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by John Stonestreet)
BAGHDAD, May 1 (Reuters) - Iraq's oil exports rose to 3.466 million barrels per day (bpd) in April from 3.377 million bpd the previous month, a statement from the oil ministry said.

Exports from the southern Basra oilfields rose to 3.354 million bpd from 3.254 million bpd in March, it said. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and John Davison)
RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP)  Under a fluorescent light, an archivist from Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial snaps photos and scans into her mobile database the last remnant that a pair of elderly siblings have of their long-lost father  a 1943 postcard Samuel Akerman tossed in desperation out of the deportation train hurtling him toward his demise in the Majdanek death camp.

"It's what we have left from him," said Rachel Zeiger, his now 91-year-old daughter. "But this is not for the family. It is for the next generations."

With the world's community of aging Holocaust survivors rapidly shrinking, and their live testimonies soon to be a thing of the past, efforts such as these have become the forefront of preparing for a world without them.

Through its "Gathering the Fragments" program, Yad Vashem has collected some 250,000 items from survivors and their families in recent years to be stored for posterity and displayed online in hopes of preserving the memory of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, even after the last of the survivors has passed away.

Copious video testimonies have been filmed and even holograms have been produced to try to recreate the powerful impact of a survivor's recollection, which has been the staple of Holocaust commemoration for decades. This year, an Instagram account was created based on the real-life journal of a teenage Jewish victim to make her story more accessible to a younger generation.

With the passing of time, any physical links to the Holocaust and its victims have become valuable means of remembrance and evidence against the growing tide of denial and minimization of the genocide around the world.

As Israel starts marking its annual Holocaust Remembrance Day at sundown Wednesday, Yad Vashem will be laying the cornerstone of its new campus for the Shoah Heritage Collections Center  the future permanent home for its 210 million documents, 500,000 photographs, 131,000 survivor testimonies, 32,400 artifacts and 11,500 works of art related to the Holocaust. On Thursday, it will offer the public a rare behind-the-scenes look of its preservation work, with tours of its collection, archive and digitizing labs.

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"The German Nazis were determined not only to annihilate the Jewish people, but also to obliterate their identity, memory, culture and heritage," said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. "By preserving these precious items ... and revealing them to the public they will act as the voice of the victims and the survivors and serve as an everlasting memory."

Samuel Akerman's jarring letter to his family will soon join the collected assortment.

"My heart is bitter. I unfortunately have to inform you that I, together with 950 other people, am headed toward an unknown destination," he scribbled in shaky handwriting to his two children on Feb. 27, 1943, from inside the packed transport. "I may not be able to write you again ... pray to God that we will joyfully see each other again. Don't give up hope and I am sure God will help us."

Akerman, a diamond merchant who dreamed of moving to pre-state Israel, was never heard from again.

A bystander likely found the discarded postcard on the ground and mailed it to Zeiger and her younger brother, Moshe, in occupied France, where they had fled from their home in Belgium after the Nazis invaded. After the father was deported, the rest  mother, grandmother and the two children  survived by assuming false, Christian identities.

Zeiger recalls several close encounters when their cover was nearly lost. Once, the Gestapo arrived in the early morning hours to seize a Jewish family hiding in the ground floor of their building. When the Nazis knocked on their third-floor door, a teenage Zeiger presented their fake papers in her fluent French to convince them they had nothing to look for there.

"I've never felt that way in my life," she recalled from her quaint house in Ramat Gan, just outside Tel Aviv. "I had to vomit after they left. My whole body clenched."

After the war, they returned to Antwerp to find their home ravaged. They waited there several years, in the faint hope that their father would somehow return, before giving up and moving to Israel.

The postcard remained stashed away as a vestige of their painful past for more than 75 years, until Moshe Akerman heard of the Yad Vashem campaign seeking personal effects of aging survivors.

"My kids are glad I did it so that this testimony will exist, because otherwise you don't talk about it," said Akerman, 84. "It's a small testimony to what happened, another drop in this sea of testimony. It doesn't uncover anything new. The facts are known. What happened happened, and this is another small proof of it."

Besides rounding up Jews and shipping them to death camps, the Nazis and their collaborators confiscated their possessions and stole their valuables, leaving little behind. Those who survived often had just a small item or two they managed to keep. Many have clung to the sentimental objects ever since.

But with the next generation often showing little interest in maintaining the items, and their means of properly preserving them limited, Yad Vashem launched "Gathering the Fragments" in 2011 to collect as many artifacts as possible before the survivors  and their stories  were gone forever. Rather than exhibit them in its flagship museum, Yad Vashem stores most of the items in a specialized facility and uploads replicas online for a far wider global reach.

"These items complement other material we have and help us complete the puzzle of the victims' stories," explained Orit Noiman, head of Yad Vashem's collection and registration center. "The personal item becomes part of the collective national memory. With the clock ticking and the survivors leaving us, this is what we can make accessible to the public."

____

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday denounced a rise in anti-Semitism around the world, at a ceremony on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"The extreme left and the extreme right (around the world) agree on only one thing: their hatred of the Jews," Netanyahu said at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

He pointedly referred to Saturday's shooting in a California synagogue that killed one person and wounded three others, two of them Israelis.

Netanyahu said anti-Semitism was also found in a New York Times cartoon depicting him as a guide dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading a blind US President Donald Trump donning a kippah, or Jewish skullcap.

An apology by the newspaper has been dismissed by Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon who said such images can incite violence against Jews.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin meanwhile condemned "all forms of racism and anti-Semitism".

Wednesday's ceremony came as a report by the president of the European Jewish Congress, Moshe Kantor, warned that anti-Semitism is on the rise in parts of North America and Europe where Jews once felt safe.

"Anti-Semitism is no longer limited to the far-Left, far-Right and radical Islamists, it has become mainstreamed and often accepted by the civil society," Kantor said, citing an "extreme sense of emergency".

Israel will mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday when sirens will blare across the country for two minutes in the morning, followed by a series of events in memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
* AKP's alliance with nationalists failed to deliver main cities

* Erdogan's party relies on MHP for parliamentary majority

* MHP leader says his party committed to alliance with AKP

By Orhan Coskun

ANKARA, May 1 (Reuters) - A month after local elections which saw it lose control of Turkey's two largest cities, officials in President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party are questioning an alliance with nationalists which some blame for one of its biggest electoral setbacks.

Under a deal between Erdogan's Islamist-rooted party and the smaller Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the nationalists fielded no mayoral candidate in the capital Ankara or Istanbul in the March 31 vote, and the AKP stood aside in other regions.

But the deal failed to prevent the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), which had a similar pact with other smaller opposition parties, winning the mayoralty in both cities, ending a quarter century of control by the AKP and its Islamist predecessors.

The AKP is still challenging its narrow loss in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and business hub where Erdogan himself served as mayor before the party swept to power nationally in 2002. It has dominated Turkish politics ever since.

While the Istanbul appeal drags on, the rare defeat has prompted questions within the party over campaign strategy. Although the alliance helped them win a majority of votes nationwide, AKP officials say it has delivered limited benefits.

"The MHP gained a lot from this alliance, more than us," a senior official at the AKP headquarters in Ankara told Reuters.

Another AKP official said the MHP's 71-year-old leader Devlet Bahceli, once a staunch critic of Erdogan, was an unpredictable ally.

The AKP relies on the MHP for its parliamentary majority, meaning any break in the pact would leave it looking for new partners - a significant challenge after Erdogan's blistering criticism of his opponents during the campaign.

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FRACTURE

But that has not stopped talk of a split. The senior official said that if Turkey's electoral board rules against a re-run of the Istanbul vote requested by the AKP, there was little incentive to maintain the alliance.

"Depending on the decision, the fate of the alliance will be determined. It is not possible to say where the alliance will go in the short-term, but the fracture has become noticeable now," he said.

An MHP official said that while differences with the AKP were emerging in public, the nationalists would not be the side to end what the parties have called their "People's Alliance."

Bahceli said he remained committed to the pact. "This is our basic choice, our national and strategic goal," he said in a statement on Wednesday. "There is undoubtedly no need to search for other alliances."

The stunning setbacks for the AKP in Ankara and Istanbul prompted sharp public criticism last week from a politician once at the heart of Erdogan's administration.

Former AKP prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemned his party's alliance with the nationalists, saying it was damaging "both in terms of voter levels and the party's identity."

Davutoglu, who served as premier between 2014 and 2016, also slammed the AKP's economic policies, media restrictions and the damage he said it had done to the separation of powers and Turkey's institutions.

Since the election, Erdogan has appeared to downplay the significance of the MHP, pointing to its 7 percent share of the vote. Bahceli said the remarks were "unfair and unjust," given that his party had chosen not to stand in Turkey's three largest cities.

After CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was physically attacked at a soldier's funeral last month, Erdogan struck a more conciliatory tone with a call for unity.

"On matters that concern the survival of our country, we must move all together with 82 million as the TURKEY ALLIANCE, putting aside our political differences," he tweeted.

Analysts say his reference to national unity may be largely rhetorical, and the opposition says it rings hollow after he repeatedly accused the CHP and its Iyi (Good) Party allies during the election campaign of supporting terrorism.

"Some people within the AKP are doing self-critism. This bothers Erdogan. How could a person who can't even tolerate self-criticism within his own party preach democracy?" CHP Deputy Chairman Muharrem Erkek said. "His own words show he is not sincere in the 'Turkey Alliance' rhetoric." (Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay Additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen Editing by Dominic Evans and Gareth Jones)
Istanbul (AFP) - Istanbul police detained dozens of people who were trying to hold a May day rally at city centre square on Wednesday in defiance of a protest ban.

Some 127 people were detained attempting to make their way to an unauthorised demonstration at Taksim Square, a traditional focal point of protest in the city, according to Istanbul police, who barricaded nearby roads including the bustling Istiklal Avenue.

Protesters were pinned roughly to police vehicles during the arrests, AFP correspondents said, while tourists in the area were also subjected to baggage searches.

The annual workers' holiday is often marked by confrontation between demonstrators and police.

Several thousand people were able to attend an officially-approved event in the Istanbul district of Bakirkoy, including members of workers' unions and opposition political parties, a correspondent said.

Tensions are heightened in Istanbul after March 31 local elections.

The opposition's Ekrem Imamoglu narrowly defeated the candidate of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to become Istanbul mayor but the AKP has officially requested a rerun of the vote in the city.

One of the protesters taking part in Bakirkoy, Mustafa Comert, said Turkey was at "at a turning point, that change has begun."

He added: "This May 1 will be even more beautiful. It is obvious that this is a consequence of the elections."

Planned May Day rallies in Sanliurfa, southeastern Turkey, were marred when a bus carrying workers from the southern province of Kahramanmaras overturned, killing five people and injuring 12, state news agency Anadolu reported.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL), Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) and Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) (L-R) speak to the media after touring the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Migrant Children facility on February 19, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. The facility is the nation's largest for housing migrant children. Reports indicate that they are currently housing about 1,600 teens, with plans to take in as many as 2,400.

WASHINGTON  Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) announced Wednesday he will not run for Senate, ending a several months long will-he-or-won't-he narrative on whether he will go up against Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

Right now, Im going to focus on my work in the House of Representatives. Ive been doing what I feel is important and meaningful work here, he said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News, which first reported his announcement.

If and when I run for another office, it is likely to be something that takes me back home to Texas," he said.

An interactive guide: Who is running for president in 2020?

Currently, Castro serves on the House Intelligence Committee and is the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In addition, he is the campaign chairman for his twin brother Julian Castro's 2020 presidential campaign.

In a separate interview with Texas Monthly, Castro said he thought long and hard about going up against Cornyn, who is seen as vulnerable during the 2020 election and has more than $7 million in the bank for his campaign, a number larger than any Senator running for reelection.

Julian Castro, center right, is embraced by his twin brother U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio), center left, during an event where Julian Castro announced his decision to seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

According to filings from the Federal Election Commission, Joaquin Castro only brought in $36,000 during the first three months of this year.

Castro's decision paves a path for Democrat M.J. Hegar, an Air Force veteran who lost a competitive race during the Midterm elections to take Texas's 31st Congressional District seat.

Like I have for many years, Ill do everything I can to help our Democratic nominee win, he said to the Express-News.

More: Pete Buttigieg targeted in operation by right-wing provocateur Jacob Wohl

Cornyn in a statement to Texas Monthly went after Sen. Chuck Schumer for Castro's decision, pointing to reports that the Senate Minority Leader had previously met with Hegar.

Despite Rep. Castro saying he was all but certain to run, Chuck Schumer and DC Democrats had other ideas, the Cornyn campaign said. Chuck Schumer recruited and picked MJ Hollywood Hegar instead, pushing Castro aside and ignoring the Texas Latino grassroots.

"Hollywood Hegar may have the support of the New York and California elites but she has none in Texas. Shame on Chuck Schumer and DC Democrats for forcing a high-profile Hispanic leader out of the Senate race," the statement continued.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joaquin Castro decides to pass on running for Senate
(Credit: Justice Singleton/Instagram)

Director John Singletons daughter Justice  and former president Barack Obama  have paid tribute to her hero father.

Justice, the eldest of Singletons seven children, called the maker of movies like Boyz n the Hood pure love in a touching post to Instagram.

Read more: Spike Lee leads tributes to John Singleton

He told me to listen and not always talk, but I always talked anyway. I learned to listen through him. This man is my hero and I never told him my everything, she wrote.

Ill share as much of his hopes and dreams. Ill treat those the way he did, with fist bumps and laughter. I sincerely wish he had more time but what he did here  is everlasting and within me. Ill always be Justice, his little face.

Singletons family made the agonising decision to turn off life support on Monday after the director suffered a massive stroke last week.

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He was just 51.

President Barack Obama also paid tribute to Singleton, notably movie Boyz n the Hood, which made him the first  and youngest  African American Oscar nominee for Best Director.

Condolences to the family of John Singleton, he tweeted.

His seminal work, Boyz n the Hood, remains one of the most searing, loving portrayals of the challenges facing inner-city youth. He opened doors for filmmakers of color to tell powerful stories that have been too often ignored.

Condolences to the family of John Singleton. His seminal work, Boyz n the Hood, remains one of the most searing, loving portrayals of the challenges facing inner-city youth. He opened doors for filmmakers of color to tell powerful stories that have been too often ignored.  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 30, 2019

Written from his own experiences growing up in South Central Los Angeles, the movie gave both Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut their acting debuts.

Spike Lee also paid tribute to Singleton yesterday, as did the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and Jordan Peele.

Singleton also made movies including Poetic Justice, 2 Fast 2 Furious, the 2000 remake of Shaft and Four Brothers.

He is survived by his mother Sheila Ward, his father, Danny Singleton, and his children, Justice, Maasai, Hadar, Cleopatra, Selenesol, Isis, and Seven.




The Nile is the longest river in the world, coursing about 6,650 kilometers (4,132 miles) across northeastern Africa to meet the Mediterranean Sea at the broad, green delta in Egypt.

The Nile's drainage basin extends roughly about 1.3 million square mile (3.34 sq km) and includes parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt. As the waters pass through some of the driest desert on Earth, the river's importance as a source of food, water, transportation - and even life - cannot be underestimated.



On March 15, 2019, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA's Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of the Nile River as it weaves through Sudan.



The Nile begins where two tributaries, the White Nile (west) and the Blue Nile (east) meet at the large city of Khartoum. This confluence can be seen in the lower center of the image. From Khartoum the river snakes to the north and west, reaching the extremely arid Sahara Desert. Most settlements in Sudan are along the Nile and in the greener, moister regions between the Blue Nile and White Nile.



Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC Larger image

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Jude Law on Sex and the City nanny joke (Credit: PA)

Its been 14 years since Jude Laws affair with his childrens nanny hit the headlines but now he admits he can shrug off the jokes about it.

However, that wasnt the case when he learnt he was used as a punchline in the 2008 Sex and the City film. In one scene, Kim Cattralls character Samantha Jones says: There ought to be a law against hiring a nanny who looks like that, to which Sarah Jessica Parkers Carrie Bradshaw replies: Yeah, the Jude Law.

The actor revealed to The Telegraph in an interview that little things like that used to freeze my blood.

Read more: Cynthia Nixon calls out Sex and the City white feminism issues

I would be left absolutely crippled. But nowadays it just bounces off, he continued. Im like, Is that all youve got? I mean, Im doing the thing I love, I have a happy home life, Im very proud of my children, and Im healthy, thank goodness.

So if people are still throwing paper darts at me I mean, Christ! If thats what rocks their boat, let em do it.

Jude Law is over the jokes at his expense (Credit:AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

Read more: Game of Thrones cinematographer defends lighting

Law has enjoyed quite the career resurgence over the last few years after landing roles in the Harry Potter franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The British actor not only played Yonn-Rogg in the Captain Marvel movie but is also Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts film series.

Hes also starring opposite Natalie Portman in Vox Lux and has been busy filming the new series of The Young Pope, which caused quite a frenzy on social media when he was snapped wearing white Speedos.

Vox Lux is in cinemas this Friday




By Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court on Wednesday for skipping bail when he holed up in Ecuador's London embassy for seven years until police dragged him out last month. Assange sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid an extradition order to Sweden over an allegation of rape, which he denies. His lawyer argued it was an act of desperation to avoid being passed to the United States to face action over the release of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables. Many of the documents related to wars, national security and other issues, and some were often highly critical appraisals of world leaders such Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Saudi royal family. The United States has charged him with conspiracy and seeks his extradition. But handing down what was nearly the maximum possible sentence, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange he had exploited his privileged position to flout the law and express his disdain for British justice. "Whilst you may have had fears as to what may happen to you, nonetheless you had a choice," Taylor told Assange, dressed in a black jacket and gray sweatshirt, at Southwark Crown Court. "It is difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offence." Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. But to others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security. After his sentence was announced, supporters in the public gallery got to their feet to cheer him, before raising their arms and chanting "shame on you" to the court. The case in Britain arose after Australian-born Assange, 47, was accused by two Swedish women of sexual assault and rape in 2010. Assange fought through the courts to get an extradition order and the preliminary investigation dropped. He fled to Ecuador's embassy in June 2012 after exhausting all legal options and was granted asylum two months later. The Swedish allegations were dropped in 2017, but authorities there might revive them. Just hours after police finally removed from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11, U.S. prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer. He was convicted on the charge of jumping bail the same day. "TERRIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES" In a letter read out at the hearing in London, Assange said he regretted how matters how panned out. "I apologize unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended," Assange said in the letter to the judge read out by his lawyer, Mark Summers. "I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best." Summers told the court that Assange had "strongly held fears" in 2012 that he would be sent from Sweden to the United States and ultimately to the Guantanamo Bay detention center in a U.S. naval base in Cuba. Summers cited the arrest and treatment of Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army soldier who served seven years in military prison for leaking classified data while she was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq. Assange's lawyer said Manning, who is transgender, had been subjected to sleep deprivation and forced to parade naked in front of military personnel. Summers said the fact Assange chose indefinite detention in small rooms at the Ecuadorean Embassy, in a state of depression and pain for various medical ailments, rather than spend 12 months in a British jail, showed the extent of his fears. But Judge Taylor rejected the arguments, saying they offered limited mitigation for his actions and that it had cost British taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million) to ensure he was arrested when he left the embassy. The sentence does not end British legal proceedings. On Thursday, there will be hearing in another London court as part of a U.S. extradition case. "Tomorrow...is the start of the big and most important fight," Kristinn Hrafnsson from WikiLeaks said outside court. "What is at stake there? It could be a question of life and death for Mr Assange." (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Alison Williams)
The chaos in Venezuela could take down more than just the Maduro regime, according to one strategist.

The Cubans are the ones who are running the show in Venezuela, Bulltick Chief Global Markets Strategist Kathryn Rooney Vera told Yahoo Finances On the Move on Wednesday. As soon as Venezuela falls, what we are going to see is Cuba fall in its wake.

Cuba is among numerous countries including Russia, China, and Iran that have stood firm behind President Nicolas Maduro.

President Donald Trump has threatened action against those backing the current regime, tweeting:

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

....embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

The U.S. along with Brazil and several EU countries has backed opposition leader Juan Guaido. Guaido called for an uprising against Maduro this week, urging military leaders to join his cause. Venezuelans have taken to the streets in support since his call.

Anti-government protesters, one carrying a homemade mortar, take cover as security forces fire tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Rooney Vera says Maduro does not belong in office. This is not a coup and its so critical to highlight that point, she said. President Maduro is not the legitimate president. Its against the constitution and the last presidential election was deemed illegitimate.

The chaos in the oil-rich nation has caused turmoil in the commodity market as traders remain unsure if Guaidos claim to power will be a success. Production in the OPEC country has seen a steep decline in recent years, with exports falling from a peak of 2.38 million barrels per day in the third quarter of 2015 to just 840,000 currently.
Almaty (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - Police in Kazakhstan arrested dozens of protesters opposed to the country's regime on Wednesday, after rare demonstrations decrying upcoming elections that critics say will extend decades of authoritarian rule in the Central Asian nation.

The interior ministry said that 80 people had been arrested in the country's largest city Almaty and the capital Nur-Sultan.

Hundreds of people reportedly gathered for an unsanctioned rally in the capital.

Several hundred people also gathered in Almaty's central park to listen to activists, who criticised the rule of longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev and a June vote that his ally is expected to win.

An AFP correspondent saw around fifty demonstrators bundled into police vans after they left the park, which is popular with local families.

Slogans shouted by protesters in Almaty included "Down with dictatorship", "We have a choice" and "We are the power".

Protesters were also critical of Nazarbayev's ally Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who was nominated for the ballot by the ruling party last month and has committed to continue his predecessor's course.

Tokayev took over as interim president in March following the shock resignation of Nazarbayev,who had ruled the ex-Soviet nation for three decades.

One of the protesters, Oksana, said she had come to the demonstration because "we are tired of everything our authorities are doing".

"They shut our mouths. We have no freedom of speech whatsoever," she told AFP.

"We have the feeling that we live in a slave state, not a free country."

Nazarbayev, 78, shocked the country by calling time on his presidency, but he is still expected to call the shots in the oil-rich nation of 18 million people.

- 'I came with my baby' -

Oksana complained that she had been arrested at one previous demonstration for holding a blue balloon -- a trademark of the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK) group led by Nazarbayev's self-exiled nemesis, Mukhtar Ablyazov.

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"This time I came with my young baby because I hope that then police will not arrest me, and I will be able to say everything that I want to say," she said.

The Almaty rally began Wednesday afternoon when Oksana and another mother -- both clutching their children -- called for free elections and regime change before they were drowned out by music played over loudspeakers.

Several figures dressed in animal costumes broke into the gathering crowd and began dancing, in what appeared a deliberate attempt to break up the demonstration.

The crowd then regrouped and marched through the park continuing to shout slogans.

AFP identified at least one plainclothes police officer jostling for position with journalists to film the protesters.

Several people at the rally expressed support for Ablyazov's group.

- Broken promises -

Kazakh police typically arrest protesters before they can gather to demonstrate but initially exercised restraint on Wednesday as a vocal and energetic crowd was swelled by passersby.

A city official said authorities would not detain anyone after he spent around an hour negotiating with demonstrators.

"Nobody is going to arrest anybody," Sultanbek Makezhanov told AFP. "You are asking the wrong questions."

Public gatherings in authoritarian Kazakhstan are illegal unless they receive permission from authorities, which is almost never provided in the case of political demonstrations.

Tokayev, a 65-year-old former foreign minister, proposed renaming the country's capital Nur-Sultan in Nazarbayev's honour. The capital was previously called Astana.

Kazakhstan, allied to Beijing and Moscow, has never held an election judged free or fair by Western election monitors.

Nazarbayev triumphed in the 2015 election with nearly 98 percent of the vote.
Clashes erupted in Venezuela on Tuesday with officials loyal to President Nicolas Maduro saying they confronted a "coup after opposition leader Juan Guaido called for an uprising.

In an effort to oust Maduro from the presidency, Guaido called on the military to support him and called on the Venezuelan people to take to the streets.

Guaido's surprise move could be a make-or-break moment in the long-simmering struggle for power in Venezuela.

What is happening?

An escalating showdown between President Maduro and opposition leader Guaido has sparked renewed violence and unrest in Venezuela.

Venezuela: How the Venezuelan 'coup' didn't get beyond street demonstrations supporting Juan Guaido

How did this start?

Guaido declared himself interim president after Maduro was sworn into office for a second term in January. Maduros re-election was marred by accusations of fraud and election rigging.

What is the U.S. involvement?

The U.S. and more than 50 other countries have called on Maduro to step down and thrown support to Guaido as the legitimate leader.

Guaido has staunch support from the Trump administration in his bid to oust Maduro, and top U.S. officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, voiced support for Guaido's move to oust Maduro.

Tuesday afternoon, John Bolton, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, called for a peaceful transition of power from Maduro to Guaido. And Trump called on pro-Maduro Cuban security forces to leave Venezuela, threatening sanctions against the Cuban government if it continued to support the socialist Venezuelan leader.

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What happens next?

The situation is extremely fluid and volatile. Some experts say that if Guaidos push does not gain momentum, the opposition will face mass arrests and the country will sink further into a dictatorship. If he succeeds in ousting Maduro, it will still be a long road to recovery for Venezuela.

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In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an illegitimate government with the support of the United States and neighboring Colombia. He said Venezuela had been a victim of aggression of all kinds.

Guaido countered with his own video message in which he urged Venezuelans to again take to the streets on Wednesday.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What you need to know about the crisis in Venezuela
Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait on Wednesday inaugurated one of the world's longest causeways, linking the oil-rich Gulf state's capital to an uninhabited border region set to become a major free trade hub.

The 36-kilometre (22-mile) bridge connects Kuwait City to the northern desert area of Subbiya, where Kuwait aims to create the "Silk City" project linking the Gulf to central Asia and Europe.

The "Jaber" bridge, named after late ruler Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, spans 36 kilometres (22 miles), three-quarters of it over water.

It cuts the driving time between Kuwait City and Subbiya, close to both Iraq and Iran, from 90 minutes to less than half an hour.

Investment in the Silk City project is expected to top $100 billion, and a 5,000-megawatt power plant has already been built in Subbiya.

The $3.6 billion causeway, designed by Paris-based engineering and consulting group Systra, took five years to build.

The work was carried out by a consortium led by South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. along with Kuwait's Combined Group Contracting Co.

The opening ceremony was attended by Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah along with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon and the leader of the French senate, Gerard Larcher.

Lee Nak-yeon said Wednesday the causeway would establish Kuwait as an international trade centre.
A Labour minister has provoked outrage after she laughed when questioned about fresh anti-Semitism claims against Jeremy Corbyn.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow Business Secretary, was questioned over Mr Corbyns foreword to a century-old book which argued that banks and newspapers were controlled by Jews.

Her reaction was condemned by MPs and Jewish commentators.

Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, tweeted: Her comments on Corbyn's antisemitism, in which she actually laughed, were a model of their kind - the contemptible defence of a racist by his allies.

Rebecca Long-Bailey has been criticised for her reaction to fresh anti-Semitism claims against Labour (Getty)

Comedian and TV presenter Matt Forde added: Just a tip for Labour spokespeople, like Rebecca Long-Bailey who was on the #R4Today just now. When responding to allegations of antisemitism, NEVER LAUGH. That was shocking.

Ms Long-Bailey, tipped as a future Labour leader, defended Mr Corbyn, telling Sky News: He was commenting in a wider political sense in the same way many MPs have done over the years.

In no way would Labour or Jeremy Corbyn condone any anti-Semitic comments of any kind.

Jeremy Corbyn wrote a foreword to a century-old book which argued that banks and newspapers were controlled by Jews

Does anyone have a clip of Rebecca Long-Bailey on Today? Her comments on Corbyn's antisemitism, in which she actually laughed, were a model of their kind - the contemptible defence of a racist by his allies  Stephen Pollard (@stephenpollard) May 1, 2019

Just a tip for Labour spokespeople, like Rebecca Long-Bailey who was on the #R4Today just now. When responding to allegations of antisemitism, NEVER LAUGH. That was shocking.  Matt Forde (@mattforde) May 1, 2019

She said that she had not read Hobson's book, but added: "The guy in question was a political thinker of his time, whether you agree with his opinions or not.

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The outrage was sparked after it emerged Mr Corbyn described a new edition of economist JA Hobson's Imperialism: A Study - written in 1902 - as "brilliant, and very controversial at the time" and "a great tome.

Labour has denied that his comments amounted to an endorsement of sections of the book which are widely regarded as anti-Semitic.

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In the book, Hobson suggested that finance in Europe was controlled "by men of a singular and peculiar race who have behind them many centuries of financial experience" and "are in a unique position to control the policy of nations.

He argued that the great financial houses have "control which they exercise over the body of public opinion through the press.

And he suggested that no European state would engage in a great war "if the house of Rothschild and its connections set their face against it.

Labour denied that Mr Corbyn's comments amounted to an endorsement of sections of the book which are widely regarded as anti-Semitic (Getty)

Hobson's theory that imperialism was driven by international finance seeking new markets was quoted approvingly by Lenin.

And Mr Corbyn wrote in his foreword: "Hobson's railing against the commercial interests that fuel the role of the popular press with tales of imperial might, that then lead on to racist caricatures of African and Asian peoples, was both correct and prescient.

Former Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the party earlier this year in protest at Mr Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitism allegations, said: "Jeremy Corbyn endorsed (a) book that peddles racist stereotypes of Jewish financiers and imperialism as 'brilliant' and a 'great tome' ... He is completely unfit to lead the Labour Party.

My advice to any Labour MP today: refuse to defend Jeremy Corbyn lauding a book containing classic antisemitic tropes. If he wants to defend the indefensible he should go on the airwaves and defend himself. He has a responsibility to explain himself. https://t.co/ioOVhJJ1O3  Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) May 1, 2019

Labour backbencher Wes Streeting added: My advice to any Labour MP today: refuse to defend Jeremy Corbyn lauding a book containing classic antisemitic tropes. If he wants to defend the indefensible he should go on the airwaves and defend himself. He has a responsibility to explain himself.

Conservative peer Lord Finkelstein, who uncovered the foreword in The Times, asked: "Did Mr Corbyn not read the book before he praised it? Did he read it but, as with the Mear One mural, not notice that it was anti-Semitic? Did he realise it but decide it didn't matter because there were other more important things about it?

"One thing is clear - the problem of left-wing anti-Semitism isn't really about Israel, it's much more deeply embedded than that.

Labour has faced consistent claims of institutional racism in the party (Getty)

But historian Tristram Hunt, who quit Labour in 2017 to take up the post of director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, said it was "reductive" to see Hobson purely as an anti-Semitic figure, arguing that he was "an important figure, worthy of study, within the 20th century liberal tradition.

A Labour Party spokesman said: "Jeremy praised the Liberal Hobson's century-old classic study of imperialism in Africa and Asia.

"Similarly to other books of its era, Hobson's work contains outdated and offensive references and observations, and Jeremy completely rejects the anti-Semitic elements of his analysis.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
BEIJING, May 1 (Reuters) - The latest round of China-U.S. trade talks began in Beijing on Wednesday, as both countries look to end their bitter trade war.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He greeted U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as they arrived at a state guest house in Beijing.

The three men exchanged pleasantries, but did not make comments directly to reporters, before they went into the meeting room. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; editing by Darren Schuettler)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  The Latest on a Minneapolis police officer being convicted of murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had called 911 (all times local):

4:20 p.m.

The head of Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is defending the agency's investigation into a police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had approached his squad car.

BCA Superintendent Drew Evans says agents did a thorough and independent investigation into the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who was shot shortly after calling 911 to report a possible rape behind her home.

The officer, Mohamed Noor, was convicted of murder and manslaughter Tuesday.

Damond's father, John Ruszczyk, called the BCA's early work on the case "either active resistance or gross incompetence." Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman also said the BCA made early mistakes in the case.

Evans said in a statement that agents worked more than 2,000 hours on the case and worked closely with Freeman's office from the beginning. He said he can't give more specifics of the way the investigation was done because it remains open pending a possible appeal by Noor.

___

3:25 p.m.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he's asked for information from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on how it investigated a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman.

Walz said Wednesday he needs to understand what happened and how the BCA's work might need to be improved. He says he expects the BCA to follow best practices and follow the law when it investigates officer-involved shootings.

The BCA came under criticism for its early handling of the investigation into the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Former officer Mohamed Noor was convicted of murder Tuesday.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman complained during the investigation that BCA agents weren't doing their jobs. But he said Tuesday that the BCA brought in new agents who did exemplary work.

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___

10:30 a.m.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar says a guilty verdict for a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed a woman who had called 911 to report a crime is "an important step towards justice" and a victory for people who oppose police brutality.

But Omar also says in a tweet Wednesday that Mohamed Noor's conviction in the death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a white woman, comes after acquittals nationwide for officers who killed people of color. Noor is Somali American, as is Omar.

Noor shot Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, in July 2017 when she approached his squad car after summoning officers to a possible rape behind her home.

Omar says there must be the same level of accountability in all officer-involved killings.

___

8:15 a.m.

An association for Somali American police officers says it believes institutional prejudice "heavily influenced" the murder conviction of a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman.

Mohamed Noor was convicted Tuesday in the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of Australia and the U.S. who had called 911 to report a possible rape behind her house. Noor shot Damond when she appeared at the squad car's window immediately after what he said was a loud bang that startled him and his partner.

The Minnesota-based Somali American Police Association also said in its statement that the Hennepin County prosecutor had "other motives" than serving justice in going after Noor. County Attorney Mike Freeman has rejected the suggestion that race played any part in charging Noor.

Noor was fired after he was charged.

___

12 a.m.

A jury took little more than a day to convict a black Minneapolis police officer of murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed white woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime.

The guilty verdict sparked questions about whether race played a role.

Mohamed Noor is Somali American. He was convicted in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. Noor testified he shot Damond after becoming startled, and she appeared at his partner's window, raising her arm.

It's rare for police officers to be convicted, but some Minnesota community members say they saw this coming for Noor because he is Somali American.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said race is not a factor in his work and the evidence shows Noor acted unreasonably.
LONDON (AP)  The Latest on the sentencing of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (all times local):

11:40 a.m.

A British judge has sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012.

Judge Deborah Taylor said Wednesday that Assange merited near the maximum sentence of one year because of the seriousness of his offense.

She rejected his claim for leniency based on the nearly seven years he spent in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

The white-haired Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery chanted "Shame on you" at the judge as Assange was led away.

Assange sought asylum in the South American country's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Earlier, his lawyers argued that he had jumped bail because he was a "desperate man" fearing extradition to the United States.

___

11:35 a.m.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has apologized unreservedly for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange sought asylum in the South American country's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

The secret spiller faces up to a year in prison when he is sentenced at London's Southwark Crown Court. Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters on Wednesday that Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because "he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the U.S."

___

9 a.m.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to be sentenced for jumping British bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison when he is sentenced Wednesday at London's Southwark Crown Court. A judge at an earlier hearing said the 47-year-old hacker's offense "merits the maximum sentence."

The Australian secret-spiller sought asylum in the South American country's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations. He faces a separate legal fight against a U.S. extradition request. American authorities have charged him with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

Assange was arrested last month after Ecuador revoked his political asylum.
May 1 is Law Day, an event that honors liberty, justice and equality under law which our forefathers bequeathed to the United States.

famouslawyers

Those were the words of President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958 when he issued a proclamation urging the legal profession and the media to promote and participate in the celebration to celebrate the importance of the rule of law. Congress passed a joint resolution (later codified) designating May 1 as Law Day three years later.

Today, the American Bar Association helps to coordinate Law Day as a series of public and private events for people of all types, including educators and students who engage in activities that promote learning. Among the Founding Fathers, 35 of the 55 delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were lawyers or had legal training.

In honor of Law Day, heres a look at 10 people you may recognize who were lawyers at some point in their lives.

1. Alexander Hamilton

Hamilton was admitted to the New York bar when he was 25 years old and learned on the job. He had a successful firm, where he specialized in maritime litigation. Hamilton gave it up to enter public service but returned to the firm in 1795 to make additional income.

2. Aaron Burr

Burr was a formidable attorney in his own right and also appeared with Hamilton early in his career in court proceedings. (However, the legend that they were law partners isnt true.) Maria Reynolds, the woman at the center of a sex scandal involving Hamilton, was represented by Burr in her divorce case. After leaving public life, Burr had a successful law practice.

3. Abraham Lincoln

Lincolns abilities as a lawyer were legendary even before he was elected president in 1860. Unlike Hamilton and Burr, Lincoln had little formal schooling. He also always had a law partner. Lincoln argued one case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, which he lost. His skills were reading juries and making oral arguments.

4. Mohandas Gandhi

Gandhi studied law in London, briefly practiced in India, and then went to South Africa, where he lived for two decades. Gandhi originally went there as a legal adviser, but his life changed as he became an advocate for the rights of the oppressed.

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5. Clarence Darrow

Many people know the character of Darrow from the play and movie, Inherit the Wind, which is a fictionalized portrayal of the Scopes Monkey trial. (His name was changed in the play to Henry Drummond.) His high-profile roles in the cases of the McNamara brothers, union leader Eugene Debs, and accused murderers Leopold and Loeb made him a household name.

6. Thurgood Marshall

The former Supreme Court justice had a stellar legal career. He was the chief legal counsel for the NAACP and won his first Supreme Court case at the age of 32. Marshall won 29 out of 32 cases he argued in front of the high court, including Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Marshall joined the Supreme Court in 1967 as the first African-American justice.

7. Sandra Day OConnor

OConnor earned her law degree at Stanford, where she graduated third in her class in 1952. But OConnor couldnt get a job in a legal position at a California law firm because of her gender. (She reportedly had offers to be a secretary instead.) OConnor took several positions as an attorney in public agencies and started her own law firm in Arizona in 1957. After a return to public service, OConnor joined the Supreme Court in 1981 as its first female justice.

8. Janet Reno

Like President Obama, Reno was a Harvard Law graduate. She was a partner in a Florida law firm before going into public service. In 1993, Reno became the first woman to be confirmed as the Attorney General of the United States.

9. John Grisham

John Grisham isnt really famous for his legal career. It is his series of bestselling books, which spawned several blockbuster movies, that are his biggest contributions to legal legend. He worked for a decade as a trial lawyer while pursuing an interest in writing. His second book, The Firm, became a national hit, and hes sold more than 100 million books in his writing career.

10. Nelson Mandela

The anti-apartheid icon was also a lawyer. He was the only black person in his law class and in 1952, Mandela and his partner, Oliver Tambo, established the first black law firm in South Africa. His role in the African National Congress soon eclipsed his legal career.
BINGHAMTON, N.Y.  The parents of four 12-year-old girls who claim the preteens were illegally strip-searched at school have brought a federal lawsuit claiming racial bias by school district officials.

Court action for the Jan. 15 incident, which also spurred nearly 200 community members to pack a Binghamton School Board meeting a week after the incident, was hinted at in February when parents outlined legal demands to school officials.

The 41-page federal lawsuit claims the Binghamton City School District failed to rectify the situation  the four girls are black and Latina and have since moved to a different school within the Binghamton district  by refusing to apologize for the girls' "shocking mistreatment" by the principal, assistant principal and school nurse at East Middle School.

Dated Monday, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the girls' parents by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Morrison & Foerster LLP law firm.

The Binghamton City School District has not yet responded to the lawsuit, but previously, they stated there was "no evidence" that strip searches were conducted.

More: School denies conducting strip search of four black middle school students

Community members, activists and members of Progressive Leaders Of Tomorrow rally Tuesday in front of East Middle School in Binghamton to protest the recent alleged strip search of four female students.

What are the lawsuit's allegations?

On Jan. 15, the lawsuit alleges, East Middle School Principal Tim Simonds stopped the four girls in the hallway during their lunch break while the girls were walking from the cafeteria. After asking where the girls were heading, he told the girls he'd been looking for them. The girls laughed and were escorted to the school's health office.

"Neither Principal Simonds nor Assistant Principal Michelle Raleigh, both of whom are

white, explained to the girls why they were taken to the health office," the lawsuit said.

At the health office, where the girls spent about an hour, the school nurse allegedly conducting what the lawsuit describes as "intrusive and demeaning searches."

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One of the girls was given a sobriety test by the nurse, according to the lawsuit, which claims the nurse was checking to determine whether the girls were under the influence of a substance.

The girls removed various articles of clothing, at the direction and at times with the assistance of the principal and/or assistant principal, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also claims the girls were subjected to humiliating comments and none of their parents were contacted before the search.

No contraband or other evidence of wrongdoing were recovered as a result of the searches, the lawsuit said.

School board: No strip search conducted

In a Jan. 24 statement, the Binghamton School District Board of Education maintained no strip search was actually conducted.

The board said that when students exhibit behavior that warrants further evaluation, the district has an obligation to ensure the students' health and well-being, which could include physical and medical evaluation.

Administrators at the middle school are trained to monitor and evaluate students and recognize out-of-character behavior, the school board said.

"When conducting medical evaluation, it may require the removal of bulky outside clothing to expose an arm so that vitals like blood pressure and pulse can be assessed. This is not the same as a strip search," the board of education's statement continued. "School officials acted in accordance with the board policy."

Community members, activists and members of Progressive Leaders Of Tomorrow (PLOT) rally in front of East Middle School in Binghamton to protest the recent alleged strip search of four female students. Tuesday, January 29, 2019.

What does the lawsuit seek?

Among the lawsuit's demands are compensatory damages, in an amount to be determined at trial.

"The (Binghamton School) District failed to train or supervise staff on how to conduct searches in a manner that does not violate the Constitution and does not subject them to race- or sex-based discrimination," the lawsuit said.

There is a school district policy forbidding unlawful searches, according to the lawsuit, but no training program for staff on how and when to conduct searches of students.

The lawsuit says the school district should enact policies to ensure an alleged incident like this doesn't happen again.

Here is the lawsuit:

Follow Anthony Borrelli on Twitter: @PSBABorrelli.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Lawsuit claims racial bias led to alleged strip search of 12-year-old girls at NY school
From Car and Driver

This executive van from Lexus is making its debut at the Shanghai auto show.

It's intended as luxurious chauffeured transportation for the business executive who has everything.

The Lexus LM is similar in size to the long-wheelbase Ford Transit Connect while seating only four.

Luxurious executive vans are a thing pretty much everywhere but America. These lavishly appointed boxes serve generally the same purpose that limousines do here, only with more headroom, and they can be just as expensive as a Mercedes-Benz S-class or similar. For as much sense as that makes, we're grasping at straws to explain Lexus's new LM luxury van beyond that programmatic purpose.

So, for help, we've turned to the Google-translated version of Lexus's Chinese-language press release for the van. It makes almost no sense, but even then, it makes slightly more sense than this van does from our foreign, not-intended-market perspective. To be clear, there is no threat at present that this LM will be sold outside of China and other select Asian markets, and it is making its debut at the Shanghai auto show.

Let's begin with the LM's exterior, which Lexus describes as having "eye-catching style" and "a family-style chrome-plated spindle grille." This is no turn for the absurd, as there's plenty about the LM's face that is both arresting and and sure to be hated uniformly by the whole family at the same time. What Mercedes-Benz fosters togetherness and consensus?

There are many intriguing styling touches beyond that . . . grille. Like, why do those chrome spears running under the front windows and above the rear windows almost meet in the middle of the B-pillar? Why not? It's dramatic, like two lovers who've lose touch and reach futilely in the dark for each other's embrace. The little humps on each side of the rear spoiler remind us of those winter hats worn by children, you know, the ones with animal faces on them and ears sprouting from the top. Adorable! And the LM has perhaps the widest size disparity of any modern vehicle between its ambitiously blistered fenders and its wheels, a maximal statement that surely counts for something in the luxury space.

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Photo credit: 123

Inside there is even more world-beating luxury to be found. The LM, which, running on our knowledge of the Toyota Alphard on which it is based, is about the size of a long-wheelbase Ford Transit Connect, only seats four people. Most of the focus is on those passengers seated in the second row, which is made up of what looks like two first-class airline seats that recline. They face a partition that, to carry the airplane theme further, resembles an airplane bulkhead but in fact references Chinese screen walls. In that wall is a 26.0-inch display, as well as a figurative display of modern income disparity standing between the moneyed riders and the plebes up front.

You'll be glad to know that Lexus claims the LM's "cockpit" to be "temperature-filled." Not like those other luxury vans, see, the ones that relegate you to cabins with the vacuousness of deep space. Here, the only open space should be in the occupants' heads, as Lexus puts it: "The embellishment and white space, the driver and the passengers' minds, in the landscape, taste the art of life journey; elegant stitching and leather finishes are dotted in the cockpit, so that the occupants in the subtleties taste the temperature-filled ingenuity Process." Fire your therapist; the LM will massage your chakras from here on out.

There also is a 14-liter refrigerator that Lexus suggests can be used to store "2 bottles of champagne or wine" for "wonderful moments on the trip," even though the automaker seems ambivalent toward sober LM riders with the credo "whether you have a drink or a discretion, there is always a good wine." We'll drink to that?

Beyond promising "sincere hospitality," probably somewhere in its facilitating drunken pleasure, the LM's cabin is further described as "a luxurious study room with tranquility and peace of mind, and an elegant tea room with a welcoming friend and unique charm," which we take to mean it can shape-shift between an office and a tea room, though either way it comes with a human companion. That saying about money not buying you friends? That was a lie, and Lexus proves it.

We know almost nothing about the LM's mechanical package beyond its suspension consisting of "swing-valve dampers" and apparently having been carefully tuned for comfort. And that's about all we think we need to know, frankly.

So there you have it-the Lexus LM is a nice, luxurious van with plenty of meta, cosmic-boundary-expanding appeal. But mostly, it's a sure-to-be-pricey van that's hideously ugly. And now, some parting words from Lexus China Marketing Director Chen Hao: "Lexus users in China will soon exceed one million. In the future, we will stand in the millions and be the best. Through a comprehensive product lineup, fully meet the needs of Chinese users. Personalized needs, the Lexus craftsmanship and unique 'temperature luxury' are passed on to more users. I hope that in the future, more and more Chinese consumers, together with Lexus, will be able to enjoy it. The world; calmly explore the extraordinary new world, see the mind in the details of the ingenuity, and share the world of life with a broad mind."

Namaste.

('You Might Also Like',)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) chief Mustafa Sanalla warned that "terrorist organizations" could infiltrate the country's oil fields, Al Hurra TV cited him as saying on its Twitter feed.

On Monday, an armed group attacked Libya's largest oilfield but was repelled after clashes with its protection force. [L5N22B2A1]

(Reporting by Hesham Hajali; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Liverpool play Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Wednesday evening. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

Liverpool FC have condemned the behaviour of some fans in Liverpool after videos emerged of two people being pushed into fountains in Barcelona by their supporters.

Merseyside police are looking in to the videos which appear to show a man pushing people into the water.

In a statement, the club said they would be working with authorities to identify those involved and such behaviour is clearly totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

We are aware of an incident in Barcelona on Wednesday 1 May involving a Liverpool fan.

We are working with Spanish Police

Six men were arrested by Spanish Police on Tuesday 30 April on suspicion of public order offences following an unrelated incident



https://t.co/WcpMMfgD9w pic.twitter.com/MViX8enQrf  Merseyside Police (@MerseyPolice) May 1, 2019

The two videos posted online show a man lifting another into a fountain where fans are congregated together.

The second shows a man standing on the edge of a fountain being pushed in, before climbing out of the water to approach the group who are laughing and taunting him.

On Wednesday the clubs chief executive Peter Moore asked fans to act "in a manner befitting of LFC".

We proudly sing that weve conquered all of Europe. But lets treat this beautiful city with the respect that it deserves, and act in a manner that is befitting of LFC. By all means have a good time, but we are Liverpool, and as such,lets visit here with grace and humility.  Peter Moore (@PeterMooreLFC) May 1, 2019

Moore tweeted: "We proudly sing that we've conquered all of Europe.

"But let's treat this beautiful city with the respect that it deserves, and act in a manner that is befitting of LFC.

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"By all means have a good time, but we are Liverpool, and as such, let's visit here with grace and humility."

The behaviour has also be condemned by fan website Anfield Edition who have asked that the club take this further.

They tweeted "to be pushing locals in fountains isn't on and not what Liverpool's about. Really disappointing to see."
Cannabis could come to the beach cities. This is how
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

How far off is Jay Bharat Maruti Limited (NSE:JAYBARMARU) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. I will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple!

We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Jay Bharat Maruti

The model

We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last 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.

Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars:

10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 Levered FCF (, Millions) 669.43 731.28 795.13 861.74 931.80 1.01k 1.08k 1.17k 1.26k 1.35k Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 9.96% Est @ 9.24% Est @ 8.73% Est @ 8.38% Est @ 8.13% Est @ 7.96% Est @ 7.83% Est @ 7.75% Est @ 7.69% Est @ 7.65% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 19.64% 559.52 510.87 464.28 420.56 380.09 342.96 309.11 278.38 250.57 225.44

Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF)= 3.74b

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"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 (7.6%) 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 19.6%.

Terminal Value (TV) = FCF 2029  (1 + g)  (r  g) = 1.4b  (1 + 7.6%)  (19.6%  7.6%) = 12b

Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV) = TV / (1 + r)10 = 12b  ( 1 + 19.6%)10 = 2.01b

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 5.75b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. This results in an intrinsic value estimate of 265.11. Relative to the current share price of 242.25, the company appears about fair value at a 8.6% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent.

NSEI:JAYBARMARU Intrinsic value, April 30th 2019

The assumptions

We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the 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 Jay Bharat Maruti 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 19.6%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.406. 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 Jay Bharat Maruti, I've put together three additional factors you should further examine:

Financial Health: Does JAYBARMARU 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 JAYBARMARU'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 JAYBARMARU? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the NSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks 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.
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Today we'll evaluate Macmahon Holdings Limited (ASX:MAH) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea. Specifically, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), since that will give us an insight into how efficiently the business can generate profits from the capital it requires.

Firstly, we'll go over how we calculate ROCE. Then we'll compare its ROCE 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 metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. In general, businesses with a higher ROCE are usually better quality. In brief, it is a useful tool, but it is not without drawbacks. Renowned investment researcher Michael Mauboussin has suggested that a high ROCE can indicate that 'one dollar invested in the company generates value of more than one dollar'.

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 Macmahon Holdings:

0.10 = AU$56m  (AU$791m - AU$238m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2018.)

Therefore, Macmahon Holdings has an ROCE of 10%.

Check out our latest analysis for Macmahon Holdings

Is Macmahon Holdings's ROCE Good?

ROCE can be useful when making comparisons, such as between similar companies. It appears that Macmahon Holdings's ROCE is fairly close to the Metals and Mining industry average of 9.5%. Separate from how Macmahon Holdings stacks up against its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms is mediocre; relative to the returns on government bonds. Investors may wish to consider higher-performing investments.

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ASX:MAH Past Revenue and Net Income, April 30th 2019

When considering this metric, keep in mind that it is backwards looking, and not necessarily predictive. Companies in cyclical industries can be difficult to understand using ROCE, as returns typically look high during boom times, and low during busts. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. We note Macmahon Holdings could be considered a cyclical business. What happens in the future is pretty important for investors, so we have prepared a free report on analyst forecasts for Macmahon Holdings.

Do Macmahon Holdings's Current Liabilities Skew Its ROCE?

Liabilities, such as supplier bills and bank overdrafts, are referred to as current liabilities if they need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets.

Macmahon Holdings has total assets of AU$791m and current liabilities of AU$238m. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 30% of its total assets. Macmahon Holdings has a medium level of current liabilities, which would boost its ROCE somewhat.

Our Take On Macmahon Holdings's ROCE

With this level of liabilities and a mediocre ROCE, there are potentially better investments out there. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this free list of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

With 704 cases in 22 states reported so far in 2019, the U.S. is experiencing the worst outbreak of measles since the disease was eliminated in 2000.

As the number of people with the disease grows, public health officials are encouraging anyone who is not vaccinated to get the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinewhich is 97 percent effective at protecting against measles and is thought to provide lifelong immunity to the disease, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

However, the current version of the vaccine, which includes two shots, only became the standard in 1989. People born and vaccinated before then may have received a less effective shot. That doesn't mean everyone older than 30 should run out and get another dose, though, Schaffner told Consumer Reports.

Heres what you need to know about measles protection, and who should consider a booster.



Are You Protected?

Anyone born before 1957 is considered to be protected against measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control, because they were probably exposed to the virus when they were kids.

People who were born after that year but received the measles vaccine before 1989 may be more vulnerable to the virus: They were given one shot, which is only 93 percent effective. (The two-shot series that has been used since 1989 is 97 percent effective.)



In addition, between 1963 and 1967, a version of the measles vaccine that used inactivated virus was available. That version was not effective, and the CDC recommends that people who had that type of vaccination get a shot of the current MMR vaccine.

The takeaway? Anyone vaccinated before 1968 probably has inadequate protection against the measles, and people vaccinated before 1989 might not be fully protected, either.

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Most vaccinated adults, however, should be reassured that the data strongly support that they are protected, said Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, during a CDC call with the press earlier this week.



Are You at Risk?

Knowing your immunization status is a much more pressing concern for people who live in an area where measles is spreading, Schaffner says.

Although there are hundreds of people with measles around the country, only nine places have ongoing outbreaks, meaning they have three or more cases of the disease, according to the CDC: Brooklyn and Queens, New York City; Rockland County, N.Y.; Butte County, LA County, and Sacramento County, Calif.; Oakland County, Mich.; Ocean County, N.J.; Baltimore County, Md.; and Atlanta, Ga.

If youre in a community where an outbreak is occurring, particularly if youre part of the subgroup of the community that is a focus of the outbreakfor example, if youre a member of the Orthodox Jewish community in New York, or have close friends who areit becomes more of a pointed issue, Schaffner says.

People traveling internationally, university students, healthcare workers, and people who live in communities with measles cases should check their status and make sure theyre protected, Messonnier said.



What You Should Do

If youre an adult living in a community experiencing an outbreak and received only one dose of the measles vaccine, received the unactivated virus, or youre not sure of your vaccination status, you have a few options, Schaffner says. First, you can try and track down your childhood medical records, although that can often be difficult. Unless you happen to be very fortunate, its usually a futile attempt, he says.

If you dont have your medical records and arent sure what type of vaccine you received, or if you simply want to be sure youre protected, you can get a blood test to check whether you have antibodies against measles in your bloodstreamwhich is a signal that youre immune to the disease.

You can ask your doctor whether he or she can draw blood for what's called a titer, make an appointment at a blood testing lab, or go to a walk-in clinic like the CVS Minute Clinic. Ask your insurer whether it covers titer tests before you go. Paying out of pocket, the list prices vary; Minute Clinics, for example, charge up to $129 for immunity testing.

However, if you dont want to spend the time and money for a blood test, it wont hurt to just go and get a new MMR vaccine. When in doubt, immunize, Schaffner says. If you happen to be protected, it wont hurt. If youre not already protected, you will become protected.

The CDC has not specifically recommended that people get re-vaccinated if they have not received two doses of the vaccine, notes Schaffner. At the moment, the decision is being made on a patient-by-patient basis. The agency emphasized this week that it is focusing outreach on people who are high-risk, such as healthcare workers and the unvaccinated, not the generation population. Most of the people getting measles now are unvaccinated, Messonnier said.

If youre unsure about your immunization status, says Schaffner, talk to your doctor about how to proceed.





More from Consumer Reports:

Top pick tires for 2016

Best used cars for $25,000 and less

7 best mattresses for couples





Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright  2019, Consumer Reports, Inc.
Maciel's Tortas and Tacos. | Photo: Payton K./Yelp

Looking to satisfy your appetite for Mexican fare?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable Mexican restaurants around Memphis, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to satisfy your cravings.

1. Elena's Taco Shop

Photo: Sabrina B./Yelp

Topping the list is Elena's Taco Shop. Located at 6105 Summer Ave., Suite 101, in Cordova-Appling, the Mexican spot is the highest rated inexpensive Mexican restaurant in Memphis, boasting 4.5 stars out of 329 reviews on Yelp.

With another outpost at Ricky Bell Cove, this spot offers a diverse selection of regular and deep-fried rolled tacos, burritos, rice bowls and torta sandwiches.

2. Maciel's Tortas and Tacos

Photo: Peggy S./Yelp

Next up is Maciel's Tortas and Tacos, situated at 45 S. Main St. With 4.5 stars out of 250 reviews on Yelp, the Mexican spot, which offers seafood and more, has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for an affordable option.

Spearheaded by owner Manuel Martinez, this spot was named one of the 10 best restaurants in Memphis by Conde Nast Traveler in 2016. On the menu, look for meat-focused and seafood tacos, fajitas, burritos and more.

3. Las Delicias

Photo: darian m./Yelp

Las Delicias, a Mexican spot in East Memphis-Colonial-Yorkshire, is another budget-friendly go-to, with four stars out of 243 Yelp reviews. Head over to 4002 Park Ave. to see for yourself.

With two other locations on South Mendenhall and Quince Road, Las Delicias was named the best Mexican restaurant by the Memphis Flyer, according to the spot's website. On the menu, expect to find tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas and more.

4. Sabrosura Mexican & Cuban Restaurant

Photo: molly p./Yelp

Check out Sabrosura Mexican & Cuban Restaurant, which has earned 4.5 stars out of 61 reviews on Yelp. Dig in at the Mexican and Cuban spot, which offers sandwiches and more, by heading over to 782 Washington Ave.

This spot offers a mix of Cuban and Mexican fare like empanadas, enchiladas, tamales and more. Look for its shredded beef empanada paired with fried plantains.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
By Zachery Fagenson DORAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Hundreds of Venezuelans packed into a Miami-area restaurant on Tuesday, their eyes fixed on television images of violence in their home country, yet hopeful that the unrest spelled the beginning of the end of President Nicolas Maduro's rule. Today is the day, said Erica Rodriguez said as she dined with her daughter and parents at El Arepazo in Doral, Florida. Nobody here is working. Everybody is glued to the television waiting for more information about when Venezuela will be free, said the 40-year-old Uber driver, who fled Caracas for Miami last year. Rodriguez was part of a throng of Venezuelans, many of them draped in their flag's yellow, blue and red, who turned up at El Arepazo on Tuesday after opposition leader Juan Guaido's call for the military to rise up against the government. The popular eatery is a little piece of home to many of Venezuelans who came to South Florida to find a better life. Amid conversations about their hopes for the South American country's future, patrons enjoyed traditional dishes like the sweet braised beef called asado negro and white cornmeal cakes filled with chicken salad, or salty cheese and black beans. According to a 2018 study by the University of Miami, more than 200,000 Venezuelans now live in Florida in communities such as Doral, a fast-growing suburb near Miami, and Weston, which lies about 20 miles (30 km) west of Fort Lauderdale. The influx of Venezuelans has altered the face of towns like Doral. Many brought their families in search of a new life while others came with little more than the clothes on their backs, fleeing a country in the midst of political and economic collapse after three decades of socialist rule. The influx has meant consistent, fast growth as well as a lot of investment for businesses and other projects, said Manny Sarmiento, president and chief executive of Dorals Chamber of Commerce. At the same time, it has also put pressure on this bedroom community, clogging the streets with nearly impassable traffic during rush hour and pushing rents up to levels only seen in downtown Miami or on Miami Beach. Unlike the Cubans who fled the Communist-controlled island in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, many of the Venezuelans living in Miami say they will return the moment Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is out of power. Ive been here for 20 years but Ive always felt Venezuelan," said Raul Leoni, 66, who owns an import-export company and whose father was president of Venezuela from 1964 to 1969. "Thats where I want to be and I think the country will need the help of many people to reverse the damage done over the last three decades. Leoni said he has been in contact with members of the Venezuelan military since before daybreak, urging them to support Guaido, who has been recognized as the president by 50 countries, including the United States. Should Maduro leave office, Leoni said he would work to redirect people and investment back to Venezuela after being drained for decades. For those Venezuelans who have recently arrived in Miami, the urge to return is even greater. In Venezuela I was a travel agent, I made a good living, said 44-year-old Laura Quintero, who survives by driving for Uber and working odd jobs whenever she can get them. This time its different, the protests are different and we have to get back so we can start rebuilding our country. (Reporting by Zach Fagenson; Editing by Frank McGurty and Jonathan Oatis)




Microsoft has joined a conservative-led group that demands fossil fuel companies be granted legal immunity from attempts to claw back damages from the climate change they helped cause.

The stated goals of the Climate Leadership Council (CLC) include a $40-a-ton fee on carbon dioxide emissions in return for the gutting of current climate change regulations and protecting companies from federal and state tort liability for historic emissions.

Microsoft has become the first technology company to join the CLC, which includes oil giants BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Total and ConocoPhillips among its founding members. Handing legal immunity to these oil companies would squash a cavalcade of recent climate lawsuits launched by cities and counties across the US, including one by King county, Washington, where Microsoft is based.

When Microsoft is underwater it should ask itself if this is a good deal, said Matthew Pawa, a lawyer representing King county, which includes Seattle, in its lawsuit against five major oil companies. Pawa also represents New York City in its suing of the same five firms  BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell.

Microsoft and other tech companies have been looking for a whizz-bang technocratic solution to climate change and they think this is it, he said. But they dont know what they are doing. This is a raw deal that would stick taxpayers with the bill for decades of carbon pollution. Its much like the NRA trying to get Congress to give them a free pass from our system of legal justice.

Facing rising costs from sea level rise, storms and heatwaves, a growing band of elected officials from across the US have turned to the courts to force fossil fuel producers to pay compensation to ameliorate the escalating damages. Many of these claims point out that firms like Exxon privately knew of the consequences of climate change for at least 40 years, long before it was a public issue, only to deny the problem and block meaningful action to address it.

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This raft of legal action  waged by places including Rhode Island, San Francisco and Baltimore  would be nullified under the CLC plan, which was drawn up by veteran Republicans James Baker and George Shultz, both former secretaries of state, and backed by former Federal Reserve chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen.

Citing the need for a much-needed bipartisan climate breakthrough, the CLC is lobbying Congress for a gradually rising tax on CO 2 emissions, with the proceeds returned directly to Americans. Under the plan, this would enable regulations on coal-fired power plants to be scrapped and fossil fuel companies to be legally inoculated from any legal ramifications.

The details of our plan are being developed by the largest and most diverse climate coalition ever assembled with the single focus of finding a bipartisan solution to the greatest environmental challenge of our time, said Greg Bertelsen, senior vice-president of the Climate Leadership Council.

Microsoft has said it was motivated to join the CLC due to its support for a price on carbon, which it has backed in Washington state and sees as a key method to drive down emissions. The tech company already charges itself an internal $15-a-ton carbon fee on everything from employee travel to electricity used on its premises. By next year, Microsoft expects its data centers will use 60% renewable energy.

We are getting extremely impatient, frankly, for policy action on climate change, Lucas Joppa, chief environmental officer at Microsoft, told the Guardian. We support a carbon fee because we believe its a policy mechanism that works and accords with economic principles. For us, joining the CLC gives us the opportunity to have this debate at a federal level.

Joppa would not be drawn, however, on Microsofts support for the idea of handing legal immunity to fossil fuel producers. There are a lot of details involved and we are interested in being part of the conversation, he said. The devil is in the detail. We are looking to take an inclusive approach. We need to transition away from the use of fossil fuels but that isnt going to happen without the inclusion of the fossil fuel sector.

Aside from Microsoft, the CLCs member companies include Unilever, Pepsico and Johnson & Johnson. A handful of environmental organizations also back the plan, including WWF and the Nature Conservancy.

But other green groups have been sharply critical of the CLC and what they see as a problematic relationship between large oil companies and technology firms, in particular. Last month, more than 6,000 Amazon employees wrote to its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, and the company board to lambast Amazons offering of web services to oil and gas companies and its vague plan to reach 100% renewable energy.

Google and Microsoft also offer a range of technologies for fossil fuel companies, with both businesses recently criticized for co-sponsoring a conference that featured groups that deny the science of climate change.

Microsoft is throwing King county taxpayers under the bus by endorsing the Baker-Schultz-Exxon proposal that would void the countys lawsuit against Exxon, leaving King county residents on the hook for all the costs of climate adaptation, said Richard Wiles, director of the Center for Climate Integrity.

The Baker-Schultz-Exxon plan is lipstick on a pig, or worse, and Microsofts endorsement doesnt earn them any real climate kudos.

Putting a price on carbon is viewed by proponents as the most effective way of both slashing emissions and garnering support among Republicans who have refused to address the existential threat of climate change. The concept was bolstered last year by the Nobel prize committee, which handed its economics award to Yales William Nordhaus, who has long called for a tax on emissions.

There is evidence that any carbon fee would have to be ratcheted up swiftly in order to change behaviour and transition the world away from fossil fuels. A landmark report by the UN last year estimated that governments would need to impose carbon prices of $135 to $5,500 a ton by 2030 to help avoid disastrous climate change, with this figure ballooning to $27,000 a ton by the end of the century.
UPLAND  The selection of Vice President Mike Pence to give the commencement address next month at Taylor University has created a rift among students, alumni and faculty at the typically low-key, non-denominational Christian college.

The controversy has elicited strong emotions on the private university's 952-acre campus at the edge of the small Grant County community of Upland, about 70 miles north of Indianapolis.

More than 12,750 people  many of them students, alumni and parents  have signed competing petitions at change.org. One asks the administration to rescind its invitation, the other supports the Pence visit.

The day of the announcement, the faculty voted 61-49 to approve a motion of dissent. The non-binding action expressed "to the board of trustees that the majority of faculty is in disagreement with the decision," according to The Echo, Taylor's student newspaper.

The dispute also spurred a number of organized and impromptu conversations about religion and politics among many of the school's about 2,000 students, staff and administrators.

Fallout has spread far beyond the campus.

The Rediger Chapel Auditorium is seen at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., Monday, April 22, 2019.

There's been national coverage from media outlets ranging from Fox News to The Washington Post, as well as stories and opinion pieces on numerous education- and faith-related websites.

On campus last week, about half the students asked by IndyStar about Pence's visit declined to comment. Most of those who did talk said they oppose the selection of the vice president to be the commencement speaker, but added they can see both sides of the issue.

They also said the level of controversy at the school has probably been overblown by the national media and outcry from parents, alumni, political insiders and pundits. But there's no question the move has stirred up feelings on the campus.

"Even just between people that don't really take a side on this issue, they're really disheartened and upset by how much conflict and division is on campus," observed freshman David Chinn.

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"There's a lot of people working to try and reconcile the two sides with their disagreements. I think we're gradually getting there. Obviously, there's a lot of emotions and very, very strong opinions ... I think that we're gradually getting to a place of understanding, but we're obviously not there at the moment."

David Chinn, a freshman at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., poses for a picture on campus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Since the announcement that Vice President Mike Pence will speak at commencement in May, students, faculty, alumni and surrounding residents have publicly responded with strong mixed opinions. "Even just between people that don't really take a side on this issue, they're really disheartened and upset by how much conflict and division is on campus," Chinn said.

The varying emotions and opinions surfaced almost immediately after Taylor President Paul Lowell Haines announced April 11 that Pence would be the speaker at the school's May 18 commencement ceremony. Haines called it an honor to land the vice president and former governor.

"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," Haines said in a statement announcing Pence as the speaker. "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 backlash has not deterred the administration.

"Since making the announcement of Vice President Mike Pences upcoming commencement speech, we have received feedback from people on either side of the issue," James R. Garringer, the university's director of media relations, said in a statement to IndyStar.

"Taylor University is an intentional Christian community that strives to encourage positive, respectful and meaningful dialogue. We look forward to hosting the Vice President next month."

Pence will come to Taylor after delivering another commencement address May 11 at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

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Some critics of the selection explained they would not be opposed to Pence speaking at the school under different circumstances. And they stressed their concerns are not because he is a Christian.

What bothers some is way the invitation was handled by the administration, without input from students or faculty. To others, the selection feels like an endorsement of a specific political side and religious philosophy in divisive political times. Still others said they are troubled by Pence's affiliation and support of President Trump, who they don't believe represents the Christian values central to the university's mission.

Freshman Jared Smith acknowledged his concern is not just about Pence's politics or faith.

Jared Smith, a freshman at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., poses for a picture on campus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Since the announcement that Vice President Mike Pence will speak at commencement in May, students, faculty, alumni and surrounding residents have publicly responded with strong mixed opinions. Smith wished there had been better communication from the university before the decision and announcement. "I think most students would like to see the administration show more thoughtfulness and actually have dialogue with students and faculty," Smith said.

"I haven't seen any evidence that totally disqualifies him from being a reasonable speaker at Taylor  nothing that makes it appear that he is not practicing Christian values that would align with Taylor," Smith explained.

He said the announcement seemed to be a "poorly thought out decision." He said those he's spoken with wish there had been "more thoughtfulness and dialog" with students and faculty. Still, he said, the debate on campus has remained civil.

"Inside Taylor," Smith said, "people for the most part have been very reasonable in their discussions. There's a lot of different views, and a lot of different reasons people have for signing certain petitions and not others, or not signing any petition. But generally, people have been very calm and very reasonable."

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Comments attached to the online petitions have been a little stronger.

The petition opposing Pence's visit was started by Alex Hoekstra, a Taylor alum. It had more than 7,060 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

"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," the petition says.

Comments include:

Grandmother of FOUR TU graduates. If you invite this bigot Im through making tuition payments for the rest of the family.

The politics and policies of VP Pence and President Trump are incongruous with the Christian values the university is sworn to uphold.

As a Taylor alum, a scientist, and an American I am deeply disappointed and alarmed at Taylor's invitation to Pence. Please rescind his invitation. Not my Taylor. Not my Jesus.

Im the father of a 2017 graduate. Mike Pence is a hypocrite working in the Trump administration and has no business speaking on Taylor Campus. Refer to Jesus teachings on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in Matthew 23

This man  Mike Pence  and this administration are as far removed from the teachings of Christ as one can get. The US deserves better, Indiana deserved better, & your students deserve better. Perhaps your Bible needs to be reread. Mine does not condone the actions of this administration and, in fact, speaks against many of them.

Taylor sophomore Sam Jones started a competing petition after Hoekstra's went live online. It is intended as a show of support for the selection of Pence. As of Monday afternoon, it had more than 5,700 signatures.

Taylor University sophomore Sam Jones started a petition in support of having Vice President Mike Pence speak at graduation.

"As students and active community members of Taylor University, we believe that the the University's decision to host VP Mike Pence as commencement speaker should be supported," the petition says. "By Pence speaking at this upcoming graduation, Taylor is by no means aligning themselves with the alleged controversial views of the Trump administration, they are simply giving a voice to all opinions and planes of thought."

The petition also includes dozens of strongly worded comments, including:

Picking Pence is a good choice. Taylor should ignore the liberal influences in higher education and their emotion-laden tactics.

No matter a office holder's political views, it would be an honor to have a sitting vice president speak the commencement

VP Pence is a man of genuine integrity and anyone would be wise to listen to his wisdom

I'm signing because the mindless "children" at this university don't to have a clue what being a Christian actually is. Perhaps they can drop their Hate level just one notch and try to figure that out. If not then it is confirmed that this school is only inhabited by FAKE Christians.. Raised by #PISSPOORPARENTS

As a Christian school it is shameful that they do not want our Vice President of the United States to come into Taylor. As examples we need to show these young adults that they need to honor and respect who God puts in office.

Jones said he started the petition "to show administration that we didn't want them to rescind the invitation and we wanted to show support" for Pence coming to Taylor.

"I personally like the idea of him coming to speak because he's the vice president of the United States and, regardless of political affiliation, having somebody of that status be able to come to our small campus in the middle of Indiana is a pretty big honor," Jones said.

"Regardless of whether it was Mike Pence or Joe Biden, I would very much appreciate having the vice president come to speak to us. Outside of that, I do believe that Mike Pence holds values that are very much in line with Taylor's values in terms of Christian faith and living out a glorifying life to the Christian faith."

It is Pence's particular take on Christianity that bothers some opposed to him speaking at commencement.

Taylor University alumna Emily Russell poses for a picture in Marion, Ind., where she now lives and works, Monday, April 22, 2019. Russell expressed frustration with Taylor's choice to have Vice President Mike Pence deliver the school's commencement address in May. "I think one of the biggest errors in the political and religious conversation today is this idea that Christianity is one group of people with the same opinions or the same politics or the same life experiences, and I think Taylor is just a microcosm of that," Russell said. "There are people from so many different backgrounds, politically and religiously."

"I think one of the biggest errors in the political and religious conversation in America today is this idea that Christianity is one group of people with the same opinions or the same politics or the same life experiences," said Emily Russell, a 2018 Taylor graduate.

Pence represents one specific view of Christianity, Russell said.

"But that is not the only side of Christianity," she said. "And there are enough Christians who feel that his policies do not reflect their values, that they don't think that this is an appropriate speaker for a university that's trying to not only be Christian, but inviting to Christians with varying experiences and opinions."

This isn't the first time Pence's selection as a commencement speaker at an Indiana university has generated controversy. About 100 students walked out of the 2017 graduation ceremony at the University of Notre Dame as the vice president began his commencement address.

The graduation will be in the Kesler Student Activities Center arena on the Taylor campus. Tickets will be required and school officials say there will be ample tickets for all graduates and their guests.

Due to Pence's visit, additional security measures will be in place, including limits on travel to the campus and parking. School officials say there also will be metal detectors and restrictions on items that can be brought into the center.

Contact Tim Evans at 317-444-6204 or tim.evans@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @starwatchtim.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Mike Pence stirs controversy over plans for commencement speech at Christian university in Indiana
BEIJING, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he had had a "nice" working dinner the night before in Beijing with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

"We did. We had a nice working dinner, thank you," Mnuchin told reporters at his Beijing hotel, when asked if he had met with Liu the night before. He did not elaborate.

Mnuchin, along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, is in China for the latest round of talks aimed at ending their bitter trade war. (Reporting by Tom Daly Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
By Krishna N. Das and Devjyot Ghoshal NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's re-election bid received a big fillip on Wednesday after a U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted Masood Azhar, the head of a Pakistan-based militant group, a decade after New Delhi first demanded such an action. Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in February that killed 40 Indian paramilitary police. JeM was also blamed for a high-profile attack on India's parliament in 2001, and local media often calls Azhar the country's "enemy No. 1". In response to the suicide attack in Kashmir, which is also claimed by Pakistan, Modi sent warplanes into the nuclear-armed neighbor to bomb what New Delhi called a militant camp. Modi has since made national security the main plank in the country's 39-day general election that began on April 11. Results will be out on May 23, and political analysts said the news on Azhar will further energize the massive cadre of Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "The world can't anymore ignore the voice of 1.3 billion Indians," Modi said at an election rally, calling the U.N. decision a great diplomatic victory for the country. "This is only a beginning." China, regarded by Pakistan as its most reliable friend, had repeatedly thwarted efforts to implement U.N. sanctions against Azhar, who founded JeM in 2000 after being released from an Indian prison in exchange for 155 hostages from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane. Beijing said on Wednesday it had no objections to Azhar's listing after studying revised proposals at the United Nations. The BJP, political analysts and even the main opposition Congress party acknowledged that getting Azhar on the list, which places a travel ban and an asset freeze on him, was a big victory for India and its diplomacy. "The move will offer an electoral boost for Modi," said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center in Washington DC. "He can argue that his governments many years of efforts have finally paid off and delivered a major victory against terror and a major defeat for Pakistan." DEFLECTING CRITICISM Political strategists said the Azhar issue could further help the BJP to deflect opposition criticism focused on a shortage of jobs and weak farm prices. Some Twitter users hit out quickly at Congress President Rahul Gandhi for mocking Modi when China last rejected a move to ban Azhar in March. China's position then was seen as a failure of Modi's attempts to improve ties with its bigger neighbor despite his multiple meetings with Xi. Maidul Islam, a professor of political science at Kolkata's Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, said the listing, coming soon after the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people, would help Modi keep the focus on national security in the remaining rounds of the seven-phase election. "Three stages are still left and there are crucial states: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal," Islam said, referring to states that together account for about 30 percent of the 545 seats in the lower house of parliament. "Azhar will become an additional talking point. On farm distress and unemployment they have nothing to say, but with all these things, they might only campaign on national security." (Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Frances Kerry)
By Alexandra Ulmer and Aftab Ahmed MUMBAI/DELHI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is flush with cash, giving his Hindu nationalist bloc a massive advantage over the main opposition Congress party as he seeks to win a second term in India's general election. Opaque campaign financing in the world's largest democracy makes it tricky to get a full picture of money in politics here. But current and former BJP supporters, opposition politicians, businessmen and activists interviewed by Reuters say Modi has an unprecedented advantage, thanks to support from businesses and expectations he will be the winner. Staggered voting in the general election is currently in progress across India, with results to be declared on May 23. The BJP war chest has allowed it to unleash a massive amount of advertising on social media and send Modi and party officials crisscrossing India to campaign. The ruling party has showered money on Facebook and Google advertisements, spending six times more than Congress since February, according to data from the two firms. Modi merchandise abounds, as do Modi marketing sites. The money puts the BJP in an extraordinarily powerful position, even over logistical issues like how to get its leaders to election rallies. A Congress official said the BJP had the funds to reserve most of India's fleet of helicopters for hire for 90 days, making it difficult for opponents to get hold of them. "We have never ever seen an election with such disparity. Financially, we cannot compete with them," said another veteran Congress politician, who asked to remain anonymous. He and another high-ranking Congress official said they expected the BJP to outspend them by a factor of ten. A third Congress source estimated the disparity at twice that. Two BJP officials declined to provide an estimate of spending, but one said the "BJP definitely has a big war chest and has more funds at its disposal than the Congress." Congress has received far fewer funds because of a perception it is unlikely to win the election, political strategists said. The opposition party has been hampered by its inability to forge a national alliance to take on Modi and has struggled to capitalize on discontent against the BJP over a lack of jobs and distressed farm incomes. Modi has been topping polls as India's most popular politician, well ahead of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. LONG ELECTION Money has become critical in elections given the country's 1.3 billion population, its voting over 39 days and the sheer complexity of the electorate, in terms of region, religion, language, and caste. A tradition of doling out freebies to sway voters only adds to costs. Authorities say they have seized goods and cash worth about $456 million since March 26. "This war chest gives the BJP significant advantages," said Milan Vaishnav, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's South Asia program. "Money is useful for wooing voters but also for keeping networks of party workers and influencers well lubricated." Parliamentary candidates' expenditure is capped at up to 7 million Indian rupees (about $100,000), but the limit is widely flouted, and political parties are allowed to spend freely. The New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies (CMS) estimates almost $8.6 billion will be spent on this year's vote, roughly twice the 2014 election. The figure would surpass OpenSecrets.org's estimate that $6.5 billion was spent in the 2016 U.S. presidential and congressional elections. Recent reforms under Modi may have fueled the spending spree: Companies can fund parties anonymously through new 'electoral bonds' and they no longer face a donations cap. Activists say that gives corporations too much sway and obscures ties between politicians and businessmen. About 95 percent of electoral bonds snapped up in a first tranche offering last year went to the BJP, according to data reviewed by Reuters through a Right To Information request and BJP filings. When asked whether the BJP had a financial advantage, party spokesman Anil Baluni said "it is not an unfair advantage." "I guess maybe the BJP does believe in taking maximum donations by cheque or through bonds... We are the largest political party in the country," Baluni added. He said he did not have information on the provenance of funds or the uses. Pawan Khera, a Congress spokesman, said this was "turning out to be the most unequal election," but did not provide specifics. GRAPHIC: India's elections spending - https://tmsnrt.rs/2W8hgF8 MODI RETAINS BACKERS Modi was elected in 2014 as a darling of the business community. His star has dimmed somewhat, in part due to fallout from a shock 2016 decision to scrap then circulating high-value bank notes, but with some businesses wary of a fragile opposition coalition coming to power, Modi retains backers. "Modi has made business easier," said businessman Sunil Alagh, who heads consulting firm SKA Advisors and sits on several boards. Still, business titans tend to give to several parties to hedge their bets, politicians and executives say. Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man and the boss of the Reliance Industries conglomerate, hails from Modi's home state of Gujarat and his family has praised the prime minister publicly. Ambani even splashed Modi's face on advertisements for the Reliance Jio telecoms launch in 2016. But last month, Mumbai-based Ambani endorsed Congress candidate Milind Deora, appearing in a video saying "Milind is the man for South Bombay." Deora's politician father was a close friend of the Ambanis. GRAPHIC: Indian political parties' spending - https://tmsnrt.rs/2GQk8RG BIND OVER BONDS Under the electoral bond scheme announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last year, individuals and companies can anonymously buy as many bonds as they wish to in denominations ranging from 1,000 rupees to 10 million rupees and deposit them in a party account at the State Bank of India (SBI). "The electoral bond scheme .... envisages total clean money and substantial transparency," Jaitley said in a Facebook post. Activists say the opposite is true. "If you do not know the donor and you do not know who the money is given to, where is the transparency? Dubious donations are now legitimized," said Jagdeep Chhokar, a founder of the Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms. When Reuters reporters visited SBI branches during bond sales in Delhi and Mumbai this year, a handful of men who described themselves as politicians or company representatives were waiting to open bank accounts or buy bonds. SBI officials declined to provide details on the sales. GRAPHIC: Drugs, gold, cash and alcohol seizires - https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-ELECTION-SEIZURES/010091DS1ZW/index.html (Additional reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal in Delhi; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Edited by Martin Howell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Over 500,000 bees perished in a fire following a break-in at a Texas pasture.

Police are searching for the person or people responsible for ripping apart and setting nearly 20 hives on fire at a Brazoria County pasture over the weekend, according to KTRK.

On Saturday, members of the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association came across the wreckage and discovered the remains of 24 colonies, which can take bees up to a year to establish.

"We're looking at 500,000 to 600,000 (bees) that have been destroyed out of that environment," said Steve Brackmann, who sells beekeeping equipment and queen bees.

The estimated number is a staggering loss, considering the honey season has just started. One member of the association, for instance, lost all of the honey he had hoped to sell this summer, the station notes.

While some of the hives were burned, others were taken and thrown into a nearby pond.

"Its [sic] bad enough to think in todays [sic] world this would happen but dumping them over and then setting fire to them is beyond comprehension," the association wrote in Facebook post. "Club has offered a reward to lead to conviction and anyone with info please forward it to the sheriffs [sic] office as a case # has been filed."

There are over 4,000 species of bees in the U.S., many of which are responsible for pollinating crops and other plants, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Yet, the number of bees has fallen over the years due to the increasing use of insecticides, Brackmann told KTRK.

"Tomatoes, squash, watermelons, bees pollinate those," he said. "So if bees don't pollinate those, you get zero vegetables, we would see next to nothing in the vegetable stores."

Since the weekend incident, the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association has asked for donations on Facebook. As of Wednesday afternoon, it has raised more than $13,000 from 450 people.

RELATED: See which crops we'd lose if we no longer had bees:
By Amanda Becker and Tim Reid WASHINGTON/LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - As Democrats weigh a field of 20 White House hopefuls that includes candidates who would be the youngest or oldest president ever elected, new Reuters/Ipsos polling shows age could be a liability at either end of the spectrum. More than half of all Democrats said they would be less likely to support a candidate over 70 years old. More than a third said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate younger than 40, according to the April 17-22 opinion poll. About a quarter of all Democrats said a White House candidate's age did not matter. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, 77, and former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, are the oldest contenders in the vast Democratic field. So far, they appear to be defying concerns about age as they sit together atop public opinion polls. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will turn 70 in June. Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and U.S. Representatives Tulsi Gabbard and Eric Swalwell are the youngest, with all three White House contenders under 40. U.S. Representative Seth Moulton is 40. At a Buttigieg event in Des Moines, Iowa, Davis Chambers, 31, said his top priority was finding a candidate who could beat Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election. Like many in his age group, Chambers did not think youth was disqualifying but said advanced age made a candidate less attractive. "I worry about having somebody who is close to 80 years old in the office," Chambers said. Trump, who turns 73 in June, would be the oldest president ever re-elected if he retains the White House. Former President Ronald Reagan, who was 73 at the time of his re-election, currently holds that title. Former President John F. Kennedy was the youngest person elected to the White House, beginning his term at age 43 in 1961. The U.S. Constitution mandates presidents be at least 35. TOO YOUNG OR TOO OLD? The poll found many Democrats were generally wary of supporting older candidates. Among Democrats ages 18 to 34, 54 percent said they were somewhat or much less likely to support a candidate over the age of 70. Among 35-to-54-year-old Democrats, 58 percent said they were somewhat or much less likely to support a candidate who is over the age of 70, while 59 percent of Democrats aged 55 and older said the same. Despite such concerns, Biden and Sanders lead the Democratic field for the 2020 presidential nomination in Reuters/Ipsos polling. Thirty percent of Democrats said they would vote for Biden and 15 percent said they supported Sanders in the latest Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll. Sue Carrera, 56, a childcare worker from Inglewood, California, said she worried Biden and Sanders were too old to deal with the demands of being president. "I mean, they are in their 80s at the end of their first term. The prospect of mental issues is a concern for me," Carrera said over the weekend at a candidate forum in Las Vegas with union workers. "I don't want (candidates) to be too inexperienced, but I don't want them to be old because then there is a possibility they might die in office," she added. The poll found younger candidates may see a benefit with younger voters but have trouble convincing some older voters that they are ready to lead. Among 18-to-34-year-old Democrats, 49 percent said they were somewhat or much more likely to support a candidate under 40, while 28 percent said it did not matter. Twenty-three percent said they were less likely. But among Democrats who are at least 35, 44 percent said they were less likely to support a candidate who is under 40. Yiran Zhang, 24, a graduate student at Loyola University in Chicago, also attended the Las Vegas forum. Reflecting the polling showing that young adults are less likely than older Democrats to penalize a candidate for being over 70 or under 40, she said age was "irrelevant." "What really matters is what you stand for, if you stand on the side of the working class," Zhang said. "I don't care what age you are." The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 4,018 adults, including 1,449 Democrats, and had a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 5 percentage points. (Reporting by Amanda Becker in Washington and Tim Reid in Las Vegas; Additional reporting by James Oliphant in Des Moines, Iowa, and Chris Kahn in New York; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter Cooney)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller complained in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that his four-page summary of Mueller's Russia report "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the investigation's conclusions, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The Post said it reviewed a copy of Mueller's letter, which was written in late March after Barr released a summary on March 24 that said Mueller did not establish that members of President Donald Trumps campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election.

Barr also said in the summary that Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had found the evidence insufficient to support such a charge.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, in a statement, confirmed that Mueller wrote to Barr after the summary was released to express frustration over "the lack of context and the resulting media coverage," particularly about Mueller's conclusions on obstruction of justice.

Democrats have accused Barr of trying to spin the report's conclusions to protect Trump.

In a statement in response to the Post report, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Barr "should not have taken it upon himself to describe the Special Counsels findings in a light more favorable to the President." The Democratic lawmaker demanded the Justice Department release a copy of Mueller's letter by Wednesday morning.

Barr's four-page summary was released more than three weeks before a redacted version of Mueller's 448-page report was released to the public on April 18.

"The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions," Mueller wrote, according to the Post.

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"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations," the Post quoted Mueller as writing.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment to Reuters.

Mueller asked Barr to release the report's introductions and executive summaries quickly, without waiting for the full report to go through the redaction process.

"Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation," Mueller wrote, according to the Post.

Kupec said after receiving Mueller's letter, Barr called the special counsel and they had a "cordial and professional conversation."

Kupec said "the Special Counsel emphasized nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading."

She said Barr declined Mueller's request to release part of the report early, deciding "it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion."

Mueller's letter is likely to be brought up when Barr testifies on Wednesday about the Russia investigation before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will be the attorney general's first appearance on Capitol Hill since the report's release.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Karen Freifeld; Editing by David Alexander and Peter Cooney)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller complained in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that his four-page summary of Mueller's Russia report "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the investigation's conclusions, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The Post said it reviewed a copy of Mueller's letter, which was written in late March after Barr released a summary on March 24 that said Mueller had found no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia.

Barr also said in the summary that Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had found the evidence insufficient to support such a charge.

Barr's four-page summary was released more than three weeks before a redacted version of Mueller's 448-page report was released to the public on April 18.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment to Reuters.

"The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions," Mueller wrote, according to the Post.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations," the Post quoted Mueller as writing.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Karen Freifeld; Editing by David Alexander and Sandra Maler)




The special counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to the US attorney general, William Barr, expressing frustration with how the attorney general characterized the conclusions of Muellers investigation into potential ties between Donald Trumps presidential campaign and Russia, according to multiple reports.

The Washington Post, the New York Times and NBC reported on Tuesday that Mueller penned the letter in late March, after Barr wrote a four-page summary of the special counsels work that largely cleared Trump on potential obstruction of justice.

Mueller wrote that Barr did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the special counsels findings, according to an excerpt of the letter published by the Post.

There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation, Mueller added. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment on the matter.

A justice department spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, said Barr called Mueller upon receiving his letter and that the two had had a cordial and professional conversation.

Related: William Barr: attorney general plays Republican spear-catcher again

The Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsels obstruction analysis, Kupec said in a statement.

Kupec said Mueller and Barr then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released, but that the attorney general decided it would be counterproductive to release the report in piecemeal fashion.

It was after their conversation, she noted, that Barr released a second letter to Congress saying his first assessment was not intended to be a summary of Muellers report.

Story continues

Barr, who is set to begin two days of testimony before Congress on Wednesday, has vigorously defended his framing of Muellers conclusions amid intense scrutiny over his conduct.

Earlier on Tuesday, Senate Democrats called on the justice departments watchdog to independently investigate Barrs handling of the Mueller report and whether he has demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue overseeing 14 criminal matters related to the special counsels investigation.

Mueller concluded the two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election last month and subsequently delivered a final report to Barr. It spanned more than 400 pages.

Barr initially released a letter on 24 March citing Muellers conclusion that there was no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Barr declared in the same letter that he did not believe there was sufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice.

But a redacted version of Muellers report, which was made public on 18 April, revealed nearly a dozen instances in which the actions of the president and his campaign may have amounted to obstruction. The report also stated that the Trump campaign was receptive to assistance from Moscow during the 2016 election and expected to benefit from Russian interference.

Barr nonetheless delivered a press conference, before his public release of the redacted report, that essentially sought to absolve the president of wrongdoing. In his statement, Barr repeatedly echoed Trumps claims of no collusion with the Russians and downplayed the presidents attempts to impede the special counsel investigation.

House Democrats have issued a subpoena for the full Mueller report and underlying evidence, setting the stage for what is expected to be a protracted legal battle with the justice department and the White House.

Top Democrats in Congress said reports around Muellers letter reinforced the need for the attorney general to testify on Capitol Hill.

No one can place any reliance on what Barr says. We need to hear from Mueller himself, Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee chairman, said.

Now it is confirmed Mueller objected to the context, nature, and substance of Barrs misleading summary of the report.



And the false public narrative it allowed the White House to create.



No one can place any reliance on what Barr says. We need to hear from Mueller himself. https://t.co/ET7tQxnGQG  Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 1, 2019

The House judiciary committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, said he would press the justice department to schedule a hearing with Mueller without delay.

The Special Counsels concerns reflect our own, Nadler wrote in a statement. The Attorney General should not have taken it upon himself to describe the Special Counsels findings in a light more favorable to the President.

It was only a matter of time before the facts caught up to him.
Washington (AFP) - US Special Counsel Robert Mueller complained to the attorney general over his characterization of the Russia probe that allowed President Donald Trump to declare himself cleared of obstruction of justice, US media reported Tuesday.

Trump cast himself as fully exonerated after Attorney General Bill Barr delivered a four-page memo to Congress on March 24 that he called a summary of the two-year probe's key findings, telling lawmakers the evidence was insufficient to support criminal obstruction charges.

The release of a redacted version of the full 448-page report on April 18 however revealed that Mueller had detailed numerous attempts by the president to thwart the investigation.

The Washington Post said Mueller's letter to Barr three days later complained that the attorney general's memo "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office's work and conclusions."

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller reportedly wrote, in stark language that apparently surprised Justice Department officials.

"This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Mueller declined to accuse Trump of a crime, referring to Justice Department policy precluding the indictment of a sitting president, but specifically said that what he had uncovered made him unable to exonerate the president.

Democrats in Congress are expected to question Barr at length over his role in the probe and interactions with Mueller as he appears for two days of hearings on Capitol Hill this week.

On Wednesday, several called for his resignation -- with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also weighing in.

"Attorney General Barr misled the public and owes the American people answers," she said on Twitter. "It's time for DOJ to release the full report & all underlying docs  and finally allow Mueller to testify. Americans deserve the facts. Barr must stop standing in the way."

Story continues

"Bill Barr needs to resign," was California congressman Ro Khanna's take. "He needs to resign tomorrow. At some point we need to distinguish fact from spin."

Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chairman of the powerful Senate intelligence committee, said Barr had "lost all credibility."

"This is exactly why I said Mr. Barr should never have been confirmed in the first place."

- Sabotage -

A rift between the special counsel's office and Barr, Mueller's boss and longtime friend, appeared to emerge in the days following the release of the attorney general's memo, as investigators reportedly let it be known through intermediaries that they felt frustrated by Barr's representation of their work.

The New York Times pointed to what it said were instances of Barr taking Mueller's words out of context in a manner that painted a less damaging picture of Trump's behavior and suggested that the president had no motive to obstruct justice.

Barr has also repeatedly said Mueller found "no collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russia -- even though the special counsel's report made a point of noting that he had not investigated "collusion," which has no legal definition.

Mueller's report -- the culmination of a probe that had haunted Trump since the start of his presidency -- confirmed that Russian operatives tried to help Trump defeat his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, including by hacking into email accounts.

The probe found that Trump's campaign knew of the sabotage attempt and took advantage of the impact on Clinton, but did not deliberately reach out to conspire with the Russians.

Several Democrats, notably presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren, have called for Trump to be impeached for welcoming a hostile power's help and for allegedly obstructing the investigation after the election.

The White House has not commented on the letter but Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani told CNN that Mueller "should have made a decision and shouldn't be complaining or whining now that he didn't get described correctly" on the obstruction issue.
Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/Photos from Getty

Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Attorney General William Barr complaining about how he publicized the conclusions of his investigation in summaries to Congress before the full report was publicly released.

Barrs spin did not fully capture the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential links to the Trump campaign or the results of that investigation, Mueller wrote, adding that the summary has sowed public confusion about what the probe found.

Disclosure of the rebuke was made Tuesday night on the eve of Barrs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and drew instant criticism from Democrats.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who sits on the committee, said in a tweet that she was revising her questions for the attorney general, while others called on Barr to resign to or face impeachment.

Mueller fired off the letter to Barr on March 27, just three days after the attorney general sent his Mueller Report summary to Congress. A Justice Department official confirmed the letter to The Daily Beast, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

That summary, Mueller wrote, did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, according to the Post.

There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation, he continued. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

The letter also requested Barr release the reports introductions and executive summaries, in order to alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen among the public and Congress about the probe.

In the summaries Barr sent to Congress, he wrote that Mueller and his team found no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to influence the election and did not draw a conclusionone way or the other on the question of whether President Trump had obstructed justice. Barr said his office had determined the report did not outline actions that could support an obstruction charge.

Story continues

After Barr got the letter, he called Mueller to discuss it, the Justice Department confirmed.

In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading, DOJ said in a statement. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsels obstruction analysis. They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released.

In the end, DOJ said, the two men decided that the full report should be released in one fell swoop rather than piecemeal.

Shortly before he released the full report in mid-April, Barr held a press conference where he said he disagreed with some of Muellers legal theories on the question of obstruction of justice.

His testimony Wednesday before the Judiciary Committee will mark the first time lawmakers have a chance to question Barr about the report since its release.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
The family are trying to make memories with their son Benjamin [Photo: SWNS]

The mum of a little boy who is suffering from a mysterious condition so rare it does not have a name has opened up about the agony of not knowing whats wrong with her son.

Benjamin Davey was born in November 2013 weighing 6Ibs 9oz at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

The five-year-old is one of just 6,000 children born in the UK every year with a syndrome without a name (SWAN).

When his mum Alex, 40, was 38 weeks pregnant she was told Benjamins brain was underdeveloped and he would have a low chance of surviving the birth.

But despite being offered a termination, Alex, from Dunbar, East Lothian, felt she had to give her baby a chance.

Now, despite the family not knowing what type of care Benjamin needs due to a lack of diagnosis, he has grown into a lovely boy and is bringing the family joy.

Describing her parenting journey Alex says: My first few scans when I was pregnant were normal. But when [Benjamin] was given an MRI scan while I was pregnant it revealed that his brain wasnt developed.

Benjamins mum, Alex, says it is difficult not knowing what is wrong with her son [Photo: SWNS]

Though doctors offered the couple an abortion, Alex, and her husband, Richard, 38 didnt feel they could make that decision without actually knowing what was wrong with their baby.

And now that their son is here, they are trying to give him the best life possible.

Benjamin is visually impaired and cant speak.

For the first 18 months, he was breastfed but due to an epileptic seizure during that time Benjamin has since been tube fed.

The little boy will also use a wheelchair for the rest of his life, but he can sit up for a few seconds on his own.

The five-year-old is also able to use his head to work a switch to operate toys.

He has epilepsy and something called dystonia which means his muscles spasm, Alex explains. He also has something called global developmental delay which means he doesnt develop like a normal child.

But there is still no diagnosis for their sons condition and without that, the family do not know if it will be life-limiting.

Story continues

The most difficult thing is the long term planning because we dont know if his condition will change as he gets older, Alex explains.

We dont know if he will need a carer or anything like that.

Benjamins parents refused an abortion after a scan revealed something was wrong [Photo: SWNS]

Without knowing how long their son might live, the family are concentrating on making memories for him.

Hes a lovely boy who is really happy. He doesnt know any different, so he can only show what he feels through his body language, the-mum-of-three explains.

And although he is visually impaired he likes watching lights and shadows.

SWAN is used to describe a person who is believed to have a genetic condition but the exact cause cannot be found.

It is thought to affect around 6,000 babies a year in the UK, half of which will never receive a diagnosis.

SWAN UK national coordinator, Lauren Roberts, said: Life for families affected by undiagnosed genetics conditions is tough, living in limbo land with no answers they often feel like they have nowhere to turn.

Undiagnosed Childrens Day is a chance for them to come together to raise awareness of the issues they face and celebrate all that their children achieve.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
EDMOND, Okla. (AP)  Police in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond said Wednesday that a naked 17-year-old high school student was not armed when he was fatally shot by police after breaking into a home.

The Oklahoma state medical examiner's office identified the teen as Isaiah Mark Lewis. Police initially said he was an adult after the Monday shooting . Officers had been searching for the teen for about an hour after a woman called 911 to report a domestic disturbance for her neighbor.

Edmond police spokeswoman Jenny Wagnon said Lewis was shot after fighting with two officers who first used a stun gun on him. When that failed to subdue him, Wagnon said, at least one officer then fired a handgun.

"We know a Taser was deployed because we found the probes in the suspect," according to Wagnon, who said one officer was treated at a hospital for a head injury and released.

Lewis was taken to a local hospital where he died.

The department Wednesday identified the officers involved as Sgt. Milo Box and Officer Denton Scherman. Box has worked at the department for 17 years, and Scherman was hired in September.

Neither was wearing a body camera during the shooting, Wagnon said. An officer who responded after shots were fired had a camera on his dashboard.

"Our department is in the process of issuing body cameras later this year," Wagnon said in a statement. "There are four issued for various officers to wear while on duty as we roll out our system, but none involved in the OIS were wearing a body camera."

Edmond Public Schools spokeswoman Susan Parks-Schlepp said Lewis attended an alternative school for students who were behind in their graduation requirements.

"He had completed his coursework and was set to walk with his classmates ... in graduation ceremonies on May 18," Parks-Schlepp said in a text to The Associated Press.

During the Monday 911 call that prompted the police response, a woman who identifies herself as Lewis' 18-year-old girlfriend tried to take the phone from her neighbor to tell dispatchers that her "boyfriend just flipped out. I have no idea what's going on."

Story continues

Other 911 calls later reported Lewis stripped off his clothes as he ran down the street. Police later said they chased him as he jumped fences before breaking into the house where he was shot.

Kamri Pollock, who said Lewis was her boyfriend, later told KFOR-TV she saw no reason for police to be involved and that she wanted to know "what he was on." Police said they would have to await a toxicology report to determine if he was on drugs.

No one answered the door on Wednesday at the address listed for Pollock.

Wagnon said a man inside the home Lewis forced his way into about an hour after the 911 call hid in another room and two officers followed Lewis inside, then shot him.

A woman who answered the door at that house on Wednesday declined to give her name and said the man who had been there at the time of the shooting was not home, but said the door damaged during the forced entry had been replaced.

Wagnon said police do not yet know whether both officers fired at Lewis and are waiting for the state medical examiner's report on how many times he was shot.

The medical examiner's office said only that Lewis suffered "multiple gunshot wounds" and that a final autopsy report is pending.
Kabul (AFP) - The US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan has stopped releasing key data on how much of the country falls under insurgent or government control, a US watchdog said Wednesday, the latest war metric to fall from public view.

NATO's Resolute Support mission previously gave a running tally on who controlled or was contesting Afghanistan's districts, and the percentage of the Afghan population this reflected.

US officials would frequently refer to the data to underscore battlefield success, but according to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), Resolute Support (RS) now says these district-stability assessments are "of limited decision-making value to the (mission) commander".

The last data RS provided showed the percentage of Afghans living in areas controlled or influenced by the Kabul government slipping from 65.2 percent to 63.5 percent.

The downward slide undermined predictions that 80 percent of the population would be under government control by the end of this year.

SIGAR head John Sopko said the decision to withhold the data nurtured suspicion.

"When you start hiding things like this, over-classifying... You tend to create cynicism in your populace and everybody else that you're losing, or it's bad news," Sopko told journalists ahead of the SIGAR report's release.

At the request of the Afghan government, RS has also agreed to stop publishing casualty figures for Afghan security forces.

The numbers showed massive losses for the local forces, reaching several thousand per year.

SIGAR's report also noted that violence in Afghanistan had increased 19 percent between November 2018 and the end of January, compared to the previous quarter.

The uptick comes even as the United States tries to negotiate a peace settlement with the Taliban.

A new round of talks between the insurgents and US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is expected to start in Qatar on Wednesday, according to the Taliban.

A possible deal to end the 17-year-old war would see foreign forces leave Afghanistan in return for the Taliban guaranteeing the country could not be used as a safe haven for terror groups.

But for an enduring peace, any deal must include the Afghan government, and so far they have not been included in talks.
Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE: NLSN)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

April 30, 2019, 8:00 a.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning. My name is Carol, and I will be your operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Q1 2019 Nielsen Holdings Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. We ask that you limit yourself to one question and requeue for any additional questions. (Operator Instructions)

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Sara Gubins, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations.

Sara Gubins -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

Thanks, Carol, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss Nielsen's first quarter financial performance. I'm here with our CEO, David Kenny; and our CFO, Dave Anderson. A slide presentation that we'll use on this call is available under the Events section of our Investor Relations website.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind all of you that our remarks and responses to your questions today may contain forward-looking statements, including those about Nielsen's outlook and prospects that are based on Nielsen's current expectations. Our actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected because of a number of risks and uncertainties, including those identified in the Risk Factors section of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequent reports filed with the SEC, which are available on our website. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

On today's call, we will also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are available in the earnings press release, which is available at the Investor Relations section of our website at nielsen.com.

Story continues

For Q&A, as always, we ask you to limit yourself to one question, so that we can accommodate everyone. Feel free to join the queue again, and if time remains, we will call on you.

And now to start the call, I'd like to turn it over to our CEO, David Kenny.

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Good morning. Thank you Sara. Let me start with a brief high level comments and then turn it over to Dave who can review first quarter results, provide some color on our expectations for the second quarter and the remainder of 2019. Then I'll come back and give you an update on our strategy and progress, particularly around our products in both Nielsen Media and Nielsen Connect. But first of all, let me start with the strategic review, which is taking a lot of my time and most of the senior management time. This is an ongoing and active process, and as we've said before, that could lead to one of three potential outcomes. We could continue to operate as a public independent company, we could separate the Global Connect segment from the Global Media segment or we could sale the entire -- sell the entire company.

We have made significant progress over the last eight weeks since our last video. I want to assure you that the Board and the management are working as quickly as we can to complete the strategic review in a timely manner as possible. That said, in parallel, we're also focusing on improving our operations. I am pleased with our first quarter results, which did come in better than our expectations. This means we're on track to deliver on our 2019 guidance, which is an important step in building our credibility. At the same time, I have to say that I'm dissatisfied with Nielsen's growth rate relative to our potential. We have a critical role in the industries we serve, we have unparalleled assets, we have strong client relationships, industry-leading talents and a global footprint, that creates the foundation for stronger products and better growth over time.

Let me now turn the call back to Dave to review the quarter and then I'll return at the end with an update on the tangible steps we are taking to accelerate our velocity. Dave?

David J. Anderson -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, David, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in this morning's call. I'm going to walk you through starting with slide number five, I'm going to walk you briefly through the key topics that I'd like to cover this morning and some of the key takeaways. First, as David said, we're obviously pleased with the results for Nielsen, for the first quarter, both revenue and adjusted EBITDA were ahead of our expectations. The year-over-year margin rate improvement is a product of both better revenue as well as our productivity initiatives. And adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.35, despite a higher effective tax rate compared to the same period last year. And free cash flow came in within our expected range and represented an improvement on a year-over-year basis. And I'll talk more about that in a little bit.

Overall, the results reflect the commitment of our business leaders and our associates worldwide, our hats off to them and our appreciation to them and also the increase in operational and financial rigor that we're seeing across the organization. And as we've said before, we're focused on delivering on all fronts. And finally, as David mentioned, we are reiterating our guidance for 2019, I'm going to provide you some more color on our expectations for the second quarter as well as the second half, after I briefly go through the results for the quarter.

So with that, let's go to slide six and take a look at the highlights. The company revenue increased 0.4% for the first quarter on a constant currency basis, this compares to our expectations of roughly flat and we saw some additional strength in both Media and Connect in the first quarter. Revenue decreased 0.2% on an organic basis constant currency, but if we exclude the impact of one-time items, in the year ago quarter, organic revenue actually grew 1.1%. For the first quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $415 million, up 0.5% constant currency. Adjusted EBITDA margins were 26.6%, up 2 basis points on a constant currency basis and again ahead of expectations. Margins reflect the positive performance on productivity, partially offset by investments that we're making in both our people and in our businesses.

The first quarter tax rate of 41% was well above the 33% to 35% forecast for the full year, it's a fairly simple explanation, we had several discreet items in the quarter related to tax contingencies and audits. I'm going to talk about tax a little bit more in -- as I talk about the outlook for the rest of the year.

Adjusted EPS was $0.35 that compared to $0.40 in the first quarter of 2018, and as we explained, when we provided the original guide for the full year, this difference is expected, driven by higher depreciation and amortization, higher effective tax rate and also lower EBITDA. The effective tax rate in the quarter was 36%, so the 41% in the first quarter of 2018 was 36%. So the 41% rate in 2019 impacted the quarter by about a $0.01. Free cash flow was a use of $165 million in the quarter compared to a use of $245 million in the first quarter of 2018, and relative to last year, free cash flow benefited from lower retail payments and also lower incentive payouts. Overall, looking at the first quarter, while it's still early in the year, these results certainly strengthened our confidence in the 2019 outlook.

We're going to now -- I'd like to just spend a couple of minutes going through each of the segments, and as you know, we've organized and are now managing fully around the two segments, Media and Connect. The segment categories are based around our core measurement platforms in both Media and Connect with Plan/Optimize and Predict/Activate designed to build on measurement and also to add value to our clients by enhancing their decision making.

So let's start with Media on slide number seven. Revenue for the first quarter was $826 million, up 1.3% year-over-year on a constant currency basis. If we adjust for M&A and also the impact of the prior year TV Brand Effect, Media revenue would have been up 1.4% year-over-year. Audience Measurement was up 2.2% constant currency, this reflected underlying strength in National TV double-digit growth in Digital, but as expected, Local TV was down year-over-year (inaudible) was up slightly year-over-year. For Plan and Optimize within Media was down 0.9% constant currency. But again, if you adjust for M&A and other items, Plan/Optimize was about flat year-over-year.

We saw a solid growth in Gracenote, in ROI and also in attribution capabilities, but these were offset by a drag in our telecommunications practice related to timing of a contract. Media's adjusted EBITDA was $347 million, up 0.6% constant currency, adjusted EBITDA margins were 42%, down 32 basis points constant currency. The decline was mostly driven by investments in strategic initiatives and partially offset by productivity.

In Connect on slide eight, the first quarter revenue, which you can see, was $737 million, down 0.7% constant currency. The impact from M&A was negligible in the quarter. The one-time items from a year ago were a drag to revenue growth by 150 basis points. Revenue in measure was $539 million, up 1.7% constant currency, reflecting strong performance in our core retail measurement service and also improved US trends. Revenue in Predict and Activate was $198 million, down 6.6% constant currency. The most important factor influencing Predict and Activate revenue was the continued pressure in our innovation and our customer insights businesses.

Developed markets revenue was down 0.8% constant currency. Just FYI, while revenue declined in the US, we saw an improvement in the rate of decline in the US in the first quarter and we also saw continued stability in Europe. Emerging markets revenue was down 0.7% in the first quarter. Regarding China, we had soft performance in the quarter, partly as a result of a tough comp against the first quarter of last year, but we expect improvement during the course of the year. Connect adjusted EBITDA was $79 million, flat year-over-year constant currency and adjusted EBITDA margins for the segment were 10.7%, up 7 basis points constant currency as revenue declines were offset by productivity initiatives.

Let's go -- now look at the outlook for 2019. You can see here summary takeaway and not to go through any of the details here, this slide is consistent with what we've covered with you before. And so, it's probably good just to go through then the key metrics, which you can reference on slide nine. This includes total company constant currency revenue to be approximately flat to 1.5% and improved trajectory from 2018, we continue to expect adjusted EBITDA margin of 28% to 29% or roughly flat year-over-year at the midpoint. Adjusted EBITDA margin will be driven by significant productivity, partially offset by reinvestment in the business. Adjusted earnings per share expected to be in the range of $1.63 to $1.77 reflecting higher depreciation and amortization expense compared to 2018, as well as higher interest expense.

Lastly, we continue to expect free cash flow to be in the range of $525 million to $575 million, and at the midpoint, to be roughly flat with 2018. And as we discussed last quarter, key drivers include lower incentive compensation payouts in 2019 and also lower retailer payments, offset in part by higher cash interest and cash taxes. Now we provided commentary on additional inputs to our key 2019 financial metrics in the appendix of the slides.

Turning to slide 10, I won't spend time on this, but here we've laid out the revenue outlook by segment for 2019. This is consistent with what we've shared with you last quarter.

So with that, let's go to slide 11, let me talk about what we anticipate in terms of the timing of the outlook for the remainder of 2019. We expect second quarter revenue to be flat to up slightly year-over-year in constant currency, again, we continue to expect the second half to be stronger than the first half. In revenue, we had some one-time items in the first half of 2018 that make for a more difficult comparison in the first half of 2019. For the second quarter, we expect margins to be roughly flat year-over-year. We'll also see the benefit of the productivity initiatives that will be paced through quarters two through four, which will provide support for reinvestment as well as growth initiatives.

I'd also note that we anticipate the conclusion of tax audits in various countries during the second and third quarters. If this occurs, it would translate to an effective book tax rate below our 33% to 35% guidance. But we'll continue to provide you with the normalized tax rate, which we anticipate to continue to be in the range of the original 33% to 35% for 2019. And finally, we expect second quarter free cash flow to be slightly down to flat, as we've discussed with you, we have an aggressive improvement plan under way for cash flow, lot of organizational focus around it.

In summary, we're confident in our plan, we have a strong commitment to deliver on fronts and we look forward to updating you on our continued progress. And with that, I'm going to turn it back over to David for some of his comments on the company and our outlook.

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Dave. As I said before, I'm pleased with our progress, but I also believe we have the opportunity to improve our growth trajectory over time. Towards that end, we're working hard to transform Nielsen into a truly product driven, technology-enabled organization. I would also say that our first quarter gave us increased confidence in our 2019 guidance as well as some early validation of our product direction. So today what I want to do is give you some specific examples of how our product is being received in the market.

Let me start with Nielsen Global Media. Our mission there is to be the one media truth across the entire media ecosystem, which creates metrics that monetize for our clients. And then we leverage those metrics to provide the tools our clients need to plan and optimize their media spend or the media offerings. First, let me talk about market adoption of Audience Measurement and how Nielsen continues to broaden our measurement across both linear and digital video to give a total audience view. This is being demanded by and it's paying off with our clients.

As I said, let me get some specific examples. One, we continue to work closely with NBCU on the evolution and industry adoption of CFLY, which is underpinned by Nielsen currency data. This offers an advanced way to buy and sell advertising across platforms. We're working to expand the CFLY concept across the industry with Viacom also planning to use the same metric during their 2019 upfront negotiations. We're also continuing to work on enhancements in Local TV measurement and we are testing and validating additional data. This is great news for our local clients and we're getting positive feedback from them on our progress. Toward's that end, we also announced a long-term agreement with Univision for National and Local TV ratings measurement, which included for the first time some of our newer total Audience Measurement solutions such as of Out-of-Home and subscription video-on-demand.

I would also say that media is becoming increasingly digital and that means that we have the opportunity to deliver innovative new solutions that help clients monetize their digital audiences. Again, let me give you some specific examples. We're working with all of the major players on Connected TV, which includes Hulu, Roku NBCUniversal and many others. On the new front, YouTube is offering Nielsen-based audience delivery guarantees, which enable advertisers to better use YouTube TV to fill in the gap of their traditional TV campaigns. And then lastly, we continue to measure Netflix. That data shows that 72% of the minute spent on Netflix are non-original programming or reruns. This is a critical input to our media clients that are now investing in their own streaming services, which we also measure to our total audience framework.

In Media, we also have a terrific global opportunity. Over the first quarter, I had a chance to visit some of our international markets and heard that first firsthand. Our mission is to be the one media truth worldwide. Today, international or non-US is approximately 15% of Nielsen global media revenues. That said, we are already in more than 50 (ph) markets around the world and we are reallocating key talent and resources to our commercial efforts and product efforts outside the United States, which leverage our global presence and continue to consolidate platforms and create globally syndicated solutions to drive efficiency and growth.

We had a really notable achievement in the last few weeks in Mexico. There, our television Audience Measurement was accredited by the Media Rating Counsel. This is the first and only service outside the US to receive the MRC's accreditation. This provides the media industry in Mexico with an additional level of confidence. They leverage Nielsen measurement to account for television audiences and transact in a reliable and effective way.

Let me now talk about the Plan and Optimize part of Nielsen Global Media. Remember that many of these capabilities are part of our overall digital portfolio, which provides the market with extensive offerings to help manage the demand of the complex digital landscape and we have a tremendous opportunity to drive growth. Our digital business will be a mix of Plan/Optimize and measurement. Again, let me give you some specific examples. One, we're working with a large brand marketer to bring together Nielsen's digital attribution capability with Nielsen's cloud-based identity platform. This enables the marketer to better target addressable consumers and importantly close the loop on sale, which grew transparency and accountability for the return on investment for each of their ad dollars. This client's CMO is incredibly proud of their approach to people-based marketing and the quantifiable benefit and we are getting really positive feedback from them about how the Nielsen platform works. And another example, one of the large agency holding companies just expanded their use of Nielsen's planning tools that help them enhance their overall ad buys with a much deeper understanding of the unduplicated reach of the digital audience, which leads to a more efficient media plan.

And finally, we also just renewed the Nielsen audio contract with Entercom. This includes several new plan and optimized services, which help the Entercom sales teams demonstrate the value of radio advertising to their advertisers. This is part of our continued investment to make the audio platform delivered both measurement and analytic benefits for our clients. To sum up on Nielsen Global Media, we continue to see market validation of our total audience measurement offerings. We also have the opportunity to drive accelerated growth outside of the United States and accelerated growth in the Plan and Optimize services. We are focused on a product road map that will bring more solutions to clients to help accelerate growth both for our clients and for Nielsen.

Let me turn now to Nielsen Global Connect, where we connect retailers and manufacturers within the fast-moving consumer goods ecosystem. Here we have a clear opportunity to strengthen our competitive position, restore our revenue growth and improve profit, and the US turnaround that Dave talked about is a big part of that story. Again, I'm pleased with our progress in Q1, but I'm again, not at all happy with our growth status.

We're making progress on the Nielsen Connect platform and its ability to drive growth. It's a key differentiator in terms of what that platform can do. We have another large deployment of the end-to-end system, which is driving faster decision-making and we're also working well with 400 (ph) and growing clients who are already using components of the system. We have a strong pipeline of committed, end-to-end client deployments for Nielsen Connect in the US and there's been a broad range of FMCG manufacturers and retailers.

Again, let me give you some specific examples in the Connect segment. First of all, in measurement, which is the bedrock of our Connect business, we saw relative global strength in the first quarter with both retailers and manufacturers. Let me talk about the retailers, which remain a key focus and we are driving increased collaboration between the retailers and the manufacturers. Some examples, in the United States, our Walmart and Sam's collaboration program continue to open this up to work with a whole new roster of small and mid-tier clients. We have more than 900 clients signed up for those collaboration program and more than 75% of those are new to Nielsen.

China is also a big focus. We do expect China's trajectory to improve during the year as we launch our retail measurement coverage enhancements. In China, we also have a renewed agreement with JD.com, which gives us more access to content and expands our co-developed analytics suites to include online price and promotion services. In Europe, we expanded our relationship with ALDI, both recently adding Italy and Netherlands to the roster and we just inked a multi-year loyalty analytics deal in Thailand with Big C, which is a major retailer in Southeast Asia.

On the manufacturer side of Nielsen Global Connect, we also have some recent client renewals that provide market validation for our product roadmap. For example, we renewed (inaudible) a global skincare brand and this was underpinned largely by their confidence in the direction of the Nielsen Connect platform. We also renewed our global multi-year contract with Johnson & Johnson consumer. I should also note, here in New York, all week we've got our data science team and their data science team doing a Hackathon so that together with J&J, we can uncover new insights for their business and it's just an example of the way we're working more closely and more technically with our clients. Our ability to offer both measurement and analytics in all the major markets around the world remains a key differentiator.

Let me go to the predict and activate side. My commentary will largely echo what I said about plan and optimize. This should be a real growth driver over time. We have an opportunity to leverage our management data to drive faster growth as we move from point solutions to a modern machine learning data analytics platform aligned on a single open architecture. We're driving greater analytic solutions to optimize decision-making in several key areas, including category management, assortment, supply chain and promotion and we are seeing good demand for these services from our clients. Towards that end, we recently signed two global assortment in space optimization deal with Mars and a global tobacco giant and our price and promotion analytics are helping to drive additional traffic at Smart & Final, a regional value retailer and at present a regional-discount retailer, we're also making notable progress on strengthening the assortment helped by our analytics partnership with them. Our work with Freds is also helping them to collaborate more closely with their vendors through a focused data strategy.

So let me sum up on Nielsen Global Connect. We have strengthened our value proposition for both the retailer and the manufacturer. We're getting positive reactions to our roadmap and to the early functionality of the Connect platform. We're continuing to grow our global relationships and we're also adding more local relationships. Our US business, which is about 30% of total Connect is stabilizing.

Moving beyond our client operations, let me talk about the way we look internally and productivity. We did commit to 370 basis points of gross productivity in 2019 to free up investment capital, so this is largely going to be offset by investments in the growth initiatives. We're on track to deliver this gross productivity.

Again, I'm going to give you some tangible examples from Q1. We made a huge acceleration in our journey to align on a single cloud-based architecture in both Media and Connect. And on the connect side, our three super hubs are now fully operational delivering data to 25 major countries with over 500,000 unique deliverables shipped. We're also driving a lot of efficiency and quality through the automation of our field data collection. Over 65 markets are now live with our digital data collection platform and our quality control towers, which represents a significant acceleration from the original timeline. These are live in over 10 markets with the added benefit of machine learning and image recognition deploying our e-collection methodology.

So let me close and get your questions. Across the Board, our Nielsen teams are working hard to execute our growth strategy and deliver on our 2019 plan. These efforts are in parallel to a lot of hard work also being done on the strategic review. No matter the outcome of the strategic review, we are taking the right steps to best position your company for the long-term and maximize value for our shareholders. I look forward to updating you on our progress.

Let me now turn it back to Sara to manage the Q&A. Sara?

Sara Gubins -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

Thanks, David. Carol, we're ready to open the line up for questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Wonderful. (Operator Instructions) Our first question this morning comes from Andrew Steinerman from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Andrew Steinerman -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Good morning. Dave, when discussing slide eight, which is Nielsen Connect, you cited continued CPG and market pressures, but the US improving, so I want to get a sense of two things: one, quantitatively, how did Nielsen Connect US revenues do in the first quarter, when you say improving? When you said improving, did you mean the end market US CPG is improving or did you mean Nielsen Connect US revenues were improving?

David J. Anderson -- Chief Financial Officer

So Andrew, good morning. Thank you. So specifically, what I meant is that Nielsen revenues are improving. So we had, as I think, I may have mentioned, we had decline. I may have mentioned that in total developed. But the decline in the US was less than we experienced last year. We're obviously very, very pleased with that performance. We're also very pleased with the performance that we had in our measurement business there, which is a bright spot for us. And as we guided at the beginning of the year, we expect that we'll see for total developed, in Connect, we'll see continued, relatively good performance over the rest of this year. And the team is executing very well on that. So very pleased by what we did in the US, very pleased by the focus that we have and a number of the accounts that we are seeing, what we are seeing very positive response to offering both on the Measurement side but also increasingly on the Predict and Activate side.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jeff Meuler from Baird. Please go ahead.

Jeffrey Meuler -- Baird -- Analyst

Yeah. Thank you. In terms of the win or the progress on the full end-to-end Connect system, I guess, it sounds like you signed clients there, there's more in the pipeline, but could you just give us some more detail how many clients are live on the end-to-end system today? Roughly what was the size of the pipeline, just any targets, any roadmaps there? And then, how long does it typically take to do the implementation for a end-to-end client on the Connect system? Thank you.

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. So, as I told you before, we got 100, close to 400 that are using at least one component as they migrate to the end-to-end system. We've only got a couple that are using the full end-to-end system. We've got dozens in the pipeline to roll out this year. I would say that we're making progress on the inside. It can take a couple of months to get it up and running and I would you say, it really comes down to how much the clients are willing to use a standard connect reports versus customizing to what they've done before and this takes a little bit of management to make sure people use the system as designed as opposed to retrofitting it back to where they were before. So, every time we do this, we're making progress. We're working with folks and getting ready for their installations this year. We're making a lot of progress in the adoption of the standard system.

David J. Anderson -- Chief Financial Officer

But I think one thing maybe to add and I think you may have referenced in your summary comments, but feedback from those are really increasing the penetration usage of Nielsen Connect has been very positive. We got some tremendous testimonials from our clients with respect to the adoption of the system. So now in addition to what we're seeing and what David said in terms of the numbers, there is also the qualitative side of this, which has been very positive.

Operator

Our next question comes from Toni Kaplan from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Toni Kaplan -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Thank you. Good morning. I was hoping you could talk about the pricing environment in both segments really, but specifically also within Media for National as well as for Local? Thank you.

David J. Anderson -- Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, little bit, I think that there certainly are changes going on in the -- and I think all the media owners focused on their costs, of course, we're having price discussions. I mentioned a couple of renewals, which were right where we expected them to be. So in the end, these are closing in the right place. I would say that the discussions turning to value and also making sure that we're adjusting the mix of services, so that they're using more of the digital and analytics services in the renewals, which reflects the strategies of our clients. And I think on the connect side, again, of course, we're always going to have negotiations, but I think as we've increased the value and being able to show how we make our clients more efficient and more effective, it's becoming -- I think, relatively more straightforward to get those deals close.

Operator

Our next question comes from Manav Patnaik from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Manav Patnaik -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Yeah, hi, good morning, guys. I just wanted to get your latest on the GDPR impacts the business have seen where you see the, I guess, remaining impacts today and how we should think of that going forward?

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, so listen, on GDPR, certainly, there was some slowdown there and we retooled our capabilities to be fully compliant. We're very respectful and encouraged by privacy. So I think we got through those products changes and we're seeing what we expected, which is an improvement in the pipeline for our attribution products. I think clients are going to continue to test that and make sure that privacy works for them as well, which we are happy with. I would also say GDPR is just a first aspect of privacy. We're also watching closely, things like the California Consumer Privacy Act, which will become effective in January 2020 and other things happening in the US and several other things happening around the world. I think we're getting in front of this. We're understanding not only the regulation but the way to be compliant with it to make sure we continue to become a gold standard in the way privacy is managed. And we do think it'll continue to affect our business and in a way that connect should be quite positive and differentiated from Nielsen's approach over time.

David J. Anderson -- Chief Financial Officer

David, I might just add very, very quickly is, as I think, most folks are clearly aware that we've built-in in our guidance some continued pressures related to privacy in terms of the media plan and optimize. So that's reflected in the numbers that we've provided to you. And this is -- as David said, this is somebody is going to be with us for a while, we've made tremendous, we think, responses and positive adjustments, but it's going to be something that's going to be with us. So we're -- that's part of the reason we've got plan/optimize as it is in terms of our guidance for the full year for media.

Operator

Our next question comes from Todd Juenger from Sanford Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Todd Juenger -- Sanford Bernstein -- Analyst

Thank you and good morning. David, if I could, I'd love to return a bit to the discussion with you sort of started on the mix shift in increasing role of digital within the media business. If I could, I'd love to take that a step further and get a chance to get your thoughts, especially given all the places you've been in your career. A concern that many people have about what the long-term implications are of the increased mix shift toward digital and away from linear consumption in advertising. And there is a concern that investors have that maybe Nielsen gets -- you monetized less in the digital side proportionate to the size of that market linear. I don't know if you agree with that concern? Or what you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on how we should think about the impact of that mix shift over time? Appreciate it. Thanks.

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Well, thank you, Todd. And of course, in my decision to join Nielsen at the end of last year was because I believe Nielsen has exactly the right portfolio to grow as our clients moving digital. There are a lot more needs in digital and a lot of work was done before I got here and we're picking up the pace in the past few months since I arrived is somewhat different. So first of all, measurement continues to be important and I would say, we've got a growing demand for independent holistic measurement. I think having the platform to create their own homework is of concern to the advertisers and they're being more vocal about it. So when we've got measurement assets like digital ad ratings, digital content ratings, subscription VOD content ratings et cetera, these all help us serve the measurement side in a really important way. But I would also say that, that data is increasingly feeding the analytics platform and we should continue to also see growth in planning and optimization with tools like Digital Brand Effect, we've got with Gracenote, with the ACR, what we do with multi-touch attribution, et cetera. So we're seeing an increased growth on the analytics side from digital. When we look at digital, I do look at both the analytic side and the measurement side and I would tell you it's becoming a meaningful and growing part of the portfolio. This is a transition, but it's a transition our clients are going through, it's a transition the market is going through. And I do believe only Nielsen can do this. I think our installed base, what we already do with our panels gives us -- and our role in currency gives us a chance to and actually have responsibility to lead the industry. So it's a transition, but I think it's a good healthy transition that opens more doors for us over time, in terms of growth.

Operator

Our next question comes from Matthew Thornton from SunTrust. Please go ahead.

Matthew Thornton -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Hey, good morning everybody. Maybe the first one, and I apologize if I missed this. Can you talk a little bit about local and rolling in some of the big census level data sets that guys you have, when we might see that and whether you'd expect that to kind of to turn the tide there? And then just secondly, you talked a little bit about China, kind of -- the headwind kind of reversing course here in the back half of the year. Can you just put a little meat on that just to understand again what gives you confidence in that turn, that would be helpful? Thanks, everyone.

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. So first of all, on local, as I said in my remarks, we're adding more data sets, both proprietary Nielsen data sets and acquired data sets and we're testing on improving those. So we're beginning to share the results not yet in a currency way. This is an industry move. We're working closely with the MRC. We do want to retain quality standards and independent accreditation on that. So we're working through that processes. Certainly, in this year, we expect to make real progress and evolve what we're doing in local. I would also say as we're showing that to clients, they are signing on. So in the recent months, we've renewed a number of big local clients, including Raycom, Cox, Hearst and as I said, Univision and I would say that the pipeline is real strong. There is a lot of energy around where we're going in local and I do believe we're cracking the code there.

In terms of China, and I spent some time in there and planning to go there in a few weeks, again that's more of a connect business. And I would say, it's going to improve because we're expanding coverage, that we're measuring more places, both geographically and we've made real strides in e-commerce, which help revenue grow there. One of those opportunities, as I said, was the renewal with JD.com and that renewal gives us access now to much more timely data, allows us to move to weekly reporting and also launch analytic services, including an online to off-line price and promotion model. So I feel like we've got the right partners, I feel like we've got the right clients and a lot of the product opportunities (inaudible) made a lot of progress. And just judging from the number of clients JD is getting setting up and the pipeline there, I think the local team is executing quite well.

Operator

Our next question comes from George Tong from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

George Tong -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

Hi, thanks, good morning. In your Connect business, your revenue declines are continuing to moderate, can you just elaborate on the overall health of the CPG end markets, both in developed and emerging markets? And what you would think -- what would you say the top one or two initiatives are internally to drive a return to positive overall constant currency growth here?

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. So first of all, listen, I think it hasn't changed in the end markets, but I think both the retailers and the manufacturers continue to focus on value for consumer. And so that means that they're watching pricing and they're watching their offering, but they are making progress. I think in terms of our connect, what we are also seeing is a number of smaller players emerging, what you might call the long tail. And I would say there these sort of long tail sort of small and mid-sized clients are the ones that are growing the fastest. In fact, they grew 65% in the US alone during the first quarter.

Secondly, in terms of the fact that they're focused on value means that they need to be more precise, so that's where we're seeing more focus on analytics. And our analytics business within existing clients did grow 55% of a small base in Q1. And then lastly, I would say, the end markets are also integrating and collaborating much more. So as retailers are collaborating with their manufacturers, there is a need for them to do that in a common way with a common set of data, and again, the Nielsen data is the only data that can really do that at scale. So we're seeing real growth there as well. So those are the operational things that are driving, as Dave said, the sort of improved performance in the US and the growth around the world. I would say that should pick up as the connected system grows as well.

Operator

Our next question comes from Bill Warmington from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

William Warmington -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Good morning, everyone. So at the November 2017 Investor Day, the previous management team laid out a plan for $500 million in cost savings, about $400 million from automation and consolidation and another $100 million from SG&A. Now that you've both spent some time at the company, how are you feeling about the potential for cost savings at the business? Is $500 million still a reasonable goal? And if it's a reasonable goal, is it likely to be reinvested or does it have a chance to fall to the bottom line?

David J. Anderson -- Chief Financial Officer

So, Bill, let me start, just give you some perspective there, add a little bit to David's comments on productivity. First of all, as I mentioned in the first quarter results, we're very pleased about the fall through, if you will, of some of the favorability we had relative to our expectations on revenue to EBITDA and EBITDA margin and that reflects the focus on productivity and the delivery of productivity that we have. The second thing is that we really haven't provided an update to that prior -- the prior number from prior leadership. But I will tell you we're really confident based on what we've seen, what we're doing that we've got a real strong line of sight to deliver what we shared with you in our original 2019 guide in the walk -- in the EBITDA walk that we provided to you in terms of the gross productivity that we can deliver this year of that. Strong line of sight and actual in line programs that are going to deliver against those numbers. I think relative to the broader longer-term kind of potential, it's something that we look forward to updating you on at the right time. But right now, our real focus is just on executing and delivering against these 2019 numbers.

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Let me just add, to remind you, that's 370 basis points of gross productivity and we're very confident in that and are executing. What I would say is the best productivity is always going to come from improving the top line. I will not hesitate to invest in growth opportunities. At the same time, if we invest, we're going to invest with clear business cases and with accountability for that growth. So I would say it's not automatically just being reinvested. We're creating the opportunities to invest, but we're being pretty rigorous about really understanding what those investments are, whether they be client coverage or product, making sure that we work with our (inaudible) as we do that. So I think that it will be far more transparent as opposed to just a sort of loose deal on reinvestment. And I'm really happy with the productivity that's giving us the chance to look at some of these, I think, really terrific opportunities to improve our growth rate.

Operator

Our next question comes from Ashish Sabadra from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Ashish Sabadra -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So my question was about retiring -- retirement of legacy systems. David, if you can provide any feedback or if you have received any client pushback on retiring the legacy systems? And then you also talked about acceleration in the journey to single cloud-based architecture. Now that you've been there for a few months, do you have a feel for how long does the transition take in terms of timing? Thanks.

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. So on the last part, I would say I'm not yet ready to give you a final data on it, but with my prior experience and certainly, the folks who are helping us, you've got a couple of years to get a full transition completed. So we're certainly working on that. I'd like to make it a little sooner, certainly working on velocity, but some of these things just take cycles and internally some recoding to be able to work in the right way. And we want to do it right, not just task.

Secondly, on the retirement of legacy systems, I think we're working really hard for clients to understand the benefit of having Nielsen on a single architecture and the benefit of doing things in a more common and therefore, scalable way. One of those benefits is on the connect side that you can bring in other partners. So there is over 60 partners that have now signed up to be part of the connected system, which gives our clients a lot of opportunity beyond just the services from Nielsen to use that data. And similarly in media, as our clients get more robust and as they become digital first, being able to bring all those tools in is one of the benefits from this change. And lastly, I'd say in some of the legacy systems, clients just are thrilled to see us move to more modern systems and the benefit is immediate. The things that are at the front line that affect the way they operate, we have to work with them on that transition and we're doing that aggressively now.

Operator

Our next question comes from Surinder Thind from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Surinder Thind -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Good morning. David, I just wanted to touch base on one of the first comments that you made to start the call. I think you indicated that you are pleased with the 1Q results but dissatisfied with the growth rate. Can you provide some additional color on the growth rate comment, maybe perhaps what you see is the long-term potential of the business or what might be a number that you guys are thinking about or that you would be satisfied with?

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

So all I'm going to say is that the number is faster than right now, but I think if you get to specifics, that is part of the work we're doing with in the strategic review, actually it's helping us to sort out really where are the opportunities and what does the growth look like as we get more focused on fewer, bigger, bolder initiatives versus a lot of small ones. What I would say is we also look at the market growth rate in our end markets and we should at least be growing at those rates in order to maintain our relevance. So we're making sure that we are deeply embedded in the way metrics are monetized and we're deeply embedded in the analytics that help people get more efficient. So I think we're certainly looking at it from a market share and market growth perspective as well as organically what we believe our products can deliver. And at the right time, we'll come back with a specific number, that's certainly part of the strategic review process to get that right.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) And I'll turn our call back to Sara Gubins for closing remarks.

Sara Gubins -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

Great. Thank you, Carol, and thank you all for joining us on today's call. As always, we're available today and the days to come to address the follow-up questions. Thank you.

Operator

This does conclude today's conference and you may now disconnect.

Duration: 51 minutes

Call participants:

Sara Gubins -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

David W. Kenny -- Chief Executive Officer

David J. Anderson -- Chief Financial Officer

Andrew Steinerman -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Jeffrey Meuler -- Baird -- Analyst

Toni Kaplan -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Manav Patnaik -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst

Todd Juenger -- Sanford Bernstein -- Analyst

Matthew Thornton -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

George Tong -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst

William Warmington -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Ashish Sabadra -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst

Surinder Thind -- Jefferies -- Analyst

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By Greg Lacour

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 1 (Reuters) - Police charged a man with murder early on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire in a University of North Carolina (UNC) building during final exams, killing two people and wounding four.

Police in Charlotte said they had charged Trystan Andrew Terrell, who is in custody, with two counts of murder and four of attempted murder. Three of the four wounded were in a critical condition.

The shooting took place at UNC Charlotte at around 5:40 p.m. Tuesday, the last day of school, police said earlier. Officers gave no details of a possible motive.

The gunman was disarmed by two or three campus police officers who entered the building after responding to an emergency call, campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said.

Sandy D'Elousa, a spokeswoman for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, which is leading the investigation, said the gunman was believed to have acted alone.

North Carolina's Governor Roy Cooper called the incident a tragic day for the university and the state just a few days before graduation. "But I know the people in this community, and they will be here for each other," he told a news conference.

According to its website, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has more than 26,500 students.

The deadliest mass shooting on a higher education campus in the United States took place at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, in April 2007, when a student killed 32 people and then himself. (Reporting by Greg Lacour in Charlotte; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, and Rich McKay in Atlanta; editing by John Stonestreet)
Photo credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

The efforts to demilitarize the world's most heavily armed border have now turned towards outdoor recreation. With an okay from the U.S., South Korea will begin developing hiking trails alongside its demilitarized zone (DMZ) border with North Korea.

The Republic of Korea, as South Korea is officially known, announced earlier this month its intention to build what it calls "peace trails" alongside the tense border.

However, according to the armistice agreement ending the 1950-53 Korean War, the U.S.-led United Nations Command must give approve any plans that involve the border. The war, which ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, saw open hostilities cease with the creation of the DMZ, which is approximately 155 miles long and 2.5 miles wide.

"United Nations Command (UNC) and the ROK government have demonstrated superb teamwork, collaboration, and coordination throughout the entire peace trail process and will continue to do so," says General Robert B. "Abe" Abrams, commander of UN Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea, said in a press statement.

"The ROK military has worked extremely long hours to ensure the success of this very important initiative, while assuring visitors their safety remains paramount," Gen. Abrams continues.

The hiking trails have already been functionally operational for several days. On April 28, 20 South Korean citizens walked the pathway, which originates in Goseong County in the province of Gangwon. Reminders remain of the region's difficult past, from barbed wire fences to minefields. The 20 hikers along one of the trails were chosen through a lottery. The group walked along the shore with double barbed-wire fences along the seaside.

The trail also demonstrates what many saw during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics-that the Korean peninsula is one of the most beautiful regions on the planet, with remarkable eastern coasts meeting the Sea of Japan. Those who walk the trail can also see Mount Kumgang, a mountain known for its beauty as well as its place as a Korean symbol. On a clear day, views of the North's coasts, lakes, and mountains are also visible.

Story continues

"I can hardly control my emotion for becoming the first to step on the land closed to civilians since the national division," Park Sang Ki, a 60-year-old resident of Busan and one of the first hikers, told the press. "I wish the barbed wires will disappear as soon as possible so that the people of the South and North can come and go freely."

Source: Vice

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By Charlotte Greenfield WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand news outlets on Wednesday agreed to guidelines for reporting on the court appearances of a man charged over deadly attacks on Christchurch mosques in March, which would limit coverage of statements promoting white supremacist ideology. In an attack broadcast live on Facebook, a lone gunman armed with semi-automatic weapons targeted Muslims attending prayers in Christchurch on March 15, killing 50 worshippers and wounding dozens. Australian Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder and is next due to appear in Christchurch's High Court in June. "We shall, to the extent that is compatible with the principles of open justice, limit any coverage of statements, that actively champion white supremacist or terrorist ideology," said the agreement between senior editors at five major media organizations. The protocols were published by various outlets that signed the agreement, including state-funded Radio New Zealand, TVNZ, Mediaworks, website Stuff and NZME, the owner of the New Zealand Herald. The agreement also said that media organizations would not broadcast or report on any imagery or hand signals promoting or supporting white supremacist ideology during court appearances and would send "experienced" journalists to cover any trial. Tarrant, who is currently undergoing a court-ordered psychiatric assessment, is being represented by two lawyers from an Auckland criminal defense firm. Head of the firm, Shane Tait, did not immediately respond to request for comment. Media had initially reported that Tarrant wished to represent himself and legal experts have said he may try to use the hearings as a platform to present his ideology and beliefs. (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Sam Holmes)
Paris (AFP) - Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hardline demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded parts of the city Wednesday in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence.

Tensions were palpable as a mix of labour unionists, "yellow vest" demonstrators and anti-capitalists gathered in the French capital, putting security forces on high alert.

More than 7,400 police were out on the streets with orders from President Emmanuel Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" if faced with violence.

The clashes kicked off as crowds gathered on Montparnasse Boulevard, with hundreds of black-clad anarchists weaving their way to the front as thousands of unionists and yellow vests were quietly munching their lunch in the sun.

Suddenly they pounced, hurling bottles and chunks of broken paving stones at the security forces, shouting: "Everyone hates the police!".

Clouds of teargas wafted into the air as the police hit back immediately, charging at the rioters and throwing stingball grenades and water cannons to break up the crowd in clashes that lasted over an hour.

There was also some friction between the hardline protesters and those who turned out just to celebrate workers' day.

"I earn 1,200 euros ($1,340) a month, I'm like you," one trade unionist responded after being insulted by a "yellow vest" marcher.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, visiting a Paris hospital where an injured riot officer was admitted, said the traditional May Day holiday for workers had been "hijacked by the violence" of some of the participants.

Dozens of demonstrators briefly burst into La Pitie-Salpetriere hospital with some trying to enter a resuscitation service before being ejected by police, hospital director Marie-Anne Ruder told France Inter radio.

But the initial violence and the sporadic clashes that followed fell short of the "apocalypse" threatened by hardliners, with the security forces heading off some of the excesses seen in recent months.

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Authorities had warned this year's marches would likely spell trouble, coming barely a week after leaders of the yellow vest anti-government movement angrily dismissed Macron's offer of tax cuts.

Some 40,000 people turned out for the May Day rallies in Paris, an independent media count estimated, while unions gave a figure of 80,000 and the interior ministry put the number at 28,000.

Ministry figures for the whole country gave a turnout of 164,000 people, while France's powerful CGT union gave a figure of 310,000 at events in some 250 towns and cities.

- 'Worse than '68' -

The sudden violence caught many marchers by surprise, with union members who were caught in the crossfire infuriated by what they claimed was an indiscriminate police crackdown.

Caught up in the melee was top CGT official Philippe Martinez who had been waiting at the head of the march where the clashes took place.

Forced to leave the area, he later returned, visibly agitated, with sharp words of criticism for the police whom he accused of attacking "clearly-identifiable union members".

After the initial scuffles, a sense of relative calm returned as the main procession got under way.

But things degenerated again towards the end as the marchers reached Place d'Italie where black-clad agitators tried to knock down anti-riot barriers, prompting running battles with the police as the skies quickly filled with tear gas.

In the surrounding streets, some torched dustbins, while others pried the protective chipboard coverings from shop fronts and set them alight, sending black smoke pouring into the air.

- Russian journalist hurt -

Interior ministry figures showed 24 demonstrators were lightly injured along with 14 members of the security forces, while 380 people were detained for questioning of which 330 were in Paris.

Also injured was a woman journalist with Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, who said police had hit her face and arm with a truncheon despite the fact she was wearing a helmet and an armband clearly marking her as press.

The Russian foreign ministry described the incident as "unacceptable", urging France to conduct a "meticulous investigation".

Since November, the city has struggled to cope with the weekly yellow vest protests, which have often descended into chaos with a violent minority smashing up and torching shops, restaurants and newspaper stands.

France's powerful labour unions had hoped to use the traditional May Day march for workers' rights to raise their profile after finding themselves sidelined for months by the grass-roots yellow vest movement.

- Marches worldwide -

Elsewhere, Turkish police arrested 127 people as they sought to hold a May Day rally in an Istanbul square in defiance of a ban, while in Saint Petersburg, police detained more than 60 people after they chanted slogans against President Vladimir Putin.

And in Manila, some 8,000 protesters torched a giant effigy of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte over his policies' impact on the nation's poor.

But all eyes were on Venezuela, where opposition leader Juan Guaido has called for huge May Day protests to up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro after calling on the military to rise up against him.

As the crisis deepened, Washington said it was ready to intervene militarily "if that's what's required".
Paris (AFP) - France's zero-tolerance approach to protest violence will be tested Wednesday when a heady mix of labour unionists, "yellow vest" demonstrators and hardline hooligans are expected to hit the streets on Labour Day.

Authorities have warned that this year's May 1 marches could be tense, coming barely a week after leaders of the yellow vest anti-government movement angrily dismissed a package of tax cuts by President Emmanuel Macron.

And with trade unions hoping to raise their profile and thuggish "casseurs" vowing to turn Paris into "the capital of rioting", the government has pledged to deploy security on an "exceptional scale" throughout the capital.

Officials are bracing for a repeat of last year's May 1 violence, when they were caught off guard by some 1,200 trouble-makers who ran amok in Paris, vandalising businesses and clashing with police.

More than 7,400 police and gendarmes will be deployed across Paris on Wednesday, with orders from Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" if faced with any violence, government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye said on Tuesday.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the authorities had found several groups on social media urging protesters to transform the city into "the capital of rioting", with police gearing up for the arrival of up to 2,000 activists bristling for a fight.

"Based on the information we have, 1,000 to 2,000 radical activists, potentially reinforced by individuals coming from abroad, who could try to spread lawlessness and violence," he told a press conference.

Many are anti-capitalist youths, often known as "black blocs", who dress in black and wear face masks.

- Pre-emptive searches -

Nearly 200 motorcycle units will be deployed across the capital to respond quickly to flare-ups of violence, and drones will be used to track protesters' movements.

Castaner said police had already begun carrying out pre-emptive searches of anyone planning to march, a new tactic allowed under a security law passed recently in response to the yellow vest violence.

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He said a handful of individuals had already been detained Tuesday, including one carrying "an extendable truncheon and a switchblade".

French security forces have already been on high alert for nearly six months over the weekly yellow vest demonstrations that have often spiralled into rioting and running battles with police.

Last Thursday, in a major policy speech aimed at calming the yellow vest anger, Macron promised a string of reforms including tax cuts worth five billion euros ($5.5 billion).

But the yellow vests rejected it as too little, too late, pledging to keep up the protests that began in November over rising taxes on fuel and pensions which have since morphed into all-out rebellion.

Although the numbers have steadily fallen, with only 23,000 turning out last weekend down from a November high of 282,000, the movement has remained in the headlines, largely over disorder by a handful of violent protesters along the Champs-Elysees.

Following a particularly violent demo in March, the government sacked the Paris police chief and adopted a "zero-tolerance" approach, later passing an "anti-rioter" bill granting greater powers to the security forces, which included making it a criminal offence to wear a mask at a protest.

France's powerful labour unions are also hoping to use the traditional May Day march for workers' rights to raise their profile after finding themselves sidelined for months by the grass-roots yellow vest movement.

But their efforts to join forces to secure better living conditions and improved spending power have so far been rejected by many yellow vest leaders.
By Carolyn Crist (Reuters Health) - Croup, a common upper respiratory tract infection in young children under age 6, can become severe and require hospitalization, doctors say in a new patient resource published in JAMA. Best known for the distinctive hoarse cough it produces, croup is caused by a virus and is typically contagious during the first few days of the infection. Its spread can be prevented through good hand hygiene and good cough hygiene, the authors write. "Often trigged by a virus such as the common cold, croup in younger children creates a cough that is described as a seal-like bark, which can be scary for families to hear," said Dr. Elliot Melendez of the Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, who co-wrote the patient resource. Croup causes swelling of the larynx, or voice box, and the trachea, and its clinical name is laryngotracheitis. The inflammation can affect's a child's voice and ability to breathe. "If not treated, it can lead to severe respiratory distress," Melendez told Reuters Health in a phone interview. "This progression can have a psychological impact on families." The new patient page (available for free, here: https://bit.ly/2GB68df) explains the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options for croup. Melendez and co-author Ioana Baiu of Stanford Hospital in California explain that croup typically occurs in the fall and winter months and is caused by the flu or parainfluenza viruses, adenovirus or other respiratory viruses. Like many respiratory infections, croup starts with a runny nose, fever and sore throat. Within a day or two, larynx swelling increases and leads to a characteristic "croupy" cough. The cough is not dangerous, the authors emphasize. However, more severe forms of the infection can make it hard to breathe, causing a strained sound called stridor as air passes through the child's narrowed airway. This is typically accompanied by rapid, shallow and labored breathing, and the child's nostrils flare up and the ribs can be seen with each inhalation. "Croup has seasonal variations like any other virus, and since the early symptoms may look like the common cold, it's important for parents to be aware of developments and changes to ensure the correct diagnosis," Melendez said. Diagnosis is made based on symptoms and the characteristic cough. Testing for specific viruses with a swab can help but isn't often necessary. In addition, an X-ray scan of the neck may distinguish croup from other causes but is rarely needed. Similar to other viral upper respiratory infections, the recommended treatment for croup is supportive care. Mild infections can be managed at home with over-the-counter pain relievers, and cool mist may make breathing more comfortable. It's also important to make sure the child stays hydrated. "Croup is usually self-limited, but it's also important to know when to seek care once a child shows signs of respiratory distress," said Dr. Angela Mattke, a pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic's Children's Center and host of the "Ask The Mayo Mom" videos on Youtube. Signs of respiratory distress include inspiratory stridor, labored breathing, bluish lips or decreased alertness. Pediatricians or emergency department doctors may use nebulized epinephrine to decrease inflammation and open the airway to allow better breathing, and steroids may be given as well. Most children improve after one dose of epinephrine or steroids, although about 10 percent of kids may require further hospitalization for repeat doses and hydration. In the rarest cases, a child may need a breathing tube until the infection subsides, and the infection may affect deeper structures of the lower airways or the lungs. A bacterial infection may also occur on top of the virus, which can require hospitalization and antibiotics, although these more severe infections typically affect immunocompromised children or those with underlying diseases such as asthma. Melendez and Baiu provide links on the JAMA patient page to more information about croup from the Mayo Clinic and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After the virus that caused croup clears, the cough may linger for a few weeks. "It's important to teach kids how to wash their hands and how to cough into their arm rather than hands," Mattke told Reuters Health by phone. "We typically see this in children in daycare and preschool, and it's important to keep your kids healthy with proper hygiene, nutrition and sleep." SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2GB68df JAMA, online April 23, 2019.
Lima (AFP) - A former high-ranking official has confessed that he acted as a frontman for Peru's late ex-president Alan Garcia, receiving money from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht which he later transferred in installments to the leader, a prosecutor said here.

Miguel Atala Herrera, former vice president of state-run PetroPeru, "confessed to having received money from Odebrecht to deliver to former president Garcia", who committed suicide two weeks ago, prosecutor Jose Domingo Perez told a court hearing on Tuesday.

Atala "is collaborating with the prosecution," said Perez, a member of the team investigating the Odebrecht scandal.

Also collaborating is defendant Jose Nava Mendiola, son of the former secretary of the presidency during Garcia's second term, Perez said.

The prosecution withdrew three-year preventive detention orders for Atala and his son Samir Atala for their collaboration, as well as the one for Nava Mendiola.

Nava Mendiola's father, Garcia confidante Luis Nava Guibert, remains in preventative detention at a clinic in Lima where is receiving treatment for heart problems and denies any wrongdoing.

"These statements will confirm who was the recipient of the bribes," analyst Luis Benavente, director of consultancy Vox Populi, told AFP.

Last week a top former executive of Odebrecht gave details in Brazil of multi-million dollar payoffs to Peruvian politicians including a top aide of Garcia.

Jorge Barata, the multinational's former chief in Peru, provided Peruvian prosecutors with details of "money routes" the firm used to distribute payoffs to powerful figures, from presidents to mayors, to win contracts for public infrastructure projects.

His testimony involves four Peruvian presidents, including the late Garcia, who shot himself in the head when he was about to be arrested on April 17.

Barata's evidence follows a cooperation agreement signed between Odebrecht and Peru's public prosecutor in December.

Story continues

As part of the deal, Odebrecht must pay $182 million to Peru in civil reparations, an amount based on the four projects the Brazilian firm gained through paying bribes.

The company paid $788 million in bribes throughout a dozen Latin American countries to obtain major public works contracts over a decade, according to the US Department of Justice.

Odebrecht has admitted to paying $29 million in bribes in Peru between 2005 and 2014.
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Image source: The Motley Fool.

Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

April 30, 2019, 10:00 a.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day everyone, and welcome to Pfizer's First Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded.

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Chuck Triano, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead sir.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to review Pfizer's first quarter 2019 performance and 2019 financial guidance. I am joined today by our CEO, Albert Bourla; Frank D'Amelio, our CFO; Mikael Dolsten President of Worldwide Research and Development; Angela Hwang; Group President, Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group; John Young, our Chief Commercial Officer;and Doug Lankler General Counsel.

The slides that will be presented on this call were posted to our website earlier this morning and are available at Pfizer.com/investors. We'll see here that slide three covers our legal disclosures. Albert and Frank will now make prepared remarks and then we'll move to a question-and-answer session.

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Albert Bourla. Albert?

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Chuck, and good morning everyone. It's been a busy and productive first few months as CEO. I've had the pleasure of meeting with many of you to discuss Pfizer's long-term growth prospects. I have also met with thousands of colleagues from around the world. All of them are committed to driving sustainable growth through scientific and commercial innovation, all in creating capital allocation and a renewed focus on our purpose, breakthroughs that change patient's life.

I'm pleased to report that we began the year with a strong first quarter. Revenues were up 5% operationally companywide. This was driven by 8% volume growth, offset by net pricing decline of 3%. If we look at our Biopharmaceuticals Groups, which represented 70% of our revenue base this quarter, we generated a strong 11% volume growth, and realized a net pricing decline of 3%. We saw volume growth in several key brands, emerging markets and biosimilars, and we got our Upjohn business up and running.

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Let's begin with our result also from the Biopharmaceuticals Group. This business grew its top line 7% operationally, due primarily to the continued strength of several key brands, including Eliquis, Ibrance, Prevnar 13, and Xeljanz. Eliquis had a strong start to the year, growing its revenues by 36% operationally in the quarter. Eliquis continues to extend its leadership in many major geographies around the world, and in the U.S. we achieved an all-time high prescription served (ph) for the brand this quarter.

We remain pleased with the performance of Ibrance. Global revenues in the first quarter increased 25% operationally to $1.1 billion. As you know, the Ibrance growth story is now predominantly in international markets, where we saw 107% operational growth in the quarter. This was driven by continued strong uptake in developed Europe, Japan, and certain emerging markets. In the U.S., we saw 2% growth which reflected continued moderating volumes in approved metastatic breast cancer indications.

Prevnar 13 revenues increased 10% operationally. We saw 31% operational growth in emerging markets, due primarily to favorable overall impact and increased volume associated with government purchases. These gains were partially offset by the non-recurrence of volumes associated with an adult national immunization program in the first quarter of 2018. We saw 6% growth in the U.S., driven by increased government purchases for the pediatric indication, partially offset by lower sales of the adult indication.

Regarding the upcoming ACIP Meeting in the U.S., we continue to believe that maintaining a current age-based recommendation for adults would prevent numerous cases of pneumococcal pneumonia as well as that the related hospitalizations and outpatients frequency.

Xeljanz continues to perform well. Revenues in the quarter increased 34% operationally to $423 million. Volume growth in the U.S. was strong, aided by the recent addition of new indications. While we are in the early days for both launches, 6% of the 38% volume growth in the U.S. came from psoriatic arthritis, and 7% came from ulcerative colitis. So, 30% of the total volume growth came from new indications. We look forward to these new indications potentially becoming even more meaningful contributors in the future.

For Xtandi, alliance revenues in the U.S. grew 6% operationally to $168 million. We believe our growth labeled indication as well as the potential for new indications represent a major opportunity to make a significant impact on patient's lives and change the standard of care in prostate cancer.

Revenues from our biosimilars portfolio grew 7% operationally in the quarter. We received regulatory approvals during the quarter for two oncology biosimilars, and we see the potential for additional approvals in key markets later this year.

In sterile injectables, manufacturing supply constraints continue to impact our top line in the U.S. We have made some progress toward fixing these issues, particularly since [indiscernible] responsibility for our global supplier organization on November 1, 2018. We expect these issues to be significantly improved by the end of 2019, and continue to expect this business to be a solid growth contributor in the future.

Our Upjohn business revenues grew 1% operationally in the quarter. Emerging markets were the primary driver, including strong volume-driven operational growth in China for such branches, Lipitor, Norvasc, and Celebrex. These gains were partially offset by lower revenues for Viagra, and Pfizer's authorized generic for Viagra in the U.S, and for Greenstone, Upjohn's authorized generic subsidiary, primarily due to continued industrywide pricing challenges in the U.S. generic space. With its streamlined operating structure, relative in autonomy and its leadership located in China, we believe Upjohn will help us seize the tremendous opportunity we see in the emerging months. As the global middle-class continues to rapidly expand, and as awareness and diagnosis and treatment options continue to improve, we believe the Pharmaceutical segment will continue to enjoy significant expansion in Greater China and other emerging markets.

Pfizer's consumer healthcare revenues were down 2% operationally in the quarter. This reflected an 8% decline in the U.S., due in part to a milder-than-expected cold and cough season. This decline was partially offset by 4% operational growth in international markets.

Turning now to R&D, today we released our latest pipeline update, which you can see on this slide. We are very encouraged by our pipeline, both in terms of the breadth of opportunities and the science, and while we have said that we expect our 2019 adjusted EPS to be essentially flat operationally, compared with last year, due to the [indiscernible], we believe a look at our pipeline will help bring our expected Costa Rica growth drivers into clearer focus.

Since the beginning of 2019, we have already received five approvals; EU approvals for ZIRABEV, a biosimilar to Avastin for treatment of multiple forms of advanced or metastatic cancer, and for VIZIMPRO for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in adults. In the U.S., we received FDA approval for Trazimera, a biosimilar to Herceptin for the treatment of certain forms of breast and gastric cancer, and for Ibrance for the previously underserved male breast cancer population. The Ibrance line extension marks the first time that Pfizer medicine has received an expanded indication based on the real-world evidence. And in Japan, we received approval for Tafamidis for the treatment of ATTR cardiomyopathy.

As you can see in this next slide, we have a diverse range of assets spanning from Phase 2 through registration and the cap across each of our areas of their own. Overall, we are thrilled with the depth and breadth of our pipeline as we are not overly reliant on a single pipeline opportunity. As you know, we announced our up to 15 in five cohorts almost two years ago. I'm pleased to say that we are making good progress, despite experiencing some attrition, which is to be expected.

Let me touch on just a few of the recent and upcoming milestones. I'll start with oncology. Data from our JAVELIN Renal 101 trial saw the combination of Bavencio and Inlyta significantly extended medium PFS by more than five months compared with second. As a first line treatment for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. We could file this data with the FDA with the PDUFA date in June.

With Keytruda plus Inlyta having been approved earlier this month, Bavencio will become the second Inlyta combination available to patients with advanced OA. We are preparing to submit our extended IMS data in hormone-sensitive prostate cancer in the coming months and in 2020, we expect to have data from a Phase 3 EMBARK trial starting expanding for high risk hormone sensitive prostate cancer as well as from two Phase 3 trials evaluating burns in early stage breast cancer.

We recently presented data that faces study of our 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidate for adults aged 18 years and older. We're now in Phase 3 if the data is supportive. We expect to file by the end of 2020. We also expect Phase 2 data from the infant studies later this year. This our Phase 3 C-difficile vaccine studies now fully enrolled with pivotal data expected next year. In inflammation and immunology, we expect our first Phase 3 data results in May for our JAK1 inhibitor in atopic dermatitis as well as additional results in the second half of the year. Our JAK3 inhibitor for moderate-to-severe alopecia areata which started a Phase 2b/3 trial in December had also received breakthrough therapy designation and the pivotal readout is expected in the second half of 2021.

In internal medicine on April 18, we announced the results of the long-term osteoarthritis study for Tanezumab. As we stated in the press release, we are analyzing the strength in the context of the recent Phase 3 results as we assess potential next steps for this medicine. We plan to review the totality of data from our clinical development programs for Tanezumab with regulatory authorities. Why we are very focused on continuing to advance our up to 15 and 5 cohorts, I also want to provide an update on some of the exciting areas in earlier stages of development that we are pursuing.

These areas combine novel science and significant unmet medical needs. You can see several areas in the chart but today I will highlight three from the rare diseases space. Earlier this month along with our partner Sangamo Therapeutics, Pfizer announced interim data from the Phase 1/2 study indicating that SB-525 would generally well tolerated and demonstrated at dose dependent increasing Factor 8 levels across the four doses cohorts in hemophilia basis.

Based on these results, the Safety Monitoring Committee recommended cohort expansion at the high dose, it marks Pfizer acquired a 15% equity interesting in Vivet Therapeutics, a privately held company dedicated to developing gene therapy treatments for inherited liver disorders. Pfizer and Vivet will collaborate on the development of VTX-801, Vivet's proprietary candidate for the treatment of Wilson's disease.

At the upcoming PPMD Annual Conference in June, we expect to report data on our investigational mini-dystrophin gene therapy candidate for the same muscular dystrophy. We will continue to explore both internal and external opportunities for the next generation of breakthroughs.

At Pfizer, we are keenly aware that the breakthrough rules coming out of our pipeline won't mean anything if people can't afford them, but so why we continue to work with policymakers, payers, providers, and other participants in the healthcare system to find solutions to patients and portability. If you haven't already seen it, I would encourage you to read my testimony from the February 26 Senate Finance Committee hearing on affordable access to medicines, it outlines four proposals that we believe will derive meaningful reductions in costs patients.

In summary, Pfizer is off to a very good start in 2019. We deliver strong financial performance, while reaching millions of people around the world with our medicines and vaccines. Our new commercial structure is designed to maximize today's revenue growth opportunities, while transitioning the company to a period post 2020, where we expect higher and more sustained revenue growth profile. We remain focused on executing on our commercial strategies, managing expenses, advancing our pipeline, and prudently allocating our capital to position Pfizer for sustainable success.

And now, I will turn it over to Frank to provide details on the quarter, and our outlook for 2019.

Frank A. D'Amelio -- CFO

Thanks, Albert. Good day everyone. As always, the charts I'm reviewing today are included in our webcast. Now moving on to the financials, first quarter 2019 revenues were approximately $13.1 billion, which reflects operational growth of $664 million or 5%. And the unfavorable impact the foreign exchange of $453 million or 4%.

Our biopharmaceuticals Group business recorded 7% operational revenue growth in the first quarter, driven primarily by Eliquis and Xeljanz globally, Ibrance primarily in international markets, and Prevnar 13 and emerging markets in the U.S., all of which were partially offset by the clients in our hospital and rare disease businesses.

Revenues for our Upjohn business in the first quarter increased 1% operationally, primarily due to 25% operational growth and emerging markets, driven by strong value driven operational growth in China, primarily from Lipitor, Norvasc, and Celebrex partially offset by a 9% operational decline in developed markets primarily driven by lower revenues for Viagra and Upjohn's authorized generic for Viagra in the U.S. due to increased recent generic competition; Lyrica, primarily due to lower volumes in the U.S. and wholesaler de-stocking in advance of anticipated generic competition, beginning June 30, and in developed Europe from continued generic competition, and Greenstone Upjohn's authorized generic subsidiary, primarily due to industry wide pricing challenges in the U.S. Revenues of our consumer healthcare business declined 2% operationally reflecting an 8% decline in the U.S. partially offset by 4% operational growth in international markets.

In the first quarter, we recorded gap earnings per share of $0.68. A $0.09 increase compared to the year ago quarter, which is primarily due to the favorable impact of higher revenues in the first quarter of 2019 compared to last year, lower purchase accounting adjustments, fewer shares outstanding, which will partially offset by foreign exchange, higher asset impairment charges and higher net losses on the early retirement, certain outstanding debt securities.

Adjusted diluted EPS for the first quarter was $0.85 versus $0.75 in a year ago quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher revenues, fewer shares outstanding due partially offset by the impact of foreign exchange compared to the year ago quarter.

Finally, diluted weighted average shares outstanding declined by $307 million shares versus the year ago quarter, primarily due to our Sherry purchase activity in 2018. As well as our first quarter 2019 share repurchases, which totaled $8.9 billion and included our $6.8 billion accelerated share repurchase agreement executed in February. This was partially offset by dilution related to share-based employee compensation programs.

As I mentioned earlier, foreign exchange negatively impacted first quarter 2019 revenues by approximately $453 million and positively impacted adjusted cost of sales, adjusted SI&A expenses, and adjusted R&D expenses in the aggregate by $315 million. As a result, foreign exchange had a $0.02 per share negative impact on adjusted diluted EPS compared to the year ago quarter.

Moving on to 2019 financial guidance, we reaffirmed our 2019 financial guidance for revenues. Two items to note. Our financial guidance continues to assume that the age-based recommendation for Prevnar 13 in adults is maintained by the ACIP on a vote in late June 2019. And our guidance continues to reflect expected headwinds in China due to pricing reform which is now being implemented.

We increased guidance for adjusted other income by $100 million primarily due to millstone income recorded in the first quarter of 2019. As a result, we increased the midpoint of our adjusted diluted EPS guidance range by $0.01 to an updated range of $2.83-$2.93. This is the net impact of a $0.03 per share operational increase primarily due to the aforementioned adjusted other income and some smaller favorable adjustments within our other guidance ranges partially offset a $0.02 per share impact due to unfavorable changes in foreign exchange rates since mid January 2019.

Moving on to key takeaways, we delivered strong first quarter financial results with 5% operational revenue growth and 13% adjusted diluted EPS growth compared to the year ago quarter. We raised our 2019 financial guidance range for adjusted diluted EPS by 0.01, reflecting a $0.03 operational increase partially offset by a $0.02 unfavorable change in foreign exchange rates since mid January 2019. We accomplished multiple product and pipeline milestones since our previous quarterly update. And we returned $10.9 billion to shareholders in the first quarter through a combination of share repurchases and dividend. Finally, we remain committed to delivering attractive shareholder returns in 2019 and beyond.

Now I'll turn it back to Chuck.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Thank you, Frank and Albert for you prepared remarks. At this point, we would like to move to our Q&A session please. Operator?

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Tim Anderson from Wolfe Research.

Timothy Minton Anderson -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst

Thank you. A couple of questions please. On your 20-valent Prevnar follow-on, I am hoping you can talk about when you expect that to move in the pediatrics? It's your largest product Prevnar 13. It's a race between you and Merck to come up with a new and improved version of Prevnar 13. You guys are the incumbent, yet you are not yet in phase 3 in peds, and Merck is. I am wondering if that potentially foretells if there is some sort of formulation problems with your product in peds. So asking for assurances that there are.

Second question is on Ibrance and just the longer term international opportunity if you look at major cancer drug precedent in the past by their companies, lot of the times those product sell more outside the U.S. eventually than they do in the U.S. Wondering if that could happen here with Ibrance in the CDK 4/6 class because that's not how it's being modeled, or has there been too money price concessions made such that it's not really achievable? Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Tim, thank you very much. Both excellent questions; I will ask Mikael to address the question on our 20-valent compared to 15-valent from the Merck? And then Angela will answer the question about Ibrance. So that, Mike?

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

Yes, thank you. We are very pleased with our 2-valent pnuemo next generation vaccine that covers the certain stereotypes of Prevnar 13 plus seven new ones. These seven new ones were careful selected to make sure we have a broad coverage of emerging invasive pneumococcal disease strains associated with high case fatality rates and antibiotic-resistance in some cases combined with meningitis.

We communicated our adult data at the ECCMID Conference recently which showed a compelling profile which also of course was linked to the breakthrough designation by FDA. We are moving with good and robust pace forward in the pediatric settings. As you know, in the pediatric settings, we have multiple immunization as well as a boost as is the current regimen for use of conjugate vaccines which is different from the adult trial that are fast as it's only one immunization.

We look forward to read out from the infant trial need to of this year in phase 2 proof-of-concept study, and pending review those data sets, we look forward to interaction with regulatory agency and swift moving forward into a potential pivotal start. We are very pleased with the formulation. It was very well-tolerated this far and think we have included all experiences from decades of pneumococcal work into our plan.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

And I would like also to remind that we have a very strong patent portfolios on Prevnar. Angela, would you like to address the question with Ibrance please?

Angela Hwang -- Group President

Thank you. Ibrance revenue growth continues to be very strong ex-U.S. And you heard Albert mentioned in his opening remarks that currently we are growing at 107% in Q1 of 2019. We believe this growth to be sustainable as we see that there is still significant room to grow in this CDK class as well as our own market share. Just as an example in the EU 5 this CDK class is currently 35% of all first-line new patient starts while we have 86% Ibrance class share.

In Japan, as an example, this CDK class is only 21% first-line new patient starts and a 100% of the Ibrance class share. So while we are continuing build our Japan and EU business, we will also intensely focus on our launches in the emerging markets. So far, we have seen 122% operational growth year-on-year in the emerging markets, and led by double digit growth that we are seeing in Argentina, India, Saudi Arabia as an example. We have launches coming up both in Brazil and China which we are very excited about, and we expect these to be very strong contributors to our 2019 growth trajectory. So, in view of the three big (ph) phases of growth of Ibrance, the first being the U.S., which is where we began with our first indication. Now in our international launches which are moving beyond the developed markets to the emerging markets. And then the anticipation of our adjuvant indications to come with Ibrance, we continue to be extremely optimistic, and I feel very positive about the growth trajectory of Ibrance.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Great. Thanks, Angela. Next question please, Operator?

Operator

Your next question comes from Vamil Divan from Credit Suisse.

Vamil Kishore Divan -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

Great. Thanks for taking my questions. The first on extending the sales there were a little lighter than we thought and just wondering if there is any onetime item. The prescription trend also seemed a little lower last quarter than what we were seeing in the past. So, comments there. And then just maybe outlook for that product longer term, I know you have expanded label and new indications coming, so just so you could frame how you see that longer term?

And then second on the DMD data you mentioned coming in June. It's interesting a lot of focus on that even though it's pretty early day. So maybe if you could just sort of help sort of frame expectations around that in terms of what we will actually see and what we should be expecting going into just so people sort of have appropriate expectations given that it is such early data. Thanks.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you very much, Vamil. Angela, I think you can cover the Xtandi question, and then, John, if you can please discuss the DMD data on

Angela Hwang -- Group President

Thank you. Well, we have seen very strong prescriber adoption of Xtandi across all of our indications. I think that this demonstrates the confidence that prescribers have with Xtandi. Year-on-year urologists have prescribed -- prescribing has grown 45%. And oncology prescribing has grown 20%. We are also pleased with the uptake of Xtandi in non-metastatic CRPC. This is our PROSPER trial. Even though this was launched just eight months ago, its market share is already equivalent to our metastatic indication which was launched seven years ago. And this market share is more than doubled that of a leader in non-metastatic CRPC. We have yet to realize the full potential of PROSPER, because the impact of patient accumulation and the longer days of therapy are still to come, and just as a reminder, the days of therapy for the PROSPER trial is 18 months.

This quarter, as you say, the U.S. net revenue did lag behind total patient demand. But this was due to some gross to net adjustments, some inventory differences, and our free drug program. But we continue to believe in the strong growth potential of all of our indications, and we look forward to our indication from both the ARCHES and the EMBARK Trials, which will continue to drive growth through expansion into new patient segments and offer longer (ph) days of therapy. So we need to stay the course with our strategies, and we believe the impact from PROSPER as well as our new indications will drive future growth, change the standard of care, and meet high patient unmet needs.

John Young -- Group President, Chief Business Officer

Thanks. Hi, Vamil. So thanks for the question about our own DMD program. So Albert obviously touched on this in his prepared remarks and just to emphasize again we are going to be presenting data from mini-dystrophin DMD gene therapy candidate at the PPMD meeting in Orlando, which is at the end of June. For our DMD program, the first patient was dosed with an infusion of the mini-dystrophin gene therapy in March of 2018. In total, six patients have been treated in two dose groups, one E14 and three E14 dose regimens. Part of the trial protocol, muscle biopsies were to be taken at baseline two months post treatment and 12 months post treatment. And to the extent that that biopsy data is available and mature, it will be presented at PPMD. We also intend to present an update on the safety profile of this therapy at PPMD and we are excited to present the data and obviously particularly to continue to work with the DMD community for a disease that is so devastating for so many boys with this condition.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, John. It's a devastating disease, and we all hope that the solution that we are working and others, but the solution that we are working would be really transformational. Next question?

Operator

Your next question comes from Chris Schott from J.P. Morgan.

Chris Schott -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Thanks very much. Just two bigger picture questions, I guess, the first one with the progress you've been seeing on the pipeline, can you just update us in terms of where you see business development fitting into the longer term view and strategy for the company. I guess, specifically, I think you have been clear that larger deals are off the table for now, but when we think about bolt-ons, what type of size of deal could that encompass and what are the latest priorities in terms of commercial stage assets versus clinical assets et cetera? And my second question with the Upjohn division, do you believe it would be possible to eventually separate and spin this division from the rest of Pfizer and if so what are the factors and kind of data points we need to be watching that would make that type of separation something that would be possible at the time? Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Yes. With the business development, I will ask John to comment and you have heard our comments that we plan to invest significantly in business development. It's a little bit different, the way that we plan to do it right now. Before we were targeting revenues, now or soon -- right now, the focus, it is how to -- and because this is what we needed at the time. And now our growth, I think organically is going to be robust post 2020. So what we are looking for, it is to enhance even further our pipeline. So, as regards the direction in how we are selecting clinical, John, can you please make a comment? John has the responsibility of managing this strategic area for us.

John Young -- Group President, Chief Business Officer

All right. Thanks, Albert, and thanks Chris for the question. So I wouldn't repeat what Albert has already said about the reorientation of our focus of [indiscernible] opportunities to really strengthening our pipeline with clinical stage assets. I think, if you were to look into the future, I think you'll see us continue to be very active in business development, but I think with our focus generally on earlier to mid stage opportunities where clinical risk may be higher as data is less mature, but we believe that the opportunity for value creation is greater. And the risk, importantly, of operational disruption to the pipeline, internal pipeline, which is obviously maturing, we believe, very nicely, is going to be lower.

Certainly, in terms of what size we consider to be a bolt-on, generally, we don't comment specifically on size. I think you would say that assets that are in the range of a few billion dollars, we would consider to be bolt-on acquisitions, and that's really complements our pipeline. So we are very excited about the opportunities that we have and that's something that's particularly we're going to be focused on over the months ahead.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, John, and maybe I can provide some color to your question about Upjohn. It's a good question and I received a lot this question and I understand the reasons. Right now, as I said nothing is changed other than Upjohn performed very well in the first quarter. It's always said that our focus it is to make sure that we strength up this business in that way, that will operate affected and the fact remains that in the very new lean construct with the management relocated in China where most of the opportunities are as evident from the first quarter also where most of the challenges we're come as we know that there are some reforms that the Chinese government taking into this business.

So right now, it's very, very pleased with the way that the whole thing has evolved. If we think that we could separate the down their hope, yes, it is a possibility, but this is not what it is, in my mind right now. First, we need to make sure, but we have a strong stand-alone business. So we are working to make sure that of the rates absorb as a subsidiary within a company.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Great, thank you, Albert, and John. Next question please, Operator?

Operator

Your next question comes from Geoff Meacham from Barclays.

Geoffrey Christopher Meacham -- Barclays Bank PLC -- Analyst

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the question. Mike and Albert, just wanted to see if you had any additional color on the recent add long-term data, just in particular the RPOA rates and I know you're awaiting FDA feedback. But would you view the totality of the data so far or the unmet need is still warranting filing at this point. And then another one on BD somewhat, so on the gene therapy front, you guys are obviously progressing a number of programs hemophilia DMD, but a lot of BD activity in this area. Recently, so the question has the decision to buy versus build, or partner change for Pfizer over time, it seemed like post the Bamboo deal you guys have a working platform that really could add multiple indications quickly I just wasn't sure what the, what the strategy is there. Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Right. I will ask Mikael and John to comment on Tanezumab. So John, why don't you start and then maybe Mikael can give a little bit of scientific information?

John Young -- Group President, Chief Business Officer

Yes. So look, thanks for the question, Geoff. Obviously we've released fairly significant commentary on the study in our press release. I wouldn't comment on that, but I think, let me just say for Tanezumab we are continuing to analyze the clinical profile based on the ongoing Phase 3 development program in both OE and chronic lower back pain. That includes in totality five Phase 3 studies and nearly 7,000 patients and we plan to review the totality of the data with regulatory authorities and we'll assess potential next steps for Tanezumab and as we engage with regulators will be in a position to provide an update in the coming months.

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

It was very well-summarized John and of course it's a very large data sets from these recent Phase 3 and previous Phase 3. So it's a real opportunity to put together to tell it date together with our partner, Lilly, and have a discussion with regulatory agencies about that data set and paying landscape.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Mikael, and then maybe I can give you an answer to your question about gene therapy, it is yes, as you said gene therapy is an area but of significant focus for us in this scenario that we started much earlier and our strategy was to combine our clinical expertise and said they're therapeutic areas together with biotech expertise as they were developing specific projects and very early we realized that in this category the bottleneck is going to be manufactured. This is why Pfizer embarked into significant investments to build a platform in manufacturing, which is progressing very, very well.

As we look to the future, we plan to the box we grow our platform organically for projects that we're developing and indirectly through the licensing and partnership that we are going to make and actually the last partners, but we announced was in the gene therapy field for the Wilson disease, which is a lever disorder. We believe actually that exactly because of our track record of having successful partnerships, but also because we have built a significant manufacturing capability, we will become a partner of choice for Biotech that will see that the combination will unlock value for that.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Great. Thanks for those responses, we move on to the next question please. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from Andrew Baum from Citi.

Andrew Simon Baum -- Citigroup Inc -- Analyst

Thank you. Couple of questions please, firstly, you referenced these pending ACIP review for Prevnar 13, given the replacement there tight risks that we've seen because the pediatric vaccination. I know that your numbers and guidance includes those hedge their recommendation. What's your level of confidence and is high, which seems to be exactly why it is high given the meeting has been scheduled to discuss that. And then second, in reference to adequate. Could you talk to what you see is the likely impact on realized pricing and volumes for Eliquis sales within your Medicaid book of business assuming rebate reform takes place the administration that seems to be pushing for the beginning of 2020 many time.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

All right, why don't you Angela answer the ACIP question?

Angela Hwang -- Group President

So, our adult PCV13 vaccination program has been extremely effective and it's difficult for me to speculate on the ACIP vote because that's coming up in June. But I do want to emphasize that Pfizer strongly supports the continuation of the current adult vaccination program. This is because there are actually important serotypes such as serotypes 3 and serotypes 19A that still have not reached acceptable protection levels. So keeping the current recommendation will prevent numerous individual cases of pneumonia, hospitalizations and other outpatient treatments.

Direct vaccination is important because they are also underserved populations still in our country where the disease risk is high. And just to give you a couple of examples, those that are living in rural communities, have 50% less coverage than those that live in suburban areas or there is a 24 point gap among the low socioeconomic adults. I think you've also seen through the recent news reports the importance of direct vaccination for adults as well as for public health and we also looking forward to the filing of our next generation pneumococcal vaccine, where we received FDA breakthrough to exit designation. We expect to file this by the end of 2020 and so it underscores the importance of an interrupted adult vaccination program.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you. Andrew, you asked us about the Eliquis and how we think this will perform in the Medicare population particularly given price and volume. First of all, I would say that Eliquis had the phenomenal performance I think I'm seeking highly about the profile of this product. But 36% growth is really something that we feel-make us feel very proud and actually in the U.S., the growth was even stronger 38% but the U.S., it's part of the business, right. So it is a very, very well diversified geographically. And I think that the pricing pressures, the growth is coming predominantly those 38% from volume, and all our strategies it is how to make sure that the diagnosis rates are more accurate and people and physicians understand the profile of the products that they can make the right choices when they choose to prescribe a medicine like about. So given that everything is the predominant growth with this volume, I think very good about the growth prospects of this product going forward.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Thanks. Albert and Angela, can we move to our next question, please?

Operator

Your next question comes from Umer Raffat from Evercore.

Umer Raffat -- Evercore. -- Analyst

Hi, thanks so much for taking my questions. I wanted to focus on two broad topics. First on Ibrance adjuvant can you quantify for us how large an opportunity you think that is? And given the significance of it, I have to ask, is there an interim this summer. And secondly on DMD gene therapy, my question is, do you think you have a best-in-class asset and I ask partially because I don't see this asset listed in your 15 blockbusters, by 2022 which should theoretically be a very realistic possibility even if the pivotal where to start in early 2020, so just wanted to reconcile both of those. Thank you.

Angela Hwang -- Group President

So, we have the two Phase 3 studies ongoing in the high risk early breast cancer population, the first is the PENELOPE, which enroll patients with high risk early breast cancer previously treated with the neo-adjuvant therapy and then we have PALLAS which enrolled patients with the high risk early breast cancer stage 2 and 3, we're optimistic about both of these studies because of the ability to meet unmet need but also to your question more directly if successful we will have the ability from both of these programs to double the number of patients that are eligible for this.

John Young -- Group President, Chief Business Officer

Yes, and thanks for the question about DMD again, obviously the 15 and 5 or up to 15 and 5 portfolio reflected the portfolio that we had at that time and cleanly one of the sort of good things in our industry is the portfolio is never static and so I think as we begin to see data readout from our DMD gene therapy program, the profile of that medicine will become clear to us and to clinicians and to importantly to patients. So we would really see this having the potential to be an additional complement to that portfolio that we described last year. So I think it's obviously premature for anybody to disgrave the relative profile of respective or other comparative gene therapy assets, the data is still emerging, it's still and relatively small patient numbers and obviously for us and other players in this field, we will see the totality of data that emerges over the months and years ahead. But we feel cautiously optimistic about the program as I mentioned in my comments earlier on, we look forward to presenting some clinical data from that later on this year.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Thank you, John and Angela for the background. Next question please?

Operator

Your next question comes from Louise Chen from Cantor Fitzgerald.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

I don't think we can hear you, if you are asking a question maybe you are in mute.

Louise Chen -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Hold on, un-mute the phone. Can you hear me, OK now?

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Very well.

Louise Chen -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Okay, sorry about that. Okay, so thanks for taking my questions, I have a few here. So first question I had was on Tanezumab, just curious how the recent data impacting thinking with respect to the CLBP and cancer pain indications and then secondly on Tafamidis, how do you expect the initial launch to go if you do get approval this year, what is your anticipation for adoption, payer coverage, physician and patient awareness and then last question is on your business development comments, just curious if you have any interest in primary care or you more focused on specialized medicine? Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you. John, what about Tanezumab?

John Young -- Group President, Chief Business Officer

Yes, thanks for the question Louise. I mean I think we probably covered that mostly in our comments or later on. So we obviously issued fairly detailed press releases as each of our Phase 3 studies readout and I think what do I just say in overall is we're going to look at the totality of the data from all of our Phase 3 studies, we have round about 7000 patients worth of data, we're still on the process of analyzing the clinical profile and understanding its potential value across different indications.

Our next step is obviously most importantly going to be to discuss that data with regulators and we will be in a better position to be able to provide you with an update on this.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you. Angela, very exciting news for Tafamidis potential launch, so tell us

Angela Hwang -- Group President

Yes, we are very excited about Tafamidis and that's because it's a transformative therapy for ATTR-CM and today it treats a fatal and a rare disease where there are no therapies and no alternatives but it also addresses a large burden on the healthcare system because of the complications and the hospitalizations that arise from this disease. We do see this so as a rare disease, so approximately 100,000 patients in the U.S. But as you know today it is severely under diagnosed, we estimate approximately a less than 1% diagnosis rate because of the lack of treatment and the use of invasive heart biopsies to drive the diagnosis. So, as you can see diagnosis is going to be key to growing this market. At launch therefore we're going to be focused on creating suspicion of this disease by cardiologists and patients through educating them around the signs and symptoms of cardiomyopathy.

We also need to increase the utilization of non-invasive methods such as scintigraphy and integrity versus a heart biopsy for diagnosis. So as you can see, this will all take time because we need to educate both physicians and patients on these red flag symptoms. We need to drive the utilization of scintigraphy and we also need to advocate for the changes in treatment guidelines which will help to drive both diagnosis and treatment. But as Pfizer, we are confident about our capability to build this market because we have a track record of success in creating new markets. And just to bring up an example from Xalkori, you may recall that at the time of launch of Xalkori the diagnosis rate of the ALK mutation was only 1%. But today it is 80% to 93%. So Tafamidis has excellent data, it has a compelling patient benefit. Pfizer has deep expertise and a commercial footprint in cardiology. So we look forward to bringing all of these capabilities to bear in launching this important medication to the patients who need it.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Angela and maybe I can make some comments about your question Louise about if we would be interested to all sort in license Primary Care potential candidates and medicines and the answer is of course yes. But let me be clear and specific what we mean. We have specific criteria what we are interested in licensing in, so it's not just the blind segment we have given to people go and license things. But those criteria involve the potential medicines it'll be breakthroughs. It's to be significant science that can create significant improvement in current standards of care. And they need to be within the areas of expertise of Pfizer, so that we can add value to it, just to go on without doing licensing.

But we can add value. And we have six areas of expertise right now that they are all from that aspect from my perspective, they are treated equally. Those are areas that we know we have the best science in the world that they can make fewer mistakes as we're selecting products. And this is where we have the scientific expertise to develop potential in licensing assets in the best possible way because the development path plays a key role in unlocking the value of a molecule and primary care is definitely one of the areas of significant expertise or funds from the long way that goes way back but also in the current days as we are having some of the best scientific programs running in evolving diseases and other primary care conditions in our research centers. So the answer is yes, and the criteria that we are going to implement I hope I made that clear.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Great, thank you, Albert. Next question please?

Operator

Your next question comes from Jason Gerberry from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Jason Gerberry -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess it's firstly coming back to the Tafamidis launch. Can you give us a sense of what you view as maybe the best analogs for driving this diagnosis and treatment rate above this 1% level. I guess on the one hand it looks like there's a largely an educational element to this with a lot of these patients basically sitting in the cardiologist office just not diagnosed but you also have a drug that's pretty easy to dose no monitoring. So I'm just kind of curious, if there are any analogs that you guys have thought about. I wouldn't think that's Xalkori would be the greatest analog but correct me if I'm wrong. And then secondly on DMD gene therapy, it sounds like you haven't dosed any patients at the intermediate dose, I was curious sort of the rationale for having an intermediate dose, was that more of a safety consideration or just seeing the above normal expression levels achieved with separate program had a lower dose than your high dose was the decision ultimately to just have the optionality around a lower dose? Thanks.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Thank you. Angela, why don't you deal again with Tafamidis question. There is a lot of interest in this product and they understand why.

Angela Hwang -- Group President

Yes, sure. So actually we do think that Xalkori is a great analog for what we see coming up for diagnosis in both Tafamidis and cardiomyopathy. You know, today this is a disease, where the symptoms, and the signs and symptoms are, easily, I guess it could be confused with heart failure. So I think the ability for us to be able to find diagnostic approaches that will help us to really identify and to isolate who, specifically the cardiomyopathy patients are going to be really important. I think that there are some symptomatic, some symptomatic attributes that we plan to be educating around at the time of launch.

But really, what we need is the ability to leverage technology such as integrity as an alternative to what exists today, which is a hard biopsy, which is extremely invasive. And I think that the ability to use scintigraphy will allow us to more readily diagnose these patients, I think the qualitative attributes some symptoms will allow us to create suspicion around what the right pool of patients might be. But the definitive diagnosis really needs to come with scintigraphy. There are 15,000 scintigraphy machines within cardiology offices today and 32 centers of excellence. So I think that this effort around education and awareness building is going to be key to both bring patients to the doctors' offices, but also to highlight the importance of these symptoms to prescribers and then to eventually diagnose and to treat. So as we said, I think we have deep expertise and capabilities in doing this, but that you can imagine with a disease that is so undiagnosed and up till now has had no therapeutic options. This is going to take time for us to really educate and to bring you know the full benefit of tafamidis to be bear.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Angela. And Mikael please, if you can comment on dosing strategy with a DMD development program, and maybe you can provide any color you would like about this breakthrough medicine?

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

Thank you very much. Yes, we worked with our bamboo colleagues and carefully designing these 89 vectors that contains muscle relevant to specific promote for expression of the transgene. And the protocol was designed intentionally based on our experience of many gene therapy programs to allow some flexibility, which was the basis for dosing at one into through 14 and swing into the 14 to gain experience, of course a reasonable dose range in what would be the expression of the transgene -- ability and clinical performance for young boys that as Albert alluded to earlier, we're aiming to a transformative outcome.

Now, we look forward to share data at the PPMD meeting in Orlando this late June. We think it is a good meeting for that purpose is one of the largest Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy gathering where both key scientists attend and patient representative. As you know, these types of devastating rare disease, you work very closely with the leading scientist and patient groups. So, we look forward to be there and share data set as John alluded to earlier.

Jason Gerberry -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Thank you very much, Mike.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Right. Thank you for that background also. Next question, please?

Operator

Your next question comes from Alex Arfaei from BMO Capital Markets.

Alex Arfaei -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Good morning and thank you. A couple of follow-up questions on Tafamidis, congratulations on the approval in Japan; it was faster than we expected. We focus a lot on the U.S. market, but could you also comment on the ex U.S. opportunity families, and following up on the diagnosis rate commentary, my understanding was that you were also working on blood tests to make diagnosis even easier. Could you give us an update on those efforts as well as your potential launch readiness in case of earlier approval in the U.S.? Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Alex. Angela again, you have the ex U.S. support through this and the testing?

Angela Hwang -- Group President

Right. So, yes, with the Japan launch was very recent. And I think that the opportunity there sets us up well, for the kind of launches that we expect to see around the world, as you say, it's not just the U.S., it's Japan, it's also rest of world. In terms of rest of world, I think the findings have been submitted and unable to comment on those for now because we are still awaiting for commentary from the regulatory agencies, but I think that my general comment about Tafamidis is really one that I mentioned earlier, which is the critical aspect of this is diagnosis. It really is a rare disease. It is severely under diagnosed today because of the lack of options. And so, critical to our ability to drive Tafamidis growth anywhere in the world, is the ability for us to be able to find the patients and then be able to screen them and to be able to diagnose them and then send them on to treatment. So I see that these trends are pretty consistent wherever we are around the world.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Mikael is a great physician, but you are as well. Can you please comment a little bit on the diagnosis opportunities for this tafamidis?

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

Yes, I want yes to punctuate that. The growing availability of scintigraphy technician based, makes it increasingly easy to get the diagnose off the suspicion often raised by clinical symptoms, and echocardiogram. We all seem parallel and looking at potential future blood markers. But right now, I think there should be no really hindrance to fast and easy diagnosis based on clinical sign scintigraphy. And in addition, we have made work on diagnostic algorithms, including artificial intelligence today which advise on typical algorithms that makes a hard cardiomyopathy, more likely to be TTR related, than unrelated.

Alex Arfaei -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

It's amazing how many -- how much work is happening right now in this field, and particularly how AI also can help identify potential people that potentially could suffer from this disease. And we had multiple discussions with payors well and a lot of them, they're having high interest to exploit this opportunity. Because when we say 1% is diagnosis, we don't mean that the 99% they just don't treat it. Usually all of these patients are presented with heart failure symptoms, and they are treated for the wrong reason. And they're going, of course, because the doctor haven't identified that this is the real cause of their cardiac issues, and then they treat it and fail and fail, and then eventually, there's a fatal event. So payers are highly interested diagnosis disease, I think, but as Angela said, this is the key. And we know how to do it very well. But it will take time to pick up these diagnosis rates, but we will do.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Great. Thanks for that context as well. Next question, please?

Operator

Your next question comes from Navin Jacob from UBS.

Navin Jacob -- UBS. -- Analyst

Hi, Navin Jacob, UBS. Thanks for taking the questions. A few, if I may a interesting slide on your treatments beyond up to 15 and 5, 2 in particular stood out the Oral GLP-1 and the HER2 ADC. Could you provide any context for how far along those assets are particularly the oral GLP-1, is it -- are those Phase 2 assets, Phase 1 assets, any color would be helpful. And then, I'll add to the questions on tafamidis. With regards to your pair discussions, are most of those related to traditional contracts or are you exploring outcomes based contracting? And if so, to what extent is that do you think outcomes-based contracting is will be a broad mandate or is it more of a experimental type of situation. And then finally, if you have any color on resolution of the sterile injectable manufacturing issues, is the resolution still expected for end of 2019? Thank you very much.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Thank you very much. Mikael, let's start with you, and with the Beyond 15 in 5?

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

Yes, I really appreciate your interest in the Beyond 15 in 5, which of course covered in next period Beyond 22 of the up to 15 in 5. So for the oral GLP, that's been an area where we have deployed some unique chemistry. And I'm very pleased to say that we are right now concluding a Phase 1b trial in diabetic patients and I've seen some very encouraging performance of that drug related to control of diabetes and bodyweight and we look forward to share those and we'll swiftly move into a larger Phase 2 trial for diabetes.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the only true small molecule that have come this far and shown this promise in PK and pharmacodynamic favorable effects. The next generation or ADC is based on site directed conjugation of adjuvant inhibitor and has been going through dose escalation and showed promising signs of activity. We continue to optimize dose and expect to go into Phase 2 expansion cohort relatively soon including potential combination with P21 agents.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Michael. Let me give you a very brief comment on Tafamidis and then I will ask Frank to take the manufacturing question. On Tafamidis, as you know breakthroughs requires a breakthrough approach is also commercial and we believe that we want to, we believe that Tafamidis is also suitable product given that we have a strong clinical outcomes data for value based agreements. So we are discussing and with multiple base it's too early to comment because also we are in the middle of the year and usually contract starts from the beginning of the year. Nevertheless there is significant interest and discussions between ourselves and payers on agreements that will really value that the product brings to patients. So Frank, on manufacturing?

Frank A. D'Amelio -- CFO

On the manufacturing, yes we do plan on having significant improvements implemented by the end of 2019. But please also know along the way we've already implemented numerous preventive and corrective actions and we've seen a nice improvement in our overall supply to-date.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Okay. And I want to say Frank is always a man of few words and a lot of factions. I'm very, very pleased with the way that under Frank's leadership and the new leadership business we are progressing on addressing the issues with manufacturing.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Thank you. Can we take next question please, Operator?

Operator

Your next question comes from Seamus Fernandez from Guggenheim.

Seamus Fernandez -- Guggenheim -- Analyst

Thanks very much for the question. So just a couple of quick ones, can you just help us understand the number that you guys printed on EUCRISA this quarter as well as the sales for Xeljanz. What were the main impacts on both of those products? And then just a second question if you guys wouldn't mind again this is a bit related to Xeljanz. Can you help us understand how differentiated the products in the dermatology Phase 3 clinical trials whether it be in alopecia or in atopic dermatitis. How differentiated those are from Xeljanz and perhaps from some of the other programs in development? Thanks so much.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Right. Angela, why don't you hit quickly the decrease in Xeljanz's question and then you can leave time to Michael who is very passionate about the JAK portfolio to speak about it?

Angela Hwang -- Group President

Okay, great. So let me start with some comments on Xeljanz. So as you can see Xeljanz had a 34% operational growth globally. In the U.S. Xeljanz grew 18% but actually the scripts grew 37%. So if you look at some of the Q1 effects some of that is due to higher rebating and favorable channel mix and reauthorizations for patients that change insurance. And this is pretty typical of what we see every quarter. So I think we're really encouraged by the strong volume growth that we've continued to see in the U.S. and around the world for Xeljanz and it's all three of our indications strong growth from RA, exciting new launches for both PSA and UC and we're beginning to see some very, very strong market shares for UC as well coming out of the gate.

For EUCRISA, specifically the number of EUCRISA patients in the U.S. for the first quarter was actually up more than 80,000 patients, so that's a 55% increase compared to where we were last year at this time. However, you do see revenues down slightly in Q1 and this is because despite the increased demand, we were negatively impacted by higher rebates in the U.S. So we need to continue to work on improving our formulary position and continuing to drive growth of EUCRISA in segments both in the U.S. as well as ex-U.S.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Michael?

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

Yes, so thank you for the interest in how we plan to grow the dermatology sector here. So for the atopic dermatitis well, we are in Phase 3 and with a JAK1 inhibitor and the first readout of the JADE trial program is coming now in May and the second is coming this fall. We selected JAK1, because JAK1 selective has the advantage that it covers certain cytokines that are part of the disease pathophysiology, aisle 4, aisle 13, similar as dupilumab, but on top of that, we cover aisle 31 that's related to the itch phenomenon that bothers atopic dermatitis patients. And we saw a very profound and early relief of that in phase 2 that we're obviously looking to confirm in our Phase 3 trials.

For alopecia, it's a different type of underlying mechanism where we deal with cytotoxic cells destroying the hair follicles and the X3 (ph) selective inhibitor is what we thought would be the best. And that was what we nicely recorded as a very effective agent in our Phase 2 trial. And it also has a very clean profile, the most well-tolerated agent we have seen so far. So we look forward certainly to the Phase 2b pivotal study, and we also started with [indiscernible] with this X3 inhibitor.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

All right. Thank you very much, Michael. Our next question please?

Operator

Your next question comes from David Risinger from Morgan Stanley.

David Risinger -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Yes, thanks very much. So first I'm hoping that you can talk about your expectations for organic revenue growth prospects for your Upjohn division relative to the 1% that you printed in the first quarter. I just don't have a sense for how we should think about that, whether that will grow or since you put Lyrica in there, that it's about to decline. So if you could help us understand the growth prospects for Upjohn, that would be helpful. Second, with respect to your patents that could potentially be blocking Merck's 15-valent launch in coming years, could you please talk about those patents and your level of conviction that Merck cannot launch and then just a final tidbit what are your planned biosimilar launches in the U.S. in the second half of this year? Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

So let me start with Upjohn and obviously Doug can cover the Merck patent situation and then Angela you can speak a little bit about the biosimilars. Our expectations for Upjohn in this year, of course, is going to be a decline, because they would be seriously affected by the loss of patent of Lyrica that will happen in the middle of the year. And that will affect their growth also next year, because they will have to face full-year LOE, which would be next year with only half a year LOE which is this year.

Following that, I see Upjohn as a very stable to low -- single-digit growth on the top line, and much higher on the bottom line, and leverage bottom-line growth, but of course, that will be post 2020 period where the impact of Lyrica will be absorbed. Doug?

Doug Lankler -- SVP

So we were pleased that the patent trial and appeal board denied Merck's IPR petitions on two of our U.S. patents covering compositions of pneumococcal vaccines. These patents stand is valid and will not expire until 2026. We believe that these patents and others in our portfolio present freedom to operate issues for Merck in its development of a 15-valent pneumococcal vaccine.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Very clear.

Angela Hwang -- Group President

And then biosimilars, so we will have three biosimilar launches in 2019. Trastuzumab was already launched in the EU in the first quarter and we look forward to the launch of tras in Japan in the third quarter. Rituximab will also be launched in Japan and that will be in the fourth quarter and then finally Bevacizumab will be launched in both the U.S. and Japan in the fourth quarter. We've seen some nice uptake in the supportive oncology portfolio that we launched late last year and we look forward to the oncology biosimilar portfolio contributing to our growth.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Angela.

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Thank you, and Operator, if we could take our last question, please.

Operator

Your final question comes from Steve Scala from Cowen.

Steve Scala -- Cowen -- Analyst

Thank you. This is actually Kathy Miner on for Steve. Just a question on Bavencio please, we had been expecting Bavencio Phase 3 data in second line bladder this year, is this still possible. And secondly is there any chance for an interim on the JAVELIN Lung 100 this year and what is the PDL1 cut off for that trial? Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Two questions Mikael for you.

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

Yes. So, thank you for showing interest in our Bavencio portfolio. So we expect late this year or possibly early next year as you know these store event driven trials that we will conclude the bladder, it's actually a first line trials so it's quite an interesting trial where we have Bavencio as maintenance therapy of the chemo, we'll also have PDL 1 high expression trial in line, which if positive could be the second PDX available for monotherapy and PDL 1 are in line and then we have a guest weak first line also post-chemo patients in maintenance for Bavencio, so, quite nice remaining cohort and we look forward to review the data coming out of this. Thank you.

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Mikael. And I think this concludes the Q&A session. But just I wanted to say, that I found this session very productive. I'm very pleased that the vast majority of the questions with the minus one or two, maybe we're focused on our pipeline and we're focused on [indiscernible] new launch products. And I don't remember any other sessions but frankly didn't receive any finance question, which is what happened today. I think this is exactly how science-based company when the results for the quarter are good, should be discussed in our earnings call. I'm very pleased about that. We continue to believe that Pfizer's position in the market is strong. We have great products, we have a strong R&D and marketing skills, prudent capital allocation and perhaps most important, a clear path toward sustainable growth. Thank you very much and have a great day.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes Pfizer's first quarter 2019 earnings conference call. You may now disconnect.

Duration: 78 minutes

Call participants:

Charles E. Triano -- SVP of IR

Albert Bourla -- Chief Executive Officer

Frank A. D'Amelio -- CFO

Timothy Minton Anderson -- Wolfe Research -- Analyst

Mikael Dolsten -- CFO

Angela Hwang -- Group President

Vamil Kishore Divan -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst

John Young -- Group President, Chief Business Officer

Chris Schott -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Geoffrey Christopher Meacham -- Barclays Bank PLC -- Analyst

Andrew Simon Baum -- Citigroup Inc -- Analyst

Umer Raffat -- Evercore. -- Analyst

Louise Chen -- Cantor Fitzgerald -- Analyst

Jason Gerberry -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst

Alex Arfaei -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Navin Jacob -- UBS. -- Analyst

Seamus Fernandez -- Guggenheim -- Analyst

David Risinger -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst

Doug Lankler -- SVP

Steve Scala -- Cowen -- Analyst

More PFE analysis

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By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1 (Reuters) - PG&E Corp on Wednesday sought court approval for a $105 million fund to help house victims of the wildfires blamed on the bankrupt California power provider.

PG&E in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco said the fund would cover housing and other urgent needs for many who lost homes in the wildfires in 2017 and 2018.

The biggest of the blazes, last year's Camp Fire, killed more than 80 people and destroyed more than 14,600 housing units, with more than 11,300 lost in the town Paradise, according the California's Department of Finance.

The department said in a report on Wednesday the Camp Fire displaced 83 percent of Paradise's population, contributing to an increase of more than 19,000 people in the population of nearby Chico, which marked the largest numeric population change of any California city last year.

PG&E said its Wildfire Assistance Program was intended for wildfire victims who did not have insurance for their homes or whose insurance for alternate living expenses will be exhausted.

The investor-owned power provider filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January in anticipation of potentially billions of dollars in liabilities stemming from wildfires in California linked to or suspected to be linked to its equipment.

San Francisco-based PG&E in its filing said it believes it is probable that authorities will find its equipment sparked November's Camp Fire, California's most destructive and deadliest fire of modern times.

PG&E said it will enter into discussions with committees representing unsecured creditors and wildfire victims in its bankruptcy to find an administrator for its proposed fund as soon as possible.

If no agreement on an administrator is reached, PG&E said it would ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali to let it appoint one.

PG&E will ask Montali at a May 22 hearing to give it the green light to establish its proposed fund. (Reporting by Jim Christie Editing by Tom Brown)
Tango Food Truck. | Photo: Larissa G./Yelp

Wondering where to find the best food trucks near you?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top food trucks in Pittsburgh, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to meet your needs.

1. Doce Taqueria

Photo: samantha h./Yelp

Next up is Southside Flats's Doce Taqueria, situated at 1220 E. Carson St. With 4.5 stars out of 257 reviews on Yelp, the food truck and Mexican spot has proven to be a local favorite.

2. BRGR

Photo: Heidi P./Yelp

Central Business District's BRGR, located at 535 Liberty Ave., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the food truck, which offers burgers, ice cream, frozen yogurt and more, four stars out of 52 reviews.

3. Tango Food Truck

Photo: julia e./Yelp

Tango Food Truck, a food truck and Argentine spot in Southside Flats, is another much-loved go-to, with 4.5 stars out of 12 Yelp reviews. Head over to East Carson Street to see for yourself.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
New Zealand police on Wednesday ruled out any link between a bomb found in Christchurch and mosque shootings in March which killed 50 Muslim worshippers.

Police and the military bomb squad swooped on a vacant lot just outside the city centre Tuesday finding "a suspected explosive device" and rounds of ammunition.

They said a 33-year-old man appeared in court Wednesday charged with possession of explosives, ammunition and offensive weapons.

"We are not seeking anyone else in relation to the incident," detective inspector Corrie Parnell said in a statement.

"There are no known links between the 33-year-old man and the Christchurch attacks on March 15."

Local media named the man as Jay Michael Harding-Reriti and said the charges included possession of a handheld improvised explosive device, powergel explosives and detonator cord.

They said he was remanded in custody until May 6 and further details of the case were suppressed at the request of police.

Christchurch remains on alert after the March attacks in which a self-styled white supremacist shot dead 50 people and injured another 39 in attacks on two mosques.

The gunman allegedly behind the mosque shootings, 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant, is in a maximum-security prison in Auckland has been ordered to undergo psychiatric tests.
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traded accusations in a phone call Wednesday that the other power was destabilizing Venezuela after an aborted military uprising.

With the United States pushing to topple President Nicolas Maduro, Pompeo charged that Russia and Cuba were instrumental in keeping the leftist firebrand in power.

Pompeo "stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the US-Russia bilateral relationship," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

Pompeo "urged Russia to cease support for Nicolas Maduro and join other nations, including the overwhelming majority of countries in the Western Hemisphere, who seek a better future for the Venezuelan people," she said in a statement.

But Lavrov denounced Washington's "destructive influence" in its support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, who on Tuesday claimed the backing of members of the armed forces in a short-lived attempt to wrest control from Maduro.

"Washington's interference in Venezuelan affairs is a flagrant violation of international law," the Russian foreign ministry quoted Lavrov as saying in the call.

Lavrov took aim at President Donald Trump's assertions, made again Wednesday by Pompeo, that the United States is prepared to use force if necessary.

"The pursuit of these aggressive steps is fraught with consequences," Lavrov said, adding that "only the Venezuelan people have the right to decide their destiny."

The United States is among more than 50 countries, including most Latin American and European powers, that recognize Guaido as interim president.

Maduro was elected last year in an election widely criticized as fraudulent and has presided over a crumbling economy, with millions fleeing Venezuela faced with a shortage of basic goods.

Russia and China provide crucial diplomatic support, with Moscow also offering military technical assistance and Beijing providing vital credit as it buys Venezuela's oil.

The Trump administration has also warned Cuba, a longtime foe of the United States, to stop backing Maduro by allegedly deploying thousands of troops to back up Venezuelan security forces.
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet the German and British leaders this month facing a raft of trans-Atlantic disputes, on a trip that will also affirm US interests in the Arctic.

Pompeo heads to Berlin on May 7 to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and a day later will see Prime Minister Theresa May in London, the State Department announced Wednesday.

Merkel has not hidden her differences with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly taken the unusual step of criticizing the close ally, especially over the chancellor's welcome of migrants.

The US administration has sharply diverged with Europe on a series of key issues including climate change and Iran, with Trump pulling out of widely backed international accords.

In London, Pompeo will be laying the groundwork for a June 3-5 state visit by Trump, whom May is welcoming despite his attacks on her handling of Britain's exit from the European Union.

Pompeo will start his trip by attending a meeting of ministers of the Arctic Council in the northern Finnish city of Rovaniemi.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also expected to attend, meaning that the adversaries' top diplomats could meet on the sidelines over issues such as Venezuela's political crisis, on which they are backing rival sides.

Pompeo is to close his trip on May 9 with two stops in Greenland, one of a number of countries where rising Chinese infrastructure investment has alarmed the United States on security grounds.

Pompeo will travel to the capital Nuuk and to the western town of Kangerlussuaq, where he will meet troops of the New York Air National Guard who are deployed to assist climate research in an island heavily affected by rising temperatures.

Pompeo has said he accepts that climate change is real but does not consider it a top priority.
(Adds Bolton quote)

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to speak with his Russian counterpart on Wednesday amid tensions over the political situation in Venezuela, White House national security adviser John Bolton said in television interviews.

Pompeo on Tuesday accused Russia of intervening when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was prepared to leave the country in the face of a call for an uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaido. Bolton said in interviews with CNN and Fox News that Pompeo planned to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Bolton would not elaborate on what the United States knew about Russian involvement affecting Maduro's plans, but he made clear Moscow's interference was not welcome.

"This is our hemisphere," he told reporters outside the White House. "It's not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. It's not going to lead to an improvement of relations." (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By Lesley Wroughton and Andrew Osborn WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States and Russia traded warnings against interfering in Venezuela on Wednesday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of stopping President Nicolas Maduro from leaving the country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Pompeo by phone that further "aggressive steps" in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, the Russian ministry said. "The Russian side underlined that interference by Washington in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and threats towards its leadership was a flagrant breach of international law," the ministry said. The U.S. State Department said Pompeo urged Russia in the call to stop supporting Maduro. He also "stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship," it said. On Tuesday, Pompeo accused Russia of intervening to persuade Maduro to abandon a plan to leave the country following a call by opposition leader Juan Guaido for Venezuela's military to help him oust Maduro. Russia rejected that allegation on Wednesday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling it "fake news." The United States has criticized Russia and Cuba for working to prop up Maduro. Russia, which has supplied Venezuela with weapons and loans, says the United States is trying to encourage a coup in the Latin American country. While Pompeo said earlier Wednesday that the United States was prepared to take military action if necessary, Pentagon officials told Congress they had not been given orders to prepare for war. "Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo told Fox Business Network. U.S. officials continue to stress that they prefer a peaceful transition in the country. Marchers gathered on Wednesday for planned mass street protests against Maduro. Asked if Washington was considering more sanctions against Russia because of the situation, National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters the National Security Council would meet to discuss Venezuela on Wednesday. "We'll be considering a lot of steps," he said. Bolton would not elaborate on what the United States knew about its accusations that Russia was influencing Maduro's plans, but he said Moscow's interference was not welcome. "This is our hemisphere," Bolton said. "It's not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. It's not going to lead to an improvement of relations." Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan canceled a planned trip to Europe on Wednesday to help him better coordinate with the Trump administration on Venezuela as well as on deployments to the U.S. border with Mexico, the Pentagon said. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Doina Chiacu, Phil Stewart and Makini Brice in Washington, and Andrew Osborne in Moscow; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Rosalba O'Brien)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that U.S. military action in Venezuela is on the table as the opposition to the socialist regime of Nicolas Maduro, led by self-declared interim president Juan Guaido, takes to the streets this week.

If thats whats required, thats what the United States will do, Pompeo told Fox Business. We would prefer a peaceful transition of government there, where Maduro leaves and a new election is held. But the president has made clear, in the event there comes a moment  well all have to make decisions about when that moment is  the president will have to ultimately make that decision.

Guaido, who is also the National Assembly president, appeared with recently released opposition activist Leopoldo Lopez in a video message on Tuesday and announced Operation Liberty, the final phase of his effort to overthrow the regime, calling on Venezuelan armed forces to oust Maduro.

See you in the street! Guaido wrote in a tweet Wednesday.

WATCH: Venezuela military armored truck rams into pro-Guaido protesters in Caracas https://t.co/1olDY3QTaT pic.twitter.com/DvwPQD0l1h  CBS News (@CBSNews) April 30, 2019

Pro-Maduro soldiers were seen ramming armored trucks into a crowd of opposition protesters in video captured of the clashes that broke out on Tuesday. There were reports of gunfire exchanges between the soldiers backing Guaido and troops loyal to Maduro.

More protests are expected later Wednesday as protesters gather in the streets of Caracas, which remain calm for the moment.

More from National Review
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Britain's parliament declared a symbolic climate change "emergency" on Wednesday, backing a call by opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for "rapid and dramatic action" to protect the environment for generations to come.

The measure was passed as an opposition motion, using a procedure typically ignored by the ruling party, and has no direct consequences for policy.

But it represents a nod to an increasing vocal activist movement particularly among young people, who have staged school strikes and civil disobedience campaigns to demand action.

Activists from the group Extinction Rebellion launched 11 days of protests that paralyzed central London in recent weeks, and Swedish schoolgirl campaigner Greta Thunberg addressed lawmakers on a high profile visit.

In parliament, Corbyn told lawmakers they should listen to those "who have the most to lose" from climate change, describing the younger generation as being "ahead of the politicians on this, the most important issue of our time."

"We have no time to waste. We are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action now," Corbyn told parliament.

"Today, we have the opportunity to say, 'We hear you' ... By becoming the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency, we could, and I hope we do, set off a wave of action from parliaments and governments all around the world."

Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who met activists this week, disappointed the campaigners by avoiding the word "emergency," referring instead to the situation as "grave."

A tweet from Extinction Rebellion welcomed Wednesday's motion: "This has seen (lawmakers) start to #TellTheTruth about the climate & ecological crisis. They must now halt biodiversity loss, go net #ZeroCarbon2025 & create a #CitizensAssembly."

Rebecca Newsom, head of Politics for Greenpeace UK, said in a statement that tackling climate change had long been delayed.

"The best time to declare a climate emergency was 30 years ago; the second best time is now." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Elisabeth O'Leary and Peter Graff)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's parliament declared a symbolic climate change "emergency" on Wednesday, backing a call by opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for "rapid and dramatic action" to protect the environment for generations to come. The measure was passed as an opposition motion, using a procedure typically ignored by the ruling party, and has no direct consequences for policy. But it is a nod to an increasing vocal activist movement particularly among young people in Europe, who have staged school strikes and civil disobedience campaigns to demand action. Eleven days of protests by the Extinction Rebellion activist group caused major disruptions in central London in recent weeks, and Swedish schoolgirl campaigner Greta Thunberg addressed lawmakers on a high profile visit. Corbyn told lawmakers they should listen to those "who have the most to lose" from climate change, saying the younger generation is "ahead of the politicians on this, the most important issue of our time". "We have no time to waste. We are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action now," Corbyn told parliament. "Today, we have the opportunity to say, 'We hear you' ... By becoming the first parliament in the world to declare a climate emergency, we could, and I hope we do, set off a wave of action from parliaments and governments all around the world." Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who met activists this week, disappointed the campaigners by avoiding the word "emergency" and referring instead to the situation as "grave". Extinction Rebellion welcomed Wednesday's motion in a tweet: "This has seen (lawmakers) start to #TellTheTruth about the climate & ecological crisis. They must now halt biodiversity loss, go net #ZeroCarbon2025 & create a #CitizensAssembly." Separately, Thunberg tweeted: "Historic and very hopeful news. Now other nations must follow. And words must turn into immediate action." Rebecca Newsom, head of Politics for Greenpeace UK, said in a statement that tackling climate change had long been delayed. "The best time to declare a climate emergency was 30 years ago; the second best time is now." (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Elisabeth O'Leary, Peter Graff and Sonya Hepinstall)
MOSCOW (AP)  Impromptu rallies erupted in Kazakhstan on Wednesday urging voters to boycott the presidential election. Police rushed to detain several dozen people.

The rare public discontent in the sprawling Central Asian nation reflects residents' wariness about a presidential succession orchestrated by the country's first and only president.

Russian news agencies reported that some protesters in the rare opposition rallies gathered in a central park in Kazakhstan's commercial capital of Almaty while others marched downtown in the capital of Nur-Sultan. They called for a boycott of June 9 presidential vote, chanting "We have a choice!" and "For fair elections!"

Live footage broadcast by Radio Free Europe showed riot police snatch several dozen protesters from the crowd in Nur-Sultan and shove them into police vans.

Kazakhstan's long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, 78, abruptly resigned in March, a move seen as an orchestrated handover of power to his hand-picked successor. The ruling party last week nominated a Nazarbayev ally, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, to run for president in the early election.

The protesters on Wednesday were also rallying against the recent decision to rename the capital of Astana to Nur-Sultan to honor the outgoing president.
Bernie Sanders, the Brooklyn socialist who represents Vermont in the Senate, has called for extending voting rights to prisoners currently incarcerated  all of them, he says, meaning: Terry Nichols, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Nidal Hasan, sundry Aryan Brotherhood bosses, a blanket immunity that presumably would have covered the late Charles Manson before he went off to his eternal reward.

As a matter of political calculation, the Democrats probably are less interested in supermax-cloistered terrorists than in African Americans, who were more than twice as likely to vote Democrat as white voters in 2018 (90 percent vs. 44 percent) and who are about five times as likely to be incarcerated at some point in their lives. One study puts the number of black men convicted of a felony at 33 percent, a genuinely shocking figure, and there is evidence that African Americans also are more likely to be wrongly convicted.

Startling as these figures are, it is not obvious why the restoration of convicted felons voting rights is a good idea at all, much less something that should be at the top of the agenda. We exclude felons from voting for much the same reason that we generally exclude them from practicing law: We do not trust them with that power because of the contempt for the law they have demonstrated.

When challenged on felon voting, Democrats ask rhetorically: Why should these men and women continue to be punished after they have served their time? It is an unserious question asked by unserious people. If we were serious about completely restoring the civil and social status of felons after release, then we would, among other things, allow them to buy and keep guns, to serve in security-sensitive positions, to be protected from exclusion in professional licensure and discrimination in hiring, etc. None of that is talked about very much  the discussion mostly begins and ends at voting rights. Cynical, but predictable.

But we should be talking about some of those other things.

Story continues

We have a general social interest in maximizing the rehabilitation of criminals, and if the humane reasons for doing so are not sufficiently persuasive, consider the costs involved, both direct costs for police and penal work, and indirect economic costs.

Sometimes, those costs are bitterly comical: In 2017, Los Angeles County spent $3.9 million to collect $3.4 million in administrative fees  these are distinct from fines and restitution  from released felons, who often leave prison deep in debt for administrative fees ranging from court costs to rent on ankle monitors, which can be shockingly expensive. Those being released are presented with overwhelming and inscrutable bills. Government is a hungry beast, and many states dedicate those funds to specific programs. For example, Virginia applies a fixed formula to divide felons fees between the general fund, a special forensic-science fund, a fund for court reporters, courthouse maintenance, training programs, something called the Intensified Drug Enforcement Jurisdiction Fund, and a fund controlled by the commonwealths attorney.

This presents an obvious opportunity for reform, and a relatively easy one. As Courtney E. Martin reports in the New York Times, several California counties  San Francisco, Alameda, and Contra Costa, with Los Angeles expected to follow  have stopped assessing such fees and have forgiven some debts associated with them. Like Los Angeles County, San Francisco has found it difficult to actually collect these fees: About 17 percent of what is assessed is actually paid. And what is paid often is being paid by the wives, girlfriends, and family of felons, who find it difficult to get decent work.

But even the relatively small collections amount to millions of dollars that somebody somewhere in some bureaucracy is counting on  which means that there will be resistance.

We hear a lot of talk about violent felons as distinct from nonviolent ones, because there are a lot of things, some of them ridiculous, that can make one a felon. For example, under 18 USC  228, the failure to make court-ordered child-support payments can be a federal felony offense, if the payments are more than two years past due or amount to more than $10,000. People who are ordered to make child-support payments should make them, but those who fail to are not really in the same class of people as Terry Nichols or Nidal Hasan, or a murderer of the more common type. It may be that we need a third general classification of criminal offense, something that denotes a crime more serious than a misdemeanor (which might be anything from reckless driving to assault) but short of the sort of thing we really do want to see met with a lifelong social disability.

There are many convicted criminals who can be rehabilitated, and we should want to see them rehabilitated, which is almost impossible to achieve if they are economically handicapped for the rest of their postcarceral lives. The criminal-justice system should, to the extent that we can arrange it, forgo creating criminal incentives of its own, for instance by piling on financial burdens even as it forecloses most avenues for meeting them.

Here is a prediction: Youre going to hear a lot more from Democrats in 2020 about forgiving student-loan debt for upwardly mobile young people, who vote in substantial numbers and who make considerable political contributions. When it comes to felons, youll hear about very little other than getting them on the voting rolls.

But there is more to these people than their votes, and more to human flourishing than maximizing the headcount of Mayor Catherine Pughs political party.

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Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for more Ukrainians, a controversial new move expected to deepen the crisis between the two countries.

The latest move comes during a hugely sensitive transitional period in Ukraine where a comedian with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelensky, won a landslide victory in a presidential election last month.

Some analysts see it as a Kremlin test for the new administration in Kiev.

Putin had already signed a decree on April 24 allowing people living in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine to receive a Russian passport.

The Russian president said last weekend he was "thinking" about providing citizenship to "all citizens of Ukraine," sparking fury in Kiev.

The new Kremlin decree published Wednesday said several categories of Ukrainian nationals will have the right to receive a Russian passport within three months of applying for one.

Those categories include Ukrainians who already have Russian residence permits and Ukrainian citizens who were born in Crimea but left the peninsula before Russia annexed it in March, 2014.

Around 3 million Ukrainians reside in Russia.

- 'Rights and freedoms' -

The fast-track procedure is implemented to protect "rights and human and civil freedoms", said the decree which Putin signed on Monday.

There were hopes bilateral ties might improve under a Zelensky presidency but that is now looking unlikely, analysts say.

The Kremlin has not congratulated Zelensky and said it was too early to say if it can work with the 41-year-old political novice.

Zelensky is due to take office by early June.

Some in Kiev and the West worry that Moscow's offer of citizenship to Ukrainians would give the Kremlin a justification to freely move troops across the border under the pretext of protecting the interests of Russian nationals.

The West have condemned the Kremlin, accusing Putin of seeking to further destabilise Ukraine, while critics at home say the move would be a major burden for the already-struggling Russian economy.

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The EU has called the passport scheme a fresh assault on Ukraine's sovereignty, while Kiev appealed to the UN Security Council to take action.

President-elect Zelensky has called for more sanctions against Russia but also pledged to grant Ukrainian citizenship to Russians who "suffer" under Kremlin rule.

After a pro-Western uprising in Kiev ousted a Kremlin- backed regime in 2014 Moscow annexed Crimea and extended support to Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine.

- 'Escalation attempt' -

On Wednesday, Ganna Gopko, head of the international affairs committee in Ukrainian parliament, said the latest Kremlin decree showed Putin pressed ahead with his efforts to divide the ex-Soviet country.

"It is a flagrant interference in Ukraine's internal affairs, especially during a transitional period," Gopko told AFP.

"Such Russians actions are an attempt at escalation."

Zelensky has said he doubted many Ukrainians would take Moscow up on its offer because a Russian passport means "the right to be arrested" and "the right not to have free and competitive elections."

Timothy Ash, a strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, suggested that Putin might be testing the new administration in Kiev as well as US President Donald Trump's support for him.

On election night Zelensky appeared to taunt Putin when he told people in fellow post-Soviet countries that "everything is possible."

Ash said Putin "probably did not appreciate Zelensky's comments."

"His nightmare is a truly democratic, open (and) free election, where the people actually get to chose between a range of candidates," he told AFP.

Critics led by outgoing President Petro Poroshenko doubt Zelensky will be able to stand up to Putin.

Nationals of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria who were born in the Soviet Union can also apply for Russian citizenship, the Kremlin decree said.
Melinda Gates is getting personal.

In her new book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World (Flatiron Books, out Tuesday), the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is sharing what shes learned working in poverty-stricken communities around the world.

Lifting up those communities, she writes, means first lifting up women.

Along with relaying stories of inspiring women shes met in areas including Africa, India and the Philippines, Gates shares her own feminist evolution, including how her roles as wife and mother evolved at home. The daughter of an engineer and stay-at-home mom, Gates earned a bachelor's degrees in computer programming and economics, and a master's in business in five years at Duke before joining Microsoft in 1987.

Gates married Bill on New Year's Day in 1994 and decided to step away from Microsoft when she had her first child, a move that she writes stunned her husband. In The Moment of Lift, she opens up about redefining the power structure in her marriage, how their foundation works to equalize hierarchies between men and woman around the world and how crucial access to birth control is empowering women.

Question: The Moment of Lift is surprisingly personal. Did you struggle with the decision to share stories from inside your marriage?

Melinda Gates: I am a very private person, as I write about in the book, so I definitely felt like I was pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. But I thought that was important, because when you are vulnerable you start to create real connections. So I thought I need to share more of who I am in this book so people understand how I came to this journey through womens empowerment (and) why I now feel so strongly the way I do.

Q: That includes a chapter in which you share your own story of being in an abusive relationship before Bill.

Gates: I certainly have never spoken about my abuse publicly before. And while its one page in the book, that felt unbelievably vulnerable to share. But I thought that was important to share because so many women have been through some form of harassment. And I wanted people to understand that that is very hard to speak about but we all have to speak our truths.

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Q: I chuckled reading the story about when Bill started driving one of your daughters to kindergarten, inspiring other wives to ask their husbands to pitch in on morning drop-offs. If Bill Gates has the time

Gates: I tried to share very specific examples like that one, or us all doing the dishes after dinner at night, which is a great thing. But we didnt quite have it right at first and I ended up frustrated. What parent has not ended up frustrated about their level of household duties or tasks? So often we assume  both the women and the men in the marriage  that stuff falls to the mom. I was trying to show how I had to look at these issues and I had to name my truth to my husband for us to be able to changeI think people have a certain view of Bill, because he was a high-charging CEO running Microsoft. I think people must think, Oh well, Melinda must not really have equality with Bill.' Actually, I have total equality with Bill. But it took awhile for us to get there.

Bill and Melinda Gates look toward each other and smile while being interviewed in January.

Q: You also connect the dots on how sharing the workload at home fosters health between partners.

Gates: And you build intimacy in a family. A dad participating more when the child is young, he actually enjoys it. Where the woman may have done all of that work and feel overburdened, if a man participates early  and this is why Im so big on paid family medical leave, not paid maternity leave  we know from good research, he participates much more over the life of the child. And men who participate early also talk about their satisfaction and fulfillment of being a great dad.

Q: How have you handled criticism from the Catholic church over your push for international access to birth control?

Gates: It was difficult for me to decide I would step into that role, as I write in the book, but I felt very strongly about doing it because of my travels and because of the women I met who said, 'Are you kidding me? I used to have these contraceptives, why are they not in the village clinic anymore?' Its the greatest anti-poverty tool we have and yet were not delivering it to women.

I knew I was going to be criticized, but at the end of the day I had to say to myself, 'What do I believe?' I use the tools (birth control), I am going to counsel my children when theyre old enough to use the tools. So if I am a fully integrated human being and I believe in faith in action and I am using these tools in my life, why am I afraid to speak about them?

I had a feeling the Catholic church would come out and say something against me...But I was prepared for it because I knew what I truly believed. Over time Ive gotten more comfortable speaking about what I know to be true.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Melinda Gates: Sharing school drop-off, kitchen duties changed my marriage
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Cotonou (AFP) - Benin's electoral commission has announced the results of controversial elections that were held without any opposition candidates and saw a record low turnout just under 23 percent.

All candidates contesting the April 28 vote came from just two parties, the Republican Bloc and the Progressive Union, both allied to President Patrice Talon.

The small West African state was long held up as a model for democracy, but the main opposition parties were effectively barred from fielding candidates by tough new eligibility rules.

Many citizens heeded opposition party calls to boycott the polls.

The election commission announced late on Tuesday that 22.99 percent of the almost five million eligible voters had cast ballots.

Turnout had never previously been below 50 percent since the country's transition to democracy in 1990.

The results were never in much doubt, with the two parties participating sharing the 83 seats in parliament - the Progressive Union picking up 47 and the Republican Bloc 36.

Before 1990, Benin struggled under decades of authoritarian rule. Democracy brought a flowering of political competition -- five years ago, voters could chose from 20 parties.

But this year, lawmakers from the ruling party pushed through a new electoral code that left not a single opposition candidate to choose from.

Two former presidents had condemned the polls and called for them to be annulled.

Commission chairman Emmanuel Tiando said voting did not take place in 39 of the country's 546 districts due to "incidents".

Civil society groups reported two deaths during polling, out of a total of 206 incidents, including clashes and destruction of election materials.
Red Rock Resorts, Inc. RRR reported mixed first-quarter 2019 financial numbers, wherein earnings fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate but revenues surpassed the same. Notably, this marked the company's fifth straight quarter of revenue beat. However, earnings missed the estimate in two of the trailing three quarters.

Adjusted earnings came in at 16 cents per share missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 32 cents. In the prior-year quarter, the company had reported adjusted earnings of 41 cents per share. Revenues totaled $447 million, faring better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $445 million. The top line also increased 6.2% year over year. The uptick can primarily be attributed to year-over-year gain in Las Vegas operations, which overshadowed decline in Native American management fees.

Casino revenues in the quarter amounted to $244.9 million, up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. While food and beverage revenues increased 15.4% to $104.9 million, other revenues rose 14.9% to $25.9 million. Room revenues also increased 3.1% to $48.1 million. However, management fees revenues declined 6.2% to $23.2 million.

Segmental Details

Las Vegas Operations

Revenues at this segment summed $422.4 million, up 6.9% year over year. Also, the segments adjusted EBITDA increased to $130.5 million, up 3.7% year over year. Results were driven by robust performance across both the gaming and non-gaming segments.

Native American Management

Revenues at this segment declined 6.2% to $23 million. Meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA decreased to $21.5 million from $22.1 million on termination of the Gun Lake management agreement in February 2018.

Red Rock Resorts, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Red Rock Resorts, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Red Rock Resorts, Inc. Quote

Other Financial Details

As of Mar 31, 2019, Red Rock Resorts had cash and cash equivalent of $109.2 million. Outstanding debt at the end of the reported quarter was $3 billion. The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of 10 cents, payable Jun 28, 2019, to its shareholder of record as of Jun 14, 2019.

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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Red Rock Resorts, which shares space with Boyd Gaming Corporation BYD, carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks worth considering in the same space include PlayAGS, Inc. AGS and Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

PlayAGS long-term earnings are likely to grow by 12%.

Las Vegas Sands current-year earnings are likely to witness 0.3% growth.

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4326/4328 Hamilton Ave. | Photos: Zumper

Curious just how far your dollar goes in Cincinnati?

We've rounded up the latest rental offerings via rental site Zumper to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to hunting down housing in Cincinnati if you're on a budget of $800/month.

Take a look at the listings, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

2378-84 Park Ave. (Walnut Hills)

First, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom situated at 2378-84 Park Ave.

It's listed for $800/month for its 756 square feet of space. The building features assigned parking and on-site laundry. In the unit, there are hardwood floors and a dishwasher. When it comes to pets, both meows and barks are welcome. There's no leasing fee required for this rental.

Per Walk Score ratings, this location is quite walkable, is fairly bikeable and offers many nearby public transportation options.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

2600 Bushnell St. (East Price Hill)

Next, check out this 662-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom that's located at 2600 Bushnell St. It's listed for $795/month.

In the unit, you'll find a balcony, in-unit laundry and air conditioning. For those with furry friends in tow, know that cats and dogs are welcome on this property. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

According to Walk Score's assessment, the area around this address is somewhat walkable, is somewhat bikeable and has a few nearby public transportation options.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

418 Torrence Court, #1 (Hyde Park)

Located at 418 Torrence Court, #1, here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's also listed for $795/month.

In the unit, you can anticipate hardwood floors, high ceilings and air conditioning. Cats and dogs are not allowed. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee.

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Walk Score indicates that this location is car-dependent, is somewhat bikeable and has some transit options.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

4326/4328 Hamilton Ave. (Northside)

Finally, check out this one-bedroom, one-bathroom that's located at 4326/4328 Hamilton Ave. It's listed for $765/month.

Neither cats nor dogs are allowed. In the unit, anticipate hardwood floors and granite countertops. Secured entry is listed as a building amenity. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee.

Walk Score indicates that the surrounding area is friendly for those on foot, is fairly bikeable and has some transit options.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
2116 Herschel St., #Unit A. | Photos: Zumper

Curious just how far your dollar goes in Jacksonville?

We've rounded up the latest rental offerings via rental site Zumper to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to locating a rental in Jacksonville with a budget of $1,300/month.

Read on for the listings. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

2304 St. Johns Bluff Road S. (Southside Estates)

Listed at $1,300/month, this 826-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom is located at 2304 St. Johns Bluff Road S.

The open floor plan unit features in-unit laundry, a walk-in closet, French doors and a private patio. When it comes to the complex amenities, expect garage parking and outdoor space. Pet lovers are in luck: cats and dogs are permitted in some units. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

Per Walk Score ratings, this location requires a car for most errands and has minimal bike infrastructure.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

2116 Herschel St., #Unit A (Riverside)

Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 2116 Herschel St., #Unit A in Riverside. It's listed for $1,299/month.

The unit comes equipped with a washer and dryer, granite countertops and a private balcony. Pet owners take note: neither cats nor dogs are permitted.

Walk Score indicates that the surrounding area is very walkable and is relatively bikeable.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

8074 Gate Parkway W. (Secret Cove)

Located at 8074 Gate Parkway W., here's a 729-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom that's listed for $1,220/month.

In the unit, you can expect hardwood floors, a dishwasher, a walk-in closet and a balcony. Building amenities include garage parking, a roof deck, a fitness center and a swimming pool. Good news for animal lovers: both dogs and cats are welcome here.

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According to Walk Score's assessment, this location requires a car for most errands and has some bike infrastructure.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
1529 Walnut St., #04. | Photos: Zumper

Curious just how far your dollar goes in Philadelphia?

We've rounded up the latest rental offerings via rental site Zumper to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to finding housing in Philadelphia if you're on a budget of $2,300/month.

Take a peek at what rentals the city has to offer, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

2219 Delancey Place (Rittenhouse)

Listed at $2,300/month, this 782-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom residence is located at 2219 Delancey Place.

The unit offers hardwood floors, high ceilings and a fireplace. The building boasts storage space and on-site laundry. Animals are not permitted. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee.

According to Walk Score, this location is a "walker's paradise," is great for biking and boasts excellent transit options.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

1920 Chestnut St., #5S (Rittenhouse)

Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo located at 1920 Chestnut St., #5S. It's also listed for $2,300/month for its 913 square feet of space. It's available in early June.

Extra storage space is listed as a building amenity. In the condo, expect hardwood floors, a dishwasher, stainless steel appliances and a balcony. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: this spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. There's no leasing fee required for this rental, but there is a $45 application fee.

Walk Score indicates that the surrounding area has excellent walkability, is quite bikeable and is a haven for transit riders.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

314 Catharine St., #203B (Queen Village)

Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo at 314 Catharine St., #203B that's going for $2,300/month.

In the unit, you'll get hardwood floors, high ceilings, a dishwasher, in-unit laundry and a fireplace. Outdoor space and extra storage are listed as building amenities. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: this spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

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According to Walk Score's assessment, the area around this address has excellent walkability, is convenient for biking and has good transit options.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

1529 Walnut St., #04 (Rittenhouse)

Located at 1529 Walnut St., #04, here's an 814-square-foot one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom apartment that's listed for $2,295/month.

In the unit, you can anticipate hardwood floors, high ceilings, a dishwasher, in-unit laundry and a walk-in closet. The building offers a fitness center, a business center and secured entry. Animals are not permitted. This rental does not require a leasing fee.

According to Walk Score, this location is a "walker's paradise," is quite bikeable and boasts excellent transit options.

(See the complete listing here.)

510 S. Front St., #2F (Society Hill)

Listed at $2,090/month, this one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo is located at 510 S. Front St., #2F.

In the home, you can expect hardwood floors, in-unit laundry and air conditioning. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: this spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental.

According to Walk Score's assessment, the surrounding area has excellent walkability, is convenient for biking and has excellent transit.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
14745 Babcock Rd. | Photos: Zumper

Curious just how far your dollar goes in San Antonio?

We've rounded up the latest rental listings via rental site Zumper to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to locating housing in San Antonio if you don't want to spend more than $900/month on rent.

Take a peek at what rentals the city has to offer, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

14745 Babcock Road, #602

Listed at $900/month, this 729-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo is located at 14745 Babcock Road, #602.

In the unit, expect tile flooring, high ceilings, a fireplace and in-unit laundry. The building has assigned parking and a swimming pool. Cats and dogs are not welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

4052 TPC Parkway

Next, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo located at 4052 TPC Parkway. It's also listed for $900/month for its 608 square feet of space.

In the unit, expect hardwood floors, high ceilings, a dishwasher, in-unit laundry, a walk-in closet, a fireplace and a balcony. The building has on-site laundry. For those with furry friends in tow, know that cats and dogs are allowed on this property. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

(Take a gander at the complete listing here.)

La Cantera Parkway

Finally, check out this 772-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's located at La Cantera Parkway. It's listed for $900/month.

In the unit, you'll have a mix of carpet and hardwood floors, a walk-in closet and a balcony. The building offers on-site laundry, a swimming pool, a fitness center and on-site management. For those with furry friends in tow, know that cats and dogs are welcome on this property.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
800 4th St. SW. | Photos: Zumper

Curious just how far your dollar goes in Washington?

We've rounded up the latest rental offerings via rental site Zumper to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to finding a place in Washington with a budget of $1,900/month.

Take a look at the listings, below. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.)

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

800 Fourth St. SW, #N111 (Southwest)

Listed at $1,900/month, this 614-square-foot studio apartment is located at 800 Fourth St. SW, #N111.

The building has a swimming pool, a fitness center, extra storage space and on-site management. The unit boasts hardwood floors, air conditioning and stainless steel appliances. Luckily for pet owners, both dogs and cats are permitted. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee.

Per Walk Score ratings, the surrounding area is friendly for those on foot, is convenient for biking and has excellent transit.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

1250 Fourth St. SW, #W206 (Southwest)

Here's a 732-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo at 1250 Fourth St. SW, #W206 that's going for $1,895/month.

In the unit, you'll get hardwood floors, air conditioning and a balcony. On-site management is listed as a building amenity. Neither cats nor dogs are allowed. There isn't a leasing fee associated with this rental.

Walk Score indicates that this location is very walkable, is quite bikeable and boasts excellent transit options.

(Take a look at the full listing here.)

1754 Lanier Place NW, #101 (Adams Morgan)

Next, check out this one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's located at 1754 Lanier Place NW, #101. It's listed for $1,895/month.

In the unit, you'll find hardwood floors and both heating and air conditioning On-site laundry is listed as a building amenity. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are welcome.

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According to Walk Score's assessment, the surrounding area is extremely walkable, is convenient for biking and boasts excellent transit options.

(Take a look at the complete listing here.)

1263 First St. SE (Capitol Hill)

Located at 1263 First St. SE, here's a 445-square-foot studio that's listed for $1,889/month.

In the unit, you can expect hardwood floors, a dishwasher, a walk-in closet and a balcony. When it comes to building amenities, expect on-site laundry, a swimming pool, a fitness center and a roof deck. Pet lovers are in luck: cats and dogs are allowed.

Walk Score indicates that the surrounding area is extremely walkable, is great for biking and has excellent transit.

(Take a gander at the complete listing here.)

3701 Massachusetts Ave. NW (Glover Park)

Finally, listed at $1,887/month is this 362-square-foot studio is located at 3701 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

In the apartment, you can anticipate hardwood floors and a dishwasher. The building offers on-site management, a fitness center, on-site laundry and an elevator. Good news for animal lovers: both dogs and cats are welcome here. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee.

According to Walk Score, the surrounding area is very walkable, is quite bikeable and has good transit options.

(Check out the complete listing here.)

This story was created automatically using local real estate data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
WASHINGTON  After going on a massive spending spree in the first two years of the Trump administration, Republicans say theyve had enough red ink  at least when it comes to overhauling the nations crumbling roads, bridges and waterways.

You want stuff? You gotta pay for it. I think thats a conservative position, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 2 GOP senator, told reporters on Wednesday about discussions over a deal on new infrastructure spending.

Thune added that any package needs to be paid for via new revenue sources or offset with spending cuts elsewhere in the federal budget  a demand Republicans notably ditched in passing their $1.5 trillion tax cut into law.

Top House and Senate Democrats met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday and announced an agreement to advance a massive $2 trillion infrastructure package this year. The two sides did not discuss how the plan would be paid for and what level of direct federal spending it would include. Democrats said they were awaiting details from Trump in a follow-up meeting later this month.

Trumps initial infrastructure proposal, unveiled in February 2018, sought to leverage just $200 billion in direct federal spending into nearly seven times that number by relying on state and local tax dollars as well as private investment. That plan stalled in Congress, however, due to opposition from the GOP and Trump himself, who reportedly disliked the plans reliance on private funding.

The challenge for lawmakers now, as in 2018, remains the question of financing. Democrats have floated rolling back some of the GOPs tax cut law to pay for new instrastructure investment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) rejected the idea as a non-starter on Tuesday, however.

Democrats and some Republicans have also called for an increase in the federal gas tax, which hasnt been raised since 1993. That proposal is supported by both the Chamber of Commerce, which recommends hiking the tax by 25 cents over five years, and Trump himself. The increase would generate an additional $375 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Chamber. But that idea, too, is sure to run into opposition from anti-tax conservatives.

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Not me, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said Wednesday when asked if he would support any new taxes to pay for infrastructure spending.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), another member of GOP leadership, meanwhile, said it might be easier to move an infrastructure package through Congress in multiple pieces of legislation.

The more you start to throw together, the more reasons people find not to support it, Ernst said at a town hall event in Iowa last week focusing on tariffs. She suggested lawmakers tackle funding for roads and bridges separately from other issues like access to broadband in rural America.

The cost of inaction is only growing due to worsening congestion and automobile maintenance expenses. In 2016, the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that over the next decade, individual American households would lose $3,400 a year in disposable income due to deficient roads and bridges.

But while congressional Republicans are once again crowing about the national debt, top Trump officials at the White House argue that concern about the countrys spending is overblown. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, for example, told Politico this week that the countrys $22 trillion debt does not appear to be holding us back. He held a much different position while serving as a South Carolina congressman, however, when he repeatedly crusaded for budget cuts.
By Angus Berwick and Vivian Sequera CARACAS (Reuters) - When Felix Garcia woke up on Tuesday he was fired up by surprising news - Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, under house arrest for the past two years, had appeared in public. Lopez's appearance alongside National Assembly leader Juan Guaido was enough to convince the 30-year-old computer programmer to join tens of thousands of Venezuelans protesting against President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday. "Our spirits have been low, but when we saw Leopoldo Lopez out on Caracas' streets, it was a signal to again return to the fight," Garcia said, a gas mask hanging from his neck and chunks of concrete stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie. Lopez, 48, oversaw Guaido's rise from student leader and remains a key figure in their Popular Will party. In moments still memorialized in images on opposition banners and t-shirts, he was arrested in 2014 after leading anti-government protests and pictured pumping his fist and stepping into a military vehicle with a Venezuelan flag in one hand and a white flower in the other. A dozen protesters told Reuters his return had given them new confidence in the plan proposed by the 35-year-old Guaido, who assumed an interim presidency in January and denounces Maduro as an usurper. But they also said the government could use his return to crack down. While Guaido has replaced him as the most prominent figure in the opposition, Lopez still commands the protesters' respect. "When we saw him with Guaido, it filled you with hope, and you left with more strength than ever to end this as soon as possible," said Eduardo, a 27-year-old demonstrator who declined to give his surname. The government placed Lopez under house arrest in 2017, and since then he had not set foot outside his house in Caracas' Chacao district, guarded by agents from the state intelligence service. On Tuesday, Lopez appeared on an overpass by the La Carlota air base, joined by Guaido and several dozen soldiers who had disavowed Maduro. Lopez told a Reuters reporter there that intelligence agents had allowed him to leave his house. "Good morning Venezuela," Lopez told reporters on the overpass. "To all my brothers in the armed forces, now is the moment." After attending a series of rallies across Caracas, Lopez and his family first entered Chile's diplomatic residence, then moved to the Spanish embassy, the Chilean foreign minister said. Guaido and Lopez's call on Tuesday for a military uprising marks the opposition's boldest effort yet to persuade the armed forces to rise up against Maduro. But there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership, and Maduro said he had the military's loyalty. The government has so far not commented on whether it would seek to re-arrest Lopez for breaking his house arrest. Lopez was convicted of having incited protests against Maduro and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Diosdado Cabello, head of a pro-government legislative superbody called the constituent assembly, denounced Lopez on Twitter on Tuesday as a "fascist murderer." Opposition leaders and critics around the world have slammed the case against him as a sham and described the trial as a mockery of justice. "He's a figure that we have always followed," Eduardo said on Tuesday, retreating from one protest just south of Caracas' Altamira plaza where soldiers were firing tear gas at the crowd. As he spoke, medics sped past on motorbikes transporting injured demonstrators. (Additional reporting by Mayela Armas and Luc Cohen; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Trump, Democratic leaders to meet on drug prices soon: White House

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with congressional Democratic leaders soon to discuss drug prices, the White House said on Tuesday following infrastructure talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. The White House said in a statement that the three agreed to meet "in the near future" over the health issue and that Trump "feels there is a long way to go" to lower drug costs, without elaborating.

EPA says popular weed killer glyphosate is not a carcinogen

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that glyphosate, a chemical in many popular weed killers, is not a carcinogen, contradicting recent decisions by U.S. juries that found that it caused cancer in people. The EPA announcement reaffirms earlier findings from the agency about the safety of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Bayer's Roundup. The company faces thousands of lawsuits from Roundup users who allege it caused their cancer.

FDA permits sale of Philip Morris IQOS tobacco-heating alternative to cigarettes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday said it would allow Philip Morris to sell a heated tobacco product called IQOS in the United States, a major victory for the international tobacco giant as it looks to sell more alternatives to traditional cigarettes. Following a review of about two years, the FDA determined that authorizing the device for sale in the U.S. market was "appropriate for the protection of public health" because the products produce "fewer or lower levels of some toxins than combustible cigarettes."

U.S. measles outbreak hits 'completely avoidable' 25-year-high: officials

The number of measles cases in the United States has reached a 25-year peak, propelled by the spread of misinformation about the vaccine that can prevent the disease, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 704 cases as of April 26, a 1.3 percent increase since the most recent tally of 695 reported on Wednesday. The vast majority of cases have occurred in children who have not received the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which confers immunity to the disease, officials said.

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Novartis's Sandoz strikes deal for biosimilar of Herceptin

Novartis's Sandoz division has struck a deal with Taiwan's EirGenix Inc to market a biosimilar version of Roche's Herceptin that is now in late-stage development to treat some cancer tumors. Novartis said the accord covers the trastuzumab biosimilar in Phase III development for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) breast and gastric tumors.

Dental infections in kids tied to heart disease risk in adulthood

Children who develop cavities and gum disease may be more likely to develop risk factors for heart attacks and strokes decades later than kids who have good oral health, a recent study suggests. Researchers did dental exams for 755 children in 1980, when they were eight years old on average, then followed them through 2007 to see how many of them developed risk factors for heart attacks and strokes like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, high blood sugar, and hardening of the arteries.

Mallinckrodt shares drop after U.S. joins cases over expensive drug

The U.S. Justice Department has joined a pair of whistleblower lawsuits alleging a drugmaker now owned by Mallinckrodt Plc improperly promoted an expensive multiple sclerosis treatment and paid kickbacks to doctors who prescribed the drug. News of the department's decision to intervene in the lawsuits after conducting an investigation into the whistleblowers' allegations sent the stock price of Mallinckrodt Plc down nearly 14 percent on Tuesday.

Teens can have tough time searching for sexual health information online

While teens mostly navigate the internet with ease, they may have a tough time finding information on sexual health, a new study suggests. One of the biggest barriers to finding accurate information on sexual health was teens' fear that their queries would not be anonymous, researchers reported in Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The obscure advisory committees at the heart of the U.S. drug pricing debate

Expectations were high last year for three new migraine drugs hitting the market from Amgen Inc, Eli Lilly and Co and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Priced around $7,000 each, the drugmakers called them "breakthrough" treatments designed to prevent migraines when taken year-round, and estimated that millions of patients could benefit. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration said Amgen's Aimovig  the first of the three drugs approved  was an "important addition" to available treatments.

FDA declines to approve Nabriva's antibiotic for urinary tract infections

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday declined to approve Nabriva Therapeutics Plc's antibiotic for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), even as the nation grapples with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The FDA has asked Nabriva to address issues relating to manufacturing deficiencies at one of its contract manufacturers, before the agency can approve the drug, the company said.
Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

Beast from the east: Indian soldiers reckon they've found Yeti footprints

Mountaineers from the Indian army on a expedition in Nepal have found mysterious large footprints in the snow that they think belong to the Yeti, or the abominable snowman, the military said on Tuesday. Largely regarded by the scientific community as a myth, the Yeti is part of Nepali folklore and is said to live high in the snow-capped Himalayas.

Romania's witches harness the powers of the web

"Repeat after me! To be together with who I want," a family of Romanian witches chant via a video call to a client in India paying for a love spell. The session, in a decorated shed in a back yard 15 km (9 miles) north of Bucharest, is one of many consultations the family holds online, alternating them with rituals livestreamed on Facebook to build up their digital following.

'Thou shall not gossip', Pope tells hairdressers

Pope Francis has often warned against gossiping among friends and neighbors, but now he says it should also be avoided in those modern temples of cheap talk: beauty parlors and hair salons. The pope exhorted some 230 Italian Catholic hair cutters, stylists and beauticians - on a group pilgrimage to Rome - to "avoid falling into the temptation of gossip that is easily associated with your work."
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Fly me to the moon: Germany eyes slice of lucrative space market

Facing tough competition from China, the United States and even tiny Luxembourg, Germany is racing to draft new laws and attract private investment to secure a slice of an emerging space market that could be worth $1 trillion a year by the 2040s. The drive to give Germany a bigger role in space comes as European, Asian and U.S. companies stake out ground in an evolving segment that promises contracts for everything from exploration to mining of outer-space resources.

Scientists say they're closer to possible blood test for chronic fatigue

Scientists in the United States say they have taken a step toward developing a possible diagnostic test for chronic fatigue syndrome, a condition characterized by exhaustion and other debilitating symptoms. Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine said a pilot study of 40 people, half of whom were healthy and half of whom had the syndrome, showed their potential biomarker test correctly identified those who were ill.
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

First moon landing manual could fetch $9 million at auction

The detailed manual used by U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to land on the moon in 1969 is going up for auction in July and could fetch up to $9 million, New York auctioneers Christie's said on Wednesday. The 44-page ring-bound Apollo 11 lunar module timeline book details every procedure that was needed to undock, land and rendezvous the Eagle with its Columbia command module when Armstrong and Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon.

Denisovans, mysterious extinct humans, conquered high altitudes

A jawbone found in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau in China is providing surprising insights into Denisovans, the enigmatic extinct cousins to Neanderthals and our own species, including that they were pioneers at enduring high-altitude environments. Scientists on Wednesday described the pivotal new fossil: the right half of the lower jaw of an adolescent, including two teeth, dating from 160,000 years ago.
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Former Minnesota policeman convicted in fatal shooting of Australian woman

A former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty on Tuesday of murder for fatally shooting Australian woman from his patrol car while responding to her 2017 report of a possible sex assault near her home. Mohamed Noor, 33, was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for killing 40-year-old Justine Ruszczyk Damond outside her home near Minneapolis, in an incident that drew international criticism including from Australia's prime minister, who called the incident "shocking."

Florida man imprisoned for trafficking girl, 14, via Backpage.com

A former middle school teacher who admitted paying for sex with a 14-year-old girl who was trafficked on Backpage.com has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, prosecutors said on Tuesday, in the latest criminal case stemming from the now-shuttered site. Backpage.com was the dominant Internet marketplace for buying and selling sex in the United States before federal authorities seized it in April 2018 as part of an investigation into human trafficking and child prostitution.

New Mexico opens state migrant shelter, criticizes federal inaction

New Mexico's state fairgrounds will begin to house migrant families to take pressure off border cities facing a surge in asylum seekers with no help from the federal government, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said on Tuesday. Dormitories at state-run Expo New Mexico in Albuquerque will provide temporary accommodation to several dozen migrants, becoming one of the largest migrant shelters in the state, said a joint statement from the governor and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, both Democrats.

Rights groups challenge warrantless cellphone searches at U.S. border

U.S. officials at ports of entry improperly contend they are entitled to confiscate and search travelers' cellphones and other devices without warrants to enforce laws that cover more than customs and immigration, according to a court filing by civil rights groups on Tuesday. According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, top immigration and customs officials take the position that they have broad investigative authority.

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Massachusetts says Wynn Resorts can retain gaming license with fine, other conditions

Massachusetts gaming regulators said on Tuesday that Wynn Resorts Ltd can retain its gaming license needed to run a $2.6 billion casino built outside of Boston with a fine and license conditions. The watchdog said it would impose a $35 million fine on Wynn and a $500,000 fine on Chief Executive Officer Matthew Maddox, in addition to a series of license conditions, including an independent monitor to oversee the company's adherence to policies.

Charges filed in deadly California synagogue shooting

The 19-year-old accused gunman in a deadly California synagogue shooting is due in a San Diego court on Tuesday for arraignment in Saturday's attack, with officials adding a hate crime to his offenses. John Earnest faces one count of murder, with a hate crime added as a special circumstance, as well as three counts of attempted murder and one count of arson, the San Diego District Attorney's Office said on Monday.

Two dead, four injured in shooting at University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Two people were killed and four others wounded - two with life-threatening injuries - in a shooting on Tuesday at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, according to the Mecklenburg Emergency Management Services Agency. Local media reported that a suspect believed to be a student at the school was taken into custody.

Five ways Trump's moves to stem asylum seekers have hit hurdles

Grappling with a ballooning number of mostly Central American families seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump has suggested increasingly bold steps to limit protections for this group and stem their entry into the United States. Yet many of his administration's ideas have been hindered by legal, practical and political obstacles.

Trade war and sagging prices push U.S. family farmers to leave the field

Shuffling across his frozen fields, farmer Jim Taphorn hunched his shoulders against the wind and squinted at the auctioneer standing next to his tractors.After a fifth harvest with low grain prices, made worse last fall by the U.S.-China trade war, the 68-year-old and his family were calling it quits. Farming also was taking a physical toll on him, he said; he'd suffered a heart attack 15 months before. It took less than four hours to sell off all the tractors, combines and other farm equipment at the Taphorn retirement sale, ending a family tradition that had survived nearly a century.

Trump directs officials to toughen asylum rules

U.S. President Donald Trump directed officials to toughen rules for asylum seekers on Monday, including by introducing a fee for their applications and barring those who entered the country illegally from working until their claims are approved. The moves are the latest effort by the Trump administration to stem a growing number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border, many of whom then seek asylum in the United States. Many of the changes would be dramatic shifts in how asylum seekers are treated, but would also require time-intensive regulatory procedures before they go into effect, which will likely take months.
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

EU conservatives must work with populists, shun left, Orban says

The European Parliament's main center-right group must forge an alliance with populist, nationalist groups after the forthcoming European Union elections and shun the left, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. Orban's ruling Fidesz Party was suspended from the mainstream European People's Party (EPP) in March over its record on rule of law, freedom of the press and minorities rights.

UK government has shown willingness to shift on Brexit: Labour Party

The British government has shown a willingness to explore changes to its position on Brexit, a Labour Party spokesman said commenting on talks between ministers and the opposition party seeking a compromise on leaving the European Union. Labour still needed to nail down the extent to which the government was prepared to shift its position on issues like customs arrangements, single market alignment and security, the spokesman told reporters on Wednesday.

Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in British jail for skipping bail

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail by a London court on Wednesday for skipping bail to enter the Ecuadorean embassy where he was holed up for almost seven years until police dragged him out last month. Judge Deborah Taylor read out the sentence as Assange, in a black jacket and gray sweatshirt, looked on. Taylor said Assange had exploited his privileged position to flout the law and express his disdain for British justice.

Putin signs law on fast-tracked Russian passports for Ukraine's rebel regions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed has signed a law on fast-tracked Russian passports for Ukrainians who live in rebel-held territories in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Such plans have drawn rebuke from the European Union and Kiev.

Emperor Naruhito ascends throne in Japan with 'sense of solemnity'

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Japanese Emperor Naruhito formally took up his post on Wednesday a day after the abdication of his father, saying he felt a "sense of solemnity" but pledging to work as a symbol of the nation and the unity of its people. Former Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko stepped down after three decades in their roles on Tuesday in a brief and simple ceremony, with Akihito thanking the people of Japan and saying he prayed for peace.

As Trump team prepares Mideast plan, Palestinians face financial crisis

Israel and the United States are putting the financial squeeze on the Palestinian Authority, where opposition to a long-awaited U.S. peace plan and anger over Israeli sanctions remain strong. Analysts see steep cuts in U.S. aid to the Palestinians over the past year as an attempt to draw them toward a blueprint that Washington promises will have economic benefits but which the PA predicts will fall short of endorsing Palestinian statehood.

Thai king names his consort queen days before coronation

Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn announced on Wednesday that he had married his consort, General Suthida Vajiralongkorn, and named her Queen Suthida. The announcement, carried in the Royal Gazette, came just before the official coronation of the king, 66, on May 4-6.

Spanish unions use May Day march to pressure Socialists on reforms

Unions used traditional May Day marches across Spain on Wednesday to call on the Socialist Party, which is likely to head the government after last Sunday's election, for pension rises and a roll-back of tough labor legislation. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who won 123 seats in the 350-seat parliament, must fix labor market reforms imposed by a conservative government from 2012, union leaders told people celebrating International Worker's Day.

Venezuela's Guaido calls for 'largest march in history' in uprising effort

Venezuelans were expected to take to the streets on Wednesday for what opposition leader Juan Guaido pledged would be the "largest march" in the country's history, a day after he called for the military to oust President Nicolas Maduro. In his boldest effort yet to gain the support of the armed forces, Guaido appeared early Tuesday outside a Caracas air force base with dozens of National Guard members. That triggered a day of violent protests, leaving more than 100 injured, but without any concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.

The debate behind Trump's move to tighten Iran oil sanctions

U.S. President Donald Trump's unexpected decision to ban all Iranian oil purchases after May 1 - ending exemptions for eight nations - came after hawkish economic and security advisors allayed the president's fears of an oil price hike, according to three sources familiar with the internal debate. The unprecedented move to fully sever Tehrans financial lifeline - finalized just days before the April 22 announcement - underscores the strong influence of hard-liners within Trumps inner circle. They had for months argued for tightening the sanctions over the objections of some State Department officials who favored allowing some partners and allies to keep buying Iranian oil.
Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Explainer: Will opposition leader Guaido topple Venezuela's President Maduro?

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido appeared alongside armed, uniformed men on Tuesday in his strongest call yet to the military to abandon President Nicolas Maduro, a day before planned mass protests aimed at toppling the socialist leader. In the more than three months since Guaido invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency, citing fraudulent elections, Maduro has so far kept a grip on the levers of power including the military and security forces.

Game on for EU vote, but real fight comes after

On posters, hustings and social media, a battle for Europe is being fought, as contenders seek votes for an EU parliamentary election in late May - but the real battle for power will come only once the count is in. More than 400 million voters will deal the hands that leaders, of parties, nations and rival EU institutions, must play; but it will be after the May 23-26 ballot that the high-stakes poker will begin that will shape the European Union for years to come.

Crown Prince Naruhito poised to become Japan's next emperor

Crown Prince Naruhito, known as an earnest man with a passion for water conservation, is poised to become Japan's next emperor on Wednesday, a day after his father gave up the throne in the country's first abdication in two centuries. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko stepped down on Tuesday after three decades as the nation's top royals in a brief, simple ceremony, with Akihito thanking the people of Japan and saying he prayed for peace.

Venezuela's Guaido calls for uprising but military loyal to Maduro for now

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership. Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent. But by Tuesday afternoon an uneasy peace had returned and there was no indication that the opposition planned to take power through military force.

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North Korea warns of 'undesired consequences' if no change in U.S. nuclear stance

North Korea's vice foreign minister said on Tuesday the United States will face "undesired consequences" if it fails to present a new position in denuclearization talks by the end of the year, state media reported. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has set a year-end deadline for the United States to show more flexibility after his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump failed to produce a deal to end Pyongyang's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

Sudanese protest group says military 'not serious' about civilian handover

Sudan's main protest group said on Tuesday the military does not seem serious about transferring power to civilians after ousting President Omar al-Bashir, as both sides appeared to harden their positions. Protesters and activists have been negotiating with the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to form a joint civilian-military body to oversee a transition, but are deadlocked over who would control the new council.

U.S. extradition request for Julian Assange to be heard on Thursday

A request by the United States to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information will be heard by a London court on Thursday. "Julian Assange will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at 1030 tomorrow for 'violating his bail conditions' whilst seeking & obtaining political asylum," WikiLeaks said.

Iran designates as terrorists all U.S. troops in Middle East

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed a bill into law on Tuesday declaring all U.S. forces in the Middle East terrorists and calling the U.S. government a sponsor of terrorism. The bill was passed by parliament last week in retaliation for President Donald Trump's decision this month to designate Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist organization.

Algeria's ruling party names relatively young new leader amid protests

Algerias ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party has elected businessman Mohamed Djemai as its new leader, state television said on Tuesday, a month after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika quit in the face of mass protests. Bouteflika's exit has not quieted protesters, who are now demanding the dismantling of an entire ruling elite entrenched for decades, a shift toward more democracy and a crackdown on systemic corruption and cronyism.

Iraq says I.S. remains threat, leader Baghdadi filmed video in 'remote area'

Islamic State remains a potent threat around the world despite reduced capabilities, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Tuesday, adding its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had made his latest video appearance in a "remote area." Abdul Mahdi did not say which country that area was in.
By Trend





Azerbaijan may begin exporting milk to Saudi Arabia, the Azerbaijan Milk and Dairy Products Producers and Exporters Association (ASEB) Chairman of the Board Samir Eyyubov told Trend.

Eyyubov noted that the main task of the association is to meet the demand for milk and dairy products at the domestic market.

"We also plan to introduce new standards and are taking steps to stimulate the development of dairy farming in Azerbaijan," he said.

The Azerbaijan Milk and Dairy Products Producers and Exporters Association was established on January 26, 2018. Presently, the association brings together 20 companies. The negotiations are underway with new companies.

Milk production in Azerbaijan in the 1Q2019 amounted to 467,500 tons, which is 2 percent more compared to the 1Q2018.

Whole milk production amounted to 236,300 tons, which is 2.8 percent more than in the 1Q2018.








Comedian Geoff Norcott has been added to a BBC diversity panel

A right-leaning comedian has hit out at an article that appeared to take a swipe at his appointment to a group to monitor diversity at the BBC.

Geoff Norcott, a Tory voter and Brexit supporter, has been included on the Diversity And Inclusion Advisory Group that will challenge the corporation over representation in the general workforce and on-screen.

The group is intended to advise the BBC on fulfilling its purpose to represent the nations, regions and communities of the UK.

However, Mr Norcott, 42, took issue with a Guardian article on the news, which described the comedian as a Conservative-voting white male who has the task of ensuring the broadcaster is representative of modern Britain.

The Guardian have been seriously mischievous with this.

I was asked - on a voluntary basis - to say a few words on a panel about working class representation at the BBC.

Nothing about politics.

Nothing about Brexit.

Everyone relax.https://t.co/HBSMgwSoLY  Geoff Norcott (@GeoffNorcott) May 1, 2019

Tweeting a link to the story, Mr Norcott - who has appeared on BBC comedy show Live at the Apollo as well as Question Time - wrote: The Guardian have been seriously mischievous with this.

I was asked - on a voluntary basis - to say a few words on a panel about working class representation at the BBC.

Nothing about politics. Nothing about Brexit. Everyone relax.

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

Labour minister sparks outrage after laughing at anti-Semitism claims

Labour rejects calls to commit to second referendum

Ukip MEP defends leaders Islam death cult comments

Mr Norcott added that he felt the scale of misrepresentation was on a different level.

The Diversity And Inclusion Advisory Group will challenge the corporation over representation in the general workforce and on-screen.

In March, the BBC billed itself as "more diverse than ever" and was hitting its BAME diversity targets.

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The group is intended to advise the BBC on fulfilling its purpose to represent the nations, regions and communities of the UK.

Nope, just feel the scale of misrepresentation was on a different level.

Plus theyd already been in touch for me to offer my view.  Geoff Norcott (@GeoffNorcott) May 1, 2019

It includes also included co-founder of the Glasgow Women's Library Adele Patrick, The Student View's Solomon Elliott and former BBC executive Tanya Motie.

It will also include three internal BBC staff as members and Director-general Lord Tony Hall will regularly attend meetings of the group, which has been set up with the initial intention of running for two years.

The group is intended to advise the BBC on fulfilling its purpose to represent the nations, regions and communities of the UK (Geograph)

Lord Hall said: "The BBC must represent the widest range of stories, faces and voices on screen, on air and behind the camera.

"The combined knowledge, experience and skills of our new Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group will provide a fresh perspective on our ambitions.

In a March announcement the BBC revealed it was meeting its 2020 diversity targets for disabled, LGBTQ+ and BAME staff. Figures revealed the broadcaster now has the highest proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic staff in its history.

The corporation said that more needed to be done to increase diversity in leadership roles. The BBC has said greater representation will lead to greater creativity.

Yahoo News UK has reached out to Mr Norcott for a comment.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
Robert Mueller complained to the Trump administration that the attorney generals summary of his report on the Trump-Russia investigation, did not correctly represent the context, nature, and substance of his probe.

In letter to William Barr, the special counsel said he was concerned the public could be confused by the four-page summary the attorney general sent to senior members of Congress.

The summary letter the department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, Mr Mueller wrote to the department of justice

According to the Washington Post, he added: There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.
WASHINGTON  Robert Mueller objected to Attorney General William Barr's characterization of the principal findings of the Russia investigation and asked the attorney general on multiple occasions to release the special counsel's prepared summaries of the report.

Mueller communicated his objections to Barr in a letter on March 27, three days after the attorney general disclosed the special counsel's conclusions in a summary letter clearing President Donald Trump of having obstructed the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump relied on that summary letter to claim total exoneration.

But in his letter, the first clear window into Mueller's thoughts since he became special counsel two years ago, he said Barr's summary of the investigation's principal conclusions "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the probe.

"There is now a public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller wrote. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

According to Mueller's letter and a subsequent statement released late Tuesday, Mueller expressed his differences with Barr at least three times before the full report was released in April. The first time was on March 25, the day after the attorney general released his summary of Muellers conclusions. He reiterated those concerns in the March 27 letter, and the two spoke by telephone March 28.

What Barr plans to tell Congress: Read his opening statement

Barr:AG William Barr faces lawmakers for the first time after release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report

Mueller first wrote to Barr on March 25, enclosing with the letter an introduction and executive summaries for each of the report's two volumes marked with necessary redactions. Mueller wrote to Barr again on March 27, requesting that the attorney general release the documents to Congress and to the public. "Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation," he wrote.

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For weeks, Barr's summation was the only information available to the public about the outcome of an investigation that shadowed the first two years of Trump's presidency.

Barr's summary letter to Congress told lawmakers that Mueller's investigation had not found that Trump conspired with Russian efforts to sway the election in his favor or that he illegally sought to obstruct the inquiry that followed.

"The special counsel emphasized that nothing in the attorney general's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading, but he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the special counsel's obstruction analysis," Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.

Mueller's full report, released on April 18, offered a more searing account of Trump's conduct than the one offered by Barr. It recounted 10 episodes in which Trump had sought to thwart the inquiry into his campaign's ties to Russia, including details of his demands that his aides fire Mueller or focus his inquiry only on future elections.

Mueller's office said it would have been unfair to attempt to determine whether those actions constituted federal crimes, because the Justice Department has long contended that a president cannot be indicted. But investigators pointedly refused to clear Trump of wrongdoing, saying, "If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.

Kupec said that after Barr called Mueller to discuss his letter. "They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released," she said.

Barr ultimately determined, Kupec said, that it would "not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion."

Read the report: Read special counsel Robert Mueller's report into President Trump, Russian interference

Read the letter: Mueller report: Read Attorney General Barr's summary of the Russia investigation

More: Trump took steps to fire Mueller, stop probe after campaign welcomed Russian dirt on Clinton, Mueller report says

"The attorney general and the special counsel agreed to get the full report out with necessary redactions as expeditiously as possible. The next day, the attorney general sent a letter to Congress reiterating that his March 24 letter was not intended to be a summary of the report, but instead only stated the special counsel's principal conclusions, and volunteered to testify before both Senate and House Judiciary Committees."

Confirmation of that dispute, first reported by The Washington Post, came on the eve of Barr's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss his handling of the Mueller report. Democrats questioned whether the attorney general sought to provide cover for the president.

In the House, Barr has threatened to skip a hearing planned for Thursday over a clash with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., over how the attorney general would be questioned.

Nadler has proposed that committee lawyers be allowed to interrogate Barr, in addition to questioning by lawmakers. The attorney general has objected to that format, including a demand that he submit to questioning in a closed session concerning material that was redacted from the public version of the Mueller report.

After Mueller's office declined to reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed justice, Barr and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, reviewed the evidence investigators gathered and drew their own, saying they saw no crime. That decision has been the focus of mounting questions since the attorney general delivered his four-page summary of Mueller's conclusions last month to the public and Congress.

Barr said he intervened after Mueller did not resolve whether Trump's conduct, which included attempts at curtailing the investigation and a proposal to dismiss Mueller, amounted to a crime.

Mueller's subsequent report examined 10 instances of possible obstruction, including Trump's directive to White House counsel Don McGahn that the special counsel be fired.

Trump has since denied ever issuing such an order. The president declined submit to any questions from the special counsel about his alleged attempts to obstruct the 22-month investigation.

Questions about Trump's alleged obstruction efforts are expected to loom large during Wednesday's Senate hearing.

"This is exactly why I said that Mr. Barr should never have been confirmed in the first place," said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee. "At this point, he has lost all credibility."

Warner urged that Mueller be called to testify as soon as possible.

In the House, Nadler demanded that Barr produce a copy of Mueller's letter before his scheduled appearance there.

"The special counsels concerns reflect our own," Nadler said Tuesday. "The attorney general should not have taken it upon himself to describe the special counsels findings in a light more favorable to the president. It was only a matter of time before the facts caught up to him."

Late Tuesday, the Justice Department released a copy of Barr's prepared remarks for his Tuesday appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee in which the attorney general said he fulfilled his confirmation hearing pledge that he would "allow the special counsel to finish his investigation without interference; and second, that I would release his report to Congress and to the American public."

"I believe that the record speaks for itself," Barr's statement says. "The special counsel completed his investigation as he saw fit. As I informed Congress on March 22, 2019, at no point did I, or anyone at the Department of Justice, overrule the special counsel on any proposed action. In addition, immediately upon receiving his confidential report to me, we began working with the special Counsel to prepare it for public release and, on April 18, 2019, I released a public version subject only to limited redactions that were necessary to comply with the law and to protect important governmental interests."

Barr's statement went on to defend his March 24 letter disclosing Mueller's "bottom line conclusions."

"My main focus was the prompt release of a public version of the report so that Congress and the American people could read it for themselves and draw their own conclusions," Barr's statement says. "The departments principal responsibility in conducting this investigation was to determine whether the conduct reviewed constituted a crime that the department could prove beyond a reasonable doubt. As attorney general, I serve as the chief law-enforcement officer of the United States, and it is my responsibility to ensure that the department carries out its law-enforcement functions appropriately. The special counsels investigation was no exception."

On clearing the president of obstruction, Barr maintained that he and Rosenstein "concluded that, under the principles of federal prosecution, the evidence developed by the special counsel would not be sufficient to charge the president with an obstruction-of-justice offense.

"The deputy attorney general and I knew that we had to make this assessment because, as I previously explained, the prosecutorial judgment whether a crime has been established is an integral part of the departments criminal process," Barr's statement says.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mueller: Barr's summary of report did not capture 'context, nature, and substance' of Russia probe
A deal has been brokered for Robert Mueller to testify to Congress about his report into Russian election interference and possible obstruction of justice by Donald Trump  an event that has immediately become the latest, most eagerly anticipated appearance of an official on Capitol Hill.

As it emerged Mr Mueller had written to the department of justice to say he did not believe attorney general William Barrs four-page summary of his 450-page report correctly captured its context and content, a Democratic congressman said the 74-year-old special counsel would likely appear some time this month. It would be the first public appearance by Mr Mueller for more than two years.

The head of the House of Representatives judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler, told news agency Reuters it was important the former FBI director testified: which they've agreed to do subject to setting a date, and we'll see if they do that, sometime in May.

said that while the former FBI director was expected to testify at some point in May, no date had been set.

Mr Nadler also released the letter Mr Mueller sent to Mr Barr that asserted the attorney generals snap summary of the Russia probes findings caused public confusion about critical aspects of the investigation.

In his letter, Mr Mueller raised concerns about a short summary that Mr Barr sent to Congress detailing what he said were Mr Muellers principal conclusions. The summary said Mr Mueller had not managed to reach a legal conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence of occasions where Mr Trump may have impeded the investigation.

The summary was released two days after the Department of Justice (DoJ) received the special counsels report, which was several weeks before a redacted version of Mr Muellers 400-page report was released on 18 April.

In a letter dated 24 March, Mr Mueller said Mr Barrs summary did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of the special counsels work and conclusions.

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BREAKING: Letter from Special Counsel Robert Mueller to Attorney General Barr. pic.twitter.com/oDJm6coP8G  House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) May 1, 2019

The special counsel told Mr Barr: [This] threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

Mr Muellers report revealed 11 instances where the behaviour of the president or officials related to his campaign might have amounted to obstruction. The report also said that the Trump campaign was receptive to assistance from Moscow during the 2016 election and expected to benefit from Russian interference.

Mr Mueller also wrote: While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

Mr Mueller said in his report that he believed his hands were tied over criminal charges by DoJ rules that prevented a sitting president from facing such action. However, he made it clear that he did not exonerate Mr Trump of obstruction of justice but left the decision about whether to chase criminal charges to the attorney general. Mr Barr and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, said that they believed the actions mentioned in the report did not rise to the level needed for a criminal prosecution.

As Mr Nadler announced the deal over Mr Muellers testimony, Mr Barr appeared before a Senate panel to face questions about his handling of the special counsels report amid accusations  particularly from Democrats  that Mr Barr had misrepresented the documents findings.

Asked if he was happy for Mr Mueller to testify, he said the decision would be up to Mr Trump, but added: Ive already said I have no objection.

Mr Barr defended the way he dealt with the reports release and redactions  removing parts of the document to protect sensitive information  made by the DoJ. In prepared testimony to the senate judiciary committee hearing, he denied accusations that he has sought to protect Mr Trump.

At the outset of the hearing, the committees chairman, Republican Lindsey Graham  who has said that Mr Trump said to fight Democrat-led investigations into the report like hell  remarked that the report showed that congress should focus on protecting the coming 2020 election from foreign interference.

My takeaway from this report is weve got a lot to do to defend democracy against Russians and other bad actors, Mr Graham said.

Mr Barr faced tough questions from Democrats on the committee, with senator Dianne Feinstein setting the tone.

Contrary to declarations of total and complete exoneration, the special counsels report contained substantial evidence of misconduct, Ms Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, said in opening remarks.

Reuters contributed to this report
By Emily Wither

MOGOSOAIA, Romania, May 1 (Reuters) - "Repeat after me! To be together with who I want," a family of Romanian witches chant via a video call to a client in India paying for a love spell.

The session, in a decorated shed in a back yard 15 km (9 miles) north of Bucharest, is one of many consultations the family holds online, alternating them with rituals livestreamed on Facebook to build up their digital following.

"A truly powerful witch can solve problems from a distance," explains 20-year-old witch Cassandra Buzea.

"It's not the phone or Facebook that are doing the magic. It's the words that we're saying, the rituals that we're doing and it's enough to look each other in the eye for the ritual to work."

The power of the Internet has allowed Romania's busy witch community to gradually migrate their ancient practices onto the Web.

Witchcraft has long been seen as a folk custom in the eatsern European country, and many of its estimated 4,000 witches are luring customers from Europe, Asia and the United States.

Buzea said it was the younger generation that had persuaded the old about the powers of the 'selfie', and her mother was quickly on board.

"Nothing's changed, the craft is the same, but now it's much easier for us to be in contact with clients from other countries," said Mihaela Minca, who taught her daughter Buzea the family craft.

LOVE, HEALTH, MONEY

They would not disclose how much they earn but said a tarot reading starts at 50 euros ($56.11).

However, many of the special rituals, often to do with love, health or money, last weeks and can run into the hundreds.

The witches also said they had recently turned their attention to politics, joining anti-corruption protests.

Minca said she connected online with nine witches and wizards from across Europe to the United States, seeking to put a curse on Romanian lawmakers seen by witches as corrupt.

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Streamed online, the group had performed a mass ritual simultaneously with their overseas associates, against "those who don't do their jobs, those who have bad intentions, will lose their positions and suffer health problems," said Minca.

She said they plan to harness the global power of the Internet once more ahead of May's European parliament elections.

"We will continue this ritual on the 25th of May. We will do a powerful ritual against the Romanian government, so on the 26th when the European elections are taking place we will cast our spell for the good of the country."

Transparency International ranks Romania as one of the EUs most corrupt states and Brussels has kept its judicial system under special monitoring since it joined the bloc in 2007.

Romania's ruling Social Democrats spearheaded an overhaul of the country's criminal codes last year. The European Commission said the proposed changes were a reversal of a decade of democratic and market reforms in the former Communist country. (Editing by William Maclean)
By Emily Wither

MOGOSOAIA, Romania (Reuters) - "Repeat after me! To be together with who I want," a family of Romanian witches chant via a video call to a client in India paying for a love spell.

The session, in a decorated shed in a back yard 15 km (9 miles) north of Bucharest, is one of many consultations the family holds online, alternating them with rituals livestreamed on Facebook to build up their digital following.

"A truly powerful witch can solve problems from a distance," explains 20-year-old witch Cassandra Buzea.

"It's not the phone or Facebook that are doing the magic. It's the words that we're saying, the rituals that we're doing and it's enough to look each other in the eye for the ritual to work."

The power of the Internet has allowed Romania's busy witch community to gradually migrate their ancient practices onto the Web.

Witchcraft has long been seen as a folk custom in the eastern European country, and many of its estimated 4,000 witches are luring customers from Europe, Asia and the United States.

Buzea said it was the younger generation that had persuaded the old about the powers of the 'selfie', and her mother was quickly on board.

"Nothing's changed, the craft is the same, but now it's much easier for us to be in contact with clients from other countries," said Mihaela Minca, who taught her daughter Buzea the family craft.

LOVE, HEALTH, MONEY

They would not disclose how much they earn but said a tarot reading starts at 50 euros ($56.11).

However, many of the special rituals, often to do with love, health or money, last weeks and can run into the hundreds.

The witches also said they had recently turned their attention to politics, joining anti-corruption protests.

Minca said she connected online with nine witches and wizards from across Europe to the United States, seeking to put a curse on Romanian lawmakers seen by witches as corrupt.

Story continues

Streamed online, the group had performed a mass ritual simultaneously with their overseas associates, against "those who don't do their jobs, those who have bad intentions, will lose their positions and suffer health problems," said Minca.

She said they plan to harness the global power of the Internet once more ahead of May's European parliament elections.

"We will continue this ritual on the 25th of May. We will do a powerful ritual against the Romanian government, so on the 26th when the European elections are taking place we will cast our spell for the good of the country."

Transparency International ranks Romania as one of the EUs most corrupt states and Brussels has kept its judicial system under special monitoring since it joined the bloc in 2007.

Romania's ruling Social Democrats spearheaded an overhaul of the country's criminal codes last year. The European Commission said the proposed changes were a reversal of a decade of democratic and market reforms in the former Communist country.

(Editing by William Maclean)
A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US starts Wednesday in Qatar, an official for the insurgents said, as the foes seek an end of America's longest war.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP that "the sixth round of talks between Islamic Emirate and the US will start in Doha today".

While the US embassy in Kabul did not immediately comment, the US State Department has already said its peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will visit Doha, the Qatari capital, this month to meet the Taliban.

The two sides have met repeatedly to discuss the framework for an eventual peace deal, in which the Taliban would vow to stop Afghanistan ever again being used as a terrorist safe haven in return for a pull out of foreign forces.

None of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime.

That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal to end the 17-year-old war and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of an accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.

Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for an "intra-Afghan dialogue" that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table.
Meghan Markle gave birth to a royal baby boy on Monday. While the public has still not learned the details around the newborns much-anticipated arrival, some frenzied rumors include that the duchess might have had her baby at home at Frogmore Cottage rather than a hospital, and that shed hired a doula to help her through labor.

So, what the heck is a doula, anyway? And how is it different from a midwife, which was also among the rumors of possible royal-birth hires?

In simplest terms, a doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help her achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible, according to DONA International, the worlds largest doula-certification agency, founded in 1992.

A midwife, on the other hand, is a highly trained health professional who assists women throughout the birth process, either in hospitals or at home, and who also provides pre- and post-natal care. Midwives are employed by women who have medically uncomplicated pregnancies and, typically, who want a more natural-birth experience, as they approach birth not from a medical perspective, like that of physicians, but as a normal physiologic event, sticking to the woman-led Midwifery Model of Care, transferring high-risk pregnancies to obstetricians.

While midwives are at births to ensure healthy outcomes for both mom and baby, a doulas primary concern is the laboring mother. It doesnt mean youll have the perfect birth, but it does mean that someone will be there as your guide, 100 percent, and is not there for anybody else, Ann Grauer, a DONA-certified doula who has attended births and led trainings for 30 years, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. And to have someone completely on your side, I think, fills a spot in your DNA.

Doulas can be effective allies at births no matter where they take place. Hospitals can be a good place to birth, but a challenging place to birth, Grauer says, referring to strict protocols and pressure about medical interventions that could sometimes make it difficult to stick to desired birth plans. Doulas are there making sure youre feeling good about things, she says. Its hard to be cognizant of whats going on around you, and thats where we come in. Doulas can serve as knowledgeable advocates, she adds, and rather than us being your voice we help you find your own voice.

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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo: Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage)

At home births, meanwhile, Doulas and midwives are like the perfect team, Grauer says, adding that its never excessive, in her opinion, to have both present. Ive never heard a woman say to me, Wow, I had too much support.

When deciding whether or not to hire a doula, the expecting mom or couple will want to take a few things into consideration, says Debra Flashenberg, a DONA-certified doula and owner of the Prenatal Yoga Center in New York City.

If they are looking for someone to add an extra layer of continuous, unbiased support from someone not intimately involved in the birth, like a partner or relative, they should consider hiring a doula, she says. Adding a doula to the birth posse or birth team doesnt have to mean you want an unmedicated birth  I had a ton of clients who intended on taking pain medication at some point. They wanted someone who could offer physical, emotional and informational support and was independent of the hospital.

Further, Flashenberg adds, Some people also have a lot of fear around birth, or carry past trauma. Having a doula could provide assurance, or another layer of comfort.

Even with an incredibly supportive partner, she explains, there can be limits, especially if its the first birth experience. They will be watching someone they deeply love go through a very intense experience, which may not allow them to step away see what is normal in labor, Flashenberg says. Many times, I would get a call from the partner after the first big contraction that they are ready to rush off to the hospital, when in fact, they are just turning the corner into active labor.

She adds, A truly respectful doula should enhance the experience for both the partner and the laboring person, and not necessarily take the place of a partner.

Then, following the birth of the baby, theres another type of support that can be hugely beneficial  that of a post-partum doula, whose focus is still 100 percent on the new mom.

For my first birth, I would have been a hot mess without my postpartum doula, Flashenberg, a mom of two, says. They are, again, not emotionally involved, and come fresh and awake to support the new family. They have skills that even second-time parents may be a bit rusty on, and can offer support for those who decide to breastfeed.

Notes Grauer, A post-partum doula is the missing link. This is the place in America where weve dropped the ball horribly We dont tend too well to your psyche and heart while giving birth, and then, unless youve had a home birth, we just send you home all alone. Its one of the most destructive ways to start parenthood.

Post-partum doulas help new moms adjust to practicalities like their new bodies, breastfeeding, newborn care, and even field trips, like accompanying mother and baby on their first outings together. Its like mothering the mother, she says. You wind up feeling stronger and more in charge of your life even sooner.

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Dubai-based Damac Properties, a leading real estate developer, has announced the awarding of multiple contracts worth Dh430 million ($117 million) in the first quarter of 2019, as it moves ahead with key UAE projects.



The contracts range from large construction works at Damacs second master community, to final touch-ups for developments that are near completion in the UAE.



Damac awarded 41 per cent of contracts for works at their master development Akoya, while16 per cent of contracts were awarded for Damac Hills. Consecutively, four per cent was awarded for the final works on Ghalia Tower, the first Sharia-compliant luxury furnished apartments, 12 per cent for the completion of Damac Towers by Paramount Hotels and Resorts, and 21 per cent more for other projects.

Additionally, the developer has signed six per cent contracts, which cover feasibility studies on perspective projects and opportunities.



Ali Sajwani, general manager of operations at Damac Properties, said: There is a renewed sense of positivity in the UAEs economy, spurred by dynamic government initiatives to diversify growth. These contracts are a sign that Damac is on board, as we continue to focus our efforts on timely handovers.



On the developers growth, Sajwani added, For global citizens, Dubai is not just a place to grow professionally, but also an ideal destination to raise a family. As a perceptive real estate developer that evolves in tandem with its vibrant home city, we have amplified our focus on building holistic communities which attract a sizeable portion of Dubais diverse cultural and economic demographic; hence, over 50 per cent of these contracts were awarded towards our master community projects, with 97 per cent of contracts awarded within the UAE.



2018 was a busy year for Damac as it delivered 4,100 units, the highest number of units completed by the company within a calendar year. This year will see a slew of handovers including Ghalia Tower, which is expected to be handed over in the next 60 days.



Specific clusters of Akoya will also be delivered in Q2 2019, whereas Q3 will see the final unveiling of Damac Towers by Paramount Hotels and Resorts Dubai, which started welcoming residents in 2018. Aykon City, one of Damacs largest master developments in the heart of Dubai, is rapidly rising above ground and is expected to be ready by 2021, with 15 floors of Tower B already completed.  TradeArabia News Service
With the bounce in the Chinese economy this year thanks to a litany of fresh stimulus measures, apparently comes a rebound in demand for cruise vacations from the countrys consumers.

If the Chinese economy is slowing down, we arent seeing it in our bookings there, Royal Caribbean (RCL) chairman and CEO Richard Fain told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.

Fain is putting his money where his mouth is following a year in which industry capacity in China declined sharply as companies pulled ships from the market due to the countrys economic growth slowdown. When Royal Caribbeans all-new 168,000 ton Spectrum of the Seas hits the waters in two weeks, it will head directly to the China market, Fain says.

Royal Caribbean is no stranger to doing business in China. In 2015, the company was among the first of the major cruise lines to send a ship (the then new 4,180 passenger Quantum of the Seas) to the country to capitalize on the interest in the Chinese for family-focused cruise vacays. Since then, Fain has built up the presence of Royal Caribbeans sales team in China in order to keep it top of mind.

Passengers pose for photos onboard Royal Caribbean's cruise ship the Ovation of the Seas ahead of its inaugural voyage at the International Cruise Terminal in northeastern China's Tianjin Municipality, Friday, June 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Even still, the competition in the Chinese market  mostly from rival Norwegian Cruise Line  has Royal Caribbean mindful of the risk extra capacity alongside a challenging economy could mean to its bottom line.

To the extent that we or our competitors deploy ships to a particular itinerary and the resulting capacity in that region exceeds the demand, we may lower pricing and profitability may be lower than anticipated. This risk exists in emerging cruise markets, such as China, where capacity has grown rapidly over the past few years and in mature markets where excess capacity is typically redeployed, Royal Caribbean writes in the risk factor of its latest annual report.

The overall Asia Pacific market will account for about 15% of Royal Caribbeans capacity this year. China specifically, notes Fain, will make up roughly 6%.

In the end, the long-term growth opportunity in the Chinese cruise market likely looks too good for Royal Caribbean and others to pass up. So why not bring back the ships.

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The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) forecasts that nearly 10 million Chinese travelers a year will go on a cruise by 2025. That would be up markedly from a mere 2.5 million in 2017.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-host of The First Trade at Yahoo Finance. Follow Brian Sozzi him on Twitter @BrianSozzi

Read Sozzis latest:
In baby-blue caps and yellow scout scarves, an army of royal volunteers is sprucing up Thailand before this weekend's coronation -- a projection of unity and loyalty to the unassailable crown in a divided kingdom that remains locked in political crisis.

The "Jit Arsa" programme -- or Spirit Volunteers -- has billowed out across Thailand since it was founded in 2017 by Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn ahead of the cremation of his late father Bhumibol Adulyadej.

From planting mangroves in southern Trang to scrubbing pavements in northern Tak, or hanging miles of orchid garlands in historic Bangkok, the mass mobilisation is coming to a head with the May 4-6 coronation just days away.

The corps, now at least five million strong, has evolved as a way for many Thais to conduct acts of civic service in the new king's name.

It is also a way for a monarch who spends much of his time overseas to connect with his subjects in a kingdom where royalism leans heavily on ritual, symbols and mass demonstrations of fealty.

Bhumibol, who died in 2016 after a reign spanning seven tumultuous decades, was revered by most Thais, and his image remains omnipresent in many homes and shops.

His 66-year-old heir is not as well known by his subjects, and his three marriages and colourful private life when younger have been the subject of gossip in the past.

For the majority of Thais, Vajiralongkorn's elaborate three-day coronation will be the first they have witnessed and curiosity is mounting.

The official Spirit Volunteers song blared over loudspeakers at the Bangkok headquarters of Thai Post on a recent day dedicated to a clean-up.

"We work without hoping to gain anything," the joyful lyrics said.

Staffer Narong Denleemor, 49, said he had taken part in countless volunteer events since the passing of king Bhumibol.

"I can't explain by words -- it's all in my heart," he said of his motivation, eyes welling with tears.

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Thai Post is one of many institutions -- from private companies to state offices -- corralling employees into a volunteering frenzy.

In Bangkok, the site of the first coronation since 1950, state officials have immersed themselves in preparation duties.

"This kind of event doesn't happen every day," policeman Pongpat Sumangkaset, 22, as he waited in the scorching sun near the Grand Palace during last Sunday's rehearsal.

-- 'Manufactured social unity' --

Thailand's royal family, one of the world's richest, enjoys support from Bangkok's political and business elite.

It is buttressed by an advanced palace PR machine that stamps royal imagery across the country, and shielded by a harsh lese majeste law rendering critical discussion about the king near impossible.

All media inside Thailand must self-censor and accusations of royal defamation are taken extremely seriously by the police and courts.

But the monarchy's most important ally is the powerful military, whose royally appointed generals have staged more than a dozen coups in Thailand since the end of absolutism -- the latest in 2014.

Analysts detect shades of military conformity, organisation and training in the "Jit Arsa" scheme.

The herd mentality "harks back" to the Village Scouts, said Thai specialist Paul Chambers of Naresuan University, referring to an ultra-royalist volunteer group started by the military in the 1970s.

Deployed to counter the pro-democracy student protests during that period, Village Scouts were linked to the Thammasat University massacre on October 6, 1976, in which at least 46 people were killed.

Divisions remain sharp in Thailand, a country trapped for over a decade in a spin-dryer of coups and short-lived civilian governments.

The recent March 24 poll showed a kingdom cut in two between those weary of the military injecting itself into politics -- and pro-junta supporters.

There is currently no new government, but many expect a junta-allied party to walk back in as a civilian administration.

Official results are expected May 9.

Like the Village Scouts, the Spirit Volunteers could, if needed, be marshalled into a "mob enforcer" in an attempt "to manufacture social unity", Chambers added.

Fresh from the disputed election, political parties have also been keen to show their volunteer spirit.

Straight-backed and beaming in a yellow polo in an Instagram post, Thai Raksa Chart leader Preechaphol Pongpanit, signed up to the volunteers last week "to show loyalty" to the king.

His party was disbanded shortly before the poll after nominating the king's elder sister Princess Ubolratana as a candidate for prime minister.
(Repeats story originally published on April 30, no changes)

By Jarrett Renshaw, Chris Prentice and Humeyra Pamuk

April 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has suspended work on its plan to publish the names of refineries securing exemptions from federal biofuels law after receiving blowback from the White House and parts of the oil industry, according to four sources familiar with the matter.

The sources said EPA announced the plan on April 12 before the White House had time to review it, and without forewarning oil refiners who fear that publicly receiving waivers would be bad for their image and undermine their competitive edge.

If the EPA ditches or significantly alters the plan, it would anger the powerful corn lobby that has long agitated for more transparency in the notoriously opaque biofuel waiver program.

Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, refineries must blend certain volumes of biofuels into gasoline and diesel fuel or purchase credits from those that do. Small refineries of 75,000 barrels-per-day or less can get waivers if they prove complying with the regulation would cause them financial hardship.

The EPA currently does not name companies that apply for or receive the lucrative waivers, arguing the information is confidential. The corn industry wants that changed because it believes profitable companies are securing waivers, which is hurting farmers.

The sources told Reuters that the White House and oil industry were surprised by the plan, and that U.S. senators from states with small refineries were worried that plants would be forced to disclose sensitive financial information.

"The White House found out about it, but it was after the wheels were in motion," said one source who was briefed by the agency. "They certainly did not get time to review it or consider the implications."

The EPA has yet to publish the rule in the Federal Register, a step that normally happens swiftly to start the clock on finalizing the plan.

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"I am not sure it ever gets in the register at this point," said another source, a DC-based oil lobbyist.

The EPA and White House did not respond to requests for comment.

The waiver program became a bone of contention between the rival oil and corn industries after President Donald Trump's EPA loosened eligibility requirements for exemptions, granting far more than ex-President Barack Obama's EPA did.

Small refineries owned by profitable oil majors like ExxonMobil and Chevron are among those that have gotten waivers since 2017, according to Reuters reporting.

Supporters of the expansion of the waiver program say EPA was forced issue more waivers after a U.S. Appeals Court said it was being too stingy with exemptions.

But critics say the expansion was politically motivated to help the energy industry, something EPA officials have denied. (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice in New York and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; editing by Richard Valdmanis and David Gregorio)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday accused the opposition in Venezuela of resorting to violence in what it said was a brazen attempt to draw the country's armed forces into clashes. The ministry made the allegation after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a military uprising to oust President Nicolas Maduro and armed factions exchanged gunfire outside a Caracas air base as the country hit a new crisis point after years of political and economic chaos. Russia, which has supplied weapons to Venezuela and acted as a lender of last resort, has accused the United States of trying to undermine Maduro, someone Moscow counts as one of its closest allies in Latin America. "The radical opposition in Venezuela has once again returned to violent methods of confrontation," the foreign ministry said. "Instead of peacefully settling political differences, they have taken a course designed to whip up conflict, and provoke breaches of public order and clashes involving the armed forces." The ministry called on the opposition to renounce violence and embrace negotiations instead, saying it was vital to avoid bloodshed. President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Venezuela at a meeting of his Security Council earlier on Tuesday. Russia has sent nearly 100 military personnel to Caracas, a contingent the Kremlin has described as military specialists. Russian news agencies cited the Russian embassy in Venezuela on Tuesday as saying the Russian personnel were not involved in the clashes between the opposition and the authorities. (Reporting by Andrew Osborn and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Vladimir Soldatkin)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday rejected a suggestion by Washington that it had persuaded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to flee in the face of street protests, calling the assertion part of an information war.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a U.S. television interview that Maduro was prepared to leave the country on Tuesday morning in the face of a call for an uprising by opposition leader Juan Guaido, but reversed his plan after Russia intervened.

When asked to comment on Pompeo's comments, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, told Reuters they were part of an "information war". Moscow has previously accused the United States of trying to foment a coup in Venezuela, a close Russian ally, and of trying to demoralise the army by spreading potentially morale-sapping fake news.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Catherine Evans)
MOSCOW, May 1 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by phone that further "aggressive steps" in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Lavrov also condemned what he called the United States' "interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs as a breach of international law, adding that dialog between all political forces is required in the Latin American country. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Alison Williams)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian riot police and national guardsmen detained more than 100 people during May Day protests on Wednesday, sometimes using extreme force to take into custody anti-government activists, Reuters witnesses and a rights monitoring group said.

OVD-Info, the monitoring group, said 124 people had been detained across Russia, and that most of the detentions, 68, had taken place in St Petersburg where several hundred people had taken to the streets calling for fair elections.

Police brutally detained several people, dragging them into police vans, according to Reuters witnesses. Some protesters carried banners saying "For fair elections" and "Petersburg against United Russia," a reference to Russia's ruling party which supports President Vladimir Putin.

Several people carrying banners declaring "Putin is not eternal" were also detained, Russian media reported. Supporters of opposition politician Alexei Navalny were among those detained.

The protests took place at a time when Putin's rating has fallen to around 60 percent from a high of some 90 percent. That, say pollsters, is partly because the government has announced unpopular moves to raise the retirement age and hike value added tax after five years of falling real incomes.

Putin, who has been in power as either president or prime minister since 1999, was re-elected last year and is due to stay in office until 2024.

Many communist party supporters also marched through the streets of Moscow and other cities on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
Parishioners arrived at the midday mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament to pray and also to reflect on the release of names of clergy members the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento said are credibly accused of sexual abuse. The diocese released the names of 46 priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse over the past seven decades. The clergy named in the list have been credibly accused of sexually abusing 130 minors or young adults, aged 25 and under, the diocese said in a news release. Get the full story in the video above.
Meydan One, a next-generation lifestyle and retail destination, said it has joined hands with SMEDistrict, a Dubai-based incubation platform that aims to bring to life a comprehensive start-up development programme focused on the retail and food and beverage (F&B) sectors.



The initiative aligns with Meydan Ones strategic priority to offer unmatched opportunities for up-and-coming entrepreneurs in fashion, beauty and F&B to establish and grow their brands.



SMEDistrict will oversee the new incubation programme that begins receiving applications for monthly or annual memberships from Q4 2019, said a statement from Meydan One.



Participating entrepreneurs will be able to rent retail space at premium locations in Meydan One at extremely competitive commercial terms. In addition, the start-ups will have access to a range of support services and benefits across four stages of the programme, including:



*Mentoring  Offering guidance on brand image and positioning as well as the overall sales and marketing strategy. The incubation programme committee will also share market insights to enhance operational performance and inform business decisions.

*Evaluation  Providing quarterly benchmarking on key performance indicators and areas of improvement. The incubation programme committee will consult each start-up to prime it for growth.

*Evolution  Helping the brands transition from limited retail space to a larger pop-up format or even a dedicated store, based on their performance during the programme.

*Graduation  Leading the successfully incubated businesses to the next phase of development as a fully operational retail or F&B concept, assisting them with technology adoption, franchising plans and strategic partnerships for expansion.



On the benefits of the incubation programme, Fahad Abdulrahim Kazim, vice-president of Meydan Malls, said: "Dubai is spearheading the regions innovation drive and attracting some of the best start-up talent from around the world. Meydan One is committed to supporting this wave of entrepreneurship, especially in the retail and F&B segments, which are largely overlooked in the local start-up incubation ecosystem."



"Our partnership with the incubation expert SMEDistrict allows us to tap into the right expertise to enable talented local entrepreneurs to realise the full potential of their businesses," stated Kazim.



"Through offering affordable retail space right at the outset of the programme, we seek to encourage participants to gain real-world experience while they evolve their business models. We envision Meydan One as a place for everyone and a launchpad for homegrown brands that can make an impact in the region and the rest of the world," he added.



SMEDistrict Founder and CEO Aynour Hussein said: "We are pleased to collaborate with Meydan One on this exciting new incubation programme. The initiative levels the playing field through providing start-ups with a tangible platform to position their brands."



"In other words, it allows them to skip the line on entrepreneurial hurdles, such as accessible infrastructure and guidance, that can prevent great business concepts from becoming a reality," she stated.



The incubation programme will encompass a fully enabled plug-and-play package, including marketing, fit-out, space rental, business development, workshops and business education, as well as business acceleration opportunities to connect with established private sector organisations and government entities, remarked Hussein.



As part of the Meydan One tenant community, the start-ups will also feature in the destinations events and have the chance to showcase their offerings at prominent entrepreneurship festivals across the UAE, she added.



A key development, Meydan One seeks to be a place for any and every business to establish itself and thrive, with no conditions attached.



Through a seamless set-up process, businesses within Meydan Ones Free Zone Program will be able to enjoy the benefits of operating as part of the Meydan Free Zone, said the top official.



This includes 100 per cent ownership, and the ease of doing business in an enabling environment, with high footfalls and a multinational customer base, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento released the names of 46 priests and deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse over the past seven decades. The clergy named in the list have been credibly accused of sexually abusing 130 minors or young adults, aged 25 and under, the diocese said in a news release. The list is based on the personnel records of nearly 1,500 bishops, priests and deacons from 1950 to the present. The list was posted at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday on the dioceses website. Get the full story in the video above.
Eli Apple will be a free agent at the end of the 2019 season after the New Orleans Saints declined the cornerback's fifth-year option.

Apple was drafted 10th overall in 2016 by the New York Giants and acquired by the Saints at the trade deadline in 2018.

Thursday is the deadline for teams to pick up fifth-year options for 2016 first-round picks. All draft picks sign four-year deals, and first-round draft picks have a fifth-year team option. Apple's fifth season in 2020 would have been worth $13.7 million, which ranks among the highest-paid cornerbacks in the NFL.

To acquire Apple from the Giants, the Saints gave up fourth- and seventh-round draft picks. Apple had two interceptions in 10 games for the Saints after intercepting one pass in 30 career games with the Giants. He also had nine passes defended with the Saints, more than in any single season with the Giants.

The Saints did pick up the fifth-year option for their own 2016 draft pick, defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins.

--Field Level Media
With refreshing slurps of sake, a spot of mediaeval horseback samurai archery, and solemn Shinto rites, Japanese rang in a new imperial era in festive mood Wednesday as Naruhito became their 126th emperor.

Unseasonable rain had somewhat dampened the party atmosphere for Tuesday's historic abdication of Naruhito's father Akihito, with only a handful of hardy souls cowering under umbrellas to pay their respects at Tokyo's sprawling Imperial Palace.

But the skies cleared Wednesday for the first day of the "Reiwa" era -- meaning "beautiful harmony" -- and the Japanese, enjoying an unprecedented 10-day holiday, packed into Meiji Jingu shrine in central Tokyo to celebrate.

As crowds lined the path, some 30 Shinto priests wearing traditional white robes and tall black hats marched under a huge gate towards the main building to conduct a festive ceremony to "report" the new emperor's accession to his ancestors, the Shinto gods.

And thirsty revellers rushed to scoop up "masu" or plain wooden blocks filled with sake, with 1,000 free cups gone in just 30 minutes.

Shrine maidens wearing white robes and bright orange "hakama" or wide-legged trousers dished up the rice wine that is synonymous with Japan from a wooden barrel using a long ladle.

"The sake is delicious," said Midori Okuzumi, 49, who travelled from eastern Tokyo with her husband Hirokazu for the celebrations.

"It's a slight shame that the masu (wooden cups) ran out before our turn came but it's still tasty," she said, clutching a small paper cup instead.

Office worker Kiyohiko Izawa, 28 and his wife Naoko, also 28, who works at a bank, visited the shrine to report their marriage to the Shinto gods.

"I'm happy that we were able to report our marriage on the first day of Reiwa," said Naoko.

Later Wednesday, archers on horseback dressed as ancient samurai warriors performed for an enthusiastic crowd, hitting their targets as they galloped over the lush shrine lawns.

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"I'm very moved to watch this traditional event," said Yasutaka Okamoto, a 67-year-old office worker from western Tokyo.

- 'History' -

The change of era is a huge event in Japan and several couples chose to get married on the stroke of midnight.

There were also long queues at post offices to get stamps bearing the first day of the Reiwa era and crowds scrambled to get rare special editions of papers commemorating the events outside mainline stations.

Some people went to extraordinary lengths to ring in the new era.

With early-morning clouds casting a shadow over the first sunrise, around 80 people paid for a specially chartered plane to soar above them to capture dawn breaking over the Japanese Alps.

"Although passengers could not see Mt. Fuji due to bad weather, they were able to enjoy the first sunrise of Reiwa," Sho Inoue, an airline company spokesman, told AFP.

Around 370 early birds travelled to Nemuro on the island of Hokkaido, one of the easternmost points of Japan, in a bid to be the first to see the sunrise but clouds cast a shadow on proceedings there.

Others went to watch the formal ceremony and Naruhito's first speech on massive screens outside Shinjuku, the world's busiest train station.

Gazing up at the screen, 21-year-old law student Mito Okuno said she had come from Himeji, some 600 kilometres to the west of Tokyo, to savour the historic moment.

Dressed in a striped orange, red and black kimono, Okuno told AFP: "I am someone who loves history and what we are experiencing now will be talked about for a long time."

"That's why I wanted to come in person."

In the Tokyo neighbourhood of Nakanobu, large crowds in traditional "hanten" dress paraded through the streets carrying an ornate golden shrine on their shoulders.

Naruhito officially became emperor at midnight and several hundred braved torrential rain to cram into the famous "scramble" crossing at Shibuya to count down to the new era.

Tamae Moriyama, a 48-year-old restaurant worker, said she hoped the historic events would spark a debate about women ascending the throne, which is currently forbidden.

"I hope that women will one day be able to take the throne like in Britain. I am happy that the subject is being debated. Times have changed but the imperial system has not changed with them," she told AFP.
Oi Asian Fusion. | Photo: Sandy Y./Yelp

In search of a new favorite Filipino spot?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top Filipino spots around San Diego, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to venture when cravings strike.

1. Oi Asian Fusion

Photo: Sandy Y./Yelp

Topping the list is Oi Asian Fusion. Located at 1985 National Ave., Suite 1133 (at State Highway 75th) in Barrio Logan, the Filipino and Asian fusion spot is the highest rated Filipino restaurant in San Diego, boasting 4.5 stars out of 254 reviews on Yelp.

2. Andell's Bakery and Kitchen

photo: anthony d./yelp

Rancho Penasquitos's Andell's Bakery and Kitchen, located at 9926 Carmel Mountain Road, Suite F (between Rancho Penasquitos Blvd and Paseo Cardiel), is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the bakery, Vietnamese and Filipino spot 4.5 stars out of 90 reviews.

3. Nanay's Best BBQ

Photo: Maria C./Yelp

Nanay's Best BBQ, a Filipino spot that offers barbecue and more in Sorrento Valley, is another go-to, with four stars out of 224 Yelp reviews. Head over to 6715 Mira Mesa Blvd., Suite 103 to see for yourself.

4. Olgas Food Place

Photo: William P./Yelp

Over in Linda Vista, check out Olgas Food Place, which has earned 4.5 stars out of 69 reviews on Yelp. You can find the Filipino spot at 2314 Morley St. (at Ulric Street).

5. Orient Valley Filipino Cuisine

Photo: Aria P./Yelp

And then there's Orient Valley Filipino Cuisine, a Rancho Penasquitos favorite with four stars out of 186 reviews. Stop by 9951 Carmel Mountain Road (between Paseo Cardiel and Freeport Road) to hit up the Filipino spot next time you're in the mood.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Craig Wright just went Donald Trump on cryptomedia, including CCN. | Source: YouTube/CoinFinder

By CCN.com: According to Decrypt reporter Ben Munster, Craig Wright specifically lashed out at CCN during his recent appearance at Oxford University. Wright believes CCN to be owned by a group of people who are backing alt-chains, who are backing multiple coins, who are backing unregulated and uncontrolled exchanges.

CCNs incentive is to increase readership

None of which meshes with the facts of CCNs ownership. CCN, unlike our major competitor and several who fancy themselves our competitors, is owned in whole by a private Norwegian company. We have no outside investments and earn our way through advertising. Our owners have no financial stake in any blockchain companies unless you consider CCN and Hacked.com to be such companies in the sense that we report on the state of the industry.

We have, however, reported extensively on Craig Wright. Understanding his penchant for a profession in litigation, we have stuck to the objective facts as much as possible. A total of 84 articles, including this one, out of more than 20,000, have touched on the subject of the Bitcoin SV creator.

Wrights yes-man Jimmy Nguyen said:

A lot of the media platforms have their own agenda, so youll have to start learning to filter the truth, or the shaded truth, or non-truth of what is published. And its hard to understand if you dont work in the field because youre just reading things.

Lets be clear. CCN has no agenda outside of publishing news of interest to our demographics. We began including stocks and political stories after realizing that a sizable portion of our readership would be interested in those.

If we had any reason to believe that Satoshi Nakamoto lived and breathed in the form of Craig Wright, we would report as much. If a court determines Craig Wright to be Satoshi Nakamoto, we will state that. If Craig Wright proves his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto, we will report that.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
CAIRO, May 1 (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has launched 10 air strikes targeting an air base adjoining Sanaa's airport, residents told Reuters on Wednesday.

Al-Masirah TV, which is controlled by the Houthis, said six air strikes targeted al-Dulaimi Air Base in Sanaa.

There was no confirmation from the Saudi-led coalition, which said previously that Houthi forces were using the air base in the capital to launch drone and ballistic missile attacks. (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
JCDecaux, a leading outdoor advertising company and partner for the French Pavilion, will be working to promote Frances presence at the World Expo, to be held next year, in Dubai, UAE.



The Expo will be held from October 20, 2020, to April 10, 2021, on the theme of Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, with three sub-themes, mobility, sustainability and opportunity.



The partnership kicks off on April 28, with a month-long campaign in Dubai to raise the profile of the French Pavilion, said a statement from the company.



Elisabeth Borne, French Minister for Transport, is scheduled to lay the first stone on May 2. The campaign to launch the partnership will feature 36 advertising lampposts (72 x 3 sq m sides) strategically placed along the famous Jumeirah Beach Road, one of the busiest thoroughfares in Dubai attracting a premium target audience, it said.



Providing support to France during this event, JCDecaux will ensure a presence in Dubai during the main stages of the French Pavilion between now and the opening of Dubai 2020 World Expo, as well as during key moments for the six months of the Universal Exhibition.



Dubai 2020 is the first ever World Expo to be held in the Middle East, where JCDecaux is a leader in outdoor advertising with a presence in five countries  the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain  and in all outdoor advertising sectors, including street furniture, airports and other transport and large-format screens with more than 16,000 advertising sites.



Jean-Charles Decaux, chairman of the executive board and co-chief executive officer of the group, said: Were proud to support Frances participation at Dubai 2020 World Expo by making our advertising assets available to promote the French Pavilion in an emirate where our presence dates back to 2008.



While Connecting Minds, Creating the Future is perfectly in line with our mission in the more than 80 countries where the group operates and represents France, mobility and sustainability are two of the major themes of our innovation strategy, he said.



We embrace and share the human, philosophical, cultural, entrepreneurial and technological values embodied in the French Pavilion. We are honoured to promote this exceptional platform to showcase French excellence, he added.



Erik Linquier, commissioner general of the French Pavilion and chairman of the Compagnie francaise des expositions (Cofrex), added: Themed Light, Lights, the French Pavilion will bring our countrys vision to the international arena and will be an exceptional showcase that will increase Frances attractiveness.



Were delighted to have JCDecaux on board to maximise visibility for the French Pavilion at Dubai 2020 World Expo. JCDecaux is a French company that shares our goals of welcoming and enhancing the experience of residents and visitors through harmonious integration in their environment, he said.



The partnership celebrates France and helps to increase the countrys profile in the region and around the world. Promotion will reflect the experiences created in the French Pavilion, from laying the first stone right through the six months of Dubai 2020 World Expo, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

A look at the shareholders of China Tian Lun Gas Holdings Limited (HKG:1600) can tell us which group is most powerful. Institutions often own shares in more established companies, while it's not unusual to see insiders own a fair bit of smaller companies. I quite like to see at least a little bit of insider ownership. As Charlie Munger said 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.'

China Tian Lun Gas Holdings has a market capitalization of HK$7.9b, so we would expect some institutional investors to have noticed the stock. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), it's seems that institutions are not really that prevalent on the share registry. Let's delve deeper into each type of owner, to discover more about 1600.

See our latest analysis for China Tian Lun Gas Holdings

SEHK:1600 Ownership Summary, May 1st 2019

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About China Tian Lun Gas Holdings?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

Since institutions own under 5% of China Tian Lun Gas Holdings, many may not have spent much time considering the stock. But it's clear that some have; and they liked it enough to buy in. If the company is growing earnings, that may indicate that it is just beginning to catch the attention of these deep-pocketed investors. It is not uncommon to see a big share price rise if multiple institutional investors are trying to buy into a stock at the same time. So check out the historic earnings trajectory, below, but keep in mind it's the future that counts most.

SEHK:1600 Income Statement, May 1st 2019

Hedge funds don't have many shares in China Tian Lun Gas Holdings. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.

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Insider Ownership Of China Tian Lun Gas Holdings

The definition of company insiders can be subjective, and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. The company management answer to the board; and the latter should represent the interests of shareholders. Notably, sometimes top-level managers are on the board, themselves.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

It seems insiders own a significant proportion of China Tian Lun Gas Holdings Limited. It is very interesting to see that insiders have a meaningful HK$1.1b stake in this HK$7.9b business. Most would be pleased to see the board is investing alongside them. You may wish to access this free chart showing recent trading by insiders.

General Public Ownership

With a 25% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over 1600. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Private Equity Ownership

With a stake of 9.0%, private equity firms could influence the 1600 board. Some might like this, because private equity are sometimes activists who hold management accountable. But other times, private equity is selling out, having taking the company public.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 49%, of the shares on issue. Private companies may be related parties. Sometimes insiders have an interest in a public company through a holding in a private company, rather than in their own capacity as an individual. While it's hard to draw any broad stroke conclusions, it is worth noting as an area for further research.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand China Tian Lun Gas Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can find historic revenue and earnings in this detailed graph.

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.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Photos: Petfinder

Looking to add a new companion to the family? There are dozens of charming cats up for adoption at animal shelters in and around San Jose, so you won't have to look far to find the perfect fit.

Hoodline used data from Petfinder to power this roundup of cats available for adoption near you. Read on to meet some friendly, furry locals.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Details like pet availability, training, vaccinations and other features are based on data provided by Petfinder and may be subject to change; contact the shelter for the latest information.

Charley, domestic shorthair mix

Charley is a darling male domestic shorthair mix currently residing at The Dancing Cat.

Charley likes to socialize  he's happy to keep company with other cats. He is still working on getting house-trained.

His vaccinations aren't up to date quite yet, but he has been neutered.

What my friends at The Dancing Cat think of me:

If you are looking for a cat with personality and charm, then Charley is your guy. He is not shy when it comes to head scratches and belly rubs and will ask for them regularly. His favorite thing to do during the day is to gaze out the window, so a home with ample windows will be a plus.

Read more about how to adopt Charley on Petfinder.

Pixie, domestic shorthair mix

Adorable Pixie is a female domestic shorthair mix currently residing at The Dancing Cat.

Pixie likes to socialize  she loves other cats.

She still needs some guidance on proper house-training. Her vaccinations aren't up to date just yet, but she has been spayed.

Pixie's caretakers say:

If you love a ginger gal, you are going to fall in love with Pixie. When a wand toy starts to move, this fierce hunter is ready to pounce.

Sound like a good fit? Fill out an application at Petfinder.

Starla, domestic shorthair mix

Starla is a female domestic shorthair mix being kept at The Dancing Cat.

Starla plays well with others  she gets along well with other cats. Though her vaccinations aren't up to date yet, she has been spayed. She's still working on getting house-trained.

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What my friends at The Dancing Cat think of me:

Whether it be hopping around on her cat tree or chasing down a wand toy, she's happy to show off her moves. Starla is a sweetheart with lots of energy, and will follow you around the house looking for attention. Her favorite activities are chasing balls and laser pointers and catching shoelaces.

Apply to adopt Starla today at Petfinder.

Blackberry, Bombay and domestic shorthair mix

Blackberry is a charming male Bombay and domestic shorthair mix currently residing at The Dancing Cat.

Blackberry is something of a social butterfly  he's happy to keep company with dogs and cats but not kids. His vaccinations aren't up to date quite yet, but he has been neutered.

From Blackberry's caretaker:

He loves to play and can even entertain himself if no one else is there to play with. He has been around other cats and dogs but would also thrive as an only cat. Blackberry is not sure what to do with small kids so it would be better for Blackberry to join a young child-free home.

Read more about how to adopt Blackberry on Petfinder.

Nora, domestic shorthair mix

Nora is a darling female domestic shorthair mix currently housed at The Dancing Cat.

Nora is a social butterfly  she's happy to keep company with other cats.

Her vaccinations aren't up to date quite yet, but she has been spayed.

Notes from Nora's friends:

Nora is a purr machine with lots of cuddles to give. She is new to the lounge and we are still getting to know her, but so far her favorite thing is full body rubs.

Sound like a good fit? Fill out an application at Petfinder.

This story was created automatically using local animal shelter data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Lucca Ravioli. | Photo: Jenifer G./Yelp

In this edition, a new Japanese spot opens in North Beach; a longtime Italian specialty shop closes; and a food-truck gathering adds a new lunchtime venue.

Opening

North Beach

Noren Izakaya (1701 Powell St.)

Photo: Michael C./Hoodline Tipline

Noren Izakaya is now open in the old Sushi Hunter space on the border of North Beach and Russian Hill, according to tipster Michael C.

As we reported last month, the new izakaya is a rebrand of Sushi Hunter with the same owners, husband-and-wife team Hanson and Kristy Lau. It now specializes in charcoal-grilled skewers, small plates and sake, inspired by the drinking dens of Kyoto.

Skewer options incorporate the full range of chicken, from breasts and thighs to gizzards and tails, as well as various veggies (many of them wrapped in bacon), lamb chops and Wagyu beef.

Small plates include chicken gyoza, agedashi tofu and a crispy chicken skin salad with daikon and cabbage. There are also two different kinds of ramen on offer, including a pork tonkotsu ramen. (For the full menu, go here.)

Noren is currently open Thursdays through Sundays from 5:30pm10:30pm.

Closing

Mission

Lucca Ravioli (1100 Valencia St.)

After initially announcing it would shutter on Easter weekend, Valencia Street's iconic Lucca Ravioli  a beloved family business that's been selling Italian goods and homemade ravioli since 1925  extended its run for 10 extra days. But today is officially its last day in business.

Earlier this year, Lucca Raviolis detached parking lot parcel at 1120 Valencia St. was sold to a developer, with plans for a five-story development to rise on its mid-block site. Now, Lucca's building on the corner of 22nd and Valencia streets is on the market for $1,450,000. A sale is pending.

Lucca's (and the properties') owner, Michael Feno, did not respond to a request for comment on the sale. Feno's great-uncle, Francesco Stanghellini, was the original founder of Lucca, and many locals believe Feno and his family are taking advantage of the hot real estate market to divest some of their longtime properties.

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On its website, the deli thanks its longtime patrons. "Thank you to all of our customers that walked through our door, and allowed us to be of service to them."

If you want to say goodbye in person and stock up on some of your favorite Italian goodies, drop in before 6 p.m. today, when the doors close for good.

Updates

Embarcadero

Off the Grid (Don Chee Way)

Curry Up Now. | Photo: Courtesy of Off the Grid

Starting tomorrow, May 1, food truck gathering Off the Grid will be expanding to the Embarcadero, offering lunch three days a week. Trucks will be parked on Don Chee Way, between the Embarcadero and Steuart Street.

Trucks will be in place Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the three weekdays when the Ferry Building farmers market is not in session. Featured vendors will include Da Poke Man, Kurotaka Ramen, Curry Up Now, Happy Dumplings, Lamas Peruvian and more.

Founder and CEO Matt Cohen said that he's gotten requests to expand to the Embarcadero for years. When the opportunity to activate Don Chee Way was presented to us, we jumped, he said. Were excited to build on the occasional pop-ups weve done in this same space, and offer a new communal lunch spot."

Thank you very much to Michael C. for the tip! Seen something new in your neighborhood? Text your tips and photos to (415) 200-3233, or email tips@hoodline.com. If we use your info in a story, we'll give you credit.
Flooding across three different provinces in Eastern Canada has left thousands of homeowners displaced, with many left to assess the damage of their destroyed properties.

But with experts pointing to climate change and urban development as factors for increased flooding, some homes may be at a more consistent risk than others.

Is moving permanently a more viable option than staying to battle future floods? One expert says Canadians should be thinking about flooding  whether they are in a high-risk zone or not.

Widespread flooding in Eastern Canada

In Ontario, more than 1,600 people have been forced from their homes. Bracebridge, Ont., and the Muskoka region have faced historic flooding and many have been unable to return to their properties. The Ottawa River has reached peak levels and thousands of soldiers have been deployed to wade off encroaching waters.

City officials in Ottawa said the River is already 30 cm above peak levels from flooding in 2017 and could continue to increase, based on how the weather goes in the next few days.

"The worst is yet to come," Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said.

Near Montreal another 6,000 people have had to vacate the area. The Quebec government estimates about 10,000 people have evacuated in total, most of them from the town of Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac.

In New Brunswick , the St. John River remains above flooding levels, but waters are set to recede near the end of the week. But the damage is already done as about 9,200 residences and cottages are flooded, and homeowners will have to return to slowly pick up the pieces.

Abandoning homes in flood zones?

Rescue workers help evacuees retrieve some belongings from flooding from the Lake of Two Mountains, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, Quebec, Canada. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)

For those who live in areas where widespread flooding is seen regularly, like close to a waterway that regularly rises beyond peak levels, relocating may be an option on many peoples minds.

Quebecs premier Francois Legault said Sunday that it might be necessary to force those living in flood zones to move, so that taxpayers arent consistently forking out funding to rebuild.

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Legault told reporters while visiting flooded Ile-Bigras that its possible the government will purchase homes in flood zones.

Now its twice in three years. So for sure there must be the impact of climate change and we have to adjust our programs, he told reporters.

The next day at a flood zone in Gatineau, Quebec, Legault said the province would be willing to pay homeowners $200,000 to have them relocate.

Legaults proposal to encourage homeowners to move may be a stance many Canadian premiers will adopt in the future, said Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.

And although $200,000 may seem low for a home thats likely worth much more, the flood zone depreciates your homes value, said Feltmate.

What they thought was a home with a given value is now going to be repriced very rapidly, he said. Climate change is actually effecting the revaluation of property.

For the five per cent of homeowners in Canada who live in a flood zone that is beyond help  meaning precautions and flood diversion programs wont make an impact  moving may prevent years of headache down the road.

Bigger, more intense and frequent storms due to climate change is one of the main causes of the flooding, said Feltmate. But conditions on the ground also are a major impact.

The loss of natural infrastructure, particularly in southern Canada, so forests, marshes, fields that could hold and absorb water...we've lost 73 per cent of that natural infrastructure, he said, adding urban development is to blame for this.

When water hits paved areas and built-up suburbs that replaced forests or marshes, those areas dont absorb water as effectively, he said.

With more intense rainfall events, Canadians arent prepared for the impact this kind of weather will have on homes, he said.

None of this is appealing, but the reality is there is not an open purse to compensate people for the pre-flood perceived valuation. The governments don't have that money, said Feltmate.

Flood solutions

Canadian Forces members build a wall of sandbags to protect a home in the Ottawa community of Constance Bay, on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. For centuries, residents of flood-prone areas have looked to sandbags to stave off rising waters. Flood management experts say that while it's easy to understand why sandbags have become the first line of defence, they may not necessarily be the best one. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Preemptive solutions that can be implemented before a flood strikes should be the priority of homeowners, and governments, he said.

According to the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptions latest report, residential basement flooding is on the rise with a price tag of $43,000 per flood.

From 2016-2018, the Centre implemented an initiative called the Home Flood Protection Program, which informed homeowners about how to protect their property.

The report said they are many easy and inexpensive solutions homeowners can put in place that will greatly reduce the risk of their homes flooding, including cleaning out eavestroughs and installing window well covers.

For homes in high-risks flood zones, solutions that can be addressed by a contractor may be a moot point as houses will be prone to more severe flooding regardless.

We know exactly how to take a huge proportion of risks out of the system, through the application of diversion channels....physical structures that can direct water to safe location, away from housing, said Feltmate.

The weather system has changed

A flooded neighborhood is seen in Rigaud, Quebec, Canada on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Thousands of people have been forced from their homes in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on April 30 that extreme weather events will be happening more often, and climate resilient infrastructure will be needed to protect communities.

While Ontario Premier Doug Ford said while touring flooded Constance Bay that climate change was partially to blame for the flood, Fords government recently cut funding to flood management programs by 50 per cent.

Governments and homeowners will need to be more proactive for the next flood, whether thats equipping your personal property for a flood, or reinforcing flood zone neighbourhoods with diversion channels before relocating entire communities.

The federal government will be producing new flood mapping for the 2019-2020 year that will better inform Canadians about where their properties are in relation to flooding, said Feltmate.

But just because youre home isnt in a direct flood zone, doesnt mean youre safe, he said.

If you own a home somewhere where it rains, you are vulnerable to flooding, period, he said. Feltmate pointed to the 2018 flood in Burlington that shocked residents.

The weather system has changed due to climate change. Weather of the past isn't predictive of weather of the future, he said, adding that if your neighbourhood has been dry for decades doesnt mean it will never flood in the future.

Canada needs to start adapting to extreme weather risks, because its going to get worse, said Feltmate.

[These floods]... they are not big compared to what's coming, he said.
Crave, a UAE-based food delivery and dine-in start-up company, has launched its mobile app in the UAE. The app provides a comprehensive way for people to satisfy their food cravings.



Users of the app can either order food through the app by swiping right or left on images of different food items (all pre-determined by their specific requirements and preferences), book a table at restaurants throughout the UAE, order food for pick-up, or find directions to a specific restaurant, said a statement from the company.



Crave, which was launched from Al Maryah Island, is part of Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) Tech Startup programme, that provides promising businesses with a comprehensive ecosystem to support their growth, it said.



Dhaher bin Dhaher Al Mheiri, chief executive officer, Registration Authority, ADGM, said: We are proud to provide opportunities to promote national entrepreneurs and start-ups, such as Crave.



Our organisation fosters a thriving and supportive environment to enable the start-up community and bring about sustainable economic growth for our country, he said.



We are committed to supporting the national entrepreneurial development through our initiatives such as the Tech Start up Licence and the Professional Services Programme. We wish Crave the very best and look forward to being part of their journey to success, he added.



Abdulla Rashed Alhajeri, founder and chief executive officer, Crave, said: We are grateful to ADGM for their support in helping bring our concept to life and for providing us with the ecosystem and infrastructure to ensure we have everything we need to succeed.



The offerings at ADGM are second-to-none, and enables start-ups to focus on their business while also receiving a significant amount of support, stated Alhajeri.



We take the mobile food delivery concept to another level and enhance the current offerings available in the market, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Researchers from Kings College London, working with the University of Suffolk, tested at 15 sites across Suffolk.

Illegal drugs such as cocaine and ketamine have been found in the bodies of animals living in British rivers  along with banned pesticides and other chemicals.

Researchers from University College London collected samples from 15 sites in London, looking for micropollutants in the bodies of animals such as freshwater shrimp.

100% of the shrimp tested positive for cocaine.

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

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Labour rejects calls to commit to second referendum

Ukip MEP defends leaders Islam death cult comments

The researchers found that ketamine and banned pesticides were also widespread.

Lead author, Dr Thomas Miller from Kings College London, said: Although concentrations were low, we were able to identify compounds that might be of concern to the environment and crucially, which might pose a risk to wildlife.

As part of our ongoing work, we found that the most frequently detected compounds were illicit drugs, including cocaine and ketamine, and a banned pesticide, fenuron. Although for many of these, the potential for any effect is likely to be low.

Professor Nic Bury from the University of Suffolk said: Whether the presence of cocaine in aquatic animals is an issue for Suffolk, or more widespread an occurrence in the UK and abroad, awaits further research.

Environmental health has attracted much attention from the public due to challenges associated with climate change and microplastic pollution. However, the impact of invisible chemical pollution, such as drugs, on wildlife health needs more focus in the UK as policy can often be informed by studies such as these.

In January this year record levels of cocaine were found in the Thames by researchers studying water flowing into the river from sewers.

The Class A drug is present in users urine which is flushed into the sewage system.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's newly-appointed deputy prime minister hinted at a future leadership role in a speech on Wednesday in which he echoed a pledge made by previous prime ministers to support the city-state's labor movement. Heng Swee Keat's remarks came during a rally to mark Singapore's annual labor day - a speech which has been made by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in recent years. Heng, 57, was promoted to a key post within the ruling People's Action Party last year and to deputy prime minister last month. The moves strengthened expectations he will take over from Lee, son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, who is expected to step down in the coming years. "Today is the first time I am speaking to you as leader of the next generation of PAP leaders," Heng said on the day his role as deputy prime minister came into effect. "I renew today the pledge that Mr Lee (Lee Kuan Yew) made...fifty years ago, and that every prime minister has since renewed. I assure you the close symbiotic relationship between the PAP and the NTUC (labor movement)...will continue," Heng said. He said Singapore must transform its economy to adapt to technological advancements, prepare its workforce for future jobs and pursue inclusive growth. (Reporting by John Geddie; editing by Darren Schuettler)
TEL AVIV, May 1 (Reuters) - A Holocaust memorial project in Israel is turning poetry written by Jews during the Nazi genocide into songs, hoping the new music will amplify poignant echoes of the past for future generations.

At a recording studio in Tel Aviv, Israeli musician Lee Biran performed a song he composed from words penned by Yiddish poet and Holocaust survivor Abraham Sutzkever.

"Literature is stronger than death," Sutzkevers grand-daughter, Hadas Kalderon Sutzkever, said as she listened in the studio to poetry he had written in 1942 while confined to the Vilna Ghetto in Lithuania.

"I long to say a prayer, to whom I do not know," sang the 29-year-old Biran, one of 10 Israeli artists who volunteered to compose the songs.

Rabbi Avraham Krieger, director of the Israeli Shem Olam institute sponsoring the project, said collecting the poems of Holocaust victims and turning them into contemporary music was a way to reach out to todays youth and generations to come.

Kalderon Sutzkever, 43, said she would sit for hours listening to her grandfather recount his experiences, which included the murder of his mother and infant son by the Nazis.

The poet, who was awarded the prestigious Israel Prize for literature in 1985, died in 2010 at the age of 96.

"When you sing this song, it gives it new life after so many years," Kalderon Sutzkever told Biran.

Israel's annual Holocaust Remembrance Day begins at nightfall on Wednesday. A siren on Thursday morning brings the country to a halt for two minutes to commemorate the six million Jews who perished.

(Reporting by Elana Ringler, Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by William Maclean)
Sri Lanka's police Wednesday named nine people who staged Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 253 people, and said the attackers' assets will be confiscated in line with anti-terror laws.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera confirmed that two of the luxury hotels were bombed by two brothers from a wealthy Colombo family involved in spice exports.

The group of Islamists had used one bomber at each of the locations hit on Easter Sunday, except at Shangri-La hotel where there were two suicide explosions.

One of the Shangri-La bombers was Zahran Hashim, the leader of the local jihadist group responsible for the audacious attacks that were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Hashim headed the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) which has since been banned. He attacked the Shangri-La in the company of fellow Islamist Ilham Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim.

Ilham's elder brother Inshaf Ahmed was the man who bombed the nearby Cinnamon Grand hotel.

The third hotel to be targeted, the Kingsbury, was bombed by a man identified as Mohamed Azzam Mubarak Mohamed. His wife was now in police custody, Gunasekera said.

The St. Anthony's Church was targeted by a local resident named Ahmed Muaz. His brother has been arrested. The St. Sebastian bomber was Mohamed Hasthun, a resident from the island's east where Hashim was based.

The Christian Zion church in the eastern district of Batticaloa was hit by a local resident, Mohamed Nasser Mohamed Asad.

Another man who failed to set a bomb off at a de luxe hotel, but blasted his explosives at a guest house near the capital. He was identified as Abdul Latheef who had studied both in Britain and Australia.

Shortly after the hotel bomb attacks, Fathima Ilham, the wife of the younger of the two brothers, blasted explosives strapped to herself, killing her two children and three police officers who rushed to the family home in Colombo.

"We are going to use prevention of terrorist financing laws to confiscate their property," Gunasekera said.
Colombo (AFP) - Sri Lanka stepped up security Wednesday as political parties staged low-key May Day commemorations after calling off scheduled rallies following fears of Islamist bomb attacks.

Officials said more police were deployed for cordon-and-search operations in many parts of the country, while the military also re-inforced road blocks and patrols.

Several roads in the capital were closed Wednesday as President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attended a tightly guarded public ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of president Ranasinghe Premadasa assassination.

Officials said police used extraordinary security measures for Sirisena's public appearance to commemorate Premadasa, who was killed by a suicide bomber during a May Day rally in 1993.

"His security used three identical convoys to bring the president to the commemoration," a police official at the function told AFP. "This was to make sure that no-one has advance warning about the vehicles used by the president."

Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) cancelled its May Day celebrations and instead was holding a closed-door meeting with senior stalwarts later in the day, officials said.

Former president and current leader of the opposition, Mahinda Rajapakse -- who leads a breakaway faction of the SLFP -- also cancelled his May Day event, and was attending a low-key meeting just outside Colombo.

The country has been under a state of emergency since Easter Sunday attacks killed 253 people at three churches and three luxury hotels.

The emergency gives sweeping powers to police and the military to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

Police say they have arrested over 150 people suspected of links to jihadists who carried out the bombings.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said Tuesday that some suspects remained at large.

"A few more people involved in the attacks are out there and we hope to arrest them soon," Wickremesinghe said. "Even if we arrest all of them, the threat will not disappear."

Story continues

He said Sri Lanka will have to work closely with international partners to neutralise the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the audacious bombings -- the worst single-day attack against civilians on the island.

Sri Lanka blamed the local National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) for the bombings. The group had pledged an oath of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in a recent audio message praised the Sri Lanka attacks.

Schools were due to open on Monday, but authorities put it off by a week. The Roman Catholic church cancelled its Sunday services fearing a repeat of Easter bombings, but announced Tuesday that they will resume May 5.
Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Stag Industrial Inc (NYSE: STAG)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

May. 01, 2019, 10:00 a.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the STAG Industrial First Quarter 2019 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Matts Pinard, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations for STAG Industrial. Thank you. You may begin.

Matts Pinard -- Vice President

Thank you. Welcome to STAG Industrial's conference call covering the first quarter 2019 results. In addition to the press release distributed yesterday, we posted an unaudited quarterly supplemental information presentation on the company's website at stagindustrial.com under the Investor Relations section.

On today's call, the company's prepared remarks and the answers to your questions will contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements address matters that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from those discussed today. Examples of forward-looking statements include statements relating to earnings trends, G&A amounts, acquisition and disposition volumes, retention rates, debt capacity, dividend rates, industry and economic trends and other matters.

We encourage all of our listeners to review the more detailed discussion related to these forward-looking statements contained in the company's filings with the SEC and the definitions and reconciliations to non-GAAP measures contained in the supplemental information package available on the company's website. As a reminder, forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of today. STAG Industrial assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

On today's call, you'll hear from Ben Butcher, our Chief Executive Officer; and Bill Crooker, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Ben.

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Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Thank you, Matts. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the first quarter earnings call for STAG Industrial. We're pleased to have you join us and look forward to telling you about our first quarter results. Presenting today in addition to myself will be Bill Crooker, our Chief Financial Officer, who will discuss the bulk of the financial and operational data. Also with me today are Steve Mecke, our Chief Operating Officer; and Dave King, our Director of Real Estate operations. They will be available to answer your questions specific to their areas of focus.

Our first quarter operating results represent a great start to 2019. The $185 million of accretive acquisitions represents the largest first quarter acquisition volume in the history of our company by a significant margin. The portfolio produced 3.5% same-store NOI growth, reflecting a strong start to the year. These impressive metrics demonstrates STAG's ability to provide both external and internal growth. These operationally based achievements are further supported by the continuing strength of underlying industrial fundamentals. The tenants in our portfolio are both healthy and active. They're continuing to sign leases with significant rollouts and elevated contractual rental escalators.

After many consecutive quarters of net industrial demand exceeding new supply, the elevated supply is projected to potentially reverse that balance in 2019. However, it is important to note that this excess supply is isolated in a handful of large primary markets, and in some cases, more specifically, certain submarkets within these markets. Supply remains constrained across the vast majority of markets and submarkets in which STAG operates.

It should be noted that large book assets generally have different leasing demand drivers than smaller distribution buildings located in the same city. It is thus vitally important to evaluate assets in the context of how they are positioned in and relative to other assets within the submarket they operate in. This is one part of the fulsome analysis that STAG performs to apply a relative vital lens to assets across the 60-or-so markets we're active in. The result of this broad inquiry is, we regularly identify mispriced assets that can be acquired on an attractive risk-adjusted return basis.

As we have always done, we're continuing to maintain broad diversification within our portfolio in any of the prior parameters that might introduce an undue degree of correlated risk. In addition to other benefits, this diversification also helps meet any exposure to submarket specific supply considerations to the extent they were to occur.

In early April, the company executed an equity offering at very attractive pricing that directly funded our Q1 and April acquisitions as well as reduced our overall leverage levels. This was STAG's first equity transaction outside of ATM issuance since October 2014. The offering was upsized and resulted in approximately $215 million of net proceeds to the company. This recent equity transaction demonstrates our willingness to remain flexible and evaluate all available options to efficiently capitalize the business.

STAG leverages its real estate platform to create value in several ways. Our principal business is identifying, acquiring and managing stabilized industrial real estate assets. We also pursue non-stabilized value-add acquisitions. These include acquiring vacant or under-occupied assets, assets prying for repositioning or those with significant capital investment needs. The stabilization of these acquisitions has created an average of approximately 100 basis points of incremental value at the asset level.

Further along the spectrum of utilizing our operating platform to create value is ground-up development. As a fully staffed real estate platform, we've always had the capability to develop industrial buildings. Historically, we've seen greater risk-adjusted returns available to us through acquisition, especially on a time-weighted basis. However, in 2015, we purchased an asset in Central New Jersey that came with significant excess land at little or no additional cost, i.e., the cash flow returns of the transaction was sufficient to justify the acquisition without attributing wire to the excess land.

Given the strength and our understanding of the submarket, we undertook and recently completed the process of subdividing and permitting this excess land, creating an attractive development opportunity. We have now formally broken ground and commenced construction on a 250,000 square-foot speculative warehouse building. The expected completion date is in Q4 of this year and leasing interest is strong. We expect the project to stabilize above an 8% return on cost and produce a value-creation margin of approximately 50%.

We do not expect that the development will be of large part of our business in the near intermediate term. We're not building a land bank, especially on the current market conditions for developable land. However, we have excess land in a number of currently owned locations that could be similarly subdivided and permitted for development. These potential opportunities will periodically be evaluated and will undertake those projects that make financial sense. This is yet another way that STAG can create long-term value for shareholders than one that further demonstrates the capability of the STAG operating platform.

I'll now turn it over to Bill.

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Thank you, Ben. Good morning, everyone. Before I discuss the financial results, I wanted to point out some disclosure enhancements we made beginning this year. The leasing activity disclosure will reflect the lease commencement date as compared to the lease execution date. This change will connect the leasing activity reported in the period to the net operating income reported within the same period, consistent with how we view our real estate internally. We have expanded our diversification disclosure to include top 20 exposures across markets, tenants and industries from top 10 previously. We've also eliminated our AFFO definition due to the diversity and practice surrounding this disclosure. As a replacement, we have included supplemental financial information in our non-GAAP financial statements that provide users of our financial statements the relevant information to calculate AFFO or CAD.

Moving to the financial results. Core FFO was $0.45 for the quarter, an increase of 4.7% as compared to the first quarter of 2018. This Core FFO growth occurred while maintaining a defensive balance sheet with net debt to run rate adjusted EBITDA of 4.8x. Stabilized acquisition volume for the first quarter totaled $141 million and value-add acquisition volume for the first quarter totaled $44 million. These acquisitions were acquired at a stabilized cap rate of 6.6%.

This quarter's acquisitions of $185 million is the largest first quarter volume in the company history and more than $100 million greater than the first quarter of last year. Disposition proceeds for the quarter equaled $18 million. Portfolio operating results continuing to reflect the strength of our markets and our portfolio. Same-store cash NOI grew by 3.5%, which was driven primarily by retention for the quarter of 80.7% and cash releasing spreads of 14.9%. Straight-line releasing spreads were extremely strong as well coming in at 24.3% for the quarter.

During the quarter, we received notice that Ditech, a tenant on our watch list operating in a non-core flex/office building, had formally rejected their lease in bankruptcy and has vacated their space. This specific tenant was on our watch list in Q4 2018 and this loss of income was factored into our credit loss guidance of 50 basis points for the year. We took an impairment charge of $5.3 million related to this non-core flex/office building during the quarter and we plan to dispose off this asset this year. We're continuing to closely monitor our dynamic watch list and are currently not adjusting the 50 basis points of credit loss guidance for the year.

In terms of capital market activity and the balance sheet, we raised $150 million of equity through ATM issuance in Q1, resulting in quarter end net debt to run rate adjusted EBITDA of 4.8x, fixed charge coverage equal to 4.8x and liquidity of $562 million. Subsequent to quarter end in early April, we executed an equity offering at $29.25 per share, resulting in net proceeds of approximately $215 million. The net proceeds were used to repay balances on the revolver and fund our April closings. Adjusting for the equity offering and subsequent net acquisitions, leverage is currently 4.3x. We expect to continuing to operate at the lower end of our leverage guidance of 4.75x to 6x.

As a result of the strong start to 2019, we now expect stabilized acquisition volume to be between $650 million and $750 million, which increases the aggregate acquisition volume range to $700 million to $850 million. We're continuing to expect $50 million to $100 million of value-add acquisitions, with $44 million closed through today. All of our 2019 guidance can be found on our supplemental posted to our website in the Investor Relations section.

With that, I will now turn it over to Ben.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Thanks, Bill. It seems that one of the most frequently mentioned topics in real estate today is data analytics. The use of data to improve decision-making and operations. Some sections of real estate, multifamily and self-storage to name a couple, have been perusing initiatives in this area for some time with notable successes, particularly in revenue management. Our sector, industrial real estate, has been a laggard for a variety of reasons. One is inertia, change comes slowly to this sector. Another is a relative lack of good clean data. Industrial sector with this large long-term leases and relevantly nonhomogeneous assets, simply doesn't provide as much granular data as other sectors for our analyst to work with. Neither of these reasons should be sufficient impediments to us to not to advance the use of our data in our operations.

We have stated, we've always been proud of how well we use data in the efficient execution of our investment thesis. As we look forward, we can see areas where data analytics should provide a meaningful additional benefits to operations. Two areas that have garnered our attention are: one, the aforementioned revenue management; and two, deal sourcing and corporate resource allocation, the targeting of specific submarkets even down to individual assets based on the likelihood of accretive acquisitions being available. We have begun working in these areas and are confident they will produce a nonzero benefit to our operations. Our team will be constantly looking to improve the quality and quantity of the data that we have to work with.

In closing, I would like to touch on the other topic de jure, ESG. Advancement in the areas of environmental, social and governance are key drivers to our operational successes today and in the future. My annual letter to shareholders located at the front of our annual report deals with this topic on a more fulsome basis. I encourage all interested parties to read it.

We thank you for the time this morning and your continued support of the company. We look forward to your questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Sheila McGrath with Evercore ISI. Please proceed with your question.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Good morning. Same-store NOI for the quarter was 3.5% that's well above your annual guidance. I was just wondering if you could explain if there were something unique driving that the quarter's results well above the guidance?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Sheila, it's Bill. There were some one-time items this quarter. A few of our tenants reimbursed us for release in this quarter. So that increased our cash same-store NOI this quarter. So we'll -- our guidance though, we still feel comfortable at 1% to 2% for the year.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. Great. And on the equity side, you raised a lot of equity early in the year. Should we expect the remaining parts or the second half of the year, you'll be using more debt financing?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Yes, the equity transaction we raised was primarily due to the acquisition volume in the first quarter as well as April. So we were able to immediately use those proceeds for those acquisitions. But as we stated in our guidance, our leverage range is 4.75 to 6x. And we do plan on operating at the lower end of that range. When you factor in this equity transactions as well as the subset -- as well as subsequent acquisitions, our leverage is around 4.3x. So we will need less equity as the year goes through. And just going back to your same-store comment as well, I just -- the impact of those tenants that reimburses for the roofs. Once factoring those in, it comes about 2.7% same-store NOI growth for the quarter, eliminating those one-time items.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. Great. One last quick one. I mean, if you could give us a little bit more detail on the value-add acquisitions that you closed on in the quarter and kind of your plan or vision for a couple of those?

Stephen C. Mecke -- Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Sheila, it's Steve. Yes. So we bought -- we acquired 2 properties. The first one is a vacant asset and the plan there is to do some reconfiguration of the building, add dock doors, basically spruce up the building, bring up to market standard and then lease. The second building is an expansion for an existing tenant. The situation there was the current -- the seller couldn't actually fund the expansion that the tenant desired. So we came in, we're able to buy it and come to an agreement with the tenant on a longer term lease in exchange for the expansion.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay great. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Brendan Finn with Wells Fargo. Please proceed with your question.

Brendan Finn -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Hey guys. Good morning. So it looks like rent spreads were particularly strong this quarter, especially on renewals. So I guess, were there any large leases in there that were driving that? Or were there any of your geographic regions that were particularly strong this quarter?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

The rent spreads were fairly broad based. Everything rolled up during the quarter. We didn't see any outside spikes that drove that number. We had in the past given guidance for the year in the mid-single-digit number -- mid-single-digit growth range. And I think we'll probably end up there, maybe on the high-end, high-single-digit range by the end of the year.

Brendan Finn -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Okay. Cool. And then I guess, on dispositions, it looks like almost all your dispositions this quarter were Midwest assets. So I guess, going forward, is that kind of where you're focused for dispositions? Or is that just a coincidence for this quarter?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes. I would say, it probably falls under the level of coincidence. We're selling assets that are either we're culling from the heard, if you will, are non-core assets or assets opportunistically. The opportunistic opportunities come up when they come up. So there was not a -- definitely not a geographic focus on what we're disposing of. It was either the nature of the asset or the opportunity to sell an asset to somebody from when we thought it was worth.

Brendan Finn -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Gotcha. Okay. Thanks guys.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mitch Germain with JMP Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Mitch Germain -- JMP Securities -- Analyst

Good morning. Ben, what do you attribute the growth in the deal pipeline to? Have you made further investment in the acquisition team? Is there anything specific you can point to?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

So as we have mentioned in a number of calls in the past, Mitch, and thanks for asking the question, we continue to grow the outward facing capacity of our team. There is a direct relation, we think a pretty high correlation to the amount of transactions that we see by doing that. Our hit rate has not changed. Our return requirements haven't changed. We're just putting more assets through the filters and therefore, producing more transactions that are being closed.

Mitch Germain -- JMP Securities -- Analyst

Got you. And then just a question, obviously, Ditech hit this quarter. You mentioned your watch list. Is there any tenants in there that have multiple assets? Or is it just really these one-off situations?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Yes, it's just these one-off situations. Our guidance for our watch list tenants does remains unchanged at 50 basis points and that includes Ditech. But it's just one-off tenants, no material exposure there.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Mitch, and as you'll recall, ATD, which was a multiple asset tenant of ours that went through a 11 filing last year, affirmed all their leases. So again, we're -- part of our analysis in tenants is obviously not only their credit and their potential for financial distress, but how they use the buildings and the likelihood of affirmation in the lease under defaulter-ship.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Dave Rodgers with Baird. Please proceed with your question.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

Yeah good morning guys. Ben or Bill, I mean, may be you could address this. But just in terms of the leverage, I think you said you're comfortable at 4.75 to 6x EBITDA. I think that's a slight change from may be where you've been just in the recent past with a high -- may be a little higher. So, I mean, you're not going to get there. It doesn't sound like anytime in the near term. But is there something that gives you kind of confidence to kind of have a higher end to that range? Or want to stay at a different level than you have been?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Yes, Dave, we're comfortable with that range. In the near term, I don't think we'll be at the high end of that range. The rating agencies are comfortable with our BBB and BAA3 ratings operating within that range. So we feel like, it's a conservative range. But given where we are today, we're very comfortable operating at the low end of that range.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

And Dave, we haven't changed the upper end of that range. We just -- you may not have remembered that upper end is there because we've operated so far below it for the -- certainly in the medium term and near term. We want to have that upper end of the range out there in terms of flexibility and optionality in capital raising. But as Bill points out, we have been an intent to stay at the bottom end of that range going forward. The change that we made to the range was, I believe, at the end of last year, we introduced, we lowered the bottom end of the range from 5 to 4.75x. But that's actually the only change to the range we've made in the recent history.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

That's helpful. And then maybe on the asset sales, talk about maybe the appetite for portfolio premiums out there and thoughts about kind of taking some bigger portfolios to market versus the one-off picking approach that you've done. And just kind of how you weigh the balance of those two?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Well, certainly, we've recognized in our history that there is a demonstrable portfolio premium for aggregating these kinds of single tenant industrial assets. And we've seen depending on how you measure contemporaneous 100 basis points or more historic i.e. from where we bought assets to where we sold them in excess of 250 basis points. Having said that, we do believe that these assets within the portfolio, the diversified portfolio, that portfolio premium exist as an aggregated portfolio.

And so the benefit to the shareholders that the stabilized predictable cash flow portfolio produces is being recognized from a value perspective. So given our operating leverage, the fact that we are -- do have this great amount of operating leverage, continuing to grow the size of the portfolio, recognizing the value within the portfolio, has seemed like a better course of action to us rather than some form of partial liquidation through larger portfolio sales.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

Great. And then last question. Maybe over the last 6, 12 months or maybe if still over the last couple of years, as you think about the acquisitions that you've done and underwriting kind of underlying market rent growth. How has that changed for you guys in terms of kind of seeing the cap rates when the acquisitions come down? Have you seen a lot of additional underwriting of market rent growth as you kind of think about those assets in the portfolios that you've purchased?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Well, I think that the market rent growth has continued to be strong across most of the country. As you see, equilibrium perhaps been reached on an aggregate basis. You would expect that market rent growth may be diminishing. However, contractual rent bumps continue to be very strong, which obviously impacts the projected cash flows under the tenancy of the lease that allows for potentially paying a lower cap rate.

Cap rate, as we've mentioned many times, just a point in time measure, perhaps indicative, but not precisely indicative of the cash flow that you'll receive over the course of the lease. The other thing that we've had is, we've been seeing longer lease terms and what we're acquiring obviously that affects the confidence and the aggregate cash flow you received during the 5 or 3-, 5- or 10-year period.

o the resulting cap rates have come out of our acquisition activity are reflective of -- at this point, we believe are largely reflective of mix as opposed to any change in market conditions. And when you see lower cap rates, it's because the cash flows resulting from those acquisitions are either -- will grow more strongly or more secure, have less potential interruptions over the 3, 5 and 10 periods.

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jason Idoine with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Jason Idoine -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Yeah. This is Jason on for Mike. I just had a question on the increased investment activity that you guys saw in the first quarter. I'm wondering if this should be the new norm that we can expect moving forward. And also you mentioned that you've been kind of building out that team. So what's the outlook look like for continuing to grow that team? And then as you continue to grow it, what kind of acquisition should we expect?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Well, I would caution you not to simply extrapolate from the $180 million that we did in the first quarter. Historically, the first quarter has been about 15% of the annual volume. So extrapolating from that would leave you to a number in excess of $1 billion. Certainly, our guidance is not saying that. We did have a very successful first quarter. We continue to have had success in the second quarter. But we're not at a point yet where we're looking to change our guidance more than we have already. So I think we've raised the midpoint of our guidance...

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

$50 million.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes.

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Our guidance -- we're very comfortable with the $700 million to $850 million of our acquisition guidance that we put forth.

Jason Idoine -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sarah Tan with JP Morgan. Please proceed with your question.

Sarah Tan -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

(Technical Difficulty)

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

we're having a hard time hearing you. Could you repeat that, please?

Sarah Tan -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

Sure. So just a question on acquisition volumes and the split between stabilized and value-add. I thought you guys raised on guidance for the stabilized assets. But how can we think about split between value-add and stabilized going forward?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

So the value-add is not an initiative if you will, we're going out and seeking value-add. These are assets that come up within our regular inquiry. They'll probably be on the order of 10% of our volume. But we're -- we increased the -- our projections for the stabilized assets because we've just seen that mix coming in. So the value-add is something that we do every year, have always done, but again, it's relatively small portion of the overall mix.

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Yes. And as we put forth our guidance in February for 2019, we had some pretty good clarity into the $40 million of value-add acquisitions closing in Q1. So the way to think about it, I would just look at the midpoint of that guidance and somewhere in the order of another $30 million, $35 million potentially for the year for us.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of John Massocca with Ladenburg Thalmann. Please proceed with your question.

John Massocca -- Ladenburg Thalmann -- Analyst

Morning.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Morning.

John Massocca -- Ladenburg Thalmann -- Analyst

So can you maybe provide some more color on the developments that you mentioned earlier in the call? Specifically, kind of what do you think the total cost is for that one development? And then I know its early days, but broadly speaking, what do you see is kind of from like a dollar's perspective, the potential for total development on some of these ancillary piece of the land you have at existing assets?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Specific to the New Jersey development, we are anticipating the total cost to be about $15 million, excluding the land cost, which we already had in the portfolio. On a broader note, many of our sites do have excess land capacity. We evaluate those periodically. See if they're economically viable projects we can undertake. Many of those sites are encumbered by tenant leases. So the opportunities are likely to be expansions for the existing tenants.

John Massocca -- Ladenburg Thalmann -- Analyst

And is it fair to say those will probably come in kind of fit the starts, particularly given maybe the point we are in the cycle in terms of looking at...

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes, yes, yes. One of the points that Dave has made to me along the way is, we have an effective land bank here. But we're not going to -- that we can utilize, it doesn't cost us anything. And we'll opportunistically look at these as they come up. One of the things that we also talk about, I mentioned in the script I believe is, the -- we see these developments as for what they are. They're very accretive but they're also very time consuming.

So we believe that on a risk-adjusted basis, the proper deployment of -- or the most efficacious deployment of our equity capital remains for the most part in volumes stabilized assets as opposed to doing development. We can probably buy 10 assets in the amount of time it will take us to develop 1. So although the numbers are very strong and I would say that the 50% profit margin that we alluded to on that development is based on pretty conservative assumptions. This still takes a lot of time to do that.

So we're very happy about that development. We do expect to be producing great results out of it. But it's not -- we don't believe it will be a core part of our business going forward.

John Massocca -- Ladenburg Thalmann -- Analyst

Understood. And then a quick detail question. With the Houston value-add property that had a tenant in place, was that paying any cash rent kind of day one? And if so, what was kind of the initial kind of non-stabilized cap rate?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

The tenant is paying rent, it's a de minimis amount of rent relative to the long-term lease. It really is a situation where the tenant needed to build and expanded and then sort of staying in place, while the building that activity occurs and the asset has stabilized and the tenant initiate this long-term lease. So probably de minimis returns at the outset.

John Massocca -- Ladenburg Thalmann -- Analyst

Understood. And then on the balance sheet side, understand you still have the term loan available drawdown. As you kind of look at beyond that in terms of debt market issuance. Given the size of your acquisition activity, is there any thought to maybe moving kind of beyond private placements to public unsecured debt?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Something we constantly evaluate. Given our pipeline, given the access to private markets, given the pricing of the public versus private markets, we're very comfortable operating the private placements -- placement market in the next year or 2. We'll continue to evaluate that. But again, going to your point on what does the outlook look for the year in terms of debt and we certainly to look to raise some longer term debt this year. And when we fund that term Loan E, we'll probably put another term loan in place with a 1-year delay to draw feature as well.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes, the other thing I would say is that the -- before we enter the public market given the initial -- I mean, the discount that is usually in place for infrequent issuers. We own the principal of the markets who are ready to be a regular issuer in that market. So we believe that's coming, but it won't be in the near term.

John Massocca -- Ladenburg Thalmann -- Analyst

Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Lucas with Capital One Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Christopher Lucas -- Capital One Securities -- Analyst

Hey good morning guys. Just a couple of quick ones. Ben, just going back to the value-add asset in the Houston, the price put forth was highest within the group of assets that you bought this quarter. Does this asset come with a fair amount of excess land? Is that the opportunity here?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes. So in order to obviously to expand the building, we need the land to do it on. So that asset did come with excess land and that is all part of the opportunity, a significant amount of excess land.

Christopher Lucas -- Capital One Securities -- Analyst

Okay. And then just going on the development side, do you guys have a sort of a minimum hurdle yield over which sort of stabilized assets could be bought that you're looking at as it relates to sort of you're going in development yield? And is there situations where you would go spec versus pre-lease? Just trying to understand sort of how you're thinking about driving that.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

So the asset that we're doing in Burlington is currently under development and Burlington is a specular development. It's a specular development in a submarket with about 2% vacancy. Very strong leasing demand. It's sized appropriately to the market. Has a bunch of things going forward that it make us highly confident to go forward on a spec basis. Our activity in the build-to-suit basis has been largely on take outs from other developers.

Certainly, we would -- if we -- we're not resonant about signing a lease, if we had -- if a tenant sort of want us to finalize before we broke ground, we would be happy with that. But just getting that commitment sometimes requires tenants have to believe the assets are going to actually get built before the signing the lease. So promising them you go build it, may not get you quite as much activity as if the dirt is moving in and steel is going up, et cetera.

Christopher Lucas -- Capital One Securities -- Analyst

Okay. And then my last question just has to go -- has to do with sort of the transaction market, are you seeing a change in sort of who's making up the willing sellers in the market, i.e. are you looking at more institutional sellers or private individuals? What's the makeup now and how does that compare to a year or 2?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes. Chris, thank you for asking that. The backbone of our -- of the supply, if you will, deals for us to look back remains the, if you will, the great on watch, the small sellers. As we tagged it on many times, the U.S. industrial market is a huge leap fragmented ownership structure with, again, I think Green Street came out recently and said that the top 20 owners own just barely 10% of all the fungible assets. So a lot of these assets out there, especially as we move away from primary markets are in the hands of smaller sellers.

And that's who we're typically buying from. We do buy from larger sellers, where people -- some of our industrial peers deciding to exit markets. Variety of other ways that assets that are part of larger portfolios that may not meet the market requirements of the buyer, et cetera. We try and look at things on a unbiased, what's the cash flow going to be basis and by those assets are going to perform well for our shareholders.

Christopher Lucas -- Capital One Securities -- Analyst

Great. Thank you. That's all I have this morning.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Thanks Chris.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is a follow-up from the line of Sheila McGrath with Evercore ISI. Please proceed with your question.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Yes, I just wanted to clarify that 8% return on the development, is that on the $15 million incremental capital? Or is that on a number where you ascribed value to the land?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

There is an implied land volume included in that, yes. So it's not just the additional comp.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. So they're increment so to be a higher return on incremental?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes, absolutely. And as you can tell, that's a -- you can see why we went for the development. That's a pretty unusual return for -- on cost for the Central Jersey asset.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

And then do you already have it listed with some broker for leasing? Or where does that stand?

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

We do. We've had -- as Ben mentioned, some strong activity on it. So we're very hopeful for the prospects of leasing it prior to completion.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

And to clarify, Sheila, we are -- we moved in a number of years ago to -- we use brokers on all of our leasing opportunities, including renewals, but certainly, this is a -- as a spec development, it's listed with broker and they're actively marketing it.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. Great. And then maybe you could give us a little insight on any leasing prospects or your view on how difficult it will be to backfill that recent bad debt item that you mentioned?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

So the Ditech building is a non-core asset if you will, it's a legacy flex asset that we bought well before we went public, probably before 2007. The drivers of that kind of a building, it's a -- effectively I'd call center-type space. The drivers for that kind of building are -- the demand drivers for that kind of building are not very strong. We will undoubtedly sell that building at some point during this year.

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Sheila, we've had some user demand. It is a -- it's set up well for a call center backup operation. There is a tenant in place, minority of the space, but they and a couple of others have come forward and have interest in buying the building.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

So we expect to be able to exit that asset on a, not a home run return, but on an adequate return over the course of our investment period.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. Great. And then last one. Ben, you did mention in your prepared remarks about the data analytics. And I know you've invested there over the years. Maybe you could give us a little more detail how you guys are using the tools? Is it for credit underwriting? Or what exactly are you doing with that?

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Yes. We're hopeful to be able to apply data analytics across the wide spectrum of things that we do in terms of analyzing assets for sale and operating those assets. The big challenge in industrial real estate, as I alluded to in my remarks, is getting good data. If you're a multifamily or a self-storage, you have -- you might have 30 data points, 50 data points a week that you're getting in on some of homogeneous assets.

That's a much lesser challenge and the kind of activity that we find in a industrial real estate. So getting our data -- getting external data where we can obviously comp data, et cetera, organizing it, verifying it are all challenges that we've been working on for years and continuing to work on in order to be able to exercise analytics to make better decisions. We believe that the -- there is opportunity to use data to be more informed in our rental rate negotiations with tenants. We believe, we'll be able to use data, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, to better target assets that we should be pursuing in our acquisition activities.

I mentioned that highly fragmented nature. There is a bunch of different sellers out there. And the way you get to those sellers typically is through the brokers. But identifying which ones we should be allocating our resources to pursuing is something certainly that we believe data analytics can help in. Credit, we've been -- I won't say that we've been doing anything tremendously different than the rating agencies do in terms of analyzing credit and the potential for our tenant to pay us over time. But we've been pretty sophisticated in that arena for a long time and continuing to apply efforts. But that is -- I wouldn't say, we're breaking new ground there so much as just making sure we do good solid credit underwriting.

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And that concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Mr. Butcher for any final comments.

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

Well, as always, thank you for your insightful questions today and for bearing with my head cold, which may have impacted the tone quality at times today. But we very much appreciate your support, and look forward to continuing to work with you all as we continue our progress forward. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Duration: 41 minutes

Call participants:

Matts Pinard -- Vice President

Benjamin S. Butcher -- Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

William R. Crooker -- Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and Treasurer

Sheila McGrath -- Evercore ISI -- Analyst

Stephen C. Mecke -- Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Brendan Finn -- Wells Fargo -- Analyst

Mitch Germain -- JMP Securities -- Analyst

Dave Rodgers -- Baird -- Analyst

Jason Idoine -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst

Sarah Tan -- JPMorgan -- Analyst

John Massocca -- Ladenburg Thalmann -- Analyst

Christopher Lucas -- Capital One Securities -- Analyst

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With its cobblestone streets and fairy-tale facades, Stockholm can feel a bit like a time warpjust how locals like it. Whereas other cities are embracing radical change, the urban archipelago is taking care not to disturb its distinctive architectural fabric. Last October, the Nationalmuseum reopened after a five-year, $130 million renovation by Wingardhs and Wikerstal Arkitektur. Courtyards, previously filled by a restaurant and clumsy 1960s additions, have been reborn as airy lecture and exhibition spaces; climate controls have been updated, allowing for three times as many works to be on view; and windows, long covered, now usher light into the galleries, repainted bold colors with salon-style displays installed. A similarly ambitious restoration, meanwhile, is under way at Ostermalms Saluhall, a 19th-century food hall slated to reopen in 2020. Frozen in amber, however, the city is not. New towers by the likes of OMA and Bjarke Ingels punctuate the skyline, and construction has started on Foster + Partners Slussen master plan, a network of plazas, pathways, and restaurants that will link Gamla Stans 18th-century streetscape to its hipster neighbors on Sodermalm.

Photo: Anna Danielsson/Courtesy of the National Museum

Photo: Anna Danielsson/Courtesy of the National Museum

Where to Stay Make yourself at home at Ett Hem, an Ilse Crawforddesigned gem set in a 1910 Arts & Crafts townhouse (etthem.se). Peace and quiet await at Hotel Skeppsholmen, whose spare rooms occupy onetime military barracks at the tip of a verdant island (hotelskeppsholmen.se). Locals and visitors alike, meanwhile, are flocking to the new Bank Hotel thanks to its cozy cocktail bars, roof terraces, andin what was once a bank lobbyInstagrammable Mediterranean restau-rant (bankhotel.se).

Where to Eat Meatballs are still Swedish staplesfor some of the best, head to the opera houses bar and pocket restaurant (operakallaren.se). These days, however, health-obsessed Stockholmers go for vegetarian fare. Mathias Dahlgren, a pioneer of New Nordic cuisine, transforms fresh produce into prix fixe menus at Rutabaga (mdghs.se). And chef Paul Svenssons restaurant at the Fotografiska photog-raphy museum is a must for the flavor combinations and water views. Carnivores, fear not; there are meat additions available (fotografiska.com).
One of the two students who were killed in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Tuesday attempted to stop the gunman by jumping on him.

Riley Howell, 21, of Waynesville, North Carolina, was remembered on social media for trying to stop 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell from firing inside a classroom.

"He died a hero," a Facebook post from Kim Barnes read on Wednesday. "He jumped on the shooter to try and stop him and was shot and killed in the process. He may not have stopped the shooter but he occupied him while others were able to get to safety and giving police time to get to the shooter."

The post was shared over 151,000 times and was flooded with condolences from other Facebook users.

"RIP, Riley Howell," one person wrote. "You ARE a hero. We will never know how many lives you saved but everyone should be very thankful that you were there to take a stand against the violence and gave your life for that cause."

Howell majored in environmental science and enrolled at UNC-Charlotte in the fall of 2018. He had previously studied at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, according to WBTV.

"He always was able to put others before himself and never hesitated to help anyone who needed it," his family said in a statement on Wednesday. "He was friends with anyone and everyone  a big, muscular guy with a huge heart."

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Kerr Putney confirmed Howell's heroic actions at a press conference Wednesday.

"Youre either going to run, youre going to hide and shield, or youre going to take the fight to the assailant," Putney said. "Having no place to run and hide, he did the last.

State legislators also praised the college student for preventing the shooter from claiming more victims.

"Riley Howell will be remembered for his courage, for the life he lived, and for the lives he saved," state assembly member Brian Turner said on Facebook. "I ask you to join me in keeping Riley's family in your prayers."

Ellis Parler, 19, was also killed in Tuesday's shooting. Four other students were wounded but were expected to recover.
Leading IT consultancy firm RheinBrucke has joined hands with Epicor Software, a global provider of industry specific enterprise software, to introduce the Epicor ERP in the RheinBrucke ME cloud to the Middle East market.

The new offering enables businesses to innovate, reduce costs, and boost operational efficiencies, said a statement from RheinBrucke.

The solution offers several advantages, such as lower capital requirements to access innovation, scalability, shorter deployment times for better returns on investment, reduced infrastructure costs, trimmed operating expenses, and world-class security, it added.

"This partnership between Epicor and RheinBrucke will open new opportunities for growth, especially in this region that is ripe for digital transformation and keen to stay ahead of the curve in todays digital age," said Rheinbrucke Middle East Chairman Mohamed Hassan Al Noman while speaking at the launch event.

It was also attended by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Faisal Bin Khalid al Qassimi, Jamal Saif Al Jarwan, Secretary-General of the UAE International Investors Council, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Saqr Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary for Support Services at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and other dignitaries across the region.

"Across the world, we are witnessing the adoption of cloud computing as an enabler of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and the Internet of Things," stated Al Noman.

"We are excited to launch a new cloud-based ERP offering with Epicor, a leading software provider with a proven track record, over 20,000 global customers and 70 products that span the entire value chain," he added.

RheinBrucke and Epicor also signed an agreement to offer products for Ajman Chamber of Commerce and its members.

Vetri Selvan, the managing partner and CEO of RheinBrucke, said: "Partnering with Epicor was a strategic decision as this alliance means both parties can achieve more not just in the immediate term, but looking ahead. We look forward to supporting businesses in the Middle East in their digitisation journeys, so that they remain competitive and agile in todays competitive global landscape."

The latest forecast by Gartner projects IT spending in the EMEA region to total $973 billion in 2019, an increase of two per cent on the estimated spending of $954 billion in 2018, as more organisations experiment with new technologies in a bid to spur innovation and revolutionise the customer experience.

In the GCC region, the UAE is the most active adopter of cloud computing. Research firm IDC predicts spending on public cloud services in the country will almost quadruple over the next four years, surging from Dh439 million in 2017 to Dh1.51 billion in 2022.

Andy Coussins, SVP and Head of International Sales at Epicor, said: "All industries today need digital solutions to remain relevant and drive growth. We are delighted to support RheinBrucke as it launches Epicor ERP in the RheinBrucke ME Cloud."

"This partnership further extends our Cloud offering for the Middle East and helps support the UAEs transition towards a knowledge-based economy in line with the UAE Vision 2021," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government has raised the price it pays farmers for their wheat after the smallest crop in three decades in 2018, a pro-government newspaper said on Wednesday.

Syria is expected to import around 1.5 million tonnes of mainly Russian wheat this year with local wheat procurement expected at around half a million tonnes. War and drought has cut the country's production by around 30 percent.

The decline in output has pressured President Bashar al-Assad's government to import the grain in a country once self-sufficient in wheat. Flat bread is a subsidised staple for Syrians who have suffered under a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and urpooted millions.

Of the total wheat produced in 2018, state grain buyer Hoboob is estimated to have purchased only about 21 percent.

Syria will now give farmers 185,000 Syrian pounds ($359.22) per tonne, a nearly 5.7 percent increase from last year's price, al-Watan newspaper cited the internal trade minister as saying after a cabinet session on Tuesday. Ministers also agreed to allocate 400 billion Syrian pounds ($776.70 million) to pay money owed to farmers within 24 hours.

"The cabinet asked governors to take their responsibility to extract every grain of wheat" across the country, it added

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has said most farmers prefer selling to those with the highest prices, so some of the wheat goes to private traders or filters across the borders to Turkey and Iraq.

A big part of Syria's agricultural heartland in the north lies in the hands of Kurdish-led fighters with the help of U.S. forces since they seized it from Islamic State militants.

Western sanctions do not restrict foodstuffs, but banking sanctions and asset freezes have made it difficult for most trading houses to do business with Damascus, although trade with its ally Russia poses fewer problems.

Internal Trade Minister Atef Naddaf said that a recent decision to combine the state silos, mills and grain buyer into one institution helps reduce waste and simplify the work, state news agency SANA also said on Tuesday.

($1 = 515.0000 Syrian pounds)

(Reporting by Ellen Francis; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
* Years of war smashed World Heritage Site

* Restoration work is controversial in Syria

* Lack of money means little work is possible

By Angus McDowall

ALEPPO, Syria, May 1 (Reuters) - The pencil minaret of the Ottoman Adliyeh mosque in Syria's Aleppo lists to one side and is scored by an ugly gash running down its flank, the result of bombing in the war.

The sorry state of Aleppo's Old City, a labyrinthine World Heritage Site and a battlefield from 2012-16, is obvious from a glance across the skyline at its shell-beaten minarets.

They look down on an area that suffered massive damage in a conflict that brought down the medieval covered souk, smashed mosque domes and burnt churches.

The U.N. cultural agency UNESCO in December said 10 percent of Aleppo's historic buildings were destroyed and more than half the buildings they assessed showed severe to moderate damage.

But restoration work in Syria is controversial. With the exception of Islamic State, which deliberately targeted ancient ruins, all sides in the war have portrayed themselves as guardians of historical sites and their enemies as vandals.

A huge image of President Bashar al-Assad dangles from the monumental gateway of the ancient citadel in central Aleppo.

Western countries that have imposed sanctions on Assad's government oppose any reconstruction work until there is a political solution to the conflict, arguing it would reward him for war crimes they say he has committed but which he denies.

But that has cut off most funding from the nations that are normally top donors for cultural work - prompting state media to accuse them of complicity in destroying Syrian heritage.

A few of the most famous monuments are slowly recovering. At the Umayad Mosque, bullet-scarred walls are being refaced and the stones of the fallen minaret are piled ready to be rebuilt under a yellow crane.

One of the tallest, loveliest stretches of the souk has already been restored, its collapsed domes rising again high above the cobbled floor using original materials and techniques.

Story continues

MINARETS, DOMES, SOUKS

But these sites represent only a fraction of the Old City's myriad historical streets and buildings and, without fresh funding, the others risk falling into yet grimmer ruin.

"If there are funds I am optimistic that it will all be restored. We only need the money," said Bassil al-Zaher, an engineer who is restoring part of the souk.

At the Halawiya Madrasa, part of the dome has already caved in. It was once a Byzantine cathedral, built on the site of a Roman temple, and was converted to a mosque by a Muslim ruler during the Christian Crusades. With more rain, the rest of the dome will fall, an engineer there said.

From the roof of the restored Saqatiyeh section of the souk, damaged minarets can be seen punctuating the Old City's skyline.

The 18th-century Kemaliyeh mosque, the Mamlouk-era Siffahiyeh mosque and the 14th-century Tawashi mosque have all suffered considerable damage.

Viewed from close up, it is hard to see how the 16th-century Adliyeh mosque's minaret is still standing. The hollow interior and tightly wound spiral stairs inside are clearly visible through a monstrous shell hole on its west side.

"The best solution is to rebuild it because it is not straight. Even if there's a small earthquake, it would collapse," said Zaher.

LACK OF MONEY

Work on mosques is the domain of the Ministry of Awqaf or Islamic endowments, and it lacks the money for major repairs.

At the medieval Mehmindar Mosque, the minaret above the door is now a stump. In the courtyard two men, the imam and a friend, were hauling large stones to one side to clear the floor.

The mosque's dome is also shattered, with only a corner left. They have spent three months clearing and sorting the stones and have no idea when or if the minaret will be rebuilt.

Each covered street in the Old City seems to harbor a dozen alleys, each alleyway hidden stone courtyards ringed by mosques or shops, with olive and lemon trees growing in the center.

Down one street, under a high vaulted ceiling, most shops were empty, their floors covered in debris and their walls scorched. But a man sat at a table in one, singing Koranic verses, his melodic voice echoing softly through the souk.

Near Bab al-Nasr, one of the historic gates into the Old City, few of the traders have reopened their stalls. Metal shutters hang down and the streets are quiet.

A local group worked in this area to clear debris and restore parts of the old gateway and nearby buildings, including two large, protruding, wooden windows.

The U.N. Development Project is also at work, providing traders with aid to clear shops and buy fittings and stock.

Ahmed Sabbagh's pistachio shop has been in his family for generations. He has just reopened it.

But in the Attariyeh souk, the destruction is almost complete. The roofs have collapsed and old thoroughfares where traders once shouted their wares are now narrow, overgrown lanes between neatly stacked piles of stone under a hot white sky. (Reporting By Angus McDowall, Editing by William Maclean)
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Systemax (NYSE: SYX)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

April 30, 2019 5:00 p.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Systemax Inc.'s first-quarter 2019 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] At this time, I would now like to turn the call over to Mike Smargiassi of The Plunkett Group. Please go ahead.

Mike Smargiassi -- The Plunkett Group

Thank you, and welcome to the Systemax first-quarter 2019 earnings call. Today's call will include formal remarks from Barry Litwin, chief executive officer; and Tex Clark, vice president and chief financial officer. We will not be hosting a live Q&A session at the end of today's call. If you should have any questions on the results, please contact The Plunkett Group or Systemax.

Contact details can be found in the press release issued today and at systemax.com. Today's discussion may include certain forward-looking statements. It should be understood that actual results could differ materially from those projected due to a number of factors, including those described under the Forward-Looking Statements caption and under Risk Factors in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. I would like to highlight the non-GAAP metrics that are included in today's press release.

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The company believes that by excluding certain recurring and nonrecurring adjustments of comparable GAAP measures, investors have an additional meaningful measurement of the company's performance. This call will include a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we will identify as such. The company has provided a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures in today's discussion and press release. The press release is available on the company's website and will be filed with the SEC in a Form 8-K.

Story continues

This call is the property of and is copyrighted by Systemax Inc. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Barry Litwin.

Barry Litwin -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Mike. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Systemax delivered an excellent financial performance in the first quarter. Revenue achieved $232 million with average daily sales increasing 9.6%.

We also generated strong operating leverage from current operations with the expansion of gross and operating margins, delivering a 19% improvement in operating income and an impressive 27% improvement in non-GAAP operating income. This in turn provided strong cash flow generation in the quarter. On the year-end call in February, we outlined our strategy and multi-year roadmap, which included six core areas we believe we can win. These are: Delivering a differentiated customer experience; offering innovative branded and private label products; providing rich MRO knowledge and technical expertise; driving operational excellence; propelling financial, talent and technology innovation; and pursuing potential acquisitions to drive synergies and expand capacity, customers and product growth.

We have launched a number of new initiatives in support of these areas and are pleased with the initial progress as we look to grow customer engagement and champion a stronger customer-centric culture across every facet of the company. The actions we are taking are specifically designed to accelerate our customers' experience. Our customers' experience is starting to improve as we enhance service levels in our distribution network and call center operations. We are providing customers with greater visibility on product shipping status and driving improved same-day shipment performance in coordination with our logistics partners.

These successes highlight increased efficiencies in the distribution network and are allowing us to provide greater end-to-end transaction transparency. We are seeing growth of our managed sales channel and increased sales efficiency gains, which are being driven by our continuous training initiatives. This includes better tools and deeper product knowledge that are increasing the selling efficiency and value proposition of our high-touch sales force. As we look to better serve customers, I'm excited to announce that we will be expanding our distribution footprint in the second half of the year with a new facility in the Greater Dallas area.

This distribution center will allow us to be closer to our customers, improve shipping performance and increase overall service levels. It will also provide additional capacity to efficiently support our future growth. In addition, we will be hosting our second Annual National Trade Show on August 8 in Nashville, Tennessee. This event allows us to directly engage customers and highlight the depth of expertise, products and value that both our vendors and Global Industrial provide.

With more than 100 vendors already signed up and a series of technical events and product demonstrations on the agenda, we are looking forward to an outstanding show that showcases our vendors and our associates, strong industry expertise and leading product assortment. The customer experience impacts everything we do and is at the core of our efforts to successfully drive long-term performance. We are carefully listening to our customers' voice and adopting a continuous improvement mindset at every level of the company that will allow us to better serve customers and build a greater competitive advantage. Our associates are the key to delivering a differentiated customer experience and have embraced the various initiatives we have in support of our strategy.

As we grow customer engagement and generate operating leverage, we will be well-positioned to continue to drive revenue performance, improve profitability and deliver higher customer satisfaction. I will now turn the call over to Tex.

Tex Clark -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Barry. I will now address our performance in more detail and would like to note that we have moved to a single reporting segment reflecting our strategic focus on the industrial business and that we had one additional selling day in Canada in the first quarter of 2019 versus the year ago period due to the later Easter holiday this year. In the first quarter, revenue increased 9.4% on a GAAP basis and 9.6% on an average daily sales constant-currency basis over Q1 of last year. Revenue was $232 million with growth in the U.S.

of 9.3%, while Canada delivered its ninth consecutive quarter of strong double-digit gains, generating revenue growth of more than 17% in local currency. We did see a modest benefit in the period as the weekend leading into the Easter holiday fell in the second quarter this year versus the first quarter of 2018. Revenue performance remained broad-based across product categories with growth led by newer product volumes while we are investing in subject matter expertise, sales training and an expanding offering. We also had growth across sales channels, specifically managed sales, where we continue to benefit from sales productivity gains and training initiatives.

Gross profit for the quarter increased to $80.3 million, up from $72.5 million last year. Gross margin was 34.6%, an expansion of 40 basis points from the prior year, reflecting continued positive product margin, which benefited from price capture and product mix. In addition, freight margin improved sequentially compared to Q4 from better overall shipping performance in our distribution network and the lifting of ocean freight surcharges in January. Selling, distribution and administrative spending for the quarter was $67.1 million or 28.9% of sales.

This spend level included $600,000 of executive separation and transition expense. Excluding those expenses, SD&A improved to 30 basis points as a percentage of sales from the prior year. The improvement of SD&A leverage was primarily the result of improved efficiencies in marketing spend and general operating expenses. As Barry noted, we have been pleased with certain improvements in our distribution network performance, and we are continuing to work to further improve service levels as well as to generate leverage within our fixed cost structure.

In the second half of the year, we anticipate to incur start-up costs within our new distribution center, which may drive short-term cost increases, but we believe this additional DC will benefit labor efficiency in other DCs, lower our freight cost as we move closer to certain of our customers and provide the capacity needed to continue to drive above market growth. We are currently targeting commencement of shipping in the fall of this year. On a GAAP basis, operating income was $13.2 million and operating margin expanded 50 basis points from the year ago quarter. Excluding recurring and nonrecurring adjustments, non-GAAP operating income for the quarter was $14.9 million, an increase of 27.4% and non-GAAP operating margin was 6.4%, a 90 basis point improvement from the first quarter of 2018.

Total depreciation and amortization expense in the quarter was approximately $1 million. Capital expenditures for the first quarter were also $1 million. Total free cash flow from continuing operations was $22.8 million in the quarter. In 2019, we expect capital expenditures in the range of $6 million to $8 million.

This reduced estimate is due to a greater portion of our rollout of our new distribution center being capitalized within the lease itself. Let me now turn to our balance sheet. We have a very strong and liquid balance sheet with the current ratio of 1.7 to one. As of March 31, we had approximately $70 million in cash and cash equivalents, essentially no borrowings and over $114 million of working capital.

Further, we have approximately $72 million of excess availability under our $75 million credit agreement. During the quarter, the company implemented the new lease accounting standard and recorded right-of-use assets and corresponding lease liabilities of approximately $54 million and $64 million, respectively. This strength of our balance sheet and our free cash flow generation allows us to continue to invest in our growth opportunities, explore strategic M&A and return capital to shareholders. As a result, our Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share of common stock, and we anticipate continuing a regular quarterly dividend in the future.

This concludes our prepared remarks. If you have any questions about first-quarter 2019 earnings, please contact Mike Smargiassi at The Plunkett Group, our investor and media relations advisor, or Systemax directly. Contact information can be found on the earnings release issued earlier today. Thank you for continued interest in Systemax.

Operator

[Operator signoff]

Duration: 11 minutes

Call Participants:

Mike Smargiassi -- The Plunkett Group

Barry Litwin -- Chief Executive Officer

Tex Clark -- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

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This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.

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Motley Fool Transcribing has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copenhagen (AFP) - Negotiations have resumed between Scandinavian airline SAS and its striking pilots, a mediator said Wednesday, as hundreds more flights were cancelled due to the strike action which has affected over 380,000 passengers.

It is the first time both sides have sat down together for talks since SAS pilots walked off the job in Sweden, Denmark and Norway on Friday demanding better pay and conditions, though they met prior to the walkout.

"There are discussions underway in Oslo. They concern the three countries," Jan Sjolin, a spokesman for the Swedish National Mediation Office, told AFP.

Despite the resumed negotiations SAS still cancelled flights that had been scheduled for Thursday.

Around lunchtime on Wednesday the airline announced it was cancelling 280 flights scheduled up to 2:00pm (1200 GMT) Thursday, affecting 20,000 passengers.

Then shortly after 10pm (2000 GMT), with negotiations still going on in Oslo, SAS announced it was cancelling another 429 flights, affecting another 34,590 passengers.

That brings the total of cancelled flights to over 4,000 since the stoppage by 1,409 pilots hit domestic, European and long-haul SAS flights.

"The situation is still very much deadlocked. The parties have not been able to agree," mediator Mats Wilhelm Ruland told media Wednesday evening, adding however that both parties had signalled they wished to continue negotiations, Norwegian daily VG reported.

The Swedish Air Line Pilots Association, which initiated the strike, has said that months of previous talks had failed to result in a solution to pilots' "deteriorating work conditions, unpredictable work schedules and job insecurity".

It added that work schedules, not wages, are the SAS pilots' main gripe as most have to work at variable times and days and sometimes several weekends in a row.

After almost going bankrupt in 2012, SAS has implemented repeated savings programmes in recent years to improve its profitability.
Xtreme Tacos. | Photo: Rose Leah L./Yelp

Wondering where to find the best food trucks near you?

Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable food trucks in Tampa, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to meet your needs.

1. Spaddy's Coffee

PHOTO: KAREN F./YELP

Topping the list is Spaddy's Coffee. Located at 5206 N. Florida Ave. in South Seminole Heights, the food truck and breakfast and brunch spot, which offers coffee and tea and more, is the highest rated inexpensive food truck in Tampa, boasting five stars out of 79 reviews on Yelp.

2. Xtreme Tacos

Photo: BRETT N./Yelp

Next up is Old Seminole Heights's Xtreme Tacos, situated at 6809 N. Nebraska Ave. With 4.5 stars out of 44 reviews on Yelp, the food truck and Mexican spot has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for an affordable option.

3. Georgia Boy Bbq

Photo: LINDSAY C./Yelp

Ybor City's Georgia Boy Bbq, located at 898 E. Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the inexpensive food truck, which offers barbecue and more, 4.5 stars out of 16 reviews.

4. Ice Cream's Delicious Turkey Legs & BBQ

PHOTO: STEVE E./YELP

Over in East Tampa, check out Ice Cream's Delicious Turkey Legs & BBQ, which has earned 4.5 stars out of 13 reviews on Yelp. Dig in at the food truck, which offers barbecue and more, by heading over to 5112 N. 22nd St.

5. Taco de Oro

Photo: BOON C./Yelp

Finally, there's Taco de Oro, a Forest Hills favorite with 4.5 stars out of 11 reviews. Stop by 10002 No Florida Ave. to hit up the food truck, which offers tacos and more, next time you're in the mood for cheap eats.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Cotonou (AFP) - Protestors in Benin torched businesses and set up burning barricades on Wednesday, as soldiers in tanks encircled the home of ex-president Thomas Boni Yayi after he led calls for an election boycott.

Hours after initial results showed a record low turnout in Sunday's controversial parliamentary polls held without a single opposition candidate, soldiers and large numbers of police deployed across the economic capital Contonou.

Demonstrators erected makeshift barriers of burning tires, as well as setting fire to a fuel station near the presidential palace, shops and banks.

"The country is ours and we will take it back," said one young opposition activist, Artistide Metowanou. "We will fight with our bare hands if necessary against the dictatorship."

- Tear gas -

Protestors on the barricades chanted slogans against President Patrice Talon, before the crowds were broken up by riot police firing tear gas.

"We do not recognise our country," demonstrator Abdul Wahab told AFP. "We will not let his dictatorship take the country hostage."

All candidates contesting the April 28 vote came from just two parties, both allied to Talon.

Boni Yayi, who led the West African nation for a decade until stepping down after his second term in 2016, remains popular amongst many, and he appeared briefly on the balcony of his house to wave to supporters.

Alongside other leaders, he has called for Sunday's polls to be annulled.

Many citizens heeded the opposition's call to boycott the polls, with over three-quarters of the five million registered voters staying away.

Just 22.99 percent of registered voters cast the ballots, according to preliminary results released by the election commission.

Turnout has never dropped below 50 percent since the country's transition to democracy in 1990.

Interior Minister Sacca Lafia said security forces had been ordered onto the streets to stop protests, but called reports they were trying to arrest Boni Yaya "fake news."

Story continues

- 'Arbitrary arrests' -

Before 1990, Benin struggled under decades of authoritarian rule. Democracy brought a flowering of political competition -- five years ago, voters could chose from 20 parties.

The small West African state was held up as a model for democracy.

But this year, lawmakers from the ruling party pushed through a new electoral code. The tough restrictions meant not a single opposition candidate qualified to take part.

Following the vote, Boni Yayi and Nicephore Soglo, president from 1991-1996, spoke out against the election.

"The people demand the return of democracy," Boni Yayi told reporters on Monday, calling on people to resist the current president. "Talon will walk over our dead bodies."

The situation has raised warnings from civil society and rights groups inside and outside Benin.

Amnesty International, speaking before voting, said that a "wave of arbitrary arrests of political activists and journalists, and the crackdown on peaceful protests" had reached an "alarming level."
By Manas Mishra

(Reuters Health) - Teens with painful chronic illnesses may find that YouTube can provide a support network, a new study suggests.

Comments on YouTube videos directed at youth with chronic pain were supportive and encouraging, researchers found. And the information was generally reliable.

"Social media is often cited as a way for teens to meet and gain social support, yet there are negatives to social media as well," said study leader Paula Forgeron of the University of Ottawa. "We wanted to understand if adolescents with chronically painful conditions used social media (YouTube) to share their experiences and if they gain social support through posting."

Comments left by viewers "revealed the crucial need of adolescents with chronic pain" for information, social support and emotional validation, Forgeron and colleagues report in The Clinical Journal of Pain.

The "overarching message" of the comments, according to the researchers, was, "You are not alone!"

Viewers wrote, for example:

-- "Hey really sorry to hear you going thru such hard time in life. Many of us here are willing to listen. Hope you feel better now by typing it all out! :)"

-- "I am so grateful that someone has gone through the same thing and is coming out on the other side. Thank you."

Viewers often shared their suffering and struggles to find coping mechanisms.

-- "But the worst of it is when my pain stops me from doing the things I love/once loved."

-- "What I found to be pretty helpful (to me at least) is I take (herbal product) pills per day to manage the pain, which helped me reduce the amount of painkillers I used to take by taking something natural instead . . . "

The researchers focused on 18 YouTube videos directed at youth with chronic pain. Ten had been posted by pediatric hospitals, two by foundations, one by a researcher and five by adolescents themselves. Altogether, 47 adolescents - mostly girls - appeared in the videos.

Story continues

Most videos discussed treatments, working with psychologists and physiotherapists, the benefits of exercise, and the impact of chronic pain on relationships and activities.

Viewers left a total of 936 comments. The number of views per video ranged from 50 to more than 58,000.

None of the videos had any victimizing comments, the authors found.

Videos produced by adolescents were viewed more often and received more comments and likes than those produced by professionals. Future videos should therefore include adolescents as part of the team, the researchers suggest.

Young people with chronic pain "feel they cannot engage in the activities they previously enjoyed, or do not want to hold others back knowing they will need to do things more slowly or carefully," clinical psychologist Alison Vargovich, of the University at Buffalo, New York, told Reuters Health by email.

"As they turn down requests to participate in activities and outings, they become more isolated," said Vargovich, who was not associated with the study.

The new study suggests that at least some adolescents with chronic pain are using YouTube to help themselves feel less alone.

The authors acknowledge that among the study's limitations is that adolescents using YouTube in this study may not represent all adolescents with chronic pain. Also, the videos were all in English, and all but one featured only Caucasian adolescents. Furthermore, experiences with YouTube videos likely don't translate directly to other popular platforms, given that posters on YouTube must first create a video and then post it, whereas Snapchat and Instagram, for example, allow for more in-the-moment sharing.

Nevertheless, the researchers say, "Social media presents a robust milieu to disseminate knowledge to adolescents with chronic pain."

They conclude that while YouTube is already being by adolescents with chronic pain, more research is needed "on how best to harness the medium for maximum benefit."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2ZpT2sd The Clinical Journal of Pain, online March 23, 2019.
The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region led the contract award activity in the oil and gas sector during the first three months of 2019 with 569 deals, representing around 48 per cent of the total awarded contracts, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Americas region came a distant second with 366 contracts, accounting for 31% of the total awarded contracts, it stated.

The companys latest report: Quarterly Oil & Gas Industry Contracts Review states that the upstream sector reported 73% of the total awarded contracts, with 862 contracts.

The midstream sector recorded 156 contracts, representing 13% of the total awarded contracts, followed by 141 contracts in the downstream sector; representing 12% of the awarded contracts during the quarter.

Operations and maintenance represented 64% of the awarded contracts in Q1 2019, followed by contracts with multiple scopes, such as construction, design and engineering, installation, O&M, and procurement, which accounted for 11%.

One of the high value contracts was National Marine Dredging Companys $1.36bn contract from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for the provision of dredging, land reclamation and marine construction of artificial islands and causeways, as well as to expand existing Al Ghaf island to drill and produce gas from the first phase development of the Ghasha Concession comprising Hail, Ghasha, Dalma, Nasr, and Mubarraz offshore sour gas fields, in Rub al-Khali Basin, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Other notable contracts during Q1 2019 included Saipems two deals worth $1.3 billion from Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) for the design, engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) services and implementation of subsea systems in addition to the laying of pipelines, subsea cables and umbilicals, platform decks and jackets for the development of Berri and Marjan fields in Arabian Gulf, offshore Saudi Arabia.

The other big deals were Petrofacs lump-sum contract worth around $1 billion from Groupement Isarene for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC), start-up and performance testing for the Ain Tsila field development project in Algeria; and McDermott International, along with its joint venture partners Chiyoda Internationals mega contract in excess of $1 billion from Golden Pass Products for the EPCC of three 5.2 million ton per annum (mtpa) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trains in Sabine Pass, Texas, US.-TradeArabia News Service
Teladoc Health (NYSE: TDOC), a leader in the growing field of telemedicine, reported its first-quarter results on Tuesday.

Revenue continues to grow at a brisk pace thanks to strong membership gains and increasing utilization rates. On the downside, Teladoc's net loss expanded during the quarter thanks to rising costs.

Teladoc first-quarter results: The raw numbers

Metric Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Year-Over-Year Growth Revenue $128.6 million $89.6 million 43% Adjusted EBITDA (loss) $1.2 million ($1.4 million) N/A Net income ($30.2 million) ($23.9 million) N/A Earnings per share ($0.43) ($0.39) N/A

Data source: Teladoc Health. Earnings per share are on a fully diluted basis.

Man sitting at laptop talking to doctor with X-ray in her hands

Image source: Getty Images.

What happened with Teladoc this quarter?

Subscription revenue in the U.S. grew 33% to $81 million. International subscription revenue more than doubled to $30 million.

Consolidated visit-fee revenue grew 26% to $22.6 million. The bulk of the gains were driven by growth in U.S. paid visits.

Organic revenue growth, which strips out the effects of acquisitions, was 23%.

Total revenue of $128.6 million came in at the high end of management's guidance range.

Gross margin declined by 470 basis points to 65.3%. The decline is attributable to the mix of revenue and the effect of acquisitions.

Cash balance at quarter end was $480 million. Total debt was $563 million.

Per member per month (PMPM) fees, which are paid to Teladoc each month by insurers, grew 3% to $1.03 when compared with the year-ago period. Management was quick to point out that this number is weighed down by the effect of acquisitions since it takes time for acquired members to grow comfortable using telemedicine services.

Teladoc also acquired MedecinDirect during the quarter. This company, based in Paris, expands Teladoc's footprint in Europe. The company also stated that the go-live date for its recently announced Teladoc Telemedicine Services in Canada is scheduled for the third quarter of 2019.

Story continues

Looking beyond the financials, Teladoc's membership and usage numbers showed that the company continues to make good progress with adoption:

U.S. paid membership grew 28% to 26.7 million. On an organic basis, U.S. paid membership growth would have been 23%.

U.S. visit-fee-only access, which are consumers with access to Teladoc's network who are not fully covered by insurers, grew 7% to 10.2 million.

Total global visits grew 75% to 1.06 million.

Check out the latest Teladoc earnings call transcript.

What management had to say

On the call with investors, CEO Jason Gorevic said insurers are increasingly willing to offer telemedicine services to their members:

As traditional players wrestle with how to make virtual care at the front door to the healthcare system, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that Teladoc Health is uniquely positioned to equip them to achieve their goals. Due to the broad scope of our clinical services, our ability to address the widest array of consumer healthcare needs through a single intuitive interphase, and importantly, our proven ability to drive consumer adoption. Our growth of over 3 million paid members in Q1 2019 through the health-plan channel is proof of our continued success.

Looking forward

Gorevic noted that the company's "pipeline of new business opportunities across all our channels has never been stronger."

Related to that opportunity, he shared the following guidance with investors about the upcoming quarter:

Metric Q2 2019 Guidance Q2 2018 Actual Growth at Midpoint

Revenue $128 million to $131 million $94.6 million 37% Adjusted EBITDA $5 million to $7 million $2.7 million 122% EPS (loss) ($0.42) to ($0.44) ($0.40) N/A

Data source: Teladoc Health.

Management also took the opportunity to reaffirm guidance for the full year 2019:

Metric 2019 Guidance 2018 Actual Growth at Midpoint

Revenue $535 million to $545 million $417.9 million 29% Adjusted EBITDA (loss) $25 million to $35 million ($35.3 million) N/A EPS ($1.52) to ($1.66) ($1.47) N/A

Data source: Teladoc Health.

Gabe Cappucci, Teladoc's chief accounting officer, also reaffirmed that the company expects to be cash flow positive for the first time in 2019.

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Brian Feroldi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Teladoc Health. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Bitcoin price has benefited from the ongoing Tether scandal. | Source: Shutterstock

By CCN.com: The bitcoin price has increased from $5,173 to $5,297 on major regulated crypto exchanges including Coinbase in the past 24 hours, by 2.3 percent. Major crypto assets such as Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash spiked by 4 to 11 percent against the U.S. dollar.

The unexpected recovery of the crypto market overnight comes after the office of the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit against iFinex, alleging Bitfinex of mismanaging the cash reserves of stablecoin Tether.

On April 30, as CCN reported, the general counsel of Tether stated in an affidavit that only 74 percent of Tether is backed by cash, sparking debates within the crypto community on the solvency of the most dominant stablecoin in the market.

The bitcoin price is up more than 2 percent in the past 24 hours. Source: coinmarketcap.com

Despite the Tether controversy, which one expert has said that it may evolve into the most consequential regulatory intervention in the crypto-sphere in the past three years, the crypto market has rebounded fairly strongly.

Why are Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and the Rest of Crypto Market Surging?

After the release of the affidavit filed by the legal team of Tether, eToro founder and CEO Yoni Assia stated that the bitcoin price may positively benefit from it, at least in the short-term.

He suggested that if the confidence towards Tether as a stablecoin declines, investors would sell Tether for bitcoin, raising the volume and eventually the value of the asset.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Fired by British Prime Minister Theresa May as defense secretary on Wednesday, Gavin Williamson denied leaking information about Chinese telecoms company Huawei from her National Security Council.

Below is a copy of Williamson's response to May.

Dear Prime Minister,

It has been a great privilege to serve as defense secretary and chief whip in your Government. Every day I have seen the extraordinary work of the men and women of our armed forces, who go to incredible lengths to defend our country.

I am sorry that you feel recent leaks from the National Security Council originated in my Department. I emphatically believe this was not the case. I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position.

I have always trusted my civil servants, military advisers and staff. I believe the assurances they have given me.

I appreciate you offering me the option to resign, but to resign would have been to accept that I, my civil servants, my military advisers or my staff were responsible: this was not the case.

Restoring public confidence in the NSC is an ambition we both share. With that in mind I hope that your decision achieves this aim rather than being seen as a temporary distraction.

As I said there has been no greater privilege than working with our armed forces and I will continue to stand up for our service personnel and the superb work they do.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce Editing by Frances Kerry)
Photo: Geffen Playhouse/Yelp

If you're a theater fan, mark your calendars: there's plenty to do when it comes to stage performances in Los Angeles this week, from a play to a circus spectacle.

Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions.

'The Niceties'

From the event description:

If there's anything the last few years have shown us, it's that race is still an issue in America. And how couldn't it be, given our history? But we're only just now starting to face how deeply rooted and tangled the issue is for all of us. Pointing the way are brave, finger-on-the-pulse works like "The Niceties." This intimate, tense drama finds a black student and a white professor  both brilliant, both liberal  meeting to discuss a paper about slavery's role in the American Revolution.

When: Tuesday, April 30, 8 p.m.

Where: Geffen Playhouse  Gil Cates Theater, 10886 Le Conte Ave.

Price: $30 - $49

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

For the Record: 'The Brat Pack'

From the event description:

For The Record, in collaboration with nightlife impresarios The Houston Brothers, bring an MTV teenage dream to life inside the ultimate 1980s speakeasy, Break Room 86. Through a secret entrance inside The Line Hotel, step into a new wave vision of Shermer High School, the place where a Geek, Jock, Basket Case, Princess and Rebel started breaking stereotypes. The Brat Pack tells the story of a decade's most famous fictional school using the best teen films ever made and their unforgettable soundtracks. "The Breakfast Club," "Say Anything," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Fast Times" and more, come to life through songs like "Don't You Forget About Me," "True" and "If You Leave," turning the hilarious and heartbreaking world of high school in the '80s into an immersive, rock 'n' roll fantasy.

Story continues

When: Thursday, May 2, 7:30-9 p.m.

Where: Break Room 86, 3515 Wilshire Blvd.

Price: $26 - $86

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

'Clybourne Park'

From the event description:

This Pulitzer Prize-winning family drama was inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun." Act One, set in 1959, shows nervous white community leaders trying to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two, set in 2009, takes place in the same house and the same neighborhood, and shows the now-predominantly African-American neighborhood battling to hold its ground in the face of white gentrification. Witness how the world turns at Theatre Palisades.

When: Friday, May 3, 8 p.m.

Where: Theatre Palisades, 941 Temescal Canyon Road

Price: $11

Click here for more details, and to get your tickets

NoHo Comedy Festival

From the NoHo Comedy Festival deal description:

North Hollywood festival has seasoned comedians like Damon Wayans Jr., Jimmy O. Yang and Brian Williams take the stage at HaHa Comedy Club.

Where: HaHa Comedy Club, 4712 Lankershim Blvd.

Price: $15; additional deals are available.

Click here for more details, and to score this deal

Circus Vargas: 'The Big One is Back!'

From the Circus Vargas deal description:

Circus Vargas presents The Greatest of Ease, a circus spectacular full of nonstop action and adventure with a trip through the ages of circus history. Animal-free, family-friendly cast of aerialists, acrobats and clowns dance and perform under the big top.

Where: Westfield Promenade, 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd.

Price: $16

Click here for more details, and to nab this deal

This story was created automatically using local event data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Now that Japan has a new emperor, Naruhito, its imperial family will be left with just three heirs to the throne - one of whom is 83 - a situation likely to renew debate on the monarchy's males-only succession. Naruhito has one daughter, 17-year-old Princess Aiko. But she is not eligible to inherit the throne because of a males-only succession law that conservatives see as central to the imperial tradition but that many experts say threatens the very existence of the monarchy. First in line after Naruhito is his younger brother, Akishino, 53, followed by Akishino's son, 12-year-old Hisahito. After that comes 83-year-old Prince Hitachi, younger brother to Akihito, who abdicated as emperor on Tuesday. Surveys show a majority of Japanese favor letting women take the throne, and then passing it on to their children, but conservatives disagree, and they are key to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's support. In 2006, the then-prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, was close to proposing a revision of the males-only rule, but that was shelved with the birth of Prince Hisahito, ending a 41-year drought in male heirs. Historically, Japan's imperial line was preserved by a combination of concubines and cadet royal families called "miyake", who could supply a male heir in a pinch. Japan had several female emperors in the premodern period but that practice ended with the enactment of the Imperial House Law in 1889, which stipulated males-only succession. Emperor Meiji, who died in 1912, was the last monarch to have concubines, and cadet families were stripped of royal status by the Allied Occupation after Japan's World War Two defeat. When parliament in 2017 enacted a special law to allow Akihito to abdicate - itself a controversial move for conservatives - lawmakers also adopted a non-binding resolution asking the government to consider how to ensure stable succession. One change could be to let female royals remain in the imperial family after marrying commoners, so they could at least share imperial duties. But conservatives are cautious about that too as they see it as a first step toward female succession. (Reporting and writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Malcolm Foster)
Three teenagers were killed while taking selfies on a railway track in India, the country which researchers say has the worst record for selfie-related deaths.

A fourth youth managed to jump to safety before the accident in Panipat city in the northern state of Haryana, a police officer told AFP Wednesday.

"The victims were busy taking selfies and when they saw a train approaching they jumped to a second track without realising another train was coming on that," M. S. Dabas told AFP.

"One of them saved his life as he jumped on the other side of the track."

The group had come to Panipat to attend a wedding. Two of those killed were 19 years old and the third was 18.

Experts warn that youngsters obsessed with social media are going to extreme lengths in order to post selfies seen as daring and risky.

A study last year by researchers from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences said 259 people across the world had died while taking selfies between 2011 and 2017.

The highest number of incidents and selfie deaths were reported in India followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan, the study said.

In 2017 three students were killed on a railway track in southern Karnataka state, while a man died in Odisha after an elephant wrapped its trunk around the man and crushed him to death as he tried to take a selfie with the animal.

Last year Railways Minister Piyush Goyal took to Twitter to warn people against risking their life for the sake of photographs.
JA Resorts & Hotels, one of Dubais longest-serving homegrown hospitality brands, said that is expanding into China this year in a joint venture.



In partnership with Novel International Group, a Shanghai investment fund, JA Resorts & Hotels is forming JA Novel Hospitality China, and through this partnership will be acquiring buildings to be retrofitted, renovated or completed as hotels in two distinctions. The first is upper upscale hotels which will be branded as JA Hotels and the second segment will be upper midscale lifestyle hotels branded as Big Bed by JA.



For the upper upscale hotels, the company is currently exploring 3 property options in 2 destinations and another 5-6 areas in the coming years. The vision for the Big Bed brand or Dachuang in Chinese is to roll out 30 units by 2024  spread across various cities in China.



JA Resorts & Hotels consider expansion into China an unmissable opportunity, the company said in a statement.



The population of China is 1.4 billion  making it the worlds most populous country and accounting for 18 per cent of the world population. Millennials in particular, represent 415 million consumers, privileged and informed consumers with high purchasing power. They are also savvy, educated and passionate about travel.



The Big Bed or Dachuang will be a lifestyle hotel brand for Chinese millennials that incorporates technology into every touch point and is very contemporary in style, featuring street art and vibrant colours.



The 3-key room features will be a big, super comfortable bed, large screen with super-fast interactive connectivity and a sleek, practical bathroom with a rain shower. The size of the rooms will be around 20 square meters with an open closet, open bathroom and arty but simplistic millennial design. The hotels will have minimal public space but several areas to hang around, connect with each other, eat or work. With no reception desks, an app will provide access to all hotel services from door key, to ordering food.



JA Resorts & Hotels are now in the final stages of brand design and expect to be ready by July, working with world renowned brand specialists who have launched multiple niche players in the market successfully. The company already has an in-depth knowledge of the Chinese markets due to the teams Asia experience, ongoing connectivity to the DTCM China team and existing presence across Chinese social media platforms  Weibo and WeChat.



A high volume of Chinese travellers also stay at JA Manafaru in the Maldives, where JA Resorts & Hotels has a partnership with Chinas most renowned chef- Da Dong.



CEO of JA Resorts & Hotels, Anthony Ross said of the move: We are targeting 27 per cent of Chinas population, the ba ling hou and the jiu ling hou - the millennials and our objective is to have 30 Big Bed hotels by 2034 and at least 3 JA branded properties. It is an ambitious year of growth and change, but we are ready for it. Our owners are extremely supportive, our team is poised and ready and we are working with the right partners for success.



A legacy UAE brand, JA Resorts & Hotels was born in 1981 and has a widely recognised reputation for excellence, in the management and operation of award-winning resorts and hotels. Taking its name from the original Jebel Ali (JA) Beach hotel, JA Resorts & Hotels portfolio now features 8 distinct properties across the UAE and Indian Ocean, each dedicated to curating unique experiences and creating unforgettable memories.  TradeArabia News Service
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China South City Holdings Limited (HKG:1668), which is in the real estate business, and is based in Hong Kong, received a lot of attention from a substantial price movement on the SEHK over the last few months, increasing to HK$1.41 at one point, and dropping to the lows of HK$1.13. 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 South City Holdings's current trading price of HK$1.19 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 China South City Holdingss outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if there are any catalysts for a price change.

View our latest analysis for China South City Holdings

What is China South City Holdings worth?

The stock seems fairly valued at the moment according to my relative valuation model. Ive used the price-to-earnings ratio in this instance because theres not enough visibility to forecast its cash flows. The stocks ratio of 2.18x is currently trading slightly below its industry peers ratio of 6.49x, which means if you buy China South City Holdings today, youd be paying a fair price for it. And if you believe that China South City Holdings should be trading at this level in the long run, then theres not much of an upside to gain from mispricing. Is there another opportunity to buy low in the future? Since China South City Holdingss share price is quite volatile, we could potentially see it sink lower (or rise higher) in the future, giving us another chance to buy. This is based on its high beta, which is a good indicator for how much the stock moves relative to the rest of the market.

What does the future of China South City Holdings look like?

Story continues

SEHK:1668 Past and Future Earnings, May 1st 2019

Future outlook is an important aspect when youre looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. 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 profit expected to grow by 37% over the next couple of years, the future seems bright for China South City Holdings. It looks like higher cash flow is on the cards for the stock, which should feed into a higher share valuation.

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? 1668s optimistic future growth appears to have been factored into the current share price, with shares trading around its fair value. However, there are also other important factors which we havent considered today, such as the financial strength of the company. Have these factors changed since the last time you looked at 1668? Will you have enough confidence to invest in the company should the price drop below its fair value?

Are you a potential investor? If youve been keeping tabs on 1668, now may not be the most advantageous time to buy, given it is trading around its fair value. However, the positive outlook is encouraging for 1668, which means its worth further examining other factors such as the strength of its balance sheet, in order to take advantage of the next price drop.

Price is just the tip of the iceberg. Dig deeper into what truly matters  the fundamentals  before you make a decision on China South City Holdings. You can find everything you need to know about China South City Holdings in the latest infographic research report. If you are no longer interested in China South City Holdings, 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.
Photo: iStock

Missed the the most recent top news in Jacksonville? Read on for everything you need to know.

Man on Tennessee's Most Wanted list may be in Jacksonville

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is asking for your help finding a man wanted for first-degree murder.

Read the full story on News 4 JAX.

Police find woman shot multiple times in Northwest Jacksonville home

A woman was rushed to the hospital after she was shot multiple times in Northwest Jacksonville.

Read the full story on News 4 JAX.

After 4 months and 51 homicides, violence in Jacksonville most in 13 years

As gunfire rang out in multiple parts of the city over the last two days of April, the first third of 2019 has become the most violent on record in 13 years with 51 homicides reported by the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office.

Read the full story on FIRST COAST NEWS.

Man shot on Jacksonville's Southside

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is investigating a shooting on Jacksonville's Southside.

Read the full story on News 4 JAX.

Florida deputy fired after off-duty fight at Jacksonville hotel

A Brevard County Sheriff's Office deputy was fired after being involved in an altercation while off duty in February at a Jacksonville hotel.

Read the full story on News 4 JAX.

This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) said it will be opening a remote check-in location for the passengers of Indian budget carrier GoAir in the heart of the UAE capital's business district.

Announcing the new initiative, AUH invited GoAir passengers travelling from Abu Dhabi to take advantage of the new remote check-in location at the City Terminal located on 10th street opposite Abu Dhabi Mall in the Tourist Club area.

Starting from May 10, GoAir passengers can check-in 24 hours in advance at the City Terminal. This provides GoAir passengers with the flexibility of checking-in at a time convenient for them, before departing for their flight from AUH.

Abu Dhabi International Airport is one of the few airports in the world to offer remote check-in facilities.

The City Terminal welcomes travellers to check-in between 24 and 4 hours before their flights. The facility also offers retail baggage services including sealing and wrapping to all passengers.

Maarten de Groof, the chief commercial officer of AUH, said: "Last month we welcomed GoAirs inaugural flight from Kannur to Abu Dhabi and this month we are delighted to welcome its passengers to stop by our easily accessible and conveniently located City Terminal facility."

"India is an important market for us Abu Dhabi Airports and we look forward to introducing travellers to our world-class services and unique brand of Arabian hospitality," he added.

Bakul Gala, VP (PR and Marketing) at GoAir, said: "We are happy to invite our customers to avail themselves of Abu Dhabi International Airports City Terminal check-in service. The City Terminal not only provides passengers with the flexibility of checking-in at their convenience but also offers a range of additional services."

"We hope GoAir passengers will greatly benefit from this service," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Photo: Luca Bravo/Unsplash

Missed the the most recent top news in New York City? Read on for everything you need to know.

New York City bans alcohol ads on city property

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a ban of alcohol advertising on city property; existing ads will be allowed to remain until their contracts end.

Read the full story on KC Star.

New York City Councilman Andy King facing new harassment charges

A New York City councilman is facing new harassment charges one year after he was forced to take sensitivity training.

Read the full story on ABC New York, WABC.

New York City homeless problem getting worse, report finds

The Coalition for the Homeless will present its first look at the State of the Homeless report on Tuesday.

Read the full story on ABC New York, WABC.

Two Queens lawmakers propose legislation to legalize e-bikes and e-scooters in New York City - QNS.com

State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic introduced new legislation in Albany that could legalize electric bikes and e-scooters by municipalities across the state as an increasingly popular transportation option  which could pave the way for them to be legalized in New York City.

Read the full story on QNS .

Jews most targeted group in New York City in 2018 as anti-semitic assaults doubled across America: Study

The Anti-Defamation League's annual audit reported 1,879 anti-Semitic incidents against Jews and Jewish institutions across the U.S. in 2018.

Read the full story on Newsweek.

This story was created automatically using data about news stories on social media from CrowdTangle, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
South Africa: Minister addresses ICASA media reports

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

Being a single mother is a challenging, every day job, especially when you are in the often overlooked informal labour sector. Somehow Vivian Muso, 40, seems to be striking this balance while also overcoming everyday hurdles posed by patriarchy in society. Vivian* from Soshanguve has for five years been a contract worker for a company ... See more
The Air Navigation Services Providers (ANSP) must be kept independent of airport operations to ensure their efficiency and high levels of safety and for overcoming capacity constraints, said experts while speaking at a panel discussion held at the 19th edition of Airport Show at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC).

The speakers were Jesper Skou, CEO of GALS ANS, Ryyan Tarabzoni, CEO of Saudi Air Navigation Services, Urs Lauener, COO of skyguide and Kornel Skepessy, CEO of HungaroControl.

Khurram Qureshi, Operations Projects Expert at Dans, moderated the session which looked at the privatisation of ATC since it began in 1987.

Presently, more than 50 ANSPs have been either privatised or corporatized or both. Speakers underscored the need for increasing the operational excellence and accountability of ANSPs.

The ANSPs, they agreed, should be independent of airport operations in order to ensure efficiencies and high levels of safety and for overcoming capacity constraints.

Another panel discussion debated about the impact of digital tower technologies on ATS operations and opportunities to increase capacity, efficiency and enhance safety.

The panellists included Michael Rudolph, Head of Airspace Coordination at Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, Andreas Potzsch, Managing Director of DFS Aviation Services, Neil Bowles, Head of Air Traffic Management, Searidge Technologies and Andrew Paul Fiamingo, Commercial Director of Indra.

In the welcome speech at the 2nd edition of Air Traffic Control (ATC) Forum, Ibrahim Ahli, Deputy CEO of Dubai Air Navigation Services (dans), said the aviation has been contributing enormously to the economy of Dubai which witnesses an average of 1,500 commercial aircraft movements a day.

Describing Dubai as the City of Future, he said the vision and leadership had been behind the continued growth and expansion of the aviation industry in the emirate and its amazing success story in a relatively short span of time.

He said dans, as an independent Air Navigation Services Provider (ANSP), will continue investing in technology and hiring competent people for the air traffic management in order to keep up the unblemished reputation of Dubai in the civil aviation industry.

In his presentation on Impact of Digitization in Aviation, Todd Donovan, Vice President for Digital Aviation at Thales, a French multinational company that provides services for the aerospace industry, said the dynamics of aviation industry has been reshaping due to several powerful forces like new airplanes and new technologies coming on the horizon, posing unprecedented challenges.

Cloud technologies has been amazingly transforming the aviation industry with increased automation and connected systems. This has resulted in an increase in cyber risks, requiring us to improve safety levels, he added.

In his presentation on disruptive technology, David Shomas, Vice President for Civil Security for Middle East and Africa at Saab, a Swedish aerospace company, the UAE has been revolutionizing the air travel by adopting newest technologies and innovations.

"Dubais success is admired and also get others inspired, he remarked. The expert said too much information from too many sources has been coming due to digitalization from the landside, airside and tower operations in the airport ecosystem" he added.-TradeArabia News Service
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration urged a federal appeals court Wednesday to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act.

The court filing, while expected since late March, signaled a no-holds-barred effort by the Justice Department to wipe out a law that has extended health insurance to 20 million Americans.

In court papers filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the administration argued that Congress made the law untenable in 2017 by eliminating tax penalties for people who do not purchase insurance. The provision was part of the $1.5 trillion tax overhaul passed by Republicans in 2017.

The law was enacted in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court two years later under Congress' taxing power. The justices again upheld a major portion of the law in 2015.

U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor declared the law unconstitutional last December, reasoning that without the tax penalty, the law's so-called individual mandate could not survive. O'Connor is a nominee of President George W. Bush.

"In the district court, the Department of Justice took the position that the remainder of the ACA was severable," the administration wrote Wednesday. "But upon further consideration and review of the district courts opinion, it is the position of the United States that the balance of the ACA also is inseverable and must be struck down."

The same position was taken by a coalition of 18 states led by Texas, which filed the latest challenge.

"Since binding precedent confirms that the individual mandate is now unconstitutional, the remaining question is what other parts of the ACA remain," they wrote in court papers. "The ACAs text answers that question explicitly: nothing."

A coalition of 16 states supporting the law, led by California, has three weeks to respond. The appeals court, dominated by Republicans presidents' nominees, is expected to hold oral arguments in July. If its decision comes before next January, it could leave time for the Supreme Court to hear and decide the case in the midst of the 2020 presidential election.

The Trump Administration chose to abandon ship in defending our national health care law and the hundreds of millions of Americans who depend on it for their medical care," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said. "Our legal coalition will vigorously defend the law and the Americans President Trump has abandoned.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump administration urges federal appeals court to strike down Affordable Care Act
President Donald Trumps narrow definition of an emolument failed to win him an escape from a lawsuit by almost 200 Congressional Democrats who claim the president is violating the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan on Tuesday denied a Justice Department request to dismiss the lawsuit, filed in 2017 by Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and other members of the House and Senate who claim Trump is violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

The judges ruling would allow the Democrats to start seeking financial records from the Trump Organization in a pre-trial exchange of information. The Justice Department can try to block that by appealing the ruling. Trump is already fighting congressional subpoenas for his tax information in court and has vowed to fight all subpoenas.

Sullivan in September ruled the Democrats have legal standing to pursue their claim, and held off deciding on the merits. Tuesdays 48-page decision gives a detailed explanation for ruling against the president and siding with the Democrats in a fight they say is crucial for battling corruption.

Trump and the Democrats have clashed over what the once-little-known word emoluments meant at the time the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, with Democrats using a broad definition to cover profits from Trumps businesses and Trump seeking a narrow meaning. Sullivan said the Democrats had the more convincing argument.

Trumps definition disregards the ordinary meaning of the term as set forth in the vast majority of Founding-era dictionaries, Sullivan said in his ruling. The judge also said Trumps definition is inconsistent with the text, structure, historical interpretation, adoption, and purpose of the clause; and is contrary to executive branch practice over the course of many years.

Story continues

Democrats argued the word is broadly defined as any profit, gain or advantage. The president countered that an emolument would be, for example, a payment from a foreign government for an official action or a salary from a foreign power.

The clause says that certain federal officials, including the president, cant accept an emolument from any King, Prince, or foreign State without the Consent of the Congress. The congressional Democrats are seeking an order compelling Trump to notify Congress when hes offered an emolument, giving them the option to vote on whether he can accept it. Blumenthal has called the emoluments clauses the Constitutions premier anti-corruption provision.

Trump said he stepped down from running his $3 billion empire but retained his ownership interests, a decision the Democrats say violates the Foreign Emoluments clause because hes getting payments from foreign governments without congressional approval.

Blumenthal called the judges earlier September ruling a a triumph for the rule of law.

While the Democrats claimed theyre being denied the right to vote on the benefits, attorneys for the president say the matter should be resolved in Congress, not in court.

The cases are Blumenthal v. Trump, 17-cv-1154, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington) and District of Columbia v. Trump, 17-cv-1596, U.S. District Court, District of Maryland (Greenbelt).
In this article:

US president Donald Trump and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders share a moment in the East Room: Getty

The resignation of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders marks just the latest departure for an administration that has turned heads for its high level of turnover.

After Donald Trump became president in January 2017, the administration gained notoriety for its tumult and chaos as the government found its legs.

While the rate of removal has slowed somewhat following the 2018 midterms, the sheer number of high-level departures is notable.

Heres a list of those departures, and how long they lasted in the White House.

Michael Flynn  national security adviser: Started 20 January 2017, left 13 February 2017

Sean Spicer  communications director and press secretary: Started 20 January 2017, left 21 July 2017

Reince Priebus  chief of staff: Started 20 January 2017, left 23 July 2017

Anthony Scaramucci  communications director: Started 21 July 2017, left 31 July 2017

Steve Bannon  chief strategist: Started 20 January 2017, left 18 August 2017

Katie Walsh  deputy chief of staff: Started 20 January 2017, left 30 March 2017

Michael Dubke  communications director: Started 6 March 2017, left 2 June 2017

Sebastian Gorka  deputy assistant to the president: Started 20 January 2017, left 25 August 2017

KT McFarland  deputy national security adviser: Started 20 January 2017, left 9 April 2017

Tom Price  secretary of Health and Human Services: Started 10 February 2017, left 29 September 2017

Omarosa Manigault Newman  assistant to the president and director of communications for the office of public liaison: 20 January 2017, left 13 December 2017

James Comey  FBI director: Started 4 September 2013, left 9 May 2017

http://players.brightcove.net/624246174001/default_default/index.html?videoId=5837728067001
President Donald Trump retweeted more than five dozen messages in an hour Wednesday morning, most seeking to cast doubt on the support of firefighters for Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden.

Biden, who announced his candidacy last week, has focused on appealing to the Rust Belt workers who helped Trump win in Pennsylvania and the upper Midwest. The International Association of Firefighters endorsed him on Monday. Several polls on Tuesday showed the former vice president solidifying his lead in a crowded Democratic 2020 field.

Ive done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO! Trump said in one posting to his nearly 60 million followers on the social media platform.

Along with that message, Trump retweeted Fox News personality Dan Bongino, along with people who said they were firefighters or their family members about a divide that exists between union leaders and members.

Another person who identified themselves as a firefighter said they plan to vote for the incumbent.

The retweets were replies to the earlier assertion by Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and New York police officer, that the firefighters he knew werent lining up behind Biden.

Trump also used Twitter Wednesday to signal he overrode a decommission order for the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Harry Truman, as well as quoting Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley saying Democrats cant accept there was no collusion, there was no conspiracy, there was no obstruction.
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is set to meet with Republican senators on Wednesday over a proposal to waive rules that only U.S.-flagged ships can move natural gas from American ports to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Northeast. The nearly 100-year-old Jones Act mandates the use of U.S.-flagged vessels to transport merchandise between U.S. coasts. Bloomberg News reported last week the administration was seriously considering waiving the requirements for some energy shipments and that Trump was leaning in favor of some kind of waiver. "I am going to go to the White House tomorrow to try to talk to the president out of doing something foolish and that is trying to curtain the Jones Act protections," Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, told Reuters on Tuesday. "If that is his inclination, then (Trump) has been receiving some bad advice." The White House declined to comment. In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security waived the requirement for one week to allow oil and gas operators to use often cheaper, tax-free, or more readily available foreign-flagged vessels to ensure enough fuel reached emergency responders during Hurricane Irma and following Hurricane Harvey. A person briefed on the matter confirmed that administration officials were divided on the issue. Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Commerce Committee, and a number of other Republicans are set to attend the meeting that had not previously been made public, he said. "There is massive support in the Congress for keeping the Jones Act as it is. We don't need to tinker with it," Wicker said on Tuesday, saying it had strong "across-the-board" bipartisan support. At the White House meeting, Wicker said: "We'll be talking policy and politics." Any changes would not go over well in Congress "at all, in either party," he said. In February, leaders of the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure wrote DHS to oppose a request from Puerto Rico to waive the Jones Act for 10 years to allow foreign tankers to move liquid natural gas to the U.S. island territory. Puerto Rico is still recovering from devastating Hurricane Maria in 2017. Democratic Representative Peter DeFazio, who chairs the committee, and Sam Graves, the panel's top Republican, said in the letter the Jones Act "has promoted economic growth and national security, and created hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs in our domestic maritime trades and shipbuilding industries." (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Peter Cooney)
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump asked Congress for $4.5 billion in emergency funds to address what he described as a "humanitarian crisis" at the U.S.-Mexican border, setting up another showdown with lawmakers over immigration.

The money would be used to handle an influx of migrants, not Trump's proposed border wall, according to administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the proposal. The request is likely to run into opposition from Democrats concerned with the administration's overall approach to immigration.

"The situation becomes more dire each day," Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote to congressional leaders in the White House request. "The migration flow and the resulting humanitarian crisis is rapidly overwhelming the ability of the Federal Government to respond."

Democrats said they would review the request but raised concerns about some of the proposals. More than $150 million of the new money would be used to accommodate significant increases in immigrants detained, for instance.

The Trump administration appears to want much of this $4.5 billion emergency supplemental request to double down on cruel and ill-conceived policies, said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee. Locking up people who pose no threat to the community for ever-longer periods of time is not a solution to the problems at the border.

The money, if approved, would be a major increase in funding for the border. Trump had sought $5.7 billion for the border wall, which resulted in a fight that led to the partial government shutdown this year. He wound up receiving $1.375 billion for border fencing. The White House said it will free up $8 billion through the national emergency Trump declared on the border in February.

Administration officials said the funding would be used to build facilities to house immigrants, medical treatment, food, diapers and similar needs. The Department of Homeland Security has been repeatedly criticized for conditions at the border.

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The funding would include $3.3 billion for humanitarian assistance, $1.1 billion for border operations and $178 million for "mission support," the White House said.

Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 92,000 immigrants trying to cross the border illegally in March, a 12-year high. The administration is dealing with a surge of migrant families fleeing violence in Central America and attempting to claim asylum. The White House proposed sweeping rules this week that would make the asylum process more difficult and more expensive.

Trump has been carrying out a major shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security, including the removal of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen last month.

President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington to meet with Senate Republicans on March 26, 2019, after saying he wants to refocus on repealing Obamacare.

Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, pressed Democrats to support the request, describing it as an opportunity for House Democrats to put down their partisan rhetoric and embrace the need for more DHS funding.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump requests $4.5 billion to address 'humanitarian crisis' at border
GREENVILLE, S.C.  A 22-year-old man has been identified by police as the suspect in a deadly shooting on a college campus in North Carolina.

Trystan Andrew Terrell is facing pending charges after a shooting Tuesday left two people dead and four people injured at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is in custody.

The suspect was "not somebody ... on our radar" prior to Tuesday's shooting," UNC Charlotte Police Chief Jeff Baker said at a news conference.

Terrell was a history major at UNC Charlotte, most recently enrolled in fall 2018, the same semester he transferred to the school, according to the university's advising system called Connect.

More: What we know about UNC Charlotte shooting

More: Rapper Waka Flocka Flame 'safe' after UNC Charlotte shooting, cancels campus concert

Police were not searching for additional suspects as of Tuesday night, according to a press release from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Terrell was located by the UNC Charlotte Police on scene and was initially transported to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police headquarters to be interviewed by detectives, the police department said in a statement.

Terrell, who was born in Texas, is a registered voter in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, according to his voter registration records.

Terrell's grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, told the Associated Press on Tuesday night that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died in 2011.

Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language-learning program, Rold said. He had never shown interest in guns or other weapons, his grandfather said, and the news that he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning to him.

Rold learned of the deadly UNC Charlotte attack from the AP reporter.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on The Greenville News: UNC Charlotte shooting suspect is a 22-year-old former student who majored in history
The man accused of shooting two people dead on a college campus has been filmed smirking as he told reporters: "I went into a classroom and shot some guys."

Trystan Andrew Terrell made the chilling remarks as he was cuffed and taken into custody on Tuesday night, shortly after two people were killed and four injured at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte.

The shooting began around 5.40pm, when Terrell entered an anthropology class and began shooting, according to witnesses, until he ran out of bullets.

In an interview on Wednesday with local radio, UNC Chancellor Phillip Dubois named those who were fatally injured as Ellis R Parlier, 19, and Riley C Howell, 21.

Mr Dubois said that three of the injured students had undergone surgery and were expected to make a full recovery. A fourth student, who was less seriously injured, has been treated and released by a hospital.

CBS News reports that the entire campus was put on lockdown following the start of the shooting. UNC sophomore Tristan Field, who was in the anthropology classroom during the shooting, told CBS that he believes Mr Terrell sat in the room for 10 minutes with the students before opening fire.

Mr Field described the panic as many as 50 students attempting to leave the room when the shooting began. He had also tweeted during the shooting, writing on Tuesday night There was an active shooter in my room in the Kennedy building at UNC Charlotte, get to safety immediately.

Why would anyone do this? his tweets continued. We were just doing presentations and someone started shooting up the room. We didn't do anything but our work. Stay safe UNCC.

On Twitter early Wednesday morning, the professor of the anthropology class said his students were in the midst of giving team presentations when the shooting began.

Mr Terrells grandfather, Paul Rold, told the Associated Press that Mr Terrell was previously enrolled at the university, but its unclear if he was a student at the time of the shooting. Mr Rold says his grandson grew up in Texas and moved to North Carolina with his father after his mother died in 2011.
Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia's arrest of an expert investigating possible violations of an arms embargo on war-torn Libya has sparked a diplomatic standoff between the North African country and the United Nations.

Moncef Kartas, a member of a UN panel of experts, has been held for five weeks on suspicion of spying for unnamed "foreign parties" -- charges that could carry the death sentence.

The UN insists Kartas has diplomatic immunity and has demanded that authorities reveal the reasons for his detention on arrival in Tunis on March 26.

In mid-April, the world body said Tunisia had "failed to provide an adequate response" in line with its international legal obligations.

On Tuesday, a group of researchers published an open letter in several European newspapers, demanding his immediate release.

"The detention of Moncef Kartas on false grounds and in violation of his immunity raises serious questions about the rule of law in Tunisia," wrote the group of around a hundred academics and researchers.

They said that "not a single piece of evidence" had been released to justify his detention.

Kartas, a Tunisian-German dual national, was appointed in 2016 to a UN panel of experts tasked with investigating possible arms shipments into Libya in violation of an embargo.

Tunisia's neighbour has been plagued by violent chaos since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

On April 4, military strongman Khalifa Haftar launched an operation to seize the capital Tripoli from the UN-recognised government.

The panel to which Kartas belonged has found that arms and ammunition deliveries continued to reach warring parties despite the UN embargo -- with the involvement of member states.

- Silence over reasons -

On Tuesday, his lawyers submitted an official request for his release.

They noted that a key pillar of the charges against him was that he had "a device giving access to public data on flights of civil and commercial aircraft," his lawyer Sarah Zaafrani said.

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Tunisia bans the use of RTL-SDR radio scanners without special permission.

Zaafrani told AFP that Kartas had had the device "only for the purpose of monitoring air traffic to Libya, in order to identify flights that may be linked to violations of the arms embargo".

Tunisian authorities have remained circumspect about the reasons for his arrest.

The prosecution said last month it had issued an arrest warrant over an enquiry into "the acquisition of security information related to the fight against terrorism and the dissemination of this information in violation of the law".

It did not respond to an AFP request for further details.

The interior ministry said it had seized documents containing information that could harm "national security", along with banned communications equipment.

Zaafrani said those questioning Kartas have so far focused on his activities in relation to Libya.

The expert is likely to be held in prison throughout the investigation, which could last several months.

His family say they have had no contact with him since his arrest.

The UN says Kartas has diplomatic immunity unless stripped of it by the world body's secretary general -- but Tunisia has made no such request.

Some suspect he had touched a nerve by trying to identify those responsible for transferring arms to Libya.

"This detention is obstructing the work of a UN panel precisely when it has an important role to play," said Wolfram Lacher, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and a friend of Kartas.

"Fighting is intensifying and there are reports of foreign shipments of weapons," Lacher said.

The arrest sets "a very dangerous precedent for the work of UN panels in other countries," he added.
ISTANBUL, May 1 (Reuters) - Two Turkish restaurant workers have been detained in Libya by forces of eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, and the Turkish authorities have denied that they were spies, a Turkish newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Haberturk newspaper said Volkan Altinok and Mehmet Demir, who worked in a restaurant in the south of the capital Tripoli, have been held since April 12 in a prison near Benghazi. It said pro-Haftar media had reported that they were suspected of spying, but Turkish authorities had rejected the allegations as "social media delirium."

The Turkish foreign ministry declined to comment.

Haftar's eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) mounted an offensive on Tripoli, in the west of the country, three weeks ago. It has so far failed to breach defenses in the city's south despite heavy fighting.

The battle for the capital has all but wrecked U.N.-backed efforts for a peace deal between rival factions that have competed for power since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011. Turkey supports Libya's internationally recognized government based in the capital. (Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Tuvan Gumrukcu Editing by Peter Graff)
ISTANBUL, May 1 (Reuters) - Istanbul police said they detained 127 people on Wednesday for attempting to hold illegal demonstrations in various parts of the city to celebrate May Day.

Police had cordoned off Istanbul's central Taksim square, but small groups of demonstrators converged on it anyway.

"Squares belong to the people, they cannot be closed off. Long live May 1," protesters yelled there, as police hauled them away, covering their mouths to stop them chanting.

Protests for May Day, the international workers' holiday, are an annual occurrence in Turkey and have in the past been characterized by police action against demonstrators. Protests have often centered on Taksim square where 34 people were killed during demonstrations on May 1, 1977.

Earlier in the day, police had allowed a ceremony by union leaders to be held at Taksim Square, and another group laid carnations on a street nearby.

Authorities allowed celebrations to be held in the Bakirkoy district, which is located some distance from the city center.

By 1300 GMT, Istanbul police said they had detained 127 demonstrators in various parts of the city, including the central districts of Besiktas, Sisli and Beyoglu.

In Besiktas a small group of protesters spontaneously began shouting slogans and waving red flags of the leftist People's Libration Party (HKP). Footage from the scene showed police scuffling with protesters, rounding some of them up and putting them in police vans.

Ozgur Karabulut, general manager of Dev Yapi-Is Union, said the celebrations were continuing smoothly in Bakirkoy, with participants from all parts of society. (Reporting by Murad Sezer, Ali Kucukgocmen and Bulent Usta Editing by Peter Graff)
By Greg Lacour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters) - A gunman reported to have been a student opened fire in a building at the University of North Carolina's Charlotte campus on Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four others, three of them critically, officials said.

Details of the early evening violence remained hazy hours later, but campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said his emergency dispatch office first received a call about an individual armed with a pistol who had shot several students.

Two or three campus police officers responding to the call entered the building, disarmed the gunman and took him into custody, Baker said.

The accused shooter was identified late Tuesday as Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, who is in custody with charges pending. No other information about Terrell was released.

Officials offered no explanation for what might have precipitated the shooting, and it was unclear whether the assailant knew any of his victims.

Local television news footage showed police officers escorting a tall, lanky young man with shaggy brown hair from a patrol car. As he was taken into a station house, the man looked over his shoulder with a smile and appeared to yell something at reporters.

Several local media outlets reported the gunman either was or had been a student on the campus.

"Our officers' actions definitely saved lives. There's no doubt about that," Baker said.

The gun violence, coinciding with the last day of classes for the academic year, prompted a security lockdown of the entire campus as police swept the university one building at a time, evacuating students as they progressed.

Video aired on local television and posted to social media showed scenes that have become all too familiar in the United States due to the rise in school gun violence, with students evacuating campus buildings with their hands raised as police officers ran past them toward the scene of the shooting.

About three hours after the shooting, Baker said all university buildings had been searched and secured and that students who live on campus could return to their dormitory halls. The university said final exams would be postponed through Sunday.

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An outdoor concert scheduled for Tuesday night at the campus football stadium by rap artist Waka Flocka Flame was also canceled after the shooting.

LONE SUSPECT

Sandy D'Elousa, a spokeswoman for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, which is leading the investigation, said the suspect in custody was believed to have acted alone.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said its agents were on the scene assisting police.

"The FBI is prepared to provide any resource needed as the investigation continues to determine exactly what led to this tragic loss of life in our community," said John Strong, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Charlotte.

Baker confirmed that two victims were killed and four other injured, three of them listed in critical condition.

Television station WBTV in Charlotte, the state's most populous city, reported that gunfire erupted near the university's Kennedy Hall administrative building.

"We are in shock to learn of an active shooter situation on the campus of UNC Charlotte. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others," Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said on Twitter.

Susan Harden, a professor of education on campus since 2011 who also serves on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, expressed disbelief at the gun violence.

"This is a day at the end of the semester, when students are doing performances, presentations ... this is just the worst thing," Harden said at the police staging area.

"Our campus is so safe. So safe. I've never felt unsafe on our campus. I'm heartbroken."

Initial word of the shooting surfaced in a frantic warning posted by the school on its official Twitter account.

"Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately," the university posted. The school said later on its website the campus was on lockdown and that students and staff should "remain in a safe location."

According to its website, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte enrolls more than 26,500 students and employs 3,000 faculty and staff.

The deadliest mass shooting on a campus of higher education in the United States took place at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, on April 16, 2007, when a student killed 32 people in a shooting rampage, before killing himself.

(Reporting by Greg Lacour in Charlotte; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Peter Cooney and Himani Sarkar)
Charlotte (AFP) - Two people were killed and four were wounded in a shooting Tuesday at the University of North Carolina's Charlotte campus.

The university's office of emergency management tweeted an alert warning that shots had been reported on campus shortly before 6:00 pm, on what was students' last day of classes this academic year.

"Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately," it said.

Local emergency services said two people had been killed, while another two sustained life-threatening injuries and two more were being treated for less serious wounds.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the shooter as 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell.

The University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC) campus police chief Jeff Baker told a press conference that his team "disarmed" and took custody of the suspect after receiving a call around 4:40 pm that someone was "armed with a pistol."

He declined to share details about the victims.

A local Fox television affiliate identified the dead as male teenagers aged 17 and 18.

Video footage posted on social media showed anxious students filing away from the school with their hands raised.

It was not immediately clear which part of the school the shooter targeted.

"It was a really scary experience to hear the shots and have to run... I didn't think I would have to experience something like that," one student told NBC News.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said she was "in shock" after hearing of the rampage.

"My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others," she wrote on Twitter.

The university said on Twitter that final exams have been canceled through Sunday.

The shooting comes just days after a teenage gunman opened fire on a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one person and injuring three others: the latest in a string of mass shootings across the US.

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According to government figures, 40,000 people were killed by firearms in the United States in 2017 -- two thirds of them suicides -- the highest annual toll in five decades.

The perennial debate over gun control in America kicks up again at each shooting, a far too frequent occurrence.

Yet no solution has been found over the decades that satisfies both those seeking stricter gun controls to reduce such tragedies and those supportive of constitutional guarantees to the right to bear arms.

Efforts have always proved divisive, and Republican lawmakers have been highly successful at preventing what they describe as an assault on their right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.

The number of firearms in circulation has continued to grow (now at 393 million in a nation of 326 million people), and mass shootings have become a disturbingly regular part of American life.

The worst school shootings to date were those at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut in 2012 (20 young children and six adults were killed) and at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last year (17 dead).

But the power of an influential gun lobby and a long tradition of gun ownership have meant that little has been done to improve gun safety.
Charlotte (AFP) - Two people were killed and at least four wounded in a shooting Tuesday at the University of North Carolina's Charlotte campus.

The university's office of emergency management tweeted an alert warning that shots had been reported on campus shortly before 6:00 pm (2200 GMT), on what was students' last day of classes this academic year.

"Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately," it said.

Local emergency services said two people had been killed, while another two sustained life-threatening injuries and two more were being treated for less serious wounds.

Police confirmed the shooter, identified by NBC Charlotte as a 22-year-old history student at the campus, was in custody.

A local Fox television affiliate meanwhile identified the dead as boys aged 17 and 18.

"Scene secure. One in custody. No reason to believe anyone else involved," the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted, adding that law enforcement and university staff were sweeping buildings to round up those still sheltering.

Video footage posted on social media showed anxious students filing away from the school with their hands raised.

It was not immediately clear which part of the school the shooter targeted.

"It was a really scary experience to hear the shots and have to run... I didn't think I would have to experience something like that," one student told NBC News.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said she was "in shock" after hearing of the rampage.

"My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others," she wrote on Twitter.

The shooting comes just days after a teenage gunman opened fire on a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one person and injuring three others: the latest in a string of mass shootings across the US.

According to government figures, 40,000 people were killed by firearms in the United States in 2017 -- two thirds of them suicides -- the highest annual toll in five decades.

Story continues

The perennial debate over gun control in America kicks up again at each shooting, a far too frequent occurrence.

Yet no solution has been found over the decades that satisfies both those seeking stricter gun controls to reduce such tragedies and those supportive of constitutional guarantees to the right to bear arms.

Efforts have always proved divisive, and Republican lawmakers have been highly successful at preventing what they describe as an assault on their right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.

The number of firearms in circulation has continued to grow (now at 393 million in a nation of 326 million people), and mass shootings have become a disturbingly regular part of American life.

The worst school shootings to date were those at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut in 2012 (20 young children and six adults were killed) and at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last year (17 dead).

But the power of an influential gun lobby and a long tradition of gun ownership have meant that little has been done to improve gun safety.
The embattled management at Bayer just got a handy boost from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)a draft report that says glyphosate, the active ingredient in its Roundup weedkiller, does not cause cancer.

This is no change of stance on the EPAs part, but the timing of the new report should prove beneficial to Bayer, which bought Roundup-maker Monsanto last year and is facing 13,400 claims from people who claim the substance is carcinogenic.

Two juries have already decided that Roundup did cause plaintiffs cancer, leading to damageswhich Bayer is appealingtotaling $159 million. Amid the verdicts, Bayers value has plummeted some 40%. More trials will take place this year, and now Bayers lawyers get to point to the EPAs opinion as backing up their central argument that glyphosate is not carcinogenic.

Glyphosate and cancer

This is no isolated finding. As Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a Tuesday statement, the EPAs proposed interim decision on the substances safety is consistent with the findings of other regulatory authorities that glyphosate does not pose a carcinogenic hazard to humans.

However, not all studies have agreed on that point. Notably, the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said in a 2015 report that glyphosate was probably carcinogenic to humans. Unlike regulatory agencies, the IARC looked only at studies that were in the public domain and available for independent scientific reviewthat meant ignoring industry data that could not be independently verified.

In its proposed decision, the EPA defended its use of industry-funded studies by saying it has rigorous guidelines for how studies should be conducted and independently evaluates required studies for scientific acceptability.

EPAs cancer evaluation is more robust than IARCs evaluation, the agency claimed, adding that its evaluation was also more transparent as its work was open for public comment. By contrast, the IARCs meetings are closed, it does not allow public comment, and its reports are final without an external peer review, according to the EPA

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As it happens, the EPA is not the only U.S. agency currently seeking public comment on a glyphosate-related report. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry also put out a draft report last month noting that, while most studies found no glyphosate-cancer link, a possible association between exposure to glyphosate and risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma could not be ruled out, based on conflicting results.

Interestingly, the EPA draft notes that Bayer and an unidentified organization organized separate mass-mail campaigns, including comments from farmers and consumers, urging the agency to keep glyphosate accessible. On the other hand, environmental groups organized seven mass-mail campaigns, calling on the EPA to restrict glyphosates use, reconsider its view on the cancer link, and protect the monarch butterflyan insect whose population may be threatened by glyphosate use. One of those organizations was unidentified, too.

Shareholder rebuke

Bayer has consistently maintained that glyphosate is safe to use, but its shareholders are freaking out about the massive liabilities it seems to face in the U.S.

On Friday a majority of investors refused to ratify managements actions over the last year, on the basis that they had not properly assessed the financial risk of the $63 billion Monsanto acquisition. This was unprecedented for a German corporation, where shareholders almost always back management in such votes by more than 90%.

As a result, Bayers board of management, led by CEO Werner Baumann, is in a precarious position, saved only by two factors: the backing of Bayers supervisory board, which is led by Baumann mentor Werner Wenning, and the fact that investors are for now loath to introduce more chaos into the equation by bringing in new management.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Bayers supervisory board would in the next few weeks hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss a crisis of confidence in its leadership.
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is tentatively planning a May 15 hearing on the now grounded Boeing 737 MAX and the Federal Aviation Administration's aircraft certification program, three people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for Representative Peter DeFazio, who chairs the panel, declined to comment on the date. DeFazio told reporters on Tuesday he planned to hold a hearing on the Boeing 737 MAX and the certification process in the near future.

The hearing is expected to include Acting FAA Administrator Dan Elwell, National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt and Earl Lawrence, who was named executive director of the FAA's Aircraft Certification Service in 2018, the sources said.

Last month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao named a panel of experts to a blue-ribbon committee to review the aircraft certification process after two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes killed nearly 350 people.

In a March 28 memo to Elwell reviewed by Reuters, Chao said she wanted an "action plan" from the FAA "to reassure congressional oversight committees that the FAA's culture of safety remains not only robust but forward-looking" and to restore "public trust in aviation safety."

She also asked what "measures are needed to reinforce the culture of safety and constantly improve the FAA's oversight functions and offices, including the certification process."

The FAA has for decades delegated some certification duties to Boeing and other manufacturers.

Separately, Senate Commerce Committee chairman Roger Wicker told Reuters on Wednesday he still plans to call Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg to testify at a future date. "I think he'll want to," Wicker said.

Federal prosecutors, the Transportation Departments inspector general and lawmakers are investigating the FAAs certification of the 737 MAX 8 aircraft. A joint review by 10 governmental air regulators of the Max's certification started on Monday in Seattle. Sumwalt said in March the NTSB was also examining the certification process "to ensure any deficiencies are captured and addressed."

Boeing has told some 737 MAX owners it is targeting U.S. FAA approval of its software fix as early as late May and the ungrounding of the aircraft around mid-July, two sources told Reuters last month. Boeing has not yet formally submitted the software fix to the FAA for approval.

U.S. carriers have canceled flights because of the 737 MAX grounding through early August. (Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Tom Brown)
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a television interview on Wednesday that the United States was prepared to take military action to stem the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela.

"Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox Business Network, but added that the United States would prefer a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela. (Reporting by Makini Brice Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has stopped tracking the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Afghan government and militants, a U.S. watchdog said on Tuesday, one of the last remaining public metrics that tracked the worsening security situation in the war-torn country.

The move comes as U.S. and Taliban officials have held several rounds of talks aimed at ensuring a safe exit for U.S. forces in return for a Taliban guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used by militants to threaten the rest of the world.

The Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive in early April. Even before the announcement, combat had intensified across Afghanistan in recent weeks and hundreds of Afghan troops and civilians have been killed.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a report published late Tuesday night that the U.S. military had told the watchdog it was no longer tracking the level of control or influence the Afghan government and militants had over districts in the country.

The NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan had told SIGAR that the assessments were "of limited decision-making value to the (RS) Commander."

Colonel David Butler, spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, said that while Resolute Support was no longer doing the analyzes, the intelligence community did its own classified assessment of districts controlled by the government and Taliban. He did not speculate on whether the intelligence community analyzes would continue or not.

"This much is clear: There's even less information for American taxpayers to gauge whether their investment in Afghanistan is a success, or something else," John Sopko, the head of SIGAR, told Reuters.

A January report put districts under government control or influence at 53.8 per cent covering 63.5 percent of the population by October 2018, with the rest of the country controlled or contested by the Taliban.

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Experts said that the move to stop tracking the key data was worrying because Washington had publicly set a benchmark which would now be difficult to measure.

In November 2017, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan at the time set a goal of driving back Taliban insurgents enough for the government to control at least 80 percent of the country within two years.

"If the military is not going to be tracking that data anymore, that is going to make it a lot more difficult to get a sense as to how strong the Taliban is," Michael Kugelman, with the Woodrow Wilson Center, said.

"That may well be the military's intention," he said.

DIMINISHING ACCOUNTABILITY

Over the past few years, the U.S. military has restricted data on the Afghan war being shared with the public, including the size of the security forces, casualty numbers and the attrition rate for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).

In 2018, the U.S. military said a "human error in labeling" caused it to treat as classified information the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Taliban and the Afghan government.

The rest of the report painted a bleak picture of the security situation in Afghanistan.

Citing numbers from Resolute Support, SIGAR said the monthly average of enemy-initiated attacks increased by 19 percent from November 2018 through January 2019 compared to between August to October 2018.

ANDSF casualties increased by about 31 percent from December through February compared to the same three-month period last year.

"The latest data from the few remaining publicly available measures of the security situation in Afghanistan - enemy-initiated attacks, general ANDSF casualty trends, and security incidents - show that Afghanistan experienced heightened insecurity," the report said. (Reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington Editing by James Dalgleish)
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted Masood Azhar, the head of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), on Wednesday after China dropped its obstruction of the move, diplomats said.

JeM carried out a Feb. 14 attack in Kashmir that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police, making it the deadliest in the disputed region during a 30-year-long insurgency. The attack increased tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Michelle Nichols and Saad Sayeed

UNITED NATIONS/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a decade-long diplomatic impasse.

Pakistan's ally China had repeatedly opposed efforts at the United Nations by Western powers to directly sanction JeM founder Masood Azhar, even though the group had already been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council in 2001.

JeM has carried out several high-profile attacks in India and claimed responsibility for a February suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir, an attack that brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war.

However, to win China's support for the sanctioning of Azhar, the United States, Britain and France removed a reference to the February attack in the Indian city of Pulwama from their request to the U.N. Security Council's Islamic State and al Qaeda sanctions committee.

The 15-member committee, which operates by consensus, agreed on Wednesday to subject Azhar to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze.

Azhar's freedom within Pakistan has been a sore point in the relationship between Western countries and Pakistan, and has led to repeated accusations by India that Islamabad uses and harbors militant groups to further its foreign policy agenda. Pakistan denies such accusations.

A senior U.S. administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Pakistan had taken some steps against Jaish-e-Mohammed after the Pulwama attack.

"However, there are additional steps that Pakistan could take to show an irreversible commitment and to permanently put these kinds of groups out of business," said the official, also citing militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Haqqani network.

"These steps could include arresting leaders and disrupting their ability to communicate and travel, shutting down affiliated business and charity wings," the official said.

Story continues

After the February attack, the United States, Britain and France asked for Azhar to be sanctioned. But the move was opposed by China, which said it wanted more time to study the request. Beijing had previously prevented the sanctions committee from imposing sanctions on Azhar, including in 2016 and 2017.

The United States, Britain and France stepped up their push to blacklist Azhar in late March by proposing a resolution, which would have needed nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass.

After further negotiations, they instead submitted the revised request to the committee on Sunday to sanction Azhar.

PAKISTAN TO ENFORCE SANCTIONS

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had studied the new designation request and that the issue was now "appropriately resolved."

"I would like to emphasize that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to the fight against terrorism, which should be fully affirmed by the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to fight terrorism and extremist forces," Geng added, without elaborating.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Islamabad backed Azhar's designation after the removal of references to the February attack.

"Were going to enforce this decision forthwith," Faisal told reporters in the capital, Islamabad, referring to the travel ban and asset freeze.

In a statement, India's foreign ministry welcomed the sanctioning of Azhar as "a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers."

JeM, a predominantly anti-India group, also forged ties with al Qaeda. In December 2001, JeM fighters, along with members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked India's parliament, which almost led to a fourth war between the two countries.

The February attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir prompted India to carry out an aerial bombing mission inside Pakistan, the first such move since a 1971 war. Pakistan carried out its own aerial bombardment the following day, and the two countries even fought a brief dogfight over Kashmir skies.

Tensions began to ease when Pakistan, amid pressure from global powers, returned a downed Indian pilot shot down over Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Pakistan has been on a charm offensive in recent months to avoid the country being blacklisted by a global financial body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and terrorism financing.

Islamabad has vowed to crack down on anti-India militants and other groups operating on its soil. It has shut down some madrassas linked to violent groups and as part of the crackdown also detained relatives of Azhar in "protective custody".

"It's too early to say whether Pakistan will indeed uphold its international obligations, but we remain hopeful," the senior U.S. administration official said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; additional reporting by Saad Sayeed and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; writing by Drazen Jorgic and Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Phil Berlowitz)
By Michelle Nichols and Saad Sayeed UNITED NATIONS/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee blacklisted the head of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on Wednesday after China dropped its objection to the move, ending a decade-long diplomatic impasse. Pakistan's ally China had repeatedly opposed efforts at the United Nations by Western powers to directly sanction JeM founder Masood Azhar, even though the group had already been blacklisted by the U.N. Security Council in 2001. JeM has carried out several high-profile attacks in India and claimed responsibility for a February suicide bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir, an attack that brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of war. However, to win China's support for the sanctioning of Azhar, the United States, Britain and France removed a reference to the February attack in the Indian city of Pulwama from their request to the U.N. Security Council's Islamic State and al Qaeda sanctions committee. The 15-member committee, which operates by consensus, agreed on Wednesday to subject Azhar to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze. Azhar's freedom within Pakistan has been a sore point in the relationship between Western countries and Pakistan, and has led to repeated accusations by India that Islamabad uses and harbors militant groups to further its foreign policy agenda. Pakistan denies such accusations. A senior U.S. administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that Pakistan had taken some steps against Jaish-e-Mohammed after the Pulwama attack. "However, there are additional steps that Pakistan could take to show an irreversible commitment and to permanently put these kinds of groups out of business," said the official, also citing militant groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Haqqani network. "These steps could include arresting leaders and disrupting their ability to communicate and travel, shutting down affiliated business and charity wings," the official said. After the February attack, the United States, Britain and France asked for Azhar to be sanctioned. But the move was opposed by China, which said it wanted more time to study the request. Beijing had previously prevented the sanctions committee from imposing sanctions on Azhar, including in 2016 and 2017. The United States, Britain and France stepped up their push to blacklist Azhar in late March by proposing a resolution, which would have needed nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass. After further negotiations, they instead submitted the revised request to the committee on Sunday to sanction Azhar. PAKISTAN TO ENFORCE SANCTIONS Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had studied the new designation request and that the issue was now "appropriately resolved." "I would like to emphasize that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to the fight against terrorism, which should be fully affirmed by the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to fight terrorism and extremist forces," Geng added, without elaborating. Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Islamabad backed Azhar's designation after the removal of references to the February attack. "Were going to enforce this decision forthwith," Faisal told reporters in the capital, Islamabad, referring to the travel ban and asset freeze. In a statement, India's foreign ministry welcomed the sanctioning of Azhar as "a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers." JeM, a predominantly anti-India group, also forged ties with al Qaeda. In December 2001, JeM fighters, along with members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, attacked India's parliament, which almost led to a fourth war between the two countries. The February attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir prompted India to carry out an aerial bombing mission inside Pakistan, the first such move since a 1971 war. Pakistan carried out its own aerial bombardment the following day, and the two countries even fought a brief dogfight over Kashmir skies. Tensions began to ease when Pakistan, amid pressure from global powers, returned a downed Indian pilot shot down over Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Pakistan has been on a charm offensive in recent months to avoid the country being blacklisted by a global financial body, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which monitors money laundering and terrorism financing. Islamabad has vowed to crack down on anti-India militants and other groups operating on its soil. It has shut down some madrassas linked to violent groups and as part of the crackdown also detained relatives of Azhar in "protective custody". "It's too early to say whether Pakistan will indeed uphold its international obligations, but we remain hopeful," the senior U.S. administration official said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York; additional reporting by Saad Sayeed and Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; writing by Drazen Jorgic and Michelle Nichols; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Phil Berlowitz)
May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. private employers added 275,000 jobs in April, well above economists' expectations and the most since last July, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast the ADP National Employment Report would show a gain of 180,000 jobs, with estimates ranging from 141,000 to 225,000.

Private payroll gains in the month earlier were revised up to 151,000 from an originally reported 129,000 increase.

The report is jointly developed with Moody's Analytics.

The ADP figures come ahead of the U.S. Labor Department's more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment.

Economists polled by Reuters are looking for U.S. private payroll employment to have grown by 180,000 jobs in April, down from 182,000 the month before. Total non-farm employment is expected to have changed by 185,000.

The unemployment rate is forecast to stay steady at the 3.8 percent recorded a month earlier. (Reporting by Dan Burns Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
By Suzanne Barlyn

May 1 (Reuters) - U.S. religious centers are buying special insurance to protect them from the financial consequences of an armed intruder opening fire in their buildings.

Many congregations have been reassessing coverage and buying separate "active assailant" policies as shootings at houses of worship, including churches, synagogues and mosques, become more common, religious leaders and insurance representatives said in interviews.

"You didn't think about it until the last couple of years and now it's something that you think about all the time," said Brian McAuliffe, director of risk management for Willow Creek Community Church, whose six Illinois locations serve some 20,000 congregants.

Potential violence has become top-of-mind for many religious organizations, following a spate of shootings in recent years.

Last Saturday, a woman was fatally shot and three people injured at Chabad of Poway synagogue in suburban San Diego by a gunman identified as John Earnest, 19. He pleaded not guilty to the shootings on Tuesday.

The Poway attack, on the last day of Passover, came six months to the day after 11 worshippers were shot to death at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest attack ever on American Jewry.

Other shootings in recent years killed 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in 2017; nine worshippers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and six people at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in 2012.

Violence also has come in other forms this year, such as the burning of three predominantly black churches in southern Louisiana between March 26 and April 4.

Willow Creek bought an active assailant policy two years ago, McAuliffe said. The added insurance covers expenses that are typically excluded from general liability coverage, including medical expenses, victim lawsuits, building repairs or replacement and media consultants.

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VULNERABILITIES

Houses of worship face unique risks because of their mission to be welcoming, insurers and brokers said. The physical set-up of many worship centers also is a concern.

"You come in the back and everyone is facing the other way," said Peter Persuitti, who heads the religious practice for insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. "They are so vulnerable."

Willow Creek's coverage costs a "couple of thousand dollars" a year, which is a small fraction of its overall insurance budget, McAuliffe said.

Premiums for one policy backed by insurer AXA XL costs $1,200 per $1 million of coverage, said Paul Marshall, who heads the active shooter insurance program for the Ohio-based McGowan Companies, which underwrites the coverage.

Recent attacks spurred five synagogues and churches to buy the coverage this week, Marshall said.

The Archdiocese of Indianapolis bought active assailant coverage last year, covering 141 parishes and 75 schools, said Mike Witka, director of risk management.

Insurance companies also are ramping up educational programs for faith-based policyholders to help them manage the risk of violent intruders. For example, nearly 200 parishioners and staff from congregations insured through Church Mutual Insurance Co packed a church in Lenexa, Kansas, last month for a half-day seminar. They learned how to develop security plans and minimize bloodshed if someone opens fire.

The event is one of nine that Church Mutual planned for the year.

Church Mutual's general liability policy includes "catastrophic violence" coverage of up to $50,000 per victim and $300,000 per violent incident.

Other measures could change how Americans have long envisioned their religious surroundings.

"We don't really like to shut our doors because we want to be welcoming," Witka said. "But we have to start thinking that once mass starts, the doors have to be locked and shut." (Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Bill Trott)
Saying that former champion Brock Lesnar has "told me he's done" with mixed martial arts, UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Tuesday that he has a different opponent in mind for reigning champion Daniel Cormier.

The 40-year-old Cormier (22-1), who defeated then-champion Stipe Miocic last July in UFC 226 to seize the heavyweight belt, will give Miocic (18-3) a rematch.

Indications pointed to a possible Lesnar-Cormier matchup immediately after Cormier's win, with Lesnar entering the Octagon to confront Cormier just after the fight, which ended in a knockout.

White made no secret of his desire for the matchup, and Lesnar, a 41-year-old former WWE star, took part in UFC's mandatory anti-doping program.

Earlier in April, however, Lesnar said at a celebrity dinner and auction in Saskatchewan, Canada, that he had not reached a decision on taking the matchup with Cormier.

White told ESPN that Lesnar made clear last week that he's retiring.

"He told me he's done, he's retired," White said. "We're going to move in another direction with Cormier."

Cormier also talked about retiring MMA as recently as this month, though he has put off that decision. Miocic, 36, has made a point on social media of accusing Cormier of avoiding a rematch.

--Field Level Media
London (AFP) - Britain's opposition Labour Party on Wednesday called for "real action" after parliament became the first in the world to vote to declare a climate emergency.

"Thanks to pressure from the Labour Party, the UK just became the first country to declare an environment and #climateemergency," the party said on its Twitter page.

"Now it's time for real action to tackle climate change."

Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he hoped the vote "will trigger a wave of action from parliaments and governments around the world".

He hopes the move will increase pressure on the government and is demanding that the country takes action to help avoid more than 1.5 degrees centigrade of warming, requiring global emissions to be cut by almost half of 2010 levels by 2030.

The vote was taken following 11 days of protests organised by climate activists Extinction Rebellion that brought several London sites to a standstill.

Extinction Rebellion called the vote a "first step in the government telling the truth about the climate and ecological emergency."

"Pressure on our politicians will now increase as nothing but decisive action will suffice," they added.
A Ukip MEP has come out in defence of party leader Gerard Battens comments describing Islam as a death cult.

Stuart Agnew, speaking as the party prepared to launch its European elections campaign in Middlesbrough, said the remarks were justified by the Sultan of Brunei's recent declaration that gay sex in his country should be punished by stoning to death.

Mr Agnew said the Muslim community in Britain should have come out "en masse" to condemn his remarks.

Ukip leader Gerard Batten described Islam asa a 'death cult' (Getty)

"He (Mr Batten) said the word 'death cult'. The Sultan of Brunei justified that," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The Sultan of Brunei said 'From now on, in this country, in the name of Islam, homosexuals are to be stoned to death.

"Why didn't they (the Muslim community) come out en masse in this country and say 'We thoroughly condemn (the comments)?"

Read more from Yahoo News UK:

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Last year Mr Batten said what he wrote about Islam is factually accurate and historically true.

He added in his personal blog: It [Islam] was propagated by invasion, by violence and intimidation.

And if you look at every continent in the world where you have this belief, then you have violence. It glorifies death.

Ukip MEP Stuart Agnew said Mr Batten's remarks were justified (Getty)

They believe in propagating their religion by killing other people and martyring themselves and going and getting their 72 virgins.

Mr Batten went on to say he supported the idea of British Muslims being asked to sign a text formally renouncing elements of the Quran which allow people to justify violence and extremism.

The Sultan of Brunei recently declared that gay sex in his country should be punished by stoning to death (Getty)

He said: I dont think its unreasonable to think that people who come and live in our country should reject these dark-age ideologies, which many of them bring with them.

Mr Batten last month described a candidates rape tweet to MP Jess Phillips as satire.

---Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK---
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday sacked Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson following a probe into the leak of news that Britain had conditionally allowed China's Huawei to develop its 5G network.

"The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet," said a spokeswoman from her Downing Street office.

May said in a letter to Williamson that the investigation "provides compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure" from the April 23 meeting of the National Security Council (NSC).

"No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.

"This is an extremely serious matter and a deeply disappointing one," she added, with Williamson now facing the possibility of a criminal probe.

"This must now be referred to the Metropolitan Police for a thorough criminal investigation into breaches of the Official Secrets Act," said Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable.

Downing Street later announced that Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for Women and Equalities, would replace Williamson and become Britain's first female defence minister, while continuing in her current role.

Britain's already splintered government was rocked by the scandal last month over who leaked news that May was to let Huawei develop Britain's 5G network.

The bitterly disputed decision was reportedly made at the April 23 meeting of the NSC.

NSC discussions are only attended by senior ministers and security officials who first sign the Official Secrets Act that commits them to keep conversations private or risk prosecution.

But The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that May approved granting Huawei permission to build up "non-core" elements of Britain's next-generation telecommunications network.

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- Political operator -

The United States is adamantly opposed to Huawei's involvement because of the firm's obligation under Chinese law to help its home government gather intelligence or provide other security services when required.

May told Williamson it was "vital" that members of the NSC... were able to have "frank and detailed discussions in full confidence" that they would not be made public.

She added that she was "concerned by the manner in which you have engaged with this investigation", saying his conduct "has not been of the same standard" as other members of the NSC.

British media reported that Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill -- the country's most senior civil servant -- gave those present an ultimatum to deny responsibility for the leak.

Williamson was one of the first to do so, calling it "completely unacceptable".

The 42-year-old was a trusted ally of the prime minister.

He was May's parliamentary campaign manager when she successfully ran to become Conservative Party leader, and was rewarded with the job of chief whip -- tasked with enforcing discipline for the Conservative Party in parliament.

He was only elected to parliament in 2010, and was best known for keeping a pet tarantula, Cronus, in a glass-sided tank on his desk.

May raised eyebrows when she appointed Williamson to the key defence job in November 2017 after previous incumbent Michael Fallon resigned over allegations of sexual harassment.

The move raised questions about whether Williamson's whips' office had a role in preparing the dossier on ministers behind the scandal, and there were reports that Williamson advised May that Fallon may be facing further allegations.

"Make no mistake, Gavin Williamson wants to be prime minister. And he knows all the dirt on his colleagues," wrote Tim Shipman, political editor of The Sunday Times newspaper.
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday she would welcome female applicants to succeed Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England, a post filled by only by men over more than three centuries.

Britain has begun the search for the next boss of its central bank ahead of Carney's departure in nine months' time.

"As you might have noticed, I do like it when women are in senior positions. I think women should be encouraged to apply for senior positions," she told a committee of senior parliamentary lawmakers.

"It will be important to take the decision as to who is the right person to be the governor of the Bank of England, but I would encourage applications from female applicants," May - who started her career at the BoE - said.

Speaking separately, the BoE's top oversight official said the next governor should be the best person for the job regardless of gender, but also said that a female governor would be an event of historical significance.

"It will be a brilliant moment for this institution when we appoint our first woman governor and it will be a brilliant moment for the institution when we appoint our first BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) governor," Bradley Fried, chair of the BoE's Court, told the Treasury Committee.

Carney, a Canadian, became the first foreign governor in the BoE's three-century history when he took up his role on July 1, 2013. He is due to step down on Jan. 31 next year.

Many of the people expected to be front-runners to replace him are male, including former BoE deputy governor Andrew Bailey who is now chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, a markets regulator, and current top BoE officials such as deputy governor Ben Broadbent and chief economist Andy Haldane.

Potential female candidates include Minouche Shafik, a former BoE deputy governor who is director of the London School of Economics, and Shriti Vadera who is non-executive chairwoman of Santander UK, one of Britain's biggest banks, and was a junior business minister during the financial crisis.

Carney has acknowledged the lack of women in senior positions at the BoE. Only one of the central bank's nine current monetary policy makers is female. Of the 12 members of its Financial Policy Committee, similarly only one is a woman.

(Reporting by William James and Elizabeth Piper; Writing by Elisabeth O'Leary and William Schomberg; Additional reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Peter Graff)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations on Wednesday added Masood Azhar, the leader of a Pakistan-based Islamist group, to its list of global terrorists after China lifted its objections to the move.

The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda announced in a press release the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), over his ties to Al-Qaeda.

JeM has claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops and stoked tensions between India and Pakistan.

Considered the founder of JeM, Azhar was hit by an international assets freeze, a ban on global travel and an arms embargo. JeM itself has been on the UN terror list since 2001.

China had blocked three previous attempts at the sanctions committee to blacklist Azhar and put a technical hold on a fourth request from Britain, France and the United States in March.

UN diplomats said the request was again submitted to the committee last week and that China had not opposed the move to blacklist Azhar by the Wednesday deadline. Any decision to add individuals or groups to the UN terror list is taken by consensus in the committee.

India applauded the move which came after its air force in February carried out air strikes on a JeM militant camp inside Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is campaigning for re-election, told a rally on Wednesday that the decision was "late, but it's the right thing", and described it as a "success of India's long-term fight against terrorism".

Pakistan stressed that the designation of Azhar had nothing to do with the Pulwama attack in February. Islamabad has denied any involvement in the suicide bombing, one of the deadliest attacks on Indian security forces.

Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Faisal told reporters in Islamabad that it would be "false and baseless" for India to claim that the sanctions on Azhar were a victory.

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- India-Pakistan tensions -

Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the February attack in Kashmir that prompted tit-for-tat air raids, fueling fears of an all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two wars over it.

The decision to blacklist Azhar came after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan last week on the sidelines of a summit of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing.

France, which slapped unilateral sanctions on Azhar in March, also welcomed the decision and stressed it had pushed for many years for the JeM leader to be put on the list.

In March, the United States had ratcheted up pressure on China by putting forward a draft Security Council resolution to blacklist Azhar -- a move that would have forced Beijing to use its veto to block the measure.

"After 10 years, China has done the right thing," a US administration official said. Beijing seems to have "understood that it was increasingly important that its actions on the international stage on terrorism match its rhetoric."

Azhar is linked to terrorism for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities" carried out by JeM, according to the sanctions committee.

Azhar founded JeM after he was released from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar.
By Tom Miles

GENEVA, May 1 (Reuters) - The U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide said on Wednesday a new class of nationalist, far-right leaders in Europe was redolent of the 1930s when the Nazis rose to power.

Adama Dieng urged Europe's center-left to do more to oppose a resurgence of xenophobia, alluding to a spreading backlash over an influx of migrants since 2015 that propelled far-right populists into national parliaments across Europe.

"We cannot allow human beings to be treated the way they are being treated. The signs of the '30s are resurfacing," Dieng, a Senegalese lawyer, told a media briefing in Geneva.

"Unless we are blind or of bad faith, we should admit that its time to stand up, it is time to speak out."

He cited damage done by "powerful states" pulling out of international commitments, and by anti-immigrant politicians in Hungary and Italy. But he also accused left-wingers of playing cynical political games instead of robustly pushing back against the far right.

He praised three female leaders - Germany's Angela Merkel, Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina and New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern - for taking political risks by standing up for migrants and ethnic minorities.

Dieng also took issue with critical remarks about Muslim burqas made last August by former British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, saying the comments had been taken seriously by extremists who assaulted British Muslim women.

"This shows exactly how dangerous it is when someone who is in a position of leadership, who can influence, is using a discourse which can impact terribly on the lives, the security and the safety of human beings.

Dieng was a strong critic of China's Tibet policy in the 1990s when he led the independent International Commission of Jurists. His tenure as the U.N. genocide envoy since 2012 has coincided with a rash of Middle East and African wars and refugee crises, and U.N. genocide inquiries in Iraq and Myanmar.

Asked about growing international condemnation of China's treatment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang, where activists say more than 1 million people are being detained, Dieng said he hoped China would let him visit to find out for himself.

"So far...the position of the Chinese is that these are re-education camps, but I will certainly ask to visit and make my own assessment," he said. (Reporting by Tom Miles Editing by Mark Heinrich)
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  One of the victims of a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was hailed for his heroism after he "took the fight to the assailant."

Student Riley Howell confronted the gunman in a classroom building during the attack and "saved lives." Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said at a press conference Wednesday.

Howell, 21, of Waynesville, North Carolina, was one the two people killed in the shooting Tuesday, along with fellow student Ellis Parlier, 19, of Midland, North Carolina.

Four others were injured when a shooter opened fire at the school of more than 26,500 students.

Campus police disarmed and apprehended the suspect, later identified by police as 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell, a former student, in the room where a handgun was used to carry out the shooting.

Putney said the weapon Terrell used was purchased legally and he had a "lot of ammo." Putney added that the suspect was acting alone.

The gunman didnt appear to target any particular person but deliberately picked the building where the shooting occurred, Putney said.

"This is the worst day in the history of UNC Charlotte," said Chancellor Philip L. Dubois.

Here is what we know so far.

Who are the victims?

The university identified Howell and Parlier as the two deceased students.

Drew Pescaro, 19, of Apex, North Carolina; Sean DeHart, 20, also of Apex; Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saihat, Saudia Arabia; and Emily Houpt, 23, of Charlotte were injured.

BREAKING: #UNCC Chancellor Phillip Dubois says on WBT the students killed are:



Ellis Parlier, 19, of Midland, NC

Riley Howell, 21, Waynesville, NC  News 1110/99.3 WBT (@wbtradio) May 1, 2019

Three of the injured were in critical condition Tuesday night, UNC Charlotte Police Chief Jeff Baker said. One other had non-life-threatening injuries.

Story continues

Pescaro is a sportswriter at the school newspaper, Niner Times, which tweeted late Tuesday that he was out of surgery and in stable condition. As of early afternoon local time Wednesday, there were no updates on the other injured persons.

The two deceased were found dead at the scene, Mecklenburg Emergency Medical Services Agency said on Twitter.

This is a tragic day at this great university, city of Charlotte and state of North Carolina," said Gov. Roy Cooper, who flew to Charlotte on Tuesday night after hearing news of the shooting.

UNC Charlotte's 'worst day': Former student kills 2, injures 4 in shooting at North Carolina university

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Who is the suspected shooter?

Police identified him as Terrell, a former history major at UNC Charlotte. He was most recently enrolled in fall 2018, the same semester he transferred to the school, according to university records.

Born in Texas, he is a registered voter in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, according to his voter registration records.

He was charged with murder, attempted murder and other offenses related to the shooting.

Baker said the suspect was "not somebody ... on our radar" previously, and authorities have not indicated a possible motive.

More: UNC Charlotte shooting: Former student formally charged with murder

What happened during the lockdown?

Campus officials alerted students and staff to shelter in place while police cleared each building and gave commands to evacuate. The lockdown ended about five hours after it began.

Some students fled the campus, leaving their cellphones and car keys behind in the chaos. The emergency interrupted the last day of classes before finals and prompted the cancellation of a free campus concert.

Trend: UNC Charlotte is latest in a string of North Carolina campus shootings

Campus concert canceled: Rapper Waka Flocka Flame 'safe' after UNC Charlotte shooting, cancels campus concert

To reunite students with their families, the police told people to meet in a shopping center directly across the street from campus. All scheduled campus activities are canceled Wednesday.

Nine members of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team were at the strip mall where UNCC students and their families were reunited after the shooting.

Kevin Williams, the team's emergency response logistics manager, said students, their parents and emergency personnel were all exhibiting the same emotion: Shock.

Lam reports for USA TODAY; Simon for Greenville (S.C.) News, Rough for The Indianapolis Star. Contributing: Ryan Martin, Indianapolis Star; Kirk Brown, Anderson (S.C) Independent Mail; Ryan Miller, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting: What We Know Now
Two people have been killed and a man is in custody after a shooting at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte on Tuesday.

UNCC Chief of Police Jeff Baker said during a media briefing that two people were killed and four were injured in a shooting on the campus, which began at about 5:40 p.m. Three of the injured are currently in critical condition, Baker said.

Baker said police were preparing for a Waka Flocka Flame concert set to take place on campus when they were alerted to the shooting. Officers ran to the scene and, within a few minutes, were able to apprehend the shooter, who Baker said was armed with a pistol. Tuesday was UNCCs last day of classes for the semester.

Our officers definitely saved lives. Theres no doubt about that, Baker said.

UNCC confirmed all the victims were students, according to the Associated Press and other outlets. UNCC Chancellor Philip DuBois also confirmed their identities during a radio interview Wednesday morning. Riley C. Howell, 21, and Ellis R. Parlier, 19  both from North Carolina  were killed in the attack. The injured include Sean Dehart, 20, Drew Pescaro, 19, and Emily Houpt, 23, all from North Carolina, and Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saihat, Saudi Arabia. DuBois said during the interview that all the injured students are expected to make a full recovery.

Tristan Field, a 19-year-old sophomore biology major, told TIME that students were delivering final presentations for a liberal studies class in the schools Kennedy building when the shooter began his attack inside their classroom.

We were about 10 minutes into class. Everyones silent, nothings going on. All of a sudden, without warning, no yelling, no nothing, the shots are going off.

He said there was a deep boom, and a bang, bang, bang, bang.

It was a lot. Just one after another, he said. Im confused at first, I look around, but then as more are going off I see everyone running. I get up as well and start running towards the door.

Story continues

Field said it was chaos as students bottlenecked at the door. People were screaming, furniture was turned over and students tripped over each other.

Field says that he never turned to look at the shooter. He doesnt know who was killed.

I just ran. Thats all I knew, he said. If I looked, it would be too long and I would get shot as well.

Professor Adam Johnson confirmed the shooting in his classroom on Twitter, noting that my students are so special to me and I am devastated.

I'm not sure if I want to share anything but to clarify any rumors.

Yes, there was a shooting in my class today. It was during team presentations in LBST2213 which is framed as #Anthropology and #Philosophy of #Science. My students are so special to me and I am devastated.  Adam P. Johnson (@Anthropology365) May 1, 2019

The schools Office of Emergency Management alert students to the situation with a tweet sent out at 5:50 p.m.

NinerAlert: Shots reported near kennedy. Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately. Monitor email and http://emergency.uncc.edu, the account wrote.

NinerAlert: Shots reported near kennedy. Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately. Monitor email and https://t.co/LxOefV3rbf  UNCC OEM (@NinerAlerts) April 30, 2019

Police have since declared the scene is secure and that they believe the suspect acted alone.

He is not somebody that is on our radar, Baker, who declined to name the suspect, said of him.

Its a message of unbelievable grief that we have that this came to our campus, Baker said. Its something you have to prepare for today. Thats for sure.

North Carolina lawmakers quickly responded to the shooting on Twitter.

State Senator Natasha Marcus tweeted, Im so sad for my Charlotte. Homicides way too frequent, 44 already this yr, & now 5 people have been shot at @unccharlotte today, 2 already declared dead. One shooter in custody. We need less violence, fewer guns, more community and more understanding.

I'm so sad for my Charlotte. Homicides way too frequent, 44 already this yr, & now 5 people have been shot at @unccharlotte today, 2 already declared dead. One shooter in custody. We need less violence, fewer guns, more community, and more understanding. #EndGunViolence #UNCC  Senator Natasha Marcus (@NatashaMarcusNC) April 30, 2019

U.S. Rep. Mark Walker also tweeted that he was heartbroken by news about the shooting.

Absolutely heartbroken to learn of the two deaths at UNC-Charlotte. Details still unfolding, but prayers with those receiving medical care right now, Walker said.

Absolutely heartbroken to learn of the two deaths at UNC-Charlotte. Details still unfolding, but prayers with those receiving medical care right now.  Rep. Mark Walker (@RepMarkWalker) April 30, 2019

The musician who was set to perform on campus, Waka Flocka Flame, released a message to his fans on Instagram stories soon after the shooting.

I pray all my fans are safe and OK! the artist wrote.

This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.
Russia does not seek to escalate tensions and has made every effort to save the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said.

"We did not start the process of withdrawing from the INF. The United States has made a decision to withdraw from this treaty; it was not initiated by the Russian Federation," TASS cited him as saying.

Russian Ambassador to the U.S. noted that Russia has consistently made efforts to preserve the INF Treaty, it was only after Washington suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty on February 2 that Russia was forced to announce the same suspension.

Antonov also said that Russia is ready to engage in significant dialogue on arms control issues with the United States, but the conversation should be honest, respectful, professional, without "megaphone" diplomacy.
Minneapolis (AFP) - A US police officer who shot dead an Australian woman in 2017 was found guilty of murder Tuesday by a Minneapolis jury, ending a case that has shocked the Midwestern city and sparked outrage in her native country.

Mohamed Noor, 33, who was fired from the city's police force, was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The jury, which began deliberating on Monday after three weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses, acquitted the former officer of the most serious charge of second-degree murder with intent to kill.

Noor was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs and into custody, according to US media reports.

He testified that he shot Justine Damond, an Australian who had moved to the US, to protect his partner, because he had feared an ambush when responding to an emergency call she had made.

But prosecutors insisted that the shooting was unreasonable and contrary to police department training policy.

Noor targeted Damond from the passenger seat of the police cruiser he was in with his partner, Matthew Harrity.

The 40-year-old victim, a yoga instructor, had approached the cruiser after calling 911 twice to report a possible rape in the dark alley behind her home. No such assault was ever found to have occurred.

- 'Sad and tragic' case -

Defense attorney Peter Wold told jurors the former officer was heartbroken over the shooting.

Noor testified that he believed there was an imminent threat after he saw a cyclist stop near the police cruiser, heard a loud bang and saw Harrity's "reaction to the person on the driver's side raising her right arm."

Noor added that when he reached from the cruiser's passenger seat and shot Damond through the driver's side window, it was because he thought his partner "would have been killed."

Damond was wounded in the abdomen and died at the scene. Her last words were: "I'm dying," according to authorities.

Story continues

Damond had moved to the Midwestern city to marry her American fiancee Don Damond. She had changed her name from her maiden name, Ruszczyk.

Her death caused outrage back home and her Australian family was in the courtroom for the trial.

At a press conference, Damond's father, John Ruszczyk, said he believed Noor's conviction was reached despite the "active resistance" of many police officers and institutions.

The shooting also enraged many of the victim's neighbors, who mounted a campaign for police reforms. The city's police chief at the time was forced to resign within days.

"I want to extend my sincere apologies to the family and friends of Justine Damond Ruszcyzk," Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a statement after the verdict.

The chief called the incident "sad and tragic" and acknowledged that it had had an impact "around the world, most significantly in her home country of Australia."

"I will ensure that the (department) learns from this case," Arradondo said.

- 'Egregious failure' -

Don Damond, the victim's fiance, said during a press conference that the case showed "an egregious failure" by police.

"Nearly two years ago my fiancee, Justine Ruszczyk Damond, was shot dead in her pajamas outside our home without warning as she walked up to a police car which she had summoned," he said.

He called for "a complete transformation of policing in Minneapolis and around the country."

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said this was the first known murder conviction of an on-duty officer in Minnesota.

Police officers involved in controversial shootings are rarely sent to prison, because juries and judges are loath to second guess officers' life-or-death decisions made within seconds.

US trials have mostly resulted in hung juries or acquittals, which at times have caused civil unrest in cities where racial tensions are already high.

Another Minnesota officer, Jeronimo Yanez, was fired from his job but acquitted after fatally shooting black motorist Philando Castile in 2016.

Grassroots group "Justice for Justine" founder Sarah Kuhnen said her organization lauded Noor's conviction, but mentioned the names of several others killed by police in Minnesota and beyond in recent years, including Castile.

"While we are glad, so very glad for this verdict," Kuhnen said, "We dont for a second think that the system is fixed."




The Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, had an airplane on the tarmac and was ready to leave for exile in Cuba when he was persuaded not to step down by Moscow, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has claimed.

Related: Violence spills over in heart of Caracas as thousands answer Guaido's call

In a day when the struggle for power on the streets appeared to hang in the balance, and the US called on top members of the Maduros government to defect, Pompeo suggested that the opposition uprising had come close to succeeding.

Weve watched throughout the day, its been a long time since anyones seen Maduro, Pompeo told CNN. He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated he should stay.

We think the situation remains incredibly fluid, he added. We know there were senior leaders inside the Maduro government that were prepared to leave.

Pompeo said that Maduros plane was due to fly to Havana, but he was unclear on whether the US was offering safe passage to Havana.

Mr Maduro understands what will happen if he gets on that airplane, Pompeo said. Asked what that statement meant, he added: He knows our expectations.

While Pompeo put the blame on Moscow for stalling the transfer of power, Donald Trump made no mention of Russia when he tweeted on Tuesday evening, threatening Cuba.

Related: Venezuela: Guaido supporters descend on military base in new bid to oust Maduro

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba, Trump said in a series of tweets. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!

The Trump administration put its full backing behind the opposition leader, Juan Guaido, after he appeared in a dramatic morning video surrounded by soldiers the final phase of the bid to oust Maduro.

Story continues

Trump and key US officials tweeted their support for Guaido, while the national security adviser, John Bolton, appeared in the grounds of the White House to declare that the situation had reached a critical moment.

Bolton named three senior officials who he said had been negotiating with the opposition and accepted that the president had to be replaced.

Bolton called on the defence minister, Vladimir Padrino, head of the supreme court, Maikel Moreno, and the commander of the presidential guard, Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala, to fulfill their commitments to defect.

He listed the names three times, in a gambit apparently designed to force their hand.

We think it is still very important for key members in the regime who have been talking to the opposition over the last three months to make good on their commitments to achieve the peaceful transfer of power from the Maduro clique to interim president Juan Guiado.

All [three] agreed that Maduro had to go. They need to be able to act this afternoon or this evening to bring other military forces to the side of the interim president, Bolton said. He said it was possible that Cuba may prevent the trio from acting.

Bolton also addressed a tweet to the three men, declaring: Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept interim president Guaidos amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list. Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship.

To which the Venezuelan foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, replied: Dream on [John Bolton]  Not today!

Arreaza had earlier pointed to Boltons remarks as proof of US involvement in the uprising.

The heads of the coup detat admit their responsibility without scruples, Arreaza said. The Trump administration, in its despair, attempts to spark an internal conflict in Venezuela.

China, Cuba and Russia remain key backers of Maduro. Russia recently confirmed it has sent nearly a hundred military advisers to Venezuela in recent months, infuriating Washington.

According to a source close to Venezuelas opposition, Guaido did not receive US planning support or resources for his move on Tuesday, which came after months of contacts with military officials, the source said.

But the opposition has nurtured links with Washington since well before Guaido took the political center-stage in January  and such efforts took on a new impulse after Trump took office.

Related: This man plotted Guaido's rise  and still dreams of leading Venezuela

The opposition push in Washington intensified last May, ahead of elections in Venezuela, when a plan was hatched to declare Maduro illegitimate before he would assume his second term in January.

A day before Guaido formally declared himself Venezuelas interim president on 22 January, Pence called him to promise the US backing.

The next day, Trump made it official, and Washington has proved an outspoken supporter for Guaido.

But although senior US officials have repeatedly stated that all options are on the table, the Trump administration has so far taken little concrete action beyond further tightening economic sanctions.

Reuters news agency reported on Monday night that Erik Prince, a prominent and wealthy Trump supporter who runs a global private security business, has been lobbying for a plan to deploy a private army to help topple Maduro.

According to the report, Prince, the founder of the controversial security firm Blackwater, has been seeking investment and political support for an operation that would involve up to 5,000 mercenaries.
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the administration of President Donald Trump was prepared to take military action to stem the crisis in Venezuela.

"The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo said on Fox Business Network.

Pompeo said the US would prefer a peaceful transition of power, with President Nicolas Maduro leaving and new elections held to choose new leaders.

"But the president has made clear in the event that there comes a moment -- and we will all have to make decisions about when that moment is and the president will ultimately have to make that decision -- he's prepared to do that if that's what's required."

In a separate interview with CNN, National Security Advisor John Bolton said Pompeo would be speaking later today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the situation.

Bolton and Pompeo have accused Russia and Cuba of standing in the way of a change in the regime in Caracas.

Pompeo said Tuesday that Maduro was set to leave the country for Cuba but apparently was talked out of it by the Russians.

"The Russians like nothing better than putting a thumb in our eye," Bolton said. "They're using the Cubans as surrogates. They'd love to get effective control of a country in this hemisphere."

"It's not ideological, it's just good old fashioned power politics. That's why we have the Monroe doctrine which we're dusting off in this administration, why the president indicated last night that the Cubans better think long and hard about what their role is," he added.

The Monroe doctrine is a 19th century US policy opposing interference in the western hemisphere by European powers, which later was invoked to justify US intervention in Latin America.
Donald Trumps administration has warned Russia to stop meddling in Venezuela and talked up the chance of US military action as a second day of clashes between protesters and security forces played out.

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said that military involvement of some form is possible as he accused the Kremlin of convincing embattled president Nicolas Maduro to remain in post on Tuesday.

John Bolton, the White House national security adviser, raised the possibility of fresh sanctions as he told Russia publicly that it had no business getting involved in the Venezuelan dispute.

This is our hemisphere. It's not where the Russians should be interfering. This was a mistake on their part, Mr Bolton said.

The Kremlin, which is backing Mr Maduro, in turn accused America of being behind an attempted coup, calling Washingtons actions a gross violation of international law.

The US-Russia tensions flared as Juan Guaido, the 35-year-old opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January, once again took to the streets after urging a military uprising, despite violence leaving dozens injured the day before.

Members of the Bolivarian National Guard who joined Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido fire into the air to repel forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro Credit: AFP

In Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, national guardsmen loyal to Mr Maduro roamed on motorcycles to control the demonstrations while tear gas was again used on the crowds.

Mr Guaido had called for the biggest protests in the countrys history. Supporters of Mr Maduro, the 56-year-old socialist leader, took to the streets as well.

Mr Maduro was due to attend a rally and vowed that military figures who turned on him would not go unpunished.

Tuesdays calls by Mr Guaido for a military uprising had failed to topple Mr Maduro immediately and there were signs that some of those involved were seeking protection.

Leopoldo Lopez, a well known opposition politician who escaped his house arrest and appeared in public on Tuesday, took refuge in the Spanish embassy. At least 25 Venezuelan troops have also applied for asylum in the Brazilian embassy.

Story continues

Maduro appears flanked by Venezuela's Defence Minister and two top military commanders in a photo released on Tuesday by the Miraflores Press Office

Tensions have been mounting between the US, one of more than 50 countries backing Mr Guaidos claim to power, and Russia and Cuba, who support Mr Maduro and have been accused of propping him up.

Mr Maduro denied a claim by Mr Pompeo that he was due to flee the country on Tuesday only to be convinced otherwise by the Russians. Mr Pompeo, please, what lack of seriousness, he said.

The Russian foreign ministry also issued a denial, with spokesman Maria Zakharova calling it absolute disinformation and fake news.

Mr Pompeo doubled down on the Trump administrations instance for months that all options were on the table when it comes to US military action in Venezuela.

"The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Mr Pompeo told Fox Business Network.

An opposition demonstrator walks near a bus in flames during clashes with soldiers loyal to Maduro Credit: AFP

He later talked to Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and urged the Kremlin to stop its destabilising actions, according to the State Department.

Mr Lavrov in turn called US actions illegal, according to a read out from the Russian foreign ministry, and warned "the continuation of aggressive steps is fraught with the most serious consequences.

With the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro claiming a crack in the Venezuelan military had been revealed but Mr Maduro himself insisting commanders remained loyal, the Venezuelan president's chances of staying in office remain unclear.

But some are predicting he could yet retain power. Sergio Guzman, a Bogota based political risk analyst, told The Telegraph: I think the moment has gone for Guaido. Maduro may have lost some military support but the opposition is losing momentum at a greater rate.
Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

USANA Health Sciences Inc (NYSE: USNA)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

May. 01, 2019, 11:00 a.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the USANA Health Sciences First Quarter Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Patrique Richards, Executive Director of Investor Relations and Business Development. Please go ahead, sir.

Patrique Richards -- Executive Director of Investor Relations and Business Development

Good morning. We appreciate you joining us this morning to review our first quarter results. Today's call is being broadcast live via webcast and can be accessed directly from our website at ir.usana.com.

Shortly following the call, a replay will be available on our website. As a reminder, during the course of this conference call, management will make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of our Company. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ, perhaps materially, from the results projected in such forward-looking statements. Examples of these statements include those regarding our strategies and outlook for fiscal year 2019. We caution you that these statements should be considered in conjunction with disclosures, including specific risk factors and financial data contained in our most recent filings with the SEC.

I'm joined this morning by our CEO, Kevin Guest; President and Chief Operating Officer, Jim Brown; our Chief Financial Officer, Doug Hekking; as well as other executives. On April 2nd, USANA announced preliminary first quarter results. Yesterday, after the market closed, we announced our final first quarter results and posted our management commentary, results and outlook document on the Company's website.

We'll now hear brief remarks from Kevin before opening the call for questions.

Story continues

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Thanks, Patrique. Good morning and thank you for joining us this morning. We reported yesterday that our final first quarter results were in line with the preliminary results issued in early April. As reported several factors affected our sales performance during the quarter, most notably the lack of promotional activity around the world during the quarter. When we approved our annual operating plan, we aligned it with our promotional calendar and tried to offer additional promotions and incentives at the most strategic times throughout the year to drive momentum.

I believe our 2019 plan, as a whole was well developed. But it was light on promotional activity during the first quarter and instead calls for a ramp up of promotional activity as year progresses, starting with the second quarter. In hindsight, the lack of promotional activity during the quarter was a miscalculation on our part because it had a more significant impact on our worldwide momentum than we anticipated.

This was particularly true during a slowdown that, we experienced each year in many of our markets during Chinese New Year. A promotion of calendar has now kicked off and promotional activity is occurring around the world. For example, we just returned from our annual Asia-Pacific convention in Singapore, where we had a sold out event, introduced three new USANA products including, a fluoride-free Whitening Toothpaste and a revolutionary new Oral Probiotic tablet.

We're especially excited about these oral care products, which go far beyond general oral care that most people are familiar with. This oral care kit represents one of USANA's ongoing scientific initiative centered on the microbiome. USANA is committed to being a leader in the field of microbiome, which plays an extremely important role in our overall health. These new products were well-received by our associates and quickly sold out of the event.

We expect a similar response to these products when they are formally launched later this year. We're also introducing several new initiatives in the United States during the 2019, some of which will begin in the second quarter and others will commence later in the year. We are offering these initiatives on a trial basis to determine whether to offer them to our other markets. We are optimistic that these incentives will help us generate sales and customer growth in the United States and potentially other markets in the future.

Finally, we will begin offering customer focused promotions again in China later in the second quarter. We paused promotions in the market during the first quarter due to the 100-day review by the Chinese government. Although the 100-day review has now concluded, we will continue to proceed cautiously during the second quarter as we look for the China market to return to a more typical operating environment.

As such we will offer some customer focused promotions during the second quarter and anticipate additional promotional activity in this market during the second half of the year. Although, it takes time to regain momentum, we are confident that the promotions and initiatives we have planned for the year will generate sales and momentum for our business. I'll close by saying that we remain confident in our 2019 growth initiatives and are focused on executing them throughout the remainder of the year. I continue to expect year over year growth in customers net sales and earnings in 2019.

With that I'll now ask the operator to please open the lines for questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. At this time we will open the floor for questions. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Timothy Ramey with Pivotal Research Group.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

Thanks so much and good morning. Love to hear a little more color about what occurred in China. We had the Nu Skin report last night and they indicated that they -- obviously the same issue they didn't hold meetings, but really stepped up their online presence and social selling presence in the first quarter and had a pretty good number actually from there. Their customer accounts in any case. I understand you are quite a bit of your sales are nutritional products in China. So you got a bigger wall to climb, but could you chat a little bit about what actually worked in the first quarter and then maybe the lack of promotion was the issue?

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Well, t his is Kevin. You hit the nail right on the head. The government issues were centered around health nutritional supplements, which represents the majority of sales for us in China. And so it hit us squarely between the eyes and had an effect on us in a much different way that I'm guessing other companies, whose product offering category is different -- weighted differently in other areas for skin care for example. But like I said in hindsight, we wish we would have ramped up some more promotional activities in China through social media and other opportunities versus our meetings. And so that is an explanation that -- I can really see the difference between us and Nu Skin.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

Okay, and then you mentioned as they did that that you're still somewhat cautious about holding meetings in the 2Q, that is not just a full speed ahead kind of strategy, but should we assume that you are stepping up your online presence in the 2Q?

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Well, certainly we are -- from a digital perspective, we are improving and increasing our offering as it relates to WeChat, which is a format we're excited to have launched and are expanding locally within the market and so those platforms are certainly part of our strategy. But again we are cautiously proceeding and want to follow the government's lead as it relates to moving forward and we're still cautiously optimistic that things will resume in the near future back to our normal operations.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

All right. And then if you were just -- if you didn't know about a 100-day thing and looked at your numbers, you'd say the bigger issue really was Americans and Europe. I mean Asia overall wasn't great as it was throughout most of 2018, but it wasn't horrible. But the Americans and Europe continued a negative trend, I guess. You're talking about some new things kicking off there. Can you give us any color on what might be the source of any optimism there and I understand this is a long process that's been going on for many years.

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Yes, the Americas and Europe for us, Europe actually is showing some real positive signs of life and we're very optimistic there. In our other markets that we classify under the Americas is a continued uphill battle for us in those markets. We are excited by and optimistic as it relates to the Americas with the new initiatives that we'll be launching literally within the next week or so and then upcoming months throughout the year. That we believe as we listen to our sales force and our leaders, handle and answer some of the headwinds that they've been facing when they're out trying to grow their business and attract new customers and so we feel that we're embarking on some new waters as the the business model and the product offering evolves. We also feel like that as we talk about microbiome and some of our scientific advances, that we do have a competitive edge there that we can begin to capitalize on and will resonate in the Americas.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

And just one final there. When you were mentioning microbiome, it seemed to be in conjunction with the oral care kits. But should we be thinking about that for gut microbiome as well, which is perhaps a bigger opportunity?

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Yes absolutely.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

Okay. Hey, thanks so much.

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Thanks Tim.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Doug Lane with Lane recent research.

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

Hi, good morning everybody.

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Hey Doug, good morning.

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

Staying on the new products here, is this your first entry into any kind of an oral care category, just thinking back?

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Well we've had a toothpaste for several years, but the toothpaste really -- although this is all natural product, there wasn't really a differentiator and there wasn't from a scientific perspective any kind of advancements as it relates to a natural care products and so outside of the toothpaste, we haven't really been in the oral care world. But again from a microbiome perspective the mouth is so important from a bacteria perspective and how our bodies are populated and so that's why we're entering into this world with the oral care products the microbiome entry as it relates to oral care.

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

Okay, so this won't be the last of it?

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

No.

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

Okay. And obviously you're not prepared to talk about specific new products beyond these three oral products that you launched in Singapore. Can you just sort of help us directionally what are the areas of focus this year. Obviously, oral care is a new win and perhaps expansion there. But if I'm looking at personal care, nutrition and meal replacement what are the areas that we should probably look to for most of your new product activity this year?

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Though, I won't speak to specifics, but I will speak generally from a strategic direction. If you think about our independent business owners and their stores and what they have to offer from an inventory perspective. Our strategy is to expand product categories, so they have more to offer to their customer base and to be able to attract new customers through a wider variety of products that fit within our health message. And so as we look at expanding our product offerings, we're going to expand into a few different product categories outside of just nutritional supplements.

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

OK. And should we think of your increased focus on technology and social selling playing into this. I imagine these oral care products would play very well from a social selling standpoint?

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Absolutely and again you've identified something that is critical for us. The oral care, for example with when there's a whole series of social selling strategies that we have in place as it relates to oral care and we're going to have some fun with it. We have some fun at the launch and we had some packs, one was called a Lover's pack that would help increase breath and so forth and so on, and there are some very social aspects to it that we believe will be very shareable.

And the great thing about these products is, you instantly feel their effect and feel a difference and your mouth feels differently and so different than taking a pill and swallowing a pill. This is something that is not only something you feel right away, but from a social perspective we believe it's highly shareable.

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

Okay that's helpful. And then just a couple of things on China. Just looking at that -- you mentioned that the press coverage being a real factor there and the negativity toward the space in the general press, has that died down any since the 100-day review period expired? And I understand being cautious in getting back into the marketplace. So just, I know you don't give forecast quarterly, but just directionally are we looking at down, flat, up what kind of local currency numbers are we looking for in China on the path back to growth near-term. (Inaudible) was good in China in the second quarter and third quarter last year, so you do have a comparison issue as well.

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Doug, similar to the first quarter. I think we'll see in second quarter, we started seeing some progress. But we expect to go back and see more of the ramp in the back half of the year. And what we're doing is -- we're really taking the cue from our government relations team in China and they're staying in regular contact. And we're trying to make sure that we're really kind of toeing the line and doing what we should do in the market as they go back and kind of gives the the thumbs up. And I think we feel a little bit better about being a little bit more aggressive and running different things in the China market.

And can you give us color or qualitative comments about the press coverage since the 100-day period expired?

It certainly decreased considerably and that's very helpful as it relates to our sales force over there. With the less noise they hear, the more confident they feel in sharing and -- but it has greatly decreased.

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Thanks Dough.

Operator

And we have a follow up from Timothy Ramey with Pivotal Research Group.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

Thanks so much. I thought I'd build a bit on Doug's question. The Nu Skin mentioned this, I guess press conference of the regulatory agency held maybe two days ago, declaring an end to the 100-day period. What if any takeaways would you have from that? That's specifically about USANA's business, but what did they find? What were the issues? Do they feel like they got a handle around this and then I also have a follow up?

Joshua Foukas -- Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary

Tim, this is Josh. So yes,, we're certainly aware of the press coverage and that goes into kind of the entire government relations analysis that our team performs in Chin. How the government communicates on certain issues? And how they communicate on other issues? So certainly, we expected something in the nature of press conference to conclude the 100-day review and the government's findings, what they announce were in line with our expectations. There's a different analysis, however, to how the government will communicate, we believe according to our teams in China on meetings for instance. And so we go through a different analysis with respect to that. The government will go through a different process, really more at the provincial level, the municipal level on the median analysis. And so that's kind of our takeaway from our leadership team here and especially our Government Relations External Affairs team in China on those issues.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

And, is it a fair statement? Maybe you can say, maybe you can't, that the major issue that the government addressed was traditional Chinese herbal remedy kind of products, not so much the type of supplements that you traffic in?

Joshua Foukas -- Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary

Going from the government's communications and obviously not speaking for them, this is just our interpretation of those communications. The government addressed first and foremost healthcare products, which includes nutritional supplements and which includes healthcare products sold through all channels including direct sales. So that was the focus and it was really the stability -- the social stability of the market of the country around those healthcare products. How they're regulated? How they're advertised? Right down to consumer protection issues. So that's our interpretation of their comments through the 100-day review period.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

Sounds good. And then just one for Doug. If I did the math right, it looked like you maybe bought the shares in at an average price of something like (inaudible), which would have been not very close to the view up of the quarter. Was that just a single block trade or did I do that math right? Glad to see you buying in shares, but the the price was a little higher than I thought we might see.

Doug Hekking -- Chief Financial Officer

Yes, I think it just had to do with the timing Tim. By the time we got out the blackout with the year end and got into the market, we kind of set internal threshold with what we want to buy up to and just had to do with what the price was at that time.

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

Sounds good. Well, we love your continued and consistent share shrink. So keep it up.

Doug Hekking -- Chief Financial Officer

Thanks Tim.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) And at this time that does conclude today's Q&A session. I'll now turn the call back over to Patrique Richards.

Patrique Richards -- Executive Director of Investor Relations and Business Development

Thank you. for your questions and for your participation in today's conference call. If you have any remaining questions, please feel free to contact investor relations at (801) 954-7961.

Operator

Thank you ladies and gentlemen that does conclude today's teleconference. You may now disconnect.

Duration: 22 minutes

Call participants:

Patrique Richards -- Executive Director of Investor Relations and Business Development

Kevin Guest -- Chief Executive Officer and Director

Timothy Ramey -- Pivotal Research Group -- Analyst

Douglas Lane -- Lane Research -- Analyst

Joshua Foukas -- Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary

Doug Hekking -- Chief Financial Officer

More USNA analysis

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- AFP

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro declared victory over Tuesday's attempted uprising, vowing retaliation against those who plotted a "coup" to remove him from office.

"This will not go unpunished," Mr Maduro said in his first address, broadcast on television and the radio, since the pre-dawn attempt to remove him by a group of soldiers led by opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido.

Mr Maduro also used his speech to deny claims by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he had intended to flee to Cuba in the midst of a military uprising against him.

"Mike Pompeo said that... Maduro had a plane ready to take him to Cuba but the Russians prevented him from leaving the country. Mister Pompeo, please, this really is a joke," Mr Maduro said.

Mr Guaido had said earlier on Tuesday evening that Mr Maduro did not have the support of the armed forces, and called on members of the military to "keep advancing" in efforts to oust the socialist leader.

He called on supporters to take to the streets again on Wednesday for the "largest march" in the country's history.

"Tomorrow we continue with the execution of #OperationLiberty," he wrote.

Soldiers ride on top of a car with supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido during anti-goverment protests, in Caracas Credit: CARLOS EDUARDO RAMIREZ/Reuters

A few thousand protesters were pelted with tear gas in Caracas on Tuesday and at one point an armoured vehicle rammed into the crowds, appearing to leave some people injured.

Dozens of people were reportedly injured in clashes as the violence spread across the country throughout the day.

Earlier in the day Mr Guaido, who has declared himself interim president, released a video of himself alongside around a dozen soldiers who he claimed had defected.

He praised the brave soldiers and urged more to do likewise, saying the final push toward removing embattled socialist president Nicolas Maduro was underway.

Leopoldo Lopez, a fellow opposition politician, also appeared in the video despite being under house arrest since 2017. He claimed forces loyal to Mr Guaido had released him.

Story continues

Mr Maduros government labelled the move an attempted coup, a description echoed by supportive politicians abroad, and vowed to crack down on the military traitors.

Mr Maduro later said military leaders had assured him they remained loyal. There were few public signs that Mr Guaidos call had triggered a broader revolt among commanders.

US Secretary of state Mike Pompeo claimed that Mr Maduro had been set to fly out of Venezuela on Tuesday morning but was talked out of it by the Russians.

Mr Maduro denied the claims late on Tuesday. "Mike Pompeo said that... Maduro had a plane ready to take him to Cuba but the Russians prevented him from leaving the country. Mister Pompeo, please, this really is a joke," Mr Maduro said.

Mr Trump publicly accused Cuba of conducting military options in Venezuela to support Mr Maduro and threatened a complete embargo and highest-level sanctions unless they stopped.

Bruno Rodriguez, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs denied there the presence of any Cuban military in the country, writing on Twitter: "There are no Cuban troops in #Venezuela; nor are there any Cubans taking part in military or security operations there."

US Nat Sec Advisor Bolton is pathological liar who misinforms Trump. There are no Cuban troops in #Venezuela; nor are there any Cubans taking part in military or security operations there. Only medical staff in humanitarian mission. I strongly reject Trumps total blockade threat  Bruno Rodriguez P (@BrunoRguezP) 30 April 2019

Senior US administration figures gave their vocal backing to Mr Guaido, with vice president Mike Pence, Mr Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton all issuing supportive statements.

Mr Trump tweeted: I am monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely. The United States stands with the people of Venezuela and their freedom!

I am monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely. The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

Mr Bolton said that America was very well informed with what was taking place and again declined to rule out military action, insisting all options were on the table.

But Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, urged maximum restraint on all sides, while the bodys spokesman said the dispute must be resolved peacefully.

Sir Alan Duncan, the UK government minister for the Americas, said he was watching events very closely, adding that Mr Guaido had shown courage, creativity and resolution.

Mr Guaido and his supporters gathered near the Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base, the military airport in Caracas where his video appeared to have been shot.

President of the Venezuelan Parliament Juan Guaido Credit: Miguel Gutierrez/REX

Around 70 soldiers wearing blue armbands in support for Mr Guaido reportedly squared off against security forces loyal to the regime.

One pro-Guaido solider was injured in the clashes. As more supporters joined, the scenes turned increasingly ugly. Footage showed water cannons being used on the crowds and, at one moment, a military vehicle smashing into protesters.

On Tuesday night at least 25 Venezuelan troops sought asylum in Brazil's embassy in Caracas, a senior Brazilian official said.

A spokesman for Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said soldiers and lieutenants were among the applicants.

The petitions for asylum came as Bolsonaro threw his support behind Venezuelans "enslaved by a dictator," a reference to President Nicolas Maduro whom Guaido is challenging for power.

"Brazil is on the side of the people of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido and the freedom of Venezuelans," Bolsonaro said in a series of tweets.

"We support the freedom of this sister nation to finally live a true democracy."

Opposition demonstrators face military vehicles near the Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Airbase "La Carlota" in Caracas Credit: CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS/Reuters

Tuesday's call for a military uprising was the boldest attempt yet by Mr Guaido, who cited constitutional powers back in January to declare himself interim president, to force Mr Maduro from power.

His claim has been supported by America and more than 50 other countries, some of whom have implemented sanctions. But others, including Russia, are backing Mr Maduro. In the video, Mr Guaido, 35, spoke directly to camera as more than a dozen soldiers dressed in military uniform, some holding guns, stood to attention behind him.

Today, brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men loyal to the Constitution have followed our call, said Mr Guaido, who is also president of the countrys National Assembly.

He called on people to take to the streets all over Venezuela and claimed that the definitive end of the usurpation starts today.

He added: Today as the caretaker president of Venezuela, as the legitimate commander-in-chief of the armed forces, I call on all soldiers, the military family, to accompany us in this mission. Mr Lopez, seen as Mr Guaidos political mentor, stood behind.

He later said: I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers.

There were reports the action was taken earlier than planned because Mr Guaido feared imminent arrest. Soon after the video, which appeared to have been filmed in the early morning, was posted online the move was condemned by Mr Maduros ministers.

Vladimir Padrino, the Venezuelan defence minister, said: "We reject this coup movement, which aims to fill the country with violence.

He insisted the countrys forces remained loyal to Mr Maduro. Jorge Rodriguez, the countrys information minister, wrote on Twitter that the military traitors" who were seeking to promote a coup were being confronted.

A Kremlin spokesman and the Bolivan president Evo Morales, key allies of Mr Maduro, called the uprising a coup attempt. Cubas foreign minister also denounced the move.

But Donald Trumps administration issued statements of support. Mr Pence tweeted to Mr Guaido and his supporters: We are with you! America will stand with you until freedom and democracy are restored. Sprain, instrumental in shaping the European Unions stance on Venezuela, was more cautious, with a government spokesman calling for a peaceful democratic process rather than bloodshed.

It was unclear whether Mr Guaidos message had resonated with the military leaders whose support is critical in keeping Mr Maduro in power despite a crumbling economy and electricity blackouts.

A soldier in the group with Mr Guaido denied government claims they had been tricked into acting, telling Reuters: We're all afraid, but we had to do it.

Another protest called for by Mr Guaido and his supporters is due to take place today.
Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro has claimed victory over what he described as the coup-mongering far right, following a bold challenge by opposition leader Juan Guiado who took to the streets of Caracas with rebels on Tuesday.

In an hour-long address on Tuesday night following a day punctured by violent exchanges, Mr Maduro said the opposition had failed to win the support of the military and that Mr Guaidos attempts at an armed confrontation could be used as a pretext for foreign interference  specifically by Donald Trumps imperialist gang.

But Mr Guaido said Mr Maduro had lost control of the armed forces, and said a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela was underway, as he called for further action on Wednesday.

The rebellion was launched by Mr Guiado early on Tuesday morning when he released a video calling for action in a move he called Operation Freedom, in which he was flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armoured crowd-control vehicles, near the Carlota air base in the capital.

Mr Trump was quick to announce his support for the rebellion.

However, a larger split in the military which has remained largely loyal to Mr Maduro failed to emerge.

The confrontation between the two opposition leaders erupted on an overpass, with troops loyal to Mr Maduro firing tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd which quickly swelled to several thousand ran for cover, reappearing later with Mr Guaido at a plaza a few streets away from the disturbances.

A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails towards the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

Amid the mayhem, several armoured utility vehicles crashed over pavements and drove at full speed into the crowd.

Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.

Health officials said about 70 people had been injured in the violence, with two people sustaining bullet wounds.

Story continues

As the clashes unfolded, Mr Guaido wrote on Twitter: We are in a process that is unstoppable. We have the firm backing of our people and the world to achieve the restoration of our democracy.

In one blow to Mr Maduro, the head of Venezuelas feared intelligence agency announced he was breaking ranks with the embattled socialist leader.

In the morning address Mr Guaido had also unexpectedly been joined by Leopoldo Lopez, one of Venezuelas most-prominent anti-government activists. He was detained in 2014 for leading previous protests. Mr Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces following an order from Mr Guaido.

I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers, Mr Lopez declared.

With Mr Guiado calling for a new round of mass street protests on Wednesday, his opposition forces are hoping Venezuelans angered by broadcast images of armoured vehicles ploughing into anti-government protesters and exasperated by the dire humanitarian crisis will fill streets across the country.

We need to keep up the pressure, Mr Guaido said. We will be in the streets.

Also on Tuesday, the Trump administration threatened Cuba with a full and complete embargo over its support for Mr Maduro.

If Cuban troops and militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba, Mr Trump tweeted.

Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island.

Additional reporting by AP and PA
A London court has sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in a British prison for violating the conditions of his bail.

The sentence was announced today at the Southwark Crown Court.

His sentencing comes a day before an extradition hearing in London related to separate charges in the United States of conspiring to hack a government password, the Washington Post reported.

The judge stressed that Assange could request early parole after serving half of the term if he did not commit any other violations.
Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets in Venezuela in competing protests as the battle for power continues in Caracas and beyond.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido has declared himself the legitimate leader of the country, backed by the US and dozens of other nations, after accusing President Nicolas Maduro of fraudulently keeping his place in office. He has called for mass protests.

Mr Maduro has called the uprising a coup and has said that he has subdued the traitors in the military who have backed Mr Guaido. He too has called for his working class supporters to take to the streets on Wednesday, which is International Workers Day.

US secetary of state Mike Pompeo said that the US will take military action in Venezuela if required but would prefer a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Violent street battles erupted in parts of Caracas on Tuesday, with protesters throwing rocks at government forces. At least one military vehicle ran over a group of demonstrators.

Follow the latest updates in our live blog below. Please allow a second for the blog to load.
Caracas (AFP) - May Day clashes between opposition supporters and Venezuela's armed forces in Caracas left a woman dead and 46 people injured on Wednesday, with opposition leader Juan Guaido attempting to rally demonstrators against President Nicolas Maduro.

Jurubith Rausseo, 27, died at a clinic after being hit by a "bullet in the head during (a) demonstration," the non-governmental Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict said on Twitter, condemning her "murder."

Human rights organizations and health services reported 46 people injured in Wednesday's clashes, including one person with a gunshot wound.

Tensions in Venezuela have soared since Guaido, who heads the National Assembly legislature, invoked the constitution to declare himself acting president on January 23, claiming Maduro's re-election last year was illegitimate.

National Guard troops fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters attempting to block a highway close to the air base in eastern Caracas where Guaido had tried on Tuesday to spark a military uprising.

A second day of confrontations between opposition supporters and Maduro's security services came as the United States said it was prepared to take military action, if necessary, to stem the crisis in the South American nation.

At least one journalist was injured when National Guard soldiers fired rubber bullets at a group of reporters covering the clashes.

Miguel Ramirez, 17, told AFP at one medical center that he had been shot in the foot while protesting on the highway near the La Carlota air base.

"I didn't manage to run and hide," he said.

Guaido rallied his supporters in Caracas in the Labor Day demonstrations, urging them to stay in the streets.

His appeal came despite the apparent failure the day before of a revolt by some soldiers and members of the Bolivarian National Guard who joined his side.

In Tuesday's clashes, one person was killed and dozens injured, according to human rights monitors. More than 150 people were arrested, the government and human rights organizations said.

Story continues

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned Venezuela's authorities not to use deadly force against demonstrators, while the US and Russia accused each other of making the crisis worse, evoking Cold War confrontations of the past.

In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of "destabilizing" Venezuela.

- 'Nothing to celebrate' -

Lavrov, in turn, charged that US interference was "destructive" and "in flagrant violation of international law."

"There is nothing for workers to celebrate," Guaido told supporters in the oil-rich country suffering from hyperinflation and food and medicine shortages that have driven millions to flee.

"We're going to remain in the streets until we achieve freedom for the Venezuelan people.

"The regime will try to increase the repression. It will try to persecute me, to stage a coup d'etat," said Guaido, recognized by more than 50 countries as the country's interim president.

He said staggered industrial action would begin on Thursday, leading to a general strike.

Before thousands of his own supporters in front of Miraflores palace on May Day, Maduro declared he will have "no hesitation" to lock up those responsible for this "criminal coup d'etat," threats recalling those he made the previous day.

In his Wednesday address, Maduro alleged that the "so-called coup d'etat" had been organized "from the White House" by US National Security Advisor John Bolton.

- 'Serious crimes' -

Hours after the revolt by military members appeared to have fizzled out, Pompeo told CNN he believed Maduro was ready to flee to ally Cuba before he was dissuaded by Russia -- a claim Maduro later refuted as "a joke."

A senior Brazilian official said at least 25 Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy.

Venezuela's security forces number around 365,000 including military and police, as well as 1.6 million civilian reservists.

Pompeo said on Wednesday that Washington wants a peaceful transfer of power but warned that US President Donald Trump is prepared to take military action if necessary.

"The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo told Fox Business Network.

- 'Living through hell' -

Venezuela has suffered five years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities as well as failing public services, including water, electricity and transport.

"We're living through hell," a resident of western Caracas, Evelinda Villalobos, 58, told AFP.

"I believe the people in the streets will be the straw that breaks the camel's back."

Another demonstrator, Patricia Requena, 40, said that "yesterday we saw soldiers recognizing our interim president. We have to stay in the streets."

She vowed: "I'll keep demonstrating as long as God allows me to."

Michael Shifter, an analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP the US approach to Venezuela was "unhelpful and often counterproductive."

"The US is right to back Guaido in his battle against Maduro," said Shifter.

"But beyond being on the right side, the administration is making it harder, not easier, to achieve a democratic transition in Venezuela."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's accusation that the United States is trying to engineer a coup d'etat and impose an "illegitimate government" on his country resonates with many in a region where the U.S. has a long history of interventions  military and otherwise.

Ever since President James Monroe announced a sort of protectorate over the hemisphere in the early 19th century  a policy known as the Monroe Doctrine  the United States has involved itself in the daily affairs of nations across Latin America, often on behalf of North American commercial interests or to support right-leaning forces against leftist leaders.

That military involvement tapered off following the Cold War, although the U.S. has been accused of granting at least tacit backing to coups in Venezuela in 2002 and Honduras in 2009.

The Trump's administration prominent role in recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido after he declared himself Venezuela's interim president in January  and its staunch support for his attempt on Tuesday to trigger a military uprising  returns the U.S. to a more assertive role in Latin America.

Some of the most notable U.S. interventions in Latin America:

1846: The United States invades Mexico, capturing Mexico City the following year. A peace treaty gives the U.S. more than half of Mexico's territory  what is now most of the western United States.

1903: The U.S. engineers Panamanian independence from Colombia and gains sovereign rights over the zone where the Panama Canal would connect Atlantic and Pacific shipping routes.

1903: Cuba and the U.S. sign a treaty allowing near-total U.S. control of Cuban affairs. U.S. establishes a naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

U.S. Marines repeatedly intervene in Central America and the Caribbean throughout the first quarter of the 20th century, often to protect U.S. business interests in moments of political instability.

1914: U.S. troops occupy the Mexican port of Veracruz for seven months in an attempt to sway developments in the Mexican Revolution.

Story continues

1954: Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz is overthrown in a CIA-backed coup.

1961: The U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion fails to overthrow Soviet-backed Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but Washington continues to launch attempts to assassinate Castro and dislodge his government.

1964: Leftist President Joao Goulart of Brazil is overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup that installs a military government lasting until the 1980s.

1965: U.S. forces land in the Dominican Republic to intervene in a civil war.

1970s: Argentina, Chile and allied South American nations launch brutal campaign of repression and assassination aimed at perceived leftist threats, known as Operation Condor, often with U.S. support.

1980s: Reagan administration backs anti-Communist Contra forces against Nicaragua's Sandinista government and backs the Salvadoran government against leftist FMLN rebels.

1983: U.S. forces invade Caribbean island of Grenada after accusing the government of allying itself with Communist Cuba.

1989: U.S. invades Panama to oust strongman Manuel Noriega.

1994: A U.S.-led invasion of Haiti is launched to remove the military regime installed by a 1991 coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The invasion restores Aristide.

2002: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is ousted for two days before retaking power. He and his allies accuse the U.S. of tacit support for the coup attempt.

2009: Honduran President Manuel Zelaya overthrown by military. U.S. accused of worsening situation by insufficient condemnation of the coup.
By Vivian Sequera, Angus Berwick and Luc Cohen

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.

Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent. But by Tuesday afternoon an uneasy peace had returned and there was no indication that the opposition planned to take power through military force.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN that "as we understand it" Maduro had been ready to depart for socialist ally Cuba, but had been persuaded to stay by Russia, which has also been a steadfast supporter.

In a message posted on his social media accounts on Tuesday evening, Guaido told supporters to take to the streets once again on Wednesday. He reiterated his call for the armed forces to take his side, and said Maduro did not have the military's support.

"Today Venezuela has the opportunity to peacefully rebel against a tyrant who is closing himself in," Guaido said.

Maduro appeared in a state television broadcast on Tuesday night flanked by Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and socialist party Vice President Diosdado Cabello, among others.

"Today the goal was a big show," Maduro said, referring to the military members who sided with Guaido as a "small group." "Their plan failed, their call failed, because Venezuela wants peace."

He said he had reinstated Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez as the head of the Sebin intelligence agency, without providing details on the exit of Manuel Cristopher Figuera at the helm of the agency. Cristopher Figuera replaced Gonzalez Lopez at Sebin last year.

Other U.S. officials said three top Maduro loyalists - Padrino, Supreme Court chief judge Maikel Moreno and presidential guard commander Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala - had been in talks with the opposition and were ready to support a peaceful transition of power.

Story continues

"They negotiated for a long time on the means of restoring democracy but it seems that today they are not going forward," said U.S. envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said: "All agreed that Maduro had to go." Neither provided evidence.

Venezuela's U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada rejected Bolton's remarks as "propaganda."

Flanked by uniformed men, Padrino said in a broadcast that the armed forces would continue to defend the constitution and "legitimate authorities," and that military bases were operating as normal. Moreno issued a call for calm on Twitter.

Guaido, the leader of the National Assembly, invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing that Maduro's re-election in 2018 was illegitimate. But Maduro has held on, despite economic chaos, most Western countries backing Guaido, increased U.S. sanctions, and huge protests.

BOLD, BUT RISKY, MOVE

Tuesday's move was Guaido's boldest effort yet to persuade the military to rise up against Maduro. If it fails, it could be seen as evidence that he lacks sufficient support. It might also encourage the authorities, who have already stripped him of parliamentary immunity and opened multiple investigations into him, to arrest him.

Tens of thousands of people marched in Caracas in support of Guaido early on Tuesday, clashing with riot police along the main Francisco Fajardo thoroughfare. A National Guard armored car slammed into protesters who were throwing stones and hitting the vehicle.

Human rights groups said 109 people were injured in the incidents, most of them hit with pellets or rubber bullets.

Venezuela is mired in a deep economic crisis despite its vast oil reserves. Shortages of food and medicine have prompted more than 3 million Venezuelans to emigrate in recent years.

The slump has worsened this year with large areas of territory left in the dark for days at a time by power outages.

"My mother doesn't have medicine, my economic situation is terrible, my family has had to emigrate. We don't earn enough money. We have no security. But we are hopeful, and I think that this is the beginning of the end of this regime," said Jose Madera, 42, a mechanic, sitting atop his motorbike.

In a video on his Twitter account, Guaido was accompanied by men in military uniform and leading opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, a surprise public appearance for a man who has been under house arrest since 2017.

Chile's foreign minister said later Tuesday that Lopez and his family had entered Chile's diplomatic residence.

Oil prices topped $73 before easing, partly driven higher by the uncertainty in Venezuela, an OPEC member whose oil exports have been hit by the U.S. sanctions and the economic crisis.

WHO BACKED WHO?

The crisis has pitted supporters of Guaido, including the United States, the European Union, and most Latin American nations, against Maduro's allies, which include Russia, Cuba and China.

The White House declined to comment on whether Washington had advance knowledge of what Guaido was planning.

Carlos Vecchio, Guaido's envoy to the United States, told reporters in Washington that the Trump administration did not help coordinate Tuesday's events.

"This is a movement led by Venezuelans," he said.

But accusations flew back and forth, with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza saying the events had been "directly planned" in Washington and Bolton saying that fears of Cuban retaliation had propped up Maduro. Neither provided evidence.

Trump threatened "a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions" on Cuba for its support of Maduro.

Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro threw his support behind Guaido and said Venezuelans were "enslaved by a dictator." But his security adviser, a retired general, said Guaido's support among the military appeared "weak."

Russia's foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the Venezuelan opposition of resorting to violence in what it said was a brazen attempt to draw the country's armed forces into clashes. Turkey also criticized the opposition.

The United Nations and other countries urged a peaceful solution and dialogue.

(Reporting by Angus Berwick, Vivian Sequera, Corina Pons, Mayela Armas, Deisy Buitrago, and Luc Cohen in Caracas; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Patricia Zengerle, Lesley Wroughton and Roberta Rampton in Washington, Madeline Chambers in Berlin, and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Writing by Alistair Bell and Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sonya Hepinstall)
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)  Vermont is close to joining a dozen other states that have raised or are raising the smoking age to 21.

The state Senate agreed with a House amendment on Tuesday that would have the change go into effect Sept. 1. Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said he expects to sign the bill pending a review, his spokeswoman, Rebecca Kelley, said.

The measure also increases the legal age to 21 for buying and using electronic cigarettes, which have jumped in use among high school and middle school students.

"We know that the age of 21 is going to prevent addiction going forward. A whole generation can be protected, generations to come," Democratic state Sen. Ginny Lyons said Wednesday.

According to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 12 states have raised the minimum legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21 with the change so far in effect in seven states.

Vermont legislators tried to raise the smoking age in recent years, but critics saw it as violating an individual's right to smoke and did not understand the need to keep young people from accessing cigarettes from kids who are slightly older, said Lyons, a sponsor of the legislation.

"This year we put in as a bill and really made an effort to talk about the importance of this in preventing addiction overall so it was a real key point for prevention," she said.

The spread of underage use of electronic cigarettes, also played a role, she said.

Studies show that people who begin vaping are more likely to switch to smoking, said Jennifer Costa of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.

"We also know that 95 percent of smokers start before the age of 21. That's why raising the sale age can really make a difference," she said in a written statement.

The Senate also passed a House bill on Wednesday that restricts internet sales of electronic cigarettes, liquid nicotine and tobacco paraphernalia in Vermont.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- A North Carolina college student tackled a gunman who opened fire in his classroom, saving others' lives but losing his own in the process, police said Wednesday.

Riley Howell, 21, was among students gathered for end-of-year presentations in an anthropology class at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte when a man with a pistol began shooting. Howell and another student were killed; four others were wounded.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Howell "took the assailant off his feet," but was fatally wounded. He said Howell did what police train people to do in active shooter situations.

"You're either going to run, you're going to hide and shield, or you're going to take the fight to the assailant. Having no place to run and hide, he did the last. But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed," Putney said. "Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives."

The father of Howell's longtime girlfriend said news that he tackled the shooter wasn't surprising. Kevin Westmoreland, whose daughter Lauren dated Howell for nearly six years, said Howell was athletic and compassionate  and would have been a good firefighter or paramedic.

"If Lauren was with Riley, he would step in front of a train for her if he had to," Westmoreland said. "I didn't realize it might come to that for somebody else."

In a statement, Howell's family remembered him as a big-hearted person who was friends with everyone.

"He always was able to put others before himself and never hesitated to help anyone who needed it," the statement read.

The motive wasn't clear. Suspect Trystan Andrew Terrell had been enrolled at the school but withdrew this semester, UNC-Charlotte spokeswoman Buffy Stephens said. Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said Terrell had not appeared on their radar as a potential threat.

"I just went into a classroom and shot the guys," Terrell told reporters Tuesday as officers led him handcuffed into a law enforcement building.

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Terrell, 22, was charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder and other charges.

Putney said the suspect didn't appear to target any particular person but did deliberately pick the building. He wouldn't elaborate on why. Authorities said the anthropology class was fairly large, without specifying how many students were present. Putney said the handgun was legally purchased.

Terrell is under observation in police custody, and his father and attorney haven't been allowed to speak to him, his grandfather Paul Rold said.

"His dad hasn't a clue about what happened, or why it happened," said Rold, of Arlington, Texas.

Terrell was on the autism spectrum but was "clever as can be" and bright enough to learn foreign languages, Rold said. He said his grandson wasn't very social.

Rold said the Charlotte campus shooting is the latest in a long line of mass shootings that won't end until laws reduce the volume of readily available guns.

"It's unfortunate that in our society it can be so easily perpetrated. He has no background in guns or gun collecting, gun interest," he said. "And how, in a short period of time, he was able to secure these weapons legally, illegally, however is the problem until Congress does something. If Sandy Hook, if Las Vegas, if Florida and these multiple incidents like yesterday can't get them to move, if they're more interested in reelection than the value of human life, this thing will continue."

In a statement, UNC-Charlotte said all the victims were students, five from North Carolina and one international. Howell, of Waynesville, and Ellis R. Parlier, 19 of Midland, were killed. Those wounded were Sean Dehart, 20, and Drew Pescaro, 19, both of Apex; Emily Houpt, 23, of Charlotte; and Rami Alramadhan, 20, of Saihat, Saudi Arabia.

In a class a few rooms away from the shooting site, Krysta Dean was about to present a senior research project when she heard someone scream "shooter." The anthropology major huddled behind a table with classmates.

"When I was sitting there on the floor, thinking that I might get a bullet in my head, my biggest fear was somebody's reality. And there are parents that are never going to be able to hug their children again," she said.

After the shooting, students and faculty scrambled to find safe spaces on the campus of nearly 30,000 students, enduring a lengthy lockdown.

On Wednesday night, thousands of students and others thronged the school's basketball arena for a campus vigil. Student body president Chandler Crean wiped away tears as the school chancellor said they couldn't emerge unchanged from Tuesday's shooting, but they could emerge stronger. He later said the university needs to use the shock of what happened to change society.

"What happened yesterday cannot happen again," Crean said.

____

Associated Press writers Jeffrey Collins in Charlotte; Martha Waggoner and Emery Dalesio in Raleigh; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
* PM May's Conservatives brace for local council losses

* Many Conservative voters angered by Brexit delay

* Main opposition Labour, anti-Brexit Lib Dems seen gaining

By William James

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - English voters are expected to use local government elections on Thursday to punish Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party over its failure to deliver Brexit, revealing a divided and dissatisfied electorate.

More than 8,000 seats on English councils - administrative bodies responsible for day-to-day decisions on local policy ranging from education to waste management - are up for grabs in the first elections since Britain missed its March 29 Brexit date.

The results will paint a picture, albeit an imperfect one, of how that has affected support for May's center-right Conservative Party, and the leftist opposition Labour Party.

The Conservatives are forecast to lose hundreds of seats, and, according to one analysis, the final toll could top 1,000. Labour, which rejects May's vision of Brexit but still supports leaving the bloc, are expected to make gains, as are the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats.

That would heap more pressure on May to resign, showing that the deep dissatisfaction with her handling of Britain's EU exit extends beyond party members into the wider population, angering both those who want to leave and those who want to stay.

"Never did I think a time would exist where Id get abuse from Conservatives for telling Conservatives to vote for Conservatives, but here we are," said Stephen Canning a local councilor campaigning for the Conservatives in a pro-Brexit part of south-east England.

BREXIT DEADLOCK

May has been unable to persuade parliament to approve her plan for leaving the EU, forcing her to ask Brussels to extend Britain's membership until October. She has turned to Labour in search of a compromise that could get enough support, but how, when, and even if, Britain will leave the EU remains unclear.

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The first results are due to be released in the hours after polling closes at 2100 GMT on Thursday.

Robert Hayward, a polling specialist and former Conservative lawmaker, said he expected the Conservatives to lose more than 800 seats, Labour to gain fewer than 300 and the Liberal Democrats to pick up more than 500.

Another analysis by academics Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher suggested that a swing in polling towards Labour could translate into Conservative losses of more than 1,000 seats and 800 Labour gains.

Local elections are historically seen as an imperfect proxy for national sentiment because turnout is low, they do not cover every area of the country, and can be narrowly focused on local issues such as street lighting and refuse collection.

Council elections take place in yearly batches across England. There are also some local elections taking place in Northern Ireland on Thursday but none in Wales and Scotland, which operate under a different schedule.

The English seats being contested on Thursday were last up for grabs when the Conservatives were riding high in 2015, on the same day as May's predecessor David Cameron won the party's first majority in parliament for 23 years.

"A fall from that level is therefore inevitable at some stage and it will come this year - with force," Hayward said. (Reporting by William James Editing by Gareth Jones)
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today amid tensions over the political situation in Venezuela, White House national security adviser John Bolton said in a television interview with CNN.

Yesterday, in interviews with CNN and Fox News Pompeo didn't say whether US President Donald Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Venezuela issue.
By William James LONDON (Reuters) - English voters are expected to use local government elections on Thursday to punish Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party over its failure to deliver Brexit, revealing a divided and dissatisfied electorate. More than 8,000 seats on English councils - administrative bodies responsible for day-to-day decisions on local policy ranging from education to waste management - are up for grabs in the first elections since Britain missed its March 29 Brexit date. The results will paint a picture, albeit an imperfect one, of how that has affected support for May's center-right Conservative Party, and the leftist opposition Labour Party. The Conservatives are forecast to lose hundreds of seats, and, according to one analysis, the final toll could top 1,000. Labour, which rejects May's vision of Brexit but still supports leaving the bloc, are expected to make gains, as are the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats. That would heap more pressure on May to resign, showing that the deep dissatisfaction with her handling of Britain's EU exit extends beyond party members into the wider population, angering both those who want to leave and those who want to stay. "Never did I think a time would exist where Id get abuse from Conservatives for telling Conservatives to vote for Conservatives, but here we are," said Stephen Canning a local councillor campaigning for the Conservatives in a pro-Brexit part of south-east England. BREXIT DEADLOCK May has been unable to persuade parliament to approve her plan for leaving the EU, forcing her to ask Brussels to extend Britain's membership until October. She has turned to Labour in search of a compromise that could get enough support, but how, when, and even if, Britain will leave the EU remains unclear. The first results are due to be released in the hours after polling closes at 2100 GMT on Thursday. Robert Hayward, a polling specialist and former Conservative lawmaker, said he expected the Conservatives to lose more than 800 seats, Labour to gain fewer than 300 and the Liberal Democrats to pick up more than 500. Another analysis by academics Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher suggested that a swing in polling toward Labour could translate into Conservative losses of more than 1,000 seats and 800 Labour gains. Local elections are historically seen as an imperfect proxy for national sentiment because turnout is low, they do not cover every area of the country, and can be narrowly focused on local issues such as street lighting and refuse collection. Council elections take place in yearly batches across England. There are also some local elections taking place in Northern Ireland on Thursday but none in Wales and Scotland, which operate under a different schedule. The English seats being contested on Thursday were last up for grabs when the Conservatives were riding high in 2015, on the same day as May's predecessor David Cameron won the party's first majority in parliament for 23 years. "A fall from that level is therefore inevitable at some stage and it will come this year - with force," Hayward said. (Reporting by William James; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Photo: Olivia K./Yelp

A new Italian restaurant and wine bar has opened its doors in the neighborhood. Located at 700 Magazine St. in the Warehouse District, the new addition is called Gianna Restaurant.

Gianna Restaurant, the highly anticipated Italian restaurant from Donald Link and James Beard Award-winning chef, Rebecca Wilcomb, features a menu inspired by the traditional cuisine of the southern region of Italy that includes antipasti, house-made pastas and dishes made in its wood-burning oven. The bar highlights Italian wines and also serves hand-crafted cocktails.

The fresh arrival has proven popular thus far, with a four-star rating out of 15 reviews on Yelp.

Yelper Bob E. wrote, "The meatballs appetizer and tummala entree were both excellent. I finished with the coconut gelato. Looking forward to another visit soon."

Head on over to check it out: Gianna Restaurant is open from 11 a.m.10 p.m. on Monday-Thursday and 11 a.m.11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. (It's closed on Sunday.)

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Wayfair (NYSE: W) is riding a wave of investor enthusiasm into its upcoming earnings report set for May 2. The e-commerce upstart achieved a few impressive wins over the last 12 months, including adding over $2 billion to its sales base, compared with a $1.3 billion increase in the prior year.

At least some of that stellar growth news is reflected in Wayfair's surging stock price, with shares up about 70% so far in 2019. The rally raises the bar for the company to show more market-share gains and progress on its expansion into new niches and geographies -- without spending too much cash -- in 2019.

A modern appointed living room.

Image source: Getty Images.

Defending its market position

There's no shortage of competitors targeting Wayfair's home furnishings niche. That's understandable given that the huge offline retailing segment is moving online and has a long runway for growth as penetration rises in the coming years.

Wayfair had no problem gaining share in that competitive environment during the key holiday shopping season, and sales jumped 40% to comfortably outpace the guidance that CEO Niraj Shah and his team had issued. Management is just as bullish about the current quarter. In fact, it predicted back in February that retailing revenue will grow by between 33% and 36% in the U.S. and between 35% and 40% in international markets. Investors will be interested in whether actual results meet or surpass those targets, especially given stepped-up competition from rivals like Overstock.

Efficient operations

A good chunk of Wayfair's growth is essentially purchased through its digital marketing programs and competitive product pricing, which means investors need to follow metrics like advertising spending and gross profit margin to judge whether its market position is strengthening or weakening.

Both numbers outperformed expectations last year as gross margin held steady at 24% of sales and advertising was flat at 11.5% of sales. The outlook for the first quarter isn't particularly bright, though, since seasonal trends tend to lift expenses while slowing revenue growth. That helps explain why executives see adjusted earnings being negative in both the U.S. and international markets this quarter. Still, investors will get a good reading on Wayfair's operating strength by following gross profit margin and any updates management makes on its advertising spending outlook.

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Capital expenses

The international business is a few years behind the U.S. market in terms of maturity, and that's the biggest reason overall losses have ballooned in recent years. Wayfair is spending aggressively to build out its shipping infrastructure in places like Germany because management sees the potential for these areas to follow a similar path as in the U.S., which has delivered market-thumping growth lately. The company has been on a hiring spree, too, to support rapidly expanding fulfillment needs and its ambitions to dramatically improve the online shopping experience for home furnishings.

Management's goal, Shah said in February, is to deliver "the best customer experience with vast selection, inspiring visual merchandise, fast and convenient delivery, and world-class customer service." Investments in these areas will pressure earnings in 2019 just as they have in each of the last three years. Wayfair expects to eventually reach adjusted earnings margins of between 8% and 10%, though, versus the low-single-digit losses it has booked since 2015. Ideally, this year's results will add more clarity for investors about when the company might finally break into a path toward achieving that sustainable profit level.

More From The Motley Fool

Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Wayfair. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Why the Once-Obscure Way to Invest Is Now Hot Focus on stocks that have the greatest return has long been the motto of most investors and, similarly, high returns have been the barometer for considering what made a corporation successful. This mentality the crux of profit-maximization, or shareholder-first thinkingwas a sea change from a previous school of thought that viewed corporations as a public trust responsible for their impact on the world. It was made popular by influential economists like Milton Friedman, who famously wrote, There is one and only one social responsibility of businessto...engage in activities designed to increase its profits. But: Friedman wrote that in 1970. Nearly 50 years later, this perspective on corporate responsibility is showing its age. In recent years, the actions a corporation takes to maximize profit have become more difficult to separate from the social issues they directly influenceincluding global warming, pay and gender equity and human rightsdown to a companys impact on its surrounding local community. These factors, called ESG, or environmental, social and corporate governance, are benchmarks increasingly considered by investors of all stripes to assess a companys purposeincluding how it operates and manages itself, and is used as a litmus test for long-term strategy and stability. Here, we take a look at ESG as a factor for investing and shareholder advocacy, and what its future looks like among a segment of young, socially conscious investors. Whats ESG criteria again? Broadly, it can be broken down like this: Environmental: How is the company protecting or harming the natural environment and complying with government regulations? How does it address environmental risks or handle pollutionfrom carbon emissions to toxic wastethat may occur as a result of its business? How does it treat land and wildlife? Social: How does the company invest in its human capital, or in the well-being, safety, and health of its employees? How does it interact with its community, both on a small-scale and global level? Does its supply chainincluding the factories, plants, and vendorsit uses to make its productsoperate with the same ethics that the company touts? What about product liabilityare the products it makes safe or does it pose an undue risk of harm to consumers? How does it handle opposition from stakeholders (say, a diamond company sourcing ethically questionable minerals)? Corporate governance: Corporate governance looks to a companys shareholder voting policies, executive pay, accounting practices, the gender and racial diversity of a companys board as well as executives handling of reported misconduct or discriminationto ensure it's operating fairly. Are directors entrenched and insulated from stakeholder input? Is the company diverse? Whats its pay structure? How many women sit on its board? Are shareholders included or listened to in making decisions affecting whos on a companys board or how much a CEO is paid? Where would you find a company's ESG information? With ESG standards becoming more of an investor ask, companies are increasingly making this information more readily available. Exploring the investor relations page on a companys website may give you access to sustainability reports or its corporate governance pillars. Ahem: The lack of this information on the website may also be equally telling. Additionally, organizations like JUST Capital which ranks the nations most just companies provide helpful ESG criteria and data for corporations, including a Just 100 list published with Forbes. If youre considering ESG factors before you invest in a company or fund, contact your financial advisor or brokerage, which should be able to get you that information. What else should you know about ESG investing? If youre the type of person who likes to know where her food comes from and the broad principles and philosophies of the companies who make your clothes, car, or shoes, then investing in ESG funds or engaging companies you invest in on ESG issues might be a natural next step. While the concept of socially conscious investing is ancientthere are even Biblical references to it the modern-day idea surrounding it and the ESG framework took root in the 1960s, when investors started excluding sin stocks, like tobacco and gun companies, from their portfolios. The movement grew from there, exploding in recent years as social shifts have affected the markets and investing via an ESG lens has become easier to do online and via robo-adviser apps. The Trump Bump: Some think ESGs boom is a response to the election of Donald Trump, who has rolled back environmental protections and vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Accord. Thanks to the Trump Bump, ESG mutual funds and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) began growing at three times their usual rate a month after the election, increasing from $95 billion to $118 billion under management in a year. Similarly, the total number of U.S assets under management using ESG strategies grew to $12 trillion in 2018. Thats up more than 30% from $8.7 trillion in 2016. That $12 trillion makes up a considerable 1 in 4 dollars of the $46.6 trillion in total assets under management in the U.S. How has ESG influenced shareholder voting and advocacy? In 2018, about half of shareholder proposals to U.S. companies focused on environmental and social principles, according to the Institutional Shareholder Services Voting Analytics database. Shareholder concern surrounding ESG principles has led to results: Last year, almost half of all environmental and social shareholder proposals resulted in companies taking action. For example, last January, the California State Teachers Retirement System, a long-term Apple shareholder, wrote a letter asking Apple to study screen behavior in children. Partially as a result, the company launched its weekly Screen Time function (which you now groggily look at on your phone Sunday morningsyep, you spent that much time on Instagram), as well as other tools for parents. Youve seen the acronym. Now decide how to apply it to your finances. A set of guidelines once used by companies to manage themselves, ESG has now become a major part of a greater cultural conversation and a way to invest. As ESG investing becomes a mainstream offering via robo-advisers, socially minded index funds and ETFs, understanding the ESG framework and knowing how to find out how muchor littlea company uses it can help you create a portfolio that speaks to your financial goals and your real-world values. --Anna Davies
American Tower Corp. AMT is scheduled to release first-quarter 2019 results before the opening bell on May 3. The companys results will likely reflect year-over-year rise in its funds from operations (FFO) per share and revenues.

In the last reported quarter, this wireless communications towers operator surpassed its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) estimates by 4.3%. The company posted total revenues of $2.13 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.02 billion.

Over the trailing four quarters, the company surpassed estimates on three occasions and missed on the other. It delivered an average positive surprise of 2.76% during this period.

American Tower Corporation (REIT) Price and EPS Surprise





American Tower Corporation (REIT) Price and EPS Surprise | American Tower Corporation (REIT) Quote

Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

American Tower has been making strategic efforts to expand its footprint in the United States and international markets. Notably, increased use of mobile data is fueling demand for space on the companys telecom towers. Also, with higher investments in 4G and the upcoming 5G technology, wireless carriers are densifying their network. This is expected to enable American Tower to witness splendid leasing activity and organic tenant billings growth in the quarter under review.

Further, global demand drivers and secular growth tailwinds in the wireless industry are expected to boost the companys revenues from colocation and amendment.

Additionally, solid business-model fundamentals will bolster the companys quarterly performance. Specifically, American Tower generates solid recurring revenues from its long-term leases that have embedded rent escalators. We anticipate this to provide stable cash flows in the first quarter.

In fact, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter 2019 revenues is pegged at $1.8 billion and indicates year-over-year growth of 3.27%.

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Moreover, we anticipate the companys disciplined capital-allocation strategy to drive impressive return on invested capital (ROIC) and support results in the first quarter. Furthermore, in March, it announced a 7.1% hike in first-quarter 2019 dividends.

However, consolidation in the wireless industry remains a concern for American Tower. Specifically, the Indian carrier consolidation-driven churn is expected to mar growth in organic tenant billings and result in revenues lost from cancellations.

In addition, as carriers are looking for opportunities to rationalize spending, merger between the companys major customers remains a near-term headwind. Also, a high-leveraged balance sheet remains another concern for the company.

Lastly, American Towers activities during the quarter could not gain adequate analyst confidence. In fact, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter FFO per share remained unchanged at $1.86, over the past month. Nonetheless, it represents year-over-year growth of 7.5%.

Earnings Whispers

Here is what our quantitative model predicts:

American Tower does not have the right combination of two key ingredients  a positive Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or higher  for increasing the odds of an earnings beat.

You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Earnings ESP: The companys Earnings ESP is 0.00%.

Zacks Rank: It currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3 which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, we also need a positive ESP to be confident of a positive surprise.

Stocks That Warrant a Look

Several other players in REIT space are lined up to report their financial results. Below are three stocks, poised to beat on earnings per the proven Zacks model. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Lexington Realty Trust LXP, scheduled to release earnings on May 8, has an Earnings ESP of +2.44% and currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2.

Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. PK, slated to report first-quarter results on May 9, has an Earnings ESP of +0.24% and holds a Zacks Rank of 2, at present.

National Storage Affiliates Trust NSA, set to report quarterly numbers on May 2, has an Earnings ESP of +0.92% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3, currently.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO)  a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
The White House requested $4.5 billion in emergency funds from Congress Wednesday to deal with the crisis at the nations southern border, including $3.3 billion in humanitarian assistance and $1.1 billion for law-enforcement operations.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement and other programs are at risk of running out of funding by the beginning of the summer, the White House Budget Office warned.

DHS projects it will exhaust resources well before the end of the fiscal year, according to the letter formally requesting the emergency funds. Without additional resources, the safety and well-being of law enforcement personnel and migrants are at substantial risk.

This crisis is threatening lives on both sides of the border and is unlike anything weve ever seen, the letter continued. If Congress fails to provide HHS this additional funding, the expected continuation of current trends may require HHS to divert significant resources from other programs that serve vulnerable populations  such as refugees and victims of trafficking and torture.

The letter comes a day after Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents arrested a group of 424 mostly Central American migrants in what was the largest raid of its kind on record.

More from National Review
Washington (AFP) - If you're looking for a word to describe your adorable pet pup, "selfish" might not top the list.

But a new study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE suggests Fido's reputation for being caring is all a ruse -- at least if you're a fellow dog.

A series of touchscreen experiments carried out by the Wolf Science Center in Vienna, Austria, found that wolves make for more selfless pack mates than dogs who were also raised in groups.

The study's authors say the findings suggest domestic dogs inherited their cooperative tendencies from their fierce wolf ancestors, rather than through their contact with human beings, a competing hypothesis.

Researchers trained the animals to use their snouts to press a "giving" symbol on a screen that delivered food to an adjacent enclosure, where a fellow animal may or may not be present.

Over multiple trials, wolves opted to deliver food to members of their own pack, knowing they would not get anything in return -- but lost interest if they were shown an unfamiliar wolf.

Dogs, on the other hand, showed no particular inclination to feed other dogs when no personal payoff was involved, regardless of whether they knew them or not.

"This study shows that domestication did not necessarily make dogs more prosocial," said lead author Rachel Dale.

"Rather, it seems that tolerance and generosity towards group members help to produce high levels of cooperation, as seen in wolves."

But don't write off your pooch just yet. The authors cautioned against applying the results of an experiment carried out on pack dogs to pet dogs, who have been found to have prosocial tendencies in past studies.

The researchers believe those behaviors could be the result of training or encouragement, and say more research is needed to determine what accounts for the differences.
The Royal Navy survey ship HMS Echo arrived in Georgias Black Sea port of Batumi today.

The British Embassy to Georgia said the ship's visit further demonstrates the ongoing strong and vibrant cooperation between the United Kingdom and Georgia.

This is the ships second visit to Georgia. HMS ECHO previously visited the country last December.

It will now work with the Georgian Coastguard at sea on combined exercises, building on the relationship established during its previous visit to Batumi, Agenda.ge reported.

"This time Plymouth-based research ship has sailed into the port of Batumi as she squeezes as much as possible into a three-week spell in the Black Sea, the Royal Navy reported.

Commander Matthew Warren, HMS Echos Commanding Officer said he is looking forward to working with the Georgian Coastguard "once again towards our common aim of peace and stability within the Black Sea".
Photo credit: Matt Cardy - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

The proposed retirement of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is off the table. The announcement, made yesterday by Vice President Pence, countermands a decision by the Navy to retire the carrier early to save money.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Navy proposed retiring the USS Truman 25 years early rather than pay for an expensive midlife refueling and overhaul. The retirement was allegedly part of a deal hashed out by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, which agreed to a two-carrier purchase

Vice President Mike Pence made the announcement yesterday while touring the Truman. Addressing a crowd of sailors, Pence said,  We are not retiring the Truman. USNI News quoted the vice president as saying. The USS Harry S. Truman is going to be giving em hell for many more years to come.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy - Getty Images

USS Truman is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The ship is 1,092 feet long and displaces 103,900 long tons. Underway, the carrier is home to approximately 6,000 personnel split between the ships crew and the embarked air wing. The carriers air wing, Carrier Air Wing 7, includes four squadrons of strike fighters totaling approximately 48 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. In the future, the carrier will embark two squadrons of Super Hornets and two squadrons of F-35C Joint Strike Fighters.

The aircraft carrier has been the dominant platform at sea since World War II, when it replaced the battleship as the centerpiece of large navies. Although critics have pronounced the carrier obsolete many times over the past seventy years the nature of the ship, which allows the Navy to swap out older aircraft with newer ones, has kept the ship equipped with the latest technology to counter emerging threats. The latest threats to carriers are hypersonic weapons and anti-ship ballistic missiles , particularly those being developed by Russia and China.

Trumans Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) procedure would have involved a one-time refueling of the ships two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors and updating the rest of the ship with the latest technology. The RCOH was set to be expensive, costing $3.4 billion over five years . Down the road, the cost of operating the carrier over its remaining lifetime was estimated at $20 billion over 25 years.

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Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Adelola Tinubu

The Navys argument is that it would save a lot of money over the projected course of Trumans lifetime, money that could be diverted to other programs. The Navy is currently trying to grow from a current 289 ships to 355 ships by the mid-2030s. Axing Truman would have freed up $23.4 billion over 30 years, or about enough to build twelve new Burke-class destroyers. Alternately the money could have gone into unmanned ships, of which the Navy plans to buy 232 of various sizes. The Navy could have also sunk that money into building attack submarines, the number of which is expected to drop from 52 to 42 by the late 2020s .

The Navy faced an uphill battle retiring the carrier. Only 21 years old, Truman is just halfway through her projected operational lifespan. Cutting Truman would have also violated federal law: under 10 U.S.C. 8062(b) the minimum number of carriers in the U.S. Navy battle fleet is set at eleven ships. The government would have required a waiver, granted by Congress, to drop below the eleven carrier ceiling.

That was unlikely to happen. Aircraft carriers have strong, entrenched constituencies in Congress, with senators and representatives from states and districts with shipyards, shipbuilding subcontractors, aircraft manufacturers, and naval bases all having a keen interest in keeping a strong carrier fleet-and the USS Truman in particular. Members of Congress expressed skepticism early on at the proposal to scrap the Truman.



I think thats a ridiculous idea, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) stated when the proposal was first floated. Luria is a retired Navy commander who served two years on the Truman. Luria represents the district that includes Naval Station Norfolk, where Truman is based.

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WASHINGTON  U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning that he had properly handled the report of special counsel Robert Mueller, the culmination of a two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Barrs summary, he told lawmakers, was a verdict on the investigations conclusions.

That report, more than 400 pages in length, was released to the public earlier this month. It did not result in any new indictments.

Democrats, however, remain unsatisfied with Barrs handling of the report, believing that he was overly deferential to President Trump in the four-page letter he wrote summarizing that report, which was released in March, before the report itself was made public.

The night before Wednesdays hearing, news reports quoted from a letter Mueller had written to Barr on March 27, expressing concerns about the attorney generals summary.

Barr began his testimony before a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill by asserting that Mueller had been allowed to complete his work as he saw fit. He described how he and Mueller met on March 6 to get a readout of what his conclusions would be.

Attorney General William Barr is sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)

Mueller delivered the report to the Department of Justice on March 22. Barr said that given the high state of agitation in the body politic, he knew he could not remain silent. We had to put out some information about the bottom line, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee. I decided to simply state what the bottom line conclusions were, describing his task as having to answer a simple if beguiling question: Is there a crime or isnt there a crime?

His summary of the report answered that question in the negative.

Mueller, however, appeared unhappy with Barrs initial handling of the report. He wrote a letter to Barr saying that his summary did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions. When the two men spoke on the phone, Mueller reportedly worried about how media reports were interpreting the conclusions.

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He wanted more put out on that issue, Barr said on Wednesday.

Read more from Yahoo News:
William Barr has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, doubling down on his interpretation of the Mueller report and claiming that he never misled Congress about the special counsel's frustrations.

The testimony came just after the public release of a March letter from special counsel Robert Mueller to the attorney general, in which the investigator expressed frustration with how Mr Barr had presented the findings of the Trump-Russia report ot the public.

Mr Barr had released a four page summary of the report to Congress, which said that the nearly two year investigation found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016, and that there was not sufficient evidence to charge Donald Trump with obstruction.

But, Mr Barr was met with criticism from Senate Democrats who expressed amazement that Mr Barr had told a Congressional committee in April that he had not been aware of any frustration from the special counsel or his team related to his presentation of the summary. The recently released letter, Democrats said, showed that Mr Barr had been directly confronted on the issue, even though Mr Barr claimed that he called Mr Mueller personally after receiving the letter.

The hours-long testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee ended with committee chairman Lindsey Graham  a prominent Trump supporter  telling reporters that the issue is "over", and that he had no intention of asking Mr Mueller to testify before his committee. Democrats meanwhile, pushed for that testimony in the Senate, while the House announced Mr Mueller would testify there.

Since the report's release, Mr Trump and the right-wing media have hailed the findings of the report as a total exoneration, despite Mr Mueller declaring the opposite and the report painting a highly unflattering portrait of Mr Trump and his inner circle.

Mr Barr, during his testimony, stood by his determination not to charge Mr Trump for obstruction  arguing that, since there was no collusion or conspiracy, that the president could not have obstructed justice by firing former FBI director James Comey and then repeatedly attempt to get others to fire Mr Mueller.

When pushed on whether it was appropriate for Mr Trump to lie to the American people about contacts between his campaign and Russians, about his intentions with regards to Mr Mueller's employment as special counsel, and other questionable instances surfaced by the report, Mr Barr said that his job is not to determine who is behaving well or not.

"I'm not in the business of determining wether lies were told to the American people," Mr Barr said of the president. "I'm in the business of determining whether crimes were committed."

Mr Barr will return to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

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Republicans say Democrats gunning for President Donald Trumps tax returns using a federal disclosure law could set a terrible new standard.

If Democrats get their way, nothing could stop a committee chairman from obtaining the tax returns of any politically disfavored individual, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin wrote in a letter to House Ways and Means Committee chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) last week.

Its true that the Democratic request for a sitting presidents taxes is highly unusual. Presidents normally disclose their tax information voluntarily, so there hasnt been a need.

But it certainly is not the first time lawmakers have used the tax disclosure law against their political enemies.

In 2014, House Republicans obtained and disclosed private tax information as part of a campaign against an Internal Revenue Service official they claimed had unfairly singled out conservative groups for audits.

And in 2006, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee asked the IRS for all kinds of tax information about the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, a group that registered voters and advocated for poor people.

At that time, Republicans loved to vilify ACORN. They claimed it helped Democrats try to steal elections. The George W. Bush administration ordered U.S. attorneys around the country to prosecute voter fraud wherever they could find it, resulting in more than 300 investigations and many newspaper headlines about ACORN.

Thats why Republicans went rooting around in ACORNs tax filings. Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the IRS for all returns from ACORN and its affiliates from the previous five years, plus any documents related to past or ongoing audits.

Engaging in vote fraud is not an appropriate activity for an organization that receives special treatments and exemptions under the tax code, Grassley wrote in a November 2006 letter to then-IRS Commissioner Mark Everson.

Tax-writing committees in Congress routinely obtain private tax information as part of their oversight mission, and often on a nonpartisan basis. The Senate Finance Committees investigation into the IRS allegedly targeting conservative groups, for instance, was bipartisan. And the ACORN case is just one instance of Grassley doing nonprofit oversight; in February he asked the IRS to share tax information about nonprofit hospitals to make sure theyre fulfilling their charity obligations to surrounding neighborhoods.

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But Republicans had a brazenly partisan reason to attack ACORN: The group registered poor people to vote in cities, so it registered a lot of Democrats. The fraud claims, such as a case in Kansas City, Missouri, that Grassley cited in his IRS letter, typically focused on improper registrations that resulted from mistakes that ACORN itself had flagged for state officials.

Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the IRS for all returns from the group ACORN, which helped register voters. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Grassley insisted that fetching ACORNs tax info was nothing like the Democratic effort to see Trumps returns.

Its a lot different because we were using it for legislative purposes, Grassley told HuffPost. The Trump tax return request, on the other hand, is being used for political purposes. Its black and white. And oversight is legitimate for legislative purposes to see that the laws are faithfully executed.

Former ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said Grassley has a point about it being black and white. We were black and they were white, Lewis said.

Neal based his request for six years of the presidents personal and business tax returns on a need to evaluate the IRS practice of automatically auditing the president every year. Other Democrats on the committee have said they want to know if the IRS is properly enforcing the tax code in Trumps case, since the presidents family has reportedly used fraud to lower its tax bill.

The tax disclosure law has been on the books since 1924, when it was enacted amid a major corruption scandal specifically to give Congress the same power of tax disclosure that the president already enjoyed. The law has never been used to grab such a high-profile politicians tax information, but Trump is the first modern president not to voluntarily disclose his own.

If Democrats can overcome the Trump administrations stonewalling and get Trumps returns, the documents may turn out to be a huge nothing burger. Thats what happened with ACORN.

Despite intense scrutiny over a period of several years, Republican prosecutors never managed to find a single instance of an actual fraudulent vote cast as part of an ACORN fraud conspiracy. Instead, the improper firings of U.S. attorneys who refused to prosecute ACORN employees and other Democratic targets became a scandal of its own, contributing to the eventual resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2007.

We were black and they were white. Former ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis

Grassley did not release any information about his ACORN tax findings until September 2009, when a different ACORN controversy put the organization back in the news. Right-wing propagandist James OKeefe secretly recorded ACORN employees talking to himself and a colleague pretending to be a pimp and a prostitute. OKeefe wrongly claimed the videos showed ACORN giving illegal tax advice and committing other crimes. Professional journalists took OKeefes word that the African American ACORN employees in his videos were indeed breaking the law. A frenzy ensued.

That month, Grassley belatedly released the findings of his staffs investigation into ACORNs tax treatment. The report found that ACORN and its nonprofit subsidiaries improperly commingled funds, with dollars raised for charitable activity being used for impermissible lobbying and political activity. But it wasnt clear that the actions actually broke the law, and the agency would likely have a high hurdle to clear in order to revoke the tax-exempt status of any of the ACORN tax-exempt entities.

But the supposedly scandalous videos were enough for Congress to pass a law that September, with overwhelming support from Democrats, prohibiting ACORN from receiving any federal grants. The organization subsequently lost its private funding and folded the next year.

Lewis said Republicans used sometimes very obscure tax law and nonprofit law to attack us.

ACORN received only 10% of its funding from the government, Lewis said, but the impression created from all the investigations crippled the organizations ability to raise money. Lewis is now the president of the Black Institute, a New York-based action tank that advocates public policy that benefits African Americans.

I guess hes right, it is different, Lewis said, referring to Grassley. We were a nonprofit community organization. [Donald Trump] is the president of the United States. Maybe 10% of our funding came from federal grants at the time. So yeah, hes right, its completely different.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee on April 9. He's missed deadlines to respond to a House request to turn over Trump's tax returns, but said he's still considering it. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Senate Finance Committee spokesman Michael Zona stressed in a statement that Trump is an individual, while ACORN was a nonprofit with special tax privileges.

Federal law restricts tax-exempt organizations from engaging in certain political activity, Zona said. That was the central issue with ACORN, which was credibly accused, with substantial public evidence, of engaging in partisan political activity. Thats well within the scope of legitimate congressional oversight.

Zona also stressed that Grassleys investigations typically do not result in any of the information being made public. Its clear thats what House Democrats ultimate goal is with President Trumps tax returns, he said. (Democrats claim thats not their plan.)

And Zona said the ACORN work was bipartisan. Even though Democrats did not sign the letter to the IRS or the staff analysis of ACORNs taxes, Grassley repeatedly consulted with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) during the process, he noted.

Ashley Schapitl, a spokeswoman for Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, denied that the ACORN investigation was bipartisan.

Senator Baucus did not join Chairman Grassleys request to IRS for ACORNs tax information, Schapitl said. He was merely copied on the request when it was made. Democrats did not, and do not, consider the ACORN probe to be bipartisan.

This article has been updated to include Ashley Schapitls statement.
Troops Inc. | Photo: Facebook

New York-based messaging company Troops.ai has secured $12 million in Series B funding, according to company database Crunchbase, topping the citys recent funding headlines. The cash infusion was announced April 23 and financed by Aspect Ventures.

According to its Crunchbase profile, "Troops is a slackbot for sales team. Troops allows users to configures salesforce reports, communicate deal wins and pull salesforce data for all standard and custom objects through Slack."

The four-year-old startup has raised three previous funding rounds, including a $7.6 million round in 2018.

The round brings total funding raised by New York companies in artificial intelligence over the past month to $413 million, an increase of $359 million from the month before. The local artificial intelligence industry has produced 144 funding rounds over the past year, yielding a total of $1.6 billion in venture funding.

In other local funding news, security company Kangaroo announced a $10 million Series A funding round on April 18.

According to Crunchbase, "Kangaroo is an electronics company that provides simple home security systems. It offers flexible, app-enabled and affordable security systems. Kangaroo was founded in 2018."

The company also raised a $4.3 million seed round in 2018.

This story was created automatically using local investment data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
It's been two years since construction of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center site came to a halt, but a new 13-member board named the Friends of St. Nicholas, put together by New York governor Andrew Cuomo, is pushing the project toward completion. Construction of the church, which was designed by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava, was halted in late 2017 when, according to construction company Skanska U.S.A., the Greek Orthodox Diocese of America ran out of money to complete the project.

Since then, the church has sat at the base of the 9/11 memorial plaza, covered in white tarp as its fate remains in gridlockbut will no longer, thanks to the new board of the nonprofit, which will continue to raise funds for the rebuild, oversee the construction, and audit the project. Members of the board include the deep-pocketed donors Cuomo called upon last May, like John Catsimatidis, billionaire owner of the Gristedes Foods supermarket chain; and will be chaired by Dennis Mehiel, the chairman of the Battery Park City Authority from 20122018.

"We're very grateful to Governor Cuomo; without him we would not have gotten through the political morass of getting [the church] rebuilt," says Father Alex Karloutsos, assistant director of public affairs for the church.

Architectural Rendering by Santiago Calatrava Architects & Engineers: St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at the World Trade Center -  2013 FESTINA LENTE LLP.

The church sits on land that is owned by the Port Authority, which leases the property to St. Nicholas's for $1 a year. Patrick Muncie, a spokesperson for the governor, told AD in May that "the governor reached out to the Port Authority, which is trying to help the project that has been stalled for years, and is in desperate need of a new entity to raise funds because it still has not made progress." A spokesperson for the Port Authority, meanwhile, said that while it has previously offered to help the church with technical assistance, it never offered financial support, as it believes that responsibility rests with the church. Following the governor's announcement of the new board, Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton remarked that "the Port Authority welcomes the news that, following consultation with the governor and the Port Authority, the Archdiocese has formed the Friends of St. Nicholas and that construction will soon resume at the south end of our campus."

"There were mistakes made in regards to the building process and some funds that were misdirected, but they're all back now, so we're moving forward," says Karloutsos. "We're going to begin rebuilding in two to three months. This is our focus, and we're very grateful to all of the construction groups who have been patient with us while we figure out the direction that we're taking." According to Karloutsos, the new completion date is set for spring 2021.

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
Good morning.

I used to think there were some basic commandments of crisis communication that were well understood in the business community. But recent events have proven me wrong. Among the ruptured rules :

When you screw up, fess up. (See McKinseys tortured response to a report it held a party a few miles from where Uighurs were interned in China).

When you have a problem, make sure you address it before everyone else does (Re: Boeings three-day delay in responding to the second 737 Max crash).

And now this one:

When you are being accused of violating peoples privacy rights, and you have played a significant role in efforts to undermine democracy, dont make jokes about it.

Thats what Mark Zuckerberg did yesterday at the Facebook developer conference, as part of his attempt to explain the companys pivot to privacy. You can see his comments here. You wont hear any laughs.

Seems everyone needs a refresher course.

More on the Facebook conference here. Other news below.

Alan Murray @alansmurray alan.murray@fortune.com
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned a coup attempt in Venezuela.

"We, as a country, which has experienced coups and their negative consequences, condemn coup bid in Venezuela," he wrote on Twitter.

According to the Turkish head of state, the world has to respect the democratic choices of the people in Venezuela. He stressed that ballot box is essential in democracies, Anadolu Agency reported.

Earlier, opposition leader Juan Guaido released a video on Twitter in which he could be seen alongside soldiers, calling for an uprising to end the "usurpation" of President Nicolas Maduro.
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. push to challenge Chinas dominance in the production and sale of electric vehicles has at least one weak link: Most of the raw materials needed to make the batteries are dug elsewhere.

Both Chinese and U.S.-based companies have invested heavily in lithium mining projects in Chile, Australia and Argentina, some of the worlds top producing nations. But unlike the U.S., Chinese companies have also invested at home, with the Asian nation producing almost eight times more lithium domestically than the U.S.

The raw materials gap will be discussed at a May 2 meeting in Washington expected to draw government officials, carmakers, mining companies and consultants on the need for streamlining the U.S. permit process for new lithium projects and stockpiling purchases.

"It has been decades since a lithium refining facility has been built in the United States," said Eric Norris, the lithium president of North Carolina-based Albemarle Corp., the worlds largest producer of the mineral. "Any new project will take time to develop, as the regulatory bodies determine required permits, potential community impact, etc."

Boosting local production of the raw minerals would be the first step toward building out a rechargeable battery industry thats so far been concentrated in Asia. The U.S. controls only about 13 percent of the global lithium cell production capacity, with no growth expected, according to BloombergNEF. China now controls about two-thirds of that industry and BNEF is forecasting it could grow to about 73 percent by 2021.

The difference is already showing up in sales. About half of the worlds electric vehicles are sold in China, a figure thats on the rise. Sales jumped by 150 percent during the first quarter of 2018, compared with the previous year, according to BNEF.

"You cant build half a million electric vehicle battery packs without a secure supply of several critical raw materials," said Chris Berry, a battery-metals analyst at House Mountain Partners. "If the U.S. lags in the build out of lithium or cathode capacity, its supply chain dynamism and competitiveness around the new energy theme is put at risk."

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Chinas Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Co. acquired 37.5 percent of the Cauchari-Olaroz lithium project in Argentina, which is set to start producing in 2021. Tianqi Lithium Corp. paid $4 billion for a 24 percent stake in Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile and the same company is part of the Talison joint venture, which controls the giant Greenbushes lithium mine in Australia.

The metals needed in making rechargeable batteries used in everything from Teslas to energy storage to iPhones, include graphite, manganese, nickel, cobalt and lithium. The U.S. imports at least half of each of those metal requirements, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

This weeks meeting in Washington is hosted by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, an industry consultant that specializes in the lithium-ion battery supply chain. In testimony before the U.S. Congress in February, the firms leader, Simon Moores, warned that the U.S. current role in the supply chain was being outflanked by China. Moores confirmed the meeting in an email. Albemarle will have representatives at the meeting in Washington, the company said.

"Theres no reason why companies cant raise capital and build and operate lithium mines in the U.S," Berry said. "The permitting process can be somewhat longer in the US relative to other parts of the world, but with so much focus on sustainability and transparency of the supply chain, environmental safeguards are a must."

But with demand for lithium set to boom from above 300,000 tons a year to a million tons by 2025, mining companies need to grow fast and they prefer to do so in jurisdictions they know well. Albemarle, the only company producing lithium in the U.S., said in a written answer to questions it is focusing on expanding current operations in Australia and Chile.

It is too early to comment on viability or timing of an expansion at Silver Peak, a mine that produces 6,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year, Albemarles Norris said. The company completed an exploration program at a hard rock site in Kings Mountain, but Norris described it as a long-term asset in very early stages of assessment.

No lithium mines are expected to start producing in the U.S. over the next three years and no substantial lithium production is set to hit global markets within the next five years, according to Bloomberg Intelligence chemicals analyst Christopher Perrella.

Still, some junior mining companies are looking to build new mines over the medium and long term. Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp is hoping to have permits approved for its Thacker Pass project in Nevada in 2020. Construction of the mine, with an initial annual capacity of 30,000 tons, could start next year if the company can raise the $581 million needed to build it.

"The challenges are building it quick enough and attracting capital," said Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Evans. "If you look at a three to five year period from now, the market for electric vehicles and stationary storage batteries will be really growing, so its key for the investment to come now."

(Adds U.S.s reliance on imports for battery raw materials in ninth paragraph.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Millan Lombrana in Santiago at lmillan4@bloomberg.net;Joe Deaux in New York at jdeaux@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Luzi Ann Javier at ljavier@bloomberg.net, Reg Gale, Steven Frank

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Hundreds of Venezuelans demonstrated for a second consecutive day in central Madrid on Wednesday in support of their country's self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaido as he bids to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro and his government have vowed to put down what they see as an attempted coup by the US-backed opposition leader. "Long live the people who fight for freedom. Long live Juan Guaido," said activist Lorent Saleh to a crowd in a central square. They responded with cries of "freedom, freedom!". "The situation scares me, for my family. I'm afraid of never being able to go back to my country," said Raquel Monasterios, a 33-year-old medical student who came to support friends and family in Venezuela. Yineth Labrador, 35, a beautician who has lived in Madrid for a year, called for "free elections in our country, because we want to go back there". Venezuela has been rocked since January 23 by an unprecedented crisis, after Guaido declared himself the country's interim leader. He has been recognised by more than 50 countries, including the US and most in Latin America. Hundreds of Venezuelans living in Spain turned out for the march in support of the opposition
Georgia's Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia has been appointed as the Secretary of the National Security Council by the country's Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, according to the Prime Minister's press office.

The Council meetings will be held every three months behind closed doors. The first meeting will be held on Wednesday, Sputnik Georgia reports.

Georgia's National Security Council is an eight-member advisory body, responsible for national security policy planning and coordination.
Like.. he lied..



What is there even to discuss? Even Meghan 'Hamster on meth' McCain knew it

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That abby clip video is satisfying. It's just her being corrected over and over.

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Having read the letter, I'm actually impressed with Mueller holding Barr to task for his fucker. All Mueller needs to do is openly tell Democrats to start impeaching Trump and I will stan.

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Barr must not remember that Nixons AG spent time in jail for far less shenanigans.



So far, the Dems have it together but Klobuchar, Blumenthal, Hirono have been killing it. And then we have Kamala who bought down the gauntlet 



Heres 7:40 of Hirono saying Bless Your Heart you lying weasel



Sen. Mazie Hirono criticizes AG Barr during his testimony, saying he is "no different" than "any other people who sacrificed their once-decent reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office.



"You should resign." https://t.co/U21IC7NhlD pic.twitter.com/uVIrdRvbwW  ABC News (@ABC) May 1, 2019

. Holy shit at this hearingBarr must not remember that Nixons AG spent time in jail for far less shenanigans.So far, the Dems have it together but Klobuchar, Blumenthal, Hirono have been killing it. And then we have Kamala who bought down the gauntlet Heres 7:40 of Hirono saying Bless Your Heart you lying weasel

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When are they going to start holding people in contempt and a jail cell tho?

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I'm pretty sure Lindsay Graham is drunk.

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Hirono is a total queen.

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Dang she did not hold back!

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YAS Mazie!

Smh at Lindsay Graham trying to come for her at the end

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Graham needs to STFU. Barr couldn't answer some straightforward questions.

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Yesss. I love when they drag them for filth like this. He knows he's fucked. I love her for this.

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FUCK LINDSEY GRAHAM

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Omg this is what we need more of on the Dem side.

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I'm watching Barr spin some bs rn. He just said it's fine for the pres to end an investigation into himself because the accusations aren't true!!! But how do you know until the investigation is done? And Mueller clearly said he couldn't clear tr*mp of anything.

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They got Barr to admit he hadn't even read the whole report. Which explains why he was able to put out a 4-page fantasy summary, based on nothing, since he didn't read the report.



How can he talk about evidence? Mueller told him to release the summaries (that's why he prepared them), and Barr ignored that and wrote his own lying summary. He needs to be impeached, tried and convicted and locked up like John Mitchell was. He's orchestrating a massive cover up.

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Meagain is such an embarrassment. Its convenient she always has a short attention span (classic millennial LOLZZZ) when it comes to Republicans obviously being wrong, breaking the law, getting caught in a lie, etc. but she cries over Ilhan Omar every damn day because of a racist fantasy shes created in her head

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Pete Buttigieg enlists Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fundraisers to build his 2020 campaign war chest



Unlike much of the Democratic primary field, Buttigieg has not fully distanced himself from big money donors.



His initial campaign pledge was to not accept corporate PAC money or contributions from the fossil fuel industry, but he did not say anything about getting help from corporate executives.



During the first quarter, he raised a surprising $7 million, putting him among the top tier of Democratic contenders. Some of that haul came from finance executives, including Stephen Schuler, a director at Chicago-based investment firm Wicklow Capital.



https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/17/pete-buttigieg-enlists-barack-obama-hillary-clinton-fundraisers-for-2020-campaign.html Unlike much of the Democratic primary field, Buttigieg has not fully distanced himself from big money donors.His initial campaign pledge was to not accept corporate PAC money or contributions from the fossil fuel industry, but he did not say anything about getting help from corporate executives.During the first quarter, he raised a surprising $7 million, putting him among the top tier of Democratic contenders. Some of that haul came from finance executives, including Stephen Schuler, a director at Chicago-based investment firm Wicklow Capital.

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lol mess

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His schedule is entirely comprised of bundler events and media appearances. If you donate $1,000 you can get a signed copy of his book and if you donate $2,800-$5,600 you can get a photo.

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I cannot @ this burgeoning rainbow coalition of centrist idiots.

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Buttigieg and Biden are basically the rich donor picks, and they're not even subtle about it.

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He's kind of late to the party. She's already met with Liz Warren, Corey Booker and Kamala Harris.

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Barr is a slime bag

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I'm kind of dying at Abby's mom, at that angle there is a Jeffree Star resemblance.

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lolzerz



https://instagram.com/p/Bw7ZSDTgwpm I thinktried to post this, here you go, it's glorious!

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lmao thank you. how the fuck do you embed instagram videos on here without exceeding character limit.

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UPDATE: The Buttigieg campaign has sent a 'clarifying statement' -



"He is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions. He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed."  BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) May 1, 2019

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Mayor Tweet & Delete.

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hes sooo sleezy and ugly

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I love that exemptions for religious beliefs was his first go-to. Now he's walking it back. Could he pander any more?

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LMAO, Barr just called Mueller's letter "snitty" and said he didn't think Mueller wrote it. He's such a sack of shit.

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With the way the Republicans has let 45 do whatever the fuck he wants, I think it's pretty clear that if he loses in 2020, he will not leave the WH. He believes he's a king and all Republicans are enabling his mindset because they know that as long as he's in charge, they can get away with literally anything.



We are on the brink of another civil war.

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Trump hates being president. If he gets to leave without going to jail hell be ecstatic.

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He does but I do think he understands just enough to know that him being President is what can keep him out of jail. Once he's out the WH, there's a number of investigations that will probably result in jail time.

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This is exactly it - he never wanted to be President but he realized he's completely immune from prosecution (according to his DOJ) while President so he's literally only running to have the clock run out on potential crimes and their statutes of limitations.

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that might be true, but without the protection of being president, he's open to alllllll sorts of legal problems

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yeah, this realization helps fuel my workouts.

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I'm betting on Melania buying a tiara in 2021 if he wins

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it is so fucking infuriating to see all these old white men acting as human shields for a literal piece of shit. the only karma will be that this is going to be their ultimate downfall

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https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/441401-warren-makes-headways-in-three-new-polls



Ive accepted that Im officially invested in her campaign and have set up a monthly donation. Warren is rising in the polls and Im so happpppppy.Ive accepted that Im officially invested in her campaign and have set up a monthly donation.

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yeah I set up a monthly donation in April. I'm really happy she's polling better.

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And it was only a few weeks ago that the New York Times delivered an autopsy on her campaign saying it was D.O.A. and she wouldn't make it to the Fall.

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I donated $10 yesterday

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yay! i got paid this week and donated $50 :)

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I'm happy to see this. I could see that she was really connecting with voters and I have a feeling she will be the surprise candidate.

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i'm hoping i get a new job this week so i can set up a donation monthly for her

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My job is having a LOT of overtime availability right now, so lol I set up a small month donation, but I'll probably kick in some more money with every paycheck.



I love that she calls her small donors, but also I never answer numbers that I don't recognize, so... guess there goes my chance to talking to Senator Warren.

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St Anselm's NH Institute of Politics or GTFO. St Anselm's NH Institute of Politics or GTFO.

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St Anselm's shows Biden with a bigger lead but the placements are the same

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SAME i am still mad to this day they never continued with her

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I am still so mad this didn't happen!!

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this angers me on so many levels. but especially since we got that AWFUL sequel last year when rooney would've done it in a heartbeat

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yeah that movie last year was so dumb

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Oh its strange to me she wanted to be in another sequel and they went with someone else



Maybe it was a scheduling conflict idk, maybe she had given up on it

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I'm glad the sequel flopped, it's what they deserve for pushing Rooney aside.

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The whole TGWTD scenario makes me sad </3 David Fincher wanting more $$ for directing/the Swedish location meaning time/$$/Daniel Craig Bond conflict. I wish they switched Craig for a different actor so the scheduling conflict wouldn't occur; I was obsessed with this film when it came out and became a big fan of Rooney Mara. Just meh all around :/

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haha this did make me think of Rooney a lot more warmly, it's so earnest?

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what happened with these movies? was it that fincher didn't want to continue? i think i remember TGWTDT doing okay at the box office - i don't think it was a smash hit but it didn't bomb. and the fact they made a shitty sequel this far out shows they didn't really care that much about making the next one a hit anyway.

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Aww. This email was sweet and really makes me feel for her. The movie seemed to be really close to her heart and she should have done more of them!

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That picture is peak Can I Speak to the Manager.

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End of an era

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Welp

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My mom was telling me about Bob Woodwards book which actually has a big part about the Seth Rogen movie and the Sony hacks and all I could think was, sent from my Xperia Z2



For some reason it was that and not why are u punishing me



Its forever etched into my brain



Edited at 2019-05-01 08:04 pm (UTC)

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Same, her brand loyalty is on point



(Though I would just set my iPhone message to say that)

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Her hair is kinda amazing.

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i like the interviews she's done with kevin feige where his body language is screaming "shut up amy"

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he's probably still salty from when she threw a sandwich at this head.

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did she really throw a sandwich at his head or is this a reference to one of the lines in Endgame lol

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still a lil disappointed we never got that The Amazing Spiderman 2 Anti-Virus.

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Queen of emails.

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kinda sad that a woman can attain a crazy amount of achievement and all people associate with her is hacked emails..

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She was a bitch tho.

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She's probably not worse than other executives, but sounds pretty miserable to work with/for.

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so are plenty of men in powerful positions but that never rates a mention

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She'd be amazing to have cocktails with, I bet she has so many good stories.

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idk, I feel like she's *lived* some great stories but wouldn't be very good at telling them lol. like the kernels of juicy gossip would be deeply buried within hours of her just whining about how life is unfair and why does everyone always keep punishing her et. al.



now, david fincher otoh is definitely a miserable diva but I would also 100% for CERTAIN sit at his table at one of the boozy industry get-togethers, because you know that he loves to gossip and is sassy and snarky af when he does so lol

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And I agree about Amy, I feel she'd cry into her beef carpaccio over some ridiculous rich people shit. And you just sit there like



Oh absofuckinlutely, he's got the goods on everyone, I'm sure. I still remember his interviews for TGWTDT and he was sooo bitchy. I thought he was gay but apparently not. He is definitely a moody diva.And I agree about Amy, I feel she'd cry into her beef carpaccio over some ridiculous rich people shit. And you just sit there like



Edited at 2019-05-01 08:52 pm (UTC)

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the shade he threw at ben affleck about how he would be suspicious of ben if he was his wife before the cheating scandal broke out was top tier

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we had so much fun with that leak

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I love this email so much

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lmao now the not-so-good sis can finally get herself a non-Sony phone!

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i guess now she's free to upgrade from her sony xperia z2.

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It's no secret that Beijing has chafed at American audacity to try and dictate whom Chinese refineries can and can't buy oil from. And in the latest example of just how aggravating the decision to end waivers for Iranian crude imports has been for the world's second-largest economy, Reuters reported that some 20 million barrels of Iranian crude have been languishing at the northeastern port of Dalian for months, but because of the US's decision to re-impose sanctions on Iran back in November, nobody wants to touch the oil.

Even when the waivers were in effect, Chinese refineries couldn't secure financing and insurance that would allow them to purchase the oil because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the waivers.

(Click to enlarge)

Iran sent the oil to China via the National Iranian Tanker Company before the sanctions were imposed as Iran struggled with a backlog of oil that had exhausted the country's domestic storage capacity. So Beijing, the largest buyer of Iranian oil, allowed the NTCC to store some oil in so-called bonded storage tanks situated in the Dalian port. The oil has yet to go through Chinese customs.

China filed a formal complaint with the US over its decision to end the waivers, but the US has refused to consider any exceptions to its plans to reimpose full sanctions.

As one analyst told Reuters, no Chinese company will touch the oil unless specifically instructed to do so by the Chinese government.

oil is being held in so-called bonded storage tanks at the port, which means it has yet to clear Chinese customs. Despite a six-month waiver to the start of May that allowed China to continue some Iranian imports, shipping data shows little of this oil has been moved.

Related: Overly Bullish Hedge Funds Set The Stage For Oil Price Drop

Traders and refinery sources pointed to uncertainty over the terms of the waiver and said independent refiners had been unable to secure payment or insurance channels, while state refiners struggled to find vessels.

The future of the crude, worth well over $1 billion at current prices, has become even more unclear after Washington last week increased its pressure on Iran, saying it would end all sanction exemptions at the start of May.

"No responsible Chinese company with any international exposure will have anything to do with Iran oil unless they are specifically told by the Chinese government to do so," said Tilak Doshi of oil and gas consultancy Muse, Stancil & Co in Singapore.

To be sure, Reuters says, some of the oil was apparently purchased by a Sinopec refinery. But the bulk of the stock remains untouched.

Some Iranian oil sent to Dalian has moved, according to a ship tracking analyst at Refinitiv.

Dan, a supertanker owned by NITC moved 2 million barrels of oil from Dalian more than 1,000 km (620 miles) to the south to the Ningbo Shi Hua crude oil terminal in March, according to Refinitiv data.

Ningbo is home to Sinopecs Zhenhai refinery, one of the countrys largest oil plants with a capacity of 500,000 barrels a day and a top processor of Iranian oil.

The headache for Beijing will likely only get worse, because shipping data show more Iranian crude is heading for Chinese ports.

For now, more Iranian oil is heading to China, with the supertankers Stream and Dream II due to arrive in eastern China from Iran on May 5 and May 7, respectively, Refinitiv data showed.

Some of this crude may be from Chinese investments into Iranian oilfields, a sanctions grey area.

Eventually, this could create incentives for non-compliance that are just too powerful for Chinese companies to ignore, particularly companies that have investments in Iranian oilfields. Some companies might try bartering for the oil, while others resort to illegally forged documents.

Whether China will keep buying oil from Iran remains unclear, but analysts at Fitch Solutions said in a note there may be scope for imports via barter or non-compliance from ... China."

Related: Oil Falls On Soaring U.S. Crude Inventories



Muse, Stancil & Cos Doshi said the only way to get the Iranian oil out of Dalian now was by cheating.

"Only rogue parties might try to cheat the system and try to pass the Iranian oil at Dalian as something else via fraudulent docs. But I doubt this is easy or can amount to much in terms of volume."

Regardless of what happens to the oil, the incident serves as a reminder of the many annoyances that US sanctions create for its geopolitical rivals. Every barrel of China has sitting offshore that its refineries can't touch is one more reason for Beijing to pursue the creation of an alternative payments channel that's outside of American control...and more incentive for Chinese refineries, at the government's behest, to push exporters to accept payment in yuan, something that the Shanghai-traded, yuan-denominated oil futures have already incentivized.

The US should acknowledge the perverse incentives for de-dollarization that its own policies have created - something that one of America's favorite boogeyman has labeled a "colossal strategic mistake."

By Zerohedge

More Top Reads from Oilprice.com:
In among the multitude of threats that Iran has made public since the US sanctions on Iran were levied, Iran has now heralded the collapse of OPEC, if OPEC members fill the void by snagging market share left unfilled by Iran and Venezuela, according to S&P Global Platts.

Irans oil minister said that two OPEC members were doing just that, accusing them of wielding their oil as a weapon. The two members Zanganeh was referring to were Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Its interesting to note that both Saudi Arabia has unduly taken on the burden of cutting production. Saudi Arabia has agreed to keep its production to 10.311 million barrels per day, while the UAEs target is 3.072 million bpd.

Saudi Arabia has been overachieving its share of the production cuts, producing 9.794 million bpd in March. Similarly, the UAE is producing closer to targetbut is still under at 3.059 for March.

The oil weapon, then, to which Iran is referring, according to S&P Global Platts, is their contact with the United States to come up with a plan to ensure that the oil market is well supplied. Thus far, Saudi Arabia has not increased production to fill any void left by either Iran or Venezuela.

By using oil as a weapon against two founding members of OPEC [Venezuela and Iran], [they] turn OPEC solidarity into division and draw the death and collapse of OPEC, Zanganeh said, warning that any country using oil to this end should accept its consequences. Related: The Beginning Of The End For British Shale Gas

Iran and Venezuela have indeed suffered falling oil production as the sanctions on both countries restrict exports and cut out buyers such as India, South Korea, and Cuba who will have to shop elsewhere to obtain sufficient quantities of crude oil.

Venezuelas oil production fell below 1 million bpd in March at 732,000 bpd, while Irans fell to 2.698 million bpdwith more decreases expected as the sanction waivers that eight countries have thus far enjoyed end today. Irans 208 average production was 3.553 million bpd, while Venezuelas averaged 1.354 bpd, according to secondary sources provided by OPEC.

The tough times in which Iran and Venezuela now find themselves may continue to drive a wedge into the oil cartel as other members will naturally respond to market demand as they are able.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
In other words, Haftar has turned Libyas Oil Crescent into an all-encompassing military base, and in doing so is also turning the oil ports into arsenals from which he can receive more arms from external players. There are indications that the French delivered new weaponry to Haftar through Ras Lanuf

- Es Sider Port: Haftar has seized the Es Sider airstrip for military use. There is a constant stream of military personnel entering the port of Es Sider, and attempting to requisition NOC vessels there.

More specifically, our sources in the NOC say that Haftar has taken the following moves to militarize the energy infrastructure:

As General Haftar continues his offensive designed to take control of Tripoli and oil revenues, he is using the National Oil Company (NOC) facilities for military purposes. He has seized the NOCs airfield, taken over oil terminals to station warships and other military vessels of the LNA (Libyan National Army) and has been attempting to requisition NOC tub boats for his war effort as well. The Tripoli-based NOC describes it as the militarization of the Libyan national energy infrastructure. The NOC says that at this point, the Generals actions are threatening the oil companys abilities to maintain operations.

Haftar Could Theoretically Take Over Libyas Oil Exports Without Tripoli

As General Haftar continues his offensive designed to take control of Tripoli and oil revenues, he is using the National Oil Company (NOC) facilities for military purposes. He has seized the NOCs airfield, taken over oil terminals to station warships and other military vessels of the LNA (Libyan National Army) and has been attempting to requisition NOC tub boats for his war effort as well. The Tripoli-based NOC describes it as the militarization of the Libyan national energy infrastructure. The NOC says that at this point, the Generals actions are threatening the oil companys abilities to maintain operations.

More specifically, our sources in the NOC say that Haftar has taken the following moves to militarize the energy infrastructure:

- Es Sider Port: Haftar has seized the Es Sider airstrip for military use. There is a constant stream of military personnel entering the port of Es Sider, and attempting to requisition NOC vessels there.

- Ras Lanuf Terminal: Haftar is using this terminal to dock warships and other military vessels.

In other words, Haftar has turned Libyas Oil Crescent into an all-encompassing military base, and in doing so is also turning the oil ports into arsenals from which he can receive more arms from external players. There are indications that the French delivered new weaponry to Haftar through Ras Lanuf late last week. This is how Haftar will win this war, even if it takes him longer than he would like to fight back militia loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli.

Es Sider and Ras Lanuf (in the Oil Crescent) are still far from Tripoli (over 600 kilometers), but the key to this game is the fire power.

The bigger picture here is all about US sanctions on Iran. Trump is going to meet with some oil price challenges over these sanctions and the move to end waivers, and OPEC is not expected to significantly increase production to balance out supply. Trump is banking on Libyan supply and using Haftar to meet that goal, which means seizing the ports and terminals.

The oil trade in the country divided by civil war is run by the National Oil Corporation (NOC), which attempts to position itself as a neutral party in a conflict between the LNA and the National Accord Government (GNA), operating across the country, sending the benefits of exports to the central bank based in Tripoli, but also partly to the officials on the territories controlled by the LNA.

As we have mentioned repeatedly, Haftar needs access to the oil revenues in Tripoli to fund his war effort, and the NOC is nervous because the general has the power to hijack the oil flow entirely. This is leverage he continues to hold over the NOC in return for cash. We brought up AGOCO earlier - a NOC subsidiary that most never hear about because theyve released production figures and are only responsible for producing approximately one-third of the countrys oil. This is where Haftar is going first for money, and hes being very vocal about it. The message is this: Pay up or the oil stops flowing. The only reason these facilities are secured right now is because of Haftar.

Haftar will get the funds he needs from NOC subsidiaries, and he already controls the oil, so without external intervention, Tripoli now looks likely to fall to the general but not without a fair amount of militia headache. Now that he controls the ports, he can also unilaterally export Libyas oil, but hed rather take Tripoli first - ideally before Ramadan, which starts on the 6th.

(Click to enlarge)

Over the weekend, the NOC released oil revenue figures, which came in at $1.5 billion, with total first-quarter revenue at $4.4 billion. That includes sales from AGOCO, which is a NOC subsidiary in the countrys eastern region that presently accounts for around 304,000 bpd of the countrys output.

This is what the official revenues look like from the NOC:

(Click to enlarge)

Also on Monday, an armed group fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the control station of the El Sharara oilfield, but any further attack was thwarted after clashes with security forces controlled by the LNA. This has not affected production, but Sharara is still the most vulnerable oilfield, having only recently been secured by Haftar from the hands of local protesters and militia.

Geopolitics in the Oil Patch

Yemen Is Trying To Release 1 Million Barrels of Crude Into the Market

Four years ago, Yemens crude stopped flowing, both in terms of production and exports. During that time, up to 1 million barrels of oil has been trapped in no-mans land in a Red Sea storage tanker. Like Libya, Yemen has two rival governments and two rival central banks representing their respective sides in the proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis (Iranian-backed) are now requesting that the UN create a mechanism by which to safely release all that oil onto the market and split the money between the two central banks. Its actually the perfect time to release this oil onto the market to help fill the gap that is being left by Iranian crude tied down by US sanctions.

Uprising and Coup Attempt in Venezuela

The military is divided between the opposition leader and Maduro, and Guaidos attempt yesterday to essentially launch a coup, calling for a mass uprising, did not have enough military support to finish the job. In other words, he hasnt won over the top military brass. The uprising was still in full force as of Wednesday morning, with violence engulfing the streets and Maduro still clinging to power, while reports emerged that the secret police head had absconded to the Guaido camp, though that has not been independently confirmed. To make his point re the military, Maduro appeared on state TV next to the military top brass this morning. In the meantime, beware the information war between Russia and the US on reports coming out of Venezuela.

More Posturing in the Middle East, With Russia

Russia and Iran are getting ready for joint military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz in a provocation that follows repeated threats by Iran to close off the key oil waterway over US sanctions. Iran has also designated all US troops in the Middle East terrorists, in retribution for the terrorist label for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Oil Worker Kidnappings Pick Up Pace in Nigeria

Last week, two Shell workers were abducted and their police escorts killed, and this week, three more oil workers were kidnapped in the Niger Delta when gunmen attacked an oil rig owned by Niger Delta Petroleum Resources. The two Shell workers were freed by security services on Tuesday, but the three others remain unaccounted for. The timing is significant: On 1 May, a Dutch court is scheduled to deliver its ruling in a historic case against Shell, which has been accused of instigating the Nigerian government to use brutal tactics to suppress protests in the oil-rich Niger Delta against pollution from oil production. We believe this pending decision is related to the May 1st ruling.

Global Oil & Gas Playbook

- The bidding war is officially on over Anadarkos Permian assets after Chevrons $33-billion bid celebration was overshadowed by Occidental Petroleums unexpected move to bid $38 billion. As of this week, Anadarko has decided to restart negotiations with Occidental, and Warren Buffett has even weighed in, backing Occidental with $10 billion through Berkshire Hathaway. Thats a major vote of confidence in Occidental at a time when analysts have been leaning toward Chevron as the most likely winner. Occidental is offering $76 a share for the Anadarko assets, while Chevron offered $65 per share.

- Taqa (Saudi Arabias Industrialization & Energy Services Co), backed by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF), is targeting two acquisitions this year of North American origins for $1.2 billion. Only one of those acquisitions has been revealed, and includes Texas-based Schlumbergers Mid-East drilling-rig business (for around $415 million). The drilling company drills in Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan and Iraq, onshore.

- Mexican Pemex reported $1.88 billion in losses for Q1, blaming the losses on financial costs of the pesos depreciation against the dollar. Pemex could risk a junk investment grade credit rating.

- A 20% stake in Novateks Arctic LNG2 project has been acquired by Chinese national oil companies CNPC and CNOOC (10% each). French Total SA also has a 10% stake, and the Saudis are currently in talks with Novatek as well for a potential 10% stake. Novatek is Russias largest private natural gas company and Arctic LNG 2 follows the Yamal LNG plant. CNPC also has a 20% stake in Yama, with Total (20%). The two LNG projects, when the second is finished, stand to render Russia among the worlds top 5 LNG producers, with an expected 37.5 million tons per year capacity. The Chinese stakes in Arctic LNG2 come as data from China shows that LNG imports surged in March, rising by 4.06 million tons, up over 25% year-on-year.

- More trouble for Tullow Oil in Africa after the company was forced to slash production forecasts for this year over technical issues at the Jubilee and TEN fields in Ghana. Forecasts for the year are now at 90,000-98,000 bpd, down from 93,000-101,000 bpd.

- ConocoPhillips Q1 2019 earnings have come in at $1.8 billion, up $900 million from the same quarter last year. Q1 adjusted earnings were $1.1 billion, the same as Q1 2018. These figures include the ICC settlement in the Venezuela PDVSA case as well as gains from Cenovus Energy. Production (not counting Libya) was 1.32 million boe/d, up 94 million boe/d for the same quarter last year.
The socio-economic and political challenges that have faced Armenia before incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan came to power remained unanswered, Berlin political scientist Heiko Langner told Vestnik Kavkaza, commenting on the results of the first year of the Armenian Prime Minister's work.

The expert recalled that a year ago Pashinyan came to power as a result of peaceful mass protests, and subsequently managed to legitimize his authority. "The early parliamentary election held in December last year ended with a landslide victory for the opposition under command of the Velvet Revolution leader - the My Step bloc had 70.45 percent of the vote," he said.

In this regard, the analyst drew attention to the fact that despite having a convincing parliamentary majority, the existing opportunities were not sufficiently used by the Prime Minister to solve the country's main problems. "Despite the fact that the unpopular and corrupt Sargsyan regime's clan was deprived of power, the fight against corruption is selective in Armenia, and some of the old oligarchs serve the new owners and have already found their place in the new system," Langner said.

Not much left of the original left-wing requirements for the redistribution of social benefits  instead, Pashinyan decided to continue the neoliberal course of his predecessors. "A planned tax reform with a fixed income tax rate of 23% is a gift for wealthy people who will get richer as a result. And if these tax gifts are paid for by raising excise taxes on cigarettes, alcoholic beverages and sweetened beverages then in this case the protection of public health will only serve as a camouflage pretext for justifying further redistribution of wealth in favor of the rich," the expert said, stressing that eventually the tax burden would lie on the shoulders of the middle class and low-income citizens.

According to the analyst, the initial hopes for the resumption of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement also threaten to collapse. "Here Pashinyan also copies the policy of his predecessors: instead of necessary compromise proposals, maximalist demands are being made, which until now ended in failure of peacekeeping efforts," the political scientist noted, explaining that the conflict with Azerbaijan still serves primarily domestic political purposes - stabilizing the regime and shifting the focus of people's attention from Armenia's topical social and economic problems.

Summing up the year of Pashinyans rule, the analyst noted that although Armenia had become a more democratic country, but it didn't become more social. The absence of new answers to old questions led to the fact that the Prime Minister is increasingly perceived as a fresh, 'clean' face to continue the old policy. In the long run, the chosen course can cost the Armenian prime minister the electorate's support, since politics in a democratic society must meet requests of all social groups. The presidential elections in Ukraine, the results of which showed a complete failure of President Petro Poroshenko's policy based on empty promises and patriotic rhetoric," Heiko Langner concluded.
- Europe experienced an unexpected form of market panic due to a rare excess concentration of organic chlorides in the worlds largest trunk pipeline, the Druzhba pipeline supplying Central Europe from Russia.

We will see next week whether the threat will be carried through and how China, India, Turkey and other concerned parties will react if it is. What is undeniable however, is the spike in crude oil prices earlier this week, hitting a six-week high after the White House announced the end of all Iran sanctions waivers. By Wednesday crude prices had retreated somewhat on the back of an expected robust US commercial crude stock buildup, with Brent trading around $71.8-72 per barrel, whilst WTI was trading in the $63.4-63.6 per barrel interval.

Brace yourself for a post-waivers era of total Iranian sanctions  this is the key message that the Trump Administration wants to convey to the global oil and gas community. It might be a subtle ruse to wrestle out further concessions from China and India, it might be a less subtle way of obfuscating the failure of another US-backed anti-Maduro coup in Venezuela (and that is quite something given the overall incompetence and crookery of the current Venezuelan elite) or it may well be the truth. Only time will tell.

Brace yourself for a post-waivers era of total Iranian sanctions  this is the key message that the Trump Administration wants to convey to the global oil and gas community. It might be a subtle ruse to wrestle out further concessions from China and India, it might be a less subtle way of obfuscating the failure of another US-backed anti-Maduro coup in Venezuela (and that is quite something given the overall incompetence and crookery of the current Venezuelan elite) or it may well be the truth. Only time will tell.

(Click to enlarge)

We will see next week whether the threat will be carried through and how China, India, Turkey and other concerned parties will react if it is. What is undeniable however, is the spike in crude oil prices earlier this week, hitting a six-week high after the White House announced the end of all Iran sanctions waivers. By Wednesday crude prices had retreated somewhat on the back of an expected robust US commercial crude stock buildup, with Brent trading around $71.8-72 per barrel, whilst WTI was trading in the $63.4-63.6 per barrel interval.

1. Russias Crude Quality Botchup Shakes European Market

(Click to enlarge)

- Europe experienced an unexpected form of market panic due to a rare excess concentration of organic chlorides in the worlds largest trunk pipeline, the Druzhba pipeline supplying Central Europe from Russia.

- Reportedly, the 1.2mbpd pipeline was contaminated at the Samara-Unecha section of the pipeline, with 400 000  1 000 000 metric tons of crude containing 30-40 times more dichloroethane than the Russian standard.

- By the end of last week, every Central European country that is supplied by the Druzhba had shut its transportation and took steps to activate state reserves to cope with the force majeure.

- The Russian transportation monopoly Transneft said it might take at least a month to clean up the crude in the pipelines, all the more so as no Central European refiner is ready to refine the contaminated crude.

- Urals loadings out of the Baltic port of Ust-Luga were also affected by the chloride contamination, with several cargoes rejected due to excessive chloride levels.

2. Petrobras Selling its Refineries

(Click to enlarge)

- The Brazilian state oil company Petrobras is planning to sell more than half of its domestic refining capacity, namely 8 refineries across the country (out of the total 13) with 1.1mbpd of installed capacity.

- In May 2018 Petrobras announced its intention to sell the 4 largest refineries in the list above, yet was forced to put the plan on the back burner following a federal court injunction.

- Even though the injunction is still in power, Petrobras believes that it is now the optimal time for privatization, regardless of negative public opinion on the matter.

- Chinese companies are expected to invest heavily in the biggest capacity units  on the back of CNPC already participating in the 150kbpd Rio de Janeiro refinery, currently under construction.

- Petrobras owns the overwhelming majority of refining capacity in Brazil, only three tiny refineries with an aggregate capacity of 34kbpd are beyond the NOCs control.

- Petrobras full divestment plan for 2020-2024 is expected to be issued in Q4 2019, with further sell-offs expected along the way.

3. BP Expanding in West Africa

(Click to enlarge)

- The Gambian government has granted BP the A1 offshore exploration block, stripped 2 years ago from African Petroleum under the pretext of it being expired.

- The A1 block has had a very tumultuous history  African Petroleum wanted to drill its first Alhamdulilah well in 2013, yet the Gambian government abruptly cancelled the permit before the launch.

- Then African Petroleum got the exploration rights back in 2016, only to have them deprived a year later following the ouster of former President Yahya Jammeh.

- The Gambian authorities estimate the A1 and A4 blocks contain up to 3 billion barrels of oil.

- Despite neighboring Senegal ramping up drilling activity, The Gambia has seen no exploratory drilling since 1979 when Chevron drilled a dry Jammah-1 well.

4. Libyas May-loading OSPs: As if nothing happened

(Click to enlarge)

- Amid the ever-robust Med Urals spread which has been at a premium to Brent throughout April, Libyas national oil company raised most of its May-loading official formula prices.

- Esharara, the production of which has bounced back after a lengthy shutdown, has seen its OSP hiked by 10 cents to a -0.05 discount vs Dated, the highest in the last 12 months.

- Es Sider, Melittah, Mesla and Sarir also witnessed 10 cent increases, with Bu Attifel rolled over from April at a 0.95 USD per barrel premium.

- Already six April-loading vessels have set sail for China, with half of them loaded with Sarir, with singular voyages of Melittah and Amna also moving in that direction.

- Late March the CEO of Libyas NOC Mustafa Sanallah claimed that they are producing 1.2mbpd of crude, which is largely corroborated by the exports volumes averaging 1.17mbpd so far in April.

- Field Marshal Khalifa Haftars offensive on Tripoli seems to be fizzling out, despite the cautious backing from President Trump who has hailed Haftars counterterrorism efforts.

5. Algeria Issues its May OSPs and Fires Sonatrach CEO

(Click to enlarge)

- Algerias national oil company Sonatrach hiked its retroactive official selling prices for May-loading prices of its flagship Saharan Blend crude by 35 cents to a 0.35 USD premium against Brent.

- The last available May-loading cargoes were reported to have been traded at a 0.5 USD per barrel premium against Dated.

- After Algerian crude exports peaked in February, they have gone back to the usual 0.55-0.65mbpd monthly interval.

- Reliance has been active on the Algerian market, buying 4 Suezmax cargoes this month, with 2 Aframaxes also setting sail towards Canada and Chile.

- The interim President of Algeria Abdelkader Bensalah has sacked the CEO of Sonatrach Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, an ally of former Algerian leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

- Despite naming Rachid Hachichi as the new Sonatrach CEO, heretofore the NOCs head of E&P, the move created waves of uncertainty as Kaddours Sonatrach revamp strategy was just about to give palpable results.

6. ADNOC Launches Second Licensing Round

(Click to enlarge)

- The UAE national oil company ADNOC has launched its 2nd oil and gas licensing round, offering 5 blocks for prospective bidders  3 offshore and 2 onshore spread out over more than 34 000km2.

- The 1st licensing round saw contracts awarded to ENI, OMV, PTT, Bharat Petroleum, IOC, INPEX and Occidental Petroleum.

- Based on preliminary exploration and appraisal data, the blocks covered in the 2nd round contain at least 290 targeted reservoirs and 92 prospects.

- ADNOC sees the 2nd licensing round as an inevitable part of ramping up production capacity from the 4mbpd it has set for 2020 to 5mbpd by 2030.

- Interestingly, the two onshore blocks are providing for a separate licensing procedure for conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon discoveries.

7. Shell Moving Into Untapped USGC Deepwater Territory

(Click to enlarge)

- Shell, Chevron and Equinor have announced a significant deepwater discovery after drilling the Blacktip exploratory well in one of the USGCs least appraised parts.

- Blacktip encountered a net oil par of more than 400 feet (125 meters) at a water depth of 6216 feet (1900 meters).

- Located some way off the Perdido hub at the southern part of the Almanios Canyon, Blacktip would most likely need a separate production platform as there is no viable tie-back option.

- Since Blacktip is Shells second discovery in the Perdido Corridor of the US Gulf after last years Whale find.

- Neither of the stakeholders disclosed the estimated reserves of the discovery, yet given its similarity to the 400MMbbl Whale field it might be around the same volume.

- As the shale acreage matures, USGC deepwater will see an increase in investment and drilling activity in the upcoming years.
Oil prices dropped early on Wednesday after the API reported on Tuesday a surprise U.S. crude build that outweighed earlier bullish news of a coup attempt in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia hinting that the OPEC+ pact could be extended in some form through the end of this year.

As of 08:58 EDT on Wednesday, before the EIA weekly inventory report, WTI Crude was down 0.75 percent at $63.43 while Brent Crude traded down 0.33 percent at $71.82.

Oil rallied early on Tuesday after Saudi Arabias Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in an interview with Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the OPEC+ production cut deal could be extended by the end of the year from its current expiry date of June 2019. Al-Falih, however, reiterated that its too early to project details about production levels and quotas.

Also on Tuesday, oil prices were supported by the escalation of the situation in OPEC member Venezuela, where the opposition leader Juan Guaido, along with some factions of the military, staged an attempted to overthrow Nicolas Maduro.

These two bullish factors were wiped out later in the day on Tuesday, when the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise build in crude oil inventory of 6.81 million barrels for the week ending April 26, coming in over analyst expectations of a 2.093-million-barrel buildup in inventories.

The bigger-than-expected stock build has weighed on the market, which saw a reversal of much of yesterdays gains following comments from the Saudi oil minister that OPEC+ could continue with their deal through until the end of this year, whilst the market also largely ignored the growing unrest in Venezuela, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy at ING, said on Wednesday.

Referring to Venezuela, ING believes that While a change in regime could mean increased oil output in the longer term, it could also mean short- to medium-term disruptions, while we believe it will not be a quick fix to turn the state of the domestic oil industry around even with a new regime.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Venezuelas opposition leader, along with some factions of the military, have staged an attempted coup to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.

Standing alongside soldiers at a military base, opposition leader and self-proclaimed president of Venezuela, Juan Guaido, launched a military uprising to oust Maduro. Notably, he stood with Leopoldo Lopez, another opposition leader who had been jailed by the government, but who said he had been released by elements of the military that had turned on Maduro. Both urged the military to rise up and called for the whole country to mobilize in the streets.

Today, brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men attached to the Constitution have followed our call, Guaido said in a video. He called it the definitive end of Maduros rule, before adding that we are counting on the people of Venezuela today, and that the armed forces are clearly on the side of the people.

The events are fluid and reports are confusing  the clashes between some military forces and protestors suggest that the military has not abandoned Maduro entirely. Police loyal to Maduro fired tear gas at protestors. The Venezuelan government has downplayed the uprising and insists that it is still in control. A mediocre coup detat attempt has failed, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said. Related: U.S. Pipeline Boom Could End In Crisis

American officials made a series of statements on Tuesday and took to twitter to cheer on the attempted coup.

For now, it is unclear what the effect on Venezuelas oil production will be. Argus Media reports that sources inside Venezuelas oil industry say that operations have not yet been impacted.

Venezuelas oil production plunged to 732,000 bpd in March, down 289,000 bpd from the month before, according to OPECs secondary sources. That huge decline was made much worse by the widespread blackout that swept over the country for a period of time. But the losses, by all accounts, are expected to continue.

U.S. sanctions have closed off a lot of the global market for PDVSA with buyers around the world having cut off ties with the Venezuelan oil company. At the same time, the infrastructure within the country is already crippled by a lack of investment, a financial and economic crisis, a brain drain and the deteriorating state of the electric grid.

Chevron is reportedly struggling to bring the Petropiar facility, an oil upgrader that it operates with PDVSA, back online, according to Bloomberg. In early April, production at Petropiar was operating at half the level that it was back in January. Most worrying for Venezuela is that the joint ventures have been more resilient than the operations that PDVSA runs on its own, so the decline of the joint venture operations does not bode well. Related: New Models Suggest Much Faster Global Warming

Petropiar  and many other oil projects  will struggle to return to full capacity because of electricity rationing. Electricity shortages, in turn, are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. The electricity problem for PDVSA is in addition to two previous problems the government needs to deal with: sanctions and lack of investment, which are at the base of Venezuelas falling production numbers, said Francisco Monaldi, a Fellow at Rice Universitys Baker Institute, told Bloomberg.

Now, the prospect of ongoing instability, or outright civil war, only magnifies the dangers for the country and for its oil production. Argus Media said that two army officials said that six or seven garrisons have been seized by soldiers backing Guaido, although those claims have not been confirmed. Meanwhile, Argus also said National Constituent Assembly president Diosdado Cabello ordered all armed collectives and civilian militia units in Caracas to go to the presidential palace in Caracas to defend Maduro.

Of course, nobody knows how events will unfold, but the ingredients for protracted violence between the opposition and the government are readily apparent.

By Nick Cunningham, Oilprice.com

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The small West African country Gambia has awarded BP the exploration rights to drill for oil and gas in an offshore block which another company claims it has the rights to explore.

Gambia and BP signed on Tuesday a petroleum exploration contract, giving the UK supermajor the legal rights to explore for oil and gas potential in block A1 offshore Gambia, the office of the Gambian president Adama Barrow said in a statement posted on Facebook.

This is about looking for oil and gas in the deep water where BP would be able to connect the government of the Gambia with our partners at GNPC to explore for oil and if it is successful to develop that oil in the future, Jonathan Evans, V.P. Africa New Ventures at BP, said, as quoted by the Gambian presidential office.

However, another producer, African Petroleum Corporation, claims that it still holds the rights to the block that was just awarded to BP. Back in 2017, Gambia stripped African Petroleum of its license for the A1 block, saying it had expired while the company hadnt met contractual obligations. African Petroleum has launched arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

In a statement on Wednesday, African Petroleum said that it continues to reserve its rights in relation to the A1 licence and will continue with its efforts to protect its interest in the A1 licence through the ongoing ICSID arbitration process.

BP, for its part, intends to begin exploring offshore Gambiawhich borders Senegal where large gas finds have been recently madewith an environmental impact assessment, followed by a two-year period of drilling, exploration, and development of the first well.

According to BPs Evans, as quoted by Gambias presidents office, it could take close to a decade for Gambia to receive revenues, if exploration efforts are successful.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The leader of the Houthi uprising in Yemen, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, has asked the United Nations to sell a cargo of crude to generate revenues that will be used for the purchase of fuel and salaries for public sector employees, Reuters reports, citing a tweet by the rebel leader.

We call on the U.N. and the Security Council to put in place a mechanism to sell Yemeni crude oil, including the oil in the (floating storage tank), Al-Houthi tweeted, referring to a cargo of crude that has been floating off the coast of the country since the uprising that led to a war with Saudi Arabia began four years ago.

Oil used to be a vital export commodity of one of the poorest countries in the Middle East but the war has put a stop to that. Oil has moreover become a point of conflict between the Houthis, who control most cities in Yemen, and the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces loyal to the government that the Houthis ousted.

Last August, the pro-government forces that control the oil-rich Shabwa province announced the first export cargo of crude since 2015, of half a million barrels. The oil was offered in an open tender, in which 35 companies from around the world took part. The winner was a Chinese company.



Related: Overly Bullish Hedge Funds Set The Stage For Oil Price Drop

The Houthis have accused Saudi Arabia of stealing more than half of the countrys oil production in collaboration with French Totala company that has been present in Yemen since before the war.

Despite these accusations, however, there is little the rebels could do to stop the Saudi-backed government from producing and exporting oil, apparently. Earlier this year, the government even said it planned to restore production to levels high enough to allow for exports of 75,000 bpd.

We will maintain production from four blocks and are planning to build a pipeline to Arab Sea (Arabian Sea) to resume exports from these blocks, oil minister Aws Abdullah Al-Awd told Reuters in February. The plans also involve raising crude oil production to 110,000 bpd this year. The Saudi-backed government controls Yemens oil and gas fields, while the Houthi rebels supported by Iran holds the countrys capital, Sanaa, and an oil terminal on Yemens west coast.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Embattled outgoing governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha made a hurried entry into the Abuja division of the Federal High Court on Tuesday in pursuit of his Certificate of Return as senator-elect for Imo West senatorial district.

Reports say the governor, accompanied by some of his aides and lawyers drove into the court premises in a convoy after 4pm and walked straight into some offices of the court.

However, Okorocha emerged from the court premises about 30 minutes later, but refused to speak with journalists who waited for him outside the court premises for possible comments.

Okorocha in a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/296/2019, filed by his counsel, Kehinde Ogunwumiju (SAN) is seeking a court order compelling the INEC to issue him a certificate of return as the validly-elected senator for Imo West senatorial district.

However, hearing in the suit has suffered several set backs following some legal hurdles introduced by some interested parties to the suit and the set backs reached a climax when Justice Taiwo. O. Taiwo, who was assigned to adjudicate on the case withdrew from the matter over allegations of bias made against him by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The case has been assigned to another Judge of the court, Justice Okon Abang, who has already adjourned it to May 8, 2019, at the instance of the plaintiff.
The Italian police have arrested a 32-year-old Nigerian woman for allegedly belonging to a criminal network which trafficks people abroad including the exploitation of ladies in pros-titution.

The syndicate said to consist of men and women of Nigerian origin based in Italy, was discovered on 16th April by the police in Turin area of Italy.

According to reports, the woman and eleven other people are already in prison custody in Trento, as the authorities continue on clamp down of human and s*x trafficking groups by Nigerians in Italy.

This is coming days after police authorities in Gallarate city in Italy, arrested about 10 Nigerians for allegedly dealing and selling marijuana in the streets.

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Mohammed Adamu, the acting inspector-general of police, says President Muhammadu Buhari has directed him to immediately commence the implementation of community policing strategy across the country, TheCable reports.

He was speaking at a meeting of the forum of northern traditional rulers on Tuesday in Kaduna, where critical security issues were discussed.

The President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has directed me to immediately implement community policing strategy across the country; this is a structure, which will enable traditional rulers to maintain an effective cultural and social control over their subjects, said Adamu.

The acting IGP also said that the community policing model envisaged for the country would involve the establishment and utilisation of the special constables, as provided for in Section 50 (1) of the Police Act Cap P19 LFN 2004.

He explained that the special constables model, mirrored after the police community support officers standard in the United Kingdom policing architecture, would be tailored to align with the existing traditional security structure in the northern part of the country.

The Special Constables will be drawn from members of the community to serve as voluntary community police officers under the coordination of the Nigeria Police Force, he said.

This new drive is in line with the expressed desire and directives of the President, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.

Adamu also disclosed that about 1,071 persons lost their lives in crime-related cases across the country in the first quarter of 2019.
Men of the Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Victory in Calabar, Cross River State, have arrested three Cameroonians and five Nigerians for allegedly attempting to smuggle out 105 drums of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, to Cameroon.

Commander NNS Victory, Commodore Vincent Okeke, who addressed reporters at their jetty in Calabar said the product worth about N6 million was obtained from Oron in Akwa Ibom State.

He said the matter was still under investigation.

Okeke, who also handed over 357 bags of contraband rice worth N7 million and six suspects to the Nigeria Customs Service, said they would not relent in ensuring smugglers are out of business.

We are handing over the rice to Customs today. The PMS and suspects are undergoing investigation. We would hand over when we finish the investigation. We would not give up. We would make sure we run them out of business. The economic impacts of their activities are too numerous to be enumerated.

Read Also: Navy arrests six Cameroonians for smuggling contraband rice

The rice they are importing is killing the business of agriculture in this country. All the efforts of the Federal Government to diversify the economy are being sabotaged.

On the issue of the PMS, the government brings in PMS at a subsidized rate to the public, meanwhile some people are still taking out this PMS to neigbouring countries.

You can now understand why nobody can comprehend the daily consumption rate being put out. It is obvious now that these products are being smuggled out of the country. So it my duty to make sure this is curtailed forthwith. They must desist. They have to go and look for legitimate businesses and do. That is message to them,  he said.
The Nigerian Army has responded to report that Boko Haram terrorists earn more that Nigerian soldiers.

A member of the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative (PCNI), Dr. Sidi Ali Mohammed had claimed that Boko Haram fighters receive daily payments of $3,000 daily, while Nigerian military gets N1000 per day for being in the North East, at the war front.

However, in a statement issued by the Acting Director Army Public Relations, Colonel Sagir Musa, the military described Muhammeds report as false.

Read the press statement below.

BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS DO NOT EARN MORE THAN THE NIGERIAN SOLDIER

The attention of the Nigerian Army has been drawn to a publication on Sahara Reporters and other social media platforms, to a false claim credited to one Doctor Sidi Ali Mohammed, a member of the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative. In it, he alleged that the criminal terrorist group members earn as much as $3,000 daily, as against the Nigerian soldier who is paid N1,000 only. This is not true, pure lie and highly irresponsible comment coming from a supposedly knowledgeable person of his calibre.

It is also criminal and preposterous to compare the gallant soldiers of our Armed Forces with the rag tag terrorists criminal gang. Indeed there is no such basis at all between the outlawed criminal terrorist who commits crime against humanity and our highly patriotic, courageous and brave soldiers whose sacrifice cannot be quantified.

Over time, we have been alerting the world that the menace of Boko Haram terrorism is being aided and abetted by sympathizers such as Doctor Sidi Ali Mohammed. He must have been associated with the terrorists group beyond what he may want the public to know for having the knowledge of how much a terrorist earns per day to commit atrocities against fellow Nigerians and other innocent people including women and children. His statement could be part of the deliberate attempt to demoralise the patriotic soldiers serving their fatherland so that the terrorists will take advantage of it. It is also a way of swaying the gullible youths to believe the lies of Boko Haram terrorists as being peddled by him.

Therefore, we are calling on all Nigerians to discountenance the statement credited to Doctor Sidi Ali Mohammed; while we take necessary steps to formally report him to the appropriate authorities to further substantiate these unfounded allegations.

We would like to assure the public that the Nigerian Army would remain resolute and focused in the fight against terrorism and insurgency in our great nation and no amount of distraction or terrorists propaganda will dissuade it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a telegram congratulating new Japanese Emperor Naruhito on his inauguration.

"In recent years, relations between our countries have been significantly developing. Moscow and Tokyo hold a constructive political dialogue, cooperating in solving topical issues of regional and global agenda," according to the statement posted on the Kremlin website.

Putin expressed confidence that further boosting of Russian-Japanese cooperation in various areas meets core interests of the two peoples and is in the framework of strengthening international stability and security.

In addition, the Russian president wished Naruhito good health, prosperity and successful years-long rule for the benefit of Japanese citizens.
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" " MOOCs can be attended by thousands or even hundreds of thousands of students at a time. Plus, you don't have to be packed into a lecture hall. Westend61/Getty Images

If you have an online degree, or are pursuing one, you may be seeing a shift in the way long distance learning is perceived by employers and the public in general. Early resistance to online education may have been caused by concern about diploma mills or worry about a lack of oversight in the virtual classroom. Those notions and other ideas about using computers and the Internet to educate students may soon be up for revision, too.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are making waves in academia, and although it's too soon to determine their ultimate impact on the ivy-covered halls of universities across the country and the world, they are inspiring a lively debate among educators and students.

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The first MOOC arrived on the scene back in 2011 when two Stanford professors offered their artificial intelligence class online -- for free. Enrollment topped 160,000, and the unprecedented success of the experiment inspired other schools, many of them top tier universities, to mount their own offerings [source: Morrison].

On the pro side of the MOOC debate, proponents believe making quality educational instruction available to the masses will provide higher quality and lower cost for many, and might easily be the best instructional model for the future. MOOCs can be attended by thousands or even hundreds of thousands of students at a time. In fact, Sebastian Thrun, one of the Stanford professors who started it all, sees a day in which as few as 10 universities fulfill the world's higher education needs.

That may be an extreme view, but a number of companies are springing up to take MOOC learning to the next level, including Coursera, Udacity and EdX. Many big universities are participating in MOOCs to one degree or another, too. Some examples are Stanford, Princeton, the University of California Berkeley and Duke University [source: Webley].

Where MOOCs may provide quality instruction for many, detractors often cite that very fact as its biggest failing. MOOCs don't offer any individualized training, much less tutoring or mentoring, and some educators feel adopting it as a for-credit standard in the future will leave some students behind and alienate others. A common argument is that individualized, face-to-face teaching works best in many cases because no single instructional technique will fulfill the needs of all students. The lively exchange of ideas that can electrify a classroom is the province of the brick-and-mortar school, not the virtual classroom [source: Leef].

Some find other aspects of MOOC instruction troubling. In the first MOOCs, plagiarism was a problem and overall completion rates were low. This may have been because some students were curious about the format rather than focused on scholarship. Still, for MOOCs to be widely offered for credit, they will have to be structured to provide oversight, consistency and student accountability.

How will MOOCs fare in the future? No one knows for sure, but the ultimate modern classroom may turn out to be a blend of the old and the new, with on-campus activities like labs, debates and other interactive engagements working in concert with massive online offerings to provide a comprehensive, flexible learning experience that's cost effective and convenient [source: PBS News Hour].
TWO senior high graduates from Lapu-Lapu City were among the 1,714 jobseekers in Central Visayas who hoped to find a job during the jobs and livelihood fair hosted by the Department of Labor and Employment

TWO senior high graduates from Lapu-Lapu City were among the 1,714 jobseekers in Central Visayas who hoped to find a job during the jobs and livelihood fair hosted by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) on Wednesday, May 1.

The job fair is in line with the countrys 117th celebration of Labor Day.

Michelle Pacquiao and Angelica Ligama, both 20, were graduates from the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) strand and were planning to take a degree in education when they got to college.

Friends since high school, both were hoping to get a job and get accepted as sales clerks.

Though they are planning to pursue college, Pacquiao and Ligama still want to work to get an income to help their families.

They said the skills they have are enough for them to compete in the workforce.

Ready na (mi) para college, and also for the actual world, said Pacquiao.

Danilo Trazo, another jobseeker, hoped to get a new job abroad. He is currently an assistant manager in one of the companies in one of the export processing zones in Cebu.

The growing needs of his family are what push Trazo to go abroad and get a higher paying job compared to his current work. Ill take any job, so long as its overseas, in Japan, I hope, said Trazo.

Aside from the financial issue he is facing, Trazo wants to go abroad to practice the degree he finished when he was in college. He finished computer engineering.

Its difficult to find that type of work here. Id like to practice it abroad, said Trazo.

Dole 7 Regional Director Salome Siaton said there were at least 18,000 available jobs, both local and overseas, offered during the Labor Day celebration.

Siaton highlighted the increase in the employment rate in the region from last years 92.2 percent to 94.8 percent in the first quarter of 2019.

She cited the governments Build Build Build program that contributed to the increase in employment rate.

In the four simultaneous job fairs in Central Visayas on Wednesday, 1,714 job applicants registered and 1,159 were qualified.

Story continues

Fifty-five were hired on the spot, 333 were nearly hired which means they are subject to final interview, 39 were referred to the Department of Trade and Industry, while 50 were referred to the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority for skills training.

Most of the participating industries were from the manufacturing industry, malls and health.

Meanwhile, 26,000 contractual workers in the region were regularized last year, Siaton said. These were mostly in Cebu.

Siaton urged more employers to regularize their employees this year or face sanctions.

Meanwhile, rival labor groups held what was supposed to be a unity rally that did not happen after a downpour Wednesday.

ALU spokesperson and executive assistant director Art Barrit said the plan was AMA-Sugbo-KMU would join the ALU-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines in marching on Colon Street.

Both groups call for a nationwide minimum wage of P750 and the end of contractualization. (JJL with EOB, VLA)
AS VARIOUS labor groups across the country unite to push for a national daily minimum wage of P750 on Wednesday, May 1, President Rodrigo Duterte renewed his call on Congress to approve a legislative measure

AS VARIOUS labor groups across the country unite to push for a national daily minimum wage of P750 on Wednesday, May 1, President Rodrigo Duterte renewed his call on Congress to approve a legislative measure that would protect the workers' rights.

The President lamented that the plight of the Filipino worker "remains the same," despite his administration's efforts to implement measures meant to "afford full protection to labor and promote equal work opportunities for all."

"I join all Filipino workers here and abroad as we mark Labor Day. Our nation's strength has always depended on the hard work, grit and perseverance of our labor force," Duterte said in a message on Labor Day, May 1.

"It is unfortunate, however, that despite this yearly observance, the plight of our workers, especially those who choose to leave their families so they may earn better compensation abroad, remains the same. This is why my administration has implemented measures within its powers to afford full protection to labor and promote equal work opportunities for all," he added.

Duterte said May 1 is the day the nation celebrates the labor force's "valuable contributions not only in the struggle to provide a better life for our people, but in building the foundations of a more promising future for succeeding generations of Filipinos."

As part of his administration's efforts to give a better life for Filipino workers, Duterte noted that he signed Executive Order (EO) 51 on May 1, 2018, prohibiting "illegal" contracting and subcontracting arrangements between employers and their workers.

"Today, we celebrate the working class not as a tool of employers, but as an essential catalyst for our nation's overall progress. I wish everyone a meaningful commemoration," he said.

Under Articles 106 to 109 of Presidential Decree 442 or the Labor Code of the Philippines, any companies are allowed to enter into contractual arrangements with their employees.

Story continues

While he acknowledged that there was already an EO, the President still hopes that Congress would introduce amendments to the Labor Code.

"I remain optimistic that one year since I issued Executive Order No. 51 implementing existing constitutional and statutory provisions against illegal contracting, my counterparts in Congress will consider passing much needed legislative measures that will fully protect our workers' rights, especially to security of tenure and self-organization," the Chief Executive said.

"May this solemn observance inspire all of us to work together in improving the plight of our workers by creating an environment conducive to their personal and professional growth and development," he added.

On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of workers are expected to join rallies nationwide, hoping that the Duterte government would heed their call to mandate a national daily minimum wage of P750 and look for ways to end all forms of contractualization.

In Cebu, labor groups AMA Sugbo, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and the Associated Labor Unions (ALU), in an unprecedented move, held a joint program at 8 a.m. in Colon and marched together towards Fuente Osmena along with other labor groups coming from Plaza Independencia and other parts of Cebu City. (SunStar Philippines)
MMDA personnel accost provincial buses traversing Edsa. (Photo courtesy of MMDA)

MANILA, Philippines  The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said on Tuesday (April 30) that the impending implementation of the provincial bus ban on Edsa remains as one of the best alternatives to decongest Metro Manila roads.

MMDA traffic chief Bong Nebrija said in an interview that it is standing by its resolution of shutting down provincial bus terminals on Edsa despite a petition seeking for a temporary restraining order.

The petition was filed on Monday by AKO Bicol Party-list before the Supreme Court.

Nebrija added that opposing a policy before its implementation will only hinder the agency from doing its job.

Under MMDA Resolution No. 19-002, local governments are urged to revoke or prohibit the issuance of business permits to all terminals and operators of public utility buses and vehicles along EDSA.

When this policy takes effect in June, provincial buses will be required to drop off passengers at government-constructed terminals like those in Paranaque, Valenzuela City and Sta. Rosa, Laguna, where they could transfer to city vehicles.

In its 44-page petition, AKO Bicol argued that the MMDA and the Metro Manila Council have no authority to implement the ban as they were not authorized under the law to enact ordinances or approve resolutions. The group added that these are acts of police power that only individual local government units can exercise.

The group also said the measure was contrary to the Public Service Act which requires bus operators to maintain their own terminals as a requirement for the franchise, and that the move encroaches upon the authority of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to issue, amend and revoke certificates of public convenience to public utility vehicles.

But Nebrija stressed, the MMDA will only transfer and not abolish the provincial bus terminals on Edsa. He also added that the agency knows it has no police power that is why the resolution only urges local governments to shut down the terminals in their area.

If the policy is implemented next month, it would affect some 47 provincial bus terminals on Edsa.  Robie de Guzman

The post MMDA: Edsa bus ban one of the best options in decongesting Metro Manila appeared first on UNTV News.
SIXTEEN more blocks of cocaine weighing a total of at least 20 kilograms were found along the shore of Lingig town in Surigao del Sur.The 16 blocks, with an estimated value of around P100 million, were

SIXTEEN more blocks of cocaine weighing a total of at least 20 kilograms were found along the shore of Lingig town in Surigao del Sur.

The 16 blocks, with an estimated value of around P100 million, were turned over to the Lingig Municipal Police by fisherman Jolan Basarde Pucot, 25.

A report from the Lingig Police said Pucot found the 16 blocks of suspected cocaine after he went fishing in the waters off Barangay Handamayan on Tuesday evening, April 30.

The report said Pucot immediately turned over the contraband to the said police station.

The items will be turned over to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory for verification.

Since February 10, police said over 100 kilograms of cocaine have been recovered from the country's eastern shores.

Blocks of cocaine were found either floating in the waters or on the shores of Aurora, Quezon, Camarines Norte, and Camarines Sur in Luzon, down to the Dinagat group of islands in Caraga region, Davao Oriental, Surigao Del Norte, and Surigao Del Sur in Mindanao. (SunStar Philippines)
The worlds greatest Alfa Romeo, formerly owned by the worlds greatest boxer, has gone up for sale on eBay.com for the unbelievable rock-bottom starting price of USD39,900.

The Alfa Romeo, a 1976 Veloce Series II model, comes with the original 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual gearbox that produces 127 hp when new. Wearing a stunning silver paint job, an orange stripe on the side and genuine leather upholstery, the car still has its original wheels and steering wheel.

As the story goes, buying the Alfa Romeo Spider convertible was never Muhammad Alis intention. The Thrilla in Manila pugilist visited a European Imports dealership in Lake Forest, Illinois together with close friend and car expert Tim Shanahan, to buy a new Kelly Green Corniche Rolls-Royce for himself and a Mercedes-Benz SL for his wife, Veronica Porche. Unfortunately, the dealership didnt have the SL in stock, so the sales rep suggested the Alfa Romeo as an alternative.

Ali bought the car, but upon bringing it home, learned that his wife didnt know how to drive stick. Adding insult to injury, Alis wife didnt want to learn at all. As a result, the car remained unused most of the time, only seeing the road when Ali sent one of his assistants on an errand.

Being the generous friend, Ali simply gave the car to Shanahan when he learned the latters car broke down. Shanahan owned the car for over 40 years before selling it to classic car dealer MotoeXotica, who put it up for sale in the online auction site.

Although the car has 80,000 miles (more or less 130,000 kms) on the odometer, it looks to be in great shape, albeit the ad mentions a small crack on the dashboard and a recent paint job.

But the cars best feature though, is not on the car itself, but on the original registration, which bears Alis signature. Buying the car also comes with Ali memorabilia, including photos of Ali with the car, and Shanahans book, Running with the Champ.

The post Muhammad Alis 1976 Alfa Romeo Veloce Series II Heads to Auction appeared first on Carmudi Philippines.
Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hardline demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded parts of the city Wednesday in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence. Tensions were palpable as a mix of labour unionists, "yellow vest" demonstrators and anti-capitalists gathered in the French capital, putting security forces on high alert. More than 7,400 police were out on the streets with orders from President Emmanuel Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" if faced with violence. The clashes kicked off as crowds gathered on Montparnasse Boulevard, with hundreds of black-clad anarchists weaving their way to the front as thousands of unionists and yellow vests were quietly munching their lunch in the sun. Suddenly they pounced, hurling bottles and chunks of broken paving stones at the security forces, shouting: "Everyone hates the police!". Clouds of teargas wafted into the air as the police hit back immediately, charging at the rioters and throwing stingball grenades and water cannons to break up the crowd in clashes that lasted over an hour. There was also some friction between the hardline protesters and those who turned out just to celebrate workers' day. "I earn 1,200 euros ($1,340) a month, I'm like you," one trade unionist responded after being insulted by a "yellow vest" marcher. French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, visiting a Paris hospital where an injured riot officer was admitted, said the traditional May Day holiday for workers had been "hijacked by the violence" of some of the participants. Dozens of demonstrators briefly burst into La Pitie-Salpetriere hospital with some trying to enter a resuscitation service before being ejected by police, hospital director Marie-Anne Ruder told France Inter radio. But the initial violence and the sporadic clashes that followed fell short of the "apocalypse" threatened by hardliners, with the security forces heading off some of the excesses seen in recent months. Authorities had warned this year's marches would likely spell trouble, coming barely a week after leaders of the yellow vest anti-government movement angrily dismissed Macron's offer of tax cuts. Some 40,000 people turned out for the May Day rallies in Paris, an independent media count estimated, while unions gave a figure of 80,000 and the interior ministry put the number at 28,000. Ministry figures for the whole country gave a turnout of 164,000 people, while France's powerful CGT union gave a figure of 310,000 at events in some 250 towns and cities. - 'Worse than '68' - The sudden violence caught many marchers by surprise, with union members who were caught in the crossfire infuriated by what they claimed was an indiscriminate police crackdown. Caught up in the melee was top CGT official Philippe Martinez who had been waiting at the head of the march where the clashes took place. Forced to leave the area, he later returned, visibly agitated, with sharp words of criticism for the police whom he accused of attacking "clearly-identifiable union members". After the initial scuffles, a sense of relative calm returned as the main procession got under way. But things degenerated again towards the end as the marchers reached Place d'Italie where black-clad agitators tried to knock down anti-riot barriers, prompting running battles with the police as the skies quickly filled with tear gas. In the surrounding streets, some torched dustbins, while others pried the protective chipboard coverings from shop fronts and set them alight, sending black smoke pouring into the air. - Russian journalist hurt - Interior ministry figures showed 24 demonstrators were lightly injured along with 14 members of the security forces, while 380 people were detained for questioning of which 330 were in Paris. Also injured was a woman journalist with Russian state news agency Ria Novosti, who said police had hit her face and arm with a truncheon despite the fact she was wearing a helmet and an armband clearly marking her as press. The Russian foreign ministry described the incident as "unacceptable", urging France to conduct a "meticulous investigation". Since November, the city has struggled to cope with the weekly yellow vest protests, which have often descended into chaos with a violent minority smashing up and torching shops, restaurants and newspaper stands. France's powerful labour unions had hoped to use the traditional May Day march for workers' rights to raise their profile after finding themselves sidelined for months by the grass-roots yellow vest movement. - Marches worldwide - Elsewhere, Turkish police arrested 127 people as they sought to hold a May Day rally in an Istanbul square in defiance of a ban, while in Saint Petersburg, police detained more than 60 people after they chanted slogans against President Vladimir Putin. And in Manila, some 8,000 protesters torched a giant effigy of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte over his policies' impact on the nation's poor. But all eyes were on Venezuela, where opposition leader Juan Guaido has called for huge May Day protests to up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro after calling on the military to rise up against him. As the crisis deepened, Washington said it was ready to intervene militarily "if that's what's required".
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on France to carry out a thorough investigation into the attack on a RIA Novosti correspondent during May Day protests in Paris.

"We consider unacceptable the use of violence against journalists who carry out their professional duties. We urge France to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident. [We also call upon] human rights organizations and NGOs to keep this issue under control," Sputnik cited the ministry as saying.

RIA Novosti correspondent in Paris Viktoriya Ivanova was hit with a baton by the police while covering the unrest during May Day demonstrations in the French capital on Saturday.

Despite the fact that the she wore "Press" stickers on her arm and helmet, the police still began beating her, hitting her on head and arms. The journalist has been sent to the hospital with her arm swollen and having trace of the baton.
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

IVE always been a believer in the law of karma, especially on the positive side. Simply put, good things do happen to good people, and the latest iteration of this wonderful symbiosis couldnt have happened to a nicer and more deserving guy, Nonito Donaire.

The Filipino Flash lucked out when his scheduled opponent for the WBSS bantamweight tournament Zolani Tete had to back out due to injury and was matched up instead with reserve fighter Stephon Young last Sunday.

Im not saying Donaire (40-5, 26 KOs) couldnt have beaten Tete. On the contrary, Ive always believed that a focused, composed Donaire could knock out anybody in the division, even at 36 years of age.

But Tete was certainly a more formidable opponent than Young (18-2, 7KOs), and this was certainly a welcome break for the ever- beaming Donaire.

THE FIGHT. Young started out fast, seemingly intent on establishing his rhythm early in the fight.

He seemed to have a slight advantage in hand speed over Donaire and caught the latter with some jabs and eye-catching left straights in the first two rounds.

For his part, Donaire landed some jabs and right hands and seemed to be biding his time.

In the third, he started to walk down the smaller Young and though the latter would still occasionally land a decent punch, he really was not hurting Donaire.

In contrast, every Donaire shot would make him stumble backwards or make his knees buckle.

You got the sense it was only a matter of time.

The fourth and fifth rounds were all Donaires as Stephon seemed to revert to defense mode.

It didnt matter though as Donaire continued to march forward, landing bombs, seemingly impervious to what Young had to offer in return.

The end came in the sixth when Donaire landed a short, crisp left hook during an exchange that knocked Young out while he was still on his feet.

The ref didnt even bother to count and Donaire now advances to the tournament Finals.

LAST ROUND. Its on Doc Tess V. Heyrosa who recently celebrated her birthday. Cheers!
Eighty-four children of women imprisoned in Iraq for joining Islamic State were repatriated to Tajikistan on April 30, local media reported, citing officials.

Forty-three Tajik women and their 95 children were imprisoned in Iraq, according to the report. While 84 of their children arrived on the FlyErbil airplane on Tuesday night, another 11 remained in Iraqi prisons.

According to official statistics, 1,900 people left Tajikistan to join Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since 2014, the report said.

This footage was published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and shows children arriving at Dushanbe International Airport. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty via Storyful
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Rescue teams descended on the destruction left by Hurricane Michael in October, frantically searching for survivors. But a week later, more than 1,000 people were still accounted for, leaving families to wait and hope.

Drone assistance in natural disaster response now is simplistic at best with a number of hurdles. But new research led by Purdue University professors is working to use artificial intelligence and learning algorithms to create a platform allowing multiple drones to communicate and adapt as mission factors change.

Shaoshuai Mou and Dan DeLaurentis, professors in aeronautics and astronautics, are leading the research, which received three-year funding from Northrop Grumman Corp. as part of the Real Applications of Learning Machine consortium.

"For the system, we focused on a multi-agent network of vehicles, which are diverse and can coordinate with each other," Mou said. "Such local coordination will allow them to work as a cohesive whole to accomplish complicated missions such as search and rescue."

"There are challenges in this area. The environment may be dynamic, for example, with the weather changing. The drones have to be adaptive and must be capable of real-time environment perception and on-line autonomous decision making."

Distributed control, human-machine mixed autonomy, life-long learning and artificial intelligence will be key enablers to the proposed research, Mou said.

In this research, AI and machine learning techniques will assist the system in many ways, such as in object recognition and human-machine communication, and improving the system performance over time. Especially the system assisted by AI will allow for input from a human commander into the mission parameters and lets the drones provide feedback and even suggestions in natural language.

"For complex situations, we still need to involve humans in the loop and try to do mixed autonomy consisting of machines and humans," Mou said.

In the mission scenarios, a ground-based powerful-processing vehicle will communicate to either air, ground or aquatic drones that can cover a wide area.

"The utilization of the combination of heterogenous vehicles should be a key to so many complicated problems," Mou said.

Mou and DeLaurentis are joined on the project by faculty from the University of Illinois-Chicago and University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Explore further Team using drones with machine learning to automate methane leak detection
A new study from Oiln Business School anaylyzes driver monitoring devices and the effect it has on insurance rates. Here's a sample from study co-author Yu-Hung Chen of what a monitored-driving insurance quote would look like. Credit: Washington University in St. Louis

The virtual black box of the automotive set, whether it's vehicle plug-in technology or merely a cellphone app while motoring, may lower insurance rates for many drivers. But a new business study involving Washington University in St. Louis provides analytical theories showing that such driver-monitoring technology can not only prove beneficial to the bottom lines of some consumers, but also to insurance companies by alleviating moral hazards that affect the risks of accidents.

This research, titled "Effects of Monitoring Technology on the Insurance Market"and published in the March 2019 online edition of Production and Operations Management, provided an analytical framework to assess the impact of such tech on both drivers and insurance companies, said Baojun Jiang, associate professor of marketing at Olin Business School.

Whether it's called telematics or usage-based insurance (UBI) information, these virtual tracking devicesplugged into a car's on-board diagnostics port or deployed via an appcan lead to discounts, penalties, profits, zero growth  but, most importantly, information that leads to differentiation.

For most of a century, it has been an industry basing its premiums and risk factors on demographics such as age, marital status, occupation, residence (higher rates of accidents in your city or state?), mileage, even the model of vehicle along with limited accident and ticket information.

In the 21st century, however, these devices offer a purer form of market differentiation and segment demarcation through the information provided to insurance companies: daily details about braking and speeding and obedience of laws, driving behaviors, even behavioral modificationsafer driving produces lower premiums and fewer accident payouts.

Insurance companies such as State Farm and Allstate have offered monitoring devices and monitored insurance contracts for a few years, and Nationwide recently began a form of itpartly based on lower mileagein Illinois with plans to expand into other states and cities. In fact, Jiang's co-author, Yu-Hung Chen, who earned his doctorate in economics under Jiang in Arts & Sciences and works at National Taiwan University, received a $113.73 discount on his insurance after monitored driving mostly with a child in tow  and their research in progress.(Anecdotally speaking, Chen knew a single male driverthe higher-risk pool per demographicswhose discount was roughly $5.)

"They install it in your car, and it records all your driving patterns: Where you have been? How you drive? Do you slow down when turning? Do you obey traffic rules?" Jiang said. "But not everyone has adopted it.

"Our paper shows if there are asymmetric adoption (i.e., only a select few using the monitoring), these present different facets to different companies. Some companies can market to lower-risks, lower-costs driversthey can give these customers discounts. The high-risk, high-cost drivers are targeted by other companies. They can avoid directly competing for the same segment of customers, which can help them alleviate direct price competition."

Co-author Chens grades from monitored driving. Credit: Washington University in St. Louis

Neither drivers nor insurance companies are on equal footing in 2019, according to research reported by J.D. Power earlier this month that the auto insurance industry is earning more, as revenue reached $245 billion last year. And, around the same time, auto-insurance research engine The Zebra reported that four of every five American drivers are seeing a rise in their insurance coststo $1,470 annually, a nearly 25% spike over the past seven years.

The devices allow insurance companies to reduce or remove problems such as "moral hazard," for instance when a driver isn't so cautious knowing he or she has coverage, and "adverse selection," when there is a lack of information about buyers beyond the basic demographics. So armed, companies can track how safely (or not) people operate their cars or even motorcycles and boats, and, the co-authors wrote, "better identify the drivers' risk types."

Granted, some drivers will object to tracking devices being installed in their vehicles and sharing personal information.

"I personally have high-privacy concerns; I didn't install it," Jiang said, while Chen did use the tech. There also is the question, Jiang added, of who owns the data: "Do you, or does your insurance company? And what if you are in an accident?" he said.

The behavior-modification aspect of monitoring devices plays into the equation. It doesn't translate into a cost or price, but rather societal benefits in the form of fewer accidents and safer roads.

"This causes people to make an extra effort to not drive aggressively and to pay more attention to traffic rules," Jiang said. "But if it bothers you to invade your privacy, or if you don't want to give that extra effort, don't install it."

The next step in research, Jiang said, would be a big-data dive into monitoring-device statistics across the industry.

"It would be interesting to have some data and see what the impact is," Jiang said. "Controlling for other factors, did the company benefit? What happened to prices over time? Did the consumers benefit? Which segments of consumers?

"We don't have the data," he said. "But the insurance companies themselves, if they wanted to, they could do some studies. They have the data."

Explore further The effectiveness of real-time monitoring of drivers by insurance companies

More information: YuHung Chen et al. Effects of Monitoring Technology on the Insurance Market, Production and Operations Management (2019). YuHung Chen et al. Effects of Monitoring Technology on the Insurance Market,(2019). DOI: 10.1111/poms.13023
New whale fossils from Italy and Peru imply an early origin of modern mysticete gigantism. (a) Map of Italy showing the fossil locality of Balaenoptera cf. musculus. (b) Cranium of Balaenoptera cf. musculus, in dorsal view. (c) Right tympanic bulla of B. musculus (National Museum of Nature and Science specimen M25900), in dorsal view (i), and B. cf. musculus in dorsal (ii) and ventrolateral (iii) view. (d) Support surface for the mode shift model from Slater et al.; dark and light grey bars denote the range of the 2- and 3-unit support regions, respectively. (e) Support surface for the mode shift model with B. musculus truncated at 1.37 Ma, but with the Peruvian fossils excluded. (f) Mysticete body length plotted against time, and compared with the 80 (white), 90 (grey) and 95% (black) quantiles of 1000 BM simulations on the baleen whale phylogeny of [4]; grey circles are chaeomysticetes, triangles toothed mysticetes, and red circles the new fossils from Italy and Peru. Note that the BM simulations were carried out on a phylogeny that did not include the specimens described here; their placement relative to the quantiles is thus merely indicative. (df) Modified from Slater et al. Photo in (b) by Akhet s.r.l. (akhet.it). Drawing of B. musculus by Carl Buell. Credit: Biology Letters (2019). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0175

A team of researchers with members from Italy, Australia, and Belgium has found evidence that suggests baleen whales grew large earlier than has been thought. In their paper published in the journal Biology Letters, the group describes their study of a whale fossil that was found in 2006 and how old it was.

Baleen whales are very large creaturesthe biggest of them, the blue whale, is not just the largest animal alive todayit is the largest animal in evolutionary history. Prior research has shown that baleen whales are able to grow so large because they live in the ocean, which allows whales to counter the impact of gravity with buoyancyand because the evolution of the baleen allowed them to catch and consume a huge amount of food in short order.

For many years, there has been some debate among ocean scientists regarding why the whales grew so big and when it happened. In recent years, a general consensus has maintained that they likely grew large rapidly approximately 300,000 years agothough researchers have suggested that it could have been as far back as 4.5 million years ago. Researchers believe that at some point in time, the climate changed in a way that very strongly impacted krill, the main baleen food source. In order to survive, the whales would have had to eat huge amounts of the tiny sea creatures before swimming a very long way to find another meal. But now, this theory is being challenged by the team studying a blue whale fossil found in Italy.

The researchers report that the fossil is that of a blue whale approximately 26 meters in length. Dating shows that the fossil is approximately 1.5 million years old. When the researchers added data from the blue whale to data from other baleen fossils, they came up with a new time scalethey suggest that the large size of the baleen whales occurred about 3.6 million years ago, and maybe even as far back as 6 million years ago. They also suggest that the change in size likely developed gradually. But they also acknowledge that much more work is required to give their theory credence, which will involve finding more ancient whale fossils to study.

Explore further Genome sequencing shows baleen whales intermingled more than thought

More information: Giovanni Bianucci et al. Rise of the titans: baleen whales became giants earlier than thought, Biology Letters (2019). Journal information: Biology Letters Giovanni Bianucci et al. Rise of the titans: baleen whales became giants earlier than thought,(2019). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2019.0175

 2019 Science X Network
Credit: Pexels.com

Many businesses say their most valued assets are their people. But just about anyone who's had a job can tell you that's not always the case. A University of Kansas business professor has co-written a white paper examining one reason that businesses are reluctant to use human capital, or workforce data, in their decisions: Capital markets tend not to reward businesses for workforce excellence.

Clint Chadwick, professor of strategy and human resource management, wrote the paper published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, or CIPD, in London. The paper, co-written by Achim Krausert of Warwick Business School, features interviews with investment analysts at financial firms to find out whether they use workforce data, what sort of workforce data they prefer and what factors may prevent them from considering such data. They found most analysts don't rely on workforce data outside of a few select categories, largely because it's hard to get, doing things differently is not incentivized, and firms tend to not want to give away their secrets.

Research has long shown that happy employees tend to be more productive. Firms that have low turnover rates, high employee satisfaction and other measures of workforce excellence often have an advantage over their competitors, Chadwick said, and could benefit from sharing that information with investors.

"Results have shown us that how you manage people as a firm has long-term effects on profitability," said Chadwick, who is also the school's area director for management and entrepreneurship. "Yet we've found that investors aren't using those data to evaluate potential investments when it would be in their interests to do so. So why the disconnect? We said, 'Why don't we directly ask the people whose business it is to advise investment decisions?'"

The interviews revealed that the main reason analysts don't consider detailed workforce data is because it is often difficult to obtain. There are several factors driving that difficulty, primarily that there are few laws requiring companies to disclose human capital data. When they aren't required to do so, firms don't voluntarily make that information available so as not to give away industry secrets or simply because they don't want to invest the time and financial resources to complete such reporting, Chadwick said.

Even when data is available, interviewees said they tend to focus mostly on issues like governance, the perceived quality of top management and executive compensation. Basic workforce data such as numbers of employees, median pay and turnover rates are sometimes used and sometimes ignored. More detailed information such as workforce job satisfaction is rarely sought or utilized by analysts.

The research found that tradition also stands in the way of workforce data capitalization. Such data hasn't traditionally been relied upon, and analysts can see using workforce data as risky. In a heavily results-oriented field such as stock analysis, there is less risk involved in being wrong if you made the same kinds of recommendations as competing analysts and all were wrong, a phenomenon called "herding." The authors make several recommendations for steps that businesses and policymakers could take to make workforce data easier for investors to access, understand and use.

Businesses should take the lead in reporting workforce information more readily to their external stakeholders

Businesses should work with their leadership and human resources teams to define management quality and communicate this to their key stakeholders

Both the investment and regulation communities should explore the standardization of human capital information

Investors should look to improve their understanding of workforce issues and human capital data.

"We therefore conclude that workforce issues are emerging from being a niche concept to something more central and critical to investment practice for many investors," the authors wrote. "With this there is increasing scope for new engagement practices and improved dialogue on workforce issues using people data."

One thing businesses have in common is looking for competitive advantages. Those who can demonstrate they have satisfied employees, low turnover rates and other workforce factors in their favor would do well to share that information.

"It's in their self-interest to put it out there and say, 'This is what we're good at,'" Chadwick said. "Successful workforce management is really valuable and really difficult. If they're really good at it, they should publicize it, and not just as a brief throwaway comment in the annual report. If you can back it up, it can give you an edge in the capital market."

Explore further New research uncovers why we share or hide knowledge from co-workers

More information: Investor perspectives: people data and reporting: Investor perspectives: people data and reporting: www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strat  nvestors-people-data
Credit: Karen Arnold/public domain

New technologies are giving businesses in Wales a much needed boost while questions over Brexit continue, researchers say.

Academics from Cardiff University's Welsh Economy Research Unit surveyed 479 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as part of the 2018 Digital Maturity Survey. They say the results demonstrate a clear link between a business' success and its uptake of new digital opportunities.

The research reveals more than half (52 percent) of businesses using superfast broadband said they had seen an increase in profits, compared to 41 percent in 2017. Nearly half (42 percent) of those surveyed said using superfast broadband had improved their turnover, compared to 40 percent on the previous year. A quarter (24 percent) of businesses saw an increase in the number of people they employed, compared to 12 percent in 2017.

Along with rolling out high speed broadband to business premises via the Superfast Cymru programme, Welsh Government has been providing support to SMEs to understand, adopt and exploit the benefits that fast broadband provides through its Superfast Business Wales scheme.

Professor Max Munday, based at Cardiff Business School, said: "Businesses faced tough trading conditions last year, amid continued questions over what impact Brexit might have. But despite this, many SMEs who embraced new technologies reported being more productive.

"Looking ahead and as our separation from the EU continues to throw up challenges, these digitally mature SMEs could be more resilient and better positioned to grow exports, better placed to avoid overseas transaction costs and more informed of overseas opportunities."

The study, the third of its kind, suggests the majority of SMEs in Wales are using superfast broadband through fixed line connections, and adopting in ever greater numbers. Analysis shows 53 percent of those surveyed in 2018 were using superfast broadband  up from 42 percent in the previous year.

Only 1 percent of SMEs reported having no broadband, compared to 3 percent in the previous year.

The research also shows that an increasing number of SMEs are reporting sustained use of cloud services, with 72 percent of SMEs now using at least one form of advanced cloud computing serviceup from 60 percent in 2017.

Professor Munday added: "The results from our latest report suggest that fixed broadband connectivity is now mainstream among SMEs in Wales and that many businesses  both rural and urban  are using digital tools to their advantage.

"Our continued work to analyse their activities during 2019 will give us a deeper understanding of the relationship between these new technologies and a business's growth."

Explore further Over a million UK businesses see Brexit as major obstacle to success
Credit: Curtin University

Curtin University researchers have discovered a new population of a critically endangered aquatic carnivorous plant in Western Australia's remote Kimberley, following a 10-year search of the region.

During a recent botanical expedition to the northern Kimberley, several thousand "aquatic venus flytrap plants," Aldrovanda vesiculosa, were found growing in a billabong on Theda Station, located east of the Mitchell Plateau, supported by Dunkeld Pastoral.

Dr. Adam Cross and Honours student Thilo Krueger, from the ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration in Curtin's School of Molecular and Life Sciences, have each spent almost a decade searching swamps and billabongs throughout northern Australia for the critically endangered species and other carnivorous plants.

Dr. Cross, who wrote a book about the plant in 2012, said the discovery of a new population in WA's remote Kimberley region was a dream come true.

"When I first saw it, I thought it was just another common species that has similar whorls of leaves, but when I got closer and saw the traps at the end of the leaves, I couldn't believe my eyes," Dr. Cross said.

"This is the first time this species has been found in the Kimberley for more than 20 years. The only other known population from Western Australia is more than 2,000 kilometres away near Esperance in the State's south, where a small population of only a few dozen plants was discovered in 2007.

"This new location in the remote northern Kimberley is one of the largest populations ever discovered in Australia, in an area where habitat is still relatively pristine. This discovery gives us hope that northern Australia is still a stronghold for the species in the face of its continuing global decline."

Mr Krueger, who has moved from Germany to study at Curtin University in Western Australia, said he was ecstatic the pair's decade-long search had resulted in a new discovery.

"Adam was just looking at me with this look of complete amazement and I immediately knew he had found something very, very exciting," Mr Krueger said.

"Although it was once widespread around the world, it is now considered critically endangered. Habitat loss and changes to water quality have seen the species become extinct in up to 30 countries, so the fact that we have found several thousand plants in Western Australia is significant."

The species produces unique underwater snapping traps to capture and digest small insect prey, which explains its description as an 'aquatic venus flytrap'.

A critically endangered species, Aldrovanda vesiculosa is currently only located in less than 20 known locations spread across four continents.

Explore further Biologists report which animals are captured by the carnivorous waterwheel plant
Diagram illustrating the substitutional effects of bivalent Zn and Ni cations on spin thermoelectric properties of Co3O4. Credit: Nolan Hines, Gustavo Damis Resende, Fernando Siqueira Girondi, Shadrack Ofori-Boadi, Terrence Musho, Anveeksh Koneru

Do you feel the warmth coming off your computer or cell phone? That's wasted energy radiating from the device. With automobiles, it is estimated that 60% of fuel efficiency is lost due to waste heat. Is it possible to capture this energy and convert it into electricity?

Researchers working in the area of thermoelectric power generation say absolutely. But whether it can be done cost-effectively remains a question.

For now, thermoelectric generators are a rarity, used primarily in niche applications like space probes, where refueling is not a possibility. Thermoelectricity is an active area of research, particularly among automobile companies like BMW and Audi. However, to date, the cost of converting heat to electricity has proved to be more expensive than the electricity itself.

Anveeksh Koneru, a senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB), is exploring a new method for capturing waste heat by harnessing the quantum mechanical motions of electrons in spin polarized materials.

In particle physics, spin is an intrinsic form of angular momentum carried by elementary particles, composite particles (hadrons), and atomic nuclei. Through a mechanism known as the Spin Hall effect, it has been shown that a voltage can be generated by harnessing differences in spin populations on a metal contact attached on a ferromagnetic material. First experimentally demonstrated by Japanese researchers in 2008, the idea has percolated through materials science for a while but has yet to find its optimal form.

Koneru believes that, in cobalt oxide, he may have found the right material to harness the effect for energy production. An inorganic compound used in the ceramics industry to create blue colored glazes, and in water separation technologies, cobalt oxides possess the unique ability to accept substitute transition metal cations, which allows them to be mixed with nickel, copper, manganese, or zinc. These metals have magnetic properties that can increase the separation between electrons spinning up and down and improve the conversion of heat to electricity.

"The material should be a good electrical conductor, but a bad thermal conductor. It should conduct electrons, but not phonons, which are heat," Koneru said. "To study this experimentally, we'd have to fabricate thousands of different combinations of materials. Instead, we're trying to theoretically calculate what the optimal configuration of the material using substitutions is."

Since 2018, Koneru has been using supercomputers at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) to virtually test the energy profiles of a variety of cobalt oxides with a range of substitutions.

"Each calibration takes 30 to 40 hours of computing time, and we have to study at least a 1,000 to 1,500 different configurations," he explained. "It requires a huge computational facility and that's what TACC provides."

Koneru, along with UTPB graduate students Gustavo Damis Resende, Nolan Hines, and a collaborator from West Virginia University, Terence Musho, presented their initial findings on the thermoelectric capacity of cobalt oxides at the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 22.

The researchers studied 56-atom unit cells of three configurations of cobalt oxide, tuned by substitutions of nickel and zinc, to attain optimal thermoelectric performance. They used a software package known as Quantum ESPRESSO to calculate physical characteristics for each configuration. These include:

the band gap: the minimum energy required to excite an electron to a state where it conducts energy;the lattice parameter: the physical dimensions of cells in a crystal lattice;

the effective mass of conduction electrons: the mass that a particle seems to have when responding to force;

and the spin polarization: the degree to which the spin is aligned with a given direction.

These fundamental properties were then used to perform conventional charge and spin transport calculations, which tells the researchers how well a configuration of the cobalt oxide can turn heat into electricity.

According to the researchers, the method developed in this research can be applied to other interesting thermoelectric materials with semiconducting and magnetic properties, making it broadly useful for the materials science community.

New nanomaterials may be able to turn waste heat into useable electricity for vehicles and other systems. Researchers from The University of Texas Permian Basin are using supercomputers at TACC to find optimal configurations of materials for the job. Credit: Ruben de Rijcke, Creative Commons

USING THE UT RESEARCH CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE

As a Ph.D. student at West Virginia University, Koneru had access to large supercomputers to conduct his research. Although UTPB does not have such resources locally, he was able to tap into the advanced computing systems and services of TACC through the UT Research Cyberinfrastructure (UTRC) initiative, which, since 2007, has provided researchers at any of the University of Texas System's 14 institutions access to TACC's resources, expertise, and training.

As part of the UTRC initiative, TACC staff serve as liaisons, visiting UT System's 14 campuses, offering training and consultation, and introducing researchers the resources available to them. When TACC researcher Ari Kahn visited UTPB, he met Koneru and encouraged him to compute at TACC.

Since then, Koneru has been using Lonestar5, a system exclusively for UT System researchers, for his work. Though still in their early stage, the results so far have been promising.

"I'm excited because we could clearly see spin polarization when cobalt oxide spinels were substituted with nickel. That's a good sign," he said. "We're seeing that one particular configuration has a higher split in band-gap, something that's surprising and we have to explore further. And all the calibrations are converging, which shows they're reliable."

Once he identifies the optimal material for waste heat conversion, Koneru hopes to engineer a paste that could be applied to the tailpipe of a vehicle, converting waste heat into electricity to power a car's electrical systems. He estimates that such a device could cost less than $500 per vehicle and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by hundreds of millions of tons annually.

"With the recent advances in nanofabrication, and computational calibrations for nanomaterials, spin-thermal materials can play a vital role in energy conversion in the future," he said.

TACC enables Koneru to speed through a large number of possible material configurations so that when it is time to test them experimentally, the number of candidates will be manageable.

"TACC is such a highly useful system with personnel that can guide you if any problems arise," Koneru said. "If faculty or students are interested in research that requires computational facilities, TACC is the right option to choose. It provides resources and expertise for free. It's a great enabler for whatever you're passionate about. "

"It's our mission to encourage researchers all across the State to use TACC resources to make amazing discoveries that cannot be made in the lab or using local clusters," said TACC's Ari Khan. "Dr. Koneru's research is a great example of such a project that could have a major impact on air pollution and global warming."

Explore further Materials that harvest heat and turn it into electricity could lead to more cost-effective devices
Frode Stordal and Ane Vollsnes are researching how plants are damaged by ozone. This is done in the phytotron, an advanced facility where it is possible to test what happens to plants under different climatic conditions. Credit: Yngve Vogt

It is generally known that pollution has damaged the ozone layer around the Earth. The ozone layer is important for protecting life from harmful UV rays from the sun. However, the fact that pollution leads to too much ozone at ground level is less known.

"Too much ozone at ground level is not good. It can damage the vegetation on Earth. The concentration of ozone at ground level has more than doubled in 150 years," says Professor Frode Stordal from the Department of Geosciences at UiO.

The consequences are alarming. By as early as 2010, international researchers determined that the ozone at ground level reduced the production of wheat by seven to twelve percent, soybeans by six to sixteen percent, rice by three to four percent, and corn by three to five percent. In 2004, researchers at the University of Gothenburg published an article in which they stated that ozone pollution reduced potato crops by as much as twenty percent. In a scientific article in 2018, Swedish and other European researchers determined that ozone at ground level destroys nearly ten percent of wheat production in the Northern hemisphere.

Now scientists fear that the ozone layer along the ground can do even more damage in Arctic regions. The plant physiologists and atmosphere physicists at the University of Oslo have therefore joined forces to research this.

More ozone with exhaust gas

To understand their research, we need to briefly look at why the ozone has increased at ground level and why it damages vegetation.

Ozone is made up of oxygen atoms, just like the oxygen we breathe. While the life-giving oxygen molecules in the air consist of two oxygen atoms (O 2 ), ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms (O 3 ). The difference may sound small, but it makes a dramatic difference. Ozone is the air pollutant that can do the most damage to living organisms.

Ozone is formed indirectly as a result of our modern lifestyle. The culprits are combustion furnaces and internal combustion engines. The most well-known, everyday examples are the exhaust gases from cars, ships and planes. When combustion occurs at high temperatures, the two main components of air, namely oxygen and nitrogen, react with each other. The so-called NOx gases are formed. These are the gases nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). The NOx gases are catalysts. Catalysts speed up chemical reactions. The NOX gases have the unfortunate property that they help carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH 4 ) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to produce ozone. This only occurs during daytime. The explanation for this is that the chemical reaction must also receive a helping hand from solar UV radiation.

The concentration of ozone is at its greatest during daytime. During the night, it drops. The reason for this is that ozone can only be formed in daylight and breaks down when it hits plants and other things. When the sun rises, the concentration is at its lowest. The level then increases again during the course of the day.

NOX gases can also be formed in completely natural ways. Lightning is an example of this, but it is man-made pollution that is the cause of the tremendous increase in ozone at ground level.

"The ozone layer at ground level is an issue that has snuck up on us," says Frode Stordal.

How does ozone damage plants?

One might wonder how ozone damages plants. Just like us humans, leaves breathe too. This happens as part of the well-known process of photosynthesis. Thanks to the chlorophyll, plants can convert sunlight, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and water (H 2 O) into glucose (C 6 H 12 O 6 ) and oxygen (O 2 ). Glucose is the energy plants need in order to survive. The oxygen is the waste material.

This clover was subjected to ozone for as little as three six-hour periods. This was enough for it to get visible spots. These dots are dead tissue. Credit: Yngve Vogt

In order to receive carbon dioxide and at the same time emit oxygen and water vapour, the leaves have tiny pores, which are called stomata. Damage occurs when ozone penetrates through these pores.

Plants have an elegant means of defending themselves against the ozone hazard. The weapon of defence is antioxidants. They neutralise ozone.

"The level of defence varies from plant to plant. If the plant has a lot of antioxidants, the ozone does not need to do so much damage. Although ozone does not get into the cells themselves, it does cause damage between the cells. Unfortunately, ozone reacts very easily with other elements. New chemical compounds are formed that further penetrate into the cell and damage them from within," explains researcher Ane Vollsnes at the Department of Biosciences at the University of Oslo.

May be worse in the Arctic

And we are now getting to the main point. At the equator, the days are 12 hours long. In the northern regions, it can be light around the clock.

"The time that the ozone has the opportunity to penetrate plants, thus, lasts much longer in

the Arctic regions than further south. Although the concentration of ozone is greater around the Mediterranean than in Norway, the plants in Norway may still be more vulnerable. The plants may not be able to recover until the next day. We must investigate whether the pores in the plants are open for large parts of the day in the northern areas. However, it is also conceivable that the plants have a circadian rhythm, despite the lack of nights. We don't know enough. This needs to be studied further," says Ane Vollsnes.

Vollsnes has carried out experiments with a type of clover that was more damaged by ozone when the nights were bright. The clover suffered visible damage. The leaves were full of dots. These dots are dead tissue.

Harms plants on purpose

Testing takes place in the phytotron in the basement of the biology building at Blindern.

The phytotron is an advanced facility where scientists can grow plants and test what happens to them under different climatic conditions. In the majority of the sixteen growth chambers in the phytotron, researchers are able to control the temperature, precipitation, amount of light and the length of night and day. To check how the plants respond to ozone, researchers are able to have identical climates in all chambers, while varying the amount of ozone. Such experiments are not possible to conduct in greenhouses. When the experiment is conducted, it is then at the mercy of the weather.

"In the phytotron, we can manipulate a single factor at a time to see the effect it has.

This is the first time anyone has investigated how the length of day affects the ozone pollution of plants in the north.

This clover has not been subjected to additional ozone pollution. Here the leaves are totally normal. Credit: Yngve Vogt

Unfortunately, there is a danger that the amount of ozone will increase in Norway and in Arctic regions. This is due to the oil production in the Barents Sea and the anticipated increase in shipping traffic to Asia along the Norwegian coast and Siberia when the ice retreats.

Testing cultivated plants

Ane Vollsnes points out that how ozone affects agriculture in Norway, such as the production of wheat and oats, has not been researched. In the first round, they will research how different types of clovers and timothy grass, which are used as animal feed for cows and sheep, are damaged by ozone pollution. They can already determine that clover and timothy are vulnerable to ozone  the question is how vulnerable.

"We are talking about great possible, but hidden losses," says Ane Vollsnes.

Her objective is to find the ones that can withstand the ozone pollution the best. Here she has

cooperation with the Finnmark Agricultural Council. The idea is to communicate the results to the farmers in the north.

More ozone from Asia

The results from the phytotron will also be used in a climate model in order to more precisely describe the relationship between ozone and climate change.

Although Europe and the United States have become better at reducing emissions from combustion furnaces and internal combustion engines, the situation is worse in Asia. There, ozone pollution continues to increase.

"This is where population growth is greatest and the standard of living is increasing the most. This is happening at the same time as the need for food is increasing. This is an unfortunate combination. More ozone will affect food production," states Ane Vollsnes.

In India and China, ozone has already been shown to reduce the production of both rice and soy.

Unfortunately, air doesn't care about borders. The ozone is moved by the strong westerly winds around the northern hemisphere  moving first towards the United States and then towards Europe.

"The question is whether we will reach a threshold level or if it will get dramatically worse," Frode Stordal concludes.

Explore further How severe drought influences ozone pollution
Juventas CubeSat. Credit: ESA/GomSpace

Small enough to be an aircraft carry-on, the Juventas spacecraft nevertheless has big mission goals. Once in orbit around its target body, Juventas will unfurl an antenna larger than itself, to perform the very first subsurface radar survey of an asteroid.

ESA's proposed Hera mission for planetary defence will explore the twin Didymos asteroids, but it will not go there alone: it will also serve as mothership for Europe's first two 'CubeSats' to travel into deep space.

CubeSats are nanosatellite-class missions based on standardised 10-cm boxes, making maximum use of commercial off the shelf systems. Juventas will be a '6-unit' CubeSat, selected to fly aboard Hera along with the similarly-sized APEX Asteroid Prospection Explorer, built by a Swedish-Finnish-German-Czech consortium.

Juventas  the Roman name for the daughter of Hera  is being developed for ESA by the GomSpace company and GMV in Romania, together with consortia of additional partners developing the spacecraft instruments.

"We're packing a lot of complexity into the mission," notes GomSpace systems engineer Hannah Goldberg. "One of the biggest misconceptions about CubeSats is that they are simple, but we have all the same systems as a standard-sized spacecraft.

"Another reputation of CubeSats is that they don't do that much, but we have multiple mission goals over the course of our month-long mission around the smaller Didymos asteroid. One of our CubeSat units is devoted to our low-frequency radar instrument, which will be a first in asteroid science."

Hera at Didymos. Credit: ESAScienceOffice.org

Juventas will deploy a metre and a half long radar antenna, which will unfurl like a tape measure, and was developed by Astronika in Poland. This instrument is based on the heritage of the CONSERT radar that flew on ESA's Rosetta comet chaser, overseen by Alain Herique of the Institut de Planetologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG).

The radar signals should reach one hundred metres down, giving insight into the asteroid's internal structure. "Is it a rubble pile, or something more layered, or monolithic?" adds Hannah, who previously worked at asteroid mining company Planetary Resources before moving to GomSpace.

Juventas orbit. Credit: GomSpace

"This is the sort of information that is going to be essential for future mining missions, to estimate where the resources are, how mixed up they are, and how much effort will be required to extract them."

ESA radar specialist Christopher Buck has worked on the instrument design with IPAG: "Our radar instrument's size and power is much lower than those of previous missions, so what we're doing is using a pseudo-random code sequence in the signals  think of it a poor man's alternative. Navigation satellites use a comparable technique, allowing receivers to make up for their very low power.

Juventas with radar deployed. Credit: GomSpace

"We send a series of signals possessing constantly shifting signal phase, then we gradually build up a picture by correlating the reflections of these signals, employing their phase shifts as our guide. One reason we are able to do this is that we will be orbiting around the asteroid relatively slowly, on the order of a few centimetres per second, giving us longer integration times compared to orbits around Earth or other planets."

The technology proved itself with the Rosetta, where the CONSERT radar peered deep inside comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko and helped locate the Philae lander on the comet's surface. Juventas uses a more compact 'monostatic' version of the design.

As Juventas orbits, the CubeSat will also be gathering data on the asteroid's gravity field using both a dedicated 3-axis 'gravimeter'  first developed by the Royal Observatory of Belgium for Japan's proposed Martian Moons eXploration mission  as well as its radio link back to Hera, measuring any Doppler shifting of communications signals caused by its proximity to the body.

"But the mission is being designed to operate with minimal contact with its mothership and the ground, operating autonomously for days at a time," says Hannah.

Rosetta's radar used to seek out Philae lander. Credit: ESA/Rosetta /Philae

"This is a big difference from Earth orbit, where communications are much simpler and more frequent. So we will fly in what is called a 'self-stabilising terminator orbit' around the asteroid, perpendicular to the Sun, requiring minimal station-keeping manoeuvring."

The final phase of the mission will come with a precisely-controlled attempt to land on the asteroid.

Hera mission. Credit: ESA/ScienceOffice.org

"We'll have gyroscopes and accelerometers aboard, so we will capture the force of our impact, and any follow-on bouncing, to gain insight into the asteroid's surface properties  although we don't know how well Juventas will continue to operate once it finally touches down. If we are able to successfully operate after the impact, we will continue to take local gravity field measurements from the asteroid surface."

The Hera mission, including its two CubeSats, will be presented to ESA's Space19+ meeting this November, where Europe's space ministers will take a final decision on flying the mission.

Explore further CubeSats joining Hera mission to asteroid system
Hippos lazing away the day together in the quiet parts of Kenya's Mara River. Credit: Jonas Schoelynck

The excrement of hippos plays an important role in the ecosystem of African lakes and rivers. Because there are fewer and fewer hippos, this ecosystem is in danger. In the long term, this could lead to food shortages at Lake Victoria, for example. These are some of the results of a new study by an international team of researchers published in the journal Science Advances. Patrick Frings from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ is part of the research team behind it.

Wild hippos have a unique lifestyle: At night they eat dozens of kilograms of fresh grass in the savannahs. Most of their days they spend relaxing together in rivers or lakes, far away from enemies and protected from the burning sun. While chilling in the water, however, their digestion becomes active. Thus, enormous quantities of hippo poo enter the water.

"Hippos differ from other large grazing animals in the savannah," explains biologist Jonas Schoelynck from the University of Antwerp, the first author of the study. "The nutrients in the excrement of most grazers largely end up back in the savannah again, where they are reabsorbed by the plants. This is not the case with hippos: They act as a kind of nutrient pump from the land to rivers and lakes."

In the study now published, researchers around Schoelynck and Frings show that this pumping function can be crucial for life in water. The results come from an expedition to the nearly four hundred kilometre long Mara River in the Masaai Mara Nature Reserve in Kenya.

Hippo excrements examined in the lab

"The grass that hippos eat contains silicon," explains Jonas Schoelynck. "The grass absorbs this silicon from the groundwater. It gives it the strength it needs, protects it from disease and, to a limited extent, from grazing by small animals". Patrick Frings from the Geochemistry of the Earth's Surface Section of the GFZ analysed the isotopic composition of silicon in samples of plants, water and hippo excrements in the laboratory. This type of analysis provides a kind of chemical fingerprint of a sample substance. "The isotope analysis enabled us to reconstruct the transport path of the silicon," explains Frings.

Hippos egest their feces directly into the river water. Credit: Chris Dutton

The researchers showed that a large part of the silicon in the Mara River was transported there via hippos. In the investigated area in southwest Kenya, the grazing animals absorbed a total of 800 kilograms of silicon per day through the plants they ate. 400 kilograms per day ended up in the water via excretion of hippo faeces. Through various ecological mechanisms, the hippos' silicon contribution influences over 76 percent of the total silicon transported along the Mara River, according to calculations by the researchers. Hippos are therefore a key factor in the biogeochemical silicon cycle of certain areas.

"Our results are completely new," says Patrick Frings of the GFZ. "So far, it has not been assumed that grazing wild animals could have such an influence on the transport of silicon from land to lakes. This process is crucial for the entire land-water ecosystem. In the past, however, it has simply been overlooked."

A world without hippos

According to the researchers, silicon is vital for certain organisms such as diatoms. These unicellular algae live in the water, produce oxygen and form the basis of the food chain in many water ecosystems. If a lack of silicon occurs, the diatomaceous algae population can collapse, with harmful consequences for the entire food web in the lake or river concerned, the researchers say.

The number of hippos in Africa has been drastically reduced in recent years due to hunting and loss of habitats and their function as animal silicon pumps has thus been partially lost, say the researchers. In recent decades, up to ninety percent of hippos in Africa have become extinct. "Lake Victoria, into which the Mara River flows, can survive for several decades with its current silicon supply," says Jonas Schoelynck. "But in the long run there is probably going to be a problem. If the diatoms do not get enough silicon, they are replaced by pest algae, which have all sorts of unpleasant consequences, such as a lack of oxygen and the associated death of fish. And fishing is an important source of food for the people of Lake Victoria.

Explore further Hippo waste causes fish kills in Africa's Mara River

More information: J. Schoelynck el al., "Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius): The animal silicon pump," Science Advances (2019). advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/5/eaav0395 Journal information: Science Advances J. Schoelynck el al., "Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius): The animal silicon pump,"(2019). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav0395
The Xiahe mandible, only represented by its right half, was found in 1980 in Baishiya Karst Cave. Credit: Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University

So far, Denisovans were only known from a small collection of fossil fragments from Denisova Cave in Siberia. A research team now describes a 160,000-year-old hominin mandible from Xiahe in China. Using ancient protein analysis, the researchers found that the mandible's owner belonged to a population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Siberia. This population occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene and was adapted to this low-oxygen environment long before Homo sapiens arrived in the region.

Denisovansan extinct sister group of Neandertalswere discovered in 2010, when a research team led by Svante Paabo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) sequenced the genome of a fossil finger bone found at Denisova Cave in Russia and showed that it belonged to a hominin group that was genetically distinct from Neandertals. "Traces of Denisovan DNA are found in present-day Asian, Australian and Melanesian populations, suggesting that these ancient hominins may have once been widespread," says Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Department of Human Evolution at the MPI-EVA. "Yet so far the only fossils representing this ancient hominin group were identified at Denisova Cave."

Mandible from Baishiya Karst Cave

In their new study, the researchers now describe a hominin lower mandible that was found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China. The fossil was originally discovered in 1980 by a local monk who donated it to the 6th Gung-Thang Living Buddha who then passed it on to Lanzhou University. Since 2010, researchers Fahu Chen and Dongju Zhang from Lanzhou University have been studying the area of the discovery and the cave site from where the mandible originated. In 2016, they initiated a collaboration with the Department of Human Evolution at the MPI-EVA and have since been jointly analysing the fossil.

Animation of the virtual reconstruction of the Xiahe mandible. Credit: Jean-Jacques Hublin, MPI-EVA, Leipzig

While the researchers could not find any traces of DNA preserved in this fossil, they managed to extract proteins from one of the molars, which they then analysed applying ancient protein analysis. "The ancient proteins in the mandible are highly degraded and clearly distinguishable from modern proteins that may contaminate a sample," says Frido Welker of the MPI-EVA and the University of Copenhagen. "Our protein analysis shows that the Xiahe mandible belonged to a hominin population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave."

Primitive shape and large molars

The researchers found the mandible to be well-preserved. Its robust primitive shape and the very large molars still attached to it suggest that this mandible once belonged to a Middle Pleistocene hominin sharing anatomical features with Neandertals and specimens from the Denisova Cave. Attached to the mandible was a heavy carbonate crust, and by applying U-series dating to the crust the researchers found that the Xiahe mandible is at least 160,000 years old. Chuan-Chou Shen from the Department of Geosciences at National Taiwan University, who conducted the dating, says: "This minimum age equals that of the oldest specimens from the Denisova Cave".

Views of the virtual reconstruction of the Xiahe mandible after digital removal of the adhering carbonate crust. The mandible is so well preserved that it allows for a virtual reconstruction of the two sides of the mandible. Mirrored parts are in grey. Credit: Jean-Jacques Hublin, MPI-EVA, Leipzig

The cave is facing southeast and about 40 meters above the modern Jiangla riverbed in front of it. It is both a locally famous Buddhist cave and a famous tourist place. Credit: Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University

The entrance of the cave is relatively flat with a gentle slope up to the inside, where two small trenches were plotted in 2018. Credit: Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University

"The Xiahe mandible likely represents the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau," says Fahu Chen, director of the Institute of Tibetan Research, CAS. These people had already adapted to living in this high-altitude low-oxygen environment long before Homo sapiens even arrived in the region. Previous genetic studies found present-day Himalayan populations to carry the EPAS1 allele in their genome, passed on to them by Denisovans, which helps them to adapt to their specific environment.

"Archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene and successfully adapted to high-altitude low-oxygen environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens," says Dongju Zhang. According to Hublin, similarities with other Chinese specimens confirm the presence of Denisovans among the current Asian fossil record. "Our analyses pave the way towards a better understanding of the evolutionary history of Middle Pleistocene hominins in East Asia."

The study is published in Nature.

Explore further Tongzi hominids are potentially a new human ancestor in Asia

More information: A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau, Nature (2019). www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1139-x Journal information: Nature A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1139-x
Indian Navy personnel, like these pictured providing assistance after a flood in 2018, are on standby as the nation braces for the severe Tropical Cyclone Fani

India deployed emergency personnel Wednesday and ordered the navy on standby as it braced for an extremely severe cyclonic storm barrelling towards the eastern coast.

Tropical Cyclone Fani, located in the Bay of Bengal and packing wind speeds up to 205 kilometres (127 miles) per hour, is expected to make landfall at Odisha state Friday.

Authorities have also ordered the evacuation of thousands of people from coastal districts likely to bear the brunt of the storm.

The neighbouring coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also been put on high alert.

India's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said sea conditions were "phenomenal" over the west-central Bay of Bengal area.

"Fishermen are advised not to venture into these areas," NDMA warned on Twitter.

The office of the state's special relief commissioner said local authorities had been told to identify "all vulnerable people... and shift them to multipurpose cyclone/flood shelters".

"Arrangements have already been made for free kitchen, safe drinking water, lighting, health and sanitation," it said in a statement.

Local media reports say there are over 850 shelters in the state that can accommodate around one million people.

H.R Biswas, director of the meteorological centre in state capital Bhubaneshwar, said at least 11 districts would be affected by severe rainfall.

"We have suggested people to stay indoors," he told reporters.

The coastal town of Puri, 62 kms (40 miles) from Bhubaneshwar, has also been placed on high alert.

Puri is home to Shree Jagannath, one of Hinduism's holiest temples, which receives millions of pilgrims each year.

The government also advised the pilgrims to leave the holy town, if possible, and to reschedule any non-essential travel in the region.

India's weather department, in an advisory, asked all fishermen in the state to return to shore by late Wednesday.

The department warned of "potential threat of flying objects ... Extensive uprooting of communication and power poles ...Disruption of rail, road".

One local agency said that it had kept around 300 boats and crew on standby for rescue or relief work in the next 48 to 72 hours.

The Odisha chief minister's office said that around 800,000 people will be evacuated from the state's coastal areas by Thursday morning.

"He (the chief minister) emphasised that special care should be taken to safely evacuate pregnant women, children, old and differently abled from vulnerable areas," his office said Twitter.

"About 800,000 people will be evacuated and sheltered in cyclone centres, schools and other safer places," the statement added.

Voting restrictions eased

India's election commission has eased its restrictions in Odisha's coastal districts to allow the state authorities to carry out swift relief and rehabilitation work.

The rules, which apply during elections, suspend certain powers of the incumbent government to announce new schemes or take fresh administrative decisions.

Odisha, which has a population of around 46 million, has already voted in India's ongoing election, which started on April 11.

The seventh and final phase of voting will be held on May 19, with counting and results due May 23.

Odisha had to evacuate some 300,000 people last October when its coastal districts were battered by cyclone Titli, with winds up to 150 kms (95 miles) per hour and heavy rains.

At least two people were killed in the cyclone.

Storms regularly hit eastern and southeastern India between April and December. In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states.

Odisha's worst-ever cyclone, in 1999, killed over 8,000 people.

Explore further Cyclone batters east India coastline

 2019 AFP
Recognize this cube? It's one of the 664 uranium cubes from the failed nuclear reactor that German scientists tried to build in Haigerloch during World War II. Credit: John T. Consoli/University of Maryland

Back in 2013, Timothy Koeth, an associate research professor at the University of Maryland, received a rather extraordinary birthday gift: a little cloth lunch pouch containing a small object wrapped in brown paper towels. As Koeth peeled back the layers, his eyes grew wide with astonishment. He immediately asked, "Where did you get that?"

Inside he found a heavy metal cube and a crumpled message, a provocative note wrapped around a stone that came crashing through the window of history. It read, "Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger."

Koeth's friend grinned, picked up the 5-pound block of uranium metal and handed it to him. Though modest in size, the cube was heavy, dense and steeped in lost history. Koeth accepted the cube and its note as an invitation to the adventure of a lifetime.

In the May 2019 issue of Physics Today, Koeth and Miriam Hiebert, a doctoral candidate working with him on this project at UMD's A. James Clark School of Engineering, describe what they've discovered while exploring the German quest and failure to build a working nuclear reactor during World War II.

Uranium is weakly radioactive, and this particular cube measures about 2 inches on each side. "It's surprisingly heavy, given its size, and it's always a lot of fun to watch people's reaction when they pick it up for the first time," said Hiebert.

A Chandelier of Nuclear Elements

This cube represents one of 664 uranium metal components that were strung together in a form reminiscent of a chandelier to comprise the core of a nuclear reactor experiment that a team of German scientists attempted to build toward the end of the World War II, including Werner Heisenberga theoretical physicist and one of the key visionaries of quantum mechanics. The chandelier was submerged in heavy water to regulate the rate of fission.

The Germans' experimental lab was small and located underground in the town of Haigerlochit's now the Atomkeller Museum, which the public can visit. "This experiment was their final and closest attempt to create a self-sustaining nuclear reactor, but there wasn't enough uranium present in the core to achieve this goal," said Koeth.

One of the most surprising things Koeth and Hiebert have discovered so far is that while the 664 uranium cubes at Haigerloch weren't enough to build a self-sustaining reactor, an additional 400 cubes were located within Germany at the time.

"If the Germans had pooled their resources, rather than keeping them divided among separate, rival experiments, they may have been able to build a working nuclear reactor," said Hiebert. "This highlights perhaps the biggest difference between the German and American nuclear research programs. The German program was divided and competitive; whereas, under the leadership of General Leslie Groves, the American Manhattan Project was centralized and collaborative."

How Close Did the Germans Get?

How close did the Germans get to a working nuclear reactor? This is difficult to answer, but "it's been calculated that the reactor experiment in Haigerloch would have needed about 50% more uranium to run," said Koeth. "Even if the 400 additional cubes had been brought to Haigerloch to use within that reactor experiment, the German scientists would have still needed more heavy water to make the reactor work. Despite being the birthplace of nuclear physics and having nearly a two-year head start on American efforts, there was no imminent threat of a nuclear Germany by the end of the war."

Another important aspect of Koeth and Hiebert's work is an effort to track down the cubes recovered from Haigerloch that ended up being shipped to the U.S. "Cubes were distributed to various individuals around the country," Hiebert explained. "We don't know how many were handed out or what happened to the rest, but there are likely more cubes hiding in basements and offices around the country, and we'd like to find them!"

Many questions remain unanswered, and chief among them are: How many of these cubes still exist, and what has happened to them?

"We hope to speak to as many people as possible who've had contact with these cubes," said Hiebert. "As much as we've learned about our cube and others like it, we still don't have an answer about how exactly it ended up in Maryland 70 years after being captured by Allied forces in southern Germany."

Koeth and Hiebert are also trying to learn more about the fate of the other 400 cubes that ended up on the black market in Europe after the war.

Many questions remain unanswered, and chief among them are: How many of these cubes still exist, and what has happened to them? Physics Today helped track down a few; read more at https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.4.20190501a/full/.

The article, "Tracking the journey of a uranium cube," by Timothy Koeth and Miriam Hiebert, appears in the May 2019 issue of Physics Today.

Explore further Forensic investigation of uranium from German nuclear projects from the 1940s
A coffee cup made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, lies on the side of a road, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Augusta, Maine. Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill into law Tuesday, April 30 making Maine one of the first states to ban single-use containers made from polystyrene foam. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Maine has banned single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam, becoming the first state to do so.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill, which takes effect in 2021, into law Tuesday.

Environmental groups have sought such bans amid rising public awareness of throwaway plastic that accumulates in the oceans, but the Natural Resources Council of Maine said that Maine is the first state to enact a ban.

Similar legislation passed Maryland's Legislature in April, but it's unclear whether that state's Republican governor, Larry Hogan, will sign it.

Oregon, Vermont and Connecticut are also considering banning the containers, and dozens of communities from Berkeley, California, to New York City have already passed their own bans, some of which date back to the late 1980s. Several companies such as Dunkin' and McDonald's have also pledged to or have already eliminated foam cups.

In December, European Union officials agreed to ban some single-use plastics, such as polystyrene food and beverage containers, in an effort to curb marine pollution.

"With the threats posed by plastic pollution becoming more apparent, costly, and even deadly to wildlife, we need to be doing everything possible to limit our use and better manage our single-use plasticsstarting with eliminating the use of unnecessary forms like plastic foam," said Sarah Lakeman, Sustainable Maine director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Mills called it an "important step forward in protecting our environment." The governor said it creates consistency for businesses while providing time to adjust.

In this Feb. 14, 2013 file photo, polystyrene foam soup containers are stacked in a New York restaurant. Maine is banning single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill into law Tuesday, April 30, 2019; environmental advocates say that makes Maine the first state to ban disposable foam food containers. Supporters say the law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2021, will reduce litter in the state's lakes, rivers and coastal waters. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

The law will prohibit "covered establishments"like restaurants and grocery storesfrom using polystyrene containers. Hospitals, seafood shippers and state-funded meals-on-wheels programs will be exempt.

Maine has banned foam food containers at state facilities and functions since 1993. Some communities in the state had also already banned polystyrene.

The legislation faced strong opposition from the plastics industry, food service container manufacturers and Maine business and tourism groups, which argued polystyrene is economical and a better than other materials at keeping food from spoiling.

Such industry groups argue Maine's new law doesn't mean consumers will stop littering and doesn't ensure alternatives will be better for the environment.

"It is our sincere hope that Gov. Mills and the Maine Legislature will reconsider this legislation next year after they see how it will negatively impact the environment and local businesses and consumers," said Omar Terrie, a director in the American Chemistry Council's plastics division.

The plastics industry also says they're taking voluntary steps to make plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or recoverable by 2030. The industry in January committed to spending $1.5 billion over five years to end plastic waste through a new nonprofit, The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, according to American Chemistry Council lobbyist Margaret Gorman.

"All packaging leaves an environmental footprint regardless of the material type," Gorman told Maine lawmakers in written testimony.

Maine State Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Ben Gilman said the bill would raise costs for small businesses, in particular, while sending a "chilling message" to companies in the state that manufacture food service containers.

"These types of issues are better dealt with on a regional or national basis due to unbalanced cost impact it will have on Maine businesses," he said in written testimony to lawmakers.

Explore further Maryland lawmakers approve bill to become first state in the country to ban foam food containers

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The Hualongdong Middle Pleistocene human skull and the collapsed cave site, with the fossil-bearing breccia in beige aournd the limestone blocks Credit: WU Xiujie and Erik Trinkaus

A team of scientists led by Liu Wu and Wu Xiujie from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported the first ever Middle Pleistocene human skull found in southeastern China, revealing the variation and continuity in early Asian humans. Their findings were published on April 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Excavations in Middle Pleistocene cave deposits in southeastern China yielded a largely complete skull that exhibits morphological similarities to other East Asian Middle and Late Pleistocene archaic human remains, but also foreshadows later modern human forms.

Fossil evidence for human evolution in East Asia during the Pleistocene is often fragmentary and scattered, which makes evaluating the pattern of archaic human evolution and modern human emergence in the region complicated.

Wu Xiujie and his colleagues reported the recent discovery of most of a skull and associated remains dating to around 300,000 years ago in Hualong Cave (Hualongdong). The features of the Hualongdong fossils complement those of other East Asian remains in indicating a continuity of form through the Middle Pleistocene and into the Late Pleistocene.

In particular, the skull features a low and wide braincase with a projecting brow but a less prominent midface, as well as an incipient chin. The teeth are simple in form, contrasting with other archaic East Asian fossils, and its third molar is either reduced in size or absent.

The virtual reconstruction of the Hualongdong 6 human skull, with mirror-imaged portions in gray, plus two of the few stone tools from the site. Credit: WU Xiujie

According to the authors, the remains not only add to the expected variation of these Middle Pleistocene humans, recombining features present in other individuals from the same time period, but also foreshadow developments in modern humans, providing evidence for regional continuity.

Explore further Tongzi hominids are potentially a new human ancestor in Asia

More information: Xiu-Jie Wu et al, Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Xiu-Jie Wu et al, Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation,(2019). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1902396116
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Looking downstream on the Rainy River, it's hard at first to see how spring is changing along the northern border.

Snowbanks still lined the American shore on a recent morning here, 45 miles west of International Falls, as fishing guide Justin Wiese raced to get his boat in the water under the morning sun.

Just a few miles up, the Little Fork and the Big Fork rivers had busted open overnight, sending a winter's worth of debris into the Rainy, along with thousands of ice chunks the size of sofas, rafts and rugby balls. It was the last of the ice-out, the final phase of one of the most active fishing seasons in Minnesota.

"Ready to dodge some icebergs?" Wiese shouted to a handful of other fishermen waiting to get after walleye.

But this year, the Rainy River anglers would not be keeping their fish. This year, for the first time, the Department of Natural Resources imposed catch-and-release rules on the border river. One major reason: Ice-out is happening earlier and earlier each spring, leaving more time for open-water fishing and, the agency fears, placing increased pressure on the river's famous walleyes.

Which means that on one of the nation's finest walleye rivers, during the best time of year to catch the prized game fish, nobody was allowed to take one home.

It's a telling symptom of climate change, and just one of countless ways that rising temperatures are altering the lives of Minnesotans and the landscape of their state.

Around the world, climate change is forcing people to revamp the way they fight wildfires, prepare for typhoons, nurture their crops through drought and manage coastal flooding. In Minnesota, the same forces are changing the state's response to spring floods, the way foresters choose trees for timber and which lakefronts can have summer cabins or resorts.

Ice is just one indicator. Across Minnesota, lakes are losing up to four days of ice every 10 years, according to the state climatology office. And it's not just Minnesota: Rivers and lakes across the continent are tending to freeze later and thaw earlier.

"You think of all the ways people interact with lake iceskating, fishing derbies, iceboats," said John Magnuson, an ecologist and limnologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "And already, in some of these lakes you have about a month less to do it."

As a Northern Minnesota fishing guide, Wiese has been as busy as ever this spring. The type of people who hire guides and brave frigid sunrises are not necessarily doing it for fish that they can eat, he said. They're typically in it to see the northern edge of the country, to get back on a boat for the first time in months, to chase trophy fish that they would photograph and release even in normal times.

But he nonetheless worries what a catch-and-release season will do to the local economy. Aside from the enthusiasts, he said, there's been a clear drop-off in the number of boats on the water. At some well-known hot spots on the Rainy River, hundreds of boats would normally line up during the ice-out season, so close together that a person could walk across the river without getting wet, he said.

Those days were few and far between this year.

"It makes you wonder if people are staying away," Wiese said.

10 fewer days

Like any other climate indicator, ice-out dates on an individual river are highly erratic, often swinging by weeks from year to year. In 2018, the Rainy River stayed frozen deep into April, later than normal. In 2016, the ice melted in mid-March, one of the earliest thaws ever recorded.

Phil Talmage, the DNR's fisheries supervisor in Baudette, cautioned that ice-out dates are "highly, highly variable." But when the data is plotted out for several decades, the trend is clear, he said.

And during early thaws, he added, there is a clear uptick in fishing pressure.

The DNR went to catch-and-release because it wants to increase the number of male walleye that make it to the spawning grounds of the Rainy River. The spring season is typically designed to protect larger spawning femalesanglers can normally keep walleye under 19.5 inches long. But because more walleye are being taken during ice fishing season these days, and the ice is thawing earlier, the DNR wanted to ensure it would have a healthy male population during spawning season no matter what happens with the ice, Talmage said.

Tracking open water as an omen of climate change is still a crude science. Minnesota has been monitoring when the ice melts on the Rainy River since the 1930s. Factoring in the highs and lows, the river is trending to about 10 fewer days of ice now than it had 90 years ago. And that's just in the spring.

While the state has up to 100 years of ice-out data in some lakes and rivers, it has almost no reliable data on when they freeze each year, said Peter Boulay, a DNR climatologist.

"Ice-in is much harder to track," he said. "It'll freeze and thaw and refreeze multiple times. And if it's a huge lake, like Lake Mille Lacs, it's not so simple to see when it's frozen in the middle."

But at the University of Wisconsin, the first school in the country to study the chemistry and makeup of inland lakes, scientists have been keeping that data for decades.

The university has tracked ice coverage on Wisconsin lakes since the 1850s. In those days, ice harvesters needed to know when they could venture out on a lake to cut large frozen blocks to sell during summer; parents and school superintendents waited for ice roads that would connect Lake Superior's Apostle Islands to the mainland.

The longer the data go back, the clearer the pattern becomes: Lakes have less ice now, said Magnuson, who is semiretired after decades with the school's limnology office.

Lake Mendota in Madison gets 30 days less ice coveragea full monththan it did during the Civil War, the data show.

And the thaws have been accelerating, Magnuson said.

Six of Lake Mendota's 10 earliest ice-outs have happened since the late 1990s.

Ice coverage is not just a function of temperatures in the spring and fall. It reflects two larger factors: the area's average annual temperature and the depth of the lake. Every body of water is continually heating up through the summer. The deeper the lake, the more volume it has to collect and store that heat. The more warmth a lake stores, the longer it takes to freeze, Magnuson said.

For the first time, some of the deepest lakes in southern Wisconsin are starting to have years when they don't freeze at all. As temperatures continue to climb, that will happen to more and more lakes in Minnesota as well, Magnuson said.

The magic number seems to be about 47 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the average temperature for an entire year reaches that point, lakes that have historically frozen over every year start to see some years where they remain open.

"That doesn't mean they'll always be open, because it's still so variable," Magnuson said. "But you start to see it where you'll have ice, ice, ice, no ice."

Algae blooms

The Wisconsin researchers helped publish a study earlier this year showing that if temperatures climb 2 degrees Celsiusa goal set by the United Nations to limit the damage of climate changemore than 20,000 lakes across the Northern Hemisphere will stop freezing over every year.

And that will trigger an ecological chain reaction that scientists are just beginning to understand. Without ice cover on a lake, aquatic life will begin to changeoften for the worse, said Lesley Knoll, station biologist at the University of Minnesota's Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories.

More light and more oxygen penetrate the water when a lake lacks ice cover, which leads to greater algae blooms in the summer and shrinks the livable area for certain cold-water-loving fish, such as the tullibee.

And tullibee, which are highly sensitive to oxygen levels, are often the best indicators of a lake's health. They're an important food source for most game fish in Minnesota, including walleye and northern pike. As they die off, the entire food chain is disrupted.

Recognizing these looming challenges, the DNR has begun monitoring 25 "sentinel lakes" throughout the state to better understand how rising temperatures are changing the life and chemistry within them. Ultimately, regulators hope the data will help them mitigate the smaller, incremental changes that subtly alter the character of a lake before the more obvious and detrimental effects occur, such as the loss of fish populations and the rise of invasive species.

Knoll is researching a paper on the cultural costs of losing ice, from Swedish skating competitions and indigenous religious ceremonies to canceled fishing derbies.

"Ice is a part of the culture," she said. "When it's not therewhen you used to be able to ice fish by Thanksgiving, but now you can'tyou feel it."

Explore further As the climate warms, tens of thousands of lakes may spend winters ice free

2019 Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

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Monarch butterflies migrate to the same forested area in central Mexico every year. This gives scientists a convenient opportunity to measure the size of the population. Credit: Royce Bitzer

Monarch butterflies are fluttering this way, and, with some luck, they'll be more plentiful than in previous years when they reach Iowa later this spring.

During the winter months, scientists observed the largest overwintering monarch population in Mexico since 2007, said Steven Bradbury, a professor of natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State University. Bradbury is urging Iowans to maintain existing summer breeding habitat in the months ahead in the hope that such efforts throughout the Midwest can help sustain future monarch populations.

Monarch butterfly numbers have dropped sharply in recent years, in part due to a corresponding loss of summer breeding habitat. In 2013, the plight of the monarchs became so dire that scientists worried a single harsh winter could collapse the species' continental migration, Bradbury said. But ideal weather conditions last year fueled a rebound.

Monarch butterflies migrate to the same forested area in central Mexico every winter. Measuring the area of forest canopy occupied by the butterflies gives scientists a convenient way of estimating the size of the population. The butterflies covered fewer than 2.5 acres in the winter of 2013-2014, the population's lowest point in the last two decades. Last winter, however, the butterflies covered nearly 15 acres, which means a large population of butterflies is now migrating into the southern United States. As long as the weather remains favorable, Iowans can expect to see an abundant monarch population beginning in late May or early June, Bradbury said. He said maintaining that 15-acre mark consistently would put the species on much stronger footing when faced with a harsh winter in Mexico and other extreme weather events in the United States that could threaten the species.

The Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, a diverse partnership of 45 organizations supported by Iowa State University, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, is spearheading an effort to plant between 480,000 and 830,000 acres of new habitat by 2038. As part of ongoing outreach and education statewide, the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium encourages Iowans to follow best practices to maintain existing monarch habitat. Large and small habitat patches  including field edges, public parks, and roadsides  are critical to provide habitat connectivity across the landscape, Bradbury said, as is the responsible use of pesticides.

The consortium encourages the planting of new habitat that includes native forbs and milkweeds, the only plant species on which monarchs lay eggs and the only plant species monarch larvae eat. Establishing new habitat is essential to supporting the long-term recovery of the monarch population.

"Iowa is perfectly situated to lead the way in conservation efforts for the monarch butterfly. Since Iowa is located within the monarch's core breeding range, every patch of milkweed habitat added here counts toward national monarch conservation efforts," said Bruce Trautman, acting director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "The recovery cannot succeed without Iowa."

The consortium is working with municipalities as well as farmers to expand the amount of monarch habitat in the state. Bradbury said agricultural involvement is crucial because much of Iowa's private lands are devoted to agriculture.

"You can't get to Iowa's target without a significant commitment of the non-crop land that's part of the agricultural landscape," Bradbury said.

Explore further Saving the monarch butterflybiologist explains population census discrepancies
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A NASA instrument designed to track carbon in Earth's atmosphere is headed to the International Space Station next week, and the president isn't happy about it.

President Donald Trump slashed funding for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 and four other Earth science missions in his proposed spending plan for the 2018 fiscal year, citing "budget constraints" and "higher priorities within Science." His budget for fiscal year 2019 tried to defund them again.

In both cases, Congress decided to keep the OCO-3 mission going anyway. Now it is set to launch as soon as Tuesday.

OCO-3 was built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., for less than $100 million, using parts left over from its predecessor, OCO-2. Once the carbon observatory gets to the ISS, a robotic arm will mount it on the underside of the space station so it can keep a close eye on the carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere.

That will help scientists answer questions about how and why levels of the greenhouse gas fluctuate over days, months and years.

"Our goal is to get really good data so we can make informed decisions about how to manage carbon and carbon emissions in the future," said Annmarie Eldering, the mission's project scientist at JPL.

Carbon dioxide makes up a tiny fraction of the molecules in our atmosphereroughly 400 parts per million. But seemingly small changes in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have an outsized effect on the planet's temperature.

"Carbon is really effective at trapping heat," Eldering said. "Even changing the ratio from 300 parts per million to 400 parts per million makes a big difference."

OCO-3 is so sensitive that it can detect changes as small as 1 part per million. So if CO2 levels go from 406 ppm one day to 407 ppm the next, the observatory will record the increase.

Eldering, who also worked on OCO-2, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the difference between the two instruments, the new information she hopes to learn from OCO-3, and how she and her team managed to keep their cool when their project seemed headed for the chopping block.

Q: What are the main science questions you hope OCO-3 will answer?

A: The big science question is about the movement of carbon dioxide between plants and the atmosphere.

If you look at the ground-based data, it almost looks like the planet is breathing. Plants in the northern hemisphere take up carbon dioxide as they grow in the spring and summer, reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by a few parts per million. In the fall, the leaves drop and carbon is released back into the air.

But every year is different. There are changes in the forests in Canada. El Nino years affect the carbon cycle.

What we want to do is find drivers of the plant uptake of carbon and use that to better predict what will happen in the future. If we have a warmer, drier climate, will plants keep taking up as much carbon?

Q: Why is it helpful to look at Earth's carbon cycle from space?

A: We have Earth-based data, but having a satellite observatory lets you see things in a bigger context. That includes data over the oceans that the ground-based measurements generally don't see.

Q: Can you give an example of something you learned from data collected by OCO-2?

A: In 2015 and 2016, there was a global weather pattern called an El Nino that had a big impact on the carbon cycle in South America, South Africa and Indonesia, but in different ways.

South America had drought, so the plants there were not as active and did not remove as much carbon dioxide as they usually do. In the tropical part of Africa it was super hot, so the plant material was decomposing fast and releasing carbon dioxide. And Indonesia was on firethat put a lot of carbon back in the air.

Before we would have said, "El Nino is affecting the tropics" and just leave it at that. Now we can tease that apart in more detail, and that is really exciting as a scientist.

Q: How is OCO-3 different than OCO-2?

A: The main purpose of OCO-3 is to make sure we have a continuous record of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, but we are adding some new capabilities. One of those is to take a snapshot of carbon levels over an area of 50 miles by 50 miles. This will feed a bunch of science investigations of emission hot spots, like cities or volcanoes.

We can also look at how plant activity changes over the course of a day, which is something OCO-2 could not do.

Q: How does OCO-3 work?

A: OCO-3 is a spectrometer that looks at Earth's surface in three wavelengths: two for carbon dioxide, and one for the type of light your eyes see. Every molecule has a unique way that it absorbs light, almost like a fingerprint, and that's what we exploit in our instrument.

If the CO2 levels are 405 ppm, we will see a certain amount of light change in the CO2 band. If it is 406, we'll see just a bit more.

Q: President Trump tried to cancel this mission twice. How stressful was that for you and your team?

A: I've been over at JPL for 20 years now, and this is not the first mission I've worked on that has had funding ups and downs. We are fortunate that we have three branches of government, and that Congress is very active and has kept the importance of this work in mind as they created the budget.

My strategy for getting my work done is just to put on blinders and get the work done.

Explore further Huge spike in global carbon emissions linked to El Nino

2019 Los Angeles Times

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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In the early 1980s, many scientists believed the endangered ocelot, a spotted wildcat that once roamed as far north as Arkansas and Louisiana, had died out in Texas. Then, on a late winter day in 1982 on a remote Willacy County ranch, a young biologist named Michael Tewes trapped the first Texas ocelot of the modern era.

Since then, Tewes has gone on to become the dean of ocelot research, training a generation of ocelot scientists, and the cat has become perhaps the most iconic endangered species in South Texas.

The ocelot has been the rallying cry for decades of efforts to preserve natural habitat in the rapidly urbanizing Rio Grande Valley and the centerpiece of a series of environmental campaigns against controversial projects like the border wall.

So it was noteworthy when earlier this month, Tewes delivered a blistering condemnation of ocelot preservation work, declaring the push to create additional habitat an abject failure.

In a report released April 8, Tewes wrote that the strategy of building wildlife corridors to connect the last remaining groups of 80 or so ocelots with Mexico, the very underpinning of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmental groups had spent millions of dollars to pursue, was based on "ecological fairy tales" that might have done more harm than good.

"My intention was to give the facts as well as I've seen and understood them," he said before delivering his findings as part of a faculty lecture at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where he is the Frank Daniel Yturria Endowed Chair for Wild Cat Studies. "Over 35 years, I've developed insights no one else has. ... I expect to be attacked quite a bit."

Tewes' conclusions could have far-reaching consequences in the Rio Grande Valley and comes just as the region is wrestling with twin environmental fights over the border wall and proposed natural gas facilities on environmentally sensitive land at the Brownsville Ship Channel. The need to protect ocelot habitat has been a central theme of efforts to block both projects.

But Tewes argues that while building and protecting expensive wildlife corridors and refuges in the Valley might have helped other species, such as migratory waterfowl, they have failed to bring any benefit to the ocelot. The wildcat's future, he argues, has been hijacked, in some instances for political causes.

"I believe we have less habitat and fewer ocelots than when I began working on ocelots," he wrote. "Perhaps even more concerning, we squandered 25 precious years in the ongoing countdown to ocelot (extinction) within the United States."

Environmental activists say Tewes' message, however well intentioned, represents a dangerous threat to the larger conservation movement in Texas and to species that don't enjoy federally mandated protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Jim Chapman, vice president of the Rio Grande Valley group Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, said Tewes' report could undercut environmental campaigns to protect sensitive habitats and hurt the push to acquire new conservation lands.

"He is one of the preeminent cat biologists, but his focus is on nothing but the cats," Chapman said. "There is a real damaging downside to that narrow focus. ... He's doing more damage to wildlife overall than any other biologist."

Mitch Sternberg, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist with the South Texas Refuge Complex, said agency officials were shocked by Tewes' report but said it contained some valid points. The agency plans to reach out to him to be part of a more transparent dialogue.

"We are equally frustrated with the challenges to make progress for ocelots," Sternberg told the American-Statesman. "But we would all be better off to be communicating and collaborating more."

The last remaining Texas ocelots live in two small groups in the Rio Grande Valley about 30 miles apart. About a dozen cats are believed to live on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge along the Gulf Coast, while a larger group of perhaps 50 or so ocelots lives on private ranches in the northern reaches of the Rio Grande Valley in Willacy County.

Ocelots depend on a particular type of habitat that is rapidly disappearing in the Rio Grande Valley: Tamaulipan thornscrub, which is made up of gnarly catclaw bushes, spiny hackberry and mesquite. It's territory that has largely been plowed over for farmland and cities over the past century. Prime ocelot habitat, in often isolated patches, now makes up less than 1% of the Rio Grande Valley.

The Fish and Wildlife Service's central ocelot strategy has involved protecting and connecting those patches of habitat through land acquisitions to allow ocelots to expand their ranges. The ultimate goal of the wildlife corridors is to build a connection to Mexican ocelots and introduce some badly needed genetic diversity into the Texas populations, which have been inbreeding for generations, making them more susceptible to extinction.

In all, the agency has sought to build five wildlife corridors in the Rio Grande Valley, including a connection between the two ocelot groups.

According to agency reports to Congress, federal officials spent $17.7 million on ocelot protection efforts in 2016 and 2017. Overall, more than $75 million has been spent on land acquisition over the past three decades. In addition to preserving habitat suitable for ocelots, the refuges protect habitat for rare migratory birds and provide one of the last remaining bulwarks against increasing development.

But Tewes says he has found no evidence that ocelots are using landscape corridors to connect with other groups. Instead, he writes, "I am concerned that dispersing ocelots are likely using landscape corridors to enter an 'ecological black hole' destined for oblivion."

Tewes worries that the unfinished corridors, which contain gaps and run close to roads, will lure ocelots out of the relative safety of the Atascosa refuge and into an inhospitable area of highways and open ground. Vehicle strikes represent one of the greatest threats, with half a dozen ocelots killed on roadways in 2015 and 2016.

And if Texas ocelots make it to the Rio Grande, it's unclear what they would find. Tewes says the closest verified ocelot populations in Mexico are at least 100 miles from the border and genetic studies show that it has been many decades since Mexican and Texas cats intermingled.

"Quit talking about the fairy tale of linkage with Mexico," he said.

Environmental groups say Tewes paints an overly grim assessment, pointing to isolated cases of ocelots traveling great distances. In 1995, a Mexican ocelot crossed the Rio Grande into the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, though it did not mate, and a few years later, a ranch ocelot nearly made it to the Atascosa group.

"It really is possible, so why not make it easier and less dangerous for them?" said Rob Peters, senior representative for the southwest office of Defenders of Wildlife. "Conservation doesn't happen overnight. It takes a huge amount of work and investment."

Sternberg, the government biologist, said that while it has been a challenge to "see more direct benefits for ocelots ... we are hopeful and look to the long-game."

"Wildlife corridor establishment in South Texas has been driven in part by ocelot recovery but also for the benefit of hundreds of other wildlife species," he said.

Tewes argues the ocelot's best hope lies in expanding habitats on private ranches in Willacy County, where development pressure is low and where he says ranchers have a natural goal to preserve ocelot habitat, which is also ideal for lucrative quail and deer hunting leases.

Two ranchesone owned by the family of Frank Yturria and another owned by the East Foundationhave been active in promoting conservation of ocelots on their property. Yturria granted a conservation easement to the Nature Conservancy for thousands of acres before he died last year; the foundation has a research team studying its ocelots in partnership with Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Tewes said nearby ranchers, who likely have ocelot populations of their own, could be persuaded to undertake a conservation program if they receive assurances from U.S. Fish and Wildlife regarding liability and land use regulation.

Sternberg said the agency is ready and willing to discuss arrangements with private landowners.

Peters said that while the private ranches are an important piece of the puzzle, publicly managed lands can offer permanent protection and dedicated staff, such as the ocelot biologist at Laguna Atascosa.

Tewes' condemnations come at a particularly sensitive time for the Fish and Wildlife Service's Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, a string of protected parcels stretching along the river from Brownsville to Starr County. Since 1979, the wildlife agency, aided by nonprofits and citing potential benefits for the ocelot, has created nearly 100,000 acres of protected habitat along the Rio Grande.

Fish and Wildlife documents obtained last month by the Statesman show that about 15% of refuge lands are slated for planned border fencing in Hidalgo and Starr counties, which environmental groups say will have a devastating impact on the refuge's mission. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not dispute the agency's estimate and told the Statesman the border wall is planned across 17 miles of refuge lands.

Customs and Border Protection spokesman Rick Pauza said the agency has taken some steps to mitigate environmental damage on refuge land, including moving border fencing on the Arroyo Ramirez tract to its northern edge. He said the agency also is acting on Fish and Wildlife recommendations to broaden ramps over flood levees to aid animals during floods.

"CBP continues to consult with USFWS to identify animal migration corridors within the Rio Grande Valley where design elements can be incorporated into the barrier that will allow for continued migration of animals," Pauza said.

But the Texas Observer had previously reported that border officials brushed off Fish and Wildlife concerns about wall placement, ignoring a request that border fencing "skirt the edges of the refuges, rather than bisecting them and destroying habitat."

Chapman said that between the border wall plans and Tewes' report, "wildlife is getting hammered, that's for sure."

Tewes' report also comes as environmental groups are trying to stop three liquefied natural gas projects just south of the Atascosa refuge. Among the chief arguments against the facilities is that they would prevent the establishment of a corridor that would allow ocelots to reach the Rio Grande. In March, federal regulators ruled the facilities would have adverse environmental effects, but that they could be mitigated with proper planning, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Chapman said Tewes' report hurts the effort to stop the plants and some environmental groups have questioned Tewes' relationship with one of the energy companies seeking to build a liquefied natural gas facility.

In December 2015, Annova LNG donated $40,000 to Texas A&M-Kingsville's Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute for ocelot research. Tewes hailed the donation, saying it would allow the purchase of high-end GPS collars for ocelots.

Tewes said that he had concluded linkage with Mexico wasn't feasible before the donation, which he said did not affect his thinking. He said he declined to serve as a consultant to Annova on the project to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. His report, he said, came from years of growing "frustration and anguish" over the lack of benefits for ocelots from the conservation strategies.

While there are deep differences on the best strategy to help ocelots, both sides agree on one crucial step: the need to physically move an ocelot from Mexico into Texas in hopes that it passes on its genes. The effort has been in limbo for several years, in part due to cartel violence that temporarily halted research on the Mexican side.

But that effort appears to be gaining steam. In 2018, Mexican scientists found 88 individual ocelots in a mountainous region of Tamaulipas, about 120 miles from the border. Researcher

Rogelio Carrera, a professor at the Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, is hopeful the number is high enough to persuade the Mexican government to release a few.

Carrera said that researchers are planning to conduct a health and disease study this year. "This will be the last piece of information needed to plan for moving cats to Texas," he said. "We feel optimistic in making all this a reality and hoping to do so next winter."

Explore further Ocelot density in the Brazilian Amazon may be lower than expected

2019 Austin American-Statesman, Texas

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Shortcomings of security breach notifications, best practices for phishing warnings and lessons learned from the use of analytics to improve student performance are among several studies University of Michigan researchers will present beginning this weekend in the United Kingdom.

Florian Schaub, assistant professor at the U-M School of Information, and colleagues will share their work May 4-9 at the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing in Glasgow, Scotland.

Data Breaches

Building on their previous research that showed consumers often take little action when faced with security breaches, the School of Information team led by doctoral student Yixin Zou and Schaub analyzed data breach notifications companies sent to consumers to see if the communications might be responsible for some of the inaction.

They found that 97% of the 161 sampled notifications were difficult or fairly difficult to read based on readability metrics, and that the language used in them may have contributed to confusion about whether the recipient of the communication was at risk and should take action.

"Our analysis shows that requiring companies by law to send data breach notifications alone is not sufficient," Zou said. "It is important to ensure that important information such as what happened and what consumers should do to protect themselves is communicated in those notifications in a way that is understandable and actionable by consumers."

Citing statistics from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the authors note that in 2017 there were 853 data breached that compromised 2.05 billion records, which included consumer names, contact information account numbers, credit card details, social security numbers, shopping and purchasing records, social media posts and messages, and health records.

In response, most countries, including the United States, adopted data breach notification laws. In the U.S., each state has its own data breach law, therefore, the threshold for when consumers must be notified, how soon after a breach, and what that notification must look like vary across states.

This allows much freedom for companies to use hedge terms that downplay riskusing phrases like "you might be affected" and "you are likely to be affected" in 70% of notifications and saying "at this time, we have no evidence of exposed data being misused" 40% of the time.

It also allows a lack of consistency in addressing the cause of the breach, the date of occurrence and the amount of exposure time, the researchers say.

"There's little incentive for companies to invest in making data breach notifications more usable," Schaub said. "For most companies, those notifications are only seen as a requirement for complying with data breach notification laws rather than a way to educate and protect their customers. We need to rethink and rework consumer protection laws such as these to ensure that companies' notifications are actually helpful to consumers."

Most state laws require companies to notify affected consumers in written letters or by telephone. Emails, website announcements, notices to statewide media or other electronic methods are usually substitutes. The study shows a consistent pattern with 95% of the analyzed notifications delivered by mail. The researchers say the slow speed of a mailed letter might increase the time when consumers stayed uninformed of the breach.

Phishing

Just when we think we have a handle on the tricks data thieves have up their sleeves to hack our devices in an attempt to steal our information, someone comes along with a new way to fool us, and phishing schemes on the computer can catch even the savviest of users.

Organizations that provide email services, including the commercial email clients that consumers use every day, have put numerous measures in place to fight phishing attempts,and work to educate users about avoiding suspicious links in email. Among the efforts are various warnings that alert users of potentially suspicious links.

In a study involving 700 participants ages 20 to 71, Schaub and colleagues at the School of Information evaluated three warning design features to help users more effectively assess phishing risk and avoid suspicious websites. They compared them to the more commonly used static email banneroften a colored band or box using a bold color like red that appears as a warning across the top of an email page. The three features for comparison are:

Warning placement, or moving phishing warnings close to the suspicious link in the email.

Forced attention to the warning by deactivating the suspicious link in the email body and forcing the user to click the unmasked URL to proceed.

Warning activation, which calls for the warning to show up only when the user hovers over a link.

They found that when compared with banner warnings, link-focused phishing warnings reduced the chance of participants clicking through to a phishing link. Forced attention warnings were the most effective.

"Detecting phishing emails is difficult for people and the common advice to 'check the link before you click' is good but not really supported by email clients," Schaub said. "Our research shows that well-designed phishing warnings can help consumers better detect phishing links by clearly identifying which links in an email are suspicious, prominently showing the suspicious link's destination, and forcing users to click on the warning if they want to still continue to the link's destination.

Learning Analytics

Over the last half-dozen years or so, universities have been gathering data about student performance in select courses in order to create warning dashboards to help those who are underperforming. The goal of this tailored, personalized approach to education is to intervene at key points in a semester to help them improve so they can succeed.

For the most part these dashboard interventions have shown positive results in improving student outcomes.

But a study by Schaub and a School of Information team of a learning analytics application reveals that students haven't always known about or understood how their data has been gathered and used. The researchers find that students want more input into that process and a say over what happens with their data.

The U-M program known as Student Explorer started as a way to help encourage STEM students to stick with courses in science, technology, engineering and math, as many were becoming discouraged and giving up early on careers in those fields. It proved successful and later was adopted by multiple programs across campus.

For their study, the researchers conducted interviews with four program developers, eight academic advisers, and 20 students. The research concluded that all stakeholdersstudents, faculty, academic advisersshould collaborate on these programs and be part of their creation and evolution.

"It's really important to discover these various user needs and usage habits to make sure the system design and function can address them," said Kaiwen Sun, doctoral student and lead author of the paper.

"Many advisers and instructors are unfamiliar with the concept of learning analytics. They see new platforms roll out and think they are just the users. They might not consider themselves able to play a key role in the learning analytics process.

"I also think it's important to educate people and promote awareness around campus about the goal, benefits and impact of learning analytics, why these different stakeholders should care, and what they can do to contribute to the learning analytics process."

Explore further Small practices also at risk for data breaches

More information: Yixin Zou et al. You 'Might' Be Affected, Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsCHI '19 (2019). Yixin Zou et al. You 'Might' Be Affected,(2019). DOI: 10.1145/3290605.3300424 Kaiwen Sun et al. It's My Data! Tensions Among Stakeholders of a Learning Analytics Dashboard, Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsCHI '19 (2019). DOI: 10.1145/3290605.3300824 Justin Petelka et al. Put Your Warning Where Your Link Is, Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsCHI '19 (2019). DOI: 10.1145/3290605.3300748
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Qualcomm this week joined Chinese smartphone makers including OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi and ZTE to demonstrate new, faster 5G handsets and mobile networks targeting the China market.

The San Diego company participated in a conference in Shanghai hosted by China Unicom, the second largest mobile operator in China.

China Unicom conducted live 5G demonstrations on a live network covering the conference center and using mobile devices powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon mobile processors, X50 5G cellular modems and radio frequency front end components.

While China Unicom hasn't revealed exactly when it will roll out 5G at a large scale, Qualcomm said mobile 5G service is expected to begin showing up in China this year.

High speed, low latency 5G networks already have been plugged in on a limited basis in the U.S. and South Korea. Earlier this month, Verizon launched 5G in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, with more cities expected by year end.

AT&T has also begun 5G deployments in certain neighborhoods in 19 cities, including San Diego. The company is not revealing exactly where 5G is available locally. But it plans to offer at least three 5G mobile devices later this year, including the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G this spring.

Along with the U.S. and South Korea, Swisscom said last week that it will begin deploying its 5G network soon and plans to offer 5G devices from OPPO, LG and others by the end of 2019.

"In a span of few weeks, we have witnessed 5G launches in the U.S., South Korea, the announcement of an imminent deployment in Europe, and now we are observing the dawn of 5G in China," said Durga Malladi, a senior vice president of Qualcomm working on 4G and 5G technologies, in a blog post.

Along with OnePlus, Oppo, Xiaomi and ZTE, other Chinese device makers that use Qualcomm chips also are participating in the China Unicom demonstrations, including Vivo and Nubia.

Analysts believe Qualcomm is among the leaders in bringing 5G silicon to smartphones, with about a one-year head start on most competitors. The company said more than 30 5G devices using its silicon are expected to launch in 2019.

China's Huawei also is considered a leader in 5G network gear, smartphones and related technologies. It announced its own internal 5G cellular chip for use in its smartphones. But Qualcomm is supplying many of Huawei's China-based smartphone competitors.

China is the world's largest market for mobile devices, with more than 1.2 billion subscribers on its three main operators  China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

Analysts expect the transition to 5G will occur faster than the move from 3G to 4Gin part because of low costs and additional capacity for operators to serve up data to subscribers for mobile video, mobile gaming, cloud-connected health care, smart cities infrastructure and other services.

"The arrival of 5G in China is big news as it is occurring earlier than many anticipated, bringing 5G to the world's largest mobile user base within 2019," said Malladi. "While 4G services were launched in China several years after the first commercial 4G network went live elsewhere, with 5G, it all begins in year one."

Explore further Qualcomm's latest 5G chips to deliver 7 gigabits per second speeds to mobile devices

2019 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Original morphology of the two studied Itokawa particles. Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), edited by Z. Jin

Two cosmochemists at Arizona State University have made the first-ever measurements of water contained in samples from the surface of an asteroid. The samples came from asteroid Itokawa and were collected by the Japanese space probe Hayabusa.

The team's findings suggest that impacts early in Earth's history by similar asteroids could have delivered as much as half of our planet's ocean water.

"We found the samples we examined were enriched in water compared to the average for inner solar system objects," says Ziliang Jin. A postdoctoral scholar in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, he is the lead author on the paper published May 1 in Science Advances reporting the results. His co-author is Maitrayee Bose, assistant professor in the School.

"It was a privilege that the Japanese space agency JAXA was willing to share five particles from Itokawa with a U.S. investigator," Bose says. "It also reflects well on our School."

The team's idea of looking for water in the Itokawa samples came as a surprise for the Hayabusa project.

"Until we proposed it, no one thought to look for water," says Bose. "I'm happy to report that our hunch paid off."

In two of the five particles, the team identified the mineral pyroxene. In terrestrial samples, pyroxenes have water in their crystal structure. Bose and Jin suspected that the Itokawa particles might also have traces of water, but they wanted to know exactly how much. Itokawa has had a rough history involving heating, multiple impacts, shocks, and fragmentation. These would raise the temperature of the minerals and drive off water.

To study the samples, each about half the thickness of a human hair, the team used ASU's Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (NanoSIMS), which can measure such tiny mineral grains with great sensitivity.

The NanoSIMS measurements revealed the samples were unexpectedly rich in water. They also suggest that even nominally dry asteroids such as Itokawa may in fact harbor more water than scientists have assumed.

Ziliang Jin (right) and Maitrayee Bose (left), as they were loading the Itokawa samples into the high-vacuum chamber of the NanoSIMS 50L instrument at ASU. Credit: M. Bose

Fragmented world

Itokawa is a peanut-shaped asteroid about 1,800 feet long and 700 to 1,000 feet wide. It circles the Sun every 18 months at an average distance of 1.3 times the Earth-Sun distance. Part of Itokawa's path brings it inside Earth's orbit and at farthest, it sweeps out a little beyond that of Mars.

Based on Itokawa's spectrum in Earth-based telescopes, planetary scientists place it in the S class. This links it with the stony meteorites, which are thought to be fragments from S-type asteroids broken off in collisions.

"S-type asteroids are one of the most common objects in the asteroid belt," says Bose. "They originally formed at a distance from the Sun of one-third to three times Earth's distance." She adds that although they are small, these asteroids have kept whatever water and other volatile materials they formed with.

In structure, Itokawa resembles a pair of rubble piles crunched together. It has two main lobes, each studded with boulders but having different overall densities, while between the lobes is a narrower section.

Jin and Bose point out that today's Itokawa is the remnant of a parent body at least 12 miles wide that at some point was heated between 1,000 and 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The parent body suffered several large shocks from impacts, with one final shattering event that broke it apart. In the aftermath two of the fragments merged and formed today's Itokawa, which reached its current size and shape about 8 million years ago.

"The particles we analyzed came from a part of Itokawa called the Muses Sea," says Bose. "It's an area on the asteroid that's smooth and dust-covered."

Jin adds, "Although the samples were collected at the surface, we don't know where these grains were in the original parent body. But our best guess is that they were buried more than 100 meters deep within it."

He adds that despite the catastrophic breakup of the parent body, and the sample grains being exposed to radiation and impacts by micrometeorites at the surface, the minerals still show evidence of water that has not been lost to space.

In addition, says Jin, "The minerals have hydrogen isotopic compositions that are indistinguishable from Earth."

Water in representative inner solar system objects. Credit: Z. Jin and M. Bose. The data sources are Hauri et al., 2015 for Bulk silicate Moon; McCubbin et al., 2012 for Mars Mantle; Peslier et al., 2017 for Primitive Earth Mantle; and Rivkin et al., 2017 for Eros and Ganymed surfaces.

Bose explains, "This means S-type asteroids and the parent bodies of ordinary chondrites are likely a critical source of water and several other elements for the terrestrial planets."

She adds, "And we can say this only because of in-situ isotopic measurements on returned samples of asteroid regoliththeir surface dust and rocks.

"That makes these asteroids high-priority targets for exploration."

Scouting for samples

Bose notes that she is building a clean-lab facility at ASU, which along with the NanoSIMS (partially funded by National Science Foundation) would be the first such facility at a public university capable of analyzing dust grains from other solar system bodies.

Another Japanese mission, Hayabusa 2, is currently at an asteroid named Ryugu, where it will collect samples, bringing them back to Earth in December 2020. The director of ASU's Center for Meteorite Studies, professor Meenakshi Wadhwa, is a member of the Initial Analysis team for Chemistry for the Hayabusa 2 mission.

ASU is also on board NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample-return mission, which is orbiting a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu. Among other instruments, the spacecraft carries the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES), designed by ASU Regents' Professor Philip Christensen and built at the School. OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to collect samples from Bennu in summer 2020 and bring them back to Earth in September 2023.

For planetary scientists and cosmochemists who are drawing a picture of how the solar system formed, asteroids are a great resource. As leftover building blocks for the planetary system, they vary greatly among themselves while preserving materials from early in solar system history.

Says Bose, "Sample-return missions are mandatory if we really want to do an in-depth study of planetary objects."

And she adds, "The Hayabusa mission to Itokawa has expanded our knowledge of the volatile contents of the bodies that helped form Earth. It would not be surprising if a similar mechanism of water production is common for rocky exoplanets around other stars."

Explore further Particles collected by Hayabusa give absolute age of asteroid Itokawa

More information: Z. Jin el al., "New clues to ancient water on Itokawa," Science Advances (2019). advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/5/eaav8106 Journal information: Science Advances Z. Jin el al., "New clues to ancient water on Itokawa,"(2019). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav8106
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A collaborative team led by Prof. Bai Yang and Prof. Chu Chengcai from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), recently examined the variation in root microbiota within 68 indica and 27 japonica rice varieties grown in field conditions. They revealed that the indica and japonica varieties recruited distinct root microbiota.

In natural soil, plant roots provide an ecological niche for multiple soil microorganisms known as root microbiota. These microbes develop an intimate association with plants, enhancing plants' nutrient uptake, growth and tolerance to pathogens.

Indica and japonica are the two major subspecies of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.). Indica varieties show better nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) compared with japonica varieties in the field; NRT1.1B contributes to this natural variation in rice. However, the effect of root microbiota on the NUE variation observed between the indica and japonica varieties is not yet clear.

The researchers established a model using a random-forest machine-learning approach. They found this model could accurately predict indica and japonica varieties in tested fields, suggesting that the root microbes can serve as a biomarker to distinguish indica and japonica varieties.

It is interesting that indica varieties had more bacteria associated with the function of nitrogen metabolism compared with japonica varieties, indicating that nitrogen transformation is more active in the root environment of indica rather than japonica varieties.

By comparing root-associated microbiota of wild-type varieties and the the nrt1.1b mutant, they found that NRT1.1B was associated with the recruitment of approximately half of the indica-enriched bacterial taxa.

Notably, wild-type varieties showed relative abundance of root bacteria that harbor key genes for the ammonification process; however, there was no such abundance in the root microbiome of the nrt1.1b mutant. This indicates that such root microbes may catalyze the formation of ammonium in the root environment.

Using an improved high-throughput protocol to cultivate and identify bacteria, the researchers successfully cultivated more than 70 percent of the bacterial species that were reproducibly detectable in the rice roots, and established the first systematic collection of rice root bacterial cultures.

They then used gnotobiotic experimental systems with a reconstructed synthetic community (SynCom) and found that indica-enriched SynCom showed a stronger ability to promote rice growth under a supply of organic nitrogen than japonica-enriched SynCom. This further suggests that indica-enriched bacteria may contribute to higher nitrogen-use efficiency in indica rice.

These results not only reveal the relationship between the root microbiome and NUE in rice subspecies, but demonstrate the role of NRT1.1B in the establishment of root microbiota. The bacterial culture collections provide a resource for functional research of root microbiota.

The research on the interaction between root microbes and rice has laid an important foundation for the application of beneficial microbes to the process of nitrogen utilization and provides a theoretical basis for reducing nitrogen fertilizer in sustainable agriculture.

This study, entitled "NRT1.1B is associated with root microbiota composition and nitrogen use in field-grown rice," was published online in Nature Biotechnology on April 29, 2019.

Explore further Mother of cultivated rice came from China's Pearl River

More information: Jingying Zhang et al, NRT1.1B is associated with root microbiota composition and nitrogen use in field-grown rice, Nature Biotechnology (2019). Journal information: Nature Biotechnology Jingying Zhang et al, NRT1.1B is associated with root microbiota composition and nitrogen use in field-grown rice,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41587-019-0104-4
Credit: Imperial College London

Researchers have created a system that can detect and quantify small and rare biological molecules that are important for detecting disease early.

Certain molecules in biological fluids like blood and urine can be indicators of disease, especially if they become more prevalent. However, in the early stages of disease these 'biomarkers' are rare and can be difficult to detect.

However, they are difficult to separate from the background of so many other biological molecules in fluids. Now, researchers from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial have invented a system that can identify and measure individual biomarkers in human serum (fluid from blood) and urine.

Detecting important biomarkers in lower concentrations will allow patients to be treated earlier for diseases including some cancers and neurological disorders, which could increase the survival rate.

Their system, published this month in Nature Communications, tags biomarkers of interest and detects them with a nanopore  a hole a few billionths of a meter across that measures the change in electrical current as a molecule passes through.

Overcoming false positives

Previously, the team have used nanopores to detect biomarkers such as small DNA strands and single proteins. However, they have faced problems when the biomarkers are much smaller than the nanopore, meaning they may still be missed by the system.

This is particularly true when there are a lot of other small molecules that are not useful to detect, meaning the 'noise' outweighs the 'signal'.

To overcome this, they created DNA carriers  special strands of DNA with sections designed to detect biomarkers of interest. Once these carriers find a biomarker they bind with it, allowing it to be more easily detected by the nanopore.

However, the DNA carriers would sometimes spontaneously 'knot', twisting themselves so it appeared they were attached to a biomarker. This could create 'false positives'  detections of biomarkers that weren't really there.

Finding the signal in the noise

Now, they have improved the DNA carrier system by pairing it with fluorescence detection. When the DNA carrier binds with a biomarker it releases a burst of light, which tells the system that a biomarker is attached. It then passes through the nanopore, where the biomarker is read using its electrical signal.

Co-author Professor Joshua Edel said: "We demonstrated a system that can discriminate traditionally difficult biomarkers such as single proteins directly in biological fluid by quantifying simultaneous electrical and optical detection. It is a simple way to detect molecules much smaller than the size of the nanopore without loss of signal to noise."

"The whole project was only made possible by the unique abilities and enthusiasm of the young team members, including Shenglin Cai and Dr. Jasmine Sze, who all have diverse expertise and backgrounds."

Explore further Early disease diagnosis could be dramatically improved with new detection system

More information: Shenglin Cai et al. Small molecule electro-optical binding assay using nanopores, Nature Communications (2019). Journal information: Nature Communications Shenglin Cai et al. Small molecule electro-optical binding assay using nanopores,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09476-4
Digital technology is rapidly transforming farming and it might not be for the better. Credit: Shutterstock

There's a lot of talk about digital technology and smart cities, but what about smart farms? Many of us still have a romantic view of farmers surveying rolling hills and farm kids cuddling calves, but our food in Canada increasingly comes from industrial-scale factory farms and vast glass and steel forests of greenhouses.

While the social and environmental consequences of agri-food industrialization are fairly well understood, issues around digital technology are now just emerging. Yet, technology is radically transforming farms and farming. And while different in scale and scope, technology is playing a growing role in small and organic farming systems as well.

In reality then, your friendly local farmer will soon spend as much time managing their digital data as they will their dairy herd. The milking apron is being replaced by the milking app.

The Canadian government is investing heavily in climate-smart and precision agricultural technologies (ag-tech). These combine digital tools such as GPS and sensors with automated machines like smart tractors, drones and robots in an attempt to increase farm profits while reducing pesticide and fertilizer use. GPS mapping of crop yields and soil characteristics help to cut costs and increase profits, so while seeds still grow in soil, satellites are increasingly part of the story. There's no doubt that ag-tech may be promising for governments, investors and corporations, but the benefits are far less clear for farm owners and workers.

There is little research on the potential social impacts of ag-tech specifically, so a group of researchers at the University of Guelph conducted a study to figure out some of the likely impacts of the technological revolution in agriculture.

While changes in agriculture show promise for increasing productivity and profits and reducing pesticides and pollution, the future of farming is not all rosy.

Corporate control of many agricultural inputs seeds, feed, fertilizers, machinery is well documented. Agricultural land is also increasing in cost and farms are getting bigger and bigger. It is likely that digital agriculture will exacerbate these trends. We're especially interested in what farm work will look like as the digital revolution unfolds.

Marginalized workers are set up to lose

While rising costs are always a concern for producers and consumers, we have two main concerns about how the digital revolution is changing farm work in particular.

First, who owns all of the data being produced in precision agriculture? Farm owners and workers produce data that has massive potential for commercial exploitation. However, just who gets to harvest the fruits of this digital data labour is unclear.

Should it flow to those who produce it? Should it be something that we own collectively? Unfortunately, if smart farms are anything like smart cities, then it looks like corporate control of data could tighten.

Factory farms are the norm in Canada. Credit: Shutterstock

Second, it's very likely that ag-tech will lead to an even more sharply divided labour force. So-called "high-skilled" managers trained in data management and analysis will oversee operations, while many ostensibly "lower-skilled" jobs are replaced. Remaining on-the-ground labourers will find themselves in working conditions that are increasingly automated, surveilled and constrained. For instance, in fruit and vegetable greenhouses inputs are increasingly being controlled remotely, but migrant workers still do much of the planting and harvesting by hand. And, they do so under conditions of severe physical and social immobility.

There is a wealth of research documenting the vulnerable position of migrant agricultural workers from coast to coast in Canada and elsewhere.

If we don't direct it in a humane way, the digital revolution in agriculture is likely to heighten these vulnerabilities.

The agricultural system was built that way

Our food system is built on centuries of Indigenous land theft, dislocation and the suppression of Indigenous foodways while relying heavily on exploitable (Indigenous, migrant and racialized) labour. Across North America, farm workers have long been excluded from basic labour laws, legal status and the right to unionize.

And now, increased productivity often relies on increased exploitationjust ask anyone working in a FoxConn factory. As a result, our current food system is rife with exploitative practices, from production through to distribution, with racialized immigrants bearing the brunt.

Meanwhile, there is evidence that automation tends to negatively impact already marginalized workers.

The digital revolution in agriculture has a double edge. Smart farms bring promise, but automation in agricultural production and distribution will eliminate many jobs.

Our concern is that the suite of jobs that remain will only deepen economic inequities with more privileged university graduates receiving the bulk of the well-paid work, while further stripping physical labourers of their power and dignity.

There is no magic pill, but our governments do have options. Policy and legislation can shift the path of ag-tech to better support vulnerable farm workers and populations. In doing so, the looming issue of land ownership and repatriation must be addressed in Canada, with Indigenous nations at the head of the table alongside marginalized workers and farmers. Supporting pathways to farming and permanent residency for migrant workers, as well as training for digital skill-building can help to close more immediate gaps.

We need to ready ourselves for how radical transformations in food production and distribution will impact land prices, property rights and working conditions. Our folksy view of farming is due for an update.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Credit: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

A new, groundbreaking study by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) found a way to transform skin cells into the three major stem cell types that comprise early-stage embryos. This work has significant implications for modelling embryonic disease and placental dysfunctions, as well as paving the way to create whole embryos from skin cells.

As published in Cell Stem Cell, Dr. Yossi Buganim of HU's Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research and his team discovered a set of genes capable of transforming murine skin cells into all three of the cell types that comprise the early embryo: the embryo itself, the placenta and the extraembryonic tissues, such as the umbilical cord. In the future, it may be possible to create entire human embryos out of human skin cells, without the need for sperm or eggs. This discovery also has vast implications for modelling embryonic defects and shedding light on placental dysfunctions, as well as solving certain infertility problems by creating human embryos in a petri dish.

Back in 2006, Japanese researchers discovered the capacity of skin cells to be "reprogrammed" into early embryonic cells that can generate an entire fetus, by expressing four central embryonic genes. These reprogrammed skin cells, termed "Induced Plutipotent Stem Cells" (iPSCs), are similar to cells that develop in the early days after fertilization and are essentially identical to their natural counterparts. These cells can develop into all fetal cell types, but not into extra-embryonic tissues, such as the placenta.

Now, the Hebrew University research team, headed by Dr. Yossi Buganim, Dr. Oren Ram from the HU's Institute of Life Science and Professor Tommy Kaplan from HU's School of Computer Science and Engineering, as well as doctoral students Hani Benchetrit and Mohammad Jaber, found a new combination of five genes that, when inserted into skin cells, reprogram the cells into each of three early embryonic cell typesiPS cells which create fetuses, placental stem cells, and stem cells that develop into other extraembryonic tissues, such as the umbilical cord. These transformations take about one month.

The HU team used new technology to scrutinize the molecular forces that govern cell fate decisions for skin cell reprogramming and the natural process of embryonic development. For example, the researchers discovered that the gene "Eomes" pushes the cell towards placental stem cell identity and placental development, while the "Esrrb" gene orchestrates fetus stem cells development through the temporary acquisition of an extraembryonic stem cell identity.

To uncover the molecular mechanisms that are activated during the formation of these various cell types, the researchers analyzed changes to the genome structure and function inside the cells when the five genes are introduced into the cell. They discovered that during the first stage, skin cells lose their cellular identity and then slowly acquire a new identity of one of the three early embryonic cell types, and that this process is governed by the levels of two of the five genes.

Recently, attempts have been made to develop an entire mouse embryo without using sperm or egg cells. These attempts used the three early cell types isolated directly from a live, developing embryo. However, HU's study is the first attempt to create all three main cell lineages at once from skin cells. Further, these findings mean there may be no need to "sacrifice" a live embryo to create a test tube embryo.

More information: Direct Induction of the Three Pre-implantation Blastocyst Cell Types from Fibroblasts. Benchetrit, Jaber, Zayat, Sebban, Pushett, Makedonski, Zakheim, Radwan, Maoz, Lasry, Renous, Inbar, Ram, Kaplan, Buganim. Cell Stem Cell (2019). Journal information: Cell Stem Cell Direct Induction of the Three Pre-implantation Blastocyst Cell Types from Fibroblasts. Benchetrit, Jaber, Zayat, Sebban, Pushett, Makedonski, Zakheim, Radwan, Maoz, Lasry, Renous, Inbar, Ram, Kaplan, Buganim.(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2019.03.018
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Two manta ray hotspots in waters near Bali identified in new research as vital habitats for the threatened species, could be at risk from unregulated tourism and small scale/ artisanal fishing.

Both areas, in waters off the island of Nusa Penida, are increasingly frequented by tourism operators potentially putting the manta populations under pressure.

The new study, led by Murdoch University and Marine Megafauna Foundation Ph.D. student Elitza Germanov, found one hotspot  known as Manta Baywas frequented by juvenile male mantas looking for food, suggesting the area is a nursery for the threatened species.

The researchers also found mature males and females congregating in large numbers at Manta Point, 12 km from Manta Bay, where the large creatures were observed visiting cleaning stations and engaging in courtship displays during the mating season (which peaks in May).

Ms Germanov said that while mantas are protected in Indonesia, there are few regulations in place to manage the growing tourism industry. The number of boats allowed to enter manta ray habitats is not limited and codes of conduct for manta ray interactions are voluntary.

"Large diving groups and boat engine noise can cause chronic stress to these vulnerable animals," Ms Germanov said.

To minimise the impact from tourism, the researchers have proposed limiting the number of tourism boats allowed at one time and making codes of conduct for diving and snorkeling with mantas rays mandatory.

A co-author on the research, Dr. I. Gede Hedrawan of Udayana University in Bali, said the new findings could inform conservation efforts in the area.

"Since being declared a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in 2014, Nusa Penida has become an attractive area for tourism and international scientists," Dr. Hedrawan said. "This new research will prove useful for MPA managers, informing future reviews and allowing them to assess the appropriate capacity for manta ray watching in this diving hotspot."

Injuries from fishing gear

The researchers also found that small-scale, traditional fishing poses a threat to the manta rays. During the study, 14 per cent of manta rays were seen either trailing hooks and lines or had injuries and even amputations from fishing gear cutting through their skin and cartilage skeleton.

While all fishing activities are prohibited at Manta Bay and Manta Point, the researchers suggest the whole west coast of Nusa Penida could be closed off to fishing as a precaution and fishing bans be better enforced.

Ms Germanov said it was vital to learn more about the manta rays in Indonesia, so more could be done to protect them.

"Where manta rays are born and grow up still baffles us," she said. "Our research in Indonesia suggests there might be a reef manta nursery in the Nusa Penida area, which is important for us to know because they provide a safe space for young, vulnerable mantas to grow and develop away from the reach of predators."

The data for this study were obtained from citizen scientists and trained observers submitting ID photos to the global manta ray database MantaMatcher over the course of six years, from 2012. A total of 624 reef manta rays were identified from 5,913 sightings based on their unique ventral coloration patterns and sex and maturity indicators.

The study, titled "Contrasting habitat use and population dynamics of reef manta rays within the Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area, Indonesia," has been published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Explore further Researchers obtain first-ever underwater ultrasound scans of wild reef manta rays

More information: Elitza S. Germanov et al. Contrasting Habitat Use and Population Dynamics of Reef Manta Rays Within the Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area, Indonesia, Frontiers in Marine Science (2019). Elitza S. Germanov et al. Contrasting Habitat Use and Population Dynamics of Reef Manta Rays Within the Nusa Penida Marine Protected Area, Indonesia,(2019). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00215
Set-up of the test condition Credit: Dale et al., 2019

In a touchscreen-based task that allowed individual animals to provide food to others, wolves behaved more prosocially toward their fellow pack members than did pack dogs. Rachel Dale of the Wolf Science Center in Vienna, Austria, and colleagues present these findings in the open access journal PLOS ONE on May 1, 2019.

Prosocial behaviorsactions intended to benefit othersare important for cooperation. Some scientists hypothesize that dog domestication has selected for cooperative tendencies, suggesting that dogs should be more prosocial than their closest living relatives: wolves. Competing hypotheses hold that prosocial behaviors observed in pet dogs arose from ancestral traits, and since wolves rely heavily on cooperation, they should be more prosocial than dogs. To explore these competing hypotheses, Dale and colleagues compared prosocial tendencies between nine wolves and six dogs raised and living in packs at the Wolf Science Center. They trained each animal to use its nose to press a "giving" symbol on a touchscreen in order to deliver food to an adjacent enclosure, where another animal of the same species may or may not be present.

Over multiple trials, the wolves opted to deliver significantly more food to the adjacent enclosure when it held a member of their own pack than when the same pack member was nearby but in a different enclosure. When the task was repeated with two wolves from different packs, there was no difference in the amount of food delivered to the adjacent enclosure when it was occupied by the other wolf than when the other wolf was merely nearby.

Touchscreen test. Credit: Rachel Dale, 2019

In contrast, the dogs delivered no more food to the adjacent enclosure when it was occupied by a pack member than when the pack member was merely nearby. These findings suggest that wolves are more prosocial than dogs raised in similar pack conditions, supporting hypotheses that prosocial behaviors seen in pet dogs can be traced to ancestral traits.

The authors note that results of prosocial experiments can be sensitive to subtle differences in methods, so they advise caution in applying their work with pack dogs to pet dogs. Previous studies have revealed prosocial tendencies in pet dogs, and the authors suggest those tendencies could be the result of training or encouragement in pets. Additional research could directly address prosocial differences between pet dogs and pack dogs.

Dale adds: "This study shows that domestication did not necessarily make dogs more prosocial. Rather, it seems that tolerance and generosity towards group members help to produce high levels of cooperation, as seen in wolves."

Explore further Wolves found to be more cooperative with their own kind than dogs with theirs

More information: Dale R, Palma-Jacinto S, Marshall-Pescini S, Range F (2019) Wolves, but not dogs, are prosocial in a touch screen task. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0215444. Journal information: PLoS ONE Dale R, Palma-Jacinto S, Marshall-Pescini S, Range F (2019) Wolves, but not dogs, are prosocial in a touch screen task.14(5): e0215444. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215444
3-V Biosciences Commences Dosing in Phase 2 Clinical Study of the FASN Inhibitor TVB-2640 in Patients with NASH

Details Category: Small Molecules Published on Wednesday, 01 May 2019 18:17 Hits: 1046

SAN MATEO, CA, USA and HANGZHOU, China and SHAOXING, China I April 30, 2019 I 3-V Biosciences, Inc. (3-V Biosciences) and Ascletis Pharma Inc. (Ascletis, 1672.HK) announced today that 3-V Biosciences has recently dosed its first patient in a Phase 2 clinical trial of the FASN (fatty acid synthase) inhibitor TVB-2640 (Ascletis code: ASC40) in patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

According to Rohit Loomba, MD, University of California San Diego, Director, NAFLD Research Center, and Coordinating Investigator of the now enrolling Phase 2 study of TVB-2640, "Lipid synthesis is an important driver of NASH. The imaging techniques in this study will give us a very clear understanding of the impact this drug has on liver fat, a key driver of this disease."

In this randomized, placebo-controlled study, investigators will evaluate the impact of TVB-2640 in about 90 NASH patients in the United States and about 25-30 NASH patients in China. Study participants will have at least 8% liver fat at baseline, as measured by magnetic resonance imaging-estimated proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF), and evidence of stage F1 to F3 fibrosis. The primary endpoint is the impact of TVB-2640 on liver fat reduction, compared to baseline, following 12 weeks of daily, continuous dosing. Investigators will also evaluate TVB-2640's impact on levels of plasma triglycerides, liver enzymes, inflammatory and fibrotic biomarkers.

In February 2019, 3-V Biosciences and Ascletis entered into an exclusive license agreement, under which 3-V Biosciences granted Ascletis an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize TVB-2640 (Ascletis code: ASC40) and related compounds in Greater China. In connection with this Phase 2 trial, Ascletis is working with 3-V Biosciences in China on regulatory submissions, clinical site selection, and trial monitoring.

"The initiation of our Phase 2 clinical trial is a very important advance for TVB-2640 and for 3-V Biosciences. We are very encouraged by the data from the Phase 1 studies and this next step is critical in determining the impact TVB-2640 may have in the treatment of NASH patients," said William McCulloch, MB, ChB, FRCP, FFPM, Chief Medical Officer of 3-V Biosciences.

"We are excited about the first patient dosed in this Phase 2 trial and working with 3-V Biosciences in China to move this first-in-class drug candidate forward," said Jinzi J. Wu, PhD, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Ascletis.

About TVB-2640 (ASC40)

TVB-2640 is an orally bioavailable, first-in-class inhibitor of FASN. FASN is a key enzyme in the de novo lipogenesis (DNL) pathway that is responsible for the synthesis of excess fat in the liver of patients with NASH. 3-V's approach targets this key driver of NASH. The company demonstrated in a Phase 1 trial that TVB-2640 inhibited liver fat synthesis in subjects with characteristics of metabolic syndrome. The 3-V team believes these data provide clinical proof-of-mechanism for TVB-2640. Dysregulation of FASN activity is also found in several other diseases, including certain cancers where cells become dependent upon DNL.

About 3-V Biosciences

3V-Biosciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of a range of diseases including the liver disease NASH and certain cancers, with focus on targeting dysfunctional metabolic pathways. 3-V Biosciences has unique expertise in FASN biology and believes that targeting FASN provides an intervention point for clinical benefit. For more information, please visit www.3vbio.com.

About Ascletis

Ascletis is an innovative R&D driven biotech with two commercial products and listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Ascletis, 1672.HK). Ascletis' mission is to address unmet medical needs in three therapeutic areas: viral, cancer and fatty liver diseases. Led by a management team with deep expertise and a proven track record, Ascletis has developed a fully integrated platform covering the entire value chain from discovery and development to manufacturing and commercialization. Ascletis is now commercializing two drugs, Ganovo (danoprevir), the first direct-acting anti-viral agent for hepatitis C developed domestically for China, and Pegasys (peginterferon alfa-2a), a well-established pegylated interferon for hepatitis B&C partnered with Roche. Ascletis' R&D pipeline consists of antibody-based immunotherapy, first/best-in-class small molecules and siRNA at various clinical development stages. For more information, please visit www.ascletis.com.

SOURCE: 3-V Biosciences
I am an immigrant. I left my familys home in Iran, as so many immigrants have, to pursue an education.

My family hails from Tehran, and all of my siblingsfive in total, all olderwent to college in either Europe or the U.S. But I decided to begin my journey at age 16, and traveled from Iran to Texas to attend high school. As I was preparing to go, I asked my mother to help me pack, and she said, Pack light, because whatever you need, you will find there. So, I left home with little more than a sense of optimism and a desire to make the most of the opportunities that I believed would come.

That was in 1977, two years before the revolution, when Iran still had a secular government and a very progressive economy. My father was a businessman with interests in banking and farming so, by the time I was a kid, we were pretty well off. My mother and father since have passed on, but for the last 20 years of their lives, they lived in the United States.

Early on in my life, I became a strong believer in the power of education. I have witnessed firsthand the opportunities that education offers people. As a researcher, faculty member, advisor, and entrepreneur, I have seen how a single idea can not only transform a career, but disrupt an entire industry, too. I also have come to learn that amazing ideas emerge from our academic institutions that have the potential to improve lives and enhance societal well-being.

When I consider the prosperity that we have enjoyed in America since World War II, I know that much of it was the result of the investments we made in education and research. Today, our recipe for success is being used by the rest of the world. Both friends and adversaries have become economic competitors, so now is not the time for us to take our foot off the gas. It is time to double down and invest in the future, and our kids.

My life has included stints in higher education, the private sector, and public service. Ultimately, my journey brought me to the city of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. To be a part of this great community, and to sit at the helm of one of the finest educational institutions in the world, is an honor and a tremendous opportunity as well.

It is well known that Pittsburghs economy all but collapsed in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to the contraction of the steel industry. The renaissance that the city has been experiencing since then has been the result of partnerships established between the public and private sectors, involving civic organizations, companies, foundations and academic institutions. People often ask me, What is Pittsburghs secret? In some ways, the city is a metaphor for life. We are the City of Bridges, after all. We maintain 446 of them. And this community has managed to improve the human condition by building other bridges that connect us all. We do not create silos and barriers here that divide us and accentuate our differences.

I began my journey in the U.S. with two years at an all-boys Catholic high school and then moved on to college at the University of Texas at San Antonio. After that, I did my advanced studies at UT at Austin. Among my siblings, I was the only one who decided to pursue science and engineering. The rest studied business and medicine. In that way, I was the black sheep of the family. But I firmly believe that all of those family dinner-table conversations about business and finance werent completely wasted on me. In fact, I started my undergraduate studies as a business major and planned to enter the world of international politics.

As part of my undergraduate coursework, I studied computer science and math. I was taking a computer class in Fortran and just fell in love with the concepts of algorithms and programming. I continued to take computer courses, and by my junior year, when I realized that I had to declare a major, I decided on computer science and math. Later, I went on to receive a Ph.D. in computer science in 1989.

From the time I entered college in 1978 through the time I finished my Ph.D., I had a few internships and also worked part-time for a host of technology companies at the beginning of the digital revolution. Call it destiny or simply serendipity, but I was remarkably lucky. Microsoft was coming into its own. It was the early days of Apple. It was such an exciting timethe dawn of a new age. No one could have imagined then just how transformative computers and networks would be.

I met my wife Tris (short for Teresa), who is also a computer scientist, when I was starting graduate school in Austin. She was an undergraduate and we worked for the same professor. I remember that on our first real date, we talked about operating systems like a couple of nerds, and she ended up falling asleep halfway through the movie we were watching. Just before I received my Ph.D., we got married.

Naturally, as I was finishing my doctorate, I began thinking about job prospects. At the time, the job market was good and I was being pursued by several academic institutions. Stubbornly, however, I decided that I did not want an academic position (which, 30 years later as a university president, is quite ironic). So, I went to my thesis advisor and a few faculty members and told them, I have spent most of my life in school and prefer to get a private-sector job at a research lab. Some thought it was sacrilegious. Nevertheless, I ended up interviewing at several companiesIBM Research, Xerox PARC, Bell Labs, Bellcore, and TI Labsand received job offers from most of them. I ended up accepting a position at IBMs T.J. Watson Research Center in New York in 1989, one of the flagship U.S. computer science research labs. This turned out to be a very good decision. What I learned at IBM Research would serve to make me a better teacher, researcher and entrepreneur. Tris was working at the Research Division of Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Dallas, but was able to relocate to EDSs e-commerce division in New Jersey. This turned out to be a game-changing career move for Tris, as she was soon at the forefront of the ATM revolution that was sweeping through the financial industry.

At IBM Research, I pursued my interests in the areas of fault tolerance and networking. My research during that period allowed me to expand my horizons and try new things. But after roughly four years, I decided that, if I didnt try academia soon, I might not be able to try it at all. The reason I decided to make a career move was simple. I was climbing the research-leadership ladder at IBM. I was heading a department and an opportunity for me to lead a group was on the horizon. I looked at my prospects and decided that I just did not want to get trapped in management. By that time, Tris and I had two young sons. (Eventually, we added a daughter, who is now 21, and a student at CMU.) Long story short, I ended up at the University of Michigan in the software systems area, and spent the next 20 years there, doing what faculty members do. I taught and conducted research in networking and cyber security, my major areas of interest. Life was good. We loved raising our kids in Ann Arbor, a college town.

Around 2000, I took a sabbatical year. At the time, the internet was experiencing a spate of denial-of-service attacks on whitehouse.gov, financial institutions and e-commerce websites. Fortuitously, my research had been focused on enhancing the overall stability, security and resiliency of computer networks in the early days of the internet. I was working with grad students at the University of Michigan and, together, we launched a cyber security start-up called Arbor Networks. In fact, my co-founder, G. Robert Malan, was a former CMU undergraduate who had come to Michigan for his graduate studies. Together, Rob and I developed a network security solution, one that would come to define how cyber security is addressed by todays internet service providers.

In the first round of fundraising, we raised $11 million from a major venture capital firm, and strategic investors that included CISCO. But shortly after we launched, the tragic events of September 11 occurred, and the economy took a nosedive. In fact, if you look back, the internet service provider business took a nosedive as well. The dot-com economy, of course, imploded around that time, too. But we had a real technology, based on the research we had done, that solved a vexing problem. So, we hoarded our cash and continued to build the company. On our second round of fundraising, we raised another $14 milliontruly remarkable, given the prevailing business climate.

To continue my work at Arbor Networks, I took a leave of absence for a couple of years beyond my sabbatical. From 2000 to 2004, I ran the company, did the fundraising, and served as president and chief scientist. I also chaired the companys board from 2004 to 2010, during which time I also returned to the University of Michigan. At the time, our primary customers were internet service providers and large network enterprises. When we sold the company in 2010, 90 percent of the tier one internet service providers were deploying our technology to protect their backbone networks against security attacks. What I was most proud of was seeing the company succeed in terms of the work we did in research, the technology we developed, and the transfer of that technology to the commercial sector.

Once the company was acquired, I became fully engrossed in academic life again at Michigan, serving as the head of its computer science department. I continued my teaching and research until, one day, I got a call from a search committee that was in search of a new head for the directorate for Computer Information Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation, and I was recruited to head CISE, which had a budget of $950 million. Seventy percent of all federally funded computer science and computer engineering research in the U.S. was being funded through that directorate at NSF. As a computer scientist, it was an amazing opportunity at a time when computation and data were transforming every field of inquiry.

NSF positions have a four-year time limit, and officeholders still maintain their respective university positions. Essentially, you go on leave to serve in the government, and then return to your university post afterwards. Despite the challenges with the federal budget, it was a glorious time to be embedded in a science agency in the nations capital. I served as the head of CISE from 2011 through 2014, during which time we launched several presidential initiatives, including the National Robotics Initiative, and the National Big Data Research and Development Initiative. As an immigrant, serving my country was such an honor. I am very proud of my academic record and the research I have done. And I am proud of the students I have mentored, and the impact I have had through entrepreneurship. But, besides my children, what I am most proud of is my service in the public sector.

When I think about my life, career and education, I can cite two themes that have shaped it: one was the embracing of change and uncertainty; the second was a deep conviction about the power of education. As the great equalizer, education can cross social, racial and economic divides like no other force. That is why I continued to return to academia: to teach, and to help young people reach their potential.

My work ethic came from my father. But looking back, I have realized that my vision came from my mother. And I have carried her words with me. Pack light, because whatever you need, you will find there. 

Farnam Jahanian

To me, the big question facing America going forward is, Are we willing to make sustained investments in education and researchour future? Research that leads to innovation and societal impact often takes decades before it comes to fruition. Policymakers understand this. But the portion of the nations budget that goes toward such investments is still discretionaryand that is where lawmakers go to make cuts. The reality is that U.S. investment in research and development as a percentage of our GDP has been steadily shrinking since the 1970s.

It goes without saying that Carnegie Mellon is a remarkable institution, with a deep tradition of promoting excellence in research and education, and the transfer of knowledge from lab to practice. And we have a well-deserved reputation for our positive impact on society. But what makes this university so distinct and unique is the way in which we intertwine science, technology and business with social science, policy and the arts. Cross-disciplinary exploration is part of the institutions DNA. I firmly believe that, as we continue to face technological disruption, our willingness to break down silos and innovate in curriculum, pedagogy and organization will ensure CMUs leadership in the next wave of innovation in education.

This is truly an extraordinary time for CMU. We are at the center of a social and economic transformation catalyzed by the digitization of information, automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and the unprecedented access to data. We are transforming society and culture. As the digital revolution rapidly accelerates, Carnegie Mellon is uniquely well positioned to manage the space where society and technology intersect with all the opportunities and challenges that come with the advances that we see. If we are able to do this, I believe we will write the story of the 21st century.

My work ethic came from my father. But looking back, I have realized that my vision came from my mother. And I have carried her words with me. Pack light, because whatever you need, you will find there. I believe she was hinting at the knowledge I was destined to acquire during my amazing journey.
Samuel Northrop Follow Samuel Northrop Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

For those that don't know, I'm from South Carolina and I like to keep up with what's going on back home.

Blog: Warren pushes for free college, debt relief Massachusetts Senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren announced today her plans fo

I was shocked today to find out teachers across North and South Carolina walked out of classrooms to protest low wages and other issues similar to what motivated West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and other teachers to strike in recent months.

I was not surprised to find out South Carolina teachers are struggling. I know several and have seen the stories of others who work several jobs to make ends meet.

What shocked me was a large-scale, organized effort considering the lack of labor infrastructure in the state. South Carolina is a right-to-work state and public-sector workers are barred from collective bargaining.

Despite these restraints, today's walkout is the largest in the history of the state and shows teachers are serious about their demands.

I'm looking forward to talking with my friends in education about their perspective on the issue and comparing it to how things work here in New York.

Blog: Stepping up to the Slush Cup challenge Everyone I told on the day that it was my second time ever on a snowboard had a similar reac

New York's base pay for a first-year teacher is nearly $10,000 more than South Carolina, and overall New York has the highest paid teachers in the country on average.

These protests and other strikes in the past year show many are keen to see those disparities shrink.

Samuel Northrop is the education reporter for The Post-Star. He can be reached at snorthrop@poststar.com.

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Thursday is Holocaust Remembrance day.

A reminder of this brutal, inhumane and tragic time in history. https://www.ushmm.org/learn

One year, my friend Cora, made a thick barley soup and invited me for dinner on this day. There were no stories, only offerings to the millions of families, mothers, fathers, children, teachers, doctors, grandparents, babies, musicians who were murdered under Hitlers reign.

Offerings to those who were ripped from lives and loves as if they did not matter. As if their religion and cultural heritage made them somehow less human. As if such gruesome acts were somehow acceptable.

When I think of what happened, when I listen to the stories of survivors, when I watch films of skeletal remains, I am always horrified by the underpinnings of hatred. What makes a persons hatred against another person so great that such acts happen?

I think of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre last fall in Pittsburghs Squirrel Hill neighborhood during Shabbat morning service; 11 people were killed and seven were injured, allegedly by a hate-spewing man, charged with 29 counts.

And now this past week-end, six months after Pittsburgh, on the last day of Passover, Lori Gilbert Kaye, threw herself in front of her Rabbi, saving his life, but losing her own after a gunman opened fire on the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego.

I read today that the number of assaults on Jewish people doubled in 2018 for a recorded total of 1,879, according to a report recently released by the Anti-Defamation League.

I think of my friend Cora and I am afraid for her and her husband and her son Gabriel.

I know the Tree of Life synagogue well, its just around the corner from Chatham University, where I taught writing for 12 years and still teach online. The weekend of the killings, the university canceled classes for several days because so many students were affected.

Cora had this way of quietly bringing history to life in the little things like spices or lack of, and in her familys incredibly beautiful Friday night Shabbat dinner with the traditional Challah bread, Yiddish prayers and the two candles lit at the beginning of the evening before the blessing and never blown out, left to burn to the end of the wick.

The barley soup dinner was around the same time I met Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel who talked about hate as a cancer, the way hate eats a person limb by limb. I was writing a story on hatred and white supremacy and Wiesel was speaking at the University of Virginia.

I met him back stage. We walked and talked together through the halls behind the stage where he spoke.

It was one of those moments I will never forget.

Wiesel, at 15, was sent to Auschwitz, prisoner A-7713.

He was a professor, political activist and Nobel Laureate, who authored 57 books, including "Night," a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

He was a beautifully generous and kind man, quiet like my friend Cora. And incredibly powerful, like I was in the presence of greatness. And as we talked, he reached over, extending his hand in a warm gesture of friendship.

Wiesel talked to me about the dangers of letting hatred grow, the way it eats at a person and the way unchecked hatred invades, cultures and countries. He said that there comes a time when people must take a stand to stop it.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference. Elie Wiesel

Kathleen Phalen-Tomaselli covers Washington County government and other county news and events.

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QUEENSBURY  Saratoga Hospital on Tuesday received the green light for its project to build an urgent care center and doctors offices at the former Carl Rs restaurant near Exit 18.

The town Planning Board approved the proposal by Columbia Development to build a 17,700-square-foot medical building, which would be leased to the hospital.

Ideally, we would like to be under construction in the fall, said Kevin Ronayne, vice president of operations and facilities for Saratoga Hospital.

The existing restaurant building may come down sooner than that, he added.

The timetable to complete the new center would be 10 to 12 months, according to Ronayne. The projects cost is $6.5 million with about $5 million of that for the construction.

The first floor will be devoted to an urgent care center. The second floor will contain offices for specialty physicians. He said hospital officials are still trying to determine the types of specialists. Among the fields that have been mentioned are nephrology and pulmonology.

We have a number of specialists that come up to this area based on the need, he said.

Saratoga Hospital also has urgent care facilities and physicians offices in Wilton on Route 50 and in Malta at Exit 12.

Ronayne said the hospital first must apply for a certificate of need with the state Department of Health, a process that could take a few months. He believes it would get state approval to provide medical services at the roughly 1-acre Queensbury site.

Its an ideal location. Its highly visible. Glens Falls Hospital doesnt provide urgent care in this area, he said.

The Planning Board requested only one small change to the design. The proposal originally called for two lights along the sidewalk on Main Street in the towns right of way.

Town land use planner Laura Moore said the Building and Grounds Department did not want the lights there, because it would be responsible for them.

The project also has to receive some variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals for the number of signs to be displayed on the property.

The board had granted variances from various setback requirements, but postponed action on the request for the signs until its May 30 meeting.

Michael Goot covers politics, business, the city of Glens Falls and the town and village of Lake George. Reach him at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog at http://poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/.

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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
SPRINGFIELD  For the second-straight year, Landmarks Illinois has named the Rock Island County Courthouse one of the most endangered historic places in Illinois.

On Wednesday the group released its 25th annual list of Most Endangered Historic Places, a survey of historical and culture sites whose existence is considered to be threatened.

Founded in 1971, Landmarks Illinois is the largest historic preservation advocacy organization in the state.

The future of the 124-year-old Rock Island County courthouse sits in legal limbo as a lawsuit seeks to prevent demolition.

"While it is in the courts now, we can't be sure (the courthouse) will be saved," said local preservation activist Diane Oestreich. "It is still in great danger, but we are optimistic. We have been getting a great deal of statewide attention."
Vaccinations are vital to keep our children healthy, said Pam Cinadr, nurse at Pleasant Valley High School. Measles was almost extinct in the U.S., but now were seeing cases sprouting up all over the U.S. People coming into the U.S. without the required immunizations are a threat to our children that may not be old enough to have received the required number of vaccines and are therefore not completely immune to the diseases.

The unvaccinated rely on herd immunity, or the safety for unvaccinated people that results when a sufficient number of vaccinated people prevent the spread of contagious disease.

The anti-vaccine movement has gained momentum in the last 15 years. A current measles outbreak in New York has brought the number of measles cases in the U.S. to a level not seen in 25 years.

For millennia, humans were ravaged by infectious disease. In 1900, a staggering 23 percent of children born in America did not survive to the age of 5.
The more transfusions a patient receives, the harder it is to find a compatible match, ICCBC President Linda Gerber said.

The least risky match available to these patients, Gerber added, would be that of someone with a similar ethnic background.

But African-Americans provide less than 1 percent of the countrys blood supply, leading to many difficulties in finding matches.

We, as African-Americans, are putting each other at risk, West said.

Republican Rep. Tom Bennet, of Gibson City, did not attend the event, but shared a personal story about the importance of well-stocked blood supplies.

I have great appreciation for how quickly your situation can change and how, when blood is needed, it has to be tested, on the shelf and ready to go at a moments notice, said Bennett, who was badly injured in an auto accident in Bloomington in early March.
The legislature brought in Porter and adopted some reforms, but in the larger sense, the General Assembly remains ethics-challenged. The laws are weak and the culture is weaker.

As Porter told the Tribunes Dan Petrella and Ray Long, the legislative inspector generals only real power of accountability is to share its reports with the public. To which lawmakers reply: Whoa, lets not be hasty.

In her op-ed, Porter offers some common-sense reforms to give her successor, Carol Pope, the independence required to be effective. Among the proposals: Have citizens other than lawmakers serve on the Legislative Ethics Commission to avoid these egregious conflicts of interest. But allow the inspector general to open investigations, serve subpoenas and publish reports without that committees preapproval.

As House speaker, Madigan has the power to make these changes happen. Will he?

Theres a pattern among Illinois elected officials of viewing inspectors general as meddlers and troublemakers, rather than partners in governance. Exhibit A is Porter and her travails. The idea that an inspector general can identify alleged wrongdoing by a legislator but the lawmakers colleagues can keep those allegations under wraps is absurd.

The General Assembly should have an independent inspector general. And the public should be able to see that report.

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An indignant head of steam was forming by the time I headed back toward the Quad-City Times.

From a sidewalk on Pershing, a voice called out, Would you like some soup? Its good, and its free.

A flash of recognition came over the face of Terrie Carlson-VanZuiden, who was standing behind the folding table that held two silver serving trays.

Hey, I know your sister, Karen, she said. We went to school together.

I told Terrie I recognized her name and asked what she was doing, standing on a street in flooded downtown Davenport, serving free soup.

She gestured to the men standing next to her, both of them in chefs coats.

Im a culinary student at Scott Community College, and Chef Kyle came up with the idea to serve people down here, she said.

Kyle Verschorre said he frequently comes up with pop-up street feeds for his non-profit, Peaceful Palate.

Anything we can do to come out on the streets and feed people in need, were there, he said.
Bond was set at $10,000 cash or surety for Viering. His pretrial release on an unrelated second-degree theft charge was revoked Friday and bond was set in that case at $5,000 cash or surety.

Both men waived their right to a preliminary hearing and will be arraigned May 16.

According to arrest affidavits, at 4:25 p.m. Thursday, Leabo made contact with the two men, who were acting suspicious in the area of West 17th and Sturtevant streets.

The officer was in full uniform and told them to stop several times, but they refused. Viering was taken into custody nearby by another officer, while Dennis ran.

Leabo caught up to him, and the two had a physical struggle in a yard in the 1600 block of West 17th Street, during which Dennis shot Leabo twice with a 9mm handgun. That's also when Dennis was injured by one gunshot fired by Leabo, Lane said in the release.

Dennis broke free and continued to flee on foot; he was ultimately taken into custody nearby around 4:45 p.m.

Dennis has prior felony convictions and is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm or ammunition.
From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by DuTrac Community Credit Union
Several small levee breaches through Tuesday night and Wednesday morning have made a bad flooding situation in Buffalo worse.

A couple of residents have had little breaches, thats it, Officer Josh Bujalski said.

Residents and volunteers are filling and stacking sandbags around their homes and businesses, but for many, its too late to completely halt the mounting waters.

I slept in the bait shop last night in a lawn chair to watch the pumps, said Mary Kimes, owner of Driftwood Bait Shop. When she fell asleep around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, the floor was dry; when she woke up four hours later, there were already several inches of water. But many of of their belongings had already been elevated.

When we started (the business), we bought everything secondhand, she said of the destroyed possessions, which she suspected to include a peg board, two freezers and a cooler. So at least were not out a ton of money. It just sucks.

While Kimes business is flooded, her house is several blocks away, out of the flood plain.
Newly elected Scott County Supervisor Ken Croken is weighing a run for the U.S. House seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack, saying he wants to bring a more assertive approach to Washington on behalf of the districts voters.

I have the commitment, and I think I have the experience to be effective, Croken said recently.

Loebsack, first elected in 2006, announced in mid-April that he would retire at the end of his next two-year term. Since then, several Democrats have expressed interest in representing the district, which covers 24 counties across southeast Iowa. Others openly considering the office or thought to be in the running include Iowa Sen. Zach Wahls, Sen. Kevin Kenney, Iowa City businesswoman Veronica Tessler, Quad-Cities attorney Ian Russell and former state Sen. Rita Hart.

"I think they could expect similar policy positions but a more aggressive approach," Croken said of what voters would see if he's elected, reflecting on Loebsack's 12 years in Congress. He added that the circumstances have changed over the past two years, and the "erosion of American values" during that time "requires a more strident response than was perhaps the case in 2006."
Wilkinson, who also was present, said this would be the third time GDRC has discussed the Shriners property with its owners.

Wennlund hopes to convince them that now is the time to sell the site, which is now leased for farming.

"Maybe they have held onto it a long time, and hopefully it is time to sell their investment ...," he said after the meeting. He hopes to convince them to "maximize their income" and sell it off.

"In some cases, they are prohibited from selling," Wennlund said. "We are going to take another swing at it. It's the most logical place to make an extension."

Quoting Quad-Cities Chamber statistics, he said since the park's inception it has had $475 million in investments, created 1,266 new direct jobs and 2,170 ancillary jobs. Buildings totaling 3.8 million square feet have been constructed, and the site has $135 million of assessed valuation. In addition, it generates $781.6 million in annual economic impact and $50.6 million in annual payroll.
Amid unprecedented flooding, Scott County officials say they are ready to take calls from people who want to volunteer with flood recovery efforts over the coming weeks.

Scott Countys emergency operations center will manage those volunteers and Scott County property owners in need of assistance, said county Emergency Management Director David Donovan. Volunteer efforts are not starting yet, but we anticipate the need, he said.

The need for volunteers may only become apparent once the floodwaters recede, which could be weeks from now.

Those who wish to volunteer can call 563-484-3086.

Scott County property owners seeking assistance can call 563-484-3098.

Contact Salvation Army at 309-566-0305 to donate items like bottled water, non-perishable food/snacks, new pillows and bed sheets, towels and toiletries. Donations can also be dropped off at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds until 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Donovan said officials are working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to obtain a presidential disaster declaration for the area. That action would provide additional federal financial assistance to those affected by the flooding.

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Supervisors John Maxwell and Ken Beck questioned how the task force's work would be different from that of the Quad-Cities Chamber and its development arm, Quad-Cities First.

"I don't see that we want to get into the marketing of real estate," Beck said, adding it would only help one landowner.

But Croken said the task force could study commercial opportunities throughout the county.

He also told the board that he was informed by Chamber CEO Paul Rumler that the chamber was not interested in commercial development at this time.

After the meeting, he said, "Maybe I should say it's not the chamber's priority right now. Their focus is on industrial development."

Rumler, who did not attend the meeting, said the chamber is more focused on industrial development as well as its other target industries. But he had no comment on the proposed task force.

"As the county looks at where commercial development can locate in their geographies, our team is ready to advise and assist," he said in an interview.
In other words, they just got it done.

The initiative to record the meetings didnt come from a citizen outcry. Auditor Rochelle Van Tilburg told us the supervisors just took it upon themselves to record the meetings so the public could watch.

What they use there doesnt have all the bells and whistles that some counties offer, though Croken has pointed out that even the $177,000 is only about two-tenths of 1 percent of Scott Countys overall budget.

Wed guess you could find other items in the budget that dont have the same value as the kind of transparency this would offer to the people of our county.

We also noticed that, in Osceola County, not a lot of people watch the meetings. Some videos had been looked at only a dozen times.

But it really doesnt matter. None of us buys insurance hoping to use it frequently. We dont spend money on cops and firefighters expecting theyll come to our house every week.

We dont have to use playgrounds to know they bring value to our community. We dont even have to have kids to know it.

We know the difference between cost and value.
The museum will be closed for an indefinite period of time.

This is a setback for us, but with your help we can make it a TEMPORARY setback, Danner posted on Facebook early Wednesday, noting RME operations ceased Tuesday and Wednesday, but will resume on Thursday. Dont let this kill our momentum! RME is going to need all the help we can get. Water is contained but requires round-the-clock maintenance.

On Tuesday, Danner posted that RME staff and volunteers who "showed up to help all day long (and have taken shifts overnight) are incredible. And they showed up because they CARE, and they think RME is worth saving. Today, watching people trudge through dirty water and move the ENTIRE contents of our basement up to the second floor, I saw the same kind of love and dedication that I see every time our staff teach music to kids or put on free shows.

We dont yet know what this means for the organization or how much it will cost to catch up. But I know you can help, Danner wrote. We (and your whole community) thank you for stepping up to the plate in this time of need. Seriously ... this is the time.
Impacts from Winter Storm Ulmer continue to cause complications in Dawes County.

The Dawes County Ag Society approached the county commissioners last week about damage to the old show barn at the fairgrounds.

It is a total loss, said Crystal Brunsch. A heavy snow load, combined with high winds snapped beams in the building during Winter Storm Ulmer in March. The building is insured for $61,682, but research done by the Ag Society puts demolition and replacement costs at more than $100,000. Its likely plumbing and electrical work will also have to be re-located during the replacement. The board also is trying to determine exactly how construction should take place given that the old show barn was originally constructed to share a wall with the event center.

There are fire safety concerns about re-building in a similar fashion, but leaving a gap between the two buildings will create large snow drifts during the winter, said board member Travis Nitsch. The board has also considered constructing the replacement building in an entirely different location at the fairgrounds.

The group spoke with the commissioners about reporting the damage to the Nebraska and Federal emergency management agencies. Deputy Dawes County Attorney Adam Edmund also advised the board to budget for the new building in its capital improvement fund as it prepares for the next fiscal year.

County road crews continue to battle soft, muddy roads across the entire county, which saw 34 roads closed due to drifting and flooding after Winter Storm Ulmer. Winter Storm Wesley in April and recent rains have contributed to road conditions.

The roads are still pretty soft, said Commission Chairman Vic Rivera, who added that many of the roads are passable. However, as of last weeks meeting, all 34 roads were still considered closed because they had yet to be repaired back to state road standards, according to Interim Road Superintendent Larry Hankin. He said again Monday afternoon that the roads remain officially closed until he can further consult with the Dawes County Commissioners.

Commissioner Jake Stewart said Tuesday morning the county is leaving the roads closed until it can be sure they are safe from a liability standpoint. He traveled several of the roads Tuesday morning and will have updates at the next commissioners' meeting May 14. In addition, the county is planning to bid out five of the largest projects, and selection for those is underway, Stewart said.

Jerry Schumacher expressed dissatisfaction with the process of getting roads repaired and re-opened, as well as communication about the issue with the public.

Its been six weeks, and it appears there hasnt been any progress. I know thats not the case, he said. Its reasonable to expect that some of them are at the condition they can be used.

Commissioner Jake Stewart said the county is working to provide a visual for the public to use, creating a map with the county-owned software that will indicate which roads are open and closed.

In other business last week, Melvin Blundell of the Antelope Cemetery Association asked the commissioners about funding to maintain the cemetery. However, in the case of pioneer cemeteries like Antelope Cemetery, it must be abandoned or neglected for five years, a formal process that the local cemetery association must follow.

If you have an association, the association is responsible for the care and maintenance of the property, Edmund said.

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As nursing homes across Nebraska continue to close in the face of financial difficulties, state senators are seeking to address the issue.

Diana Lecher, the director of Chadrons home health and hospice program and a member of the Healthcare Association of Nebraska Nursing Homes and Hospice, testified in April before the Unicameral, calling for action.

Nursing homes are closing across the state in part because Medicaid payments are so much lower than the facilitys input costs, $25 less than patient care costs in 2014 and $36 lower in 2017 according to the American Health Care Association.

Were losing them at a fast pace, Lecher said.

The testimony in Lincoln was moving, she said, including from an elderly individual who loved visiting nursing homes as a child and now has to move farther from family to find a bed in a nursing home.

Problems faced by nursing homes are expected to spread to home health in 2020 as they prepare to comply with massive audits already required in the nursing home settings, Lecher said. Home health agencies are paid for 60-day cycles of care, and if one box is checked incorrectly, Medicaid will not pay for the entire cycle.

The missing data can be a lack of documentation by the doctor for a face-to-face visit or the omission of one item in a lengthy plan of care document.

This is not a quality of care issue, Lecher said in her testimony. This is a tremendous amount of overhead to assure every T is crossed and I is dotted.

Im the only agency here. The hospital subsidizes home health and hospice, Lecher told the Record after she returned from Lincoln. No one is going to open up a service here.

She testified in favor of LB 181, which calls for a formal study of the issue.

We need to have some factual data and numbers, she said. I think we have to worry about nursing homes in Chadron, Hay Springs and Crawford and home health.

During her testimony she cited the planned federal cuts in 2020 due to changes in payment models, workforce issues, geographical concerns and trying to balance all of that with the goal of keeping people in their homes longer and providing individuals with nursing home options in their local communities. LB 181 would require Health and Human Services to conduct a study regarding long-term care sustainability.

Home health and hospice provides freedom for patients to live at home. Nebraska home health agencies can give intermittent support through a mix of nurses, physical and occupational therapists and aides to support patients to live in their own home, Lecher testified.

As options continue to shrink in the Panhandle due to lower reimbursements and increasing regulations, patients have to move farther and farther away from home, she said.

Sen. John Stinner of Gering has also introduced LB 403 this session which proposes changes to how Medicaid nursing home rates are calculated. The bill could potentially raise rates by an estimated $21 million a year, of which the states share would be $9.6 million, according to an Omaha World Herald article.

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PARKER | General Motors has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a South Dakota man who claims the automaker misled consumers about its electric car model.

In a lawsuit filed in state court in Turner County Jason Haas said he bought a Chevy Bolt in November 2017 from a dealer in Iowa City, Iowa and the car's literature said it had an electric range of 238 miles. But, Haas claims the Bolt's range is 100 miles less in cold weather.

"At no time during his purchase did GMC make him aware that the (projected) mileage was not accurate, and as a purchaser living in South Dakota where the lower temperature average is below 30 degrees Fahrenheit for six out of the 12 calendar months," the lawsuit said.

Haas' lawsuit is seeking class-action status to represent consumers who bought Bolts in the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota and Montana. It accuses GM of breaching warranties, fraudulent misrepresentation and selling a vehicle with manufacturing and design defects, the Argus Leader reported.

The automaker, which is seeking to move the case to federal court, said in dismissal motion that Bolt literature "repeatedly discloses that the vehicle's actual range may vary based on several factors including temperature, terrain and driving conditions."

GM said Haas' allegation is "nonsensical" because the automaker didn't sell the vehicle to Haas. GM's motion calls Haas' claims "vague, conclusory, and inadequately pled."

A ruling on GM's motion is pending.

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SPEARFISH | South Dakota tourism secretary Jim Hagen compares this weeks 25th annual International Roundup tourism trade show to a form of speed dating.

Tour directors from 12 nations around the world are meeting face-to-face with dozens of representatives of hospitality and travel destinations from South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho during a whirlwind three-day conference in Spearfish.

The Roundup started Monday with an all-day tour of the Black Hills, then settled in for two days of face-to-face meetings starting Tuesday and wrapping up Wednesday at the Spearfish Holiday Inn Convention Center.

Those individual one-on-one meetings dont last long.

Youve got 10 minutes, Hagen said, to make a good impression, perhaps leading to your destination winding up on a future international travelers itinerary.

At stake is a slice of an estimated $123.7 million in tourist dollars coming to the five-state region billed as The Great American West, including a $22.4 million share for South Dakota.

Cole Irwin, Global, Travel & Trade director for the South Dakota Dept. of Tourism, said the five states pool their marketing resources to bring in tour operators from seven regions, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Benelux (Begium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway), and Australia/New Zealand.

Marketing the American West as a region makes sense for travelers who generally come to the United States for two- to three-week vacations, Irwin said.

They dont want to see state borders, they want to see destinations and want to see as much as they can while they are here, Irwin said.

Caroline Davidson said the Sturgis motorcycle rally and the Black Hills are big draws for tourists from her region of Australia and New Zealand.

The lure of the American wide-open spaces, including Native American culture, has great appeal to foreign travelers.

This area has that in spades, Davidson said.

People just want to get away from the big cities. Its the wildlife, national parks, real cowboy kind of stuff. People love that, said Marjolein Fraanje, who represents the region of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Tim Johnson, owner of Presidential Hospitality of Rapid City, said travelers are realizing there is more to the Black Hills than Mount Rushmore.

It used to be we were a one-night destination and Yellowstone was a seven- night destination. Now Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills and Yellowstone are both four-night destinations, Johnson said.

Were more of a destination instead of a stop along the way, he said.

The International Roundup alternates between host sites in the five states. The Roundup was last in Spearfish in 2000 and was held in Sioux Falls five years ago. The trade show is set for Casper, Wyo., next year.

Mistie Caldwell, director of Visit Spearfish, is only too happy for the exposure, even with a touch of spring snowfall dusting the area on Tuesday.

Rarely can you get this many international spokespeople to come to a town of 11,000 people, Caldwell said. Were glad to showcase our great little town.

Hagen said South Dakota received a huge boost in interest from international travelers after the release of the 1990 Kevin Costner Academy Award-winning film Dances with Wolves, which was filmed mostly in South Dakota, with some scenes filmed in Wyoming.

The state, however, hasnt begun to peak in promoting tourism internationally.

Were really just tapping the tip of the iceberg when it comes to foreign visitation, he said.

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What's wrong with this picture? Republicans think adultery in the White House (Clinton) was an impeachable offense, but corruption with national security implications (Trump) is not?

We should have plentiful May flowers because we have had lots of April snow/rain showers. Enough snow already until November!

In response to Karen Halls article on fair taxes, maybe we should look to our neighbor to the east  Minnesota. No sales tax on life essentials like clothing and groceries, and an across-the-board income tax seems like the most fair way to go about taxation.

Between January and March of this year Senator Thune received $2,500 from TransCanada USA Service, Inc. PAC; Senator Rounds received $1,000 from them. These are the folks that are going to build that pipeline through South Dakota. This is not something the people of South Dakota want, our beautiful resources compromised. Who is listening?

Gee, Im really happy that Senator Thunes robocall bill is getting bi-partisan support in Washington. Perhaps next he could tackle more pressing issues such as unaffordable health insurance premiums and prescription drug costs.

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There's such a shortage of affordable, high-quality childcare in Montana that sometimes people spend years on a wait list, then decide to get pregnant only until after they know they've been accepted at their preferred facility.

A pair of Montana entrepreneurs believe theyve come up with a business model that will empower women to pursue good careers, earn a great wage, stay in the workforce and help alleviate the region's affordable childcare availability crisis. And investors are convinced they've got a good idea, too, as they recently secured $5.95 million in venture capital, the largest seed funding round in Montana history.

Co-founder and CEO Erica Mackey and her business partner, Elizabeth Szymanski, founded MyVillage, a company that helps people start childcare centers in their home and run them successfully.

In exchange for a franchise fee, the company handles all the back-end business headaches that afflict small business owners, such as liability insurance, government licensing, marketing, software, scheduling, accounting, billing, records and client communications. They also provide childcare-specific resources such as curriculum options, local mentors, food recipes, time management, financial consulting and shared best practices.

We allow them to focus on what matters, Mackey said. Spending time with the children theyre caring for.

And Mackey says running a home childcare business caring for just six kids at a time, full-time, can earn someone around $65,000 a year in Montana.

MyVillage is blowing up the franchising status quo so that more people  especially women  can earn a great living while providing high-quality, licensed, affordable childcare using their own homes as places of business, she explained.

A recent survey by the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce found that child care costs are astronomical in Missoula, because those businesses have lots of labor and real estate expenses. Running a childcare business in the family home drastically decreases the cost of running the business, so if more people did that it would bring down prices for people who desperately need to find affordable childcare.

In Montana, the number of licensed family and group home daycares has grown from 302 in 2010 to 612 this year, but many people say there isn't enough in Missoula to keep up with the population.

I had hundreds of conversations with people who run home-based childcare and preschools, along with nannies and sitters, Mackey explained. I noticed some trends and pain points.

"People got into it because they were passionate about working with kids, but they had to close their doors because they couldnt figure out how to make the business side work. It can be very challenging to run the front and the back of the house while providing phenomenal childcare for eight to 10 hours a day. Also, theres not a whole lot of appreciation. Theyre not treated like a professional.

Mackey said that according to the Center for American Progress, 51% of Americans live in a childcare desert, which refers to any census tract with more than 50 children under age 5 that contains either no child care providers or so few options that children vastly outnumber licensed childcare slots.

In Montana, 60% of people live in childcare deserts, with childcare supply especially low among rural and low-income families living in areas without enough licensed child care providers.

The Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce found that child care costs in Missoula are so high and wages are so relatively low that it often doesnt make financial sense to place a child in daycare in order to go to work.

Once you get past one child, it doesnt make sense to continue working unless youre making a really high income, said Clint Burson, the Chambers director of government affairs.

The pre-tax median household income for two adults in Missoula is $41,968, he said, while the income needed to afford basic expenses is $57,661. That includes $7,650 per year in child care expenses, on average.

Both Mackey and Szymanski have young kids, and they said finding high-quality, affordable childcare that didn't have a years-long waiting list was extremely frustrating for them. Both are serial entrepreneurs  Mackey ran a solar power startup in eastern Africa before moving to Montana  and they decided they could use their acumen to solve this widespread problem.

MyVillage's recent seed funding round of nearly $6 million in venture capital was mostly from private equity firms that had never invested in Montana or childcare before.

Acumen America invested in MyVillage because it has the team, strategy, determination and moral imagination to challenge the status quo of child care in the U.S., said Catherine Casey Nanda, director of the venture capital firm. The company has a scalable solution that will work in every state to solve the national childcare crisis.

The company hopes to use the money to achieve market saturation in Montana and Colorado, the only two states where they operate.

Mackey lives in Bozeman, but there are two MyVillage franchises operating in the Missoula area. Mandy Willis runs Moving Mountains Early Learning Center. She said a MyVillage mentor encouraged her to start a daycare since she wanted to become a mother and spend as much time with her kids as possible.

"I knew I wanted to continue to work and stay at home, so this is a great balance," she said.

Willis is licensed to care for infants ages 0-2, so she can have four at a time in her care. She charges $900 a month and there is a waiting list to get accepted.

"There is a major lack of infant care in Missoula," she said. "There's an extreme wait list. It's really hard to come by, care for infants and toddlers specifically."

She said she's been "absolutely" happy with the support and guidance provided by MyVillage.

"It's a great opportunity for extra support and resources," she said.

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Hamilton is going to get sprinkled with happiness at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 4.

Hamilton resident Jacqueline Locke is organizing the Sprinkling Happiness event that is meant to spread joy. Nearly two-dozen people plan to wear bright yellow shirts and stand near the intersection of U.S. Highway 93 and Main Street in Hamilton holding simple signs with words of encouragement.

When I heard about Happiness Sprinkling it was right up my alley, Locke said. I am a laughter yoga leader, and happiness and laughter is what Im all about.

On Saturday, people will be holding signs with positive messages, no political agenda, no protest  just smiles and happiness. Signs that say things like Life Is Good, Breathe, You Are Loved, Live Your Dream, You Are Beautiful, Free Hugs, Its Going To Be Okay and You Rock.

They ask nothing of the viewer but send a burst of light, hope, strength and joy.

Locke first learned of Sprinkling Happiness when visiting friends and family in Anacortes, Washington, where the project was originally conceived by Laura Lavigne, founder of the Center for Happiness, seven years ago. The original event was a success, was repeated and the word spread.

Happiness Sprinkling has happened in Montana, Washington DC, Chicago, California, Oregon, Seattle, Los Angles, Florida and Indiana, and beyond the borders of the USA to Canada, Europe and South Africa.

Happiness Sprinkling is not set for a specific day but Lockes birthday is May 4, so she usually selects the nearest Saturday as a gift to herself and the community. She contacts the Anacortes Center for Happiness and they send her the signs. She posts the upcoming event on social media and talks with her friends.

People respond.

On Saturday, participants will gather near the Bitterroot Valley Chamber of Commerce building in the Safeway parking lot. Locke will hand out the signs and everyone will head to the four corners of the intersection where they will hold the signs and wave to drivers going past.

Some people honk their horns and wave and give us thumbs up, Locke said. Some people very fixedly dont look, Im assuming they think we have a political agenda, which we do not. I dont really know why they dont look.

Locke said this is her fifth year for Sprinkling Happiness in the Bitterroot Valley. The first year her group walked from near McDonalds to the Hamilton Farmers Market but discovered it was too much for some of the participants.

Now we stay in one place and most people drive past on a Saturday, she said. It is usually busy and the first Farmers Market.

Some people give us a cheerful look and a sense of unity. If someone was passing by and wasnt wearing yellow but wanted to hold a sign, then they could join, Locke said. They would be more than welcome.

Locke said participants have shared positive comments like, This is the most amazing project I have ever been a part of, The event was the happiest, most heart-centered day of my life thus far, 24-hours later and Im still smiling, Happiness Sprinkling is more than an event its a lifestyle and I don know when I have had more fun.

After the event Locke will send the signs to the next Ambassador of Happiness Sprinkling like a global happiness chain-letter with a simple pay-it-forward and joyous concept.

Is a great project and so much fun, Locke said.

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Montana Dakota Utilities' plan to shutter a coal-fired power plant in Eastern Montana in 2020 drew criticism from public service commissioners Tuesday.

The closure of Lewis and Clark Station, announced by MDU in February as a cost-saving move, sparked concerns by Montana Public Service Commissioners that the utility was abandoning coal power too soon.

You think the shutdown has to do with MDU just doesnt like coal?  Commissioner Randy Pinocci asked MDU President Nicole Kivisto.

The question came as the PSC heard the utilitys case for increasing electricity rates in Montana by $9 million. Montanas second largest monopoly utility, MDU plans to close Lewis and Clark near Sidney, and also two coal-fired units at Heskett Station in Mandan, North Dakota. Built in the 1950s, the power plants are becoming increasingly expensive to operate, Kivisto said at the Helena hearing. MDU plans to replace the coal power with a new gas-fired generator in Mandan and power bought on the open market. The electricity should cost customers half as much as electricity from Heskett and Lewis and Clark.

We still have coal in our portfolio; Coyote and Big Storm are both coal facilities, Kivisto said. Even absent the retirement of (Heskett and Lewis and Clark), we still have a significant amount of our capacity in coal-fired facilities.

MDU has about 26,000 electric customers in eastern Montana and has natural gas customers as far west as Billings.

Pinocci, who toured Lewis and Clark as a Republican PSC candidate last year, wasnt finished. The crew at the plant told him Lewis and Clark, built in 1958, was running good as new as long as its worn-out parts were being replaced. The power was affordable enough.

How does this compete with, say, solar? Does this coal-fired facility produce energy cheaper than, say, solar, that you may have at MDU. Do you know the answer to that? Pinocci asked

We dont have solar at MDU, Kivisto said.

Would it be producing energy cheaper than, say, wind power? Pinocci said. Can it produce more competitively, the energy for customers compared to, say, wind. And keep in mind that we ask that the federal tax subsidy not be part of that decision. If the coal-fired plant can produce energy cheaper than solar, cheaper than wind. Its on 24/7. I think in the past 30 years. I heard some astounding fact, like it was only down three or four times in that period. No wind turbine will ever hold that record. Does it compete and produce energy cheaper than wind?"

The answer, Kivisto said, is that the coal-fired power plants are not competing either with electricity generated with natural gas, or market-priced power.

Fracking has dramatically increased natural gas supply and lowered prices. Natural gas surpassed coal as the nations top source of electricity generation. For a 12-month period ending in February, natural gas accounted for 35% percent of the nations electricity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Coal accounts for 27%.

The last year coal was the United States' dominant energy source was 2015, when it generated 33% of the nations electricity. Ten years ago, coal accounted for 44% of the nations electricity, EIA reports.

The other force driving down market power prices in MDUs territory is MISO, or the Midcontinent Independent System Operator. MISO is the not-for-profit manager of transmission and electric generation in 15 states and parts of Canada. It balances energy flowing from renewable-, nuclear-, gas- and coal-driven sources. MISOs prices are decreasing.

We believe we would be rewarded at the end by shutting down these facilities because they arent as cost competitive as they used to be, Kivisto told commissioners. And whats driving that? Increasing cost of fuel, increasing cost of transportation. And when you compare those increasing costs, and that has happened over time, when you compare that to the decreasing cost of the MISO market, because theres been more wind energy added to MISO. But also, in addition to that, because of the low cost of gas, you have those two things competing. The cost of operating our facilities at Heskett and Lewis and Clark have been rising, while the MISO market has been declining.

The decision to decommission Lewis and Clark came not long after the PSC approved more than $16 million in pollution controls at the power plant to comply with federal Mercury Air Toxics Standards, or MATS. The costs were passed on to customers.

Commissioner Tony ODonnell, a Republican from Billings who serves Montanans as far east as Miles City, questioned whether money spent on upgrades and repairs at Lewis and Clark was wasted by the power plant's earlier-than-expected closure. At one point, MDU indicated the power plant would last another five years.

Im sure that any expenditure is meant to last a period of time for depreciation and whatever recovery of that, ODonnell said. That money is now wasted.

Kivisto said without the upgrades, Lewis and Clark and the Heskett units would have closed earlier than 2020. So long as the power plants are running, there are going to be costs associated with them, she said. The decision to close the plants and find power elsewhere did take into account the costs associated with keeping the units running.

Were comparing continuing to run these facilities with replacing them with another source. What we demonstrated is that it would be at half the cost to the customer, Kivisto said.

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Email me any time: farrorita@gmail.com Sewing + Thrift store shopping = Frankensewing. I love vintage linens, hanging my sheets out on the line to dry...and creating adventures for my two Grandchildren. Doing those very ordinary things -- and then BLOGGING about it -- is how I work things out.

King Arthur Popover Recipe

Preheat oven to 425 degrees... then preheat the Popover Pan...it needs to be screaming hot. Butter the sides generously -- right before you pour the batter.



4 eggs

1 1/3 c. milk

1 1/3 c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbl melted butter



Whisk eggs into milk. Make sure everything is room temp. Whisk in the flour & salt, add the melted butter at the end.



Pour thin batter into Popover pan (2/3 full) and bake for 30 minutes. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR.



When the popovers are done -- get them out of the pan ASAP and prick the top with a sharp knife to prevent collapse.



Serve with REAL BUTTER...that's mandatory. Homemade jam is optional...




Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed...Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight, 'Tis ever the same, to serve our home and country's need. -- JOSE RIZAL, "My Last Farewell" // Sapagkat ang mundo'y bayan ng hinagpis Mamamaya'y sukat tibayan ang dibdib... -- FRANCISCO BALAGTAS, "Florante at Laura" //
During the sixth annual Day of Hope -- a regional fundraiser that benefits Mission Hope Cancer Center -- 600 volunteers took to the streets in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Solvang and Nipomo to sell $1 newspapers from 6 a.m. into the early afternoon. For the first time this year, a separate Spanish-language edition of Day of Hope stories was distributed to key locations throughout the Santa Maria area.
The Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) warn of worrying cyber espionage activities carried out by Russia and China.



The Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) warn of worrying cyber espionage activities carried out by Russia and China.

The warning is included in the annual report published by the Dutch intelligence that cited as an example to attack against the world chemical weapons watchdog. On September 2018, Dutch intelligence services arrested two alleged Russian spies that were planning to hack a Swiss laboratory where there was ongoing an investigation of the poisoning of the spy Sergei Skripal.

In April 2018 the Dutch authorities expelled four alleged agents from Russias GRU military intelligence agency for trying to hack the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.

According to the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD), Russia is expanding its arsenal with cyber its cyber capabilities, Russia-linked APT groups are a threat to the Netherlands and all of European states.

The AIVD sent a tweet indicating that an (official) English translation of the Annual Report 2018 will be released in a few weeks.

The popular cyber security researcher Matthijs Koot, published an unofficial translation of the Annual Report 2018 of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (GISS, known in Dutch as AIVD)

Post on Dutch cabinet's decisions in tasking intelligence & security agencies @AIVD & MIVD for 2019-2022 (Apr 26) https://t.co/aLheM0c83F Unofficial full translation of the AIVD Annual Report 2018 (Apr 26; long-read) https://t.co/wgC9c0pSjC /c @_cryptome_ @cyberwar @NatSecGeek  Matthijs R. Koot (@mrkoot) April 26, 2019

The report described the cyber espionage activities carried out by foreign government very worrying, the Dutch news media outlet reported.

The threat facing the armed forces is the theft of military technology and technological expertise, which can be used for both military and civil ends,

More and more countries are focusing on political and/or economic espionage. We see in our investigations that China, Iran and Russia are at the forefront of this. 

The way the Dutch intelligence disclosed the information is unusual, in the past counter-espionage operations were taken secret.

That was necessary to increase the resilience of society, because less naivety means greater alertness to possible unwanted influences, MIVD chief General Onno Eichelsheim said in the report.

The report pointed out that China was actively attempting to gather military intelligence in the Netherlands.

The threat against defence is the stealing of military technological knowledge and technology that can be used both militarily and for civilian purposes.

Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) also warn that Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Syria were also seeking knowledge and goods for their own weapons programmes in the Netherlands and other western countrie .

Dutch intelligence is urging defence companies to reinforce their security to repeal the growing threats.

Pierluigi Paganini

( SecurityAffairs  MIVD, intelligence)

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Julian Assange has been sentenced to 11 months in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012 and finding asylum into

Ecuadorian embassy for more than seven years.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012 and finding asylum into Ecuadors London embassy for more than seven years.

On April 2019, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. after Ecuador withdrew asylum after seven years.

Seven years ago, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over a sexual assault case.

In 2012 a British judge ruled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault there, but Assange received political asylum from Ecuador and spent the last years in its London embassy.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London

Immediately after his arrest, Assange was convicted at Westminster Magistrates Court of jumping the bail in June 2012 after the extradition order to Sweden.



In 2017, Sweden dropped the preliminary investigation into the rape accusation against Julian Assange, but Wikileaks founder remained into the Ecuadorian Embassy fearing of extradition to the United States.

Judge Deborah Taylor said that Assanges conduct had cost 16 million pounds of British taxpayers money.

Your continued residency has cost 16m of taxpayers money. No one is above the reach of the law. said Judge Deborah Taylor while delivering sentence at Southwark

Its difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offence.

I have taken into account all that has been said on your behalf in mitigation, including the background history of this case which has been set out in some detail, said HHJ Taylor as she summed up the case against Assange.

Whilst you may have had fears as to what may happen to you, nonetheless you had a choice, and the course of action you chose was to commit this offence in the manner and with the features I have already outlined. In addition, I reject the suggestion that your voluntary residence in the Embassy should reduce any sentence. You were not living under prison conditions, and you could have left at any time to face due process with the rights and protections which the legal system in this country provides.

The lawyer read an Assanges letter in the court, he is disappointed for terrifying circumstances:

I apologize unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended, Assange added.

Pierluigi Paganini

( SecurityAffairs  Julian Assange)

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 "The case for education in prison" | Main | Terrific vision and plans in "Beyond Guilt," a new project of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center 

Charles Lane and Keith Humphreys have this nice new Washington Post commentary spotlighting one notable part of the last BJS numbers on prison populations (discussed here). The piece is headlined "Black imprisonment rates are down. Its important to know why." Here are excerpts:

The imprisonment rate for African Americans is falling, has been falling since 2001 and now stands at its lowest level in more than a quarter-century. These remarkable data are hidden in plain sight, in the latest annual statistical survey of prisoners issued last week by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Comparing 2017 survey results with prior years shows that the African American male imprisonment rate has dropped by a third since its peak and is now at a level not seen since 1991. African American womens rate of imprisonment has dropped 57 percent from its peak and is now at a 30-year low.

How big a change does this represent? Had African American imprisonment held steady at its highest point (2001 for men, 1999 for women) instead of declining, about 300,000 more African Americans would be in prison right now. Instead they are free to live in the community, to raise families, to hold jobs, to be healthy and happy.

Dramatic failures command attention and therefore often drive efforts at policy reform and innovation. Yet success can be just as informative. Its just as vital to understand why black imprisonment rates have fallen as it was to understand why they rose. Yet, so far, there is still more discussion about the latter than the former.

Its time for the debate to catch up with the data. Collapsing crime rates in black neighborhoods surely reduced imprisonment rates, but how did that increase in public safety come about? Did programs to make policing and sentencing more equitable also contribute? Do prisoner reentry programs deserve any credit for reducing incarceration, and if so, which ones? What is being done right that should be expanded to accelerate the positive trends?

Obviously, there is a risk of feeding complacency in taking note of  and celebrating  the decrease in black imprisonment. Yet to do otherwise risks feeding defeatism in the face of clear evidence that progress is possible. It also would miss an opportunity to break down racist myths: The declining imprisonment rate for African Americans definitively rebuts any notion of intractable black criminality....

Undeniably, todays still-high and still-disproportionate rate of black imprisonment represents the appalling legacy of institutional racism. Equally undeniably, the continuing presence of about 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons poses a challenge to public policy and the nations conscience. But in important respects, the situation is getting better. We need to say so: The nations reformers could use the recognition and the inspiration.
 Noting the encouraging story of reduced rates of incarceration for African Americans | Main | Virginia Gov explains why he will not sign any mandatory minimum bills for the remainder of his term 

I am so very pleased to see the announcement of a great new project by a leading criminal justice reform group in the Buckeye State. Specifically, the Ohio Justice & Policy Center (OJPC) has just launched "Beyond Guilt," which its website says "aims to do for over-punished prisoners who admit guilt what innocence projects have for wrongfully convicted persons who claim actual innocence." I am especially drawn to the "Strategies" discussion set out in the new project's "Our Mission" statement, which I will quote here:

Beyond Guilt will seek to do for over-punished prisoners who admit guilt what innocence projects have done for wrongfully convicted persons who claim actual innocence. Beyond Guilt is OJPCs answer to criminal legal system reform efforts that focus narrowly on a more palatable side of the reform movement  freeing innocent prisoners and people convicted of low-level, non-violent offenses. Unfortunately, current reform efforts leave many behind, particularly individuals convicted of more serious offenses, including violent crimes. Beyond Guilt will advance reform initiatives to include people who have paid their debt to society for serious crimes and can safely be released. The project will do so in four ways:

First, Beyond Guilt will identify unfairly sentenced Ohio prisoners who illustrate widespread problems in our criminal legal system (e.g. imposition of life sentences for felony-murder; life without parole sentences for youthful offenders; broken parole systems that refuse to provide a second chance) and then fight for their release. The project will represent individuals who have served significant portions of their sentences and can demonstrate rehabilitation within the prison walls and who have the skills and support systems on the outside to continue the process of rehabilitation once they are released. Whenever possible, Beyond Guilt will partner with prosecutors, law enforcement officers and crime survivors who can help convince courts to release prisoners through various avenues.

Second, Beyond Guilt will lift up the stories of the people it represents to humanize these individuals and other prisoners like them whom society writes off for committing violent crimes. The project will tell their stories through a variety of means, including traditional media, social media, film and a blog hosted on a dedicated Beyond Guilt website. The project will also facilitate in-person meetings between its incarcerated clients and legislators who can benefit from seeing, face to face, the impact of overly punitive sentencing laws. The goal is to enable our clients to tell their own stories, to be living breathing testaments to the power of people to change, and to become disciples, who through their stories, can inspire others to care about those that they left behind in prison.

Third, Beyond Guilt will partner with its clients  both those who are freed and those who remain incarcerated  to push for reform of Ohio sentencing laws that overly punish people who have committed serious crimes and parole systems that keep offenders locked up for longer than they need to be.

Fourth, Beyond Guilt will seek to build a national network of similar projects that work to reform sentencing practices for people convicted of violent crimes and to promote evidence-based ways to reduce lengthy sentences without compromising public safety. Beyond Guilt will partner with law schools and public defender offices to build this network and with community and faith-based groups who work with returning citizens who need assistance once released.
By Roberta Rampton and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday asked Congress for $4.5 billion in immediate emergency funding, saying a surge in Central American children and families claiming asylum at the U.S. southern border had drained government resources.

The money would come on top of the funding President Donald Trump has redirected to make good on a central pledge of his 2016 election campaign - to build a border wall to stop illegal immigrants - ahead of his looming 2020 presidential race.

Trump's top aides also are quietly courting members of Congress to get behind legislation being drafted to toughen the treatment of young undocumented immigrants detained at the U.S. border with Mexico, while also placing new limits on immigrants who could apply for asylum in the United States.

The emergency funding request would represent a 44% increase in spending for programs that house, feed, transport and oversee record numbers of Central American families seeking asylum and straining capacity at migrant shelters in border cities such as El Paso, Texas, and Las Cruces, New Mexico.

"The situation has become more dire," a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Agencies are literally running out of funds."

Trump earlier this year declared the immigration influx a national emergency, which allowed him to circumvent Congress to redirect more than $6 billion in funding to start building his border wall. His move has been challenged in courts.

Asked why the administration did not redirect wall funding to the pressing humanitarian issues at the border, a second official told reporters that would not be allowed under budget rules.

NEW IMMIGRATION PROPOSAL

Trump threatened to shut down the border last month to stop the surge of migrants, and later raised the specter of a tariff on car imports from Mexico, but later backed off the threats.

Story continues

He fired several top Department of Homeland Security officials, including Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Now, Trump is considering a new proposal from his senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner that includes border security provisions as well as measures to increase visas for skilled workers and seasonal labor for farms.

To gain traction on immigration legislation, the White House would need the support of more than a handful of Senate Democrats for it to clear procedural hurdles in the Republican-controlled chamber. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives is likely push back strongly against the still-to-be unveiled initiatives.

Kevin McAleenan, Trump's acting secretary of Homeland Security, met on Tuesday with a small group of Democratic senators in hopes of winning the support of at least some of the politically moderate ones.

It was a follow-up to a meeting that Trump's acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney held a few weeks ago with the senators, who has expressed concerns about the number of migrants arriving at the border.

"They talked about what they want to do," said Senator Jon Tester, who attended Tuesday's meeting in fellow Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein's office.

Tester said he was awaiting a detailed proposal from the White House - which could come as early as this week - before taking a position.

But Tester expressed reservations. Referring to White House attempts to end a long-standing court settlement known as Flores, which limits the duration immigrants under 18 can be detained by the government, Tester said: "I think it's going to be very tough to change Flores."

"I think that there may some opportunity to send some kids back (to their native countries) if in fact we can determine they're going to safe conditions ... but that's got to be rock-solid," Tester added.

Many of the children seeking U.S. asylum come from Central American countries plagued by high murder rates, gang activity and illicit drug trade.

Meanwhile, the House is expected to advance much different immigration legislation in coming weeks: a bill that would protect from deportation "dreamers," or immigrants brought illegally into the United States by their parents at a young age. The measure would put them on a path to U.S. citizenship if they met certain requirements and could garner significant support from Republicans.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, James Dalgleish and Richard Chang)
NEW DELHI, April 30 (Reuters) - Mountaineers from the Indian army on a expedition in Nepal have found mysterious large footprints in the snow that they think belong to the Yeti, or the abominable snowman, the military said on Tuesday.

Largely regarded by the scientific community as a myth, the Yeti is part of Nepali folklore and is said to live high in the snow-capped Himalayas.

In a tweet accompanied by pictures, the Indian army said it had sighted footprints measuring 32 by 15 inches (81 by 38 cm) close to a camp near Mount Makalu on April 9.

"For the first time, an #IndianArmy Mountaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast 'Yeti'" it said in a tweet, not explaining how a mythical beast could leave footprints.

Located on the border between Nepal and China, Makalu is among the highest mountains in the world and stands near the Makalu-Barun valley, a remote wilderness that has also been surveyed by researchers hunting for the Yeti.

Tales of a wild hairy beast roaming the Himalayas have captured the imagination of climbers in Nepal since the 1920s, prompting many, including Sir Edmund Hillary, to go looking for the creature.

In 2008, Japanese climbers returning from a mountain in western Nepal told Reuters they had seen footprints, which they thought belonged to the Yeti.

And although they carried long-lens cameras, video cameras and telescopes, they hadn't seen or taken any photographs of the creature.

But scientists have found little evidence of the Yeti's existence so far. In 2017, a group of international researchers studied multiple purported Yeti samples collected from across the Himalayan region and concluded they belonged to bears.

In 2008, two men in the United States said they had found the remains of a half-man, half-ape, which was eventually revealed to be a rubber gorilla suit. (Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Four Hong Kong wildlife officers were among thousands of people from more than 180 countries forced to cancel or push back a trip to the worlds largest conference on endangered species, after terrorist attacks in the host country, Sri Lanka, caused its postponement.

The World Wildlife Conference, a three-yearly, 12-day summit on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), was scheduled to begin on May 23 in the capital, Colombo.

The conference, which usually attracts thousands of participants including government officials, NGOs and media, was put on hold due to security concerns after a series of coordinated bombings hit the country on Easter Sunday, killing more than 250 people.

CITES is the international treaty that regulates cross-border trade in more than 36,000 species of plants and animals with a permit system. Representatives from 182 member countries plus the European Union were to consider proposals to protect wild animals and plants from overexploitation and illegal trade during the conference.

On April 26, CITES secretary general Ivonne Higuero, announced that the meeting would be postponed to an unconfirmed date.

This decision has been taken out of respect for the victims of the recent attacks and the recognition by the standing committee, the secretariat and the United Nations Department of Safety and Security of the time needed for the government of Sri Lanka to address the current situation in the country, she said, adding that it would monitor the situation closely.

According to Hong Kongs Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, four officers, including two directorate officers and two professional officers, were to join the conference as members of the Chinese delegation, as during previous conferences.

A spokeswoman said it would keep a close eye on developments and participate in the meeting as far as practicable.

Story continues

The department will hold briefing sessions for traders on May 3 about proposals for amendments on the level of protection for species such as rhinos, lizards and turtles and dried marine products such as shark fin and crocodile meat, which were to be discussed at the conference.

The Colombo conference was expected to be the largest conference in CITES history, and was expected to receive more than 3,000 participants.

The Sri Lankan government was hoping, as the host, to present its tourism assets and biodiversity to participants, citing examples of its wildlife parks with thousands of elephants, seas teeming with whales and dolphins, and forests with endangered species.

During the previous conference, in Johannesburg in 2016, some milestone decisions were made to increase protections of specific endangered species, such as uplisting all species of pangolin, the worlds most trafficked mammal, to Appendix I, the highest protection level, protecting the species from all commercial international trade among its member states.

This article Hong Kong wildlife officers among thousands forced to cancel trip to Sri Lanka conservation conference after terrorist attacks first appeared on South China Morning Post

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A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US got underway in Qatar on Wednesday, as the foes continue to seek a way out of America's longest war. The latest negotiations come as pressure builds for some sort of breakthrough in the gruelling Afghan conflict, with Washington jostling for a resolution. According to a Taliban spokesman, the group's top political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar met with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the men discussed "key aspects for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue". Khalilzad, who has stressed "there is no final agreement until everything is agreed", has previously outlined the basic framework for a deal. The pact would see the US agree to pull its forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban vowing to stop terror groups ever again using the country as a safe haven. According to the Taliban, Baradar told Khalilzad it was vital those two key points "be finalised". The US embassy in Kabul confirmed only that talks were taking place. Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, has spent several months shuttling between Asian capitals and Washington in a bid to build consensus for a deal. On Sunday, the Afghan-born envoy said Washington was "a bit impatient" to end the war, given its $45 billion annual cost to the US taxpayer and the continued toll on US forces, some 2,400 of whom have been killed since the US-led invasion in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. US President Donald Trump provided additional momentum when in December he told advisors he wanted to pull about half of America's 14,000 troops from Afghanistan. - Mega meeting in Kabul - Despite several rounds of negotiations between the US and the Taliban, none of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime. That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in. An initial attempt for an "intra-Afghan dialogue" -- due to take place last month in Doha -- collapsed at the last minute amid bickering over the lengthy list of delegates Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wanted to send. Separately, thousands of Afghan politicians and representatives are meeting in Kabul this week at a "loya jirga" peace summit to discuss conditions under which they could envision a deal with the Taliban. Among top concerns are that the militant Islamist extremists would try to undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms and legal protections. Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, welcomed the fresh US-Taliban talks and described how the jirga could feed into peace talks. "The jirga sets a logical beginning for the peace process," Daudzai told reporters. "The people in the jirga will decide and set boundaries and the framework of talks." Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for intra-Afghan dialogue that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table. He tweeted Wednesday he was in Doha and had met with the Indonesian foreign minister, who offered support for the talks. Meanwhile violence across Afghanistan continues apace, and the Taliban last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive.
Maurizio Sarri has warned his Chelsea team they should be wary of Eintracht Frankfurt ahead of Thursday's first leg of their Europa League semi-final in Germany. Sarri is coming into the final weeks of an eventful season with a European trophy and Champions League qualification in his hands, but knows that the Bundesliga outfit will be the sternest test they will face in what has been a straight-forward run to the last four. Eintracht have impressed on the continent as they chase their first European final since winning the UEFA Cup -- the forerunner to the current Europa League -- in 1980, seeing off highly-fancied Benfica in the previous round despite having to play with 10 men for 70 minutes of the first leg. "They have a very dynamic team with great intensity," said Sarri. "They are very dangerous at home and away. It will be difficult for us to get to the final." Sarri said centre-back Andrea Christensen is "ready to play" as the Blues struggling with injuries, with Antonio Rudiger's season over following knee surgery and Gary Cahill unavailable with an Achilles tendon problem. They are also missing attacking starlet Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was tipped for a move to Germany and Bayern Munich in January but also went under the knife after rupturing his Achilles. Adi Huetter continued to downplay his side's chances despite a phenomenal season that sees them fourth in the Bundesliga and eyeing the final in Baku after dumping out Marseille, Inter Milan, Shakhtar Donetsk and Portuguese league leaders Benfica. They have also been roared on by passionate supporters who have travelled in their thousands on a thrilling continental run. "We are facing a superior opponent, but we should also like that," said Huetter. "We feel very comfortable in the role of the outsider." Huetter has plenty of ammunition at his disposal thanks to the 'Balkan trio' led by Serbia's Luka Jovic, who has scored 25 goals in a breakthrough season at Frankfurt. Jovic, Croatia forward Ante Rebic and Serbia wing-back Filip Kostic have scored over half of Frankfurt's 58 Bundesliga goals this season, and added 21 league assists for good measure. They have been involved in all but one of Frankfurts last 13 goals in all competitions.
Thailand announced Wednesday that King Maha Vajiralongkorn's long-time consort had become his fourth wife, bestowed with the title Queen Suthida -- a surprise move just days before his coronation. The Royal Gazette published an announcement saying Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, a former flight attendant, had "legally married" the king in accordance with royal traditions. "Therefore, he bestows (the title) on General Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya from Queen Consort to Queen Suthida as of now," the announcement said. The ceremony was overseen by Vajiralongkorn wearing a white uniform in Bangkok's Dusit Palace Wednesday, according to a broadcast of the announcement, which showed Queen Suthida in a traditional Thai silk dress. The unpredictable king is due to be crowned the 10th monarch of the Chakri dynasty in an elaborate three-day ceremony starting Saturday. Long seen trailing the king in public events as part of his personal security retinue, Suthida, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, was given the rank of "general" in 2016. Vajiralongkorn, who has been married three times, is frequently abroad in Germany. Harsh lese-majeste laws have shielded public scrutiny of his colourful private life, and all media in Thailand must self-censor. This weekend's coronation will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago. It was not immediately clear what role Queen Suthida will play in the ceremony.
From left to right: Nominated Members of Parliament Anthea Ong, Irene Quay, and Walter Theseira. (PHOTOS: parliament.gov.sg)

SINGAPORE  Three Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs), Anthea Ong, Irene Quay and Associate Professor Walter Theseira, have expressed concerns over the fake news bill and proposed amendments to bolster its legislative intent.

In a joint statement, the NMPs agreed with the broad aim of the law as online falsehoods could harm public interest even when there is no ill intent.

To be tabled for a second reading in Parliament next Monday (6 May), the Protection against Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Bill has triggered widespread concerns including on the sweeping definition of what constitutes a falsehood, the extensive powers to be given to individual ministers to deal with falsehoods, and the potentially adverse impact it would have on free speech in Singapore.

The proposed amendments by the NMPs will be discussed at the parliamentary session on Monday.

In their statement, the NMPs noted that many in Singapore and globally are concerned that the Bill grants the government far-reaching powers to curb online communication.

We share these concerns, as such tools could be used by the Executive and future governments to suppress or chill debate and expression for political purposes, said Ong, Quay and Assoc Prof Theseira.

The NMPs noted that the government has given assurances that the Bill is not intended to stifle or chill free speech, debate and criticism. The Bill, however, does not contain these assurances that limit how the powers outlined in it can be used, they said.

Moreover, the Bill contains broadly worded clauses on what is a false statement and what constitutes public interest.

Under the Bill, a statement is false if it is false or misleading, whether wholly or in part, and whether on its own or in the context in which it appears.

The broad meaning of public interest includes a reference to the purposes of the Act to prevent a diminution of public confidence in the performance of any duty or function of, or in the exercise of any power by, the Government, an Organ of State, a statutory board, or a part of the Government, an Organ of State or a statutory board.

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The NMPs said, We are concerned that these broadly worded clauses give the Executive considerable discretion to take action against online communications, without protection in the primary legislation that codifies the assurances given by the Government in explaining the Bill to the public.

Hence, the NMPs proposed four amendments to the Bill after consulting various stakeholders.

Among them, they suggested a clause that outlines key Principles to guide the exercise of powers under the Act such that it is targeted at statements that are materially false and not opinions, comments, critiques, satire, parody, generalisations or statements of experiences.

They also proposed that any directions issued under the Act are publicly justified. In addition, they called for the appeals process to be expedited.

The NMPs also said there should be an independent Council to monitor online falsehoods and provide oversight on the use of executive powers under the Act. The Council should comprise members who are appointed by a Select Committee of Parliament.

The Principles of the Act codify some of the explicit assurances that the government has given over the past few weeks, the NMPs said. They also reflect the concerns of about the potentially adverse impact on criticism and research.

The Principles of Act states that well-informed, free, and critical speech is necessary for a well-functioning democracy, so the Act should be applied carefully to avoid chilling such speech.

The NMPs noted the concerns regarding the sections in the Bill on the definition of a statement of fact and public confidence in the government as part of the public interest. They said these concerns are best dealt with reference to the Principles of the Act proposed by them.

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New Zealand's major media outlets vowed Wednesday to prevent the man charged with the Christchurch mosque shooting from using his trial as a platform for extremist propaganda. Australian Brenton Tarrant is accused of shooting dead 50 people and injuring another 39 in March 15 attacks on two mosques where worshippers were gathered for Friday prayers. The self-avowed white supremacist targeted Muslims and posted a rambling "manifesto" online before the attack detailing his extremist beliefs. The New Zealand Media Freedom Committee, which represents the country's five largest news outlets, said the accused "may attempt to use the trial as a platform to amplify white supremacist and/or terrorist ideology". It said editors had agreed to a set of guidelines to prevent this happening at the trial, the date of which is yet to be set. Among the measures, they pledged to "limit any coverage of statements that actively champion white supremacist or terrorist ideology, including the alleged gunman's manifesto". They will also avoid reporting on or broadcasting "any message, imagery, symbols or signals" by the accused or his associates that promote extremism. Tarrant, 28, is currently being held in a maximum security prison in Auckland and undergoing psychiatric tests to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial. His next scheduled court appearance is on June 14. The New Zealand government has barred downloads of Tarrant's manifesto and the livestream footage he posted of the attacks, although local media voluntarily avoided them before the ban anyway. However, despite their best intentions not to spread extremist content, some New Zealand media outlets have been criticised over some Christchurch-related stories. A provocative tweet from British right-winger Katie Hopkins about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern received extensive coverage last week, prompting national broadcaster RNZ to comment: "Don't feed the troll."
Photo credit: Getty

From ELLE Decor

Visual consumption today often puts a premium on hyper-proximity. Television and camera technology allow viewers to fixate on images down to every last pore and wrinkle, while the framing on phones and social media apps encourages myopic frames of reference. There is a deep pleasure, then, in the knowledge that Joan Mitchells paintings, the subject of the show Joan Mitchell: I carry my landscapes around with me at the David Zwirner gallery in New York from May 3-June 22, were intended to be viewed from a distance. Farsighted from an early age, Mitchell would often look at her own works through a glass to establish how they would appear from afar.

Photo credit: Courtesy David Zwirner

This is not to say that Mitchells oeuvre doesnt benefit from close-ups: one could easily and happily get lost in the fervent forest of her brushstrokes and I carry my landscapes around with me, presented in collaboration with The Joan Mitchell Foundation, has plenty of opportunities for such cerebral wandering. Mitchell was a Chicago-born (in 1925) abstract expressionist who spent much of her career living and working in France before her death in 1992. Spanning four decades, the David Zwirner show focuses on Mitchells multi-panel works: she was one of the few artists of the New York School group who worked with polyptych compositions.

From her studio in Vetheuil, a commune northwest of Paris where Claude Monet also lived, Mitchell painted alone, toiling on two panels at a time, often relying on her memory of what transpired on other panels she had finished. One of the exhibits earliest entries is La Seine (1967), a quadriptych that exemplifies Mitchells belief that if the painting works, the motion or movement is made still like a fish trapped in ice. Meanwhile Sunflowers (1990-1991), finished in the years before she died, alludes to the influence of Paul Cezanne on her interest in light and color.

Photo credit: Courtesy David Zwirner

The show takes its title from a Mitchell quote from 1958: I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me-and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves with me. What it leaves us with is a fresh reminder of the importance of perspective-and the beauty of time and distance.

('You Might Also Like',)
Meghan and Harry in Birkenhead in January 2019 [Photo: PA]

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby could be here by Monday, according to bookmakers.

Many expected Meghan to give birth in April, but those who bet on a May birth are likely to see a return William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said.

William Hill has odds of 3/1 for the baby to be born on Wednesday 1 May.

Adams says: We reckon its imminent now...were odds on 1 to 2 that the baby arrives by Monday night.

While Kensington Palace have never revealed a due date, Meghan told well-wishers in Birkenhead in January that the baby was expected to arrive at the end of April or beginning of May.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Canada House in March [Photo: PA]

An announcement that Prince Harry is set to visit the Netherlands between 8 and 9 May has also sparked speculation that he will be a father by that point.

But Buckingham Palace aides tell Yahoo UK that the duke is planning on going to the Netherlands, but a decision will be made closer to the time because they dont know when the baby will arrive.

READ MORE: The only two people Harry and Meghan are following on Instagram

And theres also been a new contender among the baby name odds.

Allegra, an Italian girls name, is now emerged as an unexpected moniker.

According to Ladbrokes, Allegra is now the sixth most likely name in the royal baby betting after a flood of bets over the last 24 hours have seen the bookies slash odds from 100/1 down to just 12/1.

Diana, Grace and Elizabeth are among the frontrunners if the royal baby is a girl. For a boy, its Arthur, James, Edward and Philip.
All images courtesy of Netflix

Street Food is a new documentary created by David Gelb, the mastermind behind Jiro Dreams Of Sushi and Chefs Table. If youve heard of it, youre either an ang moh pai foodie or one of the Malaysians still fuming over Malaysias exclusion from the series.

Earlier this year, when news emerged that Singapore was featured in an Asian street food documentary while Malaysia was not, Twitter predictably blew up. Malaysian foodies went through the seven stages of grief, from anger (Singapore doesnt have shit) to denial (more for us in the end) to acceptance (if it doesnt receive global recognition, so be it), and back to anger (Does Singapore even have a street for street food).

Some blamed the producers for being ignorant. Others blamed Malaysias own tourism bureaucrats, and wrote soul-searching editorials in The Star.

Get over it, my dudes. Whatever you think of Singaporean food versus Malaysia food, the Netflix documentary is pretty tepidat best. Not terrible, but definitely not worth queuing for either.

Heres my contention. Street Food is not just made by the same people who made Chefs Table. It is Chefs Table, minus the actual tables. Almost every pixel of the new documentary is copy-pasted from its illustrious predecessornow in its sixth seasonwith no room for heretical deviations.

The voice-overs plus B-rollcheck. The gratuitous use of slow-motioncheck. The quasi-religious reverence for its chefs/hawkers as if they were latter-day saintscheck and double check. And just like Chefs Table, Street Food is so beautifully shot that even hardened cynics might feel a deep stirring in their loins.

Spring onions cascade. Steam rises in undulating waves like some kind of curbside aurora borealis. Finally, a Crab Omelette emerges from the Wok like the Botticellis Venus rising from the Aegean.

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.

This is all good if you just want some food porn, but I was led to believe that Street Food was a real documentary.

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It really isnt. Peel away the Tiger Beer-inspired aesthetic and you wont find much except the usual platitudes of food writing. You will find a show so intent on celebrating its hawker heroesand elevating foodthat they forgot to tell us how street food came to be.

This is a crying shame because the stories of those who cooked the actual food are equal parts compelling and heartbreaking. In the Singapore episode, we learn about Ms Aisha Hashim, who was forced to quit her culinary ambitions in America and return to save her familys Putu Piring business (Traditional Haig Road Putu Piring).

In Osaka, we learn about Toyo of Izakaya Toyo, a chain-smoking, blow-torch-wielding clown whose gregarious personality conceals a deeper sorrow.

In Bangkok, we meet Jay Fai, a seamstress turned Michelin-darling who earned the establishments respect through sheer grit and ballsy innovation.

In each story, food is not just occupation, but redemption. For some, its a means out of poverty. For others, its something even more personal. Toyo, for example, never fulfilled his dream of starting a family, so his Izakayaboth customers and staffbecame the only family hes got.

Beyond their stories, however, Street Food has nothing to offer. Various experts appear on-screeni.e. KF Seetohbut they are given little to do except to repeat the various food cliches to a static camera.

We are told, for example, that Delhi is a melting pot of various cultures and empires from the Rajputs to the Mughals to the British empire. What we are not told, however, is how this melting pot has influenced street food.

In Indonesia, street food is said to represent the citys culture and people, butwait a minute sir how did the people come to develop such strong pride for their Cassava noodles and Braised Jackfruit?

Another mystery. Their experts either did not answer or had their answers cut from the program to make room for more close-ups of gula melaka.

The words authentic, real and honest are used more often than chili, but in a manner so glib that the word is rendered meaningless. The Lechon (roast pig) in Cebu is praised by one critic as real and authentic. But how is it more real and more authentic than the Lechon served in an Manila restaurant?

What does authentic even mean in this context?

Therein lies the flaw of Street Foodits an unabashed eulogy, not a documentary. Every expert or journalist interviewed tells us that street food unifies people, and how its part of the nations identity, but these broad cliches are never elaborated on. The forces that produced street foodurbanisation, colonialism, migrationget a cursory mention before the camera cuts back to an omnipresent Wok.

The real question, of how street food came to form such a strong part of Asian national identities, is a question left unanswered.

Likewise for street foods increasingly precarious existence in a rapidly-modernising Asia. In Bangkok, for example, we are told that street food is getting hounded off the streets by a government which considers them leeches. What happened to Singapore about thirty years agothe move to hawker centresis happening right now in Thailand.

This strikes me as an interesting subject worth exploring.

Is street food still street food if it was born on the streets but has since moved into a shophouse? Will regulation kill off street food for those less able to afford it after property taxes and rentals pump up prices?

These are rhetorical questions because David Gelb and co did not return to examine the forces that threaten his beloved street food. For all the lip service thats paid to culture and tradition, the story is laughably short on detail and insight. Overall, you get the uneasy impression that Mr. Gelb is more interested in touristic affirmations of authenticity than the food itself.

Malaysians should take heart because Netflixs Street Food has managed to squander its 4-goal lead over other programs.

The chefs/hawkers are fascinating, the experts are personable, and the cinematographers clearly know their shit. But for all its premium ingredients and expensive spices, the show still manages to tell an incoherent story about food.

One minute its a motivational poster about hawkers overcoming adversity. The next its a meaningless rojak of buzzwords like identity, pride, and tradition.

In the end, Street Food is a food documentary that represents a regression in quality. It is not as critical as David Changs Ugly Delicious or as unflinchingly honest as Bourdains No Reservations.

However beautiful it might look, its not a dish that will make you full.

Need a word with my manager? Write to us at community@ricemedia.co

The post A Review Of The Street Food Documentary Thats Triggering Malaysian Foodies appeared first on RICE.
What was supposed to be a fun time at Sentosa turned into a nightmare for one Singapore family when both mother and daughter suffered a bad allergic reaction to sunscreen.

Singapore mum Mrs Pueh recently shared her horrific experience with theAsianparent.

Singapore mum shares about horrible allergic reaction to sunscreen

Mrs Pueh tells us, The incident happened on 18 March (Monday), during the March school holidays. We were going to Sentosa, and it was really hot.

I realised that I had forgotten to bring sunscreen with me, so I bought Banana Boat Sunscreen for Kids (SPF 50+) from a 7-Eleven store nearby.

Both me and my 8-year-old daughter applied the sunscreen. By late afternoon, my daughters body had started itchingsoon she had rashes on her back, hands and legs.

allergic reaction to sunscreen

The next day I took her to a GP, who said that it was an allergic reaction. So, he prescribed some cream and oral antihistamine. Later on, I noticed that my daughters face had got swollen.

The GP recommended that I take her to hospital A&E. However, there, the doctor informed me that she had scarlet fever and prescribed antibiotics for 10 days. I was quite confused because no blood tests were done, and my daughter did not have any fever either. She only had rashes which appeared like small bumps, especially on the back.

To make things worse, by Wednesday, I ended up with rashes on my arms and legs. The rashes were only on the areas where I had applied the sunscreen.

allergic reaction to sunscreen

Feeling doubtful, I took my child to another family physician (who had specialised in skin), for a second opinion. The doctor told me that she definitely did not have scarlet fever. He prescribed another cream and body wash, and thankfully, my daughter became okay soon.

I just want to create awareness among parents about the dangers of sunscreen. In fact, I even complained about this incident to Banana Boat, they took the product for lab test and told me that results would come in 4 weeks.

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Thank you, Mrs Pueh, for sharing your experience with theAsianparent.

We contacted Banana Boat about this incident and here is the statement from Edgewell Personal Care:

We take all of our consumers concerns seriously and investigate all cases when we are contacted directly about someone who has encountered a reaction when using our products. However, it is difficult to determine what may have caused the reported problem without speaking with the consumer, examining the product or determining the specific type of reaction.

Any consumer concerns that reach us are fully investigated by our quality assurance team, who will look into reported cases and assist consumers in any way we can.

All of our sun care products undergo appropriate and rigorous testing to ensure they are properly labeled and meet all relevant Health Science Authority regulations. Consumers can feel confident using our products for safe and effective sun protection, when applied as directed by the product labels.

All products formulated for sensitive skin, including our SPF50+ Baby and Kids Sunscreen, are dermatologically tested to ensure they pass the Repeat Insult Patch Test (RIPT), a recognized formal skin sensitivity test for topically applied products.

The ingredients in our products are disclosed on the labels using ingredient names assigned by experts and recognized by governments around the world. We do not knowingly add to our products common food allergens such as tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, soy, wheat, fish, dairy, or gluten.

Nonetheless, we recommend that consumers always read the label and check the list of ingredients. If concerned about the possibility of sensitivity to certain ingredients, we suggest consumers carefully test the product before use or consult their physician in advance.

Allergic reaction to sunscreen: What parents need to know before applying sunscreen on kids

Mums and dads, here are some basic precautions to observe when applying sunscreen on kids:

For babies

Sunscreen use should be avoided if possible in babies younger than 6 months.

Babies under 6 months of age should be kept out of direct sunlight. The best way to protect infants from the sun is to keep them in the shade as much as possible, in addition to dressing them in long sleeves, pants, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.

If there is no way to avoid the sun, it is okay to apply a small amount of sunscreen on infants under 6 months.

Sunscreens labelled for babies or sensitive are less likely to cause skin irritation. Always test the sunscreen on a small area of your babys skin to check for any skin reactions.

allergic reaction to sunscreen

For older children

Parents of infants and toddlers 6 months and older may apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher to their childrens exposed skin that is not covered by protective clothing.

Choose sunscreen that is made for children, preferably waterproof. Before covering your child, test the sunscreen on a small area of your childs skin, for an allergic reaction. Apply carefully around the eyes, avoiding eyelids. If a rash develops, consult your paediatrician.

Make sure sunscreen is within its use-by date, and keep it stored in a cool, shady place.

The sunscreen should be reapplied approximately every two hours.

Sunscreens that use the ingredients zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, or special sunscreens made for infants or toddlers may cause less irritation to their sensitive skin.

Dont use sunscreens with PABA, which can cause skin allergies.

Apply sunscreen at least 20 minutes before you go outside.

Apply a water-resistant sunscreen if kids will be around water or swimming. Water reflects and intensifies the suns rays, so kids need protection that lasts.

Sunscreen sprays are convenient but should be used with caution, as they are easy to breathe in, which can irritate the lungs.

Some sprays also are flammable, so you need to avoid sparks or flames when applying them and wearing them.

Always discard any sunscreen that is past its expiration date or you have had for 3 years or longer.

Also READ: These mums are warning all parents about sunscreen burns

The post Singapore mum warns about sunscreen allergy after child suffers swollen face and rashes appeared first on theAsianparent-Your Guide to Pregnancy, Baby & Raising Kids.
SIOUX CITY -- After temporary levees broke Tuesday, Mississippi River waters rushed into downtown Davenport, Iowa, so quickly that people were caught off guard and evacuations were recommended.

Lots of flooding has impacted the Midwest in the last decade, and some people cite it as a concerning derogatory impact of climate change, which scientists say is melting polar ice caps, making storms and hurricanes more powerful and causing rising waters to erode coastal areas.

Last week in his town hall meeting in Cherokee, Iowa, U.S. Rep. Steve King discussed climate change, saying he chooses to "look at the other, good side" that could result, such as the shrinking of deserts.

King spoke about how substantial flooding impacted western Iowa beginning in March. The Republican congressman also mentioned he's seen Iowa experience some 100-year and 500-year floods in recent years.

He aired his view of climate change, when a question was posed by a Marcus, Iowa, woman about the topic of climate geo-engineering early in the meeting.

King said he would need to read up on geo-engineering before commenting, then he turned his reply to the more frequently discussed topic of global warming, which is often now termed climate change.

"You mentioned the global warming part of this, the weather patterns that are there," King said. "But I think that, I began, when I first looked at that, I thought, 'I'm hearing all these things that are bad, well, what could be good?' Surely there is something on the other side that could be good. So, let's just say that if the earth should warm by four degrees, or whatever that number might be, then I've had to measure the evaporation off of, in the summertime."

King, who represents Iowa's fourth congressional district, then discussed how higher temperatures means water will evaporate more quickly. He gave the example of being able to watch a barrel of water readily evaporate in July.

"Seventy percent of the earth is covered by water. If the earth warms, then there is evaporation that goes into the atmosphere. According to Newton's First Law of Physics, what goes up must come down," King said.

"That means it will rain more and more places. It might rain harder in some places, it might snow in some of those places. But it's surely gotta shrink the deserts and expand the green growth, there's surely got to be some good in that. So I just look at the other, good side."

Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky.  With his pick between two of the top contenders for Kentucky Derby 145, Mike Smith got to choose.

With Tuesday's post-position draw for Saturday's renewal of the "Run for the Roses," the Hall of Fame jockey was not so lucky. And it worked out anyway.

"I like where I'm at," Smith said.

What's not to like? With his new wife, Cynthia, by his side, Smith watched his mount, Omaha Beach, draw the No. 12 post position and be tabbed the 4-1 favorite in the field of 20 for the world's most famous race, slated for a 5:50 p.m. Saturday post time.

Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia made last year's 2-year-old champion, Game Winner, second choice at 5-1. Santa Anita Derby winner Roadster and Arkansas Derby runner-up Improbable are co-third choice at 6-1. The trio is trained by Bob Baffert, who has won the Kentucky Derby five times, including last year with Triple Crown champion Justify.

In fact, it was none other than Smith who rode Roadster to his Santa Anita Derby win on April 6, leading most to believe the jockey would stick with Baffert after the duo dominated last year with Justify. Instead, Smith opted for trainer Richard Mandella and Omaha Beach, who he rode to an Arkansas Derby win on April 13.

"I just felt that Omaha Beach, for this race, has more seasoning underneath himself and he would handle any kind of surface," Smith said Tuesday. "You go in with less worries. And his running style fit the previous Derby (winners), as well."

Smith admitted he grew a little worried Tuesday when Omaha Beach was not among the first 18 names drawn and only the 3 and the 12 post positions were still open. He did not want the 3.

"Maximum Security is probably going to be the pace, on paper anyway," said Smith of the Florida Derby winner who drew the No. 7 post. "I've got pretty much a similar running style to his, so I'd rather be on the outside of him so if he does want to be aggressive and go (to the lead) he can certainly do that. But if my horse gets away like I pray he can, he'll be forwardly placed as well."

The horse who got stuck on the far inside was the star-crossed War of Will. A strained patellar ligament early led to a ninth-place finish as the favorite in the Louisiana Derby. The colt rebounded to turn in a blistering work (4 furlongs in 47.60 seconds) on Saturday at Churchill only to draw the dreaded No. 1 post position Tuesday.

"It could be worse, I think," trainer Mark Casse told the NTRA afterward. "Our horse is really on his game so he'll come away running."

Country House, third in the Arkansas Derby, drew the far outside post at No. 20. Trainer Bill Mott's other entrant, Tacitus, is co-fifth choice with Maximum Security at 10-1. Tacitus drew the No. 8 post, a good spot for a colt who overcame traffic problems to win the Wood Memorial on April 6.

"But all traffic problems are not the same," Mott said Tuesday. "I guess the thing you've always got to worry about is the horses stopping in front of you when you get to the second turn. You just have got hope something opens up for you."

They're all hoping for that run to daylight, from long shots Master Fencer and Gray Magician, both 50-1, to the Derby master Baffert, with this year's triple threat.

"It's OK," said Baffert of his draw  No. 5 for Improbable; No. 16 for Game Winner and No. 17 for Roadster. "I would like to have seen Game Winner further down. I just didn't want to have the 1 or the 2 hole. I didn't want to be down there."

"Bad posts can turn into good posts," Smith said. "But like Bob says, you've got to have the horse underneath you."

Mike Smith believes he has that horse.

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SOUTH SIOUX CITY -- Big Ox Energy has ceased all operations at its South Sioux City biofuels plant after its permit to discharge wastewater to Sioux City's treatment plant expired Tuesday.

The shutdown comes less than two weeks after the Wisconsin-based company announced it was temporarily suspending its biogas production operations, leaving only its wastewater treatment operations.

The City of South Sioux City closed valves into and out of the plant at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.

"Essentially, the plant is now completely shut down," said Kevin Bradley, Big Ox director of business and economic development.

Bradley said Big Ox had hoped to negotiate an extension with Sioux City, but an agreement has not be reached.

In addition to wastewater from its own production process, in which the plant accepted organic waste from local food and beverage manufacturers and converted it to methane, Big Ox received wastewater from other South Sioux City industries, pretreated it and discharged it to Sioux City's regional wastewater treatment plant on the other side of the Missouri River. That wastewater is now bypassing Big Ox via a sewer main South Sioux City installed in 2017, Mayor Rod Koch said.

Wastewater will not flow through Big Ox until a new permit is issued by Sioux City, he said.

A number of issues must be resolved before that can happen, assistant city attorney Justin Vondrak said. Chief among them is more than $3 million Big Ox owes in unpaid wastewater treatment fees, fines and late charges.

"We have never said we will not reissue a new permit," Vondrak said. "What we have said is there are outstanding issues that need to be resolved before the city reissues a permit."

Big Ox is disputing Sioux City's charges, many of which resulted from the discharge of higher volumes of wastewater with high concentrations of pollutants and suspended solid waste late last year and early this year. Those discharges pushed Big Ox into a higher rate tier, resulting in higher bills from Sioux City.

Bradley said those charges are the key issue to the permit renewal. Prior to the April 19 shutdown, plant operations had stabilized and Big Ox had dropped out of the higher rate tier.

"The discharges over the last couple months have been well, well within our permit limits," Bradley said.

City billing records show that Big Ox owes a balance of a little more than $3 million. Big Ox claims the city has not incurred all the costs it has charged the company.

Vondrak said the two sides will continue to work on a solution.

"The lines of communication are open," he said.

Meanwhile, South Sioux City has resumed the task of pumping wastewater from the Roth Industrial Park to Sioux City. Koch said industries in the park were aware the change was possible and their operations were not disrupted. The change will not affect South Sioux City utility rates or its residents, Kock said.

City manager Lance Hedquist said wastewater from the industrial park would not be discharged through a line beneath a neighborhood in which residents had experienced sewer backups and noxious fumes after Big Ox began operations in September 2016. Those emissions and odor issues have led to more than a dozen lawsuits filed against Big Ox and the city by homeowners in the plant's vicinity who claim its odors are a nuisance and, in some cases, have caused health issues and made their homes uninhabitable.

The plant has been cited nine times by state and federal regulators for environmental violations, most recently on April 2 after a Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality inspector cited the company for failing to control emissions after he noticed gases leaking from a damaged anaerobic digester structure. Big Ox has had problems with repeated venting of hydrogen sulfide gas into the atmosphere and solid waste spills.

When the company announced its plan to temporarily suspend its biogas production operations, Bradley said plant operators would empty the digesters in order to make repairs that the company hopes will solve the emissions and odor issues.

Bradley said Wednesday that the digesters should be empty this month. There is no time line on when the plant could again be operational, he said.

The resumption of operations also depends on getting a wastewater permit renewal from Sioux City.

State regulators will have a say as well. The NDEQ has called Big Ox to appear in Lincoln later this month to justify why its storm water and air quality permits shouldn't be revoked.

Bradley said it's hoped that Big Ox can resolve its disagreement with the city, repair its facility and resume operations.

"We really want this facility to find success in the long term and that continues to be our goal," he said.

Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Fort Dodge, Iowa, man has pleaded not guilty to leading police on a high-speed car case in which several vehicles were struck.

Dayton Provost, 25, entered his written plea Tuesday in Woodbury County District Court to charges of eluding and third-offense operating while intoxicated.

Provost was arrested at the conclusion of an April 19 chase that began in the Moville, Iowa, area and ended several miles later in Sergeant Bluff. Officers responding to reports of a Ford Escape driving recklessly in the Moville area initiated the pursuit as the driver fled Moville west on U.S. Highway 20.

The chase continued into Sioux City on Gordon Drive and through the Morningside area. Several vehicles were struck during the pursuit, which ended at First Street and Business Highway 75 in Sergeant Bluff when an officer collided with the vehicle. Provost fled on foot and was arrested shortly after the chase ended.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man was sentenced to six days in jail and ordered to pay for damages caused by punching a slot machine at Sioux City's Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Tommy Goldberg, 52, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court to third-degree criminal mischief. The charge was reduced from second-degree criminal mischief.

District Judge Julie Schumacher sentenced Goldberg to six days in jail and credited him with six days already served. Schumacher also fined him $625 and ordered him to pay $1,050 in restitution to Hard Rock.

Goldberg punched and shattered a slot machine touchscreen pad on Jan. 7. The damage was discovered when he asked an attendant for help getting a voucher ticket that was stuck. When she noticed that the screen was shattered, Goldberg told her it was broken when he got there.

A security supervisor reviewed video surveillance and saw Goldberg playing the slot machine and pressing a button on the touchscreen several times. He appeared to become frustrated and punched the screen with his fist.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to firing a rifle during a disturbance in which a juvenile was stuck by gunfire.

Chase Sweisberger, 21, entered his written plea Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court to reckless use of a firearm and intimidation with a dangerous weapon.

According to court documents, Sweisberger fired a shot from a .22-caliber rifle during an April 13 disturbance in the 1400 block of Summit Street. A 15-year-old male was shot in the neck after several shots were fired.

Tristian Flores, 20, of Sioux City, is accused of retrieving the rifle from his garage and firing at least four shots. Flores has pleaded not guilty to reckless use of a firearm and intimidation with a dangerous weapon.

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SIOUX CITY -- Barring any last-minute developments in his case, Tran Walker will go to trial this week for the stabbing deaths of his ex-girlfriend and a friend.

No major issues were presented at a short pretrial conference Tuesday afternoon, and District Judge Tod Deck said he expected to hear evidence beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday. The trial is expected to last through Monday.

Walker, 19, of Sioux City, has pleaded not guilty in Woodbury County District Court to two counts of first-degree murder for the Jan. 28, 2018, stabbing deaths of Paiten Sullivan, 17, and Felipe Negron Jr., 18, both of Sioux City.

According to court documents, Walker began stabbing Sullivan while they were in a vehicle at Jay Avenue and South Cecelia Street. Walker told police he wanted Sullivan "to feel the pain he was feeling" since she had broken up with him, court documents said.

Police believe Negron, a mutual friend, was driving before he was fatally stabbed while trying to protect Sullivan.

Walker has waived his right to a jury trial, and Deck will preside over the trial and issue a verdict.

Deck also will be tasked with determining whether to admit as evidence Facebook records the prosecution believes prove Walker's intent, motive and choice of weapon for the slayings.

First Assistant Woodbury County Attorney Mark Campbell has provided records obtained from Facebook that included messages sent from Walker's account to Sullivan's account in which the sender wrote that if Sullivan were to leave Walker it "would be enough to make him want to kill."

Public defender Jennifer Solberg has argued that someone else could have signed into Walker's account and sent those messages.

Deck has ruled that Campbell must present evidence at trial that Walker wrote the messages. Deck has said he would rule on their admissibility if and when the records are offered as evidence.

According to court documents, Walker, Sullivan and Negron were in a Chrysler PT Cruiser when Walker became upset and began stabbing Sullivan, then Negron, before leaving the scene.

Walker was found a short time later at the Hy-Vee store on Gordon Drive after several bystanders reported seeing an injured man at the store. Officers reporting to the scene determined that Walker fit the description of the stabbing suspect and took him into custody. Police later took possession of the knife they believe was used to stab the victims.

If found guilty as charged, Walker would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

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SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man was arrested Tuesday and charged with having sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on a social media site.

Kentavious Jenkins, 19, faces one count of third-degree sexual abuse.

According to a complaint filed in Woodbury County District Court, Jenkins had sex with the girl on April 10 after the two had met on a social media site. The girl's mother later saw conversations between her daughter and Jenkins on the girl's cell phone and reported the incident to police.

During a police interview, Jenkins admitted that he had sex with the girl and told investigators he regretted his actions and wished he had not done it, the complaint said.

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SIOUX CITY -- More than 50 Siouxland officials descend on Washington, D.C. this week to lobby federal officials on a slew of issues, from growing the metro area's supply of skilled workers and affordable housing to delivering federal funds for key highway and infrastructure initiatives.

Local government and business leaders arrived in the nation's capitol as President Trump and Democratic congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to pursue a $2 trillion infrastructure bill.

At a series of meetings with federal lawmakers, congressional staff and other key policy-makers, Sioux City officials will push to make local water, sewer and storm water projects eligible for a fresh round of infrastructure funding. Past programs, they said, excluded utility projects, focusing instead on highway and bridge construction and repairs.

Sioux City leaders point out the ongoing reconstruction of Interstate 29 required the city to spend $47 million to move utility lines in the state's right-of-way. A series of other costly utility projects are on the horizon, the city said in a position paper that will be presented to the congressional delegation and other key policy makers.

For example, the city must replace a 1940s-era cement asbestos pipe in in an area that includes Sioux Gateway Airport and the 185th Air Refueling Wing, Iowa Air National Guard. The pipe, which was installed when the airport was turned into an Army Air Base at the start of World War II, will cost local rate payers more than $3.9 million but provide little to no benefit to the community.

The local delegation's priorities for this year's Washington trip also include securing federal funds for a new Interstate 29 interchange and widening of Highway 35 in northeast Nebraska.

Sioux City and Woodbury County leaders say the proposed interchange, which would be built between the airport and Port Neal at a projected cost of $25 million, would help open up more land for industrial development and attract new employers and jobs.

With the four-laning of U.S. Highway 20 from Dubuque to Sioux City now complete, area leaders are now pushing to extend the expressway into Nebraska by expanding Highway 35 from 2 to 4 lanes from South Sioux City to Norfolk.

The local delegation will get a chance to make their case during a face-to-face meeting Wednesday with two key U.S. Department of Transportation administrators -- Finch Fulton, deputy secretary for transportation policy, and Anthony Bedell, deputy assistant secretary for governmental affairs.

The two-day lobbying officially kicks off at 8 p.m. Wednesday morning with a traditional breakfast with Iowa 4th District Rep. Steve King. It's the first time the local delegation has met with the nine-term Republican since he came under intense fire in January for published comments in which he appeared to embrace white supremacy and white nationalism. King has repeatedly claimed he was misquoted by a New York Times reporter. In the aftermath of the national uproar, Republican leaders stripped King of all his committee assignments through at least 2020.

During the two-day lobbying trip, local leaders also are scheduled to meet with the rest of the tri-state congressional delegation, which numbers six members in Iowa, five in Nebraska and three in South Dakota.

The lawmakers will hear a familiar refrain from the delegation.

With the region's unemployment remaining at near historic lows, employers continue to struggle in the search for qualified applicants, said Barbara Sloniker, executive vice president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, which leads the 65th annual excursion to the nation's capital.

"We're still hearing from all of our members -- that workforce challenges are still the No. 1 issue," Sloniker said Tuesday.

Tri-state leaders will urge federal decision-makers to support educational programs to train the next generation of skilled workers. Local school district and college leaders will be part of the Chamber delegation.

Sloniker said local programs like Sioux City's expanded Career Academy are helping "expose students to the possibility of different careers earlier in life."

The region also faces a housing crunch, particularly for affordable units.

Local officials will urge the Trump administration to support two programs the city of Sioux City has relied on to increase the stock of affordable housing -- the Community Development Block Grant and the Home Investment Partnership program. Both were on the chopping block in the administration's budget last year.

As usual, a highlight of the D.C. lobbying trip will be the Steak Reception Wednesday night in the Hart Senate Office Building. The reception replaced the Chambers traditional sit-down steak dinner several years ago.

A special guest for this year's reception will be U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. After the Chamber schedule was set, Wilson announced she will be leaving the Air Force to become the next president of the University of Texas at El Paso.

Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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CEDAR RAPIDS -- Joe Biden is getting excited.

He is talking about his presidential campaign, and the 76-year-old former vice president is asked if he is ready for the ninth-month grind to the 2020 Iowa caucuses and beyond.

I am ready. And quite frankly Im excited about it. Because I tell you what, he says. He leans forward, his pace slows and his voice softens. For all the difficulty we have, we are so much better prepared than any nation in the world to own the 21st century, for Lords sake.

On Tuesday, Biden was in Iowa for the first time since making his presidential campaign official late last week.

During an interview just before Tuesdays rally in Cedar Rapids, Biden addressed the generation gap between him and some of the other Democrats also running, how he will make the case he is the Democrats best choice to take on President Donald Trump and how he could win back voters who strayed from the party in 2016.

Biden, who would turn 78 shortly after Election Day 2020, pledged he would not be outworked in the expansive Democratic primary; that he would work like the devil in Iowa to earn support in Februarys presidential caucuses.

Biden becomes the latest candidate to announce in the Democratic primary race. The expansive field includes members of the silent and baby boomer generations, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but also younger candidates like Pete Buttigieg and Beto ORourke.

Some Iowa Democrats have said they wonder whether Bidens political time has passed, and that it may be time for the party to choose a younger standard-bearer or a fresh political face who could lead the party into the next generation, like Barack Obama in 2008.

Biden said he asks only that those people give him a chance.

Look at me. Follow me. See what I say. See how I do, Biden said.

Im going to go out and make that case by demonstrating what I have done, what my experience has taught me, he said. All I can do is go out and make my case as to why I think that, at this moment, Im the best prepared to deal with this. Everyone else is making their case as well, and well see what the voters decide.

While some Democrats question Bidens age, others feel he presents the partys best chance at defeating Trump in a general election.

Biden said he feels he always has connected with working-class Americans, and will be able to again in 2020.

Biden also said he thinks he can connect with voters who had supported the Obama-Biden tickets in 2008 and 2012 but in 2016 voted for Trump. There are many such voters in Iowa, which swung from a six-point victory for Obama in 2012 to a 10-point victory for Trump four years later.

And Democrats can reconnect with those voters without betraying their base, Biden said.

I dont think we have to choose between our heart and our soul, Biden said. The way its being phrased these days is that if you get support among those middle class folks, youre somehow forsaking our progressive agenda on race and women. Its just not true. We dont have to give up anything.

But Biden said Democrats need to show up in areas they lost voters in 2016 and listen to why allegiances changed.

Theres an awful lot of people who think weve forgotten them, that we dont listen to them. Half of what we do as elected officials is weve got to listen, at least acknowledge we understand what concerns them, Biden said. And I hope and I believe that a lot of those folks will listen, at least they have in the past, with me.

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Iowas medical marijuana manufacturer supports an expansion of the states program, saying the move opens the door for more patients to access the fledgling program.

In the last days of the 2019 Legislative Session, state lawmakers approved a proposal that would expand certain aspects of the medical cannabidiol program, including patient access to the program and the type of providers who can recommend the treatment.

If you look at the bill in its entirety, it is very clear that it is patient-focused, said Lucas Nelson, general manager of outsourcing services for Kemin Industries, lead consultant for MedPharm Iowa.

MedPharm Iowa, based in Des Moines, was the first company awarded a state license to manufacture cannabidiol products.

Its products went on sale for the first time Dec. 1 at five state-certified dispensaries, in Davenport, Waterloo, Windsor Heights, Council Bluffs and Sioux City.

The proposal  passed by the Senate on Saturday, the final day of the session  removes the 3 percent cap on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), or the psychoactive component of cannabis.

Instead, the bill would limit the amount of medical cannabis patient could have to 25 grams over a 90-day period.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has not said whether she would sign the bill into law.

Nelson applauded the removal of the cap, saying it makes it easier for patients to get the dosage they need without taking excessive amounts of the product, which can be cost prohibitive.

In addition, it will allow MedPharm to develop vapor products for its customers.

Vapor is fast acting, Nelson said. It wont last as long over the course of the day  maybe an hour, maybe less or more for some  but it will take effect within minutes.

Vapor would be ideal for chronic pain patients, Nelson said. Some chronic-pain patients experience sudden, exponential increases in their pain from certain activities and need a fast-acting supplement to their daily dosage.

Under the 25-gram limit, Nelson estimates about 90 percent of MedPharms patients still would get the dose they need in their cannabidiol products, which can be used for conditions such as Parkinsons disease, seizures and ALS, among others.

The cap could impact cancer patients, chronic pain patients and those dealing with terminal illness.

Well learn as the program grows how many patients are left out, Nelson said. I am confident at least where program stands, we will be able to treat many of our patients, if not all.

Language in the bill also changes its current definition of untreatable pain to severe or chronic pain  a less cumbersome definition that more providers should be confident about, Nelson said. This change likely will enable more providers to comfortably certify chronic pain patients to receive medical cannabis products under the program.

As of April 18, more than 2,500 patients have been issued registration cards by the state  nearly 60 percent of whom qualify under the untreatable pain condition, according to the Iowa Office of Medical Cannabidiol.

Edward Mitchell, chief operating officer for Have A Heart Compassionate Care, also applauded this change in the legislation. The Seattle-based cannabis retailer operates the dispensaries in Davenport and Council Bluffs.

It really opens the door for more people to get help, Mitchell said.

The legislation Iowa lawmakers approved this past week also allows physician assistants and nurse practitioners to recommend patients for the program  a necessary step Iowans must take before they are awarded a license by the state.

This is a significant point for rural Iowans, who may not have regular access to a physician in their region, or for Iowans who typically see nurse practitioners or physician assistants for their regular primary care.

According to the Iowa Office of Medical Cannabidiol, more than 600 health care providers have certified patients for the program by April 18.

Since products went on sale Dec. 1, Mitchell said Have A Heart Compassionate Cares dispensaries in Iowa have lost money for every month were doing work here.

The program still is too restrictive, he said, but the company has taken this model on in states such as Iowa, which is just venturing into the medical cannabis field.

We have to do that as a business, Mitchell said. We have to let them see the benefits (of cannabis) until the stigma is lifted.

The company also operates in states that allow recreational use, which enables them to generate a profit, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he expects state lawmakers to continue expanding the program as more Iowans see positive results from the program.

Any move ahead is better than no move, Mitchell said. What weve seen as far as legislative changes in other states, its a step-by-step process.

A second manufacturer awarded a license by the state to produce medical cannabis is slated to complete construction on a facility in southwest Cedar Rapids later this year. Iowa Relief, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Acreage Holdings, must have products available for sale by July 1.

Inquiries made by The Gazette to Acreage Holdings were not returned Tuesday.

Journal Des Moines Bureau reporter Erin Murphy contributed to this article.

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DES MOINES -- Gov. Kim Reynolds used a sold-out Future Ready Iowa Summit on Tuesday to call for expanding opportunities that Iowa students in elementary and secondary schools can use to engage in real-world, professional experiences that connect their classrooms to future careers.

Work-based learning is a game changer. Its like test driving a career, and I have seen it in action with our registered apprenticeship programs for high school students, Reynolds told the daylong summit that featured a speech by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.

Work-based learning opportunities for K-12 students have been growing across the state in recent years, Reynolds said, citing her STEM Advisory Councils STEM BEST (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) program with 50 projects; the Statewide Work-Based Learning Intermediary Network run by Iowas community colleges; and Registered Apprenticeship programs in high schools in at least six school districts.

Reynolds also announced that the state Department of Education will develop a blueprint by the end of the year for the work-based learning experiences that should be accessible to every student. She said a virtual Iowa Clearinghouse for Work-Based Learning will launch July 1, with projects posted online by employers that educators can select to help students develop technical and soft skills.

We know the job market is changing by the minute, the governor said in her keynote address to nearly 1,000 attendees that included representatives from business, labor, education and nonprofit organizations, along with students, teachers, parents and elected officials from around Iowa.

Each day, were sharpening Iowas competitive edge in education and expanding our workplace partnerships with job-ready, STEM savvy, lifelong learners, Reynolds said. Its vital our students think differently and explore their options when it comes to post-secondary education, so they can be adaptable in the disruptive economy of the future.

Reynolds praised the just-completed 2019 legislative session for approving funding for her Future Ready Iowa workforce program that aims to ensure 70 percent of Iowa workers have post-high school education or job training by 2025.

She said Iowa is at about 58 percent, but the new funding will help support more scholarships and grants to put young Iowans on the path to cutting-edge careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Were in a good place, but weve got a lot of work to do, she told summit attendees.

Jeff Weld, executive director of the Governors STEM Advisory Council and STEM education policy consultant for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the focus of the summit was helping schools go from why to how in using education to close the skills gap and diversify the workforce.

At the close of the summit, Reynolds announced that six high-poverty elementary schools have been selected to each receive $50,000 grants through the Computer Science is Elementary project. The project is designed to transform the schools into models of innovative instruction with the goal of creating opportunities for students and a statewide network of computer science expertise. The schools are in the Denison, Marshalltown, Postville, East Union, Perry and Fort Madison school districts.

Thirty schools applied for the awards. The six schools selected to receive the $50,000 planning grants will implement their programs no later than the 2020-21 school year with regular school funding.

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CEDAR RAPIDS  Maybe the third times the charm, Charles Menge hopes.

He liked Joe Biden in 1988 and 2008 and Menge, of Cedar Rapids, is backing the former vice president in the race this time for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

He has the grasp of what American is all about, Menge said after attending Bidens Iowa campaign kickoff Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. Hell repair the damage thats been done and make sure it doesnt get worse with four more years.

That was at the core of Bidens message to about 300 people at Veterans Memorial Building, where he spoke for about 30 minutes and didnt take questions.

The 2020 election will be different because the very core values of our nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything thats made America America is at stake and we know why, Biden, 76, said as he kicked off his first campaign swing through the first-in-the-nation caucus state. He made stops in Monticello and Dubuque, and will be in Iowa City on Wednesday. Doors open at 12:15 p.m. for a rally at Big Grove Brewery and Taproom, 1225 S. Gilbert St.

If limited to four years, Biden said, Donald Trumps presidency will go down in history as an aberrant moment in time. Give eight years to this administration, were going to forever and fundamentally change the character of the country.

Its not too late to repair the damage done by a Republican president who embraced so many autocrats and dictators and stiff-armed our friends, Biden asserted.

Thats uppermost in the mind of Ambassador Swati Dandekar of Marion. Not only would Biden unite the country with the dignity Americans expect of their president, but the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has the relationships with and respect of world leaders, said Dandekar, a former legislator and ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.

He exemplifies what leadership is all about, she said.

Biden talked about his blue-collar roots and said there is a moral obligation to build the middle class.

The country was not built by Wall Street bankers and CEOs and hedge fund managers, Biden said. It was built by ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. You built America.

There will be time for details later, Biden said, but his priorities call for allowing people, regardless of where they get their health insurance, the opportunity of buying into a public option; making community college education free; creating millions of jobs by rebuilding the nations infrastructure; and by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

He would pay for his agenda by eliminating unnecessary loopholes that, he said, have grown from $800 million under President Ronald Reagan to more than $1.6 trillion under Trump.

But the political system has been broken by a president who wakes up every day to wage war on Twitter  while the rest of the world competing with us is waging the war for the future.

Americans must demonstrate their belief in the American dream, in possibilities, he said.

The only thing that can tear America apart, is no foreign enemy, is America itself, Biden said. Weve got to stop.

Everybody knows who Donald Trump is. I want to make sure they know we are. We choose hope over failure. We choose unity over division. We choose truth over lies. We choose science over fiction, he concluded.

Like Menge, Emily Krall Wieseler of Cedar Rapids has been a Biden fan a long time. I can relate to him, she said while draping her 4-week-old son, Atlas, with a Biden T-shirt.

She and her husband, Ryan Wieseler, are educators  he was at the rally on his lunch break, and appreciated Bidens support for education at all levels.

Vickie Rutan of rural Mount Vernon also is a Biden fan from way back. Im definitely going to vote for him, Rutan said as she waited to shake his hand.

Others were more circumspect. Elizabeth Egan of Marion also has seen Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who also are running for the Democratic nomination, because as an Iowan, I take my responsibility to see the candidates seriously. I think highly of him, but I want to see others, she said.

Mike Nunemaker of Cedar Rapids, a former Republican, is leaning toward Biden, whom he believes he has the best chance against Trump.

I cant imagine four more years, he said.

Jacy Ahmed of Cedar Rapids isnt ready to commit to Biden, but was encouraged by his comment that climate change is an existential threat and that he talked about details like noncompete agreements suppressing low-wage workers.

She likes South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Texas congressman Beto ORourke, too.

But I vote blue. Ill vote for whoever the Democrat is, she said.

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MILFORD, Iowa -- Since the sale of GrapeTree Medical Staffing to a New York-based investment group in 2017, the company has not only increased home office employment by one-third -- from 105 sales, marketing, accounting and human resources positions to 140 full-time situations -- but plans to continue hiring.

In Milford, the company has expanded its space, thanks to a move to the former Boji Bay restaurant and convention, where GrapeTree added a third floor to the two-story building.

CEO Steve Hegg, who came on board at the time of the sale, says GrapeTree is still looking to have nearly 300 employees in the Iowa Great Lakes region as the company continues to expand.

Grape Tree added Ohio and Michigan to its business territory in 2018. Until recently the company operated in Iowa and seven adjacent states -- Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota, plus Indiana.

Turnover has been low, and mostly related to spouse-related job moves, Hegg said. Weve had very good tenure -- and the right amount of turnover. People are excited to be here in a friendly environment -- especially in our new three-story facility.

It's a unique redesign of the former convention center. Theres a gymnasium, downstairs, and Yoga classes, with strength training equipment that staffers can use before work, during lunch, or after hours, Hegg said. Thats all in addition to GrapeTree paying a portion of employees local gym memberships, he said, adding, After all, we are a health-focused company.

BROAD RANGE OF STAFFERS

The people GrapeTree hires must be computer savvy, and not be fearful of four screens in front of them at one time, with the work going from one screen to the next. And, Hegg emphasized, They must deal with our clients and the professional staffers we hire in a professional manner.

Instead of characterizing GrapeTree as a temp firm, Hegg sees the company as one that helps maintain necessary staffing levels at hospitals and nursing homes.

"Our staffing area supports our clients and nurses out in the field. They represent our company, take care of patients and deal with our hospitals or nursing home clients. We dont just hire nurses, we help educate them, and qualify them. Some, he said, take regular full-time jobs with GrapeTree clients. And we encourage that."

Other inside staff members deal directly with clients, the nursing homes, assisted living centers, and hospitals that buy our services. The largest portion of GrapeTrees placements are in long term care facilities -- nursing homes and assisted living facilities. "GrapeTree is the premiere staffing agency for nursing homes and long term care facilities. We also do hospitals. But we do no placements of doctors. Our competency is: RNs, LPNs, and CNAs."

While CNAs are working mostly in nursing homes at present, Hegg explains that he sees that changing.

"With the cost of healthcare constantly increasing, hospital need to bring in certain components that can be given to certain credential levels other than an RN -- to free up RNs to focus on more critical patient care," he said. "There is a professional shortage in all areas of medical care all across the country."

SHORTAGES AHEAD

With all the Baby Boomers who are about to retire, Hegg sees a 10 to 15 year gap where there is a potential shortage of nurses and other professionals. And the problem wont be just to fill a slot.

"When we have an amazing nurse, who has been doing nursing for 20 or 30 years, the knowledge that these people who are retiring with will also be felt, because it takes a long time to replace them with someone who has much less experience," he said. "They will take a year or two or five to become proficient. So not only are we losing a head for a head, but also a head with the amazing knowledge who can help take care of more patients."

Hegg says GrapeTree is paying more than standard wages. We highly compensate our healthcare professionals. And we hold them to a higher standard. We also allow our clients to hire our staff. That ability allows them to use us almost as a recruiting component that ends up saving them time, money, and very costly mistakes by hiring the the right people in the first place.

GrapeTree looks for experience in hiring any nursing professional, and requiring at least one year of experience for CNAs, and two or more years for an RN.

Anyone who has a degree in communications, entrepreneurship, sales or marketing, would be a great fit here in Milford. We have very professional situations -- dealing with the clients -- doctors, directors of nursing -- hospital administrators. You have to be a great communicator -- verbally and in writing.

We have to maintain a high level of standards, especially since its all about health care. Were dealing with people who are going to take care of patients -- people who need the most help. GrapeTree is all about hiring the best employees who are passionate about health care Were looking for those who are ready to put our patients and clients first, and understand the purpose we drive as a company. For Someone who is ready to join a growing company dedicated to improving health care, GrapeTree is the company.

Hegg said he's excited about GrapeTree's future.

"Were not looking to place people for 13 or 14 week contracts. When a facility needs help -- maybe because of an influx in the census, or a staffer needs to take leave -- whatever -- we want to be the company that provides the small bits, the per diem. There is so much growth opportunity in the 11 states where we do business now and in the states were moving into."

Due to the winters weather-related construction delays, GrapeTrees spring open house originally planned for early spring has been postponed until July. By that time, he hopes most landscaping should be completed as well.

Contact Journal correspondent Russ Oechslin at: russ-scj@mindspring.com

Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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First-time novelist Amelie Wen Zhao reportedly received a six-figure advance for her trilogy of young-adult novels, which she sold last year to a Penguin Random House imprint. Her story is set in a fictional empire with an enslaved underclass called Affinites; protagonist Princess Anastacya Mikhailov lives in hiding because of her similarity to the Affinites, and the plot unspools from there. Blood Heir, the first novel in the series, was scheduled to publish next month. That was before the novel came under a tidal wave of criticism from early readers who saw in the book an offensive likeness of American slavery and black oppression. In January, Zhao abruptly issued a statement apologizing for the pain her book had caused and asked her publisher to cancel its publication.

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Now, Zhao told the New York Times, she has changed her mind. Reeling from the criticism after pulling the book from publication, she took time to reread her manuscript several times and decided her critics were wrong. In March, she contacted her editor at Delacorte Press to tell her she wanted to proceed after all. Zhao and the publisher solicited new feedback from experts including a human-trafficking scholar, academics from different multicultural backgrounds, and multiple sensitivity readers who scan manuscripts for stereotypes. She made additions and revisions in response. We ultimately think our YA readers are very smart, her editor told the Times. They can read what they want to read and use their critical thinking skills to work through it. The tweaked version of Blood Heir will be published in November.

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So-called cancellation isnt always permanent in the wider world.

Blood Heir is not the only book to have run into the wood chipper of YA Twitter, the small but influential community of largely adult online readers who can make or break a books fortunesor at least its online reputationlong before it is available to most readers. Laurie Forests much-hyped debut novel, The Black Witch, faced serious backlash in 2017 after one YA blogger called it the most dangerous, offensive book I have ever read in a nearly 9,000-word review that blasted the fantasy novel as racist, ableist, [and] homophobic. (The book was published on schedule.) Author Keira Drake postponed and revised her fantasy novel, The Continent, after early readers criticized it for trafficking in ugly stereotypes of Native Americans. In March, Kosoko Jackson pulled his first novel, a romantic thriller about a relationship between two teenage boys set in the Kosovo War, after a Goodreads reviewer called it out for representational offenses. Jackson issued a statement apologizing to those who I hurt with my words. (Like Zhao, he addressed his apology to the book community.) His next novel, about a gay teen who time-travels to the scene of the Stonewall riots, is scheduled to be published next year.

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In hindsight, Zhaos handling of the episode is a master class in turning an online backlash into a boon. The move allowed her to make a public gesture toward taking her critics seriously, while also winning sympathy and support from the many people who view the YA communitys self-appointed representation police with distaste. Although the withdrawal looked like a defeat at the time, it also boosted Zhaos profile significantly. The announcement of the books return was granted flattering coverage in the Times. And the novel itself will be published less than six months later than originally scheduled. The return of Blood Heir is a reminder that for all the agita about free speech and Twitter mobs, so-called cancellation isnt always permanent in the wider world.

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One of the early criticisms of Blood Heir was that it seemed to depict a black character named May being rescued from the slave trade, and then dying so the white protagonist can live. As one Twitter critic, YA novelist L.L. McKinney, put it at the time, the book was pretty much about slavery and oppressions suffered by the Black community. I havent read Blood Heir, which obviously has not yet been published. But Slates Aja Hoggatt read the first version in January and concluded that its not even clear that May is black. Zhao, who was raised in Beijing, said at the time that she intended to refer to indentured labor and human trafficking in Asia.

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In a new statement announcing the books comeback, Zhao goes further. I researched extensively on the subject of modern-day human trafficking and indentured labor throughout the world and specifically from my heritage, she writes. It is my hope that Blood Heir will confront the silence surrounding this epidemic that continues to affect 45 million victims globally. She emphasizes several times that she is writing from within her own culture, an important assurance for YA Twitter, which uses the term own voices to refer approvingly to a book written by an author whose marginalized identity (or identities) matches her protagonist. (Dip into this thread by one of Blood Heirs early critics, in which she performs 50-page tests on novels she is not sure she wants to read, rejecting many for violations like Indian-inspired fantasy by a white woman and I dont like reading about allocishet white boys, thank you.) Zhaos statement concludes that she is excited for readers to have a chance to engage in further dialogue about these important social issues.

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Time will tell how substantive Zhaos revisions are and whether they will satisfy her critics. Does YA Twitter really want authors to change, or does it just want to tear down those who dont kowtow to them? But reframing her fantasy novel as an invitation to engage in dialogue about a real-world issue is savvy, given the context. Its easy to reject a problematic novel; according to the new rules of YA Twitter, that rejection can even be a moral act. Its harder to reject an attempt to confront the silence around an indisputably horrific human tragedy. In emphasizing a social issue rather than a story, Zhao may have given her novel a second chance at life. It remains to be seen whether it will actually be good for her story.
Earlier this month, as the Guggenheim Museums exhibition of the formerly little-known Swedish painter Hilma af Klint drew to an end, art world power broker Thelma Golden posted an unusually emotional Instagram caption. For these past months the Guggenheim has felt like church, she wrote. All about spirit and soul. I have loved every visit. Many of her peers, who had also posted about their last pilgrimage to the show, shared similarly jubilant impressions.

This message by the director of the Studio Museum made explicit what the museum world already understands: The Hilma af Klint show marks an important moment for a cultural industry struggling with hypercommercial forces, ethical crises, and an urgent pressure to diversify at every level.* Audiences are clearly hungry for provocative, unusual, eye-opening aesthetic experiences that draw them away from their screens and into communal aesthetic experiences. How will museums respond to an environment that rewards the right kind of curatorial risk? Which institutions will take the lead in this new era?

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Hilma af Klint imagined a new visual and mystical universe as early as 1906, before many of the recognized pioneers of the avant-garde (the male trinity of Kandinsky, Malevitch and Mondrian, as the New York Times Roberta Smith put it). She devised a manifesto for living with a group of women called the Five, transforming visions from medium seances into paintings for the future. She produced more than 200 paintings, along with notes, drawings, and diagrams, mostly in secret, demanding that her work not be shown until 20 years after her death. The images were to be displayed, ideally, in a divine temple; they found their home in the Guggenheim, Frank Lloyd Wrights spiral-shaped altar.

The exhibitions unexpected critical and commercial success has rarely been seen in the art world. It brought 600,000 visitors to the museum, becoming the Guggenheims most popular show since the museum opened 60 years ago; 30,000 catalogs were sold (more than Kandinskys 2009 record-breaking book sales at the museum); the Guggenheim recorded a 34 percent increase in memberships. When I saw the show I was just surprised at how strongly I reacted to the work, especially when you walk up the ramp and see these large, fragile paintings, explained Eugenie Tsai, senior curator at the Brooklyn Museum. Part of the draw is the fact that theyre not representational. The abstract language is poetic and its very soothing but also points out to the existence of a larger reality. It doesnt speak the same language of the contemporary visual overload.

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Nevertheless, the exhibition was adopted by the platform of contemporary visual overload, Instagram, with almost 39,000 hashtagged posts from the af Klint show showing the singularly organic forms and cool pastel tones. On the gram, af Klint provoked reactions that ranged from queer pride (Artsygaylove, with two women kissing in front of a painting) to the New Agey (Feeling all sorts of spiritual, posted a young woman posing scantily dressed in front of her pink-and-yellow poster). In an era obsessed with feminine liberation and spirituality, it transformed the artist into a cult of her own.

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As the once male, Western-centric history of art is expanded and rewritten to include those it traditionally pushed out, female artists are experiencing revivals and being praised for their pioneering visions. Institutions that have recently chosen to showcase radical women have been rewarded with massive recognitionand dollars. The success of af Klint can be viewed as a successor to Marina Abramovic, who drew crowds to MoMA in 2010, and Yayoi Kusama, who at 90 is breaking museum attendance records around the world with her polka dots and infinity mirror rooms. Many other underrecognized artists outside the white, male-centric narrative, such as the black sculptor Betye Saar and the Lebanese painter and poet Etel Adnan, have received late and sudden fame after decades of struggle.

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There may now be a greater openness to women and to the belief they can tell the truth, said said Tsai, whose Brooklyn Museum has seen recent hits like Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving and the female-heavy Soul of a Nation.* She compared af Klint to Kahlo and to the rising sculptor Simone Leigh, whose show now follows af Klints at the Guggenheim, as incredibly powerful artists who have so much to say, but whose voices had been ignored or stifled.

I wonder if Hilma was an unexpected blockbuster, continued Tsai. To me this show was an affirmation of the importance of the museum; it took on a life of its own. Everything was in alignment: the art, the architecture, the moment. Exhibitions dont happen in a vacuum; they reflect a collective state of mind, a hunger for something transcendent.

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Now several museums are getting ready to exhibit more work by lesser-known artists from previously marginalized groups, such as MoMA, which is totally revamping its collection and curatorial purpose for the first time in its history. As women such as Joan Mitchell, Suzanne Lacy, and others get their own exhibitions, the lessons of Hilma af Klint are clear. Transforming museums and galleries into malls hasnt proved to be a successful strategy and has failed to inspire the public, sparking activist backlashes instead. In our era of awakening, audiences want to see themselves represented in culture. They want to connect with great stories, which institutions should continue to tell.

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I think this shows us that we have narrowed the field of blockbuster artists to a very small number of men, said the critic and curator Helen Molesworth, citing Warhol, Basquiat, and Picasso. But there are other great artists that capture the imagination of the public. Some risk-averse museums will continue leaning on those blockbuster artists, to their detriment. (Please, not another Old Masters or Bill Viola show!) But when institutions expand their own perspectives, take bold risks, and bring in a wider range of voices, they connect with deeper social movements and with visitorssometimes more of them than an institution ever expected.
Listen to the show in Apple Podcasts, another podcast player, or the player below.

When they immigrated from Egypt, my parents brought a lot of ideas about what kind of men their sons should be. It was all around my blue-collar, immigrant corner of North Jersey: a wife from the tribe, dutiful kids, a man as the natural leader. As the youngest of four kids, three of them boys, I didnt much question who I was meant to be. In fact, I took it for granted, shut down my doubts in my teen years, and took on an air of tough indifference. If I acted like that man, then I would be that man.

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It worked for a while. Fast forward about 15 years, and Im marriedkind of by accident. In two years with my wife, Ive realized how little of our marriage my parents would recognize. My wife and I are open with each other about things I never thought I would talk about with anyone when I was younger, when I equated openness with failed masculinity. I didnt plan it this way. At the same time, I didnt fight it. I dont know what changed to lead me to this place where I am not quite what I thought Id be, and not entirely sure what I want to be, and yet here I am. And looking at whats going on around mein the relationships I see between other men and their families, men and other men, men and women, not only among friends and loved ones but in the news the past couple of years, and in our cultureits pretty obvious that the kind of man my hardheaded Muslim teenage self planned to become is not me. I want to know how and why thats true, and I want to know whats next for me and for guys who may be wondering the same about themselves.

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Thats the idea behind the new Slate podcast Man Up. In a previous series for Slate, Whos Afraid of Aymann Ismail?, I traveled around the country to investigate stereotypes about American Muslims, whether that meant going to the office of a Islamophobic Texas legislator outside Dallas or excavating some of my familys own skeletons. With Man Up, Im doing a lot of the same: having tough, funny, enlightening conversations where I try to get beneath the notions weve taken for granted, and asking hard questions about the ideas we have about what a man should be. Every week, well hear stories from men and women. They might be embarrassing or disturbing. The story might, as with our first episode live Wednesday, be about the urge to fightto be aggressive and dominantno matter the cost. It might be about growing up as the only girl in a group of male friends and what happens when your crew discovers sex. It might be about what happened when I yelled at my brothers kids the way our dad once yelled at us (it wasnt good). My goal is just to be as honest as possible, even when we dont like what I hear, from others and from myself.

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As I start my own family, Ive waited for some kind of eureka moment when I wake up with the complete sense of the man I ought to be, whatever that means. It hasnt happened. So this is what Im going to be investigating in these conversations, too: me. Every story Ive heard so far has helped me figure out a little more about myself and form a more complicated picture of what being a man can mean. It turns out that if you are vulnerable, and ask for vulnerability, you might be surprised by what happens. And we want to invite you to do that with me. Tell me something you think about but can never quite find a way to talk about with other people. Send an email to manup@slate.com, or better yet, leave me a voicemail at 805-626-8707. Well play some on the show and ask more questions. Well be back every week with more stories, I hope including yours.
A federal judge, on Tuesday, ruled in favor of congressional Democrats, allowing their lawsuit that accuses President Trump of violating the emoluments clauses of the Constitution to proceed. More than 200 Democrats in Congress filed suit against Trump last year alleging his ongoing business interests that have continued into his presidency amounts to receiving payments from foreign governments, which is expressly prohibited by the Constitution. Trump has technically stepped down from the day-to-day running of the Trump Organization, but still has ultimate authority over its operation and profits from its success.

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That creates problems, Democrats (and others) allege, because the president is in a position to directly benefit from the actions of foreign governments who could stay in his hotels or engage with any of his other businesses as an effort to curry favor. There is a separate case currently working its way through the court system, brought by the attorneys general of D.C. and Maryland, that specifically deals with the potential emolument violations of Trumps D.C. hotel. In that case, Justice Department lawyers have successfully blocked efforts to subpoena Trumps financial records, but Tuesdays ruling gives new hope to Democrats looking to ensure Trumps opaque financial dealings arent above the law.

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Justice Department lawyers representing the president had asked the court to dismiss the suit on the basis that, the DOJ says, the clause is not intended to be an overall ban on private business transactions with foreign governments. Despite decades of arguing the exact opposite, far stricter interpretation of emoluments, the DOJ has changed its tune under the Trump administration and adopted a far more tailored interpretation of the clause such that it only bars a president from taking payment from a foreign government for an act he undertakes in his official capacity as president. That literal reading seems like a pretty naive understanding of how influence and corruption are carried out. Either way, Trumps lawyers say that since his profits are from market-rate transactions they are not emoluments, or gifts, just, you know, deals. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan rejected the DOJs narrow interpretation of what constitutes an emolument as unpersuasive and inconsistent. Sullivan ruled in September that the Democrats had legal standing to pursue the case, but still needed to weigh in on the definition of an emolument in order to determine if Trump might be breaking the law.

The emoluments cases, which could eventually end up at the Supreme Court, appear to mark the first time that federal judges have interpreted these clauses and applied their restrictions to a sitting president, the Washington Post reports. Led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the Democrats filed their suit last year asking the court to force Trump to stop accepting payments they consider violations of the Constitutions foreign emoluments clause.
It is once again Infrastructure Week in Washington, and this time, it might be more than a joke. Congressional Democratic leaders visited the White House on Tuesday to sketch out the contours of a bill, and initial reactions suggested that the meeting went well, with all principals minding their manners. The two sides will aim for a $2 trillion package targeted at rebuilding roads, highways, bridges, tunnels and railroads, modernizing our air travel system, and expanding broadband access for our great farmers and rural America, per a White House statement. Democrats and the Trump administration agreed to meet again in a few weeks to discuss the more nettlesome question of financing.

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Is there any reason to believe that this infrastructure effort will end differently than any of the other times over the past decade that leaders have called for upgrading our crumbling roads and bridges, before forgetting about it? In fact, maybe. Some favorable incentives to pass such a bill are in place for the two most crucial figures in any major bipartisan legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump. But there are still vast policy disagreements separating the two sides, and whether they allow those disagreements to scuttle the entire effort is a political choice that all involved will have to make.

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Pelosi wants to show that her majority is capable of governing and to give her dozens of vulnerable House membersall of whom campaigned on passing an infrastructure billan accomplishment on which to run. Both she and those vulnerable members are particularly sensitive to the impression that they would only use their majority to investigate the president. This meeting, which Democrats requested just as they were getting a tsunami of questions about impeachment, was itself an effort to change the conversation.

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In Trumps case, he, too, would like a big, bipartisan accomplishment that throws trillions of dollars toward American jobs while hes running for reelection. No longer does he have to abide by former adviser Gary Cohns plan from early 2018 to leverage a more modest investment of $200 billion through the private sector. (Trump never liked that plan and was so bored upon its presentation that he drew doodles about Steve Bannon throughout the meeting about it.) Democrats control the House now, and they would prefer to spend on public investment rather than give private corporations some money to pocket.

But, while the political will to spend trillions on infrastructure exists among both House Democrats and the White House, members of both parties are already drawing policy lines in the sand.

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On Monday, Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to the White House saying that the package must be paid for with substantial, new and real revenue. Schumer, speaking on the Senate floor later that day, offered a suggestion for a source of revenue: rolling back some of Republicans signature 2017 tax legislation.

By reversing only the most egregious giveaways in President Trumps tax billthose given to the wealthiest of the wealthiestand raising the corporate tax rate a smidge, Schumer said. We could finance the entirety of a trillion dollar infrastructure bill. (Now that theyre looking at a $2 trillion bill, two smidges might be in order.) And while the president has been receptive to increasing the gas tax to pay for an infrastructure package, Democratic leaders are not.

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Unless President Trump considers undoing some of the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy, a source close to Schumer said, Schumer wont even consider a proposal from the president to raise the gas tax, of which the poor and working people would bear the brunt.

Working people shouldnt take another big financial hit in order to be able to get to work and take care of essentials, Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee who was also at Tuesdays White House meeting, told reporters on Monday, and particularly not when the big multinational companies, which are causing most of the wear and tear to the infrastructure, got all of these tax breaks.

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I asked Wyden whether he had any reason to believe that the president would be open to undoing some of his biggest legislative accomplishment.

You would have to ask him, he said.

Or I wouldnt, because such a bill would never reach the Oval Office. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that rolling back the 2017 tax bill, at all, to pay for an infrastructure package would be a nonstarter in the Senate.

You would have to ask him, Wyden said. Or I wouldnt, because such a bill would never reach the Oval Office.

This tax bill is whats generated this robust economy, McConnell said at his weekly press conference. The last thing we want to do is step on all of this growth by stepping back and repealing, in effect, what has generated all of this prosperity and low unemployment.

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Republicans in Congress, along with some of the presidents advisers, would prefer to bring down the bills cost by loosening requisite environmental, permitting, and labor regulations. While Trump was meeting with Democrats, his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, made these points in an interview, saying that hes told the president he wont see a single lane of traffic or road paved before the end of your second term without regulatory changes. Mulvaney was generally skeptical of a deal coming together.

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Do I think theres an interest in doing it? Yes, he said. Do I think theres probably more interest, especially on the Democrats part, to make a show for trying to get a deal? Yeah.

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Mick Mulvaney, a piece of work though he may be, may have it right here, even if its more of a two-way street than he lets on. As much as Pelosi may want to protect her front-line members facing reelection, she and Schumer must also recognize that cutting such a deal with Donald Trump would help his reelection chances and invite blowback from the Democratic base.

And congressional Republicans, too, dont want to give off the impression that everything runs smoothly when the Republican president works with a Democratic Congress. The safer route for either side would be to set up the meetings, walk through the motions, blame the other partys rigidity as the talks fall apart, and then campaign blandly on infrastructure ahead of the election. And if neither party wins unified control of Congress and the White House in 2020? Repeat.
President Donald Trump keeps giving the House of Representatives excellent reasons to begin an official impeachment inquiry.

The latest came on Monday when Trump and some members of his family filed a lawsuit to quash subpoenas asking Deutsche Bank and Capitol One to turn over financial records concerning the Trumps and their business. The president argues that House Democrats issued the subpoenas for illegitimate reasons unconnected to any formal business of Congress. This argument is quite weak under Supreme Court precedent, since Congress has broad constitutional authority to conduct investigations. But if Democrats are worried about making the case in court that their subpoenas are tethered to a legitimate congressional function, they have a simple solution at hand: Admit that these subpoenas may serve as a prelude to impeachment.

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No one seriously questions Congress power to issue subpoenas as part of its oversight duties. But Trumps lawyers insist that these subpoenas, which have not yet been released to the public, go too far. They were, Mondays lawsuit alleges, issued to harass the president, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances to locate material that might be used to cause him political damage. Because no grounds exist to establish any purpose other than a political one, the suit claims, the federal courts must prohibit the banks from complying with the subpoenas.

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This analysis might be compelling from a partisan perspective. But from a legal standpoint, it is highly dubious. In 1975s Eastland v. United States Servicemens Fund, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitutions Speech or Debate Clause generally bars courts from interfering with congressional subpoenas. The court explained that as long as Congress is operating within the sphere of legitimate legislative activity or with respect to other matters which the Constitution places within the jurisdiction of either House, the judiciary is flatly forbidden from impeding its subpoena power.

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Trumps lawyers insist that Democrats subpoenas breach this sphere, writing that investigations are legitimate only insofar as they promote some legitimate legislative purpose. And because there is no possible legislation at the end of this tunnel, the subpoenas fall outside the Houses constitutional authority and must be quashed. This reading of Eastland is, at best, creative: The Supreme Court did not limit the legitimate legislative sphere to the deliberation of legislation alone. Instead, citing an earlier case, it asked whether the subpoenas were part of the deliberative and communicative processes  with respect to the consideration and passage or rejection of proposed legislation or with respect to other matters which the Constitution places within the jurisdiction of either House.

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Note that the court did not require Congress to justify its subpoenas by pointing to some proposed legislation that an investigation might further. Rather, the court explained that the power to investigate is inherent in the power to make laws and that the issuance of subpoenas has long been held to be a legitimate use by Congress of its power to investigate. In other words, Congress paramount constitutional duty is to make laws. To legislate, Congress must investigate; to investigate, Congress must issue subpoenas. And courts may not second-guess a congressional committees decision that an otherwise lawful subpoena may aid future legislation.

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Under constitutional text and Supreme Court precedent, then, Trumps lawsuit should fail. The current Supreme Court, however, has not proved especially respectful of precedent. It also seems eager to shield this administration from scrutiny and aggrandize Trumps powers. So, it certainly wouldnt hurt if the House had a backup argumentone that relied not only on precedent linking investigations to legislation, but that explained how these subpoenas directly assist the House exercise matters which the Constitution places within the jurisdiction of either House.

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Thats where impeachment comes into play. There is a possibilitynot huge, but not trivialthat conservative judges could interfere with these subpoenas by asserting that they are too detached from actual legislation to constitute legitimate legislative actions. But Congress does not only have the power to make laws; it also has the power to impeach the president. It shares that authority with no other body; the decision to impeach the president is the Houses alone. And as ThinkProgress Ian Millhiser has noted, the Houses power to investigate the presidents potential high crimes and misdemeanors is inherent in its authority to impeach him. Congress members need to inspect the presidents alleged crimes to determine whether impeachment is an appropriate remedy.

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Under constitutional text and Supreme Court precedent, then, Trumps lawsuit should fail.

If Trumps lawsuit winds up before a court that appears hostile to the subpoenas, the House should be prepared to explain why its investigation is necessary to promote all of its legitimate congressional interests. Not just hypothetical legislation, but in other core constitutional powers. Congress already knows that Trump may have accepted payments from foreign governments in violation of the Constitution. It also knows that he obstructed justice in an effort to impede special counsel Robert Muellers investigationwhich, among other things, reportedly inspected Trumps financial records. Congress thus has an excellent reason to subpoena bank records of Trump, his business, and his family, seeking proof of misconduct grave enough to trigger impeachment proceedings.

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Any court that hampered the Houses ability to obtain those materials by exercising its subpoena powers would act in clear contravention of the Constitution. Even in our increasingly Trump-friendly judiciary, it is difficult to imagine judges so blatantly interfering with the congressional process. Democrats should admit what everyone already knows: These subpoenas may undergird eventual articles of impeachment. There is nothing shameful about that, and no reason to keep it a secret. To the contrary, its a smart strategy to fend off Trumps legal challenge and remind courts that the House is operating squarely within its constitutional prerogatives.
When Attorney General William Barr appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to testify about special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, Republican Sen. Mike Hawley characterized it as an attempt to overturn the results of a democratic election. Sen. Lindsey Graham said, When the Mueller report is put to bed, and it soon will be, this committee is going to look long and hard on how this all started. And Sen. Mike Lees line of questioning suggested that he believes the foundations of the investigation were too flimsy and motivated by political bias.

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In their attempts to discredit the investigation, those characterizations essentially ignored what the special counsel has already accomplished: uncovering an assortment of crimes committed by dozens of people, including Trump campaign advisers. In case Republicans on the committeeor anyone elseneed to be reminded, heres a rundown of the indictments against 34 people and three companies achieved by the special counsel, many of which have led to guilty pleas:

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Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chair

Manafort faced 25 counts from Muellers team related primarily to his lobbying efforts in Ukraine and financial wrongdoing. A jury in the Eastern District of Virginia found Manafort guilty of eight counts related to the financial crimes, and he additionally pled guilty to conspiracy against the U.S. and witness tampering in the District of Columbia. He was sentenced to a total of seven-and-a-half years of incarceration.

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Rick Gates, former Trump campaign aide

Gates was one of campaign chair Paul Manaforts closest associates and confidants, so their indictments were intimately linked. Gates pleaded guilty in February 2018 to felony counts of conspiracy against the U.S. and lying to federal authorities in connection with work he and Manafort completed for a pro-Russia faction in Ukraine. By agreeing to cooperate with the special counsel, Gates was able to avoid a host of other charges having to do with foreign financial dealings.

Konstantin Kilimnik, former Russian military interpreter

Muellers office indicted Kilimnik for conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice in June. Kilimnik worked with Manafort on lobbying efforts in Ukraine and, according to the indictment, attempted to sway two journalists who were potential witnesses. Kilimnik does not currently reside in the U.S., so he may never be prosecuted.

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Alex van der Zwann, lawyer

Van der Zwaan, a Dutch national, pleaded guilty in February 2018 to charges of lying to federal agents about his interactions with Gates and Kilimnik. Van der Zwaan had been involved in Gates and Manaforts lobbying efforts in Ukraine and later admitted to lying about that work and deleting related emails. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison.

Michael Flynn, former White House national security adviser

Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump was inaugurated, and lying to the feds about his lobbying efforts on behalf of Turkey.

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Roger Stone, former Trump campaign adviser

Muellers office unveiled charges against Stone in January on seven counts of obstruction of justice, lying, and witness tampering. The investigation also found that Stone had been seeking out stolen emails from WikiLeaks that could damage Hillary Clintons campaign. The indictment alleged that Stone lied to Congress about his communications with the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks and his knowledge of the organizations plans to release the hacked material.

Stone is also accused of influencing one of his associates to use Fifth Amendment protections to avoid answering questions from the House Judiciary Committee. Stones trial is scheduled for November.

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George Papadopoulos, former foreign policy campaign adviser

Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days of incarceration in September after pleading guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about his interactions with foreign nationals with ties to the Russian government. Papadopoulos had allegedly tried several times to set up meetings between Russian officials and Trump campaign staffers over the course of the election but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Michael Cohen, Trumps personal lawyer

In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to charges of lying to Congress about the canceled Trump Tower project in Moscow, particularly concerning the length of the endeavor and Trumps knowledge of the business discussions. And as a result of an investigation that Mueller referred to the Southern District of New York, Cohen also pleaded guilty in August to eight counts of campaign finance violations related to hush money agreements with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Cohen was ultimately sentenced to three years of incarceration.

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12 Russian GRU agents

Muellers office charged members of the GRU, the Russian intelligence agency, in July on 11 counts related to the hacking of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic National Committee.

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13 Russian nationals and three companies

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In February, 2018, a group of Russian nationals and three associated companies were charged for a sprawling election interference scheme that involved sowing discord and promoting distrust of American democracy on social media. The internet trolls assumed fake personas, spread disinformation, and attempted to boost Trumps candidacy. It is unlikely that the any of these individuals will be extradited from Russia to face trial.

Richard Pinedo, fake ID vendor

Pinedo, a California man, was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home detention in October for selling fake online identities that 13 Russian operatives would eventually use to set up PayPal accounts for their efforts to sow discord on social media during the 2016 election.
Heres a fun short story of political absurdity. It begins with what Attorney General William Barr said in an April 18 press conference just before the public release of the full-but-redacted Robert Mueller special counsel report:

The White House fully cooperated with the special counsels investigation, providing unfettered access to campaign and White House documents, directing senior aides to testify freely, and asserting no privilege claims.

It was clear when the report was released that fully cooperated was an extreme stretch given that Trump had, for example, literally dictated an announcement he wanted thenAttorney General Jeff Sessions to make that would have terminated the portion of Muellers work involving contacts between Trump and Russia. Heres how the report summarizes that incident (Corey Lewandowski was one of Trumps 2016 campaign managers):

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On June 19, 2017, the President met one-on-one with Corey Lewandowski in the Oval Office and dictated a message to be delivered to Attorney General Sessions that would have had the effect of limiting the Russia investigation to future election interference only. One month later, the President met again with Lewandowski and followed up on the request to have Sessions limit the scope of the Russia investigation.

(The phrase limiting the Russia investigation to future election interference is euphemistic herethe explicit purpose of the Mueller inquiry as it was formally defined was to examine links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump in order to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian governments efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential campaign.)

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Given that Sessions had recused himself from the investigation because it involved inquiries into his own conduct, Trumps request was inappropriate on multiple levelsand, whether or not it rose to the level of criminal obstruction, certainly did not constitute full cooperation. On Wednesday, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Barr about this, shall we say, tension during Barrs appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Barrs answers were  well:

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LEAHY: You think thats fully cooperating, to instruct a former aide to tell the attorney general to unrecuse himself, shut down the investigation, and declare the president did nothing wrong? BARR: I dont thinkwell, obviously, since I didnt find it was obstruction, I felt that the evidence could not support obstruction. LEAHY: Im asking you if thats fully cooperating. Im not asking you if thats obstruction. Is that fully cooperating? BARR: He fully cooperated. LEAHY: By instructing a former aide to tell the attorney general to unrecuse himself and shut down the investigation and declare the president did nothing wrong, thats fully cooperating? BARR: Where is that in the report? LEAHY: That is on Volume II, page fiveon June 19, 2017, the president dictated a message to Lewandowski that Jeff Sessions should publicly announce he was not recusing himself from the Russia investigation, that its very unfair to the president as the president has done nothing wrong. Is that cooperating? BARR: Firstly, asking Sessions to unrecuse himself, we do not think, is obstruction. LEAHY: And to declare that the president did nothing wrong. Im not asking you if its obstruction. Is it cooperating? BARR: I dont know if that declares the president did nothing wrong. Although the president, in terms of collusion, did nothing wrong. Isnt that correct? LEAHY: Collusion is not a crime. Its the obstructing. But is that fully cooperating, to say that? BARR: Well, I dont see any conflict between that and fully cooperating with the investigation.

So there you go. He doesnt see it.
Special counsel Robert Mueller wrote a curt letter to Attorney General Bill Barr complaining about Barrs characterization of the special counsels findings to Congress, the Washington Post reports. Days after Barr wrote a four-page memo to Congress outlining what he said were the key findings of the Mueller report, Mueller responded in a letter dated March 27, telling Barr he found his portrayal of the recently completed report did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the findings.

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Barrs memo several days earlier was the first inkling the general public had received of the conclusions of the nearly two-year long special counsel investigation. Barr wrote that there was insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy by the Trump campaign in its dealings with Russians and that while Muellers team had not come to a conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice, Barr had reviewed the evidence and found there wasnt enough of it to support charging Trump with obstruction. In his response to Barr, Mueller, per the Washington Posts reporting, seemed to take umbrage with Barrs characterization of the obstruction findings.

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The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, Mueller wrote. There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

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The Barr memo was worded and released in such a way that implied Mueller had given Trump a pass on obstruction, a point which was picked up in news coverage of Barrs description. When the Mueller report itself became public this month however, it became clear that Mueller had compiled a substantial obstruction case, leaving it to Congress to decide whether to pursue it. Barrs release of the reports findings, however, went to great lengths to set a narrative that Trump was in the clear and give it time to congeal well before there was any information available to refute Trumps barrage of self-exculpatory tweets. Muellers letter appears to hint at that frustration around what appears to have been an intentional attempt to muddy the water.

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DOJ officials told the Post they were surprised at the tone of the letter and Barr and Mueller spoke on the phone for 15 minutes the following day in what was described as a cordial conversation that included differences on how to proceed with the reports release. After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Muellers letter, he called him to discuss it, a Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday. In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsels obstruction analysis. They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released. However, the Attorney General ultimately determined that it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion, the spokeswomans statement continues. The Attorney General and the Special Counsel agreed to get the full report out with necessary redactions as expeditiously as possible.

Stay tuned, Barr is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning for questioning.
Police have the suspected shooter in custody after a shooting spree at University of North Carolina Charlotte Tuesday ended in two dead and another four injured, three critically so. Shots were fired around 4:40 p.m. on what was the last day of class on campus before final exams. Police confronted and disarmed the shooter, believed to be a student, who was carrying a handgun, university police chief Jeffrey A. Baker said at a news conference. One officer immediately went to the suspect to take him down, Baker said. He said nothing, he said of the suspects reaction.

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The university emergency system called for students to shelter in place in response to the shooting reported near Kennedy administrative building, telling students to Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately.

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NinerAlert: Shots reported near kennedy. Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately. Monitor email and https://t.co/LxOefV3rbf  UNCC OEM (@NinerAlerts) April 30, 2019

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A video taken by a student on the scene shows people evacuating the school library as police sprint by responding to the shooting.

We are in shock to learn of an active shooter situation on the campus of UNC Charlotte. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said on Twitter.
This clearly wasnt how it was supposed to go. On Tuesday morning, the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized as the interim president of the country by the United States and other countries, broadcast a video from a military base flanked by armed National Guard troops who had defected to the opposition. It appeared that the armed forces of Venezuela, or at least a significant portion of them, might finally have turned on embattled de facto President Nicolas Maduro.

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But as the day wore on, it became clear that Guaido didnt have the numbers. After an initial skirmish, there were no additional signs of military forces fighting on the opposition side. The army remained with Maduro. Demonstrations flared throughout Caracas, and more than 60 people were injured, including in one grotesque incident, captured on video, in which an armored vehicle plowed into a throng of protesters on a crowded overpass. At the end of the day, Maduro appeared on TV flanked by his senior military commanders. Guaido, from an undisclosed location, called for more protests WednesdayMay Daybut its becoming clear that the opposition took its best shot on Tuesday and fell short.

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Was something else supposed to happen? U.S. officials seemed to suggest so. In a video message posted on Twitter, National Security Adviser John Bolton named several senior Venezuelan officials who had all agreed that Maduro had to go. Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted that four of the men sitting with Maduro during his announcement had been involved in launching the uprising. Its not clear quite how closely the Trump administration was involved with this overthrow attempt, but it seems like there was at least some expectation in Washington that these military brass would turn on Maduro when the time came.

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So what happens now? Guaido and his supporters will continue to try to rally public support, but its unclear how many setbacks like this his movement can sustain. Leopoldo Lopez, the former presidential candidate and opposition leader who had been imprisoned but then surprised supporters by appearing in public with his protege Guaido on Tuesday, has sought refuge at the Spanish Embassy.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that military action is possible, which sounds drastic but has more or less been the official U.S. position since the beginning. For now, it seems unlikely.

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The administrations attention appears to be shifting to Venezuelas foreign allies. Pompeo accused the Russian government of dissuading Maduro from leaving for Cuba on Tuesday. He had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it, and the Russians indicated he should stay. (This could be truethe Russians have denied itbut it seems odd given that Maduro doesnt appear to have ever been in any serious danger.) President Donald Trump also threatened Cuba with a full and complete embargo unless it ceases its military support for Maduros government.

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This would seem a pretty trivial threat given that Cuba has been under a U.S. embargo since the early 1960s. Yes, there are ways to tighten the embargo and amp up the pressure, but it seems unlikely the Cubans will fold after half a century. It feels more like an acknowledgment that Washington is running out of means to impose pressure on Venezuela itself.

Much of the Trump administrations bluster in the past two daysincluding Boltons message, in English, to all the patriotic citizens of Venezuela, appears intended more for consumption by voters in Florida than by the generals in Caracas.

Without the military turning against Maduro, its hard to see a path to victory for the opposition, even with heavy backing from the U.S. and other foreign powers. Unfortunately, given the grim shambles of a situation hes created in Venezuela, Maduro now appears likely to hang on to power.
When Attorney General Bill Barr gave a press conference in advance of his release of the Mueller report on April 18, the most shocking moment came when he claimed that the presidents attempts to curtail the Mueller investigation were justified because the investigation had annoyed him. The president was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks, Barr said.

At the time, it was stunning how deliberately Barr seemed to be very specifically appropriating President Donald Trumps extralegal talking point about blaming the press and the presidents enemies for the presidents conduct. As my colleague Mark Joseph Stern noted that day, this wasnt a legal defense. It was nothing short of the claim that if the president feels harassed, it isnt illegal to stop an investigation. As Stern put it:

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Barrs message here is simple: Trump is the real victim. The victim of the media and leaks. The victim of excess scrutiny and oversight. The victim of what Barr appears to believe was an overly intrusive investigation conducted by overzealous federal agents and prosecutors. All of Trumps lying, his interference, his efforts to publicly discredit the probe, his public assault on Muellerall of it is excusable, Barr implied, because the probe found no collusion. Indeed, Barr writes off Trumps campaign against the investigation as a perfectly understandable effort to maintain his innocence. His acts were not obstructionary; they were noble.

That defense was shocking not simply because it had nothing to do with the legal questions of conspiracy and obstruction before Mueller and Barr, but also because it seemed to have explicitly adopted and accepted the Trumpist worldview that holds any attempt at oversight or investigation deemed by the president to be unjustified harassment is illegitimate. This is, by the way, pretty much the same legal theory being invoked this week to reject the authority of congressional oversight and subpoenas. As Steve Vladek observed this past weekend, the defense that absolutely everything is a witch hunt and thus not legitimate is not a specific constitutional claim. It is, however, a recipe for a constitutional crisis.

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This now appears to be a central tenet of the legal strategy Trump and his surrogates are pushing forward, though. At his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning, Barr seems to have again blamed the existence of a witch hunt against Trump for virtually everything Trump later did to put a stop to it. The press was again cited as the reason he rushed out his initial, erroneous summary of the report, as was the publics high state of agitation. Barr even claimed that it was the press coverage of the initial Mueller report summary that troubled Mueller, rather than Barrs own letter downplaying the reports findings. Barr testified that Mueller told him the press reporting had been inaccurate. And yet, in Muellers March 27 letter objecting to Barrs characterization of the report (which just became public on Tuesday) there is NOTHING to suggest that Mueller thought it was the press that got it wrong.

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Then, in response to questions from Sen. Dianne Feinstein about why it was that Trump ordered former White House counsel Don McGahn to end the Mueller probe, Barr seems to have again taken the legal position that the presidents anger and frustration over press reports that he had instructed McGahn to fire Mueller somehow made this directive permissible. Barr seemed to be saying that Trump could not have committed obstruction by asking McGahn to fire Mueller, so long as he was attempting to forestall further negative press. As Barr put it:

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If the president is being falsely accused, which the evidence now suggests that the accusations against him were false, and he knew they were false, and he felt that this investigation was unfair, propelled by his political opponents and was hampering his ability to govern, that is not a corrupt motive for replacing an independent counsel.

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This is an astonishing claimthat if the president feels that the investigation is unnecessary and is resulting in him being harassed or misrepresented in the media, then the president is justified in taking any action he sees fit to stop it without running afoul of the obstruction laws. Its also a claim that was refuted in the Mueller report itself. Its Nixonian in scope to imply that anything Trump wants to do in order to push back against the media and protect his reputation is legal and justified.

Barr has not been having a good morning. Muellers now-public March 27 letter has revealed that the otherwise sphinx-like special counsel was frustrated by the way Barr initially characterized the report, putting the attorney general in a defensive position from which he has had trouble recovering. In addition to adopting and expanding the presidents war on the press and witch hunt defenses, Barr has now placed the Justice Department itself into the crosshairimplying that the DOJ itself and Mueller are bound to a view of the law that somehow takes into account the presidents antipathy and anger toward his perceived enemies as inherently exculpatory.

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We know that Donald Trump hates the media, and he hates being criticized, and he believes that his own suffering justifies all of his actions. Weve known that for a long time. But for the attorney general to expressly adopt the view that the president cant obstruct justice if hes doing it because the press is annoying him is an appalling next step in the descent into establishing an imperial presidency, unchecked by either Congress or a free media. Every president believes the media gives him a raw deal. Barr just put the Justice Departments imprimatur on the claim that such feelings put the president above the law.
This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy.

Attorney General William Barrs prepared statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee appears to mark out a framework that basically says a sitting president is not immune from federal prosecutors making a determination that the president committed an indictable offense.

Whether or not Barr articulated this legal framework to justify his decision in the Mueller investigation, it has two significant implications. First, it would mean that special counsel Robert Mueller may now be able to say on the record whether he believes President Donald Trump committed the crime of obstruction. Mueller should have the opportunity to do so in congressional testimony soon. Second, it would mean that the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York may make that formal determination as well if federal prosecutors conclude Trump engaged in a criminal conspiracy to make hush money payments in violation of federal campaign finance laws or committed tax and other financial crimes.

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In a nutshell, Barrs clarification of the Justice Departments position appears to work in the following way. Before a prosecutor decides to submit a possible indictment to a grand jury, she must take a prior step: decide for herself whether the case involves a prosecutable crime. The Office of Legal Counsel opinions close off the option of prosecution and indictment of a sitting president but not this prior step. Barr appears to be saying in his prepared remarks that a federal prosecutor (here, a special counsel) can and should take that prior step. Decide yes or no on the question of whether the president committed a crime.

Here are some of the key passages in Barrs statement (emphasis mine):

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The role of the federal prosecutor and the purpose of a criminal investigation are well-defined. Federal prosecutors work with grand juries to collect evidence to determine whether a crime has been committed. Once a prosecutor has exhausted his investigation into the facts of a case, he or she faces a binary choice: either to commence or to decline prosecution. To commence prosecution, the prosecutor must apply the principles of federal prosecution and conclude both that the conduct at issue constitutes a federal offense and that the admissible evidence would probably be sufficient to obtain and sustain a guilty verdict by an unbiased trier of fact. These principles govern the conduct of all prosecutions by the Department and are codified in the Justice Manual. The appointment of a Special Counsel and the investigation of the conduct of the President of the United States do not change these rules. [A]t the end of the day, the federal prosecutor must decide yes or no.

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The statement is consistent with Barrs testimony before Congress in April. Barr stated in response to a question from Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Florida, It was important for people to know the bottom line conclusions of the report, and from a prosecutors standpoint the bottom line is binary, which is charges or no charges.* The one oddity here is that Barr also refers to bringing a charge, or commencing a prosecution, which appears foreclosed by the Office of Legal Counsel opinions. A more radical reading of Barrs statement would be that it erases the line drawn by the Office of Legal Counsel.

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In his report, Mueller took the view that he did not have authority under the Justice Departments standing legal opinions to make a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President. Mueller essentially concluded that he only had a one-way ratchet: He could make a formal assessment that the president did not commit a crime (see Volume 1 of the report on Russian interference), but he could not make a formal accusation that a sitting president did commit a crime (Volume 2 on obstruction). Barrs statement to the Senate may reset that framework. Indeed, Barrs clarification of the rules appears to state that Mueller has a duty to make the call.

More From Just Security:

What Congress Should Ask Bill Barr When He Testifies

Mueller Report Illustrates Trumps Authoritarian Rhetorical Tactics
Last week, a beluga whale approached a fishing boat off the coast of Norway. The fishermen, surprised to encounter such a sociable whale, then noticed it was wearing a harness. Once they removed it, they noticed a label on the inside: Equipment of St. Petersburg. The Norwegians then contacted Russian researchers, who said their whales dont wear harnesses. Plus, belugas are social animals that typically travel in small groups, so this lone whale seemed suspicious. Experts surmised the fishermens new smiley friend might actually be a Russian spy.

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In all fairness to the beluga, lets be clear that its an alleged spy. Theres no conclusive evidence yet about where its from or what it was up to. After all, it does seem like the antithesis of sneaky to outfit your spy with a harness thats directly traceable back to its origin. If we were using this animal for spying do you really think wed attach a mobile phone number with the message please call this number? Russian Col. Viktor Baranets reportedly told a broadcaster. Plus, wouldnt you think that the second most powerful military in the world would have more advanced technology than a friendly looking whale seeking nose pats and fish from strangers?

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On that point, at least, the answer is: not necessarily. Certainly, Russias military, as well as those of many other nations, has been developing water drones, or, as the U.S. Navy prefers to call them, unmanned undersea vehicles. (The word drone has a negative connotation, says the Navy.) These UUVs can do jobs deemed too dangerous or tedious for crewed watercraft, like mapping the seabed and coast, keeping tabs on harbors and ports, collecting items from the seabed, and counteracting mines. Russia is rumored to be working on nuclear torpedo drones, a terrifying prospect, and China has developed a fleet of drones to be used during sea battles.

Spy whales predate all that, and while they may not be what comes to mind as military technology, they may be superior to fancy, expensive new machinery when it comes to surveillance and minesweeping. Since the 1960s, both the Russian and U.S. militaries have been training marine mammals to do their bidding. Despite news reports in 2012 that the U.S. was planning to phase out its marine animal program by 2017 in favor of UUVs, the U.S. Navy still maintains its fleet of bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions. Also in 2012, Ukraine rebooted its dolphin training program, which Russia inherited after it annexed Crimea in 2014. As recently as 2016, Russia was in the market for new recruits, offering $24,000 to any dealer who could provide them with five bottlenose dolphins. Though belugas are not as common as dolphins in military marine animal programs, it would be smart to have a few in your arsenal. They operate in colder temperatures and deeper depths, perfect for, say, the waters off the coast of Norway.

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Doug Cartlidge, former adviser to Russia on dolphin care, told Wired in 2007 that the Russians were training dolphins to attach mines to enemy ships and to prod enemies with a needle attached to a pressurized carbon dioxide tank, which would functionally kill whomever the dolphins touched. The U.S. Navy, on the other hand, claims its dolphins have never been used to kill. These days, marine animals appear to be trained for many of the same recon, fetch, and surveillance duties as UUVs would perform.

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A belugas unassuming adorableness makes it a capable spy simply because no one would suspect it.

At this point, in the U.S. Navy, UUVs are frequently used for minesweeping, says Ed Budzyna, the Navy Marine Mammal Programs spokesman. Dolphins are not the first to be called these days for that kind of job. But there are many good reasons to use marine animals over UUVs for tasks that both are capable of. First off, animals dont need to be recharged. While many current UUVs have a battery life of about 24 hours, belugas could operate nearly indefinitely, says Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and a retired submariner. You could take a sensor you might put on a UUV, like a sonar system, and the whale could swim out for days at a time. Assuming the whale is trained to resurface periodically, its trainers could pull the data it collects, outfit it with a new sensor, and send it on another mission immediately. That could be what this beluga was doing. According to the BBC, marine biologist Audun Rikardsen said the harness had a GoPro camera holder attached to it. (It seems strange for the Russian military to be using GoPros for reconnaissance, but whoever outfitted the beluga in that harness appears to have wanted footage from its adventures.)

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There also may be missions that animals are still better at than UUVs. Sea lions are very good at hearing and seeing underwater. The water can be cloudy or muddy, but its still no trouble for a sea lion, says Budzyna, while robotics would have a hard time with pier pilings and murky waters.

Depending on their mission, belugas could also be cheaper to train and manage than UUVs. The Navy says that its cost analyses have found that the MK 5 QuickFind Marine Mammal program, which uses sea lions, is much less expensive to employ than either remotely operated vehicles or human divers for depths from 1001000 feet. Granted, its still not cheap. It costs money to transport animals for special missions, since they must travel with custom enclosures and a full veterinary staff. The Atlantic Wire reported in 2014 that the cost of the militarys mine-hunting dolphin program is about $14 million; Hakai reported earlier this year that dolphin upkeep between 2012 and 2019 cost around $75 million, averaging out to just under $11 million a year. A cheap UUV is in the neighborhood of $50,000, and after factoring in costs of maintenance and training staff to use it, it may actually be more cost effective to use military animals, says Clark.

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Also, look at that face. A belugas unassuming adorableness makes it a capable spy simply because no one would suspect it (unless it had a super-suspicious label on its harness, of course). The military has relied on this tactic before, using reconnaissance pigeons to drop off recording devices, take photos, or train to identify individual faces, like Osama bin Ladens because people generally dont think of animals as spies. On the CIAs page about the history of pigeon surveillance, it acknowledges the advantage conferred by pigeons mundanity: Being a common species, the pigeon concealed its role as an intelligence collection platform among the activities of thousands of other birds.

Belugas in the sea could also fly under the radar, so to speak, just as birds do in the sky. If youre the target, you might think, Its just a whale swimming around, and not be worried about what its doing, says Clark. You wouldnt necessarily think its a surveillance system. Another advantage of belugas spying in their home territory is that unlike UUVs or other water craft, belugas arent mechanical and may be less likely to pose a disturbance to other marine life.

Meanwhile, the beluga at least seems to be having fun in Norway, fetching rings for locals. If it is indeed a spy, it certainly wont be the last marine mammal to turn up in search of food or attention from humans, but lets hope this one gets to retire to a nice marine sanctuary in peace.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Americans have a love affair with meat. Many romanticize the sizzle of a steak, the iron-pink bleed of a medium-rare burger, and the imagined farm they came from.

Its a love that has come at a cost: An enormous industrialized livestock system rife with animal abuse uses up massive amounts of land and water. It may also be responsible for nearly one-sixth of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet, tech-driven startups say they can offer a better way. New waves of investment have cell-cultured food companies in an edible space race to see who can get their so-called cell-based meatanimal tissue grown in bioreactors instead of live animalson consumers plates first. Advances in molecular science have also fueled a new boom in plant-based meat offerings that look, smell, taste, and even grease and bleed like their fleshy counterparts. And these companies arent marketing to vegans and vegetarians. You can now get an Impossible Foods burger instead of a beef patty on your Burger King Whopper. Beyond Meat is stocked in the meat section of most U.S. grocery stores.

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But can these slaughter-free meat alternatives really become cheap and mainstream enough to replace your traditional chorizo or chicken nugget? Can these biotech creations overcome the uncanny ick valley from consumers stuck on ideas that meat should come from farms and not the lab?

Join Future Tense, the New America Fellows Program, and New America NYC on May 8 at Interface NYC for drinks, plant-based meat alternative samples from Beyond Meat, and a conversation about the future foods that may dramatically transform the American way of eating.

For more information and to RSVP, visit the New America website.

Participants:

Chase Purdy, @chasepurdy

2019 National Fellow, New America

Staff Writer, Quartz

Meera Zassenhaus, @meerazassenhaus

Engagement Associate at New Harvest, New Harvest

Nicole Taylor, @foodculturist

Author, The Up South Cookbook

Moderator:

Helena Bottemiller Evich, @hbottemiller

Senior Food and Agriculture Reporter, Politico

Follow the conversation online using #futureofmeat and by following @NAFellows, @FutureTenseNow, and @NewAmericaNYC.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Every piece of land in the world (well, almost every piece) is occupied by one country or another. Wherever you are, theres a government looking to impose its laws on you. So what are you to do if none of the 193 or so national governments that have carved up the Earths landmass suit you? Take to the sea, obviously.

That, more or less, is the thinking behind seasteading, a movement of people looking to create autonomous dwellings or cities at sea, outside the sovereignty of any nation-state. Seasteading has been in the news in recent days thanks to a coupleU.S. citizen Chad Elwartowski and his Thai partner, Supranee Thepdet, aka Nadia Summergirlwho have gone into hiding after being charged by the government of Thailand with violating national sovereignty by living in a small cabin mounted on a weighted spar, anchored 12 nautical miles off the shore of Phuket. The two are currently in hiding and the charge against them theoretically carries the death penalty, though Thai authorities, who have seized the property, say they may end up being charged with a lesser offense.

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The home was launched in February, funded by a group of entrepreneurs called Ocean Builders with assets gained from early investments in bitcoin. I just want to get seasteading [to] happen for real. I want to make it happen here in Thailand, Elwartowski told Reason in March, saying he saw his home as a proof of concept for more ambitious projects to come. If the project had been successful, the plan was to sell other units to create a sort of colony around Elwartowski and Summergirls seastead. A short documentary series on YouTube, The First Seasteaders, shows the raising of the 20-meter spar, during which Elwartowski proclaimed, To all those out there who want to control peoples lives through force, heres my big finger to you.

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The seasteading concept has some historical antecedents, notably the Principality of Sealand, a long-standing micronation established on a disused British artillery platform in the North Sea by pirate-radio DJ Paddy Roy Bates in 1967. But the movements modern incarnation dates back to the founding of the Seasteading Institute in 2008 by Patri Friedman, a former Google employee and grandson of free market economist Milton Friedman. The institute received early financial backing from the libertarian billionaire Peter Thiel, though hes since somewhat distanced himself from the project.

Nobody thinks two people on a floating home is a new country thats going to threaten anyones sovereignty."  Patri Friedman

While the eventual goal of seasteading is still the creation of fully autonomous, politically sovereign communities, for the time being, the institute is looking to promote partnerships to build floating cities in cooperation with existing governments. The institute signed an agreement with the government of French Polynesia to build a lagoon in Tahiti in 2017, but the French Polynesian government has since declared that project void after public backslash.

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In an interview last week, I asked Friedman, who is still chairman of the board of the Seasteading Institute but says he is no longer involved in day-to-day operations, whether Elwartowski and Summergirls fate would be a setback for the movement, a discouragement for those who might want to try seasteading. I think that its more likely to wise up potential seasteaders to make sure they dot their Is and cross their Ts legally, he told me. What Ive gathered from what Chad and Nadia wrote is that they did notify the Thai government in advance. So I think seasteaders need to make sure that they get things in writing, that theyre talking to the right parts of the government and dont just assume good will.

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Friedman drew a distinction between small-scale projects like this one and the larger projects with nation-level partnerships that have been the Seasteading Institutes main focus. Nobody thinks two people on a floating home is a new country thats going to threaten anyones sovereignty, he said. Its a honeymoon, not a country. He said he believed other countries in the region could be more understanding and that Elwartowski and Summergirl might very well get another project up and running soon, on firmer legal footing this time. Its ridiculous that Thailand is saying that its treason to try out a new kind of floating home. Its like threatening the death penalty for somebody not registering their car, he added.

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It shouldnt be surprising that Elwartowski and Summergirl were bitcoin investors. Friedman said he sees seasteading and cryptocurrency as simpatico movements for people who believe in decentralization of things traditionally done by a monopoly government using new technology.

On the other hand, Friedman rejects the notion that seasteading is only for political libertarians. Thats sort of the most visible group and the easiest branding with, say, Peter Thiels funding or my being Milton Friedmans grandson, he said. But I dont necessarily believe that libertarians or anyone else knows exactly how to make a great new government. The real problem is we dont have ways to try out new laws and new systems of government at a small scale and scale up the ones that work. I think that Ill probably like the more-libertarian ones best. But regardless of where I live, the more differenter governments that are out there, the happier I will be.

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When its not dismissed outright, seasteading is often ridiculed as a movement of Silicon Valley billionaires looking to avoid taxes or, in the longer term, escape ecological disaster. Friedman objects to that, saying, Theres already a whole bunch of tax havens. We cannot compete with the Bahamas. He says he believes that, in the long term, most of the people who live [on seasteads] are going to be people from countries where the government doesnt work very well. So even if those of us who have the resources to pursue it now are from that first-world demographic, I think that the people that it will help most are the people in the developing world.

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While it would be a stretch to say that seasteading is gaining anything resembling mainstream acceptance, the general idea of sea-born construction is looking less far-fetched. The artificial islands China has been constructing to bolster its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea could be looked at as quasi-seasteads, though with more of a Tiananmen than a Burning Man political ethos behind them. Friedman also points to a speech from April by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed in which she suggested that floating cities can be part of our new arsenal of tools for addressing the impact of sea level rise on coastal regions and small island states. Ironically, given this months events, she used Bangkok as an example of a city that is sinking by around 2 centimeters every year  while sea levels in the Gulf of Thailand are rising. Districts of floating houses have been looked at as a potential tool for climate change adaptation. As I discuss in my book, Invisible Countries, small island states facing the prospect of mass displacement due to climate change could resort to something resembling seasteading in order to maintain their political sovereignty, reinforcing their territory to keep at least some physical structure above water and keep a small group of inhabitants behind, even if the bulk of the population has relocated.

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This is not exactly the original intention behind seasteading. The idea was to allow people to escape the grasp of nation-states, rather than help existing nation-states perpetuate themselves in a warming world. But Friedman is unbothered by the shift. If the economic driver for improving the seasteading technology is climate change mitigation, thats great, he said. The more companies that are designing and building these things and the more mature the technology is, the easier that makes it for people that want to take to the sea for other reasons. Because its a very challenging environment, but, heck, its a lot less challenging than outer space.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
Listen to If Then by clicking the arrow on the audio player below, or get the show via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Get More If Then Slate Plus members get extended, ad-free versions of our podcastsand much more. Sign up today. Join Slate Plus Subscribe to If Then Copy this link and add it in your podcast app. copy link copied! For detailed instructions, see our Slate Plus podcasts page.

In this episode, April Glaser is joined by co-host Meredith Broussard, a data journalism professor at New York University and author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World.

First, they talk about the history of Silicon Valleys decades-long quest to replace teachers with computers. Then, the hosts have a conversation with Nellie Bowles, tech reporter for the New York Times, about a Kansas town thats struggling with the implementation of Summit Learning, a personalized web-based education program funded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan.

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Also joining the show is Tom Henning, a parent in Kansas who pulled his son out of his local public school after Summit Learning was adopted. Henning discusses how he and other parents organized to try to bring human-centered learning back to their schools, citing the physical and emotional problems their kids came home with after being stuck in front of a computer all day.

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Stories discussed on the show:

Silicon Valley Came to Kansas Schools. That Started a Rebellion.

Dont Close My Tabs:

April: A Libertarian Nirvana at Sea Runs Into a Stubborn Opponent: the Thai Navy

Meredith: Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

You can follow April @Aprilaser and Meredith @merbroussard. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.

If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Body Camera Complications

By Mark Tarallo 01 May 2019 Print Issue: May 2019

Use of body-worn cameras, or body cams, by police departments continues to trend up. According to a survey released in August 2018 by the Police Executive Research Forum, more than 80 percent of U.S. police agencies are either using body cams now or have plans to do so in the near future. More than 85 percent of the departments that currently use body cams would recommend them to others.

Body-worn cameras can demonstrate that a police agency is willing to be transparent and accountable for its actions. The conceptual appeal of body-worn cameras has led to rapid adoption of the technology in police agencies across the country, the report found.

Other developments have helped drive this swift adoption. In late 2014, the Obama administration proposed the $263 million Body-Worn Camera Partnership Program, a federally funded body-camera advocacy initiative for states and localities. The program was later approved.

At around the same time, the police department in Rialto, California, participated in an influential study, Self-Awareness to Being Watched and Socially-Desirable Behavior: A Field Experiment on the Effect of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Use-of-Force. The study found that, during a year-long trial period of body cam use, public complaints against officers fell 88 percent compared with the previous 12 months.

But lately, there have been a few reality checks. In 2017, Washington, D.C., officials released the surprising results of their own randomized controlled trial of body cam use by the citys police department. The study found that body cam use had no detectable effects on police discretion, as measured by arrests for disorderly conduct. And the D.C. study featured more than 2,000 police officers, compared to 54 in the Rialto experiment.

These results suggest we should recalibrate our expectations that body cams will cause a large-scale behavioral change in policing, particularly in contexts similar to Washington, D.C., the study explained.

Another challenge is cost. Video storage can be expensive, especially when dealing with a high volume. These cost factors recently caused some police departments to drop, or consider dropping, their body cam programs, according to recent media reports.

For example, in February, Unified Police Department officers in Salt Lake County, Utah, said their agency may discontinue use of body cameras, partly due to the high costs for digital video storage. Previously, the department outfitted 125 of its 410 officers with body cams, using funding from a grant that expires this year. But supplying all officers would cost more than $400,000 per year, according to the agency.

Cost can also present an issue for smaller departments, such as the one in East Dundee, a village suburb of Chicago. The police department there ordered body cameras for its 17 police officers. Before they could be put to use, a new police chief persuaded local officials to cancel the program. The chief argued that the $20,000 annual fee for the cameras and video storage could not be justified as a budget expense.

Still, while not every police department is jumping on the body cam bandwagon, others have expressed great satisfaction with their programs. Jeff Karpovich, CPP, the chief of security and director of transportation at High Point University in High Point, North Carolina, found that his security forces use of body camerascalled chest cams because of where they are worn on the uniformhas been a big help, for several reasons.

One is that they have increased accountability. Our officers are as human as anyone else out there, and some may have the inclination to say things and do things that they probably shouldnt do if nobody is looking, says Karpovich, who is a member of ASIS International. But an active chest cam acts as a digital supervisor, nudging officers to comply with all rules and regulations.

Another reason is that chest-cam video frequently serves as a means of exoneration in response to complaints lodged against officers. It proves to others they did what they were supposed to do, he explains. It has exonerated them time and time again.

Furthermore, chest-cam video provides great value as evidence. If a picture is worth a thousand words, video is worth a million words, Karpovich says.

However, this value comes with a responsibility: video must be produced when it is needed, so technical glitches are costly. Citizens understand if a scuffle between an officer and a civilian leads to unwatchable or unusable video, Karpovich explains. But if an incident that should have been recorded was not recorded, or if there is an unexplained gap during crucial moments in a video, citizens become suspicious. The absence of chest-cam video reeks of cover-up, Karpovich says. If we have a program like this, we had best have it working properly.

High Points security force follows rules set out in its standard operating procedure (SOP), but since it is not a police department, it is not covered by the growing types of state regulations that are now being formulated regarding public access to body cam video. In 2018, lawmakers in 36 states and D.C. introduced legislation aimed at creating statewide rules governing the use of body cameras, according to a recent Washington Post report. Often, these efforts are driven by an attempt to increase transparency.

For example, in February, a New York appellate court determined that the public has the right to view footage from body cameras. The ruling rejected an argument made by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the New York City police union, that public access to video should be blocked under a state law that requires police personnel records be kept secret.

At High Point, Karpovich says the chest cam program developed into a successful and beneficial enterprise. Although video is not kept forever, it is stored for a limited amount of time in case relevant complaints are made, making costs manageable. Also, certain safeguards prevent video from being released on YouTube or social media, such as password protections that greatly limit the number of people in-house who can access video.

I dont see anything derailing this, he says of the camera program. Its a proven tool.
May 2019 Legal Report

By Sara Mosqueda 01 May 2019 Print Issue: May 2019

U.S. Judicial Decisions

Census. The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will review a challenge to the Trump administrations decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Court scheduled oral arguments in late April, bypassing the usual procedure where a federal appeals court first issues a decision.

The challenge concerns the March 2018 decision from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to include a citizenship question in the upcoming census. According to the administration, answers to the question would assist the U.S. Department of Justices efforts to better enforce voting rights. State and local governments, civil rights groups, and other plaintiffs in the case claim that households with undocumented residents are less likely to respond to the question, resulting in inaccurate data.

The Court previously agreed to review an evidence dispute with the case and barred the plaintiffs from questioning Ross. The Court did allow questioning of then-head of the civil rights division for the Justice Department, John Gore.

In January, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to review the trial courts decision without requiring the government to appeal first to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The deadline for finalizing the questions for the census is 30 June 2019.

Sexual Harassment. The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers may be liable for not effectively addressing and stopping rumors of an alleged sexual relationship between a female employee and a male supervisor. The ruling maintains that sex discrimination includes entertaining the stereotype that womens sexuality is of greater value than their merit.

The case was presented to the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, after Evangeline Parker sued her former employer for sex discrimination and retaliation after a competing male subordinate started a rumor that she had used her womanhood to obtain a promotion. The rumor was spread by other men, including managers, and the company ultimately fired Parker after she filed complaints with human resources. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1998 established that bosses using their authority to pressure employees into sexual relationships are guilty of sexual harassment, and that sexual harassment victims can sue their employers under Title VII. The decision in Parkers suit outlined why subjecting a female employee to false rumors of an affair is a violation of Title VII.

Parker began working for a military contractor, Reema Consulting Services Inc., in December 2014 as a low-level clerk in a warehouse facility. During her employment, she was promoted six times, ultimately to the position of assistant operations manager of the facility in March 2016.

About two weeks after her last promotion, a male subordinate described by the appellate court as the rumormonger began a rumor that her promotion was due to a sexual affair instead of her hard work.

Although the rumor was false, it spread throughout the warehouse where Parker worked for six weekssometimes with assistance from the highest-ranking manager at the warehouse, Larry Moppins. Moppins allegedly treated Parker with hostility and less respect, while coworkers were openly hostile because of the gossip.

Parker filed sexual harassment claims with Reemas human resources department against both Moppins and the rumormonger.

In mid-May, the rumormonger complained to human resources that Parker was creating a hostile work environment. The department ordered Parker to stay away from the employee without issuing similar restrictions on the rumormonger, allowing him to remain in her work area to distract the employees she managed while he allegedly stared and laughed at her.

Although Parker complained to her superior and human resources about the rumormongers continuing hostile behavior, the behavior was not addressed, exacerbating Parkers experience of a hostile work environment, according to court documents.

Approximately one month after that last complaint to human resources, Parker was fired in May 2016 during a meeting with Moppins, human resources, and Reemas in-house counsel.

Disagreeing with the Fourth Circuits ruling, the federal court found that Parker adequately alleged a hostile work environment for sex discrimination. These facts in combinationthe spreading of a rumor rooted in base stereotypes about female professionals, plus Parkers disparate treatment compared with members of the opposite sexfairly permit the inference that Parker was treated with less dignity because she is a woman, Judge Albert Diaz wrote in his decision.

Judge Paul Niemeyer added that Parkers allegations supported her harassment claim since her experience was severe or pervasive such that it altered the conditions of her employment and created an abusive atmosphere. He also noted that the harassment was at times physically threatening.

That this harassment came from Parkers supervisor made it all the more threatening, Niemeyer wrote. (Parker v. Reema Consulting Servs., U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 18-1206, 2019)

Legislation

United States

TSA. Two U.S. congressmen reintroduced legislation to improve the U.S. Transportation Security Administrations (TSA) frontline workforce by granting TSA officers certain benefits, such as full collective bargaining rights.

The bill from Representatives Nita Lowey (D-NY), chair of the Appropriations Committee, and Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chair of the Committee on Homeland Security, would ensure that transportation security officers (TSOs) have the same worker rights and protections given to other federal workers under Title 5 of the U.S. Code.

H.R. 1140, or the Rights for Transportation Security Officers Act, would offer TSOs not only full collective bargaining rights, but also chances to effectively raise issues in disputes to an independent third party for an impartial resolution. It would also make the officers subject to the General Services Administrations wage system, which is the primary wage system for federal employees. TSOs comprise more than 70 percent of the administrations workforce. They have labor union representation but due to limitations imposed by the TSA are denied certain privileges. The bill also includes protections so officers pay is not decreased due to the transition of the personnel system.

The bill was reintroduced after the latest partial U.S. government shutdown, during which TSOsconsidered essential personnel and required to work without pay during lapses in appropriationsworked for 35 days.

Due to missed paychecks during the lapse in appropriations, some officers took second jobs, relied on food banks and charities, or left the TSA for paid employment.

According to Lowey, the legislation would aim to not only grant additional workplace rights, but also improve the nations security by retaining experienced officers with better morale.

Racial Discrimination. The New York Commission on Human Rights issued new guidelines on 18 February, outlining that segregating people based on their hair or hairstyles is a type of racial discrimination.

The New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) safeguards people dealing with racism, especially through hair-based discrimination. Anti-Black bias also includes discrimination based on characteristics and cultural practices associated with being Black, including prohibitions on natural hair or hairstyles most closely associated with Black people, the commission said.

Employers cannot legally discriminate or dictate how New Yorkers style their hair, according to the new guidance. Instead, such employees can maintain natural hair or other hairstyles linked to their cultural, ethnic, or racial identities. Grooming or appearance policies that generally target communities of color, religious minorities, or other communities protected under the NYCHRL are also unlawful, the commission wrote.

The guidance allows that employers might have legitimate health or safety concerns regarding hairstyles; however, alternative methods to addressing these concerns should be considered before levying a ban or restriction on hairstyles.

The law closely follows an investigation into discrimination accusations from employees of several businesses in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.

Recent guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission runs parallel to the NYCHRL, explaining that hair texture is a protected racial attribute and that related restrictions are a kind of prohibited discriminatory stereotyping.regulations

Sexual Misconduct. The Nevada Gaming Commission fined casino magnate Steve Wynns former company a record $20 million for failing to investigate sexual misconduct claims against Wynn.

The gaming regulators penalized Wynn Resorts Ltd. at the conclusion of an investigation into misconduct claims made prior to Wynns resignation from the company in 2018. Wynn reportedly harassed or assaulted several women. Regulators allowed the company to retain its gambling license.

The commission froze Wynns state casino license.

One of the commissioners said the issue concerned the failure of a corporate culture. Wynn denied all allegations made against him, and sold his company shares. However, Wynn Resorts confirmed that several former board members and executives were aware yet failed to investigate the claims, including one where Wynn paid $7.5 million to a former employee who alleged he raped her, resulting in a pregnancy.

Massachusetts gambling regulators opened a similar investigation into Wynn Resorts, looking into whether to permit the company to operate a roughly $2 billion casino resort scheduled to open in June 2019. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is not evaluating the truth or falsity of the allegations against Wynn, but the companys response to the allegations, as an indicator of corporate governance. A company settlement is pending in the state.

__________________________________________________________________

Elsewhere in the Courts

Corruption. Pakistans National Accountability Bureau indicted the countrys opposition leader, Shahbaz Sharif, on corruption charges related to a housing scheme. On 18 February, the corruption tribunal indicted Pakistan Muslim League President Sharif and nine others in connection with a scam in Lahore. The Ashiyana Iqbal housing project began in 2010 in the Punjab province, where Sharif served as chief minister from 2013 to 2018. The tribunal accused Sharif of abusing his authority as chief minister to award the contracts to unqualified businesses of people associated with his party, causing the loss of millions of rupees to the national treasury. Sharif denied the charges.

Discrimination. The Iowa District Court for Polk County ordered the state to pay a transgender nurse $120,000 in damages due to gender-related discrimination. On 13 February, the court found that the state discriminated against Jesse Vroegh by forcing him to use female restrooms at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women and that the states employee medical insurance plan specifically denied him coverage for transition-related surgeries. Claiming he was treated differently compared to other male employees because he is transgender, Vroegh successfully sued Iowas Department of Corrections, the Department of Administrative Services, and Patti Wachtendorf, a former warden at the prison. The state added gender identity protections to its Civil Rights Act in 2017, which now protects transgender Iowans from discrimination in education, employment, housing, and public accommodations. (Vroegh v. Iowa Department of Corrections, et al., Iowa District Court for Polk County, No. LACL138797, 2019)

Bribery. A former Atlanta mayoral official was sentenced to 21 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of almost $15,000. Katrina Taylor-Parks pleaded guilty in August 2018 of accepting bribes as the mayors deputy chief of staff, as well as lying to the FBI and using her position to force other city employees to behave unethically. (U.S. v. Taylor-Parks, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division, No. 1:18-CR-299-SCJ, 2018)
Starting From Scratch

Defining and introducing functional security improvements into a 90-year-old company with worldwide operations and a well-established organizational culture is, at best, a challenging task.

This was the reality that presented itself when I was hired as global security director for Land OLakes, Inc., in 2012 and given a clear mandate to design and implement an enterprisewide security program from scratch.

Over the past few years, the business had transitioned from a holding company to an operational enterprise. In the past, each operating entity was responsible for its own security. But under the new model, security would become a centralized support functionalong with other headquarter functions that would become standardized across the enterprise.

This new approach would make Land OLakes better prepared to protect itself and its employees, and to respond adaptively to the dynamic environment of a 21st century organization. As security risks become ever more complex, threats like terrorism, crime, and cyberattacks are asymmetric and networked, making them more difficult to manage.

I considered it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go into a Fortune 500 company with a clean slate to establish a corporate security functionwithout inheriting dated policies or overcoming a predecessors established vision.

Founded in 1921 by 320 dairy farmers in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries would eventually become what is known today as Land OLakes, Inc.

Since 1981, Land OLakes, Inc., has supported Land OLakes International Development, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has led nearly 300 programs in almost 80 countries that help communities around the world build economies by strengthening agriculture from farm to fork. These initiatives are designed to improve farmers agricultural productivity and food security while also creating stable market systems.

Land OLakes has approximately 10,000 employees and does business in more than 50 countries and in every U.S. state. The organization has 3,963 members, including 1,959 dairy producers, and had $14 billion in 2017 net sales.

In 2012, Land OLakes was looking to hire a security leader. I understood the company to be an agricultural enterprise that in a few years grew from $7 billion to $15 billion in sales. With this growth, there were acquisitions, mergers, and joint venturesboth domestic and internationally.

With increased global business activity, a fast-expanding international workforce, and a diverse international development portfolio in higher threat locations such as Yemen, Lebanon, and Egypt, the company leadership was well aware of the risks.

During the interview process, I quickly discovered that leaders at the senior level of the enterprise genuinely understood the need for a new skill set to help them manage the day-to-day threats that they were not equipped to handle. Leadership was receptive to allowing for adjustments to what the function of the position would embody, and what it would not.

Before accepting the position, I was able to negotiate a rewrite of the position description of a security manager to that of a global director of security to embrace the following responsibilities: physical security, investigations, international risk management, travel risk management, liaison with law enforcement and the U.S. Department of State, as well as other ancillary functions, such as event security and executive protection.

My new job would be to create a security program that would be standardized across the enterprise from headquarters across the globe. It would involve building a program that would make the company better prepared to protect itself and its employees.

First Steps

When I reported for duty in February 2012, I was given a simple direction: learn the business and meet the leaders. So, I did. I started with conducting research on Land OLakes and spoke to a senior sales manager, who gave me an insiders perspective about what it is like to work for one of the most recognizable branded companies in America.

I discovered that, in addition to dairy foods, Land OLakes is a major player in agriculture, primarily through its Purina Animal Nutrition and WinField United divisionsboth domestically and internationally. However, the riskiest undertakings for the company were with its International Development group.

Land OLakes International Development has applied an integrated approach to international economic development, with funding from USAID, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The employees associated with this nonprofit segment use their practical experience and in-depth knowledge to facilitate market-driven business solutions that generate economic growth, improve health and nutrition, and alleviate poverty. They live and operate in some of the riskiest places in the worldmeaning security is at the forefront.

During my learning phase, I quickly identified my many principal business partners within the company. The most significant ones included human resources, the legal department, internal auditors, the risk management team, and the real estate and facilities group. Early on, I realized that the security function could not succeed without support from those and other key leaders.

I got to know the many partners and made certain that they understood what the security function would do and how I intended to integrate security into their day-to-day operations. For example, it was essential to meet with other leaders to review existing practices on how facilities are leased or built, then partnering to reshape or tweak those procedures to include security in the internal planning process. Establishing early mutual respect, and learning about how each function adds value, was a critical step.

I also traveled to meet with as many company leaders as possible, from plant shift leaders to plant managers to members of the C-suite.

This process included several meetings with the CEO, board members, and the chairman of the board. I asked detailed questions about what each one considered to be important from a security perspective, and also took the opportunity to present my vision for the future of the security function at Land OLakes.

Knowing my communication had to be direct, simple, and memorable, I developed an elevator speech for these interactions. I gave a quick introduction of myselfwhat I do, where I report within Land OLakesand used my parting tag line: Asset protection equals bottom line on the balance sheet. I then followed up with, Can we meet for 30 minutes so I can learn more about you and your team?

This approach was generally successful. And one of my first indispensable early partners was the director of internal audit. During my first year, through collaborative investigative effort, we discovered internal control weaknesses that allowed us to implement new process controls and enhancements to prevent future fraud.

For example, we cross-referenced the companys employee database against its accounts payable, which revealed that employees were receiving illicit payments at their home addresses.

We then took action to address this fraud that took advantage of our formerly weak internal controls. Where appropriate, we had dishonest employees prosecuted and recouped stolen funds through restitution.

This incident taught me that if I do not know the corporate and supply chain business leaders, I will never learn the business. And if I do not know the business, I cannot hope to effectively prevent losses.

Strategic Planning

Besides learning the business and the prevailing culture, my other initial task was to develop and communicate an effective strategic plan that could be accepted by key leaders. The early priorities were to pinpoint clear objectives for the new global security function, to ensure alignment with various broader corporate objectives, and to execute the plan to achieve those objectives.

The strategic plan became the ultimate guide to decision making within the team. It helped with several decisions, guided me in implementing my vision, and influenced senior managements expectations.

To create the strategic plan, I started with setting internal benchmarks within several areas. I identified key initiatives (policies, processes, and people); costs and timelines for these initiatives; an alignment matrix with other functional areas (touch points with internal audit, communications, human resources, real estate and facilities, the legal department, and regulatory compliance); and identified domestic versus international priorities derived from discussions with C-suite leaders.

Using those considerations, I was able to work with other stakeholders to direct effort and resources towards initial operating challenges the security function needed to address. These included being unable to determine the total security expenditure within the company; the lack of uniform enterprise technology standards for access control and monitoring; decentralized guard operations; lack of understanding about what security does; the absence of centralized reporting of security-related incidents; lack of insight into who was traveling globally; a scarcity of professional competence for fraud, theft, and workplace violence incidents; and no defined jurisdiction or strategy for preventing or responding to workplace violence concerns.

With my energy focused on people, process, and relationships, I assessed what could be adjusted, improved, fixed, or otherwise put into action quickly and at a low or no cost.

Contracting. For example, streamlining guard contracting by centralizing the decision making was a necessary improvement. Previously, each location contracted for security guards, and other related services, autonomously with disparate providers with varying degrees of success. The local agreements were not properly examined by security professionals, which hampered the companys ability to implement operational standards, hold service providers accountable, and provide for an appropriate level of oversight.

Under the new policy, business units and plants were no longer permitted to contract for security service. All contracts would be made through the Global Security Department, which would own the relationship with the vendor to maintain operational control.

This change in management process required consultations with stakeholders throughout Land OLakes to review and modify the prevailing policies. Then, the company moved to implementation with a single nationwide contract to a vetted security provider that would be managed locally.

Standards. I used a similar process to establish uniform security technology standards for the enterprise.

The past practice had multifarious legacy systems that could not be interconnected. To replace them, we selected a single security technology platform for all new access control and video systems.

As a result, in 2016 the company approved funding for the construction of a Global Security Operations Center (GSOC), which became fully functional in the summer of 2018. It operates on a 24/7 basis with two contract employees at all times. Future staffing levels will expand as Land OLakes grows.

In addition to live monitoring our enterprise access control system, the GSOC operators can access security video feeds at any location by calling up a respective IP address for any camera at any company location. This move to a fully integrated modern security technology system will support Land OLakes operations across the globe.

Investigations. The investigation function was another area where the Global Security Department was able to add value, early on, by solving complex cases that sometimes resulted in prosecutions.

For instance, by partnering with the internal audit team, we were able to detect unexplained inventory shortages. Further investigation uncovered a sophisticated conspiracy by several employees to divert premium Purina animal feed. The employees were fired, and the information was turned over to local authorities, who prosecuted the thieves. They were convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.

We also added to the investigation function by developing an in-house investigative database used to track all losses and investigations. The database is kept on a shared drive where it can be accessed by security team members to easily cross reference prior cases going back to 2012.

Travel. Another quick-fix action was the early adoption of a risk-based system to centrally account for international travelers and expatriate employees who travel or live in locations around the globe. To start the process, we reviewed past practices and compared them against new and competing technologies to deliberately improve our capabilities to track our domestic and international travelers.

Based on this review, we communicated that the security function could advance existing processes to protect employees from travel-related risks by communicating and interacting regularly with colleagues in other departments, such as legal, travel, communications, risk management, and others.

For example, we leveraged the Passenger Name Record (PNR), a computer reservation system database that contains personal information for passengers and travel itineraries. Land OLakes was already paying for it, but not exploiting its potential.

We also selected a new duty of care vendor to help us implement changes and asked our travel agent to begin relaying PNRs to the duty of care vendor.

As a result, we have a nimble and responsive means to actively track and account for all of our travelers. And, when needed, we can quickly respond to employees who find themselves in harms way or need medical, personal security, or emergency assistance.

In July 2013, for instance, after the new protocols were established, gunmen attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Land OLakes African headquarters are adjacent to the mall. Using the new system, we were able to account for all affected staff and manage any resulting impact to our African operations.

More recently, in January 2017, during an active shooter incident at the Fort Lauderdale Airport, 56 Land OLakes employees were in or around the airport. They were traveling home following a previous days company marketing event when shots rang out in a baggage terminal.

Instantly, we went into crisis mode and were able to quickly account for all employees and update leadership that everyone was safe. However, it took longer than desired to find contact phone numbers for all employees who were traveling.

After both incidents, we reviewed our response protocols and made appropriate adjustments to our internal processes.

One change made after the Fort Lauderdale shooting was to require that employees provide a cell phone number when they are issued an airplane ticket for travel. This is so that employees can be contactedin the event of an emergencywhile traveling. We also established a 1-800 informational number for employees to call in to during an emergency.

Getting Feedback

Throughout the process of creating a Global Security Department, Ive received valuable feedback. The most significant feedback, however, has come during the budget planning cycle in the form of authority to hire security staff as full-time employees.

By this measurement, the security function at Land OLakes is clearly up-and-coming because the security budget has trended up each year since it came into existence in 2012 with the addition of three full-time security professionals on staff and prospects to hire more. When scarce resources are allocated, security has a seat at the table alongside other business functions. This type of feedback demonstrates that the function is adding value to the company.

My intent from the beginning was to use a baby steps approach while building a well-integrated security program. This was best accomplished by depending on my personal credibility, while always remembering that security must have the support of management at all levels of the business.

It is not sufficient to understand the technical aspects of security; I must also be well versed in the business aspects of operating within a global enterprise and appreciate that security, like other business functions, contributes to the bottom line.

At Land OLakes, there is now a greater appreciation of the interdependence between the companys risk appetite and the way it does business. Its recognized that a flawed strategy can undermine our ability to operate, and, in some cases, can generate risks that would not otherwise be present.

As a result, security has a higher profile within the company today than it did six years ago. Land OLakes is constantly looking for new ways to manage both domestic and international risks, and the portfolio of the Global Security Department has widened to include shared responsibility for corporate reputation, governance and regulation, social responsibility, and information assurance as a result.

Guiding Principles

To better prepare Land OLakes to protect itself and its employees, its security program was designed around these guiding principles:

Protect Your House

Achieve a safe and secure workplace with innovative management and actionable solutions.

Empower Your People

Embolden operating business units and sites to safeguard their own assets within a realized risk-based framework.

Aim to Influence

Adopt a philosophy where the Global Security Departments primary role is to influence business partners to deliver security through their everyday actions and decisions.

Be a Changemaker

Recognize that security is in the business of change management, rather than enforcement.

Look Forward

Understand that the security function cannot stand still or become a fixed entity because its responsibilities will change over time.

Narrow the Vision

Focus more on overall corporate resilience and less on traditional security.

Unify the Scope

Recognize that security is both a strategic and an operational activity.

Communicate Effectively

Security delivers influence and legitimacy derived not from professional knowledge, but from business acumen, people skills, and the ability to communicate security principles.

Don Taussig, CPP, is director, global security services, at Land OLakes, Inc. He was previously the senior manager of global security at Harsco Corporation, CSO at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, director of security for the U.S. Executive Office of the President, and retired from the U.S. Armys Military Police Corps.
Is it key or kway? As of Monday, April 29th, its pronounced Thou Mayest. According to Startland News, two Kansas City coffee companies are joining forces with the just-announced acquisition of Quay Coffee by Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters.

The acquisition is part of an aggressive growth strategy by Thou Mayest. According to the article, the coffee roasting company will pull under its banner the two Quay cafesboth multi-roaster shops that will presumably switch to a single roaster model under the new ownershipas well as open a second location of their own, a 2,000-square-foot cafe inside collaborative space Collective Ex that has been dubbed Thee Outpost. The brand is jumping from one to four cafes almost overnight.

Thou Mayest co-owner Bo Nelson tells Starland News:

You can expect the same attention to detail in our environment and product as well as the inclusive, creative community our service encourages, Nelson said. We love the product and community that Quay is known for. It was a natural association with our growth trajectory and there was great brand alignment. Theres more to come on that as we continue listening to what people want it to become, and we arent done yet. Growth is good and this is just our warmup.

As part of the changeover, all Quay locations will be updated with equipment modifications behind the bar, more health-conscious options, and an uptick in alternative milk options. There will be more plants, I can promise that much, Nelson states, an allusion to the Family Tree Nursery owned by his family, home of another Thou Mayest outpost, Cafe Equinox.

Nelson also tells Starland News that Thou Mayest will retain all Quay employees, but some folks may see shifts in which location they work at as the two teams intermingle.

There are no details yet as to whether or not Quay will continue to operate under its original name or when a potential name change would occur. Though I think they should really lean into the common mispronunciation and go with Thou Quayest, but thats just me, a person chronically incapable of not blurting out every bit of wordplay that pops into my head.

For more information on the acquisition, read the Starland News article here.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

Top image via Thou Mayest
The publicity department for the Grand Circuit has sent out its weekly recap and preview of Grand Circuit races.

This Week: Lady Suffolk and Dexter Cup, Freehold Raceway, Freehold, N.J.; Arthur Cutler Memorial and Graduate Pace first leg, Meadowlands Racetrack, East Rutherford, N.J.; and Chip Noble Memorial and Miami Valley Distaff, Miami Valley Raceway, Lebanon, Ohio.

Schedule of events: The Grand Circuit at Freehold this week will feature the $118,950 Dexter Cup for three-year-old open trotters and the $75,000 (est.) Lady Suffolk for three-year-old filly trotters on Saturday (May 4).

The Meadowlands Racetrack will offer the $175,200 Arthur Cutler Memorial for older trotters and two $50,000 divisions in the opening leg of the Graduate for four-year-old pacers, also on Saturday.

Miami Valley Raceway will feature the $100,000 Miami Valley Distaff for older trotting mares and the $100,000 Chip Noble Memorial for older pacing mares on Monday (May 6).

Last time: Robert Keys Whirl Winds K took advantage of a pocket trip to nip Cavill Hanover by a nose in 1:59.3 in the $39,650 Dexter Cup elimination for three-year-old trotters on Saturday (April 27) at Freehold Raceway. To read the recap, click here.

Grand Circuit Standings: In 2019, the Grand Circuit leaders in three categories (driver, trainer and owner) will once again be tracked on a points system (20-10-5 for the top three finishers in divisions/finals and 10-5-2 for the top three finishers in eliminations/legs). Winbak Farms is the sponsor for the 2019 Grand Circuit awards.

Here are the leaders following this past weekend.

Drivers: 1. Tim Tetrick  158; 2. George Brennan  100; 3. Jason Bartlett  87; 4. Daniel Dube  77; 5. Scott Zeron  75.

Trainers: 1. Jim King Jr.  122; 2. Rene Allard  77; 3. Ron Burke  53; 4. Richard Banca  51; 5. Ross Croghan  43.

Owners: 1. Jo Ann Looney-King  45; 2. Tim Tetrick LLC  41.5; 3. D R Van Witzenburg  40; 4. Robert Cooper Stables  39.1; 5. Royal Wire Products  37.

Looking ahead: Grand Circuit racing next week will feature W.N. Reynolds Memorial contests at Yonkers Raceway for three-year-old colt and filly pacers.

(With files from the Grand Circuit)
Officials with Post Time with Mike and Mike have released a preview of the upcoming episode of the show.

The line-up for Thursday (May 2) at 10:30 a.m. will feature Dave Palone, Rich Mattei, Ashley Eisenbeil, and Garnet Barnsdale.

Palone, who is the winningest driver of all time with over 18,700 career wins, will discuss his career and the ride he has been on at the Meadows.

Mattei will be live from historic Churchill Downs to highlight the happenings coming up this weekend at the Kentucky Derby. The trio will highlight the race and discuss possible contenders.

Eisenbell, who works with the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association, will discuss the associations purpose and what they do to help the breeds as a whole in the state.

Barnsdale will discuss both the upcoming showing of the Somebeachsomewhere documentary and when it may be released.

Post Time can be heard live every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. via posttimewithmikeandmike.com or on the archive at betamerica.com/BARN.

(With files from Post Time)
Influences on the Emergence of Colonial Government As the American colonies grew and the colonists worked to create a government of their own, there was much debate about the ideals and laws that were to be included in that government. In this lesson, explore the documents and philosophies that influenced the colonial government, such as the Iroquois Confederation, the Magna Carta, and the Mayflower Compact.

Systems of Government in the Thirteen Colonies The systems of government in the 13 British colonies of early America were different depending on the degree of involvement of King George of England. Learn about the definitions and differences between the three types of colonial governments: royal colony, proprietary colony, and charter colony.

Colonial Government Lesson for Kids Colonial government depended upon the type of colony. Learn the difference between Royal, Proprietary, and Charter colonies in America, and discover the factors that united settlers from these distinct colonies against the British.
Oregon State University

Oregon State University in Corvallis provides an MBA with an option in HR management that can be taken full- or part-time. Students with an undergraduate major or minor in business can waive 15 credits of the program in order to complete the program in as little as 9 months if taken full-time. The program totals 60 credits and includes 42 credits of core MBA courses and 18 credits in the HR management specialization. The specialization includes course topics in negotiations, data analytics, compensation management, and recruitment.

George Fox University

George Fox University is based in Newberg, but offers a part-time MBA with a concentration in strategic HR management in Portland. This on-campus program totals 42 credits and is available in a weekday or weekend format. The concentration requires 3 courses that are taken during students' 2nd year of the program. Students take courses in topics like HR development, strategic management, and human capital management.

Willamette University

As a part of their Early Career and Career Change MBA program, Willamette University in Salem has an available concentration in HR. The program can be completed in 21 months and gives students the opportunity to work with real-world clients through experiential courses, consulting projects, and more. Students in the HR concentration must choose at least 3 courses from topics such as project management, leadership, HR principles, and compensation and rewards. Students may also choose to participate in internship opportunities in HR for hands-on learning.

Southern Oregon University

Southern Oregon University in Ashland offers an evening MBA program with a concentration in HR. Students can complete the program in 1 year, full-time or 18 to 21 months, part-time. All students must complete a capstone course that allows them to analyze various business cases and apply their new skills in the field. Students in the HR concentration must choose 4 courses from topics including corporate law, staffing, international business, risk management, and working with emotional intelligence.
A total of 460 million euros has been collected for restoration of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and restoration specialists, French Minister of Culture Franck Riester and President of France Emmanuel Macron have declared that the Notre-Dame Cathedral is not doomed and will be restored.

Later, Prime Minister of France Eduard Philippe declared an international architecture contest for restoration of the steeple.

Some of the creative solutions of architects have even stunned the most skillful architects. Judge for yourself

Source and photos: Peopletalk

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After more than four decades at the Cowlitz County sheriffs office, Charlie Rosenzweig retired Tuesday from law enforcement, cementing a career that saw him responding to the aftermath of the Mount St. Helens eruption, investigating complex homicide cases and speaking on behalf of the sheriffs office as its chief criminal deputy and public information officer.

He turned in his last case Tuesday morning, Cowlitz County Sheriff Brad Thurman said, leaving the job with an empty case file.

Honestly, its not sunk in yet, really, Rosenzweig said. Im excited and really happy. This has been a fantastic place to work. ... My career could not have been better. I want to say it was a dream come true, and that probably is a terrible cliche, but truthfully its how I feel.

Hell miss his co-workers and the fun of solving crimes and helping victims, Rosenzweig said, but he said hes proud to leave the job in the hands of the next generation and new blood.

The caliber of the people today: They are amazing, talented, (full of) integrity, he said. The work that gets done in our homicide cases is stellar, amazing. It is so rewarding.

Law enforcement officers and chiefs from several local agencies attended a retirement party for Rosenzweig at the Cowlitz County Expo Center on Tuesday, where they swapped stories and reminisced on his 41-year career. In addition to plaques, badges and letters from law enforcement and county commissioners, one gift from his co-workers at the Sheriffs office earned laughs at the ceremony: an old-school coffee machine.

This has been in our office as long as Charlie has been in our office, Undersheriff Darren Ullmann said. Its appropriate he takes it, since hes the only one that drank out of it.

Rosenzweig joined the Sheriffs office May 1, 1978, less than two weeks after turning 21, but he started out as an emergency technician at St. John Medical Center and as a police dispatcher for Kelso. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1992 and Chief Criminal Deputy in 2002.

In 2003, Rosenzweig shot James Richie, who was high on meth and bashing through sheriffs patrol cars while trying to escape arrest, in the chest. Richie, then 23, survived and later came to call the event the first day of my second life. After he got out of prison, Richie and Rosenzweig reconnected at Shekinah Christian Center in Longview and became friends.

Thurman described Rosenzweig as the face and voice of the sheriffs office.

Its going to be a big vacuum, Thurman said. For me personally, hes been my supervisor for half of my career. When something big happened, Id pick up the phone and call Charlie.

Vancouver FBI agent Michael Rollins presented Rosenzweig with a letter from FBI director Christopher Wray, applauding Rosenzweig for his professionalism and dedication to duty.

Troy Brightbill officially took over Rosenzweigs role as Chief Criminal Deputy and public information officer April 1.

Hes always been a leader in our office, Brightbill said. Hes been a mentor to me throughout my career. Well miss him, but hes definitely earned his retirement, and we wish him the best.

In a letter read aloud by Thurman, former sheriff Bill Mahoney called Rosenzweig the ultimate team player and an eager, hard working mystery-unraveler.

Ullmann called Rosenzweig the institutional base of knowledge and guiding light of the sheriffs office.

And he said Rosenzweig jumped right in to patrol work when he was made patrol sergeant for his last few months on duty.

He didnt hesitate, Ullmann said. He could have just sat behind his desk ... (and) I think thats what really stands out about Charlie. He does what is right for the agency, not necessarily himself.

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The recent decision by Washington lawmakers to raise the school levy lid from $1.50 to $2.50 per $1,000 in assessed property may be cause for deep concern for some local school districts, but officials say it will have little immediate effect on the financial well-being of Kelso and Longview schools.

The very issue that drove our state funding to the court was that Washington state education had become overly reliant on local levies, creating inequities, Kelso Superintendent Mary Beth Tack said Tuesday in an email to The Daily News. Instead of addressing the root issue of K-12 funding at the state level, it is (now) at the hands of the local taxpayers.

As part of the McCleary fix  an overhaul of state K-12 funding that came in response to a state Supreme Court decision  legislators limited the amount school districts could raise locally in taxes. The so-called $1.50 levy lid was intended to shift the financial burden for funding basic education back to the state, as mandated by the court ruling.

While the McCleary fix did increase state funding to make up for the loss of local revenue, some districts still ended up with less money overall. According to a report Monday from the Associated Press, a nonpartisan legislative analysis found the existing levy lid would have resulted in schools statewide raising $1 billion less in 2019 than the year before.

Several districts have announced multi-million dollar deficits as a consequence of the new funding model and, in some areas, higher-than-budgeted teacher pay raises. Getting rid of the limit  or at least raising it  was proposed as one way for school districts to fill gaps in the states funding model and potentially avoid budget cuts down the road.

The suggestion sparked tense debate among legislators, with some lawmakers arguing that lifting the levy lid would bail out schools who negotiated away their budgets on the teacher raises and would create a McCleary 2.0.

This is very clearly going to lead to tax inequity, funding inequity, and I think that will very clearly lead to educational inequity around our state, said Sen. John Braun (R-Centralia) in a prepared statement Monday.

Although many school districts supported lifting the lid, Longview and Kelso schools sided with legislators like Braun.

Zorn said before McCleary, there was too much of a dependence on local levies to fund basic education, adding that lifting the levy would return school districts to that dependence.

Superintendent Tack said the Kelso district felt a deep concern for the future of our state and education system when it heard about the higher levy limit.

The fix of raising the levy lid will drastically increase the inequities for school districts  which in the end drastically affects students, Tack said. Students and student learning were not at the center of this decision.

Zorn added that affluent districts with high property values have an easier time passing levies than districts like Longview, which lets them to raise more money and further stresses district-by-district inequities.

Despite their outspoken opposition, Kelso and Longview district officials werent surprised the levy lift managed to pass.

We anticipated it was going to happen whether or not we supported it, said Scott Westlund, Kelso district finance director. There appeared to be enough support mainly from larger school districts  (like) those in the Puget Sound area.

The levy lift passed first in the House of Representatives with a 54-45 vote. Late on Sunday the bill received a thin margin of support from the Senate, which approved the measure in a 25-23 vote.

For Kelso and Longview schools, the earliest new local revenues could start rolling in is 2021  and only with the support of local voters.

The delay is caused by both districts decision to set their levies at $1.50 per $1,000, anticipating the change to take effect in 2019. The next regular levy request for both districts is not until February 2020, which would set the taxes for the 2021 calendar year.

It really wont have an impact on our budget for next year, because it doesnt really provide any new revenue for our budget for next school year, Westlund said. The earliest it could take effect for us would be the 2020-21 school year  and even then we would only be able to capture half a year of any potential levy growth.

The districts could choose to seek a special election to raise their levies to the new $2.50 limit, but officials from both districts said they do not anticipate that happening.

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Longview police are investigating human skeletal remains found in the 600 block of California Way last Thursday. Police learned about the remains from a man who was surveying the area for a construction project, according to an LPD news release.

The remains have not yet been identified, due to an advanced state of decomposition, and its unknown whether the cause of death was natural or criminal, the release says.

Longview police, the Cowlitz County Coroners office, and Cowlitz Search and Rescue members worked through the weekend to process the scene, the release said.

Police turned the remains over to the coroners office, which is working to identify them, as well as determine a cause of death.

Police are asking anyone who believes they have information related to the case to call the departments tip line at 360-442-5929.

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Volunteers can pitch in downtown or at the Kalama River on Saturday for cleanup and beautification projects.

The Kalama Chamber of Commerce is holding its annual beautification day Saturday in honor of community activist Shirley Lowman. Lowman, who died on March 29, organized the event in the past.

Taryn Nelson, chamber treasurer, said the event will be held in Lowmans honor this year and every year in the future. The chamber has a special project planned just for her, Nelson said.

Volunteers will spruce up the citys flower beds and work on other projects.

The event begins at 9 a.m. Volunteers will meet at the post office parking lot. Nelson recommends volunteers bring basic yard tools labeled with their name and phone number. She said volunteers may want to wear hats and sunscreen.

Amalak will serve lunch at the Kalama Community Building.

Starting at 10 a.m., volunteers can also head to Haydu Park to help clean up the Kalama River. The effort will be led by waterway conservation nonprofit RiverJunky Washington, according to a Port of Kalama press release. The organization will supply all trucks, trailers, garbage bags, gloves and hand sanitation.

Those interested in joining are encouraged to call 1-866-787-5659 or just show up on Saturday. The organization will also provide gifts, raffle prizes and a meal.

Our motto is if one person is cleaning up trash it makes our world one times better; but if 100 people are cleaning up trash it makes our world 100 times better, said RiverJunky founder Jarrod Kirkely in the press release. We really appreciate all of our volunteers who join in these important endeavors.

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Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, recalled meeting with federal transportation officials to discuss renewed efforts to replace the century-old Interstate 5 Bridge across the Columbia River.

Since the demise of the Columbia River Crossing, the previous replacement project in 2013, both Oregon and Washington have faced the prospect of having to repay nearly $150 million to the federal government in September if they couldnt demonstrate progress on replacing the antiquated bridge. Cleveland recalled asking in the meeting about the prospect of having to repay federal funds.

The response was: We dont know; thats never happened before, said Cleveland.

After Washington Legislature adjourned its 105-day session Sunday night, Cleveland is more confident the two states wont be on the hook to repay the feds after she secured $35 million in the states $52.4 billion two-year budget toward replacing the bridge.

During the session, lawmakers also approved funding for a revamp of the states dysfunctional mental health system, as well as legislation changing how local jurisdictions collect taxes that are expected to give some residents a break. While elected officials say Clark County fared relatively well this session, Republican legislators werent pleased with additional taxes used to pay for it.

There were just multiple taxes that we simply didnt need, said Rep. Larry Hoff, R-Vancouver. If we would have tightened our belt a little, all the good programs would have been funded.

I-5 Bridge replacement

Days before the Legislature was scheduled to adjourn, both the House and Senate versions of the states two-year transportation budget contained over $8 million for a project office to replace the I-5 Bridge. By the time the Legislature adjourned on Sunday night, the total amount dedicated to replacing the bridge ballooned to $35 million.

According to a press release from Clevelands office, half of the $35 million will go to opening and operating the I-5 Bridge office; the rest will fund the future predesign and planning of the bridge.

I felt very strongly that we owe it to our partners, particularly the state of Oregon, to demonstrate our commitment to working with them on a new I-5 Bridge, Cleveland told The Columbian. Given the past history and the fact that Oregon has been clear that they need to see a strong financial commitment, this was something that I needed to go to the mat on.

In a statement, Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle thanked Cleveland and the Southwest Washington delegation for their work on replacing the bridge, which she called critical to meeting the regions transportation and economic development needs over the next 100 years and beyond.

Cleveland said that the additional funding for the bridge was generated by a tax hike under the Model Toxics Control Act, Washingtons environmental cleanup law. Cleveland said that with Democrats in full control of the Legislature for the first budget-writing process in years, she felt a responsibility to push for funding.

Although the Legislature didnt advance a separate package of bills that would have designated $450 million for the bridge replacement, lawmakers passed a bill intended to expedite the project.

The governors of Washington and Oregon have stated they want to see the bridge replaced, and last year lawmakers from both states had their first public meeting to discuss the project in years. As for next steps, Cleveland said shell travel to Salem later this week to discuss with Oregon officials.

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Shoppers with Oregon ID will lose their Washington sales tax exemption as theyve known it under a bill approved over the weekend in Olympia.

Starting in July, the sales tax exemption for Oregon residents and some others, such as British Columbia residents, will no longer be in effect, according to the provisions of the bill, which was passed as part of the two-year state budget.

Starting in January 2020, Ore-gon residents will need to submit an annual application to the Washington Department of Revenue to receive a reimbursement of paid state sales taxes totaling $25 or more. Only one application per calendar year will be allowed.

Ted Sprague, president of the Cowlitz Economic Development Council, said although he doesnt have statistics on how many shoppers come to the area from Oregon, its evident from just living here that many people take advantage of the sales tax exemption.

It will have a dampening effect on some businesses in Cowlitz County, Sprague said. I would guess that effect it will have now, in the age we are in with the internet, it wont have as big of an effect as it would have 10 or 20 years ago.

Sprague said the change will mostly affect larger retail outlets that sell big-ticket items like furniture, electronics and appliances.

The Washington sales tax is 6.5 percent. There will be no reimbursement for local sales taxes. A state revenue department spokeswoman said further details have yet to be worked out.

The state anticipates the change will generate nearly $53 million in fiscal years 2020-21.

The change comes after at least five years of off-and-on attempts to alter or eliminate the sales tax exemption. The previous proposals often featured Washington retailers along the Columbia River saying the exemption was necessary to keep them competitive with sales tax-free Oregon. Proponents said the exemption was unfair and a drain on potential money for Washington.

On Monday, at least two Clark County retailers fretted what the change would do to their business. And both retailers said that unlike proposals in previous years, they were not aware of this one until contacted by The Columbian.

Its going to be devastating for many or the majority of businesses here locally in Southwest Washington, said Debbie Runyan-Parker, owner and president of Runyans Jewelers, 327 N.E. Fourth Ave., in Camas.

Were just coming out of the recession and now theyre hitting us with this. It will definitely make a mark on how much business we do, said Runyan-Parker, who estimated 20 percent of her stores sales are to Oregon residents.

Ed Fischer, owner of Camas Bike and Sport, said he also anticipates a loss of Oregon customers.

This could be the straw that breaks the camels back in my retail business here, said Fischer, who said the exemption was sometimes a motivation for an Oregon resident to choose to come to his shop rather than the 60 bike shops in the Portland area.

Now, why would they do that? he said, noting that many bicycles in his shop sell for $1,000 or more. I have people who will buy a high-level bike due to the fact they know they can buy and not have to pay the sales tax.

ESSB 5997 was approved in the Democrat-controlled House on Saturday, 55-43, along party lines. It was approved in the Democrat-controlled Senate on Thursday, 25-22. The Senate president and House speaker signed the bill on Sunday.

Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, in a phone interview Monday evening, said she voted in favor in part because of her belief that some Washington residents whod moved from Oregon were keeping the Oregon drivers license and unfairly  and illegally  reaping the benefit of the sales tax exemption.

I think that continues to be unfair and it was time to make a change, Stonier said.

There was little to no public testimony about the bill, Stonier said, adding, The bill moved pretty quietly through the system.

Rep. Larry Hoff, R-Vancouver, said that changes to the states nonresident sales tax would end up hurting multiple businesses in Clark County.

Thats certainly not going to help our local retailers at all, said Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver.

Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, voted for the change to the sales tax.

Its complicated because Ive been listening to the business community as long as Ive been in office and I talk to some businesses who said they wont lose customers, she said.

She said that removal of the exemption was inevitable and there just wasnt enough votes from Southwest Washington to keep it. She said that creating a refund mechanism was the best that could be hoped for.

During the Clark County Councils Monday morning legislative conference call, Josh Weiss, the countys lobbyist, said that it would increase the countys sales tax revenue. But he added, The businesses in your area are not going to like it.

The Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Washington Business opposed the change in the sales tax exemption.

I think it could be detrimental to a lot of the businesses in Clark County, said John McDonagh, Vancouver chamber president and CEO. Weve heard from members whose annual sales are 15 to 25 percent from people in Oregon. That will create a disincentive for them to continue to shop over here.

The Legislature pushed through the change toward the end of the session because of a desire for added public money, said Gary Chandler, vice president of government affairs for the Association of Washington Business.

Chandler said proponents of the bill are betting on enough Oregon residents not bothering to follow through on the necessary annual paperwork.

Gov. Jay Inslee has not taken a position on the bill, deputy communications director Tara Lee said in an email. Inslee could sign, veto in full or partially, or take no action. She said the bill would be reviewed as part of the governors overall state budget review.

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Editors note: Todays editorial originally appeared in The Columbian. Editorial content from other publications and authors is provided to give readers a sampling of regional and national opinion and does not necessarily reflect positions endorsed by the Editorial Board of The Daily News.

First, the kudos: Lawmakers deserve some credit for making deadline. The 2019 Legislature adjourned at midnight Sunday night, the end of the constitutionally mandated 105-day session.

Of course, one could argue that praise is not warranted simply for doing your job, but even that has been difficult for lawmakers in recent years. There has been nothing special about special sessions over the past decade; they have become routine. But beyond kudos for managing to adjourn as scheduled and preventing the governor from calling an overtime session, this years Legislature receives a mixed report card.

Our biggest criticism involves the most pressing issue: The operating budget, which will pay for most state programs, policies and salaries for the next two years. The House passed the $52.4 billion budget on a 57-41 vote, after it had passed the Senate 27-21.

In hammering out a budget agreement, lawmakers worked long into the night over the course of several days. In the end, they approved more than $800 million in new taxes, including an increase in the Business & Occupation tax on large banks and a change to the real estate excise tax.

With Democrats in solid control of both the House and Senate, local Republican representatives Brandon Vick and Larry Hoff issued a joint statement during negotiations: The process of developing the 2019-21 operating budget has been nothing short of imprudent. Not only has the majority party shut Republicans out of negotiations, but they have decided to raise taxes without providing ample time for taxpayers to weigh in. That is deeply concerning for those of us in the minority.

The budget also includes an adjustment to the levy system for public school districts, increasing the cap on levies from $1.50 per $1,000 in assessed value to $2.50 per $1,000 in value. Voters in an individual district must pass levies by a majority vote. The Columbian editorially urged lawmakers to not lift the levy lid, arguing that the lid was the result of a hard-won compromise, that it protected taxpayers and that lifting it revives the possibility of inequities among districts and invites legal action.

Now that it has been lifted, we hope those predictions are unfounded. If the change helps improve outcomes for students throughout the state, we will express our support.

Lawmakers also approved increased funding for Western State Hospital, the states troubled psychiatric facility near Tacoma, and provided an additional $47 million over the next two years to create a network of regional mental health facilities. The states beleaguered mental health system is in need of change; with money being sent in that direction, now it is in need of effective oversight.

And lawmakers provided funding for several of Gov. Jay Inslees environmental priorities. After earlier approving a measure to eliminate fossil fuels from the states electricity supply by 2045, they have positioned Washington as a leader in green energy.

And yet, questions remain about the process that led to the final operating budget. A system that has lawmakers creating, debating and passing a budget in the final days of the session poorly serves residents.

During odd-year sessions, the Legislature is tasked with devising a two-year operating budget that is the entree of the meal lawmakers serve to taxpayers. Cooking that up in the final days and holding floor debates in the middle of the night leaves voters hungering for more transparency. But at least they delivered it on time.
The article published in The Daily News on April 20, 2019, about the Housing Opportunities of Southwest Washington informed the community that, yes, money is being spent to help people.

The article stated that 98 percent of housing vouchers were distributed, 3,423 people were assisted including 1,067 children and youth.

Forty-seven veterans were put into emergency housing, and 81 veterans in transitional housing.

Around $13 million was spent in the region and $6.9 million for Cowlitz County. To say nothing is being done is false. This money, plus all the other money from various agencies, churches and citizens is to be commended.

But as a citizen who attended the workshop with the Housing Authority and city council, the only potential candidate for city council attending was Spencer Boudreau. Apparently the homeless is not important to other potential candidates.

As far as the upcoming election for city council, Scott Vydra, Mike Wallin, Don Jensen and Spencer Boudreau are getting my vote.

George Brajcich

Longview
Realme Malaysia recently treated Malaysian media to a sneak peek at the updated Nightscape feature on the Realme 3 Pro. No Malaysia pricing details yet, but it is expected to arrive on 14 May 2019. Meanwhile on 3 May 2019 in conjunction with Realme Malaysias 1st Anniversary, Realme will be holding sales deals and promos on their other Realme products (from as low as RM399 on Lazada and Shopee!).

The deals and promos even cover the recently released Realme 3 (3GB RAM + 32GB storage) with special offers from Shopee and Lazada (first 50 units get a free 32GB microSD card). However, our eyes do gravitate to the Realme 2 Pro more with the 4GB RAM + 16GB storage variant going for RM599 from RM799, but the 6GB RAM + 64GB version going for RM799 from RM899 does sound like the better value deal.

Check out the table below for more details or check out the stores at Shopee or Lazada.
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
5 hours ago

Jurors in the Elizabeth Holmes trial may take next week off

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  The jurors responsible for assessing 11 charges of fraud and conspiracy against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes began their third day of deliberations Thursday. If they haven't reached a verdict by the end of the day, U.S.

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One of the surprises I have had in my discussions with banks that are doing digital well, is how all of them seem profoundly committed to cloud-computing. Some more than others, as one of the banks I spoke to wants to achieve over 80% of their IT infrastructure, software and services to be private and public cloud based. Amazing.

I say amazing as I remember conducting research ten years ago (showing ones age), and most financial pundits were vary wary of anything cloud related. I think many still are. In fact, we get different views.

For example, the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) defines cloud as outsourcing, and informs financial institutions to comply with the same regulatory obligations as it would for outsourcing. Now, we also have GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and PSD2 (the second Payment Services Directive) that also have requirements for privacy and controls over data.

All of this makes it easy to say that using cloud services is too difficult. But its not.

In fact, most of the banks view the use of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsofts Azure, Netflix Content Delivery and Aliyun, the Alibaba Cloud, as being essential for Agile, another core component of their operations.

The reason is that it allows the bank to manage loads, capacity and expenditure in a far easier way than they could if they developed and hosted and internalised everything. Now, Ive known for ages that cloud allows banks to move to OpEx (Operational Expenditure) for their computing needs, rather than CapEx (Capital Expenditure), but I hadnt expected to find this consistent them of cloud usage amongst the innovative digital transformers.

Its even true of the largest banks, like JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan created its own private cloud in 2016, according to the Wall Street Journal, and moved some applications into the public cloud in May 2017.

According to Business Insider, that makes it ones of the industrys pioneers, with many in banking still wary of moving data and key applications into the cloud due to cybersecurity, operational and regulatory fears.

But I think this goes back to the heart of what many in banking have yet to understand that doing everything yourself, controlling everything yourself, building everything yourself, developing everything yourself  just doesnt work anymore.

I know so many banking people who fear letting go. They worry intensely about allowing third parties to have their customers data for fear of the regulator, whilst the regulator is pretty ok with it all.

It reminds me of my favourite story from Michael Harte who was then the CIO at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) back at the start of the decade. He presented to the Board the idea of moving most of the banks back office to Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). The Board considered this and threw it out, saying the regulator wouldnt allow it. Come back with a different plan.

Six months later, Michael presented the same plan to the Board. The CEO was irritated and asked why the hell was he presenting the same plan when it was obvious the regulator wouldnt allow it. Ah, said Michael. Funny you should mention that. And at that point, he brought in the head of the Reserve Bank of Australia to the Board meeting, who endorsed the IaaS plan and said it was fine.

As a consequence, CBA moved to IaaS and saved 35% of their operational costs, as well as becoming far more agile.

In summary, if you want to be a digital bank, move the bank skywards and into the clouds.

Posted on: May 1, 2019
"I apologize unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended," Assange added.

Found this article interesting? Follow THN on Facebook Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeksfor almost a yearin prison by a London court for breaching his bail conditions in 2012 and taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy for nearly 7 years.The 47-year-old Assange was arrested last month by London's Metropolitan Police Service after the Ecuadorian government suddenly withdrew his political asylum Within hours of his arrest, Assange was convicted at Westminster Magistrates' Court of skipping bail in June 2012 after an extradition order to Sweden over claims of sexual assault and rape allegations made by two women.Although Sweden dropped its preliminary investigation into the rape accusation against Julian Assange in 2017, Assange chose not to leave the Ecuadorian Embassy due to fears of extradition to the United States.In the Southwark Crown Court today Judge Deborah Taylor gave Assange a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody, saying it was hard to "envisage a more serious example of this offense."Taylor said Assange's seven years in the London's Ecuadorian embassy had cost 16 million pounds (nearly AUD 29 million) of British taxpayers money, adding that he sought asylum as a "deliberate attempt to delay justice."In a letter read out in the court by his lawyer, Assange said he had found himself "struggling with terrifying circumstances" for which neither he nor those from whom he "sought advice could work out any remedy."Assange is currently facing extradition to the United States for leaking thousands of classified diplomatic and military documents through his popular publication WikiLeaks in 2010 that embarrassed the U.S. governments across the world.U.S. authorities have not officially confirmed the charges against Assange until his arrest last month when for the first time, U.S. Department of Justice unsealed charges against the Australian hacker for his alleged role in "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States."The DoJ, who is now seeking his extradition to the United States, accused Assange of trying to help Chelsea Manning, a former intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, crack a password to Pentagon computers.Assange has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, and if convicted, could face a five-year prison term in the U.S.
MARION  Friends and family gathered Tuesday for a final farewell to former Marion Mayor Robert L. Butler at Marion Civic Center. Butler died April 22 at the age of 92.

We assemble once more to honor the life of Marions first citizen, the Hon. G. Patrick Murphy said, remembering an April 2013 ceremony honoring Butler for 50 years as mayor. A statue of the mayor, dedicated during that ceremony, stands watch on Tower Square.

050119-nws-butler-3.jpg The hearse transporting the casket of Bob Butler passes by the statue of the former Marion mayor it circles Tower Square before heading to Ros

Murphy talked about working as a paperboy for Homer and Bob Butler at the Marion Daily Republican, calling Bob Butler keenly intelligent and a voracious reader.

He explained that paperboys often needed two bags to hold the papers they had to deliver. Butler would keep the second bag dry and until it was needed. Murphy said he was always reading, and built a large library.

He described Butler as a devoted and faithful father and kind-hearted son who was devoted to his parents, adding that Butler never tried to benefit from his office.

It would be impossible to corrupt Bob Butler, Murphy said.

Murphy also read Butlers words from a service on Memorial Day 2013 when talking about Gold Star mothers. He said we are aware of the debt, but could never compensate for that debt.

We can only be the best citizens we can be and comply with the admonition to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Murphy read from Butlers speech.

During that 2013 service Butler also said, There are certain immutable laws of nature, put in place by God. As surely as man is born, he will die.

The Rev. Bill Rucker said Bob Butler loved Marion as much as anyone could. He served as mayor from April 1963 to Jan. 30, 2018, but Butler was more than mayor. He was a son, brother, husband, father, uncle and more.

Butler played Santa, and was even seen driving the family car dressed as the jolly old elf.

Rucker also talked about Butlers service to his church, the importance of his faith and his love for the King James Version of the Bible.

Bob had the only autographed King James Version of the Bible, Rucker joked.

He said Job 14 asks if man who dies can live again. Rucker said the answer is a resounding yes. He called death a comma in the sentence of life. That comma in Butlers life came on the day that would have been his last as mayor, if he had not retired a year early.

I believe God and Bob had it all worked out that he would die that day, Rucker said. Bob is here, but what are we going to do without him?

The service included piano music by David Stotlar and Holly Kee, as well as duets by Lori Creamer and Bill Ewell, and Elizabeth Byassee Shore and Stotlar. Victoria Shore sang The Star Spangled Banner. The Junior Air Force ROTC presented colors.

Butlers daughter, Beth, and Jarod Garrison sang, A Flower Remembered. Elizabeth Byassee Shore sang The Lords Prayer." The Marion High School Choir Ensemble sang The Blessing of Aaron.

Rucker, the Rev. Virgil Walton and the Rev. Victor Long read scripture. Jared Garrison read a poem and gave closing statement.

The casket was carried from the Civic Center while Les Lannom played his bagpipes. A private interment followed at Rose Hill Cemetery. The procession, led by Marion Police and Fire departments, took a lap around Tower Square before heading to the cemetery.

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A juvenile was arrested early Tuesday after leading Carbondale Police on a chase through town in a stolen car; the chase ended when the suspect crashed the car.

According to a Wednesday news release from Carbondale Police Department, officers on Sunday first investigated the theft of the vehicle from the 800 block of Old Illinois 13. At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, Carbondale and SIU police officers located the stolen car in the area of Poplar and Walnut streets.

The driver refused to stop for police and led officers on a chase through town, including through a residential area where the suspect and an officer drove through someone's front yard, police said.

The driver eventually crashed in the 200 block of North Illinois Avenue, and he was arrested. The juvenile suspect was injured in the crash; he was treated at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and released into the custody of the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center. The juvenile suspect is charged with aggravated fleeing to elude, possession of a stolen vehicle and reckless driving.

Deputy Carbondale Police Chief Stan Reno said the suspect drove through the front yard of a private residence during the chase, and a Carbondale officer followed in his squad car. Reno said the officer had difficulty seeing because it was dark, and drove into a ditch in the front yard, which damaged the squad car. Reno said the damage was minor, and repairs are underway. The officer was not injured.

Reno said the suspect vehicle also was damaged when it was driven through the yard, but the suspect continued to drive it until he crashed on North Illinois Avenue.

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CARTERVILLE  The Poshard Foundation for Abused Children closed Child Abuse Prevention Month on the last day of April Tuesday by giving $100,000 in grants to agencies across Southern Illinois who work with abused, abandoned and neglected children. The grants are to be used specifically to provide services directly to the children.

Betty Mucha, executive director of Perry-Jackson Child Advocacy Center in Pinckneyville, said the grants allow the center to meet the needs of children in ways that make their lives seem like everybody elses lives.

The grants allows the center to directly serve needs or wants children may have. State and federal funding does not allow the center to spend money on things like gas or food cards that allow families to attend counseling sessions.

This year, part of our funding from the Poshard Foundation will be used specifically for trauma-focused counseling sessions for children. Without it, we would have to suspend trauma-focused counseling, Mucha said.

In Muchas experience, many times families do not ask for things children want, but those needs and wants come out during counseling sessions.

If we have a kid pop up in the middle of year who needs a bike or wants to go to a cheerleading camp, we can do that because of the Poshard Foundation, Mucha said.

The center had a single-parent family whose van broke down. No government funds would pay for repairs, but the child advocacy center could help because of the Poshard Foundation.

Mucha also said the need this year seems greater than in the past.

We have done 109 forensic interviews since July 1 last year. We serve about 125 to 150 children every fiscal year. Right now our caseload is running in the 60s, probably double what is was last year at this time, Mucha said.

Jeannine Woods, executive director of Cairo Womens Shelter, said the funding from the Poshard Foundation helps families that come through their program, allowing them to normalize or participate like everybody else.

Without this money, children would have to go without, Woods said. The money we get from Poshard ensures that we will be able to make sure our children will go to school with everything they need. It also allows us to make sure that when a baby is born while family is at shelter, they can be provided with their basic needs.

They know that through the efforts of the Poshard Foundation, those needs will be met, whether they are new school uniforms, getting a physical or buying a pair of glasses.

We can do a lot with state funding. We dont have to worry about whether or not we can buy a pair of shoes or underwear. This allows us to get each child what he or she needs now, Woods said.

Other agencies that received funding include: Baptist Childrens Home & Family Services, Carmi; Boys & Girls Club of Carbondale; Caritas Family Solutions, Carterville and Mount Vernon regions; CASA of Franklin, Jefferson, Saline and Williamson counties; Centerstone; Childrens Home and Aid, Herrin; Childrens Medical and Mental Health Resource Network, Anna; Southern Region of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services; Family Counseling Center Inc., Golconda; Franklin-Williamson Child Advocacy Center; Hoyleton Youth & Family Services; Lutheran Social Services of Illinois and Lutheran Social Services of Illinois  Prisoner & Family Ministry; Pregnancy Matters; Healthy Families Illinois-Shawnee Health Program; Southern Illinois Coalition for the Homeless; Spero Family Services; Stress and Trauma Treatment Center Inc., Eldorado; The Amy Center Inc., Mount Vernon; The Guardian Center Inc., Carmi; The Nights Shield, West Frankfort; The Womens Center Inc.; and Two Rivers Child Advocacy Center, Anna.

The agencies also received blankets for children during the event.

Jo Poshard, co-founder of the Poshard Foundation for Abused Children, said that although Child Abuse Prevention Month is over, it is clear that 30 days isnt enough time to sound the alarm for abused children in Southern Illinois.

The theme of April 2019 Child Abuse Prevention Month is: Everybody has a role to play. Everyone can have an enormous impact our childrens health and success, Poshard said.

For more information, visit poshardfoundation.org or call 618-985-2828, ext. 8564.

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ULLIN  With a number of big decisions facing Shawnee Community College, the board voted during last weeks organizational meeting to retain its acting chairman, Randy Rushing, of Metropolis.

Rushing has been serving as chairman of the board since January 2018. He stepped into the role when Steve Heisner, the previous chairman, resigned from the board over what he has described as his differences with President Peggy Bradford and her management style.

Heisner then ran again for SCC trustee in Aprils election, and has rejoined the board. He was sworn in last week for another term, along with Andrea Witthoft and John Windings. The three ran as a slate backed by the colleges faculty union.

Rushing and Heisner both received nominations for the chairmanship position. Rushing was elected for the job by his peers on a 4-3 vote. The candidates that campaigned together stuck together in voting for Heisner as chairman, but they were unsuccessful.

The board chairpersons vote carries the same weight as all of the other members, but the chair takes a more active role in communication with the administration and public on the boards behalf.

Rushing said his primary goals for the two-year chairmanship post are to help improve communication between various campus constituencies, to identify the right person to serve as interim president of the college, and to oversee an effective search for a permanent leader.

Bradford and the board jointly announced in March that Bradford intends to step down as president in mid-June and will finish out the final year of her three-year contract working as a liaison between the college, the communities it serves and the Illinois Legislature. Her work will primarily take place off campus. Board members have described it as a sabbatical.

Rushing said the board is weighing a number of options for the interim president position.

The position could go to someone internally, or the board may look for a retired administrator from Shawnee or another institution willing to take over during the search process, which could take up to a year. Rushing said he expects the board to make a decision on the interim post before Bradford transitions into her new role.

I anticipate we announce something no later than the June meeting, and probably before then, he said. The boards next regularly scheduled meeting is this coming Monday, and the board will likely discuss the transition in executive session, he said. Any vote has to come in open session, but Rushing said he doesnt know whether the board will be prepared to do that at its May meeting.

In the meantime, Rushing said hes working to try to improve communication with the faculty association. The union representing teachers was highly critical of Bradford, and complained repeatedly that professors felt looped out of the decision-making processes.

The Higher Learning Commission, SCCs accrediting body, also noted communication problems on campus during a mid-cycle review last year. The commission additionally noted a lack of progress in putting a system in place to measure student progress. The Higher Learning Commission has a return visit for later this year to determine whether the college has made required improvements. While the colleges accreditation status was affirmed, it is critical that the college show progress upon its return this fall so as not to place it in jeopardy, college officials have said.

I think their biggest concern is communication, Rushing said. Hopefully we can show progress there and in the other area.

Rushing said he had a call on Tuesday with Ian Nicholaides, president of the Shawnee College Education ASsociation, to discuss ideas for moving forward together. The faculty association applauded the March agreement reached between the board and Bradford. In a statement to The Southern at the time, Nicholaides said that that the board has the faculty unions full support in moving forward with the selection of new leadership. He also said that faculty members are hopeful that the board will consider their recommendations for improving the college. We look forward to the process, and view this change to be the best option in strategically positioning the college to excel in the immediate and long-term future.

Heisner said that he believes the board is well positioned to move the college forward. I know that my hope, just as one board member, is that we will become a unified board and we will be a board that will be focused on having productive discussions about the colleges future. Shawnee College is fortunate to have a board made up of people with varying backgrounds, strengths and expertise that trustees bring to the table, he said. Echoing Rushings statements, Heisner said that the next critical steps for the board are the selection of interim leadership, and then strategizing ways to heal the divide on campus.

I dont want to oversimplify it, he said. But I really believe our first step is to come together as a group and bring our collective strengths together to achieve those goals.

With Aprils election, longtime board member Maxine Russell has transitioned off the board as of last week. Maxine Russell, of Metropolis, lost her re-election bid after 25 years of service. Russell said she has enjoyed her time in service to Shawnee Community College. She said she intends to continue to support the college in various ways, noting how important the school is to students and communities in the southernmost region of the state.

I think for a smooth transition they should honor all previous contracts and focus on getting an interim president to take over the reins of the college until a new president can be hired, Russell said.

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CHICAGO  Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx's office opposes appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the dismissal of charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett.

Foxx had recused herself from the case after saying she communicated with a relative of Smollett's in the early phases of the investigation but a filing by prosecutors Tuesday argued that Foxx did not have an actual conflict of interest.

Prosecutors also echoed Smollett's attorneys in arguing that the appointment is unnecessary, since the county inspector general's office  at Foxx's request  is already investigating the controversy.

Foxx's office also sought to quash subpoenas seeking her appearance at a hearing Thursday on the proposed appointment.

Sheila O'Brien, a retired state appellate judge, sought the special prosecutor the week after Foxx's office dropped all 16 felony charges against Smollett at an unannounced hearing in March. The decision sparked outrage and drew headlines nationwide.

In her petition, O'Brien highlighted how Foxx said she recused herself in the early stages of the investigation  only to claim recently that it was not a recusal "in the legal sense" that would have required the entire office to withdraw from the prosecution.

O'Brien alleged that Foxx's actions created "a perception that justice was not served here, that Mr. Smollett received special treatment."

A statement from a Foxx aide in February said she recused herself out of an "abundance of caution" since she communicated with a relative of Smollett's in the early phases of the investigation. She declined to provide details at the time, but communications later released to The Chicago Tribune showed Foxx had asked police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to turn over the investigation to the FBI after she was approached by Tina Tchen, former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama.

But in Tuesday's filing, prosecutors said that Foxx's recusal amounted to a subjective judgment on her part and that no evidence existed of a real conflict of interest requiring the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Even the appearance of impropriety would not necessarily be enough to assign a special prosecutor, they argued.

LeRoy Martin Jr., the presiding judge of the circuit court's criminal division, is scheduled to take up the request for a special prosecutor at a hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

O'Brien has subpoenaed Foxx and her top deputy, Joseph Magats, to appear at the hearing, but prosecutors moved to block that effort, calling it improper and premature. Besides, prosecutors said, the files that O'Brien wants them to produce in court have been sealed from public view by the judge who oversaw the Smollett case.

Smollett, who is black and openly gay, found himself at the center of an international media firestorm after he reported in late January being the victim of an attack by two people shouting racist and homophobic slurs.

But after Chicago police investigated, Smollett was charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct alleging he staged the attack. Foxx faced a firestorm of criticism after her office dismissed the charges against Smollett less than a month after he was indicted.

Prosecutors at first insisted that the evidence against the actor was solid, but then Foxx backpedaled in a Tribune op-ed when she said unspecified aspects of the case would have made a conviction "uncertain."

Foxx also said she welcomed an independent review of the case and asked the county inspector general's office to investigate.

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SPRINGFIELD  A graduated income tax package which differs slightly from one proposed in March by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker advanced out of the Senate Executive Committee on Tuesday along partisan lines.

The three bills include a repeal of the Illinois estate tax and a conditional property tax freeze for school districts provided certain state funding requirements are met. All of the measures passed without any Republican support.

The Senate version  included in Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 687  raises the top income tax rate to 7.99 percent from 7.95 percent in the governors plan and separates the rate structures for single- and joint-filing persons. For single filers, the maximum rate kicks in at $750,001 and applies to every penny of income. For joint filers, that rate takes effect on earnings greater than $1 million, the same as in the governors plan.

The corporate tax rate would be raised to 7.99 percent as well, slightly higher than Pritzkers proposed 7.95 percent hike from its current 7 percent rate. Businesses also pay a corporate property replacement tax, however, which makes the top corporate rate 10.49 percent under the Senate plan.

Sponsor Toi Hutchinson, an Olympia Fields Democrat, said lowering the threshold for the top rate of single filers was an attempt to address the so-called marriage penalty without drastically decreasing anticipated revenues.

She said a Center for Government Forecasting and Accountability analysis shows the tax will bring in an added $3.57 billion in revenue from individual taxpayers and $350 million from raising the corporate tax rate. These estimates were based on 2016 figures, Hutchinson added.

State Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican, questioned whether the figures were reliable, and suggested using a three-year trend from 2014 to 2016 to project 2021s revenue.

Barickman said uncertain estimates, along with lowering the top bracket from Prtizkers initial proposal, were indicators that nothing would prevent the General Assembly from voting to raising taxes on lower income earners in the future.

Hutchinson responded that the General Assembly already has the authority to raise taxes on everyone, and the flat tax would have to be increased from its current 4.95 percent rate to at least 6 percent on all Illinoisans to generate the revenue projected from the graduated tax.

While the Senate plan is not final, Pritzkers office released a statement in support of the committee process Tuesday.

From day one, Governor Pritzker has made clear that he prioritizes negotiations with the General Assembly on the fair income tax, spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh wrote. Today represents another important step in the negotiations, and we look forward to continuing those conversations with stakeholders in the House as well. Governor Pritzkers focus on making our system more fair means that 97 percent of Illinois taxpayers will pay the same or less in income taxes, while only those making more than $250,000 will pay more.

Outside of the top brackets, the marginal tax rates in the Senate plan are 4.75 percent from $0 to $10,000; 4.9 percent from $10,001 to $100,000; 4.95 percent from $100,001 to $250,000; 7.75 percent from $250,001 to $500,000 and 7.85 percent from $500,001 to $1 million.

For single-filing persons, tax rates are the same up to $250,000, while the 7.75 percent rate applies from $250,001 to $350,000 and the 7.85 percent rate applies from $350,001 to $750,000.

Republicans also questioned a provision in the bill requiring Illinoisans to file their state income taxes with the same joint or single status they list on their federal forms. For couples living in different states, committee Democrats said, only money earned in Illinois could be taxed in the state, which is the same as current law.

The Senate plan includes an additional $100 million for the Local Government Distributive Fund, which helps pay for the administration and infrastructure costs of local governments. This fund faced several cuts in recent years.

The package also includes a $100 income tax credit per child, which would not be available once a single filers income exceeds $80,000 and a joint income exceeds $100,000.

Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 690, carried by Bunker Hill Democratic Sen. Andy Manar, would offer property tax relief provided the state fully funds K-12 education in its operating budget beginning in 2021. This would require $350 million annually for the new school funding formula and about $300 million for mandated categorical payments, Manar said.

If those needs are met, the property tax rate would be frozen for the coming year and every year in which the state meets the payment requirements. The process would take place annually and would take effect only if the graduated tax amendment becomes law.

The bill contains exceptions for levy increases for debt approved through a local referendum and for pension payments.

The concept here is to put a credible proposal on the table to do what I think we all want to do, which is turn off the spigot of property taxes and make the state budget the predominant source of how we fund public schools in the state, Manar said.

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In 2008, when Sarah Palin entered the stage to debate her fellow vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, she asked him first thing: "Hey, can I call you Joe?"

It was a charming moment. In Palin's aw-shucks manner, she not only neutralized Biden as a formidable foe but reminded folks watching at home that she was just a gal from Wasilla, Alaska, who liked to keep things simple and personal. It may have been the only brilliant line to come from the then-governor of Alaska that night.

In reality, the reason she asked to call him Joe was because during debate preparations, according to her memoirs, she had called him "O'Biden." Obama, O'Biden, get it? Finally, her team advised her to just-call-him-Joe.

A couple of years later, I asked Biden how much he had held back during the debate, figuring he had been instructed to treat her gingerly, to avoid appearing the bully or a show off.

He laughed and said, "A lot!"

But the truth is, Biden wouldn't have had to try very hard to be generous with Palin. Notwithstanding his handling of the 1991 interrogation of Anita Hill while chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, when Hill testified against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas for sexual harassment, Biden is naturally kind. And, as we've recently been reminded, affectionate.

Most important, in contrast to President Trump, Biden is freighted with copious supplies of empathy. While Biden's well-known personal losses have made him a fuller man capable of great compassion, Trump seems to have been born without the capacity to feel anything for others beyond their utilitarian value. Following his annual physical in February, the surprise wasn't that he has a strong heart but that he has one at all.

The question for Biden, who became the 21st Democrat to toss his hat in the ring, is whether he is tough enough to be president. And, given the youthful fervor of the Democratic Party these days, is he, at age 76, too old?

I'd never say someone is too old for a given job, assuming qualifications and good health. I might question why anyone would want to be president at any age, but Biden's explanation rings true. He is viewed by many as the candidate most likely to take Trump down. To kill him with kindness, as it were, as well as with experience, knowledge and a remarkable personal history.

That Biden isn't a cauldron of raging hormones, or shouting slogans of radical change, is likely more comforting than not to many Americans, including baby boomers who aren't dead yet and who tend to vote. Moreover, he's a longtime populist and activist for America's working class, thus perfectly positioned to woo back some of the almost 40 million white working-class Americans who voted for Trump.

Unlike Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders  72 and 77, respectively  Biden isn't a grumpy old man. He's got a mega-watt smile and doesn't hide it behind a pout. He's imperfect, yes. But his malaprops and his too-affectionate ways are endearing compared with the boasts and bloody bombast of The Current Occupant.

Finally, age confers some privileges: Joe won't have to chop wood, shoot a gun or perform any of the other "manly" stunts male candidates often do, presumably to convey strength, stamina, virility or whatever. Really, hasn't this gimmick run its course? The presidency hardly requires that one mount a rough steed and spear an antelope for din-dins. Besides, we've all witnessed Biden's suffering and profound grief. He doesn't have to prove a thing.

Come primary season, Biden may well be the only Democrat for whom Republicans could vote and, later, the only one who could graciously show Trump out. But all factors considered, he's not otherwise the obvious candidate. That person is a male veteran, a former Navy intelligence officer, who studied at Harvard and Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Well-rounded, in other words. At 37, he's very young, but he speaks engagingly in ways that wouldn't strike fear in the elder heart.

Pete Buttigieg, who has served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, since 2012, is the Barack Obama of his generation  a composite of opposites generated by an anti-Trump algorithm  and today's quintessential candidate. The country may not yet be ready for a gay man and his husband in the White House, but Buttigieg is in my view the most significant voice in the presidential race.

And, hey, you can call him Mayor Pete.

Kathleen Parker writes for the Washington Post Writers Group. Her columns include her own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinion or editorial position of The Southern. Her email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.

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To the Editor:

Every hour of every day, your local hospitals provide life-saving care to everyone coming through their doors. However, lawmakers in Springfield are considering a proposal  House Bill 2604  that would take away the ability of local hospitals and healthcare professionals to decide how best to care for patients and keep healthcare close to home.

This proposal  nurse staffing ratios  would dictate exactly how many patients a nurse can serve at any given time at every Illinois hospital. This one-size-fits-all approach ignores the seriousness of each patients injury or illness and the skills, specialized training and experience of each nurse in a hospital unit.

The number of patients and their conditions change quickly in hospitals. Local healthcare professionals need flexibility to adjust to properly staff the ER and hospital units. Healthcare shouldnt be boiled down to a simple set of numbers.

Ratios would force hospitals to layoff key support staff and reduce services. At critically busy times, when your local hospitals are needed most, they would have to divert patients to other distant hospitals to comply with the ratios mandate.

Illinois doesnt have enough nurses to meet the ratios  with a shortage of 21,000 nurses and one-third of RNs planning to retire within five years.

Only one state, California, has adopted nurse staffing ratios. But studies indicate there is no conclusive evidence ratios improve quality or outcomes.

We urge lawmakers to reject HB2604 or any other proposal on nurse staffing ratios. Its not good for patients.

AJ Wilhelmi

President, Illinois Health

and Hospital Association

Naperville

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WASHINGTON  She tried gums, patches and various electronic cigarettes to quit smoking. What finally worked for Chantel Williams was a small, reusable e-cigarette called Juul that packs a big nicotine punch.

"I look better. I feel better and I don't smell. It's fantastic," said Williams of Portland, Oregon, who smoked for decades.

That nicotine hit and its easy-to-inhale vapor is one reason why Juul is so popular  and so feared.

"That's the trouble with Juul: It's probably the worst for kids but it might be the best for adult smokers," said Dr. Nancy Rigotti, a tobacco treatment specialist at Harvard Medical School.

The brainchild of two Stanford University design students, Juul launched in 2015 and quickly leapfrogged over its competitors to become the top-selling e-cigarette in the U.S. Today, the privately held company controls nearly three-quarters of the $3.7 billion-dollar retail market for e-cigarettes, spawning dozens of copycat brands along the way.

With Juul's rise came an explosion of underage vaping, alarming public health officials and lawmakers. Last year, 1 in 5 U.S. high school students reported vaping in the previous month, according to a government survey.

Juul and other pod-based vaping devices can be used discreetly, without the smoke, odor or throat irritation that deterred some teenagers from smoking. E-cigarettes typically heat a solution containing nicotine into a vapor, and health experts say the addictive chemical is harmful to developing brains. Recent research published shows some teenagers aren't even aware they are inhaling nicotine when using Juul and similar e-cigarettes.

Proposals to keep e-cigarettes away from teenagers include banning flavored solutions, restricting where they can be sold and raising the purchase age to 21, which some states have done.

Less attention has been paid to Juul's quick, powerful buzz.

Abbey Solomon first began seeing Juul around the house when her son Jack was in 8th grade.

Like many parents, she didn't initially recognize the small, rechargeable device, which resembles a flash drive, as an e-cigarette. But as parents and teachers began sounding the alarm, she started confiscating Juul and its color-coded flavor pods from her son and his friends.

Last year, Jack, 16, became an unlikely spokesman for the anti-vaping movement, appearing in a viral video , "Juulers against Juul" to push for tougher restrictions to protect kids.

In the video, he says teenagers will often leave school to get their Juul fix. "It shouldn't happen," he said. "But kids are very addicted to these e-cigarettes and need this stuff to be satisfied."

Jack himself hasn't been able to quit, his mother says. When she tried to make him stop, "he was moody, he was complaining, he wasn't sleeping," says Solomon, of Scarsdale, New York. "He was miserable because he was going through nicotine withdrawal. He was addicted."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the power to cap nicotine levels in e-cigarettes, but hasn't proposed any such standard. For cigarettes, there's no limit on nicotine, although the FDA has taken preliminary steps toward reducing levels to help smokers quit. Limiting nicotine in e-cigarettes could have unintended consequences, including making the products less satisfying for smokers trying to switch.

Juul declined interviews for this story, but said in a statement that its product is formulated to "mimic the experience of a cigarette." Its goal is to offer smokers an alternative to tobacco-burning cigarettes, the company said. Under pressure from regulators, Juul voluntarily shut down its Facebook and Instagram accounts and pulled several flavors out of stores last November.

Company critics say Juul's nicotine level may be excessive and should be getting far more scrutiny.

"I think there's a real question of how addictive these products need to be," said Robin Koval, CEO of the Truth Initiative, a nonprofit anti-smoking education group.

Juul sells two formulas for most of its flavor pods. One contains 59 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter of liquid, or roughly three times what can be sold to consumers in Europe, where Juul sells a 20-milligram version of its pods. Juul's lower-nicotine U.S. version contains 35 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter, which still exceeds the European limit.

Britain and other nations have had success promoting e-cigarettes as a lower-risk alternative to smokers, without seeing a surge in underage vaping. But they also have tighter regulations, including strict limits on advertising.

Juul, like all e-cigarettes in the U.S., has not been approved to help smokers quit. The FDA isn't expected to begin reviewing the contents and health effects of e-cigarettes for at least two more years.

While calling underage vaping a "mounting epidemic of youth addiction," recently departed FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stressed the importance of keeping e-cigarettes available for adult smokers trying to quit. The FDA and most experts agree that e-cigarettes are probably less harmful than traditional cigarettes because they don't produce all of the cancer-causing byproducts of burning tobacco.

Meanwhile, the vaping industry appears to be following Juul's lead.

Stanford researchers have identified 39 U.S. devices mimicking Juul's pod-based design and 71 brands selling similar high-nicotine solutions.

Juul has published little peer-reviewed research, and only in the last year have independent researchers begun studying its formula. The company says each of its full-strength pods delivers about as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. But experts note that usage varies widely; some people may vape one pod a day, others one pod a week.

Most researchers have focused on a more objective measure: the potency of Juul's nicotine formula, or e-liquid.

Researchers at Portland State University analyzed the concentration of Juul's full-strength pod against nine other nicotine formulas on the market in 2017. Juul's nicotine level dwarfed its competitors, in some cases by twentyfold.

Regular cigarettes and older e-cigarettes mainly contain nicotine in its freebase form, which becomes increasingly harsh on the throat at higher levels. Juul's innovation was to convert the nicotine to its salt form by combining it with an acid. The result is a mild vapor that allows even a novice to inhale large doses of nicotine.

David Peyton, a chemistry professor at Portland State who co-authored the paper, says Juul's popularity is due to a combination of its formulation, flavors and marketing efforts.

"It's very powerful and very attractive," Peyton said.

Adult smokers want something that "will deliver this hit and relieve their nicotine craving as fast as possible," said Dr. Maciej Goniewicz, a toxicologist at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York.

That's what attracted Chantel Williams to Juul. The 46-year-old social media manager said she began smoking in grade school. She tried to quit beginning in 2005, using nicotine gum, patches and eventually e-cigarettes. Refillable vaping devices were "too much work," she said. And other brands didn't have the immediacy of a cigarette like Juul.

"You just grab it and you're taken care of it," she said.

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A former school bus driver who pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl will not receive any prison time, according to the sentence handed down by a New York State Supreme Court judge.

The victim was 14 when she was she assaulted by Shane Piche on June 10, 2018, outside the upstate New York city of Watertown, Jefferson County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Patricia Dziuba told CNN Tuesday. Piche is 25, according to CNN affiliate WWNY.

Piche waived indictment in February and was sentenced last Thursday to probation for 10 years. According to the certificate of disposition, he must register as a Level 1 sex offender and pay fees of $1,425. He pleaded guilty to third-degree rape.

The New York sex offender website describes Level 1 as an offender with a "low risk of re-offense." Piche's address would not be listed on the registry, just his zip code.

Piche met the victim as a school bus driver and "maintained communication" with her on social media, Dziuba said. That led to him inviting her to his home, plying her with alcohol, and then raping her, according to the prosecutor.

Prosecutors originally asked for a "split to probation," which is a mix of jail time and up to 10 years' probation, Dziuba said. Although they could have asked for up to four years of prison, prosecutors wanted Piche to better learn how to control his urges and to learn proper boundaries, she said.

Prosecutors were looking for treatment for Piche, according to Dziuba, who said Piche will receive sex offender counseling and treatment while on probation. The state also wanted to protect the victim from court proceedings, she added.

Piche will have to report locally to the sheriff's department in the county where he lives, and he will not have access to children or live within a certain distance to children, the prosecutor said.

The pre-sentencing report -- which considers the defendant's past, input from the victim and the victim's family, the facts of the case and other factors -- determined probation was the appropriate punishment, Dziuba said. The ultimate decision on the sentence rested with the judge, she said.

Dziuba said the case was not a violent sexual assault but was prosecuted as third-degree rape because it is considered an age-based crime in New York. Third-degree rape also allows for unconditional discharge where a defendant is fined and sent on his way.

Dziuba said she was not present for victim impact statements in court last week.

Piche's attorney, Eric Swartz, said in a statement that his client "cannot be alone with anyone under the age of seventeen, with the exception of friends and relatives as reported and agreed by the probation department."

"He'll be a felon for the rest of his life," Swartz said in an interview with WWNY. "He's on the sex offender registry for a long time. Maybe not the rest of his life because of the level, but this isn't something that didn't cause him pain, and this isn't something that didn't have consequences."

Piche was employed as a bus driver for the Watertown City School District in Jefferson County.

Watertown City Schools Superintendent Patti LaBarre told CNN, "The district cannot comment on personnel matters regarding outside contracted employees."

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Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
On Tuesday morning, RTL Luxembourg's editorial guest was the Chamber of Commerce's new president, Luc Frieden.

Speaking about his new mandate as the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Frieden explained that his previous experience as both a politician and lawyer would help guide him as the chamber's president. He also specified that, despite his political background, he would ensure that the chamber would remain politically impartial.

Frieden drew on his experience having been on both sides due to his extensive background and maintained he knows how to compromise.

Looking ahead, he designated the chamber's three principal tasks as digitalisation, continuous training, and ensuring trade freedom in the European inner market. Frieden highlighted that the last point is especially critical for Luxembourg, which imports and exports a great quantity of goods.

As well as being the Chamber of Commerce's president, Frieden is also the chairman of the BIL (Banque Internationale de Luxembourg) board of directors. Recently, the bank's majority ownership was taken over by Chinese shareholders. Despite this, Frieden maintained that the bank is and will remain a Luxembourgish bank.

He explained that the Chinese ownership is not necessarily decisive and instead described the partnership as a "win-win" situation.
The 'Stausei', the lake in Weiswampach and the artificial lakes and ponds - the 'Baggweier' - in Remerschen are free to visit.

From Wednesday 1 May onwards, we will once again be permitted to swim in open water.

Leading up to this date/development, the water management office performs a number of tests in order to see where it's possible to swim.

According to these findings, it's safe to visit the Upper-Sure lake - commonly referred to as the 'Stausei' - the 'Baggerweier' in Remerschen and the lake in Weiswampach.

 Emweltministere

More information on the current open water situation can be found at the Ministry for Environment's website.

Observations, recommendations and complaints concerning the quality of these open waters should be directed to the Ministry for the Environment.

This can be done via Email to baignade@eau.etat.lu or by post to Ministere de lEnvironnement, du Climat et du Developpement durable, L-2918 Letzebuerg.
A number of traffic regulations have been adapted in some parts of the city centre for Grand Duke Jean's funeral on Saturday 4 May, one of the car parks in Kirchberg will be free of charge.

Practical information for next Saturday:

Drones forbidden

All airline and drone activity suspended in Luxembourg City on the day of His Royal Highness Jean of Luxembourg's memorial services (04.05.2019)

Statement by: Minister for Mobility and Public Works

As part of the funeral services for Grand Duke Jean on 4 May 2019, the Minister for Mobility and Public Works has decided to suspend all flights as well as drone activity in the upper city to a height of 750m.

Free parking at Kirchberg



His Royal Highness Jean of Luxembourg's memorial services: public transport and parking facility changes

Furthermore, the "Place de l'Europe" car park in Kirchberg will be free from 6am to 11.30pm.

CFL reports that works planned for the weekend of 4 and 5 May, that would have required the closing of Luxembourg  Sandweiler-Contern et Luxembourg  Dommeldange railway lines, have been postponed.

The forecast in increased demand for public transport will be taken into account as much as is possible.

Traffic and public transport in the city centre

His Royal Highness Jean of Luxembourg's memorial services: public transport and transit changes (04.05.2019)

Statement from the municipal government

The Ville de Luxembourg informs the public that as part of the funeral services for His Royal Highness the Grand Duke Jean, some changes in public transport and transit can be expected. www.vdl.lu

Road traffic regulations

 From 6pm on Thursday 2 May to 6pm Saturday 4 May, Rue Notre-Dame (stretch between Rue de l'ancien Athenee and Rue du Fosse), Rue du Fosse, cote d'Eich (from Rue du Fosse to the intersection with Rue du Nord), Rue de l'Eau, Rue de la Boucherie and the du Marche-aux-Herbes (stretch between cote d'Eich and Rue de la Boucherie) will be closed for the installation of grandstands.

 Saturday 4 May from 6am to 6pm, the following streets and squares will be closed: Rue Aldringen, rue Notre-Dame, Boulevard F.D. Roosevelt, Place de la Constitution, Rue de l'ancien Athenee, Rue de la Congregation, Rue du Fosse, cote d'Eich (from Rue du Fosse to the intersection with Rue du Nord), Rue de l'Eau, Rue de la Boucherie and Rue du Marche-aux-Herbes (stretch between cote d'Eich and Rue de la Boucherie as well as the stretch between Rue de l'Eau and Rue du St. Esprit), Rue de la Boucherie, Rue Sigefroi, Rue de l'Eau, Rue Large, Rue de la Corniche, Rue du St. Esprit. It is forbidden to park in these streets between 6pm on Friday 3 May and 6pm Saturday 4 May. It should be noted that parking on Place de la Constitution will be forbidden from 3 May to 29 May for the Octave.

The Ville de Luxembourg traffic services will ensure that appropriate signposting will be in place.



Parking

 The Theatre, Royal-Hamilius and Monterey car parks will be accessible throughout 4 May 2019.

 The entrance and exit of the Knuedler car park on the other hand will be closed from 7.30am to 2pm on 4 May, for the public as well as for subscribers.

 The Saint-Esprit car par too will be closed from 7.30am to 2pm except for subscribers from Viaduc, however the exit to the R. Konen tunnel will be free all day.

 The Place de l'Europe car park (close to the "Philharmonie/MUDAM" tram stop) will be free on 4 May until closing time at 11.30pm, the Stade parking (closer to the "Stade" bus stop) is free on Saturdays.

Appropriate signposting will be put up for the car parks concerned.



Public transport

 P+R Bouillon : the AVL 17 will circulate every 10 minutes between 8.03am and 3.03pm on Saturday 4 May from P+R Bouillon towards the city centre (Monterey bus stop); returns every 10 minutes will run until 3.10pm, then every 20 minutes until 7.10pm. Visitors can also use lines 1/125 and 15 in order to get to the city centre or the train station. Buses will be running every 15-20 minutes.

 P+R Luxembourg-Sud : from 7.48am to 11.08 am, the AVL 21 line will run every 10 minutes between Howald, P + R Lux-South Pier 3 and Pier 1 (customs center) and downtown (Monterey stop); returns will be every 10 minutes until 2.58pm, then every 20 minutes until 7.58pm. At the same time, users of the Luxembourg-Sud car park will be able to use line 29 from the P + R Lux-Sud stop 2 (Raiffeisen bd) to the station (Gare-Rocade stop). Buses will depart every half hour ('19 and '49).

 Due to the closing of various downtown streets, bus stops FD Roosevelt Pier 1, Cathedral, Gruef and Kasinosgaass of Lines 19 and 32 will be removed from 2 May at 6pm to 4 May 2019. Replacement stops: Hamilius (Lines 19 and 32), Royal Forum (line 32)

 On May 4, the City Shopping Bus will not stop at F.D. Roosevelt Pier 1, Cathedral, Gruef and Kasinosgaass. Replacement stop: Beaumont Street.

 City bus staff will be present at major bus stops to inform and guide users.

 It should be noted that all city centre lines (1-33), the tram line, as well as some RGTR lines are free (busgratuits.vdl.lu) on Saturdays.

National Library Closed

His Royal Highness Jean of Luxembourg's memorial services: National Library closed 3 May 2019

Statement by: Bibliotheque nationale de Luxembourg

The National Library of Luxembourg (BnL) will be closed on Friday, May 3, 2019 due to preparations for the funeral of His Royal Highness Grand Duke Jean. The BnL will lend its premises to the organising teams of the funeral service and will not be able to accommodate its users.

For more information: www.bnl.lu
This post is prompted by a number of things that have left me pondering how as Christians we are to bring about change in our churches. When we strongly b...

6 years ago
Villegagnon signalized his new-born Protestantism by an intolerable solicitude for the manners and morals of his followers. The whip and the pillory requited the least offence. The wild and discordant crew, starved and flogged for a season into submission, conspired at length to rid themselves of him; but while they debated whether to poison him, blow him up, or murder him and his officers in their sleep, three Scotch soldiers, probably Calvinists, revealed the plot, and the vigorous hand of the commandant crushed it in the bud.

Two vessels were made ready, in the name of the King. The body of the emigration was Huguenot, mingled with young nobles, restless, idle, and poor, with reckless artisans, and piratical sailors from the Norman and Breton seaports. They put to sea from Havre on the twelfth of July, 1555, and early in November saw the shores of Brazil. Entering the harbor of Rio Janeiro, then called Ganabara, Villegagnon landed men and stores on an island, built huts, and threw up earthworks. In anticipation of future triumphs, the whole continent, by a strange perversion of language, was called Antarctic France, while the fort received the name of Coligny.

In secret, Geneva was made privy to it, and Calvin himself embraced it with zeal. The enterprise, in fact, had a double character, political as well as religious. It was the reply of France, the most emphatic she had yet made, to the Papal bull which gave all the western hemisphere to Portugal and Spain; and, as if to point her answer, she sent, not Frenchmen only, but Protestant Frenchmen, to plant the fleur-de-lis on the shores of the New World.

When the Emperor Charles the Fifth beleaguered Algiers, his camps were deluged by a blinding tempest, and at its height the infidels made a furious sally. A hundred Knights of Malta, on foot, wearing over their armor surcoats of crimson blazoned with the white cross, bore the brunt of the assault. Conspicuous among them was Nicolas Durand de Villegagnon. A Moorish cavalier, rushing upon him, pierced his arm with a lance, and wheeled to repeat the blow; but the knight leaped on the infidel, stabbed him with his dagger, flung him from his horse, and mounted in his place. Again, a Moslem host landed in Malta and beset the Cite Notable . The garrison was weak, disheartened, and without a leader. Villegagnon with six followers, all friends of his own, passed under cover of night through the infidel leaguer, climbed the walls by ropes lowered from above, took command, repaired the shattered towers, aiding with his own hands in the work, and animated the garrison to a resistance so stubborn that the besiegers lost heart and betook themselves to their galleys. No less was he an able and accomplished mariner, prominent among that chivalry of the sea who held the perilous verge of Christendom against the Mussulman. He claimed other laurels than those of the sword. He was a scholar, a linguist, a controversialist, potent with the tongue and with the pen, commanding in presence, eloquent and persuasive in discourse. Yet this Crichton of France had proved himself an associate nowise desirable. His sleepless intellect was matched with a spirit as restless, vain, unstable, and ambitious, as it was enterprising and bold. Addicted to dissent, and enamoured of polemics, he entered those forbidden fields of inquiry and controversy to which the Reform invited him. Undaunted by his monastic vows, he battled for heresy with tongue and pen, and in the ear of Protestants professed himself a Protestant. As a Commander of his Order, he quarrelled with the Grand Master, a domineering Spaniard; and, as Vice-Admiral of Brittany, he was deep in a feud with the Governor of Brest. Disgusted at home, his fancy crossed the seas. He aspired to build for France and himself an empire amid the tropical splendors of Brazil. Few could match him in the gift of persuasion; and the intrepid seamen whose skill and valor had run the gantlet of the English fleet, and borne Mary Stuart of Scotland in safety to her espousals with the Dauphin, might well be intrusted with a charge of moment so far inferior. Henry the Second was still on the throne. The lance of Montgomery had not yet rid France of that infliction. To win a share in the rich domain of the New World, of which Portuguese and Spanish arrogance claimed the monopoly, was the end held by Villegagnon before the eyes of the King. Of the Huguenots, he said not a word. For Coligny he had another language. He spoke of an asylum for persecuted religion, a Geneva in the wilderness, far from priests and monks and Francis of Guise. The Admiral gave him a ready ear; if, indeed, he himself had not first conceived the plan. Yet to the King, an active burner of Huguenots, Coligny too urged it as an enterprise, not for the Faith, but for France.

But how was the colony to subsist? Their island was too small for culture, while the mainland was infested with hostile tribes, and threatened by the Portuguese, who regarded the French occupancy as a violation of their domain.

Meanwhile, in France, Huguenot influence, aided by ardent letters sent home by Villegagnon in the returning ships, was urging on the work. Nor were the Catholic chiefs averse to an enterprise which, by colonizing heresy, might tend to relieve France of its presence. Another embarkation was prepared, in the name of Henry the Second, under Bois-Lecomte, a nephew of Villegagnon. Most of the emigrants were Huguenots. Geneva sent a large deputation, and among them several ministers, full of zeal for their land of promise and their new church in the wilderness. There were five young women, also, with a matron to watch over them. Soldiers, emigrants, and sailors, two hundred and ninety in all, were embarked in three vessels; and, to the sound of cannon, drums, fifes, and trumpets, they unfurled their sails at Honfieur. They were no sooner on the high seas than the piratical character of the Norman sailors, in no way exceptional at that day, began to declare itself. They hailed every vessel weaker than themselves, pretended to be short of provisions, and demanded leave to buy them; then, boarding the stranger, plundered her from stem to stern. After a passage of four months, on the ninth of March, 1557, they entered the port of Ganabara, and saw the fleur-de-lis floating above the walls of Fort Coligny. Amid salutes of cannon, the boats, crowded with sea-worn emigrants, moved towards the landing. It was an edifying scene when Villegagnon, in the picturesque attire which marked the warlike nobles of the period, came down to the shore to greet the sombre ministers of Calvin. With hands uplifted and eyes raised to heaven, he bade them welcome to the new asylum of the faithful; then launched into a long harangue full of zeal and unction. His discourse finished, he led the way to the dining-hall. If the redundancy of spiritual aliment had surpassed their expectations, the ministers were little prepared for the meagre provision which awaited their temporal cravings; for, with appetites whetted by the sea, they found themselves seated at a board whereof, as one of them complains, the choicest dish was a dried fish, and the only beverage rain-water. They found their consolation in the inward graces of the commandant, whom they likened to the Apostle Paul.

For a time all was ardor and hope. Men of birth and station, and the ministers themselves, labored with pick and shovel to finish the fort. Every day exhortations, sermons, prayers, followed in close succession, and Villegagnon was always present, kneeling on a velvet cushion brought after him by a page. Soon, however, he fell into sharp controversy with the ministers upon points of faith. Among the emigrants was a student of the Sorbonne, one Cointac, between whom and the ministers arose a fierce and unintermitted war of words. Is it lawful to mix water mth the wine of the Eucharist? May the sacramental bread be made of meal of Indian corn? These and similar points of dispute filled the fort with wranglings, begetting cliques, factions, and feuds without number. Villegagnon took part with the student, and between them they devised a new doctrine, abhorrent alike to Geneva and to Rome. The advent of this nondescript heresy was the signal of redoubled strife. The dogmatic stiffness of the Geneva ministers chafed Villegagnon to fury. He felt himself, too, in a false position. On one side he depended on the Protestant, Coligny; on the other, he feared the Court. There were Catholics in the colony who might report him as an open heretic. On this point his doubts were set at rest; for a ship from France brought him a letter from the Cardinal of Lorraine, couched, it is said, in terms which restored him forthwith to the bosom of the Church. Villegagnon now affirmed that he had been deceived in Calvin, and pronounced him a frightful heretic. He became despotic beyond measure, and would bear no opposition. The ministers, reduced nearly to starvation, found themselves under a tyranny worse than that from which they had fled.

At length he drove them from the fort, and forced them to bivouac on the mainland, at the risk of being butchered by Indians, until a vessel loading with Brazil-wood in the harbor should be ready to carry them back to France. Having rid himself of the ministers, he caused three of the more zealous Calvinists to be seized, dragged to the edge of a rock, and thrown into the sea. A fourth, equally obnoxious, but who, being a tailor, could ill be spared, was permitted to live on condition of recantation. Then, mustering the colonists, he warned them to shun the heresies of Luther and Calvin; threatened that all who openly professed those detestable doctrines should share the fate of their three comrades; and, his harangue over, feasted the whole assembly, in token, says the narrator, of joy and triumph. Meanwhile, in their crazy vessel, the banished ministers drifted slowly on their way. Storms fell upon them, their provisions failed, their water-casks were empty, and, tossing in the wilderness of waves, or rocking on the long swells of subsiding gales, they sank almost to despair. In their famine they chewed the Brazil-wood with which the vessel was laden, devoured every scrap of leather, singed and ate the horn of lanterns, hunted rats through the hold, and sold them to each other at enormous prices. At length, stretched on the deck, sick, listless, attenuated, and scarcely able to move a limb, they descried across the waste of sea the faint, cloud-like line that marked the coast of Brittany. Their perils were not past; for, if we may believe one of them, Jean de Lery, they bore a sealed letter from Villegagnon to the magistrates of the first French port at which they might arrive. It denounced them as heretics, worthy to be burned. Happily, the magistrates leaned to the Reform, and the malice of the commandant failed of its victims.

Villegagnon himself soon sailed for France, leaving the wretched colony to its fate. He presently entered the lists against Calvin, and engaged him in a hot controversial war, in which, according to some of his contemporaries, the knight often worsted the theologian at his own weapons. Before the year 1558 was closed, Ganabara fell a prey to the Portuguese. They set upon it in force, battered down the fort, and slew the feeble garrison, or drove them to a miserable refuge among the Indians. Spain and Portugal made good their claim to the vast domain, the mighty vegetation, and undeveloped riches of Antarctic France.

--Francis Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World, 1865.
The Virginia businessman whod planned to purchase and operate a troubled coal mine in western Wyoming has backed out after a failure to secure bonding ahead of a deadline.

Bankrupt Westmoreland Resource Partners was set to sell the Kemmerer mine in western Wyoming to Tom Clarke  a businessman from Virginia who first made his fortune in the health industry but has dabbled, sometimes controversially, in mining operations in recent years.

The bankruptcy court approved a sale of the Kemmerer mine to Clarke in March for $7.5 million in cash and more than $200 million in secured promissory notes.

Westmoreland lenders, however, objected to Clarkes acquisition of the Kemmerer operation soon after, arguing that Clarke was attempting to close the sale without having first provided collateral or surety for reclamation liabilities in southern Wyoming.

If Clarke had not taken over that responsibility, it would have remained with Westmorelands first-in-line lenders.

In a meeting Tuesday in Texas to discuss the objection, it was disclosed to the parties in the bankruptcy that Clarke had rescinded his offer, following an extension and failed attempts to come to an agreement on bonding with Zurich Insurance, according to sources included in the meeting.

A call to Clarke on Tuesday afternoon was not immediately returned.

Peter Morgan, a senior attorney for the Sierra Club, said in an emailed comment Tuesday that Clarkes failure to secure bonding is indicative of larger issues in coal and should be noted.

The companies that operate these mines, and the lenders who have invested in them, are pretending like everythings fine and the industry isnt going through a historic shift as demand plummets, he said. But the surety bond providers who will bear the cost to reclaim these mine sites, if and when they fail, are now taking action to protect themselves.

***

Westmoreland Resources Partners  the arm of Westmoreland that owns the Kemmerer mine  filed for bankruptcy late last year. As part of the bankruptcy process, Westmoreland cut retiree health benefits and voided the union contract between Kemmerer miners and the company. Those decisions were justified before the judge, by Westmoreland, as necessary due to prospective buyers inability to carry the financial weight of the legacy health responsibilities of former miners.

Clarke arrived promising that with tightened belts the Kemmerer mine would be able to hold on in a challenged coal market.

Clarke came in on a big old white horse and drove around town for a couple of days, said Mike Dalpiaz, vice president of United Mine Workers of America District 22, which represents Kemmerer. He was like Santa Claus. Santa Claus left in April.

The Kemmerer mine is not Clarkes first failed business venture in the mining industries.

Clarke was criticized by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the states Department of Natural Resources earlier this year when he attempted to buy Westmoreland assets in that state.

State officials were highly concerned whether the buyers of the Oxford Mines and the Buckingham Mine have the assets to fund all reclamation and surface water mitigation requirements, the states attorney wrote in an objection to the sale.

Clarke backed out of that buy.

In an interview with the Star-Tribune earlier this year, Clarke said his offers in the Ohio mine sale had pushed up other bidders, winning Clarke favor from Westmoreland as he sought to buy the Kemmerer mine.

Through companies formed in Wyoming, Clarke and his wife, Ana, had obtained the lease to mine the Kemmerer operation but had not yet concluded the permit transfer  the final step in a mine sale to a new operator in Wyoming in which the reclamation obligations have been taken up by the buyer, to the satisfaction of Wyoming regulators.

Kemmerer became the second coal mine operating in Wyoming with one company holding the leases to mine and another carrying the reclamation responsibilities.

Blackjewel LLC, a private Appalachian company owned by Jeff Hoops, currently holds the leases for the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr coal mines. Hoops does not yet have permits for those mines. Contura Energy does.

Contura was formed by first lien holders in the Alpha Natural Resources restructuring in 2016 to take over the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines. Contura and Alpha have since remerged, while the permits for those two mines are still held by Contura.

***

The Kemmerer mines trouble has driven uncertainty into a community of miners and former miners. Retirees from the Kemmerer mine wrote into the bankruptcy court last year asking the judge to protect their health benefits and pensions.

Two bills in D.C. have been proposed that would protect the Kemmerer retirees, but they have yet to attract the support of Wyomings delegation, according to a report Tuesday by news website WyoFile.

The United Mine Workers of America continues to bargain a new contract in Kemmerer to replace the one broken by the bankruptcy.

Dalpiaz of UMWA, who is bargaining on behalf of the Kemmerer workers, said it matters little from their perspective that Clarke is out of the picture.

To be real frank, we didnt have a dog in the hunt, he said. Whoever we get dealt, we play with them.

Regardless of the buyer, Wyomings coal industry appears to be in serious trouble, Dalpiaz said, from Kemmerer to the Powder River Basin.

Kemmerer employed nearly 300 miners at the end of the year. The mines largest customer is the nearby Naughton power plant. The utility that owns the plant, PacifiCorp, reported recently that early closure of the Naughton plant and plants in Wyoming and Colorado by 2023 would benefit customers to the tune of $12 million.

PacifiCorp closed one of the older coal units at Naughton earlier this year, cutting a significant portion of the Kemmerer mines demand.

Clarke had said he hoped to find new industrial consumers in the region to deal with the decline in existing demand and keep the mine operating at least in the near term.

The Kemmerer mine has operated for more than 100 years.

Documents with further details are expected to be filed in bankruptcy court in the coming days, with a hearing set for late May that may reveal the next steps for Kemmerers ownership and future operations, according to those familiar with the case.

Follow energy reporter Heather Richards on Twitter @hroxaner

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Known for his "catchy, groove-oriented pop," Matt Martino closes the The Broadway Theater's 

Award-winning author and current resident at Ucross Lisa Ko will give a reading at read at S

Here are all the arts and culture events you need to know about for the upcoming week in Casper and beyond.
A man pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning to a single felony alleging he pulled a knife on a Casper police officer and threatened to kill him.

Jose L. Alvarez entered two pleas  not guilty and not guilty by mental illness  in Natrona County District Court to the single count of aggravated assault he faces.

After Alvarez pleaded, Assistant District Attorney Mike Schafer said he would not be opposed to the Wyoming State Hospital evaluating Alvarez, who is free on bond, on an outpatient basis. Schafer said Alvarez had tried to get responding police officers to shoot him in an attempt to end his own life.

Basically he was trying to attempt a suicide-by-cop type situation, Schafer said.

Court documents state that on March 9, a woman called police and told them Alvarez said he would attempt suicide. She said Alvarez has been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses. When police arrived at a trailer on East Yellowstone Highway, she was standing outside. She told them Alvarez would likely be combative and was holding a knife, according to the court documents. Two children were still inside the trailer.

On a police officers instruction, the woman opened the door and asked the children to come outside, the documents state. The officer, who was standing near the trailer entrance, saw Alvarez walking toward the door holding a knife, the documents state. When the police officer told him to drop the knife, Alvarez began shouting that he was going to kill the cop, according to the documents.

When Alvarez pointed the knife at the cop, he pushed Alvarez to the ground and drew his gun, according to the documents. Alvarez got up and shouted at the cop again, telling him to shoot him, the documents state. The officer pushed Alvarez again, which knocked him to the ground and the knife from his hand, according to the documents.

After police handcuffed Alvarez, the woman who called police said Alvarez had attempted to shoot himself before police arrived but the pistol did not fire.

Casper police shot and killed three men last year. Then-Natrona County District Attorney Mike Blonigen ruled all three shootings justified and ruled that in two of the shootings, the men had intended for police to shoot and kill them. The family of one of the dead men  Douglas Oneyear, whom police shot and killed in February 2018  sued the city of Casper, Casper Police Department, officers who shot at Oneyear and Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy earlier this year alleging the defendants violated Oneyears constitutional rights. The familys lawyer later modified the lawsuit to drop the academy from the suit and instead brought the same allegations against unnamed academy employees.

Follow crime reporter Shane Sanderson on Twitter @shanersanderson

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As measles cases spike across the United States, there has yet to be a reported case in Wyoming since 2010. Still, health officials here are using the recent resurgence to remind residents that vaccinations are important.

Measles should be taken seriously because it can sometimes lead to pneumonia, swelling of the brain known as encephalitis and death, Dr. Alexia Harrist, the state health officer and epidemiologist, said in a press release Tuesday.

Nationwide, there have been more than 700 reported cases across 22 states in the U.S. this year  more than any year up to this point since 1994 and the most since the infectious disease was eradicated in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In past years, outbreaks have occurred when travelers bring the disease to communities where people are unvaccinated.

To best combat measles, experts recommend the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, which children should get in two doses: one between 12 and 15 months of age, and the other between ages 4 and 6.

Right now, the state Department of Health says theres no need for Wyoming residents to receive extra doses or boosters. But the department is reminding Wyomingites that the disease can spread to those who havent been vaccinated.

We are concerned about the growth in measles cases across the country, but believe no new or extra actions are needed in Wyoming at this point. We want people to follow the vaccination recommendations that are already in place, Harrist said. ... Measles is extremely contagious and easily spreads to others through coughing and sneezing. It is important to be up to date on vaccinations because anyone who is not protected against measles, including children too young to be vaccinated, could become infected with a serious disease.

Those traveling out of the country who dont have evidence of immunity to measles should receive doses, the department says.

According to NPR, the current spate of measles is largely linked to international travel and unvaccinated populations here. But should the outbreaks continue, the diseases spread will eventually be traced back to the United States itself.

Most of Wyomings neighbors have not had a measles case this year. Only Colorado has had a report in 2019, according to the CDC.

Roughly three-quarters of this years illnesses in the U.S. have been in New York state, mainly in two ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and suburban Rockland County. Most of those cases have been in unvaccinated people.

The number of cases is likely to go even higher. Measles is highly contagious and can spread through the air when someone coughs or sneezes. And in recent days, Jewish families have been gathering for Passover meals. It can take 10-12 days for symptoms to develop.

The vaccine, which became available in the 1960s, is considered safe and highly effective, and because of it, measles was declared all but eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. But it has made comebacks since then, including 667 cases in 2014.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow education reporter Seth Klamann on Twitter @SethKlamann

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The top official with the Wyoming Highway Patrol personally informed the state treasurer that journalists were investigating allegations he had threatened violence against state employees prior to the treasurers office releasing a statement refuting the allegations, the Casper Star-Tribune has learned.

Col. Kebin Haller, a highway patrol administrator, told the Star-Tribune last Wednesday that he had personally informed Treasurer Curt Meier the department had fulfilled a records request from a reporter at the news site Cowboy State Daily for a March 21 police report, which contains allegations Meier had threatened violence toward state employees.

In fact, I had actually spoken with Treasurer Meier prior in the investigation, Haller said, and as a result of having received a request, I said Hey, just so you know, on the incident back on March 21, we will be releasing that.

Meier was not in his office when the Star-Tribune called requesting comment last Wednesday morning.

Last Tuesday, Meier released a statement denying that he made a threat against anyone in Wyomings Human Resources Division. The release came before any allegations against Meier had been publicized.

Employees in the Human Resources Division told a trooper that Meier had threatened workers there last month due to issues related to employee retention, according to a copy of a highway patrol incident report. His statements prompted a lockdown, the report states.

The highway patrol investigated the March 21 incident and concluded no criminal violations had occurred.

Haller, who was personally involved in the response to the incident, said the nature of the allegations and the parties involved played a factor in his handling of the incident. While he said he was not personally involved in the investigation of the allegations contained in the report, he said, the involvement of two statewide elected officials, as well as the administrative staff of the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information, was sufficient cause for him to get involved.

When asked whether this was standard protocol, or if his response could be perceived as giving special treatment to elected officials, Haller said he didnt believe so, adding that his notifying Meier of the reports imminent release was merely a follow-up to his checking with officials during the course of the investigation.

I guess people could see it in a variety of ways, Haller said. I thought, as the release of public information, this was going to be public. And we had closed the investigation. As a result, the treasurers office has a right to know that its coming out for the general public. So no, I dont think any special circumstances were provided.

Haller continued that the highway patrol does not always notify someone whose police report was requested as part of a background check.

For me, the difference is this particular event began as a criminal investigation, but no criminal violation was identified as a result of the ... investigation, Haller said in a written response.

The highway patrol provided the report to a journalist for Cowboy State Daily at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, roughly 40 minutes before Meiers office released a statement refuting the allegations. Prior to the statements release, the news site had not yet contacted Meiers office for comment, according to a journalist with the website.

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The past month at McCormick Junior High School has been a contentious one for students, teachers and administrators. Following the posting of homophobic and racist flyers at the school, a series of events have unfolded over the past few weeks and tensions are elevated.

After the posting of these horrific flyers, some students have waved Confederate flags, while others have waved rainbow flags. Since then, the district has banned hate symbols, such as Confederate flags and swastikas. I commend senior-level administrators for taking actions like these.

However, the schools response to rainbow flags has been somewhat complex. The school district denies banning rainbow symbols (as long as they arent used to incite other students), whereas students in the schools Gay-Straight Alliance club say that they were pulled out of class and told by faculty that they should not have rainbow flags or apparel with rainbows on them. One student, Ashlynn Kercher, stated in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, The teachers told us it was a school distraction, and, You dont want to make other people feel like you felt when you saw the posters.

The need to be clear about this issue

Gay activist Gilbert Baker is said to have created the rainbow flag iconography in the 1970s as a symbol of gay freedom and independence from a heteronormative country who was not accepting of queer-identifying individuals.

This meaning behind the rainbow symbology is why it is concerning to me that teachers at McCormick took it upon themselves to tell students they should not have rainbow flags or be wearing clothes with rainbows on them. In any setting, this is unacceptable, but it is especially so in our state, where it was not long ago that Matthew Shepard was murdered for being gay. Too often, LGBTQ-identifying students like Matthew and those at McCormick Junior High are told that they are not welcome in society and are punished for being true to who they are and what they believe in. I dont want this to continue by teachers stripping students of a symbol so integral to their LGBTQ identities.

I am sure that readers may wonder  But if we allow students to have a rainbow flag or wear clothing with rainbows on them, then why cant students wave Confederate flags or swastikas? Where does the line get drawn? Everyone should have the right to express themselves and what they believe in. However, unlike the Confederate flag and swastika, which are associated with racism, anti-Semitism and white supremacy, the rainbow is one of resistance against hatred and prejudice. To treat these in a similar manner equates a symbol representing freedom against oppression with symbols associated with discrimination and prejudice.

It should be clear at both the district and school-level that rainbows are not part of a ban on symbology at McCormick Junior High School but that hateful iconography like the Confederate flag and the swastika are. Through making that explicit, a positive message is sent to LGBTQ students that the school and district support them and that students can feel safe to learn without trauma from seeing hateful symbols.

Let your flag fly

The rainbow symbol in the queer community is not a perfect representation of us all. In recent years, rightfully so, the rainbow flag has expanded its colors to black and brown, acknowledging the experiences of LGBTQ-identified people of color, who are too often left out of conversations about the LGBTQ community. Additionally, transgender citizens have developed flags to signify their unique experiences and rights for which they fight.

No matter the flag, it is extremely important for educational institutions at all levels to advocate for these types of symbols. It will show that school officials understand the pride that comes from a marginalized community actively fighting for freedoms in a country and world that has oppressed us for too long. I would hope that Wyoming students be allowed while in their learning environments to express their pride and their battle against oppression.

Ty McNamee grew up on a farm/ranch outside of Shoshoni. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in Higher and Postsecondary Education at Teachers College of Columbia University.

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VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP)  A fiery streak lit up the California sky as the U.S. Air Force conducted an early morning test of an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile.

The Air Force Global Strike Command says the missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles at 2:42 a.m. Wednesday.

The ICBM's reentry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles over the Pacific to a target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

An Air Force statement says such tests are scheduled years in advance to verify the accuracy and reliability of the weapon system, and are not a response or reaction to world events or regional tensions.

The test was conducted by a team from the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne.

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Switzerland by Joanna Murray-Smith  St. Francis in the Foothills, 4625 E. River Road. Author Patricia Highsmith hates everyone and just wants to be left alone. An emissary from her publisher arrives to beg her to write one more sequel to The Talented Mr. Ripley and he turns out to be more than a match for her iron will. 7:30-9:30 p.m. May 10 and 11; 3-5 p.m. May 12. Last chance. $25. 468-6111.

Appropriate  Live Theatre Workshop, 5317 E. Speedway. Every estranged member of the Lafayette clan has descended upon the crumbling Arkansas homestead to settle the accounts of the newly-deceased patriarch. 7:30-9:30 p.m. May 16 and 17. Through June 15. $20. 327-4242.

Quietly  The Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre, 738 N. Fifth Ave. In a Belfast pub run by Polish immigrant Robert, bar patron Jimmy nurses a pint, waiting. Jimmy is agitated, and when Ian enters, we learn why: 36 years ago, when both men were teenagers, Ian lobbed a bomb into this same pub, killing six men suspected of being IRA sympathizers-including Jimmys father. Ages 14 and up. 7:30-8:45 p.m. May 16 and 17. Through June 2. $28. 448-3300.
And those fans will be excited to know that Clyne and Co. have dusted off their first two Peacemakers albums  Honky Tonk Union and Real to Reel  and remastered them into a double-vinyl 20th anniversary project.

Clyne said the band made the records right after leaving the major label world of big studios. He described himself and his bandmates as rookies tiptoeing into an arena  recording and producing  where they had limited exposure.

Clyne said he listens to those records now and he can hear the songwriting and production glitches and miscues, but he also hears a purity of spirit as much as sound.

On reflection 20 years later, I was astonished at the risks I took as a songwriter back then and the mistakes I made, he said. I was really glad I took both. I wouldnt change anything. There are mistakes in there that I made then that I wouldnt make again, and there are risks I was taking as a writer that were kind of scary at the time, but Im glad they became part of the body of work.
Anna Ayala certainly knows her way around a research lab. The senior chemistry major is designing customized anesthetics at Oregon Health & Science University, and she co-authored a study that will be published in a neuroscience journal later this year.



But her career goals extend beyond the world of research. Ayala wants to be a doctor and an advocate for social change  and her vision came into focus after she spoke with an inmate at the Oregon State Penitentiary as part of a Reforming Criminal Justice class.



He was sharing an intimate story with me about being in a vulnerable population that does not have access to healthcare, Ayala 19 recalled. There was just this shining moment when my moral compass pointed north and I thought, Theres nothing else I can see myself doing now.



Ayala knew she wanted to study science when she came to Willamette from Sacramento, Calif., four years ago. She also wanted to use her knowledge to help others. She found the perfect outlet as a first responder for Willamette Emergency Medical Services, a student-run, professionally licensed agency that serves the campus community.



What I loved about working for WEMS was that it involved a lot of compassion and empathy, Ayala said. I really learned a lot about putting myself in other peoples shoes.



She gained additional insights into the medical profession at Salem Hospital, where she shadowed physicians and experienced the fast-paced nature of emergency care.



It was super eye-opening, Ayala said. I started to understand the framework of healthcare that exists and realized that emergency medicine was not for me. I love the idea of longitudinal care, where you can look at the patient as a whole person and really focus on their wants and needs.



Ayalas interest in the human condition inspired her to pursue a summer research opportunity at Creighton University before her senior year. She was part of a team that studied receptors in the brain that are associated with various neurological disorders. The study could lead to the development of therapeutics to treat schizophrenia, autism and bipolar disorder.



When I worked in the neuropharmacology lab at Creighton, I had zero experience with neuroscience and pharmacology, Ayala said. It was a huge learning curve, and I loved that challenge. I love being faced with problems I cannot solve until I really delve deep into the material.



This semester, Ayala is collaborating with Professor Sarah Kirk, chemistry, to develop local anesthetics for surgery patients. Theyre modifying the molecular structure of existing anesthetics so the drugs can target specific needs.



If a person needs to be under three hours, two hours or one hour, we can make a battery of local anesthetics that target any need we have, Ayala said.



As she wraps up her final weeks at Willamette, Ayala is looking ahead to medical school. She has already been accepted into two MD programs and is excited about her future career. Her ultimate goal is to provide the best care possible for her patients while advocating for policies that promote equity in healthcare.



On an individual level, I envision myself trying to right the abuses of a healthcare system that a lot of people have experienced, Ayala said. On an institutional level, I want to get involved in politics. Theres a really big need for physicians to work in local and state government.



I hope to take my robust Willamette education and move it in this two-pronged direction of being a physician who understands her place in the world and a physician who can make an impact on the world.
In fact, attorneys for the Board of Regents urged the justices not to get involved, at least for the time being, pointing out that Brnovich has nearly identical claims awaiting review at the Court of Appeals.

But the refusal of the Supreme Court to intercede now could prove crucial.

In a ruling last year, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Connie Contes ruled Brnovich has no legal right to bring a challenge to the tuition set for the states three universities  or even the policies used to come up with those numbers.

Contes concluded Brnovich can file such lawsuits only when he has specific legislative authority or permission of the governor. In this case, the judge concluded, he had neither.

It is that ruling that awaits action by the state Court of Appeals.

But the attorney general all but conceded that if the appellate judges find Contes is right  that he has no authority to bring the claim  then his efforts to fight the regents and the tuition could come to a halt: In his petition to the Supreme Court, Brnovich told the justices that taking the case directly to them is possibly the only way to obtain judicial review in asserting and obtaining relief on these claims.
A Tucson man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for abusing a one-year-old boy he was the primary caregiver for in Oct. 2017, officials say.

Cody James Thomas pled guilty on Dec. 10, 2018 to one count of child abuse and one for attempted child abuse.

Initially, Thomas told authorities he knew nothing about the toddler's severe brain injury, which resulted in permanent damage, the Pima County Attorney's Office said.

He later told them he jumped off a counter and accidentally landed on the boy, according to the Arizona Department of Child Safety.

Doctors determined the fractured skull, brain bleeding, retinal hemorrhages, and bruising on the child's body didn't match that type of "accidental trauma," officials said.

The child was placed with a relative after being released, DCS said.

Thomas' prison term will be followed by 25 years of probation.

Contact Star reporter Shaq Davis at 573-4218 or sdavis@tucson.com On Twitter: @ShaqDavis1

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"It doesn't mean we have to support this tax increase," Ward said. "It means that we have to talk about the education plan from the Republican perspective."

She would later tell the crowd of about 65 people that the current Republican proposal, introduced by Republican state Sen. Sylvia Allen, was mostly dead on arrival.

And even if the bill moves forward, she'd fight it because she doesn't support tax increases, Ward said.

The chairwoman theorized that there should be a Republican-backed plan for education funding in 2020 on the ballot, saying she was confident that a copy of the Invest in Ed ballot measure would again go before voters next year.

"My biggest nightmare is that we lose the legislature in 2020" Ward said.

She says that then Republicans would have wished a true Republican proposal was on the ballot in 2020.

But some in the crowd were not convinced and criticized Ward for giving the proposal any support.

The harshest criticism may have come from former state Sen. Frank Antenori, who lives in Cochise County but opted to attend the meeting in midtown Tucson.
A person with measles who visited Tucson at the end of April may have exposed travelers at Tucson International Airport to the disease, public health officials said Wednesday.

The person, who was an out-of-state visitor, traveled to Tucson between April 17 and 29, according to a news release from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The release said the person was potentially contagious and may have exposed the public to the disease at the airport between 6 and 10:40 a.m. Monday, April 29.

The airport is the only community exposure officials know about at this time, said Chris Minnick, a health department spokesman.

We are working closely with local, state and out-of-state public health partners to make sure we quickly identify any possible exposures that may have occurred while this person was visiting Pima County, said Marcy Flanagan, director of the Pima County Health Department.

Measles spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, the department said.

Symptoms typically appear seven to 12 days after exposure but can take up to 21 days to appear.
Even Republicans who supported Duceys nominees Tuesday did not defend the governors prior record.

Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, said he agrees that the Arizona Constitution requires the commission to reflect the state. But he preferred to focus not on Duceys prior nominees, but on the four before the Senate.

If you take the totality of these people that have been nominated, we are moving much closer to reflecting Arizona, Farnsworth said.

The issue of who serves on the appellate court commission is important beyond nominating judges. This panel also screens nominees for the Independent Redistricting Commission.

That commission will draw the lines for legislative and congressional districts following the 2020 census. Those lines will have a major impact on whether Republicans keep control of the state House and Senate beyond 2022.

The debate over the nominees took an ugly turn at one point when Borrelli argued that Laura Ciscomani, an executive at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, appears to help the commissions diversity because she is Hispanic. Yet he noted that Democrats were still opposed to her.
A couple was arrested on suspicion of murder after a Tucson woman was found dead in her home last week.

Pima County Sheriff's deputies arrested the woman's son, Shane Martin, 41, and his partner in the 700 block of East Benson Highway at about noon on Wednesday.

Around 7 p.m. on April 26, deputies responded to a welfare call at a residence in the 4200 block of East Dover Stravenue.

Deputies found Julia Rankin, 73, deceased with obvious signs of trauma, a Pima County Sheriff's Department release said.

On Monday, detectives determined Martin and his partner were suspects in the case and began their search for the pair.

Detectives initially believed the duo fled out of the state, a department news release said.

After arresting and interviewing the pair, detectives determined Martin's partner was no longer a suspect. She was released on May 13, authorities said.
The US is really starting to irk people around the world. The dislike and tolerance is turning to hate and soon to be extreme hate, very fast. It is antics like this below that is starting to set the pace for the future and what the USA is to become

The Trump administration put its full backing behind Guaido after he appeared in a dramatic morning video surrounded by soldiers the final phase of the bid to oust Maduro. Trump and key US officials tweeted their support for Guaido, while the national security adviser, John Bolton, appeared in the grounds of the White House to declare that the situation had reached a critical moment. Bolton named three senior officials who he said had been negotiating with the opposition and accepted that the president had to be replaced. Bolton called on defence minister Vladimir Padrino, head of the supreme court, Maikel Moreno and the commander of the presidential guard, Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala to fulfill their commitments to defect. He listed the names three times, in a gambit apparently designed to force their hand but the Venezuelan foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, replied: Dream on [John Bolton]  Not today!

Source: Venezuela crisis: Maduro claims victory over deranged coup attempt | World news | The Guardian

Hows about this for showing our true colors

To all the patriotic citizens of Venezuela: pic.twitter.com/qlByCPk7Qj  The White House (@WhiteHouse) 30  2019 .

Looks like Pence/Bolton/Pompeo (and sometimes Trump when they let him) run America and they answer to no one

I for one think that it is time to spring clean the USA government

WtR

UN, May 1. /TASS/. Washingtons meddling in Venezuelas sovereign affairs may cause the collapse of the situation, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Tuesday.
From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by Copenhagen Imports
Seven will screen Fyre Fraud, a Hulu feature-length original documentary film about the failed 2017 Fyre Festival in the Bahamas that swindled thousands.

This screened in the US in January.

Fyre Fraud is a unique and personal true-crime investigation story of one of the biggest con-men of the last decade, Billy McFarland.

A rising young star entrepreneur, McFarland is now serving six years in jail for deceiving a generation in the global phenomenon digital scam that shocked the world: Fyre Festival.

The compelling documentary features an exclusive interview with MacFarland, and reveals his involvement in other hugely lucrative scams, alongside exclusive commentary from legal and cultural experts.

Fyre Festival was the defining scam of the millennial generation. Marketing for the 2017 music event went viral with the help of rapper Ja Rule, Instagram stars, and models, but turned epic fail after stranding thousands in the Bahamas. Fyre Fraud is bolstered by a cast of whistle-blowers, victims and insiders going beyond the spectacle to uncover the power of FOMO and an ecosystem of enablers, driven by profit and a lack of accountability in the digital age.

Fyre Fraud was executive produced by Emmy nominated and Peabod award-winning directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason alongside Michael Gasparro, The Cinemart, MIC and Billboard.

9:30pm Sunday on Seven.
Labor Party leader Bill Shorten will be joining Leigh Sales on 7:30 tonight for the first of two in-depth campaign interviews.

As the Federal Election campaign reaches the critical half-way mark, join Leigh Sales as she explores the campaign policies and issues that Bill Shorten and the Labor Party are championing this election.

This will be an opportunity to hear from the Opposition Leader in a one-on-one television interview with the ABC.
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The U.S under Trump and his crazed Neocons aim to tyrannize the entire world Martin Love

Posted May 1, 2019 In the broadest sense, without all the nuances and other information, this is how things stand very basically regarding the United States: At least $6 trillion (If not $20 trillion which the Pentagon cannot account for) has gone down the drain over the past 20 years or so with the U.S. efforts to gut or destabilize seven countries as per the Project for a New American Century, a dangerous scheme concocted by Zionists both inside the U.S and in Israel. It all, and by that I mean all the aggression economic or military, has had little to do with any perceived benefit for the U.S. because there is none unless one counts an economy that has become too dependent on the Military Industrial Complex that former President Eisenhower warned against when he left office in 1960. The sole beneficiary, and even this is questionable long-term, has been the racist, apartheid entity that calls itself Israel. Meanwhile the US economy has over the decades been completely financialized, with the top five percent or less of citizens having benefitted while the middle class and labor have been eviscerated by neoliberal policies. Yes, the U.S. economy has been growing since 2009 and the last recession, but this growth has been anemic at best and it also has been dependent on the growth of debt and money creation in the trillions that has never in all of history been previously witnessed. The US political system and the two-party status quo, which remains intact but teetering, is slowly proving unworkable. The system has turned rotten from the appearance of mindless political wannabes and the entrenched hangers on in Congress, many of whom resemble termites, and the partisan U.S. mainstream media can no longer be trusted to report the truth. Not a single foreign policy pursued by the US has been born from goodwill towards other countries, but it is increasingly in fact the result of fear and panic that the Empire of Chaos will fall and its oligarchs and the MIC will face at last their well-deserved day of reckoning. That day has not arrived yet. But it will. Goodwill in the long run cannot be denied. The world is too intertwined. Trump, as many know, has reneged on virtually all his campaign promises with regard to foreign policies. He has been thoroughly captured by appointed Neocons like Bolton and Pompeo, which is to say he has been captured almost solely by Netanyahu and the oligarch Jewish/Zionist billionaires in the U.S. How else can one explain the moves Trump has made beginning almost a year ago when he cancelled U.S. participation in the JCPOA? No question Trump and his administrative lackeys want above all for Iran to buckle and leave the JCPOA. Trump wants Iran to provoke a U.S./Saudi/Israeli military attack, and not just on Iran, but on Irans allies, in particular Hezbollah in Lebanon and on the Assad government in Syria. Trump also seems to be pushing, with its demands to kill Iranian oil sales, to provoke Iran to try to block commercial traffic through the Straits of Hormuz, providing yet another reason for war in the Middle East. At the moment, in this almost delirious swarm of bad actions, China reportedly may not obey Trump and may actually be planning to boost oil purchases from Iran. Russia and Turkey, India and Japan and other countries, would be advised to follow suit or at least not cut their purchases of Iranian crude oil. This may be the moment, if ever there was one, to break the stranglehold the U.S. has enjoyed for decades as the worlds number one bully. The sheer arrogance of the U.S. government under Trump acting like the worlds dictator is almost beyond belief. It reeks of desperation, too. As Philip Giraldi, a former CIA employee who visited Iran last year with other notable U.S. citizens writes: the U.S. has heightening tension with major powers Russia and China while also threatening Iran and Venezuela on an almost daily basis. Now Cuba is in the crosshairs because it is allegedly assisting Venezuela. One might reasonably ask if America in its seemingly enduring role as the worlds most feared bully will ever cease and desist, but the more practical question might be When will the psychopathic trio of John Bolton, Mike Pompeo and Elliott Abrams be fired (and replaced) so the United States can begin to behave like a normal nation? No question, anyway, that a faltering U.S. empire like many previous empires has become more strident, demanding and dangerous exactly at the time when its credibility and popularity are dying. And whoever gave Trump the right to hand over (and more) the Syrian Golan to Netanyahu and Israel, breaking international laws and norms as if they simply never existed? Make no mistake, most if not all the world outside of Saudi Arabia and Israel are against this raw power play. But this in not news to Iran nor to anyone else. Its time Europe stepped up, too, and condemned the Trump regime. South Africa, for one, has already broken off most of its diplomatic relations with the outlaw Zionist state. Others may follow. What the U.S. has at bottom decreed to the entire world is that the U.S. alone gets to decide who trades with whom. In effect, national sovereignty according to Trump does not exist anywhere. As one commentator has remarked, this goes well beyond a merely aggressive foreign policy. It suggests a global dictatorship enacted by the U.S. Countries like China and Russia and Iran must now and forevermore decide to resist, or else become slaves to U.S. tyranny. ### Martin Love

email: martinxlove@me.com 321gold Ltd




An attack on a protestant Church in Burkina Fasos Soum province last Sunday killing six, marks a turning point in the west African nations fight against terrorism. The shooting, the first of its kind, came days after half a dozen people were killed by assailants elsewhere in the country, in a sign that the violence could be shifting from indiscriminate to targeted."Every day there is a new attack," says Leslie Varenne, director of the IVERIS institute of international and strategic relations in Paris.Even if they are smaller in scale and cause fewer casualties, we are facing a real war, she told RFI.Burkina Faso has witnessed unrest before. Over the past three years, it has seen a string of attacks, the most spectacular perpetrated in the Ougadougou capital, where jihadists attacked the Cappuccino restaurant and the nearby Splendid Hotel.Now the attacks are spreading to the centre-north and centre-east, comments Varenne.Sundays shooting in the town of Silgadji near Djibo, the capital of Soum province in Burkina Faso's Sahel region was the first attack on a church since sectarian violence erupted in the west African nation four years ago.School, church targetedIt came just days after an attack on a school killing five, and was followed by a raid on a police station and a town hall in the city of Gorgadji, also in Burkina Faso's Sahel region.None of the attacks have been claimed, but they are intensifying.I think definitely we should be concerned, reckons Sten Hagberg, professor in Cultural Anthropology at Uppsala university in Sweden.What is very worrying is that it is not civil defense and security forces that are the targets, but it's school teachers, religious leaders, municipal advisers. Now it's targeted people on the civilian side and that is of course extremely worrying because that is the basis of building a decent society," he told RFI.The increasing violence may be linked to a recent clean-up operation by the new authorities in the east of the country.Deserting troubleThe new minister for defense Cherif Sy is taking a quite active role in trying to push back different armed groups, be they terrorists or whatever we call them but pushing them back," comments Hagberg.For IVERISs Varenne however, these attacks against the symbols of the state highlight the latters inability to bring the situation under control.Police officers have deserted these trouble spot areas, the army has left, hospitals have shut down () the strategy of the armed groups to drive out the government is working. But instead of deserting, the state needs to invest in these areas, not abandon ship.I wouldnt say that is to be coward, argues for his part Hagberg. I would say that people working under circumstances where they find that their life is threatened, I mean most of us would do the same.Growing humanitarian crisisInsecurity and violence has forced thousands to flee due to the lack of health care and basic services.Nearly 136,000 people have been uprooted from their homes - over half of them since the start of 2019, according to the UN. Around 11,000 people have also fled to neighbouring Mali for safety.Yet given Bamakos own insecurity problems, this is unlikely to be a safe solution.So what are the options, if any, for a way out? Curbing intercommunal disputes is a start.Very often the Fulani populations are seen to be the ethnic group from where many terrorists are recruited. And tensions between farmers and herders over access to land are exploited by different terrorist groups, says Hagberg.Tightening bordersAnother solution is a strong state."I would say strengthening the Burkinabe public authorities, strengthening civil society, having an international organisation intervening directly, maybe the G5 is a solution," he continues, "but so far we haven't seen much, referring to the G5 Sahel Joint Force operation.Varenne is skeptical about the effectiveness of outside intervention.The G5 is yet to be deployed. And Frances Barkhane Operation has been redirected to Mali where the UNs peacekeeping mission has proved ineffective. None of the governments or international institutions have grasped how serious the threat to the Sahel region is.If Burkina Faso falls, it is the whole of west Africa that could stand to be affected, by violent extremism she fears.To counter that, Hagberg calls for better cross-border cooperation. Doing whatever is possible to collaborate on the Malian-Burkinabe frontier for instance, should be a priority."

An attack on a protestant Church in Burkina Fasos Soum province last Sunday killing six, marks a turning point in the west African nations fight against terrorism. The shooting, the first of its kind, came days after half a dozen people were killed by assailants elsewhere in the country, in a sign that the violence could be shifting from indiscriminate to targeted.

"Every day there is a new attack," says Leslie Varenne, director of the IVERIS institute of international and strategic relations in Paris.

Even if they are smaller in scale and cause fewer casualties, we are facing a real war, she told RFI.

Burkina Faso has witnessed unrest before. Over the past three years, it has seen a string of attacks, the most spectacular perpetrated in the Ougadougou capital, where jihadists attacked the Cappuccino restaurant and the nearby Splendid Hotel.

Now the attacks are spreading to the centre-north and centre-east, comments Varenne.

Sundays shooting in the town of Silgadji near Djibo, the capital of Soum province in Burkina Faso's Sahel region was the first attack on a church since sectarian violence erupted in the west African nation four years ago.

School, church targeted

It came just days after an attack on a school killing five, and was followed by a raid on a police station and a town hall in the city of Gorgadji, also in Burkina Faso's Sahel region.

None of the attacks have been claimed, but they are intensifying.

I think definitely we should be concerned, reckons Sten Hagberg, professor in Cultural Anthropology at Uppsala university in Sweden.

What is very worrying is that it is not civil defense and security forces that are the targets, but it's school teachers, religious leaders, municipal advisers. Now it's targeted people on the civilian side and that is of course extremely worrying because that is the basis of building a decent society," he told RFI.

The increasing violence may be linked to a recent clean-up operation by the new authorities in the east of the country.

Story continues

Deserting trouble

The new minister for defense Cherif Sy is taking a quite active role in trying to push back different armed groups, be they terrorists or whatever we call them but pushing them back," comments Hagberg.

For IVERISs Varenne however, these attacks against the symbols of the state highlight the latters inability to bring the situation under control.

Police officers have deserted these trouble spot areas, the army has left, hospitals have shut down () the strategy of the armed groups to drive out the government is working. But instead of deserting, the state needs to invest in these areas, not abandon ship.

I wouldnt say that is to be coward, argues for his part Hagberg. I would say that people working under circumstances where they find that their life is threatened, I mean most of us would do the same.

Growing humanitarian crisis

Insecurity and violence has forced thousands to flee due to the lack of health care and basic services.

Nearly 136,000 people have been uprooted from their homes - over half of them since the start of 2019, according to the UN. Around 11,000 people have also fled to neighbouring Mali for safety.

Yet given Bamakos own insecurity problems, this is unlikely to be a safe solution.

So what are the options, if any, for a way out? Curbing intercommunal disputes is a start.

Very often the Fulani populations are seen to be the ethnic group from where many terrorists are recruited. And tensions between farmers and herders over access to land are exploited by different terrorist groups, says Hagberg.

Tightening borders

Another solution is a strong state.

"I would say strengthening the Burkinabe public authorities, strengthening civil society, having an international organisation intervening directly, maybe the G5 is a solution," he continues, "but so far we haven't seen much, referring to the G5 Sahel Joint Force operation.

Varenne is skeptical about the effectiveness of outside intervention.

The G5 is yet to be deployed. And Frances Barkhane Operation has been redirected to Mali where the UNs peacekeeping mission has proved ineffective. None of the governments or international institutions have grasped how serious the threat to the Sahel region is.

If Burkina Faso falls, it is the whole of west Africa that could stand to be affected, by violent extremism she fears.

To counter that, Hagberg calls for better cross-border cooperation. Doing whatever is possible to collaborate on the Malian-Burkinabe frontier for instance, should be a priority."
LONDON (Reuters) - The expansion of London's Heathrow Airport moved a step closer on Wednesday when a High Court judge rejected legal challenges from environmental campaigners opposed to the building of a third runway.

British judge Gary Hickinbottom told the court he did not accept the arguments made by environmental campaigners and said the government's transport minister did not act unlawfully when he approved the expansion of Europe's biggest airport.

The decision to expand Heathrow, owned by Spain's Ferrovial, the Qatar Investment Authority, China Investment Corporation and other investment companies, follows almost half a century of indecision on how and where to add new airport capacity in densely populated southeast England.

Under the current 14 billion plan, which was approved by parliament last year, building work on the third runway should begin in 2021 before it becomes operational in 2026.

"The court held that none of the climate change grounds was arguable," a court summary of the judgement said.

Environmental groups and local boroughs have complained about the impact a new runway would have on air quality, climate change and noise levels. The campaigners can still appeal the ruling.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; writing by Kate Holton; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
The European Union's highest court has rejected a case filed by hotels against Airbnbarguing that the home rental site should be subject to the same strict rules governing French estate agents. Airbnb has denied acting as a real estate agent, and the court agreed.An adviser for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a non-binding opinion on Tuesday April 30 saying that Airbnb should be treated as a digital service provider and a member state cannot restrict its free movement.In 2017, the hotel industry lobby group AhTop filed a complaint, arguing that Airbnb violated a French law regulating the activities of real estate agents. A Paris prosecutor agreed and charged the company.Airbnb denied acting as a real estate agent and said the law is incompatible with an EU directive on "information society services". So an investigating judge then asked the ECJ in Luxembourg to give a ruling on how to interpret the law.And the ECJ Advocate General, Maciej Szupunar, agreed with Airbnb and said "a service such as that provided by the Airbnb portal constitutes an information society service," and that France, by restricting an information society service in another member state (Ireland, where Airbnb has its European headquarters), violated the EU directive.ECJ judges normally follow its advisers' non-binding opinions and typically give their ruling two to four months later.Airbnb welcomed the opinion, saying it gave "a clear overview of what rules apply".France is Airbnb's second-largest market after the United States. Paris is its biggest single market, with around 65,000 listings.The French hotel industry, like in many other countries across the world, accuses the online rental platform of unfair competition. City governments, including Paris and Barcelona, want more restrictions on rental platforms, over concerns that they are some neighbourhoods into tourist-only zones.

The European Union's highest court has rejected a case filed by hotels against Airbnbarguing that the home rental site should be subject to the same strict rules governing French estate agents. Airbnb has denied acting as a real estate agent, and the court agreed.

An adviser for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a non-binding opinion on Tuesday April 30 saying that Airbnb should be treated as a digital service provider and a member state cannot restrict its free movement.

In 2017, the hotel industry lobby group AhTop filed a complaint, arguing that Airbnb violated a French law regulating the activities of real estate agents. A Paris prosecutor agreed and charged the company.

Airbnb denied acting as a real estate agent and said the law is incompatible with an EU directive on "information society services". So an investigating judge then asked the ECJ in Luxembourg to give a ruling on how to interpret the law.

And the ECJ Advocate General, Maciej Szupunar, agreed with Airbnb and said "a service such as that provided by the Airbnb portal constitutes an information society service," and that France, by restricting an information society service in another member state (Ireland, where Airbnb has its European headquarters), violated the EU directive.

ECJ judges normally follow its advisers' non-binding opinions and typically give their ruling two to four months later.

Airbnb welcomed the opinion, saying it gave "a clear overview of what rules apply".

France is Airbnb's second-largest market after the United States. Paris is its biggest single market, with around 65,000 listings.

The French hotel industry, like in many other countries across the world, accuses the online rental platform of unfair competition. City governments, including Paris and Barcelona, want more restrictions on rental platforms, over concerns that they are some neighbourhoods into tourist-only zones.
South Africans sink into debt as thousands contract more loans to feed themselves. These disturbing revelations are contained in a new study by Statistics South Africa. According to this official economic data agency, the gross consumer debt of individual has soured to R1.73 trillion (108 billion euros), with the average debt per person estimated at R70, 000 (4300 euros). The Johannesburg Citizen newspaper which undertook a review of the study reports that bad debts were turning the lives of struggling families into a nightmare, with an estimated 280,000 consumers having filed for legal debt review. Contracting debt to service debtIt is not only the poor that are taking more debt to feed themselves under the current slow sluggish economy, but the middle class as well," says Earl Coetzee, News Editor of the Johannesburg-based Citizen. As he puts it, they are taking debt in order to service other debt.Despite the existence of legislation making it difficult to access debt, Coetzee claims that some businesses are capitalizing on the historically lax credit lending industry and peoples needs to access food and basic necessities.Government fanning debt inclinationSouth Africas statistics agency also notes in the report that the government (who piled up their own gross loan debt of R2.2 trillion/137 billion in 2016) is also claiming its own pound of flesh by collecting up to 20 percent of workers monthly earnings. This comes in the form of personal income taxes and indirect taxes on almost everything a household buys, fuel levies, sin taxes, property taxes, cars and TV licenses. According to the Citizens news editor, South Africans are already worried by the piling debt. We see it every day in the national electricity utility Eskom; they are constantly asking for increases in rates. The consumer is already paying a large portion of their income just to keep their electricity on. Constant assaultEarl Coetzee also raises the nightmare of monthly increases in fuel prices. Gas was expected to go up by 45 cents per litre on May 1.Coetzee claims that even if a large basket of South African staples are exempt from the VAT increase, all the other things that get your food on the table - the production, the transport - are eventually added to the price, on top of school fees, and having to buy fuel everyday. Its just a constant assault, and Im actually stumbling on my words just thinking about it, says Coetzee.

South Africans sink into debt as thousands contract more loans to feed themselves.

These disturbing revelations are contained in a new study by Statistics South Africa. According to this official economic data agency, the gross consumer debt of individual has soured to R1.73 trillion (108 billion euros), with the average debt per person estimated at R70, 000 (4300 euros).

The Johannesburg Citizen newspaper which undertook a review of the study reports that bad debts were turning the lives of struggling families into a nightmare, with an estimated 280,000 consumers having filed for legal debt review.

Contracting debt to service debt

It is not only the poor that are taking more debt to feed themselves under the current slow sluggish economy, but the middle class as well," says Earl Coetzee, News Editor of the Johannesburg-based Citizen.

As he puts it, they are taking debt in order to service other debt.

Despite the existence of legislation making it difficult to access debt, Coetzee claims that some businesses are capitalizing on the historically lax credit lending industry and peoples needs to access food and basic necessities.

Government fanning debt inclination

South Africas statistics agency also notes in the report that the government (who piled up their own gross loan debt of R2.2 trillion/137 billion in 2016) is also claiming its own pound of flesh by collecting up to 20 percent of workers monthly earnings. This comes in the form of personal income taxes and indirect taxes on almost everything a household buys, fuel levies, sin taxes, property taxes, cars and TV licenses.

According to the Citizens news editor, South Africans are already worried by the piling debt. We see it every day in the national electricity utility Eskom; they are constantly asking for increases in rates. The consumer is already paying a large portion of their income just to keep their electricity on.

Constant assault

Earl Coetzee also raises the nightmare of monthly increases in fuel prices. Gas was expected to go up by 45 cents per litre on May 1.

Coetzee claims that even if a large basket of South African staples are exempt from the VAT increase, all the other things that get your food on the table - the production, the transport - are eventually added to the price, on top of school fees, and having to buy fuel everyday.

Its just a constant assault, and Im actually stumbling on my words just thinking about it, says Coetzee.
On Monday, Islamic State released a video that purportedly showed leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi for the first time in five years.

The leader of one of the world's most notorious terror groups had been rumoured to be dead, after IS's defeat in Baghouz, eastern Syria, last month.

Now, after his first appearance since he declared a caliphate from the pulpit of a mosque in Mosul in summer 2014, intelligence experts will be poring over the images to analyse what can be gleaned from them.

Here is what they might be looking at:

1. Baghdadi has not aged well

Five years have not been particularly friendly to the leader of the self-declared caliphate. Western military leaders will take heart from the fact that, while he is still alive, the 47-year-old looks to have aged significantly since his last time in the public eye.

But, according to analysts, the key message he wants the world to take away is he is alive.

Charlie Winter, senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, told Sky News: "The purpose of the video is to get a firm proof of life of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi not just shown to be alive but to show and to be alive and healthy and directly participating in the affairs of his state."

Baghdadi has a long greying beard which appears to have been dyed at some point. But the length of undyed growth suggests the dying occurred many months ago, considering hair grows on average at about a centimetre a month.

2. He is keen to be seen as a leader

Unlike in 2014, when he appears in the clothes of a cleric in the pulpit of the al Nuri Mosque in Mosul, Baghdadi is filmed wearing a black robe with a beige vest and is seated on the floor.

His clothing follows that of mujahideen fighters and he is seen talking in a slow, considered way to three men, whose faces are obscured.

Mr Winter says: "There's been a lot of speculation as to who those men are: are they senior inner circle members or perhaps governors of the provinces?

Story continues

"What is more likely is that they are just his security detail and they are playing the roles. From a security perspective, it would be a ludicrous and a terrible decision to get all four of the state's most senior leaders in the same place under one roof to film this."

3. Baghdadi is wants to be viewed as a military man

Beside him in several of the shots is an AK-74 rifle, a variant of the AK-47 used by guerrilla fighters around the world. It was designed by Russian weapon maker Mikhail Kalashnikov but is not so widely used as the AK-47, which is easily bootlegged by metal workers, but admired by terrorists for its deadliness.

Next to that is what looks like a green ammunition belt, with bullets or clips in the various pockets.

Charlie Winter says: "From the clothes he's wearing, the quasi military garb and he's sat right next to an AK-74 and is speaking to his inner circle: all these things are meant to show that he is not some distant, far away leader who is hiding from his enemies, but he is hands on, is confident of his own personal security and can trust those around him."

4. One of the men may be identified later

One of the men is not wearing a bandana over their face, but his face is pixelated to prevent his identity being revealed.

Mr Winter adds: "In the past, Islamic State has published videos like this and then unpixelates the faces of certain individuals years later, when there's a leadership change or when someone's died. So, perhaps the person whose face is pixelated is actually someone who genuinely is important.

"If, for example, the guy with the red keffiyeh (headscarf) is the next in line to Baghdadi, and Baghdadi's died in five years time, then the Islamic State official media directorate would probably republish this footage with that guy's face unpixelated."

5. He wants the world to know when the video was filmed

His references to the fall of the leaders of Sudan and Algeria, the re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and the battle for Baghouz date the video to after 12 April.

The fact that Baghdadi's comments about the Sri Lanka attacks come in an audio recording tacked on to the end of the video, suggesting it was done during post production, indicate the footage of Baghdadi was filmed before 21 April.

For analysts, the timing of the video is crucial.

Colin Clarke, writing in Foreign Policy, says the release could be intended to coincide with the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when in the past there have sometimes been a spike in attacks by Islamic State and its followers worldwide.

Mr Winter says: "The fact that the video is emerging at this particular moment, five years after the caliphate was declared, is a really significant thing.

"The book on the old Islamic State is being closed and a new one is being opened on the Islamic State as a global organisation. A personal rebrand for Baghdadi, is a rebrand for the Islamic State."

6. IS was happy to take the risk to film Baghdadi

The video was distributed through the IS al Furqan wing, using telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging service that has been banned in some countries over accusations it has been used to facilitate protests or terrorism.

Mr Winter says the process of filming and publishing a video is highly dangerous.

He said: "Not only is it risky publishing a video showing a senior leader, whether its because that can lead to their being traced, possibly a digital trace, I don't know what technology can do these days, but also because producing this stuff requires people to be a) in the company of Baghdadi and b) take that footage away from him, produce it somewhere else and then distribute it.

"At each of those stages, they lay themselves open to being intercepted. Countless jihadis have died because communications have been intercepted."

7. It may have been cool or cold when the filming took place

Security sources have recently said he is thought to be hiding out in remote areas of Syria or Iraq.

Tim Ramadan, from Syrian human rights organisation Sound and Picture, suggests that his heavy clothing indicates it must have been cold, and as a result, it might be possible for analysts to work out his position.

He says: "Baghdadi wore heavy winter clothes, indicating the cold weather in that period. According to the weather map we found that there are two cold areas in that time, the area between Tel Afar and the mountains of Sinjar and the second is al Shadadi desert."

It is possible he was in an air-conditioned room however.

8. The furniture he sits on has been well looked after

According to Mr Ramadan, the type of low mattress he is sitting on, called a jalsah, is popular in the Mosul and northeast Syria area but the fabric is made in Aleppo. Because of the war, it has not been made since 2013. The mattress appears to be in good condition.

Considering Baghdadi must have had to move around many times and could well have come under air attack, the furniture must have either been bought recently or been carried around in a way that made sure it did not deteriorate.

9. IS produces reports on its activities

At several points, Baghdadi is seen looking at or passing laminated files labelled with some of the countries or regions in which IS has been active, including Somalia, Egypt's Sinai peninsula, west Africa, Yemen, and Libya.

Mr Winter says: "There's a different document for each of the provinces; whether there is anything actually written on the pieces of papers is another question but there is a lot of paper shoved in each of the plastic folders, so they want it to look like there is a lot of stuff to write about."

10. Baghdadi wants to be seen to be interested in key countries

Rita Katz, from SITE Intelligence, has pointed out the significance of the last reports that Baghdadi handles.

On the covers are printed the words "Central African province", which was announced by the group on 18 April, and another as yet undeclared area called "Turkey province".

In his remarks, he accepts pledges of allegiance from Burkina Faso and Mali, directly mentioning Abu Walid al Sahrawi, the leader of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, who broke away from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has wreaked havoc across the Sahara region.

Baghdadi also calls specifically for his followers to intensify attacks on France, but Mr Winter says that should not be taken too literally.

He says: "There is a chance whoever wrote the speech is trying to make the most of an open wound, by trying to get people to carry out attacks that will have political reverberations in France.

"There's also a chance that, in singling out France as a potential target, given the capabilities of the Islamic State in west Africa and central Africa now, there is a greater probability the Islamic State will make in-roads against French troops there."

11. There may be some red herrings

Tim Ramadan says that the headcovering worn by the three aides Baghdadi speaks to, called a shemagh, are popular in eastern Syria and western Iraq.

But Mr Winter says: "They could relate to specific locations but headgear is something that travels.

"It's something they (IS) would have thought about - perhaps they might have said 'let's get them wearing this because it looks like it's from here'.

"I don't think there is much that can be gained from this video because, in making it, they would have thought through all those questions - how to get the caliph on camera without jeopardising him."
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed plans to build its next-generation Land Rover Defender in Slovakia.

The new model, due to go on sale from 2020, is currently undergoing final testing as the brand is updated almost four years after the last Defenders rolled off the production line in the UK.

Its resurgence was demanded by the vehicle's legions of fans - left disappointed in 2015 that the curtain was coming down on almost 70 years of production.

The off-roader - a favourite of the Queen - has been a staple of farmers, adventurers and armies for generations.

The new model seems set to shift away from a historic dependence on simplicity as electronics advance.

The first models for sale will be shown off later this year following the completion of final testing in Kenya.

The prototype fleet, JLR said, had already travelled 1.2 million kilometres combined in all terrains.

The fact the new models will be built at the new Slovakia plant marks a departure from UK assembly as JLR looks to cut costs in a tough climate for carmakers in the run-up to Brexit.

:: JLR to cut 4,500 jobs as it aims to reverse losses

Challenges include a slowdown in China, its biggest market, and a crackdown on diesel engines on environmental grounds.

JLR said the new vehicle will be designed and engineered at Gaydon in Warwickshire, with engines built at Wolverhampton.

"This decision is in parallel with plans for significant investment at the company's Solihull plant in the UK to support the production of the next generation of flagship Range Rover and Land Rover models," its statement added.
A spectacular, and damaging, tornado formed in rural Calarasi County, Romania, on April 30, stunning onlookers, damaging several buildings and overturning a bus.

Footage taken from a car travelling near the village of Drajna shows the impressive twister, after it had touched down and created a column of dust.

George Iacob, a local prefect, was quoted in local media as saying 12 were injured when the bus was overturned.

High winds were also reported elsewhere in the country as a cold front moved in from Bulgaria. Credit: Catalin Ionita via Storyful
A British judge has sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for breaching a British court order seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange sought asylum in Ecuadors London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assange was found guilty in April of flouting the bail terms and, in sentencing him on Wednesday, Judge Deborah Taylor said Assange had sought asylum as a deliberate attempt to delay justice, and his seven years in the embassy had cost British taxpayers 16 million pounds (18.6 million euros).

Assange was arrested on 11 April after Ecuador revoked his asylum, accusing him of various things, including meddling in the nation's foreign affairs.

His lawyer said his client had sought refuge in the embassy because "he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the United States for prosecution over WikiLeaks release of millions of classified documents.

There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden, as the sexual assault claim expired in 2015 and the rape claim was dropped in 2017. However, the alleged victim does want the case reopened.

Assange faces a separate court hearing on Thursday on a US extradition request. A US indictment charges him with "conspiracy" for working with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password stored on Pentagon computer system in 2010.

Assange could face up to five years in jail if found guilty, although his team is fighting his extradition and the process could take years.
Amanda Holden looks much younger than here 48 years in her latest post. [Photo: Instagram]

Amanda Holden has showed off her age-defying figure in her latest Instagram post.

The Britains Got Talent presenter in a skintight white swimsuit with lace up sides by designer Melissa Odabash.

She is currently on a health retreat at a centre which is owned by wellness destination travel brand The LifeCo.

Although it is unclear which specific destination Holden has jetted off to, it is known The LifeCo  who she tagged in the post  have centres in Phuket in Thailand, Antalya in Turkey and Bodrum, also in Turkey.

The stunning presenter looks calm and happy in the post as she gazes out into the sea in the distance, green juice in hand.

And her fans have certainly been quick to praise her stunning appearance.

Body goals, wrote one person, while another added: You have lovely legs and a fabulous body Amanda you are so beautiful.

Another comment read: Really look like girl 25 years old. Keep going!

The post has garnered more than 35,000 comments in . just five hours, at time of writing.

Amandas celebrity friends have also praised her radiant appearance, with Kate Thornton writing, You are hot. That is all, and Kerry Katona added: You look bloody Amazing darling.

Keith Lemon wrote: Enjoy that juice!
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.
Interest among foreign investors in Vietnams banking and finance sector is rising as major changes come into play.

Vietcombank (VCB) early this year announced it had successfully completed a private placement of over 111 million new shares to Singapores sovereign wealth fund, GIC Private Ltd, and one of Japans largest financial services providers, Mizuho Bank, raising around $265 million in equity investment. This increased the banks charter capital to nearly $1.6 billion and gave it a solid capital buffer as it meets capital requirements under Basel II and maintains its leading position in Vietnams banking sector.

The improved business performance of Vietnamese banks and a government regulation requiring local banks meet stricter capital regulations as part of the Basel II standards seems to have brought about a new wave of foreign investment into the countrys banking and finance sector this year, with positive signs seen since the beginning of last year.

The last 15 months has seen two significant international private equity buy-ins into Vietnams banking sector, though the transaction between GIC and VCB was less than the hoped-for 10 per cent post-money shares outstanding, according to Mr. Long Ngo, Associate Director at the Research Department at Viet Capital Securities (VCSC). Given the smaller investment by GIC, we are unsure how active they will be in VCB going forward, he said.

There is continued interest from foreign parties in the consumer finance space, as evidenced by Lotte Cards purchase of Techcom Finance and Shinhans purchase of Prudential Finance, both at the start of 2018. Though Vietnams consumer finance industry is currently going through growing pains, as evidenced by falling loan yields in 2017 and 2018 and growing risk cost during the same period, the attraction of the unbanked mass segment in Vietnam remains alluring, Mr. Long noted. In the fintech space, the focus of new investment continues to be e-payments, though in our opinion its still very early days in picking a winner in this space.

Foreign investment in the sector has been marked by major M&A deals in the last year. Foreign investors are very optimistic about Vietnams steady economic growth and plan to expand their coverage in the market, said Dr. Oliver Massmann, General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam. They believe economic development will drive more demand for banking and finance activities and thus more opportunities for growth in the sector.

Moreover, he went on, M&A activities have helped local banks improve their financial capacity and competitiveness in the market. Local credit institutions have diversified their products and services and applied more modern technology in their operations. Under competitive pressure from foreign credit institutions, the only option for local players is to enhance banking governance capacity as well as human resources quality. This in turn helps local credit institutions grow in a more stable and safe manner.

Foreign financial organizations with track records in other countries and broad networks and customer resources coming to Vietnam have brought in high technology, a wide variety of banking and finance products and services, as well as management and governance expertise, according to Dr. Massmann. Local financial organizations have learned a great deal, modernizing their own systems and creating more products and services for Vietnamese customers who are not a major part of the customer portfolios of foreign financial organizations. These local organizations and the financial services on offer have developed at a modern, international standard, making them more attractive to foreign investors.

Of a similar mind, Ms. Jodi West, CEO of ANZ Vietnam, said the local banking sector has made great progress over the last decade, particularly with banking licenses being issued to 100-per-cent foreign-owned banks. ANZ is proud to be one of the first foreign banks licensed in Vietnam, she said. Foreign banks have played an important role in the development of the banking sector, improving the terms of products and standards of service, expanding regional and global networks, and improving processes and productivity as well as risk management.

From a foreign banks perspective, she told VET that with the recent surge in FDI there has been a great opportunity for foreign banks like ANZ to facilitate trade and capital flows and to support multinationals entering and expanding in the country. ANZ aspires to be the bank of choice for foreign investors and a contributor to the development of the local economy.

Investment boost

Trade liberalization, according to Ms. West, is one of three key contributors to Vietnams rapid economic growth. A signatory to 16 bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, Vietnam is a member of the WTO and ASEAN and has concluded bilateral agreements with the US, Japan, South Korea, and the EU. In 2018, it became one of eleven countries joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Vietnam has eleven FTAs in effect with countries that account for almost 40 per cent of global GDP and those yet to come into effect cover 24 per cent of global GDP, giving Vietnam major access to the global economy. According to ANZ Research, this could boost its economy by 15 per cent of GDP, to the benefit of all sectors in the economy, including banking and finance.



Both the CPTPP and the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) have higher levels of market access commitments than the WTO. Investors are also better protected in both, with Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms ensuring the highest standards of legal certainty and enforceability for investors. Under such provisions, Dr. Massmann noted, when disputes arise, investors have the right to bring claims to the host country by means of international arbitration. The arbitration proceedings are made public as a matter of transparency. Such legal certainties along with the governments attempts to improve the investment environment drive more FDI flows into the country.

Given that the government is encouraging investment in existing banks rather than the establishment of new ones, he went on, M&As in the sector will become more common. In recent years, many investors have expressed an interest in becoming shareholders in certain commercial banks, especially weak or VND0 banks that need assistance in recovery, handling bad debts, and restructuring, he said. Moreover, the Basel II standards apply from 2020, so there will be huge demand for capital to meet such strict requirements. As local banks are still looking for appropriate partners, we expect more major successful deals in the upcoming time.

Raising foreign ownership

Meanwhile, Mr. Long from VCSC said investment trends would depend on when the government lifts the foreign ownership limit (FOL) on the banking sector. The FOL issue will not change if the draft Law on Securities is passed later this year, and would require a separate act from the National Assembly changing the Law on Credit Institutions.

Thus, Mr. Long believes, this is not something that will happen this year. If and when the FOL on banks is changed, and its his forecast that it will happen in 2020, there will then be a marked pickup in foreign investment into the banking sector. Thus, for 2019, foreign investment flows into Vietnam will be limited to the few banks that still have space under their FOL, like BID and VCB and perhaps MBB if they open the FOL headroom they have locked up.

Dr. Massmann also believes the government should open up more room for foreign ownership in local financial institutions, as most have nearly reached the allowed limit. This would lure more foreign participation in the market, creating opportunities for the local financial sector to acquire experience, management capacity, and technology to become a stable and promising market in the region. The government should also continue to complete the legal framework for the financial services sector to comply with its commitments under FTAs, thus raising investor confidence in the system and their willingness to invest further. VIR
Bubble tea has become so popular in Vietnam that some analysts say that it may become as popular to Vietnamese as coffee in the future.

Ngo Duc Ke and Nguyen Hue streets in district 1, HCMC, attract many visitors thanks to a high number of bubble tea shops. The major customers of the shops are school and university students, youth and office workers. The men in Grab Food and FastGo uniforms are also usually seen at the shops. They buy bubble tea and deliver to customers who order the fashionable drink.

The bubble tea rush began two years ago, when bubble tea brands from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and Singapore opened shops.

At that time, some analysts predicted that the bubble tea movement would have a setback. However, that has not occurred. Bubble tea shops have mushroomed. Dingtea, Koi, Royal Tea, Gong Cha and Toco Toco are the best known brands. Vietnamese brands such as Chevi, Bobapop have also squeezed into the market.

Bubble tea has become so attractive that it appears on the menus of nearly all cafes and restaurants.

Coffee chains now also sell bubble tea. Highlands Coffee, for example, sells bubble tea made of Japanese materials. Coffee House has shifted some of its coffee shops to bubble tea shops. Phuc Long is reaping big fruit with bubble tea sales. Even KFC has introduced its own bubble tea brand, and soft drink manufacturers are considering producing bottled bubble tea.

According to Euromonitor, Vietnams bubble tea market has grown by 20 percent per annum, with value reaching $300 million two years ago.

According to Euromonitor, Vietnams bubble tea market has grown by 20 percent per annum, with value reaching $300 million two years ago.

The survey of another market analysis firm found that in Vietnam, bubble tea ranks second with 23 percent of surveyed people saying so. Most of them were women (53 percent) and young people aged 15-22 (35 percent).

There are about 1,500 bubble tea shops across the country. The sales have expanded: not only teenagers, but middle-aged people also like bubble tea. Office workers said they order bubble tea at least once a week.

According to Vo Van Quang, a branding expert, most bubble tea chains in HCMC are franchisees. With the selling prices of VND30,000-80,000 per glass, bubble tea can bring super profits.

The profits from bubble tea are not lower than coffee, though coffee is believed to be the most popular drink for Vietnamese, he said. It is partially because of the lower investment rate for bubble tea shops.

Meanwhile, Dao Xuan Khuong, a consultant in distribution and retail, believes that bubble tea may become as popular as coffee.

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China, which can churn out 2 billion tons of cement a year, is trying to restrict cement production domestically, which means a big opportunity for Vietnam to boost exports to the market.

International press reported that Chinese authorities are using an iron twist to intervene in the countrys cement manufacturing industry. Armed forces have also been used to set up barriers to prevent cement carrying trucks from leaving plants.

The governments strong move aims to shut down small-scale cement plants which pollute the environment. As a result, the cement demand from China has been increasing rapidly.

Vietnam has taken full advantage of Chinas new policy to boost cement exports to China. Thirty million tons of cement were exported to the market last year at the average price of $40 per ton.

However, analysts still predict a tough period ahead for building material production, especially steel.

Nguyen Tran Nam, chair of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, and former Deputy Minister of Construction, said big difficulties are anticipated as the electricity price has been raised.

Manufacturers wont be able to boost sale by lowering selling prices. They have to heighten the production capability, Nam commented.

While the electricity price has increased, making the production cost higher, the demand is predicted to weaken because of the real estate markets growth slowdown.

While the electricity price has increased, making the production cost higher, the demand is predicted to weaken because of the real estate markets growth slowdown.

The predicted slowdown is attributed to the latest decision of the State Bank of Vietnam on lowering the percentage of short-term capital banks can use for medium- and long-term lending from 40 percent to 30 percent. In addition, the required compulsory reserve rate for real estate loans has been lifted to 250 percent.

Both the new regulations will lead to higher capital mobilization cost and smaller capital flow to the real estate market.

The capital for real estate projects will be from foreign investors who pour money through M&A deals. However, the money wont be able to offset the decrease in bank loans, Nam said.

Regarding public investment projects, he said few projects have been approved recently.

A report from the State Bank confirmed the slower capital influx to the real estate sector with the outstanding loans increasing modestly by 5 percent in 2018, roughly VND450 trillion.

Analysts predicted that the real estate demand would be increasing in 2019, but the supply would be short. The inventory level is expected to decrease by VND100 trillion compared with 2009-2010.

The latest report from DKRA Vietnam showed a significant price increase for apartments in the central district 1, HCMC, in the first quarter of 2019 compared to previous quarters, which was close to VND350 million per square meter.

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Vietnam needs to prepare for the vital changes required in creating a digital economy.

Vietnam is working towards becoming one of the worlds top 10 largest software and digital content outsourcing countries, with about 1 million employees in the IT field by 2020, Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son told the ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship in the Fourth Industrial Revolution seminar held in Hanoi last year. Indeed, a recent study by Amazon Web Services (AWS) found that the country is recording among the highest increases in expenditure on cloud computing in the world, at 64 per cent. Its immense potential in IT and cloud computing and wide smartphone coverage serve as key drivers in it materializing its dream of successfully developing its digital economy.

Digitized perspective

The digital economy has been defined as a core pillar for economic growth, creating breakthroughs for each country as the world enters Industry 4.0, according to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung. Many technological solutions have been built in all sectors and brought huge new benefits. Vietnam has existing advantages to build an ecosystem for developing its digital economy, based on the internet and supporting platforms including non-cash business transactions, public services, and relevant policies (e-government, smart cities, etc.).

Sixty-seven per cent of Vietnams population have internet access, putting it among the worlds largest internet users, according to figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), with 70 per cent of mobile subscribers using 3G and 4G networks and each person owning on average 1.7 smartphones. The scale of the digital economy is estimated to reach $9 billion in 2018, or 4 per cent of GDP, having tripled from $3 billion in 2015. Its projected to grow to $15 billion by 2021 and $33 billion by 2025.

Mr. Dang Thanh Son, Partner at Baker & McKenzie Vietnam, told VET that Vietnams internet penetration rate, together with its spending potential and its young, aware population, demonstrate that the country is already equipped with promising building blocks to build a thriving digital economy. Traditional economy and digital economy were once two terms that were mutually exclusive. However, Vietnam is well aware that digital transformation is now no longer a choice but a must. The country shows the potential to boast an economy that seamlessly intertwines the traditional economy and digital economy.

The accelerated growth of Vietnams digital economy ranks only third behind Indonesia and Thailand in Southeast Asia. The prospects are clearly high for Vietnamese people and Vietnamese businesses, said Mr. Denis Brunetti, President of Ericsson Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia & Laos. The government will focus on eliminating cash, replacing it with digital transactions (e-commerce, mobile payments) within the coming years, and this is a very good vision and strategy. Vietnam has truly embraced the digital economy, and this will help the country leapfrog further stages of socioeconomic development in the years to come.

When sharing a 2018 report reviewing current policies on data management and impacts on the economic growth and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in five Asian economies, including Vietnam, Ms. Lim May-Ann, Executive Director of the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA), said digital transformation is a combination of positive market trends being enhanced by government policy, rather than a sudden revolution.

In many economies, she went on, rapid evolution into a digital economy is from the ground-up rather than top-down. In Vietnam, this is happening as well, but it is not an even distribution of digital development - the market is allowing many young people in cities to work on digitizing the economy. However, the challenge for government policies is that they must catch up to allow for digital inclusion, to allow all Vietnamese people to participate in the digital economy.

Incredible changes

Vietnam is currently witnessing digital transformation occurring across all sectors, ranging from trade and payments to healthcare, education, transport and tourism, at an impressive pace, according to Mr. Son from Baker & McKenzie. Vietnams transportation, e-commerce, online marketing, and online travel industries have digitalization either well underway or businesses already successfully operating off digital platforms.

Digitalization increases the visibility of the industry or business, enables it to better connect with customers, and improves efficiency and productivity. This not only leads to enhanced customer services and loyal relationships between business and customer, but also increased sales. Digitalization encourages further innovation by getting the industry or business more aware of trends and possibilities offered by technologies. At this pace, Mr. Son said, a $33-billion digital economy by 2025 is perfectly feasible.

Another area in Vietnam that has been attracting a lot of attention in recent years is its burgeoning fintech market. More than 40 new fintech companies have been launched in the country in the past five years given the countrys rising middle class and growing mobile and internet penetration rates. Its fintech market is forecast to reach $7.8 billion by 2020. While digital payment solutions account for most of the market, personal finance and corporate finance services are expected to increase greatly in number in the years to come.

The first industry to take advantage of digitalization was information, communications and telecommunications (ICT), in 1993, according to Mr. Brunetti. This industrys digitalization transformed Vietnam by connecting everyone in the country with each other and with the outside world, driving a socioeconomic miracle that saw the poverty rate fall from 53 per cent in 1993 to less than 3 per cent in 2018, while also generating a sustained and increasingly inclusive average GDP growth rate of more than 6 per cent per annum in the same period. Vietnam has also become a middle-income economy since the advent of digital mobile telecoms, and an increasing number of economic sectors contribute to Vietnams GDP today.

Looking forward, he said, the future of ICT is to digitally transform all other industries, such as manufacturing, adopting digital technologies such as cloud robotics, edge computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, automation, virtual reality, and augmented reality. These digital technologies will make industries such as manufacturing smarter and more efficient, increasing workplace productivity growth and the countrys competitiveness on the international stage. Smart agriculture, intelligent transport, e-health, and e-education, among others, will also benefit from industry digitalization, creating smart cities or smart nations driven by 4G and 5G IoT capabilities.

Retail, transportation, and services will benefit the most from digitalization, according to Mr. Trinh Duy Hoang, Market Analyst Manager at Vietanalytics, a local market researcher. These industries are estimated to expand in scale and growth speed in domestic and overseas markets in the near future, especially in IT-based services, which will record exponential growth. Digitalization in transportation would help reduce operation costs and bolster productivity.

Meanwhile, Ms. Natasha Beschorner, Senior ICT Policy Specialist at the World Banks Global ICT Department, noted that the digital economy must integrate the digital services of both the government and businesses, especially as cash is still the most common and credible means of payment in Vietnam.

Navigating challenges

As with many other countries, Vietnam is riddled with challenges, such as upskilling its workforce, adapting to rapidly-changing technologies, and keeping regulations up to speed in regard to technology. In respect to the last challenge, Mr. Son noted that Vietnam has been issuing policies to foster its digital economy but often such policies and relevant authorities are inconsistent or overlap with one another, and as a result lack a sense of direction.

He recommended Vietnam continue to make efforts to rid itself of regulatory red tape to lessen unnecessary burdens on investors, both foreign and domestic alike, by adopting regulatory sandbox approaches for new businesses and startups. With that in mind, ensuring consistency in upcoming policies and enhancing transparency in the implementation and enforcement of regulations would make Vietnams path towards the digital economy it envisions smoother and more efficient.

Developing a digital economy is not a task for Vietnam only, said Mr. Dang Hoang Hai, General Director of MoITs Vietnam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency (iDEA). As it has been moving so fast and has had enormous impact, many countries have started to draw up strategies for the development of the digital economy after never considering it previously, he explained.

However, he argued, though the country has issued policies to facilitate the development of the digital economy, they are separate and disconnected. There is a lack of direction and national strategy on this matter, he believes. Our job is to connect these policies in a way that creates a big picture for the growth of the digital economy in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Brunetti, the main challenge is ensuring that 4G networks continue to expand rapidly in 2019 and 2020 while accelerating the launch of secure and trusted 5G IoT networks in 2020 and onwards. 5G ought to be considered strategic critical national infrastructure, particularly since it will connect to and impact every industry and every aspect of business and social lives. Hence, its imperative to ensure Vietnamese operators work with trusted partners in accelerating the deployment and availability of 5G IoT networks since this is the key enabling platform for Industry 4.0 and industry digitalization. VIR
VIR talked with Bui Tuan Minh, tax partner of Deloitte Vietnam, on optimising tax costs.

Bui Tuan Minh, tax partner of Deloitte Vietnam

Optimising tax costs has been an increasing concern for firms in the private sector (*). Having a correct understanding from both the government and businesses will lead to positive actions and, as a result, help enterprises cut costs effectively while still growing business, in accordance with the advocacy and policies set by the Vietnamese government.

Resolution No.10-NQ/TW dated June 3, 2017, issued by the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party on the development of businesses in private sector in Vietnam, has called attention to the rampant private businesses malpractice of making fraudulent financial statements and dodging tax. What do you think are the most common tricks used by enterprises?

I myself have observed such practices at some private enterprises, however, it is on a descending trend. In fact, tax optimum or tax evasion have never been a top priority for private businesses in their early phase of establishment, especially for start-ups and small- and medium-sized enterprises. However, when private businesses grow up to a certain scale, there are two common stances among business owners: either reducing tax costs by all means (including tax evasion) or optimising tax costs while ensuring legal compliance.

The second choice is a rising trend and is an increasing concern for all private enterprises, especially as the government is implementing various solutions to support private enterprises to actualise the growth target, enabling it to grow faster than the overall economy.

It is critical to distinguish between tax optimum and tax evasion. In a simple way, tax optimum is when businesses utilize the prevailing regulations in a lawful and smart way, when crafting their long-term tax strategies and the industry characteristics to minimise tax costs. Meanwhile, tax evasion are acts against this principle, including the submission of fraudulent financial statements or tax reports.

What are the most common acts of tax evasion and fraud among private enterprises in Vietnam?

Tax evasion happens in most countries in the world, and Vietnam is not an exception. Since 2004, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Developments Forum on Tax Administration has been issuing a list of common tax evasion techniques and recommends compliance management models for tax authorities.

In Vietnam, the methods that private enterprises most often use to reduce their taxes through evasion are keeping two sets of books; creating fake buying-selling transactions, using illegal invoices to increase input expenses; and declaring lower taxable income, among others.

In fact, the General Department of Taxation and the local tax departments also annually assess and summarise the violations of tax laws by enterprises, including the private sector, to keep tax management practices and solutions up to date.

Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department has publicly disclosed a list of common tax errors of enterprises in the area, categorising them by industry.

Specifically, most common tax-related mistakes include: not issuing sale-invoices then declaring lower revenue; purchasing services from related parties which are not actually performed; using the invoices of run-away enterprises; paying wages not in accordance with labour contracts; recording business expenses that do not match their revenue; recording interests after loans that were not taken up for business activities.

How will these acts of tax evasion affect private enterprises in Vietnam?

Tax evasion acts can bring immediate benefits, allowing private enterprises to reduce tax costs in the short-term, however, they are not long-term solution.

Specifically, enterprises shall be penalised from up to 300 per cent the deemed tax-evaded amount under the Law on Tax Administration. Their business licence might also be revoked under the Criminal Law.

This will negatively affect the enterprises reputation and operations and the value of the business will be at risk of amortisation.

Maintaining two sets of accounting books, one for tax declaration purposes (the taxable profit is generally lower than the actual profit) and one for internal management purposes, could lead to the business owner being unable to control accounting records and lead to fraud risk in the enterprise.

I think business owners need to change their mindset to prevent these consequences and developing a tax strategy to optimise tax costs while complying with the law, which could ensure its long-term sustainable business development.

You have mentioned to build a tax strategy as a solution for private enterprises to optimise tax costs effectively. Can you tell more about how this can help?

An effective tax strategy that can help enterprises to optimise tax costs generally includes the following factors: First, an internal tax administration system that clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of each department and division, and provides for an independent monitoring mechanism to manage the tax activities of enterprises.

A tax risk management system with effective procedures helps assess tax risks and corresponding solutions to manage them.

Second, tax planning, the most important element of an effective tax strategy. Tax planning helps businesses estimate and optimise future tax costs based on the prevailing tax laws, tax reform trends, business plans, and the actual situation of the business.

Finally, consultation with the tax authorities under an effective and transparent working method that helps to solve unclear tax issues quickly and effectively. Private enterprises should act together with the Government on unofficial cost of doing business issue towards for honest and transparent business environment.

In addition to the above factors, enterprises also need to focus on training tax accountants who are competent and qualified to handle tax issues.

At the same time, they need to enhance the application of information technology to raise the efficiency of management and tax compliance control.

In fact, there are many enterprises who, after developing to a certain stage, come up with plans to co-operate with foreign investors to expand and thus invite consulting companies to help develop a better tax strategy.

Setting transparency and compliance as the top priorities contributes to the sustainable development and creates trust among business partners. Optimising tax costs on the basis of legal compliance by enlisting a professional tax consultancy is necessary and will be an effective tool to reduce operating expenses and risks.

(*) The scope of this interview focusses on limited liability companies and joint stock companies, including family businesses, which are hereafter referred to as private enterprises.

VIR
Vietnams agriculture sector continues to undergo a restructuring process that is clearly bearing fruit.

Figures from the General Statistics Office (GSO) reveal that GDP in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector saw significant growth in 2018, of 3.6 per cent; exceeding the target set in Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP from the government of 2.8 to 3.0 per cent and higher than the average increase over the last decade. The result reflects the major efforts of the sector as a whole in agricultural restructuring, the close attention paid by the Party, the government, and the National Assembly, and the full participation of localities and enterprises, cooperatives, and farmers.

After five years of implementing the Agricultural Restructuring Scheme, aimed at improving added value and sustainable development, the sectors structure has shifted towards promoting its advantages in line with market demand and responding to climate change. The consumption market for agriculture, forestry and fisheries has been expanded, increasing the proportion of high-quality products and advantages. Vietnams agriculture, forestry and fishery products are now exported to more than 180 countries and territories, with five-year export turnover standing at $157.49 billion, up 51.2 per cent compared to the previous five-year period.

Export turnover reached about $40 billion in 2018. Ten commodity groups recorded export turnover of over $1 billion and five over $3 billion, including wood and wooden products, shrimp, vegetables, coffee, and cashew nuts. Such figures prove that the focus on restructuring the sector and the efforts of stakeholders remain on the right track.

2018 was a milestone year, with many reviews and studies conducted relating to the agriculture sector, such as: Summarizing ten years of implementing Resolution No. 26 of the 10th Party Central Committee on agriculture, farmers and rural areas; Preliminarily summing up seven years of implementing the national target program on new rural construction; and Preliminarily summing up five years of implementing the Agriculture Restructuring Scheme.

The most impressive result in the past decade has been the increase of rural peoples incomes, which averaged some VND32 million (over $1,300) per person in 2017; a 3.5-fold increase compared to 2008 and exceeding the target. The result also expressed the interest shown in the comprehensive development of the rural economy to improve livelihoods. Farmers can live on the land or switch to non-agricultural jobs and earn even higher incomes.

FDI projects in agriculture and rural areas over recent years have contributed substantially to higher overall investment capital in the economy and in the agriculture sector. The total number of FDI projects in effect as at the end of 2018 in agriculture was 491 with total capital of $3.45 billion. Projects in the sector are quite diverse and found in all areas of agriculture, forestry and fisheries production and processing, and have brought a host of advanced equipment and technology and plant varieties with high productivity and quality that meet international standards.

Despite the positives, the number of FDI projects in agriculture is still not commensurate with potential and the competitive advantages from natural conditions, land, workforce, product diversity, and major purchasing power. In implementing the policy on restructuring the sector, the government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) are expected to promote the development of green and clean agriculture to meet demand in domestic consumption and exports. Senior leaders in the Party and the National Assembly as well as the Prime Minister have given the sector a great deal of attention and directed it to restructure towards increasing added value and sustainable development, with many resolutions, laws, and other legal documents introduced to facilitate and attract social investment capital and FDI capital.

Vietnam, including its agriculture sector, is now deeply integrated into the global economy, with many new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs) signed, in particular the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which was ratified by seven member states and become effective on December 30. Japan is Vietnams largest strategic partner in many fields, ranking first in 2018 with total FDI of $8.5 billion, accounting for 24.2 per cent of the total. The De Heus affiliate chain is one of the countrys major projects, including the Bel Ga JSC as seed supplier, the De Heus Group as feed supplier; the Hung Nhon Group representing standard chicken farms; and Koyu & Unitek in purchasing, slaughtering and exporting in a closed production line, exporting clean chicken meat meeting strict quality standards and the first Vietnamese chicken to be exported to Japan.

The above-mentioned factors have contributed to attracting many foreign investors, including from Japan, in particular high-tech projects with value chains in agriculture, forestry and fisheries products, to increase competitiveness, added value, and food safety.

Maintaining growth Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong shares his thoughts on Vietnams agriculture sector with VET.  What are the effects of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on Vietnams agriculture sector The CPTPP will reduce import duties in the eleven member countries, which have a total GDP of more than $10 trillion, accounting for 13. 5 per cent of global GDP and 15.2 per cent of global trade. With nearly 500 million people in its member countries, the CPTPP is one of the largest trade agreements in the world. For the agricultural sector, the CPTPP will bring both opportunities and challenges. Vietnam possesses comparative advantages in agriculture. If advantage can be taken of opportunities to expand markets, Vietnams agriculture sector will continue to maintain a trade surplus especially in advantageous goods such as seafood, wood and wooden products, and vegetables. This would promote the contribution of the agricultural sector to social growth and stability in Vietnam. Some member countries, however, may reduce tariffs but introduce or raise non-tariff barriers to protect domestic production. If Vietnam does not address such matters, it may be very difficult to penetrate into high-value and large-scale CPTPP markets.  What are the prospects for Vietnams agriculture sector this year? Will it maintain the impressive growth recorded in 2018? Following the 2018 results, the agriculture sector will have the opportunity in 2019 to maintain its growth but will also face a range of difficulties and challenges. The most pressing risk currently is African hog cholera. The Prime Minister has directed all ministries and local branches to focus on preventing and combating the epidemic. MARD has has also issued documents and organized a conference on preventing and controlling the epidemic. Most scientists predict that meteorological patterns will move towards El Nino this year. The ministry has therefore directed localities to actively monitor the weather in order to coordinate production. We must be conscious not only of matching the results in 2018 but also adopting a group of solutions to reinforce the achievements and provide momentum in 2019. According to forecasts from the World Bank, Vietnams economy could grow 6.6 per cent in 2019 and 6.5 per cent in 2020, while growth in emerging and developing economies is expected to be 4.7 per cent this year. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forecasts that global food prices will continue to increase in 2019 due to strong demand. Vietnam has signed FTAs with many countries and economies, including the CPTPP and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and joined the ASEAN Economic Community, so the markets for agriculture, forestry and fishery products are expanding. However, the sector also faces difficulties in competitiveness and technical barriers in importing countries. The main objectives for the sector in 2019 is to record growth of 2.9-3.1 per cent, with export turnover reaching about $42-$43 billion, have some 48-50 per cent of communes reaching new rural standards, have 70 district-level units reaching standards and completing the task of building new rural areas (finishing a year earlier than the Resolution from the National Assembly and the government), and forest coverage standing at 41.85 per cent.  What mechanisms and policies will be introduced this year to attract private enterprises into agricultural development and restructuring the sector towards increasing added value and processing? The compiling of legal documents in the field of agriculture and rural areas has never received the level of focus seen recently. Over the past to years, five laws relating to agriculture have been developed and submitted to the National Assembly for approval, including the Law on Irrigation, the Forestry Law, the Fisheries Law, the Law on Livestock, and the Law on Cultivation, together with dozens of decrees and documents guiding these laws.

VN Economic Times
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Removing Israels blockade and restoring the management role of the Palestinian authority in Gaza would promote a long-term solution to the situation in the strip, Pham Hai Anh, Charge dAffaires of the Vietnamese mission to the UN said.

Ambassador Pham Hai Anh, Charge dAffaires of the Vietnamese mission to the United Nations (Source: hanoitv.vn)

Anh made the suggestion while addressing the UN Security Councils quarterly open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine matter on April 29.

The diplomat expressed his deep concern over recent negative developments in the strip, especially deadly clashes and serious humanitarian situation.

Vietnam condemned all forms of violence against civilians and shares concern over the excessive use of violence, Israels expansion of settlements and rocket barrage from Gaza towards civilian areas, he noted.

The country called on relevant parties to exercise self-restraint and avoid any acts that cause escalations and tensions, and appeals to the Israeli Government and the Palestinian authority to promptly take actions to prevent the humanitarian situation in Gaza from worsening, Anh said.

He reiterated Vietnams strong support for the Palestinian peoples struggle to protect their inalienable rights, mentioning the two states as the only solution to the conflict.

The ambassador also called for international efforts to urge and support concerned sides to hold peace talks in order to reach an equal, comprehensive and sustainable solution that meets aspirations of both Israeli and Palestinian people.

In her remarks, Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary General for Political and Peace-building Affairs, urged Hamas to stop inciting violence and firing rockets towards Israels territory, and asked Israeli security forces to put an end to the excessive use of violence.

Most of the delegates shared concern over the escalating tensions and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and called on all sides to exercise self-restraint, seriously realise relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, cooperate togather to deal with the problem and soon resume peace talks toward the two-state solution.-VNA
NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu has met with Vice President of the State Council and Comptroller General of Cuba Gladys Bejerano Portela and Vice President of the Council of Ministers Marino Murillo as part his working visit to Cuba.

At the working session between Vietnamese National Assembly Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu and Vice President of the State Council and Comptroller General of Cuba Gladys Bejerano Portela

During the meeting with the Vietnamese legislator, Gladys Bejerano introduced the operation of the ten-year-old State comptroller and inspection agency of Cuba, saying that it plays an important role in supervising and regulating activities of Cuban government and state agencies, especially state-run enterprises.

She also briefed the guest on the operation of Cuba's administrative and economic management and monitoring apparatus in the context of implementing the process of updating socio-economic models in the country.

Meanwhile, Marino Murillo, who is also head of the committee for implementing policies to update socio-economic models, outlined key points in policies related to updating Cubas socio-economic model, as well as contents of the countrys new Constitution concerning this long-term development strategy, at his meeting with the Vietnamese official.

He appreciated exchange and experience of Vietnam in both theory and practice for strategic orientation sand macroeconomic policy making of Cuba.

During the meetings, Luu congratulated Cuba on its approval of the new Constitution, which creating a solid foundation for long-term development in the country.

He expressed his belief that under the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party and the ideological orientation of historic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, the Cuban people will successfully implement the process of updating the socio-economic model.

The two countries should continue to promote the sharing of experience in policymaking, and in managing and supervising economic activities, along with enhance practical projects, he said.

During the visit which ended on April 30, the Vietnamese NA delegation had a working session with representatives of the Cuban Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, during which the two sides shared their experience in ensuring rights and interest of labourers and in promoting social equality.-VNA
Along with the development of science and technology, the demand for knowledge and skills training for children has been rising, turning education and training into a phenomenon attracting private investors by the droves to Vietnam.

Vietnam puts great value in education and training, setting the high demand for international

Vietnamese families usually spend an average of 47 per cent of their total expenses for their childrens education. In contrast with the huge demand, the market is still short of modern education models and courses using renowned international curricula, falling short of parent and student requirements.

Over the past few years, the Vietnamese private education scene has seen the entrance of big names like Vinschool, TH School, VAS Hanoi, Wellspring, Ecokids, and others.

The most highlighted example is Vingroups Vinschool. After more than five years in operation, Vinschool has become the largest education system in the country, with 27 campuses across mainly Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Haiphong, enrolling nearly 23,000 students for the 2018-2019 academic year. Vinschool has taken on a pioneer position by reforming education in Vietnam, both in curriculum and philosophy.

Doan Hong Nhung, education quality accreditor at Vietnam National Universitys School of Law, told VIR that the majority of private schools offer good training because they can afford far larger investments in material facilities than public schools. In addition, they are careful in selecting teachers by educational background and certificates.

However, there are also challenges to introducing new education models like the Cambridge curriculum in Vietnam. Tran Hanh An, founder and CEO of Hoi An International School, told VIR that her education model focuses on holistic, student-centred education that is academically rigorous, while at the same time nurturing individual talent, creativity, as well as cultural and social awareness. The school places emphasis on cross-cultural daily lessons as well as on community activities to encourage foreign students, staff, and teachers to learn and communicate in Vietnamese.

To gain the best results, private schools need to limit the number of students in each class, which reduces investment efficiency as the new, expensive facilities serve only a small number of students at one time.

Promising sector

It has been claimed that education offers long-term sustainable profit with high margins and fewer risks than other investment sectors. This is also the reason why investors keep pouring money into the sector. For instance, Cognita Education Fund purchased International School Ho Chi Minh City and International Primary School Saigon Pearl, while Nord Anglia Education Fund acquired British International School  with a plethora of deals between international funds and language centres.

Indeed, pouring capital into education is a stable investment, without the risk of irrecoverable debts because students have to pay tuition before enrolment.

Forbes Vietnam recounted that 43 universities and colleges have announced financial statements so far, with 77 per cent reporting far higher revenue than expenditures. Of this, the profit margin of foreign language institutions was the highest in the sector, ranging from 20 to 50 per cent.

Reputable foreign investors in education have been entering Vietnam, adding more colour and diversity to the palette of teaching models and courses. This is a great opportunity for local businesses to partner up with foreign investors to launch courses that suit the local market.

An education organisation reported that Vietnamese people spend around $3 billion annually to study overseas, a figure rising rapidly year by year. According to the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), 98,000 students received education abroad in the 2010-2011 period, increasing to 130,000 in 2016. Australia gains an average of $17 billion a year from overseas students, with a part coming from Vietnamese families.

Investment in private education keeps booming

Thanks to the huge demand for private institutions, investments in private education are forecast to continue. Kieu Xuan Hung, chairman of University of Economic and Finances Management Board, said that investments in private universities will continue as they educate less than 15 per cent of students in the country, while the Vietnamese governments target is to raise the rate to 30 per cent.

Therefore, there is still room for private universities.

Troy Griffiths, deputy managing director of Savills Vietnam, said that during 2014-2017 an average of one million agricultural labourers transferred to work in the industrial and services sectors each year, showing that urbanisation will maintain its dizzying speed in Vietnam. Therefore, education and training has become a priority to improve the skills and productivity of local labourers.

Griffiths also said that 41 per cent of the Vietnamese population is under 24 years old, and the middle class and affluent classes have been growing sharply, meaning the number of high-spending customers is on the rise. It is forecast that the demand for higher education will stay high, but there are concerns about the supply actually falling short of the demand both in quality and quantity.

Aiming to meet the demand, the MoET in 2018 issued Decree No.86/2018/ND-CP easing the conditions to establish and operate international schools. Accordingly, international schools are permitted to have up to 50 per cent of their students being Vietnamese nationals, instead of the previous 10-20 per cent. Nguyen Kim Dung, legal director for Apollo and British University Vietnam, said that the decree has contribute to raising the number of local students in international schools, meeting the widespread demand among local parents. VIR
Resolving war legacy is important to the Vietnam-US relationship although the war ended 44 years ago.

Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh (L) welcomes US Senator Patrick Leahy at Bien Hoa airport on April 20, 2019. (Photo: tuoitre.vn)

Both have worked together in removing unexploded ordnance, remediating dioxin-contaminated soil, and searching for American servicemen missing in action.

Since Vietnam and the US normalized their relations in 1995 and upgraded their ties to a Comprehensive Partnership in 2013, they have made strenuous efforts to clean soil contaminated with dioxin, a main component of the defoliant chemicals sprayed by the US Army during the war in Vietnam.

Overcoming challenges

Post-war joint projects have progressed. But dioxin-contaminated airports used by the US Army during the war in Vietnam have not yet been cleaned up because it requires joint efforts by both sides and the massive support from American friends of Vietnam.

Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy said, I am still there. Ive encouraged many Senators in both parties to get involved in this. Whether Im there or not, it will continue.

In August 2012, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense and the US Department of Defense began a dioxin remediation project at Da Nang Airport. The 4-year project treated more than 90,000 cubic meters of soil, marking a milestone in Vietnam-US relations.

Looking to the future

Another project is being carried out to detoxify Bien Hoa Airport, the biggest dioxin hot spot in Vietnam  half a million cubic meters of polluted soil and 5 times as polluted as Da Nang Airport.

It will take at least 10 years to clean up Bien Hoa Airport and the cost is estimated to be 390 million USD. Senator Leahy and 8 other American Senators were present at the project launch ceremony in Bien Hoa on April 20.

Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh applauded the US cooperation. He said, I respect the role of Senator Leahy and his colleagues and aides, whose voices are very important in US politics. An issue raised by the 8 senators will catch the attention of the American public and Congress. I believe Vietnam-US cooperation in dealing with the war aftermath will thrive.

The trust between Vietnam and the US has been tested through efforts to overcome the war aftermath. But they have been able to turn this into cooperation opportunities.

In a spirit of collaboration and mutual understanding, the two governments have worked to heal the wounds of the war and focus on their shared future.

VOV5
Binh Dinh is considered a paradise in Viet Nams central region for its many pristine beaches and islands as well as its cultural and historical sites.

About 25km from Quy Nhon City, Ky Co Beach is famous for its natural landscape.

They include Hon Kho, Eo Gio, Ham Ho, Phuong Mai Sand Dunes, Cu Lao Xanh, the Cham tower system, famous art of bai choi (a diverse art combining music, poetry, acting, painting and literature) and traditional festivals such as martial arts and specialties of aromatic flavours.

Nguyen Van Chien, a veteran in Ha Noi who had fought against US troops in Binh inh during the American War, said he and a group of his friends will celebrate the national victory on April 30 by touring the province to visit Ham Ho in Tay Son Districts Tay Phu Commune.

Chiens friend, Huynh Long, said Ham Ho is a location where the two rivers of ong Huu and Cat meet the Phu Phong River. Along the riverbanks are blocks of stone and ancient trees.

Under the water are colourful granite stones, iridescent like diamonds.

The water winds through rapids, while birds sing overhead.

The Eo Gio tourism site receives thousands of visitors every year.

It feels like paradise, said Chien, adding that streams in Ham Ho are full of different fish, particularly during flooding season when many return upstream.

During those times, I can catch 20-30kg of fish a day, said Long, adding that travellers enjoy camping in the wilderness. They can grill oi fish or boil fragrant snails they catch from the water, accompanying the dishes with traditional Bau a rice wine.

Late in the evening Long led the Hanoian veterans to stilt houses hidden among the trees.

The streams in Ham Ho help cool the area during summer. When spring comes the location bursts with the colour of wild flowers.

During their stay in Ham Ho, the group also visited Binh inh Museum, which display hundreds of images and documents relating to soldiers who died during the wars against the French and Americans.

Stories of heroes

At the museum, Chien and his group heard stories of many heroes including Ngo May (1922-1947), Vo Lai (1939-1968) and Tran Thi Ky (1947-1966).

Local guerrillas and the regular army protected Qui Nhon Port while the province was being liberated on April, 1, 1975.

Museum curator Nguyen Van Loi told the guests that Ngo May, from Binh inhs Phu Cat District, joined the army in 1947. He was assigned to the company of Military Region 5. His company included 160 soldiers. They were equipped with 12 rifles, five bombs, a number of grenades and machetes.

On October 22, 1947, he bravely sacrificed himself after approaching French vehicles with a bomb. He killed a platoon of troops at the Roc Dua front about three kilometres from An Khe town, said Loi.

He was posthumously honoured for his service in 1955. Many communes, wards, roads, and schools in the central region, carry his name. They include Ngo May Wards in Quy Nhon and Kon Tum cities.

Apart from May, during the war against the US, the story of hero Vo Lai from Binh inhs Tay Son District moved Chien and his group.

At 27, Lai had taken part in 48 battles, said Loi.

On December 16, 1965, his unit was marching to Binh Thuan Commune (a newly liberated area) to help locals improve infrastructure, Loi told the visitors.

On December 18, the US bombed the area while troops invaded, killing many children and elderly people. Despite the danger, Lai and his unit occupied suitable positions and fight back against the enemy.

As a result, Lais company killed 376 US troops and grounded 10 helicopters, causing them to withdraw from the commune.

In April 1966, during a fight against South Korean troops on the Binh An front, Lai and his unit fought bravely against the enemy. Despite being severely injured, Lai was determined to stay with his comrades-in-arms until he died that day, said Loi.

Loi continued to tell a story of young guerrilla and nurse Tran Thi Ky.

Ky was the fourth daughter of a poor farming family. Seeing the enemy destroy her commune, killing villagers and liberation fighters, known as Viet Cong, she insisted her father allow her to join the army although she was still very young.

At that time, many injured soldiers from surrounding villages were being carried to Tan uc Village. To save the fighters, Ky was assigned to a quick nursing course.

She tried her best to help the injured soldiers. Thanks to Kys patience and efforts, many men recovered and continued to fight against the aggressors, said Loi.

One day in 1966, Ky was guarding injured fighters while they slept. On hearing a dog barking, she ran out and saw many South Korean troops marching towards the village.

She woke up the fighters and helped hide the patients in underground shelters. When all were safe, Ky returned to her own trench.

Unfortunately, the troops found her trench. They tortured Ky to find the location of the injured soldiers. However, the young woman resisted and took them to another location.

Discovering her deception, the troops burned her alive.

Ky died at the age of 19. Her braveness is a model for us and the younger generation to follow, said Loi.

5.5 million visitors

Binh inh chairman Ho Quoc Dung said the province aims to welcome 5.5 million visitors, including 800,000 foreign guests, next year.

We have developed a number of special tours of the sea and islands, Dung said, adding that travellers will also have the chance to visit the provinces 200 cultural and historical sites.

Cu Lao Xanh is one of the most popular beaches in Binh inh Province. Photo bazantravel.com

Binh inh plans to restore Quang Trung Museum, the Cham Tower system and Hoang e Citadel, while promoting traditional martial arts and spiritual tours to an Te Troi (an altar dedicated to heaven and earth) and Ong Nui Pagoda, said Dung.

He said the province also wanted to make use the International Center for Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE) established by overseas Vietnamese Prof.Tran Thanh Van.

Each year the centre welcomes hundreds of scientists and researchers to discuss ways to boost science and technology in Viet Nam.

Based on the success of this centre, we are building a scientific museum. It is hoped that these great tourism sites will lure more visitors, he said.

The natural and wild beauty of Ham Ho tourism site. Photo hamhotourist.com.vn

In fact, Binh inh itself and leading groups such as Marriott and Anphanam have invested billions of ong to upgrade infrastructure linking the airport to beautiful spots, relics and tourism sites.

As a result, visitors to the province have been increasing. Phu Cat airport has increased flights to 49 a week, double the figure of 2017. VNS
Son La prison was built by French colonialists in the early 1900s and used to detain 1,000 Vietnamese communists and patriots.

Son La prison is an evidence of French colonialists' brutality.

The prison was recognized as a national relic in 1962 and a special national relic in 2014. This is a great place to teach Vietnams younger generations about their predecessors sacrifice for national liberation.

Son La prison sits atop Khau Ca hill, from which one has a panoramic view of Son La city. Some of the prisons underground and above-ground cells are as small as one square meter. The prison has solid walls of stone and brick, a cement roof, and beds made of stone and cement to which prisoners were attached with fetters. Its design make it hot in summer and cold in winter, and its filthy conditions bred contagious diseases.

The prison, built in 1908 on a 500-square-meter area, was expanded three times to its current 2,000 square meters. Its unofficial name was Hell on Earth to describe the frightening brutality of the French colonialists, but it couldnt break the courage and loyalty of the Vietnamese prisoners.

Mai Vi, a former prisoner, told VOV I was detained at Son La prison for five years from 1940 to 1945. I received my political training there. I was a writer for The sound of the stream, a newspaper published by prisoners for prisoners. When I was released, I used the skills I had developed to mobilize the public to contribute to our revolutionary movement. Son La prison was a revolutionary school.

Documents and items kept at Son La prison illustrate the courage and loyalty of Vietnamese communists.

Many undaunted soldiers and Party members were jailed there, including Party General Secretary Truong Chinh, General Secretary Le Duan, army commander Van Tien Dung, and iconic patriot To Hieu. Hieu planted and tended of a peach tree during the last years of his life before he died at Son La prison. The peach tree has become a symbol of the unbending spirit of detained Vietnamese communists. Mr. Vi again: To Hieu lives forever in the hearts of former Son La prisoners. He always took great care of us to relieve our hardships and fuel our courage.

A branch of Hieus peach tree was cut and planted at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi.

Visitors are introduced to Son La prison's history.

In 1952, after their withdrawal from Son La town, the French colonialists bombarded the prison in an attempt to erase all traces of their brutality. In 1965, US Air Forces bombed Son La again, destroying a part of the prison, which was restored in 1980 and 1994.

Dinh Huu Duc Tho, a visitor from Danang, said I learned about Son La prison, the cradle of Vietnams revolution, when I was little. This is the first time Ive been to the northwestern region and this prison. I want to teach my children about the hardships and sacrifices of our predecessors in the cause of liberation and freedom.

Son La prison was a chapter of Vietnams glorious history. It welcomes hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and foreign visitors each year.

VOV5
Tam Ky really is a city of dreams. That was my first impression of the capital city of the central province of Quang Nam, and I am sure many other visitors have experienced the same feeling.

Tam Thanh - the fishing village of murals

Quang Binh introduces the 7th mural village in VN

Hanoi in Sua flower season

A corner of the Tam Thanh Community Art Village in Tam Ky City. Photo laodong.vn

I recommend a visit during April, when the sua flowers bloom, said Hoai Thu, a Tam Ky citizen and guide for tourists. The city becomes much more romantic with every street corner decorated with the yellow flowers.

This time of year, thousands of sua trees bloom along the river banks. The slightest breeze sends them waving back and forth, making the river look like a glistening carpet of flowers.

The city held its annual Sua Flower Blossom Festival in early April at 500-year-old Huong Tra Village on the banks of the Tam Ky River in Hoa Huong Commnune. Walking through the village feels like a dream with the colour and unusual fragrance of the flowers all around.

It is not an exaggeration to say the city is a land of dreams and romance, said Hoang Hai Son, a tourist from Hanoi. It is not easy to find the words to describe the scene and fragrance along the river wharf, a peaceful and silent place.

Son said the scent seems to make pedestrians and drivers slow down and relax.

They speak more gently and laugh more freely because they know they are in a place of natural romance, he said.

The city is about an hour by car from the ancient town of Hoi An in central Vietnam. It is known for its culture, history and nature.

Sua flowers blooming in Huong Tra Commune, Tam Ky City. Photo quangnamtourism.com.vn

The dreamy city sits on three rivers  Tam Ky, Truong Giang and Ban Thach  and two lakes  Phu Ninh and Song Dam.

As the sun starts to set over the Dam River, the chirping of birds and the sight of floating fishing boats make for a sense of peace.

Hoang Tu Nam, a visitor from the northern province of Hung Yen, said the local craft villages along the rivers are worth visiting. He said that unlike in some other areas of Quang Nam, the people here are gentle, generous and unlikely to get angry.

They often laugh while patiently explaining their lives and crafts to visitors, said the tourist.

While many tourists opt to rent motorbikes to explore the area, one can also rent a bicycle to slow down and enjoy the countryside and its unique communities.

The area is home to several places that are famous for tourists such as Tam Thanh Mural Village, the Tam Thanh beaches, Tam Hai Island, Chien Dan Cham Tower and the statue of the Vietnamese Heroic Mother.

The mural village is operated by the commune and the UNESCO office in Hanoi. The goal of the project is to promote tourism, art and cultural exchange between tourists and the local community. Each wall in the small village is covered by a striking, unique piece of art.

The local market just a kilometre away is a great place to enjoy a lunch or dinner of local specialities like my Quang (Quang noodle), Tam Ky chicken rice and baked rolls.

Besides its well-known public artwork, Tam Thanh is also famed for untouched beaches and beautiful natural shorelines, wrote tourism blogger Huong Nguyen on baolau.com. You can spend the noon or early afternoon to relax by the untouched beach, as getting around within this time of the day could be tough due to hot and humid weather.

"As the sun eases, head towards Tam Hai Island, which is about 40km in the South of Tam Thanh. Youd need to cross the sea by ferry in order to get to Tam Hai Village," Huong suggested in the blog post.

Chien Dan Cham Tower should be at the top of the list for history buffs.

"The tower has three large stupas, but only the central one is quite intact and still retains the shape of a stupa with the body and a floor above, wrote the blogger. The remaining two stupas, the South Tower and the North Tower, have completely lost their upper floors, leaving only the tower.

The Vietnamese Heroic Mother Monument is designed based on heroic mother Nguyen Thi Thu. It is built on an area of 15ha on Cam Mountain, the citys Tam Phu Commune.

Located just two kilometres from the city centre and three from Tam Thanh beach, thousands of tourists flock to the massive monument each year to pay tribute to the heroic mother.

Another relic worth visiting in the city is Ky Anh Tunnel  the third largest tunnel from the resistance war against the US after Cu Chi and Vinh Moc tunnels.

This national relic is an important site for historical tourism as it helps visitors learn about history, reflecting the will and creative spirit of freedom of the people in the city of Tam Ky and Quang Nam Province, said Thu, the local guide.

Mai Phuong Nam

VNS
The Vietnam War Veterans Association in Russia on held a ceremony in Moscow on April 30 night to mark the 44th anniversary of the liberation of South Vietnam and national reunification.

Delegates to the ceremony

The event also marked the third founding anniversary of the association which now has hundreds of members across Russia.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh, Vietnams defence attache in Russia Major General Tran Minh Son, along with former Russian military experts and friends were among the guests at the ceremony.

Speaking at the ceremony, president of the association Luu Cong Niem reviewed activities of the association over the past three years.

In his remarks, Ambassador Manh said the embassy always highly values the active role played by the association as well as its members in enhancing solidarity among Vietnamese in the host country, and promoting the friendship between Vietnamese and Russian war veterans. -VNA
Vietnam has been reunified for 44 years. Over the past 4 decades, overseas Vietnamese have contributed remarkably to Vietnams reconstruction and development, making their homeland more competitive on the global arena.

Overseas businessmen, intellectuals pool ideas to build innovative HCM City

Domestic medical service increasingly attracts overseas Vietnamese

HCM City seeks to strengthen ties with overseas Vietnamese

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met overseas Vietnamese on January 26, 2019

The Vietnamese Party and State have consistently affirmed the essential role of Vietnamese people living overseas in national construction and defense, noting their contributions have proven to be a catalyst for the countrys success.

In recent years, hundreds of overseas Vietnamese have returned home, participating in sectors concerning science, technology, education and training, human resource training, startup ecology, and have contributed their perspective on major national issues.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh My, a Vietnamese businessman from Canada, invested in smart agriculture development in the Mekong River Delta to reduce farmers workload.

My and his associates created a smart water meter to monitor the quality of water local farmers use for cultivation. He also created automatic pumps and smart fertilizer to reduce green house gas emissions.

Dany Vo Thanh Dang, a young overseas Vietnamese from Singapore, said he wants to invest in education and training in Vietnam. He noted, Vietnam is a major potential market. Its like a fertile piece of land just waiting to be cultivated. Thats why many Vietnamese people living overseas want to return home to do business.

Tran Hai Linh, who lives and works in the Republic of Korea, said, With a certain understanding of the relationship between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea, we will work harder to promote cooperation between the two countries, especially in education, economy, and trade. We are ready to serve as a bridge to connect Vietnamese enterprises and localities with their Korean partners.

Kim Bo Ngo of Canada said, I think Vietnam boasts a lot of opportunities. Young people like me can connect Vietnam with the world. We want to return to Vietnam to support our countrys development.

Vietnamese leaders have pledged to create the best conditions for overseas Vietnamese to contribute to their homeland. They have met Vietnamese people living overseas more regularly to address their problems.

By 2018, Vietnamese overseas had invested in more than 3,000 projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 4 billion USD.

VOV5
The Vietnamese Embassy, VNAs bureau and the Vietnamese Womens Association in South Africa on April 30 handed over relief aid to the Zimbabwe Embassy in support of Zimbabwe people who were hit by Cyclone Idai last March.

The relief aid, including two tonnes of food along with clothes and learning tools, are expected to be transported to Zimbabwe on May 1 and presented to the Zimbabwe victims later.

On behalf of the Zimbabwe Ambassador to South Africa, his spouse Jessica Hamadziripi lauded the good deeds of the Vietnamese community in the host country and Vietnamese people in general.

Second Secretary of the Vietnamese Embassy Phuong Phuong Linh said as a country frequently affected by natural disasters, Vietnam shares difficulties and losses facing Zimbabwe people.

She hoped that Zimbabwe people will swiftly surpass these difficulties and overcome the cyclones consequences.

Statistics show that Cyclone Idai killed more than 1,000 people in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, and directly affected daily lives and livelihoods of over 3 million others.

The World Bank (WB) estimated that the Idai-hit countries will need over 2 billion USD for restoration efforts.

In Zimbabwe alone, the storm left nearly 300 people dead and caused property losses worth over 200 million USD. -VNA
TDC is one of Scotlands leading, independent actuarial consultancies and provides actuarial consultancy, scheme administration, and governance services to trustees and sponsoring employers of occupational pension schemes. The company was established in 2002 with an almost exclusive focus on providing high quality and cost-effective services to employers and trustees with small and medium sized DB pension schemes. TDC currently supports over 50 full-service DB clients and many others on a project and/or consulting basis that typically have 20 to 800 members. Clients are primarily based in Scotland and cover sectors including professional services, construction, energy, forestry and automotive. This latest acquisition takes Broadstones employee headcount to over 220 staff and expands its regional UK network across eight locations (Falkirk, Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield). Commenting on the acquisition, Nigel Jones, Head of Consulting and Actuarial Services at Broadstone, said: Todays announcement is another step in our measured but aggressive acquisition strategy to increase the depth of our resources and the scale and reach of the high-quality services we provide. With the effective governance and performance of pension schemes, quite rightly, coming under increasing scrutiny, it is critical that Broadstone continues to build the best possible talent in the sector. This acquisition means that the company can improve still further the consultancy, services and geographical reach we offer our clients and strengthens our position as a full-service provider of employee benefits and pensions in our target market. Andy Thomson from TDC added: TDC has established an enviable reputation for delivering excellent services to trustees and employers with DB pension schemes. Becoming part of the Broadstone Group enables us to continue delivering the full range of required services and makes it easy for our clients to manage their pension schemes for many more years. Broadstone and TDC share a deep understanding of the challenges faced by companies and trustees as their pension schemes mature. We typically provide a more proactive and personal service than that provided by larger providers to the SME market. The acquisition is good news for our clients and also for our employees who will all benefit from the advantages to be gained from working with, and for, a national market leader. Xavier Woodward from Broadstones private equity parent, Livingbridge, said, It is fantastic to see Broadstone continue its buy and build strategy at pace and TDC is a great acquisitive step, significantly increasing its geographic reach and service offering. I look forward to seeing the combined businesses grow and maintain the high quality service they are both renowned for.


ELDORA  A non-jury trial has been set for the father of a boy prosecutors say was locked up nightly for at least 30 days in a confined space beneath the stairs.

Alex Craig Shadlow, 30, of Ackley, asserted his speedy trial rights and waived his right to a jury trial, asking a judge to decide his case.

Shadlow and his then-fiancee, Traci Lynn Tyler, were arrested July 8, 2018, for first-degree kidnapping, a felony that carries life in prison upon conviction. Bond was set at $500,000 each, and they asked for separate trials.

Tyler admitted they locked up the boy, who was 8 years old at the time, in the enclosure because of his bad behavior and food-stealing, court records state.

When Judge James Ellefson decided Tylers case, he downgraded the first-degree kidnapping charge to false imprisonment and sentenced her to no more than a year in jail.

Ellefson said he believed the boy had not suffered from malnutrition because he had a normal body mass index, and that he had chosen to urinate and defecate around the house because he didnt like Tyler or her rules.

On Monday, Ellefson recused himself from Shadlows case, according to court documents.

District Court Judge Adria Kester has been assigned to Shadlows trial, which will begin July 17.

The arrests came following a month-long investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Ackley Police Department and the Hardin County Sheriff and county attorneys offices.

Prosecutors said Tyler and Shadlow withheld food from his son, made him sleep in the locked basement enclosure with a coffee can for a toilet in August and September 2017, denied him bathroom breaks and struck him with a wooden spoon and flyswatter.

Tylers defense attorneys said the family had sought counseling for behavior issues and argued parents had the right to use corporal punishment.

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WATERLOO  A doctor said the multitude of injuries on 4-year-old Gracie Buss werent consistent with a fall down the stairs, as her mothers boyfriend had said when he called a hospital help hotline.

I have never seen a 4-year-old competent child injuring herself accidentally with this severity, this number and the size of the injuries that I see on all planes of her body, Dr. Resmiye Oral, a professor of pediatrics from the University of Iowa, told jurors Tuesday as trial continued for Chad Allen Little.

Little, 35, of Waterloo, is charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death. Prosecutors allege on May 30, 2015, he called then-Covenant Medical Centers Ask a Nurse line for advice under an assumed name, saying the girl had a seizure, fell down stairs at her Downing Court townhouse and was unconscious.

Gracie never regained consciousness and died days later in the hospital of blunt trauma to the head.

Oral said Gracie had a number of bruises on her body in different stages of healing. On photos of the childs head, she pointed out for jurors fresh bruises on the left side of her head, including a recent red, square mark near the temple with distinct demarcations. In comparison, bruises on her right side were older with brown and yellow hues.

Could the injuries as presented to by Gracie be explained by an un-braced fall down a flight of stairs? Black Hawk County Attorney Brian Williams asked.

No, Oral responded.

Williams also showed a grainy photo of a large ring on Littles right hand, an image captured on a car wash surveillance camera within an hour of the ambulance arriving for Gracie.

Could that be described a blunt instrument?  Could that item lead to what you described for us as a demarcated injury? Williams asked about the ring.

Possible, but I cant see the entire delineation of that object, so I cant commit to it, Oral said. She did say it appeared consistent with the injury on Gracies left temple.

Oral said Gracie suffered abusive head trauma that rocked the head, imposing force upon the brain. She also had multiple impact injuries on her soft tissues.

Gracie may have been able to survive if she had received timely medical intervention, Oral said.

Oral said there were accounts that Gracie had suffered seizures earlier. The mother, Kristi Buss, reported an episode in February 2015 with the childs arms and legs shaking. Other witnesses at trial had reported seeing Gracie in what appeared to be a seizure months earlier. Oral said the mother had been advised to bring Gracie to the hospital when future seizures happened.

She also noted abusive head trauma can lead to a seizure disorder.

Jurors saw a second video showing large rings on Littles fingers Tuesday. In this case, the image was caught on a camera inside a police station interview room May 30, 2015, when he was alone and waiting to talk with an investigator.

The video shows Buss removing a ring from a finger on his right hand to his left and then pocketing a ring that had been on his left hand.

Investigator Chris Gergen said Little initially claimed he wasnt at the Downing Court townhouse on the night the ambulance was called to the address, saying he had been out and had been at a friends nearby mobile home. But Little then admitted he was there from 7 to 10 p.m. May 29, 2015, and returned around 7 a.m. He said Gracie and her brother were sleeping when he was there.

When asked about what had been going on the night the incident, Little told police Gracie had been falling.

Shes always falling down those stairs, he said.

Little denied disciplining Gracie in the past but then admitted he had spanked her.

Testimony is scheduled to continue today.

Kristi Buss is also charged with child endangerment in the case, and faces a separate trial.

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WATERLOO  A judge suspended the murder trial of Chad Allen Little until today after his defense lawyers say Little had severe flu-like symptoms.

Little walked into the courtroom Wednesday morning holding his stomach, and defense attorney Chris Welch told Judge Joel Dalrymple that Little had been vomiting and was lethargic.

I dont know that he can proceed, Welch said.

Defense attorney Thomas Gaul also asked if the judge could order Little be seen by the jail doctor.

Dalrymple ordered the trial delayed until Wednesday afternoon and later suspended it until today. He also directed jail staff to make sure Little was seen by medical staff and confined to bed.

Little, 35, of Waterloo, is charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment causing the death of his girlfriends daughter, Gracie Buss, 4.

He has pleaded not guilty.

The girls mother, Kristi Buss, is charged with child endangerment causing death and will have a separate trial.

Little and Buss were arrested in October 2016.

Prosecutors allege Little injured Gracie Buss at her Downing Court apartment on May 30, 2015.

She died days later, on June 3, 2015, at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. An autopsy found blunt trauma to the head.

Buss allegedly told authorities that Gracie became injured when she fell down the stairs.

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CEDAR RAPIDS --- A man who illegally possessed a firearm was sentenced Monday to more than three years in federal prison.

Tondrell Darnez Gary Jr., 23, of Waterloo, received the prison term after a Nov. 5, 2018, guilty plea to being a drug user in possession of a firearm.

At the guilty plea, Gary admitted he possessed a Ruger 9mm handgun on June 11, 2018. Gary admitted that when police attempted to stop a car he was traveling in, he tossed the gun out of the car window into a residential area. Police eventually stopped the car and Gary admitted to being a regular marijuana user.

Gary was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams to 41 months of imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Gary is being held in the U.S. Marshals custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa C. Williams, and was investigated by a Federal Task Force composed of the Waterloo Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms assisted by the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office and Cedar Falls Police Department.

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OSAGE -- U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is expanding his trip to Iowa this weekend with a major agriculture policy address in Osage and a stop in Spencer on Sunday, in addition to previously announced events in Ames, Perry, Fort Dodge and Sioux City.

At the Mitchell County Fairgrounds in Osage, 1006 Chestnut St., Sanders will outline his platform for agriculture policy and rural investment to an audience of Iowa farmers. Sanders first major policy speech in Iowa will address corporate control over agriculture, fair trade deals, support for new farmers, climate change, clean water, rural education, rural health care and immigration.

This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP to https://act.berniesanders.com/signup/event-190505-osage/ is encouraged. Entrance is provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

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CHARLES CITY  Presidential hopeful Beto ORourke will visit Northeast Iowa Tuesday.

The former Texas congressman will visit Charles City for a house party at Rep. Todd Prichards house at 107 Ferguson St. from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Hell also stop in Waverly at Saemann Student Center (Castle Room) at Wartburg College starting at 1:45 p.m.

The trip is part of a tour through Iowa that ORourke will begin in Shenandoah on Sunday.

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CEDAR RAPIDS  Joe Biden is getting excited.

The former vice president brought his nascent presidential campaign to Iowa on Tuesday, anxious to kick off the nine-month grind to the 2020 caucuses and beyond.

I am ready. And quite frankly Im excited about it. Because I tell you what, he said, leaning forward, his pace slowing and his voice softening. For all the difficulty we have, we are so much better prepared than any nation in the world to own the 21st century, for Lords sake.

It was Bidens first visit to Iowa since making his presidential campaign official Thursday. He made stops in Dubuque, Monticello and Cedar Rapids, and visits Iowa City today.

During an interview before Tuesdays rally in Cedar Rapids, Biden discussed the generation gap between himself and most of the other Democrats running, why he is the best choice to take on President Donald Trump and how he will win back voters who strayed from the party in 2016.

Biden, who would turn 78 shortly after Election Day 2020, pledged he will not be outworked. He will work like the devil to earn support in Februarys presidential caucuses.

Biden is the 21st candidate to announce in the Democratic primary race. The field includes members of the silent and baby boomer generations, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but also younger candidates like Pete Buttigieg and Beto ORourke.

Some Iowa Democrats wonder whether Bidens time has passed, and if it may be time to choose a a fresh face to lead the party into the next generation, like Barack Obama in 2008.

Biden asks only that those people give him a chance.

Look at me. Follow me. See what I say. See how I do, Biden said.

Im going to go out and make that case by demonstrating what I have done, what my experience has taught me, he said. All I can do is go out and make my case as to why I think that, at this moment, Im the best prepared to deal with this. Everyone else is making their case as well, and well see what the voters decide.

While Bidens age gives some Democrats pause, others feel he presents the partys best chance at defeating Trump.

Biden feels he always has connected with working-class Americans and will again in 2020.

Biden thinks he can connect with voters who had supported the Obama-Biden tickets in 2008 and 2012 but voted for Trump in 2016. There are many such voters in Iowa, which swung from a six-point victory for Obama in 2012 to a 10-point victory for Trump four years later.

And Democrats can reconnect with those voters without betraying their base, Biden said.

I dont think we have to choose between our heart and our soul, Biden said. The way its being phrased these days is that if you get support among those middle class folks, youre somehow forsaking our progressive agenda on race and women. Its just not true. We dont have to give up anything.

But Biden said Democrats need to show up in areas where they lost voters in 2016 and listen to why allegiances changed.

Theres an awful lot of people who think weve forgotten them, that we dont listen to them. Half of what we do as elected officials is weve got to listen, at least acknowledge we understand what concerns them, Biden said. And I hope and I believe that a lot of those folks will listen, at least they have in the past, with me.

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DES MOINES --- Iowas medical marijuana manufacturer supports an expansion of the states program, saying the move opens the door for more patients to access the fledgling program.

In the last days of the 2019 Legislative session, lawmakers approved a proposal to expand aspects of the medical cannabidiol program, including patient access and the type of providers who can recommend treatment.

If you look at the bill in its entirety, it is very clear that it is patient-focused, said Lucas Nelson, general manager of outsourcing services for Kemin Industries, lead consultant for MedPharm Iowa.

MedPharm Iowa, based in Des Moines, was the first company awarded a state license to manufacture cannabidiol products.

Its products went on sale for the first time Dec. 1 at five state-certified dispensaries in Davenport, Waterloo, Windsor Heights, Council Bluffs and Sioux City.

The proposal  passed by the Senate on Saturday, the final day of the session  removes the 3 percent cap on tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component of cannabis.

Instead, the bill would limit the amount of medical cannabis patient could have to 25 grams over a 90-day period.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has not said whether she would sign the bill into law.

Nelson applauded the removal of the cap, saying it makes it easier for patients to get the dosage they need without taking excessive amounts of the product, which can be cost prohibitive.

In addition, it will allow MedPharm to develop vapor products for its customers.

Vapor is fast acting, Nelson said. It wont last as long over the course of the day  maybe an hour, maybe less or more for some  but it will take effect within minutes.

Vapor would be ideal for chronic pain patients, Nelson said. Some chronic-pain patients experience sudden, exponential increases in their pain from certain activities and need a fast-acting supplement to their daily dosage.

Under the 25-gram limit, Nelson estimates about 90 percent of MedPharms patients still would get the dose they need in their cannabidiol products, which can be used for conditions such as Parkinsons disease, seizures and ALS, among others.

The cap could impact cancer patients, chronic pain patients and those dealing with terminal illness.

Well learn as the program grows how many patients are left out, Nelson said. I am confident at least where program stands, we will be able to treat many of our patients, if not all.

Language in the bill also changes the definition of untreatable pain to severe or chronic pain. The change likely will enable more providers to certify chronic pain patients to receive medical cannabis.

As of April 18, more than 2,500 patients have been issued registration cards by the state  nearly 60 percent of whom qualify under the untreatable pain condition, according to the Iowa Office of Medical Cannabidiol.

The legislation Iowa lawmakers approved last week also allows physician assistants and nurse practitioners to recommend patients for the program.

Many rural Iowans may not have regular access to a physician in their region and may see nurse practitioners or physician assistants for primary care.

According to the Iowa Office of Medical Cannabidiol, more than 600 health care providers have certified patients for the program by April 18.

A second manufacturer awarded a license by the state to produce medical cannabis is slated to complete construction on a facility in southwest Cedar Rapids later this year. Iowa Relief, a subsidiary of New Jersey-based Acreage Holdings, must have products available for sale by July 1.

Lee Enterprises reporter Erin Murphy contributed to this article.

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DES MOINES  Gov. Kim Reynolds used a sold-out Future Ready Iowa Summit on Tuesday to call for expanding opportunities students can use to engage in real-world, professional experiences that connect their classrooms to future careers.

Work-based learning is a game changer. Its like test driving a career, and I have seen it in action with our registered apprenticeship programs for high school students, Reynolds said.

The daylong summit featured a speech by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.

Work-based learning opportunities for K-12 students have been growing across the state, Reynolds said. She noted her STEM Advisory Councils Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers program with 50 projects; the work-based learning intermediary network run by Iowas community colleges; and registered apprenticeship programs in high schools in at least six school districts.

Reynolds announced the state Department of Education will develop a blueprint by the end of the year for the work-based learning experiences that should be accessible to every student. She said a virtual Iowa Clearinghouse for Work-Based Learning will launch July 1, with projects posted online by employers that educators can select to help students develop technical and soft skills.

We know the job market is changing by the minute, the governor said in her keynote address to nearly 1,000 attendees.

Each day, were sharpening Iowas competitive edge in education and expanding our workplace partnerships with job-ready, STEM savvy, lifelong learners, Reynolds said.

Reynolds praised the just-completed 2019 legislative session for approving funding for her Future Ready Iowa program that aims to ensure 70 percent of Iowa workers have post-high school education or job training by 2025.

She said Iowa is at about 58 percent, but the new funding will support more scholarships and grants to put young Iowans on the path to cutting-edge careers.

Were in a good place, but weve got a lot of work to do, she told summit attendees.

Jeff Weld, executive director of the Governors STEM Advisory Council and STEM education policy consultant for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the focus of the summit was helping schools go from why to how in using education to close the skills gap.

At the close of the summit, Reynolds announced six high-poverty elementary schools have been selected to each receive $50,000 grants through the Computer Science is Elementary project. The schools are in the Denison, Marshalltown, Postville, East Union, Perry and Fort Madison school districts.

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New market opens at Shiloh

WATERLOO  A new farmers market will open Thursday at Shiloh Baptist Church at 3525 Sager Ave.

It will be open from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Oct. 24.

Local farmers and bakers will feature baked goods, crafts, produce and plants.

Farmers market opens Saturday

CEDAR FALLSThe Cedar Falls Farmers Market will begin its 2019 season Saturday at West Third and Clay streets by Overman Park.

Market hours are 8:30 a.m. to noon.

Vendors will have early-season vegetables, plants, flowers, fresh-baked goods, meat, eggs, honey, jams and jellies, crafts, hot food and drinks and more. There is always free coffee and lemonade.

Audubon Society meets May 14

CEDAR FALLS  The next meeting of the Prairie Rapids Audubon Society will be at 7 p.m. May 14 at First Presbyterian Church, Ninth and Main streets.

Daryl Smith, professor emeritus of biology and founder of the University of Northern Iowa Tallgrass Prairie Center, will present the story of tallgrass prairies in Iowa.

A 6 p.m. potluck will precede the meeting  bring a dish to share if possible. The meeting is open to the public.

Hydrant flush set Thursday

WATERLOO  The Waterloo Water Works will flush hydrants Thursday in the area from West San Marnan to West Fourth Street between Prospect Boulevard and Kimball Avenue.

Customers could experience water discoloration, but the discolored water is bacterially safe.

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Reprinted from the Quad-City Times April 28.

U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsacks announcement that he will leave office after 2020 has set up a scramble in both political parties for Iowas newly competitive 2nd District congressional seat.

Its been 13 years since the Quad-Cities has seen a wide-open race for a congressional seat, so we know by experience this will draw lots of interest.

We wont go through the laundry list of possible congressional wannabes in this space. Undoubtedly, there are many.

But it seems unlikely any will be quite like Loebsack.

The 66-year-old former college professor has been a bit of a mystery in Iowa political circles.

He doesnt have a marquee law to his name. Hes not a media star who is quick with a soundbite or a tendency to outrage or inspire.

He doesnt rake in big campaign bucks. Yet, he wins. Consistently.

When we endorsed Loebsack for a seventh term six months ago, this is what we said:

Loebsack grinds it out every day. Hes been a solid vote to preserve a government that works for all and for sensible steps to grow our economy and improve health care. Hes pushed for expansion of rural broadband and has sought to address skills gaps in the workforce. ... And he has worked hard to support the needs of local constituents, such as on flood relief, the Rock Island Arsenal and renewable fuels. That day-to-day work is pivotal for any lawmaker.

We think thats a pretty apt description.

Its also why we believe he won in a district that President Trump won in 2016.

Its why he survived two Republican waves.

Loebsack, in the best tradition of representative democracy, seems more loyal to his district than his party.

Call it self-preservation if you like, but it works. For him and for us.

Which brings us to his successor.

In short order, there will be Republicans and Democrats scrambling for the 2nd District seat.

It will be tempting, in a presidential election year, to make the battle a proxy for the fights that have animated our national politics. Or worse, it will become a referendum on the Trump presidency.

We hope that wont be the case.

We understand, and we encourage, candidates to weigh in on how they would fight climate change, what ideas they have to offer to resolve our immigration stalemate and whether they favor real, universal health care coverage that is achievable.

We also know the president offers unique challenges to our system of governance that congressional hopefuls must respond to.

But we also know the 2nd District has distinct local concerns that should get a lot of attention.

There must be solutions offered to fix Iowas broken individual health care market.

The southern part of the district, much of it rural, is suffering from population loss and poverty.

The Quad-City economy, like much of Iowa, faces a shortage of workers. Our population is getting older, and we arent drawing enough young people to replace our aging work force.

This area also is heavily reliant on trade, and we need a new approach  for farmers and manufacturers alike.

These are just a few of our concerns.

Both political parties face challenges. Will Republicans embrace President Trump the way that Rod Blum did last year in his losing re-election bid in the 1st District? Or will they keep a measure of distance from the president?

And what of Democrats? The more liberal Johnson County figures much bigger in a Democratic primary than does the swing county of Scott. But in a general election they tend to turn out roughly the same number of voters.

Will a Democratic nominee appeal to both counties?

One of Loebsacks attributes was that he maintained loyalty among Johnson County voters even though he strayed at times from the progressive line.

Its been a long time since the Quad-Cities has seen an open congressional seat. Its been even longer since somebody from Scott County represented the district in Congress.

Naturally, we would like to send a neighbor to Congress. More importantly, though, we want to send someone who knows, reflects and responds to the unique concerns of the people who live in the 24 counties that make up Iowas 2nd Congressional District.

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Q: How long can a vehicle be parked on a residential street in Traer before it can be towed?

A: Traers city ordinance does not allow on-street parking for more than 72 hours without moving. Enforcement is handled by the Tama County Sheriffs Office. Sheriff Dennis Kucera said deputies will first attempt to make contact with registered owner about the violation. Usually the first offense is verbal warning. Additional offenses will result in a parking citation or, at the citys request, towing at the owners expense.

Q: There used to be a Governor Hickenlooper of Iowa. Is former Governor Hickenlooper of Colorado a relative of our former governor?

A: Yes. Bourke Hickenlooper, who died in 1971, was lieutenant governor and governor of Iowa in the 1940s, then served four terms in the U.S. Senate. The two are cousins, John Hickenlooper has said in the past.

Q: I heard there was a town named Maheya, Texas, but I couldnt find it on any Texas map. When we looked it up on our iPad it can up as Mexia, Texas. Was Maheya the original name of that town?

A: We think youre hearing the Spanish pronunciation of the word. We called the Mexia Chamber of Commerce  the website says Mexia is truly a great place  no matter how you pronounce it.  and a staff person reported most people there pronounce it something like Ma-hi-ya. The town was named in 1871 for Gen. Jose Antonio Mexia.

Q: Can you print background information on how the Texas Rangers first were started?

A: Ranger history started in 1823 with a small band of frontiersmen put together by Stephen Austin. The term Texas Ranger was first used by lawmakers in 1835. Over the years, Rangers  in one form or another  fought Native Americans, policed lawless frontier towns, battled Mexican bandits and military forces and enforced order in mining towns, among other duties. Today, the Texas Ranger Division is a major division within the Texas Department of Public Safety with lead criminal investigative responsibility for major incident crime investigations, unsolved crime/serial crime investigations, public corruption investigations, officer-involved shooting investigations and border security operations, according to the department.

Q: What are Cedar Falls plans, short- and long-term, for Union Road between 27th Street and Viking Road?

A: Short term: The Public Works and Parks Division will be filling the holes with gravel and asphalt as applicable. Midterm: Deteriorated portions of the road will be repaired with a more permanent asphalt paving. Long term: Traffic volumes and development are being monitored. The city annually reviews its five-year pavement management plan and five-year capital improvements plan to plan and manage projects citywide. A study of the entire corridor is anticipated in the coming years to help with future planning. This study will be similar to the one just completed on Greenhill Road.

Q: During a lightning storm is it safer to be in my unattached garage that is built with steel, or my wood frame house that has electrical wires and plumbing?

A: The National Weather Service says the house is the safer place to be as long as you go in an interior room and avoid anything that conducts electricity -- corded phones, appliances, wires, TV cables, computers, plumbing, metal doors or windows.

Calls are taken on a special Courier phone line at 234-3566. Questions are answered by Courier staff and staff at the Waterloo Public Library.

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Ali Bhutto in The Guardian:

Abdullah the Cossack, the antihero of HM Naqvis follow-up to the award-winning Home Boy, is the personification of Karachis decaying soul. The 70-year-old revels in nostalgia at the Sunset Lodge, the crumbling family estate he is at risk of losing. His was a Karachi defined by jazz quartets, Goan rockers, cabarets, theosophists, landmark synagogues and drinking Soviet delegates under the table. A self-styled intellectual, he has in the twilight of his life decided to document aspects of society ignored by historians. He notes, for instance, that in contrast to the emphasis on mourning at funerals, the death anniversaries of Sufi saints are commemorated with song and dance until daybreak. His observations, compiled and edited by former protege Bosco, form the narrative of Naqvis new novel, The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack. Through his protagonist, Naqvi sheds light on an older and more enlightened Karachi.

The Cossacks deteriorating physical condition is a reflection of the citys body politic and the problems that plague it. However, the arrival in his life of potential love interest Jugnu marks a physical and mental revival. The relationship breaks class and gender taboos: while it is clear to some of the other characters that Jugnu is transgender, Abdullah remains oblivious. Like the romance of old Karachi, which is selective in its portrayal of the past, Abdullah sees in Jugnu what he chooses.

Bosco, the grandson of a legendary local jazz trumpeter, represents the new Karachi  vulnerable and in need of a father figure, which he finds in the Cossack. Characteristic of life in the city, various escapades, such as a sojourn in rural Sindh or a rendezvous with gangsters, happen on a whim and end inconclusively. Just as Karachis identity and heritage are threatened by the omnipresent land mafia, so too is Abdullah at odds with his siblings over the sale of the family estate.

More here.
The term Wine Country evokes images of moneyed estates and even Hollywood winemakers, but historically, both Napa and Sonoma have been destinations for migrant farmers looking to achieve their version of the American dreama family-owned, small-batch vineyard and winery.

Since the 1970s, numerous immigrants have made their way here from Mexico to work the land that yields our most prized export (and our favorite way of passing most any weekend), and a handful of those immigrants have worked their way up from harvesting the grapes of others to producing their own wines under labels that honor both their Mexican and American heritages. Celebrate their tenacity and ingenuity this Cinco de Mayo with tastings and holiday parties at Napa and Sonoma's Mexican-American-owned wineries.

Mi Sueno Winery: A Dream "Side Project" With Presidential Pedigree Winemaker Rolando Herrera among the vineyards at Mi Sueno Winery. (Courtesy of Mi Sueno) At the age of 15, Roland Herrera left his home in Michoacan, Mexico for a shot at the American dream in the Napa Valley. Beginning as a humble harvest laborer for Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, over the years Herrera clawed his way up the winemaker's chain, from cellar master to assistant winemaker at Chateau Potelle to winemaker at Vine Cliff Winery. In 1997, newlywed Herrera and his wife, Lorena, began Mi Sueno Winery (Spanish for "my dream") as a "side project." Within two years, Mi Sueno's chardonnay was making its debut at the White House, served for a state dinner in honor of then-Mexican-President Vicente Fox. It was Mi Sueno's first brush with Washington, but not its last: Herrera's Russian River Pinot Noir and Herrera Rebecca Cabernet Sauvignon have graced the wine glasses of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Now, 22 years after their side project began, Mi Sueno has expanded its portfolio to produce bold, balanced tempranillos, juicy chardonnays, and elegant pinot noirs, among others. At their seated tastings, held in a Spanish Colonialstyle space of dark hardwood and red accents among the wine casks of the winery's cellar, Mi Sueno pours five current releases ($40-$60/person, depending on the tasting you select) like the rich 2015 Napa Valley Syrah, with its flavors of vanilla and spice. Although tastings at the winery are only available Monday through Saturday by reservation, Mi Sueno is holding a Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday, May 4th for their club members, complete with mariachi music and Mexican food. Their standalone tasting room at Vista Collina Resort (850 Bordeaux Way, Napa), an elegant chandelier-lit salon with a marble-topped wine bar and comfortable back patio with seating arranged around a stone fireplace, is open daily from 11am to 7pm. // Mi Sueno Winery, 910 Enterprise Way (Napa), misuenowinery.com

Ceja Vineyards: A family of Mexican immigrants lives the American dream Cofounder Pedro Ceja with his wife, Amelia, celebrating his birthday at the vineyard. (Courtesy of @cejavineyards) Thirty-six years ago, Pablo and Juanita Ceja, the Mexican immigrant patriarch and matriarch of a brood of 10, pooled their resources with their two grown sons, Pedro and Armando, to purchase 15 acres in Napa's Carneros region. The family began with pinot noir and celebrated their first harvest in 1988. Today, their vineyards have grown to include 113 acres of pinot, cab, chardonnay, and merlot spread across Napa and Sonoma. At the Ceja winery, the family pours from their portfolio on an outdoor patio with a bocce ball court amongst the vines (an indoor space serves when the weather is poor). Both here and at their downtown Sonoma wine salon, tastings include vintages like the 2016 Sonoma Coast Sauvignon Blanc, crisp with classic citrus blossom and green apple notes, and the 2012 Carneros Pinot Noir from the Ceja's original vineyard, a fresh and floral vintage with aromas of red plum, black cherry and hibiscus. Both tasting rooms are open 11am to 5pm Friday through Sunday and, while reservations are recommended, walk-ins are welcome. // Ceja Vineyards, 22989 Burndale Rd. (Sonoma), cejavineyards.com

Robledo Family Winery: From Michoacan to Napa Valley, with international acclaim Reynaldo Robledo immigrated from Michoacan, Mexico and worked for 30 years in Napa Valley vineyards before starting his family's namesake winery. (Courtesy of @robledofamilywinery) Reynaldo Robledo had never seen a vineyard before he showed up for his first day of pruning at a Napa Valley operation. Just a teenager when he left Michoacan in Mexico for Northern California, Robledo went on to spend the next three decades among the vines, eventually establishing his own vineyard management company for Napa Valley wineries in the mid-1990s. Little-by-little, the vineyard whiz purchased his own propertymore than 350 acres across Sonoma, Napa, and Lake Countiesand opened Robledo Winery in 2003.

Among their extensive portfolio, Robledo produces cab, merlot, tempranillo, sauvignon blanc, riesling, and even a cuvee brut, many of which have won awards in international wine competition and from the San Francisco Chronicle. Tastings at the Spanish Colonialstyle winery in Sonoma include six estate wines ($20-$25 each) like the 2014 "El Rey" Cabernet Sauvignon Red Hills, a medium-bodied, balanced wine with aromas of currant, blackberry, and spice with a velvety finish. The tasting room is open daily from 10am to 5pm (11am to 4pm on Sunday). On May 4th, the family will hold their annual Cinco de Mayo celebration, a party that will include traditional Mexican dance, mariachi music, and authentic Mexican food ($55/ members; $65/non-members). // Robledo Family Vineyards, 21901 Bonness Rd (Sonoma), robledofamilywinery.com
There is, perhaps, nothing more classic than bourbonespecially Kentucky bourbon. And yet, the spirit is trending, with new ones cropping up from unexpected places. Of course, not all bourbons are created equal.

This past March, Saint Cloud Kentucky Bourbon introduced its highly anticipated First Batch; and with roots in Kentucky, San Francisco, and the storied vineyards of Burgundy in France, it is an innovative spirit ready to captivate your attention.

(Courtesy of Saint Cloud Kentucky Bourbon)

Creator Ray Walker is a Bay Area native who originally left his career in finance to start a winery in France. There he became renowned for making Burgundian wines of striking elegance and precision. He penned a best-selling autobiography, The Road to Burgundy, and even landed an appearance on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations.



After closing the doors to his winery in France, Walker returned to America with a new focus: Kentucky bourbon. His father's family has roots in the state going back over 200 years, having fought in the war of 1812 as well as for the Union during the Civil War, out of Louisville. While this heritage inspired Walker to choose Kentucky as his starting place, he also knew that Saint Cloud would find success in focusing on the future of where bourbon could go, rather than simply looking at where it had been.

The concept of Saint Cloud is simple: it is simply stunning in execution. Combining Walker's background as a French winemaker while remaining true to the spirit's Kentucky roots, Saint Cloud was aged in new charred oak barrels from the Limousin forest in France, bottled at barrel strength (120 proof), and left unfiltered to ensure that all the fine detail from within the barrel would make its way into every bottle. The result is aromatic notes and complexity in the mouthboth elegant and concentrated.

Saint Cloud Bourbon also has exterior beauty, packaged in a minimalist, Art Decoinspired bottle designed by Stranger and Stranger. Just 3,000 bottles have been produced; you can buy it online ($115/bottle) at saintcloudbourbon.com.
Bay Area babes will heart Veronica Beard's signature layered style so hard, we'll all wonder why the NYC brand didn't open here sooner.

Plus, eSalon goes IRL with a hair color studio in Union Square, Lonny jumps offline with a stylish new book, and SF Etsy hosts an arty maker pop-up just in time for Mother's Day gift shopping.



What took you so long? Veronica Beard debuts first NorCal boutique. (Courtesy of Veronica Beard) On May 2nd, Veronica Beard will fling wide the doors to the brand's first SF store, and Bay Area babesmasters of modern layeringwill flock for the NYC label's signature East Coast meets West Coast sensibility. You'll shop chic and effortless jackets, signature dickeys, jeans, tops, dresses, and accessoriesyou know, the stuff ladies want to wear while getting shit done. Along with the full ready-to-wear line, pieces from the just-launched VB x Bandier collab are also available. Just shy of 2,000 square feet, the boutique (former home of The Kooples) has a fun, feminine vibe with eye-catching vintage furnishings. ICYMI, the 9-year-old eponymous label is named for two Veronicas (Swanson and Miele): They both married a Beard brother and each gained a sister-in-law and a business partner. Veronica Swanson Beard is particularly stoked about this opening: "It has been a dream of mine to open a store in my hometownwe're so excited to welcome our SF shoppers into this unique space on Fillmore that captures the energy of the city." // 2241 Fillmore St. (Pacific Heights), veronicabeard.com

SF Etsy sets up (pop-up) shop at The Marker Hotel. (Courtesy of Jennifer Clifford) Shopping, wine, art, and mini makeoversneed we say more? It all happens on Thursday, May 2nd at The Marker, a Joie de Vivre hotel, in the Tenderloin. The SF Etsy team handpicked local sellers including artist Jennifer Clifford; jewelry designer Adrienne Wiley of Covet; and designer Jessica Rose of Cashmere Treats, among others. Along with handcrafted artwork, jewelry, and clothing (hello, Mother's Day gifts), wine and light bites from the hotel's yummy Tratto restaurant are on the menu. Plus, makeup artist Christina Choi will be offering mini makeovers and selling her new beauty line created for a range of skin tones and eye shapes. Can't get enough art? You're in luck, as the event coincides with SF First Thursday Art Walk taking place in the 'hood (6-10pm). The pop-up is free but you should RSVP and schedule your makeover. // 5pm to 8pm, Thursday, May 2 at the Marker Hotel, 501 Geary St. (Tenderloin); eventbrite.com

Want a Lonny editor to help design your space? NP, there's a book for that. (Pages from The Lonny Home, courtesy of Weldon Owen) Our love for home and decor website Lonny is no secret. In fact, editorial director Angela Tafoya was an honoree of our 2018 Style Council. But starting Tuesday, May 7th, there will be one more thing for usand youto get all heart-eyes about: The Lonny Home: Discovering & Cultivating Your Most Authentic Space. Not only is the photography-stuffed book gorgeous and inspirational, it's functionalas in it will help you create dreamy spaces for your particular home, lifestyle, and budget. Written by stylist and influencer Sean Santiago along with Lonny editors, the book is a smorgasbord of home-design goodness including real-life house tours, design solutions for virtually every problem (lack of light, clutter, etc), and tips for creating gallery walls, tabletop vignettes, and the all-important shelfie. Published by Weldon Owen, the book retails for $35. P.S. To celebrate the launch, Lonny is holding a talk, The Art of Authenticity, on Thursday, May 9th (6:30pm9:30pm) at St. Frank (3665 Sacramento St.). Joining the panel are St. Frank founder Christina Bryant, stylist Kendra Smoot, photographer Maria del Rio, and astrologer Jessica Layandoo.
Cullen said family physicians can play a key role in reversing the trend, and the AAFP is working with partners to address the problem. He will be a featured speaker May 11 during the March for Moms rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The AAFP is a partner in the event, which aims to raise awareness.

The United States has the worst maternal mortality rate -- by far -- of any industrialized nation. In addition to access, health disparities and lack of education about family planning also play a role. American Indian/Alaska Native and non-Hispanic black women are up to four times more likely to suffer a pregnancy-related death in this country than white women.

It also is estimated that as many as 21% of pregnant U.S. women experience moderate to severe depression or anxiety, which can have long-term adverse implications for mothers, children and their families.

The March for Moms rally will follow an advocacy day May 10 on Capitol Hill. Legislation introduced in Congress would address issues such as family leave and health disparities.

The March for Moms event is just one piece of the Academy's strategy on this issue. Cullen said the AAFP aims to build a coalition of partners to address maternal mortality. Academy representatives met March 26 in Washington with representatives from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the National Rural Health Association.

Both organizations are participating in the AAFP's maternal mortality task force, which was created at the direction of a substitute resolution adopted during last year's Congress of Delegates meeting. The task force, which had its first meeting in April and is scheduled to meet again June 29, is expected to report back to the COD when it meets Sept. 23-25 in Philadelphia.

AAFP Director and task force chair Tochi Iroku-Malize, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., told AAFP News that the group has four primary objectives:

Evaluate evidence-based methods to decrease maternal mortality.

Review methods to increase recognition of implicit bias and reduce disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality.

Develop strategies to help improve resident education and support practicing family physicians providing full-scope reproductive and maternity care.

Address the growing loss of rural maternity services nationwide.

"What we realized was that whatever recommendations we come up with will need to be actionable, with policy changes to support them," Iroku-Malize said. "Also, recommendations will need be twofold -- steps that we as an Academy should take and those that our collective task force organizations should embark upon as a collaborative."

The task force includes AAFP members and also has representation from other family medicine organizations -- namely, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. In addition to these groups, the American Hospital Association is participating, and the task force may expand further to broaden its reach.

Iroku-Malize said removing barriers and ensuring that family physicians are able to practice full-scope family medicine -- including maternity care -- is a critical part of addressing the problem.

"My hope for this task force is that we will be able to align stakeholders and create a pathway for family physicians to be recognized as equal members of a maternal health care team capable of providing services anywhere, any time to care for our patients," she said.

Cullen will have multiple opportunities to talk with representatives from health care groups outside family medicine in the coming weeks. He is scheduled to speak during a May 5 maternal safety meeting hosted by the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health and ACOG during ACOG's annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., and he also will participate in a CMS forum on rural maternal health June 12 in Washington.

The ACOG event, which will focus on racial disparities and rural maternal health, is expected to draw hundreds of cross-disciplinary practitioners, public health advocates and other stakeholders, as well as reporters.

The CMS forum, which also will be attended by representatives from ACOG, the American Association of Birth Centers, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the NRHA, among others, is expected to lay the groundwork for an action plan to improve access to maternal health services in rural communities and reduce disparities.

Related AAFP News Coverage

Fresh Perspectives: Our Maternal Mortality Rate Is Shameful

(3/5/2019)

More From AAFP

American Family Physician: AFP By Topic: Prenatal Care
GETTY IMAGES

Chuck Boetsch of Palm Harbor, Fla., was desperate for a new pair of lungs. A rare disease was causing the set he had carried for 72 years to harden and scar. He could barely breathe.

In November 2017, after 10 weeks on the waiting list, Boetsch got a call that a lung was available  but there was a catch. This lung had some potential problems, enough that other transplant centers didn't want it.

But Boetsch's transplant team at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., had a plan. Before doing the transplant, team members would use a revolutionary technique to fully refurbish, repair and renovate the lung, just like a used car. By the time they transplanted it, they told Boetsch, it should be as good as new.

The technology is part of a promising new approach that has the potential to dramatically cut transplant waiting lists: Find a way to use the thousands of less-than-perfect organs that are literally thrown away every year because they aren't considered good enough.

As part of that effort, health officials are looking at loosening the criteria designating some organs as high risk to reflect that many of them are relatively safe. Surgeons, for instance, are safely transplanting kidneys and hearts infected with hepatitis C that previously would have been discarded. And in what is perhaps the most exciting development, transplant centers across the country are testing high-tech devices that rejuvenate lower-quality organs that don't meet traditional transplant criteria.

"Right now, only 1 out of every 5 donor lungs passes muster, says pulmonologist Jack Leventhal, a member of Boetsch's transplant team and medical director of a lung restoration center in Florida expected to open this year. By using more of them, we believe we can increase the number of transplants, dramatically cut the wait list and, most importantly, save lives.

The innovations are especially relevant to patients who have a hard time qualifying for transplants because they are considered higher risk, often because they are too sick or too old.

Nearly 114,000 Americans are waiting for organs such as lungs, livers, kidneys and hearts, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Despite efforts to increase the donor pool, the demand for organs continues to far outstrip supply.

As a result, an average of 18 people die every day while waiting for an organ.

Organs going unused

A donor organ might not make the cut for a transplant for a variety of reasons. Some may be physically damaged, an especially common issue if the donor suffered cardiac death rather than brain death. Others are infected, filled with fluid or have too much fat. Or they come from donors who have certain characteristics that increase the risk  they were older than 50, say, or they had a chronic illness.

UNOS says about 13 percent of all organs that are recovered for transplant go unused. Many other available organs are not harvested at all because transplant centers reject them, or because a recipient can't be found quickly enough. That's especially the case with fragile organs like lungs, which don't last long outside the body.

Trying a transplant with a less-than-perfect organ may seem preferable to a patient dying on the wait list. But the decision on whether to accept an organ typically lies not with the patient but with the transplant center, says nephrologist David Klassen, chief medical officer for UNOS.

And some hospitals may not be willing to take a risk with an imperfect organ because they are graded on their post-transplant performance, regardless of whether they accepted a lower-quality organ to save a life.

Still, in an effort to save lives, some larger centers are making an effort to use organs that don't normally make the cut.

At UCLA Medical Center, for example, a surgeon has regifted three previously transplanted kidneys to new patients after the initial recipients died. Typically, kidneys that have already gone through two death events are considered too damaged to use again, but all three of these transplants were successful. UCLA also uses an alternative waiting list for heart transplants, pairing older patients with marginal organs from older donors.

Meanwhile, at Penn Medicine, surgeons have successfully transplanted 50 hepatitis-C-infected kidneys and 10 similarly infected hearts that would otherwise have been discarded. Though the patients did indeed contract the virus from their transplanted organs, doctors were able to cure them quickly by giving them powerful drugs after the transplant, says Peter Abt, a Penn Medicine transplant surgeon.

The center offered the organs to patients who likely would not have been able to get a transplant otherwise because of their age or medical condition, and it is now extending the option to a broader patient base. Our studies show these transplants are functioning just as well as uninfected kidneys from similar donors, Abt says.
Chances for snow increase as Christmas approaches

Roads are clear now, but as the weekend draws closer, the chance of snow will potentially increase.
Near the end of this years legislative session, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 85, taking away any possibility for a county to implement right to work outside of the state legislature.

Last year, Sandoval County set a national precedent by being the first non-home-rule county in the nation to pass RTW without going to the state legislature for approval. A labor union promptly filed a lawsuit against the county.

Right to work refers to a law forbidding union-eligible workers to be forced to join a union and pay dues as a condition of employment. Whether it helps or hurts those workers is controversial.

County commission chairman Dave Heil said in an email that Sandoval County is dismissing the lawsuit in cooperation with the plaintiff and there was no out-of-pocket cost to the county.

In this effort to create an environment which would bring (better) paying jobs to our community, this has been a setback for New Mexico, which is an island of poverty with higher unemployment and lower pay than our neighboring states, he said.

According to Heil, New Mexico sees about 25 percent of potential economic-based jobs, that is, jobs that bring in money from outside the area, because many business site-selectors will not look at non-RTW states.

We dont even get a chance to compete for about 75 percent of potential business relocations, he said. Maybe someday when our legislators like Daymon Ely are not in the union bosses pockets, they will wake up to the fact that they are denying good-paying jobs for New Mexicans.

Rep. Daymon Ely, D-Corrales, said in a phone interview that the county commission overstepped its bounds when it passed RTW.

It was completely illegal and unenforceable, Ely said. (The commission) violated 50 years of federal law by trying to make the county a state. Both the statute and court decisions are very clear about this.

Ely said the commission had a private organization, Americans for Prosperity, pay for this initiative, leaving the unions and taxpayers to pay for legal proceedings from the ruling.

How was the county going to enforce this? he asked. Set up border crossings and check peoples union cards?

Last year, 10 out of the 33 counties in New Mexico adopted RTW. None was home-rule.

With the passing of HB 85, Ely said he saved those counties a ton of money in legal fees because they wouldve been tied up in legal battles for years.

Sandoval County couldve been sanctioned for what they did and shouldve been, Ely said.

Basically, Ely said RTW requires unions to provide services for employees for free.

Im the guy who did the last Intel bond in 2004 and right-to-work never came up, he said. Most businesses want a quality workforce, good education and low crime. This idea that we need right-to-work to attract companies is ridiculous.

Ely said its like having a restaurant that gives away its food for free.

If people want to pay for it they can, but if they dont, then the restaurants cant charge them, he said. That might attract business, too, but its not sustainable.

Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation, said he assumed, after watching last years election, that there would be legislation on RTW.

There were many things done at the county level that were overlooked by the legislature besides right-to-work, he said.

For example, Gessing said, Dona Ana County passed a fracking ban, which violates state law because the Oil Conservation Division sets oil and gas policies statewide.

However, this was never addressed at the 60-day session, he said.

Gessing said Illinois and New Mexico were examples of two states that have had recent push-back on RTW and just elected a Democratic governor.

Right away, each governor came in and switched past legislation, Gessing said. Its just politics, and unfortunately, this is the way things are done.

Ely said you cant have a situation where one county has RTW and another one doesnt because there isnt a way to regulate it at a county border.

This is why right-to-work is mandated at either the federal or state level, he said. It comes down to how this can be enforced, and I think the Sandoval County Commission knew this but wanted to make a statement, anyway.

Ely said, as things stand now, if a county wanted to adopt RTW, it would have to pass the ordinance through the legislature.
PHOENIX  The union representing Arizona prison guards joined an inmate rights group Tuesday to demand that the state immediately fix security problems that they say led to an inmates death and the severe beating of two guards.

Carlos Garcia of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association said at a state Capitol news conference they immediately want Gov. Doug Ducey and Corrections Department Director Charles Ryan to fix the problem.

He said the department is negligent in not addressing problems with door locks at the Lewis prison in Buckeye that were revealed in a report by Phoenix television station ABC15.

Weve had one inmate killed because of doors not being fixed by this administration, two staff severely beaten with countless more that went under the table simply because they were deemed a low-level thing, said Garcia, a retired correctional officer. Its inappropriate, completely inappropriate.

Corrections officials said theyve placed padlocks on 1,000 high-security cells at the prison, which houses more than 5,000 inmates. The department said inmates have been tampering with cell door locks for about two years and various other fixes were ineffective.

Duceys office said in a statement late Monday the problem was unacceptable and promised quick action.

There is zero excuse for anything that compromises public safety, he said. The issues at Lewis Prison are deeply concerning  and we take them very seriously. An environment that poses a threat to the safety of either correctional officers or inmates is unacceptable and must be addressed immediately.

Duceys office said it is deploying a special team from various state agencies to ensure the Department of Corrections is taking the needed action.

The governor announced late Tuesday that he has hired two retired state Supreme Court justices to investigate the problem at the Lewis prison and to determine if there are similar problems at the states nine other prisons.

Ducey said former justices Rebecca White Berch and Ruth McGregor will conduct the review.

We need the facts and we need to make sure a situation like this never happens again, he said in a statement.

Corrections Department spokesman Andrew Wilder said Ryan spent the weekend at the prison observing padlock installations and talking with staff. Wilder said the department is treating this situation with the highest urgency.

At the news conference, Donna Hamm of Middle Ground Prison Reform said the department has documented problems with cell door locks for more than 20 years, noting a prison guard at another prison died in a 1997 attack blamed on bad locks.

The department has a long and sordid history, really, with respect to staff and inmate safety, Hamm said. We stand in support of their right to be safe in their jobs, as well as the inmates to be safe in their cells.

Hamm said theyve had reports about defective door locks from families of inmates at two other state prisons since the ABC15 report aired.

The padlocks on cell doors were approved by the state fire marshal, even though they do not meet state fire code requirements and would normally be banned.

Although, the implemented solution is not ideal; based on my observations and information provided today, OSFM is willing to accept the procedures that are being put into place, acting assistant fire marshal Josiah Brant said in a letter released by the Corrections Department.

The padlocks are a clear hazard, said Garcia, contending inmates and guards will be in mortal danger if a fire erupts. Guards would have to go through smoke-filled cellblocks unlocking padlocks one at a time to evacuate inmates.

Inmates are absolutely going to die if they have a fire, Garcia said. And on top of that staff will die.
SANTA FE  Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center has become a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, offering the Santa Fe hospital access to the Mayo Clinics resources and specialists.

The Santa Fe hospital is the first health care organization in New Mexico to join up with the Mayo Clinic. The Minnesota-based health care nonprofit, which also has facilities in Arizona and Florida and operates a graduate program in medicine, began the network in 2011. It currently includes about 40 health systems internationally.

During a Monday announcement event, Christus St. Vincents president and CEO Lillian Montoya described Mayo Clinic as a global leader in the delivery of outstanding health care.

We believe in all corners of our community that people deserve access to the best patient care possible, Montoya said. She said Christus St. Vincent has been working on the partnership for almost a year.

Through this arrangement, our patients dont have to travel somewhere else. They can get their care here. Thats what this relationship means to us and our community.

According to Christus St. Vincent chief medical officer John Beeson and Dr. Keith Cannon, medical director of the Mayo Clinic Network for the Southwest region, the partnership will give the hospital access to the Mayo Clinics latest medical research, archived educational materials for hospital staff, and e-consultation with Mayo Clinic specialists. Mayo patient education materials are another benefit.

Beeson called the AskMayoExpert online database one of the finest catalogues or libraries of critically current information on treatment. He also noted that doctors in Santa Fe can participate in the Mayo Clinics Tumor Boards, conferences where pieces of tissue from local patients can be presented for discussion with Mayo Clinic doctors.

There wont be Mayo Clinic personnel stationed at Christus St. Vincent, Cannon told the Journal, but there will be a team in Phoenix that will stay in touch with personnel here. But the staffers from the Mayo Clinic campuses could come work with health care providers in Santa Fe or vice versa.

The membership doesnt imply any need or gap here, Cannon said. Were here to complement the expertise that already exists here and the physicians and other members of the team are under no obligation to use the tools. They use these tools and services when they feel it would be in the best interest of the patients theyre caring for.

Mayo Clinic brings institutions into the network that it believes are philosophically and culturally similar to its mission, said the Networks medical director Dr. David Hayes.

And really that means high-quality and patient-centric, he said. Hayes said more than 1,000 organizations have asked about being part of the Mayo network, but just the 40 have made it through the process.

The partnership is a non-ownership arrangement, according to Montoya. The additional resources do not bring an extra cost to patients or their insurance providers, she said. The hospital pays a fee for the membership that is determined by the institutions size and the resources that are expected to be utilized. Montoya said she could not disclose the cost of the hospitals membership.

Its just an investment that this community is worth, she said.
University of New Mexico professors  from a part-time English teacher at the Gallup branch to a tenured chemistry professor on the main campus  will head to the polls next fall to vote on whether to form a faculty union at the states largest university.

An all-faculty meeting on unionization drew more than 100 professors, including several from branch campuses, to Popejoy Hall on Tuesday.

Nearly every teacher in attendance spoke or applauded in support of organizing, and many faculty members had letters written by their colleagues who couldnt attend, professing their support for a union.

Ive been here almost 20 years, we havent tried (unionizing) before, said Blair Wolf, a biology professor who spoke in favor of it. People have talked about it off and on for a long time. I think theres very strong support for unionization. Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Hoping that somebody will step up and do the right thing and treat you fairly, well thats never happened. I think support for the union, certainly in my academic unit, is very strong here.

An agreement on union membership positions was reached Monday night between attorneys for UNM and attorneys for the United Academics of the University of New Mexico, just as they were preparing to hold a hearing on the matter before the universitys labor board. A group of faculty had petitioned the labor board to form a faculty union in February.

There will be an election on whether to create a union on the main and branch campuses in the fall. University officials have said at least 40 percent of professors will have to cast a vote in the election for it to be valid and the union will form if it passes by a simple majority.

UNM administration and the union agreed that there will be two bargaining units: one for full-time faculty and another for part-time and adjunct faculty, said Shane Youtz, an attorney for the faculty union.

Youtz said almost all of the roughly 1,700 faculty positions at UNM and its four branch campuses are included in one of the two units, except for visiting professors and retired professors who still hold positions at the university.

Supervisors, managers, confidential employees, deans, associate deans, provosts and instructors at the UNM Health Sciences Center are not included in the union, according to the petition filed with the labor board.

UNM administration and the proposed union agreed to a fall election, but not an exact date or other terms, said Rita Siegel, an attorney for the labor board.

The faculty union would be new at the university, but there are already several unions at UNM representing police officers, nurses, interns and residents and cafeteria and maintenance staff, Siegel said.

At the all-faculty meeting on unionization on Tuesday, almost all of the more than 40 or so professors who lined up to speak during a public comment period were in favor of organizing. Forty-five minutes allotted for comments was extended by a half hour to give the supporters a chance to speak.

Stagnant wages were a major concern that the faculty hoped a union could address, along with gender pay gaps, equality and inclusion issues and faculty governance.

Wolf said that UNM can attract great faculty, but not getting consistent raises makes it hard to retain them. He said he hopes organizing can improve wages and will also make other improvements at the university, such as making faculty more diverse.

At least you have a voice with the union, and we dont have one now. We have no input  it all depends on what the priorities are for the administration, the regents and the governor, Wolf, who has been at UNM for 19 years, said in an interview. I think faculty, by and large, want to do what we love doing, which is training undergraduate and graduate students. Nobody wants to beg for a raise, which is essentially what you have to do for a raise here.

The faculty meeting also included a question and answer session with UNM administration, which has tried to appear neutral to faculty unionization.

A web page dedicated to faculty unionization on the universitys website says that the administration respects the facultys right to organize and encourages them to gather information on the process. It doesnt state a firm stance for or against a union.

Faculty have raised concerns with the universitys decision to contract with the law firm Jackson Lewis for up to $60,000 for assistance in unionization. University officials have said such hires are common.

President Garnett Stokes moderated parts of the faculty meeting but didnt share much detail about UNMs official stance on the union. She declined to comment further about her position on the proposed union.

UNM Chief Legal Counsel Loretta Martinez answered most of the questions posed by faculty during the meeting.

We have engaged in good-faith discussions (with the unions attorneys) since the very beginning, Martinez said.

According to the American Association of University Professors, 21% of all universities have faculty unions. Among public universities, 35% of have unions.
SANTA FE  The head of the Santa Fe police officers union said he is satisfied with a city proposal to increase officer pay, although he cant disclose the amount just yet.

Santa Fe Police Officers Association President Tony Trujillo said Tuesday that the city has proposed a pay raise that he is happy with. He couldnt disclose the amount because the negotiations with Mayor Alan Webber and City Manager Erik Litzenberg havent been finalized, but Trujillo said they could be done by mid May.

A city spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proposal that has been laid out for us is an immediate impact to a problem that weve had for many, many years, Trujillo said. Its a start, and thats all were asking for.

With 23 vacancies at the department, the city wants to stop officers from leaving for other departments, like the Albuquerque Police Department, and state agencies for higher pay. Trujillo said the pay raise on the table now may not stop officers from leaving, but it certainly will help recruit potential officers.

In January SFPD officers were promised a $4,700 retention bonus for officers who agreed to stay past June 30 as a new contract was negotiated. At the time, Trujillo initially told the Journal the bonus was a slap in the face, but he later supported the bonuses, which were approved by the City Council.

SFPD officers currently start at $19.11 an hour, but a starting officer in Albuquerque earns $29 an hour.

They (potential officers) dont apply to an agency blind, Trujillo said Tuesday. They do their homework. They find out what a department is paying. I think its going to attract a lot more new-hire people.

Trujillo also said that the officers who agreed to the retention bonus were happy with them.

It wasnt that I didnt like it, Trujillo said. We were told it was going to be something it turned out not to be.

We are appreciative of the efforts of the mayor and the city manager to make this happen, he said.
Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

Police Chief Michael Geier has rejected a civilian oversight agencys recommendation to fire a spokesman who was at the center of an overtime investigation.

However, Geier said, he does agree with many of the Civilian Police Oversight Agency investigations findings related to Albuquerque Police Department overtime policies in general.

Rather than faulting officer Simon Drobik  who reportedly violated department policy by billing as an on-call media spokesman at the same time that he was stationed outside a private business through the Chiefs Overtime program  Geier said the policies had to be changed.

The CPOA investigator identified multiple low-level violations and multiplied sanctions for each instance, according to a news release from another APD spokesman, Gilbert Gallegos. In addition, the investigator raised serious concerns about existing policies, yet still recommended outright termination for violating those policies. In fact, the relevant policies had expired under the previous administration, causing inconsistencies and widespread confusion among officers about overtime practices.

Drobik, meanwhile, has surrendered his compensatory time in order to repay the department for comp time he earned on days where he worked a Chiefs Overtime assignment or for unauthorized times he ran with cadets.

Chief Geier has 30 days after the CPOA investigations findings letter was released to respond to the board if he disagrees with its recommendation.

Ed Harness, the CPOA executive director, said he had not received anything from APD regarding the investigation.

I would have expected that he would have informed the board prior to informing the media, he said.

Officer Drobik was paid more than $192,000 last year, making him the top earner in the city.

About a fifth of his hours were billed through the Chiefs Overtime program, where a private corporation can pay the city to have an officer stationed outside its business. Officers who take part in the program are paid time and a half.

The CPOA investigation found Drobik violated the departments policy 51 times by billing his hours as an on-call media spokesman while he was also working through the Chiefs Overtime program.

It also faulted his supervisor, referred to only as Lt. M, who approved Drobiks schedule and recommended that he be dismissed as well.

In response, Geier said he will end the overlap between Chiefs overtime, on call time and comp time accrual.

The news release does not address discipline of Lt. M, and Gallegos said the chief was reviewing that case separately.

The departments overtime policies underwent an independent audit in 2016 but several of its recommendations were not implemented, Gallegos said. The 2016 audit did not address the Chiefs Overtime program, according to the CPOA investigation.

Gallegos said in 2017 the departments overtime, compensatory time and work shift designation policies were scheduled to be updated but werent.

The policy was not completed by the previous administration, Gallegos said. I do not know why.

Chief Geier said the overtime system was based on 2015 policies and procedures and contained loopholes and contradictions.

Exceptions were made over years to deal with massive understaffing. As a result, many officers used those exceptions as opportunities to earn more money, Geier said. We are moving away from what was essentially an honor system and forward with a plan to modernize overtime at APD and clean up the process. As we continue to hire more officers, the time is right to fix this problem and ensure accountability.

Geier had removed the monthly overtime cap in 2018 but reinstated it in January 2019.

As for Drobik, Gallegos said he will be able to perform field duties, and his role as spokesman has yet to be determined.

Chief Geier is placing Officer Drobik on administrative assignment, requiring him to report directly to the Deputy Chief of Staff, Gallegos said. This will enable APD administration to monitor Officer Drobiks use of time and ensure a balance between duties related to communications and duties related to field work.

The department will also review the spokesman position and develop a plan to get additional officers to take on Drobiks media responsibilities.

The departments commitment to revamping the overtime policy reflects that the particular personnel issue was just the tip of iceberg; their efforts should bring needed accountability to the overtime system, decentralize our PIOs to better align with community policing, and still ensure that our officers have the flexibility to provide the protection our community needs, Mayor Tim Keller said in the news release.
CHICAGO  Recently, I had to comfort a student over a situation in which she and another girl were competing for the attention of a boy in their class. There were tears, drama, recriminations and some revenge fantasizing involving passionate language. They were 9-year-old third-graders.

In September, I had to talk to my students about not swapping speculation over who were boyfriends or girlfriends with whom. These were my first-graders.

My sons are now grown and, thankfully, after years of awkward conversations about hygiene, interpersonal relations, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and vaccinations, we can have relaxed, factual conversations about such topics when the need arises.

I sure dont remember having to broach those issues in primary school, but Id have to reconsider that if my kids were young now  childhood innocence ends so swiftly these days.

Despite similar rates of sexual activity among both male and female adolescents, males are twice as likely to have their first sexual intercourse before the age of 13  or seventh grade  according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pediatrics.

The studys findings underscore that male identities are associated with their experiences and that their age at first sexual intercourse is associated with identifiable systemic barriers in communities, such as racial segregation and neighborhood disadvantage, according to Laura D. Lindberg, Isaac Maddow-Zimet and Arik V. Marcell, authors of Prevalence of Sexual Initiation Before Age 13 Years Among Male Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States.

Although, as with every other marker of well-being, boys of color in this country are at higher risk for the downsides of an early sexual debut, this turns out to have far more to do with their mothers education level  a proxy for a familys eventual level of education  than with race, ethnicity or even geography.

The authors underscore that young men, especially young men of color, need comprehensive, culturally informed sex education before their first sexual encounter  preferably from a health-care practitioner  starting in middle-school or earlier.

This is a tall order. And, according to the authors, best practice calls for comprehensive sex education to start at least by kindergarten in the schools. The gold standard is for medical practitioners to set time alone with young patients in office-visit settings to address confidential care  including sexual health  starting in early adolescence.

Unfortunately, this is radical.

Citing numbers from the National Institutes of Health, the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) estimates that only about half of adolescents receive school instruction about contraception before they first have sex. Only 20 states require information on condoms or contraception, and only 20 states and the District of Columbia require sex and/or HIV education to be medically, factually and technically accurate.

In an era of helicopter parents who hover around through college and first jobs, steamroller parents who clear the path for their kids, anti-vaxxers and ideological home-schoolers, it seems likely that, according to the authors, most males will start having sex before receiving sex education. Some parenting styles are associated with higher incidences of depression and anxiety, which in turn, are associated with early sexual debut.

Broad cultural scripts about masculinity and sex hold that men should start having sex early and have sex often. For young men of color, particularly black males, racist stereotypes of hypermasculinity may also contribute to expectations of early sexual initiation, the study authors wrote. Yet research highlights that males in early and middle adolescence do not necessarily follow such scripts, and a later transition to first sexual intercourse may be valued. Understanding males wantedness of the sexual experience may be particularly important for interpreting early sexual activity.

Decent sex education that includes explicit training in pregnancy and STD prevention and is delivered with cultural competency for the students involved is rare. And the situation is only getting worse under the Trump administration.

While the American public is demanding ways to tackle teen pregnancy and other issues such as unhealthy relationships, the federal government is reducing access to critical intervention tools  an important one being comprehensive sex education, wrote Sarah Shapiro and Catherine Brown on the CAP website. Sex education across the country is being underutilized and even misused.

Now is the time to reach out to young boys and ensure that they have an adolescence with culturally appropriate mentoring and meaningful sex education  especially in a government led by a man who has made crude comments about women and has boasted of sexually grabbing them without their consent.
Manuel Lujan Jr. was a native New Mexican who represented the state in Congress for 20 years and served the nation as secretary of interior for four years. Yet despite his lofty political accomplishments, he was remarkably free of hubris and exemplified the term servant leader.

Lujan, who died last week at the age of 90, was the first Republican elected to Congress by New Mexicans since the Great Depression when he upset a Democratic incumbent in 1968. He gave up that Albuquerque-based seat  somewhat reluctantly  when then-President George H.W. Bush asked him to lead the Interior Department in 1989. At the time, he was only the second Hispanic to serve in a presidential Cabinet. He told a reporter he agreed to do it only because the president had asked him to in service to his country.

Lujans years in Congress came at a time when moderates were still valued, rather than targeted, by both political parties. He favored a strong national defense and was a fiscal conservative, honored with a Watchdog of the Treasury award for targeting wasteful spending and advocating for a balanced budget.

But he was best known back home for his personal politics. He had a knack for giving short speeches in English and Spanish and was able to greet many people as friends. His devotion to constituent service was unmatched. Former Gov. Garrey Carruthers remembers Lujans nightly ritual of personally calling back New Mexico residents who left messages with his office in Washington.

One of his successors in Congress, Heather Wilson, recalled that even after Lujan had been out of Congress for years he would still show up at the district office, trying to help people with their veterans benefits and other matters.

As Interior Secretary, Lujan said he tried to bring a balance between the use of resources on public lands and environmental concerns  often drawing fire from both sides. No one is satisfied, he said after leaving office.

Born on a farm near San Ildefonso Pueblo, Lujan graduated from St. Michaels High School and then St. Michaels College. He worked in the family insurance business before turning to politics. On a personal level, he counted liberal Democrats in Congress among his close friends  relationships we could use more of today.

Everyone who met him liked him, said brother Edward Lujan, who added the two still discussed global affairs over coffee nearly every morning in recent years.

Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce, a former congressman, called Lujan a trailblazing Republican and one of the finest statesmen to ever represent New Mexico.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a distant cousin and a Democrat who also served in Congress, described Lujan as a gentleman who treated her with kindness.

He was generous; he was a thoughtful public servant. I will miss him, and I know New Mexico will long cherish his memory.

We should. No one is more deserving.

Funeral services

Memorial at 5 p.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Albuquerque, Rosary to follow. Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. Friday at same location. Burial will follow at Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  Former New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Secretary Demesia Padilla is asking a judge to dismiss public corruption charges against her, claiming investigators in Attorney General Hector Balderas office violated her due process rights by secretly recording a conversation with her attorney  via a coffeepot outfitted with a recording device  before she was arrested in December 2016.

But the AGs Office denies surreptitiously listening in on Padillas privileged chat, saying the coffeepot recording device  which was on loan from the Albuquerque Police Department  stopped recording while she was talking with her attorney.

There was no intrusion into the attorney-client relationship, deliberate or not, two assistant attorneys general wrote in a court response filed Tuesday in which they asked the judge to deny the motion.

The allegation of secret recording is at the heart of just one of several pending defense motions in a long-simmering case thats scheduled to go to trial this summer.

In the initial motion, Padillas attorney, Paul Kennedy, argued that AGs Office agents hid multiple recording devices around the office in which they were interviewing Padilla  more than a year before she was ultimately charged with a crime. One of the recording devices was built into a coffeepot to record and transmit both audio and video to another office in the building.

When Padilla asked to speak privately with her attorney, they were not informed of the secret camera, according to the court filing. Their subsequent conversation was also likely used to help guide the AGs Offices investigation, the filing claims.

In this case, the states conduct violated due process and warrants dismissal, Kennedy argued in the motion, adding that the secret recording in the attorney generals Albuquerque office violated Padillas attorney-client privilege.

He also accused the AGs Office of outrageous government conduct.

But Balderas office countered that it had a legitimate law enforcement interest in recording agents interview of Padilla, saying such video recordings can be used to document ones body language and demeanor.

The AGs Office also claimed in its court response that Padilla was told her interview with investigators was being recorded  although apparently the coffeepot recording device was not disclosed.

The Office of the Attorney General will always properly safeguard evidence, and as demonstrated in the previous transparent preliminary hearing, defendant and her attorney were informed that their interview was appropriately recorded and no privileged communications were obtained, Attorney Generals Office spokesman David Carl told the Journal.

One of former Gov. Susana Martinezs original Cabinet appointees, Padilla abruptly resigned in December 2016, shortly after state investigators raided the Taxation and Revenue Departments office in Santa Fe in search of tax documents connected to Padilla and her husband.

She was then charged by the AGs Office in June 2018 with embezzling more than $25,000 from a Bernalillo-based company, Harolds Grading & Trucking, and using her appointed position to push for favorable tax treatment.

A Santa Fe Magistrate Court judge ruled in November that there was enough evidence to move forward with most of the charges in the case.

If convicted of all seven charges she is still facing, Padilla, who has pleaded not guilty, could face up to 16 years in prison and as much as $20,000 in fines. In addition to embezzlement, other charges against her include violating the ethical principles of public service and engaging in an official act for personal financial gain.

District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer could rule on the motion later this month.
Are you a high schooler interested in microfluidity? How about supercomputing?

The deadline to apply for a free, residential summer STEM program is coming up. Students who dig the sciences are encouraged to apply for the two-week Joint Science and Technology Institute by May 6. The application and more details can be found at https://orise.orau.gov/jsti-abq.

The program will run June 9-21 at the University of New Mexico. Participants will do activities and work on research projects while being mentored by Department of Defense, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories experts.

TEACHER TRAINING SITE OPENS: Albuquerque Public Schools officially opened its Berna Facio Professional Development Center over the weekend.

The highly anticipated and at times controversial facility  its cost was criticized during APS mill levy, bond election this year  was unveiled Saturday.

The nearly 50,000-square-foot teacher training facility had a $22.3 million project budget, according to APS.

The facility at 3315 Louisiana NE is named after the long-time teacher and former Board of Education member.

Superintendent Raquel Reedy says the building makes a statement that the school district takes growth and education seriously, and she said its more convenient for teachers and staff.

They no longer have to sit on kindergarten chairs or in cold gyms with bad acoustics or at cafeteria tables that, quite frankly, are a little tricky for some of us to get in and out of, she said.

The community can drop by through Friday to check it out and see special artwork on display.

APS GETS NO. 1 RANKING: APS got a shout out from BackgroundChecks.org.

The online background check website ranks school districts in each state. Its unclear why a background website is rating school districts.

But APS was ranked No. 1 followed by Los Alamos Public Schools, Cloudcroft and Dora Municipal Schools and Las Cruces Public Schools.

Student enrollment, graduation rates, school funding, standardized test scores and teacher-to-student-ratios were used in the determination.

NEW PREP PROGRAMS AT NM TECH: The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technologys Alternative Licensure Programs, which were recently accredited by the state Public Education Department, will be offered at the school in August.

The alternative educator prep programs are for secondary and elementary licenses.

The new programs will be admitting as many students as possible, according to Megha Khandelwal program coordinator of psychology and education.

Aspiring teachers with at least a bachelors degree and a minimum GPA of 2.75 are eligible. Applicants must apply by July 10 for the fall semester.

Classroom time is built into the program as well to get future teachers hands-on experience.

Shelby Perea: sperea@abqjournal.com
PHOENIX  An embattled Phoenix long-term care facility where an incapacitated woman was raped and later gave birth has received an Arizona license to operate, the latest step in an effort to overhaul its image and operations by relinquishing oversight to the state.

The Arizona Department of Health Services last week approved the license for Hacienda HealthCare that is valid for 11 months. Hacienda is the first intermediate care facility in Arizona to be licensed since the 1990s, when lawmakers previously approved an exemption for them.

Until recently, Hacienda was the only privately run intermediate care facility in Arizona, providing long-term care for children and young adults who are severely intellectually or developmentally disabled or medically fragile. It will now face as much scrutiny as nursing homes and assisted living centers, which have required licenses.

The Legislature reversed course on licensing intermediate care facilities last year after the surprise birth. Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation in April requiring state licensing and inspections of facilities like Hacienda.

We continue to make progress at Hacienda and being granted a license  affirms that were on the right path, acting CEO Perry Petrilli said in a statement.

Hacienda knows it has a long way to go to win back the trust of residents, their families and the community, Petrilli said.

Facility staff told authorities that nobody had any idea a 29-year-old resident was pregnant until she gave birth in December. The revelation led to the CEO stepping down, a shakeup of senior staff and two board members either leaving or getting fired.

Nathan Sutherland, a nurse who worked there, was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and vulnerable adult abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.

Haciendas board of directors initially proposed closing the unit where the victim lived, saying it was no longer financially sustainable. The state stepped in to regulate the facility to avoid 37 residents getting displaced.

Hacienda agreed to hire a third party to monitor day-to-day operations and lead daily checks on patients well-being. It also agreed to provide Arizona with a $50,000 deposit in the event that patient transfers are needed.

The facility also must ensure it complies with state and federal laws on nursing care institutions.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka  No longer burdened by territory and administration, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi outlined the new path forward for his group: Widen your reach, connect with far-flung militant groups and exhaust your enemies with a war of attrition.

The deadly Easter attacks in Sri Lanka a week before his video appearance underscored this message in blood. It also highlighted the ease with which IS, like al-Qaida before it, can inflict chaos through a loosely defined brand of global jihad in the most chilling way. Thats even after losing the relative safety of its so-called caliphate across stretches of Iraq and Syria.

Al-Baghdadi was letting his followers know that he was prepared to lead a guerrilla insurgency in Iraq and Syria, while not forgetting that ISIS is a global organization, said Colin P. Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, using another acronym for the group.

Though disheveled and never standing up in the video released Monday, al-Baghdadis appearance alone contradicted past Russian and Iraqi claims the militant leader had been killed during the long war targeting the militants. It was the first time he has appeared in public since June 29, 2014, when he delivered a sermon from the pulpit of Mosuls Great Mosque of al-Nuri.

The contrasts in the appearances are glaring.

In 2014, he wore an expensive-looking watch and a neatly trimmed beard and urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the groups self-proclaimed caliphate and obey him as its leader.

In Mondays video, he sat on the floor, with an AK-74 assault rifle at his side like the one Osama bin Laden took in Afghanistan during the mujahedeens fight against the Soviets and always carried with him. He had a big bushy beard and wore a black tunic and a military-style beige vest over it.

No longer an administrator, al-Baghdadi wants to be seen as an insurgent leader. Analysts say that both glosses over the loss of territory the militants claimed would spark an apocalyptic confrontation with the crusader West and ensures he maintains his status in the extremist world.

We believe it is really an attempt to divert attention from the core groups heavy losses and to ensure that the franchise groups and grassroots supporters remain loyal to the Islamic State pole of the jihadist universe, the Austin, Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratfor said in an analysis. Many are saying that the video is a show of strength, but we believe it is more likely an act of desperation.

The loss of its territory cuts both ways, however. Foreign militants once part of the caliphate now have scattered, like they did at the end of the 1980s war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government sheltering al-Qaida.

Al-Baghdadi barely mentioned Iraq and Syria in the 18-minute video, except to praise the steadfastness of his fighters there. Instead, he congratulated militants in Libya, brothers in Burkina Faso, Mali, Pakistan and the Western Sahara for pledging allegiance.

The group also recently claimed numerous attacks around the world, including in Saudi Arabia, Congo and Libya. Jihadi propaganda by IS supporters online recently threatened India and Bangladesh, where IS claimed an attack for the first time in some two years this week.

While some IS claims of late have been exaggerated or outright bogus, its focus on expanding outward follows the same pattern of al-Qaida, which grew to have dangerous franchises in areas like Yemen.

This is part of the vengeance that awaits the crusaders and their henchmen, al-Baghdadi said in the video.

He extolled militants in Sri Lanka for striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz, a reference to the Islamic State groups last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by U.S.-backed fighters in March. The militants involved in the attacks that killed more than 250 people followed a local extremist leader, but more than 30 Sri Lankans are believed to have once been Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

It is still unclear if any of the Sri Lanka terrorists had fought for ISIS in Syria and Iraq and were returnees, or if they were locally trained and linked up with ISIS online, an analysis from the Asia-Pacific Foundation said. What we are witnessing has been an evolving terrorist dynamic where an attack is developed and conceived abroad but that local radicals are recruited to implement the final stage.

Simply put: The new threat from the Islamic State is a lot like the old threat, except the group doesnt have a home address anymore. For years, the groups leaders huddled in IS-held cities in Iraq and Syria to plot attacks abroad, even as they terrorized residents at home.

Now mass casualty assaults like the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan theater in Paris may be planned much closer to local militants homes, like the Easter attack in Sri Lanka. One of the churches hit was just a town from where the alleged leader of that assault preached his extremist message.

That has been the case in the southern Philippines, where al-Baghdadis group has set its eyes on latching on to local insurgencies or remotely executing plots it has financed, such as a massive siege of the Muslim-majority city of Marawi. Hundreds of IS-aligned local militants occupied buildings, homes and school campuses there in May 2017.

It took Filipino troops five months to quell the urban insurrection, which was reportedly patterned after the IS takeover of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

IS-aligned militants are also accused of carrying out two suicide attacks in the southern Philippines, including the Jan. 27 suicide bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral during a Mass that killed 23.

Thats led to a monthslong counterinsurgency operation that Philippine Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said has contained the militants.

For how long remains the question.

Intensive military operations may weaken these groups temporarily, but airstrikes and killings only reinforce the narrative of state oppression in a way that serves the ideological cause, said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

As the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins in just days, experts warn there could be even more attacks looming.

Our battle today is one of attrition and stretching the enemy. They should know that jihad is ongoing until the day of judgment, al-Baghdadi said.

___

Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.
Dekker/Perich/Sabatini announced Wednesday the promotions of Benjamin Gardner and Kendal Giles to key management positions.

According to a news release, Gardner has been named CEO while Giles will take on the role of chief operations officer.

We couldnt be more excited about where Benjamin and Kendal will take D/P/S from here, said Steve Perich, current CEO and a founding principal. Were in the planning and design business, so it shouldnt come as a surprise that weve been planning our future for many years now.

Gardner, a member of the local American Institute of Architects and a U.S. military veteran, began his architecture career 18 years ago as an intern at the company, eventually becoming a partner.

He is a strong communicator who is both customer-focused and employee-oriented  a true people person who genuinely cares about those with whom and for whom he works, Perich said in a statement.

Giles, also a member of AIA, has been with the company for 30 years. He has been involved in the financial and business leadership of the firm for the past decade as it landed among several top architectural firms lists.

The world is changing fast, founding principal Dale Dekker said, So were changing with it. Were putting the right leadership in place to tackle those opportunities head on.

The company noted that it currently is celebrating 60 years in business and looks forward to another 60 years of service to our community, clients, and industry partners, the company said.

The founding partners are continuing in other roles with the firm.

Perich said he plans to transition to an of counsel role at the end of the year, while Dekker and Sabatini will transition over the next few years.

Dekker/Perich/Sabatini provides architecture, landscape architecture, planning, interior design, and structural engineering services, with clients in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas and throughout the country.
Volt Management Corp. plans to close its Las Cruces call center and lay off 50 employees before June 7, according to a notice filed with the state.

The organization is a subsidiary of staffing and information technology company Volt Information Sciences, which is based in New York and California. Volts Las Cruces office is located at 506 S. Main St.

Calls left with both Volt Management and Volt Information were not returned.

The Las Cruces facility opened in 2007 as a call center for Apple customer support, according to local reports at the time.

A Volt employee told the Journal that Apple had terminated its contract with the call center in Las Cruces. Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Addo Investor Relations, which provides investor relations services for Volt Information, declined to comment.

Volts Senior Vice President of Human Resources Kendra Bellman notified the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions of the closure in a letter dated April 7.

This will be a permanent closing . . . it will affect a total number of 50 employees at the call center, not including temporary employees, wrote Bellman.

The 50 employees include 13 analysts, 29 team managers, one site leader, one technical support employee and six trainers.

Volt submitted a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) to Workforce Solutions on April 17. A few days earlier, the company made a similar notification in Texas, according to the San Antonio Express-News. There, Volt said it is closing its call center on San Antonios South Side, and will lay off 42 employees by June 7.
Editors note: The original story included an incorrect photo.

MEADOW LAKE  A Meadow Lake man was shot and killed by Valencia County deputies after he allegedly pointed a rifle at them early Wednesday.

Isaac Pineda, 37, was the person killed, according to New Mexico State Police, which is investigating the officer-involved shooting.

According to a State Police news release issued Wednesday afternoon, deputies were called to a home in Meadow Lake just after midnight Tuesday for a report of a stolen firearm.

Deputies were told by the victim that Pineda had stolen the victims firearm and he had threatened to harm his own family with the gun.

When deputies arrived at Pinedas residence, 682 Meadow Lake Road, Pineda announced to the deputies that he had a rifle pointed at them, the news release reads. Deputies backed away from the residence. Pinedas family was able to safely exit the residence.

Pineda came out of the house and pointed his rifle at the deputies, who shot and fatally struck Pineda, according to State Police.

Pineda was pronounced dead at the scene by the Office of the Medical Investigator.

No deputies or family members were injured.

According to State Police, Pineda had an extensive and violent criminal history, which included kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery on a household member, aggravated battery against a household member, aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, possession of a controlled substance, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, shoplifting and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

State Police said the investigation is still preliminary and the names of the deputies will not be released until theyve been interviewed.
PHOENIX  Its not just Democratic-leaning states at risk of losing federal money and clout in Congress if the Supreme Court says the upcoming census can include a citizenship question.

Fast-growing Arizona, Florida and Texas all have large groups of immigrants, especially Hispanics, who might choose to sit out the census, but are led by Republicans who seem unconcerned about the potential for an undercount and the resulting loss of representation in Congress.

The divide between blue and red states with large immigrant populations is stark as both prepare for a census that could ask about citizenship for the first time in 70 years.

Republican lawmakers in several states with large immigrant populations praised the Trump administration for fighting to include the question and wondered whether immigrants should even be included in the count.

Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters, who also is chairman of the state Republican Party, said he wasnt worried about the potential consequences of an undercount.

I dont care, he said. Its the right decision, and I fully support the president and what hes trying to do.

He expects Florida will still pick up at least one seat because of rapid growth.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide soon whether to uphold the Trump administrations plan to ask about citizenship on census forms. There appeared to be a clear divide between the courts liberal and conservative justices in arguments in the case this past week, with conservatives holding a 5-4 majority.

Federal law requires people to complete the census accurately and fully. But Ceridwen Cherry, a lawyer on the American Civil Liberties Unions voting rights project, said including a citizenship question could contaminate the form for many people and result in an undercount.

If a citizenship question is added, immigrants and those who live in households that contain noncitizens are going to be more likely to not respond to the census at all, she said, or respond and leave off noncitizens from the form.

The concern among certain immigrant groups  particularly Hispanics and Muslims  is driven by the Trump administrations oftentimes harsh rhetoric about immigration and fears that it will share the census data with immigration authorities. When an advisory committee asked the U.S. Census Bureau about that worry last year, officials responded by saying that breaking census confidentiality is a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

Opponents of the citizenship question point to a study by George Washington University political scientist Chris Warshaw, who found that two or three states are likely to end up with fewer congressional seats than they otherwise would have because of a citizenship question. The most likely in that category are Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas.

On the other side, he said a citizenship question would make it more likely for Idaho or Montana to gain a seat and Minnesota or Ohio to avoid losing one. Nine states would have lost population since the last census if not for international immigration, according to an Associated Press analysis of a Census Bureau population estimate.

In Michigan, a political swing state, the concern is that it could discourage participation among the large Arab American community.

Hassan Jaber, a former census advisory board member, is critical of the administrations citizenship question and of a decision against adding a Middle East-North Africa classification to the 2020 census.

He said including the citizenship question could affect federal funding for programs and services related to food, health and education. But hes more troubled by the message it sends to Arab Americans and others.

The Trump administrations effort to suppress this recognition of this community sends signals of being unwelcome and to politicize the census  and turn it against minority groups, said Jaber, CEO of ACCESS, a Detroit-area social services organization. Its really something that becomes much bigger than just the data on Arab Americans.

Matt Barreto, a UCLA professor who submitted testimony in court cases about the citizenship question, did polling that showed 7.1% to 9.7% of the population might skip the census if its added. He also found that nearly half of Californians dont trust the Trump administration to keep the citizenship information out of the hands of other government agencies.

The administration wanted a citizenship question to hurt California. In the end, theyre going to end up hurting conservative states and counties, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.

Conservatives generally support adding the citizenship question, even if it might suppress the total population count in their state.

If we would be entitled to another congressional seat, the question is, should we be entitled to it because we have more non-citizens living here that are not voters, or shouldnt be voters? said Arizona Senate President Karen Fann.

Arizona Republican lawmaker John Fillmore said hes not concerned about the fallout. He said he believes the states explosive growth will ensure it doesnt lose clout.

I do not believe Arizonas going to lose a House seat in any way shape or form, he said.

In Texas, Republican state Rep. Phil King said there is bipartisan agreement that everyone should be counted. He said the state is likely to pick up seats in Congress because of its rapid population growth, but it will be a close call to determine how many.

What weve got to do as a state is just make sure that we have programs in place that strongly encourage everybody to respond to the census and to know that its safe and OK to do that, said King, who is chairman of the House redistricting committee.

Texas Civil Rights Project spokesman Zenen Jaimes Perez said the organization has not had any coordination with the state on making sure Hispanic communities are counted. Perez said the group has worked with city officials in Austin, Houston and San Antonio to host community forums about the census and the importance of filling it out.

Census data is used to divide the 435 U.S. House seats between 50 states and determine their clout in the Electoral College. Its also used to draw state legislative district maps and divvy up federal funding to states, cities and counties.

About half the states have created complete count commissions to coordinate grassroots efforts designed to convince people to complete their census forms, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, who supports the citizenship question on the census, this month created a complete count committee to work on outreach.

He said the state stands to lose an estimated $887 in federal funding each year for every person who skips the count.

Ducey said the group will include people with expertise in reaching out to rural areas, tribes, universities, apartment dwellers, faith organizations, veterans and community organizations. Lawmakers are considering spending $5 million on the effort, a proposal that cleared the Senate nearly unanimously.

Ducey told Capitol Media Services earlier this month that asking about citizenship is a fair question to get a handle of whos here, whos a citizen and whos not.

His spokesman, Patrick Ptak, declined to comment on the prospect of not gaining a House seat but said the census is a priority for the governors office.

Persuading people to respond to the Census requires explaining how its linked to funding for schools, hospitals and other services  and making them know it would be illegal for the census to share individual information, said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

An army of lawyers will be ready in the worst-case scenario that there is some kind of nefarious action taken around census confidentiality, Gupta said.

___

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

___

Associated Press writers Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida, Jeff Karoub in Detroit and Clarice Silber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
Another Santa Fean on Wednesday announced he will run for a seat on the City Council.

Greg Scargall, veterans coordinator at Santa Fe Community College, issued a news release stating he will run for the District 4 seat being vacated by Mike Harris.

Scargall, 41, a Santa Fe native who placed second in a three-way race in District 4 in 2018, will focus his campaign message on Building a better community for everyone, according to the release.

A former hospital corpsman in the U.S. Marines, Scargall is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War.

In an interview with the Journal while a candidate in 2018, Scargall said his job involves advocating for veterans, the homeless and people suffering from addiction.

Serving others isnt a concept, its really who I am, he said. This is just the next step in my service to this community, as it was to my country. I see a need and Im ready to take action.

Scargall finished second to JoAnne Vigil Coppler in the District 4 city council race in 2018  the first municipal election in New Mexico decided by ranked-choice voting. He garnered 30 percent of the vote after the first round, compared to 43 percent for Vigil Coppler, and 27 percent for Eric Holmes, who Scargall is related to by marriage. Vigil Coppler got 56 percent of the vote to Scargalls 44 percent in the deciding round.

So far, District 3 incumbent Chris Rivera is the only other person to announce his intention to run for City Council on Nov. 5 when four council seats are in contention.
Butte County, Calif.--Big news for some local musicians; the Las Plumas-Oroville Alliance Band out of Las Plumas and Oroville High Schools has just returned from Seattle, Washington.

They performed at the Heritage Music Festival alongside musicians from Canada, Montana, all across the continent.

The band got first place in their division and top overall band.

Out of 640 musicians, 2 of the local students, Sheldon Wollam and Jeremiah Macomber were selected as maestro award winners.

Thanks to Lynne Davidson for sending in the footage!
CALIFORNIA - PG&E has put together a list of tips to avoid ongoing telephone and email scams.

Caller identification scams

The utility said that customers have reported scam calls that show PG&E on the caller ID, or the caller may falsely identify themselves a PG&E employee.

Some of the scam calls have included:

Telling customers they owe past-due balances or are eligible for a federal tax refund

Trying to sell a service such as a solar evaluation

Claiming to represent a PG&E initiative so they can sell a product or gain entrance to your home

PG&E emphasizes that it never asks for financial information over the phone.

The utility asks customers that may have doubts about an incoming call from PG&E to hang up and call the PG&E Customer Service number at 1-833-500-SCAM.

Scams targeting Hispanic businesses

The utility said Hispanic business customers have reported telephone scams warning that their electric service will be disconnected unless they make a payment through a prepaid cash card such as the Green Dot card.

PG&E said it is not making these calls and it does not ask for immediate payment over the phone.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

Email scams

The utility said customers have reported receiving suspicious emails that appeared to be bills sent by PG&E.

PG&E said the emails are fake and should be reported.

To report a suspected scam email, email: abuse@pge.com.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

Tips to guard against potential loss from scam calls

PG&E provides the following tips to protect customers from potential scams:
91mobiles.com, Indias largest gadget discovery website headquartered in Gurgaon, has announced the appointment of Pratyush Majumdar as Associate Vice President - Technology.

Pratyush joins 91mobiles.com from Skilrock Technologies, one of the leading technology solutions provider for the gaming industry, where he joined as a software engineer in 2008 and became an associate project manager in 2014. Previously, Pratyush also worked for Compare Infobase Limited as a Programmer J2ME.

He joined 91mobiles.com with 12+ years of experience in technology. He brings with him a strong and practical roll up your sleeves and get it done mindset and has also got a robust hands-on experience in Java Technologies, Cloud and DevOps implementation.

In his previous stints, Pratyush has worked in both retail and e-commerce domains, where his key responsibilities included Architecture & System Design, Development & Maintenance of product including Frontend, Middle ware, Backend and Mobile Apps. At Skilrock, his role also required him to lead with growth in business along with crucial involvement in team building & mentoring. Pratyush played a focal role in driving the companys acquisition & retention objectives. Prior to being promoted as project manager, he was a Tech Lead at Skillrock for 3 years where he was responsible for handling a B2C igaming platform and B2B lottery platform.

At 91mobiles, Pratyush will work directly with Bharanidharan Viswanathan, Co-founder & CEO, 91mobiles.com. As an AVP, he will be responsible for the entire technology stack and engineering team including site performance, uptime and security.

Bharanidharan Viswanathan, Co-Founder & CEO, 91mobiles said, We are very excited to have Pratyush join the 91mobiles team. His wealth of experience and expertise will be instrumental in meeting the innovative technological demands here. Hence, we believe he is the right addition in the team as we continue to forge ahead in the integrated world of tech and media.

On joining 91mobiles.com, Pratyush Majumdar, AVP  Technology said, Extremely happy to be joining such a young and enthusiastic team which has a razor sharp focus in building a brand in the media-tech space. I am looking forward to an enriching tenure with them.

91mobiles started its operations way back in 2012 with a vision to build a media-tech company and Indias No. 1 Gadget Discovery Site, enabling advertisers and consumers to take smarter decisions. It is a platform that caters to tech savvy online users, helping them with in-depth review and pre-purchase research in the smartphone space, and is currently used by over 25 million people every month.
CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) has appointed Phil Nelson as Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead CNNs operational and international growth initiatives outside of advertising sales.

As COO, Nelson will oversee CNNICs Business Development and Strategy, Finance, Strategic Planning and International Sales Operations as well as its Content Sales and Licensing. This includes managing and growing CNNs relationships with over 300 digital, broadcast and Out of Home content partners  from local CNN branded channels to airlines and hotels that carry CNN content live and on-demand.

Previously, Nelson was Managing Director, Turner North Asia and South East Asia Pacific. In this role, he has overseen all aspects of Turners business in these regions including distribution of CNN International and taking a key role in establishing local partners CNN Indonesia and CNN Philippines. Nelson has also held other business development and strategic planning roles at Turner since he joined in 2010 and has significant digital experience from his time at AOL, culminating in him being Managing Director for AOL Asia. In addition, Nelson holds an MBA from Harvard University and, prior to entering the corporate sector, was a commander in the US Navy.

Nelson will be part of the CNNIC Senior Management team, reporting directly into Rani Raad, President of CNNIC, and will work closely with a wide range of divisions across CNN and WarnerMedia. Nelson will continue to be based in Singapore in the near-term and his team is spread across the globe, particularly in key CNNIC hubs of Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Miami.

The CNNIC business has continually evolved since it was created back in 2013 to optimise the revenue, brand and commercial partnerships across our dynamic offering of CNN content and products, said Rani Raad. I am delighted that Phil joins us as we enter the next chapter of our business in a role that brings together all the operational, strategic and non-advertising sales revenue under one leadership. Phil has a first-rate track record at Turner and will bring a unique skillset of business acumen, creative thinking and forensic focus.

After many successful and exciting years at Turner Asia, I am very pleased that my next move is within the WarnerMedia family to a brand as remarkable as CNN, said Phil Nelson. CNNIC has done a great job in innovating and adapting its business to stay ahead of the competition during a period of unprecedented change in the news and media industry. I am looking forward to contributing to this success in the years to come.
India News, the leading Hindi news channel of iTV Network today organized India News Manch Bihar  Ab Ki Baar Likh Kar Do Sarkar a mega political conclave in Patna to gauge the mood of the people of Bihar on the general elections. The event was graced by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad along with him were various ministers and leaders of opposition parties from the Bihar political arena including: Shri Shatrughan Sinha, Shri Chirag Paswan, Shri Bhupendra Yadav, Shri KC Yadav and Shri Ajay Alok. While India News team questioned the political leaders on the state politics and also discussed upon with topical issues including, development & infrastructure, law & order, employment issues, education policies and women safety in the state.

In an exclusive session during India News Manch Bihar  Ab Ki Baar Likh Kar Do Sarkar, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Honorable Minister for Law & Justice and Electronics & IT, said while speaking about the brave act of airstrikes by India Air Force in Balakot the minister said If India had Rafale Jets, then there was no need to enter Pakistan. While speaking on nationalism he says, India has emerged as a superpower under Shri Narendra Modi regime, as we gave a free hand to our defense forces to eliminate terrorists, however Congress party supports the Tukde Tukde gang. He also lashed out at the Congress party and said, The Congress party started the Hindu terror bogey and Rahul Gandhi is doing politics of lies, while Mamata Banerjee government supports violence in West Bengal. He also spoke about some of the critical issues like Triple Talaq, terror funding by separatists group and BJPs plan of action during elections. He said, BJP respects its allies while opposition doesnt even have a face. During our regime, not even a single NPA case has been occurred.

In an interesting exclusive session with Shri Shatrughan Sinha, Congress Candidate from Patna Sahib, discussed about his journey from BJP to Congress and also discusses other political issues, while speaking about the general elections, he said Congress alliance in Bihar is intact and Maha Gathbandhan will perform well in Bihar. While lashing out at BJP government, he said BJP is just one man show and two man army. Most of the work is been done by the PMO. He further added that, Politicians should respect each other the senior leaders in the party, I got deeply hurt when BJP moved Shri Lal Krishna Advani and Shri Murli Manohar Joshi to Margdarshak Mandal. While questioning the Balakot strikes, he said I salute our defense forces, however BJP Politicized Balakot air strikes, their minister are only doing propaganda about the air strikes. When asked about Smt Priyanka Gandhi, Sinha said Priyanka Gandhi reminds me of Indira Gandhi as an Iron Lady.

In another session with Shri Bhupendra Yadav, National General Secretary, BJP spoke about the recent Rahul Gandhi citizenship issue and said Rahul Gandhi should tell the truth about his citizenship to the country. Further he spoke about the five years of PM Modi regime and said In five years only two terrorist attacks has happened and our defense forces gave befitted reply to the terrorists.

Young leader, Shri Chirag Paswan, LJP Leader in an exclusive session, said Today, the people of our country wants development and they have full confidence in our NDA alliance. The government has offered so many beneficial schemes for the people and Modi wave is there, results will be even better in 2019 than 2014. As NDA allies we are always there to support the government. On the issue of terrorism he said Terrorism has been eliminated in most parts of our country by our Indian defense forces. For the young generation, he said Our Prime Minister has attracted a lot of youth of our country by the way he addresses youths during his rallies, his thoughts matches with the young generation.

In another session with Shri Ajay Alok, JDU Leader and Shri Prem Chand Mishra, Congress Leader, the duo discussed about the core issues of Bihar and the status on the promises made by former political parties. The leaders discussed on the issues of special status to Bihar state, upgrading the status of Patna Central University and alliance between JDU and BJP.

Manch Bihar is an initiative of India News, to foster a sense of citizenship and make political processes more transparent and accountable towards the people of the state.
Indias largest Male Talc Brand, Wild Stone from McNROE, launched #GoodChoiceSister TVC campaign today. This campaign advocates the adoption of male talcum powder by showcasing the relevance of androgynous fragrances in a very relatable way.

Gender- neutral grooming products were a safe option till consumers became more aware & informed about their specific grooming preferences. Today our Indian consumers have evolved and on the lookout for products that suit their personalities. Wild Stone means to facilitate this evolution and create products that specifically address these choices, pointed out Mr. Narendra Kumar Daga, Founder & MD, McNROE. Presently, India boasts of an INR 2,000+ crore market size for Talcum Powder which is growing at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 10% in terms of value in the short to medium term.

The TVC provides a ready solution to the concerns of women battling the qualms of gender-neutral personal care products in a regular household. Although an established male-grooming player, Wild Stone wittily acknowledges the concerns of women, or the chief home makers in the narrative. Agreeing with the storyline, Mr. Daga said, Women are intelligent shoppers, and evaluate a product on several parameters including its fragrance & appeal. Wild Stone has deftly shown product relevance without appearing overtly masculine.

Wild Stones two-variant talcum powder portfolio currently includes the marine, zesty freshness of Hydra Energy Deo Talc and an intense, woody fragrance-Ultra Sensual Deo Talc. With this campaign Indias No.1 Male Talcum powder manufacturer aims to strengthen its brand position further and increase its consumer base.

List of Credits:

Creative agency: Brand David, Mumbai

Production House: Jamic Films

Director: Shirish Daiya

Media Agency: Asian Shopping Club

Social & Digital Media Marketing Agency: In-House


Salt Lake City, UT (Aug. 29, 2018)On Aug. 29, 2018, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Dr. Judith Pinbourgh Zimmerman on a claim brought under the Utah Whistleblower Act. After five years of litigation, Dr. Zimmerman finally got her day in court and prevailed on one of two claims brought against the University of Utah and Dr. William McMahon, the former Chair of the Department of Psychiatry.

As a speech language pathologist, Dr. Zimmerman spent her career seeking answers for children with autism. In 2005, Dr. Zimmerman accepted a faculty position at the University of Utah Department of Psychiatry and was named director of the Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (URADD). As a database, URADD collected data about children with autism in several counties in Utah, including protected health information and personally identifiable data.

In 2012, Dr. Zimmerman was concerned that researchers at the University had accessed the data contained within URADD without the proper authorizations. After Dr. Zimmerman reported these concerns to multiple different offices at the University, Dr. McMahon informed her that her yearly contract would not be renewed.

In a seven-day jury trial, Dr. Zimmerman went head-to-head with the University and Dr. McMahon. On Wednesday, a jury found in favor of Dr. Zimmerman on her Whistleblower claim and awarded her $119,000 for lost wages, plus costs and attorneys fees. After such a lengthy legal battle, I am just relieved to be done and to have my claim validated by a jury, said Dr. Zimmerman.

Dr. Zimmerman was represented at trial by April Hollingsworth, of Hollingsworth Law Office. Whistleblower claims are notoriously difficult to win so I am pleased the jury saw that the University retaliated against Dr. Zimmerman for making valid complaints of possible research misconduct, said Ms. Hollingsworth.

For more information, contact April Hollingsworth at (801) 415-9909 or april@aprilhollingsworthlaw.com.

###

Hollingsworth Law Office is a law office in Salt Lake City, specializing in plaintiffs-side employment law.
We shared the news about the original award last August. Former Autism Researcher Prevails on Whistleblower Claim Against University of Utah Ms. Zimmerman has won an additional award. Written by Nate Carlisle, The Salt Lake City (Utah) News A federal judge has ordered the University of Utah to pay another $216,798 to an autism researcher who says her superiors retaliated against her.

The amount is in addition to what a jury awarded Judith Zimmerman in August  $119,640 for lost wages. The U. also must pay $10,080 in court and deposition costs.

The University is disappointed in this decision, said Kathy Wilets, a spokeswoman for University of Utah Healthcare, and is seeking advice from the Attorney Generals office regarding an appeal.

Zimmermans attorney, April Hollingsworth, said her client feels vindicated by the awards.

They took away her livelihood and her reputation, Hollingsworth said Tuesday, and really what else could she do but fight it?
A promotional video put together by an ad agency based in Brazil celebrating journalists (using Leica cameras) has generated controversy rather that admiration in China. Thats because the video included footage from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Following the publication of the video, users on Chinas social media network Weibo were banned from using the word Leica." Leica says the video was never officially sanctioned by the company, despite the company logo at the end. At any rate, according to new research, images from Tianenmen Square were probably made with Nikons, notes PetaPixel.
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Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the management and operations contractor at the Savannah River Site, has hired more than 900 new employees in fiscal year 2019, according to information just released by the company.

The lead contractor is, as well, planning to hire about 750 people per year for the next two years, according to SRNS President and CEO Stuart MacVean. Similar hiring trends could continue beyond that, he noted.

"We have enduring missions to perform involving nuclear materials management, environmental stewardship and the Savannah River National Laboratory, as examples," MacVean said in a prepared statement. "Performing these missions safely, securely and efficiently requires we maintain certain levels of staffing throughout our organization."

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management is the SRS landlord; SRNS, employing more than 6,000 people total, handles a breadth of activity across the site, liquid waste and security work excluded.

SRNS has hired more than 3,000 people since October 2014. Over the past five years, MacVean explained, 80 percent of new hires have been locally sourced.

"I think it's important to keep in mind that we are not just filling job openings, we're offering careers within our extended family," the CEO said. MacVean last week provided the North Augusta Chamber of Commerce a SRS-wide update.

There are two primary reasons for the hiring spree, according to SRNS Senior Vice President of Workforce Services Carol Barry.

One: retirement.

"Like most companies across the U.S., the baby boomer generation has reached an age where retirement has become practical and attractive," Barry said in prepared remarks.

And two: the proposed Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility.

"Though still early in the development of this proposed new mission, we have a need at this time to fill openings in several key areas, such as design engineering and project management," Barry said.

At least 80 plutonium pits  nuclear weapon cores  per year are needed by 2030, per the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.

To satisfy that demand, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense last year jointly recommended producing 50 pits per year at SRS, specifically at a recapitalized Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The remaining 30 pits per year would be pumped out at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, per the recommendation.

The NNSA has since tasked  and funded  SRNS with MOX termination and transition activities as well as early-stage design work for SRPPF.

SRNS comprises Fluor, Newport News Nuclear and Honeywell International.
CAIRO  Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wrapped up his visit to Beijing this week, returning home with new partnership agreements that include a contract to jointly manufacture electric cars.

Sisi attended China's second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, along with 5,000 delegates and 37 other heads of state. Before his visit ended April 28, he met with several top leaders, including his host President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

China launched the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 to establish a road network connecting Asia, Africa and Europe, based on the 19th century Silk Road concept that linked China to the world. BRI aims to expand world trade by building roads, ports and other facilities in several countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

At the opening session of the forum April 26, Sisi delivered a speech stressing Egypts strategic partnership with China.

The [BRI] initiative covers vital sectors and areas of priority for us, in light of Egypt Vision 2030, such as comprehensive development, mainly in energy, infrastructure, information technology and transportation," Sisi said. Egypts current leadership of the African Union [AU] has an important dimension for the BRI, given Chinas keenness on coordinating with African states on various issues.

Sisi's spokesman, Bassam Radi, said in an April 25 statement that Jinping praised Egypt's achievements in the fields of economic development and reform, as well as its accomplishments in security, stability and several major national projects that encouraged Chinese companies to work in Egypt.

The statement followed Sisi and Jinpings meeting at the Great Hall of the People. Radi noted that the Chinese president expressed his government's support for the development process in Egypt.

On the sidelines of the BRI forum April 27, Egyptian Minister of State for Military Production Mohammed Saeed al-Asar and Minister of Trade and Industry Amro Nassar attended the signing ceremony of an agreement between Egypt's M1A1 Tank Factory (Military Factory 200) and Chinese automaker Foton Motor. The agreement covers joint manufacturing of electric vehicles in Egypt. The agreement also includes joint manufacturing of 2,000 buses in four years, with Egyptian companies providing 45% of the components.

Yemen al-Hamaki, an economics professor at Ain Shams University in Cairo, told Al-Monitor, Sisis visit to China is [significant], given the importance of the BRI for the African continent, especially in light of Egypts policy as head of the AU." Sisi aims to "change Africas integration into the global economy, by presenting it as a manufacturing continent rather than a source of raw material. This will help to reduce unemployment and poverty rates. The agreement for the joint manufacturing of electric vehicles signed during the forum falls within this scope.

She went on, Through the BRI, China is trying to reap the benefits of globalization, which plays a key role in China's prosperity and growth, by injecting huge investments into a number of countries, including in Africa. This would reduce Chinas trade costs and boost its [international] trade sector. This would consequently help China regain its international status. Although Chinas investments in Africa mainly fall in the formers best interest, they also benefit the latter, including Egypt, which must tap this opportunity.

Egypt and China have strong economic relations. A report issued April 25 by Egypt's State Information Service indicated trade between Egypt and China increased to $13.87 billion in 2018, an increase of 29.3% over the same period of 2017, keeping Beijing the largest trade partner of Egypt and the [top] exporter to Cairo. The report added, Chinese imports to Egypt reached $8.7 billion in 2018, an increase of 28%, while Egyptian exports to China reached $1.8 billion for the first time in the history of trade exchange between the two countries.

Tarek Fahmi, a political science professor at American University in Cairo, told Al-Monitor the political gains from Sisi's participation in the BRI forum are more important than the economic ones.

Economic gains are fixed and stable, represented in the BRI, which will benefit Egypt, Arab and African countries. They fall within China's activity as an investor toward the countries of the region as a whole, including Egypt," Fahmi said.

Sisi is strengthening Egypts international standing by holding talks with several heads of state on regional issues and conveying Egypt's message on these issues. During the BRI forum, he was speaking in his capacity as head of an Arab country and head of the AU. Sisi is opening up Egypt to countries such as China, Korea, Malaysia and India through a well-studied presidential diplomacy, part of which promotes the Egyptian economy through the promising investment opportunities.

China is implementing several projects in Egypt, including the construction of a "clean-coal" power plant on the Red Sea coast as well as the construction of the tallest skyscraper in Africa. This is in addition to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by Egypt and China in December 2014.

Ghada Ajami, a member of Egypt's parliament and undersecretary of the Foreign Relations Committee, told Al-Monitor that Sisi expressed willingness to overcome any obstacles that might face Chinese companies in Egypt. Sisi's government is keen to boost bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and joint investments, she said.

By heading the AU, Egypt will reap more benefits from the BRI, by strengthening partnerships with other BRI parties," she said, citing the example of the Cairo-Cape Town road linking North Africa to South Africa with the aim of bolstering trade and investment flows.
Tally, embroidery done with gold and silver thread on tulle and other light fabrics, is associated with belly dancers glittery costumes and therefore looked down on by many Egyptians. But artist Saad Zaghloul is determined to restore the prestige and preserve the heritage of this dying craft.

Zaghloul founded a training center and museum in Assiut, Egypt, called the Tally House in 1994 to both save the craft and end its bad reputation. Tally embroidery was used for making belly dancers' costumes in the early 1930s. This is why it was shunned by Egyptian families, he explained to Al-Monitor. In fact, he added, the delicate embroidery was once part of a brides trousseau.

The special embroidery, which has been practiced for centuries, had its heyday in the 19th century, under the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha in Egypt (1805-1848) when foreigners who were interested in Oriental delights from costumes to spices bought embroidered clothes and took them back to Europe  France, Italy and the British Empire. Some of these fabrics, shot through with gold or silver metallic threads, can be seen in European museums today.

The craft had a revival in the 1950s. Suleiman Hazin and Aziza al-Shaarani gave a great boost to the craft between 1955 and 1966, Zaghloul explained. Hazin, who established and presided over of the University of Assiut, settled in Assiut with his wife, Shaarani. It was she who had a passion for tally, and she provided the silver and gold thread as well as the light fabrics to the women in the governorate, then got them to sell their embroidery to her friends, he said.

Zaghloul became interested in tally embroidery by chance. One of my friends, an artist, showed me a photograph of a piece of cloth embroidered with gold thread in 1992. The photo was brought to Egypt by an English woman who had taken it at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The museums tag said that it was 'Assiut Art,' so she was here, trying to find the origin of this embroidery technique associated with Upper Egypt heritage. During her tour in Assiut, she did not find any product similar to that in the photo.

Zaghloul started searching for tally embroidery himself and eventually found two women in a village in the eastern Assiut governorate who did tally embroidery. These two women told him of the efforts of Aziza al-Shaarani to revive the craft.

When I founded the Tally House in 1994, these two women laid the foundations for teaching the tally embroidery. All women who subsequently joined the center applied their technique. Since then, the Tally House has trained some 500 Egyptian women in regular workshops and classes. Alongside its permanent exhibitions, it sells embroidery and encourages students to participate in embroidery fairs and exhibitions around Egypt.

Zaghloul said that there are about 120 symbols or motifs that are stitched into the designs, including geometric shapes such as mosque, churches or houses; plants such as reeds and trees; and even animals, including camels. The stitched shapes express the cultural identity of Upper Egyptian society. These symbols vary according to the customs and traditions of each village in Upper Egypt, he said.

The tally revival has provided employment opportunities for many women in Assiut governorate who make the clothes at home. It only requires a special needle with two eyes, threads of gold or silver and a light fabric, Zaghloul explained.

Fatima Ahmed, who has been working in embroidery in Assiut for 10 years, told Al-Monitor, We must preserve our Upper Egyptian heritage. My mother was trained at the Tally House and she taught me this craft.

Ahmed produces two or three pieces per month. A two-meter (six-and-a-half-foot) piece costs around 400 Egyptian pounds ($23).

Usama Ghazali, who created the online portal Yadaweya.com -Arabic for Handmade Treasures - told Al-Monitor, The tally embroidery was initially associated with bridal gowns. Bridal dresses and veils were made of a fabric bearing embroidery that symbolized the bride's journey from her fathers home to that of her husband. We would find embroidery in the form of camels carrying palm fronds, trees as a sign of goodness, the Nile as a symbol of purity or a guard to save the bride from the evil eye. These shapes on the bridal clothes reflected joy and happiness in the Egyptian popular heritage.

Today, the tradition as well as the old patterns are kept alive in the Tally House and Gazeirit Shandaweel, a village in Sohag, he added.

But the sector is small, despite its great potential both at home and abroad, he said. There is a lack of a trained workforce and all materials are imported, Ghazali noted. Besides, there is no entity in Egypt that represents tally artisans and could [negociate] prices or subsidies.

He asserted that the delicate needlework is part of Egyptian heritage and should be marketed as art, not simply craft. Women have expressed their feelings, longings and identity through those embroidered symbols throughout years, he said.

Afaf Mahmoud, who does tally embroidery and teaches others at home in Gazeirit Shandaweel, believes that part of the problem is that the delicate embroidery, made with expensive metal threads, cannot compete with cheaper, machine-made products.

The gold or silver threads are imported, and therefore expensive. This makes the tally pieces unaffordable compared to similar cheaper products, she said, adding that the only way to sustain the craft is through state support. The government should open permanent markets in Egypt and offer the opportunity to participate in international exhibitions so that Egyptian tally clothes can be marketed at home and abroad, she said.

Folklore researcher Mohamed Shehata al-Omda told Al-Monitor, This heritage is not well known, though it reflects the Egyptian customs and traditions through its patterns and designs that ornament the garments of women in Upper Egypt.

He said, In order to give it the credit it deserves, Egypt is currently proposing to have this intangible heritage inscribed on UNESCOs list of Intangible Cultural Heritage so it can be documented as one of Egypts authentic arts and get more attention in the global arena.
Turkey has high hopes for its future in the defense field, but brain drain is depriving its industry of qualified human capital. Of all people working in the sector, only 24% are qualified engineers.

Turkeys defense industry firms have geared up for a major show of force for foreign buyers at the International Defense Industry Fair taking place April 30 to May 3 in Istanbul. About 900 local and foreign companies are exhibiting their wares. Turkish firms are seeking to sign export deals and promote cooperation with foreign companies, as Turkeys domestic market is about to reach saturation. Turkey's defense industry has been growing since 2014, pushing companies to focus on exports to sustain their growth. In addition to its traditional customers the United States and Germany, Turkey is looking for new clients in a slew of markets: Poland, Qatar, Oman, Ukraine, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Chad, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan.

According to the management of Turkeys Defense Industries, a target of $3 billion in exports set for 2019 does not include the MILGEM (National Ship) warship project and ATAK attack helicopter platform of Pakistan, or the T129 ATAK helicopter gunships for the Philippines.

This will be an important year in terms of Turkeys defense industry objectives. TCG Kinaliada, another MILGEM corvette (small warship), will be delivered to the Turkish navy while TCG Anadolu, Turkeys first multipurpose landing helicopter dock ship, is expected to hit the waves late this year. Turkeys first indigenously built new-generation submarine, Piri Reis, is also expected to be operational in late 2019.

According to the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), Turkeys overall exports hit an all-time high of $168.1 billion in 2018, a 7.1% year-over-year increase compared with around $157 billion in 2017. The Turkish defense and aerospace sector showed the best performance in 2018 in terms of export growth (20%), though the sector remains comparatively small, with exports of $2.188 billion for 2018. Turkeys top exporting industries during 2018 were automotive, textile and chemicals at almost $31.6 billion, $17.6 billion and almost $17.4 billion, respectively.

TIM figures show that the per-kilogram export value of the T129 ATAK helicopter, one of the highest value-added platforms in the defense industry, is around $10,000. Under a government-to-government contract awarded in May 2018, Turkish Aerospace will deliver 30 T129B Mk-I ATAK multirole light combat helicopters to Pakistan.

According to a 2018 performance report issued by Turkey's Defense and Aerospace Industry Manufacturers Association, the Turkish defense industry in 2018 had total revenues of $8.761 billion, an increase of 31% compared with 2017. Exports rose $350 million.

According to the report, the highest sales were from land force platforms and systems, at $2.428 billion, followed by $1.81 billion in civil and military aviation. Revenues of $63 million in informatics and software and $22 million in the space sector were far below expectations. While informatics, software and space technologies are the top sellers in global markets, Turkeys lagging numbers attract attention.

The domestic defense market, which has reached $6.573 billion, is satiated and Turkish defense industry firms have to look for new markets abroad, especially in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. The report says 68% of Turkish business owners are optimistic for their sectors for 2019 and 2020 and anticipate a 20% increase in revenues, while 21% business owners predict a slowdown and 11% anticipate a shrinking market because of the declining value of Turkish currency and economic vacillations.

The report says the most serious impediment to developing Turkey's defense sector is a lack of qualified workers. Of 67,239 workers, only 16,000 (24%) are qualified engineers, which is inadequate to achieve stated targets.

The Turkish government has been offering major incentives to the defense industry, trying to develop indigenous production, national identity and strategic autonomy. Ankara defines successful indigenous production as a country meeting its defense needs with its own resources and capability, thus minimizing its dependence on external sources. National identity pertains to developing integrated models that combine critical technologies based purely on national designs that could compete in international markets. Strategic autonomy means totally eliminating foreign dependence in the sector in the next 10 years. But Ankara will have to add the principle of curtailing brain drain as well.

Merve Seren, an academic researcher in the defense field, lists the reasons for a diminishing workforce in a recent article. Workers leave, she said, because of undesirable work conditions, low pay and inadequate benefits. Also, more advanced facilities are available abroad for them to develop their knowledge and skills. There are more opportunities and alternatives, especially for engineers who want to specialize in product development and research and development. Some workers also leave because they lack confidence in the countrys stability.

It's obvious that Turkey will have to open up foreign markets if it wants to sustain development of this sector.

Turkeys ability to compete at regional and global levels depends on political and economic stability, financing and investments, technological capacity, support from decision-makers and qualified personnel. Although the government frequently declares employment mobilization programs to solve the qualified personnel dilemma, these efforts have not produced lasting institutional solutions.

Another risk for the Turkish defense industry is the possibility that budget allocations will be reduced as the economic crisis worsens and Turkey's currency loses value. Large-scale projects could be delayed. Deteriorating relations with other countries could hurt Turkeys access to export markets, and therefore its growth potential.

If Turkey can't come up with sustainable solutions to these problems, developing its defense industry's potential won't be its biggest challenge. Ankara may well have to cope with millions of dollars' worth of defense projects collecting dust on shelves.
The April 30 phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan covered a broad range of topics, including trade, military cooperation and Syria, as the two countries continue to grow closer amid US-Turkey tensions. The two leaders endorsed the imminent launch of a constitutional committee for war-torn Syria  an issue Russia strongly promoted at recent talks in the Kazakh capital of Nur-Sultan  and agreed to continue close coordination of efforts to stabilize the situation in Idlib. According to the Kremlin, they also spoke in favor of achieving a cease-fire in Libya and resuming a political settlement process there under the UN aegis as soon as possible.

Why it matters: The tug of war between Russia and the United States over Turkey that has been going on for several years has acquired a new dimension with Moscows pending sale of the S-400 missile system to Ankara and the respective pushback on the deal from Washington. Putins latest conversation with Erdogan sheds light on Russias strategy for wooing the NATO member away from the United States.

Expanding the agenda: Moscow has sought to create a solid basis for its relationship with Ankara that would go beyond Syria with an extensive expansion of the agenda. More emphasis is being placed on a multitude of bilateral and regional issues, notably during Erdogans latest visit to Moscow.

Efforts to add Libya to the bilateral agenda are particularly noteworthy. Although Russia and Turkey are unlikely to forge a joint mediation team to broker a cease-fire as each party pursues its own course, the political message sent by sharing a common vision for the flaring conflict and solidarity over how to tackle it are more important to Putin and Erdogan at this stage.

As US-Turkey relations sour, Russia has also placed a premium on an intensive expansion of its relationship with Turkey, mostly through deeper military-technical cooperation.

"We have a number of joint projects to develop advanced aviation and helicopter-borne systems, component parts for armoed vehicles, after-sales service for exported arms, Alexander Mikheev, CEO of the JSC Rosoboronexport, said April 29. The Russian arms export agency has been under US sanctions for the past year. In the coming days, Rosoboronexport will be presenting some 300 types of weapons at the IDEF-2019 arms expo in Istanbul, where it hopes to sign some additional contracts with Turkish and other Middle Eastern entities.

Whats next: Regarding the rebel-held province of Idlib in northwestern Syria, the Putin-Erdogan conversation suggested the two agreed on the need for effective measures to suppress terrorist groups [there]. This suggests Moscow will continue to carry out limited strikes on areas it deems under control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham  largely considered to be an al-Qaeda affiliate  while pressuring Ankara on the need to deliver upon its own commitments under the Sochi memorandum signed in September 2018. A prospect for a larger offensive is still off the table.

Know more: Read more from Russia Mideast editor Maxim Suchkov on Russia and Turkeys effort to broaden their relationship beyond Syria here.

-Maxim Suchkov
As part of a reshuffle inside Iran's Foreign Ministry, veteran diplomat Bahram Ghassemi was recently appointed as the country's new ambassador to France. Ghassemi's mission is said to be focused on reinvigorating international diplomacy to save the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a deal that has been shaky ever since US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of it last May.

The new ambassador is now hectically tapping on Europeans to speed up practical measures they have promised. Ghassemi sat down with French Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Maurice Gourdault-Montagne in Paris. Gourdault-Montagne is a member of the supervisory board of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (ISTEX), a trade mechanism launched in January by the European signatories of the JCPOA as a means to facilitate lawful trade and shield it against US sanctions. The official Twitter account of the Iranian Embassy in France described the meeting as "very constructive and positive."

Within the same diplomatic push, Hamid Baeidinejad, the Iranian ambassador to the UK, also quoted the INSTEX director as saying that serious efforts are underway for the first trade exchange with the Iranian side via the new so-called special purpose vehicle as soon as possible.

Despite Europe's political pledges to protect the JCPOA, Iran has repeatedly complained about what it perceives as European inaction. As recently as April 30, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, one of the key architects of the deal in 2015, said Iran's patience was running thin. "Its been a year since the US withdrew from the JCPOA. But those countries [Europeans] have not yet sorted out a solution to protect Iran's promised dividends," Araghchi added, warning that the JCPOA could come to an end at any moment.

In the latest phase of its so-called maximum pressure campaign targeting Iran's economy, the US administration last week announced that sanctions waivers granted to Tehran's top eight oil buyers will not be extended. Iran has defiantly dismissed the move, saying it has its own ways of shipping its oil out.

But the battle is not exclusive to the economic front. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is now shuttling among different camps and appearing on media outlets more than before to publicize Iran's stance, as talk of a possible US war on his country is heating up these days.

During a visit to neighboring Qatar, where he discussed bilateral ties with the officials of the tiny but oil-rich Persian Gulf State, Zarif found some room to once again take to Twitter and hit out at US national security adviser John Bolton for his "warmongering."

Back in Iran, a US military strike may still sound like a farfetched theory. Hamid Reza Asefi, a former Foreign Ministry spokesman, who hails from the more pro-engagement Reformist camp, contends that the US government is merely seeking to alter the behavior of the Iranian leadership rather than promote regime change or plan a military strike. "The United States is trying to bring Iran to the negotiating table. Regardless of whether those talks bear fruit, US officials will come out as winners, because they will claim  that they forced Tehran to give in to their conditions," Asefi told pro-Reform Arman daily. He noted that talks with the United States will not serve Iran's interests at the moment.

The retired diplomat also gave confirmation to a similar remark by one of Iran's most powerful generals, Qasem Soleimani who commands the Quds Force  which is the foreign operations branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "Negotiating with the US under the existing circumstances is tantamount to surrender. We will definitely not accept such humiliation," Soleimani said at a conference in Tehran April 29.

An outright rejection of rapprochement with the United States was once a key bone of contention, dividing hard-liners and moderates in Iran's political landscape. But the Trump administration's intensifying pressure seems to have gone past the partisan divide, creating a domestic consensus over the argument that any talk with the current US government is "a strategic mistake," to quote a description by moderate parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
Israel's 21st Knesset, sworn in April 30, is destined to function in the shadow of the legal limbo faced by Benjamin Netanyahu, the outgoing and incoming prime minister. Never before has the task of forming a coalition been handed to a Knesset member tangled up in criminal investigations, with the attorney general planning to charge him for bribery pending a hearing.

For the Blue and White party, the corruption charges Netanyahu is confronting will be the main focus of its attacks on the government. Nevertheless, the anticipated governing coalition is expected to grant Netanyahu a safety net, most likely through legislation. That is why Netanyahu has asked Knesset members from the Likud to postpone any holidays they might have planned for August. He told them that the legislative session will probably be extended by a week, because there will likely be a blitz of legislation. Given that Netanyahu made these remarks during a closed session of his party, and the hearing on his case is scheduled to take place in early July, it is generally assumed that he was referring to amending the Immunity Law to keep him from being forced to stand trial.

The Blue and White party is not wasting any time. Its first four pieces of legislation are aimed directly at the prime ministers soft underbelly, i.e., his corruption. The legislation includes the Moral Turpitude Law, limiting the prime minister to just two terms in office, legislation to prevent a prime minister from serving in the event that he or she is indicted, and legislation to establish an official commission of inquiry to investigate the submarine affair involving Netanyahu associates. As an act of symbolic defiance, each of the partys four leaders was the first to sign these pieces of legislation, followed by the factions 34 other Knesset members.

We will not allow the government of Israel to become a legal defense and sanctuary for lawbreakers, said Benny Gantz, the Blue and White's chair and likely opposition leader, in a speech to his faction's members. Gantz's message obviously targeting Netanyahu, signaled an intent to challenge his ability to serve as prime minister because of the indictments he faces.

Moves to amend the Immunity Law could well begin over the next few weeks, as Netanyahus anticipated hearing approaches. In that event, the various scandals surrounding him will become the number one item on the Knessets agenda. Blue and White will attempt to etch the idea deep into the public consciousness that the prime ministers expiration date is rapidly approaching.

The Netanyahu scandals aside, the recent elections have resulted in major changes to the Knesset. The profile of legislators is very different from the previous Knesset's. There is an all-time record of 49 new members, 24 of them from Blue and White. This should have an impact on Knesset operations, legislation, and committees, at least initially. After all, being an experienced political veteran is a clear advantage when it comes to making effective use of parliamentary tools.

An even more significant change is the size of the leading opposition party. Blue and White is huge, at least in contemporary Israeli terms. It has the same number of seats, 35, as the ruling Likud. In fact, it actually has one more seat, because the Likud list included a representative of HaBayit HaYehudi in the 27th slot. The significance of its size is the visibility of the opposition and its ability to drive an agenda and a variety of parliamentary maneuvers, if the party manages to function coherently and its leaders remain united. Only time will tell if this is possible. Blue and White is an eclectic mix of people with diverse ideas who forged an alliance less than three months ago.

The rise and size of the Blue and White are a devastating blow to the Knessets left-wing parties, especially Labor, which has shrunk to only six seats. In the previous Knesset, as part of the Zionist Camp, Labor held 24 seats, but it was barely noticeable at the April 30 swearing-in ceremony. This can be attributed to the low morale among its members, but also because it has suddenly become a minor opposition party. In fact, the Zionist left, comprised of Labor and Meretz, has only 11 seats in the new Knesset. This is a devastating blow to any left-wing diplomatic agenda.

The Arab parties are also among those that lost strength. The split that resulted in the predominantly Arab Joint List running as two separate parties reduced them from 13 seats to 10. Furthermore, low voter turnout among Arabs had a noticeable impact. Much like the Zionist parties on the left, the Arab parties have some intense soul searching to do.

Women also lost strength. Only 29 of the 120 members of the 21st Knesset are women, six less than in the previous legislature. The 20th Knesset also began with 29 women, but their number increased as women filled seats that became vacant. Regardless, women are underrepresented. This will certainly be evident in the number of them who receive Cabinet positions. It is possible that there will be no women at all in the Security Cabinet.

Unlike the case with women, LGBTQ representation in the 21st Knesset increased significantly, with five openly gay members taking seats: Itzik Shmuli of Labor; Eitan Ginzburg, Idan Roll and Yorai Lahav Hertzanu of Blue and White; and Amir Ohana of the Likud. Ohana is expected to receive a ministerial portfolio. While this seems like an impressive and effective parliamentary force, it will likely clash with the conservative and religious forces in the Knesset, which also grew in strength. Ultra-Orthodox Shas and Yahadut HaTorah each won eight seats, and together with the five seats won by the United Right, they constitute a religious and ultra-Orthodox bloc of 21 seats. Nevertheless, that five members of the LGBTQ community are now serving in the Knesset is an impressive achievement in terms of image.

Another notable aspect of the new Knesset is the marked increase in the number of generals. A meeting of the General Staff could easily be called in the Knesset cafeteria. There is a record number of chiefs of staff in Benny Gantz, Moshe Yaalon and Gabi Ashkenazi, all from Blue and White. There are also eight generals in the reserves, representing Blue and White, Likud and Labor. In this sense, Israel has returned to the age of generals, characteristic of the country's politics until the 1990s. Past experience shows, however, that a military background, no matter how glorious, does not ensure success in politics.

Gantz and Ashkenazi are about to face their biggest challenge. Having led the Israel Defense Forces, they are likely to find themselves bored and frustrated in the next few months by their new role as opposition parliamentarians. The feeling will only intensify if Netanyahus fifth government remains in power for any significant amount of time. The big question is whether Gantz and Ashkenazi are built for an extended stay in the opposition? We will likely find out over the course of the next year.
The Donald Trump administrations top envoy for Syria engagement, Jim Jeffrey, met with Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin in Ankara today to kick off talks on a proposed safe zone in northern Syria amid continued disagreement between Turkey and US-backed Syrian Kurdish military commanders over its shape, size and purpose.

The pro-government Turkish daily Sabah said the US and Turkish delegations had discussed the safe zone alongside what it described as operations east of the Euphrates and other Syria-related issues. Turkey has repeatedly threatened to mount a military offensive against the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) over the group's links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the guerrilla outfit that has fought the Turkish army for Kurdish independence and then autonomy for the past 35 years.

Turkey wants a lead role in a safe zone that would be 32 kilometers (20 miles) deep and stretch the length of Syrian Kurdish-controlled territory all the way to Iraq. The commander of the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazlum Kobane, has reportedly agreed to a cordon sanitaire to stave off Turkish attacks that would be no more than five kilometers (three miles) deep and protected by local Arab and Kurdish forces, who would ostensibly be subject to coalition  and by extension Turkish  vetting. But Turkey isnt interested and the YPG is dead set against letting Turkish boots onto their soil, suggesting they would only do so if they got Turkish-occupied Afrin back, a proposal they know to be a non-starter.

It remains unclear how Jeffrey hopes to bridge differences when both sides are in no mood to compromise.

Turkish forces continued to shell YPG targets in the northern Aleppo countryside near Afrin a day after a Turkish soldier was killed by the Kurdish militants when they attacked a Turkish armored vehicle with air-to-ground missile near the Al-Shatt checkpoint, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The SDF has said winning back Afrin is its new priority now that the Islamic State has been defeated.

Aaron Stein, director of the Middle East program at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said, Only one side here is truly negotiating, and that is the United States. The Turks and the SDF are stating maximalist positions and unwilling to actually engage on substance or entertain compromise because they are hostile and antagonistic actors. Stein further noted in an interview with Al-Monitor, The United States is pushing to reach agreement on a token Turkish presence, largely to assuage Ankara so as to ensure that the Americans remain in the northeast to pressure the Syrian regime. Ankara doesnt actually care about [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad], as they want to ensure that the PKK doesnt continue to flourish in the tri-border area. He was referring to Turkeys borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria, where the PKK maintains a foothold.

More critically, however, US efforts to stitch together a safe zone deal are undermined by its broader and some would say contradictory goal of containing Iranian influence in Syria. Stein noted, The real schism is inside American policy, which is to make life miserable for Assad, which when combined with Iran sanctions could theoretically lead to a weakening of these two actors positions. The problem is that that both of these policies  the Iran pressure and the US presence  are at odds with what Ankara wants. The United States is making a choice here, even if it refuses to accept that it is choosing the anti-Iran, anti-regime effort over the Turkey relationship.

It is also at odds with what the Kurds want, which is a safe zone modeled along the Iraqi Kurdish one set up in 1991 that allowed them to consolidate their autonomy. They believe if Washington wanted to it could force Ankara to accept this, much like it did the safe zone in Iraqi Kurdistan, albeit kicking and screaming along the way. Anything short of that kind of commitment makes confronting Iran an extremely risky business for the Kurds because the PKKs bases are right along the Iranian border.

Jeffrey is also expected to meet with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, national intelligence boss Hakan Fidan and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal tomorrow.

Stein reckons it would be in Turkeys interests to accept the current US proposal for a limited presence in the safe zone. There is no hammered-out implementation mechanism with agreed upon definitions which allows Ankara to set its own interpretation. This lack of clarity then gives Ankara tools to hammer the United States, sowing discord in our own system [and thereby] leading to more concessions.

But how would the YPG respond? Would it play along in the hope that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling Justice and Development Party was weakened in the March 31 municipal elections, would turn to the Turkish Kurds once again? After all, the PKKs calculations in Syria are indexed to its core interests in Turkey, home to the largest Kurdish population worldwide.

Then there are the other main stakeholders, the regime and its main backers Russia and Iran, to contend with. For the Kurds, maintaining a facade of progress with the Turks and the Americans could spook the regime into offering more than the hard return it's presently trying to shove down their throats.

Ilhami Isik, a Kurdish columnist and former member of the Turkish Communist Party who used to support Erdogan, claimed this week that the fruits of indirect talks taking place between the Turkish government and the SDF, presumably via the United States, would be revealed on the 15th day of the Ramadan fast. It seems as if traffic on the island will pick up, he said, referring to Imrali Island, where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan has been held since his capture in 1999 with the CIAs help.

Ocalan has been held virtually incommunicado since 2015, when peace talks between the government and the PKK fell apart. Isik, then known by his code name the fisherman, was the first to leak news of the talks, which he supposedly facilitated, to the now shuttered Taraf in 2010, so his words may carry some weight. The PKK leaders intervention is likely to prove critical in persuading an estimated 3,000 Kurdish hunger strikers across 90 prisons in Turkey to end their fast in protest of Ocalans isolation.

For all their hawkish posturing, the Turkish authorities are deeply nervous of the likely violent reaction the strikers deaths would trigger, providing justification for the PKK to step up attacks inside Turkey.

Giran Ozcan, the Washington representative for the largest pro-Kurdish bloc in the Turkish Parliament, the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), told Al-Monitor, The most concrete sign that the government is interested in resuming peace talks would for Mr. Ocalan to be granted immediate access to his lawyers. The 70-year-old has not been allowed to meet with them since 2011. But Erdogan's continued salvos against the the HDP offer scant hope for change.

Correction: May 1, 2019. An earlier version of this article mistakenly identified Ilhami Isik as a former PKK militant. He was a former member of the Turkish Communist Party.
The UN-backed Libyan government has signed a $2 million deal with Mercury Public Affairs to lobby Congress and the Donald Trump administration just days after reports that the president backed rival Khalifa Hifter.

The Government of National Accord (GNA) signed the year-long contract on April 25, after reports that Trump had indicated support for Hifters march on Tripoli in a phone call with the eastern-based strongman. The contract calls for Mercury to be paid $500,000 per quarter in fees and expenses, with the first installment paid up front.

Neither Mercury nor the Libyan government answered requests for comment. But experts say the expensive contract is a sign the GNA is deeply concerned about a possible US shift away from the UN-backed peace process in favor of Hifter, a former CIA asset who leads the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army.

This is a dramatic reversal of how the international landscape has changed around the GNA, said Jalel Harchaoui, a research fellow at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague. They are basically seeing the writing on the wall.

The leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, two of Hifters top backers, spoke with Trump shortly before his call with Hifter. Top US officials, including Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had previously demanded that the Libyan strongman halt his advance, which the UN says has already killed at least 345 people and displaced thousands.

The GNA is likely to get a receptive ear on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers of both parties have raised concerns about Hifters advance. Shortly after Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., spoke to Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj by phone on Tuesday, the Trump ally urged the administration to recommit to the peace process.

We need to reinforce the message that were not picking one group over the others and we reject military force as the solution to the problems in Libya, Graham told Politico on Tuesday.

In an interview with Al-Monitor on Monday, Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., a former assistant secretary of state under President Barack Obama, called the US shift in favor of Hifter batshit crazy.

Im hoping that in the Libya case we can pull them back from what I think would be a historically bad decision aligning with a Russian-backed warlord who is hated by the majority of the Libyan people to help him overthrow the legitimate government that the United States and the international community supported," Malinowski said.

Washington lobbying firms have courted the Libyan government since shortly after its formation in 2016. Mercury also lobbies for Qatar and Turkey, both of which support the GNA against Hifter. The GNA hasnt had a Washington lobbying presence since its Foreign Ministry terminated its contract with the Alexandria Group in October 2016.

A former senior US official involved in Libya told Al-Monitor that Mercury first approached the GNA as a potential client at the time, including Wafa Bughaighis, now the countrys ambassador to Washington. But the nascent Libyan authority rebuffed the firm, citing high costs, as Sarraj mulled appointing a special envoy to the United States.

The Libyans always wait until they're forced into a panic zone and then they look for alliances, the former official said. Mercury was on their radar, and when this happened they realized they needed some avenues to get to people.

At recent preparatory talks in the UAE, Hifter was offered a very generous deal to join forces with the GNA, the former official added. Sarraj would be hands off in terms of military operations in Hifter's role in command of the armed forces. [The goal] was to get Hifter to agree to acknowledge having civilian oversight of some sort.

Former US envoy to Libya Jonathan Winer told Al-Monitor last month that Hifter had rejected a similar deal for military control in 2016.

The GNAs entry into the Washington lobbying scene comes just after Libyan oil tycoon Hassan Tatanaki, who has links to both the Gadhafi family and Hifter, signed a $30,000 monthly contract with Yorktown Solutions in an effort to get the Trump administration on board with a push for fresh elections. Tatanaki has called for Libya, one of Africas largest oil producers, to shut off the pipelines as the conflict rages. Two former US officials said Tatanaki has made a similar push in the past.

Oil should be stopped, that is my emotional opinion, Tatanaki told Al-Monitor last month. It is the thing that seems to be the one that hits the alarms. The human factor has not hit the alarms. It is a wake-up call.

Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.
Some of President Donald Trumps closest allies on Capitol Hill and in right-leaning foreign policy circles are expressing skepticism over the presidents renewed push to label the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

The pushback comes after The New York Times reported this week that Trump had requested his national security staff to look into designating the Islamist movement as a terrorist organization in April, at the request of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Arguments for and against the designation mirror those made when Trump was first elected after a campaign that focused largely on the perceived threat of political Islamism.

While leaders from both parties in Congress were cautious about immediately weighing in on the decision, several lawmakers warned against a blanket designation that would lump the various Muslim Brotherhood franchises throughout the region together as one homogenous entity.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, a staunch Trump ally, called for a well-thought through and well-vetted process before any designation in an interview with Bloomberg today.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a very diffuse organization and has different rules in different parts of the world, Risch said. One of the roles it has is as a terrorist organization in some parts of the world. And that is not acceptable. On the other hand, naming the entire organization, particularly when they are embedded in actual governments in some parts of the world, is complicating.

Muslim Brotherhood-inspired groups have seats in eight legislatures throughout the region but vary widely in their ideology and adherence to democratic norms, according to a review of recent elections by Al-Monitor. For instance, two Muslim Democratic parties serve as part of the Moroccan and Tunisian governments. But the brotherhood's Palestinian branch, Hamas, which controls Gaza, is a US-designated terrorist group.

Branches of the group also have lawmakers serving as part of the opposition in Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and Kuwait. Turkeys governing Justice and Development Party is also a close ideological ally.

Senate Middle East subpanel chairman Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he had discussed the issue with Jordans King Abdullah last week and would soon be providing some input to the White House.

The king had decided instead of pushing the Muslim Brotherhood out and making them political martyrs, they decided to bring them into the government, let them run for office and allow them to fail in trying to promote various policies, Romney told reporters during a briefing about his trip. And he said bringing them inside the tent, if you will, and having people see that they dont have all the answers and they couldnt solve all the problems, was the best way to reduce [their] influence.

Romney added that a designation country by country might be appropriately done after extensive consultation with our allies and embassy staff in those countries.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committees top Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said he wants to see the administrations justification before commenting. But the top Democrat on the Middle East subpanel, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said it is very difficult to decide what is and what is not the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the region.

Tunisias Ennahda party, for instance, dropped the Islamist label in 2016 and rebranded itself as a party of Muslim democrats.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., also cautioned against a one size fits all approach to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Even some analysts who back many of Trumps policies in the region argued that the president appears to have little legal basis to designate the group as a terrorist entity.

Jonathan Schanzer, the senior vice president for research at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, reiterated arguments from a New York Post op-ed he wrote in 2017. Instead he argued that the Trump administration should label it as a hate group.

Those hoping for a broad designation are setting themselves up for a fall because the work required would be enormous, and failure is all but guaranteed, Schanzer wrote on Twitter. Those seeking sanctions on smaller [Muslim Brotherhood] groups have the right idea, because they will be easier to prove.

A Capitol Hill staffer told Al-Monitor that Democrats would look at the options Congress has to push back against a designation they feel is unwarranted, but cautioned that the president has broad discretion on the matter.

Still, in order to blacklist a group, the State Department must prove that it engages or intends to engage in terrorist activity that would harm US citizens or national security. Failure to prove these standards could result in yearslong litigation. For instance, the State Department eventually delisted the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq after it filed a lawsuit in 2010.

But that hasnt deterred some Republicans in Congress from endorsing Trumps decision.

House Foreign Affairs Committee member Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., called the decision long overdue on Twitter. And on Tuesday, Rep. Mario Diaz Balart, R-Fla., introduced a bill requiring Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to submit a report on a potential Muslim Brotherhood terrorist designation. Meanwhile, the top Republican on the House Middle East panel, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., told Al-Monitor he would respect whatever decision is made.

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, introduced a bill to designate both the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in the last Congress but the bill did not move when Republicans controlled the House. This week he told Al-Monitor that he would defer to the Trump administrations interagency process, adding that the group has certainly been a threat in Egypt.

Sisi outlawed the movement in Egypt after the military ousted its democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013. The organization is also outlawed in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Syria.

But Andrew Miller, the deputy director for policy at the Project on Middle East Democracy, argued that given Sisis penchant for labeling all of his critics as Muslim Brotherhood members, a terrorist designation would help delegitimize his opponents domestically and on the international scene.

Correction: May 22, 2019. This article has been updated to clarify that Tunisia's Ennahda party is not affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood despite having been inspired by it at its founding.
In with the New

A few recently closed Homewood restaurants are being replaced with some exciting new concepts. Ruby Sunshine, an all-day brunch cafe, will take the place of Bartaco in Edgewood, and will be serving up New Orleans-inspired fare. Dishes will include options such as Eggs Cochon Benedict and Bananas Foster Pain Perdu. Next door, a new fast-causal cafe called Greenhouse will replace Mason Dixon Bakery & Bistro. It will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving smoothies, salads, sandwiches, cocktails, and more. Sadly, youre no longer able to get Jacksons famous cookie dough eggrolls, since the restaurant closed in March. Fortunately, a new place called Tostadas will be dishing out Mexican street food, including tostadas and tapas. We cant wait to try the street corn queso.

Exotic Roasts

Hoover is perking up to the smell of freshly roasted and brewed coffee at the communitys newest shop, Baba Java Roaster & Cafe. Located off Highway 31, Baba Java specializes in coffee sourced from destinations that span the globe, including China, Yemen, Africa, and South and Central America. The shop even offers tradtional Turkish coffee. In addition to espresso-based drinks, pour-over, and drip coffee, local pastries from Emilys Heirloom Pound Cakes, Forest Bear Bakery, and Highland Gourmet Scones are available to purchase.

End of an Era

After more than 60 years, downtown institution Nikis Restaurant Downtown closed its doors in March. Owner George Sissa says he might open a restaurant elsewhere in town after taking some time off. OCarrs, which opened downtown in the summer of 2016, closed at the end of March, after almost three years of business on 18th Street. Owners Cameron and June Carr sold the building OCarrs was in, as well as the building next to it. The original Homewood location will remain in business.

The Szechuan chicken with fried rice from Little India, located in the Shell gas station in Southside.

Try This: Little India

Did you know theres a gas station in Southside offering Indian street food? Located inside the Shell gas station next to Bottega, dont let the Sneaky Petes sign at the counter fool youits actually where Little India is now located. The food stall offers Indo-Chinese dishes (a fusion of Indian and Chinese cuisine) prepared in flaming hot pans right in front of you. That means everything is cooked fresh, and even if you have to wait a little while, its worth it. To get a taste of Indo-Chinese cuisine try the Chili Chicken (or shrimp or paneer), Chicken Hakka Noodles, and Chicken Lolly Pops. All the meat used is halal, and for fans of spice, they wont go easy on you if you let them know!

Prideland is one of Royal Cup Coffee's new rebranded coffee and tea lines.

Cue the Coffee

The papa of Birmingham coffee roasters, Royal Cup, has a brand-new bagactually several. The 123-year-old roasterwhich supplies restaurants, offices, and retailers in 28 states and across the Caribbeanhas consolidated its portfolio into four brands. Its super premium single-source coffee label, H.C. Valentine, remains under that name. The other brands are Prideland, Royal Cup Signature, and ROAR. Royal Cup recently began sequentially rolling out its rebranded coffees, including at several local groceries. Eric Velasco

Island Life

Avondale is adding to its large portfolio of restaurants and bars with its newest addition, The Thirsty Donkey. After losing their restaurant by the same name in the U.S. Virgin Islands to Hurricanes Irma and Maria, local couple Greg and Kathy Stein are returning home to Birmingham to rebuild. Their island-themed restaurant and bar, located in the old Rowes building in Avondale, will serve a unique menu of tropical drinks, seafood, and vegan and vegetarian options. Where did the name come from? The couple named their island restaurant after the wild donkeys that would come by for a drink in Saint John.

Birmingham Taste Tours has recently launched a Pepper Place tour and is soon-to-launch a Five Points tour. Photo by Mary Fehr.

Taste the Town

Birmingham Taste Tours, which takes people to five restaurants to sample dishes and chat with chefs, is expanding its territory. Tours of Pepper Place started in April, while a focus on Five Points South starts this month. Between stops, a guide discusses Birmingham foodways and the neighborhoods architecture and landmarks. Be ready to do some walkingrain or shinebut consider that a chance to burn calories between courses. Eric Velasco

Three new places to drink are in the works for Birmingham, including Atlanta-based brewery, Monday Night Brewing.

Drink Up

Three new options to get your drink on are coming to Birmingham.

The Grocery Brewpub: This new brewpub in Homewood, replacing Red Hills Brewing Company, is serving beer, cocktails, and Southern-style food.

Dread River Distilling Co.: A distillery and tasting room offering bourbon, gin, rum, vodka, and blended whisky is slated to open this summer in Southside.

Monday Night Brewing: The Atlanta-favorite brewery is hoping to expand with plans for a brewpub in Birmingham, dependent on Alabama legislation.

Sweet Beginnings

One of Birminghams favorite fixes for a sweet treat is taking up residence in one of downtowns busiest spots: Pizitz Food Hall. Birmingham Candy Company is the newest tenant of the REVeal Kitchen, where you can catch them making homemade treats, like caramels, truffles, and smores, all day long.

Bayou Brothers is this month's featured food truck.

Truck of the Month: Bayou Bros

Bayou Bros food truck offers a surprisingly large assortment of Cajun classics, including chicken and sausage gumbo, red beans and rice, jambalaya ($5 cup/$8 bowl each), and crawfish bisque ($6/$9). Signature sandwiches include the well-seasoned Bayou Burger ($12) and Shrimp Po-boy ($13). Co-owners Haden Smith and Ben Olivier were finalists in the 2018 Big Pitch contest with the Bayou Bros concept (Nick Dirienzo is a third partner). Find its location on both Facebook and Instagram (@bayoubros205). Its website, bayoubrosbham.com, also has a long-term calendar. The trucks commissary is at the culinary incubator, The Annex, which Smith founded. Eric Velasco

A Winning Combo

Nick Pihakis is currently hard at work on a new concept to be located in a student apartment complex in Parkside. Tentatively named Bakers Row II, the complex will feature a meat-and-three restaurant from Pihakis, a second location for Hero Donuts, and a bar. The restaurant will feature affordable dishes using fresh, high-quality ingredients. The development is slated to open in 2021.

Brew Town

Birminghams got its own microbrewery, but you might not have heard of it. Situated in Crestwood Shopping Center behind The Filling Station, True Story Brewing Company is located in what previously was a vape shop (they still sell vape oils and accessories). They typically have about three of their own brews on tap, in addition to a selection of other local and craft beers. The brewerys own include an IPA, a saison (which you can add fruit flavors to), and a porter. The Paragon Porter features toasted coconut in a bold but drinkable brew. The tap room is small, with just a few seats and a bar, but the people are friendly and the walls on the mural tell a story.

Bare Naked Noodles now offers pasta-making classes.Getty Images/iStockphoto

Pass the Pasta

Learn how to make fresh pastas and sauces at home with Bare Naked Noodles, a local company offering all types of homemade pastas and sauces. The pasta-making class includes how to make and cook different types, including long noodles like fettucine; filled pastas like ravioli and tortellini; and extruded pastas such as elbow and radiatore. Students will sample their pastas with Bake Naked Noodles signature tomato basil sauce. Another Bare Naked cooking class focuses on sauces. Lessons teach how to make five basic Italian saucesalfredo, pesto, ragu, sage butter, and brown butterand end with a sampling of each sauce with the pasta that best pairs. Classes are $50 per person, with group discounts available. Eric Velasco

3 in 30: Beach Edition

Three dishes to eat this month in 30 words or less (not including dish and restaurant names!). Catch it on the air every Saturday at 8 a.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. as part of our editors segment on Birmingham Mountain Radios Pot Stirring Radio.

Peanut Butter Pie from Original Oyster House (Gulf Shores): Peanut butter and cream cheese combine with chocolate chips for pure heaven Volcano Roll from Cosmos (Orange Beach): The spicy krab salad that tops this tuna-based roll makes it Marinated Crab Claws from Fishers (Orange Beach): Plump claws swimming in a seasonal vinaigrette Julia Sayers

This story appears in Birmingham magazines May 2019 issue. Subscribe today!
Georgia-Pacific will invest more than $120 million into its Naheola mill in Choctaw County for a new tissue machine and roll storage building to support the companys retail bath tissue business.

The company announced that engineering and related work has begun, and startup of the new machine is scheduled for next year. An average of 200 construction and contract-related workers are expected to be onsite at the mill every day during the project, with a potential peak of 400 contract workers per day at the height of construction.

The Naheola mill currently employs more than 900 people. The mill produces retail bath tissue and paper towels, and also makes bleached paperboard used to make Georgia-Pacifics Dixie plates, cups and bowls.

The new tissue machine will replace two older machines and increase the mills capacity. The new machine will also support new bath tissue converting lines that are currently being started up at Naheola, the company said.

At the same time, Georgia-Pacific is continuing its modernization of the mill, with a new biomass boiler and woodyard. The company has pumped more than $500 million into the mill over the past five years, and about $1.6 billion into its Alabama operations.

This is one of many investments we are making at our operations across the State of Alabama, and it highlights the long history and great relationships we have in the state and in the communities where we operate, CEO and President Christian Fischer said.
Businesses in Tuscaloosa, Bessemer and Florence took home honors in the Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Technology Networks 2019 Manufacturer of The Year award.

ZF Chassis Systems, Milos Tea Co. and OnPoint Manufacturing were honored in the large, medium and small manufacturing categories today during a luncheon ceremony at the Alabama Activity Center.

ATN Executive Director Keith Phillips said the awards provide a platform for Alabama manufacturers and suppliers to share their stories of growth, hard work, and their economic impact to our state.

In the large manufacturer category, ZF Chassis Systems Tuscaloosa supplies Mercedes-Benz U.S. with complete axle systems for the C-class sedans. It employs 484 in West Alabama.

Milos Tea Co., in the medium manufacturer slot, employs 194 people and is a certified women-owned business.

OnPoint Manufacturing, which employs 25, was formed in 2000 and uses purchase activated mass customization of apparel to make garments one at a time in exactly the size that fits the buyer.

Winners are selected by an independent panel of judges based on demonstrations of superior performance in customer focus, employee commitment, operating excellence, continuous improvement, profitable growth and investment in training and retraining.

The purpose of the annual Manufacturer of the Year Awards is to shine a spotlight on manufacturing excellence and to give those who have invested in Alabama the acknowledgement and promotion they deserve. said Katie Boyd Britt, president and CEO of the BCA.
An Amish family waiting for the Amtrak train isnt something you see every day in Alabama.

But Wednesday afternoon, Chris Gingerich and his wife, Iva, and two of their 13 children (Amelia, 14, and Abraham, 4) waited at the Birmingham station to catch an Amtrak train back home to North Carolina.

They live in a community of 19 Amish families between Shelby and Forest City, N.C.

Gingerich, 47, runs a band saw mill, cutting rough lumber for barns and other construction projects.

They passed through Birmingham on their way back from visiting relatives in Randolph, Mississippi, west of Tupelo, where they formerly lived in a community of about 30 Amish families.

Their basic religious beliefs are like many other evangelical Protestants.

We believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Gingerich said. We use the King James Version of the Bible.

What makes them stand out are their homemade traditional clothes, such as the straw hats and vests worn by Gingerich and his son, and the bonnets and dark dresses worn by his wife and daughter. My wife and daughters make the clothes, said Gingerich, who has seven sons and six daughters.

They also avoid technology. We dont own phones and we dont own cars, he said.

They do have non-Amish friends that they can call on, in the event that a car ride or telephone call is urgently needed. We depend on our neighbors, he said.

For example, some non-Amish friends dropped them off at the Birmingham Intermodal Transportation Center to catch the train. Someone also gave them a ride from the Greyhound bus station in Tupelo to the farm in Randolph.

For young Abraham, its all a new and exciting learning experience. This will be his first time riding a train, Iva said.

They moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina about two years ago from Ethridge, Tenn., where they were part of a community of about 200 Amish families.

It was getting so crowded in Ethridge, Gingerich said. I just like the mountains, and theres no mountains in Ethridge.

In the Amish communities hes lived in, there are no church buildings. They worship in homes every other Sunday. All Amish go every two weeks, he said. Most Amish worship in homes.

On the Sundays they dont meet, We read some in the Bible and visit family, he said. We dont do business on Sunday.

For Gingerich and his family, the Amish life is all theyve known.

I was born and raised Amish and joined the Amish church, he said.

At his sawmill, he uses a diesel engine, but no electricity. He has a long beard, but no mustache. These are just traditions of his community, like the straw hats and bonnets. We know the rules, he said.

Different Amish communities have different traditions and rules. There are some New Order Amish, more modernized, who own smartphones, Gingerich said. I consider that the most worldly thing you can have, he said.

There are Mennonites in Alabama, but no Amish communities, Gingerich said. Mennonites have the same basic beliefs and similar dress and traditions to Amish, but its a church that has branched off.

There are horse and buggy Mennonites, and there are modern Mennonites, Gingerich said. There are horse and buggy Amish, and there are Amish with cars. The name dont tell you what they are. Were not all alike. Were still human.

Most Amish men have a trade, such as farming, furniture-making or carpentry. A man will traditionally pass down a trade to his sons, and perhaps retire from it when his youngest son turns 21, Gingerich said. He currently has a 13-year-old son that hes teaching to run the band saw. It depends on how they mature, he said.

Back in North Carolina, Gingerich drives a horse and buggy. When he was living in Mississippi in 2003, a car rear-ended his buggy on a public road. A mini-van hit me in the back full speed, he said.

He was hospitalized for about six weeks, and unable to work for about eight months. It was a miracle I lived through it, Gingerich said.

The mini-van driver got distracted by her children in the backseat of her car, he said. I dont blame her, he said. I make mistakes myself.

When accidents and hospital bills happen to a member of the Amish, the entire community chips in to help pay bills and do their work, Gingerich said.

If anything tragic happens, the community helps them, he said. Thats an important thing to keep.
A Vestavia Hills woman was charged with disorderly conduct today after putting green sidewalk paint on the glass in the gallery overlooking the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives during a debate over a bill to make abortion a felony, House Clerk Jeff Woodard said.

Woodard said Anne Susan Diprizo, 48, was arrested after yelling loudly in the gallery, saying the word dumb repeatedly and slinging the paint on security officers who intervened. She was taken to the Montgomery County jail, he said.

Abortion rights protesters painted the window in the House Gallery during debate on the abortion ban bill at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala., Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)AP

Abortion rights advocates watched the two-hour debate as the House passed the abortion ban by a vote of 74-3, with Republicans supporting the measure and Democrats arguing against it and at one point walking off the House floor in protest.

The bill moves to the Senate. It would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion. Exceptions would be allowed to protect the life or health of the mother but not for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. The woman receiving an abortion would not be criminally or civilly liable.

The sponsor, Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said the intent is to trigger litigation that could lead to a challenge of the Roe v. Wade decision.

Updated at 7:03 p.m. to add womans name.
The Alabama Attorney Generals Office will not take action regarding a womans allegations against former Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin, a news report says.

Alabama's State Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation of allegations made by Tuscaloosa woman Mary Elizabeth Cross, which were published by AL.com last year. Cross accused Entrekin of having sex with her while she was under the legal age of consent in 1992. Local police in neighboring Blount County had opened an investigation into the claims before the state stepped in.

The Gadsden Times reported this week that the attorney generals office recently sent a letter regarding that investigation to the Etowah County District Attorneys office and to Entrekins attorney, Donald Rhea.

The attorney generals office reviewed the SBI probe and closed the matter without further action, according to the report in The Gadsden Times.

Contacted by AL.com late Monday, the attorney generals office declined to comment and would not confirm or deny the report.

Etowah County District Attorney District Attorney Jody Willoughby told The Gadsden Times he received a copy of the letter from the attorney generals office last week. It was dated March 20. Willoughby did not return calls for comment today.

Rhea, Entrekins attorney, declined to comment for this article.
Alabamas House has passed what would be one of the nations strictest anti-abortion laws, leaving no exceptions for victims of rape or incest and making it a felony to perform the procedure.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said the bill is designed to force the matter to the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that gave women the right to terminate a pregnancy.

The bill passed 74 to 3; most Democrats had walked out before the vote. The bill now goes to the State Senate.

The measure has drawn national attention. Heres what they are saying:

The Hill

Alabama bill banning nearly all abortions passes House almost unanimously

The people of Alabama are paying the bill for unconstitutional legislation and we hope that the Senate members will realize its detrimental impact and stop this bill from becoming law," a statement from the ACLU read. Otherwise it will be challenged in federal court.

NBC News

Abortion ban designed to challenge Roe v. Wade passes Alabama House

Emboldened by new conservatives on the Supreme Court, abortion opponents in several states are seeking to incite new legal fights in the hopes of challenging Roe v. Wade. The Alabama bill comes on the heels of several states considering or approving bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which occurs in about the sixth week of pregnancy.

As the AL House Dems walked out of the House chamber to support destroying a baby w/ abortions, the @ALHouseGOP stayed,stood strong for the unborn. Thank you @RepTerriCollins Rep Rich Wingo for speaking for those who cant and want to live- just like all of us #ALpolitics pic.twitter.com/kaaXJG56ZK  Terry Lathan (@ChairmanLathan) May 1, 2019

CBS News

Alabama abortion doctors could face up to 99 years in jail in newly approved state abortion ban

Because federal law supersedes state law, Alabama would be in violation of the U.S. Constitution if lawmakers attempted to implement the legislation, noted several politicians. If passed, the legislation would likely join a host of other contested laws that anti-abortion activists hope will rise to the Supreme Court and potentially overturn Roe v. Wade. The proposed law flatly rejects the decision, saying that judges and legal scholars have disagreed and dissented with its finding.

NY Post

Alabama House approves near total abortion ban

Supporters said the bill is intentionally designed to conflict with the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationally, hoping to spark court cases that might prompt the justices to revisit Roe. The bill contains an exemption for situations in which there is a serious risk to the mothers health, but not for rape and incest.

Todays floor debate on #HB314 made it crystal clear what Alabama lawmakers think about women. It also revealed just how callous and flagrant they can be. They voted overwhelmingly to reject any exception for rape or incest. #alpolitics  Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates (@PPSE_Advocates) April 30, 2019

Instead, they are forcing the people of this state to fund this political game they are playing, with Alabama women as their pawns. #HB314 #alpolitics  Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates (@PPSE_Advocates) April 30, 2019

USA Today

Alabama House approves near total ban on abortion

The legislation does not provide exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Abortions could only be performed if the life of the mother was threatened, or if a mental illness meant giving birth would lead to the womans death or that of her child. The bill would also provide an exception for a lethal anomaly, where the child would die shortly after birth or be stillborn.

The Cut

Alabama House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill That Would Make Abortion a Felony

The bill also contains a chain of outrageous anti-abortion talking points, comparing abortion to the Holocaust and other genocides. It bewails that more than 50 million babies have been aborted in the United States since the Roe decision in 1973, more than three times the number who were killed in German death camps, Chinese purges, Stalins gulags, Cambodian killing fields, and the Rwandan genocide combined.
A proposed amendment to the state constitution that would enable Alabama judges to hold more people without bond passed through a House committee hearing Wednesday.

The amendment, sponsored by State Rep. Chip Brown, R-Mobile, in March, went before the House Judiciary Committee and passed within about seven minutes.

It has been seen as popular among lawmakers and recently received overwhelming support from politicians and law enforcement in Mobile.

We are seeing violent offenders taken to jail released only to reoffend, said James Barber, the city of Mobiles executive director of public safety, during a council meeting Apr. 3.

It goes back to the Alabama Constitution where everyone has a right to pre-trial bail except in capital offenses. When the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction and the likelihood that the person is going to reoffend, we are asking the judges to then hold them without bail so we can have a cooling off period.

If passed in the current legislative session, it would then put a constitutional amendment on a statewide ballot for consideration by voters in 2020, Brown said.

Currently, Section 16 of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 holds that "all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great; and that excessive bail shall not in any case be required."

The proposed amendment would reformulate that, significantly increasing judges' discretion: "Every person charged with a crime may be entitled to pretrial bail on reasonable conditions, unless charged with a capital offense or an offense punishable by life without parole or life imprisonment when the proof is evident or the presumption is great. If no conditions of release can reasonably protect the community from risk of physical harm to the accused, the public, or both, ensure the presence of the accused at trial, or ensure the integrity of the judicial process, the accused may be detained without bail. Excessive bail shall not in any case be imposed or required."

During the announcement in Government Plaza on March 18, Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich, a long-time critic of some bond decisions handed down by Mobile judges, said that she supported the bill 100 percent.

"We all know there are many defendants who need to be held with no bond that are not charged with capital crimes, she said. This will help us and allow us to do that in those type of situations. So we are very, very grateful that we have a member of the house that will introduce this bill for us."

Its not clear how many more people would be detained pre-trial or exactly how far judges would take the new powers.

While Mobile Sheriff Sam Cochran also supported the bill, the Mobile County Metro Jail is already filled beyond capacity.

The jail is designed to hold 1,189 people and had 1,547 inmates at the end of March.

Cochran said he only expected a handful of the most dangerous pre-trial detainees to remain in the county jail and that he hoped the balance would level out by judges giving more lenient bonds for those accused of non-violent crimes.
Catholic schools in central and north Alabama could get a boost from a new organization created to grant scholarships through a provision of the Alabama Accountability Act.

Officials with C Scholarships, an organization that gathers donation to fund tuition for eligible K-12 students, announced its formation during a brunch and panel discussion on school choice Wednesday morning in Birmingham.

The scholarship granting organization, or SGO, was officially granted state permission to participate in the Alabama Accountability Act tax credit scholarship program in December. It can now accept contributions from donors and distribute scholarships to eligible students to attend one of the 22 Catholic schools in central and north Alabama.

The mission of Catholic schools fits seamlessly into the SGO, officials said.

Weve always had this value of educating the poor, Rev. Richard Donohoe said, and C Scholarships will allow them to broaden their reach by providing funding for tuition that might not otherwise be affordable for families.

Donohoe has served on the board of the Alabama Opportunity Scholarship Fund, one of the first SGOs created under the Alabama Accountability Act and has seen how many students are on waiting lists, unable to get a scholarship because the donations weren't available.

Donohoe said he hopes to expand access to students in urban and rural areas, places where Catholic schools are already located.

Julie Emory-Johnson, the director of Catholic schools in the area, said students from poor families arent the only ones who benefit from scholarships. Integrating students of all income levels in Catholic schools makes everyone better, she said. We produce citizens, she said. We produce people with a social conscience.

"It is a gift to the whole community," Donohoe said, "because it causes a level of communication [among students] that would never otherwise occur."

Donohoe said school choice is important because education can occur in multiple ways. "We offer a different flavor," Donohoe said, "and it has sprinkles on it."

The organization is the result of a combined effort between Catholic Charities and the Catholic schools of central and north Alabama. Since being granted official participation status, Donohoe has traveled to more than 40 parishes in Alabama to spread the word, he said.

Sam Di Piazza, an Alabama native who is currently the board chair of the Mayo Clinic, delivered the keynote during the brunch, and challenged the 150 attendees to spread the word and encourage not only donations but also families to educate their children in Catholic schools.

The U.S. Department of Educations director of outreach spoke on the panel, telling attendees that the Education Freedom Scholarships proposed in Congressional bills sponsored by Alabama Rep. Bradley Byrne and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz complements Alabamas existing program.

"The greatest thing about this proposal is the decision-making about what that program looks like is left up to the states," Daniela Garcia said.

If the federal legislation passed, and every state participated and every cap was reached, Garcia said, "that would be an additional $87 million for the state to help educate their students."

Tax-credit scholarships are currently available in 18 states, though regulations differ among programs. C Scholarships is one of seven SGOs in Alabama.

Approximately 3,700 students are using the scholarships in Alabama public and private schools for the current school year. About one-third of those using scholarships are enrolled in Catholic schools.
A bill to restrict sheriffs from using money allocated for feeding inmates in county jails for other purposes was passed by the Alabama House of Representatives tonight.

The bill, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, was amended by the House and will have to return to the Senate before getting final passage.

In addition to placing new controls on the food money, the bill increases the state allowance to county sheriffs from $1.75 a day to $2.25 a day. The House stripped a provision that would have automatically increased the allowance by 2 percent a year starting in 2021.

The bill also sets up an emergency fund that counties could turn to in the event of cost overruns.

The bill came in response to some high-profile examples of sheriffs pocketing leftover food money.

Lawmakers said most sheriffs handled their food funds correctly. The Alabama Sheriffs Association supports the bill.

The House passed the bill by a vote of 102-0.
This is an opinion column.

Ive never written about abortion because the only belief Ive had on the subject is that everyone is wrong. Every argument has a weakness. Every viewpoint has a valid counterpoint. This is why the issue has never been settled and may never go away.

The only arguments Ive come to trust are from those that admit they dont know, either, which is where Roe v. Wade ultimately landed.

When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of mans knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote for the majority.

The most defensible ground is that its a decision best left to the individual.

That was the comfortable, complacent corner I had settled in  until this week.

On Tuesday, the Alabama House approved a ban on nearly all abortions in the state. Its sponsor, state Rep. Terri Collins, said the bill was designed to do one thing and one thing only  to serve as a legal spear to the heart of Roe v. Wade.

In actuality, the bill  which needlessly duplicates similar efforts in other states  isnt novel. It doesnt make an argument that hasnt been made before, nor does it test a newly discovered soft spot in Roes defenses. Instead, it seeks only to take advantage of a freshly stacked Supreme Court.

But in practicality, it does much worse  it goes to awful lengths that even many pro-life advocates find cold and morally contemptible.

Unlike other attempted bans, this one does not provide exceptions for incest and rape. Victims of incest and rape would have to have their rapists babies.

Nor does the bill strip rapists of parental rights. Mothers could have to fight their rapists for custody.

Just imagine giving your child over to for visitation with a family member who had raped you.

When state Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, attempted to amend the bill to insert those boilerplate exceptions, the Alabama Legislature voted down party lines, 72-to-26, to assault rape victims twice.

At that moment, the supporters of this bill revealed their intentions, this time without apology or pretense.

In years past, when these same lawmakers pushed cooling off periods and invasive ultrasounds, when they put oppressive restrictions on clinics  they insisted they did so for the sake of mothers.

All of that  all lies.

When Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, proposed an amendment that would make Alabama lawmakers pay the legal costs for this bill from their salaries, the Republican majority rejected that, too. If theyre wrong, and the courts shred this law like others before it, let taxpayers pay the cost, as we always have.

However, those votes created clarity where there had been none before: There is no empathy in this bill and its supporters have no consideration for the consequences of their actions.

They dont care.

This isnt only about a womans right to choose. Its about how we treat women when they never had a choice. Its about whether we treat women as people, or as incubators.

They dont care.

But even as incubators, Alabama doesnt treat mothers well. Already in Alabama, Medicaid pays for half of births, but Alabama lawmakers refuse to expand the program. Instead, every session, lawmakers treat mothers like parasites on the system.

They don't care.

The Alabama Department of Public Health estimates that more than a quarter of mothers here dont receive adequate prenatal care, and thats when the state is taken as a whole. In Greene County, for instance, less than half of mothers receive adequate prenatal care. Meanwhile, Alabama has ranked third-worst in low birthweight and preterm births for the last four years.

They dont care.

Rural hospitals continue to struggle, and less than half of the counties in Alabama even have a delivery room. Alabama consistently ranks in the worst five states for infant mortality, and twice in the last five years, it has been the worst.

They dont care.

When pro-choice advocates showed up at the Alabama State House two weeks ago dressed in those red robes from The Handmaids Tale, I bristled, and I wondered who were they hoping to persuade. Was some lawmaker, on the fence, suddenly going to switch sides because of somebodys cosplay?

They dont care.

But if you, like me, thought for a moment those women in the red cloaks were overstating things, you were wrong. There is no centrist ground to claim anymore, no safe place to play On this Hand/And on the Other. No appeal to reason will persuade these lawmakers.

You may call them anti-abortion. Theyve earned that label. But dont dare call them pro-life, because as theyve shown time again 

They dont care.

Kyle Whitmire is the state political columnist for the Alabama Media Group.

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An Alabama legislative panel today certified that a deceased mans family is eligible for compensation because he spent 12 years in prison on a criminal conviction that was overturned in a second trial.

The Committee on Compensation for Wrongful Incarceration made the decision based on a determination by the State Department of Finance Division of Risk Management that the application for Don W. Grimes met the criteria for compensation.

State law authorizes the committee to certify awards of $50,000 for each year a wrongly convicted person spends in prison.

Grimes was arrested for first-degree robbery in Henry County in 1984 and was convicted in 1987.

In 1996, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama reversed the conviction, finding that African-Americans had been purposefully struck from the jury. The federal court ordered the state to release Grimes or hold a new trial.

Later that year, a Henry County jury found Grimes not guilty.

The Division of Risk Management determined that Grimes family is eligible for $602,604 based on the 12 years he was incarcerated. The committee certified the eligibility.

For payment to be made, lawmakers will have to place the appropriation in the state General Fund budget.

Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, chairman of the Committee on Compensation for Wrongful Incarceration and the House General Fund budget chairman, said he would recommend $50,000 in next years budget for Grimes family.

The budget already includes $50,000 in compensation for wrongful incarceration in three other cases  Antonio S. Williams, Joseph M. Littleton, and Beniah Dandridge.

Next years payments would be the third annual payments in the cases of Williams and Littleton and the second in the case of Dandridge.

Rep. Dexter Grimsley, D-Newville, who represents Henry County, said he had been in touch with Grimes family about the case.

Alabama and national politics.
An Alabama man accused of killing his brother last fall may not be competent to stand trial.

The Dothan Eagle reports 58-year-old Thomas Michael Goulart, of Daleville, was examined by a forensic psychologist and the evaluation report submitted to the court contains reasonable grounds to doubt his mental competency.

A grand jury indicted Goulart Nov. 29 for the Nov. 24 slaying of his brother, 52-year-old Chris Goulart. Thomas Goulart pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder charges by reason of mental disease or defect.

Thomas Goulart's attorney, David Harrison, believes a mental disorder is to blame for the deadly shooting that happened during an altercation at a home near the Daleville gate to Fort Rucker.

A competency hearing is scheduled May 14.
An Alabama woman, who has been jailed for nearly 17 months on a capital murder charge, is pregnant after what her attorney said was a jailhouse rape she cannot remember.

Latoni Daniel, 26, is expected to deliver her child this month, said Mickey McDermott, a civil attorney representing her. McDermott said he believes Daniel was raped in the Coosa County jail.

Daniel has been jailed without bail since December 5, 2017. She was arrested in connection with a robbery and fatal shooting in Coosa County, a case in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. McDermott said Daniel hasnt been allowed to see visitors  except her attorneys  and is only allowed to communicate with friends, family or others via phone and letters.

We believe she was assaulted and raped inside the jail, McDermott said. Ms. Daniel cannot consent to sexual contact while she is in custody.

McDermott said Daniel is prescribed a sedative to treat a seizure disorder. Because the medication causes prolonged sleep periods, McDermott said, its possible Daniel was raped and became pregnant while she was on the medication.

She has no memory of any sexual contact whatsoever, McDermott said. Shes reported shes a rape victim and no one is investigating.

Coosa County Sheriff Michael Howell, who is responsible for the jail, took office earlier this year  months after Daniel got pregnant. Terry Wilson was the previous sheriff.

Attempts to reach Howell and Wilson for comment were not immediately successful.

In December 2018, Daniel was transferred from the Coosa County lockup to the jail in neighboring Talladega County, a move her attorney says happened after her pregnancy was confirmed.

McDermott sent a letter to state and local officials asking them to investigate how Daniel got pregnant and who is the babys father. McDermott said neither the Alabama Attorney General, former Coosa County sheriff, the county commission nor the district attorney have responded to his request.

Neither District Attorney Jeffrey Willis nor a county spokeswoman returned calls from AL.com seeking comment.

The Attorney Generals Office has no comment, said Mike Lewis, a spokesman for Marshalls office, in an email to AL.com.

In Alabama, its illegal for any jail employee to have sexual contact with an inmate. Consent isnt a defense.

Circuit Judge David Law is considering whether to set bail for Daniel ahead of the birth of her child. In court records, attorneys on Daniels criminal case said she needs to be released on bail so she can access adequate prenatal and other needed medical care. McDermott said family members have agreed to care for Daniels baby after the birth.

Daniel was arrested December 5, 2017 in the slaying of 87-year-old Thomas Virgil Chandler, who was robbed and shot. Shes charged along with her 28-year-old now-former boyfriend LaDaniel Tuck. Court records say Daniel was the getaway driver  not the shooter.
Efforts to reduce the penalties for marijuana possession met some resistance in the Alabama State House today.

The House Judiciary Committee debated a bill by Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, that would make possession of one ounce or less a violation, less serious than a misdemeanor and punishable only by fines.

Fines would be up to $250 on the first two convictions and up to $500 on third and subsequent convictions.

Several committee members said they were concerned that would drop the penalties too low, especially for repeat offenders who would never face a misdemeanor charge for an ounce or less.

Committee Chairman Jim Hill, R-Moody, said he did not want Halls bill to die and assigned it to a subcommittee on criminal justice bills.

Rep. Tim Wadsworth, R-Arley, chairman of that subcommittee, said he expects it to meet next week. Wadsworth said he believes the panel can find common ground on a bill that would reduce the penalty for a small amount of marijuana to a violation, but said it would likely be an amount smaller than one ounce.

Bills to reduce the penalties for marijuana have been introduced for years but have not passed.

Under current law, possession of marijuana for personal use is a Class A misdemeanor, which can bring a penalty of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $6,000.

Last year, the House Judiciary Committee blocked a bill by Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, similar to Halls.

Two weeks ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill similar to Halls by Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, on an 11-0 vote.

Singletons bill has not been considered by the full Senate.

This story was updated at 3:29 p.m. to say bill was sent to a subcommittee.
The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday night approved a resolution supporting an Alabama state legislature bill that would revise the states current first-degree marijuana possession law.

The bill, Senate Bill 98, by Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro), if adopted, would require possession of two or more ounces of marijuana for a person to be charged with first-degree possession of marijuana. The bill would revise the penalties for 24 violations.

The Council passes Item 20 pic.twitter.com/eXzH2sN1Gp  Bham City Council (@citycouncilbham) April 30, 2019

Under the bill, a second-degree possession of marijuana charge would require a person to possess one or more ounces but less than two ounces of marijuana. This bill would also create the crime of possession of marijuana in the third degree for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.

The bill would provide that a first or second conviction would be a violation with applicable fines that would not appear on a persons criminal record. A third or subsequent offense would be a Class A misdemeanor.

Read the full text of the bill below:
The warm words exchanged by Republicans and Democrats in the Alabama House of Representatives after passing a gasoline tax in March did not carry over to a bill to make abortion a felony on Tuesday.

Democrats denounced the abortion bill and took the unusual move of walking off the floor for a press conference in the middle of the discussion of the bill.

When it came time to vote shortly after that, most of the Democrats passed. It would not have mattered because Republicans hold 76 of 104 seats and supported the bill. It passed 74-3.

House members had already staked out their positions on an earlier vote. House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, proposed an amendment to allow an exception to the abortion ban in cases of rape and incest. It was rejected by a vote of 72-26.

The bills sponsor, Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said she did not want to change the bill because she wanted it to stand as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1973 that found states could not ban abortion.

My goal with this bill is to let the Supreme Court possibly revisit that decision on just the issue that they made that decision, which was, is that baby in the womb a person. Collins said.

Rep. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, proposed an amendment to require lawmakers who vote for the bill to bear the legal costs of any resulting litigation, having it deducted from their legislative pay. The House voted it down 61-27.

Daniels, who joined Republican leaders and Gov. Kay Ivey for a ceremonial bill signing on the gas tax increase two months ago, said the abortion bill was a step back from that collaborative effort. Only two of the 28 House Democrats had voted against the gas tax.

Its unfortunate that we are dealing with something yet again thats going to end up in court and litigation, Daniels said Tuesday. I just felt really good about the way things were prior to today where we were working together in more of a bipartisan manner. And then bringing this particular bill that really divides us tremendously.

Rep. Barbara Boyd, D-Anniston, who is in her seventh term in the House, said Democrats have been fighting for years for issues that will help women and children without support in the Republican-led Legislature, like removing the sales tax from groceries and Medicaid expansion.

I understand the process, Boyd said. But our message needs to get out to the public so that the public can understand it. They can fight this battle better than most of us.

Boyd borrowed a line from Fannie Lou Hamer, who was born into a sharecropper family in Mississippi and became an important voice in the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

We are a little bit like Fannie Hamer, Boyd said. Sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Rep. Rich Wingo, R-Tuscaloosa, said Tuesdays vote would be as important as any lawmakers will ever take. He noted that unborn children are recognized as victims in cases of homicide under Alabama law. He said families are waiting to adopt children from mothers who cant support them.

Everyone in this room knows that life begins at conception, Wingo said. Everyone knows that.

Collins bill would make it a Class A felony, punishable by 10 to 99 years for a doctor to perform an abortion. Women receiving abortions would not be liable. Exceptions would be allowed to protect women from serious health risks. The bill moves to the Senate.

Edited at 7:40 a.m. to correct the number of Republicans in the House.
Amid a months-long impasse over disaster relief funding, Sen. Doug Jones urged his Senate colleagues on Tuesday to get behind a bipartisan package that includes aid for the Lee County tornadoes and damage to cotton crops in the Wiregrass caused by Hurricane Michael.

Its hard for folks to understand  why we cant get something done, Jones, a Democrat, said during a news conference Tuesday with four Republican senators who support the $13.6 billion relief package. Sometimes this is just kind of typical of the dysfunction that we see up here all too often in Washington, D.C.

Jones noted that he made another visit to Lee County last week  where 23 people were killed after tornadoes touched down March 3  and toured the Wiregrass last summer, where crops were damaged in October from heavy rains and wind from Michael.

I want to be able to look these folks in the eyes and tell them that we are trying to do everything we can because when they look back at you, they wonder, Are you really? Are you really? the senator said. They dont know all the work that these guys [in Congress] have done.

Alabamas other senator, Republican Richard Shelby, who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, has backed a competing bill that also allocates aid for Alabama disasters. Shelby had called on his colleagues to back that legislation because it has the support of President Trump, but it failed earlier this month.

There has been gridlock in the Senate on disaster relief, with Democrats demanding more aid be given to Puerto Rico than what Trump will sign off on.

The two sides have tried to pass a relief package since January.
A retired Army Major General and one-time commander of the elite Delta Force died in a lawnmower accident at his Alabama home, according to reports.

Retired Major Gen. Eldon Bargewell, 72, died Monday after his lawnmower rolled over an embankment behind his house in Eufaula, WRBL reported.

According to his military biography, Bargewell enlisted in the Army in 1967 and served in Vietnam, where he earned the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism. According to the award citation, Bargewell placed a deadly volume of machine gun fire on the enemy during an attack, despite being wounded himself. He later refused medical treatment in order to defend the area and allow the safe extraction of his team.

Staff Sergeant Bargewell's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army, the commendation said.

Bargewell reportedly conducted over 25 reconnaissance, direct action and team recovery missions into Laos and North Vietnam.

Bargewell received his officers commission in 1973, and went on to serve as unit commander for Delta Force, where he participated in the invasion of Panama and later in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm. He went on to lead U.S. Special Operations Command, serving as Director of Strategic Operations at Multinational Force Iraq and Commanding General of Special Operations Command Europe.

His decorations include three Bronze Stars with combat V for valor under fire; four Purple Hearts; the Army Commendation Medal with combat V; and a Presidential Unit Citation.

A Washington native, Bargewell retired in 2006 and moved to Eufaula. At the time of his retirement, Bargewell was reportedly the most highly decorated soldier still on active duty.
The state of Washington has about 19,000 inmates, slightly fewer than Alabama. But the similarity ends there.

Washingtons prison workforce includes 3,500 correctional officers - triple the size of Alabamas and better paid.

Washington also has newer and less crowded prisons  with better funding than what Alabama's system has gotten.

Alabama prisons do have one thing Washington's does not  violence and abuse so bad that the U.S. Justice Department has stepped in.

The DOJ, following a more than two-year investigation, issued a report last month alleging that conditions inside Alabamas mens prisons violate the constitutional rights of prisoners because of the level of violence, sexual abuse and other dangers.

Alabama is now nearing a 49-day deadline to fix some of those problems. The report by the DOJ and three U.S. attorneys from Alabama said overcrowding and understaffing compounded the problems.

That reinforced the findings in an ongoing, five-year-old federal lawsuit over health care for inmates. In that case, the Alabama Department of Corrections is under a court order to add 2,200 correctional officers over the next few years, a number based on ADOCs own analysis.

But that hasn't happened.

While staffing isn't the only issue. It's among the biggest differences, as Alabama compares itself to other, more successful states.

Washington

The former head of the prison system in Washington state said Alabama needs a much larger workforce to manage the five maximum security and eight medium security prisons for men,

They just dont have enough resources, said Eldon Vail, who is an expert witness in the health care lawsuit. They dont have enough staff. Thats the first step. Theyve got to get enough officers to keep each other safe and to keep the prisoners safe.

You get that platform in place you can start to develop programs that have an impact not only on prison safety but on community safety, which is ultimately the goal.

Personnel is the biggest cost for prison systems. And few, if any, state prison budgets are stretched as tightly as Alabamas.

The Legislature has increased funding and appears likely to do so again next year. But thats from a rock bottom starting point.

Lowest spending per inmate

A 2015 report by the Vera Institute said Alabama spent $14,780 per inmate, less than any other state.

Alabama even trailed neighboring states by thousands of dollars per inmate each year in 2015. Kentucky and Louisiana spent about $2,000 more per inmate than Alabama, while Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Arkansas spent $4,000 to $6,000 more.

Alabama looked worse when compared to states outside the South. The national average was about $33,000 per inmate, more than double what Alabama spent.

The ADOCs annual report for 2017 said daily spending per inmate rose to $52 in Alabama, which is slightly less than $19,000 a year.

More ideas for Alabama

 One of the recommendations in the Justice Department report is to add 500 employees for security purposes within six months.

 Gov. Kay Ivey and legislators are proposing pay increases and bonuses to boost recruiting and retention of correctional officers.

 Another proposal is to create a new basic correctional officer position. Candidates would have a shorter training course than the 12-week law enforcement training required of correctional officers and could be on the job more quickly.

Better pay for guards

Warren Averett CPAs and Advisors, a company hired by the ADOC to conduct a staffing analysis as part of the inmate health care court case, found low pay is one factor that cripples the ADOCs efforts to hire and keep officers.

The mean salary for Alabama correctional officers and jailers is $35,370, the report says, compared to $44,490 for police and sheriffs patrol officers.

The report recommended boosting the pay for correctional officer trainees from about $29,000 to the range of $36,000 to $38,000.

Warren Averett also recommended signing and retention bonuses for completion of training and for completion of one, two and three years on the job.

Better pay in Washington

The range of pay for a level one correctional officer in Washington is about $36,000 to about $48,000, according to the Washington State Department of Corrections. A level two officer represented by the Teamsters can earn $42,000 to $56,000.

A Washington state prison spokesperson say the annual average pay for department of corrections employees is $76,500, which includes all employees but the majority are correctional officers.

Its basically a living wage, Vail said. Its a pretty stable agency. So, if you like the work and youre good at it and you hang around long enough and you want to promote, youre going to have that opportunity.

Vail, the former head of the Washington prison system, said an affiliation with the Teamsters Union gives correctional officers in that state political clout.

How far is Alabama willing to go to fund prisons?

The Alabama House of Representatives recently approved a General Fund budget that would increase the General Fund appropriation for the Alabama Department of Corrections to $517 million in 2020, $40 million more than this year and $70 million more than last year.

Meanwhile, Washington's budget this year is $528 million..

For comparison, Alabama has a population of 4.9 million and Washington 7.5 million. Alabama's prison population is 486 (down from 571 in 2016) per 100,000 population and Washington's is 262 per 100,000, according to the latest numbers from a DOJ report issued last week.

Here is our complete coverage of Alabamas prison crisis

Alabama plan

In Alabama, the prison debate has focused on new facilities.

The Ivey administration is developing a plan to request proposals from companies to build three mens prisons holding 3,000 or more inmates and lease them to the state. Some lawmakers said they expect separate legislative proposals on prison construction.

The DOJ report stated decrepit conditions are common throughout Alabamas prisons. The report said new facilities would not resolve the contributing factors to the overall unconstitutional conditions.

Vail said new prisons built in Washington state in the 1990s and 2000s were a major factor in improving safety and staffing.

Vail said the prisons were designed with central, large open spaces designed for interaction between officers and inmates outside their cells, an approach he called direct supervision.

Direct supervision

Officers were trained to control behavior through verbal skills to the extent possible.

When youre in that sort of in-the-round environment you get to know the prisoners, Vail said. You know when theyre off their baseline.

He said officers try to teach inmates to check the errors in their thinking that lead them to lash out and get in trouble.

That kind of interaction is possible in direct supervision, Vail said. Youve got to have enough staff to do it. Youve got to train them to do it. But in hindsight, I think thats been huge in terms of the success in Washington.

Reducing population

Experts and advocates say Alabama can borrow ideas from criminal justice reforms in other states. Those states made changes that send fewer offenders to crowded and costly prisons, placing more emphasis on supervision, accountability and treatment than incarceration.

The Alabama Legislature has done that too, at least to some extent, passing sentencing guidelines and criminal justice reforms that have dropped the prison population from about 25,000 in 2014 to about 20,000.

The DOJ report, however, said the 13 mens prisons still have about 180 percent of the inmate population they were designed to hold. "Alabama has one of the most overcrowded prison systems in the nation," the report states.

Washington, meanwhile, reports its percent of prison population to operational capacity to be at 100 percent.

Jay Town, U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, has said the Legislature should consider changing penalties for some drug and property offenses. Town is the lead U.S. attorney for the DOJ investigation.

Other Southern states

Craig DeRoche, senior vice president for public policy and advocacy for Prison Fellowship, a Christian prison advocacy group, said every prison system in America needs significant improvements. But DeRoche and others, including Pat Nolan, director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform at the American Conservative Union, say there are success stories in some states.

They cite Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas as examples.

 A decade ago under former Gov. Nathan Deal, Georgia changed drug crime enforcement to emphasize accountability and treatment for offenders, not incarceration. Starting in 2009, the number of people going to prison dropped 15 percent over five years, including 19 percent fewer black men, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

 Texas, in 2007, faced with a projected need for 17,000 new prison beds in five years, began pumping hundreds of millions into drug courts and rehabilitation and education for offenders. Texas has reduced its prison population by 30,000 and closed eight prisons.

 North Carolina saw its prison population drop 9.6 percent from 2011 to 2015, reversing a trend of 29 percent growth from 2000 to 2009, after passing a Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act.

 South Carolinas prison population declined 14 percent from 2009 to 2016. Nonviolent offenders had made up 48 percent of the prison population, but that dropped to 32 percent.

Change slow to come to Alabama

Federal intervention and the health care lawsuit are driving change in Alabama. Nolan said the prevalence of violence and rape in prisons is disturbing aside from the legal consequences.

Morally, too, its a stain on us as a nation that this would be going on, Nolan said.

Nolan said he was involved in the drafting of Prison Rape Elimination Act, a federal law for which former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was a co-sponsor. Massachusetts and San Francisco are examples of jurisdictions where officials have taken a hard stance against prison rapes, Nolan said.

Nolan said state leaders have to make it clear that they wont cede control of prisons to inmate gangs and wont turn their heads away from violence and sexual abuse.

There has to be a signal from the top that this is important; it wont be tolerated, Nolan said.

DeRoche said hiring more staff is a good start to fixing Alabamas prisons. A commitment to change the toxic culture in prisons is also essential, he said.

Sometimes the most important policy decision is to roll up your sleeves and get involved and not to forget that the people in prison are human beings, said DeRoche, a former speaker of the House in the Michigan legislature.
Following the death of Nigel Shelby a gay teenager in Huntsville, rainbow buttons were donned at city council meetings, fundraisers for the family were held and condolences offered. But Huntsville city officials have no concrete plans to introduce ordinances that would make the city safer or more inclusive for LGBTQ residents.

Alabama is one of 30 states that do not protect LGBTQ people in its non-discrimination policies.

It is the responsibility of municipalities like Huntsville to establish their own non-discrimination policies and resources for LGBTQ residents since these communities are not protected at a state level, said Dillon Nettles, a policy analyst for American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama.

I think part of what city government can do in taking the steps to pass local city ordinances to safeguard the LGBTQ community is acknowledging that we are here, Nettles said. Its such a tragic situation, so it would be really even more sad to see no productive response come as a result of this.

Shelby died by suicide in part because of the bullying he faced as a freshman at Huntsville High School. His death led to a wave of social media support to end bullying among youth and calls to support LGBTQ students.

Each year, the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy organization, releases a Muncipal Equity Index Scorecard, measuring efforts by cities to become more inclusive and safecities are for LGBTQ citizens by examining criteria like whether local anti-discrimination ordinances exist.

The majority of Alabamas cities did not fare well.

Huntsville, one of Alabamas fastest-growing metro ares, scored a 19 out of a possible 100. Mobile also scored a 19. Other cities examined in the report scored even lower. Montgomery scored a 17, Florence scored a 12, and Auburn scored the lowest out of each of the Alabama cities studied, with a score of 4.

Tuscaloosa fared slightly better with a score of 30.

Birmingham was one of the few cities in the South to receive a score of 100. Nettles said this is in part because of the citys recent reforms, including the creation of the Birmingham Human Rights Commission, which investigates and resolves discriminatory practices for housing matters and the appointment of an LGBTQ liaison for the city.

Birmingham also approved a city ordinance in 2018 to adopt a nondiscrimination ordinance that includes sexual orientation.

Huntsvilles low score is due in part because of the lack of protections the city provides to prevent LGBTQ people from being discriminated against in employment and housing opportunities.

Huntsville City Councilwoman Frances Akridge, dawned a rainbow pin at last weeks city council meeting in honor of Shelby and spoke out on the importance of kindness but told AL.com this week shes unaware of any efforts to improve local LGBTQ protections.

I'm not a civil rights lawyer, so I don't know what it would look like to make plans to address protections for LGBTQ on a local level, Akridge told AL.com. We abide by all federal and state laws.

In response to AL.coms questions about the potential for new safeguards for LGBTQ citizens, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle offered condolences to Shelbys family and referenced the citys dedication to mental health resources.

Our communitys heart goes out to the family of Nigel Shelby. Huntsville is very much focused on mental health. Our community leaders tell us its the single most important issue to address  one that takes on many forms and challenges, Battle said in an email. No family, no business, no school is immune. Were determined to keep trying to build a safety net by working with mental health professionals and school counselors, training interventionists and creating a culture of support so that help is readily available for those in need at any age."

AL.com reached out to Huntsville City Schools, but as of publication a spokesperson had not responded to questions about the potential for new LGBTQ protections or programs.

Nettles said the city should be working to enact employment and housing non-discrimination laws and making sure all schools have counselors trained to assist LGBTQ youth. He also said it is important for law enforcement to reach out to organizations such as Equality Alabama and the state chapter of the Human Rights Campaign to make sure their training includes LGBTQ allyship.

Jamie Foster, executive director of Equality Alabama, said in a statement to AL.com that its important to take time to grieve the death of Shelby.

While there is much work that can be done locally to protect and improve the quality of life for LGBTQ Alabamians such as municipal protections, updating school policies, continued learning and education for mental health professionals, administrators, and educators, et al., it is important to pause and honor the grief and loss of Nigel Shelbys family and loved ones as the effects of this tragedy ripple across our state.

Protecting our people, our children, our families is a priority for all Alabamians. There'll be a time to get to work and when that time comes, my hope is that the citizens, community leaders, and elected officials of the city of Huntsville will act on their commitments to mental health initiatives in specifically inclusive and demonstrable ways to ensure that LGBTQ youth and their loved ones have the resources they need not only to survive, but thrive.

Last week, just days after Shelbys death, a Madison County Sheriffs Deputy posted homophobic comments on Facebook under a story about Shelby. The deputy was suspended for his actions.

Nettles said Alabamas current sex education laws, or lack thereof, can also play into negative LGBTQ stereotypes.

Alabama does not require schools to teach sex education, but the state guidelines includes homophobic language in its rhetoric.

Classes must emphasize, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state, Nettles said.

A bill updating this language and modifying the sex education guidelines passed the state Senate on April 16 and was read for the first time in the House of Representatives April 18.

If you or someone you know is feeling hopeless or suicidal, contact The Trevor Projects TrevorLifeline 24/7/365 at 1-866-488-7386. Counseling is also available 24/7/365 via chat every day at TheTrevorProject.org/Help, or by texting 678-678.

In the wake of Nigel Shelbys death, what steps can we, and Alabamas legislature and local governments, take to be more inclusive for LGBTQ Alabamians? Jamie Foster, Executive Director of Equality Alabama, and Dillon Nettles, policy analyst for American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, will be on Reckons Facebook page tonight at 6:30 to answer your questions about LGBTQ advocacy and equity. Join us.

Here are warning signs to watch for if you fear someone is suicidal and resources that can help those thinking of harming themselves or who fear a loved one might harm themselves.

WARNING SIGNS

Threatening to hurt or kill oneself or talking about wanting to hurt or kill oneself.

Looking for ways to kill oneself by seeking access to firearms, available pills, or other means.

Talking or writing about death, dying, ''ending the pain'' or suicide.

Feeling hopeless.

Acting reckless or engaging in risky activities - seemingly without thinking.

Feeling trapped - like there's no way out.

Increasing alcohol or drug use.

Withdrawing from friends, family, social support and society.

Feeling anxious, agitated, or unable to sleep or sleeping all the time.

Experiencing significant mood changes.

Seeing no reason for living or having no sense of purpose in life.

Feeling rage or uncontrolled anger or seeking revenge.

HOW TO HELP

Ask the person directly if he or she is having suicidal thoughts, has a plan to do so, and has access to lethal means.

If you think the person might harm him- or herself, do not leave the person alone.

Take seriously all suicide threats and all past suicide attempts, even if he or she minimizes your concerns.

Be direct. Talk openly and matter-of-factly about suicide.

Be willing to listen and be non-judgmental. Don't debate whether suicide is right or wrong, or whether feelings are good or bad. Don't lecture on the value of life or whether suicide is viewed by some as a sinful, selfish or angry act. Respect that suicidal feelings are most likely related to ending emotional or psychological pain.

Get involved. Become available. Show interest and support. Take into account other trusted friends, family members or allies who can be a part of a supportive team.

Don't dare him or her to do it.

Don't act shocked. This may translate as criticism or judgment and weaken trust between you.

Don't be sworn to secrecy. Acknowledge that all suicidal risk is to be taken seriously and firmly and gently explain that you are seeking support.

Offer hope that alternatives are available but do not offer glib reassurance.

Take action. Remove means, such as guns or stockpiled pills.

Get help from persons or agencies specializing in crisis intervention and suicide prevention.

Resources in Alabama

Sources: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and The Alabama Suicide Prevention and Resource Coalition
The man charged in a fatal shooting at a Huntsville gas station claimed he was being robbed when his gun went off and killed 41-year-old James Edwin Jones, court testimony revealed.

But rather, police say, the suspect, Delvon Barnett, tried to rob Jones of about $450 before killing him during a methamphetamine deal.

Barnett, 29, is charged with capital murder in the March 26 fatal shooting. Hes held in the Madison County Jail without bail. During a court hearing this morning, Madison County District Judge Patrick Tuten said he will consider whether to set bail in the case and issue an order within a few days.

After hearing testimony from Huntsville police Investigator Michael DeNoon, Tuten ruled prosecutors have probable cause for the charge against Barnett. The case will next be presented to a grand jury for consideration of indictment, which is a formal notice of criminal charges.

On the night of the shooting, Jones and his wife met Barnett to buy meth at the Fuel City gas station on U.S. 72 in north Huntsville, according to testimony. Jones was to pay Barnett $450 for an ounce of meth, DeNoon testified. Instead, when Jones took out his money, Barnett pulled a gun and demanded the cash before the shooting, DeNoon told the judge.

In an interview with police, Barnett said he was the victim of an attempted robbery, according to testimony. DeNoon told the judge that Barnett claimed he got in the backseat of Jones vehicle and put the methamphetamine on a scale. Because the meth didnt weigh an ounce, Jones slapped the drugs and the scale, knocking it to the front seat area, Barnett told police. Thats when Barnett said he pulled his gun and it went off during a struggle.

Jones was killed by a shot to the lower back, DeNoon testified. The murder weapon was a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol, court records show.

After the shooting, Barnett ran from the scene, according to police. Jones crashed his vehicle about a block from the gas station, DeNoon testified.

Barnett and Jones knew each other from time they both spent in the Madison County jail during the past few years, police said. Jones was held on a charges of manufacturing a controlled substance and more, jail records show, while Barnett was charged with burglary and several other crimes.

Barnett, also known by the nickname Seven, was detained after police traced his phone number from calls with Jones, DeNoon testified.

Defense attorneys Robin Wolfe and Ron Smith asked Judge Tuten to set reasonable bail in the case. In court records, they wrote that Barnett was working before his arrest and has ties to the local community. Deputy District Attorney Randy Dill opposed the motion to set bail, saying Barnett is likely to face a life without parole sentence, if convicted.

Because Barnett was on probation for a burglary conviction when the slaying happened, prosecutors are asking Circuit Judge James Smith to revoke his probation in the burglary case. If the judge revokes the probation sentence, Barnett could be ordered to serve more than 13 years in prison. That prison sentence was suspended as part of a guilty plea in the burglary case. A hearing on the revocation is scheduled this afternoon.
A plan to increase pay and bonuses for correctional officers who work in Alabamas understaffed prisons won approval in the Alabama House of Representatives tonight by a vote of 92-0.

The bill, which moves to the Senate, is part of the plan to try to expand the security staff in Alabama prisons, partly in response to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice alleging unconstitutional conditions in the prisons. Also, the state prison system faces a court order to add 2,200 correctional officers over the next few years as part of a federal lawsuit over health care for inmates.

The bill by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would give correctional officers a 5 percent pay raise and allow them to earn bonuses up to a total of $7,500 for training and experience milestones. Those could also receive payment for up to 80 hours per year of unused leave after earning a certain amount of leave.

The changes would cost the Alabama Department of Corrections a total of about $58 million from this year through 2024 according to the fiscal note. The House has already voted to increase the prison systems budget by $40 million next year.

Starting pay for Alabama correctional officers with a high school diploma is $29,371 according to a report by Warren Averett CPAs and Advisors, a firm hired by the Alabama Department of Corrections to conduct a staffing analysis. The analysis recommended raising the starting pay to about $36,000 to $38,000.

The ADOC has about 1,200 full time correctional officers, about one-third the number needed.
Whole Foods Market is starting home delivery in Huntsville and Montgomery today, Amazon says.

The service is available with Amazon Prime membership and includes fresh produce, meat, seafood, bakery, dairy, floral, staples and thousands of other items, Amazon says.

With our goal to cover as many Prime customers as possible with this new service in Huntsville, Ala., our coverage is expansive, Tanvi Patel, head of Business Development for Prime Now, said in a statement. Today were excited to reach customers from the Tennessee border in the north, to the Tennessee River in the south, and from Greenbrier in the west to New Hope in the east.

The expansion announced for Alabama and other states today brings the service to a total of 88 U.S. metros.

Prime members get deals and discounts and an additional 10 percent off many sale items. They can also shop with Alexa, which can add products to a virtual shopping cart, check out the items and assign them to pickup or delivery. Delivery is available from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m., and customers can find out more at this website.

The two Alabama cities are joined by Jackson, Miss.; Palm Desert, Calif.; and Portland, Maine in delivery expansion starting today.
Two people were arrested last week after leading officers on a car and foot chase, which ended with agents finding 55 grams of methamphetamine and spice.

The incident happened April 23 and left 38-year-old Misty Lynn Richardson charged with two counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, drug trafficking, and possession of salvia. Kendrick Cruz Lee, 29, was also charged in the incident with one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and drug trafficking.

According to Etowah County Drug Enforcement Agent Stephen McGlathery, the situation happened after several officers observed what appeared to be drug transactions involving the car Richardson and Lee were driving. When officers tried to stop the car, Richardson and Lee fled.

The pair were arrested after a brief car and foot chase on East Meighan Boulevard, McGlathery said. Richardson and Lee had thrown suspected narcotics from the car during the pursuit, and after a search of the area agents found approximately 55 grams of methamphetamine and nine grams of spice.

Richardson was arrested and is being held in the Etowah County Jail on a $500,000 cash bond and a $6,000 property bond. She was on community corrections when arrested.

Lee was arrested and is being held in the Etowah County Jail without bond, and he was on state probation when arrested.

This investigation is ongoing and several agencies assisted, including the Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit, Etowah County Sheriffs Office, Gadsden Police Department, Alabama National Guard Counterdrug Program, and FBI Safe Streets Task Force.
An investigation is underway after a 16-year-old girl and a 24-year-old woman were shot Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa.

Tuscaloosa police were dispatched about 8 p.m. to the Chevron gas station at 3905 E. McFarland Boulevard and to High County Apartments on Cypress Creek Avenue on shooting calls.

The caller from the Chevron, the 16-year-old girl, told police she had been shot in the head at High Country Apartments and had then driven to the Chevron, said Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Capt. Kip Hart. The caller from High Country told dispatchers the 24-year-old victim had been shot in the chest.

Both were taken to DCH Regional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa.

Hart said investigators learned that there had been a fight between females at High Country Apartments and that the teen victim was shot in the head when her car was fired on while she was leaving the area.

It appears the 24-year-old victim was inside her apartment and looked out the window after hearing a commotion. It appears a bullet being fired at the car went through the window and hit her, Hart said.

As of late Tuesday night, both victims appeared to have non-life-threatening injuries. Investigators are still interviewing witnesses to identify those involved. No arrests have been announced.
One woman is in custody and charged with drug crimes after jumping out of a moving car in Etowah County.

Florisha Diane Wilson, 34, was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, attempting to elude, and two counts of reckless endangerment after an incident last week. She also faces other charges from unrelated incidents, arrest records show.

The incident happened on April 24, Etowah County Drug Enforcement Agent Stephen McGlathery said. Officers in east Gadsden attempted to pull over Wilsons car on Hoke Street, but the Gadsden woman didnt stop. During the ensuing pursuit, agents said, Wilson nearly struck a pedestrian and multiple cars.

Officers used their car to strike Wilsons car when she slammed on her brakes at 14th Avenue and Robinson Avenue, McGlathery said. But, Wilson was able to flee the car as it was moving.

Agents quickly caught Wilson and placed her in custody. As officers tried to get control of Wilsons car and put it in park, they discovered an 8-year-old and a 15-year-old in the back seat.

Police did not release any information regarding the relation of the children to Wilson.

According to McGlathery, Wilson was found with a quantity of suspected methamphetamine and had six felony warrants in the county. She was also on state probation at the time and is currently being held in the Etowah County Jail without bond.

This investigation is ongoing and additional charges may be filed. The Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit, Etowah County Sheriffs Office, Gadsden Police Department, Alabama National Guard Counterdrug Program, and FBI Safe Streets Task Force assisted.
Within 90 days, a new fleet of bicycles will be returning to Mobiles streets.

With approval from the City Council Tuesday, Charleston, S.C.-based Gotcha will roll out an initial minimum fleet of 200 electric pedal assist bicycles in Mobile.

Its an exciting void we need to fill, Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said. I think Gotcha has the answer for that.

The bikes will be rolled out within 90 days, allowing the company to arrive into Mobile and implement a local team to oversee operations, according to Michelle Burdick, partners experience manager with The Gotcha Group.

She said the company is currently searching for warehouse space within the city where it can set up operations. In addition, the company plans to roll out a marketing and education efforts ahead of the bikes arriving by August.

This gives us time to put a local team in place, to do the in-market education and marketing prior to launching the bikes, said Burdick.

Other details about the new program are in the works, including pricing and points of interest on where the bikes will be docked.

We havent ironed out the pricing structure, she said. Typically, we offer a pay-as-you-go option. The user will spend $2 to unlock the bike and then be pro-rated a per-minute charge that is 15 cents per minute. Well have memberships or subscription styles if you use this for your daily commute. Well have monthly and annual rates as well.

The non-exclusive agreement with Gotcha coincided with the citys official termination of Mobiles exclusive agreement it authorized last year with San Francisco-based Lime. The company deployed lime-green bikes throughout Mobile during a six-month run that ended in mid-March.

Lime, originally named LimeBike, pulled out of many individual markets earlier this year as the company shifted its priorities from dockless bikes to e-scooters, which have evolved into the hottest shared mobility trend.

Mobile was unable to negotiate or lure in another bike-sharing firm during the one-year term it had in place with Lime.

Gotcha will roll out dockless bikes with the option to bring in scooters to Mobile only if the Alabama State Legislature approves a bill allowing for them.

Burdick said that Gotcha will not pull out of Mobile if the Legislature doesnt authorize a bill for scooters.

We, at the core of our company, believe in holistic mobility, she said. We really think there is a convenience in offering choice. The choice to ride the bike if its the most convenient for you on which ever trip you take or a scooter, depending on if that is your preference. We start at one asset and growth the opportunity if the city is interested in adding more assets like a scooter or an electric ride share in the future.

The issue over scooters has been a sensitive one in Alabama. Birmingham, Homewood, Tuscaloosa and Auburn each asked Bird Rides Inc. to cease operations and seized scooters after learning the devices were not permitted on public rights of way. Bird, based out of Santa Monica, Calif., racked up thousands of dollars in fines and fees as a result.

Gotcha, meanwhile, has operated its only bike-sharing program in Alabama at Auburn University. The War Eagle Bike Share has been ongoing for several years and allows students to utilize a mobile app to access the bikes.

A similar app will be utilized to access the bikes in Mobile.

Burdick said a similar bike share at the University of South Alabama is also under consideration.

Our team has grown immensely these past few years, she said. Were excited to partner with the city of Mobile.
What exactly is in Alabama anti-abortion bill?

The "Human Life Protection Act, or HB314, approved in the Alabama House of Representatives and now pending in the Senate, would make performing - by a doctor or someone else - an abortion a Class A Felony, punishable by 20 to 99 years in prison, or attempting to perform an abortion a Class C felony. The bill makes no exceptions for a pregnancy as a result of rape or incest, but does make exceptions for serious health risk[s] to the unborn childs mother. The bill compares the number of aborted fetuses to the those who died in the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide.

Would this be the strictest anti-abortion bill in the country?

Alabama is the only state with a near-total abortion ban bill pending or already on the books. While other states are pushing for abortion bans after six weeks, also known as heartbeat bills, Alabama is pushing for a total abortion ban without exception. A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates told AL.com this bill would likely be the most extreme abortion ban, if signed into law, post Roe V. Wade.

If its signed into law, what would happen next?

The bill says it will take effect six months following its passage and approval by the Governor, but the ACLU of Alabama has already promised to challenge it and would most likely seek a temporary injunction from a judge to block the law from being enforced. The process of court action, likely appeals and ultimately a review by the U.S. Supreme Court could take years.

Why are states passing these bills now?

States are rushing to pass abortion ban bills because of the newly changed landscape in the U.S. Supreme Court. With President Donald Trumps election of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court skews red, emboldening Republican majority states to try to overturn Roe V. Wade.

When would it actually take effect? How quickly would abortions become illegal in Alabama?

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, said HB314s purpose is solely to challenge the U.S. Supreme Courts 1973 decision in Roe V. Wade. During the House debate Tuesday, she tabled two possible amendments to the bill aimed at changing the rape and incest language because it would hinder the bills chances of being challenged by the Supreme Court. Collins said she hopes after the Supreme Court overturns Roe V. Wade Alabama will be able to make a completely different law that determines abortion laws in the state.

So can people still get abortions in Alabama? Will they be able to after this passes?

Abortions are legal in Alabama right now. There are three clinics in Alabama that provide abortions, West Alabama Womens Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Womens Center for Reproductive Alternatives in Huntsville and Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery. If the bill passes in the Senate, Governor Kay Ivey will then have to sign the bill into law and the law would go into effect six months later. The ACLU of Alabama has said they will immediately challenge the bill if passed and most likely ask a judge for a temporary injunction, which would halt enforcement of the law.

Who would pay the cost to defend Alabamas law if its challenged?

You. Alabama taxpayers pay for the states laws to be challenged. In 2016 the state paid the ACLU and Planned Parenthood $1.7 million after a law was passed requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges was struck down as unconstitutional.
This week, Venezuela made headlines around the world as the country was plunged into further political chaos when opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido broadcast a video online calling for a military uprising to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office.

A battle broke out on the streets, as well as the airwaves and online as both political sides fought to get their messages out.

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Guaidos video, filmed outside the La Carlota airbase, showed him with armed troops for the first time  and is viewed as an attempt to convince the public that Maduro had lost the support of the military.

Maduro fought back on Twitter and on national TV broadcasts to assure the country that he had not lost his iron grip on his army  which has kept him in power since the face-off with Guaido began earlier this year.

For journalists covering the story and for news consumers around the world, this is a story that needs to be navigated with caution. The narratives are polarised and the media organisations covering the events are, as ever, influenced by their geopolitical positionings.

Marcela Pizarro from Al Jazeeras The Listening Post sat down a few weeks back with reporter and author Jon Lee Anderson, who has been covering Latin America for many years, to talk about the challenges of reporting on a story like Venezuela.

Al Jazeera: During the Cold War, Latin America was very much a focal point for foreign media as socialist movements emerged around the continent and were met by US-backed force. When the Berlin Wall came down, the geopolitical centre of foreign coverage moved elsewhere, especially to the Middle East. You have covered both but for most foreign journalists, Latin America has become an unknown territory. What do you think the challenges are for foreign journalists when covering a story like Venezuela?

Jon Lee Anderson: Venezuela really does pose some serious challenges for news coverage today, and as journalists covering Venezuela there are a lot of interests at stake right now. Venezuela is emerging as one of the principal stages for what is essentially Cold War 2.0. You have the Russians playing alongside the Americans and even the Chinese.

Everybody has something they want to push, so whose agenda do you want to believe? I would say try not to believe anything you hear.

Al Jazeera: Nicolas Maduros predecessor was the highly telegenic Hugo Chavez, whose popularity, to a large extent was built on his media presence. For Maduro, that was a tough act to follow. How do you think Maduro has faired when it comes to his relationship with media?

Anderson: He was Bambi in the headlights in his first year or so on stage. And that was largely how the media dealt with him since hed taken over from Chavez. Thats no longer the case. He learned to be comfortable in power and he has learned how to deploy it for his own political survival.

Now, does that make him a nice guy? No, not necessarily. But at what point do you, as a journalist, begin calling him a dictator? Is he a dictator because he used trickery and chicanery to out-fox and to exile or place under house arrest his chief rivals, his political rivals?

I think it makes him into a complicated political actor. Im not sure that its fair yet to call him a dictator. I try to be careful about the words I use in the same way that I am when suddenly certain political organisations that use violence are called terrorist organisations but other organisations that use violence arent.

Al Jazeera: In February, images of a humanitarian aid truck stationed at the Colombian border with Venezuela made news around the world when it was set alight. What did you make of this story and how foreign media managed it?

Anderson: When you watched CNN, or Fox News, there was a clip where, apparently, a truck had been set on fire. Immediately, everybody went with that story. Within a couple of hours, Marco Rubio, the American senator, had tweeted that this was an outrageous act by the regime  he tweeted that to his millions of followers, and other politicians followed. One of the reasons why heads of state are now using social media is because theyre aware of the power of it.

Within a few days it was just received wisdom that this evil regime had not only prevented the aid from coming in  which it did, we saw that they prevented the aid from coming in  but that they also burned it.

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But as it turned out, it was one of the opposition demonstrators who had thrown a Molotov cocktail from the Colombian side of the bridge that landed in the truck  which went up in flames.

The Trump administration built up a story for several weeks that this was going to be the culminating moment of the standoff with the evil Maduro regime which could not feed its people, hadnt funded the hospitals, and that millions of people had fled.

Some of which is a fact: there is negligence, theres incompetence, theres ineptitude. And in a functioning democracy, normally, that government wouldnt stay in power.

Nonetheless, the Trump administration and its allies built in its entire Venezuela policy predicated on the idea that once they arrive to their aid at the border (and they had plenty of cheerleaders filming it and writing stories about it) that the Venezuelan military on the other side of the bridge would simply see the error of their ways and fall back and welcome in the aid and Maduro would slink off into some kind of humiliated exile. Well, that didnt happen.

Al Jazeera: Maduro has persistently accused the US and its media of supporting the overthrow of a legitimate government. To what extent do these kinds of stories add credence to this?

Anderson: I was in Venezuela when that story came out. It was immediately used by the Maduro government as a bludgeon against the opposition. It was immediately turned into pro-government propaganda.

This is part of the problem: when your information is immediately used as propaganda to wound or humiliate or defeat one side in a political conflict you have to be very careful about what you write.

Now, we have the Trump administration, and we see an American president who is so far beyond the normal calculus of political definition hes created a deranged political and media landscape where we watch him every day attempting to manipulate the public mood  very often at our expense and at the medias expense.

So, what should we believe when we hear him or his people talk about Nicolas Maduro?

And there is my point: Im not saying that we should necessarily agree with Nicolas Maduro or think that hes Robin Hood, but we need to really be careful now about what we know and what we think we know.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The EU has the leverage to resolve major Balkan issues, such as the Serbia-Kosovo dispute. Why is it holding back?

This weeks mini-summit on the Western Balkans hosted in Berlin by German Chancellor Angela Merkel was indeed mini in terms of both output and format.

As some observers noted, the only real outcome of this formal meeting was that a new one was scheduled to be held in July, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. In other words, there was no breakthrough on any touchy subject, including the worrying stalemate in negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo.

To the disappointment of EU-philes in the Balkans, Brussels once again demonstrated that it lacks the political unity to push for a concrete solution to major regional problems.

So, why is the EU failing to make headway on Kosovo?

For a long time, after Pristina declared independence from Belgrade in 2008, EU members were divided on whether they recognised it or not. Today, another divisive subject is what the endgame of the EU-sponsored normalisation talks between Belgrade and Pristina should be.

The EUs foreign policy head, Federica Mogherini, supports the broad idea for a land swap in exchange for Serbias acceptance of Kosovos sovereignty, which was proposed recently by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Kosovar counterpart Hashim Thaci.

Merkel is a sceptic and does not see anything good coming out of redrawing borders in former Yugoslavia; she appears to favour the 2013 Brussels Agreement, which envisions broad autonomy for Kosovo Serbs. Implicitly, this is a crucial step towards Serbia recognising Kosovo which would clear a major hurdle on its path to EU membership.

Macron, for his part, appears non-committal. Without rejecting the Vucic-Thaci plan, he is trying to be on Merkels side.

To muddy the waters even further, the Trump administration  by way of National Security Adviser John Bolton  has also expressed support for the Vucic and Thacis idea, and so has Russian President Vladimir Putin, albeit for a different reason. Putin has backed the idea because it is clearly at odds with hitherto Western policy on the dispute and could undermine the EU-sponsored talks.

Meanwhile, Serbia and Kosovo have been at each others throats for months. Belgrades campaign to have countries worldwide de-recognise Kosovar statehood resulted in the imposition of punitive tariffs by Pristina and triggered a war of words. Normalisation talks have been one of the first casualties, and as the Berlin gathering proved, a restart is not imminent.

Merkel and Macron have a good reason to fear that the deadlock serves competitors. That includes Russia and even China, whose economic footprint is growing, as the recent 16+1 summit between Beijing and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe demonstrated.

Maybe we underestimated China and overestimated Russia, Commissioner Johannes Hahn, in charge of EUs enlargement to the Balkans, observed in a recent interview.

Yet fretting about geopolitical threats, immediate or more distant, is pointless so long as EU member states are at a loss on what their own goals are.

The EU should have moved to kill territorial swaps and border corrections once and for all by doubling down on the Brussels Agreement and seeing it through. Sadly, it has failed to do so.

The EUs inability to act is a reflection of its internal polarisation. Fearful of the rise of anti-immigration populists and unabashedly xenophobe parties, mainstream leaders are kicking the can down the road on the issue of enlargement. They are apprehensive that the far right could exploit the prospect of new members from the poorer Western Balkans joining the EU to stoke public fears of another wave of migration to make further electoral gains.

Macrons France has emerged as the lead sceptic but there are others as well. In mid-April, the Dutch parliament voted to rescind the visa-free travel regime for Albania, in place since 2010. While the EU mechanism for suspending visa liberalisation for Albania has not been triggered, the move reflects the sombre mood across Western Europe.

This defensive posturing is seriously hobbling Brussels Balkan policy. Kosovo provides a glaring illustration. While it has fulfilled all technical conditions, its citizens are still being denied visa-free travel to Schengen countries, which, in turn, limits the leverage EU institutions can wield over the country, giving plenty of reason to Kosovar politicians to distrust the EU.

Meanwhile, North Macedonia and Albania are also struggling along the path towards EU membership. Skopje expects to be rewarded with accession talks for the courage in tackling the long-standing dispute with Athens, but EU member states like France are arguing against starting the process this summer. For Macron and others, enlargement spells trouble.

Yet no one really expects the EU to accept the Western Balkan Six (North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia) tomorrow. This is neither realistic nor desirable. Brussels officials are right: The candidates need to show reform zeal, tackle corruption, fix the justice system, overhaul legislation, and enforce the rule of law to move forward on the accession path.

At the same time, starting membership talks with more countries, beyond Serbia and Montenegro, need not be a moving goalpost. Experience shows that it is during accession negotiations that the EUs clout is at its peak. So, if North Macedonia and/or Albania make it to the next stage, they are likely to be exposed to much more pressure from the EU and more likely to undertake the necessary reforms and successfully implement them. This will affect the EUs internal cohesion, which is what Macron et al ostensibly care about.

As it marks the 15th anniversary of the big bang enlargement of 2004, Brussels needs to realise the utility of accession talks and stop punching below its weight in the Western Balkans.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Find out the history of May Day and what kind of protests and commemorations can be expected this year.

Each year on May 1, people across the globe take to the streets to commemorate International Workers Day, or May Day.

In dozens of countries, May Day is an official holiday, and for labour rights campaigners it is particularly important.

The day commemorates past labour struggles against a host of workers rights violations, including lengthy workdays and weeks, poor conditions and child labour.





Why is International Workers Day on May 1?

In the late-19th century, socialists, communists and trade unionists chose May 1 to become International Workers Day.

The date was symbolic, commemorating the Haymarket affair, which took place in Chicago, in the United States, in 1886.

For years, the US working class  often forced to work up to 16 hours a day in unsafe conditions  had been fighting for an eight-hour workday.

Then, in October 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions of the United States and Canada decided that May 1, 1886, would mark the first day that an eight-hour workday would go into effect.

When that day arrived, between 300,000 and 500,000 US workers went on strike in cities and towns across the country, according to various historians estimates.

Chicago, which was the nucleus of the struggle, saw an estimated 40,000 people protest and strike.

Female workers in the May Day Parade in New York City in 1936 [File: New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images]

Until May 3, the strike was well-coordinated and largely nonviolent.

But as the end of the workday approached, striking workers in Chicago attempted to confront strikebreakers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. Large police contingents were protecting the strikebreakers, and officers opened fire on the striking workers, killing at least two.

As the police attempted to disperse the protesters on May 4 in Chicagos Haymarket Square, a bomb was thrown at them, killing seven officers and at least four civilians.

Police subsequently rounded up and arrested eight anarchists, all of whom were convicted of conspiracy. A court sentenced seven to death and one to 15 years imprisonment. Four were hanged, one committed suicide rather than face the gallows and two had their sentences commuted to life in prison.

Those who died are regarded by many on the left, including both socialists and anarchists, as the Haymarket Martyrs.

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In 1889, the Second International, the international organisation for workers and socialists, declared that May 1 would from then on be International Workers Day. The Haymarket affair galvanised the broader labour movement.

In the US, however, the eight-hour workday wasnt recognised until it was turned into law in 1916, after years of strikes, protests and actions in favour of it.

What is the holidays history after 1916?

After the eight-hour day was initiated in the US in 1916, it was endorsed by the Communist International, an international coalition of socialist and communist parties, and by communist and socialist parties in various countries.

In that same year, as World War I continued, partial strikes and clashes with police in the US and several European countries were fuelled by massive anti-war sentiment as much as they were driven by the struggle for labour rights.

In 1917, as the US declared its involvement in the war, socialists and other leftists demonstrated against the bloodshed.

Marxist leaders across the globe  among them Rosa Luxemburg and Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who is most widely known as Lenin  considered the war to be an example of capitalist, imperialist countries pitting members of an international working class against one another. They argued that workers should unite and wage a revolutionary war against the ruling classes in their own countries.

Four days after the revolution that toppled Tsarist rule in Russia, the eight-hour workday was introduced by official decree.

What have been some of the most memorable International Workers Day protests?

International Workers Day is marked with celebrations, protests, strikes and commemorations around the world.

While the size and intensity of commemorations have ebbed and flowed over the years, several International Workers Day commemorations stand out.

In the US in 1971, as the war in Vietnam continued under the presidency of Richard Nixon, protests in Washington, spanned several days and included civil disobedience against the war.

Nixon sent in an estimated 10,000 troops and mass arrests were made, prompting accusations of civil rights violations. Police and security forces arrested more than 12,000 people, although most were eventually released without charges.

In Berlin, Germany, May Day protesters clashed with police in 2009 [File: Getty Images]

More recently, in 2006, a series of US-wide immigration reform marches continued on May 1, when organisers called for a strike they named a day without immigrants. Protests had already drawn the participation of between 350,000 and 500,000 people in cities across the US.

In 2016, large May Day protests and marches were held in countries across the world. In the Turkish city of Istanbul, protesters clashed with police while trying to reach the citys iconic Taksim Square. At least one protester was killed and dozens arrested.

READ MORE: May Day  US workers struggle, then and now

In Moscow, tens of thousands of Russians marched in a pro-Kremlin rally to commemorate the holiday, while left-wing groups held separate events in several Russian cities.

In Taipei, Taiwans capital, labour unions took to the streets with a march to call on the government to reduce working hours and increase wages.

Thousands of people in the German cities of Berlin and Hamburg participated in public demonstrations. Protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany (also known as AfD) party were held in several German cities.

What should you expect in 2019?

Following Frances nationwide yellow vest protests that began in November last year, about 7,400 policemen are expected to be deployed in Paris.

Observers say most of those joining the ranks of the yellow vest movement are workers on lower middle incomes who say they barely scrape by and get scant public services in exchange for some of the highest tax bills in Europe.

Although planned protests to commemorate May Day take place every year in France, clashes between protesters and riot police may take place as they have become regular occurrences following the latest wave of demonstrations.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has warned that up to 2,000 radical activists may try to sow violence and disorder and may join up with radicalised protesters from the yellow vest movement.

Castaner said there was also a risk that radical elements could try to infiltrate trade union marches in other cities, even though the unions themselves were committed to avoiding any violence.

In neighbouring Germany, the German Trade Union Confederation has called for traditonal May Day demonstrations in favour of a European-wide minimum wage.

Police have said a total of 5,500 officers will be deployed in Berlin including 2,000 in Friedrichshain, and have called on demonstrators to remain peaceful.

Thousands of trade union members will also march through Asia, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Cambodia and Myanmar.

In Sri Lanka, major political parties called off traditional May Day rallies due to security concerns following the Easter bombings that killed 253 people and were claimed by members linked to ISIL.
Doha, Qatar  Two years after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a land, air and sea blockade, the Gulf crisis shows little sign of ending any time soon.

In fact, according to Gulf academics, the rift may never be mended.

Speaking during the 13th Al Jazeera Forum, held last weekend in the Qatari capital Doha, analysts said Qatar and other small Gulf nations are still at risk of punitive action by the Saudi-Emirati coalition given the underlying conditions that resulted in the blockade still persist.

Those conditions were in place long before 2017 when it was imposed, said Rory Miller, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Doha.

Miller told Al Jazeera that, unlike other small Gulf states, Qatars leadership has embraced a domestic and foreign policy independent of Saudi hegemony.

On the domestic front, aided by its vast hydrocarbon reserves, Qatar has modernised its infrastructure and raised the standard of living of its citizens to the highest in the world  a level other Gulf states have been unable to achieve.

Regarding foreign policy, Qatars independent regional course led to it supporting popular demands for democratic change in the Arab world, especially during the Arab Spring revolts throughout the Middle East and North Africa.





Middle East conflict

Miller highlighted two factors that have in recent years resulted in the eroding bonds between Qatar and its neighbours.

The first was the combination of political and security changes that took place in the region, brought to prominence by the spread of the Arab Spring.

The second was the rise of a young, aggressive leadership in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi that is far more ambitious and less cautious than the older generation of leaders.

New Saudi and Emirati rulers saw Dohas policies as standing in opposition to their political views on how regional politics should play out.

The Saudi and Emirati leaders have led a coalition of Arab regimes that supported the reversal of gains made by Arab societies during the Arab Spring upheavals and the restoration of authoritarian rule in the region, said Majed al-Ansari, a professor of political sociology at Qatar University.

Al-Ansari added smaller Gulf states have historically been cautious of Saudi Arabia because of its attempts to dominate the Gulf region.

Saudi-Emirati axis

Qatars opponents publicly accused Doha of supporting terrorism and siding with regional rival Iran  allegations it has vehemently denied.

Al-Ansari told Al Jazeera the Saudi-Emirati alliance seeks to consolidate its agenda in the region while US President Donald Trump is in power, as he is perceived to be accepting of their goals.

Any country in the region that supports democratic change becomes a target, al-Ansari argued.

Because Qatar has used its soft power in the form of diplomacy and international media networks to highlight demands for reform in the region, it has become marked by the Saudi-Emirati axis, he added.





Miller told Al Jazeera that Qatar and smaller states in the region are still at risk in the current unstable political environment, even though Doha has proved remarkably resilient to the pressure applied by the blockading countries, which initially expected to bring it back into the fold within weeks of launching the punitive measures.

Future of the GCC

Both sides of the Gulf conflict are looking to deepen their alliances with countries in the region and on the international stage.

Gulf analysts say the Gulf Cooperation Council will end up becoming a shell of its former self as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar branch out seeking regional and international partners who share their political and security objectives.

Once the GCC is viewed to be unfit as an offensive security body, the UAE and Saudi Arabia will look to find other security coalitions to replace it. But so far they have not succeeded, said Miller.

As for Qatar: It can deepen its cooperation and diplomatic outreach with countries in the region and around the world, he added.

Follow Ali Younes on Twitter: @ali_reports
Al Jazeera travels to Ayodhya in northern India to trace the roots of the right-wing partys rise to power.

Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh  Bookseller Kailash Chandra Das says he cannot wait any longer for a Ram temple to be built in Ayodhya, a temple town considered by Indias Hindus as the birthplace of their most prominent deity.

How long will we continue to be assured that it will be built, the 65-year-old asks, his voice betraying a hint of disdain, as he squats between piles of Hindu scriptures and books in his cramped shop.

How long should Hindus wait? he says, echoing what millions of Hindus have been asking since 1992, when Babri Masjid, a 16th-century Mughal-era mosque, was demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob.

Bookseller Kailash Chandra Das says there is nothing wrong with mixing religion with politics [Amar Deep Sharma/Al Jazeera]

The event made the north Indian town with roughly 50,000 people the epicentre of Hindutva (the Hindu supremacist ideology) politics professed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The BJP came to national prominence in the 1990s after it led a nationwide movement to build a temple in place of the mosque.

Located on the banks of river Saryu, nearly 150km east of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, Ayodhya is a dense maze of hundreds of temples attracting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year.

December 6, 1992

Many Hindus believe the Babri mosque was originally constructed by the Muslim Mughal rulers after they had destroyed a temple.

On December 6, 1992, it was demolished in a day Hindu far-right leaders celebrate as Shaurya Diwas (day of bravery). A makeshift shrine was built on the debris of the mosque a day later.

The incident triggered countrywide religious riots that killed around 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.

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Indias Supreme Court is currently hearing claims from both Hindus and Muslims on the plot of land  the countrys most disputed real estate  guarded by armed soldiers, while a metal wall painted in blue surrounds the site.

Celebrating Rams birth

On a warm April day, tens of thousands of pilgrims streamed into Ayodhya for the Ram Navami celebrations, a Hindu festival that marks Rams birth, throwing the towns traffic in chaos.

Police were busy regulating the entry of devotees making their way on foot into the holy town with numerous temples, small and big, new and historical, decorated with blue and white balloons.

Devotees on their way to various sacred sites in Ayodhya [Amar Deep Sharma/Al Jazeera]

A line of thousands of men, women and children, predominantly poor, stretched along a dusty road partitioned by bamboo poles, as they carried their offerings for the gods in small bags.

For 50-year-old farmer Daya Ram, however, the Ayodhya issue is far more complicated. Has the Ram temple been made despite so many promises? Leaders are only concerned about money and power.

Daya Ram says he is unhappy with his town being politicised and known globally for the controversy. Will a Ram temple give me food? Or education for my children? he asks.

As he talks, a group of devotees shouts Jai Shri Ram (Hail Lord Ram). Daya Ram smiles but does not join the chorus.

How BJP gained from Ayodhya

The Hindu nationalist BJP was founded in 1980, but it actually emerged from the Bharatiya Jan Sangh party formed in 1951.

I consider the entire Ayodhya as Ram's birthplace. Why fight over one spot? Iqbal Ansari, son of the main litigant in Babri mosque dispute

For nearly three decades, the BJP has campaigned for a bhavya (grand) Ram temple in Ayodhya, a populist platform that catapulted the right-wing party from two parliamentary seats in the 1980s to political dominance.

They carefully chose Ram as their deity, because he appeals to a large section of Hindu society. Ram is venerated by every sect of Hinduism. So the movement for the liberation of Rams birthplace became both a political and a religious movement, journalist Dhirendra K Jha, who co-authored the book, Ayodhya: The Long Night, told Al Jazeera.

Not far from the disputed site is a large compound, Karsevak Puram, where thousands of bricks with Ram emblazoned on them and hundreds of sandstone pillars have been lying scattered for years, their red edges now blackened, while artisans continue to create more for the proposed temple.

Red sandstone pillars at Karsevak Puram for the proposed Ram temple [Amar Deep Sharma/Al Jazeera]

For Jha, the 1990 Ram Rath Yatra (chariot procession)  originally scheduled from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya after crisscrossing Indias Hindi belt (Hindi-speaking north Indian states)  crystallised the Hindu majoritarian politics in India.

Aimed at mobilising the Hindus for a Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Rath Yatra rally was led by LK Advani, now a 91-year-old BJP veteran, who counted the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi as one of his closest lieutenants during the controversial journey.

BJPs doublespeak

The Hindu nationalist party denies it has used the Ayodhya dispute to gain political power.

It is not a question of any issue helping the BJP. Ayodhya is a matter concerning the faith of millions of Hindus of this country. And it is not an electoral issue for the BJP, the partys spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao told Al Jazeera.

How many times have you heard the prime minister or Amit Shah [BJP president] talk about Ram temple?

But analysts such as Jha say the party engages in doublespeak when it comes to communally-sensitive issues.

The BJP works on two plains. One that comes out in speeches, statements, in which they are not saying much about what is called their core issues. On another plain, they are actually using [the] Ayodhya issue in a pretty intense manner, said Jha.

So, whether they speak or not, communalism continues to remain a part of the total discourse that BJP uses for an election, sometimes brazenly, often subtly.

A soldier guarding the Babri mosque before it was demolished in 1992 [File photo: Getty Images]

Cant ever forget the day

Muslims in Ayodhya say while everything changed on December 6, 1992, tensions had simmered for decades.

How long should Hindus wait? Kailash Chandra Das, a bookseller in Ayodhya

Iqbal Ansari lives right behind the blue barricades that surround the disputed Babri mosque compound. His father Hashim Ansari, one of the chief litigants in the Ayodhya dispute, died in 2016.

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My father had been a petitioner since an idol of Ram was placed in the mosque in 1949, he told Al Jazeera as he sat in his modest drawing room, flanked by a security guard provided by the government.

It would not have turned into such a huge dispute if only the idol was removed, nor it would have been politicised like this.

Iqbal says there was no religious dispute in Ayodhya before 1949. Why would there be a dispute? I consider the entire Ayodhya as Rams birthplace. Why fight over one spot?

Iqbal with a portrait of his late father, Hashim Ansari, the main litigant in the Ayodhya dispute [Amar Deep Sharma/Al Jazeera]

Mohammad Afzal Khan, activist and resident of Faizabad, said: We cannot ever forget the day the mosque was destroyed.

The Uttar Pradesh government had assured the Supreme Court that no damage would be done to the mosque. So in the heart of our hearts, we were sure that it will not be harmed, Khan told Al Jazeera.

The Ram idol that was placed in 1949 was also destroyed, he said, adding that the mob then turned towards the Muslim areas, killing over a dozen people and burning houses and mosques along the way.

The Ayodhya dispute has created a deep fissure in Hindu-Muslim relations, with Indias politics increasingly polarised on religious issues.

But for millions of BJP supporters, such as bookseller Das, there is nothing wrong with mixing religion with politics. Can there be any politics without religion, he said.
Thousands of regional leaders from across Afghanistan gather to discuss how to achieve peace with the Taliban.

Security forces stand guard as more than 3,000 prominent Afghans discuss peace for their country.

Its a rare national assembly, called loya jirga, which will steer the government in its negotiations with the Taliban.

Al Jazeeras Charlotte Bellis reports from Kabul.
Producer and photojournalist Showkat Shafi, of Al Jazeera English Online, won a prestigious prize for his photography on Tuesday at the Drum Online Media Awards in London.

The prize, in the category of Best Use of Photography, was for Showkats 100 Faces of Rohingya, a powerful curation highlighting the portraits of 100 Rohingya refugees, aged three to 95, who were part of some 730,000 Rohingya forced to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh by the Myanmar Army.

As the exodus grew, and tens of thousands of makeshift tents were hastily erected, Showkat travelled to Bangladesh to document the unfolding humanitarian crisis. He returned six months later to speak with survivors and to attempt to put a face to their story.

As a photographer, I wanted to go beyond the numbers that these people were being reduced to, Showkat said from the sidelines of the Drum gala dinner.

I wanted my photos to help make them human again by revealing their pain, but also their hopes and dreams.

Up against steep competition from other news organizations, and high budget, multi-person projects, the Drum judges chose 100 Faces of Rohingya as an example of fantastic photojournalism, beautiful execution and excellent integration of photos.

This year, Al Jazeera Media Network had eleven Drum Online Media nominations and was in competition with an array of professional peers from CNN, Channel Four, the BBC, VICE, Huff Post and others. Six online units were nominated, including the networks VR unit, Contrast, AJLabs (interactives), AJ Shorts, its Twitter and News teams. This year also marked a first nomination for Al Jazeera Arabic Online, in the Commentary and Blogging category.

Carlos van Meek, director of Digital Innovation and Programming, said he is proud of his teams performance and considers winning the award proof that the digital space offers powerful alternatives to traditional journalism and field reportage.

These portraits reveal the terrible predicament faced by displaced and persecuted minorities, van Meek said.

Showkats work lends itself to a gallery experience where viewers can click through to see and understand the story in a very direct and personal way. Showkats win is a win for us all.
US watchdog says army stopped tracking territory controlled by various sides in Afghanistan as peace talks resume.

The US military has stopped tracking the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Afghan government and armed fighters, a US watchdog said on Tuesday, one of the last remaining public metrics that tracked the worsening security situation in the war-torn country.

The move comes as United States and Taliban officials held several rounds of talks, the latest of which began on Wednesday in Doha, the Qatari capital, according to a Taliban spokesman.

The Taliban announced the start of a spring offensive in early April. Even before the announcement, combat had intensified across Afghanistan in recent weeks and hundreds of Afghan troops and civilians have been killed.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said in a report published late Tuesday night that the US military had told the watchdog it was no longer tracking the level of control or influence the Afghan government and fighters had over districts in the country.

The NATO-led Resolute Support (RS) mission in Afghanistan had told SIGAR that the assessments were of limited decision-making value to the (RS) Commander.

Colonel David Butler, spokesman for US Forces in Afghanistan, said that while Resolute Support was no longer doing the analyses, the intelligence community did its own classified assessment of districts controlled by the government and the Taliban.

He did not speculate on whether the intelligence community analyses would continue or not.

This much is clear: Theres even less information for American taxpayers to gauge whether their investment in Afghanistan is a success, or something else, John Sopko, the head of SIGAR, told Reuters news agency.

H uman error in labeling

A January report put districts under government control or influence at 53.8 percent, and covering 63.5 percent of the population by October 2018, with the rest of the country controlled or contested by the Taliban.

Experts said that the move to stop tracking the key data was worrying because Washington had publicly set a benchmark which would now be difficult to measure.

In November 2017, the top US general in Afghanistan at the time set a goal of driving back Taliban fighters enough for the government to control at least 80 percent of the country within two years.

If the military is not going to be tracking that data any more, that is going to make it a lot more difficult to get a sense as to how strong the Taliban is, Michael Kugelman, with the Woodrow Wilson Center, said.

That may well be the militarys intention, he said.

Over the past few years, the US military has restricted data on the Afghan war being shared with the public, including the size of the security forces, casualty numbers and the attrition rate for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).

In 2018, the US military said that a human error in labeling caused it to treat as classified information the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Taliban and the Afghan government.

The rest of the report painted a bleak picture of the security situation in Afghanistan.

Citing numbers from Resolute Support, SIGAR said the monthly average of enemy-initiated attacks increased by 19 percent from November 2018 through January 2019, compared with August to October 2018.

ANDSF casualties increased by about 31 percent from December 2018 through February 2019 compared with the same three-month period the previous year.

The latest data from the few remaining publicly available measures of the security situation in Afghanistan  enemy-initiated attacks, general ANDSF casualty trends, and security incidents  show that Afghanistan experienced heightened insecurity, the report said.
Washington, DC  US Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday defended his handling of Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia report after it was revealed that Mueller sent a letter to the top Justice Department official expressing frustration over how his teams findings were being portrayed.

According to a letter, dated March 27, Mueller said Barrs four-page summary of the report sent to Congress on March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the special counsels investigation.

There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations, Mueller wrote

In his first public appearance since releasing the redacted 448-page report, Barr told senators on Wednesday that he had a 15-minute phone call with Mueller after receiving the letter.

I called Bob, and said, Whats the issue here? and I asked him if he was suggesting that the March 24 letter was inaccurate and he said No, but that the press reporting had been inaccurate and that the press was reading too much into it, Barr told the Senate panel.

I asked him specifically what his concern was and he said that his concern focused on his explanation on why he did not reach a conclusion on obstruction and he wanted more put out on that issue, Barr said. He argued for putting out summaries of each volume, the executive summaries that had been put together by his office, and if not that, then other material that focused on the issue of why he didnt reach the obstruction question. But he was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report.

Barr had previously told Congress he did not know whether Mueller had concurred or disagreed with Barrs summary of the investigation results.

US Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee [Mandel Ngan/AFP]

The redacted version of the report, released last month, said that Muellers probe did not establish the Trump campaign conspired with Russian operatives. The investigation did, however, examine multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations.

Mueller did not conclude that President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice, but did not exonerate him either. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein subsequently concluded that Trump, who has repeatedly called the Mueller probe a witch-hunt, did not break the law.

DOJ misses deadline

The emergence of Muellers letter, which was first reported by the Washington Post, has prompted some Democrat politicians to call for Barrs resignation.

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Its clear now, egregiously, William Barr not only lied to the American people he apparently lied to the Congress, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, told reporters before Wednesdays hearing.

We will know at the end of the day what the remedy should be but clearly he has gravely lost credibility. I thought he was unfit when he was appointed, I opposed him and now, clearly the Department of Justice needs new leadership, Blumenthal said.

Barrs handling of the Mueller report has added to tension between Democrats and the Trump administration which has refused demands by House committees for access to documents and witnesses.

A deadline for the Justice Department to provide politicians with an unredacted copy of Muellers report and underlying evidence expired on Wednesday. A Democratic aide told Reuters News Agency that the department did not comply with the subpoena.

It is unclear what steps will next be taken by the House panel, but it is likely the issue will end up in the courts.

Will Barr testify before House panel?

Meanwhile, the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines on Wednesday to allow committee lawyers to question Barr during an extra hour of proceedings on Thursday. The questioning would come in addition to a traditional hearing that provides each Representative on the panel with five minutes of questions and comments.

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A Justice Department spokesperson has said Barr would not appear under those ground rules and would submit only to questions from members of Congress.

If he doesnt testify, I expect that we will issue a subpoena to compel his appearance before the committee, Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat, told Al Jazeera.

And if he doesnt produce the un-redacted copy of the report, obviously that would be the decision of the chairman, but I would hope that we would initiate some litigation to compel its production, Cicilline said.

Congress has the power to go to court to seek contempt citations, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin told Al Jazeera. Congress has its own power of inherent contempt, which means we can hold people in contempt of Congress without going to court. So, there are a lot of options open to us.

Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that Attorney General Barr publicly committed to being transparent regarding the Special Counsels investigation. He should welcome the opportunity to speak candidly and at length before the House Judiciary Committee and the American people.

Barr had offered to allow a limited number of members of Congress, specific leadership and committee chairs, to view a less redacted version of the Mueller report in the offices of the Department of Justice. Democrats had rejected the offer as inadequate but Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accepted.

I am going to go down and take a look at the Mueller report this afternoon, McConnell told reporters on Tuesday as Congress returned to work after a two-week recess.

Having come back from a couple of weeks at home, its interesting that I didnt get a single question about the Mueller report. Most Americans think its over and its time to move on, McConnell said.

Its pretty obvious the administrations view is, they have finished this. No collusion. And the president has indicated he thinks a do-over is not something he is interested in cooperating in. So, my assumption is all of these issues are going to end up into court, he said.

Democrats in the Senate, however, made it clear they intend to continue to pursue access to the full report and will seek the testimony of Mueller himself, among others, in coming weeks.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that Senate Democrats intend to push legislation imposing additional sanctions on President Vladimir Putin and other Russians for the 2016 cyberattacks on the US election which were detailed by Mueller.

In addition, Democrats will seek a closed-door briefing from top US military and cybersecurity officials on the cyberthreat from Russia in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

We cannot just sit there and twiddle our thumbs while Russia aims to interfere with our elections once again. This is not how a democracy must work, Schumer told reporters.
Vice chancellor says Austrians risk becoming a minority because of non-white and Muslim immigration.

The leader of Austrias far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has reiterated a racially-charged claim that Austrians were at risk of becoming a minority in their own country.

Heinz-Christian Strache, FPO leader and Austrian vice chancellor, told journalists on Wednesday that population replacement in Austria was a reality that cannot be denied.

He was responding to criticism of remarks in an interview with Austrias largest newspaper Kronen Zeitung, in which he said his party was fighting population replacement.

The term is associated with a racist conspiracy theory popular in far-right circles, known as the great replacement. It argues that the white, European  and Christian  population is being replaced by a population of non-white, Muslim refugees and migrants.

Strache said his party had used the term for decades.





Many citizens rightly say these are political decisions  the extent to which one wants to continue to allow immigration on a massive scale, the extent to which demographic development then leads to a situation where an ancestral population becomes a minority, and many do not want that, he added.

Strache occupies the second-highest position in government and his party is part of the ruling coalition with Chancellor Sebastian Kurzs centre-right Peoples Party (OVP), which came to power in 2017 with a hard-line on immigration similar to that of the FPO.

Strache was standing next to Kurz at Wednesdays news conference.

Earlier in the day, the chancellor, in an interview on state television channel ORF, had expressed his disapproval of the use of the term.

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However, in the same interview, Kurz defended his coalition with Straches FPO party, saying: When you have a coalition partner, there are always moments when something doesnt suit you.

Identitarian movement

Roughly 16 percent of Austrias population has foreign citizenship, national statistics office data for 2018 shows, up from 10 percent a decade earlier.

Meanwhile, Austria took in roughly one percent of its population in asylum seekers in 2015 during Europes refugee crisis.

Arrivals have since slowed to a trickle, but the FPO and OVP have pledged to prevent any repeat of that influx.

Straches remarks echo the language used by Austrias Identitarian Movement, a group similar to the alt- right in the United States, which says mass immigration is causing a great exchange or great replacement and needs to be reversed.

While the small Identitarian Movement, which is not a political party, has existed for years, it was thrust into the spotlight in March when the man charged with killing 50 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand was found to have made a $1,700 donation to the group.

That prompted Kurz to call the movement disgusting and demand that the FPO sever any ties with it.

Strache has insisted his party has nothing to do with the movement. But opposition politicians have denounced what they say is a system of thought inside the party, which was founded in the 1950s by former Nazis.

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Kurz has had to distance himself from his coalition partners before, too.

In April, the chancellor also condemned a poem written by the FPO deputy mayor in Adolf Hitlers home Braunau am Inn, Upper Austria, that compared foreign migrants to rats. Strache intervened and the party announced that the politician responsible would be stepping down.

In March, the FPO expelled two of its local councillors after a police investigation revealed that they had shared Hitler photos and quotes on WhatsApp.
India has deployed emergency personnel and ordered the navy on standby as it braced for an extremely severe cyclonic storm barrelling towards the eastern coast.

Cyclone Fani has become the first tropical cyclone of the year to develop in the Northern Indian Ocean.

On Wednesday, it was located to the northeast of Chennai, India, with winds of 195 kilometres per hour and gusts nearer 240km/h.

This makes it equivalent to a category three Atlantic hurricane and it is expected to strengthen further in the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal. Waters across the cyclones path are between 30 to 31 degrees Celsius, which is about a degree above average for the time of year.

Fani is forecast to make landfall in Odisha on Friday, with winds of around 170km/h gusting to 200km/h. This would classify it as an extremely dangerous category two system.

It will then gradually weaken as it moves very close to or even right over Kolkata and then onto Bangladesh. Warnings have been issued to cover the usual hazards of destructive winds and life-threatening floods due to torrential rain and storm surge.

Rainfall amounts are likely to be around 250 to 400mm. Some isolated locations could see more rain, bringing an increased risk of mudslides.

Given the storms forecast track, there is the risk of significant storm surge flooding anywhere from West Bengal to the Ganges Delta, which includes Kolkata, a city of about 14 million people.

Cyclone Fani has strengthened rapidly and is the strongest storm to move through the Bay of Bengal this early in the year since Tropical Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Nargis went on to cause widespread devastation in Myanmar resulting in more than 100,000 deaths across the country.

The last major storm to hit Odisha was Cyclone Phailin, which struck as a category four storm in 2013, killing 45 and causing more than a half a billion dollars in damage.
More than 150,000 people across the country hit the streets with anarchists centre-stage during rioting in Paris.

Paris, France  Clouds of tear gas billowed near the Montparnasse Tower on Wednesday as police used force to suppress violence during annual May Day demonstrations marking workers rights.

The marches came less than a week after French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would lower taxes and raise pensions in response to the ongoing yellow vest protests.

The measures were in large part dismissed by the movements leaders and protesters, who echoed their stance on Wednesday at the demonstrations.

He didnt give us anything concrete, said Corinne Sion, a 57-year-old yellow vest protester who has been unemployed for more than a year now.

Sion, who came from the Paris suburbs with her husband to join the demonstrations, said she also wanted to see lower value-added taxes (VAT) so she could afford basic needs such as bread and milk.

Corinne Sion, left, has been unemployed for more than a year [Rebecca Rosman/Al Jazeera]

The yellow vests joined Frances national labour unions and other groups, bringing in at least 164,500 people across the country, according to the French interior ministry. The CGT union claimed the number of protesters was higher, at 310,000.

In Paris, divisions quickly grew between demonstrators as some started using force. Police responded by sending waves of tear gas into the crowd.

In advance of the Paris protests, police ordered nearly 600 shops along the official demonstration route from the Boulevard du Montparnasse to Paris dItalie to close, and told other cafes and restaurants to carry out bag searches and identity checks.

Other parts of the city, including the Champs-Elysees and area surrounding Notre Dame, were blocked off entirely to protesters as well as tourists.

Laurent Nunoz, the junior interior minister, said radicalized yellow vests and far-left anarchists were the largest threats.

A yellow vest protester breaks the glass window of a bank during the demonstration [Ian Langsdon/EPA-EFE]

Capital of rioting

Vowing to turn Paris into the capital of rioting, hundreds of masked anti-capitalists known as the black bloc lived up to their promise. They threw rocks at police and lit rubbish bins on fire, disrupting otherwise peaceful demonstrations by French labour unions.

Philippe Martinez, the head of Frances CGT union, was momentarily taken out of the protests reportedly after being attacked by a group of black bloc marchers.

Valerie Petit-Lesage, the CGTs secretary-general, quickly denounced the presence of individuals who were not there to protest, but rather prevent the demonstrations from being held.

More than 250 people were arrested in the French capital and dozens injured, with more than 7,400 security forces deployed across the city. One police officer was carried away unconscious.

A riot police officer is evacuated after being injured during the protest [Julien de Rosa/EPA-EFE]

It was not the first time black bloc youths caused such disorder. An estimated 1,200 anarchists created similar chaos at last years May Day protests by throwing a grenade into a McDonalds and lifting cobblestone bricks out of the pavement to throw at police.

While many labour unions quickly moved to distance themselves from the black bloc protesters, their backing of the yellow vests was high.

[The yellow vest movement] is not a competitor, it is an additional positive element that must be encouraged, Jean-Luc Acquart, the CGT Unions Paris regional told the French weekly Le Marianne. The yellow vests represent all our struggles, whether that be about tax, social or environmental justice  and the answers given to them have been completely inadequate.

The grassroots movement started on social media in November amid frustration over economic inequality and displeasure with President Emmanuel Macron whom they cast as a president of the rich.

Police arrest a protester during the Labour Day demonstration in Paris on Wednesday [Julien de Rosa/EPA-EFE]

No rest for Macron

Macron attempted to quell frustrations last week during a televised address, when he announced a series of reforms following a three month Grand National Debate. In his speech, Macron promised five billion euros in tax cuts, higher pensions, and more power to local governments.

But a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive revealed that 63 percent of French citizens who heard the speech were not convinced.

At the same time, however, support for the yellow vests has dwindled, with 60 percent of the population wanting the movement to end, according to an Elabe poll.

Even so, Macrons repeated attempts to put an end to the weekly yellow vest protests have failed.

During his speech, Macron defended a set of controversial economic reforms aimed at modernizing the French economy, stating he was confident that the measures taken in the first two years of his presidency were the right ones.

Wednesdays demonstrators, however, sought to test that assertion and many vowed to continue protesting until the president was out of power.

[Resigning] would be the best thing Macron could do at this point, said Hugues Mornier, a 24-year-old yellow vest protester studying international relations at the lInstitut dEtudes Politques de Paris.

There is a famous French song that goes les paroles, les paroles, les paroles, which more or less means everything is just talk, he added. Thats how I see Macron. He says whatever he wants, but at the end of the day, hes a liar  He needs to go.
Police have fired tear gas to push back masked demonstrators in central Paris, as thousands of people used an annual May Day rally to protest against French President Emmanuel Macrons economic policies.

Labour unions and so-called yellow vest protesters were on the streets across France on Wednesday, days after Macron outlined a response to months of street protests that included tax cuts worth around five billion euros ($5.6bn).

In the run-up to the main march in Paris, the city was on lockdown with more than 7,400 police deployed with orders from Macron to take an extremely firm stance if faced with violence.

Before the main rally took place, police tried to disperse a group of hooded and masked protesters who had converged at the front of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris.

Riot police repeatedly used tear gas and sting grenades to try to control the crowd gathering near Paris Montparnasse train station.

Protesters wearing hoods or yellow vests responded by throwing projectiles at the police. Television footage showed a van with its windows smashed. Local media reports said some people were injured in the clashes.

By mid-afternoon, the main march crossing the southern part of the capital was finally able to move amid relative calm.

Nonetheless, it appeared that yellow vest protesters and more radical elements rather than labour unions were dominating the march, the Reuters news agency said. The hard-left General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union denounced police violence.

While the inter-union procession was to start at 14:30pm [12:30 GMT], unprecedented and indiscriminate repression took place following the acts of violence by some parties, the union said in a statement.

It said union members, including the CGT secretary-general, had been tear-gassed, adding: This current scenario, scandalous and unprecedented, is unacceptable in our democracy.

Reporting from Paris, Al Jazeeras Paul Brennan said the police were taking a robust approach with protesters who deviated from the main route of the march.

That appears to be the main motivation for the police firing tear gas that weve seen fired, he said. It ebbs and flows. The police move in, make a snatch arrest, fire some tear gas and then back off. Its very fluid.

Before the May Day protests, there were calls on social media for far-left groups to hit the streets [Getty Images]





Police warning

French police had warned on Tuesday that there could be clashes with far-left anarchist groups, known as Black Blocs, after calls on social media for far-left groups to hit the streets.

Authorities had said they expected some 2,000 Black Bloc protesters from France and across Europe to turn up on the sidelines of the traditional May Day union rallies. The police made 200 arrests on Wednesday, according to local media.

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The yellow vest protests, named after the high-visibility jackets that they wear, began in November over fuel tax increases, but have evolved into a sometimes violent revolt against politicians and a government seen as out of touch.

Many in the grassroots movement, which lacks a leadership structure, have said Macrons proposals do not go far enough and most of what he announced lacks detail.

Thousands of people also demonstrated in cities from Marseille to Toulouse and Bordeaux. Some 300 yellow vest protesters tried to storm a police station in the Alpine town of Besancon.
US officials meet Chinese counterparts in Beijing in talks that will also cover exchange rates and trade surplus.

China and the United States have begun their latest talks in Beijing aimed at ending a bitter trade war.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who had a working dinner the night before with China Vice Premier Liu He, is holding a full day of discussions on Wednesday along with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

On Tuesday, Mnuchin said he hoped for substantial progress in talks.

Liu is scheduled to be in Washington next week for another round of talks in what could be the end game for negotiations.

Liu greeted Mnuchin and Lighthizer as they arrived at a state guest house in Beijing on Wednesday and the three men exchanged pleasantries.

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Beijing and Washington have cited progress on issues including intellectual property and forced technology transfer to help end a conflict marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost both sides billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and roiled financial markets.

But US officials say privately that an enforcement mechanism for a deal and timelines for lifting tariffs are sticking points.

Chinese officials have also acknowledged that they view the enforcement mechanism as crucial, but say that it must work two ways and cannot put restraints only on China.

US President Donald Trump has said that he may keep some tariffs on Chinese goods for a substantial period.

The US has also been pressing China to further open up its market to US firms. China has repeatedly pledged to continue reforms and make it easier for foreign companies to operate in the country.

Trump raised US duties on $250bn of Chinese imports last year in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. Beijing retaliated by imposing penalties on $110bn of US goods.

The talks also cover exchange rates and possible measures to narrow Chinas multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the US.
Irans foreign minister says US is not in position to label others as terror organisations while it supports Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has criticised a US plan to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.

The US is not in position to (..) start naming others as terror organisations and we reject any attempt by the US in this regard, he told reporters on a sideline of a conference in Doha on Wednesday.

The US is supporting the biggest terrorist in the region, that is Israel.

President Donald Trump is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organisation, the White House said on Tuesday, which would lead to sanctions against the movement.

The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in an email.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had urged Trump to take the step during an April 9 visit to the White House, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing officials familiar with the matter.

After the meeting, Trump praised Sisi as a great president, as a bipartisan group of US politicians raised concerns about Sisis record on human rights.

In a statement on its website, the Muslim Brotherhood, or Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, dismissed the planned move, saying: The Muslim Brotherhood will remain stronger  through Gods grace and power  than any decision.

It added: We will remain  steadfast in our work in accordance with our moderate and peaceful thinking and what we believe to be right, for honest and constructive cooperation to serve the communities in which we live, and humanity as a whole.

Far-flung political ties

Founded in Egypt in 1928, the Brotherhood is one of the worlds oldest and most influential Islamic movements. It came to power in Egypts first modern free election in 2012, a year after long-serving President Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign amid a popular uprising.

It was declared a terror group by Egypt in 2013 after el-Sisi led a military coup against Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member and the countrys first democratically-elected president.

The coup set in motion a violent crackdown against the organisation, with thousands of the groups members arrested, and hundreds sentenced to death in what human rights groups have described as sham trials.

Two of Egypts closest allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, also blacklisted the group but several western powers, including the United States, did not, for both legal and policy reasons.

However since Trumps election, the Sisi government has repeatedly urged the US to designate the group as terrorists, and in March 2017, Cairo sent dozens of parliamentarians, former diplomats and international law experts to Washington to convince the US of a ban.

READ MORE Saudi and the Brotherhood: From friends to foes

The New York Times said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton supported the idea.

However, the Pentagon, national security staff, government lawyers and diplomatic officials have voiced legal and policy objections, and have been scrambling to find a more limited step that would satisfy the White House.

The US State Department had previously advised against banning the movement because of its loose-knit structure and far-flung political ties across the Middle East.

Malpractice and ultimately dangerous

Several political parties in Turkey, Tunisia and Jordan consider themselves as part of the Muslim Brotherhood or have ties to it.

Asked by reporters at the White House whether there were any concerns that designating the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists could create diplomatic complications for the administration because the group is so widespread, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway replied: No.

Daniel Benjamin, a former counterterrorism coordinator at the State Department, said the department looked into designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in 2017 and 2018 and concluded that there was no legal basis for a designation.

That continues to be true, tweeted Benjamin, who is now at Dartmouth College. He accused the Trump administration of warping the designation process for political reasons.

Its malpractice and ultimately dangerous, Benjamin said in his tweet.

The Times said it was also unclear what the consequences would be for Americans and American humanitarian organisations linked to the Brotherhood.

According to a 2004 article by The Washington Post, supporters of the Brotherhood make up the US Islamic communitys most organised force by running hundreds of mosques and business ventures, promoting civic activities, and setting up American Islamic organisations to defend and promote Islam.

Human rights groups have also voiced concerns that el-Sisi might use it to justify an even harsher crackdown against his opponents.
Irans leaders threaten to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz if they are not allowed to sell their oil.

Irans supreme leader, senior military commanders, top diplomat and the president have all in recent days attacked US sanctions imposed on Tehran.

Battle-ready warships are patrolling the high-traffic Strait of Hormuz, with Iranian officials saying if they cant sell oil through the strait, no one will.

Al Jazeeras Zein Basravi reports from the Strait of Hormuz near Irans southern coast.
A priest who received a standing ovation for criticising politicians at a Northern Ireland funeral has appealed for more movement towards unity.

Father Martin Magill made his comments to Al Jazeera before local council elections this week. He has received a groundswell of support after asking why it took the funeral of a female journalist killed by dissident Republicans for politicians to come together, two years after a power-sharing agreement broke down.

Al Jazeeras Andrew Simmons reports from Northern Ireland.
At least 15 security personnel and a civilian driver die in blast near Maoist stronghold of Chhattisgarh.

Suspected leftist rebels killed at least 15 security personnel and a civilian driver in an attack on two vehicles in the western state of Maharashtra on Wednesday, police said, as the state celebrated its foundation day.

A senior Maharashtra police official told Al Jazeera that the rebels triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Gadchiroli, which borders the Maoist stronghold of Chhattisgarh.

It is a dastardly attack, we will try our best that such incidents are not repeated. Our people are present at the spot, more information will come out by today evening, he said requesting to remain anonymous.

Indias home minister Rajnath Singh described the attack as an act of cowardice and desperation.

We are providing all assistance needed by the state government, he said in a Twitter post.

The countrys Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned the attack on Twitter, calling it despicable.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

The Maoist rebels, known as Naxals, have killed more than 10 people, including a politician, in Chhattisgarh state amid the multi-phase general elections that will conclude on May 19.

The rebels have battled the state for decades, saying they are fighting for people left out of a long economic boom in Asias third-largest economy.

Security forces killed at least 37 Maoist fighters last year in Gadchiroli.

Additional reporting by Alok Putul from neighbouring Chhattisgarh
Parish houses those displaced by Cyclone Kenneth in Cabo Delgado province in the countrys predominantly Muslim north.

Next to a marble pulpit inside a Catholic church, a young Muslim girl chases around with other children.

The church has become a home for her and nearly 1,000 others from different faiths as they wait out the aftermath of Mozambiques latest devastating cyclone.

Situated in the heart of this predominantly Muslim but diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiliadora parish houses those displaced by the storm in Cabo Delgado, Mozambiques northernmost province.

We dont ask about peoples religions, human life is all we value, Father Ricardo Filipe Rosa Marques, the 41-year-old priest in charge, told AP news agency.

The government has said 41 people have died after the cyclone made landfall on Thursday, and the humanitarian situation in Pemba and other areas is dire.

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More than 55 centimetres of rain have fallen in Pemba since Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique.

This is the first time two cyclones have struck the country in a single season, and Kenneth was the first cyclone recorded so far north in Mozambique in the era of satellite imaging.

The danger is not over. More rain was expected and rivers were expected to reach flood stage by Thursday, the United Nations humanitarian office has said, citing a UK aid analysis. It is the end of the rainy season and rivers already were running high.

The Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1,000 people displaced by the storm [Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP]

Shelter is a top priority for most cyclone survivors and this is what the church is providing, promoting itself as a safe space even before the storm.

In a region where little-known Muslim armed groups have reportedly killed dozens of people in recent months, a certain amount of tension might be expected. But for some, what matters most is shelter.

I had never been in a church before  but as long as I am safe I dont mind, said Aamilah Felciano, who is Muslim. It doesnt mean I have abandoned my faith, I am just saving my life.

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The church has suspended mass and other routine programmes. There is no space or time for such activities, the priest said.

There can be no better mass than giving people shelter and hope. That is the churchs mission, he said.

Women and children have taken up residence inside the main hall. The few belongs they could carry as they fled, mainly clothing and plastic buckets, are tucked close by.

Children climb over the pulpit and the priests chair, playing. In one corner a woman breastfeeds her baby. Church pews have been turned into washing lines.

Outside, shielded from the pounding rains, girls and boys take turns stirring huge pots of rice and soup.

As nightfall approaches, people prepare reed mats or pieces of cloth. Some will sleep on the bare floor. Men sleep on the halls balcony.

More than 900 displaced people are sheltering here, while about 200 others are staying at church centres elsewhere in the city, according to Joao Paulo, an official with Caritas, a Catholic relief agency.

Benches turned into clotheslines inside the Maria Auxiladora parish [Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP]

Some people are still arriving. But getting people to leave their homes was not easy at first.

The difficulty was that a lot of people here are Muslims, some said they cannot stay in a Catholic church, said the priest, Rosa Marques, adding: Some refused and preferred to stay at their homes. My heart broke because these people chose to face death over safety.

But there are few religious tensions among city residents, he said, and many of the people arriving at the church with food, medicine and other aid are Muslim. It is not as difficult as in other areas, he said.

As he spoke, the Muslim call to prayer blared from speakers at one of the numerous mosques nearby, and people left the church to pray.

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Kenneth is not the first calamity to bring people of different faiths together in the province. When the Muslim armed groups intensified their attacks on local communities last year, Muslims and Christians organised joint prayer meetings and opened an inter-faith dialogue centre, the priest said.

People here have suffered a lot. They have been through (Portuguese) colonialism, civil war and the recent killings. They have been living with scars for years yet their love and sense of sharing is amazing, he said.

I am learning from them. The people here are teaching me how to be a true priest.
Leading organisations say they are aware Tarrant might try to use trial to promote white supremacist views.

New Zealands major media organisations have pledged not to promote white supremacist ideology while covering the trial of the man charged with killing 50 people at two mosques in March.

The five organisations, which signed the agreement on Wednesday, said they were aware that the suspect behind the Christchurch attack, self-proclaimed white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, might try to use the trial as a platform to promote white supremacist or terrorist views.

The organisations said the commitment extended to coverage of Tarrants 74-page manifesto, posted online before the attack, as well as broadcasting symbolic images.

That clause came after Tarrant made a hand gesture at his first court appearance, which is sometimes associated with white supremacists.

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They will also avoid reporting on or broadcasting any message, imagery, symbols or signals by the accused or his associates that promote extremism.

The organisations include the countrys two main television news stations, its two major newspaper companies, and its public radio station.

Tarrant, 28, is currently being held in a maximum security prison in Auckland and undergoing psychiatric tests to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial.

His next scheduled court appearance is on June 14.

The New Zealand government has barred downloads of Tarrants manifesto and the livestream footage he posted of the attacks, although local media voluntarily avoided them before the ban anyway.

However, despite their best intentions not to spread extremist content, some New Zealand media outlets have been criticised over some Christchurch-related stories.

A provocative tweet from British right-winger Katie Hopkins about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern received extensive coverage last week, prompting national broadcaster RNZ to comment: Dont feed the troll.
Azhars Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility for the February attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers in Kashmir.

The United Nations added Masood Azhar, leader of a Pakistan-based armed group, to its list of global terrorists on Wednesday after China lifted its objections to the move.

The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) and al-Qaeda announced in a press release the designation of Azhar  the chief of Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM)  over his ties to al-Qaeda.

JeM claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops and stoked tensions between India and Pakistan.

China had blocked three previous attempts by the sanctions committee to blacklist Azhar and put a technical hold on a fourth request from Britain, France and the United States in March.

Azhar founded JeM in 2000 after being released from an Indian prison in exchange for 155 hostages from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane. JeM itself has been on the UNs terrorist list since 2001.

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Under the decision, Azhar, considered the founder of JeM, will be subject to an assets freeze, global ban and arms embargo.

The sanctions committee accused Azhar of participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities carried out by JeM.

UN diplomats said the request was again submitted to the committee and China had not opposed the move to blacklist Azhar.

India in safe hands

The US had put forward a draft Security Council resolution to blacklist Azhar, ratcheting up pressure on China to remove its opposition to the sanctions.

India applauded the move, which came after its air force carried out air attacks on a JeM camp inside Pakistan in February  the first time since 1971 it hit territory beyond divided Kashmir.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley posted on Twitter: India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the prime ministers foreign policy.

Pakistans foreign ministry was quick to respond, calling Indias occupation of Kashmir state-sponsored terrorism.

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Indian occupation forces continue to massacre Kashmiris, enjoying judicial immunity  through draconian laws, a ministry statement said. We will continue to provide diplomatic, political and moral support to our Kashmiri brethren.

About 500,000 Indian security forces are stationed in Kashmir, tasked with battling various armed groups. Tens of thousands of people have died in the decades-old conflict.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the February attack in Kashmir that prompted tit-for-tat air raids, raising fears of an all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Muslim-majority region in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.
The US has held five rounds of talks with the Taliban since July as it seeks peaceful resolution of Afghan conflict.

US peace envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with co-founder of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, as the two sides gathered in the Qatari capital on Wednesday to hammer out a peace deal.

Full withdrawal of foreign forces and preventing Afghanistan from harming others were to be the two key agenda points, said Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, in an email statement.

American and Taliban officials resumed their sixth round of talks in Doha to end the 17-year conflict while the Afghan government hosted a rare assembly in Kabul to ensure its interests are upheld in any peace deal.

There will be no other side except the US and Taliban representatives in the meeting, but some Qatari officials will remain present as hosts, said the spokesman for the armed group that has waged a bloody rebellion since it was ousted from power by a US-led coalition in 2001.

Mullah Baradar was released from a Pakistani prison last October to head the Taliban team in Doha. Qatar hosts the Talibans political office at the request of the US.

The fifth round of peace talks, which continued for 11 days between February and March, ended without any breakthrough.

In previous rounds of talks, the two sides agreed on a draft framework that included a withdrawal of US troops and discussions of a Taliban commitment that the Afghan territory would not be used by international terror groups.

Currently, 14,000 US troops are stationed in the country.

Loya jirga

None of the talks, which began in July last year, have so far included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime.

That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree on a deal to end the 17-year-old war and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the rebels must still forge some kind of accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking a second term, appears to have been sidelined from the peace process ahead of key July presidential elections.

This week, the Afghan president convened a rare grand assembly known as a loya jirga to set out Kabuls conditions for peace talks with the Taliban.

The jirga has a purely consultative function, but it carries significance in Afghan politics and society.

Rising human cost of war

The Doha meetings mark the highest level of negotiations between the two sides since the US ramped up peace efforts last year as the Trump administration is eager to end the war.

Last week, Khalilzad went to Moscow, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for an intra-Afghan dialogue that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table.

The US forces overthrew the Taliban from power in an October 2001 invasion for hosting al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US.

The Taliban has since conducted an armed rebellion exacting a heavy toll on Afghan security forces, civilians and US-led NATO forces, with 3,804 civilians killed last year  the deadliest toll since 2001.

The UN says at least 32,000 civilians have been killed and another 60,000 wounded in the past decade when it began compiling the data.

In January, the Afghan president said some 45,000 security forces have been killed since 2014.

As the talks continue, the US military has stopped tracking the amount of territory controlled or influenced by the Afghan government and rebels, a US watchdog said on Tuesday.
US and Russia trade warnings as crisis in Venezuela intensifies a day after the opposition called for military uprising.

The United States and Russia traded warnings against interfering in Venezuela on Wednesday, a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of stopping President Nicolas Maduro from leaving the country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Pompeo by phone that further aggressive steps in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, the Russian ministry said.

The Russian side underlined that interference by Washington in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and threats towards its leadership was a flagrant breach of international law, the ministry said.

The US State Department said Pompeo urged Russia on the call to stop supporting Maduro. He also stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilising for Venezuela and for the US-Russia bilateral relationship, it said.

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On Tuesday, Pompeo accused Russia of intervening to persuade Maduro to abandon a plan to leave the country following a call by opposition leader Juan Guaido for Venezuelas military to help him remove Maduro.

Russia rejected that allegation on Wednesday, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling it fake news.

Military action

The US has criticised Russia and Cuba for working to prop up Maduro. Russia, which has supplied Venezuela with weapons and loans, says the US is trying to encourage a coup in the Latin American country.

While Pompeo said earlier on Wednesday that the US was prepared to take military action if necessary, Pentagon officials told Congress they had not been given orders to prepare for war.

Military action is possible. If thats whats required, thats what the United States will do, Pompeo told Fox Business Network.

US officials continue to stress that they prefer a peaceful transition in the country.

Marchers gathered on Wednesday for planned mass street protests against Maduro.

Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido rally against the government of Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro [Manaure Quintero/Reuters]

Asked if Washington was considering more sanctions against Russia because of the situation, National Security Advisor John Bolton told reporters the National Security Council would meet to discuss Venezuela on Wednesday. Well be considering a lot of steps, he said.

Bolton would not elaborate on what the US knew about its accusations that Russia was influencing Maduros plans, but he said Moscows interference was not welcome.

This is our hemisphere, Bolton said. Its not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. Its not going to lead to an improvement of relations.

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan cancelled a planned trip to Europe on Wednesday to help him better coordinate with the Trump administration on Venezuela as well as on deployments to the US border with Mexico, the Pentagon said.
Thousands of South Korean workers have marked Labor Day with a rally in central Seoul, urging the government to adopt major international regulations on promoting labour rights.

Organisers told Al Jazeera that around 27,000 people turned up at Seoul Plaza while another 57,000 demonstrated in 13 cities across the country on Wednesday.

Commemorating International Workers Day simultaneously, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KTCU), an umbrella labour union and organisers of the rally, said it was urgent for the country to ratify key conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Wearing headbands and raising their fists, the protesters in Seoul rallied in streets near City Hall, marching under banners denouncing deteriorating working conditions and demanding equal treatment and pay for non-regular workers.

The history of unconstitutional labour law, which is unfair to the workers, should stop as soon as possible. We will fight until we achieve the absolute basic labour rights, KTCU chairman Kim Myung Hwan told Al Jazeera.

The KTCU also called for the job security of irregular workers, a 10,000 won ($8.57) minimum hourly wage, reform of family-owned conglomerates and the expansion of the social safety net.

South Korea became a member of the ILO in 1991. It has since ratified more than two dozen ILO conventions, including four of the eight core ones: two on discrimination and two others on child labour.

Liberal President Moon Jae-in, who won office in May 2017, pushed a labour-friendly agenda that promised to expand workers rights, reduce the countrys notoriously long working hours and address the problems of inequality by elevating minimum wages.

A demonstrator wears an orange vest with Moon Jae-in, keep the promise to reinstate written on it [Sookyoung Lee/Al Jazeera]

Ive worked as a cleaner in a subway station for five years. President Moon promised to make all irregular workers become regular but he hasnt done that yet, said Jun Sang Mun, 55.

So Ive come out today to remind him of that promise.

President Moons labour-friendly agenda also included reining in the excesses of chaebols, or huge family-owned conglomerates that dominate South Koreas economy and are often accused of corruption and monopolistic behaviour.

However, many feel that not enough has been done, and the protesters called for the government to take firmer steps towards chaebol reform.

Jung Yeon Kuk, 61, came from Gyung Gi Do to Seoul for the rally. As a carpenter who is not a regular worker, he complained he would not get holiday pay or a paid weekend because of the current labour law.

Ive worked as a construction carpenter for more than 20 years, he said.

Other regular construction managers dont work on Sundays but get paid. I dont. And thats not fair. There are more than 20,000 irregular construction workers in Gyung Gi Do where I am from who are treated unfairly like me.

Cho Mi Yeon wants to remind the government of the reasons behind workers turning up to the demonstration on their day off [Sookyoung Lee/Al Jazeera]

In a statement released on Wednesday, the president said he wanted to create a country where labour is proudly held up.

I want to build a nation where people can realise their dreams through labour, where people can contribute to global development through labour and where people can be respected through labour, said President Moon.

South Korean labour circles have long demanded that the government ratify the remaining ILO core conventions, which include those on the abolition of forced labour, the right to organise and collective bargaining.

Critics say a decaying job market and bad economy, which unexpectedly shrank 0.3 percent during the last quarter due to sluggish investment, has softened the governments approach on labour rights and corporate reform.

Ive worked on the production line for 10 years, said 50-year-old Ko Mun Kyung.

Luckily, Im a regular worker but Im here for the other workers who deserve the same payment and same treatment that I get. That is the meaning of labour day all over the world. I want to share the spirit of the day with all of my co-workers.

Ko Mun Kyung holds up a banner saying immediate ratification of the core ILO conventions [Sookyoung Lee/Al Jazeera]

It is shameful that South Korea is still far from ratifying the ILO core convention. What a shame. I wish the current government do more to make an agreement between the employers.

South Korean workers are known for their vibrant protest culture, which contributed to the popular uprising that drove the countrys transition from an anti-communist military dictatorship to a Western-style democracy in the late 1980s.

What makes all these people come here while sacrificing their holiday? asked 49-year-old Cho Me Yeon.

That is what the government and policymakers should think about today while watching us shouting and marching for labour rights in the country.

Additional reporting by Sookyoung Lee in Seoul
Turkey holds its largest annual defence show, but disputes over Russian-made weapons are overshadowing the event.

Turkeys largest annual defence show has become a political balancing act, with the United States unhappy about the countrys purchase of Russian weapons.

But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the ongoing war in Syria means he needs to take all available measures to ensure the security of his nation.

Al Jazeeras Sinem Koseoglu reports from Istanbul.
Turkish security officials tell Al Jazeera the two men are restaurant workers without ties to the government.

Turkish officials have denied reports that two Turkish nationals who were captured by forces loyal to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar in Libya are spies.

Restaurant workers Mehmet Demir and Volkan Altinok were arrested by Haftars eastern-based forces in Tripolis southern Qasr bin Ghashir district on April 12.

They have since been sent to Grenada prison in al-Bayda, a city located about 200km east of Benghazi.

The men were arrested just days after Haftar launched an offensive to seize control of Tripoli, which houses the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).

Al Jazeeras Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said security sources have denied any link with the two Turkish nationals.

[Security sources] say these claims are baseless but we should consider that Khalifa Haftar has been on the same axis as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates recently, Koseoglu said.

Turkeys relations with these two countries have been strained  Turkey has also captured two Arab nationals earlier this month and they confessed to spying on behalf of the UAE.

Anas El Gomati, director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute, said Haftar has arrested foreign nationals on suspicion of spying in the past.

In the first 72 hours of Khalifa Haftars operations in 2014, we should remember that he detained all Turkish labourers and migrant workers working in the east of the country and labelled them spies.

Its very difficult to kind of see through the weeds at times with Khalifa Haftars propaganda machine. It does tend to try and find anything that will add to the unsubstantiated claims hes been making for the past four or five years.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Recep Erdogan denounced Haftars offensive on Tripoli in a phone call with Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj of Libyas UN-recognised government, saying the attack amounted to a conspiracy against the country and its people.
Dismissal is another blow to the PM who has been badly damaged by her failure to usher Britain smoothly out of the EU.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has sacked her defence minister over a leak of discussions in the National Security Council about Chinese telecoms company Huawei, the latest of her allies to be removed from government.

Wednesdays sudden dismissal of Gavin Williamson, who strenuously denied involvement in the leak, was another blow for May, who has been badly damaged by her failure so far to usher Britain smoothly out of the European Union.

The firing also underlined how seriously her team treated the leak from the National Security Council, which discusses Britains national security, intelligence coordination and defence strategy, and involves only certain ministers from her cabinet to keep its talks as secret as possible.

That secrecy was broken last month when the Telegraph newspaper reported Britain would allow Huawei a role in building parts of its 5G network, setting London at odds with Washington over the next generation of communications technology. Sources were forced to say that the role would be limited.

Williamson denies claims

In a letter to Williamson, May wrote that an investigation into the leaks had provided compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure.

Williamson denied he was responsible, saying: I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position.

May appointed international development minister Penny Mordaunt to succeed Williamson as defence secretary, and named Minister for Prisons Rory Stewart to Mordaunts former role.

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Opposition parties called for a criminal investigation into the leak, with the main opposition Labour Party describing the Conservative government as chaotic and incapable of sorting out their own crisis.

For many in the governing party, the leak increased doubts over how much control May had over her ministers after she offered to resign if MPs backed the Brexit deal she reached last year with the EU.

They did not back it and she has yet to win its approval after asking Parliament three times.

Huawei, the worlds biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of concerns it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying.
WikiLeaks founder is sentenced to nearly a year in prison for skipping bail to avoid being sent to Sweden.

A UK judge has sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Judge Deborah Taylor said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offence as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody.

She said Assanges seven years in the embassy had cost UK taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21m) and said he sought asylum as a deliberate attempt to delay justice.

The white-haired Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court chanted Shame on you at the judge as Assange was led away.

An Australian citizen, Assange sought asylum in the South American countrys London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assanges lawyer Mark Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters that his client sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the US.

He said Assange had a well-founded fear that he would be mistreated and possibly sent to the US detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Summers read a letter from Assange apologising for his behaviour in 2012 and saying I did what I thought was best.

I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances, the letter said.

Assange was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nations foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

He faces a separate court hearing on Thursday on a US extradition request. US authorities have charged Assange with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

Asylum revoked

A bedraggled and sickly looking Assange was dragged out of the embassy building in the UK capital by officers and bundled into a police van after the South American country abruptly revoked his asylum.

Assange, 47, was initially arrested for breaching bail terms and was later found guilty before a London court.

In the earlier hearing, a judge said Assange displayed the behaviour of a narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interest.

Police said they had been invited into the embassy by the ambassador, following the Ecuadorean governments withdrawal of asylum.

Assange was arrested upon arrival at a police station on behalf of the United States after it requested his extradition, police added.

US federal prosecutors charged him with computer hacking and aiding whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, which they said carries a potential five-year prison term.

Speaking to reporters outside the court after Assanges arrest, WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson said the case sets a dangerous precedent, and that Assange may face even more charges if he is delivered to the US.

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Anyone who wants the press to be free should consider the implications of this case. If they will extradite a journalist to the US, then no journalist will be safe.

There is no assurance that there wont be additional charges when he is on US soil, Hrafnsson added.
Thousands take part in rallies on international labour day to call for better, fairer and safer employment conditions.

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in rallies across the world to urge their governments to adopt major international regulations on promoting labour rights.

Each year, people take to the streets on May 1 to mark International Workers Day, or May Day.

Thousands attended a march in the Panamanian capital on Wednesday, attended by dozens of public and private sector unions.

This is so important, Angela Abrego, a union womens group organiser from the Bocas del Toro region, told Al Jazeera.

This way we can see that we are united.

Key candidates from the small left-wing Broad Front for Democracy party also participated in the march [Sandra Cuffe/Al Jazeera]

In the Venezuelan capital Caracas, clashes broke out as rival pro- and anti-government marches began.

National Guard troops fired tear gas at protesters attempting to block a highway close to an airbase where opposition leader Juan Guaido tried on Tuesday to ignite a military uprising against President Nicolas Maduro.

Across the world, May 1 is traditionally marked with strikes, parades and occasionally violent protests [Daniel Blanco/Anadolu]

In Guatemalas second-largest city Quetzaltenango, hundreds of rural and urban residents began an eight-day march towards the capital, marching in rejection of political corruption and what they refer to as criminal organisations that have infiltrated the government.

Protesters marched on the capital, Guatemala City, demanding dignity, justice and life [Jeff Abbott/Al Jazeera]

In France, tens of thousands of labour union and yellow vest protesters were on the streets, days after President Emmanual Macron outlined a response to months of street protests, including tax cuts worth about five billion euros ($5.6bn).

Clusters of people wearing the black hoods and masks of modern-day anarchists pelted riot police in Paris with rocks and set rubbish bins on fire while darting in and out of a May Day march.

France deployed some 7,400 officers to protect the capital and made 200 arrests.

Riot police used tear gas and water cannon, and charged sporadically at several points along the traditional rally to disperse groups of masked protesters [Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu]

In Turkey, police said they detained 137 people in Istanbul for trying to hold illegal demonstrations in various parts of the city.

Police had cordoned off Istanbuls central Taksim Square, but small groups of demonstrators converged there anyway.

Squares belong to the people, they cannot be closed off. Long live May 1! protesters shouted as police hauled them away, covering their mouths.

Demonstrators raise their fists during a May Day rally in Istanbul [Kemal Aslan/Reuters]

In the South Korean capital Seoul, organisers told Al Jazeera about 27,000 people took part in a rally, while another 57,000 demonstrated in 13 cities across the country.

Protesters wore banner hats reading: Ratify the ILOs core conventions [Sookyoung Lee/Al Jazeera]

In Russia, riot police and national guardsmen detained more than 100 people, sometimes using extreme force to take into custody anti-government activists, witnesses and a rights monitoring group said.

Some protesters carried banners saying For fair elections and Petersburg against United Russia, a reference to Russias ruling party that supports President Vladimir Putin.

Several people carrying banners declaring Putin is not eternal were also detained, Russian media reported.

Supporters of the Russian Communist party took part in a May Day rally in Krasnoyarsk [Ilya Naymushin/Reuters]

Pope Francis offered a May Day prayer for people experiencing the global tragedy of unemployment.
Venezuela in theory would be among the biggest recipients of $650bn in SDR aid the IMF is planning to give to countries.
The union says the US coffee giant is pulling out all the stops to intimate workers with anti-union propaganda.
Those joke headline writers at the N.Y. Times have figured out a new way of talking about jihad, the ancient war theology of the Qur'an, straight from Mecca and Medina, and now of course from the Iranian city of Qom.

Jihad is not the only war theology. World War 2 Japan had the Divine Emperor cult, and kamikaze suiciders killed a lot of American sailors, soldiers, and Marines.

But that was then, and this is now.

Modern jihad started when the Wahhabi priesthood of Saudi Arabia and neighboring Sunni Muslim lands reverted to their ancient religious war doctrine, and all that exploded after the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, which threatened Western politicians and journalists with the end of their careers.

The Wahhabi radical priesthood of Saudi Arabia ran a lot of the attacks on the West and other innocent lands in the world, and then the Iranians forced Jimmy Carter and Zbig Brzezinsky to surrender U.S. policy to the radicals on the other extreme side, the Shi'ites. There are only extremes in that theology.

Pope Benedict (now in retirement) spoke honestly about that history in the words of a Christian Byzantine emperor, before Byzantium got swallowed up by jihad. The pope emeritus's point was that nothing had changed in more than a thousand years, and he was right. Don't expect to hear that truth from any of the others.

The Saudis and Iranians (the other reactionary extreme) went back to ancient terrorist war doctrine when they got a chance to do so after the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973, and today, even Wikipedia seems to face that fact.

But not the joke writers of the New York Times, the most dysfunctional family on the Left, except for all the others. Talk about putting the "fun" back in dysfunctional.

These people were mentally upside-down, long before Trump came along to make it obvious to the whole world.

Says the Times today: "Faith politics on the Rise as Indonesian Islam takes Hard-line Path."

Now, this sounds ignorant beyond belief to those of us who try to stay in touch with reality in spite of the media. It is so wrong that it's not even funny, but you can bet that all the highest-I.Q. NYT pickers worried themselves into a nervous breakdown before they came up with that headline.

Where do I start?

"Hard-line Islam" is not some new idea in Indonesia, of all places. It has a crystal-clear origin and historical trajectory, with the first jihad being proclaimed in the Qur'an, the book Muslims are supposed to memorize word by word. That book is written in classical Arabic, a lovely language, but not so lovely when it commands the uber-sadistic, primitive killing, slave-taking, and rape against innocent children, women, the elderly, non-combatants, and any incidental Muslims who might be in the neighborhood.

Example: 9/11/01, a short subway ride from the New York Times building on 42nd Street.

The people at the NYT are so good at hiding reality even from themselves that they now have a whole new delusional headline, a fresh hallucination for NYT addicts who can't think outside that concrete bucket over their heads.

Jihad is now called "Faith Politics" at the NYT, which makes all your peaceful neighbors, the Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, tribal peoples, white folks, Chinese, and peaceful Muslims (they do exist, especially in Indonesia) into Faith Warriors.

But there are no faith warriors, except the really crazy kids, and the jihad recruits on Twitter and Facebook. And the phony-baloney social justice warriors, living in their moms' apartments in Upper Manhattan.

The Crusades ended almost a millennium ago. Radical Islam comes not from Indonesia, but from the deserts of Arabia, back in the 7th or 8th century. Nobody at the NYT does his homework, it seems, maybe because  let's face it  they are Ivy grads but mostly well trained liars, and probably extremely neurotic, except for the sociopaths, who actually feel good about lying.

Delusions are a major sign of mental disorders, and the NYT is remarkably delusional. It follows that its readers must also be delusional, a mass delusion, the kind of societal psychosis that leads to wars, murderous revolutions, and fanatical indoctrination of young children who can't defend themselves from lies.

So the NYT is not an innocent player in the current stage of jihad. Its lies are accepted by all kinds of people who look sane but are not. The Democrats in Congress are now deeply delusional, or they are faking it while hoping the crazies will get defeated next year.

So what happened with 9/11 was "faith politics," as the Times tells us, and that was almost 20 years ago by now, and nobody has to worry about that anymore.

To top off the Big Lie of the Day, the NYT carefully avoids the bloody truth of a high-level jihadist massacre last week, not far from Indonesia, in the beautiful and troubled land of Sri Lanka, by Western-trained Wahhabist Muslim engineers, extremely rich folks who were hypnotized by another one of those demagogues who run crazy cults on the planet today. Just one extremely wealthy family of Wahhabi indoctrinees, and they killed almost 500 innocent people.

For what reason? Why, in God's name? It must be faith politics. And remember the Crusades!

The surviving head of ISIS, al-Baghdadi, left his last followers to die in Syria and has now issued an internet proclamation, where he celebrates the mass murder of innocents in Sri Lanka, who were infidels, after all, and deserved to die. Even the babies, even the pregnant women, and certainly all except the mass killers, who are even now getting their rewards in Paradise.

It all makes sense if you are very well educated and very delusional, like liberal journalists at the Times and its ilk.

Two decades after 9/11/01, a president of the United States has dared to name the enemy. Call it radical Islam or whatever; I don't care. It's accurate enough, and after 20 years of media and elite denial, we can finally breathe the truth.

That POTUS is named Donald Trump, and he was absolutely the first politician to tell the truth about jihad. Telling the truth is important in times of war, because war is deception, as Sun Tzu wrote. If you can deceive the American people, and all of Europe, and sane folks all over, then you've won the war.

As for Indonesian Islam, a certain president of the United states (initials BHO) actually lived in Indonesia as a child, just the right age to be indoctrinated, in the aftermath of the horrific killings in that country, which set the jihadis against the secular army, with the overseas Chinese caught in the middle. BHO almost certainly got his first taste of Islam as a child in Jakarta.

Childhood indoctrination can maim people for life  really. It's just like the Hitlerjugend, too stupid to think for themselves, and then Hitler sent them out to battle the Russians from his last stand in the Berlin bunker, so most of them died to defend the indefensible.

Childhood indoctrination. It's going on right now.

The other day, some killer type in California either indoctrinated himself, or was indoctrinated, or maybe also ordered by ISIS online to go kill some Jews. So he killed one wonderful Jewish woman, totally innocent, wounded the Chabad rabbi (who tried to stop him), and ran away in his bulletproof vest, a coward to the last. He was chased off by a Border Patrol guy and congregation members who resisted him and protected the children.

All this is not the fault of Indonesian "faith politics," contrary to anything you might read in the New York Times. And most Christians in the world are peaceful people, who are not in life to kill innocents  no more than most Hindus and Buddhists or other sane folks.

Nope. This is an ideological war, it is a doctrinal war, a theological war, and the sources are pretty plain, even if the NYT will never, ever learn.

So forget about liberal headlines about jihad. They are all lies, almost without exception, and they are cleverly designed to deceive you, just like in the other Big Corporate Media. They are still suckering almost a third of adult Americans, and it's a crying shame, but there it is. A fact.

As Donald Trump would say, this is all disgraceful, and decent people would be deeply embarrassed, and avoid such malign disinformation for the rest of their lives. Decent people support decent causes, and no, the NYT and its awful corruptocrats are not that. They are indecent; they are frauds; they are the enemies of the American people, the enemies of decent people everywhere.

So there.
On the eve of the shooting at a San Diego synagogue, the New York Times published a despicable anti-Semitic cartoon that could have come from the pages of Der Sturmer. The cartoon used the same tropes and images that the Nazis used to stoke anti-Semitism in Europe.

The Times subsequent apology was as disingenuous as it was meaningless. Indeed, days later, even as the emotional shock waves from the San Diego synagogue attack were still being felt, the Times published another vile cartoon recapturing the same characterizations.

Before the second cartoon hit the wires, Times opinion writer Bret Stephens called out the paper for its anti-Semitic cartoon while describing the accusation that the Times was purposefully anti-Semitic as a calumny, a false and despicable accusation.

Stephens colleagues rose almost immediately to deny the Times obsession with depicting Jews in the vilest ways, its description of the Arab/Israeli conflict as resting solely on the shoulders of Israel, and its role as a bully pulpit for the emergent anti-Semitism of the left. Despite years of documentation of these trends by Honest Reporting and Algemeiner, Stephens colleagues dismissed his observations as fantasies.

Fantasies? This is a newspaper that attributed the measles outbreak in New York City to Orthodox Jews. While the views of Orthodox Jews on vaccination are perfectly fair game, it is interesting that the Times barely noted outbreaks in other communities that have resistant attitudes toward vaccination -- such as the Amish or the Somalis in Ilhan Omars congressional district. Rather it is the historic Jew as the transmitter of disease and the infamous black death that the Times seizes upon.

Really, a calumny? This is the newspaper that in 1922 glossed over Hitlers anti-Semitism. This is the newspaper that buried the Holocaust and took decades to apologize for it. This is the newspaper that on Easter Sunday published an opinion piece that stated that Jesus, a Jew from Judea, was a Palestinian.

Like the modern New York Times, the ancient Romans tried to rewrite Jewish history. After the failed Jewish revolt in the Second Century, the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea as Palestine, for the Philistines, the ancient Israelites enemy, a coastal people of Greek origin. It is these fair-skinned Greeks, from whom the Southern Syrian Arabs, who were rechristened in the 1960s as Palestinians, claim historic and even more absurdly genetic lineage.

But the Roman retitling of Judea took place some two centuries after Jesus walked the shores of the sea of Galilee and preached the Gospel. Jesus would never have heard the word Palestine, let alone been identified as one.

American Jews want to belong to the leftist and progressive clubs. In their alacrity to have a place among the left, they are willing to ignore that a new breed of anti-Semitism is emerging from the left. They are willing to ignore the Times anti-Semitism because it is still their secular bible.

The Democratic Party could not muster a resolution to condemn the anti-Semitism of Rep. Ilhan Omar. In the wake of the synagogue shootings perpetrated by right-wing fanatics, the left is quick to blame guns, and, of course, President Donald Trump. But they are reluctant to note that the extreme right in this country, while despicable and violent, has little to no access to either the corridors of power or the pages of the New York Times.

The new climate of anti-Semitism springs from both the lefts inability to confront its own bias and the far rights use of social media that manipulates a teenager with a Hitler fantasy who wishes to achieve heroism by shooting unarmed people at prayer. Both are dangerous. But in the long run, the climate of opinion shaped by the New York Times and the likes of Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib is more dangerous. For a fanatic with a gun can kill dozens, but a political regime finding legitimacy in hatred can justify the killing of millions. Jews should wake up. The left values their votes but not their lives.

Abraham H. Miller is an emeritus professor of political science, University of Cincinnati, and a distinguished fellow with the Hyam Salomon Center.
Most people have no idea about the runup to the Holocaust or the antecedent cultural, religious, and socioeconomic circumstances which the Jewish people have suffered for centuries. Most have heard of anti-Semitism but few if any, even amongst Jews themselves, recognize that the Holocaust did not occur in a vacuum or that European anti-Semitism wasnt invented in Germany.

Over the centuries, during good times the Jews of Europe were tolerated and in some cases even allowed to rise to positions of power. But rarely if ever were accepted as equal citizens in a host country.

Amid times of woe, which were more often than not, they became victims of persecution and in many cases mass murder. Stateless people from time immemorial, Jews have been prey for xenophobic populations throughout Europe. Often these riots or pogroms as they became known were precipitated for a myriad of reasons:

Economic: Christians forbidden to take part in lending industries early in the Middle Ages turned to Jews for such practices. Often there was resentment when settlement of loans came due.

Religious: Accusations of deicide.

Blood Libel: Jews used Christian blood for ceremonial practices.

Scapegoating: Monarchs and nobility blamed Jews during time of national and local deprivation.

Natural Disasters: The plague which broke out in 1348 (The Black Death) was blamed on Jews.

The month of April, when Easter and Passover are typically celebrated have been a particularly vexing time for Jews. Religious passions ran particularly high during this time of year.

But despite the massacres, looting, and general deprivation Jews have suffered throughout the centuries, none matched the hatred and ferocity wreaked upon them in Russia and the Ukraine. Between 1881 and 1922, more Jews were slaughtered and brought low than during all the prior centuries combined. The pogroms of this period set the stage for the Holocaust by convincing rulers and subjects alike that there were no consequences for spilling Jewish blood. Voltaire summed it best: It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

Within the three aforementioned periods of incessant anti-Jewish rioting in the Ukraine and Russia, none exceeded the savagery and intensity of the year 1919.

In his seminal work The Slaughter of the Jews in the Ukraine Elias Heifetz states: The terrible massacres in the Ukraine in the year 1919 set the whole land aflame and cannot compare with the pogroms in the eighties or during the first decade of the 20th century.

Whereas the earlier epoch of anti-Jewish violence and debauchery were limited to robberies, destruction of property, and assault, 1919 ushered in mass violence heretofore unheard of. By 1919, full-fledged massacres of Jews embraced not only the cities but spiraled from one village to another. Robbery and property destruction gave way to wanton killings for killing's sake alone. Large cities such as Odessa and Kiev saw Jews being indiscriminately murdered. Reportedly, over 1,326 pogroms took place during this year across the Ukraine alone with an estimated 30,000 to 70,000 Jews being butchered. On February 15th, 2019 the Jewish people memorialized the 100-year anniversary of possibly the most macabre massacre in Jewish history preceding the Holocaust, the Proskurov Pogrom.

According to Stanislav Tunis in his book Pogroms in Ukraine 1919, the Proskurov pogrom set a new phase in the way these anti-Semitic riots were conducted. Whereas Jews had become accustomed to limited violence and destruction of property, Proskurov was new, its intended goal was the entire destruction of the Jewish population in that town. An act of genocide, a word the world would become all too familiar with two decades hence. The pogrom itself began in January 1919 and waxed and waned until August of that year.

As background, following the fall of the Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, a dual set of revolutions took place both in Russia and in the Ukraine. A nationalist provisional government took the reins of state power and wished to continue fighting the Germans. They were opposed by a coalition of leftists led by the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin, whose main support came from the village peasants and workers. Adding to the tumult, within each side there were revolutionary gangs of marauding armies vying for control of state and local power as well. Seemingly the only thing each side had in common was their hatred for the defenseless Jewish population that was scapegoated for every respective setback either had. So it was on the eve of the Proskurov Pogrom.

On February 15, 1919 a nationalist group of Cossacks led by a General Ataman Semosenko got word that Bolsheviks were planning a coup against the local government in Proskurov. Describing Jews as the eternal enemies of the Ukrainian people, Semosenko ordered his troops to exterminate as many Jews as possible but forbade them to touch property belonging to them. No doubt a message of hate to surviving Jews, the massacre wasnt about property and pillage. Within a few hours Semosenkos troops murdered some 1500 Jews.

From there, they went on to a nearby town, Filshtein, where they killed another 600 of the towns 1,900 Jews. This time without any restrictions on robbery, rape, or looting.

This entire period of pogroms, between 1917-1922 particularly Proskurov in 1919, was a wakeup call to many Jews in Eastern Europe. It was time to leave. Those wno saw the handwriting on the wall heeded the Zionist calls of Theodore Herzl and later Zeev Jabotinsky and headed for Palestine. Others found their way to the United States, where personal safety was protected by law and they were free from fear of genocide. Unfortunately, for the vast majority that didnt leave Europe, their fate would be sealed 20 years later.
On November 17, 2018, Rodney Robinson, who was just named 2019 National Teacher of the Year, spoke at a TEDx youth conference in Richmond, Virginia. Robinson, a black social studies and history teacher at a Richmond juvenile detention center, opened his remarks with a lead-in to his main topic: a racist America. If, as Sean Hannity says, "journalism is dead," after listening to Robinson, we can safely add, "Public education is dead."

From YouTube:

There is one phrase I hate more than any other phrase in America, and I'm sure a lot of the young people in this room can relate to this phrase, and that phrase is "back in the day."

Why does the 40-year-old teacher of the year "hate" this phrase? Well, it has to do with those obnoxious parents and grandparents  you know, the ones who fought wars, raised families, went to church, and slogged off to work every day. They are full of baloney, according to Robinson, whose grade schoollevel prattle belies his achievement of a masters degree. "Back in the day," Robinson jokes, they tell their kids and grandkids we didn't have "Mybook or Snapgram," and "we had to be in before the streetlights came on."

When I think of "back in the day," Robinson told the young people, "I think of a time when black people were lynched for violating the various rules and regulations upholding white supremacy."

Robinson was born almost 15 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and well after the initiation of affirmative action policies, which makes his memories of "back in the day" lynchings ludicrous. Moreover, it does not occur to the "best teacher" in the United States, out of 1.5 million, that the phrase he "hates" serves him well when he reminds the young people that the greatest nation on Earth was and is nothing but a hotbed of white supremacy, racism, bigotry, and injustice toward oppressed groups. "Back in the day" is okay as long as Robinson is trashing the United States.

While two state teachers of the year declined to participate in the White House ceremony because of their opposition to President Trump's immigration and LGBT policies, the national winner, Robinson, told a reporter he would attend to represent the slaves who built the White House. "It's not about Trump," he said. Later, President Trump decided to skip the event this year. The White House had no comment on why the president chose to pass on awarding the crystal apple trophy to Robinson in the formal ceremony but did meet privately with Robinson in the Oval Office.

President Trump praised Robinson's work with juvenile offenders despite the teacher's brutal criticism of the president in his TEDx talk. POTUS must be used to left-wing teachers winning the coveted award. In 2017 and 2018, each teacher made no secret of her disdain for President Trump and his policies. The 2018 winner, Mandy Manning, even refused to shake Trump's hand. Sydney Chaffee, the 2017 winner, believes that "education is a tool for social justice."

Before Robinson tore into President Trump in his talk, he revealed his views on, of all things, abortion. When others say "back in the day," Robinson told the group, "I think of a time when women died and had to deal with the pains and scars of back-alley abortions."

He went on to remind the audience, mostly students, about the time "gays and lesbians were demonized as the people who spread AIDS and other diseases."

After this, Robinson somehow transitioned into technology, the age of anxiety, and children "wondering whether the planet will even be there when they grow up."

Then it was on to bullying; the brave Parkland student activists marching for gun control; and finally the Trump administration, which "insults minorities, that denies the rights of gays, lesbians and transgender peoples, a government that separates asylum seeking families and locks their children in cages. [It] is not the adults who must stand up to these inhumane acts; it's the children who must lead the way, so rise up, young people."

Mr. Robinson taught at traditional public schools before moving on to teaching incarcerated juveniles. His grasp of history and social studies goes no farther than passing his hatred of whites, America, a Republican president, and the constitutional right to bear arms on to his students. Robinson cannot check his political agenda at the door of his classroom because, like so many indoctrinated and radicalized teachers today, pouring the "America, Trump and whitey bad" slop into his students' heads is his only area of expertise.

Image: TEDx Talks via YouTube.
I'm an American Jew with graduate degree in economic statistics, econometrics. I prefer reducing things to numbers.

There are about 5 million Jews in America, roughly 90% of them non-Orthodox. I'm among the 90%. Many in our cohort will be marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls this year on Wednesday, May 1.

Sadly, eleven Jews were killed while worshiping at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and another saintly woman was murdered on Shabbat, the last day of Passover, at Chabad in Poway, Calif.

By the way I count, that totals a dozen deaths.

By comparison, within two generations, non-Orthodox Jewry in North America will have all but disappeared. That's because Jewish families are marrying later, having insufficient numbers of children, and giving up the Jewish faith.

By rates of 50% to 70%, they are marrying spouses of other religions. Presidential candidate Joe Biden, for example, is proudly Catholic. His daughter is married to a Jewish surgeon. What might their household look like at Christmastime?

It doesn't take graduate work to know what happens to neighborhoods mostly populated by single-child households.

According to the New York Times, the average American woman is having 1.7 children in her lifetime. Jewish women who are not Orthodox study longer, marry later, and have fewer children than the averages. We have increasing numbers of female Jewish doctors, lawyers, and securities traders. Just not children. I know of very few young families with more than two children.

If 1,000 Jewish women have 1,300 children, and half of them are girls, they'll have 650 daughters. If 50 to 70 percent of the daughters intermarry, the 650 daughters will have roughly 400 daughters of their own, only a tiny portion of them Jews. Thus, 1,000 Jewish grandmothers will be lucky to have 200 Jewish granddaughters. Not a few of those marking the slaughter of 6 million in Europe will pound a podium to swear, "Never again."

Many of the same folks are failing to have enough children to prevent the demise of Jewry in North America. They should be ashamed.
The Hill reports:

Former Democratic state legislative leader Stacey Abrams will not challenge Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) next year, a blow to Democrats who hoped to make inroads in a state Republicans have controlled for nearly two decades. In a video posted to Twitter, Abrams said she didn't believe serving in the Senate would be the best use of her desire to serve the public.

In case you are wondering how she plans to "serve the public," she means to make herself available as the running mate for any Democrat nominee of insufficient diversity, including white males, white females, or even black males.

With Abrams running for Senate, Georgia would have been a 50-50 contest, and a good chance for a Democratic pickup.

Democrats may now turn to Jon Ossoff, a candidate who raised more than $30 million during a narrow loss in a special election contest in the Atlanta suburbs in 2017. Ossoff has been stumping around the state in informal town hall meetings since last year, raising Democratic hopes that he would mount a bid if Abrams said no.

Jon Ossoff would be a much weaker candidate for the Democrats.

At the presidential level, Georgia will be a battleground state in 2020, after Trump's 5-point win in 2016 and less than a 2-point win for Republican Brian Kemp in the governor's race in 2018.

Another GOP state that will be hard fought is Arizona, where Trump won by 3% in 2016 and Dems won an open Senate seat by 2% in 2018. Dems have a strong candidate for the Senate: former astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of Gabby Giffords, set to challenge Martha McSally, a 50-50 proposition for the GOP at best.

Arizona and Colorado (Corey Gardner) are the two most vulnerable GOP-held Senate seats up in 2020. Susan Collins is probably OK in Maine. Her first challenger is a queer mermaid.

The GOP now has 53 Senate seats, and one pickup looks very likely  taking down Doug Jones, Alabama's accidental senator, elected only because his opponent Roy Moore was so unpalatable in the special election, even in Alabama. With that seat, the GOP would have 54 and could lose 3 others and still hold the majority if Democrats win the White House. If Trump wins re-election, Dems will need to win five GOP-held seats if Jones loses to get to 51, since Vice President Pence could break a 50-50 tie.

Image credit: YouTube screen grab.
Socialist Venezuela is spiraling into chaos and violence, according to news reports. What we are really seeing is defenseless citizens trying to fight a dictatorship not with firepower, but with their hands. Venezuela's democrats have no guns. The dictatorship they're fighting, however, is armed to the teeth, and it's using those arms with little to fear from the citizens.

With this result:

And these pictures.

The Getty photos show Venezuelans trying to set military equipment on fire by hand, as well equipped, organized Venezuelan troops fire right into the crowds, and militarized police forces hunt down protesters with rifles. It's not easy fighting that.

An MSNBC contributor let the cat out of the bag about the arms imbalance and the ugly reality that Venezuela has no Second Amendment.

And here's why one is needed:

Venezuelans have been at this for decades.

Socialism has destroyed their country, because socialism doesn't work. The change was not just in some bad move that happened yesterday, but slowly and erosively like acid eating at stone. The early years saw socialist property expropriations and redistributions, as well as the politicization of the country's oil industry. The country's investment environment was ruined by expropriatory laws, isolating it from any progress. The courts were corrupted with cronyism and the legislature was neutralized with a new so-called 'constitutional' legislature above it. The press was shut down  by all kinds of means  from denying access to newsprint to forced sales by socialist cronies, to invented charges against news barons. There also was simple violence against the press, too  when I was in Caracas in late 2005, the staff of then-independent Globovision showed me the bullet holes in the walls where armed Chavista motorcycle thugs shot up the reception area. The money was corrupted, and price controls went in, and the massive shortages, poverty, and refugee flight resulted. Cuban police state oppressors were brought in and put in charge of the passport and electoral system. And amid so many socialist outrages, the right to bear arms was quietly taken away.

Elections don't work: socialist dictator Maduro very obviously cheated on his last one, and fraud-filled elections have been going on since at least 2004. When states such as Italy say they won't support Venezuela's democrats because they want new elections, all one can ask is, where have they been? The first corruption of elections, something that was almost certainly the case during the 2004 recall referendum on Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and every successive election, got worse. By the time Nicolas Maduro re-elected himself in 2018, it was so bad that even people abroad could see it  a few pariah-tyrants abroad liked it, but most nations from the civilized world refused to recognize the sham.

Dialogue doesn't work. Pope Francis's bid to get dialogue going around 2017 was a complete bust  and ended up buying time for the regime. Even the pope seems to know how bad it was  he declined to do more 'dialogue' in 2019.

Peaceful protests don't work. Venezuela has seen millions-strong protests dating from at least 2004  with very big ones in 2007, 2013, 2015...and none of them has mattered.

Sanctions don't work. The place is a shambles anyway, so sanctions don't make much difference. Worse still, with many of Venezuela's ruling oligarchs now getting their money from narcotics-trafficking, sanctions are meaningless to them. Illegality is baked into the pie.

Foreign allies don't work. Venezuela has a lot of neighbors willing to offer diplomatic and moral support to its democratic protesters  and not a one is willing to send troops. The U.S. could easily do it, but faces high costs, casualties, and the risk of a nation-building morass, as well as long decades of leftist propaganda afterward about 'yanqui imperialismo.' The public support is not there for it. Worst of all, the U.S. faces a great-power confrontation with the dictatorship's determined allies such as Russia, which is there to defend Maduro.

All that's left is force of arms, and now Venezuelans don't have them.

What's scary here is that tyrants such as Chavez and Maduro know very well how arms ownership works and why a Second Amendment works.

Not only did they take away Venezuelans' right to bear arms, but they armed up their own side in these things.

Remember when Chavez purchased 100,000 rifles from Russia in 2006? Here's also an excellent report from the New York Times' C.J. Chivers on the specialized kind of arming up the Chavistas were doing in 2007. You cannot read this now without getting the creeps, because obviously, the Chavistas were preparing for this day  to repress Venezuela's democrats in an uprising

Remember also that Chavez trained the "colectivos" who are the motorcycle thugs who shoot into crowds and terrorize the poor in the slums.

And recall also that this year, defecting Venezuelan troops to Colombia have stated that a lot of troops are holding back from defecting...because even they don't have access to arms. "We need arms," the defecting troops told the Colombians.

This is as ugly a picture as anyone can imagine. It shows a very scary fact that America's gun-grabbers fail to recognize: taking away arms doesn't take away a legitimate need to fight. It just means one will have to fight with one's hands when the only alternative there is is to fight.

Venezuelans are facing that choice now. Fight with your hands and maybe die, or die for sure of socialist starvation. They have to fight. What a sad thing to see that they lost their right to fight with the same battle advantage as their socialist oppressors.

Image credit: VOA/Reuters via Shareable YouTube screen shot.
Very brave Venezuelan citizens are showing the courage to put their lives on the line to achieve a better life for their families and fellow citizens. There are several similar but different episodes in recent history of a peoples quest at the risk of their lives to have a meaningful change away from totalitarian rulers.

The tragic Hungarian Revolution in 1956 ended very badly when US rhetoric inspired action and then we backed off when Soviet troops ended that uprising in bloodshed.

Years later Poland and the Fall of the Wall was a wonderful event in world history. I asked my then-boss, the late VA Secretary Ed Derwiski, what really happened, because he was the senior Polish American leader in the Administration. His words of wisdom stayed with me forever: General Jaruzelski (commanding) chose to be a Polish patriot and not Russian stooge.

On this May Day morning, I hope that there are enough Venezuelan military members who are patriotic to the aspirations of the people and the legitimate succession of Juan Guaido to take charge and not be Maduro stooges.



The question this May Day is simple: Before America commits more blood and treasure getting into a new war, how does America plan to get out? Before any military option is employed, there has to be a clear exit.

The use of force, if invited in by Juan Guaido to help save Venezuela, must have a national debate to do it smart. The leaders of Venezuela have bankrupted their country, which is in an historic turn of events for a nation awash in oil reserves.

The Peoples Republic of China and Russia have legitimate debt claims against legally made loans indemnified by Chavista regime.

China and Russia loaned billions to Venezuela  and then the presidency went up for grabs China and Russia have kept Venezuela afloat by lending billions to the economically crippled petrostate, sometimes with cheap oil thrown in as a sweetener for the two creditors.

Those deals were struck with strongman Nicolas Maduro, whose leadership is facing a serious challenge from Juan Guaido, and its not clear what happens to that debt if Maduro is kicked out of office.

Venezuela is indebted to external creditors by a total of something close to $100 billion.

Consequently, today right now, there is still time for an Art of The Deal moment backed by US military assistance if ultimately required

Resolving the $100 billion in debt to Russia and China, using money generated by Venezuelan oil reserves is a negotiating point. It just takes engineering skills and security to bring that countrys oil fields back to full capacity because the collateral is in the ground. That collateral can, over time, can pay off the equity shares owned to the citizens of a proud nation and also service their crushing debt burden. This is well within the art of the financially possible.

It is simple to say but, as always the devil is in the details. if Juan Guaido invites in Americans to help, he can also assure Russia and China they will get paid as condition for Maduro being asked to leave. I have full confidence President Trump fully understands this financial process because construction work, debt, and equity payouts and debt servicing are well within his life experiences.

Military action for military actions sake to enforce the Monroe Doctrine or addressing a host of other list of horribles  cocaine, narco-terrorism, a real police state with vicious Cuban enforcers, horrible blind stupid socialism, and a base for Russian, Chinese, and Iranian military threats -- are a real debating point.

Forging a partnership to secure the oil fields to begin to make Venezuela great again should be immediately be part of a transparent robust debate. Sadly, right now people will still tragically die, but there is the possibility of a unified agreed-upon plan with a beginning, middle, and end debated before any combat action starts.

Maduro had his turn and failed. If a negotiated way ahead can be supported by Russia and China, because they will get their money back, while the US is being invited in to assist by the Interim President Guaido to focus on oil recovery, then there is a real chance to mitigate violence.

Make no mistake: some thugs will fight to the death in lost causes. An invitation to help secure the oil fields -- perhaps with the guaranteed security of Marine insertion forces into remote oil fields to protect workers -- is an appropriate debate to have for our nation before we all are rushed into another nation-building war.

The ugly reality is that a full blown military operation would destroy the county and we would lose service members and ultimately Russia and China would get a word I am sure President Trump knows: bupkis  the Yiddish term for nothing.
Cuba, the socialist police state so adored by Obama administration twerps like Ben Rhodes, is finding itself in the line of fire for its brutal grip on Venezuela.

President Trump has vowed to make the socialist dictatorship pay by threatening Cuba with 'full and complete' sanctions, which is exactly what it deserves. Here are his tweets:

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

....embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

but killing Cuba's people in the political prisons and streets.

But right he is to squeeze Cuba to the gills. The socialist hellhole run by the same greedy and murderous family for 60 years is a linchpin to keeping the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela in power. Cuban communists not only provide troops and advisers in all of the country's security operations, but reportedly run those operations. What's more, they run the country's critical infrastructure. Like the blackouts? They did the blackouts. They control Venezuela's corrupt electoral system and have their hands on all the identification cards in the country, too. When I visited Venezuela's Cojedes state in late 2005, a Venezuelan veterinarian told me they were even controlling the agricultural department, issuing orders on what kind of cows were to be had on the nascent collective farms being set up from expropriated farmland. Cuba's vaunted medics, meanwhile, hand out medical treatment tied to how one votes. No treatment if you don't vote the way they want you to vote. No wonder a lot of them have fled  that's not medicine. With this kind of control from a foreign power, no wonder Venezuelan government offices frequently feature the "Cubazuela" flag.

Yes, they've got to go.

And Trump would be justified in embargoing the hell out of them just for their treatment of America's diplomats, wounding many of them permanently in sick sonic attacks.

They need every last boat coming into their island redoubt blocked and every bank transmission halted. No remittances to benefit the Castroite government first; all overseas bank accounts frozen. No imports, no exports, no "free" Venezuelan oil, no money to buy guns and torture equipment, no diplomatic exchanges, no tourism  and hell to pay for anyone on the outside who tries to trade with them or play tourist anyway.

According to Fox News, it's not the first time he's brought the problem up:

The White House has long linked Venezuela's fortunes to Cuba. At a major foreign policy address earlier this year, Trump declared: "When Venezuela is free, and Cuba is free, and Nicaragua is free, this will become the first free hemisphere in all of human history." Trump continued, as the crowd roared: "The days of socialism and communism are numbered not only in Venezuela, but in Nicaragua and Cuba as well. Do we love Cuba? Do we love Nicaragua? Great countries. Great potential."

How is it that a huge sovereign nation such as Venezuela, with the world's richest oil reserves, can come under the thumb of a filthy socialist hellhole pariah state such as Cuba? It's astonishing, and Trump is making a smart move at Venezuela's point of vulnerability.

Island states are uniquely vulnerable just for their geography, and any normal island state will make as many friends as it can to keep itself viable as a nation. Cuba doesn't do that  it makes war and takes over other countries  and anything that can't go on won't, to paraphrase Herbert Stein. The socialist dictatorship has a few resources around its elites, but not enough to keep the nation, or even itself, afloat. The Castroite fortune amounts to about $900 billion that Forbes could prove, so there are some reserves. But with frozen bank accounts, it's not going to last all that long.

Squeezing Cuba to the gills will for sure hamper its operations in Venezuela  and may well knock out the communist dictatorship in Cuba, too.

Taking them both out at once is a first-rate proposition, and one can only hope that either the Cubans get out of Venezuela or President Trump shows them he means what he says and takes the whole socialist hellhole industrial complex out cold.

Image credit: Twitter screen grab.
Most journalists and other Democrats say it is racist and unfair to ask on the census form whether people living in the United States are here legally.

The ACLU, in its arguments to the court, says you can't ask the question because we are a nation of laws. Is that a joke? You can't ask people if they have violated our laws because we are a nation of laws?

Court Blocks Trump's Plan to Add a Citizenship Question to 2020 Census A federal court has blocked the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, stating that it constitutes an "egregious" violation of federal law. The ruling deals a serious blow to the administration's plan to use the 2020 census to attack the financial and political resources of immigrants and communities of color. In a decision released Tuesday, Judge Jesse M. Furman determined that the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, "would undermine the proposition  central to the rule of law  that ours is a government of laws[.]

I wonder why it is OK for the Department of Treasury to ask people who are filing tax returns whether they are here illegally or not because illegal aliens aren't eligible for certain tax credits. We are told how much illegal aliens contribute to our economy and how much in taxes they pay, and they are asked the question. Why would these people not be scared to answer the question on tax returns but be scared to answer the question on a census form?

It appears, from the following list of government assistance programs and tax credits that illegal aliens are not eligible for, that many government agencies must ask the question about legal status:

Can Undocumented Immigrants [sic] File Taxes? Unauthorized immigrants [sic] typically aren't eligible for federal benefits. Following is a summary of the federal benefits in terms of their relationship to undocumented immigrants [sic]: Refundable Tax Credits  Ineligible for most tax credits. ITIN holders with U.S. children can receive the Child Tax Credit

Pell Grants & Student Loans  Ineligible

Unemployment Insurance  Ineligible

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)  Ineligible

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)  Ineligible

Social Security  Ineligible

Medicaid  Emergency Services Only

Health Care Premium and Cost-Sharing Assistance  Ineligible

Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)  No federal care; some states cover for labor and delivery, prenatal, and postpartum care

Shouldn't everyone be curious where illegal aliens live, how many there are, and how much they cost or contribute? Should states that enforce the immigration laws that Congress passed lose representation in Congress to states that refuse to follow the laws of the land?

Journalists and other Democrats fight the census question in the same way they fight sensible photo ID laws that most of the public supports. They know that government agencies throughout the country require photo IDs for many things that everyone needs in his daily life. But somehow they maintain that it is discriminatory to require a photo ID to vote. There is only one reason not to require a photo ID to vote, and that is that the Democrats would like the opportunity to manipulate elections. Let's call it vote-harvesting.

How Ballot-Harvesting Became The New Way To Steal An Election America's electoral obsession isn't Russian meddling anymore. It's ballot-harvesting, a long-disputed practice implicated in fraud that's come to the fore with the nationwide embrace of absentee voting in recent years  and especially in last month's midterms. With ballot-harvesting, paper votes are collected by intermediaries who deliver them to polling officials, presumably increasing voter turnout but also creating opportunities for mischief.

To show how disingenuous Democrats are on photo IDs, they call laws to require the ID racist and voter suppression but require photo IDs at their conventions.

Democrats call Alabama's voter ID law 'racist' but require DNC delegates to show ID to vote In a twist of irony, the Democratic National Convention is requiring delegates to show photo ID to receive their official credentials. While the Democrats require an ID to get into their convention, they have consistently fought against voter ID laws requiring citizens to show one when they vote.

I would ask the Supreme Court justices, the ACLU, other judges, professors, journalists, and other Democrats why it is OK for the IRS and other federal agencies to ask people their legal status but not the Commerce Department for the census. Also why is it OK for federal and state government agencies to require photo IDs for many things but somehow not to vote?
Sandbanks are a hazard to marine traffic. Often found near coastlines, near the mouth of a river and around ports, these shallow, submerged beds of sand keep changing their shape and position posing great navigation risk to ships. Because the sand tends to drift with the tides, it is difficult to anchor a warning lightship on a sandbank, much less get a firm foundation for a permanent lighthouse.

The problem of erecting a lighthouse on sandbanks and shoals greatly disturbed Alexander Mitchell (1780  1868), an Irish brick-maker who ran a successful brick-making business near Belfast. Belfast has a strong seafaring tradition, and Mitchell had no doubt heard many tragic tales of lives lost at sea and ships grounded on the mudflats. Mitchell decided to do something about it despite having no formal training in engineering, or lighthouse building. Remarkably, Alexander Mitchell was also blind.

Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, United States, was erected in 1875 and still stands today. Photo credit: Mark/Flickr

Alexander Mitchell was born in 1780 in Dublin, the son of an Inspector-General of Army Barracks in Ireland, a duty that took him all over the country. At the age of seven, Alexanders family moved to Pine Hill, near Belfast, where he got admission at the prestigious Belfast Academy. While learning arithmetic, geometry, and trigonometry at school, Alexander discovered his love for mathematics and he excelled at it.

Alexanders eyesight had always been poor, but it became progressively worse as he became older. At age sixteen, he could no longer read. His family helped him in his studies as young Alexanders world slowly spiraled into eternal darkness. At twenty-two, he went completely blind. By some accounts, Alexanders loss of eyesight was due to a childhood infection of smallpox.

Despite his disability Mitchell was an outgoing and optimistic man. He married a neighbours daughter, against the wishes of his mother, and together they had five children. He also set up a successful brick manufacturing business in the Ballymacarrett area of Belfast that enabled him to buy many property around the city.

Mitchell had an active social life and entertained many guests at his home, including Thomas Romney Robinson, the astronomer, and George Boole, the famous mathematician. He acted so naturally in the presence of others that some people didnt even know he was blind. He played whist and backgammon with them while an accomplice whispered the throw of the dice or the names of the cards.

Alexander Mitchell ran his brick-making business for 30 years, during which time he made many important contribution to the trade in the shape of several innovative developments to the process. In 1832, he retired from brick-making, and the following year, at the age of 52, patented the screw pile.

Mitchell's solution was simpleinstead of hammering iron piles straight into the soft mud or clay to make a foundation, they were to be screwed in place. Each pile was to have propeller-like blades attached on one end that would allow them to be twisted into place like a giant corkscrew.

To test his invention, Mitchell secretly rowed out to a sandbank in Belfast Lough with his son John, then aged nineteen, and screwed down a screw pile, leaving the top end showing above water. Early next morning, he returned to find it still firmly fixed in position. After a second successful trial of his invention, he went to London and had the screw pile patented.

Mitchell had to wait another five years before he could convince Trinity House, the body then responsible for British and Irish lighthouses, the merits of his invention, and in 1838, the first screw-pile lighthouse was erected at Maplin Sands in the Thames estuary. This was quickly followed by another lighthouse at Morecambe Bay in 1839. By the turn of the next century, hundreds of screw-pile lighthouses went up all over the British Isles and in North America. Mitchell personally supervised the construction of several, travelling to the site where they were being erected. He would be seen climbing ladders and scaffolding on half-built lighthouse, oblivious to the dangers. At times, he would fall into the sea, but come up again cool and collected.

The success of the screw pile allowed Mitchell to expand his contracting activities to other areas such as the building of piers and bridges as far away as India.

Today screw-piles are still widely used for a variety of building applications from lighthouses to rail, telecommunications, roads, and numerous other industries where fast installation is required. Most industries use screw pile foundations due to the cost efficiencies and reduced environmental impact. Screwing the foundations in the ground means that there is less soil displacement so excess soil does not need to be transported from the site, saving on transportation costs and reducing the carbon footprint of the project.

Alexander Mitchell was elected member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1848, and received the Telford Medal the following year for a paper on his invention. He died at the age of 88 at his home near Belfast in 1868.

Model of the Maplin lighthouse at Londons Science Museum.

Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, was another screw pile lighthouse. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1997 and transferred to the Baltimore Maritime Museum where it stands today.

Middle Bay Lighthouse is screw-pile lighthouse. The structure is located offshore from Mobile, Alabama, in the center of Mobile Bay. Photo credit: Harley Flowers/Flickr
Alphabet announced on Tuesday that it will be losing two of its board members, when their terms are up in June.

Those two board members include Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google and former chairman. The other is Diane Greene, who was in charge of Google Cloud, up until last year when Thomas Kurian  former Oracle executive  replaced her as head of its cloud business.

While losing Greene is a big deal, arguably losing Schmidt is an even bigger deal. Schmidt has been with Google and Alphabet since 2001, when he served as CEO of Google before Larry Page took over (and eventually created Alphabet, allowing Sundar Pichai to be CEO of Google, and Page becoming CEO of Alphabet).

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Just to show how long thats been, Schmidt joined Google when it had several hundred employees. As of the end of the first quarter of 2019, it crossed the 100,000 mark, with employees. Schmidt became the executive chairman in 2011, and held that position until 2015 after the restructuring to Alphabet happened. In 2015, he was replaced by John Hennessy.

Speaking of Hennessy, he stated that Eric has made an extraordinary contribution to Google and Alphabet as CEO, Chairman, and Board member. We are extremely grateful for his guidance and leadership over many years. While Hennessy didnt say it, in black and white, one could say that Schmidt was partly responsible for Google growing into the Google we know today  alongside co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, of course.

Both Schmidt and Greene will not be seeking re-election to the board, and their terms will end in June.

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Alphabet announced that it added a new board member, Robin L. Washington, who joined on April 25. She will be part of the Leadership and Compensation Committee. Currently, Washington also serves as the CFO of Gilead Sciences. Adding Washington to its board makes sense, for Alphabet, as it has been pushing into health tech in the past few months. Bringing on David Feinberg to lead Google Health late last year.

This news comes just a day after Alphabet had its worst earnings report in the last six years. For a company like Alphabet, thats not entirely a surprise. It has been blowing earnings out of the park quarter after quarter after quarter. Growth had to stop at some point. In the first quarter, Alphabet announced revenue of $36.3 billion, which was a miss from analysts consensus of $37.2 billion. While earnings per share were $9.50 versus analysts expecting $10.45. Those misses were actually pretty big. But Google still brought in a boat load of revenue in the quarter. Investors were clearly not happy, with the stock dropping nearly eight-percent in after hours trading on Monday.

While it seems like Schmidt and Greene decided not to stay on the board at Alphabet after that earnings report, it is likely that this was planned well before the earnings came out. As board members dont just decide to not seek for re-election and then have a press release ready to go the following day. These things take time  especially with a publicly traded company.

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Currently, theres no word on where either Schmidt or Greene may be heading next.
Motorola continues to focus on large battery capacities, but forgets about the other pillars of a great smartphone, with the Moto G7 Power.

Motorola has owned the mid-range and low-end market in recent years, with its impressive Moto E and Moto G smartphones. This year, Motorola is going all-in on the Moto G7 lineup, with three models, all hitting different price points and features. The Moto G7 Power is positioned as the battery king, and one that can still get stuff done.

Disclaimer: At Android Headlines, we now review all phones from the good and the bad perspectives. Our reviews are designed to give a deeper perspective on the positive and negatives of each new device and should help readers who are specifically looking for why a phone is really good, or why its negative aspects might make it worth avoiding. This bad review focuses on the negative for the Motorola Moto G7 Power. For an idea of everything LG did right with this phone, visit our good review.

These days, most people use their smartphone as a media consumption device. The Moto G7 Power does work as one, but it wont provide you with the best experience. This is largely because there is a single speaker on the phone. That single speaker is the earpiece. So at least that single speaker is firing at you, instead of down or on the back of the phone.

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Moto G7 Powers speaker is actually pretty loud, but that usually comes at a cost, and thats true here. The sound is a bit on the tinny side, and some of the higher notes can be blown out. Its not the best audio experience, and it would probably be better if Motorola had stuck in a downward-firing speaker on this phone. As it would have more power and space to actually output some great audio.

Poor Camera Experience will be a Deal Breaker for most

Then theres the camera, its also a decent camera. Its no perfect and could definitely handle some improvements. For instance, when there is a ton of light, it seems to have trouble exposing the picture correctly. As you can see in the Flickr Gallery down below, some images that have plenty of light, the Moto G7 Power has trouble with. It overexposes it quite a bit. Take the picture of the Roborock S5 for example, it is very overexposed. The vacuum is actually black, but it looks almost gray in that particular picture.

At night, the camera also struggles, so youd have to find the happy middle to get some great pictures. On the bright side, it does work great with food. Its an okay camera, it could be better but it could definitely be a lot worse  many in this price range are, actually. But if you are looking to buy the Moto G7 Power for its camera, dont.

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Equipped with a 720p display, the Moto G7 Power doesnt have the sharpest display on the market. Its not as bad as it sound though, given this is a 6.2-inch display with that low of a resolution. You can only really see pixels if you are specifically looking for them. In our usage, we did not really see individual pixels much if at all. But the colors on this display are not perfect either. From time to time, they can seem washed out. For example, if you use a very bright wallpaper on the phone, you can see the brighter colors are washed out. Its not completely terrible, and most people may not even see it, but it is a problem.

Motorolas design for the Moto G7 Power is pretty plain and boring. For most, that wont be a big deal. But it would be nice for Motorola to switch things up a bit. It looks very similar to the past two years of Moto G smartphones (Moto G5 and Moto G6 lines). It also has a notch on the front, and while yes that is a trend right now in the industry, it is a trend that virtually no one likes nor wanted. And Motorola is embracing it for some reason.

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Lets not forget about the fact that there are still some pretty big bezels on the Moto G7 Power. The whole point of the notch was to reduce the bezel size  guess Motorola didnt get that memo. The chin of the Moto G7 Power is pretty large. In fact, its so large that Motorola was able to fit its logo on it. Not the bat wing logo, but their entire name, motorola. Which makes this phone look pretty ugly, unfortunately.

With the Moto G7 Power having a much larger battery than most other phones, including the Moto G7, youd think that there wouldnt be a camera bump. And that it would be a completely flat backside. Youd be wrong. Theres a much smaller bump, but there is still a bump on the back. Fortunately, it doesnt make the phone wobble when typing on it on a table or another flat surface.

No 4G LTE Connectivity on Americas Largest Network is a big Ommission

Motorola touts that the Moto G7 Power does work on AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon carriers, and it even lists all of Verizons bands. But we put a Verizon SIM card into the phone and, it wont pick up 4G LTE at all. Only 3G and 2G. Its a bit puzzling, since this works perfectly fine on the Moto G7, and all of Motorolas phones in recent memory have worked on all four carriers. But for some reason this one is not. We arent the only ones having this issue either, so its not a case of it being this particular phone. On numerous forums, weve seen Verizon users having issues getting 4G LTE connectivity on their Moto G7 Power.

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If you are a Verizon customer, and were looking to get the Moto G7 Power, you may want to hold off until Motorola fixes this. Unless youre okay with using 3G  which you really shouldnt be, as it is dog slow and being phased out by Verizon.

With software, dont expect to get Android Q anytime soon on the Moto G7 Power. Motorola has really dropped the ball in the past few years when it comes to software updates. It used to be one of the first to push out updates, this was largely thanks to it sticking with a stock Android approach to software. But in recent years (after being acquired by Lenovo), things have changed drastically.

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This phone was on the January 1, 2019 security patch up until this week, a full three weeks after we received the phone and started using it for this review. When it was then updated to the March 1, 2019 patch. Still outdated, but not as outdated as before. So if youre hoping to get Android Q on the Moto G7 Power this year, dont hold your breath.

A few other minor things that are missing with the Moto G7 Power, but still worth mentioning. There is no NFC support. This means that you are unable to use your phone for doing mobile payments with Google Pay. You also cannot transfer pictures and files by touching your phone to another one. Though these are features that not a lot of people use, its still worth mentioning.

Then there is also the fact that there is no waterproofing available on this phone. In typical Motorola fashion, it is water repellent, not water resistant or water proof. What that means is that it will repel water. So if you are caught in the rain, you can still use your phone without worrying about it dying. But it cannot take a dip into the pool (or worse, the toilet). This is a feature that we see on just about every other smartphone out there, but for some reason Motorola is not adding it to really any of its phones  no matter the price.

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There needs to be a 64GB Moto G7 Power

Out of the box, nearly half of your storage is already used. This is due to the system needing some storage, and the pre-loaded apps also using space. But having this use up nearly half of the storage, on a 32GB smartphone, is not a great experience. The bright side is, the fact that the Moto G7 Power does support Adoptable Storage. So you can toss in a micro SD card and store some apps and games there, as well as your photos, music, etc.

The Moto G7 Power does have a lot going for it. In this price range, it does hit all of the boxes it needs too. That includes the battery life and performance boxes, but it does fall short in some other key areas. Like the display and the camera departments. Its not the perfect smartphone, and that is expected, considering the fact that this is about a quarter of the price of most other flagship smartphones.

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This is not a phone for everyone, but it is a phone for those that long battery life. And if you are able to put up with the poor camera performance, the semi washed out display and updates that may or may not come, then this is still a decent option for many.
A report from South Korea stated that a Galaxy S10 5G model has been found suspiciously burnt. The user, who has been identified by the surname Lee, reported that he left the device on a table and soon he started to smell burning and smoke engulfed the phone before he had to drop it to the groundbecause it was so hot A picture of the damaged handset has also been reported.

The user claims to have done nothing out of the ordinary to the handset that could have triggered the burning. The phone was no longer usable because everything on the inside was burnt.

Upon reporting this incident to Samsung, the South Korean company refused to refund Lees $1,200. After receiving the charred device from Lee, Samsung stated that it closely inspected it and has concluded the damage is a result of external impact. The Galaxy S10 was released in South Korea on April 5 in hopes of the country setting high expectations for becoming a global leader in technology.

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This news will likely come with more heated reactions than if it were any other manufacturer considering Samsungs past concerning phones and fire. Back in 2016, Samsung released the Note 7 which had explosive results, literally. Samsung recalled the Note 7 after several reports of exploding and burning devices due to a battery defect.

Samsung cannot take the burning of the S10 5G lightly. Having a history of similar issues lends the company to quick accusations and further investigation. Apparently, the issue was not Samsungs fault; however, if more reports continue to pop up, as they did with the Note 7, Samsung will have a much bigger problem at hand.

The Galaxy s10 5G is set to be a beast of a smartphone. It will have a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen, powered by the Exynos 9820 or the Snapdragon 855. It will also be equipped with 8GB of RAM and have a 4,500 mAh battery. Regardless of how many customers will actually purchase the phone on release, the device will set a new standard for power users.

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When Samsung first announced the S10 5G, no one at the event was even allowed to handle the device. It seemed the company was keeping the project very much under wraps.U.S. pre-orders for the smartphone are open now and the handset is scheduled to be released on May 16. Its, of course, possible that Samsung is not at fault, and this report was indeed the cause of external impact. It is also possible that Samsung released the S10 5G in South Korea as a form of a test run before its release elsewhere. If this is the case, the reported burning of the device becomes much more significant.

Even with the scheduled release of the S10 5G in the U.S. on May 16, its unlikely that the 5G network will be ready by then. President Trump has announced big plans for the spectrum in the upcoming year, and it is good that there will be a device ready to handle the high speeds, assuming it works properly.
A teaser that went online several hours back confirmed some speculation about the strategy behind Googles Pixel 3a range, an upcoming lineup of Android mid-rangers thats about to land in an oversaturated market and likely fight for its (commercial) life. Published on Indian e-commerce platform Flipkart, the promo confirms Google intends to release its next pair of handsets in the South Asian country, signaling their overall availability will likely be comparable to that of the original Pixel 3 series which launched in over a dozen countries across the world.

While the last few generations of Googles flagships also made their way to India, they didnt exactly dominate, primarily due to their price tags which were massive relative to offerings from aggressive competitors such as OnePlus. Alphabets subsidiary is now rumored to be trying something different and more in line with what the average Indian consumers is looking for  a value-oriented product with a great camera thats much more affordable than traditional high-end smartphones despite being capable of taking them on directly, at least in the mobile photography department.

By most accounts, the 12.2-megapixel camera of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL will be virtually identical to the one sitting on the back of Googles 2018 flagships, meaning it should boast imaging performance thats virtually unheard of in the mid-range segment. However, thats pretty much where its major selling points end seeing how the devices are otherwise expected to utilize modes Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of flash storage. Most of Googles rivals are already offering more powerful alternatives even below the upper mid-range price bracket, which is almost certainly the level the Pixel 3a family will be occupying.

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Industry watchers are generally skeptical about Googles ability to compete in by far the most cutthroat smartphone segment of them all as the firm continues to value its hardware brand on par with that of Samsung and Apple. Still, for the first time ever, a slight premium may actually be justified given how the artificial intelligence tech and other components of Googles cutting-edge camera will for once deliver something truly unprecedented in any given price range; lets not forget the Pixel 3 camera remains one of the best there is, even if it never held the title of the industrys best like its two predecessors did.

The newly sighted teaser also confirms the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL will be launching in India on May 8, a day after theyre expected to be officially announced in Googles hometown of Mountain View, California, as part of the second day of this years Google I/O conference (or on the same day, given the time zone difference). While traditionally aimed at developers, the focus I/O places on consumers has been growing in recent years and now appears to be ready to culminate.

Internal differences aside, the upcoming mid-rangers should be largely identical to their high-end counterparts in terms of size and looks, recent reports indicate. They should also ship with Android 9 Pie and make a jump to the first stable version of Android Q by the end of the summer, which is when the latest variant of the worlds most popular mobile OS is set to conclude its beta phase.
The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 is currently one of the most popular fitness trackers in the market, and its successor seems to be close to release. The Xiaomi Mi Band 4 has been certified by the NCC certification body in Taiwan, which is an official certification body in the country, think of it as Taiwans FCC.

Truth be said, the NCC does not specifically mention the Mi Band 4, but this is clearly Xiaomis upcoming fitness tracker, so its either the Mi Band 4, or something in-between. The time frame fits for the Mi Band 4, though, as the Mi Band 3 was announced at the end of May last year. The device got certified in XMSH07HM and XMSH06HM variants, the first variant is shown in the gallery down below, while the second one comes with NFC and will quite probably be identical in terms of the design.

As part of the certification process, NCC actually posted images of the device itself, without its strap. Now, it seems like the Mi Band 4 will be somewhat different when it comes to the design, compared to the Mi Band 3, but the general shape of the phone will remain pretty much the same.

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The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 features a concave capacitive home button on the front, and even though a home button will be present on the Mi Band 4, it will not be a concave one. Right above that home key, a display will be located, and were presuming that this will, once again, not be a colored display, mainly due to the devices price tag and battery life.

This fitness tracker will have quite thick bezels all around, and it actually seems like a downgrade in terms of the design compared to the Mi Band 3, as that concave button really did add to the devices design, at least as far as the front side of the device is concerned. Not only does the concave button looks better, but the bezel was much thinner between that button and the display, and it is on this alleged Mi Band 4.

Those of you wondering if the heart rate sensor will make a comeback, the answer is yes, as it is located on the back of the device, which was also shown by the NCC. It seems like the Mi Band 4s charger will remain pretty much the same as for the Mi Band 3, as you will have to remove the Mi Band 4 from its strap, and slide it into the plastic charger.

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There are two pogo pins included on the Mi Band 4 and also inside of this charger. On the other end of the line, you will notice a USB Type-A connector which you will be able to plug into a regular USB port, be it on a charging brick, your PC, or wherever else. The device will support regular charging according to the NCC, though considering it has a really small battery which will be able to keep the device alive for weeks, thats not really an issue.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 4 will probably arrive with a regular silicone strap, just like its predecessor, and youll have plenty of colors to choose from. The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 was extremely affordable when it launched, it was priced at only $26 in China (the NFC variant was a bit more expensive), while its price tag in other regions was just a little bit higher. The XIaomi Mi Band 4 is actually expected to continue that tradition, so the Mi Band 4 should cost well under $50 as well, but were only guessing.
The trial of the Catalan political leaders entered a new phase this Tuesday with the testimony of members of the public who were at the receiving end of the police crackdown at polling stations on 1 October 2017, during the referendum on Catalan self-determination. Following the homogeneous version of events supplied by Spanish police officers over the last few weeks blaming voters for causing the outbreaks of violence a fresh perspective has emerged: that the Spanish police were responsible for the violence and that the attitude of the voters was largely peaceful. On the whole, protesters were taken by surprise by the level of violence employed by the Spanish police during the operation.

According to Santi Valls, the president of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) in Sabadell, "The only kicking and shoving I saw was carried out by the police against voters". He went on to say that he saw the officers pushing people to the ground and pulling them by the hair. Another witness at the same polling station was the Deputy Mayor of Sabadell, Juli Fernandez, who described how four police officers dragged him away from the front of the school, breaking his glasses, bag and jacket in the process. Another voter, Jordi Torrent, who was at El Pi Gros school de Sant Cebria de Vallalta, declared that he "didnt see anyone hitting the police". When the prosecutor, Javier Zaragoza, asked him if he was aware "that five officers were injured", he replied that he "didnt know".

Another member of the public from Sabadell, Pilar Calderon, was acting as an election observer for ERC on the day of the referendum. In response to a question from the State Prosecutor, Rosa Maria Seoane, she admitted that the crowd of voters outside the school gates prevented the police from entering the polling station. At the end of the cross examination, Dolors Bassas lawyer, Mariano Berges, put a question to the witness via the president of the court: "In what way did they impede access?" Manuel Marchena asked the question and Calderon replied that everyone was seated on the floor with their hands raised in the air. This is not a minor detail, since it relates to the crime of sedition, which involves a tumultuous uprising to prevent the police from exercising their authority.

When the prosecutor Jaime Moreno pursued the same line of questioning, Fernandez tried to dodge the question, responding that people wanted to exercise their right to protest", denying that the protestors physically tried to stop themselves from being moved aside. He underscored the fact that he only saw people acting "passively". At the Nostra Llar school, people were able to vote later on, as the police never seized the election material.

We were beaten up

One of the places where the Guardia Civil acted most forcefully was the San Carles de la Rapita exhibition hall. One of the residents, Joan Pau Salvado, stated that the officers "came bursting in" without attempting to talk to the protestors beforehand. He stated that he saw a lot of blood and that the tallest people who bent down were hit on the head, as well as being hit on their lower body and legs. We were beaten up, Salvado declared. He insisted that the voters remained peaceful at all times. They acted in a non-violent manner and did not shout insults at the police officers.

In response to questions from the Prosecutor's Office, Salvado replied that the will of the voters was "to express themselves in a peaceful manner" and not to prevent the police from doing their job, as Fidel Cadena suggested. Salvado also denied having seen anyone throw a helmet, stones or a coin at the officers or their vehicles. "I saw it later in the newspaper", he declared, adding that he opposed the throwing of stones but that he can appreciate why it happened, as a "response" to police brutality. Next, the Deputy Mayor of Sant Carles de la Rapita, Albert Salvado, painted a similar picture of the events at the polling place and mentioned the names of some of the residents who were injured in the police operation.

"Most of them wept with rage and a feeling of helplessness and, Im sure that thanks to the wall it was easier to beat the people who had their hands in the air", Salvado stated when Moreno asked what the public hoped to achieve with the "containment wall" mentioned in witness statements. Earlier, Salvado attempted to not to answer directly when asked if he was aware that the Guardia Civil had a court order to prevent the vote from going ahead. Marchena intervened to advise him that he had the right to refuse to answer due to the fact that is currently being investigated by the court in Amposta for misuse of public funds, official misconduct and disobedience, leading Salvado to respond by saying that he "was unaware of the fact". When Seoane asked him if he knew why reinforcements were sent to Catalonia, he replied "They were coming to get us". In reply to a question from Xavier Melero, he declared that the charges were brought against him following a report by the Mossos d'Esquadra on the very day of the referendum.

The mayor of Fonollosa, Eloi Hernandez, stated that he saw the Guardia Civil arrest and handcuff an individual "for no reason" during an operation which took place at the town hall building, which was being used as a polling station. According to Hernandez, "He was lying handcuffed on the floor for 15 minutes and then let go", something he described as "unwarranted". In fact, a judge in Manresa is investigating three police officers for illegal detention. Hernandez is also being investigated as part of the same case, but for disobedience. The former ERC MP for Tarragona, Laura Castel also spoke of police violence on 1 October. "A friend of mine had their head cut open with a truncheon blow. The use of violence was extreme and uncalled for", she stated.
In her presentation at the Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) which is part of the co-located with the Airport Show at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), Radwa Hozien, chief software officer at emaratech, a technology and management consulting company of the Investment Corporation Dubai (ICD), said DXB last year handled an average of 120,000 passengers daily in the peak time, with the processing time for immigration formalities taking a few seconds to process per passenger.

According to the IATA, 80 per cent of the global passengers will be offered with a complete and relevant self-service suite throughout their journeys even as iris biometric becoming more and more accurate, she said, adding the Next-Gen technology has been helping process the entry and exit of passengers amazing faster than ever before. Technology, she added, has been helping the airport and other authorities to know the passenger much before he/she arrives at the airport for their journeys.

In his keynote address, Abdulqader Ali, CEO of Smartworld, the telecom provider for Dubai South and Managed Services provider for UAE government entities, said there will be 30 million Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) by 2021, posing a serious challenge to the functioning of airports across the world. The scenario has been undergoing a paradigm shift from them being gradually shifting from 2D to 3D, requiring new technologies to stop UAS posing challenges and threats and controlling them effectively.
Services to the Moroccan capital will be served by a Boeing 787 three times a week. In addition, Qatar Airways joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc (RAM) will expand the number of services.



In addition to launching Rabat via Marrakech, Qatar Airways will now offer daily flights to Casablanca.



Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: We are delighted to announce the launch of services to Rabat. Morocco is a tremendously popular destination with our passengers, and we are very pleased to launch this new gateway, while also increasing our presence in the country by expanding our joint business agreement with Royal Air Maroc. Our expansion in Morocco demonstrates our commitment to the region, which began in 2002.



Our close partnership with Royal Air Maroc will also provide our passengers access to their comprehensive network in North and West Africa, while enabling Royal Air Maroc passengers to enjoy seamless connectivity to Qatar Airways extensive global network spanning six continents.
The premium Ciaz sedan also saw its sales fall sharply by 45.5 per cent to 2,789 units as against 5,116 units sold last year.

Maruti Suzukis total sales fell 17.2 per cent in April at 143,245 units. The company had sold 172,986 units in April last year.

Pune: Maruti Suzuki, Indias biggest carmaker with a 51 per cent market share and Hyundai Motor, the second largest carmaker, on Wednesday reported continued decline in sales in April, indicating a slowdown due to multiple factors, including tepid demand in Asias third largest economy.

However, sales rose 23 per cent at Honda Cars, the fourth largest carmaker in the country, brining some cheer to the auto industry.

Other car manufacturers like Mahindra and Tata Motors did not release their sales data till going to the press.

Maruti Suzukis entry-level passenger car duo, the Alto and old WagonR hatchbacks, sold a total of 22,766 units last month, down 39.8 per cent year-on-year as against 37,794 units sold last year, the company said in a statement.

The seven-model compact car lot comprising new WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Dzire, Dzire Tour S accounted for 72,146 units but down 13.9 per cent compared with 83,834 units sold in the previous year.

The premium Ciaz sedan also saw its sales fall sharply by 45.5 per cent to 2,789 units as against 5,116 units sold last year.

The quartet of utility vehicles such as Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross and Vitara Brezza was the only segment in positive territory with sales of 22,035 units, up 5.9 percent compared with 20,804 units sold last year.

Maruti Suzukis total sales fell 17.2 per cent in April at 143,245 units. The company had sold 172,986 units in April last year.

Sales at Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor also fell 10 per cent to 42,005 units last month as against 46,735 units sold last year.

However, the Japanese automaker Honda Cars sold 11,272 car last month compared with 9,143 units it sold in the same month last year.

Our April sales growth is primarily due to the lower base effect, as there was no Amaze in the corresponding month last year during model runout, Rajesh Goel, Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing at Honda Cars India, said.

The ongoing elections and overall subdued market sentiment continues to affect the sales momentum. Going forward, the industry is heading towards a tougher year, impacting sales due to volatility in fuel prices, increase in car prices owing to new regulations and stricter inventory control for smooth switchover to BS6 regime by year end, he pointed out.

The maker of Royal Enfield motorcycles also reported a 17 per cent dip in sales on a yearly basis to 62,879 units in April.

Sales of models with engine capacity up to 350cc fell 21 per cent to 55,522 units while the sales of models with engine capacity exceeding 350cc grew 21 per cent to 7,537 units.
Kangana had earlier expressed her embarrassment after being compared to Mahesh Bhatt's daughter-actor Alia Bhatt.

Mumbai: As we all know that Kangana Ranaut's sister Rangoli Chandel had earlier claimed that filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt threw chappal at her at the screening of Woh Lamhe (2007) after she refused to sign one of his films. But now, the 'Sadak' has finally reacted to Rangoli's comment.

In an interaction with IANS, Mahesh Bhatt said, "She (Kangana) is a bachchi. She started her journey with us. Just because her relative (Rangoli is also Kangana's spokesperson and manager) is attacking me, I won't comment."

"Our upbringing and culture teach us that we should not raise a finger on our children. So saying anything against our children won't be possible. My upbringing stops me to do so... Till I die, I will never ever say anything against our child because it is against my upbringing, it is against my nature," added Bhatt.

For those who are uninitiated, Kangana made her acting debut in Anurag Basu's directorial venture Gangster (2006), produced by Mahesh Bhatt and his brother Mukesh Bhatt.

Kangana had earlier expressed her embarrassment after being compared to Mahesh Bhatt's daughter-actor Alia Bhatt. However, Alia took it sportingly and preferred not to comment on the same and focus on the work.

Rangoli Chandel's tweets:

Dear Soni ji, Mahesh Bhatt never gave her a break, Anurag Basu did, Mahesh Bhatt ji works as a creative director in his brothers production house....(contd) @Soni_Razdan https://t.co/SD22ztrQ29  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 16, 2019

(Contd).... please note that he doesnt own that production house, after Woh Lamhe when Kangana refused to do a film written by him called Dhokha where he wanted her to play a suicide bomber he got so upset that he not only shouted at her in his office..... (contd) @Soni_Razdan  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 16, 2019

.... but later when she went for Woh Lamhe preview to a theatre he threw chappal on her, he didnt allow her to see her own film, she cried whole night .... and she was just 19years old . @Soni_Razdan  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 16, 2019

On the work front, Mahesh Bhatt is all set to don director's cap for his upcoming Sadak 2 which stars Sanjay Dutt, Pooja Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Alia Bhatt in lead roles.
The designer has worked in over 100 films as a costume designer, apart from running his own label.

One of the most sought after fashion designer and a favourite of many Bollywood divas, Manish Malhotra is all set to don the producers hat. The couturier who has been in the business since 1990, shot to fame when he designed clothes for Urmila Matondkar in Rangeela and has not looked back ever since. The designer has worked in over 100 films as a costume designer, apart from running his own label.

But now, he is venturing into regional cinema with a movie called The Backstage.

According to a source, The Backstage will be made in several regional languages. We are not sure whether he wants to make it in Hindi as well, though the team working with him is keen to get the project rolling in Hindi as well.

Being a fashion designer, his film also revolves around a similar line but will show the other side of things. The film is about what goes on backstage during the fashion shows and will depict the making of such shows, adds the trade source.

Madhur Bhandarkars film Fashion too tried to tickle the underbelly of the fashion world a few years ago, winning awards and laurels, and that is one reason why Manish is keen to first roll the project in regional languages. A source from the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) confirms that Manish Malhotra Productions has indeed registered the title The Backstage in Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi and Telugu.

Details on the project are awaited along with an official announcement.

 Sanskriti Media
Since she and her mother Soni Razdan are British citizens, Alia can only be allowed to cast her vote if she gives up her British citizenship.

A month ago, Alia Bhatt in a tweet had urged everyone to vote, however, the dimpled actress could not vote herself, as she doesnt hold an Indian passport.

Since she and her mother Soni Razdan are British citizens, Alia can only be allowed to cast her vote if she gives up her British citizenship.

Talking about it, the actress says, We would, of course, love to vote, but it is a situation in which technically it is not possible right now. Hopefully, maybe in the future, there could be a dual citizenship could happen. But I am very glad that everybody went out in such big numbers.

Meanwhile, Alia will be seen in films like Brahmastra and Inshallah.
The NDRF is deploying 41 teams in Andhra Pradesh (8), Odisha (28) and West Bengal (5) for prepositioning.

New Delhi: Navy and Coast Guard ships and helicopters, relief teams of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in strategic locations, while Army and Air Force units have been put on standby as severe cyclonic storm Fani is approaching towards Indias eastern coast, officials said Tuesday.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the countrys top body to deal with emergency situations, met here Tuesday for the second time in as many days and reviewed the preparedness with the states and departments concerned of the central government to deal with the situation arising out of the cyclonic storm.

The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations. The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force units in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal have also been put on standby, a home ministry official said.

Indian Naval ships at Visakhapatnam and Chennai are standing-by to proceed to the most affected areas to undertake Humanitarian Aid Distress Relief (HADR), evacuation, logistic support including providing medical aid, the Navy said in a statement.

These ships are embarked with additional divers, doctors, inflatable rubber boats and relief material that include food, tentage, clothes, medicines, blankets, in quantities sufficient. Naval aircraft are also standing-by at the Naval Air Stations INS Rajali at Arakkonam, Tamilnadu and INS Dega at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh to undertake reconnaissance, rescue, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material to the stranded if required, the Navy said.

The NDRF is deploying 41 teams in Andhra Pradesh (8), Odisha (28) and West Bengal (5) for prepositioning.

In addition, the NDRF is keeping on standby 13 teams in West Bengal and 10 in Andhra Pradesh, the official said.

A team NDRF comprises about 45 personnel.

A home ministry statement said based on the decision of the first meeting of the NCMC, headed by Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha, the central government has already released advance financial assistance of `1,086 crore to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal to assist them in undertaking preventive and relief measures.

The states have issued advisories and are ensuring that fishermen do not venture into the sea.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been issuing three hourly bulletins with latest forecast to all the states concerned.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nandyal in 2004 and 2009 as Congress candidate.

Amaravati: Sitting MP from Nandyal constituency in Andhra Pradesh S P Y Reddy died after prolonged illness at a private hospital in Hyderabad Tuesday night.

He was 68. Reddy was hospitalised early this month. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nandyal in 2004 and 2009 as Congress candidate. In 2014, he won the seat as YSR Congress nominee, but jumped into the ruling Telugu Desam soon after the election.

As the TDP leadership denied him the Nandyal ticket this time, Reddy joined the Jana Sena Party and fought the April 11 election from the hospital bed. Reddy, a mechanical engineer, began his career as a scientific officer in the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre before setting up his own plastics industry. The industry grew into the Nandi Group over the years and he became popular as "Nandi pipes Reddy".

He began his political career with the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the Nandyal Lok Sabha election in 1991. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in a statement, expressed grief over the MP's death.

As an industrialist and social worker, Reddy rendered yeoman service to Nandyal and Kurnool districts, he said. Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan also expressed grief over Reddy's death and hailed him as a dignified leader.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it as a big success for the countrys efforts to root out terrorism.

New Delhi/United Nations: In a huge diplomatic success for India in the midst of poll season, Pakistan-based terrorist and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was finally designated a global terrorist by the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday after China finally reversed its stand and lifted its hold on Indias decade-old proposal. India swiftly welcomed the decision and hailed the UNs move as a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers.

The designation of Azhar as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UNSC will reportedly lead to a global financial assets freeze against him, a travel ban and an arms embargo. Assets freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all states freeze without delay all funds and other financia assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it as a big success for the countrys efforts to root out terrorism.

It is a big success for Indias efforts to root out terrorism... Indias voice is being heard globally. Indias views cannot be ignored any longer, it has been proved, Mr Modi said at an election rally in Jaipur.

The move showed that the relentless diplomatic pressure brought on China by India and Western powers  US, UK and France  finally bore fruit resulting in Beijing ultimately caving in.

Reacting to the development, a chastened Pakistan said, Our position is in line with the statements of Prime Minister Imran Khan who clearly stated that there is no space for any proscribed organisation or its affiliates to operate from Pakistani territory.

In India, political parties cutting across ideological divide as well as strategic affairs experts hailed the UN action against Azhar, the mastermind of several major terror strikes in India.

The Congress welcomed the move but expressed its disappointment over no mention of JeM chiefs role in the Pulwama terror attack in the UN resolution.

Pakistan based Masood Azhars belated declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step. Indias fight against terrorism is resolute. We are disappointed that UN listing doesnt mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhars role in terrorist activities, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said, No mention of terror in Kashmir and no mention of Pulwama. Its amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win.

According to news agency reports from New York, the UN committee listed Azhar as a global terrorist, for being associated with Al Qaeda, for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to recruiting for otherwise supporting acts or activities of, and other acts or activities indicating association with the JeM.

The UNSC, including China, had on February 22 unanimously condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly Pulwama bombing and had accepted that the JeM had claimed responsibility for the terror attack.

France, the UK and the US had moved a fresh proposal to declare Azhar a global terrorist by the UN in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in February. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite the fact that all the other 14 UNSC members voted in favour of the proposal, China put a technical hold on it, blocking it for the fourth time. The Chinese move was termed disappointing by India.

This newspaper had exclusively reported on April 11 that there were strong indications that Beijing would reverse its stand in May and Indias efforts at the UN to designate Azhar a global terrorist, which began in 2009, would finally sail through.

The proposal had been mooted four times in the past decade but could not go through in the face of Chinese opposition.
The Naxals used a high intensity land mine to blow the vehicle in which the security personnel were travelling.

New Delhi: The Centre is closely monitoring the situation in wake of a major Naxal attack in Maharashtras Maoist-infested Gadchiroli district in which 15 commandos of the state police were killed. The Naxals used a high intensity land mine to blow the vehicle in which the security personnel were travelling.

Sources said Union home minister Rajnath Singh was personally keeping a close watch on the security situation in the region. The home minister also spoke to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and assured all possible assistance from the Centre. Sources said Centre was even willing rush additional Central para-military forces if the state government desired.

The Home Minister described the Naxal attack as an act of cowardice and desperation. Sources said this was largely in retaliation to the ongoing security operations in Gadchiroli area which also witnessed a large voter turnout during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections even though Naxal outfits had called for a ban of the election process.

Attack on Maharashtra police personnel in Gadchiroli is an act of cowardice and desperation. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. The home ministry is in constant touch with the state administration, the home minister said in a statement.

Mr Singh added that the country was extremely proud of the valour of police personnel and their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain.
EC bars Pragya for her remarks on ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque.

Thakur's remark that she is proud of Babri Masjid's demolition was found violative of the MCC. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The Election Commission Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future". The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted". The ban would come into force from 6.00 AM, May 2 (Thursday).

Pragya had said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

She also had said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.
He was issued a showcause notice for making inflammatory remarks at various places in Uttar Pradeh in the past few days.

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Tuesday imposed a fresh ban on Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from campaigning for 48 hours for his provocative speeches against the local poll machinery and also making inflammatory communal remarks.

This is the second time this month that the EC has imposed a ban on him. The fresh ban will come into force at 6.00 am on Wednesday.

Earlier, he was barred from campaigning for 72 hours for his khaki underwear jibe at BJP candidate Jaya Prada.

He was issued a showcause notice for making inflammatory remarks at various places in Uttar Pradeh in the past few days.

Giving instances of his remarks, the EC had 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 dig 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 had also pointed out that the Supreme Court has noted that religion and caste cannot be used by anyone while making any statement during electioneering.

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'Yes, done,' Akbaruddin said when asked whether China has lifted the hold.

China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: In a big diplomatic win for India, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar has been designated as a global terrorist in United Nations after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him under the Security Council's Sanctions Committee.

India's Ambassador to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin on Wednesday confirmed the global victory and tweeted:

Big,small, all join together.



Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list



Grateful to all for their support. #Zerotolerance4Terrorism  Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) May 1, 2019

On Tuesday, China dropped a hint that it could lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar.

Beijing said the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved.

Amid China's Indication, the world body's Sanctions Committee conducted a crucial meeting.

In March a fresh proposal was pushed by the US, UK and France to impose a ban on the chief of the JeM, which claimed the responsibility for dastardly Pulwama terror attack.

It was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years.

On the afternoon on February 14, a suicide bomber detonated a car-load of explosives next to a large convoy of 78 CRPF buses with over 2,500 personnel travelling on the highway from Jammu to Srinagar.

At Pulwama, the car with 60 kg of explosives blew up, killing 40 personnel reporting to duty after leave.
"Raavan's Lanka has banned Niqab, when will Ram's Ayodhya do so?" asked Shiv Sena through an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna.

The editorial has referred to France, Australia and England claiming that burqa was banned by them in the aftermath of attacks. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: After Sri Lanka has banned burqa in public places, the Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena wants to implement the same in India as well.

"Raavan's Lanka has banned burqa, when will Ram's Ayodhya do so?" asked Shiv Sena through an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna.

Welcoming the stand taken by the island country, the editorial urges India to follow the suit in national interest.

The editorial has referred to France, Australia and England claiming that burqa was banned by them in the aftermath of attacks.

Though the BJP's Bhopal candidate and Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya has come out in support of the ban, the BJP and its ally Republican Party of India have turned down the demand.
She, however, later apologised for making the offensive statement against martyr Karkare.

Bhopal: The Election Commission on Wednesday imposed a 72-hour campaign ban on Pragya Singh, the BJPs nominee for Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, on charges of violation of model code of conduct.

The EC has taken cognizance of her recent controversial statements on Hemant Karkare, Maharashtras Anti-Terror Squad chief who was killed by terrorists during 26/11 Mumbai atta-cks, and the 1984 Babri masjid demolition.

Ms Singh had said that it was her curse that had led to the IPS officers death while narrating her ordeal in police custody after she was arrested in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast incident in which six people were killed and 101 others injured.

She, however, later apologised for making the offensive statement against martyr Karkare.

Ms Singh had also flaunted her role in the demolition of Babri masjid in Ayodhya in 1984, saying she was proud of it.

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Mayawatis call may divide non-BJP votes in Guna, spelling trouble for Mr Scindia in the elections, BSP leaders feel.

Bhopal: BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday asked her cadres in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh to avenge the recent move by Congress to take into its fold her local candidate Lokendra Singh and hit the prospects of AICC general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is seeking re-election from the seat, by selecting the elephant symbol.

Ms Mayawatis call may divide non-BJP votes in Guna, spelling trouble for Mr Scindia in the elections, BSP leaders feel.

Guna is going to the polls in the sixth phase of the parliamentary elections on May 12.

Our party candidate has been hijacked by the Congress. We have decided to avenge it by casting our votes for the party symbol. That is the instruction by Behen ji (Mayawati) to party workers in Guna, president of MP unit of BSP D.P. Choudhury said.

According to him, BSP has a strong electoral base in Guna comprising around three lakh voters. We will foil the designs by Congress by casting our votes for the BSPs symbol, which will split non-BJP votes in the seat, a senior BSP leader said.

The BSP is not in a position to field a fresh candidate in Guna after its official candidate withdrew from the race by joining the Congress since the last day for filing nomination for the seat had passed. Mr Singh had announced that he would withdraw from the contest after joining the Congress.

In a related development, MP chief minister Kamal Nath on Wedne-sday reached out Ms Mayawati to resolve the issue in a damage control exercise, a Congress spokesman disclosed.

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He regretted that the Congress has harboured so much hatred for him that they were dreaming of killing him.

PM Narendra Modi is garlanded during an election rally in Itarsi, Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh, on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)

Bhopal: Stepping up attack on Congress, PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the party was only keen to promote dynastic rule and corruption.

Addressing an election meeting at Itarsi in Hosangabad district in Madhya Pradesh, the PM said that development was never a part of Congress culture. The party was interested only in propagating dynastic rule and corruption.

Citing acute water crisis gripping several parts of MP, he said the Congress government in the state has failed to expedite irrigation schemes leading to development.

The Congress is dishonest to the core, he added.

BJP works in a mission mode for overall development of the country, whereas the focus of Congress has been to promote new generation of dynasts, he said.

He regretted that the Congress has harboured so much hatred for him that they were dreaming of killing him.

He was referring to a statement made by a Congress leader recently.

Mr Modi cited nexus of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik with Congress, saying that the party had even promoted him as ambassador of peace.

Diggy raja (Congress veteran Digvijay Singh) had even carried Zakir Naik on his shoulder and danced, he said.

Naik, wanted in India on charges of instigating youths to terrorism, was currently seeking refuge in Malaysia.

He also took a jibe at Opposition leaders for nurturing ambitions to become PM, saying none of them would gain eligibility even to become Opposition leader after the Lok Sabha elections.

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The high-profile exit of decade-old Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi is just one instance of the gross injustices within the party.

The spokesperson of the Congress party for nearly ten years, who fiercely defended her party, its people and policies on primetime debates across TV channels, Priyanka Chaturvedi had over a period of time gathered quite a sizeable fan following too. And though she stood with her party through good, bad and terrible times, she was never rewarded with either a Lok Sabha or an Assembly ticket. And a novice like actor Urmila Matondkar was chosen over her!

Understandably, Priyankas exit from the Congress was on a bitter note. In her resignation letter to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, she wrote: What saddens me is that despite the safety, dignity and empowerment of women being promoted by the party and your call to action, the same is not reflected in the action of some members of the party. A serious incident and misbehaviour by certain party members while I was on official duty for the party has been ignored under the guise of all hands needed for the elections.

Congress is a closed chapter for me now. says Priyanka Chaturvedi, who first served as General Secretary of the Youth Congress from North-West Mumbai, and was later elevated to the post of AICC Spokesperson. Its about walking the talk on issues of self respect, honour, womens participation and giving them roles of leadership. I felt in Shiv Sena Id be able to significantly contribute to my city and state and on issues I feel closest to, she says.

Sadly, Priyanka Chaturvedi is not the only woman in the Congress who has been sidelined by the party. Former Congress minister and MLA Sabita Indra Reddy, who joined TRS recently, alleged that injustice was done to her family in allotting party tickets. Even senior Congress leader and former minister D. K. Aruna, who was one of the strongest Congress leaders from Gadwal, met with the same fate, prompting her to join the BJP.

Senior Congress leaders like Margaret Alva and Jayanti Natrajan too, who served as central ministers, are nowhere in the picture now.

Take the case of actress-turned-politician Divya Spandana, who shot into the limelight as the youngest Parliamentarian of the nation when she won the by-election as a Congress candidate in 2013, and was widely credited with turning around the Congress social media presence. Despite becoming an overnight sensation and doing some good work for her party, she too has now gone silent. Agreed she went a bit overboard with her anti-Modi stance, but she could have been corrected. With her out of action, the Congress Partys social media presence too took a backseat!

Politics is definitely prejudiced against women, there is no doubt. A lot of times we do deserve to be there but it becomes a matter of wait and watch. Gender discrimination exists, admits Congress politician Renuka Chowdhury, who is one of the lucky few women who are given their due in the party.

Not just women, even men in the Congress party feel they have been overlooked. Once a key aide of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Tom Vadakkan quit the Congress and joined the BJP. In his statement, he said: I gave the party 20 years of my life but it has now resorted to a practice of use and throw. I gave my prime of life to the Congress. But dynastic politics is now at its zenith...

Senior leader and former MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy, who also resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP, says, There is no clear agenda in the Congress. Its all a personal agenda. Even after giving our sweat and blood to the party for 40 years, the kind of humiliation we get is beyond anyones imagination. Crores of rupees are sought for allocation of tickets and given to someone who has not even been associated with the party. The traditions and values of Congress party have changed contrary to its principles, there are a lot of middlemen involved and there is no guarantee that our voices will even reach the High Command.

Evidently, many feel that Sonia Gandhi and her two children Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are the only privileged ones in the grand old party.

Says politician and media personality Pritish Nandy, The treatment of women in politics has always been poor in almost all parties, not just the Congress. The Gandhis are luckily insulated from prejudices and that is why the women folk from that family have reached the highest echelons of politics. In Priyanka's (Chaturvedi) case it was really very sad to see her leaving the party after giving it so many years of her life. I hope she gets a better deal in the Sena and is happy there. She will be an asset to any party she works with.

Unhappy & Disillusioned
The party has also threatened to expel errant members from the party if the instructions are not followed properly.

The Sena has told workers that the permission given by the authorities should be mentioned on hoardings.

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena has issued a diktat to its party activists not to raise any hoardings and banners in the state without taking the permission of the authorities concerned. The party has also threatened to expel errant members from the party if the instructions are not followed properly.

In the diktat issued to its office-bearers and activists, party secretary Anil Desai has asked Sainiks to follow the instructions very strictly. It has asked them not to put up hoardings, banners, posters and digital flexes and arcs at public places without prior permission from the authorities concerned. In addition to this, pictures of Shiv Sena supremo late Balasaheb Thackeray, party chief Uddhav Thac-keray, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray and other party leaders should not be published on them, he has said.

Rules and regulations should be followed for installing the hoardings, banners, posters and digital flexes and arcs and those installed without taking permission from the authorities concerned will not be considered as official, he said.

The permission given by competent authorities should also be mentioned on banners and hoardings. The activists should co-operate with the officials to remove illegal hoardings, banners, posters, digital flexes and arcs installed by the party workers. They should not resist the action carried out by these officials, said Mr Desai in the statement.

If found that these instructions are not being followed, the person/offi-ce-bearer concerned will be held responsible for violating the high court orders and disciplinary action will be taken agai-nst them. They will liable for punishment like suspension from the party po-st or even dismissed from the party, he has said.

The Senas diktat comes after the Bombay high court took a stringent stand on the issue of illegal hoardings and banners in the city. It has sought a response from BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, party MLA Ashish Shelar and corporator Alka Kelkar over allegations that hoardings and posters carrying their pictures were put up in the city without the requisite permissions.

On March 2, the high court issued show-cause notices to the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Shiv Sena, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for putting up illegal hoardings and banners across Maharashtra.

A division bench, headed by Justice A.S. Oka, said that it was of the opinion, prima facie, that these political parties had committed a breach of previous orders that prohibited display of hoardings or banners without requisite permission. There is material to show that these parties have indulged in display of illegal hoardings, banners and so on, it stated.
Sharad Pawar said Devendra Fadnavis should step down from his post if he has any conscience.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan said that the CM had lost the moral right to continue in his post due to the Naxal attack.

Mumbai: Opposition parties have demanded the resignation of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the home ministry portfolio, over the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli on Wednesday.

Condemning the blast, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that Mr Fadnavis should step down immediately. The chief minister should resign from his post if he has any conscience. But that is not going to happen. On this backdrop, there is no option but to express grief over the soldiers death. Naxal activities have become a common thing in Maharashtra due to the ruling partys negligence towards maintaining law and order in Naxal-affected areas, said Mr Pawar.

State Congress chief Ashok Chavan said that the CM had lost the moral right to continue in his post due to the Naxal attack. These attacks are the result of the BJP governments soft stand towards Naxal and terror activities, he said, while demanding that the state government provide a compensation of `50 lakh to the families of the deceased jawans.

Expressing anguish over the Naxal attack, the Shiv Sena said that the incident seemed to be a threat to democracy. Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe pointed out that the maximum voter turnout was recorded in the Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The attack looks like a threat to democracy. It is sad to see such a dastardly attack taking place on the foundation day of Maharashtra, she said.

Meanwhile, the CM vowed that the state government would deal more sternly with the Naxal menace.

Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by the Naxals Wednesday. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families. I am in touch with the DGP and the Gadchiroli SP. I strongly condemn this attack and we will fight this menace with even stronger efforts, Mr Fadnavis said.

State NCP chief Jayant Patil said that the Naxals deliberately struck on the states foundation day as they wanted to demoralise people. We will not allow this attempt to demoralise the state by deliberately carrying out the attack on Maharashtra Day, he tweeted.

The Naxal blasts only go to show the state governments inability to maintain law and order during the LS elections. The incompetence of the government has once again been proved, said Dhananjay Munde.
In the wake of recent terror strikes that claimed over 250 lives, the Sri Lankan government is mulling a ban on the use of burqa in the country.

The party argued that the Indian government should follow the Sri Lankan governments example and impose a ban on the burqa for the sake of national security. (PHOTO CREDIT: DEBASISH DEY)

Mumbai: In the wake of the Easter blasts in Sri Lanka, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday created a flutter by demanding a ban on the burqa in the country. However, faced with flak from all quarters, the Sena later issued a clarification, stating that this was not the partys official stand.

In an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena had said if the burqa was banned in Ravans Lanka, then why not in Rams Ayodhya?

In the wake of recent terror strikes that claimed over 250 lives, the Sri Lankan government is mulling a ban on the use of burqa in the country.

Commenting on this, the Sena said, This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security.

The party argued that the Indian government should follow the Sri Lankan governments example and impose a ban on the burqa for the sake of national security.

However, the demand created an uproar in the country as All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi and Republican Party of India-Athawale (RPI-A) leader and Union minister for social justice Ramdas Athawale condemned it.

In a statement, Mr Owaisi slammed the Sena, terming the editorial ignorant. He said that the Supreme Court of India in its judgment on privacy clearly had laid down that choice was a fundamental right. Terming the demand a violation of the model code of conduct, he urged the Election Commission of India to take immediate note of it and called it an attempt at polarization.

Mr Athawale remarked that not all women who wear the burqa are terrorists. He further stated that it is a tradition and that women have the right to wear it and added that there should not be any ban on the garment in the country.

Reacting to the criticism, Sena spokesperson Dr Neelam Gorhe termed it a personal opinion based on the current developments.
Emperor Naruhito is said to have a strong modern as well as a strong peace strain.

Emperor Naruhito is to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1 on the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito, in his favour on Tuesday. (Photo: AFP)

Emperor Naruhito is to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1 on the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito, in his favour on Tuesday. Such an imperial relinquishment is occurring in Japan for the first time in over 200 years, but by his Oxford training, and temperament, the new man on the throne can be said to be well-equipped to negotiate the demands of modernity in every sense, not excluding the appreciation of politics, technology and cultural change.

Japan's 1947 Constitution, established with American inspiration after Japan's unconditional surrender in the Second World War, precludes any role for the monarch in government and politics. Nevertheless, the monarch's role was retained  not jettisoned  as a symbol of unifier at a time of great historical trauma and national stress.

Emperor Naruhito is said to have a strong modern as well as a strong peace strain. These are ideal prerequisites in a monarch of a country of extraordinary technological attainments, although one that has come under political uncertainty due to the prickly rise of China as well as the nuclearisation of North Korea  both in Japan's immediate

neighbourhood.

Not long ago, Japan has embarked on a policy to allow thousands of guest workers. The Emperor, in his role as unifier, has to look at this aspect closely. In Japans period of uncertainty, India-Japan ties have struck extraordinary cordiality, beginning with the visit to New Delhi of the Emperor and Empress of Japan, a first, in late 2013.

The new government that takes office after May 23 will do well to lay the groundwork to invite Emperor Naruhito to this country at an early date to reinforce the strong foundations of our ties.
A far-reaching step that would place the United States firmly on the side of its authoritarian allies in the Middle East.

The move comes three weeks after Trump welcomed Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has cracked down heavily on the Muslim Brotherhood. (Photo:AP)

Washington: President Donald Trump is seeking to blacklist the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, a far-reaching step that would place the United States firmly on the side of its authoritarian allies in the Middle East.

"The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

The Brotherhood, a nearly century-old Islamist movement born in Egypt with pockets of support across the Arab world, was designated a terrorist organization by Cairo after the military in 2013 ousted Mohamed Morsi, a democratically elected president with roots in the movement.

Placing the Muslim Brotherhood on Washington's list of foreign terrorist organizations would make it a crime for any American to assist the group and would ban from the United States its members, who are active in political parties in several countries.

The move comes three weeks after Trump welcomed Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has cracked down heavily on the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other movements ranging from Islamic State extremists to secular activists.

During their White House talks, Trump praised Sisi for "doing a great job," saying the United States and Egypt had "never had a better relationship."

The terrorist designation would delight Sisi as well as Saudi Arabia, which despite its ultra-conservative Wahabi ideology disdains the Muslim Brotherhood due to its support for political change in the kingdom, including over Riyadh's alliance with Washington.

But targeting the movement would be a major new impediment in US ties with NATO ally Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed an Islamist foreign policy that includes support for the Muslim Brotherhood inside Egypt.

Another US ally friendly toward the Muslim Brotherhood is Qatar, with the issue becoming a key source of friction with its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been a longtime supporter of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, co-sponsoring legislation with fellow conservatives to take the step when he was a member of Congress.

The Muslim Brotherhood has emerged in recent years as a favorite bugbear for the US far-right, with numerous social media users on Tuesday hailing Trump's push by sharing unfounded conspiracy theories that the group had infiltrated former president Barack Obama's administration or was attempting to impose Islamic sharia law in the United States.

But the proposal has seen pushback from policymakers who say that it is inaccurate to lump together the Muslim Brotherhood, which includes more moderate and democratic strains, with groups set on apocalyptic violence such as the Islamic State movement and Al-Qaeda.

Human Rights Watch has argued that a terrorist designation would "unfairly taint anyone alleged to be linked to the Muslim Brotherhood," meaning that people based in the United States could face prosecution -- or, if not citizens, deportation -- for backing charities or advocacy groups accused of ties to the movement.

Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which generally backs hawkish policies in the Middle East, doubted that the whole Muslim Brotherhood could be declared a terrorist group under normal processes.

"There is near zero likelihood of the entire network, with all its disparate parts, meeting legal criteria," he tweeted.

"But targeting the violent branches is certainly viable. That, in turn, can enable further designations based on financial ties."

The debate comes less than a month after the Trump administration took the sweeping decision to declare Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, the first time it has designated a unit of a government.

Egypt is one of the biggest US strategic partners -- an Arab country that made peace with top US ally Israel 40 years ago and remains one of the largest recipients of US aid, at more than USD 1 billion a year.

Trump has all but ended criticism of Egypt's rights record. When Sisi took over in 2013, security forces killed some 700 protesters who had assembled in two Cairo squares -- with courts then sentencing to death 75 people, including Muslim Brotherhood leaders, over the uprising.
About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election.

India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine  as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places. (Photo:AP)

New Delhi: About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election for their countrys parliament. There are roughly 900 million eligible voters, and the country has typically seen about two-thirds of them turn out to polling places.

I have been working on the security of electronic voting systems for more than 15 years, and, along with other colleagues, have been interested in understanding how a nation can tally that many votes cast over such a long period. India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine  as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places, at least some in extremely remote locations.

Different areas of India vote on seven different days, over the course of a 39-day election period.

The first version of the Indian electronic voting machine debuted in the state election in Kerala in 1982. Now theyre used in elections throughout the country, which happen on different days in different areas.

Indian voters line up outside a polling booth in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. Indians were voting Monday in the fourth phase of a staggered national election. (Photo:AP)

How does it work?

When a voter arrives at the polling place, she presents a photo ID and the poll officer checks that she is on the electoral roll. When its her turn to vote, a polling official uses an electronic voting machines control unit to unlock its balloting unit, ready to accept her vote.

The balloting unit has a very simple user interface: a series of buttons with candidate names and symbols. To vote, the voter simply presses the button next to the candidate of her choice.

After each button press, a printer prints out the voters choice on paper and displays it to the voter for a few seconds, so the person may verify that the vote was recorded correctly. Then the paper is dropped into a locked storage box.

The whole system runs on a battery, so it does not need to be plugged in.

When its time for the polling place to close at the end of the voting day, each electronic voting machine device and paper-record storage box is sealed with wax and tape bearing the signatures of representatives of the various candidates in that election, and stored under armed guard.

A woman tests an electronic voting machine in India in advance of that countrys national elections.

After the election period is over and its time to tally the votes, the electronic voting machines are brought out, the seals opened and the vote counts for each control unit are read out from its display board. Election workers hand-tally these individual machine totals to obtain the election results for each constituency.

Indian men stand in queue to cast their votes at a polling booth in Bardhaman east constituency, West Bengal state, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. With 900 million of India's 1.3 billion people registered to vote, the Indian national election is the world's largest democratic exercise. (Photo:AP)

Security protections  and concerns

The Indian electronic voting machine primarily runs on specialized hardware and firmware, unlike the voting machines used in the U.S., which are software-intensive. It is intended for the single purpose of voting and specially designed for that, rather than relying on a standard operating system like Windows, which needs to be regularly updated to patch detected security vulnerabilities.

Each machine requires only a connection between a balloting unit and a control unit; there are no provisions to connect an electronic voting machine to a computer network, much less the internet  including wirelessly.

After polling concludes, Indias electronic voting machines are sealed with a very old-fashioned technology.

This design does offer some protections against possible tampering with how votes are recorded and tallied. The Election Commission of India has repeatedly claimed that the electronic voting machines are tamper-proof. However, a scholarly study has demonstrated there are ways to rig the machines. In particular, the simplicity of the design allows for simple attacks, such as intercepting and modifying the signal carried over the machines cable.

The Election Commission has not made public any independent security evaluations, so its unclear exactly what is  or isnt  possible. Parties that lose elections often suspect malfeasance and question the equipment.

An elderly Indian citizen is assisted by a polling staff as she prepares to leave after voting at a polling center during the fourth phase of general elections in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. The voting over seven phases ends May 19, with counting scheduled for May 23. (Photo:AP)

As I and others have observed, when the machines are being made, there are a number of opportunities for someone to physically tamper with an electronic voting machine in ways that preelection device testing might not detect. The machines software is designed, written and tested at two electronics companies owned by the government of India: Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited. The chips for the machines are manufactured outside India. In earlier versions of the machine, the chip manufacturer also wrote the machine code into the chip; today the electronics companies do it themselves.

At any time during manufacture, testing and maintenance, it may be possible to introduce counterfeit chips or swap out other components that could let hackers alter the results.

The Election Commission of India argues that any manipulation or error would be detected because the electronic voting machine is tested frequently and candidate representatives have opportunities to participate in mock elections immediately before a machine is used in a real election. However, it is possible to make changes that will not be detected. Testing can reveal only some problems, and the absence of problems during testing does not mean that problems do not exist.

Auditing the machines results

There is, however, a mechanism for detecting attacks  that printed-out paper bearing the vote and stored securely with the electronic equipment. A 2013 Supreme Court directive asked the Election Commission to create that process to protect the integrity of the balloting process.

An Indian election official displays a sample paper record of an electronic ballot during a demonstration of how the equipment works.

In each constituency, five electronic voting machines will have their results audited by comparing a manual count of the printouts with the electronic tallies. (This means about 1 per cent or 2 per cent of each constituencys machines will be tested.) Opposition parties have asked the Supreme Court to order audits of half of all electronic voting machines, but that may not happen with this years election.

While the electronic voting machine system is useful and functional, officials and observers shouldnt assume theres no way to tamper with the results. The Election Commission should certainly continue to improve testing and provide public reports of independent testing. However, because no technology can be tamper-proof, each election outcome should be verified by a manual audit, to ensure that the results are correct, whatever they may be.

(This article featured in 'Global Perspective- The Conversation')
Voluntourism: Why You Should Take a Volunteer Vacation

Travel the World and Make It Better: Voluntourism Guide

A vacation is all about good vibes, so why not spend yours sharing some of that goodness with those people and places who need it the most? A volunteer vacation can be an unforgettable, life-changing experience. From far-flung international destinations to domestic volunteering missions, there are endless trips for solo, family and group travelers to choose from.

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Voluntourism can be transformative for everyone involved, explains Bill Wenzel, Ph.D, psychologist and co-founder of FLIP Society. From a psychological perspective, volunteering in general, is a highly prosocial act that benefits others, as well as the person doing the volunteering.

Work on your days off? Absolutely, and heres why. Imagine how engaging, potentially challenging and ultimately rewarding it would be if you were to set off on a grand adventure to a new and distant land in search of some fun but in the process, also creating a deeper connection to yourself and those around you through meaningfully giving back to the world, adds Wenzel. It's a psychological win-win that will make you feel happier and more fulfilled.

Voluntourism has been trending for a while, and according to the volunteer news site Volunteering Solutions, it will only continue to gain momentum.

The more ethical escape offers the chance to discover new destinations, immerse yourself in the local culture, interact with the local people, make like-minded socially conscious friends, practice gratitude, and even learn a new skill.

How to Find Them

Not all tourism companies and volunteer vacations are created equal. Researching before your trip is crucial to making sure you're actually helping and not hurting the community or cause in which you're trying to help.

According to Melissa Biggs Bradley, Indagare founder and CEO, "We firmly believe in working with a non-biased partner at home or abroad who specializes in community-oriented travel. Do your homework. Companies [such as] Charity Navigator help vet causes to ensure that the organizations are actually making the right kind of impact, Bradley continues. But on your own, you can get a sense for the authenticity of the organization by reviewing their annual reports. Look to see if they have received government grants, published their fund details and if their mission is tied to a sustainable development goal.

Founder, Bruno Correa of Bee + Hive agrees that local sources can be a useful resource and help point you in the right direction. The best way to check for credible and legitimate initiatives (including volunteering) is to do some research prior, he says. With the current information overload (and unclear legitimacy of sources) facilitated by social media, Id say the best way to start it is by building on hotel recommendations. If you choose small, independent properties (such as the ones at Bee + Hive), they are invariably very well connected locally, and hence have a very clear and objective inside view of which initiatives are trustworthy and which ones are dodgy.

That's excellent advice if you have a particular destination in mind. But, there are some other things to consider when choosing the best adventure for you.

How to Plan Them

When it comes to planning a volunteer vacation, you can start by asking yourself these questions:

How much time are you hoping to spend doing good? Like other vacations, experiences can range in length.

Like other vacations, experiences can range in length. How deeply do you want to get involved? You can pick your trip based on the level of intensity. For example, you can lean in by spending half your trip volunteering and the other half relaxing or exploring.

You can pick your trip based on the level of intensity. For example, you can lean in by spending half your trip volunteering and the other half relaxing or exploring. Who all is going on the trip? Make sure the experience is appropriate for everyone on this good deed tour. A shark conservation vacation will probably not work for your five year old.

Make sure the experience is appropriate for everyone on this good deed tour. A shark conservation vacation will probably not work for your five year old. How physical is the work? Be sure to check that the activity matches your fitness level and that youre up to the task.

Be sure to check that the activity matches your fitness level and that youre up to the task. Where is the money going? Not all tourism companies look out for the locals. Is your travel agent or the local politicians profiting most from your good deed?

Not all tourism companies look out for the locals. Is your travel agent or the local politicians profiting most from your good deed? Do you have expertise to offer? Why not share your much-needed professional skills to make a significant impact on a community that needs it.

Why not share your much-needed professional skills to make a significant impact on a community that needs it. Is your volunteer experience actually doing more harm than good? The most important factor in choosing your vacation should be what kind of impact youll actually be having on the community. Are you rebuilding homes in the wake of a natural disaster or are you taking jobs away from locals?

Research really is the key. Here are a few voluntourism ideas to get your searches off to a good start.

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Lions and tigers and baboons, oh my! The Great Projects offers hardcore animal lovers the chance to get up close and personal with all kinds of wildlife. You can choose by destination or animal, and there are experiences for solo, group and family travelers. With one of the most popular projects include working with baboons and big cats at the Namibia Wildlife Sanctuary. Along with providing refuge for the endangered wild cheetah population, you'll be cleaning, feeding and rehabbing leopards, lions and baboons.

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Earth-loving environmentalists will enjoy REIs collection of adventures featuring volunteer trips to Patagonia, Yosemite, Alaska, the Galapagos Islands, and even Machu Picchu. They supply the training, tools and travel arrangements and you get to work alongside park rangers on a well-guided conservation journey. Expect to be repairing trails and preserving the worlds most breathtaking landscapes while hiking, camping and promoting biodiversity with the folks that know it best.

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You may know that Habitat For Humanity builds affordable housing, supplies local disaster relief and supports communities in need. But did you know they offer Global Village trips serving more than thirty countries all over the globe? Most are short-term trips lasting a little over a week, but they vary in length and by continent. And you can choose to Blitz Build working alongside hundreds of other volunteers over the course of the week, help with critical home improvements or bring stability to orphans or children living with extreme difficulties. Plan a local staycation or head to South America, Asia or Europe. You can see their planned trip schedule here.

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While very admirable, you dont have to travel to a remote village to make a difference in a childs life. You can still take a beautiful beach vacation and leave the Caribbean better than you found it. Guests across Sandals, Beaches and Grand Pineapple Resort are offered the opportunity to get hands-on through unique volunteer excursions, such as the Reading Road Trip. You'll spend time with local school children to improve literacy, reading comprehension and vocabulary.

RELATED: How to Better Yourself

For groups, The Omni Amelia Island also offers a volunteer team building exercise called Gear Up For Kids: Bike Build. You break up into teams, play games and earn supplies to build bikes. Ultimately everyone wins when the truckload of bikes are donated to the local Boys and Girls Clubs.

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Say I do, to doing good. You and your significant other can journey to Thailand for an Elephant Conservation Honeymoon with Elevate Destinations. Newlyweds see Bangkok, Chiang Mai and the beautiful beaches of Phuket. Youll bathe and feed elephants at the Chiang Mai Elephant Care Center. But don't stress, this 11-day trip isn't all work. There's plenty of built-in time to enjoy the Thai culture and romantic luxury accommodations.

Indagare Senior Trip Designer Colin Heinrich suggests taking a volunteer vacation prior to taking your vows, We've recently had a few separate members who have been tasked with organizing a bachelor party, and instead of choosing the standard Las Vegas or Nashville, opting for a more off-the-beaten-path destination with some community involvement incorporated. Favorite destinations for these types of trips are to Central and South America, which can still be reached from the U.S. for a long weekend."

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Racing through the water on a jet ski is pretty thrilling, but how about diving with sharks while on a conservation mission in beautiful Fiji? Projects Abroad offers courageous travelers a chance to help leading researchers from the World Wide Fund for Nature and Project AWARE keep these animals off the endangered species list. Youll tag, feed and identify sharks while bunking with other like-minded, daring do-gooders.

These exciting volunteer vacations are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to whats available all over the world. Whether youre flying solo, going with a partner or friends, or taking the entire family, there are so many trips you can take that will surely leave you feeling better than hours of day drinking on the beach.

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"Tracey is an experienced M&A practitioner with considerable experience in the energy sector. She has advised on some of the most high-profile and complex transactions in the oil & gas industry, and her expertise will add depth to our practice and real value to our clients, said Bob Bishop, global co-chair of DLA Piper's corporate group.

Deloitte Legal partners with robotic automation specialists

The changing demands of the legal services market has led Deloitte Legal to partner with a leading provider of robotic process automation.

The first solution co-developed by Deloitte Legal and UiPath is a robot for the legal industry which can search public records such as a securities register, which are frequently accessed in due diligence exercises.

In one case the robot performed a search in approximately seven minutes versus the three and a half hours it took a lawyer to do the same thing.

Making better use of advanced technologies will be crucial as increased demands are placed on the legal function, said Piet Hein Meeter, Deloitte Global managing director, Deloitte Legal. Through this first-of-its-kind collaboration, Deloitte Legal and UiPath will provide automation solutions to enable organizations to maximize efficiency, reduce cost and free lawyers time to work more closely with the organization as a trusted business partner.
Among the causes: the high cost of living and easy loans. The average income of the workforce is around  419 per month. The average debt per family is 4,437 euros: + 15% compared to last year. The country's economic slowdown is weighing. Usury debt accounts for 41.8% of the money owed. The phenomenon often also affects Thai workers abroad.

Bangkok (AsiaNews) - 95% of Thai workers drown in debt. Their liabilities rose to the highest level in the last 11 years, driven by higher living costs and easier access to loans: this is what emerges from the latest survey conducted by the University of the Chamber of Commerce of Thailand (Utcc) .

The study states that the average income of the workforce is around 15,000 baht (419 euros) per month and estimates that the average household debt is 158,855 baht (4,437 euros). The figure recorded almost 15% growth compared to last year. Almost 86% of the people who participated in the research cannot count on savings, due to the increase in expenses, product prices and greater loans for housing and cars. The majority claims to be rather cautious about purchases.

Thanavath Phonvichai, vice president of research for UTCC, told the Bangkok Post that most workers are worried about the country's economic slowdown. Moreover, the uncertainty that has emerged after the recent general elections does not alleviate the widespread feeling of distrust. "About 80.3% of respondents said they defaulted in the previous 12 months because they spent more than they earned," says Thanavath. "The workers want the daily minimum wage to increase in line with the increases in utilities, transport and food products".

The expert attributes the increases to the slowdown in the national economy. "If this remains weak, we expect workers to demand even more disorganized loans," says Thanavath. The study reveals that this year debt from usury accounts for 41.8% of the debt contracted by the families of workers; in 2018 it was 34.6%.

The debt phenomenon often also affects Thai workers abroad. Pipat Traichan, project manager of the Catholic National Commission on Migration (NCCM) - an organization under the aegis of Caritas Thailand - explains to AsiaNews that in recent years the Thai world of work has changed considerably, but debt seems to be a constant .

"In the past - he says -, until about 10 years ago, many Thais used to leave as migrant workers for countries like Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia in search of better salaries. Once in the destination country, they found themselves forced to borrow from the agencies that recruited them. To return these sums, the same agencies or employers kept part of their salary. The migrants took years, before returning all the money due ".

In recent times, Traichan emphasizes, departures are diminishing, thanks also to the better living conditions that Thailand can offer its citizens. However, another phenomenon is emerging. "Many of the Thai migrants have returned home. Among these there are those who squander in a few years the amount earned abroad. Without money or work or something to do in Thailand, they find themselves forced to leave again to seek fortune again overseas. Some choose to remain in South-East Asia (Malaysia or Singapore), others leave for the Middle East convinced that they will spend two or three years there. However, these people sometimes do not think about their future and fall victim to forced labor or even human trafficking ". "The sad thing - concludes Traichan - is that the same fate awaits many migrants who come to Thailand from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia".
The Australasian Law Awards are coming and, following a record year of nominations, the very best legal professionals, firms, and in-house teams from Australia and New Zealands legal sector will receive their awards during a gala evening.

You can see the full list of finalists here.

Should you or your colleagues wish to attend this black-tie event on 23 May at Sydneys The Star, book a table now. Places are highly limited and are filling up fast.
But who is that certain happy individual? When the car was presented, word was it was intended for Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and former chairman of the Volkswagen Group. If we are to trust the most recent rumors, that is no longer the case.News surfaced this week of Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo having made a payment for the car. Reports of this apparently originated from Spanish sport news outlet Marca , which did not provide any source for its claims.Ronaldo is a huge car fan and the owner of an impressive collection of motorized vehicles , including Bugattis lesser than the La Voiture Noire.Its unlikely well ever know the true owner of the car, at least not until someone snatches a photo of it being driven down a road somewhere. And that it still some years away from happening.So, what does this car have to offer for the huge price tag?The answer is probably the fact that it is  and will remain  unique. Based on the Chiron and built as a nod to the Type 57 SC Atlantic of the 1930s, the car has also been created as a tribute to the brands history, in the year the carmaker celebrates its 110th anniversary.Under its hood lies a less unique engine, the same 8.0-liter W16 unit fitted on the Chiron. It also develops the same amount of power, 1,500 hp. Bugatti did not release the performance figures for the La Voiture, so perhaps it is there where the difference of many million dollars in price finds its justification.
One-fourth of the Chirons built so far have been sold to customers in North America according to Tim Bravo. The communications director at Bugatti further disclosed that the order books are filled with nearly three years worth of production already spoken for. Now thats good business considering the W16 land missile carries a starting price of $2,998,000.The Chiron Sport is even more exclusive, retailing at $3,260,000 in the United States. Even though its based on the French hypercar, the Divo isnt called Chiron because Bugatti wants to further differentiate these models. The sticker price for this baby? Make that $5.8 million, and all 40 units were sold on the very first day!Sources confirmed to Car & Driver that Bugatti has delivered more than 180 examples of the breed. Of those, 46 have been delivered in North America. If you manage to secure one of those final build slots, then, you shouldn't expect your 16-cylinder hypercar to arrive at your doorstep before 2022.Launched in 2016 as the successor to the Veyron, the Chiron takes its name from a Monegasque racing driver and the 18/3 Chiron concept car from 1999. Previewed by the Vision Gran Turismo concept, the quad-turbo hypercar cranks out 1,479 horsepower (1,500 PS) and 1,180 pound-feet (1,600 Nm) of torque from 2,000 to 6,000 rpm.Haldex all-wheel drive helps the Chiron grip the tarmac like nothing else, and thus, the Chiron accelerates to 60 miles per hour in 2.4 seconds. Top speed? As it happens, Bugatti limited the Chiron to 261 mph (420 km/h) because the tires wouldnt handle more than that.On the DuPont Registry, no fewer than nine models are available for purchase. The most affordable of the bunch will set you back $3,195,000, showing 475 miles on the odometer.
Kia, on the other hand, has had a variety of challenges, particularly with pricing. So bad was the climb for Kia that their sales dropped dramatically, and were subsequently taken over by another company: Ayala. With renewed vigor in their new parent in the Philippines, Ayala-Kia opened fire at the market with a new model: the Soluto. The very affordable Soluto was to be their entry grade car with an attractive design, good pricing, and sourced from China. Yes, it's a Chinese-Korean car; that makes sense for Ayala because their other brand, Volkswagen, is almost exclusively offering Chinese-made VW models. And they're doing very well with these Peoples' Cars from the People's Republic.

Abroad, the two brands are siblings; they are, in fact, part of the same group, and share many things like their development, design teams, factories, so on, and so forth. Locally, however, they couldn't be further apart. Hyundai is the bigger of the two; under the leadership of domestic distributor HARI, Hyundai has performed very well, consistently performing in third place in terms of sales behind Toyota and Mitsubishi.

But as if by fate, once Kia announced their pricing for the Soluto, Hyundai Philippines -not to be outdone- showed their hand. It contained this: the Hyundai Reina. And at the time, they cleverly priced it to undercut Kia.

Now Hyundai has traditionally not fared as well as we would have thought with their small cars and small crossovers. Yeah, the Accent does sell very well, but smaller and more affordable offerings like the i10 and Eon didn't quite perform to their full potential on the sales tallies. Even the reception for their small crossovers like the i20 Cross Sport and Creta wasn't strong enough; strange in a country where crossovers and SUVs do so well. It seems everyone was gravitating towards larger Hyundais like the Tucson, Santa Fe and the Grand Starex.

Something tells us, however, that the Reina might just buck that odd trend. The first thing to keep in mind is that the Reina hails from one of Hyundai's plants in the PRC, though sales of Korean-branded cars in the world's largest automotive market have plummeted as of late. Why? It's because there's a diplomatic spat of sorts between Seoul and Beijing.

Now we can get into the issues between Manila and Beijing, but we're about the car, not the politics. And so far, my time with the China-made Reina is surprising in a measured and pleasing way.

While the Reina was definitely built to be as economical to produce as possible to meet an affordable price point, that doesn't mean it looks cheap. Actually, far from it. The look itself is unmistakably Hyundai; clean, sleek, and with some neat touches thrown in like character lines on the side to break up what could have been a slab sided vehicle. I've always believed that design should never be sacrificed on the altar of cost, and the Reina is proof of that. The Reina looks proper for a small Hyundai, not some cheap and old looking little car.

The Reina's designers were able to achieve this through clever economization, if that's an actual term. The primary way you can tell is by the absence of any unnecessary frills on the body. No costly chrome here as the Reina comes with color keyed door handles, a black grille, black moldings on the window panes, and no rear garnish. Heck, the wheels are steel rims with full plastic caps. When you look closer, you'll also notice that the Reina's trunklid is a one piece affair of stamped steel; that's cheaper to produce. They also put the plate on the bumper; that's probably a more cost-effective alternative. There are no foglamps, apart from the rear fog which was built into the headlight Hyundai didn't even fully paint the undersides of body panels you won't see like the trunklid, engine bay or the hood; it's just a primer-ish shade of gray, with a bit of orange tossed in the mix.

Pop open that door and you're met with a cabin that frankly looks far better than normally expected. Actually, if you're familiar with the cabin of a Hyundai Accent (with which the Reina is fairly closely related) or Elantra, you won't feel that you've actually downgraded too much, if at all. The plastic panels, while hard, are of good quality judging by the finish and assembled with consistency. The fabrics appear to be well made, the switches are pleasing to operate, and the primary controls, while made of urethane and plastics, are nice to hold. All in all, it's a pleasing space to be in.

The more we examine the vehicle's cabin, the more we're pleasantly surprised. The steering has power assist, the mirrors are electrically adjustable, and all windows are powered. The front inner door panels, for instance, have no switches for the windows; instead, the switch panel is in the center stack below the A/C controls while the rear doors have their own window switches. This is another clever means of economizing the car's construction, as it reduces the wiring and switchgear. That also frees up some space on the front doors to make the handles a little larger to serve as pockets; perfect for quick access to a phone or a wallet. The only real thing I miss is Bluetooth; it's really more of a necessity than a luxury in this day and age, especially with a law harshly (and rightfully) penalizing distracted driving.

Hyundai has two versions of the Reina, both of which are identical in design, differing only in the gearbox used. The one we're driving has a 4-speed automatic driving the front wheels, and it's bolted onto a 1.4-liter gasoline engine with multi-point injection. Hyundai's brochure says it only has MPI, though foreign examples of this motor have variable valve timing; we're not quite sure if this one has it though. Nevertheless 95 horsepower is available on tap, along with 132 Newton-meters of torque; plenty for this pint-sized saloon.

When Chinese-made econoboxes first entered the market about 12 years ago, I got to experience what they were like to drive; in short, they were generally unnerving. In some vehicles you hear creaks and rattles that you can expect from a poorly-maintained second hand car, not a brand new unit. These were sounds that spoke of a body that was not put together very well. Those earlier Chinese cars made me want stay home rather than go out, but thankfully the Reina showed me how far they've come.

In daily city driving, the Reina performs much better than the price tag (or its point of origin) would suggest. The monocoque feels well built. There are no unusual noises even when going over rutted concrete roads. The damping of the suspension is proper; actually I would contend that the behavior of the suspension is comparable to much more expensive vehicles. And the tires, while made by Maxxis, actually have decent grip and are fairly quiet.

The somewhat old-school 4-speed auto shifts smoothly and rather intuitively without any gear hunting, and the electric power steering is a joy to use when maneuvering around tight city streets. The only thing that takes getting some real getting used to is the central power window switch; whenever I pull up to a toll gate, a parking lot booth, or a drive-through counter, I often found my left hand looking for the switch, only to remember I need to use my right.

After refilling the tank, I crunched the numbers a bit, and it seems the Reina was doing 11.3 km/l in the city (22 km/h average speed); I reckon it can do even better if the A/C's thermostat was adjusted a bit. On expressway driving, the Reina also did very well. Normally I'd expect a small car to be very susceptible to crosswinds at speed, but the Reina held its line fairly cleanly; no excessive corrections needed as it cut through the air at about 90 km/h. Fuel economy at an average speed of 85 km/h isn't too bad either: 16.8 km/l (2 passengers) if you're being sensible with the throttle. Fuel economy on the highway could be better if I tried harder, but that's the limitation of a 4-speed.

As for handling, you can't really expect much for an economy car, but the Reina actually does fairly well. Steering is precise, braking is decent (and you've got ABS to give better control under hard braking in slippery conditions), and the grip from the tires isn't too bad either. Depress the throttle and the gearbox drops down a ratio or two for better acceleration out of corners. And the roadholding ability of this econobox while cornering (a bane of many cars of this price point) is quite good too. It's not exciting by any definition of the word, but still the Reina is surprising when it comes to the drive. As a drive, the Reina is good considering that it's built to be affordable, but deliver a drive that can't be defined as cheap.

There are a few things I wish Hyundai improved on with the Reina. One is the addition of Bluetooth as standard. Cars like the Reina are meant for younger first time car owners, and so BT connectivity is a must to avoid expensive violations. The other is the rear seat: it's a bit too hard for comfort, and can be a pain on longer drives. There are more, but they're more of extras we'd like them to add rather than a fault with the Reina itself.

I actually like Reina. That's not an exaggeration. I think Hyundai nailed it with the Reina's fundamentals as an everyday drive. It's well made, it's nicely designed, and sufficiently equipped for daily driving in metropolitan areas. The pricing is good too, though Hyundai had to raise the price from the initial PhP 648,000 for this 1.4L automatic variant to PhP 688,000. It's a rather sharp increase for a mass market car, but that doesn't detract too much from our opinion of it.

Yeah, it's a China made Hyundai, but as reviewers, we have to approach every car, SUV, truck, bus or whatever wheeled conveyance it is with an open mind. At least this one won't try to sell me a networking scheme over coffee.
Palmdale, CA (93550)

Today

Rain likely. Low 47F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low 47F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
A 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant boy, who traveled to the U.S. alone, died on Tuesday after being held in government custody in Texas, the AP reports.

The big picture: This is the latest in a string of child deaths in detention centers, almost certainly intensifying pressure on the Trump administration as record numbers of Central American migrants continue to cross the southern border. On Wednesday, the White House requested $4.5 billion in emergency funding to help manage what it called a "humanitarian and security crisis."

Details: The unidentified teen was reportedly taken to a facility operated by the Department of Health and Human Services on April 20, but didnt show signs of any health-related issues.

The next day, he became noticeably ill with fever, chills and a headache. He was taken to a hospital where he was treated and released that day, per the AP. The teen was sent to another hospital and later transferred to a third facility. He died on Tuesday.

His cause of death remains unknown and under investigation.

Go deeper:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Tuesday that Beto ORourkes new climate change plan isnt aggressive enough, especially when compared with the Green New Deal  but in fact neither are tethered to economic reality or precedent.

Driving the news: Backers of the GND, including the New York Democrat, are pushing a goal of net zero U.S. greenhouse gas emissions as soon as 2030. The new plan by ORourke, one of numerous Democratic presidential hopefuls, calls for that by 2050.

Reality check: Those plans would require a revolutionary level of political, economic and technological change to occur in an amount of time that's unprecedented in American history.

The big picture: Oil, natural gas and coal make up a little more than 80% of Americas energy consumption. These fossil fuels emit the lion's share of GHG emissions, so they either need to be eliminated or their emissions need to be captured to reach the progressives' goals.

AOC and other backers of aggressive climate change action say unprecedented, transformative change is exactly whats needed and that its political stonewalling, led by Republicans and industry, thats stopping America from such a big transformation.

One metric to gauge reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the rate of decarbonization of the U.S. economy. Thats a reduction in the ratio of CO2 emissions to GDP.

Roger Pielke Jr., a University of Colorado environmental studies professor, did some quick math to assess what emission reduction targets would be required for ORourkes plan and the GND, pushed by the Sunrise Movement group.

By the numbers, per Pielke:

The GND (targeting 2030) would need an annual 27% decarbonization rate while O'Rourke's plan (aiming for 2050) would need an annual 11% decarbonization rate, he tells Axios.

decarbonization rate while O'Rourke's plan (aiming for 2050) would need an annual decarbonization rate, he tells Axios. Yes, but: The annual average rate of decarbonization in the U.S. from 1992 to 2018 was only 2.4%  and the estimated rate of decarbonization in 2018 is 0% .

The annual average rate of decarbonization in the U.S. from 1992 to 2018 was only  and the estimated rate of decarbonization in 2018 is . Of note: Pielke's analysis is based off data and projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and Congressional Budget Office.

Where it stands: ORourkes plan is arguably more detailed than the Green New Deal, whose backers say a more detailed plan is set for early next year.

Several major elements of ORourkes plan would require new legislation on Capitol Hill, including its call for a "legally enforceable" standard for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, Ben wrote Monday.

The reliance on Capitol Hill for key elements heavily clouds its prospects due to widespread GOP resistance to aggressive emissions policies.

What were watching: To what extent other Democratic candidates, especially Joe Biden, seek to chase these lofty targets (or not, as Ben suggested Tuesday).

Go deeper: Democrats left turn on climate change
The "cordial " meeting, yesterday at the Phanar. For the Chaldean primate the situation in the country is better than in the past, but "strong" distances from hatred and violence are needed. The ecumenical patriarch reiterates his friendship with Pope Francis and reflects on the difficulties between Churches. The hope of a unified Easter for Catholics and Orthodox in the Middle East.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - The situation of Christians, the reality of Iraq'sdifficult journey of rebirth after decades of wars and jihadist violence, in addition to the purpose (still being studied) of unifying the celebrations of Easter. These are the themes at the center of the meeting between the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and the Chaldean Patriarch, Card Louis Raphael Sako, who is currently in Turkey for the inaugural ceremony of the new Chaldean bishop of Diyarbakr Msgr. Ramzi Garmou.

The friendly and private meeting, as described in a note sent to AsiaNews, took place yesterday at the Fanar, the headquarters of the Orthodox ecumenical patriarchate in Istanbul. In his speech, the Chaldean primate pointed out that - in general - security in Iraq is better than in the past.

"Stronger distances", he added, need to be taken from those speeches "of hatred and violence". He then added that it is fundamental to "re-read religious thought" and present it "in a modern, moderate key" because "fundamentalism has no future".

Bartholomew I expressed his pride for the friendship established with Pope Francis, whom he has already met a dozen times in these years of his pontificate. On the question of the unity between the two Churches, the Ecumenical Patriarch emphasized that there are several Eastern Churches, and elements to be resolved in particular on the unification of Eastern celebrations. One of the obstacles, he added, is that "some Orthodox churches oppose this" and the creation of further fractures or divisions must be avoided.

Closing the meeting, the Chaldean patriarch strongly insisted on the "urgent need" to unify at least the celebrations "for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in the Middle East", giving a renewed impulse "to their unitary presence in the region". Finally, the cardinal expressed the hope for the establishment of a joint Catholic-Orthodox committee "on ecumenism and the challenges facing Christians in the region".
ORLANDO, Fla.  Luminar, the lidar company trying to build the "eyes" for autonomous vehicles, plans to turn its central Florida headquarters into a hub for advanced manufacturing and process engineering as it moves toward mass-production by the "early 2020s," says Luminar co-founder and CTO Jason Eichenholz.

Why it matters: There's plenty of competition in this area, with biggest rival Velodyne announcing a mass-production deal with Nikon last week. Still, Eichenholz thinks Luminar will have an edge in enabling systems like driverless trucks, robotaxis and driver-out-of-the-loop systems, partly because of its location.

Background: I visited Luminar while joining AOL founder-turned-investor Steve Case on his firm's "Rise of the Rest" tour highlighting startups in cities outside of traditional tech hubs that are often overlooked by venture capitalists.

Florida is the 3rd largest state, but only 1.3% of VC funding last year went to companies here.

Eichenholz runs the Orlando facility, where two-thirds of the company's 350 employees are based. His co-founder, Austin Russell, is based in San Francisco.

The big picture: Florida has some of the country's most progressive rules governing AV testing.

But Eichenholz attributes his success in Florida to the laser and sensor expertise in the area, with engineering talent from nearby military bases and defense giants Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

He also recruits directly from the University of Central Floridas engineering program, where he got his PhD 25 years ago.

Plus, Disney World attracts more visitors every year than any other U.S. destination, making it a unique place to test vehicles like tourist shuttles, and also to begin exposing people to AVs to increase their comfort with them.

Between the lines: Silicon Valley moves at lightning speed, while Detroit is more cautious and skeptical of Big Tech firms. Eichenholz said Luminar is a neutral intermediary  a benefit of its location outside either hub.

Go deeper: Self-driving car sensor startups may soon detect the end of the road

Editors note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Luminar's Orlando headquarters would be the site of mass production. The company's Orlando facility will the be the site of design, advanced manufacturing and process engineering, while mass production will take place elsewhere.
In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations has listed Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China finally supported the terror designation for the Pakistan-based militant leader.

Why it matters: Jaish-e-Mohammed is accused of carrying out numerous attacks in India, including the bombing of Indias parliament in 2001 and the suicide attack that killed 40 troops in Indian-administered Kashmir last February. That attack brought nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan close to war.

India has long wanted to see Azhar placed on the global terrorist list. China, an ally of Pakistan, blocked three previous attempts to designate Azhar as a terrorist.

The latest proposal was brought by the U.S., Britain and France in the Security Councils sanctions committee in February, just days after the attack in Kashmir.

China in March demanded more time to study the proposal, but reversed course today and withdrew its objections.

India has also repeatedly demanded that Pakistan extradite Azhar, but Islamabad has refused, claiming there's no proof of his involvement in terrorist activities. Azhar reportedly has long-standing ties to the Pakistani security establishment.

Bottom line: The UN listing is largely a symbolic move, though Azhar will now be subject to an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. But convincing the international community, including China, to back the move is a success for India.
Congressional Democrats and 2020 candidates are calling for Attorney General William Barr to step down from his post due to his handling of the Mueller report.

Context: Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to answer questions on special counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russian interference in the 2016 election  a day after a letter was made public from Mueller to Barr about his March 24 characterization of the report's findings.

2020 candidates who called for Barr to resign:

Julian Castro: "In attempting to deceive the American people, Attorney General Barr went in front of Congress and lied under oath. Congress must hold this administration accountablethat starts with launching impeachment inquiries into William Barr and Donald Trump."

"In attempting to deceive the American people, Attorney General Barr went in front of Congress and lied under oath. Congress must hold this administration accountablethat starts with launching impeachment inquiries into William Barr and Donald Trump." Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.): Following Barr's testimony, Harris tweeted, saying "What I just saw from the Attorney General is unacceptable. Barr must resign now."

Following Barr's testimony, Harris tweeted, saying "What I just saw from the Attorney General is unacceptable. Barr must resign now." Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): "AG Barr is a disgrace, and his alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that he's not a credible head of federal law enforcement. He should resignand based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President."

"AG Barr is a disgrace, and his alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that he's not a credible head of federal law enforcement. He should resignand based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President." Washington Gov. Jay Inslee tweeted: "Americans cannot trust William Barr to serve as our nations top law enforcement officer. He should resign immediately."

tweeted: "Americans cannot trust William Barr to serve as our nations top law enforcement officer. He should resign immediately." Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tweeted: " Attorney General Barr needs to resign. Today, he's proven once again that he's more interested in protecting the president than working for the American people. We can't trust him to tell the truth, and these embarrassing displays of propaganda have to stop."

tweeted: Attorney General Barr needs to resign. Today, he's proven once again that he's more interested in protecting the president than working for the American people. We can't trust him to tell the truth, and these embarrassing displays of propaganda have to stop." Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) tweeted: "Attorney General Barr answers to the American peoplenot to President Trumpand over the past 24 hours its become clear that he lied to us and mishandled the Mueller Report. He needs to step down." Booker is collecting signatures for a petition calling on Barr to resign immediately.

tweeted: "Attorney General Barr answers to the American peoplenot to President Trumpand over the past 24 hours its become clear that he lied to us and mishandled the Mueller Report. He needs to step down." Booker is collecting signatures for a petition calling on Barr to resign immediately. Beto O'Rourke tweeted : "Barr has failed in his responsibility to our country. He is not fit to serve as Attorney General and should resign."

tweeted "Barr has failed in his responsibility to our country. He is not fit to serve as Attorney General and should resign." Former Vice President Joe Biden: Asked whether he agrees with other 2020 Democrats that Barr should resign, Biden said, "I think hes lost the confidence of the American people. I think he should."

What other Dems are saying:

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) tweeted: "Attorney General Barr should resign. He misled the American people with his inaccurate summary of Muellers report. Then he misled the Congress when he denied knowledge of Muellers concerns. How can he be trusted to impartially administer justice? Short answer: He can't."

tweeted: "Attorney General Barr should resign. He misled the American people with his inaccurate summary of Muellers report. Then he misled the Congress when he denied knowledge of Muellers concerns. How can he be trusted to impartially administer justice? Short answer: He can't." Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said: "AG Barr has lied to both the House and Senate. Lets call it what it is. Hes only in the job to protect @realDonaldTrump. As far as Im concerned, he should not be the Attorney General."

said: "AG Barr has lied to both the House and Senate. Lets call it what it is. Hes only in the job to protect @realDonaldTrump. As far as Im concerned, he should not be the Attorney General." Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) tweeted: "I'm gravely concerned that the 14 criminal referrals from Special Counsel Mueller related to the investigation are under the supervision & control of AG Barr. He's virtually disqualified himself to be the kind of person we can expect to stand back & make sure justice is served."

tweeted: "I'm gravely concerned that the 14 criminal referrals from Special Counsel Mueller related to the investigation are under the supervision & control of AG Barr. He's virtually disqualified himself to be the kind of person we can expect to stand back & make sure justice is served." Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) tweeted: "Attorney General Barr deliberately misled Congress about his knowledge of Muellers concerns over his summary. I am confident that @JudiciaryDems will be pursuing questions on this issue today. But we already know that Mr. Barr has a pattern of deception and hes got to go."

Go deeper: Dems rip into Barr after Mueller points to missing "context" of investigation summary
The age of surveillance and Big Data is throwing up a new challenge to one of the oldest professions on the planet. We are talking the job of secret agent.

What's happening: Suddenly, the world's least-open nations can marshal a lifetime of personal and location data on friend and foe from security cameras, social media, and smart phones. This seriously complicates the mission of undercover spy  men and women whose talent since Cleopatra and before has been gaining cozy proximity with movers and shakers and persuading locals to betray their country.

"If you go through any classic of spy fiction  le Carre, Fleming  almost anything they do would be impossible today because of technology," said Edward Lucas, a Russia specialist and author of "Spycraft Rebooted: How Technology is Changing Espionage." "CCTV cameras make anything that Bond and Smiley did difficult. In a hostile environment, you'd be picked up immediately."

I queried former U.S. intelligence analysts, all of whom said the secrecy profession will survive:

Mathew Burrows, a retired senior CIA official and counselor to the National Intelligence Council, said the new tech actually provides advantages, not just handicaps. There will continue to be a job for "a spy who can worm him/herself into the confidence of a decision-maker and know exactly his/her next move that hasnt yet been revealed by any tech-driven spying," he said.

senior CIA official and counselor to the National Intelligence Council, said the new tech actually provides advantages, not just handicaps. There will continue to be a job for "a spy who can worm him/herself into the confidence of a decision-maker and know exactly his/her next move that hasnt yet been revealed by any tech-driven spying," he said. Aki Peritz, a former CIA analyst in Iraq, said, "Intelligence gathering is as old as human civilization, and it's not going to end because of technical advances. No gizmo can see into the hearts of men.

But, in a long new post at Foreign Policy, Lucas catalogues the difficulties:

Counter-intelligence agents in authoritarian systems like China and Russia are able in near real-time to identify, target and follow foreign visitors. Clues such as where someone goes, and where they have lived, are discernible by following their smart phone and perusing their social media.

in authoritarian systems like China and Russia are able in near real-time to identify, target and follow foreign visitors. Clues such as where someone goes, and where they have lived, are discernible by following their smart phone and perusing their social media. It can be immediately apparent whether someone really is a graduate student or a mining executive, two possible covers.

whether someone really is a graduate student or a mining executive, two possible covers. "You can't operate under an alias anymore," Lucas tells me.

If Lucas is right, it's not clear how many jobs are at risk. There are no public figures for how many spies the U.S. sends abroad, though in a January speech, CIA director Gina Haspel said she wants more of them.

As of last year, Russia was thought to have more than 100 spies working undercover in the U.S. But working is more difficult even for those operating under aliases in open societies where people are not tracked as a matter of course.

One example:

A year ago, former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the U.K. with Novichok, a nerve agent. But U.K. investigators perusing footage from security cameras installed around the country quickly zeroed in on two men.

They were filmed putting the poison on the Skripals front door, then flying to Moscow. The men entered the U.K. using aliases.

Then Bellingcat, a private research group that uses open sources, was able in a matter of months to specifically identify them as Russian military intelligence officers. Bellingcat said they were Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, and gave a detailed accounting of their biographies. Their cover may now be blown forever.

If you are a suddenly out-of-work spy, where do you go? There can be much mysterious cachet to listing "CIA operative" on one's resume. Lucas suggests that former spies can pile into the private intelligence firms that have proliferated in New York and the Mayfair district in London.

Yes and no: I contacted the head of one such London firm, an acquaintance from my Central Asia days. He said that while he does employ two former intelligence agents  one from MI6 and the other MI5  the rest of his approximately 30 case managers are varied.

"In the private sector you want multiple talents/skill sets  forensics accountants, former bankers and journalists, Caspian oil and gas specialists (!) etc," he said.

Go deeper: The spycraft revolution
President Trump's special envoy for Middle East Peace Jason Greenblatt on Wednesday visited the Poway synagogue in southern California, which was attacked last Saturday by a white supremacist.

Why it matters: Greenblatt is the most senior Trump administration official to visit the Poway Jewish community since the attack. Trump had a phone call a few days ago with Rabbi Goldstein, who was wounded in the attack. Greenblatt's visit was meant to send a message from the White House condemning anti-Semitism and hate crimes on the date that Israel and Jewish communities around the world mark Yom HaShoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In a series of tweets earlier today, Greenblatt wrote: "We must continue to stamp out anti-Semitism & all other forms of hate. Rabbi Goldstein is a pillar of strength for his community/our nation. A very moving visit. He & others acted heroically. I shared the Administration's heartfelt sorrow for Poway's loss & thanked him for his message to turn a hateful act into a lesson on tolerance".

The Trump administration also sent a message by sending a delegation of senior U.S. officials to participate Wednesday in the 31st annual "March of the Living" at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland.

The delegation consisted of the U.S. ambassadors to Poland (Georgette Mosbacher), Israel (David Friedman) and Germany (Richard Grenell), in addition to the U.S. ambassadors to Spain, the Vatican, Switzerland and Trump's special envoy for combating antisemitism, Elan Carr.

Go deeper: Anti-Semitic assaults doubled in the U.S. in 2018, ADL report finds
Venezuelas opposition leader Juan Guaido took his confrontation up a notch on Tuesday, appearing in front of a Caracas Air Force base with several soldiers and calling for an uprising to end the control of Nicolas Maduro.

Why it matters: Guaido has been the legal president, recognized by the U.S. and over 50 other nations, for more than 3 months. Despite this support and the pressure of U.S. energy sanctions, power on the ground hadnt shifted.

Where it stands: So far, the opposition's gambit hasnt worked. Maduro, though largely silent, remains in command, his military leaders tweeting their allegiance throughout the day. Guaido is still free but taking precautions and not publicly revealing his location. Newly liberated opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez fled with his family first to Chile's embassy and then to Spain's.

Between the lines: Nevertheless, plenty of possible developments didnt come to pass.

Backroom negotiations between U.S. officials, opposition leadership and members of the military and Maduro's regime seem to have been attempted but didn't end conclusively.

Three members of Maduros inner circle didn't turn on their leader (as national security adviser John Bolton said was planned).

Maduro didn't get on a plane to Havana (as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested had been in the works).

Other members of the military's top brass didn't split from the regime to join the opposition.

What to watch: The military didnt face a Tiananmen or Tahrir Square moment and has not yet confronted the prospect of shooting on unarmed citizens (although cable news repeatedly replayed footage of a National Guard armored personal carrier plowing into protestors).

Whether the standoff escalates into widespread bloodshed may be the most decisive question for the longevity of Maduro's regime and the future of Venezuela.

Shannon K. O'Neil is vice president, deputy director of studies and Nelson and David Rockefeller senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Today, Brazilians poured into the streets to vent their anger about something that, in fairness, makes a lot of people's eyes glaze over: pension reform.

The big picture: It's the same issue that's roiled politics in Spain, France, and Argentina recently. In Nicaragua last year, it prompted a violent political crisis. And in Russia, it's the one thing Vladimir Putin is truly afraid of.

Governments do a lot of things, but few of them affect people's welfare as directly as paying for their retirement.

A pension is a promise: you will be provided for in your old age. When governments break that promise  as many do to avoid a debt crisis  the political consequences can be severe.

Many countries make overly generous promises when they set up their pension systems, underestimate how long people would live, or simply mismanage the money.

Often, to keep the payments flowing, governments have to divert money from other productive uses or run up huge deficits. In Brazil's case, the financial mess threatens the country's economic stability and growth.

One approach is to cut the outlays for retirees by raising the retirement age, narrowing eligibility, or reducing payouts.

But all of that is politically explosive. It not only hurts pensioners, but also the families who must often help shoulder the burden of supporting them.

Another approach is to raise taxes.

But the jump would be huge. In Europe, taxes would have to rise as much as 30% to cover future pension outlays, says the IMF. That would be political suicide.

What usually happens instead is compromise.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro wants to save $300 billion over the next decade but will almost certainly settle for less.

Last year, Vladimir Putin watered down his own pension reform after it lopped double digits off his approval rating almost overnight.

It's a problem in the world's largest economy too. In the U.S., the Social Security system will have to start paying out less than originally promised in 2035 unless Congress reforms it. Many U.S. states and cities are facing pension overhauls or higher taxes to put their plans on a more sustainable footing.

The bottom line: The political compromises required to solve these problems will be painful. Pension reform cuts to the heart of what governments owe their citizens, and the difficult tradeoffs they face when those promises become unsustainable.

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On March 27, special counsel Robert Mueller sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr objecting to his March 24 characterization of his report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Why it matters: Barr is about to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he is sure to be grilled about why he did not publicly release prepared summaries of the report, as Mueller requested. Some Democrats, who have already questioned Barr's independence for his controversial rollout of the report, are calling on the attorney general to resign.
Thousands of students gathered for a campus vigil Wednesday evening to honor the victims of the shooting at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte a day earlier.

The latest: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Riley Howell, among 2 students killed in Tuesday's attack, which wounded 4 others, died taking the gunman "off his feet." "His sacrifice saved lives," he said. Putney confirmed suspect Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, is a former student. He faces charges including 2 counts of murder and 4 of murder.

A tweet previously embedded here has been deleted or was tweeted from an account that has been suspended or deleted.

Details: The university went into lockdown soon after police responded to a call about 5:40 pm ET Tuesday that a suspect had shot several people near the universitys Kennedy Hall administrative building. The lockdown was lifted Wednesday morning.

The other student killed was Ellis Parlier, 19, who police said was the first victim to die.

3 victims of the victims taken to hospital in critical condition were expected to survive according to a radio interview with university president Dr. Philip Dubois.

The shooting occurred while students were giving final presentations during an anthropology class, per the Washington Post.

Authorities said the suspect used a pistol. They're not looking for anyone else.

University chancellor Philip Dubois said lives were saved because of the prompt actions of police.

A concert was scheduled to celebrate the last day of classes with rapper Waka Flocka on the day of the shooting, according to the university's event page.

Go deeper: 1 week in America: A slew of gun violence goes under the radar
Two young students were injured in the legs. All documentation of clashes on social media deleted. The young people had registered to become nurses and instead at the end of the course they find themselves with scores in home economics. In China, schools of corrupt inspiration can be opened, but no schools of religious inspiration.

Nanjing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Students furious at having been dupped clashed with police and security personnel at the Nanjing Institute of Applied Technology. Two students were injured in the legs.

The students had documented the clashes - which took place last Friday, April 26th - on social media, but the police deleted everything. Instead, the police have published an official statement accusing the youth of having "created unrest among the students, destroying doors and windows".

Tensions began when the students, almost at the end of their studies, learned that the course did not qualify them to be nurses - as was promised at the beginning - but gave scores in home economics.

The discovery led to the rebellion of the students and their parents, later quelled by the police.

The scandal of fake diplomas and promises emerged last April 23, when students were warned that to receive a nurse's diploma, they had to move to the Yingtian Vocational College. But in previous years, the Nanjing Institute had invited enrollment primising a diploma at the end of the studies.

Now students who want to complete their studies, will have to enroll in Yingtian and pay 16 thousand yuan a year (about 2200 euros).

In China education is a field under the responsibility of the state. In recent decades it has allowed the birth of many schools to meet the new needs of the economy. Permits to open new schools have become a new source of corruption. On the other hand, the government does not in any way allow schools of religious inspiration to be opened, given that religions teach "falsehood" and are still to be considered the "opium of the people".
A meeting between Democratic leadership and President Trump on Tuesday ended with high hopes that both parties will be able to pass a budget to overhaul infrastructure slated for $2 trillion.

What to watch: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plan on meeting with the president again in 3 weeks along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to discuss funding specifics. Both parties agreed broadband and clean energy will be included.

What they're saying:
The leader of the Communist Party of Armenia (HKK) said little has changed in the country since last years velvet revolution as he led a traditional May Day demonstration in Yerevan on Wednesday.

The HKK was again the only Armenian political group that rallied supporters in the capital to mark the public holiday officially called Labor Day. Hundreds of them marched through the city center, waving red flags and holding big banners.

The crowd included not only elderly people nostalgic about the Soviet past, the HKKs core support base, but also young Armenians and even schoolchildren. Some of them came from the countrys regions.

Radik Harutiunian, the head of the HKK chapter in the northeastern town of Martuni, said he tapped his modest pension to cover the travel expenses of local young Communists.

Harutiunian proudly sported a hammer-and-sickle insignia on his chest. This symbol had given me free education, free healthcare and guaranteed employment, he told RFE/RLs Armenian service.

Our ideology is the most progressive in the world. Humanity has not managed to create anything better than that, said Yerjanik Ghazarian, the HKKs acting first secretary.

Ghazarian was unimpressed with last years mass protests that toppled the former Armenian government opposed by his party. He said it was mere regime change, rather than a revolution.

The system has remained the same, only individuals [in government] have changed, Ghazarian told reporters. He argued that just like its predecessors the current government opposes socialism.

Still, Ghazarian said his party stands ready to help Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian make Armenias relations with Russia spotless. Pashinian should get rid of his associates hostile to Moscow, added the HKK leader.

Pashinian congratulated Armenians on May Day in a written statement. He said his government is committed to protecting worker rights while carrying out an economic revolution promised by him.

The Communists were a major political force in Armenia in the 1990s, winning roughly 10 percent of the vote in various national elections. However, their influence has since declined significantly.

The HKK, which claims to have 20,000 members, has not been represented in the Armenian parliament since 2003. It won less than 1 percent of the vote in the April 2017 parliamentary elections and did not run in snap polls held in December 2018.
Armenias National Security Service (NSS) has told a member of a small political party to retract his allegations that the NSS director, Artur Vanetsian, is engaged in illegal entrepreneurial activity.

Garegin Miskarian of the Citizens Decision party attacked Vanetsian in a recent Facebook post. Miskarian claimed that Vanetsian and his family had smuggled diesel from Iran and have continued fuel imports after last years velvet revolution.

The security service categorically denied that in a letter to Miskarian which was signed by an NSS official, Vahe Yengibarian. The latter demanded that the activist retract his article in writing.

Miskarian accepted the demand but defended his post on Wednesday, saying that it was based on media reports. He also objected to the fact that the retraction was demanded by the NSS, rather than Vanetsian. I did not mention the NSS in that status, he told RFE/RLs Armenian service.

Yengibarian insisted, meanwhile, that Vanetsian did not abuse his administrative resources to protect his reputation. Nor did the NSS chief seek to restrict freedom of speech in the country, the official said.

Vanetsian, 38, was appointed as NSS director shortly after the 2018 revolution. He is widely regarded as an influential member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians entourage. Over the past year the NSS has launched high-profile corruption investigations into some former senior government officials as well as their relatives and cronies.
By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 24 times, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said May 1, 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.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan is pursuing long-term space industry development programs to strengthen its position in the global space industry market as a member of the space satellite club owning three satellites.

In January-March this year, Azercosmos OJSC exported satellite and telecommunication services worth $7.6 million to 17 countries.

According to the Export Review published by the Center for Economic Reforms Analysis and Communication, the profit of Azercosmos from the export of satellite and telecommunication services in March made up $5.5 million, which is 85 percent of the total income.

For the three months, the company exported services mainly to the U.S. ($4.8 million), France ($1.9 million), the United Arab Emirates ($304,000), Germany ($252,000) and the United Kingdom ($212,000).

Azerbaijans Azercosmos operates satellites and other devices used at different heights in order to support the countrys socio-economic development, commercial, scientific activities and for public purposes.

Azercosmos OJSC was established in May 2010 with the purpose of implementing the launch, operation and exploitation of telecommunication satellites of Azerbaijan. This is the first Caucasian satellite operator. Azercosmos operates Azerspace-1, Azerspace-2 geostationary satellites and low-altitude AzerSky satellite.

The first satellite of Azerbaijan, Azerspace-1, was launched into space in 2013 from the Kuru cosmodrome in South America. At present, its service area includes countries of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.The income from using the first telecommunications satellite has amounted to $72 million.

At the same time, the country has earned $19 million from using the Azersky satellite, operating since 2014 and intended to monitor the surface of the Earth. Azerbaijans revenue from the operation of Azersky is expected to exceed $200 million within the next decade.

In addition, Azercosmos launched the new satellite Azerspace-2 on September 25, 2018, from ELA-3 platform in Guiana Space Center located in French Guiana. Its service area covers the countries of Europe, Central and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The satellite reached its test orbit on December 18, 2018.

Azercosmos has already started commercial exploitation of the resources of Azerspace-2. Currently, the operator is negotiating with potential companies in countries within the scope of the satellite. Primary agreements have been signed with several operators in the U.S., Pakistan and other countries.

The projected revenue for the current year from the commercial sale of the satellite resources is $16.5 million. The lifetime of the satellite in orbit is 20 years.

The new satellite will not only expand the range of services and geography of activities of Azercosmos, but will also act as a reserve for the first telecommunications satellite Azerspace-1. In addition, the second satellite will make it possible to take part in big international tenders, which was not possible earlier. Azerspace-2 satellite worth $190 million is expected to bring $400 million in revenue to the country's economy.

The revenues of Azercosmos from the export of satellite and telecommunication services amounted to $25.6 million in 2018.

National satellites offer high-quality services for telecommunications in Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe and the Caucasus region. The launch of the satellites into space ensures the formation of a reliable information security system in Azerbaijan and, in general, boosts telecommunications system development, and further enhances the quality of Internet, international telephone calls, television broadcasting and satellite services throughout the country. At the same time, satellite mapping, hydrometeorology, study of the Earth's surface and geodetic works are possible at a high level.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

The Financial Market Supervisory Authority of Azerbaijan (FIMSA) has lifted restrictions on the license of Ateshgah Insurance Company for compulsory civil liability insurance for vehicle owners, Trend reports referring to the insurance company on April 30.

FIMSA restricted Ateshgah Insurance Companys license on April 12. The decision was made because the insurance company violated the law "On insurance activity" when concluding contracts on compulsory civil liability insurance for vehicle owners.

Ateshgah Insurance Company has been operating in Azerbaijan since 1996.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan received export orders for a total amount of $178.4 million through Azexport.az portal in January-March 2019.

This was stated in the export review of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication.

In March, the total value of export orders amounted to $32.8 million. Russia (11.5 percent), Turkey (9.9 percent), the U.S. (7 percent), India (6.6 percent) and Georgia (5.3 percent) were the top five countries in terms of export orders in March.

The majority of export orders were about cotton fiber, cottonseed oil, onion, tobacco, wine, pomegranate juice, tea, confectionery, canned vegetables, cosmetics, flowers, hazelnuts, building materials, motor oils, frozen chicken, licorice etc.

The total amount of export orders received by the Azexport.az portal from 126 countries of the world in the period from January 1, 2017, to March 31, 2019, amounted to almost $1.2 billion.

Azexport.az portal of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication was created under the Order of the President of Azerbaijan dated September 21, 2016, on "Establishing Unified Database of Goods Manufactured in the Republic of Azerbaijan".

The portal offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to export goods produced in Azerbaijan to traditional and new markets via international e-trading platforms. The mission of Azexport.az is to provide information about products of Azerbaijani origin and to be a beneficial platform for their sales in foreign and domestic markets.

Azexport.az, integrated with the most popular electronic trading platforms, makes the products available to potential buyers from anywhere in the world.

Recently, Azexport reached an initial agreement with NaT IN company, one of the largest wool importers in India, on the export of 5,000 tons of domestically produced wool.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Azerbaijan, as a country with enormous food export potential and current possibilities, strives to capture new markets worldwide.

The country plans to export dairy products to Arab countries, especially milk, which quality standards fully meet foreign markets requirements.

Recently, Samir Eyyubov, Chairman of the Board of the Azerbaijan Milk and Dairy Products Producers and Exporters Association told Trend that Azerbaijan may begin exporting milk to Saudi Arabia.

Eyyubov noted that the main task of the Association is to meet the demand for milk and dairy products at the domestic market.

"We also plan to introduce new standards and are taking steps to stimulate the development of dairy farming in Azerbaijan," he said.

The Azerbaijan Milk and Dairy Products Producers and Exporters Association was established on January 26, 2018. Presently, the Association brings together 20 companies. Negotiations are underway with new companies.

Milk production in Azerbaijan in 1Q 2019 amounted to 467,500 tons, which is 2 percent more compared to 1Q 2018.

Azerbaijan has about 10 large dairy processing enterprises with annual production capacity of over 5,000 tons. Almost all types of dairy products - pasteurized milk, butter, cream, cottage cheese, cheese, sesame and milk powder are produced there. As many as 85 percent of domestic demand for these products is provided by local producers, while about 15 percent is met by imported goods.

Azerbaijan currently cooperates with U.S. in milk processing. Thus, a newly renovated milk collection and processing facility opened in Guneshli village of Saatli region. The facility will produce the first ever yellow cheese in Azerbaijan.

Also, Azerbaijan may set up a joint dairy venture with Belarus.

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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1

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By Trend

The American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham Azerbaijan) organized its monthly members luncheon.

The esteemed Guest Speaker  Mr. Mukhtar Babayev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan  spoke on the environmental protection and preserve of the ecological balance in Azerbaijan, measures undertaken by the Government towards solving existing environmental problems, as well as the tasks and challenges the Ministry is facing in its activities aimed at addressing environmental issues.

Mr. Babayev expressed gratitude for the face-to-face channel of communication with the business community provided by the Chamber.

Additionally, the Luncheon highlighted several member presentations. More than 100 AmCham members and partners attended the event, including representatives of diplomatic corps.

AmCham Azerbaijan Members Luncheons are organized monthly by the Chamber and feature participation of high ranked government officials, members of parliament and representatives of diplomatic corps.

AmCham Azerbaijan is a leading private, non-profit business association supporting and promoting the interests of foreign and local businesses in Azerbaijan. Established in 1996, the Chamber is composed of over 280 members companies active in every sector of the Azerbaijani economy.

AmCham Azerbaijan represents nearly 80% of all foreign investment, as well as a significant portion of local investment, in Azerbaijan.

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By Leman Mammadova

Slovenia and Azerbaijan are keen on the intensification of interaction by using all opportunities to boost economic potential between two countries.

Slovenia offers its port of Koper to Azerbaijani companies and is convinced that the ports of both countries have opportunities for cooperation.

The Slovenian port of Koper provides an excellent route for the supply of goods to the markets of the European Union and in the opposite direction. We also recommend the use of this port to Azerbaijani companies, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry told Trend.

The ministry added that there are also opportunities for cooperation in the field of investment.

According to the Central Bank of Slovenia, there were no direct investments between the two countries. According to information from the Slovenia-Azerbaijan Friendship Society, there is an increased interest of Azerbaijan in investing in Slovenia," reads the message.

The Slovenian MFA added that the country's business community welcomed the establishment of the Slovenian-Azerbaijani Business Council in March 2016 in Ljubljana. "There is certainly room for improvement in cooperation in this area, the ministry stated.

Touching upon the prospects of opening direct flights between the capitals of the two countries, the ministry noted that at the moment this is impossible.

We believe that it would be possible to make more efforts to increase the tourist flow between Azerbaijan and Slovenia. Currently it is impossible to open a direct flight because the number of tourists does not reach the required level, noted the ministry.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1996. In recent years, relations between Azerbaijan and Slovenia have been developing in various spheres.

So far, 12 documents have been signed between the countries. Although economic cooperation is not at the desired level, both countries have the potential to develop it. Economic cooperation between Slovenia and Azerbaijan is based mainly on trade.

In 2018, the trade turnover between Slovenia and Azerbaijan reached 26.9 million euros. Slovenian exports to Azerbaijan amounted to 15.1 million euros, while Slovenian imports from Azerbaijan made up 11.7 million euros.

Generally, business forums held in recent years and reciprocal visits between the countries' officials have given impetus to the development of ties.

Besides the economic cooperation, the political dialogue between the countries has intensified over the past years.

Azerbaijan highly appreciates Slovenias commitments for supporting Azerbaijan's fair position in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Slovenian parliament adopted resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2014 and on Khojaly massacre in 2016. Last year, a memorial board dedicated to victims of the Khojaly genocide was erected in the territory of the Dobrava Memorial Park complex in the city of Maribor, Slovenia.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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On May 6th, the holy month of fasting and prayer for the Muslim faithful begin. The Archbishop of Colombo has refused to use an armored car and asks for protection for the country. Among the victims of Easter, 42 foreigners and 45 children were identified.

Colombo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In Sri Lanka, after the kamikaze attacks that bloodied the island on Easter Day, the alert for Islamic terrorism remains high. The authorities report that at the moment the danger concerns above all the Muslim community that lives on the island that is preparing to celebrate Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and prayer for the faithful of Islam. Here the month (variable according to the countries according to the lunar calendar) will begin May 6th.

Meanwhile the tension remains high for the Christian community. Yesterday Card. Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, after refusing the armored car made available by the government, announced the reopening of the churches from May 5, with the celebration of Mass. "We will begin with a few Masses - he said - and we will see if we can increase them little by little. Everything will depend on developments in the situation". On the fact that he refused the armored car, he said: "I'm not frightened. I don't need the escort to move. The Lord is my protector. Rather, I want protection for my people and my country. "

The announcement of the resumption of liturgical services represents the hope of a return to normality for the Christian faithful, who last Sunday for the first time in their lives followed Mass with a live television broadcast, after the closure of all the churches in the country following the attacks. The ban on entry into all Christian places of worship was ordered by the ecclesiastical leaders themselves, as a precautionary measure after the massacres carried out while the faithful participated in the Easter services that killed 253 people and wounded another 500. Among the victims, the investigators identified 42 foreigners and 45 children.

While raids continue in the country, investigators still seem to be groping in the dark. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the massacres, but the authorities in Colombo believe that the responsibility lies with two local Islamic factions (National Thowheed Jamath and the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen) with alleged foreign ties. Amid all this confusion, the voice of Card. Ranjith rang out yesterday, with blunt criticism of Colombo's holes in its emergency management.
By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Small and medium-sized businesses play an important role in development of a country's economy. Development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) leads to the growth of entrepreneurship which is one of the priority directions of Azerbaijans economic policy.

Presentation of the House of SMEs project was held in Baku on May 1.

Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of SMEs, told reporters at the presentation of the project that the first House of SMEs will open in the Narimanov district of Baku until the end of the year. He said that there are plans to open several Houses of SMEs in Baku.

More than 110 permits from 30 state structures will be issued in the House, Mammadov said. It will operate on such algorithms as start business, run business, develop business and support business.

He stressed that the main purpose of the creation of the House of SMEs is to ensure prompt, transparent and convenient access to financial resources.

Mammadov also noted that the e-SME website is planned to be launched after the opening of the House of SMEs.

This online platform to be created by the Agency will provide an opportunity for online communication between financial institutions and entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to present their projects to all interested parties online, and this will also minimize the loss of time.

Speaking at the event, Mammadov stated that creation of Houses of SMEs will expand the range of services rendered to the enterprises in Azerbaijan.

"Earlier, the first meeting of the Coordination Group consisting of plenipotentiaries of the state agencies was arranged. The Group operates under the Agency for the Development of SMEs, he said. At the meeting, effective discussions were held. It was recommended to improve the coordination of the policy of developing SMEs and address issues related to the creation of Houses of SMEs.

The chairman added that joint cooperation within this format will make a significant contribution to the implementation of the course of reforms announced by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The development of the SMEs sector has become a special sphere of the state policy for the development of modern economy, to which particular importance is attached, he said.

Then Mammadov stated that the development strategy being implemented under the leadership of the president has always focused on the development of SMEs sector in the country and systemic measures in this direction have been implemented within the state programs adopted over the past years.

In addition, Mammadov added that the role of entrepreneurs has grown in the society, who have become an active force supporting the course of economic reforms in Azerbaijan.

Mammadov further stressed that there is a big potential in the countrys economy in the sphere of growth of the SMEs sector.

"Sustainable development priorities have put forward new requirements for this sector and this must be taken into account, he said. The creation of the Agency for the Development of SMEs and the documents signed by the president to ensure its activity testifies to the attention paid to this sector and covers the issues that will lead to the fundamental changes in the development of the SMEs sector.

In turn, Azerbaijans Deputy Economy Minister Niyazi Safarov said at the event that the share of SMEs in employment in Azerbaijan was 76 percent last year, and in recent years, comprehensive work has been carried out in Azerbaijan for the development of SMEs.

He noted that, in particular, inspections of business entities have been suspended and the process of obtaining licenses has been simplified.

Moreover, Safarov stated that five industrial parks including Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park, Garadagh, Balakhani, Mingachevir and Pirallahi industrial parks, and four industrial districts in Neftchala, Hajigabul, Masalli and Sabirabad have been created in Azerbaijan.

He also said that so far, 35,800 entrepreneurs received preferential loans worth 2.3 billion manats ($1.35 billion).

Investment promotion documents were issued regarding 362 projects, he noted. Within these projects, which cover eight economic regions of Azerbaijan, it is planned to invest up to $3 billion and create up to 23,700 new jobs.

Speaking at presentation, Mammad Musayev, President of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of Azerbaijan, pointed out that there are more than 130,000 business entities operating in Azerbaijan and about 80 percent of them are SMEs.

Musayev said that 309 million soft loans were given to 31,000 entrepreneurs in 15 years, which covered almost all regions of the country.

The main task of the Agency for the Development of SMEs under the Ministry of Economy is to ensure the succession of reforms, the improvement of the business regulation system, and the application of effective coordination, enhancing the role and competitiveness of SMEs in the country's economy, as well as the compliance of the management system in this area with modern requirements.

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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1

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By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

The Azerbaijani government takes great care of patients with hemophilia with not only providing them with free medicines, but also helping them maintain a healthy lifestyle and improving the quality of their life.

An event dedicated to the World Hemophilia Day has been held in Baku, where the "Changing Haemophilia" project was launched on the initiative and organization of the Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company.

Members of parliament, representatives of the Health Ministry and other government agencies, employees of the Hemophilia Center and health workers, representatives of the Republican Association of Patients with Hemophilia and hemophilia patients themselves attended the event.

Arash Nosrati Heravi, Head of the Novo Nordisk representative office in Azerbaijan, spoke about projects implemented by the company to combat hemophilia. He noted that as a result of clinical and innovative research conducted by Novo Nordisk, new-generation medicines for the treatment of hemophilia were developed. As a result of collaboration with the Health Ministry, these medical drugs became accessible for usage of patients.

"Provision of medicines is not the only necessity for these patients. We hope that the project "Changing Hemophilia" will be a platform for cooperation of all relevant local and international structures," said Heravi.

Establishment of a new hemophilia center in Nakhchivan and the creation of a new physiotherapy center in Baku, Shirvan and Nakhchivan are all projects implemented with the support of the Novo Nordisk Hemophilia Foundation, created with the aim of helping patients with hemophilia and improve services for physiotherapy.

Anar Israfilov, Chief Adviser of Department of Medical Assistance Organization at the Health Ministry, said that the ministry considers as a priority not only the treatment of patients with hemophilia, but also improving the diagnosis, monitoring the joint health and ensuring the accessibility of new kinds of treatment in the future.

Elmira Gadimova, Director of the Republican Scientific and Practical Center of Hemophilia, thanked the Health Ministry for the supply of modern medicines to the country and spoke about the results of treatment of patients.

At the end of the event, after the panel discussion with the participation of health authorities, MPs and hemophilia specialists, certain plans were developed for better control over hemophilia, and all parties agreed to provide a report on the results at the event of the next year.

Danish company Novo Nordisk, which has more than 95 years of history, is the world leader in the development and manufacture of medicines for the treatment of diabetes and hemophilia. The company's headquarters is located in Denmark. More than 43,000 employees work in 80 branches of the organization worldwide. It has been operating in Azerbaijan for more than 19 years.

World Hemophilia Day is an international observance held annually on April 17 by the World Federation of Hemophilia.

Men usually suffer from this disease, while women act as carriers of hemophilia and can give birth to sick sons or daughters-carriers.

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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The Armenian Prime Minister deceives the international community and misinforming the Council of Europe, Peter M. Tase, International Relations expert and a scholar of Transatlantic political and cultural dialogue said in an interview with Azernews.

Regarding the recent meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenia FMs, Tase said that the Armenia-Azerbaijan armed conflict settlement was at the center of these talks, however concrete actions by the Nikol Pashinyans government are nowhere to be seen.

Tase, who is a senior advisor to the Executive Secretary of Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) headquartered in the campus of George Mason University, believes that Armenia continues to occupy over twenty percent of the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan and maintains a posture of belligerence in the region.

The expert stressed that Pashinyan, who pretends to refrain from the use of force and calls upon Azerbaijan to stop using force, is simply bluffing, deceiving the international community and misinforming the Council of Europe. He stressed that Armenia is the belligerent party and the main source of violence and turmoil in Nagorno-Karabakh and its neighboring seven districts. All of this territory is a sovereign territory of Azerbaijan; and is recognized as such by the United Nations and by all its member states.

Tase advised Pashinyan to review the OSCE Helsinki Final Act of 1975.

"In the Helsinki Final Act the principle of refraining from the use of force, included as the second point among its ten tenets, states: The participating States will refrain in their mutual relations, as well as in their international relations in general, from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations and with the present Declaration," the expert recalled .

Senior adviser told that the entire international community recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders and the four UN Security Council resolutions of 1993 confirm that Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan and therefore demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying Armenian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

He noted that the Armenian Prime Minister must take immediate steps to refrain from the use of force according to the demands of the international community towards the full withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in order to ensure a lasting peace, regional security and economic prosperity in the region.

Tase informed that for as long as Armenia continues to engage in a destructive propaganda campaign against Azerbaijan and keeps its soldiers in the Azerbaijani territory; recent bilateral talks hosted by Russia and OSCE, with the intention to pacify the tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, are doomed to failure.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh armed conflict has generated a platform where the two governments are not equally positioned on a negotiating table: Armenia is the aggressor (occupying over twenty percent of the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan and plundering its natural resources) and on the side is the Government of Azerbaijan (fully respecting International Laws, U. N. Security Council Resolutions and patiently waiting to solve this conflict by peaceful means, even though Azerbaijan has the military might to liberate its occupied territories with the use of force)," the expert said.

Commenting on the Pashinyans statement about involvement of puppet regime created in occupied Karabakh to the negotiation process, Tase said that Pashinyan is utilizing every diplomatic tool and international factor that would delay any progress made in the bilateral negotiations timetable. He noted that International economic sanctions against Yerevan and constant political condemnation of its aggressive actions in the Caucasus are very much necessary in order to pressure Pashinyan to fully withd+raw Armenian Armed Forces from the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.

"Only after the withdrawal of Armenian Armed Forces from sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, we may have lasting results in the solution of this conflict that has caused so much pain and suffering among the Azerbaijani Government and its peace-loving nation," the expert stressed.

Discussing the Armenian Defense Minister Tonoyans statement about the possibility of moving military operations to Azerbaijan, senior adviser recalled that Tonoyan was former representative of Armenia to NATO. Tase noted that in his current position as Defence Minister, Tonoyan should focus more on providing sufficient quantities of food and overall resources to the Armenian Armed Forces, which is going through economic hardships and is not trained to embark on a full-scale military offensive.

"We all know that Russias historical political support towards Armenia makes the latter party become a privileged entity, securing a special diplomatic treatment when it comes to Yerevans engagement into negotiations with Baku. Tonoyans statement on upcoming Armenian Military Operations is a deceptive message that wont frighten Baku let alone divert the attention of Azerbaijan Armed Forces," Tase stressed.

The expert noted that Azerbaijani Armed Forces are ranked among the top military forces worldwide, thanks to their impeccable training, cutting edge weapons technology and high levels of moral and patriotism. He added that Tonoyans forces will be met with an unmatched response and a heavy thunder of weapons if they try to awaken the Azerbaijani might.

As an example of international pressure towards Armenia, Tase told about suspension the current cooperation framework between Armenia and NATO, until the Government of Nikol Pashinyan has withdrawn all of its Armed Forces from the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.

"NATO must take steps on the ground and deliver political statements that condemn Armenias occupation of Azerbaijani territories; the alliance should halt the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) with Armenia for as long as this country is ruled by politicians that have kissed the blarney stone and use epizeuxis approach when engaged in a smear campaign against Azerbaijan and its people, including the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan (sovereign territory of Azerbaijan)," senior adviser noted.

Analysing the anniversary of velvet revolution in Armenia, Tase said within the incumbent government of Armenia, it is not possible to observe any tactical changes towards securing peace and stability within the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan and fostering regional economic integration.

He told that Pashinyan, by leaps and bounds, has established close ties with Russia and is successfully attempting to disrupt Azerbaijans economic-political alliances with a few countries in the Balkan Peninsula.

Tase considers, bilateral meeting held in Germany, by Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan, with the President of Albania Ilir Meta; another significant meeting is between Armenian Foreign Affairs Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic; the high ranking European official was visiting Yerevan on October 12th, 2018, to attend the Summit of International Organization of La Francophonie are perfect examples of this course of action.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Russia seeks to contribute to a worthy resolution of the Karabakh conflict and to ensure reliable security in South Caucasus region.

Russia advocates the exchange of prisoners on the principle of "all for all" to establish confidence in conflict zones, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference on April 30.

Lavrov noted that Russia always in all situations advocate an exhaustive humanitarian solution of such situations as the exchange of remains, the exchange of war prisoners held by individuals according to the principle of all for all.

Russian FM expressed confidence that this will contribute to establishing an atmosphere of trust in the conflict zone in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev have been kept hostage by Armenian militaries in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan for more than four years already. They were detained by the Armenian armed forces in July 2014 while visiting their native places and graves of loved ones in the occupied Azerbaijani Kalbajar region. Moreover, Armenian armed forces killed the third Azerbaijani Hasan Hasanov.

Later, Guliyev and Asgarov were judged illegally by the unrecognized courts of the separatist regime in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Following an expedited judicial process in December 2015, Asgarov was sentenced to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years in prison.

Azerbaijans State Committee on Affairs of Refugees and IDPs, the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons and other agencies have repeatedly urged international organizations, including the ICRC, to assist in release of Guliyev and Asgarov, whilst the problem.

In November 2018, Baku suggested the idea of exchanging prisoners according to the all for all scheme, proposing to exchange Armenian citizens Arsen Bagdasaryan, Karen Ghazaryan and Zaven Karapetyan for Russian citizen Dilgam Asgarov and Azerbaijani citizen Shahbaz Guliyev illegally convicted in occupied Karabakh.

Russia has a high degree of personal interest in resolving the conflict. Mediation for Russia continues to be one of the most important mechanisms of Russia's foreign policy activities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The political leadership of Russia openly demonstrates the importance of ending the conflict in such a way that there will be no possibility of its escalation.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries arose in 1988 due to the territorial claims of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions - 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan - are under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces.

More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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By Trend

Azerbaijan is represented at the IDEF-2019 14th International Defense Industry Fair in Turkey, which was opened on April 30 with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense Industry.

Over 500 official delegations and 1,061 companies from 53 countries are participating in the exhibition.

Deputy Minister of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan Yahya Musayev also attended the opening of the exhibition.

On the first day of the exhibition, the visitors got acquainted with the pavillion of the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan, where sniper rifles, assault rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars, pyrotechnic equipment, optical systems, combat vehicles, drones, ammunition of various calibers and other military products were put on display.

The Azerbaijan Defense Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov and representatives of other security agencies participating in the event visited the pavillion of the Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan and got acquainted with the products demonstrated.

During the exhibition, meetings will be organized between Deputy Minister Yahya Musayev and official delegations of friendly and allied countries as well as with representatives of leading companies in this sector.

The exhibition will continue until May 3.

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By Trend

Chairman of Irans Islamic Culture and Relations Organizations (ICRO) Abuzar Ebrahimi Torkaman has arrived in Baku, Trend reports with reference to Irans Embassy in Azerbaijan.

He came to Azerbaijan upon the invitation by Azerbaijani Culture Minister Abulfas Garayev to attend the 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue.

The 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue will be held May 2-3 in Baku.

The forum is organized by the Azerbaijani government and the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, with its partners including UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the Council of Europe, ISESCO and the World Tourism Organization.

The forum will be held under the motto Building dialogue into action against discrimination, inequality and violent conflict.

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By Trend

The Mustafa Kemal Ataturk-2019 Azerbaijani-Turkish joint tactical live-fire exercises started on May 1, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

The exercises are held according to the Agreement on Military Cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Turkey.

The main objective of the exercises is to achieve the coordination of interoperability between the military units of Azerbaijan and Turkey, by preparing joint headquarters plans, increasing the level of combat readiness of military personnel and developing their skills in conducting joint operations, as well as maintaining a high level of mutual relations and mutual understanding of the servicemen of the two countries.

The joint exercises involved troops, armored vehicles, artillery mounts and mortars, combat and transport helicopters of the Air Force, as well as Air Defense units and Anti-Aircraft Missile units of the armies of the two countries.

The exercises will last until May 3.

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By Trend

The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, who is on a visit to Istanbul, has met with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on May 1, Trend reports referring to the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense.

During the meeting, the prospects for the development of military cooperation between the two countries, as well as the role of the Azerbaijan Army and the Armed Forces of Turkey in ensuring stability in the region were discussed.

The parties exchanged views on cooperation in military, military-technical, military-educational spheres, conducting joint military exercises and other issues of mutual interest.

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By Trend

Norman Benson, who served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Greenfields and President of Bahar Energy Operating Company (BEOC), will step down from those positions effective May 1, 2019, Trend reports citing the US Greenfields Petroleum Corporation, which is the operator of the Bahar-Gum Deniz block through its subsidiary Bahar Energy Limited (BEL).

BEOC is a full subsidiary of BEL.

Benson has been very instrumental in directing the production activities of the ompany for over the past six years, said the company.

The ompany will appoint John Harkins to replace Benson as COO of Greenfields and President of BEOC, in addition to his current roles as President and Chief Executive Officer of Greenfields.

Greenfields Petroleum Corporation is a junior oil and natural gas company focused on the development and production of proven oil and gas reserves principally in Azerbaijan. Through its wholly owned subsidiary Bahar Energy Limited (BEL), the corporation owns an 80 percent interest in the Exploration, Rehabilitation, Development and Production Sharing Agreement (the ERDPSA) with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan ("SOCAR") and its affiliate SOCAR Oil Affiliate (SOA) in respect of the offshore block known as Bahar Gum Deniz (the Bahar Project) which includes the Bahar Gas Field and the Gum Deniz Oil Field.

The Bahar Project is operated by BEOC, a wholly owned subsidiary of BEL, under the terms of a Joint Operating Agreement.

The Bahar Gas Field consists of 45 offshore platforms including a central processing and metering platform to gather the gas for onward transport through a three 12-inch pipelines to the shore-based gas and liquid handling facilities. The platforms, in most cases are built on 24 to 30 pilings each in an average water depth of about 16 metres.

The Gum Deniz Oil Field is located south of the Absheron peninsula, 21 km south of Baku, between Gum Island and the Bahar Gas Field. The Gum Deniz Oil Field extends from onshore Gum Island, which is 2.5 km from the mainland to the south in the Caspian Sea. The Gum Deniz Oil Field is found along the FatmaiGum Adasi anticlinal trend which includes the Bahar and Shakh Deniz structures. Oil in the Gum Deniz Oil Field is trapped in a north-south trending structure that is approximately 16 kilometres in length and 3 kilometres in width. The Gum Deniz Oil Field is structurally up-dip from the Bahar Gas Field.

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By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Armenia is not considered as a participant in building a bright future for the Eurasian continent.

The head of Armenia was not invited to the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, held in Beijing with participation of as many as 37 world leaders, 360 foreign ministers, and representatives of 90 international organizations.

The organizer himself determines the participation format of a country, depending on the specific topic of discussion, according to the forums rules. In fact, Armenia is not of interest to China in the context of the main topic of this forum, which sounds like a common bright future.

Meanwhile, Armenia's non-participation in the next large-scale project worries the Armenian public. Political and expert circles want to understand why the country was ignored in this forum.

"Unfortunately, Armenia and China have not yet managed to establish serious and effective cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the head of the China-Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Studies Foundation, Assistant Prime Minister of Armenia, Mher Sahakyan, said in an interview with the Xinhua News Agency.

Ex-Prime Minister and economist Hrant Bagratyan believe that the Armenian authorities made a big mistake when the country did not join the co-founders club of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which finances Silk Road projects. The Bank has $100 billion of capital and $1 trillion credit resource.

He noted that Russians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz conduct large-scale construction work at the Banks expense. Bagratyan expressed surprise that Armenia cant get involved at least in road programs.

The Armenian economist did not name the main reason why Armenia once again found itself in a loser position. Four years ago in this country, Armenian circles were confident that previous President Sargsyan, visiting Beijing, was able to achieve a place for Yerevan on the new Silk Road, along with Chinese investments. Armenian experts seriously discussed how the Armenian transit is more profitable for China than Azerbaijani one.

During that time Azerbaijan built Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, opened the largest commercial sea port in the Caspian, reconstructed the road network by the new Silk Road standards being created. The connection of the Azerbaijani and Iranian railways is also nearing to completion. So, contrary to the Armenian analysts opinion, Azerbaijan turned out to be much more attractive as a transit country.

Remarkable, that immediately after the operation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars corridor in early 2018, Deputy Chairman of the Armenian National Congress Party Aram Manukyan said that Armenia occupies almost zero place on the international level. He noted that all regional and international routes pass by Armenia.

Manukyan stressed that Armenia is a de jure in the Caucasus, but the country does not work in any of the projects going through the Caucasus.

Manukyan was actually the first of Armenian politicians, except for Levon ter-Petrosyan, to recognize the direct Armenian dependence of this deplorable state on its occupation of Azerbaijani territories. Deputy chairman understands that the end of the war is the only way of development and integration of Armenia.

If Beijing had political interests in the region, it is possible that Armenia would have some place in the project. But there is no Chinese political interest in the region, and Armenia is not an object of economic interest for China. In its present position, Armenia will become just a bottomless pit, where Chinese investments will be irretrievably leaking.

Yerevan finds itself not only in political but also in economical deadlock and therefore no one invests money in this country. While the country does not give up claims to Azerbaijani lands, Armenia will remain doomed to further isolation from all significant international projects.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Guest Commentary

Jock Finlayson

The latest federal budget, delivered in March, contains a wealth of information on the activities of the government, as well as the money it raises for its endlessly expanding array of expenditure, regulatory and income support programs.

This year, the federal government expects to spend $356 billion in total. Roughly $330 billion is allocated to programs and services. The remaining $26 billion consists of interest payments on the governments accumulated debt.

Federal spending has increased significantly in the past decade. In 2010-11, it stood at $276 billion, meaning expenditures have risen by almost 30 percent since the beginning of the decade.

The government projects it will collect $339 billion in revenues in 2019-20. This is up more than 40 percent since 2010-11.

Digging deeper into the data reveals that the government depends heavily on a single revenue source: personal income tax. In fact, as shown in the accompanying table, Ottawa gets more than half of its revenues from personal income tax  amounting to more than $170 billion in this fiscal year.

By any measure, that represents a high degree of reliance on a single revenue stream. Canada has the fifth highest reliance on personal income tax among all 36 advanced economies, according to research from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In most other developed countries, national governments are funded with a more diverse mix of revenue sources, including taxes on consumption, payrolls, and property.

As the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and other prominent organizations have argued in recent reports, the countrys overall tax system has become creaky, inefficient and needlessly complicated. Income tax compliance costs continue to rise for businesses and households. The CPAs say its time for a fundamental reboot of taxation.

I agree.

One key part of fashioning a tax system suited for a 21st-century economy thats being reshaped by technology is to retool and simplify the increasingly cumbersome income tax system.

As part of broad tax reform, the federal government elected in October should look to reduce the role of income tax in generating revenues to pay for programs and services.

When provincial taxes are added to those imposed by Ottawa, top marginal tax rates exceed 50 percent in most of the country. The aggregate income tax burden is now excessive for skilled workers, managers, professionals, innovators, top researchers, and entrepreneurs. These are the people we need to drive entrepreneurial wealth creation and develop and sustain a productive and competitive economy

Many talented individuals with these kinds of qualifications and experience are leaving Canada or seriously contemplating doing so.

Above all, federal policy-makers should focus on trimming income tax rates while broadening the tax base. The latter means narrowing the use and scope of tax preferences, loopholes and special rules that sometimes allow two individuals with similar incomes and family responsibilities to pay significantly different amounts of tax.

Scaling back the number of complex rules, tax deductions and preferences is a worthy goal in itself. Combined with lower tax rates, an income tax reform package that aims to simplify the system and widen the tax base can help to lay the foundations for a better economic future.

That future would be characterized by faster economic growth and steady increases in productivity and workers wages.

Jock Finlayson is executive vice-president of the Business Council of British Columbia.
By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Kazakhstan and Croatia intend to pay special attention to trade, economic and investment cooperation. Since 2016, the bilateral trade has increased by eight times, reaching $350 million in 2018.

Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, made an official visit to Kazakhstan on April 30.

She participated in the opening ceremony of the Croatian embassy in Nur-Sultan together with Beibut Atamkulov, Kazakh Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Later, she met with the Kazakh Senate Chairwoman Dariga Nazarbayeva, who expressed confidence that the first official visit of Buric to Kazakhstan will open a new page in bilateral relations.

"We consider Croatia as an important and promising partner of Kazakhstan in the Balkans and are interested in developing cooperation in all spheres and at all levels," she noted.

The parties discussed the prospects for strengthening inter-parliamentary ties. The Senate head invited Croatian deputies to visit Kazakhstan.

Nazarbayeva also noted promising areas of cooperation such as agriculture, tourism, information technology, and healthcare.

Of particular interest to us is the experience of Croatian agriculture with the advanced technologies and service sectors involvement, she added.

The sides also noted the need to increase the number of joint ventures in Kazakhstan in the field of healthcare, in particular, for the production of prostheses for people with disabilities.

Senate chair also proposed to work out the issue of visa-free visits to Croatia for Kazakh citizens.

In turn, Buric informed about the opening of the embassy in Nur-Sultan.

Buric emphasized the dynamic development of the capital and Kazakhstan under the leadership of the first president Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Croatian official shared warm impressions about Nazarbayevs visit to Croatia in the early 2000s, appreciating his contribution to the development of Kazakh-Croatian relations and ensuring progress and stability in Kazakhstan.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Kyrgyzstan is attempting to develop its gas industry by diversifying its sources of blue fuel.

The country has held talks on the possibility of getting natural gas from the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline for gasification of Kyrgyzstans southern regions, said Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use Zhyrgalbek Sagynbayev.

He noted that in order to resolve the issue it is necessary to conduct additional negotiations with all countries participating in the project.

At present, Bishkek and Beijing are discussing the Kyrgyzstan-China gas pipeline construction, which should become part of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China.

The gas pipeline agreement was signed on September 11, 2013. The project envisages the construction of the 4th branch of the gas pipeline to transport Turkmen gas through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to China on the Alay and Chon-Alay districts territory.

The border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan near the Karamyk checkpoint near the village of Karamyk of the Chon-Alay district of the Osh region is the starting point of the gas pipeline. The end is a point on the border between China and Kyrgyzstan near the Irkeshtam checkpoint near the village of Nura, Alay district of Osh region.

The length of the gas pipeline across the territory of Kyrgyzstan will be about 215 km; the carrying capacity - 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

The total cost of the pipeline construction is $1.2 billion. The project provides for the annual payment of taxes to Kyrgyz budget, the estimated amount of which for the entire period (30 years of operation) will be about $2.15 billion.

Diplomatic relations between China and Kyrgyzstan were established in 1992. The volume of trade between the countries accounted for $2 billion in 2018.

China has significantly expanded its economic ties with Kyrgyzstan and in general with Central Asia since this country and the region play a key role in the implementation of Belt and Road Initiative.

Kyrgyzstan and China concluded more than 200 various bilateral agreements and arrangements at different levels. The sphere of joint economic interests is wide enough and concerns both the development of infrastructure projects and enterprises, as well as import and export trade.

The total amount of Chinese investments in state projects of Kyrgyzstan amounted to $2.2 billion, which were aimed at improving the road infrastructure and energy sector.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov during a working meeting has instructed to speed up the sowing of raw cotton, Trend reports with reference to Watan newspaper.

This instruction was addressed to the leadership of Akhal, Balkan, Lebap, Mary and Dashoguz regions and those overseeing these regions in the government.

The head of state drew attention to the fact that strict adherence to the norms of agricultural technology in agricultural work is a major factor in obtaining a bountiful harvest.

Cotton growers started sowing in Turkmenistan in late March. This year, 550,000 hectares are allocated for cotton in the country, and it is planned to harvest 1,050,000 tons of raw cotton. For the first time, private agricultural producers who have received plots from a special land fund will begin to cultivate it in 25,567 hectares of land.

Moreover, in October 2018, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov ordered to stop the sale of cotton fiber to foreign countries.

Cotton was previously a significant export item of Turkmenistan, and is currently a highly demanded raw material for the countrys rapidly developing textile industry. Until recently, up to 70 percent of the cultivated raw materials were processed domestically.

The Turkmen textile industry is represented by a wide range of exports - from cotton fiber and yarn to finished garments and knitwear, produced by the largest complexes in Central Asia which are located in the capital and in all regions of the country.

A significant part of the products exported from Turkmenistan consist of home textiles, sportswear and jeans, released under world famous brands such as IKEA, Puma, Wal-Mart, Lidl, Bershka, Pull&Bear, River Island, and Costco.

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By Trend

Stone City Energy company is negotiating with the Government of Uzbekistan on investing in the energy sector, Trend reports with reference to Uzbek media.

At the first stage, the amount of investment may be about $ 700 million.

As reported, Uzbek Ambassador to Belgium Dilyor Khakimov met with company representatives in Brussels. General Manager of Stone City Energy informed the Ambassador about the results of the visit to Tashkent and thanked the Embassy for the assistance in arranging meetings in Uzbekistan. The parties also discussed further steps and issues related to the implementation of the project.

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By Trend

The process of refusing to supply fuel to Iranian airplanes by some European countries is still in force, Maqsood Asadi Samani, secretary of the Iranian Aviation & Space Industries Association, told the Young Journalists Club (YJC), Trend reports.

According to Asadi Samani, some countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Kuwait and a number of European countries, have stopped supplying fuel to Iranian airplanes since the US pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Asadi Samadi added that this issue creates problems for the airplanes belonging to Iranian air carriers.

"Despite the problems, none of the airline companies have ceased their flights," he said.

Pointing out that some European countries did not give fuel to Iranian airplanes because of their strong ties to the US, Asadi Samani added that, after holding consultations, some European countries did not impose any restrictions on the supply of fuel to Iranian airplanes.

Commenting on the delay in flight hours, Asadi Samani noted that these delays are mainly due to security  something which cannot be overlooked.

"Some flights are delayed due to weather conditions or technical malfunctions. A number of measures have been taken to reduce aircraft malfunctions, he said.

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By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Icherisheher is a unique town within the city of Baku with its own infrastructure and residential areas. The fortress is located in the center of Baku along the coast of the Caspian Sea.

A new open-air museum will be opened in the Icherisheher State Historical-Architectural Reserve at the end of 2019 - a historical bath belonging to the period of the Shirvanshah dynasty, Sputnik Azerbaijan informed.

The medieval underground bath is located to the left of the Shamakhi Gate, right next to the Fortress walls, in close vicinity to the complex of the Baku Khans' houses. The monument was discovered in 2016 by the Azerbaijani archaeologist Idris Aliyev.

The fact that there is an ancient bath on the territory of the reserve has been talked about for a long time, but archaeologists were unable to find it.

Idris Aliyev said that in addition to the bath, valuable artifacts dating back to the 18th century and earlier period were found, such as Shamakhi and Shirvan coins, many lamps that were used to illuminate the bath, as well as the remains of tools.

It is believed that the bath was built in the late 14th - early 15th centuries in the period of the Shirvanshah dynasty. With the accession of the Baku Khanate by the Russian Empire in 1806, the domes of the baths were dismantled, all underground premises were covered with earth, and a Russian military garrison was established in its place.

The Austrian company Atelier Erich Pummer, with which the Icherisheher Reserve management has been cooperating since 2010, is now engaged in the restoration of the bath. The company manager Chingiz Neymanzade emphasized that the primary goal of this cooperation is to bring the object to its original appearance without harming it in any way.

Experts try to do everything possible not to cause the slightest harm to the monument.

The management of the reserve is always very responsible about the restoration of monuments. We try to do our best to do the restoration work perfect. All work here is done manually, without the use of any electric tools," Neymanzade said.

He added that the restoration of the bath began in May 2018.

"It was all covered with sand. In those times, the baths were built underground to maintain a constant temperature regime. Its area is approximately 300 square meters, Neymanzade said.

During the restoration, the rooms where people had a rest, talked and drinked tea, bathed as well as the boiler room with the remains of a ceramic plumbing system were restored. Experts have done everything possible to preserve even the pieces of the old plaster.

If everything goes according to plan and the weather conditions favor, the restoration of the monument will be completed in December 2019.

Construction of the Palace of the Shirvanshahs in Icherisheher in the 13th-16th centuries was associated with the transfer of the Shirvanshahs State's capital from Shamakhi to Baku, famous for its harbor. The Palace forms a complex, consisting of the residential building of the Shirvanshahs, the second residential building (for servants), divankhana, tomb, palace mosque built in 1441, the remains of the Key Gubad mosque, Murad gates, hamam (bath) and mausoleum of the famous scientist Seyid Yahya Bakuvi.

The palace complex was declared a museum in 1964 and was taken under state protection. A unique architectural and cultural monument, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 along with Icherisheher and the Maiden Tower. The pearl of Azerbaijan's architecture and culture, Icherisheher received UNESCO's enhanced protection status in 2013.

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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1

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V-2

Credit:  Mark Wade

The V-2 ballistic missile (known to its designers as the A4) was the world's first operational liquid fuel rocket. It represented an enormous quantum leap in technology, financed by Nazi Germany in a huge development program that cost at least $ 2 billion in 1944 dollars. 6,084 V-2 missiles were built, 95% of them by 20,000 slave laborers in the last seven months of World War II at a unit price of $ 17,877. As many as 3,225 were launched in combat, primarily against Antwerp and London, and a further 1,000 to 1,750 were fired in tests and training. Despite the scale of this effort, the inaccurate missile did not change the course of the war and proved to be an enormous waste of resources. The British, Americans, and Russians launched a further 86 captured German V-2's in 1945-1952. Personnel and technology from the V-2 program formed the starting point for post-war rocketry development in America, Russia, and France. The A1, A2, A3, and A5 were steps in the development of the missile. Later versions - the A6 through A12 - were planned to take the Third Reich to the planets.

AKA: A4;Vergeltungswaffen-2. Status: Retired 1952. First Launch: 1943-04-03. Last Launch: 1952-09-19. Number: 1983 . Thrust: 264.90 kN (59,552 lbf). Gross mass: 12,805 kg (28,230 lb). Unfuelled mass: 4,008 kg (8,836 lb). Specific impulse: 239 s. Specific impulse sea level: 203 s. Burn time: 68 s. Height: 14.00 m (45.00 ft). Diameter: 1.65 m (5.41 ft). Span: 3.56 m (11.67 ft). Apogee: 200 km (120 mi).

The V-2 and the atomic bomb both were world-shifting technological quantum leaps. Both were developed in enormous haste; used the first technical solutions that worked; consumed a considerable portion of the country's war budget; and were only available in the last months of the war. Unlike the atomic bomb, the V-2 was not a war-changing weapon, and the resources devoted to it undoubtedly hurt rather than helped the German war effort. At war's end the Allies seized tons of documents, hundreds of experts, and dozens of V-2 missiles.

The V-2 - Not Ready for Production

When Wernher von Braun was recruited to assist Walter Dornberger in the development of liquid fuel rockets for the German Army in August 1932, only the tiniest baby steps toward development of rocket motors had been taken by the German Society for Spaceship Flight (VfR). The VfR had fired only the most rudimentary of pressure-fed water-cooled combustion chambers, generating only 60 kgf at a specific impulse of 173 seconds. After 28 months of development, Von Braun was able to demonstrate the A2, a small rocket generating 300 kgf to the German Army. But this design of December 1934 still used a primitive cooling method - the combustion chamber and rocket nozzle were immersed in the fuel tank. After another three years, in December 1937, Von Braun launched the A3, which was supposed to be a subscale prototype for the A4 war rocket. The A3 had a thrust of 1500 kgf, but still used the same cooling method and had a specific impulse of only 195 seconds. The A3 was a miserable failure - it was clear that the control system and aerodynamics were completely wrong. Detailed design of the A4 was postponed until aerodynamics and control systems could be worked out in a new subscale design, the A5.

Development of the rocket engine for the A4 was also bedeviled with difficulties. The A4 would need an engine of 25 tonnes thrust. Eventually, through a seven-year process of trial and error, a fuel-cooled rocket engine of 1.5 tonnes thrust and a specific impulse of 215 seconds was perfected. But all attempts to scale this engine up to the thrust required for the A4 met insurmountable combustion instability problems. Finally an interim solution was found to produce engines for test A4 missiles found. This involved clustering 18 of the 1.5 tonne combustion chambers and feeding their exhaust into a common 'mixing chamber'. In fact this immensely complex 'interim' design had to be pressed into production.

Development of the aerodynamics and control systems for the V-2 took hundreds of tests of the A5 - in wind tunnels, air-drops, and powered flights. This was also a grueling trial and error process, for there was little theory and no practical experience in supersonic aerodynamics. A missile had to be controlled when rising vertically at near zero speed, where aerodynamic surfaces would be ineffective. Then it had to remain controllable and stable at subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speeds up to Mach 4. It was not until mid-1942, ten years after development had started, that the first test A4 was launched. But at least the long development process using the A5 had produced workable aerodynamic and control solutions.

The turbopumps to feed the propellants to the engines proved relatively easy - to von Braun's surprise, high-volume low-weight pumps were already well developed for fire engines. The other structural elements were well within the allowable mass for the required performance. Ed Heinemann of Douglas Aircraft supervised design of a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle in 1946, and related the following story of a 1961 meeting with von Braun:

I went to see Wernher von Braun in Huntsville, Alabama, on a different matterIn the discussion that followed . Wernher [was asked] why he used a 26 percent structural weight fraction ratio on the V-2. "Well," von Braun said, "I built the structure strong enough to hold together, and frankly, it just came out that way."

The final area of completely new technology was the guidance system. How could a missile with a range of 320 km be guided accurately to its target? It seemed only a radio beam guidance system could provide the necessary accuracy, but the V-2 developers had to take a back seat to development of such systems for the German bomber and interceptor forces. Therefore they settled for a control system that oriented the missile along a pre-determined path in a vertical plane pointed at the target. The system used accumulating accelerometers to determine when the missile had reached the correct velocity and then cut off the engine. It was thought that this would provide sufficient accuracy, although operations would indicate otherwise...

Hitler delayed the decision to put the V-2 into production for three years, from 1939 to 1942. Dornberger, the Wehrmacht's head of the program, laments this delay repeatedly in his memoirs. He claimed that his rocket team could have fielded a weapon that would have changed the course of the war if it had been in production earlier. However, given the difficulties in the development of the V-2, this seems doubtful. Even with the 1942 go-ahead, the V-2 was nowhere near a production design. Getting it into production concurrently with development was a nearly insurmountable problem - 65,000 changes were made to the initial production drawings. Tests of the first production missiles began in early 1944. Mysterious in-flight disintegrations of the missiles resulted in an 80% failure rate. These were found to have multiple causes, and the last of the several fixes to the missile was not introduced in the production line until November 1944. By then 61% of all the V-2's that ever would be built had already been shipped out.

The V-2 - Production

Prototype V-2's were built at the Peenemuende launch and development center. The original production plans called for the V-2 to be built at factories at Peenemuende, the Zeppelinwerke at Friedrichshafen, the Raxwerke at Wiener Neustadt, and at seven combined production-launch bunkers in Pas-de-Calais and Cherbourg. 12,000 were to be built at a peak rate of 900 per month. On 17 August 1943 Peenemuende was massively bombed. In the following weeks raids were also made (coincidentally) against all of the other planned production sites. The Germans erroneously concluded that their V-2 production infrastructure had been compromised. They decided to move final assembly of the V-2 to underground facilities at Nordhausen (Mittelwerk) and Ebensee (Projekt Zement). Work at three of the combined production-launch bunkers in France also continued (Watten and Wizernes in Pas de Calais and Sottevast in Normandy). But only Mittelwerk produced missiles before the end of the war.

Prior to August 17, 41 rockets had been built at Peenemuende. The bombing created delays, but V-2's continued to be built at Peenemuende well into 1944, peaking at fifty missiles in September 1943. The best estimate is that around 322 V-2's were built at Peenemuende.

Primary production and operation of the V-2 was run by the dreaded SS. Final assembly was accomplished by slave laborers housed in the Dora concentration camp next to the Mittelwerk underground factory at Nordhausen. Official production records in the German Museum show that 5,797 missiles were built there by war's end.

Firing History

At Peenemuende 32 V-2's were launched prior to the bombing of July 1943. Another 139 were tested from there by the end of 1944. Production sample and training firings were moved to Heidelager, in Poland, in November 1943. A total of 215 are documented as having been fired from there. These firing units had to move away from the Russian advance to Heidekraut in August 1944, and a further 246 documented missiles were fired from that location.

V-2 operational units are said variously to have launched between 2,970 and 3,280 missiles between September 1944 and April 1945. In his memoirs, Dornberger says that 4,300 V-2's were fired in all, which is 500 in excess of the documented firings. However leading V-2 researcher Tracy Dungan has successfully reconciled production and launch figures. The key is a statement by the General Manager of Mittelwerk indicating there were 2,350 built but unfired V-2's at the end of the war. The factory was in fact building the missiles much more rapidly than the firing units could launch them. Dungan's reconciliation is as follows:

Production Peenemuende: around 322 (based on flight test records and pre-test reports) + Mittelwerk: 5797 (see monthly summary below) = Total Manufactured : 6,117

Launches: Peenemuende Trials : 171 tests between 13 June 1942 and 20 February 1945. Heidelager Trials (Blizna) : 215 tests between 5 November 1943 and 28 June 1944. Heidekraut Trials : 246 tests between 10 September 1944 and 20 February 1945 Operational Firings: 3,170 (targets: Antwerp 1,610; London 1,359; Norwich 43; Leige 27; Lille 25; Tourcoing 19; Maastricht 19; Paris 19; Hasselt 13: Remargen 11; Tournai 9;Arras 6; Cambrai 4; Mons 3; Diest 2 and Ipswich 1.) Total tests-firings: 3,802

In-Field Storage at time launches ended 28 March 1945 (according to General Manager of Mittelwerk): Allied Zone : around 1,000 Soviet Zone : around 1,100 (of which 515 salvaged by Soviets) Undelivered at Mittelwerk: around 250 Total built but unfired: around 2,350

Total: around 6,152

Dungan notes:

In view of production and launch serial number records the 2,100 rounds in field storage would comprise mainly abandoned, damaged or new delivery rockets. Towards mid-March 1945 Mittelwerk shipped about 20 rounds per day and the interval between manufacture and launching had extended from some 5 days in September 1944 to some 12 days in March 1945. Accordingly some 250 new deliveries would be in the pipeline awaiting pre-launch testing. A further 250 or so rounds could be accounted for by the overall average rate of return of defective rounds to MW. This implies that, allowing for the 515 V-2's abandoned during the Soviet advance, about 1,000 V-2's were lost in the field due to the Western Allies' advance from the Normandy beachhead. Rockets were also in storage waiting for the bunker-launched (Watten-Wizernes) offensive to begin. I have numerous reports of shot up rail shipments, one stating at least 40 rockets were destroyed in on case. I would say at least 200 were destroyed by allied aircraft.

V-2 Reliability and Accuracy

What was the reliability and accuracy of the V-2? Dornberger's memoirs proudly note the improvement as fixes were made to solve the in-flight explosion problems. V-2 missile reliability as tested increased from 30% in January 1944 to 70% immediately before combat firings began in September 1944. Dornberger claims it reached nearly 100% after the final technical fix was introduced into production in December 1944. Some authors credit combat missiles with a reliability of 80% to 90%, quite remarkable considering that they were inherently fragile, built underground by slave labor, and transported in incredibly difficult conditions to the launch sites. No total tally exists, but detailed figures for certain months and places show losses all along the distribution chain. Of 6,001 missiles submitted for final inspection, 231 were missiles previously rejected and reworked (4%). Unit records for December 1944 to February 1945 show 12% of the missiles received by the units were rejected on the spot as unsuitable for firing. Of the launches made in the same months, 10% were observed as launch failures within sight of the launch units themselves. British post-war studies would seem to indicate that another 12% landed in the sea or remote areas of the British land mass and were not recorded as impacts. This indicates that at least one third of the V-2's either never launched due to quality problems or crashed within 100 km of the launch point.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Rain. High near 60F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain overnight. Low 51F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Creation of the leading independent oil and gas company in Europe

On track to reach production target of 750,000 to 800,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day between 2021-2023, equivalent to an annual production growth rate of 6% to 8%

Synergies of at least 200 million per year

Initial Public Offering envisaged for 2nd half of 2020

Ludwigshafen, Germany  May 1, 2019  Following the approval of all relevant authorities, BASF and LetterOne have successfully completed the merger of Wintershall and DEA. In September 2018, BASF and LetterOne had signed a transaction agreement to merge their respective oil and gas businesses in a joint venture. With Wintershall Dea we create the leading independent European exploration and production company with international operations in core regions. By combining the two German-based entities, BASF and LetterOne lay the basis for strong profitable growth for Wintershall Dea, said Dr. Hans-Ulrich Engel, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE. Lord Browne of Madingley, Executive Chairman of L1 Energy, added: Very rarely do you have the opportunity to create a company of this scale and quality. Wintershall Dea will hit the ground running, with a project pipeline that will deliver market-leading growth in the years to come.

To effect the merger, LetterOne contributed all shares in DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG into Wintershall Holding GmbH against the issuance of new shares. The shareholders have decided to rename the company Wintershall Dea GmbH.

The joint venture is headquartered in Kassel and Hamburg. Upon formal registration of the corresponding capital increase, BASF will hold 67% and LetterOne 33% of Wintershall Deas ordinary shares reflecting the value of the respective exploration and production businesses of Wintershall and DEA. To reflect the value of Wintershalls gas transportation business, BASF will receive additional preference shares. This will result in a total initial shareholding of BASF in Wintershall Dea of 72.7%. No later than 36 months after closing but in all cases before an IPO, these preference shares will be converted into ordinary shares of Wintershall Dea.

In 2018, the combined business of Wintershall and DEA had pro-forma sales of 5.7 billion, income from operations before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 3.6 billion and net income of 1.1 billion. In 2018, pro-forma hydrocarbon production of Wintershall and DEA together was 215 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). At the end of 2018, proven reserves on a pro-forma basis stood at 2.4 billion BOE, which led to a reserve to production ratio of 11 years.

As a result of the merger, Wintershall Dea has a regionally balanced footprint with superior growth opportunities. Based on underlying exploration and production projects, the company is on track to reach a daily production of 750,000 to 800,000 BOE between 2021 and 2023 from currently 590,000 BOE per day. This equals an annual production growth rate of 6% to 8%. Wintershall Dea expects to realize synergies of at least 200 million per year as of the third year following the closing of the transaction.

Both shareholders are committed to the profitable growth path of Wintershall Dea and set a solid capital basis for the joint venture. Wintershall Dea targets an investment grade credit rating. Following closing, the joint venture has no shareholder loans outstanding with BASF or LetterOne.

Wintershall Dea will be managed by an Executive Board consisting of five members: Mario Mehren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Maria Moraeus Hanssen, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer (COO), responsible for Europe and MENA; Thilo Wieland, Member of the Executive Board responsible for Russia, Latin America and Midstream; Hugo Dijkgraaf, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Paul Smith, Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

The integration phase has been prepared during recent months. The integration will be completed in approximately one year. BASF and LetterOne envisage to list Wintershall Dea through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the second half of 2020, subject to market conditions.

In the Supervisory Board of Wintershall Dea, Hans-Ulrich Engel and Lord Browne of Madingley will be rotating non-executive Chairmen. The role will be held by Hans-Ulrich Engel for the first fifteen months.

Effect on financial reporting of BASF Group

BASFs participating interest in Wintershall Dea will be reported in the consolidated financial statements of the BASF Group according to the equity method as of May 1, 2019, with an initial valuation at fair value. The gain from the transition from full consolidation to the equity method will be shown in income after taxes from discontinued operations for the second quarter of 2019. As of May 1, 2019, BASF will report its share of Wintershall Deas net income in EBIT before special items and EBIT of the BASF Group, reported under Other.

During the period between signing of the business combination agreement in September 2018 and the closing of the merger, the oil and gas business of BASF was classified as discontinued operation. Sales and earnings of the oil and gas business were no longer included in BASF Groups reporting  retroactively as of January 1, 2018 and with the prior-year figures restated. Earnings were presented in BASFs statement of income in the line income after taxes from discontinued operations.
WASHINGTON  Special counsel Robert Mueller III wrote a letter in late March complaining to Attorney General William Barr that a four-page memo to Congress describing the principal conclusions of the investigation into President Donald Trump did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of Muellers work, according to a copy of the letter reviewed Tuesday by The Washington Post.

The letter and a subsequent phone call between the two men reveal the degree to which the longtime colleagues and friends disagreed as they handled the legally and politically fraught task of investigating the president. Democrats in Congress are likely to scrutinize Muellers complaints to Barr as they contemplate the prospect of opening impeachment proceedings and mull how hard to press for Mueller himself to testify publicly.

At the time Muellers letter was sent to Barr on March 27, Barr had days prior announced that Mueller did not find a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian officials seeking to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. In his memo to Congress, Barr also said that Mueller had not reached a conclusion about whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, but that Barr reviewed the evidence and found it insufficient to support such a charge.

Days after Barrs announcement, Mueller wrote the previously undisclosed private letter to the Justice Department, laying out his concerns in stark terms that shocked senior Justice Department officials, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, Mueller wrote. There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

The letter made a key request: that Barr release the 448-page reports introductions and executive summaries, and it made initial suggested redactions for doing so, according to Justice Department officials. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.

Justice Department officials said Tuesday that they were taken aback by the tone of Muellers letter and that it came as a surprise to them that he had such concerns. Until they received the letter, they believed Mueller was in agreement with them on the process of reviewing the report and redacting certain types of information, a process that took several weeks. Barr has testified to Congress previously that Mueller declined the opportunity to review his four-page memo to lawmakers that distilled the essence of the special counsels findings.

In his letter to Barr, Mueller wrote that the redaction process need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation.

Barr is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee  a much-anticipated public confrontation between the nations top law enforcement official and Democratic lawmakers, where he is likely to be questioned at length about his interactions with Mueller.

A day after Mueller sent his letter to Barr, the two men spoke by phone for about 15 minutes, according to law enforcement officials.

In that call, Mueller said he was concerned that media coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and creating public misunderstandings about the offices work, according to Justice Department officials. Mueller did not express similar concerns about the public discussion of the investigation of Russias election interference, the officials said.

Barr has testified previously he did not know whether Mueller supported his conclusion on obstruction. When Barr pressed Mueller on whether he thought Barrs memo to Congress was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not but felt that the media coverage of it was misinterpreting the investigation, officials said.

In their call, Barr also took issue with Mueller calling his memo a summary, saying he had never intended to summarize the voluminous report, but instead provide an account of its top conclusions, officials said.

Justice Department officials said that, in some ways, the phone conversation was more cordial than the letter that preceded it, but that the two men did express some differences of opinion about how to proceed.

Barr said he did not want to put out pieces of the report, but rather issue the document all at once with redactions, and that he didnt want to change course, according to officials. Barr also gave Mueller his personal phone number and told him to call if he had future concerns, officials said.

Throughout the conversation, Muellers main worry was that the public was not getting an accurate understanding of the obstruction investigation, officials said.

After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Muellers letter, he called him to discuss it, a Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday evening in a statement. In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsels obstruction analysis. They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released.

However, the Attorney General ultimately determined that it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion, the spokeswoman said. The Attorney General and the Special Counsel agreed to get the full report out with necessary redactions as expeditiously as possible. The next day, the Attorney General sent a letter to Congress reiterating that his March 24 letter was not intended to be a summary of the report, but instead only stated the Special Counsels principal conclusions, and volunteered to testify before both Senate and House Judiciary Committees on May 1 and 2.

Some senior Justice Department officials were frustrated by Muellers complaints because they had expected that the report would reach them with proposed redactions, but it did not. Even when Mueller sent along his suggested redactions, those covered only a few areas of protected information, and the documents required further review, these people said.

The Washington Post and the New York Times had previously reported some members of Muellers team were frustrated with Barrs characterization of their work, though Muellers own attitude was unknown before now.

In some team members view, the evidence they had gathered  especially on obstruction  was far more alarming and significant than how Barr had described it. That was perhaps to be expected, given that Barr had distilled a 448-page report into a terse, four-page memo to Congress.

Wednesdays hearing will be the first time lawmakers question Barr since the Mueller report was released on April 18, and he is expected to face a raft of tough questions from Democrats.

Republicans on the committee are expected to question Barr about an assertion he made earlier in April that government officials had engaged in spying on the Trump campaign  a comment that was seized on by the presidents supporters as evidence the investigation into the president was biased.

Barr is also scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, but that hearing could be canceled or postponed amid a dispute about whether committee staff lawyers will question the attorney general. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the panels chairman, called for a copy of the Mueller letter to be delivered to his committee by Wednesday morning.

Democrats have accused Barr of downplaying the seriousness of the evidence against the president.

Muellers report described 10 significant episodes of possible obstruction of justice but said that because of long-standing Justice Department policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted and because of Justice Department practice regarding fairness toward those under investigation, his team did not reach a conclusion about whether the president had committed a crime.
Area law enforcement leaders spoke before certificates were presented during the Tri-Agency Citizen Police Academy graduation ceremony Tuesday night at the LIT Multi-Purpose Center. Officers with Beaumont and Port Arthur Police and the Jefferson County Sheriffs offices helped lead the course for citizens interested in learning more about police work and how to improve safety in their communities. Many go on to join neighborhood watch groups and become a voice for understanding the needs of law enforcement in fighting crime.

kbrent@beaumontenterprise.com
CARACAS, Venezuela  Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration and fierce resistance from forces loyal to socialist Nicolas Maduro.

The violent street battles that erupted in parts of Caracas were the most serious challenge yet to Maduros rule. And while the rebellion seemed to have garnered only limited military support, at least one high-ranking official announced he was breaking with Maduro, in a setback for the embattled president.

In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an illegitimate government with the support of the United States and neighboring Colombia. He said Venezuela had been a victim of aggression of all kinds.

Meanwhile, Guaido sought to keep the momentum going at the end of the day by releasing his own video message in which he pressed Venezuelans to take to the streets again on Wednesday.

The competing quests to solidify a hold on power capped a dramatic day that included a tense moment when several armored vehicles plowed into a group of anti-government demonstrators trying to storm the capitals air base, hitting at least two protesters.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said the Trump administration was waiting for three key officials, including Maduros defense minister and head of the supreme court, to act on what he said were private pledges to remove Maduro. He did not provide details.

The stunning events began early Tuesday when Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armored crowd-control vehicles, released the three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Guaidos political mentor and the nations most-prominent opposition activist, stood alongside him. Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Guaido.

I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers, Lopez declared.

As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Guaido at a plaza a few blocks from the disturbances. A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind on the highway, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

Amid the mayhem, several armored utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd. Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.

Its now or never, said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers.

The head of a medical center near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets. At least one person had been shot with live ammunition. Venezuelan human rights group Provea said a 24-year-old man was shot and killed during an anti-government protest in the city of La Victoria.

Later Tuesday, Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassadors residence in Caracas, where another political ally has been holed up for over a year. They later moved to the Spanish embassy. There were also reports that 25 troops who had been with Guaido fled to Brazils diplomatic mission.

Amid the confusion, Maduro tried to project an image of strength, saying he had spoken to several regional military commanders who reaffirmed their loyalty.

Nerves of steel! he said in a message posted on Twitter.

Flanked by top military commanders, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned Guaidos move as a terrorist act and coup attempt that was bound to fail like past uprisings.

Those who try to take Miraflores with violence will be met with violence, he said on national television, referring to the presidential palace where hundreds of government supporters, some of them brandishing firearms, had gathered in response to a call to defend Maduro.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said the right-wing extremists would not succeed in fracturing the armed forces, which have largely stood with the socialist leader throughout the months of turmoil.

Since 2002, weve seen the same pattern, Arreaza told The Associated Press. They call for violence, a coup, and send people into the streets so that there are confrontations and deaths. And then from the blood they try to construct a narrative.

But in a possible sign that Maduros inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuelas secret police penned a letter breaking ranks with the embattled leader.

Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of Venezuelas feared SEBIN intelligence agency, wrote a letter to the Venezuelan people saying that while he has always been loyal to Maduro it is now time to rebuild the country.

He lamented that corruption has become so rampant that many high-ranking public servants practice it like a sport.

The hour has arrived for us to look for other ways of doing politics, he wrote. To build the homeland our children and grandchildren deserve.

The letter circulating on social media was confirmed by a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details of the case. He said the generals wife is currently outside the country.

Guaido said he called for the uprising to restore Venezuelas constitutional order, broken when Maduro was sworn in earlier this year for a second term following elections boycotted by the opposition and considered illegitimate by dozens of countries.

He said that in the coming hours he would release a list of top commanders supporting the uprising.

The armed forces have taken the right decision, said Guaido. With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history.

Anti-government demonstrators gathered in several other cities, although there were no reports that Guaidos supporters had taken control of any military installations.

As events unfolded, governments from around the world expressed support for Guaido while reiterating calls to avoid violent confrontation.

Bolton declined to discuss possible actions - military or otherwise - but reiterated that all options are on the table as President Donald J. Trump monitors developments minute by minute.

He said he was waiting for key power brokers including Padrino, Supreme Court chief justice Maikel Moreno and head of the presidential guard to make good on their commitments to achieve the peaceful transfer of power to Guaido.

All agreed that Maduro had to go. They need to be able to act this afternoon, or this evening, to help bring other military forces to the side of the interim president, Bolton said. If this effort fails, (Venezuela) will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives.

Elsewhere, Spains socialist caretaker government urged restraint, while the governments of Cuba and Bolivia reiterated their support for Maduro.



Joshua Goodman in Cucuta, Colombia, contributed to this report.
Kim Brent / The Enterprise

This is how your access to government and its related functions is chipped away  a little at a time, on seemingly insignificant issues. The latest example is, of all things, the last written statement of condemned inmates. One state senator  one, not a committee, not the entire body  got ticked off at the final remarks of John William King, one of three men who brutally murdered James Byrd Jr. in Jasper in 1998. So just like that, a long-standing policy is gone.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice folded like a paper bag. Henceforth, any final written statement by condemned inmates will be turned over to his family, which can share it or not. The last spoken words of the inmates in the execution chamber will still be reported.
Plano, Texas-based New LifeCare Management Services plans to close a long-term, acute-care hospital it operates on Froedtert Health's property in Pewaukee, Wis., Milwaukee Business Journal reports.

Three details to know:

1. LifeCare Hospitals of Wisconsin expects to close its doors June 23, citing irreparable losses caused by regulatory strains, declining reimbursement and shrinking volumes. It had 20 patients as of April 30.

2. The closure will put 171 LifeCare employees out of a job. LifeCare plans to provide severance and other resources to eligible employees.

3. Wauwatosa, Wis.-based Froedtert Health runs an outpatient surgery center on the 36-acre site, which it bought for $30.6 million in 2018. No additional plans for the property were disclosed, and Becker's ASC Review was unable to reach the surgery center for comment.
Artificial intelligence is now being used to tackle senior citizens' acute loneliness, which has been shown to accelerate other mental health issues, through a new joint initiative from Accenture and Swedish energy supplier Stockholm Exergi.

Participants in the Memory Lane project tell their life stories to a Google Voice Assistant-enabled smart speaker equipped with AI software that can actively follow a story and ask relevant, personal questions to continue and deepen the conversation over multiple days. Once complete, the discussion is immediately converted into a podcast and physical book.

The project has so far launched only in Stockholm, where a recent county council report found that more than 250,000 residents experience acute loneliness; Sweden has been labeled "one of the loneliest countries in the world." The aging population is especially susceptible to loneliness, which has been linked to the rapid onset of depression and early stage dementia.

"When people experience little to no social interaction over extended periods of time, it can cause a sharp decline in their mental and physical health," Adam Kerj, Nordics chief creative officer at Accenture Interactive, said in a statement. "In the two years we spent developing the software and the concept of the platform, we observed the urge to share stories by lonely participants was incredibly strong. To this end, we not only wanted to develop something that could hold a human-like conversation with them, but also capture those memories so they didn't end up untold."

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Numerous privacy incidents at hospitals, IT suppliers and other healthcare organizations captured public attention last month.

While some security incidents only affected a few hundreds of individuals, others were said to have affected more than 250,000.

Fourteen healthcare privacy incidents reported by Becker's Hospital Review in April:

Editor's note: Incidents are presented in order of the number of patients or organizations affected.

1. A cyberattack last July on Macon, Ga.-based Navicent Health's employee email account system may have affected 278,016 patients' personal information.

2. Ontario, Calif.-based Centrelake Medical Group is alerting 197,661 patients that their personal health information may have been exposed because of a computer virus.

3. Personally identifiable data for approximately 145,000 patients at the Levittown, Pa.-based Steps to Recovery addiction treatment facility and the Ohio Addiction Recovery Center in Columbus was exposed in a searchable online database.

4. Columbia, S.C.-based Palmetto Health, now known as Prisma Health, was targeted in a phishing attack that may have put the information of 23,000 patients at risk.

5. Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health notified about 12,000 patients of a Feb. 7 phishing attack.

6. Blue Cross of Idaho is notifying 5,600 members of a March 21 data breach that allowed an unauthorized user to gain access to the organization's online provider portal.

7. AltaMed Health Services Corp. has sent letters to 5,500 patients about a security breach that may have impacted their personal health information.

8. The Veterans Health Administration is notifying 4,882 veterans who were treated at the Martinsburg (W.Va.) VA Medical Center that their personal health information may have been mailed out in letters to other patients.

9. Humana told 522 members that a limited amount of their personal data may have been exposed during a data security incident at the beginning of 2019.

10. Bangor, Maine-based Northern Light Acadia Hospital mistakenly emailed the names of 300 patients who had prescriptions for Suboxone.

11. Physician staffing company EmCare is alerting patients, employees and contractors about a Feb. 19 data breach that exposed their personal data.

12. Microsoft emailed an unknown number of users April 12 across its Outlook, MSN and Hotmail platforms alerting them of a data breach that occurred between Jan. 1 and March 28.

13. A Cleveland-based University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital employee emailed a message to a group of patients, inadvertently allowing the recipients to see each other's email addresses.

14. Anchorage-based University of Alaska is alerting individuals about a computer data breach that may have affected email accounts.

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Charles River Laboratories began notifying clients April 30 of a data breach that allowed an unauthorized third-party access to portions of its information systems.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Charles River Laboratories indicated that it had discovered unusual activity within its information systems in mid-March.

Charles River Laboratories estimates around 1 percent of its client data was copied by a "highly sophisticated, well-resourced intruder." The company is unsure which data was copied or the potential financial impacts related the indecent.

The Boston Business Journal reported that Charles River Laboratories' biotech and pharmacy clients were affected by the data breach.

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An information technology staffing and recruiting company is reeling from the aftermath of a job listing that described the desired applicant as "preferably Caucasian," CNN reports.

Cynet Systems has since apologized for the job listing, which has been removed. The job was posted on various hiring cites, including LinkedIn where one user took a screenshot of the post.

The Sterling, Va.-based company took to Twitter to address the job listing, tweeting "It does not reflect our core values of inclusivity & equality. The individuals involved have been terminated. We will take this as a learning experience & will continue to serve our diverse community."

Cynet's co-CEO Ashwani Mayur also released a statement regarding the incident, saying the employees who posted the job listing did so outside of company policy. The company is working to make sure an incident like this doesn't happen again.
The following hospital layoffs were reported by Becker's Hospital Review in April.

1. Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, S.C., will close its Pelham Road Medical Plaza May 3, resulting in the layoff of 60 employees.

2. Clarksville, Ind.-based Kentuckiana Medical Center closed April 5, resulting in the layoff of 269 employees.

3. Philadelphia-based Hahnemann University Hospital revealed plans to lay off 175 nurses, support staff and managers as it struggles to keep its doors open.

4. Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami laid off 135 employees.

5. Munson Healthcare Manistee (Mich.) Hospital will close its maternity unit at the end of May, affecting 15 jobs.

6. Uniontown (Pa.) Hospital will close its pediatric department and maternity unit June 30, affecting 50 jobs.

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Former vice president and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden endorsed creating a public option that would allow Americans of any age to buy into Medicare, The Hill reports.

"Whether you're covered through your employer or on your own or not, you all should have a choice to be able to buy into a public option plan for Medicare," Mr. Biden said April 29, according to The Hill.

This approach aligns Mr. Biden's campaign with Democratic contenders Beto O'Rourke, a former U.S. representative for Texas, and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind. The address also distances Mr. Biden's campaign  in terms of healthcare  from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who have promoted more sweeping single-payer plans.

Mr. Biden, who served as vice president during the Obama administration, supports keeping the ACA and improving upon it.

Read the full story here.

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President Donald Trump is urging U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., to revive bipartisan talks about ACA legislation, according to The Hill.

The senators helped develop a bipartisan healthcare plan in 2017 and 2018 to stabilize the federal health law. The plan was met with challenges throughout the legislative process, including the divisive issue of restrictions on abortion funding, according to The Hill.

Now, Mr. Trump wants the lawmakers to revive their work, a Democratic source told the publication.

Ms. Murray reportedly is open to the idea.

Her aide told The Hill, "Senator Murray has consistently said she is still at the table ready to work with anyone on either side of the aisle to lower families healthcare costs, improve quality of care and roll back the presidents sabotage as the original Alexander-Murray agreement was intended to do."

Mr. Alexander said in a statement obtained by The Hill that he is willing to revive talks if Democrats modify their position on abortion funding.

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Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health signed a letter of intent to merge with Ireland's largest private healthcare provider, Bon Secours Health System in Dublin.

The health systems expect the merger will close by the end of the summer, pending required approvals and reviews. In the coming months, the health systems will work on finalizing their definitive merger agreement, completing merger plans and gaining necessary approvals.



"As consumers across the globe experience a dynamic and ever-changing healthcare marketplace, Bon Secours Mercy Health is committed to expanding its footprint to bring good help to more patients and communities," John M. Starcher Jr., president and CEO of Bon Secours Mercy Health, said in a prepared statement.



Combined, the health systems would have more than 60,000 employees. In Ireland, Bon Secours Health System treats more than 280,000 patients each year across five acute care hospitals. In the U.S., Bon Secours Mercy Health is among the 20 largest health systems, operating more than 1,000 sites of care across seven states: Ohio, Kentucky, New York, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida and Maryland.



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Employees at Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center will rally May 1 to raise awareness of what they say is excessive CEO pay and unfair labor practices at the hospital, the union that represents them announced.

The workers, who are represented by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, also accuse Cedars-Sinai of suppressing workers voices and overcharging patients for some services. They are scheduled to start picketing the facility at 6:30 a.m. and rally at noon.

Everyone knows about Cedars-Sinais record of treating celebrities and powerful people, but few may know how the hospital is treating the workers who care for those same patients every day, Adolfo Morales, a clinical partner at Cedars-Sinai, said in a news release. We want to have a voice in delivering quality care, but the hospital is threatening us for speaking out about understaffing or other patient care concerns. The public needs to know that Cedars-Sinai is letting down patients, workers and the community.

The rally comes amid contract negotiations between Cedars-Sinai and the union, which represents 1,800 employees at the hospital. These unionized employees  those in environmental services, food services, hospitality, materials management, clinical support, plant operations and telecommunications  account for 13 percent of Cedars-Sinai's workforce. Their last contract expired March 31.

Sally Stewart, a spokesperson for Cedars-Sinai, spoke positively of the hospital's proposals during negotiations.

"At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, we strive to maintain the highest standards of quality and service in the care we provide. Our employees are the key to this success, which is why our proposals in ongoing contract negotiations with SEIU-UHW allow our pay rates to continue leading the market and promote the development of those who do so much to contribute to the health and safety of our patients and the community," she wrote in an email to Becker's.

As negotiations continue, she said Cedars-Sinai supports the right of SEIU-UHW members to publicly address workplace concerns, including participation in the May 1 rally.

Ms. Stewart also addressed the union's claims, saying the hospital has not proposed any action against workers for expressing their views or for participating in union-sponsored activities.

As far as other claims by the union, Cedars-Sinai has said CEO Tom Priselac's compensation "appropriately reflects his more than two-decade tenure of successfully presiding over the Western United States' largest nonprofit hospital."

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Stanford (Calif.) Health Care and Packard Children's Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., have reached tentative contracts with their registered nurses, averting a strike, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The three-year collective bargaining agreements cover 3,700 nurses at Stanford and Lucile Packard, who are represented by the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement.

A summary of the agreements says they include annual across-the-board wage increases of 3 percent over the life of the contracts, as well as a retention incentive payment and new certification payments for eligible nurses. They also reportedly include the maintenance of part-time nursing positions and continue a ban on changes to certain parts of the hospitals attendance and pre-approved vacation and education days policies.

Additionally, the contracts address safety and workplace violence, including allowing nurses who have been assaulted or threatened by a patient or member of the patient's family to request reassignment.

The agreements come weeks after nurses voted for the option to strike.

Union members are scheduled to vote on ratifying the agreements May 8.

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Munson Healthcare Manistee (Mich.) Hospital will close its maternity unit May 31, affecting 15 jobs, according to UpNorthLive.

Manistee Hospital CEO James Barker said that the decision to close the maternity unit was made after careful deliberation and will help "ensure the long-term sustainability of the hospital."

The number of births at the hospital has declined in recent years. In March, the hospital had an all-time low of six births, according to the report.

Women can receive prenatal and postnatal care at the hospital, but expectant mothers would give birth at Munson Healthcare Cadillac (Mich.) Hospital's family birth center, about 50 miles east of Manistee.

"We understand this change will be concerning to expectant families. Manistee Hospital staff will do everything they can to ease the transition and ensure women receive the care they need and have the best possible birth experience," Mr. Barker told UpNorthLive, an NBC affiliate.

The human resources team met with the 15 affected employees and provided them with information about other job openings in the Munson Healthcare system.

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Here are five key notes on spine and orthopedic device companies:

A judge's $23 million ruling against Medtronic will stand after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected the company's appeal request April 29. Read more.

Aurora Spine had a strong 2018, increasing its yearly revenues 45 percent from 2017.

Artoss announced that the FDA has cleared NanoBone SBX Putty for standalone use in posterolateral spinal fusion.

Zimmer Biomet reported net sales at $1.97 billion for the first quarter of 2019, a 0.7 percent increase.

UnityPoint Health-Methodist Medical Center in Peoria, Ill., installed the new Mazor X Stealth Edition Spinal Robot, which will increase the precision of spinal fusion.
JMKs new 280-bedroom hotel next to Titanic Belfast would make it one of the citys biggest

A London-based hospitality concern has announced plans to build a hotel next to Titanic Belfast.

JMK Group is proposing a 280-bedroom 'family-friendly' hotel for the tourist hotspot, which would make it one of the biggest in the city.

Expected to be open at Hamilton Dock by the summer of 2021, the company said it wants to capitalise on the family-focused attractions in the Titanic Quarter by dedicating 100 rooms to families.

Belfast firm RMI Architects will design it, but no hotel brand has yet been identified.

JMK is run by the Kajani family, which already operates four hotels in London along with a Holiday Inn Express on O'Connell Street in Dublin and the Waterford Marina Hotel.

It is undergoing a significant expansion in the Republic.

A 421-bed Holiday Inn hotel is currently under construction at Dublin Airport, while a 249-bed Hampton by Hilton is going up next to the Four Courts in Dublin city centre.

The group is also seeking to launch its K's Hotel brand in north Dublin and its new K's Coffee House outlets at the new airport and city centre hotels. A 31,600sq ft office tower at Dublin Airport is also in the works.

Headed by John Kajani, the JMK Group has now turned its attentions north of the border.

Unveiling the new plan yesterday, the company described Northern Ireland as a market with huge scope for tourism-led ventures.

JMK said it is actively seeking other opportunities within Belfast.

The hotel group said: "This project is about making a strategic investment in Belfast's tourism sector, meeting the increasing demand from families who see Belfast and Titanic Quarter as a family-friendly destination.

"We believe that the growth of the tourist sector in Belfast and Northern Ireland has an exciting future. Titanic Belfast is among the leading tourist destinations in the world so we are confident that tourism will continue to be an engine of economic growth for Belfast and that is why we are investing in that future, tailoring our offer to the needs of the city.

"JMK group will be able to bring a wealth of experience in the tourism and hospitality sector to Belfast.

"We already have a presence in the Republic of Ireland - in Dublin and Waterford - as well as a lot of experience in the London hotel market."

Belfast-based planning consultants Turley said strong tourism figures had helped attract JMK's investment.

Figures from 2017 put the annual number of overnight trips here at 4.9 million, helping generating 926m.

"Tourism is a key driver of Belfast and Northern Ireland's economy and Titanic Quarter is home to three of Northern Ireland's top five visitor attractions, Titanic Belfast, SS Nomadic and W5," said Brian Kelly, director at Turley.

"Since 2012, Titanic Belfast has attracted over five million visitors from across 145 countries and was awarded the accolade of world's leading tourist destination at the prestigious World Travel Awards in 2016."
From left, Professor Alastair Adair, deputy vice chancellor at Ulster University, Suzanne Wylie, chief executive of Belfast City Council, and Susan Mason, RICS Northern Ireland regional manager, launch the Northern Ireland Commercial Property Investment Review 2018

Belfast's office market has become one of the strongest performers across the UK, with a heftier return for investors than other UK cities, according to a report today.

The Commercial Property Investment Review 2018 compares the Northern Ireland and Belfast market with other locations in the UK and Europe.

It found that, overall, there was a marked slowdown in the sector across 2018 due to Brexit uncertainty and the structural changes in the retail sector, as shoppers turn away from bricks and mortar stores and shop online instead. Today's report is produced by Ulster University and global financial company MSCI in partnership with members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

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Across the board, commercial property in Northern Ireland produced a total return for investors of 1.7% - compared to 0.2% in Wales, 3.6% in Scotland and 4% in England, excluding London.

But the office sector in the province outperformed other types of property, providing double-digit returns for investors.

In Belfast, the return for investors was around 12.4% - double the UK's average of 6% and well above the European average of 8%. The findings come as trading companies - such as ship outfitter MJM Marine and jewellery chain Argento parent company Denvir Holdings - increasingly diversify into office space in Belfast.

Professor Alastair Adair, deputy vice chancellor at Ulster University, said: "The welcomed growth in the office market reflects the new investment dynamic in the city region.

"The modern breed of IT and professional services occupiers are highlighting Belfast as a progressive, go-to and contemporary location offering investment opportunities comparable with and exceeding other European locations," he added.
Belfast is set to become one of the UK's first 5G launch cities

An event to brief Northern Ireland businesses on the benefits of 5G networks will take place next month.

Belfast is set to become one of the UK's first 5G launch cities.

To prepare the way, BT's managing director of research and innovation, Tim Whitley, will address the ICC Belfast Waterfront Hall on May 21.

Professor Whitley is expected to discuss the key radio technologies that will play a major role in the roll out of the next generation of mobile communications networks, while outlining the challenges linked to the deployment of 5G networks.

He will also highlight the benefits for businesses and consumers in a new digital age.

The evening is being organised by the BT Ireland Innovation Centre in partnership with the Institution of Engineering and Technology NI.

Entrance is free for the event which will include a question and answer session.
Corporate lending to Danske Bank customers fell by 30% during the first quarter of the year as Brexit uncertainty meant customers put off investment, its chief executive has said.

Kevin Kingston spoke as the bank's results for the first quarter of the year showed a 63% year-on-year increase in pre-tax profits to 24.7m for the first three months of the year.

Profit before loan impairments was up 3% to 23.1m.

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However, corporate lending was down, Mr Kingston said, "with the heightened uncertainty around Brexit during quarter one persuading some our larger customers to delay planned investments until later in the year".

But overall business banking lending - of which corporate lending is part - had increased by 8%, mainly to existing customers.

The chief executive said many business banking clients had been pursuing growth plans, but that others were extending their borrowing to prepare themselves "for any economic challenges that could be associated with the Brexit process".

The bank's income was also up slightly year-on-year to 58m, up from 56.6m. Its lending volumes were also 8% higher year on year, while deposits grew by 7%.

Costs were up, Danske Bank said, as it continued to invest in customer technology.

Mr Kingston said the underlying performance of the bank continues to be strong, as he welcomed the rise in profit before loan impairments, and an 8% rise in lending volumes.

New mortgage lending was also strong, he said, with an increase of 4%.

The rise in pre-tax profits was due to recoveries in net impairments of 1.6m compared to a charge of 7.3m a year earlier.

In February, the bank announced it is to close branches on Belfast's Lisburn Road and in Bangor next month, leaving it with a network of 40.

Mr Kingston said: "Despite the obvious Brexit-related challenges, as Northern Ireland's biggest bank we believe we are well-positioned to continue to make more possible for our customers in the year ahead and we remain resolute in our determination to support the local economy."

During the year the bank also introduced a new team specialising in fraud and cyber-crime.

And it also opened a new hub in collaboration with technology specialist Catalyst. The Catalyst Belfast Fintech hub now has 75 business members.
Pizza Express profits declined in 2018 after a year of challenges in the UK and fierce competition from China.

Group turnover was up 1.6% to 543m, but underlying earnings declined by 15.3%.

The company, which has six restaurants in Belfast, said this was partly down to challenges in some of its less developed international markets, including China where it has been pursuing a major expansion of the brand.

Chairman and chief executive Jinlong Wang said the business faced "intensifying competition from local brands" in China and was focused on adapting to changing consumer demands in the market.

Nevertheless international markets now generate just under 20% of group sales, following the opening of 26 new sites in 2018.

In the UK, higher wages and property costs weighed on profitability amid a devastating year across the casual dining industry.
Belgian-Dutch media group Mediahuis moved with extraordinary speed in securing an undisputed position in the driving seat at Independent News & Media (INM) in a matter of just hours.

INM is the Republic's largest independent media company and the publisher of the Irish Independent, Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life.

At 7am yesterday, INM's board announced to the stock market that they were unanimously recommending a 146m takeover offer from Mediahuis.

By 11.30am, small shareholders at INM's annual general meeting were still reacting to the approach.

The Antwerp-headquartered publisher then announced it had a 27% stake in INM.

It also had binding commitments from the previous largest shareholders, Denis O'Brien and Dermot Desmond, to sell their remaining shares at the agreed price of 10.5 cents per share. Mediahuis chairman Thomas Leysen said he believed his company had put forward a fair price for INM.

INM chief executive Michael Doorly confirmed the board would consider a higher offer if one emerged for the company.

But Mediahuis ended the day controlling a large enough stake to effectively block any rival bid emerging and as INM's biggest shareholder.

The Mediahuis bid was conditional on Denis O'Brien, with 29.88% of shares, and Dermot Desmond, with a 15% stake, providing irrevocable undertakings to support the offer by a deadline of 5pm yesterday.

In the event they each committed to the deal early and had sold a combined 26% stake by 11.30am.

At a briefing for journalists in Dublin, Mediahuis chairman Thomas Leysen said: "I think it's a significant premium to what the company traded at before we came on to the scene."

Mediahuis had factored into its price the potential bill from an ongoing investigation into corporate governance at INM by High Court-appointed inspectors, and a parallel Data Protection Commission probe.

The group - formed in 2013 from a merger of Belgian media businesses - believes in quality, independent media and editorial independence but that can only happen if titles are financially viable, he said. "We are in it for the long haul," he added.

An acquisition of INM will include the Irish Independent, Independent.ie, Sunday Independent, Sunday World, The Herald, Belfast Telegraph and several regional newspapers.

However, at the INM AGM a number of smaller shareholders reacted angrily to the Mediahuis offer price. "You are giving the bloody company away," investor Donald Pratt told INM chairman Murdoch MacLennan and the other members of the board.

Former employee and current shareholder Michael Nolan said a "once great company" was being "sold for buttons".

Shareholder Colm Moore, a private investor, questioned whether the price offered reflected the cash on INM's balance sheet and the value of a 100m unrecognised tax asset resulting from historic losses.

However, Mr MacLennan said the price offered represented a premium of approximately 44% to INM's closing price of 7.28 cents on April 3, 2019.

"We believe this is the best deal for shareholders," he said.

Mediahuis had made the initial approach to INM, he said.

"We didn't put the company up for sale, they came and made a cash offer for the business. We have looked at it very carefully, and it is the best offer we have had," he told shareholders.

Mediahuis's plans for INM will focus on the transition of Irish titles from overwhelmingly print revenue to digital, although executives declined to comment on specific synergies.

In Belgium and the Netherlands, Mediahuis sells 1.4m copies a day of its stable of newspaper titles, but has moved the digital editions of all titles to some form of paid for model.

INM is currently developing a dual commercial model of advertising and subscription for its online titles.

INM shareholders will be circulated details of a proposed scheme of arrangement within 28 days, Mr MacLennan said.

A scheme of arrangement is a mechanism to complete a corporate transaction such as a sale even if not all shareholders agree - it must be signed off by the High Court in Dublin - and in INM's case will mean that if holders of 75% of shares accept the offer, then remaining shareholders can be forced to sell too to ensure a full takeover.

Circulation of that documentation will be followed by an extraordinary general meeting, at a date not yet set. Shareholders can then raise questions about the offer and the sale process, managed for INM by investment bank Lazard and Davy.

Mediahuis CEO Gert Ysebaert said he believed "INM will thrive under Mediahuis's ownership".

"Mediahuis can contribute the relevant experience, skills and resources to invest in INM's brands and significantly enhance its operational and digital capabilities," he said.

Mediahuis operates news brands such as De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad, Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belang van Limburg in Belgium and titles in the Netherlands include De Telegraaf, NRC Handelsblad, NRC Next, De Limburger and Noordhollands Dagblad.
Captivating crowds with his fire breathing and juggling act, Steven Logan brings fun to city streets all over the world.

This weekend it is Belfast's turn to be mesmerised as the 31-year-old Limavady man stages his show, Logy on Fire, at the annual Festival of Fools.

Steven has devoted the last 10 years to honing his unique tricks to perfect an act which is now in demand at festivals across the globe.

To date he has performed in over 15 countries as far away as New Zealand, Australia and Singapore.

Not bad for a former tattooist who went out of business during the credit crunch in 2009 and only turned to juggling to combat boredom.

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With distinctive whiskers long enough to touch his chest Steven, who is also a teacher with Belfast Community Circus School, is affectionately known as the "Biggest Beard in the Business".

His act is certainly not for the faint-hearted - as well as his signature "Vaudeville-style gentleman juggling" tricks he also juggles with razor-sharp knives and fire.

Steven lives to entertain and ahead of this weekend's festival he also reveals how even the shock of a cancer diagnosis last year didn't keep him from performing.

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He underwent surgery in London in November for testicular cancer and then went on to perform twice a day, every day, between December 28 and March 7, mostly in New Zealand and Australia.

Speaking about his diagnosis for the first time, he reveals how he was taking part in a festival in Copenhagen when he was told that he could have testicular cancer.

Further tests in London confirmed the diagnosis and after surgery he was fortunate not to need further treatment. He now has check-ups every three months to ensure the cancer hasn't returned and says keeping positive is the only way to deal with it.

"Because of having to go for the check-ups I am very aware it could return, but the way I look at it I could also get knocked down crossing the street, so there is no point in dwelling on it," he says somewhat philosophically.

"Things happen and you have to keep going and smiling and keep happy.

"When I was first told I had cancer, I was out of the country and away from family and friends and I found dealing with it very difficult.

"You don't exactly feel like you want to go out and brighten people up when you get terrible news like that.

"All you want to do is to lie around and watch Netflix.

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"But after a couple of days I realised there was no point in sitting around feeling sorry for myself.

"I do feel very lucky because they were able to remove it all. It could have been a lot worse."

Evidently, it is this positive attitude which also helped him deal with another terrifying incident that happened just a year earlier when his beard was set alight during a fire breathing performance in Belfast.

Shocking video footage which made it appear as if Steven had been turned into a fireball went viral online and it put him in the full glare of the media spotlight.

Reflecting on the drama, he insists the incident was very minor.

"My show is called 'Logy on Fire' and doing fire breathing and having such a long beard did prove hazardous that year. It was only a little bit of the side of my beard that caught fire and I have suffered worse sunburn, but it looked on the video like my whole head was engulfed.

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"The story just got out of hand and then it just kept getting bigger.

"After it, I got messages from random people I had never heard of saying they hoped I was okay and then I got random horrible messages as well.

"It made me realise the internet is not a nice place."

While that has been his only accident in 10 years, Steven is no stranger to dangerous situations, juggling razor-sharp objects in his shows which are billed as "raw" and "rockin'."

He's passionate about his work and enjoys teaching his craft at Belfast Circus School and Streetwise Community Circus, passing on his skills and knowledge to future generations of performers.

However, it is a long way from his roots as he explains: "I originally worked as a tattooist and was also a frontman for a heavy metal band. When I was 14 a bunch of us were sitting in a playground when we decided to set up a band and we went that day and bought instruments.

"We were all self-taught which is why we were really bad at the start. We were called Dying Breed and it did go quite well for a while and we played in Londonderry and Belfast once or twice.

"We split when I was in my late teens and went our separate ways."

After a foundation degree in art he decided to do an apprenticeship in tattooing and worked as a tattooist until 2009. As most of his clients were in the building trade the property market crash hit his business hard.

"The work dried up and I decided to move to Belfast to find work but the studios there were also feeling the pinch. I joined the juggling club at Queen's University out of boredom but the first night I went along I had got the times wrong and when I turned up it had just finished and everyone was leaving.

"The tutor, Neill Hall, invited me to the pub with the rest of the members and I spent five hours with them on that first night and discovered how much I really enjoyed the circus community.

"Everyone looked out for each other and they were very pleased to welcome me and talk to me and that is one of the things that pushed me towards it as a career.

"Once I started to learn basic things, I found I had a knack for helping other people and I went from learning to teaching. Streetwise asked me to join them and we work with numerous groups, including kids at risk and kids with special needs."

Once he started juggling, Steven was hooked and has continued to add to his skills by learning escapology, how to lie on a bed of nails, escaping a straitjacket and walking on broken glass.

While danger is an essential element, safety first has ensured he has only suffered minor injuries.

"Some of the skills are more dangerous than others and of course it makes it exciting... the idea that something could go wrong.

"I juggle three razor-sharp knives and I have been teaching myself to juggle two chainsaws on fire. I am always trying to find the next step up."

Just some of the props used by Steven which give an insight into the level of danger include a circular saw blade bolted to a brush shaft, a Viking bearded axe, two beaver traps attached back to back and fire torches, which are twice the size of normal ones.

For his audiences, his performance offers many jaw dropping, hold-your-breath moments.

At the heart of his hazardous display of skills is a steely determination.

He adds: "You have got to keep going and keep pushing. "If you fall down you need to get up again. I love learning. I learn one new fact a day. I also like to tell a lot of historical facts about the circus when I am doing my act in a way that people don't feel they are being given a lesson.

"No matter what is happening there is always time to learn something you never knew. I also ride motorbikes and love playing music in my spare time, and I do miss playing in the band."

Steven is due to perform on Saturday at Cotton Court at 3pm and in Castle Place at 5pm when audiences can expect to witness an extravaganza of his talents.

"I'll be performing my world-travelled street show Logy on Fire. I have performed in the three biggest arts festivals in the world and the two biggest outdoor music festivals in the world with this show.

"I try and take all the older gentleman juggling skills that I love and try to perform them in a way that people will enjoy.

"I juggle an array of custom dangerous objects that you wouldn't see anyone else juggle."

He adds: "It is combination of classic skills, comedy, rock and roll and a healthy dose of danger."

The Festival of Fools takes place from Friday, May 3 to Monday, May 6. Visit www.foolsfestival.com
The scene of the ATM raid at a garage at Nutts Corner yesterday

A top PSNI officer has defended the actions of officers who failed to apprehend a criminal gang behind a recent ATM heist in Co Antrim.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd said yesterday the thieves who evaded officers in a patrol vehicle following last Friday's raid at a Tesco store in Ballymena had a "bit of luck on their side".

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His comments came within hours of a petrol station at Nutts Corner becoming the 13th outlet to be targeted in the ATM crime wave since the start of 2019.

Two men, aged 26 and 31, have been arrested in connection to the theft of the ATM - which is the 15th to be stolen - in the early hours of yesterday. It was later recovered by officers.

An eyewitness who observed the earlier Ballymena raid unfold had told the Belfast Telegraph the gap between the gang's getaway vehicle, towing a trailer, and the patrol car was "300 yards". Officers later recovered the two stolen ATMs.

On Monday this newspaper published claims that the PSNI's response to the ATM crime wave is being hampered by patrol officers' reluctance to break the speed limit following the introduction of new recording technology.

Mr Todd had previously declined to answer questions posed by this newspaper in relation to the matter.

But yesterday the Assistant Chief Constable insisted to the Belfast Telegraph that his officers "routinely" break speed limits in response to calls.

"I'm not claiming everyone in the service is trained for high-speed pursuit; that would be untenable both in training them and refreshing them," he said.

"But there are significant numbers trained in Local Policing Teams for pursuit. But that doesn't mean that other officers can't respond in operations or calls for service or any other blue light requirement."

Mr Todd would not disclose if officers involved in the Ballymena chase were pursuit-trained.

"I don't want to get into the detail of that particular incident for a number of reasons.

"To get into the detail would, frankly, undermine our ability to do what we need to do and catch these people," he explained.

He also repeated claims that PSNI policy is preventing officers from breaching speed limits is wrong.

And when asked if he was satisfied with the current PSNI policy in relation to speed regulation of police vehicles, he said officers are "trained and equipped" to respond accordingly.

"I don't think it's difficult for officers (to choose to speed)," he added.

"They know they can go beyond the powers of a citizen but they also know they then have to account for their actions in doing so.

"There's nothing stopping them doing that. We always say police officers are free to make decisions on their own responsibility."

He also dismissed any suggestion that officers may fear disciplinary action if their decision to break speed limits is deemed inappropriate by senior officers.

"Any given day a significant number of my cops - both on the specialised end of the business, and the local end of business - routinely break the speed limits.

"And the number of people who have any action against them is very, very few," he stressed.

The senior officer also rubbished fears there is a link between police station closures and the rise of the gangs, stressing officers are better "out on the street".

"The modus operandi of a criminal gang doing these thefts, they're trying to target remote country premises where there aren't witnesses or CCTV," he insisted.

"Clearly rural police stations have closed in certain areas so you'll always get an overlap, but one thing doesn't lead to another... there's no connection."

The Ballymena heist thieves managed to evade arrest through a "little bit of luck on their side", he said.

"I think we were unfortunate and they were fortunate - but that won't always be the case," he added.
Mr Samuel Irvine Madine, owner of the HD Smile Clinic on the Shankill Road, pleaded guilty to five charges. Credit: Google Maps

A Belfast business owner has pleaded guilty to charges related to the use and supply of "carcinogenic" tooth whitening products.

Samuel Irvine Madine, owner of the HD Smile Clinic on the Shankill Road, pleaded guilty to five charges at Belfast Magistrates Court after a case was brought by Belfast City Council.

Mr Madine was found to have breached Comestic Product Enforcement Regulations.

Officers from the councils Environmental Health department carried out a number of inspections of the business premises following a complaint received in April 2015.

Four different products were seized over a period of time for testing. The seized products were found to contain sodium perborate, a banned substance which is carcinogenic.

Testing of the products revealed that all samples contained levels of hydrogen peroxide in excess of the permitted level of 0.1%, with one product being more than 300 times greater than this.

Mr Madine also pleaded guilty to failing to meet the obligations of a distributor, including the required safety and labelling requirements.

Professor Angus Walls, director of the Dental Institute in Edinburgh, advised that the risks of chemical burns and malignant change are much greater with increased percentage of hydrogen peroxide.

The case has been adjourned until 4 June for sentencing.
Belfast Telegraph is named best local/regional news site at the 2019 Drum Online Media Awards in London

The Belfast Telegraph website has been named the Best Regional News Site in the UK at The Drum Online Media Awards in London.

The Drum Online Media Awards "identify the cleverest, boldest and most original purveyors of news and views from around the world" and were decided by a prestigious panel of judges, featuring Press Association Editor-in-Chief Peter Clifton and Jasper Jackson, Digital Editor of the New Statesman, among others.

Beating out competition from the Liverpool Echo, Belfast Telegraph Digital scooped the award following a record-breaking year for the website.

In 2018, Belfast Telegraph Digital racked up an additional eight million page views compared to the previous year, surpassing the 200 million page views milestone for the first time in the 23-year history of the website.

Some of the site's biggest news stories throughout the year included coverage of the ongoing Brexit crisis, the rape trial of former Ulster Rugby players Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding and the tragic death of racer William Dunlop in July.

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August's devastating Primark fire in Belfast city centre and its aftermath also dominated the news cycle, as well as January's dissident republican car bomb attack outside a Londonderry courthouse.

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The Belfast Telegraph publishes content across desktop, mobile, app and AMP.

Our work last year highlights our focus on quality regional content and original reporting, Morgane Campioni, Head of Digital, said.

Our rolling seven-day coverage offers a mix of breaking news, in-depth reporting, analysis and opinion.

We are proud of the way we tell important stories and reach digital audiences in Northern Ireland and beyond.

"Receiving this accolade is a great achievement for the whole Belfast Telegraph team.

The ceremony took place on Tuesday at the Marriott in Grosvenor Square, London.

Scooping the Grand Prix was The Evening Standard.

Other winners included the BBC World Service English, Channel 4, Guardian News & Media, CNN, Al Jazeera and DriveTribe.
Shane Devine appeared before the Court of Appeal on Wednesday

A Dublin-based chauffeur company boss could face renewed prosecution over taking a One Direction star to a show in Belfast.

Shane Devine allegedly drove a member of the chart-topping boy band to the concert without a licence to operate a taxi in Northern Ireland.

He disputes the claims against him, insisting that he travelled over the border and collected his star fare from a hotel as part of one continual journey in October 2015.

Proceedings against him had been stayed by a district judge as an abuse of process.

But the Court of Appeal ruled today that was the wrong outcome, and remitted the case back to another judge to consider a fresh hearing.

Mr Devine, who operates Devine's Chauffeur Services out of the Republic of Ireland, picked up the undisclosed band member at the Culloden Hotel on the outskirts of Belfast.

Promoters of the One Direction concert had instructed him to take the VIP passenger to the performers' entrance at the SSE Arena.

Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) examiners investigating a complaint about an allegedly unlicensed taxi spoke to him after he made the drop-off at the venue.

Under caution Mr Devine stated that his Mercedes Viano was booked as a continuous service which originated and was to terminate in the south of Ireland, the court heard.

He confirmed that he did not have a Northern Ireland Public Service Vehicle (PSV) or taxi driver's licence, but had all the necessary accreditation in the Republic.

Mr Devine was subsequently summonsed for alleged offences of driving and operating a taxi service without the necessary permits.

During the original proceedings his lawyers requested full details on any surveillance or monitoring carried out on him.

They claimed department officials had been watching Mr Devine on the night in question following a complaint.

The Public Prosecution Service resisted disclosure, asserting public interest immunity (PII) on the intelligence document containing information passed to the DVA.

Appeal judges were asked to consider the case following decisions to refuse the PII application and to stay proceedings against Mr Devine.

They concluded that both determinations had been incorrect.

Lord Justice Treacy confirmed: "We are remitting the case to Belfast Magistrates' Court to be heard by another district judge."

Following the ruling, Mr Devine's solicitor, Denis Moloney, expressed his hope that the prosecution will ultimately be dropped.

He said: "Mr clear instructions from Mr Devine is that he was making a continuous journey in the one direction."
A couple has been arrested on suspicion of holding a woman as a domestic slave in Belfast for six years.

A 33-year-old man, detained early yesterday on suspicion of human trafficking offences for the purpose of domestic servitude, is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court this morning.

A search was carried out at a Belfast property where documentation and mobile phones were seized.

A 25-year-old woman was also arrested by detectives in Scotland yesterday as part of the operation.

She is being brought back to Northern Ireland for questioning.

Police said both suspects are from two African countries, which detectives have not yet named.

The PSNI has also not disclosed the age or nationality of the alleged victim.

Detective Inspector Mark Bell, head of the PSNI's modern slavery and human trafficking unit, said the woman had escaped the property where she was allegedly being held around 16 months ago and alerted a member of the public, who then contacted police.

DI Bell said yesterday that the victim was brought to Northern Ireland and alleges she had been held for six years until it was brought to police attention.

The arrests are the first of their kind in Northern Ireland and part of an investigation into human trafficking for domestic servitude which has been ongoing for over a year.

In the last 12 months, the PSNI's modern slavery and human trafficking unit has investigated 59 potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

This is an increase from 36 in the previous financial year.

DI Bell said: "Modern slavery is often an unseen crime as victims can be afraid to speak out or may be being held captive and human trafficking for the purposes of domestic servitude can be particularly difficult to detect.

"Victims may be afraid to speak out so we need the public to be aware of the signs to look for so that they don't miss the opportunity to intervene in a modern slavery incident.

"Sometimes when trust is built up, victims may leave the properties to do light shopping or school runs for the family.

"I'm appealing to members of the public to be our eyes and ears on the ground and take those opportunities to intervene if they see people who maybe appear withdrawn or controlled, are unable to speak English or carrying visible injuries.

"Is there always someone else speaking for a person on their behalf?

"Do people have access to their money, identity documents and freedom of movement?"

DI Bell added: "During the last financial year, my team has investigated 59 potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

"This is a significant increase from 36 the previous year.

"However, every victim has a story about a missed opportunity for rescue by a person in the community.

"I'm asking the public to visit the human trafficking section of PSNI's website and learn about the signs and indicators of human trafficking.

"It can be hard to believe that modern slavery and human trafficking exists today but it is all too real, especially for the victims.

"Modern slavery is unacceptable as it violates human rights and denies victims their rights to life, freedom and safety.

"The criminals prey on vulnerable people, control them by fear and exploit them for their own selfish gains.

"We are working as hard as we can but we cannot tackle this problem alone.

"We rely on the strong partnerships that have been formed through the Department of Justice Organised Crime Task Force but we need the public's help.

"I would also ask people to contact us with any suspicions that they may have by calling 999 if it's an emergency, or 101.

"There's also a modern slavery helpline on 08000 121 700.

"One call could end the misery for a victim who could be living next door to you."
Another of Stormont's famous cats has passed away.

Ginger, thought to be aged 12, died yesterday morning. It follows the death of a second feline, Furbie, in recent weeks.

They were part of a trio of moggies that made the grounds of the Stormont Estate their home.

They are survived by a final cat, Maggie.

Doting pensioner Edna Watters, who has been feeding Stormont's cats for the last 30 years, since she was a civil servant, was among those paying tribute yesterday.

Ginger, Maggie and Furbie were in the headlines in 2017 when they became unwitting victims of the breakdown of devolved government.

Edna and her pensioner friends were classed as a "security risk" and prevented from tending to the feral cats.

The Belfast Telegraph took the campaign to the most senior levels of government, grilling then Secretary of State James Brokenshire on why the pensioners had been kept away.

After the cats' story was highlighted in this newspaper the pensioners, who had looked after the animals in all weathers, were finally allowed back to feed them.

Yesterday Edna (77) said: "It's a bit of a shock after losing Furbie at the beginning of the month, it's very distressing. Ginger and Furbie were very, very close.

"For the last four days of Furbie's life Ginger never left her side. You would even have thought he knew she was coming to the end. She was a very, very old lady. She purred away, she purred and purred and her last breath was a purr. It's so awful to find at the end of the month that we've lost Ginger as well."

Peter Cardwell, a former special adviser to Secretaries of State James Brokenshire and Karen Bradley, said: "I have very fond memories of both Ginger and Furbie who, along with the surviving Maggie, greeted me each morning as they munched their breakfasts near the entrance to Stormont House, saying hello with a purr as I gave them a little stroke behind the ears.

"I do fear Maggie will now be lonely, and in time it might make sense for my lovely former colleagues at the NIO to get her a companion."

Yesterday Edna recalled her battle to feed the cats. She said: "It was such an uphill struggle to get the better of the powers-that-be. I have no respect for them at all because over the 30 years I have looked after these cats, they have given us nothing except grief they actually bricked them in, this was about 20 years ago."

Edna explained how, in her quest to feed the cats, she got some unexpected help after she stumbled into DUP leader Arlene Foster, who put her in contact with "somebody in the castle".

She also received support from the Belfast Telegraph, when a reporter delivered food to the cats in 2017. Edna added: "I will always be grateful to the Telegraph for everything they did. It was a very stressful time."

She hopes that Stormont's final cat Maggie will outlast the political deadlock, adding: "I think she will. She's a big fat girl, she just loves her food and she looks as healthy as can be."
One of the key figures of the peace process has spoken of his "great regret" that paramilitary violence has continued in Northern Ireland, 21 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

John de Chastelain was the head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning that was responsible for putting loyalist and republican paramilitary weapons beyond use in the years after the agreement.

Speaking to the Irish Times, the former soldier and diplomat said he was concerned about the political vacuum in Northern Ireland and urged for more work to be done to fulfill the potential of the 1998 peace accord.

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"My great regret is that more than 20 years after the agreement was brought into effect there are still those who are seeking to use violence to change what is achieved, particularly when a whole new generation of people who werent alive during the Troubles are now voting," he said.

"What can they vote for if the Assembly is not in office, and it has been two years now that the Assembly has not been providing the government and the leadership in the North that the agreement was all about?

The 81-year-old was speaking ahead of fresh talks between Northern Ireland's main political parties next week aimed at restoring power-sharing after more than two years without a functioning government at Stormont.

He described the current uncertainty surrounding Brexit as "troubling", in particular how it could affect one important aspect of the Good Friday Agreement - the border.

Everybody is on edge because they dont know how this is going to work out. Once the decision is taken, whenever that will be, then I think, hopefully, wiser heads will prevail, and it wont affect the two-way movement between the Republic and the North," he said.

One of the key aspects of the Belfast Agreement was in fact that the Border was open, and for those who chafed at the prospect of there being two jurisdictions  one on either side of the Border  that was much less of a problem since the Border was opened. I would hope that it would stay that way.

Mr de Chastelain, who stepped down as chair of the decommissioning body in 2011, said the recent murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Londonderry was a "tragedy" and questioned the strategy of the dissident republicans that were responsible.

The spokesman for the group [the New IRA] that were responsible for the death of this young woman made the point that they recognised they had no public support and that violence will never change the circumstance of the political divide, so I have to ask myself: what is the point of continuing?" he said.

The continuation of violence hasnt altogether surprised me, but I would have thought that this long after the agreement  21 years  that those issues would have subsided.
The Prime Minister has told Cabinet colleagues there is a momentum around the new talks process to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland.

But addressing the weekly Downing Street meeting, Theresa May cautioned that the challenges that needed to be overcome before devolution returned should not be underestimated, according to the Prime Minister's official spokesman.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley also told yesterday's Cabinet gathering that the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Londonderry had led to a "renewed rejection of violence by the people" of the region, Mrs May's spokesman added.

"The people of Northern Ireland have also expressed their frustration at the current impasse and their desire to see devolved government restored quickly," the spokesman said.

And he added: "The Prime Minister said that while momentum exists around the need to commence a talks process, we should not underestimate the challenges facing the Northern Ireland parties.

"Intensive preparations are now taking place between the UK and Irish governments and with Northern Irish parties on the structure and substance of the talks."

The new talks initiative, which was announced by the two governments last week, will start on May 7.

The ongoing political stalemate has left Northern Ireland without a devolved government for more than two years.

Efforts to resurrect the powersharing institutions have been injected with fresh impetus following the death of Ms McKee (29) at the hands of a dissident republican gunman amid unrest in Londonderry on April 18.

On Tuesday, Mrs May's spokesman said of the Northern Ireland talks process: "Some familiar issues have been discussed publicly in recent days. We, along with the Irish Government, are now making preparations for what the structure and the substance of the talks will look like.

"I think the PM and the Northern Ireland Secretary are clear that we don't underestimate the challenges that are involved in this process. At the same time, there is a feeling that there is momentum out there."

Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein leader has called for a Plan B to be put in place if talks to restore Stormont fail. Mary Lou McDonald said her party will go into talks with the DUP in "good faith", but the British and Irish governments must have a back-up plan to ensure any deadlock can be cleared.

Ms McDonald said rights issues such as marriage equality and an Irish Language Act "cannot be left wanting" in Northern Ireland if the DUP refuses to change its stance.

She denied claims that Sinn Fein and the DUP had been "bounced" into new talks after the murder of Ms McKee.

"The public sentiment after the death of Lyra McKee couldn't be missed, it is correct to say the current situation of stalemate is unacceptable and intolerable at this point - something has to happen," she said.

"We need assurances from the governments that they know what they're doing, and a Plan B is absolutely essential because, if the parties and DUP cannot move to a place of equality, well the two governments must honour the equality obligations under the Good Friday Agreement."

She added that the British and Irish governments had neglected their duties to Northern Ireland as they had been distracted by other factors including Brexit.

"For a long time there has been a sense of disengagement from the Northern peace process, governments have been preoccupied and distracted by other events," she said. "Now will be a real test of that for Dublin and London, on their understanding of the issues in the North, and their fundamental commitment to the peace process."

Sources close to the party have said that if the DUP refuses to budge on marriage equality and an Irish Language Act, it is hoped Westminster would step in and legislate for both, breaking the deadlock and paving a way for a functioning Assembly without red lines stalling progress.

DUP leader Arlene Foster has made it clear that her party's position on marriage equality has not changed, and believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.
Hundreds of mourners at the funeral of top barrister Charles Michael Lavery QC have been told that he was defined by his "capacity for friendship".

His Requiem Mass was led by Father Derek Kearney, but it was Mr Lavery's colleague Brett Lockhart QC who delivered the emotional homily to those gathered in St Brigid's Church in Belfast.

"With his mellifluous tone, understated delivery and self-deprecating humour, Michael Lavery was for 61 years the most persuasive of advocates in the courts of Northern Ireland," he said.

"Michael disliked hyperbole, but it is entirely accurate to say that his passing is the end of an era."

Condolences were extended to his family, including his five children Gisela, Michael, Finbar, Ronan and Annelieze.

Mr Lockharte also offered prayers for Mr Lavery's heartbroken sister Mairead and his 11 grandchildren before recalling his "fascination with all things German" after he fell in love a medical student from Bonn who was studying in Belfast.

Mr Lavery's wife Dr Antje Lavery passed away in 2008 after almost 46 years of marriage.

"He picked up by ear the language and family holidays were invariably focused on visiting with Antje's family," Mr Lockhart said.

"But it was the law, however, that was his greatest interest.

"Four of his five children followed in his footsteps and the Bar Library was in many genuine ways his second family."

Mr Lavery studied law at Queen's University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin before being called to the Bar in 1956 and went on to become an advocate in many high-profile cases.

He represented some of the families of the Bloody Sunday victims at the Saville Inquiry.

Mr Lockhart recalled Mr Lavery's pride that his granddaughter Niamh was called to the Bar in 2016, a year before he retired, meaning there were three generations of the Lavery family practising at the same time.

Mr Lockhart said that above all, Mr Lavery understood that relationships are "not based on self-interest, but in unselfish love for another person".

He said that he embodied charity as defined by St Thomas Aquinas.

"He made friendship the central point of all his theological works, by defining charity, as friendship," he said.

The congregation were told that of all Mr Lavery's undoubted talents as a barrister, it was his "capacity for friendship" which stood out and became his hallmark.

"It was a wonderful reminder that first and foremost he was a husband, father and grandfather, although admittedly, one that never wanted to miss a phone call," he added.

However, Mr Lockhart acknowledged Mr Lavery's "humble spirit" which was demonstrated in the face of much adversity throughout his life.

"His fortitude in the face of the heavy blow of Antje's death, the steely determination he revealed after being held at knife point, tied up and robbed in his own home, the absence of anger or self-pity as he faced the privations and challenges of being essentially confined to bed in a nursing home," he said.

Mr Lavery was laid to rest in Roselawn Cemetery following the service.
A healthcare worker said he was not surprised at the statistics and described the conditions for patients and staff at the Ulster Hospital's ED as "horrendous" (stock photo)

The number of people treated in Northern Ireland's emergency departments (EDs) within four hours is on the rise.

Official figures have revealed that 36,346 patients attending A&E were seen inside four hours in March, compared to 33,461 in March last year - up 8.6%.

At the same time, 2,576 people returned to EDs across Northern Ireland within one week of visiting.

The statistics released by the Department of Health also revealed that the number of people who waited on A&E trolleys more than 12 hours in March dropped to 2,580 - compared to 3,160 last March.

Despite the improvement, EDs are still struggling to cope with demand, with an average of 215 people waiting longer than 12 hours in emergency units every day during the month of March.

The Ulster Hospital's ED was the worst performing unit for 12-hour breaches, with 756 patients waiting longer than 12 hours.

A healthcare worker said he was not surprised at the statistics and described the conditions for patients and staff at the Ulster Hospital's ED as "horrendous". He said: "I was there over Easter weekend and at one point, there were about 10 ambulance crews waiting to hand their patients over, the place was completely backed up.

"I've been in my job for 20 years and what I saw when I walked in actually took my breath away.

"You would almost describe it as people hanging from the chandeliers it was so busy.

"They don't have the staff, they don't have the trolleys, they don't have the beds in the hospital, it's a nightmare."

The South Eastern Trust said its EDs continue to experience increasing demand.

It said: "Unfortunately, despite introducing a range of measures to help with patient flow both within our hospitals and in community services, some patients are required to wait for extended periods before admission to our limited number of in-patient beds.

"Within our EDs we continue to prioritise those most acutely unwell and we continue to strive to keep patients safe.

"In March 2019, our time to commencing treatment improved by 13 minutes, and the percentage of patients commencing treatment within two hours increased from 72.6% to 80%."

The Ulster Hospital's ED was not the only unit to struggle to cope with demand in March. The number of 12-hour breaches at Altnagelvin Hospital's ED over the month was 216 - up by 53% compared to March last year.

However, the 12-hour breaches at the Mater and Royal Victoria hospitals dropped significantly in March compared to last year, by 65% and 50% respectively.

The Department of Health said EDs are continuing to experience serious pressures.

"There were 204,170 attendances at EDs during the first three months of 2019 - a 6.2% increase on the same period in 2018" it said.

"Clearly, too many patients are waiting too long in our EDs."
The burglary happened at a house in the Main Street area of the village of Lack. Credit: Google Maps

Police have hit out following a "despicable" burglary at the home of a pensioner in Co Fermanagh.

The burglary happened sometime between 4.40pm and 5pm at a house in the Main Street area of the village of Lack on Tuesday.

A small amount of cash was taken in the incident.

A pensioner was inside the house at the time but was not injured.

PSNI Detective Constable Joanne Halliday said: It is despicable that an older and vulnerable person should have been targeted in this way and we are appealing to anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area to contact detectives on 101, quoting reference number 1036 of 30/04/19.

Information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Simon Harpers coffin is carried out of the church

Mourners at the funeral of Portadown College principal Simon Harper heard how his last day was spent doing what he loved with the woman he loved.

Mr Harper died suddenly on Good Friday while on a walking holiday in Scotland.

Several hundred family members, friends, fellow heads of school and pupils from Portadown College, where the 57-year-old had been headmaster for the past 10 years, packed into Loughinisland Parish Church in Seaforde, Co Down, for the service.

Mr Harper was buried in his Royal Navy uniform, in recognition of his time served as a reservist.

Rev Adrian Dorrian told mourners how his taste for adventure had led him to meet "the love of his life", his partner Catherine.

Rev Dorrian said: "Simon loved to travel. From Norway and South Africa during his time with the Royal Navy, to Pakistan and Bolivia where he took on some of the world's highest peaks. He was the first Irish person to conquer some of those summits.

"Once he had to be helicoptered out of the Karakoram mountains in Pakistan after suffering altitude sickness, but he wouldn't let it beat him and went back the next year for another go.

"He enjoyed travelling to far-flung places. Indeed, he met his partner Catherine in China."

Rev Dorrian also spoke about Mr Harper's love of the military.

"He was proud to serve in the Royal Navy reserve for over 20 years at HMS Caroline in Belfast. It's fitting Simon is buried in his Navy uniform today," he said.

"But you can't speak about Simon and not mention his love of education."

After studying chemistry at Queen's University and completing teaching qualifications, Mr Harper began his career in 1984 as a chemistry teacher at Wallace High School in Lisburn before moving to Regent House in Newtownards, where became head of chemistry.

He then served as principal at Rathfriland High School before moving to Portadown College 10 years ago.

"He defended his schools vociferously when he needed to," Rev Dorrian said.

Portadown College remained closed yesterday and will hold a service of commemoration in St Mark's Church of Ireland on Friday at 6.30pm.

Mr Harper is survived by Catherine and brothers Paul and Stephen.
The PSNI has said it will endeavour to give witnesses who provide information to police about the murder of Lyra McKee 'maximum protection' during its investigation.

The 29-year-old journalist was shot dead in the Creggan area of Londonderry on April 18 during a riot.

The New IRA has accepted responsibility for the murder.

PSNI chief constable George Hamilton said on the day of Lyra's funeral that police had spoken to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) about exploring ways that people could give evidence without revealing their identity.

Expand Close Lyra McKees funeral at St Annes Cathedral, Belfast (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Yesterday, the PSNI confirmed it will seek to give witnesses "maximum protection" during its investigation.

Ultimately, however, the decision whether to grant anonymity or any other measure will be down to the courts.

"The person behind the gun gave no thought to the consequences of pulling that trigger or the danger they were putting the whole community in," a PSNI spokesman said.

"You have been united in your response. Rightly, you have condemned this violence. You have challenged the threats and intimidation that hang over your community.

"We need your help and we understand that for some, fear and intimidation feel very real. If we cannot challenge those feelings, we will resign ourselves to a future of indiscriminate violence.

"People know the gunman and his associates. They know what happened before and after the shots were fired."

Expand Close The suspected gunman (PSNI/PA) Press Association Images / Facebook

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After liaising with the PPS, the PSNI confirmed that, for the purpose of the investigation, anonymity will be provided to witnesses of the murder and the activities of the gunman.

The identity of witnesses will only be revealed to the PPS.

The spokesman added: "As a witness you may not be required to give evidence in court but if you are, we will request the maximum protection. This can include options such as anonymity, giving evidence by video link, from behind screens and with voice distortion. We have no intention of placing witnesses at risk.

"We need evidence about the gunman and his associates. Not rumour. Not speculation. Not gossip. We need first hand evidence or camera footage to identify and bring the gunman and others who were involved in Lyras murder to justice.

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"We stand right alongside you as part of the community. Together we have an opportunity to bring a meaningful and lasting change.

"Please pick up the phone and share what information you have. The investigation team is happy to meet with you directly or you can pass information to the team by phoning 101.

"You can also share details of what you know, or any phone footage or images to the Major Incident Public Portal (MIPP.police.uk).

"Please help us to bring this violence to an end."
The pupil was subject to four suspension decisions during 2018

A pupil with special needs has failed in a High Court challenge to his repeated suspensions from a Northern Ireland grammar school.

The boy, who cannot be identified, claimed the disciplinary actions were unlawfully taken without consideration for his Asperger's and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

But dismissing his bid to secure a judicial review, Mr Justice McCloskey said: "The applicant's core complaint, namely discriminatory treatment, is of demonstrably frail evidential foundation."

Proceedings were issued against the school's board of governors after the pupil was subject to four suspension decisions during 2018.

Referred to only as AF, his lawyers claimed the actions disregarded his disorders and breached human rights legislation.

They also contended that the school's policies failed to make express provision for disabled students.

Ruling on the case, the judge identified a central allegation that AF was treated less favourably than pupils with comparable disabilities.

He described a delay in progressing the case as a "manifestly excessive period in any schooling context, where expedition is of paramount importance".

Mr Justice McCloskey also cited the "sluggish" progress since, and evidence that the relevant school policy has been revised.

He held: "I consider that the school authorities concerned have, at all material times, taken reasonable and appropriate measures to ensure that the applicant has received full equality of treatment."
At the unveiling of the statue of Terence Robinson were (from left) Tim Robinson, Paul Porter, Matthieu Seguin of Coca-Cola and Lisburn and Castlereagh mayor Uel Mackin

A life-size statue of the late Terence Robinson, known as the 'Mr Coca-Cola of Northern Ireland', has been unveiled in Lambeg to mark the 80th anniversary year of the franchise's arrival from the US in 1939.

The impressive statue by Ulster sculptor Darren Sutton was funded by the Robinson family and the soft drinks giant.

Yesterday's unveiling by councillor Paul Porter, chairman of the leisure and community development committee of Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council, took place in the Tom Robinson Park, named after Terence's father.

It is situated near the site where the company had a plant for many years before moving to its present site at Knockmore.

Mayor Uel Mackin said: "I had the pleasure of meeting Terence when I worked in the soft drinks industry and he was a true gentleman. It is an honour for the council to have this statue of the Mr Coca-Cola of Northern Ireland in this park so close to the former plant in Lambeg."

Members of Terence's family were present, including his daughters Bobi and Linda and his son Tim, as well as senior management of Coca-Cola and others from the company who had worked with Mr Robinson in his earlier days.

Tim Robinson thanked his grandfather "who had the vision and courage in 1939 to risk everything, mortgaging his home and borrowing from family and friends to begin selling the then unknown product Coca-Cola in Northern Ireland".

He also praised his father Terence "for bringing us all on his Coca-Cola journey and teaching us to have passion in what we do, loyalty to the people beside us, and belief that hard work will allow us to achieve our goals, whatever they might be".

Terence Robinson was a popular and larger-than-life character who worked tirelessly to promote Coca-Cola and contributed significantly to community life and charities in Northern Ireland.

He was also a war hero who was honoured for saving the life of a shipmate who had fell overboard from a Navy vessel in icy seas during the Second World War. On his return from active service, Mr Robinson devoted his life to the business, and he was still associated with the company in his 90s.
In the tranquillity of a Fermanagh hideaway, in a world far removed from the terror hotspots of Northern Ireland and the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, a ground-breaking therapy initiative has been launched to help police and Army veterans to rebuild their lives after they were injured or left traumatised by their experiences in conflicts here and abroad.

Amid the 1,000 leafy acres of unbroken rural calm of Colebrooke Park, the ancestral home of the Brooke family, the former front line servicemen and women are being given a new style of support which campaigners have long been advocating.

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The Brooke House health and wellbeing centre near Brookeborough is offering bespoke treatment and care through a range of support services for former RUC and RUC Reserve officers along with their families in Armagh, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

The initiative is also supporting post-2008 veterans from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and their families who live in Northern Ireland or the Republic.

Joan Clements, the director of the centre, said yesterday that the services on offer include trauma-focused psychological therapy, physiotherapy, alternative and complementary therapies and nature-based therapy.

But she added that victims and their families are also availing of structured respite and retreat programmes at a cottage at Brooke House.

Ms Clements went on: "The focus is on the whole family because often a husband won't have told his wife what he experienced in the Troubles or overseas and a wife sometimes won't have shared her feelings with her husband.

"So being here may give them the opportunity to talk about what they've gone through.

"Our services have already been available for a couple of months and the results have been excellent.

"I think it is making a real difference to people. And we don't forget families after they leave us.

"We keep following up."

Ms Clements said the potential clientele for centres like Brooke House was almost incalculable.

She added: "In regards to the RUC, we know that more than 300 officers were killed and thousands more sustained physical injuries.

"But there are also the hidden victims who are suffering from mental stress. And then there are the families too.

"We also recognise that many other people are reluctant to come forward and overcome their own inhibitions about mental health," she said. Members of the Wounded Police and Families Association have already had what's known as a 'relaxation day' at Brooke House.

Their chairperson Hazel McCready, a former RUC officer who was wounded in an IRA ambush, said her visit was "tremendous" but she added that help for veterans was long overdue.

"I'm 43 years injured and I just wish there had been a facility like this back then on this side of the Irish Sea," she said.

The Ely Centre, set up to help victims after the Enniskillen Poppy Day bombing in 1987, has been at the forefront of the new initiative, which has been funded by the Exchequer through the Government's Libor fines scheme established after the fraudulent banking transactions scandal.

Lee McDowell, manager of the Ely Centre, said: "The facilities here at Colebrooke are perfect and the setting is idyllic. Lord Brookeborough has been magnificent."

Falklands War veteran Simon Weston, who launched the project, said he was impressed by Brooke House.

"Many people here have given so much in their service to the community and in part they have been left to languish without the right type of support and this is a good start," he said.

"I remember after I was injured the medical help for people like me was initially wonderful.

"But psychologically, if I said we had nothing I might be being generous.

"And the testament to that was the number of people who ended their lives at their own hands."

Ely Centre chairman Jim Dixon, who was seriously injured in the Remembrance Day bomb, said he was "humbled" to support ex-soldiers and policemen.

He added: "The Ely Centre help civilians at our 12 centres and I have always felt bad that I never fought for my country and I think a lot about those who did.

"And I hope Brooke House will benefit them."

Unionist MLA Doug Beattie, a former soldier with the Royal Irish Regiment, said Brooke House would provide crucially needed support for former police and Army veterans many of whom often couldn't open up to anyone about the ordeals they survived.

The Military Cross recipient added: "Obviously it's only scratching the surface in some ways, but it is a first step and I hope Brooke House can be used as a model for similar centres throughout Northern Ireland to help the many people who need help."
The details emerged during a hearing at Belfast High Court on Wednesday

A woman who allegedly pointed a replica gun at a car stopped at traffic lights in Belfast didn't realise plainclothes police officers were inside, the High Court heard today.

Caroline McDonnell then had to be disarmed because her newly purchased Glock-type pistol was so realistic, prosecutors said.

The 43-year-old, of Cliftonville Avenue in the city, faces a charge of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

A Crown lawyer said the officers were in an unmarked car stopped at the junction of Frederick Street and North Queen Street when McDonnell confronted them on March 29.

During a bail application it was claimed that she walked out onto the pedestrian crossing and deliberately pointed the gun at them.

"The applicant appeared to use eye to aim down the side of the gun and tilt it sideways," the prosecutor said.

Police emerged from the car and challenged her, with one officer partially drawing his own weapon because the Glock looked so real.

The court heard how it was seized from McDonnell and found to be a replica capable of firing small plastic balls.

Inquiries established she had bought it from an army surplus store at Smithfield Market in the city centre earlier that afternoon.

During interviews she made admissions, claiming she had been drinking and didn't understand the seriousness of her actions, according to the prosecution.

The Crown lawyer added: "She said she wasn't aware they were police officers, she apologised and accepted how foolish her actions were."

Defence barrister Aileen Smyth described her client's behaviour as "bizarre and foolhardy".

"She should have a huge debt of gratitude to the police for their restraint and the manner in which they dealt with the incident," counsel said.

Ms Smyth detailed McDonnell's struggles with alcoholism, telling the court she had gone into town and bought the replica gun after being asked to leave solicitor's offices due to her state of intoxication.

"It's beyond comprehension why she purchased this and saw fit to produce it in a public place," the barrister continued.

Bail was granted on condition that McDonnell attends her GP as part of potential treatment for her addiction.

Mr Justice Huddleston also barred her from possessing any replica weapons or knives.
Cadogan Enright is standing for re-election to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council

A Northern Ireland election candidate has claimed he has been blocked from posting adverts on Facebook after the social media giant recorded his Co Down address as being in the Republic of Ireland.

Cadogan Enright, who lives in Downpatrick and is seeking re-election to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, said he has been unable to post adverts for more than nine weeks, reports BBC NI.

The independent councillor believes the error is due to rules introduced by Facebook aimed at preventing foreign interference in elections, following alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential race.

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In order to post adverts on the platform, Mr Enright has to confirm his identity and address. He has provided Facebook with 29 separate identification forms in order to prove Downpatrick is in the UK, not the Republic of Ireland.

Last week, he received a message from Facebook's support team stating: "It is my understanding that our system has located your post code address BT30 6DN (UK) to the Republic of Ireland.

"Please be informed that I am working on this case with our expert team. As soon as I have any information, I will let you know."

The councillor has even asked the council's chief executive to write to the social media giant to confirm the entire council area is indeed in the UK, however the problem has persisted.

A Facebook spokesperson said: "Last year, we introduced new tools and policies in the United Kingdom to help prevent abuse and election interference.

"Our enforcement of this policy will never be perfect, and we apologise for the delay in this case during the authorizations process".
The DUP has claimed that campaigning by former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams ahead of tomorrow's local government elections is a sign the party is "under pressure" from its voters to go back to Stormont.

DUP MP Nigel Dodds said that "rolling out" Mr Adams to canvass showed Sinn Fein was "on the back foot".

Mr Adams stood down as leader in February 2018 after more than 34 years in the post but remain a TD for Louth.

In recent days Mr Adams has been campaigning alongside party colleagues in Belfast and Newry.

Sinn Fein has said it will not re-enter a power-sharing government with the DUP until an Irish Language Act is agreed, as well as the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

But North Belfast MP Mr Dodds suggested voters had other concerns.

He said: "Sinn Fein is under pressure and on the back foot as people on the doorsteps demand the restoration of the NI Assembly so decisions about roads, schools and hospitals can be made.

"The DUP has put forward a reasonable proposal to immediately restore the Assembly but in parallel with a talks process to deal with Sinn Fein demands such as the Irish language.

"Most political leaders agree with the DUP. Even Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin recognises that Sinn Fein's blockage of the Assembly and Executive is not justified.

"We recognise that Irish is important to some people but it's not more important than waiting lists or properly resourced schools.

"Holding Northern Ireland to ransom over the Irish language is not acceptable.

"Whilst Sinn Fein now raise other issues on their shopping list, people know there was only ever one priority for Sinn Fein which mattered.

"When the 'new' Sinn Fein leadership is rolling out Gerry Adams, you know they're under pressure."

In response Sinn Fein Upper Bann MLA John O'Dowd accused Mr Dodds of trying to distract from the DUP's ongoing denial of rights and pursuit of Brexit against the wishes of the people.

"The DUP's Nigel Dodds is obviously trying to distract the attention of the electorate ahead of Thursday's election.

"The DUP is desperate to create a distraction from its ongoing denial of rights to large sections of the community, RHI and the numerous other financial scandals it has been involved in, and its complete disregard and disdain for the democratically expressed views of the people of the north on Brexit as it blindly follows the lead of the Tories.

"It is also ironic that Nigel Dodds now seems happy with the ill-informed and ill-thought commentary of Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin on the North.

"Both are equally disconnected with the reality of politics on the ground.

"Nigel Dodds and the DUP seem incapable of getting their heads round the fact that citizens everywhere else in these islands have rights and public services at the same time.

"Sinn Fein remains committed to securing both. No citizen should be left behind."
One of the two boys accused of murdering teenager Ana Kriegel in the Republic "lured" her to a derelict farmhouse then watched "voyeuristically" as the other sexually assaulted and murdered her, Dublin's Central Criminal Court has heard.

Investigating gardai found a zombie mask, shin guards, knee pads and gloves in a backpack worn by the boy who carried out the attack, the prosecution alleged.

Prosecutor Brendan Grehan SC also said that Ana was last seen alive in the company of one of the accused.

The youths, who are now 14, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Anastasia Kriegel at Glenwood House in Lucan on May 14 last year. One of the boys, Boy A, has also denied a charge of aggravated sexual assault.

In his opening address Mr Grehan said that at 1pm on May 17 gardai, who had been looking for Ana, searched a derelict building where they found her body. She had been reported missing three days earlier by her parents.

Ana was found naked, except for her socks, and there was a ligature around her neck.

Mr Grehan said she had obvious head injuries, the scene was bloody and blood was splattered around the room. He said gardai began a murder investigation, and Professor Marie Cassidy conducted a post-mortem, which found Ana suffered severe and extensive injuries to her head and neck, which caused her death.

Mr Grehan said it is alleged that Ana was last seen by her family at around 5pm on May 14 when she left her home as a result of a visit by Boy B. She left in his company and was last seen at a public park with him.

Having failed to find Ana, her family made various attempts to locate her before going to Lucan Garda Station.

Both boys would go on to give different accounts of where they had been at the time.

It was alleged Boy A was connected to the scene by male DNA found on Ana's neck and on the tape used as a ligature on her neck, as well as semen found on her top.

Various items were found in Boy A's home that were connected to him and also connected to the alleged murder. This included the contents of a distinctive backpack he was seen carrying in the park containing "gloves, kneepads, shin guards and perhaps most chillingly, a zombie-type mask."

"There is no explanation consistent with innocence to explain these objective scientific facts," Mr Grehan told the jury.

The prosecution's case against Boy B was that he aided and abetted in the murder of Ana by assisting and helping Boy A, knowing what was going to happen.

Later, Ana's mother' told the court her daughter she was "a loner" who found it difficult to make friends and was "bullied endlessly" in secondary school.

Geraldine Kriegel said Ana was adopted from Russia by herself and husband Patrick when two-and-a-half years old.

Mrs Kriegel told the court that Ana had been cyber-bullied by a number of older students.

"There were awful, insulting things to make her feel small," Mrs Kriegel added.

Mrs Kriegel took screenshots of some sexually explicit messages sent to Ana and brought them to the attention of the school principal.

She told the court that Ana created a YouTube account and uploaded videos of her dancing, but these also attracted nasty comments. "One said he would have her executed," she added. "Another said 'go die'."

The trial continues.
Ian Paisley Jnr MP spoke to delegates from Visit Belfast and Visit Derry during a British parliament committee (Paul Faith/PA)

A DUP MP has suggested that Northern Irish tourism companies should aggressively target tourists in Dublin to tell them youre in the wrong part of the island.

Ian Paisley Jnr, speaking to delegates from Visit Belfast and Visit Derry during a British parliament committee on Wednesday, suggested that Dublin was unfairly marketing in Northern Ireland.

He asked if Northern Ireland should put it right back in their face.

Its been put to me that 70 percent of Dublin airports marketing budget on the island is spent in Northern Ireland to attract people to go south Mr Paisley said.

Why don't we have an aggressive strategy that tells every single Irish-American in Dublin, 'You're in the wrong part of the island, you need to be up north'Ian Paisley Jnr MP

Im just wondering, should we have an aggressive marketing strategy that says whenever you get off a plane in Dublin, Visit Derry, Visit Belfast, Visit the Causeway, why arent you going north?, and put it right back in their face?

The song most Americans sing is Danny Boy  thats nothing to do with the Republic of Ireland, its to do with Northern Ireland.

Why dont we have an aggressive strategy that tells every single Irish-American in Dublin, Youre in the wrong part of the island, you need to be up north.

The delegates, Gerry Lennon from Visit Belfast, and Odhran Dunne from Visit Derry, both said that more marketing was essential, that resources were tight and that they need more public sector funding.

Lady Sylvia Hermon asked how Brexit will affect tourism in Northern Ireland as the spectre of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland remains.

Mr Dunne replied: Were like every other agency and stakeholder, its the unknown and very hard to prepare for.

As advocates of tourism, and trying to grow that economy, our priority has to be that the consumer journey is easy and seamless.

The issue of hard border is not conducive to progressive tourism, and that would be a challenge.

Visit Belfasts Gerry Lennon said: Anything that would add layer of complication to people crossing border or flying in is not a good thing.

Weve enough problems trying to catch up with other destinations, without adding any layers of complication.

Visit Belfast have had one or two conferences that have rejected Belfast as their preferred location, due to Brexit-related uncertainty.

Both men noted the tourism industry had been negatively impacted without a minister in place since the Stormont collapse, and that the industry had been working off a draft tourism strategy for 10 years.

When pressed on whether he was optimistic about the introduction of power-sharing talks in Northern Ireland to restore the assembly, Mr Lennon replied: Thats way above my pay grade.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been heckled by farmers demanding increased Brexit support.

Mr Varadkar was greeted by shouts and chants of Wheres the beef, ye vegan? as he arrived in Cork for a Government meeting.

Members of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) staged a demonstration outside City Hall on Wednesday to coincide with a Cabinet meeting being held in the landmark building.

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When asked to respond to the heckler, Mr Varadkar said he was not vegan and that he was very much an omnivore.

The chants were made in reference to comments made earlier this year by the Taoiseach that he was cutting down on eating red meat for health and climate change reasons.

The remarks were not well received by farmers.

Mr Varadkar was cornered by IFA president Joe Healy as he made his way into the building.

Mr Healy told the Taoiseach: We need answers today. We need a clear message coming from this meeting today, farmers are depending on it.

He said industries across the country were also waiting on answers as they were waiting on farmers to pay the bills that they owed.

Beef farmers need a Brexit support package and we will be sending a strong message to the Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar and his Cabinet tomorrow. They can have the meeting wherever they like. Well be there...https://t.co/JmOeBbAZZO  Irish Farmers' Association (@IFAmedia) April 30, 2019

Mr Varadkar told Mr Healy that the Government wanted to do more for beef farmers, but he said they already received far more income supports than other sectors.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney was also cornered by farmers as he arrived for the meeting.

IFA members told him they had suffered long enough and that beef farmers could not continue to operate in the midst of such economic uncertainty.

The organisation is calling on the Government to step in and support beef farmers.

Addressing the rally, Mr Healy said the beef sector needed a 100 million euro aid package to ensure its survival.

Were here in the rebel country and this is very much a farmers rebellion and we make no apologies for it, he told the crowd.

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The IFA president said beef farmers had been savaged financially by the uncertainty caused by Brexit.

The IFA are not going to allow this Government to turn their backs on Irish farmers and in particular beef farmers, he said.

Were going to fight and fight like hell to make sure an aid package is got for the losses that Irish beef farmers have suffered over the last number of years, but particularly over the last six/seven months.

If those farmers arent supported well then they face extinction and thats the message that we were getting across to every minister and the Taoiseach who went through that door today.

Mr Healy added that farmers were angry and fed up to the back teeth of empty promises and that it was time for the Government to deliver.

Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, Mr Varadkar said: Everyone in government acknowledges that beef farmers in Ireland at the moment are struggling. The beef price is extremely low and as a result of that a lot of beef farmers are in financial distress.

The impact of that is wider than 75,000 beef farmers on their own. It has an impact across the rural economy as well and has very significant knock-on effects.

He said the beef price was low due to a variety of reasons including Brexit and that the government wanted to do more to help .

The Taoiseach added that the Government had made a submission to the European Commission about what income supports might be able to be provided to farmers.

Responding specifically to the accusations made by farmers that he was a vegan, Mr Varadkar replied: Yeah Im not a vegan for a start. Im very much an omnivore. My problem if anything is I probably eat too much of everything.

Last month, farmers stormed an AIB meeting in Dublin in protest against the banks sale of loans to vulture funds.

The demonstration was part of a nationwide campaign opposing the planned sale of farm loans by the State-owned bank.
Leo Varadkar has labelled the latest homelessness figures as very depressing.

The figures released by the government put the number of homeless people in Ireland at 10,300, the worst in the history of the state.

Homeless charities believe that the actual number is much higher, as they say the governments method of counting homeless people is not accurate, as it does not include women and children in domestic violence shelters or those living in Direct Provision, amongst other factors.

Speaking in Cork, Mr Varadkar rejected claims that Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy is no longer the right person for the job.

The difficulty we have is that people are still becoming homeless at a very fast rate.Leo Varadkar

I have full confidence in Eoghan Murphy as Housing Minister, its a very difficult job, he said.

Eoghan Murphy did certainly not cause the housing crisis, that was caused by other people before this government took up office.

We shouldnt forget the record of some of the opposition parties when it comes to housing, this time eight or nine years ago, the banks were bust, the construction industry collapsed, thats the Fianna Fail record.

Recovering from that was always going to be difficult and it was always going to take time, and notwithstanding the disappointing and very depressing homelessness figures which showed a further increase, we are making progress.

While homelessness figures are not going down, the people who are being lifted out of homelessness is at a record high.

The difficulty we have is that people are still becoming homeless at a very fast rate.

Mr Murphy has been Minister for Housing since June 2017 and he has survived one motion of no confidence, which was tabled by Sinn Feins Eoin OBroin who has been a fierce critic of Mr Murphys tenure in the job.

One in three homeless people in Ireland is a child, and charities say the lack of affordable rental and social housing is forcing young families into homelessness.

A number of major rallies for housing, which attracted thousands of people to the streets, have taken place across Ireland.

Campaigners have called for improved rights for renters, a ban on letting site AirBnB in rental pressure zones, and a blanket ban on evictions until the crisis is amended.

The next major rally for housing is planned for May 18.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has denied calling consultants at the centre of claims about inadequate mortuary services at University Hospital Waterford liars.

But he said he did not know whether the claims made by consultant pathologists at the hospital were true, untrue or exaggerated.

It came after the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said it had been alarmed by the Governments response to a number of consultants raising their concerns.

The organisation said it is disappointing the Government had decided to question the validity of the consultants concerns rather than tackling the issue in a timely manner.

It emerged last week that four consultant pathologists at the hospital wrote to the Health Service Executive last year stating the pressing need to have inadequate facilities at the hospital mortuary addressed.

In the letter, the consultants said bodies had been left to decompose in the corridors and that had led to closed-coffin funerals.

Sinn Fein has called for an independent investigation into the mortuary and post-mortem examination services at the hospital.

On Tuesday, Mr Varadkar said there is no evidence to back up the consultants claims that bodies were left decomposing on hospital trolleys.

Asked on Wednesday whether he believes the consultants were lying, Mr Varadkar said: What I said was a statement of fact. There is a dispute about what the true facts are. The claim in the letter is that most deceased people were on trolleys and decomposing  that is what was claimed.

It seems now that the picture may be a little bit more different to that and the hospital group has said there isnt any evidence to support that claim.

I dont know what the absolute truth is, whether its true, untrue or exaggerated.

The response in recent days from health service management and the Government is disappointing as it has not focused on the risks and concerns highlighted by the consultant pathologists. Donal O'Hanlon, IHCA

He said the only way to ensure the truth is through further investigation, which he said is now being considered by the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA).

Mr Varadkar made the comments following a Cabinet meeting at Corks City Hall.

Dr Donal OHanlon, IHCA president, said the organisation fully supports the consultants and that it is clear they had, in the public interest, highlighted genuine issues and risks associated with the insufficiency of mortuary services.

He added: The response in recent days from health service management and the Government is disappointing as it has not focused on the risks and concerns highlighted by the consultant pathologists.

He said a culture change is needed that encourages consultants to disclose their concerns about health service delivery risks.

Otherwise the quality and safety of patient care is at risk, he said.
A director who stole 2.4 million from two companies which held the royalties to acclaimed 70s rock band Deep Purple has been jailed.

Dipak Rao, 71, from Worcester Park, Surrey, was sentenced to six years and four months at Guildford Crown Court, Surrey Police said.

Alongside Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple are often referred to as part of the unholy trinity of British hard rock.

In the words of Deep Purple:



You've got to learn to share your secrets

Or you'll lose your soul

I've got the evidence

I know you broke

The unwritten law



Dipak Rao now knows how the law can Burn

(With thanks to @leonijanekennedy @acm_uk) pic.twitter.com/7rwuNX8I7w  Surrey Police (@SurreyPolice) May 1, 2019

Their back catalogue, built over a 50-year career, includes songs such as Smoke On The Water and Soldiers Of Fortune.

Rao pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and of laundering the proceeds of the fraud.

Over seven years, he transferred large sums of money from the accounts of Deep Purple Overseas Ltd and HEC Enterprises Ltd into his personal account.

Rao claimed they were for loans he would later pay back.

But a police investigation found Rao had tried to hide most of the transactions and failed to record them in the company records.

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This was only discovered after two of the companies directors died and their stakes in the businesses were passed to their children, who hired a new accountant to audit the books.

Both companies have since been dissolved.

Detective Constable Rebecca Mason, from Surrey Polices Economic Crime Unit, said: This is a case of out-and-out dishonesty and someone blatantly abusing the trust placed in them.

Just because someone wears a suit and hides their crimes behind the facade of an official sounding job, it doesnt make them any less of a criminal.

(Dipak Rao) abused his position and hid his crime for over seven years As a result of Raos actions both companies now no longer exist and the victims are left dealing with the financial consequences  and the consequences to their families reputations  of what he did.

The directors of these two businesses have suffered a huge amount of emotional distress throughout all of this, and I hope that todays sentencing will give them some closure.

Representatives of Deep Purple have been contacted for comment.
Falklands war veteran Simon Weston has accused the Government of stabbing former troops who served here in the back.

He criticised what he described as the "appalling betrayal" of ex-soldiers who face prosecution over historic killings during the Troubles.

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The 57-year-old Welshman, who was severely burned in a bomb attack by the Argentinians in 1982, said that instead of prosecutions, Westminster should be backing ex-soldiers "to the hilt".

He added: "These ex-soldiers did their jobs at the behest of the British Government who shouldn't be turning around like cowards and leaving them on their own. That is wrong on every count."

Mr Weston was speaking at the opening of a new support facility for former RUC and military veterans in Fermanagh yesterday. He was horrifically injured on board the Sir Galahad in 1982 and is involved in service veterans' charities.

He claimed that a number of the veterans, including a former paratrooper who is to be charged in relation to Bloody Sunday, were being made "scapegoats".

And he said that hundreds of ex-soldiers were now terrified that the authorities would follow up any convictions with more prosecutions and investigations.

He said the decision to bring soldiers to court was the "worst possible recruitment drive for the British armed forces".

"That type of betrayal just cannot be acceptable," added Mr Weston, who claimed that there seemed to be two different types of justice in Northern Ireland: "One for the armed services and one for the terrorists."

He added: "I am not anti-anybody but what's right for one has to be right for the other. We have seen people who have openly admitted to murders and who are happily living in Spain, but nobody seems to be going after them. And some of their colleagues have even gone into government. So it appears everybody is trying to make the Troubles the fault of the British armed forces when they were actually sent here by politicians."

Referring to 'Soldier F' facing charges over Bloody Sunday, Mr Weston said: "One soldier has been singled out for one day's action but when you have a look at it, I don't see any of the senior people who gave out the orders being brought to book."

He also criticised those "passing judgment more than 40 years on and trying to second guess what was going through a soldier's mind", adding: "They don't talk about the pressure the soldiers were under.

"People can't understand the pressure on 18 or 19-year-old soldiers coming on the streets."

Mr Weston, who also served in south Armagh, said he was caught up in a number of riots.

He added: "We had no idea whether or not we were being lined up to be sniped upon or if there was a bomb ambush intended for us.

"The pressure to make the right decision and not to shoot was intense."

Mr Weston said the feelings of betrayal among former British soldiers were "palpable".

He added: "And what are they doing now? They're stabbing everybody in the back."

He said military intervention in the Troubles was never going to be the answer.

He called for the Government to follow the example of what South Africa did several decades ago and draw a line in the sand regarding more prosecutions.

In response to Mr Weston's comments, a UK Government spwwokesperson said: "This Government salutes the heroism and bravery of those members of our Armed Forces and police officers who stood valiantly to uphold democracy and the rule of law and who, in far too many cases, paid the ultimate price. Without their contribution there would have been no peace process in NI. We will never forget the debt of gratitude we owe them.

"The system to investigate the past needs to change to provide better outcomes for victims and survivors of the Troubles and to also ensure members of our armed forces and police are not disproportionally affected. This is why we have consulted widely on the system in Northern Ireland.

"The 2017 manifesto made clear any approach to the past must be consistent with the rule of law. We have always said that we will not introduce amnesties or immunities from prosecution in Northern Ireland.

"The Ministry of Defence is currently looking at what more can be done to provide further legal protection to service personnel and veterans, including considering legislation."
Gavin Williamson has been sacked as Defence Secretary following an inquiry into the leak of information from last weeks National Security Council meeting.

Downing Street said that Prime Minister Theresa May asked Mr Williamson to leave the Government having lost confidence in his ability to serve.

Mr Williamson was immediately replaced in his role at the head of the Ministry of Defence by International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

A Royal Navy reservist, she will be the UKs first female Defence Secretary and retains the job of minister for women and equalities. Rory Stewart enters the Cabinet as new International Development Secretary.

The inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill was launched after information from secret discussions about Chinese telecoms firm Huaweis involvement in the development of the UKs 5G mobile network was printed in the Daily Telegraph.

The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence SecretaryDowning Street

Mr Williamson was listed in the Telegraph as being among a small group of ministers whose warnings about Huaweis involvement were overruled by the Prime Minister.

In a statement, a Downing Street spokesman said: The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet.

The Prime Ministers decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed.

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In a meeting with Mr Williamson on Wednesday evening, Mrs May confronted him with information which she said provided compelling evidence that he was responsible for the unauthorised disclosure.

And in a letter confirming his dismissal, she told him: No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.

Mrs May said that the leak from the April 23 meeting was an extremely serious matter and a deeply disappointing one.

While leaks from Cabinet meetings are relatively frequent, it is unprecedented for private conversations from a forum where the most senior ministers are briefed by heads of the security and intelligence agencies to reach the public.

Mrs May said it was vital for the operation of good government and for the UKs national interest for NSC members to be able to have frank and detailed discussions in full confidence that the advice and analysis provided is not discussed or divulged beyond that trusted environment.

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Informing Mr Williamson of his dismissal, Mrs May said she was concerned at the manner in which he had engaged with Sir Marks inquiry.

It has been conducted fairly, with the full co-operation of other NSC attendees, she wrote.

They have all answered questions, engaged properly, provided as much information as possible to assist with the investigation, and encouraged their staff to do the same. Your conduct has not been of the same standard as others.

In our meeting this evening, I put to you the latest information from the investigation, which provides compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure. No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.

Mr Williamson last week denied being responsible for the leak, issuing a statement to say: Neither I nor any of my team have divulged information from the National Security Council.

If he has leaked from the National Security Council, Gavin Williamson should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets ActTom Watson, Labour

It is understood that Sir Mark interviewed members of the NSC as well as asking them to hand over their mobile phones so they could be checked for any trace of contacts with journalists.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said: If he has leaked from the National Security Council, Gavin Williamson should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. And he should forgo his ministerial severance pay.

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: This story cannot begin and end with dismissal from office.

What is at stake is the capacity of our security services to give advice at the highest level.

This must now be referred to the Metropolitan Police for a thorough criminal investigation into breaches of the Official Secrets Act.

Change UKs defence spokesman Mike Gapes said: This is an extraordinary development following an unprecedented leak from the National Security Council and I would now expect a criminal investigation to follow.

This is yet another sign of a dysfunctional chaotic Conservative government. Our politics is broken, its time for a change.

South Staffordshire MP Mr Williamson, 42, was a surprise appointment as Defence Secretary in November 2017, after a meteoric rise which saw him enter the Cabinet without ever having served in a junior ministerial role.

He was one of Mrs Mays closest allies after she made him chief whip on entering Downing Street in 2016. But during his time in the Cabinet, he showed increasing signs of independence from the PM and was widely regarded as preparing for a tilt at the top job when she stands down.

Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, said new Defence Secretary Ms Mourdant should take immediate action to make sure British warships are built in the UK.

Transport Salaried Staffs Association general secretary Manuel Cortes said: This topsy turvy Tory world we are all being forced to live in has to end.

A Cabinet from which the Defence Secretary is sacked for leaking national security secrets, in which the Transport Secretary stays in place no matter what he makes a balls of  and today it was paying millions for non-existent Brexit ferry contracts  and over which the Prime Minister persists with her myth that she can implement Brexit  is sinking Britain.

There is nothing of comic value left to plunder from the Tories. They have made government in Britain a tragedy.

A general election is now not just desirable. It is also the essential first step to restoring dignity and integrity to the discredited process of fixed government in this country.
Julian Assange has been jailed for 50 weeks for breaching his bail conditions after going into hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London while he was wanted over allegations of sexual offences.

The WikiLeaks founder spent nearly seven years living in the embassy  where he sought political asylum  until last month, when he was dramatically dragged out by police.

Assange wrote to Southwark Crown Court, apologising for his actions, which he said he regretted and acknowledged may have placed him in a graver situation.

Judge Deborah Taylor said this was the first time he had expressed contrition over his actions, which she said cost at least 16 million in public funds.

I found myself struggling with difficult circumstances.Julian Assange

The judge told a packed court it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of breaching the Bail Act, as she sentenced him to 50 weeks imprisonment, just short of the one year maximum.

Assange  with his beard neatly trimmed, in a stark contrast to the scruffy figure he cut as he was hauled from the embassy  defiantly raised his fist to supporters when he was led to the cells.

They shouted free Julian and shame on you to the court.

Moments earlier, Judge Taylor had told Assange: Firstly, by entering the embassy, you deliberately put yourself out of reach, whilst remaining in the UK.

You remained there for nearly seven years, exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country.

She also said his actions undoubtedly affected Swedish prosecutors efforts, which were discontinued not least because you remained in the embassy.

In a bid to secure a lower sentence, the 47-year-old wrote to the court saying he went into hiding while struggling with terrifying circumstances.

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I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case, he said in the handwritten letter.

I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done  which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears.

I regret the course that this took.

Whilst the difficulties I now face may have become even greater, nevertheless it is right for me to say this now.

In mitigation for Assange, Mark Summers QC told the court the Australian had been gripped by fears that his work with WikiLeaks would provoke rendition to Guantanamo Bay or the US, where he could face the death penalty.

As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned, Mr Summers said.

They dominated his thoughts. They were not invented by him, they were gripping him throughout.

This was no figment of his imagination, the lawyer said, citing examples where Sweden sent people to states where they were at significant risk of ill-treatment, including torture and death.

But the judge found that the background to the case was being used as mitigation rather than as any reasonable excuse for Assanges failure to surrender.

She also said the 16 million figure was spent in ensuring that he was brought to justice if he did voluntarily leave his hiding place.

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Assange entered the embassy on June 19 2012 while under intense scrutiny over the leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables on his whistleblowing website.

The drastic move came after he exhausted all legal options in fighting extradition to Sweden over two separate allegations  one of rape and one of molestation.

Assange, claiming he was the subject of an American witch hunt, said he was at risk of being taken to the US if he was sent to the Scandinavian nation.

On Thursday, he will face a hearing about his potential extradition to the US over the allegation he conspired with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate Pentagon computers.

Prosecutors in Sweden are also considering whether to reopen the sexual assault case against Assange, which was dropped in May 2017. Assange denies the allegations.

His eviction from the embassy on April 11 came after a souring of relations, with Ecuadors president Lenin Moreno claiming Assange had tried to use the Knightsbridge site for spying.

Hours later he was taken to Westminster Magistrates Court, where he was found guilty of the bail breach after failing to surrender to police on June 29 2012.

On Wednesday, the street leading up to the Southwark court was lined with barriers, with security anticipating groups of demonstrators where fans later chanted: No extradition, theres only one decision.

Speaking after the sentencing, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said the sentence was an outrage and vindictive in nature.

But the big fight, he added, is now opposing extradition which he called a question of life and death for Mr Assange.
Scottish Labours leader and MSPs have backed Anas Sarwars criticism of the partys investigation into racism allegations (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Anas Sarwar has thanked Scottish Labour MSPs after they backed his criticism of the UK partys handling of Islamophobia allegations.

The Glasgow MSP condemned Labours complaints process after he was barred from giving evidence at a hearing into allegations he suffered racist abuse.

The Scottish Labour parliamentary group in Holyrood has now expressed its solidarity with Mr Sarwar, who has demanded the party urgently review the process and outcome of this case.

While solidarity is welcome, action is what we needAnas Sarwar MSP

A motion, passed by the partys MSPs, criticised the inherently flawed and drawn out complaints process and joined Mr Sarwar in calling for responsibility for disciplinary action to be devolved to the party in Scotland.

The group registered its disappointment at the decision of the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) to dismiss the case against Councillor Davie McLachlan, who allegedly told the MSP he could not support him as leader because Scotland wouldnt vote for a brown Muslim Paki.

Mr Sarwar said he was given just four days notice that the NCC was going to meet to consider his complaint but when he turned up was prevented from speaking because he had not given two weeks notice that he planned to appear as a witness.

He said it left him feeling deeply hurt and demoralised by the process, which he said was deeply flawed and not fit for purpose.

After the partys MSPs backed the statement supporting him, Mr Sarwar said: I would like to thank my colleagues and all those from all parties and none who have offered such incredible support over the last few days.

While solidarity is welcome, action is what we need.

Ultimately, parties will be judged on their deeds not words.

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Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: It is right that the Scottish Labour group at Holyrood has expressed its solidarity with Anas.

The complaints Anas has made about how this case has been handled deserve to be treated seriously and he should get a full explanation.

I have said for some time now that we need to ensure these kind of cases are dealt with more efficiently and more quickly, while maintaining a fair, transparent and rigorous system.

He added: We have doubled the size of the National Constitutional Committee, the independent body which hears these cases, but, as this case shows, clearly more still needs to be done.

Anas has my full support for his campaign to root out racism and Islamophobia in our society.

The UK Labour party has been contacted for comment.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has launched his partys European election campaign in Wales.

The former Ukip leader said in a speech to supporters in Newport on Tuesday evening his return to front line politics was brought on by wanting to fight back against politicians in Westminster, and told supporters he would no longer be Mr Nice Guy.

NEW BREXIT PARTY RALLY - NEWPORT https://t.co/4ybbLTjlY5  Reform UK (@reformparty_uk) April 30, 2019

Mr Farage said: I decided the time had come to fight back, and I formed this Brexit Party and I vowed, if I had to come back into public life, this time no more Mr Nice Guy.

This battle now is not just about Brexit; its not just about getting us out of the European Union. It is in fact about sweeping away a political class who serve nobody but themselves. This is about changing politics for good.

Mr Farage also repeated his intention to have Brexit Party candidates stand in by-elections and the next general election, saying: We are likely to get our first electoral test in Westminster in a by-election which is now pretty certain to happen in Peterborough. There even could be one in Brecon and Radnor.

And the day after this campaign finishes we will get ourselves ready to fight a general election.

Mr Farage was joined by three of the four Brexit Party candidates for Wales, including former Ukip Wales leader Nathan Gill, James Wells, and Gethin Price, while Julie Price was absent.

Also joining the candidates was former Conservative MP Anne Widdecombe, who told the rally on Tuesday evening she had joined the party after ending her 55-year association with the Tories.

She said: One month ago even I would have found it difficult to contemplate leaving a party which I served for 55 years. But that party is no longer serving you. It has set out quite deliberately to thwart the will of the British people and to keep us half in ad half out which is not what we voted for.

She also said not respecting the EU Referendum would betray the legacy of those who fought in the Second World War, adding: Heavens above if wed been governed by this lot wed have given up at Dunkirk.
Scientists found cocaine in freshwater shrimps when testing for chemicals in UK rivers.

Researchers from Kings College London, working with the University of Suffolk, tested at 15 sites across Suffolk and found cocaine at all of them.

The study, published in Environment International, found other illicit drugs such as ketamine, pesticides and pharmaceuticals were also widespread in the shrimp that were collected.

The presence of pesticides which have long been banned in the UK also poses a particular challenge as the sources of these remain unclear.Dr Leon Barron

Dr Leon Barron, from Kings College London, said: Such regular occurrence of illicit drugs in wildlife was surprising.

We might expect to see these in urban areas such as London, but not in smaller and more rural catchments.

The presence of pesticides which have long been banned in the UK also poses a particular challenge as the sources of these remain unclear.

Lead author Dr Thomas Miller, from Kings College London, said concentrations were low and the potential for any effect was likely to be low.

Professor Nic Bury, from the University of Suffolk, said further research is needed to determine whether the presence of cocaine in aquatic animals is widespread in the UK and abroad, or a particular issue for Suffolk.
An SNP MP has said he would be prepared to cast the deciding vote against Scottish independence as Commons Speaker.

Perth MP Pete Wishart announced his bid to become the new Speaker when incumbent John Bercow steps down.

The current Speaker had to side with the Government in a historic Commons tie over indicative votes in order to break the Brexit deadlock.

When the Press Association asked Mr Wishart what he would do if a similar deadlock were ever to happen in the Commons on Scottish independence, he admitted he would have to make unpalatable decisions.

He said: The Speaker always has to cast the vote in favour of the status quo, regardless of how unpalatable that might be.

From personal point of view its not great but there are years and years of these types of conventions.

In terms of Scottish independence I cant actually foresee a situation where we can expect Westminster to be deciding that, though.

But Mr Wishart said nobody should doubt his personal commitment to independence, as he had demonstrated during the first independence referendum.

I was here in Westminster during the first independence referendum and I don't think I ever worked so hard to kick myself out of a job than during thatPete Wishart MP

Acknowledging some SNP supporters had been extremely unhappy with his announcement, claiming he was not settling up but settling in, the Perth MP appealed for them to recognise his long history of campaigning for Scottish independence as an MP.

He said: I was here in Westminster during the first independence referendum and I dont think I ever worked so hard to kick myself out of a job than during that.

When we have the next independence referendum I will be trying equally hard.

Some of the more enthusiastic supporters could look at who would be better in the chair than an MP who comes from the SNP.

Mr Wishart said he also understood he would not have the natural, large support base of the two main parties but hoped to attract MPs who were tired of the status quo and wanted a modernised and more equal Commons.

The shadow Commons leaders manifesto includes bringing in electronic voting, which is already in place in the Scottish Parliament, and calling MPs who have campaigned on topics first instead of by seniority.

The veteran MP, who also chairs the Scottish Affairs Committee, wants to end the practice of referring to MPs by their constituency, because he wants MPs to speak to each other like ordinary human beings.

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And Mr Wishart said he had total respect and admiration for the work of his friend Mr Bercow, despite accusations of bullying.

The SNP MP said: I think (Mr Bercow) has transformed the whole role in the face of consistent attacks from the executive and the Government and the way he has conducted himself has been exemplary.

I hope he does stay on for his whole term.

He does not address the issue of bullying directly in his manifesto, which he admits to the Press Association he should probably have included, and stressed his long history of working to combat bullying.

A pledge to reform the management of the Commons by including staff as well as MPs, is included, as is promise to remove sanctions for clapping and push for more family-friendly working hours.

I've got no intention of retiringPete Wishart MP

Mr Wishart also denied he was edging towards retirement due to disappointment when he pulled out of the deputy leadership last year.

Ive got no intention of retiring, he said. Ive never really had any leadership ambition.

I sort of stumbled into being a politician from being a musician and Ive taken forward causes that are really important to me regardless of how popular or unpopular they might be.

This is the same thing because people at home are looking at us and thinking what on Earth is going on in that place? and we need to look at what a 21st-century Parliament should be.
A boy believed to be 15 years old has been stabbed to death in east London.

Police were called to Somerford Grove, in Hackney, on Wednesday evening to reports of a stabbing.

The youngster was given first aid by officers before paramedics and an air ambulance arrived at the scene but he was pronounced dead at 9.49pm.

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Scotland Yard said his family have been informed.

Another teenager, 16, who was found with stab injuries in Shacklewell Road, has been taken to hospital.

But police said his injuries were not life-threatening.

No arrests have been made and the Metropolitan Police has put a Section 60 order in place for the whole of Hackney, which allows officers to stop and search anyone in the area.

The Homicide and Major Crime Command have been informed.
The woman asked Robinson why he was picking on Muslims (Matthew Gaskell/PA)

A woman has been captured on camera confronting Tommy Robinson as he campaigned for her vote in Salford.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is canvassing to become a Member of the European Parliament for the North West.

In the footage, which has received hundreds of thousands of views after being reuploaded on Twitter, Robinson talks to the woman about Muslim grooming gangs.

The woman, whose identity is not known, then responds asking if the former English Defence League leader is just spouting a load of shit to get publicity.

Matthew Gaskell, who filmed the video outside a Salford shopping centre on Tuesday, told the Press Association the woman had also asked Robinson why he was focusing on Muslims.

She could also be heard accusing Robinson, 36, of perverting the course of justice, an apparent reference to his ongoing contempt of court case.

Robinson is accused of committing contempt by filming people in a criminal trial and broadcasting the footage on social media.

Expand Close Robinson launched his European election campaign on Thursday (Peter Byrne/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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The Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC announced it was in the public interest to pursue proceedings, after a previous contempt finding against Robinson was quashed by the Court of Appeal in August.

Robinson pledged a David versus Goliath battle to represent the betrayed working classes as he announced his plans to run as an MEP last Thursday.

He will remain an adviser to Ukip leader Gerard Batten but was unable to run for the party due to its rule banning former EDL members from joining.
Hundreds of people held a vigil to remember the victims of a nail bomb attack at the Admiral Duncan pub in Londons Soho in April 1999 (Yui Mok/PA)

Part of Soho came to a standstill on Tuesday evening as the London Gay Mens Chorus performed a moving tribute to mark 20 years since a hate attack at a popular pub.

The choir sang at a vigil where hundreds of people had gathered to remember the victims of a nail bomb attack that targeted the LGBTQ+ community on April 30 1999, killing three people, including a pregnant woman, and injuring 79 others.

Beautiful tribute, led by London Gay Mans Choir, to mark 20 years since the bombing of the Admiral Duncan. pic.twitter.com/atraMrOXN2  The Waltzer of Chaos (He/Him) (@RoganJoshh) April 30, 2019

The choir sang Simon And Garfunkels Bridge Over Troubled Water outside the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street.

The 1999 attack followed two separate blasts within two weeks which targeted minority groups in London  in Brixton, and in Brick Lane in the East End.

Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nick Moore were killed in Soho in what was the last of bombings.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: Today marks 20 years since the horrific nail bomb attack at the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho. It was the third in a series of cowardly attacks that targeted Londons black, Asian, and LGBT+ communities.

Expand Close Friends and relatives of the victims of the Soho bomb blast attend a Vigil of Remembrance, at the scene outside the Admiral Duncan pub in 1999. PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Friends and relatives of the victims of the Soho bomb blast attend a Vigil of Remembrance, at the scene outside the Admiral Duncan pub in 1999.

Its vital that we ensure we continue to defeat those who seek to divide us by showing how we dont just tolerate our differences in London, but respect and celebrate them. Londons diversity will always be our greatest strength.

Attended a very moving service and event today for the victims of the three bombs that went off in London 20 years ago including the three people that died and 79 who were injured on 30th April 1999 at the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho.



Hatred will never win.#LoveWins pic.twitter.com/IY6eBVFe2J  Steve Doran  La !!!! (@SteveDoran11) April 30, 2019

The Admiral Duncan first opened in 1832, and is known as one of Sohos oldest gay pubs.

Expand Close Two men arrive with a floral tribute at the scene of the bomb blast, in the centre of Soho, London. (PA). PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Two men arrive with a floral tribute at the scene of the bomb blast, in the centre of Soho, London. (PA).

Steve Doran, who attended the vigil, said on Twitter: Attended a very moving service and event today for the victims of the three bombs that went off in London  Hatred will never win.
Fireworks launched by opponents of Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro land near Bolivarian National Guard armoured vehicles loyal to Maduro (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets on Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration and fierce resistance from forces loyal to socialist Nicolas Maduro.

The violent street battles that erupted in parts of Caracas were the most serious challenge yet to Mr Maduros rule.

And while the rebellion seemed to have garnered only limited military support, at least one high-ranking official announced he was breaking with Mr Maduro, in a setback for the embattled president.

In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Mr Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an illegitimate government with the support of the United States and neighbouring Colombia.

He said Venezuela had been a victim of aggression of all kinds.

Manana continuamos con la ejecucion de la #OperacionLibertad. Iniciamos la fase final y estaremos de forma sostenida en las calles hasta lograr el cese de la usurpacion.



Vamos con todo, con mas fuerza y determinacion!#ConTodoPaLaCalle https://t.co/ep1vC824j6  Juan Guaido (@jguaido) May 1, 2019

Meanwhile, Mr Guaido sought to keep the momentum going at the end of the day by releasing his own video message in which he pressed Venezuelans to take to the streets again on Wednesday.

The competing quests to solidify a hold on power capped a dramatic day that included a tense moment when several armoured vehicles ploughed into a group of anti-government demonstrators trying to storm the capitals air base, hitting at least two protesters.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said the Trump administration was waiting for three key officials, including Mr Maduros defence minister and head of the supreme court, to act on what he said were private pledges to remove Mr Maduro. He did not provide details.

The stunning events began early Tuesday when Mr Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armoured crowd-control vehicles, released the three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Mr Guaidos political mentor and the nations most prominent opposition activist, stood alongside him.

Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Mr Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Mr Guaido.

I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers, Mr Lopez declared.

Expand Close A Bolivarian National Guard water canon sprays opponents of Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro during an attempted military uprising (Ariana Cubillos/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp A Bolivarian National Guard water canon sprays opponents of Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro during an attempted military uprising (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from an overpass, troops loyal to Mr Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Mr Guaido at a plaza a few blocks from the disturbances.

A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

Amid the mayhem, several armoured utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd.

Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.

Its now or never, said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers.

The head of a medical centre near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets.

At least one person had been shot with live ammunition. Venezuelan human rights group Provea said a 24-year-old man was shot and killed during an anti-government protest in the city of La Victoria.

Later on Tuesday, Mr Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassadors residence in Caracas, where another political ally has been holed up for over a year. They later moved to the Spanish embassy. There were also reports that 25 troops who had been with Mr Guaido fled to Brazils diplomatic mission.

Amid the confusion, Mr Maduro tried to project an image of strength, saying he had spoken to several regional military commanders who reaffirmed their loyalty.

Nerves of steel! he said in a message posted on Twitter.

Nervios de Acero! He conversado con los Comandantes de todas las REDI y ZODI del Pais, quienes me han manifestado su total lealtad al Pueblo, a la Constitucion y a la Patria. Llamo a la maxima movilizacion popular para asegurar la victoria de la Paz. Venceremos!  Nicolas Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) April 30, 2019

Flanked by top military commanders, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned Mr Guaidos move as a terrorist act and coup attempt that was bound to fail like past uprisings.

Those who try to take Miraflores with violence will be met with violence, he said on national television, referring to the presidential palace where hundreds of government supporters, some of them brandishing firearms, had gathered in response to a call to defend Mr Maduro.

But in a possible sign that Mr Maduros inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuelas secret police penned a letter breaking ranks with the embattled leader.

Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of Venezuelas feared SEBIN intelligence agency, wrote a letter to the Venezuelan people saying that while he has always been loyal to Mr Maduro it is now time to rebuild the country.

He lamented that corruption has become so rampant that many high-ranking public servants practice it like a sport.

The hour has arrived for us to look for other ways of doing politics, he wrote. To build the homeland our children and grandchildren deserve.

The letter circulating on social media was confirmed by a senior US official. He said the generals wife is currently outside the country.

Mr Guaido said he called for the uprising to restore Venezuelas constitutional order, broken when Mr Maduro was sworn in earlier this year for a second term following elections boycotted by the opposition and considered illegitimate by dozens of countries.

The armed forces have taken the right decision, said Mr Guaido. With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history.
The opening day of May seems early to decide the political moment of the year. Yet the sight of sheepish politicians rising uncertainly to their feet amid heartfelt admonishment from Father Martin Magill will be difficult to top.

Shamed into a new talks process, can those politicians respond to the emotion of a funeral and the eloquent words of a Belfast priest?

Is there much on which to build beyond the lowest common denominator of rejection of violent republicans?

Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill were positioned a lot closer in the church than their supporters outside.

The gulf in perspectives between the party's support bases offers an antidote to the hopes for progress revived in the tragic circumstances of Lyra McKee's death.

And with one, probably two, elections this month, the backdrop is unpromising. Northern Ireland elections are not noted for their capacity to display compromise. We then await the RHI inquiry report, not a document likely to inspire a rush back into government.

Some of the issues seem far less seismic than those overcome to produce the Good Friday Agreement. In 1998, politicians were dealing with the big Ps - power-sharing, paramilitaries, prisoners and policing. Today they are seen by critics as merely taking the P. And even among those who have not given up on Stormont, there is little consensus over what P needs to change most: the parties, personnel or procedures.

At the risk of drowning in data from the last election fought in Northern Ireland, the 2017 Westminster contest, here are a few indications of the gulf which the main party leaders have to bridge.

An Irish Language Act? Only one in 10 DUP voters think there should be one; just 4% of Sinn Fein voters think there shouldn't be.

Brexit? Two-thirds of DUP voters back Brexit, but 86% of Sinn Fein voters disagree.

The Westminster confidence-and-supply deal? Only 4% of DUP voters opposed the pact with the Conservatives. More than 90% of Sinn Fein voters thought it a bad idea.

Perhaps most depressing of all is when we consider public attitudes to the personnel. A majority of Sinn Fein voters scored Arlene Foster's performance as First Minister at 0/10. A majority of DUP voters rated Michelle O'Neill at 0/10.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that even if Jesus Christ came back to Earth and led the DUP or Sinn Fein he would be subject to low ratings from the other side.

Then there are the procedural issues. Any return to Stormont will surely need some revisions to the rules. Scrapping the petition of concern is a much-vaunted proposal, but given that the DUP now lacks the numbers to fly solo in launching such devices - by far the most common type of such petitions in the past - it is not the biggest change needed. It might be better to lower the weighted majority voting hurdle.

At 55%, only 50 MLAs would be needed for a measure to be passed. There would still be a need for support for the bill from beyond a single community's representatives, but only something utterly unacceptable to the entirety of the other community's representatives would fail. The number of petitions of concern could also be restricted per party in each Assembly session.

There are utopians who would do away with all communal designations, weighted majorities or petitions of concern. Such advocates are invited to send me a 2,000-word essay entitled "An evaluation of the historical successes of majoritarian government in Northern Ireland" which I promise to read with interest.

Mutual vetoes are unhealthy but present in many post-conflict societies. Those who believe the Good Friday Agreement to be a good thing - and its defence has been understandably robust in the context of Brexit - cannot simultaneously wish away the consociational principles which underpin a chunk of the deal.

With those principles, unfortunately, come blocking rights which may reinforce divisions.

And the Good Friday Agreement says absolutely zero about what is - or isn't - a legitimate piece of blocking by one community.

Why, in God's name, is it possible then that, this time, talks to restore Stormont might just work? The absence of viable alternatives is one reason. Government by civil servants is undemocratic. Direct rule - with the Assembly at best a scrutineer of Westminster ministers - would be unpopular, joint authority is an apparent non-runner and a united Ireland is still at least one border poll away.

Local councils are not properly equipped to acquire Stormont's powers. So the parties don't really have anywhere else to go but back to the biggest vacant property in BT4. Perhaps remarkably, there remains sizeable public support for the return of devolved government.

Not all issues are quite as divisive as they might appear. More DUP voters now favour same-sex marriage than are opposed, in common with voters from the four other sizeable parties.

Attitudes to abortion are at least not reducible to inter-communal division, although the issue is obviously contentious. Stormont did manage to pass 137 pieces of legislation between 2007 and 2016 and acquired policing and justice powers, so the idea that consensus is invariably elusive is simply untrue. Some issues beyond Stormont's jurisdiction have quietened in recent years - flags and parades for starters - so not all the contextual background is bleak.

Devolved government has been absent for 40% of the time since the Executive first sat two decades ago.

No Assembly member has ever lost a full day's pay as a consequence.

The 2002-7 hiatus was partly excused on the grounds of its proximity to the conflict from which the political institutions eventually emerged.

Too much time was then wasted on trying to agree the past, an absurd notion when such fundamentally different narratives exist. Political instability is less indulged today.

If, amid some goodwill, the latest talks process really cannot end the unauthorised absences from work, maybe it's time to start talking about some other Ps. P45s.
Abdul Hamid Bador, who was serving as Malaysian Police Special Branch deputy director speaks to reporters at a function in Kuala Lumpur in 2015.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Wednesday he had sent a letter for the kings signature to appoint Abdul Hamid Bador as Malaysias new police chief to succeed Mohamad Fuzi Harun, who is set to retire on May 4.

Abdul Hamid, the current deputy inspector-general of police (IGP), appears poised to lead the national police department three years after the previous government ousted him from the force. He was removed after speaking out against the 1MDB corruption scandal, which overshadowed then-Prime Minister Najib Razak and led to his and his partys downfall last year.

Yes, I think Abdul Hamid is the new IGP, Mahathir said in confirming that he had submitted the senior policemans name to the king for his consent as required.

I think that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the king) has signed the appointment letter, the prime minister told reporters during federal-level Labor Day celebrations at the Putrajaya International Convention Center.

Once the king signs, Abdul Hamid, who turns 61 this year, will take over from Fuzi as IGP. Fuzi is retiring effective Saturday, his 60th birthday and the mandatory retirement age for police.

Mahathir announced that Abdul Hamid, who already has reached retirement age, would have a special contract to hold the post. The IGP is considered a political position appointed by the prime minister or government leaders, and requires the kings consent. Najib appointed Fuzi as police chief in September 2017.

Mahathir took office in May 2018 after his Pakatan Harapan opposition coalition pulled off an electoral upset over Najibs ruling Barisan Nasional bloc on a pledge of cleaning up government, among other campaign promises.

Abdul Hamids post-electoral return to the federal police as head of the Special Branch was considered a break from tradition as no official announcement was made. The Special Branch is the intelligence arm of the Royal Malaysia Police.

In March, Abdul Hamid was appointed as acting deputy IGP following the retirement of Nor Rashid Ibrahim.

While heading the special branch, he was part of the 1MDB task force that oversaw several police raids and seizures of property connected to the scandal tied to the 1Malaysia Berhad Development state fund, including a superyacht that was owned by fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho (alias Jho Low). Mahathirs government recently sold the yacht and is seeking to capture and extradite Low back to Malaysia to face criminal charges connected to 1MDB.

U.S. prosecutors contend that $4.5 billion (18.3 billion ringgit) was diverted from 1MDB into the bank accounts of Najib, his friends and family, in what they described as kleptocracy at its worst. Najib, who has denied any wrongdoing, is standing trial on seven corruption charges and faces a total of 42 criminal charges linked to 1MDB.

Malaysian Police Inspector-General Mohamad Fuzi Harun listens to questions during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, April 22, 2018. [AFP]

Other candidates

On Wednesday, the Straits Times reported that there had been ongoing discussions over who would succeed Fuzi because the Home Ministry and police had backed different candidates.

The Home Ministry supported Zulkifli Abdullah, director-general of the National Anti-Drugs Agency, while the police force backed Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani, head of the Internal Security and Public Order Department, sources told the Singapore-based newspaper. Both men are 58  younger than the mandatory retirement age.

Zulkifli who took over as leader the anti-drugs agency following a directive from Mahathir in August 2018, had served as director of the federal polices Internal Security and Public Order Department.

Abdul Hamids background

From 1998 to 2000, Abdul Hamid held the rank of superintendent and deputy district police chief at the Gombak police district headquarters.

He served as a negotiator in February and March 2013, when Malaysian security forces put down an insurrection in eastern Sabah state by about 200 fighters from Sulu  a neighboring province in the southern Philippines  who identified themselves as the Royal Army of Sulu and followers of the self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu, Jamalul Kiram III.

In 2015, while serving as the deputy director of the Special Branch, he advised Najibs government to explain the 1MDB allegations clearly and for those involved to come forward.

After speaking out, he was transferred to the Prime Ministers Department in Najibs government in September 2015, but opted for early retirement. He returned to police work following Najibs departure from the top office last May.
The Philippine government admitted Wednesday that it had no substantial evidence about an alleged plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte, and would only file lawsuits against the alleged conspirators once an actual crime was committed.

This was contrary to an earlier pronouncement from Dutertes spokesman, Salvador Panelo, who told reporters last week that the public should believe the allegation because it came directly from the chief executive himself.

The reported ouster against Duterte was announced by the government through a matrix  a graphic that names those who were allegedly involved in the plot. The Manila Times, a national daily newspaper, published the graphic and a report naming several Filipino journalists and rights activists, but offered no proof and did not name its sources.

Those named in the matrix demand proof of their participation in the ouster plot, Panelo told reporters Wednesday. Such is totally unnecessary. The matrix shows that there is an ouster plot. It is just a plot, a plan, an idea. The same is not actionable in court it being just a conspiracy.

Panelo said that the information originated from another country, which he declined to name. Duterte did not know how such information was gathered, he said.

The possibilities are endless, Panelo said, adding that the presidents office released the matrix to put the plot leaders on notice that pursuing their plan by committing overt acts punishable by law will open themselves to criminal persecution.

The critics cry that the move to reveal the ouster plot was meant to stifle political dissent and opposition, he said, but noted that the government has allowed to express their dissent through a democratic space.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) slammed the government after the Times published the story and the graphic that also alleged that three news organizations  Rappler, Vera Files and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)  were involved in a plot to oust the president.

The plot also allegedly included the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, a group of left-leaning attorneys who represent cause-oriented groups and individuals.

Panelo had said earlier that he did not know how the Times obtained the matrix, but confirmed that the plot came from the presidents office. Duterte himself has not personally addressed the alleged matrix.

Rappler, Vera Files and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism have extensively covered Dutertes crackdown against drugs that left thousands of people dead since 2016.

Before the matrix came out, Duterte threatened to return the favor against PCIJ after it published a report detailing the large increase in the presidents wealth.
Thailands King Maha Vajiralongkorn signs marriage registration documents while Queen Suthida looks on during a ceremony at the Dusit Palace in Bangkok, May 1, 2019.

Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn married his royal consort Wednesday then announced that she was the queen, in a surprise move just days before his elaborate coronation in Bangkok.

Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, 40, is now Queen Suthida after she became the 66-year-old monarchs fourth wife.

A statement from the palace said the king performed a royal wedding ceremony and decided to promote Suthida to become a queen. It did not provide details.

General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya is bestowed queenship, said the statement published in the Royal Gazette.

The Bangkok Post published photos of the king in a white uniform and Queen Suthida signing marriage registration papers at the Dusit Palace, his official residence in the Thai capital. The photos were distributed to the media by the Royal Household Bureau.

Thai television also broadcast the royal order and showed a video of the new queen, in a shimmering pink silk dress, prostrating herself before the monarch. She presented a tray of flowers to the king, who also handed her traditional gifts associated with the royal family.

The Gazette announcement confirmed the couples relationship.

Consort promoted to general

Previous local reports had speculated about the kings romantic links with Suthida, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways.

The Thai public knows little personal information about Suthida, who was born on June 3, 1978. According to local news reports, she holds a bachelors degree in mass communications from Assumption University of Thailand (formerly known as Assumption Business Administration College) in central Samut Prakan province.

In 2014, then-Prince Vajiralongkorn appointed her as deputy commander of his security unit, further promoting her to full general about two years later. He later bestowed her with the royal title Thanpuying, which means Lady.

The king, who has five sons and two daughters from his previous marriages, has spent much of his adult life in Germany. He divorced his previous wife, with whom he has a son, in 2014.

Vajiralongkorn, also known by the official title King Rama X, became constitutional monarch in October 2016 after the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was on the throne for seven decades.

Vajiralongkorns colorful life has been shielded from media scrutiny because of Thailands strict Lese-Majeste laws, which provide harsh punishment for comments deemed offensive to the monarch and members of the royal family.

Thailand, which has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, regards the king as the spiritual protector of its people and culture.

Since seizing power through a coup in May 2014, a military government has cracked down on Thais violating Lese-Majeste, filing charges against at least 83 people, in cases that mostly stemmed from social-media postings, legal sources said.

Coronation

King Vajiralongkorns coronation will take place over three days of elaborate ceremonies, from May 4-6, in the nations capital, with many Buddhist and Brahmin rituals performed in the month leading up to the event.

Vajiralongkorn returned to Thailand in 2016 when his fathers health began to falter.

A law that went into effect in July 2017 gave him sole authority over the Crown Property Bureau, which oversees the monarchys land holdings and assets. In 2011, Forbes magazine estimated the Royal Familys net worth at $30 billion and a Business Insider magazine report described him as the worlds richest monarch.

In unusually candid interviews with U.S. reporters during a visit to the United States in 1981, Vajiralongkorns mother, Queen Sirikit, publicly criticized him, telling the Dallas Times Herald that her son was a little bit of a Don Juan.

Vajiralongkorn was married in 1977 to Princess Sujarinee with whom he has five children. That same year, he also married Princess Soamsawali, who bore him a daughter. Years later, he also married Princess Srirasami with whom he has a son. BenarNews could not immediately confirm when and where his divorce in those marriages took place.

He is a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting, Queen Sirikit told the Herald, referring to her son.

So his family life is not so smooth, she said.
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- Carb variant priced at Rs 97,000 and Fuel-injected variant at Rs 1.05 lakhs

- Most affordable adventure bike in India

- Gets bluetooth-enabled instrument cluster

Hero MotoCorp has finally launched their most awaited bike, the XPulse in India at Rs 97,000 for the carb variant and Rs 1.05 lakhs for the Fi variant (both ex-showroom Delhi). With this pricing, the XPulse is the most affordable adventure bike in India. This title was previously held by the Royal Enfield Himalayan.

First unveiled at the 2017 EICMA Show in Italy, the XPulse is Hero MotoCorps attempt to attend the growing needs of adventure enthusiasts in India. However, it plans to address the lower-end of the segment where theres a need of an ADV but doesnt burn a hole in the pocket. The XPulse 200 carries some of the legacy of the Impulse but is now more accessible and more purposeful.

The XPulse 200 is equipped with spoke-wheels, high-rise front mudguard, fork gaiters, bash plate, dual-purpose tyres and a different exhaust. The suspension duties are carried out by telescopic units on the front with 190mm of travel and 10-step adjustable monoshock at the rear with 170mm of travel. The motorcycle has a seat of height of 825mm and a high ground clearance of 220mm. For braking, the XPulse 200 is equipped with disc brakes on both ends along with a single-channel ABS. On the feature front, the Hero Xpulse 200 incorporates full-LED headlamps and a digital instrument cluster along with Bluetooth connectivity for navigation and call alerts.

This ADV is powered by a 200cc air-cooled single-cylinder engine as the Xtreme 200R, but with revised gearing. This unit produces 18.4bhp and 17.1Nm of torque via a five-speed gearbox. It gets a 14-litre fuel tank capacity with a range of 450km.

The XPulse is available in five colour options, three for the FI (Matte Green, Pearl Fadeless White and Matte Axis Grey) and two for the carb model (Sports Red and Black). The bookings for this ADV have begun at all showrooms, and deliveries are expected to commence in the next few weeks.
For Immediate Release, April 30, 2019 Contact: Nathan Donley, (971) 717-6406, ndonley@biologicaldiversity.org EPA Proposes Re-approving Glyphosate, Ignoring Cancer Risk Plan Includes Only Minor Restrictions to Protect Wildlife WASHINGTON Relying heavily on confidential industry research, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to re-approve glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsantos Roundup. EPAs conclusion that glyphosate poses no risks to humans contradicts a 2015 World Health Organization analysis of the leading independent research that determined glyphosate is a probable carcinogen. American consumers have no reason to trust the EPAs deeply flawed assessment of glyphosates safety, said Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. As with past EPA studies, the agency has relied heavily on confidential industry research that cant be reviewed by independent scientists. This is an industry-friendly conclusion thats simply not based on the best available science. In addition to the WHOs conclusion, other U.S. federal agencies have acknowledged evidence of glyphosates link to cancer. This includes the EPAs Office of Research and Development and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The EPA assessment release today was conducted by the agencys pesticide regulatory office, which has long had the reputation of reaching industry-friendly decisions. The EPAs biased glyphosate assessment ignores its own guidelines for estimating cancer risks and falls short of the most basic standards of independent research, said Donley. Trumps EPA lost no time in trying to hand Bayer a consolation prize following last weeks shareholder revolt over glyphosate. But it cant erase glyphosates well-documented links to cancer. Within the past nine months, two juries have ordered Monsanto/Bayer to pay multimillion-dollar awards to glyphosate users suffering from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which independent research has linked to glyphosate. A third trial is currently underway, and lawsuits involving roughly 13,000 people have been filed against the company for failing to warn consumers of the pesticides cancer risks. Emails obtained in litigation brought against Monsanto by cancer victims and their families uncovered a disturbingly cozy relationship between the EPA and Monsanto on matters involving the glyphosate risk assessment. In one example, when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would be reviewing glyphosates safety, an EPA official assured Monsanto he would work to thwart the review, saying, If I can kill this, I should get a medal. That Health and Human Services review was delayed for three years and only recently released. In addition to evaluating the risks of glyphosate to human health, the EPA also analyzed risks to plants and animals and found that serious harms could result from using glyphosate, including exposure to spray drift that could harm the growth and reproduction of birds and mammals. It also found that exposure to small mammals exceeded by 10-fold the agencys level of concern  the exposure level known to cause harm. In addition to the threats glyphosate poses to human health, glyphosate is a leading cause of the decline of the imperiled and iconic monarch butterfly, said Donley. The minor, industry-vetted restrictions the EPA has proposed are a far cry from whats needed to bring these amazing creatures back from the brink. The EPAs assessment found that field buffers up to 600 feet would be needed to prevent harm to milkweed, the sole host plant for monarch caterpillars. Yet the EPAs interim approval does not contain any field buffers, and the minor spray-drift mitigation measures put in place were preapproved by the pesticide industry. Migratory monarch populations have declined by 80 percent in the past two decades, and their decline has been driven in large part by the surge in glyphosate use resulting from the widespread planting of corn and soybeans crops genetically engineered to tolerate glyphosate. Glyphosate is a potent killer of milkweed. The dramatic surge in glyphosate use has virtually wiped out milkweed plants in the Midwest's corn and soybean fields. While monarch populations enjoyed a one-year spike due to ideal weather conditions in the 2018-2019 season, migratory monarchs continue to be gravely imperiled by glyphosate use.
Canada NewsWire

MONTREAL, May 1, 2019

Ready to quench your thirst for knowledge? Pint of Science, the international science festival, brings the scientists and the public together in local pubs. The outreach festival is celebrating its 4th birthday in Canada and will take place from May 20-22nd 2019. To celebrate the growing success of the event, volunteers have prepared some surprises.

MONTREAL, May 1, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - What are dreams and memory made of? What do scientists use to "listen" to the oceans and the marine life? Why citizen science is essential to conservation biology? These are some of the questions that researchers will try to answer during the different events of Pint of Science Canada 2019. During 3 consecutive days, scientists are invited to present their latest discoveries while the public learn and enjoy a drink in their favorite pub. ''Our goal is to make science accessible to everyone, by making it fun and interactive in a casual setting. For 2019, we focused on expanding to smaller cities which have less exposure to university research", explains Alexandra Gelle, the president of Pint of Science Canada, and PhD student at McGill University.

What's up, brew? Following the success of the previous years, Pint of Science 2019 returns to city pubs with a few novelties! The festival has doubled the number of cities where events will take place. This year, Pint of Science will flow in 25 Canadian cities in 8 provinces with 12 cities joining the adventure such as Vancouver (BC), Saskatoon (SK), Winnipeg (MB), and Halifax (NS). For the first time, some events will be broadcasted live, allowing cities without universities nearby to join the festival. Pint of Science topics include all fields of science, from astronomy to zoology including environment, bioethics, chemistry, neuroscience and artificial intelligence. For example, a couple notable speakers this year include, Dr. Mika McKinnon in Vancouver, a disaster specialist and sci-fi advisor, and scientists from the University of Calgary will demonstrate how microbes can be incorporated in solar cells. 'It isn't easy to decide which events to attend because there are so many interesting topics Luckily, only good choices can be made and the festival lasts for 3 days!'', says Alexandra Gelle. This year, Pint of Science will give away plantable coasters, made from recycled paper containing basil seeds. The public can bring home this green souvenir to plant while waiting for Pint of Science 2020 to brew. Also, a special Pint of Science beer, the 'Brain storm IPA', is currently being brewed by Wellington Brewery and will be available in Guelph (ON) for Pint of Science attendees.

Book your tickets, before there are none left! Tickets can be booked for free on the event website. The festival is open to everyone and does not require any science background. Come ask questions, and maybe even inspire researchers with new ideas! Every night, two short presentations are given by scientists, interspersed by trivia quizzes, live experiments, science slams, and more!

About Pint of Science: Pint of Science is a non-profit organization which quickly took off around the world since its creation in 2013 in the UK. In 2018, 270 cities worldwide organized those meetings and gathered more than 120 000 attendees. For its fourth edition in Canada, the event is organized by more than 150 volunteers, mainly graduate students, driven by their passion for science.

www.pintofscience.ca - Twitter - Facebook - Instagram @pintofscienceCA

SOURCE Pint of Science Canada
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PR Newswire

NEW YORK, May 1, 2019

NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Reader's Digest is launching its third annual search for the "Nicest Places in America," a national crowd-sourced effort to shine a light on places where people are kind and treat each other with respect. In an era of unprecedented cultural and political divide, "Nicest Places" is Reader's Digest's response.

Nominations are being accepted at www.rd.com/nicest through May 31. Nicest Places can range from small towns to big-city neighborhoods, businesses, community centers, military bases, libraries, places of worship and anywhere else where the spirit of "nice" prevails. Finalists will appear in an upcoming issue of the magazine with the winner to be featured on the cover.

"While there is plenty of media shining a light on everything that is wrong with America, we're showcasing everything right by sharing the stories of places where neighbors are friends, strangers are welcomed, and everyone is treated with civility and respect," said Reader's Digest Editor-in-Chief Bruce Kelley. "Over the past two years doing this, we've learned that Nicest Places are all around us."

Nicest Places 2019 comes with a new twist. In 2017 and 2018, Reader's Digest announced 10 finalists and then let America vote on a winning place to be featured on the cover. In 2019, there will be 50 finalists, one from every state, to be named the 50 Nicest Places in America. Then, America votes on the top 10 to be featured in the magazine, and one to be on the cover of the November issue.

This year, Reader's Digest is teaming up with Nextdoor, the social network that helps neighbors around the world build real-world connections, stay informed and lend a helping hand to neighbors in need.

"At Nextdoor, we have a front row seat to the incredible acts of kindness and real-world connections being made in neighborhoods across the globe," said Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar. "It is a delight to team up with Reader's Digest to not only elevate these incredible stories but to inspire more kindness in the world."

Launched in 2017, the search for Nicest Places has resulted in nearly a thousand nominations filled with stories of a kinder America. In 2017, the heartwarming story of the winning place, Gallatin, Tennessee, was of a growing city struggling to heal painful racial divides when faced with tragedy. In 2018, the winning Nicest Place told the story of Yassin Terou, a Syrian refugee whose falafel restaurant has become an engine of kindness and charity in Knoxville.

The search will run in three phases: collection of nominations; announcement of finalists and public voting; and unveiling of the winning place on the cover of the November issue of Reader's Digest.

Reader's Digest is partnering with local and national organizations to drive the Nicest Places search in addition to Nextdoor, including Feeding America, Catholic Charities, BYUtv's Random Acts, National Association of Counties, Urban Libraries Council, Kind Campaign, American Booksellers Association, Weave, and the Good News Network.

About Reader's DigestReader's Digest, a Trusted Media Brands, Inc. brand, simplifies and enriches consumers' lives by discovering and expertly selecting the most interesting ideas, stories, experiences and products in health, home, family, food, finance and humor. Reader's Digest is available online at RD.com; in print; via digital download on iPad, mobile apps and tablets; and can be accessed via its social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

About Trusted Media Brands, Inc.Trusted Media Brands, Inc. comprises a network of engaged, active readers who genuinely connect with its blend of uplifting and enduring expertly-curated family, food, health, home improvement, finance and humor content digitally, via magazines and books, social media, and events and experiences. Founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace as Reader's Digest Association, one of the first user-generated content publishers, Trusted Media Brands, is headquartered in New York City. For more information, visit TMBI.com.

About Nextdoor.com, Inc.Nextdoor (nextdoor.com) is the world's largest social network for the neighborhood. Nextdoor enables truly local conversations that empower neighbors to build stronger and safer communities. Today, neighbors rely on Nextdoor in more than 230,000 neighborhoods around the world in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Australia, with many more to come. For additional information visit nextdoor.com/newsroom.

Media Contact:

Becky Wisdom, [email protected], 646-518-4224

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/readers-digest-launches-third-annual-search-for-the-nicest-places-in-america-300842233.html

SOURCE Reader's Digest
Bowdoin faculty Nadia Celis and Gustavo Faveron-Patriau organized the campus event

A key part of that process in Colombia is the pursuit of truth. For the last decade the Centro Nacional de Memoria Historica (CNMH, or National Center of Historical Memory), has worked on collecting the memories of the conflict.

After the 2016, a truth commission was created to complement the work of the JEP. The commission is tasked with documenting evidence and memories of the conflict in order to document the effects of the war on the victims, support reparation processes and revitalize traditional cultures that have been marginalized or outright attacked.

In her own work, before joining the JEP, Junieles supported the memory gathering process of the families of fifteen rural residents who were assassinated in the massacre of Los Guaimaros in 2002. Though neither the perpetrator nor the murderers were ever identified, by proving without a doubt the existence of the massacre, their memories opened up room for the victims families to demand further justice and reparation. In her current position, Junieles is part of the implementation of a justice model aimed to establish truth as a mean to repair the integrity of the victims.

Felix Reategu is a senior researcher at the Institute for Democracy and Human Rights Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and was the head writer of the final report of Perus Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2003. At the colloquium, he spoke about some of the challenges posed by truth-seeking, noting that memory is often construed into a national narrative, which inevitably simplifies social diversity and pushes out certain voices that may contradict that narrative. Truth and reconciliation reports, moreover, are nearly always academic in nature, rather than written for the people who have been marginalized by conflict.

However, Reategui noted that truth commissions, though flawed, are better than the alternative, citing Canadian scholar Michael Ignatieff: Truth commissions are not aimed to be the bearers of all the truth that is there to be exposed. But they reduce the margin of lies that can exist without being challenged in a society.

Michael Lazzara, professor of Latin American literature and cultural studies at UC-Davis, addressed the construction of memory in Chile after the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. He focused on the many iterations of telling and re-telling the story of Jorgelino Vergara.

Known as El Mocito, Vergara began working for the Chilean police at the age of sixteen, in a servant-like role in a secret detention center. When he was arrested in 2007nearly two decades after the fall of the Pinochet regimehe testified against many ex-Pinochet officials, leading to seventy-four convictions.

Since then, Vergara has been portrayed as a victim (for falling into the hands of the dictatorship at a young age), an example of popular fascism (for supporting the regime) and, later, a human rights hero for his testimony against other officials.

Lazzara criticized this last portrayal in particular as downplaying the gravity of crimes to which Vergara was complicit. He noted that, in the aftermath of a violent conflict, its typical for people to try to reject any notion that they may have had some responsibility. However, the idea that we are all victims of a war or dictator dilutes the very real and painful victimhood the societys most marginalized experience.

After Lazzaras lecture, the three speakers gathered for a roundtable to take questions from students and professors. Alternating between English and Spanish (Junieles delivered her lecture in Spanish, while the other two spoke in English), they discussed how issues of memory and justice played out differently in different countries and different eras. Still, they concurred that acknowledging that violence happened was the most basic, crucial condition for reconciliation, in any scenario.

The colloquium was sponsored by the Latin American Studies Programs Allen Wells (formerly Crandall) Fund, the Charles F. Adams Lectureship Fund and the Departments of Romance Languages and Literatures and Government and Legal Studies.
Olivia Bean 17

The Knowles Teacher Initiative comprises a highly selective national network of teachers who are given professional development, mentoring, and financial support over five years before becoming senior fellows in the program. Approximately thirty-five new fellows are selected each year.

"I'm excited for the new connections I'll make and the ideas that can come from them," Bean said, explaining that anytime you start talking about teaching with fellow teachers, ideas begin to percolate.

Bean, who is from Cleveland, Ohio, graduated from Bowdoin in 2017 after double majoring in chemistry and education. After completing the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program last year, she began her first teaching job at Portland High School.

She teaches college preparatory and honors earth science to about one hundred ninth-grade students, as well as a freshman seminar to help students develop advanced academic skills.

"I love teaching in Portland as a district," Bean said. "I love the community and values of the school. The people I work with are all great, and the school has diversity, which is important to me."

Assistant Professor of Education Alison Riley Miller said the award reflects Bean's commitment to excellence and equity in science education. "During her time at Bowdoin, Olivia demonstrated a passion for both chemistry and education, as well as a personal commitment to understanding and dismantling the barriers that deter underrepresented groups from entering STEM fields," she said.

Only five percent of black women get degrees in STEM fields, according to Associate Professor of Education Doris Santoro, who then praised Bean for not only excelling in chemistry, but then also choosing to enter education. "Representation matters," she said. And Bean, she added, is a model for her students.

"Olivia is a gifted teacher who makes kindness, compassion, and a sense of humor a part of her classroom," Santoro said. "She shows students how science is infused in their everyday lives. She makes school a joyful place to be."

Christine Braceras, who teaches with Bean at Portland High School, agreed that Bean is a role model for students, and that she "rarely has a minute alone as waves of ninth graders come into her room for help or just to talk." She added that the Fellowship will enable Bean to "bring new and exciting content, technology, and science methodology to her students and to the high school staff."

Among the many gifts of the Knowles fellowships are annual grants or stipendsroughly $9,000 this yearthat can help pay for continuing education or certification training. They can also be used for the development of new lessons and classes, and also used to introduce new programming for teacher colleagues.

Bean has already begun dreaming about ways to use the extra funding. For one, she'd like to learn new strategies for teaching science to English-language learners (Portland has a sizable population of refugees and immigrants).

And she'd like to prepare new electives for her schoollike the chemistry of cooking or astronomyto increase students' excitement about science.

"Every year, Acadia National Park [in Maine] has a star-gazing festival with experts," Bean said. The grant could cover the cost of the trip for the group. "It's really cool from a nature perspective and a science perspective."

Bean is also thinking about organizing a retreat for her fellow science teachers so they can devise an academic plan for students to progressively advance their science skills over the four years of high school.

"Knowles is about not just individual teachers, but teacher leadership and helping the profession beyond the classroom," Bean said.
EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his cabinet were sworn in Tuesday to form the first United Conservative government in the province. Here's a look at who they are:

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This article was published 30/4/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his cabinet were sworn in Tuesday to form the first United Conservative government in the province. Here's a look at who they are:

Jason Kenney (Premier, Intergovernmental Relations): a former federal Conservative cabinet minister and long-time Calgary Conservative MP. He returned to Calgary-Lougheed after winning a byelection in 2017.

Doug Schweitzer, Minister of Justice and Solicitor General is sworn into office, in Edmonton on Tuesday April 30, 2019. Schweitzer (Justice and Solicitor General) represents Calgary-Elbow as a first-term MLA. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Doug Schweitzer (Justice and Solicitor General): represents Calgary-Elbow as a first-term MLA. He is a lawyer who focused on bankruptcy and restructuring and served as vice chairman of Calgary's drug treatment court. He ran against Kenney for the UCP leadership in 2017.

Tyler Shandro (Health): a lawyer and first-time MLA representing Calgary-Acadia, with a long record of community service. He has been a member of the National Parole Board, the Calgary Police Commission and the University of Calgary senate.

Ric McIver (Transportation): back for a third term, representing Calgary-Hays. He was a long-time Calgary city councillor before winning a seat as a Progressive Conservative in 2015. He served previously as transportation minister and in the jobs and labour portfolio.

Tanya Fir (Economic Development, Trade and Tourism): a first-term MLA for Calgary-Peigan. She has a commerce degree from the University of Calgary and has worked as a human resources adviser in the oil and gas industry.

Adriana LaGrange (Education): a rookie MLA for Red Deer-North. She has served as a Catholic school division trustee in Red Deer and worked as a rehab practitioner for the physically and mentally disabled.

Travis Toews (Finance): a new MLA representing Grande Prairie-Wapiti. He is an accountant with extensive experience on provincial and national boards in the agriculture and beef industries.

Jason Nixon (Environment and Parks): returns for a second term as MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. He will also be government house leader, directing the flow of legislation in the house. Before politics, he worked for more than two decades in the non-profit sector.

Devin Dreeshen (Agriculture and Forestry): became an MLA last year in a byelection for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake. The fifth-generation local farm owner was also a policy adviser to former federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz.

Sonya Savage (Energy): a first-term MLA for Calgary North-West. She is a lawyer who has worked in the oil and gas sector for more than a decade, serving as director of policy and regulatory affairs for the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.

Rajan Sawhney (Community and Social Services): a new MLA for Calgary-North East. She has a degree in economics and political science and has worked in the oil sector for two decades.

Josephine Pon (Seniors and Housing): a rookie MLA for Calgary-Beddington. She has worked as an international trade consultant and has managed multiple restaurants.

Rebecca Schulz (Children's Services): a first-term MLA representing Calgary-Shaw. She is a communications professional, with a masters degree from Johns Hopkins University, and once worked for former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall.

Rick Wilson (Indigenous Relations): represents Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin as a rookie MLA. He served as a councillor for the County of Wetaskiwin and as a public school trustee.

Demetrios Nicolaides (Advanced Education): a first-term MLA for Calgary-Bow. He is a communications professional with experience and training in conflict resolution. He has worked on peacekeeping and reconciliation in Cyprus.

Leela Aheer (Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women): returns for a second term, representing Chestermere-Strathmore. She has been a music, drama and French and Spanish teacher, and was the critic for children's services and the status of women.

Jason Copping (Labour and Immigration): a new MLA, representing Calgary-Varsity. He has worked as a management consultant, labour mediator and arbitrator, and has master's degrees in industrial relations and law.

Kaycee Madu (Municipal Affairs): a first-term MLA for Edmonton-South West. The lone UCP member in the capital city is a lawyer who studied in Nigeria and has worked as a senior technical adviser for the Alberta government.

Prasad Panda (Infrastructure): a returning MLA representing Calgary-Edgemont. Born in India, Panda was first elected in 2015 after working as an engineer in the oil and gas sector.

Nate Glubish (Service Alberta): a new MLA representing Strathcona-Sherwood Park. He has a commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and has worked as an investments adviser, focusing on tech companies.

Associate Ministers:

Grant Hunter (Red Tape Reduction): a returning MLA for a second term in Taber-Warner. He is the owner-operator of a construction company and holds a master's degree in business administration.

Jason Luan (Mental Health and Addictions): returns to the legislature for a second stint, this time for Calgary-Foothills. He was previously in the house from 2012-2015 with the Progressive Conservatives. He has a master's degree in social work from the University of Calgary.

Dale Nally (Natural Gas): a first-term MLA for Morinville-St. Albert. He has a master's degree in education and a background in business. He has been co-chair for Diversity Edmonton, which promotes hiring people with disabilities.
When Dave Coon went to bed at his home in central Ontario's cottage country Monday night, the guest cabin on his waterfront property was "high and dry"  by Tuesday morning, however, that was no longer the case.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dam in downtown Bracebridge Ontario can't hold back the swollen waters of the Muskoka River on Sunday, April 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Thornhill

When Dave Coon went to bed at his home in central Ontario's cottage country Monday night, the guest cabin on his waterfront property was "high and dry"  by Tuesday morning, however, that was no longer the case.

"I was still in bed, and my neighbour phoned and said, 'you'd better look out the window, because your guest cabin has now got a bit of an angle to it,'" Coon said Wednesday in a phone interview.

The 74-year-old retired police officer, who's lived in Bracebridge, Ont., since 1977, said the cabin is now "sitting in a big hole all twisted up" after a tree dislodged by flooding knocked out one of the stilts the structure had been sitting on.

It's an example of the property damage residents in the area have been dealing with as the community experiences what its mayor has described as a "historical" flood event.

The cabin was initially built in the late 1990s for Coon's now-deceased in-laws and had been used by renters who recently moved out. No one was living there when it was surrounded by floodwaters and collapsed, which Coon describes as a "salvation."

Engineers are now keeping an eye on the building to ensure it doesn't drift out into the river, Coon said, adding that they've told him the cabin can't simply be hoisted back onto the stilts.

"It will have to go  I'm going to use the word nicely  to the dump," he said.

Coon said he's not alone  roughly 15 people in his neighbourhood are dealing with fallout from rising water levels, although he believes the damage to his property is the most drastic he's seen.

Bracebridge is among several communities north of Toronto that have been dealing with recent flooding, which local authorities worried could worsen Wednesday as Environment Canada warned up to 40 millimetres of rain could fall in some areas.

"The ground, already near saturation, has little ability to absorb further rainfall," the weather agency noted.

Freezing rain warnings and special weather statements were also issued for a stretch of flood-hit areas from the Bruce Peninsula into western Quebec.

States of emergency remained in effect in numerous municipalities, including Bracebridge and the nearby townships of Muskoka Lakes and Minden Hills. The town of Huntsville lifted its state of emergency on Wednesday, saying that water levels in the area were steadily decreasing.

In Bracebridge, mayor Graydon Smith said that while water levels have come down since the weekend, they are still above those last seen in 2013, when the region saw its worst flooding in a century. He said "tens and tens of thousands" of sandbags have been distributed since flooding began last week.

"It's a huge undertaking," he told reporters Wednesday. "In 2013, we didn't put out even a fraction of the volume of sandbags that we have out now."

About 200 members of the military are in the are to help with sandbagging, evacuations and other flood-response efforts.

Smith also noted that Transport Canada has expanded navigation restrictions to include several local waterways, including Lake Muskoka and the Muskoka River, in an effort to help first responders do their jobs.

"We've heard many reports over the last week of people that have been boating into areas which have disrupted those that are actively trying to keep water out of their area," said Smith. "There's also been a great deal of concern for the safety of anybody that's in a boat or other vessel on the water because of the large amounts of debris."

Homeowners who can only access their properties by boat are exempted from the order, as are contractors acting on behalf of those homeowners, Smith said.

Farther south, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has issued a shoreline hazard warning for Lake Ontario, urging people in the Greater Toronto Area to use caution along the waterfront.

"All shorelines, rivers and streams within the GTA should be considered hazardous," the TRCA said in a statement, warning that properties along the shore and on the Toronto Islands could experience flooding.

The islands were closed to the public for nearly three months in 2017 due to flooding that caused Lake Ontario to reach record highs. The TRCA warns that water levels on Lake Ontario are approaching the heights reached in 2017, and are expected to continue rising until late May or early June.

In southwestern Ontario, the Essex Region Conservation Authority said Leamington and Windsor had experienced some flooding and noted that localized storms could bring heavy downpours on Thursday.

Across the border, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo travelled to the town of Olcott in Niagara County on Wednesday to review flood preparations, and members of the National Guard have been placed on standby.

Cuomo reiterated his complaint about the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canada entity that controls outflows from the lake into the St. Lawrence River, saying it's not doing enough to protect New York property owners.

 with files from The Associated Press
OTTAWA - The federal Liberals promised Wednesday to give Canada's canola farmers financial aid to lessen the impact of China's decision to ban their products as part of a trade dispute with no end in sight.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA - The federal Liberals promised Wednesday to give Canada's canola farmers financial aid to lessen the impact of China's decision to ban their products as part of a trade dispute with no end in sight.

The changes made to a program that advances farmers money against the expected value of their crops will raise loan limits to $1 million from $400,000, and the portion that will be interest-free is rising to $500,000 from $100,000.

Producers praised the changes on Wednesday, saying they will help farmers get through a tough spot.

"Hopefully we won't need any more help and hopefully the market smartens up and we're able to get our crop in and sell it at a good price," said Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.

The changes will help with uncertainty and stress the industry is going through as farmers worry about what to plant and how they'll deal with the falling price of canola, added Keystone Agricultural Producers president Bill Campbell.

Citing unproven concerns about pests, China has rejected Canadian canola seeds in recent months and barred shipments from two of Canada's biggest exporters in what is considered retaliation for the detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

About one-quarter of Canada's $11 billion in canola exports went to China last year, or $2.7 billion worth, and any prolonged blockage will hurt farmers, the industry and the broader economy. The seeds are the raw input for canola oil, used in cooking and industry  and nearly half of Canada's seed exports went to China.

The Liberals said changes to the advance payments program are designed to ease cashflow pressures for affected farmers.

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Canada's canola producers and farm families across the country and we will continue to listen to their needs," Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Jim Carr, Minister of International Trade Diversification, provide an update on the government's response to the canola trade dispute with China during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 1, 2019.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

"Canada has the best canola in the world as well as a very robust inspection system."

International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr said he will lead a canola trade mission to Japan and South Korea in early June to help farmers find new markets for their products.

He also said he will be promoting canola in all of his upcoming visits, including to France.

"It is critical that Canadian exporters have other readily available markets when faced with trade disruptions," he said. "Our country's continued prosperity and job creation depends on secure markets abroad."

Conservative foreign-affairs critic Erin O'Toole called Wednesday's announcement positive, adding it is a step his party has long called for. But he warned it is a stopgap measure that does not address the underlying diplomatic tensions.

"The Trudeau government has allowed our diplomatic situation with China to descend into chaos, where we are not sure what commodity could be at risk next," O'Toole said, just outside the House of Commons.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has previously called for the federal government to take a more confrontational approach with China, including launching a complaint with the World Trade Organization and cutting Canadian funding to China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to which the government has committed $256 million over five years.

Scheer has also pressed the Liberals to appoint a new ambassador to China. On his way into the Liberals' weekly caucus meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government has a strong career diplomat who is handling "the particulars of this very well."

Carr told reporters there is agreement across the sector, including with provincial governments and producers, that Canada should engage China on the stated basis of its allegation  that there are impurities in the canola despite two inspections by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Canada will navigate this challenging period with China through careful, deliberate and strategic engagement, he said.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said Wednesday's announcement buys "some breathing space" for nervous farmers and suggested China will ultimately relent because it needs canola.

"We just need to ensure that we have the relationship that we are actually able to trade that commerce and we are going to support our federal government in those conversations moving forward," he said.

with files from Andy Blatchford
HALIFAX - Police in Halifax are wading into the growing national debate over militarization of police forces, having won approval to buy a $500,000 "armoured rescue vehicle" equipped with a rotating roof hatch, eight gun ports and a powered battering ram.

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This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Police and RCMP officers survey the area of a shooting in Fredericton on Friday, August 10, 2018. Police in Halifax are wading into the debate over militarization of Canada's police forces, having secured approval to spend $500,000 on a "armoured rescue vehicle" equipped with a rotating roof hatch, eight gun ports and a powered battering ram. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Keith Minchin

HALIFAX - Police in Halifax are wading into the growing national debate over militarization of police forces, having won approval to buy a $500,000 "armoured rescue vehicle" equipped with a rotating roof hatch, eight gun ports and a powered battering ram.

Halifax Coun. Shawn Cleary voted against the pending purchase, saying the brawny, 8,000-kilogram vehicle will project the wrong image for a police force that is trying to repair its image.

He says he's not opposed to police having some sort of rescue vehicle, but the one that appears to be the preferred option is overkill.

"The type of vehicle that our police are looking for is a militarized, tactical vehicle, more than it is just an armoured vehicle," says Cleary, who was a member of a military reserve unit for three years when he lived in Ottawa.

"You look at all this stuff and you think, 'Holy smoke, we're militarizing our police force.' It's exactly the opposite of what I think we should be doing in terms of pursuing positive community relations."

The city's deputy mayor, Tony Mancini, has acknowledged the poor timing of a proposal that comes a month after the release of a report on racial profiling that concluded black people in Halifax were street-checked at a rate six times higher than white people.

"We're dealing with the very delicate and important subject of street checks and repairing damage in our communities," he told CBC. "And all of a sudden, in the same breath, we're having conversations about what looks like a military vehicle."

In a formal request for bids issued last month, Halifax police included a list a specifications that are very close to those of a large, armoured vehicle known as the Gurkha. Manufactured by Terradyne Armoured Vehicles in Newmarket, Ont., the Gurkha includes a variant with a rotating gun turret.

"In the United States and across Canada, we've seen this kind of military creep into police forces," Cleary says. "In my city, I don't want to see that happen. It sends the wrong kind of message to our citizens."

Const. John MacLeod, a spokesman for Halifax Regional Police, said a senior officer was not available for an interview but pointed to a recent presentation to the board of police commissioners to explain the police force's position on the matter.

The presentation emphasized the armoured vehicle would be providing protection  a "safe haven" during high-risk operations and natural disasters. The weaponless vehicle would be used to "safely remove people from dangerous situations," including active shooters and other threats.

The slide-show, which includes a photo of a Gurkha, says Halifax police need the vehicle because "crises can happen here," and the nature of challenges faced by officers is changing. "The (vehicle) provides a level of safety for both officers and members of the public," it says

Such vehicles have proven their worth for some police forces.

In August 2014, for example, the Saskatoon Police Service released a dramatic video  recorded from a police airplane  that showed how their Lenco Bearcat was used to rescue five people who were being shot at during an armed standoff.

Kevin Walby, a criminal justice professor at the University of Winnipeg, said there are now more than a dozen armoured vehicles being used by police forces across Canada, including in such smaller cities as Fredericton and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Walby said police justify the use of such vehicles by arguing they offer protection to officers and the public during mass public shootings, hostage takings and other high-risk scenarios.

"But they often don't have numbers to back up that kind of claim," Walby. "And as soon as you critique that kind of claim, you sound like you don't want the public to be safe, or you're anti-police."

On a more practical level, Walby said larger armoured vehicles are not well-suited to dealing with active shooters or high-risk takedowns because they typically take a long time to deploy and are easily spotted when a low profile is required.

"They are too big and clunky," Walby said, noting that most of these armoured vehicles are rarely used for their intended purposes.

"It might be used once in a decade. It's not tactical for the things that SWAT teams do on a day-to-day basis."

In 2017, the police force in New Glasgow, N.S., decided to give away their armoured vehicle after the police chief confirmed it was never put to good use.

The 10-tonne light-armoured vehicle, known as a Cougar, was donated to the police service after it was stripped of its weapons and decommissioned by the Canadian Army.

"We really have not had any use for that since we've had it," police chief Eric MacNeil said at the time. "Could we have done without it? Yes."
OTTAWA - The Canadian military is scrambling to explain why a group of soldiers was issued weapons to march in a Toronto parade on Sunday for Canada's Sikh community.

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This article was published 30/4/2019 (968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FILE -- Security stands in front of the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau as he greets people at the Khalsa Day parade, an event that celebrates the Sikh new year at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto on Sunday, April 30, 2017. The Canadian military is scrambling to explain why a group of soldiers was issued weapons to march in a Toronto parade on Sunday commemorating Canada's Sikh community. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch

OTTAWA - The Canadian military is scrambling to explain why a group of soldiers was issued weapons to march in a Toronto parade on Sunday for Canada's Sikh community.

Photos and videos of the event show the soldiers, many of them turban-wearing Sikhs, marching in the Khalsa parade in military uniforms and carrying assault rifles, which the military says is not normally allowed. They were also escorted by an armoured vehicle.

The only time service members can carry weapons in public is during certain military parades or demonstrations such as a tattoo, according to Canadian Army spokeswoman Karla Gimby.

The commanding officer of the Lorne Scots reserve unit, which is based in Mississauga, signed off on the weapons, Gimby added, after his commander approved participation in the parade and asked him to organize the soldiers' participation.

"Normally, weapons are not carried at such events," she said in an email.

"The decision to have personnel in full fighting order was made by the local commander and was not in keeping with the Canadian Armed Forces Manual of Drill and Ceremonial."

The army's top commander in Ontario, Brig.-Gen. Joe Paul, is following up with the unit and has issued additional orders prohibiting the carrying of weapons at similar events, Gimby said.

Asked about a formal investigation and possible disciplinary measures, Gimby said: "The incident will be investigated thoroughly."

"(Paul) has a range of administrative and disciplinary measures at his disposal. As of now it is too early to determine what will happen since the investigation has not been concluded."

Held to commemorate the Sikh holy day of Vaisakhi, the annual Khalsa parade in Toronto has grown over the years to become one of Canada's largest such events, with an estimated 100,000 attendees.

This year's parade also coincided with the federal government's decision to remove a reference to Sikh extremism from a report on terrorism after it was added for the first time in December, sparking outrage from some members of the community.

Balpreet Singh Boparai, legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization in Canada, acknowledged that some might try to use the photos and videos of Sunday's parade to stir up fears of Sikh extremists infiltrating the Canadian Forces.

But he said the Khalsa parade has nothing to do with extremism, adding the military has participated in many such events before and, "personally, I believe if this was a group of white soldiers, people who don't look different, it wouldn't have been an issue."
OTTAWA - Finance Minister Bill Morneau says a $40-billion operation to eventually ship liquefied natural gas to Asia from Canada's west coast shows the country can still get major projects done, despite corporate complaints about regulatory hurdles.

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This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Minister of Finance Bill Morneau responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons Tuesday April 30, 2019 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Finance Minister Bill Morneau says a $40-billion operation to eventually ship liquefied natural gas to Asia from Canada's west coast shows the country can still get major projects done, despite corporate complaints about regulatory hurdles.

The federal Liberals have been facing criticism from some political foes and business leaders over Canada's regulations, including those blamed for holding back the construction of oil pipelines out of Alberta.

With the federal election six months away, there's intense political debate about Canadian regulations as parties, especially the Liberals and Conservatives, fight over which of them one is best suited to deliver on energy projects.

Morneau insists work is already underway on the LNG Canada mega-project in British Columbia because efforts were made to listen to people opposed to the venture as well as those advancing it.

"Canada can get big things done, but we have to do it by working together," he said in an interview. "The necessity is that we go through this process, that we do it in the right way. And that's clearly different than has been the approach in the past."

But shortly after LNG Canada's approval in October the federal Conservatives, who had been in office until 2015, insisted they deserved credit for getting the project finalized.

At the time, Tory MP Shannon Stubbs said in a statement the Harper government helped LNG Canada through the approvals process. She said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "showed up for the final photo-op" and tried to take credit for it.

The head of LNG Canada says the Trudeau and Harper governments both gave boosts for the project, which will build an export terminal in Kitimat, B.C., and is on track for completion by late-2023.

Andy Calitz said in an interview this week that the project, which went through approvals between 2012 and 2018, received support from governments of different stripes over that period  in both Ottawa and B.C.

The country treated LNG Canada "extremely well" and the permits were delivered by the regulators on time, he said.

"So, in that sense Canada has treated LNG Canada well or alternatively we did our work thoroughly  or both. I'm not sure," Calitz said when asked about concerns over regulations and other obstacles faced by large projects.

"At the same time, I am today concerned about the interprovincial strife between Alberta and B.C. and the constant regulation challenges to pipelines being built."

He added it makes foreign investors, who are part of his project's consortium, vigilant about Canada.

Calitz, the outgoing CEO, met in Ottawa this week with Trudeau and members of his cabinet to introduce them to his successor, Peter Zebedee, and to provide an update about LNG Canada.

He said he told them it had moved from the planning phase to construction. For example, the Kitimat site has been cleared and worker housing is being installed, he said.

Morneau's comments came a day before the government released a list of the types of projects that will be assessed for their environmental, health, social and economic impacts under Canada's proposed update of how major new energy projects are evaluated.

He said it's important for Canada to have a regulatory system that works, and he argued the new environmental assessment law, if adopted, will improve the process.
REGINA - Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal is to release its ruling this week on whether the federally imposed carbon tax is constitutional.

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This article was published 30/4/2019 (968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Scott Moe speaks to media in the rotunda during Budget Day at Legislative Building in Regina, Saskatchewan on Wednesday March 20, 2019. Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal will release its decision on the constitutionality of a federally imposed carbon tax this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Bell

REGINA - Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal is to release its ruling this week on whether the federally imposed carbon tax is constitutional.

A registrar for the court says the decision is to be posted online Friday at noon.

The Saskatchewan Party government took Ottawa to court over the carbon levy and the Appeal Court heard two days of hearings in February.

The ruling will come just weeks after Ontario was in court for its own legal challenge against the tax and Manitoba filed papers with the Federal Court to launch a case of its own.

Premier Scott Moe said in a statement Tuesday that he welcomes the court decision.

Saskatchewan is one of four provinces without a pollution reduction plan accepted by Ottawa that became subject to the federal tax April 1.

It was the first to take the matter to court, arguing the tax is not constitutional because it is not evenly applied across all jurisdictions.

A lawyer for the Attorney General of Canada suggested Ottawa does have the power to impose a price on carbon because greenhouse gas emissions are a national concern.

Another sixteen groups from across the country, including the provincial governments of Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia, intervened in the case.
MONTREAL - Quebec's media elites are unfairly criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's spoken French because they see him as an outsider pretending to be a real Quebecois, an American academic argues in new research.

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This article was published 1/5/2019 (967 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participates in an armchair discussion in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

MONTREAL - Quebec's media elites are unfairly criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's spoken French because they see him as an outsider pretending to be a real Quebecois, an American academic argues in new research.

Journalists will forgive Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer's mangled pronunciations or former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair's use of Anglicisms but Trudeau is held to an unrealistic standard, according to Prof. Yulia Bosworth of Binghamton University in New York.

Her article, "The 'Bad' French of Justin Trudeau: When Language, Ideology, and Politics Collide," was published in the most recent issue of the American Review of Canadian Studies. The author analyzed 53 online news items, mostly between April 2013 and January 2017, that discussed Trudeau's linguistic abilities or those of other federal politicians.

Bosworth, a self-professed "lover" of Quebec, discovered a near-unanimous chorus of criticism by journalists regarding the quality of Trudeau's French, which she says suggests they are using language as a way of attacking his identity.

She chose to focus on prominent Quebec journalists  mostly francophone  because they have historically been "agenda-setters" in Quebec society and who have an established role of positioning themselves at the centre of the conversation on what is the correct use of the French language.

"A lot of the things he is being blamed for are the things francophone Quebecers are themselves doing on a regular basis," said the professor, who teaches French linguistics, specializes in North American French and studies how language and society intersect.

On an linguistic level, the claim that Trudeau doesn't speak French well is simply untrue, Bosworth said in an interview Wednesday.

Moreover, Trudeau speaks French with virtually no accent, she said, and sounds like a regular Quebecer. That's unlike his father, former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who she says consciously chose to speak French that was more closely aligned with France.

Bosworth studied hours of the younger Trudeau speaking French in public appearances across Canada and in France. She said he doesn't suppress his regional dialect. "In France he seems perfectly comfortable speaking the way he does at home and that should be recognized and credited but it's not."

Instead, the media elite in Quebec describe his French as "incomprehensible," "limp," "snobbish," and "jarring to the native ear."

"Some of the things being pointed out are OK in the mouths of just about any other Quebecer but not him," Bosworth said.

One of the main reasons she believes Quebec's media elite have chosen to zero-in on Trudeau's French is because he identifies as one of them  a francophone  but also as bilingual, a cultural intersection she says is construed in the province as necessarily clashing.

"In his autobiography and in some interviews he states that he considers himself a proud Montrealer, a francophone," she said. But he was born in Ottawa and lived there until the age of 13, when he moved to Montreal with his father. He continued his education entirely in French until university.

This "ideological misalignment," Bosworth argues, "plays a crucial role in fostering a collective denial of Quebecois identity to Justin Trudeau."

Another reason journalists deny Trudeau a Quebecois identity is because his name evokes memories of his father, whose vision of a bilingual, united and multicultural Canada is rejected by many in the province's media elite.

Trudeau, she says, can do no right. "It doesn't matter what he says and how he says it in French it will be viewed negatively."
The Government has agreed to nominate Gabriel Makhlouf as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.

The nomination is subject to him being appointed by the President.

Current Governor Philip Lane is due to take up a new role in June on the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

Mr Makhlouf is the Treasury Secretary and Chief Executive of the New Zealand Treasury, and the New Zealand Governments chief economic and financial adviser.

A statement from the Department of Finance said that Mr Makhlouf nomination comes following "a rigorous and comprehensive international process, which included a public call for expressions of interest, online and media advertising".

Merc Partners who were appointed to manage both expressions of interest from the public call and directly approach potential candidates on a global scale throughout Europe, America, and Australasia.

The Department said the interview panel "undertook a thorough and detailed shortlisting exercise before interviewing candidates".

Mr Makhlouf was the panels recommended candidate.

He is expected to take up the role in September.

Commenting on the nomination, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said: "I am delighted to nominate a person of Gabriel Makhloufs international calibre for appointment as Governor of our Central Bank.

"Gabriel has demonstrated his broad and detailed knowledge, of economics, financial markets, monetary policy, and fiscal policy, and has the experience of leading a large and complex public service organisation of 10,000 people (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs Debt Management & Banking Directorate)."

Mr Donohue added that "as Treasury Secretary and Chief Executive of the New Zealand Treasury, he is currently responsible for overseeing reforms of New Zealands three macroeconomic pillars (monetary policy, financial stability and fiscal policy), and is an observer on the Reserve Bank of New Zealands monetary policy committee.

"He is a leader of the diversity and inclusion agenda in New Zealands public and private sectors. He will bring with him this wealth of experience to the role of Governor."
On May 24 we will be asked to cast our votes in three important elections. That includes a local election, a European election, a referendum and, in some areas of the country, a plebiscite.

In the local elections, youll be voting for your local councillors and in the European elections, youll be voting for our MEPs across three Irish constituencies.

The referendum will determine the time limits for divorce and if you live in Waterford, Limerick and Cork, youll have an additional vote in the directly-elected mayor plebiscite.

Local Elections

Every five years, voters elect councillors to local authorities.

Voters will be electing 949 people to seats in 31 councils/local authorities around Ireland.

These will be the people you go to about potholes, housing, planning and any local beef you may have.

Who can vote?

You do not have to be an Irish citizen to vote in the Local Elections, although you do have to live in the local electoral area and be 18 or over.

Who can run?

Again, you do not have to be an Irish citizen to be elected to a local authority.

Those who are ordinarily resident in Ireland, and aged 18 or older, are eligible to run in these elections.

Whos running in my area?

A full list of local election candidates will be available after May 4 from your local authorities website.

To find out which local electoral area you are in, visit the website of your local county or city council.

European Elections

Across the European Union, more than 700 members will be elected to the European Parliament.

Ireland will be electing 13 MEPs.

Will Brexit affect this?

Of course, it will.

The European elections actually only require 11 MEPs to be elected to Europe from the three Irish constituencies.

The remaining two seats will only be allocated if the UK leaves the EU.

These will be the people who take the final seats in the Dublin constituency and South constituency.

What are the three Irish constituencies?

Ireland has three European Parliament constituencies - Dublin; Midlands-North-West; and South.

Dublin is a four-seat constituency taking in Dublin City, Dun-Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin.

Midlands-North-West is a four-seat constituency taking in Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath.

The South is a five-seat constituency taking in Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.

Who's running in my area?

Check out the list below*

Divorce Referendum

The main change to divorce procedures, if approved by the electorate, would see couples having to live apart for two of the last four years, as opposed to three out of five under the current regime.

If the proposal is passed, it will allow the Oireachtas to set the time requirements in the legislation.

We will also be asked about the recognition of foreign divorces.

The Referendum Commission says that there will be one question on the ballot paper. It says voters can either vote Yes to allow both changes or No to reject both changes.

However, voters cannot accept one change and reject the other.

Mayoral Plebiscite

If you live in Waterford, Limerick and Cork, youll have an additional vote in the directly-elected mayoral plebiscite.

This means you will be asked if you want the power to vote directly for your mayor on a five-year term basis.

Am I registered to vote?

Visit checktheregister.ie to see if you are on the electoral register.

Alternatively, you can also contact your local county council, Garda station, or Local Authority Office.

If you are entitled to vote and not on the register, you must fill in a RFA2 form and hand it into your local authorities.

This must be completed before May 7.

How do you change your address before voting?

To change your address on the register, you will need to fill out a RFA3 form and give it into your local authorities of the county council you are currently listed in.

*Full list of European candidates by constituency:

DUBLIN

Four seats

Barry Andrews (Fianna Fail)

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)

Gillian Brien (Solidarity-People Before Profit)

Ciaran Cuffe (Green Party)

Clare Daly (Independents 4 Change)

Mark Durkan (Fine Gael)

Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Gary Gannon (Social Democrats)

Ben Gilroy (Independent)

Rita Harrold (Solidarity-People Before Profit)

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)

Hermann Kelly (Independent)

Tony Bosco Lowth (Independent)

Aisling McNiffe (Independent)

Mark Mullan (Independent)

Eamonn Murphy (Independent)

Gemma O'Doherty (Independent)

Eilis Ryan (Workers Party)

Alex White (Labour Party)

MIDLANDS-NORTH-WEST

Four seats

Cyril Brennan (Solidarity-People Before Profit)

Matt Carthy (Sinn Fein)

Peter Casey (Independent)

Luke Ming Flanagan (Independent)

Patrick Greene (Direct Democracy Ireland)

Dominic Hannigan (Labour Party)

Fidelma Healy Eames (Independent)

Mairead McGuinness (Fine Gael)

Saoirse McHugh (Green Party)

Dilip Mahapatra (Independent)

James Miller (Independent)

Diarmuid Mulcahy (Independent)

Olive OConnor (Independent)

Michael ODowd (Renua Ireland)

Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)

Brendan Smith (Fianna Fail)

Maria Walsh (Fine Gael)

SOUTH

Five seats

Allan J Brennan (Independent)

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)

Dolores J Cahill (Independent)

Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael)

Andrew Doyle (Fine Gael)

Paddy Fitzgerald (Independent)

Breda Patricia Gardner (Independent)

Theresa Heaney (Independent)

Billy Kelleher (Fianna Fail)

Sean Kelly (Fine Gael)

Peter Madden (Independent)

Liam Minehan (Independent)

Liadh Ni Riada (Sinn Fein)

Sheila Nunan (Labour Party)

Diarmuid Patrick O'Flynn (Independent)

Peter O'Loughlin (Identity Ireland)

Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party)

Walter Ryan-Purcell (Independent)

Maurice Joseph Sexton (Independent)

Jan Van De Ven (Direct Democracy Ireland)

Adrienne Wallace (Solidarity-People Before Profit)

Mick Wallace (Independents 4 Change)

Colleen Worthington (Independent)
Whether it's a wedding, birthday, anniversary, christening, communion, confirmation, or you're heading to the Galway Races this July, there's no doubt that 'special occasion' season is upon us.

June, July and August are consistently the most popular months to get married, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.
Boy-racers have been told to stay home this weekend by gardai covering the annual Rally of the Lakes in Killarney.

Ambassador for the cartell.ie Rally of the Lakes, celebrating its 40th year, is local man and Hollywood A-list actor Michael Fassbender who will be on hand to meet the public.

The rally along the spectacular Ring of Kerry and Beara peninsula achieves massive international coverage for Killarney and the southwest and is shown in almost 40 countries. However, it has been marred in previous years by late night activity by hundreds of boy-racers.

The key message is business as usual in Killarney this weekend and we want anyone coming to enjoy themselves. Any boy-racers  we want them to stay away, head of the traffic division in Kerry Inspector Tony Sugrue said.

Groups of up to 200 racers have previously blocked parts of the N22 for races in souped-up cars. Noise, minor rioting, litter as well as road surface damage have been linked to the late night congregations.

Heavy financial penalties handed out by the courts in 2016 have led to a reduction in incidents, although not an elimination.

The ultimate aim is to be a boy-racer-free zone for the rally, Inspector Sugrue said, adding that the term boy-racer included female drivers.

Gardai this year will be assisted by the traffic corps, including bike and car units and six dog units.

Killarney Sgt Dermot O Connell said there will be numerous checkpoints set up over the weekend as well as increased high visibility patrols in the Killarney area.

Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated. If you intend on having a drink, park up the car for the evening and remember that they may still be over the limit the morning after a night out, he said.

An estimated 60,0000 people will flock to the Killarney area this weekend, Sgt OConnell said.

Mr Fasssbender is expected to take part in a forum on driving which is being hosted by the rally organisers and will be on hand to meet the public for the ceremonial start on Friday night.

He has spent the last few days visiting local schools, including his old alma mater Fossa NS and St Brendans College, Killarney.

Regarded as the jewel in the crown of Irish Rallying, the 2019 event, will have the most difficult routes in the rallys 40-year history along the dramatic Molls Gap on the Ring of Kerry and the Healy Pass on the Beara Peninsula.

* Full details of road closures and stages are available at docstore.kerrycoco.ie/KCCWebsite/roads/closures/lakesrally.pdf
A former soldier accused of forcing his way into the cooking area of a Chinese takeaway before taking a knife and chasing a gang of youths down a street has been refused bail.

Anthony Leahy of apartment 3, Acorn House in Drimoleague, Co Cork appeared before Macroom District Court to face five charges linked to an incident on April 22 last in Skibbereen.

Judge James McNulty heard that Mr Leahy had been socialising alone in the town when he was involved in an altercation at 3.32am outside a pizzeria.

Det Garda Dan Lordan told Judge McNulty it was alleged Mr Leahy took off his top to go outside to fight and that a group of youths may have got the better of him.

The detective garda said it was then alleged Mr Leahy went back inside and jumped the counter to look for a knife before going out.

A short time later, he entered the China Kitchen restaurant and pushed his way past staff and into the cooking area, picking up a three-inch blade and leaving with it.

He was then seen at 3.52am chasing a group of youths with the knife in his hand. He was arrested later for public order offending and Det Garda Lordan said Mr Leahy had injuries to his face. The court heard the defendant identified himself in CCTV footage to gardai and made admissions in an interview.

Det Garda Lordan said Mr Leahy said he had been protecting himself but that there was no evidence he was being chased.

Mr Leahy, 30, told the judge that he had been inside the pizzeria and a lad came in looking to fight me. He said he was then 'jumped' by up to four males when he went outside.

He had previously booked a taxi and when it failed to show he had asked passing gardai if they would give him a lift home but was told they were not a taxi service.

He told the court that after the assault on him by the youths he saw gardai again and, despite his face being bloodied, they did not intervene. The defendant said he knocked on a mans door when he felt afraid he was going to be attacked again by the youths, but the householder did not want to get involved.

Regarding his entry into the Chinese restaurant, he said: I didnt go in there to get a knife but to get some kind of weapon.

I threw the knife away as soon as I was satisfied I was safe.

He told gardai where he had left the weapon and had been fully cooperative and was a former soldier.

I did not go out to cause trouble, he said. I am not a threat to anybody.

Det Garda Lordan did not dispute Mr Leahys account of previous interaction with gardai the night he was arrested but said Mr Leahy had jumped the counter to go and take the knife. He said further charges could follow.

Judge McNulty said bail would be refused.

Legal aid was granted and the matter was adjourned until next Tuesday at Clonakilty District Court with the judge indicating a desire for an early trial if possible.
Update 12.25pm: Farmers want the government to announce a 100m support package for the beef sector now amid warnings some farmers are facing financial ruin from Brexit losses.

Some 500 angry farmers attended a large IFA rally outside Cork's City Hall this morning where Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is chairing the weekly Cabinet meeting.

They travelled from over the country to attend the rally in support of beef farmers who say their income has plummeted since Brexit was announced.

They said they need support now, and not in a few months as the government continues talks with the European Commission.

Farming leaders spoke directly to several government ministers, including Tanaiste Simon Coveney, and Agriculture Minister, Michael Creed, as they made their way in to the meeting and told them farmers need to hear an announcement today.

The IFA's Munster Regional Chairman, John Coughlan, said beef farmers have been dealing with a hard Brexit for over two years.

"They need financial support now," he said.

Addressing a large rally on Anglesea Street in the last few minutes, IFA President Joe Healy said farmers can't wait any longer and he accused the Taoiseach and the Government of failing beef farmers.

Politicians have not delivered on their promises," he said.

Our message to the Taoiseach and his Cabinet here in Cork today is that farmers will judge politicians on their actions on this issue.

"Election Day is three weeks on Friday May 24 and May 25 will be judgment day, he said.

Today we are sending a strong message to the Government that farmers are rebelling against inaction.

The Minister for Agriculture has been standing idly by, adopting a wait and see approach. This is not good enough."

Mr Healy said cattle finishers have been "savaged by Brexit" with some beef finishers facing ruin.

He said some bull finishers have been hit with losses of between 200 and 500 a head in the last six months.

He said while politicians have been promising big on Brexit losses, it is now time to deliver.

"Farmers are angry with the inaction from the Government and the EU Commission. Farmers have already taken a huge hit from Brexit related losses. They need help now," he said.

Speaking on his way into the Cabinet meeting, the Taoiseach said he understands the difficulties facing the beef sector.

And while he pointed out that farmers already receive income support, he said the government wanted to do more and is working with the European Commission on that.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said the government is very aware of the difficulties facing the farming sector in general.

A combination of issues, including weather events and Brexit, have created the "perfect storm", he said.

He said he would be briefing his Cabinet colleagues on the various issues but pointed out that he has been actively exploring new beef markets and focusing on live exports.

He said Ireland opened a new beef market to China last year and hopes to open a new market to Turkey later this year.

"In fact the volume of beef gone into China in the first quarter of 2019 is nearly as much as what we put in in 2018," he said.

"And the volume of live exports is up 34% in first three months of the year compared to the same period last year."

He said the government is engaged intensively with the European Commission on what additional support it might be able to provide.

That process should take weeks, and not months, he said.

Update 11.10am: McGrath poses with prize bull as farmers protest Brexit impact in Cork

Hundreds of angry farmers are protesting outside Cork city hall this morning where Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is chairing this weeks cabinet meeting.

Members of IFA groups from all over the country are calling on the government to provide more support to farmers in the context of Brexit.

They said the beef industry alone has suffered losses of up to 100m in the last few months alone.

They said the time for statements of support is over and thats whats needed now is financial support.

IFA president Joe Healy spoke to several cabinet ministers on their way into the meeting and told him farmers are at breaking point.

Agriculture minister Michael Creed said the government is liaising closely with European Commission on the issue.

Earlier: Ministers making their way into Cork's City Hall this morning have been confronted by a show of strength from protesting farmers who grilled a number of them about the impact of Brexit on the beef industry.

As well as a large crowd of farmers and a prize bull, Aberdeen Angus, Jake Eric (with which junior minister Finian McGrath happily posed for pictures), the protests have seen a number of tractors parked alongside City Hall.

"We have suffered for a long, long time at this stage," Tanaiste Simon Coveney was told by the Chairman of the IFA National Livestock Committee, Angus Woods.

"Beef farmer cannot continue in that uncertainty. There needs to be a statement coming from Cabinet today saying that it is going to support beef farmers in their hour of need."

Earlier, IFA President Joe Healy said beef farmers are suffering and the Government

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"Farmers have endured the pain of Brexit in their pockets, where it really hurts."

"Unless they're supported they'll go out of business."
A Fine Gael meeting attended by the Taoiseach was suspended this evening after it was disrupted by protesters.

Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney are currently in Cork to hold a town hall meeting about the plebiscite for a directly elected mayor in the city.
Update 9.20am: The head of advocacy at homeless charity Focus Ireland is calling on the Minister for Housing to look at the right to a home provision in the Constitution.

Mike Allen has said that while the Government and local authorities are working hard the numbers of people entering homeless continues to rise.

He was responding to the latest homeless figures. Data from the Department of Housing published on Tuesday show there were

Read More:

This compares with 9,681 homeless, including 3,646 children in March 2018.

Since February 2019 the figures show an increase of 41 in the total number of homeless, of whom 37 were children, setting a new record level.

Mr Allen told RTE radios Morning Ireland that the situation is getting worse. This sounds like numbers, but this is important news. These are men, women and children.

He called on the Government to outline an exact plan to deal with the homeless situation.

The Government says there is the Rebuilding Ireland programme, that sometime in the future there will be houses, but the Government is currently unable to tell people when in the future things will look better.

Mr Allen pointed out that IBEC, the business and employer organisation, had said there is a need for 36,000 new homes every year in order to stand still, but that 18,000 will be built this year with 25,000 in future years.

Even when the target is reached the situation is still getting worse.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy

The mismatch between what is being built and what is needed is getting worse, he warned.

This problem is so severe. There is a need for momentum about landlords being allowed to evict their tenants. We cant allow landlords to evict tenants during a crisis.

The Minister needs to be much more ambitious. He needs to look at whats in the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Minister of State at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Damien English says that the Government will consider all options to cope with the homeless crisis including an examination of the Constitution.

A priority is looking at legislation that will protect tenants, he told Morning Ireland.

At present options such as a moratorium on evictions are not possible under the Constitution, he said. We will consider all options.

Damien English

The bottom line is more houses will have to be built. We have to increase supply, he added.

No one is happy with these figures.

He acknowledged that it looks like the Governments Rebuilding Ireland plan is not working. If we stick to this we will have a solution.

The focus is to stop people entering homelessness. He said that of the 173 Dublin families who recently presented as homeless, 91 were provided with a housing solution within a week, 43 who were in hotels left them and 82 are now in emergency accommodation.

We are finding solutions quite quickly now. We are working earlier now to prevent people getting into homelessness. The solutions are working.

Mr English said it was impossible to tell how many families will present as homeless in the future, but he could say how they would be helped.

Earlier: Simon: Stronger tenant protections needed to help reduce record homeless figures

The Simon Communities in Ireland says stronger tenant protections are needed to help reduce record homeless figures.

The charity has been responding to the latest figures released last night.

They show 10,305 people in emergency accommodation in March, the highest number ever recorded.

Spokesperson for Simon Communities, Paul Sheehan, says he is worried people are becoming used to hearing high figures and the public might become complacent about the issue.

"Well, we're concerned that this will become the norm," Mr Sheehan.

"It will be normal to hear, month after month, that more people - more men, women and children - are stuck in emergency accommodation.

"And if that creeps into the psyche, so to speak, then we're concerned that nothing will be done to address the crisis."
Frontline gardai have expressed anger that a government promise made three years ago to build three new garda stations still hasn't materialised.

Delegates attending the Garda Representative Association conference heard that gardai are having to endure poor conditions at the stations in Macroom, Sligo and Clonmel.

The government promised to build replacement stations as part of a PPP (Public Private Partnership). Probably the worst conditions are to be found in Macroom, in a not-fit-for-purpose building which was constructed in the 1850s.

GRA central executive member Jason Collins told delegates that his colleagues were still enduring appalling conditions and it was totally unacceptable that they were still waiting for a modern station three years on.

Land was purchased five years ago to house both a new garda station and fire station. The fire station plans are being progressed by the county council, but nothing is happening with the garda station.

The GRA commissioned a report carried out by an independent engineer who concluded that gardai were working in third world conditions.

In the meantime, gardai working out of the former RIC barracks have to share just one small toilet and shower. Their canteen is little more than a box room and there are no proper fire escapes.

There is no protection screen in the custody area for gardai who sometimes get spat at or attacked verbally or physically by prisoners.

GRA president Detective Garda Jim Mulligan said the recent Police Authority report highlighted the fact that frontline officers have yet to see tangible evidence of changes that improve their working conditions.

Gardai, sometimes working in appalling accommodation, have been expected to deliver improved policing outcomes while ill-equipped and insufficiently trained, he said.

We want to work in buildings and vehicles that are safe.

Meanwhile, gardai have also backed a call to get changes made to their pension scheme.

Garda Donal Daly, a delegate from the Cork City Garda Division, said at present gardai who have completed 30 years of service don't get any further top-ups on their pension after that, despite paying about 9% of their wages into it for every year they serve over the 30 years.

It is technically possible to join the gardai at the age of 18, but most recruits are usually in their early 20s. However, they can still work up until they are 60.

Garda Daly said some gardai could do 40 years of service, yet they were paying the last 10 years into the pension pot and getting no added benefit for it.
A pharmacist found guilty of professional misconduct over allowing prescription and other medications to be supplied from his premises when there was no pharmacist there to supervise, has had conditions attached to his registration.

The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, said, in order to have a retail pharmacy business open, it is a statutory requirement to have a pharmacist at the premises.

He confirmed a decision by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) to censure Michael McCormack, of Leighlin Pharmacy, Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, and apply conditions to his registration.

In seeking those orders, the PSI noted Mr McCormack made admissions following inspections into his premises by authorised officers of the PSI in 2014 and has taken steps to remedy the problems and it considered there was a reduced risk of recurrence.

Mr McCormack, the superintendent and supervising pharmacist at the pharmacy, made the admissions at an inquiry by the PSI's Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) in November 2018.

The judge said the PSI's concerns included there were 190 supplies of medications made when there was no pharmacist on the premises to supervise those and a high-tech controlled drug was given 19 times to a named patient without a valid prescription.

Other issues were about inappropriate storage and inadequate registration of drugs, including 488 Ritalin tablets unaccounted for on the register, and out-of-date drugs being stored when they should have been properly disposed of.

On foot of the inspections and admissions made by Mr McCormack, he was found guilty by the PCC of professional misconduct for allowing prescription-only, and other medications, be sold on various dates in 2013 and 2014 without personal supervision of a registered pharmacist.

He was found guilty of poor professional performance (PPP) over not maintaining an accurate and/or complete controlled drugs register between February 1, 2014, and November 18, 2014, and for supplying, causing, or permitting to be supplied, one or more controlled drugs without a valid prescription, including 40mg of the drug Humira to a patient between March 2013 and November 2014. Additional findings of PPP were made concerning inappropriate storage of prescription-only medicinal products.

Mr McCormack had admitted the allegations concerning which the findings were made.

The PCC noted Mr McCormack had accepted that, since the inspection, his dealings with the PSI and through criminal and regulatory proceedings, he must "hold his hands up" for a very significant period of disorganisation in his practice.

The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly.

The judge said the findings all related to how Mr McCormack ran the pharmacy and a finding of misconduct was made on the basis he failed to ensure, when certain products were sold, that was carried out under the supervision of the pharmacist.

"That is essential to maintain public trust," the judge said.

Because much of what was complained about "has been put right", the PSI was recommending he be censured and have conditions attached to registration and the court would make those orders.

The conditions require Mr McCormack to comply with a mentoring superintendent pharmacist's recommendations in relation to the areas where his practice was found deficient and for another pharmacist to audit his practice over three years.

In an affidavit, Niall Byrne, registrar of the PSI, said a recent audit had noted progress and change has been made with "full respect" of legislative and regulatory provisions and requirements at Leighlin Pharmacy.
Labour party leader Brendan Howlin has said those found guilty of revenge porn should be added to a sex offenders register.

Speaking at Leinster House to reporters, he said the bill will involve a criminal conviction which could see people jailed for up to seven years, which he described as a significant deterrent.

It is something we have to consider. It wasn't a recommendation of the Law Reform Commission, but we should consider it. Some of the cases that have come to my attention reach the criteria of a sexual assualt, there is no doubt about it," he said.

The people who engage in this are sexual offenders and would rightly be put on a list of offenders. The fear of that would also be a deterrent.

Mr Howlin who drafted the proposed legislation based on the 2016 report of the Law Reform Commission (LRC), said that the current law is ancient and needs to be updated to reflect the reality of peoples live nowadays.

It is something that has caused enormous harm, has led to suicide. Yet the law is decades behind the times on this, he said.

These are not small matters. Theres a huge well of hurt going on online, some people have even been driven towards suicide.

Mr Howlin said he aslo wants to see the Government establish a digital safety commissioner, which he said was called for by the LRC.
By Kevin O'Neill, Daniel McConnell and Fiachra O Cionnaith

New laws designed to tackle revenge pornography and upskirting are welcome but the government needs to include proper sanctions in any measures, domestic abuse charities have warned.

The planned legislation was approved at a Cabinet meeting in Cork. It includes amendments to the original Private Members' Bill, submitted by Brendan Howlin.

The legislation seeks to create offences for the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. It also includes provisions to deal with upskirting.

It would cover all forms of communication, including posting the image online, but also sharing images from one person to another.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the government is keen to get the bill through the Dail or the Seanad before the summer recess.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin, who first proposed the measures in 2016, said those found guilty of revenge porn should be added to a sex offenders register.

He said the bill will involve a criminal conviction which could see people jailed for up to 7 years, which he described as a significant deterrent.

Some of the cases that have come to my attention reach the criteria of a sexual assault, there is no doubt about it.

"The people who engage in this are sexual offenders and would rightly be put on a list of offenders. The fear of that would also be a deterrent, he said.

Mr Howlin, who drafted the proposed legislation based on the 2016 report of the Law Reform Commission (LRC), said that the current law is ancient and needs to be updated to reflect the reality of peoples lives nowadays.

Women's Aid, the national organisation providing support to women affected by domestic, dating and digital abuse, said that in 2018, it received 561 disclosures of digital abuse and stalking.

It said that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Women's Aid stressed that any government response should cover prevention, protection and proper sanctions for digital abuse.

Margaret Martin, director of Women's Aid, said: "Digital abuse in intimate relationships is real, it is harmful and it must be treated as a serious crime.

The most common form of digital abuse we hear about are damaging rumours being spread about women both personally and professionally and having sexually explicit images and posted online without consent.

"We know that the phenomenon is real and growing year on year, especially for younger women," Ms Martin said.

Tara Brown of the National Women's Council of Ireland said digital technology has opened new avenues for violence against women.

"Increasingly, rape crisis centres are hearing from women who have been harmfully impacted by violations including grooming, pornography, sexting, harmful communications and improper use of personal images," she said.

"It is important that the legislation defines harassment as including all forms of communication, including the exchange of images from one person to another as well as posting an image online without consent."
A psychiatric nurse who was punched in the jaw by a violent and psychotic patient in a Cork hospital almost seven years ago has settled his High Court action.

Father of two Damien O'Gorman, it was claimed, also suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the violent punch incident. His counsel Liam Reidy SC told the court it was their case Mr O'Gorman is unfit to pursue his career as a psychiatric nurse.

Counsel said Mr O Gorman received a violent punch to the jaw as he tried to administer a sedative to a patient who had been brought to the unit at Mercy Hospital, Cork by gardai in September 2012.

The male patient, Counsel said had previously served a ten-year sentence for manslaughter and had been brought to the hospital unit in handcuffs after he was detained because he was walking around with a flower pot on his head and he was pushing glass through letterboxes.

The patient who suffers from schizophrenia, Counsel said had previously been assessed as a danger to himself and others. Counsel said the alleged absence of training such as restraint training was relevant in the case.

Mr O'Gorman went back to work eight months after the assault and later sought a transfer from that ward but in 2014 he was deemed unfit to work and has been that way since then.

Damien O'Gorman (43) Woodgrove, Forest Road, Carrigaline, Co Cork had sued the HSE over the assault on a psychiatric ward at the Mercy Hospital in Cork on September 23, 2012.

He had claimed there was an alleged failure to provide him with any or any adequate and proper instruction or training and an alleged failure to warn him of the history of violence and aggression associated with the patient.

The claims were denied and it was claimed there was contributory negligence on the part of Mr O'Gorman who it was alleged had failed to take any or any appropriate or adequate precautions for his own safety and allegedly failed to maintain a safe position vis a vis the patient.

Opening the case, Mr Reidy told the court the patient who had been brought in handcuffs to the unit by gardai had been non compliant with his medication for seven days. Counsel said the patient had previously been assessed as a danger to himself and others. Mr OGorman he said received a violent punch to his jaw area and was stunned. The pain persisted for over five years in the area where the punch landed.

Following talks between the sides after the opening of the case, Mr Justice David Keane was told the case had been settled and could be struck out. The details of the settlement are confidential.
While Patrick Quirke did not take the stand in his trial, his garda interviews gave a clear insight into his toxic on-off relationship with Mary Lowry, his feelings about her new relationship with the victim and how that triggered the murder of Bobby Ryan.

He told gardai he was afraid of Mary Lowry and described his ex-lover as "vicious" and "verbally abusive".

He said his only crime was having an affair with Ms Lowry and now his name was "mud" in the town where he grew up. He told investigators he didn't kill Bobby Ryan and that whoever did was laughing at them for looking at him.

He said he was in love with the woman up to the time their relationship ended and she told him she loved him. He claimed when the relationship broke down he was angry with how she treated him but he had nothing against Bobby Ryan.

Quirke made a voluntary cautioned statement in which he detailed his movements on the day when Bobby Ryan disappeared and on the day, 22 months later, when he claimed to have discovered the body.

In relation to the discovery, gardai asked him why he did not alert Mary Lowry, whose land the tank is on. He said he didn't think she was there and added that he was afraid of what she might say.

He wasn't "thinking straight or acting straight", he said. He was concerned that the body was naked and when gardai pressed him on that he said: "My first concern was that the man didn't walk out of the house."

I just didn't want to meet her [Mary Lowry], I just wanted to meet one person [Imelda].

He claimed he had a theory in his head at the time about the body being naked but he later had a conversation with someone who told him that a professional would remove the clothes to destroy forensic evidence.

Quirke claimed he was afraid of Mary Lowry adding to gardai: "The whole thing frightened me."

When asked why he was afraid of Ms Lowry he said he is "always afraid of her. She is vicious."

He said she had abused him the previous day when he met her on the farm. "She let fly verbal abuse," he said, after she was "caught snooping and didn't like to be caught".

Quirke said he avoided her at all costs but said she was not violent, just verbally abusive. He accepted that he was probably verbal towards her as well.

Gardai quizzed him as to why he instinctively thought the body was that of Bobby Ryan and he replied: "Who else would it be?"

Patrick Quirke

He said he didn't believe Mr Ryan had gone to Spain to start a new life and always thought something sinister had happened.

Quirke also told gardai said he is curious by nature and couldn't "go with the flow" or accept what other people were saying. He didn't believe Mr Ryan committed suicide or hitched a lift to Rosslare and took a ferry to France.

"People who commit suicide want to be found," he told gardai.

Gardai asked Quirke about his relationship with Bobby Ryan. He said he didn't know him well enough to like him, they had nothing in common and so probably weren't going to be friends.

He claimed that, while he wasn't happy with how his relationship with Mary Lowry ended, her being with Mr Ryan didn't bother him.

"I had an affair with this woman but this is my only crime," he said, adding: "I hate to say that I need to clear my name but my name is mud."

In another interview, Quirke told gardai Martin Lowry, Mary's deceased husband, was his best friend and best man at his wedding.

The affair started in January 2008, he said, recalling that he told Ms Lowry that they should "pull back" because he was falling in love with her. He said she replied: "Me too."

They usually met at Fawnagowan although he stayed overnight only once or twice. They occasionally went for lunch and went away together about three or four times.

Patrick and Imelda Quirke. Photo: Collins.

He thought his wife might have "an inkling" about the affair but she said nothing. He said he occasionally discussed the future with Ms Lowry but not very seriously.

He told Imelda about the affair in March 2012. He said he needed to know that their marriage could survive and added: "I needed to be honest."

She didn't take it well and has not spoken to Mary Lowry since. Previously they got on well, he said, having known one another for 25 years.

Quirke also detailed to gardai his financial dealings with Ms Lowry. They had shared investments totalling tens of thousands of euros and she loaned him 20,000 to pay off a bank loan.

He said he also presented her with a bill for cattle that had died due to an infection from the herd he inherited from her husband. He said she agreed that he could keep the 20,000 loan as compensation. Mary Lowry denied this in her evidence to the court.

He found out she was seeing Bobby Ryan in December 2010 but didn't think they were physically intimate at that time.

He said she told him she wasn't interested in a relationship with Mr Ryan and he, Quirke, told her she could still meet him, "as long as we don't fall out". She asked Quirke what he would do and he told her: "I still have Imelda."

Around December 15, he said he became aware that Ms Lowry had lied to him about where she was the night before and the following week he saw text exchanges on her phone with Mr Ryan.

He took her phone and texted Mr Ryan, "pointing out she hadn't been honest and was seeing me for the last three years.

Mr Ryan then called and Quirke answered, saying, "sorry, but I'm the man." He told gardai: "That's all I said and I hung up."

Quirke was angry and Ms Lowry was angry. They had a "heated" argument in which he accused her of lying and she told him they were finished. He described Ms Lowry as "fiery" and said she has a "heated temper" but the argument was not physical.

Mary Lowry

The next time they met she was still angry because Mr Ryan didn't want anything to do with her but she later made up with Mr Ryan and seemed happier then.

Mr Quirke added: "I was angry because she was happy and she didn't care if I was happy, sad or indifferent."

He said he was "disgusted" with Ms Lowry's "whole attitude" which he found difficult to justify.

He said he spent a lot of time and effort sorting her out after her husband's death and "it was all forgotten about".

Following the argument over the phone Mr Ryan arranged to meet Quirke at Hayes's Hotel in Thurles. They talked about the break up of Mr Ryan's marriage and Quirke apologised for the incident with the phone.

He was impressed with Mr Ryan and happy with the meeting because, "he didn't perceive me as a person who had it in for him," Quirke said. He denied trying to warn Mr Ryan off and said he wished them well.

He went on to say that he hadn't properly grieved his best friend Martin's death and entered into counselling to help him with this and the breakdown of the affair.

He was not jealous of Bobby and Mary because he was getting on with his own life with his wife.

Patrick Quirke

In August 2011, following Mr Ryan's disappearance, he said he got back with Ms Lowry a few times but it wasn't the same. They went to the Cliff House in Ardmore in September 2011 and to Fitzpatrick's Hotel in Killiney, south Dublin in January 2012.

They talked about Mr Ryan's disappearance, he said, telling gardai: "I'm inquisitive, I'm curious."

He said he wanted to know what happened and had theories. He said Ms Lowry had no theories and added: "It didn't bother her. She was quite indifferent about it.

He put an end to the affair this time, he said, after he found out she was again seeing someone else.

When gardai asked him if he was in love with Ms Lowry up to the time when they split he responded: "yes."

He said Ms Lowry had filled a void left when his best friend died. He was angry at how she had treated him but added that he was never going to leave his wife.

He concluded the interview saying he never threatened Bobby Ryan "in any way and I challenge anyone to show that I did. I did not kill Bobby Ryan. There's somebody out there who did do it and he is laughing at the moment because you are looking at me."

He said he was doing everything he could do clear his name.
The jury in the Patrick Quirke trial did not hear evidence that the accused had secret audio recordings of him being "intimate" with Mary Lowry and that his computer was used to look up articles on notorious Irish murderers including Joe O'Reilly.

Patrick Quirke has been found guilty of the murder of Robert Ryan by a ten to two majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court.

The recordings were ruled as inadmissible because his defence team argued they would suggest to the jury that he had "strange sexual proclivities" and could prejudice them against him. Justice Eileen Creedon agreed, saying that the potential to prejudice the jury outweighed their value as evidence in the trial.

Mary Lowry told gardai that she did not give permission to be recorded and was "disgusted" when gardai played the audio to her. It was one of several audio recordings found on Mr Quirke's computer following a search of his home in May 2013.

Mary Lowry helped gardai identify the voices on the recordings and said at least one was a conversation between Mr Quirke and his wife Imelda. Two recordings were of Mr Quirke and Ms Lowry and on others it was not possible to identify anyone.

Only one recording was played to the jury, that of a conversation between Mary Lowry and her boyfriend Flor Canitllon, whom she met almost a year after Bobby Ryan went missing. No explanation was given as to how Mr Quirke had those recordings on an external drive and both Mr Cantillon and Ms Lowry said they did not give their permission. Forensic IT examiner Detective Garda Paul Fitzpatrick said a Nokia mobile phone was the most likely device used to record.

The defence team didn't want the jury to hear any of the recordings, including that with Flor Cantillon, because they said it would lead the jury to speculate as to how those files ended up on Quirke's computer. Prosecution counsel Michael Bowman SC fought hard to have them included, telling Justice Creedon that they were "not scandalous, but intimate". The recording with Cantillon, he said, showed that Quirke still wanted to be in a relationship with Mary Lowry and was infatuated with her.

Justice Creedon decided that only the conversation with Flor Cantillon was to be played to the jury.

The jury also did not find out that Quirke's computer had been used to search for notorious Irish wife murderer Joe O'Reilly. A blog article written by an Irish crime journalist titled: "How Joe O'Reilly thought he had committed the perfect murder," was among the pages visited.

O'Reilly murdered his wife Rachel Callaly at their home in Naul, north Dublin in October 2004 and was convicted after mobile phone evidence showed he was not where he claimed to be when the murder occurred.

Det Gda Fitzpatrick also found evidence that Mr Quirke was looking up articles on Siobhan Kearney, who was murdered by her husband Brian in February 2006, and Jo Jo Dollard, who went missing in 1995.

Gardai believe that Mr Quirke was looking for information on how to get away with murder and the potential traps that could catch a murderer out.

This tied in with other articles Mr Quirke had viewed such as "The limits of DNA Evidence" and multiple articles on the decomposition of bodies.

Justice Creedon ruled the evidence as inadmissible, saying that the searches were relevant but she was concerned that those murders were "notorious" and therefore the fact of the searches would be prejudicial to Mr Quirke but not sufficiently probative to justify their inclusion. The defence pointed out that these murders were famous and many people in Ireland would have searched for information relating to them over the years.

Bobby Ryan

Michelle Ryan, Bobby's daughter, also told gardai that Mr Quirke warned her father to "stay away from Mary Lowry". Michelle told gardai that her dad was at a Brendan Grace concert with Lowry, Mr Quirke and Mr Quirke's wife Imelda when the accused approached him. As this is hearsay it could not be said in front of the jury and the prosecution did not try to include it in the evidence.

Gardai also wanted to show that Patrick Quirke was lying when he said he saw something strange in the tank when he went to suck water from it with a vacuum tanker. To show this, gardai reenacted what Mr Quirke would have seen, opening the tank in the same way Mr Quirke explained he had opened it to push the hose from the vacuum tanker down into it.

When Superintendent Patrick O'Callaghan looked he could see nothing inside the tank and determined that Mr Quirke was lying. The defence pointed out that gardai had not employed an engineer to ensure that what they were looking at was exactly what Mr Quirke had seen. They didn't carry out any measurements and didn't take into account lighting conditions, time of day, or time of year. Justice Creedon said the reenactment was "frail" and ruled that it should not be shown to the jury as evidence.

Most of what the defence objected to was allowed by Justice Creedon.
Gardai have recovered a loaded semi-automatic sawn-off shotgun during a search in Dublin.

As part of an ongoing policing action targeting criminality in the Blanchardstown area, gardai searched a house at Sheephill Park yesterday.

They also search a wasteland at Sheephill Estate where the shotgun was recovered concealed in some undergrowth.

The weapon has been forwarded to Garda Headquarters for ballistic testing.

Gardai said no arrests have been made.

They added that investigations are continuing.
The sister of a man missing for the past 15 years is appealing to anyone who knows where he is to come forward.

Barry Coughlan, a fisherman from Crosshaven, was last seen outside the Moonduster Bar in the harbour town at 1.30am on May 1, 2004. He was just 23 years old.

Now, his sister Donna is appealing to anyone who knows anything to help her and her parents Jim and Marie.

She said: "Somebody has to know something about where he is."

He had started a job as a fisherman in Castletownbere a short time before he disappeared and had come home for the weekend.

When he disappeared, the family hoped he would turn up in Castletownbere for work. He had been due back on Sunday afternoon, May 2  a day after his last sighting.

But he didnt, and his car  a rust-coloured Toyota Corolla hatchback has not been seen since his disappearance either, despite exhaustive searches by his family, friends and gardai. Its registration number was 98 C 18625.

At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing a navy hooded top with Old Navy logo on the front, blue wrangler jeans, and blue runners with beige trim and a Sketchers logo. He was 6ft 1in tall, with black hair, blue eyes and a slim build.

His disappearance was completely out of character for him and was totally unexpected, as nothing about him suggested that he was thinking of leaving and he did not appear to have any troubles.

Anyone who may have information about Barry Coughlan or who saw his car is asked to contact Crosshaven gardai on (021) 4831222.

This story originally appeared on The Echo
The president of the High Court has suspended a doctor from the medical register, saying he was registered after making dishonest representations and when his competence was "entirely substandard".

Dr Ragheb Nouman failed to disclose, when seeking registration here last year, that his name had been erased from the medical register in the UK in 2016, Mr Justice Peter Kelly said.

The suspension, pending further steps by the Medical Council, of his registration here is necessary to protect the public, he ruled.

A Syrian national who qualified as a doctor in Romania, Dr Nouman was struck off the medical register in the UK in early 2016 based on findings his fitness to practice was impaired due to misconduct and deficient professional performance, including making racist comments about Indian doctors and Indian people in general.

A fitness to practice committee in the UK had noted Dr Nouman had said he was "not racist" but believed, inter alia, that Indian doctors "will be the downfall of the NHS" and Indians "should clean toilets, not practise medicine".

The judge said Dr Nouman later came here and was registered in July 2018 after dishonestly filling in registration forms.

For reasons including the doctor's "deceit and dishonesty in two jurisdictions", his suspension should be made public and notified to various parties, he directed.

The judge noted the erasure of Dr Nouman's name from the UK register was notified to the Medical Council, under a European notification system, shortly after the erasure decision was made in January 2016.

There is "a serious defect" in the Council's procedures as it does not currently have the ability to utilise such information, he said.

There "seems little point" in having a European notification system if the Council cannot use the information to deal with dishonest registration applications, he said.

The situation was "wholly unsatisfactory" and puts patient safety and the safety of the public in jeopardy, he added.

He was told the Council was very aware of the deficit in its procedures and hoped to inform the judge about steps to remedy that when the matter returns before the court next month.

Dr Nouman also has liberty to apply to vary or discharge the order.

The doctor was registered here in July 2018 and worked in South Tipperary General Hospital, Mayo University Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, having been referred by an approved locum agency.

Early last month, after a staff member at the Navan hospital came across online information he had been struck off in the UK, Dr Nouman was removed from duty pending clarification and the matter was reported to the Medical Council.

It resolved last Thursday, having heard representations from the doctor, to apply for his suspension pending further order.

The suspension application was made by J.P. McDowell, solicitor for the Council, before the court in a private hearing this week but the judge gave his ruling in public.

The UK Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, which considers doctors' fitness to practice there, had assessed Dr Nouman's professional performance as unacceptable in areas including assessment, clinical management, relationships with patients and working with colleagues.

It also recorded he scored 25.83% in a knowledge test, below the scores of 50-70% achieved by other doctors within his reference group. On foot its findings, his name was erased from the register in the UK in January 2016.

The judge said the Council considered the matters which the doctor had been found guilty of in the UK were very serious.

It was very concerned, when he applied for registration here, he wrote "No" in response to a question concerning whether his name had ever been erased from a medical register when that was "manifestly untrue".

There was prior evidence of this dishonest behaviour in the doctor's dealings with the regulatory authorities in England, he also said.

He noted the doctor had denied his comments about Indian doctors were racially motivated and had apologised for some aspects of his behaviour.

However, the MPTS panel considered his actions so serious that public confidence in the profession would be undermined if a finding of impairment was not made and patient safety would be compromised if he was allowed to practice medicine in the UK.
The government is working on a solution to kickstart construction on the stalled Cork event centre, the Taoiseach has insisted.

But Leo Varadkar said he can't give a timeline for a resolution because it's not a stand-alone government project.

He was speaking in City Hall after chairing a Cabinet meeting in its historic council chamber.

It was expected the government would be briefed on the status of the project which has been mired in controversy since the sod was turned in 2016.

Three years on from the sod turning, building work on the proposed 6,000-capacity venue earmarked for the former Beamish and Crawford site on South Main St has yet to start, the venue has undergone a complete redesign and been enlarged, costs have soared from 50m to 79m, the funding has yet to be agreed and planning permission has yet to be secured.

With 30m of state-aid pledged since before Christmas, the project has become bogged down again over the insistence by the Department of Arts that 9m of the overall package be classed as a loan.

Cork City Council, which is overseeing the project, has sought legal advice on its classification as a loan.

At the post-Cabinet meeting briefing for the media, Mr Varadkar said the event centre saga wasn't discussed by government ministers.

Simon Coveney, along with then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Joan Burton, turned the sod on the Event Centre at a photoshoot ahead of the 2016 General Election

But he said the government took the opportunity provided by the presence of key ministers and officials in Cork in recent days to organise a series of meetings with the key partners involved in the event centre project. Those meetings have been taking place over the last 48-hours, he said.

"We are working on a solution - it's a project I really want to see happen," he said. "It will be of enormous benefit for the city in terms of tourism and business events and there are so many reasons why the Cork event centre project is a good project and should be supported.

"But it's not a government project on its own. It involves the local authority and the private sector."

And that's why, he said, he couldn't give a precise timeline for when the various issues blighting the project might be resolved.

We're not the only player in this. It's a local authority project with the government involved too and there are two major private companies involved," he said.

"But there have been meetings over the past couple of days, everyone is around the table, everyone wants to make this happen."

Mr Varadkar told the Irish Examiner just over two weeks ago that the 2016 pre-election sod turning was a mistake.

Developers BAM have been given until July to respond to planners' requests for further information about various design aspects of the enlarged venue.

It is understood that Live Nation has board approval to invest at least 30m in the project.

BAM has spent up to 10m on the project to date, including site acquisition costs and on the various design and planning processes.

The company has built several student apartment blocks on the site already as part of its Brewery Quarter regeneration.
A teenager charged with the murder of a man in Co Monaghan three years ago has been served with a book of evidence and returned for trial to the Central Criminal Court.

Gerry Marron, 61, died in a fire at his home at St Macartans Villas in Carrickmacross in March 2016.
Fianna Fail leader has accused the government of conducting a social experiment to turn Ireland away from homeownership and into a rental model.

There seems to be a social experiment going on here that Ireland should move away from the home ownership model and move into a rental model, he told RTE Radios News at One.

People want to live in houses that are affordable, that's something that has been a distinctive feature of Irish life and it's something that we shouldn't throw away too easily.

We're not building enough council houses at the rate that we should be, he added.

Mr Martin also said that a suggestion by the head of advocacy at Focus Ireland, Mike Allen, that there should be a moratorium on evictions should be examined. He said there is a case for greater engagement with landlords, but that there should not be a blanket moratorium.

There are situations where people are being evicted through no fault of their own.

There is a case for engagement with the industry to say look, given the crisis that we are in let's put a halt on the unnecessary eviction of people. There will always be situations where people are not paying any rent or people are being reckless as renters, we have to allow for that too, you can't have an entirely blanket moratorium.

He also said that there is a whole generation of Irish people who are growing up with no prospect of ever owning their own home.

Fine Gael has failed consistently over a number of years to deliver any meaningful progress on the housing situation. Rebuilding Ireland is not working.

He said that this had happened on Fine Gaels watch.

There has to be a significant change of direction, he said.

Mr Martin said that on the campaign trail the public are raising the issues of the housing crisis and health.

Affordable housing had been included in the Budget because of Fianna Fail and Mr Martin was now calling for the delivery of the promised 6,000 houses.

He also called on local authorities to be freed up to make more decisions in relation to housing, at present they are hamstrung.

Mr Martin added that there are many adult offspring living with their parents who are not included in homeless figures, but they too were in effect homeless.

Its a real crisis that demands an urgent response.

He warned that the publics patience is wearing thin with Fine Gaels inability to deliver on housing or on health.
Zac Efron portrays Ted Bundy, one of the most prolific serial killers of all time, in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. Georgia Humphreys chats to the actor, his co-star Lily Collins, and director Joe Berlinger about their experience of bringing the horrifying story to life.

There have been various opportunities for Zac Efron to take a darker turn as an actor. But the former Disney star, who became a teen heartthrob around the world thanks to the High School Musical franchise, has always been hesitant, to make sure it's the right sort of role.

"More often than not, they're something I'm not necessarily interested in lending my image to and they do seem like glorifying somebody, that we're telling a random story for no purpose," notes the affable 31-year-old, who was born in California.

That's why he had reservations at first about playing Ted Bundy, one of America's most notorious serial killers, in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, based on the non-fiction memoir by Elizabeth Kendall - the pseudonym Liz Kloepfer, who was Bundy's long-term girlfriend, used when she penned the book.

But after talking it through with director Joe Berlinger, who also made the recent Netflix documentary series Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, he changed his mind.

"This isn't the procedural 'evil guy, body count stacking up and then he gets caught and now you know about that person, how bad they were'," explains Efron, whose other film credits include Baywatch, The Greatest Showman and Hairspray.

This puts you in the shoes of Liz, the person who was closest to Ted Bundy in his life, and through the perspective of the audience in that era; they knew a man named Ted Bundy, and that's it.

For Oscar-nominated filmmaker Berlinger, the casting of someone like Efron was purposeful, because "to a certain segment of the population" he is "a guy who can do no wrong".

"I want the audience to have the same experience as the people who trusted Bundy, and part of that experience is actually rooting for Ted for the first part of the movie," adds the 57-year-old American.

The story follows single mother Liz, played brilliantly by Lily Collins, as she meets Ted on a night out, and thinks she's found the man of her dreams.

They move in together, becoming a family unit along with her daughter from a previous relationship, Molly.

A few years later, he's arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, before being linked to murders in multiple states - but Liz refuses to believe Ted is guilty for a long time.

A former law student, he insists he's been framed and chooses to defend himself in America's first nationally televised trial, while, as time goes on, Liz starts to question what she believes.

PA Photo/Sky Cinema/ 2018 Wicked Nevada, LLC. All Rights reserved

Discussing her character, Collins, 30, suggests: "She only knew the man that she was faced with, and that was a man that, to her, loved her, loved her child.

"He was supportive of her, she was supportive of him and she has never seen this other side - this 'so-called' side, because she didn't believe it to be true.

"She wasn't privy to any of the imagery and what's really going on, the court cases - until they were televised she wouldn't have seen anything," continues the actress, known for her role in BBC series Les Miserables, and who stars in the upcoming film Tolkien, also released in May.

"So, playing that part at the beginning, as well as at the very end, was an interesting character arc for me, or for any actress, to come in and play, because there are so many different levels that she goes through in this story."

It was just days before he was executed in Florida on January 24, 1989, that Bundy finally confessed to murdering over 30 women between 1974 and 1978 (though experts believe the true number of his victims is much higher).

Lily Collins. Picture: PA Photo/Sky Cinema/ 2018 Wicked Nevada, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

A question the film raises is whether Ted, who used his good looks and charm to lure his victims to their death, actually ever loved Liz.

As Efron puts it: "Is a sociopath or a psychopath capable of love?"

What does Collins think?

"I met with Liz and her daughter Molly and I think it's my understanding they felt love there..." responds the star, who is the daughter of musician Phil Collins, and was born in the Surrey but moved to LA with her mum when she was a child.

"She showed me hand-written love letters from him to her, that were so powerful, written on actual paper, so deeply written that it was embossed in there, and you could feel energy, you could feel love, you could feel whatever emotion it was that you were feeling, it was there.

"I find it difficult to believe that that type of thing could be written without emotion. And I feel there was a lot of love there; I don't know what kind of love it was, or what level of love, but it was there."

"Or a sense of comfortability, or a sense of three-dimensional love - maybe that was what he was creating," Efron chimes in.

"To a certain extent I'm sure a part of him wanted that."

What's undeniable is how captivating the stars are in their wholly believable performances.

Meanwhile, Berlinger defies the idea the film sexualises Ted Bundy, reasoning people who say that don't know the story.

"He was a person who had women showing up at the Florida trial thinking he was innocent, or even if they thought he was guilty, they were so titillated by him that they wanted to be in the same room," he says.

"So we are not sexualising the serial killer, we are telling the story of what really happened in real life."

Both the filmmaker and his cast knew the movie had a very important message - one that can't be overstated, especially to the younger generation.

"Just because somebody looks and acts a certain way, it doesn't mean you should just implicitly trust them," elaborates Berlinger.

"In this era of internet catfishing, and people on social media pretending to be one thing when they're in fact another, that's a lesson that I want my daughters, who are college-age women, who didn't know who Bundy was when I started this project... That's a lesson I want young people to know, that you have to be really careful.

"Whether it's the 1970s or today, there are people who pretend to be one thing and really are another."

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile is released in cinemas and on Sky Cinema on Friday, May 3

-PA
The UK is to cancel all the contracts for ferry services to be provided in the case of a no-deal Brexit.

The country's Department for Transport is to cancel the contracts at a cost to the department of around 50m (58m), a source has said.
Libya's coast guard has rescued 96 Europe-bound migrants off the Mediterranean coast.

Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said today a rubber boat carrying the migrants, mostly from Africa, stopped on Tuesday off the coast of the western town of Khoms.

He said the migrants were given humanitarian and medical aid and were taken to a refugee camp in the town.

Libya became a major conduit for African migrants and refugees fleeing to Europe after the uprising that toppled and killed Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Traffickers and armed groups have exploited Libya's chaos following the 2011 uprising.

Libyan authorities have stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants, with European assistance.
Two activists linked to the Russian protest group Pussy Riot have successfully appealed against their rejected asylum application and received shelter in Sweden, Swedish broadcaster SVT has reported.

Lusine Dzhanyan and Alexei Knedlyakovsky, who have two children, won their appeal of a 2018 ruling, where Swedish authorities said their situation did not justify asylum.
Update: Speaking outside court, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said the sentence was an outrage and vindictive in nature.

It doesnt give us a lot of faith in the UK justice system for the fight ahead, he told a crowd packed with journalists and supporters.

Only two weeks short of the maximum is an outrage.

Mr Hrafnsson said the extradition process is now the big fight.

It will be a question of life and death for Mr Assange, he said.

Its also a question of life and death for a major journalist principle.

Update: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been jailed for 50 weeks at a UK court for a bail breach offence.

As he was taken down to the cells after being jailed for 50 weeks for breach of bail offences, Julian Assange defiantly raised his fist to the supporters in the public gallery behind him.

They raised their fists back at him in solidarity and shouted Shame on you towards the court in Southwark.

Announcing the sentence, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange: Its difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offence.

She added: By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK.

She told Assange that by doing so he had exploited your privileged position to flout the law.

Supporters have gathered outside the court in front of a large press pack.

Assanges backers held aloft placards and banners demanding he be freed.

They chanted Defend Julian Assange, and No extradition, theres only one decision.

#Assange supporters outside court after hearing his sentence pic.twitter.com/EbApA5JCDe  Claudia Rebaza (@crebazacnn) May 1, 2019

Earlier: Julian Assange faces jail for breaching bail in UK

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing up to a year in an English jail for breaching his bail.

He was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in April after being arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

The Australian 47-year-old entered the dock today at a packed Southwark Crown Court wearing a dark jacket, light grey jumper and with a trimmed beard.

Some supporters stood as he came into courtroom one.

Asked if he understood that he had been committed for sentencing, he said: "I understand I have been committed. I don't know details."

Julian Assange in April.

A separate courtroom has been cleared for supporters and press in the building.

In mitigation for Assange Mark Summers QC, told the court his client had been "gripped" by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with WikiLeaks.

He said: "As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned.

"They dominated his thoughts. They were not invented by him, they were gripping him throughout."

Mr Summers said Assanges fears that he could face rendition from Sweden to the US were well founded and not a figment of his imagination.

Sweden at the time, he said, had a well documented and unfortunate history of sending people to states where they were at significant risk of ill-treatment including torture and death.

There were reports of discussions between Sweden and the US over the matter, Mr Summers said.

Thats not a figment of his imagination, he added.

They were reasonable fears.

In a letter read to court, Assange said: I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I pursued my case.

I found myself struggling with difficult circumstances.

I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done.

I regret the course that that has taken.

Those difficulties, the letter continued, were compounded and also impacted upon very many others.

Assange was accused of sexual offences in Sweden in 2010, and after exhausting his legal options against an extradition order, went to the Ecuadorian Embassy on June 19, 2012.

A warrant for his arrest was issued 10 days later.

On Thursday, he will face a hearing about his potential extradition to the US over the allegation he conspired with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate Pentagon computers.

Prosecutors in Sweden are also mulling whether to reopen the sexual assault case against Assange, which was dropped in May 2017. Assange denies the allegations.

At the hearing on April 11, District Judge Michael Snow remanded Assange in custody and branded him a "narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests".

The judge said: "This is a case which merits the maximum sentence, which is 12 months in the Crown Court."
"IPhone clearly was in line or a little bit above expectations," said Shannon Cross, an analyst at Cross Research. "Given how conservative people were going into the quarter, that's why you're seeing a positive reaction in the stock market."

The company also reported Services revenue grew 16 per cent as consumers sign up for an expanding smorgasbord of digital subscriptions. That was just ahead of Wall Street expectations. A new buyback plan also helped.

Shares of the mobile technology giant rose about 5 per cent in extended trading.

Apple projected quarterly sales that topped analysts' estimates, suggesting demand for iPhones has stabilised after a disappointing Christmas period.

The Cupertino, California-based company said on Tuesday that fiscal third-quarter revenue will be between $US52.5 billion and $US54.5 billion. Analysts, on average, were looking for $US52.2 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Fiscal second-quarter results also beat Wall Street expectations.

Apple shares have surged more than 40 per cent from a 21-month low in early January after lackluster iPhone sales prompted the company to cut its Christmas revenue forecast. The stock fell 1.9 per cent to close at $US200.67 in New York earlier on Tuesday.

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Fiscal second-quarter sales fell 5.1 per cent from the period a year ago to $US58 billion. Analysts estimated $US57.5 billion, according to Bloomberg data. Apple had forecast revenue between $US55 and $US59 billion. That was the second straight quarter of revenue declines.

Net income was $US11.6 billion, or $US2.46 a share, compared with $US13.8 billion, or $US2.73 a share, a year earlier. Analysts estimated $US2.37 per share.
Qantas latest management shuffle may give the impression that the group is preparing for life after Alan Joyce. Thats not entirely true.

While theres no doubt that what appears to be a continual reshuffling of Qantas senior executive ranks is designed to ensure there is a core group of well-rounded potential successors to Joyce, rotation of senior executives has been one of the constants of his more than a decade-long tenure as Qantas CEO.

Its something Joyce experienced early in his career at Aer Lingus - now part of the International Airlines Group that owns British Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia, among others, and which has produced IAG's CEO Willie Walsh and Air Asias co-founder, Conor McCarthy, as well as Joyce.

Alan Joyce: Despite the speculation, he isn't planning to go anywhere else anytime soon. Credit:AAP

It tests and stretches executives and deepens the flexibility and bench strength within the senior ranks. It is a key element of Qantas' succession planning. Like Wesfarmers, Qantas has always appointed its CEO from within.
For more than a decade, executives, intelligence agencies and conspiracy theorists have been warning about the dangers of equipment from China's Huawei.

And for almost as long, Huawei has denied that its telecommunications products pose any kind of security threat.

According to the internal documents, Vodafone asked Huawei to remove backdoors in its home internet routers in 2011, and received assurances that that they had been, but further tests found that the vulnerabilities remained. Credit:Bloomberg

The West has finally found its smoking gun. Yet it may not be enough to sway those on either side of the debate.

As far back as 2009, Vodafone  one of the world's most powerful and far-reaching telecom companies  found hidden backdoors that could have given Huawei access to its fixed-line network in Italy, Bloomberg News's Daniele Lepido reported Tuesday, citing security briefing documents from the London-based company.
Gambling regulators in Massachusetts levied a $US35 million ($50 million) fine on Wynn Resorts but allowed the company to keep its casino license after executives failed to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct against company founder Steve Wynn.

Wynn Resorts founder Steve Wynn. Credit:AP

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission also fined CEO Matthew Maddox $US500,000 for his "clear failure" to require an investigation of at least one misconduct complaint he'd been aware of. It also required the Nevada company, which also owns properties in Las Vegas and Macau, to be subject to review by an independent firm selected by the state as a condition of maintaining its license.

Wynn Resorts and lawyers for Steve Wynn didn't respond to emails seeking comment on the late evening decision, which effectively clears the way for the opening of the company's $US2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor resort in June.

The company also made a play for James Packer's Crown Resorts last month, before abruptly ending takeover talks.
It's been a bumper quarter for startup capital raises but Australia's much heralded equity crowdfund format is contributing less than half a per cent of the cash.

A quarterly funding report from Techboard released on Wednesday shows startups raised more than $2.6 billion in the three months to March. Venture capital contributed $477 million to this, while crowdfunding delivered just $7.4 million.

Equitise co-founder Chris Gilbert says there's plenty of growth in equity crowdfunding but some businesses just aren't suited to it. Credit:Christopher Pearce

The remainder was made up of funds from acquisitions, grants, initial coin offerings and ASX listings. This quarter's figures were turbo charged by the $1.6 billion acquisition of PEXA

The crowdfunding model has been championed by the startup sector as a way for early stage companies to more easily raise funds by turning to their fans for capital.
A franchisee who entered into a swim school venture to teach special-needs children ended up paying thousands of dollars despite the schools never being built, a court has been told.

Shaun Trumbull says he entered into franchise agreements with Jump! swim schools to establish two premises on Sydney's Northern Beaches in March 2016.

The company operates more than 60 swimming school franchises around Australia. Credit:Newsday

Jump! has been under pressure following revelations by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that franchisees have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of swim schools but are still waiting for the build to start up to two years later.

The ACCC has launched an investigation into the franchise.
The world's wealthy are increasingly on the move.

About 108,000 millionaires migrated across borders last year, a 14 per cent increase from the prior year, and more than double the level in 2013, according to Johannesburg-based New World Wealth. Australia, US and Canada are the top destinations, according to the research firm, while China and Russia are the biggest losers. The UK saw around 3000 millionaires depart last year with Brexit and taxation cited as possible reasons.

Australia topped the list of preferred destinations, with its perceived safety and a strong economy attractive. Credit:James Alcock

Wealth migration figures point to present conditions - such as crime, lack of business opportunities or religious tensions - but can also be a key future indicator, said Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth.

"It can be a sign of bad things to come as high-net-worth individuals are often the first people to leave - they have the means to leave unlike middle-class citizens," he said.
The novel was written at breakneck speed in four weeks in 2013 by Romain Puertolas as an allegory for the plight of refugees in Europe. It sold 100,000 copies in France and sold to 30 countries.

In the original French novel, a chart-topper in 2014, a 38-year-old conman from a village in Rajasthan convinces his own people he is a holy man ("a fakir"), and that they must pay for him to go to Paris to buy a bed of nails from an Ikea shop.

In the film, directed by a Quebecois comedian/writer/director Ken Scott, the story has been moved to a Mumbai slum and Ajatashatru is the only child of a struggling single mother (Amruta Sant). She refuses to tell him who his real father is; in fact, she denies he even had a father.

The child, Aja, (played by Hearty Singh) is an impossibly cute trickster and apprentice conman, a street kid. The first reel consists of highly-coloured high jinx in the most attractive slum since Oliver Twist made it to London in Oliver! You'd move to this slum, so happy and colourful are the people.

Tragedy strikes as the mother dies. Aja is now played by the impossibly good-looking Tamil Bollywood star Dhanush, who has learned to deploy his smile in almost any context. He steals a wad of rupees and flies to Paris. No mention of a bed of nails  perhaps to avoid any chance of giving cultural offence. His mission now is to scatter his mother's ashes and find his French father.

For the story to work, Aja has to be obsessed with the wealth of the west. He finds this in the pages of the Ikea catalogue, so that is the first place he visits. There he meets the beautiful American girl Marie (Erin Moriarty) who will inspire him for the rest of the movie.

For reasons too silly to recount, he ends up sleeping in a wardrobe in the shop, which is shipped off to England in a truck full of African refugees. Aja protests that he is legal, with a passport, not a refugee. One of the Somalis looks at him with kindly eyes: "Travelling in a wardrobe?"
Its a small list at best, but if any factual Australian television show is actually going to prosper from the current federal election campaign it may well be The Drum. The ABCs weeknight current affairs and news analysis hour is meant to bypass smack-down shouting matches and partisan braying, and at a time when divisive qualities are in overdrive it has the potential to be a genuine alternative. New viewers might be surprised by what they find. For viewers that arent used to it, one of the oddest things is how quiet it is. The rotating list of hosts  headlined by Ellen Fanning and Julia Baird  and the nightly guests speak at a conversational level. Theyre not carrying a brusque tone or raised volume to discourage interruptions because its rare that guests interrupt one another. People tend to finish their answers, even if that leeway allows for some slight rambling. Ill take that over cliched digs. Ellen Fanning and Julia Baird present the ABC's weeknightly news and current affairs show The Drum. Credit:ABC It helps that the show airs between 6pm and 7pm Monday to Friday, which for many years has been a Bermuda Triangle for the ABC where many shows have entered and none have returned. Trigger warning  the following list contains some decidedly poor television shows: Think Tank, Randling, Pointless, repeats of Antiques Roadshow and Grand Designs. So many quirky quiz shows that ultimately didnt have an answer. Sometimes it appeared that the best lead-in for the national broadcasters 7pm news bulletin might just be a transmission will resume shortly graphic. And because this is the ABC they made The Drum work for it, going through multiple incarnations since it was launched on ABC News 24 in 2010. After it was upgraded to the main network in 2014 it still cycled through varying lengths and time slots.

But a running time of almost an hour suits it, even if there were those who thought doubling the length would double any structural failings. Consider the episode last week that led with the growing furore over the federal governments $80 million water buyback in the Murray-Darling Basin. The segment wasnt perfect by any means, but it ran for 22 minutes  or six Andrew Bolt monologues  which allowed for backgrounding, discussion and some debate. That evenings host, Fran Kelly, is one of the ABCs great assets, and her long presence in radio matches where some of The Drums current philosophies are derived from. With Watergate (it was inevitable) The Guardians investigative reporter Anne Davies was able to provide explanatory knowledge, and mostly  apart from the odd comment by former NSW Liberal MP and minister Pru Goward  there was little sense that those present were, well, insiders. This is crucial, because there is a fine line between coverage and commentary that any serious current affairs show risks crossing. Kelly came close to this when at one point in the water buyback segment she asked veteran News Corporation political reporter Malcolm Farr for his opinion on a purely political front, which is essentially asking for the commentariat take on the perception and spin of an event. It was notable that Crikeys Associate Editor Bhakthi Puvanenthiran was able to  politely but firmly  cut in after Farr finished and before Kelly moved on to point out that this wasnt a political issue that had sprung up during an election campaign, but actually a symptom of a longer, established crisis  in the Murray-Darling environment and government responsibility  that was more than a setback or boon for sparring politicians. Thats a distinction The Drum has to strive to keep making. The show has run several election specials that have been in-depth instead of inflammatory. One broadcast from Rockhampton took the pulse of central Queensland, although there was a little too much local colour in Fannings introduction of the locals. National issues were seen though a regional lens and there were fascinating explanations of what actually transpired when a government program brought Burmese refugees to a local town and they integrated into the workforce and community under the latters guidance.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's son Alex has hinted a Perth student is responsible for the fake polling scandal engulfing independent Curtin candidate Louise Stewart.

Law and politics student Obi Hedley, 22, registered an internet domain name on Wednesday morning linked by Ms Stewart's campaign to the polling.

Alex Turnbull was tweeting the domain purchase log on Wednesday. Credit:WAtoday

He registered independentinc.org.au on Wednesday morning after reading on WAtoday the domain name had never been registered.

Mr Hedley said he collected political trivia and thought owning the domain, which Ms Stewart said was linked to emails containing fake polling, would be humorous.
Labor has flagged greater scrutiny of the government's $1.2 billion "choice and affordability fund" for Catholic and independent schools, raising concerns about how the money will be distributed to the sectors.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek, who has previously said the measure looked like a "slush fund", has committed to matching the overall funding level but expressed doubts about the Coalition's approach.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek urged Catholic school leaders and parents to stand with public schools in seeking more federal funding. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"We are very happy to match the government on funding for Catholic and independent schools but I think we're going to need to talk some more about how some of the formulas will work," Ms Plibersek said at Catholic Schools NSW's federal election forum on Tuesday evening.

She said that Labor, based on the limited information available about the $1.2 billion fund, could not be "confident that if we applied what we inherit  if we win government  that they are good enough models".
Labor has pledged $120 million towards remote housing projects in Western Australia if elected on May 18.

The announcement comes after a stoush between state and federal governments over the funding of housing projects in remote WA late last year, which left 12,000 vulnerable Western Australians in limbo.

Federal Labor has pledged $120 million in funding towards WA's remote communities if elected in May 18. Credit:Red Empire Media.

The feud started when the federal government stopped funding remote housing last year, saying remote communities were the sole responsibility of the state government.

The Commonwealth had been spending $110 million per year for the last decade towards remote WA communities as part of the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Housing.
A Liberal candidate will be disendorsed by the party over an online rant that attacked Muslims as people of "bad character" who were plotting to kill and enslave other Australians.

Jeremy Hearn, the Liberal candidate in the Labor-held Melbourne seat of Isaacs, has apologised for the comments, in which he argued Muslims should be prevented from getting Australian citizenship because they were trying to replace Australia's system of government with Islamic sharia law.

Liberal candidate Jeremy Hearn.

The remarks, made last year in the comments section of Quadrant magazine's website and unearthed by the Herald Sun, have been rapidly condemned by Liberal Party figures who said the views have no place in their party.

After the comments were reported, Mr Hearn apologised "unreservedly" and said the sentiments were "entirely wrong".
Tensions have flared on the campaign trail in the Sydney seat of Hughes, with a climate change activist filing a police complaint about the "intimidating" behaviour of Liberal MP Craig Kelly.

Mr Kelly has denied threatening to punch Peter Thompson  who was wearing a dinosaur costume bearing the words "Craig Kelly denialosaur"  when the two of them crossed paths at the Sutherland railway station on Wednesday morning.

Tensions flared between Craig Kelly and a climate change campaigner in Hughes on Wednesday.

Mr Thompson said he wanted to have a friendly conversation with the Liberal MP but, when he approached Mr Kelly from behind, the outspoken climate change sceptic turned to him and abused him.

"I was just going to shake his hand," Mr Thompson recounted on Wednesday afternoon. "He swivelled around and said, 'F--- off. If you approach me like that again, I'm going to punch you out.'"
The Liberal candidate for a once-safe Coalition seat says women are not getting pay rises because they are not interested in "money matters and other business-related 'stuff'".

Sachin Joshi, the candidate for the NSW seat of Paterson, said men were more likely to actively seek business skills and responsibilities and boost their pay packets.

Sachin Joshi, the Liberal candidate for Paterson.

A YouGov Galaxy poll of 1065 voters, commissioned by independent lobby group WomenVote and released on Wednesday, showed 71 per cent of those surveyed believe the government should be doing more to address the gender pay gap.

"The main reason for the gender gap lies in the 'active interest (or lack of it) towards business skills/responsibilities'," the Maitland-based GP business coach wrote on LinkedIn in October 2018.
South Africa: President declares national days of mourning for flood victims

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

Being a single mother is a challenging, every day job, especially when you are in the often overlooked informal labour sector. Somehow Vivian Muso, 40, seems to be striking this balance while also overcoming everyday hurdles posed by patriarchy in society. Vivian* from Soshanguve has for five years been a contract worker for a company ... See more
Be an expectation to oversight a number of major commercial contracts one of the dot points said. Mr Smith concluded the email with: I think the rest you be right on  But Mr Smith denied he had any role in Mr Hardmans recruitment, carried out by a high level panel. Why was it that you were sending him this information - one would assume in addition to what was contained in the recruitment package? asked the counsel assisting the commission, Phillip English. Mr Smith responded that it was a "broad discussion" over things "youd be expected to know I guess if you're applying for that sort of job". Former Redfern-based policeman Dennis Smith in 2004. Credit:Robert Pearce

Mr Smith was shown an intercepted text message from one of the alleged fraudsters saying: Hardman man Dennis was negotiating to get him in Morgans chair, followed by: He got in. Don't say to no one yet [sic]. Morgan is understood to have been a reference to Morgan Andrews, the former head of campus security replaced by Mr Hardman, the ICAC heard. Is that what you did? Mr English asked Mr Smith. Did you negotiate to get Simon Hardman in the position to replace Mr Andrews? This is how he talks, Mr Smith said of the alleged fraudster. Its just exaggeration and - no." In another text, Mr Smith wrote not procurment too hard/ I gunna use hardman leverage [sic].

It was put to Mr Smith that he was referring to helping the contractors involved in the fraud secure more work at the university. It was going to be difficult to have that occur through the procurement process, so the alternative was to involve Mr Hardman in some way, Commissioner Stephen Rushton SC put to Mr Smith. It seems that you were of the view that you had some leverage over him, perhaps because you assisted him to get the job? Mr Smith denied that was the case, saying his unit had a range of processes sitting there to be filled that had been at a "stalemate". The leverage of Hardman is hes coming with a reputation of actually getting things done, he said. I just couldnt, couldnt do all the, the strategic stuff and keep the operations going.

But Mr Smith conceded he probably shouldnt have given one of the contractors confidential information about Hardmans appointment. Loading One of the security contractors allegedly involved in the fraud, Emir Balicevac, was questioned over deleted WhatsApp messages he sent to a fellow contractor in 2017 about Christmas presents for Dennis and Simon. Mr Balicevac agreed that Simon was a reference to Simon Hardman and said he believed he had purchased a bottle of whisky or scotch for the pair. What about Simon, did he accept it from you? Mr English asked.

I believe he did, Mr Balicevac replied. Mr Hardman referred detailed questions about the allegations to the University of Sydney. A university spokeswoman responded with a statement, saying it was "deeply disturbed" by the evidence that emerged at the hearings. "We look forward to receiving the inquiry's final report and recommendations," she said. Separately, Newtown MP Jenny Leong raised concerns with University vice-chancellor Michael Spence that Mr Hardman was still a member of the police force - on leave - when he assumed the campus security role. The Herald understands Mr Spence commissioned an investigation after discovering the university's recruiters had been unaware of the dual employment.

The investigation found Mr Hardman had advised his line manager of the arrangements and there was no breach of university policy, a spokeswoman said. Our normal recruitment processes were followed, including conducting probity checks, she said. Mr Hardman has been mired in controversy over a complaint he made when he was Newtown Superintendent, alleging four homosexual officers in his command had an anecdotal reputation for loose morals and reckless behaviour. A six-month investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by the officers, who are suing the NSW Police Force for discrimination. Around the same time, a gay officer was fired for suspected drug use following a hair follicle test ordered by Superintendent Hardman. Last year the Industrial Relations Commission ordered the officer's reinstatement, finding his dismissal to be harsh, unreasonable and unjust.
A car has caught fire in a residential garage in Brisbane's south-east, creating thick plumes of smoke on Wednesday.

Fire crews were called to Banwell Crescent in Carindale just after 6.30am and found the home "smoke-logged", according to a fire service spokeswoman.

A car caught fire in a Carindale garage, creating thick plumes of smoke. Credit:Nine News Queensland - Twitter

All residents were accounted for and the flames were extinguished about 7.10am, without spreading to much of the house itself.

Fire crews were also called to a shed fire at the back of a Peregian Springs property at the Sunshine Coast about 4.30am on Wednesday.
An elderly man has been charged with murder after a woman aged in her 80s was found dead at an aged care home in Melbourne's outer-east.

Police were called to Martin Luther Homes on Mount View Road in The Basin where the 87-year-old woman was found dead about 12.40pm on Wednesday.

A man, 88, was arrested at the scene and later charged with one count of murder.

He will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday.
After what the Bureau of Metereology says has been Melbourne's driest start to the year ever, the rains have arrived.

An earlier severe thunderstorm warning has been retracted, but up to 12mm of rain is expected to hit Melbourne today. That follows between 5 and 15mm falling around Melbourne overnight.

Stawell, in the state's north-west, enjoyed a single day's heaviest rainfall ever: 69mm, including 49mm in just one hour. Mildura got 28mm overnight - more than the May average of 25mm.

In Melbourne, the CBD is looking clear for the foreseeable future. Rains have largely moved past Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs and is about to hit the area around Wilsons Promontory.

Up to 100mm could fall in Victoria's north-east today, while showers are still expected this afternoon in Melbourne.

Despite the rain, Melbourne roads are largely running smoothly aside from congestion outbound due to flooding on the Monash Freeway in Glen Iris near the Burnley Tunnel.
To say this female duo from Margaret River take a hands-on approach to their winemaking business is an understatement. "We became pruners, pickers, cellar hands, lab technicians, winemakers, bottlers, marketers, wholesalers  because we believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," they told us. "We wanted to be involved in creating something from grape to glass and everything in between ... it's been a lot of hard work, with a few beers in between." The pair's approach to winemaking is simple: they make wines they would want to drink themselves and pride themselves of being consistently excellent. "Wine that is expressive of where it came from and then where it wants to go. We see our role as guiding great fruit to a glass without too much handling in between," they said.

"Consistency in making honest, quality wines that reflect their origins, with restrained interference, is essential. Wines that continually combine and push traditional winemaking with a contemporary edge." Outside of Margaret River, Maiorana and Patterson enjoy the wines of Sicily for their "honesty and authenticity to the land" and more locally Tasmania for the same reasons. Rhys Parker and Paul Hoffman from Vallee du Venom. Rhys Parker & Paul Hoffman: Vallee du Venom Hoffman and Parker are self-confessed "blood brothers" who graduated together with science degrees from UWA. Hoffman is a second-generation winemaker who took over the long-running family business in the Swan Valley.

Parker worked in mining, oil and gas for a decade but after needing a change, went back to university to study Oenology and eventually moved to Margaret River to combine his love of surfing and wine. So what overarching philosophies guide their winemaking? For Hoffman, it's a respect for nature and maintaining the biocultural diversity of the Swan Valley. "Wild ferments and biological maturation. Transparency of terroir and preserving the integrity of single vineyards in Margaret River," he said. Parker wanted to create wines that showcase terroir and offer wine lovers something more than mass produced, generic wines they are accustomed to.

"This means minimal intervention winemaking where possible and of course acquiring the best possible fruit we can," he said. "We both come from scientific backgrounds and, whilst minimal intervention is the aim, we are very interested in and respect the science behind winemaking. Every decision we make takes the science into account." Hoffman says all wine regions have standout producers but he particularly enjoys the structure of wines from granite-derived soils. "Wines such as those from Beaujolais, Muscadet and parts of the northern Rhone," he said. Parker is an unabashed fan of Margaret River wines ... no surprise given he and wife Emma live up the road in Dunsborough.

"Chardonnay for me reigns supreme. Its a variety where your winemaking decisions have a huge effect on the style of wine produced. You can point the wine in so many directions," he said. "Ive been very lucky to work with some great producers down here making chardonnay of very differing styles. "Savoie - a little known, tiny mountainous region in France - is also of special interest to me. Isolated, sub-alpine vineyards produce truly unique wines. Mondeuse and Rousette in particular have caught my attention." Remi Guise from tripe.Iscariot in Margaret River. Remi Guise: tripe.Iscariot

Guise probably has the most interesting background of the quartet, having next to zero experience in winemaking and viticulture growing up in his native South Africa. "When it came time to select a degree to study at university, the thought of sitting behind a desk all day in an office didn't feel quite right. I placated my parents and selected dentistry and accountancy as two of my options, and then slipped in winemaking and viticulture as my third choice," he said. "I'd always been fascinated with wine and wine culture, and had spent a fair bit of time visiting the Cape Winelands as a child with my parents. At the time it felt right, definitely more right than mouths and accounts, so wine it was." He says his approach to winemaking changes he moves through his life and career. "Right now I'm guided by the quest to make wines that are expressive, intense, exhibit fruit purity and that are complex and thought provoking," he said.

"I want to make wines that change minds, engage people and possibly even start them on their own personal wine journey. "I try and achieve that by many different means: using solids in different ways is one of them; incorporating more of the grape than is traditionally used is another; but the primary method is working with good fruit and the assumption that I know what I'm doing." Guise loves Margaret River, which like many believes is now home to Australia's best cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. "I like cabernet and chardonnay, a lot. It is also home to some of the most promising terroir for one of my other favourite grapes, chenin blanc," he said. "Swartland (in South Africa) is a truly unique area that boasts some of the oldest vines and weirdest minds in the Southern Hemisphere.

"The wines from this region deliver everything that I look for and strive for in my own wines, those being expression, purity, intensity and thought provocation. "And Piedmont is another favourite ... because I love Barolo. The fact a wine can have the delicacy of Pinot Noir and the balls and structure of Cabernet Sauvignon at the same time doesn't really seem possible or fair, but thankfully it is. "It also comes at a fraction of the price of most decent Continental offerings of both of the aforementioned wines, and is far more reliable." Guise hopes to grow his tripe.Iscariot ('berry' to 'stalk') brand and keep refining his wines and style, keep experimenting and ... "hopefully not go broke". "Experimentation is what has gotten me to where I am now ... taking chances and making wines that I believe in, even if it is possible nobody else will," he said.

"One of my only rules for myself from day one was to ensure that I only ever makes wines that I want to drink and that keep me interested in drinking them. "I want to make sure I keep sticking to that mantra and never lose it." Genevieve Mann and Rob Mann from Corymbia in Upper Swan. Genevieve Mann & Rob Mann: Corymbia The Mann duo descend from winemaking royalty here in the west, so it was no surprise the family tradition continued down the line.

"Wine is in our blood. Were husband and wife, the heads and hearts of Corymbia, and part of one of the oldest winemaking families in Australia," Genevieve said. "Robs family history spans six generations and he was influenced from a very early age by a family of winemakers, vignerons, restaurateurs and drinkers." The Manns make their wines from single vineyards they farm from dirt to bottle in the Swan Valley, offering the purest expression of fruit and a clear sense of place. The fruit is dry grown, organically farmed from mature vines planted from the mid-1980s and uses traditional techniques such as hand harvesting, gravity, oak fermentation, indigenous yeast and natural malolactic fermentation. "Our wines express the qualities of the Swan Valley that Robs family has admired of the region for over 100 years," Gen says. The pair have done their fare share of travelling through some of the world's most famed wine regions and are reluctant to pick a favourite.
Sixty health, legal and social justice organisations have banded together to campaign for the decriminalisation of abortion in NSW in the most concerted effort to date.

Buoyed by the historic abortion law reforms in Queensland last year, the Womens Electoral Lobby has formed the NSW Pro-Choice Alliance in a bid to overturn archaic abortion laws.

Sinead Canning (left), campaign manager at NSW Pro-Choice Alliance and (right) Dr Deborah Bateson, medical director at Family Planning NSW. Credit:Wolter Peeters

"We need to take abortion out of the Crimes Act and update these laws that are 119-years-old," campaign manager Sinead Canning said.

"We are the only state or territory that has never updated or modernised its abortion legislation."
Full preferential voting will be extended to mayoral and single councillor elections at next year's local government elections.

Compulsory preferential voting, meaning voters must number every box instead of just "voting one", was introduced for state government elections in 2016.

Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has introduced a bill with a further tranche of council reforms. Credit:AAP Image/ Dave Hunt

Under proposed changes, compulsory preferential voting would be introduced for mayoral candidates and councils with single councillor divisions, for example, Brisbane City Council.

But the Local Government Association of Queensland has stridently opposed the move at a council level.
Facebook has debuted an overhaul of its core social network, taking its first concrete steps to refashion itself into a private messaging and e-commerce company as it tries to move past scandals while tapping new revenue sources.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a fresh design for the world's biggest social network that de-emphasised its News Feed. It also ditched the signature blue banner that has been on the app since its launch.

Facebook's new desktop design takes the focus off public News Feed posts.

The new design showcases Facebook's messaging app, online marketplace and video-on-demand site, while giving greater prominence to the popular photo-driven Stories feature.

The company also rolled out features aimed at encouraging users to interact with their close social circle as well as with businesses.
Minneapolis: Upstairs in the courtroom there were gasps of surprise when the jury's verdict was read aloud.

After a month-long trial, testimony from 60 witnesses and 11 hours of jury deliberations, Mohamed Noor was found guilty of killing Justine Ruszczyk Damond. And not just guilty of manslaughter but of third-degree murder, a virtually unheard-of outcome in police shooting trials in America.

Ruszczyk's brother Jason and his wife started sobbing and embraced each other. Noor's wife, too, was in tears.

After sitting through the entire trial, Ruszczyk's family were relieved that someone had been held accountable for the death of the 40-year old life coach from Sydney.
"We've watched throughout the day, it's been a long time since anyone's seen Maduro," Pompeo said. "He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay." A supporter of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, centre, argues with supporters of opposition leader Juan Guaido during a rally in New York's Union Square on Tuesday. Credit:AP Asked if Maduro would have been allowed to safely depart for Cuba, Pompeo dodged the question. "Mr Maduro understands what will happen if he gets on that airplane. ... He knows our expectations," he said. The stunning events at dawn on Tuesday, Caracas time, when Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armoured crowd-control vehicles, released the three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Guaido's political mentor and the nation's most-prominent opposition activist, stood alongside him. Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Guaido. Nicolas Maduro says he has defeated efforts to overthrow him. Credit:Bloomberg "I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers," Lopez declared. As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Guaido at a plaza a few blocks from the disturbances. A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind on the highway, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire. Amid the mayhem, several armoured utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd. Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators. Loading "It's now or never," said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers. The head of a medical centre near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets. At least one person had been shot with live ammunition. Venezuelan human rights group Provea said a 24-year-old man was shot and killed during an anti-government protest in the city of La Victoria.

Later Tuesday, Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence in Caracas, where another political ally has been holed up for over a year. They later moved to the Spanish embassy. There were also reports that 25 troops who had been with Guaido fled to Brazil's diplomatic mission. Loading Amid the confusion, Maduro tried to project an image of strength, saying he had spoken to several regional military commanders who reaffirmed their loyalty. "Nerves of steel!" he said in a message posted on Twitter. Flanked by top military commanders, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned Guaido's move as a "terrorist" act and "coup attempt" that was bound to fail like past uprisings.

"Those who try to take Miraflores with violence will be met with violence," he said on national television, referring to the presidential palace where hundreds of government supporters, some of them brandishing firearms, had gathered in response to a call to defend Maduro. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said the "right-wing extremists" would not succeed in fracturing the armed forces, which have largely stood with the socialist leader throughout the months of turmoil. A supporter of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido secures a skeleton to a Venezuelan flag during a rally in New York's Union Square. Credit:AP "Since 2002, we've seen the same pattern," Arreaza said. "They call for violence, a coup, and send people into the streets so that there are confrontations and deaths. And then from the blood they try to construct a narrative." But in a possible sign that Maduro's inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuela's secret police penned a letter breaking ranks with the embattled leader.

Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of Venezuela's feared SEBIN intelligence agency, wrote a letter to the Venezuelan people saying that while he has always been loyal to Maduro it is now time to "rebuild the country." He lamented that corruption has become so rampant that "many high-ranking public servants practice it like a sport." "The hour has arrived for us to look for other ways of doing politics," he wrote. "To build the homeland our children and grandchildren deserve." Juan Guaido, recognised by many Western nations as the interim president of Venezuela, centre, walks through a crowd after calling for people to rise against Maduro. Credit:Bloomberg The letter circulating on social media was confirmed by a senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to divulge details of the case. He said the general's wife was currently outside the country.

Protesters erected barricades of debris at several downtown intersections about 10 blocks from the presidential palace, but police in riot gear moved in quickly to clear the roads. Most shops and businesses were closed and the streets of the capital unusually quiet, as people huddled at home to await the outcome of the day's drama. Guaido said he called for the uprising to restore Venezuela's constitutional order, broken when Maduro was sworn in earlier this year for a second term following elections boycotted by the opposition and considered illegitimate by dozens of countries. He said that in the coming hours he would release a list of top commanders supporting the uprising. "The armed forces have taken the right decision," said Guaido. "With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history." Anti-government demonstrators gathered in several other cities, although there were no reports that Guaido's supporters had taken control of any military installations.

As events unfolded, governments from around the world expressed support for Guaido while reiterating calls to avoid violent confrontation. The right-wing government of Brazil, South America's largest economy, threw its support behind Guaido and called on other nations to do the same. President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army officer, wrote on his official Twitter account that the people of Venezuela were "enslaved by a dictator" and that he supported "freedom for our sister nation to finally become a true democracy." Brazilian media reported Bolsonaro's government authorised 223 million reais ($80 million) be allocated for emergencies and to welcome Venezuelan citizens, without specifying how the money would be spent. Spain's socialist caretaker government urged restraint, while Cuba and Bolivia reiterated their support for Maduro. Bolton declined to discuss possible actions - military or otherwise - but reiterated that "all options" were on the table as US President Donald Trump monitored developments "minute by minute."
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Theyre cashing in so that you can check out!

Libraries across the five boroughs will split a $1 million grant from the New York Life Foundation, the 2019 citywide sponsor for the summer reading program.

The grant from this do-good group will support the Brooklyn Public Librarys free programs that encourage kids to read even in the summer months, when school is not in regular session.

We look forward to seeing libraries across the borough crowded with students of all ages this summer and are so grateful for the support of the New York Life Foundation as we help children across New York discover the joy of reading, said Brooklyn Public Library President and CEO Linda E. Johnson.

Lead support for Brooklyn Public Librarys summer reading program also comes from The National Grid Foundation, as well as Con Edison, Macys, the Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets, according to a local library representative.

Brooklyn Public Librarys annual summer reading program aims to prevent summer slide by encouraging young readers to visit the library and continue reading while school is out of session, said Fritzi Bodenheimer, press officer for Brooklyn Public Library. It is estimated that summer breaks will cause the average student to lose up to one month of instruction per year.

Kids and teens who complete the summer reading challenge will receive two tickets to an event at Barclays Center and be entered into a drawing to win an Apple iPad. Last summer, 152,000 children and families signed up for BPLs reading program and more than 250,000 people attended the summer reading programs.

The theme for this years summer reading program is, A Universe of Stories, and the educational programs will coincide with the theme of space exploration, Bodenheimer said. All ages are welcome to attend the launch of this summer adventure in reading on June 1.

The library is grateful for the grant and major support provided by the New York Life Foundation, Bodenheimer said. We are especially excited for the launch weekend, where every one of our 59 branches will have music, story time, scavenger hunts and more!
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84th Precinct

Brooklyn HeightsDUMBOBoerum HillDowntown

Share the wealth

Robbers stole money from a ride-share driver on Prince Street on April 22.

The bad guys were in the car between Gold and Tillary streets at 11 p.m. when one grabbed the drivers phone and accessed his weekly earnings, then syphoned the money to his own bank account, police said.

Meanwhile, the second scoundrel prevented the victim from retrieving his phone before the two baddies fled the vehicle, according to authorities.

Slashed

Police arrested two men who they say cut a person on Furman Street on April 23.

The two men allegedly slashed the victims right hand with a knife and then punched and kicked the victim near Brooklyn Bridge Park around 5:45 p.m., according to police.

All just a scam

A con artist scammed more than $18,000 from a man near Livingston Street on April 25.

The malefactor called the victim at 10:45 a.m. near Smith Street and Boerum Place and posed as a representative from the social security office, police said.

According to police, the wretch told the victim they needed to pay or else U.S. marshalls would arrest them.

The victim mailed $18,800 in cash to an address in Texas before realizing it was a scam, cops said.

Bus burglar

A rat swiped cash from a person riding a bus on Smith Street on April 27.

The punk snatched the money out of the victims hand and ran off the bus down Schermerhorn Street around 10 p.m., police said.

Nasty robbers

Two villians robbed a man on Nassau Street on April 27.

The scoundrels announced to the victim, We gonna rob you, as he walked toward Bridge and Duffield Street at 8:40 p.m., according to police.

The crooks punched the victim and threw him to the ground before they grabbed his iPhone and electric cigarette, police said.

Natallie Rocha
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60th Precinct

Coney IslandBrighton BeachSeagate

Cigarette baddies

Two bruisers assaulted and robbed a 64-year-old man on Mermaid Avenue on April 15.

The baddies approached the victim on the corner of W. 29th Street as he was walking home around 7:20 a.m., and demanded money, according to the police report.

The perps then began punching the victim in the face multiple times before stealing a pack of cigarettes and fleeing toward Surf Avenue, cops said.

Surf Ave. stabber

Cops cuffed a man who they say stabbed another man on Beach 47th Street on April 26.

The perp and the victim were arguing near Surf Avenue shortly before 9:30 p.m., when the 51-year-old baddie allegedly stabbed the victim in his right arm, causing a minor laceration, police said.

Cops showed up and arrested the perp later that night.

Pour decision

A burglar stole tequila from a Cropsey Avenue restaurant sometime overnight on April 23.

The perp entered the business, between Bay 52nd and Bay 53rd streets, through unknown means between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m., before stealing the alcohol and making off, cops said.

Sleeping subway thief

A pickpocket stole from a sleeping subway rider on April 22.

The victim boarded the Coney Island-bound Q train at 34th Street in Manhattan and fell asleep at approximately 5 p.m., he told cops. When the victim woke up at Ocean Parkway station on Brighton Beach Avenue, he noticed his phone and paycheck were missing from his pocket, which had been cut open, cops said.

Hospital bandit

A sneak stole a womans purse at a hospital on Ocean Parkway on April 23.

The victim left her bag on a bench while she went to the bathroom in the medical center, between Shore Parkway and Avenue Z. When she returned at approximately 9:30 a.m., the pocketbook  containing money, jewelry, and a cellphone  was gone, cops said.

Debit card con

A sneak stole $2,155 from a W. 31st Street woman on April 23.

The victim, who never lost possession of her debit card, received a bank statement in the mail to her address between Mermaid and Surf avenues alerting her of several unknown charges to her bank card, according to cops.

Grand-son scheme

A con artist swindled a 90-year-old woman out of $3,500 on Neptune Avenue on April 25.

The shyster called the victim at around 2 p.m. and told her that her grandson was in jail and needed the money to be released. The victim then withdrew the money from her bank account, and agreed to meet the fraudster outside of her building between W. Fifth and W. Sixth streets to give the liar the funds. The woman later made contact with her grandson, who knew nothing about the incident, cops said.

 Aidan Graham
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78th Precinct

Park Slope

Illicit indulgence

Police cuffed a 57-year-old man for allegedly looting a Fifth Avenue house of worship through the course of two April 16 break-ins, taking an estimated $1,600 worth of electronics.

The suspect first entered the church between Warren and Baltic streets through a side entrance at 10:23 p.m., when he proceeded to an office there and nabbed an Apple laptop, before leaving, cops said.

But the man returned at midnight, this time using a wooden stick to force his way into the building, before taking a 32-inch television, according to police.

At some point during the burglary, a witness told police he spotted the suspect prowling around with a black garbage bag, and responding officers caught the man that night on a felony burglary charge, cops said.

Free to hate

Cops have given up the hunt for the creep who called an black man a slur on Ninth Street on April 12.

The victim told police that, without any apparent reason, the fiend insulted him outside a bagel spot between Fourth and Fifth avenues at 12:50 p.m., using an Italian slur for denigrating African Americans.

Low gravity

Police arrested a man who they claim was spotted with an illegal gravity knife on Nevins Street on April 17.

The arresting office said he spotted the suspect near Wyckoff Street with the illicit blade at 1:05 p.m., according to police.

Work bites

Cops cuffed a 45-year-old woman for allegedly biting a paramedic inside an Eighth Avenue womens shelter on April 17.

The medic told police that he was attempting to treat the suspect  who was considered by police as an emotionally disturbed person at the time of the incident  at the shelter between 14th and 15th streets at 2:30 p.m. when she chomped down on his hand.

The woman was arrested that day on a felony assault charge, cops said.

Dirty laundry

Police cuffed a man for allegedly nabbing $72 worth of laundry detergent from a Fifth Avenue grocery store on April 18.

An employee told police the suspect was spotted taking six bottles of Tide detergent from the store between Lincoln and Berkeley places at 12:25 p.m., before skipping past the register with his ill-gotten soap.

When officers arrived to cuff him, the suspect was found in possession of a crack pipe caked in heroin residue, according to police.

 Colin Mixson
In Greek and Roman mythology there is a big monster called Hydra which has many heads. For every head chopped off, it grows two. But a very small real version also actually exists which is of interest to biologists because of this regenerative ability. This fresh water organism does not appear to die of old age, or even grow old.

This is the sense I took away from this book. One of its authors is a good friend; the other I have not met. Had the book not been technically adequate, one could have said that the authors have tried to bite off more than they can chew. But that is not so ...
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At least 15 security personnel and a driver were killed in an IED blast in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on Wednesday.

The Naxals triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a police vehicle, which was carrying 16 security personnel from the Kurkheda Quick Response Team of Gadchiroli police. The blast took place between Jamborkheda and Lendhari, according to local police.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to strongly condemn the attack.

"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts and solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," PM Modi said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave details of the incident in his post on Twitter.

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by Naxals today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families. I'm in touch with DGP and Gadchiroli SP," Fadnavis tweeted.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called the attack on the Maharashtra Police personnel as "an act of cowardice and desperation".

"We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel. Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain. My deepest condolences to their families," Singh tweeted.

He also said that he had spoken to chief minister Fadnavis and was providing all assistance needed by the state government.

"Ministry of Home Affairs is in constant touch with the state administration," Singh said in another tweet.

Earlier today, Naxals allegedly set ablaze 27 machines and vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district.

On April 11, an encounter broke out between CRPF personnel and Naxals in the Naxal affected district of Gadchiroli.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A delegation of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday visited the Election Commission of India demanding an investigation on the money incurred in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Varanasi before he filed his nomination from the Lok Sabha constituency.

AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh met Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. They submitted a detailed memorandum about "electoral malpractice and corrupt practices" by Prime Minister Modi.

In the letter submitted to the EC, AAP states, "On information received from our volunteers as well as various persons who were present in Varanasi on 25.4.2019 and 26.4.2019, we were informed that a large sum of money was incurred by Prime Minister Modi towards a roadshow/rally organised by him in Varanasi, well beyond the permissible limit of Rs 70 lakhs as fixed by the Election Commission in contravention with the Section 77(1) of Representation of Peoples Act 1951."

The letter added, "By our conservative estimate in terms of information available as on 27.4.2019, Prime Minister Modi had incurred at least Rs 1.27 crore towards the said roadshow/rally on the day of his nomination, which grounds for disqualification."

The AAP said that Prime Minister Modi is fit to be disqualified for "failure to disclose expenses and make available the same for inspection; incurring expenses well in excess of permissible limits."

AAP has asked the electoral body to call for a "report from the Election Observer for the Varanasi Parliamentary Constituency."

The party has further asked EC to initiate an "investigation by the District Expenditure Monitoring Committee into the expenditures incurred by Prime Minister Modi."

It has also asked EC to initiate action for disqualifying Prime Minister Modi for "(a) incurring expenditure beyond permissible limit, and (b) indulging in corrupt practices.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress general secretary in-charge eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said that her party has fielded some Lok Sabha candidates in Uttar Pradesh with the aim to cut into the vote share of BJP, not to just win the elections.

"My strategy is very clear. Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into BJP's vote share," Priyanka replied when asked whether the chances of Congress' victory are less in UP.

Priyanka said, "One does not do only to win."

The Congress leader claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party's Lok Sabha seats in UP will shrink considerably.

"The BJP will suffer a major setback in Uttar Pradesh. It will lose very badly," she said in Raebareli. where she is campaigning for her mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Priyanka Gandhi also rebuffed the claims of political pundits that Congress will harm the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the elections.

"Not at all," Gandhi said when asked whether the Congress will harm the alliance in UP. "Congress will reduce BJP's vote share," she said.

She said the Congress is contesting this election for the welfare of common citizens and not to install its Prime Minister at the helm of the country.

"We are only contesting the elections for people's welfare and our ideology. Only Narendra Modi is worried about who will be the next Prime Minister" Priyanka said.

United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election from Raebareli parliamentary constituency.

Raebareli will vote in the fifth phase of general elections on May 6. Counting of votes will begin on May 23.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress has asked its workers not to ask for votes in the name of its president Rahul Gandhi because even they don't have confidence in him, said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Wednesday.

"Congress asks its workers not to ask for votes in the name of its president Rahul Gandhi. How can the public trust a person whom his own party does not have confidence in," Khattar said talking to reporters during a roadshow.

Khattar was conducting a roadshow in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Kurukshetra Naib Singh Saini.

Haryana will see polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats on May 12 in the sixth phase of the elections. 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.)
A Delhi court on Wednesday granted time to AAP leader Atishi Marlena to submit all necessary documents in support of her complaint against BJP leader Gautam Gambhir for allegedly having two voter ID cards.

The Tis Hazari Court has also asked the lawyer for Atishi to satisfy the court on the locus, procedure, and maintainability of the present complaint. The court will next hear the matter on May 6.

Advocate Karuna Nandy, appearing for Atishi, argued that at the stage they are asking for an investigation into the offence.

He claimed that "we have a screenshot of the voter list. One entry of Karol Bagh and on the next page registration of voter from Rajendra Nagar."

At this stage, we are not challenging his candidacy. We can do it at a later stage, the lawyer said.

Judge Viplav Dabas said, "What is the relevance of bringing this case here. You may go to the Election Commission."

On Monday, Atishi, who is facing Gambhir and Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress from East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, wrote to the Returning Officer (RO), accusing Gambhir of repeatedly violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

Atishi had requested the RO to take strong action on her complaint and register an FIR against Gambhir.

She also sought a 72 hour-ban on Gambhir from campaigning in the Lok Sabha polls for allegedly violating the MCC several times.

Delhi, which has seven Lok Sabha seats at stake, will go to polls on May 12. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said the cyclonic storm 'Fani' has turned severely strong while moving northward and is scheduled to hit on May 3 with wind speed ranging to a maximum of 205 kilometres per hour.

"Yesterday's cyclonic storm 'FANI' (pronounced as 'FONI') over southeast Bay of Bengal (BoB) and neighbourhood moved nearly northwards and intensified into a severe cyclonic storm the same evening (1730 hrs IST)."

"It is very likely to intensify further into an extremely severe cyclonic storm during next 12 hours. It is very likely to move northwestwards till 01st May evening and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri around May 3 afternoon with maximum sustained wind of speed 175-185 km/h gusting to 205 km/h," a press release by IMD reads.

The department has already released a yellow warning for coast on Tuesday evening leading to the Election Commission lifting the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) from 11 districts in the state.

IMD has also issued a moderate to heavy rainfall warning for the states such as Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal for May 2 and 3. It has also advised total suspension of fishing operations, evacuation from coastal areas and diversion or suspension of rail and road traffic in the areas which are going to be affected.

IMD has predicted thunderstorm and dust storm for Delhi on Wednesday after temperature reached a season-high of 43.7 degree Celsius on Tuesday in the national capital.

Parts of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh received sudden snowfall on Wednesday morning bringing down the temperature. Jharkhand also received light rainfall and winds giving them some respite from the heat on Tuesday.
In the wake of the gruesome Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli on Wednesday in which 15 police personnel and a driver were killed, NCP chief Sharad Pawar demanded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis should give up the portfolio of Home Affairs. He said that Fadnavis has completely failed in keeping the law and order situation in the state.

"In the last one month, I think 15-20 such small attacks have occurred there. The activities of Naxalites in Gadchiroli and adjoining areas have become a routine matter. The responsibility of keeping the law and order is with the state government and particularly of Chief Minister, as he has kept the portfolio of Home Affairs with himself," said Sharad Pawar.

"This proves that he has failed in keeping up the law and order, the price of which is paid by our soldiers. Those who have failed to do their work properly must not hold the position," said Pawar.

"He must resign as Home Minister," he added.

Fifteen police personnel and a driver were ambushed and killed in a landmine blast triggered by the Naxalites in Gadchroli in Maharashtra on Wednesday afternoon.

The private vehicle carrying the 15 policemen who were part of Quick Reaction Team (QRT) and the driver was en-route from Kurkheda Police Station in Gadchiroli to PS Burada in north Gadchiroli when it was ambushed on its way at 12.30 pm.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A drug used to treat erectile dysfunction (inability to get and keep an erection firm to have sexual intercourse) can slow down or even reverse the progression of heart failure, claim researchers.

According to the study published in the Journal of Scientific Reports, most current treatments are ineffective. However, the current study conducted on a sheep is claimed to be a breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease.

The lead author professor Andrew Trafford argues the effect is likely to be shown in humans as well.

Heart failure is a devastating condition, occurring when the heart is too weak to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. It also causes a build-up of fluid that backs up into the lungs, resulting in breathlessness as well as fluid retention, resulting in swelling of different parts of the body.

"This discovery is an important advance in a devastating condition which causes misery for thousands of people across the UK and beyond," said Professor Trafford.

We do have limited evidence from human trials and epidemiological studies that show Tadalafil can be effective in treating heart failure.

This study provides further confirmation, adds mechanistic details and demonstrates that Tadalafil could now be a possible therapy for heart failure.

It's entirely possible that some patients taking it for erectile dysfunction have also unwittingly enjoyed a protective effect on their heart.

When the animals had heart failure - induced by pacemakers - which was sufficiently advanced to need treatment, the team administered the drug.

Within a short period, the progressive worsening of the heart failure was stopped and, importantly the drug reversed the effects of heart failure.

And the biological cause of breathlessness in heart failure- the inability of the heart to respond to adrenaline was almost completely reversed.

The dose the sheep received was similar to the dose humans are given when being treated for erectile dysfunction.

Tadalafil blocks an enzyme called Phosphodiesterase 5 or PDE5S for short, which regulates how our tissue responds to hormones like adrenaline.

The research team found that in heart failure, the drug altered the signalling cascade - a series of chemical reactions in the body - to restore the heart's ability to respond to adrenaline.

And that increases the ability of the heart to force blood around the body when working harder.

Professor Trafford added, "This is a widely used and very safe drug with minimal side effects.However, we would not advise the public to treat themselves with the drug and should always speak to their doctor if they have any concerns or questions.Tadalafil is only suitable as a treatment for systolic heart failure - when the heart is not able to pump properly - and there may be interactions with other drugs patients are taking.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday issued a notice to Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for his alleged personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in Ahmedabad on April 17.

Acting on the complaint filed by BJP leader Neeraj, the ECI has sought the reply from the star campaigner of the Congress party not later than 6 pm on Thursday.

In a rally in Ahmedabad on April 17, the star campaigner of the Congress party had termed Modi as "the biggest liar" in the country.

"China is constructing railways under the sea and India is producing Chowkidar that too thieves under the garb of Chowkidar. I say you are a liar. This is the land of Mahatma Gandhi. It is unfortunate that you will be seen as the biggest liar prime minister," Sidhu had said.

"The video clips and transcript of the relevant portions of speeches made by Navjot Singh Sidhu on April 17 in Ahmedabad have been examined and the statements found to be in violation of the provisions contained in Para (2) of Part 1st of 'General Conduct' of Model Code of Conduct," said the notice issued by the ECI.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Election Commission has served a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi has devised a law to "shoot tribals" at a rally in Madhya Pradesh recently.

The EC has sought a response from the Congress chief within 48 hours.

The notice was filed based on a complaint lodged by two persons - Om Pathak and Neeraj, members of the BJP's Election Commission Committee, read a statement from the EC.

As per the complainants, Gandhi had said, "Now, Narendra Modi has made a new law for adivasis (tribals). In that law, there is a line that says that tribals can be shot dead. It is also mentioned that tribals can face encounters, their land can be stolen."

In a letter dated April 30, the EC said it asked Madhya Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on the aforesaid complaint, following which the state CEO submitted a letter with his comments on the matter as well as the transcript of Gandhi's Shahdol rally.

Upon examination of the said comments, the EC said the statement made by the Congress chief amounts to a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The EC also stated that if Gandhi fails to submit an explanation within 48 hours, it will take a decision "without further reference to him."

The Model Code of Conduct came into effect from March 10, when Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora announced the schedule of Lok Sabha elections in the country.

Seven-phase elections, which began on April 11, will culminate on May 19, and results will be announced 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 on Wednesday took a swipe at opposition leaders claiming that even those leaders whose parties are contesting in a limited number of seats now harbour dreams of becoming prime minister.

Addressing a poll campaign rally, PM Modi said, "Today even those contesting on 8 seats, 20 seats and 40 seats also want to become prime minister. They should know that even to become the leader of the opposition more than 50 seats are required."

He also attacked the Congress by asserting that the party is contesting at the lowest number of seats despite being in power for very long.

"One of the special characteristics of this election is that the Congress, which ruled for the longest after independence and has many former ministers and chief ministers is in such a condition that it is fighting on the least number of seats in these elections," said PM Modi.

Prime Minister also asserted that he has been continuously working with the single aim of putting right all those things which "were destroyed by a family in 55 years".

He also made a mention of the Kumbh fair which was organised earlier this year and asserted that a corruption-free organisation of this massive fair helped to strengthen the global image of India.

"Previously whenever a Kumbh Mela was held corruption charges would come tumbling out. There would be talks of commissions. However, this time Kumbh Mela concluded with not a single corruption allegation. This time there were no complaints of theft. This time the Kumbh fair had made news all over the country for its cleanliness," he said.

PM Modi also alleged that the during the rule of late former prime minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru the administration had suppressed news of a stampede at a Kumbh Mela he visited.

"When Pandit Nehru was Prime Minister, he had visited the Kumbh fair once. It was a time when Congress governments ruled from Panchayat to Parliament. During Pandit Nehru's visit, there was a stampede in the Kumbh due to mismanagement, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.

"However, to avoid a stain on the Nehru led government, the news was suppressed. Those families who lost their loved ones did not get even a single rupee as compensation. It was not just a stampede but what happened after the stampede, it was the height of insensitivity. This is an example of how governments change the management," Prime Minister Modi said.

He also repeated his 'adulteration' jibe at the opposition and said: "These 'mahamilwati' people are strengthening casteist and dynastic These people are either in jail or on bail. Such people can do no good for the state."

PM Modi also invoked the airstrike and surgical strike to assert that new India under his leadership has become aggressive towards terrorism.

"The Samajwadi party and BSP leaders who cannot deal with village goons, how can they fight terrorism? We have given complete freedom to our armed forces. First, we did a surgical strike and then air strike. Pakistan was worried and deployed all its machinery to defend its border but we struck from the air. This is the new India which kills them inside their home," said PM Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address two more election rallies in the day. He will be addressing public gatherings in Itarsi and Jaipur.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The factories of terrorism are still operating in Pakistan, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, adding that "they are looking for an opportunity for us to lose the focus."

Addressing a poll rally here, Prime Minister Modi talked about recent Easter Sunday attack that rattled Sri Lanka while reminding the public of the past such attacks in India.

"We recently saw what happened in Sri Lanka. The situation was almost similar in India prior to 2014. We cannot forget the blasts that had happened in Ayodhya and Faizabad. We cannot forget the days when blasts would happen at some place or the other on every other day," he said.

"In the last five years, such news has stopped coming. But this doesn't mean that terrorists have been finished. The factories of terrorism are still operating in our neighbourhood," said the Prime Minister.

He also asserted that one of India's neighbours only exports terrorism while accusing the opposition parties of being soft on terrorism.

"They only have this one industry of exporting terrorists and terrorism. These terrorists are waiting for a weak government in the country. They are looking for an opportunity for us to lose focus," he said.

"Be it SP-BSP-Congress or any other 'mahamilawati,' they have an old record of being soft on terror. Our agencies would catch terrorists and they would leave it," said the Prime Minister.

PM Modi also said that the country is on a path of new India which will not disturb anyone but won't leave anyone who disturbs the country. "We will reply bullets with bombs," he said.

Sharpening his attack on the opposition parties, the Prime Minister also accused SP-BSP of deviating from the path of their ideologies.

"Be it SP, BSP or Congress, it is necessary to know their reality. Behen ji used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but she did everything which is just the opposite of his principles."

"SP used the name of Lohia ji all the times but with their conduct, they not only destroyed the law and order situation of UP but also brought a bad name to his principles," he said.

He also attacked the Congress party by alleging that they have only misused poor and labourers as vote bank.

"The Congress party which raises slogans of removing poverty should have shown concerns about labourers as well. By dividing workers and poor into vote banks, these people have only benefited themselves and their families," said PM Modi.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke about the recently concluded Kumbh at Prayagraj and the 'Deepotsav' that was organised in Ayodhya during the last year's Diwali festival.

"Kumbh Mela has also been happening since thousands of years. But the divinity and grandeur which was seen this time in Prayagraj were unprecedented," he said.

He also said that his government is working towards developing 15 circuits including Ramayan circuit, Krishna circuit, and Buddha circuit. "As a part of Ramayan circuit, we are developing all the key places related to Lord Ram from Ayodhya to Rameshwaram," he said.

Towards the end of his speech, Prime Minister Modi also acknowledged his presence in the land of Lord Ram and culminated his address by raising the slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai.'

Prime Minister Modi was addressing the rally in Ambedkar Nagar parliamentary constituency which borders Ayodhya district.

Ambedkar Nagar parliamentary constituency will be voting in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 12, whereas Faizabad will go to polls on May 6 in the fifth phase.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is today scheduled to address three more rallies in Kaushambi, Itarsi, and Jaipur.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Cyclonic storm 'Fani' is expected to make a landfall near Balukhand village in Puri district of Odisha, where a yellow alert is in place, on Friday afternoon with a speed of about 175 kmph, Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) said Wednesday.

"The wind speed before the 'Fani' makes landfall would be about 175 kmph and would pass through Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack (Niali), Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj in Odisha before turning towards West Bengal," JTWC bulletin said.

As per a forecast bulletin by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), 'Fani' moved northwestwards with a speed of about 10 kmph in last six hours and lay centred about 680 km south-southwest of Puri and 430 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam.

The state government has cancelled all leaves of doctors and health staff up to May 15 to deal with any possible situation. Those who are on leave have been asked to report back to respective headquarters by Wednesday evening.

All state universities and colleges coming under the administrative control of Higher Education Department and located at the 11 affected coastal districts -- Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khordha, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj -- will remain closed from Thursday to Saturday.

All of the teaching, non-teaching and administrative staff of the universities and colleges will attend the office to conduct their normal activities other than teaching and examination.

Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, meanwhile, said that naval forces are ready to tackle with the cyclone. He said: "We are prepared for the cyclone. Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam is ready, all necessary measures have been taken. In coordination with state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, we are ready for the cyclone."

The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday lifted the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct in the 11 coastal districts of Odisha to facilitate the speedy rescue, relief and restoration activities.

The EC has approved shifting of polled EVMs in two districts Jagatsinghpur and Gajapati. Entire shifting process will be conducted in the presence of candidates and the entire process will be video-graphed, Odisha Chief Electoral Officer Surendra Kumar said.

The Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has said that it is on high alert to face any eventuality which may arise due to 'Fani'.

"A total of 47 flood rescue and relief teams have been pre-positioned in the 25 vulnerable/coastal areas of West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala to meet any eventuality," the NDRF said in a press note.

Railway has arranged special patrolling and break-down and relief vans are on alert for the areas which may get affected by 'Fani'.

East Coast Railway has issued an advisory to cancel or regulate trains which might get affected due to the cyclone.

The IMD said, "It is very likely to move northwestwards during next 12 hours and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross Odisha coast near Satapada, Puri district, on Friday afternoon with maximum sustained wind speed of 175-185 kmph gusting to 205 kmph."

'Fani' is very likely to intensify further into an "extremely severe cyclonic storm" during the next 12 hours, the IMD had earlier said.

IMD has also issued a moderate to heavy rainfall warning for the states such as Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal for May 2 and 3. It has also advised total suspension of fishing operations, evacuation from coastal areas and diversion or suspension of rail and road traffic in the areas which are going to be affected.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister and BJP leader Giriraj Singh on Wednesday backed Shiv Sena's demand of imposing a ban on burqa in India, asserting that many blasts have occurred all over the world and in India in the guise of burqa.

Citing a ban on the burqa in Sri Lanka after the deadly Easter Sunday attacks, Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna' on Wednesday demanded the imposition of a similar ban in India.

"In the country and all over the world several blasts have occurred in the guise of burqa. The burqa should be banned particularly at the time of elections. The Shiv Sena has demanded nothing wrong," said Giriraj Singh.

The Sena's proposal, however, was rejected by another NDA ally, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India, who said that burqa should not be banned as it forms part of the country's tradition.

The Shiv Sena editorial states "It has happened in Ravan's Lanka. When will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya? We ask this question to the PM as he is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Wednesday".

The Sri Lankan government on Sunday took necessary measures to impose a complete ban on all types of burqas and face covers in the wake of the horrific terror bombings that rattled the entire country on Easter Sunday, claiming lives of more than 250 people and injuring hundreds.

On the other hand, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday asked the Election Commission (EC) to take action against Shiv Sena for its "polarising" editorial in its mouthpiece Samna seeking a ban on the burqa in order to ensure security.

"I request the EC to take cognizance of this article because it is trying to create divisions and polarisation within society.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After United Nations on Wednesday designated Pulwama attack mastermind and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the world community on the behalf of 130 crore Indians.

"Just now good news is coming from America and New York that United Nations has banned the dreaded terrorist and JeM chief Masood Azhar. It is a matter of satisfaction that consensuses have been formed in the world over declaring Masood Azhar a terrorist," said PM Narendra Modi while addressing an election rally at Jaipur on Wednesday.

"In our fight against terrorism, the world community is standing with India. I thank world community on the behalf of 130 crore Indians," said Narendra Modi.

"This is a big victory of the long pending efforts of India to uproot terrorism," he added.

He said that in the UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, nobody listened to the Prime Minister as the government was a "remote controlled" government.

"At that time there was a remote control government, nobody within the government listened to the Prime Minister. But what happened today in the UN shows that the voice of 130 crore Indians is roaring loud in the whole world. The voice of India is being heard everywhere now and nobody ignores it," said Narendra Modi.

In a major diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Mumbai attack mastermind and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China also apparently joined efforts to blacklist him.

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In a scathing attack at Congress, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked if former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was praised for "splitting Pakistan in 1971", why can't incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi be praised for the Balakot air strikes.

"Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was hailed for splitting Pakistan in 1971. Atal Bihari Vajpayee praised her in the Parliament for her work. I want to ask Congress if Indira Ji was hailed for splitting Pakistan in 1971 to create Bangladesh, why can't Narendra Modi be praised for the Balakot air strikes," Singh asked.

Accusing the Opposition of "politicising" air strikes conducted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammad's (JeM) terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot by raising doubts, Singh claimed the number of terrorists killed across the border was "high".

"...I would like to say we carried out the air strikes on the basis of credible intelligence inputs, and I can say that in world history, no one has conducted such a big operation against terrorism," Singh said while addressing a gathering in Delhi while campaigning for BJP Lok Sabha candidates Manoj Tiwari and Gautam Gambhir.

Coming down heavily on the Opposition for asking proofs of air strikes conducted by IAF in Balakot, Singh asked, "Should our forces have stopped there (Balakot) to count the dead bodies? Brave jawans do not count the dead bodies, eagles count bodies."

"Had there been 1, 2, 3 or 4 casualties, then we could have given a figure, but how can we tell (the exact casualties) when this figure was so high?" he added.

Singh also paid tribute to the 15 police personnel and a driver who was killed in a landmine blast in Maharashtra's Naxal-affected Gadchiroli district.

"At this time, all political parties should stand with jawans and country by forgetting all bitter relations but unfortunately few are asking Maharashtra CM's resignation after Gadchiroli Naxal attack," Singh said.

Talking at length about the Indian economy, the Union Minister said, "Today, India has become the fastest growing economy under the leadership of Modi and our vision is that by 2030 we will become the third superpower replacing Russia, China or America."

In Delhi, where seven Lok Sabha seats are at stake, polling will be held on May 12 and counting of votes will take place on May 23.

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Mexico to Tackle Marijuana Legalization This Summer

Mexican lawmakers will hash out the details of a marijuana regulation bill during the upcoming summer recess, with the goal of passing the legislation ahead of an October deadline, a key committee leader said.

After the Supreme Court deemed the country's ban on cannabis consumption, possession and personal cultivation unconstitutional last year, the Senate was charged with amending the law to reflect that ruling.

Julio Ramon Menchaca Salazar, head of the Senate Justice Committee, said that the body would "take advantage of the recess period" to finalize the legislation, according to a newsletter posted on the Senate website last week.





The recess begins on May 1 and lasts until August 31, giving lawmakers several months to develop a regulatory plan for cannabis before the Supreme Court's October deadline. The Senate released a report in February instructing lawmakers to consider various aspects of legalization as they write the marijuana bill. Salazar has already met with the nation's attorney general to discuss the move, the Senate newsletter said.

Legalization legislation has already been introduced in the legislature, including a bill from Olga Sanchez Cordero, who as a senator filed a proposal last year to allow adults 18 and older to possess, consume and cultivate cannabis. But as of yet, it's not clear what bill the Senate will move to advance.

"Canada already decriminalized, and [marijuana is] decriminalized in several states of the United States. What are we thinking?" Sanchez Cordero, who is now Mexico's interior minister, said at the time. "We are going to try to move forward."

The Senate's Health Commission held a hearing on marijuana reform earlier this month, with policy experts and lawmakers testifying about the prospect of a regulated marijuana market.

"By regulating cannabis, Mexico will be able to better shape how cannabis is produced, distributed, and consumed, and therefore protect public health," Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a press release. "Mexico will also demonstrate regional leadership, and take an important step toward reforming the misguided policies that have caused such devastating harm in recent decades."

The hearing came one month after lawmakers from various political parties convened to begin the process of considering reform legislation.

Last month, the nation's secretary of Security and Citizen Protection posted a Twitter poll on legalizing marijuana that showed more than 80 percent of respondents in favor.
India's "objective has been achieved" with the United Nations designating Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist on Wednesday, sources said.

"The objective was the designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and that objective has been achieved. Pakistan is mischievously attempting to salvage something out of this huge diplomatic setback for them by diverting the narrative," sources told ANI.

Sources said that the process of Azhar's listing started in 2009. Since then, several efforts had been made to list Azhar. This was much before Pulwama terror attack that took place on February 14 killing 40 CRPF personnel in south Kashmir, they said.

"Pulwama happened to be the latest act of terror but the designation was not based on a specific incident but on the basis of evidence shared with the members of the 1267 Sanctions Committee linking Masood Azhar to terrorism. It is not supposed to be a bio-data of a terrorist that all acts of terror committed by him would be listed in the notification. However, all acts of terrorism, including Pulwama, were relevant to the lifting," sources said.

Maulana Masood Azhar Alvi was listed for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to recruiting for otherwise supporting acts or activities of, and other acts or activities indicating association with Jaish-i-Mohammed (QDe.019). This broadly covers all terror activities he has been involved in," sources said.

Sources also noted that following the blacklisting, Azhar was safely shifted to a safe house in Islamabad from his residence in Bahawalpur by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

A dossier prepared by the government on the global terrorist which has also been shared with the international community, says that the Azhar was "put under house arrest at Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, post 'Balakot Attack' (26.02.2019) and has been recently shifted to a Safe House in Islamabad."

Pakistan has been hiding Azhar and his relatives from the public glare ever since he carried out Pulwama attack against CRPF personnel in February this year in which 40 jawans were killed and has been hiding fearing a direct Indian strike on him.

In the dossier, sources said Jaish head has not only intensified terrorist operations against the Indian government, security forces and civilians in Jammu and Kashmir but has also broadened Jaish's operational focus by joining Afghan Taliban in attacks against government and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The issue gathered momentum last week with the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing to attend China's second Belt and Road Forum held from April 25-27.

The UN action comes a day after China called for "political consultation within the framework of 1267 Committee" to "properly resolve" the issue pertaining to the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

China also underlined that "positive progress" has been made in the issue so far.

India thanked various countries including the United States, United Kingdom and said it was a good day for all those who support zero tolerance against terrorism.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India on Wednesday thanked various countries including the US, UK, and France after the United Nations on Wednesday designated JeM chief and Pulwama attack mastermind Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

"I am grateful to many countries, including the US, UK, and France, who have been supportive in designating Azhar as a terrorist. Many within the organisation and outside the UNSC supported this announcement of not tolerating a terrorist," India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin said, reacting to the development.

"This is a significant outcome for us because we have been at it for several years. The first effort we made in this regard was in 2009. More recently, we had been persistent and diligent. We have been making efforts towards this goal. Today that goal stands achieved," he said.

"It was a good day for all those who support zero tolerance against terrorism," he said.

Akbaruddin also thanked the permanent representative of Indonesia, who ensured that the process moved smoothly and in accordance with India's agreed understandings.

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Lionel Messi is impossible to stop using a single player, said former player Boudewijn Zenden.

"It is impossible to stop him by using a single player. It makes no sense speaking about how to stop him because you can't stop him," Goal.com quoted Zenden as saying.

Zenden, who has played for both Liverpool and Barcelona, praised Messi for his versatility.

"It makes no sense speaking about that, especially because he plays in a lot of different positions in every game," Zenden said.

The Dutchman also hailed Barcelona's passing abilities which he thinks make Barcelona's attack even harder to defend.

"Playing against Messi needs teamwork but the main problem with that is Barcelona always have advanced passing lines and it makes the situation even harder to defend," Zenden said.

"That's why Barcelona always score, it is not only because they are so good, it is because their style is almost impossible to defend," he added.

Barcelona and Liverpool are set to compete with each other in the semi-finals of Champions League on May 2.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a major diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Mumbai attack mastermind and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China also joined efforts to blacklist him.

The news about UN action was broken by India's Ambassador to the body, Syed Akbaruddin, who tweeted, "Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list."

The UN action comes a day after China called for "political consultation within the framework of 1267 Committee" to "properly resolve" the issue pertaining to the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

China also underlined that "positive progress" has been made in the issue so far.

The JeM took the responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in south Kashmir in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

France also welcomed the designation of Azhar under UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee on the United Nation's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.

For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February.

In the application of its Monetary and Financial Code, France had adopted national sanctions against Masood Azhar on March 15, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France said in a statement.

"This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts," the statement read.

"France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism," it added.

In addition, Indian government sources had said that Azhar was put under house arrest at Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, post 'Balakot Attack' of February 26, and has been recently shifted to a Safe House in Islamabad.

A global terrorist tag under the UN's 1267 committee would lead to a freeze on Azhar's assets and a ban on his travel and constraints on possessing weapons.

The issue gathered momentum last week with the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing to attend China's second Belt and Road Forum held from April 25-27.

On March 13, China, for the fourth time, had blocked a proposal by the US, the UK, and France, among others, to enlist Azhar as a global terrorist before the UNSC committee.

Beijing had defended its technical block on Azhar's listing, saying it needed "more time" as it is "conducting a comprehensive and in-depth review" on the listing request put forth by the countries.

Following this, India had expressed its disappointment with China's move to put a hold, and the United States had also said that the failure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist "runs counter" to Washington and Beijing's goal of regional stability and peace.

An official statement issued by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs following Xi-Khan meeting on Sunday said that the Chinese President had expressed hope that Pakistan and India can meet each other halfway and improve their relations, especially after the general elections end in India.

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In a televised address on Tuesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused protesters siding with opposition leader Juan Guaido of attempting to "attack and overthrow a legitimate government to enslave Venezuela."

"We have been facing various forms of coup d'etat, due to the obsessive efforts of the Venezuelan right, the Colombian oligarchy and the US empire," the embattled President said as Guaido declared he was "beginning the final phase of Operation Freedom."

At least 71 people have lost their lives until now, as Venezuela witnessed one of its bloodiest days ever since the political crisis accelerated with Guaido declaring himself as the President of the nation amid crowds protesting for Maduro to step down earlier this year.

Guaido's Tuesday call led to protesters collecting at the La Carlota military airbase, where a confrontation between the opposition leader's supporters and Maduro's supporters took place, according to CNN. In an apparent show of solidarity with the opposition, a few members of the military, national guard, and armed forces wore blue armbands during the clashes.

42 of the injured were wounded with rubber bullets while two were treated for gunshot wounds at the Salud Chacao Medical Center in Caracas, as per the hospital's president. The country's Minister of Defence, Vladimir Padrino, said that a military colonel was also shot during the showdown.

While Guaido has highlighted that Maduro has no military support, the embattled President continues to hold on to his post while reinforcing that the country's defence forces support him.

Meanwhile, prominent opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was freed from house arrest by forces siding with Guaido on Tuesday. Lopez, along with his family, took refuge at the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry as "guests," only to be shifted later to the Spanish embassy in Caracas.

The United States is keeping a close watch on the developments in Venezuela as Guaido made his most bold attempt yet at ousting Maduro. Washington had immediately extended its support to Guaido, recognising him as the official interim president of the nation.

Other countries like France, Japan, UK sided with the United States in recognising Guaido, while countries like China, Russia and Turkey slammed external interference in Venezuela's internal affairs.

Venezuela is also facing an acute economic and humanitarian crisis at the moment, which is worsened by repeated sanctions from the United States. Maduro's government has continued to deny the existence of a humanitarian crisis in the Latin American nation, blocking off his country from receiving any aid sent by the US. He has also blamed the United States for the blackouts which brought the nation to a standstill recently.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro dismissed US Secretary of States Michael Pompeo's claim that the embattled President was planning on leaving the South American nation, but was convinced not to do so by Russia.

Speaking to CNN, Pompeo alleged that Maduro's plane was parked on the runway, and he was prepared to depart to Cuba on Tuesday before being talked out of it by unnamed Russian officials.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had earlier refuted the Secretary of State's claim. "Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war," she said.

Maduro branded Pompeo's claims to be "craziness," calling them "lies and manipulation."

"Please, Mr. Pompeo, you're not being serious," Maduro said, in a televised address where he slammed the latest overthrow attempt.

Venezuela saw one of its bloodiest days in recent times on Tuesday, after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared he was "beginning the final phase of Operation Freedom," in an apparent bid to oust Maduro.

His call led to protesters collecting at the La Carlota military airbase, where a confrontation between the opposition leader's supporters and Maduro's supporters took place, according to CNN. In an apparent show of solidarity with the opposition, a few members of the military, national guard, and armed forces wore blue armbands during the clashes.

At least 71 people have been injured due to the clashes, out of which 42 were wounded with rubber bullets while two were treated for gunshot wounds at the Salud Chacao Medical Center in Caracas, as per the hospital's president. The country's Minister of Defence, Vladimir Padrino, said that a military colonel was also shot during the showdown.

While Guaido has highlighted that Maduro has no military support, the embattled President continues to hold on to his post while reinforcing that the country's defence forces support him.

Meanwhile, prominent opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was freed from house arrest by forces siding with Guaido on Tuesday. Lopez, along with his family, took refuge at the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry as "guests," only to be shifted later to the Spanish embassy in Caracas.

The United States is keeping a close watch on the developments in Venezuela as Guaido made his most bold attempt yet at ousting Maduro. Washington had immediately extended its support to Guaido, recognising him as the official interim president of the nation.

Other countries like France, Japan, UK sided with the United States in recognising Guaido, while countries like China, Russia, and Turkey slammed external interference in Venezuela's internal affairs.

Venezuela is also facing an acute economic and humanitarian crisis at the moment, which is worsened by repeated sanctions from the United States. Maduro's government has continued to deny the existence of a humanitarian crisis in the Latin American nation, blocking off his country from receiving any aid sent by the US. He has also blamed the United States for the blackouts which brought the nation to a standstill recently.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, claiming that she did not implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme in West Bengal as she is afraid of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Under Ayushman Bharat, over 24 lakh people have been benefitted. But in West Bengal, Mamata didi is not letting you reach the benefits of this scheme. Why is she doing this? This is because if she implements Ayushman Bharat, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become popular, which she is afraid of," he said at a public rally here.

Accusing the TMC of creating a poor law and order situation in West Bengal, Shah asserted that the elections in the state is about saving democracy.

"Mamata didi indulged in violence and unleashed her goons during the panchayat elections. On May 23, counting of votes will take place. I want to tell her that her time will be up as lotus (electoral symbol of BJP) will bloom in 23 seats in Bengal," the BJP president said.

Shah said that if the BJP was voted to power in West Bengal, then the party will send the perpetrators in the chitfund scam behind the bars within 90 days of forming the government.

Accusing the TMC of indulging in appeasement politics, Shah alleged, "The TMC banned Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja due to vote bank People are chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' during Ram Navami celebrations, but the government has put a stop to it. Why? Will Durga Puja be celebrated in Pakistan?"

Alleging that corruption was "at its peak" in the state under the tenure of the TMC government, the BJP president said that a tax should be paid to the 'syndicate' to get their jobs done.

In West Bengal, 'syndicate' means the business run by persons allegedly enjoying political patronage, who force contractors to buy poor quality construction materials at inflated prices.

Earlier in the day, Shah claimed that Banerjee was silent on NC leader Omar Abdullah's 'separate Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir' remark as she was concerned about her vote bank.

"Omar Abdullah said recently that there should be a Prime Minister in Jammu and Kashmir. Is it possible that you have two prime ministers in a country? We want to know from Mamata didi that what is her stand on Omar Abdullah's demand. But she will not break her silence as she is concerned about her vote bank," Shah said at a public rally in East Midnapore.

Four phases of the Lok Sabha polls have already taken place in West Bengal, where 42 seats are at stake.

The remaining three phases of polling are scheduled for May 6, 12 and 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.

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BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was silent on NC leader Omar Abdullah's 'separate Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir' remark as she was concerned about her vote bank.

"Omar Abdullah said recently that there should be a Prime Minister in Jammu and Kashmir. Is it possible that you have two prime ministers in a country? We want to know from Mamata didi that what is her stand on Omar Abdullah's demand. But she will not break her silence as she is concerned about her vote bank," Shah said at a public rally here.

He reiterated that Kashmir will remain an integral part of India even if the BJP was not in power.

"I want to tell Rahul Gandhi, Mamata didi and Omar Abdullah. Today, we are in power and Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister. He will continue to hold his post in the coming days as well. But, if a day comes when the BJP is not in power, our workers will fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India," Shah said.

Accusing the TMC government of not letting democracy flourish in West Bengal, the BJP president said that elections are crucial as it will test the fate of the democratic system in the state.

"These elections are more important for Bengal than the rest of the country. It will decide if democracy will survive here or not. During panchayat elections, Mamata didi gave a free hand to the 'goons' to indulge in violence. They have murdered democracy here," Shah said.

Alleging that the TMC government created a poor law and order situation in West Bengal, he added, "Not a single factory or industry has come up in Bengal since Mamata didi came to power. Only factories of bomb and guns have been established."

Shah said that BJP will put the perpetrators of chit fund scam behind bars if the BJP came to power in the state. He claimed that only the BJP can defeat TMC.

"The culture of Bengal has been ruined by the state government. Congress and Communists can't fight against Mamata. Only BJP can defeat her and bring peace and harmony in the state," Shah said.

The BJP president claimed that Banerjee was opposing the NRC as the infiltrators are her vote bank.

"After implementing Citizenship Amendment Bill, we will implement NRC. Infiltrators from across the country will be flushed out. The infiltrators are vote bank for Mamata Banerjee and therefore she opposes the NRC," Shah said.

Raking up the Balakot air strike, Shah alleged that Banerjee and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were "mourning", while the entire country was "celebrating" the aerial attack against terrorists.

"While the people of the country were celebrating the attack on terrorists in Pakistan, Mamata and Rahul were mourning over the action. They wanted us to engage in dialogue with the terrorists. Should we engage in talks with those who killed 40 of our jawans in Pulwama? We don't compromise with the security of the country," Shah said.

Four phases of the Lok Sabha polls have already taken place in West Bengal, where 42 seats are at stake.

The remaining three phases of polling are scheduled for May 6, 12 and 19. 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 a letter addressed to Attorney General William Barr, Special Counsel Robert Mueller expressed his concerns regarding the justice official's conclusions of the 22-month-long investigation into Russian collusion in the 2016 Presidential elections.

Mueller allegedly told Barr that the Attorney-General's four-page letter to the US Congress containing the takeaways did not fully capture his 448-page report, as per CNN.The two also spoke by phone, where Mueller put forth his concerns. The Special Counsel told Barr that his letter was more nuanced when it came to the obstruction of justice charges against US President Donald Trump.

Even though Mueller gave a clean chit to Trump when it came to Russian collusion in his Presidential campaign, the Special Counsel fell short of completely exonerating the incumbent President when it came of obstruction of justice charges.

The Attorney-general, however, chose not to pursue a case against Trump, citing a lack of sufficient evidence in Mueller's report. This move has been highly criticised by Democratic party leaders, who have demanded the complete release of Mueller's report even though a redacted version of it exists in the public domain.

"The Special Counsel's decision to describe the facts of his obstruction investigation without reaching any legal conclusions leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime," Barr's summary had stated.

"After reviewing the Special Counsel's final report on these issues; consulting with Department officials, including the Office of Legal Counsel; and applying the principles of federal prosecution that guide our charging decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offence," Barr wrote in his summary.

While the White House is yet to comment on the letter, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, referring to the obstruction questions, told CNN: "Mueller should have made a decision and shouldn't be complaining or whining now that he didn't get described correctly."

On the other hand, Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec in a statement issued on Tuesday highlighted that Mueller did not tell Barr that anything in the letter was factually wrong.

Barr is due to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday in relation to the Mueller report.

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Three-time Lok Sabha MP and industrialist SPY Reddy on Tuesday died after prolonged illness at a private hospital here.

Reddy, the sitting MP from Nandyal constituency in Andhra Pradesh was admitted to hospital on April 3 after he complained of heart and kidney problems.

He was 69 and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

The Nandyal MP was contesting on a Jana Sena Party's ticket in the ongoing parliamentary elections. Reddy has been associated with many political parties.

In 1991, he contested and lost the general elections on a BJP ticket but lost. He was elected from Nandyal in 2009 on a Congress ticket but switched to the YSR Congress Party for 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

After 2014 parliamentary elections, Reddy joined the Telugu Desam Party but left the party after he did not get Lok Sabha ticket.

Reddy is a noted philanthropist from Nandyal and the founder of Nandi group of industries. He started his career from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Mumbai before he set up his own plastics industry started manufacturing of PVC pipes under the brand name 'Nandi Pipes'.

Jana Sena Party chief and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu and YSRCP leader Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy have condoled the death of S P Y Reddy.

All of them also conveyed their condolences to the bereaved family members.

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AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday asked the Election Commission (EC) to take action against Shiv Sena for its "polarising" editorial in its mouthpiece Samna seeking a ban on the burqa in order to ensure security.

"I request the EC to take cognizance of this article because it is trying to create divisions and polarisation within society. This is a grey violation of the Model Code of Conduct," Owaisi said at a press conference here.

Owaisi accused the Shiv Sena of indulging in what he termed as "dog vigil politics" because, as he said, it stands to lose the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

He said, "Shiv Sena knows very well that they are going to lose huge no of seats that is why they are indulging in what I call dog vigil "

Citing a ban on the burqa in Sri Lanka after the deadly Easter Sunday attacks, which claimed the lives of over 250 people, Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna' in its editorial published today demanded the imposition of a similar ban in India.

The Shiv Sena editorial says, "It has happened in Ravan's Lanka. When will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya? We ask this question to the PM as he is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Wednesday".

Owaisi asserted that the choice of dress is a fundamental right enshrined in the Indian constitution.

"The Supreme Court judgements on privacy and Article 377 clearly lay down that CHOICE is a fundamental right which cannot be snatched. You can wear jeans, burkha, and veil or even you do not wear anything," the parliamentarian said.

He added: "Tomorrow they may seek a ban on beard, skull cap as well. Where will they carry this country?"

"Unfortunately and deliberately when you talk about constitution these Hindutva people completely go mad," Owaisi said referring to the Shiv Sena as a 'popat master'.

He further said: "Shiv Sena talks nonsense. When it comes to other countries, I need to comment on that because there are laws in India which popat Shiv Sena cannot understand. India is a country who celebrates every religion. Shiv Sena is a popat master."

When argued that the demand may help combat terrorism, he said that India needs to fight to the extremist mindset, not with the dress.

He said: "May I know what dress Pragya Thakur, Colonel Purohit and Devendra Upadhyay were wearing? The fight against terrorism is not with the dress. You have to fight that mindset. Terrorism has itself become a religion."

Meanwhile, BJP's spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said there was no need for the imposition of any kind of ban in the country.

Shiv Sena is an ally of the BJP-led Democratic Alliance (NDA) and part of Maharashtra government.

Republican Party of India, another NDA ally, leader Ramdas Athwale also disagreed with Sena's proposal to ban the burqa in public places and said it is a tradition in India and there should be no ban on it.

The Sri Lankan government on Sunday adopted measures to impose a complete ban on all types of burqas and face covers in the wake of the horrific terror bombings that rattled the entire country on Easter Sunday, claiming lives of more than 250 people and injuring hundreds.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked the Congressmen to sink to death for supporting controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, whose TV channel has been banned by Sri Lankan government in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks in the island nation in which over 250 people were killed.

"After the terror attacks, Sri Lanka government decided to ban Zakir Naik's TV channel. Do you know who Zair Naik is? He is Zakir Naik in whose 'durbar' Diggi Raja (Digvijaya Singh) was once seen appreciating him. He is the same Zakir Naik, whom the Congress government had invited to address our police officers, that too on the topic of terrorism. 'Doob Maro Congress Walon (Sink to death Congressmen)," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing an election rally here.

He said: "I have heard that a Congress leader here said that hit Modi so that he dies across the border. Congress people hate Modi so much that they are dreaming to kill him. But they have forgotten that the people of country are batting from Modi's side."

"Now the Congress people should tell from whose side they are playing - India or Pakistan," he asked.

"The Congress stands with those who say that Jammu and Kashmir should have its own Prime Minister. People can see how the party which ruled the country for so many years is indulging in anti- activities," he said.

Madhya Pradesh, where 29 Lok Sabha seats are at stake, has gone to one phase of seven-phased polling so far. The state will go to polls during remaining three phases of polling, which concludes on May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have identified the University of North Carolina at Charlotte' shooter as a former student, 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell, whose alleged attack left two dead in its wake.

At least four more individuals have been injured as all scheduled activities on campus have been suspended until Wednesday midnight, according to the university website. Out of the wounded, three are in a critical condition, according to CNN.

The authorities disarmed and apprehended the 22-year-old former student from a room where the shots had rung, USA Today quoted Jeff Baker, police chief at the university as saying.

"This is a truly tragic day. It is something where everyone says, 'God, I hope this doesn't happen.' But it happened," Baker added.

As per school records, the 22-year-old suspect was last enrolled in fall 2018. He is currently in custody and is yet to be charged.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police will be leading the investigation, while the FBI is assisting in the case.

Tuesday was supposed to be the last day of classes, as exams were scheduled to start from Thursday. In the wake of the tragedy, all tests have been cancelled through Sunday.

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday (local time) claimed that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was preparing to leave the country for Cuba amid calls for his ouster, but the Russians talked him out of it.

"He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay," Pompeo told CNN, adding that Maduro was headed for Havana.

Ever since the civil unrest and political chaos began in Venezuela, Russia has stood by the embattled regime headed by Maduro, and often criticised the US for interfering in the country.

"We have told the Russians and the Cubans that it [the support to Mudaro] is unacceptable. The nations of the regions and the Organisation of American States are all demanding that we get the democracy restored in Venezuela; that we get the dignity back in this once great nation," Pompeo said.

Pompeo's statement comes against the backdrop of clashes between anti-government protesters led by self-proclaimed President Juan Guaido and law enforcement officers in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Tuesday (local time).

Earlier in the day, United States President Donald Trump threatened "highest level sanctions" together with an embargo against Cuba if it continued its military support to Venezuela.

This came after Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla had tweeted that the country was standing in solidarity with President Maduro.

Venezuela has been in the throes of a political crisis, which was accelerated when Guaido declared himself as the President of the nation in January.

The US immediately recognised him as the interim President and demanded that Maduro steps down.

Maduro continues to hold on to his post despite several countries calling for his resignation. Venezuela is also facing an acute economic and humanitarian crisis at the moment, which is worsened by repeated sanctions by the US.

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President of India Ram Nath Kovind has strongly condemned the gruesome attack at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra on Wednesday in which 15 police personnel and a driver were killed in a landmine blast triggered by Naxalites.

"Strongly condemn the terror attack in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. Thoughts and prayers with the families of police personnel killed and wishing an early recovery to those injured. The entire nation stands united in the fight against such violence," tweeted President Ram Nath Kovind.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to strongly condemn the attack.

"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts and solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," PM Modi said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed it an act of cowardice and desperation.

" Attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli is an act of cowardice and desperation. We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel. Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain. My deepest condolences to their families," he tweeted.

"Spoke to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all the assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration," he said in a subsequent tweet.

Fifteen police personnel and a driver were ambushed and killed in a landmine blast triggered by the Naxalites in Gadchroli in Maharashtra on Wednesday afternoon.

The private vehicle carrying the 15 policemen who were part of Quick Reaction Team (QRT) and the driver was en-route from Kurkheda Police Station in Gadchiroli to PS Burada in north Gadchiroli when it was ambushed on its way at 12.30 pm.

Earlier today, Naxals allegedly set ablaze 27 machines and vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district. On April 11, an encounter broke out between CRPF personnel and Naxals in the Naxal affected district of Gadchiroli.

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The Ludhiana unit of Special Task Force (STF) has arrested three persons with 600 gram of heroin on Wednesday, police said.

"Police seized heroin from the car with Delhi's nameplate. The accused were used to supply heroin from the car only," said police.

The accused have been identified as Harsimrat Singh (37) and Rakesh Kumar (30) residents of Machhiwara, Gurmukh Singh (31) resident of Ludhiana.

A case has been registered under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Further action is being taken.

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Targetting the Narendra Modi-led central government for emphasising more on security, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said that the security of the people, including women, farmers, and youth is equally important.

"It is good that you are keeping us safe from Pakistan. However, during elections, the issue should be more on the security of the people. You need to protect women. You need to help a farmer when he or she is in distress. You need to ensure a job to a youth. If you address all these, that means you have ensured their security. Ensuring that the country's security is important but the security of the people should not be left behind," Priyanka said at a gathering here.

Continuing her attack on Modi, Priyanka claimed that while Modi went to America and Japan and hugged leaders there, he did not reciprocate his gesture in the country where he did not hug family members of a poor family in Varanasi.

"There was no development in the last five years. Your voices have been suppressed, youth have been thrashed and farmers were shot in Madhya Pradesh. These people are interested in pitching people against each other in the name of religion. These people do not want democracy to flourish in our country," she said.

Taking on the BJP for its claim that the Congress did not have money to waive off farmers' loans, Priyanka said, "They waived off loans worth Rs 550 thousand crores for their industrialist friends."

Raking GST, the Congress general secretary said that small traders were affected due to the move, due to which they were closing their shops. She said that not a single rupee of black money had returned under demonetisation.

"Have you seen any BJP leader standing in queues to deposit the money? Not a single rupee of black money came back. Under GST, small traders have incurred losses and have been affected. They are closing down their shops due to this," Priyanka said.

Calling BJP a "dangerous" government, Priyanka alleged that institutions were "destroyed" which she called it as "negative "

"This is a dangerous government which has destroyed the institutions. This is negative by the BJP. We need to change this and throw out such type of politics," she added.

Earlier in the day, Priyanka offered prayers at a temple in Bahrampur area in Raebareli.

Amethi goes to polls in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 6. The counting of votes will be held on May 23.

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The nomination of former BSF constable and Samajwadi Party candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav, who filed his papers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, was rejected on Wednesday after he failed to submit a certificate.

The Returning Officer (RO) Surendra Singh on Tuesday had issued a notice to Yadav, asking him to submit the certificate whether or not he was dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty to the government.

"You have not submitted the certificate to the effect that whether or not you were dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty with your nomination papers. You are directed through this notice to submit the aforementioned certificate till 11 am on May 1, 2019," the notice issued on Tuesday read.

Yadav, however, has alleged foul play and said that he would knock the doors of the Supreme Court on Thursday.

"My nomination has been rejected wrongly. I was asked to produce a certificate at 6.15 pm on Tuesday. We produced the evidence, but my nomination was rejected," he said.

"We will move the Supreme Court on Thursday," his lawyer said.

Yadav alleged that the RO, also the district magistrate of Varanasi, of being under pressure. "DM Sahab is under pressure," he said.

Singh said: "A person who has been dismissed from service from state or Central governments within the last five years has to obtain a certificate that he or she has not been dismissed due to disloyalty or corruption. The certificate was not produced before 11 am. So the nomination was rejected."

Yadav alleged that he was given a very short period to submit the certificate.

"I told the RO that I am not Ambani or Adani who will go by a chartered plane to Delhi for the certificate. However, I produced the certificate but they rejected it in an authoritative manner. They said that I could not produce the certificate before 11 am," said Yadav.

He also alleged a conspiracy against him. "It is just a conspiracy against us. Modi ji is scared. It has been done intentionally," said Yadav, who was dismissed from the BSF in 2017 after complaining about the poor quality of food served to the soldiers in a video, which went viral.

Yadav had posted four videos on social media in January 2017, which showed him complaining about unpalatable food at his camp along Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir.

He was named as the Samajwadi Party candidate from Varanasi parliamentary constituency to take on Prime Minister Modi on Monday. Earlier, he was in the fray as an independent candidate.

Varanasi seat was won by Prime Minister Modi in the last Lok Sabha elections. He had defeated AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal with a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes.

The election in Varanasi is slated to take place in the last phase of seven-phased Lok Sabha elections on May 19. The counting of votes will begin on May 23.

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United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) threatened "highest level sanctions" together with an embargo against Cuba if it continued its military support to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

"If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!" he tweeted.

The warning has come against the backdrop of clashes between anti-government protesters led by self-proclaimed President Juan Guaido and law enforcement officers in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on Tuesday (local time).

At least 71 people have been injured since the clashes broke out, reported CNN.

Countries like Cuba, China, Russia, Turkey amongst others have slammed international interference in Venezuelan affairs, throwing their weight behind Maduro.

On Tuesday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla had tweeted that the country was standing in solidarity with President Maduro.

The US had earlier imposed sanctions on Cuba including limitations on travel to the Latin American Nation. In addition, it had also announced new limits on the amount of money Cuban Americans can send to relatives on the Island at USD 1,000 per person.

The earlier measures were taken to pressurise all countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua, that support Maduro's regime.

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In a major diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Mumbai attack mastermind and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China also apparently joined efforts to blacklist him.

The news about UN action was broken by India's Ambassador to the body, Syed Akbaruddin, who tweeted, "Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list."

Though Akbaruddin did not mention China specifically, it is understood that Beijing did not stand in the way of the UN action like it did in the past.

The UN action comes a day after China called for "political consultation within the framework of 1267 Committee" to "properly resolve" the issue pertaining to the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

China also underlined that "positive progress" has been made in the issue so far.

Later, Akbaruddin thanked various countries including the US, UK and said it was a good day for all those who support zero tolerance against terrorism.

"This is a significant outcome for us because we have been at it for several years. The first effort we made in this regard was in 2009. More recently, we had been persistent and diligent. We have been making efforts towards this goal. Today that goal stands achieved," India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin said, reacting to the development.

"I am grateful to many countries, including the US, UK and France, who have been supportive in designating Azhar as a terrorist. Many within the organisation and outside the UNSC supported this announcement of not tolerating a terrorist," he added.

Akbaruddin also thanked the permanent representative of Indonesia, who ensured that the process moved smoothly and in accordance with India's agreed understandings.

"It is a good day for all those who are in support of zero tolerance against terrorism," he said.

The JeM took the responsibility for the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in south Kashmir in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

France also welcomed the designation of Azhar under UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee on the United Nation's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.

For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February.

In the application of its Monetary and Financial Code, France had adopted national sanctions against Masood Azhar on March 15, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France said in a statement.

"This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts," the statement read.

"France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism," it added.

In addition, Indian government sources had said that Azhar was put under house arrest at Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, post 'Balakot Attack' of February 26, and has been recently shifted to a Safe House in Islamabad.

A global terrorist tag under the UN's 1267 committee would lead to a freeze on Azhar's assets and a ban on his travel and constraints on possessing weapons.

The issue gathered momentum last week with the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing to attend China's second Belt and Road Forum held from April 25-27.

On March 13, China, for the fourth time, had blocked a proposal by the US, the UK, and France, among others, to enlist Azhar as a global terrorist before the UNSC committee.

Beijing had defended its technical block on Azhar's listing, saying it needed "more time" as it is "conducting a comprehensive and in-depth review" on the listing request put forth by the countries.

Following this, India had expressed its disappointment with China's move to put a hold, and the United States had also said that the failure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist "runs counter" to Washington and Beijing's goal of regional stability and peace.

An official statement issued by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs following Xi-Khan meeting on Sunday said that the Chinese President had expressed hope that Pakistan and India can meet each other halfway and improve their relations, especially after the general elections end in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United Nations on Wednesday designated Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

The announcement comes a day after China, on Tuesday, called for "political consultation within the framework of 1267 Committee" to resolve the issue pertaining to the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN.

Syed Akbaruddin, India's Ambassador to the UN, took to Twitter saying, "Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in UN Sanctions list."

JeM was behind Pulwama terror attack on February 14 in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed in south Kashmir.

On March 13, China, for the fourth time, had blocked a proposal by the US, the UK, and France, among others, to enlist Azhar as a global terrorist before the UNSC committee.

India had many times expressed disappointment over China's move but vowed to continue to pursue "all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens" are brought to justice.

The United States had also said that the failure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist"runs counter" to Washington and Beijing's goal of regional stability and peace.

A global terrorist tag under the UN's 1267 committee would have led to a freeze on Azhar's assets and a ban on travel and keeping weapons.

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Over 600 "illegal" migrants were apprehended from Sunland Park and Antelope Wells here in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Around 424 migrants were detained after midnight in Sunland Park, while 230 refugees were arrested from Antelope Wells here at around 2 am, as per Sputnik.

"This is an ongoing situation that US Border Patrol agents are facing in southern New Mexico: hundreds of parents and children being encountered by agents after having faced a dangerous journey in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers", CBP said in a statement.

The agency further accused criminal organisations of continuing "to exploit innocent human lives in order to enhance their illicit activities without due regard to the risks of human life".

"In most cases, these smugglers never cross the border themselves in order to avoid apprehension," CBP said.

US President Donald Trump has often voiced his disdain regarding the influx of migrants from the US-Mexico border, calling for the construction of a wall on the border. The Democrats have repeatedly objected to this proposal, slamming Trump's demand for funds towards the barrier's construction.

In fact, an impasse between the US lawmakers and Trump regarding funding for the wall led to the country experiencing its longest-ever shutdown recently.

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Russia has rubbished US Secretary of State Micheal R Pompeo's claim of the country having persuaded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to leave the country.

"Washington tried it's best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told CNN.

Pompeo had claimed that Maduro was preparing to leave the country for Cuba amid calls for his ouster, but the Russians talked him out of it.

Ever since the civil unrest and political chaos began in Venezuela, Russia has stood by the embattled regime headed by Maduro, and often criticised the US for interfering in the country.

Amid the uprising, United States President Donald Trump had threatened to impose "highest level sanctions" together with an embargo against Cuba if it continued its military support to Maduro.

However, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who "strongly rejected" Trump's threat, denied the presence of Cuban troops in Venezuela.

"We strongly reject threat by #Trump of full and complete embargo against #Cuba. There are no Cuban military operations or troops in #Venezuela. We call upon the international community to stop dangerous and aggressive escalation and to preserve Peace. No more lies. #SomosCuba" he tweeted.

The two developments come in the backdrop of clashes between anti-government protesters led by self-proclaimed President Juan Guaido and law enforcement officers in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

Venezuela has been in the throes of a political crisis, which was accelerated when Guaido declared himself as the President of the nation in January. The US immediately recognised him as the interim President, demanding Maduro to step down.

Maduro continues to hold on to his post despite several countries calling for his resignation.

Venezuela is also facing an acute economic and humanitarian crisis at the moment, which is worsened by repeated sanctions from the United States.

Countries like Cuba, China, Russia, Turkey amongst others have slammed international interference in Venezuelan affairs, throwing their weight behind Maduro.

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Addressing a political rally here on Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that speeches made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi causes his Pakistani counterpart to sweat across the border.

"Today when Prime Minister Modi makes a speech anywhere in India, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan sweats in AC room of Islamabad. He remains worried as to when the Indian army would enter Pakistan and destroy terrorist camps there. This valour and strength has emerged due to the political willpower of Prime Minister Modi," said Adityanath.

The chief minister made these remarks at a rally which was also addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, his speech was made before the PM's arrival on the stage.

The UP CM also highlighted various public initiatives of the Centre and said, "Central government has implemented various public friendly initiatives along with developing infrastructure at a rapid pace. In five years 1.5 crore poor have been given houses, 4 crore poor have got free electricity connection and 7 crores poor has been given LPG connection."

He also talked about the Ayodhya centric initiatives of the government and said, "In Ayodhya we have begun the work for the development of a new airport in the name of Lord Ram. To observe the day of Lord's Ram return to Ayodhya after a 14-year exile, we celebrated a grand 'Deepotsav' in the form of a government event."

The Lok Sabha elections are being held from April 11 and will go on till May 19 in seven phases. The polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in all the seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Ambedkar Nagar parliamentary constituency will be voting in phase six of Lok Sabha elections on May 12.

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Maoists struck in a big way in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli on Wednesday, killing 15 police commandos and a civilian in a land mine blast.

The attack came as the state was celebrating its Foundation Day.

The vehicle carrying the elite C-60 commandos of the Maharashtra Police was blown up in Kurkheda area around 12.30 pm, barely 10 hours after suspected Maoists torched at least 36 road construction vehicles and two site offices of a road building contractor in Gadchiroli's Dadarpur village.

According to official sources, the personnel of the specialised quick reaction force operating in the Maoist-affected districts of the state were proceeding to a place where Maoist activities were reported for combing operations but were stopped as the road in an isolated stretch in a forest area was reportedly blocked by fallen trees.

When they alighted to clear the road of the trees, the blast took place, killing the commandos instantly, the sources said.

Maharashtra's Director General of Police Subodh Jaiswal said the security vehicle, carrying 15 personnel, was hit by a landmine blast and a civilian vehicle also got caught in it.

"The saddest part is that we have lost 15 of our men," he told a press conference in Mumbai, asserting that the attack will not deter the forces from continuing their operations against the Maoists, whom he vowed to give a "befitting reply".

"We will revisit the entire thing and see whatever is to be done. Our operations will continue with full force. We have the capacity to give a befitting reply.

"Their motive is to uproot democracy from the country," Jaiswal said, adding: "Our effort is to ensure nothing of this sort happens in the future."

He said it would not be right to say that the incident happened because of an "intelligence failure" but investigations will be conducted to see how it occurred.

The DGP also said that the attack was not connected to the ongoing elections in the country. Elections in Gadchiroli were held during the first phase of the staggered Lok Sabha election on April 11, and in fact, polling to all the 48 Lok Sabha seats of the state ended on April 29.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed shock and anguish over the attack and discussed the security situation with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel got martyred in a cowardly attack by Maoists today. My thoughts and prayers are with their families. I am in touch with the (police) DGP and Gadchiroli SP," Fadnavis said.

Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said that it would be probed how the information on the route of the commando vehicle leaked out and also why the commandos were travelling in a private van.

State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told the media that it is "a massive tragedy" coming on the day when the entire state is celebrating Maharashtra Day.

He said that the Maoists are "angered by the highest turnout in Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha constituency" which has prompted these violent reactions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all parties, including ruling allies Shiv Sena, and the Republican Party of India-A, and the opposition Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and others have condemned the attack on the security forces.

Wednesday's attack is said to be the second biggest on security forces on the state in the past 10 years. In October 2009 at the height of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, 17 police personnel were killed in a gunfight with the rebels in Bhamragad forests of Gadchiroli.

--IANS

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China on Wednesday said it acted against Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar after India shared fresh evidence on the man who plotted several deadly attacks.

"After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties, China does not have an objection to the listing proposal," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had earlier met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussed the blacklisting of Azhar. The Indian Foreign Ministry had said all the evidences against Azhar were shared.

China since 2009 had blocked all moves by India, the US and other countries to declare Azhar an international terrorist. His JeM had claimed the responsibility for killing 40 Indian security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in February.

Beijing had placed a "technical hold" on resolutions four times earlier, saying it needed more to study the evidence which were not enough. It had placed the latest technical hold on March 13 on the resolution moved by France with the backing of the US and the UK, only to lift it on Wednesday.

Moments after lifting its technical hold on the resolution seeking ban on Azhar at the 1267 Sanctions Committee, Beijing said: "The 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council has detailed criteria for the listing procedures. China always believes that the relevant work should be carried out in an objective, unbiased and professional manner and based on solid evidence and consensus among all parties."

"On this listing issue, China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

"The proper settlement of the above-mentioned issue again shows that in international counter-terrorism cooperation, we have to uphold the rules and procedures of relevant UN body, follow the principle of mutual respect, resolve differences and build consensus through dialogue and prevent politicising technical issues."

It also defended Islamabad, saying its close ally had made enormous contribution to combat international terrorism.

"I would like to stress that Pakistan has made enormous contributions in fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism and extremist forces," said the statement quoting a spokesperson.

--IANS

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For Roshan Lal Mawa, 72, the return journey to his roots in the Zaina Kadal area in the old city was no cakewalk.

This Kashmiri Pandit shopkeeper was shot four times in the abdomen by unknown gunmen on October 13, 1990, and though he survived, he had little choice than to close his establishment and migrate to Delhi.

On Wednesday, after 29 years, Mawa has returned to re-open his shop in Zaina Kadaland his return was being celebrated by locals, who tied the traditional welcome turban around his head and also around the head of his son, Dr. Sandeep Mawa, who helped to fulfill the old man's desire to be back to where he belonged.

"I migrated to Delhi where I did good business. I own a house there, but all these 29 years, I have lived like a fish out of water. I always wanted to return to my home which is Kashmir.

"Our family has been in business in Zaina Kadal area of Srinagar for 500 years. My father had a shop in the 'Gad-Kocha' in Zaina Kadal. I have not slept a day during the last 29 years when I did not pray for my return so that I could again be among my Muslim friends and neighbours.

"The way the trader fraternity has welcomed me today proves that nothing has actually be lost," Mawa said.

"Our eclectic culture and brotherhood has survived and no upheaval can destroy the innate love and brotherhood between the Muslims and local Pandits," he added.

Mawa also said he did not need any governmental incentive to return to his roots.

"God has given me enough. My son always stood by my desire to come back.

"Let me assure you that every Kashmiri Pandit wants to come back. Over 99 per cent local Muslims want them back. Those living in different parts of the country as migrants must take a personal initiative to return home," he said.

Sandeep Mawa said: "I am the president of the reconciliation front and I am committed to bring back the migrant Pandits. Since charity begins at home, I am here with my father today."

He said that in the near future, many families of migrant Pandits would be returning to their roots in the Valley.

Local resident, Mukhtar Ahmad said all in Zaina Kadal are happy to have the Mawa family back.

While the elder Mawa served sweets to those who came to welcome him, local residents thronged the shop which he had re-opened after 29 long years.

--IANS

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Amazon installed bulletproof panels at the Seattle office of its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos -- designed to withstand multiple shots from a military assault rifle, the media reported.

According to a report in The Daily Beast on Tuesday, the bulletproof project to safeguard Bezos, who has a net worth of $120 billion, cost Amazon $180,000.

Although the cost is less, "it demonstrates the lengths Bezos is willing to go to guard against real or perceived threats as his public profile grows," the report said.

Amazon spends $1.6 million a year to protect its boss from external threats, the report added.

Apple spent about $310,000 on personal security services for CEO Tim Cook last year while Oracle spent over $1.6 million to protect CEO Larry Ellison.

Facebook, however, spent $20 million on its CEO Mark Zuckerberg's personal security last year -- four times more than what he received for security in 2016, owing to the growing privacy scandals the social networking giant is facing globally.

Gavin de Becker, a veteran security consultant at Amazon, wrote a first-person account in The Daily Beast last month, claiming that Saudi Arabia hacked Bezos' smartphone and allegedly shared personal information about his extramarital affair with a media outlet.

The monarchy was "intent on harming Jeff Bezos" over The Washington Post (owned by Bezos) coverage of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, wrote de Becker.

"Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone, and gained private information," de Becker said.

The private phone messages of Bezos sent to his lover, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, were published in The National Enquirer in October.

Saudi journalist Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Turkey's Istanbul in October 2018.

Saudi Arabia has denied involvement in the Bezos affair.

--IANS

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A British court on Wednesday sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for violating bail conditions in 2012 to avoid a Swedish extradition request.

Assange appeared at the Southwark Crown Court in London where he was sentenced to serve the prison term. He was already declared guilty of the offence on April 11, the day he was arrested after spending seven years holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

He took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.

In a letter read to the court, Assange said he had found himself "struggling with difficult circumstances", according to the BBC. He apologised to those who "consider I've disrespected them", a packed Southwark Crown Court heard.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said.

In sentencing him, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of the offence. "By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK," she said.

In mitigation, Mark Summers QC had said his client was "gripped" by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with whistleblowing website Wikileaks. "As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything," he said.

As Assange was taken to the cell, he raised a fist in defiance to his supporters in the public gallery behind him. They raised their fists in solidarity and directed shouts of "shame on you" towards the court.

The WikiLeaks founder is also facing a Thursday extradition hearing over a criminal charge in the US. He has been charged with helping former army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning obtain access to the US Defence Department computers in 2010 to reveal secret government documents.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the US in response to the allegations. He faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted.

Wikileaks had published thousands of classified documents, covering everything from the film industry to national security and war.

--IANS

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At least two people were killed and at least four others wounded in a shooting on the campus of University of North Carolina (UNC) in Charlotte, North Carolina, police said.

The incident happened when an unidentified man, armed with a pistol, shot a total of six people on the campus, Fox News quoted UNCC police chief Jeff Baker as saying to reporters.

Of those six, two were killed, while three suffered critical injuries with the fourth being treated for non-life threatening injuries, Baker said.

The university police received a call about an assailant, who "had shot several students" and took an immediate action. The suspect has been taken into custody, the police official said.

Earlier, the university, in a series of tweets, informed that shots were reported near its Kennedy Building.

"Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately," the university tweeted.

"Campus lockdown continues. Remain in a safe location," it said in another tweet.

--IANS

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India on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the UN Security Councils 1267 Sanctions Committee to declare Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it was a "step in the right direction to demonstrate the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers".

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the action is "in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities" of Azhar and the JeM.

"The 1267 Sanctions Committee's decision to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Masood Azhar, as a UN-proscribed terrorist is a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers," Kumar said.

"We welcome the decision. This is in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Mohammad," he said.

The spokesperson said India will continue with its efforts through international forums "to ensure that terrorist organizations and their leaders who cause harm to our citizens are brought to justice."

China had been blocking Azhar's listing despite a strong push by the US, UK and France. It had put a "technical hold" on the proposal four times, the latest being in March.

"It (defending Azhar) was increasingly becoming untenable for the Chinese," said an Indian government official on condition of anonymity.

The Committee said Azhar was sanctioned pursuant to him being "associated with Al-Qaida for 'participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of, supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to, recruiting for, otherwise supporting acts or activities of, and other acts or activities indicating association with Jaish-e-Mohammed."

It noted that Azhar had founded Jaish-e-Mohammed upon his release from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Azhar has also financially supported JeM since its founding, the committee said while giving reasoning for the action.

It also pointed out that the UN Security Council had listed JeM on October 17, 2001, as being associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to" or "otherwise supporting acts or activities of" Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Azhar is also "a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat ul-Mujahidin /HuM, aka Harakat ul-Ansar; most of these groups' members subsequently joined JeM under Azhar's leadership," it said.

"In 2008, JeM recruitment posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces," the statement said.

The action will mean that Azhar's assets will be frozen by the UN member countries and his travel will be barred in these nations.

--IANS

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The whole world should be vigilant following the threat by the Islamic State terror group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said.

"Baghdadi said his organisation is ready to attack any city in the world any time. This is a threat to the entire world. Therefore, all countries should see that their defence forces are on alert," Wickremesinghe said in a statement cited by the Daily Mirror on Wednesday.

The terror group had earlier this week released a video of a man it claimed was Baghdadi. He has not been seen since 2014, when he proclaimed from Mosul creation of a "caliphate" across parts of Syria and Iraq.

In the footage, Baghdadi said Sri Lanka Easter Sunday bombings that killed 253 people were carried out as revenge for the fall of the Syrian town of Baghuz.

Wickremesinghe said Baghdadi's statement that attacks in Sri Lanka were in retaliation to the capture of the land would be investigated. The US-led Kurdish fighters took over the last pocket of land held by the IS, recently.

"This is why I concentrated on ensuring people's security rather than spending time debating with others on the Easter Sunday attacks," the Sri Lankan leader said.

He said many arrests had been made and arms were being recovered due to the ability of security forces and the intelligence units. "We will arrest all who were involved in attacks."

"Focus should be on those who are trying to get political mileage out of the present situation and also on the media that is helping them. The intention of these forces is to create an inter-religious clash," Wickremesinghe said.

He urged all political parties and citizens to support the security forces to ensure the country's safety.

--IANS

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In an apparent reference to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, BJP President Amit Shah said on Wednesday that the money which was so far been looted by the "syndicates" in Bengal was now going directly into the pocket of "the nephew".

"The UPA government run by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi provided Rs 1.32 lakh crore to West Bengal in five years, but the Narendra Modi-led government has provided Rs 4.24 lakh crore in its tenure since 2014. Did you people get any money or receive any benefits," Shah asked the crowd at an election rally here in Hoogly district.

"Where did all the money go? A few years back, the money used to go to those in the syndicates but now they are also complaining because all the money is directly going into the pocket of the 'bhatija' (nephew)," he said.

Shah held four election rallies in Bongaon, Howrah, Arambag and Hoogly in the state on Wednesday, where he upped the ante against the Mamata Banerjee-led government, accusing it of "throttling democracy and cultural traditions in Bengal" to appease her vote bank.

Claiming that only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was capable of out ousting Banerjee from the state, Shah urged people to vote for the saffron party.

"Elections are being fought across the country on the issue of development. But in Bengal, it is not just the question of development, as the elections will decide whether democracy will stay here," Shah said.

"Mamata and her government have strangled the democracy in Bengal. I appeal to all of you to give 23 Lok Sabha seats to Narendra Modi from here. We will reinstate democracy and peace in Bengal. Neither the Congress, nor the Left can fight Banerjee's misrule and corruption. If anyone can fight her, it is the BJP," he said.

Accusing the state's ruling party of creating an environment of terror, Shah claimed the only factories that have opened in Bengal during the Trinamool regime were "bomb making factories".

Reiterating his earlier claims that Hindu festivals like Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja and Ram Navami were often not permitted in Bengal, he alleged that the Trinamool government was destroying the cultural ethos and traditions of Bengal for the sake of vote bank

--IANS

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Chhota Bheem has been one of the favourite Indian cartoon characters among children since the launch of a series on it in 2008. Now it's set to have its own musical soon and a live action film in the coming years, says Rajiv Chilaka who conceptualised the character.

"After our animation movie ('Chhota Bheem Kung Fu Dhamaka') releases on May 10, we will have the exact date of the live action musical. As of now, we are looking at doing the stage show in 6-7 Indian cities.

"The cast and costumes are more or less finalised. We are kind of ready to go," Chilaka, CEO and Founder of Green Gold Animation, and director of "Chhota Bheem Kung Fu Dhamaka", told IANS in a telephonic interview.

A live action film on Chhota Bheem and his friends who explore and protect the village of Dholakpur is also being planned.

"In two-three years, we would like to do a live action film with the character (Chhota Bheem) and have a worldwide release. Right now, animated movies are getting made into live action movies, like 'Aladdin' is coming up. 'Cinderella' and 'The Jungle Book' have been made. We are glad that we have so many stories that we can make into live action movies," he said.

"We have done some experiments in '...Kung Fu Dhamaka'. In the end of the movie, there is a song -- the title track -- sung by Daler Mehndi. Its video will have animated characters dancing with Daler," he said.

For now, Chilaka is looking forward to the release of "...Kung Fu Dhamaka", which is set in China. In the film, Bheem and his friends set out on an adventure in the Land of the Dragon to participate in the biggest Kung Fu competition in the world.

"We are looking at releasing it in 450-500 screens in India. It will be released in English and Hindi," said Chilaka.

"We are also planning to release it in the Middle East. China takes a little time. Once the film releases in India, we will be screening it for them and will decide the appropriate time for release," he said.

The film will hit the Indian screens along with "Student Of The Year 2" and "Pokemon: Detective Pikachu".

"Animation is always a tricky market. But we know our film is really good and we have done a fantastic job. I am confident (of the film's success)," he said.

Chhota Bheem also has merchandise and shows apart from movies.

On the character's success, he said: "He has roots in Indian culture. Even the storytelling is about India and it automatically connects with the Indian audience. We show moral values and simple things, like touching feet of elders and celebrating Indian festivals."

(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at natalia.n@ians.in)

--IANS

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Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday appeared before the in-house committee led by Justice S.A. Bobde, looking into allegations of sexual harassment against him by a former staffer of the Supreme Court, said an official source familiar with the proceedings.

The source said the committee had asked the Chief Justice Gogoi to appear for the in-camera proceedings. "He met the committee regarding the allegations leveled against him," said the source.

The woman, who has alleged sexual harassment, withdrew from the proceedings of the committee on Tuesday. In a statement to the media, she expressed serious reservations over the panel, saying it was "an in-house committee of sitting judges junior to the CJI and not an external committee as I had requested."

The committee comprises Justices S.A. Bobde, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee. The panel was re-constituted after the woman objected to the inclusion of Justice N.V. Ramana on the committee, as he was apparently a close friend of the Chief Justice. Justice Ramana immediately withdrew from the panel, and he was replaced by a woman judge.

In the three hearings scheduled until Tuesday, the woman said she felt "quite intimidated and nervous" in the presence of the three judges of the Supreme Court. The woman, in her statement to the media also said during the panel's hearing on April 26, the judges told her that it was neither an in-house committee proceeding nor a proceeding under the Vishakha Guidelines and that it was an informal proceeding.

"I was asked to narrate my account which I did to the best of my ability even though I felt quite intimidated and nervous in the presence of three Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court and without having a lawyer or support person with me," said her statement.

The committee was formed after the woman levelled allegations against the Chief Justice reportedly in a letter to 22 judges of the Supreme Court.

After the allegations of sexual harassment surfaced on April 20, the CJI held an urgent hearing and he categorically denied the woman's allegations.

The CJI termed it as an attack on the independence of the judiciary. "There has to be bigger force behind this, they want to deactivate office of Chief Justice," he had said during the hearing.

--IANS

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Targeting the Congress par, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that in its desperation, the party has gone to the extent of day-dreaming of getting him killed.

Addressing a public meeting in Itarsi of the state, the Prime Minister said that ever since India's strong response to Pakistan-based terrorists post Pulwama attack, the Congress leaders are at their wits' end and do not know how to have me removed.

Referring to a speech of Navjot Singh Sidhu of the Congress, Modi said: "A 'man of words' of the party once asked the people to hit Modi for a six, so that he lands in Pakistan. They have started hating me and now they have even started day-dreaming to get me killed. But they are forgetting that the people of India are on my side and batting for me. Congress must be made to realise which team they are playing against."

Offering reasons for cancelling his trip to the city in February, he said that it was owing to the Pulwama attack by the terrorists groomed and trained there only, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers had lost their life.

"But this time I haven't come here empty ended. India's strong response by launching air strikes on Pakistan's territory targeting the terror camps there is being talked about across the globe. We killed the terrorists in their home. The terrorists who would take training openly in these terror camps are now forced to run for their life. Now mere mention of Modi sends shiver down the spine of Pakistanis."

Talking about the election manifesto of the Congress party, Modi said the document says that if they come to power, they would remove the Army from Kashmir and abrogate the law that gives special powers to the Army personnel to deal with the terrorists. They have sided with the patrons of Pakistan-based terrorists, he said.

Attacking former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh, the Prime Minister said that the Congress leader would sing peans in the praise of the same Zakir Naik, whose television channels were blocked by the Sri Lankan government after recent terror blasts in that country.

"The country and its people would never forget Congress leaders like Singh," he said.

--IANS

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The Odisha government on Wednesday ordered closure of all educational institutions in the state from May 2 in view of the cyclonic storm 'Fani', which is likely to hit the coast on May 3 afternoon.

"All educational establishments should declare holidays from May 2 till further orders. All the examinations should be rescheduled," said the office of Special Relief Commissioner (SRC).

The SRC also advised tourists to leave Puri by May 2 evening and cancel non-essential travel to the districts likely to be affected on May 3-4.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Fani' was likely to cross between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri, while 11 districts of Odisha were to be affected.

Bhubaneswar Met Centre Director H.R. Biswas said that the storm was very likely to cross Odisha coast in Puri on May 3 afternoon and the wind speed was likely to be 175-185kmph gusting up to 205kmph.

The major threat of the cyclone was heavy rain, flooding, damaging wind gusts and storm surge, he added.

--IANS

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His long hair, thick moustaches that merge into his sideburns, a long red 'tilak and piercing eyes are all remnants of the life he led in the ravines of Chambal in the seventies and eighties.

Malkhan Singh, better known as Daku Malkhan Singh, is now a paler version of his original self. His body may be weaker but his spirit is strong as ever.

"If I win the election, I will clear my constituency of all small and big dacoits that rob people's money. I still have a lot of fire left in me and I can say that my tenure will prove to be a milestone in the history of this state," he said in his baritone voice after casting in the fourth phase in Madhya Pradesh.

Malkhan Singh is contesting for the Dhaurhara Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh by the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (PSP) and is pitted against former Union minister Jitin Prasada of the Congress and the sitting BJP MP Rekha Varma.

Interestingly, in the 2014 general elections, Malkhan Singh had campaigned for Jitin Prasad but this time, he is a candidate himself.

Malkhan Singh's journey into the ravines began in 1964 when he was just 17.

"I was picked up by the police and booked under Arms Act. I was pushed into the dark alley of life and had no option but to pick up the gun. It took me 18 years to build up my own gang and gain respect in the ravines," he recalls.

At one point of time, the Malkhan gang had 94 police cases, including 18 cases of dacoity, 28 of kidnapping, 19 of attempt to murder and 17 cases of murder.

"I was a 'baaghi' (rebel) and not a dacoit. There is a major difference between the two because a 'baaghi' never targets the poor and fights against the system," he explains.

Malkhan himself carried a bounty of Rs 70,000 on his head when he finally decided to surrender in 1982 in Madhya Pradesh. A few years later, he was released from jail and given land to start life anew.

Talking about his plans if he wins elections, Malkhan Singh said: "If the farmers support me, I will make sure that their sugarcane dues are paid within 10 days.

"I know very well how to get things done. Security of women has always been my priority and will continue to be. I hold the 'key' to solutions for all problems."

The 'key' incidentally is the symbol allotted to the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party.

Malkhan Singh, at present, is the centre of all attention in Dhaurhara. Women are intrigued by his personality; children are amused to see a 'real life dacoit' in their midst and the media makes a beeline for him.

Rahul Gangwar, a businessman in Dhaurhara, said: "Strange are the ways of democracy and you never know if this one emerges as the proverbial dark horse."

Dhaurhara goes to polls in fifth phase on May 6.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro claimed to have defeated what he called a "military coup" attempt by opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Dozens of National Guardsmen sided with the opposition in clashes on Tuesday that injured more than 100 people, making it the most violent episode of the Venezuelan political crisis this year.

In a defiant TV address later on Tuesday, Maduro said Guaido, who declared himself interim President in January, had failed to turn the military against him, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

Guaido, however, insists that Maduro has lost control of the armed forces and that a peaceful transition is at hand. He appealed to his supporters to take to the streets of Venezuela again on Wednesday.

He has been recognized as interim leader of Venezuela by more than 50 countries, including the US, the UK and most in Latin America.

But Maduro, backed by Russia, China and the top of the country's military, has refused to cede leadership to his rival.

In his televised address, flanked by military commanders, Maduro accused protesters of "serious crimes" which he said would "not go unpunished". He also called on his supporters to take to the streets, setting up more potential violent unrest in a nation already beset by economic crisis, chronic power cuts and widespread food shortages.

Maduro slammed the US, which he accuses of plotting against him. He dismissed a claim by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he had a plane ready on the tarmac to take him to Cuba, a staunch supporter of the beleaguered President.

"They had an airplane on the tarmac," Pompeo had said. "He was ready to leave this morning (Tuesday), as we understand it. Russians indicated he should stay."

Pompeo's claim was also refuted by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who told CNN: "Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan Army and now used fakes as a part of information war."

A three-minute video by Guaido published in the early hours of Tuesday showed him standing alongside a number of men in military uniform. He announced that he had the support of "brave soldiers" in Caracas.

He urged Venezuelans to join them in the streets and appeared alongside another prominent opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who had been under house arrest since 2014.

Lopez said he had been freed by members of the military who had declared their loyalty to Guaido.

Guaido has been calling on the military to back him ever since he declared himself interim President. He argues Maduro is a "usurper" because he was re-elected in polls that had been widely disputed.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has appealed for both sides to avoid violence. The US reiterated its support for Guaido. An emergency meeting of the Lima Group of Latin American countries has been scheduled for Friday.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Jet Airways on a plea seeking prompt redressal of consumer complaints in the wake of the ongoing crisis.

A Division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani also asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Ministry of Civil Aviation to file a reply on the plea and listed the matter for further hearing on July 16.

The application was filed by consumer rights activist Bejon K. Misra, whose earlier plea seeking capping of air fares charged by various airlines in the country, is still pending before the court.

In the interim application, the petitioner claimed that passengers had been severely affected owing to the sudden suspension of Jet Airways services and sought directions to the government to allow them a full refund on their tickets with a reasonable compensation, or to arrange for alternative travel for them to reach their destinations.

The petitioner's counsel Advocate Shashank Deo Sudhi said that with more than 100 flights cancelled without prior notice, passengers were constrained to run from pillar to post to manage their urgent official and personal commitments.

The need to seek alternative modes of travel, or seats, on other airlines urgently was resulting in chaos as other airlines were profiteering out of the crisis, he said.

"It is common knowledge that all the competitor airlines have exorbitantly increased their fares and the vulnerable consumers are constrained to suffer not only in terms of money but also in terms of mental harassment of an unprecedented scale," read the application.

Misra had earlier told the court that the authorities were behaving like "silent spectators" to the "arbitrary" air fares. He said that in the absence of any effective aviation sector regulator, there is a looming crisis in the country.

--IANS

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Actor Divyenndu, known for his work in films "Pyaar Ka Punchnama" and "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha", plays a "very righteous person" who supports Patralekhaa's character in the web movie "Badnam Gali".

"I'm playing a character named Randeep Singh Sodhi. People call him Rano. He is from Punjab who comes from a well-to-do family and he is really confused about his life. He is quite irritated with a few things. He is a very righteous person," Divyenndu said in a statement.

"There are a few things about him which I really liked. Because of difference in opinion with his family, he decides to go to Delhi and start something of his own," he added.

On the movie's story, the actor shared: "The story is about how my character comes to this 'badnaam gali' where he meets Patralekhaa's character who is playing a surrogate mother.

"It revolves around how people have different opinions about her and don't understand surrogacy. He supports her throughout."

--IANS

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A Delhi court on Wednesday asked Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) East Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Atishi to explain her locus standi in filing a criminal complaint against Gautam Gambhir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee for the seat, for holding two voter ID cards.

Metropolitan Magistrate Viplav Dabas asked Atishi to satisfy her locus standi, procedure and maintainability of the complaint and file other necessary documents till May 6, the date fixed for hearing.

Atishi's lawyer Karuna Nandy told the court at this stage, she wanted investigation into the offence. The counsel also submitted that she was not challenging Gambhir's candidacy right now, but might do so later.

The court also asked her as to why she approached the court instead of filing her complaint before the Election Commission. Atishi's counsel responded that Gambhir possessed two voter ID cards, which was an offence and that's why she approached the court.

Atishi has filed the complaint under Section 155(2) at the Tis Hazari Court, seeking direction for police investigation into offences punishable under Sections 17 and 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and Section 125A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

"As per Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, no person is entitled to be enrolled as a voter in more than one constituency. Section 31 makes false declaration in the matter of inclusion or exclusion of voter rolls punishable with up to one year in prison," she said.

Atishi also said Gambhir had stated in his affidavit, submitted to the Returning Officer at the time of nomination, that he was only registered to vote in the Assembly constituency Rajinder Nagar-39, Part No 43, Serial No 285, EPIC No SMM1357243.

"However, it was discovered after the scrutiny period had concluded that Gambhir was also registered to vote in Assembly Constituency Karol Bagh-23, Part No 86, Serial No 87, EPIC No RJN1616218," she said.

"This fact was also deliberately and wilfully concealed by Gambhir during the time of filing and scrutiny of his nomination, as witnessed by the Returning Officer, presumably to avoid rejection of his nomination," the AAP leader said.

The concealment of information provided in an election affidavit is also punishable under Section 125A of the said Act, with up to six months in jail, she added.

Gambhir's nomination was held up due to objections raised by the AAP candidate due to technical errors in the affidavit.

Delhi will go to polls on May 12.

--IANS

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The Election Commission on Wednesday said that no violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) had been done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his speech at Maharashtra's Latur last month in which he asked first-time voters to dedicate their votes to the men who carried out the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot.

The poll panel said it had received a detailed report on the matter from the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer.

"The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of 11 pages... the Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted," it said.

Modi, during a rally in Maharashtra's Latur, appealed to first-time voters to dedicate their first vote to the "brave men who carried out the airstrike in Pakistan's Balakot".

The Election Commission had in May asked all political parties not to use defence forces or their achievements as part of their election campaigning.

--IANS

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The Election Commission has cancelled the nomination of former Border Security Force trooper Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was set to contest from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Tej Bahadur Yadav had been served a notice on Tuesday because he had given different reasons for leaving his job in the two sets of nomination papers filed -- one as an Independent and the second as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

The former security personnel told reporters that his nomination papers were cancelled at the behest of the Centre even though he had replied to the notice explaining the difference in reasons.

As soon as the news of the cancellation spread, Samajwadi Party workers gathered at the Collectorate.

Later, talking to reporters, District Magistrate Surendra Singh said that Tej Bahadur Yadav had failed to give a satisfactory response to the notice served and hence his nomination was cancelled.

Tej Bahadur Yadav said on Wednesday that he will take up the matter with the Supreme Court.

--IANS

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Two new key appointments in the Indian Railways have come under the scanner as the officers selected for these senior positions don't seem to meet the hiring rules.

In one case, the ministry ignored the mandatory cooling-off period required between two tenures, and in another, an officer was promoted so that he could just meet the requirements for the new post.

The officers who were left out are planning to approach Railways Minister Piyush Goyal to lodge a complaint.

The Railways Ministry in an order on April 1, 2019 said that Navin Kumar, Senior Administrative Grade/Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers, should be posted as Executive Director (Establishment) on return from deputation to the National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL).

He was selected following a vacancy notice in February this year which required a mandatory three years cooling-off period between two tenures.

Navin Kumar does not seem to meet this criteria given that he was sent to the NHSRCL in August 2017 for a period of six months or until further orders, according to a Railway Board order.

In the other case, Mahendra Kumar Gupta was posted as Executive Director, Pay Commission-II in the Railway Board.

The vacancy for this post had required the applying officer to be in Senior Administrative Grade but clearly Gupta did not meet this criteria at the time of application.

"Shri Mahendra Kumar Gupta, IRPS, Railway Board should be promoted to Senior Administrative Grade and posted as Executive Director, Pay Commission-II, Railway Board," the railway ministry order dated April 16, 2019 said.

An IANS query on the issue sent on Monday (April 29) remained unanswered despite repeated requests for a response.

Many railway officers now complain that they were deprived of opportunity to apply for the posts. They argue that the ministry should not have put the conditions if they had to be bypassed or waived.

"Our only grievance is that we were not given fair chance," said an aggrieved officer.

(Nirbhay Kumar can be contacted at nirbhay.k@ians.in)

--IANS

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Five people, including a six-month old baby, were killed in a fire that broke out in a gas stove warehouse at Mayawati Colony in Indira Nagar here on Wednesday.

Indira Nagar Police Station In-charge Amarnath Vishwakarma said, "T.N. Singh, a resident of Pratapgarh, used to run a gas stove warehouse from his house in Ram Vihar Phase II. Last night around 1.30 a.m., the air-conditioner at his house caught fire due to a short circuit."

"The smoke caused by the blaze soon engulfed the house leaving five members of the family dead," he said. The dead include Sumit Singh, his wife Julie, their six-month-old daughter, Dablu Singh and Vandana Singh.

--IANS

hindi/rtp

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France, which has been vigorously pushing for listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, welcomed on Wednesday the decision of the UN Security Councils 1267 Sanctions Committee to sanction him, saying it signals the "successful realization" of its efforts.

"France welcomes the designation today, by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, of Mr Masood Azhar on the UN's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," said a statement issued by the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs soon after the action by the world body was announced.

The statement said for many years now, French has been "relentlessly pleading" for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February".

"This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts," the spokesperson said.

"In application of its Monetary and Financial Code, France had adopted national sanctions against Masood Azhar on 15th March," the spokesperson said.

"France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism," the statement added.

Azhar, a Pakistani national, founded the JeM with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI in January 2000, soon after his release from an Indian jail in exchange for 166 hostages of an Indian Airlines plane which was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan during a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi.

Since then, the outfit has carried out umpteen terror attacks in India, including the one on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

The latest outrageous action by the outfit was in Pulwama on February 14, when a suicide bomber of the JeM rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, killing 40 security personnel.

--IANS

akk/vd

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Afghan government forces have killed a prominent Haqqani network operator in the country's Paktia province, police officials said on Wednesday.

A fierce clash erupted between government forces and Haqqani network insurgents in Sayed Karam district on Tuesday night and lasted for a while, said provincial police spokesman Sardar Wali Tabasumsaid.

Shirzaman, alias Mohammad Omar, who served as the intelligence chief for the militant group in the eastern region, was killed in the fighting, the officer was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.

No civilians or security personnel sustained casualties during the overnight operations, he added.

The Haqqani network is an Afghan militant group using asymmetric warfare to fight against the US-led NATO forces and the Afghan government. It is an offshoot of the Taliban.

--IANS

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A visibly jittery BJP government in Himachal Pradesh has gone back on its statement on legalising cannabis cultivation, a major election issue in the hill state.

Within hours of issuing an official statement on Tuesday that, like Uttarakhand, a proposal on cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes can be examined by Himachal Pradesh, the government took a step back by withdrawing it.

The subsequent note did not find any mention of cannabis cultivation.

The statement quoting Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal said "the Israel Embassy is already pursuing a proposal with the government of Uttarakhand on development of cannabis for medicinal and hemp purposes".

"A similar proposal can be examined by Himachal Pradesh for controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes and cultivation of low psychotropic content cannabis for hemp production," it said.

The note mentioned that a meeting of senior government functionaries led by Agarwal was held with the Ambassador of Israel Ron Malka in New Delhi to discuss issues related to state's Global Investors Meet to be held in Dharamsala in September.

A section of growers, mainly in Shimla and Mandi parliamentary constituencies, for long have been asking the main political parties -- the Congress and the BJP -- that cannabis and poppy cultivation need to be legalised and promoted to supplement their income.

They say their main apple crop is declining owing to various reasons, including variable climatic conditions.

"Since most of the apple plantation needs rejuvenation and this is a costly proposition, selective poppy cultivation is the best option for the growers to compensate their losses," Karan Khimta, an apple grower in Shimla's prominent apple belt of Jubbal, , told IANS.

Joining the issue, another grower Suresh Thakur said allowing poppy growing would also help check its illegal cultivation in the region.

The apple growers blame the outgoing BJP MP Virender Kashyap for his failure to deliver on one of his major poll promises of legalising poppy cultivation.

Experts say there is a huge demand for opium, an extract of the poppy, in the pharmaceutical industry. Also, the climatic condition in the state is congenial for its cultivation.

They argue that states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have allowed selective cultivation of poppy which greatly helped to strengthen the rural economy.

Two-time MP Kashyap, who was denied re-nomination by the party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, said he had raised the issue of legalising the poppy cultivation in Parliament several times.

"Due to some legal issues, it couldn't find favour," he added.

During his campaign in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Kashyap had said poppy cultivation was not banned before Independence and its cultivation was a common practice in the state.

Even three-time BJP MP Maheshwar Singh in November last wrote a letter to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, asking to legalise cannabis and poppy cultivation as they would not only generate employment but would also stop the illegal trade in its contraband by- products.

Experts say the selective cultivation of cannabis and poppy could annually generate a revenue of Rs 800 crore-Rs 900 crore.

Former superintendent of the Narcotics Control Bureau, O.P. Sharma, who was leading the state's first drive to eradicate mass-scale cannabis cultivation in 2003, told IANS that "alternative farming is the only way of controlling poppy and cannabis cultivation."

"Even if the government goes for the selective farming of cannabis, it will have to set up a separate enforcement directorate to check its pilferage and also an exclusive directorate to regulate its cultivation and production," Sharma said.

According to the police, cannabis and poppy are grown illegally in vast tracts of Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Chamba districts, causing a serious problem of drug cultivation, trafficking and addiction.

The lure of drugs and quick bucks attract foreigners too to the higher reaches and largely unexplored areas of the state, where they have become part of the opium and cannabis growing and smuggling industry.

The volume of this murky trade can be gauged from a government reply in the Assembly recently that 455.792 kg charas, 7.416 kg opium, 21.253 kg ganja and 0.315 gm smack have seized in the state in the past one year.

In the last one year 1,724 people, including 10 foreigners, were arrested on charges of drug peddling and 1,342 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls for its four parliamentary seats - Shimla, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi - on May 19.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

--IANS

vg/bc

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Automobile major Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) on Wednesday reported a marginal decline of 1.6 per cent in its overall sales, including exports for April 2019.

The company said overall sales during the month under review declined to 58,805 from 59,744 units sold during April 2018.

The company's domestic sales during the month under review edged lower by 10.1 per cent to 42,005 units from 46,735 units sold during the corresponding period of 2018.

However, the company's exports went up by 29.1 per cent to 16,800 units from 13,009 units shipped abroad in April 2018.

HMIL is the country's second largest car manufacturer and number one exporter since inception. Currently, it offers nine car models across segments.

--IANS

rv/prs

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Stressing once again that India is an important market for Apple, CEO Tim Cook said the current manufacturing in the country will see maximum growth in days to come amid the renewed push to open its branded retail stores in the country.

In an earnings call with analysts after declaring Q2 results late Tuesday, Cook said the company has made some adjustments in India and have seen preliminary some better results there.

"I think India is a very important market in the long-term. It's a challenging market in the short-term. But we're learning a lot.

"We have started manufacturing there which is very important to be able to serve the market in a reasonable way. And we're growing that capability there," the Apple CEO informed.

Giving an impetus to its India manufacturing plans, Apple has started the assembling of iPhone 7 at its supplier Wistron's facility in Bengaluru.

Taiwanese industrial major Wistron already assembles iPhone 6S in the country.

Cook also emphasized on the company's plans to open its branded stores in India.

"We would like to place retail stores there. And we're working with the government to seek approval to do that. And so, we plan on going in there with sort of all of our might," said Cook.

Apple is slowly but steadily strategising its plans to make deeper inroads in a country where over 450 million people use smartphones, mostly Android and coming from China

"We've opened a developer, accelerator there, which we're very happy with some of the things coming out of there. It's a long-term play. It's not something that's going to be on overnight huge business. But I think the growth potential is phenomenal," Cook noted.

In India, price is a key factor when it comes to buying a smartphone.

After China, Apple has begun reducing the price of iPhones in India.

Apple offered a "promotional offer" earlier this month to bring down the cost of its a,76,900 iPhone XR (64GB) by as much as a,23,000.

Cook said that it doesn't bother him that it's primarily Android business at the moment in India "because that just means there's a lot of opportunity there".

--IANS

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Amid developments after the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka which claimed 253 lives, an Islamic State (IS) affiliate group, "Al-Mursalat", has been reportedly planning to carry out similar attacks in India and Bangladesh with its announcement of appointing a new "emir" (chief) in Bengal, sources said.

The emir of the Islamic State group, an intelligence official said, has been named as Abu Muhammed al-Bengali who has been given the responsibility of planning terror attacks and recruiting new members.

Citing a poster released by the Islamic State, the official, requesting anonymity, said the group has warned that their "soldiers of Khalifa in Bengal and Hind are not silenced" and that the "thirst for revenge is never to be faded away."

The threat came to light soon after a minor explosion near Gulistan theatre in Dhaka on Monday evening, in which a few police personnel suffered injuries. No casualties were reported in the blast.

The two developments followed a "propaganda" video released for the first time in five years by the fugitive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in which he acknowledged the terrorist group's defeat in the Syrian town of Baghuz, another anti-terror official said.

Looking heavier than when he proclaimed the existence of the now-collapsed caliphate in mid 2014, Baghdadi blamed its demise on the "savagery" of Christians in the 18-minute video in which he was seen sitting cross-legged alongside a Kalashnikov rifle and appeared to be limited in his movements.

"Truthfully, the battle of Islam and its people against the cross and its people is a long battle. The battle of Baghuz is over. But it did show the savagery, brutality and ill intentions of the Christians towards the Muslim community," Baghdadi said in the video.

The IS released a statement in Arabic in the early hours of Tuesday through its mouthpiece Amaq.

Indian intelligence agencies have been closely monitoring the developments in Bangladesh and they suspect that the Islamic State may carry out "jihadi" attacks in Bangladesh or West Bengal.

Officials close to the investigation have raised an alarm that some Bengali posters were in circulation in West Bengal and Bangladesh to radicalise those who were pro-Islamic State sympathisers.

The poster, officials said, read "Shighroi Aschhe (coming soon), Inshallah."

"The posters are being circulated on Telegram flashing the logo of a group called Al-Mursalat. The threat cannot be ignored as a little-known Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), affiliated to the Islamic State was instrumental in the Sri Lanka bombings and their links have been found in a recent unearthed group in Kerala's Kasaragod," another official said.

He said that another group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which also reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, was also active in Bangladesh for years and may be a threat to West Bengal where Bangladeshi people frequently travel.

The April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo and elsewhere killed 253 people, including 11 Indian nationals and some foreigners, besides injuring 500 others.

Fifteen people, including three suicide bombers, died during a raid by Sri Lankan security forces on April 26 and nearly 100 people have been detained in the island nation.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombings and released a video that showed alleged plot organiser and suicide bomber Zahran Hashim and seven other men pledging allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

--IANS

rak/arm

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In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday declared Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, two and a half months after his outfit carried out the ghastly terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama.

The UNSC's Sanctions Committee 1267 made the declaration after China, which had blocked the proposal four times earlier, lifted its "technical hold" amidst intense pressure from the Security Council's other permanent members like the US, the UK and France.

"Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

The action will mean that Azhar's assets will be frozen by the UN member countries and his travel will be barred in these nations.

"It (defending Azhar) was increasingly becoming untenable for the Chinese," said an Indian government official on condition of anonymity.

China had indicated on Tuesday that it would no more block the resolution, which was initially moved by India, as its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the "relevant consultations" at the Sanctions Committee had made "some progress" and the issue would be "properly resolved".

Beijing had been blocking Azhar's listing despite a strong push by the US, UK and France. The latest such action was taken by China last month, which was described by India as "disappointing".

Azhar, a Pakistani national, founded the JeM with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI in January 2000, soon after his release from an Indian jail in exchange for 166 hostages of an Indian Airlines plane which was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan during a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi.

Since then, the outfit has carried out umpteen terror attacks in India, including the one on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

The latest outrageous action by the outfit was in Pulwama on February 14, when a suicide bomber of JeM rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, killing 40 security personnel.

"To say that Beijing blacklisted Azhar under US pressure was not the only factor. But the Americans going about the 1267 Committee and circulating their own draft at the UN Security Council would have surely concerned the Chinese," the Indian official added.

"At the Security Council, the Chinese would have had to explain its position if they vetoed the resolution which is not the case at the 1267 committee," the official explained.

--IANS

akk/gsh/soni/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Security Council on Wednesday declared Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a move that was being blocked by China for nearly 10 years.

The decision of the UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee came about two and a half months after the JeM carried out the ghastly terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama killing 40 CRPF personnel, an incident which, however, did not find a mention in the resolution adopted.

India welcomed the decision, saying it was a "step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers".

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the action is "in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities" of Azhar and the JeM.

China had been blocking Azhar's listing despite a strong push by the US, UK and France. It had put a "technical hold" on the proposal four times, the latest being in March.

After the resolution was adopted by the sanctions Committee, China said it ended its objection after India shared fresh evidence.

"After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, Chine does not have an objection to the listing proposal," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

An Indian government official on condition of anonymity, said: "It (defending Azhar) was increasingly becoming untenable for the Chinese."

The Committee said Azhar was sanctioned pursuant to him being "associated with Al-Qaida for 'participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of', 'supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to', 'recruiting for', 'otherwise supporting acts or activities of', and 'other acts or activities; indicating association with Jaish-i-Mohammed".

It noted that Azhar had founded Jaish-i-Mohammed upon his release from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Azhar has also financially supported the JeM since its founding, the committee said while giving reasoning for the action.

It also pointed out that the UN Security Council had listed JeM on October 17, 2001, as being associated with Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to" or "otherwise supporting acts or activities of" Al Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Azhar is also "a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat ul-Mujahidin /HuM, aka Harakat ul-Ansar; most of these groups' members subsequently joined JEM under Azhar's leadership", it said.

"In 2008, JeM recruitment posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces," the statement said.

The action will mean that Azhar's assets will be frozen by the UN member countries and his travel will be barred in these nations.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin said the development was a "significant outcome" for India "because we have been at it for several years".

He noted that the first attempt in this regard was made by India in 2009 and "more recently, we have been persistent, diligent and in a subterranean manner making all our efforts towards this goal. Today, this goal stands achieved".

Akbaruddin expressed gratitude to "the many many countries which were supportive of this effort, that is, the USA, UK and France" and "several countries within the (UN Security) Council and outside the Council who came forward without any restraints and supported this Indian effort and not tolerating a terrorist".

An Indian official, on condition of anonymity, explained that "to say that Beijing blacklisted Azhar under US pressure was not the only factor. But the Americans going about the 1267 Committee and circulating their own draft at the UN Security Council would have surely concerned the Chinese".

"At the Security Council, the Chinese would have had to explain its position if they vetoed the resolution which is not the case at the 1267 Committee."

China had indicated on Tuesday that it would no more block the resolution, which was initially moved by India, as its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the "relevant consultations" at the Sanctions Committee had made "some progress" and the issue would be "properly resolved".

JeM has carried out umpteen terror attacks in India, including the one on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

The latest outrageous action by the outfit was in Pulwama on February 14, when a suicide bomber of JeM rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, killing 40 security personnel.

France, which had been vigorously pushing for listing of Azhar, immediately welcomed the decision of the 1267 Sanctions Committee, saying it signals the "successful realization" of its efforts.

"France welcomes the designation today, by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, of Mr Masood Azhar on the UN's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al Qaida Sanctions List," said a statement issued by the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs soon after the action by the world body was announced.

The statement said for many years now, French has been "relentlessly pleading" for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February".

"This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts," the spokesperson said, adding that France had adopted national sanctions against Azhar on March 15.

"France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism," the statement added.

--IANS

al-team/akk/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Japan on Wednesday welcomed its new Emperor Naruhito who pledged to fulfil his role as a "symbol of the state and unity" and said he would follow the course charted by his father at a ceremony to formally recognise his accession to the throne.

The 59-year-old was speaking as he officially began his reign on Wednesday in a short but symbolic ceremony at the Imperial Palace. He was joined on the dais by his wife, Empress Masako.

Naruhito succeeds his father, 85-year-old Akihito, who abdicated citing his age and failing health. According to semi-mythological tradition, Naruhito is the 126th consecutive Japanese Emperor.

In his speech, Emperor Naruhito paid tribute to his father while pledging to show the same devotion to his people, the BBC reported.

"(Akihito) showed profound compassion through his own bearing. I swear that I will reflect deeply on the course followed by the Emperor Emeritus and fulfil my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people of Japan."

He technically became the Emperor at the stroke of midnight when his father's reign came to an end -- marking the start of the new Reiwa era, which roughly translates to "beautiful harmony".

Earlier in the day, he symbolically took possession of the sacred imperial regalia -- a sword and a gem -- that have been passed down through the generations. No female members of the imperial family were permitted to attend the ceremony after the government controversially decided to honour precedents set by previous accession rites.

The Minister for Regional Revitalisation, Satsuki Katayama, was the only woman present on the occasion.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later welcomed the new Emperor on behalf of the nation. "We are determined to create a bright future for a proud Japan filled with peace and hope at a time when the international situation is changing dramatically," he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was among several world leaders to send their congratulations. Kyodo news agency quoted Xi as saying Japan and China had "a long history of friendly exchanges".

"The two sides should work together to promote peaceful development and create a bright future for bilateral relations," he said.

Japan's monarchy is considered to be the longest-lived continuous hereditary royal dynasty in the world.

--IANS

soni/pcj

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Bihar's ruling JD-U on Wednesday downplayed reports of any contradictions within the NDA after a video went viral in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen chanting "Vande Mataram" at an election rally but Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not join in.

Another alliance partner, Ram Vilas Paswan, joined the "Vande Mataram" chant, but Nitish Kumar, who was next to him, stayed silent. As everyone rose to join Mod, Nitish Kumar, who is also the Janata Dal-United chief, was the last to stand up.

The video, taken at an NDA rally in Darbhanga on April 25, has raised questions but the JD-U dismissed the issue.

JD-U state President Vashsisht Narain Singh, who is considered close to Nitish Kumar, denied that there is any uneasiness between his party chief and the BJP or Modi. "There is nothing. We are busy in the ongoing polls together," he said.

Another senior JD-U leader also dismissed the matter. "JD-U and BJP are contesting polls together as NDA. Nitish Kumar has been sharing dais with Modi at each election rally since last month. Besides,there is no difference as Nitish Kumar is not only praising Modi, he is seeking votes in the name of Modi," said the leader who did not want to be named.

JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that the party and Nitish Kumar is not against chanting "Vande Mataram" and claimed that the reports and the video being circulated were "painting a different picture, which is far from the truth".

He, however, stressed that the JD-U is a separate party with its own agenda and ideology. "JD-U is, no doubt, a part of BJP-led NDA and running a government along with them in Bihar. But the party differs with the BJP on several issues including the Constitution's Articles 370 and 35 A and the Citizenship Bill. JD-U also has its own stand on construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya."

--IANS

ik/vd

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Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Wednesday emphatically stated that no one will be able to separate Kashmir from India whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP were in power at the Centre, or not.

Addressing an election rally here, an area that falls under the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, Shah said if voted back to power, the saffron party will remove Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.

"Modi is India's Prime Minister now. He will be elected as the Prime Minister again. But even if a time comes when neither Modiji nor BJP is in power at the centre, even then no one will be able to separate Kashmir from India," Shah said.

"Till the time a single BJP activist is alive, we will not let that happen. Kashmir is an inseparable part of India. It is jewel in the crown of our motherland. Give us 23 seats in Bengal. We promise we will abolish article 370 from Kashmir," he told the people here.

Attacking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for inviting her former Jammu and Kashmir counterpart Omar Abdullah in the mega anti-BJP rally held in Kolkata on January 19, Shah demanded that Banerjee should clarify whether she supports Adbullah's statements seeking a separate Prime Minister for Kashmir.

"Mamata Banerjee had invited Omar Abdullah in Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground and held his hand. Omar Abdula has given a statement that there should be a separate Prime Minister in Kashmir. Tell me should there be two Prime Ministers in a country?" he asked.

"I want to ask Mamata didi whether she agrees to the statement of Abdullah. I am sure she will be silent because it is a question of her vote bank," the BJP leader said.

Speaking in a region dominated by members of the Dalit Matua community, a Hindu sect who have migrated from Bangladesh, Shah reiterated that once re-elected, the Narendra Modi government will bring the citizenship Amendment Bill to ensure the citizenship rights for all the refugees in the country.

He also claimed that the ouster of Banerjee's Trinamool Congress government from Bengal will be confirmed once the results of 2019 polls are announced on May 23.

"Mamata didi, your ouster is confirmed. Once the results of the 2019 polls are announced and BJP wins 23 seats, your exit will be confirmed. The people have decided that when the election results are announced on May 23, a new sun of 'Paribartan' (change) will rise in Bengal," he added.

--IANS

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A man who works as a Sanitary Inspector with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi suffered critical injuries on Wednesday after he attempted suicide by trying to jump in front of a Metro train in Dwarka, a police officer said.

According to the police, the incident occurred at 10.18 a.m. when the victim, later identified as Anil Kumar, jumped onto the tracks in platform number 1 at the Dwarka Sector-9 Metro Station.

"A resident of Palam Village, Anil Kumar was admitted with critical injuries in a nearby hospital where he is undergoing treatment", the Delhi Police Additional PRO Anil Mittal told reporters.

The reason for Kumar's extreme step is yet to be established, he added.

--IANS

sp/bc

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A man working as a Sanitary Inspector with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi committed suicide on Wednesday by jumping in front of a Metro train in Dwarka, said the police.

The police said the incident occurred at 10.18 a.m. when the victim, later identified as Anil Kumar, jumped on the tracks at platform number 1 at the Dwarka Sector-9 Metro Station.

"A resident of Palam Village, Anil Kumar was admitted with critical injuries in a nearby hospital where he is succumbed to his injuries in the evening ", the Delhi Police Additional PRO Anil Mittal told reporters.

Kumar was in depression for the last few days, he added.

--IANS

sp/prs

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday greeted the people of Gujarat and Maharashtra on their state foundation days.

In a series of tweets, he also listed the characteristics of the people belonging to the state.

"Best wishes to the people of Gujarat on Gujarat Diwas. In all spheres, people from the state have made outstanding contributions. Gujaratis are known for their courage, innovation and spirit of enterprise. May Gujarat scale new heights of glory," wrote Modi, who also hails from the state.

"Greetings to my sisters and brothers of Maharashtra on the state's Foundation Day. Maharashtra is a land of revolutionaries and reformers who have enriched India's progress. Praying for the continued growth of the state in the times to come," he added.

Both the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra were formed after the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 was enacted by Parliament on 25 April 1960. The act came into effect on 1 May 1960.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that patrons of terror are praying for his exit from power.

Speaking at the Railway Institute Ground in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh, Modi said that the previous event scheduled in February was cancelled because of the Pulwama attack which was carried out by Pakistani terrorists. But India gave them a fitting reply with full force and now the world is talking about it.

Referring to the air strikes by the Indian Air Force, he said the terrorists were killed in their own den. "The terrorists who used to openly train in Pakistan are now forced to hide underground... Today, Pakistan is losing sleep over Modi's name. The patrons of terror are praying to stop and remove Modi at any cost," he said.

Attacking the Congress, Modi said: "The Congress is now dreaming of killing Modi, but they are forgetting that the people of Madhya Pradesh, the people of India are betting for Modi... Let the Congress tell which team they are playing from - India or Pakistan."

The Prime Minister also targeted the Kamal Nath-led government in Madhya Pradesh for misleading the farmers and the youth.

--IANS

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The Delhi High Court has said that "it would be incorrect to hold both the parent equally responsible for the expenses of the child".

Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva's observation came on Tuesday as the court agreed with a trial court decision directing a husband to pay for the maintenance of his minor daughter till she attained the age of majority.

The high court also enhanced the maintenance amount to Rs 20,000 per month from Rs 10,000 a month fixed by the trial court. It also held that the wife was in a position to maintain herself and as such she was not entitled to any maintenance.

However, the high court maintained that "the view taken by the trial court that both the parents are responsible for meeting the day-to-day expenses, nourishment, medical and other expenses of the child, is erroneous."

"A child for her upbringing does not only require money. A lot of time and effort goes in the upbringing of a child. It would be incorrect to hold that both the parents are equally responsible for the expenses of the child.

"A mother who has custody of a child not only spends money on the upbringing of the child but also spends substantial time and effort in bringing up the child. The trial court has erred in equalising the effort of both the parents in upbringing of the child," the court said.

"One cannot put value to the time and effort put in by the mother in upbringing of the child. No doubt, the mother, if she is earning, should also contribute towards the expenses of the child, but the expenses cannot be divided equally between the two," it added.

The court was hearing a maintenance application of a couple which got married on June 23, 2002. A female child was born from the wedlock on March 7, 2004.

The woman alleged that she was forced to leave her matrimonial house in April 2005 after being mentally and physically tortured by her husband's family.

The marriage between the parties was dissolved in March 2007. Later, the wife moved the court seeking maintenance for her and her daughter.

--IANS

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US Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Attorney General William Barr in March objecting to his early description of the Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election that appeared to clear President Donald Trump on possible obstruction of justice, the media reported.

According to the New York Times, the letter adds to the growing evidence of rift between them and is another sign of anger among Mueller's investigators about Barr's characterisation of their findings, which allowed Trump to wrongly claim he had been vindicated.

Mueller wrote that Barr in his four-page memo "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the special counsel's findings, according to an excerpt of the letter, published by the Washington Post.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the (justice) department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment on the matter.

Barr, scheduled to testify on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the investigation, has said he disagrees with some of the legal reasoning in the Mueller report. Senior Democratic lawmakers have invited Mueller to testify in the coming weeks but have been unable to secure a date for his testimony.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Barr called Mueller upon receiving his letter and that the two had had a "cordial and professional conversation".

"The special counsel emphasised that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the special counsel's obstruction analysis," Kupec said.

Kupec said Mueller and Barr then discussed "whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released", but the Attorney General decided it would be counter-productive to release the report.

It was after their conversation, she noted, Barr released a second letter to Congress saying his first assessment was not intended to be a summary of Mueller's report.

Senate Democrats have called on the Justice Department's watchdog to independently investigate Barr's handling of the Mueller report and "whether he has demonstrated sufficient impartiality" to continue overseeing 14 criminal matters related to the special counsel's investigation.

According to a CNN analysis, the Mueller report lists at least 77 specific instances where Trump administration officials, family members, campaign staff, Republican backers and the President's associates lied or made false assertions (sometimes unintentionally) to Congress, the public or authorities.

--IANS

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The Mizoram Police have rescued 31 teenage Nepali and Rohingya Muslim girls, suspected to be victims of human trafficking, an official said on Wednesday.

"Police last week rescued 23 Nepali and eight Rohingya Muslim girls. We suspect these girls, aged between 15 to 22 years, are victims of human trafficking," Inspector General of Mizoram Police (Law and Order), L.H. Shanliana, told IANS.

The Nepali girls were rescued from Champhai in eastern Mizoram near the Myanmar border while the Rohingya girls were detained at Vairengte in northern Mizoram.

The police official said that one Lal Bahadur, who was accompanying the 23 Nepali girls, has been arrested.

"Mizoram Police is investigating the matter and interrogating the detainees. The girls are now in government protection shelters," Shanliana said.

The Nepali girls informed the police that they were told to visit tourist spots in the state and to also attend a festival there.

"The Rohingya girls told the police that they were abducted by human traffickers from a refugee camp in Bangladesh to be sent to Malaysia for jobs. We suspect these girls were to be forced into prostitution," a police official said on condition of anonymity.

Mizoram has an unfenced international border -- 510 km with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh.

--IANS

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Hours after its party mouthpieces called for a ban on the use of 'burqas' like what Sri Lanka is considering, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday evening officially dissociated itself from the demand, following a massive furore on the issue just five days before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins.

Referring to the strong editorial in Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana calling for the ban like the measure being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives, party spokesperson Neelam Gorhe stressed that every policy decision is discussed in a meeting of top leaders or announced by party President Uddhav Thackeray.

"Today's editorial has neither been discussed nor been announced by Uddhavji and thus it may be a personal opinion of the editor on the current affairs in Sri Lanka, but is not endorsed by the party President or the party," Gorhe said in a categorical statement, signalling a dramatic turnaround on the issue.

State political circles indicated the sudden decision to backtrack may have been prompted by the massive potential political fallout of the Sena's demand on the Bharatiya Janata Party and allies which are facing the upcoming three phases of elections in this month, barely on the eve of the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.

With the demand, addressed directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, political circles are abuzz with speculation whether BJP leadership and other allies have conveyed their "displeasure" to the Sena, but Gorhe declined to comment on this when asked by IANS.

Another ally, the Republican Party of India-A strongly came out against the Sena on the issue

"Not all women who wear burqa are terrorists, it is their custom and their right, too. There should not be such a ban on burqa in India," its President and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owais attacked the Sena for its ignorance by seeking a ban on burqa and sought Election Commission's action in the matter.

"The Supreme Court judgement on privacy clearly lays down that choice is now a Fundamental Right. Besides, it is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, aimed at creating polarization before the elections," he said.

The editorial said that the ban - something similar which the party has proposed in the past -- "has already come in Ravana's (Sri) Lanka, when will it be implemented in Ram's Ayodhya -- this is our question to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi."

"This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security," it said.

"If such religious practices or traditions interfere with national security, then it must be ended immediately, and "Modi will have to do it now".

"This work will require as much daring as a 'surgical strike.' The Sri Lankan President had done it by overnight banning burqa or veils or face-covers of any types in all public places. This is a work of great courage and restraint exhibited by (Sri Lanka) President Maithripala Sirisena," it lauded.

It accused that many Muslims have not understood the true meaning of their religion (Islam) and they have confused it with traditions and customs like burqa, polygamy, triple talaq and resistance to family planning, the edit added.

"When any voice is raised against these practices, immediately there are cries of 'Islam is in danger', and it seems religion takes precedence over nationalism among Muslims. Muslim women have been sporting burqas/veils under the wrong impression that it is a Quranic tenet," the editorial said.

--IANS

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Targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its inability to check Maoist activities, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that BJP President Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi lacked the capabilities that even block and district-level presidents of the Trinamool Congress possessed.

"The capability of any of our block presidents is far more than BJP's national President Amit Shah. Even Narendra Modi lacks the capability that is there in our district presidents," Banerjee said during an election rally here in Howrah district.

Referring to Wednesday's Maoist attack which killed 16 people in Maharashtra, where the BJP is in power, Banerjee said the government couldn't do anything about it.

"Just now I heard about the Maoist attack in Maharashtra. In Bengal there were Maoist problems, but we have brought peace here. But Modi 'babu', you couldn't do the same anywhere. You should take up this challenge and show us just one state with Maoist problems where you have brought peace," Banerjee said.

At least 15 C-60 commandos and a civilian were killed in Gadchiroli district in Maharshtra on Wednesday after a powerful land mine explosion triggered by the Maoists blew up their vehicle.

The Trinamool supremo said the Narendra Modi-led government had failed to check Maoist activities in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

"Before speaking ill about Bengal, remember that in Jungle Mahal (the vast forested stretches in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts), where around 400 murders took place during the CPI-M led Left Front regime, there is peace now," she said.

Taking a jibe at Modi's visit to Ayodhya on Wednesday, Banerjee said, "Could you (Modi) even build a 500 inch Ram temple or even that of the size of my finger in five years? But during elections you are again seeking votes in Ayodhya on Ram Mandir."

--IANS

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In line with its aim to become a global market leader, India's largest hotel chain OYO will acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group for $415 million.

OYO on Wednesday said it would acquire @Leisure from Axel Springer, a media and technology company.

@Leisure is a leading vacation rental company in Europe and manages holiday homes, holiday parks and holiday apartments.

"With @Leisure Group, its team and capabilities, we see OYO further its mission of creating quality living experiences for everyday travellers," Maninder Gulati, OYO's Global Chief Strategy Officer, said in a statement.

@Leisure Group, through its Belvilla, DanCenter, and Danland brands, offers more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe and through its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand, offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries.

OYO said the the acquisition will help it move a step closer in realising its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry.

"Through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be immediately unlocked for OYO's Homes business. Today, more than 2.8 mn holidaymakers from over 118 countries book their holiday every year with @Leisure Group. The combined strength of both brands can scale the opportunity multifold," Gulati said.

"Tobias Wann, CEO, @Leisure Group, will join OYO's leadership group as CEO, Vacation Homes, OYO Global, and will work with me to turn OYO's home business into a global by-word for vacation and urban home rentals," Gulati added.

--IANS

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The Pakistan Coast Guards have recovered narcotics worth over $24 million during an operation near Jiwani town of Balochistan province, officials said.

Safeer Mehdi, a spokesperson of the Pakistan Coast Guards, told Xinhua news agency that they received a tip-off regarding a possible bid to smuggle high quality narcotics to some foreign countries.

Acting on the intelligence report, the Coast Guards launched an extensive operation in the area and recovered 350 kg of hashish hidden in the ground at a beach in Jiwani.

The Pakistan Coast Guards handed the drugs to the anti-narcotics force who will later destroy them as per their schedule, Mehdi added.

No arrest was made, but security forces have increased vigilance and monitoring in the area in efforts to get clues of drug peddlers.

--IANS

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An embarrassed Pakistan on Wednesday said the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist had been agreed upon after "all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with the terror attack in Pulwama and maligning the struggle of the Kashmiris".

The United Nations Security Council's 1267 Sanctions Committee made the declaration after China, which had blocked the proposal four times earlier, lifted its "technical hold" amidst intense pressure from the UNSC's other permanent members like the US, the UK and France.

"The current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama and maligning the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris for realisation of the right to self-determination," said Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal.

The action, a huge diplomatic victory for India, will mean that Pakistan-based JeM chief's assets will be frozen by the UN member countries and his travel will be barred in these nations.

The spokesperson said his country "has always advocated the need for respecting these (UNSC) technical rules and regulations and has opposed politicisation of the Sanctions Committee. However, the earlier proposals to list Masood Azhar failed to generate the requisite consensus in the Sanctions Committee as the information did not meet its technical criteria".

He said, Pakistan maintained that "terrorism is a menace to the world".

The Indian media's attempts "to build a narrative claiming it (the listing) as a 'victory' for India and validation of its stance are absolutely false and baseless," Faisal said.

"Our position is in line with the statements of Prime Minister Imran Khan who clearly stated that there is no space for any proscribed organisation or its affiliates to operate from the Pakistani territory, our resolve for countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and our National Action Plan," he said.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday condemned the Maoists attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli in which 15 C-60 and a driver were killed, and asserted that the perpetrators will not be spared.

"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts and solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," Modi tweeted.

At least 15 C-60 commandos, including a woman, and a driver, were killed in a blast on two security vehicles triggered by Maoists in Kurkheda tehsil of Gadchiroli district on Wednesday afternoon.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that it was a proud day for India after the United Nations (UN) declared Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday declared Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist, a move that was being blocked by China for nearly 10 years.

"This is the result of the joint efforts of 130 crore Indians," Modi said while addressing an election rally here.

"The international community stood beside India in its fight against terror. Hence I thank the international community on behalf of 130 crore Indians," Modi said.

The decision of the UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee came about two-and-a-half months after the JeM carried out the ghastly terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama which killed 40 CRPF personnel.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said, "It seems I share a strong bond with Rajasthan, the land of warriors. Today I have come here with a good news. Right now I received a report from New York that the UN has declared Jem chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist."

The Prime Minister added that the diplomatic victory for India was being watched by the entire world. "When we were trying to get Masood Azhar branded as a global terrorist, the "Namdaars" were making a mockery of our efforts. Today I want to tell them that this is not Modi's success, but it is the success of 130 crore indians," Modi said.

Modi also said that India was trying to completely uproot terrorism from the country. "There was a time when India had a remote control government. In those days, even the Prime Minister's voice was not heard by the government. But today the country is witnessing how the voice of 130 crore people is roaring across the world.

"The entire world now listens to what India says. This has been proven today, and I want to say that this is just the beginning. Wait and see what comes next," Modi said, adding that India's policy was clear now, which was, "if they shoot, we shoot."

"This country trusts its 'chowkidar'. Today I have come to the land of brave soldiers and I would like to tell everyone that this is new India. We will eneter the terrorists' homes and eliminate them if the country faces threat from them. This is called a "damdaaar sarkar" (strong government)," Modi said. IANS

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Reacting to the April's GST collection the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi was wrong in saying that GST was not in the interest of traders.

However, CAIT said that traders are still facing trouble complying with GST and the association will approach the new government after polls.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection rose 10.05 per cent to Rs 1,13,865 crore in April from a year-ago period, recording the highest ever monthly revenue mop-up since the new indirect tax system was rolled out on July 1, 2017.

CAIT said that the "upsurge in GST revenue collection for the month of April 2019 has strongly demolished the argument of Congress President Rahul Gandhi that it is Gabbar Singh Tax and not in the interest of traders. "

"On the contrary, the highest collection from GST in the month of April since its implementation in the Country establishes the fact that traders across the country have utter faith and trust in current GST taxation system ..."

Khandelwal said that not only the revenue but also the number of taxpayers under GST in comparison to earlier VAT regime has doubled reflecting acceptance among the trader's community.

--IANS

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Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday attacked Home Minister Rajnath Singh and said he is not capable of winning the Lucknow parliamentary seat.

He made the remarks in an interaction with the media while campaigning for 'gathbandhan' candidate Poonam Sinha here.

Yashwant Sinha said: "I have a good personal relation with Rajnath Singh. While he has been BJP's chief twice and has been Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Union Minister earlier but today he is the Home Minister and yet he is not strong. I don't think he is capable of winning from Lucknow."

Accusing the Modi government of presenting wrong figures, the former Minister said that today a lot of vital issues like demonetisation are not being discussed.

He also called the Election Commission of India as "Election Commission of Modi".

--IANS

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh while paying tributes to 15 Maharashtra policemen killed by Maoists in Gadchiroli today lashed out at the opposition for politicizing the incident and demanding resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Addressing an election rally at Shastri Park here for BJP candidates Manoj Tiwari and Gautam Gambhir, Rajnath Singh said that it is sad that the opposition has politicised the gruesome incident and demanded resignation of the Chief Minister.

He said during the last five years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's watch, killing of security forces had come down and several districts were free from Maoist stronghold.

He also slammed the opposition for demanding proof of terrorists killed during the Balakot strike.

He said, "After the strikes, should our soldiers have stopped there and counted the bodies. Warriors don't count bodies only vultures do," Rajnath added.

He said the operation by Air Force was carried out with credible information and termed it as the biggest attack on terrorists.

The Home Minister also praised the prime minister's economic policy and said that India was growing as the fastest economy of the world.

By 2030-31, India will be among the top three economies of the world, he said.

The Minister also lashed out at the Congress for saying that it will do away with the Sedition law if it came to power.

--IANS

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One of India's most-read authors, Ruskin Bond has said that he tries to strike a positive note when writing for children and feels a certain responsibility as an author.

The Landour-based writer, when asked what he felt about his vast readership, said that since he writes so much for young readers, he tries to strike a positive chord.

"For adults, it doesn't matter, you can strike a negative note, because by the time they've grown up, they lose their innocence," the 84-year-old Padma Bhushan recipient told IANS during one of his weekly visits to a bookstore in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.

Sharing nuggets from his own childhood, the author of "The Blue Umbrella" (also cinematically adapted by the same name), said that he shares a deep connection with the hills.

"I belong to the hills. Surroundings change, the place changes a bit, but my relationship remains more or less the same, my feelings for the hills and for the people of the hills.

"It goes back 50 years or more. I don't like to see too much change, in the sense that I don't like too much building, but it's inevitable," he said, while patiently signing books for the long queue of his fans, mostly children.

Now, in an upcoming compilation of 14 holiday stories for children -- "The Puffin Book Of Holiday Stories" -- Bond's young readers will be treated to one of his another literary gems.

His latest children's story is published in the just-launched fun anthology of adventure, humour, ghosts, mysteries, friends, mangoes, family dramas and little boys and girls.

The book is published by Puffin, the children's imprint of publishing house Penguin Books. It is priced at Rs 250.

If the list of authors is nothing short of illustrious -- Rabindranath Tagore, Sudha Murty, Paro Anand, Khyrunnisa A, Subhadra Sen Gupta, Nandini Nayar, Prashant Pinge, Himanjali Sankar, Nayanika Mahtani, Shabnam Minwalla, Jane De Suza, Lubaina Bandukwala, Manjula Padmanbhan -- the children's book comes with an introduction by Bond.

"In India, not enough importance is given to writing for children. And what could be more important than the enrichment of young minds with great literature?

"This is when we discover ourselves, our own potential, and, more often than not, we'll do it through what we read and write," reads his short introduction to the paperback.

Advising his young friends to take a bag full of books wherever they go, Bond said: "Holidays can become tedious without something to read."

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

--IANS

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The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, including banks, for being "hand in gloves" with the beleaguered real estate major Amrapali Group and for abdicating their responsibility in monitoring the housing projects thereby leaving lakhs of home buyers in the lurch.

"It is your own doing. You have not done anything. If you had done anything, this would not have happened. If it is not hand in gloves then what it is," Justice Arun Mishra told the Noida, Greater Noida authorities and the banks.

Pointing to the diversion of Rs 3,500 crore by the Amrapali Group as estimated by the forensic auditors, Justice Mishra said, "Rs 3,500 crore have gone away. Due to your inaction, cheating has taken place. The banks' inaction has contributed to it. Had you taken action timely, this would not have happened."

Referring to the 15 lakh people who have suffered in different housing projects of varied builders in Noida, Greater Noida and elsewhere, Mishra said, "Such large scale things happen only in India. Everybody is in the lurch." He also pointed at the lack of stringent punishment which was there for other offences.

The court's observations came in the course of the submissions by senior counsels M.L. Lahoty and Krishnan Venugopal pointing at the abdication of responsibilities by the Noida, Greater Noida authorities and the banks in the monitoring of the progress of the residential projects.

"We know what is happening. Don't tell us," Justice Mishra said as the counsel for the Noida and Greater Noida authorities sought to offer an explanation in response to Venugopal's submission that there was lack of "policing" of the projects by the authorities.Directing the banks who financed Amrapali's projects to place before it all the records related to the financing of the projects, the court said, "Every financial institution has to ensure that the money advanced is used for the intended project and there is no diversion from one company to another company."

The court said that no project should escape the provisions of RERA.

The forensic auditors' reports pointed to instances where money moved from one company to another company of the Amrapali Group.

Counting Noida, Greater Noida and banks for their inaction in the face of violations by the Amrapali Group, senior counsel Lahoty pointed to the forensic auditors' report which has "very strongly condemned the banks" for being responsible for the prevailing mess.

He pointed to the forensic auditors' report saying that "without the active support of the banks this kind of large scale money laundering could not have happened."

--IANS

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Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, contesting from the Patna Sahib constituency as a Congress nominee, has emerged as the richest candidate with Rs 112 crore assets.

His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opponent from the seat, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad owns Rs 22.09 crore assets, comprising Rs 18.35 crore movable and Rs 3.74 crore immovable assets. Prasad also owns a Toyota Fortuner, a Honda Accord and a Scorpio SUV.

According to his affidavit, Sinha has movable assets valued at Rs 8.60 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 103.61 crore. He has gold, silver and precious stones valued at Rs 1.03 crore and Rs 4,58,232 in cash. His investments include Rs 2.74 crore fixed deposits and shares worth Rs 29.10 lakh.

Sinha also owes Rs 10.59 crore to his daughter actor Sonakshi Sinha, while his wife owes her Rs 16.18 crore.

Patna-born Sinha, 73, also the senior-most candidate from the Patna Sahib seat, owns seven vehicles, including one Ambassador, two Camrys, a Fortuner, an Innova, a Maruti Ciaz and a Scorpio.

Interestingly, the declared annual income of the incumbent MP, who quit the BJP to join the Congress on April 6, has reduced from Rs 1,28,38,400 in 2015-16 to Rs 63,87,233 in 2018-19.

--IANS

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The Shiv Sena on Wednesday called for a ban on the use of burqa by women of a particular community as it threw its weight behind a similar plan being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives.

"This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security," said the Sena in an editorial in the party mouthpieces, "Saamana" and "Dopahar Ka Saamana".

The Daily Mirror had quoted sources on Tuesday saying the Sri Lankan government was planning to implement the move in consultation with the mosque authorities and that several Ministers had spoken to President Maithripala Sirisena on the matter.

It had been pointed out that 'burqa' and 'niqab' were never part of the traditional attire of Muslim women in Sri Lanka until the Gulf war in the early 1990s "which saw extremist elements introducing the garb to Muslim women", the daily said.

A number of female accomplices of the suicide bombers in Dematagoda, a Colombo neighbourhood, where three policemen were killed, too had escaped wearing burqas, reports had said.

--IANS

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The two largest cable operators of Sri Lanka have blocked controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Peace TV following the Easter Sunday carnage in the island nation in which 253 people died.

India and Bangladesh have already banned Peace TV, which has often been used by the Islamic State recruiters for indoctrination and brainwashing youth.

Two of the largest cable operators of Sri Lanka, "Dialogue" and "SLT" have stopped airing Zakir Naik's Peace TV. However, an official announcement regarding the development is yet to be made, the Colombo Gazette reported.

However, the Sri Lankan government has not banned the controversial Peace TV.

Peace TV was launched by Naik's Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation in 2006. An Urdu version was launched in 2009, followed by a Bangla version in 2011. The contents in English, Urdu and Bangla are aired from Dubai.

Bangladesh suspended the channel that featured Naik's preachings after the media reported that militants who attacked a Dhaka cafe in 2016 were his admirers.

Naik is accused of spreading hatred by his provocative speeches, promoting enmity between communities, funding terrorists and laundering several crores of rupees over the years.

Naik fled India on July 1, 2016, and is currently living in Malaysia.

--IANS

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The police in Tamil Nadu claimed to have arrested a Sri Lankan national staying in the outskirts here without valid papers.

Acting on a tip-off, the police on Tuesday searched an apartment and arrested the Sri Lankan national identified as Roshan.

Roshan did not have proper travel documents, like passport and visa, and had entered India several months back. He was staying with some other Sri Lankan nationals who had valid papers.

The police are probing whether Roshan is in anyway connected with the Easter Sunday bombing in Colombo that killed over 250 people and injured over 500 people.

--IANS

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Under flak from all quarters for the goof-up in Intermediate examinations, Telangana Board of Intermediate (BIE) on Wednesday decided to involve another independent Information Technology agency in re-verification and result processing of nearly 3.5 lakh students who failed to obtain pass marks.

Besides Globarena Technologies, which is being blamed for the massive bungling, another independent agency will be involved in the work.

BIE Secretary D. Ashok announced that the responsibility to select an independent agency was entrusted to Telangana State Technological Services (TSTS).

The decision assumed significance in view of the allegations by the opposition parties that the state government gave the contract to Globarena Technologies as the company had links with Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president and former IT minister K. T. Rama Rao. They also alleged that the government was trying to shield the company.

Rama Rao, who is son of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, on Wednesday dismissed the allegations by the opposition parties. He alleged that they were playing with the lives of the students.

Stating that the IT department has nothing to with the BIE, Rama Rao said the opposition parties were doing cheap politics over the issue. "Will somebody give Rs 10,000 crore bribe for Rs 4 crore contract," he asked, referring to allegations by a Congress leader.

Over 9 lakh students had appeared in Intermediate 1st Year and 2nd Year (11th and 12th standard) in February-March. The results were declared on April 18, which triggered an uproar among students who alleged large-scale discrepancies in valuation of papers and processing of the results.

More than 20 students committed suicide during in the last two weeks over the failure in exams. Massive protests by the students, parents and opposition parties forced the government to order free re-verification of answer sheets of all students who failed to obtain pass marks.

--IANS

ms/prs

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Democratic congressional leaders -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer -- said they have agreed to seek a deal with President Donald Trump on a 2-trillion-US-dollar infrastructure package.

"We agreed on a number, which was very, very good, 2 trillion dollars for infrastructure," Xinhua quoted Schumer as saying to reporters on Tuesday.

"This was a very, very good start ...We hope it will go to a constructive conclusion."

Pelosi said both sides had "come to one agreement: that the agreement would be big and bold."

However, they said the Democrats and the White House have not yet agreed on how to pay for the 2-trillion-dollar package to revive the country's infrastructure, including roads, bridges, waterways and broadband.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement after the meeting, saying the two sides "had an excellent and productive" discussion about rebuilding the nation's infrastructure. She didn't mention the bill expenditure and no congressional Republicans were invited to Tuesday's gathering.

Democratic lawmakers will not propose their own offsets at the next meeting, leaving it for Trump to come up with pay-fors he can support, according to a TheHill news daily report.

Trump and members of Congress from both parties have long agreed on the need to spend more to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, but disagreements on how to pay for it and what types of projects should be included have stymied progress, said the report, noting that few in Washington believe that a landmark piece of legislation will move through Congress this year with the 2020 presidential election kicking into high gear.

--IANS

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Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma on Wednesday questioned the grounds on which his film "Lakshmi's NTR" was stopped from releasing in Andhra Pradesh despite being given a nod by the High Court here.

Having released in Telangana and other states last month, Varma had made plans to release the film in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.

"'Lakshmi's NTR' has been taken out of all theatres in Andhra Pradesh with officials claiming it might cause law and order problems. In spite of censor certificate given and High Court clearing it, what law and order problems can be there is what I want to ask the forces behind," Varma tweeted.

On Tuesday, the Election Commission refused to grant permission for releasing the movie in Andhra Pradesh after some Telugu Desam Party (TDP) functionaries alleged that the film depicted Chief Minister and TDP President N. Chandrababu Naidu in a negative manner and this could impact the party's poll prospects.

Elections to the 175-member Assembly and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state were held on April 11.

On Sunday, Varma was denied entry into Vijayawada to promote "Lakshmi's NTR".

He said he was detained by the city police at Vijayawada airport and sent back to Hyderabad without assigning any reason.

In a video he later shared on his Twitter page, Varma explained that he had been barred entry into Vijayawada where he was supposed to be part of a press meet.

"Lakshmi's NTR" is about the events that happened in NTR's life after the entry of Lakshmi Parvathy in his life.

The film tracks the events that led to NTR's 'dethroning' in August 1995 by his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu.

In the film, P. Vijay Kumar plays the veteran actor-politician while popular Yagna Shetty plays Lakshmi Parvathy, and it has been jointly directed by Varma and Agasthya Manju.

--IANS

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the fire incident that killed five members of a family here earlier in the day.

He asked the Lucknow Commissioner to probe into the allegations of negligence on the part of the police and the fire department in the case.

Five members of a family, including a six-month-old baby, were killed in the fire that broke out, apparently due to a short circuit, in a gas stove warehouse at Mayawati Colony in Indira Nagar here.

The neighbours informed the police about the situation but the fire brigade arrived on the site after an hour. Till then, the local people tried to douse the flames.

When the fire brigade arrived, it just had a driver and one helper, who were not even wearing the required uniforms. The fire brigade had a broken pipe and ran out of water.

The victims were still breathing when they were rescued from the building but there was no ambulance. They were finally shifted to the hospital in a police van, where they later died while undergoing treatment.

--IANS

amita/mag/

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Three Pakistan soldiers were killed and seven others injured in a terrorist attack along the Pakistan-Afghan border on Wednesday, the army said.

A group of 60-70 terrorists from across the border attacked the security forces fencing the Pak-Afghan border in Alwara at North Waziristan district, an army statement said.

Three soldiers identified as Lance Naik Ali, Lance Naik Nazir and Sepoy Imdad Ullah were killed in the attack, while seven others were injured, it said.

Several terrorists were killed in retaliatory firing by the Pakistan Army, it added.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan want peace in Afghanistan.

Speaking to a visiting delegation of Afghan politicians, academicians, journalists and businessmen, Qureshi said, "Renewed push for political settlement of the conflict has created new hopes and opportunities for peace in Afghanistan and the region, which no one could afford to miss."



He also highlighted Pakistan's efforts to facilitate the ongoing peace process and expressed hope that the progress achieved so far will lead to a result oriented intra-Afghan dialogue.

Qureshi also said both sides need to work closely to deepen people-to-people exchanges and steer the two nations and the region towards a brighter and more prosperous future.

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The seven MPs of Delhi will play a crucial role in formation of government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said Wednesday as he campaigned for his party in Delhi's Chandni Chowk area.

Kejriwal, who held a massive roadshow in support of AAP candidate from the seat, Pankaj Gupta, urged Delhiites to vote for those who can fight for their rights.

Addressing a gathering during the roadshow, the Delhi chief minister said his government has worked for welfare of the people and asked them to vote for full statehood of the national capital, the party's plank for the Lok Sabha elections.

Kejriwal returned to campaigning after missing in action for the past few weeks.

He waved and smiled at the crowd as his open vehicles surrounded by hundreds of supporters passed through the narrow lanes of Old Delhi neighbourhoods.

Kejriwal would be holding roadshows for all the seven candidates in Delhi.

On Thursday, he would take out a roadshow in East Delhi from Trilokpuri assembly constituency. On Friday and Saturday, the AAP chief would do roadshows in North-East Delhi and South Delhi Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

On Sunday, he would take out a roadshow in West Delhi, on May 6 in North-West Delhi and on May 8 in New Delhi Lok Sabha seat.

Delhi will be voting in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 12.

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A group of independent candidates for this month's federal elections in have vowed that, if elected, they would use their influence to stop the Indian energy giant Adani's billion-dollar controversial coal mine in Queensland as part of their climate change action.

Businessman Gautam Adani-led Group entered in 2010 with the purchase of the greenfield Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland, and the Abbot Point port near Bowen in the north.

The massive coal mine in Queensland state has been a controversial topic, with the project expected to produce 2.3 billion tonnes of low-quality coal.

Seven high profile candidates, including independent Members of Parliament--Kerryn Phelps and Denison Andrew Wilkie, issued a combined statement, brokered by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), vowing to work together to achieve meaningful action on climate change, with blocking the topping their list of demands.

ACF Chief Executive Officer Kelly O'Shanassy said: "This election has been marked by the large number of individuals willing to stand-up and have a go at breaking-up the climate dysfunction and denial impeding action to cut Australian climate pollution.

"Through this agreement the ACF hopes to help end the climate wars that have plagued recent governments" he said.

"This is not an endorsement by the ACF of any candidate or party. Our interest is raising the commitment to climate action from everybody standing at this election, and we have been engaging with the major parties in a similar vein through our scorecard process, the ACF said.

According to media report here on Wednesday, the union--CFMEU and Energy--however, has accused the Queensland government of double standards for approving a thermal coal mine but dragging the project in the state.

The CFMEU has been asking the state government to approve the mine in a bid to create employment in the regional Queensland.

"'What have the others done to get approval that Adani hasn't? We see heaps of mines being approved all the time but not Adani," CFMEU and Energy Division Queensland Steve Smyth was quoted as saying in Australian Financial Review.

"The industry is booming here. There is a lot going on in this space," he said.

Earlier this month, Adani coal and mine project was given Commonwealth approval to start building its Queensland coal mine with the Minister Melissa Price approving its two groundwater management plans.

chief executive Lucas Dow had said "All we are asking for is a fair go and for the Queensland government to provide certainty of process and timing on finalising our outstanding management plans so we can begin construction and deliver much-needed jobs for regional Queensland."



The Adani project is still awaiting few state government approvals following which the company has been claiming that would potentially create 10,000 jobs in the state, as it recently received the clearance from federal government for development.

Carmichael would be the largest coal mine in Australian and one of the biggest in the world. It was previously estimated at about USD 2.9 billion.
Eight Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were injured Wednesday evening when their vehicle turned upside down after colliding with a parked dumper on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district, police said.

The accident took place at Gangroo-Ramsoo in Ramban when the jawans were on their way to Jammu from the Kashmir valley, they said.

The BSF personnel were on board a private bus, which hit a standing dumper on the highway, an official said.

A rescue operation was launched immediately and the injured were shifted to the Ramsoo hospital, where their condition was stated to be "stable", he said.

There was no civilian traffic on the highway at the time of the accident because of restrictions imposed twice a week -- Wednesday and Sunday -- from 4 am to 5 pm to facilitate smooth movement of security convoys.

The restriction was clamped on April 7, in view of the deadly terror attack in Pulwama on February 14 that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration, however, Wednesday said that the restrictions on civilian traffic movement between Srinagar and Baramulla would be completely lifted from May 2.

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Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Wednesday abruptly canceled plans to travel to Europe, citing the crisis in Venezuela and the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Shanahan spokesman, Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, said in a statement that Shanahan decided he should remain in Washington to coordinate with the National Security Council and the State Department on Venezuela and the border, where the military is assisting the Homeland Security Department with the migrant crisis.

The Pentagon has thus far played no direct role in Venezuela, where opposition to Nicolas Maduro's government has created a crisis amid a so-far unsuccessful attempt to spark a military uprising.

There was no indication that a U.S. military operation was in the works, but Shanahan would be expected to participate in high-level meetings to monitor the situation in Venezuela and consider U.S. options.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday that the situation in Venezuela was a "little unclear today" and that the U.S. was collecting intelligence to ensure that administration officials have good visibility on what was happening there.

He said that, as President Donald Trump has indicated before, all options are on the table, although it's mainly been economic and diplomatic efforts so far.

Buccino's statement came just three hours after the Pentagon had publicly announced Shanahan's trip to Germany, Belgium and England.

Shanahan was going to attend ceremonies in Germany on Thursday and Belgium on Friday marking the installation of a new commander for U.S. European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Officials said the change-of-command ceremonies would go forward without Shanahan, who also was going to visit London for consultations with senior British officials.

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Fourteen years after staying a divorce proceeding pending before a district court in Delhi, the Supreme Court Wednesday lifted the stay and allowed the plea of a woman who was seeking transfer of the case to some other court.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi noted that a petition seeking transfer of the case was filed by the woman and the apex court had stayed the proceedings pending in the lower court in April 2005.

While hearing the case in 2005, the apex court had expanded its ambit by raising the larger issue of compulsory registration of marriage.

The bench Wednesday sought to know about the woman who had filed the transfer petition.

"What happened to the main case of the lady who had come here for transfer of case? Where has she gone. The (stay) order was of 2005. What has happened to that lady?," asked the bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

"They (woman and her husband) must have become old, too old to seek divorce. For 14 years, the divorce proceedings remained stayed and we are doing all this. We have collected so many pages," the CJI said.

In February 2006, the top court had delivered a landmark verdict on it and said that marriages of all Indian citizens, belonging to various religions, should be made compulsorily registrable in the states where they were solemnised. It had passed several directions to the Centre and states.

The bench noted in its order that though judgement was delivered in February 2006 by the apex court, the transfer petition filed by the woman was not answered.

"We are of the view that no purpose would be served by keeping the proceedings pending," the bench said.

It vacated the stay granted by the court in April 2005 and allowed the plea filed by the woman.

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The Election Commission Wednesday barred the Gujarat state unit chief of Congress from campaigning for 72 hours for using "abusive language".

The EC said Babubhai Rayka used "intemperate and abusive language transgressing the limits of decency" when addressing party workers and voters on April 11.

The poll panel reprimanded him and barred him for three days beginning 4pm on May 2 till May 5 from holding public campaign "anywhere in India".

On Tuesday, the Commission had barred BJP's Gujarat unit chief Jitubhai Vaghani from campaigning for 72 hours for using "intemperate and abusive language" at an election meet.

The Lok Sabha election in Gujarat was held in a single phase on April 23 in the third phase.

Regarding the "booth jitao, naukri pao" statement by Madhya Pradesh minister P C Sharma on April 3 in Bhopal when addressing party workers, the Commission decided that "no further action" is required to be taken by it since an FIR against him and others has already been lodged on April 8 by district poll authorities.

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Amnesty International on Wednesday condemned the prolonged detention of 10 journalists by Huthi rebels in Yemen, saying it reflected "the dire state of media freedom" in the war-torn country.

The 10 journalists have been held since the summer of 2015 and are being prosecuted on trumped-up spying charges, according to the rights group.

It said the men have been tortured, held incommunicado and deprived of medical care.

"The unlawful and prolonged detention, torture and other ill-treatment of these 10 journalists is a shocking reminder of the repressive media climate facing journalists in Yemen and illustrates the risks they face at the hands of all parties to the conflict," said Rasha Mohamed, Amnesty's Yemen researcher.

"These men are being punished for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.

"The de facto Huthi authorities should release them immediately and drop all the charges against them," he said in a statement.

In December 2018, the men were charged with a series of offences, including spying -- which carries a death sentence in Yemen -- and cooperating with the Saudi-led coalition backing the government, said Amnesty.

It was unclear when their trials will start.

The Iran-aligned Huthi rebels control the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen.

According to Amnesty, some of the journalists worked for online media outlets affiliated with Al-Islah, an Islamist party that opposes the Huthi rebels.

Nearly 10,000 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed and more than 60,000 wounded since March 2015, when the coalition intervened in the Yemen war. Rights groups estimate the actual death toll could be several times higher.

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The fossilised remains of an early human cousin found in the mountains of Tibet proves mankind adapted to live at high altitude far earlier than previously thought, scientists said Wednesday.

A jawbone dating from at least 160,000 years ago of a Denisovan -- a now-extinct branch of humanity -- is the first of its kind discovered outside of southern Siberia, and experts believe it holds the key to understanding how some modern-day humans have evolved to tolerate low-oxygen conditions.

Contemporaries of the Neanderthals -- and like them, possibly wiped out by anatomically modern man, Homo sapiens -- the Denisovans first came to light a decade ago.

Their existence was determined through a piece of finger bone and two molars unearthed at the Denisova Cave in southern Siberia's Altai Mountains and dated to some 80,000 years ago.

But the new remains -- discovered in passing by a local monk nearly thirty years ago -- has led researchers to conclude that Denisovans were far more numerous, and far older, than previously thought.

"To have beings, even if a little archaic, living at 3,300 metres (11,000 feet) on the Tibetan plateau 160,000 years ago.... That's something that no one could have imagined until today," said Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Max Planck Institute's Department of Human Evolution.

The bone, found in the Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China, was donated by the monk to a local museum, before scientists set about analysing its composition. It was so old no DNA could be extracted.

But Hublin and his team used the latest protein analysis to date one of its teeth and to link it genetically to Denisovan specimens found in Siberia.

"From my point of view it's confirmation of a working hypothesis I've had for a while: Nearly all Chinese and east Asian (hominim) fossils between 350,000-50,000 years ago are probably Denisovan," said Hublin, lead author of the study published in Nature.

A recent research paper suggested that humans only reached the Tibetan plateau -- a vast area of mountainous terrain north of the Himalayas -- around 40,000 years ago. "Here we have something that's four times older," said Hublin. "It's absolutely extraordinary." The jawbone discovery also solves a riddle that has troubled anthropologists for years.

In 2015 researchers found that ethnic Tibetans and Han Chinese living at altitude had buried in their genetic code an unusual variant of a gene, EPAS1, which regulates haemoglobin, the molecule that hauls oxygen around the blood.

At high altitude, common variants of the gene overproduce haemoglobin and red blood cells, causing the blood to become thick and sludgy -- a cause of hypertension, low birthweight and infant mortality.

But the variant found in Tibetans increases production by much less, thus averting hypoxia problems experienced by many people who relocate to places above 4,000 metres in altitude.

The mutation is nearly identical to that found in the DNA of Denisovans discovered in Siberia -- at an altitude of less than 700 metres.

"That was something that no one really understood, because the Denisovans weren't known to live at altitude, so they didn't really need that gene to survive," said Hublin. "Now we know why. It's not the DNA from Denisovans from (Siberia), it's the DNA from the Denisovans of Tibet.

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Defence forces are on high alert, educational institutions ordered shut and thousands in coastal districts being evacuated as Odisha braces for cyclone 'Fani', the extremely severe cyclonic storm that is likely to make landfall near Puri on Friday, officials said.

According to the latest forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JWTC), Fani, the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and devastated large parts of Odisha, is expected to cross the holy town of Jagannath Puri May 3 afternoon, packing winds up to 175 KMPH before the landfall.

The storm over the Bay of Bengal centred about 660 km south-south west of Puri was ominously rolling towards the Odisha coast at a speed of 14 KM per hour.

Official sources said Navy, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard have been put on high alert to meet any eventuality. Personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service have been deployed in vulnerable areas to assist the civil administration.

The collectors of coastal and southern districts have been asked to complete the evacuation exercise from low lying areas by Thursday evening keeping in mind the forecast of massive tides that could surge up to 1.5 metres during the landfall, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said.

Torrential rains are likely in Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts with winds blasting at speeds ranging from 175 to 200 KM an hour.

Leave of all doctors and health service officials have been cancelled till May 15, the state's chief secretary A P Padhi said.

State police chief R P Sharma said leave of all police personnel have also been cancelled and those on leave have been asked to immediately report for duty.

IAS officers have been put in charge of relief, rescue and restoration operations in vulnerable districts.

Sharma said Superintendents of Police have been asked to constantly monitor the situation and reach relief to stricken people.

The 880 cyclone shelters in coastal and southern districts have been kept ready to accomodate the evacuees, Sethi said, adding that in districts like Gajapati and Rayagada, where such facilities do not exist, they will be housed in schools and anganwadi centres.

The Election Commission has, meanwhile, relaxed the provisions of the model code of conduct in 11 coastal districts to facilitate relief and rescue operations, state's chief electoral officer Surendra Kumar said.

These districts--Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur--are likely to bear the brunt of the cyclone, which is also likely to impact Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to withdraw the model code from all coastal districts to help the state government handle the situation in the aftermath of storm.

Surendra Kumar said Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Jagatsinghpur and Gajapati districts will be shifted to safer places in the presence of representatives of all political parties. The exercise will be videographed to maintain transparency.

The East Coast Railway has cancelled 74 trains in view of the cyclone, an ECoR official said.

Tourists have been asked to leave Puri by Thursday evening, while Nandankanan Zoological Park authorities in Bhubaneswar have announced it will remain closed from May 2 to May 4.

The higher education department has directed all state universities and colleges in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts to remain closed for three days from May 2.

Oil marketing companies have been asked to store adequate quantities of kerosene, petrol and diesel so rescue and relief efforts are not adversely affected.

"As the chief minister has instructed us to ensure zero casulty, our priority is to ensure that no one dies in the calamity," the state's chief secretary said, claiming the government apparatus was in a state of readiness to meet the challenge.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) sources said Fani was the first cyclonic storm of such severity to have formed in April in Indias oceanic neighbourhood in 43 years.

Formation of such cyclonic storm during summer is very rare as the phenomenon is generally witnessed after monsoon in September-November.

Former Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, Sarat Sahu said Odisha witnessed cyclonic storms during summer in 1893, 1914, 1917, 1982 and 1989, but these brought little trouble for the state as they either fizzled out or changed course towards West Bengal.

The cyclone has formed due to warming of the Bay of Bengal basin.

"With global warming, we have to be prepared for such occurrences," Sahu said.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be sentenced Wednesday for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.

The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador gave him up, could face a 12-month prison sentence when he appears at Southwark Crown Court at 10:30am (0930 GMT).

Assange fled to the embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.

He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.

There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed.

However, the 47-year-old is facing a US extradition request, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest, when he was dragged shouting from the embassy by police.

Assange appeared in court within hours of his arrest, and a judge found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions.

Any sentence handed down on Wednesday is likely to take into account the past few weeks spent in jail.

The biggest concern for his lawyers is the US extradition request. An initial hearing in the case is set for this Thursday.

The US indictment charges him with "conspiracy" for working with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password stored on Department of



Defence computers in March 2010.

Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing US military wrongdoing in the Iraq war and diplomatic secrets about scores of countries around the world.

Assange could face up to five years in jail if found guilty, although his team is fighting his extradition and the process could take years.

The charge has raised serious concerns among organisations advocating free speech, including politicians such as British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. WikiLeaks is also back in the in the United States, over its alleged role in the leak of Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 US presidential election.

The Swedish claims against Assange date back to 2010, when he was at the centre of a global storm over WikiLeaks' exposures.

The sexual assault claim expired in 2015, but while the rape claim was dropped in 2017, the alleged victim wants the case reopened.

If Stockholm makes a formal extradition request, Britain must decide whether to consider it before or after that of the United States.

A group of British lawmakers have urged the Swedish case to take precedence, saying the rights of the alleged victims must not be lost in the political row.

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WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange was on Wednesday sentenced to 50 weeks in jail by a UK court for breaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old Australian national had been found guilty of breaching the UK's Bail Act by Westminster Magistrates' Court in London last month after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he had sought refuge in 2012 following his bail over sexual assault allegations related to Sweden.

At a sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of breach of bail conditions.

"By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK," she said.

In a letter read to the court, Assange said he had found himself "struggling with difficult circumstances" and apologised to those who feel he had disrespected in any way.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said.

His barrister Mark Summers said his client was "gripped" by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

"As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything," Summers said.

As Assange was taken away from the court to the holding cells, he raised a fist in his characteristic style to his supporters in the public gallery and they responded with raised fists and shouts of "shame on you" towards the court.

The Australian national now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest leaks of government secrets.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the US in response to allegations that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases. He faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted.

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Australia will see a "step change" in engagement with Asia and a more "considered" policy toward China if Labor wins the next election, the party's would-be foreign minister vowed Wednesday.

Penny Wong -- who would become the country's first Asian-Australian top diplomat if her party continues to lead the conservative government into the May 18 vote -- signalled the election would bring a foreign policy pivot to Asia.

Promising policies that would see more Asian languages taught in Australian schools and an increase in Aussie diplomats abroad, Malaysian-born Wong also signalled her wish to have a more constructive relationship with Beijing.

"We don't pre-emptively frame China only as a threat," she said, drawing contrast with Prime Minister Scott Morrison's administration.

Like Labour governments before, she promised a "more considered, disciplined and consistent approach to the management of Australia's relationship with China." Successive Australian administrations have struggled to balance a vital trading relationship with China and the Chinese government's authoritarian reflex.

That balance has become more fraught as Xi Jinping has consolidated power and looked to exercise China's regional clout to take advantage of waning US influence.

Wong acknowledged that the relationship with China "may become harder to manage in the future." "At times our interests will differ.

And challenges in the relationship may intensify... We must be grounded in the realities. China is not a democracy nor does it share our commitment to the rule of law."



But she said the realities of the region were changing: "Those realities include the fact that China will remain important to Australia's prosperity."



"It is not simply a matter of a 'diplomatic reset.' Fundamentally, we are in a new phase in the relationship." Across Asia, smaller nations like Australia are grappling with a China that is both more important and less wedded to the rule of law -- more willing to act in retribution if its growing influence is challenged.

A decision to limit Huawei's role in developing Australia's 5G network has brought furious condemnations and coincided with some Australian coal exports to China being blocked at ports of entry.

Donald Trump's ascent to the US presidency and his limited interest in international rules, norms and decades-old alliances has only complicated matters further for Canberra, traditionally one of Washington's closest allies.

Wong backed a relationship with the United States that is "fundamental" to Australian security, but acknowledged "power is shifting."



"The global order we have known and relied upon since World War Two is being transformed."



That change has raised difficult questions in Australia, which has long seen itself as an outpost of Westernism in the South Pacific, but which demographically, culturally and economically is becoming more closely intertwined with Asia.

"Australia's prosperity and security is shaped by the region in which we live - the Indo-Pacific," Wong said, adding that the possibility of an Asian-Australian foreign minister was testament to that fact.

"What is significant about that possibility is not my personal attributes," she said, "rather, what would be significant about an Asian Australian being our foreign minister is what it says about us. What it says about who we are."



"Southeast Asia is not just our region, it is where I was born" Painting Australia as "independent, multicultural" and "confident of our place in the world", Wong said her first visit abroad as foreign minister would be to Indonesia and Malaysia.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal Wednesday described the designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations as the result of the "most successful" foreign policy initiative under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also condemned the Naxal attack on police personnel in Maharashtra, and said it is an act of desperation by Maoists under mounting pressure.

About Azhar's case, the railway and coal minister said, "It is the result of the most successful foreign policy initiative under Narendra Modi's leadership."



In a huge diplomatic win for India, the UN on Wednesday designated the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

"The prime minister has continuously put pressure on the world community and Pakistan has been isolated," Goyal told reporters at a press conference.

"Pakistan will (now) come under more pressure," he said, adding that it is a big success in the fight against terrorism under Modi's leadership.

He also condemned the killing of 16 persons, including 15 security forces, in an IED blast triggered by Maoists at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.

"It's a kind of desperation (sic) attack by the Maoist. I understand the Maoists have been under mounting pressure during the last five years by the state and the Centre. They have done a wrong thing," Goyal said.

Recalling that 40 Maoists were killed by security forces in Gadchiroli in April last year, Goyal said this attack could be their reaction to that.

The minister expressed condolences to the families of the security personnel killed in the blast.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Brushing aside the charge that BJP was politicising the IAF strike in Balakot in Pakistan, Union minister Harsh Vardhan has said it is neither a political issue nor the one which can be thought about in terms of votes.

In an interview to PTI, Vardhan, who is BJP's Chandni Chowk candidate, asserted that his campaign is centred around development issues and not the air strike as people were already hailing the valour of the defence forces.

"For us all, these issues which are related to the nationalistic sentiment of this country, to the valour of the army men, to the holistic and comprehensive nationalistic vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are not political issues and not the ones about which you think in terms of votes.

"I don't raise this issue (Balakot air strike) on my own. I have hundreds of other issues related to development done by me in my constituency and other issues where we have brought science and technology to higher pedestal internationally," Vardhan said when asked about whether he too will use the issue in his election campaign, like the prime minister did.

Recently, at a poll rally in Patan, Gujarat, PM Modi told people that he had warned Pakistan of consequences if it had not returned Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman. The prime minister has been referring to national security and the recent strikes by India against terrorists in his poll campaigns across the country.

Sixty-four-year-old Vardhan, who is the minister of science and technology, earth sciences and environment, forests and climate change, said he himself does not talk about the air strike and national security in campaigns but "there is nothing abnormal even if it is raised".

Hailing the BJP-led central government and the prime minister, Vardhan said that the government has shown the world that India cannot be taken for granted.

"There are thousands of other things to talk about. When I talk to people, I don't talk about Balakot. However, there is nothing abnormal if I raise it on my own. The government has shown not only to Pakistan but to the whole world that we really mean business, you cannot take us for granted. For us, it is not a political issue and it will never be. Even if you ask the most illiterate person in the country, he will praise the army men and the leadership of the PM," he said.

Vardhan, incumbent MP from Chandi Chowk and a four-time MLA from east Delhi's Krishna Nagar, refuted the allegations of the Opposition that BJP was "blatantly politicising" Balakot air strike and seeking votes in the name of martyrs, saying it showed the "sheer frustration" of opposition parties.

"This is just out of sheer frustration that they (opposition) are talking about all these illogical, irrelevant things. Any issue related to valour will be engrained in history. Balakot incident was done in such a meticulous manner, that it will be recorded as one of the most sophisticated air strikes carried out by any country that went to another country and destroyed terror camps. It's an achievement worth recognising internationally as well as nationally," he said.

He said issues cannot be manufactured in a cabinet meeting or at a political party's office but are those which are discussed by the people.

"Issue is something which you cannot manufacture in a cabinet meeting or in a political party's office. Issues are those about which people of India think. I have strongly observed that today we don't have to talk about the valour of the PM before people. It is the people who talk about Balakot, Uri and these air strikes and accomplishments in space," he said.

The Indian Air Force had struck Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camps in Pakistan on February 26 in response to the February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former US president and his wife have announced a slate of projects that they will be producing for

Barack and Michelle, who formed their production banner Higher Ground last year, unveiled seven projects, scheduled to be developed and released in the coming years in partnership with the streaming giant.

"We created Higher Ground to harness the power of storytelling. That's why we couldn't be more excited about these projects. Touching on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights, and much more, we believe each of these productions won't just entertain, but will educate, connect, and inspire us all," Obama said in a statement.

Michelle said,"We love this slate because it spans so many different interests and experiences, yet it's all woven together with stories that are relevant to our daily lives."



"We think there's something here for everyone -- moms and dads, curious kids, and anyone simply looking for an engaging, uplifting watch at the end of a busy day. We can't wait to see these projects come to life -- and the conversations they'll generate," she added.

The first project from the Obamas is "American Factory", a documentary from Sundance Film Festival.

Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, the film takes a deep dive into a post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant and hires two thousand blue-collar Americans.

Other projects include a non-fiction series based on Michael Lewis' bestseller "Fifth Risk". The book is a critique on US President Donald Trump and his rise to power.

The series will aim to portray the importance of unheralded work done by everyday heroes guiding our government and safeguarding our nation.

There is also "Bloom", a drama series about women and minorities facing struggles after World War II; "Crip Camp", a feature-length documentary film; and an anthology series based on The New York Times' overlooked obituary feature Overlooked.

All the projects are currently in different stages of development and will be released over the next few years.

"(Former) President Barack Obama, and the Higher Ground team are building a company focused on storytelling that exemplifies their core values," Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer of Netflix, said.

"The breadth of their initial slate across series, film, documentary and family programming shows their commitment to diverse creators and unique voices that will resonate with our members around the world," he added.
US Attorney General Bill Barr faces tough questions in the Senate Wednesday after the explosive revelation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had objected to his downplaying of the Russia investigation report's allegations against President Donald Trump.

Barr appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee amid an uproar over revelations that Mueller felt that Barr, in declaring in late March that the Russia report cleared Trump of wrongdoing, had misrepresented the evidence and conclusions of the nearly two-year investigation.

Three days after Barr's March 24 summary of the report allowed Trump to declare that he was completely exonerated, Mueller wrote that his summary generated "public confusion" about the report's results.

Barr's four-page summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance," of the investigation's conclusions, the letter said.

The 448-page report, finally released on April 18, said it did not find evidence that Trump's campaign conspired with Russians interfering in the 2016 presidential election.

On a second focus, Mueller declined to rule whether Trump himself had committed a crime of obstruction in his interference and pressure on the investigation.

But Mueller laid out a large body of evidence showing repeated efforts by the Trump team to collude with the Russians, and a damning pattern of obstructive behavior by the president that Mueller suggested Congress itself should investigate.

Mueller's letter indicated what many critics said of Barr once the full report was finally released -- that he had deliberately downplayed the evidence Mueller's team had compiled in order to declare Trump free of suspicion.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller wrote.

"This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the (Justice)Department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."



That warning has proven true: while Barr's distillation has encouraged the Republican White House to declare Trump exonerated, many Democrats are claiming the opposite and the party is debating whether to open impeachment proceedings against the president.

After the revelation of the Mueller letter, a number of Democrats in Congress called for an investigation and possibly impeachment of Barr himself.

Several alleged Barr had lied on two occasions to Congress in April on the substance of his communications with Mueller about the report.

Barr "whitewashed the report," Senator Dick Durbin, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNN ahead of the hearing.

"He clearly misled" Congress, he said, and "virtually disqualified himself" from any more involvement in the Mueller investigation.

"Attorney General Barr should resign," said Democratic Representative Adam Schiff.

"He misled the American people with his inaccurate summary of Mueller's report. Then he misled the Congress when he denied knowledge of Mueller's concerns."



The White House has not commented on the Mueller letter.

But Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani told CNN that Mueller "should have made a decision and shouldn't be complaining or whining now that he didn't get described correctly" on the obstruction issue.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat Digvijay Singh Wednesday welcomed the Election Commission's order barring his BJP rival Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours.

It would have been better if her nomination had been cancelled, he said, reacting to the development.

"The EC's decision is welcome," he said on Twitter.

"It is natural when the BJP fields (a person) accused of terrorism and those (who) indulge in the of communal hatred. It would be better had the nomination of such candidates was cancelled for safeguarding the ideals of democratic values," he tweeted.

While Thakur herself could not be contacted for reaction, Madhya Pradesh BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agrawal said his party follows the Election Commission's decisions.

It will, nevertheless, study the order and take a call on whether it should be challenged, he said.

According to a BJP source, after her statements on former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition created controversies, the party asked Thakur not to make controversial statements.

However, she was given a go-ahead to talk about the alleged torture she suffered in the ATS custody, the source claimed.

The EC Wednesday barred Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The ban would come into force from 6.00 AM, May 2 (Thursday).

Thakur, a 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.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Accusing the BJP of indulging in horse trading, AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Wednesday alleged that seven of his party MLAs in the national capital have been offered Rs 10 crore each to join the saffron party.

The BJP however rubbished the claim terming it "bizarre allegation" and a "desperate bid to gain attention".

Sisodia alleged the BJP had earlier too tried to "buy" AAP MLAs and they were given appropriate response by the public, and claimed that this time also they will get a befitting reply.

"Since the BJP does not have any development issue to raise, it has now come down to indulging in horse trading by attempting to buy seven of our MLAs at Rs 10 crore each," he said.

Sisodia also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comment that 40 Trinamool Congress MLAs in West Bengal are in touch with him and will desert their party once the BJP wins the general elections.

"It does not suit the prime minister to make such comments. He (Modi) should realise that India is a democratic country and he is here because of democracy," the AAP leader said, alleging the BJP is trying to do the same thing in Delhi.

Reacting to Sisodia's allegation, BJP media head Ashok Goyal said, "The AAP is baffled as it is loosing the elections and its leaders are trying desperately to gain attention by making bizarre allegations."



"Arvind Kejriwal is not being able to stop the rebellion of AAP MLAs and is dragging BJP's name in their internal problems," Goyal said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The BJP on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against AAP leaders including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleging they were using Delhi Waqf Board funds for their "minority appeasement"

A delegation of BJP leaders including Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Sambit Patra and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta met the Chief Election Commissioner and filed the complaint which alleged "mis-appropriation" of Waqffunds.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) termed the complaint as "politically motivated".

Gupta claimed, "The Delhi Waqf Board passed a resolution during operation of model of code of conduct authorising withdrawal of money from bank account of the Board through signatures of any two among the chairman, any member and chief executive officer(CEO)," Gupta claimed.

This resolution was approved by Delhi Finance Minister although it violated an earlier memorandum of the government, dated June 3, 2015, as per which signature of the Waqf Board's CEO were necessary for such withdrawal of money, he said.

With the help of this change, Delhi Waqf Board issued cheques of increased salaries of Imams and Moazzins of mosques coming under the Board on April 25, Gupta claimed.

"The BJP delegation demanded that the Election Commission ban the poll campaign of Kejriwal, Finance Minister Kailash Gehlot and Waqf Board chairman Amanatullah Khan till May 10 for appeasement of a particular religious community," Gupta said.

Khan said that the memorandum for necessary signatures of CEO was issued in 2015 when the Board was chaired by a person whose authority was under dispute.

"The provision of signatures of any two out of the Waqf Board chairman, its members, and CEO, was always there. The memorandum of 2015 was a temporary arrangement. We passed the resolution to restore the earlier situation and there is no violation of model code of conduct in it," Khan said.

He claimed the BJP was "rattled" as it was "not getting votes" and was trying to raise the issue for "political polarisation."



"Their complaint is politically motivated. They are losing the elections in Delhi as minorities are strongly behind the AAP candidates," Khan claimed.

Kejriwal had, in January this year, announced a hike in honorarium of Imams from existing Rs 10, 000 to Rs 18000 and that of Moazzins from Rs 9,000 to Rs 16,000.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The BJP Wednesday credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the United Nations designating Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist", saying India is in safe hands under him.

"India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the prime minister's foreign policy," senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Calling it a "historic success" for India, the BJP used one of its Lok Sabha election slogans, 'Modi hai to mumkin hai' (It is possible if Modi is there), as it reacted to what is being seen as a major diplomatic win for the country.

With the BJP making nationalism a key plank of its campaign, the party is set to highlight the development for political dividends in the election season.

While BJP leaders rushed to give credit to the government, some opposition leaders, including Shashi Tharoor of the Congress, referred to reports that references to the Pulwama terror attack and terrorism in Kashmir were dropped by the UN.

"Well that kind of deflates our satisfaction. If Masood Azhar wasn't blacklisted at last because of Pulwama, then it logically has to be for all his previous sins. So is China admitting they erred in shielding him for 10 years and he was a terrorist pre-Pulwama too?" Tharoor said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, "Is this true that the listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist was only possible because all references to Pulwama & terrorism in Kashmir were dropped?"



Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav congratulated the Indian diplomatic corp for the tireless work that led to this "significant victory".

"We demand Pakistan immediately arrest him, freeze his assets and shutdown all organisations linked to him," he said.

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said it is a "big diplomatic victory" for India under Modi in the fight against terrorism and added that Pakistan now stands completely exposed.

BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said relentless efforts by Indian officials brought the dreaded terrorist to justice. "Let's hope the Pak government will at least now act against this designated global terrorist," he tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Wednesday strongly opposed the move by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for postponment of polls in Patkura assembly constituency in view of the impending Cyclone Fani.

Pradhan met the Election Commission in Delhi during the day and urged it not to postpone the polls in Patkura seat as the cyclone is likely to hit somewhere in Puri district, about 150 km away.

"The chief minister in his letter to the EC has mentioned that the cyclone is likely to hit Rajnagar block in Kendrapara district. This is not correct. The cyclone is likely to hit Krushna Prasad block under Brahmagiri assembly segment, which is 150 km from Patkura," Pradhan said in a statement.

Stating that there is no justification to postpone the polls in Patkura, which is scheduled to be held on May 19 which will be about 15 days after the cyclone's possible land fall in the state, Pradhan said "The EC has assured me that it will take right decision at the right time."



On Patnaik's demand for removal of the model code of conduct in coastal districts in view of the cyclone, Pradhan said the EC has made it clear that it has been relaxed only for cyclone related activities.

The state government, he alleged, has been conspiring to prepare false bills of Rs 1000 crore in the name of spending for the natural calamity. "We will not allow the government to loot public money," Pradhan said.

Patnaik had on Tuesday met the EC in New Delhi and urged it to postpone polling in Patkura assembly seat and withdraw the model code of conduct for all the coastal districts in view of the severe cyclonic storm Fani, which is expected to make its landfall on Friday.

Patnaik had said in a letter to EC "...At this point of time to have a politically supercharged atmosphere will cause serious dislocation in the preparedness.

It is strongly suggested to postpone the poll to Patkura to a later date so that communities can work together in harmony and administration can focus saving precious lives and valuable property, he said.

Patnaik also said, "The projected cyclone path is crossing Kendrapara district and land fall is expected to be Rajnagar block in Kendrapara district."



Earlier, the EC had adjourned the polls in Patkura assembly segment to May 19 following the demise of BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwalla on April 20.

As per the original schedule, the polling in Patkura was to be held in the fourth and last phase on April 29. Though the voters of Patkura have exercised their franchise for the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat on April 29, the polling for the assembly elections has been adjourned till May 19.

Meanwhile, BJD candidate for Patkura assembly seat, Sabitri Agarwal, the widow of Bed Prakash Agarwal, filed her nomination Tuesday.

The opposition BJP has fielded its veteran leader Bijoy Mohapatra from Patkura, while Congress has named Jayant Mohanty as its nominee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP president Amit Shah Wednesday exuded confidence that the party will return to power in the ongoing parliamentary elections with Narendra Modi as prime minister.

He stepped up his attack on TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is among BJP's most strident critics, and said she was supporting those who wished to divide the country byseparating Kashmir from India.

"But this party (BJP) will continue its fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India, no matter who is in power at the Centre," Shah said addressing rallies in different Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal which go to the polls in the fifth phase on May 6.

"Today we are in power and Narendra Modi is the prime minister. In the coming days too he will continue as the PM. But if a day comes when the BJP is no longer at the helm, its workers will still fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India," he said.

He iterated that the saffron party, if re-elected to power, will scrap Article 370 in Kashmir that grants it special status.

"Give us 23 seats from Bengal to ensure our return to power, then we will scrap Article 370 from Kashmir after forming the next BJP government at the Centre," Shah claimed.

BJP has been targetting 23 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, where polls are being held in seven phases.

The BJP chief also demanded that Banerjee should make clear her stand on National Conference chief Omar Abdullah's demand for a separate prime minister for Kashmir.

"Mamata didi is supporting those who wish to divide India. We want to know what she has to say on Omar Abdullah's demand for two prime ministers in the country," he said.

Shah raked up the infiltration issue calling the infiltrators "termites" who are eating into the country's resources and asserted that BJP will "throw them out" after returning to power at the Centre.

"It is our commitment to implement the National Register of Citizens across the country in order to weed out the infiltrators. First, we will bring the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to ensure that eligible refugees get citizenship and then we will introduce NRC to throw out the infiltrators.

"The infiltrators are termites, they are eating into the country's resources," he asserted.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill will give refugee status to Hindus, Sikh, Christians, Jain and Buddhists from other countries and infiltrators will be driven out from the country, Shah said.

Infiltrators are vote banks of Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress supports them because of their votes. "For BJP such vote banks are not important", he said.

The Bill had been passed by the Modi government in the Lok Sabha on January 8 but was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha which had caused it to lapse.

Keeping up his attack against the TMC, Shah said "Mamata Banerjee is destroying democracy, while Narendra Modi government is committed to restoring democracy if returned to power".

Hitting out at TMC for the ponzi scheme scams in the state, he said many scam-tainted high profile personalities are yet to be punished in Bengal. If the Modi government returns to power those who were involved in chitfund scams will be punished within 90 days.

Claiming that BJP had sanctioned more money to West Bengal than the previous Congress-led NDA regime, Shah said the Manmohan Singh government had sanctioned Rs 1,32,000 crore to West Bengal, while the Narendra Modi government had sanctioned Rs 4,34,000 crore to it during its tenure.

During the day Shah addressed four rallies at Kalyani under Bongaon constituency, Panchla in Howrah constituency, Arambagh and Chinsurah in Hooghly constituency.

The Bongaon Lok Sabha seat has a sizeable Matua population that had migrated to West Bengal from Bangladesh in the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution.

With an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, the community can influence poll results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in Bengal.

Shah also claimed that lawlessness has increased in the state, with the Trinamool Congress dispensation letting loose goons to run its syndicates.

In West Bengal, syndicate refers to a group of businessmen, backed by the ruling party, operating mainly in those areas of the state that are witnessing a realty boom.

These businessmen allegedly force promoters and contractors to buy construction materials, often of inferior quality, at high prices.

The state, which was once known for its rich culture, is now a hub of "bomb and illegal gun-making factories", he said.

"Other than bomb manufacturing units, no factory has been set up in the state under the Mamata Banerjee government .... The sound of bomb explosions has silenced Rabindrasangeet in Bengal. Under the TMC rule, all three --mother, motherland and people (TMC slogan of maa, mati, manush) - are suffering," he said.

"Don't be afraid of the threats by the TMC goons, adequate arrangement has been made by the poll panel. Go without any fear and cast your votes to re-elect the Modi government," Shah added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BlackBuck, an online marketplace for trucking, Wednesday said it has raised USD 150 million (about Rs 1,050 crore) in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and Silicon Valley-based Accel.

Wellington, Sequoia Capital, B Capital and LightStreet were the other new investors who participated in the funding round, the company said in a statement.

The latest round, which takes the total quantum of funds raised by the company to over USD 230 million (about Rs 1,610 crore), also saw participation from existing investors Sands Capital and International Finance Corporation, the investment arm of the World Bank, the statement added.

BlackBuck plans to deploy these funds to penetrate deeper into the national freight transportation market, investing heavily in technology, boosting product and data science capabilities.

"As part of this round, the employees at BlackBuck have access to liquidating 25 per cent of their total vested stocks at the current stock price of the company. This is the second time BlackBuck is executing a stock liquidation event for the employees of the company, the first one was in 2017," it said.

BlackBuck currently has over 3 lakh trucks and over 60,000 fleet owners on its platform.

"The company will deploy these funds to penetrate deeper into the market by on boarding new trucking partners along the existing as well as new transportation corridors. The company will invest heavily in product and data sciences capabilities to enable more efficient freight matching processes," the statement said.

Commenting on the development, Rajesh Yabaji, CEO and co-founder of BlackBuck said that with the latest round of financing, the company will invest to deepen its presence across the national market.

"Significant investments will be made into product development and data sciences, both these dimensions are core to BlackBuck's marketplace approach," Yabaji added.

The company leverages technology to match truckers with shippers in real-time, enabling better truck utilisation, shipper services levels and efficient pricing.

It also facilitates services around trucking by providing fleet cards, tyres, IoT (Internet of Things), insurance and working capital credit to truckers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US National Security Advisor John Bolton called Tuesday on Venezuela's defense chief and other key officials to oust President Nicolas Maduro, warning them: "Your time is up."



Speaking amid a military uprising in Venezuela, Bolton reiterated that "all options are on the table" but said the main US objective remains "a peaceful transfer of power."



The United States has thrown its full support behind opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by Washington and more than 50 countries as Venezuela's interim president.

US President Donald Trump said in a tweet he was following the situation "very closely."



"The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!" he tweeted.

In comments to reporters at the White House, Bolton singled out Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, Supreme Court Chief Justice Maikel Moreno and presidential guard commander Ivan Hernandez Dala.

"As is known to the opposition all across Venezuela, they committed to support ousting Maduro," he said.

"And it is time for them now, if the Cubans will let them do it, to fulfil their commitments and it is time for the rest of the military to show what their own families believe ought to happen and that is Maduro needs to go," he told reporters at the White House.

Bolton repeated that message in a tweet: "Your time is up. This is your last chance. Accept Interim President Guaido's amnesty, protect the Constitution, and remove Maduro, and we will take you off our sanctions list. Stay with Maduro, and go down with the ship."



Earlier, in his first and only comment so far on the crisis, Maduro said in a tweet he had been assured by the top military commanders of their "total loyalty."



While Guaido was known to have been in contact with elements of the military, this appeared to be the first time that Padrino and the others had been publicly identified as interlocutors, much less possible Guaido supporters.

The three -- Padrino, Moreno and Hernandez Dala -- had long been considered Maduro loyalists.

Bolton attributed their failure to act thus far to fear of Cuban advisors embedded in the Venezuelan military and security forces.

"I think it is fear of the 20 to 25,000 Cuban security forces in the country. And I think it is fear of the consequences if adhering to the constitutional mandate of the interim president failed," Bolton said.

"This has been building for a long time. If this effort fails they will sink into a dictatorship from which they're very few possible alternatives. It is a very delicate moment.

"I want to stress again, the president wants to see a peaceful transfer of power from Maduro to Guaido. That possibility still exists if enough figures depart from the regime and support the opposition and that is what we (would) like to see."



The latest crisis erupted early Tuesday when a group of soldiers declared their support for Guaido, who called on the rest of the military and the public to join in ousting Maduro.

Clashes erupted as Venezuelan security forces, firing tear gas, attempted to disperse crowds that gathered in support of Guaido near an air base in Caracas. Video images showed armored vehicles ramming protesters hurling stones and molotov cocktails.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BSP candidate Rajveer Singh, who is contesting from Northeast Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, said Wednesday his party will provide legitimate minimum wages to workers and build shelter homes for them, if voted to power.

On Labour Day, Singh greeted workers of Delhi and raised the slogan of 'Shramev Jayate' (labour triumphs).

Expressing deep anguish over the neglect of labourers and the working class in the National Capital Region, he held the Centre and Aam Aadmi Party responsible for their plight.

He promised his party would provide legitimate minimum wages to all workers and build shelters homes for them, if voted to power. He said BSP will make all efforts for the welfare of workers.

"The apathy of the Centre towards working class is well-known. However, the Delhi government, which makes tall claims, is following in the footsteps of the Modi government. Delhi government did not properly implement Minimum Wage Act, 1948 and other labour laws, thereby, undermining the interests of over 65 lakh workers of the NCR. The neglect by the governments has made the condition of workers miserable," he added.

The BSP candidate said if a coalition government is formed at the Centre, his party would be a part of it and interests of labour and working class would be their top priority.

Congress has fielded former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, BJP has nominated Manoj Tiwari and AAP Dilip Pandey from the seat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Shiv Sena Wednesday welcomed Sri Lankan government's decision to ban burqa and masks on grounds of national security and asked the Narendra Modi-led regime to follow suit.

In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisenas footsteps and ban burqas and other face-covering garments in India considering the threat it poses to the nations security.

The Sena mouthpiece said, "We welcome the decision by the Sri Lankan president. If this can happen in Ravana's Lanka, when will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya," it said.

The editorial said even France, New Zealand, Australia and England have banned burqa. "Why is India lagging behind," it asked.

The editorial said this task (of banning burqa) is as gutsy as the surgical strikes.

"Face masks can prove detrimental in identifying people and the ban was necessary under emergency situation. The Sri Lankan president has shown courage. Modi should follow suit," the editorial said.

Meanwhile, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi hit out at the Sena saying that the fight against terrorism does not entail the dress, but the mindset.

Owaisi said the editorial comes under paid category and violates the model code of conduct enforced by the Election Commission. The poll body must take note of the matter, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two of Sri Lanka's major cable TV operators, have dropped controversial Indian Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Peace TV from their channel following the country's worst terror attacks on Easter Sunday which killed over 250 people, according to a media report.

India and Bangladesh have already banned Malaysia-based Naik's Peace TV, which has often been used by ISIS recruiters for indoctrination and brainwashing the youth.

Sri Lanka's two of the largest cable operators 'Dialogue' and 'SLT' have stopped airing Zakir Naik's Peace TV. However, an official announcement on this yet to be made, Colombo Gazette reported.

The move came after the deadly Easter Sunday bombings which killed at 253 people and injured 500 others.

However, the Sri Lankan government has not banned the controversial Peace TV.

'Peace TV' was launched by Naik's Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation in 2006. An Urdu version was launched in 2009, followed by a Bangla version in 2011.

The contents in English, Urdu and Bangla are telecast from Dubai.

Naik is wanted by India for allegedly inciting youngsters for terror activities through his hate speeches.

He is being probed under terror and money laundering charges by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He had left India in July, 2016.

Naik has been granted Malaysian permanent resident status.

The NIA had first registered a case against Naik under anti-terror laws in 2016 for allegedly promoting enmity between different religious groups



Bangladesh suspended the channel that featured Naik's preachings after media reported that militants who attacked a Dhaka cafe in 2016 were his admirers.

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"We cannot give capital punishment for corruption," a peeved said Wednesday while referring to the "misconduct" of realtors in cheating lakhs of people across the country.

The top court said builders, in connivance with authorities and banks, have flouted norms and constructed sky scrappers side by side across India.

It pulled up the Noida and Greater Noida authorities and banks for turning a blind eye towards irregularities committed by the builders including Amrapali Group.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and U U Lalit, hearing a batch of petitions filed by home buyers who are seeking possession of around 42,000 flats booked in projects of the Amrapali Group, told the authorities that their timely actions could have saved several projects.

"We know what kind of corruption is going on in sector and how officials have benefitted in connivance with the builders. There are blatant violations of norms. Public and their trust are cheated at large.

"This mass scale cheating can only happen in India but we can't give capital punishment for corruption," the bench said.

The court got irked after counsel for Noida authority told the bench that there are certain procedures through which they keep a check on irregularities committed by the builders and developers.

"When a builder who has been given land on lease by the authority commits a default, we (Noida) first issue a show cause notice and if the default still persists then at the end the lease can be cancelled," counsel appearing for Noida told the court.

To this, the bench asked the counsel to state that in how many cases Noida or Greater Noida have cancelled the leases of builders for default of payment or violation of norms.

"See the entire belt in Noida and Greater Noida. It is happening everywhere in Indore, Bhopal and other cities as well. Builders in connivance with banks and authorities are constructing huge sky scrappers side by side by flouting norms. These buildings are not being sold for want of completion certificates," the court said.

The counsel said he has to seek information in this regard from the authority but said that such instances of lease cancellation are rare.

"For past 10 years, you have done nothing. You simply turned a blind eye when their was a default or violation of norms. Both Noida and Greater Noida did nothing despite builders not paying you the money. Actually, you all are hand in glove with the builders and wanted to cheat the public at large. Your timely actions could have saved several projects," it said.

At the outset, senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal, appearing for home buyers, said that Noida and Greater Noida gives land to builder on lease just by paying 10 per cent of the total cost and rest amount is paid in installment.

"No due diligence is being carried out to check the net worth of the individual and the land is given. Many a times, builders take out 10 per cent of the cost after diverting funds from some other project. This land is then mortgaged to the bank and loan is secured. The entire chain is like a huge ponzi scheme," he said.

To this, the bench said that there should be substantial deposit of the total cost before the project is being started and the authorities need to monitor the progress of each project.

"Instead they help the builders in their misconduct," the bench said, adding that even banks should have kept a check on diversion of funds by the builders to other projects.

On February 28, the apex court had allowed the Delhi police to arrest Amrapali group CMD Anil Sharma and two directors on a complaint that home-buyers of their various housing projects were cheated and duped of their funds.

The top court, which is seized of several pleas of home-buyers seeking possession of around 42,000 flats booked in projects of the Amrapali group, also ordered attachment of personal properties of the CMD and directors -- Shiv Priya and Ajay Kumar.

The trio, under the detention of Uttar Pradesh police and kept in a hotel at Noida since October 9 last year by the apex court for not complying with its orders, was in for a shock when the court ordered the arrest on a plea by Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police saying that it wanted to quiz them in a separate cheating case.

The court had also appointed a valuer to ascertain the exact value of 5,229 unsold flats including those booked by Amrapali for just Rs 1, Rs 11 and Rs 12 and asked the valuer to submit its report.
Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar on Wednesday was designated as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

His terror outfit, founded in 2000, claimed responsibility for many terror attacks in India, including the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.



ALSO READ: UN lists JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist after China lifts hold

Following is the chronology of the major events leading to his designation:



2009: India moves a proposal by itself to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. China blocks the move.

2016: India again moves the proposal with the backing of the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar.

2017: The P3 nations move a similar proposal again. China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocks the proposal from being adopted.

February 27, 2019: The US, the UK and France move a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

March 13, 2019: China puts the hold on the proposal scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

March 28, 2019: The US, supported by France and the UK, directly moves a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group's chief.

April 3, 2019: China hits out at the US for threatening to use "all available resources" to designate the Pakistan-based JeM chief as a 'global terrorist', saying Washington's move is complicating the issue and not conducive to peace and stability in South Asia.

April 30, 2019: China says "some progress" has been achieved on designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN and hopes that the vexed issue will be "properly resolved".

May 1, 2019: The 1267 Sanctions Committee designates Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifts the hold on the proposal of the US, the UK and France.
The Election Commission (EC) Wednesday told the Gujarat High Court that it has recommended action against the returning officer and observer in Dhokla Assembly constituency from where state minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama won in 2017.

The EC told Justice Paresh Upadhyay that on April 30 it recommended disciplinary proceedings against then returning officer Dhaval Jani and poll observer Vinita Bohra.

The court was hearing an election petition filed by Congress' Ashwin Rathod -- who had lost to Chudasama by just 327 votes -- challenging the poll result.

The court, on April 2, had observed that Jani's examination in the court brought out facts "so glaring that this court has thought it prudent to put the above noted facts to the notice of the Election Commission, so that it can consider...and take appropriate corrective/ preventive measures, if it so desires".

Rathod's petition claimed that Chudasama indulged in "corrupt practises and breach of many of the mandatory instructions of the Election Commission of India".

Returning officer Jani admitted in the court that he did not follow certain instructions of the EC while counting the votes, which led to Chudasama's victory by a thin margin.

As the victory margin was less than the number of postal ballots rejected by the returning officer (429), he should have carried out re-verification of all postal ballots, as the EC's rules require, the court said.

Jani admitted that he did not recount or re-verify postal ballots, the judge noted.

The EC said it has recommended action against Jani to the Gujarat government, and that against Bohra, an IAS officer, to Rajasthan government as she is posted in that state now.

Chudasama is currently minister for higher and technical education, law and justice and civil aviation in the BJP government in Gujarat.

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The suicide bombers involved in the Easter Sunday carnage had close family connection, Sri Lankan police said Wednesday as it released the details of the attackers and their relatives linked to the country's worst terror attacks.

Police released the details of Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran also known as Zahran Hashmi, who led the team of suicide bombers on Easter Sunday, and his family members involved in the series of coordinated bombings at three churches and three hotels across the country in which over 250 people were killed and 500 injured.

Hashmi, the leader of ISIS linked local outfit National Thowheeth Jamath (NTJ), blew himself up in the posh Shangri-La hotel.

He came from the Muslim majority area in Kathankudi in the eastern province, Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

His brother Mohamed Nazar Mohamed Azath was the suicide bomber at the Zion church in the eastern town of Batticaloa while his another brother Achchi Mohamed Mohamed Hasthun was the bomber at the St Sebastian's Church at Katuwapitiya, Negombo, the Western coastal town.

Zahran's wife and his daughter have survived the suicide bombings at Sainthamuruthu in the east when the military raided a terrorist safe house. They are undergoing treatment at the Ampara hospital in the east.

The NTJ leader's two other brothers and father died in the blast in the safe house during the confrontation with the forces, Gunasekera said.

His driver Adam Lebbe Gaffoor is currently in the custody of the police's crime investigations department. Gaffoor is the father-in-law of one of Zahran's brothers who died in the terror safe house blast.

The St Sebastian's church bomber Hasthun's wife Sarah also died in the blast in the same safe house



Alawddin Ahmad Muath was the bomber at the St Anthony's Chuch Colombo city. His brother has been arrested by the CID for alleged links.

Mohamed Assam Mohamed Mubarak was the bomber at the Kingsbury Hotel. His wife is also under CID custody right now, Gunasekera said.

Mohamed Ibrahim Ilham Ahmad was the second bomber at the Shangri La hotel. His father Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim and two brothers are also under CID arrest.

Ilham's brother Mohame Ibrahim Inshaf Ahmad was the bomber at Cinnamon Grand Hotel and he was the owner of the copper factory in the Colombo suburb of Wellampitiya where the suicide bombs were believed to have been assembled. His wife is also under CID custody currently.

Abdul Latiff Jameel Mohamed was the suicide attacker at the Tropical Inn in the Colombo suburb of Dehiwela. His wife and her two brothers are in Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) custody currently, Gunasekera said.

Gunasekera said Fathima Ibrahim who had detonated herself when the military raided the house of the Ibrahim brothers in Dematagoda in Colombo. She was the Wife of Mohamed Ibrahim Ilham Ahmad the second bomber at the Shangri La hotel.

Gunasekere said some of the identifications are currently being verified through DNA tests.

The CID is currently investigating about the assets of the terrorists for action under the Acts of anti- terrorism funding and money laundering.

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A diverse array of chemicals, including illicit drugs such as cocaine and pesticides, pollute water bodies and aquatic animals in the UK, a study has found.

For the first time, researchers from the King's College London and the University of Suffolk in the UK, looked at the exposure of wildlife, such as the freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex, to different micropollutants.

The team collected samples from five catchment areas, and 15 different sites across the county of Suffolk.

Cocaine was found in all samples tested, and other illicit drugs such as ketamine, pesticides and pharmaceuticals were also widespread in the shrimp that were collected.

Consumer products, medicines and drugs can end up in rivers after use and comprise thousands of different chemicals which have the potential to cause environmental harm.

"Although concentrations were low, we were able to identify compounds that might be of concern to the environment and crucially, which might pose a risk to wildlife," said Thomas Miller from King's College London.

"We found that the most frequently detected compounds were illicit drugs, including cocaine and ketamine and a banned pesticide, fenuron. Although for many of these, the potential for any effect is likely to be low," said Miller, lead author of the study published in the journal Environment International.

"Whether the presence of cocaine in aquatic animals is an issue for Suffolk, or more widespread an occurrence in the UK and abroad, awaits further research," said Nic Bury from the University of Suffolk.

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A "comprehensive inquiry" will be ordered into the Rafale deal after the Congress comes to power at the Centre, senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, indicating a criminal probe could be conducted into the multi-billion dollar contract.

The role of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other government functionaries and private people will be probed, he said and exuded confidence that a Congress-led government will formed after the election results are out.

"The day we come to power, just like in 72 hours or three days, loan waivers were taken care of in states (of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh), you will have a comprehensive inquiry. We have, in fact, asked for a JPC, but really speaking even an FIR and a criminal inquiry is not out of place," he told PTI in an interview.

Asked if the Rafale issue has struck a chord with the people on the ground, Singhvi said one would have to wait and watch for it but he was confident that people do feel "cheated".

"I have no doubt that somewhere in the psyche of the people it is embedded that yahaan daal mein kala nahin daal hi kaali hai (not just something, but everything seems to be fishy about the deal)," he said.

On whether the Rafale deal will be probed if the Congress comes to power, Singhvi said Congress president Rahul Gandhi has already said so earlier.

"You can stonewall as much as you like. This is quicksand, the more you struggle the more you will get sucked inside," he said.

The Congress has alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal and claimed that Prime Minister Modi and Union ministers as well as private players were complicit in the "scam".

However, the government has dismissed the allegations of any wrongdoing in the deal with France for 36 Rafale fighter jets.

On the issue of Election Commission's alleged inaction and delay in ruling on complaints of poll code violations by Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah, Singhvi said the Congress has made 10 representations to the EC starting April 1 only related to the duo.

All the 10 representations can be categorised into three categories --hate statements, dragging armed forces into cheap political debate and campaigning right next to the booth or around the booth which Modi has done in earlier years as well, Singhvi said.

"How is it possible that the same EC which bans on the same principle Yogi Adityanath does nothing for 30 long days (against PM and Shah). We have told the EC why are you not deciding. We also added that non-decision is a decision itself," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

It is sad that it needs a Supreme Court petition to activate the EC to take a decision, Singhvi rued.

On whether the Congress felt that 'justice delayed is justice denied' with respect to its petitions, the former Union minister said: "Four phases are over, less than 200 seats are left. I have told the commission that the damage which had to be done is done."



"You cannot press the rewind button on this one, but at least take action now," he said.

The order should be of banning them from campaigning for 72 hours, 52 hours or 96 hours, he said, adding that the penalty must be much worse, but "when there is no action even this looks much better".

Asked if the country has seen the most vicious campaign this election with so many complaints to the EC, he said the quantum of complaints increase when egregious violations increase.

"No prime minister even of the BJP, Mr Vajpayee, even of the Janata Dal, Mr V P Singh, even of the United Front, Mr Gowda, even of other political colours other than the BJP and the Congress, has gone to the extent of egregious, repetitive, wanton violations," he said.

Singhvi asserted that as the "mega policeman", the EC has not discharged its duty with respect to Modi and Shah.

"It is unfortunate, that the principle that Mr Modi or Mr Shah are not above the EC, not above the Model Code of Conduct, has not been followed, and therefore, certainly there is a lowering of the prestige of the EC. Certainly, there is a feeling that there is a hesitation totally action against the top people," he alleged.

He said even despite action now, the criticism of the EC on complaints about Modi and Shah would still be 100 per cent valid.

Just like the rewind button cannot be pressed, the criticism can't be taken back just by taking action, because damage has been caused for one month which is irreversible, he said.

Singhvi also alleged that there is no doubt that there had been a weakening of venerable institutions, from the RBI to the CBI to bureaucratic appointments and other institutions, saying ultimately it is the men who make the institutions.

Asked if the EC was also among the institutions eroded, Singhvi said: "Well its conduct certainly shows that it has failed on this score".

Talking about the issue of the Congress chief's contempt court case in Supreme Court (SC) over attribution of the 'chowkidar chor hai' slogan to the top court, Singhvi said: "You must realise that Rahul Gandhi is man enough, sincere enough and humble enough. Day one, he said my attribution to you (SC) is wrong. I don't intend to attribute it to SC."



"Equally he has repeated, that he will never apologise or regret that his stand is that Modi and his party are complicit (in the corruption in the Rafale deal)," the former Union minister said.

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Union minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday took a swipe at the opposition Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) claiming that these parties are serving the interests of their leaders families, and not the country and the people.

"The Congress is serving the Gandhi family while JMM chief Shibu Soren thinks only about his own family. They are not interested about the development of the country or the state," Goyal alleged.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has only a single agenda the development of the country and Jharkhand," he said while addressing an election rally here..

Modi has set up a Rs 6000 crore fertilizer factory in Sindri township of Dhanbad district, the railway and coal minister said.

Coal production has increased by 150 million tonne during the five years of Modi government, far ahead of what the Congress had managed in 10 years between 2004 to 2014, Goyal claimed.

He was addressing the election rally at Bhuli in support of BJP candidate from Dhanbad constituency, PN Singh, who was pitted against Kirti Azad, a former BJP rebel, of the Congress.

Goyal said it is strange that the Congress could not find a single candidate in the entire Jharkhand to field in Dhanbad and brought one from Darbhanga of Bihar.

Three-time BJP MP of Darbhanga, Kirti Azad, who has joined the Congress recently, is contesting from Dhanbad this time.

As per seat sharing deal among the Congress, the JMM, the JVM (Prajatantrik) and the RJD the four parties of the 'mahagathbandhan' (Grand Alliance) in Jharkhand - the grand old party is contesting from Dhanbad. Similarly, Darbhanga was given to the RJD as part of the seat sharing arrangement for the alliance in Bihar.

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The Congress is not at all cutting into votes of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh as the party has fielded candidates either with prospects of victory or having potential to damage BJP's chances in the state, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said Wednesday.

Asked whether she was afraid of contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Priyanka said she was not scared at all and that she joined "for good".

"If Priyanka Gandhi gets scared, she will sit at home and not do I am in for good and will be there," she said.

The Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh also hit out at the BJP for what she called its "obsession" with the Gandhi family when the focus should be on solving people's problems.

On the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka said, "We have carefully chosen candidates so that either Congress wins or they cut into BJP's votes. Congress is not at all cutting into votes of the 'UP gathbandhan'."



Priyanka was talking to the media during her campaign trail in Amethi where her brother Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) forged an alliance months before the Lok Sabha polls, but kept out the Congress as there was no agreement on seat-sharing.

According to political observers, the anti-BJP vote could get split between the Congress and the UP alliance, benefitting BJP.

"This is not a preparation for (assembly polls) in UP in 2022. This is about defeating BJP in 2019," she said, adding, "Congress party is weak in UP we need to strengthen it here. I am working towards it."



Priyanka said there was no leader like her brother Rahul Gandhi as he listens to people and tries to resolve their problems.

"BJP is obsessed with Gandhi family. When we come here we do not talk about our family. We talk about problems of people, but they target our family in half of their speeches," said Priyanka.

On the decision of her not being fielded from Varanasi, she said if she had contested from the temple town, she would have been confined to only one constituency.

"I am not dejected that I am not contesting from Varanasi. I wanted to campaign and strengthen Congress in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Had I contested from Varanasi I would have got confined to Varanasi alone and would not have been able to work for strengthening the party," she said.

"There is a lot of work to do in eastern Uttar Pradesh and we have to defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and strengthen the Congress," she said.

The Congress fielded Ajay Rai from Varanasi, ending weeks of speculations that the constituency may witness a blockbuster contest between Modi and Priyanka.

"I am not fighting elections or campaigning for myself...I have a lot of work to do here and every Congress candidate wants me to campaign for them," she said.

"I had said in the beginning that if the party wants me to contest (from Varanasi), then I am ready and would go by the party's decision," she added.

Training her guns on the BJP, Priyanka alleged that the government at the Centre has not given "nyay" (justice) to people.

"People are harassed. This government has lost the trust of the people who voted them on hopes which have been dashed," she added.

The BJP had won a whopping 71 seats out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dubbing the Congress as a "dishonest" party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday alleged it is only sincere in propagating dynastic rule and corruption.

Addressing a rally here, Modi said the Congress culture was to "hold back" development schemes. He said Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress came to power in December last year, was facing acute water shortage because of the ruling party's policy of not expediting irrigation schemes.

"The Congress is a dishonest party at all levels. It is only honest in propagating dynastic rule and corruption.

"The BJP works in a mission mode for overall development of the country. The Congress works for welfare of new generation of dynasts," he said.

"The Congress people have so much hatred for your Modi that they are even dreaming of killing Modi. But they are forgetting that people from Madhya Pradesh and India are batting for me," Modi said while referring to alleged statement of a Congress leader against him.

Modi also referred to controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to target the Congress.

Attacking Congress veteran Digvijay Singh, who is contesting from Bhopal, Modi said, "Diggi raja lifted Zakir Naik on his shoulders and danced.

"The Congress government called Naik to address police officers on terrorism. Sri Lanka has closed his TV channel after the blasts (on Easter Sunday). Earlier governments tried to project Naik as an ambassador of peace," he said.

Naik, said to be currently in Malaysia, is wanted in India on charges of inciting youths to take up terror activities, giving hate speeches and promoting enmity between communities.

Taking a swipe at leaders of rival parties for "harbouring prime ministerial ambitions", Modi said none of them had the capacity to even become the Leader of Opposition.

He said voters have to choose between 55-year rule of one family and 55-month rule of a "chaiwala".

Referring to the IAF strike in Balakot, he said Pakistan could neither express its pain nor hide it after India's retaliation following the Pulwama terror attack.

"Your one vote will wipe out terrorism from the country," said Modi, seeking support for the BJP in Lok Sabha elections.

Madhya Pradesh has a total of 29 Lok Sabha seats. While six of them went to the polls in the first phase on April 29, the remaining 23 constituencies will vote on May 6, 12 and 19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A senior US official, on a visit to Pakistan, has said that countries need to move forward on the issue of listing Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, ensuring that the United Nations' process in taking a corrective action against extremists works well.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet on Wednesday, amid indications that China could lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar, who is based in Pakistan.

China had put a hold in March on a fresh proposal by the US, UK and France to impose a ban on the chief of the JeM which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India had moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar.

We would encourage the parties to move forward with the designation (of Azhar). It reaffirms the centrality of UN and UN role in designating terrorists, Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, said here on Wednesday.

We believe designation process should be technical in nature, even assessment of evidence and countries moving forward to ensure that UN process works and works well and the international community is able to take corrective action against any terrorist, whoever they are, wherever they are located, she added.

Talking about the Financial Action Task Force's assessment of Pakistan's measures to stop terrorist financing, she said, we have heard some positive reports and partly seen some positive actions, but FATF itself will determine whether it meets the level of identifying and enforcing (restrictions on) the ability of these groups to fundraise and organise.

Interacting with a group of journalists at the US Embassy here, she said that there was no "evidence" suggesting that India was using Afghanistan for spreading terrorism in Pakistan.

Pakistan has long been expressing its concerns regarding India using the Afghan soil to create trouble and often presented as evidence the case of former Indian naval officer Kulbushan Yadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" after a closed trial in April 2017.

I don't have the evidence what you're referring to, but our policy is clear that no country should support non-state actors, she said.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy. Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

Commenting on Pakistan's concerns regarding India's role in creating trouble in Balochistan, she urged regional countries to respect each other's sovereignty without naming India, the Express Tribune reported.

We recognise and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. We do not support any separatist or irredentist movements, she said, adding, We think it's critical that nations of this region respect one another and work to achieve peace and economic growth.

Wells, who was part of delegation headed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, said the US would never condone or support any use of "terrorist proxies against another country."



We have been working very actively with Pakistan to combat whether it's al Qaeda or TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan). Any terrorist attacking Pakistan is enemy of ours and we share very strong counter-terrorism objectives in defeating extremist forces, she added.

Wells also said the US had no information regarding Pakistan Army's latest allegations that Afghan and Indian secret agencies were funding the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), an ethnic Pashtun rights group based in tribal region.

On the possibility of resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India, Wells said Pakistan needed to demonstrate its commitment to ensure that militant groups can't take advantage of Pakistani soil.

She said the US welcomed Prime Minister Imrans Khan's public statements affirming his resolve not to allow Pakistan's soil to be used against any other country.

I would positively note that many comments the prime minister has made in public underscoring his government's commitment to moving away from non-state actors to ensuring that the national action plan that Pakistan has forged is implemented, she said.

Clarifying US' stand on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Wells said while Washington did not object to infrastructure investment by China, the question remains whether such projects meet the international standards.

She argued that such investments should be transparent, sustainable and produce benefits for the country.

So any concern that we have over CPEC projects is with regards to the transparency, the efficacy and the sustainability of the loans.

This is an issue that is not Pakistan specific. We have expressed this concern about belt and road initiative more broadly," she said



In a separate statement issued by the US embassy, envoy Khalilzad expressed appreciation for Pakistan prime minister's recent remarks in support of the peace process and broader vision for stability and prosperity in the region.

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A special court here has "dismissed" the bail plea of aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar and has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against his son Aditya Talwar in a money laundering probe related to the Indian aviation sector, the ED said Wednesday.

The two actions came about after the court "examined" the charge sheet or the prosecution compliant filed by the probe agency against the two last month under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

"The court has also taken cognisance of offence against Deepak Talwar in the airline seat allocation scam being probed by the Enforcement Directorate under the PMLA," it said.

The agency is also grilling his wife, Deepa Talwar, in the case and she has been questioned under the anti-money laundering law at least on three separate occasions, an agency source said.

Deepak Tawlar's role in some aviation deals during the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) regime at the Centre is under scanner.

He has been accused of criminal conspiracy, forgery and under various other sections of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act for allegedly diverting Rs 90.72 crore worth of foreign funds meant for ambulances and other articles received by his NGO from Europe's leading missile manufacturing company.

Deepak Talwar was booked by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in criminal cases of corruption, while the Income Tax Department charged him with tax evasion.

Talwar was arrested by the ED early this year after he was deported from Dubai.

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A court in Ahmedabad Wednesday issued summons to Congress president Rahul Gandhi in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a BJP worker for calling BJP chief Amit Shah a "murder accused".

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate D S Dabhi issued a summons, returnable on July 6, holding that prima facie (on the face of it) there was a case of criminal defamation against Gandhi under section 500 of the IPC.

Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt, a local BJP corporator stated in the complaint that Gandhi, at an election rally in Jabalpur on April 23, said, "Murder-accused BJP chief Amit Shah, wah, kya shaan hai (how glorious)!"



Brahmbhatt contended that Gandhi's remark was defamatory as Shah, in 2015, was acquitted by a CBI court in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case.

Neither the High Court nor the Supreme Court entertained challenge to Shah's acquittal, he said.

"Gandhi (thus) committed offence of defamation as per sections 499 and 500 of the IPC," he said.

The CBI court's January 2, 2015 order acquitting Shah got wide publicity and was well known "in all political circles including that of the Congress", the complaint said.

After Gandhi's remark at the rally, Shah had hit back at him, pointing out that he had been acquitted in the case, and questioned Congress president's "legal knowledge".

Last month, another magistrate's court here had issued summons to Gandhi and Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala in a criminal defamation suit filed by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank and its chairman.

Amit Shah is a director of the bank.

The suit alleged that the Congress leaders had claimed that the bank was involved in a scam to swap Rs 750 crore in scrapped notes with valid currency within five days of demonetisation in 2016.

In 2015, a special court discharged Shah in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter cases, holding that there existed no case against him and that he had been implicated for political reasons.

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The CPI on Wednesday announced its support to rebel Congress candidate Shakeel Ahmed in Madhubani Lok Sabha constituency, a move that may queer the pitch for the Mahagathbandhan which seeks to wrest the seat from BJP.

The CPI state council made the announcement in a release here, stating it is committed to defeat the BJP and its allies and form "a government that could provide a secular, progressive and democratic alternative".

The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) has fielded Badrinath Purve, a former RJD leader who is the candidate of the fledgling Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), while BJP MP Hukum Dev Narayan Yadavs son Ashok Yadav seeks to retain the seat for NDA.

The CPI's move could be seen as a snub to Lalu Prasad's RJD, the largest constituent of the Mahagathbandhan which had turned down an appeal by CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy to ask its candidate from Begusarai to "retire" from the contest in favour of its nominee Kanhaiya Kumar.

Although the party's strength has diminished in the last couple of decades, Madhubani used to be a CPI stronghold in the 1960s and 1970s when Bhogendra Jha had represented the seat also known by the name Jaynagar for a while four times. Jha was succeeded by party colleague Chaturanan Mishra who also served as the Union agriculture minister in the United Front government headed by H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujaral.

Shakeel Ahmed, a former Union minister who has represented Madhubani in the Lok Sabha, had filed his nomination papers in two sets - as a Congress candidate and as an Independent. He withdrew the former after the party declined his request for allotting the party symbol.

Besides the CPI, Ahmed is likely to receive help from Mohd Ali Ashraf Fatmi an RJD veteran who quit the party recently to protest the "rough and rude" manner in which he was suspended by Tejashwi Yadav.

He also withdrew his nomination papers submitted as an Independent citing Ahmed's presence in the fray and stating that he did not wish to help the BJP by a split in votes.

The CPI also pledged its support to Aam Aadmi Party's Raghunath Kumar in Sitamarhi and the party's state media in- charge Bablu Prakash.

Kanhaiya who has time to spare now as polling is over in his constituency on Monday is likely to take part in the campaign for the AAP nominee, the CPI said in the release.

Currently held by RLSP's Ram Kumar Sharma who has revolted against party chief Upendra Kushwaha upon denial of ticket this time, Sitamarhi is witnessing virtually a straight contest between JD(U)'s Sunil Kumar Pintu and veteran socialist leader Arjun Rai who has been fielded by the RJD.

The CPI also announced its support for Mohd Idris who is in the fray from Muzaffarpur as the candidate of the Socialist Unity Centre of India, a moribund Left outfit.

The seat is witnessing a contest between sitting BJP MP Ajay Nishad and Rajbhushan Chaudhary Nishad of the VIP



floated six months ago by former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni with a view to providing a political platform to the Mallah community.

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The CPI(M) on Wednesday appealed to the people of Delhi to vote for the Aam Aadmi Party and defeat the BJP in the national capital.

In a statement, the party's Delhi State Committee said in the last five years of the NDA government an "unmitigated disaster" had been unleashed in the country.

"This government has promoted heinous attacks on Muslims and Dalits and has actively engaged in sharpening of communal polarisation. There has been a sharp increase in crimes against women and girls. The Modi government has launched severe attacks on democratic rights of the people and undermined different Constitutional authorities. It has sought to subvert the secular and democratic essence of the Constitution," the CPI(M) said.

It said the saffron party has pursued neo-liberal policies that have led to increased unemployment and heaped severe economic burden and miseries on the working class, peasantry and other toilers.

"On the other hand it has provided numerous concessions to corporates and let corporate criminals like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi escape. It has indulged in massive corruption as is evident from the scam in purchase of Rafale aircraft.

"In Delhi it has misused the office of the Lt. Governor to obstruct functioning of elected state government. Besides, it has reneged on its promise to grant full statehood to Delhi. For all these reasons the BJP must be decisively defeated and removed from power," the statement said.

It further said the Congress cannot provide a credible challenge to the BJP in Delhi given substantial erosion in its mass base in the state.

"It (Congress) has played a negative role vis--vis the AAP state government and it appears to consider the AAP and not the BJP as its main enemy in Delhi. Besides, it has adopted soft Hindutva tactics and targeted the Left by fielding Rahul Gandhi from Waynad. In light of the above, there is no question of CPI (M) supporting any Congress candidate in Delhi," it said.

Delhi goes to poll on May 12 in the sixth phase of elections.

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A CRPF jawan helped save the life of of a 3-year-old Kashmiri boy, suffering from blood loss, as he donated his blood after being informed by the 'Madadgaar' helpline of the force working in the valley, officials said Wednesday.

They said the parents of the child had approached the district magistrate of Srinagar for help and he subsequently tagged the helpline on twitter, which was immediately reciprocated.

The boy from Shopian was admitted at the G B Pant Hospital here and constable Vikas Sharma of the Central Reserve Police Forces' 75th battalion donated one unit of 'O negative' blood for the child, they said.

"The Madadgaar helpline of the CRPF has made it a point that every instance of distress call is not only responded but is done positively," a senior official said.

The CRPF, that is deployed for security and counter-terrorism duties in Jammu and Kashmir, had launched the 24x7 helpline 'Madadgaar' (14411) in June, 2017 to help any valley resident in distress.

Its twitter handle is '@CRPFmadadgaar'.

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CRPF personnel posted in Jammu and Kashmir have received a special gift. And they are touched.

The students of a Mumbai school have sent the Central Reserve Police Force personnel beautiful cards made by them, expressing solidarity and sincere gratitude to the jawans.

A letter from the principal of Friends Academy in Mulund (West) highlighted the confidence of the nation in the world's largest paramilitary force in the aftermath of the Pulwama terrorist attack, CRPF Public Relations Officer in Jammu Ashish Kumar Jha said.

Forty CRPF personnel died in the February 14 attack by a Pakistan-based group.

The principal said tragic incidents such as Mumbai in 2008 and Pulwama this year disturbed them and they are worried about the troops' safety.

"They (the students) admire and aspire for virtues like commitment, resilience and courage," she wrote in the letter, adding that the troops' families, too, have been their inspiration, who stand tall and unperturbed during all times.

"A soldier who leaves his family behind to safeguard our nation is the true example of selfless service and excellence," the principal said.

Some of the messages on the cards, which also carry the images of the tricolour and the map of the nation, read, "And we know that you will protest us", "They aim to save", "Thank you soldiers" and "You make the world a better place".

"The letter of the principal and the beautiful cards have touched the hearts of all personnel in the CRPF. The zonal headquarters of CRPF at Jammu has shared the letter and the frame with the Army in Kashmir," Jha said.

Quoting the contents of the letter, he said, "The courage of CRPF men has been a point of discussion among students. The students of the Academy brainstormed and came up with the idea of organizing a fair and giving a part of the proceeds to the families of martyrs.

"The pupils expressed their emotions and gratitude to the CRPF by painting cards. These cards were sent to the Special DG, CRPF, along with the letter, with a request to convey their emotions up to the last man of the force."



Jha said the CRPF's people-friendly approach and humane touch, coupled with professionalism, have made it a force loved and admired across the nation.

"The support of the nation is the strength of this great force that will always keep up its tradition of valour and sacrifice," he said.

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A day after the Madras High Court held that Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi "cannot interfere" in the day-to-day affairs of the Union Territory's government, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy demanded that she should resign from her post for "stalling" development activities.

Narayanasamy said he brought Bedi's interference to the notice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, but to no avail.

"The prime minister always talks about co-operative federalism, but believes in dictatorship," he said.

The elected government has to run the day-to-day administration of the Union territory and the administrator has no power to interfere in the running of the government, the chief minister asserted at a press conference here.

Allowing a petition filed by Congress MLA K Laksminarayanan, Justice R Mahadevan set aside the two communications issued in January and June 2017 by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs "elevating" the power of the administrator.

Referring to the Supreme Court judgment on the tussle between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, the judge said the restrictions imposed on the Delhi government were not applicable to the government of Puducherry.

Though Puducherry is not a state, the Legislative Assembly will have the same powers as that of a state, he said.

"This is a historic judgment. This is a slap on the face of the Narendra Modi government and also the administrator, Kiran Bedi, who has been behaving in an erratic manner flouting all constitutional norms, denigrating the institution of the administrator and trying to usurp the powers of the elected government," Narayanasamy said.

"I am thankful to the judge, because for the last two to two-and-a-half years, due to the autocratic, illegal, unconstitutional acts of Kiran Bedi, the development activities had been stalled," the Congress leader said.

Bedi was responsible for this and taking moral responsibility, she should resign from the post of Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, he asserted.

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The Delhi High Court has refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to the Centre to forfeit the 'Padma Shri' award conferred on a person for allegedly using it as a prefix to his name.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru said that a show cause notice has already been issued by the government to the person seeking his explanation on the issue.

"It is also pointed out that a show cause notice dated August 21, 2018 was issued by the Government of India to respondent no 2, calling upon respondent no 2 to give an explanation in this regard.

"Since respondent no 1 (Union of India) has already instituted the procedure for examining the question, this Court does not consider it necessary to pass any order. Needless to state that respondent no 1 shall consider the explanation provided by respondent no 2, and take such steps as may be warranted in its discretion," the Judge said.

The high court was hearing a plea filed by Ivan Barry Trayling, member of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, alleging that Gulshan Rai, a Padma Shri awardee, has been using the conferment as a prefix or suffix to his name, which is not permissible.

Rai, who is the president of the club, was conferred Padma Shri for circumnavigating the world on his yacht, Jaykus II.

Advocate S M Dalal, appearing for the petitioner, referred to a Supreme Court judgement and said that it had clarified that the National Awards do no amount to conferring titles, within the meaning of Article 18(1) and they should not be used as suffixes or prefixes.

He further said that if this was done, the award conferred should be withdrawn by following the procedure as laid down in Regulation 10 of the Notifications creating the said awards.

The lawyer said that the petitioner is particularly interested in the present matter, since he was a member of the Royal Bombay Yacht Club and according to him Rai had brought disrepute to the Club by using the Padma Shri as a suffix or prefix to his name.

The high court, however, said, "The said contention is unmerited. First of all, the petitioner is no longer a member of the said club. Second, the said club is competent to take measures against any of its member, if so warranted. It is apparent that the petitioner has no particular interest in the matter."



The government had also earlier said the national awards such as Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri "do not amount to titles within the meaning of Article 18(1) of the Constitution and thus are not to be used as prefixes or suffixes to the name of the recipient in any manner whatsoever".

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A person has been arrested here after another man for whom he stood as surety jumped his bail, police said Wednesday.

The accused has been identified as Omprakash Giri, a resident of KG Marg who used work as a driver at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), they said.

"Mohammad Sohail Khan (42), a resident of Harkesh Nagar, Okhla, was earlier arrested. Khan was granted bail and Giri stood as his surety. However, once the accused was granted bail, he did not appear in the court," Vijay Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), said.

Later, when Giri was summoned, he went missing. The court got the bail documents verified and found that the pay slip submitted by Giri was forged, the officer said.

During investigation, it was learnt that he was earlier working as a driver in TRAI and had mentioned his Ranchi's address in the documents, police said.

However, Giri was apprehended and during interrogation, he revealed that he was involved in legal battle with his wife at Patiala House Court where he met Anwar, a Munshi, the officer said.

At the behest of Anwar, Giri stood as surety to Khan. Anwar had arranged documents for him, police said.

He also disclosed that at the behest of Anwar, he had stood as surety for some other persons also and Anwar used to pay him Rs 5,000 for this, police said.

Further investigation is underway, they added.

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The Congress on Wednesday attacked the BJP-led government over the Naxal attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, saying that despite its "tall talk" no lessons from Pulwama have been learnt.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said the country needs preventive action, accountability for this failure and not 'jumlas' (rhetoric) and lectures.

At least 16 people, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Gadchiroli district Wednesday, police said.

The blast followed Naxals torching 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day.

"We condemn the brutal terror attack on our jawans in Maharashtra. India stands firmly behind their families, well wishers & friends in this hour of grief," Patel tweeted.

"Once again terrorists have targeted the convoys of our jawans. Clearly despite their tall talk no lessons from Pulwama have been learnt. It is a wake-up call for state and central governments," he said, referring to the terror strike in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in February in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed by a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide attacker.

Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, in a tweet, said: "Strongly condemn the attack on C-60 Commandos in Gadchiroli. My condolences to their families. Their sacrifice would not go in vain."



Over 390 jawans have been killed in Naxal attacks in the past five years that expose hollow claims of of securing India by the Modi government, he said.

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Diplomatic experts in India hailed the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Wednesday, but doubted whether the move would push Pakistan to give up the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee Wednesday designated Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him.

Reacting to Azhar's designation, former foreign secretary Salman Haider said he sees it as a "very favourable development".

"It is something we have been trying to achieve from quite some time and China has been stonewalling and refusing to respond to what is a very obvious case India has been making repeatedly," he told PTI.

But now, China has changed track and India should welcome this, Haider said.

"It is good and we hope that will be followed up with equally significant measures on the same front," he said.

Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, termed Azhar's listing as a "major achievement".

"This certainly isolates Pakistan, it will lie low. It is questionable whether its (Pakistan's) army will give up the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy," he said.

Vivek Katju, a former secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, said, "It marks a significant diplomatic gain. India succeeded in ensuring that the major powers mounted pressure on China because of the Balakot air strike and the doctrine of preemption."



France, the UK and the US had moved a fresh proposal to declare Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in February in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, China put a technical hold on the proposal, blocking it for the fourth time to designate Azhar. The Chinese move was termed as "disappointing" by India. On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal.

"Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

Reacting to the development, former diplomat K C Singh ?hailed Akbaruddin, saying "Well done Akbar & Team India".

Ambassador Vishnu Prakash, former MEA spokesperson and Consul General to Shanghai, said it is a good development in a long war against terror infrastructure in Pakistan.

"But, let's not be too euphoric. Worth recalling that global terrorists like Hafiz Saeed are roaming free and continuing to ply their noxious trade," he said.

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The Congress Wednesday welcomed the designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, but expressed disappointment that the listing "does not mention Pulwama and Jammu and Kashmir" while recounting his role in terror activities.

The Congress said it expected the Modi government to act with a "greater speed" in pursuing the case with China as several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided.

The Modi government should now push for a declaration of bounty on Azhar's head as was ensured by the UPA in the case of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Congress said.

In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations designated Pakistan-based Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal by the US, UK and France to blacklist him.

Azhar's "belated" declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step and India's fight against terrorism is resolute and the entire nation is one in fighting the menace, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement.

Designation as a global terrorist is just the first step and all his sources of funding need to be stopped, he said.

The entire property and terror fund need to be taken over by international agencies, Surjewala said.

"We are disappointed that UN listing doesn't mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhar's role in terrorist activities," he tweeted.

The Congress demanded that the Modi government should pursue a complete international ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad and also ensure that other terrorists of JeM are similarly blacklisted by the UN.

It also demanded that the Modi government should pursue the blacklisting of Pakistan as a terrorist state by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

"We expected Modi government to act at a greater speed in pursuing declaration of Masood Azhar, but after agenda-less visit of PM Modi to China (Wuhan Summit) they did not push for this case with China in the entire period of 2018," Surjewala alleged.

"Several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided if Modi government had pushed international community, including China to agree, to declare Masood Azhar as international terrorist," he said.

Surjewala alleged that history is dotted with BJP's compromise of national security in tackling terrorism, which is reflected in actions like the release of Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in Kandahar, by previous NDA government.

"It is the same terrorist Masood Azhar who heads Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan and fomented terror on Indian soil everyday. Congress party's commitment to end terrorism is absolute," he said.

After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the UPA government's response was to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub, besides rallying the international community for decisive action against terrorists, he said.

Surjewala asserted that Pakistan must be forced to dismantle the entire terror infrastructure of JeM, as also other terrorist outfits operating from its soil.

All wanted terrorists like Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim, Haji Mohammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal thriving on Pakistani soil and involved in heinous terror attacks in India must be forthwith deported to India and brought to justice, the Congress said.

Surjewala also listed the UPA government's efforts in tackling terrorism and the steps it took against terrorists.

"Within 14 days of Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN," he said.

The UPA ensured that a USD 10 million bounty was placed on the head of the Mumbai attack perpetrator and the founder of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Saeed, by the US, he said.

He also listed terror mastermind David Headley's conviction to 35 years of prison and the UN Security Council putting top LeT members involved in Mumbai attack on sanctions lists, as achievements of the UPA.

He also asserted the Congress hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have noted and acted on "certain pressing issues that have repeatedly compromised India's interests" such as China building a full-fledged military complex in Doklam only 10 m from Indian Army posts and neighbouring country constructing a road in South Doklam into the "Chicken's Neck" -- Siliguri Corridor.

China is building USD 54 billion China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) through PoK and Balochistan connecting Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea to China with base for Chinese submarines, Surjewala claimed.

He also claimed that China conducts mining on Arunachal border and attempts to build tunnels, and upgrades air base near Sikkim



Surjewala also cited China's blocking of India's membership of the 'Nuclear Suppliers Group' asking for parity with rogue Pakistan, to highlight the government's "failures".

China has exponentially expanded strategic, economic and defence partnerships with Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, he said.

"All this is done, but Modi ji's 'Laal Aankh' answer remains :- 'jhoola diplomacy in Gujarat, hug diplomacy in Delhi, and agenda-less visits to China, without the mention of Masood Azhar or Doklam," he said.

Commenting on Azhar's listing, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said,"the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama and maligning" the struggle of the Kashmiris.

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Dismissed BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination as the candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Lok Sabha constituency was rejected on Wednesday, poll officials said.

Yadav was served notices Tuesday by the returning officer over discrepancies in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him.

In the first set of papers on April 24, he had mentioned that he was dismissed from the Border Security Force.

On April 29 he submitted a second set of papers this time as the nominee for the Lok Sabha seat but did not give out this information.

He was also required to submit a no-objection certificate from the BSF, giving reasons for his dismissal.

Yadav accused the of resorting to "dictatorial steps" to stop him from fighting elections.

"My nomination was rejected today even though I had furnished the NOC from BSF that was required by the RO, he claimed.

I am a farmer's son and I was here to raise the voices of farmers and jawans," he told reporters.

His counsel Rajesh Gupta said, "We will approach the Supreme Court".



"When they are asking for votes in the name of nationalism, they should have faced a soldier. People who dismissed him from his job because he complained about food, how can those people be called real patriots?" chief said.
Amid high drama, dismissed BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency was Wednesday rejected by poll authorities.

The former Border Security Force (BSF) constable had hit the headlines after his video of the alleged poor quality of food being served to the jawans had gone viral on social media. He was subsequently dismissed.

Yadav was served notices on Tuesday by the Varanasi returning officer over "discrepancies" in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him.

In the first set of papers on April 24, he had mentioned that he was dismissed from the BSF. On April 29 he submitted a second set of papers - this time as the SP nominee for the Lok Sabha seat - but did not give out this information.

He was also required to submit a no-objection certificate from the BSF, giving reasons for his dismissal.

District Magistrate Surendra Singh referred to Section 9 and Section 33 of The Representation of People Act and said that Yadav's nomination was not accepted as he "could not furnish the required documents" in the stipulated time.

Section 9 of the act bars anybody who has been dismissed from a central or state government job within the last five years for disloyalty to the nation or corruption.

Section 33 requires the candidate to submit a certificate from the Election Commission that he/she has not been dismissed on these charges in the last five years.

Addressing a battery of reporters at the Collectorate Office, the DM claimed that Yadav and his team were given "enough time" but "they could not furnish the documents".

A dejected Yadav, however, claimed that he had submitted the required documents to the poll authorities.

"I had raised my voice about what I had felt was wrong when I was with the BSF. I decided to come to Benaras to assert that voice for justice. If there was a problem with my nomination, why did they not tell me when I had filed (my papers) as an independent candidate," he lamented.

He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of resorting to "dictatorial steps" to stop him from fighting elections.

"My grandfather was with Azad Hind Fauj, I am a son of a farmer and served as as a jawan... now I can't even fight elections. This is dictatorship," he said.

His counsel Rajesh Gupta said, "We will approach the Supreme Court".

Earlier in the day, state SP spokesperson Manoj Rai Dhupchandi and other party workers and supporters waited in the scorching heat for their hearing at the Collectorate, even as some admirers took selfies with an anxious Yadav.

Sporting a camouflage t-shirt and a pair of leather slippers, Yadav stood for hours outside the DEO office amid high security deployment in the campus.

As the mercury soared, so did the political temperature with a large number of SP supporters as well as locals huddling around the barricades and raising chants of 'Tej Bahadur bhaiyya ki jai', waiting eagerly to know Yadav's fate.

Srikant Yadav (23), a science graduate and part of Yadav's campaign team, said that a makeshift poll office had been set up next to Maduadih station and the youngsters of Varanasi were "very excited" about the former BSF constable fighting the elections.

Prior to his nomination being rejected, Yadav had launched an attack on Modi saying, "Country's 'nakli chowkidar' is afraid of 'asli chowkidar', a jawan, so he and his party is trying to prevent me from fighting this election.

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A deputy superintendent of police (DySP) was shot dead by an acquaintance at his house in Bhopal, police said late Wednesday evening.

Goralal Ahirwar (61) was shot at his residence in Awadhpuri area, said Inspector General of Police Jaideep Prasad.

Ahirwar was posted with the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID), he said.

The accused was identified and efforts were on to arrest him, he said.

A police source said the killing was the fall-out of an illicit relationship the deceased allegedly had with a woman, and further probe was on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Election Commission Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future".

The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted".

The ban would come into force from 6.00 AM, May 2 (Thursday).

Pragya had said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

She also had said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Election Commission Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Latur last month in which he had urged first time voters to dedicate their vote in the name of the Balakot air strike heroes and the soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack is not violative of its instructions on invoking armed forces in poll campaigns.

"The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of 11 pages as per the certified copy sent by the Returning Officer, 40 Osmanabad parliamentary constituency. Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted," the EC said.

Addressing a rally in Ausa in Maharashtra's Latur on April 9, Modi said, "Can your first vote be dedicated to those who carried out the air strike."



"I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan. Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack)," Modi had said.

Local poll authorities in Maharashtra are learnt to have told the EC here that Modi's remarks are prima facie violative of its orders, asking parties against using the armed forces in their campaigns.

The EC had sought the report in the context of the EC advisory issued in March asking parties to desist from indulging in political propaganda involving actions of the armed forces.

"... Parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," the commission said on March 19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The European Union on Tuesday called for "utmost restraint" in the Venezuela crisis, as the government vowed to put down what it called an attempted coup by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido.

"The EU is closely following the latest events in Venezuela. We reiterate that there can only be a political, peaceful and democratic way out for the multiple crises the country is facing," EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement.

"The European Union rejects any form of violence and calls for utmost restraint to avoid the loss of lives and an escalation of tensions." Guaido, Venezuela's self-proclaimed acting president, said Tuesday that troops had joined his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

But the attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas and the government said it was "deactivating" an attempted coup by a small group of "treacherous" soldiers.

Mogherini said the EU "firmly stands with the Venezuelan people and its legitimate democratic aspirations".

"We will continue to spare no efforts to achieve a reinstatement of democracy and rule of law, through free and fair elections, in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution," Mogherini said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Opposition Congress and the NCP Wednesday demanded Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's resignation following the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli in which 15 policemen and a civilian were killed.

The Congress also demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh



each for the families of the deceased jawans, all members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of the Gadchiroli police.

Fadnavis holds the home portfolio and "he should step down immediately", NCP chief Sharad Pawar tweeted.

"Those who feel shame of conscience if not shame of public opinion would have resigned. But the people who are in power today are not going to do so," he added.

Claiming that the Naxal activities in the state were increasing, Pawar said it was the result of "rulers neglecting law and order situation in the Naxal-affected areas".

"Hence, there is no option but to condemn the attack and express grief over the jawans' deaths," the NCP president said.

State NCP chief and former Maharashtra home minister Jayant Patil said the Naxals deliberately struck on the state's foundation day as they wanted to "demoralise" the police force.

"We will not allow this attempt to demoralise the state by deliberately carrying out the attack on Maharashtra Day to succeed," Patil tweeted.

The Maharashtra Congress said the chief minister should quit on moral grounds.

In a statement here, state Congress president Ashok Chavan accused the BJP-led government of being soft on Naxalism and terrorism.

"What was the home department doing when Naxals were planning such a huge attack on the foundation day of Maharashtra?" he asked.

Chavan, the former chief minister, demanded that the kin of the slain jawans be given a compensation of Rs 50 lakh each.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that the 2016 demonetisation exercise would curb terror and Naxal activities, but this has not happened.

On the contrary, under the BJP rule, the morale of Naxals and terrorists has only grown, Chavan said.

Sixteen persons, including 15 policemen, were killed after Naxals blew up their vehicle in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Wednesday, officials said.

Before the blast, Naxals had torched 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor.

The slain QRT jawans were on their way to inspect the torched vehicles, an official said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five members of a family,including a six-month-old girl, died when a fire broke out in a house inIndira Nagar locality here Wednesday, police said.

The fire broke out at about 6 am when small cookinggas cylinders caught fire in the house in Ram Vihar Phase-II locality, killing Sumit Singh (31), his wife Vandana, theirdaughter and other family members identified as Julie (42) and Dablu Singh (50), police said.

Though the exact cause of the fire could not beascertained, police suspect it was due to a short-circuit.

The fire was later doused by a team of fire brigade.

SP (trans-Gomti) Amit Kumar said prima facie itappears that the family used to run an illegal workshop ofcooking gas cylinders inside the house.

Taking note of the incident, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath ordered a probe by commissioner,Lucknow division.

"The incident should be probed by the commissioner andresponsibility fixed for any negligence or shortcomings. He should submit his report within 7 days," the chiefminister said while expressing grief over the deaths.

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The first of two brothers charged with plotting to bring down a flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi with a crude bomb concealed in a meat grinder was found guilty Wednesday.

Australian-Lebanese brothers Khaled and Mahmoud Khayat were charged in July 2017 with planning to bring down an Etihad Airways passenger jet in a plot police alleged was under the instructions of Islamic State.

The improvised device, using "high military-grade explosive", was due to be smuggled onto a July 15 service from Sydney, but the attempt was aborted before they reached security.

Police claimed that communications with IS began in April 2017, with the group sending the men components and propellants through international cargo from Turkey.

Khaled's sentencing is due July 25, while the jury is still deliberating a verdict for his brother.

Both men face life sentences.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China, which lifted its technical hold on listing JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, said on Wednesday that it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the revised materials.

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations Wednesday designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

The 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council has detailed criteria for the listing procedures. China always believes that the relevant work should be carried out in an objective, unbiased and professional manner and based on solid evidence and consensus among all parties, a press release issued by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

"On this listing issue, China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal," he said.

"The proper settlement of the above-mentioned issue again shows that in international counter-terrorism cooperation, we have to uphold the rules and procedures of relevant UN body, follow the principle of mutual respect, resolve differences and build consensus through dialogue, and prevent politicising technical issues," he said.

"I would like to stress that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorist and extremist forces," Geng said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China, which lifted its technical hold on listing JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, said on Wednesday that it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the "revised materials".

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations Wednesday designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

The 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council has detailed criteria for the listing procedures. China always believes that the relevant work should be carried out in an objective, unbiased and professional manner and based on solid evidence and consensus among all parties, a press release issued by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

"On this listing issue, China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal," he said.

He was apparently referring to the evidence provided to China by Foreign Secretary Vjiay Gokhale during his visit to Beijing on April 22.

During his visit, Gokhale held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi and other top officials.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Raveesh Kumar in response to a media query on Gokhale's discussions with Chinese officials on the Azhar issue said, "we have shared with China all evidences of terrorist activities of Jaish-e-Mohammad and its leader Masood Azhar".

"It is now for the 1267 Sanctions Committee and other authorized bodies of the UN to take a decision on the listing of Azhar. India will continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorist leaders who are involved in heinous attacks on our citizens are brought to justice," Kumar said.

Geng said the proper settlement of the Azhar issue again shows that in international counter-terrorism cooperation, "we have to uphold the rules and procedures of relevant UN body, follow the principle of mutual respect, resolve differences and build consensus through dialogue, and prevent politicising technical issues."



But at the same time, he heaped praise on Pakistan for its counter terrorism efforts in combating terrorist and extremist forces.

"I would like to stress that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorist and extremist forces," he said.

China's decision to block moves to declare Azhar a global terrorist even after his outfit was proscribed by the UN had become a major irritant in the improvement of its ties with India.

Analysts say it also had a negative effect on China's image in India as Beijing had to time and again defend the dreaded terrorist.

JeM's admission of carrying out the Pulwama terrorist attack and subsequent India-Pakistan tensions following India's air strikes on JeM targets in Balakot, besides the US, the UK and France attempts to move to UN Security Council pressured Beijing to step up dialogue with Pakistan to agree for Azhar's listing, they say.

The issue reportedly figured prominently during Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit here from April 25-27 to attend China's 2nd Belt and Road Forum. Besides meeting President Xi Jinping, Khan also held talks with Premier Li Keqiang and Vice President Wang Qishan.

China earlier blocked India, US, UK and France moves in the 1267 committee of UN four times since 2009 by putting technical holds, stonewalling all efforts to list Azhar as global terrorist.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four oceanic scientists were among the six Chinese nationals killed during the Easter Sunday bomb blasts in Sri Lanka, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said.

The deceased included Li Jian, 38, and Pan Wenliang, 35, who were senior engineers at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (SCSIO).

Two others, Li Dawei, 30, and Wang Liwei, 26, were from the First Institute of Oceanography under the Ministry of Natural Resources, state run Global Times reported on Wednesday.

Websites of both the institutes turned black and white to mourn the dead scientists.

Li, along with four other scientists, arrived at the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo on April 18 and 19, respectively. They were supposed to participate in a joint scientific cooperation between China and Sri Lanka, the SCSIO said.

The embassy said another five people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences were injured during the explosions. All of them have returned to China for further treatment, state run China Daily reported.

They had travelled to Sri Lanka in the mid of April for research purposes, it said.

The series of coordinated attacks that ripped through three churches and luxury hotels claimed 253 lives and injured over 500 others.

The Lankan foreign ministry has confirmed the death of 42 foreign nationals, including 11 Indians, in the blasts.

A total of 106 suspects, including a Tamil medium teacher and a school principal, have been arrested in connection with the Easter Sunday blasts.

The Islamic State claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) for the attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Four members of Sikh family shot dead in US Washington, May 1 (PTI) Four members of a Sikh family, including three women, have been fatally shot in their home in the US, authorities said.

The victims who died of gunshot wounds in their home in a suburban Ohio community were found by another relative who called the police, West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog said.

"My wife and three other family members were on the ground and bleeding... they're bleeding from the head," a man said on the 911 call that was released by the police.

"No one's talking, no one's talking," he shouted.

A local religious leader on Monday identified the deceased to Cincinnati Enquirer as Hakikat Singh Panag, 59, his wife, Paramjit Kaur, 62, their daughter, Shalinder Kaur, 39, and his sister-in-law, Amarjit Kaur, 58.

The were all shot to death around 9:50 p.m (local time) on Sunday, the report said.

A coroner said all four deaths were homicides and they died from "gunshots." At least one of them was preparing food when they died. By the time police arrived at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex, the unattended dish was on fire, police said.

Herzog said all four victims lived in the apartment where the shooting occurred. Children also live there, he said, but they were not there at the time of the attack.

The Indian consulate in New York said it was in close communication with police.

"Our condolences to the bereaved family. We are in constant touch with the Police and family. We are confident about the culprit being brought to book," the Indian consulate in New York tweeted.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, Externa Affairs Minister tweeted Tuesday that she was aware of the crime and did not believe it to be a hate crime.

According to her tweets, one of the murder victims was an Indian resident in the US on a visit.

Members of a Gurdwara at Guru Nanak Society of Greater Cincinnati, said the four family members had worshipped there.

A motive behind the slayings remains unclear, and there were no indications if it was hate crime, the report said.

No suspect has been identified.

Such violent crime is rare in the township of some 62,000 people roughly 323 kilometers north of Cincinnati.

Herzog reassured residents Monday that he did not think there was a threat to the community and that the killings appear "isolated".
Four engineering college students including two girls were killed when their car fell into a roadside pit in Yadadri-Bhongir district of Telangana, police said Wednesday.

The students were proceeding from Bommalaramaram to Kondamadugu last night when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it plunged into a pit by the road, they said.

While three died on the spot, another passed away at a hospital, they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Navies of India and France Wednesday began the first phase of a mega naval exercise off the coast of Goa which is aimed at developing inter-operability between the the two forces in dealing with various security challenges.

The first part of the joint naval exercise, 'Varuna', is being held from May 1-10 off the Goa coast, while the second phase is scheduled for later this month in strategically located Djibouti, Navy officials said.

French Navy's aircraft carrier FNS Charles de Gaulle, two destroyers, FNS Forbin and FNS Provence, frigate FNS Latouche-Treville, tanker FNS Marne and a nuclear submarine will participate at the exercise, they said.

From the Indian side, aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, destroyer INS Mumbai, Teg-class frigate INS Tarkash, Shishumar-class submarine INS Shankul, and Deepak-class fleet tanker INS Deepak, will participate in the drill, they said.

The harbour phase at Goa would include professional interactions and discussions while the sea phase would comprise various drills across the spectrum of maritime operations, Indian Navy spokesperson Capt D K Sharma said.

The bilateral naval exercise was initiated in 1983 and it was christened as 'Varuna' in 2001.

"Having grown in scope and complexity over the years, this exercise exemplifies the strong relations between the two nations, in line with the Joint Strategic Vision of India-French Cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region," the Navy said in a statement.

It said the exercise aims at developing interoperability between the two navies and fostering mutual cooperation by learning from each other's best practices to conduct joint operations.

"The exercise underscores the shared interests and commitment of both nations in promoting maritime security," said the Navy.

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Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinas EV startup NIO said a firing incident occurring to an ES8 SUV on April 22 resulted from short circuit after its battery pack was struck in chassis impacts, which was unlike most accidents that were caused by battery quality.

The startup on April 30 gave the statement via its official Sina Weibo account that the damaged NIO ES8 was sent to a service spot in Xian for the front window shield replacement and the front bumper repair. Its chassis was not checked prior to the maintenance since this part was not included the demanded items. The maintenance was completed on April 21, and then the vehicle was placed at the parking lot of the service center.

According to the statement, the smoke emerged at 141 p.m. on April 22, and seven minutes later the flame appeared. Fortunately, the fire was quenched very soon after a fire brigade came to the scene and no casualty or property damage happened in the unexpected incident.

The vehicles chassis suffered severe impacts before the maintenance, which largely deformed the battery packs left-rear shell and the cooling plate. The squeezed inside structure of the battery pack led to short circuit, eventually giving rise to the fire, said NIO.

Tesla also sent a team to investigate a video circulating on China's Twitter-like social media that showed a white Tesla Model S parked in a Shanghai parking lot bursting into flames right before NIOs incident. Apart from that, Chinese automaker BYD also reported a burning accident occurring to a BYD e5 car in Wuhan on April 24, while the battery pack remained intact.


When the 49th Rosenstiel Award was announced in October 2019, no one anticipated that winners Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius would be unable to come to Brandeis to receive their award because of a global pandemic.

Almost two years to the week that the Rostenstiel was announced, Patapoutian and Julius were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

While they will be the first Rosenstiel awards to attend their Rosenstiel ceremony as Nobel winners, over its five decades the Rosenstiel has become an award that frequently preceeds the Nobel. Patapoutian and Julius are now the 37th and 38th Rosenstiel awardees to receive the Nobel.

A new online ceremony for the 49th Rosenstiel Awards, featuring a webinar, has been scheduled for October 12, 2021. Registration is available online.

Updated information was added to this article on Oct.4, 2021.

Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius were announced awarded The 49th Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research has been awarded in or their fundamental and far-reaching studies of the molecular mechanisms of touch, temperature and pain.

David Julius is professor and chair of the department of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. His lab identified the channels that respond to heating and cooling the skin, leading to a broad understanding of how our bodies sense temperature.

He also solved a long-standing puzzle by showing that capsaicin, the pungent agent in hot chili peppers, appears hot because it activates the TRPV1 heat receptor, while menthol feels cold because it activates the TRPM8 cold receptor.

This work has also led to profound insights into how pain is sensed and how inflammation affects pain sensitivity.

Julius is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the winner of a number of awards, including the W. Alden Spencer Prize, the Kenneth S. Cole Award of the Biophysical Society, the Shaw Prize, the Canada Gairdner International Award and the Breakthrough Prize.

Ardem Patapoutian is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in the department of neuroscience at Scripps Research in California as well as an adjunct professor in the neuroscience program of the University of California, San Diego.

He and his colleagues contributed importantly to studies of temperature sensation, and subsequently turned their attention to how the skin senses mechanical stimuli. They identified the Piezo channel proteins that enable touch sensing and proprioception.

They went on to show that these channels play many unexpected roles in cell physiology, including the regulation of red blood cell volume and the properties of airways in the lung. He has since identified other channels that sense other mechanical stimuli.

Patapoutian is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as a winner of the W. Alden Spencer Prize.

The Rosenstiel Award has had a distinguished record of identifying and honoring pioneering scientists who subsequently have been honored with the Lasker Award and Nobel prizes.

In 2020, the Rosenstiel Award was conferred on Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissmann, for their pioneering work in the development of mRNA vaccines

In 2018, the award was conferred on Stephen C. Harrison (Harvard) for his elucidation of protein structures using X-ray crystallography. In 2017, Titia de Lange (Rockefeller University) was named for her pioneering work on how cells preserve the integrity of their chromosomes.

In 2017 Professor Titia de Lange (Rockefeller University) was named for her pioneering work on how cells preserve the integrity of their chromosomes.

for

In 2016, Susan Lindquist (MIT) was cited for her work on the association of protein aggregation and neurological disease. In 2015, Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi (Tokyo Institute of Technology) was the recipienthis description of protein degradation through the process of autophagy.
France Wednesday welcomed the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, saying the decision signalled the successful realisation of efforts to ban him.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN designated Pakistan-based JeM chief Azhar as a 'global terrorist' after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

"For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Mr Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February," a spokesperson of France's Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said.

The official said, "This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts."



France also said it remained mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism.

In application of its Monetary and Financial Code, France had adopted national sanctions against Azhar on March 15.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US in the Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
France on Wednesday welcomed the United Nations' move to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist", saying it "signals the successful realisation" of its efforts.

France along with the UK and the US had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist" in the UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February, just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We welcome the designation today, by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, of Masood Azhar on the UN's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," according to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs of France.

For many years, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack", it said.

France had adopted national sanctions against Azhar on March 15.

The UNSC's decision "signals the successful realisation of our efforts", it said.

"France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism," the statement added.

Meanwhile, a French official at UN told PTI, "We commend this designation; we have been advocating for the sanctioning of Masood Azhar for many years. This an outcome of these efforts. We will remain committed to the fight against terrorism at all levels, at the UN and in other organisations."



In a huge diplomatic win for India, the UN on Wednesday designated Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal.

(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 Wednesday continued his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the "frustrated man" was only worried about the dresses worn by the opposition leaders.

The Telugu Desam Party president also again hit out at the Election Commission of India, alleging that it talked all illogical things.

Taking on the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister pointed out that the Model Code of Conduct (for elections) was not preventing Modi from talking or doing anything.

"All the PM's speeches are objectionable. Army jawans' sacrifices, Balakot, hate speeches...his reference to 40 MLAs of West Bengal being in touch with him... There are 40 complaints over MCC violation by PM, but there is no action.

They (ECI) are only thinking about controlling opposition parties. Not taking action against the Prime Minister despite Supreme Court directive. This is atrocious," Chandrababu Naidu said at a press conference here.

Alleging that the Prime Minister was in such frustration, the Chief Minister said Modi was talking about oppositions dresses.

"His focus is only on dresses since he wears Rs 10 lakh worth suits. He thinks others will also wear such expensive dresses, but opposition parties are not giving importance to dresses. Only for Modi it is a priority," he said.

"Every time, he wants new dresses... morning one, afternoon one and evening another. When he goes abroad, he follows a different dress code.

Dress code for breakfast, lunch, evening reception Opposition parties have no such urge. They are wearing only one dress...simple dress," Chandrababu Naidu observed.

Referring to the Prime Ministers reported remark that the so-called 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance of opposition parties) would vanish on May 23 and that opposition parties would tear away each other's dresses, the TDP chief alleged that the former has "degraded" the PMs position.

"How cheap he is talking? He has degraded the PMs position. Nehru, Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh gave dignity to the post but its lost because of Modi," Naidu added.

He maintained that the opposition parties would select their prime ministerial candidate by consensus after the election results were declared.

"Modi is asking Kaun Banega PM? He also says we are playing hide and seek. There is no hide and seek. We have been clear that after elections we will sit and elect the PM through consensus," he said.

There was a "democratic compulsion" and it (selection of PM) would happen automatically.

"We are committed to it and he (Modi) need not have any doubts over this. I am warning him to keep this in mind," Naidu added.

Venting his ire at the ECI, he accused it of talking all illogical things.

"ECI says six days time is needed for counting VVPAT slips. When they could count complicated EVMs, why do you need observers for counting VVPAT slips? Why, what is the logic I am unable to understand even now," he said.

All the opposition parties, which filed a review petition in the Supreme Court on the counting of VVPAT slips, were now demanding that the entire Assembly segments slips be counted if there was any discrepancy in the counting of VVPAT slips in five polling stations.

"What we are demanding is transparency. If required, we will file a fresh petition in the Apex Court," he said.

Lamenting that the EC had not responded to his April 25 letter,seeking permission to conduct official review meetings, Naidu said CMs were now in a situation of "begging" the ECI.

"AP is facing the threat of cyclone Fani. Odishas coastal districts have been exempted from the model code. Same thing they have to do for AP now," he said.

Referring to the cyclone review taken up by the National Crisis Management Committee under the instructions of the Prime Minister, Naidu asked if the ECI permitted this.

"Is only the PM permitted? Why not others? ECI should answer," he said.

ECs role was only to conduct elections in an efficient manner, he pointed out.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari complained of uneasiness as his blood pressure had shot up during an election rally in Himachal Pradesh's tribal Kinnaur district on Wednesday, a state BJP leader said.

The Road Transport and Highways Minister was immediately attended to by a team of doctors and a tweet on his official handle later said that he was doing fine.

After the rally, Gadkari had complained of uneasiness as his blood sugar level had shot up, the BJP leader said.

Subsequently a team of doctors, led by Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital's senior medical superintendent Dr Janak Raj, reached Wildflower Hall in Charabra in Shimla district, where Gadkari was staying, the BJP leader said.

Dr Raj said after the clinical examination Gadkari's indicators were found to be within normal limits.

"Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is doing fine. Doctors in Shimla have conducted a routine examination. Misleading reports on Gadkari's health are being spread. Do not pay any heed to them," read a tweet on Gadkari's official handle.

Earlier during the rally, which was held in favour of BJP's Mandi candidate Ramswroop Sharma, Gadkari urged voters to help form a BJP government at the centre.

"We are bringing new mode of transport, including flying cable and double-decker buses, for the hilly states. Besides we are also constructing all weather roads," he said.

Former Kinnaur MLA Tejwant Singh Negi, Forest Corporation Vice President Surat Negi and BJP Kinnaur president Vinay Negi were present during the rally.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, is a blue-eyed boy of Pakistan's spy agency which masterminded several audacious attacks on including the 2001 Parliament strike and the recent Pulwama carnage in February that pushed the two countries to the brink of war.

A known fugitive, 50-year-old Azhar, who formed the JeM in 2000, was branded the brain behind various suicide strikes in and known to have finetuned terror tactics which included survey of potential targets before carrying out the attack.

The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the was moved by France, UK and the US on February 27.

The proposal was the fourth attempt at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

Azhar's terror academy in Balakot faced a blitzkrieg from jets early hours of February 26 after the Pulwama attack on February 14 in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

For two decades after his release in exchange for passengers of a hijacked plane in 1999, Azhar has since been the darling of Pakistan's external snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

After the release of Azhar by on December 31, 1999, his newly acquired stature in jehadi circles in came in handy for the who convinced clerics at the Binori mosque in to accept Azhar's leadership and thus, on January 31, 2000, the JeM was born.

But despite earning a reputation of being a "manufacturer of suicide attackers", Azhar was not a hard nut to crack when he was in the custody of Indian forces, according to officials.

A former police officer, who interrogated Azhar after his arrest in 1994, said he got shaken up on the first "slap" from an jawan, prompting him to blurt out details of not only his movements but also of other terror groups operating from

Azhar was arrested in Anantnag in South in February 1994 after he had entered into India on a Portuguese passport through It was a chance arrest. He along with Sajjad Afghani were travelling in an auto when it was stopped by armymen at Khanabal.

"Both ran from the autorickshaw prompting the men to nab them. men were happy to find Sajjad Afghani and had a little knowledge about the other," former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey, who interrogated Azhar many times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau, told PTI.

The son of a retired school headmaster from Bhawalpur in Pakistan, Azhar always felt his custody in India was going to be short-lived and that attempts would be made for his release.

Attempts were indeed made - the first one within 10 months of his arrest when some foreigners were kidnapped from and the captors demanded his release. The plot failed when the and Police managed to get the hostages freed from captivity in Sahranpur.

During that raid on Saharanpur raid, police arrested another militant, Omar Sheikh, who would eventually be released along with Azhar in exchange for the passengers of the 1999 hijacked flight IC814. Sheikh late became well known after he beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in

Another attempt to release him was made by a shadow group of Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Faran, which demanded his release in exchange of five foreigners kidnapped in in July 1995.

A tunnel was dug in Kot Balwal jail in 1999 for his escape but Azhar could not move out because of his unusual body structure - he was overweight and had large belly that was too big to be squeezed through the tunnel. However, in the process, Sajjad Afghani was killed.

Finally, he was released by the BJP-led NDA government in 1999, along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram', in exchange of the passengers of the hijacked flight IC-814.

The Kathmandu-New plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in by Azhar's men.

After the negotiations with hijackers failed, the government succumbed to their demands and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists to Kandahar in a special plane to ensure the safe release of passengers of the hijacked plane.

Thus began a new chapter of terror in as well as rest of India.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India.

JeM announced its arrival in the in 2000 by carrying out a suicide car bombing attack at the gate of Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar, the headquarters of the Army's 15 Corps. Two armymen were killed in the attack.

Later, it was involved in the attack on Parliament, the Pathankot air force base, army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 personnel.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Goa government will write to the Election Commission of India requesting it to revoke the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in South Goa district, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said Wednesday.

The MCC was imposed on March 10 ahead of the April 23 Lok Sabha elections in the state.

The code, however, will continue in North Goa as bypoll to Panaji constituency in the district is scheduled for May 19.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told reporters in Panaji that he would write to the Commission Thursday.

"Various development works are pending due to the code of conduct," he said.

The government would request for "total" lifting of the code in South Goa, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Goa Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai Wednesday proposed that agriculture be made part of school curriculum in the coastal state.

Addressing a gathering at Fatorda in South Goa, the minister said the students who prefer farming as a profession in future, would become model citizens if they are taught agriculture in schools.

"Like History and Civics, agriculture should also become a part of school curriculum as a work experience. The students who take up agriculture should get more marks. A child would become a model Goan citizen after practicing agriculture (sic)," the minister said, adding that he would discuss his proposal with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

Sardesai, who also holds Agriculture portfolio, was speaking at a summer camp for students, which was organised in association with the Directorate of Agriculture.

The minister also suggested that the state Agriculture department can establish an "agriculture academic cell", which would be the first-of-its-kind in the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government Wednesday curtailed the time period for sale of electoral bonds by the SBI in the current month to only 5 days from May 6, instead of 10 days as was announced earlier.

The government, however, did not give any reason for reducing the time period for sale of electoral bonds.

"The Government of India has now decided to restrict the next phase of Electoral Bonds sale to May 6, 2019 to May 10, 2019 (instead of May 6, 2019 to May 15, 2019 scheduled and notified earlier)," a finance ministry statement said.

Ahead of the general elections, the government in February had announced that electoral bonds will be sold in three tranches from March 1-15, April 1-20 and May 6-15.

The 7-phase general elections, which begun on April 11, will continue till May 19 and counting of vote will take place on May 23.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is hearing a petition by NGO 'Association of Democratic Reforms' which had prayed that the issuance of electoral bonds be stayed or the names of donors be made public.

The Supreme Court last month had asked political parties to furnish by May 30 all the details of funds received through electoral bonds to the Election Commission in a sealed cover.

The government had brought in scheme as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of its efforts to bring transparency in political funding.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches, in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Ranchi, and Bengaluru.

The electoral bonds will be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee political party if the bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.

The deposited by an eligible political party in its account will be credited on the same day.

As per provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or entities incorporated or established in India.

Registered political parties that have secured not less than 1 per cent of the votes polled in the last election of the Lok Sabha or legislative assembly will be eligible to receive electoral bonds.

The SBI is the only authorised bank to issue such bonds. A person can buy electoral bonds, either single or jointly, with other individuals.
/ -- GRUH FINANCE LTD.

FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD APRIL 1, 2018 TO MARCH 31, 2019



The Board of Directors of GRUH Finance Ltd. (GRUH) - a subsidiary of HDFC Ltd. - has approved the annual audited financial results for the year ended March 31, 2019 at their meeting held in Mumbai on April 30, 2019.

The Company has adopted Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) from April 1, 2018 and the effective date of such transition is April 1, 2017. The comparative figures of corresponding period have been restated to make them comparable. The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) as prescribed under Section 133 of the Companies Act, 2013 read with Rule 3 of the Companies (Indian Accounting Standards) Rules, 2015 and relevant amendment rules thereafter.

FINANCIAL RESULTS



Profit after tax for the year amounted to ? 446.67 crore as compared to ? 402.56 crore for the previous year indicating a growth of 11%.

Dividend



The Board of Directors have recommended a dividend of ? 2 per share on face value of ? 2 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2019. Considering that the company had declared a 1:1 bonus during the year, the effective dividend for the year is ? 4 per share (pre-bonus) as compared to ? 3.30 per equity share in the previous year.

LENDING OPERATIONS



The loan portfolio as at March 31, 2019 amounted to ? 17,408 crore as against ? 15,588 crore in the previous year - an increase of 12%.

Income from Operations at ? 2,027 crore recorded a growth of 20% as against ? 1,694 crore in the previous year. The Net Interest Margin for the year is 4.00% and Non-Interest Expenses to Average Total Assets is 0.68%. The Return on Average Net worth is 25.92%.

Loan disbursements during the year were ? 4,936 crore as against ? 5,259 crore in the previous year.

Retail Home Loans at ? 4,213 crore during the year constituted 85% of total disbursement of ? 4,936 crore.

As per Ind AS norms, the Stage 1 Loan Assets have improved from 94.48% as on March 31, 2018 to 95.58% as on March 31, 2019. Loans under Stage 2 have improved from 5.07% as on March 31, 2018 to 3.76% as on March 31, 2019. Loans under Stage 3 have increased from 0.45% as on March 31, 2018 to 0.66% as on March 31, 2019.

As per requirement of Ind AS 109, provision for expected credit losses are to be carried in the Balance Sheet based on Expected Future Credit Losses. Accordingly, GRUH is required to carry provisions of ? 45.16 crore towards expected future credit losses which is 0.26% on Loan Assets of ? 17,408 crore. Against that, GRUH is actually carrying a provision of ? 119.58 crore as on March 31, 2019.

CAPITAL ADEQUACY RATIO



Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) for the company stands at 20.23% as at March 31, 2019 as against the required minimum CAR of 12% as stipulated by NHB. The Tier I Capital stands at 19.19% while Tier II capital is 1.04%.

DEPOSITS



GRUHs outstanding deposits portfolio is ? 1,562 crore, up from ? 1,458 crore during the year indicating a growth of 7%.

GRUH's Fixed Deposit programme is rated "FAAA(*)" by CRISIL and "MAAA(*)" by ICRA. The rating of "FAAA(*)" and "MAAA(*)" indicates the degree of safety of repayment of principal and interest is Very Strong.

GRUH's Short Term borrowings including Commercial Paper (CP) and short term NCD's is rated at "A1(+)" by ICRA and CRISIL



GRUH's Long term Non-Convertible Debenture (NCD) and Subordinated Debt NCD's (Tier II) is rated AAA(*) by ICRA and CRISIL.

(*) indicates 'Rating watch with Negative Implications' post-merger announcement on January 7, 2019



RETAIL NETWORK



GRUH expanded its retail office network to 195 offices across 11 states of the country. GRUH has 48 offices in Gujarat, 51 offices in Maharashtra, 17 offices in Karnataka, 33 offices in Madhya Pradesh, 14 offices in Rajasthan, 11 offices in Chhattisgarh, 12 offices in Tamil Nadu, 5 office in Uttar Pradesh, 2 offices in West Bengal and one each in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Source: GRUH Finance Ltd.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Gujarat government is working for an out-of-court settlement of cases filed by PepsiCo against nine state farmers for growing a variety of potato "registered" by the food and beverages giant, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Wednesday.

Nine farmers from Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts have been sued by PepsiCo in two separate courts for allegedly growing a variety of potatoes for which the company has claimed plant variety protection (PVP) rights and sought damages of as much as Rs 1 crore from each of them.

The American MNC has claimed the potato variety in question has been "registered" by it.

"The government is trying to ensure that the issue is resolved outside the court properly and as per the law, in a manner that it is helpful to farmers.

"The agriculture secretary and chief secretary have been informed regarding the same," Patel told reporters here.

PepsiCo had last week offered to settle lawsuits against the farmers, but only if they gave an undertaking to purchase this specific variety of seeds from the company and sell the potato to it.

Meanwhile, farmer organisations have threatened an agitation over the issue and also a boycott of PepsiCo products.

"Farmer organisations and legal experts are meeting on May 3 to discuss the matter and ensure that a landmark decision is made in this regard for the entire world," said Kapil Shah of the Jatan Trust.

Farmer rights activists have claimed the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Right (PPVFR) Act, 2001, which has been invoked by PepsiCo in its lawsuits against the farmers, has a section that protects agriculturists in such cases.

Farmers can "save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under the PPV&FR Act, 2001 in the same manner as he was entitled before the coming into force of this Act provided farmer shall not be entitled to sell branded seed of a variety protected under the PPV&FR Act, 2001," the Act says.

Over 190 activists had recently come out in support of the farmers facing lawsuits and requested the Union government to ask PepsiCo India to withdraw its "false" cases against them.

In a letter to the Union Ministry of Agriculture, 194 signatories had sought financial aid and protection of rights of the farmers sued for growing and selling a potato variety called FC-5 potato, for which PepsiCo India Holdings claimed to have obtained "exclusive rights in the country in 2016".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Campus News

Mame Salims continuing journey of empowerment

By CHARLES ANZALONE

Im breaking barriers and obstacles because I didnt get married at a young age. Marriage wasnt really something I was interested in, not at that young age.  Mame Salim, UB senior

Editors note: UBNow continues its series of profiles on UB students already making a difference in their professions. These profiles are intended to show the breadth and scope of the universitys new breed of leaders.

When Mame Salim was 6 and her family was living in Buffalo after immigrating from Kenya a few months earlier, a woman from Journeys End Refugee Services came to her home on Buffalos West Side to help her learn English. Every time Salim would do well, the woman gave her those tiny Goldfish crackers. She cant remember her name, but Salim learned quickly with her. Salim had a handful of personal tutors, but this was the woman who made the biggest impression. Twice a week. Reading to her one-on-one. Salim learned more English with this woman than anyone else, and by the time she was in second grade, she was fluent in English. Whenever I see those Goldfish crackers, I always think of her, Salim says. Thats how I remember her. In the lineup of UBs new generation of leaders, Salim must be counted in the front row. Shes a grassroots kind of leader, born in a refugee camp in Kenya, someone poised to change the increasingly global world a little at a time. Shes someone who has already reached out to the populations most in need. Mame is someone who always thinks about what she can do to make a difference in this world, and she is driven to use her exceptional talents and abilities to do so, says Keith Griffler, associate professor in the Department of Transnational Studies, who Salim says is one of the UB professors who knows her well. Mame impresses me with her passion to play a role in the betterment of society and her compassion for others. I expect to hear great things about her over the years as she helps her generation tackle the difficult challenges they have inherited and work to leave the world a better place than they found it.

A leader in her community

Salim is already a leader for her neighborhood. When she was in fourth grade, her family moved to South Buffalo, where she lives now, but she maintains a strong tie to the girls in her old neighborhood when her family lived on Grant Street and Bird Avenue. She wouldnt say shes a leader for other university students, although others would disagree. But Salim does recognize her influence for those African refugees in her Somali Bantu community and their children trying to make new lives for themselves in Buffalo. For my community, even though we are in America now, we still have our customs and beliefs, says Salim, a senior majoring in psychology and Italian. One of the things is for girls, you get married at a young age. Like 15. A lot of them dont end up going to high school. And I was one of the few girls in the community to actually go to high school, or college. Im breaking barriers and obstacles because I didnt get married at a young age, she says. Marriage wasnt really something I was interested in, not at that young age. Salims father, born in Somalia but who Salim considers Kenyan, now works as a teacher assistant in Buffalo P.S. School 30, the Frank A. Sedita Academy. He used to hold English classes for Salim and her neighborhood friends. Her mother is Somalian, and still works in housekeeping, a job she has done for many years. Her parents encouraged her to pursue higher education. Salim is set to graduate this spring. Her parents felt strongly about her becoming a doctor. It took a while, Salim says, but now they accept her goal of working toward a masters degree in clinical and school social work. Still, no matter what she studies, her life path speaks loudly to those who see her as an example.

Taking a different path

A lot of those girls, I just feel bad for them because, honestly, its a cultural thing, Salim says. You get pressure from the community. Every time I go to the community, its like Oh, what are you doing? Are you married? Its the first question you get as a female. Are you married? I noticed with a lot of girls, instead of getting married right out of middle school, a lot of them are finishing high school, and then getting married. OK, were making progress. Thats better. Salim has a steady stream of faculty sponsors. Maureen Jameson, associate professor of French and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, met her when she took RLL 496, Tutoring Language and Narrative in Immigrant Communities, an experiential learning course Jameson developed and teaches. If there ever was a young leader for todays multicultural, global age, Jameson says, its Salim. It occurred to me to point out that Mame really does haveand this is so rarea complete grasp from the inside of what it is to be African, and of what it is to be African-American, says Jameson. Layered on top of that is her experience in Italy (Salim last year volunteered to teach English at a summer camp in Solaro, Italy), where she saw how Italians live, but also how non-Italians live in Italy. And layered still on top of that, she is a hijab-wearing Muslim woman in a country now dominated by anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment.

A breadth of perspective

Jameson says shes also impressed by Salims breadth of her perspective. She speaks a couple of African languages, as I recall, and remembers a fair amount from her childhood. On the other hand, she came to the U.S. early enough that she has no trace of an accent, and is fully conversant with the good and not-so-good aspects of her adopted country. She has seen and been through so much that she can really lay waste to some of our deluded notions. She isn't negativeon the contrary, the first thing youll see is a great smile and cordial personality. Salims ease and gift for accepting and understanding different cultures were on display when she spent the summer teaching English in Solara, according to Laura Chiesa, associate professor of Italian. Chiesa has particular respect for Salims ability to assimilate into another culture and relate to those different from herself. I really admire her, says Chiesa, who praises Salims sense of justice and multicultural awareness, and her ability to elaborate ideas in the humanities, adding she is proud Italian is one of Salims majors. She has the ability to relate to other people, says Chiesa. She is able to foster her interest in seeing how the world is not one culture. Then she is able to navigate through the differences and to embrace others. She is an exceptionally promising young adult for the 21st century, Chiesa says. And I am looking forward to hearing more about her professional life in the time to come.

Powerful childhood memories

Salims memories of childhood are spare but powerful. She remembers walking uphill on a deserted street at a very young age and seeing men with guns coming the other way. Somehow she was alone, she says, when she saw the armed men approaching. A woman she had never seen before came out in the road and pulled Salim into her house. She also remembers Turkanas (an ethnic group in Ethiopia) coming to her side of the refugee camp and stealing livestock. When her people would see them coming, they would try to hold off the Turkanas by throwing rocks. The dangerous and menacing memories of those first six years of life continue. Salim doesnt pinpoint her exact age (she had to be younger than 6), but remembers walking with another young girl in Kenya. The two girls didnt realize they were nearing a cliff. Salims friend fell off the cliff and died. Another time, she remembers men breaking into her tent in the refugee camp and stealing all the familys possessions. We had to pretend we were sleeping so they wouldnt kill us, she says.

Affable, but assertive
The Madras High Court has cautioned Tamil Nadu may have to "beg" for water from other states and countries if the natural resource and its storage places are not properly preserved.

A bench of justices M Venugopal and S Vaidyanathan made the observation as it faulted the state government for earmarking part of backwater land here for an RTO office and a university and struck down the orders issued in 2013 and 2014.

Referring to national poet Subramanya Bharathi's suggestion even before the Independence that excess water from the Bengal region may be used to irrigate other areas of the country, it said actually such a need would not arise if the water was properly stored in wetlands instead of letting it to run to the ocean.

It quashed the Government Orders issued by the Revenue department transferring the backwater land for construction of a Regional Transport Office building and for setting up Tamil Nadu Music and Fine Arts University.

The bench allowed a PIL from Nature Trust, involved in protecting the and natural resources, represented by its founder and managing trustee I H Sekar.

"...if water and its storage places are not properly preserved/maintained, the day is not far off for us to beg water from other states/countries," the bench said in its order.

Quashing the GOs, the court said the main objective for introduction of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 was that the wetlands shall be conserved and managed in accordance with the principle of 'wise use' as determined by Wetlands Authority.

However, the court said the decision of the government in transferring such lands would certainly defeat the purpose, for which the new rule was introduced.

Rejecting the government's contention that only a small portion of the wetland was transferred, the court said, "The starting point for encroachment is an allotment of the small portion of environmental areas for some other purpose and later on, it will be widespread throughout, thereby polluting the rest of the areas."



Though a six feet space was sufficient for burial of a dead body, several burials will become a graveyard, it added.

The bench said it was needless to state that in case of any encroachment on the wetlands, authorities shall, by displaying this order, immediately act upon and ensure they were removed without showing any indulgence and sympathy.

The court fixed the responsibility on the state chief secretary and wetland authority and their team for survey and removal of encroachments on the wetlands and said any negligence or lethargic attitude shall be viewed seriously.

Further, the bench said any non-compliance of its order would be construed as contempt and the violators would be punished with imprisonment.

Officials, if found guilty of not removing such encroachments, may be suspended and dismissed from service for their misconduct, dereliction of duty and lack of integrity so as to deprive their entire gratuity and terminal benefits.

According to petitioner, the 61.60 acres of land in Sholinganallur, lying adjacent to Buckingham Canal which drains excess water into sea, had been classified as 'backwater (kazhuveli) land' in the Revenue records.

These lands help avoid and mitigate the effects of floods during excess rains and high tides such as tsunami and to store the excess water entering into the Buckingham Canal, thereby preventing wastage of water into the sea.

The lands also facilitate the recharging of wells and ponds, among others, in the nearby Villages and provides aquifer effect.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttarakhand High Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to submit a reply within three days on whether it plans to construct a permanent NIT campus at Sumadi in the state's Pauri district.

National Institute of Technology, Srinagar Garhwal suffers from lack of basic facilities and absence of a permanent campus, which had forced over one hundred students to return to their homes en masse some months back as a mark of protest.

The court also asked the central government to work out the details of construction of a permanent campus for the institute in Sumadi.

The division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Rangnathan and Justice Narayan Singh Dhanik also directed IIT-Roorkee and Central Public Works Department to present the geological report of the area to the court.

The High Court directed the government to submit a reply within three days.

Jasvir Singh, a former alumni of the premiere institute, had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) saying that his college started functioning nine years ago but did not get a permanent campus.

The court had earlier directed the government to identify four areas in plains and hilly areas as proposed sites for the construction of a permanent campus and submit its report but there was no response from the government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 69 people were injured in Caracas on Tuesday, two from gunfire, during clashes between demonstrators and security forces, Venezuela's health services said.

Local press said a third person suffered a gunshot wound while the government claimed a soldier was hit by a bullet during the clashes sparked by a call from Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido on the military to help him force President Nicolas Maduro from power.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Wednesday reported 23 per cent increase in domestic sales at 11,272 units in April as against 9,143 units in the same month last year.

The company's April sales growth is primarily due to lower base effect, as there was no 'Amaze' in corresponding month last year during model runout, HCIL Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing Rajesh Goel said.

The ongoing elections and overall subdued market sentiment continue to affect the sales momentum, he added.

"Going forward, the industry is heading towards a tougher year impacting sales due to volatility in fuel prices, increase in car prices owing to new regulations and stricter inventory control for smooth switchover to BS VI regime by year end," Goel said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China-based outsold Apple's iPhones in the first quarter of this year, seizing the California company's second place spot in a tightening smartphone market dominated by Samsung, a tracker said Tuesday.

A total of 310.8 million smartphones were shipped globally during the first three months of this year in a 6.6 per cent decline from the same period in 2018, according to preliminary data from the Chinese-owned Data Corporation.

It was the sixth consecutive quarter of decline for global smartphone shipments, the market tracker added.

IDC saw the results as a sign that 2019 will be another down year overall for smartphone shipments, apart from strong growth by

"It is becoming increasingly clear that is laser focused on growing its stature in the world of mobile devices, with smartphones being its lead horse," said IDC mobile device program director Ryan Reith.

"The overall smartphone market continues to be challenged in almost all areas, yet Huawei was able to grow shipments by 50 per cent." South Korean consumer electronics behemoth Samsung saw smartphone shipments drop 8.1 per cent to 71.9 million in the first quarter.

Huawei, meanwhile, weighed in with 50.3 per cent growth to ship 59.1 million smartphones and put it within "striking distance" of Samsung, according to IDC.

ALSO READ: Vodafone identified Huawei security flaw years before Western govts did

Apple had a challenging first quarter, with iPhone shipments dropping by a "staggering" 30.2 per cent from a year earlier to 36.4 million units, IDC reported. Price cuts in China along with favorable trade-in deals were not enough to coax people into upgrading to new iPhones, the market tracker said.

Apple delivered stronger-than-expected financial results for the past quarter as gains in services helped offset slumping iPhone sales, sparking a rally in shares of the technology giant.

ALSO READ: US intelligence accuses Huawei of being funded by Chinese state security

An overall slowdown in the high-end smartphone market has been seen as a symptom of people waiting longer to upgrade to new models and a lack of the kind of captivating innovation that inspires them to do just that.

"Consumers continue to hold on to their phones longer than before as newer higher priced models offer little incentive to shell out top dollar to upgrade," said IDC research manager Anthony Scarsella.

"Moreover, the pending arrival of 5G handsets could have consumers waiting until both the networks and devices are ready for prime time in 2020.
Senior Congress leader and party candidate from the New Delhi constituency, Ajay Maken, says full statehood will be a disaster for the national capital and the law and order in the city will become "as bad as Uttar Pradesh or Bihar".

Maken said Delhi being the national capital is "fully" funded by the Union government and that the tax burden on its people will increase if it becomes a state.

"The salary of the Delhi Police alone is Rs 8,000 crore per year. The Union government spends more than Rs 3,000 crore a year on five-six super specialty hospitals in the city. The local administration doesn't have to pay a single penny," he told PTI.

Petrol prices in Delhi are the lowest as compared to all other metros in the country because the central government bears most of the cost of fuel subsidy, he said.

"Why should the people of Delhi pay more tax just because Arvind Kejriwal wants more power?" the Congress leader asked.

"It will be a disaster for Delhi. The city will become as bad as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or any other state. Do you think Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon and Begusarai are better than Delhi in terms of law and order?" he said.

Maken, who has represented the New Delhi seat twice, also claimed there's massive discontent among government employees over the seventh pay commission recommendations.

"The seventh pay commission says there will be no pay commission in the future. The government has accepted this recommendation. What can be worse than this?" he asked.

"The first thing we will do is we will remove this recommendation and ensure that the eight pay commission is set up in time," he said.

The fifth and the sixth pay commissions recommended a 40 percent hike in salary. The seventh pay commission gave a meager 14 percent hike, Maken said.

He said the seventh pay commission also recommended abolishing 36 interest-free advances, like festival and vehicle advance, given to government employees.

"Some of these advances were restored by the government, but others were not. We will bring them back," the Congress leader added.

On his BJP rival Meenakshi Lekhi's allegation that his "shoddy" work as Union urban development minister is responsible for the sealing chaos in Delhi, Maken said he had brought in a legislation to stop sealing within a week in May 2006.

"I got more than 170 amendments (done) to Delhi's master plan. Why can't the BJP government do so if there's something wrong with it? I was the urban development minister in 2006. How can I be held responsible?" he asked.

The Congress leader also alleged that the BJP-ruled New Delhi Municipal Council had failed to regularise muster roll employees in the last five years.

Asked if he accords priority to pollution as an election issue, Maken claimed that in 2004, he became the first person in the country to include environment in his poll campaign.

The Congress leader said that as Delhi's transport minister, he oversaw the transition of the national capital's entire public transport system from diesel to CNG.

"The environment is a state subject because it is related to public transport. The main reason for depleting air quality in Delhi is vehicular pollution. The rise in the number of private vehicles is worsening the situation," he said.

"In 2013, we had 5,400 DTC buses. The number has come down to 3,500. The total passenger trips per day have also come down drastically, from 48 lakh in 2013 to 26 lakh now. So, 22 lakh passengers are using their personal transport, hence more air pollution," he said.

"The construction of the Delhi Metro has also slowed down. The government is yet to approve the detailed project report for the fourth phase," he added.

Asked if the Congress failed to build on the momentum it gained after winning three state assembly elections in December last year, Maken said the party has gone from strength to strength and put up its best candidates everywhere for Lok Sabha polls.

On alliance with regional parties, he said barring UP and Delhi, the Congress has stitched strong coalitions in almost all states.

"We have a strong alliance in Jharkhand, Bihar and Maharashtra. We have tie-ups at all the places where it matters the most," he said.

He criticised Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for trying to form an anti-BJP, anti-Congress front.

"All such people who talk about such a front are tacitly supporting the BJP. At the national level, it is only the NDA versus the UPA," he said.

On the prospects of the Congress forming the next government, Maken said, "No one gave us a chance in 2004. Our party came to power despite the 'India Shining' wave in favour of the BJP. Sonia Gandhi has said that 2004 will be repeated."



"We will win all seven seats in Delhi and will be able to form a government at the Centre," he added.

Maken said the Congress will not burden the middle class with more tax to fund its ambitious minimum income guarantee scheme.

Called Nyuntam Aay Yojana, the scheme proposes to give Rs 72,000 per year to 20 percent of India's poorest if the party emerges victorious in the Lok Sabha elections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has underlined the need for the UN to introspect why only four women have been elected as president of the world body's prestigious General Assembly in the past 70 years.

Addressing an ad-hoc working group meeting on the revitalisation of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Indian Counsellor in the UN Anjani Kumar said that Vijay Lakshmi Pandit of India had the distinction of being the first woman to serve as the President of the UN General Assembly way back in 1953.

"It is a matter of satisfaction that the current PGA is also a woman," Kumar said, adding, "we need to collectively reflect upon is the fact that there have been only four women PGAs in 73 years of the United Nations".

At present, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces of Ecuador is the President of the General Assembly (PGA). The other two PGA's were Angie Brooks of Liberia in 1969 and Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain in 2006.

Kumar said that the success of the United Nations depends, in large measure, on the effectiveness of the General Assembly in addressing issues and challenges of global importance.

"Its presiding officer, the President of the General Assembly has an important role to play in setting its agenda and shaping the outcome of the Assembly session every year.

"However, it is well-known that the funds and resources allocated to the office of the PGA are not enough to meet the requirement of its office.

"It is, therefore, important that for its effective and efficient functioning, the PGA's office is provided with the necessary financial and human resources in an institutionalised manner," he said making India's stance clear on the idea of providing necessary institutional and secretarial support to PGA's office.

It is in recognition of this need that India contributes annually to the PGA's Trust Fund, Kumar added.

He also said that the General Assembly must continue to lead in setting the global agenda and in restoring the centrality of the United Nations in formulating multilateral approaches to resolving transnational issues.

"One of the ways of ensuring this is through an effective, efficient and accountable office of the President of the General Assembly," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India Wednesday called for concerted efforts across Asia to ensure energy security in the region for sustainable development and poverty eradication by pursuing non-polluting renewable sources such as solar power.

Speaking at the 16th Ministerial Meeting of Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in Doha, Qatar, Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh urged the Member States to join the International Solar Alliance launched in November 2015.

Emphasising on the theme "Partners in Progress, he underlined India's desire for working cooperatively with all ACD Member States in line with the Government of India's approach of "Collective Efforts, Inclusive Growth.

He stressed on the need for concerted efforts across Asia to ensure energy security in the region for sustainable development and poverty eradication by pursuing non-polluting renewable sources such as solar power.

The minister also underscored the keenness of India, being a founder member of ACD, to play an enabling role for ensuring collective action on various objectives and projects of ACD in order to promote the pursuit of stability, peace, growth and prosperity.

He talked about food security, adequate access to fresh water, research and innovation, financial inclusion and sought enhanced collaboration from the member states in these sectors.

The minister also expressed profound sorrow for April 21 terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka and emphasised the need for the world community to expeditiously adopt the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (UNCCIT).

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Senior officials of and are likely to hold fifth round of negotiations for a bilateral preferential trade agreement (PTA) here this month, an official said.

Till now, four rounds of negotiations have been completed and the last one was held in March in where both countries discussed draft text of the pact.

"Both sides have tentatively agreed to hold the fifth round of talks here this month," the official added.

Unlike in a free trade pact, where two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate duties on maximum number of goods traded between them, PTA involves removal of duties on certain identified products.

"The PTA may not help in bypassing trade sanctions being imposed by the US on Iran, but in the long run, is an important market for Indian exporters," Biswajit Dhar, a professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said.

Trade Promotion Council of (TPCI) Chairman Mohit Singla said the PTA is important as India will be able to diversify its export basket which is now limited to agri products.

"With a carefully designed PTA, strategic products such as leather, textiles and ready made garments, which attract very high duties in can become naturally competitive and India will be able to leverage its export strengths," he said.

(FIEO) said Iran holds huge export opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, chemicals, machinery, pharmaceuticals, paper and paper products, man-made fibre and filament yarn and essential oils.

"The PTA will help India in its long run to increase exports," FIEO DG Jay Sahai said.

Iran's major exports to India are oil, fertilisers and while imports include cereals, tea, coffee, spices and organic

India's exports to the nation in 2017-18 were worth USD 2.65 billion, while imports were valued at USD 11.11 billion. The trade imbalance is mainly because of India's import of from Iran.

India, the world's third-biggest consumer, meets more than 80 per cent of its needs through imports. Iran in 2017-18 was its third-largest supplier after and and meets about 10 per cent of the total needs.
India Wednesday welcomed the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, nearly a decade after it first pushed for banning the Pakistan-based terrorist by the world body.

In its reaction, the External Affairs Ministry said Azhar's designation as a UN proscribed terrorist is a step in the right direction and that India will continue its efforts to bring terror groups and their leaders to justice.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar as global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him.

"The 1267 Sanctions Committee's decision to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, Masood Azhar, as a UN proscribed terrorist is a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers. We welcome the decision," MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

France, the UK and the US had moved a fresh proposal to declare Azhar as global terrorist by the UN in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in February in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, China put a technical hold on the proposal, blocking it for fourth time to designate Azhar. The Chinese move was termed "disappointing" by India. On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal.

"This is in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Mohammed," Kumar said.

"India will continue with its efforts through international forums to ensure that terrorist organisations and their leaders who cause harm to our citizens are brought to justice," he added.

In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar. In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India Wednesday welcomed the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN with Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing it as a "big success" for the country's efforts to root out terrorism.

Political parties cutting across ideological divide as well as strategic affairs experts also hailed the UN action against the Pakistan-based Azhar, nearly a decade after India first pushed for banning the terrorist, who is the mastermind of several major terror strikes in India.

"It is a big success for India's efforts to root out terrorism... India's voice is being heard globally. India's views cannot be ignored any longer, it has been proved," Modi said an election rally in Jaipur.

In its reaction, the External Affairs Ministry called Azhar's designation as a UN proscribed terrorist as a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers.

The UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him.

BJP president Amit Shah and several other party leaders credited Modi for Azhar's listing while the Congress noted its "disappointment" over no mention of JeM chief's role in the Pulwama terror attack in the UN resolution.

Shah said Modi's diplomatic efforts led to the United Nation's decision as he pitched for his "strong and decisive" leadership.

"That is why India needs a strong & decisive leader. Grateful to PM Narendra Modi and his diplomatic efforts that led to the UN designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. It was long over due. This also reflects PM Modi's commitment towards Zero tolerance against terrorism," Shah tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it was a welcome step but added that the opposition party was disappointed that the UN listing does not mention the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives, and has no reference to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan based Masood Azhar's belated declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step. India's fight against terrorism is resolute. We are disappointed that UN listing doesn't mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhar's role in terrorist activities," he tweeted.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah alleged that the sacrifices of CRPF men were sold down the river for a symbolic win.

"No mention of terror in Kashmir & no mention of Pulwama. It's amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win," he said.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav congratulated the Indian diplomatic corp for the tireless work that led to this "significant victory".

"We demand Pakistan immediately arrest him, freeze his assets and shutdown all organisations linked to him," he said.

Former Foreign Secretary Salman Haider termed the UN decision as a "favourable development" while former Indian envoy to Pakistan G Parthasarathy called it a major achievement.

France, the UK and the US had moved a fresh proposal to declare Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in February. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack.

However, China put a technical hold on the proposal, blocking it for the fourth time to designate Azhar. The Chinese move was termed "disappointing" by India. On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

"This is in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Mohammed," MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

"India will continue with its efforts through international forums to ensure that terrorist organisations and their leaders who cause harm to our citizens are brought to justice," he added.

In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar. In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Indian Naval diving team Wednesday joined the search operations to trace three people reported missing after their boat capsized during a storm in Imphal.

Based on a request from the Manipur government, a team of 12 Naval divers and two hydrographers(survey sailors) were airlifted from Visakhapatnam by an IAF aircraft to Imphal Tuesday evening, a navy release said.

The naval diving team is carrying necessary diving equipment including portable side scan sonar for locating objects underwater and commenced search operations, according to the release here.

The team has joined the ongoingsearch operation along with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team and civil authorities to trace three people out of 12 reported missing after their boat capsized during a storm in the reservoir of Mapithel dam in Kamjong district of Manipuron April 28.

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Having graduated from coding or emulating the concepts invented in the west, startups in India have entered a new phase wherein they are successfully building products for the world and raising money from the west, according to a top India-centric US advocacy group.

I think the Indian startups scene is entering a third phase, building products for the world, Mukesh Aghi, president of US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) told PTI.

Noting that the whole Indian IT industry picked up after the Year 2000, he said this area focused more on coding and was more of a labour arbitrage. In a way, it filled a vacuum which was needed, he observed.

The second phase involved Indian companies emulating the concepts invented here in the US, following companies such as Uber, Ola, Amazon and Flipkart, he said, adding that on the healthcare side, there are many similar examples.

Up to a certain extent, this tactic has been successful in India. However, the second phase was not for an export market. It was more targeted towards bringing efficiency to the Indian domestic market, he observed.

In the third phase, what we are seeing is (that) product companies (are) coming up now and these are not only just building these products for India, but they're also building for the world, Aghi said, responding to a question on the Startup environment in India.

These products could range from voice recognition, cybersecurity to healthcare.

I believe they are now showing a pattern of success. You can see this at incubators in India like T-hub in Hyderabad, he said.

There are many promising companies coming up and they're raising Series-C and Series-D funding, which are coming from the US and these companies are also able to also line up customers.

"One example is Zoho, a company from Chennai, which we use for sales and marketing. They are adding almost a couple thousands of customers a year in the US, proving to be highly successful and giving other CRM platforms a run for their money," he said.

So I think there are quite a few other companies in the same area moving and getting market share, he said.

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South Korean soldiers held their normal stern and unmoving positions Wednesday outside the blue huts of Panmunjom village, the only place along the border where troops from the two Koreas stand nearly face-to-face, but with one notable omission: their weapons.

Sporting their signature aviator sunglasses, the guards in the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the peninsula -- standing only metres away from North Korean soldiers -- were visibly no longer armed.

Public tours to the southern side of the inter-Korean border village resumed on Wednesday morning with firearms and guardposts now removed from the designated Joint Security Area (JSA), after having been stopped in October to facilitate joint efforts by Seoul and Pyongyang to demilitarise the border.

But with Pyongyang still in deadlock with the US over its nuclear weapons and economic sanctions -- and fresh tension between North and South Korea -- the tours began again with little fanfare.

The truce village is a frequent destination for tourists on both sides of the border, and for US presidents seeking to symbolically demonstrate Washington's commitment to defend Seoul from the nuclear-armed North.

The resumption of the tours is timed to mark the first anniversary of the Panmunjom summit, the first inter-Korean talks between the South's Moon Jae-in and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un, held at the truce village last year.

That summit fuelled a whirlwind of diplomacy which has died down amid deadlock over Pyongyang's denuclearisation.

Seoul and Pyongyang had initially agreed to resume the full tour programme and allow visitors to explore both the South and North sides of the village.

But the plan did not materialise as the US-led United Nations Command, which has overseen affairs in the DMZ since the end of 1950-53 Korean War, has yet to agree on the idea.

Seoul eventually decided to resume public tours to the south side of the area only.

While exchanges between Seoul and Pyongyang have significantly cooled after the collapse of Kim Jong Un's second summit with Trump in Hanoi, the UNC insisted tension has been significantly reduced in the JSA.

"What once was a vibe of tension is now a vibe of peace," said Sean Morrow, commander of the UNC Security Battalion-JSA.

"We've ensured that this side has been de-mined. We've taken the weapons out of the towers. Our guards no longer carry weapons... And our counterparts in the North side did the same," he said.

But since Hanoi, the North has not attended any of the weekly meetings of the heads of their joint liaison office in Kaesong, and has not taken part in other joint projects.

Kim slammed the South in a speech to his country's rubber-stamp legislature last month, saying it should not "pose as a meddlesome 'mediator'" between the US and Pyongyang.

Last week, on the anniversary of the Panmunjom summit, Pyongyang's state media KCNA said Washington and Seoul "keep pushing the situation of the Korean peninsula and the region to an undesirable phase," criticising their joint military exercises.

But Morrow said he now gets "acknowledgement" from his North Korean counterparts in the JSA, due to the easing of tensions in the truce village.

"I would get a smile, a head nod," he said.

Around 80 South Korean students and tourists visited the village as tours resumed on Wednesday.

"Before coming here I was quite nervous, but being here I realise it's actually more peaceful here," said Jung Eun-hee, a 46-year-old tourist who made her first visit to the village Wednesday.

"I can resonate with the word peace here.

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has for the second year in a row become India's top supplier, meeting more than a fifth of the country's needs in 2018-19 fiscal year.

According to data sourced from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, sold 46.61 million tonne of to during April 2018 and March 2019, 2 per cent more than 45.74 million tonne it had supplied in 2017-18 fiscal.

provisionally imported 207.3 million tonne of in 2018-19, down from 220.4 million tonne in the previous financial year.

has traditionally been India's top oil source, but it was for the first time dethroned by in 2017-18 fiscal year.

In 2018-19, Saudi exported 40.33 million tonne of crude oil, up from 36.16 million tonne of oil sold in the previous year.

While stopped importing crude oil from following reimposition of economic sanctions this month by the US, the nation was the third largest crude oil supplier to India.

It sold 23.9 million tonne of crude in 2018-19, up from 22.59 million tonne in the previous year, according to the data.

UAE topped to become India's fourth-largest crude supplier. It sold 17.49 million tonne of crude oil to India, just a tad higher than 17.32 million tonne of oil coming from

In 2017-18, had supplied 18.34 million tonne and UAE 14.29 million tonne.

was the next biggest supplier with 16.83 million tonne of exports in 2018-19, down from 18.11 million tonne in the previous year. supplied 10.78 million tonne of oil and another 10.28 million tonne.

The US, which began selling crude oil to India in 2017, is fast becoming a major source. Supplies from the US jumped more than four-fold to 6.4 million tonne in the 2018-19 fiscal year.

In 2017-18, the first year of imports from the US, the supplies were at 1.4 million tonne.

was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after till 2010-11, but western sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in subsequent years.

In 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 million tonne and 10.95 million tonne, respectively, from it. Sourcing from increased to 12.7 million tonne in 2015-16, giving it the sixth spot.

In the following year, Iranian supplies jumped to 27.2 million tonne to catapult it to the third spot.

India is 80 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs.

Easing of western sanctions in 2015 had led to the Indian refiners raising their purchase from Iran.

Kuwait, which was the third largest supplier in 2013-14, has steadily slipped, with supplies dropping by 16 per cent in 2018-19. It had supplied 17.9 million tonne crude in 2014-15, which came down to 11 million tonne in 2015-16 and 9.8 million tonne in 2016-17. Supplies from Kuwait, however, rose to 12.85 million tonne in 2017-18.
Israeli Ambassador to India Dr Ron Malka and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday discussed issues such as technological solutions to problems in the fields of the Brahmaputra water management, flood control and agriculture in the state.

In a meeting here, they also emphasised on strengthening relations between Assam and Israel for mutual benefits and Sonowal requested Malka to arrange for setting up a consulate office of Israel in Guwahati, an official release said here.

The meeting decided to work on forming a group of innovators who will be visiting Assam as well as Israel to scale up the skill quotient of the youth of the state.

Referring to Israel's technological advancement, the chief minister sought its assistance in the Brahmaputra Water Management system and enhancing the output of the state's agriculture sector, the release said.

The envoy also offered help in furthering Assam-Israel relations in the strategic sectors for the betterment of bilateral relations.

The two stressed on frequent student exchange programmes between Israel and Assam, the release said.

Hailing the state's tourism potential, particularly tea tourism, Malka assured Sonowal to work together for the mutual benefits of both the geographical entities.

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The Jammu and Kashmir administration has withdrawn restriction on movement of civilian traffic on the Srinagar-Baramulla stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44), an official said Wednesday.

The two-day-a-week restriction -- Wednesday and Sunday -- was put in place to facilitate movement of security forces' convoys.

"The restriction on civilian movement between Srinagar and Baramulla on the NH-44 will be completely lifted with effect from May 2, 2019. There will be no prohibition on civilian traffic on this stretch on Sunday or Wednesday," an official spokesman said.

However, he said the restriction will continue between Srinagar and Udhampur on the NH-44 as earlier.

The government had last month imposed restriction on civilian movement on the national highway connecting Jammu to Srinagar, in order to ensure adequate security to movement of security forces' convoys while at the same time minimising public inconvenience, the spokesman said.

These restriction became necessary following the large movement of security forces on an unprecedented scale after the Pulwama terror attack, he said.

These forces were required both for anti-militancy operations and for conducting general elections peacefully.

The government is monitoring the convoy needs of security forces on a real-time basis and making all attempts to minimise public inconvenience, the spokesman said.

"The restriction will be reviewed periodically and relaxation would be made as the need for restriction reduces," he added.

The spokesman said a complete review of the restriction on the highway would be done subsequently.

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State-owned Ltd has received go-ahead from government departments on its revised offer to acquire debt-ridden within a week after its bid was rejected by a lenders' panel due to lack of necessary approvals, sources said.

In its meeting on April 26, the committee of creditors (CoC) decided not to consider NBCC's revised bid to takeover as the same was subject to approval of various government authorities.

had in the meeting sought some time to take all the necessary approvals. However, the lenders decided to put on vote the offer of Suraksha Realty-led consortium only and not that of

According to sources, NBCC has got the approvals from the Department of Expenditure and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for its revised offer.

Meanwhile, financial creditors and home-buyers are currently voting on Suraksha Realty's bid. The voting process started on Tuesday (April 30) and would conclude on May 3.

After its bid got rejected by lenders, NBCC wrote to Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain that the company was interested in taking over Jaypee group firm and demanded that the revised offer should be considered on merit as it safeguards interest of financial creditors and home-buyers.

"NBCC continues to be very interested in the resolution process and accord the interest of homebuyers, utmost priority," the company said in the letter.



ALSO READ: Lead lender IDBI seeks deadline extension in Jaypee insolvency case

The company entered into the insolvency proceedings of to provide relief to over 20,000 homebuyers, it added.

To protect financial creditors interest, NBCC said it has offered Rs 5,000 crore worth land as well as 100 per cent equity of Yamuna Expressway, the only cash generating asset with Jaypee Infratech.

"We are confident that our proposal will safeguard the interest of the homebuyers and the lenders. Therefore, we request the CoC to consider our proposal on merit," NBCC said in the letter.

Meanwhile, business conglomerate Adani Group had also recently expressed interest to bid for Jaypee Infratech. However, lenders are unlikely to seek Adani's offer until this round of insolvency proceedings gets completed.

Crisis-hit Jaypee Group's promoters too have made a fresh attempt to retain control over its realty arm Jaypee Infratech by seeking the support of homebuyers for its debt resolution plan under the IBC.



Jaypee Group Chairman Manoj Gaur has promised to infuse Rs 2,000 crore to complete apartments over the next four years. The group had submitted a Rs 10,000-crore plan before lenders in April 2018 as well, but the same was not accepted.

In 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution of Jaypee Infratech. The realty firm has an outstanding debt of nearly Rs 9,800 crore.

In the first round of insolvency proceedings, the ?7,350 crore bid of Lakshdeep, part of Suraksha group, was rejected by lenders as it was found to be substantially lower than the company's net worth and assets.

In October 2018, the IRP started a fresh initiative to revive Jaypee Infratech on the NCLT's direction.

Jaypee Group's flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) had submitted ?750 crore in the registry of the Supreme Court for the refund to buyers and the amount is lying with the NCLT. Jaypee Infratech is a subsidiary of JAL.
Karnataka minister G T Deve Gowda Wednesday said his party JD(S)' workers in Mysuru and elsewhere might have voted for the BJP, underlining the unease between ruling coalition partners.

The Congress and JDS had fought the Lok Sabha elections together, but the seat sharing understanding was marred by differences between members of the two parties which had been bitter rivals before they joined hands to form government.

"There were some differences between the two parties. Take Udbur for example. People fought like there any panchayat election.

"Those who were in Congress voted for Congress and those in JD(S) voted for the BJP. Similar things happened elsewhere too," Gowda told reporters in Mysuru.

Gowda added that if the two parties could have combined their strength, there was no scope for the BJP to win even five seats out of 28 in Karnataka.

He also pointed out that coalition should have been formalised much earlier for better coordination and results.

The statement triggered a strong reaction from the Congress, with its state president Dinesh Gundu Rao saying it was not good for the coalition government.

Expressing shock, Rao said, "I am not able to figure out how he (Gowda) had worked during the election because he has given contradictory statements. Such statements are not good for the coalition government."



"Such things would happen because those given responsibility did not work sincerely. There seems to be lack of sincerity," the Congress leader said.

He also junked Gowda's statement about delay in formalising the alliance.

"We formed the coalition much earlier. There was no delay in forming the coalition. It was announced much earlier that Mysuru will be given to Congress as per the seat sharing agreement.

"I don't know in which context Gowda spoke," Rao told reporters.

In a gleeful response, the opposition BJP said not just the JD(S) workers, but Congress leaders and workers too voted for the saffron party.

BJP MLA and former deputy chief minister R Ashok said, "G T Deve Gowda's statement is the voice of the people. It is the opinion of the workers of both the political parties.

"Not just JD(S) but Congress leaders and workers voted for BJP, especially in favour of Sumalatha Ambareesh in Mandya."



On the possibility of collapse of the coalition government, Ashok said BJP was not making any effort but there are "unseen hands" in the coalition government, which have become active.

"Those 'unseen hands' are in the party with a symbol of 'hand'. We (BJP) will not make any efforts to topple the government.Let them do it (toppling the government)," he said.

As his remarks set off a controversy, Gowda said he was referring to just Udbur in Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency and not everywhere.

He exuded confidence about the victory of Congress candidate C H VijayShankar, the coalition nominee in Mysuru.

Much to the dismay of candidates and top rank leaders, Congress and JD(S) members have fought each other, defying the diktat of their high commands.

In Mandya, where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy contested, some Congress and JD(S) workers reportedly worked in favour of independent candidate Sumalatha, multi lingual actress and widow of popular Kannada film actor-turned-politician, Ambareesh.

Sumalatha got the backing of BJP, which did not field any candidate.

Deve Gowda's another grandson Prajwal Revanna, son of PWD minister H D Revanna, too faced a similar challenge in Hassan from where he was in a direct fight against the BJP's A Manju.

According to JD(S) sources, in Tumakuru too, Deve Gowda had to face a similar rebellion of Congress workers.

As a tit-for-tat, JD(S) workers openly defied working for Congress in Mysuru and announced in the presence of G T Deve Gowda they would vote for the BJP rather than Vijay Shankar.

Meanwhile, BJP leader S M Krishna, a former Congress leader, who was Karnataka chief minister, claimed Wednesday that a major change was in the offing in the state after the Lok Sabha elections.

In another development, a video showing some Congress leaders, including former MLAs, from Mandya and Bengaluru presenat at a dinner hosted by Sumalatha at a private hotel Tuesday, has surfaced.

Prominent among those present were former MLAs N Chaluvaraya Swamy, H C Balakrishna, K B Chandrasekhar, Malavalli Narayana Swamy, Bengaluru youth Congress president Raghuveer Gowda and Malavalli Shivanna.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Karnataka minister G T Deve Gowda on Wednesday said that his party JD(S)' workers in Mysuru and elsewhere might have voted for the BJP, underlining the unease between ruling coalition partners.

The Congress and the JDS had fought the Lok Sabha elections together, but the seat sharing understanding was marred by differences between members of the two parties which had been bitter rivals before they joined hands to form government.

"There were some differences between the two parties. Take Udbur for example. People fought like there any panchayat election.

"Those who were in Congress voted for Congress and those in JD(S) voted for the BJP. Similar things happened elsewhere too," Gowda told reporters in Mysuru.

Gowda added that if the two parties could have combined their strength, there was no scope for the BJP to win even five seats out of 28 in Karnataka.

He also pointed out that coalition should have been formalised much earlier for better coordination and results.

The statement triggered a strong reaction from the Congress, with its state president Dinesh Gundu Rao saying it was not good for the coalition government.

Expressing shock, Rao said, "I am not able to figure out how he (Gowda) had worked during the election because he has given contradictory statements. Such statements are not good for the coalition government."



"Such things would happen because those given responsibility did not work sincerely. There seems to be lack of sincerity," the Congress leader said.

He also junked Gowda's statement about delay in formalising the alliance.

"We formed the coalition much earlier. There was no delay in forming the coalition. It was announced much earlier that Mysuru will be given to Congress as per the seat sharing agreement.

"I don't know in which context Gowda spoke," Rao told reporters.

In a gleeful response, the opposition BJP said not just the JD(S) workers but the Congress leaders and workers too voted for the saffron party.

BJP MLA and former deputy chief minister R Ashok said, "G T Deve Gowda's statement is the voice of the people. It is the opinion of the workers of both the political parties.

"Not just JD(S) but Congress leaders and workers voted for BJP, especially in favour of Sumalatha Ambareesh in Mandya."



On the possibility of collapse of the coalition government, Ashok said the BJP is not making any effort but there are "unseen hands" in the coalition government, which have become active.

"Those 'unseen hands' are in the party with a symbol of 'hand'. We (BJP) will not make any efforts to topple the government. Let them do it (toppling the government)," he said.

As his remarks set off a controversy, Gowda said that he was referring to just Udbur in Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency and not everywhere.

He exuded confidence about the victory of Congress candidate C H VijayShankar, the coalition nominee in Mysuru.

Much to the dismay of candidates and top rank leaders, members belonging to the Congress and the JD(S) have fought against each other defying the diktat of their high command.

In Mandya where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy has contested, some Congress and JD(S) workers are reported to have worked in favour of independent candidate Sumalatha, an actress and widow of popular Kannada film actor-turned-politician, Ambareesh.

Sumalatha got the backing of BJP which did not field any candidate.

H D Deve Gowda's another grandson Prajwal Revanna, son of PWD minister H D Revanna, too faced a similar challenge in Hassan from where he was in a direct fight against the BJP's A Manju.

According to JD(S) sources, in Tumakuru too, Deve Gowda had to face a similar rebellion of Congress workers.

As a tit-for-tat, JD(S) workers openly defied working for the Congress in Mysuru and announced in the presence of G T Deve Gowda that they would vote for the BJP rather than Vijay Shankar.

Meanwhile, BJP leader S M Krishna, a former Congress leader, who was Karnataka chief minister, claimed Wednesday that a major change was in the offing in the state after the Lok Sabha elections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jeev Milkha Singh and SSP Chawrasia will be among the handful of Indians competing at the 25th edition of the Volvo China Open.

Interestingly, one of Jeev's four European Tour wins came at this very event in 2006 and he remains to date the only Indian to have won it.

Apart from Jeev and Chawrasia, the other Indians are Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shiv Kapur, Khalin Joshi, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Viraj Madappa. Bhullar, Joshi and Madappa won once each in 2018, while Kapur won three times in Asia in 2017.

Chawrasia is hoping to regain the form that led him to six Asian Tour titles when he tees up for "one of his biggest tests".

Chawrasia's last victory dates back to 2017 when he won on home soil. He has only one top-10 finish on the Asian Tour last year and missed the cut in all four events he played in the Middle East since the start of 2019.

The 40-year-old, however, bounced back by featuring in the weekend rounds in Malaysia and India last month and sees that as a sign of better things to come as he readies himself for the challenge at the Volvo China Open, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Jeev's win in 2006 at Volvo China ended a long drought for him as he had previously won in 1999. He won three more times in 2006, including twice in Japan, and rose to Top-50 and played the Masters for three years from 2007.

He was also Asian Tour's player of the Year in 2006 and 2008. His last European Tour was the Scottish open in 2012, where he injured himself and that injury has seen him fall ever since.

"Maybe Volvo China Open will revive my happy memories," said Jeev.

Bhullar won his maiden European Tour title at the Fiji International and is looking to make his way back to Top-100 and higher, while Joshi won the Panasonic Open on Asian Tour and Madappa won the Take Solutions, also on Asian Tour last year.

Thailand's Sadom Kaewkanjana is also hopeful of continuing his lightning start to his rookie season following his breakthrough in Bangladesh earlier this month.

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Actor Karen Gillan has opened up about James Gunn's reinstatement as the director of the third "Guardians of the Galaxy" film, saying the franchise would not have been the same without him.

The 31-year-old actor, who portrays Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, told Marc Malkin during his "The Big Ticket" podcast that Gunn was personally involved in all the characters of the series.

"His personality, the tone of those movies, I can only describe as James' personality. It's his sense of humour, his writing, his taste in music. These characters are extensions of him. It's a really personal project for him," Gillan said.

"It definitely wouldn't have been the same version of Guardians," she added.

Gunn was fired by Marvel Studios' parent company Disney in August last year after his old, offensive tweets resurfaced on social media. In the tweets, Gunn, 52, had cracked crude jokes dealing with paedophilia and rape.

In March this year, the studio went back on its decision and reinstated Gunn as the director of the third part of the franchise.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Kashmiri Pandit, who had to leave the Valley after being shot at four times by unknown gunmen in 1990, returned to his homeland after 29 years and resumed his trade in Srinagar on Wednesday. There is no place like Kashmir, he said.

Roshan Lal Mawa got a rousing welcome by Kashmiri Muslim traders at Zainakadal a commercial hub. The traders honoured him with 'dastarbandi' (tying of a white headgear).

"This is the highest honour I have received in my life. I have travelled across the country but there is no place like Kashmir. Kashmiriyat is alive and kicking," Mawa told reporters.

"The brotherhood between Kashmiri Muslims and Pandits is intact."



Mawa said he had to leave Kashmir after he was shot at four times at his shop on Oct 13, 1990, and thereafter he settled in Delhi.

"I have business in Delhi, I have a nice house there. But the longing to be back among my people made me spend these 29 years in sighs and sobs," he said.

Asked if other Kashmiri Pandits should also return, Mawa said they should look for opportunities.

"Ninety nine per cent Kashmiris are humane. There could be one per cent who might have a different idea but I am at peace that I have come back. I am happy."



Many local businessmen, Kashmiri Muslims, had assembled at Mawa's shop to welcome him and make him feel at home.

His son Sandeep Mawa heads an organisation J&K Reconciliation Front which has started a process of reconciliation between communities in Kashmir.

"We have started this initiative to bring back the migrants so that all people of Kashmir Pandits, Muslims, Sikhs live in harmony.

"They say, charity begins at home. I convinced my father to return to Kashmir despite him being shot at four times and our three building set afire in 1990," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dozens of protesters opposed to Kazakhstan's authoritarian regime were arrested by police in the largest city Almaty on Wednesday after decrying a snap election critics liken to a succession plan.

At least 200 people gathered in Almaty's central park to listen to activists who criticised the three-decade rule of Nursultan Nazarbayev and a June vote that his ally is expected to win.

Slogans shouted by protesters included "down with dictatorship", "we have a choice" and "we are the power".

Protesters also chanted slogans critical of Nazarbayev's ally Kassym-Jomart Tokayev after the 65-year-old was nominated for the ballot by the ruling party last month.

Nazarbayev, 78, shocked the country in March by calling time on his presidency and allowing Tokayev to succeed him, initially on an interim basis.

Nazarbayev is still expected to call the shots in the oil-rich nation of 18 million people.

He is recognised by the constitution as "Leader of the Nation" and has retained key positions including chairmanship of the Nur Otan ruling party and the country's powerful security council.

Kazakh police typically arrest protesters before they can gather to demonstrate but initially exercised restraint on Wednesday as a vocal and energetic crowd was swelled by passersby.

A senior city official said authorities would not detain anyone after he spent around an hour negotiating with demonstrators.

"Nobody is going to arrest anybody," official Sultanbek Makezhanov told AFP. But another AFP correspondent saw around fifty demonstrators bundled into police vans after they exited the park, which is a popular strolling spot for local families.

Several protesters expressed support for the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan group led by Nazarbayev's self-exiled nemesis, Mukhtar Ablyazov. Tokayev, a 65-year-old former foreign minister, has promised to continue Moscow ally Nazarbayev's strategic course.

He also proposed renaming the country's capital Nur-Sultan in Nazarbayev's honour. The capital was previously called Astana.

Public gatherings in authoritarian Kazakhstan are illegal unless they receive permission from local authorities, which is almost never provided in the case of political demonstrations.

Kazakhstan has never held an election judged free or fair by Western election monitors.

Nazarbayev triumphed in the 2015 election with nearly 98 per cent of the vote.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Khanna Senior Superintendent of Police Dhruv Dahiya has been replaced by Punjab Police Service officer Gursharandeep Singh, the ECI said on Wednesday.

Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju said in compliance of the orders of the Election Commission of India (ECI), Gursharandeep Singh has been posted as SSP Khanna in place of Dhruv Dahiya.

Gursharandeep Singh has been directed to join immediately and send compliance report in this regard immediately to the ECI.

Last month, Dahiya had claimed that the Khanna Police had recovered Rs 9.66 crore from six men including a church priest.

However, the priest claimed that the money was part of the business proceeds and that the police had recovered Rs 16.65 crore from his home and had misappropriated the remaining account.

On Tuesday, the Punjab Police said that the Kerala Police had arrested Assistant Sub-Inspector Joginder Singh and ASI Rajpreet Singh from a hotel in Kochi, Kerala.

The duo was absconding since last month with a sum of over Rs 6 crore recovered following a raid at the priest's house.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kings XI Punjab's Varun Chakravarthy was on Wednesday ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League after the spinner failed to recover from an injury.

The Tamil Nadu player has been on the sidelines for most part of this IPL campaign due to a finger injury. A leg-spinner, Chakravarthy played just one match during the ongoing season against Kolkata Knight Riders in March, returning with figures of 1/35.

He was injured during KXIP's visit to Chennai last month which sidelined him for a few weeks.

"While the team was hopeful that Chakravarthy would return for the final few games of the campaign, his recovery however has not been sufficient. The 27-year-old will return home as a result. KXIP wishes him a speedy recovery and the very best for the rest of the year," KXIP said in a media release.

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Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena Wednesday asked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to "leave my country alone" after the dreaded Islamic State leader claimed the massive suicide bombings in the island nation was a revenge attack for the fall of the Syrian town of Baghuz, the terror group's final bastion.

Sirisena also warned it may be possible Islamic State had launched a "new strategy" by targeting smaller countries, Sky Wednesday quoted him as saying.

He said authorities were aware of a "small group" of Sri Lankans who had travelled abroad to receive training from Islamic State over the past decade.

In the Sky interview, President Sirisena said he had a message for Islamic State: "Leave my country alone."



On Monday, Islamic State's media network published a video message purporting to come from its leader, Baghdadi.

The man in the IS propagada video, said to be Baghdadi referred to the deadly Easter Sunday attack in Sri Lanka and to the months-long fight for IS's final bastion Baghouz, which concluded in March.

"The battle for Baghouz is over," he said.

"God ordered us to wage 'jihad.' He did not order us to win," he said.

In a segment where Baghdadi is not seen, his voice referred to the April 21 attacks in Sri Lanka, which killed 253 people and wounded nearly 500, as "vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz".

The US-led Kurdish fighters took over the last pocket of land in Syria held by ISIS recently.

Baghdadi, who is now 47, appeared last time in public in Mosul Iraq, in 2014, where he declared an Islamic "caliphate" in the swathes of territory IS then held in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the whole world should be on alert following the threat by the eluvsive ISIS leader.

"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said his organisation is ready to attack any city in the world at any moment. This is a threat to the entire world. Therefore all countries in the world should see that their defence forces are on alert," Wickremesinghe said in a special statement on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister said investigations will be carried out on the statement made by ISIS leader that the attacks in Sri Lanka were in retaliation to the capture of the land which was held by them.

He said many arrests have been made and arms are being recovered due to the ability of the security forces and the intelligence units.

"We will arrest the rest who were involved in bomb attacks," he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.

Police suspect members of two previously little-known groups National Thawheed Jamaath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim of carrying out the attacks, Sri Lanka's worst that killed 253 people and injured nearly 500 others, it noted.

Sri Lankan authorities have said that they suspect the attackers had international links, although the precise nature of those connections are not known. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol, as well as other undisclosed foreign agencies, are helping Sri Lanka with the probe.

Wickremesinghe also assured that security of the people will be assured during the upcoming Buddhist festival, Vesak and said monks will also play a role in it.

The Prime Minister urged all political parties to join hands and every citizen of the country to support the security forces to ensure the safety of the nation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The BJP's no-loan waiver policy for farmers will not have any political impact in Haryana in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, according to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who believes that such schemes only make hardworking people lethargic.

Khattar, who is the first BJP chief minister of Haryana, also says that Congress's Nyay scheme has no shadow budget and can only be implemented if all other schemes are closed.

"There will be no negative impact of the no-loan waiver policy. The farmers have matured. Rather than providing them loan waivers, we have made efforts to improve their profits. The prices of the crops have been set at much higher rates. We have announced aids to them but not waivers. Farmers are happy with our initiatives to make their business profitable... They had never seen this kind of money," 65-year-old Khattar told PTI in an interview.

"The farming community in Haryana wants to eradicate the reasons for their economic downfall. Once you get something for free, people tend to get lethargic. They take loans from here, there and everywhere and are not able to do financial management. And this kind of scheme (loan-waiver) may be beneficial to farmers in some states according to the situation but it is not in our state," he said.

"Congress's Nyay scheme is another example of the kind of they do. They have not presented any shadow budget to suggest that how such a huge amount will be generated. They can only roll out this scheme if they close all other schemes and utilise the cumulative funding for that. Can they afford to close all schemes for this," he asked.

According to Khattar, the nationalism debate in the country has not been fanned by the BJP but by the opposition parties which try to play with citizen's sentiments by talking in the "language of terrorists" and "supporting Pakistan".

"The debate on nationalism has been fanned by the opposition and not by us. They are doing on subjects of national interests. Had they respected the sentiments of the citizens of the country and not politicised them, nationalism would not have become this big an issue. They started rejecting and discarding the sentiments and people started taking it seriously.

"When people were taking it seriously, we had to take it too because ultimately people are the voters. They (opposition) talk in language of terrorists, their statements are in support of Pakistan and they raise doubts on armed forces ... Such an atmosphere has been created by the opposition. Here citizens love their country, patriotism is a fundamental character here, you can't play with it... They should restrain themselves from making such statements," he said.

Khattar, who is the first non-Jat chief minister of the Jat-dominated state, does not see the opposition as a competition in the 10 constituencies in Haryana which will vote on May 12 and believes the Congress has fielded its "heavyweights" in desperation in the state but they have no "character" and people are in a mood to uproot "dynasty politics".

"We will comfortably win the 10 seats. According to them (Congress), they have fielded heavyweights but their candidates only have number of years in to their profile but they are not heavyweight in terms of character. Each one of them has big question marks and people are wise enough to decide when there is a candidate with questionable history in fray," he said.

In 2014, the BJP had won seven seats, the INLD two seats and the Congress one seat in the state.

Asked about allegations of political vendetta levelled by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in connection with the CBI raids and FIR against him in land allocation scam, Khattar said, "They always say BJP is targeting them. If they are 'heavyweights' how can they be targeted? If they are fair enough, why are they scared of investigation or enquiry?"



He accused the Congress of being responsible for the violence during the Jat reservation agitation in 2016.

"They burnt Haryana, the Congress was responsible for it. They wanted to do divide-and-rule politics and now when fingers are being pointed at them, they are trying to blame us. Offence is the best defence according to them. We were not even in favour of politicising that issue. The more they talk on it the more people will get to know reality," he said.

Khattar also believes that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's formal entry into politics will not yield any result for the Congress.

"There will be no benefits. Ultimately people have started co-relating... and the undercurrent is that people are fed up of dynasty politics. People feel that are they (Gandhi family) the only ones who will run the country," he said.

Khattar also is of the view that issues like Rafale deal and question marks on Balakot air strikes raised by Congress will not have any impact on BJP's performance in the elections.

"They (Congress) only raise issues which are not in the reach of common public to verify. Like Rafale and the Balakot strike. How can people verify that? They trust the statements of Armed Forces. Similarly, everything about Rafale is documented. They want it to be examined by a JPC which has political people and not judicial or audit experts," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) price on Wednesday was hiked by 28 paisa per cylinder and now costs over Rs 82 more than the rate in 2014, when the BJP government came to power.

Also, Jet fuel (ATF) price was hiked by over 2.5 per cent, the third straight monthly increase in rates on the back of firming global prices, according to a price notification issued by state-owned firms.

The price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) was hiked by Rs 1,595.63 per kilolitre, or 2.5 per cent, to Rs 65,067.85 per kl in the national capital.

The increase comes on the back of a Rs 677.1 per kl hike in rates effected from April 1, and a steep 8.1 per cent (Rs 4,734.15 per kl) jump in prices on March 1.

LPG price was hiked by Rs 0.28 per cylinder and that of non-subsidised gas by Rs 6 per bottle.

A 14.2-kg subsidised LPG cylinder will now cost Rs 496.14 in the national capital as against Rs 495.86 previously.

With this increase, the price of subsidised LPG has gone up by over 82 or about a fifth in last five years.

Subsidised LPG was priced at Rs 414 per cylinder in early 2014.

Simultaneously, the price of non-subsidised LPG was increased by Rs 6 per 14.2-kg cylinder to Rs 712.50.

This is the third straight increase in LPG rate.

Non-subsidised LPG is the gas that consumer buys after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg at sub-market or subsidised rates in a year.

The hike in ATF rates will add to the burden of cash strapped airlines that are already reeling under pressure from cut-throat competition in the sector.

LPG, as well as ATF prices, are revised on 1st of every month based on the average international rate for benchmark fuel and foreign exchange rate in the preceding month.

Also, the price of kerosene sold through the public distribution system (PDS) was increased to Rs 31.13 per litre in from Rs 30.87.

This is in accordance with the 2016 decision to raise rates by 25 paise a litre every month till subsidy on the fuel is eliminated.

has been declared a kerosene-free state and companies do not sell subsidised kerosene in the city.

Non-subsidised kerosene costs Rs 64,177.63 per kl (Rs 64.17 per litre) in the national capital.

Official sources said, the rise in LPG price has been necessitated due to tax impact on the increased market rate of the fuel.

All LPG consumers buy the fuel at market price. The government, however, subsidises 12 cylinders of 14.2 kg each per households in a year by providing the subsidy amount directly in of users.

This subsidy amount varies from month to month depending on the changes in the average international benchmark LPG rate and foreign exchange rate.

When international rates move up, the government provides a higher subsidy. And when they come down, subsidy is cut.

According to tax rules, the goods and services tax on LPG has to be calculated at the market rate of the fuel. The government may choose to subsidise a part of the price but tax will have to be paid at market rates.

So, with the rise in market price or non-subsidised LPG price, the tax incidence on subsidised cooking fuel has also increased, leading to the current price hike.
Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh Wednesday reviewed security situation and counter-terrorism operations in North Kashmir, army officials said.

"Lt Gen Singh visited the hinterland units, where he reviewed the prevailing security situation and strategy for counter-terrorist operations in North Kashmir," they said.

The officials said the army commander also interacted with senior dignitaries at Badami Bagh Cantonment here.

"Later in the day, he also visited 144 Battalion of Central Reserve Police deployed in Dal Lake. He appreciated the round the clock efforts of paramilitary troops and their teamwork with the army and police to maintain peace and tranquillity in the valley," they added.

Lt Gen Singh also presided over the Silver Jubilee raising day of 20 Rashtriya Rifles (DOGRA) unit at Badamibagh here, defence spokesperson Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.

Raised on May 1, 1994 in Varanasi, with Col V P Singh as its first Commanding Officer, the unit has participated in various counter-insurgency, counter-terrorist operations and high altitude areas in the northern and eastern theatres, the spokesperson said.

Lt Gen Singh, who is also Colonel of the DOGRA Regiment and DOGRA SCOUTS, addressed a special 'Sainik Sammelan'.

"I salute and pay homage to the martyrs for having made the supreme sacrifice in line of duty in service of the unit, regiment, Indian Army and the nation," the army commander said.

Lt Gen Singh appreciated the dedication and hardwork of all ranks, past and present, in their brave endeavour to safeguard the nation's borders while operating in hostile terrain and challenging conditions.

He complimented the troops for their relentless efforts and selfless service in bringing peace and tranquility in the valley.

Lt Gen Singh urged them to continue to discharge their duties with the same tenacity and resolve as per the highest standards of professionalism of the Indian Army.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Scott Parnell has promoted Ian Griggs to the position of Sales Director.

Griggs, who joined the company in July to oversee its new hard landscaping division, will be responsible for focusing on the companys sales, operations and strategic direction.

He said: I am delighted to be taking up this opportunity to help shape Scott Parnells future. The business already excels in so many ways with its innovation and customer service.

I want to build on this success and continue to evolve the companys offer as one of the market leaders in the supply of rail and water management products alongside our vast range of civil engineering materials.
Sixteen persons, including 15 policemen, were killed Wednesday after Naxals blew up their vehicle in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, officials said.

The IED blast, whose impact left a large crater on the road, came hours after Naxals torched 27 vehicles belonging to a road construction company earlier in the day, police said.

The driver of the vehicle was among those killed in the blast which took place as the vehicle reached Lendhari nallah in Kurkheda area, a police official said.

All the policemen killed were members of the Quick Response Team of Gadchiroli police, which was on way to inspect the torched vehicles, the official said.

In Mumbai, Maharashtra Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal told reporters that the Naxal attack was not a result of intelligence failure.

Terming it a big loss for the police force, Jaiswal said police were ready to give a befitting reply to the Naxals.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar and state Congress president Ashok Chavan sought Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' resignation on the issue.

Fadnavis holds the home portfolio and he should step down immediately, Pawar said. "Those who feel shame of conscience if not shame of public opinion would have resigned. But the people who are in power today are not going to do so," Pawar tweeted.

Naxals activities in the state were growing, Pawar said, adding it was the result of "rulers neglecting law and order situation in the Naxal-affected areas".

State NCP chief and former Maharashtra home minister Jayant Patil said the Naxals deliberately struck on the state's foundation day.

BJP minister Vinod Tawde accused Pawar of playing politics over the attack. "Pawar is talking on the lines of Naxals," he added.

Fadnavis condemned the Naxal attack, stating that the Naxal menace will be fought with stronger efforts.

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by Naxals today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families. I am in touch with the DGP and the Gadchiroli SP," he said in a statement.

Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao cancelled the reception and cultural programme organised at the Raj Bhavan in south Mumbai following the Naxal attack.

The reception was cancelled as a mark of respect to the police personnel who lost their lives in the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson said.

In what was then termed as the biggest success in the anti-Naxal operations, 37 Naxals, including 19 women, were killed in Gadchiroli district in April last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 16 persons, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district Wednesday, police said.

The blast followed Naxals torching 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day, police said.

Those killed were members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of Gadchiroli police, which was on way to inspect the torched vehicles, an official said.

The blast took place as the vehicle reached Lendhari nallah in Kurkheda area, the official said.

Police teams are reaching the spot for evacuation operation, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar said Wednesday the Maoist attack in Gadchiroli is very unfortunate and the state government will completely root out the insurgency.

Speaking to reporters at Nagpur airport, Kesarkar said it was a very unfortunate incident.

"We all are very sad. I think that our words won't be enough to console the relatives of jawans who have sacrificed their lives. And we will have to give a befitting reply.

"I think this will be the last fight against naxals in Maharashtra. We will completely remove naxalism from Maharashtra in this fight," said Kesarkar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 15 security personnel were injured in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district Wednesday, police said.

The incident took place when a Quick Response Team (QRT) of Gadchiroli police was on patrolling duty in a vehicle, an official said.

The blast took place as the vehicle reached Lendhari nallah in Kurkheda area, the official said.

Police teams are reaching the spot for evacuation operation, he said.

Some of those injured will be air lifted for medical treatment, he said.

The blast followed Naxals torching 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao Wednesday said the state is the economic engine of the country and has played a significant role in development of its infrastructure.

Rao appealed to the citizens to join hands in building a new and vibrant Maharashtra.

The governor was addressing a gathering after hoisting the tricolour and inspecting the ceremonial parade at Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of the formation of the State of Maharashtra.

Rao said Maharashtra has traditionally enjoyed geographical advantage in terms of industrial development.

The state has maintained its position as one of the most attractive destinations for domestic as well as foreign investment, he said.

"The state is the economic engine of the nation and has played a significant role in the countrys infrastructural development.

"Maharashtra is also a leading state in the country in terms of agriculture, industrial production, trade and transport," the governor said.

"As a result, Maharashtra remains one of the most developed and prosperous states in the country," he said.

The contribution of Mumbai in making Maharashtra the No.1 state in the country cannot be overstated, Rao said.

The metropolis houses the headquarters of most of the banks, corporate and financial institutions and is also home to India's largest stock exchange, and the world famous film industry, he added.

The governor said Mumbai, home to India's most important ports, handles an enormous foreign trade.

Besides Mumbai, some other cities have also emerged as centres of growth and excellence, he said.

"It (Mumbai) is a hub of manufacturing, finance and service sector. Pune has emerged as an IT and automobile hub of the country. Nagpur, Kolhapur and Solapur are other dynamic centres of growth and development," Rao added.

Maharashtra is leading in the implementation of cyber security and creating a safe cyber space for citizens and businesses, he said.

"The biggest strength of our state is its people who are industrious, progressive, pragmatic and hard working. I am confident that Maharashtra will continue its march towards peace, progress and inclusive development," he said.

"I appeal to the citizens to join hands in building a new and vibrant Maharashtra," the governor said and greeted the people of the state on the occasion of Maharashtra Day.

The governor paid tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives for the formation of the state.

On the occasion of International Labour Day, which is also celebrated on May 1, Rao congratulated workers for their contribution in building Maharashtra and the nation.

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday expressed his deepest condolences with the families of those killed in the Naxal attack in Maharashtra.

At least 16 persons, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district Wednesday, police said.

The blast followed Naxals torching 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day.

"I am saddened to hear about the attack on security personnel inGadchiroli district in Maharashtra," Gandhi said on Twitter.

"I express my deepest condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives," he said.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also paid homage to those killed the attack.

"In this hour of grief, me and the Congress party stand with the families of the martyrs. The whole country is against the violence perpertrated by Maoists. We will defeat this violent ideology together," she tweeted.

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A Maharashtra government official has been sentenced to three years in jail by a special court here for accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 in 2013 on behalf of his senior for extending an official favour to an employee of the Pune civic body.

In his order, pronounced on April 30, the special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court judge S J Biyani convicted Udaysingh Chouhan (48), who was posted as Desk Officer with the Urban Development Department (UDD) in Mumbai under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court, however, acquitted the then UDD deputy secretary Anandrao Jiwane and department clerk Subhash More of the bribery charges under the act.

As per the prosecution, Chouhan had accepted Rs 50,000-bribe from the complainant, Laxman Damse, an employee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), in October 2013, on the behalf of Jiwane at Mantralaya (state secretariat) in Mumbai.

Damse and others were suspended in 2012 for some irregularities, but were given a clean chit a year later.

The PMC then wrote a letter to the UDD seeking its permission for reinstating them.

Damse subsequently approached Jiwane for issuance of the reinstatement orders, the court was told.

"On September 25, 2013, Damse met Jiwane at his office in Mantralaya, where the latter demanded a bribe Rs 1,00,000. Chouhan was also present there. Later, the amount was negotiated to Rs 75,0000," the prosecution said.

Meanwhile, Damse lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Jiwane, Chouhan and More.

A trap was laid and Chouhan was arrested when he was accepting Rs 50,000 from Damse, according to prosecution.

A total of 11 witnesses were examined during the course of trial, said Additional Public Prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves.

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The international community led by the on Wednesday welcomed the designation of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN and sought "sustained actions" from Islamabad against terrorism emanating from the country.

The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda announced in a press release the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), over its ties to Al-Qaeda.

The JeM has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers and led to a spike in military tensions between India and Pakistan.

The US, France along with the UK had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist" in the UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February, just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal.

The noted that the JeM was a United Nations-designated terrorist group, and Azhar, as the founder and leader of JEM, clearly met the criteria for designation by the United Nations.

The JEM has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks and is a serious threat to regional stability and peace, a State Department spokesperson said.

"The United States welcomes the addition of Masood Azhar to the UN 1267 ISIL and al-Qaida Sanctions list.



ALSO READ: UN lists JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist after China lifts hold

"This listing requires all UN member states to implement an assets freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," the spokesperson said.

While welcoming the publicly stated intentions of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the spokesperson said, "We are encouraged by initial steps taken by the Government of Pakistan..."



"We appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khan's stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow the operation of militant and terrorist groups from its territory.

"We look forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its Action Plan, and consistent with its international obligations," the State Department spokesperson emphasised.

France, which also backed the proposal to ban Azhar, welcomed the United Nations' move, saying it "signals the successful realisation" of its efforts.

"We welcome the designation today, by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, of Masood Azhar on the UN's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," according to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs of France.

For many years, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack", it said.

France had adopted sanctions against Azhar on March 15.

The UNSC's decision "signals the successful realisation of our efforts", it said.

"France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism," the statement added.

In London, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the UN's designation of Azhar was a positive development for the South Asian region.

"The listing of Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group, is very welcome and long overdue, an FCO spokesperson said.

"The UK has consistently called for this action to be taken, and we worked closely with our international partners to ensure the right result. This is a positive development for the security and stability of the South Asia region, the spokesperson noted.

In Beijing, China, which lifted its technical hold on listing Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, said it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the "revised materials".

"On this listing issue, China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

"After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal," he said.
Stepping up his attack on Mamata Banerjee, BJP president Amit Shah said Wednesday the West Bengal chief minister has extended her support to those who wish to divide the country by separating Kashmir from India.

Addressing a rally here in Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, Shah said his party will continue its fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India, no matter who is in power at the Centre.

"Today we are in power, Narendra Modi is the prime minister. In the coming days, too, he will continue as the PM. But if a day comes when the BJP is no longer at the helm, its workers will still fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India," he said.

He iterated that the saffron party, if re-elected to power, will scrap Article 370 of the Constitution in Kashmir - which grants special status to the northernmost state.

"Give us 30 seats from Bengal and we will scrap Article 370 from Kashmir after forming the next BJP government at the Centre," Shah claimed.

The BJP boss also insisted that Banerjee should also clear her stance on National Conference chief Omar Abdullah's demand for a separate prime minister in Kashmir.

"Mamata didi is supporting those who wish to divide India. We want to know what she has to say on Omar Abdullah's demand for two prime ministers in the country," he said.

Referring to infiltrators as "termites", who are eating into the country's resources, Shah asserted that his party will throw them out after coming to power at the Centre for a second term.

"It is our commitment to implement National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country to weed out the infiltrators. First, we will bring the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to ensure that eligible refugees get citizenship, and then we will introduce NRC to throw out the infiltrators.

"They are termites, they are eating into the country's resources," he asserted.

The Bongaon Lok Sabha seat has a sizeable Matua population that had migrated to West Bengal from Bangladesh in the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution.

With an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, the community can influence poll results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in Bengal.

Shah also claimed that lawlessness has increased in the state, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) dispensation letting loose goons to run its syndicates.

In West Bengal, 'syndicate' refers to a group of businessmen, backed by the ruling party, operating mainly in those areas of the state that are witnessing a realty boom.

These businessmen allegedly force promoters and contractors to buy construction materials, often of inferior quality, at high prices.

The state, which was once known for its rich culture, is now a hub of "bomb and illegal gun-making factories", he maintained.

"Other than bomb manufacturing units, no factory has been set up in the state under the Mamata Banerjee government.

"The sound of bomb explosions has silenced Rabindra sangeet in Bengal. Under the TMC rule, all three --mother, motherland and people (TMC slogan of maa, mati, manush) - are suffering," he added.

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A young man was arrested here Wednesday for allegedly raping and killing a 12-year-old girl.

Avinash Sahu (18) was arrested for offences of rape and murder under the IPC and under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, police said.

The girl was visiting a Jain temple with her 16-year-old aunt Tuesday evening when Sahu, who knew the latter, took the girl away to a secluded spot when the aunt was not around, police said.

He allegedly raped the girl and then crushed her head with stones.

After the girl's family filed a complaint, police nabbed Sahu Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the BJP's candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency Pragya Singh Thakur lashed out at the Congress government in the state over the incident.

She also took the victim's mother, who needed medical attention due to the trauma, to a hospital.

"Beti (girl), we will take revenge," Thakur tweeted.

"Law and order situation in the state is in disarray....Kamal Nath has become the chief minister of (only) Chhindwara," she tweeted further, referring to the chief minister's Lok Sabha constituency.

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A man was Wednesday apprehended at a metro station here for allegedly carrying a live bullet in his bag, officials said.

Ranu Khan (29), was held by the CISF personnel at New Delhi metro station around 8 am after the baggage scanner detected a live bullet of 8 mm caliber in his bag, they said.

The accused was then handed over to the local police by the Central Industrial Security Force for further investigation, officials said.

Khan, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi district, said he is a carpenter and had come here to meet his brother who lives in Jafrabad area.

Carrying arms and ammunition in the Delhi Metro is banned by the law.

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A civic agency worker allegedly committed suicide Wednesday by jumping in front of a metro train at the Dwarka Sector 9 station on the Blue Line of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, officials said.

The incident lead to a brief delay in services on the route, they said.

The man, identified as 50-year-old Anil Kumar, jumped on the track around 10.18 am and sustained severe injuries. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died, police said.

The victim, a resident of Palam, used to work for the MCD, officials said, adding that while no suicide note was found on him, his son told police that he (Anil Kumar) was suffering from depression.

According to the DMRC, there was a delay following the incident but services were later restored.

The Blue Line of the DMRC connects Dwarka Sector-21 to Noida City Centre/Vaishali.

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A sessions court in Gujarat's Dahod has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the murder of his friend.

According to the prosecution, the convict, Dilip Deval, was having an affair with the victim's wife and therefore wanted him out of the way.

Additional Sessions Judge Z V Trivedi sentenced Deval to life imprisonment Tuesday.

"It is evident that the murder of the victim was committed by Dilip Deval just to remove him so that he (Deval) could stay with victim's wife," the court noted.

The prosecution told the court that on December 4, 2013, Deval took his friend Viral Rameshchandra Sheth to his farm at Kharedi village and shot him dead. He then buried the body in the field and sealed the spot with cement.

Next day, Sheth's father lodged a complaint about his son going missing, but police remained clueless about his whereabouts for four years.

Deval was arrested in another murder case in April 2017, and during interrogation revealed that he had killed Viral Rameshchandra Sheth.

After the remains of Sheth's body were recovered, police arrested Deval.

Public prosecutor Vijay Panchal said the court acquitted two other accused, including the victim's wife, of the charge of conspiracy, giving them the benefit of doubt.

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A Surat-bound passenger was Wednesday apprehended at the Delhi airport for allegedly carrying five live bullets in his luggage, an official said.

A Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) official deputed at terminal-2 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) to scan baggages detected the bullet-like objects while checking the bag of passenger Amit Choudhary, he said.

"Five live bullet rounds of .32 mm calibre were recovered from the passenger who was supposed to take a flight to Surat," the official said.

The traveller was not allowed to board the flight and was handed over to police as he could not produce any document for the ammunition, he added.

The man has been booked under sections of the Arms Act.

Carrying arms and ammunition inside an airport terminal area or an aircraft is banned under the Indian aviation laws.

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He rode a donkey to file his nomination papers to contest the Lok Sabha election, only to be booked under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Mani Bhushan Sharma, a 44-year-old resident of Hulasnagar locality here, has a penchant for contesting polls and went to submit his nomination papers as an Independent candidate on Monday, the last day for doing so in Jehanabad seat.

Sharma said he rode the donkey as he wanted to show a mirror to mainstream politicians who consider the common people stupid like donkeys.

He grabbed some eyeballs, but the authorities were not amused by his unusual mode of transport.

Circle Officer, Jehanabad Sadar, Sunil Kumar Sah lodged an FIR against him at the Town police station.

"It was a flagrant violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. An FIR has been lodged against him. The police will investigate and proceed accordingly," Sah said.

As if it was not enough, his nomination papers were rejected on technical grounds during scrutiny on Tuesday, officials said.

Local people said, Sharma has a habit of throwing his hat in the ring as an Independent candidate whenever elections are held for the Lok Sabha seat or the Jehanabad assembly segment.

Polling for the Jehanabad Lok Sabha seat will be held in the seventh and last phase on May 19.

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National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said Wednesday the UN designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist was just "a symbolic win" and there was no mention of the deadly Pulwama attack or terror in Kashmir in the listing.

"No mention of terror in Kashmir & no mention of Pulwama. It's amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win," he tweeted.

Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said Chinese diplomats' wordplay had allowed both India and Pakistan to claim diplomatic victory.

"The Chinese diplomats must be a happy bunch today. Their wordplay has allowed both India & Pakistan to claim a diplomatic victory. That's no small achievement," he said.

He, however, admitted that the UN listing of Azhar has come as a shot in the arm for BJP's "flagging" election campaign.

"The rest of the opposition must be wondering if it will ever catch a break. Every time the BJP campaign seems to be flagging it gets a shot in the arm. The #MasoodAzhar development in the UN today couldn't have come at a better time for the Modi ji's re-election campaign," he added on the micro-blogging site.

The United Nations' designation of Azhar came through after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue.

The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as being associated with al-Qaeda for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to", "recruiting for", "otherwise supporting acts or activities of", and "other acts or activities indicating association with" the JeM.

There was no mention of the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which was claimed by the JeM.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

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Congress leader and party candidate from New Delhi constituency Ajay Maken Wednesday submitted a complaint to the NHRC, seeking action against erring officials for allegedly "beating up" local scrap dealers during a sealing drive in Mayapuri on April 13.

In his compliant to NHRC Secretary General Jaideep Govind, the Congress leader alleged the agencies that conducted the sealing drive used excessive force against local traders, resulting in serious injuries to a number of people.

"Workshop owners and workers were beaten up with shoes, slippers and rifle butts. This is a case of human rights violation. We have demanded an inquiry into the incident and action against the erring officials," he told reporters.

"We have submitted video and pictorial evidence to buttress our claim," Maken said.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the Delhi Police, and Delhi Pollution Control Committee carried out the drive without any prior intimation, at a time when the traders were offering prayers on the occasion of Baisakhi, he alleged.

"The action coincided with the the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy," he said and posed, "If police will violate human rights, who will ensure our safety?"



Around 14 officials, including an assistant commissioner of police, were injured during a clash between security personnel and local scrap dealers over the sealing drive in the area.

The National Green Tribunal had earlier slammed the Delhi government for not acting against illegal scrap industries in Mayapuri that cause pollution.

Traders claimed the green panel passed the order without conducting a proper survey of units leading to pollution.

The Mayapuri area falls under the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, where Maken is fighting against BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi and AAP's Brijesh Goyal, and the sealing issue is one of the main talking points in the seat.

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The multi-agency operations to rescue the remaining 14 coal miners trapped inside a 370-foot deep illegal coal mine in Meghalaya over four months ago was affected Wednesday after nearby Ltein river swelled rendering the rescuers unable to reach to the site, officials said.

The Navy had recently called off its rescue operation at tne coal mine. But, NDRF and some civil and police agencies of Meghalaya are still continuing with the search work at the rat hole mine where the tragedy had struck on December 13 last year.

The whole area is flooded after incessant rainfall had caused the nearby Ltein river to swell. It is not possible for the rescuers to reach the site, East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner F M Dopth told PTI.

Rescuers had to cross the Lytein river three times in order to reach to the mines and the main shaft located at the side of a hillock where the miners were trapped and feared dead.

Nine of the 10 high pressure pumps belonging to the Coal India Ltd, the Kirloskar Brother Ltd and the KSB are engaged in discharging water out of the mines, he said.

Incessant rain in the area in the past few days had caused the Lytein river that criss cross the entire area to flood several of the low lying abandoned mines as well.

At least 16 miners were trapped in the ill-fated mine at Ksan area on the morning of December 13 last year when the mine flooded.

Of those trapped inside, the highly decomposed bodies of only two were retrieved by the Indian Navy and the NDRF earlier this year and handed over to their families.

The families of the 16 miners identified have been provided interim relief of Rs 3 lakh each and relatives of nine of the 14 victims have also given their consent in writing to the district administration to stop retrieving them but to increase compensation amount.

The State has incurred about Rs 2.5 crore expenses in the ongoing operations till March, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had told the Assembly.

The state government will be submitting the consent letters from the families to the Supreme Court and await directions from the Court in this regards, Revenue Minister Kyrmen Shylla said.

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AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi got former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination "cancelled" as he was "afraid" to contest against him from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate from the seat was rejected Wednesday over "discrepancies" in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him.

Notices in this regard were sent to him on Tuesday.

"There will be fewer occasions in history when the jawans of a country are compelled to challenge their PM, but this is the first time in history that a PM has been so afraid of a jawan that instead of competing with him, he got his nomination cancelled on technical grounds.

"Modi ji, you are very weak and the country's jawan won," Kejriwal tweeted.

Yadav was dismissed from the Border Security Force (BSF) after he triggered a controversy by uploading a video in which he alleged that poor quality food was being served to jawans.

In the first set of papers on April 24, he had mentioned that he was dismissed from the Border Security Force.

On April 29 he submitted a second set of papers - this time as the Samajwadi Party nominee for the Lok Sabha seat - but did not give out this information.

He was also required to submit a no-objection certificate from the BSF, giving reasons for his dismissal.

Modi is seeking reelection from Varanasi.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Modi, who contested from two seats --Varanasi in UP and Vadodra in Gujarat-- had defeated Kejriwal from here. Congress' Ajay Rai finished third.

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BJP president Amit Shah Wednesday said that those who were involved in the ponzi scheme scams in West Bengal will be brought to book if the Narendra Modi government is reelected and alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is destroying democracy in the state.

Many scam-tainted high profile personalities are yet to be punished in Bengal and those who were involved in the ponzi scheme scams will be punished within 90 days of the Modi government's return to power, he said addressing poll rallies in different Lok Sabha constituencies of the state that go to the polls in the fifth phase on May 6.

"Mamata Banerjee is destroying democracy, while Narendra Modi government is committed to restoring democracy if returned to power," he said adding that the TMC supremo is supporting those who wished to divide the country by separating Kashmir from India.

"But this party (BJP) will continue its fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India, no matter who is in power at the Centre," Shah said.

"Today we are in power and Narendra Modi is the prime minister. In the coming days too he will continue as the PM. But if a day comes when the BJP is no longer at the helm, its workers will still fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India," the BJP president said.

He iterated that the saffron party, if re-elected to power, will scrap Article 370 in Kashmir that grants it special status.

"Give us 23 seats from Bengal to ensure our return to power, then we will scrap Article 370 from Kashmir after forming the next BJP government at the Centre," Shah claimed.

BJP has been targetting 23 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, where polls are being held in seven phases.

The BJP chief also demanded that Banerjee, who is one of the most strident critics of BJP, should make clear her stand on National Conference chief Omar Abdullah's demand for a separate prime minister for Kashmir.

"Mamata didi is supporting those who wish to divide India. We want to know what she has to say on Omar Abdullah's demand for two prime ministers in the country," he said.

Shah raked up the infiltration issue calling the infiltrators "termites" who are eating into the country's resources and asserted that BJP will "throw them out" after returning to power at the Centre.

"It is our commitment to implement the National Register of Citizens across the country in order to weed out the infiltrators. First, we will bring the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill to ensure that eligible refugees get citizenship and then we will introduce NRC to throw out the infiltrators.

"The infiltrators are termites, they are eating into the country's resources," he asserted.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill will give refugee status to Hindus, Sikh, Christians, Jain and Buddhists from other countries and infiltrators will be driven out from the country, Shah said.

Infiltrators are vote banks of Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress supports them because of their votes. "For BJP such vote banks are not important", he said.

The Bill had been passed by the Modi government in the Lok Sabha on January 8 but was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha which had caused it to lapse.

Claiming that BJP had sanctioned more money to West Bengal than the previous Congress-led NDA regime, Shah said the Manmohan Singh government had sanctioned Rs 1,32,000 crore to West Bengal, while the Narendra Modi government had sanctioned Rs 4,34,000 crore to it during its tenure.

During the day Shah addressed four rallies at Kalyani under Bongaon constituency, Panchla in Howrah constituency, Arambagh and Chinsurah in Hooghly constituency.

The Bongaon Lok Sabha seat has a sizeable Matua population that had migrated to West Bengal from Bangladesh in the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution.

With an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, the community can influence poll results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in Bengal.

Shah also claimed that lawlessness has increased in the state, with the Trinamool Congress dispensation letting loose goons to run its syndicates.

In West Bengal, syndicate refers to a group of businessmen, backed by the ruling party, operating mainly in those areas of the state that are witnessing a realty boom.

These businessmen allegedly force promoters and contractors to buy construction materials, often of inferior quality, at high prices.

The state, which was once known for its rich culture, is now a hub of "bomb and illegal gun-making factories", he said.

"Other than bomb manufacturing units, no factory has been set up in the state under the Mamata Banerjee government .... The sound of bomb explosions has silenced Rabindrasangeet in Bengal. Under the TMC rule, all three - mother, motherland and people (TMC slogan of maa, mati, manush) - are suffering," he said.

"Don't be afraid of the threats by the TMC goons, adequate arrangement has been made by the poll panel. Go without any fear and cast your votes to re-elect the Modi government," Shah added.

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At a time when Lok Sabha elections are underway, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who also heads the state Congress unit, has written to the party office-bearers asking them to prepare lists of those government employees who they feel are "not unbiased".

Reacting angrily, the opposition BJP said that Nath writing letters to office-bearers of various districts amounted to the violation of the model code of conduct.

The party also said it would file a complaint with the Election Commission.

In the letter, which he has written in his capacity as the state president of the Congress, Nath has sought details about those government officials and employees who according to Congress leaders are "biased", to the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC).

The letter, dated April 29 and signed by Nath, is addressed to Congress candidates who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections and district presidents of the party.

"You know that the Lok Sabha-2019 election is being held in different phases. The EC has directed to conduct elections in an impartial manner. In the first phase of polls (on April 29), Congress workers have worked with dedication and diligence.

"You are being asked to submit details like names, posts and departments of those officials and employees who are careless and not unbiased during the poll duty, to the MPCC (Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee)," states the letter.

While six of the total 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh went to the polls in the first phase on April 29, the remaining 23 constituencies will vote on May 6, 12 and 19.

Reacting to Nath's letter, the BJP said he has started "threatening" officials after sensing defeat of the Congress in the first phase.

State BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agrawal said the move is a violation of the poll code.

"This is a clear violation of the model code of conduct. It is the responsibility of the EC to conduct elections in a free and fair manner, but the MP CM is trying to pressurise officers to make them work in favour of the ruling party," alleged Agrawal.

He said the BJP would file a complaint "against this threat being given to officials and employees posted on election duty".

"On the complaints made by the BJP, the EC has transferred a collector, three SPs while FIRs were filed against two ministers," he said without elaborating.

On the other hand, the Congress said there was nothing objectionable in Nath's letter.

"The BJP is creating a an unnecessary controversy. Nobody is being threatened in the letter but only details are sought about those officials and employees who are not contributing in holding a free and fair election but are supporting the one particular ideology," said Congress spokesman Narendra Saluja.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A court Wednesday issued summons to the state election commissions of and on a complaint against Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, for allegedly having two voter identity cards.

Metropolitan Magistrate Shaifali Barnala Tondon took cognisance on the complaint filed by Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana and issued summons to authorised officials of the state of both and Delhi to bring all relevant records related to

The court then posted the matter for hearing on June 3.

The criminal complaint filed by Khurana in Delhi's Tis Hazari court alleges that possesses two identity cards, one from Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad parliamentary constituency and another from Chandni Chowk.

"In complete disregard to the electoral processes and norms and in order to wrongfully give advantage to the (AAP), in which her husband is the national convener, the accused is deliberately and intentionally maintaining her name in the electoral roll at two different places," Khuranna has alleged in his petition.

Khuranna has sought directions to the to investigate offences under sections 17 and 31 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1950, besides other sections.

Section 17 of the RPA provides that no person is entitled to be enrolled as a voter in more than one constituency and its violation is a criminal offence punishable with a maximum imprisonment of one year.

Section 31 of the act makes false declaration in the matter of inclusion or exclusion of voter rolls punishable with up to one year in prison.

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Thousands of local residents and members of various organisationsWednesday formed a human chain at Futala Lake here to protest the proposed felling of more than 700 trees in a green belt.

Students of colleges and schools also took part in the protest against tree cutting in the Bharat Van area.

Bharat Van is a vast green cover located on a tract of land belonging to the Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) in the Bharat Nagar area, where construction of a road towards Futala Lake has been proposed.

A musical fountain and a viewer gallery at the lake is also part of the project.

The Futala lake beautification scheme is a dream project of Nagpur MP and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.

However, around 200 fully-grown trees and around 500 small ones are expected to be cut for the proposed road towards the lake.

Acting on a PIL, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has ordered a stay on the felling of trees for the road. The PIL will come up for further hearing Thursday.

However, the project is facing resistance from the local residents and non-governmental organisations.

Honorary wildlife warden Nagpur Jaydeep Das, who is spearheading the campaign, told PTI he had written a letter to the HC on this issue which was later converted into a PIL.

"This particular green cover called Bharat Van is close to Futala lake wherein, a musical fountain and viewer gallery is proposed on the lake.

"MahaMetro is executing this project for Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)," he said.

"However, authorities have planned an 18-metre wide and 0.5 km alternate route to the musical fountain on the lake for traffic diversion to it," said Das.

He said more than 700 trees, including200 fully-grown ones, are expected to be cut for this alternate route, destroying a rich ecological habitat in the heart of the city.

"This green cover is home to thousands of trees, some of them 100 years old, and also birds and small animals like monkey and peacock. The felling of trees will cause a huge damage to ecological balance here," said Das.

Das said the campaign to save the trees at Bharat Van has become a people's movement.

More than 5,000 people from various walks of life formed a 2km human chain around Futala Lake Wednesday to save the trees, he said.

Environmental activist Anusuya Chhabrani, an active member of the campaign, said, "We all want development but not at the cost of and heritage of Nagpur. We have to protect the green lungs of Nagpur for the future of the city."



Shashi Kanoria, a resident of Bharat Nagar, said the proposed road is not required at all as alternative routes already exist in the area.

Besides, there is not that much traffic for which a new route should be constructed by destroying the green patch, Kanoria said.

When contacted, Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Bangar defended the project.

He said the matter is in the HC, where the civic body will be filing an affidavit.

"The NMC has proposed changes in alignment in such a way that minimum damage to big trees is caused. Moreover, MahaMetro is going to transplant all affected trees.

"Transplantation would be done in thesame area so as to preserve the ecological balance. We will act according to directions of the High Court," Bangar said.

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Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal said Wednesday that the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli in which 15 police personnel were killed was not a result of intelligence failure.

Terming it a "big loss" for the force, Jaiswal said that police "were ready to give a befitting reply to the Naxals".

"I cannot call this an intelligence failure... The police will take whatever action needed against such activities. It is a big loss for police," Jaiswal said.

The Naxals want to overthrow the state, he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Home Minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday assured all help to the Maharashtra government in the wake of a Naxal attack in which 15 security personnel and a civilian were killed.

He termed the attack an act of cowardice and desperation.

The home minister also spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who briefed him about the incident.

"Attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli is an act of cowardice and desperation. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. The Home Ministry is in constant touch with the state administration," he said in a statement.

The home minister said the country was extremely proud of the valour of police personnel and their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain.

"I have spoken to the Maharashtra chief minister regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave police personnel," he said.

At least 16 people, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Gadchiroli district.

Those killed were members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of Gadchiroli police, which was on way to inspect a fleet of torched vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor, police said.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned Wednesday's Naxal attack in Gadchiroli, in which 15 police personnel and a civilian were killed, stating that the Naxal menace will be fought with stronger efforts.

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by Naxals today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families. I am in touch with the DGP and the Gadchiroli SP," he said in a statement.

"I strongly condemn this attack and we will fight this menace with even stronger efforts," the chief minister added.

Fadnavis said he had spoken to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and briefed him about the situation.

At least 16 persons, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Wednesday.

The blast followed Naxals torching 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day, police said.

Those killed were members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of Gadchiroli police, which was on its way to inspect the torched vehicles, an official said.

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Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari returned home Wednesday on completion of her eight-day official visit to China during which both the sides signed various agreements, including transit and transport between the two countries.

Bhandari and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping discussed ways to further strengthen and consolidate the bilateral ties and "mutually beneficial partnership" between the two countries, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The President held delegation level talks with Xi on April 29. During the meeting, Bhandari invited Xi to Nepal.

Accepting the invitation, President Xi said he attaches great importance to visiting Nepal and visit the country at a convenient time.

The other areas that figured during the talks for bilateral cooperation include education, tourism, trade, investment, and cross-border economic zones.

Xi assured China's support to make 'Visit Nepal Year 2020' a success by encouraging more Chinese tourists to visit the country, the statement said.

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A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US got underway in Qatar on Wednesday, as the foes continue to seek a way out of America's longest war.

The latest negotiations come as pressure builds for some sort of breakthrough in the gruelling Afghan conflict, with Washington jostling for a resolution.

According to a Taliban spokesman, the group's top political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar met with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the men discussed "key aspects for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue".

Khalilzad, who has stressed "there is no final agreement until everything is agreed", has previously outlined the basic framework for a deal.

The pact would see the US agree to pull its forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban vowing to stop terror groups ever again using the country as a safe haven.

According to the Taliban, Baradar told Khalilzad it was vital those two key points "be finalised".

The US embassy in Kabul confirmed only that talks were taking place. Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, has spent several months shuttling between Asian capitals and Washington in a bid to build consensus for a deal.

On Sunday, the Afghan-born envoy said Washington was "a bit impatient" to end the war, given its USD 45 billion annual cost to the US taxpayer and the continued toll on US forces, some 2,400 of whom have been killed since the US-led invasion in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

US President Donald Trump provided additional momentum when in December he told advisors he wanted to pull about half of America's 14,000 troops from Afghanistan.

Despite several rounds of negotiations between the US and the Taliban, none of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime.

That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.

An initial attempt for an "intra-Afghan dialogue" -- due to take place last month in Doha -- collapsed at the last minute amid bickering over the lengthy list of delegates Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wanted to send.

Separately, thousands of Afghan politicians and representatives are meeting in Kabul this week at a "loya jirga" peace summit to discuss conditions under which they could envision a deal with the Taliban.

Among top concerns are that the militant Islamist extremists would try to undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms and legal protections.

Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, welcomed the fresh US-Taliban talks and described how the jirga could feed into peace talks.

"The jirga sets a logical beginning for the peace process," Daudzai told reporters. "The people in the jirga will decide and set boundaries and the framework of talks."



Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for intra-Afghan dialogue that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table.

He tweeted Wednesday he was in Doha and had met with the Indonesian foreign minister, who offered support for the talks.

Meanwhile, violence across Afghanistan continues apace, and the Taliban last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio issued an executive order Tuesday banning alcohol advertising from city property, citing public health concerns.

The ban would include bus shelters, newsstands and Wi-Fi kiosks and would take effect immediately for new ads, though existing ads would be allowed to remain until their contracts run out.

"There's no doubt that far too many New Yorkers struggle with serious substance misuse issues, among them excessive drinking," Democrat De Blasio said in a statement.

"This order banning alcohol ads from City property reaffirms our commitment to health equity and our stand to protect the well-being of all New Yorkers."



According to the statement, there were nearly 2,000 alcohol-related deaths in New York City in 2016, and 110,000 alcohol-related emergency department visits.

It also said certain areas are hit harder, with East Harlem seeing five times the rate of alcohol-linked hospitalizations than the Upper East Side.

Citing a 2017 study, the mayor's office said ads promoting alcoholic drinks could increase the likelihood of viewers consuming alcohol -- and could also affect they amount they drink.

"Exposure to outdoor alcohol advertising has been associated with subsequent intentions to use and with problem drinking," said the study from the New York



Academy of Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health.

Alcohol ads were banned from buses and the city's subway in January 2018.

The Distilled Spirits Council, an alcohol producer trade association, criticized De Blasio's order.

"The mayor's decision to ban alcohol advertising is misguided and unsupported by the scientific research," the organization's vice president Jay Hibbard said in a statement.

Other major US cities have also banned alcohol advertising -- though Hibbard said some cities, such as Baltimore and Chicago, have since then overturned such bans.

"The research is clear - parents and other adults are the most influential factors in a youth's decision whether or not to drink alcohol, not advertising," he said.

According to a Federal Trade Commission report on alcohol advertising in 2014 -- the most recent available -- the agency relies on the industry to self-regulate its marketing practices.

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The US on Wednesday rejected Pakistan's claim that India was using Afghanistan for spreading terrorism in the country, saying there was "no evidence" to support Islamabad's allegations.

"I don't have the evidence what you're referring to, but our policy is clear that no country should support non-state actors," Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, said while interacting with a group of journalists at the US Embassy here.

Pakistan has long been expressing its concerns regarding India allegedly using the Afghan soil to create trouble and often presented as evidence the case of Indian prisoner Kulbushan Jadhav, who has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of "espionage and terrorism" in April 2017.

Islamabad claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Indian Navy. Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

Commenting on Pakistan's allegations regarding India's role in creating trouble in Balochistan, she urged regional countries to respect each other's sovereignty, without naming India, the Express Tribune reported.

"We recognise and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan. We do not support any separatist or irredentist movements, she said.

"We think it's critical that nations of this region respect one another and work to achieve peace and economic growth," she added.

Wells, who was part of a delegation headed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, said the US would never condone or support any use of "terrorist proxies against another country."



She also said the US had no information regarding Pakistan Army's latest allegations that Afghan and Indian secret agencies were funding the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), an ethnic Pashtun rights group based in tribal region.

On the possibility of resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India, Wells said Pakistan needed to demonstrate its commitment to ensure that militant groups can't take advantage of Pakistani soil."



India and Afghanistan accuse Pakistan of providing safe haven to the Afghan Taliban, Haqqani network and other militant groups, which carry out attacks in the two countries.

Wells said the US welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan's public statements affirming his resolve not to allow Pakistan's soil to be used against any other country.

"I would positively note that many comments the prime minister has made in public underscoring his government's commitment to moving away from non-state actors to ensuring that the national action plan that Pakistan has forged is implemented, she said.

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Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 4:19PM

Embed from Getty Images

Facebooks Portal video chat devices are coming to Canada soon. The company just announced that itll be bringing both the Portal and Portal+ here in June. Itll also be heading to Europe in the fall. On top of that, the devices are getting WhatsApp support soon. Whats available now is you can turn these into a better photo frame. You can add your favorite photos from Instagram and Facebook to Superframe. There will be a new mobile app coming out in the summer where you can send photos straight to Superframe from your camera roll. You will also later be able to stream through Facebook Live later this year.

Source: The Verge + Engadget
Sri Lanka's political parties and trade unions shunned holding big May Day rallies on Wednesday in view of the fluid security situation following the country's worst terror attacks on Easter Sunday which killed over 250 people.

A normal May Day or International Labour Day would see long processions of political parties during the day with large rallies till late in the evening.

All parties and trade unions said holding a normal May Day rally became a challenge following the suicide bombings on leading Colombo hotels and churches.

"We decided not to hold our procession. Instead we will meet our trade union members indoors," Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, the minister of Education and the ruling UNP general secretary said.

President Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) they too decided to cancel their procession and rally and would hold a low key event.

The city of Colombo and most parts of the island are under a tight security blanket with regular road blocks set up to check vehicles as security has been beefed up following the country's worst terror attacks that killed 253 people and injured 500 others.

Authorities say at least a few more Jihadi bombers may be in the run. The information flow from the communities have helped in many arrests.

The island's 10 per cent Muslim minority fears reprisals and the security forces, political and religious leaders are keen to maintain peace by not allowing room for any disturbances.

Earlier this week, the government banned all garments which would hinder the identification of individuals.

Muslim women have been made to stop wearing niqab, hijab scarves and abaya robes.

The Muslim clerics have issued the appeal to shun these garments as means to extend cooperation to security forces which carry out operations to ensure safety in the face of threats of more attacks.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday warned that unscrupulous political elements were trying to ignite religious clashes leading to the Buddhist majority Wesak festival which is to happen later this month.

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Soni Razdan says it is human to feel bad when attacked personally but the actor has learnt to ignore people who think they have the power to hurt her.

On Twitter, Soni has been at the receiving end of right-wing trolls for having anti-majoritarian views.

The Britain-born actor also engaged in a war of words with Kangana Ranaut's sister Rangoli, who launched a personal attack on her, questioning her stand to have opinion about the country when she does not hold Indian citizenship.

When asked, do personal attacks affect her mental health, the actor told PTI that it is only natural to feel that way, at least initially.

"Everybody is human, and I'm not an alien... I do feel bad but then at some point you have to stop feeling bad. You have to think who's trying to make me feel bad and why."



The actor said it is important to introspect and not give the power to hurt to anyone.

"You need to ask those questions and then you'll find the answers. And then you stop feeling bad immediately. Why give this person the power to make you sad in the first place?"



Soni has been vocal about issues concerning the country, from speaking out about the situation of Kashmiri students who faced threats and violence following Pulwama attack to mob lynching.

As she gears up to promote her film "Yours Truly", which will premiere on May 3 on ZEE5, the actor said she has often been advised by people to not be vocal about her views on Twitter.

"There are people who say, 'Don't write that, just promote your films. Why do you have to make a comment about this?' I feel but why not. If I feel something, when am I going to say something? When I'm dead?



"You come to a certain age in life and wonder 'I am holding back for what?' Why not just say it?" she asked.

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These are the top stories from the northern region at 9.30 pm



AYODHYA/KAUSHAMBI ELN52 UP-2NDLD PM



Ayodhya/Kaushambi (UP): Terming terrorism the biggest threat facing India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said terror factories running in the neighbourhood are waiting for a weak government here.

NEW DELHI ELN29 UP-PRIYANKA-LD ALLIANCE



Salon (UP): The Congress is not at all cutting into votes of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh as the party has fielded candidates either with prospects of victory or having potential to damage BJP's chances in the state, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said Wednesday.

VARANASI ELN44 UP-2NDLD-BSF JAWAN



Varanasi: Amid high drama, dismissed BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency was Wednesday rejected by poll authorities.

SITAPUR (UP) ELN27 UP-RAHUL RALLY



Sitapur (UP): Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday termed the NYAY scheme as an answer to the wrong policies of the BJP government which have "annihilated" the country's economy.

BARABANKI ELN32 UP-MAYAWATI



Barabanki (UP): BSP chief Mayawati Wednesday accused the BJP of using the martyrdom of jawans for election purposes and regretted that the country's borders are still not totally secure.

JAIPUR ELX1 RJ-JAIPUR-TRADERS



Jaipur: The opposition's twin GST-demonetisation poll pitch could well go unheard in India's fabled Pink City with many traders saying they moved on a long time ago and the issues are not relevant in Election 2019.

CHANDIGARH DES3 HR-TRAIN-SELFIE



Chandigarh: Three youths were killed when they were clicking selfies on a railway track, about 2-3 km from Panipat railway station in Haryana, a senior Government Railway Police (GRP) official said on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI NRG2 DL-KHAKHI-ROBBERS-ARREST



New Delhi: Police here arrested three persons, who had allegedly robbed a man of bag containing Rs 1.5 lakh in cash at gunpoint while posing as police personnel.

SRINAGAR DEL11 JK-LD HIGHWAY



Srinagar: Under immense pressure from various quarters, the Jammu and Kashmir administration Wednesday announced complete withdrawal of restrictions on civilian traffic movement between Srinagar and Baramulla.

SRINAGAR DEL29 JK-JKLF-TRIBUNAL



Srinagar: The recently banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) led by separatist leader Yasin Malik has been served with a show-cause notice by a tribunal to explain why it would not be confirmed as an unlawful organisation, officials said Wednesday.

NOIDA DES17 NCR-ENGINEER-KILLING-ARREST



Noida (UP): The wife of an engineer, who was found dead with gunshot injuries inside his car two days ago in Greater Noida, has been booked for planning his killing and three persons arrested, police said Wednesday.

NEW DELHI DES13 DL-WOMAN DOCTOR-LD KILLING



New Delhi: The body of a 25-year-old doctor with her throat slit was found in her rented flat in central Delhi's Ranjeet Nagar area, police said Wednesday.

NEW DELHI DES9 DL-METRO-LD JUMP



New Delhi: A civic agency worker allegedly committed suicide Wednesday by jumping in front of a metro train at the Dwarka Sector 9 station on the Blue Line of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, officials said.

PRATAPGARH (UP) ELX8 UP-IAF-EMERGENCY



Pratapgarh (UP): An IAF helicopter on a mission to review the security at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally venue Wednesday developed a technical fault and made an emergency landing on the outskirts of the district here, police said.

IN THE PIPELINE



Jaipur: Prime Minister calls UN designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist a big success for India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The recently banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) led by separatist leader Yasin Malik has been served with a show-cause notice by a tribunal to explain why it would not be confirmed as an unlawful organisation, officials said Wednesday.

The registrar of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, Delhi High Court, has served the notice on the JKLF-Y under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and gave the group 30 days to explain why their association, declared as unlawful, be not adjudicated to be so and why an order confirming such declaration be not made under the act.

The tribunal has asked the JKLF-Y to file objections or affidavits, if any, before the next date of hearing, to the registrar of the tribunal located at the Delhi High Court, a Jammu and Kashmir government official said.

The JKLF-Y has also been asked to appear before the tribunal through a duly authorised person on May 30 for further proceedings.

The central government had constituted the tribunal, comprising Justice Chander Shekhar of the Delhi High Court, for adjudicating as to whether there is sufficient cause for declaring the JKLF-Yasin Malik faction as an "Unlawful Association" as required by sub-section (1) of Section 4 of the UAPA.

The central government had declared the JKLF-Y a banned organisation on March 22.

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The Lok Sabha election this time is critical as it is about the idea and soul of India, Congress leader Sam Pitroda said Wednesday, as he flagged off a campaign bus of NRIs who will take the party's message to the people in Punjab and Haryana.

Indian Overseas Congress chief Pitroda said the NRIs will reach out to the people, to convince them to vote for the Congress.

"We think we are going to win. We are very confident," he said.

The Indian Overseas Congress members will travel on the bus to various places in Haryana and Punjab for about two weeks.

They will take the message of the Congress to the people highlighting that the BJP has not done anything in the last five years, Pitroda said.

"Look at the manifesto of the Congress party, look at the Congress party's NYAY scheme, look at what has happened to students in education, jobs, demonetisation effect, women's issues," he said.

"This election is very critical. This election is about the idea of India, about the soul of India and the people must vote after thinking properly," Pitroda said.

More than 100 NRIs travelling on the campaign bus are from countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand. Over all more than 100 people.

Earlier, about 1,000 NRIs had worked on the Congress campaign in Kerala and Karnataka.

The Lok Sabha election in Haryana and Punjab will be held on May 12 and May 19 respectively.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday termed the NYAY scheme as an answer to the wrong policies of the BJP government which have "annihilated" the country's economy.

Addressing an election rally for party candidate Kaiser Jahan at the Gulzar Shah ground in Biswan, the Gandhi scion slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Demonetisation and GST together annihilated the country's economy. The NYAY Scheme of the Congress is the only answer to the poor people affected by the wrong policies of the BJP," the Congress chief said.

"Modi ji favoured a group of 15 people by giving them Rs 5,55,000 crore but the Congress will take this amount back from them and use it for benefitting 25 crore poor families of this country," he added.

Talking about the plight of farmers, Rahul Gandhi said the monetary help being offered to them in the name of seeds and fertilisers is no less than a joke.

"Our Prime Minister helped Anil Ambani by giving him the contract of Rafale and in turn cheated the country," he said.

Stressing that he was not afraid of Modi, the Gandhi scion claimed that the prime minister "goes into hiding" whenever he challenges him for a debate or raises questions on the corruption allegedly plaguing the different departments of his government.

Rahul Gandhi further urged the people to vote for his party and assured that if voted to power, the Congress government will uplift the poor who have been "robbed" by Modi.

"Youth of Sitapur who are jobless now will have jobs in their hands after the Congress comes to power," he said.

Polling in Sitapur is slated for May 6 in the fifth phase of the ongoing general elections.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress, BJP and other opposition parties in Telangana continued their protests Wednesday against the alleged errors in declaration of intermediate examination results that had led to suicide of some students.

Hitting out at the opposition, the ruling TRS working president K T Rama Rao accused them of politicising the issue concerning students and appealed to the students not to take the extreme step.

Taking exception to opposition parties making allegations of corruption linking him to a private firm, he said he would have to go to court and file a defamation suit against those making baseless allegations.

State BJP president K Laxman, who has been shifted by the police to a state-run hospital hours after launching an indefinite fast on April 29, continued his fast in the hospital for the third day.

Intensifying its protests, BJP has called for a state-wide bandh Thursday.

Charging the TRS government with trying to put down protests and not taking action against those responsible for the alleged goof-up, BJP general secretary Muralidhar Rao said his party was gearing up for a decisive agitation.

"We are warning once again, it is Chief Minister who is responsible for the suicides, he told reporters.

The state government has not taken action either on the officials in the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) or the private firm which had been entrusted the job of handling the results, the BJP leader alleged.

"Those who played a role (in the alleged goof-up) have become the jury, he said.

Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) and CPI organised a campaign of collecting signatures from the public, appealing to the intermediate students not to commit suicides.

Meanwhile, the Board of Intermediate Education said in a press release that processing of results of re-verification would be done simultaneously by a computer agency along with the private firm which has already been given the task.

This decision has been taken according to the recommendations of the three-member committee of experts which had submitted a report on the developments following announcement of results on April 18.

The declaration of results led to widespread criticism from students, parents, students organisations and political parties in the wake of errors like meritorious students allegedly getting poor marks and also technical errors.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Oprah Winfrey has revealed she might not act again as the art "does not feed" her soul anymore.

The popular host-actor, whose last cinematic outing was Ava Duvernay's "A Wrinkle in Time", said acting is not a profession one can "dabble in".

"(Acting) doesn't feed me anymore. But I think to be really, really good at it, you've got to do it a lot. You've got to work at it. And it's got to be something that you have true passion about.

"I don't think it's something you can dabble in. It was fun to be Mrs Which (in 'A Wrinkle in Time'), and I did that because I wanted to go to New Zealand and wear the costumes. But no, it doesn't feed my soul anymore," Winfrey told The Hollywood Reporter.

The 65-year-old TV mogul also revealed she was no longer a part of the news-based show "60 Minutes".

Winfrey said she decided to leave as the stint was "flattening out my personality".

"It's not that it didn't sit very well. I did it. I think I did seven takes on just my name because it was 'too emotional'. I go, 'is the too much emotion in the 'Oprah' part or the 'Winfrey' part?" she added.

The presenter said she spoke to former "60 minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager, before reports of alleged sexual harassment surfaced within the network, as she wanted to focus on her Apple commitments.

Winfrey's megadeal with the tech giant includes a book club, documentaries and a potential series on which she might come back in her quintessential interviewer avatar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three men were arrested for duping crores of rupees from over 200 people across India by impersonating employees of insurance firms and making their victims invest in bogus policies, police said Wednesday.

Vikas Tyagi (31), Rahul Tyagi (34) and Sonu Kumar (30) operated from a call centre in Vasundhara area of Ghaziabad. They used to induce people by promising them handsome returns on their deposits.

A victim told police that a person had called him in 2013 and identified himself as Rajeev Mittal. Mittal told the victim that he was an employee of ING Vysya Bank Ltd in Karol Bagh. The caller urged him to invest in a lucrative one-time insurance policy, Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), said.

The victim invested a sum of Rs 12,96,000 but later came to know that no such policy existed. When he contacted Mittal, he was asked to contact another person, Niranjan Aggarwal, who was working at Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India, he said.

Aggarwal also asked the victim to deposit money in a bank account to get the previous amount. In all, the victim was duped of Rs 77,20,216 between 2014 and 2017, the DCP said.

Nine mobile phones, one computer, some fake IDs and some other documents have been recovered, police said, adding efforts are being made to nab the remaining members of the gang.

The DCP said police found that more than 200 people had been duped of money by the gang.

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Hitting out at the Shiv Sena for allegedly seeking a burqa ban, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi Wednesday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party should know that the Constitution gives autonomy to individuals.

The article in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' on the matter was a grave violation of the Model Code of Conduct, claimed the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president. He asked the Election Commission to take immediate note of it.

The article was trying to create divisions and polarisation in society, he alleged.

"May I give them some knowledge, some gyan because they are ignorant... I am to remind them that the Supreme Court judgment on privacy, the supreme court judgment on (Article) 377 clearly lays down that choice.

"For Shiv Sena's ignorant people, I am spelling that out for them, choice, is now fundamental right," Owaisi told reporters here.

He said as per the Indian Constitution one can choose and do whatever they like.

"That is your autonomy. Unfortunately and deliberately, for all these Hindutva ignorant people, when you talk about constitution, they go completely mad about it.

"Because, they dont understand the pluralism of our country," he said.

Owaisi said the Shiv Sena was frustrated as "they are going to lose a huge number of seats in the elections".

"That is why they are indulging in what I called dog-vigil politics," he said.

In the report, published in Saamana, the Sena had said if burqa was banned in "Ravan's Lanka, then why not in Ram's Ayodhya."



"India is a country which celebrates every religion. It also celebrates people who don't believe in religion. It also celebrates Ravan, it also holds Ram in high esteem. This is India.

"They (Shiv Sena) talked so brave and bold that they will not go with Modi, but they did a trapeze act," said Owaisi, who is seeking re-election from Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha polls.

Asked about the BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur's reported comments that people can give up burqa in national interest, Owaisi said such "nonsensical statements" were expected from her -- who has "had no hesitation in demeaning a martyr of this country (Hemant Karkare)."



What dress were the convicted in Ajmer blast wearing, he asked, referring to the arrested persons' alleged association with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

"So, the fight against terrorism is not with dress. The fight against terrorism is that you have to fight that mindset," he said.

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Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 11:18PM

Google employees say they will be holding a sit-in tomorrow, May 1st, to protest alleged retaliation against workers who protested back in November 2018 against the companys handling of sexual harassment allegations. According to a tweet from the organizers of last years walkout, the sit-in will happen at 11 am. The tweet reads: From being told to go on sick leave when youre not sick, to having your reports taken away, were sick of retaliation. Six months ago, we walked out. This time, were sitting in. 11am tomorrow.

In response to last years protest, Google made some concessions but its being reported that internal controversy still plagues the company. Last week, two employees who helped organize the walkout claimed their job responsibilities have been diminished by management as a result of their involvement in the protests. Google claimed this didnt have anything to do with that and these werent acts of retaliations.

When asked to comment about the sit-in, a Google spokesperson said, We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy. To make sure that no complaint raised goes unheard at Google, we give employees multiple channels to report concerns, including anonymously, and investigate all allegations of retaliation.

Google employees have conducted similar protests in the past to help sway executive decisions in the company.

Source: The Verge
Pakistan Wednesday summoned Afghanistan's envoy to lodge protest over terrorist attack along the Pak-Afghan border in which three Pakistan soldiers were killed and seven others injured.

A group of 60-70 terrorists from across the border attacked the security forces fencing the Pak-Afghan border in Alwara at North Waziristan district, an army statement said.

Three soldiers were killed in the attack while seven others were injured. Several terrorists were killed in the retaliatory firing by the Pakistan Army, it added.

Foreign Office said that the Afghan Charge d' Affaires was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Additional Secretary (Afghanistan and West Asia) and Pakistan's strong protest was lodged over a cross-border terrorist attack in North Waziristan last night, launched by terrorist groups coming from Afghanistan."



The terrorists launched fire raids and physical attacks on Pakistani military troops operating in North Waziristan district to fence the border.

It claimed that Pakistan military repulsed the attack by the terrorists who after suffering significant casualties fled back to Afghanistan in small groups.

It said that the terrorists were able to escape due to lack of appropriate response by the Afghan security forces.

The Afghan Charge d' Affaires was informed that Pakistan strongly protests such provocations which are detrimental to peace and stability along Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the FO said.

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Pakistan on Wednesday said it would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed by the UN on JeM chief Masood Azhar and agreed to his listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack were removed from the proposal.

In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations designated Pakistan-based Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal by the US, the UK and France to blacklist him.

The US, the UK and France had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist" in the UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February, just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Pakistan would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed on Azhar.

"Formal action will be taken on three counts: travel ban, arms embargo and travel restrictions. That is the requirement...Pakistan is a responsible state and we will take appropriate action," he said.

The spokesman said Islamabad rejected earlier proposals to list Azhar as terrorist as those efforts had a political agenda and aimed at maligning Pakistan.

"Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world...the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee listing is governed by clear rules and its decisions are taken through consensus...Pakistan has always advocated the need for respecting these technical rules and has opposed the politicisation of the committee," Faisal said.

"Earlier proposals to list Azhar failed to generate the requisite consensus in the Sanctions Committee as the information did not meet its technical criteria...These proposals were aimed at maligning Pakistan...and were thus rejected by Pakistan," he said, noting that "the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama".

Faisal asserted that the UN decision "will not impact the struggle of Kashmiris and Pakistan would continue to support them".

Pakistan will continue to extend diplomatic, moral and political support to the Kashmiris, he said.

The spokesman said the recent listing proposal was presented on the basis of considerations beyond the listing parameters. As a result, a technical hold was placed by China, Islamabad's all-weather ally, to bring it in line with the listing criteria.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal.

Faisal said the current decision was based on consensus and Pakistan's concerns were addressed after consultations with China.

He also rejected the UN's move as a "victory for India and validation of its stance" as projected by the Indian media.

Claiming that Indian media reports were "misleading", Faisal said the decision by the UNSC was in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to not allow any terror group to operate in Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan on Wednesday said it would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed by the UN on JeM chief Masood Azhar and said it agreed to his listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack were removed from the proposal.

In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations designated Pakistan-based Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal by the US, the UK and France to blacklist him.

The US, the UK and France had moved the proposal to designate Azhar as a "global terrorist" in the UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February, just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM in Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal also rejected the world body's move as a "victory for India and validation of its stance" as projected by the Indian media.

"Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world...the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee listing is governed by clear rules and its decisions are taken through consensus...Pakistan has always advocated the need for respecting these technical rules and has opposed the politicisation of the committee," Faisal said.

He said earlier proposals to list Azhar failed to generate the requisite consensus in the Sanctions Committee as the information did not meet its technical criteria.

"These proposals were aimed at maligning Pakistan...and were thus rejected by Pakistan," he said, noting that "the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama".

He also said Pakistan would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed on Azhar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Wednesday flayed DMK president M K Stalin for seeking Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal's removal for issuing notices to three AIADMK MLAs siding with rival leader and AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran, saying it showed the "proximity" between the two opposition parties.

The AIADMK Joint Coordinator sought to know why Stalin, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, was "getting outraged" over the ruling party's internal affairs and said he did not know on what basis the DMK moved the resolution seeking the speaker's removal.

Dhanapal had on Tuesday issued notices to three AIADMK MLAs loyal to T T V Dhinakaran, the general secretary of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), days after the ruling party petitioned the Tamil Nadu Assembly speaker for action against them for alleged anti-party activities.

The notices were issued to Kallakurichi legislator A Prabhu, V T Kalaiselvan (Vriddhachalam) and E Rathinasabapathy (Aranthangi) based on a petition filed by Chief Government Whip S Rajendran on April 26, seeking "due legal action" against them.

Palaniswami said, "The whip had given the complaint against the AIADMK MLAs for anti-party activities. But I dont know why the leader of the Opposition is getting outraged like this... they are not members of their organisation (DMK)."



"The kind of statements made by them (DMK) and them getting outraged has shown very clearly the proximity between the DMK and AMMK," he told reporters here.

The chief minister reiterated that the chief government whip had moved sought action against the three MLAs as "they had gone against" the AIADMK and questioned the rationale behind Stalin's action.

On Tuesday, DMK, which has been opposing any action on the AIADMK petition, had dubbed Dhanapal's move "murder of democracy" and handed over to the Assembly Secretary a resolution seeking the speaker's removal from the post.

The DMK and MDMK have opposed any possible disqualification of the three MLAs, claiming that the AIADMK move was "only to protect" the Palaniswami government as it will 'lose' majority after the results of the bypolls to 22 Assembly seats are declared.

Bypolls were held to 18 Assembly seats on April 18 and four more segments will go for bye-elections on May 19.

S Rajendran had on April 26 approached Dhanapal for "due legal action" against the three MLAs for alleged anti-party activities against the backdrop of them siding with Dhinakaran.

The move has sparked speculation about another round of disqualification of the ruling party legislators after Dhanapal had stripped 18 pro-Dhinakaran AIADMK MLAs of their Assembly membership in September 2017 under the anti-defection law.

They were disqualified for revolting against Palaniswami in August 2017 after he merged the faction led by him with the group headed by then rebel leader O Panneerselvam, now the deputy chief minister.

In the 234-member state assembly with 22 vacancies, the AIADMK has a strength of 113, excluding the Speaker. The simple majority mark in the full House is 117. The principal opposition DMK along with its allies, including the Congress, has 97 MLAs.

Incidentally, two MLAs of AIADMK's alliance parties, designated as its members in the assembly records since they contested on its symbol, have shown signs of stress with the ruling party.

Legislator S Karunaas, leader of Mukkulathor Puli Padai, has been anti-government for some time, while Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi MLA M Thamimun Ansari, a strident BJP critic, backed the DMK-led alliance in the Lok Sabha polls after the AIADMK struck a poll pact with the saffron party.

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The Madras High Court has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to issue showcause notice, returnable in two weeks, to all unqualified teachers who have not cleared the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).

The court sought to know how it could conclude that a teacher was qualifed to continue in the post when the teacher was unable to pass the TET within eight years.

Justice S M Subramaniam, disposing of four petitions by teachers Kasthurba Gandhi Baliga Vidyalaya Residential School, Perungalathur, who failed the test, said Tuesday that 60,000 fully qualified teachers who have cleared it or national eligibility tests were waiting and aspiring to be teachers.

Therefore, there was no reason for the government to retain such unqualified teachers in the post, the judge said.

In respect of implementing the qualifications, there could not be any leniency or misplaced sympathy by the Tamil Nadu government as this would be detrimental to the national educational policy, as well as in the interest of to be imparted to the children, he said.

"Thus, the authorities competent are bound to initiate appropriate action in the light of the Government of India orders, as well as the minimum educational qualifications prescribed under the RTE Act, as well as by the National Council for Teachers

The judge said every teacher was bound to keep in mind that there cannot be any compromise or leniency in respect of the minium qualifications prescribed by the National Council for Teachers Education, the statutory authority constituted under provisions of the Right to Act.

The National Council for Teachers Education is akin to that of the University Grants Commission.

As those who did not pass the TET despite the school and authorities extending the time to attend the test, the school authorities said they would be terminated from the post, against which the four preferred the petitions.

Observing that if the petitioners were not interested in completing the TET, then they were not eligible to continue in the post, the judge said the TET qualification was mandatory.

Therefore, the unqualified teachers were liable to be discharged from service, he said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday strongly condemned the on security personnel in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, saying perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

At least 16 people, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Gadchiroli district Wednesday, police said.

Earlier in the day, the Naxals torched 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day, they said.

Those killed in the blast were members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of Gadchiroli Police, which was on way to inspect the torched vehicles, an official said.

"My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," the prime minister said in his tweet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were among prominent political leaders who Wednesday greeted the people of Gujarat on the occasion of the state's foundation day.

President Ram Nath Kovind also extended his greetings on the occasion.

Modi hailed Gujaratis for their courage, innovation and spirit of enterprise and hoped his home state will scale new heights of glory.

In the state, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and other leaders paid floral tributes at the statue of Indulal Yagnik, the leader behind the Mahagujarat Movement that led to the formation of the state on May 1, 1960 after the division of the Bombay State.

Besides Gujarat, Maharashtra also came into existence on May 1, 1960 following the division of the Bombay State.

"Best wishes to the people of Gujarat on Gujarat Diwas. In all spheres, people from the state have made outstanding contributions.

"Gujaratis are known for their courage, innovation and spirit of enterprise. May Gujarat scale new heights of glory. Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat!" the prime minister said in a tweet posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

"My best wishes and greetings to the people of Gujarat on #GujaratDay," tweeted Gandhi.

"Greetings to the people of Gujarat on statehood day. May the state continue to develop and prosper in the years to come.

"My best wishes to the people of Gujarat for a bright future," Kovind said in a tweet.

Rupani and other leaders paid floral tributes to Yagnik, the architect of present-day Gujarat, on the occasion of the state's foundation day.

The CM also paid tributes at the Shaheed Smarak in the city, erected in memory of students who died in police firing during separate state demand movement.

Leaders of both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress paid tributes to Yagnik to mark the Gujarat Day.

Former Gujarat Chief Minister and NCP leader Shankersinh Vaghela also paid tribute to Yagnik on the occasion.

Rupani extended his best wishes to Gujaratis living in the state, across the country and abroad. He urged them to commit themselves to make Gujarat prosperous and secure, and give a new direction to development so that the state could lead the country.

He said amid challenges and adverse situations, crores of Gujaratis have kept the state growing and made it the country's growth engine.

The story of Gujarat is the story of sacrifice of numerous leaders, notable among them Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Shyamaji Krishna Verma, Sardarsinh Rana, Morarji Desai and Narendra Modi, Rupani said.

State Congress president Amit Chavda and other leaders of the opposition party marked the day by paying tribute to Yagnik.

"Our Gujarat -- Land of legends Mahatma Gandhi ji & Sardar Patel has always been at the forefront of spreading the message of love, peace and brotherhood! #GujaratDay," Chavda tweeted.

People celebrated the day by organising various events.

In Surat, students formed a human chain to depict the map of Gujarat and write, "Jai Garvi Gujarat".

To mark the day, as many 60 people have been selected for the "Gujarat Gaurav Ratna Award" for their contributions in the fields of art, literature and education, among others, by organisations like the Sri Shailesh Thaker Foundation, the Gujarat Public Affairs Council of Canada and the Gujarati Samaj of USA.

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Lauding the arrangements by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for this year's Kumbh Mela, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday recalled the 1954 stampede at the religious gathering in Allahabad when Jawaharlal Nehru was PM.

"When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister, thousands of people were killed in the Kumbh stampede in Allahabad," Modi said at an election meeting here.

reports from the time had, however, put the toll in the hundreds, with some saying that about 800 people were killed.

The prime minister alleged that for saving the image of the then government, the media, too, had suppressed the

"The stampede victims' families names were never mentioned and not a single rupee was given to them (as compensation). It was insensitivity and this sin was committed by the country's first prime minister," Modi said.

Praising the efforts of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in successfully organising Kumbh in Prayagraj, he said, "Earlier there used to be allegations of corruption and commission in Kumbh against ministers, officers and contractors but this time there was no such allegation and the event was successful."



Continuing his attack over the 1954 stampede, the prime minister said, "There was Congress government in UP and at the Centre. From Panchayat to Parliament, there was only Congress. Some parties even did not exist at that time. You will be astonished to know that there was a stampede in which thousands were killed.

"This time no stampede happened. The arrangements changed with change in government."



The prime minister said he was privileged to attend several Kumbh melas in the past.

"I came here towards the end of the Kumbh mela in Prayagraj so that pilgrims did not get affected. Those entrusted with the cleanliness work have changed the image of the country with their works. I got privilege to wash the feet of some during my visit," he said.

Lashing out at the SP-BSP-RLD 'gathbandhan (alliance)' in Uttar Pradesh, Modi said during the last elections, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were on opposite sides, but they have joined hands this time.

"Last elections the SP and the BSP were political foes, today they have become friends," he said, ridiculing the alliance.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the SP and the BSP had contested against each other.

Modi said names of prospective prime ministers are popping up from every "gali-mohalla" (nook and corner).

He said just like the Congress, the SP-BSP would also not be able to check terrorism.

Modi said his government had given the forces freedom to act. "We did a surgical strike and now an air strike," he said, referring to a retaliatory attack in Pakistan after the blast in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan had deployed forces and tanks on the border anticipating that Modi will take the land route. They did not know, this is Modi. This time 'wah upar sey gaye' (the forces attacked via air). Bajrang Bali ki jai. We replied to 'goli' (bullet) with 'gola' (bombshell)," he said.

"To stop harvest of terrorism, the line from where they get supply of 'dana-pani' (fodder) should be snapped," he told the gathering.

Firing a salvo at the opposition, Modi said, "They are those who are either in jail or on bail. They promote casteism and nepotism. Have I done anything due to which you have to hang your head in shame? The SP and the BSP governments made lives of rivals hell during their respective regime by cutting power and water connections to their premises.

"For me, all people are my family irrespective of their caste and religion. Whatever I do, I do for all. What could not be done in 55 years was done by us in 55 months. We ensured power supply to 90 per cent people and rest will be covered soon," he said.

He asked when the opposition cannot control 'gaon ke gundey' (village ruffians), how can they deal with terrorists?



"Earlier blasts took place in Ayodhya, Kashi, Mumbai, Rampur. It has stopped in past five years. It's not because of Modi but due to power of your votes, which made this 'chowkidar' strong," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aided by Google's location data, the Delhi Police was able to arrest two people for allegedly killing a 60-year-old man, officials said Wednesday.

Accused Rajesh (35) and Sagar (30), residents of the Sundar Nagari area here, were arrested Tuesday for killing Ram Karan Verma, they said.

"On March 4, Sunil Verma, son of Ram Karan Verma, filed a case at Nand Nagari police station where he stated that his father was missing since March 2. Sunil alleged that Rajesh and Sagar were behind it," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

A case of abduction was registered on March 20 and a probe launched, Thakur said.

He said as officials made very little headway after analysing call detail records (CDRs) of Rajesh and Sagar, police looked into the March 2 Google location data of one of the accused which showed that the person had visited the Lucknow Expressway that day.

When asked about the visit, the accused failed to give a satisfactory answer and ended up confessing to killing Verma and dumping his body near the expressway at Kotwali Nagar in Barabanki, Thakur said.

The accused disclosed that Verma had borrowed around Rs 18 lakh from them and was making excuses on being asked to return the money, he said.

On being pressured, the victim had even transferred a Ghaziabad property, worth Rs 10 lakh, to them but was not returning the remaining amount, police said.

Thereafter, the accused hatched a plan to kill Verma and invited him to visit Kumbh with them on March 2, the DCP said. The duo strangled the victim on the way, he added.

The body of the deceased has been recovered and a case under sections 302 (murder), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) was registered in this connection, police added.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for some Ukrainians despite concerns the move will exacerbate the crisis between the countries.

Under a decree published Wednesday, several categories of Ukrainian nationals will have the right to a simplified nationality process including those who already have Russian residence permits.

Other categories include Ukrainian citizens who were born in Crimea but left the peninsula before Russia annexed it in March, 2014.

The fast-track procedure is implemented to protect "rights and human and civil freedoms", said the decree which Putin signed on Monday.

The move comes after a comedian with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelensky, won a landslide victory in presidential elections in Ukraine last month.

The Kremlin has not congratulated Zelensky while Putin said Moscow was thinking of making it easier for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship.

Putin had already signed a decree on April 24 allowing people living in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine to receive a Russian passport within three months of applying for one.

President-elect Zelensky, in response, pledged to grant Ukrainian citizenship to Russians who "suffer" under Kremlin rule.

There were hopes bilateral ties might improve under a Zelensky presidency but that is now looking unlikely, analysts say.

Kiev and the West have condemned the Kremlin, accusing Putin of seeking to further destabilise Ukraine, while critics at home say the moves would be a major burden for the already-struggling Russian economy.

After a pro-Western uprising in Kiev ousted a Kremlin- backed regime in 2014 Moscow annexed Crimea and extended support to Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Some in Kiev and the West worry that Moscow's offer of citizenship to Ukrainians would give the Kremlin a justification to move troops across the border under the pretext of protecting the interests of Russian nationals.

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Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Wednesday promised 33 per cent reservation to women in central government jobs, in both houses of Parliament and in state assemblies if his party came to power.

Talking about his party's proposed Nyay minimum income scheme, he also said the money for it will come from people like "Anil, Nirav, Vijay, Mehul...Narendra".

He also slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the national security plank, referring to Wednesday's Naxal attack in Maharashtra which has a BJP-led government.

Addressing a campaign rally at Pipariya in Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad Lok Saha seat, he reiterated the promise of minimum income under Nyay (Nyuntam Aay Yojna).

"Don't be angry," he said, addressing the men in the gathering. "(But) The money under Nyay is going to be deposited in the bank accounts of women...Rs 72,000 a year.

"Congress will give 33 per cent reservation to women in jobs of national government. We are also going to introduce 33 per cent quota for women in Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha and Rajya Sabha," he added.

The Nyay scheme will remonetise the country's economy which has got "demonetized" because no money is left with people, the Congress president said.

"When people have money in their accounts they will spend it in the market to buy necessary things and that will revive economy. Note-ban demonetised the country's economy...Nyay will remonetise it...people will start buying goods... engine (of economy) will jump-start," Gandhi said.

"Narendra Modi took out its (economy's) diesel and is now showing the keys to start it... how will it start when you have taken out diesel?" he said.

Demontisation rendered lakhs of youths jobless as people have no money to spend and factories stopped production, he said.

The Congress chief also accused the prime minister of spreading lies about funding of the Nyay. "Modi is saying that the middle class would be taxed to arrange money for Nyay. Narendra Modi-ji, you again spoke a lie...Not a single paisa would come from the middle class," he said.

"The money will come instead from the pockets of people like Anil (Ambani), Nirav (Modi), Vijay (Mallya), Mehul (Choksi), Narendra....," he said. As he spoke first names, people chanted last names. When he said Narendra, people said Modi.

"Modi talks about national security, whose government was there when Pulwama attack took place? CRPF jawans were martyred today in Maharashtra, whose government is there?" he asked.

Sixteen persons including 15 policemen were killed in an IED blast carried out by Naxals in Maharashtra Wednesday.

"There are BJP governments in Maharashtra and in Delhi. Why PM does not speak on this?" he asked.

"Prime minister said at Red Fort (during an Independence Day speech) that the elephant was sleeping earlier. He means nothing happened before he became PM.... People have to listen to his Man Ki Baat every ten days. Nobody is interested in listening to your Man Ki Baat. You should listen to Man Ki Baat of people, farmers, labourers, youths, and work on it," he said.

Continuing his 'Chowkidar jibe', he said, "This slogan has now become unstoppable. Whichever way, wherever you say Chowkidar, people reply 'Chor hai, chor hai'."



When Congress government comes to power, no farmer will be sent to jail for not repaying bank loans and no permission will be needed for the youth while running a business in the first three years, he said.

Congress has fielded Diwan Shailendra Singh from Hoshangabad against the BJP's Rao Uday Pratap Singh. Hoshangabad will go to polls on May 6.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday welcomed the UNSC decision to designate Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad's founder Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it was a diplomatic victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a series of tweets, Singh said with the designation of Azhar as global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council, India has received a big success against the global war on terror.

"This action of UNSC will help in delivering punishment to Masood Azhar, who was involved in several big terror attacks in the country, including Pulwama.

"Credit for this diplomatic victory goes to the Prime Minister and his strong action against the terrorism," he said.

The home minister said India has been trying for this action against Azhar for the last one decade and today it got the success.

The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as being associated with al-Qaeda for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to", "recruiting for", "otherwise supporting acts or activities of", and "other acts or activities indicating association with" the JeM.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

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RSS general secretary Bhaiyaji Joshi on Wednesday held talks with BJP Rajya Sabha member R K Sinha, in what is being seen as an attempt at damage control ahead of polling at the crucial Patna Sahib seat.

Sinha, who wanted the party ticket for himself or his son Rituraj, which ultimately went to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, is said to have been upset with the BJP leadership ignoring his claim.

The supporters of Sinha and Prasad had clashed at Patna airport last month when the latter had arrived in the capital city after declaration of his candidature.

The seat is currently held by actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who quit the BJP last month and is contesting as the Congress candidate.

The billionaire businessman, who is the founder of the private security solutions provider SIS, enjoys tremendous popularity among the members of his Kayastha caste which has a sizeable presence in the Lok Sabha constituency and to which both the BJP and the Congress candidates also belong.

In March, ahead of the NDAs announcement of candidates, the Akhil Bharatiya Kayasth Mahasabha had issued a statement urging the BJP to field Sinha from the seat after it became evident that the Bollywood actor of yesteryears was set to switch sides.

There had been apprehensions that any disaffection on R K Sinhas part could cost the BJP dearly in the event of a close contest.

Emerging from his meeting with Joshi that took place at the RSS office here and lasted for about an hour, Sinha however declined to comment saying deliberations with the Sangh are never meant for public consumption.

To pointed queries as to whether elections for Patna Sahib figured during his talks with the RSS no. 2, Sinha shot back we can speak about that at some other time.

Patna Sahib goes to polls in the final phase of general elections on May 2019. It came into being after the delimitation of 2008 and has been won on both occasions by the BJP with Shatrughan Sinha as its candidate.

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Russia should encourage its Venezuelan ally President Nicolas Maduro to avoid violence amid a street revolt aimed at ousting him, the US representative on the crisis said Tuesday.

"The Russians have been playing a very unhelpful role," envoy Elliott Abrams told reporters.

"It would be helpful if they would make a call for no violence, because one of the things we have seen in a few cases today is violence on the part of the Venezuelan security forces against unarmed, innocent civilians," he said.

Russia earlier accused Juan Guaido, recognized by the United States and more than 50 other countries as interim president, of fuelling conflict and urged negotiations -- an option Washington has rejected.

Abrams said he had exchanged messages with Guaido at around 1800 GMT on Tuesday and that the opposition leader appeared to be "buoyant and determined."



The US envoy also questioned why Maduro had not been seen in public throughout the tumultuous day.

"Normally one would view that as a sign that he is unsure of the support that he has, as he ought to be," Abrams said, while adding that the situation across Venezuela was "confused.

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BJP president Amit Shah Wednesday accused Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of being supportive of students who shouted anti-national slogans in JNU and said people will not forgive the two leaders.

Shah was addressing his first election rally in Delhi ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the city scheduled on May 12.

"Students shouted anti-national slogans in JNU and Kejriwal stood in support of them. Will public ever forgive this? Rahul Gandhi went two steps further. BJP said we want to do away with Article 370 and Article 35A and make Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India. He says abolish sedition law. What will we do if someone is found spying for Pakistan? Rahul and Kejriwal should answer," he said addressing the gathering in South Delhi's Vasant Kunj.

Student leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru University -- Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya -- were accused of allegedly shouting "anti-national" slogans during an event held on February 9, 2016, to mark the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru.

Shah said he has has never seen anyone like Kejriwal who changes his stand so quickly as per convenience.

"First he ditched Anna Hazare. What happened to his promise to send former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit to jail on corruption charges. He used to say Dikshit was corrupt. But he first formed a government with her support. Now she has said no to an alliance with AAP but he went running for alliance," he added.

Shah alleged that on the day of the Balakot air strike, the entire country celebrated and gloom prevailed at the offices of Kejriwal and Gandhi.

"Even if BJP is not in power, nobody can separate Kashmir from India. When the Modi government gave a befitting reply to Pulwama attack, both Rahul and Kejriwal were crying as if their cousins were killed. If Pakistan fires bullets, we will reply with cannon balls," he said.

The BJP chief also drew parallel between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and said while the PM has never taken a vacation, "Gandhi leaves for holiday as soon as the temperature rises and even his mother can't find him.

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BJP president Amit Shah condemned Wednesday's Naxal attack on police personnel in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli and described it as an act of cowardice and desperation.

"Naxalites attacked Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli. I have come to know that 16 people, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals. This is an act of cowardice and desperation.

"I pay my respect to those killed in the attack and wish quick recovery of the injured people. Our government will extend all help," Shah said while addressing election rallies at Panchla and Arambagh.

Those killed in the attack were members of the Quick Response Team (QRT) of Gadchiroli police, which was on its way to inspect a fleet of torched vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor, police said.

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Top BJP leaders, including its president Amit Shah, credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the UN designating Masood Azhar a global terrorist on Wednesday, while the Congress noted its "disappointment" over no mention of the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief's role in the Pulwama terror attack in the decision.

Political parties cutting across ideological divide welcomed the development.

Shah said Modi's diplomatic efforts led to the United Nation's decision as he pitched for his "strong and decisive" leadership.

"That is why India needs a strong & decisive leader. Grateful to PM Narendra Modi and his diplomatic efforts that led to the UN designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. It was long over due. This also reflects PM Modi's commitment towards zero tolerance against terrorism," Shah tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it was a welcome step but added that the opposition party was disappointed that the UN listing does not mention the Pulwama terror attack, which had killed 40 CRPF personnel, and has no reference to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan-based Masood Azhar's belated declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step. India's fight against terrorism is resolute. We are disappointed that UN listing doesn't mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhar's role in terrorist activities," he tweeted.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah alleged that the sacrifices of CRPF men were sold down the river for a symbolic win.

"No mention of terror in Kashmir & no mention of Pulwama. It's amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win," he said.

BJP leaders asserted that the development shows that India is in safe hands.

"India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the prime minister's foreign policy," senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Calling it a "historic success" for India, the BJP used one of its Lok Sabha election slogans, 'Modi hai toh mumkin hai' (It is possible if Modi is there), as it reacted to what is being seen as a major diplomatic win for the country.

With the BJP making nationalism a key plank of its campaign, the party is set to highlight the development for political dividends in the election season.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav congratulated the Indian diplomatic corp for the tireless work that led to this "significant victory".

"We demand Pakistan immediately arrest him, freeze his assets and shutdown all organisations linked to him," he said.

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said it is a "big diplomatic victory" for India under Modi in the fight against terrorism and added that Pakistan now stands completely exposed.

The Congress said it expected the Modi government to act with a "greater speed" in pursuing the case with China as several precious lives in terror attacks such as the one in Pulwama could have been avoided.

The Modi government should now push for a declaration of bounty on Azhar's head as was ensured by the UPA in the case of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Congress said.

Welcoming the move, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP said, "It is a great tribute to those killed in terror attacks in J&K and other parts of the country. This step will finish militancy in J&K.

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PDP president Mehbooba Mufti Wednesday said the Shiv Sena's demand for ban on burqa in public places was unwarranted and will "fan the flames of Islamophobia".

"Shiv Sena's call to ban burqa is unwarranted & will fan the flames of Islamophobia. It also influences people to look at Muslim women who follow the Islamic dress code with suspicion. Sad that the diversity our country takes great pride in is under attack," the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said in a tweet.

The Shiv Sena mouthpiece Wednesday welcomed Sri Lankan government's decision to ban burqa and masks on grounds of national security and asked the Narendra Modi-led regime to follow suit.

"We welcome the decision by the Sri Lankan president. If this can happen in Ravana's Lanka, when will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya," it said.

A senior Sena leader, however, said the editorial was not the official stand of the party.

Sri Lanka banned any form of face covering after the coordinated blasts hit three churches and three luxury hotels, killing over 250 people and inuring more than 500 others.

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A 21-year-old student gave his life to save others by tackling a gunman who was shooting up a university classroom, police in the US said Wednesday.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said the authorities were still trying to find a motive for Tuesday's attack at the University of North Carolina, which left undergraduate Riley Howell and another student dead.

Trystan Terrell, 22, a former student, was arrested following the shooting at the school's Charlotte campus, which also left four wounded. Putney said he had spoken to Howell's father about the youngster's heroism.

"When I spoke to the father -- one father to another -- I told him personally, I wished I had words," he said.

"What I did tell him is, we're committed to the work, we're going to get to the bottom of it. We assured him we're going to find out the why," Putney said.

"We're going to give them closure." The officer said Howell, an environmental studies major from Waynesville, North Carolina, had taken the assailant "off his feet."



"(He) did exactly what we trained people to do," Putney said.

"You're either going to run, hide and shield or you're going to take the fight to the assailant," he said.

Having no place to run or hide, Howell chose the last option open to him.

"But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed," Putney said.

"Unfortunately, he gave us life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives." The other slain student was identified as Ellis Parlier, a 19-year-old computer science major from Midland, North Carolina.

Three of the four injured students remain hospitalized.

One of those still in hospital was identified by the Charlotte Observer newspaper as Rami Al-Ramadhan, a 20-year-old engineering student from Saudi Arabia.

Terrell is facing two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder.

As he was being led into a police station following his arrest, a television reporter asked him what happened.

"I just went into his classroom and shot the guys," he said.

The latest in a string of mass shootings in the US came just days after a teenage gunman opened fire on a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one person and injuring three others.

According to government figures, 40,000 people were killed by firearms in the United States in 2017 -- two thirds of them suicides -- the highest annual toll in five decades.

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Sri Lanka's intelligence agency has warned the country's top leadership not to travel together during the coming few weeks after information was received of possible terror attacks, a media report said Wednesday.

President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa are among the leaders who have received the cautionary advice.

The move is part of the beefed up security arrangements in the island nation after a series of coordinated bomb blasts ripped off three churches and high-end hotels, killing 253 people and injuring 500 others.

The political leaders have also been asked to refrain from attending events, especially held in churches, temples and other religious place, the Daily Mirror reported.

They have been advised to use helicopters to commute to any place where their presence is unavoidable.

Meanwhile, Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka asked the Lankan government to deport 800 foreign Islamic clerics who were engaged in religious teaching at various madrasas across the country.

He said these clerics had arrived on tourist visas, but were engaged in Islamic religious teaching.

I urge the government to deport them immediately, the minister was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.

Earlier, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam had said that his ministry would take steps to regulate the madrasas in the country.

President Sirisena had on Monday banned Muslim women from any form of face veils in public using emergency powers in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings.

The regulations specifically mentions "any face garment which hinders identification".

A total of 106 suspects, including a Tamil medium teacher and a school principal, have been arrested in connection with the Easter Sunday blasts.

The Islamic State claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) for the attacks.

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The British government said Wednesday it was scrapping Brexit-related contracts with ferry companies at a cost to taxpayers of tens of millions of pounds (dollars) after the ferry deals sparked a political and legal firestorm.

"Freight capacity contracts for the summer period are no longer needed and have therefore been terminated," the Department for Transport said.

The ferries were part of the government's planning for a "no-deal" Brexit in case Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement on divorce terms and future ties.

That could cause gridlock at ports by ripping up the trade rulebook and imposing tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between the U.K. and the EU, its biggest trading partner.

But the contracts came under fire earlier this year when it emerged that one firm involved had no ships and no experience running a ferry service.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling defended the contracts, saying they had been a prudent "insurance policy."



The department said Wednesday that the cost of canceling the deals is a bit lower than an estimate given by auditors, 56 million pounds (USD 73 million).

The government also had to pay 33 million pounds (USD 43 million) to settle a lawsuit from cross-channel rail operator Eurotunnel, which alleged that it had been improperly excluded from bidding for post-Brexit freight contracts.

The government is now being sued by P&O Ferries, which claims the payout to Eurotunnel puts it at a competitive disadvantage.

The government put no-deal planning on hold after Britain's departure was postponed from its originally scheduled date of March 29 until Oct. 31 amid political gridlock in Britain over withdrawal.

Prime Minister Theresa May struck a divorce deal with the EU late last year, but Britain's Parliament has rejected it three times. May has failed to persuade many Brexit-backing lawmakers from her own Conservative Party to support an agreement that they think keeps Britain too tightly bound to the bloc's rules.

The government has held several weeks of talks with the opposition Labour Party about striking a compromise, but the meetings have not produced a breakthrough.

May's Downing Street office said Wednesday that ministers and civil servants would continue "to take whatever decisions are required to make sure we are prepared in the event of a no-deal scenario.

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Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot Wednesday claimed that Narendra Modi will not become prime minister this time as there is an undercurrent against him in the country.

He claimed the saffron party's rhetoric that "the Congress did nothing in the last 70 years" will lead to its downfall.

"There is an undercurrent against Narendra Modi and he is not going to become prime minister again. Modi and Amit Shah are leaving no stone unturned to create an atmosphere (of a wave) but people understand this," Gehlot said at a press conference here.

He also accused Modi of using objectionable language against him.

"I have an objection that in Jodhpur, Modi attacked the chief minister of Rajasthan and said that I am speaking the language of Pakistan. He has no right to make such serious allegation against a chief minister," Gehlot said.

The Rajasthan chief minister alleged that Modi always speaks lies and has carved a place in on the basis of falsehood.

"Someone has sent me a good quote, that dressing a mosquito, swinging an elephant and making prime minister speak truth is impossible," he said.

"The post of prime minister has sanctity. When a prime minister speaks, his words should touch the hearts of the country, but Modi lacks this," Gehlot claimed, adding, "Their jumla (rhetoric) that the Congress did nothing in 70 years will make them sink."



The Congress leader claimed that the condition of the country's institutions is very alarming and the Constitution itself is "under threat".

"The situation of the Supreme Court has reached to such a turn which is very dangerous and what is happening in the apex court today we used to hear such things about Pakistan judiciary All institutions have been damaged. RBI could not present the account of demonetisation for two years. Where we are leading?" he posed.

"CBI was raided by police. This was the first time that police raided CBI director's office. CBI, ED, Income tax, all are being misused," Gehlot alleged.

He alleged that the RSS is taking keen interest in the election this time as "they have acquired the taste of power".

"Both the RSS and BJP have no faith in democracy. They just wear mask of democracy and do The country is moving towards dictatorship," Gehlot alleged, adding, "Only Modi and Shah are ruling the country and others are behaving like small time leaders.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday dramatically sacked Defence Minister Gavin Williamson after a probe into the leak of an information from a National Security Council meeting of her Cabinet that Britain had conditionally allowed China's Huawei to develop the UK 5G network.

Downing Street said May had "lost confidence in his ability to serve" following an investigation into how a plan to allow Huawei limited access to help build the UK's new 5G network was leaked out of the closed-door meeting last week.

The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council, a Downing Street statement said.

The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed, it adds.

Williamson, who has been the UK's Secretary of State for Defence since 2017, continues to vehemently deny leaking the information.

However, May took swift action in replacing him with Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, with Rory Stewart taking charge of Mordaunt's old portfolio.

The National Security Council (NSC) is made up of senior Cabinet ministers and its weekly meetings are chaired by the British PM, with other ministers, officials and senior figures from the armed forces and intelligence agencies invited when needed.

It is a forum where secret intelligence can be shared with ministers under the UK's Official Secrets Act.

The inquiry into the NSC leak began after a Daily Telegraph' report on warnings within Cabinet about possible risks to national security over a possible deal with Chinese tech giant Huawei. There has been no formal confirmation of Huawei's role in the UK's 5G network and the Chinese company denies any risk from government control in China.

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Three youths killed when they were clicking selfies on a railway track, about 2-3 km from Panipat railway station in Haryana, a senior Government Railway Police (GRP) official said on Wednesday.

They were clicking selfies on the track between Panipat and Babarpur railway stations on the Delhi-Ambala route on Monday evening, he said.

The deceased were identified as Sunny, Chaman and Kishan, all relatives, in age group of 18-20 years, Station House Officer, GRP (Panipat), S M Dabas told PTI.

Sunny and Chaman were residents of a colony in Panipat while Kishan belonged to Uttar Pradesh, he said



The three had gone to a park along with another relative Dinesh, who resides in Delhi, and had a miraculous escape. From the park, the four moved on to the railway track located behind it to click selfies, the GRP official said.

"All the four were sitting on a track and on seeing an approaching train they jumped towards the other track without realising that Delhi-Kalka passenger train was fast approaching on it," he said.

While three of them were crushed, however, Dinesh had a miraculous escape as he jumped on the other side of the track, the GRP official said, adding the body parts lay strewn 10-20 metres from the incident site.

The mortal remains were handed over to the respective families of the deceased after the post mortem examinations on Tuesday.

From time to time the railway authorities keep issuing warnings asking everyone not to sit or walk on railway tracks, which is not only dangerous but an offence too, he said.

A railway official said that sometimes youths are oblivious to dangers when they walk or cross the tracks with earphones plugged in.

Notably, there have been several incidents in the past across the country when some youths have lost their lives or put their lives in danger while clicking selfies on railway tracks, atop railway bridges or dangerously hanging out from running trains.

"With majority of India's population being youth, several youths are driven by selfie craze, but some of them put their lives at risk posing for pictures completely ignoring the dangers involved," said Rohit Kumar, a 22-year-old university student here.

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The Odisha government on Wednesday advised tourists to leave the seaside pilgrim town of Puri in view of the extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Fani' moving closer to Odisha coast, a senior official said.

It has also ordered closure of all educational institutions in the state.

The India Meteorological Department said in a bulletin that 'Fani' (pronounced as Foni) is likely to cross the Odisha coast near Satapada in Puri district on Friday afternoon with a maximum sustained speed of 175-185 kmph and gusting up to 205 kmph.

The wind speed of a cyclonic storm is 80-90 kmph gusting up to 100 kmph. In case of an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm', the wind speed goes up to 170-180 kmph and could gain the speed of 195-200 kmph.

The IMD has issued its 'yellow warning' for the Odisha coast and suggested total suspension of fishing activities, extensive evacuation from coastal areas and diversion or suspension of rail and road traffic.

A yellow warning indicates severely bad weather, warning people who are at risk to take preventive action.

"All educational establishments should declare holiday from May 2 till further orders and the examinations should be rescheduled," Special Relief Commissioner B P Sethi said.

With 'Fani' likely to hit the coast near Puri, tourists have been advised to leave the town by Wednesday evening, the SRC said.

Non-essential travel to the districts, likely to be affected by the cyclone, may be cancelled during May 3-4, Sethi said.

With tidal waves likely to inundate vast areas in the coastal districts, evacuation of people from all low-lying and vulnerable areas will be completed on Thursday, he said.

Citing the latest forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), the SRC said, 'Fani' is expected to cross the coast near Puri on May 3 afternoon before landfall.

It is then likely to pass through Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Khurda, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj in Odisha before entering West Bengal, he said.

Meanwhile, the cyclone has moved northwestwards with a speed of about 10 kmph and lay centred over west central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, about 680 km south-southwest of Puri and 430 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). I



The wind speed may go up to 205 kmph over Odisha coast by May 3 evening for the subsequent 12 hours and decrease thereafter, the IMD said.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places in south coastal Odisha on Thursday.

Rainfall is also likely to increase at isolated places in coastal and interior Odisha on Friday, Director of Regional Meteorological Centre, H R Biswas said.

Pointing out that average rainfall in several areas will be up to 20 cm, he said the impact of 'Fani' will be much more severe than 'Titli' which had hit the coast last year, Biswas said.

All the 880 cyclone centres have been equipped with modern facilities and trained manpower have been readied for the purpose. Each centre can accommodate around 1000 people, Chief Secretary A P Padhi said.

While the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is deploying 28 teams in Odisha, 20 units of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and 335 units of fire services have also been kept ready, he said.

A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) comprises about 45 personnel.

Distant warning signal II (DW-II) has been hoisted in all ports of Odisha and fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea from Wednesday, the IMD said.

Districts like Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar Mayurbhanj in Odisha have been put on high alert.

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Rebutting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that the Congress is contesting the lowest number of seats in the Lok Sabha polls, senior party leader Ahmed Patel Wednesday said it is "troubling" that the PM is so ill-informed and this has reflected on his governance.

Taking to Twitter, Patel posted a video clip of Modi's interview to a channel in which he says that in 2019, the Congress is contesting on lowest number of seats in the general election.

"It is troubling that PM is so ill-informed & this has reflected on his governance. But I will clarify two things -- 1)Congress is not contesting its lowest ever seats,hence media is not highlighting his false claims. 2)In 2004 we contested even lesser seats & still formed govt," he tweeted.

The BJP has fielded 437 candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the highest number of seats the party has contested so far and perhaps for the first time more than its principal rival Congress.

The BJP had contested 427 seats in 2014 and won 282 of them, while the Congress had fielded candidates in 450 seats and bagged just 44.

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Democratic leaders said Tuesday they reached agreement with President Donald Trump to pursue a USD 2 trillion plan for improving America's creaking infrastructure, but deciding how to pay for the ambitious project could become a sticking point.

"We agreed on a number which was very, very good: USD 2 trillion for infrastructure," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, in a sign the feuding sides may be willing to work together on accomplishing a major bipartisan goal to upgrade the nation's roads, bridges, airports, rail lines, energy grid, waterways and broadband internet access.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added that the lawmakers and Trump agreed to pursue a "big and bold" proposal, but that Democrats would be waiting eagerly to see the president's plans for how to pay for it.

The group will meet again with the president in three weeks.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders characterized the discussions as "excellent and productive" and said the meeting next month will address "specific proposals and financing methods."



But even before the talks concluded, a senior administration official cast doubt on the prospects of Democrats and the Republican president striking a deal.

"I hope the conversations go well today, but if they don't, it would not surprise me," acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told the Milken Institute Global Conference in California.

He said a major hurdle was the slow pace of approval for infrastructure projects, a process which must comply with a series of environmental regulations that Trump has often railed against.

"He's not interested in spending a trillion dollars now for something that's not going to get built until 2029," Mulvaney said.

Commitment to work on even the outlines of a bipartisan infrastructure plan, budgeted in 10-year chunks, marks a break in the clouds of political discord in Washington, but there was no guarantee the plan would advance in a divided Congress marred by gridlock.

The meeting was the first substantive huddle between Democrats and Trump since the 35-day shutdown beginning in December that stemmed from an impasse over funding the president's long-sought border wall.

It also follows the release of the special counsel's report that detailed Trump's attempts to stymie investigations into his presidency.

Democrats have clashed repeatedly with Trump and the White House over the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, and the Trump team's contacts with Russians.

But Pelosi and Schumer stressed those issues were not addressed at Tuesday's meeting.

"We may have our difficulties in other areas, but we cannot ignore the needs of the American people as we go forward," Pelosi said when asked whether it was difficult to work with Trump while he stonewalls the investigations.

Schumer said how to fund the infrastructure plan will be the "crucial" next stage in negotiations, even as the House and Senate proceed in oversight responsibilities of the president.

Trump, a New York real estate tycoon, has already voiced his commitment to upgrading infrastructure.

He made it a campaign pledge in 2016, playing up his background in construction, and in early 2018 he proposed a 10-year, $1.5 trillion plan.

Under such a proposal, the federal government would fund some $200 billion, while states and private investors would put up as much as $1.3 trillion of the cost. But the funding structure raised concerns among lawmakers and the plan did not get a vote.

Some experts and business groups have called for increasing the gasoline tax as a way to help fund much-needed infrastructure projects, and Trump's administration has said such a move remained on the table.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, which grades the quality of the country's infrastructure every four years, gave the system a D+ in 2017.

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Two people were killed and at least four wounded in a shooting Tuesday at the University of North Carolina's Charlotte campus.

The university's office of emergency management tweeted an alert warning that shots had been reported on campus shortly before 6 pm on what was students' last day of classes this academic year.

"Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately," it said.

Local emergency services said two people had been killed, while another two sustained life-threatening injuries and two more were being treated for less serious wounds.

Police confirmed the shooter, identified by NBC Charlotte as a 22-year-old history student at the campus, was in custody.

A local Fox television affiliate meanwhile identified the dead as boys aged 17 and 18.

"Scene secure. One in custody. No reason to believe anyone else involved," the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted, adding that law enforcement and university staff were sweeping buildings to round up those still sheltering.

Video footage posted on social media showed anxious students filing away from the school with their hands raised.

It was not immediately clear which part of the school the shooter targeted.

"It was a really scary experience to hear the shots and have to run... I didn't think



I would have to experience something like that," one student told NBC News.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said she was "in shock" after hearing of the rampage.

"My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others," she wrote on Twitter.

The shooting comes just days after a teenage gunman opened fire on a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one person and injuring three others: the latest in a string of mass shootings across the US.

According to government figures, 40,000 people were killed by firearms in the United States in 2017 -- two thirds of them suicides -- the highest annual toll in five decades.

The perennial debate over gun control in America kicks up again at each shooting, a far too frequent occurrence.

Yet no solution has been found over the decades that satisfies both those seeking stricter gun controls to reduce such tragedies and those supportive of constitutional guarantees to the right to bear arms.

Efforts have always proved divisive, and Republican lawmakers have been highly successful at preventing what they describe as an assault on their right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.

The number of firearms in circulation has continued to grow (now at 393 million in a nation of 326 million people), and mass shootings have become a disturbingly regular part of American life.

The worst school shootings to date were those at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut in 2012 (20 young children and six adults were killed) and at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last year (17 dead).

But the power of an influential gun lobby and a long tradition of gun ownership have meant that little has been done to improve gun safety.
Two alleged drug peddlers were arrested Wednesday in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir and lodged in a jail for a period of one month under preventive detention, police said.

Mohammad Saleem and Asim Bhat, both residents of Kotli village, were arrested from Bhaderwah town of the district for their involvement in drug peddling and providing drugs to the youth, a police spokesman said.

He said both the accused were produced before Tehsildar Bhaderwah and by the order's of Executive Magistrate 1st class, they were booked under various sections of CrPC and lodged in district jail Kishtwar for a period of one month.

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Two persons were killed in the wee hours of Wednesday when their truck fell into the Pindar river in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, an official said.

The accident occurred at Mauna Cheena in Narayanbagar block on Karnaprayag-Gwaldam national highway at around 2 am, Revenue Officer, Sohan Singh Rangad, said.

Maan Singh (31) and Nitin (21), hailing from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura and Ghaziabad, respectively, were killed on the spot, he said.

The truck was carrying tar to a construction site, the officer said.

The bodies were recovered in the morning by police and disaster relief force personnel and the exact cause of the accident is yet to be known, he added.

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Two Shell oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria's restive oil-rich south have been freed, six days after they were seized by gunmen who killed their guard and driver, police said Wednesday.

The Royal Dutch Shell oil workers, whose nationalities were not released, were abducted on Thursday in Nigeria's southern Rivers state, the latest in a long line of attacks in a region where kidnapping for ransom is rife.

In the attack, gunmen ambushed their convoy by opening fire at the police guards to stop the vehicles, killing two policemen.

But on Tuesday, the workers were freed, said Rivers State police spokesperson, Nnamdi Omoni.

"The two oil workers who were abducted by a gang of hoodlums last week have both been rescued from their abductors," Nnamdi said Wednesday.

"The rescue of the oil workers was facilitated by the gallant efforts of operatives of the tactical team of the Rivers State Police Command." Police gave no further details on how the pair were freed.

Several hostages continue to be held by kidnappers, including four government workers for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA.) There has been no report on the fate of three oil workers -- a Briton, a Canadian and a Nigerian -- kidnapped from their oil rig on Saturday.

In that attack, half a dozen gunmen stormed the rig on Saturday in the Ogbele area of Rivers state, grabbing the three men and then heading off into the thick forest and swamps around.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday sacked Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson following a probe into the leak of that Britain had conditionally allowed China's Huawei to develop the UK 5G network.

"The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet," said a spokeswoman from her Downing Street office.

May said in a letter to Williamson that the investigation "provides compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure" from the April 23 meeting of the National Security Council.

"No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified," she added.

Britain's already splintered government was rocked by the scandal over who leaked that May was to let Huawei develop Britain's 5G network.

The bitterly disputed decision was reportedly made at the April 23 meeting. National Security Council discussions are only attended by senior ministers and security officials who first sign the Official Secrets Act that commits them to keep conversations private or risk prosecution.

But The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that May approved granting Huawei permission to build up "non-core" elements of Britain's next-generation telecommunications network.

The United States is adamantly opposed to Huawei's involvement because of the firm's obligation under Chinese law to help its home government gather intelligence or provide other security services when required.

British media reported that Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill -- the country's most senior civil servant -- gave those present an ultimatum to deny responsibility for the leak.

Williamson was one of the first to do so, calling it "completely unacceptable".

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The UK government on Wednesday welcomed the "long overdue" listing of the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the UN Security Council's designation of the head of the Pakistan-based terror group chief as a global terrorist was a positive development for the South Asian region.

"The listing of Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group, is very welcome and long overdue," an FCO spokesperson said.

"The UK has consistently called for this action to be taken, and we worked closely with our international partners to ensure the right result. This is a positive development for the security and stability of the South Asia region, the spokesperson noted.

In what is being seen a major diplomatic win for India, the UN blacklisted Azhar after China lifted its "technical hold" on a proposal initiated by the US, the UK, and France in the wake of the Pulwama attack, which claimed the lives of 40 Indian soldiers in February.

"Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi been designated under the 1267 Sanctions Committee to the Da'esh and Al-Qaida Sanctions List following a proposal by the UK, US and France," the UK Mission to the UN said in a statement on Twitter soon after the decision was announced on Wednesday.

Under the UN sanctions committee decision, Azhar is accused of "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities" carried out by JeM. As a result of the blacklisting, he will be subject to a worldwide assets freeze, a travel ban and arms embargo.

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The ultimate duty of the DDA is to ensure development of the national capital and it should be allowed to exercise its discretion as it thinks best, the Delhi High Court has said.

Justice C Hari Shankar said even if, in a given case, the court feels that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) could have acted otherwise, restraint has to be exercised by law on the DDA.

"It cannot be said, with any modicum of legitimacy, that the DDA has any axe to grind against any person to whom land is to be allotted by it, or that it acts mala fide in that regard.

"The decision of allotment of alternative plots, to persons whose lands have been acquired, is, at all times, essentially and fundamentally a decision of policy. So long, as the decision does not result in unconstitutional, or unjust, deprivation of the right of the citizen to property, it remains substantially immune from judicial review," the judge said.

The observations came while dismissing a plea by a city resident, Ram Kumar, seeking directions to the DDA to allot him an alternative plot, measuring 250 square yards, at Dwarka, instead of Narela "at the rate commensurate with the rate at which the petitioners land was acquired".

The court said the petitioner cannot claim any enforceable right to be allotted an alternative plot at Dwarka, or that such allotment should be at a price which is "commensurate to the rate at which" his land was acquired in 1981.

It said courts are not the best arbiters of the areas in which alternative plots are to be allotted, or the price at which such allotments are to take place.

The DDA, like any public authority of similar standing, is presumed to act in public interest, and in full awareness thereof, the court said.

"The ultimate duty of the DDA is to ensure the development of Delhi as efficiently, and in as optimum a manner, as is possible, and in discharging the said duty, the DDA has necessarily to be allowed the latitude to exercise discretion, vested in it for the said purpose, as it thinks best.

"Even if, in a given case, the court was to feel that the DDA could have acted otherwise, restraint has, nevertheless, to be exercised, and deference accorded to the subjective discretion conferred, by law, on the DDA," it said.

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Prime Minister Wednesday said the UN decision to declare as a global terrorist is a big success for India's efforts to root out terrorism and proved that the country's voice can no longer be ignored on the global stage.

"It is a matter of satisfaction that a consensus has developed in the world on designating as a global terrorist. Der aye, durust aye (Better late than never)," said at an election rally here.

"It is a big success for India's efforts since long to root out terrorism," he said.

India's voice is being heard globally and its views can no longer be ignored. This has been proved today, the PM said.

He said under the previous "remote-controlled" government, even the voice of the prime minister was not heard, but now, the voice of 130 crore Indians is making an impact at the

"I want to say it loud and clear that this is just the beginning. Wait for happens next," said.

The prime minister said he was thankful to the world community for standing with in its fight against terrorism.

He said that a small section in which wants a bright future for their country has started openly speaking out against terrorism.

The PM referred to the surgical strike and the air strike in Balakot and said that with today's development, the nation is witnessing India's diplomatic victory.

Targeting chief Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, "When we were working towards this, the 'naamdar' (dynast) was expressing his happiness through his tweets. One section was very happy and they were mocking Modi. I want to tell them today that this is not just Modi's success, it is the success of the whole country and its 130 crore people.

"I hope they will celebrate today also. For every Indian, no matter their ideology, it is a day of pride," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday the UN decision to declare Masood Azhar a global terrorist is a big success for India's efforts to root out terrorism and proved that the country's voice can no longer be ignored on the global stage.

"It is a matter of satisfaction that a consensus has developed in the world on designating Masood Azhar a global terrorist. Der aaye, durust aaye (Better late than never)," Modi said at an election rally here.

"It is a big success for India's efforts to root out terrorism," he said.

The PM said India's voice is being heard globally and its views can no longer be ignored. "This has been proved today."



He said under the previous "remote-controlled" government, even the voice of the prime minister was not heard, but now the voice of 130 crore Indians is making an impact at the United Nations.

"I want to say it loud and clear that this is just the beginning. Wait for what happens next," Modi said.

The prime minister said he was thankful to the world community for standing with India in its fight against terrorism.

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the UN on Wednesday designated the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

The PM also referred to the surgical strike by India across the LoC and the IAF strike in Balakot inside Pakistan, and said with Azhar's designation, the nation is witnessing India's diplomatic victory.

He said a small section in Pakistan which wants a bright future for their country has started openly speaking out against terrorism.

"This section is raising voice against freely roaming terrorists, their training and against the devastation of their youth. This has become stronger after air strike and after UN decision, Pakistani citizens will put more pressure on their government, this is what I am feeling," he said.

Targeting Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, "When we were working towards this, the 'naamdar' (dynast) was expressing his happiness through his tweets. One section was very happy and they were mocking Modi. I want to tell them today that this is not just Modi's success, it is the success of the whole country and its 130 crore people.

"I hope they will celebrate today also. For every Indian, no matter their ideology, it is a day of pride," Modi added.

Continuing with his scathing remarks for the Congress, the prime minister said the opposition party makes poster once and keep on using that in every election.

They have got a poster of 'garibi hatao' printed 50-60 years ago and they use that even today. Congress brings that poster in elections, changes picture of the 'naamdar'. Sometimes you hear the voice of a male and sometimes that of a female They keep on saying 'garibi hatoa' (remove poverty), he said, targeting Congress's election campaign focussed on the slogan.

Modi said Congress deceived farmers, soldiers.

Before 2014, he said, elections were about corruption, involvement of political leaders and their son or daughter, but after 2014 the topic of discussion shifted to development.

He also said that Congress is disconnected from the ground and their leaders are unable to understand what the nation wants.

"There were destruction all over, there were pits in 2014 and I put in 55 months to fill those pits which were created by the Congress in 55 years."



The prime minister also questioned the Congress party who had stopped its government from conducting the second nuclear tests, that eventually happened in 1998 in Rajasthan's Pokaran during former Atal Bihari Vajpyee's government.

Highlighting India's capability to shoot down satellites in space, he said that the previous Congress government was afraid of taking bold decisions.

Saying that the Congress compromised with the country's security, Modi said his policy against terrorism was clear.

Mentioning the surgical strike, Modi said that Army used to seek permission from the government earlier too but the (Congress) government could not show courage.

"Our policy towards the nation's security is clear and the country trusts the Chowkidar. Wherever there is a danger to the country from, we will kill them there. If they fire a bullet, bomb will go from this side, he said.

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In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue.

"Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support," India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as being associated with Al-Qaeda for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to", "recruiting for", "otherwise supporting acts or activities of", and "other acts or activities indicating association with" the JeM.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An assets freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

"This is for us a significant outcome because we have been at it for several years. The first effort that we made in this regard was in 2009. More recently, we have been persistent diligent and in a subterranean manner making all our efforts towards this goal. Today that goal stands achieved," Akbaruddin said.

"All in all it's been a happy day, a good day for all this who would like to pursue the approach of zero tolerance for terrorism," he said.

China earlier removed its hold on the proposal moved by France, UK and the US in the UNSC's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the JeM.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal. All decisions of the committee are taken through consensus.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China lifted technical hold after Beijing found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the revised materials.

"Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal," he said.

The US welcomed the listing of Azhar and sought "sustained actions" from Pakistan against terrorism, consistent with its international obligations.

"We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," a spokesperson for the US Mission in UN told PTI, noting that the JeM is a UN-designated terrorist group, and Azhar, as the founder and leader of JeM, clearly met the criteria for designation by the world body.

France also welcomed the UN move to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it "signals the successful realisation" of its efforts.

For many years, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack", said a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs of France.

France had adopted national sanctions against Azhar on March 15.

A French official at the UN told PTI, "We commend this designation; we have been advocating for the sanctioning of Masood Azhar for many years. This an outcome of these efforts. We will remain committed to the fight against terrorism at all levels, at the UN and in other organisations."



Commenting on the listing of Azhar, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said, "the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama and maligning" the struggle of the Kashmiris.

Faisal also said that Pakistan will immediately enforce the sanctions imposed on the JeM leader.

In recent days, there had been indications that China is likely to come around and will lift its hold on the Azhar proposal. Beijing had said on Tuesday that the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved."



Beijing put the hold on the proposal on March 13, scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar.

In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 - the US, the UK and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the sanctions committee.

Keeping up the international pressure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, the US, supported by France and the UK, moved a draft resolution directly in the UN Security Council to blacklist him.

Beijing lifting its hold is a massive diplomatic win for India, which had relentlessly pursued the matter with its international allies.

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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned Venezuela's authorities on Wednesday not to use deadly force against demonstrators after opposition leader Juan Guaido called for protests against President Nicolas Maduro.

Guterres spoke separately to Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza late Tuesday and to aides to Guaido after clashes earlier Tuesday left dozens injured in response to Guaido's call for the military to rise up against Maduro.

"The secretary general reiterates his call to all sides to exercise maximum restraint and warns against the use of lethal force against peaceful demonstrators," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Tensions in Venezuela have soared after Guaido declared himself acting president on January 23, a move recognized by the United States and some 50 other countries. Russia and China however continue to back Maduro as the legitimate leader and have accused the United States of foreign interference.

The United Nations has offered to help broker a dialogue between Guaido and Maduro to help end the standoff.

On Tuesday, Guterres appealed to all sides to avoid violence and called for immediate steps to restore calm.

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Goa Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar Wednesday refuted allegations that he had taken his family members along with him on a state-funded tour to Dubai.

Ajgaonkar is under fire over his participation in the travel mart from the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) and the Congress.

The TTAG has said such foreign junkets have failed to increase tourist inflow to Goa, which is witnessing a slump in tourism.

"What government officials in such delegations do is that they exchange their visiting cards with travel agents and return to Goa. They then get transferred to other departments, so that the follow-up process ends there itself. Such trips are nothing but a wasteful expenditure," said TTAG president Savio Messias.

On Tuesday, state Congress president Girish Chodankar had said that Ajgaonkar was spending public money for overseas junkets for himself and his kin in the name of promotion of tourism.

Issuing a statement, Ajgaonkar has urged tourism stake-holders to refrain from criticism and work hard to bring discipline in tourism business in Goa.

"All my official foreign tours are undertaken only after obtaining prior approvals and permissions from all concerned authorities. My family members have taken care of their tour expenditure individually and the government has not spent anything on their expenses.

"Those who seek any clarifications can do so by filing application under RTI," he stated.

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A US police officer who shot dead an Australian woman in 2017 was found guilty of murder Tuesday by a Minneapolis jury.

Mohamed Noor, 33, who was fired from the Midwestern city's police force, was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The jury, which was handed the case Monday, acquitted the former officer of the most serious charge of second-degree murder with the intent to kill.

Noor had testified in court that he shot Justine Damond, an Australian who had moved to the US to marry her fiancee, to protect his partner, because he had feared an ambush when responding to Damond's emergency call.

But prosecutors insisted that the shooting was unreasonable and contrary to police department training policy.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday told his US counterpart Mike Pompeo the "destructive influence" of the United States in Venezuela was a violation of international law.

In a US-led telephone conversation, Lavrov said "Washington's interference in Venezuelan affairs is a flagrant violation of international law" and that "this destructive influence has nothing to do with democracy", the Russian Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying in a statement.

Pompeo said earlier Wednesday President Donald Trump was prepared to take military action to quell the crisis in Venezuela.

"The pursual of these aggressive steps is fraught with consequences," Lavrov said, adding that "only the Venezuelan people have the right to decide their destiny".

Venezuelan was bracing Wednesday for anti-government protests called by opposition leader Juan Guaido in a bid to pile pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

Pro-Maduro rallies were also expected, a day after violent clashes erupted in the capital Caracas following Guido's call on the military to rise up against Maduro, who claimed the insurrection had failed.

The United States is among some 50 countries that recognise Guaido, the opposition leader who declared himself interim president in January in a bid to replace Maduro, whom he has branded as illegitimate.

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US Secretary of State said on Wednesday the administration of was prepared to take military action to stem the crisis in

"The has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the will do," Pompeo said on Fox Business Network.

Pompeo said the US would prefer a peaceful transition of power, with Nicolas Maduro leaving and new elections held to choose new leaders.

"But the president has made clear in the event that there comes a moment -- and we will all have to make decisions about when that moment is and the president will ultimately have to make that decision -- he's prepared to do that if that's what's required." In a separate interview with CNN, National Security Advisor John Bolton said Pompeo would be speaking later today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the situation.

Bolton and Pompeo have accused Russia and Cuba of standing in the way of a change in the regime in Caracas.

Pompeo said Tuesday that Maduro was set to leave the country for Cuba but apparently was talked out of it by the Russians.

"The Russians like nothing better than putting a thumb in our eye," Bolton said.

"They're using the Cubans as surrogates. They'd love to get effective control of a country in this hemisphere." "It's not ideological, it's just good old fashioned power That's why we have the Monroe doctrine which we're dusting off in this administration, why the president indicated last night that the Cubans better think long and hard about what their role is," he added.

The Monroe doctrine is a 19th century US policy opposing interference in the western hemisphere by European powers, which later was invoked to justify US intervention in Latin America.

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Amid a battlefield stalemate in Afghanistan, the U.S. military has stopped releasing information often cited to measure progress in America's longest war, calling it of little value in fighting the Taliban insurgency.

The move fits a trend of less information being released about the war in recent years, often at the insistence of the Afghan government, which had previously stopped the US military from disclosing the number of Afghans killed in battle as well as overall attrition within the Afghan army.

The latest clampdown also aligns with President Donald Trump's complaint that the US gives away too much war information, although there is no evidence that this had any influence on the latest decision.

A government watchdog agency that monitors the US war effort, now in its 18th year, said in a report to Congress on Wednesday that the US military command in Kabul is no longer producing "district control data," which shows the number of Afghan districts -- and the percentage of their population controlled by the government compared to the Taliban.

The last time the command released this information, in January, it showed that Afghan government control was stagnant or slipping.

It said the share of the population under Afghan government control or influence a figure that was largely unchanged from May 2017 to July 2018 at about 65 per cent had dropped in October 2018 to 63.5 per cent.

The government's control or influence of districts fell nearly 2 percentage points, to 53.8 per cent.

Less than two years ago, a top American commander in Afghanistan called population control "most telling." Gen. John Nicholson told reporters in November 2017 that he wanted to see the figure, then about two-thirds, increase to at least 80 percent, with the Taliban holding only about 10 per cent and the rest contested.

"And this, we believe, is the critical mass necessary to drive the enemy to irrelevance," Nicholson said then.

Nicholson's successor, Gen. Scott Miller, believes there already are enough such assessments available to the public, including one produced by intelligence agencies.

"We are focused on setting the conditions for a political settlement to safeguard our national interests," Col. David M. Butler, a spokesman for Miller, said in an email exchange Tuesday.

"The district stability assessment that was previously provided by DOD was redundant and did little to serve our mission of protecting our citizens and allies."



The war is at a sensitive juncture, with the Trump administration making a hard push to get peace talks started between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The Taliban recently launched a spring military offensive and have refused to directly talk to Kabul representatives, viewing the government as a US puppet.

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Amid a battlefield stalemate in Afghanistan, the US military has stopped releasing information often cited to measure progress in America's longest war, calling it of little value in fighting the Taliban insurgency.

The move fits a trend of less information being released about the war in recent years, often at the insistence of the Afghan government, which had previously stopped the US military from disclosing the number of Afghans killed in battle as well as overall attrition within the Afghan army.

The latest clampdown also aligns with President Donald Trump's complaint that the US gives away too much war information, although there is no evidence that this had any influence on the latest decision.

A government watchdog agency that monitors the US war effort, now in its 18th year, said in a report to Congress on Wednesday that the US military command in Kabul is no longer producing "district control data", which shows the number of Afghan districts and the percentage of their population controlled by the government compared to the Taliban.

The last time the command released this information, in January, it showed that Afghan government control was stagnant or slipping.

It said the share of the population under Afghan government control or influence a figure that was largely unchanged from May 2017 to July 2018 at about 65 per cent had dropped in October 2018 to 63.5 per cent. The government's control or influence of districts fell nearly 2 percentage points, to 53.8 per cent.

Less than two years ago, a top American commander in Afghanistan called population control "most telling". General John Nicholson told reporters in November 2017 that he wanted to see the figure, then about two-thirds, increase to at least 80 per cent, with the Taliban holding only about 10 per cent and the rest contested.

"And this, we believe, is the critical mass necessary to drive the enemy to irrelevance," Nicholson said then.

Nicholson's successor, General Scott Miller, believes there already are enough such assessments available to the public, including one produced by intelligence agencies.

"We are focused on setting the conditions for a political settlement to safeguard our national interests," Col. David M. Butler, a spokesman for Miller, said in an email exchange Tuesday.

"The district stability assessment that was previously provided by DOD was redundant and did little to serve our mission of protecting our citizens and allies."



The war is at a sensitive juncture, with the Trump administration making a hard push to get peace talks started between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The Taliban recently launched a spring military offensive and have refused to directly talk to Kabul representatives, viewing the government as a US puppet.

In its report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, said Miller's command offered a further explanation for no longer producing the "district control" data, asserting there was "uncertainty" in the way the data were produced and saying "the assessments that underlie them are to a degree subjective."



"The command said they no longer saw decision-making value in these data," the SIGAR report said. In remarks to reporters last week, John Sopko, the special inspector general, criticized what he called a trend toward less openness by the military authorities who are advising, training and assisting Afghan security forces.

"I don't think it makes sense," Sopko said. "The Afghan people know which districts are controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban obviously know which districts they control. Our military knows it. Everybody in Afghanistan knows it. The only people who don't know what's going on are the people who are paying for all of this, and that's the American taxpayer."



In January, Trump sharply criticised his own administration for disclosing information that he said aids enemy forces.

"Some IG goes over there, who are mostly appointed by President Obama but we'll have ours, too and he goes over there, and they do a report on every single thing that's happening, and they release it to the public," Trump told reporters.

"What kind of stuff is this? We're fighting wars, and they're doing reports and releasing it to the public? Now, the public means the enemy. The enemy reads those reports; they study every line of it."



Trump then turned to the acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, and said, "I don't want it to happen anymore, Mr. Secretary."



The war in Afghanistan is largely forgotten in much of America, as is the enormous, continuing financial cost. This year the Pentagon budget includes USD 4.9 billion to provide the Afghan army and police with everything from equipment and supplies to salaries and food.

That is one piece of a wider array of "reconstruction" assistance the US government has provided since the war began in 2001, totalling USD 132 billion.

Overall, the US has spent USD 737 billion on the war and lost more than 2,400 military lives, according to the Pentagon.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a massive May Day protest to increase the pressure on President Nicolas Maduro after a day of violent clashes on the streets of the capital.

Guaido said Wednesday's rally would be "the biggest in the history of Venezuela" as he presses his attempt to unseat the president.

"Across all of Venezuela, we will be in the streets," said the National Assembly leader, recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, as he repeated his call for the armed forces to join "Operation Freedom" to overthrow the socialist leader.

Maduro however remained defiant after Guaido's call earlier Tuesday for the military to rise up appeared to have largely failed.

Following a day of clashes between demonstrators and police on the streets of Caracas, Maduro Tuesday evening said he had defeated an attempted coup.

Maduro, who is also due to lead a May Day rally in Caracas, declared victory over the uprising -- congratulating the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes."



"This will not go unpunished," Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and radio.

"(Prosecutors) will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace."



Tensions in Venezuela have been ratcheted up to a critical level this year, after Guaido announced on January 23 that he was the acting president under the constitution. He said Maduro had been fraudulently re-elected last year.

Guaido had rallied his supporters with a video message early Tuesday that showed him -- for the first time -- with armed troops who he said had heeded months of urging to join his campaign to oust Maduro.

He claimed the move was the "beginning of the end" of Maduro's regime, and there was "no turning back." "We showed there are soldiers willing to defend the constitution, and there are many more," Guaido said in the video message.

The 35-year-old opposition leader was filmed outside the La Carlota air base, where he asked the armed forces inside to join him.

Guaido had been immediately backed by the United States, where President Donald Trump said in a tweet Tuesday that Washington was standing behind the Venezuelan people and their "freedom."



Thousands of opposition supporters flocked onto a highway near the air base, many waving Venezuelan flags, but they were met with gunfire and tear-gas fired by soldiers at the compound's perimeter.

Soldiers backing Guaido wore blue armbands to demonstrate their allegiance to the opposition leader but there appeared to be few of them.

Riots also erupted in several other cities across the country, with dozens injured and one death reported, according to human rights groups.

Brazil said a number of Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy. Brazilian media put that number at 25.

But Maduro had called on his forces to show "nerves of steel" and troops in riot gear, backed by armored vehicles and water tankers, lined up against the demonstrators.

Hours after the revolt by military officers appeared to be fizzling out, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN he believed Maduro was ready to flee to ally Cuba before he was dissuaded by Russia -- a claim Maduro later refuted as "a joke."



Speaking late Tuesday to business executives in Washington, Pompeo voiced hope that Maduro would still choose exile in the coming days.

"I must say, there will be another sunrise tomorrow. The opportunity for Venezuelan democracy, I am confident, will remain," Pompeo said.

Moscow, Maduro's main backer and creditor alongside China, accused Guaido of "fueling conflict" in the oil-rich country while the Syrian government condemned the "failed coup attempt".

Maduro's leftist Latin American allies Bolivia and Cuba also condemned Guaido. As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to all sides to avoid violence, Venezuela's army chief and defense minister General Vladimir Padrino issued a stark warning of possible "bloodshed" -- adding that he would hold the opposition responsible.

The US, meanwhile, called on the military to protect the people and support "legitimate institutions" including the opposition-controlled National Assembly. Trump threatened a "full and complete embargo" and tougher sanctions against Cuba if it does not end military support for Venezuela.

Although Trump has repeatedly said "all options" are on the table regarding Venezuela -- including, implicitly, military action -- there has been no noticeable US military mobilization.

Instead, Washington has upped the economic pressure, through sanctions aimed at Maduro's regime and by cutting sales of Venezuelan oil -- its main revenue earner.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hundreds of Venezuelans rallied in central Madrid late Tuesday in support of their country's self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaido, as riots broke out in faraway Caracas.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government have vowed to put down what they see as an attempted coup by the US-based opposition leader.

But as police fired tear gas at the crowds in Caracas, around 300 people gathered in the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid in support of the 35-year-old National Assembly leader, waving Venezuelan flags and brandishing banners with slogans such as "Maduro is destroying Venezuela".

"This isn't a state coup," a former mayor of Caracas and opposition politician, Antonio Ledezma, told the small crowd in the Spanish capital, which included Venezuelan opposition figures, as well as officials from Spain's conservative Popular Party and centre-right Ciudadanos.

A spokeswoman for the Spanish government had earlier said Madrid "strongly hope that there will be no bloodshed" in Venezuela.

Spokeswoman Isabel Celaa called for "democratic elections" and said Madrid supports a "peaceful" outcome to the Venezuela crisis.

Spain has thrown its support behind Guaido, whom it recognises as interim leader of economically-strapped Venezuela over President Nicolas Maduro.

Separately, Air France on Tuesday said that a passenger plane en route to Caracas was returned to Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport due to "events in Venezuela".

"After analysing the situation, it was decided that flight AF368 should return to Paris-Charles de Gaulle," said an airline spokesman, adding that it was "monitoring the situation in real time" and would inform passengers of any future flight changes.

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The opposition's twin GST-demonetisation poll pitch could well go unheard in India's fabled Pink City with many traders saying they moved on a long time ago and the issues are not relevant in Election 2019.

The Congress, heading the government in Rajasthan but in opposition in the Centre, has promised to bring a simpler Goods and Services Tax (GST) against the present flawed one and said it will remonetise an economy demonetised by the BJP.

But traders in the Rajasthan capital's business hubs seem to feel everything is back to normal after the initial shock of demonetisation and GST is problematic only for those who do not have transparent accounting systems.

The effect of demonetisation was temporary and GST has, in fact, streamlined financial and taxation processes. We now find it much easier to trade because system loopholes have been plugged,'' said Lakshman Harwani, a fourth generation cloth merchant whose family set up shop in Jaipur's famed Johri Bazar several decades ago.

The bustling market houses hundreds of shops of varied descriptions, with people from within the country and foreigners thronging them. It gets its name Johri Bazar from the dominant jewellery business that defines the soul of this trading hub.

Business owners across Johri Bazar said neither demonetisation nor GST are election issues in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The government demonetised high value currency notes in November 2016. The following year, in July 2017, the government introduced GST. We have all moved on from those times. The shocks of demonetisation lasted some four months after which everything was back to normal. Now systems are so transparent that small traders like me are actually making more profits than before, said Manoj Gaur, who runs a roaring bangle business in the area.

Several traders said those objecting to GST are people who did not have transparent accounting systems earlier.

GST may have troubled a section of very small businessmen who relied on informal accounting systems like the old time accounting books that had no links to formal taxation systems. These people have had to learn how to maintain accounts books, generate computer receipts and bills and file income tax returns. They have had to now hire chartered accountancy services, said Sant Kumar Khandaka of Johri Bazar's Jain Jewellers.

Khandaka, whose vast gems business makes him a leading exporter in town, said GST is not disruptive but reformatory.

The GST to that extent is seen as disruptive by some traders but at closer look it is actually reformatory. Reform is like a bitter bill. GST is a reform, Khandaka added.

There are many who believe demonetisation cleansed the system, and is a move worthy of the risk it entailed.

S. Bhattacharya, manager at LMB, one of Jaipur's leading sweet shop chains, said he was overseeing a party at his restaurant when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation on November 8, 2016.

The shock value of the move was striking. Everyone's instant reaction was one of awe. The party dispersed in minutes to address the cash woes the move had caused. In days, the system was back to normal and most people believed it was a necessary shock for a cash rich corrupt economic system, Bhattacharya said. In his view, GST helped cleanse the economy of black money.

Many across Jaipur's trading areas hailed the prime minister's boldness and decision making capacity, but said they feel pained at how the political discourse was being lowered in these elections.

Who can take such bold decisions like GST and note ban and sending the Air Force to strike on Pakistan based terror camps? asked Rajesh Khandelwal, ruling out any troubles for the BJP in Rajasthan, one of the few states where the Congress is pitted directly against the BJP.

Khandelwal said nationalism is a major election issue in Rajasthan which sends many of its boys to defend the borders.

The fact that Pakistan returned a captured Indian Air Force pilot within hours goes to PM Modi's credit. It is also a matter of pride that India finally sent a message of zero tolerance to Pakistan sponsored terror by attacking the militant camps in Balakot. These things have had their impact, said Ram Chand, a worker at a local footwear shop.

The Congress for its part is pitching for a reworked GST if it comes to power. The party's Lok Sabha election manifesto promises include a new GST. It finds reflection in party campaigns on the ground with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot flagging issues of bread and butter over nationalism.

Congress leaders maintain GST and demonetisation continue to be issues with small traders who are now forced to spend money on chartered accountants and the like.

At his rallies across the state, Gehlot has been telling people to hold Modi accountable for lack of jobs, agrarian distress, weak economy, falling exports and rising costs.

In Jaipur, the Congress is banking this time on Jyoti Khandelwal, a former mayor of Jaipur from 2008 to 2013, the first time in almost six decades that the party has fielded a woman. She is pitted against sitting MP Ram Charan Bohra, who in 2014 defeated Congress candidate Mahesh Joshi by over five lakh votes.

Jyoti Khandelwal is from the trading Vaish community, which was last represented in Jaipur in 1977 when Satish Chandra Aggarwal defeated Gayatri Devi.

Jaipur goes to the polls on May 6.

May 23, when the votes will be counted, will tell whose poll narrative appealed more to voters.

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The Trump administration on Wednesday asked Congress for an additional USD 4.5 billion in emergency funds for the US-Mexico border as the administration contends with a surge of Central American migrant families, with the bulk of the funding for shelter and care.

The number of families and children arriving alone to the border is outpacing the number of single adults, and their needs are much different. The US is on track to have as many as 1 million crossing this year, the highest since the early 2000s, when mostly single men from Mexico crossed and were easily returned. Border stations were not constructed to handle such a large volume of children and families, and they have been pushed to the breaking point.

But getting Democrats and Republicans to agree on the matter has been a challenge, partly because of President Donald Trump's hardline rhetoric on immigration. It's not clear whether Congress will approve such a request, especially because it comes on the heels of the longest government shutdown in history over funding for a border wall and Trump's subsequent national emergency declaration, which skirted Congress altogether to seek funding elsewhere.

This money, though, would not be used for border barriers at all, according to senior administration officials who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. It would be used to address urgent humanitarian needs, they said, and the money is needed quickly.

The White House wants USD 3.3 billion for humanitarian aid to increase shelter capacity for unaccompanied migrant children and the feeding and care of families. An additional USD 1.1 billion would go toward operational support, including personnel expenses, detention beds, transportation and investigative work on smuggling.

And the final USD 178 million would be used for mission support, including technology upgrades.

"DHS projects it will exhaust resources well before the end of the fiscal year," reads the formal request letter to Congress, which was obtained by the AP. "Without additional resources, the safety and well-being of law enforcement personnel and migrants are at substantial risk." It also says the Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the care of migrant children who arrive alone or who are separated from their parents by DHS under certain circumstances, will exhaust its resources by June.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Tuesday during a congressional hearing that the department was running out of money amid a spike in migrants crossing the southern border.

He told a House panel the money would be used for temporary and semi-permanent facilities to process families and children and increase detention, though he didn't specify a figure then.

Nearly 100,000 migrants crossed the border in March, a 12-year high. Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday encountered its largest group to date: 424 people in rural New Mexico.

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The Supreme Court told CBI on Wednesday that it would examine whether there was evidence requiring former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar's custodial interrogation by the agency in connection with the Saradha chit fund scam.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi made this observation after perusing the case diary placed before it by the CBI, which sought Kumar's custodial interrogation claiming that there was prima facie evidence that he had tried to destroy or tamper with evidence and "shield high and mighty" in the case.

Kumar's counsel countered the CBI submissions and said the agency's move to seek custodial interrogation of the IPS officer was nothing but a "political game".

Kumar was earlier heading the West Bengal Police's special investigation team (SIT) probing the chit fund scam. The apex court had in May 2014 directed the CBI to investigate the case.

During Wednesday's hearing on the CBI application, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the agency, referred to statement of an investigating officer of the SIT which was recorded by the CBI during the probe.

"We have read the statement. It is a matter of investigation. We are required to see if there is any material which can show that the commissioner of police (Kumar) is required to be interrogated in custody," said the bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

Mehta argued that there was "prima facie evidence" that Kumar had destroyed or tempered with evidence and he had tried to shield some main accused in the case.

"There is a prima facie case of destruction of evidence and shielding the high and mighty. It is within my right to urge the court to let me (CBI) have his (Kumar) custodial interrogation," Mehta told the bench.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kumar and the West Bengal government, said though the CBI has alleged that Kumar had destroyed evidence, no FIR has been lodged till date under section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"This is nothing but a political game to keep the pot boiling and paint the people black," Singhvi said, adding that earlier the apex court had praised the SIT for its probe into the case.

He said Kumar was questioned in Shillong by the CBI for five days, around 40 hours, and he was not evasive in replying to the questions put to him.

Singhvi referred to an affidavit filed in the apex court by Kumar in which he has alleged that he was being targeted by CBI due to the "mala fide intent" and "conflict of interest" of former interim CBI director M Nageshwara Rao as his family members were under the scanner post-demonetisation.

Kumar had claimed that post demonetisation in November 2016, investigation was initiated into some shell companies which were prima facie involved in receiving huge deposits and an FIR was registered and during the probe, the names of wife and daughter of Rao had cropped up.

Singhvi also referred to the affidavit in which Kumar had alleged that BJP leaders Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijyawargiya were behind the larger conspiracy and audio clip was available in public domain where they clearly speak of "targeting" a few "senior police officers".

He said all the evidence collected by the SIT was handed over to CBI but it was going "viciously" after Kumar.

When the bench asked Mehta about the status of probe in the case, he said that a total of 76 FIRs in Saradha scam were clubbed in four cases registered by the CBI.

Mehta told the court that four mobile phones and laptops, which were seized from the accused and could have been crucial evidence, were returned to the accused by the investigating officer of the SIT.

However, the bench questioned Mehta over the "loose pages" in the case diary which was handed over to the court.

"Is CBI, the premier investigating agency, following the mandate of law? In a case of this nature, are you (CBI) not bound to have a proper case diary?," the bench asked, adding, "Case diary of a case cannot have loose sheets any more. Amendment has been made in the CrPC on this".

Mehta told the bench that statements recorded by CBI have not been questioned by anyone and nobody has claimed that these statements were concocted.

He also questioned as to how copy of call details records (CDRs) received from phone service providers were kept by Kumar.

The arguments in the case remained inconclusive and would continue on Thursday.

The apex court had Tuesday asked CBI to furnish evidence for seeking custodial interrogation of Kumar, saying it has to be satisfied that the agency's request was "bona fide" and not for "political purposes".

At the outset on Wednesday, Mehta handed over certain documents to the bench to buttress his arguments that custodial interrogation of Kumar was necessary.

The apex court had earlier termed as "very very serious" the revelations made by the CBI in its status report relating to the interrogation of Kumar.

The court, on February 5, had granted protection from arrest to Kumar while directing him to appear before the CBI and "faithfully" cooperate into the investigation of cases arising out of the scam.

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The body of a 25-year-old doctor with her throat slit was found in her flat in central Delhi's Ranjeet Nagar area, police said Wednesday.

The deceased has been identified as Garima Mishra, a native of Uttar Pradesh, they said.

Police were informed at 12 AM after which they went to the spot and found the body of the doctor lying in the two-room apartment.

Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), said Mishra was allegedly killed by a male doctor, who stayed in the same building.

Both of them were preparing for MD, he said.

It is suspected that the doctor fled after allegedly killing the woman, he added.

A case has been registered and the matter is being probed.

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The body of a 25-year-old doctor with her throat slit was found in her rented flat in central Delhi's Ranjeet Nagar area, police said Wednesday.

The deceased has been identified as Garima Mishra, a native of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, they said.

According to the landlord of the rented flat where Mishra stayed, she was supposed to take a bus to her hometown on Tuesday at around 8.00 pm. However, unable to reach her on phone, her cousin, who stays at Sheikh Sarai, rushed to her place.

Landlord Gautam Khurana said since the door was locked from outside, Mishra's brother asked him to break the lock.

Her cousin peeped into the room where he found her body with throat slit lying in a pool of blood on the floor, Khurana said. The light was switched off and the fan was on while her bags were lying on one side of the room, he said.

The duo saw the body, following which Khurana called up the ambulance and immediately alerted police about it at around 11.56 pm.

Khurana said Mishra stayed in a single room on the third floor of the apartment and the adjacent room was shared by two other male doctors namely Chandra Prakash Verma, from Lucknow, and Rakesh.

The rent was shared among the three and they had access to a common kitchen.

Mishra and Verma, both friends, took the house on rent in January this year. The duo was working at Delhi govt-run NC Joshi Memorial Hospital in Karol Bagh. However, Mishra quit her job a few months ago to prepare for higher studies.

Khurana said he last saw Mishra at around 7.15 pm and later saw Verma leaving the house at around 8.45 pm with a backpack.

He said they never found them to be troublemakers and had minimum interaction with them. They did not find anything suspicious about their behaviour.

Rakesh, also a doctor works at Apollo hospital, is known to Verma, the landlord said. He was in his room at the time of the incident and none of the tenants heard any noise or were aware about the incident until police came in. Rakesh is in police custody.

Police have scanned through CCTV footage in the area to keep a tab on the persons who entered the locality.

An employee at the NC Joshi Memorial hospital said Mishra, who worked as a junior resident in the ophthalmology department left the job around three-four months ago.

Verma, however, continued to work there as a junior resident in the surgery department and had worked in the 8 am to 3 pm shift on Tuesday and then left, the employee said.

However, despite being contacted, hospital authorities did not respond in the matter.

Police were informed at 12.00 am, following which they went to the spot and found the woman's body lying in the two-room apartment.

Police suspected that Verma fled after allegedly killing the woman, they added.

A case has been registered in the matter and a probe is underway, they said.

The woman's family did not wish to respond in the matter.

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Lashing out at the Election Commission over the clean chit given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury Wednesday said the poll body's dealing with such cases was "emboldening perpetrators."



In a letter to the poll body, he said, "Across the country, there is a growing concern about the manner in which the Election Commission of India is dealing with complaints regarding gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct by Narendra Modi".

The Election Commission Tuesday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Modi for his speech in Wardha in which he had slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad and had "indicated" that the Kerala constituency had more voters from the minority community.

Citing reports, Yechury highlighted how the government infrastructure and machinery has been allegedly used by the Prime Minister's Office for securing information from various ministries, as well as, state and district administrations to provide inputs for preparing his election speeches.

"We would like to pose the same question that we have done in the past. In dealing with violations of Model Code of Conduct, the ECI appears to be not only halting, but carrying on at a pace which is emboldening perpetrators and exemplifies the notion of 'delayed justice' amounting to its actual 'denial'!



"Therefore the question is, is Narendra Modi, a BJP candidate from Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh and a star campaigner for the BJP, is needed to be treated differently from enforcement of MCC for the simple reason that he happens to be the incumbent Prime Minister?," he said.

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A 20-year-old youth, who had allegedly stoned his neighbour to death along with two accomplices, was arrested from Narela here, police said Wednesday.

The suspect has been identified as Bhupender, a resident of Narela, they said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Crime, Ram Gopal Naik said, "A 50-year-old woman from Narela had complained that her son Ajay Kumar (22) was abducted around 6 pm on Sunday."



According to the woman, she and her son had gone to purchase milk from Vijay Chowk in Narela.

Her son was walking at a distance from her, when a car stopped nearby, two persons came out of it and abducted Ajay, the woman told the police.

Naik said she had identified one of the assailants as Mohit, a resident of their area.

Later, Ajay was found dead near the Kundli-Ghaziabad Peripheral Expressway on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

His face was badly smashed with stones, he said. The autopsy was conducted on Tuesday.

Police said they got a tip-off Wednesday that Bhupender, who had allegedly killed Ajay along with his two accomplices, was roaming around the Mansa Devi temple in Narela. He was arrested around 8.40 am, police added.

"During the probe, it was found that Ajay and Mohit had a fight over a trivial issue. Ajay had beaten up Bhupender and his friends on Saturday," police said, adding that, thereafter, Mohit and Bhupender decided to kill Ajay, taking the help of their common friend Golu.

"As per their plan, they reached near Ajay's house in Mohit's car on Sunday afternoon. As soon as Ajay was spotted roaming around, they abducted him and took him to the KMP Flyover in Kundli," the DCP said.

They thrashed Ajay and when he fell unconscious, they pulled him out of the car, crushing his head and face with stones, police said.

Police are trying to nab the other suspects.

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Mark Zuckerberg declared in March that he planned to shift Facebook away from being a public town square and to private communications. Now, the chief executive is rolling out the first in a series of changes to achieve that. On Tuesday at its annual developer conference, Facebook unveiled a redesign of its mobile app and desktop site. The revisions add new features to promote group-based communications instead of News Feed, where people publicly post a cascade of messages and status updates. With the changes, users can more easily message one another and share news and other items ...
A recent study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce revealed that Mississippi, Nebraska and Maine are the three states where small to medium businesses have grown the most year over year. This is according to sales in Amazon stores, specifically. More than half of the items sold in Amazon stores are from small to medium businesses.

"We're thrilled to see so many small businesses in states with large rural populations like Mississippi, Maine, Vermont and North Dakota growing their sales fastest in our stores," said Nick Denissen, vice president at Amazon. "Online selling enables rural businesses to complement their offline sales in physical stores by reaching customers they wouldn't otherwise have access to as easily. Research shows that increased adoption of online tools and digital services could grow annual revenues of rural small businesses by 21% over the next three years and create 360,000 jobs in rural communities. Amazon continues to invest billions of dollars to develop tools and services that help small businesses reach new customers."

The top 10 fastest-growing states break down as follows:

Mississippi Nebraska Maine Texas Indiana Colorado North Dakota Vermont Wisconsin Missouri

The report looked at year-over-year sales growth in Amazon stores across 50 states. The third-party physical product sales, which is what gets sold on Amazon stores primarily, passed $160 billion in 2018. Nearly 20% of rural small businesses generate 80% of their revenue by selling products online. And the digital potential of rural small business could add $47 billion to the GDP per year.

The study also found that online tools make the biggest impact on rural small businesses that earn less than $100,000. One of those tools, in theory, is Amazon Handmade and Amazon Storefronts.

"Small businesses in rural America are significant contributors to the U.S. economy," said Tim Day, senior vice president of C_TEC, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's technology engagement center. "Access to digital tools allows rural small businesses to successfully start, scale and compete in a global economy  regardless of their size and location."

Mississippi's economy grows slower than average  1.6% overall versus the 2.2% nationwide average. Small business makes up 96.3% of the employers in the state.

Amazon Storefronts lets small to medium businesses create a separate section where it highlights curated collections of unique products. Amazon claims that Storefronts contains a curated collection of more than 1 million products and deals from 20,000 small to medium businesses. You can sign up for more information about this expansion by visiting www.amazon.com/storefrontsinfo.

"Since joining Amazon Handmade in 2015, my sales have doubled year over year," said Casey Everett, owner of Hearth and Harrow, based in Rockport, Maine. "Selling online has allowed me to create a business I love in a community that I love. With Amazon, I'm able to reach customers in Germany from my home studio in Maine  it's incredible."

In a competing study, Lending Club and Guidant Financial found that California, Florida and Texas ruled the roost in terms of small business in 2018. In that study, New York and Illinois round out the top five. It surveyed 2,700 current and aspiring business owners across the country.
The export sales of the American e-commerce giant Amazon's India unit has crossed the $1 billion mark as the number of local merchants selling to the international market increased by 56%. Country's top executives estimate the exports to touch $5 billion in 4 years under its global selling program.

The US based online retailer said it was closely working with government on bringing about policy changes that would enable e-commerce exports to scale up. "We believe that growing 'Make in India' exports will be an integral lever for India to grow," The Economic Times quoted Amit Agarwal, senior vice-president and country head, Amazon India, as saying.

According to Agarwal, who just completed 20 years at Amazon, the government is playing a crucial role in creating a conducive policy framework for exports by reducing documentation, digitising the entire customs clearance process and adding more foreign post offices across India.

The e-commerce behemoth launched its global selling program in the year 2015 to facilitate easy, simple and convenient access to sell the products to consumers across the globe from India. Currently, over 37,000 Indian manufacturers, sellers and exporters are using this platform to sell their offerings across Amazon's 10 international marketplaces. The program offers a comprehensive suite of end-to-end solutions that include assisting with imaging, logistics, tax advisory and remittance.

Amazon's global rival Walmart also directly obtains products from India across categories including textiles, apparel, home furnishing, and pharmaceuticals, amongst others. In fact, India has emerged as the largest sourcing hub for the e-retailer.

The rise in export sales by the global retail giants comes at a time when the Indian government has been aggressive about more than doubling the country's share in world exports from 1.6% to at least 3.4%, the report added.

"In 2019, we look forward to leverage our global experience in cross-border ecommerce, resources and localised professional services to help many more small businesses upgrade and optimise in order to develop an international footprint by leveraging the massive demand for their products across the globe," the daily quoted Eric L Broussard, vice -president and head International Seller Services at Amazon.com, as saying.

(Edited by: Nehal Solanki)

Also read: Amazon Global Selling programme crosses $1 billion in exports sales from India

Also read: Amazon targets USD 5 billion e-commerce exports from India by 2023
The employees of Jet Airways lost their medical cover as the embattled airline could not pay the premium for the group mediclaim policy. The policy has expired, leaving around 16,000 employees of the debt-laden carrier in more trouble, in addition to the delayed salaries and an uncertain future. Last month, Jet Airways had grounded all operations after lenders refused to disburse funds demanded by the airline to bear daily expenses.

In a letter to the employees, Jet Airways Chief People Officer Rahul Taneja informed that the company would not be able to pay the premium for the group mediclaim policy. "In the absence of any emergency funding from the lenders or any other source of funds forthcoming in the near future, we find ourselves facing a situation where we are not able to fund the premium of our Group Mediclaim Policy. The policy lapses on the midnight of April 30," Taneja wrote.

ALSO READ: Delhi HC issues notice to Jet Airways on plea for refund, alternative flights to passengers

In the letter, Taneja clarified that the company is left with little choice in the matter after lenders refused to provid the requested funds. The letter also underlined the troubled state of Jet Airways, pointing out how the company's repeated requests to its lenders for emergency funding had been turned down.

The lenders that extended loans to Jet Airways have initiated a bidding process for selling 75 per cent stake in the beleaguered airline. The State Bank of India-led consortium of banks expected to recover Rs 8,400 crore from the stake sale process.

So far, four entities have been selected for the Etihad Airways, TPG Capital, Indigo Partners and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). A British entrepreneur, Jason Unsworth, and even employee unions of Jet Airways have shown interest to take part in the bidding process.

ALSO READ: Vistara to hire 100 pilots, 400 cabin crew from grounded Jet Airways
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given in-principle nod for financing four metro rail projects and a Rs 30,000 crore rapid rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut as part of its effort to improve urban transport system in India.

Simultaneous discussion are going on with other multi-lateral funding agencies for co-financing of these large urban transport projects in India including Bhopal and Indore Metro projects, ADB Director General (South Asia) Hun Kim said Wednesday.

In addition, other projects especially expansion of Chennai and Bengaluru Metro are also under consideration, he said at the Annual Meet of ADB here.

"ADB has in-principle agreed to finance these projects with the Centre, which is the guarantor. It depends on the client. If they complete the formalities, we're ready to go (for final approval from the board)," he said.

ADB has funded Jaipur Metro and expansion of Mumbai Metro in the past.

On rapid rail project between Delhi and Meerut (in Uttar Pradesh), Kim said Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) is a huge project and ADB is looking to co-finance with other multi-lateral funding agencies including Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Earlier this year, the government approved construction of a Rs 30,274 crore worth RRTS to connect the national capital with Meerut through Ghaziabad (in Uttar Pradesh). The 82 kilometer-stretch will be covered in less than 60 minutes,

The RRTS is a first-of-its-kind, rail-based, high-speed regional transit system to be implemented in India. Once operational, it will be the fastest, most comfortable and safest mode of commuter transport in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Kim emphasised that financing logistics projects will also be a priority area for the bank. "We want to be a bank for logistics," he said, pointing to the Vizag-Chennai and the Chennai-Kanyakumari industrial corridors where the ADB is involved in financing preparation of the master plan.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu is emerging as a major "client" of the bank, he said, adding the bank is planning to lend USD 500 million each for energy projects, and the Chennai Metro Phase II.

Also read: India's growth set to pick up at 7.2% in 2019 on rising consumption: ADB

Also read: ADB committed $3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018; highest since 1986
With a few weeks left for Lok Sabha election results, the satta bazzar is betting high on Narendra Modi returning to power but believes his influence has waned since 2014, suggested media reports. The betting market expects the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win up to 250 of the 543 Parliament seats, which is short of majority, as against 77 seats of the Congress party.

"The BJP continues to be a favourite of the bookies this election season and will get around 240-250 seats on its own. With around 55 seats from the allies, it is sure to cross 300 seats. In Rajasthan, the BJP will get around 18 seats even though the state government machinery is being run by the Congress," news agency IANS quoted a bookie as saying, who requested anonymity.

According to the bookmaker, Rahul Gandhi's Congress will win around 76-79 seats, which is much higher than the 2014 tally of 44.

"We are expecting the BJP to win 240 seats. At best, the tally may touch 245 but not more than that," one of the punters told the news agency.

IANS quoted multiple satta market operators as saying that although the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will be back at Centre, it would have to rely on its allies.

The bookies have made these predictions based on the polling in the first three phases of election across 303 Lok Sabha seats. The 2019 general election is being held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha. The counting of votes will be conducted on May 23, and the results will be declared on the same day.

Also Read: Lok Sabha election: From 'poor' in 2014 to 'chowkidar' in 2019, how PM Modi's speeches changed in 5 years

The bookies also predicted that the BJP will win 41 seats in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, almost half of its previous tally of 71. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is expected to win 20-22 seats, followed by Gujarat (22-24 seats), Bihar (12-14 seats), West Bengal (8-11 seats), Haryana (7-9 seats), and Delhi (5-7 seats), as per IANS report.

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will win 31-34 seats in Maharashtra, as per the bookies' predictions.

Ahead of elections, the poll predictions of prominent agencies had shown that BJP-led NDA might come back to power, but with a slim margin. Congress and some other Opposition parties are likely to improve their seat share.

The poll of polls - an average of all major opinion polls - predicted that the NDA could get 277 seats this time, which is just 5 seats more than the halfway mark of 272. The NDA, which is once again contesting 2019 Lok Sabha election under Narendra Modi's leadership, swept victory in 2014 Lok Sabha election as it won 336 seats while the saffron party managed 282 on its own.

Also Read: Lok Sabha Election 2019: Modi's war chest leaves rivals in the dust

As per the survey, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which pulled off three stunning victories in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, is likely to increase its seat tally to 138 as opposed to its tally of 59 in 2014. The Congress's individual score was 44 in the last Lok Sabha polls.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi is making another bail plea at the UK court where he is undergoing extradition proceedings to India in the USD 1-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.

The 48-year-old, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his two previous bail applications were rejected following his arrest on March 19, is to appear before Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on May 8 for a third attempt.

"The next hearing will be on 8 May. The application for bail will be heard before Judge Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrates' Court," said a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is representing the Indian authorities in the extradition case.

Barrister Nick Hearn from Furnival Chambers will represent the CPS at the bail hearing, while Modi will be represented by Clare Montgomery of Matrix Chambers.

At the last hearing in the case on April 26, when Modi had appeared before Judge Arbuthnot via videolink from prison, his legal team had made no application for bail and he was further remanded in judicial custody until May 24. While his two previous bail pleas have been rejected on the grounds that there was a "substantial risk he would fail to surrender", he can make a third application if there is a considerable change in circumstances.

Modi is reportedly relying on "new evidence" and will seek to persuade the judge that this constitutes a change of circumstances so that he can be permitted to make another bail application next Wednesday.

His legal team, led by solicitor Anand Doobay, have previously offered one million pounds as security alongside an offer to meet stringent electronic tag restrictions on their client's movements, "akin to house arrest". It remains to be seen how they plan to bolster the application for a third attempt before the same court.

"This is a case of substantial fraud, with loss to a bank in India of between USD 1-2 billion. I am not persuaded that the conditional bail sought will meet the concerns of the government of India in this case," Judge Arbuthnot had said, when rejecting Modi's last bail attempt.

She also noted that "very unusually in a fraud case" the accused had made death threats to witnesses and also attempted to destroy evidence in the case. The diamond dealer's "lack of community ties" in the UK and an attempt to acquire the citizenship of Vanuatu in late 2017 went against him as the judge said it seemed like he was trying to "move away from India at an important time".

Montgomery, Modi's barrister, had made a series of offers to try and convince the judge to grant bail, even bringing up his pet dog.

"He did have a son at Charterhouse [school in London] who has now gone to university in the States and as a sign of ageing parents, led Mr Modi to get a dog instead. None of these actions are emblematic of someone setting out to flee the country," she had claimed.

"It is nonsense to say that he is a flight risk. He does not have a safe haven open to him and he has not travelled or applied for citizenship elsewhere he only qualifies for leave to remain in this country, she said.

Modi was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers in central London on March 19. During subsequent hearings, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told that Modi was the "principal beneficiary" of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.

At the hearing last week, the court was told that May 30 had been tentatively fixed as the first case management hearing in his extradition case. It remains to be seen how the case will progress after the new bail plea next week.

Also read: Nirav Modi to remain in prison till May 24 after UK court denies bail again

Also read: Nirav Modi's Rolls Royce Ghost, 12 other luxury cars to be auctioned
In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations declared Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist. The decision from UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee came after China lifted its technical hold, imposed on March 13, on a proposal made by US, UK and France to this end. Even before that, China, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, had been blocking India's attempts to secure designation against Azhar almost for a decade.

India and other nations had been holding continuous negotiations with China to clear the way for including Masood Azhar's name in the UN's sanctioned list of terrorists. However, China had planned to wait till June to lift its hold after the Lok Sabha election in India would be over, reported India Today.

Things took a turn after US warned China that it will take the matter to the UN Security Council. Escalating the matter from the 1267 Sanctions Committee, where one couldn't even speak on who was blocking the move, to the UNSC would have led to a public debate where Beijing would stand exposed for helping an internationally infamous terrorist.

Thus, after almost a decade, China decided to withdraw its hold on listing proposal against Azhar. Following the decision, Beijing said that it withdrew its technical hold after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the revised materials.

"On this listing issue, China has been communicating with relevant parties in a constructive and responsible fashion. Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a press statement.

"The proper settlement of the above-mentioned issue again shows that in international counter-terrorism cooperation, we have to uphold the rules and procedures of relevant UN body, follow the principle of mutual respect, resolve differences and build consensus through dialogue, and prevent politicising technical issues," he added.

In his statement, Geng pointed out that Pakistan has made "enormous contributions to fighting terrorism", which should be recognised by the international fraternity

Below is the timeline of the major events that ended in designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist:

2009: India moves a proposal by itself to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. China blocks the move.

India moves a proposal by itself to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. China blocks the move. 2016: India again moves the proposal with the backing of the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar.

India again moves the proposal with the backing of the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar. 2017: The P3 nations move a similar proposal again. China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocks the proposal from being adopted.

The P3 nations move a similar proposal again. China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocks the proposal from being adopted. February 27, 2019: The US, the UK and France move a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

The US, the UK and France move a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist. March 13, 2019: China puts the hold on the proposal scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

China puts the hold on the proposal scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist. March 28, 2019: The US, supported by France and the UK, directly moves a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group's chief.

The US, supported by France and the UK, directly moves a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group's chief. April 3, 2019: China hits out at the US for threatening to use "all available resources" to designate the Pakistan-based JeM chief as a 'global terrorist', saying Washington's move is complicating the issue and not conducive to peace and stability in South Asia.

China hits out at the US for threatening to use "all available resources" to designate the Pakistan-based JeM chief as a 'global terrorist', saying Washington's move is complicating the issue and not conducive to peace and stability in South Asia. April 30, 2019: China said "some progress" has been achieved on designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN and hopes that the vexed issue will be "properly resolved".

China said "some progress" has been achieved on designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN and hopes that the vexed issue will be "properly resolved". May 1, 2019: The 1267 Sanctions Committee designates Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifts the hold on the proposal of the US, the UK and France.

(With PTI inputs)

ALSO READ: UN designates Jaish chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist

ALSO WATCH:
Labour Day or International Workers' Day is observed each year on the first day of May to celebrate achievements of the working class. The day, also called as 'May Day', is also observed as a public holiday in many countries. In India, Labour Day, however, coincides with 'Maharashtra Day' and 'Gujarat Day' as the foundation of the two states was laid on the same date after they were divided from Bombay to attain statehood.





Maharashtra is a land of revolutionaries and reformers who have enriched Indias progress. Praying for the continued growth of the state in the times to come.



Jai Maharashtra! Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019 Greetings to my sisters and brothers of Maharashtra on the states Foundation Day. Best wishes to the people of Gujarat on Gujarat Diwas. In all spheres, people from the state have made outstanding contributions.



Gujaratis are known for their courage, innovation and spirit of enterprise. May Gujarat scale new heights of glory.



Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat! Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

Labour Day is a public holiday in India as well, where it is celebrated as Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas (International Labour Day). The day is known as "Kamgar Din" in Hindi, "Karmikara Dinacharane" in Kannada,"Karmika Dinotsavam" in Telugu, "Kamgar Divas" in Marathi, "Uzhaipalar Dhinam" in Tamil, "Thozhilaali Dinam" in Malayalam and "Shromik Dibosh" in Bengali. In North India, however, Labour Day has lost significance as a holiday.

Labour Day Theme 2019:

The theme for Labour Day 2019 is "Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement".

History of Labour Day:

Labour Day began in the city of Chicago as a protest campaign to support the eight hour workday over 15 hours per day of work.

On May 1, 1886, workers united in the streets of United States to protest for the eight-hour work shift. In India, however, Labour Day or May Day was first celebrated in 1923. The Labour Kisan Party had organised the May Day celebrations in Chennai (then Madras). Party leader Singaravelu Chettiar made arrangements to celebrate May Day in two places in 1923. One meeting was held at the beach opposite to the Madras High Court and the other one was held at the Triplicane beach.

(Edited by: Nehal Solanki)

Also read: May 1st bank holiday: SBI, PNB to remain closed on Labour Day

Also read: Delhi govt to deduct casual leave of officials coming late to office
WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail by a court in London on Wednesday for breaching his bail conditions. The Southwark crown court in London found Assange guilty of breaching the Bail Act to avoid extradition to Sweden over a rape allegation, which he has denied.

The 47-year-old was arrested from the Ecuadorean embassy by British police on April 11. He had been staying at the embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning in a sexual assault investigation.

Also Read: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrested by British police

Wikileaks had claimed that Ecuador terminated Assange's political asylum in violation of international laws, which has been refuted by the South American country. The ties between Assange and Ecuador have been strained after he was accused by the latter of publishing details from the personal life of nation's President Lenon Moreno.

The Australian national faces a separate court hearing on Thursday over a US extradition request on charges related to one of the largest leaks of government secrets. He faces a sentence up to 5 years in a US prison if convicted.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar
Taking a swipe at the dynastic politics of Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that he has "to undo in 55 months the harm that a family has done to the country in the past 55 years." The Prime Minister was addressing a public rally in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the run up to Lok Sabha Election 2019.

Earlier in the day, while addressing his first rally in Ambedkar Nagar, Ayodhya since coming to power in 2014, PM Modi invoked Ram at the end of his speech and said that national security is his priority and he is dedicated to protect people's "aastha" (belief) from the threat of terror. PM Modi also said that it is only the BJP-led NDA that could provide a "strong government" at the centre.

The Prime Minister sharpened his attack on the opposition alliance of SP-BSP-RLD in Uttar Pradesh (UP) once again and said that people's love for him upsets them. He also reiterated his mahamilavat jibe at them. This is PM Modi's maiden visit to the temple town of Ayodhya in the last five years. The constituency will vote in the 5th phase of Lok Sabha Election 2019 which will be held across 51 districts in 7 states on May 6. The final counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Also Read: Lok Sabha Election 2019: Poll dates, full schedule, voting FAQs, election results, constituencies' details

Here are the latest updates on the Lok Sabha election 2019:

5:30pm: Others would have been disappointed if I focused on one seat: Priyanka Gandhi on not contesting from Varanasi

On the road in Amethi with @priyankagandhi .. her first 'detailed' interview on the 2019 campaign trail: when I ask her, did she run away from Varanasi fearing defeat: her ans: .' More on @IndiaToday and @aajtak pic.twitter.com/c4h7T7oxWp - Citizen//Dost Rajdeep (@sardesairajdeep) May 1, 2019

5:10pm: "One of the first things Srilankan government did after the blasts was to ban Zakir Naik's TV channel. This is the same Zakir Naik in whose 'durbar' Diggi Raja was once seen," PM Modi said at a rally in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh.

4.40 pm: A polling party under Mawshynrut AC in Meghalaya had to face nature's brunt during the recent election. Uprooted trees blocked the way and the polling party braved the elements and walked more than 5 km on foot to reach, joining hands to remove trees as a team to ensure that no voter is left behind.

A polling party under Mawshynrut AC had to face nature's brunt recently ...uprooted trees blocked the way...the polling party braved the elements and walked more than 5 km on foot to reach... joining hands to remove trees as a team to ensure that no voter is left behind pic.twitter.com/yHpDRw1Pvf - CEOMeghalayaElection (@ceomeghalaya) April 30, 2019

4.30 pm: Earlier people used to say that nobody can beat Narendra Modi. But in just three years, the Congress party was successful in questioning him over everything. We will beat BJP in 2019: Rahul Gandhi.

4.26 pm: "I will set up food parks to ensure that farmers can easily sell whatever they produce easily. Moreover, not even a single farmer will be put behind the bars for not paying back their loans," said Congress President Rahul Gandhi during a public meeting in Barabanki, UP today.

4.10 pm: The goons of Mamata Didi have ruined the culture of Bengal. It's time to get Bengal rid of bomb explosions and guns. Congress and Communist can't fight against Mamata. Only BJP can defeat her and bring peace and harmony in West Bengal: Amit Shah in Howrah.

The goons of Mamata Didi have ruined the culture of Bengal. It's time to get Bengal rid of bomb explosions and guns. Congress and Communist can't fight against Mamata. Only BJP can defeat her and bring peace and harmony in West Bengal: Shri @AmitShah #DeshBoleModiPhirSe pic.twitter.com/EyOKeqVivX - BJP (@BJP4India) May 1, 2019

4.05 pm: Congress General Secretary for UP (East) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra offerd prayers at a temple in Bahrampur, Raebareli today.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) offered prayers at a temple in Bahrampur, Raebareli, today. pic.twitter.com/kv9E5jNCDO - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 1, 2019

4.00 pm: EC rejects Samjawadi Party MP candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination from Varanasi

The Election Commission today rejected the nomination filed by Samajwadi Party MP Candidate and sacked BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav to contest elections from Varnasi Lok Sabha seat. Meanwhile, Yadav said that he "will go to Supreme Court" against the order. "My nomination has been rejected wrongly. I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15pm yesterday, we produced the evidence, still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Supreme Court," he said.

3.59 pm: Tell her (Mamata Banerjee), my friends, that nobody can stop us from celebrating these festivals after May 23: Amit Shah in Howrah.

3.56 pm: BJP President Amit Shah addresses rally in Howrah in West Bengal, "Not a single factory or industry has come up in Bengal since Mamata Banerjee came to power. Only factories of bomb and guns have been established."

3.52 pm: They used guns on us; we got back at them with bombs. We entered their house and killed them. Should we not enter the houses of these people and finish them off? PM Modi

3.47 pm: I have given free hand to army, earlier we did surgical strike and then we did air strike: PM Modi

3.45 pm: "In five years, has the person you made the pradhan sewak ever done anything that made you look down or favour a particular caste? Earlier, the benefits of government scheme were accorded to the caste of the person in power in UP, but I have kept the needy in mind and there is no discrimination on the basis of caste," said PM Modi.

3.43 pm: For allowing broadening of roads as part of Kumbh preparations, the people of Prayagraj sacrificed portions of their homes and land. I salute them: PM Modi.

3.40 pm: Take part in the electoral process. Your dreams are what will form the future: PM Modi said while appealing to the first-time voters in the state.

3.35pm: In 55 months, I need to undo the harm a family has done to the country in 55 years: PM Modi

3.28 pm: If anyone deserves credit for giving a stable government to the country after a gap of 30 years, it is the people of Uttar Pradesh: PM?Modi in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh.

3.15 pm: PM Modi addresses rally in Kaushambi, UP

#WATCH PM Modi in Kaushambi: Ek baar Pt Nehru jab Kumbh mein aye to avyavastha ke karan bhagdad mach gayi thi, hazaron log maare gaye the...lekin sarkar ki izzat bachane ke liye, Pt Nehru pe koi dosh na lag jaye, isliye us samay ki media ne ye dikhane ki bahaduri nahi dikhai.. pic.twitter.com/yfv2QS4a6O - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 1, 2019

3.00 pm: Delhi court summons EC officials in UP & Delhi, asks them to bring documents related to Arvind Kejriwal's wife.

A Delhi court today issued summons to State Election Commission officials of Delhi & Delhi and directed them to bring all records of documents related to Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The court's directive came following a complaint filed against Kejriwal's wife for allegedly possessing 2 voter IDs. The next hearing in the case will be on June 3, ANI reported.

2.45 pm: PM Modi condemns Gadchiroli attack

PM Modi tweeted strong condemnation of the "despicable" attack on security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra and said that "the perpetrators of such violence will not be spared. "Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," he said in his official twitter handle.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared. - Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

2.33 pm: BJP President Amit Shah reiterated his stand on a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country to chuck out each and every infiltrator if the party is voted back to power.

BJP President #AmitShah reiterates that nationwide #NRC to be implemented to deal with the infiltrations if BJP is again voted to power. - All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) May 1, 2019

2.30 pm: Maneka slams Rahul & Priyanka.

Union Minister and Senior BJP leader Maneka Gandhi told India Today that Congress President can never become India's Prime Minister and said that it will take a miracle for Rahul to become the Prime Minister. She also dismissed Priyanka as a non-factor in UP.

2.16 pm: Naxals blow up police vehicle in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli; 10 killed

A police vehicle was targetted on Wednesday allegedly by Naxals in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, who triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up the police vehicle. 10 security personnel are reported to be killed in the blast, ANI reported. The vehicle, which was targetted was carrying 16 security personnel from the Kurkheda Quick Response Team of Gadchiroli police and the blast took place between Jamborkheda and Lendhari, according to local police. Earlier in the day, Naxals allegedly set ablaze 27 machines and vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district.

2.00 pm: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar took a dig at Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi today and said that the party workers themselves do not believe him then how can the public trust him.

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar: Congress apne karyakartaon ko kehti hai ki galti se bhi Rahul Gandhi ke naam se vote matt maangna, jis vyakti par unki party ke log vishwas nahi kar rahe uss par janta kya vishwas karegi? (file pic) pic.twitter.com/dh9w5tDeAZ - ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

1.45 pm: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, Atishi, campaigns in Vishwas Nagar area of the constituency in Delhi.

Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from East Delhi Lok Sabha seat, Atishi, campaigns in Vishwas Nagar area of the constituency. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/hJONT1Uhsv - ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

1.30 pm: Hurts me to see BJP attacking Rahul Gandhi and calling him not Indian: Sheila Dixit

Former Delhi Chief Minister and Congress leader Sheila Dixit today slammed BJP for targeting party President Rahul Gandhi and said that the attack at him is politically motivated. "It hurts me to watch BJP targeting Rahul Gandhi. These are gimmicks to divert attention from proper issues. They (bjp) are scared to lose so attacking Gandhi. This is BJP's attempt to distract the people of this country," Dixit said in an interview to India Today. "BJP is scared, politically motivated. Why was this citizenship issue not raked up till now?? He has been elected already and several times still this controversy now? Lowest politics being seen by targeting congress president as not an Indian," she added.

1.15 pm: Busy in campaigning, Yechury seeks adjournment in RSS defamation case

Two advocates appeared on behalf of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and said that the two were busy in election so could not be present in court. Thane civil court had summoned Congress president Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury over a defamation suit filed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member Vivek Champanerkar.

According to Champanerkar, RSS was defamed by both the two Opposition leaders in the days after the Gauri Lankesh murder of 2017 in Bengaluru. Immediately after the journalist's murder, Gandhi had tweeted, "Anybody who speaks against the RSS/BJP is attacked & even killed. They want to impose only one ideology which is against the nature of India". Advocate Kishor Samant appearing for Yechury submitted an undertaking that the CPM leader is busy in election campaigning and hence the advocate would file vakalatnama on next date of hearing.

12.50 pm: Kejriwal misguiding voters with statehood promise, says sheila Dikshit

Slamming the full statehood promise of Aam aadmi party, Sheila Dikshit has hit out ar Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of "misguiding voters". Former CM of Delhi and North-East Delhi candidate for Congress this lok sabha elections, Dikshit is asking how will Arvind Kejriwal fulfill the promise withour numbers? "He is fooling and misguiding people of Delhi. Constitution needs to be changed by majority in parliament, how will he do it? Will kejriwal himself give people statehood and how will do that? Voters have brains to understand such promises. Kejriwal has only statehood plank to offer and no other promise.

12.24 pm: Mahamilavatis are opposed to a strong government: PM Modi.

12.23 pm: Terrorists await weak government: PM Modi.

12.20 pm: Pakistan only knows how to export terrorists and terrorism: PM Modi.

12.19 pm: National security is my priority: PM Modi

12.17 pm: International leades come to India on special occasions: PM Modi.

12.16 pm: The world now recognises India: PM Modi.

12.15 pm: BJP-NDA has only worked for Nation's development: PM Modi.

12.13 pm: We have worked for women's upliftment: PM Modi.

12.11 pm: My govt helped those who couldn't continue their studies: PM Modi.

12.08 pm: I am waging war against diseases that afflict the poor: PM Modi.

12.05 pm: Only I have understood the pain of the poor: PM Modi.

12.04 pm: Ayushman Bharat helping poor access healthcare: PM Modi.

12.02 pm: We have revamped the pension schemes: PM Modi.

12.05 pm: Public's love for me upsets SP-BSP: PM Modi.

12.00 pm: Those who talk about Lohia, don't care about the poor: PM Modi.

11.59 am: PM Modi addresses rally near Ayodhya. This is his first visit to the town since 2014.

11.50 am: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) meets supporters in Baghola, Raebareli.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress General Secretary for Uttar Pradesh (East) meets supporters in Baghola, Raebareli. pic.twitter.com/OKA9zWtPLs - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 1, 2019

11.45 am: BJP objects to burqa ban demand by Shiv Sena

The BJP today opposed Shive Sena's demand to ban burqa in public places across the country. Party's national spokesperson and MP GVL Narsimha Rao said there's "no need for India to ban" burqa. Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) also objected to Sena's demand. "Not all women who wear burqa are terrorists, if they are terrorists their burqa should be removed. It's a tradition and they have the right to wear it, there shouldn't be a ban on burqa in India," he said.

11.37 am: "BJP Govt conspired to hamper growth in Amethi," Priyanka Gandhi

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Thursday alleged that the BJP Government conspired to hamper the development of Amethi in the last five years. Amethi is the constituency of her brother and party Chief Rahul Gandhi. Priyanka who is on a two-day visit to the town said that 'misleading publicity' is being undertaken by the rivals of Congrerss. "In the last five years, the BJP government, by a conspiracy, hampered the development of Amethi. Different development projects including an IIIT was stopped, and they say that Rahul Gandhi is not an Indian," she said. Priyanka Gandhi alleged that in the last five years several businesses were closed down and a central school was not allowed to start.

11.26 am: For the first time since 2014 PM Modi will visit Ayodhya district for his poll campaign. In a short while from now the Prime Minister will hold a mega rally in Ambedkar Nagar, however, the Prime Minister is not going to visit the disputed site which houses the makeshift Ram temple. It remains to be seen what he will say on the Ram Mandir issue. PM Modi had made it very clear that an ordinance to build Ram Mandir can be considered only after exhausting legal process in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the preparations have been on in full swing to welcome the Prime Minister.

11.17 am: Delhi Lok Sabha Election 2019: Will sealing drive be a poll plank in Delhi?

With a large number of traders bearing the brunt of the sealing drive in several markets of Delhi, political parties are going all out to make it a key poll plank even though a section of business persons feel that it is a "non-issue". Ahead of the May 12 polls in the national capital, both the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress have promised to "end" the drive undertaken by the BJP-led municipal corporations on the directions of a Supreme Court-appointed committee since December 2017.

11. 10 am: Shiv Sena today demanded ban on Burqa through its editorial Saamna. The sena has requested PM Modi that he must ban burqa in public places across the country in the wake of threat to national security.

11. 01 am: The Election Commission Tuesday banned the release of Filmmaker Ramgopal Varma's 'Lakshmi's NTR', the biopic based on the life of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao. The poll body reiterated its April 10 order of not screening it and another movie until further orders. The biopic was planned to be released on May 1.

10.56 am: Amid recurring instances of violence during polls in West Bengal, the Election Commission has decided to replace state police personnel with Central forces inside all polling booths across West Bengal for the 5th phase of Lok Sabha Election 2019. Special police observer for West Bengal Vivek Dubey said that a total of 578 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are being mobilized for this.

Election Commission of India: Neither West Bengal police nor central forces is allowed inside the polling booth (in the room where machines and EVMs are kept at the time of voting). They can enter if and when the Presiding Officer calls them in. pic.twitter.com/wM6ZSTAdmQ - ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

10.51 am: Poll authorities Tuesday issued a showcause notice to the managing director of the Delhi Metro for playing a video on its Pink Line showing events related to the metro's inauguration featuring "dignitaries from three political parties that are contesting the general elections". The video was noticed by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) of East Delhi constituency, following which the returning officer for East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency - K Mahesh, issued a notice to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation MD Dr Mangu Singh.

10.40 am: Vivek Dubey, Special Police Observer for West Bengal said, "In addition, 142 Quick Response Teams, manned by central forces, also will be ready to reach any place of incident."

Vivek Dubey, Special Police Observer for West Bengal: In addition, 142 Quick Response Teams, manned by central forces, also will be ready to reach any place of incident. https://t.co/UKGPtLXCE5 - ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

10.20 am: The Election Commission has lifted the Model Code of Conduct imposted in 11 districts in Odisha ahead of cyclone Fani to enable relief and rescue operations, a poll official said today. The move came at the end of the day when Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had made a request to the Election Commission (EC) in person. Patnaik was in Delhi to meet the poll panel on Tuesday asking for the lifting of the model code in several coastal districts of the state to facilitate disaster management activities ahead of cyclone Fani which is likely to hit Odisha coast on Friday.Patnaik had also requested postponement of the Patkura Assembly elections. Polling in Patkura is scheduled on May 19.

10.13 am: Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi will address a public meeting at Gulzar Shah Mela Maidan, Biswan, Sitapur in UP, another public meeting at Union Inter College Ground, Ramnagar, Barabanki, UP and will interact with a gathering at around 3.45 pm at RNA Public Meeting Ground, Piparia, Hoshangabad, MP.

10.03 am: PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi to hold multiple rallies UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (MP) today. Modi will hold a public meeting at Rampur Maya, Akbarpur, Ayodhya Marg, Maya Bazar, Goshainganj, Faizabad and UP at around 9 am. He will then go on to attend a programme in Kaushambi, UP at around 11 am, a public meeting at Railway Institute Ground, Itarsi, Hoshangabad, MP and will wind up the day with a public meeting at Mansarovar Pradarshini Maidan, VT Road, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

9.45 am: PM Modi will address a public rally at Itarsi town in Hoshangabad Lok Sabha constituency, Madhya Pradesh today at atround 3 pm. The Prime Minister will canvass for BJP's sitting MP Rao Uday Pratap Singh who is contesting the election from this seat. Meanwhile, Congress has fielded senior party leader Shailendra Diwan who will take on Singh for the Hoshangabad Lok Sabha seat which will go to polls on May 6.

9.29 am: Election Commission of India comes together with the Indian Railways for its voter awareness campaign.

#VoterAwareness on right track! Click a picture with the democracy train and share it with us. Tag us @ECISVEEP #GoVote #DeshKaMahaTyohar pic.twitter.com/MrLbE62XkN - Election Commission #DeshKaMahatyohar (@ECISVEEP) April 30, 2019

9.15 am: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu yesterday urged media to shun coverage based on caste and community criteria, especially during elections. Speaking at an event in Delhi, Naidu said that people should choose their public representatives basis four C's- Cash, Caste, Criminality and Community.

9.00 am: PM Modi will address a mega rally in Delhi on May 8 as the national capital goes to polls on May 12. Meanwhile top BJP leaders will also canvass for the candidates fielded by the party on Delhi's 7 Lok Sabha seats. Party President Amit Shah and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will address separate rallies today at the DDA Park in Vasant Kunj and Shastri Park, the Delhi BJP unit said in a statement.

8.45 am: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday said that BJP has hired agencies to draw crowds to PM Modi's rallies. "The BJP is spending extensively. We do not have money power like them. They are spending crores of rupees on every public meeting. They have hired agencies to put up flags and banners for them. They have been hired to bring crowds to Modi's rallies in exchange for money," she said during an election rally Howrah in West Bengal.

8.30 am: PM Modi got a clean chit from the Election Commission of India (ECI) yesterday saying the he did not violate any Model Code of Conduct during his campaign speeches. The ECI has disposed first of the six such cases against the PM filed by Congress. This case pertains to a speech Modi made in Maharashtra's Wardha on April 1 where he had slammed Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala and said that the party is taking "refuge in areas where the majority is in minority."

Modi ji burning files is not going to save you. Your day of judgement is coming. https://t.co/eqFvTJfDgY - Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 30, 2019

8.15 am: 'Burning files is not going to save you,' Rahul Gandhi takes a dig at PM Modi

Following the fire at Shastri Bhawan, Congress President Rahul Gandhi took a dig at PM Modi saying that the Prime Minister is burning files to cover his corrupt deeds. "Modi ji burning files is not going to save you. Your day of judgement is coming," Gandhi tweeted.
When Mike Holland, now the CEO of Embassy Office Parks, first came to India in late 1997, the commercial property market was crumbling, much like the rest of the real estate sector.

The South Asian crisis had swept India too and property prices were in a free fall. At the tony MG Road in Bengaluru, real estate rates fell from Rs 7,000 per sq. ft in 1995 to Rs 3,500 per sq. ft. Only small offices were available for technology companies, which had just started entering India after globalisation. The annual demand for office space was less than 3 million sq. ft and Holland struggled to find a hoist or even a tower crane for building construction.

Cut to 2019. The commercial real estate sector is brimming with marquee global private equity players and funds. Blackstone, Xander, Brookfield, Mapletree Investments, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, GIC, Ascendas-Singbridge, APG Group, Allianz are all betting big on India's realty story. The rate per sq. ft is Rs 35,000 in MG Road, and the average rent of a grade 'A' office in the central business district of Connaught Place in Delhi is Rs 295 per sq. ft per month - among the top 10 globally. Annual absorption of office space has grown to 45 million sq. ft, and in Holland's words, Bengaluru is now dotted with both hoists and tower cranes.

With foreign capital as well as multinational tenants coming to India in the last two decades, commercial real estate has been institutionalised, turning into a playground for big and deep-pocketed players. "Today, we have fewer but more institutional, larger-scale developers. And it needs to be that way since the scale of development is such that the privately-financed approach to commercial real estate simply cannot sustain the demand," says Holland.

Institutional investments in 2014-18 doubled to $20.3 billion (about Rs 1.5 lakh crore) compared to $9.4 billion (about Rs 65,000 crore) during the 2009-13 period, according to a JLL report on institutional funds in Indian real estate.

The scenario, however, was different until 2005 when the sector was opened up for FDI. "There was strong demand from good quality tenants in the early 2000's globalisation shift and limited supply but Indian real estate was an under-capitalised market and capital was expensive. The creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) was another catalyst to the growth in the mid 2000s. Globalisation, SEZ and FDI relaxations came together and global investors came in to fill the gap," says Holland.

Big Risks

Apart from being capital intensive, commercial realty has high levels of risk compared to the residential market. In commercial realty, tenants take up ready property on a lease basis. "This implies high equity involvement as well as high risk. There are no customer advances to finance development," says Pankaj Kapoor, MD at real estate consultancy Liases Foras.

Besides, there is a huge macroeconomic risk. Over 60 per cent tenants of commercial space in India are companies from the US, Europe, West Asia and Asia Pacific. "Any disruptions in the global economic environment may lead these companies to modify their requirements and agreements in India," adds Kapoor. India has experienced this first hand. The global financial crisis that began in the US in 2008 was exacerbated in India with the Satyam scandal, which broke in January 2009. Demand did pick up from 2010 as global occupiers saw the advantages of the offshore market "but it took some time for the supply overhang to be absorbed," says Holland.

The result was that absorption of commercial real estate fell dramatically before picking up in late 2010. In times of such crises, the ability of bigger players to absorb shocks is much more than that of smaller players, which explains why commercial real estate is necessarily an institutional play now.

Moreover, larger players have developed long-standing relationships with global firms who end up as tenants in their properties. This surety of revenue is a big advantage.

DLF Ltd, India's largest real estate developer, is one such firm. "Older players like us tend to have an early mover advantage as, over the years, we have developed deep relationship with tenants and have a strong understanding of commercial real estate. So, ability to lease to tenants in new projects is always higher as they are familiar with our quality, compliance and safety standards," says Sriram Khattar, Managing Director of Rental Business at DLF.

Similarly, Embassy Office Parks, a joint venture of US private equity firm Blackstone Group and Bengaluru-based Embassy Group, owns one of India's largest office portfolios spread over 33 million sq. ft. Over 80 per cent of its gross rentals come from leading multinational corporations; 43 per cent is from Fortune 500 companies. A weighted average lease of around seven years provides considerable stability to its portfolio of office parks and city-centre office buildings besides under-construction projects.

"Developers take significant commercial risks and need huge financial wherewithal to be able to weather that long gestation period before rental income starts to accrue," says Holland.

Companies that can balance all the factors see a future. With the residential sector facing multiple challenges of funding and project completion, developers are shifting focus to the commercial sector, looking for stable returns. "Consequently, there is excess capital chasing fewer opportunities. This will result in a price increase, which may not be sustainable. The sector is already facing some competition due to emergence of the co-working industry while companies are facing increased business uncertainty due to the macro environment globally," says Raja Seetharaman, Co-founder at Propstack, a real estate analytics firm.

Allies in Monetisation

The financial muscle and longevity explain why DLF has a JV with GIC, Embassy with Blackstone, and global insurance firm Allianz Group with Shapoorji Pallonji, besides others. "GIC has immense experience in international real estate. Unlike other investors, they look for a longer-term investment horizon. Commercial real estate requires patient capital," adds Khattar of DLF.

Over a period of time, joint venture partners can also monetise assets. The Blackstone-backed Embassy Office Parks REIT, India's first real estate investment trust (REIT), recently raised Rs 4,750 crore through an IPO that was subscribed 2.6 times. It also shows the immense appetite of retail investors for a slice of the real estate pie. The minimum REIT subscription amount has been reduced from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 50,000, making it easier for small investors to participate.

According to Seetharaman, attractive rental yields on commercial property in India make it a preferred market. The yield here is between 7.5 and 8.5 per cent, while it is 2.5-3.5 per cent in the US, 2.5-3 per cent in the UK and 3-4 per cent in Canada.

If capital gains are included, the return on commercial real estate would be higher at 14 per cent over a five-year period. Debt funds are giving about 10 per cent and fixed deposits around 7 per cent at present.

"In India, the projected five-year returns on commercial assets are an optimistic 14 per cent largely because Grade A commercial real estate has been on a protracted winning streak since 2017. Commercial real estate withstood the vagaries of the various reforms much better than the residential asset class," says Shobhit Agarwal, MD and CEO of Anarock Capital.

Another reason for global tie-ups is enhancing the talent pool and joining strengths. This results in creating best-in-class commercial developments which, in turn, brings the best quality tenants.

Not surprisingly, other giants in the Indian space also plan to go for REITs post the success of the Embassy issue. DLF's Khattar says, "We will look at a REIT at a future point in time for assets owned jointly by DLF and GIC."

GIC has invested in DLF Cyber City Developers (DCCDL), the group's rental arm, where it has 33.3 per cent shareholding. "REITs generally take place in two situations - when either of the partners wants to exit or needs funds. At the moment, DLF and GIC don't need either. It will be a decision taken jointly by DLF and GIC over a period of time. There is no timeline," adds Khattar.

Small Isn't Beautiful

Market place demands are another factor for larger, high quality commercial developments. Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO - India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa at CBRE, says increasingly many companies are looking at India as a destination for higher skill requirements. "We expect this trend to result in a greater appetite for Indian talent, resulting in an increase in the quality of space demanded."

Further, the rise of start-ups has resulted in workplace formats becoming more tech-enhanced, with demand for effective managed offices increasing, adds Magazine.

Big tenants are also looking at consolidating their smaller facilities. "Consolidating office space can eliminate redundancies in operations, such as need for common resources, and translates into lower operational costs," says Seetharaman. For tenants, larger office spaces create greater leverage in negotiating lease agreements. "It is also possible to sublease unused space in the same building," he adds.

But does this mean there is no business case for small, stand-alone players? "The smaller players will survive as they have an asset that is attracting rent but they will find it difficult to grow beyond a stage," says Khattar. However, acquiring smaller players is not in the plans. "Value addition and return on investment (RoI) are much higher in developing our own land banks than buying," he says. While buying third-party mature assets, a potential buyer can only assess existing and future rentals and future RoIs. "Value addition can be done only over a period of time and not immediately. It makes acquisition less attractive," he adds. Clearly, smaller office players will need to be specialist and niche in a country where commercial real estate has become the turf of the biggies.

@RashmiPratap3
01 May 2019, 12:25 PM

Patanjali's Rs 4,325 cr bid for Ruchi Soya gets lenders nod

In its first major acquisition, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved walked away with debt-ridden edible oil firm Ruchi Soya with a bid of Rs 4,325 crore, sources said. Patanjali acquired Ruchi Soya Industries in an insolvency auction started by lenders to recover over Rs 9,300 crore loans.

End of an era: Eric Schmidt leaves Google board

Google-parent Alphabet said Tuesday that Eric Schmidt, who was chief of the internet giant for a decade, will leave the board in June. Schmidt, who turned 64 this month, stepped down as chairman of the Alphabet board at the start of last year, remaining a member but shifting to a role as a technical advisor. Schmidt will not seek re-election to the board when his term expires in June, but will continue to advise on technical matters, according to Alphabet.

Huawei jumps ahead of Apple in tough smartphone market

China-based Huawei outsold Apple's iPhones in the first quarter of this year, seizing the California company's second place spot in a tightening smartphone market dominated by Samsung. A total of 310.8 million smartphones were shipped globally during the first three months of this year.

Bangalore pips global major cities to emerge as 11th best city for start-ups

India's IT Capital Bangalore has emerged as the 11th best city for start-ups, moving from 21st position last year, bypassing cities such as Tokyo, Paris, Moscow, Beijing and Hong Kong in the StartupBlink Startup Ecosystem annual Rankings. StartupBlink ranks 100 countries and more than 1000 cities according to their start-up ecosystem strength. The list is headed by San Francisco, New York, London, Los Angeles and Boston.

Mother Dairy appoints Sangram Chaudhary as MD

Mother Dairy Tuesday appointed Sangram Chaudhary as its new managing director after incumbent Sanjeev Khanna quit the company.Chaudhary would take charge as managing director with effect from May 1, 2019, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd said in a statement.

Nirav Modi to make another bail plea in UK court on May 8

Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi is making another bail plea at the UK court where he is undergoing extradition proceedings to India in the USD 1-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case. The 48-year-old, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his two previous bail applications were rejected following his arrest on March 19, is to appear before Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on May 8 for a third attempt.

Uday Kotak warns of more liquidity crisis, muddying waters for financial sector again

Banker Uday Kotak Tuesday warned of more liquidity crisis plaguing the financial sector, which is already passing through "turbulent times", for the next two quarters and stressed on the need to have strong balance sheets to withstand difficult times. The next six months are crucial for the financial sector, Kotak, the executive vice-chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank said

Govt apprehensive US sanctions on Iran could boost oil prices, inflation

U.S. sanctions on Iran could boost oil prices and inflation to a point that hurts the common person in India, the country's ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday, after the Trump administration said it would end waivers for Iran's oil buyers. President Donald Trump's efforts to sink Iran's oil exports to zero will have a direct impact on India, the largest buyer of the oil after China, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the ambassador, said
The country's top two carmakers, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) and Hyundai Motor India, began the new fiscal on a negative note reporting a decline in their domestic sales in April.

While MSI reported an 18.7 per cent fall, Hyundai posted a decline of 10.1 per cent in domestic sales in the first month of 2019-20 fiscal.

MSI, which has over 50 per cent market share in the domestic passenger vehicles segment, sold 1,43,245 units last month. It had sold 1,72,986 units in the year-ago period.

Hyundai registered sales of 42,005 units in April in the domestic market against 46,735 units in the year-ago period.

MSI's sales of mini cars comprising Alto declined by 39.8 per cent during the month at 22,766 units as compared with 37,794 units in April last year.

Similarly, sales of compact segment, including models such as Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire, were down 13.9 per cent at 72,146 units as against 83,834 units in April last year, the company said.

Mid-sized sedan Ciaz sold 2,789 units as compared to 5,116 units in the same month a year ago.

Utility vehicles, including Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga were however up 5.9 per cent at 22,035 units as compared to 20,804 units in the year-ago month.

The company's exports in April were up by 14.6 per cent at 9,177 units as against 8,008 units in the corresponding month last year.

Last week, MSI Chairman RC Bhargava had said that the market would continue to be weak this year on account various factors including uncertainty over fuel prices and coming up of BS VI emission norms from next year.

In 2018-19, the company had targeted a sales growth of 10 per cent in the domestic market but could manage only 6.1 per cent.

On the other hand, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) posted a 23 per cent increase in domestic sales at 11,272 units in April as against 9,143 units in the same month last year.

The company's April sales growth is primarily due to the lower base effect, as there was no 'Amaze' in the corresponding month last year during the model run out, HCIL Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing Rajesh Goel said.

The ongoing elections and overall subdued market sentiment continue to affect the sales momentum, he added.

"Going forward, the industry is heading towards a tougher year impacting sales due to volatility in fuel prices, increase in car prices owing to new regulations and stricter inventory control for smooth switchover to BS VI regime by year end," Goel said.

In the two-wheeler segment, Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMIPL) reported a 9.25 per cent increase in domestic sales at 57,072 units in April as against 52,237 units in the year-ago month.

Commenting on the sales performance, SMIPL Vice President, Marketing, Sales, and After Sales Devashish Handa said, "Given the depressed industry sentiment, this is a great start of the new financial year for Suzuki Motorcycle India and we are poised for a strong performance in 2019-20, aiming to achieve 1 million sales target."

The company's focus in this fiscal year "is also to strengthen our dealer network and product portfolio with the addition of new premium products to our stable catering to a larger customer base," he said.

Niche bike maker, Royal Enfield reported a 21 per cent decline in sales last month at 59,137 units compared with 74,627 units in April 2018.

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Looking for the growth that has eluded most of players in the industry in the last few months, Hero MotoCorp, country's largest two-wheeler maker, on Wednesday launched three premium motorcycles, a segment which has grown at a healthy clip in the last few years but one where Hero MotoCorp has traditionally been weak.

The three mobikes-Xpulse 200, Xpulse 200T and Xtreme 200S-is powered by an indigenously developed 200cc single cylinder engine that develops 18.4 PS power and 17.1 NM of torque. It is the most powerful of all Hero's engines in the country so far. The XPulse 200 is priced at Rs 97,000, the XPulse 200T, which is the tourer version, is priced at Rs 94,000, while the Xtreme 200S is at Rs 98,500. A fuel injected version of the XPulse 200 has also been launched at Rs 105,000.

The three launches come in at an interesting time for the company, which has registered muted growth in the domestic market. The company sold 7.6 million two-wheelers in India in fiscal 2019, a growth of 3.12 per cent over fiscal 2018, not too dissimilar to the industry growth of 4.86 per cent. In the last quarter though, the company registered a steep 11 per cent decline in sales at 1.78 million units. It also registered a 24.51 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 730.32 crore during the quarter over last year and a 8-per cent fall in revenue at Rs 7,885 crore. On Tueday, its share price at the Bombay Stock Exchange tumbled 4.84 per cent to hit a 52 -week intra-day low of Rs 2,478 per share.

"The commuter and executive segments are what we call our forte and while we will continue to consolidate our position there, the premium segment offers a great opportunity for growth for us," said Sanjay Bhan, head of sales and after sales at Hero MotoCorp. "We plan to gradually ramp up our presence in the premium segment. It is more of a long-term plan either to be number one or close to number one in the next three to four years as it cannot be done overnight."

The premium motorcycle segment of over 150 cc engine capacity is pegged at around 3 million units per annum. Of the nearly 6.9 million motorcycles that Hero sold in fiscal 2019, more than 99 per cent had engines less than 125cc capacity. This segment however, grew by only 7.6 per cent during the fiscal while the segment just above it, classified as those that have engines between 125cc and 200cc, grew by more than double the rate at 15.4 per cent. Hero's three launches today belong to this segment, which is currently dominated by Hero's three big rivals Bajaj, TVS and Honda.

"We do have ambition and aspiration at segments beyond 200cc as well and we believe that is a segment, though small today, that has a huge potential for growth in future. As a market leader it is our duty to provide whatever the customer wants and we have the in-house capability to do that," Bhan said. "We will keep investing to build the brand and will look at introducing models for the segments above (upto 450cc)."

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The Delhi High Court Wednesday issued notice to Jet Airways on a plea seeking direction to the Civil Aviation Ministry and the DGCA to ensure refunds or provide alternative travel mode for passengers who have booked tickets with the airlines which has temporarily suspended all its flights.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani sought response from Jet Airways and also asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to file an affidavit on the issue.

The high court said it will hear the matter after summer vacation and posted the matter for July 16.

The court's directions came on a plea, filed by activist Bejon Kumar Misra, which had said that the sudden suspension of air services of Jet Airways has resulted in a major crisis for passengers who were not informed about it earlier.

The application had sought direction to the ministry and DGCA to adopt prompt redressal mechanism for all affected passengers to access full refund of air tickets with reasonable compensation or arrange alternative mode of travel for them to reach their destination as an emergency exercise.

The plea, filed through advocates Shashank Deo Sudhi and Shashi Bhushan, had said: "It is common knowledge that all competitor airlines have exorbitantly increased airfares and the toothless and vulnerable consumers are constrained to suffer not only in terms of money, but also in terms of mental harassment of unprecedented scale."

Citing media report, it had said more than Rs 360 crore of passengers/consumers' hard earned money is under threat due to non-refund of ticket value.

"The passengers have to not only purchase alternative tickets at highly exorbitant cost, but also go through lots of anxieties and mental agony. This has resulted in profiteering by other airlines at the cost of the passengers and till date no relief has been announced by the respondents (Ministry and DGCA).

"It is on record that such a situation was existing for more than two years, but was intentionally allowed by the authorities without any concern for passengers and other affected parties," the plea had claimed.

It had also said an amendment to the existing laws and appointment of an effective regulator is the need of the hour to protect the interest of passengers and regulate airfares in an open and transparent manner to avoid such events in future.

After months of uncertainty, Jet Airways announced temporary suspension of its operations on April 17 as it failed to receive emergency funds from lenders.

A day after the airline suspended operations, hundreds of employees gathered in the national capital seeking measures to revive the carrier, which has been in operation for nearly 26 years.

Domestic lenders have invited bids for selling stake in Jet Airways. On April 18, the lenders said they were "reasonably hopeful" that the bidding process for the airline would end successfully.

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The shutting down of Jet Airways has left over 16,000 people, including 1,350 pilots, jobless, thereby putting them in a huge financial crunch. While other domestic as well as international airlines have hired some Jet Airways employees, it is still a small chunk of those who were employed the debt-ridden company. Let's take a look at the number of Jet employees absorbed by other players in the aviation sector so far.

Spice Jet

Budget airline SpiceJet Ltd said that it has already absorbed over 500 Jet Airways employees, including 100 pilots, and is open to induct more. SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh said the airline has absorbed nearly 1,000 Jet Airways employees and will continue to hire more. SpiceJet is giving 'first preference' to Jet Airways employees in recruitment,said Singh.

Also read: 'Absorbed close to 1,000 Jet Airways employees, will do more,' says SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh

Vistara

Premium carrier Vistara is hiring around 500--100 pilots and 400 cabin crew--mostly from the grounded Jet Airways. 'Vistara, which is likely to begin international operations soon, is in the process of inducting 100 pilots besides 400 cabin crew. Most of the new workforce is expected to come from the grounded carrier Jet,' reported PTI.

Also read: Vistara to hire 100 pilots, 400 cabin crew from grounded Jet Airways

Air India's arm Air India Express

Air India Express has also inducted around 25 commanders from the grounded airline's and plans to induct 20-25 more pilots. Its parent Air India has been discussing an internal proposal to lease five of the 10 Boeing 777s of Jet to expand its international footprint.

However, the pilot union of Air India-Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) has urged the management to hire just Boeing 777 (B-777) rated co-pilots on contractual basis instead of hiring costly captains, as it will be a brutal waste of money. According to reports, Jet Airways pilots have been asked to take salary cuts of 25-30 per cent, while engineers have been settling at 50 per cent of their current pay.

ALso Read: Jet Airways employees ready to pay airline dues from salary, stock option; mystery investors to offer Rs 3,000 crore

Other airlines

According to media reports, around 100 Jet pilots have applied for jobs in overseas companies like Qatar Airways, Emirates, Ethiopian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, others.

Uncertain future

In last two to three months, right before Jet went bust, about 250 pilots of the airline resigned, and brought down the pilot strength to 1,350 from 1,600, reported Business Standard. After the cash-strapped airline failed to get a an interim funding of Rs 400 crore , it suspended its operation on April 17, leaving 16,000-odd employees in the lurch. The Jet employees are now facing stress over employments, while some are also hopeful of a turnaround of the carrier. Under such circumstances, the staff might have to either shift base to Tier-2 or Tier-3 cities or accept job offers having lower compensation, say experts.

Also read: Jet Airways crisis: Employees lose medical cover as airline fails to pay premium

Also read: Jet Airways crisis: NAG urges PM Modi to ask SBI to release one month's salary to staff
Samsung recently unveiled a vertical OLED TV targeted at the millennials and Generation Z. The TV rotates from the landscape mode to the portrait mode to show Instagram, Snapchat stories and TikTok videos. Samsung is calling it Sero TV and is the product of the study which found that 70% of millennials don't turn their phone horizontally to watch videos. The flat-rotating display means that users will easily be able to project their vertical mobile content on to the big screen, vertically.

The Sero TV is set to go on sale at the end of May in South Korea for 18.9 million won (approximately Rs. 11.3 lakhs). The TV comes with its own stand and can easily be rotated to be used in either portrait or the landscape mode. It can be synced with the phone via NFC to mirror the phone's display. Sero TV has 4.1-channel, 60W speakers and can function as both a music streaming hub and a conventional TV.

"Samsung will continue introducing screens that respect personal consumer tastes," says Han Jong-hee, the president of the company's Visual Display Business, in an interview with the Korea Herald. "We will think outside the box to bring different types of screens and different user experiences."

Vertical content is all around us and is expected to grow further in the coming years as most of the content is shot using mobile phones in portrait mode. However, a product like Sero TV, apart from being niche and exciting, is also expensive, especially for the Instagram loving millennial!

A rotating TV optimised for social media isn't the only unusual thing Samsung has created. The company had earlier designed Lifestyle TVs called Frame and Serif. "The traditional TV was only focused on technical features, such as picture quality and performance, but now TVs are also a lifestyle platform that blends in consumers' daily life," said Jongsuk Choo, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. "This year's models of The Frame and SERIF TV are enhanced lifestyle TVs that deliver a TV experience like nothing before."

Edited By: Udit Verma

Also Read: TikTok is back on Google Play, Apple App Store after Madras HC lifts ban

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy A70 goes on sale in India via Flipkart; check out features, price in India

Also Read: Facebook's new privacy-focussed era begins with new design and features
TikTok is back on Google Play Store and Apple App Store after it was taken down from online app stores last month following an interim court order. The Madras High court had asked the government to stop the downloads of the Chinese short-form mobile video app. However, the app can now be downloaded and used without any restrictions.

Also Read: SC hearing on TikTok: Why it is difficult to ban the app in India

Earlier on April 3, the Madras High court had observed that TikTok encouraged pornography and had asked the government to prevent its downloads. It had passed an interim order on public interest litigation which sought a ban on the app on the ground that it allegedly carried contents that "degraded culture and encouraged pornography". As a result, the app was taken off by both Apple and Google from their respective app stores. Later, on April 24, the Madras High court's bench of justices N Kirubakaran and S S Sundar lifted the ban with the condition that the platform should not be used to host obscene videos.

"Though it is admitted that this possible mischief and irreparable damage that may be caused to innocent children and women cannot be ruled out, taking note of the safety features projected by the 9th respondent (Bytedance India) ... the interim order granted by this Court on 03.04.2019 is vacated," the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court said in a written order, according to The Economic Times.

The ban was lifted after TikTok introduced several measures in India to ensure the safety of its users. It tied up with Cyber Peace Foundation to launch educational posters on online safety. It also launched the localised version of its Safety Centre, a local website that consists of safety policies, tools and resources to equip users with product education and protection measures when using TikTok.

"What we are doing today is a continuation of our commitment to safety, so today we are actually launching a safety centre. As part of that, there are three different initiatives. One is our anti-bullying hub, which basically means we are launching new resources and tools to stay safe online and also this entire hub is in ten Indian languages," Said Helena Lersch, Director, Global Public Policy at TikTok.

The company also introduced a tool on its platform to curtail bullying and abusive comments on TikTok.

Edited By: Udit Verma

Also Read: Tik Tok's porn problem: Why the social media app is more susceptible
The year 2019 is turning out to be a good year for Xiaomi. After the successful launch of Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 7 and Redmi 7, Xiaomi is now all set to take on the biggies with a Redmi smartphone equipped with the flagship Snapdragon 855 Soc and a pop-up selfie camera. The rumoured device has been in the news for a while now, but with the new teaser video, things seem a little more certain. The video was posted on Redmi's official Weibo channel and also features other popular Redmi smartphones like Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 7 and Redmi 7.

Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 and Redmi Note 7 Pro to go on sale

The teaser video on Weibo showcases the trailer of Avengers: Endgame and teases the Avengers-edition boxes for its latest Redmi devices. The video also gives a quick look of the new phone playing up the bezel-less display and a pop-up selfie camera. A new fan-created teaser has also appeared on the Chinese social networking site with an edge-to-edge display and a pop-up selfie camera. The fan renders also showcase a triple rear camera, similar to the one seen on Xiaomi's Mi9.

Also Read: Xiaomi launches Redmi Note 7, Note 7 Pro at aggressive price points

Redmi General Manager Lu Weibing said that the new flagship device will be competitively priced. The executive also said that the company is preparing enough stock of the device. Earlier, Global Vice President and India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain had spoken about the Redmi phone that will come with new Snapdragon SoCs.

Meanwhile, the details regarding the new Redmi phone is still sketchy, there are rumours that the phone could be released in India as Poco F2. To recall, Poco F1 was also launched with the flagship Snapdragon 845 SoC and was competitively priced. Poco F2, if released in the next few months, will pose a tough challenge to the OnePlus 7 series smartphones. The 6GB RAM and 128GB storage option of Poco F1 is available in India for Rs 20,999.

Edited By: Udit Verma

Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 launched on February 28 in India; here're the details

Also Read: Redmi Note 7 Pro 6GB RAM variant listed on Xiaomi India website
Unlike the US and Europe, the management buyouts (MBOs) are rare in India and in nearly all the cases, they are carried out by private equity and venture capitalists. The recent proposal by the Jet Airways' employee unions to buy the troubled airline isn't, strictly speaking, an MBO, but this employees-led proposal is first-of-its-kind for the domestic aviation, and the Indian corporate sector as well.

Two employee unions at Jet - SWIP (Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots) and JAMEWA (Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association) - have written a letter to SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar asking to consider their proposal to take over the management control at the carrier. The letter, signed by two more Jet senior executives, says that the employee consortium and outside investors are ready to buy Jet. The consortium has offered to pay Rs 7,000 crore to lenders - Rs 4,000 crore from the employee stock option programme spread over five years, and another Rs 3,000 crore to be arranged from outside investors.

Also Read: Jet Airways employees: Who is hiring how many?

In a conversation with Business Today, Capt Ashwani Tyagi, general secretary of SWIP, says that almost every employee at Jet will be participating in this initiative. "Everybody wants this airline to run. It's a contribution, which will be coming from the salaries of the employees. We are giving a plan on behalf of everybody. We have given a letter to bankers. In the next stage, we will be explaining them the proposal and will listen to them also," he says.

Jet's immediate funding requirement, as outlined in the resolution process in February, was about Rs 8,500 crore. Since then, the funding gap has gone up substantially as Jet owes money to its vendors (ground handling, petrol companies), airport authorities, employees and passengers. Tyagi says that in order to restart the airline, the employee consortium will be offering Rs 3,000 crore that's going to come from outside investors. He didn't divulge the identity - whether they are HNIs or venture/PE funds - of these outside investors. "They will buy the equity in the company. We cannot disclose the identity of the investors at the moment," says Tyagi.

The proposal letter talks about not asking bond-holders of Jet for any haircuts. But, that seems difficult since the airline has an outstanding debt of over Rs 8,500 crore over and above the funding gap of at least Rs 8,500 crore. The amount offered by employee consortium would fall way short of meeting the debt obligations and the funding requirements. "We are discussing the matter with the banks. We have received a call from bankers. We are going to meet them. We are discussing among ourselves," says Tyagi.

Jet's sale process is expected to conclude by May 10, and investors like Etihad Airways, TPG Capital, Indigo Partners and government-backed NIIF have reportedly shown interest in buying the airline after lenders floated EoI (expression of interest) document last month. Recently, a UK-based aviation entrepreneur Jason Unsworth evinced interest outside of the EoI process. The airline temporarily shut down its operations in mid-April after it could not arrange for additional funding from lenders to operate planes. Before that, the airline's fleet was scaled down substantially from about 130 aircraft to seven. Its landing and parking slots have been given to rival airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara for a brief period. The lenders are now hoping for a suitor to buy this millstone around their neck.

It seems that the proposal by employees has been prepared in a jiffy and it seriously lacks in details. It's also not known whether the airline's senior management, including CEO Vinay Dube, backs such proposal. Besides the puzzling funding structure, there are some gaping holes in the proposal that might not pass muster with lenders, perhaps.

Also Read: Lok Sabha Election 2019 Live Updates: PM Modi chants 'Jai Shri Ram' in Ayodhya, pledges to protect people's belief

Also Read: SBI's new interest rate plan: Large savings accounts to earn 0.25% less

Also Read: L&T acquires VG Siddhartha's 20% stake in Mindtree, seeks shareholder meet
Kerrygold, the brand owned by Irish dairy farmers, has exceeded 1 billion annual retail value - the first Irish food brand to reach this milestone.

The announcement was made yesterday by Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Michael Creed TD and Ornua Foods Managing Director, Roisin Hennerty to its farmer shareholders at the Kerrygold Kitchen in Ornua.

While Kerrygold Butter has grown in popularity over the past five decades, the recipe has not changed since it was first produced in 1962. There are 7.5 million packets of the iconic gold foil sold each week. Kerrygold is the No. 2 butter brand in the US and the No. 1 butter brand in Germany, as well as being the fastest selling branded product on supermarket shelves in Germany.

Congratulating Kerrygold yesterday, Minster Creed said, "The Kerrygold brand is an amazing asset for Irish dairy farmers and its promotion of Irelands unique grass-fed credentials has been instrumental in enhancing Irelands reputation around the world as a sustainable food producer. Reaching this milestone is a significant achievement for Kerrygold, and Ornua, who have not only contributed economically to Ireland but have also played their part in supporting our vibrant rural community and building opportunities in markets all over the world."

Managing Director at Ornua Foods, Roisin Hennerty added, "Today represents a special day for the dairy industry with Kerrygold exceeding 1 billion in annual retail sales. While Kerrygold holds a unique place in the hearts of the Irish people, we are especially proud that the brand has captured the hearts and imagination of consumers all over the world. The future is bright for Kerrygold  our unique connection to our consumers coupled with our way of farming and our members expertise will drive the next generation of success."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The Central Bank of Ireland has today published a financial stability note which examines real-estate exposures of the Irish banking system in a historic and European context. A review of the international evidence on the risks associated with real-estate lending is also provided.

The report shows that since the financial crisis, the overall level of concentration of the Irish banking system to real-estate lending has remained relatively stable at around 70% of total balances. Irish banks are more concentrated in real-estate lending than their European peers. This concentration is primarily to residential real estate.

According to the report, real-estate exposures have been central to many financial crises, including Irelands own financial crisis experience (2008-2013). In Irelands case, commercial and residential real-estate prices declined by 67 and 51% respectively between December 2007 and September 2013.

While prices have since recovered, in line with the improved Irish economy, the level of concentration of the Irish banking system in real-estate lending means that it remains vulnerable to potential price corrections. The Central Bank says this is despite the banking system having increased its ability to absorb such shocks.

The Financial Stability Note concludes that the high degree of exposure to real estate in the Irish banking system underlines the importance of prudent underwriting by the banking system. It also concludes that the Central Banks mortgage market measures help in this regard, by protecting banks and borrowers against a marked loosening of such underwriting.

Source: www.businessworld.ie
May 2019

Tobacco packages, and the products they contain, are powerful promotional vehicles for the tobacco industry to communicate brand imagery and to attract new tobacco users.

Research has shown that plain and standardized packaging reduces the appeal and attractiveness of tobacco products, especially to youth. This has been demonstrated in research conducted on both non-smokers and smokers in numerous countries, including Canada.

Plain packaging of tobacco products is emerging across the globe, with measures implemented in six countries, namely, Australia (2012), the United Kingdom (2017), France (2017), Ireland, Norway and New Zealand (2018). Hungary, Slovenia, Uruguay and other countries have announced plans to implement plain packaging by 2020.

Studies have shown that plain packaging measures help the public better understand the health risks of tobacco use by increasing the impact of graphic health warnings that are required on packaging. Some studies indicate that health warnings were more noticeable and effective when displayed on plain packages than when displayed on branded packages.

The new plain and standardized appearance measures will begin to come into force on November 9, 2019. The measures include removing distinctive and attractive features from packaging and products and requiring all packages to be of the same drab brown colour. Only the permitted text may be displayed on the packages, in a standard location, font, colour and size. Cigarette packaging will be standardized to a slide-and-shell format, and the appearance of cigarettes and other tobacco products will be standardized as well.

The implementation of plain and standardized appearance of tobacco products is a key milestone in Canadas Tobacco Strategy, which aims to drive down tobacco use to 5% of the Canadian population by 2035. This will mean fewer Canadians will start smoking, more Canadians will quit, and a new generation of healthier Canadians will have a greater awareness of how important it is to never use tobacco products.

The new Tobacco Products Regulations (Plain and Standardized Appearance) and accompanying Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement can be found here: Canada Gazette, Part II.
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the Syndicate Loan forwarded striker Gunderson with Corinthians. The goal is to close the bond for one season and there...
The City Council is considering setting up a Police Advisory and Review Committee following complaints that the current Police Department review process was inadequate. However, there may be some delay.

During a Tuesday afternoon council committee meeting, it was found that Police Chief David Roddy had been working off a different draft version than some council members.

Chief Roddy also noted that some sections of the proposed city ordinance could be in conflict with a new state law on the same subject. He said that bill is on the desk of Governor Bill Lee, but has not yet been signed.

Several council members urged that there not be further delays.

Councilman Russell Gilbert said, "We need to get something going so our citizens can feel comfortable." He said black citizens often "get treated different."

He said in light of some treatment of black citizens by city police "the citizens are upset, angry and scared. This can ease that."

Councilwoman Carol Berz said she would favor going ahead as scheduled with a vote next Tuesday night. She said, "It will show people that we do care and we want to move on."

Chief Roddy was to keep the council a new timeline on the matter.

The council is eyeing a proposed 11-page ordinance on May 7 that sets up a nine-member committee. Each council member would have one appointee that could come from within or within the district.

The group is to elect a chair at its first meeting. The chair will accept complaints concerning police officer actions and refer them to Police Internal Affairs. The committee is later to get a report from Internal Affairs on what action, if any, was taken on the allegation.

The committee is to make recommendations for improvements to the Police Department and give an annual report.

The police chief is to retain final authority on discipline of officers.

No member will be paid.

Here is the ordinance:

WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Chattanooga believes that a strong and close relationship between the Chattanooga Police Department and the citizens of the City of Chattanooga is an integral part of a progressive, responsive and responsible city government; and

WHEREAS, essential to such a relationship is the communitys respect for and trust in the Chattanooga Police Department; and

WHEREAS, recognizing the need to allow the citizens of the City of Chattanooga to

assume a greater role in guiding the Chattanooga Police Department in matters of public

concern, including the examination of citizen complaints and complaint review procedures in

other cities, the Chattanooga City Council desires to establish this Police Advisory and Review

Committee.

The purpose of the Police Advisory and Review Committee is to strengthen the relationship between the citizens of the City of Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Police Department, to assure timely, fair and objective review of citizen complaints while protecting the individual rights of police officers, and to make recommendations concerning citizen complaints to the Chief of Police, the Mayor and to the Council.

The Committee shall consist of nine (9) members, who shall:



1. Have a background indicating fairness, integrity and responsibility including an active interest in public affairs and service for the citizens of Chattanooga for at least ten (10) years;

2. Be qualified to vote in Hamilton County, Tennessee; and

3. Not be a current employee of any governmental body except for those employed in the field of education.



(b) All Committee members shall be appointed in the discretion of each City Council member within or outside each council district and committee members shall be confirmed by a majority vote of the City Council. Initial appointments to the Committee shall be made for the following terms:

1. Three (3) members of the Committee shall be appointed for one (1) year

terms;

2. Three (3) members of the Committee shall be appointed for two (2) year

terms; and

3. Three (3) members of the Committee shall be appointed for three (3) year

terms.



All subsequent appointments, except to fill vacancies, shall be for three (3) year terms.

Vacancies occurring other than through the expiration of terms shall be filled for the remainder

of the term of the member being replaced. No member appointed pursuant to this Article may

serve more than two (2) consecutive terms. Upon making the initial appointments to the

Committee, the Council shall designate one member of the Committee to convene the first

regular meeting of the Committee. At its first regular meeting, the Committee shall elect one of

its members to serve as Chair. The Chair shall serve a term of one (1) year or until a successor is

elected. The members shall elect any other officers as deemed appropriate pursuant to Robert

Rules of Order for terms of one (1) year.



(c) Upon the recommendation of the majority of the Committee or upon its own volition, the City Council may remove any member of the Committee for official misconduct or neglect of duty, including but not limited to, neglect of any duty specifically enumerated in subsection (f) below. In addition, members who fail to attend three (3) consecutive regular meetings may be considered to have vacated their positions and may be replaced, as provided for herein. Members who cease to have the qualifications provided in subsection (a) of this Section shall be deemed to have forfeited their positions.

(d) No member of the Committee shall receive compensation for services performed.



(e) The Police Chief shall provide an opportunity for each member to complete the

Citizens Police Academy course offered by the Chattanooga Police Department and such other

training as may be deemed appropriate by the Chief of Police.

Members of the Committee shall at all times:



1. Obey all laws regarding an individuals right to privacy and confidentiality of records;

2. Maintain the integrity of Internal Affairs Unit files, personnel files or other files, records or tapes received as a result of the work of the Committee;

3. Excuse themselves from participating in a review of any complaint in which they have a personal, professional or financial conflict of interest;

4. Conduct themselves at all times in a manner that will maintain public confidence in the fairness, impartiality and integrity of the Committee, and refrain from making any inappropriate or prejudicial comments regarding any matter being reviewed by the Committee or which may be reasonably

be expected to be reviewed by the Committee; and

5. Comply with all rules and regulations applicable to other employees and volunteer board or committee members of the City of Chattanooga, including the Ethics Ordinance.

The Chair shall accept written, sworn complaints from members of the public regarding misconduct of police officers and shall forward these complaints to the commander of the Internal Affairs Unit of the Chattanooga Police Department (IA) within three (3) working days. Upon receipt of any such complaint, IA shall immediately undertake an investigation of major allegations as defined by the Manual Orders of the Chattanooga Police Department. The Chair may also accept unsworn or anonymous complaints and shall either attempt to resolve such complaints or, if warranted, refer the complaints to IA for investigation.



(b) Upon notification by the commander of IA that an investigation of an allegation of police misconduct is closed, whether such investigation was prompted by a complaint received by the Chair or otherwise, the Chair shall review the IA file or the Referral Action Form and determine whether the investigation is complete.

1. If the Chair finds that the investigation is complete, he or she shall so report to the Committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting, attaching a copy to his report a copy of the IA case summary or the Referral Action Form and any documentation of disciplinary action pertaining thereto.



2. If the Chair finds that the investigation is not complete, he or she shall so report to the Committee at its next regularly scheduled meeting and shall include in his report an explanation of the specific information needed in his opinion for the investigation to be complete.

(c) At each of the regularly scheduled meetings of the Committee, the Chair shall provide a report to the Committee that details the resolution of any unsworn or anonymous complaints that the Chair is able to resolve without any investigation by IA.



(d) The Chair, in his discretion, may request legal services and advice from the City Attorneys Office. Where, in the judgment of the City Attorney, the provisions of the legal services and advice would constitute a conflict of interest with the City Attorneys duties to the City of Chattanooga or any department thereof, the City Attorney shall so advise the Chair, who may then request the City Attorney to contract with outside counsel to the Chair for a specific incident based on funding designated annually by the City Council.



(e) The Chair shall ensure the proper recording of the minutes of the Committee, shall be responsible for the maintenance of proper records and files pertaining to Committee business, and shall receive and record all exhibits, petitions, documents, or other materials presented to the Committee in support of or in presented to the Committee in support of or in opposition to any question before the Committee. All files shall be stored as Open Records, onsite or offsite, as a part of the annual budget of the City and the Records Retention Policies of the City. All Committee members shall maintain confidentiality of records as required under the Ethics Code adopted by the City Council.



(f) The Chair shall be responsible for complying with all statutes of the State of Tennessee and City of Chattanooga ordinances to the extent required by Tennessee law at the conclusion of process by the Committee. The Chair shall be responsible for providing complainants with information regarding the complaint process.



(g) The Chair shall compile information concerning complaints of police misconduct and any information relevant thereto, whether such complaints are received by IA or by the Chair, and shall include such information in an annual report to the Mayor, the Police Chief and the City Council of the Committees activities.

Sec. 16-64. Powers and Duties of the Committee.



(a) The Committee shall review all reports of the Chair submitted in accordance with

the provisions of Sec. 16-63(b) above; and



(b) As it deems necessary to conduct its affairs in furtherance of its mandate, the Committee shall have access to all public records of the City of Chattanooga, which are not determined to be confidential under Tennessee law, including those of the Chattanooga Police Department. Such records may include, but are not necessarily limited to, complaints and supporting documents provided by complainants, offense, incident and arrest reports, incident-related documents such as schedules, dispatch notes, dispatch tapes and transcriptions (CAD tapes and reports), citations, photographs, body-worn cameras, ICVAR, and records of interviews with complainants, employees, and witnesses. The Committee shall not have access to any non-public or confidential records of the City of Chattanooga, including employee medical records, or any records that are otherwise exempt from disclosure, including records of open pending criminal investigations which are determined to be confidential under Tennessee law and all committee members shall comply with confidentiality requirements of all records as required by the Ethics Code adopted by the City Council.



(c) The Committee may make recommendations for enhanced training for police department, committee members, and Council member to include training on racial equity, implicit bias, gender identity and mental health challenges. The Committee may notify complainants when a case they have filed will be heard by the Police Advisory and Review Committee and allow them to provide testimony and answer questions from the Police Advisory and Review Committee. The Committee may recommend policy changes for consideration by the police chief.



(d) Based upon any specific findings and conclusions of the Committee, the Committee shall have the authority to make recommendations to the Police Chief designed to improve police policies and activities and to benefit the community. The Police Chief or his designee shall attend all requested meetings of the Committee to provide information and advice to the Committee and to accept the recommendations of the Committee, if any.



(e) The Committee shall, at least annually, compile a comprehensive report on its activities. The report shall contain statistics and summaries of citizen complaints, including a comparison of the Committees findings and conclusions with those of IA, along with the actions taken by the Police Chief. The Committees annual report shall be submitted to the Chair for inclusion in his annual report to the Police Chief, Mayor and City Council.



(f) The Committee, in its discretion, may request legal services and advice from the City Attorneys Office. Where, in the judgment of the City Attorney, the provisions of legal services and advice would constitute a conflict of interest with the City Attorneys duties to the City of Chattanooga or any department thereof, the City Attorney shall so advise the Committee. The Committee may then request the City Attorney to provide outside counsel to the Committee on a case by case incident based upon funding designated annually by the City Council. In addition, where the Chair excuses himself or herself from participating in the review of a complaint pursuant to Sec. 16-62(f)(3) above, the Committee may petition the Council to appoint a temporary assistant to perform the duties of the Chair.



(g) After a finding by the Chair that an investigation is not complete, the Committee, by a majority vote of its members, may:



1. Request the Police Chief to conduct a further investigation of the incident specifying additional information needed; or



2. In the event the Police Chief fails to conduct a further investigation as requested by the Committee, direct the Chair to further investigate the incident.



3. After review, the commission will, by majority vote, recommend a final disposition and disciplinary action, when warranted, to the chief of police.



4. Upon receiving the recommendations from Police Advisory and Review Committee, the chief of police will consider the recommendations by the Committee and make a final decision on the case.



5. If discipline is imposed, the officer(s) has the option to appeal.



Any additional investigative findings shall be reported to the Committee. Upon completion of its

inquiry, the Committee shall report its written findings and conclusions to the Police Chief, Mayor and the City Council.



Sec. 16-65. Procedure.



(a) The Committee shall adopt written rules of procedure for the transaction of Committee business not inconsistent with the letter and intent of this Article.



(b) Five members of the Committee shall constitute a quorum. No meeting of the Committee shall commence or continue in the absence of a quorum, and a majority vote of the members of the Committee (five votes) shall be required for any action by the Committee except where otherwise specified in this Article.

(c) Regular meetings of the Committee shall be held no less than monthly on the first Thursday of each month, or as the Committee may otherwise elect. Any scheduled meeting may be rescheduled at the preceding regular meeting. The Chair and/or any three (3) members of the

Committee may call a special meeting of the Committee upon at least seven (7) days notice

subject to availability of a quorum.



(d) Committee meetings and records shall be confidential to the public to the extent allowed by Tennessee law. The Committee shall adopt rules regarding public comment as to any investigation being reviewed by the Committee.



(e) The City Council shall subpoena witnesses, if necessary, to IA, onto the Police Advisory and Review Committee and may utilize such power only when necessary to compel witnesses to provide statements in furtherance of an investigation.



(f) Each case reviewed by the Police Advisory and Review Committee can have multiple allegations (ex: improper conduct, improper (ex: improper conduct, improper procedure, and public relations). It can also have multiple officers listed in the case. Each officer who is listed could be considered for one allegation listed in the complaint, or multiple allegations. The data should be broken out by the number of allegations listed in complaints (Allegations) and the number of allegations assigned to officers (Total Allegations) as set forth in the example form below. Firearms cases shall be separated from other allegations.

Sec. 16-66. Limitations.

(a) The Committee shall not review any investigation:



1. Concerning any incident occurring prior to the effective date of this Ordinance;



2. Prior to the closure of any pending IA or criminal investigation;



3. While the complainant, the officer(s) complaint of, or any witness is actively engaged in pursuing any remedy provided by the Employee Information Guide of the City of Chattanooga for disciplinary appeals;



4. Where the complainant has initiated, threatened or given notice of the intent to initiate civil litigation against the City of Chattanooga or any of its employees.



(b) Five (5) possible recommendations by the Committee for consideration by the

Chief:



1. Unfounded: Allegation is false or not factual.



2. Exonerated: Incident complained of occurred, but was lawful and proper.



3. Not Sustained: Insufficient evidence either to prove or disprove the allegation.



4. Sustained: The allegation is supported by sufficient evidence.



5. Policy Failure: The allegation is factual. The officer followed proper departmental procedures which have been proven to be faulty.(c) The Committee shall have no authority to direct the Police Chief to alter or to impose any disciplinary action against any employee of the Chattanooga Police Department. In all cases, the Police Chief will be the final authority on case dispositions and discipline of police officers.
It is planned to have a Business Improvement District (BID) in operation in downtown Chattanooga by January, River City Company President Kim White told members of the City Council on Tuesday night.

However, first the council must approve the city's first BID, including the designated boundaries. It was set up by a group led by River City to stretch from the Riverfront to 11th Street and from Pine Street to Cherry/Patten Parkway.

The City Council vote is set for May 28.

Ms. White said the group has been able to secure the necessary approvals. That includes the okay from 56 percent of the affected property owners and almost 77 percent of the owners of the largest properties.

"We felt real good about those numbers," Ms. White said.

She acknowledged, "If you're in the district, there's no way out." You have to pay the assessments. She said those are figured at nine cents per square foot and $4.95 per linear front foot. A condo owner pays $150.

Among those who will be chipping in will be the city of Chattanooga, whose annual fee will be $40,000. City parks are not counted.

Two churches that are in the district - Second Presbyterian and St. Paul's Episcopal - are expected to gain hardship exemptions.

Ms. White said the $1 million in total assessments are to provide 500 hours per week of "ambassadors" wearing brightly colored shirts. They will perform such tasks as assisting visitors, providing visitor information, picking up litter, cleaning up graffiti, setting out landscaping, warding off panhandlers and trying to assist the homeless with their special needs.

Management will take $175,000 of the fund, while $625,000 will go to the work of the ambassadors and the remainder for beautification and special projects.

She said the BIDs provide services "over and above" what the city is able to furnish.

She said there are over 1,000 BIDs in the U.S. and Chattanooga is late in getting one. Memphis has $2.8 million in BID spending, while Nashville is at $2.4 million and Knoxville at $600,000.

The assessments come with the annual tax bills.



Ms. White said if a property owner does not pay the assessment, a lien can be placed on their property.

There are 284 parcels in the district.
Criminal Court Judge Don Poole has granted a new trial to Billy Hawk, who in June 2016 was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Johnny Mack Salyer. Hawk was sentenced to life in prison.



The 1981 cold case murder had been reopened in 2015 after almost 35 years of silence. Witness testimony in the trial ranged from expert forensics agents to friends and family of both Hawk and Salyer.

Judge Poole said testimony by Cleveland attorney Jim Logan "that he made mistakes but the other defense lawyers made non-tactical mistakes amounting to ineffective assistance of counsel is troubling."

He said attorney Logan was Hawk's first lawyer and "was clearly upset" when Hawk later chose Chattanooga attorney Bill Speek as his lead counsel.

The judge added, "As long as a lawyer continues to represent a client, however, he should participate fully in decision making and, if certain things are not done or should be done, he should take an active role in making sure those things are done. If he cannot do this, the appropriate course would seem to be to withdraw from the case. It is sincerely hoped that any lawyer who goes to trial does his best to ensure that his client receives a fair trial."

Judge Poole said the main reason he decided to grant a new trial was based on "acts and omissions" relating to witness Terry Slaughter, a former Chattanooga Police detective who later was charged and convicted in Federal Court.

The judge noted that former District Attorney Gary Gerbitz was called as a witness and was critical of Slaughter's credibility, calling him "a crooked cop" and a liar. He said there was a heated exchange between witness Gerbitz and current District Attorney Neal Pinkston, who then asked if he was aware that Slaughter had passed lie detector tests. He said former DA Gerbitz replied, "I don't know that at all." The judge said the questions about the polygraph tests were inappropriate and bolstered Slaughter's credibility.



The states narrative claimed Hawk, possibly fearing Salyer would testify against him in court after a drug-related arrest, shot the victim, stuffed him inside a steel barrel, and dropped him in the Tennessee River."

The defense contended that the majority of witness testimony was unreliable due to the number of years that had passed since the slaying.

They also pointed out several pieces of valuable evidence that had been lost or destroyed, including the barrel itself.

Click here for the order, and here for the memorandum.




Meigs County officials said they welcome TVA's Project Viper, setting up a $300 million power center in the south end of the county.

County Mayor Bill James along with the Meigs County Commission said, "We are excited to welcome Tennessee Valley Authority's Project Viper. Meigs County has a long history of partnership with Tennessee Valley Authority, from the rivers that run along the borders of our county, to the Watts Bar Hydro-Electric Dam.

"The Commission, as well as, the mayor are very enthusiastlc about continuing this partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority on this new project.

The project will bring additional jobs and potentially new families to Meigs County. Additionally, the potential for new supporting businesses on the south end of Meigs County once the project is completed could strengthen the tax base."

County Mayor James said, "I am personally expecting a posltive impact for the southern portion of our County. Welcoming the new workers that will build and work at the Tennessee Valley Authority Center ls part of the hospitality of Meigs County."

Commission Chairman Stanley lllelch said, "The governing body of Meigs County is diligently eager to assist Tennessee Valley Authority in any way possible with Project Viper. I am very excited about the probable role Project Viper can ptay in the prosperity of not only the south end of Meigs County but Meigs County as a whole.''

Greg Vital, landowner who filed suit to try to stop a high-voltage line from going across his Meigs County farm, said, "No one has ever questioned the need for Project Viper somewhere in the Tennessee Valley, but TVA has failed to address a single issue raised by citizens since last August.

"Has TVA shared with the mayor the yearly contribution to Meigs County for payments in lieu of taxes? Did TVA tell Meigs County how many dollars it will spend on goods and services bought locally and how many local residents it will hire? What projects and dollars is TVA committing to for roads and sewers that are non-existent to support Georgetown's infrastructure? What other locations did TVA consider for Project Viper and why was this the most economical and feasible site.

If TVA can go meet with Mayor James, maybe they should come to the whole Meigs County Commission and do a public presentation."
Amazon and Whole Foods Market on Wednesday launched delivery of natural and organic products from Whole Foods Market through Prime Now in Chattanooga and Knoxville, Destin and Tallahassee, Fl., Greensboro and Wilmington, N.C., Allentown, Pa., Fort Collins, Co., Huntsville and Montgomery, Al., Jackson, Ms., Palm Desert, Ca., and Portland, Maine.

Starting on Wenesday, Prime members in those cities can shop through Prime Now for thousands of bestselling items including fresh produce, high-quality meat and seafood, everyday staples and other locally sourced items from Whole Foods Market and enjoy delivery in as little as an hour.

The service is now available in 88 U.S. metros and will continue to expand throughout 2019.

Prime Now delivery continues to be a hit with our customers and were excited to introduce the service to even more Prime members across the country, said Christina Minardi, Whole Foods Market executive vice president of operations. Its just another way were making it even easier for more customers to enjoy Whole Foods Markets healthy and organic food.

Prime members can shop thousands of items across fresh and organic produce, bakery, dairy, meat and seafood, floral and everyday staples from Whole Foods Market available for delivery. Select alcohol is also available for delivery to customers in Destin and Tallahassee, Fl., Greensboro and Wilmington, N.C. and Palm Desert, Ca.

Delivery from Whole Foods Market is available daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. To learn more about grocery delivery from Prime Now, visit www.primenow.com. Customers can also find out if delivery is available in their area by saying, Alexa, shop Whole Foods.
Jacob Hornaday of DeSoto, Ga. is the new state record holder for the spotted sunfish. His catch, weighed 11 oz., beating the previous record of 10 oz., according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division.

The angler hooked this new state record spotted sunfish on a private pond on April 28, using a beetle spin lure. Mr. Hornaday wanted to have the fish weight certified, so went directly to the Cordele Hatchery. The hearty size fish was weighed and then returned to the water to get bigger for another day.

Georgia has such great fishing opportunities, and we love to hear about this kind of exciting news, said Matt Thomas, Chief of Fisheries for the Wildlife Resources Division. This is our first state record of 2019, and I hope it encourages all anglers to get outdoors and go fish Georgia.

Spotted sunfish (Lepomis punctatus) are found in warm waters throughout Georgia. They have a compressed body with a rounded profile, olive green back and sides, and a yellow to orange belly. The ear flap is short and dark with a pale margin. They can be distinguished from all other sunfish by the numerous small dark to reddish spots on the sides that follow the scale rows, scattered dark spots on the cheek, and a distinct blue crescent mark on the lower margin of the eye.

Georgia anglers support fisheries conservation. Purchase a Georgia license at https://gooutdoorsgeorgia.com/ .

For fishing tips, be sure to check out the weekly Fishing Blog post at https://georgiawildlife.blog/ category/fishing/ .
Leroy Sherrill, 89, of Chattanooga, went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, May 1, 2019.

Leroy was born in Big Springs, Tn., on Oct. 9, 1929. He attended the University of Tennessee for his undergraduate program. He received his medical training at the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences in Memphis. He did his internship in Houston, Tx. Leroy served his country as a captain in the United States Air Force. After being discharged, he returned to Houston to complete his residency at the Veterans Affairs Hospital.



In Houston, Leroy met his future wife, Margaret Marshall. They married in Houston and honeymooned in New Orleans. For 48 years, Leroy and Margaret devoted their lives to each other. Even with Margaret's passing, Leroy remained steadfast in his love for her.



In 1958, Dr. Sherrill began his private practice with his partner and friend, John C. Ellis, M.D. They maintained a family practice in the Rossville area. From house calls to delivering babies, the doctors served the community much like country doctors. In 1967, Dr. Sherrill served as chief-of-staff of Hutchinson Memorial Hospital.



His life centered on helping others. He was a member emeritus of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Alumni Council. He helped doctors by coordinating with the internship program at Erlanger Medical Hospital by giving practical advice and hands-on experience in family medicine. In 2000, Leroy and his wife established the Sherrill Scholarship Endowment Fund with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine to fund up to four medical school scholarships.



Leroy was a deacon and tithing member of First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. His other memberships included the Exchange Club of Rossville, Phi Rho Sigma Medical Society, AMA, and Walker, Dade and Catoosa Medical Society.



He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Margaret, by his mother and father, Jesse and Ethel (Blankeship) Sherrill, by his brother, Freeman Sherrill, by his sisters, Ruby Martin Hedrick and Willie Ruth Allmon.



He is survived by his children, Nancy Sherrill and David Sherrill; grandson, David Sherrill, Jr.; and numerous nieces and nephews.



Funeral services will be held on Friday, May 3, at 1 p.m. in the First Presbyterian Church at 554 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, with Dr. Chris Ehlers officiating. Dr. Sherrill will lie in state one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will follow in the Forest Hills Cemetery.



Condolences may be shared at lane-southcrestchapel.com.



The family will receive friends on Thursday, from 4-8 p.m. in the South Crest Chapel & Crematory located at the end of historic Missionary Ridge, Rossville.


La Paz Chattanooga and the Tennessee River Gorge Trust (TRGT) partner in a year long cultural and scientific exchange made possible by the Lyndhurst Foundation.

Last summer, after geolocatorresearch discovered that regional birds migrated between Chattanooga and the Peten region in Guatemala, two team members from each organization traveled to Peten, Guatemala. There theymet with locals and began an educational and cultural program between two communities connecting students, researchers, educators, and bird enthusiasts.



Through the study of bird migration, we learn so much about their needs and their abilities to adapt to the changing environments. This knowledge can also be used as a way to connect humans who share these birds in far away places, like Guatemala. It can create an intercambio or exchange and once we understand that we collectively share the natural world, it is then that we begin to know a person or culture without seeing the lines on the landscape. When we do that, we are able to open our minds to each others beautiful cultures and knowledge.



La Paz Chattanooga and the Tennessee River Gorge Trust are partnering together to do exactly that - bring people and communities together by connecting them through science and culture.



In April, the TRGT brought three of their Guatemalan partners from Peten, Guatemala to Chattanooga. Local school groups were connected with students in Guatemala and through this visit, both organizations continued the exchange and dialogue between the two cultures. The TRGT, La Paz Chattanooga, and Guatemalan partners connected with over 488 Chattanoogans making their visit to the region a huge success.



"This project would be just another science project if it were not for our partnership with La Paz. They connected our science to human beings and helped us learn so much about the people in Guatemala and Guatemalans that live here in Chattanooga. We are stronger when we know each other and begin to see the value that each of us brings to humanity," said Rick Huffines, executive director of TRGT.



The local cultural exchange included visits to area schools such as Eastside Elementary, Bright School, CSAS, Normal Park, GPS, McCallie, UTC, and Sewanee. The TRGT also immersed the visitors in their work at the Gorge and traveled to the Cherokee National Forest, Sewanee University, and the Smoky National Park to see the regions beauty and learn about local habitat.



As our community in Chattanooga becomes more international, our partnership with the TRGT has allowed us to show how we are all interconnected. Not only can we connect with other cultures through food, music, and language, but through birds that migrate thousands of miles between our two countries,  said Vivian Lozano Sterchi, director of Social Impact at La Paz Chattanooga.


Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk said two men took the body of a woman who had overdosed in Ringgold to Marion County, where they set her body on fire.

Rickey Whittemore and Clarence Edward McCorkle have been arrested in the case.

Sheriff Sisk said, "On Thursday, a burned body was discovered in Marion County. The body was sent to the Medical Examiners Office where an autopsy was performed.

"On Saturday, the Walker County Sheriffs Office arrested Rickey Whittemore on unrelated warrants from their county. During this arrest, deputies were advised the burned body had actually died in Catoosa County and then was transported to Marion County.

"Catoosa County detectives along with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation responded and began conducting a joint investigation. During the investigation, it was found that during the nighttime hours of April 23 to the early morning hours of April 24, an individual died at 385 Whittemore Hollow Road in Ringgold from a possible overdose.

"After the death, Ricky Lee Whittemore and Clarence Edward McCorkle took the deceased body from the Catoosa County residence and transported it to Marion County. Whittemore and McCorkle then set the deceased on fire and fled from Marion County. Whittemore then traveled to 103 Chastain Road Rossville, where he burned items that had been used to dispose of the deceased.

"On Monday, Whittemore was transported from the Walker County Sheriffs Office to the Catoosa County Sheriffs Office where he was booked on the following charges - concealing the death of another, tampering with evidence, and felony probation violation.

"Warrants have been issued for Clarence Edward McCorkle for concealing the death of another and tampering with evidence. McCorkle was already wanted by Catoosa County for felony probation violation, theft by taking, and obstruction of a police officer. McCorkle is also wanted by Hamilton County.

McCorkle was arrested later.

The sheriff said, "Whittemore has made his first appearance in court and bond was denied by the Catoosa County Magistrate Court. Although we believe, based on the evidence collected and witness statements, that we know the identity of the victim, at the time of this release, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has not officially identified the victim, so the name will not be released at this time."
The YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga has received a $12,500 grant from the Parkinsons Foundation. This is the first time the YMCA has received the grant, and plans to utilize the grant money for growth of its Pedaling for Parkinsons Program.



The goal of the Parkinsons Foundation Community Grants Program is to support health, wellness and educational programs that address unmet needs in the Parkinsons community, according to officials.



We are proud to announce these community grants and expand programs and resources in Parkinsons communities across the entire nation, said John L. Lehr, Parkinsons Foundation president and chief executive officer. These grant recipients share our passion and commitment to making life better for people with Parkinsons.



The Parkinsons Foundation awarded more than $1.5 million in community grants. This years grant cycle focused on three areas including: programs that provide a service for underserved Parkinsons Disease communities, initiatives that reach the newly diagnosed and clinical trial education and participation that reach those under-represented in the Parkinsons community.



The support were receiving from the Parkinsons Foundation community grant will help provide education and resources to the Parkinsons community, as well as support the YMCAs Pedaling For Parkinsons programs, said Megan Vermeer, director of Health Innovations for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. We are thrilled that we can now provide people with Parkinsons and their care partners this unique program that will change the way they live with Parkinsons Disease for the better.



"Research has shown that physical activity can help alleviate some of the symptoms of this disease such as tremors, stiff muscles, slow movement and trouble with balance or walking," officials said. "The Ys Pedaling for Parkinsons program is designed to improve the quality of life of Parkinson's patients and their caregivers. It also educates patients, caregivers and the public on the benefits of maintaining an active lifestyle after a diagnosis."
Christians United for Israel invites the community to a Night to Honor Israel on Tuesday, May 7, 7 p.m. at the Omega Center International, 410 Urbane Road NE in Cleveland. The event is open to the public. There is no cost to attend. The purpose of this event is to show solidarity between Jewish people and Christians in their support of Israel. All people are welcome regardless of religion or denomination.



Keynote speaker for the event is Pastor John Hagee, CUFI founder and chairman. Pastor Hagee received a bachelor of science degree from Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Tx. and a second bachelor of science degree from Trinity University in San Antonio, Tx. He earned his masters degree in educational administration from the University of North Texas in Denton, Tx. He has received honorary doctorates from Oral Roberts University, Canada Christian College and Netanya Academic College of Israel.

Pastor Hagee is the author of 40 books, seven of which were on the New York Times Best Sellers List. He is the founder of Hagee Ministries, which telecasts his teachings throughout America and the nations of the world. Over the years, Hagee Ministries has given more than $100 million toward humanitarian causes in Israel.



Pastor Hagee was recognized by the State of Israel on its 70th Anniversary as one of the 70 greatest contributors to Israel since statehood. He was also invited by U.S. Ambassador David Friedman to give the benediction at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.



Other speakers and their bios:

Clevelands Mayor Kevin Brook. Mayor Brook served for 12 years in the Tennessee Legislature. Mayor Brooks is an ordained Bishop in the Church of God.



Dr. Randy Caldwell will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Since the age of 19, he has been a sought after speaker both nationally and internationally. For decades, his support and outreach in Israel is unprecedented. Based in Houston, Texas, Dr. Caldwell he regularly appears on television and is considered a favorite guest among pastors and leaders who schedule him to speak.



Michael Dzik has worked for the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga since 1998, and became executive director in 2001. He has participated in missions that brought him to Israel, Ukraine (x2), Russia (x2), Georgia (x2), Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Ethiopia and soon to Argentina. He has led five Chattanooga community missions to Israel, with a sixth leaving this May. Fifty percent of the Federations Annual Campaign goes overseas, primarily to projects in Israel. In 2007, Michael and the Federation were awarded the Alfred P. Sloan award for Workplace Excellence in Flexibility from Chattanooga's Chamber of Commerce. The Jewish Federation was also recognized by the Chamber in 2010 as one of three finalists as Non-Profit of the Year in Chattanooga. The Tri State CUFI Chapter awarded Dzik the Spirit of Light Award in 2015 .



Pastor Lyndon Allen serves as CUFIS Central Regional Coordinator. He has ministered in Nashville for over a decade. Since working as a recording artist in the mid-90s, Allen has served in a variety of capacities including in the publishing, banking, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries. Since 2003, Allen has worked as a lay minister and teacher, specializing in pastoral marriage counseling. In 2011, Allen launched Total Life Victory, an organization dedicated to teaching about the importance of the Hebraic foundation of the Church. Allen has been to Israel several times on governmental and spiritual tours, leading scores of pastors to Israel. He hosts a weekly video podcast Total Life Victory LIVE.



For more information about this program and local Christians United for Israel activities, contact Bobby Scott at 423-290-9293 or email bobgscott@gmail.com.
Chattanooga-based law firm Cavett, Abbott & Weiss, PLLC announce that Kevin Christopher and Bill Killian have joined the firm.

Mr. Christopher is the founder of Ridgeline Venture Law, which is Tennessees first B Corp law firm and a 2018 Best for the World Honoree for community impact. Before founding RVL, Mr. Christopher led bioinformatics, bioscience and biotech development and licensing activities with top secret security clearance at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He has also steered large scale partnerships in renewable energy and synthetic biology at the University of California, Berkeley and has also consulted the National Institutes of Healths Small Business Innovation Research program.

Mr. Christopher is a Tennessee Bar Association Leadership Lawyer and regularly speaks on corporate social responsibility, intellectual property and leadership. His past community involvement includes serving as a Putnam county commissioner in Cookeville, Tn. as well as a board member to several environmental and social impact nonprofits.

Kevins experience and commitment to community impact makes him a great fit for our firm, said Barry L. Abbott, managing member, Cavett, Abbott & Weiss. Having someone with his background in corporate social responsibility and intellectual property is a great fit for a city of entrepreneurs like Chattanooga. We look forward to connecting Kevin with companies who will benefit from his expertise.

Mr. Killian served as the former United States Attorney for Eastern Tennessee (2010-2015). Mr. Killian brings a wealth of knowledge in government relations, federal investigations, administrative and regulatory compliance and civil and criminal matters.

Mr. Killian has more than 40 years of trial experience representing and defending clients in sophisticated cases, including high stakes fraud mediations and negotiations, national security.

investigations and multi-million dollar corporate settlements, including negotiating the largest criminal settlement in the history of the Eastern District of Tennessee. Before joining Cavett, Abbott & Weiss, Mr. Killian was a member of his previous firms government investigations and white collar criminal defense practice groups.

Mr. Killian currently serves on the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility as a hearing officer. He is also a member of the Chattanooga Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, serving as a member of the House of Delegates, 2003-2010 and is a Sustaining Fellow of the Tennessee Bar Foundation. Mr. Killian is a member of the American Bar Association (White Collar Crimes Section) as well as a member of American Inns of Court, Brock-Cooper Chapter.

Mr. Killian lectures at American Bar Association sponsored events and state legal organizations. He has been recognized as a Top 100 Criminal Defense Attorney, Tennessee and a Mid-South Super Lawyer, Criminal Defense. He is a member of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys (NAFUSA). He currently serves as a Board of Director of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Alumni Association.

With more than four decades of legal experience, Bills passion for the law and philosophy he applies to it mirror our own, said Mr. Abbott. His expertise in high profile and complex cases is unmatched and were looking forward to representation he will be providing to existing and new clients alike.






Senator Lamar Alexander said Chinas decision today to control all forms of fentanyl will save thousands of American lives. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be 100 times stronger than opioid prescription pills and is the source of the greatest increase in opioid overdoses in our country, officials said.Today, May 1, the Chinese government officially designated fentanyl as a controlled substance.At the urging of U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, Senator Alexander led a delegation of senior members of Congress to Beijing in October to meet with Chinese leaders, including the Premier, with the primary mission of emphasizing to Chinese senior officials the importance of controlling all forms of fentanyl in China.In December, President Trump and President Xi agreed to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance  meaning that people selling fentanyl illegally to the United States will be subject to Chinas maximum penalty under the law  which was the action Senator Alexanders congressional delegation asked for. President Trump called this a game changer.When our delegation of senior members of Congress visited China in October, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officials told me that one way or the other almost all of the fentanyl that makes its way into the United States starts in China and that the single most important thing that could be done to reduce the flow of fentanyl in the U.S. was to control every form of it in China, Senator Alexander said. President Trump deserves great credit for asking the president of China to do this in their meeting in Buenos Aires in December. And the American people should be grateful to President Xi for making that commitment and acting on it so promptly because it will save thousands of American lives.Senator Alexander continued, In addition, Ambassador Branstad deserves great credit for focusing the attention of the Chinese government and the American government on how to deal with the flow of fentanyl into the United States.In an April 4 letter, U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, told Senator Alexander that China planned to make all forms of fentanyl a controlled substance effective May 1, 2019. Ambassador Branstad said, The commitment and this key development are direct results of your visit to Beijing, during which you highlighted Chinas role in the global opioid crisis.Senator Alexander was principal sponsor of opioids legislation President Trump signed into law in October that he called the single largest bill to combat a drug crisis in the history of our country, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called landmark legislation to fight the opioid crisis. That legislation included proposals from five different Senate committees, including the STOP Act to stop illegal drugs, including fentanyl, at the border.
Senator Lamar Alexander on Wednesday said, Nuclear power must be part of our energy future if we want clean, cheap, and reliable energy that can create good jobs and keep America competitive in a global economy.

We run a real risk of losing our best source of carbon-free power just at a time when most Americans are increasingly worried about climate change, Senator Alexander said. Today, 98 nuclear reactors provide about 20 percent of our electricity in the United States, and 60 percent of all carbon-free electricity in the United States. But nuclear plants are closing because they cost too much to build and cannot compete with natural gas. Two reactors have announced they will retire later this year, and ten more have announced retirements by 2025.

Senator Alexander, who serves as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, made his remarks on Wednesday during a hearing to review the Fiscal Year 2020 funding request and budget justification for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Lets do a little math here. If we closed those 12 reactors, that would mean a 17 percent decline in carbon-free nuclear power by 2025, which is 10 percent of carbon-free electricity. Today, solar power  despite impressive reductions in cost  provides four percent of carbon-free electricity and wind provides 20 percent of carbon-free electricity, despite billions of dollars in subsidies, he said. To replace those 12 reactors that have announced they will close with other carbon-free electricity, we would have to almost triple the entirety of U.S. solar power or increase wind power by another 50 percent. If half of our existing nuclear reactors were to close, we would have to double the amount of wind energy produced or increase the amount of solar energy produced by as much as 10 times.

Nuclear power is much more reliable than solar or wind power. It is available when the sun doesnt shine and the wind doesnt blow. The bottom line is, we cant replace nuclear power with just wind and solar. We would have to use natural gas to replace nuclear power, which would increase carbon emissions in our country.

Unfortunately, we do not need to speculate about what happens when a major industrialized country eliminates nuclear power. We have seen what happened in Japan and Germany for different reasons. Major industrialized economies similar to ours lost their emission-free, low-cost, reliable electricity. Prices went up, pollution went up, and manufacturing became less competitive in the global marketplace. And that is where we are headed in the next 10 years if we do not do something. The stakes are high.

To make sure nuclear power has a future in this country, we need to develop advanced reactors that have the potential to be smaller, cost less, produce less waste, and be safer than todays reactors. We need to stop talking about advanced reactors and actually build something. Within the next five years, we need to build one or more advanced reactors to demonstrate the capabilities they may bring. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plays a vital, independent oversight role and will ensure that any new reactors are built and operated safely."
Londoners and the rest of the world wait with bated breath as Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is set to give birth to her and Prince Harrys first child, Baby Sussex, any day now. The newest addition to the royal family will be celebrated in a special way in London. Ahead, learn how Englands capital will mark the arrival of Baby Sussex.



The London Eye will have special colors in honor of Baby Sussex



The London Eye, the citys landmark Ferris wheel, will light up red, white, and blue when Baby Sussex is born, honoring both Markles American roots and Prince Harrys. Call it convenient that both their home countries use the same colors on their flags.



Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex on stage at We Day UK at SSE Arena on March 06, 2019 in London, England. | Jo Hale/Redferns

No doubt there will be souvenirs commemorating the birth of Baby Sussex but the landmark changing colors is akin to the Empire State Building in New York City showing off Britains Union Jack flag.



The London Eyes congratulatory message shows just how much England and the United Kingdom have embraced Markle as part of the royal family. Changing the lights is a pretty cool gesture showing just how much the people love Prince Harry, Markle, Baby Sussex, and the royal family as a whole.



About the London Eye



The London Eye, the citys landmark Ferris wheel overlooking the River Thames and the city of London is a major tourist attraction.

The London Eye| Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Its the worlds largest observation wheel of its kind, according to the attractions official website. Installed in 2000 as a temporary structure, the London Eye became a permanent fixture on the Thames after receiving millions of visitors annually.

Now, the Ferris wheel is the most popular paid for visitor attraction in the United Kingdom and a mainstay on any London tourists list of must-see attractions.



The London Eye has celebrated royal births before



Markle and Prince Harry arent getting the royal treatment on this one even though they are royals. Kate Middleton and Prince William welcomed their third child, Prince Louis, last April and the London Eye shined bright in red, white, and blue lights then too.

The London Eye is illuminated red, white and blue to show support for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they welcome their new baby son on April 23, 2018, in London, England. | John Phillips/John Phillips/Getty Images

Another landmark celebrated, Londons iconic Tower Bridge lit up blue in honor of Prince Louis. Toronto showed Prince George some love in 2013 after Middleton gave birth to him by lighting up the CN tower with blue lights.



Queen Elizabeth II visited Markle and Prince Harry ahead of birth



Queen Elizabeth II reportedly visited Prince Harry and Markle over Easter weekend, at their newly renovated home, Frogmore Cottage, to check in on the couple.



Her Majesty wanted to formally welcome the Sussexes to their new home so she was their first visitor. She visited with other family members and Harry and Meghan were delighted to show them round, a source told The Sun. The Queen was at Windsor Castle at Easter and wanted to see Meghan before she has the baby, they added.



Frogmore Cottage and Frogmore House are significant to Prince Harry and Markle. Engagement photos for the couple were taken at Frogmore House and its also where the couple held their wedding reception. The cottage is a smaller residence on the property formerly staff housing made up of five units, according to Emily Andrews, royal correspondent for The Sun.
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has been making headlines these days for branching out into law and politics. She is currently aiming to take the bar exam in a couple of years and is doing her best to make some changes in the world.

Although this path is no doubt admirable, a lot of fans also seem to be surprised that Kim Kardashian is rubbing elbows with some controversial people in politics  notably, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. So what is going on? Is Kim Kardashian really friends with them? Heres what we know.

Kim Kardashian worked with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner on prison reform

In 2017, when Kim Kardashian learned about Alice Marie Johnson, a woman who had been serving a life sentence on a nonviolent drug charge since 1996, she wanted to get involved in help free Johnson. Using her powerful connections, Kardashian reportedly assembled a legal team including Holley [Wests Los Angeles area-based attorney] to fight for Johnson to be released.

Kim Kardashian decided to also get in touch with Ivanka Trump, who connected her to Jared Kushner. Senior Adviser to the President Jared Kushner himself has actually been an advocate for criminal justice reform even though other officials in Donald Trumps administration are against it. Nevertheless, because of him, it did not take long for Kim Kardashian to find someone who would support her cause in the White House.

Kim Kardashian has met with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Washington DC a couple of times in the past year, both at the couples home and in the White House.

Kim Kardashian got the Trump Administration to pass a significant law

In May 2018, Kim Kardashian made headlines everywhere when she was invited to talk with Donald Trump about Alice Marie Johnsons case. A couple of weeks after their meeting, Trump commuted Johnson and the grandmother was released.

A few months later, Kim Kardashian returned to the White House to urge Donald Trump to sign the First Step Act. The legislation would be a huge step in criminal justice reform, helping nonviolent drug offenders receive lighter punishments. In December, Donald Trump officially signed the act.

Sources say that Jared Kushner and Kim Kardashian worked together to help another prisoner, Matthew Charles, who went on to become the first person to be released under the First Step Act.

Is Kim Kardashian friends with the Trumps and the Kushners?

Great working session today at the White House on ways to improve the clemency process with policy leaders and criminal justice reform advocates. pic.twitter.com/2Ydoe16Dfo  Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) September 6, 2018

Kim Kardashian has never admitted to being friends with members of the First Family, but its important to note that Kim Kardashian and Ivanka Trumps relationship actually goes way back.

Both of them used to be friends with Paris Hilton (Hilton and Ivanka Trump ran in the same circle when they were growing up in New York City). According to sources, Kardashian and Trump are definitely friends with each other, which is how the conversation about criminal justice reform was able to happen.

However, instead of focusing on whether Kim Kardashian is close with the Trumps and Kushners or not, people on her side often likes to redirect attention to the fact that these relationships are key to helping her further these causes that she cares about.

Kim did not support Trump, and her family didnt support him, a source told People. But she knows that she has a very rare opportunity to have the ear of the president, and she has some things that shes very passionate about and is willing to meet with him to talk about the things she believes.

Kim Kardashian also does not seem bothered by being connected with people who have been shunned by many in Hollywood.

She once told CNN: I made a decision to go to the White House when everyone was telling me, Dont go, your career will be over; you cant step foot in there. And I was like, Its my reputation over someones life? Weigh that out.
Rumors about the royal family have been rapidly circulating lately, in particular regarding feuds. First, there was speculation that Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle did not get along.

This went on for months, with people even saying the supposed rift was the real reason Meghan and Prince Harry decided to move to Windsor. Even though these rumors were put to rest, more have surfaced, this time about a feud between Prince William and Prince Harry.

The famously close brothers are said to be involved in a rift with each other, leaving many fans wondering what it could possibly be about. With another rumor circulating, in which people think that William may have cheated on Kate with her friend, Rose Hanbury, fans cant help but wonder if the two scandals are related.

Is Prince Harrys feud with his brother over the rumored Rose Hanbury affair?

What is going on?

In recent weeks, Kate Middleton and her friend Rose Hanbury have had some sort of a falling out. They were close for years, with Roses family being connected to the royals for quite some time. Her grandmother was even a bridesmaid to Queen Elizabeth when she married Prince Philip.

No one knows exactly what happened between Rose and the duchess, but many fans suspect an alleged affair with Prince William thanks to tabloid stories and zero evidence.

Are the brothers feuding?

Over the past few weeks, there has been talk of a royal feud between two of our favorite princes. The brothers have always been extremely close, supporting each other during both difficult and happy times, and always laughing, joking, and spending time together. After Meghan Markle and Harry got married, it was thought that their wives were at odds.

Now that those rumors are finally dying down, fans feel that the real tension is between William and Harry. Many people felt even more so that the rumors were true when the brothers were photographed exchanging cold looks on Easter Sunday.

What is the feud about?

No one knows for sure, and no official statements have been released. Initially, it was believed that William had expressed concerns that Harry and Meghans relationship had moved too fast, making Harry absolutely livid.

There was never any proof of this, but fans didnt stop wondering what possibly could be causing tension between the two princes. Now, many feel that the rumored Rose Hanbury affair could be the cause of the feud.

Harry and Kate have always been close

Even before Kate married into the royal family back in 2011, she was close friends with Prince Harry. The two could often be seen enjoying each others company, at times even sitting next to each other at royal events.

It certainly makes sense that Harry would want to protect Kate, and if the cheating rumors turned out to be true, he would likely want to provide all of the support that he possibly could to his sister-in-law.

Is the alleged feud over the Rose Hanbury rumors?

It doesnt seem to be. The cheating rumors have not actually been confirmed at this point, and William and Kate dont seem fazed by the speculation one bit. This likely indicates that they are, in fact, nothing but rumors, and there would be no tension between William and Harry regarding what fans are thinking.

If the brothers actually are feuding, we do not know what has caused the disagreement between them. We do know, however, that if anyone can work out whatever is going on, William and Harry can. They have a strong, brotherly bond that cant be broken, and while it is certainly possible that they have hit a rough patch, whatever it is will likely pass soon.
Meghan Markle can be a divisive public figure, but theres little doubt that the work shes doing is for the greater good. Ever since her marriage to Prince Harry in May 2018, Markle has been working hard to change the face of the royal family and to bring the ages-old institution all the way into the 21st century.

Upon her marriage, Markle became formally known as the Duchess of Sussex  prompting many fans to wonder why she isnt titled Princess Meghan when shes married to a prince.

Why is Meghan Markle not an official princess?

New footage of the Duchess of Sussex on a charity visit to India in 2017 released to us by @WorldVisionUK https://t.co/jaJHzgxDx9  Lizzie Robinson (@LizzieITV) April 17, 2019

Although Meghan Markle is married to Prince Harry and is styled as a princess through marriage, shes not born into royalty, and therefore, will never be a British princess by blood.

That detail likely matters little to Meghan Markle, who experiences the challenges and joys of royal life just as every other member of the royal family does, blood princess or not.

Over the past several years, ever since she first became involved with Prince Harry, Markle has been slowly immersing herself into the day to day tasks and routines of a working royal. Soon, she and Prince Harry will welcome their first child, and while their baby wont be known as a prince or princess either, the little royal will get to enjoy a privileged existence that most could only dream of.

Could she ever become queen?

So, Meghan Markle isnt an official princess. Theres also a very slim, next-to-none chance that she will ever be queen, thanks to the line of succession in England. For Prince Harry to become the king, and Meghan Markle to be his queen consort, he would have to bypass his father, Prince Charles, his brother, Prince William, and all of Prince Williams children.

Obviously, this likely wont ever happen, and probably isnt even a possibility in the royal familys mind. The knowledge that he will probably never be king has likely given Prince Harry a bit more of a sense of freedom than Prince William and enables him to live a slightly more private life than his older brother.

In line with this more private lifestyle, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will reportedly be doing everything that they can to give their baby a quiet, normal life, out of the spotlight. Their new home, Frogmore Cottage, is well away from the palace, in the countryside  the perfect spot for a young family to relax and get away from it all.

Shes doing a world of good

Meghan Markle will certainly never hold the highest titles in the royal family, but she could still have the biggest impact. When she married Prince Harry, it was seen as something truly unprecedented in history. Markle, a divorced American, was an active member of the royal family. With her platform, she was given the ability to reach out and do some good on a global scale, and Markle has certainly embraced the opportunity.

Over the past year, Markle has thrown herself into her work and dedicated a good portion of her time to charities such as Mayhew, an animal-focused organization that offers community support and rehoming services, and Smart Works, a charity that provides assistance for unemployed women.

Of course, Markle also means hope for many people. The fact that an average American woman was able to find her perfect match and marry into the royal family, doing good for people all over the world is incredibly inspirational. No matter what the future holds for Meghan Markle, shes already making great strides in changing the face of the royal family for the better.
The Prince Harry and Meghan Markle baby name rumors are in full swing and, while many royal fans believe the couple will choose something traditional, theres a possible name with an interesting Princess Diana connection thats come to the forefront.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle name their baby Allegra?

The latest Baby Sussex name rumor is probably the most interesting one yet  Allegra. Betting company Ladbrokes notes that Allegra has become the sixth most likely name that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could choose, with 12/1 odds. The frontrunners for girls names are Diana and Grace at 6/1 and Elizabeth at 8/1. Victoria has 16/1 odds.

Alex Apati of Ladbrokes explained why the name is interesting, noting: Were scratching our heads as to why weve seen so much interest in Allegra, but the bets are coming in thick and fast and its been by far the most popular pick of the month with punters.

The name, it turns out, has an interesting Princess Diana connection, with a 2004 report from The Evening Standard claiming that Princess Diana wanted to have a baby girl with her rumored boyfriend Hasnat Khan.

A source noted at the time: The princess was desperately in love with Hasnat Khan. She was even talking about marrying him and having his baby. It was her dream. She thought of a name for her, Allegra, after her friend Lady Annabel Goldsmith mentioned it. She heard the name and thought it was beautiful.

What does the name Allegra mean?

While the name has a Princess Diana connection, it also has a beautiful meaning, Allegra, Italian in origin, means cheerful or joyous. Fans have also noted that the names origin is significant as Meghan has said that Italy is one of her favorite travel destinations and she named her former blog The Tig, after the Italian wine Tignanello. Meghan and Harry had traveled to Italy in the weeks after their royal wedding.

Did the Royal Family website reveal Baby Sussexs name?

Curious fans thought they might have discovered the name that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are planning to name their firstborn when they found a mistake on the Royal Family website.

While poking around the site, it was discovered that the royal children have their own pages, so if you visit www.royal.uk/princess-charlotte, youll find information about Princess Charlotte. Adding /prince-george or /prince-louis directs you to Prince George and Prince Louis official pages.

Fans believed they found a Baby Sussex name leak when they started to plug in various names and were redirected to the home page of the site, indicating that the URls were reserved for the names /prince-arthur, /prince-alexander and /prince-james but arent live yet. Other names that were tested got a page not found message.

The detective work seemed to uncover that Prince Harry and Markle are having a baby boy and he will be named either Arthur, Alexander, or James.

Buckingham Palace responded

Buckingham Palace cleared things up, with a palace spokeswoman telling Yahoo UK: A large number of search term redirects were set up some time ago on royal.uk. This was in order to improve user experience. For guidance you will note that other names preceded by prince or princess produce the same result.
We still dont know for sure whether or not Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have had their baby. Reports  and hints from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex  suggest they expected their firstborn sometime in late-April, which means Meghan Markle might have already given birth. However, some also believe Baby Sussex is due in early May, aka any day now!



Some are using Prince Harrys schedule as an indication of when the royal baby might come, but the Duke of Sussex doesnt appear to be slowing down  yet. With some engagements scheduled for May, including a trip to the Netherlands on May 8th, it appears Prince Harrys paternity leave is much less structured compared to Meghan Markles maternity leave.



Prince Harry | Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Prince Harrys paternity leave



Much like Prince William, Prince Harry will take some time off to welcome the new royal baby and help his wife out in the early weeks of parenthood. However, he still plans on working. Harry will return to public duties sooner than his wife and, depending on when the baby is born, is expected to fulfill some commitments in mid-May, Town & Country reports.



Prince Harrys paternity leave likely starts as soon as Meghan Markle goes into labor. If the baby isnt yet here (which is highly possible), the Duke of Sussex might have to reschedule some appearances, including his upcoming trip to the Netherlands.



How long is Prince Harrys paternity leave? According to Time, its not as long as youd expect. Its customary for royal fathers to take up to two weeks off from work after their new baby is born, royal expert Katie Nicholl told Time. The standard paternity leave in the United Kingdom is between one and two weeks. However, as a member of the royal family, Prince Harry can pretty much do whatever he wants. But, the Mountbatten-Windsors are cautious about how they handle certain civilian protocols, as they want to appear as relatable as possible to the public  which is likely why the Duke of Sussex wont take more time off.



That said, Prince Harry has the luxury of taking on less work and, according to Town & Country, will likely do so. His schedule  is likely to be lighter over the summer, they noted.



Meghan Markles maternity leave



Some believe Meghan Markle has already started her maternity leave, but that just depends on whether or not the duchess has had her baby yet. As far as public engagements go, the new mother is off the hook. However, Her Royal Highness planned to work on other tasks at home while waiting for her babys arrival.



How long is Meghan Markles maternity leave? Some say the Duchess of Sussex plans to take a three month leave. But, an unnamed source told Town & Country, it is likely to be longer. However, we wont have to wait until late summer to see the Duchess of Sussex again. She may make some official appearances during this time, the source noted. Many believe she will likely attend the Trooping the Colour festivities in June.



One of her first big engagements back includes a trip to Africa in the fall with Baby Sussex in tow. As it stands, the plan is that Harry and Meghan and their newborn baby, in probably about six months, will take a trip to Africa and tour several countries in Africa, Royah Nikkhah, a royal correspondent for The Sunday Times told Good Morning America. The two also allegedly have plans to visit some Commonwealth countries in October, too.

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Weve all got royal babies on the brain. But can you blame us when Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are about to have their first child? Not to mention it was just Kate Middleton and Prince Williams youngest son, Louis birthday.

There is so much build up leading up to the birth of a royal child. People want to know so many details about whats going on. People want to know the sex of the baby, its due date, where he or she will be born, what the babys name will be, and more.

But what about what happens after the baby is born? Is there a protocol that starts after all royal babies are born?

Who is notified when a royal baby is born?

After a royal baby is born, first and foremost, the Queen must be notified. According to The Independent, Queen Elizabeth II is notified on an encrypted telephone.

This rule is so strict that when Prince George was born, Prince William called the Queen before his wifes family was notified.

After the Queen is made aware, the royal family will issue a statement to the press.

In addition to this, a bulletin will be put on an easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. It will detail the babys gender, time of birth, and the status of the wellbeing of the baby and the mother.

When is the baby named?

Though the baby is probably given a name directly after its birth, the public typically doesnt find out the name until a few days after the fact.

In the case of Williams children, their names were all announced two to four days after their births.

The Queen has to approve of the baby names, of course.

When does the public get to see the baby?

In recent years, the women who have given birth in the Lindo Wing at St. Marys Hospital in London have opted to take pictures on the hospital steps after giving birth.

Meghan Markle, has reportedly, decided not to do that.

Buckingham Palace have announced media plans for the Duke & Duchess of Sussexs baby, royal correspondent Emily Andrews recently tweeted. Once #Meghan is in labour, we will be told (like #kate) but the couple will keep where private & wont be appearing on the hospital steps afterwards. There will be a photo op once theyre home.

The couple want to enjoy the first few days with #babysussex before a photo op at Windsor Castle grounds, Andrews continued. Its still unknown where theyll have the baby, but its not the Lindo Wing. Maybe at home or a local hospital. Media will be told once #meghan is in labour & baby born.

Most babies have an official photoshoot after their birth but the photos arent released until the baby is a few weeks old.

Markle may not wait that long as she is already forgoing the pictures on the hospital steps.

Will Markle follow protocol?

These are the steps that most royal families have taken in the past, but that doesnt neccesarily mean that they all must be followed.

Since Markle is already chosing to have her baby in a different location than normal and wont be taking pictures on the day she gives birth, it wouldnt surprise us if she skipped a couple more steps in the protocol or did things her own way.

Read more: Has Prince Harry Introduced Meghan Markle to Princess Dianas Family?

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Four school systems in northern Virginia have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the state, saying that thousands of students in Virginias public school system identify as transgender and should be allowed to use whichever bathroom they choose.

According to CBN News and The Washington Post, the school boards of Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church and Fairfax County filed the court brief on behalf of student Gavin Grimm. Grimm, born a girl, but identifying as a boy, sued her school in Gloucester County, Virginia in 2015 after administration would not allow her to use the mens restroom.

Its a perfect opportunity for us to show support for Grimm, said Ilryong Moon, a Fairfax School Board member, adding that Fairfax schools want to support all students of different backgrounds.

Grimm argued in her suit that the county violated Title IX and the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex. The Supreme Court did not rule on Grimms case because President Donald Trump reversed an Obama-era policy on transgender students. The case is now scheduled for trial in July at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In their brief supporting Grimm, the schools said that transgender students have suffered stigma and trauma because of the bathroom policy.

"Male students, teachers, and parents have not used the policy as a ruse to improperly access female restrooms. Sex offenders have not exploited the policy to prey on children," the school boards said.

The four school systems currently have approved rules in their schools that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. The policies dont expressly guarantee student access to their choice of restroom, but the schools try to meet those requests, according to The Washington Post.

Photo courtesy: Mercedes Mehling/Unsplash
Apophis was the ancient Egyptian spirit of evil, darkness, and destruction. In ten years, an asteroid named for this frightening deity will come closer to our planet than the orbit of our weather satellites.

It will pass us on April 13, 2029, and will be so close that we will be able to see it with the unaided eye for several hours. The asteroid is estimated to be around 1,115 feet in diameter, nearly four times taller than the Statue of Liberty.

NASA describes it as one of the most important near-Earth asteroids ever discovered. If Apophis were to strike us, it would cause what the space agency calls major damage to our planet and likely to our civilization as well.

Fortunately, the asteroid will not hit us. If youre thinking that youre therefore safe, you might think again.

NASA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and their international partners are convening this week at a Planetary Defense Conference. This is not a speculative exercise. At the start of the year, more than 19,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs) had already been discovered. Astronomers find thirty more each week to add to the list.

Experts estimate that they have found only one-third of the NEOs believed to exist. So far, astronomers have not discovered asteroids on a collision course with our planet. But, what would we do if they did?

NASA is planning a mission called DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) to practice deflecting asteroids. No one yet knows if this experimental technology will work when needed.

Jihad will continue until doomsday

Closer to earth, the leader of ISIS appeared for the first time in five years in a video released by the group.

With a $25 million US bounty on his head, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the worlds most wanted man. He nonetheless vowed a long battle with the West, claiming that the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka were part of the revenge that awaits us.

Referring to the loss of his caliphate in Syria and Iraq, al-Baghdadi predicted that the brothers of the fallen fighters will avenge that, as they will not forget as long as they have blood in their veins. He warned, Our battle today is a war of attrition to harm the enemy, and they should know that jihad will continue until doomsday.

The Easter Day bombing is just one example of the expansive jihad al-Baghdadi seeks. As CNN notes, the atrocity that took more than 250 lives declared that ISIS is far from extinguished as a global threat. One analyst stated that the attacks were a leap of an order of magnitude in organizational and logistical capacities for any extremist group.

Analysts warn that thousands of ISIS fighters and planners left the region when their caliphate was destroyed. Terrorist networks are now being built around the world. Estimates of ISIS assets vary between $50 million and $300 million.

Is our culture more moral or less?

There are always reasons to fear the future. Whether our focus is on natural disasters or manmade devastation, the brokenness of our world is on display daily.

Our secular culture has no resources to offer hope for a more secure world. Medical advances make us healthier but can be used for frightening genetic modifications. Technology can build bridges between people or bombs to destroy them.

Looking back over recent history, would you say our culture is becoming more moral or less? Safer or more dangerous?

However, Gods word offers us transformative hope from a surprising story.

The power of praise

In Romans 4, Paul discusses the astonishing faith of Abraham, a man who was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old) when God promised he would become the father of many nations (vv. 19, 17). Here was Abrahams secret: No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God (v. 20).

As he gave glory could be translated when he glorified God. Praise was the context in which he grew strong in his faith. It was the precondition, the cause for which faith was the effect.

Secular people see little reason to praise God for hard times. Theyre right. But there are abundant reasons to praise him in such times.

He grew strong is passive in the Greek original, better translated as he was made strong. When Abraham chose to worship God in the face of overwhelming challenges, God was then able to strengthen his faith to believe the divine promise.

Secular people see little reason to praise God for hard times. Theyre right. But there are abundant reasons to praise him in such times.

Praising God for who he is and thanking him for what he has done is our grateful response to his character and favor. Such worship positions us to experience all that our Father wishes to give us by his grace. We grow strong in our faith as a result, and the world takes note.

The true issue of faith

You may not be worried about asteroids falling on you or consider ISIS an existential threat to your life and family. But you have other reasons to follow Abrahams example.

Name your greatest challenge today. Then make time to offer God the praise and thanksgiving he deserves. Ask his Spirit to strengthen your faith as you worship.

R. C. Sproul observed, The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in.

Do you believe God today?

For more from the Denison Forum, please visit www.denisonforum.org.

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Trump: 'America Needs a Savior Right Now' and it's 'Somebody Much Higher Up Than Me'
Yes, its beginning to look a lot like Christmaswhich, for many of us, feels like a rush into chaos. Celebrating Advent during this season slows us down and helps our hearts and minds be reoriented around the coming of Christ.Yes, its beginning to look a lot like Christmaswhich, for many of us, feels like a rush into chaos. Celebrating Advent during this season slows us down and helps our hearts and minds be reoriented around the coming of Christ.
Bethany Christian Services will place children in LGBT families as part of Michigan settlement

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Bethany Christian Services, a global nonprofit adoption agency based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was sued for refusing to work with same-sex couples, announced that it will start placing children with LGBT families as part of a settlement with the state. The agency insists, however, that its beliefs have not changed.

Bethany will continue operations in Michigan, in compliance with our legal contract requirements. The mission and beliefs of Bethany Christian Services have not changed, the agency said in a statement last Thursday cited by WGVU. We are focused on demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ by serving children in need, and we intend to continue doing so in Michigan.

The announcement comes weeks after the state of Michigan settled a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union and two gay couples who sued in 2017 because they were rejected for adoptions.

We filed a lawsuit challenging the state of Michigans practice of permitting state contracted tax payer funded foster and adoption agencies to refuse to work with same sex couples citing the agencies religious beliefs, Jay Kaplan of the ACLU said.

Whereby the state of Michigan agreed to hold these contracting agencies to the contract language of non-discrimination, because children in foster care need every family that is willing and able to provide them with a loving home, Kaplan added.

Bethany expressed disappointment, however, with how the settlement agreement had been implemented by the state.

In a statement on Twitter Saturday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel praised the Christian adoption agency for welcoming LGBT families.

Having more adoption agencies which dont discriminate =s more children adopted into loving, nurturing forever homes. Thank you to Bethany Christian Services! Nessel wrote.

An employee of Bethany Christian Services who spoke with WGVU anonymously also claimed that just before the agencys announcement on their new policy, employees had threatened to walk out of their jobs if the policy was not amended.

As of February, according to The Detroit News, Bethany Christian Services was responsible for approximately 8 percent of the states foster care and adoption agencies.

Prior to the settlement with the ACLU, which sued on behalf of the same-sex couples, the organizations contract with the state was in jeopardy. St. Vincent Catholic Charities, a former foster child, and an adoptive mother recently filed suit against the Michigan Department of Human Services alleging the new rules violated the groups First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion and free speech and its 14th Amendment rights to equal protection.

St. Vincents and other faith-based foster care and adoption agencies will have to shutter if forced to comply with the new state rules, lawyer Nick Reaves said.

Lori Windham, senior counsel for Becket, the religious liberty group representing St. Vincent's told The Detroit News that while the First Amendment certainly allows groups varying stances on the issue, it does not allow the state to "shut down people you disagree with.

"Religious freedom means different people can make different choices," Windham said in a statement. "That's what freedom looks like in America."
Uber fires 'hero' driver who refused to take student to get an abortion

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Pro-lifers are rallying around a hero Uber driver who was fired for not taking a passenger to an abortion clinic and instead dropped her off at a gas station.



The San Francisco-based ride-sharing company confirmed on Thursday that it barred the unnamed driver responsible for leaving a 20-year-old college student at a gas station instead of taking her to an abortion appointment after the woman posted about the experience on Reddit.

The company told The Daily Caller that the act violated its community guidelines pertaining to safety.

[A]ny actions that threaten the safety of drivers and rider will be investigated, a spokesperson told the conservative news outlet. Dropping someone off in the middle of nowhere threatens someones safety.

In addition to the firing, the woman is seeking to bring a lawsuit against the driver. But at least one pro-life organization has vowed to help the driver find his own legal representation.

Three weeks ago, the unnamed woman created a post on Reddit titled My Uber driver left me on the side of the road because he figured out I was going to an abortion clinic.

The post recounts the journey that she took with the driver after leaving her home in upstate New York.

At a school in upstate New York, the 20-year-old woman stated that she didnt have a car and is in no financial condition to take care of her child. She found an appointment at a clinic that was an hour away from her school and called an Uber to help her get there.

My Uber arrived and he immediately seemed uncomfortable. After about five minutes in the car, he asked, are we going to a planned parenthood? I said no (because we werent), but it set off alarm bells that he would even ask that, She wrote. The destination I put in was just the name of the doctor and the address of the clinic, there was nothing that would suggest it was an abortion clinic. After a few more minutes he asked, are we going to an abortion clinic?

The passenger said that she was shocked by the question and just remained silent.

He then said I know its none of my business, but and proceeded to mention something about his wife being pregnant, how awful the procedure was (and proceeded to explain it in graphic detail), and that there is so much they dont tell you, the post reads. He then said youre going to regret this decision for the rest of your life and that I was making a mistake.

About halfway through the trip, the woman wrote that the driver pulled over with no warning at a gas station. He reportedly told her that he cant take her the rest of the way but offered to take her back home.

Unable to catch an Uber at her location, she was forced to have to call cab companies to seek a ride. She stated that the Uber driver hung around for about 10 to 15 minutes. He also asked her again if she wanted to go back to the city with him. But she declined.

She eventually reached her appointment by cab, but she was an hour late.

I reported the driver to Uber and the next day I filed a police report with my citys police department. Someone on Ubers team got in touch with me after I told them about the police report and called me to get a detailed account of what happened, she explained. I told them everything on a call that was recorded, and the rep mentioned that it appeared the driver had taken a less direct route to get me to my destination prior to dropping me off.

Within a few days they reached out again and told me the driver had been banned from Uber, she continued. They also mentioned that it didnt appear hed ever done this before judging from his user ratings.

Still though, the woman indicated in her post that she would like to pursue further legal action against the driver if possible to do so. She asked Reddit users if she had a legal case and what the next steps would be.

I reached out to a law firm and a few legal aid societies but nothing has happened, she explained. Im not sure what I should do now.

Lila Rose, prominent pro-life activist and president of Live Action, wrote in a tweet that the Uber driver is a hero. She wanted to know how to get in contact with him to help him get legal representation.

This uber driver is a HERO. Does anyone have contact for him? We'd love to help support him and connect him with legal representation. https://t.co/aLzdpKM4WK  Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) April 25, 2019

This Uber driver showed courage and compassion in a life and death situation, Rose said in a statement. If he is in need of it, Live Action is ready to help by connecting him with legal representation.

In a blog post, Live Action added that the driver was right in that there are risks to the abortion pill that many women just dont know about.

Forcing an Uber driver to go against his conscience and receive pay for transporting someone to an appointment where he knows the intentional killing of a child will take place is questionable, to say the least, Live Action asserts. This driver chose not to be an accessory to what he and other pro-lifers believe is murder. He acted in accordance with his conscience, and he offered to drive the student home (leaving her at the halfway point only after her insistence that he do so), so as not to be party to what he saw as a morally reprehensible act.

Pro-life activist and former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson tweeted: Whoever this guy is, I want to know him and give him the biggest high five ever.
David Platt answers 'does prayer change God's mind?' at Secret Church event

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McLean Bible Church Pastor David Platt recently answered some common questions about prayer and highlighted how God uses the prayers of his children for the good of His people and ultimately, for His glory in the world.

During the Secret Church event held at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C., Platt acknowledged that many Christians struggle to pray because they dont understand how their prayers fit with the purposes of a sovereign God.

Does prayer change Gods mind? And does prayer change anything, for that matter? Platt asked. If God is sovereign, if Gods in control of all things, and all of Gods promises will come to pass, then why pray?

To answer that question, one must know four things about God, he said: The perfections of God are unchanging; the purposes of God are unchanging; Gods promises are unchanging, and the plans of God are unfolding.

God has designed prayer to be a powerful means by which we participate in His plans in the world, he said. God brings about a remarkable change in the world in response to the prayers of His people. When we pray, God acts. Our prayers affect the way God acts in the world.

The Radical author pointed to Exodus 8:13, which reads: God did according to the word of Moses.

God did according to the word of man, he said. What a testimony to prayer. Prayer is an invitation to join with God in effectively shaping the course of history ... through prayer, God has called you and me not to watch history, but to shape history for the glory of His great name. Thatll change the way you pray.

Believers must pray, he said, because we have an assignment we cannot fulfill: None of us can be [who] God has called us to be on our own, he explained. "This is the way its designed to be ... its a massive moment when we realize we cant do anything without Gods help. This drives us to pray.

"We pray because we have a privilege we cannot forsake, he said. We pray because we have a family we cannot forget, and we pray because we have a God we cannot fathom.

When we fail to pray, we essentially say were content with little knowledge of Gods glory, Platt warned, adding that we cant help but become like what we behold.

God saves His people, he explained, so that they might seek His face in worship.

But because God is holy, we must be contrite  and not casual  when we approach Him: Sin is no small thing in the sight of a Holy God, he warned, adding that the propensity to sin is strong, and the punishment for sin is severe.

Seeking God is a choice that each of us has, Platt said, adding: Do you want to live in the pursuit of God, or do you want to die not pursuing God?

Platts message was one of four teaching sessions focusing on prayer, fasting, and the pursuit of God held during the five-hour Secret Church event.

The idea behind Secret Church comes from time Platt spent teaching and ministering among underground Asian house churches. The event remembers Christians around the world who cannot meet openly.

My goal tonight is that ... you would walk away with a passion, a passion to pursue God. The purpose tonight is not to entertain you, but to equip you, Platt said at the beginning of the night. This is about equipping you not just to know and pursue God in your own life, but to live your life in such a way that others around you know and pursue God as a result of your life.

"I want us to feel throughout this night that God is with us, that He is speaking, and that we have the opportunity to speak to Him, he added.

Throughout the night, attendees asked God to sustain the faith of those persecuted, to change the hearts and the actions of their persecutors, and to use their witness for the spread of the Gospel. The focus of this years Secret Church event was the Somalis of East Africa.

During the first session of the night, Platt offered the reminder that people were created uniquely to enjoy a relationship with God, to rule over all creation, and to reflect and multiply Gods glory to the ends of the earth. Yet, because of sin, humans need a faithful intercessor: One who is fully like us, and One who is fully like God.

God seeks the guilty, Platt said. A relationship with God begins not with your pursuit of God, but with His pursuit of you ... the God who pursued you out of love in the past has not stopped pursuing you out of love today.

Purity of heart is essential to being in the presence of God, the pastor said, and His grace alone keeps us from experiencing His eternal wrath.

You cannot have a relationship with God, come to God in prayer, on your own, he emphasized. You have sinned against God, you are separated from God, and we all deserve judgment for our sin. The only way any one of us can come before God is by trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus for our sin. Thats how a relationship with God begins.

The antidote to sin and selfishness, the pastor said, is seeking God above us, and the pursuit of God involves taking radical risks and trusting in a radical reward.

Our goal in prayer is not ultimately to get things from God; our goal ultimately is to know, love, and enjoy God, he said. Prayer will not be very satisfying if you just want things...prayer is the pursuit of God, not just His gifts. If we just want gifts and we dont want God, we will completely skew prayer from the start.

Still, the Bible tells us we have the opportunity to approach God on behalf of those in need, Platt said, adding: We present our requests to God with bold humility.

As a result of prayer, we walk away having been literally changed by God, he continued. God wants to bless us, He wants to bless His people, He invites us to experience His blessing through prayer ... God never gets old, boring, or uninteresting.

In his sermon, Platt also touched on the subject of fasting, a practice he defined as abstaining from physical food for spiritual purposes."

God created us with physical cravings  and those are designed to be satisfied by their Creator, Platt said.

God uses physical cravings to teach us we are ultimately sustained by God, he said. Our spiritual need for God is far more fundamental than our physical need for food and water.

Later in the evening, Platt warned that not seeking Gods counsel in prayer is detrimental.

Never underestimate the effect of praying to the God who will fight for you, he declared, later adding: One day, all of our praying and all of our fasting in pursuit of God will culminate in the goal of our salvation: everlasting, uninterrupted, uninhibited, unimaginable, indescribable, all-satisfying, communion with God."
Photo: Pixabay

The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce is applauding the province for its plans to link rural areas to high-speed Internet.

On April 26, the province announced changes that allow regional districts to provide financing for capital costs to Internet service providers where it may not otherwise make sense from a business perspective.

The chamber has long advocated for rural connectivity as the availability of high-speed internet will allow rural residents to expand their existing businesses by having improved access to customers and suppliers, while entrepreneurs looking to embrace the rural lifestyle can pursue their dreams with new businesses, said Dione Chambers, Greater Vernon Chamber general manager.

Chambers said the GVCC hopes the availability of high-speed Internet will strengthen rural communities, which play a vital role in the North Okanagans economy.

With the click of a mouse, students will have opportunities to research for school projects and potential careers, while families and seniors can access health services online. We believe this provincial initiative will be beneficial to parts of the BX, Westside Road, Falkland, rural Lumby, rural Enderby and Cherryville, she said.

Changes to the Local Government Act have identified high-speed internet as essential.

In an increasingly connected world and marketplace, high-speed internet is a necessity for the success of businesses and the viability of communities, said Chambers.

We would encourage the regional districts in our area, as well as service providers, to be open to the opportunities that the legislative amendments bring as a way of strengthening the economy of the North Okanagan and the province.

Provincial legislation generally prohibits a regional district from aiding a business, but there are specific exceptions to this rule for services that are considered essential, including telephone, natural gas or electricity.
Harvest Bible Chapel will seek reimbursement from James MacDonald for personal expenses

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Harvest Bible Chapel in greater Chicago says it will seek reimbursement from the megachurchs founder James MacDonald for any personal expenses he charged to a controversial discretionary fund which were not repaid during his tenure at the church.

As communicated before, we have hired a law firm to oversee the financial review of our church. This law firm has secured an out-of-state accounting firm that specializes in not-for-profit organizations and forensic accounting to assist in this review. The final report will be presented by the law firm to the elders, Church Leadership Team, Capin Crouse (our auditor), and the congregation at the completion of the investigation, the church said in a statement released Saturday. The length and scope of this investigation will be determined by the law firm. Harvest Bible Chapel will seek reimbursement from James MacDonald if any items are deemed by the accounting firm to be unreimbursed personal expenses.

The announcement comes as the church undertakes a massive external audit of MacDonalds use of church finances and a report that he was being paid nearly a million dollars per year in regular salary, while having access to approximately a million more in discretionary spending.

Just over a week ago, The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability also announced that they had terminated HBCs membership based on further investigation into the megachurchs operation.

While an earlier report said MacDonald had access to between $800,000 to $1.2 million in discretionary funds, on top of his nearly $1 million annual salary, the church confirmed in their weekend statement that he was only given $451,000 in discretionary funds in 2018. The church also revealed that the discretionary spending account was at the crux of the ECFAs termination of their membership.

The greatest area of failure to meet ECFAs standards was in the management and control of the former Senior Pastors discretionary account. This account was a portion of the general compensation budget and was managed and controlled exclusively by a combination of three people in 2018: the former Senior Pastor, the former Chief Operating Officer, and the former Senior Administrator to the Senior Pastor. These three people are no longer employed by Harvest Bible Chapel, the church said.

Expenses of this account were handled outside of our standard accounting controls, and there was no line-item accountability presented to the elders by those people. After further review, we have found the documentation of these expenses to be insufficient and inconsistent. The funding of this discretionary account for 2018 was for the amount of $451,000. That was comprised of $315,000 from HBCs general fund and $136,000 from Walk in the Word, leaders explained.

Church leaders said they are currently taking steps internally to ensure that financial abuse on this scale doesnt happen again including a review of four years of expenditure by MacDonald.

We have closed the [discretionary] bank account and eliminated any use of the credit cards that were used for expenses incurred under the former Senior Pastors office. This discretionary account no longer exists. Furthermore, we have begun the process of identifying every expense of this account for the past four years. If items were classified as expenses rather than taxable fringe benefits, we will adjust tax documentation to be accurate. Finally, our new elder board will be responsible for amending the by-laws to ensure that something like this can never happen again, HBC said.

The church also said even though the ECFA found them to be in full compliance with the organizations standards despite the financial abuse uncovered, officials did not provide the organization with sufficient details to accurately assess their standing.

On December 10, 2018, ECFA requested information regarding their seven standards. ECFA did not receive the necessary information in order to accurately assess our standing as members because the detail of the usage of this discretionary account was not known. However, beginning in mid-January, information was brought forward from former employees of HBC that began to uncover more details regarding the spending and oversight of this discretionary account, the church said.

On March 11, 2019, during a conference call, these new details were shared with ECFA leaders leading to the suspension of HBCs membership pending further review. On a follow up call on April 15, 2019, a clearer view of the spending and lack of oversight of this discretionary account led to the termination of HBCs membership. The Church Leadership Team agrees this membership termination was rightful and necessary, officials said.

The church says it is now working to regain the ECFA's seal of approval.
Norman Geisler retiring from Southern Evangelical Seminary over health issues

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Notable Christian apologist and philosopher Norman Geisler, will be retiring from his teaching position at Southern Evangelical Seminary, which he helped found, over undisclosed health issues.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based Seminary sent out a press release on Monday announcing the 86-year-old Geislers retirement, explaining that it was due to health reasons.

SES President Richard Land, who also serves as executive editor of The Christian Post, said in the press release that Geisler was the pre-eminent Christian apologist of the past half-century.

If they ever construct a Christian apologists Mount Rushmore, they would unquestionably start with Dr. Geislers visage. He has truly been one of Gods great gifts to His church, stated Land.

Southern Evangelical Seminary would not exist without Dr. Geislers vision and dedicated service over the past 27 years. Dr. Geisler has assured me that he wants to continue to support SES in any way he can, as his health allows.

Born on July 21, 1932 in Warren, Michigan, Geisler graduated with honors from Wheaton College in 1958 with a bachelor of arts in Philosophy, received a masters in Theology from Wheaton Graduate School in 1960, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Loyola University in Chicago in 1970.

Geisler frequently participated in academic debates on topics like creation and evolution, humanistic ethics, sexual morality, and the existence of God. He is also a prolific author.

Norm has authored or co-authored over 100 books and hundreds of articles. He has taught theology, philosophy, and apologetics on the college or graduate level for over 50 years, noted an entry on his website.

He has served as a professor at some of the finest Seminaries in the United States, including Trinity Evangelical Seminary, Dallas Seminary, and Southern Evangelical Seminary.

Geisler was one of about 300 signatories of the influential 1978 document The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God's written Word, read the Statements Preface.

To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.

In 1992, Geisler co-founded Southern Evangelical Seminary along with evangelist and former Calvary Church pastor Ross Rhoads, who passed away in 2017.

Pastor Rhoads burden for evangelism and Professor Geislers concern to defend the historic Christian Faith combined in the two-fold vision of the seminary to evangelize the world and to defend the historic Christian Faith, noted SES.

The Seminary grew rapidly, attracting students from all over the United States and several other countries; from the beginning it attracted national attention by its unique program in evangelism and classical apologetics. In 1995 the first graduate received his degree.
Vineyard Columbus raises $13 million in 6 weeks to open 5 new campuses

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The Vineyard Columbus, one of Ohios largest megachurches, has raised over $13 million in six weeks to help the congregation build five new campuses over the next decade and start a pastoral residency program.

Pastor Rich Nathan told The Columbus Dispatch that congregants at the 8,000-member multi-campus church have exceeded the funding goal that was set by church leaders in March as part of a fundraiser to help the church multiply.

As of now, Vineyard Columbus has four campuses. But the goal is for Vineyard Columbus to expand to nine campuses over the next 10 years.

According to the newspaper, Vineyard Columbus fundraising campaign started shortly before Ash Wednesday. The goal was to hit $10 million by Palm Sunday.

The target was $10 million, which was pretty steep, Nathan told the newspaper. I wasnt sure we were going to make it. ... We thought we were kind of shooting for the moon.

Although Palm Sunday has passed. the Vineyard Columbus fundraising campaign will continue.

A video posted to the churchs Facebook page explains that the campaign was launched in response to the projection that hundreds of thousands of new people are expected to move into central Ohio over the next 10 years.

God wants to continue to write his story through Vineyard Columbus and is again asking us to partner with Him to heal the world, the videos narrator explains. He is asking us to continue to knock down walls, plow fields and change the landscape of our city.

In January, the 63-year-old Nathan announced succession plans for when he steps down as Vineyard Columbus senior pastor at the age of 65.

Although Nathan is stepping down from his senior pastor role in January 2021, he made clear that he is not retiring from ministry and will preach as part of a preaching team at the Vineyard Columbus.

When he steps down, he will be succeeded by husband-and-wife duo Eric and Julia Pickerill, who currently serve as Nathans associate pastors.

The Pickerills were unanimously approved by the Vineyard Columbus Church Council and Pastoral Advisory Team, according to Nathan.

"Our process was not merely a human weighing of the pros and cons of various candidates, Nathan wrote on his blog at the time. Over the course of our history, Vineyard Columbus has sought to live out the truth that Jesus is the head of the church! He gets to call the shots, not us! He initiates and we follow.

The Vineyard Columbus current campuses are located in Westerville, Pickerington, Dublin and Columbus.

Vineyard Columbus is also launching a pastoral residency program to equip leaders so that they are prepared to step into these new neighborhoods, love families and love and serve these new communities."

We want to build the pipeline, Nathan explained.
How a church bombed by Nazis ended up in Missouri

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The tower of this English Baroque church, which overshadows the campus of the small liberal arts college that surrounds it, is rather striking for a college chapel on these shores.

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built after the Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed the previous medieval edifice. It served the needs of the surrounding parish for three centuries until the Blitz of 1940, when Nazi bombs struck it.

While the walls, made from stately Portland stone, remained standing, the interior was mostly destroyed. As with many of Londons other Wren churches  over 50 churches are attributed to Wren or his workshop  it stood in a ruinous state as British authorities developed plans and came up with money for rebuilding the city. This was a herculean task given that 116,000 buildings were either destroyed or bombed beyond repair.

By the 1960s, some of the churches were reopened after they were authentically restored to their original designs. In other cases they received Wren-esque designs in keeping with the style of the late 17th century. However, St. Mary the Virgin remained a bombed out ruin.

Around the same time, Westminster College, a historically Presbyterian college, was looking to honor Sir Winston Churchills 1946 speech on its campus in Fulton, Missouri.

It was remarkable that Churchill  despite being no stranger to the American speaking circuit  would visit a college in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Of course, it helped that Westminster Colleges audacious invitation had the support of President Harry Truman, a native Missourian.

Churchill used his speech, officially titled Sinews of Peace but more commonly called the Iron Curtain, to warn of the Soviet Unions postwar expansionism and what later became the Cold War. Adding to its significance was the very presence of Truman, who attended even though Churchill was no longer British prime minister.

Nearly 20 years later, Westminster College decided to purchase and rebuild St. Mary the Virgin. The invitation to Churchill was certainly audacious, but this project was on a completely different scale.

First, what remained of the church had to be meticulously chronicled stone-by-stone before deconstruction. It was then shipped across the Atlantic with the 7,000 stones used as ballast before traveling by rail to Fulton. Then it had to be reconstructed with an interior faithful to Wrens original design.

Three years later, in 1969, it was reopened with considerable pageantry that somewhat ironically  Westminster College being Presbyterian in establishment  included rites by an Anglican bishop. Lord Mountbatten, the war hero and last viceroy of India, was even sent by Queen Elizabeth II as her representative.

Over the ensuing 50 years the church evolved from a memorial into the National Churchill Museum that exists today.

Located in the undercroft of St. Mary the Virgin, the museum tells the story of Churchills fascinating life as a historian, journalist, politician, soldier and statesman. Then there is the church, which rivals any of the famous Wren churches in London, most of which are also restored. Somewhat thankfully, it is still used for religious worship. Outside on a plaza stands a sculpture by Edwina Sandys, a granddaughter of Churchill, made from eight sections of the Berlin Wall.

What makes the National Churchill Museum most impressive is its location. You expect such a museum somewhere in England, not in Missouri. Westminster College has punched well above its weight.

Even if you cant make next weekends grand 50th anniversary celebration, which includes a keynote speech by the acclaimed historian and commentator Andrew Roberts, a visit to Fulton is a must for anyone wanting to better understand not only Churchill but also the Cold War.

If you go

The National Churchill Museum is open daily between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Tickets range from $6.40 for teenagers and college students to $8.50 for adults.

Fulton is about 90 minutes by car from St. Louis and the closest major airport. I stayed at the Loganberry Inn, a bed-and-breakfast whose past guests include Margaret Thatcher.

Spires and Crosses, a travel column exclusive to The Christian Post, is published every week. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter and Instagram.
3 Kinds of School Shooters: How Parents and Teachers Can Help

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Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6 and part 7 of The Christian Post's series on youth and school violence.

Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old who was charged with the premeditated murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February, was troubled.

His attorneys have painted him as "a broken child" who struggled with chronic mental illness and depression. They have also pointed to his chaotic family life which was made worse by the death of his adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, in November 2017.

As many have sought to find an explanation for the conditions that give rise to school shooters, mental health experts agree that family dysfunction is one factor in the tide that leads them to strike like the "perfect storm." But even so, there is not one type of family situation that would lead to the making of a school gunman.

"The dynamics of a school shooter is extremely complex. It's like the meeting of a perfect storm," said Daniel Huerta, vice president of the Parenting and Youth department at Focus on the Family, who is also a licensed clinical social worker.

"It's not necessarily the exact same family pattern where you can say, 'well, these families did this and so they developed and raised a school shooter.' Some of the families are described as just average," he noted.

Three Kinds of School Shooters

Peter Langman is a sought-after expert on the psychology of school shooters. His latest book, School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators, was published in January 2015. He also wrote Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters.

"First thing I need to say is that there is no one cause of school shootings. In some cases, the families are part of the problem. But even having a dysfunctional family by itself doesn't cause someone to commit mass murder. I think too often people are looking for the one thing that they can blame it on and there's never just one thing," he said in an interview with The Christian Post the day an armed student shot two others at Great Mills High School in Maryland last month.

He explained that there are three types of school shooters:

the psychopathic the psychotic the traumatized

Psychopathic and psychotic school shooters generally come from "more or less stable, middle class, intact families," he said.

Cho Seung-Hui

In Rampage School Shooters: A Typology, Langman classifies Seung-Hui Cho as psychotic.

Cho was 23 in 2007 when he, armed with two semi-automatic pistols, killed 32 people and wounded 17 others on April 16, 2007, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, before killing himself.

Sung Tae and Hyang Im Cho, Cho's parents, according to The Washington Post, worked their way up from a dank basement apartment in Seoul, South Korea, to an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Fairfax County, Virginia. They immigrated when Seung-Hui was just 8 years old and they worked six days a week as dry cleaners to provide the family with a comfortable life. Their son, however, did not adjust well and exhibited signs of mental illness, which they tried and failed to regulate with professional help.

"From a young age, he was markedly anxious in social situations. He spoke little, even within his family. Despite this, he was an intelligent child who behaved well in school. During his years at college, his behavior was notable for negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including poverty of speech and affective flattening," Langman explained.

Along with barely speaking, Cho also showed almost no emotion of any kind.

"When he did speak, he sometimes said things that suggested delusional thinking (Kleinfield, 2007). He talked about having a supermodel from outer space as a girlfriend. Though he initially referred to her as imaginary, on at least one occasion he told his roommate that she was in their dorm room. Whether this was psychotic or an attempt at humor remains unclear," Langman wrote.

Eric Harris

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris, 18, and his friend, Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people and wounded 24 others armed with firearms and knives at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.

Langman classifies Harris as a psychopathic school shooter because of his combination of narcissism, sadism, impression management, delight in deception, and rejection of morality and law.

Despite coming from an "intact, well-functioning family," it wasn't enough to counter his psychopathic tendencies.

"Psychopaths do not recognize laws or morality as constraints on their behavior. Eric wrote repeatedly in his journal about his rejection of traditional values. He stated, 'Morals is just another word,'" Langman noted.

"Elsewhere he wrote, 'There's no such thing as True Good or True evil' (JCSO, 1999, p. 26,010). His refusal to acknowledge morality made it easy for him to violate social norms and laws. Prior to the attack, Eric broke many laws.

"... Eric's disregard for social norms was manifest long before the attack. Eric was grandiose. He wrote 'Ich bin Gott,' which is German for 'I am God,' in his school planner and the yearbooks of his friends."

Evan Ramsey

While the above-mentioned two groups of school shooters might experience divorce in the home, "divorce is not [considered a] severe dysfunction," Langman noted.

School shooters, like Evan Ramsey, who fall in the traumatized category, however, tend to reflect severe patterns of family dysfunction.

In 1997, when he was 16, Ramsey, walked into Bethel Regional High School in Alaska and shot two of his classmates with a 12-gauge shotgun just so he could "get people to leave me alone."

A report compiled by Langman describes Ramsey's family life as "highly unstable." In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News published in February 2017, Ramsey described his childhood as "fairly abusive," one that saw him moving to different foster homes. His mother was a binge drinker, while his first foster father would beat him with a bungee cord.

He also struggled with bullying while at school and said he shared his struggle with his foster mother at the time of the shooting. She had been good to him. He said she told him to "do the mature and adult thing and report all incidents of bullying to the principal."

He did.

When that advice didn't work, Ramsey said: "I decided I needed to do something to stand up for myself. I chose to kill."

"When you get to the families of the traumatized school shooter, that is where you see the profound family impact on children. And when I talk about the traumatized school shooters, I'm looking at several facets of their family history," Langman said. "In perhaps every case of a traumatized school shooter, certainly the vast majority of them, there is at least one parent with a drug or alcohol problem. Sometimes it's both parents."

In unpacking other factors that help create a dysfunctional family environment for school shooters, he pointed to other issues such as domestic violence and sexual abuse.

"There is sometimes domestic violence between the father and the mother. There is emotional and physical abuse of the child. Sometimes there is criminal behavior on the part of one or both parents. Occasionally, it's significant enough that they have served time in jail [though] not always," Langman said.

"There is sometimes sexual abuse of the child [but] not necessarily within the home. It could be within the home [but] sometimes it's outside the home. It could be someone in the neighborhood. It could be someone in the foster home that these kids end up in because their families were dysfunctional. And for some of the families, because there's a lot of dysfunction and fragmentation, the kids are always bouncing from one home to another," he said.

Langman explained that in a study he conducted of 48 school shooters, he classified 24 of them as "secondary school shooters." This means they "committed the attacks in middle school or high school." He found that most of these school shooters came from a traumatized family background.

"Of that 24, the greatest number, 42 percent of them were traumatized, with only 29 percent psychotic and 29 percent psychopathic. So at that level when you're talking about the secondary school shooters, the traumatized in this one study were the most common," Langman pointed out.

In an assessment of 13 cases of college shooters, Langman explained that "none of them were traumatized" and attributed the difference to socioeconomic status.

"Another factor with the traumatized shooter is that any family can have severe dysfunction at any level of the socioeconomic spectrum. However, the traumatized school shooters tend to come from the lower end of the spectrum, financially speaking," he said. "Between the family dysfunction, and the lack of financial resources ... these kids don't end up going to college or their lives are so bad, if they reach a breaking point, they reach it in their teens before they even end up in higher education."

How Parents Can Help

Parents, he said, can help prevent their children from becoming school shooters by educating themselves about mental health issues and getting the right treatment when needed. Paying attention to the warning signs that can give rise to shooters is also important.

"Being educated about the warning signs of school shooters just in case either your children exhibit those warning signs or they come home talking about friends of theirs or kids at school. Then the parents know what to look out for or how to take a comment seriously," Langman noted.

He further pointed out the need for parents to monitor the activities of their children on social media, as sometimes it might be helpful in detecting problems they miss in the home.

"I think the major thing that's different today than when I was going to school is the internet and social media. I think it's a good idea for parents to have some knowledge about the internet and social media and what their kids are doing in these domains," said Langman. "That might also help them catch problems before they get too bad. Not just the potential school shooting but there's all kinds of other things that might allow them to keep their fingers on the pulse of what's happening to their children."

Langman noted that room searches are another tactic parents can pursue if they sense something is amiss with their children.

Huerta of Focus on the Family stressed the importance of also monitoring the kinds of media children are exposed to, especially when a child has a diagnosed mental health issue.

"[As far as] the media and the exposure to tremendously graphic violence, what we're discovering in neuroscience [is] that we have mirror neurons and our brain literally thinks it's in the screen. Even though we know consciously that we're not, our subconscious perceives as if it's participating and it's ... practicing what it's watching," Huerta said. "... Your brain is having this dual type of experience without you facing danger, and so I really believe it desensitizes a person to life  not necessarily to violence but just the respect of life, and that's a fine line."

Huerta also urged parents who have children with mental health issues not to be afraid to get help  even if Christian beliefs make you hesitant to get treatment, particularly when drugs are involved.

"If there is mental illness, if there is a lot of conflict in the home, I would say don't be afraid to get counseling and to dig deep into what is really going on," said Huerta.

"In Christian homes, I think we have to be really intentional about entering difficult conversations with our kids about what it means to be a Christian, what are the beliefs within our homes, why do we believe what we believe. Those aren't threatening conversations. Those are very important. And really grappling with what it means to have faith in something and then modeling that. Do I really live as if God is real?"

Working With Schools

Some schools have mental health and other screening processes designed to help the school community better serve students. Langman urged parents to support these initiatives as sometimes problems can be caught and treated through these assessments. Schools, he said, could also do a better job implementing these screenings.

"I think schools can do more to implement what's called threat assessments. I think schools all over the country have done a good job in training people in lock-down procedures ... but those are things we do in response to a shooting, not to prevent a shooting. The best way to prevent a shooting is for people to know the warning signs and report them and have a team in place within the school to investigate those threats," Langman said.

He further noted that that while news coverage has skewed the perception of the magnitude of school shootings as a problem, school is still perhaps the safest place children can be. He pointed out that children are killed far more often in their own homes and traffic accidents than in school shootings.

For more information on school shooters, visit schoolshooters.info.
Alabama lawmakers look to overturn Roe with abortion ban

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A bill that would make it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion, including cases of rape and incest, overwhelmingly passed in the Alabama House Tuesday, 74-3.

The bill which was co-sponsored by more than half of the 104 members of the Republican dominated House was designed to challenge and overturn Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court, Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur said, according to AL.com.

"The heart of this bill is to confront a decision that was made by the courts in 1973 that said the baby in a womb is not a person," Collins declared.

If the bill becomes law, it would be a Class A felony for a doctor to perform an abortion and a Class C felony for attempting to perform an abortion. The only exemption under the bill is if there is a serious health risk to the mother.

The controversial bill was approved after more than two hours of emotional debate in the House. Collins, said NBC News, acknowledged that the bill will likely be struck down in lower courts but the aim is to take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Democrat representatives who walked off the House floor ahead of the vote called the bill extreme and fiscally irresponsible.

"You don't know why I may want to have an abortion. It may be because of my health. It may be because of many reasons. Until all of you in this room walk in a woman's shoes, y'all don't know," Rep. Louise Alexander, a Democrat, said, arguing that the choice to give birth should be left to a woman.

"They would not even allow an exception for rape and incest. ... What does that say to the women in this state," House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels said.

Collins noted, however, that adding exemptions would weaken the intent of the bill to challenge Roe v. Wade. If states regain the ability to decide abortion access, Alabama lawmakers may renegotiate the exemptions, she said.

"All the things that were brought up today, Im not saying arent valid and have meaning," she said. "Im just saying for the purpose of this law, I wanted to keep it just what the issue was."

Staci Fox, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast, which operates clinics in Birmingham and Mobile, told the Montgomery Advertiser in a statement that they would fight the bill.

We expected this vote to happen and we are ready for a fight in the Senate," the statement said. "Todays floor debate made it crystal clear what Alabama lawmakers think about women."

The ACLU of Alabama has also pledged to fight the bill. Alabama had to pay the ACLU of Alabama and Planned Parenthood $1.7 million in 2016 after a law requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges was ruled unconstitutional.

We are disappointed that the Alabama House passed HB314 despite the fact it would criminalize abortion and interfere with a womans personal, private medical decisions. It is unfortunate that members of the House are putting their personal beliefs ahead of whats in the best interest of our state. The people of Alabama are paying the bill for unconstitutional legislation and we hope that the Senate members will realize its detrimental impact and stop this bill from becoming law. Otherwise it will be challenged in federal court, the organization said.

Ryan Bomberger, black co-founder of the pro-life Radiance Foundation who was conceived during the rape of his mother, praised the move in a tweet Wednesday.

Go 'Bama! House overwhelmingly passes bill to end violence of abortion, with NO exceptions. "I believe this chamber, this body, will never make a greater decision than today...protecting the life of an unborn child." #GOP Rep. Rich Wingo. #AbortRoe, he wrote.
Luis Palau continues to defy the odds in stage 4 cancer battle, new update reveals

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The son of world-renowned evangelist Luis Palau says his fathers latest cancer scan revealed that the family will get to keep their loved one around a bit longer.

At the top of last year, the beloved minister made the unexpected announcement that he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Months later, in a Thanksgiving Day update, Palau testified that he was defying the odds and doing much better than doctors had anticipated. Now, his eldest son, Kevin Palau, says things are still going better than expected.

Dad had a full body scan Tuesday, met w/oncologist yesterday. So blessed to get a good report that the tumors have not grown, and that his coughing/fluid buildup around the lungs is not due to tumor growth. the son wrote in a Facebook update, last month.

Guess we get to have him around for a while longer! #thankful, Kevin declared.

In March of last year, Palau shared that after two months of chemotherapy, the doctors were amazed at the results of his CT scan and blood work. All tumors had shrunk by one-third and there was no new growth of the tumors. The results were so uncommon for someone with stage 4 cancer that Palau said the doctors were stunned.

Since then, the Luis Palau Association has carried on with multiple initiatives for the Ivory Coast, China, the U.K., Latin America, South Africa, Madrid, Spain and several cities in the United States.

Whether the Lord gives me a few months or a few years ... I have no regrets. Evangelism has been my life. And theres nothing I want more for you than to have the same deep satisfaction in knowing you are obeying the Lord and investing in eternity, the Argentinian native once wrote of why he would continue to do the Lords work despite his diagnosis.

The Palau Association has collaborated with thousands of churches in hundreds of cities around the world. He has led millions into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in over 75 nations.

On his website, Palau shared that doctors didnt think hed make it past Christmas.

Diagnosed with lung cancer in January, I was told Id be gone by Christmas. Probably sooner. Get your life in order, the doctor said. It was a sobering reality, he revealed. Yet here I am, quite well actually, and writing to you about plans for the months ahead! Its a testimony of Gods goodness. I believe its also a challenge.

An autobiographical movie on the life of the renowned preacher, "Palau the Movie, was released in April. The film journeys through the life of Luis Palau, revealing how a bad-tempered young street preacher goes on to impact the world for Jesus.

To stay up to date on Luis Palau's condition and ministry, visit Palau.org.
Pat Robertson says idea that universe is 6,000 years old is 'nonsense'

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Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson rejected the belief that the universe is only 6,000 years old, calling it nonsense.

This universe that we live in is  14 billion years old and theres no question about it and we have tremendous geological records and all the rest of it and that 6,000 year stuff just doesnt compute, the host of CBNs The 700 Club said on his show Tuesday.

Robertson, 89, was responding to a viewer who was confused by what she learned in church  that the time of creation was 6,000 years ago  versus what science says  that dinosaurs are  millions of years old.

He noted that the school he founded, Regent University, teaches the Old Earth view. When they were trying to hustle around [a course] called creation science, it was just nonsense and it was so embarrassing, he said.

So we wanted to make sure we told the truth.

We as Christians need to know the truth and when we know the truth you stand in awe with the God who created everything and thats His name. His name is He who caused everything to be. He brought it all into being. Look at the vast solar system and the galaxies, and the stars, there are about a billion trillion stars  in the universe. Its huge. So lets give God credit for what He did, not try to limit Him to 6,000 years.

Pastors are split on the age of the Earth. A 2011 LifeWay Research survey showed that 46 percent of pastors agree that the Earth is 6,000 years old while 43 percent disagree (the survey has a sampling error of +/-3.2%). Those with graduate degrees are less likely to agree with Young Earth Creationism.

Young Earth creationists arrive at 6,000 years (for both the Earth and the universe) by adding five days of creation (since Adam was said to have been created on the sixth day in the Bible), around 2,000 years between Adam and Abraham, and around 4,000 years between Abraham and the present (scholars say Abraham lived about 2,000 B.C.)

A film  titled Is Genesis History?  was released in 2017 to support the Young Earth view and debunk the notion that those who hold such a position are unscientific or stupid.

We live in a time where the current scientific paradigm is infiltrating a lot of the seminaries and a lot of the hierarchy in evangelical Christianity because people have been led to believe that science has settled this issue of deep time," said Del Tackett, creator of Focus on the Familys The Truth Project, when promoting the film then.

"I would tell Christians, 'If you are going to put your trust in those and you're going to say that God's Word is now just an analogy, or it's just some kind of simile, you're twisting the Word of God because of a paradigm that is already really shaky.' I would say, 'You have that backwards. We start with the Word of God. We start with the record that God has given to us and stand on that, then begin to view the world around us. That's when things will make sense.'"
Trump proposes charging fees for immigrants to apply for asylum

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President Trump issued a memo Monday proposing changes to asylum policies that would, among other things, require migrants coming to the U.S. to pay fees for asylum and work permit applications.

Trumps presidential memorandum calls on acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan and Attorney General William Barr to propose changes that will better protect the integrity of our asylum system and respond to the humanitarian and security crisis at the southern border.

The memorandum directly responds to what Trump says are loopholes in U.S. immigration law that allow immigrants claiming asylum out of fear of reprisals if they return home to be released into communities throughout the U.S.

The White House contends that many immigrants claiming fear fail to show up to court hearings, dont file asylum applications, and refuse to comply with removal orders.

In a news release, the White House said that about half of immigrants making fear claims who are placed in removal proceedings do not apply for asylum.

The biggest loophole drawing illegal aliens to our borders is the use of fraudulent or meritless asylum claims to gain entry into our great country, Trump said in a statement.

The president is calling for changes that will streamline court proceedings for immigrants who pass initial fear determinations, adjudicate asylum applications within 180 days of filing, and require that fees be paid for asylum and work permit applications.

The presidents proposed changes would also bar immigrants who entered or attempted to enter the country illegally from receiving work permits before being approved for relief. The change would also revoke work permits for immigrants who have received final removal orders.

Trumps memorandum also calls on the secretary of Homeland Security to reprioritize immigration officer assignments to improve the integrity of credible fear adjudications, strengthen law enforcement, and enforce removal orders from immigration judges.

The White House contends that immigrants with meritless asylum claims have taken advantage of the U.S. asylum system to enter the country illegally and remain in the U.S.

The memorandum is also another attempt by Trump to toughen U.S. immigration policy without an act of Congress reforming what has been described by many as a broken immigration system.

Trumps plan was criticized by some who feel that the proposal would make it harder for people seeking asylum to escape dangers in their home country. The fear is that the proposed policy would not only cost impoverished asylum seekers money to apply but also could limit their access to work permits before asylum is granted.

Trump isnt wrong that we have a problem at the border, and hes not wrong to try to fix it. But charging a fee to those fleeing violence and claiming asylum is a terrible solution, wrote columnist Erin Dunne of the conservative newspaper Washington Examiner.

Charging a fee for asylum claims has deeper problems than the Trump administration's usual lack of respect for separation of powers. The right to seek asylum, as written into international law in the aftermath of World War II and incorporated into U.S. federal law, is meant to protect that fleeing persecution or violence in their home country.

Dunne notes that charging a fee sends the idea that only those with a certain degree of financial means can be considered for asylum. She added that such a policy would leave those most in need of protection unable to make their claims.

In its 2019 annual report released Monday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom explained that DHS officials have, over the course of the last decade plus, failed to follow required procedures to identify asylum seekers. Additionally, USCIRF warns that unaddressed flaws in the asylum system have placed even more asylum seekers at risk of erroneous return.

USCIRF called on the Trump administration to appoint a high-level official to coordinate refuge and asylum issues and oversee reforms. USCIRF also called on Congress to request that the Government Accountability Office assess whether noncitizens returned to their home countries under expedited removal have faced persecution and torture upon their return.

In February, Trump issued a national emergency in order to circumvent Congress and shift funding for additional border security.

While conservative evangelical leaders have been on board with the Trump administrations policies relating to abortion and religious freedom, some have been outspoken against many of the administration's policies pertaining to immigration and refugee resettlement.

Along with drastically lowering the number of refugees being resettled into the U.S. since 2017, the Trump administration also proposed a rule last year to give the Department of Homeland Security more discretion to deny visas and green cards to immigrants who would rely too heavily on public assistance.

A group of evangelical leaders at the time issued a statement saying that such a policy would allow government employees to deny applications for family reunification and other lawful immigrant visas based on the suspicion that an individual might someday apply for public benefits.

Evangelical leaders also spoke out against the Trump administrations plan to cut humanitarian aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Trump threatened last year to cut off humanitarian aid to those countries because they were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.

Despite evangelical leaders speaking out against Trumps immigration policies, polls indicate that white evangelicals largely support Trumps immigration policies.

A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 63 percent of white evangelical Christians say that Trumps handling of the illegal immigration issue makes them more likely to support Trumps re-election in 2020.

Just 16 percent of white evangelicals said Trumps handling of illegal immigration has made them more likely to oppose Trumps re-election in 2020, and 20 percent said that Trumps handling of illegal immigration is not a factor for them.

By comparison, 44 percent of Americans said that Trumps handling of illegal immigration makes them more likely to oppose his re-election, while 31 percent said it makes them more likely to support Trumps re-election.

Last year, Public Religion Research Institute data found that white evangelicals were the only religious demographic in the U.S. in which a majority views immigrants as a threat to American values and sees the countrys increasing racial diversity as a bad thing.

Last week, evangelical leaders affiliated with the Evangelical Immigration Table released a book outlining what they say is a biblical view of immigration.

The leaders favor increased border security but at the same time calls for the U.S. government to provide a safe haven for refugees fleeing tyrannical governments or terrorist groups who are seeking to do them harm.

Its a reason that U.S. asylum laws, which guide the government not to send someone back to a situation of danger, are so vital, the book explains.
UMC on wait and see mindset after church court upheld Traditional Plan on homosexuality: bishop

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Left-leaning congregations and LGBT activists within the United Methodist Church are looking to next years General Conference in the hopes they can change the denominations stance on homosexuality.

Despite failing to change the denominations official position against homosexuality and same-sex marriage at a special session of General Conference in February or through its highest court last month, there appears to be little movement away from the UMC by progressive congregations and activists.

Bishop Peggy A. Johnson, head of the Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware Conferences, told The Christian Post that many remain in a wait and see mode.

I have not received any such notifications from any congregations wishing to disaffiliate. Some have asked me to come to their churches and answer questions about the process and this I have done, said Bishop Johnson.

The UM Church is holding another General Conference in 2020 and many feel that the results of that conference (only a year away) will produce new legislation that could change the shape of things or not.

Bridget Cabrera, executive director of the LGBT group Methodist Federation for Social Action, told CP that she was unaware of any individual LGBTQIA+ affirming churches that are taking steps to leave the denomination.

We are continuing to resist and show our dissent from the General Conference ruling, said Cabrera. There is continued organizing around building communities and systems of protection for LGBTQIA+ persons and clergy allies that seek to speak out against these policies and live into the Gospel of God's inclusive love.

The Rev. James Harnish, spokesperson for Uniting Methodists, a group that opposed the Traditional Plan, told CP that he felt it was still too soon to determine the full ramifications of the plan.

Most churches and leaders are processing the implications of the actions in February and the recent rulings of the Judicial Council. None of the new provisions, including a process for congregations to initiate proposals to leave the denomination, will be in effect until January 2020, explained Harnish.

Meanwhile, there are many efforts underway across the UMC to evaluate the new legislation and Judicial Council rulings and propose ways for congregations and annual conferences to respond.

In late February, the UMC held a special session of General Conference in which a majority of delegates approved a plan that would not only maintain the denominations stance on LGBT issues, but more strictly enforce their rules.

In late April, the United Methodist Judicial Council, which is the denominations highest court, largely upheld the Traditional Plan approved at the special session.

While declaring some of the petitions within the Traditional Plan to be unconstitutional, Judicial Council Decision 1378 nevertheless upheld most of the petitions, including a few that mandated stricter enforcement of the UMCs prohibitions on gay ordination and same-sex marriage ceremonies.

These petitions are not so closely related that a change in one affects the others. The petitions held unconstitutional have no effect on the petitions declared constitutional, read the decision.

The constitutional petitions are not dependent on the unconstitutional petitions and can survive without the unconstitutional petitions.

In another ruling, Decision 1379, the Judicial Council upheld a petition that allowed for a gracious exit for congregations that could not in good conscience adhere to the UMCs stance on LGBT issues.
Photo: RDOS

Plans for a large-scale cannabis grow operation at the old Weyerhaeuser mill site in Okanagan Falls have been put on ice.

Sunniva Inc. purchased the 126-acre vacant industrial site last year for $7 million, announcing plans to construct a 740,000-square-foot cannabis production facility. The $125-million project would have created about 220 jobs for the community.

The company later announced a scaled-back modular grow-operation, but even those plans have now been put on hold.

Sunniva announced Monday it is suspending all development plans in Okanagan Falls to focus on its American operations. The company is nearing completion on a 325,000-square-foot facility in Cathedral City, California.

Sunniva says it has sold off some parts from the superstructure planned for Okanagan Falls to a private company and terminated its agreement with its general contractor for the construction of the Sunniva Canada Campus.

The company also said a planned spin-off of its Canadian operations into a separate publicly-traded entity will not move forward. In Canada, the company operates a chain of medicinal-marijuana dispensaries under the Natural Health Services brand in addition to the OK Falls property.

Sunniva Inc. is headed by Dr. Tony Holler, Penticton resident and owner of the Poplar Grove and Monster wineries. He is the former CEO of ID Biomedical, a vaccine maker that sold to GlaxoSmithKline in 2005 for $1.7 billion.
UNC Charlotte shooting leaves 2 killed, 4 injured; gunman's grandfather shocked

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Two people were killed Tuesday when a gunman opened fire inside a classroom at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Four others were injured.

The suspect, identified as 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell, a former UNC Charlotte student, was taken into custody and is facing multiple charges.

This is the saddest day in UNC Charlottes history, said Chancellor Philip L. Dubois. The entire UNC Charlotte community shares the shock and grief of this senseless, devastating act. This was an attack on all of Niner Nation.

The shooting occurred at approximately 5:40 p.m. in the Kennedy building on the last day of classes. Students were urged by the school to hide and secure themselves as the campus remained on lockdown.

Two hours after the shots were first reported, the university announced that the suspect, who had a pistol, was in custody.

I just went into a classroom and shot the guys, Terrell said as he was arrested, according to the Associated Press.

Dubois credited the rapid response of the city police for preventing more deaths.

The two students who died in the shooting were 19-year-old Ellis Parlier and 21-year-old Riley Howell, Dubois told WBT.

Terrells grandfather, Raul Rold, was stunned to hear about the shooting and told the Associated Press that Terrell had never shown any interest in weapons. He noted that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from Texas about two years ago after the death of his mother.

Nick Brooks, a UNC Charlotte student, told the Niner Times that he saw the suspect enter the building before hearing the shots. He recognized Terrell from an earlier encounter.

He was in the elevator and the doors were closing and he was just staring at me, Brooks recalled. You could tell something was up with him. Its like he had no emotions.

Evangelist Franklin Graham, who leads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, called for prayer for the victims of the senseless act. The Billy Graham Graham Rapid Response Team was on the ground to offer support to students and families.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper also expressed his condolences and support.

This is a tragic day for Charlotte and this great university. We mourn the lives lost and we will all be here to support each other.

A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses, he added. Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school. And I know that this violence has to stop. ... In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward.

A student-organized vigil is being held Wednesday evening at the university. Final exams have been canceled.
A new call to justice: Progressive Christian leaders respond to Democrat candidate faith talk

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Many Democrat Party presidential candidates have been talking about their faith in interviews and town halls.

Jack Jenkins of Religion News Service noticed the trend last month and started keeping a thread on his Twitter account of the instances of Democrats publicly discussing their beliefs.

Many progressive Christian leaders have also observed this apparent rise in faith talk among Democratic presidential candidates, with some expressing optimism over the trend.

Jim Wallis, president and founder of Sojourners, told The Christian Post in an interview that he believed it was part of the effort to make the Democratic Party a more faith-friendly party.

There are a number of these candidates who are people of faith, explained Wallis, who have been wanting to figure out how to bring their faith more into their political conversations.

"I don't endorse or ever endorse a candidate. Never have. What I endorse is a fuller, deeper, more thoughtful, richer conversation about the relationship between faith and politics."

Wallis felt that South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg was a great example of this new faith conversation, saying that he has been talking more about faith than any other candidate.

Democrats felt or have been less willing in recent decades to speak about their faith with the great exception of African-Americans, said Wallis. So that's changing, and in the form of Mayor Pete who is talking about his faith in a regular way.

A member of the Episcopal Church and married to a man, Buttigieg has been vocal about his Christian beliefs, drawing controversy for criticizing Vice President Mike Pences conservative views and for claiming that entering a same-sex marriage strengthening his religious beliefs.

Wallis believed that Buttigieg was challenging a narrative advanced by both secular progressives and religious conservatives about faith.

Some on the secular left agree with the Religious Right that they want Americans to think all religion is right-wing and of course its not, Wallis added, noting that while both groups have an ideological interest to portray all religion as right-wing, Buttigieg is upsetting their plans.

Wallis acknowledged to CP that there might be some in the Democratic Party turned off by the religious rhetoric of Buttigieg and other candidates, explaining that there are people on the secular left who really are nervous about this conversation about faith among Democrats.

Nevertheless, Wallis felt that these secular fundamentalists were outnumbered by others who were respectful of religious expression, even if they do not subscribe to it.

Wallis said that when talking about religion with younger progressive activists, many, while religiously unaffiliated, still love to talk about Jesus.

They're not really secular, they're unaffiliated because they don't like what they see religion doing and not doing. But the majority of them believe in God, explained Wallis.

They may not be going to church, but they love conversations about Jesus. And its very dangerous for Jesus to be raised up in our politics and campaigns, because He can't be conformed or controlled by the right or the left."

The Rev. Cari Jackson, Clergy-In-Residence with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, told CP that she hoped with more presidential candidates discussing their beliefs, we can all get a fuller picture of how they will represent the people.

It has been the intent of political leaders, who have highly regarded the principle of separation of church and state with integrity, not to talk about their own faith and religious beliefs. This silence has been interpreted by some as their lack of religious and spiritual grounding, said Jackson.

This has been far from the case. So now, many more Democrats and independents are beginning to speak more freely and directly about how their faith guides them to work for justice.

Jackson told CP that she believed that the ways in which Democratic presidential candidates speak about their faith lifts up the social duties we all share.

This is critical, Jackson added. Their voting records need to substantiate and be in alignment with what they espouse.

RCRC is pleased that any presidential candidates share their faith openly as long as they do not seek to use their faith over and against the spiritual beliefs of others.

While Democratic candidates appear to emphasize faith more in their public comments, evidence indicates that the vast majority of religious groups in the United States are becoming more conservative.

In an analysis of data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study published earlier this month on the website Religion in Public, Ryan Burge of Eastern Illinois University found that of 34 major religious groups, 27 of them leaned more Republican in 2018 than they did in 2008.

Jackson told CP that she believed that this apparent shift by religious communities towards the Republican Party had more to do with generational influences.

Data from Pew Research Center shows that many Christian denominations in the US are heavily compromised of baby boomers, silent and greatest generational groups. These groups tend to be more conservative. It is this conservatism that greatly contributes toward Republican leaning, Jackson said.

Many younger people from the Gen X and millennial generations, with good reason, have chosen not to be a part of religious denominations that are entrenched in dogma.

Jackson believed that despite the lack of institutional affiliation, many younger Americans were still spiritually guided in their understandings of society and morality.

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidates understand and represent this new call to justice that is deeply faithful and seeks to represent the human rights and promote the well-being of all, stated Jackson.

The Rev. William Barber II, president of the group Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, was cautious about the discussions of faith by the candidates.

Were really not looking at whether candidates talk about faith per se, particularly from a personal perspective. You know, in America we have no religious test, said Barber to CP.

What were more looking at from our perspective is where candidates are coming down not just in talk, but on policy.

At issue for Barber was how the candidates, regardless of political affiliation, plan to handle issues including the millions of Americans who live in poverty, systemic racism, treatment of women, concerns over re-segregation of schools, immigration, and the treatment of Native Americans, among other issues.

Barber denounced the idea of having the only moral issues discussed in the public square be where somebody stands on the LGBTQ issue, where they stand on the issue of womens rights, and where they stand on the issue of prayer in schools.

What we want to hear candidates talk about from a moral perspective is where their policies line up when were dealing with issues like systemic racism, voter suppression, continued Barber.

Where the candidates stand on the moral issue of ecological devastation and clean air, clean water. Where do politicians stand on the moral issue of how we fund war, the war economy and militarism.

Barber touted the influence of the Poor Peoples Campaign, which draws its name from an economic justice campaign championed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. not long before his assassination in 1968.

According to Barber, the launch of the modern campaign last year has led to weeks of activism by thousands of people, including the practice of civil disobedience.

For his work, Barber was one of 25 people awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowship, which included a grant totaling $625,000.

The movement is forcing these issues back into the public narrative where for nearly fifty years since the Poor Peoples Campaign the issue of just saying the word the poor had almost been eradicated from the public discussion, noted Barber.

Some issues are not about left versus right, we resist that language because it is tribalistic, it doesnt get us anywhere. Some issues are not about conservative versus liberal, Democrat versus Republican. Its literally about whats right versus wrong.

In addition to the progressive Christian leaders, others including Peter Montgomery of the liberal group People for the American Way was supportive of politicians mentioning their beliefs.

"Candidates who recognize and respect that Americans are a religiously diverse group of people can enrich the public discourse by bringing their religious values into the public arena," said Montgomery to CP.

"The primaries are a chance for voters to get to know candidates, and if a candidates faith is important to who they are, it makes sense for them to include that in the conversation."

Montgomery attributed the interest in the beliefs of candidates like Buttigieg as a possible example of "media and public curiosity about candidates whose faith" is not connected to the Christian Right.

"The Religious Right get most of the attention when it comes to religion in the public arena," continued Montgomery. "Theres value in exposing the lie that liberals cant also be Christians or people of faith.

"Many people of faith vote for Democratic candidates, and it makes sense for candidates to appeal to them. The Democratic base is more religiously diverse than the Republican base, which makes the job of Democratic candidates a bit more complicated."
Evangelical leaders call on Christians to take on 'biblical view' of immigration, love one's neighbor Book calls for investments in border security, pathway to citizenship

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The Evangelical Immigration Table is encouraging Christians to take on a biblical view of immigration by loving one's neighbor and supporting policy that allows undocumented immigrants to earn legal status.

Scripture does not necessarily prescribe specific immigration policy to govern any particular nation but the Bible is replete with stories of immigrants, with specific instructions from God to the Israelites about how to treat the foreigners who came to reside in their land, and with broader principles that have clear ramifications for how contemporary followers of Jesus should interact with our immigrant neighbors, EIT's newly released e-book, titled Thinking Biblically about Immigrants & Immigration Reform, says.

The book highlights Gods concern for the worlds most vulnerable and how some of the Bibles most prominent characters were immigrants themselves. Gods people are told to love immigrants as themselves because they knew firsthand what it is like to dwell in a land that was not their own.

When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong, the book quotes Leviticus. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

The 35-page e-book is endorsed by leaders of the eight organizations that head EIT, a broad coalition of evangelical organizations and leaders that advocate for immigration reform consistent with biblical values.

Those leaders include Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Conventions Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; Samuel Rodriguez, an Assemblies of God pastor and head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; retiring National Association of Evangelicals President Leith Anderson; Edgar Sandoval, president of the evangelical humanitarian agency World Vision U.S.; and Scott Arbeiter, who heads NAEs humanitarian arm World Relief.

The book comes as a 2015 LifeWay Research poll found that just 12 percent of evangelicals cited the Bible as the primary influence of their opinions on immigration. Evangelicals were more likely to cite the media, local church and national Christian leaders as influencers in their immigration opinions.

Evangelicals in the U.S. are challenged to be guided by Scripture in their approach and thinking about the hot-button issue of immigration policy, one of many political issues dividing the nation.

Though the Bible certainly includes principles that can help guide lawmakers, the Scriptures also speak to every follower of Jesus as they interact with their neighbors, some of whom are immigrants, the book states.

In fact, while applying biblical principles to public policy inherently requires some prudential determinations, biblical teachings about how to interact with immigrants themselves leave less space for differences of interpretation: Were called to love our neighbors (Luke 10:27) and to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19), regardless of where we land on public policy.

The book outlines the six principles from the Evangelical Statement of Principles for Immigration Reform, which was drafted in 2012 and affirmed by thousands of pastors and other Christian leaders, that can be played out in the public policy context. It calls for a policy that respects the God-given dignity of every person.

The belief in human dignity should lead Christians to desire human life being protected. Playing out in the immigration context, Christians would insist that our government provide a safe haven for refugees fleeing tyrannical governments or terrorist groups who are seeking to do them harm.

Its a reason that U.S. asylum laws, which guide the government not to send someone back to a situation of danger, are so vital, the book reads.

The EIT has long been critical of the Trump administration over its drastic cuts to the number of refugees being resettled to the United States. The evangelical leaders feel that the U.S. should be a place where people with a credible fear of persecution across the globe can come to seek refuge.

The Obama administration resettled nearly 85,000 refugees in the fiscal year 2016, Obamas last full year in office. By comparison, just 22,491 refugees were resettled in the fiscal year 2018.

Belief in human dignity also calls on Christians to think about how they talk about illegal immigrants.

Even referring to immigrants as aliens, though that is the terminology used by many U.S. laws and by older English translations of the Bible, leads many contemporary speakers of English to conjure up Hollywood-induced images of three-headed green Martians rather than human beings made in Gods image, the book reads.

U.S. immigration policy should reflect the value of family unity, it argues, adding that government policies should prioritize the strength and unity of families.

Earlier this month, it was reported that President Donald Trump pushed to reinstate family separation policies for immigrants at the border. With polls showing that so many white evangelicals support Trump, the book wants readers to know that immigration policies should reflect family unity and seek to keep families together.

If the family truly is the core building block of our society, all American policy, including immigration policy, should prioritize the strength and unity of families, the book reads.

In seeking immigration reform, the book argues that it is key for the policy to respect the rule of law, suggesting that amnesty is not the appropriate response.

Christians can and should understand the complex reasons that people have violated immigration laws, whether they did so by crossing the border without documents or overstaying a temporary visa. But we should not condone the violation of law, because this causes the law to lose its meaning."

A diverse range of Americans believes that current U.S. immigration policies are in desperate need of reform," it adds.

The EIT advocates for the immigration system to be reformed in a way that will offer immigrants who came to the country illegally or overstayed a visa to be able to earn their way toward legal status. Deporting the millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. would be too costly.

The earned legalization process would include the payment of a fine for all adults who willfully violated U.S. immigration laws. A criminal background check would be conducted and anyone convicted of a serious crime ought to be deported.

Immigrants would be allowed temporary legal status while they prove that they are working, paying taxes and not involved in criminal activity.

If they meet all appropriate requirements, theyd eventually be able to apply to be lawful permanent residents of the United States, the book reads. Once they reach that status, they could choose to pursue the existing process for naturalization to become a U.S. citizen, which includes passing a test in English focused on the Constitution and U.S. history.

According to the book, most undocumented immigrants in U.S. churches are very eager to make things right, and they would be happy to pay a fine and meet other qualifications to eventually have the chance to be lawful permanent residents of the United States.

The book recommends that investments should be made to better secure the U.S. border to prevent illegal immigration and trafficking. It calls on elected leaders to take the challenge of border security seriously.

At the same time, it contends that the government should also respect U.S. laws that allow those with a credible fear of persecution to request asylum.

The eight leaders of the EIT are also featured in a series of six videos released along with the e-book.

EIT has regularly issued statements of concern relating to the immigration issues.

Last year, EIT leaders suggested that the Trump administrations refugee cuts could impact international religious freedom. The leaders asked the Trump administration to raise the refugee cap to 75,000 in the fiscal year 2019.

EIT leaders also spoke out last December against a proposed rule change from the Trump administration that would give the Department of Homeland Security more discretion in denying visas and green cards to immigrants deemed to be too reliant on public assistance. The leaders argued that such a rule would lead to a reduction in immigration to the U.S., especially for people applying on the basis of family ties.

The book is free to download and aims to become a resource to be used by churches, campus groups and other nonprofit purposes.
Sex, gender identity different, funeral director headed to Supreme Court over LGBT suit says

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The head of a Michigan-based funeral home sued by a former transgender employee opposed to the companys dress code maintains that, despite claims by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sex and gender identity are different.

Thomas Rost, owner of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, had an opinion column published last week by The Detroit News soon after the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in his case.

He noted that both he and a Florida-based company named Lakeland Eye Clinic were sued over the issue of defining civil rights law on the term sex to include gender identity.

EEOC accused both my business and the eye clinic of discrimination on the basis of sex  a term the agency reads to mean gender identity. The eye clinic settled. I admit that I was tempted to settle also, explained Rost.

But sex and gender identity are not the same thing. Businesses have the right to rely on what the law is at the time that they make business decisions. Employers like me shouldnt risk incurring punitive damages for following existing laws.

Rost went on to argue that he believed the EEOC was attempting to usurp Congress through trying to create drastic change through the courts.

As my former employee testified, employers would have to treat men who believe themselves to be women as women unless those employees dont meet the expectations of what females typically look like, continued Rost.

That sounds unworkable  and like its demanding that employers stereotype their own employees.

Rost went on to note that while the case has hindered his ability to pursue possible major business plans, he nevertheless was not taking it personally.

I know Ive been targeted because the EEOC wants to rewrite federal law. After all, what interest could the EEOC have in forcing small funeral homes like mine to change how we serve families mourning the loss of loved ones? Were just a means to an end, he concluded.

Rost also noted that he's a descendant of a minister who traveled to America on the Mayflower, and this "rich heritage of Christian ministry may have been part of what compelled me to serve the grieving."

Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At issue was whether Title VII applies to gender identity as it already applies to biological sex.

In September 2014, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Harris Funeral Homes over the firing of Aimee Stephens, formerly known as Anthony Stephens.

The case was one of the first legal actions the EEOC took on behalf of transgender individuals alleging sex discrimination against an employer.

In August of 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Sean F. Cox ruled in favor of Harris, ruling that the funeral home was protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

However, in March 2018, a three judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the lower court and concluded that Rost unlawfully discriminated against Stephens.

Last October, the Trump administration filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the funeral home, arguing that "the court of appeals misread the statute and this Court's decisions in concluding that Title VII encompasses discrimination on the basis of gender identity."
'I've lost two kids to the trans cult, I want them back': An anguished mom shares her journey

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In December, a therapist told a tormented Lynn Meagher that she should practice self-care, have a support network, and go to the emergency room if she wanted to kill herself.

The counselor then proceeded to make her feel guilty for supposedly being a judgmental person and essentially blamed her for her woes.

This harsh therapy session cost Meagher $160.

The Christian Post connected with the Seattle-area mom in January when she was in Washington, D.C., and followed up with a subsequent Skype interview. She is sharing her personal journey and experiences with CP because the public does not know what parents endure. The prevailing narrative coming out of purportedly mainstream media outlets uncritically promotes gender transition and everything that comes with it, including parents who are celebrating their child's new identity as the opposite sex.

This is her story.

Crushed beyond belief, Meagher went home and spent several days bedridden, nearly paralyzed with heartache.

At the recommendation of a friend, she had gone in to see this particular counselor for help in processing her confusion and sadness after her 23-year-old daughter, Emily (not her real name) informed her that she no longer wanted to be in a relationship and asked that she not try to contact her. Emily believed she was transgender and had changed her name to Evan, began taking testosterone, and was going through life as though she was a man.

Emily is the second of Meagher's children to identify as transgender.

In 2003, Meagher's son, Daniel (not his real name), who is now 36 and has legally changed his name to Daniella, came home on leave from the Navy at Christmas and announced he had always wanted to be a woman. Approximately two years later he traveled to Thailand and had his genitals amputated, got breast implants, and had his Adam's apple shaved down, which is called a chondrolaryngoplasty. Daniel was ultimately kicked out of the military because it was said that he had a personality disorder. Meagher also has a third child, a daughter, Anna (not her real name), who is 22.

Meagher is using her real name in this article and not a pseudonym  as others with similar stories have done  because she feels she must be courageous given the current state of affairs. Because her children are not minors, she faces no potential legal repercussions as has been the case in several jurisdictions around the country when parents refuse to go along with their children's self-determined "gender identity" and the accompanying therapies, medical practices and surgical interventions.

"The reason I am choosing to speak publicly is because I want people to be aware of the grief and loss that many parents experience. I have talked with many parents who describe their lives as a horror film. Watching your child struggle is one thing. Watching them reject their body, insist they are now a different person, a different sex, demand hormone treatments and a new identity, it's unbelievably difficult," Meagher said in a February interview.

"Add to that the fact that it's nearly impossible to get help either for yourself or your child that's not transgender-affirming, and help your child to actually sort out their issues, and parents are isolated in this grief."

Daniel becomes Daniella

Meagher lost contact with her son for nearly a decade after he came out as transgender. She reconnected with him in 2013, which was a struggle because she didn't feel she could call him "she" or a woman, and use his preferred female name while remaining true to her beliefs  particularly that sex cannot be changed and no amount of cosmetic surgery can alter biology.

"I did the best I could to have a relationship with him where I just loved him for himself, and was hoping that we could just disagree on what we disagreed with and love each other anyway," Meagher said.

They managed a workable relationship until the spring of 2016 when he asked her a "litmus test" type of question about a pending bill in the state related to whether bathrooms and other single-sex intimate spaces should be opened on the basis of "gender identity." When she didn't answer the way he wanted, he wrote her out of his life, she explained.

Meagher only saw her son one time after the 2016 presidential election. It was at a coffee shop where he called her a "fascist" several times. He had met her to ask if he could obtain a copy of her birth certificate. Meagher was born in Canada and he was exploring the possibility of moving there in light of Donald Trump winning.

"I didn't even want to discuss these issues with him. I felt like he was allowed to believe what he wanted to believe and be who he was but I wasn't allowed the same thing, to be who I had always been. I wasn't allowed to be me. I had to change what I believed in order to be acceptable to him," Meagher said.

The mother of three describes herself as a Bible-believing Christian with conservative-leaning political views.

Daniel started telling other family members and siblings what a horrible person Meagher was. Whenever he was around he would manage to control the family dynamics in order to forbid her from being present. She missed out on family events like her daughter's graduation, holidays and birthdays. To Meagher's bewilderment, somehow he was able to manipulate everyone, ensuring that she was always excluded. The only times Meagher could see her daughters was when he wasn't around.

Meagher and her husband got divorced in 2015. Emily presently lives with her dad, Meagher's ex-husband.

Becoming trans has not helped her son, she maintained.

Although he is "extremely brilliant" he remains unemployed and has never been able to hold a steady job, she told CP. "And he's pretty unhappy, he has a lot of anxiety. He's basically one break-up with his partner  who is also a trans-identified male  away from being homeless. If that relationship were to break up I really don't know what he would do because he doesn't have gainful employment.

"He doesn't have a vagina. He has a wound," a physical and a psychological one, she said.

How Emily became Evan

Emily, who is now 24, is also a brilliant, "really, really bright" person, Meagher said of her daughter.

"She's extremely gifted, artistic. She can write, she can draw. Musically, she can pick up any instrument and play it. She's got all these gifts."

But middle and high school was a struggle for her and she struggled to fit in with her peers, "like a lot of bright kids do."

When she was 15 and 16, it was particularly bad as she dealt with depression and was self-harming by cutting herself.

Meagher never saw any sign of gender confusion in her daughter. For a season she came out of her room dressed in men's clothes. But when she inquired why she was dressing like a man, Emily told her the clothes were simply more comfortable. During that same season, she would often emerge from her room looking different, wearing makeup and a variety of hairstyles. Meagher attributed this to her daughter's extensive creativity. Emily at one point wanted to be a special effects make-up artist.

"I used to joke that every day was Halloween because she'd come out looking different every day," she said, chuckling. "I didn't say anything about it except 'Hey, how are ya?'"

Soon enough she was wearing girls' clothes again.

June 10, 2018, was the last time Meagher saw Emily, and when they were together her daughter had on a skirt and "looked pretty."

"We went out for a really nice dinner, had a good time, she told me she loved me, and then I dropped her off at her dad's house," Meagher recounted.

Meagher then left the country and spent several weeks in Liberia. When she returned she texted Emily and received either brush-off replies or got no response at all. Meagher started becoming concerned, wondering why Emily was avoiding her and started intuiting that something was wrong but didn't know what it was. As time went by and the pattern of Emily saying, "I'm sorry, I'm busy" continued, her worries mounted.

In October, Meagher found out Emily had legally changed her name to Evan. She then managed to get her on the phone and heard her voice for the first time in over three months.

"It was deep. It was not her voice," Meagher lamented.

Emily did not know her mother had found out about the name change and when Meagher heard her voice she knew she was on testosterone. When she asked her what was going on with her voice, Emily told her she had a cold. A few days later, Meagher called her workplace and asked to speak with Evan, and was informed that "he" was not there at the moment and was asked if she wanted to leave "him" a message.

"And then I knew for absolute sure that she was living as a male person ... and that was pretty devastating," Meagher said.

"I felt I was living in a dream, a nightmare," she added, thinking to herself, "Is this really happening? What is going on?"

She could talk to no one about this, as her siblings and father were going along with it to varying degrees and were supportive of Emily's transition.

"I can't even describe what it's like to see your own child's face with the opposite gender superimposed on it. It's just ... I can't even describe it. It's really hard. They still look like your child but kind of not. It's like they are still there but are behind this gender thing," Meagher said.

She tried not to think about it, but couldn't help but wonder as she lied awake at night thinking about what Emily would look like with a bearded face and a masculine haircut. On one such night soon after that phone call, Meagher realized she would likely never hear her daughter's voice again.

"Testosterone has permanent effects," she explained, "and one of the effects is that it deepens the voice and often that is permanent even if you go off of it. Your voice is never going to be the same again."

Growth of body and facial hair is another such permanent effect.

"It hit me then and it still hits me a lot that I'm never going to hear her voice again. And a lot of times I'll close my eyes and try to remember what her pre-testosterone voice sounds like. Because I'm really afraid that I'm going to forget what her voice sounds like and I'm pretty sure I'm never going to hear it again," she said.

"And that makes me unbelievably sad."

Another loss she has felt acutely is her daughter's rejection of her own name. If she was to call her by her given name, "Emily," that is now considered "dead-naming," which transgender activists say is a form of psychological abuse.

"So now, her name that we gave her is now something she considers hateful," she said.

Emily soon also changed her phone number, so Meagher sent her an email telling her that she wanted to be in her life and that she loved her.

A devastating letter in the mail

A week later when Meagher went to retrieve the mail, she found a letter from Emily waiting for her in the mailbox, printed on computer paper. The note was five brief sentences.

To Mom:

This is difficult to write but I feel the time is right to do it. I don't believe it is good or healthy for me to maintain our relationship. I will not be initiating further contact with you and ask that you respect my wish for no further contact. Please avoid attempting to get in touch with me through phone, social media, in-person contact, or through third parties like Anna, Dad, or family friends. I wish you well and hope you find peace and happiness in your future.

Emily/Evan

Upon reading it Meagher froze, and it was as though someone had stomped on her heart.

"It was like the bottom fell out of the world," she elaborated.

A friend came over and Meagher fell apart.

"So she has a new name and a new voice. But the other thing we have is this new relationship now which is that we don't have a relationship anymore," Meagher said.

Emily knows her mom disagrees with transgender ideology, disagreement Meagher senses Emily considers as disapproval of her. But that's such a misunderstanding of how she feels, Meagher stressed.

"It's not that I don't approve, it's that I just don't think transing herself is going to solve her problems. And I know this is not going to bring happiness into her life. This is going to bring hardship, a lifetime of medical treatments. I know transitioning is an empty promise."

Meagher knows where her daughter works and lives but that could soon change and then she won't have any knowledge of her whereabouts or how she's doing. She is fairly sure her daughter is saving money to have her breasts removed.

"I especially don't want to see her get a mastectomy and stay on testosterone. This is going to be a heavy, heavy chain to put around her neck for the rest of her life. For her to have to wear that ... it just grieves me more than I have words for. It's a grief that I just can't tell you how hard it is," she said.

"It's almost worse than a death because she's alive but not with me at all."

Five days of torture, 'a unique kind of hell'

Days after receiving the letter she was "overwhelmingly, excruciatingly upset," she said, "in a kind of indescribable grief-shock."

It was then when she visited the counselor who shamed her for being such a supposedly awful, uncaring person. After that appointment, she went home, climbed into bed, and didn't get up for five days.

"You know how when you have the flu, and you don't take a bath, you don't eat, and night turns into day and it doesn't matter, you just lay in bed and feel sick all day? I literally was in bed sobbing nonstop for five days. And the only thing I could think about was that I wish I didn't have to stay alive anymore because I could not imagine how I could ever be happy again or how the world could go on with this being the reality, with my daughter not wanting to be my daughter anymore," Meagher said.

During those five days, memories of Emily's childhood returned. She thought about all the fun they had on road trips, riding horses, and swimming at the pool during the summers.

"All those cherished moments of her life, they kept going through my head. And I just couldn't believe that all of that was over. That she really didn't want to be my daughter," she said.

She knew of no childhood trauma that could have led Emily to think she needed to escape her pain and attempt to become the opposite sex. And she considers her daughter's upbringing to be relatively normal with the usual ups and downs.

Afraid she would find a way to commit suicide, Meagher made another appointment with another counselor.

When she walked into the second counselor's office she noticed the therapist appeared to be very worried. Indeed she was as she told Meagher to phone a friend and arrange to have someone stay with her or she was going to have to go to the psychiatric hospital immediately. Those were her only choices and she insisted Meagher must not be alone.

Meagher subsequently made an appointment with a medical doctor and soon began taking antidepressants. Her friends were worried about her too. Many would come over to her house and sit on the bed with her as she cried.

"They would text me, they would call me. I had one friend who came over every single day, took me out for walks, took me out to eat, took me out for motorcycle rides. Anything to get me out of the house," she said.

She would often try to cheer herself up when friends would come over but when they left she would collapse and cry some more.

"I can't imagine feeling worse than that. Any worse than that it would be dead. It was torture," she said.

"I couldn't go to church, I couldn't worship, couldn't pray or read the Bible. I couldn't believe that God was letting this happen to me. And I've never felt that way about Him. I'd never felt so angry at Him. I was like, 'How and why? I don't understand this,' and 'What have I ever done to deserve this kind of pain?'"

The experience of losing her children has been a "unique kind of hell," she told CP, adding that she still can't understand any of it.

After weeks of not being able to leave the house, she finally mustered up the courage to go to church again. But she ended up sitting in the back row weeping throughout the service.

"I couldn't sing. I couldn't make my voice say those words. I couldn't do it," she said.

As she cried, fellow parishioners would come and sit next to her and hold her. Then she would go home and cry some more. How long does processing grief take when there appears to be no end to it, she has often wondered.

Meagher has some hope her daughter will desist to her biological sex and realize there is nothing wrong with her body. But she admitted she has no idea if or when that will happen. And she has no idea what she might yet have to watch or hear about in relation to her daughter's suffering in the meantime. The guilt she feels that her parenting was so inadequate such that two of her children came to believe they were the opposite sex has been "crippling" at times, she noted.

"I have over and over replayed angry words, failings, things I could have done better or differently. I could have been a better listener, I could have been different or better. But I did the best I could. I'm certainly not any kind of a superhero person. I'm just a mom," Meagher said.

"I did torture myself for quite a while thinking that I had done something that had made my child go drastically wrong. That God had given me this beautiful baby and there was nothing wrong with her and by the time she was with me through her childhood she was all messed up and that it was probably my fault."

Meagher no longer believes that is true but does think Emily blames her for many things.

"I'm grieving because I've lost her. And every hope I've had for having a relationship that I wanted to have with her and watching her grow into a young lady. ... I'm just devastated because she's hurting herself and I can't help her. There's nothing I can do," she mourned.

"She's under the influence of people that she has met online. She's under the influence of a cult that is teaching her that her body is not OK, that the only way she can solve her pain is to take hormones and get surgery, and that her family is the problem. That I'm her problem."

While some are reluctant to refer to transgenderism as a "cult," per se, Meagher has no qualms labeling it as such.

"There's not a lot you can do when someone is under the influence of cult thinking or to reason with them or change their thoughts, because I know she really believes this now," she said.

Her son does too.

"I think one of the things that has harmed my son the most is that he no longer has to take responsibility for anything in his life," she said.

She told him on one occasion that he was really smart, had a lot of marketable skills, and urged him to find a job. Before he broke off all contact she called him one day and he told her he was bored so he had written a web browser which was fully functional.

"This is a smart kid. But he's never held a job," Meagher said.

He told her: "Nobody will hire trans people."

"Well, especially trans people who don't apply for jobs," Meagher observed.

"He doesn't have to try to get a job, he doesn't have to live as an adult, to get along with people because anybody who doesn't get along with him, it is because they're mean to him because he's trans. It's not because of anything he did. So he has morphed himself into a white middle-class male to a victimized minority. And so now nothing is his fault."

Her other daughter, Anna, has never shown signs of identifying as transgender, but fully supports her sister's transition, believes in the ideology, and has referred to Emily as "my brother" in her mother's presence.

"I think if she had to choose between her siblings and me I would not win. I'm on probation. So far, I still have a relationship with her but I don't know how long it's going to last. I could lose that too," Meagher said.

"My relationship with my kids is about as bad as it can get."

A glimmer of hope, newfound allies, and friends

Even as her familial relationships have been wrecked, Meagher is encouraged that the tide seems to be starting to turn as more people awaken to the documented horrors inherent in transgender medicine, such as healthy 13-year-old girls undergoing mastectomies and cross-sex hormones being given to young children through an NIH-funded research grant.

And she now has a cadre of new allies accompanying her on the journey, friends she did not expect to make given profound differences in their political views.

Earlier this year she traveled to Washington, D.C., to take part in several days of action with a few British women's rights campaigners who flew across the Atlantic to speak to legislators and collaborate with American women from the Women's Liberation Front, a radical feminist organization that is actively fighting gender identity ideology and resisting trans activism.

Among those present were Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull  who goes by the name Posie Parker  of Standing for Women, Venice Allan of We Need to Talk, and Julia Long, a lesbian feminist academic who is now writing a book on transgenderism.

Parker, Allan, and Long have been at the forefront of resisting transactivism in England amid intensifying debate in their country as the government considers revising the Gender Recognition Act to allow persons to merely self-identify their gender without any medical documentation showing that they've undergone a surgical procedure of some kind.

"I got lots of Posie hugs and lots of Venice hugs. I got lots of hugs," Meagher said, chuckling and smiling big. While in the nation's capital she was able to share her story with the British activists and other moms who are in similar predicaments. Meagher credits Parker, Allan, Long, the women of WoLF, and many others she met for making her even braver.

The feminists have understood her and cared for her in a way that has surprised her.

"When I would meet with these women and share my story with them they would just hold me and say, 'I'm so sorry,'" Meagher recounted.

As part of their activities on Capitol Hill, she attended a Jan. 28 panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation hosted by scholar Ryan Anderson, who has written extensively on transgenderism and the harms transgender ideology causes.

Although Heritage is a politically conservative think tank, the panelists were entirely left-wing and feminist voices, including Julia Beck, a lesbian feminist who was kicked off the Baltimore city mayor's LGBTQ commission for "misgendering" and using male pronouns in reference to a male rapist. Beck's remarks that day on the panel outlining how lesbians have been abused by trans-identified males and also explained how many young women are now being sterilized and surgically maimed for not complying with sex stereotypes moved many in the audience to tears, including Meagher.

The two had met and gotten acquainted before the event and after it concluded they found each other and hugged.

"We were just holding each other crying and saying, 'I love you, I love you so much,'" Meagher said, remembering the moment.

"Julia looked at me and she said: 'I did that for you. The whole time I was sitting there I was thinking of you,'" she recalled, grateful.

The feminists possess a deep understanding of how grievous this is, Meagher continued.

"My friends from home, they care about me. They think this is all really bad, really sad. But they don't get how bad it is. They're not grieved about it enough to do anything about it. They don't get that this is a national emergency. They're not stirred to that even though they're watching this happen to me. I think they just don't know what to do. If they knew what to do they'd do it. But it's not causing them pain."

By contrast, most of the lesbians and feminists she met have known that pain in concrete ways, she said, and because of that, they can easily relate.

"They understand my grief, abandonment, and betrayal in a way that my Christian friends, who, though they support me and are wonderful in so many ways and I'm definitely not slamming them as uncaring because they do care, don't. So I was finding myself in solidarity with these rad fems and lesbians and it was actually pretty powerful."

A mother she met and conversed with in Washington, D.C., gave her a jar of homemade orange marmalade, something she said she started making years ago to turn her own bitterness into something sweet. She encouraged Meagher to find a way to do something like that.

Buoyed by that advice, Meagher now has dreams of creating a retreat center of some kind where parents who have suffered from this can come together to talk and recover from the trauma of losing their children to transgender medicalization and identities, something she believes is an assignment from God.

"The bottom line is that I've lost two kids to the trans 'cult.' I want them back. This ideology ruins and corrupts everything it touches. We can't compromise or give an inch to it. And I'm willing to do whatever I can, and talk to and work with whoever will listen to me and help me," Meagher said. "And I don't hate my children, as complete strangers and transgender activists will say. Because I don't affirm them in this and that, I'm supposedly contributing to their potential suicides. No, I love them with all my heart. I just can't affirm this lie."

"This absolutely is a national emergency. Somehow, we've got to stop this," she reiterated.
Pastor of gunman in Calif. synagogue shooting calls it horrible act of evil

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The pastor of the church that a 19-year-old who shot-up a California synagogue attended denounced the shooting as an act of evil and said that the shooting was a shock to his congregation.

Zach Keele is a pastor at Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church, where John Earnest, the suspect in the shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue in San Diego, attended.

Keele told CNN on Sunday that while Earnest was an attendee, he did not attend Sunday School or youth group. He also explained that he and his church were shocked to learn of the attack.

This is a complete surprise. He was quiet, kept to himself, sweet guy. We had no idea. This a surprise to all of us, explained Keele.

Keele gave his condolences to the victims, adding that it just saddens us that this horrible act of evil could come from someone we know.

It is not part of our beliefs, our practices, our teachings in any way. Our hearts, our prayers, our tears go out to the victims. To all those wonderful neighbors at the synagogue, we pray for them, stated Keele.

We believe in lifting high the love of Christ to all people  men, women, old and young from every tribe and denomination.

On the last day of Passover, a gunman entered the Chabad synagogue and opened fire, killing one woman and wounding three others, including the congregations rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein.

Despite being wounded, Rabbi Goldstein wrapped his injured hand with a prayer shawl and addressed his congregation after the shooter had fled, according to Time magazine.

We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall. We will not let anyone take us down. Terrorism like this will not take us down, he stated, as reported by Time.

The woman who died has been identified as Lori Kaye, 60. She was shot when she stepped between the gunman and the rabbi. Goldstein paid tribute to her on Sunday, saying she was "the example of kindness to the fullest extent," according to CNN.

The injured were treated at a nearby hospital for gun and shrapnel wounds, with officials reporting on Sunday that all three had been discharged from the facility.

Soon after the shooting, Earnest was detained by authorities after his vehicle was spotted by a San Diego police officer on his way to the synagogue.

David Jeremiah, senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California, expressed condolences.

"Poway is a community close to Turning Point and Shadow Mountain Community Church. Our prayers are with the victims and their families and for all the Jewish people throughout this city, this country, and the world," said Jeremiah in a statement.

"The Christian community stands firmly and compassionately behind our Jewish brothers and sisters, and we condemn hatred against anyone, especially those with their heads bowed in prayer, as those in Poway were, celebrating the last day of Passover. May God be close to those who have suffered this terrible tragedy."

President Donald Trump, who has Jewish family members, expressed his deepest sympathies.

We're some doing very heavy research  We'll see what happens, what comes up. At this moment it looks like a hate crime, but my deepest sympathies to all those affected and we'll get to the bottom of it," Trump stated.

Trump also spoke on the phone with Rabbi Goldstein, who described the president as "comforting."

"Im really grateful to our president for taking the time and making that effort to share with us his comfort and consolation," the rabbi said.
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After shooting and killing a security guard outside the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, a man entered the bar and proceeded to gun down security guards and employees. He then opened fire on the crowd that had gathered for college night. This attack comes on the heels of the mass shooting on October 27th at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh during their Shabbat morning services.

The Thousand Oaks shooting is yet another senseless act of mass violence which has left communities and churches around the country asking how they might respond to their family, friends and neighbors who are experiencing unimaginable loss from these events.

In the wake of the 2015 Umpqua Community College mass shooting in Oregon, Reverend Steve Walker, lead pastor at Redeemer's Fellowship in Roseburg, Oregon, played an important role in the community's recovery process. I spoke with pastor Walker, in search of insights about how the Christian community can best extend support to those who suffer in the wake of mass shootings like the Thousand Oaks, California tragedy.

Aten: How should Christians, and pastors in particular, respondand lead their communitiesafter a mass shooting?

Walker: When a tragedy occurs in your community, it seizes their hearts and minds. The first decision most pastors had to make was whether or not to address what happened, and how much time to give to it. Since the mass shooting at Umpqua occurred on a Thursday, many pastors chose not to scrap what they had already prepared, but simply to acknowledge the event through a prayer for the victims and families. But I think most people could not tear their attention away from what had happenedan event so troubling and out of the ordinary that people weeks from that time were still trying to believe it had really happened. So, Sunday being three days away from the event, I doubt if anyone was listening to anything any pastor said if they weren't addressing the event.

I gathered our Lead Team together and after some prayer and pondering, we decided to cancel our Men's Retreat scheduled for that weekend, cancel the normal services (we have four), and start from scratch to create a service to address the tragedy.

Aten: What kinds of questions are people asking after an event like this?

Walker: One of the NBC reporters wanted to get my take on the shooting and what I was going to say. As we walked down our main street downtown with cameras rolling, I simply said, "I'm going to answer the questions everyone is asking." He jerked his head around and asked, "Which are...?" I said, "Why did this happen? And how should we respond?"

When tragedy strikes, we should articulate the questions to shape the public discussion. The discussion isn't about guns or gun laws, or the motive of the shooter, or the security of the Umpqua Community College Campus, but of the broader and bigger questions of life: why do these things happen? If there is a God, and if he is good and powerful, why would he stand by and watch a kid shoot innocent victims in a classroom?

Aten: Does the church have any helpful answers when so many people are asking these kinds of philosophical questions, and also personal questions about how to respond?

Walker: There are biblical answers to both questions, though they may poke people who hear them. I don't think a crisis is a good time to teach apologetics, but it is a wake-up call to realize evil exists, and we can't exile God from our lives and then wonder where he is when life falls apart. We need to say these things lovingly and clearly to show that bad things happen because we live in a broken world, and we have seen it first hand.

Church shouldn't be the place where people come only to hear how terrible things are. It ought to be a place where people meet the Living God, and hear His promises of hope for a new world. In between the tragedy and the Kingdom are days where we need His help and strength, his love and forgiveness, his perspective and hope.

Aten: I suspect some Christians are tempted to offer easy answers. But what's the alternative?

Walker: The last place in the world I want to be in the midst of a tragedy is putting on a show where everyone wants to cry and no one dares to do so. If Ithe pastor or helperam real, if I am vulnerable and transparent, if I can acknowledge what I know and what is confusing and don't know, it allows others to process and be real too.
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Shadows are gathering over North Carolina. Clouds are approaching. The passion for gaining riches is set to cast a pall across the land. But our eyes have grown so accustomed to the darkness that its possible well ignore the ominous tempest which it forebodes.

Only a few weeks ago, a Boeing jet plane crashed, and 157 people were killed. Directly after that, Boeing Max 8 planes like the one involved in the crash were shut down worldwide. Yet excessive alcohol use leads to 241 deaths every day and 2.5 million years of potential life lost every year in the United States. In North Carolina the stats reveal 360 deaths and more than 3000 years of potential life lost annually, and despite these horrific figures hardly anyone bats an eye.

Object to a legislative proposal that would dangerously make alcohol more accessible, and you are apt to be looked at as someone from the Flat Earth Society. Even most Christian organizations have given up on addressing the alcohol issue. One highly esteemed Christian activist has written a book that is a veritable encyclopedia on social issues of concern to evangelicals, but there isnt a word about alcohol. When was the last time you heard your pastor speak about alcohol use and abuse from the pulpit? If you did, it was probably just in a passing reference and certainly not an entire sermon.

You see, the darkness is so thick with LGBTQ advances, pro-choice contentions, religious liberty issues  issues we deem much weightier  it hardly seems consequential we should be concerned about alcohol and its related harms.

Nevertheless, whats too outdated, whats not urgent enough, whats not Christian enough, about resisting policies that celebrate, as well as perpetuate, the reckless use of a commodity that blasts character, weakens minds, breaks up the home, and produces crime and poverty?

Is it not also our patriotic duty as Christians to suppress forces that debase the citizenry whom the state governs and upon which all social and political groups depend for security, welfare, health, and happiness?

Christians may be divided over the question of whether to drink or not. But surely there should be unanimity on whether Christians support and work for policies that minimize and reduce alcohol-related harms. So why arent more Christians doing it?

Perhaps many fail to understand the depth and vast scope of alcohol-related problems? The list seems almost endless. There are serious diseases, disorders, injuries, social and legal troubles that flow from alcohol abuse and the irresponsible public policies which exacerbate it.

Without listing these harms, one might consider the situation in this way. Almost everyone has someone, either in their immediate family or part of their extended family, negatively impacted by an alcohol-related crisis. Think about it. Nearly every family has been in some fashion adversely affected. Is there anything with a more solemn distinction? Hardly!

Shadows are growing over the Old North State, and clouds are approaching. There is a storm on the horizon because certain lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly assume its a new day and that few people care about the alcohol issue anymore.

They believe there now exists a vacuum where resistance once abode, and they intend to fill that void with policies based in faulty and fictious notions of economic expansion. These proposals allow for greater alcohol outlet density, increased access to alcohol on college campuses, expanded days and hours of sale on Sundays, reduced prices which encourage over-consumption, new venues of sale such as state ferries, and the dismantling of mechanisms that work to keep the alcohol industry accountable, provide efficient alcohol tax collection, protect the public from tainted products, and preserve the overall publics health and safety. Some of these legislative initiatives have already passed one chamber and are soon to be taken-up in the next.

Read Related Story:State Lawmakers Exceedingly Careless About Proposals for Alcohol Deregulation

As early as Tuesday, April 30th, the N.C. House ABC Committee will consider HB 536  ABC Omnibus Regulatory Reform. This bill may be the worst alcohol proposal in state history. The legislation is 16 pages in length and contains 26 different provisions, two-thirds of which would be categorized as hazardous by decades of alcohol research.

Another bill that was filed this week, HB 971-Modern Licensure Model for Alcohol Control, would privatize the sale of liquor in this state.

The title of the bill itself is deceptive. To insinuate there can be the same level of alcohol control with privatization as with the states current ABC system is an argument devoid of any scientific verifications.

The arguments for privatization are largely rhetorical, with little to no basis in fact. Such contentions are espoused by the uninformed, those who hold libertine philosophies, or those with vested interests in the alcohol industry. Make no mistake, when proponents of privatization call for modernization, they mean liberalizing our laws  removing safeguards at the expense of social welfare.

Shadows are amassing over the Tar Heel state. The demons conspire while we are distracted and not paying attention, and when we trust politicians to guard the best interests of their constituents. But we cannot afford to forget that evil forces are constantly working. As Pearl S. Buck warned, It is when good people [good citizens] in any country cease their vigilance and struggle that evil men prevail.

Yes, pro-life bills are very important. Religious liberty measures are critical, as well as other legislative concerns that bear heavily on the evangelical conscience.

But alcohol issues matter too!

It is not hyperbole to assert that an alcohol policy has within it the power of life or death, happiness or hopelessness, health or hell.

No one here is calling for Prohibition. Nonetheless, pastors, churches, and other Christian groups should call for the preservation and promotion of the best alcohol policies - those that sufficiently function to protect public health and safety. And without exception, concerned Christians in North Carolina should act now by contacting their state lawmakers in opposition to the bills previously sited.

To do anything less is not Christian and is a dereliction of Christian duty and citizenship. To do anything less and without zeal is to leave others, our neighbors to whom we are called to love as ourselves, to be caught in the storm.

Call to Action:

First, pray. The first and most important action to take is to pray. In Isaiah 43:22, the Lord charged his people with a glaring omission, saying, [T]hou hast not called upon me, O Jacob. How unthinkable to boast of being Gods people, the Church, and then we dont pray about matters. All the evangelism, all the Christian activism, in the world cannot move anything unless God decides to move upon the circumstances. Please pray that God will move upon our states lawmakers to resist and vote down these awful alcohol policies that will unquestionably injure so many. Pray.

Second, share. Share this editorial and its Call to Action with your friends, your pastor, and church. Share it with anyone else you think might be sympathetic with its stated concerns. Post it on your Facebook page. (Its link is currently on the homepage of the Christian Action Leagues website.) Forward it to the people on your email list. Sometimes citizen Christians dont respond because they dont know. Share.

Third, contact. Contact your state Representative, preferably by email and phone to kindly express your dissatisfaction with these two bills:

HB 536  ABC Omnibus Regulatory Reform.

HB 971-Modern Licensure Model for Alcohol Control,

If you dont know who represents you in the North Carolina House, go to this link on the NCGA website: https://www.ncleg.gov/RnR/Representation

Then, do the following:

Click on NC House in the left margin.

Enter your residence address in the box in the right margin.

Look back at where you first clicked on NC House in the left margin again, and you should see your House District sited and your State Representatives name listed beside it.

Click on the name of your state Representative. It should provide you with his or her contact information.

Save this information to your computer so it will be easily accessible for future reference.

Contact your state Representative and urge him or her to vote against HB 536 and HB 971.

Contact.

This might take you a few minutes. But think of all that Christ did to save you. Certainly, you can give a little of your time and effort to bring redemption to others.

Dont be cynical. This kind of action really can make a difference.

Stay tuned. Well keep you informed, not only about these alcohol measures, but also several important pro-life bills too.

Rev. Mark H. Creech is executive director of the Raleigh-based Christian Action League of North Carolina Inc.
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Bethany Christian Services, the largest Christian adoption and foster agency in the U.S., recently faced a gut-wrenching decision. Either change its policy and begin placing foster children with same-sex couplesor lose the more than 1,000 foster care contracts the agency had with the state of Michigan.

Bethany chose the former. And now the 60-year-old agency committed to equipping families to be the answer for children . . . as Christ intended will place foster children with LGBT couples.

The agency insisted this does not represent a change to its mission or Christian beliefs. In a Christianity Today op-ed, Bethany CEO Chris Palusky described the decision as the only compassionate option: (W)e faced a choice: Continue caring for hurting children in foster care or let our disappointment with government requirements supersede our compassion for kids who have suffered and need a loving family.

I can understand Pulaskys desire to help children in the foster care system. These often abused and neglected children desperately need Christian compassion and care.

But Paluskys response is deeply troubling. Palusky does what so many Christians do when asked to compromise their stance on biblical sexual ethics. He presents a false dichotomy that frames the decision in such a way that makes refusing to compromise ones principles seem downright cruel.

Yet Bethany wasnt being asked to choose between giving precedence to caring for hurting children or its disappointment with government requirements; it was being asked to choose between standing on principle or caving to the demands of a secular state.

Though I grieve that needy kids may be hurt, it wont be because Christian agencies stuck to their beliefs and mission; it will be because the secular state sacrificed the well-being of children for the imagined virtue of political correctness.

As Christians, who believe that Gods design for marriage and family is critical to the well-being of children, can succumbing to the states redefinition of marriage ever truly be the compassionate choice?

When I heard of Bethanys decision, I couldnt help but think of a story I reported years ago concerning foster care in Illinois. In 2011, Illinois passed the Freedom of Religion and Civil Union Act. And like what Michigan just did, Illinois canceled all its contracts with Illinois agencies that refused to place foster children with same-sex couples.

Hit especially hard by this ruling was a small Christian foster care and adoption agency called the Evangelical Child and Family Agency (ECFA). At the time, the ECFA had 242 foster children in its program and foster care contracts comprised about 70% of the ECFAs revenue.

Interestingly, the ECFA said it never had a same-sex couple apply to the organization to provide foster care. But if a same-sex couple had applied, the ECFA would have referred the couple to one of several other agencies that would have helped them.

Regardless, the state gave the ECFA an ultimatum: comply with the states new requirement or have its foster care contracts canceled. Cancellation meant that the ECFA would have to lay off 37 staff and face a very uncertain future. Yet thats precisely what the ECFA did.

Our mission is to place children in evangelical Christian homes, Ken Withrow, executive director of ECFA, told me. We chose not to change our mission and our vision, regardless of what else was happening in government or society.

This resulted in a very difficult year for the ECFA. But in Gods providence, soon after the ECFA lost its foster care contracts, the state began calling on the agency to meet another need.

Apparently, the state had decided to outsource many of its cases in its Intact Family Services Program and asked the ECFA to take on a heavier load. (Intact Family Services is a program designed to intervene with families in crisis so that children can remain safely in their homes.)

In three years, the ECFAs Intact Family Services caseload had tripled and the agency was able to begin hiring back some staff members the agency had let go. Now ECFA is running at about half the revenue it was in 2011, as opposed to 30-percent. The transition has been hard, but Withrow says he doesnt regret the decision the ECFA made.

Today, many Christian organizations are facing, or will face, the same choice the ECFA and Bethany faced. Just last week, Catholic Social Services lost its case against the city of Philadelphia, arguing that the citys decision to cancel its foster care contract violated the groups religious freedom. Like the ECFA, Catholic Social Services chose to lose its foster care contracts rather than change its policy on placing children with LGBT couples.

The group says it will appeal the decision, but theres no guarantee the appeal will achieve the desired result. And Catholic Social Services likely will have to decidecontinue to obey Gods rules or obey mans. Hold fast to its organizations mission or capitulate to survive.

God can save needy children without Christian organizations placing kids in homes that defy Gods design. Nothing is stopping Christian couples from working with secular agencies to continue caring for foster children. But who knows? If enough Christian groups refuse to play by the states repressive rules, it may create a crisis that will force states to work with principled, Christian agencies once again.

But whatever the challenge, our answer as Christians must be the same. We cannot participate in something we believe is wrong even to achieve a desired good. The ends do not justify the means. And as Christians, we must continue doing things Gods way, trusting Him for the outcome.
A Jewish woman's sacrifice and the spirit of Deuteronomy

Christians and Jews have suffered grievously over the Pesach and Easter period, which have coincided this year. On Easter Sunday, hundreds of Christians praying on the holiest day of their year were mown down in a planned terrorist attack on several churches in Sri Lanka. And then, last Shabbat, a lone gunman attacked a Jewish Chabad synagogue congregation near San Diego in California during the 8th day celebrations which bring to an end the entire Pesach period, celebrating the redemption of the Jewish people.

All Jewish services are very well organised, with different readings from the Bible on each of the 8 days, culminating on the last day with two unsurpassed passages from the Hebrew Bible. These are the words that G-d wants us to carry with us for the rest of the year, and these are the last verses that the San Diego congregation heard before the shooting started.

It is interesting that in diaspora, (i.e. in the USA and here in the UK) we keep an extra 8th day, unlike in Israel. So, in California and here in Broughton Park, Salford, Greater Manchester, last Shabbat we read the beautiful words of Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17, which remind us what slavery and freedom are all about.

We and fellow Jews in California followed the passages from Deuteronomy with readings from Isaiah 10:32-12.6. It was after those joyous readings and just before the Yizkhor Service of Remembrance Prayers for the Dead (who we name, all those martyrs and victims of various Holocausts inflicted on us by our enemies, not to mention our dead parents and grandparents - in my case the latter were also victims of the latest Holocaust in Poland) that the shooting started.

The gunman struck between the end of these two passages and the beginning of the Yizkhor Prayer in memory of the dead, which Jews worldwide recite on the final day of our festivals.

Because Pesach is the festival which reminds us all of freedom from slavery, our readings on the 8th and final day reflect more than any other the plight of the vulnerable.

Deuteronomy 15 concentrates on the remission of debts and the manumission of slaves, and the chapter is regarded as the central affirmation of G-d's rule. It teaches that access to the blessings of G-d should be available to all members of the community, including those who, out of need and position, are least likely to enjoy these blessings.

Not only are concrete solutions to poverty included, but the parallel aim is to transform the people of Israel into a community of mutual care and concern. And the heart is paramount. Deeds are of course necessary and essential. But it is the way they are carried out that counts  Judaism being constantly aware of the problem of robotic behaviour.

Deuteronomy therefore attempts to instil in the children of Israel a sense that they are one large family, with all the care and compassion, responsibility and obligation that family ties entail.

For Judaism, and this is especially the case in Deuteronomy, socioeconomic status is meaningless. What is important is common memory of slavery and Exodus, a common blessing in the Land and a common allegiance to the G-d of Exodus and to the Land.

In California on Shabbat, Jews of all nationalities and backgrounds came together to pray: some had come from the State of Israel to escape the murderous rockets from Gaza. Last Shabbat they acted as heroes. Lori Kaye, on the other hand was a founder member of the San Diego Shul and threw herself in front of the rabbi in order to save his life. This behaviour is in the spirit of Deuteronomy.

For the Hebrew reads: 'If one of your brothers or sisters is in need in any community of yours ... you must not harden your hand nor close your hand against your needy brother or sister. Instead, you shall open open your hand ...'

The word 'open' is repeated in the Hebrew and not always adequately translated. Every letter and word of the Hebrew Bible is there for a purpose and the doubling is similar to the injunction in Deuteronomy 16:20: 'justice, justice shall you pursue.' The doubling of the word 'justice' is taken to mean both justice and mercy, or justice performed in a merciful way (the word tzedek also translating as 'charity').

So, 'open open' means don't just go through the motions of giving, but really want to give, and not only should you want to give, but you should give again and again, and you only learn this by giving again and again even when you don't feel like it.

And following on from this reading from Deuteronomy comes the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah 10:32-12:6. Isaiah 11 describes the great salvation that will come upon us at the End of Days, when 'a staff will grow from the stump of Jesse and a shoot will sprout from his roots', and I think it's worth quoting in full as the promise is so beautiful.

'The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him  a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.... He will judge the destitute with righteousness and rebuke with fairness the humble of the earth.... Righteousness will be girdle round his loins and faith will be the girdle around his waist.

'The wolf will reside with the sheep and the leopard will lie down with the kid. And the calf, the lion's whelp and a fatling together, and a young child will lead them. And the cow and the bear will graze and their young will lie down together. And the lion, like cattle, will eat hay. The suckling baby will play by a viper's hole, while the newly-weaned child will stretch his hand toward the adder's lair... For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as water covering the seabed.

'On that day the nations will come seeking the root of Jesse, who will be standing as an ensign to the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious.... It shall come to pass once again on that day that the Lord will put out his hand to recover the remnant of His people that survive .... He will raise a banner for the nations and assemble the dispersed of Israel and gather in the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth... Make this known throughout the world ... for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst.'

What the congregation in San Diego would have read just before the shooting started were these unsurpassed injunctions in Deuteronomy and Isaiah to love everybody, to give to the weak, the oppressed, the widow and the orphan, and yes, to the alien, the stranger and the foreigner as well.

In doing this, the Messianic Age will truly come, says Isaiah, when former enemies will live together in peace, because 'on that day the nations will come seeking the root of Jesse, who will be standing as an ensign to the peoples and his resting-place shall be glorious.'

Obviously, Lori Kaye, who in California on Shabbat gave her life so that others might live, had digested these words of Deuteronomy and Isaiah and carried them through. Because long after her murderer is forgotten, as well as the foul murderers in Sri Lanka, Lori's action will remain as an eternal blessing and her deeds will be recorded in the annals of Judaism for ever more, up there with all the other martyrs of our history who we remember during the annual Yizkhor Prayer which takes place every year on the final day of our joyous festivals  lest we forget.

And may that holy day of ingathering come speedily in our day, when the wolf will truly lie down with the sheep, enmity and terror cease, and there will truly be war no more.

Dr Irene Lancaster is a Jewish academic, author and translator who has established university courses on Jewish history, Jewish studies and the Hebrew Bible.
Photo: Mimura Hideki Melissa Mimura, centre, with her parents Hideki Mimura and Hiroko Mimura.

UPDATE: 4:50 a.m.

The man who crashed into a 21-year-old UBC Okanagan student on the Coquihalla Highway in 2017, killing her, pleaded guilty to driving without due care in Vancouver court Wednesday morning.

George Holowko, 69, was driving a Jeep on the icy highway just south of Merritt on April 2, 2017 when he lost control on a corner and crashed into Melissa Mimura.

Mimura had just crashed her own car, and was getting out of it, when Holowko crashed into her.

In total, 10 people involved in the multi-vehicle crash were taken to the hospital, but Mimura was the only fatality.

Wednesday morning, Holowko pleaded guilty to one count of driving without due care and attention in Vancouver court, and he was handed a $1,500 fine and ordered to pay a $225 victim surcharge.

Melissa's father said the punishment is not enough.

"Its unfair and unbalanced," said Hideki Mimura. "Even if it was his 'mistake,' someone lost a life and in that case, there should be a much more severe penalty."

Mimura, who was originally from Japan, was just two months away from graduating from UBC Okanagan. Her family had planned to fly from Japan to Kelowna to celebrate her graduation.

ORIGINAL: 5 a.m.

A man who allegedly crashed his SUV into a car on the Coquihalla in 2017, killing a young UBC Okanagan student, is expected to plead guilty to driving without due care Wednesday.

The multiple-vehicle collision occurred on the icy mountain highway just south of Merritt on the afternoon of April 2, 2017.

Melissa Mimura, 21, was involved in an initial crash on the slippery road, but she was not seriously injured in the first incident.

The young Japanese woman, set to graduate from UBC Okanagan just two months later, had been driving home to Kelowna after visiting friends in Vancouver.

Her father, Hideki Mimura, said Melissa's whole family was planning to fly from Japan to celebrate her graduation.

Following her initial crash that afternoon, Melissa exited her vehicle on the icy road. A northbound Jeep lost control as it came around a corner and hit the young woman. She died at the scene.

In total, 10 people involved in the crash were sent to the hospital. Melissa was the lone fatality.

In March of 2018, almost a year after the crash, the alleged driver of the Jeep, 69-year-old George Holowko, was charged with driving without due care and attention.

He's scheduled to appear in Vancouver court Wednesday to plead guilty, and his sentencing is expected to follow. Melissa's boyfriend and several of her friends are planning to attend the hearing.

Hideki Mimura says the Crown prosecutor in the case has told him the Crown will be asking for a fine between $1,000 and $1,500.

I was shocked that Mr. Holowko isnt even getting suspension of licence, Hideki told Castanet. Taking someones life is a very big matter and even though it was a 'mistake,' there should be heavier penalty I think.

Were still having a very hard time every day and it will continue until the last day of our lives.

Hiroko Mimura, Melissa's mother, described her daughter to the court in in her victim impact statement.

"Melissa had grown to be an admirable young woman, a companion, a confidante, a source of inspiration that brought joy to me every day," Hiroko wrote. "More important than the memories of our past, she carried such promise of a joyous future in the years to come.

"Her life gave greater substance and meaning to my life and her passing has left me devastated."

 with files from Alanna Kelly
'Are those donuts free?' and other meaningful Spring Harvest questions

Every year at Easter, thousands of Christians across the UK make the holy journey to their nearest Butlins (that well-known seaside-holiday-resort-cum-Christian-house-of-praise) for the 'Spring Harvest' conferences. If you were to ask any of these devotees why they make this special pilgrimage, few would tell you that it is because of the bustling worship or dynamic Bible teaching  far less for a week of church/family bonding.

No, masses upon masses descend upon Spring Harvest each year for one thing and one thing only: the exhibition tent. The exhibition tent is as thrilling as it gets. A fantastic blend of stands, shops, and stalls showcasing the best resources and organisations that the Christian world has to offer, the exhibition tent is where the party is at. This year I had the privilege of going 'behind-the-stalls' with London School of Theology (LST), where I currently study.

I quickly found out that there is nothing better than strangers asking you questions all day. What follows is a short highlight reel of some of my favourites, which may hopefully be edifying as much as it is entertaining.

"My husband/wife/son/daughter/friend/anyone-vaguely-know studied here 30 years ago. Do you know them?"

"Funnily enough that was actually ten years before I was born, so I'm afraid that I don't know them. Sorry!"

Not that that ever stopped anyone from telling me all about their graduate relation, and I do quite like helping people reminisce about their times at LST/LBC (London Bridal/Bible College). It is encouraging to see how the institution has affected people over the years, and not to mention comforting that there really is life after graduation.

You also get some cracking stories. One more 'mature' gentleman (shall we say) even alleged that once upon a time, "before all this health and safety nonsense", he and his friends borrowed (in the loosest sense of the word) a minibus from a rival college, Spurgeon's. That man went on to be a Baptist minister.

"Have you had many people sign up?"

Not really. Because let's be honest, nobody really comes to Spring Harvest to find out which Bible college to go to. They come for 'Splash WaterWorld'. However, the water at 'Splash WaterWorld' seems to do something strange to people. It makes them think they want to study theology.

As a result, tens of thousands of would-be students poured past our stand looking for sage-like guidance. I can't say that they found this, but I can say that it was a pleasure to help these people  with a myriad of different calls, backgrounds, stories, and dreams  to explore what studying theology might look like for them. I like to think that many of them left the stand one, maybe two steps closer to dipping their toes in the waters of theological education (and don't tell LST, but I think this is far more important than getting them to sign up to one of our courses).

"So why study theology? It's never seemed like water I'd like to dip my toe in..."

For some people, studying theology is simply a small step on a long ladder to an illustrious religious career. They're going to be the best pastor at the biggest church in the busiest area, and they know that no-one will take them seriously unless they have an appropriate degree to authenticate their Christian stature.

Others study because it is a step on a ladder. They weren't sure what else to do, but have some experience in youth work so figure theology must be an easy transition. Still some more study theology because they know that it is far from easy and up to the challenge of conquering it.

Then finally you have some who study theology because they know that God shows himself to creation. They know they'll never fully grasp this revelation, but not even a dislocated hip will stop them from wrestling with it. Theology is a place of encounter and these people know it. The best theology bears the birthmarks of this grappling  and this is the best (and maybe only) reason to study theology.

Of course, you do not need to study theology to seek God, but it can help. It gives you questions to ask, space to process them, and words to answer them.

Obedience is ingrained into this: you live out what you learn  and you do not stop once you graduate. Theology is a pursuit of the Holy, and a sharing and implementing of what we learn along the way.

"Are those donuts free?"

"Yeah for sure  if you can get them without using your hands." (We had a big wooden board

peppered with big wooden pegs, and on these pegs we hung whole families of donuts. I think we

discovered an added circle to Dante's inferno.)

"Wow, that's so cool! What are they for?" (Note: most parents did not share this enthusiasm.)

"First of all, to get your attention. (Bingo.) Secondly, to send nightmares to your blood sugar levels. And maybe also thirdly because here at LST we want to be able to satisfy your physical sweet-tooth and your theological one  but this involves challenge, much like getting the donut without your hands."

"How witty and clever of you. But what could be so challenging about theology?"

A Christian studying theology is someone who studies the fundamental thread which weaves its way through the very fabric of their existence. We all have presuppositions and core beliefs which take residence at the centre of our beings and evolve into certain frameworks by which we make sense of reality. These frameworks are almost like our own little outdoor playsets  complete with rungs, bars and ladders  upon which we play, swing, jump, fly and rest. To study theology is to invite other people to come and join the fun. But sometimes, just sometimes, these very nice people have different ideas of fun to our own. They bounce wildly about and start shaking our playset. Some of these now-scoundrels even have the cheek to tell us that certain bars and frames need changing!

We can do either of two things at this point: tell them to get lost, or patiently and painfully listen to their ideas and watch as they tear our playset apart. This is unhappy, because we love our playset and now we don't have anything to play on. Yet at the height (which is really a trough) of our anguish and discombobulation, fresh foundations are set. Blinded by angry tears (and often facing the wrong direction anyway), we often fail to see that slowly and surely, in creative consultation with friends and enemies, a new playset with higher hoops and sturdier bars starts to climb out of the ground  a majestic, metal, book-laden phoenix of a playset. It was sad to see

our old playset go, but we know that our new one is much better. It is more intricate, more articulate, more bespoke, more flexible, and far more accommodating.

This is what it is like to study theology. Our notions of God, faith, self, and reality get shaken, stretched and restructured  sometimes from the ground up. Mostly this feels like torture. We don't like other people toying with our ideas and re-shaping our conceptions; but we give them consent and readily go along, because we know that it's worth it.

"Aren't you supposed to lose your faith at Bible college?"

I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions in the history of misconceptions. You could lose your faith anywhere doing anything. Studying theology twists and bends and sometimes breaks you, but  if you will co-operate  then your faith emerges even stronger. Theology becomes prayer when you approach in open and obedient humility. And when theology becomes prayer. And when theology is prayer, there is no fear of losing your faith: only hope of a new playset.

"Can we please pray for you?"

This was my favourite question. Two young girls had been hovering (not to be mistaken hoovering) around the stand for a while, presumably mesmerised by the array of sugar we had to offer. I was stumped when they asked if they could pray for us. Of course they could. They prayed that God would help LST as it trained the future leaders and Christian witnesses of the next generations. We thanked them, gave them some sweets, and they went on their way; two glistening witnesses of their own generation.

Archie Catchpole is a student at London School of Theology.
In European countries that charge a church tax, support remains strong despite growing secularisation

In European countries where there is a church tax, most people are happy to pay it, even if they hardly attend services, new research has found.

Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland are among the countries in Europe that continue to tax registered members of religious institutions.

In many countries, the church tax is mandatory for all members unless they opt out by deregistering from their church.

Research by Pew has found that although some Europeans are opting out, "there does not appear to be a mass exodus" and many continue to pay the tax out of a conviction that religious institutions contribute to the common good.

A majority of the population continue to pay the church tax in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. This ranged from 68 per cent of survey respondents in Sweden to 80 per cent in Denmark.

Finland had the highest proportion of people leaving the church tax scheme (20 per cent), but in all six countries, the proportion who had stopped paying was below one fifth of the population.

"Giving a share of one's income to the church has been a part of European tradition for centuries," Pew said.

"Today, several countries continue to collect a "church tax" on behalf of officially recognized religious organisations, in some cases levying the tax on all registered members.

"These payments add up to billions of euros annually and represent the biggest source of revenue for many religious institutions.

"But in some countries, growing numbers of people have been opting out of the tax by formally deregistering from their churches, perhaps another symptom of secularisation in the region."

Among those who said they pay the church tax, there was little sign that they would opt out any time soon. Large majorities told Pew research that they were "not too" or "not at all" likely to deregister from their churches in order to avoid paying the tax in the near future. This included nearly nine-in-ten people in Denmark and Finland.

Not surprisingly, the study found a correlation between religious identity and the likelihood of paying the church tax. In Austria, 95 per cent of those who pay the church tax describe themselves as Christians. In Switzerland, the figure was 94 per cent.

This is despite many people who describe themselves as Christians in Western Europe saying they only attend church a few times a year.

Most of those who did not pay the church tax said they were religiously unaffiliated but in some places significant proportions were still paying it. A fifth of the church tax payers in Denmark (22 per cent) and a third in Sweden (32 per cent) described themselves as having no religious affiliation.

Pew said some people may continue to pay the church tax despite not being religious because they are either unaware that they can opt out or because doing so would require too much effort.

"In countries with a mandatory church tax, people generally enter a church's rolls at baptism  overwhelming majorities of Western European adults say they were baptized  and they must officially deregister from their denomination to avoid the fee," it said.

"Not only is this a dramatic step for some, but it also requires knowledge that the option exists and how to exercise it, such as how to obtain and file the necessary forms.

"Staying on their church's tax roster is the default status for people who are not sufficiently motivated to opt out."

The study also found a link between people paying the church tax and having a positive view about the role of the church in society, with many of those who pay it saying that religious institutions strengthen morality, bring people together and help the poor. They were also less likely to believe in a separation between religion and government policies.
Police in Nepal investigate Christians for proselytism

Four Christians in Nepal, including one American woman, are being investigated by the authorities following allegations of proselytism.

The group were arrested on April 23 in Ghorahi, a city in Nepal's Dang Deukhuri District. In addition to the unnamed American woman, police detained Dilli Ram Paudel, the General Secretary of the Nepal Christian Society, Indian national Gaurav Sreevastab, and Kusang Tamang, from Nepal.

The unnamed American woman was released the following day, while the rest were held until April 29, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports.

They were freed without bail by the Dang District Court, although the police investigation into the allegations has not been dropped.

There are restrictions on the practice of religion in Nepal. Under section 158 of its penal code, which came into force in August 2018, both proselytism and conversion are a criminal offence, carrying prison sentences of up to five years and a fine. Convicted foreigners face deportation within seven days of completing their prison sentence.

CSW said the Christians have been accused of distributing leaflets and undermining the majority Hindu religion. They are due to defend their claims in court, although no date has been set yet for the hearing.

Their lawyer, Govinda Bhandi Sharma, said the allegations were "baseless and biased".

"The four people in the current case were not involved in proselytism," he said.

"They had merely gathered in a church for a meeting with the Christian community. The law gives every Nepali the freedom to express their religion.

"The attitude of the Nepali authority has not changed even after the promulgation of the new constitution which makes Nepal a secular state with freedom of religion or belief. Article 26 of the Nepal Constitution allows that too.

"There has been a clear breach of fundamental rights here."

CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas welcomed the court's decision to free the Christians but said he was concerned about Section 158 of the penal code.

"We are pleased to hear the court's decision to release the Christians," he said.

"However, we are concerned for the Christian community in Nepal as Section 158 of the penal code has created an opportunity for discrimination, harassment and intimidation of religious minorities.

"We urge Nepal to repeal Section 158 of the Penal Code, which contradicts Nepal's constitutional guarantees on freedom of religion or belief and its commitment to uphold this right under international law."
Photo: The Canadian Press Flushable wipes are shown on a shelf of a pharmacy in Toronto on Tuesday April 30, 2019.

Friends of the Earth Canada wants the Competition Bureau to investigate a recent study it says proves there is no such thing as a "flushable" wipe.

"This is the most outrageous greenwashing I've seen in a long, long time," said Friends of the Earth CEO Beatrice Olivastri.

The organization, represented by lawyers at EcoJustice, is filing an application for an inquiry with the Competition Bureau, citing a recent Ryerson University study that tested 23 wipes labelled as "flushable." Researchers found none of them actually lived up to that claim.

Two of the "flushable" products partially disintegrated in drains; 21 of them didn't disintegrate at all.

Some of them took six flushes just to get through a toilet.

Bronwyn Roe, a staff lawyer at EcoJustice, said the Competition Act requires the bureau to launch an inquiry if it receives a complaint from a minimum of six people. The complaint in this case argues the companies involved are using deceptive marketing practices.

The complaint asks for a fine of $10 million for every product sold under a bogus claim of flushability, including baby wipes, wet wipes for adults and older kids, toilet-brush pads and wipes, diaper liners, and bags for dog poop.

Part of the problem is that there is no one standard for what the word "flushable" means. Olivastri said there is one standard created by an international association of water utilities and professionals but another was developed by the companies that make the products.

Olivastri said the companies are taking advantage of consumers' desire for convenience to push products that buyers wrongly believe will break down once they are flushed.

The Ryerson study tested 101 different products. The only ones that fully disintegrated after being flushed were varieties of toilet paper  which, the study notes, weren't even labelled as flushable.

Single-use wipes have become the bane of municipal sewage systems, clogging pipes and causing millions of dollars in damage and clean-up costs every year.

Barry Orr, the city sewer outreach and control inspector in London, Ont., and one of the authors of the study, estimates Canadian municipalities spend at least $250 million a year to remove blockages and wipes are the main culprit.

Olivastri said the new estimate is that municipalities are spending $1 billion to replace damaged sewer equipment.

The wipes, many of which contain large amounts of plastic, get caught in the pipes and collect grease, more wipes and other gunk. The result: "fatbergs," congealed lumps that won't come apart on their own.

Last year the BBC found single-use wipes were behind 80 per cent of clogs in Britain's sewers. In Charleston, S.C. last November, divers had to swim through 30 m of raw sewage to pull giant clumps of wipes out of the sewer system. In January, officials in Bradenton, Fla., blamed wipes for causing a 45-cm sewer pipe to burst, leaking more than 300,000 litres of raw sewage into a nearby creek.

In the British seaside resort town of Devon earlier this year, water operators uncovered a 64-metre-long fatberg of wet wipes and congealed fats in the sewer that will take at least eight weeks to remove.
The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Timeline Book comes to auction

The Timeline Book sat precisely between Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin as they made the historic landing on the Moon on 20 July 1969. Almost 50 years later to the day, it will be offered at auction at Christies

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Timeline Book is the most important manual used to accomplish the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth, a mission first set out by by President John F. Kennedy in a speech to a joint session of Congress on 25 May 1961. The leaders of NASA, the federal agency established in October 1958 in response to the Soviet Unions launch of the Sputnik satellite, had advised Kennedy that an unprecedented national programme involving billions of dollars, industrial enterprises and hundreds of thousands of people would have to be brought to bear  and fast  if the goal of the moon landing by the end of the decade was going to be met. The Apollo programme would also be the largest non-military technological endeavour ever undertaken by the United States; only the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb was comparable.

In the summer of 1969, nearly six years after President Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas, Commander Neil A. Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin E. Buzz Aldrin made the historic landing on the Moon, setting Eagle down on the Sea of Tranquility, a large, dark, basaltic plain formed by ancient volcanic eruptions. They had landed with only around 25 seconds of fuel left.

The Timeline Book was placed precisely between the two men as Armstrong uttered his historic first words back to Mission Control after landing: Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed. Within moments, Aldrin had written Eagles coordinates in the Sea of Tranquility on page 10 of the book  the first writing by a human being on a celestial body other than Earth.

Detail of the landing coordinates  the first writing on the Moon

After checkout, Armstrong headed down the LM ladder and set foot on the Moons surface, telling an estimated 530 million people around the world who were watching on television or listening on radio that it was one small step for [a] man  one giant leap for mankind. The Timeline Book narrates the entire Eagle voyage from inspection, undocking, lunar surface descent and ascent, to the rendezvous with Michael Collins aboard the Command Module in lunar orbit. The book contains nearly 150 annotations and completion checkmarks made in real-time by Aldrin and Armstrong. Traces of what appears to be lunar dust are on the transfer list pages that detail the movement of lunar rock samples and equipment from Eagle to Columbia.

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Chevron U.S.A. can officially call itself a Texas oil refiner now.

Chevron closed a $350 million deal to buy the Pasadena refinery owned by a subsidiary of the Brazilian state oil company Petrobas, the company said Wednesday afternoon.

RELATED Federal judge freezes assets amid allegations of insider trading in Anadarko, Chevron deal

The 466-acre Pasadena complex is Chevron's second refinery on the Gulf Coast but first facility in Texas. Chevron first announced plans to buy the 112,000 barrel-a-day refinery from Petrobas Americas in January, but the deal took longer than expected to close and there were earlier reports that talks had stalled in early April.

The refinery can process about 110,000 barrels a day of light crude oil, according to Chevron, which will come increasingly useful as the California oil major looks to greatly expand its lighter crude oil production in West Texas.

Chevron, the second-largest energy company in the United States, is one of the biggest producers in the Permian Basin. But the companies pumping huge amounts of crude in West Texas have been challenged by a lack of Gulf Coast refiners equipped to process the light grade of crude. Most refineries on the Gulf are equipped for heavier grades, like the crude grades of Canada and Venezuela. Other oil majors like Exxon have launched capital improvement projects to boost their ability to process light crude from the Permian Basin.

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"This acquisition builds on the strength of our existing Gulf Coast business, enabling us to supply more of our retail market in the region with Chevron-produced products, and positions us for connectivity to our strong upstream assets in the Permian Basin," said Mark Nelson, Chevron's executive vice president for Downstream & Chemicals. "We welcome PRSI's employees into the Chevron family.

The Pasadena refinery was at the center of a corruption probe by the Brazilian government into Petrobras. By the time it took over sole ownership of the plant the company had paid more than $1 billion for the plant, according to media reports.

Chevron has said yet whether it plans to upgrade or expand the refinery now that it's under new ownership. The Pasadena complex includes a 323-acre refinery with a tank farm with a storage capacity of 5.1 million barrels of crude oil and refined products as well as 143 acres of additional land.

The oil major also owns refineries in Mississippi, California and Utah.
Photo: The Canadian Press A man, his face covered in blood, is assisted as he walks away during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.

French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fires and smashed up vehicles as thousands of people gathered for May Day rallies Wednesday under tight security. About 165 arrests were made.

Police repeatedly used tear gas to try to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station for the main protest. It wasn't immediately clear how many people were injured. One bandaged-up man with a head wound was helped away from the scene by paramedics.

Associated Press reporters saw groups of hooded, black-clad people shouting anti-police slogans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or waving union flags.

Some threw rocks and other objects at police officers, attacked a parked van in a nearby street, kicking the vehicle and breaking its windows.

Paris police said officers carried out more than 9,000 "preventive searches" of bags and arrested 165 people before the march.

Meanwhile, some peaceful protesters were waiting for the march to start. They were planning to head toward Place d'Italie in southern Paris.

French authorities have warned "radical activists" may join the Paris demonstration and renew scenes of violence that marked previous yellow vest protests and May Day demonstrations in the past two years.

More than 7,400 police are deployed in the French capital.

French police ordered the closure of more than 580 shops, restaurants and cafes on the Paris protest route and numerous subway stations were shut.

Yellow vests have joined the traditional May Day union march to show their common rejection of President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

Authorities are particularly wary of the black-clad, masked and hooded extremists who have joined recent protests with the express goal of attacking police and damaging property. They often target symbols of capitalism or globalization, and turned out in the hundreds at last year's May Day protest.
For actors who usually memorize lines meant to be spoken and pride themselves on becoming their characters, reading prose aloud from a page presents a different series of creative challenges.

"I think of it as channeling the author," says Anthony Rapp, an original cast member of the 1990s smash-hit musical "Rent" and currently on the CBS series "Star Trek: Discovery." "It's more like I'm presenting the material, not internalizing it," he says.

Jane Kaczmarek, best known as the mother on the 2000-06 Fox sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle," prepares elaborately to read fiction aloud, as she, Rapp and "Orange Is the New Black" co-star Alysia Reiner will on Saturday at the University at Albany's Performing Arts Center as part of the "Selected Shorts" program.

"I read the story many times, print it out in the biggest font I can use  I'm very nearsighted  and I used colored pencils to underline the different characters," says Kaczmarek, a veteran of more than two dozen "Selected Shorts" programs.

Originating at Symphony Space in Manhattan, the 34-year-old "Selected Shorts" features stage and screen actors reading short fiction before a live audience. In addition to regular programs at its home venue and at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, "Selected Shorts" visits theaters nationwide for similar readings, which are recorded for a popular podcast and show on public radio. (Locally, the one-hour program airs at 10 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. Sunday on 90.3 WAMC.)

If you go "Selected Shorts" live reading When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday Where: Performing Arts Center, University at Albany uptown campus, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 day of show ($5 discount for students, faculty, seniors) Info: 518-442-3997 or albany.edu/pac/box_office_info.shtml On the program The readers and the stories they will be presenting during "Selected Shorts" on Saturday at UAlbany's Performing Arts Center: "The Baby," by Simon Rich, from "Hits and Misses," read by Anthony Rapp. "Dangerous Dog," by Kirsty Gunn, from "Reader, I Married Him," read by Alysia Reiner. "The Night Bookmobile," by Audrey Niffenegger, from "Zoetrope: All Story," read by Jane Kaczmarek. See More Collapse

Saturday's show, with the theme Readers and Writers, is a co-presentation of UAlbany's Performing Arts Center and the New York State Writers Institute, based at the university. It will feature Rapp reading "The Baby," by the hotshot young humorist Simon Rich, whose first collection of stories was published when he was 23 and already a writer for "Saturday Night Live"; Kaczmarek reading "The Night Bookmobile" by artist and writer Audrey Niffenegger; and "Dangerous Dog," by New Zealand novelist and short-story writer Kirsty Gunn, read by Reiner.

While Rapp, who has done "Selected Shorts" twice before, says he reads his assigned story aloud several times, he prefers not to precisely work out the delivery of every sentence, instead allowing each audience's responsiveness and his own reactions to influence the pace and overall presentation.

"I definitely get my colored pencils out," says Kaczmarek, who confesses, "My kids"  ages 21, 19 and 16  "would say this is very gender-normative of me, but I use pinks and pinkish colors for the female characters, blues and purples for the male characters, so I can see out of my peripheral vision farther down the page, 'Oh, here is where the husband comes back in.'"

In addition to her television work, Kaczmarek is familiar to local theater audiences for her appearances at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she first performed in 1988. Two summers ago Kaczmarek starred opposite "Law & Order" and "Chicago Med" cast member S. Epatha Merkerson in a buddy comedy in Williamstown, and both women will be back this summer, in different productions: Kaczmarek in the world premiere of Sharyn Rothstein's "Tell Me I'm Not Crazy," Merkerson in a revival of Lorraine Hansberry's epic drama "A Raisin in the Sun."

One of the funniest scenes in the 2017 comedy found Kaczmarek and Merkerson, as mismatched roommates, getting high, happy and confessional, courtesy of marijuana. Although Kaczmarek, now 63, went through her teenage years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she has avoided pot for most of her life. The family was living in small-town Wisconsin when her parents found marijuana seeds and leaves in Kaczmarek's purse, took it to the local police station and invited them to arrest their daughter.

The cops declined, says Kaczmarek, "But I never smoked pot again, and that's always influenced my mindset about it."

Kaczmarek has long lived in California, which legalized medical marijuana in 1996 and recreational pot in 2016. She says she found out how out of step she was with her friends and neighbors a few years ago when, during a conversation about how they would vote on the ballot proposition to allow recreational use, Kaczmarek said, "Wait, does anybody still smoke that?"

She continues, "And they all looked at me like, 'Uh, yeah.' It's amazing how things have changed."

Rapp was at the heart of a much faster and more dramatic change 18 months ago when, spurred by news about the alleged sexual misdeeds of now-disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, Rapp told BuzzFeed News that superstar actor Kevin Spacey made unwanted sexual advances when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. (Both were appearing in Broadway shows at the time.) In the aftermath of Rapp's allegation, more than a dozen men came forward with similar accusations, Spacey was kicked off the series "House of Cards" and other projects, multiple criminal investigations were launched, and Spacey has so far been charged in one, for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenager in Nantucket.

Although Rapp faced backlash from some factions and had his story doubted or diminished by some, "The support outweighed the criticism by a factor of 100  maybe 1,000," says Rapp. "I have zero regrets about it."

He adds, "I continue to believe that we are living in an incredible paradigm shift of power and powerlessness, and those of us who thought we had no power to change dynamics that were harmful are maybe seeing that we have more power than we realized."

Reflecting on how "Rent" humanized the AIDS crisis for younger and more diverse generations, and drawing a parallel between "Rent" and the effect the #MeToo movement has had on conversations about power, fame, sexual predation and consent, Rapp says, "I don't mean to sound pretentious, but one of my organizing principles in life is to try to involves myself in projects and movements that can make a difference. I hope I can continue to have a positive impact, and it's always on my mind, when possible, to use my platform or to be a platform that can forward conversations and cast light on little corners of darkness."

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489  blog.timesunion.com.tablehopping  @Tablehopping  facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic
In 17 murder charges filed across the Greater Houston area so far this year, one man is accused of slaying three young children with a screwdriver while another allegedly admitted to police he strangled his wife to death and cremated her ashes.

Through several public information requests, Chron.com compiled a list of murder charges recently filed in Houston and the city's surrounding counties, including Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston and Montgomery counties.

Click through the photos above to see mugshots of those charged of murder around the Greater Houston area so far in 2019.

One of the most gruesome murders involves a 27-year-old Texas City man facing three different capital murder charges.

Junaid Hashim Mehmood allegedly admitted to police he used a screwdriver and hammer to kill three young children in early January. Mehmood also admitted to police he allegedly shot his girlfriend in the face with an "aerosol pistol" the same day as the murders.

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In February, 44-year-old Jay Patrick Hammersley allegedly told police he strangled his wife to death and then tried to dispose of her body by buying 100 pounds of charcoal and cremating her. After reducing her body to ashes, he placed the remains in a trash bag and left it out on the curb. Hammersley told police he "did a good job" trying to dispose of the body, according to investigators.

Progress was made on cold case murder from 1983 when a 75-year-old La Porte man was arrested in conjunction with the murder of his fiancee in late February. Noel Leon King Jr. is accused of suffocating Teresa Brignoni after she was placed in the trunk of her car.

According to a previous Chronicle article, King admitted Brignoni fractured her skull during an argument the night she went missing in 1983. The Chronicle reported King told police he panicked and put her body in her car where she was later found dead in Conroe.
(Bloomberg) -- Attorney General William Barr told the House Judiciary Committee that he wont show up for a scheduled hearing Thursday about Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation.

Barr is trying to blackmail the committee, Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters Wednesday evening, saying that the executive branch doesnt get to dictate the format of the hearing. Nadler added that he may issue a subpoena for the attorney general to show up if he doesnt relent.

Barrs decision not to attend the hearing dramatically escalates tensions with the Democratic-controlled committee, which has already authorized a subpoena to the Justice Department to obtain an unredacted version of Muellers report as well as the underlying evidence. Nadler said the Justice Department is refusing to hand over the full report and the panel may issue a contempt citation.

The Justice Department objected to the format of the planned hearing, which would let the committees Democratic and Republican counsels grill Barr for as long as 30 minutes at a stretch after an initial five-minute exchanges with lawmakers.

Unfortunately, even after the attorney general volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary, Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a statement. Chairman Nadlers insistence on having staff question the Attorney General, a Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, is inappropriate.

Nadler said he planned to convene the hearing as scheduled and hoped that Barr would reconsider his decision.

The back-and-forth could set up a protracted legal battle. Courts have reaffirmed Congresss constitutional authority to issue and enforce subpoenas, but efforts to punish an executive branch official for non-compliance with a criminal subpoena have faced obstacles. In this case, its unlikely that the Department of Justice would pursue anything against the attorney general.

More for you House Democrats consider holding Barr in contempt of Congress

The standoff comes following a contentious hearing on Wednesday when Barr testified before the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing included tense exchanges between Barr and some senators, and resulted in multiple Democrats calling for the attorney general to resign.

Barr deflected attacks by Democrats on his decision to oppose an urgent request by Mueller to publicly release summaries of the Russia investigation, and he repeatedly excused conduct by President Donald Trump that the special counsel said could constitute obstruction of justice.

Barr went a step further, saying theres evidence that Trump was the victim of false accusations.

Trump has been dogged by two years of allegations --- by allegations that have now been proven false, he said. At various points during the hearing, Barr said Trump was falsely accused of colluding with Russians and being a Russian agent, and that the evidence shows the allegation is without a basis.

Mueller, however, didnt report that Trump was falsely accused. Instead, the report said that while the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges.

The special counsels report also said that the investigation did not always yield admissible information or testimony, or a complete picture of the activities undertaken by subjects of the investigation. Muellers team noted that some individuals invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, while others provided false of incomplete information.

Definition of Flipping

At another point in the hearing, Barr described for the committee what he believed Trumps lawyers would offer as a defense about an episode detailed in Muellers report where Trump sought to stop his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, from "flipping" and cooperating with law enforcement. He adopted the presidents definition of flipping -- being persuaded by prosecutors to lie.

Barr several times described what he thought Trumps motives were in some of the episodes that Mueller investigated for possible obstruction. But Mueller never secured an interview with Trump, who agreed only to answer limited written questions from the special counsel on selected topics. He never pushed it, Barr said of Mueller.

The hearing also examined disputes between Barr and Mueller, particularly Barrs summary characterization of Muellers main conclusions.

Mueller told Barr in a letter on March 27 that his summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Offices work and conclusions." Mueller urged Barr to immediately release more information about the investigation, which Barr refused to do.

Democrats relentlessly attacked Barr over his handling of the probe.

Senator Kamala Harris of California, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, challenged Barr on whether he should recuse himself from overseeing any of the 12 open cases that Mueller referred to other attorneys in the Justice Department.

Youre Biased

Barr said he doesnt see "any basis" for consulting with career Justice Department ethics officials on the appropriateness of his role.

Youre biased in this situation, Harris replied. She later used Twitter to call for Barr to resign.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders praised Barr on Twitter, saying that Democrats only disgrace and humiliate themselves with their baseless attacks on such a fine public servant.

In the end, Barr expressed no regrets for any of his controversial actions since Mueller submitted his final report, and left no doubt that hell continue to defend the Trumps actions that the special counsel investigated.
A recent storage terminal fire that shut down the Houston Ship Channel for several days did not dent crude oil exports or first quarter profits for pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners LP.

Enterprise reported a $1.3 billion profit on $8.5 billion of revenue during the first quarter. The figures translated into earnings per share of 57 cents, beating Wall Street expectations by 9 cents.

The quarterly financial results were mixed compared to the $901 million profit on $9.3 billion of revenue reported during the first quarter of 2018.

Enterprise has now made more than $1 billion of net income for three quarters in row.

Midstream Moves: Enterprise executive says record petroleum exports are at risk

The company's earnings report comes six weeks after at March 17 fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Company storage terminal in Deer Park blackened the skies and shut down the Houston Ship Channel for more than week.

Despite the shutdown that affected its Houston Ship Channel facilities, Enterprise reported record crude oil exports of nearly 900,000 barrels per day during the first quarter.

In a statement, Enterprise Products Partners CEO Jim Teague said the company is set to continue breaking export records for crude oil, refined products and natural gas liquids such as ethane during the second quarter.

"We continue to benefit from production increases in the Permian and Haynesville shale regions, while demand for U.S. crude oil, NGLs and refined products remains strong in both domestic and international markets.

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Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Houston, Enterprise employs more than 7,000 people. The company posted a $4.2 billion profit on $36.5 billion of revenue in 2018.
Houston-based KBR posted a $40 million profit in its last full earnings report classified as an engineering, procurement and construction company.

Newly reclassified by stock traders as an information technology consulting company, KBR reported $40 million of net income on $1.3 billion of revenue during the first quarter. The early Wednesday morning figures translated into earnings per share of 28 cents.

The first quarter figures mark a 30 percent increase in revenue compared to the first quarter of 2018, beating Wall Street expectations for both revenue and earnings per share.

Although the figures reflect a nearly 72 percent drop from the $138 million of net income reported in the first quarter of 2018, it is line with previous first quarter earnings. KBR experienced a $115 million windfall during the first quarter of 2018 after buying London-based Aspire Defence.

Business Moves: Stock traders to reclassify KBR as an IT consulting company

The first quarter figures mark KBR's last full quarter classified as an EPC company. Stock traders reclassified KBR as an IT consulting company after the stock market closed on Tuesday.

As part of its reclassification as an information technology company, KBR has changed the names of its three business segments. The company's government services segment is now government solutions. The technology segment has been renamed as technology solutions. The hydrocarbons services segment has been renamed as energy solutions.

KBR will still provide engineering, procurement and construction services but the Houston company now makes more than 70 percent of its income from government contracts.

"All three of our segment end markets are buoyant, and we look forward to continuing the positive momentum," KBR CEO Stuart Bradie said in a statement.

Fuel Fix: Get daily energy news headlines in your inbox

Headquartered in Houston and with roots in the city going back to 1919, KBR has more than 36,000 employees in 40 nations.

The company reported making a $281 million profit on $4.9 billion of revenue in 281.
Oil slid Wednesday as a report showed U.S. crude stockpiles swelled to their highest levels since 2017 while American production set a new record.

Futures in New York closed down 0.5 percent after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said oil inventories in the world's largest economy rose by almost 10 million barrels last week, blowing by both analyst and industry estimates. Gasoline stocks also showed a surprise increase, undercutting signs of tightening supplies elsewhere.

Oil hit a six-month high last week as a U.S. vow to tighten sanctions on Iran amplified strife in Venezuela and production cuts by the rest of OPEC to pump less. Yet surging output in America -- now at an estimated 12.3 million barrels a day -- still threatens the rally.

PREVIOUSLY: Oil climbs as Venezuela unrest leaves major supplier in turmoil

"Amid this host of bullish catalysts is one deepening pocket of weakness -- U.S. oil stocks are swelling due to an upswing in crude inventories," said Stephen Brennock, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. "Glum alarm bells are ringing louder in the U.S."

Prices also slipped as U.S. factory activity fell to a two-year low and an attempted uprising against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appeared to fizzle.

West Texas Intermediate futures for June delivery declined 31 cents to $63.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices in April were the calmest since August.

AT THE PUMP: Drivers to feel the squeeze as Houston gasoline prices head to $3

Brent for July settlement was 62 cents lower at $72.18 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

U.S. stockpiles have consistently exceeded expectations recently, rising in five of the last six weeks. Along with the U.S. shale boom, a slowdown in refineries due to spring maintenance, weather problems and accidents has left more crude building up in American storage tanks, which are watched closely by investors around the globe. Imports also rose to their highest since February, the EIA found.

"It was kind of a death by a thousand cuts," said Matt Sallee, a portfolio manager who helps oversee $16 billion in energy investments at Kansas-based Tortoise. "We were expecting a build, but this was much larger than people had seen."

--With assistance from Grant Smith.

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Theyre trendy, fashionable, and formed out of material that has already lasted a long time. Hardin High School band students are selling tote bags that are made from some of their old, high school uniforms.

Before calling the school board with complaints, the current uniforms arent on the cutting board. These are old uniforms that, otherwise, were headed for the dumpster.

This is my first year as a high school band director, said Glenn Zamazal who was hired at Christmas for the job when the previous director left.

Creative solutions

One of his first tasks was to see exactly what he had and inventory the equipment.

We have a storage room in the band hall that had a lot of stuff in it, he said, and we were going through it to straighten it up and make it more orderly.

Zamazal found the old uniforms that had been there for years and were of no use to the band.

I thought, How can I get rid of these in a positive way that the community will like and appreciate, he said to himself.

He didnt want to just throw them in the trash and offend anyone that may have worn them in the past, so the director tried to figure out a way to reuse them.

Zamazal remembered an idea he had heard from another director who had turned their old uniforms into purses and bags.

It turns out that the grandparent of one of our band members has a seamstress shop here in the area, he said. He asked her if she would be willing to help them out and she agreed.

Carol Copeland has spent the last couple of months, ripping out seams, and cutting the material and creating two different designs to be sold.

I made a template using a poster board, she said, and went to work.

The grandmom, who sews professionally as a side job, said the biggest part of the job was just ripping out the seams and preparing the material for cutting and resewing into the bags.

It was just time-consuming, Copeland said.

Labor of love

After creating two different designs, one with a summer top to the uniform and another with the winter top, she began sewing.

The winter uniforms were a little harder to sew because of the thickness of the material.

One of the bags has the top of the uniform buttons down the front.

Those were uniforms used when it was colder outside, he said.

The second style has a stripe down it and was from the uniforms worn in warmer weather.

The inside lining and straps are made from the pants called bibbers.

Her mission was not to make money off the sale, but one of love for the band organization.

I think one of the beneficial things is that this will help the band boosters and kids, she said. Copeland has a grandson in the band and a daughter who also played in the band.

Community support

She saw it as an avenue to give back to her community.

She made them for us for a good price and so we decided to sell them and make it into a fundraiser for us, he said.

In the process, he got rid of the old uniforms, made some money for his band kids, and helped a local merchant with their business.

They purchased 25 of each of the two styles and they are selling like crazy.

People are really liking them and theyre such good quality, he said.

Theyve only been selling them for the last few weeks and hope to sell them all out by the end of the school year.

The bags are $40 each and can be purchased at the Hardin High School band hall for the time being.

Zamazal said many of the bags have been bought by parents, family members, or alumni who have heard about the sale on Facebook.

Theyre buying them for birthday, graduation, and even Christmas gifts, he said.

Zamazal has been with the district as the middle school band director for five-and-a-half years.

Prior to coming to Hardin ISD, he taught math for six years in Liberty ISD.

He is a graduate of Liberty High School and Lamar University in Beaumont and plays French horn.

Im enjoying being the head band director and we have lots of plans for next year, he said.

To purchase the bags, please contact Zamazal at the high school at 936-298-2118, ext. 210.

dtaylor@hcnonline.com
H-E-B runs the best barbecue chain in Texas, according to Texas Monthly.

In an article Monday, the magazine gave high praise to in-store restaurant True Texas BBQ for its standout fare, including smoked meats and from-scratch sides and desserts.

The casual joint, designed like a stand-alone restaurant, offers all-natural meats by the pound, from brisket to turkey breast to St. Louis spare ribs. It's prepared by at least one trained, dedicated pitmaster at every location, Texas Monthly reported.

Houston scores big: Texas Monthly list of 25 Best New Barbecue Joints

Sandwiches, platters, stuffed potatoes, a barbecue Frito pie, rotating daily specials and banana pudding are also on the roster.

Of all the meats, sides, and desserts, the only item on the menu worth skipping, according to Texas Monthly, is the banh mi sandwich special.

H-E-B, which currently has 10 True Texas BBQ locations including an outpost in Kingwood, is expanding its True Texas BBQ concept, adding new locales from Magnolia to Midland, according to Texas Monthly.

The San Antonio-based grocery giant's plans also include a new location in the greater Houston area, set to launch in 2020, according to a representative for the company. The exact location and opening date have yet to be announced.

Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
The Ravine Trail at the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center has reopened after being closed for the last three years, and closed for eight out of 14 years.

According to the Arboretums Marketing and Development Manager, Christine Mansfield, the ravine is a tributary to Buffalo Bayou, and it goes through all of the floods and erosion that other waterways in Houston have experienced as well.

It was a hard place to get to be safe for the public. There have been trail washouts and one of the bridges toppled over during Harvey, Mansfield said.

The old Ravine Trail used to have two bridges, a land bridge and a wooden one. Now the Ravine Trail has two new bridges, and both are raised higher over the ravine, allowing for water to flow more naturally underneath.

The new bridges are longer and go over a straight area of the ravine. The bridges are steel with concrete floors. The older bridges were at bends, which tend to be the most impacted spaces during floods.

Parts of the trail, which is just over half a mile long, features mulch, which Mansfield says will be much easier to replace if it gets washed out in future flooding events.

We have learned from past experiences, Mansfield said.

Another feature of the Ravine Trail is a steel boardwalk that brings walkers closer to the ravine itself. The decking is a fiberglass grate material, which will last longer than traditional wood materials.

Visitors to the trail will notice that there is coconut fiber netting along some of the banks.

It will reduce erosion as things grow in. We really wanted to work with natures timing. We are allowing things to grow and get good root systems. In the long run it will create a nice effect and be stable, Mansfield said.

The Arboretum worked with Design Workshop, Inc., a recognized landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm. Design Workshop, Inc has worked with the Arboretum for the last few years on the Arboretums master plan.

Having the Ravine Trail finally back open has been a huge goal for the master plan, Conners Ladner, Office Director with Design Workshop, Inc., said.

Ladner noted that the Ravine Trail was developed with a series of design principles. This included having to stabilize the ravine to assist with impacts of ongoing flooding. The stabilization was done as naturally as possible to keep the ravine authentic.

Another goal was to clear the evasive plants and protect the tree canopy.

The existing landscape is just so gorgeous. We want to fix it and heal it, Ladner said.

One part of the trail is ADA accessible, with a path to one of the bridges. Ladner said that unfortunately the whole path was not able to be ADA accessible due to elevation changes.

Ladner noted that the overall design and completion of the trail would not have been possible without Landscape Architect partner, Reed|Hilderbrand, or without Walter P. Moore, Hydrogeo Designs, Frayre Engineering and Consulting, and Forney Construction.

We worked with a great team. This has been a complete dream project - the opportunity to heal this landscape and build in this natural destination, Ladner said.

According to Mansfield, this new trail is unlike anything else at the Arboretum.

It feels a lot more like hiking instead of a stroll. There are a lot of elevation changes. It reminds me of Austin in the Hill Country. Its a fun experience, Mansfield said.

The Ravine Trail is in the northwest corner of the Arboretum, and is accessible from both Woodway Dr. and Loop 610 parking loops.

rebecca.hazen@chron.com
Appropriately staged under the American Flag at the Montgomery County Veterans Memorial in downtown Conroe on Wednesday, Mayor Pro Tem Duke Coon read a proclamation announcing May 1, 2019 in Conroe as Loyalty Day.

Loyalty Day, originally known as Americanization Day in 1921, is a day for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom. It was enacted into public law in 1958 and recognized on May 1 each year.

Coon said the idea to hold the small event happened about a week ago to honor Loyalty Day.

I was over at the VWF Post and Commander (Lloyd) Stewart asked if he could hang a patriotic banner off of city hall, Coon said. You cant say no to the commander of the VFW Post.

The proclamation will be delivered to the VFW Post 4709, the American Legion, the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Disabled Veterans of America, the Marine Corps League and the Montgomery County Veterans Memorial Park.

Coon, who is a United States Navy veteran, said it is great to honor those who have served the county and continue to do so.

The citizens of Conroe are extremely proud of this nations more than 200-year heritage of freedom and are loyal to the ideals, traditions and institutions which have made our nation so great, the proclamation states. Today as we celebrate our loyalty to our great Nation, we must keep in the forefront of our minds the most honorable and courageous Americans who have fought, and who continue to fight today to maintain our independence and way of life.

It is essential to the American way that it remains our top priority to distinguish all our service members who sacrifice so much to protect our democracy and self-governed values, and the very ideals upon which this nation was founded.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com
Photo: CTV News

Attorney General William Barr defended his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report on Wednesday amid new revelations that Mueller expressed frustration to Barr about how the attorney general was portraying the investigation's findings.

Barr's first appearance on Capitol Hill since releasing a redacted version of the report, promised to be a dramatic showdown as Democrats confront him with allegations that he spun the investigation's findings in President Donald Trump's favour. Democrats were also likely to accuse him of misleading lawmakers last month when he suggested he was unaware of concerns on the Mueller team about his actions.

Barr's appearance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee highlighted the partisan schism around Mueller's report and the Justice Department's handling of it. It gave the attorney general his most extensive opportunity to explain the department's actions, including his press conference held before the report's release, and for him to repair a reputation bruised by allegations that he's the Republican president's protector.

Barr noted in his prepared testimony Wednesday that Mueller concluded his investigation without any interference and that neither the attorney general nor any other Justice Department official overruled the special counsel on any action he wanted to take. Barr also defended his decision to step in and clear the president of obstruction of justice after Mueller presented evidence on both sides but didn't reach a conclusion.

"The Deputy Attorney General and I knew that we had to make this assessment because, as I previously explained, the prosecutorial judgment whether a crime has been established is an integral part of the Department's criminal process," Barr said in his testimony.

A major focus of the hearing was sure to be the Tuesday night revelation that Mueller told Barr, in a letter to the Justice Department and in a phone call, that he was frustrated with how the conclusions of his investigation were being portrayed.

At an unrelated hearing last month, Rep. Charlie Crist of Florida asked Barr about media reports of frustration within the special counsel's office about the way the report's findings were characterizing. Asked if he knew what those concerns referred to, Barr said, "No, I don't."

Barr also is invited to appear Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question the attorney general.

Democrats were likely to press Barr on statements and actions in the past six weeks that have exasperated them. The tense relations are notable given how Barr breezed through his confirmation process , picking up support from a few Democrats and offering reassuring words about the Justice Department's independence and the importance of protecting the special counsel's investigation.

The first hint of discontent surfaced last month when Barr issued a four-page statement that summarized what he said were the main conclusions of the Mueller report. In that letter, Barr revealed that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had cleared Trump of obstruction of justice after Mueller and his team found evidence on both sides of the question but didn't reach a conclusion.

Barr says he released the report on his own even though he didn't have to under the special counsel regulations, and that doing so fulfilled a pledge he made at to be as transparent as the law allowed.

After the letter's release, Barr raised eyebrows anew when he told a congressional committee that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, a common talking point of the president and his supporters. A person familiar with Barr's thinking has said Barr, a former CIA employee, did not mean spying in a necessarily inappropriate way and was simply referring to intelligence collection activities.

He also equivocated on a question of whether Mueller's investigation was a witch hunt, saying someone who feels wrongly accused would reasonably view an investigation that way. That was a stark turnabout from his confirmation hearing, when he said he didn't believe Mueller would ever be on a witch hunt.

Then came Barr's April 18 press conference to announce the release of the Mueller report later that morning.

He repeated about a half dozen times that Mueller's investigation had found no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia, though the special counsel took pains to note in his report that "collusion" was not a legal term and also pointed out the multiple contacts between the campaign and Russia.

In remarks that resembled some of Trump's own claims, he praised the White House for giving Mueller's team "unfettered access" to documents and witnesses. He suggested the president had the right to be upset by the investigation, given his "sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks."
In the late 1830s and early 1840s, Robinsons Settlement, some 10 miles southwest of Huntsville, was in the original Montgomery County. This was on land which William and Elizabeth Robinson donated to Rev. Littleton Fowler, the Superintendent of Methodism in the Republic of Texas. The donation led to a campground, church and school. Here, shortly after Texass Independence, settled Rev. Moses Speer to serve the Montgomery Methodists, centering on the towns of Montgomery and Huntsville. Rev. Speer was possessed of a courageous spirit cultivated in the crossfires of one of the most explosive environments in US history.

At the close of the US Revolutionary War, the 1783 treaties between Spain and Britain on the one hand and the US on the other, left in dispute the ownership of the Mississippi River and the boundary of Spanish Florida. Consequently, in 1784 Spain formally claimed the Mississippi and an area including much of later Kentucky and Tennessee.

The Spanish actions augmented problems already in play in this area. By then, James Roberson and others had established Nashville, capital of an area called the Cumberland District, while a private group called the Transylvania company had purchased a 20,000,000-acre tract of land from the Cherokee These events, though approved by the principal Cherokee Chief, had, in 1776, prompted the Chicamaugua War led by the Chiefs rebellious son, Dragging Canoe, an ally of the British during the US Revolutionary War. Alarmed at Spains proclamation of 1784 bringing that country, its recent ally, into alliance with the British and Dragging Canoe, the new United States government became a party to the intrigue.

Meanwhile, the First Great Biblical Awakening, that of the 1730-40s era, had hit America. An endemic component of the resulting drama and gospel fire was the Englishman, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Wesley embraced an evangelism characterized by salvation by grace and justification by faith which ignited an increase in church attendance, personal Bible study and public witness. The Great Awakening also featured a political side, as motivation increased to preserve the Biblically-based freedom enshrined in the US Declaration of Independence.

It was in this context that the Methodist became estranged from the more laid-back Anglican Church while lending courage and motivation to the pioneers in Kentucky and Tennessee to fight for their perceived rights to their land. This entailed sometimes brutal battles with the Cherokee-led Coalition, for instance James Robertson of the Nashville group lost two brothers and three sons to these encounters. The battle also raged on the diplomatic front as the pioneers played off Spain and the British against the new US Government. Reflective of pioneer success lay in statehood for Kentucky in 1792 and Tennessee in 1796.

In the midst of these battles was Moses Speer. By 1793 he had become a member of the Kentucky Methodist conference and by 1804 had married Amelia Ewing, a daughter of the secretary of the James Robertson led Cumberland District, to play a key role in promoting Methodism in the Nashville area.

It was from Nashville that Rev. Speer came to the Montgomery District. In 1840, his was the first burial in the Robinson Settlement Cemetery. On Jan. 27, 1995 the United Methodist Reporter made note of the event. Great was the impact for good of Moses Speer, citizen of original Montgomery County and intrepid battler for freedom in the context of traditional Christian values.

Robin Montgomery is a native of Montgomery County, a historian, author and professor and writes history columns for The Courier.
A group of up-and-coming YouTube vloggers have made their own version of Houston's famed "Be Someone" sign over Interstate 45 near downtown.

Three college students  CJ Crider, 19, Abdullah Sanaullah, 20, and Mo Raya, 21  work collectively off of YouTube channel Princeabdullaaa. And when they saw someone blacked out the "Be Someone" sign on the Union Pacific bridge over I-45, they knew they had to do something about it.

The three bought all the painting supplies and made the trek from Clear Lake to the bridge last weekend. All three are scared of heights, they told Chron.com, but overcame their fears to make sure the sign was restored.

"It's so scary just looking (down)," Sanaullah said. "But you see Houston to your right, and you're reminded of why you're doing it."

While the words don't appear as concise as the original artist's rendition, inbound commuters now have their daily dose of Houston inspiration back.

"Everybody's constantly going past it, seeing it every single day," Sanaullah said. "A lot of people are going through a lot of pain ... it's good to see a good message up there."

The three conceded that "Be Someone" doesn't belong to them; It belongs to the original artist who painted the now-famous words on the bridge years ago, turning a routine overpass into a Houston treasure.

Look through the gallery to see how the "Be Someone" sign has changed through the years.

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
Even with St. Patty's Day falling on a weekend, Harris County residents weren't quite as thirsty in March 2019.

This, according to data provided by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Google Maps

A teen girl is on the run after allegedly knifing her brother as he chastised her for skipping class, Houston police said.

Fanun Woodberry, 23, was suffering from two stab wounds around 8:30 p.m. Monday when police found him near an apartment complex in the 7400 block of Southway Drive, according to authorities.
Photo: CTV News

The federal government is changing a payment program for canola farmers to help those affected by China's decision to ban the Canadian product.

The maximum loan limit through the program will be boosted to $1 million from $400,000, and the portion that will be interest-free is rising to $500,000 from $100,000, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning.

"We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Canada's canola producers and farm families across the country and we will continue to listen to their needs," she said.

"Canada has the best canola in the world as well as a very robust inspection system."

The government's announcement comes after China barred canola shipments from two of Canada's biggest exporters in what is considered retaliation for the detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

China imported $2.7 billion worth of Canadian canola seed last year, and any prolonged blockage will hurt farmers, the industry and the broader economy. The seeds are the raw input for canola oil, used in cooking and industry.

Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr said he will lead a canola trade mission to Japan and South Korea in early June to help farmers find new markets for their products.

He also said he will be promoting canola in all of his upcoming visits, including in France.

"The Canadian government stands with farming families, our farming communities and industry," Carr said. "We will not rest until this situation is resolved for our Canadian producers, workers, and their communities."

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has called for the federal government to take a more confrontational approach with China.

Scheer has called for Canada to appoint a new ambassador to China, launch a complaint about the canola dispute with the World Trade Organization and cut Canadian funding to China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to which the government has committed $256 million over five years.

Citing unproven concerns about pests, China has rejected Canadian canola seed shipments in recent months.

There is agreement across the sector, including with provincial governments and producers, that Canada should engage China on the basis of their allegation, Carr said.

"The basis of their allegation is that there are impurities in canola that has been sent by Canada to China and has been inspected twice by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency," he said. "We continue to seek engagement; we are engaging."
As the country has become more racially and ethnically diverse over the past 40 years, American neighborhoods have, too. And the change is most apparent in places that were once all white.

In 1980, about a quarter of the census tracts in America were almost exclusively white  97% non-Hispanic white or more  and one-third of white residents lived in such a neighborhood. Those figures are probably undercounts, as the 1980 census lacked tract boundaries for much of rural America. But by the latest census data, just 5% of white residents live in such a place, mostly in rural areas. Hispanics, Asian Americans and African Americans have moved into once predominantly white communities.

Places in Gwinnett County, Georgia, that were more rural and almost all white in 1980, for example, have grown in population to become diverse suburbs of Atlanta today. Affluent sections of Bergen County, New Jersey, have become more diverse with the arrival of Asian immigrants. The white working-class Milwaukee suburb of West Allis has seen an inflow of Hispanic residents.

Its far more rare in America that neighborhoods have become more diverse because white residents have moved into neighborhoods that were predominantly African American and Hispanic.

A New York Times Upshot project focused on the small but growing number of places experiencing such change. There are about 1,400 such tracts in America that have changed in this way since 2000, home to nearly 5 million people today.

Thats a relatively small share of all neighborhoods, but these places embody a deep tension at the geographic center of many cities. White households that have historically avoided black neighborhoods in particular show a growing willingness to live in them. Many scholars would say thats a mark of progress.

But the arrival of these white households  which have on average much higher incomes than the residents around them  tends to unleash rapid change in the housing market that can threaten longtime homeowners and especially renters. That economic reality runs headfirst into the desires of some residents and city officials to build more diverse and equitable communities. In many neighborhoods, the market forces are simply more powerful.

American cities have few, if any, models of how to manage this kind of change well.

Theres this whole set of policies that created the disinvestment in these neighborhoods that now makes them so attractive to gentrifiers and other investors, Japonica Brown-Saracino, a sociologist at Boston University, told us during our reporting. I dont see a parallel set of policies to protect them now that people want to move back into them, or to think about exactly how are we going to manage or direct this investment.

Such policies could include land banking, the preservation of vacant lots for future affordable housing. They could include protections for lower-income homeowners from the property taxes that rise when home prices do. They require thinking not just about who can stay as neighborhoods change, but who will be able to move in.

Any of these ideas would require action long before a housing market became hot.

In a nationwide context: Isolated all-white neighborhoods have dwindled as many nonwhite neighborhoods have remained segregated. There are still nearly 3,000 census tracts in the United States with few if any white residents. About 10 million Americans live there.

And wherepredominantly nonwhite neighborhoods are growing more diverse with the arrival of white residents, the benefits of diversity have often been accompanied in the housing market by a new set of challenges.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - The forces of the Islamic State may no longer control a swath of territory across Iraq and Syria, but the coordinated attacks in Sri Lanka demonstrated that the resilient group can still sow carnage beyond the borders of its former caliphate.

Even a landless Islamic State is influential, as a facilitator of attacks and an inspiration for its followers, including the ones who blew themselves up in churches and hotels Easter morning, killing at least 359 people, terrorism experts said.

On Tuesday, video emerged of the suspected ringleader of the attacks and seven followers, their faces obscured by scarves, swearing allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The Islamic State also issued a formal communique claiming responsibility for the attacks, which it said targeted Christians and "coalition countries."

The statement embraced the suicide bombers as "brothers," identifying them by their presumed aliases and naming the churches and hotels each of them struck.

Sri Lankan officials are attributing the attacks to National Thowheed Jamaath, a local Islamist organization, but the group has no history of significant terrorist attacks and was effectively unknown to U.S. intelligence agencies, current and former U.S. officials said.

Its most notable activity before Sunday was vandalizing Buddhist temples, said Rita Katz, co-founder of SITE, a terrorism analysis organization.

5 1 of 5 Photo for The Washington Post by Asanka Brendon Ratnayake Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Photo for The Washington Post by Asanka Brendon Ratnayake Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Photo for The Washington Post by Asanka Brendon Ratnayake Show More Show Less 5 of 5









"However, ISIS generally has built its global network by recruiting from existing extremist groups around the world," she said.

President Donald Trump has, on different occasions, declared the caliphate defeated and destroyed. U.S.-backed forces took the last territory controlled by the Islamic State - the Syrian village of Baghouz - in March. But even as the militants eyed the impending doom of the caliphate, they regrouped in the form of an insurgency and have maintained an active presence on social media, which has long been the Islamic State's most productive recruitment ground.

U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking its recruitment efforts and how they might encompass Sri Lanka, current and former officials said. Of particular concern are the Sri Lankan men, about 40, who left their country to fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, where they may have been exposed to the group's methods for bombmaking and coordinating attacks.

A Sri Lankan official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that as early as 2017, the United States had warned Sri Lankan officials that the Islamic State was recruiting across Southeast Asia and that Sri Lanka could become a "hub" for the group's activities.

There was no indication that the United States had advance warning about the Easter attacks, U.S. officials said, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Had the United States obtained information about an imminent strike, it would have been immediately shared with the Sri Lankans, current and former officials said.

Speaking to CNN, the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Alaina Teplitz, confirmed that the United States "had no prior knowledge of these attacks."

The ambassador noted that "the Sri Lankan government has admitted lapses in their intelligence gathering and information sharing."

Investigators are still trying to determine how the Sri Lankan attackers may have connected with the Islamic State and what role the group could have played.

When local groups pledge fealty to the Islamic State, it usually opens the door to an array of new resources and capabilities, Katz said. This would explain how individuals from a relatively amateur group like Thowheed Jamaath could contribute to an attack as devastating as that in Sri Lanka, she said.

Katz said she believes the Islamic State was involved in planning the attack, but that its exact role is unclear.

"The Sri Lanka blasts were both sophisticated and well-coordinated, making it very likely that the attackers received some sort of training and assistance from ISIS - possibly from one of the group's bases in the Philippines or elsewhere in the region," she said.

"It is too early to tell the degree of involvement from ISIS - beyond inspiration and even embedding the jihadi DNA in local extremist groups," said Juan Zarate, the chairman of Financial Integrity Network, a consulting firm, and a former deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism in the George W. Bush administration.

"That said, we should not be too dismissive of ISIS claims or capabilities," he added. "I do think it is possible that ISIS has communicated directly or embedded with these local groups and found a way of helping plot, amplify and supercharge their capabilities and operational effectiveness on the ground. The ISIS diaspora and expertise is real, and ISIS has global designs - in South Asia and elsewhere."

What the Islamic State lost in territory it did not lose in ideological influence. "I don't think it's too soon to say that defeat of the physical caliphate in Iraq and Syria was never going to be the end of the ISIS challenge," said Nicholas Rasmussen, a former senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council who also ran the National Counterterrorism Center in the Obama and Trump administrations. "That is why many terrorism experts urged care and restraint on the administration in making claims about defeat of ISIS. The ideology underpinning the caliphate has reach far beyond Iraq and Syria."

Javed Ali, a former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council in the Trump administration, noted the absence of the word "caliphate" from the Islamic State's claim of responsibility in the Sri Lankan attacks. That suggests that "even they will accede to the notion that the physical caliphate, at least in Iraq and Syria, is gone," said Ali, now a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. "But the notion of the Islamic State still exists. You don't need a physical caliphate to be beholden to the group."

Its influence has also spread to places where it hasn't traditionally held sway. Last week, through its Amaq News Agency, the group asserted responsibility for an attack in Congo for the first time.

For decades, parts of eastern Congo have been submerged in conflict, and a number of armed groups seeking to undermine the government have taken advantage of the chaos, launching attacks on civilian and military targets.

In a statement, John Manley, a spokesman for U.S. Africa Command, said it now considers one of those groups, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), to have "meaningful ties to the Islamic State." The group claimed allegiance to the Islamic State in 2017, Manley said.

A U.S. official who works on the region said that the ties should be taken seriously, and that relationships between senior ADF leaders and foreign extremist groups go back decades.

"Not all of the ADF can be said to be part of ISIS, or even be jihadists," said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. But "some have had contact [with foreign extremists] dating back years that included training and fighting abroad."

As Sri Lankans continued to mourn, government officials scrambled to determine how they had failed to detect cooperation between a local group, which was known to at least some Sri Lankan authorities, and outsiders.

Officials said 18 more arrests were made overnight Tuesday, taking the total to 58.

Sri Lanka's president, Maithripala Sirisena, said in a televised address that police and security forces "would be restructured within a week" and that he expected to change the heads of all the security forces. The president acknowledged that the government had information about the local group since 2017 but said there was insufficient evidence to take legal action against its members.

India provided the Sri Lankans with specific warnings about threats, even naming the group and its ringleader, in the days before the attack, Sri Lankan officials said.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, an opposition leader and Sri Lanka's former strongman president, ascribed the security failure to rivalries between the president and the prime minister.

"Don't take this as a joke," he said. "As long as the division between the president and the prime minister exists, you can't solve this problem. My security division knew about the advance notice [of the attack]; I did not."

While officials examined their own failures, some looked outside the country to help explain the bloody attacks.

State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene told Parliament that the bombings were carried out in retaliation for shootings that claimed 50 lives at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, by an avowed white supremacist.

But others were skeptical of that connection.

"It is possible [that Sunday's attacks] could have been because of the Christchurch attacks," Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at a news conference. "We cannot say yet."

"There seems to have been foreign involvement," he added. "Some may have traveled abroad and come back. . . . So far, it is only Sri Lankan citizens that have been taken in for questioning."

Plots of such complexity take many months to organize, and the Christchurch shootings occurred less than six weeks ago, Rasmussen noted. "It's also true that terrorist organizations are often opportunistic in the way that they claim justification or rationalization for their attacks, so it's possible that the minister's comments reflect something that is emerging in the investigation from talking to suspects linked to the perpetrators," he said.

The office of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern released a statement Tuesday: "We understand the Sri Lankan investigation into the attack is in its early stages. New Zealand has not yet seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based."

- - -

Slater reported from Colombo. The Washington Post's Amantha Perera, Rukshana Rizwie, Harshana Thushara Silva and Devana Senanayake, also in Colombo, and Shibani Mahtani in Hong Kong, Niha Masih in New Delhi and Siobhan O'Grady in Washington contributed to this report.
Photo: AP

A British judge sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Judge Deborah Taylor appeared unimpressed by Assange's written apology and his lawyer's argument that he sought refuge in the embassy because of overwhelming fear of being taken from Sweden, where he faced sexual misconduct allegations, to the U.S. to face separate charges related to his WikiLeaks activity.

"It is essential to the rule of law that nobody is above or beyond the reach of the law," Taylor said. "Orders of the court are to be obeyed."

The judge said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offence as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody. She pointed out that he had not surrendered "willingly" and was only facing the court because the government of Ecuador withdrew its protection last month.

The Australian secret-spiller had lived in the South American country's London embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women.

He was arrested by British police April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nation's foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

Assange faces a separate court hearing Thursday on a U.S. extradition request. American authorities have charged Assange with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

Taylor said Assange's seven years in the embassy had cost British taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million), and said he sought asylum as a "deliberate attempt to delay justice."

Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court cheered for him as he left and chanted "Shame on you" at the judge as Assange was led away. He raised his fist in a show of defiance.

Sweden suspended its investigation into possible sexual misconduct against Assange two years ago because he was beyond their reach while he was living in the embassy. Prosecutors have said that investigation could be revived if his situation changed.

Assange's lawyer Mark Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters that his client sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because "he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the U.S." over his WikiLeaks activities.

He said Assange had a "well-founded" fear that he would be mistreated and possibly sent to the U.S. detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said after the sentencing that the extradition battle with the U.S. is now the "big fight" facing Assange.

"It will be a question of life and death for Mr. Assange," he said.

There was a small gathering of vocal Assange supporters outside the courthouse demanding he be freed. One person was dressed as a whistle to emphasize Assange's role as a whistleblower.
DUBUQUE, Iowa - For months, President Donald Trump and his allies have tried to cast his Democratic challengers as radical socialists bent on yanking the country far further to the left than most Americans might find comfortable.

Joe Biden, in the opening days of his presidential campaign, is getting in the way of that argument and getting under Trump's skin.

Nearly six dozen times on Wednesday morning Trump retweeted support for him among purported firefighters, whose union has endorsed Biden and whose members have surrounded the former vice president at all of his opening events. For days Trump has ignored his advisers and repeatedly criticized Biden, at a rate that exceeded his reactions to the other 19 candidates in the Democratic field.

Biden has attempted to thwart the president with a frontal assault on Trump's morality, particularly his defense of some of those at the 2017 march of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia. But Biden also is representing himself as Trump's opposite in another way: as an incrementalist throwback to the days before the president began upending the country's institutions, hardly a socialist but a candidate well within the norms of both capitalism and politics.

Biden's implicit argument to Democrats, meantime, is he has embraced enough of the policies animating the party's ascendant left to make him acceptable as the standard-bearer - but not enough to alienate the working class voters the party desperately wants to win back in 2020.

He has embraced raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, a posture that advances on Hillary Clinton's stutter-step approach to raising wages in 2016, and he has touted a plan to allow anyone to go to community college free.

But he has spurned others, calling for improvements to Obamacare but declining to back a Medicare-for-all plan backed by many of his party's 2020 candidates. Rather than railing on the wealthy, he takes pains to point out they, too, are good people. While he has talked about the need to address climate change, he has yet to embrace anything approaching the Green New Deal.

He has avoided his Democratic rivals - and the specific policy proposals they are pushing - almost entirely. He has also ignored their criticism of his willingness to raise money from corporate lobbyists, his support of free trade agreements, or his vote in favor of the Iraq War.

On Tuesday night, Biden stood before a crowd of several hundred here in a ballroom on the banks of the Mississippi River and draped himself in the legacy of President Barack Obama, the party's most popular figure.

"They talk about, there's a division in the Democratic Party," he said. "We agree on basically everything, all of us running. All 400 of us."

That was not true, but appeared intended to position Democrats as a unified bloc opposing the president, with Biden as its head.

Biden's campaign advisers feel the president has played into their hands, effectively defining him for the moment as the candidate to beat. That is helpful to Biden, because it seems to confirm what Biden and his supporters are positing: that he is the Democrat most able to take on Trump.

Some Trump campaign officials believe Biden's nomination would blunt the heightened excitement among Democratic voters and that he would have a difficult time rekindling the coalition that pushed Obama to victory twice.

Others, however, see Biden - and to some extent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) - as the biggest threats to Trump because of their appeal to working class voters, particularly in the upper Midwest.

Those officials are concerned that Trump's visible reactions to Biden give Biden political ammunition and fundraising opportunities. They are eager to have Trump instead lump all Democrats together as radicals. But Trump pays close attention to television coverage and polls, both of which Biden has dominated over the past few days.

While Trump's team initially saw a rough rollout for Biden - with heavy focus on criticism about his Senate record and smaller crowds than other candidates have attracted - Trump was annoyed by Biden's focus on Charlottesville and could not resist going on the attack.

For his part, Biden seems to go out of his way to embrace the era before Trump, even to the extent of complementing those who others in his party now demonize.

"Let's get something straight. This country was not built by Wall Street, bankers, hedge fund managers," he said, in rhetoric that mimicked Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). But then, he added, "They're not necessarily bad."

He is eager to pitch himself as the one carrying out Obama's legacy, often talking about "finishing the job."

"Folks I want to stop here and say something that I don't think is said often enough," Biden said here. "President Obama has extraordinary character - no, really I mean it - extraordinary integrity and is a man of absolute decency. When he was president our kids had someone to look up to. I was proud. Every day, every day as I stood next to him as his vice president."

At least at the start, Biden's strategy seems to be working. An initial wave of polls has him far ahead of the pack, gaining strength since announcing his campaign and illustrating what Biden's advisers have been saying for months: His support could be more durable than many believe. In a CNN poll released Tuesday, 39 percent of voters sided with Biden, 20 points higher than Sanders. A survey done for the Boston Globe in New Hampshire had him at 20 percent, 8 points over Sanders.

Yet the passionate, even angry, appeals of Sanders, Warren and other candidates have sparked enthusiasm among Democrats that was not evident during Biden's initial campaign foray, which began in Pittsburgh on Monday before moving through Iowa Tuesday and Wednesday.

During former congressman Beto O'Rourke's first days in Iowa as a presidential candidate, he held a half dozen events a day, in rooms that were packed so full it was hard to move. Biden has held two events each day, often not starting until noon, with crowds that are respectable but far from overwhelming.

His schedule seems of a piece with his campaign's effort to stay relentlessly on message. His first few speeches have contained familiar anecdotes, rarely breaking new ground. He has not taken a single question from voters. Instead, his campaign has attempted to use scripted moments, and well-crafted videos, to get their message across.

Biden brushed aside reporters after one event, engaging a question about distinctions in the Democratic field for only a few moments while stopping for ice cream.

"I'm not going to get into a debate with my colleagues here," Biden said. "There's plenty of time on the stage. And I'm proud of my record."

He made clear, though, he did not want to continue talking, turning to a chocolate and vanilla swirl and saying, "I'm a free ice cream eater."

Biden, however, has not been able to fully avoid being Biden. During his rallies, he is at moments the wonky lifelong politician, quoting German philosopher Immanuel Kant, talking about arcane tax laws, or pausing to say: "Excuse me for, as we said in the senate, a point of personal privilege."

That can accentuate his age, 76. He spoke at one point about putting in a nickel to borrow a bicycle. He talked about the 1981 tax bill, for which he voted. He spoke about driving his 1951 Plymouth.

He has lingered after events, putting on full display an affectionate style some women have said in recent weeks made the uncomfortable. Voters often come up to him to give him hugs, or as he clasps their hands or shoulders, thrusting his finger into someone's chest to emphasize a point.

He has largely avoided specifics by telling crowds that have been waiting for hours to hear him that he did not want them to stand any longer to hear him talk about his policy proposals. He will be back, he told them, and he will be sure then to outline his positions in detail.

"I'm going to talk to you a lot," he assured the crowd in Dubuque. "You're going to hear me a lot when I come back in specifics."

Catherine Basile, a 72-year-old retired teacher from Cedar Rapids, said she is a bit ambivalent about Biden running, worried a third loss atop two earlier humiliating ones would taint his legacy. But she also sees him as perhaps the best candidate to challenge Trump.

"A woman? An African American? A gay person?" she asked. "All of those would be fine with me. But how does everyone else think? Have we stirred up so much muck?"

Colleen Kersch, a 51-year-old librarian from Dubuque, came wearing a sweatshirt that read, "A woman's place is in the House and the Senate." Biden, seeing it as he shook hands in the crowd, told her he agreed with the sentiment.

Kersch said she has been shaken since 2016, when she voted for Clinton. Her priorities have changed, and now she is strongly in Biden's camp and eager for whatever she thinks it takes for Trump to be defeated.

"I don't really want a woman to run against Donald Trump," she said, quickly adding, "Not that I don't want a woman president."

Her sentiment was echoed at Biden's first public campaign event in Pittsburgh during his introduction by the head of the international firefighter's union.

"Let me shoot straight with you, and this might not be popular in parts of the Democratic Party," said union president, Harold Schaitberger. "We can't have a nominee that's too far left. It's just that simple. A candidate that has high-minded ideals, maybe honorable ideas, but little chance of winning."

- - -

The Washington Post's Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.
Photo: The Canadian Press Acting-Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan

The Trump administration is asking Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency spending for border security as the administration contends with a surge of Central American migrants at the southern border.

That's according to two people familiar with the request who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly before a formal announcement.

A summary of the request obtained by the AP says the White House wants $3.3 billion for humanitarian aid to increase shelter capacity for unaccompanied migrant children and the feeding and care of families.

An additional $1.1 billion would go toward operational support, including personnel expenses, detention beds, transportation and investigative work on smuggling. And the final $178 million would be used for mission support, including technology upgrades.

"DHS projects it will exhaust resources well before the end of the fiscal year," reads the formal request letter to Congress, also obtained by the AP. "Without additional resources, the safety and well-being of law enforcement personnel and migrants are at substantial risk."

It also says the Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the care of migrant children who arrive alone or who are separated from their parents by DHS under certain circumstances, will exhaust its resources by June.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Tuesday during a congressional hearing that the department was running out of money amid a spike in migrants crossing the southern border.

He told a House panel the money would be used for temporary and semi-permanent facilities to process families and children and increase detention, though he didn't specify a figure then.

Nearly 100,000 migrants crossed the border in March, a 12-year high.

Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday encountered its largest group to date: 424 people in rural New Mexico.
Troy

Just about every college and university offers a summer term, often for students who want to make up needed credits or who want to graduate faster. Now, though, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is building on that tradition by instituting a mandatory summer session for students who have completed their sophomore years.

Known as The Arch, the summer session aims to bring a heightened academic focus to students halfway through their undergraduate careers. Courses range from biostatistics to computer programming to data visualization and electrical circuitry and engineering project management. RPI officials stress that putting the entire rising junior class being together in the usually-quiet summer will have its advantages. But it has also riled up fraternities and sororities since the students must remain in the dorms during the program, rather than living  and paying  fees to the Greek organizations.

As the only cohort on campus during their summer semester, rising juniors will have enhanced access to the university's world-class research facilities, undivided attention from members of the faculty and administration, and the ability to take in the area's many seasonal offerings, according to an announcement of the programs full start. Theyve had trial runs of smaller groups during the past two years.

Tuition, room, and board are the same as they would be for a traditional semester, the school said. The total varies depending on which housing and meal plan options are picked.

They've had trial runs of smaller groups during the past two years.

The second part of the program entails junior year  in which students will take their first or second semester away from campus, either at an internship or conducting a personal research or other such project. Thats seen as a potential advantage, especially for those looking to attend graduate school or enter the job market, which is already quite good for those coming out of RPIs well-known science and engineering programs.

Additionally, the Arch represents a growing trend in higher education in which schools are viewing their dormitories as potential income sources that all-too-often lie dormant during the summer session.

More for you RPI going dry, almost

Its a sunk cost, college consultant Bryan Alexander wrote in an email. A sunk cost describes an expense that has already been incurred such as the price of building a dormitory.

Alexander noted that some schools are using their dorms to host specialized training programs for hospitals or local K-12 school systems.

In Vancouver, Canada, the University of British Columbia has built new dorms that can be rented out like apartments during the summer.

At Plymouth State College in New Hampshire, their new dorms will serve as a hotel during summer. They also instituted a policy in which students need to be 21 and have 64 credits to live off campus.

Despite that trend, Greek supporters and landlords arent happy about the move.

I can't speak for all of us as Greeks, but I do believe the loss of revenue is a major concern for our houses. Implementing the Arch program and rolling out new guidelines for the Greek Community at the same time has surely been stressful this semester, Grace Gionta wrote in an email.

The new guidelines entailed sharply limiting conditions in which alcohol can be served and plans to push back the Greek recruiting period into the second semester. Both of those moves will reduce the number of people who join the organizations, say fraternity and sorority members.

They are shifting that revenue away from the Greeks and shifting it back to the school," said Brian Leitten, an alumni and supporter of Greek life.

There is no benefit to the students. Its a money grab for school, said Keith Cunningham, who owns two houses that he rents out to students. Landlords around RPI typically rent for a whole year with students subleasing or staying on campus during the summer. But this will make them to change that.

The university is forcing them on the campus for the summer, added another landlord, Brian Zuchelkowski.

While RPI is looking to use the dorms, some schools are taking an opposite tack, by selling off unneeded real estate, noted Alexander.

Fisher College, a small Boston school sold a building it owned in the citys pricey Back Bay neighborhood in 2017, bringing in $22.5 million. And Boston University in 2016 sold a theater and two buildings for $25 million, with the money going toward a new performance space. At Oberlin College in Ohio, one of many recommendations in a lengthy review of the schools workings calls for the reduce the footprint by roughly 20 percent to bring it in line with peer institutions.

Noting that some buildings are expensive to maintain, the suggestion entailed Eliminating the most costly and inefficient facilities over time.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Trump administration on Wednesday asked Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency funds for the U.S.-Mexico border as the administration contends with a surge of Central American migrant families, with the bulk of the funding for shelter and care.

The number of families and children arriving alone to the border is outpacing the number of single adults, and their needs are much different. The U.S. is on track to have as many as 1 million crossing this year, the highest since the early 2000s, when mostly single men from Mexico crossed and were easily returned. Border stations were not constructed to handle such a large volume of children and families, and they have been pushed to the breaking point.

But getting Democrats and Republicans to agree on the matter has been a challenge, partly because of President Donald Trump's hardline rhetoric on immigration. It's not clear whether Congress will approve such a request, especially because it comes on the heels of the longest government shutdown in history over funding for a border wall and Trump's subsequent national emergency declaration, which skirted Congress altogether to seek funding elsewhere.

This money, though, would not be used for border barriers at all, according to senior administration officials who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. It would be used to address urgent humanitarian needs, they said, and the money is needed quickly.

The White House wants $3.3 billion for humanitarian aid to increase shelter capacity for unaccompanied migrant children and the feeding and care of families. An additional $1.1 billion would go toward operational support, including personnel expenses, detention beds, transportation and investigative work on smuggling. And the final $178 million would be used for mission support, including technology upgrades.

"DHS projects it will exhaust resources well before the end of the fiscal year," reads the formal request letter to Congress, which was obtained by the AP. "Without additional resources, the safety and well-being of law enforcement personnel and migrants are at substantial risk."

It also says the Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the care of migrant children who arrive alone or who are separated from their parents by DHS under certain circumstances, will exhaust its resources by June.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Tuesday during a congressional hearing that the department was running out of money amid a spike in migrants crossing the southern border.

He told a House panel the money would be used for temporary and semi-permanent facilities to process families and children and increase detention, though he didn't specify a figure then.

Nearly 100,000 migrants crossed the border in March, a 12-year high.

Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday encountered its largest group to date: 424 people in rural New Mexico.

__

Follow Long and Colvin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ctlong1 and https://twitter.com/colvinj
Photo: The Canadian Press A man speaks on a mobile phone outside Rogers Communications Inc.'s annual general meeting of shareholders in Toronto.

Rogers Media is adding to its podcasting business through the acquisition of Vancouver-based Pacific Content.

Pacific Content works with companies and advertisers to target audiences.

Among its prominent clients for its branded content has been McAfee, the computer security company.

McAfee's Hackable podcast has put out about two dozen half-hour episodes over three seasons.

Rogers didn't disclose what it's paying for Pacific Content, a private company launched in 2015.

It says Pacific Content will complement the Frequency Podcast Network launched by Rogers last year and its 56 radio stations across Canada.
The Crown painted a picture of a senseless killing during opening statements in Steven Pirko's second-degree murder trial, Wednesday.

After two days of jury selection, the trial began with Crown prosecutor David Grabavac delivering his opening statement to the seven-woman, five-man jury.

The body of 32-year-old Chris Ausman was found by a passing RCMP officer on the sidewalk of Highway 33, near the intersection of Rutland Road, just after 2 a.m. on Jan. 25, 2014.

The officer assumed the man had passed out drunk after leaving the nearby Cadillac Lounge, but when he got closer, he saw streams of blood coming from his head. Ausman had no pulse and was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy later determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, from a strike with a hammer.

Police obtained surveillance footage from the nearby Olympia Greek Taverna restaurant, which showed two men walking down the the sidewalk at 1:37 a.m., near where the body was found.

The two appeared to have a verbal interaction with a third man across the highway, before the third man came across the street, and one of the two men removes his jacket. All three then move out of frame.

Police determined the solo man in the video was Ausman. Just two days later, the two others were identified as 21-year-old Steven Pirko and 23-year-old Elrich Dyck.

Seven days after Ausman's death, police searched Pirko's home, seizing his clothes and other items. Pirko denied his involvement in Ausman's death in two separate interviews with police.

Grabavac told the jury that after 33 months of investigation, police arrested Pirko on Nov. 18, 2016.

After his arrest, Pirko confessed to hitting Ausman with the hammer on the morning in question.

Pirko told police he and Dyck had left a birthday party that morning, after a night of drinking. As the pair walked to the 7-Eleven near Rutland Road, he said Dyck was trying to pick fights with others on the street. Pirko had the hammer on him at the time.

After some communication" from across the street, Ausman and Dyck began fighting. Ausman got the upper hand" in the fight, and Dyck called on Pirko for help.

Mr. Pirko used the hammer he was carrying to strike Mr. Ausman, inflicting a number of injuries, Grabavac said.

Ausman had a blood alcohol level about three times the legal driving limit at the time of his death.

Dyck, who was not charged in the altercation, will be testifying as a Crown witness in the trial. His father, Leslie Dyck, will also be testifying about conversations he had with Pirko following Ausman's death.

The trial is scheduled for five weeks.
Uber driver James Perry said he never made eye contact with the man who killed his passenger in a hail of gunfire.

It started as a routine pickup last Friday afternoon in a north Harris County neighborhood, where Perry saw two men walk out of a home near TC Jester and Laurel Creek Drive.

Perry, who goes by Yahcanon Ben Yah, said the men embraced each other before parting ways. They appeared to be close friends. Then, after 26-year-old James Grant Booker got into the Uber's back passenger seat, the other man approached the car and opened fire.

The shooter appeared calm and focused on Booker as he unloaded four to five shots toward Perry's Jeep Compass, Perry said. Perry quickly hit the gas, but Booker had already been shot.

"He was just very cold and calculated," Perry said of the shooter.

JOHNSON'S ARREST: Man arrested in shooting that left Uber passenger dead in Harris County

Neilo Jhaman Johnson has since been arrested and charged with murder in Booker's death. He is currently in Harris County Jail in lieu of a $150,000 bond, jail records show. His bond had initially been set at $200,000.

Perry said the incident left him shell-shocked. He raced away from the home that day and called 911, thinking Johnson might have been following him. He stopped in a parking lot and waited for paramedics, but Booker already appeared to be dead in the backseat, he said.

Charlotte Booker, the victim's mother, said her son had been friends with Johnson since high school in Houston. Her son attended Westfield and later transferred to Booker T. Washington, but she doesn't know exactly where their friendship started.

She said her son cut ties with the man about two years ago, but people familiar with her son told her Johnson recently reached out to him, she said.

She was surprised to hear that her son re-connected with Johnson. Both men were watching movies at a friend's house before the shooting, according to court records. She said her son was an open-hearted person who saw the best in people. But she still doesn't know why he was killed.

"It was just a senseless, violent crime," she said.

COURT HEARING: Judge orders $200K bond for man accused of killing Uber passenger

Booker was studying applied technologies at Lone Star College in Houston while working part-time, she said. He eventually wanted to open his own business that could help minorities gain employment.

"I just felt like he was pure," she said.

Johnson's mother also spoke publicly this week in an interview with ABC13. She described her son as "very intelligent and outspoken."

"I just don't believe he did that," Latarjah Dean told the station.

Charlotte Booker, meanwhile, said she's trying to take a positive approach to her son's death, despite her own devastation.

"My biggest thing I want in all of this is for both families to heal and find peace," she said.

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.
Photo: CTV News

You never know what you'll come home with at the Vancouver Police recovered goods auction.

The annual event this weekend, has everything  including three kitchen sinks  from camping equipment to defibrillators, CTV News reports.

Thousands of stolen items that police were unable to return to their rightful owners will go to the highest bidder Saturday at Able Auctions in Surrey.

As always, there are sporting goods, power tools and hundreds of bicycles.

A diamond ring valued at $4,900 is likely the most expensive, but the weirdest may just be a partial suit of armour (legs only) or a dental X-ray machine.

There are about $200,000 worth of items up for bids.

If you recognize something that belongs to you, police will pull the item from the auction.

 with files from CTV Vancouver
Nine people face money laundering charges after authorities raided two poker rooms in Houston.

The arrests capped a two-year effort between The Harris County District Attorneys Office and Houston Police Department, which searched the Post Oak Poker Club and Prime Social Poker Club.

We are changing the paradigm regarding illegal gambling by moving up the criminal chain and pursuing felony money laundering and engaging in organized crime charges against owners and operators, District Attorney Kim Ogg said. Players are not being targeted.

SOUTHWEST FREEWAY: Baby shot during apparent road rage incident

Those clubs bank accounts are now frozen and face seizure, according to the district attorneys office. Millions of dollars have allegedly flowed through the accounts, although the office didnt immediately provide specifics.

Stay Informed Text CHRON to 77453 to get breaking news alerts by text | Sign up to receive breaking news alerts delivered to your email here. See More Collapse

The owners and operators arrested at the clubs have been charged with money laundering, a first-degree felony.

The people arrested in association with Post Oak Poker Club, on 1001 West Loop South Suite 400, are owners Daniel Jeffery Kebort, William Jack Heuer II, Alan Harris Chodrow, Sergio Diaz Cabrera, and Kevin Louis Chodrow, officials said.

Prime Social Poker Room, on 7801 Westheimer, employed four people who also face charges. They are owner Dean Maddox, comptroller Mary Switzer, general manager Brent J. Pollack and assistant general manager Steven Farshid.

The investigation, led by the district attorneys office Money Laundering Division and the police departments Vice Division, followed the arrests of nearly three dozen people last year related to illegal gambling operations in Chinatown, including three police officers.

We cant allow illegal gambling to go on, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said. It drives organized crime and fuels other criminal activity.

Read more about the arrests and investigation at HoustonChronicle.com.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com

Twitter.com/sam_kett
While millions of Americans forked over federal income taxes in 2018, a handful of Fortune 500 companies in Texas avoided paying federal income taxes altogether, according to a report from the Institute for Taxation & Economic Policy.

The report, highlighted in the Houston Chronicle, includes eight Texas-based companies that either didn't pay income taxes or received a rebate. In total, the report listed 60 Fortune 500 companies that avoided income taxes in 2018 under the new tax code, which President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans passed in 2017.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Under new tax code, oil companies get rebates, not bills

Houston-based companies Halliburton, Occidental Petroleum, Kinder Morgan and EOG Resources were on the list. Halliburton, which recorded $1.1 billion in revenue, received a $19 million tax rebate, according to the report. Independent oil company EOG resources, which reported 4.1 billion in revenue, received a $304 million rebate, the report said.

Other notable companies like Netflix, Amazon and General Motors were on the list.

According to reporting the Houston Chronicle, Trump touted the new tax law as a way to boost the economy and spur job growth. The administration has cited the law as a driving force in the national unemployment rate of 3.8 percent.

The tax reform in 2017 was supposed to get rid of many of the tax breaks that corporations and wealthy people use to reduce their tax bills. It was intended to simplify the tax code while reducing overall rates, the Chronicle reported.

While some loopholes that benefited large companies were eliminated, others stayed in place, the Chronicle reported.

"The oil industry really showed its muscle in Congress because it got its reduced rate while still retaining a lot of its exemptions," Tyson Slocum, the energy program director at the activist group Public Citizen, told the Chronicle.

>>>Click through the slideshow above to see more notable companies in and around Texas that avoided federal income taxes

Julian Gill is a digital reporter in Houston. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, houstonchronicle.com. | julian.gill@chron.com | NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine arrived Wednesday at a Congressional budget hearing with his usual diet Mountain Dew in hand, but no budget proposal.

The proposal he had promised Congress -- which would take into account a new directive from the Trump administration to put humans on the moon in 2024 instead of 2028-- still was not ready. And he couldn't provide lawmakers an estimate for how much money would be needed.

"We are not in a position to say what that number is or where the administration wants that money to come from," Bridenstine told the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee for commerce, justice, science and related agencies.

But Congress members seemed to be unfazed by the agency's lack of progress, focusing instead on topics such as their distaste for proposed cuts to the agency's education office.

Bridenstine told members that NASA has sent preliminary funding numbers to the Office of Management and Budget, as well as the National Space Council, for review. The agency, he added, is working to develop a unified position.

Though the money situation isn't firmed up, Bridenstine has shared details in recent weeks about how NASA would get to the moon four years early.

The plan would include help from international and commercial partners, as well as the use of a mini-space station that NASA wants to build orbiting the moon and the agency's Orion spacecraft-Space Launch System rocket duo.

But the rocket, being built by Boeing, still is causing problems for the agency. A top NASA official on Wednesday said the launch of the first, uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon likely won't happen until 2021, despite agency efforts to get the program back on track.

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, broke this news at a meeting of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Most people, however, expected this to happen. Earlier this year, Boeing told agency officials that it couldn't make the June 2020 launch date, saying that 2021 would be more feasible. The rocket was initially supposed to be ready for launch in 2017.

Agency officials say the rocket is vital for the moon 2024 plan, so they began examining whether it would be better to use a commercial rocket to launch Orion instead -- and it found a viable option. But NASA decided that it still wouldn't meet the launch deadline.

Bridenstine previously told the Houston Chronicle that the agency was working to correct that delay and bring the launch date back into 2020. But Gerstenmaier said 2021 is looking more likely.

He does not think the delay will impact the launch of the first crewed Orion flight, currently scheduled for 2022.

Alex Stuckey writes about NASA and science for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
Citing a ban on the burqa in Sri Lanka after the deadly Easter Sunday attacks, Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna' on Wednesday demanded the imposition of a similar ban in India.

The Sena's proposal, however, was rejected by another NDA ally, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India, who said that burqa should not be banned as it forms part of the country's tradition.

The Shiv Sena editorial states "It has happened in Ravan's Lanka. When will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya? We ask this question to the PM as he is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Wednesday".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address a political rally near Ayodhya today.

"The present government has made a law against Triple Talaq to stop the exploitation of Muslim women. After the ghastly bomb attacks, Sri Lanka has imposed a ban on the burqa and all types of face covers. President Maithripala Sirisena also announced that the decision has been taken for national security," Saamna said in a write-up published on Wednesday.

"We welcome this decision and in the national interest, we demand Prime Minister Modi to also follow the footsteps of Sri Lankan President and ban burqa and face covers in India as well," the Shiv Sena mouthpiece said.

In an editorial titled "Question to Prime Minister Modi, it happened in Ravan's Lanka, when will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya?", Samna has also cited the death count of Colombo's Easter Sunday attack to assert that the country which freed from itself of LTTE's terrorism is now under the grip of Islamic terrorism.

Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena leader said, " Burqa and niqab are not religious attires for India, they are being banned all over the world. If some people relate it to religion and Islam in India then they must not have read the Quran, they should read it properly."

RPI leader Ramdas Athwale, however, disagreed with the Sena's proposal to ban the burqa in public places and said it is a tradition in India and there should be no ban on it.

"Not all women who wear the burqa are terrorists if they are terrorists their burqa should be removed. It is a tradition and they have the right to wear it, there shouldn't be a ban on the burqa in India," Athwale told ANI.

Meanwhile, BJP's national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said there was no need for imposition of any kind of ban in the country.

"We have zero tolerance towards terrorism but I don't think there is a need to impose any kind of ban as the country is already in safe hands of Prime Minister Modi. Everyone is free to make suggestions but the whole world knows that the Central government has effectively dealt with terrorism and I don't think any new steps are required for this."

In its editorial, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece has pointed to countries namely France, New Zealand, Australia and Britain who have put a ban on the burqa.

Shiv Sena also claimed that the practice of burqa has nothing to do with Islam and is actually, a practice that was adopted in the Arabian countries due to their climatic condition.

"Basically, the burqa is not at all concerned with Islam, and Indian Muslims are following an arrangement of the Arab nation. At one time, to avoid desert heat and sunlight in the Arab nation, women used to cover their face and get out of the house.

"In Maharashtra also when the temperature rises at many places, the women travelling through cycle and scooters cover their face with a cloth or handkerchief, but this usage is limited to that. But in this delusion or blind faith, that wearing a face cover or burqa is the order of Koran, Muslims continue to use it," an excerpt of the Samna editorial reads.

The Sri Lankan government on Sunday adopted measures to impose a complete ban on all types of burqas and face covers in the wake of the horrific terror bombings that rattled the entire country on Easter Sunday, claiming lives of more than 250 people and injuring hundreds.

-ANI
Addressing a political rally here on Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that speeches made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi causes his Pakistani counterpart to sweat across the border.

"Today when Prime Minister Modi makes a speech anywhere in India, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan sweats in AC room of Islamabad. He remains worried as to when the Indian army would enter Pakistan and destroy terrorist camps there. This valour and strength has emerged due to the political willpower of Prime Minister Modi," said Adityanath.

The chief minister made these remarks at a rally which was also addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, his speech was made before the PM's arrival on the stage.

The UP CM also highlighted various public initiatives of the Centre and said, "Central government has implemented various public friendly initiatives along with developing infrastructure at a rapid pace. In five years 1.5 crore poor have been given houses, 4 crore poor have got free electricity connection and 7 crores poor has been given LPG connection."

He also talked about the Ayodhya centric initiatives of the government and said, "In Ayodhya we have begun the work for the development of a new airport in the name of Lord Ram. To observe the day of Lord's Ram return to Ayodhya after a 14-year exile, we celebrated a grand 'Deepotsav' in the form of a government event."

The Lok Sabha elections are being held from April 11 and will go on till May 19 in seven phases. The polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in all the seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Ambedkar Nagar parliamentary constituency will be voting in phase six of Lok Sabha elections on May 12.

-ANI
Canadian public opinion on immigration, refugees remarkably steady, new survey finds Few Canadians see immigrants and refugees as a major national issue

Canadian public opinion on immigration, refugees remarkably steady, new survey finds Few Canadians see immigrants and refugees as a major national issue

Canadian public opinion on immigration, refugees remarkably steady, new survey finds Few Canadians see immigrants and refugees as a major national issue Stephen Smith Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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A majority of Canadians continue to hold positive views on key aspects of immigration and few see immigrants and refugees as a pressing national concern, a new Environics Institute survey has found.

The findings of the public opinion research institutes Spring 2019 Focus Canada survey found that Canadians views on immigration and refugees have held remarkably steady since its previous study in October 2018.

The survey is conducted every six months and interviews a sample of 2,000 Canadians about their views on immigration and refugees.

As has been the case most of the past two decades, positive sentiments outweigh negative ones on such questions as the overall level of immigration, its positive impact on the economy, its low impact on crime rates, and the impact on the country as a whole, the survey found.

The survey found issues like the economy, the environment/climate change and poor government leadership to be of greater concern to Canadians.

By comparison, immigration and refugee concerns remain well down the list, it reported, noting that only three per cent of Canadians identified them as the most important issues facing the country today.

The survey noted that it comes amid the increasingly heated political rhetoric around the influx of more than 40,000 asylum seekers into Canada via unofficial entry points along its border with the United States.

The governing Liberal Party of Canada has faced heavy criticism from its political opponents, and the Conservative Party of Canada in particular, over its handling of the situation and many observers feel it could be an issue in the federal election scheduled for this fall.

The survey found, however, that only three per cent of Conservative Party of Canada supporters consider immigrants and refugees to be the top issue facing the country.

The results contrasted a new Gallup survey of public opinion in the United States that put immigration second only to government/poor leadership as the top concern there.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs

Too much immigration? 59% say no

On certain questions, public opinion on immigration even improved slightly from where it had been in October 2018.

This was the case when respondents were asked if overall, there is too much immigration in Canada: 59 per cent disagreed with the statement, up from 58 per cent in October 2018. Just over a third of Canadians agreed with it.

Canadians living in the four provinces of Atlantic Canada and the province of British Columbia were found to have the most positive outlook on immigration, with 64 per cent of respondents in both regions disagreeing with the idea there is too much immigration to Canada. This was an increase of seven points in Atlantic Canada over the fall.

Attitudes on the economic impact of immigration also improved slightly, from 76 per cent last October to 77 per cent this month.

Canadians level of comfort with immigration is grounded on the belief that it is good for the countrys economy, and this perspective held steady over the past six months, the institute reported.

This view was strongest in Ontario, where nearly 80 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement overall, immigration has a positive impact on the economy of Canada.

The province where attitudes to this statement were weakest was Alberta, where 70 per cent of respondents agreed that immigration is having a positive economic effect on the country.

Age, education, income affect attitudes

Attitudes differed according to age, education and income level, with younger Canadians, university-educated Canadians and those who consider their income to be adequate or better expressing more positive views of immigration.

Canadians over the age of 60, those without a high school diploma and Canadians who say they are struggling financially were more likely to hold more negative views.

Differences were also clear between supporters of Canadas various federal political parties.

Three-quarters of Liberal Party and Green Party supporters disagreed that immigration levels are too high and the numbers reached 89 per cent and 84 per cent, respectively, when it came to the economic benefits of immigration.

Among New Democratic Party supporters, 86 per cent agreed that immigration has a positive economic impact.

Just under half (49 per cent) of Conservative Party of Canada supporters said immigration levels were too high, but this was down three points from October 2018. However, two-thirds of Conservative supporters agreed that immigration benefits Canadas economy.

Integration remains a concern

The survey found Canadians are almost equally divided when it comes to views on whether immigrants are adopting Canadian values after their arrival. Just over half of Canadians (51 per cent) believe immigrants are not fully integrating compared to 42 per cent who disagreed.

The percentage of respondents who felt immigrants arent integrating declined by 10 points in Atlantic Canada, to 41 per cent, and also dropped in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, to 46 per cent, reversing an upward trend. The provinces where this concern was found to be highest were Quebec (56 per cent) and Alberta (55 per cent).

Just over half of Canadians (53 per cent) agree, however, that immigrants tend to work harder than people born in Canada and the 32 per cent who disagree with this viewpoint marked a decline of seven points from October 2018.

On the overall impact of immigration, the Environics Institute said Canadians lean toward a positive viewpoint, with 45 per cent saying immigration is making Canada a better place and only 15 per cent saying it is making Canada worse.

A third of Canadians believe immigration has made no real difference either way and seven per cent had no opinion.

Canadians, however, are much more in agreement when it comes to their perception of how welcoming Canada is for immigrants.

The Environics Institute found that eight in 10 Canadians said immigrants are made to feel very or somewhat welcome by public agencies in their community and by the local population.

This view was spread evenly across the country with little variation by region, the survey found.

Refugees

Canadian opinions on refugees improved in the six months since October 2018, with only 37 per cent now agreeing with the statement most people claiming to be refugees are not real refugees. This marked a decline of four percentage points and is the lowest level found since surveys introduction in 1987.

Nearly eight in 10 respondents said refugees are made to feel very or somewhat welcome by the local population.

Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration

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The OINP accepted 667 new registrations before ending intake

Ontario reopens Masters Graduate Stream The OINP accepted 667 new registrations before ending intake

Ontario reopens Masters Graduate Stream The OINP accepted 667 new registrations before ending intake

Ontario reopens Masters Graduate Stream The OINP accepted 667 new registrations before ending intake CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Ontario reopened its Masters Graduate Stream to new registrations April 30 and quickly reached its limit.

The Masters Graduate Stream gives international graduates with an eligible Ontario masters degree the opportunity to apply for a provincial nomination for Canadian permanent residence.

The stream is popular because it does not require a job offer from an Ontario employer in order to be eligible.

The opening completed the intake of 1,000 new registrations that originally began March 5 but ran into technical difficulties before the quota was reached.

A total of 333 registrations were submitted successfully on March 5 and the April 30 intake accepted the remaining 667 registrations before closing.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) said successful registrants will receive a confirmation number from its e-Filing Portal within three business days.

Once you receive a file number you have 14 days to submit an application to the OINP or your registration will expire.

For more information on the Masters Graduate Stream, visit this dedicated page.

Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration

 2019 CICNews All Rights Reserved
The banking industry is undergoing significant disruption, driven by consumer demand for new products combined with new competition from challenger banks and non-financial institutions. Most banks have embarked on digital transformation initiatives in their quest for innovation, shorter new product development cycles, and reduced costs. Smart adoptions of agile practices are an imperative for such digital transformation. Here are five key success factors.

Put custo mers at the core . Todays customers are demanding. They want seamless experiences across every channel; highly personalized products and services that address their specific lifestyles, preferences, and goals; robust security; business transparency; and, importantly, competitive pricing. To achieve customer-centricity as an enterprise goal, product teams must abandon the traditional inward focus (Whats best for the bank?) and focus on customer wants and needs. For example, an Asian bank that serves some of the worlds fastest-growing mobile markets saw an opportunity to create a bank that was truly digital right down to its core. It envisioned a branchless, mobile-only bank that would offer all the functionalities of a physical bank, while making every process paperless and seamless  the result is a bank that both impresses the digital generation and simplifies banking for millions of people.

. Todays customers are demanding. They want seamless experiences across every channel; highly personalized products and services that address their specific lifestyles, preferences, and goals; robust security; business transparency; and, importantly, competitive pricing. To achieve customer-centricity as an enterprise goal, product teams must abandon the traditional inward focus (Whats best for the bank?) and focus on customer wants and needs. For example, an Asian bank that serves some of the worlds fastest-growing mobile markets saw an opportunity to create a bank that was truly digital right down to its core. It envisioned a branchless, mobile-only bank that would offer all the functionalities of a physical bank, while making every process paperless and seamless  the result is a bank that both impresses the digital generation and simplifies banking for millions of people. Accelerate time-to-value . Somewhat like Moores Law, which predicts the doubling of transistors in an integrated circuit every two years, consumers expect their banks to double down on their value proposition within 18 months or less. This means that banks need a smooth innovation delivery pipeline based on agile practices  one that tracks market trends, tests innovative products, and then uses fast feedback mechanisms to iterate products for continuous improvement. Such an agile, on-demand innovation pipeline will help banks reduce customer churn. To accelerate time to market, leading banks have a structured innovation process of generating ideas, running hackathons, and investing in winning ideas through in-house incubators.

. Somewhat like Moores Law, which predicts the doubling of transistors in an integrated circuit every two years, consumers expect their banks to double down on their value proposition within 18 months or less. This means that banks need a smooth innovation delivery pipeline based on agile practices  one that tracks market trends, tests innovative products, and then uses fast feedback mechanisms to iterate products for continuous improvement. Such an agile, on-demand innovation pipeline will help banks reduce customer churn. To accelerate time to market, leading banks have a structured innovation process of generating ideas, running hackathons, and investing in winning ideas through in-house incubators. Modernize legacy systems to keep pace with digital . While digital technologies such as cloud, big data, and analytics can improve efficiency within firms, they still depend on data that resides on-premise and information flows across legacy systems. A crucial aspect of digital transformation is modernizing these core systems using microservices, APIs, and DevOps processes for continuous integration and delivery, leading to shorter release cycles.

. While digital technologies such as cloud, big data, and analytics can improve efficiency within firms, they still depend on data that resides on-premise and information flows across legacy systems. A crucial aspect of digital transformation is modernizing these core systems using microservices, APIs, and DevOps processes for continuous integration and delivery, leading to shorter release cycles. Leverage the potential of minimum viable products (MVPs) . A recent PwC report showed that while 61% of respondents from financial services and FinTech firms feel they are good at generating ideas, only 41% feel they are good at developing MVPs. The use of the above-mentioned microservices and APIs can help banks roll out much-needed MVPs across digital channels and avoid becoming obsolete. One global telecommunications company was able to overcome the same obstacles that banks face with MVPs  inflexible legacy systems and a strict regulatory environment  and achieve a dramatic 66% reduction in cycle time from idea to feature release to production.

. A recent PwC report showed that while 61% of respondents from financial services and FinTech firms feel they are good at generating ideas, only 41% feel they are good at developing MVPs. The use of the above-mentioned microservices and APIs can help banks roll out much-needed MVPs across digital channels and avoid becoming obsolete. One global telecommunications company was able to overcome the same obstacles that banks face with MVPs  inflexible legacy systems and a strict regulatory environment  and achieve a dramatic 66% reduction in cycle time from idea to feature release to production. Upskill the workforce. According to the World Economic Forums 2018 Future of Jobs Report, 56% of the financial services industry workforce will require new skills, and 29% will be employed in new roles by 2022. As automation replaces routine tasks, companies must manage concerns around automation anxiety. This can be done by organizing hackathons and ideathons, infusing entrepreneurial thinking in the workforce, investing in cross-functional teams, and reskilling employees to create a culture of learning, which will be vital for banks to thrive.

Enterprise agility and the ability to innovate, adapt, and respond quickly is no longer a choice but the cornerstone of successful digital transformation for banks if they are to meet the evolving needs of consumers, and fend off new digitally based competitors.
The media are complacent while the world burns. Thats the headline on an article, by Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope, co-published last week by CJR, The Nation, and The Guardian. At a time when civilization is accelerating toward disaster, climate silence continues to reign across the bulk of the US news media, Hertsgaard and Pope write. Especially on television, where most Americans still get their news, the brutal demands of ratings and money work against adequate coverage of the biggest story of our time.

The statistics are alarmingboth in terms of the science and in terms of the reporting. According to a 2012 study by Media Matters for America, for example, TV and print outlets, across an 18-month period, gave 40 times more coverage to the Kardashians than to ocean acidification. When climate change has been covered, its often been covered poorly: false debates between real experts and denialist cranks; the failure to link unfolding disasters to climate change; framing policy solutions in terms of the political horse race; the list goes on.

ICYMI: The hiring spreadsheet and the clash at The Markup

How can we do better? Yesterday, Hertsgaard, environment correspondent at The Nation, and Pope, editor and publisher at CJR, convened a town hall at Columbia Journalism School to address that question. Speakers including Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, and Bill Moyers debated a range of related problemsthe lack of newsroom diversity causing certain communities to be under-served; the flaws in coverage of the global wave of climate activismas well as possible answers. Why dont we put CO2 levels in the weather report?, one audience member asked. Panelists agreed that would be a good idea.

A major theme of the town hall was the tension between public-service climate coverage and corporate medias thirst for ratings. MSNBCs Chris Hayeswho has, in the past, called climate change a palpable ratings killeraddressed the conflict directly. People outside the mainstream media vastly overestimate the ability of the mainstream media to set agendas against the grain of peoples exogenous attention, he said, though media insiders do vastly underestimate their ability to set agendas. Either way, Grappling with the reality of attentional issues cant be hand-waved away. In March, Hayes devoted an entire episode of his show to the Green New Deal, a package of energy and infrastructure proposals, and booked one of its most vocal advocates, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to come talk about it. The ratings, Hayes said, were slightly down on a normal episode; still, at least he tried. Too often, TV news producers dont bother. All of these television stations have military guys, and former CIA guys, and tons of lawyers and judges on their roster to be experts, Klein said. But climate scientists are brought in once in a while.

Marshalling public attention toward weighty scientific matters is undoubtedly hard. But it isnt impossible. Yesterday, panelists suggested that the way weve covered climate changenot the subject itselfhas been putting audiences off. One of the strongest forces were up against is the sense of doom, inevitability, and kind of a self-loathing, Klein said. Were not even sure we deserve to survive. Lets just hang out and watch zombie movies and visions of the future that take the apocalypse for granted. Solution-oriented reportingaround the Green New Deal, for examplecould help change that. As Margaret Sullivan, a media columnist at The Washington Post, put it, we have power here. The climate is an extraordinarily compelling story. If we cant tell it compellingly theres something wrong with us as journalists.

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Going forward, CJR and The Nation have jointly launched #CoveringClimateNow, a coordinated effort to reframe climate coverage nationwide. The tenor of the debate needs to change, and we can all play our part in that. Its really OK for journalists, for example, to be advocates for press rights in America, Sullivan said. And I think its also OK for journalists to be advocates for a healthy planet. Klein added: There isnt a spare planet for journalists.

Below more on covering climate change:

Early pointers: You can watch yesterdays event in full here. In their introductory piece, which you can read here, Hertsgaard and Pope have some preliminary suggestions for improving coverage. They include: follow the industry leaders; dont blame the audience; establish a diverse climate desk, but dont silo climate coverage; learn the science; lose the Beltway mindset; cover the solutions; and dont be afraid to point fingers.

You can watch yesterdays event in full here. In their introductory piece, which you can read here, Hertsgaard and Pope have some preliminary suggestions for improving coverage. They include: follow the industry leaders; dont blame the audience; establish a diverse climate desk, but dont silo climate coverage; learn the science; lose the Beltway mindset; cover the solutions; and dont be afraid to point fingers. Teenage promise: For CJR, Abby Rabinowitz explores how teenage climate activists are transforming coverage of the issue. Thanks to social media, striking teens are writing climate news, and, in some cases, calling the strikes that make headlines and framing their message, Rabinowitz writes. As told by teens, the ever-nearing deadline conveys not just urgency, but also injustice: its both a science story and a morality tale about generational violence, even homicide.

For CJR, Abby Rabinowitz explores how teenage climate activists are transforming coverage of the issue. Thanks to social media, striking teens are writing climate news, and, in some cases, calling the strikes that make headlines and framing their message, Rabinowitz writes. As told by teens, the ever-nearing deadline conveys not just urgency, but also injustice: its both a science story and a morality tale about generational violence, even homicide. An urgent disaster: In November, McKibben, a panelist yesterday, wrote in The New Yorker that large parts of the earth risk becoming uninhabitable due to extreme weather. Climate change, like urban sprawl or gun violence, has become such a familiar term that we tend to read past it, he writes.

In November, McKibben, a panelist yesterday, wrote in The New Yorker that large parts of the earth risk becoming uninhabitable due to extreme weather. Climate change, like urban sprawl or gun violence, has become such a familiar term that we tend to read past it, he writes. A lasting shift? According to the Timess Lisa Friedman, the Congressional GOP has started to take climate change more seriously of late. Driven by polls showing that voters in both partiesparticularly younger Americansare increasingly concerned about a warming planet, and prodded by the new Democratic majority in the House shining a spotlight on the issue, a growing number of Republicans are now openly discussing climate change and proposing what they call conservative solutions, Friedman writes.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: After 10,000 false or misleading claims, are we any better at calling out Trumps lies?

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.
From 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to the 21 young people suing the US federal government over climate, teenagers have become the stars of an optimistic new climate-change media narrative. On March 15, students rallied on the steps of Pittsburghs City Hall as part of a more-than-120-country strike for climate action and chanted, We are unstoppable, another world is possible. They voiced their support for the Green New Deal and against, as one young speaker put it, those disastrous fossil fuel companies.

At the rally, students from Pittsburghs Creative and Performing Arts School wondered why they should pay for college or have children if there was no future to plan for. Its eleven years away, sophomore Benjamin Godley-Fisher said, referencing the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes 2030 deadline for staving off a 1.5C temperature rise. The whole world could end.

New at CJR: How an online magazine avoids the internets environmental impact

The 2030 deadline appeared in numerous headlines, and also spread far and wide on social media, where some of the Pittsburgh students encountered it. Between rehearsals for a school Sister Act production, Godley-Fisher and Lila English told me they often arrive at climate stories on BuzzFeed, CNN, and The New York Times via activism profiles and accounts, which they will sometimes screenshot and then re-share. For many of the striking teens active on Instagram and Twitter, there is no longer any meaningful barrier between gathering, posting, and responding to climate news.

Until recently, such a complex climate news dynamic did not exist. A 2011 Yale Project on Climate Communication study showed marked differences in the sources American teens and adults use to build climate knowledge. Surveyed teenagers identified school, TV, and family members as three top sources of climate information, from which they learned from a little to a lot. More than half of the teenagers said they learned nothing from newspapers, which were frequently cited by adults as a source of climate information. Asked to pick a single source for climate information, 73 percent of teenagers selected the internet, compared to 61 percent of surveyed adults. The study does not specifically address social media as a unique source of information. Eric Fine, Project Manager at the Yale Project on Climate Communication, says this is the groups most recent teen-specific survey.

Today, thanks to social media, striking teens are writing climate news, and, in some cases, calling the strikes that make headlines and framing their message. Social media has altered the landscape of authority, Teen Vogue politics writer and editor Lucy Diavolo says.

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Teen Vogue, a progressive online magazine whose readers are 3x more likely to be activist, has embraced this new authorial dynamic. A recent article about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez roasting Mitch McConnell over the Green New Deal played big on social media, as did a feature on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, both written by staff editors. To cover the climate strike, Senior Features Editor Alli Maloney ran a first-person account by Isha Tobis Clarke, a young woman of color in Oakland, and an op-ed by Haven Coleman and Maddy Fernands, organizers with US Youth Climate Strike, which called the March 15 walkouts. My favorite thing is to edit the young people themselves, Maloney says.

For 16-year-old Fernands, US Youth Climate Strikes National Communications Director, such op-eds are just one way to take ownership of the message and reach teens, who she said are also drawn to video content on YouTube, Vox, and Vice. Fernandss organization, which is coordinating another climate strike slated for May 3, frames the strikes as intersectional, by and for marginalized communities most affected by climate violence, a message heard in speeches by Pittsburgh teens. They also tell and retell the story of 2030 deadline, dramatized by US Youth Climate Strike co-founder Alexandria Villasenor. The 2030 deadline, now fewer than 11 years away, is a unifying force in the youth movement, Fernands says.

As told by teens, the ever-nearing deadline conveys not just urgency, but also injustice: its both a science story and a morality tale about generational violence, even homicide. This story is also powerfully deployed by the millennial-led Sunrise Movement, which has helped push climate to the center of the Democratic Party agenda through sit-ins that go viral on social media. For instance, protestors who occupied Nancy Pelosis office last November wore T-shirts that read 12 years, then the deadline for action, Sunrise Movements Matthew Miles Goodrich says. These sit-ins make more news, and the cycle continues.

When asked to describe climate change, the Pittsburgh teens knew the main headlines: its human-caused, via greenhouse gas emissions, and a crime. Still, they craved context, and raised specific questions that reporters might take to heartparticularly in the interest of their peers who have never even heard of the climate strikes or the deadline. Why do some people think climate change is a hoax? What are climate changes precise effects? How can they help solve the problem? What, if anything, does banning plastic straws have to do with it? One teen linked the ozone to climate change, echoing a finding by the 2011 Yale report that 35 percent of teens believed the ozone hole to be a large contributor to climate changea misconception.

Climate change was not on these teens formal academic curricula, though some expressed appreciation for the time a substitute chemistry teacher showed Leonardo DiCaprios climate change documentary. English later emailed me a story claiming more than 80 percent of US parents want climate change taught in schools; these teens concurred.

At Bronx Science, physics teachers Rachel Wax and Matt Sarker have developed a pilot climate-change elective for senior students. In a lab with high-topped tables and a busy 3D printer, 34 students pursue independent research projects, like energy audits and analyzing water footprints. My main prerogative is to get them interested, Sarker, who teaches the class, says.

Two Bronx Science students, Johanna Neggie and Eytan Stanton, helped rally 100 students for a walk-out that was widely covered. Stanton attributes the widespread coverage to Azalea Danes, who emailed more than 200 journalists. Neggie says she came into the class an activist; Stanton, now leaning toward environmental studies or GeoDesign at the University of Southern California, says, This class was a major stepping stone. Still, just a quarter of these students say they seek out climate news actively.

Social media, with its self-selective bubbles, struggles for the broad reach of public education. In 2011, when Yale applied an academic grading scale to their climate science knowledge, 54 percent of participants age 13-17 received failing grades, compared to 30 percent of adults. Fine, at Yale, also shared troubling up-to-date survey results: while Millennials (the closest age segment to teens) worry about climate change more than their elders, they talk about and encounter climate change in the news media much less. Some schools are working with nonprofit Alliance for Climate Education to educate teens on the subject of climate change using engaging edutainment such as movies and celebrity songs.

Meanwhile, at Bronx Science, teens can still read about climate change in the school paper. A March/April copy of The Science Survey, on old-fashioned newsprint, prominently featured several climate-related stories. Stantons assessment of Bronx Sciences sustainability occupied the front-left corner, and centered on a call for a new, more efficient boiler. Inside were pieces on quitting coal, the perils of foam, geoengineering, and Trumps refusal to affirm a federal climate reports findings. On page 7, there was a civic engagement guide for students who cant yet vote called Making Your Voice Heard. The best curriculum and news stories in the world cant alter time; as English reminded me, for most of the next eleven years, todays sophomores will still be in school.

So, there should be an idea of broadcasting to older generations, she said. To help them help us.

Survival Stories: Revisit CJRs series of local climate-coverage dispatches from around the US

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Abby Rabinowitz has written on climate change for Wired and The New Republic, and her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, the Virginia Quarterly Review, BuzzFeed, Vice, and Nautilus. A professor, she directs the first-year writing program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Following the 2016 US presidential election, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others benefited from a Trump Bump, attracting hundreds of thousands of new digital subscribers and higher revenue in support of their reporting on the administration. But while investigative reporters around the worldwho also cover right wing demagogues and corruptionget clicks and attention, they find it doesnt necessarily translate into profit. My new report, Fighting for Survival: Media Startups in the Global South finds that making a living is hard even for journalists doing important work and having impact.

The South African online site, Daily Maverick, is a case in point. Founded in 2009, and one of the few premier investigative reporting sites in South Africa, Daily Maverick has a history of powerful labor reportingexposing the Marikana mine massacre of 2012 in which police shot striking workers, some of them in the backand was instrumental in 2017 in exposing the Gupta Leaks, a trove of emails revealing deep corruption and state capture by the Gupta family. Members of the South African government and state-owned enterprises were implicated. Its reporting won awards and helped pave the way for the downfall of South Africas president, Jacob Zuma, who resigned in February 2018.

The Gupta Leaks presented a dramatic story of corruption and state capture centered around a tycoon family that burrowed into major state-owned companies such as the electricity provider Eskom and property giant Transnet, and offered bribes and kickbacks to Zuma and his family and colleagues. The leaked emails shed light on this long, tangled relationship, and engrossed South Africans for more than a year. The Daily Maverick got hold of the first trove of incriminating emails and was, together with its close collaborator amaBhungane and with News24, at the center of reporting on the story. This scandal drove audience interest and foundation funding to new highs, and the sites reporting staff has grown to 50 full-time staff. Brkic has also added new sections, which further added to costs. The last three years were good to us. Our audience grew by three times. We finally became a mainstream publication. I get sometimes recognized by people on the street. People say, You are from Daily Maverick! We love Daily Maverick! founder Branko Brkic says.

ICYMI: The hiring spreadsheet and the clash at The Markup

Numerous accolades followed, including the prestigious Vodacom, Taco Kuiper, and Sikuvile reporting awards for Daily Maverick and its partners. This past June, Brkic won the Nat Nakasa Award, given annually by the South African National Editors Forum. One letter supporting the nominations praised the work of a brave and courageous bunch of journalists who persevered despite a virulent social media campaign of fake news and denigration, which also spilled over into acts of intimidation.

However, all the newfound love has not translated into enough subscriptions. Daily Maverick continues to lose money and financial worries are front of the mind for Brkic. Brkic views investigative reporting as the one great hope for South African democracy and is terrified of a world in which it doesnt survive.

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Its all coming to a head in a country which may face a reckoning of the worst kind. The news media is on shaky ground anyway and I worry that conditions may become even worse, Brkic said.

Daily Mavericks annual revenue is in the area of $1 million to $1.5 million, while annual costs are now around $2 million. Brkic and his business partner Styli Charalambous are always looking for ideas to generate income. They are expanding into documentaries and have recently launched a membership club, Maverick Insider. Brkic hopes to get between 10,000 and 15,000 people to join. Although membership contributions are voluntarythe suggested monthly amount is between $4 and $25Brkic hopes for up to $100,000 per month.

He also wants to find a way to launch high-quality business and lifestyle reporting to attract paying readers. I am not talking Kim Kardashian here, he says. Proper quality stuff.

Some 60 to 70 percent of Daily Mavericks revenue comes from foundations: the Millennium Trust, Claude Leon Foundation, and Open Society Foundations, among others. Advertising accounts for another 25 percent of revenue, and a smaller amount comes from events.

Although ad revenue is rising, it will never cover costs, Brkic says. He believes that adding a paywall wouldnt work in a low-income country like South Africa, but notes that donations from readers to their site have expanded in the past few years. Distribution is done through Twitter, Facebook, and a morning email newsletter with more than 100,000 subscribers.

Daily Maverick also benefits from some 200 unpaid contributors who produce really good stuffcolumns and op-eds, Brkic says. Over the last few years we became the preferred platform for South African civil society. Daily Maverick also collaborates with the community website GroundUp, the Institute for Security Studies, Health-e News, EE Publishers, and some 30 other organizations. These outlets are experts in their respective sectors, and they have become good partners, regularly submitting high-quality content for publication.

Brkic works nonstop and doesnt have time to do anything else, he says. In nine years, he has not had a single credible offer for a merger or acquisition, though there are people who would love to buy Daily Maverick in order to shut it down. He remains in the job because he believes in the words right at the top of the website: Defend Truth. Its sad we have to post it as a mission because defending truth should be a given, he says. Our intent is to bring quality information to South Africa, not losing your mind on a Twitter storm or social media chaos but to explain to our audience what its really about.

We are incredibly old fashioned, he continues. We want people to come to us because its us. We want people who come to us because they want to see todays edition not because they picked up a story because it was marketed on social media.

This piece is adapted from Anya Schiffrins new report Fighting For Survival: Media Startups in the Global South.

ICYMI: CJR event on covering climate change

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Anya Schiffrin is the director of the media and technology specialization at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs.
Everywhere you look, people are looking at screens.

In the decade since smartphones have become ubiquitous, we now have a feeling almost as common as the smartphones themselves: being sucked into that black hole of staring at those specific apps  you know which ones they are  and then a half an hour has gone by before you realize it.

Researchers at the University of Washington conducted in-depth interviews to learn why we compulsively check our phones. They found a series of triggers, common across age groups, that start and end habitual smartphone use. The team also explored user-generated solutions to end undesirable phone use. The results will be presented May 7 at the 2019 ACM CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Glasgow, Scotland.

For a couple of years Ive been looking at peoples experiences with smartphones and listening to them talk about their frustration with the way they engage with their phones, said co-author Alexis Hiniker, an assistant professor at the UWs Information School. But on the flip side, when we ask people what they find meaningful about their phone use, nobody says, Oh, nothing. Everyone can point to experiences with their phone that have personal and persistent meaning.

That is very motivating for me. The solution is not to get rid of this technology; it provides enormous value. So the question is: How do we support that value without bringing along all the baggage?

Hiniker and her team interviewed three groups of smartphone users: high school students, college students and adults who have graduated from college. The 39 subjects were smartphone users in the Seattle area between the ages of 14 and 64. Interviews started with background questions and a think aloud demonstration in which participants walked through the apps on their phone. Interviewers would then ask more in-depth questions about the apps participants pointed out as most likely to lead to compulsive behavior.

We were hoping to get a holistic view into the behaviors of the participants, said first author Jonathan Tran, a UW undergraduate studying human centered design and engineering.

In general, interviewees had four common triggers for starting to compulsively use their phones:

During unoccupied moments, like waiting for a friend to show up,

Before or during tedious and repetitive tasks

When in socially awkward situations

When they anticipated getting a message or notification

The group also had common triggers that ended their compulsive phone use:

Competing demands from the real world, like meeting up with a friend or needing to drive somewhere

Realizing they had been on their phone for a half an hour

Coming across content theyd already seen

The team was surprised to find that the triggers were the same across age groups.

This doesnt mean that teens use their phones the same way adults do. But I think this compulsive itch to turn back to your phone plays out the same way across all these groups, Hiniker said. People talked about everything in the same terms: The high school students would say Anytime I have a dead moment, if I have one minute between classes I pull out my phone. And the adults would say Anytime I have one dead moment, if I have one minute between seeing patients at work I pull out my phone.'

The researchers asked participants to identify something about their behavior they would like to change and then draw an idea on paper for how the phone could help them achieve it.

Many of the participants sketched lockout mechanisms, where the phone would essentially prevent them from using it for a certain period of time, Tran said. But participants mentioned how although they feel bad about their behavior, they didnt really feel bad enough to utilize their sketched solutions. There was some ambivalence.

To the team, this finding pointed to a more nuanced idea behind peoples relationships to their phones.

If the phone werent valuable at all, then sure, the lockout mechanism would work great. We could just stop having phones, and the problem would be solved, Hiniker said. But thats not really the case.

Instead, the researchers saw that participants found meaning in a diverse set of experiences, particularly when apps let them connect to the real world. One participant talked about how a meme generator helped her interact with her sister because they meme tagged each other all the time. Another participant mentioned that the Kindle app let her connect with her father who was reading the same books.

People describe it as an economic calculation, Hiniker said. Like, How much time do I spend with this app and how much of that time is actually invested in something lasting that transcends this specific moment of use? Some experiences promote a lot of compulsive use, and that dilutes the time people spend on activities that are meaningful.

When it comes to designing the next wave of smartphones, Hiniker recommends that designers shift away from system-wide lockout mechanisms. Instead, apps should let users be in control of their own engagement. And people should decide whether an app is worth their time.

People have a pretty good sense of what matters to them. Hiniker said. They can try to tailor whats on their phone to support the things that they find meaningful.

Additional co-authors are Katherine Yang, a UW undergraduate studying human centered design and engineering, and Katie Davis, a professor in the UWs iSchool.
HOUSTON  Water pollution charges were filed Monday against a company that owns a Houston-area petrochemical storage facility where a large fire that burned for days in March caused chemicals to flow into a nearby waterway.

The Harris County District Attorneys Office announced it filed five environmental misdemeanor charges against Intercontinental Terminals Company.

Prosecutors allege following the March 17 fire, a dam at the facility broke, sending large quantities of toxic chemicals, including xylene and benzene, into nearby Tucker Bayou, which flows into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, said Tom Berg, first assistant district attorney for Harris County.

We support the petrochemical industry. Its the life blood of the Houston area, and by and large, our corporate, industrial friends are responsible, Berg said. They take great care in safety and environmental concerns. But when theyre failures, those folks need to be held accountable and this company in particular has had a history of environmental violations. So were not inclined to look the other way.

If convicted, ITC could be fined up to $100,000 for each charge.

Berg said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges could be filed.

Michael Goldberg, an attorney for ITC, said he and his client had not seen the charges. Nevertheless, there is no question that there was a large fire and an enormous effort to extinguish it which resulted in a discharge into Tucker Bayou, he said in a statement.

The Deer Park facility, located southeast of Houston, caught fire March 17 and burned until March 20, sending waves of thick, black smoke thousands of feet into the air and forcing the closure of roads and schools. The water pollution took place through March 21, Berg said.

Air monitors on March 21 detected elevated levels of benzene in the air, prompting public officials to order people living in the area to remain indoors for several hours.

The next day, a dike failed adjacent to the tank farm, allowing flammable chemicals to seep into nearby bayous and then into the Houston Ship channel, which partially closed during the cleanup efforts . The ship channel is a critical commercial waterway that connects oil refineries in the Houston area between the Port of Houston and the Gulf of Mexico.

The tanks at ITC contained components of gasoline and materials used in nail polish remover, glues and paint thinner.

People living in Deer Park and the other neighboring residential areas near ITCs plant deserve protection too, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. When public health is at risk, its a public safety concern.

Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against ITC, saying the state must hold the company accountable for the damage it has done to our environment.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AUSTIN, Texas  Texas tough stance on marijuana as the drug becomes increasingly legal elsewhere in the U.S. has grounded a bipartisan push in the state to decriminalize minor offenses _ a change the Texas GOP platform has come around to endorsing, but not Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

It all but ensures that Texas will remain in the company of more than a dozen states where possessing any amount of pot can result in a criminal record. A Democrat leading the decriminalization effort said political realities in the Texas Capitol forced him to weaken his bill ahead of a key House vote.

The chamber passed the measure on a 98-43 vote on Monday, drawing support from both sides of the aisle.

The revised measure would reduce penalties for those with an ounce or less of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor _ eliminating arrests, but still making possession a crime.

The failure of the bills original language underscores how politically resistant Texas GOP leaders are to relaxing marijuana laws, even a year after voters in neighboring Oklahoma fully legalized medical marijuana.

It also effectively defies the Texas Republican Partys own platform, which GOP delegates overwhelmingly revised last summer to support decriminalization for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana.

This was hugely popular among delegates and hugely popular among the party, said Jeff LeBlanc, who served on the Texas GOP committee that drafted the new platform. We have a disconnect with the lieutenant governor and the governor on this issue. Its frustrating for us and I dont know why that is.

Currently, at least four states have designated possession of small amounts of marijuana as a low-level misdemeanor with no possibility of jail time, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Texas remains a tough landscape for marijuana advocates as pot laws are loosened nationwide. Shortly after becoming governor in 2015, Abbott signed a bill making Texas the last big state to allow some form of medical marijuana, albeit in an oil extract so low in the psychoactive component, THC, that it couldnt get a person high.

Abbott made clear at the time that he will not allow legalized marijuana in Texas on his watch. He said last year that he would be open to dropping the penalty for minor possession to a lower misdemeanor but stopped short of endorsing decriminalization.

Abbotts office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Democratic Rep. Joe Moody, who carried the original bill, said his new version accomplishes much of the original measures goals and now has a chance to make it across the finish line. Moody praised the bill for drawing dozens of co-authors and said he worked with Abbotts office to make certain changes to the bill.

But as much as I appreciate all those signatures, theres still one signature I have to think about, Moody said. And just as I have worked with everyone else today, Im prepared to work in the lanes the governor has laid out to get this done.

The new law would mandate a fine of up to $500 and would also look to streamline protocol to expunge the charges from offenders records.

Under current Texas law those with small amounts of marijuana are subject to a Class B misdemeanor, which could mean a fine of up to $2,000 and up to 180 days of jail time.

Heather Fazio, director of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, said it is disappointing the bill was changed to maintain criminal penalties.

It would have been a better approach to remove it from the criminal side and make it a civil citation, Fazio said. We certainly understand you have to make certain concessions to earn allies and thats exactly what has been done.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AKRON, Ohio  The Akron Zoo on Wednesday announced the death of one of its female Humboldt penguins, Emmanuelle Emma, who, at 36, was the oldest, zoo-born female Humboldt penguin in any Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited facility.

Hatched on April 23, 1983 at the Milwaukee County Zoo, Emma arrived at the Akron Zoo in October 2004 and had been in retirement since 2013, the zoo said in a news release.

Emmas care team had been treating her for age-related conditions, but after she was no longer responding positively to treatment, decided to euthanize her on April 25.

We are honored to have been part of Emmas story, Akron Zoo President and CEO Doug Piekarz said in a statement. Emma lived 20 years past the median age of Humboldt penguins thanks to the exceptional care she received from the animal and veterinary care teams.

The median life expectancy for Humboldt penguins is 16-and-a-half years, the zoo said.

Humboldt penguins are native to the coasts of Peru and Chile, and are currently at risk for extinction due to environmental concerns, according to the zoo.

The Akron Zoo is home to 13 penguins and participates in the Humboldt Penguin Species Survival Plan. The breeding program helps create a genetically-diverse population of penguins at AZA-accredited facilities.

The zoo also supports the Humboldt Penguin Conservation Program in Punta San Juan, which is a field research project in Peru and Chile to help address environmental concerns and monitor penguin colonies.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  Glenville High School will host a forum Thursday where residents can get health screenings, make appointment to see doctors and learn about job opportunities.

More than 70 organizations and businesses are expected to be available at the resource fair. Among those are several offices from the city of Cleveland that can address jobs with the safety forces, with public works and parks and recreation.

Medworks, an organization that links the uninsured and underinsured with health care, will provide some assessments on site and arrange appointments for tests such as colonoscopies, mammograms and prostate checkups.

Other organizations that plan attend are the Cleveland school district, Case Western Reserve University, MetroHealth System, NEON Health Center, the Cleveland Public Library and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

The event, which is free, will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Glenville High School is on East 113th Street just south of St. Clair Avenue.

In addition to the city and Medworks, supporters of the event include the Famicos Foundation, The East Side Market, Cleveland City Council members Kevin Conwell, Anthony Hairston and Basheer Jones  who represent the surrounding neighborhoods -- and Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell, whose district includes much of Clevelands East Side.
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Construction is expected to begin in June on a $2.5 million multi-purpose path along Warrensville Center Road through the Van Aken District and into Thornton Park.

With nearly $2 million of that provided through federal and state funding, the local share will be about $476,500, with roughly half of that going toward an onsite construction manager and inspector.

City Council approved that $234,000 contract at its April 22 meeting, hiring Greenman-Pedersen Inc. (GPI) to oversee the work, as the Berea-based firm is already doing for the Farnsleigh Road streetscape project, also federally funded.

The apparent low bidder for the Warrensville Center streetscape project -- running from Scottsdale Boulevard and east on Farnsleigh Road -- looks like Perk Company of Cleveland, with a base bid of $1.7 million opened on April 1.

City Planning Director Joyce Braverman said the work on the roughly mile-long path will be like a wide concrete sidewalk, with curbs, some asphalt pavement, ADA ramp installation, pedestrian lighting, landscaping and signage along the east side of Warrensville Road.

It will go past the U.S. Post Office, the University Hospitals and Tower East buildings, then across Chagrin Boulevard in front of Rite-Aid, Christ Episcopal Church and the new Shaker Rocks climbing gym on the way to the park.

As part of the 2016 Van Aken Connections proposal developed with the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, the multi-use path aligns with the Eastside Greenway plan for bikes and pedestrians in at least 20 communities.

Hopefully, the bulk of the work will be completed this year, with the landscaping carrying over into 2020, said Shaker Heights Councilman Sean Malone, who chairs the Finance Committee.

In other business at its April 22 meeting, council also approved the $1 dollar "sales" of a decommissioned ladder truck and ambulance to the Western Reserve Fire Museum and University Hospitals, respectively.

The 1991 fire truck has been on loan to the museum for over a year while being marketed for sale, with zero interest and zero inquiries, Fire Chief Patrick Sweeney told council, noting that the education center had agreed to return the truck if a buyer was identified.

Instead of going to the scrap heap, which would be very sad, it will be completely transferred to the museum, Councilwoman Nancy Moore said, adding that it has been good P.R. for Shaker with it sitting at the museum.

The 2004 Horton rescue squad will be going to the UH EMS Training and Disaster Preparedness Institute, from which the return-on-investment from our relationship is significant and weighs heavily in our favor, Sweeney added in a memo to council.

Responding to a question from Councilman Tres Roeder, Sweeney said that departmental purchases on what amounts to "tens of thousands of dollars of equipment," including two Lucas CPR devices at $12,000 apiece, would otherwise be cost-prohibitive.

It also frees up the ambulance crew to attend to other life-threatening needs with patients, Roeder noted.

"In these situations, there are a lot of things that need to happen in a short period of time, and the UH equipment helps that," Sweeney added.

Pet-A-Palooza

In other business, city officials received recent word that beginning this weekend, the Shaker Library will be celebrating pets from May 4-18 with the Pet-A-Palooza.

These events kick off Saturday (May 4) with a do-it-yourself pet I.D. tag-making event at the Main Library for kids in grades K-6.

"Make an I.D. tag for your pet with your phone number in case it gets lost," public relations manager Margaret Simon said. "And if you don't live with a pet, make it a gift for someone who does."

Registration can be done in person, online or by phone.

Read more news from the Sun Press here.
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- OVI, South Green Road: At 2:45 a.m. April 28, a vehicle was driven into the front porch of a house located in the 2200 block of South Green Road.

A South Euclid woman, 20, was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, failure to maintain reasonable control, driving under suspension, underage possession of alcohol and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.

Disorderly conduct, Washington Boulevard: At 2:35 a.m. April 22, police were called to a home where a man was banging on a door and yelling loudly. Police arrested the intoxicated University Heights man, 28, and charged him with disorderly conduct/intoxication.

Warrant arrest, Meadowbrook Boulevard: At 8:55 a.m. April 22, police stopped a car that was displaying a fictitious license plate and showed that the owner was wanted on a warrant. The driver, a Cleveland man, 63, was arrested on the theft warrant, issued by police in Bedford.

Theft, Cedar Road: At 12:40 p.m. April 22, security at Target, 14070 Cedar Road, detained a store employee, a Cleveland woman, 31, for stealing $660.

Theft, Cedar Road: At 10:40 p.m. April 23, a University Heights boy, 16, reported that he had left his wallet on the counter of Family Dollar, 13470 Cedar Road. A male suspect picked up the wallet and left the store. Police are investigating.

Domestic violence, Cedarbrook Road: At 10:05 p.m. April 24, police were called to a home where a domestic violence incident had taken place. Officers arrested a boy, 13, and charged him with domestic violence.

Theft, Warrensville Center Road: At 2:25 p.m. April 25, loss prevention at Macys, 2201 Warrensville Center Road, reported that a woman had stolen $1,045 worth of merchandise and left the premises in a car. Police were unable to locate the suspects car.

Grand theft, Edgerton Road: At 10:55 p.m. April 28, a man reported that four of his handguns were possibly stolen by painters he had hired. Police are investigating.

Fraud, Loyola Road: At 6:25 p.m. April 27, a resident asked for help in filling out a fraud/theft report after losing $700 in an online purchase with an out-of-state seller.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.

Read more news from the Sun Press here.
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Theft, Richmond Road: A Foot Locker employee at the Richmond Town Square Mall reported April 24 that an employee from another store in the mall had stolen shoes and socks.

The suspect was located and admitted to the theft. The items were returned without any charges being filed.

However, that mans supervisor was found to have an active warrant out of Lyndhurst and was arrested.

Grand theft, Loganberry Drive: A Cleveland man reported April 23 that his vehicle had been stolen from the Loganberry Ridge apartments. No suspects were identified.

Fraud, Brushview Drive: A resident said April 25 that someone had hacked into her online Walmart account and purchased an iPhone using her credit card information. She said she had received the iPhone from Fed-Ex the previous day and returned it to Walmart. There was no indication of who had accessed her account.

Impaired driving, Homewood Drive: Officers observed a vehicle weaving and saw it strike a construction barrel just after 1 a.m. April 26. A traffic stop was conducted and the driver, a 67-year-old Lyndhurst man, was subsequently arrested for OVI.

Assault, Loganberry Drive: A resident of the Loganberry Ridge apartments reported at 2:10 a.m. April 26 that a man had assaulted her and left with her cell phone. The man was found to have been previously banned from the property. The incident is under investigation.

Disturbance, Richmond Road: A man, 19, reported April 16 that his girlfriend had attacked him in her vehicle after they left McDonalds, where she had taken him to drop off an application. He said the incident occurred after she asked him to get out of the car because he was being disrespectful to her.

Officers contacted the 19-year-old woman. She said the man had pulled her hair, so she scratched at him to defend herself. Neither of them wished to pursue the matter.

Property damage, Whiteway Drive: A resident of Loganberry Ridge apartments discovered April 27 that his living room window had been shot three times with a BB gun. He was unsure when it occurred, and no suspects were identified.

Impaired driving, Chardon Road: Euclid police discovered a vehicle, believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run crash in their jurisdiction, parked at Sunoco around 1:30 a.m. April 28.

Although it matched the description and had damage to it, it was not the suspected vehicle. However, the driver was found to be drunk. The Euclid man, 29, was subsequently arrested by Richmond Heights police for OVI.

Impaired driving, Richmond Bluffs Drive: Officers checked on a running vehicle stopped on the grass and sidewalk around 5:15 a.m. April 28 and discovered that the driver was passed out behind the wheel. Officers awoke the 23-year-old resident and, after he failed sobriety tests, arrested him for OVI.

Disturbance, Ruth Ellen Drive: A man reported April 28 that his girlfriend had come at him with a pair of scissors during an argument.

The woman told officers that the man was cheating on her and she was demanding he leave her apartment. She said he pushed her, and she denied grabbing a pair of scissors.

The man subsequently removed his property and left and was advised not to return.

Harassing communication, Harrison Drive: A resident said April 28 that she had ordered food from Rascal House Pizza in Euclid the previous day and the driver drove across her front lawn. She said she called the business to complain and, after she did, the driver sent her a harassing text message.

Officers contacted the driver and told the man, 41, not to have any further contact with the woman. The incident was documented because the woman was concerned that there may have been damage done to her underground sprinkler system.

Soliciting, Monticello Boulevard: Officers responded to CVS April 23 for a report of a woman soliciting inside the store. The Cleveland Heights woman, 68, was found to have an active warrant out of Macedonia. She was arrested on the warrant and banned from the store.

Read more news from the Sun Messenger here.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio Property damage, Fruitland Avenue: A resident reported April 12 that someone had put glue and glitter all over both vehicles in his driveway overnight. He said there were also cotton balls and newspaper on the windows.

The door handles were also glued, but able to be opened.

The 17-year-old daughter of the resident suspected that a fellow student from Mayfield High School may be responsible.

Theft, Mayfield Road: An AT&T Mobility store employee reported April 20 that an unknown man had stolen a $399 Apple watch from a display. The incident was captured on surveillance video, but the suspect was not located by responding officers.

Overdose, East Miner Road: A man, 54, suffered from an unknown type of overdose at a residence April 20. Narcan was given and the man was taken to the hospital. The drug enforcement unit is investigating.

Disturbance, Mayfield Road: A man attempted to fix his vehicle in the service bay at Nick Mayer Auto Group April 21, but the staff wanted him to leave because he was not a customer or employee. He also became upset that the staff would not let him wash his vehicle because there were parts hanging from it. Officers located him in the area and gave him a trespass warning.

Assault, Mayfield Road: A Bedford man, 46, was arrested for assault and criminal damaging April 21 after he was suspected of punching an 83-year-old man who was trying to maneuver his vehicle around a tow truck.

Witnesses say the victim was honking his horn to get the man to move his truck and the man jumped on his vehicle and broke off a windshield wiper. The suspect claimed the man had tried to strike him with his vehicle, so he had to grab the windshield wiper to keep from being dragged.

Fraud, Orchard Heights Drive: A 63-year-old resident reported April 10 that he was the victim of a scam in which he purchased $2,000 in Target gift cards and sent $14,000 cash to a location in Virginia.

He said he had received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Social Security Administration and claiming someone had opened 16 credit card accounts in his name and he had 25 open drug warrants against him.

Officers confirmed that the package had been delivered to a hotel in Virginia and was signed for. They are working with the sheriffs office in the jurisdiction of the hotel to identify a suspect.

Harassment, Hawthorne Drive: A resident said April 20 that an Elyria man, 52, has been harassing her through phone calls, texts and social media since 2016. She said he was convicted of harassment in 2016, but it has since continued.

She said the man has recently been responding to her social media posts with thumbs up" and heart emojis. The woman, 37, said she has filed reports against him in the past and he has told officers he will only stop contacting her if she sleeps with him one time.

The woman was advised to report any further contact with the suspect.

Disturbance, Mayfield Road: A motorist reported April 17 that an irate woman had been following her since she picked up her child at a daycare center. She pulled into the police station parking lot, as did the other woman.

Officers learned that there had been an argument between the two at the daycare after a conversation about the womans mixed-race child. They were both advised to stay away from each other.

Disturbance, Golden Gate Boulevard: Officers responded around 1 p.m. April 20 to the Comfort Inn for a report of a large party in a room, where the guests were refusing to leave.

Due to an odor of marijuana, officers identified all of those in the room. Three Cleveland women were found to have active warrants and were subsequently turned over to those respective agencies.

Read more news from the Sun Messenger here.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A lawyer for a former Cuyahoga County employee charged in a public corruption investigation said in a courtroom Tuesday that special prosecutors running the probe have entered into multiple agreements with potential witnesses to not prosecute them in exchange for them resigning their jobs or paying money.

Roger Synenberg made the statement during a pre-trial hearing in the case against his client, former Cuyahoga County IT general counsel Emily McNeeley. He said that prosecutors have told him about non-prosecution agreements and proffer agreements, but Synenberg suspects there are more.

Theyve made several agreements with people who I would say should be in this case as well, to not prosecute them in exchange for money, to not prosecute them for, Synenberg said before he paused.

He turned toward special prosecutors Dan Kasaris, Matthew Meyer and Paul Soucie and asked if he was mistaken. They did not answer, and he continued.

To not prosecute them in exchange for them resigning their job, Synenberg said. Theres a lot of these floating out there, and we shouldnt have to guess.

McNeeley was named in a Jan. 18 indictment, along with the countys current human resources chief Douglas Dykes and ex-jail director Ken Mills with several felony and misdemeanor charges. Those charges are the culmination of a years-long investigation that spread from the countys IT and human resources department to encompass conditions in the Cuyahoga County Jail. They each have pleaded not guilty.

Since then, seven corrections officers in the jail and the former warden Eric Ivey have also been charged in connection with the probe.

McNeeley, Dykes and Mills sat quietly beside one another in the back of the courtroom for the duration of Tuesdays hearing.

The nearly hour-long hearing in front of the visiting judge overseeing the case, Patricia Cosgrove, focused on how prosecutors and defense attorneys should handle the exchange of evidence in the run up to trial. Meyer said that prosecutors have already turned over copies of any agreements made with witnesses to Synenberg.

Cosgrove gave prosecutors until the end of May to turn over several pieces of evidence, and lifted a ban that prevented each defendants attorneys from sharing evidence with one another.

Who can it be?

Before Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael OMalley recused himself from the criminal investigation and asked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to serve as special prosecutor, he announced that his office had reached a settlement agreement with the business accounting firm Plante Moran.

The company agreed to reimburse the county for the $123,000 in public money it got to consult on a troubled and oft-delayed computer-integration project, known as Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP. The company also denied any liability or wrongdoing under the agreement, and agreed to continue to fully cooperate with the investigation, OMalleys office said.

Synenberg did not identify who he was talking about in court and declined to elaborate after the hearing.

Several county employees have tendered their resignations since the investigation ramped up last year, including two of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budishs chiefs of staff, Sharon Sobol Jordan and Earl Leiken, and Law Director Robert Triozzi, Human Resources Director Ed Morales, Chief Technology Officer Michael Young and interim jail director George Taylor.

None of those people could be reached for comment Tuesday

Fears of witness intimidation

Cosgrove ordered prosecutors to hand over full audio recordings of witness interviews that are relevant to each case. Cosgrove granted a request from Meyer to bar the attorneys from actually playing the interviews for witnesses after Meyer said prosecutors are concerned about witness intimidation.

We have witnesses concerned about their livelihoods, and we have uncharged suspects who could harm those witnesses, Meyer said. There is a demonstrable record here of people being harmed for their cooperation with the state or their willingness to provide information and evidence about the conditions in Cuyahoga County and the circumstances in Cuyahoga County government.

Meyer and Kasaris then clarified that Meyer was not accusing Dykes, McNeeley or Mills of intimidating witnesses.

Former MetroHealth employee Gary Brack was ousted from his position at the county jail at the request of Budishs administration after he spoke out about conditions at the jail at a County Council meeting last May.

An offer for Dykes

Douglas Dykess attorney, Anthony Jordan, told cleveland.com after the hearing that prosecutors have offered a plea bargain to Dykes. He said that would land his client in a diversion program that, if Dykes were to complete, would wipe away his criminal history. In exchange, prosecutors want Dykes to give a proffer statement.

Jordan reiterated Tuesday that Dykes maintains his innocence, but Jordan said he wanted to review all of the evidence before he advised Dykes on the deal.

"Everything is still on the table, Jordan said.

Synenberg declined to discuss any plea negotiations. Millss lawyer, Kevin Spellacy, did not respond to a request for comment after the hearing.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A U.S. Marshals task force arrested a Cleveland homicide suspect Tuesday after the man jumped out a third-floor window to try to avoid arrest, authorities said.

The Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested Calvin M. Pittman Jr. after he jumped from the building on Denison Avenue near West 50th Street, the U.S. Marshals said in a news release.

Pittman suffered minor injuries in the fall. An ambulance took him to MetroHealth for treatment.

Pittman Jr., 26, is charged with aggravated murder in an April 9 shooting on Fortune Avenue near Bosworth Road. The task force arrested him the same day investigators obtained a warrant for his arrest, court records say.

Pittman and another man fatally shot Albert Lee Crenshaw, who was sitting in a car at the time, according to U.S. Marshals and police reports. The other man has not yet been identified.

Cleveland police officers were investigating a report of shots fired about 11:45 p.m. when they found Crenshaw shot multiple times in the drivers seat of a car, police said. Crenshaw, 44, was pronounced dead after an ambulance took him to MetroHealth.

Witnesses reported hearing gunshots before they saw several men running away from the car, police said.

Investigators have not offered a motive for the shooting, or said how they identified Pittman as a suspect.

Pittmans criminal history includes prior convictions for attempted robbery, felonious assault and drug possession, according to Cuyahoga County court records.

Correction: This story initially included the incorrect age and criminal history for Pittman Jr. It has been updated with the correct information.

To comment on this story, visit Tuesdays crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  An armed robber called a Cleveland man by the wrong name and demanded he repay a debt before he shot the man and stole his car late Tuesday, police said.

The 36-year-old man told investigators that he did not recognize the robber who shot him just after 11 p.m. on East 44th Street near Bartlett Avenue, in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, according to police reports.

No arrests have been made in the case, police said.

The man suffered gunshot wounds to the left ear and left leg, police reports say. An ambulance took him to University Hospitals for treatment.

The man was walking around and talking on his phone when Cleveland police officers arrived to the crime scene, police reports say.

He told the officers he was standing outside his Toyota Avalon when the robber ran up to him. The robber asked called the man by the wrong name as he asked wheres my money?

The man told the robber it was not his name, and that he did not know what the robber was talking about. The robber then pulled out a gun and shot the man multiple times, police reports say.

The robber got into the Toyota and drove away.

The Cleveland Fire Department found the car on fire about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday on East 123rd Street near Signet Avenue, police reports say. No other details were immediately available.

Firefighters put out the fire, and the car was towed to a police department lot so it could be checked for evidence.

To comment on this story, visit Wednesdays crime and courts comments page.
AKRON, Ohio  An Akron woman is facing multiple charges after police say she fired gunshots at her 15-year-old son through the door of his bedroom.

Alma R. Gray, 44, is being held in the Summit County Jail on charges of domestic violence, aggravated assault and improperly discharging firearms into a habitation.

Officers responded to a residence at 7:30 p.m. Monday on the 1900 block of Ganyard Road.

The teen tells police he got into an argument with his mother and that she threatened to shoot him. He went to his bedroom and locked the door and Gray reportedly fired several shots through the door.

The teen was not injured.

Gray left the home before police arrived, but later returned while officers were still there and was arrested without incident.

The teen male is now in custody of Summit County Childrens Services, police say.

To comment on this story, visit Tuesdays crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio Universitys Sigma Pi fraternity chapter was expelled this month after an investigation found evidence of physical harm, coerced alcohol consumption and personal servitude," as well as seven other violations.

The university began an investigation into the fraternitys actions after freshman Colin Wiant died in a unofficial annex of Sigma Pis Epsilon chapter in November. A toxicology report found Wiant, a new member, died of asphyxiation due to nitrous oxide ingestion, reported OUs student newspaper, The Post.

Wiants family filed a lawsuit in February alleging hazing at the fraternity caused his death. The lawsuit claimed Wiant and other pledges were forced to take illegal drugs containing nitrous oxide, commonly known as whippets," according to the Athens News.

Sigma Pi was previously suspended in 2014 for violating the schools code of conduct. The organization accepted responsibility for conduct that causes harm or has the potential to harm another, which can include, but is not limited to, hazing, university spokeswoman Carly Leatherwood wrote in an email.

The suspension lasted from March 2014 to May 2015, Leatherwood wrote. The chapter was required to create new member activities and complete a service project.

Cleveland.com has submitted a records request to see if the chapter had been investigated or suspended prior to 2014.

Sigma Pis Epsilon chapter had 77 active members when they were notified of their suspension in November. The fraternity was notified of its expulsion in a April 12 letter signed by Jenny Hall-Jones, OUs dean of students and senior associate vice president.

Documents notifying Sigma Pi members of the chapters expulsion detailed the results of the investigation. The violations listed were:

Hazing - endangering a students health or safety

Hazing - physical brutality

Hazing - coerced consumption of food of alcohol

Hazing - coerced activities, which in this case included personal servitude," most often being laundry

Damage to property - witnesses described members punching holes in the walls

Alcoholic beverage violations including preventing underage members from possessing alcohol and selling and/or distribution of alcoholic beverages.

Unlawful use or possession of controlled substances or drugs

Physical harm or threat of physical harm to another person

Reckless but not accidental action that poses reasonable risk of harm to another person

Read the full redacted documents in the document viewer below.

The chapter appealed the decision on the grounds that the sanctions were disproportionate to the violation.

After a board upheld the expulsion, Sigma Pi appealed to the Vice President for Student Affairs, Jason Pina. He also found the sanctions to be appropriate.

OU currently recognizes 33 social fraternities and sororities on campus. No other social fraternities or sororities are on cease-and-desist status, Leatherwood wrote.
Rotunda Rumblings

Power play: It appears that an Ohio House subcommittee will vote Thursday on changes to House Bill 6, the controversial legislation to abolish Ohios green-energy mandates in favor of subsidies to nuclear power and other clean energy generators. Cleveland.coms Jeremy Pelzer has the latest on what the legislation would do, where it stands, and whats going to happen now.

Unseat the chair? Ohio Citizen Action, a liberal advocacy group, is calling on Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder to remove Nino Vitale as chair of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee for advocating the removal of subsidies that help poorer Ohioans become more energy-efficient. Someone so blatantly opposed to helping low-income Ohioans is unfit to lead the Ohio House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the groups executive director stated in a letter.

Charity case: State Rep. John Becker, a Cincinnati-area Republican, opposes the pay raises Ohio lawmakers gave themselves late last year so much that he has been donating the increases each month to charity. His $313.73 donations in January, February and March have gone to the Cincinnati Nature Center, Ohio Concerns of Police Survivors (COPS) and the Goshen Township Bicentennial Committee, respectively, a statement said. His April donation will go to the Days of Wonder School, which is a non-accredited home school.

Get Project Text for free in May: If you havent signed up yet for Project Text, heres your chance to do it for free. For the month of May, youll get behind the scenes insights and observations via text messages from the reporting team that produces Capitol Letter. No obligation and no credit card needed. After that, you can decide whether to subscribe for $3.99 a month. You can sign up for the free trial here. And if youre interested in other exclusive texts on subjects like the Browns, Buckeyes and even beer,theres more info here.

Wedding bells: Cleveland native and former Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Andrew Zucker married Jerica Chosich, a fundraising consultant and finance director for U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, at Potomac Point Winery in Stafford, Virginia. Zucker now works as federal media relations director for Everytown for Gun Safety, according to the New York Times. Justin Barasky, a former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown campaign staffer and current Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee senior adviser, officiated, according to Politico Playbook.

Forever and ever, Amen: Its not just the halls of the Ohio Statehouse or Congress that are under pressure to be more inclusive to the LGBTQ community. Baldwin Wallace University and the United Methodist Church are splitsville, after a majority of the church leaders voted against marrying gays and allowing LGBTQ clergy, cleveland.coms Emily Bamforth writes. The school disagreed so much with the vote that it ended its affiliation last week. WOSU reports that Ohio Wesleyan in Delaware County has suspended its affiliation with the church for a year.

Pushing back: Former state Sen. Nina Turner joined founders of Black Lives Matter and other activists at a Capitol Hill rally on Tuesday that criticized Republicans including President Donald Trump for directing what they called hate speech at Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar. Turner, who co-chairs Vermont Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, called for black women to rise over hatred, bigotry, anti-semitism and Islamaphobia.

Unlucky: Former state lawmaker Clayton Luckie, along with local politicians and a Dayton businessman, have been indicted on federal corruption related charges, according to the Dayton Daily News. Luckie, who was released from prison in 2016 for money laundering, election falsification and theft, is accused of forming a construction company that had no equipment or labor and winning city contracts as a disadvantaged business enterprise.

Not a Nan Fan: The Ohio Republican Party quickly hopped on the news of the Dayton lawmakers, trying to tie it to Democratic Mayor Nan Whaley. We hope that Mayor Nan Whaley will be transparent during the following investigation and answer any and all questions on what her role was with these officials or how this blatant corruption was allowed on her watch, said ORP spokesman Evan Machan.

Preemptive strike: Its pretty obvious that the ORP is concerned about Whaleys potential rise. Whaley briefly ran for governor in 2018, bowing out after Richard Cordray jumped in to the Democratic primary, and theres every indication shes thinking of running for governor in the future, possibly as soon as 2022. Whaley didnt respond to calls or text messages seeking comment.

Off target: Buckeye Firearms Association Executive Director Dean Rieck on Tuesday sent an email to members of the pro-gun group that contradicted media reports that the DeWine administration was working on red flag legislation allowing courts to confiscate guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others. We have been assured that there is NO red flag bill under consideration by this administration and there will NOT be one, Rieck wrote. But the Columbus Dispatchs Randy Ludlow confirmed with DeWines office that it is indeed drafting a red flag bill.

ICYMI: The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio got into the Dallas real estate game earlier this month, according to the Dallas Morning News Steve Brown. The STRS, which manages $80 billion in total assets and is one of the largest U.S. pension funds, paid $180 million to buy a 25-story office tower in downtown Dallas. The $700-per-square-foot price is the highest ever paid for real estate in Texas, according to Brown. The previous record was $650 per square foot paid for a high-rise in Austin. STRS officials declined to comment.

Full Disclosure

Five things we learned from state Rep. Shane Wilkins April 9, 2018 financial disclosure. Wilkin, a Republican from Highland County, is serving his first elected term after being appointed to the seat of Cliff Rosenberger, the former House speaker who resigned.

1. His first name is Donald and his middle name is Shane.

2. When he submitted the form last year, he said he was a Highland County commissioner, a Realtor for Donald E. Fender Realtors and owner of Larrys Party Shop. He was not required to disclose his income.

3. He reported having shares of Cincinnati-headquartered Procter and Gamble and Kroger.

4. He owns four properties. Three are in Hillsboro and one is in Mount Orab.

5. He held liquor and real estate licenses.

Birthdays

Brad Young, Ohio House clerk

Straight From The Source

The hands fell off after being turned back to 1950 too many times.

-A Twitter account known as jabberwoCKY, commenting on a picture of theOhio clock, outside the U.S. Senate Chamber  with its hands missing. Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim first noticed the hands were not on the clock and tweeted a photo of it. The hands were temporarily removed for conservation.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. If you do not already subscribe, you can sign up here to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
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Mary, Did You Know?

Oh, Holy Night

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What Child is This?

The Little Drummer Boy

White Christmas

Ill Be Home For Christmas

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Frosty the Snowman

Jingle Bells

Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

Vote

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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Heres a bill that Republicans and Democrats dig.

On Wednesday, the Ohio Senate unanimously passed a bill to make the Dunkleosteus terrelli the state fossil fish -- a nod to the thousands of the states children who study the ancient predator in school. Some even keep a model of the fossil -- with its huge jaws and fangs -- at home, as Toledo Democratic Sen. Teresa Fedors six-year-old grandson does.

Dunk, as the fish is called, lived around 358 million years ago when most of Northeast Ohio was covered with water. It was the largest predator in those prehistoric times -- 20 feet long and more than 1 ton in weight, according to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, which has some of the best-preserved Dunkleosteus terrelli fossils.

The first fossils were discovered in 1867. More recently, additional fossils were unearthed in 1966, when the Ohio Department of Transportation built Interstate 71, said Sen. Nathan Manning, a North Ridgeville Republican who sponsored the bill.

Manning brought pictures of the fish to the Senate.

Its bite was more powerful than the T-Rex, he said.

The bill got an endorsement from Ohio Senate President Larry Obhofs 12-year-old daughter, Bree Obhof of Medina, who is interested in paleontology and loves to visit the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

What made Dunkleosteus terrelli different from similar fish was that he had self-sharpening blades of bone that worked like giant scissors and sliced rather than crushed its prey," she testified on April 9 to a Senate commmittee. "...Dunkleosteus terrelli may have died out millions of years ago, but hes world-famous, with most of the important fossils found in the great state we call home.

Senate Bill 123 now heads to the Ohio House for consideration. If it passes the House, it would be sent to Gov. Mike DeWines office to be signed into law.
CHICAGO -- Artists and community leaders gather in clusters in St. Johns Episcopal Church in Ohio City. One group listens closely as Jim Walker of Big Car Collaborative in Indianapolis takes questions about his organizations ambitious efforts to remediate abandoned homes and sell them at below market rate to low-income artists and workers in the neighborhood. A representative of a local arts organization chimes in enthusiastically, Imagine what that would look like here. Everyone nods in agreement.

Cleveland, like many major cities in the Midwest, is undergoing a renewal. And with change comes the challenge of making sure longtime residents remain central to the landscape.

Amanda King does this through Shooting Without Bullets, the youth photography program she founded to provide young people with the skills and means to produce and frame their own images and narratives. Daniel Gray-Kontar uses Twelve Literary Arts Inc. to cultivate the voices of young poets of color and to chronicle their lived experiences in areas of the city like Collinwood, East Cleveland, and Lorain-Denison where new development and rising housing costs are slowly bringing demographic shifts.

Tracie D. Hall is culture program director of The Joyce Foundation.

The work of King and Gray-Kontar is emblematic of a wave of artists and creative entrepreneurs in Cleveland who are generating new models of inclusive community renewal. The critical role that artists and arts organizations are playing as civic leaders and influencers is what prompted The Joyce Foundation to bring our second annual Artist as Problem Solver summit to Cleveland recently.

Founded 70 years ago, The Joyce Foundation is a Chicago-based philanthropic organization working to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region  Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through our culture program, we work to support creativity and cultural stewardship, and to foster culturally vibrant, equitable and sustainable communities.

Since 2003, the foundation has distributed the Joyce Awards, the first regional grants program dedicated to supporting artists of color. To date, we have awarded nearly $3.5 million to commission 65 new works.

Reflecting the sheer breadth of talent and vision in its ranks, this year, for the first time, Cleveland captured not one but two Joyce Awards.

Playhouse Square won support to commission Cartography, a new theatrical work depicting the experiences of youth immigrants and refugees by theater artists Kaneza Schaal and Christopher Myers. Cleveland Public Theater also received funding to commission playwright Lisa Langfords new play, Rastus and Hattie, a dynamic treatise on race and technology.

Each commission is supported by a $50,000 cash award and allows both the artists and organizations to create works, reach audiences, and gain a level of local and national visibility they may not have been able to otherwise.

Recognizing that there were few spaces dedicated to bolstering artists capacity to become effective community leaders, the Artists as Problem Solver Summit was developed to identify and connect artists engaged in community building and social justice efforts.

And over the two days at St. Johns Church, that is exactly what happened, as more than 150 attendees heard from local and national experts on such diverse topics as program and facility development; zoning; creative small business incubation and entrepreneurship; the creation of community land trusts; and arts engagement as an anti-recidivism strategy for formerly incarcerated youth and adults.

The energy in the room was electric as Cleveland artists took in extraordinary testimonies of peers serving as neighborhood catalysts in cities from Flint, Michigan to Oakland, California. By mid-morning on the final day of the summit, every single attendee was on their feet pledging to dedicate themselves to problem-solving in their neighborhoods, prompting one arts and prison reform activist from the Tremont neighborhood to confide, I cant even remember who told me about this, but Im happy Im here. Im happy Im here.

Cleveland has many incredible cultural assets. Chief among them are its creative thinkers and makers. The artists that gathered in Ohio City have their finger on the pulse of what makes communities livable and sustainable over time. We should be listening to them, as well as advocating for the leadership development programs and expanded grant opportunities necessary to fully harvest their personal and organizational potential.

Tracie D. Hall is culture program director of the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation.

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As a lawmaker, Frank LaRose of Hudson was the leading Republican in the Ohio Statehouse advocating for electoral reforms. As a candidate for Ohio secretary of state, he told our editorial board during his endorsement interview that, if elected, he would seek to change how the state handled voter purges.

Now that LaRose is Ohios chief elections official, as secretary of state, that expertise and commitment is about to pay off for voters.

Last week, LaRose previewed a bipartisan plan to reform Ohio election law to make it easier for Ohioans to register to vote and to find better ways for Ohio agencies to communicate address changes.

Both reforms, if enacted, should make it less likely that a voter would be involuntarily and wrongly purged from the states voting rolls.

Two Northeast Ohio lawmakers -- state Sen. Nathan Manning of North Ridgeville, a Republican, and state Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney of Cleveland, a Democrat -- stood with LaRose at a news conference last week, promising to introduce twin bipartisan bills to achieve both these goals.

LaRose said at the April 23 news conference in Columbus and again during an April 26 City Club of Cleveland appearance that among his aims for the legislation, which is still being drafted, are:

*An opt-out voter registration system whereby voting-eligible Ohioans who do things like get a hunting license, renew their drivers licenses or pay taxes -- actions that involve interactions with state agencies -- would be registered to vote automatically unless they specifically opt not to be by checking a box or pressing a button.

*A requirement that any state agency that is notified of an updated address from a voter provide that new address to the secretary of states office.

LaRose acknowledged he plans to continue the states voting purges -- purges ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, although our editorial board has strongly criticized them. But if these reforms are enacted, it should make it far less likely that people will be knocked off the voting rolls wrongly and unexpectedly.

Some predict LaRoses reforms face a hard slog in Ohios Republican-dominated legislature, which hasnt been friendly to electoral reform.

But lawmakers of good faith should, and we trust will, recognize that in our system of representative government, it is important that every person who is eligible to vote can vote. One way to make that happen is by ensuring that its as easy as possible not just to register to vote but also to remain on the rolls of active voters, as long as the voter retains the eligibility to do so.

About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization.

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Shares of both Facebook and Amazon fell during the session through no fault of their own, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Tuesday. He said the two Internet giants took a hit because of "guilt by association" in the FAANG group with Google. The search engine is a subsidiary of Alphabet, which missed the revenue mark by nearly $1 billion during the first quarter of 2019. "Amazon and Facebook actually saw their stocks go down today based on the theory that if Alphabet's doing badly, everybody's doing badly. That's just stupid. Nonsense," the "Mad Money" host said. "Alphabet had a shortfall because they're losing business to Amazon and Facebook." Alphabet's shares slumped 7.5% on the day. Amazon and Facebook dipped 0.61% and 0.71%, respectively. Alphabet's issues were specific to the company, Cramer said, as Facebook and Amazon both met Wall Streets expectations in their quarterly reports. Google's weakness in advertising sales could mean that they're losing share to the two leading e-commerce and social media platforms. "In a rational world, Amazon and Facebook would've rallied on the news that they're beating the stuffing out of Alphabet," Cramer said. "Hey, at least you can buy the winners into weakness here  the market's stupidity can be your opportunity."

A windfall from the tree

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Cramer said investors who bought Apple ahead of its first-quarter report made the right gamble. The host typically does not recommend buying a stock ahead of earnings, in case the company delivers a bad report. But the tech giant did not disappoint on Tuesday. "Not only did Apple deliver a nice top- and bottom-line beat, but China, the major source of weakness last quarter, is turning around," Cramer said. "When I spoke to [CEO] Tim [Cook] about it, I was surprised how bullish he was." While iPhone sales were down 17%, Cramer pointed out that Apple management said it picked up at the end of the quarter. Growth in the wearables segment and the nascent services business could make for a great second quarter, he added. Apple held its quarterly conference call after the market closed Tuesday. Shares of Apple fell 1.93% during the session. The stock climbed 5% in after-hours trading. Get more on Apple's earnings results here

Competitive small businesses

Harley Finkelstein, COO, Shopify Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Shopify is all about making it easier for entrepreneurs to get started, according to COO Harley Finkelstein. The Canadian e-commerce platform serves as a point of sale for 820,000 merchants, which, if considered as one entity, would make it the third-largest online retailer in the United States, he told Cramer. With that, Shopify can leverage the economies of scale, similar to that of giant retailers, and "trickle" the benefits down to entrepreneurs, Finkelstein said. "So what we're doing, we're leveling the playing field," he said. "That means they get better rates on shipping and processing and capital and now all of the sudden, these small businesses can compete with the biggest retailers and brands on the planet." Catch the full interview here

Tough love

Aly Song | Reuters

Cramer said Alphabet's stock would not have cratered nearly $100 per share during the session if Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat had done one thing on Monday's quarterly earnings call: Be open and honest. Cramer said he was "sad" he had to say "bad things" about a company its financial chief that he has a great amount of respect for. "When you miss numbers, you have to acknowledge it. You need to say, 'Hey, we messed up, this is what went wrong, this is how we'll fix it,'" the host said. "Alphabet disappointed, but Ruth Porat didn't say that." Go deeper here

Leveraging android

Anders Gustafsson, CEO, Zebra Technologies Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Zebra Technologies, the maker of computer printing technologies, is looking to take advantage of the estimated 10 million Microsoft Windows mobile devices that are in the market, CEO Anders Gustafsson told Cramer. "We see that as great opportunity for us," he said in an interview with the "Mad Money" host. "With android, we've been able to drive a lot greater leverage of the new-use cases. So people are using it in different forms and they're pushing the technology out further into the enterprise. So more and more people are getting some form of device or technology in their hands." Watch the discussion here

Shifting housing market

Doug Bauer, CEO, TRI Pointe Scott Mlyn | CNBC

TRI Pointe Group CEO Douglas Bauer told CNBC he saw a "momentum shift" in the first quarter of 2019. "The consumer is definitely more engaged," he said in a one-on-one interview with Cramer. An amalgamation of local housing companies, TRI Pointe has surged more than 19% this year along with the homebuilding sector, which is up more than 25%. Lower mortgage rates have helped return buyers to the housing market, Cramer noted. TRI Pointe lags in the home construction group in part because the stock fell about 8% after reporting mixed first-quarter results on Thursday, delivering a top-line beat but a bottom-line miss. Read more on the interview here

Cramer's lightning round: Let this stock pullback from its all-time highs before buying
Attorney General William Barr criticized special counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday for refusing to make a decision about whether his Russia investigation showed that President Donald Trump committed an obstruction of justice offense.

In his first public testimony since the release of a redacted version of the Mueller report, Barr repeatedly delved into semantic squabbles with the panel's Democratic minority, intensifying Democrats' calls for Mueller himself to testify and leading some of them to accuse Barr of being deliberately misleading.

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday morning, Barr said that he believed the special counsel should have stated whether his 22-month probe found enough evidence to show whether Trump had committed an obstruction crime.

"I think if he felt that he should not go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision, then he should not have investigated," Barr said.

"That was the time to pull up."

Barr told Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein both believe it was Mueller's responsibility to come to a decision on obstruction  "not just charging, but to determine whether or not the conduct was criminal," Barr said, adding that "the president could not be charged as long as he was in office."

Barr said he was "not really sure of" Mueller's reasoning on the issue. But the Russia report notes that the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, or OLC, has set a precedent against indicting a sitting president. "This Office accepted OLC's legal conclusion for purposes of exercising prosecutorial jurisdiction," Mueller wrote in the report.

The Justice Department declined to comment beyond Barr's remarks. A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment.

The attorney general also questioned why Mueller investigated numerous instances of potential obstruction if he ultimately was not going to make a decision.

"The other thing that was confusing to me was that the investigation carried out for a while as additional episodes were looked into, episodes involving the president," Barr said during questioning from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "So my question is or was why were those investigated if at the end of the day you weren't going to reach a decision on them?"

Hours before Barr was set to face the lawmakers, news outlets reported that Mueller, in late March, sent a letter to Barr complaining about the attorney general's initial four-page summary of the 448-page Russia report's principal conclusions.

Barr, in that summary to congressional Judiciary committee leaders, said that the Mueller report found that neither Trump nor anyone associated with his 2016 campaign coordinated with the Kremlin. Barr also wrote that while Mueller's report "does not exonerate" Trump on the question of whether he obstructed justice, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that the evidence was "not sufficient" to establish an obstruction offense.

Mueller told Barr in the reported letter that the attorney general's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the full report.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller continued. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

In his testimony, Barr said that after receiving Mueller's complaint, the special counsel told him in a phone call that he was actually frustrated with the way the media had covered Barr's letter.

"He was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report," Barr said in his opening statement.

Barr's testimony only heightened Democrats' calls for Mueller to come before Congress and explain the report in his own words.

"I think it's no wonder special counsel Mueller thought your four-page letter created public confusion about critical aspects of the results of the investigation and that that threatened to undermine the central purpose for which he was appointed," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. "I think we need to hear from special counsel Mueller."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who is running for president in the 2020 election, told reporters during a midday break in the hearing that "you just see this repeated pattern of misleading, and you know, [Barr's] job should be to get the truth out."

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, was more blunt.

"You lied to Congress," Hirono told Barr in the hearing. "You should resign."

Read Mueller's letter to the attorney general:
Barr, who has already criticized Mueller's investigation of Russian election interference, possible Kremlin coordination with the Trump campaign and possible obstruction by President Donald Trump, squeezed in yet another shot at Mueller in the closing moments of the hearing.

"Why should you have them?" he asked.

In the final exchange of his hourslong testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Barr told Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., that "no," he would not provide those notes to the panel.

Attorney General William Barr refused to turn over notes of the phone call he had with Robert Mueller after the special counsel complained about Barr's summary of the Russia probe's findings.

Mueller's letter in late March to Barr, which complained about how the summary of the Russia report's conclusions had been characterized, was "a bit snitty" and was "probably written by one of his staff people," Barr said.

That letter, which is signed by Mueller, complained that Barr's initial four-page summary of principal conclusions from the 448-page Russia report distorted its "context, nature, and substance" and had caused "public confusion about critical aspects of the results" of the 22-month probe.

A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment on whether Mueller or a member of his staff had written the letter to Barr.

The attorney general had said in his opening statement of the Senate hearing that when he called Mueller after receiving the letter, the special counsel assured him that the summary was not inaccurate, but rather that "the press reporting had been inaccurate and that the press was reading too much into it."

Mueller's letter, which Barr received less than a week after the Russia report was submitted on March 22 but was not publicly revealed until Tuesday, intensified Democrats' calls for the special counsel himself to testify.

An increasing number of Democrats, including multiple presidential candidates, called on Barr to resign before he had even finished testifying.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., objected to Barr's admission that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had not personally reviewed the raw evidence that formed the basis for the special counsel's report.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., another 2020 candidate, tweeted after the hearing that "it's become clear that he lied to us and mishandled the Mueller report. He needs to step down."

Booker TWEET

In his summary to congressional Judiciary committee leaders  sent just days after Mueller delivered the report to the Justice Department  Barr said the Mueller report found that neither Trump nor anyone associated with his 2016 campaign coordinated with the Kremlin.

Barr also wrote that while Mueller's report says it "does not exonerate" Trump on the question of whether he obstructed justice, Barr and Rosenstein determined that the evidence was "not sufficient" to establish an obstruction offense.

Mueller's letter said that Barr's summary of the conclusions "threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Read Mueller's letter to the attorney general
In a Summit L.A. panel with his brother Mark Bezos in 2017, the billionaire described his grandfather, whom he and his siblings called "Pop," as incredibly self-reliant and resourceful  two qualities that Bezos says vastly contributed to Amazon's success.

With a population of roughly 4,000 and no reputation  then or now  as an up-and-coming tech hub, Cotulla, Texas was where Bezos spent his summers, from ages four to 16, working on his grandfather's ranch.

The legend of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos did not begin in a garage in Seattle. It began much earlier, in the dusty corrals of a little town called Cotulla.

"[My grandfather] was incredibly self-reliant," says Bezos. "If you're in the middle of nowhere in a rural area, you don't pick up the phone and call somebody when something breaks. You fix it yourself."

On the ranch, Bezos would help Pop mend fences, fix windmills and build an entire house from scratch. Pop even made his own needles by hand to suture the cattle.

"He would take on major projects that he didn't know how to do, and then figure out how to do them," Bezos recalls.

"When things don't work, you have to back up and try again. Each time you back up and try again, you're using your resourcefulness, you're using self-reliance," says Bezos. "You're trying to invent your way out of a box."

During the talk, he gave an example of a time when resourcefulness and self-reliance helped fuel Amazon's success: "We wanted a third-party selling business because we knew we'd add more selection to the store that way, so we started Amazon Auction," he says.

Amazon Auction was unsuccessful, but a few more trial-and-errors eventually led to the incredibly successful Amazon Marketplace.
Apple CEO Tim Cook says he is a lot more bullish on China than he was three months ago  and he's not the only one.

On Apple's earnings call Tuesday, Cook said improved trade dialogue between the U.S. and China as well as stimulus measures from Beijing were improving consumer confidence in the country "in a positive way." The comments add to a growing list of CEOs, policymakers and investors expressing more optimism on the outlook for the Chinese economy.

"We certainly feel a lot better than we did 90 days ago," Cook said.

In January, China reported its official economic growth rate was 6.6% for 2018, the slowest pace since 1990. In response to weakening growth, the Chinese government initiated a series of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures, including a cut to the value-added tax rate for key sectors such as manufacturing, transportation and construction. In addition, China's central bank cut the ratio of cash banks must hold as reserves.

Business leaders and policymakers say the measures are paying off. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said Monday "there's no question China has responded better to stimulus." The International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its growth forecast for China last month to 6.3% for the year, citing fiscal and monetary stimulus and increased prospects of a trade deal.
Bank of America said the company is an "especially attractive" buying opportunity.

"We upgrade Corning from Neutral to Buy rating as (1) we view the growth profile as better than historical and more diversified, (2) Gross profit dollar growth should scale with near term investments that are impacting gross margin rates, (3) glass pricing environment is a tailwind and could surprise incrementally to upside, (4) operating leverage should help drive incremental margin expansion over the next few years, (5) opportunity to return incremental capital to shareholders through corporate actions/incremental debt, (6) Lower capital intensity for new initiatives given ability to re-use idle capacity (e.g. Gorilla Glass), (7) We expect a positive update at the upcoming investor day in mid-June, and (8) Corning is significantly outgrowing declining unit growth in smartphones, TVs, Autos given its increasing content in each of these. Our new PO of $40 (was $38) is based on 18x C20E EPS of $2.18. We view the pullback in shares yesterday (-6% vs SPX up 0.1%) as an especially attractive buying opportunity."
Chinese Vice Premier and lead trade negotiator Liu He, right, reaches to shake hands with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer before the opening session of trade negotiations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019.

The U.S. and China have partly agreed on how to deal with the tariffs already in place, Politico reported Wednesday.

The Trump administration will "immediately" remove a 10% tariff on a portion of the $200 billion worth of Chinese imports when a deal strikes, which is expected to be signed by the end of next week, Politico reported, citing one person familiar with the matter.

The 10% tariff on the rest of the Chinese goods will also be lifted "quickly," the person said. However, a 25% tariff the U.S. imposed on roughly $50 billion-worth of other Chinese goods will likely stay in place until after the 2020 election, according to the source.

The existing tariffs have been a key sticking point in the trade negotiations as the U.S. seeks to make any deal enforceable. President Donald Trump previously said he would use the existing tariffs as an enforcement tool, while China has been pushing for the removal of the duties as part of the deal.

Expectations that China and the U.S. will reach a trade deal have increased in recent months, boosting U.S. equities along the way. is up more than 17% year to date and reached an intraday record earlier on Wednesday. The Politico report seemed to boost major averages slightly on Wednesday.

White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Tuesday the trade talks will be resolved "one way or the other" within the next two weeks, CNBC reported.

Worries that a prolonged trade war between the world's largest economies kept investors on edge for most of 2018 as they feared a slowdown could lead to lower corporate profits and a global economic slowdown.

 CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed reporting.

Read the original Politico report here.
Railway workers inspect a Kenya Railways freight train before departure from the port station in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018. Bloomberg | Getty Images

Beijing offered in the last week a nod to criticism about its Belt and Road Initiative saddling other countries with debt while also gaining a partner in one of the world's financial centers. Swiss President Ueli Maurer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday and signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on trade, investment and finance for projects in third countries along the routes of Xi's signature foreign investment program. The central European country has a reputation of being an international leader in banking. "I think it is helpful that China can engage more European countries for the BRI," said Zhu Ning, professor of finance at Tsinghua University in Beijing. "Switzerland would provide very important help to BRI given (the) Swiss's advantage in global banking and financial services."

That comes as Beijing seeks to recoup the image of the Belt and Road, which has been tarnished by criticism it's a vehicle for "debt-trap diplomacy." "The accumulating debt involved in the BRI has prompted China to think more carefully about the sustainability of the BRI projects and how to combine the power of the state and the market to make it work, for Chinese and global participants," Zhu said. "This becomes an even more important and pressing issue given that RMB internationalization process is not going as fast as a few years ago and it will post some challenges to China's currently mighty foreign reserve." The Belt and Road Initiative is widely seen as Beijing's effort to increase global influence, beginning with the construction of rail, sea and other transportation routes stretching from central Asia to Africa. The projects can provide needed infrastructure. But critics say Chinese companies, often state-owned, tend to benefit more since they are usually the contractors or providers of financing. That puts China in control of overseas assets if a country can't pay back its loans. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo called some of China's lending practices with other countries "predatory."

While it is encouraging that Chinese officials are talking more openly about prioritizing debt sustainability and environmental sustainability, real change will require more than signing symbolic documents. Jonathan Hillman Director of the Reconnecting Asia Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

The U.S. and India, another country critical of the Chinese-led program, did not send official representatives to the second Belt and Road forum that concluded in Beijing this past weekend. Thirty-seven national leaders attended the event, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Xi used his opening speech to acknowledge some of program's shortcomings in its first six years of existence. Analysts also noted that he did not make any pronouncements on China's financial commitment to Belt and Road. "We need to pursue high standard cooperation to improve people's lives and promote sustainable development," Xi said, according to an official English translation of his Mandarin Chinese remarks. "We also need to ensure the commercial and fiscal sustainability of all projects so that they will achieve the intended goals as planned." A day before Xi's speech, China's Ministry of Finance released a "Debt Sustainability Framework for Participating Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative." The document provides optional guidelines for making loans and a mathematical formula for determining a country's ability to handle debt.

Marie Diron, managing director at Sovereign Risk Group, Moody's Investors Service, said in an emailed statement on Friday that the framework is "comprehensive" and is based on principles similar to what other institutions use for trying to ensure a level of debt isn't excessive. "Applied effectively, it may help reduce the financial stability risks that some borrowing countries face from the additional debt burden incurred from Belt and Road projects," Diron said. "The framework's effectiveness will depend on how widely it is applied, since it is not a mandatory tool, the borrowing governments' capacity to provide the necessary inputs to the debt sustainability analysis and the lending banks' use of the tool in their decisions." Chinese financial institutions have provided more than $440 billion in funding for Belt and Road projects, People's Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said during a talk at the forum, according to an English-language release on Chinese state media. "A country's overall debt capacity should be taken into account as a way to control debt risks and ensure sustainability of debt when it comes to the investment decisions," Yi said. He added that future financing and investment cooperation should be market-oriented and mostly from commercial funds.

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The agreement Switzerland signed is technically between the country's federal departments of finance and economic affairs, education and research, and China's National Development and Reform Commission. The memorandum lists initiatives to connect Swiss, Chinese and third-party leaders to create business deals and establish a "Belt and Road Initiative competence-building platform" in Switzerland. "Cooperation will be based on five key principles: private capital for private projects, sustainable handling of debts, consideration of social impacts, environmental protection criteria, and transparency," according to a press release from the Swiss embassy. A representative did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for further comment on the agreement. WATCH: Trade deal or no deal, the U.S. and China are still fighting for global power
Pigs raised by farmers are seen at Linquan county on December 5, 2018 in Fuyang, Anhui Province of China.

China has asked pork processors and pig dealers to obtain certificates proving their products are free from African swine fever, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

The disease has spread rapidly in the world's biggest producer and consumer of pork, reaching every province on the Chinese mainland since its initial detection there last August.

"Processors and dealers should have all pork products examined for the swine fever virus," Xinhua said, citing a government notice.

It was unclear who would conduct the examinations or issue certificates, but the notice was jointly issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The order takes effect from Wednesday, with violators facing "harsh" punishment, the report said.

More inspections of markets, traders and restaurants have also been ordered, according to the report.

African swine fever kills almost all pigs infected, though it is not harmful to people. There is no vaccine or cure.

China's pork output fell 5.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019 compared with a year earlier, according to official data issued last month.
As unrest continues in Venezuela, some analysts are questioning how much support Russia will give beleaguered President Nicolas Maduro and if Moscow could be ready to strike a deal with the U.S. to end the Latin American country's political and humanitarian crisis. The U.S. and Russia have traded fresh barbs over Venezuela in the last few days, each accusing the other of interfering in the country as protesters took to the streets for a second day in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Maduro was prepared to leave the protest-wracked country Tuesday morning but said he had changed his mind after Russia intervened. "They had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it. Russians indicated he should stay," Pompeo told CNN. Russia rebuffed that accusation, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova saying Wednesday that the U.S. assertion was part of an "information war," Reuters reported.

Deal discussions?

The two sides may be more open to discussing what to do about Venezuela behind closed doors. On Wednesday, Pompeo held a call with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with both sides once again accusing each other of destabilizing the country. "The Secretary stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship," a State Department spokesman said, adding that Pompeo had urged Russia to cease support for Maduro. Russia's Foreign Ministry said Lavrov had stressed that "Washington's interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, the threat against its leadership is a gross violation of international law." Russia warned that "the continuation of aggressive steps is fraught with the most serious consequences. Only the Venezuelan people have the right to determine their destiny," the ministry said. It noted that the conversation was "held at the American side's initiative." Lavrov and Pompeo have had several telephone conversations regarding Venezuela in recent weeks, ministry records show. Russia is particularly upset with the potential for U.S. military action in Venezuela and for now, both sides seem focused on the deescalation of the situation. Pompeo said the U.S. wants a "peaceful transition," when speaking to NBC News on Wednesday. While he didn't rule out military intervention when pressed on the matter, he said "our task is to make this a political and diplomatic resolution. We've been working on this for months. We've made enormous progress, and we're hoping that progress continues," he told NBC.

Some analysts think that the two heavyweight countries might be coming to some kind of deal over Maduro's potential departure. "(There's) little doubt in my mind that the Russians and the U.S. have been talking for weeks about some kind of deal to ease Maduro out of office," Timothy Ash, a senior emerging markets strategist at Bluebay Asset Management, said in a note Wednesday. He said several factors led his to this conclusion  firstly, that Moscow had gained leverage to negotiate with the U.S. by sending military advisers to Caracas and, secondly, that President Trump had so far not signed off on new sanctions on Russia for its alleged use of a chemical weapon following the nerve agent poisoning of former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in the U.K. in 2018. "I think the U.S. administration held back getting Trump to sign this as something was cooking on Venezuela. They saw sanctions as a negotiating chip with Moscow." Ash believed that, for the Russians, the "deal" was no more sanctions, allowing Russian oil companies to retain the right to operate in Venezuela and get paid back in full for debts owed, and some deal around "spheres of influence." CNBC contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment on a possible deal Wednesday but no one was immediately available.

Battle for influence

The international battle for influence over Venezuela's future kicked off in January when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself president. Many countries, including the U.S., endorsed that leadership bid and backed regime change in a country wracked by poverty and political unrest. The military stayed loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, however, and Russia (as well as allies in China, Syria and Iran) backed the incumbent leader. Russia has a vested interest in backing Maduro after it gave the country financial aid. Reuters estimates that the Russian government and state energy company Rosneft have handed Venezuela at least $17 billion in loans and credit lines since 2006. It has also provided the Venezuelan government with military equipment and it has stakes in the country's energy sector. As such, Moscow wants to protect its assets from regime change as well as preventing the U.S. from increasing its sphere of influence. "Russia's bottom line is to stop regime change by external intervention, but if it falls from within they'll go with the flow," Christopher Granville, managing director of EMEA and Global Political Research at TS Lombard, told CNBC Wednesday.
Mark Zuckerberg's joke about Facebook's privacy scandals during the company's F8 developer conference didn't land well, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.

"He's really tone-deaf. It is rather amazing," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."

Zuckerberg, the company's CEO, on Tuesday referenced Facebook's several scandals over the past year, at a time when the company is being questioned for its role in distributing users' data without their permission.

"I know that we don't exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now to put it lightly," he said, "but I'm committed to doing this well and to starting a new chapter for our products."

The social media giant is still facing a slew of controversies and remains subject to investigations and fines. Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives have been called to testify in front of congressional committees, starting when the public learned that Cambridge Analytica exploited Facebook user data to try to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

"This company has not gotten its reputation back," Cramer, host of "Mad Money," said.

CNBC reported in March that agencies around the world are thought to be still looking into Facebook, including the German Federal Cartel Office, Belgian Data Protection Authority, Irish Data Protection Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission along with other U.S. organizations.

"Holding Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives personally at fault and liable for further wrongdoing would send a powerful message to business leaders across the country: You will pay a hefty price for skirting the law and deceiving consumers," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an April statement.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during the introduction of the Climate Action Now Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 27, 2019.

Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn is hosting a fundraiser at his Los Angeles mansion for House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, CNBC has learned.

In an email to CNBC, Horn confirmed details of the event that he and his wife, Cindy, are holding for Pelosi.

"We are in fact hosting an event for Nancy and the DCCC at our home on May 30," he said on Tuesday.

Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, Israel-American media titan Haim Saban, and their wives will be co-hosting the event at Horn's home, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Katzenberg, who also used to be chairman at Walt Disney Studios, has a net-worth of $700 million while Saban is worth $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.

There are at least 12 other House Democrats attending the event, including House Intel Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-CA, DCCC Chairwoman Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-IL, Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-CA, Rep. Abby Finkenauer, D-IA, Rep. Katie Hill, D-CA, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-NY, Rep.Richard Neal, D-MA, Rep. Harley Rouda, D-CA, and Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-IL, according to a senior Democratic congressional aide with direct knowledge of the matter.

Horn has been a longtime backer of the DCCC, the official campaign arm for Democrats running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. He donated just over $95,000 to the committee during the 2018 congressional midterm elections, according to Federal Election Commission records. During former President Barack Obama's second term in office, Horn hosted at least one DCCC fundraising event with the then-commander in chief as the featured guest.

He was also a supporter of Hillary Clinton when she ran for the White House in 2016, helping her raise at least $100,000 and contributing $50,000 directly to her joint fundraising committee, the Hillary Victory Fund, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Horn referred questions about how much each ticket will cost and names of other attendees to his political consultant who declined to respond to follow up requests for comment. Tickets for a prior fundraiser with Obama as the marquee guest ranged from $15,000 to $66,800 per couple.

A spokesman for the DCCC said that the event was closed to the press while a representative for Pelosi's office did not return an email seeking comment.

A strong year of fundraising before the next congressional election in 2020 will likely prove crucial for House Democrats if they want to successfully defend their majority.

In 2018, the party flipped at least 40 seats and pulled off enough victories to retake control of the House.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report, however, shows that in 2020, 31 Democrats are up for re-election are in districts carried by President Donald Trump when he first ran for president three years ago. It marks 17 Democrat-held seats as toss-ups, which includes districts in New York, Iowa, Virginia and South Carolina.
Emmanuel Macron, France's president, speaks ahead of the Balkan summit at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Monday, April 29, 2019.

French President Emmanuel Macron has frustrated many of his European counterparts with his approach to EU politics. After being elected in May 2017, Macron was dubbed as the next leading figure in Europe  challenging German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the main champion of the European Union. Macron, the youngest ever French president, defeated his country's nationalist forces and made big promises to reform the 28-member bloc. However, two years into his presidency he seems to be struggling to get the Europe he envisioned. He has not been able to build the pan-European platform he wanted, Shahin Vallee, an economist who advised Macron when the president was France's economy minister, told CNBC over the phone. "He has made his European policy entirely dependent on bilateral agreements with Germany," Vallee said, adding that this approach has been blocked by different coalitions inside the EU. For example, Macron presented plans to put together a euro zone budget and an EU-wide taxation on tech firms. However, his proposals were clearly downsized to get the backing of the German government and were opposed by different governments, including the Dutch, the Finnish and the Irish. Eugen Teodorovici, Romania's finance minister, has expressed his frustration toward this Franco-German alliance. "All the financial and budgetary issues at EU level will be discussed first and foremost in this format, between Germany and France, and then what will remain for us? To discuss something that was already agreed at the highest level between the strongest member states? It's just something to be discussed and then we will be maybe informed?," Teodorovici told CNBC in early April.

Perhaps Macron's biggest drive for integration came just four months in his presidency, when he addressed students at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He declared that the EU should build a joint military force by the next decade, a common defense budget and have a finance minister for the euro zone with its own budget. There's no common agreement at the EU-level for any of these ideas yet. More recently, during a European summit to decide on the conditions for another extension to Brexit, Macron played hard ball and found himself isolated.

So much for his European leadership  He didn't make any friends tonight. Brussels-based official

Given the impasse in London over how the U.K. should leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May asked her counterparts for more time to deal with the issue. Most European countries favored a long delay, of about a year, to avoid repeated meetings over Brexit. However, with a new political cycle later this year, following EU elections, Macron pushed for a shorter extension. His efforts culminated with an agreement to delay Brexit day for six months only, until October 31. In those discussions, the French president reportedly even wanted to remove the U.K.'s right to have a representative at the European Commission, the EU's executive body. Every member country has one commissioner in Brussels  preventing the U.K. from having one would diminish its ability to have any influence on European politics. "The problem is that the stuff he asks for violates the treaty," a Brussels-based official, with knowledge of the summit's discussions but did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation, told CNBC on the night of the meeting. "So much for his European leadership  He didn't make any friends tonight," the same official said. Also recently, France was the only country in the EU to say no to starting trade talks with the United States. Macron is of the opinion that the EU should not work toward an agreement over trade while President Donald Trump doesn't support the latest climate change deal.

However, some analysts believe Macron is not truly cut-off from others and changing the EU would be a lengthy and arduous task for anyone. "I don't think he has isolated himself at all. He is defending a viewpoint that is not widely shared by European partners, but that is shaping the European agenda," Jeremy Ghez, professor of economics and international affairs at H.E.C. Paris business school, told CNBC via email. Arguably, without French opposition, the latest decision on Brexit could have resulted in a much longer delay. "During the last European summit (in late March), the (leaders) were supposed to talk about China and never really did. More broadly, as the EU is preparing for a new round of trade negotiations with the U.S. and in the age of 5G technology and all its geopolitical and security ramifications, the European Union cannot be held hostage by this issue of Brexit. And this is an important point to defend," Ghez told CNBC. "A redefinition of the EU project will not happen overnight. It's easier to brand Macron as out of touch with the 'regular people,' which he may very well be, than to redefine the way we do policy and politics within the EU," Ghez also said, adding that the upcoming European parliamentary elections will be a defining moment for Macron and the EU's future as whole.
An opposition demonstrator walks near a bus in flames during clashes with soldiers loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after troops joined opposition leader Juan Guaido in his campaign to oust Maduro's government, in the surroundings of La Carlota military base in Caracas on April 30, 2019.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday evening issued an order prohibiting U.S. air operators from flying below 26,000 feet in Venezuela's airspace until further notice, citing "increasing political instability and tensions."

The FAA notice said any air operators currently in Venezuela, which would include private jets, should depart within 48 hours.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.

American Airlines Group in March said it was indefinitely suspending its flights to Venezuela, as the country continued to struggle with political turmoil and unrest.

OPSGROUP, which provides safety guidance to air operators, said options for those choosing to avoid Venezuelan airspace would include routes west via Colombia, or east via Guyana.

"The (FAA) order comes on a day of an information battle waged between Maduro and Guaido, and although the coup status is uncertain, one thing is clear: taking your aircraft to Venezuela is not a good idea," OPSGROUP said on its website.

Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 on Tuesday evening showed some flights between South America and Europe were crossing Venezuelan airspace, but at altitudes above 26,000 feet.

Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent.

Venezuelans were expected to again take to the streets on Wednesday for what Guaido pledged would be the "largest march" in the country's history.
Farmers in the nation's top agriculture state are increasingly moving to different forms of mechanization to get around the farm labor crunch, according to a California Farm Bureau survey.

The number of farm workers in California has been gradually declining in the past several years and stepped-up immigration sweeps by the federal government in California haven't helped. Labor shortages have been especially tough on farmers with crops such as tree fruits, grapes and berries.

More than 40% of farmers in the past five years have been unable to obtain all the workers they needed for the production of their main crop, according to the survey, released Tuesday. Of the total reporting shortages, it found about 70% or more indicating they have experienced more trouble hiring in 2017 and 2018.

According to the farm bureau, about 56% of the farmers surveyed have started using mechanization in the past five years, and of the total, more than half said it was because of labor shortages.

"The most frequently used labor-saving technology was some sort of mechanical harvester," said Dave Kranz, a spokesman for the farm bureau in Sacramento.

A total of 1,071 farmers participated in the survey, which was conducted in early 2019.

The survey also found that other new equipment increasingly being adopted by farmers includes specialized tractor attachments and mechanical planters or weeders. The survey didn't ask specifically about farm robotic technology, but more of it is getting developed for use in agriculture, such as strawberry harvesting.

California's $45 billion agriculture industry produces nearly half the nation's fresh fruits and vegetables as well as more than 90% of the tree nuts, including almonds and pistachios.

Roughly half of the farm workers nationally "lack legal immigration status," according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.

At the same time, the annual California survey found 86% of those agricultural producers surveyed said they have increased wages as part of an effort to hire enough people for their operations. Also, the survey found just over 30% of farmers have switched acreage to cope, and 6% said they had enrolled in the federal government's H-2A agricultural visa program.

"The one thing that hasn't been tried is to improve the visa program for people who want to come in from other countries and do some of the work that's going begging now," said Kranz.

The Trump administration pledged last year to modernize the nation's temporary agriculture worker visa program, but so far no significant changes have been made to the H-2A program. Farmers frequently complain that the current H-2A program lacks flexibility and doesn't adequately accommodate for changes in harvest needs.

CNBC reached out to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Labor for comment.

In recent years, the H-2A program has included more than 200,000 certified temporary jobs nationally, with California typically being in the top 10 among states. Florida and Georgia are other states with a large number of temporary farm workers.

"It's just an expensive, very cumbersome and complicated program," said Daniel A. Sumner, an economist with the University of California-Davis' Agricultural Issues Center. He also said some large agricultural producers that require thousands of workers may participate.

The farm bureau's survey found 61% of California farmers reported that they had hired a labor contractor firm to cope with the labor shortage. The farm labor contractors recruit employees and typically handle all the payroll, training and required paperwork.

Graphic by CNBC's John Schoen.
Brides and grooms aren't the only ones racking up wedding debt. Their guests are turning out their pockets for bachelorette parties and more.

Couples who got hitched in 2018 coughed up an average of $33,931 to make their special day a memorable one, according to TheKnot.com.

Though newlyweds feel the pinch of planning their nuptials, friends and families are also being squeezed amid the march to the big day.

Guests are spending an average of $537 to attend a bachelor or bachelorette party, TheKnot.com found.

"There's the engagement party, the bachelorette party, then the wedding," said Dana Marineau, vice president of brand, creative and communications at Credit Karma.

Indeed, nearly 1 in 4 people polled by Credit Karma said they went into debt to attend a bachelor or bachelorette party. The site, which offers credit scores, did an online poll of 1,039 adults in April.

One in 3 millennials in the survey said they went into debt attending these pre-wedding festivities.
In business, there's nothing like a little healthy competition to keep you motivated. Only, for brothers Tony Tan Caktiong and Ernesto Tanmantiong, that healthy competition came early on  in the sizable form of fast food icon McDonald's. It was then 1981 and the brothers were just setting out on the ambitious dream of creating a fast food empire in their native Philippines when McDonald's arrived in town and threatened to consume the market with its vast appetite for international expansion. Jollibee had already grown substantially from what started in 1975 as an ice cream parlor in Quezon City, just outside of the capital Manila. But, with just a couple dozen fast food outlets scattered across the fractured archipelago, it was a small fry next to McDonald's thousands of branches in the U.S. and international markets.

Tony Tan Caktiong, chairman of Jollibee Foods Corp., speaks during the Hong Kong Asian Financial Forum (AFF) in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Jan. 19, 2015. Bloomberg | Getty Images

Indeed, friends told the pair as much, and advised them to retreat from the challenge, Tanmantiong revealed in a recent episode of CNBC's "Managing Asia." "When we learned that McDonald's was coming into the country, friends were telling us to shy away from the competition  do (like) other businesses and to not try confronting the global giant," Tanmantiong, Jollibee's president and CEO, told CNBC's Christine Tan. But Tan Caktiong refused to hear it, Tanmantiong explained. Instead, the then-28-year-old founder called the business together to form a plan of attack.

We did a SWOT analysis on our strengths, our weaknesses and what the gaps were. Ernesto Tanmantiong CEO and president, Jollibee

"What we did was to have a strategic planning internally," said Tanmantiong. "We did a SWOT analysis on our strengths, our weaknesses and what the gaps were," he continued, referring to a common analysis technique which aims to assess a business' strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. While McDonald's benefited from economies of scale and decades' more experience, Tanmantiong said they identified one major area in which the U.S. giant could not compete: Taste. Filipinos tend to favor sweeter and spicier flavors, he said, and it would be difficult for McDonald's to adapt to that without hurting the iconic American taste for which they had become famed.

"After that strategic session, we came out quite confident. So instead of chickening out, we jokingly said, we actually serve Chickenjoy," Tanmantiong said, referring to the company's core fried chicken dish. It's that unique menu  which includes a sweet "Jolly Spaghetti," hot dogs and spicy burgers  that has fueled the now expanded Jollibee Foods' vast international growth in the years since. The company now has more than 3,500 stores in the Philippines and another 1,000 internationally, including under its additional brands like Smashburger, Burger King Philippines and Panda Express Philippines. But as the business embarks on further expansion into the U.S., one of its key strategic markets next to China, it will again come head to head with McDonald's  this time on the American rival's home turf. Earlier this year, Jollibee launched its first branch in Manhattan, New York, one of currently just 37 outlets in the U.S.

Ernesto Tanmantiong, CEO of Jollibee Foods Corp., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit. Bloomberg | Getty Images
Hulu announced at a presentation to advertisers Wednesday that it now has 26.8 million paid subscribers. It's also introducing new advertising features and several new shows, including two new series featuring Marvel Comics characters. Hulu said its total customer base is now made up of 26.8 million monthly paid subscribers, with 1.3 million promotional accounts, reaching a total of more than 28 million. The company had said in January that it had 25 million total subscribers. Meanwhile, competitor Netflix said in April that it had reached 148.8 subscribers globally and 60.2 million subscribers domestically. Disney, which owns 60% of Hulu, will pull content from Netflix this year to stream on its own new service, Disney+, which launches in November. The service is expected to become a key part of Disney's streaming strategy. At an investors' presentation last month, Disney said it would offer Hulu as a bundle if people subscribe to Disney+ and ESPN+. CNBC reported last month that Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, was in talks with Disney to sell its 30% stake in Hulu.

New ad products

Hulu's new "binge advertising" experience comes as advertisers are increasingly seeking to reach customers in a way that doesn't annoy them or disrupt their experience. This new format will "make it possible for marketers to target binge viewers with a creative that is situationally relevant to their viewing behavior," the company said in a statement. Peter Naylor, Hulu's SVP and head of ad sales, said the platform will identify when someone is "binge viewing," or watching at least three episodes of the same series, and will serve tailored messages to that viewing behavior. He said it could take the form of a message saying a viewer can watch the next episode for free, or a personalized offer from a brand. On the screen at the presentation, the company showed a sample message from Starbucks: An ad for a S'mores Frappuccino with the words, "S'more of this. Watch the next episode for free. Brought to you by Starbucks." Hulu also offers "pause ads," which are static advertisements that appear when a viewer pauses their content on Hulu. The company said it's expanding the availability of those pause ads to all its advertisers beginning in August, following a beta test with Coca-Cola and Charmin. Naylor also said the company is now capping every or ad break at 90 seconds. He said users will not see the same ad more than twice in an hour, and said no ad will run more than four times a day per viewer. This comes after some viewers have bemoaned the number of times they've seen certain ads on the platform.

(L-R) Stephanie Savage, Rhenzy Feliz, Lyrica Okano, Virginia Gardner, Gregg Sulkin, Ariela Barer, and Allegra Acosta speak onstage at the Marvel's Runaways panel during New York Comic Con 2018 at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on October 5, 2018 in New York City. Craig Barritt | Getty Images
The relationship between Disney and Netflix may have fizzled, but that's not stopping the owner of Marvel Studios from partnering with other streaming services to bring comic book characters to the small screen.

On Wednesday, Hulu announced it green lit two more Marvel series for its platform  "Ghost Rider" and "Helstrom."

The strengthening partnership between Disney and Hulu is not surprising. The House of Mouse has been in talks with Comcast and Warner Bros. to secure the remaining 40% outstanding ownership of the streaming service.

Already, Hulu is producing a slate of four animated series featuring Marvel superheroes, including Howard the Duck, for its platform.

However, unlike their Disney+ counterparts, "Ghost Rider" and "Helstrom" will not cross over with other Marvel shows or films, although it will exist within the same universe, Marvel said.

"We're thrilled Hulu will be moving into a new  admittedly chilling  corner of the Marvel Universe with 'Ghost Rider' and 'Helstrom'," Jeph Loeb, executive producer and head of Marvel Television, said in a statement Wednesday. "Paul and Ingrid are crafting gripping adventures into fear that live in our 'Spirits of Vengence' cornerstone," he said of showrunners Paul Zbyszewski and Ingrid Escajeda.

"Ghost Rider" will follow Robbie Reyes, a man consumed by hellfire and bound to demon. He lives on the Texas/Mexico border and dispenses his own form of justice as he roams these border towns. Reyes will be played by Gabriel Luna, who played the character on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" on ABC. However, Marvel has stated that this will be a new iteration of the character and not related to Luna's work on the TV series.

"This story hits every note for me  my love for grounded yet conflicted characters and my desire to scare the s--t out of people," Escajeda, executive producer and showrunner for "Ghost Rider," said in a statement. "It's important to me to find a take that thrills existing fans as well as wider audiences and I believe we've done just that."

Hulu's other series, "Helstrom," is about Daimon and Ana Helstrom, the children of Satan as they "track down the terrorizing worst of humanity." Little is known about who will be cast in the series or what the official plot will entail.

"Marvel's known for all the heart, humor and action they put into every series, but this time around we're adding some scares to that mix," Paul Zbyszewski, executive producer and showrunner of "Helstrom," said. "I think we've found a compelling way to dissect some of our deepest fears through the experiences of our two lead characters."

Disney is actively expanding its Marvel content, especially on streaming platforms. It's new service Disney+, which will be available in November, will have four different live-action series featuring Scarlet Witch and Vision, Loki, Bucky Barnes [the Winter Soldier] and Sam Wilson [Falcon] and Hawkeye.

Head of Marvel Kevin Feige said these Marvel series will connect directly to the cinematic universe and to each other.

An animated series called "What If" will also be available on Disney+. It will explore hypothetical questions like: what would have happened if Peggy Carter had been given the super serum instead of Steve Rogers? Additionally, there will be two unscripted Marvel series.

Hulu is also producing adult animated shows based on MODOK, Hit-Monkey, Tigra and Dazzler and Howard the Duck. It will produce a crossover special with these characters called "The Offenders."
A luxury home with swimming pool is shown in Naples, Fla. A. Kurtz | Getty Images

The nation's priciest properties are in far less demand this year, and that is taking a toll on their values. Sales of homes listed at $2 million and above fell 16% in the first quarter, the sharpest annual decline since 2010, according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage. This as the supply of those homes rose 14%, marking four straight quarters of annual increases in inventory. The average price of a 'luxury' home, which Redfin defines as the top 5% in each of the 1,000 cities it tracks, fell 1.6% to $1.55 million. Nonluxury homes saw their average price rise 2.7% annually to $300,000.

Demand for high-end homes is waning in large part due to changes in tax law. The amount of state and local taxes that homeowners can deduct was capped at $10,000, and the mortgage interest deduction was reduced from $1 million to $750,000 in mortgage debt. "Not only do the new rules make it less desirable to purchase a multi-million dollar home in high-tax states, it has also motivated some peopleespecially those with big incomes and big housing budgetsto consider moving to places like Florida, Washington or Nevada, which have no state income tax," wrote Redfin's chief economist, Daryl Fairweather, in a release. The shift in the luxury market has been more pronounced, therefore, in certain metropolitan markets. The average luxury sale price fell hardest in Boston (-22.4%), Newport Beach, California (-21.8%), and Miami (-19.3%). Miami's drop may have been less about tax changes and more about overbuilding on the luxury end in recent years that has led to an oversupply of high-end homes for sale. In Greenwich, Connecticut, home to the chiefs of some of the nation's largest hedge funds, it is all about taxes.
It was 4 a.m. on a night in June 2017. Bret Arsenault, the top-ranking cybersecurity executive at Microsoft, had fallen asleep on top of his cell phone when it shocked him awake with a buzz.

A cyberattack, later dubbed NotPetya, had begun locking down computers and shutting down businesses in Ukraine.

It first looked like a routine ransomware attack, in which companies would have been able to pay to open their locked up computers. But NotPetya was different -- it spread lighting-fast, like a worm rather than ransomware, and companies quickly found there were no criminals to negotiate a ransom with at all, leaving them with inoperable hardware and no data.

Arsenault quickly jumped on a phone call with staff in Eastern Europe and the U.S. He demanded his staff shut off access to Ukraine within 10 minutes to stop the malicious software from spreading out of Microsoft's locations in that country.

The staff said they didn't think they could do it that fast. He pushed. They worked. They shut it down.

"If you do the right thing, they'll say you did your job. If it's the wrong thing, you get fired," said Arsenault, Microsoft's chief information security officer. "It was my team trying to not call chicken little. That is probably the hardest part of the job, to not get overexcited but not to under-react."

He might have the hardest cybersecurity job in the world, being accountable to the board of one of the world's largest tech companies, which supplies ubiquitous products and software that serve most other companies across the globe.

Microsoft is one of the most-attacked companies in the world. But Arsenault said the lessons he's learned from NotPetya and the other 6.5 trillion incidents the company sees each year can be used by businesses with much smaller profiles, and even by individuals. The biggest one: Get beyond passwords.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Wednesday that he had had a "nice" working dinner the night before in Beijing with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

"We did. We had a nice working dinner, thank you," Mnuchin told reporters at his Beijing hotel, when asked if he had met with Liu the night before. He did not elaborate.

Mnuchin, along with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, is in China for the latest round of talks aimed at ending their bitter trade war.
Japans new Emperor Naruhito waves as he arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 1, 2019.

New Japanese Emperor Naruhito formally took up his post on Wednesday, saying he felt solemn with the burden he bore but pledged to work as a symbol of the nation and the unity of its people.

Former Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko stepped down on Tuesday after three decades as the nation's top royals in a brief, simple ceremony, with Akihito thanking the people of Japan and saying he prayed for peace.

Naruhito, 59, technically succeeded his father just as Tuesday became Wednesday but his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne was formalized in a mid-morning ceremony, the first part of which his wife and other royal women were unable to attend.

Naruhito, the first emperor born after World War Two and the first to be raised solely by his parents, expressed gratitude for his parents' work over the past three decades and said he felt solemn at the thought of the burden he is taking on.

"As I succeed to the throne ... I pledge that I will always think of the people, and while drawing close to them, fulfill my duties as a symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people in accordance with the constitution," Naruhito, wearing a tailcoat and several large medals, said with a smile.

"I sincerely hope for the happiness of the people and further progress of the country, and for world peace," he said.

In the first stage of the accession ceremony, imperial chamberlains carried state and privy seals into the hall along with two of Japan's "Three Sacred Treasures" - a sword and a jewel - which together with a mirror are symbols of the throne.

They are said to originate in ancient mythology.

He was flanked by his brother and heir, Crown Prince Akishino, during the simple, brief ceremony.

His wife, Empress Masako, was not in the room in accordance with custom barring female royals, but for the first time a woman did watch - Satsuki Katayama, who was taking part as a member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet.

Masako, wearing a floor-length white dress and a tiara, entered the room for the second part of the ceremony with the other adult royal women.
With African swine fever ravaging China's hog industry, U.S. experts are expecting pork prices to go higher and likely stay elevated well into 2020.

"If I really like bacon, I'd be kind of stocking up," said Steve Meyer, an industry economist with Kerns & Associates in Iowa. "I've got about 12 pounds already in the freezer."

At least 129 cases of African swine fever have been reported in China since the first case was confirmed last August. The incurable disease also has spread to other parts of Asia, including Vietnam.

"African swine fever in China could result in an extended period of elevated pork pricing in the U.S.," wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Thomas Palmer in a research note last week. He said there's still no containment of the swine virus, and the replacement of the herd in China is likely to take "a minimum of 20 months," meaning "elevated demand for non-domestic pork will continue into 2020, at the least."

A jump in wholesale pork and bacon prices could potentially impact profit margins for restaurants serving up BLTs, bacon cheeseburgers and pork belly sandwiches. As for American consumers, experts say supermarkets are likely to absorb some of the price increases in the short run for competitive reasons.

"When you have a bacon cheeseburger, if bacon price doubles, you might have another 30 to 40 cents on that sandwich," said David Maloni, executive vice president of analytics for ArrowStream, a Chicago commodity researcher for the restaurant industry.

And restaurants are closely watching the price of pork bellies these days because bellies are used to make one of America's favorite foods: bacon.

Maloni forecasts "belly prices may rise more than 40% from yesterday's close before they seasonally peak later this year." Also, he said there's a chance they "could move even higher in 2020."

Restaurant chains, particularly those in the fast-food sector, typically use hedging or forward contracting to mitigate any price spikes in meats, including bacon. Pork belly futures no longer trade on the Chicago market, but the lean hog futures are used by some companies to hedge risk on bacon.

According to Maloni, there's been a gradual increase in demand for bacon to the point where the "running total of pork-belly disappearance" is tracking up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis, or the best growth since the summer of 2017.

He said domestic trends, when combined with the possibility of strong pork carcass exports to China, appear to show that pork belly supplies could be much tighter later this year and into 2020. He also believes the situation in China will have consequences for the poultry market, too.

On Wednesday, Chicago-traded June lean hogs rallied 3.4%. The most-active lean hogs contract has risen more than 60% since the start of March, although it still is below recent highs.

"We're firmer today because the market got deeply oversold, technically," said Don Roose, president of Iowa broker U.S. Commodities. "There's also anticipation that Thursday's weekly export sales report will show pork sales to China."

The U.S.-China trading war has included retaliatory tariffs Beijing slapped on American pork, resulting in the product having a total import tax exceeding 60%. Other world pork suppliers have pushed to increase trade with Beijing, but there are signs China is starting to resume major U.S. pork purchases.
"Courageous" investors looking for long-term opportunities should look to emerging cities in the Middle East, India and China, according to global real estate advisor Savills.

In its Resilient Cities Index report, Savills highlighted several cities that were still relatively untapped, despite being the most likely to see economic growth amid global disruption in the coming decades.

The research analyzed which global hubs would be able to withstand or embrace technological, demographic and political disruption. New York was named the world's most resilient city, followed by Tokyo, London and Los Angeles.

Savills predicted that the top four cities would retain their positions over the next decade. Shanghai, currently in 11th place, was expected to rise to fifth place by 2028, while London and Paris were the only European cities currently ranked among the 20 most resilient.
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is planning to tap the debt market twice this year, after an overwhelmingly positive response from international investors.

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is seeking to raise debt over the coming months as part of a sustained effort to boost its firepower and help support the oil-rich kingdom's ambitious economic transformation plans.

"We asked for $8 billion syndicate loan and we got an amazing response from the markets. We got like $24 (billion) That was sometime last year. This year, we will do at least two debt raises," Yasir Bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, managing director of Saudi Arabia's PIF, told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

When asked how much he was expecting the fund to raise over the coming months, Al-Rumayyan said: "I think it's going to be in the neighborhood of like 14 billion Saudi riyal and for the U.S. dollar I think it's going to be north of $8 or $10 billion."

"And still, I mean, this doesn't represent even 5% of our AUM (assets under management). Our target is to go between 15% to 20%. So, we'll continue on raising debt," he added.
Saudi Arabia's massive sovereign wealth fund has its eye on China as it expands international investments, though its "No. 1 target" remains the U.S., its managing director told CNBC on Tuesday. The Saudi Public Investment Fund is one of the Middle East's largest, with some $300 billion in assets under management and an aim to increase that to $2 trillion by 2030 as it aggressively invests in both domestic and international markets. "We're opening up in New York and London, San Francisco. Now I'm thinking seriously even to accelerate the Asia office because we see a lot of potential over there," Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan told CNBC's Hadley Gamble during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. In fact, a PIF spokesman told CNBC the fund is planning to open a new office in Asia "to focus on China." That follows Al-Rumayyan, who has served as the fund's director since 2015, recently visiting Beijing for a forum on China's Belt and Road Initiative, which culminated in billions of dollars worth of deals to expand the flagship Chinese project that seeks to invest across Asia, Africa and parts of Europe.

"This is the first time for me to go out and meet asset managers, companies, Chinese entrepreneurs, and they are really very impressive," Al-Rumayyan said, speaking on the topic of China. "The GDP growth now is, I think, at 6.25% which is larger than most of the other countries around the world. But the concern is it came down from 11-plus percent. I don't mind growing the 6% if I'm entering now in China. The Softbank Vision Fund also deployed big amounts of money in China and some of the Chinese companies. So we are OK in the longer term." Still, the fund's primary aim remains the U.S., Al-Rumayyan said. "The U.S. is our No. 1 target of investments. Most innovation happens in U.S. We have deployed directly and indirectly more than $50 billion in the past two years in the U.S. So that's a big demonstration to the interest that we have here." The PIF agreed to partner with investment company Blackstone in 2017 for a new venture designed to invest more than $100 billion in U.S. infrastructure assets. The Saudi fund will commit $20 billion to the venture, which is expected to have $40 billion in total equity commitments in a permanent capital vehicle. It has also invested billions in Silicon Valley tech companies through Softbank's Vision Fund, and in 2016 sent Uber $3.5 billion in a lump sum.
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

ADP  The provider of payroll and other human resource services beat estimates by 8 cents a share, reporting adjusted quarterly profit of $1.77 per share. Revenue came in slightly below forecasts, however.

Clorox  The consumer products company fell a penny a share short of forecasts, with quarterly profit of $1.44 per share. Revenue was also below estimates. Clorox noted a more competitive market in certain categories, which it said it is "aggressively addressing."

CVS Health  CVS earned an adjusted $1.62 per share for the first quarter, 12 cents a share above estimates. Revenue was also above analysts' projections and CVS raised its full-year forecast as it benefits from its buyout of insurer Aetna.

Estee Lauder  The cosmetics maker reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.55 per share, 25 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also came in above forecasts as demand for its luxury skin care brands like La Mer increased.

Garmin  The maker of GPS devices beat estimates by 2 cents a share, with quarterly profit of 73 cents per share. Revenue also beat estimates and Garmin saw a 12% rise in revenue across all its categories. The company registered a slight decline in profit margins, however.

Hilton Worldwide  The hotel chain operator reported adjusted quarterly profit of 80 cents per share, 4 cents a share above estimates. Revenue came in slightly above Street forecasts. Hilton's results received a boost from an increase in the key metric of revenue per available room.

Humana  The health insurer earned an adjusted $4.48 per share, compared to a consensus estimate of $4.30 a share. Revenue was above estimates as well, and Humana raised its full-year forecast amid increasing sales of its Medicare health plans.

Molson Coors  The beer brewer fell 6 cents a share shy of estimates, with adjusted quarterly profit of 52 cents per share. Revenue also came in below Wall Street forecasts. The company reaffirmed its expectations of higher dividends in the future, as well as commitment to its cost savings program.

Yum Brands  The restaurant operator came in a penny a share ahead of estimates, with adjusted quarterly profit of 82 cents per share. Revenue was essentially in line with expectations. Yum's results were bolstered by strong growth at its KFC unit, which helped to offset tepid results at its Pizza Hut chain.

Apple  Apple reported quarterly profit of $2.46 per share, beating estimates by 10 cents a share. Revenue beat Wall Street forecasts as well, however Apple saw its second consecutive revenue decline.

Amgen  Amgen beat estimates by 8 cents a share, with adjusted quarterly profit of $3.56 per share. The biotech company's revenue also exceeded analysts' forecasts. The beat came despite a 12% drop in sales of Amgen's Neulasta drug for cancer patients.

Mondelez International  Mondelez earned an adjusted 65 cents per share for its latest quarter, 4 cents a share above estimates. The snack maker's revenue was essentially in line with forecasts. The Oreo cookie maker's organic revenue growth rose a better-than-expected 3.7%.

Advanced Micro Devices  AMD beat estimates by a penny a share, reporting adjusted quarterly profit of 6 cents per share. The chipmaker's revenue just slightly topped estimates. Gross margins saw a 5% jump compared to a year earlier.

Wynn Resorts  Wynn was allowed to keep its Massachusetts gaming license, although CEO Matt Maddox was rebuked over his handling of sexual misconduct allegations against former CEO Steve Wynn. The casino operator was fined $35 million, with Maddox being assessed a personal $500,000 penalty.

Boeing  Boeing bond sale Tuesday raised $3.5 billion amid strong demand, helping it as it faces at least $1 billion in expenses related to the grounding of its 737 Max aircraft.

Home Depot  Chief Financial Officer Carol Tome will retire on August 31, after serving as CFO of the home improvement giant since 2001. Executive Vice President Richard McPhail will replace her.

Las Vegas Sands  Las Vegas Sands could see its shares impacted after gambling revenue in Macau fell 8.3% in April, its biggest year-over-year decline since June 2016.

Anadarko Petroleum  Anadarko remains on watch, following reports that Chevron is considering whether to boost its prior bid in an effort to top Occidental Petroleum's Berkshire Hathaway backed offer.
For two-fifths of American employees, the workplace looks a little different to what we typically assume. There might not be a desk, the uniform may include pajamas, and a cat may be the only office mate.

And that's because these employees are working remotely, a report by U.S. market research firm Gallup found.

From 2012 to 2017, the share of American employees opting to work remotely rose 5 percentage points, from 39% to 43%. The trend is likely to continue as a little over half of American employees feeling like their ideal work spot lies outside the traditional confines of an office.

According to a recent survey from OnePoll, in conjunction with GoToMeeting, 43% of people say they'd clock in from their homes if they could. If you're not in that happy percentage that gets to skip frustrating commutes and distracting coworkers, and you want to be, your location might be the problem.

Certain states offer far more opportunities for remote gigs than others. FlexJobs analyzed the number of state-based remote job listings posted in 2018. (Many companies limit the "remoteness" of their employees to living within the same state for tax and compliance reasons as well as easier scheduling of in-person meetings, according to FlexJobs.)

Below are the 15 states that had the highest number of remote job listings in 2018, as well as the top industries and companies hiring for those remote workers in each state.
Gavin Williamson, U.K. defence secretary, arrives for a weekly meeting of cabinet ministers at number 10 Downing Street in London, U.K., on Tuesday, April 23, 2019.

WASHINGTON  British Prime Minister Theresa May has fired Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson following a leak from a National Security Council of the United Kingdom meeting regarding Chinese tech giant Huawei.

"The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet," Downing Street said in a statement Wednesday.

In a letter to Williamson, May wrote: "This is an extremely serious matter, and a deeply disappointing one ... That is why I commissioned the Cabinet Secretary to establish an investigation into the unprecedented leak from the NSC meeting last week."

May added that the investigation provided "compelling evidence suggesting your [Williamson] responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure. No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified."

The Daily Telegraph had reported that May approved letting Huawei help build the UK's 5G network, in spite of national security warnings from some of her senior advisors and American officials.

Williamson has denied that he was the source of the leak.

Following Williamson's dismissal, Downing Street announced Penny Mordaunt, the UK's international development secretary, as his replacement. Mordaunt will become the first woman to serve as the UK's defense secretary.
Apple's China business has made a U-turn thanks to the stimulus programs the Chinese government injected into the economy, according to Tim Cook. Other U.S. companies with a big China presence could also follow with good news, if the Apple CEO is right.

Cook's upbeat comment on China sent Apple shares surging despite slowing global iPhone sales. During the earnings call, the CEO pointed out that the value-added tax reduction in China as well as the "improved trade dialogue" between the U.S. and China helped lift consumer confidence.

"The one that got the most visibility that happened in early April was the [value-added tax] reduction from 16% to 13%, so it was a very aggressive move. But there are other stimulus programs as well that likely have an effect at the consumer level," Cook said.

Last year, China suffered the slowest economic growth since 1990, which forced the government to impose a series of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures. One of them was a nearly $300 billion tax cut for companies in the manufacturing, transportation and construction sectors.

Apple said fiscal third-quarter revenue could rise to $54.5 billion partly because of improved performance in China, above a $51.94 billion consensus analyst estimate. That is a sharp reversal from January when the company slashed its revenue guidance, citing slowing iPhone sales in China.

The tech giant could just be one of the many companies getting a boost from the turnaround in the Chinese economy.
The Apple logo is seen on the window at an Apple Store on January 7, 2019 in Beijing, China.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company's prospects in China have significantly improved in just three months and it's in part because of the Trump administration's progress with the country in trade talks.

"I believe that the trade relationship  I don't mean the tariff, I mean the tone  is much better today than it was in the November-December time frame. That affects consumer confidence in a positive way," Cook told CNBC's Josh Lipton in an interview.

On the company's first-quarter earnings call Tuesday, Cook cited the improved trade talks, a China tax cut and iPhone trade-in and financing programs for a turnaround in the country.

"There's an improved trade dialogue between the U.S. and China, and from our point of view, this has affected consumer confidence on the ground there in a positive way. And so I think it's a set of all of these things, and we certainly feel a lot better than we did 90 days ago," the CEO said on the call.

In January, Apple shares dropped the most in six years after it slashed its revenue guidance, citing slowing iPhone sales in China. On Tuesday, the company said third-quarter revenue may be as high as $54.5 billion partly because of improved performance in China. That's higher than a $51.94 billion consensus analyst estimate for the quarter currently, according to Refinitiv.

The shares are up more than 5% in premarket trading Wednesday.

White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said on Tuesday that a trade agreement could be announced with Beijing within two weeks.

 With reporting by CNBC's Kif Leswing
Central American migrants turn themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol as they seek asylum after illegally crossing the Rio Grande near Penitas, Texas, April 6, 2019.

The White House on Wednesday asked Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency border, a request likely to escalate simmering tensions over immigration.

Citing what it calls a crisis spurred by an influx of migrants at the southern border, the Trump administration pushed for $3.3 billion in humanitarian assistance, $1.1 billion for border operations and $178 million for mission support. The money is separate from the $8.6 billion the White House already sought for the president's proposed border wall in its fiscal 2020 budget.

"I urge the Congress to take swift action to provide the additional funding requested to address the humanitarian and border security crisis at the United States southern border," acting budget director Russ Vought wrote in asking for the money.

According to senior administration officials who briefed reporters Wednesday, the emergency funds are necessary in part because the funds President Donald Trump requested as part of his declaration of a national emergency have stringent limitations on how they can be used.

For example, a large portion of the money Trump has requested from the Department of Defense would come from a congressional military construction appropriation, and that money would therefore need to be spent within the limits of its appropriated usage.

Officials also confirmed Wednesday that the funds included in this supplemental budgetary request would not be used for construction of a border wall.

The request comes as Trump runs for reelection pledging to crack down on illegal immigration. It follows a national emergency declaration earlier this year that Trump used to try to secure $8 billion to build barriers and follow through on a key campaign promise.

The request sets up yet another fight over funding for border security, which led to a record 35-day partial government shutdown in December and January. Congress has to pass funding legislation by the end of the fiscal year in September to avoid another closure.

Democrats, who control the House and have fought Trump's immigration policy, will likely oppose the new funding. The House Appropriations Committee will review the request, but some provisions within it  such as a proposal for more Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds  do not have Democratic support, a House Democratic aide said.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the powerful chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said the committee would "carefully review this request in its totality and, where possible, work with the Senate and the White House to make conditions at the border more humane."

Senior administration officials said that, as part of negotiations over the request, they would be open to discussing with Congress potential policy changes to the current system that governs the detention and processing of migrants and asylum seekers.

However, the officials emphasized that the funds were primarily needed to respond to what they called a worsening humanitarian crisis at the border, and not to accomplish Trump's more political goals of reducing overall undocumented immigration and building a wall on the southern border.

In the past two years, they said, there has been a dramatic shift in the demographic composition of the groups of undocumented immigrants who are apprehended at the border.

Where there was once a preponderance of young, single men apprehended, this year over half of apprehensions have been migrant families, officials said.

There are also vastly increased numbers of unaccompanied children taken into custody at the border, who eventually need to be transferred to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services, rather than remain in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security.

At the current rate, officials said, HHS is at risk of exhausting by June all of the resources it has set aside to care for unaccompanied migrant children.

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The announcement of a U.S. trade deal with China is "possible" by next Friday, sources told CNBC on Wednesday.

A U.S. delegation met with Chinese negotiators in Beijing on Wednesday as the world's two largest economies try to hammer out details of an agreement. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington for talks next week.

Washington and Beijing have pushed to resolve a trade dispute that led to a series of tariffs and raised fears about spiraling economic damage. While both sides have repeatedly touted progress in the talks, disputes such as whether to immediately remove existing tariffs or keep them in place as an enforcement measure to stop practices such as intellectual property theft have derailed a final deal. President Donald Trump also wants China to buy more U.S. goods to reduce the trade deficit between the countries.

On Wednesday, the White House said the latest talks moved Washington and Beijing closer to an agreement. In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "Discussions remain focused toward making substantial progress on important structural issues and rebalancing the US-China trade relationship."
President Donald Trump is about to launch the latest phase of his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran, and BP CEO Bob Dudley says the commander in chief could deal the oil market a major wild card.

When the clock strikes midnight on Thursday, the United States will officially end sanctions waivers that allow eight countries to import Iranian oil. Dudley says the move, which is meant to drive Iran's oil exports to zero, is responsible for sending crude prices to nearly six-month highs last week.

"Now the U.S. is saying they're going to ... take away those waivers again, and the oil price is clearly drifting up because of that," he told CNBC's Brian Sullivan during an interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday.

"I think the key  the wild card key  is will the U.S. at the last minute give some more waivers or not?" Dudley said.

The answer to that question will influence whether oil prices rise or fall, he said.

While the Trump administration insists there will be no grace period for Iranian oil buyers, it has surprised the market on more than one occasion.

Trump's threat to impose tough sanctions on Iran drove Brent crude oil to nearly four-year highs at $86 a barrel last October, according to Dudley. The president's decision to allow several of Iran's biggest customers to continue importing Iranian barrels in November contributed to Brent's collapse to $50 a barrel, he said.

Last week, the Trump administration said it will stop issuing the exemptions on May 2. The market widely expected Trump to extend them for another six months, tightening the waivers but not ending them outright.

Analysts are still trying to determine how many Iranian barrels will come off the market. China and Turkey, two countries that received waivers, have condemned the U.S. sanctions and are widely expected to seek ways to continue importing Iranian oil.

Oil prices plunged Friday after Trump said he had "called up" OPEC and told the producer group to take measures to tame gasoline prices. U.S. officials say they have secured pledges from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to fill the gap left by Iranian supplies, but the OPEC members have not explicitly committed to pumping more oil.

Crude futures have clawed back some gains this week after Saudi and OPEC sources denied that Trump spoke to top officials about cutting fuel costs. Prices also got a boost after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih suggested on Tuesday that OPEC could extend a deal to cap output through the end of 2019.

The plunge in oil production in Venezuela, which is under U.S. sanctions, has also contributed to the run-up in oil prices, Dudley said.
Uber can't be compared to Lyft because its business is spread across the world and it has more services to offer, according to Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) is one of the largest shareholders in the ride-hailing giant, with a roughly 4% stake according to a regulatory filing. That holding is estimated to be worth around $3.4 billion when Uber goes public this month. "Uber is totally different than Lyft," Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, managing director of the PIF, told CNBC's Hadley Gamble on Tuesday. "Of course it's a ride sharing company, but it's a ride sharing company not only in the U.S. but all over the world." While Lyft has gained significant market share in the North American mobility space, Uber's strategy has been to grow its platform internationally. The firm is currently present in 63 countries and more than 700 cities while Lyft only operates in the U.S. and Canada.

Close-up of vertical sign with logos for ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft. Smith Collection | Gado | Getty Images

Uber has also been pitching itself to investors as a one-stop-shop for transportation, with a portfolio of different segments like electric scooters and bikes, self-driving cars, logistics and food delivery. Lyft can only tick two of those boxes  scooter and bike-sharing and self-driving. Uber "has the market share in the U.S. and it has the market share all over the world and it's bringing some new services," Al-Rumayyan said. Al-Rumayyan's comments come amid worries that Uber could face the same fate as Lyft once it debuts its shares. Since its IPO in late March, Lyft's stock has lost over 20% because of worries over its lack of profitability. Uber could face valuation comparisons in that respect, given that it is yet to generate a profit, and has also cautioned it may never become profitable. It made $11.3 billion in revenue last year, while still booking a $1.8 billion loss.
The High Court in London has ruled that a third runway at Heathrow should go ahead.

Construction of the third runway at one of the world's busiest airports is scheduled to begin within two years, with completion set for 2026.

Judges had heard five separate challenges to the proposed expansion from a group of local councils, residents, environmental charities and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. But on Wednesday, three High Court judges ruled in favor of the plan.

The U.K. government said in 2018 that additional capacity at the airport is "in the national interest and based on detailed evidence." A majority of 296 lawmakers in the U.K. Parliament backed the plan last year.

But campaigners have argued that the U.K. government's decision to build the additional runway failed to address the impact on air quality, noise, and local traffic congestion.

One claimant, an environmental action group called Plan B, had also argued in its case documentation that by building an extra runway the U.K. government was contradicting its commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

This agreement, signed by a number of countries in 2016, offers a commitment to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions. In 2017, President Donald Trump said he will withdraw the U.S. from the agreement.

Tim Crosland, Director of Plan B and a legal adviser to another climate action group Extinction Rebellion, called the judgement "disappointing" and it was hard to see how lawmakers could proceed.

"Following the recent Extinction Rebellion protests there is widespread recognition that we are in a state of climate and ecological emergency," he said in a statement.
North Korean and U.S. flags stand side by side at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

A U.S. district judge has ordered three Chinese banks to comply with U.S. investigators' demands that they hand over records connected to the alleged movement of tens of millions of dollars in violation of international sanctions on North Korea.

In a heavily redacted court opinion released by the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday and dated March 18, Beryl Howell, Washington D.C.'s chief federal district judge, said the subpoenas were for records of dealings between a now-defunct Hong Kong-based front company and a North Korean state-run entity.

The publicly released court document did not name the banks, the Hong Kong company, or the North Korean entity. It said the front company was established by a North Korean national and a Chinese individual, who were also not named.

It said the Chinese government had ownership stakes in all three of the banks, the first two of which have branches in the United States.

The subpoenas were issued in December 2017 as part of a U.S. investigation into violations of sanctions targeting North Korea's nuclear weapons program, including money laundering and contravention of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act.

According to the court document, the subpoenas demanded a wide range of bank records dating back to January 2012.

The document highlighted transactions totaling $105.34 million, including $45.78 million that went through a U.S. correspondent account of the first Chinese bank; $1.63 million that went through a correspondent bank account of the second bank, and $57.93 million that went through a U.S. correspondent account of the third.

The judge's ruling said U.S. Justice Department officials visited China in April and August last year to discuss the failure of the banks to respond to the requests for evidence.

The documents were not produced and in November, U.S. prosecutors filed a court motion seeking to compel the banks to comply.

Judge Howell ordered the first two banks to produce the records promptly or testify before a grand jury. She ordered the third bank to produce the subpoenaed records by March 28. It was not clear how or if the banks responded. China is North Korea's neighbor and main trading partner but has committed to enforcing international sanctions aimed at pressing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

Beijing has also said it opposes unilateral sanctions outside the U.N. framework, and has accused Washington of using "long-arm" jurisdiction in targeting Chinese entities.
If you're lucky enough to attend one of the best high schools in the country, you may be set up for life.

This week, U.S. News & World Report released its 2019 Best High School Rankings. The publication analyzed data from 17,245 public high schools in 50 states and Washington, D.C., and found that 20 schools stood out as the best in the country.

In evaluating schools, U.S. News considered six factors: college readiness (measured through participation and performance on AP and IB exams), reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, under-served student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates.

Check out the 20 best high schools in the U.S.:
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Attorney General William Barr is slated to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where he will likely face a barrage of questions from the panel's Democrats about his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report.

Hours before Barr was set to face the lawmakers, news outlets reported that Mueller sent a letter to the attorney general complaining about his initial four-page summary of the 448-page Russia report's principal conclusions.

Ahead of Barr's testimony Wednesday morning, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called on Barr to resign.

Read Mueller's letter to the attorney general:
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Wind-powered projects spin up mixed reactions from residents who live near them. The benefit of renewable energy and tax revenue for small communities is being challenged by experiences of those living under the propellor's shadow.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Will May concede to Labour on the Customs Union?

Theresa May is preparing to cave in to Labour demands on Brexit, Eurosceptic ministers fear, after they were told an unpalatable outcome would be better than a disastrous one. The Prime Minister has made it clear that she wants cross-party talks wrapped up by the middle of next week, adding to suspicions that she is waiting until after tomorrows local elections before announcing a climbdown Brexiteers still believe Mrs May can win round Tory rebels by making changes to the Northern Irish backstop, but the Prime Minister appears increasingly convinced that support from Labour is the only way to get the stable majority she needs for a divorce deal and the trade talks to come.  Daily Telegraph

She wont bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement Bill  Daily Express

Smith says its a deal with Labour or a new referendum  Daily Mail

More:

May and Corbyn face Commons clash amidst major pressure  Daily Telegraph

Seven-day limit on talks  The Sun

Allies accept her premiership is drawing to a close  FT

May is most evasive Tory prime minister in four decades  The Sun

Comment:

This craven Cabinet must block a betrayal of Brexit  Stewart Jackson, Daily Telegraph

How a new Prime Minister could harness Downing Street  Nikki da Costa, Times Red Box

Why Johnson looms large over the Brexit endgame  George Parker, FT

Westminster is retreating back into fantasy  Rafael Behr, The Guardian

Tories must wake up to the existential calamity about to engulf them  Philip Johnston, Daily Telegraph

>Today: Daniel Hannan MEPs column: May must stand down as Party leader before the European elections

>Yesterday: Henry Newmans column: Most Conservatives dont like it  but talks with Corbyn offer a way of breaking the Brexit stalemate

Labour leader sees off second referendum push on Labours NEC

Labours European election manifesto will include a pledge of support for a second referendum on Brexit, but only if the party cannot secure a general election or force the government to change its deal with the EU. A meeting of Labours ruling National Executive Committee on Tuesday agreed that the manifesto should follow the partys existing official policy of pursuing a public vote on Brexit only as a last resort. Several leading figures in the party, including Deputy Leader Tom Watson and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry have voiced support for a referendum on any kind of Brexit deal.  Politico

Watson defeated  The Times

Change UK reaches out to Labour remainers  The Guardian

Comment:

Whats really behind his scheming obsession with another vote?  Tom Harris, Daily Telegraph

Another vote would just add to the mess  Andrew Duff, The Times

Gamble could destroy Corbyns one shot at power  Richard Johnson, Daily Telegraph

Editorial:

Walkout exposes Labours Brexit divide  Daily Telegraph

>Yesterday: Left Watch: In the final, decisive, ultimate meeting about Labours Brexit policy, Corbyn has successfully fudged it again

Daniel Finkelstein: Corbyns warm words for a century-old antisemitic conspiracy theory

Ministers 1) Brokenshire admits mistakes were made in sacking Scruton

Then, Hobson continues, the direct influence exercised by great financial houses in high politics is supported by the control which they exercise over the body of public opinion through the press. In other words Mr Corbyn is praising as correct and prescient a directly antisemitic analysis. Did Mr Corbyn not read the book before he praised it? Did he read it but, as with the Mear One mural, not notice that it was antisemitic? Did he realise it but decide it didnt matter because there were other more important things about it? One thing is clear. The problem of left-wing antisemitism isnt really about Israel. Its much more deeply embedded than that.  The Times

A Cabinet Minister last night admitted mistakes in the sacking of housing tsar Sir Roger Scruton. Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said: We could have done things differently  that is something I do acknowledge. Im very saddened by the whole situation as to his this occurred. Sir Roger was booted out as a housing adviser on the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission after an incendiary report claimed he had been anti-Semitic and racist. Supporters last week claimed he had been wrongly dismissed when a full transcript of the interview with New Statesman emerged. Mr Brokenshire  who never contacted Sir Roger before the sacking earlier this month  told LBC he had a huge amount of respect for him.  The Sun

>Yesterday: Local Government: Boys Smith takes over from Scruton, chairing the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission

Ministers 2) Hancock says people should not have to sell their homes to pay for social care

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But that means taxes will rise, he warns  The Sun

eople should not be forced to sell their homes to pay for social care costs, Matt Hancock has said. The Health Secretary has previously indicated his support for a form of social care tax to help the Government cover the cost of the care funding crisis. But Mr Hancock told a House of Lords committee on Tuesday that a family home should not be included in calculations under all circumstances. He said: The threat to people that they might lose their home from something that they cant do anything about and cant insure against is one of the injustices of the system. It came as Caroline Dinenage, the Care Minister, expressed her frustration that the Brexit process had stopped the Government from rolling out its long-awaited care plans.  Daily Telegraph

More leadership:

Javid to rally the troops before the locals  Twitter

Raab outlines his vision for the future  Shropshire Star

Gove delivers ban on wild animals in circuses  Gov.uk

Hunt announces new UK projects in Nigeria  Twitter

>Yesterday: MPs Etc.: The Conservative Party should stand up for all those who feel powerless in Britain today- Gibbs reformist speech

Ministers 3) Fury at Truss after she reveals private dinner with donor on Instagram

Theresa May and six female Cabinet members had a night out with the wife of a former Vladimir Putin ally who had donated 135,000 at a Tory fundraiser. Lubov Chernukhin was entertained by the Prime Minister at the five-star Goring Hotel in Belgravia on Monday evening. It is understood the banker won the dinner as an auction prize at the Conservative Partys Black and White ball earlier this year. The 135,000 bid takes Mrs Chernukhins donations to the Tories over the past seven years past the 1million mark Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, revealed news of Monday nights dinner by posting a photograph on Instagram of Mrs May, several of her female ministers and a group of mystery women at the Goring, which is near Buckingham Palace.  Daily Mail

Meanwhile, she defends Abbott for drinking on TfL services  The Sun

CCHQ uses May meeting with Trump to delay reckoning with grassroots

Queens blushes spared over prospect of President addressing Parliament  The Times

Tory party chiefs are to delay Theresa Mays showdown reckoning with furious members to allow her to host Donald Trump. An unprecedented Emergency General Meeting is due to be called in early June amid a grassroots activists revolt over Brexit. As The Sun revealed yesterday, the PM is to be hauled in front of the 800 constituency chairmen after a petition from 70 of them demanded her resignation for failing to take Britain out of the EU. But the humiliating confrontation wont now be until at least the second week of June, The Sun has also learned. Voluntary party bosses from National Conservative Convention have agreed to pleas from the PMs allies not to embarrass her ahead of the US Presidents first state visit to commemorate D-Day s 75th anniversary, from June 3-5.  The Sun

>Today: ToryDiary: In Dudley, I watch local Tories trying to run on their record, not the Prime Ministers

>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Dont be spun before Thursdays results

Deben calls for ban on sale of petrol cars by 2030

Britain should ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars earlier than the existing target of 2040, the governments advisers are expected to say tomorrow. The Committee on Climate Change believes the cost of electric cars will be similar to that of petrol or diesel vehicles by 2024-25, according to a leak to the BBC. However, the speed of installing charging points, something overseen by central and local government, will have to vastly improve to cope with the demand, they are likely to say. The committee, chaired by the former environment secretary Lord Deben, will recommend that the government ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, which the AA said was not possible.  The Times

Britain will have to do more, Gove tells activists  Daily Telegraph

but he tells them to judge politicians on actions, not words  Daily Mail

Corbyn tells MPs to declare a climate emergency  The Guardian

Government is grinding to a halt  FT

>Today: Rory Stewart in Comment: Of course theres a climate emergency. Heres a wide-ranging Conservative programme to tackle it.

>Yesterday:

Khan blasted for slashing funds to tackle knife crime

Momentum candidate closes in on mayoralty  FT

Sadiq Khan was under fire last night after his flagship plan to tackle soaring bloodshed in the capital was dramatically scaled back. The London Mayor had promised that the 6.8million Violence Reduction Unit would make the city safer by treating violence as a public health problem rather than just a law and order issue. But documents seen by The Sun reveal that it is now just going to focus on the most dangerous areas and will not cover all of London. Susan Hall, who sits on City Halls Police and Crime Committee, said: Sadiq Khans violent crime epidemic is reaching into every corner of our city, with even outer London boroughs becoming increasingly unsafe.  The Sun

More:

Opposition cancel plans for second Labour Live  The Sun

MSP barred from giving evidence to Labour racism inquiry

Labour MSP Anas Sarwar says he was barred from giving evidence to a formal probe into his claims of racist comments made by a party colleague and branded the process not fit for purpose. Mr Sarwar claimed that Labour councillor Davie McLachlan told him he could not support his leadership bid because Scotland wouldnt vote for a brown Muslim P**i. Mr McLachlan has insisted the allegations are false and an internal Labour disciplinary process found there was no case to answer this week. But the Glasgow MSP revealed in a statement today that he was given just four days notice of the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) hearing into his case on Monday. When he arrived to give evidence he was told he could not appear as he had not provided two weeks notice of his intention to provide testimony.  The Scotsman

Partys disciplinary process under scrutiny  The Guardian

MPs refer the Home Office to the equalities watchdog

Recall petition closes in Peterborough

A group of more than 80 MPs has referred the Home Office to the equalities watchdog, requesting an investigation into whether its deeply discriminatory hostile environment immigration policies represent institutional racism. The MPs argue that the Home Office is acting unlawfully by routinely discriminating against British citizens on the basis of their race, and have called on the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate. In a letter to the head of the EHRC, the group says the introduction and operation of the hostile environment shows beyond all doubt that the government does not take its stated commitment to race equality seriously.  The Guardian

Fiona Onasanya, the MP facing a recall petition after lying about a speeding ticket, is expected to learn by Thursday morning whether her electorate has kicked her out of parliament. Ten signing places across her seat of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire will close at 5pm on Wednesday and a count of signatures on the petition will begin immediately. If it has attracted the support of 10% of eligible voters  6,967 people  the former Labour whip will be forced out of office and a byelection will be called. A byelection would make history as the first under new laws that give voters the chance to recall their MP. If one does take place, then Nigel Farages Brexit party is expected to stand its first parliamentary candidate, but a spokesman said no decision had yet been made on whether Farage might stand himself.  The Guardian

Brexit Party prepares shock Commons bid  Daily Express

Farage could win a majority of Tory voters

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UKIP release a video trying to discredit him  The Times

Coup attempt in Venezuela stalls

ess than a third of Conservative voters see the party as being pro-Brexit, according to new polling ahead of the local and European elections next month. Just 29 per cent of those who voted for Theresa Mays party in 2017 feel the Conservatives are pro-Brexit with 31 per cent seeing them as anti-Brexit, according to polling from YouGov conducted at the end of April. These figures will strike fear into the hearts of Tory strategists with the party looking likely to face two damaging elections in the space of four weeks in May. Local council elections will take place this week with the Tories braced to lose up to a fifth of their councillors, while Nigel Farages newly minted Brexit Party look set to win the European Parliament elections on 23 May.  Daily Telegraph

The dramatic call to arms by two of Venezuelas most important opposition figures for the military to oust the regime of Nicolas Maduro started at dawn outside the Carlota military air base in Caracas. By mid-afternoon, the putsch appeared to have failed. One of the leaders, Leopoldo Lopez, took refuge in the Spanish embassy with his family. The other, Juan Guaido, was blocked by security forces from marching on the presidential palace. Nor were there concrete signs of defections by the armys top leadership. The unrest was the latest manifestation of a three-month bid for the presidency by Mr Guaido, who is backed by the US and more than 50 other countries. John Bolton, US national security adviser, told reporters that the USs primary objective was a peaceful transfer of power. But he added: All options remain on the table.  FT

Maduro claims victory  The Guardian

Call for fresh protests  Daily Mail

News in Brief:
Stanley Johnson is a former MEP and parliamentary candidate.

Pascal Lamys recent speech at to a packed meeting organized by the Henry Jackson Society in Committee Room 9 in the House of Commons, chaired by Suella Braverman, was both invigorating and illuminating.

If any man knows his oignons as far as the EU is concerned, that man is Lamy. When Jacques Delors became President of the European Commission in 1985, he brought Lamy with him to Brussels as his Chef de Cabinet. In that position, Lamy was one of the most influential personalities in the Delors Commission.

If the Common Market evolved, as it did during the 19080s, into the Single Market, it was because of the clear understanding that Lamy and his colleagues had that you could not have frictionless trade between the member states of the EU (then the EEC) without a degree of regulatory alignment in key sectors (transport, agriculture, industry etc).

The concept of harmonisation provided much scope for journalistic parody (one-size-fits-all condoms, straight bananas, lawn-mower noise etc) but the Delors Commission (supported by the Thatcher Government and by Britains Trade Commissioner, Lord Cockfield) was tough to the point of ruthlessness.

The mechanism which enabled the Single Market project to progress as rapidly as it did was the introduction of Qualified Majority Voting in the Council of Ministers. In that context, of course, the issue of sovereignty rapidly became more salient and, in some quarters, toxic. As Lamy wryly observed last night, the real Brexit negotiation seems to have been taking place not across the Channel but within the UK itself.

And those internal dilemmas still have to be resolved.

Lamy was quite clear about it. The UK politicians who seek to deliver Brexit face a choice. They can unplug or they can unscramble.

He admitted that unplugging  the clean break concept; would involve a degree of disruption. On the issue of the Irish border, for example, it was  as he saw it  inevitable that problems would arise, if two separate countries, in this case the UK and the Republic of Ireland, headed off on different regulatory trajectories.

The alternative to unplugging was unscrambling. The idea that the UK could negotiate a fully-fledged trade agreement with the EU within the time-frame of the so-called transition period was far-fetched. As a former Director-General of WTO, Lamy knows a thing or two about negotiating trade agreements. And he pointed out that a successful negotiation, however long it took, would most likely have to be succeeded by a possibly equally long implementation period. We are talking years, not months.

Lamy did not exclude the possibility that the Withdrawal Agreement, the necessary first step in the long unscrambling process, might be adopted in the next few weeks. Speaking from the floor, I put it to him that the chances of the agreement being approved by the House of Commons might be considerably improved if the EU took the Brady Amendment seriously on board and agreed to drop the Irish Backstop from the Withdrawal Agreement, remitting the Irish issue to the post-Brexit negotiation period where it properly belonged.

Lamy prudently avoided giving a direct answer to that question, referring instead to the EUs time-honoured practice of stopping the clock in order to allow time for a last minute compromise. We must wait and see.

Whenever it happened, there would be consequences. You cant get the egg back out of the omelette.

He also wisely refused to express an opinion as to whether a Second Referendum was a good idea. That is a matter for you he said firmly.
Six years ago, the TaxPayers Alliance reported that in the last year, five times more Labour people were appointed to public bodies than Tories.

Since then, the figures have varied, and some Conservative members or supporters have been selected to fill important posts.

Nonetheless, it remains the case that, since it took office in 2010, our Party has punched beneath its weight when it comes to public appointments. One of the reasons seems to be that Tories simply dont apply in the same number as Labour supporters.

To help remedy this, every week we put up links to some of the main public appointments vacancies, so that qualified Conservatives might be aware of the opportunities presented.

         

Financial Reporting Council  Chair/Deputy Chair

The mission of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is to promote transparency and integrity in business. These are cornerstones to generating public trust and confidence in UK business and help attract investment in successful companies that provide jobs, create prosperity and generate economic growth. The FRC sets the UK Corporate Governance & Stewardship Codes which aim to make investors more accountable to their clients and beneficiaries. The FRC also sets standards for accounting, auditing and actuarial work. As the UKs independent regulator and Competent Authority for Audit it monitors, and takes action where necessary, to promote the quality of corporate reporting and audit. It also operates independent enforcement arrangements for accountants and actuaries..

Time: 3 days per week.

Remuneration: 150,000 per annum

Closes: 03/05 May

         

British Council Board of Trustees  Chair

The Chair will be critical to delivering the British Councils purpose. The Chair must be credible with senior stakeholders and able to operate at the highest levels on a global stage, both within and outside government. The Chair must have a passion for the British Councils mission, and an enthusiasm for and understanding of the arts and education and the diversity of contemporary British life, culture and society. Candidates must demonstrate a strong record of achievement at the most senior level in large and complex organisations. They must have the international awareness necessary to operate confidently in less stable and more politically sensitive parts of the world.

Time: 40+ days per annum.

Remuneration: Reasonable expenses.

Closes: 03 May

         

Copywright Tribunal  Lay Members

We are seeking people to sit on the Copyright Tribunal as lay members. If you are appointed, you will sit alongside the legally qualified Chair of the Tribunal to provide your perspective and opinion on all matters on the case, with a focus on the commercial, financial, cultural and non-legal aspects of the dispute. While copyright licensing disputes are rare, the disputes that arise are often complex yet interesting and go to the heart of the value of copyright works in society. As such, the workload is varied and it is important to be aware that there may be no cases in any one year.

Time: 25 days per annum typically.

Remuneration: 450 per diem plus travel and subsistence.

Closes: 05 May

         

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)  Chair

The Chair of NICE will: lead the board in an open and positive way, representing the Institute to the health and social care communities, life sciences industry, and the public, and build on the Institutes international status; set the tone for excellent working relationships between the Institute and key stakeholders responsible for the successful operation of the health and social care system, and supporting innovation and the UK life sciences; ensure that the Board puts policies in place to secure the effective management and development of all its staff; that it is clear about the values it holds as an organisation and communicates them effectively to the Institutes staff and to its external partners

Time: 2.5-3 days per week.

Remuneration: 74,000 per annum.

Closes: 05 May

         

Historic England  Commissioners

Historic England is the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate Englands spectacular historic environment, from churches and battlefields to parks and high streets. We champion and protect the places that define who we are and where we have come from as a nation. We champion the historic environment, helping people discover the great places that add colour and character to our lives. We include everyones history because we know every community has made a contribution that is worth understanding and celebrating. We protect by identifying the most important parts of our heritage, by listing and conserving, and by speaking up for places that are at risk. We care by helping communities and professionals to look after their local heritage.

Time: 15-20 days per annum typically.

Remuneration: 4,133 per year plus reasonable expanses.

Closes: 15 May

         

Imperial War Museum  Business Trustee

IWM is seeking to increase the business and commercial skills on its Board of Trustees as the generation of commercial revenue forms a critical part of IWMs income and operating model. The commercial and learning activities of IWM, including retail, corporate hospitality and the IWM Duxford Air Shows are operated through the IWM Trading Company plc, a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in 1999. The business trustee will also be Chair of the IWM Trading Company Ltd. Candidates for this particular post will have significant experience in an area of business or commerce.

Time: Up to one day per month.

Remuneration: Expenses reasonably incurred.

Closes: 22 May

         

Ofgem  Non-Executive Director

GEMA is the Governing Body of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), a non-ministerial department and an independent National Regulatory Authority. GEMAs powers are provided by inter alia the Gas Act 1986, Electricity Act 1989 and the Utilities Act 2000. Following the recent appointments to the Ofgem board, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is seeking to recruit a further two Non-Executive board members (NED) with an accountancy and digital transformation background respectively.

Time: 16+ days per annum approx.

Remuneration: 20,000 per annum (part-time) plus expenses.

Closes: 26 May

         

The Royal Armouries  Chair

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is seeking to appoint an outstanding individual as the next chair of the Royal Armouries, to take the Museum forward as this new critical period in its history. The ideal candidate will have a passion for cultural heritage, a commitment to public service, strong commercial acumen and a successful track record in public service, heritage management, or business. This is a very exciting time for the Royal Armouries, having substantially increased its commercial operations, and now in the process of devising a masterplan to transform the museum brand and its offer at the main museum site in Leeds.

Time: ~4 working days per month.

Remuneration: Reasonable expenses.

Closes: 05 June

         

Air Quality Expert Group  Chair

AQEG plays a vital role in providing advice to officials and key office holders in Government and the Devolved Administrations (DAs) on the evidence base supporting air quality policies and operations. The independent advice from AQEG helps shape Defras evidence base to robustly support policy development and implementation. While AQEGs primary role is in the provision of scientific advice to assist Defras strategic vision, members and the Chair are also called upon to provide ad hoc advice on occasion. The role of the AQEG is particularly significant at present as Government begins to implement its Clean Air Strategy.

Time: 4-6 meetings per annum.

Remuneration: 226 per diem.

Closes: 10 June
Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster. His most recent book is What Next: How to Get the Best from Brexit.

Brace yourselves. We are in for what the Americans call a shellacking. Many blameless council candidates will lose tomorrow for no other reason than the blue on their rosettes. Some experts talk of 500 Conservative councillors mown down, others of 800, others of more. I am mildly more optimistic. If my canvassing in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire is anything to go by, there are still voters out there who care about the quality of local services. But Im not going to deny that, even in a relatively benign scenario, we are going to take one hell of a beating.

And then? I have a horrible vision of the Prime Minister responding to the defeat by making one of those statements at her lectern. I have listened. I have heard what people want. And what people are asking for, up and down the country, is for Parliament to pass my Withdrawal Agreement

Thats when the tailspin could begin. In local elections, you can still find people whose vote will be determined by their councils record on potholes or by the amount of tax it charges. But in European elections?

I made the case for voting Conservative in this column on this site two weeks ago. We need to finish the job. We need to leave the EU in an orderly, cordial and grown-up way. We need to ensure that Jeremy Corbyn does not trampoline from these elections to a general election victory. We need to ensure that Britain continues to thrive as it has done since the referendum, with a record number of people in work and the deficit back to pre-Gordon Brown levels.

But Im well aware, as I write these things, that many ConervativeHome readers are in no mood to hear them. Several times over the past two weeks, when out with local activists, I have had variants of the following conversation.

You standing again, Dan?

Yep. You voting for me?

Well, if it was you, I would, but I cant bring myself to endorse Theresa May.

But it is me. I mean, Im literally your candidate.

Yeah, but you take my point.

I do. If the Prime Minister were to announce her departure immediately after the local elections, Armaggedon would be averted. We wouldnt need to have a new party leader in place by 23 May: the fact of a leadership contest being underway would be enough.

I am sorry to be so blunt, but this is now all about timing. Everyone agrees that May must soon step down  including, at least in theory, May herself. The only differences are over timing. Some of the Prime Ministers supporters imagine her making a dignified farewell speech at the October party conference and then overseeing a leadership contest. Others  especially those backing her various putative successors  hope that she will, as it were, soak up the damage of the European election defeat and then allow an unsullied new leader to take over in June.

Sheesh, guys, there may well be nothing to take over by then. If our party slips into single figures in a national election, its position could become irrecoverable. Those MPs who are gaming the Mays departure date with the succession in mind are taking an unconscionable risk. Why assume that, after a meltdown on the scale that we face, there will be anything left to inherit? As for the idea that our volunteers might give the Prime Minister a warm send-off after watching the needless evisceration of a 200-year-old party, forget it. Already, the Association Chairmen have called an extraordinary meeting for the sole purpose of demanding that the leader stand down.

Like most Conservatives, I barely know May. But I have observed one thing over the 20 years that she has been an MP in my region. She sees herself as a product and champion of the voluntary party. She is visibly relaxed and happy when canvassing at local elections, and has, to her credit, carried on doing so since becoming Prime Minister.

Rather than suffer the indignity of becoming the only Conservative leader to be no-confidenced by party members, I hope she will see that she can salvage her reputation by leaving before the European elections. Staying on would be a tragedy for her, ensuring that her premiership ended in bitterness and recriminations. It would be a tragedy for the Conservative Party, which could very well cease to be viable as a party of government. And, because it would hand power to Corbyn, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell (who on Monday was delightedly promising a socialist revolution), it would be a tragedy for Britain.
Friends of Gavin Williamson offer his side of the story as follows. He did speak to Steven Swinford, the Daily Telegraph journalist who wrote the story about the Huawei debate in the National Security Council, last Tuesday. But, they say, Swinford phone him, and the discussion wasnt about Huawei  let alone the NSC discussion about allowing the company to help build Britains 5G network. The conversation had nothing to do with national security  I can tell you that, ConservativeHome is told.

The Williamson camp claim that Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary who undertook the leak enquiry, has had an unhappy relationship with the former Defence Secretary, and that Sedwill was out to get Gavin. They say that the two got off to a bad start when Williamson clashed with the Cabinet Secretary over the National Security Capability Review. The former wanted the defence element of the review dealt with separately  and eventually succeeded in doing so.

They go on to allege that Sedwill told a meeting of civil servants last Wednesday  the day of Swinfords Telegraph story  that Williamson was responsible for the leak, that this pre-empted and prejudiced any enquiry, and that Sedwill consequently showed at least one private text message to him from the former Defence Secretary to third parties.

Williamsons friends insist that the first he heard of the story was when listening to Today last Wednesday morning. That he assumed the Cabinet Office was itself responsible. That he told David Lidington, the Cabinet Office Minister, so at breakfast in the Commons that morning. And that he then told staff at the Ministry of Defence both that this was his view, and that he had spoken to Swinford the previous day  but not about the NSC proceedings.

The Prime Minister apparently offered him the choice of resignation or sacking this evening  and left her own room in Downing Street to let him decide. Williamson told her on return that he wasnt responsible for the leak, was refusing to resign and that he hoped shed remember in the future that shed fired an innocent man.

The nub of the matter is whether one believes Williamsons account; whether the enquiry has been properly conducted, and whether or not others who attended the NSC meeting in question  or still others who they may have spoken to  can be proven not to have been in touch with Swinford on the same day.

Common sense suggests that it will be impossible to prove that no-one other than Williamson did so, or that Swinford was not able to put his story together from a variety of sources. The former Defence Secretarys allies insist that nothing would please Gavin more than if the police were called in  because then wed be able to have a proper investigation. It is also being reported that the inquiry was instigated by Sedwill, not by May.

It should be added that Downing Street strongly denies that last claim, not to mention any suggestion of a vendetta, and draws attention to the Prime Ministers letter  which suggests that other Cabinet Minister engaged with the enquiry with a fullness that Williamson did not, and that the appropriate conclusion must be drawn.

8.00am update: The former Defence Secretarys on-the-record quotes from yesterday evening are vivid stuff: This was a witch hunt from the startin a kangaroo court with a summary executionI swear on my childrens lives that Im innocent[Ive been] completely screwedIve been hung for a crime I didnt do.
Roldan was issued a red card for making contact with Eduard Atuestas face after Roldan himself had been shoved by another player. Roldan protested on the field, delaying his exit, and he later called the incident an accident, telling reporters: I get pushed, I defend myself and push him back. I get pushed again by another guy, my hands go up in the air. Completely accidental.
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Wireless safety advocates have called for more studies on the effects of the exposure, and one group is trying to stop the rollout of 5G networks in Chicagos neighborhoods. Verizon and Sprint turned on their 5G networks in parts of Chicago earlier this year, putting the city among the first in the nation with access to 5G. AT&T plans to turn on parts of its Chicago network later this year, and T-Mobile is aiming for 2020.
Indianas Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning (OECOSL) is now accepting applications from families in 20 counties who may be eligible for grants for their children to receive high-quality, prekindergarten education through the On My Way Pre-K program for the 2019-20 school year. In addition to the five counties where On My Way Pre-K has been available since 2015 (Allen, Jackson, Lake, Marion and Vanderburgh) the program will be available for the 2019-20 school year in Bartholomew, DeKalb, Delaware, Elkhart, Floyd, Grant, Harrison, Howard, Kosciusko, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe and Vigo Counties. Families residing in these 20 counties must meet the following eligibility criteria to apply: the family must have an income below 127 percent of the federal poverty level; their child must be 4-years old by Aug. 1, 2019, and starting kindergarten in the 2020-21 school year; parents/guardians in the household must be working, going to school or attending job training. Complete information and applications are at www.onmywayprek.org.
From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He (John 13:19, NAS).

The spirit of Anti-Christ attempted to destroy Jesus at His first coming in Bethlehem, and that same spirit still mocks and lies to all who will listen about the certainty of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus listed certain signs in the 24th chapter of Matthew which would signal the end of the age and His soon return to set up His millennial kingdom on planet earth. The Old and New Testaments record the certainty of Jesus' return to claim His bride, make an end to sin, and fulfill His covenant promise with Israel. Only God knows the hour and the day, but the past hundred years have seen more Jews and Christians slaughtered than in all centuries since the flood. Satan knows his time is shortbut before this second coming of the Lord Jesus occursthe sun must be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and stars will fall from the sky as the powers of heaven are shaken.

What Is the Second Coming of Jesus?

When Jesus first ascended into the heavens in a cloud, the angel asked those watching, Why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven (Acts 1:2-11, NAS).

Revelation 19:11-16, John tells us what Jesus invited him to see and record. Including this great and terrible Day of the Lord. In 2020, believers watch the heavens and wait with great anticipation for our Lords second coming. But there are a number of events Jesus told us to look for before that Day arrives. A day when the heavens will open and King Jesus will lead a vast multitude to accompany His second appearance on earth. This time as the Righteous Judge and King of Kings.

Here are seven things to know about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ:

1. Jesus' Warnings and Promises of the Second Coming

Jesus Christ unveils His warnings, reprimands, and promises believers who overcomein those first century churches as well as today Revelation 1-3.

Overcomers will eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God.

Overcomers will not be hurt by the second death.

Overcomers will receive some hidden manna, a white stone with a new name.

Overcomers will have authority over the nations as Jesus rules with rod of iron and they will receive the morning star.

Overcomers will be clothed in white garments and their names will not be removed from the book of life and Jesus will confess their names before the Father and His angels.

Overcomers will become pillars in the temple of The Lord God and will have Gods name and the name of Gods city, and Jesus new name on them.

Overcomers will sit down with Jesus on His throne.

The angel instructed John to write the things which he saw, the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.

Blessed is he who reads , and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in in; for the time is near (Revelation 1:3, NAS).

2. What Comes First? - Apostasis

From Revelation 4 through 22, Jesus shows John, just like He said He would in John 13:19, what takes place after these things. Overcomers, believers, the church, are commanded to carry the gospel message until God says to His Son, Go get my children.

Let no one in any way deceive you by any means, for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3, NKJV).

Two events leap onto our radar screenthe falling away and the man of sin. Newer translations refer to this falling away as the Greek word Apostasia, defection from truth, revolt, apostasy. The next word describes the son of perdition . . . the Greek word Apoleia, ruin, loss, destruction, damnable. For centuries believers have hauled out their magnifying glass trying to predict who this man of lawlessness might be. But Gods Word says there will be no question of his identity when he appears. Those who search the Scriptures will know him by his actions.

Many churches have discarded portions of Gods Word they choose to ignore. At the writing of this article, some churches have discarded the Old Testament.

3. The Seven Seals as Judgments

If we attempt to form a prophetic timeline, the rule is to begin with events the Bible identifies. Revelation 6 takes John to the Throne of God, where Jesus is holding a book that is sealed. Jesus breaks the first of seven sealed judgments on the earth; and while we know the events are sequential, we dont know the time frame between these judgments. The first four are know as the Four Horsemen who are assigned different judgments and destructions to be carried out on portions of the earth.

This first horseman goes out to conquer. The second goes out to take peace from the earth. Is it possible these first two horsemen have already gone out? Some preachers think so. The third horseman goes out, holding a pair of scales in his handhyper-inflation? Perhaps collapse of leadership and famine leading to a world-wide financial and political catastrophe and a global government becomes reality? A covenant with Israel and the building of the Jewish Tribulation Temple? All events that signal the beginning of Daniels 70th week. Remember Scripture indicates there will be three-plus years of relative peace, while the Jews are allowed to begin their sacrificial system.

The final three seals usher in more catastrophic judgments and scenes, ending with events the Word says must happen before the Second Coming of Christ. Seal Six brings an earthquake, the sun becomes black, the moon becomes like blood, and the stars of the sky fall to earth. The sky splits apart like a scroll and men hide from the wrath of the Lamb . . . but all things have not yet been fulfilled. No, theres much more to learn.

4. Two Witnesses Proclaim the Gospel

And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so, if any wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way (Revelation 11:3,5, NAS).

While there is much speculation over who these witnesses are, Elijah is usually named as one of them. Think about this, we are the first generation where technology could allow this event to be seen, in real-time, worldwide in your living room . . . Revelation 11:9-10. No one is able to harm these two witnesses for three and one-half years as they preach the truth of the gospel. Can you imagine the circus the mainstream media will create?

Between the sixth and seventh trumpet this Anti-Christ will kill these two witnesses. They will lay dead in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days while the people celebrate their death. Then, God will speak Come up here. And they will go into heaven in the cloud. At that moment 7,000 people in Jerusalem will be killed by an earthquake. The rest were terrified and gave glory to God.

If youre creating a timeline, even during the destruction coming from the hand of God, He still extends His grace and forgiveness to those who will repent, turn, and follow Jesus. Meanwhile 10 kings are ruling the world. One of these ten, the little horn or Anti-Christ, gains greater power, and will eliminate three of these kings.

Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse (Malachi 4:5-6 NAS).

5. The Trumpet Judgments

When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to themanother angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne (Revelation 8:1-3 NAS)

What a confirming message to believers. Through the centuries, King David confirmed God saves our prayers and our tears . . . now we see why. As these trumpet judgments unfold, we see another necessary thing coming from heaven that must happen before the second coming of Jesus Christhail, fire, and smoke, mixed with blood will be cast from heaven to earth. The first trumpet fulfills this prophecy.

Each trumpet judgment increases in intensity. God sends three Woes on those earth dwellers to accompany the remaining trumpets.

The scene abruptly changes between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments as does the attitude of men and women who manage to survive. Revelation 13 tells of this leaderthis beast who is killed by a fatal head wound then healed. He goes into the Jewish Temple, proclaims he is god, breaks His covenant and makes war with Israel. God gives him authority to act for forty-two months. And Anti-Christs false prophet sets up a cashless society where you must take a mark on your hand or in your forehead to be able to buy or sell. This mark, called the mark of the beast is the number of his name 666. Those refusing the mark will be beheaded in this world, but those who take the mark of this beast will never inherit the Kingdom of God. They will spend eternity with Satan in the Lake of Fire.

6. God Doesn't Forget His People

In the 11th chapter of Romans, Paul exclaims God has not rejected His people, has He? Then answers his own question. May it never be. Not then. Not now. Nor ever. Perhaps some of the reader confusion over the Book of Revelation could be cleared up if believers today understood which prophecies refer to Israel and which refer to the church. Gods covenant with Israel is irrevocable. If God could break His covenant with Israelwhat would that mean for the church? God does not lie. Satans lie that the church has replaced Israel, called Replacement Theology, is heresy and so is trashing the Old Testament.

God will prepare a place in the wilderness for the remnant of the Jewish people and they will be cloistered in safety for three and one-half years where they will come to know Jesus is their Messiah and King.

Meanwhile God has prepared seven final bowls of His wrath to be poured upon this earth. And Chapter 16 of Revelation tells us about these last horrific judgments. With these bowls, the wrath of God is finished. But the Word tells us after each bowl is poured out, those still alive did not repent of their deeds. The last and final bowl, the greatest earthquake ever, splits Jerusalem into three parts, cities of the nations fell, huge hailstones about one hundred pounds each came down from heaven upon men, and they still blasphemed God.

For I do not want you brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles as come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins (Romans 11:25-27, NAS).

7. The King Is Coming

In the horror of this scene, islands and mountains have fled away. Satan and his two beasts have lured the armies of the world to three battle scenesone in Babylon where Satans armies, prompted by God, destroy Babylon. Then the devil of old and his armies invade Jerusalem and plunder the city and violate and kill the people. Tasting victory, he and his armies turn toward the wilderness, perhaps on the way to Petra where many believe that God is sheltering the remnant of His people. They get as far as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and in that moment

The heavens opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages warand the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of ironAnd on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16)

So, what are you and I supposed to do with all this information and these promises from God? This past week, my brothers life on earth ended. For years he walked in rebellion to God, too busy with his own agenda to bow before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. My heart is broken. Yet, I know many of you also have loved ones who, if they died tonight, would be separated from God forever.

Jesus gave you and me the instruction to share the truth of Gods mercy and grace, because of the blood and suffering He endured on Calvaryfor all who believe and trust in His birth, death, and resurrection. Think of that glorious scenethe heavens open and King Jesus appears followed by all who have believed and trusted in His name. Will you and your loved ones be part of that first resurrection? Over these, the second death has no power.

And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles (Revelation 14:20, NAS).

Wife, mother, and Mimi, freelance artist and photographer, DiAne Gates writes for children, young adults, and non-fiction for adults through her blogs, http://dianegates.wordpress.com/ and www.floridagirlturnedtexan.wordpress.com. She also facilitates a GriefShare support group. DiAnes award winning, ROPED, first in her western adventure series released July of 2015, and the second book, TWISTED, released by Pelican Book Group July 14, 2017. Third book in this series, UNTIED, is her WIP. You can find DiAne on Facebook.




Scenic has revealed that James Griffiths will be the captain on the new six-star 228-guest Scenic Eclipse went it delivered from Uljanik later this year.

"Working in polar areas requires a very special set of skills, both my second-in-command and I hold advanced polar water certification and have racked up hundreds of days in high polar latitudes in North and South. I have now spent nearly 20 years in the industry, worked on 12 different ships, commanded six of them and visited over 105 countries," said Griffiths, in a blog post on the Scenic website.

"The Scenic Eclipse is setting an entirely new standard in the cruise and expedition industry," Griffiths said. "We are the first cruise ship to house our own helicopters and submarine and will be the first expedition ship in service to comply with the latest Safe Return to Port regulations that necessitate two independent engine rooms, two independent bridges and multi-redundancy in provision areas, galleys and power distribution, as well as Polar Class 6, which puts the ships ice strength above 1A Super  the highest of the Swedish Ice Classes before you become an ice breaker."

With experience as captain on the masted sailing ship, the MSY Wind Star, the MV National Geographic Explorer, Griffiths said the Eclipse will excel in all areas.

"She will be just as at home moored alongside the most impressive super yachts in the world at Monaco as she will be breaking ice less than 900 kilometres from the true North Pole. I am very excited to take the Scenic Eclipse everywhere, she is the first cruise ship to truly combine go anywhere/see everything ability coupled with stunning super yacht looks and the most luxurious on board amenities, so I know she will bring an incredible wow factor wherever she sails."

Of note, Griffiths was most recently with Windstar, where we helped create and launch the line's Signature Expeditions product.

Griffiths joined Windstar in 2014 as captain of the Wind Spirit. Prior to that he worked for many years in the expedition industry operating expedition ships at senior management levels in some of the most remote areas of the word. Griffiths was named captain of the Star Legend during her 2015 season.

He was also Senior Master of the National Geographic Orion during her maiden Antarctic Peninsular Season. Griffiths spent 11 years working aboard Cunard Line ships being appointed Chief Officer at age 25 onboard the Queen Mary 2.

Griffiths was educated in the U.K. and holds multiple degrees and designations from the Warsash Maritime Academy in Southampton, Middlesex University and the Nautical Institute in London, and Lloyds Maritime Academy in Kent.
MSC Cruises and the Port of Helsinki inaugurated a newly built berth for mega cruise ships earlier this week with the senior leaders of MSC Cruises and the Port of Helsinki cutting the ribbon.

The new LHD pier at the Hernesaari Dock is able to accommodate vessels up to 360 metres in length.

While MSC Meraviglia isnt a newcomer in Helsinki, the ship had the honor to inaugurate this new berth, according to a statement.

Pia Pakarinen, deputy mayor of Helsinki, greeted the vessel with her guests welcome to Helsinki.

Michele Francioni, MSC Cruises Senior Vice President, and Ville Haapasaari, CEO of Port of Helsinki, together cut the ribbon and officially opened the berth.

Francioni said: We feel privileged to celebrate this milestone with our longstanding partner, the Port of Helsinki. Northern Europe is a key area of focus and our ships call regularly in the Port of Helsinki during the summer season. Moving forward we are committed to increasing our capacity in the region, deploying our most modern and environmentally sound tonnage. MSC Meraviglia is an environmental role model in cruising and the complementary services from a well-positioned berth, will greatly help in delivering a seamless guest experience when calling Helsinki.

Ville Haapasaari, CEO of Port of Helsinki commented: Port of Helsinki is very proud to receive MSC Meraviglia as the first vessel to call our newest berth. As she is one of the newest vessels in the area she also represents most modern technologies and is by far the largest vessel by number of passengers visiting us. We hope to see this good development and excellent cooperation ongoing in the future."
Officials from China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) have arrived in Croatia for meetings with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and executives at Uljanik shipyard to discuss the future of the yard.

Hu Wenming, chairman of CSIC, said that the Croatian prime minister had delivered a very detailed presentation of the situation, and that CSIC will seriously consider the yards, according to local press reports.

Potential suitors for Uljanik have ranged from Brodosplit and Fincantieri to Scenic, which is building the Scenic Eclipse and has now led to potential Chinese investors.

The Croatian government has not yet backed any restructuring plan for Uljanik due to financial burdens, as the yard has faced turmoil for the past year.

The Croatian financial agency, FINA, has demanded courts open bankruptcy proceedings against the yard, with a decision expected shortly. .

The Scenic Eclipse, which is under construction at Uljanik, is set for an August 2019 debut.
If your organization uses Windows Defender on Windows 10 1607 or later updates, there may be some settings youll want to enable that are not enabled by default. Microsoft provides advice on security settings in this regard. One setting you might want to enable is the Potentially Unwanted Application (PUA) feature. You can turn it on in multiple ways using multiple tools.

PUA looks for items that follow certain structures or conditions:

The file is being scanned from the browser

The file is in a folder with "downloads" in the path

The file is in a folder with "temp" in the path

The file is on the user's desktop

The file does not meet one of these conditions and is not under %programfiles%, %appdata% or %windows%

If these conditions are met, the file will be quarantined and not allowed to be installed.

You can enable PUA protection with Microsoft Intune, System Center Configuration Manager, Group Policy, PowerShell cmdlets or with registry keys. You can also use the PUA audit mode to detect PUA without blocking them. The detections will be captured in the Windows event log.

To set it using registry keys go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender\MpEngine\MpEnablePus.

Set the following values:

Enabled (recommended): 1

Audit Mode: 2

If the folder for MpEngine is not there, you will have to enable it. Then add a dword 32bit value for MpEnablePus and set the value to 1 (to enable it) or 2 (for Audit Mode).

Alternatively you can set it via group policy:

Open the Group Policy Management Console, right-click the Group Policy Object you want to configure and click Edit.

In the Group Policy Management Editor go to Computer configuration and select Administrative templates.

Expand the tree to Windows components > Windows Defender Antivirus.

Double-click Configure protection for potentially unwanted applications.

Select Enabled to enable PUA protection.

In Options, select Block to block potentially unwanted applications, or select Audit Mode to test how the setting will work in your environment. Click OK.

To set up the policy using Intune, review the settings in the dashboard. Browse to Device configuration profiles and create a profile for Windows 10. Look underneath Device restrictions under Windows Defender Antivirus. Again, you can choose to block or audit the setting.

Susan Bradley Setting the PUA value in Intune

Finally, you can use PowerShell to enable the protection. Use the following cmdlet:

Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection Enabled

or

Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection AudiMode

Susan Bradley Setting the PUA value in PowerShell

Setting the value for this cmdlet to Enabled turns on the feature if it has been disabled. Setting AuditMode will detect PUAs but not block them.

These settings are functional in Windows 10 Professional and you do not need Defender ATP or Enterprise licenses to enable this setting. Enabling this setting ensures that drive-by downloads wont trick users to install on your systems. Test first on a select group of systems to ensure that your line-of-business applications are not impacted by these settings.
Over the course of the past few weeks, a seemingly stepped-up wave of malware and ransomware infections has struck a number of municipalities across the U.S.

On April 10, the city of Greenville, North Carolina, had to disconnect most city-owned computers from the Internet due to what officials said was a RobinHood ransomware infection, a duplicitous piece of malware that pretends to raise awareness and funds for the people of Yemen.

On April 13, Imperial County, California was hit with Ryuk ransomware, which is designed to target enterprise environments, forcing its website to go dark and causing some city systems to malfunction, including a number of departments phone lines.

On the same day Imperial County was infected, the city of Stuart, Florida, was hit by Ryuk ransomware, forcing system shut-downs affecting payroll, utilities and other vital functions, including police and fire departments.

On April 18, an unspecified piece of malware, likely ransomware, crippled the citys computer network in Augusta, Maine.

On April 21, the municipally owned airport in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Hopkins International airport, was struck by still-unspecified malware, causing the airports flight and baggage information boards to go dark, an outage that lasted at least five days.

Despite what appears to be a recent spurt in municipal ransomware attacks, these infections are nothing new to the nations cities. The most high-profile municipal ransomware attack took place over a year ago in March 2018 when the city of Atlanta was crippled by SamSam ransomware. According to Wired magazine, the city of Atlanta ended up spending $2.6 million to respond to that attack, roughly 52 times the amount of the $50,000 or so in ransom demanded by the attackers.

Cyberattacks on municipalities harder to hide

Still, the recent spate of attacks raises the question: Are municipal ransomware infections on the rise? According to some municipal cybersecurity experts, cities have long grappling with malware and ransomware attacks at the same rate as private sector organizations, but are just now becoming more public about it.

Most of these cities have had issues just like businesses have for years, Gary Hayslip, former CISO for the City of San Diego, California, and now CISO for security firm Webroot, says. It's just more of them are being public about it because governments are requiring it now more.

Its increasingly difficult to hide city ransomware infections, particularly given that responding to them often requires funds from municipal coffers. Typically, you end up having to pull out your cyber insurance and youve got to get Mandiant or somebody that you have on call to come on over and help you clean up and then hopefully get your data back, says Hayslip. So, you're not going to keep that kind of stuff quiet.

Internet-delivered city services present more opportunities for attackers

Cities are getting deeper and deeper into IP-based activities to deliver services as efficiently as possible, giving attackers more opportunity to engage in malicious behavior. I would say there are a couple of big pressures that I think are relevant to most industries, but state and local governments are also exposed to it. First and foremost is the rapid expansion and availability of technology capabilities, says Chris Kennedy, former government cybersecurity veteran and currently CISO of cybersecurity firm AttackIQ.

Attackers are also getting more savvy. There's a constantly growing threat of exploitation either through investment from state-sponsored actors to the commoditization of very sophisticated attack techniques that are easy to use for inexperienced hackers. Ransomware isn't new. It's just how it's been packaged up and how it's being leveraged operationally by the hacker community.

Data stored in city systems an attractive target

Whether attacks on cities are increasing or merely just coming more to light now, its clear that theyre attractive targets for attackers. If you think long-range. state and local governments offer a wealth of information about citizen activity. You can imagine how cyber criminals would want to take advantage of that collection of information for identity theft and things like that, says Kennedy.

Most people don't realize cities have massive amounts of data. It's amazing the different types of data that they have. I mean it's just phenomenal. They have everything from permits to people paying their water bills to parking tickets to whatever. People are investing in bonds, says Hayslip, adding that cities also accept credit cards. U.S. cities are very, very similar to large multinational businesses.

Financial constraints put a squeeze on security

Unlike large multinational businesses, however, cities, particularly small cities or towns, face financial constraints that limit just how much they can spend on protecting themselves from breaches, malware infections and other kinds of attacks. It can be an overwhelming problem if you're not adequately staffed, Kennedy says. When you're resource-constrained a lot of the operating falls to contractors and how well you manage those contractors is often difficult.

On top of that, cities struggle to keep pace with technology refresh cycles, which are growing shorter each year. Today the typical refresh cycle is about 18 months and most cities aren't ready for it. A lot of the larger cities still have mainframes. Hayslip says. In a business you can do rip and replace. You can go ahead and say we're going to be down and we're going to stand up a parallel data center and we're going to flip over and rip out all this old stuff and then go on about our business. That's very hard to do when you have citizens that are riding on the services that you provide and dont like to have their services interrupted.

State and local governments need federal cybersecurity assistance

While municipal governments struggle with increased attacks, constrained resources and outdated equipment, there are few easy solutions to the unique problems they face. Hayslip thinks the federal government has a role to play in helping cities with funding shortages. These municipal governments and state governments are tied to massive amounts of federal networks. They're all interrelated and tied to each other, he says.

There should be a pool available to state and local governments to provide small governments funds to addresses at least the basics of cybersecurity, such as updated software, firewalls and other cyber hygiene-related needs. It would reduce the risk on the supply chain side among the municipal, state and federal networks, according to Hayslip.

Cities that are fortunate enough to have dedicated security staff, which Hayslip says begins when the municipality reaches 300 employees, can also benefit from participating in formal and informal information-sharing efforts. Among the formal options available to cities are the FBI, the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), which is focused on state, local, tribal and territorial government cybersecurity, as well as resources available from the Department of Homeland Security.

Local governments should share security data

When it comes to local governments, sharing information informally can be as helpful as the more formal efforts. When Hayslip was CISO of San Diego, he had a loose group of peers from other jurisdictions in the area and nine times out of ten when one of them was dealing with a sustained attack, the others were, too. Cybercriminals like to get the most bang for their buck so they'll attack a region where local governments are likely to be interconnected, he says.

On the whole cities appear to be dealing adequately with the ransomware and other malware infections that come their way. Some of them are really taking it seriously and they're building. Not just the city of San Diego but Los Angeles is doing very well. The city of Denver is doing very well. Even the city of Atlanta is a good example of a municipality that might now be ahead of the curve. I think they they've learned their lessons and they're putting it together, Hayslip says.
SEYMOUR  Local firefighters and veterans are joining forces to help a former Seymour fire lieutenants daughter who was shot three times at her naval base last month.

VFW Post 12084 Commander Al Yagovane said his members will hold a boot drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 11 at 147 Day St, outside of Retina Systems. Great Hill Hose Fire Co. will also be collecting from 9 a.m. noon the same day in front of the Dunkin Donuts in Tri-Town Plaza at 814 Derby Ave. It is also anticipated that Citizens Engine Co. will hold a boot drive from 9 a.m. to noon the same day at the corner of Wakeley and Bank streets.

The fundraiser is geared to help Jillian Cowell and her family with expenses, including lodging, gas, food and transportation.

Cowell, 20, was shot three times at point-blank range in the parking lot of her naval base in Virginia on April 5. The shooter, which news reports identified as a fellow sailor at the base, was shot and killed by base security.

Cowell, according to reports from her family and friends on a fundraising page, has since had several surgeries to help reconstruct her leg, and is expected to require more, while she continues a long journey of recovery.

Cowell, a 2017 graduate of Oxford High School, is the daughter of former Great Hill Hose Co. Lt. Chris Cowell Sr. The family rushed to be by Cowells side in the hospital in Virginia and have remained there since, according to Yagovane.

Cowells brother is in the Marine Corps and an active member of Great Hill Hose Co. when hes in town, Yagovane said.

Yagovane said he and the firefighters want to do their part back home to help the Cowell family during this difficult time, and encouraged the public to stop by the boot drive with open hearts.

We want to help the family with expenses for lodging, food, medical  whatever they need, Yagovane said. Here is a bright young girl, embarking on a lifelong dream to begin a career in the Navy and this horrible tragedy happens. I do hope she will be able to fulfill that dream.

Great Hill Hose Co. President Steve Culmo said the department doesnt hold boot drives very often and dont raise funds for the department itself, but when one of our own is in need of help, the volunteer firefighters jump into action.

Were trying to do what we can to relieve the (financial) pressure for the family, Culmo said.

Culmo said he spoke with Chris Cowell Sr. last week and got an update about his daughter.

She is very determined and she is very motivated, Culmo said.

Culmo said Cowell is expected to be transferred to a facility associated with the Wounded Warrior Project for rehabilitation.

Culmo said Chris Cowell told him the Navy is holding a spot for Cowell for light duty when shes able to return to work.

jean.sos@snet.net; @nhrvalley on Twitter
NEW MILFORD  An arson suspect, accused of causing $30,000 in damages to a local condo complex and putting residents and first responders in danger, turned herself in to police this week.

Monique Cook-Lino, 47, of Adee Avenue in Bronx, N.Y., was charged with first-degree arson and second-degree false statement and was arraigned in state Superior Court in Torrington on Tuesday.

New Milford police said Cook-Linos arrest stemmed from an incident on Feb. 14.

That day, New Milford police and fire department responded to a report of a fire at the Bel Air condominium complex. The blaze set off the fire alarm, leading residents to evacuate.

On scene it was determined that said fire was intentionally set, police said.

Police Chief Spencer Cerruto said the investigation led detectives to a suspect who lives in the Bronx.

Through witness statements, video surveillance and the investigatory efforts of New Milford Police Detectives, Connecticut State Police and Fire Marshals, a confession was later given by Monique Cook-Lino, police said.

The fire and smoke caused an estimated $30,000 in damages, police said. She was processed and released on a written promise to appear in court Tuesday.

According to the Republican-American, Cook-Lino set the fire to the condo complex her husband shares with his girlfriend by using her childs sippy cup filled with gasoline. The newspaper reported police allege that Cook-Lino poured the gas over a paper bag in a third-floor hallway, lit it on fire and left the area. It was unclear if the child was with her during the incident.

When she confessed to police, she said she thought about knocking on the door after lighting the match, but didnt want to get arrested, the newspaper reported based on court documents.

She said the spark that led her to light the fire was ongoing relationship struggles with her husbands live-in girlfriend, the newspaper reported.

This suspect put residents and first responders at great risk, Cerruto said. Thankfully, nobody was injured.
MILFORD  During the month of April, city police reported 271 distracted driving violations, the department announced on Wednesday.

Statewide, local and state police participated in the 2019 Distracted Driving High Visibility Enforcement Campaign during the month of April.

Milford police said of the 271 violations noted, there were about 200 infractions and several arrests as a result of the April campaign.

The campaign runs in partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from April 2 to April 30 annually, in honor of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

In the last decade, distracted driving has become one of the leading causes of vehicle crashes across the nation, police said.

People know texting and driving is dangerous and illegal, but many do it anyway, putting others at risk, said Joseph Giulietti, Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Transportation.

According to NHTSA, nearly 20,000 people died in crashing involving a distracted driver between 2012 and 2017. In 2017 alone, there were 3,166 people killed in distracted driving crashes.

Drivers ticketed for distracted driving are fined $150 for the first offense, $300 for the second and $500 for the third and any additional offenses after.

Visit www.distraction.gov for more information.
MOSCOW - Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Wednesday ahead of the North Korean leader's first talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a meeting designed by both sides to send Washington the message that there are other players when it comes to dealing with North Korea's nuclear program.

In the morning in Russia's Far East, Kim's armored train pulled up to the border town of Khasan, where he was greeted by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, before being given a traditional ceremonial welcome by a group of women offering him a round loaf of bread and salt.

"I've heard so many good things about your country and have long dreamed of visiting," said Kim, according to the press office of the Primorsky region.

His train later pulled into the Russian port city of Vladivostok, where he will meet Putin at 1 p.m. on Thursday - two months after his second summit with President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Kremlin has said no major agreements will be signed nor joint statements issued during Kim's meeting with Putin, which is expected to take place behind closed doors.

This has not stopped pomp and ceremony from surrounding Kim's inaugural visit to Russia. In Vladivostok, a military orchestra played when his train pulled into the station. Members of Kim's entourage ran to meet the incoming train, where men in white gloves sprung into action, polishing the windows and door of the leader's wagon. Kim exited, hoisted a black trilby hat and smiled, before stepping down onto a carefully placed red carpet.

"I hope this visit will allow me to concretely discuss the questions surrounding stabilizing the situation on the Korean Peninsula," Kim told Russian state television from the platform, before setting off in his motorcade of black limousines.

The North Korean leader is also expected to tour the headquarters of Russia's Pacific Fleet, visit the city's aquarium and sample Russian soups and caviar, as well as swing by a bread factory, state media reported.

Kim is eager to save face after the breakdown in talks with Trump on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

For Putin, the summit will offer him another chance to intervene in high-stakes nuclear talks and flex Russia's muscles on the global stage, where Moscow is increasing its diplomatic clout.

After the failed talks with Trump in February, North Korea took aim at the United States, demanding that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo be replaced in any negotiations with Pyongyang with someone more "mature."

On Wednesday, there were reports that Kim's top envoy, Kim Yong Chol, who had been instrumental in talks with the United States and in handling ties with Seoul, had been removed from his post, Reuters reported, citing South Korean media. No reason was given for his dismissal.

In the wake of the failed U.S. talks, Kim reached out to Moscow, sending tremors of worry through Washington. Russia has not ruled out changing its previous position and asking that economic sanctions on North Korea be lifted. "These top-level contacts give added impetus to the development of bilateral relations in various spheres, including military cooperation," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a security conference in Moscow on Wednesday.

"I hope Putin makes clear that Russia is ready to support a deal, but first you need a deal," said Alexander Vershbow, distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center on Strategy and Security in Washington.

Wary of a possible Russian turnaround, the State Department sent its envoy for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, to Moscow last week to push for the country's full denuclearization.

In response, Russian officials said they would expel North Korean laborers in December when their residence permits expire, potentially limiting a key source of cash revenue for the North, people familiar with the discussions said.

Like Beijing, Moscow does not want to create regime change in Pyongyang, which could potentially wreak havoc in the area, inviting more U.S. influence.

But there is also some illicit business, primarily transfers of Russian oil, and Cold War-era ties between Moscow and Pyongyang that the government in Russia may not be willing to relinquish. Last year, Russia secretly offered North Korea a nuclear power plant in exchange for dismantling its nuclear arsenal.

- - -

The Washington Post's Simon Denyer in Seoul and John Hudson in Washington contributed to this report.
A good place to see the hemp/CBD supply chain being built is Mile High Labs in Loveland, Colorado. Terpenes which no human, and probably no drug-sniffing dog, can distinguish from its intoxicating sister plant containing THC waft from bins of hemp that seem to be everywhere as super sacks each containing hundreds of pounds of the newly-legal hemp are trucked in.

Much like the characteristic smells that tell you a winery, brewery or bakery is thriving, the entirely legal reek of hemp is the smell of a processor riding the CBD wave. But for Stephen Mueller, founder and CTO of Mile High Labs, that happy odor is a byproduct of both the labs success and hemps improvised supply chain. The demand for CBD is huge and there is a lot of hemp available -- with much, much more being planted this year -- but too little capacity to process the CBD from all the available hemp.

Processing is the bottleneck of the industry, he said.

Muellers solution, backed by $35 million in Series A funding, is the Mile High Monster (not to be confused with the Denver Broncos mascot). The Monster, as it is affectionately called, is a modular standalone processor designed for transport and assembly on a partnering hemp farm. The farm provides a concrete pad, water and power, Mile High labs owns and operates the unit. The first two units are being assembled at farms in Colorado for the harvest later this year. Each unit can process the equivalent of 50 acres of harvested hemp per day into an estimated six barrels of crude hemp oil. The oil is taken to Mile High Labs where the CBD is isolated. A harvest that would have required a fleet of big rigs to transport in bulky sacks is reduced to far more compact, and valuable, oil. The farmers have an assured buyer with MHL and receive royalties for signing up other farms to send their harvest for processing through the Monster. MHL estimates the two Monsters combined will allow MHL to process ten times more hemp than before.

The farmers wont have to worry about transporting it from their farm to our facility, but the main thing is its a tighter partnership and they are confident they have a market for the crop, Mueller said, adding that each Monster can process the harvest of dozens of farms.

Related: Move Aside, CBD: New Data Finds THC Is the Real Medicine in Medical Marijuana

A three-year development process.

Like nearly everyone in the cannabis business, Mueller started elsewhere. He worked in semiconductor research before moving into electrical engineering, first with Agilent Technologies and then with Teledyne, where he managed the applications engineering group. When he explored the opportunities for CBD extraction he was startled by the haphazard, improvised supply chain for processing hemp into CBD -- inefficient batch processing with off-the-shelf equipment. Nothing, from the quality of the raw materials to the quality of the finished product was standardized or held accountable to any accepted third-party quality standards.

Mueller, well known in Colorado for advocating industry quality standards, set about reinventing CBD extraction and isolation. He and his team began by taking apart and reassembling existing equipment, then taking what they learned to develop new machinery. Three years of work resulted in the Mile High Monster, which both creates industrial scale processing capacity and, crucially, creates a process that is end-to-end GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certified, the standard required by the global food and wellness brands moving into the CBD market.

Big companies wont do business with you if youre not GMP certified, Mueller said.

Related: Hemp Oil vs. CBD Oil: What's the Difference?

The coming hemp glut.

According to Vote Hemp,78,000 acres of hemp was harvested in 2018, three times more than in 2017. Much more acreage is being planted for the 2019 crop (just to keep a sense of proportion, US farmers are expected to plant 92 million acres of corn in 2019). Shi Farms in Pueblo, Colorado, where one of the Monsters is being assembled, is a good example of that rapid growth and the obstacles farmers have had to overcome to achieve it.

After receiving its license to grow hemp, the team at Shi Farms planted hemp clones high in CBD in 40,000 square feet of greenhouses for the 2016 crop. Tending and harvesting that many plants requires a lot of work, but finding a reputable lab to process the harvest was perhaps the toughest problem of all, said Drew Ferguson, operations director for Shi Farms. The biggest challenge was finding a way to extract (the oil) from all this material we had, he said. Wed drop this biomass off at labs and never hear back, or it took a long time or the end product was not good enough.

Late in 2016 Ferguson and his partner, Steve Turetski, met Mueller at Mile High Labs, which proved lucky for the 2017 crop. Shi Farms planted 15 acres of hemp for the 2017 crop. When it was time to harvest, each plant was cut down by hand and hauled to a barn to be hung for drying, then shucked by hand to remove the leaves and flowers for packing into some of the super sacks crowding the warehouse at Mile High Labs, a three-hour drive from the farm.

John Deere doesnt make a hemp harvester, at least not yet, and certainly not for the higher CBD hemp, so our whole team was out there cutting each plant, one by one, said Ferguson.

The Shi Farms Cooperative has expanded rapidly since then. In 2018 the cooperative harvested 228 acres of hemp -- 100 acres from clones on the farm in Pueblo and most of the rest from cooperating farms in Colorado, plus the harvest from two acres of hemp grown in the Hudson Valley of New York under a pilot program. This year the acreage is expanding to roughly 1,200 acres -- 228 acres at the farm in Pueblo, another 450 acres on other Colorado farms, 480 acres on five farms in Oklahoma and up to 100 acres on farms in New York and New Mexico. The harvests will all be processed at the Monster being assembled on the Shi Farm in Pueblo.

Ferguson said the arrangement with Mile High Lab encouraged farmers in the cooperative to plant more because they know their harvest has a buyer with a GMP certified facility. Its let us grow because we know we have the extractor on the other side, he said. Ive met a ton of people gung ho to grow hemp but they want to know what to do with it afterwards. As Mile High grows and provides this extraction capability, the farmers will know they will have a customer.

Mueller sees the potential for placing Monsters far and wide but plans an unhurried expansion. The only real limiting factor is the global demand for CBD and we have not hit that yet, he said. We will put two of these (Monsters) out there and see what the response is. People are starting to grow hemp all over the world but we dont want to put 50 out there before we know the size of the market.

Related: Was That CBD Gum Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson Chewed During the Masters?

A future in hemp beyond CBD.

Though the market for CBD is booming, the price of CBD is dropping, which is hardly surprising considering the amount of hemp being planted. Ferguson, prior to Shi Farms, worked for Dixie Brands, an edible company, which he said was paying between $15,000 and $20,000 for a kilo of CBD when prices were at the peak. A kilo of high quality now sells for around $7,000, Ferguson said.

Thats still big money but the trend is clear, says both he and Mueller. Neither, however, is worried. Very high prices for CBD and the hemp it is derived from made it possible for processors to get started, even if they had to rely on improvised equipment, and gave farmers a sufficient profit margin to make the switch to hemp, even if they had to harvest it with 19th century methods. The hemp oil flowing from the Monster can be processed to distill any of the dozens of cannabinoids it contains.

The trend is toward lower prices, Mueller said. We might pay $30 a pound for hemp. A year ago it might have been $60. The prices will go down as people get more efficient but as that happens the market will develop for other hemp products. It (the Monster) can be used to extract all sorts of stuff. We are working with people on the CBG, a different molecule, but there all sorts of compounds in the plant for nutraceutical or pharmaceutical uses.

About 90 percent of each hemp plant, by weight, is leftover biomass after it is processed for oil, said Ferguson. The team at Shi Farms (shi doubles as an acronym for sustainable hemp initiative) currently works the remaining biomass into the farms dense clay soil but Ferguson believes it will eventually find ever more profitable secondary uses.

"Can we turn into pellets for stoves? Can we spread it back on the field? There is a lot of opportunity with this leftover biomass, he said. Im guessing well soon see companies collect this from farms to monetize somehow.

A tantalizing prospect for farmers is a hemp strain that yields flowers high in CBD (or whatever cannabinoid future consumers demand) and leftover fiber useful for bioplastics, paper, textiles or other products. Those ancillary products are the future of the hemp industry, Ferguson said.

Related:

Pulling the Cork Out of the Processing Bottleneck Slowing the Hemp/CBD Boom

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Its a dream as old as time: Get paid for doing exactly what you normally do with no extra effort whatsoever.

Geoff Cook, founder of Podcoin, aims to make that a reality with what he calls a loyalty points program for podcast listeners. The platform, which launched in January 2019, pays each user one podcoin for every 10 minutes spent listening -- or between $0.015 and $0.04, depending on your frequency of usage and which podcasts you listen to. Users can cash out via gift cards to outlets like Amazon and Starbucks or use their earnings to make charitable donations.

Over the past four months, Podcoins usage has grown 15 percent week-over-week, according to Cook, and reached one million listening minutes per day. Its backed by another company he launched, now called The Meet Group, which has exceeded $400 million in acquisition costs. As for how the app makes money? Podcoin is focusing first on building an audience, according to Cook, but he has a future plan for profit: Content creators will pay Podcoin to boost a podcasts value in terms of monetary gain for listeners; the more Podcoins users can earn listening to a certain podcast, the more listeners the podcast should amass.

Here are the four strategies Cook used to build the company -- and what he recommends for budding entrepreneurs pursuing their own business ideas.

Combine a deadly sin with a heavenly virtue.

In 2011, LinkedIn founder and startup investor Reid Hoffman told The Wall Street Journal that the most successful startups tend to correspond with one of the seven deadly sins. Facebook taps into ego, he said, while LinkedIn could represent greed. Cook adopted Hoffmans mindset but raised him one heavenly virtue -- opining that a quality business idea has both at its core. For Podcoin, he said, thats greed (accumulating money and gift cards through listens) and charity (listeners can donate what they earn to the cause of their choice). The company works with charity partners such as Alexs Lemonade Stand and Action Against Hunger.

Find a parade, and jump in front of it.

Identify emerging trends in business or the zeitgeist -- Cook calls them parades -- and tailor your business idea to one of them. One good place to start: Study todays most successful startups. Within a 10-day period, Glossier, Rent the Runway and Casper all topped $1 billion in valuation and joined the unicorn IPO club. Glossier and Casper both jumped into the direct-to-consumer market early on with promises of high-quality makeup and mattresses, respectively.

Add a novel twist by connecting two different parades.

Two parades are better than one. Exhibit A: Rent the Runways success exemplifies at least two trends -- minimalism (spread in part by organizational expert Marie Kondo) and the younger generations predisposition to rent instead of own. With Podcoin, Cook aims to connect podcast listening and gamification, plus incorporate social media into the fray.

Deploy typical mobile app concepts like bottomless bowl and streaks in pursuit of fundamental good.

Mobile apps often use strategies to boost user engagement, such as bottomless bowl content (a feed that refreshes ad infinitum) or streaks (consecutive days of app usage). As screen time tracking and mindfulness apps gain traction, these strategies have incited some controversy, but Cook said he believes theyre viable as long as they drive engagement for something thats a fundamental good -- for example, podcasting. Podcasts and longform content [are] an elixir for the distraction-based media we all consume, said Cook.

Related:

This Entrepreneur Built a Business That Pays You to Listen to Podcasts. Here Are His 4 Tips for a Successful Business Idea.

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Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
An argument over a parking spot ended with a woman allegedly pulling out a machete.

The incident happened Sunday in the parking lot of a Costco in British Columbia, Canada.

A woman said she was trying to pull into a space at the Vancouver Island warehouse store when she was cut off by another woman who took the space, CTV News reported.

The drivers exchanged words before one of them pulled out a machete and held it in a threatening manner, officials with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

The other driver told police she backed away and called authorities.

On Wednesday, police said the woman identified herself after news coverage.

Its not yet known if she will face charges.

A police official reminded people to not engage in or escalate road rage incidents.

"If you don't know who you're dealing with, you're not going to know what their reactions are going to be, so the best thing to do is just walk away and take the higher road,"Constable Nancy Saggar said, CBC reported.
In Greek mythology, Tantalus was cast out of Olympus and punished for stealing ambrosia and nectar from the table of the gods.

After his death, he had to stand for all eternity in a pool of water, just below the branches of a fruit tree. If he reached for the fruit, the branches moved up and out of reach. If he tried to take a drink, the waters receded.

Call me dramatic, but to-dos lists make me feel like Tantalus. Just as you reach the final item, a new task pops up that extends the list for days, or even weeks. Its infuriating. Yet, from grade school on, most of us are advised to battle overwhelm by making a list and crossing off one item at a time.

To-do lists taught us that time management means prioritizing whats on our schedule. However, as Stephen Covey explains in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the real key is to schedule our priorities.

Related: Optimize Your Daily Schedule for Maximum Productivity -- Here's How

Why we struggle to schedule.

It seems logical to think that priorities will take care of themselves. After all, if something is important, we should get it done before tackling lesser tasks. But research shows that only 17 percent of the population can accurately estimate how much time an activity will require. The rest of us unknowingly engage in the planning fallacy, or positive bias, which means we vastly underestimate how long we need to do just about anything, from finishing a presentation to driving to a meeting.

Even Elon Musk -- arguably todays most prolific entrepreneur -- struggles with positive bias. Across several of his companies, Musk has repeatedly set ambitious release dates. Time and time again, he has missed these deadlines. I think I do have, like, an issue with time, he told The Washington Post in June 2018. Im a naturally optimistic person. I wouldnt have cars or rockets if I wasnt. Im trying to recalibrate as much as possible.

Even Musks brother, Kimbal Musk, used to lie to his older brother about the time so he wouldnt miss the school bus. Decades later, one shareholder described the billionaires confident timelines for deliveries, rollouts and benchmarks as Elon Time.

Related: I Ran My Day Like Elon Musk Runs His -- and This Is What Happened

Keep the strategies, lose the lists.

At JotForm, the company I launched 13 years ago, we almost never assign project deadlines. A technology startup that doesnt set aggressive timelines is somewhat of an anomaly, but we value good work over meeting arbitrary targets.

Eliminating time pressure gives our teams the freedom and flexibility they need to try new ideas, follow creative rabbit trails and find solutions that work. As former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said, What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.

Lists and deadlines can also be potent procrastination tools. Research shows that we get a high every time we check that finished box. As Ralph Ryback explains in Psychology Today, The satisfaction of ticking off small task is linked with a flood of dopamine. Each time your brain gets a whiff of this rewarding neurotransmitter, it will want you to repeat the associated behavior.

Craving another feel-good moment, our brains often push us to complete a low-level task instead of something that really matters  just to get more dopamine. Yet, the projects we avoid are often the true game-changers. Reaching out to investors, finishing a presentation, or strategic planning and creative development work can take your business to the next level. Finishing a vendor survey, for example, is far less likely to move the needle.

Meaningful activities are also more likely to help us achieve a flow state; that satisfying experience of losing yourself in a project or task. Experiencing flow in your day-to-day work (even when no two days look alike) is an important part of creativity and wellbeing. Surrendering to the moment can boost your innovation, happiness, and engagement.

While the to-do list may be overrated, not all time management techniques should hit the trash. In my experience, achieving big goals happens in two steps: determining your top priorities and then harnessing your natural rhythms to work more effectively.

Related: Use the 'Eisenhower Box' to Stop Wasting Time and Be More Productive

1. Hunt down the days big task.

Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.  Pablo Picasso

Im going to pick on the lowly to-do list once more, simply because its a ubiquitous organization tool. Theres nothing wrong with making lists per se, but most to-do lists include a diverse jumble of tasks. For example: empty inbox, order product development book, strategize Q2 marketing plan, confirm lunch with Linda, choose tax software.

Developing a creative marketing plan is far and away the most important activity on that list. All the other tasks have their place, but they wont push your business forward. As Covey would say, theyre the gravel, not the big rocks.

Long hours spent checking off a to-do list and ending the day with a full trash can and a clean desk are not virtuous and have nothing to do with success, writes Gary Keller in his book, The One Thing. Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list -- a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.

Rather than lumping tasks together, I recommend the hunter strategy.

Why do I use that name? Well, long before we had overflowing fridges, humans hunted and gathered. If the hunter (or gatherer) didnt acquire enough food, the tribe suffered. There wasnt as much to go around. Failing to hunt could mean failing to eat -- and our ancestors werent distracted by meetings, texts, and Slack notifications, either.

The hunting and gathering mindset can be powerful in todays world, too. If you want to give it a try, buy a stack of Post-It notes and put them on your desk. When its time to work, pull out a note and write down one, high-impact goal you want to achieve that day.

Stick it in a prominent place and get to work. If distractions or other dopamine sources call your name, look at your note and tune them out. After a few weeks, ask yourself whether youre feeling more fulfilled. Are you seeing results? Are you making more progress? If so, keep hunting.

Related: Hunters or Gatherers? How to Build a Welcoming Work Environment for Millennial Hires

2. Harness your personal peak hours.

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.  Oprah Winfrey

As were choosing that one high-impact task or project, its often the thing we least want to do. There are many reasons why we avoid these top priorities, from nagging fear to feeling ill-prepared, to a serious case of impostor syndrome. To run a thriving business, however, we have to swim in the deep end. Starting is often the toughest part, so when you dive in can make a big difference in your results.

When we engage with key projects during our peak hours, we typically experience less burnout. We may also have more energy and drive, and were usually willing to finish what we start. Research even suggests that the timing of a project can account for up to 20 percent of cognitive performance variations. For example, if youre naturally an early riser, youll probably work smarter and faster on a creative project at 8 am than at 3 pm. And while 20 percent might not sound like a lot, it can make a huge difference over the course of a month or even a year.

Author Daniel Pink also suggests that 75 percent of people experience the workday in three stages: a peak, a trough, and a recovery period. The other quarter experience these energetic periods in reverse: recovery, trough, then peak. I used to believe that timing was everything, Pink writes in his book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Now I believe that everything is timing.

Understanding your own peak hours begins with some personal tracking. Make a spreadsheet or start a journal to record your energy levels throughout the day. Note how your focus, creativity, and interest change at different times, then look for patterns across a full week.

Once youve defined your own peak times, protect them at all costs. Use these precious hours to face your essential tasks head-on. Soon, youll begin to reach even the most elusive fruit, hanging from the highest branches.

Related:

Plutio Helps Increase Productivity and Grow Your Business

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Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
With Congress back in Washington, D.C. after a two-week recess, CUNA is engaged with several hearings, including ones addressing financial regulator supervision, robocalls, diversity and inclusion, payday lending and data privacy, among others.

This week the House will also consider two resolutions of note to credit unions, one (H. Res. 327) would encourage greater public-private sector collaboration to promote financial literacy for students and young adults, and the second (H. Res. 328) would support protection of elders through financial literacy.

Hearings CUNA is engaged with this week include:
Carolina Memorial Sanctuary is one of only nine conservation burial grounds in the U.S., meaning its natural state is guaranteed because of a special easement. Guidelines forbid the use of heavy machinery, so graves are dug by hand. There can be no paved roads, fallen trees cannot be removed, markers must be natural stone and caskets or shrouds must be biodegradable. Only native plants and trees can serve as memorials.
Credit unions and banks spend a great deal of time focusing on the consumer experience, as they should. That experience is a key point of differentiation for you, but so is the employee experience.

According to McLean & Company, a disengaged employee costs your financial institution $3,400 for every $10,000 in salary. The way you treat your employees directly impacts the way they treat your members or customersand therefore directly impacts your bottom line.

If you dont mirror the wow factors internally that you deliver externally, your employees  also known as your brand ambassadors  dont exude the brand loyalty consumers need to experience.

I ran across a video on Facebook recently which demonstrates how the employee experience contributes to the strength of an internal culture. Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres surprised one of her employees  Jeannie  on her tenth anniversary as a cast member of Ellens show. Ellen played a highlights video of Jeannies decade of tenure, then she interviewed Jeannie in front of the audience. Holding back tears, Jeannie said something heartfelt that every business leader needs to hear:
Our own Bruce Siwy and Eric Kieta talk about their true-crime cases in Return To View: The Roundtable
Hillcrest as it is and Hillcrest as the Masons imagine it to be  particularly for students of color  arent the same thing. Nowhere is this made clearer than through Bill (Stephen Walker) and Sherris dealings with their son, Charlie (Kyle Curry). Charlie has dreamed of attending Yale ever since his first viewing of Mystic Pizza as a kid.
No one should be surprised that the James R. Thompson Center made this list for a third straight year, especially because pressure on the building is ratcheting up. Gov. J.B. Pritzker just cleared the way for Illinois to sell the Helmut Jahn-designed state office building in downtown Chicago.
In a telephone interview, she said her government-issued identification bears the male name given to her at birth, and she often feels unsafe when presenting it at public places like nightclubs because it singles her out as transgender. She also has faced discrimination on numerous occasions after it was discovered she was transgender, including once when a public transportation employee allegedly denied her disability transit benefits, according to the lawsuit.
The pilot zone includes two priority areas, where at least 25 percent of scooters must be placed every morning. The northern priority area is bounded by Chicago Avenue to the south, Irving Park to the north, Pulaski Road to the east and the city boundary to the west; the southern area will have Chicago Avenue to the north, Kedzie Avenue to the east, the Chicago River to the south and the city boundary to the west.
One lunchtime at a college in south London, 16-year-old Daniel saw a friend being harrassed by a group of older students. He went over to help, got caught up in the fray and was stabbed in the thigh near his femoral artery.

At risk of bleeding to death, he was taken to hospital where doctors managed to save his life.

Although Daniel was, in many respects, a normal teenager from a middle-class home, he had fallen in with an unsavoury crowd. He was lucky to physically recover from his life-threatening injuries. But what of the psychological scars?

Demand for the Anna Freud Centre has grown. Partly due to greater recognition of mental health problems in young people  not least because of the inspirational Heads Together campaign

Daniel suffered from vivid flashbacks, reliving the stabbing over and over. He even stopped washing his hands because the sensation of water reminded him of the blood pouring from his thigh. Whatever he did, he couldnt escape the horror of what had happened to him.

But Daniel was lucky because he had parents who looked for help and he was referred to David Trickey, a specialist in trauma at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families in London.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder caused by being exposed to violent or distressing events and can affect anyone.

Often people can process such events themselves but if they cant, and the symptoms persist after six months, their problems are unlikely to go away without therapeutic help.

PTSD makes people feel wired, sensitive to the slightest threat. In children, this can have an impact on behaviour and performance at school. Their heart beats faster. They have difficulty sleeping. Concentration goes. Their tempers get frayed  so trouble is never far away.

In Daniels case, his flashbacks meant that he saw threat all around. For him, picking up a knife to defend himself against another attack seemed the only solution. With therapy, though, he learned how to give his fear an outlet without escalating to violence.

Now, the Anna Freud Centre is expanding its work in child and family mental health with a new building. Demand for the centres services has grown, partly due to greater recognition of mental health problems in young people  not least because of the inspirational Heads Together campaign, spearheaded by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Its an amazing charity and one I am proud to work with, as Im passionate about childrens mental health and parental well-being.

Its work also provides other schools in the UK with the tools they need to understand the best ways to promote mental health and help those who need it. Pictured, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Kate Silverton

I studied child psychology at university and now, with two young children, I am about to start training as a childrens counsellor so I can help troubled young people like Daniel.

The Anna Freud Centres aim is to bring together world-class expertise in research, policy and practice.

And at the heart of the new campus is the Pears Family School, for children aged five to 13 who have been excluded from other educational establishments.

The school, which has been running as a pilot on a temporary site, already has a remarkable success rate. Within four terms, almost two-thirds of children return to their former school and 95 per cent of them have stayed there.

One of the keys to its success is that families are invited to join their children in classes.

The idea is to deal with the problem the child is facing both in the school and at home. Parents and carers are seen as part of the solution  so that, when a child returns to mainstream school, the support can be maintained.

All children need adults around them to guide and help them in times of trouble. To help children, we also need to help parents.

I dont know any parent who hasnt struggled at some stage and, when youre struggling, you feel youre failing, that people think youre a bad parent  so you hide away, too worried or ashamed to ask for help.

Part of the Anna Freud Centres purpose is to encourage people to ask for help when they need it.

I have had the privilege of meeting many parents and children who have benefited from the expertise and guidance offered through the centre.

Its work also provides other schools in the UK with the tools they need to understand the best ways to promote mental health and help those who need it.

It has benefited more than one million children.

Thankfully, most youngsters dont have to go through what Daniel went through. Most are happy and well and thriving. Thats the good news.

But to those who are struggling, we need to give them help so their problems dont stack up and spill out  so that all children can make the most of their lives. I know thats what I want for mine.
When Downing Street announced Gavin Williamsons dismissal last night, the loudest cheer came from the military top brass who never thought he was up to the job and had come to despise him.

Within days of leap-frogging far more experienced colleagues to become the youngest Defence Secretary at the age of 41 in 2017, they had dubbed him Private Pike after the dithering drip in the comedy classic Dads Army.

Yesterday few Tory MPs were shocked to learn that Williamson, whose ambition always exceeded his ability, was being blamed by Downing Street for the National Security Council leak over Theresa Mays plan to let Chinese firm Huawei help build the UKs 5G network.

Mr Williamson took part in ice breaking drills in Bardufoss, Norway, in February. It came as he announced that British forces were to step up Arctic deployment to protect NATO's northern flank from Russia

Yesterday, Mr Williamson was blamed by Downing Street for the National Security Council leak over Theresa Mays plan to let Chinese firm Huawei help build the UKs 5G network

Mr Williamson took up the post of Defence Secretary in November 2017 having served as the MP for South Staffordshire since the 2010 election (pictured in 2016)

We stopped taking bets on Williamson days ago, one senior Tory MP told me last night. He has been the embodiment of indiscretion at the MoD. Yet once upon a time, Williamsons principal job was as a keeper of secrets.

As a reward for running Mrs Mays successful 2016 leadership campaign, she made him Chief Whip  where he was charged with gathering information about MPs indiscretions and misdemeanours, not only to try to pre-empt potential scandals, but also to use them to persuade MPs to fall into line on tricky votes.

He flourished in his role as the partys enforcer of discipline. Whips need feline cunning and steeliness  both of which Williamson demonstrated when he extinguished a rebellion against the PM after she lost her voice in a disastrous 2017 party conference speech.

Living up to his nickname of baby-faced assassin, he immediately ousted the ringleader  former Tory chairman Grant Shapps  in the media. Tory MPs loyal to May then queued up to denounce Shapps publicly. The attempted coup fizzled out and Shapps was humiliated. I dont very much believe in the stick, softly-spoken Williamson has joked of his whipping style, but its amazing what can be achieved with a sharpened carrot.

Famously, Williamson kept a pet Mexican tarantula (pictured), called Cronus, in a glass box on his desk

Williamson walks from Parliament after attending Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday

Famously, he kept a pet Mexican tarantula, called Cronus, in a glass box on his desk. Cronus was the Greek god who came to power by castrating his father before eating his own children to ensure they wouldnt oust him  a tale which many of his colleagues believed was symbolic of Williamsons vaulting ambition.Such suspicions were confirmed for many in November 2017, when Williamson encouraged the PM to force Sir Michael Fallon to quit as Defence Secretary in November 2017 after he was accused of making sexually lewd comments.

No one, however, foresaw that Williamson would position himself as Fallons replacement. He was the unlikeliest of candidates, having neither held ministerial office nor ever spoken from the dispatch box in the Commons chamber.

Shamelessly ambitious, however, Williamson spared no blushes in his attempt to raise his profile at the Ministry of Defence. He spoke passionately of the importance of our armed forces, seemed to enjoy donning combat fatigues at every opportunity, and campaigned hard for the MoD to get more cash. And to his credit, he worked extraordinarily long hours.

But his tenure was tainted from the start by a series of leaks that caused consternation among senior military and intelligence figures for whom discretion is everything and who had huge respect for Williamsons predecessor.

Last June, newspapers were briefed that at a private meeting with Mrs May, Williamson had been told to justify whether Britain should remain a top-tier military power alongside the US, Russia, China and France. Downing Street officials are convinced that Williamson was behind the reports.

Gavin Williamson is seen in his first public appearance since being appointed as defence secretary in November, 2017. He is conducting the band of the Grenadier Guards at Waterloo Station in London

Williamson (pictured) earned a less-than-desirable reputation during his time in the role, regularly inviting the Captain Mainwaring response of 'Stupid Boy!'

It wasnt the first time that political and military officials suspected Williamson of displaying a sieve-like approach to classified conversations. Last January, there was disbelief when Williamson brazenly alleged that Russia was ready to kill thousands and thousands and thousands of British citizens in a cyber-attack. Security chiefs furiously accused Williamson of using secrets provided by US spies  which he denied.

More cynical observers pointed out that his incendiary warnings conveniently surfaced on the day that Williamson, a married father of two, admitted to a flirtatious relationship with a former colleague in 2004. It took place while he was working for a fireplace manufacturing firm in Yorkshire before he became an MP in 2010.

It became flirtatious and a couple of times we shared a kiss, but it never went further, Williamson said then. My family means everything to me and I almost threw it away. This incident nearly destroyed two marriages.

Gavin Alexander Williamson, 42, was brought up in Scarborough by his Labour-supporting parents, Ray, a local government worker, and Beverley, who worked in a call centre. He attended a comprehensive followed by Bradford University where he read social sciences. His wife, Joanne, was a primary school teacher and the couple have two daughters.

After running a pottery and design firm, and becoming a Tory county councillor in 2001, he won the safe seat of South Staffordshire in 2010. For three years he was David Camerons parliamentary private secretary, although he had little in common with the metropolitan crew who surrounded the Old Etonian PM. After Camerons resignation, Williamson vowed allegiance to May.

As Chief Whip he was sent to Ulster by No10 after the botched 2017 general election, to secure the coalition deal with the ten Democratic Unionist Party MPs whose support props up the Tories.

His reward was the MoD and a seat at the Cabinet. If military chiefs had early suspicions that he lacked statesman-like credentials, Williamsons infantile comments after the Novichok poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury confirmed them.

In remarks that would make Winston Churchill, himself a two-time Defence Secretary, turn in his grave, Williamson told Russia to go away and shut up.

But by last summer, following his puerile warning that he would bring down the Government unless he secured more cash for the military, Williamsons star had started to fade.

He was a marked man after those remarks, said a source.

In the Autumn, his own Department started to brief against him after civil servants claimed he had devised schemes to ease an equipment crisis by putting really expensive guns on tractors. Williamson denied he had proposed the plans, which were branded madcap by MoD sources.

That they were even being discussed, however, suggests that the top brass were right from the start  Gavin Williamson was never the professional he so fervently believed himself to be.
Nearly 60 years ago, John Profumos resignation as War Secretary was the final death knell not only for Tory Prime Minister Harold Macmillan but for 13 years of Conservative government.

To me, the sacking of Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson for allegedly leaking secret Cabinet discussions has a similar whiff of death about it.

We have a Prime Minister who has lost her way, a Cabinet that cant keep secrets and widespread paralysis in Whitehall and Westminster.

The sacking of Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson for allegedly leaking secret Cabinet discussions has a similar whiff of death about it to John Profumo's resignation

And the timing couldnt be worse. The Conservatives were facing a massacre in todays local government elections even before this latest fiasco.

Despite an Opposition comprising Jeremy Corbyn and his Marxist coterie, some of whom face grave charges of anti-Semitism, the Tories are ten points behind Labour in the polls.

This morning, voters will look at the Williamson shambles in horror. Crucially, the best Tory line of attack on Labour has long been national security. How could former Soviet and IRA sympathiser Corbyn ever be trusted with defence?

Now this. We are talking about the worst security leak by a Cabinet minister since the end of the Cold War.

We have a Prime Minister who has lost her way, a Cabinet that cant keep secrets and widespread paralysis in Whitehall and Westminster

Profumo had to go because he shared a lover with a Soviet military attache, then lied about her to the Commons. But he was never responsible  as Theresa May believes Williamson was  for leaking secret discussions.

And this wasnt a mere Cabinet leak, of which there have been far too many during the May premiership. It was a leak from the National Security Council, the body set up in 2010 to allow intelligence chiefs to brief Cabinet ministers on national security, nuclear deterrence and strategic defence in total confidence.

Until last week, there had never been a leak from it. The confidentiality demanded was observed and respected by every member of the Council.

But details of the discussion on contracts for Britains 5G network and a claim that Mrs May had given the green light to the involvement of Chinese tech giant Huawei  against the advice of five senior ministers and our U.S. allies  were leaked to the Daily Telegraph. It set in motion the mother of all leak inquiries.

In all fairness, the wretched Gavin Williamson, whose political career is now surely over, denies on his childrens life being the source of the leak.

But Mrs May  who will have been advised by Whitehall security chiefs  appears to think otherwise.

In the devastating letter in which she sacked her Defence Secretary, she refers to compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure.

Of course, it should be soberly noted that Williamson had a strong disincentive to own up to being the leaker, as disclosing sensitive conversations from the National Security Council is an offence under the Official Secrets Act. Had he owned up, it would have been tantamount to admitting an offence punishable by jail.

How could former Soviet and IRA sympathiser Corbyn ever be trusted with defence?

That is why I believe there must be a criminal inquiry, followed by a court case. As I argued here on Saturday, there is no more serious offence than leaking secrets. If Williamson were found guilty, he should face a long stretch inside.

But criminal proceedings would also give him an opportunity to clear his name if his protestations proved true and he was not the source.

In the past, civil servants caught passing secret information to newspapers and others have been obliged to face the full weight of the law.

In 1984, for example, Foreign Office clerk Sarah Tisdall was prosecuted and jailed under the Official Secrets Act for leaking information to The Guardian newspaper about the arrival of U.S. cruise missiles on British soil.

Later that year, Ministry of Defence civil servant Clive Ponting passed details to the Labour MP Tam Dalyell about the sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, in which 323 sailors died, during the Falklands War.

Nearly 60 years ago, John Profumos resignation as War Secretary was the final death knell not only for Tory Prime Minister Harold Macmillan but for 13 years of Conservative government

Ponting was charged under the Official Secrets Act but acquitted by a jury and subsequently resigned.

It would smack of gross double standards if a Cabinet minister were allowed to escape a similar fate.

Indeed, for a Cabinet minister to divulge secrets is especially serious. He or she not only runs the risk of handing over vital information to an enemy, but makes orderly government impossible.

Our nations safety depends on our top spies and military leaders being able to share secret information, which they cannot do if there is a risk that any of those party to the discussions or documents will tip off contacts or the media.

It is especially ironic that last weeks grotesque breach of security took place under Theresa May, who made her reputation as a tough Home Secretary who cultivated close links to the security services.

But the PM cannot escape her share of responsibility for this debacle. It was her choice to make Williamson her Secretary of State for Defence, even though it was clear from the start that he was hopelessly unsuited to the job.

Just months into his new post, he gave advance notice that he had ordered a Royal Navy frigate to sail through the South China Sea. Such a unwise and provocative disclosure put our Forces at risk of a response from China in a highly sensitive part of the globe.

At times, Williamson has conducted himself like a buffoon, particularly with his juvenile call for Russia to go away and shut up in response to the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury last year.

Previously, he had taken it upon himself to suddenly announce that Russia could kill countless thousands of Britons in a cyber attack  a remark that appalled security chiefs because it blatantly breached confidence.

I warned last June that Mr Williamsons disloyalty, his incompetence and indiscretion means that dispensing with him has become a matter of national security.

At times, Williamson has conducted himself like a buffoon, particularly with his juvenile call for Russia to go away and shut up in response to the Novichok poisoning in Salisbury last year

I urged Mrs May to sack Williamson then. She would have saved a great deal of trouble  as well as sending a strong message to the rest of her treacherous Cabinet  had she done so.

Now she has done the right thing, following the advice of her admirable Cabinet Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill.

There was a great deal of foolish criticism of Sir Mark floating about Westminster last night.

Some accused him of waging a personal vendetta against Williamson. Others said he had undermined the PM by setting up the inquiry without consulting her.

That is utter rubbish. Sir Mark, the most powerful civil servant in Whitehall, who doubles his role as Cabinet Secretary with that of National Security Adviser, understands the importance of keeping secrets. So, for all her faults, does Mrs May.

Unfortunately, too many ministers do not. They try to boost their political careers by sharing confidences. Such behaviour is contemptible.

Mrs Mays Government has inevitably been weakened by the Williamson scandal. But our public life is stronger.

The PM and Sir Mark Sedwill have sent the message around Westminster, loud and clear, that discretion is a non-negotiable political virtue, especially in these febrile times.

Several other ministers, if they have any sense, should be taking careful note.
A councilwoman was shamed by her constituents for wearing leggings on a city hall tour  but she has since responded to the haters by standing up for her outfit choice.

Emily LaDouceur, a councilwoman from Berea, Kentucky, wore a pair of black leggings earlier this month when giving elementary school students a tour of the town's city hall.

Seemingly-innocent photos from the tour were shared on City of Berea, KY Government Facebook page, however they quickly faced a barrage of criticism from people who thought LaDouceur's outfit was inappropriate.

Facing critics: Emily LaDouceur, a councilwoman from Berea, Kentucky, was criticized for her outfit choice when giving a tour to elementary students

Inappropriate? Pictures were shared on the city's Facebook page and sparked outrage by critics who thought the leggings were not professional

Staying positive: People commented against both LaDouceur's outfit and body size, and this forced the councilwoman to address the critics online

Commenters not only criticized the woman's outfit for the day, but they also made cruel comments about her size.

One commenter wrote: 'Leggings are NOT ProfessionalBusiness attire. This is Not Body Shaming. I wear leggings when appropriate. Standing in front of young people, I set an example and Dress for success.'

Another person said LaDouceur presented herself 'like it was just a trip to Walmart' based on her attire.

Instead of acting out in anger over the comments, LaDouceur decided to fire back at the criticism on her own Facebook page by sharing the pants she wore in case anyone else wanted to buy them.

'There seems to be quite a bit of interest in the leggings I wear, so I figured Id share the brand and where I buy them in case anyone else would like to add some to their professional wardrobe,' she wrote at the time.

'Yes, theyre a bit pricey, but as a faithful consumer of this brand of legging, they are worth it. They are not see-through and theyre versatile, dress them up or down.'

She continued: 'Hesitant to wear something comfortable that fits your body because others cant handle you being intelligent and curvy at the same time?

'Nevermind those haters... youve got a curvy City Councilwoman who tries to set an example daily that it is OK to love the skin youre in.'

Included with the post was a link to the leggings ($88) available on Amazon.

Standing up: Comments poured with people expressing their opinions about the outfit choice. LaDouceur was unafraid, though, to kindly respond back

Proud: She called the pants 'professional leggings' to critics who decided to call them out

Get the look: LaDouceur later hilariously shared the leggings on her page in case anyone wanted to get the same pair for their own wardrobe

Supportive: This backlash started a conversation about body positivity. Many women stood up for the woman and sent in their own leggings picture with the hashtag #BereaWearsLeggings

Her response quickly went viral as people praised the woman for standing up for herself in the face of critics, with many frustrated everyone was focused on LaDouceur's clothing instead of her platform.

On Friday, the councilwoman commented on the national conversation surrounding her outfit after the story went viral.

'Never did I imagine that my body and my leggings would make national news as opposed to the great ideas and work I put forth in my community, but Im choosing to absorb this moment because it has introduced people to my platform...a platform of inclusion and equity,' she wrote.

LaDouceur went on to say she has only been in her position for four months, and she was already starting to understand the difficulties of working for the government.

But she hoped the conversation surrounding her outfits could promote a positive discussion about body positivity and standing up for oneself.

'We can teach children that bullying and body shaming is not OK...The high road doesnt have to look like toxic positivity....it looks like engaging here bridges can be built and removing ourselves from spaces and people who are not able to manage their pain enough to see us,' LaDouceur continued.

The controversy sparked support in LaDouceur's community with women deciding to share pictures of themselves wearing leggings while using the hashtag #BereaWearsLeggings.

'Whenever somebody gets knocked down, we turn it around and make it positive,' LaDouceur told LEX18.
At least 17 students were taken to area hospitals after a student discharged pepper spray inside an elementary school in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, officials said.
Chanel Iman has revealed she and Jourdan Dunn stopped speaking to each other for a period of time after professionals in the modelling industry told them only one of them would be successful.

The 28-year-old model from Atlanta, Georgia, said she and Jourdan, 28, from London, grew distant after they were told they 'shouldn't be friends' because in the modelling industry 'it's either one or the other'.

The Victoria's Secret angel added that after losing touch for a period of time, they eventually began speaking again, as Chanel said she realized that she and Jourdan are 'so much stronger together'.

Honest: Chanel Iman, 28, has opened up about discrimination in fashion in a new video for Vogue, discussing her experiences while working in the industry

Devastating: She revealed that she was once told she couldn't go to a casting call for a runway show in Paris as they had already 'found a girl of my kind'

Difficult: Pictured walking for DKNY in 2014, the model also revealed she and Jourdan Dunn stopped talking for a period of time as they were told only one of them could be successful

Chanel opened up about the sad experience in a new Vogue video that sees a number of professional models speaking candidly about their experiences with tokenism and discrimination within the industry.

'Me and Jourdan, we stopped speaking to each other for a time in our career because people would tell her how we shouldn't be friends because it's this industry where it's either one or the other and they're not going to choose you both,' she said.

Heartbreaking: 'People would tell her how we shouldn't be friends because it's this industry where it's either one or the other,' Chanel, pictured with Jourdan Dunn, said

However, Chanel said she and Jordaun were on set together one day, and they began speaking as they thought the whole thing was 'so silly', as she said: 'We are just so much stronger together.'

Speaking about her other negative experiences, she said she has felt she was discriminated against because of her skin color and hair in the past.

'When I was about fifteen or sixteen years old and I was in Paris and I was waiting downstairs to do a casting for a runway show they told me that I couldn't go up because they already found a girl of my kind,' she said.

'I cried the whole night and I couldn't understand why somebody would not even take a look at my book because of my color,' she added.

She explained that she was once told that models used to do their own hair and makeup, which she thought was 'genius', as she said she has run into different problems with stylists over the years because of her hair.

She explained: 'Some of the hair stylists would put water in my hair, or gel. People just did not know how to do my hair. They refused to straighten my edges, which is like really important to a black girl.'

The video, which is the fourth in the five-part series The Models, sees Paloma Elsesser, Selena Forrest, Candice Huffine, Alek Wek, Halima Aden, Rhadika Nair and Chanel Iman opening up about their personal experiences.

Hurt: Selena Forrest, 19, opened up about how her hair has caused her to be discriminated against, as she said: 'I don't know why it's labelled that curly hair isn't classy'

Unfair: 'My first season they wanted to straighten my hair every show, every show, and that really damaged my hair,' Selena, pictured walking for Michael Kors in 2018, said

Hard: Plus size model Paloma Elesser said she felt like she had less options than others in the industry, as she said: 'So many people are given the opportunity to be so many different things

Tough: The 27-year-old, as seen at the Sies Marjan runway show in February, said when she was staring out in modelling, 'the plus size industry was still very homogeneous'

The seven women's stories all varied, however, they all had one thing in common - each of them had experience some form of discrimination or tokenism during their time thus so far as professionals in the modelling industry.

Selena Forrest, 19, also opened up in the short video about problems she has faced, as she said her hair has seen her being discriminated before.

She said: 'I don't know why it's labelled that curly hair isn't classy. That's so f***ing annoying and rude.

'My first season they wanted to straighten my hair every show, every show, and that really damaged my hair.'

The model, from Louisiana, said she was often left in the care of 'old guys doing hair', as she said: 'How the f**k are you going to do my hair when you're bald?'

Plus size fashion model Paloma Elesser, 27, who was born in the U.K., said when she started out in her modelling career, 'there was only a few agencies really working with curvy girls'.

'I went into all the agencies and they were like "no". Even then the plus size industry was still very homogeneous and like what it was to be a curvy model, I was too weird,' she added.

Paloma added that she felt, as a plus size model, she had less options than others in the industry. 'You want me as a curvy person to the way that you see fit.

'It's not nuanced. Like you can't be fat and be chic, you can't be fat and be cool, you can't be fat and do anything besides be a stereotype, either lazy or glam. So many people are given the opportunity to be so many different things,' she said.

Tough: Fellow plus size model Candice Huffine, 34, said when she was signing a contract, she was 'told to either lose twenty pounds or sign as a plus size model'

Gorgeous! Candice, as seen walking the runway during Teen Vogue's Body Party in 2018, said it took her a few years to realize there was a need for change in the modelling industry

Similarly, plus size model Candice Huffine, 34, from Georgetown, Washington, D.C. said she was rejected by 'everyone' she saw except for one agency.

The beauty said: 'I was a size six and I was told to either lose twenty pounds or sign as a plus size model. When I was signing the contract I said "what does that mean for me to be a plus size model? Will I still be a model?"

She added: 'They made it seem like it was something so different.'

Candice added that it took a while for her to realize that a change was needed within the industry, as she said: 'It took many years for it to dawn on me that I wasn't seeing any makeup castings, I wasn't seeing any hair castings, I wasn't really doing any editorials or wasn't being able to be in the magazines that I read.

She added: 'That's when we all - the girls of the plus industry started to kind of wake up and a light bulb went on and it was like well hold on a second, we're actually pretty fab and we should be seen.'

Candice explained that when the 'curvy girls' came in for a casting, they came in 'full on'. She added: 'I'm here, and you need me.'

Changes: South Sudanese-British model Alek Wek, 41, is one of the rare black models who has walked in a wedding gown during a Chanel Haute Couture show

Momentous: Reminiscing about when she walked the show, said: 'my parents would have been really proud, because it was deeper than just a fashion show'

South Sudanese-British model Alek Wek, 41, who is one of the rare black models who has walked in a wedding gown during a Chanel Haute Couture show said she never believed she would get the chance to be part of the iconic moment.

'If you had told me I'm coming from South Sudan and I would be a bride for Chanel I would have told you don't be daft,' she said.

Reminiscing about the experience, she said: 'It was the first time I burst into tears because my parents would have been really proud, because it was deeper than just a fashion show.'

Alek said there have been 'so much changes' within the modelling industry over the years. 'First of all I'm not the only South Sudanese model on the runway - Holla!

'There are a lot of really amazing young girls. I just had to stop for one moment the other day backstage at Marc Jacobs [because] I'm like all of a sudden, this is not home.

'This is Marc Jacobs backstage and we're are talking in Dinka, full on Dinka! It was so cool,' she said, as she smiled.

Amazing: Rhadika Nair, 26, from India, who was scouted just one year ago when she was 25, said she never expected to become a model

Different: 'I'm here. That's a big deal, you know. I haven't seen girls like me on the runway before,' Rhadika, as seen walking in the Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2018 show, said

Iconic: Halima Aden, 21, who was the first woman who wore a hijab to be signed to IMG Models, said she could 'never flip through a magazine and see someone wearing a hijab'

Dream come true: 'When you don't see something, it's really hard to believe it but it's also really hard to even picture yourself as a cover girl, as somebody who is a model,' she said

Rhadika Nair, 26, from India, who was scouted just one year ago, said she never expected to become a model.

'I'm here. That's a big deal, you know. I haven't seen girls like me on the runway before,' she said.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Halima Aden, from Kenya, said: 'I could never flip through a magazine and see someone wearing a hijab.

'And when you don't see something, it's really hard to believe it but it's also really hard to even picture yourself as a cover girl, as somebody who is a model.'

Halima, who was the first woman who wore a hijab to be signed to IMG Models, said when she thinks about it, she feels like she is 'reading a script from a crazy movie'
A teenage boy who didn't have a date to prom decided to go by himself wearing a half-suit, half-dress that his mom helped him make.

Wyatt Cheatle, a 16-year-old student at Brighton High School in Rochester, New York, went all out while creating his one-of-a-kind look before taking himself to his junior prom, which was held at St. John Fisher College on Saturday.

'I decided to go myself, 'cause frankly it's easier than finding out who's going with who, or who's not going,' Wyatt told the Rochester Democratic and Chronicle.

Creative: Wyatt Cheatle, a 16-year-old student at Brighton High School in Rochester, New York, too himself to prom wearing a half-suit, half-dress that his mom, Kelly, helped him create

'So I figured I'd be my own date, since I know myself better than any other person. I figured I'd have a good time.'

Team work: Wyatt helped rip the seams out of the dress, while his mother put the look together

Wyatt initially joked with his family that he was going to wear a dress to prom and was told he wouldn't 'look half bad.' From there, he came up with the idea of a prom outfit that would be the best of both worlds.

He and his mother, Kelly Cheatle, headed to Goodwill, where they picked up a black and white dress, a fuchsia pussy-bow blouse, a purple dress shirt, and a pair of black pants.

Wyatt helped rip the seams out of the dress, while his mother put the look together, placing the blouse and skirt of the dress on one side and the button-down and pants on the other before sewing it in place.

On the night of the prom, the teen accessorized the more feminine side of his outfit with an earring, a star-shaped barrette in his hair, and a wrist corsage.

Brilliant: Kelly placed half of the fuchsia blouse on one side and half of the purple button-down on the other before sewing it in place

Clever: The mom sewed a button at the back of the bow to hold it in place. She was so proud of their creation she took to Reddit to share photos of the one-of-a-kind outfit

He also wore eye makeup and pink lipstick  but just on one side of his face.

As for his footwear, he opted for a unisex look and wore sneakers.

Kelly was so pleased with the results she took to Reddit on Monday to share photos of Wyatt modeling their creation on their front lawn.

'My son's date for the prom was all right. Literally,' she joked, referencing the right side of his outfit.

'So my son was flying solo to the prom, and decided that he'd be his own date,' she explained. 'One thing led to another and the week before the big event, he decided rather than going with a boring old suit, we'd split the difference and send him in a half suit/half-dress.

In character: On the night of the prom, the teen accessorized the more feminine side of his outfit with an earring, a star-shaped barrette in his hair, and a wrist corsage

'After a mad dash to the local thrift store, lots of cutting and rearranging, we were done. Didn't quite have time to find him shoes to match, but there's always senior prom hahahaha.'

Commenters were quick to praise Wyatt for his unique look, with one person writing: 'That's awesome and very, very clever. Obviously a confident, self-assured young person with a great sense of humor. Bravo to both of you!'

Another added: 'That's a young man with positivity and confidence. What a great idea. Took creativity and talent to put together. Well done.'

As for the reaction on prom night, Wyatt told the Rochester Democratic and Chronicle that he 'had a good time' and no one gave him a hard time about his outfit.

'There were a few people who were surprised that I went through with it,' he said. 'But no one was a jerk about it and I got a lot of compliments.'
A mother-of-two has slammed the rising cost of childcare after she was forced to quit her job to stay home with her kids herself.

Adele Barbaro, from Melbourne, was sending her son Harvey, aged three, and 21-month-old daughter Chloe, to childcare at about $135 per child, per day.

But on April 29, the working mother received an email informing her the fees will increase by a further 4.5 per cent, coming to a total cost of $282 per day for two kids.

'It's robbery,' the outraged mother said. 'It's not regulated and it's unfair on hard working families.'

If Mrs Barbaro was to put her two children into care for five days per week, she would be forking out a staggering $73,320 per year.

Adele Barbaro, from Melbourne, was sending her son Harvey, aged three, and 21-month-old daughter Chloe, to childcare while working full time as a personal assistant

But the working mother was forced to quit her full-time job because she was losing money

The mother, who runs parenting blog The Real Mumma, said working full-time as a personal assistant while putting her toddlers in care saw her lose money.

'I left work at the end of last year because I simply couldn't afford to go to work full-time. I actually lost money,' she told her followers on social media.

'My part-time role changed to full time last year and it worked out that I actually lost money if I went full-time. There was zero financial benefit. So I finished up.'

The Federal Government's childcare subsidy came into effect last July to help working parents cover the costs of paying someone else to look after their children.

But despite the hip-pocket relief, Mrs Barbaro claimed childcare centres seem to have significantly jacked up their fees since the subsidy announcement.

'All the privatised daycare hike up the fees and it wipes out the subsidies,' she said.

On April 29, the working mother received an email informing her the fees will increase by a further 4.5 per cent, coming to a cost of $282 for both her kids a day

But despite government's childcare subsidy, Mrs Barbaro claimed childcare centres seem to have significantly jack up their fees over the months since the announcement

Last year, Mrs Barbaro shared an insight into the shocking reality of sending kids to childcare after calculating the annual fees.

'Childcare on average costs $122 per day, per child. If you had two children in care for five days a week, that's $63,440 a year,' she warned on her blog.

'The government gives you back $20,000 in rebates but it still costs $43,440 out of pocket and it's going up. Yep! Mine is going up to $135 a day, per child. INSANE.'

Previously speaking to A Current Affair, the mother said the increasingly expensive cost of childcare fees has forced working parents out of the workplace for years.

'[Fees have] gone up $7 per day per child and it's just making it out of reach for so many Aussie families to be able to send their kids to day care and return to the workforce,' she said.
A school canteen list from 1977 has resurfaced with meals like 22c fritz sandwiches and 19c sausage rolls on offer.

The price list belonged to Seaton Park Primary School in western Adelaide has been uploaded to Reddit for others to compare their experiences with lunchtime snacks.

'Wow, that's cool. Made me remember my school canteen and the stuff we liked there then,' said one person in the thread.

The price list belonged to Seaton Park Primary School in South Australia and has been uploaded to Reddit for others to compare their experiences with lunchtime snacks

On August 22, 1977, a student at the school could purchase any number of sandwiches with basic fillings like Vegemite (17c) or peanut butter (18c) or the more healthy options like egg and lettuce (24c).

You could even simply buy a buttered roll for 8c or nab a plain roll for free - ideal for preparing a chip roll.

Pasties and pies were 27c, sausage rolls were 19c, hot dogs and chiko rolls were 25c and a small salad was 31c.

Delicious cakes like a cream bun would set you back 19c, lamingtons were 18c and sponge kisses were 21c.

Pasties and pies were 27c, sausage rolls were 19c, hot dogs and chiko rolls were 25c and a small salad was 31c

On a particularly hot day you could purchase a Sunny Boy ice block or the milky Snip equivalent for just nine cents.

The list encourages parents to place the correct amount of change into a lunch order bag to aid the 'voluntary helpers' giving up their time to work in the canteen.

'Money can always be changed at the canteen before school,' it read.

The list gave Reddit users a chance to reflect upon their youth.

'Money was tight when I was growing up so I reckon I could count on one hand the number of lunch orders I had, a sausage roll and jam donut made me feel like a god damn queen,' one woman said.

'Now my nephews get one a week, they have no idea the hardship their poor aunty and mum suffered through.'

To compare, FEMAIL consulted the menu from an Adelaide-based school who released their salads and sandwiches online for this year

To compare, FEMAIL consulted the menu from an Adelaide-based school that released their salads and sandwiches online for 2018.

There were far more health-conscious meals pertaining to children who were gluten, dairy or sugar-free, as well as vegetarian options.

You could 'build your own' sandwich starting from just $4 and add things like Tandoori chicken, falafel, mint yoghurt and Kalamata olives.

Or you could choose a burger from their selection of four, including a Mexican one with smashed avocado for $5.90.

Bolognaise and bechamel sauce baked with pasta sheets is $5, spinach and ricotta ravioli topped with a tomato and roasted capsicum sauce is similarly priced Hokkien noodles are the same.

In the salad department there was a range of healthy choices, including a dukkah crusted pumpkin one, another with marinated fetta cheese and seared chicken. The most expensive of these was $6.90.
London's boldest gym chain, Gymbox has announced the launch of the ultimate hangover cure for the festive season: the Hangxiety workout. When post-party anxiety meets the hangover from hell, this class promises that it will leave last nights mistakes dripping from every pore. Exercise meets exorcism in a hardcore burst of HIIT, followed by a juicy yoga flow to steady those alco-shakes and a mediation session to clear your aching mind. Rounding off with an IV Vitamin drip or booster shot administered by a team of medical experts, a rejuvenating dose of vitamins that help ease general worry and reduce oxidative stress in your body  perfect for the morning after the night before. Hangxiety launches just in time for the party season, taking place at the Elephant & Castle club on December 3, 10 and 17.
Harry and Meghan have been accused of 'teasing' fans desperate to hear news of Baby Sussex's imminent arrival - after the couple posted a late night Instagram post...about mental health.

Appearing on the @royalsussex feed at 12:41am UK BST, the post - a passionate message promoting awareness of mental health - was clearly timed to catch the US audience too, which is between five to eight hours behind the UK.

However, for legions of UK fans eagerly awaiting an announcement on the newest royal, the middle-of-the-night message had them on tenterhooks.

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Any day now! Meghan and Harry have been updating their Instagram account @Sussexroyal as usual...but a late-night post in the early hours of Wednesday left UK followers wondering whether they were about to announce the birth of their first child

The social media alert, posted at 12:41am UK time - which is still daylight hours across the US, reaffirmed the couple's commitment to improving mental health awareness

The Duchess of Sussex, 37, is due to give birth any day and anticipation is proving too much for some of the couple's 5.4million followers on the social media site.

One user, aoojadi wrote: 'I'm so serious! Giving me mini panic attacks over here' while another penned: 'Thought it's baby news...so restless over here.'

And 55kustomford added: 'These alerts are so suspenseful'.

Another impatient fan cut straight to the chase, writing: 'Where is the baby please?'

In the post, the couple highlighted the good work being done by mental health organisations and asked followers to 'explore' their stories.

The post read: 'May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the US and May 13-19 is Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK.

To pay tribute to all of the incredible work people across the globe are doing in this space, we are hoping to shine a light on several Instagram accounts that promote mental well-being, mental fitness, body positivity, self-care, and the importance of human connection - to not just hear each other, but to listen.'

It asked followed to 'consider the accounts weve highlighted as a small snapshot of this global support network.'

At the post's end, the couple wrote: 'We are all in this together. We invite you to explore the extraordinary stories of strength, and the commitment to kindness as seen in the above accounts.'

'Where is the baby?' Some impatient fans cut straight to the chase saying 'I want baby news!' in response to Meghan and Harry's latest post

The couple were clearly hoping to catch the US audience too with the late post, which asked people to explore a group of organisations the royals think are doing positive work to promote mental health awareness

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pictured in May this year at Westminster Abbey, have said they won't officially announce the birth of their first child until they've spent time celebrating as a family

The royals were praised by many for posting the messages, with some saying people should focus on the message rather than the impending birth.

donnaleenatasha wrote: 'While news of the baby would be great, lets not detract from the original purpose of this message. Mental health is a real issue and we all need to be accountability partners.'

One of the accounts followed by the soon-to-be parents is author Matt Haig, who has written books on mental health including Notes on a Nervous Planet and The Truth Pixie.

Author Matt Haig, one of Meghan and Harry's 16 followers, expressed his shock at being one of the select few. The Notes on a Nervous Planet writer said: Why would they follow me?'

The writer described his shock at being followed by Meghan and Harry, saying: 'Just woke up to be told Harry and Meghan follow me on Instagram. They only follow 16 people. Why would they follow me? I annoy even myself on there. Pretty sure Ill be unfollowed within a week.'

He added: 'I don't need this pressure in my life'
Viewers praised the Great British Bake Off: The Professionals after falling in love with the programme's first deaf contestant.

Pastry chef Adam Cleal, 22, from Devon, and his colleague Sam Widnall, from the West Midlands, were the winning pair on last night's episode, after impressing the judges with their incredible baked creations.

The duo, who have only worked together for seven months at Pale Hall Hotel in Wales, communicate via written notes and messages as Sam is deaf.

Viewers praised the team for their creations, and couldn't help but swoon over Sam.

One wrote: 'Sorry but the guy in the glasses is cute', while another added, 'What, a shady, hot deaf guy? I am on BOARD.'

Sam Widnall, from the West Midlands, who was part of the winning team on GBBO:The Professionals last night, is the first deaf participant on the programme

Viewers praised the young chefs on GBBO: The Professionals. They communicate through notes and messages, as Sam is profoundly deaf

One wrote: 'Congratulations to Adam and Sam! I'm so impressed by Sam who is profoundly deaf. So proud of them.'

Another commented:'That deaf guy is cute and can sign so fast'.

While Sam has been teaching Adam sign language, the pair mainly communicate about their bakes via text message and written notes.

'I've started to learn a little bit,' Adam admitted, before the pair joked that the first thing he learned was how to swear.

Those watching couldn't help but praise Sam, with many calling the winning chef, who is deaf, 'cute'

The team got off to a great start in last night's programme, and were praised by the judges for their linzer tortes and bakewell tarts.

And viewers were impressed to see that the programme had provided an interpreter, Claire, to allow the judges to communicate with the chef.

Benoit Blin and Cherish Finden admired the bakes, calling the bakes 'stunning' and the flavour 'really nice'.

Blin said: 'You know when someone serves me something nice, I really feel passionate about it.'

Host Liam was quick to introduce Claire (left), who acted as an interpreter for Sam throughout the programme

The pair were the winning team in the first round of Great British Bake Off:The Professionals, having only worked together for seven months

As others struggled with the pressure of the competition, the team from Wales appeared to thrive.

They went on to make a red velvet showpiece which left the judges and viewers floored.

The team look overjoyed as Cherish Finden admits: 'It's a spoon of genius for me. I would take the whole cake home.'

And host Liam declared that the 'the judges thought the team in first place were in a different league across both challenges.'

Judges were amazed by the red velvet creations, and said the team were in 'a different league' to the other bakers

Viewers were similarly impressed by the team for their baking skills and hard work and took to Twitter to praise them.

One mother wrote: 'They were brilliant. As the mother of a deaf boy, I was really heartened to see signing and deafness presented as a non issue on the television.

She went on: 'It shows there are no barriers to being deaf and sends a positive message without screaming about it. Absolutely brilliant!'

One praised the programme, saying: 'So so so glad to see a deaf person competing and they've provided an interpreter.'

'What a great partnership between the deaf and hearing chefs setting the standard on GBBO professionals,' another commented.

The professional baking duo were praised by Twitter users for their hard work and great partnership
Ruby Wax has accused television star Louis Theroux of stealing the concept for his hugely successful television documentaries from her.

Wax, 66, couldn't hold back her rage in an interview with podcaster Adam Buxton this week, saying 48-year-old film-maker Theroux took 'everything we did'.

The US comedian, who shot to fame in the UK in the late nineties with her hard-hitting documentaries covering subjects such as the Ku Klux Klan and offbeat religions, says she can no longer even bear to hear Theroux's name - and had to re-invent herself to recover from the perceived plagiarism of her work.

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Ruby Wax, who hosted a series of documentaries for the BBC in the late nineties, with subjects covered including the Ku Klux Klan and offbeat US religions, says of Louis Theroux hit shows in a similar vein 'everything we did, he took'

Theroux had had huge success with his multiple documentary series; he began interviewing celebrities including Paul Daniels and Jimmy Saville, before focusing on hard-hitting real-life stories, often in the US

Ruby raged: 'I have a new career but if you say that word to me, Ill vomit' - the US comic says she can't even bear to discuss Theroux, pictured left with late PR Guru Max Clifford during a documentary in 2002

Wax interviewed a slew of famous faces including Pamela Anderson and Imelda Marcos at the height of the documentary's success; Theroux's own ladder to stardom began with programmes which saw him shadowing the lives of quirky stars including the magician Paul Daniels, PR guru Max Clifford and even shamed TV star Jimmy Saville.

Responding to podcast host Buxton's suggestion that she was 'like Louis Theroux', Wax raged: 'I knew you were going to say that. Can we not discuss it? Everything we did, he took. Ive moved on. I have a new career but if you say that word to me, Ill vomit.

She continued: 'Ive evolved but theres still a little bit of anger.'

Pictured with podcast host Adam Buxton, Ruby this week said she decided to quit documentary making after Theroux's success, saying she was forced to re-invent herself

The comic, who has focused on mental health in her most recent shows added: 'If I had not reinvented, it would be a kick in the face. Nobody likes to be replaced. Better I moved on, better leave the party before it leaves you.'

MailOnline has contacted Louis Theroux for comment.

Wax has three children with Ed Bye, who she met in 1985 while working on the series Girls on Top with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

The star has been open about her own long struggle with clinical depression and is to embark on a nationwide tour for her latest show, based on her book How to be Human.
Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were forced to contain hysterics as two visiting rescue dogs had an unfortunate mishap live on This Morning today.

The TV hosts were meeting French bulldogs Coco and Chanel, who were found abandoned in a plastic bag.

Unfortunately the excitement of a live morning show cameo appeared too much for the poor pooches' nerves, as first one - then the other- used the studio as their toilet, much to everyone's horror.

Holly, 38, and Phil, 57, were seen scrambling around the studio, cleaning up the dog poo as they suppressed laughter.

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were forced to contain hysterics as two visiting rescue dogs had an unfortunate mishap live on This Morning today

The TV hosts were meeting French bulldogs Coco and Chanel, pictured, who were found abandoned in a plastic bag

Bending down to help clean up the mess, Holly exclaimed: 'Ooh, we've had a little accident!'

'It happens sometimes when you get nervous on the telly,' she added.

And as the other dog joined the toilet fest, Phil added: 'Oh! the other ones's having a go now!'

The incident came as viewers heard the heartbreaking story of how an increasing number of French Bulldogs are being abandoned after being used for breeding.

Holly, 38, and Phil, 57, were seen scrambling around the studio, cleaning up the dog poo as they suppressed laughter

The excitement of a live morning show cameo appeared too much for the poor pooches' nerves, as first one - then the other- used the studio as their toilet, much to everyone's horror

A representative of animal charity Four Paws Animal Rescue came on the show with the two dogs and revealed how medical examinations sugggested the two dogs were around five-years old.

'It looks as though they were used for excessive breeding and were then abandoned in plastic bags as they became too old to breed', she said.

Last year French Bulldogs overtook Labrador Retrievers as the UKs most popular dog breed - for the first time since records began.

But with this rise in popularity, dog charities are now warning that there has been a sharp rise in the breed being abandoned by owners who have bought them on a whim.

A representative of animal charity Four Paws Animal Rescue came on the show with the two dogs and revealed how medical examinations sugggested the two dogs were around five-years old
Twitter users were left incensed after a woman shared a picture of a 'vegan lasagne' which many claimed looked more like a 'layered salad'.

Arista Fbabi, from Maryland, shared the controversial snap to her profile yesterday, explaining that the tomato-topped dish had been made by her co-worker.

In the post she said she was 'ready to knock all that s*** over' - and many fellow Twitter users shared her resentment.

Twitter users were incensed yesterday after Arista Fbabi, who goes by the username Peaches, shared a picture of a 'vegan lasagne' which many claimed looked more like a 'layered salad'

Arista Fbabi, from Maryland, shared the controversial snap yesterday, explaining that it had been made by her co-worker

Her amusing tweet went viral, attracting over 13,000 retweets, 43,000 likes and 4,300 comments.

Several social media users pointed out that the lasagne, which appeared to feature abundant layers of sliced tomato and lettuce, grated carrot and raw red onion, qualified as a salad rather than the popular Italian dish.

One tweeted: 'Correction: "Co-worker brought this weirdly organized salad into work today and called it lasagna (sic)."'

Another commented: 'That's not vegan lasagne that's a flat salad,' while another chimed: 'This is most def a layered salad,' followed by three crying laughing emojis.

The general consensus on Twitter was that this dish most definitely did not qualify as a lasagne

One tweeter questioned whether her colleague was actually a vegan, pointing out that this meal 'looks like what a non-vegan thinks a vegan dish looks like'.

Another pointed out: 'Vegan lasagna is delicious when it's done right, it's just regular lasagne with no meat or cheese (sic),' adding: 'This mess looks like a tragedy.'

And one joked: 'I mean I'd eat that... but on the side of my main meal... like actual lasagna (sic).'

A bemused Twitter user replied to the thread with a picture of a salad in a bowl, captioning the post: 'Look, I made baked ziti...' - a classic American pasta dish.
The Duchess of Cambridge has returned to her signature long bouncy locks after cutting her hair short while pregnant with Prince Louis.

Kate, 37, looked radiant as she stepped out in London today, opting to wear her hair down in large curls that reached inches past her shoulders.

It marked a return to the 'big and bouncy Chelsea blow dry' favoured by the royal before she fell pregnant with Prince Louis in the summer of 2017 - around the same time she first debuted a shorter style after chopping inches off the length.

Speaking to FEMAIL, celebrity hairstylist James Johnson said: 'She was known for her big and bouncy "Chelsea blow dry" for years and and now she's gone back to that, back to her signature style.

Today: The Duchess of Cambridge, 37, looked radiant as she stepped out in London today, opting to wear her hair down in large curls that reached inches past her shoulders

July 2017: The Duchess of Cambridge cut several inches off her hair in the summer of 2017, around the time she fell pregnant with Prince Louis. She kept her hair shorter through her pregnancy

September 2016: The Duchess of Cambridge had previously had long locks and was known for wearing them in loose curls. Pictured, on their royal tour of Canada months before falling pregnant

'It might be easier for her to have longer hair so that she can pull it back and off her face while running after three young children.'

The Duchess of Cambridge has been letting her hair grow out in recent months and her full, loose curls were on full display as she opened a school for excluded children at the Anna Freud Centre in King's Cross, north London, today.

Celebrity stylist Jay Birmingham explained her signature look is specially designed to suit her style and face shape.

'Her hair is very softly layered which creates that stunning bounce and helps to break it up around her beautiful face,' he said.

'Adding layers like this will reduce that heaviness that can come with long hair and keep it looking weightless and on trend.'

November 2010: Kate was known for her 'Chelsea blow out', James noted, as seen here on her engagement to Prince William

September 2016: At its longest, Kate's hair has reached several inches past her shoulders. Pictured, the Duchess of Cambridge on the royal tour of Canada in September 2016

It comes after months of making an effort to keep it short while pregnant with Louis.

The royal chopped inches off her hair around the time of Wimbledon 2017, which is believed to coincide with the very early weeks of her pregnancy.

James explained many mothers-to-be go for a chop as they can often find themselves feeling hot and uncomfortable while expecting.

'Having shorter hair helps keep them feeling fresh,' he continued. 'Their hair becomes too much for them.'

Jay added the chop could have been a quick and easy way for Kate to boost her self-esteem.

December 2017: While pregnant with Louis, Kate chose to keep her hair short. James suggested this might have been to keep her look lighter as her hair got thicker with pregnancy

He explained: 'When youre pregnant you can feel low in terms of self esteem as your body goes through such drastic changes throughout nine months so Kate may have cut her hair differently to give herself a confidence boost and experiment with a new look whilst she may not have been feeling 100 per cent herself.'

Now that she is a year post-partum, Kate might be looking to return to her pre-pregnancy style.

Jay continued: 'She may have felt it time to embrace her signature look  and why not, it is stunning!'

James agreed, adding: 'Now she's living her life again after the birth, back to the routine, back to her original style, one that she probably prefers.'
An Arizona sheriff's office has publicly slammed a woman for wearing a pair of flimsy sandals on a ten-mile hike, despite being given clear warnings about the need for sturdy footwear.

Gila County Sheriff's Office shared a post to Facebook on Monday, April 29, including a picture of the woman's broken shoes - as it was revealed that she and her companions had to be rescued from the popular Fossil Creek hiking trail after getting stuck.

'This hiker failed to take the posted warnings seriously as she and seven others had to be rescued out of Fossil Creek yesterday, the post read. 'Definitely not appropriate footwear for the ten mile hike.'

Yikes! Gila County Sheriff's Office, in Arizona, revealed that they had to rescue a hiker who chose to wear a pair of flat, open-toe sandals (pictured) on a ten-mile hike

Not impressed: The office said the hiker 'failed to take the posted warnings seriously' and therefore had to be rescued from popular Arizona hiking trail Fossil Creek

Warning: The sheriff's office shared details of the incident, which occurred on Sunday, April 28, to Facebook in a post that has racked up over 400 likes

To make matters worse, it was later revealed that the shoes had broken mid-hike, and had to be repaired by a member of the rescue team during a five-hour effort to bring the hikers home.

Images shared alongside the post reveal the incredibly flimsy sandals worn by the unnamed hiker, a pair of flat, thin-soled, open-toe sandals that offer little to no support.

The photo also appears to capture the makeshift repairs that were done by the rescue team, which seem to have involved tying lengths of material around the sole of the sandal and the woman's foot where the shoe itself had broken.

The sheriff's office also shared a photo of a sign that lies near the entrance of the popular trail, which clearly states: 'Wear sturdy hiking shoes, not flip-flops'.

The sign also read: 'Be sure you are able to hike 10 miles at 100 degrees at 6000 feet of elevation.'

It also states that '200 people' are rescued from the trail every year, and encourages hikers to be careful when embarking on their hikes.

Since the post was shared on Monday, it has racked up over 400 likes.

Similarly, the post has accumulated hundreds of comments, many of which are from people criticizing the unnamed hiker for wearing the inappropriate footwear.

One Facebook user commented on the post, saying: 'No common sense anymore...they need to pay for the rescue!'

Another wrote: 'This goes to show people really do not read. I hope they have to pay for the rescue since they failed to pay attention to the sign,' while another added: 'They should each be fined $10k for having to be rescued!'

Warning: They posted a photo of a sign near the trail, that warns people to wear 'sturdy hiking shoes' and tells them to prepare to hike at '10 miles at 100 degrees at 6000 feet' of elevation

Not impressed! Since the post was shared on Facebook, more than 300 people have left comments, many of which reveal shock and disgust at the person for wearing the sandals

Another revealed more information about the incident. They said: 'I listened to this story on the radio this morning with a Gila County Deputy.

'This rescue took five hours. Adults and kids-all in sandals and flip flops, only 20 ozs of water for all.

'Had to hydrate the victims and provide nourishment before heading them back as well as do sandal/flip flop repairs.

'They only made it half way down the trail. Thank you to all involved in this rescue,' they added.

Undersheriff Michael L. Johnson of the Gila County Sheriff's Department told Yahoo Lifestyle that the incident occurred on Sunday, April 28.

He added that a total of eight people - who ranged between the ages of 10 and 38 - had to be rescued from the trail, with one of them being found to have worn the flat sandals.

The deputy, who revealed they spent almost five hours on the rescue, said the group had conquered five miles of the trail, and had stayed down by the water during the day.

However, when they decided to make their way back up the trail at approximately 4pm, they came into some trouble and had to call for help.

Wow: Many were left baffled at the bizarre footwear choice, as one person said: 'Some people should walk around their neighborhood instead of our trails and mountains'

He explained: 'We arrived about 5:00 at the trail head and were able to get down to the bottom by 6:00. And then, once we got them some electrolytes and got them re hydrated, the rescue was just working our way out with them slowly.

'I think they hit the top of the mountain about 9:45 that night,' he added.

He explained that someone on the rescue team even had to fix up the sandals in order to keep them secured on the person's feet.

'The bottom part is the original sandal, but the top part, one of our search and rescue guys kind of fashioned the straps to keep the soles on the person's feet,' he explained.

He added: 'He just used some medical bandage and stuff that he had with him to come up with that part of it.'

According to the publication, Michael said the department has been 'called out' for 'sandal shaming' the person, however, he said the office is just trying to keep people in the area safe.

He explained: 'We try not to embarrass people or anything like that. We just want to get the information out there for people to take it seriously.'
The Duchess of Cornwall could not hold back her joy as she was warmly welcomed by an adorable one-year-old girl in Aldershot today.

Camilla, 71, was pictured talking to little Cara May Campbell and her mother Sarah Campbell while at the medals parade of the 4th Battalion The Rifles.

As she greeted well wishers at the event, Camilla stopped to play with the youngster and appeared to tickle the little girl's hand before grinning at her mother.

The Duchess of Cornwall, pictured, was warmly greeted by one-year-old Cara May Campbell at a medals parade in Aldershot, Hampshire, today

Camilla, 71, left, was full of smiles as she leaned towards the adorable youngster and her smiling mother Sarah Campbell

The medal parade today was held at the New Normandy Barracks in Aldershot where the Rifles are based.

Prince Charles' wife wore an elegant green jacket for the engagement which she paired with a matching pleated skirt and hat.

The Duchess of Cornwall accessorised her smart outfit with a hat, pair of leather gloves and a small black handbag.

Camilla, who is the Royal Colonel of the 4th Battalion The Rifles, also wore the regiments symbol on her left side, which boldly stood out against the fitted jacket

Camilla, pictured, wore a smart green jacket and pleated skirt for the engagement with a pair of leather gloves and a stylish matching hat

The royal, pictured, donned a statement hat with a green feather on the front for the parade

The Duchess, pictured, chatted and laughed with service men during the medal parade at the New Normandy Barracks today

Camilla, seen left, watched the 4th Battalion The Rifles march around their barracks while standing near their families and friends

Before the ceremony Camilla, left, presented Captain Robert Prince with the Queen's commendation for valuable service medal

Earlier in the day Camilla presented a Queen's commendation for valuable service medal to Captain Robert Prince in the Officer's mess.

She also sat to sign the visitors book in the Officer's mess, which rests underneath a large painting.

The Rifles were formed in 2007 and have since been deployed on five tours to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as numerous other operations and training missions.

It is a Regular Infantry Battalion and is one of just two infantry units to pilot the new Specialised Infantry (Spec Inf) Role.

The army website explains that Spec Inf Battalions are expeditionary by design, capable and credible and that the battalion has Riflemen working in small and capable teams always deployed on operations.

Camilla signed the visitors book in the Officer's mess before attending the parade

Camilla, pictured, wore pearl earrings and a pin of The Rifles emblem on her green jacket

The 71-year-old, pictured, looked stylish in her dark green outfit and wore a sensible block heel for the outing in Aldershot today

Camilla, pictured, shook the men's hands as she greeted them all with a smile this afternoon

Camilla, pictured, appeared to be in high spirits as she spoke with service men and their families at the barracks

Camilla has visited the Aldershot base several times over the years, including in July 2018 where she was rather impressed by one of the well-groomed riflemen.

During the visit the Duchess told Corporal Jack Stock of the 4th Battalion: 'I very much admire your moustache.'

The royal wore a similar green outfit during this engagement which also featured black ties in the centre and her silver pin.

The Rifles lined up for the Duchess of Cornwall, pictured, during the engagement today
The Prince of Wales, or the Duke of Rothesay as he's officially known while north of the border, donned his finest Scottish garb this afternoon as he made a visit to Castle Mey, the Queen Mother's beloved former holiday home in Caithness.

Sporting the family kilt in a green and red tartan - along with a brown leather sporran - Charles, 70, looked on fine form as he made the trip to the historic fortress, where his grandmother once entertained family and friends.

The quick trip north, while he awaits news of his fourth grandchild's impending arrival, was to officially open a new luxury guesthouse at the historic castle.

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Prince of Tartan! The Duke of Rothsay - aka Prince Charles - dons the family's official tartan as he arrived at the Castle of Mey in Caithness

Posing in the red and green tartan - complete with brown leather sporran - the prince, 70, looked delighted to be back in Scotland as he officially opened the much-planned Granary accommodation at the historic castle

The prince notices something of interest on the horizon as he makes his way around the swish new holiday accommodation, as he's accompanied by Lord Thurso, pictured right

The Castle of Mey was owned by the Queen Mother and the Queen from 1952 until 1996, when it was gifted to the public as a historic building.

It was a particular favourite of the Queen Mother, who used the Caithness property to entertain friends and escape the hustle and bustle of London.

The Duke enjoyed a tour of the pristine new accommodation, which has been in the pipeline at the castle for several years.

Smile: Charles, who is known as the Duke of Rothesay when he's in Scotland, donned a gold thistle pin badge alongside a sprig of local heather

Once inside, Prince Charles spent some time admiring the Castle's black and white photographs of the royals including a print of the late Queen Mother. Ashe Windham, right, Chairman of the Castle of Mey, joined the Duke of Cornwall on his tour

The Duke of Cornwall, visiting the castle alone, unveiled a plaque marking the official opening of the Granary Lodge, which will now welcome its first visitors

Familiar territory: Charles makes his way out of a door at the Castle of Mey, which was owned by the Queen Mother and the Queen from 1952 until 1996, when it was gifted to the public as a historic building

The new accommodation is on the site of the former stables and granary at the castle

Accompanying Scottish peer Lord Thurso - who also donned a kilt, the pair browsed the interiors of the luxury property before heading outside to view the grounds.

Inside, he spent time with Ashe Windham, Chairman of the Castle of Mey, who pointed out a collection of black-and-white photographs of the royals, with Charles stopping to admire one of the late Queen Mother.

The royal is spending the week on Scottish soil and will Outlander star Sam Heughan on a visit to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland later this week.

The prince will also speak to students from a range of disciplines and see some of their creative and performance work when he visits on Friday.

Charles is patron of the conservatoire.
Ivanka Trump put on a glamorous display in a $9,790 Oscar de la Renta dress while attending the Atlantic Council's Distinguished Leadership Awards in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening.

The 37-year-old first daughter smiled brightly as she took the stage to introduce French lawyer and politician Christine Lagarde before presenting her with the Atlantic Council's 2019 Distinguished International Leadership Award.

Ivanka wore her long blonde hair in an elegant updo to show off her regal black velvet one-shoulder dress featuring an asymmetrical crystal-embellished silver swatch.

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Night out: Ivanka Trump (center) donned a $9,790 Oscar de la Renta dress while attending the Atlantic Council's Distinguished Leadership Awards in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday

All smiles: The 37-year-old introduced French lawyer and politician Christine Lagarde before presenting her with the Distinguished International Leadership Award

While her designer gown is undoubtedly expensive, she is surely getting good use out of it. She previously wore the stunning frock while enjoying a night out on the town in Washington, D.C. in January 2018.

When she first donned the dress, she had her hair swept up in a teased updo, but she opted for a softer look this time around.

Ivanka's locks were center-parted, and loose tendrils framed her face while still drawing attention to her gown's bodice.

She also switched up her footwear, pairing the dress with white heels instead of the classic black pumps she wore with the frock last year.

The first daughter sat with Christine during the dinner and looked poised when it was time for her to introduce her to the audience.

Added touch: Ivanka paired her regal velvet dress with a pair of white pumps

Throwback: The first daughter previously wore the stunning frock while enjoying a night out on the town in D.C. with her husband, Jared Kushner, in January 2018

'This has truly been a spectacular night, so I want to congratulate all of tonight's honorees and award recipients and everyone who came to support the Atlantic Council this evening and the excellent work that they're doing. So, thank you all,' she said.

'This evening I am deeply honored to introduce the next award recipient, a leader and a friend who has shaped my own thinking and who shares a passion for women's economic development and so, so many other issues as evidenced by that great video, Madame Christine Lagarde.'

While reflecting on the award winner's many accomplishments, Ivanka recalled seeing Christine at the G20 forum in Buenos Aires last year.

'She was addressing the heads of state in attendance, all of whom happened to be men with the exception of Prime Minister May,' Ivanka explained. 'Chancellor Merkel had been running late and had been delayed in arriving.

'Madame Lagarde opened the first session, which happened to be entitled Women's Economic Empowerment, by saying, "Lady and gentlemen." Point made.

Radiating confidence: Ivanka wore her blonde hair in an elegant updo to show off her dress. She looked poised when she took the stage at the dinner

The pleasure is hers: Ivanka said she was 'deeply honored' to introduce Christine

Here you go: Ivanka presented Christine with the Atlantic Councils 2019 Distinguished International Leadership Award

'Madame Lagarde is among a rare class of leaders who embody the best paradox of humanity,' she continued. 'She is relatable yet cerebral. She is warm yet uncompromising. She is among the fiercest negotiators yet an excellence consensus builder.

'She has a heart big enough to serve the world and an intellect to make it better. She lives by the motto of her high school, which is just a couple of miles down the road, Holton-Arms, "I will find a way or make one." Christine, this evening, we thank you for paving a way to a brighter, more just future for women and the world.'

Ivanka led the applause as Christen stepped on stage, and she gave her a kiss on the cheek before presenting her with the award.

Both of them smiles for the camerad while posing with the award, and Ivanka later posted the images on Instagram.

'It was an honor to introduce Mme Christine Lagarde as she received the Atlantic Councils 2019 Distinguished International Leadership Award,' she captioned the photos from the event.

Say cheese! The first daughter happily posed for photos with other attendees at the event

Sit-down dinner: Ivanka sat next to Christine at their table Tuesday evening

In one image, they are standing on stage with the award. Another shows Ivanka at the podium delivering her remarks. The final picture is a close-up snapshot of the two women smiling together near their table.

She also posted photos on her Instagram Stories that night, including an image of herself and Christine sitting side by side at dinner.

Earlier this week, Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, were in Los Angeles to speak at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills.

In a show of support, her husband was seen standing in the crowd while waiting for her panel to start on Monday afternoon. Jared, 38, spoke at one of the discussions on Sunday, the day the conference kicked off.

Ivanka wore a prim white button-down underneath a frosty blue suit and topped off the simple, yet elegant look with a pair of classic black pumps.

Thrilled: 'It was an honor to introduce Mme Christine Lagarde as she received the Atlantic Councils 2019 Distinguished International Leadership Award,' Ivanka wrote on Instagram

Chummy: She also posted photos on her Instagram Stories that night, including an image of herself and Christine sitting side by side at dinner

The theme of this year's conference is 'Driving Shared Prosperity,' and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered welcoming remarks ahead of the discussion, which was moderated by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Ivanka was joined on stage by Marillyn Hewson, the chairman, president, and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation; Alfred Kelly Jr., the chairman and CEO of Visa; and Mark Weinberger, the global chairman and CEO of EY, the professional services firm formally known as Ernst & Young.

When they returned to Washington, D.C. she shared an adorable picture of a note from their three children welcoming them home after their trip to Los Angeles.

The sign, which appeared to be written in honey, said: 'Welcome Home. Included with the message was a signed note and package from Arabella, seven, Joseph, five, and Theodore, three.

Latest appearance: Ivanka participated in a luncheon discussion at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Monday afternoon

Style: The first daughter donned a frosty blue suit and classic black pumps. She wore her hair in loose waves

Doting spouse: The first daughter traveled to Los Angeles with her husband, Jared Kushner, 38, who was in the audience when she took the stage
While every music festival has a different fashion aesthetic surrounding it, one thing is constant: the right footwear is crucial.

Whether you're attending Electric Daisy Carnival, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo or Governors Ball this summer, you'll need shoes that can handle the rough, grassy terrains that make up the sites.

FEMAIL rounds up the hottest boot trends worn at REVOLVE festival that are perfect for hours of walking, standing in line, dancing, and Instagramming. Rock on!

Meant for walking: While every music festival has a different fashion aesthetic surrounding it, one thing is certain: the right footwear is crucial. Social media star, Janice Joostema, attended the REVOLVE Festival looking cowgirl chic

Social media star, Janice Joostema, attended the REVOLVE Festival in La Quinta, California, looking cowgirl chic.

The brunette beauty put her toned legs on display in a green mini dress by House of Harlow 1960.

She accessorized with a khaki belt, Valentino Rockstud Spike shoulder bag and cowboy boots by Naked Wolfe.

Shay Mitchell, Camila Coelho and Carina Zavline completed their crochet ensembles with western-inspired booties, as well.

Shay coordinated her black House of Harlow look with suede boots, while Camilla paired her Majorelle Collection flesh tone dress with black high heel booties.

Carina picked up the white flowers featured on her Lovers & Friends set with white Naked Wolfe boots.

Darlins': Shay Mitchell and Camila Coelho completed their crochet ensembles with western-inspired boots

Hoot 'n holler: Carina picked up the white flowers featured on her Lovers & Friends set with white Naked Wolfe boots

Festival-friendly footwear

Cafe in cognac suede, now $59.98; stevemadden.com

Left: Susanna studded suede ankle boots by Chloe, $1,155; net-a-porter.com. Right: Nancy in black leather by Steve Madden, $149; stevemadden.com

Left: Tall Buckled Boots by Toga Pulla, $690; shopbop.com. Right: Wish Star Boots by Golden Goose, $990; shopbop.com

Kendel booties by Dolce Vita, $200; dolcevita.com

Carolina Lindo accessorized her gold h.ours set with white boots, while Daniela Braga teamed her Majorelle ensemble with traditional brown cowgirl boots

Balancing act: Jasmine Tookes, 28, offset her flirty floral dress with a pair of edgy black combat boots

Feminine attire was juxtaposed with fierce footwear on Jasmine Tookes, Aleska Genesis and Aimee Song.

Jasmine offset her flirty floral Majorelle dress with a pair of edgy black combat boots. Beach waves and no-makeup makeup completed the 28-year-old model's festival getup.

Social media stars Aleska and Aimee instantly added interest to their solid colored ladylike ensembles with animal print shoes.

Snakeskin Zimmermann boots spiced up Song of Style's Majorelle blue dress featuring puff sleeves.

Whether it's leopard, zebra, cheetah or snake, wild prints kick any shoe game up a notch.

Go wild: Feminine attire was juxtaposed with fierce footwear on Aleska Genesis and Aimee song

Rhythmic premium leather western lace up boots in snake by ASOS Design, $127; asos.com

Left: Sonni booties in leopard by Dolce Vita, $150; dolcevita.com. Right: Gabrielle Bootie by Schutz, $250; schutz-shoes.com

Left: Clemency 8-Tie Boot by Dr. Martens, $140; revolve.com. Right: Andrea Bootie by Schutz, $275; schutz-shoes.com

Donita Boot by All Saints, $348; revolve.com

With dozens of festivals scheduled this summer across the country, you'll get plenty of use out of whatever style you choose.
The Duggar family is getting bigger by the day.

Joy-Anna Duggar, 21, and her husband, Austin Forsyth, 25, have revealed they are expecting their second child, just days after her brother Josh Duggar's wife, Anna, announced she is pregnant with their sixth child. Their brother Joe Duggar and his wife, Kendra, also recently shared they're expecting their second baby.

The couple took to Instagram on Wednesday to posts photos of themselves holding their recent sonogram to share their joyous news.

All smiles: Joy-Anna Duggar, 21, and her husband, Austin Forsyth, 25, are expecting their second child together

Look of love: The couple took to their shared Instagram on Wednesday to posts photos of themselves holding up their recent sonogram to share their joyous news

'Some of you have guessed, some of you had no clue... November, 2019 Baby Forsyth #2 is Due!!' they wrote. 'Cannot wait to meet this new little one!'

Joy-Anna and Austin celebrated their son Gideon's first birthday in February, and they are clearly excited to give him a sibling.

'Gideon is going to be such a great big brother!! #baby2due #babyforsyth #pregnant,' they wrote at the end of their post.

The heartwarming photos show Austin giving Joy-Anna a piggyback ride while she holds up their sonogram for the camera.

In another image, they are facing each other and standing as close as can be while posing with three sonogram pictures.

Excited: 'Some of you have guessed, some of you had no clue... November, 2019 Baby Forsyth #2 is Due!!' they wrote. 'Cannot wait to meet this new little one!'

Big brother: Joy-Anna and Austin also posted a photo of their one-year-old son, Gideon, celebrating the news

The final snapshot shows their little boy celebrating the news.

Joy-Anna's parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, congratulated the couple on their website on Wednesday.

'The Bible is right, there is no greater JOY than seeing your children walk in truth,' they wrote. 'We have loved watching Austin and Joy build their lives together as a married couple and as parents.

'Their love for God, each other, Gideon, and others is genuine and inspiring. We could not be more thankful as we watch their lives unfold day by day. A new baby will bring even more joy and blessings to their lives and ours. We are on cloud nine that another grandbaby will make a debut in 2019!'

Joy-Anna and Austin also shared a statement with Us Weekly while celebrating her pregnancy.

Major milestone: The couple celebrated Gideon's first birthday on February 23

Babies everywhere: Joy-Anna and Austin were engaged for just three months before they wed in May 2017. Three months later, they announced they were expecting Gideon

Surprise! Joy-Anna's brother Josh Duggar and his wife, Anna, are expecting their sixth child. She shared the news on Instagram last Friday

'Our favorite math is addition and we are very excited to share that the Forsyth family is adding a member!' they said. 'Marriage and being a mom and dad to Gideon has already far exceeded our expectations.

'We are looking forward to loving another little one and seeing what special dynamic he or she brings to our family. Table for 4 sounds perfect.'

Joy-Anna, who was the fourth Duggar daughter to marry, met Austin when he moved to Arkansas and started attending the same church as her family.

Like his wife, Austin was raised in a strict Christian home, and the two were expected to abstain from sex before marriage and wait until their wedding day for their first kiss.

They were engaged for just three months before they exchanged vows in front of more than 1,000 guests at Cross Church in Rogers, Arkansas, in May 2017. Just three months later, they announced they were expecting their first child together.

Announcement: The couple made the big reveal with a video on Instagram

Getting a sibling: The video shows them sharing the news with their other five children

Gideon weighed 10 pounds when he was born on February 23, 2018, and the birth was documented on the Duggar family's TLC reality series Counting On later that year.

The latest Duggar pregnancy announcement is just one of three that have taken place over the course of the month.

Joy-Anna's sister-in-law Anna, 30, announced on Instagram Friday that she is pregnant with her sixth child with her scandal-prone husband, Josh, 31.

Like Joy-Anna's baby, the newest addition to their family is coming this fall.

'We are so excited to announce that we are expecting a new little one! As we watch our children grow and thrive  we look forward to baby six joining us this fall!' she wrote.

Big brood: They already have five kids: nine-year-old Mackynzie, seven-year-old Michael, five-year-old Marcus, three-year-old Meredith, and one-year-old Mason

Marital woes: The couple (pictured in July 2018) has been plagued by Josh's sex scandals

Anna posted a video that she and Josh filmed with their other children while revealing the news to them.

They already have five kids: nine-year-old Mackynzie, seven-year-old Michael, five-year-old Marcus, three-year-old Meredith, and one-year-old Mason.

Anna was pregnant with Meredith when, in 2015, news came to light that Josh had molested his younger sisters when he was a teenager.

A month later, he admitted to being unfaithful when it was discovered that he had an account on the cheating website Ashley Madison.

Since the scandal broke, they have had one other child, Mason, and are now expecting their sixth.

Another on the way! Joe and Kendra Duggar also recently announced a pregnancy

News: The couple made the happy announcement just 19 months after they married. They already have a ten-month-old son named Garrett

Expecting another! Kendra (center left) is pictured after revealing her second pregnancy, posing with Joe, her sister-in-law Jinger, and her brother-in-law Jeremy

In the video that Anna posted, she and Josh hand out pages with letters printed on them to the four oldest, while Mason sits on mom's hip.

The confusing task takes a few minutes as the kids figure out where to put each of the letters out on the floor in order to spell out the message.

At the end, it reads: 'New baby coming this fall.'

The kids react with glee at the news, jumping up and down and screaming and cheering.

'Yay mommy's having a baby!' Anna gushes, and Josh repeats: 'Mommy's gonna have a baby!'

They've received congratulations on Instagram from Jessa, Jill, Janna, John and Abbie, and Josiah's wife, Lauren.

Another! Jessa Duggar and her husband, Ben Seewald, who already have three-year-old Spurgeon and two-year-old Henry, are also expecting again

No longer on the show: Jill Duggar, who married Derick Dillard in June of 2014, has two sons, three-year-old Israel and one-year-old Samuel

Lots of babies: Jinger Duggar, 25, has an eight-month-old daughter named Felicity with her husband, Jeremy Vuolo

The couple is well on their way to at least getting close to catching up with Josh's parents, who have 19 kids total and don't believe in birth control.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old Joe's wife, Kendra, 20, revealed on April 11 that she is expecting baby number two.

'We are ready to double the fun at our house!' the couple told Us Weekly in a statement. 'Being parents has already proven to be a greater joy than we had hoped or imagined. We love getting to parent together and are loving every moment and milestone.'

'We are very happy that our little family will welcome a new addition later this year. Children really are a blessing from God!'

The couple already has a 10-month-old son named Garret, and have only been married for 19 months, having tied the knot in September 2017.

Jessa Duggar is also currently pregnant but with her third and due in late spring.

Sad: Josiah Duggar, 22, and his wife, Lauren, 19 announced earlier this year that they were expecting last fall, but Lauren suffered a miscarriage in the early weeks of pregnancy

They do: Newlyweds John David Duggar, 29, and Abbie, 26, have yet to announce a pregnancy

The 26-year-old, who is married to Ben Seewald, 23, has a three-year-old son named Spurgeon and a two-year-old son named Henry.

Twenty-two-year-old Josiah Duggar's wife, Lauren, 19, also discovered she was pregnant last fall, but she suffered a miscarriage soon after.

Jill Duggar, 27, who is married Derick Dillard, 30, has two sons, three-year-old Israel and one-year-old Samuel, while Jinger Duggar, 25, has an eight-month-old daughter named Felicity with her husband, Jeremy Vuolo.

Only newlyweds John David Duggar, 29, and his wife, Abbie, 26, have yet to announce a pregnancy.

The Duggar parents, Michelle and Jim Bob, have been outspoken against birth control, saying that they welcomed as many children as God saw fit to give them.

They weren't always that way. Jim Bob revealed that initially, they thought they'd have just two or three kids, and Michelle went on the pill for the first few years of their marriage.

After having their eldest son Josh, Michelle went back on the pill but got pregnant while taking it. They ended up losing that baby and were so heartbroken that, through prayer, they decided to 'give that area of our life to the Lord,' letting God decide on when and how often they would have kids.
New pictures of Princess Charlotte reveal her thrifty mother's skill at reusing her children's clothes and keeping the young Cambridges' looking smart - even during playtime.

Three photographs taken by the Duchess of Cambridge, 37, at their family home in Norfolk, show the adorable youngster weather her signature smart outfits from British brands Amaia Kids and Trotters.

In two of the snaps, Princess Charlotte is seen wearing a 50 Yarrow tartan plaid skirt from Amaia, which she was also spotted wearing at the Burnham Horse Trials last month.

Princess Charlotte is dressed in a 50 skirt from Amaia Kids and a grey cardigan in two of the new photographs released to mark her fourth birthday

The playful princess, pictured, also wore the skirt to the Burnham Horse Trials last month where she was seen running around with other members of the royal family such as Mia Tindall

In the new official photographs, the outfit is paired with a light grey button up cardigan over a navy blue roll neck top and tights - perfect for the active four-year-old who is seen running with a daffodil.

In another snap released in celebration of Charlotte's fourth birthday, she hugs her knees in a summer dress as she sits crossed legged on a patch of grass at the palace.

The little Princess is wearing the 70 Betsy Dress from high-street store Trotters and teams it with the brand's 26 navy Hampton Canvas Plum Shoes.

It's the same blue floral ensemble she wore to go and visit her little brother, Prince Louis, in hospital for the first time last year.

Princess Charlotte wore a floral print 70 dress and 26 navy shoes from British store Trotters for another of her birthday pictures

The beautiful dress is covered with one of Liberty's most iconic prints and features puff sleeves and a smart cotton poplin Peter Pan collar and blue stitching.

The Duchess of Cambridge has chosen to dress her children in pieces from both of the brands in the past.

Charlotte's red coat in her first day at school pictures is also from Amaia kids, which she coordinated with shoes in a matching colour.

Kate's friend Sophie Carter also used Amaia to dress her young bridal party, which included Prince George and Charlotte, for her wedding last September.

Kate Middleton has shopped at Amaia kids for her three children before and the red coat Charlotte, pictured, wore on her first day of nursery is also from the brand

The Duchess of Cambridge's friend Sophie Carter also used Amaia to dress her young bridal party, which included Prince George and Charlotte, for her wedding last September

This isn't the first time the young royals have been dressed in pieces from high street store Trotters.

In June last year, both George and Charlotte wore matching 26 canvas plimsolls from the brand to watch their dad compete in the Maserati Royal Charity Polo Trophy.

Sophie Mirman and Richard Ross opened the doors to the first Trotters store on the King's Road in Chelsea in 1990, and have since gone on to open six more, with the brand winning awards and numerous high-profile fans.

Mother-of-three Kate appears to be a fan of reusing her children's clothes and getting the most wear out of them as possible.

In the first portraits released of Prince Louis, he wore a matching cream jumper and trouser set previously worn by his sister Princess Charlotte in her own first pictures.

For her little brother's photoshoot, Princess Charlotte re-wore the navy cardigan Prince George fashioned in a Vanity Fair snap celebrating the Queen's 90th birthday.

Kate also reused a blue cardigan with both George and Charlotte from British brand Amaia when they were younger.

For Charlotte's third birthday, Kensington Palace released this picture of the doting big sister holding her week-old baby brother Louis - who is wearing the same suit she wore as an infant
Were I listening to the fashion experts, right now Id be scouring shops for new dresses in bold prints, brightly coloured tie-dye tops or anything in beige, all key trends this summer.

I never do listen to fashion experts, though, because when it comes to my wardrobe, theres really only one colour Ill be seen in: a very unsummery black. And, in any case, theres a very good reason why Im not interested in new additions to my wardrobe.

Last year I made a dramatic decision: to ban myself from buying a single item of clothing for 12 months. Not even knickers, bras or tights.

The one exception was running shoes. (I run several times a week, and good trainers are an essential piece of kit.)

My decision came after I realised I must spend almost 1,000 on largely unnecessary clothes every year.

Candida Crewe (pictured) banned herself from buying any clothes for a year with the exception of running shoes

Almost everything in my Narnia-like wardrobe is black, with no fewer than 20 or so little black dresses (for years I was in pursuit of the perfect LBD). Not to mention the drawer stuffed with identikit black T-shirts and tops. Such is the pull of the cult of consumerism.

But unless I dramatically gain or lose weight, I could easily not buy another item of clothing for the next 25 years and still never have to step out of my front door naked.

As it happens, 1,000 a year is the same amount as what the average British woman spends on her wardrobe. Research shows we each have, on average, 152 pieces of clothing but tend to wear just five outfits on a loop  while 2,400 worth of clothes remain unworn.

You dont have to be a shopaholic to spend large amounts on clothes you dont need. Im no fashion fiend but I do enjoy the thrill of finding something that suits me which isnt completely dowdy and uncool.

And its not for nothing that clothes shopping is called retail therapy. We buy if were having a bit of a bad day.

Deep down, we all know its a short-lived fillip; a symptom of the modern quest for self-esteem, which is to be found more effectively in time spent with family and friends, or even doing a good piece of work. Self-esteem which comes wrapped in tissue paper in a shiny bag with a logo is nothing but fools gold, even if we are reluctant to admit it.

So, like many others, Ive found myself waking up to a sense that munificence, and attendant waste, is no longer acceptable, whether its takeaway coffee in a disposable cup or wearitonce fast fashion.

This sense of waste is slowly seeping into the collective conscience via newspaper articles, TV documentaries and the more enlightened attitudes of my childrens generation.

Splurging on clothes seems vulgar and irresponsible. Stella McCartney and the huge success of her ethical business is a perfect reflection of this.

I got the idea for my own year-long clothes curfew from a beloved friend, Hattie King, who had set herself the same challenge about nine months before.

Candida who has no fewer than 20 little black dresses, says she was inspired to stop shopping after realising she spends around 1,000 on clothes unnecessarily every year (file image)

I used to buy clothes without thinking, she said. Hundreds of pounds, sometimes on things I didnt even particularly like. It was a habit that had built up over the years to the point I didnt know I was doing it.

Hattie, a mother of three whos currently a mature student, found the ban surprisingly satisfying. Partly because of the money (and the particle of planet) she was saving, but also because it turns out pointless purchases didnt bring her nearly as much pleasure as a 400 price tag seemed to promise.

Wanting something and needing it are often muddled in our minds. But if we are honest with ourselves, it is hard to argue the need for a 1,000 Mulberry handbag.

What we need is to resist  especially when we cant afford it, already have six handbags and the world is in a perilous place due to over-stretched resources and unforgivable waste.

The books department at Amazon did well out of my clothes ban

For the first few weeks of my challenge, I was surprised not to experience any withdrawal symptoms. I did linger a bit longer in the lotions and potions aisles at Sainsburys and splashed out on a nice body moisturiser to satisfy any retail cold turkey.

I also admit to being tempted by a nicer brand of olive oil. The books department at Amazon did well out of my clothes ban. But at least buying a new novel was improving to the mind.

I steered clear of sales, which saved me a lot of time, bother and regrets. Sale items are so often the wrong size or colour but such a bargain we buy them anyway. And they invariably languish, unloved, at home.

Candida (pictured) says during her clothing ban she found a number of clothes in her drawers that she had forgotten about

Soon, I learned that by digging further down into my over-full chest of drawers, I could always find something old and forgotten that, once it saw the light of day again, felt new. Sometimes Id drool over a Brora catalogue or go into Other Stories to rattle a few hangers. There was a moment when I had a near-fatal yearning for a cashmere jersey by Wyse, beloved of so many celebrities.

But I managed to resist using Hatties tip to stick a reminder in my diary on the day my year came to an end about any items I really lusted after. Just in case it wasnt a passing penchant, but true love that I could indulge.

Meanwhile, though I still felt the odd pang, I walked out of clothes shops experiencing a strange sense of smugness for not having succumbed. Just as many years ago I learned not to walk into a patisserie when hungry, so I learned to avoid fancy shopping streets.

Luckily, I am between times regarding weddings: all my friends have been married for years and their children havent got there yet. So there were no big occasions which required anything new, and I already owned a LBD for every other drinks party. As Christmas drew nearer, I felt a bit wistful about not being able to land myself a new dress. But I held firm.

Finally, the end of the shopping ban arrived. To celebrate, I allowed myself to go into Zara. I bought four dresses for 97, all lovely. But they lay across a chair for days, unworn. They seemed to be admonishing me, shouting, Want not need!. As a result, their allure faded.

Candida (pictured) revealed that not shopping has taught her that not shopping is easy and can be beneficial for feeling good

Hattie says shes acquired an entirely new way of shopping now her curfew is over. She goes far less often, buys a fraction of what she used to and enjoys it all the more. The point is, she says, the recalibration has been lasting. I no longer have the urge to splurge.

In the end, I took three of those four Zara dresses back and got a refund. I enjoy the colourful, light 29 one I kept to a degree out of all proportion to its cost.

Not shopping has taught me that not shopping is really quite easy, and has the benefit of making one feel good about oneself in a good-with-a-capitalG way.

I took the new Zara dress when I went to stay with a friend who was a fashion editor at Vogue for nearly 20 years. She raved about it as if it might have been from Versace or Prada and wanted one herself. After my year of austerity, it was a thrilling moment.

She appreciated the success of one sensible buy, despite never having previously noticed the slight differences in my series of LBDs, pointlessly resembling their predecessors.

So successful was my shopping ban I have embarked on another year, dating from the receipt of my lovely, one Zara purchase.

So, yes, I will be wearing mainly black this summer, perhaps brightened with a colourful scarf or striking necklace. And in a nod to current fashions there is, of course, that Zara dress, which, although it has a black background is at least daubed with colourful flowers.
Like many women, Seana Talbot valued the support the National Childbirth Trust offered. So much so, that after the charity guided her through three pregnancies, she remained devoted to the NCT as a volunteer.

As her children grew older she worked her way from a grassroots campaigner to the upper echelons of the NCT, becoming a trustee in 2009 and its president in 2015. Popular and passionate, she used her position to fight tirelessly for mothers rights.

Until this month, that is, when, after 25 years spent championing the charity, she abruptly resigned with a statement every bit as furious as her support had hitherto been unflinching.

Seana claimed there was a profound lack of trust within the organisation and a culture of fear that she had experienced where people were frightened to speak up. She accused the NCT of blithely neglecting the charitys core values of childbirth and breastfeeding, and of failing to listen to the grassroots members, to whom it owed its success.

Seana Talbot (pictured), 54, who lives near Belfast, resigned from the National Childbirth Trust after 25 years because she believes the charity is neglecting its core values

Speaking exclusively from the kitchen of her home near Belfast, Seana says: To resign was a huge decision. I was heartbroken when I did it.

So what on earth is going on at the NCT? Certainly Seana, 54, gives the impression of a charity at war, and other NCT members  past and present  seem to agree something is wrong.

Issues range from rage at the promotion of bottle-feeding at the expense of breastfeeding, until now one of the organisations core priorities, and the collapse of the charitys membership from 100,000 members to under 50,000 members in just three years.

Most damaging of all, however, appears the charitys botched handling of a tragedy four years ago that has left irreparable scars.

And at the centre of all these alleged crises is one reportedly charming but ruthless man; the charitys first male chief executive, Nick Wilkie.

In April 2015, just days after Nicks appointment was announced, seven-week-old Grace Roseman was found dead in a Bednest cot at her home in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. The cot had been co-branded with the NCT, but it turned out to have a fatal design flaw  the side could be folded partially down  and Grace died after her head got stuck over the side of the cot, stopping her breathing.

Desperate to avoid damage to its reputation from the tragic death, the NCT hired the now defunct PR firm Bell Pottinger in 2016 for advice on how to handle the situation.

In a document seen by the Mail, Bell Pottinger  disgraced in 2017 after its campaign exploiting racial animosity in South Africa to benefit a client emerged  advised Cambridge-educated Wilkie, 43, to get rid of Seana and Bryan Macpherson, 46, a married father of four from the Outer Hebrides who became an NCT trustee in 2009.

The charitys first male chief executive Nick Wilkie (pictured), 43, forced Seana to quit the NCT in 2016, however grassroots members re-elected her as president in November 2017

It also recommended the removal of two other trustees who had been on the board in 2012 when the decision was made by the NCTs trading arm to cobrand with Bednest.

Despite acknowledging these Trustees had no responsibility whatsoever for the tragedy, the PR company wrote: Risk of serious harm to NCTs reputation would be significantly reduced if Mr Wilkie were able to give evidence that, as part of an on-going charitable governance review, the trustees that were in place at the time the co-branding decision was taken have stepped aside.

No matter that the cot had been declared safe by the Furniture Industry Research Association before the NCT made the decision to co-brand, that an inquest would later declare Graces death an accident or that the NCT accepted their trustees werent at fault.

Wilkie forced them to quit in December 2016, nonetheless  or bullied them out, as Seana, who has combined her work for the NCT with jobs at the Department of Health and NHS, where she was a commissioning manager responsible for a budget of over 100m a year, puts it.

She said they received an email from Wilkie, informing them he would remove their NCT membership if their resignations were not received by the following day.

Mother-of-three Seana, argues the NCT is neglecting core values of childbirth and breastfeeding in addition to not listening to grassroots members (file image)

Two trustees left without a fuss while Seana and Bryan clung on for a month until, Seana says, we couldnt take the pressure any more. She adds: I experienced anxiety, depression and insomnia. I lost my self-confidence. Im used to carrying stress, but this was way beyond anything reasonable. Her despair was compounded by confusion: We hadnt done anything wrong. It was so illogical.

This week, the NCT press officer emailed me their only comment on the tragedy, which doesnt mention the trustees at all: Both NCT and Bednest as organisations unreservedly apologise for their respective parts in the tragic death of Grace Roseman and have reached a settlement on a confidential basis with the Roseman family.

NCT and Bednest would like to make it clear that no blame should be attached to any member of Graces family in relation to this tragic incident' [Bednests lawyers initially tried to implicate Graces two-year-old sister in her death].

In November 2017 Seana was re-elected as president by NCT grassroots members shocked at how shed been treated. But she says her role became untenable. I felt isolated, not listened to, she says. Specific issues I wanted to be looked at were dismissed.

Seana, whose children are aged 24, 21, and 18, says: I think they have made a strategic decision to take the charity away from its traditional approach and into something the CEO sees as being more modern, but which many of us feel is less impactful.

Seana (pictured) says the NCT ignores it's responsibilities to members despite being a charity built on membership

While the NCT denies it is changing its core values, Nick Wilkies appointment in 2015 was always going to ruffle feathers.

However well-intentioned, there is only so much a man can understand about childbirth and breastfeeding, after all.

He arrived at the NCT in July 2015 from scandal-hit charity Save the Children, where he held the senior position of UK programmes director between 2013 and 2015, and which he left in the same year a review was being carried out after allegations of misconduct had been made against two senior members of staff  its former chief executive Justin Forsyth and former policy director Brendan Cox.

Forsyth was accused of making inappropriate comments to three separate women, for which he has apologised unreservedly. Cox, 42, accused of sexual assault, denied the allegation but later acknowledged he had made mistakes and caused some women hurt and offence.

In July 2015, Cox, widower of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox, resigned from Save The Children. In January 2016, Forsyth followed.

There is absolutely no suggestion that Wilkie, a married father of three from South London, behaved inappropriately during his time at Save the Children, or had any connection with the alleged behaviour of Cox or Forsyth. I have heard it alleged this week, however, that he transported Save the Childrens staffled culture to the NCT, which has historically been guided by its members.

Nick Wilkie (pictured left with Seana) separated membership of the NCT from the price of antenatal classes when he joined

The NCT is a membership charity and the boards responsibility is to those members, says Seana. I wont say they dont understand this, but basically they ignore it. Theres no overtly bad behaviour, but theres a machine that clicks into place to close down dissent, whether it appears in the boardroom, among practitioners or among volunteers.

NCTs chair of trustees, Jessica Figueras, denied Seanas allegations. She said a review had found no evidence of bullying at the NCT, which would be treated with the utmost seriousness and not tolerated in any way.

However, executives appear determined to move the charity away from its roots. This month, the NCTs Instagram stories  videos posted on the platform  were taken over by social media influencer Naomi Courts, who lists bottle feeding company Tommee Tippee as a partner on her Instagram page, a decision that caused an uproar among some NCT breastfeeding counsellors.

Mother-of-three Michelle Bradley, 34, who left her job as a NCT practitioner last year, recalls being horrified by another NCT Instagram post  later deleted  about how to get your pre-pregnancy body back. Were trying to take the pressure off parents; theyre piling it on, says Michelle. This week the NCT apologised for social media errors.

After Wilkie joined, he made membership of the NCT separate from the price of antenatal classes  which cost up to 22 an hour  and something women have to opt into rather than out of.

Seana (pictured) revealed she's had overwhelming support from others who share her concerns, and that her family is relieved she's no longer involved in the NCT

Membership plummeted and income has dropped by 10 per cent since 2016, from 17.3 million to 15.6 million a year. His prediction was that membership would fall slightly but then pick back up again. It hasnt, says Seana. Since the new chief executive came in, the NCTs income has fallen every single year. In any other business or sector, people would be asking questions.

The NCT told the Mail it has delivered a total operating surplus of 1.4 m over the past four years. Jessica Figueras admits facing challenges on income, but says the significant reduction in membership income was anticipated.

What has arguably upset Seana most has been the way the NCT has handled a complaint Bryan Macpherson made about being bullied off the board. But no further investigation was commissioned.

After a distraught Seana walked out of a board meeting discussing Bryans case last March, she was told by another member that Wilkie brushed off the possibility she might resign with the words: It will be OK. Well issue a statement and it will all blow over.

Seana says she has been overwhelmed with support by others who share her concerns. Back home, however, her family is relieved she is no longer involved.

My husband said my mental health dipped every time I had to go to a board meeting, she says. It affected my family as much as me.

Nick Wilkie refused repeated requests for an interview from the Mail. Jessica Figueras said that after Seana complained about the decision to her force her to resign last June, the charity followed legal advice to work with Seana and a mediator: We are very grateful to Seana for her long and substantial contribution to the charity over the past 25 years and wish her well for the future.
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Hospitals in West Virginia, which has the nation's highest overdose rate, are uniting to sue some of the country's largest opioid companies.

Nearly 30 of the state's hospitals, along with 10 centers in Kentucky, are listed on the lawsuit against companies including Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.

They accuse the companies of flooding the Appalachian region - which snakes along the East of the US - with addictive, deadly painkillers that has killed tens of thousands, leaving hospitals to deal with the financial, logistical, and harrowing aftermath.

The case, filed in Marshall County on Monday, is the first from a large group of hospitals in a state taking legal against opioid companies.

Appalachia has been hit hardest by the opioid epidemic.

People there are 61 percent more likely to die of a drug overdose than anywhere else in the US, according to 2016 stats.

The mountainous region touches parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.

It engulfs all of West Virginia (see the central state, marred by dark blue, in the map above, courtesy of the University of Chicago's data on opioids in Appalachia).

The map shows that the entire region has been slammed by drugs, but opioids have hit West Virginia harder than most.

Monday's suit is just the latest legal action against opioid companies.

There are about 2,000 such suits across the country filed by state and local governments, American Indian tribes, unions, hospitals and others seeking to hold the drug industry responsible for the opioid crisis.

Hospitals in West Virginia, which has the nation's highest opioid overdose rate, 'are at the front line of the opioid epidemic, and our ability to deliver care has been compromised because of the enormous amount of resources we have had to dedicate to treating those affected by it,' said Ronald Pellegrino, chief operating officer at West Virginia University Hospitals, one of the plaintiffs.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and members of its controlling family, the Sacklers, are named as defendants, along with distributors such as AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health, among others.

Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania-based AmerisourceBergen issued a statement calling the suit 'counterproductive.'

'A significant number of these doctors - 38 percent in the US - are employed by hospitals, which is where in many cases they prescribe, fulfill through distributors, and then dispense medications to patients,' the statement reads.

'This is why hospitals pursuing legal action related to opioid abuse against other members of the supply chain is counterproductive and ignores the facts.'

Purdue Pharma, based in Stamford, Connecticut, and Cardinal Health, in Dublin, Ohio, didn't immediately respond to voicemails seeking comment.

The lawsuit says the unlawful marketing, distribution and sale of opioids has cost hospitals millions of dollars in uncompensated care.

It cites a doubling in the national rate of opioid-related visits to emergency departments and says the cost of treating opioid overdose victims in intensive care units jumped to an average of $92,400 between 2009 and 2015.

'Imagine what the hospitals - who are the entities of last resort - have gone through as part of this crisis,' said the hospitals' lawyer, Stephen B. Farmer.

'Their day-to-day ability to treat people effectively has been completely disrupted by the whole spate of opioid issues that come through their doors every day.'

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioids were involved in nearly 48,000 deaths in 2017.
Hospital cafes run by Costa Coffee and Subway are contaminated with 'unacceptably' high levels of deadly bacteria, a damning investigation has found.

Researchers from BBC One's Watchdog Live found salmonella and staphylococcus in eight branches run by the food and coffee giants.

The team, trained by a clinical microbiologist in how to correctly test for the bugs, swabbed tables, trays and ice at 10 Costa-owned cafes, 10 Subway cafes and 10 cafes run by the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS).

And while salmonella and staphylococcus were found in numerous Subway and Costa branches, none was found in cafes run by the RVS.

Experts said it was dangerous to have infectious bacteria in hospital environments which are used by sick patients and people with weak immune systems.

Salmonella and staphylococcus bacteria has been found in hospital cafes run by Costa Coffee

They sent their findings back to a lab, where bacteria counts that were classed as 'unacceptably high' in six Costa branches, two branches of Subway.

Unacceptable levels of bacteria were also found in one branch of the RVS but neither salmonella or staphylococcus were found there.

Salmonella, which can cause serious food poisoning and kill, was found in one sample of ice from a Costa-run cafe and two samples taken from tables.

In the Subway branches, which all carried a stellar Food Standards Agency EHO 5* rating, salmonella was found on two tray samples and four table samples.

A sample of ice in one of the Subway cafes was also found to contain staphylococcus, as did one sample from a tray.

Staphylococcus was found in one sample of ice from Costa Coffee as well as four tray samples and one table sample.

The bug can cause staph infections, which typically result in rashes and blotches the skin, but can lead to blood poisoning or sepsis.

Environmental Health specialist Sian Buckley said the results were 'unacceptable' because patients with weakened immune systems are coming into regular contact with the cafes.

Two out of 10 branches of the sandwich company Subway were found to have 'unacceptable' levels of bacteria by the BBC investigation

She said: 'Hygiene practices should be good across all food businesses, but in this environment, there is a greater responsibility to ensure that practices are managed very effectively.

'Customers in this environment are a highly vulnerable group of people. The presence of salmonella and staphylococcus in any samples is unacceptable, and is an indicator of poor hygiene practices.'

Watchdog Live presenter Nikki Fox said: 'This is perhaps our most important Swab Mob investigation because we are looking at cafes in hospitals, places you'd expect to be clean.

'I don't think most people would expect salmonella or staphylococcus to be present  and certainly not in things we're actually consuming.'

A Costa Coffee spokesperson said that the company was 'very disappointed' with the findings, 'especially as nine of the 10 stores investigated all have the top Food Hygiene Rating of 5 (Very Good), with the 10th still awaiting inspection by the Local Authority'.

'We believe Costa Coffee stores provide a valuable service within hospitals, offering a familiar and comfortable environment for customers and it is extremely important to us that, as with our High Street stores, they operate to high standards of hygiene and robust cleaning processes, in line with the Food Standard Agency's advice.

'We are confident we have the right policies, procedures and equipment in place but following these results have taken immediate action to review how they are implemented and to conduct independent checks at all our hospital stores.'

Subway said it was looking into the findings to make sure 'safety priorities are met'.

'As a result of this being brought to our attention, we have contacted each of the franchise owners for the Hospital stores in question who have confirmed that they are following their policies and procedures,' a spokesperson said.

'In addition, we can confirm that each of these stores has had an additional deep clean over and above their regular cleaning schedule to ensure stringent cleanliness and food safety priorities are met. All ten Subway hospital sites carry an EHO 5* rating.'

Neither salmonella nor staphylococcus were found in any samples collected from the RVS.

The voluntary service said: 'We are reassured by the results of this test which show our dedicated volunteers and staff succeeding in doing their utmost to keep our cafes clean, while offering the special care and support to patients and hospital staff that Royal Voluntary Service is known for.

'Overall, we have 6,000 volunteers working in the NHS supported by our staff team, many of whom work in our cafes and shops.

'Our hospital cafe model, operated in over 200 sites, is very different to others as in addition to serving refreshments and manning the tills, trained volunteers are often among our customers, offering a supportive word or a listening ear.

'Any money we make either goes back into the NHS or funds the charity's work.'

You can watch Watchdog Live tonight at 8pm on BBC One.
England's upcoming 'opt-out' organ donation scheme will not include a deceased person's genitals, brain or face, Government proposals have revealed.

From next year, everyone who lives in England and is over 18 will be automatically enrolled to donate their organs when they die unless they choose to 'opt out'.

However, this will not include donations for 'novel transplants', like the ovaries, uterus or feet, which still require prior consent from the deceased.

This is because 'the public may not expect rare or novel transplants to be included in opt-out'.

The scheme was introduced after 'Max and Keira's Law' was passed to increase the number of donation procedures. Three people die every day in England while waiting for a life-saving organ.

The law is named after a boy who received a heart transplant from a girl who donated the organ after she died in a car crash in 2017.

Although research suggests 80 per cent of people would be happy to donate their organs after they die, only 37 per cent take the time to register as donors under the existing 'opt-in' scheme.

Max and Keira's Law - named after a boy who received a heart transplant from a girl who donated it - cleared the House of Commons last year. Max Johnson (left) was saved by a heart transplant given to him by nine-year-old donor Keira Ball (right) following her death in 2017

A Government consultation, open until July 22, allows people to comment on the law change and suggests the types of tissues which will be included.

Common transplants include those of the heart, lungs or kidneys.

Although considered routine procedures, only one per cent of people die in circumstances that allow for organ donation, creating a huge unmet need.

For instance, 3,500 people had their sight restored last year due to donated corneas, however, an additional 700 cases went unmet.

More than 5,100 people in England are waiting for a transplant and by the time a suitable donor is found, the patient may be too ill to receive it. In England alone, 643 people were removed from the waiting list last year for this reason.

WHAT IS AN OPT-OUT ORGAN DONATION SYSTEM? What is an opt-out organ donation system? Such a system presumes adults consent to donating their organs, unless they explicitly choose not to. How is it different to the current system? Max and Keira's Law, as it is to be named, is the polar opposite of the current system in England. Currently, adults in England have to sign-up to a national register if they wish for their organs to be taken after their death. Will people be able to defy the law? Under the new opt-out system, family members are still given a final opportunity to not go ahead with the organ donation. And the rule only applies to those who are deemed mentally capable of giving consent. Will the whole of the UK move to the opt-out system? Wales became the first country in the UK to adopt the system in 2015, which was deemed a 'significant' and 'progressive' change. Scotland is edging ever closer to passing the same opt out organ donation bill and Northern Ireland is expected to follow suit. Why will an opt-out system help? Campaigners have long argued such a system would increase the number of organs available. Figures estimate that around 6,000 patients are on the waiting list for an organ. Such lists can be as long as five years. Advertisement

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care told the BBC: 'Our priority is to improve the number of life-saving organ transplants that can take place - and we expect Max and Keira's law, which comes into effect next year, to save hundreds of lives each year.

'As set out in our consultation, we are proposing that the system for rare or experimental transplants - which requires express consent from relatives - remains the same under the new legislation.'

To increase the number of donors, the English Government has introduced The Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2019, which is expected to come into play from the UK's spring next year.

This under consultation, with the Government asking the public to come forward with their views on whether it is excluding the 'right organs and tissues'.

Presumed consent has been in Wales since December 2015. Scotland is edging ever closer to passing the same opt-out bill and Northern Ireland is expected to follow suit.

The Act only applies to routine transplants, not 'novel and/or rare' ones, such as face, fingers or limb procedures.

It also excludes the use of tissues or cells as 'starting materials' to manipulate a patient's DNA, which is known as Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products.

If novel transplants become standard practice and there is a high demand for them, the Government may remove them from the list of organs excluded from opt-out. However, it does not expect this to happen in the 'near future'.

As with the existing 'opt-in' scheme, people on the Organ Donation Register will continue to be able to specify exactly what organs they do or not want to give under the 2019 Act.

The Act assumes all adults are willing to be organ donors, with the exception of those who 'lack the mental capacity to understand deemed consent' or lived in England for less than a year before their death.

Residents can also nominate a representative who will make a decision on whether they donate their organs after they die.

Even if the deceased does not elect a representative or opt out, their family members will still have the right to refuse the procedure under the new Act.

WHAT ORGANS WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ENROLLED FOR DONATION? Heart - either whole or its valves

Lungs

Liver

Kidneys

Pancreas, either whole or for cells that produce insulin

Intestinal organs: Small bowel, stomach, abdominal wall, colon and spleen

Eyes

Nervous tissue

Arteries, veins and blood vessels

Bone

Muscle

Tendon

Skin

Rectus fascia - the tissue that encases the abdominal muscles Advertisement

AND WHAT ORGANS WILL NOT BE USED WITHOUT A DONOR'S PERMISSION? Brain

Spinal cord

Face - including the nose and mouth

Womb

Ovaries

Penis and testicles

Windpipe

Limbs

Hands and fingers

Feet and toes

Placenta

Umbilical cord

Foetus and embryo

Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products - the use of human cells and tissues as 'starting materials' in medicine Advertisement

The law change was inspired by Max Johnson, 11, who was saved by a heart transplant after the organ was given to him by nine-year-old donor Keira Ball following her death in 2017.

He had spent seven months waiting for a donor heart before undergoing the nine-hour operation, which was filmed by camera crews in a UK first.

Max, of Winsford, Cheshire, suffers from cardiomyopathy, which affects his heart's size, shape and structure.

The youngster underwent the life-saving procedure last year. Before that, he spent seven months hooked up to a pump that was keeping him alive.

Max's father, Paul, 45, praised the law change, saying: 'It's been a privilege to have been involved in such a noble cause. It is a wonderful legacy for Max and Keira. It will make a difference.'

Keira died when her familys Vauxhall Vectra hit a Ford Ranger 4x4 on the A361 in Devon. It also left her mother and brother fighting for their lives.

Her organs saved four lives in total. Max was given her heart, while a man in his 30s was given her kidney.

A woman in her 50s, who had been waiting more than nine years, was given Keira's other kidney. Her pancreas and liver went to another little boy.
The anti-impotence drug Cialis could be used to cure heart failure, according to new research.

The erectile dysfunction drug Tadalafil, which is similar to Viagra and sold under the brand name Cialis, was found to slow and even reverse the progression of the condition in sheep by researchers at the University of Manchester.

The British Heart Foundation-funded study is a breakthrough in the hunt to cure the disease which kills 66,000 Britons each year.

Anti-impotence drug Cialis, which is similar to Viagra, could be used to cure heart failure by restoring the organ's ability to respond to adrenaline

Leading professor Andrew Trafford said it was 'entirely possible' the treatment will work on humans.

He said: 'This discovery is an important advance in a devastating condition which causes misery for thousands of people across the UK and beyond.

'We do have limited evidence from human trials and epidemiological studies that show Tadalafil can be effective in treating heart failure.

'This study provides further confirmation, adds mechanistic details and demonstrates that Tadalafil could now be a possible therapy for heart failure.

'It's entirely possible that some patients taking it for erectile dysfunction have also unwittingly enjoyed a protective effect on their heart.'

Almost one million Britons are living with heart failure, which occurs when the heart is too weak to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.

It causes a build-up of fluid that backs up into the lungs, resulting in breathlessness as well fluid retention, resulting in swelling of different parts of the body.

But in the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, Cialis was shown to reduce and even reverse the symptoms.

Sheep were used as the physiology of their hearts are similar to that of humans, researchers said.

In the study, the animals were fitted with pacemakers to induce the symptoms of heart failure.

When the symptoms started worsening, the sheep were administered with a dose of the drug similar to that given to men for erectile dysfunction.

HOW DOES VIAGRA TREAT ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION? Viagra increases blood flow to the penis to help men get an erection. It does this by relaxing your blood vessels, making it easier for the heart to pump them around your body. It usually takes 30 to 60 minutes for the drug to work for erectile dysfunction. You can take it up to four hours before you want to have sex. Taking Viagra alone will not cause an erection, you need to be aroused for it to work. Viagra commonly comes in a small blue pill, but occasionally comes as a liquid you can drink. Advertisement

Within a short period of time, the progression of the systems was brought to a halt.

The biological cause of breathlessness in heart failure - the inability of the heart to respond to adrenaline - was almost completely reversed.

Tadalafil blocks an enzyme called Phosphodiesterase 5 which regulates how the body responds to hormones like adrenaline.

The research team found the drug altered a series of chemical reactions in the body and restored the heart's ability to respond to adrenaline.

The treatment also boosted the heart's ability to force blood around the body when working harder.

Professor Metin Avkiran, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said the use of erection drugs had 'come full cycle' as it was originally intended to cure heart problems.

He added: 'We seem to have gone full-circle, with findings from recent studies suggesting that they may be effective in the treatment of some forms of heart disease  in this case, heart failure.

'We need safe and effective new treatments for heart failure, which is a cruel and debilitating condition that affects almost a million people in the UK.

'The evidence from this study  that a Viagra-like drug could reverse heart failure - should encourage further research in humans to determine if such drugs may help to save and improve lives.'

Viagra has already been successful in treating patients with pulmonary hypertension which affects around 250,000 people in the UK. It causes high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs.

It can be caused by heart or lung conditions such as emphysema and bronchitis and in some people is caused by lack of oxygen to the lungs, or hypoxia.
A student has revealed how she snapped the metal rods that were inserted to correct her curved spine when she sneezed.

Rosie Paltridge, 19, had sections of her vertebrae fused together on June 4 2015 after suffering from scoliosis that left her in a back brace since she was just 12 years old.

Doctors inserted three rods to realign her backbone, which was curved in three different places by 17, 63 and 42. With the operation going to plan, Miss Paltridge was thrilled to be walking as normal just three months later.

But Miss Paltridge's pain returned since six months later, which eventually caused her to collapse a year to the date since her surgery. In June 2016 she was diagnosed with a staphylococcus infection, which is thought to have come from the 'metal hardware'.

Miss Paltridge, of Rocklin, California, was then sent home from hospital too soon, which caused the infection to destabilise the rods, forcing doctors to remove one in September when it protruded from her back.

Thinking the worst was over, Miss Paltridge was horrified when she heard a loud 'crack' while sneezing in March 2017, with one of her remaining rods snapping.

Rosie Paltridge snapped the metal rods that were inserted to correct her curved spine when she sneezed. A staphylococcus infection 'ate away' at the metal structure, which caused her body to reject the rods. She is pictured left after the ordeal and right under anaesthesia for one of three PICC lines that administered antibiotics into her bloodstream to fight the bacteria

Left X-ray shows the extent of Miss Paltridge's 'S-shaped' spine, which was curved in three different places by 17, 63 and 42. Right shows her backbone realigned after she underwent a spinal fusion, which involved inserting metal rods. This initially seemed to have gone to plan

Miss Paltridge first developed a dull backache when she was just six years old, which her family put down to her practising gymnastics.

However, it was not until she turned 12 that doctors noticed her spine was curved in three places and fitted her with a back brace.

'My curves were around 10, 35 and 20, going from cervical down to lumbar,' Miss Paltridge said. 'I was supposed to wear the brace as close to 24 hours a day as I could, I would even sleep in it occasionally.

'However, even with the brace, my curve continued to grow and by the time I was 14, my thoracic curve had jumped to the high forties [degrees].'

With few options remaining, Miss Paltridge had her spine fused. This involves 'welding' two or more vertebrae together to create a single, solid bone that restores stability to the spine.

Speaking of the operation, she said: 'I woke up two inches taller.' And within just a few months, Miss Paltridge noticed her condition improving.

'I got a taste of how a successful correction could be and I felt that things were looking up,' she said.

Miss Paltridge (pictured left after) collapsed a year to the day of her surgery after enduring six months of pain. After relying on a back brace since she was 12, Miss Paltridge was thrilled when she could walk independently just three months after the surgery. However, the procedure's complications later left her reliant on a frame (seen right)

Left and right X-ray show the 'clean break' of her right spinal rod after she sneezed

But her relief was short lived, with her developing pain in December that continued to worsen until June, when she collapsed.

'I didn't know what was going on, my blood hurt, every breath caused actual physical pain to the entirety of my body,' Miss Paltridge said.

The student went to hospital, where she was diagnosed with a staphylococcus infection and told she could have died within 24 hours if she had not had come in when she did.

'We assume the infection originated from the hardware, so my body began to reject the hardware instead of fuse with it,' Miss Paltridge said.

'I also had an abscess forming, which we were unaware of at the time because it was tucked up under my titanium next to my spine, so it was blocked by the hardware in scans.'

Miss Paltridge (pictured left after) describes the pain of the 'crack' as 'outrageous'. Doctors initially refused to remove the snapped rod due to fears it would be dangerous for her to go under the knife again. She later had the surgery when she began vomiting blood due to the rod 'stabbing a nerve in the spinal cord'. She is pictured right after the operation

Her mobility was so badly affected by the ordeal she was sometimes confined to a wheelchair

Miss Paltridge was kept as an inpatient for a month before being discharged in July. However, the pain returned, which forced her back to hospital in August.

It was then doctors discovered her body was still fighting the infection, as well as a burst abscess.

'The infection prevented my body from accepting the metal [rods] and severe infections like that eat away at bone and metal, destabilising the structure,' Miss Paltridge said.

'My body may have known the rod was the source of infection and was trying to rid myself of it.'

By October the top part of the rod was visibly sticking out of Miss Paltridge's back and had to be partially removed.

'Doctors cut the right rod halfway down and although I was horrified that they were leaving my rods asymmetrical, I understand the logic behind opening me up as minimally as possible,' she said.

'I could have easily died by being put under anaesthesia from how weak I was.

'After the operation, I felt much improved due to how deformed I was from the rod rejecting. I felt so free with it out of my body. Previously, I could barely lay on a bed because of how far the screws poked out.'

Over a year on from her final surgery, Miss Paltridge (pictured after) still struggles every day

Miss Paltridge's back is pictured left after her first surgery and right showing her scars

WHAT IS SCOLIOSIS? Scoliosis is the sideways curvature of the spine, which can cause uneven shoulders and lead to clothes that fit poorly. The condition is thought to affect up to three per cent of people in the US and UK and usually arises during a growth spurt just before puberty. Treatment is not always necessary for mild scoliosis cases. However, a brace can help stop the curve worsening as patients grow older. If the scoliosis is progressing rapidly in a young child, rods may be inserted that straighten the spine and adjust in length as the patient grows. Surgery may be required for severe cases, which can reduce the amount of space in the chest and make it difficult for the lungs to function. The most common procedure is called a spinal fusion, which is a major surgery that helps to correct the curve, the NHS says. It can last up to seven hours. It involves connecting two or more bones in the vertebrae so they cannot move independently. Metal rods or screws keep the backbone straight. Scoliosis can be caused by cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy, birth defects, injuries or infections. However, its cause is often unknown. Advertisement

Putting the ordeal behind her, things took a dramatic turn for the worse when a sneeze six months after the operation caused one of her rods to snap.

'I heard a crack and felt the most outrageous pain,' Miss Paltridge said. 'I knew what happened but couldn't believe it.

'I had X-rays taken at the hospital and they confirmed I had broken my rod.

'We assumed the infection ate away at the hardware. It takes two years for bone to accept titanium and fuse together, but I didn't have this time under my belt before the infections began, so my fusion was unstable.'

Doctors reportedly initially refused to remove the snapped rod because it was a 'clean break' and going under the knife again may be dangerous.

'However, by November I started to black out, forget words and throw up blood because the rod was stabbing a nerve in the spinal cord which is used for brain function,' Miss Paltridge said.

'So, in November 2017 I had to have an experimental operation to remove the broken rod.

'They put tubes in through the right side of my ribs and deflated my lung in order to get to the hardware and remove it. They then lay me on my stomach and removed the remaining rods.'

'They removed two sections from my ribs on the right side and used that, and a protein serum, to bind it to what was left of my spine and avoid more unnatural materials in my body to decrease chances of another rejection.

'They also added two cross links which are horizontal bars that go across the top and bottom of the fusion, providing more stability.'

Surgery to remove the snapped rod involved cutting into her spine and ribs (scars pictured)

More than a year later, Miss Paltridge still struggles every day and is speaking out to educate people on the seriousness of sclerosis.

'Scoliosis is far from being understood from a medical perspective, and those who are affected by this condition are presented with no education, few treatment plans and no emotional support,' she said.

'I want to empower the community to explore every available option and to be fully informed on how this will impact their life. Trust your gut, believe in your body, fight for answers, for your health.'

She also wants to inspire those going through a tough time not to give up.

'Never let the world tell you that you can't, but more importantly never tell yourself you can't, as you're the only one who can truly stand in your way,' Miss Paltridge said.

'It's hard to find meaning in life when your ambitions surpass your body's capabilities, but you learn to find a new purpose. For me, that's educating as many people as possible on the seriousness of this condition.

'You are worthy of love and any extra effort that needs to be expressed by other people due to your limitations.'

Find out more about Miss Paltridge on her Instagram account www.instagram.com/bent.not.broken7.
The US government has declared Roundup is safe - despite a movement of lawsuits from Americans claiming the weed killer gave them cancer.

Two juries have sided against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, after deciding there was enough evidence to show glyphosate is carcinogenic.

But on Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency took the opposite view in a draft conclusion of a review on glyphosate.

The agency found it posed 'no risks of concern' for humans and 'is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans'.

Critics say the finding is based on studies funded by the lucrative weed killer industry.

Two juries have sided against Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, after deciding there was enough evidence to show glyphosate is carcinogenic

Last month, Edwin Hardeman, 70, of Santa Rosa, California, won a case against Monsanto.

He has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system after using the weed killer to kill poison oak and invasive plants on his 56-acre property over the course of 30 years.

Hardeman told jurors the spray routinely got on his skin before he was diagnosed with the disease in 2015.

In March, jurors unanimously found Monsanto failed to warn customers that its weedkiller could cause cancer.

The verdict was a huge blow to the company, as this case is being held up as a precedent for thousands of others in Northern California alone.

It came after that of DeWayne 'Lee' Johnson, a terminally ill man also battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, who took the pharmaceutical giant to court last year.

Former groundsman Johnson, who was given weeks to live, was awarded nearly $290 million in damages, before an appeal saw his sum sliced to $78.5 million - pending another appeal.

Glyphosate is a controversial chemical that is currently under particular scrutiny in Europe

Their cases paved the way for thousands more cases, including one involving a married couple who both developed the same cancer after using Roundup.

A spokesman for Bayer said: 'Though we are still reviewing the full interim decision, it is significant that the U.S. EPA and other expert regulators who have assessed the extensive body of science on glyphosate-based herbicides for more than 40 years continue to conclude that these products are safe when used as directed and that glyphosate is not carcinogenic.

'Bayer firmly believes that the science supports the safety of glyphosate-based herbicides, which are some of the most thoroughly studied products of their kind, and is pleased that the regulators tasked with assessing this extensive body of science continue to reach favorable conclusions.'
A woman's eyelashes grew to 3cm (1.2inches) long in just three weeks as a bizarre side effect of her cancer treatment.

The 45-year-old was having therapy for late-stage bowel cancer when she noticed that her eyelashes were growing extremely fast.

The woman, who has not been named, said people began asking where she had been to get such realistic eyelash extensions.

But she admitted the strange growth has become a 'beauty problem' because the lashes are itchy and can become infected.

Portuguese doctors reported the drug cetuximab was to blame because it increased the growth of her hair cells.

The 45-year-old woman, from Lisbon in Portugal, ended up with eyelashes 3cm long because of a bizarre side effect of her cancer treatment

Although she was complimented, the woman needed the eyelashes (pictured) trimmed because they were itchy and causing infection

The authors, led by Dr Leonor Vasconcelos Matos, revealed the case study in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

In November 2017, the woman was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer, for which she started treatment in the December.

Despite a slight rash after five cycles of chemotherapy, the woman reported a good tolerance to the treatment.

A rash occurs in 80 per cent of people having cetuximab, and more than one in six people (15 per cent) have a severe skin rash, according to Cancer Research UK.

The authors wrote: 'After 14 cycles, she went to the oncology clinics with an acute infection of the eyelids.'

At the same time, the woman complained that her eyelashes had spurted in growth in the past three weeks.

She described the growth as 'extremely troublesome and unpleasant'.

WHAT CANCER TREATMENTS MIGHT CAUSE THE EYELASHES TO GROW? Elongation of the eyelashes has predominantly been observed in patients with either colorectal or lung cancer. It is most frequently associated with cetuximab and erlotinib; however, it has also been described in individuals treated with gefitinib or panitumumab. These treatments block proteins called epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR). Cetuximab is a cancer treatment drug and is also known by its brand name Erbitux. It is a treatment for advanced bowel cancer and head and neck cancer. Side effects include tiredness, a skin rash, liver changes, flu-like symptoms, a sore mouth, excessive hair growth, a skin infection, loss of fertility and allergic reaction. Each of these effects happens in more than one in ten people. The long eyelashes do not stop the treatment from working and many patients are happy with the change. Trimming the lashes with scissors can usually help any itchiness or infections. The eyelashes often return to their original length at variable time periods after EGFR inhibitor therapy is discontinued. Source: Cancer Research UK and American Journal of Clinical Dermatology Advertisement

She told the study authors: 'People often come to me and say "where have you made your eyelashes, they look so real". This is the fun part.

'The not so fun part is the discomfort and itching that the long eyelashes cause, and when you scratch with your hands, the more likely it is to make infections. And this is terrible.'

Trichomegaly of the eyelashes is a condition in which the eyelashes are abnormally long, usually longer than 12mm in the centre.

They may become more curly, thick, and dark in colour.

It can be a disorder from birth, but has also been reported in association with medication, HIV and connective tissue disorder.

It is a rare side effect of cetuximab, appearing usually within two to five months of treatment, the doctors said.

Cetuximab works by attaching itself to epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) which are on the surface of cancer cells.

It blocks protein from reaching the cancer cells and helping them grow.

The mechanism appears to tamper with the a pathway in kertinocytes, a cell which produces the protein keratin which is crucial for hair, skin and nails, the doctors said.

They added: 'Although apparently harmless, it can lead to eyelid infections and corneal ulceration due to abnormal eyelash growth.'

After explaining this to the patient, she and the doctors agreed that they would continue treatment because it was working so well.

With the help of a beautician, the woman trimmed her lashes to a suitably long length every couple of weeks and was advised on how to clean and manage them to avoid infection.

'The patient reported a marked improvement in her quality of life,' the doctors said.

'Understanding cutaneous side effects of [the drugs] is important in order to improve quality of life.'

It was not reported if the woman's eyelashes stayed this length or what the outcome of her cancer treatment was.
An adorable video has gone viral showing a father sharing a 'heartbeat ritual' with his infant daughter as she recovers from a rare polio-like illness.

Opal Trimble, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in March when she was just five months old.

She's spent the last several weeks recovering from the illness, which affects the nervous system, at The Children's Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethany.

Her father, Josh, told Good Morning America, which involves the father-daughter pair each bumping their chests, that he came up with the routine to let Opal know she was always in his heart, even when he couldn't be there with her.

An adorable video has gone viral showing a father sharing a 'heartbeat ritual' with his daughter as she recovers from a rare polio-like illness (left and right). Opal Trimble, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis in March when she was five months old. Pictured, left and right: Josh Trimble beating his chest and Opal mimicking the movement

AFM is a rare disease that attacks the area of the spinal cord called gray matter, which causes the body's muscles and reflexes to weaken. Pictured: Josh and Gretchen Trimble with their daughter Opal celebrating Easter

Josh said he was saying goodbye to Opal over her crib one day as he was getting ready to leave to go watch her siblings, a five-year-old brother and a three-year-old sister.

He thumped on his chest with his fist. In reply, Opal, now seven months, copied her father and beat her chest as well.

'That moment of me beating on my chest was actually Opal and I sharing a heartbeat,' Josh told Good Morning America.

'I was letting her know that even though we may not be there physically together, we share a heartbeat.'

The video, which was filmed by Opal's mother and Josh's wife, Gretchen, was then shown to doctors as a sign of Opal's progress after she spent her first seven weeks in the hospital paralyzed.

'We had just finished some hard days of physical therapy for Opal, and her physical therapist had been trying to get her to reach out for things,' Gretchen told Good Morning America.

'We were just so encouraged, because the fact that she was mimicking [Josh] told us she knew what she wanted to do and she did it.'

Since the video was shared on Facebook by the Oklahoma Blood Institute, it's been viewed more than 18,000 times.

Most children regain movement but, in some cases, they are required to be on respirators and could even die from neurological complications. Opal (left and right) is currently at The Children's Center Rehabilitation Hospital in Bethany

Opal's father, John, said he started the 'ritual' by thumping on his chest with his fist one day to let his infant daughter know she was always in his heart. Pictured: Opal with nurses

Little Opal came down with a cold in February but, within days, she was struggling to breathe and couldn't move her arms or legs, reported The Shawnee News-Star.

Her parents rushed her to Integris Children's at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where the infant was admitted.

In early March, Opal was diagnosed with AFM, a rare condition that attacks the area of the spinal cord called gray matter, which causes the body's muscles and reflexes to weaken.

It's been called a polio-like illness due to its resemblance to the viral infection that impacted hundreds of thousands, particularly between the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Symptoms often develop after a viral infection, such as enterovirus or West Nile virus, but often no clear cause is found.

Patients start off having flu-like symptoms including sneezing and coughing. This slowly turns into muscle weakness, difficulty moving the eyes and then polio-like symptoms including facial drooping and difficulty swallowing.

In the most severe cases, respiratory failure can occur when the muscles that support breathing become weak. In rare cases, AFM can cause neurological complications that could lead to death.

No specific treatment is available for AFM and interventions are generally recommended on a case-by-case basis.

In April, Opal was transferred to Bethany Children's Center so doctors could put her in physical and occupational therapy.

According to The News-Star, Opal is the third and youngest person in Oklahoma to contract AFM, so her treatment has been deemed experimental.

Immediately, Opal mimicked the move and beat her chest as well, which her parent say show she is regaining movement. Pictured: Opal with her father Josh

Opal's parents say the infant has continued to do the movement she performed in the video, mostly initiating it with Josh. Pictured: Opal with her mother Gretchen

In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 228 cases of AFM in 41 states.

However, increases in AFM cases occur generally every two years. In 2019, there have only been four confirmed cases in four states.

The Trimbles have created a Facebook group to post updates on Opal's condition titled Opal's Fight - Team Trimble.

Dr Michael Johnson, medical director of The Children's Center and one of Opal's physicians, said the video was encouraging because it means Opal is regaining mobility in her arms.

'It is remarkable to see her spirit and to see how just bright and happy she is through all of it,' said Dr Johnson told Good Morning America.

Opal's parents say that the infant has continued to do the movement she performed in the video.

'She seems to initiate it with Josh,' said Gretchen. 'She sees Daddy and starts doing it on her own.'
Karolina Jasko was a high school senior when, while getting her nails done, she saw a black line running down her right thumbnail.

She had been getting acrylic nails applied once or twice a month on top of her real nails that were cured with ultraviolet (UV) light, but never noticed any marks before that day in December 2016.

At first, she brushed it off as bruise but, one week later, when her finger began swelling and turning red, she went to her doctor in Chicago, Illinois.

After being referred to a dermatologist, and having a biopsy done, Jasko learned that the dark line on her nail was actually melanoma, or skin cancer.

Jasko, now 21, who competed in the 2018 Miss USA pageant as Miss Illinois, told DailyMail.com that she had to have her entire thumbnail removed and was so ashamed of it that she covered it with a Band-Aid for nearly a year.

Karolina Jasko, 21 (left and right), from Chicago, Illinois, first saw a black line running down her thumbnail during a nail appointment in December 2016. However, she and the nail tech brushed it off as a bruise

One week later, when Jasko's finger began swelling and turning red (pictured), she visited the doctor, fearing she had contracted an infection from the nail salon

Jasko didn't see the line on her nail until that appointment at the nail salon when the nail tech began applying her new acrylic nail.

'We kind of both just brushed it off, and thought it was a bruise,' she said. 'A few days later, my finger swelled up really bad and I automatically thought I got some sort of infection from the nail salon.'

Jasko's mom helped her take her acrylic nail off, and that's when Jasko remembered it was the same thumb that had a dark line down the center.

She booked an appointment with her primary care doctor, who said the dark pigmentation could be a sign of skin cancer.

That same day, Jasko went to the dermatologist referred to her by her doctor, who ordered a biopsy.

Within a few days the results came back: the 18-year-old had skin cancer.

Nail melanoma, or subungual melanoma, is a cancer that occurs in the tissues of the nail bed.

These melanomas are most commonly found on either the thumbs or big toes, but they can form on any fingernail or toenail.

Symptoms include a vertical band on the nail that's a different color than the nail, dark pigmentation that covers the nail, nail brittleness, and bleeding where the pigmentation is.

Jasko was diagnosed with nail melanoma, or subungual melanoma, is a cancer that occurs in the tissues of the nail bed. Pictured: Jasko's thumb after surgery to remove the nail matrix

The cancer is often difficult to diagnose because the melanomas have similar characteristics to a bruise or a fungal infection.

Doctors don't know what causes subungual melanoma, but it is known that UV exposure can accelerate its growth.

Subungual melanoma accounts for less than five percent of all melanomas.

While melanoma is the deadliest of the skin cancers, the five-year survival rate from diagnosis for localized, early melanoma is more than 98 percent.

Jasko said that while she was nervous, her mom was even more so because she had battled melanoma twice before: once on her thigh and once on her right buttock.

'She had been through it and now she was terrified having to watch her daughter go through it,' Jasko said.

Her doctor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago told Jasko that her melanoma was likely genetic, but that that the UV light she was exposed to while getting acrylic nails could have affected its growth.

He couldn't determine, however, where the infection that had caused her finger to swell came from, only that it was unrelated to her melanoma.

'He said to take it as sign from God,' Jasko said. 'And I do because if I hadn't gotten the infection, I wouldnt have gotten to go get [my finger] checked out.'

A few weeks later, Jasko underwent surgery to remove the entire nail matrix so that the melanoma wouldn't return.

Jasko (pictured) had surgery to remove the whole nail matrix and had a skin graft taking from her groin area to cover the area where her nail used to be

For months, Jasko (left and right) said she was ashamed of her missing nail and used to cover it with a Band-Aid. Now, she says she is no longer ashamed and wants other girls to not be ashamed of scars or moles they have

Doctors took a skin graft from her groin area to cover the area of her thumb where her nail used to be.

Jasko said that for months after the surgery, she was self-conscious about her lack of a nail and covered it with a Band-Aid.

'I was in high school at the time and looks are a big deal so, thinking back it was silly, but at the time it was really stressful,' she said.

'I thought everyone was going to be staring and it took a long time to get comfortable with it. Now people say: "Oh I wouldnt have even known if you didn't tell me you didn't have a nail".'

After the surgery, Jasko had several moles removed on her body as a precaution or because they were precancerous.

'I want girls to know it's okay to have a scar or a mole,' she said.

'For a long time, I thought my scars defined me. But, as insecure as I was, I still went on to compete as Miss Illinois.'

Jasko, currently a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said she still goes to the nail salon and gets her nails done, but she doesn't do UV manicures, choosing to stick to classic nail polish or dip powder.

She says she wants to use her platform to advocate for skin cancer awareness and prevention.

'You can't help your genetics, but you can do a lot to prevent health issues,' he said.

'Take safety precautions, wear sunblock, and if you gets your nails done, try to avoid UV rays. Dipping powder is a great alternative.'
Cannabis-based medicine could halve the number of seizures suffered by children with a rare type of epilepsy, a study has found.

Children with Dravet syndrome have convulsive, prolonged seizures and need to be cared for most of their life.

However, the findings have been described by scientists as 'a major victory' in the quest for a successful drug to combat the debilitating condition.

They used cannabidiol, which does not contain the illegal and psychoactive chemical THC, to treat children alongside regular medication.

Cannabis-based medicine with THC in it was legalised in the UK in November but there are concerns it isn't being prescribed widely enough.

Cannabis-based medicine could halve the number of seizures suffered by children with a rare type of epilepsy, a study has found

Cannabidiol is derived from marijuana but does not include the psychoactive part of the plant that creates a 'high'.

It is the component of CBD oil, which is increasingly available from high street shops and alternative health companies.

For the study, researchers, led by Dr Ian Miller, from Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Florida, divided 199 children into three groups.

They were an average age of nine and had Dravet syndrome, which starts in infancy and can lead to intellectual disability.

Seizures were recorded for four weeks to establish a baseline before the participants received treatment for 14 weeks.

One group received 20 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) per day of cannabidiol, the second group received 10 mg/kg per day and the third group received a placebo.

By the end of the study, those on the high dose saw their seizures with convulsions decrease by 46 per cent and by 49 per cent for those taking the lower dose.

Total seizures reduced by 47 per cent for those in the high dose group, by 56 per cent for those in the lower dose group.

This is in comparison to a 27 per cent reduction of seizures with convulsions in the placebo group and 30 per cent of total seizures.

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THC AND CBD Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are both derived from the cannabis plant. Together, they are part of the cannabinoid group of compounds found in hashish, hash oil, and most strains of marijuana. THC is the psychoactive compound responsible for the euphoric, 'high' feeling often associated with marijuana. THC interacts with CB1 receptors in the central nervous system and brain and creates the sensations of euphoria and anxiety. CBD does not fit these receptors well, and actually decreases the effects of THC, and is not psychoactive. CBD is thought to help reduce anxiety and inflammation. Advertisement

In the high dose group, 49 per cent of the participants had their seizures cut by half or more, compared to 44 per cent in the low dose group and 26 per cent in the placebo group.

Dr Miller said: 'It's exciting to be able to offer another alternative for children with this debilitating form of epilepsy and their families.

'The children in this study had already tried an average of four epilepsy drugs with no success and at the time were taking an average of three additional drugs, so to have this measure of success with cannabidiol is a major victory.'

The downside was almost all of the participants reported side effects - 90 per cent of the high dose group, 88 per cent of the low dose group and 89 per cent of the placebo group.

Decreased appetite, diarrhea, sleepiness, fever and fatigue were reported, and about 25 per cent of those in the high dose group had serious side effects.

Seven per cent of participants in the high dose group stopped taking the drug because of this.

Dr Miller said: 'Based on these results, dose increases above 10 mg/kg per day should be carefully considered based on the effectiveness and safety for each individual.'

The phase three study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 71st Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, May 4 to 10.

The debate around marijuana and its claimed medicinal properties is rife.

The law in the UK was changed last November to make access to medical cannabis which contains THC legal after parents of epileptic children campaigned for it.

But parents have slammed health officials after struggling to secure prescriptions for their children, in part due to reluctance within the medical community.

Hundreds of parents contacted doctors after the high-profile cases of epilepsy sufferers Alfie Dingley, six, and 12 year-old Billy Caldwell.

The boys' plight prompted the government to allow youngsters to be given marijuana for medical reasons.

Alfie, from Kenilworth in the West Midlands, and Billy, from Castlederg in County Tyrone, were treated with cannabis containing CBD and small amounts of THC.

Three double blind randomised controlled trials have proven CBD can reduce the number of seizures for those with Dravet and Lennox Gastaut syndromes.
On the mayor-elect: Graham said the union is trying to schedule a meeting with Lightfoot, but those efforts have not been successful yet. A meeting that was previously on the books fell through and has not been rescheduled, Graham said. He noted that Lightfoot assembled a public safety committee during her transition but did not include the union on it, which Graham said the FOP does not think is the best way to go forward.
A woman with measles went to the opening screening of Avengers: Endgame in Orange County, California - potentially infecting hundreds of people.

The woman, who has not been identified, attended the midnight viewing, spanning from 11pm on April 26 to 4am the next day.

Hours later, she went to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with measles.

Health officials say she is in her 20s and had recently returned from a vacation in Vietnam, where there is a measles outbreak.

Hundreds of people may have been exposed to measles while watching Avengers: Endgame on the opening night in Orange County, officials warn (file image of another movie theater's opening screening of Avengers: Endgame)

The woman has now voluntarily quarantined herself at her home in Orange County while officials try to identify anyone who might have been exposed at the AMC movie theater in Fullerton.

Measles cannot be treated or cured, and it is incredibly infectious.

Ninety percent of people exposed to the virus - i.e., being in the same room as a measles patient within two hours of them being there - will catch it if they haven't been vaccinated.

California has some of the tightest vaccine rules in the country, after doing away with most exemptions in 2014 following a measles outbreak.

But the new rules will not have impacted teens and adults.

Health officials are urging anyone who believes they were exposed to check their vaccine record and call their doctor for advice.

It is not possible to vaccinate against the virus after contracting it, though there are some ways doctors can try to dampen the virus in pregnant women and people with suppressed immune systems.
The scotched plans to merge with close rival Asda cost Sainsbury's a hefty 46million, it revealed today.

The 12billion mega-merger, which would have created a new grocery giant with a greater market share than Tesco, was called off last week when the UK's competition watchdog vetoed the deal.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) argued it would lead to higher prices and lower quality for customers.

Red light: Sainsbury's plans to merge with Asda were scotched last week when the CMA blocked the deal

But today, as the supermarket reported full-year results, boss Mike Coupe said the merger was 'ancient history'.

He said that Sainsbury's put the prospect of the merger behind it when the watchdog published its draconian preliminary findings in February.

The grocery chief also insisted that he has no plans to step down from the helm, shrugging off analyst claims that he has taken his eye off the ball in recent months.

Holding firm: Sainsbury's boss Mike Coupe (above) rubbished speculation that he will step down from the helm

While the Asda-deal knocked its bottom line, Sainsbury's notched up a better-than-expected 7.8 per cent rise in full-year underlying pre-tax profits to 635million.

Total sales nudged up 2 per cent over the year, boosted by the introduction of Argos concessions to many of its shops.

However, on a same-store basis, sales slipped 0.2 per cent, and in the final quarter were down 0.9 per cent as its core food and clothing categories suffered.

Coupe today pledged to ramp up investment in the group amid 'competitive' conditions and an uncertain consumer outlook.

'We will increase and accelerate investment in the core business, investing to improve over 400 supermarkets this year,' he said.

He also wants to slash net debt by 600million over the next three years.

As well as the costs of the Asda merger, bottom-line profits were sent 42 per cent lower to 239million by a raft of other charges, including 81million in restructuring costs after radical changes to its workforce.

Sainbury's upped its dividend by 8 per cent.

Its shares rose 6 per cent to 2.36 in early trading on Wednesday, lifting it off the 15-year low it slumped to last week when the Asda deal was formally called off.

Shop-in-shop: Sainsbury's total sales were boosted by the introduction of Argos concessions into its stores

'The companys outlook has resulted in an initially positive share price reaction, although there is still much to do to recoup previous falls,' said Richard Hunter from Interactive Investor.

The failure of the merger resulted in a decline of 23 per cent over the last three months, Hunter flagged, and over the last year the shares have fallen 28 per cent.

Hunter said: 'It is now incumbent on Sainsburys to reenergise the investment community, where the current market consensus of the shares as a sell may be difficult to budge.'

'While the underlying numbers are better than expected, the decline in like-for-like sales does raise concerns about whether or not Sainsbury management have a plan B,' added Michael Hewson from CMC Markets.
The boss of gambling group GVC Holdings trousered 19.1million last year, with 16.4million of 'legacy awards.'

Just weeks after the group's top bosses sent shares deep into the red by cashing in with a share sale, GVC's latest annual report shows chief executive Kenny Alexander's 19million annual pay package was also partly made up of a 13 per cent basic salary increase to 858,000.

Reigniting the debate over fat-cat pay packets, the report also revealed that GVC's chairman, Lee Feldman, pocketed 8.5million last year, with the majority of the money stemming again from 'legacy awards.'

Bumper pay: Kenny Alexander, the boss of GVC Holdings, trousered 19.1million last year

GVC said in its annual report: 'The single figure of remuneration for our CEO and Chairman of the Board was high in 2018.

'The high single figure is largely driven by the vesting of the final tranches of awards under the 2015 LTIP, made at the time of the bwin.party acquisition in 2016.

'The value of those awards reflects the value created for our shareholders since that time. 2018 is the last year in which those awards will vest and the single figure will be substantially lower in 2019.'

The group added: 'We implemented a new remuneration policy in December 2017, which substantially reduced the CEO's incentive opportunity to more UK-typical levels.

'Likewise, the chairman is now on a standard fee-only arrangement. Our remuneration framework is now aligned with typical UK practice.'

GVC, which owns Ladbrokes, will hope this will stub out the possibility of another shareholding rebellion.

Assurance: GVC said its 'remuneration framework is now aligned with typical UK practice'

Last year, nearly 44 per cent of investors voted against the company's remuneration report amid fierce anger over pay for Mr Alexander and Mr Feldman.

Today, GVC said its 'remuneration framework is now aligned with typical UK practice.'

In March, Mr Alexander and Mr Feldman raked in 13.7million and 6million respectively after offloading nearly three million shares between them.

Those divestments, at 6.66 a share, sent GVC's stock falling by around 12 per cent. Today, the group's share price is up 0.29 per cent or 1.90p to 654.70p.

While still facing 'regulatory headwinds', GVC said its proforma net gaming revenue had increased by 11 per cent in the period from 1 January 2019 to 24 February 2019 compared to the same point a year ago.

The company is holding its annual general meeting in Gibraltar on 5 June.
The Alabama House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to outlaw almost all abortions in the state as conservatives took aim at the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted 74-3 for legislation that would make it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage in a woman's pregnancy.

The proposal passed after Democrats walked out of the chamber after sometimes emotional debate with opponents and supporters crowding the gallery. The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate.

Supporters said the bill is intentionally designed to conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationally, hoping to spark court cases that might prompt the justices to revisit Roe.

The bill contains an exemption for situations in which there is a serious risk to the mother's health, but not for rape and incest.

Bianca Cameron-Schwiesow, from left,Kari Crowe and Margeaux Hardline, dressed as handmaids, take part in a protest against HB314, the abortion ban bill, at Alabama State House

Abortion rights protesters painted the window in the House Gallery during debate on the abortion ban bill at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery on Tuesday

Women's heath clinic escorts, from left Mia Raven, Margeaux Hartline and Kari Crowe walk into the gallery to watch debate on the abortion ban bill at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery,

Travis Jackson holds signs during a protest against, the abortion ban bill

Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon gavels in the session at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery

'The heart of this bill is to confront a decision that was made by the courts in 1973 that said the baby in a womb is not a person,' said Republican Rep. Terri Collins of Decatur.

Republicans in the chamber applauded after the bill was approved after more than two hours of sometimes emotional debate.

Collins acknowledged that such a ban would likely be struck down by lower courts, but she said the aim is eventually to get to the Supreme Court.

Without the numbers to stop the bill, Democrats walked off the House floor ahead of the vote, calling the proposal both extreme and fiscally irresponsible.

They said the ban would cost the state money for a potentially expensive legal fight that could be spent on other needs.

Rep. Louise Alexander, a Democrat, said the choice to give birth to a child should be left up to a woman, and the decision should not be made on the floor of the Alabama Legislature.

A protest is held against the abortion ban bill, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery

Rep. Terri Collins answers questions during debate on the abortion ban bill at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama

Rep. Merika Coleman, center, and members of the Democratic caucus walk out of the debate on the abortion ban bill to hold a press conference explaining their opposition to the bill

'You don't know why I may want to have an abortion. It may be because of my health. It may be because of many reasons.

Until all of you in this room walk in a woman's shoes, y'all don't know,' Alexander said.

Emboldened by new conservatives on the Supreme Court, abortion opponents in several states are seeking to incite new legal fights in the hopes of challenging Roe v. Wade.

The Alabama bill comes on the heels of several states considering or approving bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which occurs in about the sixth week of pregnancy.

The Alabama bill attempts to go farther by banning abortion at any stage of pregnancy.

House Republicans voted down Democrats' attempt to amend the bill to add an exemption for rape and incest. Representatives voted 72-26 to table the proposed amendment.

Rep. Terri Collins talks on the house floor. The bill contains an exemption for the mother's health but not for rape or incest. Collins is the sponsor of the abortion ban bill

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Alabama, gets a standing ovation after her near total ban on abortion bill

'They would not even allow an exception for rape and incest. ... What does that say to the women in this state,' House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels.

Collins argued that adding exemptions would weaken the intent of the bill as a vehicle to challenge Roe. She said if states regain the ability to decide abortion access, Alabama lawmakers could come back and decide what exemptions to allow.

The bill drew a crowd of opponents and supporters to the House gallery. A group of abortion clinic escorts wore their rainbow-colored vests in the House gallery.

A demonstrator was arrested on disorderly conduct charges after shouting 'dumb,' attempting to write on the glass window overlooking to the House chamber and throwing paint at legislative security officers, House spokesman Clay Redden said.

Bianca Cameron-Schwiesow, dressed as a handmaid, takes part in a protest against the bill

Rep. Merika Coleman, center, and members of the Democratic caucus walk out of the debate on the abortion ban bill to hold a press conference explaining their opposition to the bill

Rep. Rolanda Hollis, a Birmingham Democrat, read a poem that criticized Republicans' embrace of gun rights but not abortion rights, and later referred to the state as 'Ala-Backwards.'

The text of the Alabama bill likens legalized abortion to history's greatest atrocities, including the Holocaust.

Tuscaloosa Republican Rep. Rich Wingo, a supporter of the bill, likened abortion to murder and read statistics that estimate that there have been 60 million abortions since the Supreme Court's landmark decision.

'I believe this chamber, this body, will never make a greater decision than today... protecting the life of an unborn child,' Wingo said.
More than 3,000 unexploded bombs dating back to the Second World War era have been unearthed under a courtyard of a residential house in central China.

The rusty weapons, still posing a risk of detonation, were discovered by construction workers on Sunday as they were building a pool, according to local media.

The house was not occupied and no one was injured.

Authorities in the Chinese city of Shangqiu have found thousands of unexploded bombs under a courtyard. The rusty munitions can be traced back to the Second Sino-Japanese War

Most of the devices were said to be hand grenades, mortars and incendiary bombs.

Experts believe they were left from the Second Sino-Japanese War more than 70 years ago.

Construction workers in the ancient city of Shangqiu in Henan Province initially found just a few of them.

One worker named Li Hui told local newspaper Dahe Daily that his colleague thought one bomb they had found was a brick, 'so he put it on my tricycle'.

Construction workers who were building a pool initially found just a few of the bombs. They then contacted the police who discovered more than 3,000 of them in the space of a day

Li and his co-worker then realised the item was made of iron and became suspicious.

'Then we thought it might be a bomb', said Li who called the police.

Police officers rushed to the scene, cordoned off the site and carried out investigation.

More than 3,000 bombs had been excavated by Monday afternoon.

Footage from Pear and pictures from Henan-based newspaper Urban Report show piles of rust-covered munitions filling the courtyard after being removed from a sizable pit.

Qiao Zhiqiang, a bomb disposal expert from Shangqiu police, said his team had moved the unexploded bombs to a safe place.

No injury has been reported as a result of the incident.

More than 1,000 unexploded bombs were found under a street of Shangqiu, Henan, in 2000

This is not the first time authorities in Shangqiu have come across explosive remnants of war in a large quantity.

In 2000, more than 1,000 unexploded bombs were found under a street, Mr Qiao told Zhejiang News.

They were said to be similar to those discovered this week and could be traced back to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Second Sino-Japanese War lasted from 1937 to 1945.

The bloody eight-year war saw Chinese people fighting the Imperial Japanese Army after suffering from nearly half-a-century of aggressive invasion from their island neighbour.

The second half of the war is considered as part of the Pacific Ocean theatre of the Second World War after Japan carried out a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
A pet owner said she had to witness her cat being kicked, beaten and chased by her flatmate for more than an hour while viewing live home security footage.

The devastated owner from southern China was hundreds of miles away from home on holiday as she heard her moggy whining for help in vain in the video.

She said she had asked her flatmate to help look after her cat before leaving but ended up having to watch the video in tears.

The cat owner from China was travelling when she saw her pet being beaten on CCTV footage

Her cat is a British Shorthair named 'Mian Mian' and was being looked after by her flatmate

'My female flatmate kicked my cat as if she had been doing a penalty kick', the owner accused before adding '[she] beat the little cat which was not able to fight back for dozens of times'.

The flatmate was allegedly punishing the feline after it urinated on her bed, and refused to aplogise to the distraught owner for her behaviour.

The horrifying incident was detailed in a social media post uploaded by the cat owner yesterday.

The owner, known by her screen name 'vseacuvuenm', said her cat is a gentle British Shorthair named 'Mian Mian'.

She lives in the Chinese city of Shenzhen and was travelling in Thailand last Saturday when she made the shocking discovery at the wee hours, according to her accounts on Twitter-like Weibo.

The flatmate, Dong, lifts the moggy by the tail and drags it around for about three minutes

She is also said to move furniture to block the cat in its cage and use a pillow to muffle the cage

The owner said that her flatmate, Dong, also lifted her moggy by the tail for three and a half minutes 'just for fun'.

She accused 'abusive' Dong of locking the feline in its cage for further torture. She said Dong moved furniture to block the cage and used a pillow to muffle the cage.

She claimed that Dong put the cat on the sofa and squeezed its neck while making chilling screams.

The owner said it was excruciating for her to watch the video and she couldn't stop crying. She immediately called Dong a few times, but Dong refused to pick up.

Dong, the only flatmate of the owner, had allegedly agreed to live with a cat when she moved into the apartment.

The owner revealed that Dong is a student at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and an intern at Tencent, a Chinese internet giant.

She added that she decided to publish the video and Dong's personal details on social media to seek justice and an apology.

MailOnline has decided not to show the footage of the apparent beating and kicking due to its disturbing nature.

The owner has published Dong's details on social media to seek justice and an apology

Tencent, the company Dong works for, has launched an investigation and she has apologised

The owner's post has gone viral in China and sparked an uproar among internet users who condemned Dong's behaviour. Her post has been shared more than 110,000 times and received more than 37, 160 comments.

Tencent said it was investigating the matter.

In a Weibo statement, the company said it was giving serious attention to the matter and would speak to the intern in question.

The company said it would terminate the contract with the intern and offer the intern counselling if the allegations turn out to be true.

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology told HK01 that they had got in touch with the student and would issue her a warning for her behaviour.

Dong has reported apologised to the cat owner and offered to cover any necessary medical bills.

Animal welfare organisation PETA Asia has condemned Dong's behaviour.

Chinese scholars have urged the government to set up a law to protect companion animals

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'If there is a conflict, one should communicate with the owner of the animal sensibly. Abusing animal is wrong at all times.'

The spokesperson praised Tencent for their quick response and urged more companies to have zero tolerance towards their employee who abuse animals.

China does not have any laws to protect animal welfare or prevent cruelty towards animals.

Earlier this year, a dean at a university in Shanghai urged China's central government to establish a relevant law to protect companion animals, especially pet dogs.

Mr Guo submitted the proposal to Beijing during the country's most important political gathering known as the Two Sessions.

Before Mr Guo, animal activists and legal experts in China had already submitted two draft laws to the country's authorities in a bid to put a stop to wide-spread animal cruelty in the country. Both laws are still pending approval.
Tavis Spencer-Aitkens (pictured) was stabbed 15 times and had a bottle smashed over his head just yards from his family home in Ipswich on June 2 last year

Four men and a teenager have been jailed for a total of 104 years after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a postcode feud attack.

Tavis Spencer-Aitkens was stabbed 15 times and had a bottle smashed over his head just yards from his family home in Ipswich on June 2 last year.

Four people were subsequently found guilty of his murder while a fifth was convicted of manslaughter.

The four convicted of murder, Aristote Yenge, 23, Isaac Calver, 19, both from Ipswich, and Kyreis Davies, 17, from Colchester, and Adebayo Amusa, 20, from east London, were all handed life sentences on Tuesday.

While Callum Plaats, 23, from Ipswich, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.

During the trial at Ipswich Crown Court, it was heard that Yenge, Davies, Calver and Plaats were all part of a group who called themselves J-Block, based around the Jubilee Park area of Ipswich.

Amusa was known to associate with J-Block and has appeared in some music videos they recorded.

Tavis was friends with a group who called themselves Neno or The Three, which is a reference to the IP3 postcode area of Ipswich from where they came.

The two groups had a heated rivalry and dislike for each other.

Aristote Yenge (right), 23, from Ipswich, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years. While Adebayo Amusa (left), 20, from Barking, in east London, was given a minimum term of 23 years

Minimum terms of 21 years were given to 19-year-old Isaac Calver (right), from Ipswich, and to 17-year-old Kyreis Davies (left) from Colchester - who can be named after the judge lifted a court order

House-to-house enquiries led to witnesses reporting they had seen a knife being thrown into the River Gipping. The Metropolitan Police dive team were brought in and they successfully located the item (pictured)

Earlier in the day on which Tavis was murdered, Yenge and Davies took refuge in a shop in Ipswich town centre after being spotted by two members of Neno.

The two Neno members taunted them, shouting out 'IP3', before a plain-clothes police officer heard a disturbance from out in the street, entered the shop and escorted the Neno members out.

The perceived shame and loss of respect that Yenge and Davies suffered by running and hiding from two members of the Neno group - close to what they would have regarded as their territory - is what provided the motivation for the attack on Tavis Spencer-Aitkens, police said.

Within a couple of hours of this incident in the town centre, Yenge and Davies rounded-up other members of J-Block - including Calver and Plaats - and also Amusa and quickly began to plot their revenge.

Callum Plaats, 23, from Ipswich, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years

Yenge, Davies, Amusa and Calver were driven in a DPD van being used by another man who bought drugs off people associated with J-Block, and all four are linked to the van by forensic evidence, say police.

They set off in convoy with two cyclists, one of whom was Callum Plaats, and made their way across town towards the Nacton Estate seeking revenge.

On seeing Tavis walking back from the shops, they followed him before he was brutally attacked and stabbed 15 times - one of which proved to be fatal - and had a bottle smashed over his head.

Suffolk Police said that the DPD van and cyclists were captured on CCTV as they travelled towards the area prior to the attack, and were all seen leaving the area at speed immediately after it.

House-to-house enquiries also led to witnesses reporting they had seen a knife being thrown into the River Gipping.

The Metropolitan Police dive team were brought in and they successfully located the knife. There was no forensic evidence available but pathologists were satisfied that the knife could have caused all of Taviss injuries.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Brown, of the Major Investigation Team, said: 'Tavis was 17-years-old, still just a boy with his whole life ahead of him, and this was cut short by an utterly senseless act of violence.

'His attackers also had their whole lives ahead of them, but in taking the deliberate and calculated decision to ambush Tavis and stab him 15 times, they will now spend what should have been their own prime years locked away, making our streets a safer place.'

A search was launched in the River Gipping in Ipswich after witnesses in nearby flats reported seeing a 'shiny object' being hurled in the water

Police at the scene of the stabbing on June 2 last year. Detective Chief Inspector Mike Brown, of the Major Investigation Team, said after sentencing today: 'Tavis was 17-years-old, still just a boy with his whole life ahead of him, and this was cut short by an utterly senseless act of violence

DCI Brown also said: 'Knife crime has become the great societal challenge of our time in this country and we have to educate children and young adults that knives have no place on our streets.' Pictured are police at the scene of the stabbing last year

He continued: 'Knife crime has become the great societal challenge of our time in this country and we have to educate children and young adults that knives have no place on our streets.'

Aristote Yenge, 23, from Ipswich, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years. While Adebayo Amusa, 20, from Barking, in east London, was given a minimum term of 23 years.

Minimum terms of 21 years were given to 19-year-old Isaac Calver, from Ipswich, and to 17-year-old Kyreis Davies from Colchester - who can be named after the judge lifted a court order.

Callum Plaats, 23, from Ipswich, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years.
The National Security Agency last year unmasked the identities of nearly 17,000 U.S. citizens or residents who were in contact with foreign intelligence targets, almost double the number revealed in 2017.

The huge increase is attributed partly to hacking and other malicious cyber activity, according to a U.S. government report released on Tuesday.

The report by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence said that in 2018 cyber spies at the NSA unmasked the identities of 16,721 'U.S. persons', compared to 9,529 unmaskings in 2017 and 9,217 between September 2015 and August 2016.

According to U.S. intelligence rules, when the NSA intercepts messages in which one or more participants are U.S. citizens or residents, the agency is supposed to black out American names.

The NSA last year unmasked the identities of nearly 17,000 U.S. citizens or residents who were in contact with foreign intelligence targets last year. NSA headquarters is pictured above

But the names can be unmasked upon request of intelligence officers and higher-ranking government officials, including presidential appointees.

The unmasking of American citizens' identities swept up in U.S. electronic espionage became a sensitive issue after U.S. government spying on communications traffic expanded sharply following the September 11, 2001 attacks and started sweeping up Americans' data.

Alex Joel, a DNI official, said it was likely that the higher number of U.S. persons unmasked last year was inflated by names of victims of malicious cyber activity.

Another official said the definition of U.S. person used by spy agencies includes actual individuals, email addresses and internet protocol addresses.

The expanded collection of data that affected Americans was exposed by whistleblowers like former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, prompting politicians and the public to demand greater accountability.

Annual reports on the extent of NSA and other government electronic surveillance were one notable reform.

This table shows the number of US persons whose identities were unmasked at the request of other agencies over the past three years. The period surrounding the 2016 election is omitted

NSA's operations historically were so secretive that agency employes joked its initials stood for 'No Such Agency.'

Not long after President Donald Trump took office, Devin Nunes, the Republican who then chaired the House Intelligence Committee, touched off a political flap by claiming intercepted messages involving members of Trump's transition team had been unmasked at the direction of top Obama administration officials.

The report says that the number of 'non-US persons' targeted by the U.S. for foreign intelligence surveillance rose to 164,770 in calendar year 2018 compared to 129,080 the year before.

The report adds that not a single FBI investigation was opened on U.S. persons based on NSA surveillance in either 2017 or 2018.
U.S. government searches of travelers' cellphones and laptops at airports and border crossings have nearly quadrupled since 2015 - a federal lawsuit has revealed.

Papers filed on Tuesday allege that searches are being carried out for reasons beyond customs and immigration enforcement.

The papers also claim scouring the electronic devices without a warrant is unconstitutional.

The government has vigorously defended the searches, which rose to 33,295 in fiscal 2018 compared to 18,400 in 2016 - a rise of over 80 per cent.

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A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer reads the X-ray of a laptop computer at Baltimore-Washington International Airport

But the newly filed documents claim the scope of the warrantless searches has expanded to assist in enforcement of tax, bankruptcy, environmental and consumer protection laws, gather intelligence and advance criminal investigations.

Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement consider requests from other government agencies in determining whether to search travelers' electronic devices, the court papers said.

They added that agents are searching the electronic devices of not only targeted individuals but their associates, friends and relatives.

The new information about the searches was included in a motion the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

'The evidence we have presented the court shows that the scope of ICE and CBP border searches is unconstitutionally broad,' said Adam Schwartz, senior staff attorney for the EFF, based in San Francisco.

'ICE and CBP policies and practices allow unfettered, warrantless searches of travelers' digital devices and empower officers to dodge the Fourth Amendment when rifling through highly personal information contained on laptops and phones,' he said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. Both ICE and CBP said they did not comment on pending litigation.

When the suit was filed against the government in 2017, DHS officials said U.S. citizens and everyone else are subject to examination and search by customs officials, unless exempted by diplomatic status.

The department has contended that no court has concluded that border searches of electronic devices require a warrant.

Searches, some random, have uncovered evidence of human trafficking, terrorism, child pornography, visa fraud, export control breaches and intellectual property rights violations, according to the department.

The original case was filed on behalf of 10 American citizens and a lawful permanent resident from seven states - including two journalists, a NASA engineer and a former Air Force captain - who alleged the searches violated their constitutional rights.

They asked the court to rule that the government must have a warrant based on probable cause before searching electronic devices at U.S. ports of entry.

Newly filed documents claim the scope of the warrantless searches has expanded to assist in enforcement of tax, bankruptcy, environmental and consumer protection laws, gather intelligence and advance criminal investigations

The plaintiffs also are demanding the government expunge from investigatory databases information obtained in past searches.

ICE and CBP share information taken from travelers' electronic devices with other agencies and there is control to prevent them from impermissibly retaining it, they argue.

A year ago, U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston rejected the government's request to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to move forward.

The ACLU and the foundation began gathering documents and deposition testimony. Based on the new information, they filed a motion Tuesday asking the judge to rule in their favor without a trial.

'Travelers' devices contain an extraordinary amount of highly personal information that the government can easily search, retain, and share,' it argues.

'This new evidence reveals that the government agencies are using the pretext of the border to make an end run around the First and Fourth Amendments,' said ACLU attorney Esha Bhandari.

'The border is not a lawless place. ICE and CBP are not exempt from the Constitution and the information on our electronic devices is not devoid of Fourth Amendment protections. We are asking the court to stop these unlawful searches and require the government to get a warrant.'

The court documents claim that the agencies also assert the authority to search electronic devices when the subject of interest is someone other than the traveler, such as the business partner of someone under investigation.

Both agencies also allow officers to retain information from travelers' electronic devices and share it with other government entities, including state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies, the court papers claim.

The plaintiffs also say that travelers who have had their electronic devices searched at the border run increased odds of being subject to future device searches as they can be flagged in government databases for additional scrutiny on that basis.
Actors from Game of Thrones sent greetings to an 88-year-old hospice patient whose dying wish was to watch the third episode of the show's final season.

Caretakers at HopeHealth in Providence, Rhode Island, reached out to the cast of the HBO drama on behalf Claire Walton after she expressed her desire to watch Sunday night's highly-anticipated battle episode before she died.

Upon hearing about the superfan, 10 Game of Thrones actors recorded a heartfelt video just for Walton.

Game of Thrones superfan Claire Walton's dying wish was to watch the highly-anticipated third episode of the HBO drama's final season. The 88-year-old's caretakers at HopeHealth hospice care in Providence, Rhode Island, went above and beyond by asking actors on the show to send her well wishes

Ten Game of Thrones actors including Liam Cunningham (left) and Miltos Yerolemou (right) recorded videos sending their love to Walton before the latest episode aired on Sunday

Actor Josef Altin told Walton: 'Enjoy this Sunday. Its going down. Lots of love, darling'

Among the actors sending their love was Liam Cunningham, who plays Davos Seaworth.

'How are you doing, Claire? It's Liam here,' Cunningham said. 'I hope you're well enough to watch the battle, which is tonight. I wish you the very best ... take care.'

Miltos Yerolemou, who plays master sword-fighter Syrio Forel, also sent his regards, telling Walton: 'You are with us in spirit and that we're thinking of you and sending you all our love.'

Josef Altin recorded his clip in front of a poster with him in character as Pypar, a member of the Night's Watch.

'Someone said you were a really big fan of Game of Thrones, so I just wanted to make this video and send it you and to send you my love and well wishes,' Altin said.

'Enjoy this Sunday. Its going down. Lots of love, darling.'

HopeHealth shared a video of Walton watching the messages from the actors on Sunday before the third episode of the final season aired.

A spokeswoman for the hospice center said Walton was able to watch the battle before she passed away on Monday afternoon.

HopeHealth shared a video of Walton watching the messages from the actors before she passed away on Monday afternoon
Under the most recent contract, minimum salaries for part-time hourly employees were raised to $9 per hour. The six-year contract then provided for annual hourly wage increases of 25 to 35 cents. For example, those who were earning $9 per hour at the start of the contract saw their pay rise to $10.80 per hour by the end of the contract.
Demand for fake-meat products produced by Impossible Foods is so high that the company is running out of stock amid unprecedented demand and a lucrative deal with Burger King.

It was announced yesterday that Burger King would offer a plant-based burger, the Impossible Whopper, produced by Impossible Foods, at all its locations throughout the United States by the end of 2019. Burger King has over 7,000 locations across the country.

However, Impossible has reached out to distributors and restaurants to let them know that an Impossible shortage is 'entirely possible' and that demand is 'outpacing the company's manufacturing capabilities,' as first reported by Eater.

Impossible Foods issued a statement Tuesday saying it was stretched thin because of growth in 'every sales category' where it does business, including restaurants, theme parks and college campuses. The company is struggling from 'demand greatly outstripping supply.'

The Impossible Whopper is to be offered by Burger King at all its locations throughout the United States by the end of 2019

Impossible Foods says its struggling from 'demand greatly outstripping supply'

What's in an Impossible Burger The patty is made with soy protein, coconut oil, potato protein and sunflower oil. It also contains heme, a plant-based ingredient that makes the burger 'taste like meat', according to the company. The burger itself is Vegan but additional fillings added by restaurants may not be. An Impossible Burger is also known for its realistic ability to 'bleed' that makes it closely resemble meat. Impossible Foods, that makes the product, changed its recipe in January 2019. The new Impossible Burger features 30% less sodium and 40% less saturated fat. It contains as much protein as 80/20 ground beef from cows. Before the ingredients were changed the Impossible Burger contained 70% of the daily recommended intake of saturated fat. Impossible Foods was founded in 2011 by Doctor Patrick O. Brown. The Impossible Burger was launched in 2016. Its website says the company searched the planet for plant based ingredients to resemble meat but that would be better for both people and the planet. Advertisement

In a statement, reported by CNN, Impossible added it isn't facing a shortage of the ingredients it uses to make the plant-based meat but is facing 'short-term ramp-up challenges.'

The company added that its plant in Oakland, California, will be open longer hours, it's hiring for a planned third shift and installing a second production line that 'should double current capacity.'

Impossible Foods was founded in 2011 by Doctor Patrick O. Brown.

According to its website the company have 'spent years trying to understand everything people love about meat, from its sizzle and smell to its taste and nutrition.

'We searched the plant world for specific ingredients that would recreate those experiences but be better for both people and the planet,' the website reads.

Impossible Foods, which is based in Silicon Valley, introduced its burgers three years ago at trendy restaurants like New York's Momofuku Nishi.

That led to partnerships with more than 5,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Asia, including the White Castle chain.

The partnership with Burger King is designed to offer greater choice for meat lovers, rather than catering to those who have sworn off beef, according to Impossible Foods.

The Impossible Burger, is plant-based, and contains soy protein, coconut oil, potato protein and sunflower oil. It also contains heme, a plant-based ingredient

The burger has been described as the Whopper's 'twin' by the burger's manufacturer, and contains 19g of protein and zero cholesterol

Burger King had a trial run of the Impossible Whopper in St. Louis and made the decision to roll it out nationwide following impressive early results, the fast food giant told DailyMail.com.

'The Impossible Whopper test in St Louis went exceedingly well,' the spokesperson said. 'Burger King Restaurants are targeting nationwide availability of the Impossible Whopper by the end of 2019.'

The burger has been described as the Whopper's 'twin' by the burger's manufacturer, and contains 19g of protein and zero cholesterol.

Impossible Foods, which is based in Silicon Valley, also has partnerships with White Castle restaurants

Burger King had run a trial of the Impossible Whopper in St. Louis and made the decision to roll it out nationwide following impressive early results

The patty is made with soy protein, coconut oil, potato protein, sunflower oil and heme, a plant-based ingredient that makes the burger 'taste like meat', according to the company.

The faux meat is also known for its realistic ability to 'bleed.'

President of Burger King North America, Chris Finazzo, has said that the Impossible Whopper is intended 'to give somebody who wants to eat a burger every day, but doesn't necessarily want to eat beef everyday, permission to come into the restaurants more frequently.'

Burger King says it has found the plant-based beef-like burger isn't affecting sales of its meat based products.

White Castle sells an 'Impossible Slider' burger for $1.99 that are twice the size of White Castle's regular sliders

'We're not seeing guests swap the original Whopper for the Impossible Whopper,' said Jose Cil, CEO of Burger King's parent company Restaurant Brands.'

'We're seeing that it's attracting new guests,' Cil told Business Insider.

Impossible Foods' mission statement states that 'using animals to make meat is a prehistoric and destructive technology' and using meat-free alternatives is important for the environment.'

It adds: 'Animal agriculture occupies almost half the land on earth, consumes a quarter of our freshwater and destroys our ecosystems.'

Impossible, which launched its Impossible Burger in 2016, announced in January 2019 that it was introducing a new recipe.

'The new Impossible Burger is tastier, juicier and more nutritious -- featuring 30% less sodium and 40% less saturated fat than our current recipe and just as much protein as 80/20 ground beef from cows. 100% more delicious and more versatile than ever,' the website claims.
The Marines, which is the only branch of the U.S. armed forces that separate male and female recruits during boot camp are contemplating ditching the practice from next year.

Lt. Gen. David Berger, the general nominated to lead the Marine Corps, made the announcement Tuesday during a Senate confirmation hearing.

'I talked to the commandant this morning about it and... I said, "We have to look at this for perhaps next year," and he said, "Absolutely,"' Berger said, according to Military.com.

Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island Pfc. Marie Metellus conducts kettle bell swings during a Force Fitness program event on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. She was part of the very first-ever coed training company this March

Male and female Marine recruits could begin training together in companies permanently as early as next year. The very first one took place in South Carolina in March

'I think it's a discussion that he and I will have -- and the Marine Corps will have.'

Those who are in favor of the change say that separating the genders during training creates instant divisions leading to tensions among male and female Marines.

But there are advocates who would like to keep things as they are. They say that keeping men and women Marines apart ensured that recruits don't get distracted while forming bonds with their drill instructors.

The Marines look to be already testing out the changes when a mixed-gender training battalion graduated from boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina.

Parris Island U.S. Marine Corps recruits with November Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, practice Marine Corps Martial Arts

India Company is the first combined company of male and female recruits to graduate from recruit training. The service has had a long-held tradition of separating men and women into separate small units at boot camp

It was first of its kind and comprised of one female platoon and five male platoons.

Outside of the recruits being housed in different living quarters, the training regimen remained the same.

'Combining platoons into a single company this training cycle offered an initial opportunity to assess some opportunities, challenges, outcomes and achievements in training, logistics and resources,' Jessica Hanley, a spokeswoman with the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, told Military.com.

Berger has said that training class performed 'very well.'

'The statistics... for this company were the same as every other company -- a few areas higher, a few areas lower -- but it went great,' he said, according to Military.com.

Marines with India Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion, graduated from recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, March 29. Some have stressed that the practice is necessary so recruits aren't distracted as they form deep bonds with their same-sex drill instructors during boot camp
A man who lost four litres of blood when he was stabbed in the chest by his wife still wants her back so they can raise their baby together.

Emma Davies, 31, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to grievous bodily harm in the Bundaberg District Court, Queensland.

Davies, also known as Emma Philippi, stabbed her husband, who was not named, after an argument turned violent on September 9, News Mail reported.

The court heard her husband was in a coma for two days, lost four litres of blood and required emergency surgery to save his life.

Emma Davies (pictured) stabbed her husband after an argument turned violent on September 9

The court heard her husband was in a coma for two days, lost four litres of blood and required emergency surgery to save his life (the couple are pictured on their wedding day)

Crown Prosecutor Lara Solbi said the couple had been fighting prior to the bloodied attack, prompting Davies' husband to leave the house.

Davies, a former aged care worker, continued the fight when he returned home and accused him of stealing her wallet.

The husband then picked up a large knife and began to cook chicken for dinner.

The fighting became more heated and the couple found themselves in a scuffle.

Davies scratched her husband, who then dropped the knife on the floor.

Davies snatched the knife and backed her husband into a corner, saying 'I'll kill you, c**t'.

She then stabbed her husband in the chest and severed his mammary artery.

Davies was arrested by police shortly after she admitted the violent attack to her step-father.

This week, her husband provided the court with a letter of support, saying he wants to continue their relationship and raise their baby together when she's released from prison.

Ms Solbi gave the husband credit for his forgiving nature, but said the use of the knife was 'beyond opportunistic'.

While the attack was not premeditated, Davies had made threats to her husband before, Ms Solbi said.

'She showed a concerted and consistent effort to use the knife,' Ms Solbi said.

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty on Tuesday to grievous bodily harm in the Bundaberg District Court, Queensland (pictured)

Defence barrister Callan Cassidy told the court Davies claimed to be have consumed drugs and alcohol on the night of the attack. He also said she had a 'psychotic episode', but did not present medical certificates to the court.

'She regrets her conduct in the extreme,' Mr Cassidy said.

'They have reconciled and look forward to the future.'

Davies mouthed 'I love you' to her husband and their baby as she was sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars.

Judge Michael Rackemann said he believed Davies still cared for her husband.

Davies has already served 234 days behind bars and will be eligible for parole on November 9.
Australians are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to fraud scams, which is costing the nation almost half a billion dollars annually, a new report finds.

The ACCC's Targeting Scams report has revealed scam activity in Australia has risen by 94 per cent over just five years - and there's one in particular people keep falling for.

According to the report, Aussies are frequently tricked into investment scams, costing them $86 million annually - an increase of more than 34 per cent from 2017.

Australians are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to fraud scams, which is costing the nation almost half a billion dollars annually

The total combined losses reported to Scamwatch and other government agencies exceeded $489 million - $149 million more than 2017

But as ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard explained, investment scams are just one problem area that's significantly impacting on the community.

'Total combined losses reported to Scamwatch and other government agencies exceeded $489 million - $149 million more than 2017,' Ms Rickard said.

'And these record losses are likely just the tip of the iceberg. We know that not everyone who suffers a loss to a scammer reports it to a government agency.'

The report showed Australia is a nation of hopeless romantics who fall for dodgy dating scams, costing $60.5 million last year alone - an increase from $42million in 2017.

Ms Rickard said romantic scams not only cause a significant financial burden to the population, but also lead to emotional harm.

Men were found to be more vulnerable to investment scams - costing $56million, while women are more often the victims of emotional fraud - costing $19.5million.

While 46.9 per cent of scams are committed over the phone - costing $30.3million annually, the report found scammers are increasingly embracing new technologies

Along with calls, crooks are scamming people via email, text messages and other forms of social media - costing more than $40million annually

The way scammers increase their reach has also evolved to match the advancements of technology.

While 46.9 per cent of scams are committed over the phone - costing $30.3million annually - the report found scammers are increasingly embracing new technologies.

Scams via email, text messages and other forms of social media cost Australians more than $40million a year.

The ATO scam affected many households in 2018.

Crooks posing as ATO employees chased fake unpaid tax debts.

The report showed the way scammers increase their reach to potential victims has evolved to match the advancement of technology

Men were found to be more vulnerable to investment scams - costing $56million, while women are more often the victims of emotional fraud - costing $19.5million

In November, reported ATO scams had increased by more than 900 per cent.

The report also found scammers are using 'pressure and fear tactics' to fool unsuspecting victims out of their money.

Fraudsters often ask for money via iTunes cards, Google Play cards and cryptocurrencies.

Ms Rickard said by employing these methods, the crooks can avoid anti-scam measures used by banks and money laundering detection systems.
A Greens senator has called for Australia to introduce new laws which would make it illegal to catcall and wolf whistle in public and allow authorities to hand out on-the-spot fines.

Queensland senator and co-deputy Greens leader Larissa Waters said Australia should follow the lead of France, which enacted anti-catcalling laws in 2018.

The French laws ban catcalling, wolf-whistling and lewd remarks on streets and public transport - with a maximum fine of AUD$1200.

Last year, French authorities fined a 30-year-old man who used lewd remarks on a public bus near Paris.

He was fined AUD$480 after a court found he had told a young woman she had 'big breasts' after slapping her on the buttocks.

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Queensland senator and co-deputy Greens leader Larissa Waters is advocating for new laws, which ban catcalling in public and allow authorities to issue on-the-spot fines

Ms Waters said it was worth finding out whether the French laws were working.

'We think the concept is sound, and warrants to see whether it could work in Australia ... it deserves consideration,' she told 10 Daily.

'Women deserve to be safe. We're being killed in our homes, on the street, and not enough is being done to keep us safe ... if we can stamp out that behaviour that starts as a catcall and ends in a women dying, it's a worthwhile investment.'

Australia has laws against sexual harassment, but there is no specific law which bans catcalling on streets and public transport.

A report by Plan International Australia last year showed about 90 per cent of young women didn't feel safe after dark.

'Theyve told us theyre being harassed, followed, cat-called, groped or leered at, often on a regular basis,' the report said.

The group interviewed 500 young women, aged 18-25 years, in Sydney to gain insight into how they experience public spaces in Australia's biggest city.

Ms Waters believes Australia can follow France, which enacted anti-catcalling laws in 2018. The French law bans catcalling, wolf-whistling and lewd remarks on streets and public transport

Most women, about 85 per cent, felt reporting systems for street harassment were not enough.

'Only one in 13 (seven per cent) young women reported it to authorities. Reporting to family and friends was more common (60 per cent), but almost a third (30 per cent) did nothing.'

The Greens 'equality for women' document says the party will task the Sex Discrimination Commissioner to provide advice on the success of France's catcalling laws and whether a national approach could be taken in Australia.

It said currently the Australian Human Rights Commission is undertaking the fourth National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces.

The party would scrutinise its findings and push for any recommended legal changes to keep women safe from harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
Train, bus, ferry and light rail commuters in New South Wales could be spending less money on travel from next year as a result of a fare review.

Limiting peak-time fares, offering off-peak fares to buses, ferries and light rail and giving bigger discounts to commuters using more than one mode of transport are being considered for the Opal card system from 2020-2024.

One significant proposal could mean peak fares only apply to commuters who are travelling in the 'busy' direction - so, for example, people heading out of the city at 8am are not hit with the higher fare like those heading to work in the CBD.

Travellers from Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast, Wollongong, the Blue Mountains and the Hunter could reap the benefits from the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) review.

All aboard the discount train! Train, bus, ferry and light rail commuters could be spending less money on travel from next year as fares are being reviewed (stock image)

Train commuters traveling during the weekday peaks, 7am to 9am and 4pm to 6.30pm, are charged 30 per cent more than off-peak fares.

Peak fares could be restricted to trips in particular locations such as CBD train stations like Central, Town Hall and Wynyard in periods where overcrowding is a major problem.

They may also be limited to one direction since trains travelling toward the city are packed in the morning while trains going away are crowded in the evening.

Off-peak fares are currently limited to trains but could be offered to buses, ferries and light rail to reduce the pressure on the rail network.

Ferries, buses and light rail could be offered off-peak fares, which are currently limited to trains, to reduce pressure on the crowded rail network (stock image)

Commuters using more than one mode of transport on a journey, like a bus and a train, currently receive a $2 discount that may be increased.

It is not known how new mode-specific fares for light rail and metro trips will impact commuters and could potentially cost more.

How fares are calculated for commuters traveling longer distances is also being reviewed through the number and range of fare bands and maximum fares, which could also potentially increase fares.

The state government increased Opal fares by 2.2 per cent in July 2018 after being urged by IPART to raise fares by 4.2 per cent annually over three years in 2016.

Commuters traveling by bus and train or more than one mode of transport in a single journey could receive bigger discounts than the current $2 discount (stock image)

IPART Chairman Dr Paul Paterson said taxpayers will bare the brunt of public transport costs as fare prices drop and investment in projects like the light rail increases.

'Fares have fallen in real terms over the last ten years and currently pay for less than a quarter of the costs of providing public transport,' IPART Chairman Dr Paul Paterson said.

'Taxpayers are now paying more to operate public transport in NSW and with the significant investment in new services that is being made, this contribution is forecast to keep rising.'

Proposed fares will be released to the public for comment in November before the final decision on fares is delivered to the NSW Government in February 2020.
Virgin Australia has nearly halved its order of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft and pushed back their delivery by six years after two fatal crashes involving the new planes.

The airline revealed it would move the scheduled delivery date of the first 737 Max 8 from November 2019 to February 2025, and cut the number on order from 38 to 23.

'Safety is always the number one priority for Virgin Australia,' new chief executive Paul Scurrah said.

'We will not introduce any new aircraft to the fleet unless we are completely satisfied with its safety.'

Virgin has delayed its delivery of Boeing 737 Max 8s after two fatal crashes killed 346 people in just five months (stock image)

On March 10, 149 passengers and eight crew members were killed in a horrific crash about six minutes after take off (pictured)

Virgin had originally ordered 38 737 Max 8s to be delivered in November 2019 and 10 Max 10's for delivery in January 2022.

The order has been altered so the number of Max 10s will be increased to 25 , brought forward to July 2021, and the number of Max 8s will be reduced to 23, with delivery pushed back to February 2025 after investigations and remedial changes are completed.

The move comes after two deadly crashes in just five months saw the entire Boeing 737 Max fleet grounded.

On October 29 last year, a Lion Air 737 Max 8 slammed into the Java Sea just 13 minutes after take off, killing all 189 on board. The plane had been delivered only two months earlier.

Last month, 149 passengers and eight crew members were killed in a horrific Ethiopian Airlines crash about six minutes after take off. The 787 Max 8 was four months old.

Despite the current track record, Mr Scurrah said he believes Boeing will be able to eliminate any safety issues in time for delivery.

'We are confident in Boeings commitment to returning the 737 MAX to service safely and as a long-term partner of Boeing, we will be working with them through this process,' he said.
One Nation supporters rounded on Tracy Grimshaw last night after her extraordinary interview with Pauline Hanson left the party leader in tears.

Some said the A Current Affair interview was part of a media 'witch hunt' to discredit the right-wing party, while others said Grimshaw, 58, lacked emotion and decency.

Other viewers, however, praised Grimshaw for her performance, with one calling her 'the best in the business' and others saying she deserved to win a Logie award.

One Nation supporters rounded on Tracy Grimshaw last night after her extraordinary interview with Pauline Hanson (pictured during the interview) left their leader in tears

Some said the A Current Affair interview was part of a media 'witch hunt' to discredit the far-right party, while others said Grimshaw (pictured), 58, lacked emotion and decency

Footage showing Steve Dickson (pictured) groping the breasts of one dancer before putting money into the underwear of another went to air on Monday night

Ms Grimshaw interviewed Senator Hanson on Tuesday to discuss the resignation of One Nation senate candidate Steve Dickson after A Current Affair aired footage of him groping dancers and making obscene comments about women in an American strip club.

'I've done more Asian than I know what to do with,' the married 56-year-old said in undercover footage filmed by Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera which was given to Channel Nine and aired on Monday night.

During the interview, Sen. Hanson broke down in tears, saying she was fed up with her candidates being embroiled in scandals.

'Tracy, I've been let down dreadfully,' she said. 'I cop all this s***, all the time, and I'm sick of it. Absolutely sick of it.'

At the start of the interview, Sen. Hanson asked why the footage of Dickson was only released three weeks before the federal election when it was filmed last year.

'That's what happens with leaks... I can't tell you why,' the host replied.

Some said the A Current Affair interview was part of a media 'witch hunt' to discredit the far-right party while others said Grimshaw lacked emotion and decency

That response that led to criticism from One Nation supporters who speculated that the timing was deliberate to cause maximum damage to One Nation.

'Cop out hiding behind "the video was leaked",' one supporter wrote online.

'The media have stooped low to stop you getting votes,' another said.

'Appalling behaviour on your part,' wrote another, in a dig at Channel Nine.

But many supporters said that the interview will have the opposite effect and increase support for One Nation.

One wrote: 'If ACA are trying to push her over the edge it's worked in the opposite way.'

That sentiment was echoed by One Nation co-founder David Oldfield, who praised Hanson on Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

'What an amazing performance last night, I am sure it improved her votes,' he said.

Many other viewers, however, praised Grrimshaw for her performance, with one calling her 'the best in the business'

He added: 'There are no crocodile tears tears there, that is genuinely Pauline. The people who love her stick up for her and say she is a fighter.

'The people who don't like her, will be thinking she is a dreadful act.

'It will bring support to her, it will solidify the people who are already with her, and she will go forward and keep going.'

Oldfield, who was expelled from One Nation in 2000 after a dispute with Sen. Hanson, wasn't completely complimentary to his former leader, however.

'The thing that Pauline never does is take responsibility for anything at all,' he said.

'One Nation really came from me using Pauline as the vehicle. The thing is, the constant has always been Pauline.

'She is the one that has always been there who has presided over every mess, she always puts her own responsibility to one side and blames everyone around her.'

Some viewers said Sen. Hanson was 'playing the victim' by crying to win votes.

Former Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane wrote on Twitter: 'Pauline Hanson is adept at playing the victim. Don't buy it.

'Just think what it's like to be a member of a group targeted by her toxic politics.

'Muslim Australians, African Australians, Asian Australians, Aboriginal Australians have all had her kick them in the guts.'

The footage of Dickson in the strip club emerged after Al Jazeera ran a story showing him and party official James Ashby meeting with officials from the US National Rifle Association.

Mr Dickson (pictured) resigned from One Nation on Tuesday after embarrassing footage of him in a strip club aired

During the interview, Sen. Hanson admitted feeling let down by Mr Dickson and said she wasn't aware of his strip club scandal until hours prior to the embarrassing footage aired.

Mr Dickson resigned from the party on Tuesday.

'He is generally sorry, he apologised, he had no intentions of doing that to me, he is upset with himself,' Senator Hanson said.

She added that Mr Dickson's wife Debbie was standing by him.

'You have no idea of the bond that they have,' she said.

'She trusts her husband. I'm not going to say any different, it is not my place to say. If she wants to stand by him, that is her choice.

'I'm not going to criticise him, I did not with Barnaby Joyce, or Cheryl Kernot, it is not my place. The impact that it has on me, what I want to achieve, that is what I am having my say on.'

Ms. Grimshaw questioned why Sen. Hanson was still in politics.

'Why are you still in it? Look at you. Why don't you walk? Look at what it is doing to you,' she asked.

Sen. Hanson replied: 'Tracy, I made a change out there for people.

'I save people from losing their lands. I have helped the primary sector. I have helped kids out there get apprenticeship schemes produced this year by the government. My scheme. I hope to get help for the farming sector in the Murray Darling. I will do it.

A defiant Senator Hanson gave a message to her critics.

'I have another three years. Mark Latham has been elected for eight years in the NSW Parliament. Do not write me off. Do not underestimate me,' she declared.

The interview ends with her being asked whether she's hanging in there.

'I am. There is still a lot that I want to do,' said Hanson before walking out.
Heartbroken friends and family of the Australian woman found dead in her London flat have started raising money to bring her body home.

Amy Parsons, 35, originally from Melbourne, was found dead in the fifth-floor apartment in Whitechapel about 1.30pm BST on Friday.

Her graphic designer fiance Roderick Deakin-White, 37, was hours later charged with her murder and will appear in Thames Magistrates' Court on Wednesday to apply for bail.

Ms Parsons had been living in the United Kingdom for several years and has no family in the country.

Her family launched a fundraising campaign, hoping to raise $20,000 to help her parents Leonie and Michael and her sister Eve fly to London to retrieve her body.

Just days later, Deakin-White (left) was arrested after Ms Parsons' (right) body was found at their fifth-floor apartment at about 1.30pm on Friday

Ms Parsons with her father Michael and mother Leonie during a 2016 visit

The Bringing Amy Home fundraising page had raised nearly $22,000 by Wednesday morning.

Ms Parsons has been described as 'the kindest soul' and a 'one-of-a-kind sister'.

'She was the most beautiful person. Amy was adventurous, intelligent, kind hearted, down-to-earth and loved by all who knew her,' the page read.

'Amy had so many friends all over the world, and she was the kindest soul.'

Ms Parsons and her graphic-designer partner were just months away from being married when her body was found.

Despite reports that their relationship had been under strain, there is no sign anything was wrong as the couple enjoyed the unseasonably warm British weather just a week ago.

Amy Parsons, 35, (third from right) enjoyed an Easter meal and bottles of white wine with her fiance Roderick Deakin-White, 37, (second from right) along with Rod's father (left) mother Christine (right) brother Ed (second from left) and Ed's partner

Ms Parsons' sister Eve (right) was already in the British capital, having settled there in late 2011 after months of travelling and now lives with her same-sex partner

The couple had been dating for close to a decade and Ms Parsons had moved to London in March 2012 to start a new life with him.

She started work at Old Mutual as an executive assistant, having worked in the same role for AXA Australian back in Melbourne.

Her sister Eve, also an executive assistant, was already in the British capital, having settled there in late 2011 after months of travelling and now lives with her same-sex partner.

The families were close and had known each other since at least 2007.

The Parsons sisters and their mother were visiting Dunstable, Bedfordshire, as part of a world tour from Australia to Singapore, Europe, and North America.

Deakin-White's mother Christine still lives in Dunstable where she and Ed have run Deakin-White estate agents since 2016.

Ms Deakin-White is battling cancer and on Wednesday shared curry lunch with her husband, Ed, and Ed's partner after a chemotherapy session.

Ms Deakin-White is battling cancer and on Wednesday shared curry lunch with her husband (left), Ed, and Ed's partner (far right) after a chemotherapy session

The families were close and knew each other since at least 2007 when Deakin-White's brother Ed (right) visited a pub with Ms Parsons and her mother (pictured)

Ms Parsons and Deakin-White (right) celebrate Father's Day last year with his brother Ed (left) and their parents

A family gathering of the Deakin-White family along with Ms Parsons (right) in 2017

By 2011, Ms Parsons and her beau were travelling by themselves to Hong Kong and other far-flung locales where Deakin-White indulged in his love of photography.

Members of both families, particularly the two mothers, regularly comment on each others' Facebook pages with plenty of cross-continental banter and loving words.

'Such a beaut photo!' Leonie commented on a photo of Ms Deakin-White and her husband last year. A year earlier she complimented a promotional photo for the estate agent business.

Ms Deakin-White in 2017 remarked to a friend that she had scraped together some cash for her son and prospective daughter-in-law to buy a nice meal on a visit to Melbourne.

Friends of the couple were shocked to learn of Ms Parsons death, particularly that it was allegedly at the hands of Mr Deakin-White.

By 2011, Ms Parsons and her beau were travelling by themselves to Hong Kong (pictured) and other far-flung locales where Deakin-White indulged in his love of photography

Roderick Deakin-White and Amy Parsons. She was found dead at the couple's home in Whitechapel, east London

Roderick Deakin-White (pictured with Amy Parsons) has been described as 'really helpful' by a friend

Deakin-White was described by neighbours at the east London apartment complex as 'really nice' and 'always willing to help'.

One described Deakin-White  known as 'Rod'  as the 'local handyman'.

Sam Broughton said Deakin-White, who calls himself a freelance 'motion graphic designer' who has worked for the Royal Opera House, was 'really helpful' and 'always there if you needed something fixed'.

'Rod helped me when our flat flooded. He was the local handyman, the helpful guy to go to in the building,' he said.

'We never hung out and chatted or anything, but he was always willing to help. He seemed like a really nice guy.

'I was out at the time it happened, but when I came back there was a bunch of police here  they didn't tell us much. I actually texted Rod to find out what happened but never got a reply.'

Deakin-White (left) with his parents and Ms Parson on a bridge in London in 2013

Australian Amy Parsons (pictured) was found at their fifth-floor London apartment about 1.30pm on Friday

Chi Building in Whitechapel, east London, where Amy Parsons lived with her partner Roderick Deakin-White

Two-bedroom apartments in the seven-storey Chi building in Whitechapel sell for about 620,000.

The grey and orange building can be accessed only with an electronic fob, while many of the flats have balconies.

Within walking distance of the Tower of London and the Old Spitalfields Market, the building is located just a few minutes' walk from Shadwell station and just half a mile from Bank, Tower Hill and Wapping.

The bustling area is full of hip restaurants and bars, vintage shops and galleries and is on the doorstep of trendy Shoreditch.

Another resident of the block said Deakin-White had come to help her with her internet connection and heating when she was having problems.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said: 'The last time I spoke to him was about a month ago.
Gambling regulators in Massachusetts on Tuesday levied a $35 million fine on Wynn Resorts but allowed the company to keep its state casino license and open its Boston-area resort as planned after executives failed to disclose years of allegations of sexual misconduct against company founder Steve Wynn.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission also fined CEO Matthew Maddox $500,000 for his 'clear failure' to investigate at least one misconduct complaint and required the Nevada company, which also owns properties in Las Vegas and Macau, to be subject to review by an independent firm selected by the state.

The commission, in its 54-page decision, said it was 'troubled by the systemic failures and pervasive culture of non-disclosure' its investigators uncovered, but ultimately determined the evidence 'does not rise to the level' of revoking the company's license or calling for other major changes.

Construction is continuing on the Encore Boston Harbor luxury resort and casino in Everett, Massachusetts after gambling regulators fined Wynn Resorts $35 million

'While the Company has made great strides in altering that system, this Commission remains concerned by the past failures and deficiencies,' the decision reads.

'Given our findings, it is now in the interest of the Commonwealth that the gaming licensee move forward in establishing and maintaining a successful gaming establishment in Massachusetts.'

The company said in a statement it's reviewing the late evening decision and considering its next steps. Lawyers for Steve Wynn didn't respond to emails seeking comment.

The long-awaited decision effectively clears the way for the opening of the company's $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor resort in Everett in June.

It comes after the commission this month released a more than 200-page investigative report, held three days of public hearings and deliberated for nearly four weeks on what company officials knew and did about the allegations.

Regulators fined Wynn Resorts $35 million but allowed it to retain its casino license after failing to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct against casino mogul Steve Wynn,pictured

Steve Wynn has denied the claims, saying his relationships with female employees had been consensual. He resigned as CEO last year after the Wall Street Journal first reported on the allegations.

Nevada regulators, after an investigation similar to Massachusetts' earlier this year, levied a $20 million fine on the company but also allowed it to retain its casino license.

Regulators in both states were focused on how long company officials were aware of the allegations and how they responded, rather than the truth behind the claims.

In Massachusetts, gambling investigators found company officials were aware of many of the allegations but failed to report them to internal investigators or take other steps mandated in the company's sexual harassment policies.

The commission also fined CEO Matthew Maddox, pictured, $500,000 and mandated an independent firm evaluate the company's recent organizational changes

They also found Wynn officials failed to disclose settlements paid out to Steve Wynn's accusers during their initial application for a state casino license. Among them was $7.5 million Steve Wynn personally paid in 2005 to a former salon employee who alleged she'd become pregnant after Wynn raped her.

Massachusetts regulators also found Wynn executives were aware but didn't disclose at least three other complaints casino massage therapists brought against Steve Wynn as the company was being vetted by the state from 2013 to 2014.

Wynn Resorts has argued the company has fundamentally changed since the scandal.

Every top executive that actively covered up or failed to act on the allegations has been fired. The board of directors saw an infusion of new members, including three women, and new sexual misconduct policies have been instituted, such as the creation of an oversight panel to review sexual harassment claims led by a former Boston police commissioner.

The $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor hotel is due to open in June

But Gaming Commission members, during their April hearings, directed pointed questions at Maddox, who has been with the company since its founding and is a close ally of Steve Wynn.

Commission members criticized Maddox for authorizing spying on employees named in The Wall Street Journal's story, but not actually investigating the sexual misconduct claims. And, when asked by commission members to name at least one of the company's new sexual harassment policies, Maddox wasn't able to.

Maddox acknowledged he should have informed regulators about the allegations in early 2018 since company officials were aware of The Wall Street Journal's reporting weeks prior to publication.

He also testified he'd been aware of a 2008 settlement as the company's then-chief financial officer, but maintained he was told the payment was to help a financially struggling employee.

And Maddox told regulators he was also aware of at least one of the complaints made by spa workers at Wynn Las Vegas about Steve Wynn's conduct during massages. As company president at the time, he said he told the then-president of the casino to tell Steve Wynn to discontinue the behavior.
The lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court decision was championed by Rauner and brought by Mark Janus, a former child support specialist with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services who was represented by the Liberty Justice Center and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Those same groups are behind Wednesdays lawsuit. The plaintiffs worked for a range of departments, including the Illinois State Police and the Department of Children and Family Services, and say they were wrongfully forced to give money to the union.
In politics, Pauline Hanson has never had much luck with men - whether now or in the 1990s.

The firebrand MP's first career in politics crashed and burned following a series of blazing rows and lurid claims about her most trusted operatives.

And now her political second life is looking wobbly after a series of scandals, the latest being the resignation of senate candidate Steve Dickson.

Ms Hanson was reduced to weeping on national television after Dickson's strip club jaunt was revealed.

She told A Current Affair's Tracy Grimshaw she had a 'whole list' of men who had wronged her.

'I've had Fraser Anning, I've had Brian Burston. I've had a whole list of them, David Oldfield, you name them.

'Where are they now? Where are they?' she asked, her lip quivering.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wept on A Current Affair speaking about people she has surrounded herself with

Pauline Hanson, David Oldfield (left) and Brian Burston (right) were the 'three founding members of One Nation'. She had bitter falling outs with both

Ms Hanson's interview came after Steve Dickson disgraced himself at a strip club

Some viewers accused Ms Hanson of playing the victim, saying she is the leader of a major political party, and can choose who she surrounds herself with.

One of those people was her former deputy, Mr Oldfield, who was today asked by Radio 3AW's Neil Mitchell if she had 'an unfairly rough time from people like you or Fraser Anning or others?'

Mr Oldfield replied: 'It's just a situation where, sadly Pauline has shown over two decades to be incapable of taking any responsibility for anything she has ever done.

'It's always been somebody else's fault. The thing which really should resonate with people is the constant in all of this has been Pauline.'

'She keeps telling people she's in charge, she's the boss... yet every time it breaks down, it's always some man, it's always somebody else.'

Rightly or wrongly, there's little doubt Ms Hanson feels betrayed by the actions of several men she has surrounded herself with.

Below, Daily Mail Australia examines Ms Hanson's stoushes with her former male confidantes over the years.

DAVID OLDFIELD

Mr Oldfield was Pauline Hanson's closest ally in the late 90s. He was originally a staffer for Tony Abbott, the future prime minister.

Mr Oldfield and Ms Hanson met and dreamed up One Nation together. But today he says she's 'never, ever' been up to the job.

Meanwhile, she has publicly wished for him to 'get bitten by a deadly snake'.

The pair once celebrated a string of successes, including winning more than 20 per cent of the vote at the 1998 Queensland State Election.

They also suffered failures, Ms Hanson losing her seat in the House of Representatives chief among them.

Oldfield, Hanson's former deputy leader, have waged several wars of words through the media

In 2000, the pair had a bitter falling out.

Ms Hanson accused Mr Oldfield of setting up alternative political parties and expelled him from the party.

The bizarre stoush ended with Ms Hanson locking herself in the One Nation office.

Oldfield claimed to reporters that she had been acting irrationally.

Ms Hanson said it was Oldfield who had been acting irrationally, fuming to the ABC: 'He's the one who actually called the landlord, he's the one who called the police'.

The pair have occasionally waged war in the media ever since.

Whether Mr Oldfield and Ms Hanson had a sexual relationship in their early days has been regular headline fodder. Ms Hanson has alluded to it over the years but Mr Oldfield has staunchly denied it.

In an interview with broadcaster Neil Mitchell today, he also denied he had ever been badly behaved towards her.

'I mean, she expelled me from the party quite unconstitutionally by an email - not an email, a press release.

'All she ever got was good advice from me'.

BRIAN BURSTON

Brian Burston has hitched his wagon to Ms Hanson twice, having been involved in both incarnations of One Nation.

Both times ended in disaster.

Ms Hanson has described herself, Oldfield and Burston as the 'three founding members of One Nation'.

Mr Burston was working as a staffer for Mr Oldfield when she sacked them both in 2000 over 'internal issues'.

As time went by, all seemed forgiven.

Brian Burston was by Pauline Hanson's side through both incarnations of One Nation

But it ended in disaster and he recently had a bizarre altercation with Hanson adviser James Ashby at Parliament House

In 2016, Hanson made a successful run for office and Mr Burston encouraged it, even winning a New South Wales senate seat alongside her.

The party had four Senate seats - critical votes on the Upper House crossbench.

Upon his election, Mr Burston boasted to The Sydney Morning Herald that the new One Nation was 'more cohesive than the previous bunch.'

But it was not to be.

Less than two years later, Mr Burston quit the party 'with a heavy heart'.

He said his relationship with Hanson had become 'irrevocable'. He eventually joined Clive Palmer's United Australia Party.

The fallout from his feud with Ms Hanson didn't stop there.

In February, Mr Burston and top Hanson adviser James Ashby had a physical confrontation in the Marble Foyer of Parliament House.

It culminated in Ashby being banned from the building and Burston bizarrely admitting he had smeared blood on her office door, but could not recall doing it.

DAVID ETTRIDGE

One Nation co-founder David Ettridge claimed Pauline Hanson is not fit for public office

David Ettridge was a key part of the first incarnation of One Nation.

He even went to jail with Hanson after the pair were convicted of electoral fraud.

The charges were later quashed on appeal.

Despite their shared experience, Mr Ettridge has been scathing about Hanson and sued One Nation over legal matters.

In 2017, he told The Australian: 'I think she is not a person of strong enough integrity and character to hold responsibility in public office.'

STEVE DICKSON

Steve Dickson is seen touching a dancer at a Washington strip club

There's little doubt Mr Dickson is the latest man to hurt Ms Hanson.

The Queensland senate candidate was caught on hidden camera repeatedly disgracing himself.

A Current Affair on Monday broadcast footage of Dickson groping a stripper at a Washington DC club.

He was also seen disparaging dancers and speaking crudely about women.

He described a dancer as having 'little t**s' and called another a 'b***h'.

Dickson continued: 'White women f*** a whole lot better, they know what they are doing, Asian chicks don't.

'I've done more Asians than I know what to do with.'

Hanson said she was 'shocked and disappointed' by what she saw on TV.

She had already stood by him when Al Jazeera aired footage of him and fellow One Nation operative plotting to solicit help from the US gun lobby, the NRA.

JAMES ASHBY

James Ashby has been at the centre of Ms Hanson's second career in Federal politics.

Senator Hanson's right-hand-man James Ashby was one of the subjects of the al-Jazeera investigation

It has been a bumpy ride, with Ashby sometimes making more headlines than the firebrand senator herself.

Controversies have included quibbles over his light plane to his bloody stoush with Burston and US adventure with Dickson.

But Ms Hanson has continued to stand by Mr Ashby, even after their NRA scheme was revealed.

Last night Tracy Grimshaw asked Ms Hanson about Mr Ashby and Mr Dickson: 'Do you feel you were let down by them both over there?'

Hanson said: 'I've been let down dreadfully - not by him - I can give you a whole list of them.

'So just don't put the blame on them,' she said, before listing some of the other men detailed in this story she believes have hurt her.

MALCOLM ROBERTS

One Nation's power waned after Malcolm Roberts was booted by the High Court

The loyal One Nation senator, who only garnered 77 first preference votes at the 2016 election, was kicked out of Parliament by the High Court two years ago.

Mr Roberts was one of a swag of sitting members who lost their positions in the dual citizenship scandal having fallen afoul of Section 44 of the constitution.

Mr Roberts had claimed he had done everything he could to renounce his British citizenship but was booted out regardless.

His departure led to the swift collapse of One Nation's negotiating power in the Senate, with his replacement, Fraser Anning, quickly quitting the party.

However, Mr Roberts did not fall out with Ms Hanson, and is running once again for a Queensland senate seat at this month's election.

FRASER ANNING

Fraser Anning quit One Nation within hours of taking his seat

Roberts was replaced in the Senate by the now-notorious Fraser Anning, who quit the party within hours of taking his seat.

Hanson viewed it as a bitter betrayal, issuing a scathing media release saying he had 'abandoned' the party.

Anning linked up with Bob Katter's Australia Party but left that and launched a party based around his own brand.

He has since become a figure of controversy for extreme remarks about the Christchurch massacre and Muslim immigration.
Soaring drone footage has shown large sheets of temporary roofing being hauled over Notre Dame Cathedral to protect it from the elements.

Engineers have been seen this week working on cranes and in harnesses to shore up the church's defences after it was ravaged by a ferocious inferno which stunned the world on April 15.

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to rebuild it within five years and France has launched an international competition for the reconstruction of the cathedral's 19th-century spire, which collapsed into the nave during the blaze.

However, more than a thousand French and international architects have warned Macron his rapid plans risked building quality with a 'political agenda.'

Men in harnesses and hardhats haul a massive white sheet over the roof of the cathedral in Paris to protect it from the elements

Men in harnesses with hardhats fasten down white sheets over the roof of the cathedral

Flames and smoke rise from the blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15

In a column published by French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday, they urge Macron to 'let historians and experts have the time for diagnosis before deciding on the future of the monument.'

They call for a well-considered, thoughtful and ethical approach and warn against a 'political agenda' based on speed.

France's government last week presented a bill aimed at speeding up the reconstruction of Notre Dame that would allow workers to skip some ordinary renovation procedures.

A survey on Tuesday revealed a majority of French people want it restored exactly the way it was, with just a quarter backing a modern 'architectural gesture.'

French MPs are scrutinising the new law which would relax tender and some heritage rules to help speed the restoration, and are likely to start debating it on May 10, a source said.

The law would also give tax advantages to donors and set up a public body to oversee and carry out the work.

Men work at Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday to ensure the site is protected from the weather

A crane can be seen in place over the top of the cathedral this week as professionals work to ensure the church is defended against the elements

Wooden boards and a white sheets can be seen placed over the roof of the centuries-old church

A white sheet can be seen strapped down to the top of the cathedral to protect it from the elements

White sheets can be seen over the roof after professionals placed weather-proofing material this week

Donations to help rebuild the cathedral have poured in from around the globe, with the total now topping 850 million euros (730 million).

One 18-year-old carpenter apprentice is keen to join the ranks of those given the prestigious task of working on the old roof.

'It would be an achievement to be able to say that we participated in the creation of Notre-Dame,' Romain Legoube said.

Legoube is one of around 10,000 students trained every year by Les Compagnons du Devoir, a guild association created over 70 years ago, with a nod to medieval traditions, to train people in different crafts.

Legoube hopes one day to walk on the vaults of the site and rebuild the frame of the roof, as previous builders of cathedrals did before him.

Professional mountain climbers work on a part of Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday

French firm Studio NAB said that it wanted to look at the redesign of Notre Dame as a question of environmental, educational and social integration

But first, he must obtain his certification, and travel around workplaces in France and abroad to become a skilled craftsman.

Jean-Claude Bellanger, who heads up the Compagnons du Devoir association, alerted the French government in the wake of the fire that there was a lack of manpower in the building trade, which could slow down Notre-Dame's reconstruction.

Bellanger said the organisation's partner companies are facing a shortage of about 100 stonecutters, 100 masons, 150 carpenters and 200 roofers.
Special counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Attorney General William Barr complaining that his memo to Congress summarizing his Russia investigation and exonerating President Trump of collusion did not fully capture the substance of his report.

Mueller wrote the letter on March 27 just days after Barr issued a four-page memo that summarized what he said were the main conclusions of the Special Counsel's Russia report, the Washington Post reports.

Barr had announced on March 24 that Trump had been cleared of obstruction of justice and there was no conspiracy between his campaign and Russia to interfere in the election.

In response, Mueller wrote to Barr objecting to his description of the conclusions and complained that the memo 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance' of his 448-page report.

Special counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to Attorney General William Barr (above) complaining that his memo to Congress summarizing his Russia investigation and exonerating President Trump of collusion did not fully capture the substance of his report

'The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions,' Mueller wrote.

'There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.'

Mueller had asked in his letter for Barr to release the introductions and executive summaries from the report.

He also suggested some initial redactions to avoid waiting for the entire report to be reviewed and redacted of certain information.

Mueller wrote that the redaction process 'need not delay release of the enclosed materials'.

'Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation,' Mueller wrote in his letter.

According to Justice Department officials, Barr wanted to issue the report all at once with the redactions - a process that ended up taking several weeks.

Barr's four-page summary was released more than three weeks before a redacted version of Mueller's report was released to the public on April 18.

Mueller and Barr also spoke by phone after he sent the letter, according to Justice Department officials.

In the call, Mueller is said to have expressed concerns that the public wasn't getting an accurate understanding of the investigation.

Justice Department officials said Barr asked Mueller if he thought the memo was inaccurate and Mueller responded that he didn't.

The letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr.

Barr had announced on March 24 that Trump had been cleared of obstruction of justice and there was no conspiracy between his campaign and Russia to interfere in the election

Barr's four-page summary was released more than three weeks before a redacted version of Mueller's report was released to the public on April 18

Barr is set to face lawmakers' questions for the first time since releasing the Russia report. It is likely to be a dramatic showdown as Barr defends his actions before Democrats who have accused him of spinning the investigation's finding in Trump's favor.

It will give Barr his most extensive opportunity to explain the department's actions, including a press conference held before the report's release, and for him to repair a reputation bruised by allegations that he's the president's protector.

Barr is also invited to appear on Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question the attorney general.

His appearance Wednesday will be before a Republican-led committee chaired by a close ally of the president, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is expected to focus on concerns that the early days of the FBI's Russia investigation were tainted by law enforcement bias against Trump.

Democrats are likely to focus on Barr's statements and actions in the last six weeks that have unnerved them.

The tense relations are notable given how Barr breezed through his confirmation process, picking up support from a few Democrats and offering reassuring words about the Justice Department's independence and the importance of protecting the special counsel's investigation.

The first hint of discontent surfaced last month when Barr issued a four-page statement that summarized what he said were the main conclusions of the Mueller report.

In the letter, Barr revealed that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had cleared Trump of obstruction of justice after Mueller and his team found evidence on both sides of the question but didn't reach a conclusion.

Barr is likely to defend himself by noting how he released the report on his own even though he didn't have to under the special counsel regulations, and that doing so fulfilled a pledge he made at his confirmation hearing to be as transparent as the law allowed.

Barr may say that he wanted to move quickly to give the public a summary of Mueller's main findings as the Justice Department spent weeks redacting more sensitive information from the report.

After the letter's release, Barr raised eyebrows anew when he told a congressional committee that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, a common talking point of the president and his supporters.

The Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jerrold Nadler, is in a stand-off with Bill Barr, but its Senate equivalent, chaired by Trump's golf buddy Lindsey Graham, will welcome the attorney general Wednesday

He also equivocated on a question of whether Mueller's investigation was a witch hunt, saying someone who feels wrongly accused would reasonably view an investigation that way.

That was a stark turnabout from his confirmation hearing, when he said he didn't believe Mueller would ever be on a witch hunt.

A person familiar with Barr's thinking has said that Barr, a former CIA employee, did not mean spying in a necessarily inappropriate way and was simply referring to intelligence collection activities.

The FBI did obtain a secret surveillance warrant in 2016 to eavesdrop on the communications of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.

Then came Barr's April 18 press conference to announce the release of the Mueller report later that morning.

He repeated about a half dozen times that Mueller's investigation had found no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia, though the special counsel took pains to note in his report that 'collusion' was not a legal term and also pointed out the multiple contacts between the campaign and Russia.

In remarks that resembled some of Trump's own claims, he praised the White House for giving Mueller's team 'unfettered access' to documents and witnesses and suggested the president had the right to be upset by the investigation, given his 'sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks.'

Fifteen shocking revelations from the Mueller report Robert Mueller's report is in, and while there is no concrete evidence that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia during his presidential campaign, there is no shortage of shocking revelations. Many of these revelations do not involve President Trump directly, but rather the people around him, from his family to his administration. From Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr avoiding charges due to their ignorance and Sarah Sanders admitting she supplied false information to the press, to the money Betsy DeVos' brother fronted to try and get Hillary Clinton's emails, here are the 15 most shocking revelations. Sarah Sanders provides the press with false information White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is seen above holding a press briefing on May 10, 2017 The reasoning behind President Trump's decision to fire James Comey was the focus of the White House press briefing on May 10, 2017. Sarah Sanders told the reporters in attendance that the Department of Justice, President Trump and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle had lost confidence in the FBI director. Then she took things one step further by stating: '[a]nd most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director. Accordingly, the President accepted the recommendation of his Deputy Attorney General to remove James Comey from his position.' It was then noted by one reporter that a 'vast majority' of agents supported Comey, prompting the press secretary to note: 'Look, we've heard from countless members of the FBI that say very different things.' Sanders later admitted that her comment about speaking to 'countless members' of the FBI was a 'slip of the tongue', and that the remark about the 'rank-and-file' FBI agents losing their confidence in Comey was unfounded and 'made in the heat of the moment'. She never informed the press of this 'slip of the tongue' or unfounded comment. Donald Trump Jr is a mouthpiece for WikiLeaks Donald Trump Jr. got a message that read: 'Great to see you and your dad talking about our publications. Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us' On October 3, 2016, the WikiLeaks Twitter sent a direct message to Donald Trump Jr asking 'you guys' to share a post that alleged Hillary Clinton 'had advocated using a drone to target Julian Assange'. Trump Jr revealed he had already done so, and began to talk about WikiLeaks with increasing frequency. On October 12 he got another message that read: 'Great to see you and your dad talking about our publications. Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us.' He was the given a link to help in 'digging through' leaked emails, while being told that the organization had 'just released Podesta emails Part 4.' Trump Jr shared the link two days later. President Trump launches search for Hillary Clinton's emails Multiple individuals were involved in finding 30,000 deleted Clinton emails including former White House strategist Steve Bannon and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway Then-candidate Trump asked those affiliated with his campaign to find the 30,000 deleted emails. 'Michael Flynn recalled that Trump made this request repeatedly, and Flynn subsequently contacted multiple people in an effort to obtain the emails. Barbara Ledeen and Peter Smith were among the people contacted by Flynn,' states the report. Multiple individuals were soon involved, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway. Ledeen and Smith would often communicate regarding efforts to retrieve the emails, and Smith drafted several emails suggesting he was in contact with Russian hackers. '[I]n one such email, Smith claimed that, in August 2016, KLS Research had organized meetings with parties who had access to the deleted Clinton emails, including parties with ties and affiliations to Russia,' said the report. 'The investigation did not establish that Smith was in contact with Russian hackers or that Smith, Ledeen, or other individuals in touch with the Trump Campaign ultimately obtained the deleted Clinton emails.' Erik Prince funds the vetting of Hillary's emails When emails that may have come from Hillary Clinton needed to be vetted, it was Betsy DeVos' brother who put up the money to have them examined. Barbara Ledeen, whose husband had co-authored a book with General Michael Flynn, had emails that she claimed were from the 'dark web.' A tech adviser was needed to authenticate the emails, and so Ledeen started to solicit donations. Erik Prince agreed to find the operation, which ultimately concluded that the emails were not in fact real. Manafort's lost millions Former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is seen at the Republican National Convention, in Cleveland in July 2016 Paul Manafort did not have many job prospects at the time he came on board to work for the Trump campaign, and was of the belief that taking a role would be 'good for business'. That was a reference to the $2 million he was owed for work he did for questionable operatives in the country that he had not been paid for at that time. He also hoped that his new job might help him get Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska a visa, and that the man would in turn drop a lawsuit against him. And for reasons that are still somewhat unclear, Manafort kept Ukrainian political consultant Konstantin Kilimnik abreast of all developments in the campaign and how Trump was polling. Robert Mueller goes clubbing 'In October 2011, Mueller resigned his family's membership from Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, in a letter that noted that "we live in the District and find that we are unable to make full use of the Club" and that inquired "whether we would be entitled to a refund of a portion of our initial membership fee," which was paid in 1994,' notes the report. Mueller is seen above President Trump wanted Mueller gone in the days following his appointment, and began to toss out potential conflicts He pointed out that 'Mueller had interviewed for the FBI Director position,' that 'he had worked for a law firm that represented people affiliated with the President,' and that he had disputed fees at a Trump golf club he belonged to in Virginia. That claim was played up, even though the reality of the situation told a much different story. 'In October 2011, Mueller resigned his family's membership from Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, in a letter that noted that "we live in the District and find that we are unable to make full use of the Club" and that inquired "whether we would be entitled to a refund of a portion of our initial membership fee," which was paid in 1994,' notes the report. 'About two weeks later, the controller of the club responded that the Muellers' resignation would be effective October 31, 2011, and that they would be "placed on a waitlist to be refunded on a first resigned I first refunded basis."' Hope Hicks hangs up on Putin Former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks is seen in this February 2018 photo Hope Hicks received a phone call from a unknown Russian man shortly after President Trump's victory on election night. Unsure who it was she instructed the person to email her, but did hear the words 'Putin call.' She received an email the next morning from Sergey Kuznetsov, an official at the Russian Embassy to the United States, with the subject line 'Message from Putin.' The letter congratulated Trump and noted that he was looking forward to the two men working together, but Hicks was afraid to pass it along to her boss. So she instead decided to email Jared Kushner, asking: 'Can you look into this? Don't want to get duped but don't want to blow off Putin!' Kushner said the best way to do this would be by contact the ambassador, but was unable to remember his name. That man was Sergey Kislyak, and within days Kushner and General Flynn were meeting with him at Trump Tower to discuss setting up a secure line between President Trump and Putin. President Trump is f***ed 'Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I' m f***ed.,' said President Trump while slumping in his chair. Trump is pictured above last month On May 17, 2017, Robert Mueller was named Special Counsel by Rod Rosenstein. Notes taken from a meeting that day revealed that when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions informed President Trump of the news he was less than thrilled about the appointment. 'Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I' m f***ed.,' said President Trump while slumping in his chair. 'How could you let this happen, Jeff?' President Trump then continued to bemoan the news, telling Sessions: "You were supposed to protect me' and noting: 'Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency.' Wise guys Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner are seen above in a file photo from a book party in 2009 Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort managed to avoid being charged for violating campaign finance law by not being smart enough to know that they were engaging in unlawful activity. In summarizing his findings from the infamous June 2016 meeting between members of the Trump campaign and Russian Natalia Veselnitskaya, Robert Mueller wrote that unlawful activity did take place, but the men who broke them were unaware of their illegal actions. 'On the facts here, the government would unlikely be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the June 9 meeting participants had general knowledge that their conduct was unlawful,' reads the report. 'The investigation has not developed evidence that the participants in the meeting were familiar with the foreign-contribution ban or the application of federal law to the relevant factual context.' 'Even assuming that the promised "documents and information that would incriminate Hillary" constitute a "thing of value" under campaign-finance law, the government would encounter other challenges in seeking to obtain and sustain a conviction,' wrote Mueller. He then explained how reasonable doubt would make it hard to convict Don Jr and Kushner. 'To prove that a defendant acted "knowingly and willfully," the government would have to show that the defendant had general knowledge that his conduct was unlawful,' wrote Mueller. In closing out the reasons why no charges would be pursued, Mueller broke down the potential problems with getting a conviction for the three campaign members. 'Additionally, in light of the unresolved legal questions about whether giving "documents and information" of the sort offered here constitutes a campaign contribution, Trump Jr. could mount a factual defense that he did not believe his response to the offer and the June 9 meeting itself violated the law,' wrote Mueller. 'Given his less direct involvement in arranging the June 9 meeting, Kushner could likely mount a similar defense.' He then noted: 'And, while Manafort is experienced with political campaigns, the Office has not developed evidence showing that he had relevant knowledge of these legal issues.' The Steele dossier lives on The dossier prepared by former agent Christopher Steele (seen above) claiming that a compromising tape of President Trump was in the possession of powerful Russians is backed up by Mueller The dossier prepared by former agent Christopher Steele claiming that a compromising tape of President Trump was in the possession of powerful Russians is backed up by Mueller. The nature of the tape is unknown, but in October 2016 Michael Cohen receive a message from a Russian businessman by the name of Giorgi Rtskhiladze. 'Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there's anything else. Just so you know,' stated that message in part. Those tapes were 'rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia.' Hacking in hours On July 27, 2016, Trump appeared at a rally where he stated: 'Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.' That was a reference to the emails stored on Clinton's server. It took just five hours for GRU officers to target Clinton's personal office in an attempt to hack into the system and obtain the emails. Seth Rich exonerated The report states once and for all, and without a shadow of a doubt, that murdered DNC worker Seth Rich (pictured) did not help leak emails The report states once and for all, and without a shadow of a doubt, that murdered DNC worker Seth Rich did not help leak emails. 'Beginning in the summer of 2016, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks made a number of statements about Seth Rich, a former DNC staff member who was killed in July 2016,' states the report. 'The statements about Rich implied falsely that he had been the source of the stolen DNC emails.' Despite this, Assange still used the boy's death to strongly suggest he was the source of the leaked emails to the cryptic statements he made at the time. 'ANNOUNCE: WikiLeaks has decided to issue a US$20k reward for information leading to conviction for the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich,' tweeted the WikiLeaks account after his death. And when asked about his interested in the murder, Assange said: 'We're very interested in anything that might be a threat to alleged WikiLeaks sources.' Trump goes silent Mueller's team did not issue a subpoena to force President Trump to give an interview to the special counsel because it would have created a 'substantial delay' at a late stage in the investigation. President Trump refused an oral interview and provided only written answers for the questions he was willing to answer. 'We also assessed that based on the significant body of evidence we had already obtained of the President's actions and his public and private statements describing or explaining those actions, we had sufficient evidence to understand relevant events and to make certain assessments without the President's testimony,' states the report. Friends and frenemies Trump and his former campaign manager Paul Manafort are seen at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 21, 2016 Mueller said evidence he collected indicates Trump intended to encourage his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, not to cooperate with the investigation. There was also evidence that appeared to support the idea that Trump wanted Manafort to believe that he could receive a presidential pardon. 'During Manafort's prosecution and when the jury in his criminal trial was deliberating, the President praised Manafort in public, said that Manafort was being treated unfairly, and declined to rule out a pardon,' notes the report. 'After Manafort was convicted, the President called Manafort "a brave man" for refusing to "break" and said that "flipping" "almost ought to be outlawed.' By contrast, he expressed 'hostility' towards General Flynn after learning he was cooperating with the investigation. Future charges 'Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations,' reads the report. 'The incidents were often carried out through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought to use his official power outside of usual channels. 'These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General's recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony.' Advertisement

Attorney General's testimony in FULL: Read Barr's written statement as he prepares for Senate hearing on Mueller report

Good morning, Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Feinstein, and Members of the Committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the conclusion of the investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III, and the confidential report he submitted to me, which I recently released to the public after applying necessary redactions.

When I appeared before this Committee just a few months ago for my confirmation hearing, Senators asked for two commitments concerning the Special Counsel's investigation: first, that I would allow the Special Counsel to finish his investigation without interference; and second, that I would release his report to Congress and to the American public. I believe that the record speaks for itself. The Special Counsel completed his investigation as he saw fit. As I informed Congress on March 22, 2019, at no point did I, or anyone at the Department of Justice, overrule the Special Counsel on any proposed action. In addition, immediately upon receiving his confidential report to me, we began working with the Special Counsel to prepare it for public release and, on April 18, 2019, I released a public version subject only to limited redactions that were necessary to comply with the law and to protect important governmental interests.

1. Preparation for Public Release

As I explained in my letter of April 18, 2019, the redactions in the public report fall into four categories: (1) grand-jury information, the disclosure of which is prohibited by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e); (2) investigative techniques, which reflect material identified by the intelligence and law enforcement communities as potentially compromising sensitive sources, methods, or techniques, as well as information that could harm ongoing intelligence or law enforcement activities; (3) information that, if released, could harm ongoing law enforcement matters, including charged cases where court rules and orders bar public disclosure by the parties of case information; and (4) information that would unduly infringe upon the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties, which includes deliberation about decisions not to recommend prosecution of such parties. I have also made available to a bipartisan group of leaders in Congress, including Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein, a minimally redacted version that includes everything other than the grand-jury material, which by law cannot be disclosed.

Witness: Attorney General William Barr (pictured at the press conference when he released Robert Mueller's report) is due to testify before Senators today

We made every effort to ensure that the redactions were as limited as possible. According to one analysis, just eight percent of the public report was redacted. And my understanding is that less than two percent has been withheld in the minimally redacted version made available to Congressional leaders. While the Deputy Attorney General and I selected the categories of redactions, the redactions themselves were made by Department of Justice attorneys working closely with attorneys from the Special Counsel's Office. These lawyers consulted with the prosecutors handling ongoing matters and with members of the intelligence community who reviewed selected portions of the report to advise on redactions. The Deputy Attorney General and I did not overrule any of the redaction decisions, nor did we request that any additional material be redacted.

We also permitted the Office of the White House Counsel and the President's personal counsel to review the redacted report prior to its release, but neither played any role in the redaction process. Review by the Office of White House Counsel allowed them to advise the President on executive privilege, consistent with long-standing Executive Branch practice. As I have explained, the President made the determination not to withhold any information based on executive privilege. Review by the President's personal counsel was a matter of fairness in light of my decision to make public what would otherwise have been a confidential report, and it was consistent with the practice followed for years under the now-expired Ethics in Government Act.

2. Bottom-Line Conclusions

After the Special Counsel submitted the confidential report on March 22, I determined that it was in the public interest for the Department to announce the investigation's bottom-line conclusionsthat is, the determination whether a provable crime has been committed or not. I did so in my March 24 letter. I did not believe that it was in the public interest to release additional portions of the report in piecemeal fashion, leading to public debate over incomplete information.

My main focus was the prompt release of a public version of the report so that Congress and the American people could read it for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

The Department's principal responsibility in conducting this investigation was to determine whether the conduct reviewed constituted a crime that the Department could prove beyond a reasonable doubt. As Attorney General, I serve as the chief law-enforcement officer of the United States, and it is my responsibility to ensure that the Department carries out its law enforcement functions appropriately. The Special Counsel's investigation was no exception. The Special Counsel was, after all, a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice charged with making prosecution or declination decisions.

The role of the federal prosecutor and the purpose of a criminal investigation are well defined. Federal prosecutors work with grand juries to collect evidence to determine whether a crime has been committed. Once a prosecutor has exhausted his investigation into the facts of a case, he or she faces a binary choice: either to commence or to decline prosecution. To commence prosecution, the prosecutor must apply the principles of federal prosecution and conclude both that the conduct at issue constitutes a federal offense and that the admissible evidence would probably be sufficient to obtain and sustain a guilty verdict by an unbiased trier of fact. These principles govern the conduct of all prosecutions by the Department and are codified in the Justice Manual.

The appointment of a Special Counsel and the investigation of the conduct of the President of the United States do not change these rules. To the contrary, they make it all the more important for the Department to follow them. The appointment of a Special Counsel calls for particular care since it poses the risk of what Attorney General Robert Jackson called 'the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.' By definition, a Special Counsel is charged with investigating particular potential crimes, not all potential crimes wherever they may be found. Including a democratically elected politician as a subject in a criminal investigation likewise calls for special care. As Attorney General Jackson admonished his United States Attorneys, politically sensitive cases demand that federal prosecutors be 'dispassionate and courageous' in order to 'protect the spirit as well as the letter of our civil liberties.'

Attorney General Barr declared that he had allowed special counsel Robert Mueller (pictured with his wife Ann in Washington) to conduct his investigation 'without interference'

The core civil liberty that underpins our American criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence. Every person enjoys this presumption long before the commencement of any investigation or official proceeding. A federal prosecutor's task is to decide whether the admissible evidence is sufficient to overcome that presumption and establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If so, he seeks an indictment; if not, he does not. The Special Counsel's report demonstrates that there are many subsidiary considerations informing that prosecutorial judgmentincluding whether particular legal theories would extend to the facts of the case and whether the evidence is sufficient to prove one or another element of a crime. But at the end of the day, the federal prosecutor must decide yes or no. That is what I sought to address in my March 24 letter.

3. Russian Interference

The Special Counsel inherited an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, and whether any individuals affiliated with President Trump's campaign colluded in those efforts. In Volume I of the report, the Special Counsel found that several provable crimes were committed by Russian nationals related to two distinct schemes.

First, the report details efforts by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian company with close ties to the Russian government, to sow social discord among American voters through disinformation and social media operations. Second, the report details efforts by Russian military officials associated with the GRU to hack into computers and steal documents and emails from individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton for the purpose of eventually publicizing those emails. Following a thorough investigation, the Special Counsel brought charges against several Russian nationals and entities in connection with each scheme.

The Special Counsel also looked at whether any member or affiliate of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump participated in these crimes. With respect to the disinformation scheme, the Special Counsel found no evidence that any Americansincluding anyone associated with the Trump campaignconspired or coordinated with the Russian government or the IRA.

Likewise, with respect to hacking, the Special Counsel found no evidence that anyone associated with the Trump campaign, nor any other American, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its hacking operations. Moreover, the Special Counsel did not find that any Americans committed a crime in connection with the dissemination of the hacked materials in part because a defendant could not be charged for dissemination without proof of his involvement in the underlying hacking conspiracy.

Barr insisted he had he had to make a 'prosecutorial judgment' on whether Donald Trump (pictured) had committed obstruction of justice

Finally, the Special Counsel investigated a number of 'links' or 'contacts' between Trump Campaign officials and individuals connected with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign. The Special Counsel did not find any conspiracy with the Russian government to violate U.S. law involving Russia-linked persons and any persons associated with the Trump campaign.

Thus, as to the original question of conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, the Special Counsel did not find that any crimes were committed by the campaign or its affiliates.

4. Obstruction of Justice

In Volume II of the report, the Special Counsel considered whether certain actions of the President could amount to obstruction of justice. The Special Counsel decided not to reach a conclusion, however, about whether the President committed an obstruction offense. Instead, the report recounts ten episodes and discusses potential legal theories for connecting the President's actions to the elements of an obstruction offense. After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report, and in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other Department lawyers, the Deputy Attorney General and I concluded that, under the principles of federal prosecution, the evidence developed by the Special Counsel would not be sufficient to charge the President with an obstruction-of-justice offense.

The Deputy Attorney General and I knew that we had to make this assessment because, as I previously explained, the prosecutorial judgment whether a crime has been established is an integral part of the Department's criminal process. The Special Counsel regulations provide for the report to remain confidential. Given the extraordinary public interest in this investigation, however, I determined that it was necessary to make as much of it public as I could and committed the Department to being as transparent as possible. But it would not have been appropriate for me simply to release Volume II of the report without making a prosecutorial judgment.

The Deputy Attorney General and I therefore conducted a careful review of the report, looking at the facts found and the legal theories set forth by the Special Counsel. Although we disagreed with some of the Special Counsel's legal theories and felt that some of the episodes examined did not amount to obstruction as a matter of law, we accepted the Special Counsel's legal framework for purposes of our analysis and evaluated the evidence as presented by the Special Counsel in reaching our conclusion. We concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.

***

The responsibility of the Department of Justice, when it comes to law enforcement, is to determine whether crimes have been committed and to prosecute those crimes under the principles of federal prosecution. With the completion of the Special Counsel's investigation and the resulting prosecutorial decisions, the Department's work on this matter is at its end aside from completing the cases that have been referred to other offices. From here on, the exercise of responding and reacting to the report is a matter for the American people and the political process.

As I am sure you agree, it is vitally important for the Department of Justice to stand apart from the political process and not to become an adjunct of it.
A Texas woman has spoken of her shock and devastation after learning that she was fathered by her mother's fertility doctor and not by the sperm donor she had long thought to be her dad.

Eve Wiley, 31, made the discovery after she used genetic testing services 23andMe and Ancestry.com, along with her husband, to learn more about their family's health history after their firstborn child Hutton had medical problems.

Wiley's mother, Margo Williams and Williams' late husband, had turned to sperm donation at California Cryobank to conceive their daughter after experiencing fertility problems.

Eve Wiley (pictured) and her mother Margo Williams believed that sperm donor Steve Scholl was her father

Margo Williams (pictured) was artificially inseminated by her fertility doctor after Williams and her husband experienced fertility problems

Wiley had believed a donor, Steve Scholl, known Donor No. 106, and chosen by her mother, was her biological father and had developed a father-daughter relationship with him fourteen years ago.

Williams' husband had died when Wiley was seven.

'I call him dad. We say I love you,' Wiley told the Dallas Morning News, referring to Scholl, 'We spend holidays together and he actually officiated at my wedding.'

Through extensive genetic testing, genealogy research and communications with the fertility doctor, who Wiley hasn't named, Wiley says she discovered the doctor who performed the artificial insemination procedure is her father.

There are photos showing the doctor in question holding Wiley after delivering her.

Wiley (pictured left) says she developed a father daughter relationship with Steve Scholl, a sperm donor who she believed to be her father (pictured right)

The doctor, who is said to be Wiley's father, actually delivered her and is pictured here holding Wiley as a newborn baby

Wiley said she tracked down two older half-siblings who knew they were donor-conceived.

She located another half-sibling on 23andMe.com. The two shared family-tree information and she discovered that who she expected to be a half-brother was in fact a cousin, and his uncle was her mother's doctor.

Wiley said she and her mother have corresponded with the the doctor in question.

'He acknowledged that I am his daughter,' Wiley told the Dallas Morning News.

Through extensive genetic testing and genealogy research, Wiley (above right) discovered Scholl (above left) wasn't her father

ABC reports that the doctor mixed his own sperm in with that of the donor's after the donor's failed five times and that Williams and her husband gave him permission to use another anonymous local donor. Williams, of Texarkana, denies that was the case.

According to ABC, the doctor agrees with Williams that he never actually told her it was his sperm he had used.

Williams told 20/20 that the fertility doctor she and her husband worked with was highly regarded.

'He was that doctor in the community that everybody respected and absolutely trusted him,' Williams says in the clip, calling him the 'go-to doctor' for couples experiencing fertility struggles.

Williams went on to conceive a second daughter naturally with her husband and Wiley has a sister who's 14 months younger.

'He was that doctor in the community that everybody respected and absolutely trusted him,' Williams told ABC's 20/20

Wiley is now lobbying for a change in the law in a bid to make it a sexual assault offense if a health care provider implants human sperm, eggs or embryos from an unauthorized donor. Margo Williams seen above on the day of Wiley's birth

Wiley who's a stay at home mom and licensed professional counselor says she just wants to know why.

'I don't love this. This sucks. When I tell people my story, their jaws hit the floor.'

Wiley is now lobbying for a change in the law in a bid to make it a sexual assault offense if a health care provider implants human sperm, eggs or embryos from an unauthorized donor.

She has visited more than 20 legislative offices to press for passage of bills that would change the law in Texas to categorize fertility fraud as sexual assault.

Wiley has a half sister who was conceived naturally by Williams and her husband 14 months after Wiley's birth

'It's really important to protect vulnerable people,' she told The Dallas Morning News. 'You spend a lot of time with those doctors. There's a lot of trust. You are trusting them and you are incredibly vulnerable.'

If the bill goes into law then offenders can expect a punishment of between six months and two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee have unanimously approved the bill and sent it to the full Senate.

20/20 airs on Friday at 10 p.m. ET.
Plans for Donald Trump to make a speech to Parliament during his state visit next month have been abandoned to avoid embarrassing the Queen.

Whitehall sources said it was now very unlikely that the US President would be invited to address MPs and peers despite support from cabinet ministers.

As Mr Trumps host, it would be up to the Queen to ask for the honour, but there are concerns that Commons Speaker John Bercow would refuse the request.

Whitehall sources said it was now very unlikely that the US President would be invited to address MPs and peers despite support from cabinet ministers. Pictured, Donald Trump announces the United States will drop out of Arms Treaty signed by Obama

Mr Bercow is to boycott the US Presidents state banquet and in 2017 warned that he would block an address to Parliament, telling MPs it should be an earned honour that Mr Trump did not deserve.

But other senior figures believe that as head of state of Britains biggest ally Mr Trump should be granted the honour  particularly as the visit coincides with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Lords Speaker Lord Fowler has backed the US President to address Parliament and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was important to think about the office as much as the person and called for Mr Trump to get the best possible welcome.
A man who stole a family's beloved poodle-cocker spaniel-cross puppy named Teddy has refused to apologise for the cruel crime.

Mark James Dunks, 39, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing the then 10-week-old puppy from Greg Murray's backyard in Swanbourne, a coastal suburb of Perth, on March 29.

Dunks was captured on CCTV skulking off Mr Murray's property with the $3,000 puppy in his arms at about 3.30am.

But upon leaving court, Dunks failed to show remorse for the heartless theft.

'I'm sorry but how can I apologise for something I've done,' he told Nine News.

A man who stole a family's beloved poodle/cocker spaniel cross puppy named Teddy (pictured) has refused to apologise for the cruel crime

Mark James Dunks, 39, (pictured) pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing the then 10-week-old puppy from Greg Murray's backyard in Swanbourne, a coastal suburb of Perth, on March 29

Dunks was captured on CCTV skulking off Mr Murray's property with the $3,000 puppy in his arms at about 3.30am (pictured)

'Do you know what I mean? If I felt bad I wouldn't have done it in the first place.'

Mr Murray released a desperate plea for Teddy to be returned to the family, offering a $10,000 reward that was later bumped up to $20,000.

Mr Murray said he was worried Teddy would get sick with parvovirus as the puppy had yet to be vaccinated.

Teddy was retrieved by police on April 4 after they searched Dunks' Armadale home.

'We are so happy to have Ted back, we just hope it deters people from stealing dogs in the future,' family member Fraser Murray said.

'We are so happy to have Ted back, we just hope it deters people from stealing dogs in the future,' family member Fraser Murray (pictured) said

Dunks also pleaded guilty to trespassing at a home in Mosman Park the same night Teddy was stolen and driving with a cancelled licence on March 14, Perth Now reported.

When he left court, Dunks refused to answer if he planned to sell Teddy or keep the puppy as a pet.

A pre-sentence report was requested by the duty lawyer, saying Dunks could face jail over the driving charges because he served time for similar offences in 2018.

Dunks will be sentenced on May 24. His bail was renewed with a curfew.

Mr Murray released a desperate plea for Teddy (pictured) to be returned to the family, offering a $10,000 reward that was later bumped up to $20,000
A campaign poster for an Aboriginal Greens candidate has been vandalised with a racist message.

The words 'Kill All A**s' were scribbled on a poster for South Australian candidate Major 'Moogy' Sumner.

Despite the threat, Mr Sumner vowed to not let it stop him from standing up for what he believes in.

The words 'Kill All Ab*s' have been scribbled on the poster for South Australian candidate Major 'Moogy' Sumner

'To see that scribbled across your face is a bit scary in a way because you don't know who's walking down the street next to you,' told NITV News.

'My face is up everywhere in Adelaide, but it would be good to get out there and say, here I am, you're not going to scare me away.'

Mr Sumner is an Ngarrindjeri elder and was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the Indigenous community in 2014.

The Australian Greens have condemned the 'vile racism' behind the vandalism.

'This racism is not acceptable. This does not represent South Australia. Moogy is a beloved and respected leader in our state,' Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said in a statement.

Mr Sumner is an Ngarrindjeri elder. He has previously campaigned heavily environmental issues

'I am so proud to have such a distinguished Aboriginal elder standing shoulder to shoulder with me in this election campaign.'

Social media users were shocked when a picture of the vandalism was shared on the Sovereign Union Facebook page.

'This is absolutely repulsive. I'm so sorry,' one person said.

'Thats inciting murder and must be investigated. Appalling and unforgivable,' another person said.

'This is gross, and for it to happen to such a kind man too,' said another.
One of Britains biggest care home groups went into administration yesterday, leaving thousands of elderly residents and their families fearing closures.

Two holding companies behind Four Seasons Health Care, which operates 322 homes, collapsed under debts of around 625million owed to a US hedge fund.

Around 17,000 people live in Four Seasons care homes and the group employs more than 20,000 staff.

The care home sector is facing a 3.5billion funding shortfall, and there have been repeated warnings that operators are buckling under the pressure of rising costs and cuts to council funding (file image)

The firm insisted the decision by two of its holding companies to call in administrators did not mean its homes were earmarked for closure as the operating companies  which run the homes  have not collapsed.

Group medical director Dr Claire Royston said: This does not change the way we operate or how our homes are run, or prompt any change for residents, families, employees and indeed suppliers.

Our priority remains to deliver consistently good care. It marks the latest stage in the groups restructuring process and allows us to move ahead with an orderly, independent sales process.

However, charities said the problems at Four Seasons were symptomatic of the social care crisis in Britain and called for urgent reform.

The care home sector is facing a 3.5billion funding shortfall, and there have been repeated warnings that operators are buckling under the pressure of rising costs and cuts to council funding.

Administrators will now seek to sell the business groups  Elli Finance (UK) and Elli Investments  which owe about 625million to US hedge fund H/2 Capital Partners, which previously ordered the sale of Four Seasons. The move to call in administrators was hailed as the biggest care homes failure since Southern Cross went bust in 2011.

Two holding companies behind Four Seasons Health Care, which operates 322 homes, collapsed under debts of around 625million owed to a US hedge fund

Unions accused the Government of ignoring the reckless financing of care home companies by private equity groups while the GMB said the care system was crumbling because of a lack of funding.

More than 400 UK care home operators have collapsed in the past five years, according to research by accountancy firm BDO, including 101 last year. Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann demanded better financial regulation of operators, claiming it was a matter of life and death for frail and vulnerable residents whose health could deteriorate rapidly if faced with the stress of having to move to a new care home.

She said: There should be proper scrutiny and regulation of the financial position of these companies. We need to change the requirements on people running care homes to ensure they have the financial security to offer a home for life.

George McNamara of charity Independent Age said: While private providers can walk away, it is families and local authorities who are left to pick up the pieces.

Private equity bosses only care for profit

Commentary By Ruth Sunderland, Business Editor for the Daily Mail

The financial disaster at Four Seasons could not be a louder warning that care for the elderly is in deep crisis. It is the second time in less than a decade that tens of thousands have been plunged into uncertainty by a care home firm running aground.

In 2011 Southern Cross, then the biggest care group in the UK, collapsed when it was unable to pay a 250million annual rent bill. The downfall of that outfit  which like Four Seasons had spent a stint in the hands of private equity  caused a national outcry and prompted demands that lessons be learned.

Disgracefully, that has not happened and hundreds of care homes remain in a precarious financial position.

Four Seasons was until recently under the control of Guy Hands, a private equity baron based in Guernsey, via his firm Terra Firma. The fate of its residents is now in the hands of US hedge fund H/2, set up by a former executive at the collapsed Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers.

The downfall of Four Seasons is a textbook case of what has gone wrong in the industry. I use the word industry advisedly. Care, in the eyes of the hedge funders and private equity tycoons, is not altruistic but a commercial activity, given their business model is to squeeze maximum profit in minimum time, often by slashing costs and loading up with debt.

But there is another problem: Debt, with a capital D. In the case of Four Seasons there is a mountain of it, which has fatally undermined its finances

A week at a Four Seasons facility in the Wirral, for instance, would cost 715 for a resident not needing nursing care, or more than 1,000 if that is required. So how is it that firms can charge this much and still lose money?

Part of the answer is that homes have been hit by cuts in local authority fees which mean, they say, that they make a loss on each publicly funded resident.

They try to foist this on prudent middle-class people whose modest savings mean they are deemed well-off enough to pay for their own care. No wonder the bills for self-funding residents can lay to waste savings that have taken a lifetime to build.

But there is another problem: Debt, with a capital D. In the case of Four Seasons there is a mountain of it, which has fatally undermined its finances. In fairness to H/2 and Guy Hands, the firm was swamped long before either of them came on the scene. However, it still owes hundreds of millions of pounds and is groaning under an enormous interest bill.

Worryingly, Four Seasons is not the only care home group that is private-equity owned, nor is it alone in being burdened with debt. HC-One, the successor to Southern Cross, is owned by an investment consortium, including a private equity firm. Care UK, another big player, is owned by private equity operator Bridgepoint.

But it would be naive to pin the whole blame on financiers who have piled into care homes in the hope of making a fast buck. After all, that is what they do.

Far more culpable are politicians who failed to stop the private equity players in the hope of getting the problem off their own books. Instead, if those same politicians have any backbone whatsoever, they must set about a solution for looking after our grandparents, parents and eventually ourselves, as befits a civilised country.

There must be a recognition that private equity and hedge funds are not suitable owners of homes for the elderly and infirm. This is not because financiers are unalloyed villains who would sell their own granny rather than pay for her to be in a decent care facility. Mainly, it is because their business model doesnt work.
The step-daughter of an Adelaide man facing bomb making charges after detectives allegedly found chemicals and tools used to make explosives in his shed has come out in his defence.

Maddi told Nine News her step-father, 43-year-old Aaron Ellis, was no more than a family man with a keen interest in chemistry.

Ellis was charged with possession and manufacture of explosives after police searched his home in northern Adelaide about 8.30pm on Monday.

The bomb squad were called when a highly volatile explosive nicknamed 'Mother of Satan' - or triacetone triperoxide (TATP) - was allegedly found inside the shed, as well as materials for making pipe bombs.

'He's just passionate about chemistry, he wasn't going to hurt anyone,' she said.

'He's not a danger to anyone and he wouldn't put us at risk, he's not that sort of person.

'I'm sure plenty of people have chemicals in their shed that can make a bomb or whatever, he's not a terrorist.'

The step-daughter (Maddi pictured left) of accused bomb-maker Aaron Ellis (right) has defended him, claiming he would never hurt anyone, he's simply a passionate home chemist

Aaron Ellis (pictured), 43, was charged with possession and manufacture of explosives after police searched his home

Ellis' home was first searched in February after police were alerted to a social media post made by Mr Ellis stating he 'hated Muslims'.

At the time, officers found nothing and no charges were laid.

Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Craig Patterson said while the recent alleged discovery was 'extremely alarming' and investigations were continuing, the matter was not being treated as terrorism.

'The accused may have some right-wing nationalist, anti-Muslim views which are being further explored,' Mr Patterson said.

'But, at this point in time, we're stating that it's not a terrorism-related incident.

'There are no indicators of any violence or threats of violence to any member of the community.

'I can reassure the public that we have no information that this person was making a threat or was intending to use violence against anyone.'

Explosives and bomb-making material were allegedly uncovered in Mr Ellis's shed

Images submitted to the court show what appears to be materials for pipe bombs and mixed chemicals stored in a fridge

'Mother of Satan' is believed to be the same material used in the Sri Lanka bombings that killed more than 200 over Easter, Nine News reported.

Residents living near Mr Ellis' home were evacuated on Tuesday as the explosives were too volatile to be moved and had to be detonated onsite.

The 43-year-old appeared in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Images submitted to the court show what appears to be materials for pipe bombs and mixed chemicals stored in a fridge.

Homes around the Adelaide address were evacuated on Tuesday as the explosives were too volatile to be moved and had to be detonated onsite

The bomb squad were called when a highly volatile explosive known as triacetone triperoxide (TATP), or 'Mother of Satan', was allegedly found inside the shed, as well as materials for making pipe bombs

Mr Ellis did not provide an explanation for why he allegedly possessed the explosive devices.

Brevet Sergeant Daren Cross said without an explanation behind the items, he would oppose any form of bail.

Mr Ellis was remanded in custody and will return to court next week when a report on possible home detention bail will be considered.
A Queensland high school has been placed in lockdown as police hunt for a naked man who was spotted roaming around a nearby park.

Witnesses called police about 9am on Wednesday to report a nude man who was seen near Peter Campbell Park at Strathpine, less than two km from Bray Park State High School.

The education department has been contacted for comment.

Bray Park State High School in Queensland was put in lockdown on Wednesday as police hunt for a naked man who was spotted roaming around a nearby park

More to come....
The attorneys also said Smollett has since moved from Chicago to California, so it would be an undue hardship to appear in court. The actor immediately moved out of his Chicago apartment to ensure his privacy after records made public after the dismissal of the charges gave his exact address, the filing said.
Two vegan activists have refused to apologise after breaking into pig farms and taking pictures with the animals.

Kieran Beattie and Taryn Wills were handed a $8000 fine between them for trespassing at three separate piggeries in Western Australia.

The pair both pleaded guilty to the crimes, that took place in August 2018 and November 2018, and they appeared before Mandurah Magistrates court on Tuesday.

Kieran Beattie (above) pleaded guilty to trespassing at two seperate WA piggeries in August

Taryn Wills (above) admitted to breaking into a piggery in November 2018 and taking pictures

According to Perth Now, the court heard that disability support worker Beattie, 23, was accused of trespassing at two seperate piggeries - at one in Nambellup on August 28 and at another in Hopeland on August 30 and 31.

Meanwhile, Wills, a 30-year-old nurse from Heathridge, trespassed on a piggery in West Pinjarra with another person and took pictures of the animals on November 11.

Her lawyer told the court that she had not planned on breaking into another property again because she wants to focus on her career and not activism.

She received a $3000 fine, while Beattie was ordered to pay $5000 for his crimes.

When Beattie and Wills were questioned outside the court on whether they were sorry for trespassing on the farms, both refused to apologise.

Fellow activist James Warden, who is set to appear in court on Friday charged with stealing a calf and dead piglet from two separate farms, joined Beattie as he addressed media after his court appearance on Tuesday.

Mr Warden is allegedly the leader of activist group Direct Action Everywhere.

Beattie later took to Facebook to share his 'official statement' after being in court.

After his court appearance, Kieran Beattie was unapologetic on Facebook

Taryn Wills urged her Facebook friends to 'stand up for what they believe in

He shared a video of a slaughterhouse and claimed that 'industries aren't transparent with what goes on behind closed doors'.

He wrote: 'Majority of the general public are against animal cruelty, if we were to see a dog being abused, or a cat being abused in public, we would want to help the animal suffering based on our own instinct.

'I have seen the conditions of animals on these farms and they are horrendous, horrific. If the public were to see the conditions they would be horrified.'

Wills also posted her thoughts on social media after the hearing, urging her followers to 'stand up for what they believe in'.'

She said: 'Stand for something. Do not hide who you are, nor what you are passionate about.

'Speak up and do not feel shame. For nothing changed throughout history without people standing up for what they believe in.

'Social norms and laws have and always will change. It is just time my friends.'
TSA agents have shared photos of a bizarre carry-on bag filled with moose dung that was screened at an Alaska airport earlier this month.

The peculiar cargo was screened at Juneau International Airport on April 15.

Agents were first alerted to the traveler's carry-on bag after screening equipment flagged a 'large organic mass', which sometimes can mean explosives.

But upon opening the case there was nothing explosive, except for the smell of the animal dung that reeked from the giant sack.

TSA shared a photo of a traveler's carry-on case filled with moose feces that was screened at Juneau International Airport on April 15

Though stinky and odd, TSA has no policies that prevent travelers from carrying animal feces and the bag was passed through without incident.

'The TSA officers opened the bag, they saw the moose poop inside. And the passenger told the TSA officers that he collects this and likes to present it, "For politicians and their bleep policies,"' TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said to KTOO.

The sack of moose dung didn't warrant an incident report, but TSA's social media team did share it online, cracking jokes over the surprise cargo.

'Mondays can really stink. After a weekend of relaxation, the first day back at work can be hard to deal with,' TSA posted on Instagram.

Though stinky and odd, TSA has no policies that prevent travelers from carrying animal feces and the bag was passed through. The incident took place at Juneau International Airport (above) on April 15

The passenger allegedly told TSA agents he likes to present politicians he dislikes with the moose dung. File image of a moose above

'Our team at Juneau International Airport (JNU) recently dealt with nuggets of a different variety when examining a passengers carry-on bag. Upon inspection, a large organic mass turned out to be a bag of moose nuggets (or feces, droppings, excrements, etc.) that the passenger was taking home from their Alaskan adventure,' the post added.

TSA urged travelers to check with airlines over their policies of carrying such stinky cargo, which can be bothersome to passengers.

There were reports of someone handing out baggies of moose dung nuggets on the steps of Anchorage's capitol building that same day, protesting the proposed budget of Governor Mike Dunleavy.
A bakery which sold a mouldy birthday cake to a father for his nine-year-old son has been fined $10,000.

Bruce Hahn purchased the cake at Krusty Kob bakery in Thornlie, Forest Lakes, in West Australia, in November last year.

An hour after buying the cake, the Hahn family were ready to celebrate the nine-year-old's birthday but felt something was off after eating a few slices.

Bruce Hahn purchased the cake (pictured) at Krusty Kob bakery in Thornlie, in November last year

'We cut it up not an hour later to find it was full of mould,' Mr Hahn complained online.

'I took it back to complain. The owner did not seem to care at all that this nearly ruined his birthday.

'She picked the cake apart and then had the cheek to day that half of it was ok.'

Mr Hahn 'erupted' at the owner and her colleague, before they gave him a refund.

'They would not return the cake and the owner did not apologise.'

'It just felt like she did not care at all,' Mr Hahn told The West Australian.

Mr Hahn informed them that he would be taking further action and that was when the other woman apologised to him for the incident.

Mr Hahn complained to the council who said they have received four complaints about the bakery since 2007

Eventually, Mr Hahn decided to report the incident to the City of Gosnells.

He handed over the other half of the frozen cake to the council.

Gosnells chief executive Ian Cowie told the publication that they have received four complaints about Krusty Kob since 2007.

He said the council takes all complaints seriously and they will continue to inspect the bakery.

Mr Cowie reminded consumers that if they have any complaints that they should report it to the council.

Krusty Kob bakery was fined $10,000 in court and were ordered to pay a further $1800 for the sale of unsuitable food.
Joe Biden's son Hunter, 49, has reportedly split from his partner of two years Hallie Biden, 45, who was the widow of his late brother Beau.

The break-up comes on the heels of Joe Biden's highly anticipated presidential campaign announcement just last week.

In 2016 Biden said he didn't run for president because he was grieving over Beau's death and was notably mum on his son Hunter's tawdry affair that tarnished his family's wholesome reputation.

Hallie was the wife to Joseph 'Beau' Biden, the former Attorney General of Delaware and a major in the National Guard, until he tragically passed away at the age of 46 from brain cancer in 2015. The two share a son and daughter.

Two years after Beau's death in 2017, Hallie began to rub shoulders with Beau's lawyer younger brother Hunter and the two have remained a couple since.

When they met, Hunter was still married to his then-wife Kathleen, though they had been estranged. That divorce was finalized in April 2017.

Sources say that the break-up was 'amicable' but the reason behind the split remains unknown, according to Page Six.

Hunter Biden, 49, and Hallie Biden, 45, have reportedly broken up after two years together. The news comes just one week after Hunter's father Joe Biden announced he's running for president

Hallie was married to Beau Biden - former Vice President Joe Biden's elder son - when he passed away from brain cancer in 2015 at age 46 (pictured together in 2011). Then in 2017 she began to date Beau's brother Hunter

Earlier this year, Hunter opened up to Vanity Fair saying his personal life would not affect his father's White House bid.

'Even though my life has been played out in the media, because I am a Biden, my father never once suggested that the familys public profile should be my priority. The priority has always been clear for my dad, as it is, now, for me: Never run from a struggle. Love people and find a way to love yourself,' he said.

'My father has always been proud of me  whether when I was volunteering for the Jesuits, or working as a lawyer . . . And he remains proud of me today. He loves me. And he loves the American people far too much to let any form of adversity stand in the way of service,' Hunter said in a statement in January.

Joe Biden has been incredibly public about his heartbreak over losing his son Beau to cancer, saying his grief kept him from running for president in 2016.

Speaking about his late son Beau on The View just last week, Biden choked on tears recalling his son's support of his career.

Hunter confirmed their relationship in 2017 saying, 'Hallie and I are incredibly lucky to have found the love and support we have for each other in such a difficult time, and thats been obvious to the people who love us most'. Hunter and Hallie pictured together above

Hallie is pictured front standing next to Hunter Biden (left in blue suit and sunglasses) and Joe Biden (right in black) at Beau Biden's funeral in 2015

'He's not why I'm running... When I get up in the morning, I hope he's proud of me. I hope he's proud,' Biden said, adding his son urged him to run for president even on his deathbed.

'He said dad promise me, give me your word as a Biden, you will not back away. What he meant was, he knew I would always take care of the family to the best of my knowledge. But he didn't want me to withdraw from the things that motivated my whole life and trying to get engaged and change things and try to make things better,' said Biden, who titled a book on the subject, 'Promise me, Dad.'

Biden also shed tears when Beau placed his name into nomination for reelection at the Democratic National Convention in 2012.

'Four years ago, I told you that my father has always been there for me, my brother, and my sister, and that as vice president, he would be there for you. And he has,' Beau said praising his father.

Brothers: Hunter pictured left sitting with his brother Beau in 2012

Former vice president Joe Biden with his son Beau Biden in 2008

Joe and Jill Biden pictured talking about his presidential run on Good Morning America Tuesday

"I hope he's proud of me."@JoeBiden discusses his late son Beau: "He didn't want me to withdraw from the things that have motivated my whole life about trying to ... make things better." https://t.co/rxCXj3uvWG pic.twitter.com/HVA04j3AiW  The View (@TheView) April 26, 2019

When Hallie and Hunter became a couple following Beau's passing, the family stayed quiet.

In 2017 parents Joe and Jill Biden broke their silence and announced their support of the duo.

Who is Hunter Biden? Robert Hunter Biden, 49, is the second son of Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Biden. He's a partner at Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC and is Counsel to New York law firm Boies, Schiller, Flexner LLP =. He started his career working in law and went on to work as a hedge fund manager and bank president He was appointed by Bill Clinton to serve in the U.S. Department of Commerce. In May 2013 he was selected as a direct commission officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve but was booted in 2014 after he tested positive for cocaine at the age of 44. He married Kathleen Buhle in 1993 and they share three daughters - Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy. They started living separately in October 2015 and divorced April 2017. He started dating his brother Beau's widow Hallie in 2017. Advertisement

'We are all lucky that Hunter and Hallie found each other as they were putting their lives together again after such sadness. They have mine and Jills full and complete support and we are happy for them,' they said.

Around the same time Hunter finally confirmed their relationship saying: 'Hallie and I are incredibly lucky to have found the love and support we have for each other in such a difficult time, and thats been obvious to the people who love us most.'

'Weve been so lucky to have family and friends who have supported us every step of the way,' he added.

The two have kept their relationship under wraps and have not been pictured in public together as a couple.

Hunter is a partner at Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC, which is run out of D.C.

He also served in the armed forces as a direct commission officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve in May 2013. He was ousted from the Navy reserve in February 2014 after he failed a drug test, testing positive for cocaine at the age of 44.

Hunter Biden's name also came up following the hack of the Ashley Madison extramarital affair website.

Conservative news site Breitbart reported in August 2015 that a Robert Biden (Hunter's given name) was found among hacked records, but Hunter denied it was his.

Beau Biden pictured celebrating his re-election for Delaware Attorney General with Hallie Biden at his side in 2010. In addition to his work in politics he was an Iraq vet

Family: Beau Biden pictured with Hallie and children Natalie and Hunter in 2010 in an official White House photo

Hunter pictured with his ex-wife Kathleen Biden in 2016. Their divorce was finalized in April 2017 and they had reportedly been living separately since 2015

Speaking on his divorce, Hunter says he has persevered thanks to the support of his father.

The life and legacy of Joseph 'Beau' Biden Joseph Robinette 'Beau' Biden was the eldest child of Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Biden. He served as Attorney General of Delaware from 2007 to 2015. He joined the military in 2003 and was a Major in the Delaware Army National Guard. Biden was deployed to Iraq on October 3, 2008 and traveled back to Washington D.C. for his father's swearing in as Vice President in 2009. He ended his deployment in September 2009. For his service in Iraq he was awarded a Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit. He was posthumously awarded the Delaware Conspicuous Service Cross for 'heroism, meritorious service and outstanding achievement'. In May 2010 Biden was admitted to the hospital after suffering a mild stroke. In August 2013 he was diagnosed with brain cancer and passed away in May 2015. Advertisement

'The important aspect of my complicated divorce (like all divorces) and an equally complicated life, marked by the tragic loss of my mother, sister and brother, is this: My father has been a constant source of love and strength in my life,' Hunter said to Vanity Fair.

In that divorce Kathleen Biden cited irreconcilable differences due to how he spent 'extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate bills.'

They share three children together.

Despite the family drama, Joe Biden, 76, has sealed his status as the Democratic front runner in the 2020 election, according to the latest poll as of Tuesday, leading against nearest rival Bernie Sanders by 24 points.

Biden capped off his first day on the campaign trail in Iowa where he made two speeches and an ice cream stop, touting his belief in former president Barack Obama's morals over Donald Trump's.

Biden announced his 2020 campaign on April 25 in a video citing the ideals of the founding fathers, condemning white supremacy, and slamming Donald Trump.

He called for 'equal opportunity, equal rights and equal justice.'
Australian house prices have in the past year suffered their biggest fall since the Global Financial Crisis.

National home values have fallen 7.2 per cent in the past 12 months.

The last time prices dropped more than that was in the year to February 2009 when they fell 7.4 per cent.

The average price of houses in Sydney in April was $880,369, 16.1 per cent less than the peak of $1,049,740 in July 2017.

For Melbourne it was $712,920, 14.3 per cent below the peak of $832,448 in November 2017.

The average price of houses in Sydney in April was $880,369, 16.1 per cent less than the peak of $1,049,740 in July 2017

Australia's house woes April dwelling price changes Sydney: -0.7% to median of $780,672 Melbourne: -0.6% to $621,759 Brisbane: -0.4% to 484,047 Perth: -0.4% to $440,546 Adelaide: -0.1% to $430,352 Darwin: -1.2% to $390,621 Hobart: -0.9% to $452,302 Canberra: +0.4% to $596,405 Source: Corelogic April 2019 data Advertisement

But the good news is that the monthly rate of price decline in both cities is slowing.

Dwelling prices in April were 0.7 per cent lower in Sydney and 0.6 per cent lower in Melbourne, compared to drops of 1.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent in December.

In the past year, home prices have fallen 10.9 per cent in Sydney and 10 per cent in Melbourne.

The worst affected suburbs were Melbourne's inner east where prices have plunged 15.4 per cent and Sydney's Ryde where they have dropped 15.1 per cent.

Across the nation in April, prices fell 0.5 per cent to a median of $519,879.

Of the capitals, Darwin suffered the most with a 1.2 per cent price drop to a median of $390,621.

Canberra was the only capital to have an increase as prices ticked up 0.4 per cent to $596,405.

Dwelling prices in April were 0.7 per cent lower in Sydney (pictured) and 0.6 per cent lower in Melbourne, compared to drops of 1.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent in December

The top ten (blue) and bottom ten (orange) suburbs for dwelling price changes in the year to April 2019

The data was released by CoreLogic on Wednesday.

Head of research Cameron Kusher said: 'Sydney definitely has been in record territory for some time, Melbourne hit its record decline last month, and we see falls continuing.'

'The main thing to take out is obviously values are still declining at a national level but the rate of decline has slowed for the fourth consecutive month. So while that's maybe encouraging, more regions are seeing declines.'

The number crunchers stand by their prediction that prices in Sydney and Melbourne will this year reach 18 to 20 per cent lower than their peaks.

'Our forecast is we'll see falls for the remainder of this year until the market hits a trough early to mid next year,' Mr Kusher said.

'We still very much expect any rebound is likely to be slow after that.'
An Arizona mother is horrified after her 15-month-old daughter returned from daycare with at least 25 bite marks on her back and she claims nobody has done anything about for more than two months.

Former Marine Alice Martin says she found the injuries after collecting her toddler Rosalynn from Creative Beginnings Preschool in Tucson but she still doesn't know what happened.

Warning fellow parents against the place nearby where she's studying at University of Arizona, Martin shared how appalled she was at how her case against the preschool - which is part of an international organization and accredited by the state - has been handled.

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Alice Martin says she found bite injuries after collecting her toddler Rosalynn from Creative Beginnings Preschool in Tucson, Arizona February 26

Martin claims the bites all happened in one day and the daycare didn't notify her

'I filed a police report for negligence and notified the Department of Health who handles daycare accreditation, the case has is still under investigation,' she explained in a Sunday Facebook post. 'Neither department contacted me with updates, and I signed up for victim notification.

'They did not even call when it occurred, or notify me when I picked her up after work. All of these bites happened in one day.'

Martin - whose husband Justin is also a former Marine - told KOLD News 13 that she noticed the large red bumps when she was changing her daughter's clothes at home on February 26.

Police said the bites seem to be from another child and they're still investigating

Mother said it's 'stomach-turning' and she feels 'angry and sad' at the same time

'It's stomach-turning. It feels both angry and sad at the same time,' she said. 'At first, I was like "are those really bite marks?" And then, my brain kinda stopped thinking and I started crying.'

The Tucson Police Department Officer Raymond Smith said the bites seem to be from another child and that the TPD Child Physical Abuse Unit has been investigating.

No charges or arrests had been made by Monday and the preschool would not make a statement.

Martin said any child 'bitten that many times would be crying and very upset'

She wondered if the children were left alone or if Creative Beginning Preschool (pictured) staff disregarded their cries

'You always want to protect your children and I feel like that didn't happen,' Martin said. 'I feel like I left her with someone that didn't look out for her at all,' Martin told KOLD News 13.

She believes it's 'very unlikely' the daycare will face repercussions.

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) said they couldn't comment on pending investigations.

'Do I know what happened? No, but I know that a child getting bitten that many times would be crying and very upset,' Martin said.

'The fact that nobody intervened in how many minutes, maybe they were left alone, maybe they just disregarded the cries, I don't know. But it takes some time to do that kind of biting.'

It's the second 15-month-old reported this week to return home with bite marks.

Rocio Enriquez, of Maricopa, said an incident involving her daughter, Mila, took place on her second day at Sunrise Preschools last Thursday.

According to Enriquez and her husband, Rylee Umstead, school staff informed them that Mila was bitten 'just a couple of times' when they went to pick her up.

The day care is reviewing all of its policies and procedures 'to do everything possible to keep this from happening again'.

DailyMail.com did not immediately get a response for comment from Creative Beginnings Preschool.

Former Marine filed a police report for negligence against preschool accredited by the state and notified the Department of Health
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has launched an extraordinary attack on the Liberal Party, claiming it is 'riddled with right-wing extremists'.

Speaking to reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday, Mr Shorten lashed out towards the Coalition, and rumoured relationships with known right-wing extremists and preference deals with far-right parties.

'The Liberal Party is making, and the National Party are making preference arrangements with right-wing extremists, like the One Nation Party,' he said.

He referenced Andrew Hastie's recent denial that he and fellow Liberal MP Ian Goodenough had met with self-confessed neo-Nazi Neil Erikson.

Erikson had earlier claimed he had met with Mr Hastie and Mr Goodenough multiple times and that the politicians had allegedly 'paid him to be a right wing activist'.

Liberal MPs Ian Goodenough (left) and Andrew Hastie (right) were forced to deny they had a meeting with self-confessed Neo-Nazi Neil Erikson

In a bizarre interview with blog The Unshackled, Erikson addressed Prime Minister Scott Morrison and claimed his 'underlings' had paid him to 'take over the anti-Islam activist scene on Facebook'.

'You paid me through a third party to fly across the country to generate views, content... you paid me to be a far-right extremist,' he alleged.

Mr Hastie told The Guardian he was 'confident' he did not have a meeting with Mr Erikson.

'In Perth last year, I attended a rally  along with thousands of other West Australians  in support of South African farmers fleeing from the threat of violence,' he said.

'I have never sought to nor agreed to meet with Mr Erikson. I'm confident I did not encounter him on the day. I find his views abhorrent and his views should not be given a platform.'

Erikson claims the pair 'paid him to be a right-wing extremist' and had asked him to fly across the country generating content for social media

But Mr Goodenough said he and Mr Hastie had a 'brief meeting' with the man, and spent 'two or three minutes' talking to him.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Ian Goodenough and Andrew Hastie on April 11 regarding Erikson's allegations, but did not receive a response.

Mr Shorten said the denials, combined with the Coalition's preference choices, were all part of an emerging trend with the party.

'It doesn't matter if it's Andrew Hastie contradicting Ian Goodenough or vice versa about what right-wing nutter they meet with, or indeed this Islamophobe, this racist,' he said.

'There's a pattern of behaviour emerging here that the Liberals and Nationals are riddled with right-wing extremists.

'The one thing it means, as people vote today and tomorrow and right through to May 18, is that if you're sick of the instability and chaos, vote Labor at the next election.'
A multi-million dollar home where two elderly people were discovered after laying dead for weeks has hit the market.

The luxurious three-bedroom Palm Beach property, in Sydney's Northern Beaches, will go to auction on June 2 with an asking price of $3million.

A 'fiercely independent' elderly couple, aged in their 80s, were found dead in the two-storey sandstone cottage on 121 Bynya Road in July 2017 after police were alerted to concerns about their welfare.

A multi-million dollar home where two elderly people were found dead has hit the market

In a statement shared to Facebook at the time, police said they believed the husband died naturally and his wife  who was blind and disabled  later died due to a lack of care.

'The husband was the carer for his life-long partner who was blind and had other disabilities,' the statement said.

'The couple consistently refused aged care assistance and medical support but were coping with their challenges.'

The exact length the couple's bodies remained in the house after their death is unknown but is believed to have been up to three weeks, according to reports.

Their closest family members live abroad.

The luxurious three-bedroom Palm Beach property, in Sydney's Northern Beaches, will go to auction on June 2

At 626sqm, the sandstone beach cottage also includes a spacious backyard

According to the online listing, the 'rare convict sandstone cottage' was built by stonemasons in 1952 and has been held by the same family since 1979.

The home features two bathrooms, two garage spaces, hardwood floors, double-height ceilings and open fireplaces on each floor.

At 626sqm, the sandstone beach cottage surrounded by greenery includes a spacious backyard.

Following the couple's death, police urged members of the community to check on their elderly parents and neighbours to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

'Whilst we believe there are no suspicious circumstances this is an opportunity to reflect on this tragedy and think about our elderly parents and neighbours and what we can do as a community and as individuals to prevent a recurrence of this terrible event,' officers said.

According to the online listing, the 'rare convict sandstone cottage' was built by stonemasons in 1952 and has been held by the same family since 1979

'Time to put down those iPhones and iPads, and hold back the selfies ... and have a real conversation with your elderly neighbour who is living a simple life devoid of all electronic gadgets that contribute little to real community cohesion,' police said.

'If you are concerned about a neighbour who you haven't seen, knock on their door or give us a ring.

'We are more than happy to check on the welfare of the elderly.'

The median price for a house in Palm Beach is $3,212,500.

Palm Beach, a narrow peninsula surrounded by water, is located about 45 kilometres north of the Sydney CBD.
A Liberal Party MP has been caught making a major blunder by mistakenly congratulating himself from his own social media account.

When Angus Taylor posted a video on his Facebook page announcing 1000 extra car parks for rail commuters in Hume on Monday, there was a flurry of positive comments.

Among the excited posts was one from Mr Taylor's official account, which said: 'Fantastic. Great Move. Well done Angus'.

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Liberal MP Angus Taylor (pictured) has been left red faced after he was caught congratulating himself on Facebook

Among the excited posts was one from Mr Taylor's official account, which said: 'Fantastic. Great Move. Well done Angus'

It is believed the comment was meant to be posted from a fake Facebook account instead of the official one in a bid to boost positive engagement.

The post was quickly deleted but not before people on social media caught wind of the gaffe.

Multiple people took to social media to mock Mr Taylor over the Facebook fumble, with many repeating his post.

'What a great tweet Angus, Sincerely, Angus,' one person joked.

'You know PR isn't going well when you have to congratulate yourself,' another person said.

However, others jumped to his defence.

'Who says it's from the wrong account? May have done it on purpose?' one person asked.

Compared to other scandals this campaign season, Mr Taylor managed to get off lightly.

One Nation's Steve Dickson found himself in the middle of a media storm after video surfaced of him at a strip club making lewd remarks and touching dancers.

The footage was originally taken as part of an Al Jazeera investigation into One Nation but was later obtained by A Current Affair.

Mr Dickson resigned from the party on Tuesday morning after the strip club video was revealed,

As election day looms, there should be more political scandal on the way.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Mr Humes office for comment.
Australian brand Bega has won the right to use the trademark yellow lids on its peanut butter jars, ending a long-running legal battle with American food giant Kraft.

The Federal Court ruled on Wednesday that Bega owns and has exclusive rights to use the yellow lid, and red and blue labels that most Australians associate with the peanut spread.

The fight over product appearance and copyright ownership was sparked by a tricky series of takeovers in which Kraft was bought by international giant Heinz and the Australian products including peanut butter moved under the Mondelez umbrella that was later bought by Bega.

Australian brand Bega has won the exclusive rights to use yellow lids on its peanut butter jars (pictured)

Kraft went to the Federal Court alleging Bega engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct over the marketing of its peanut butter.

After the sale of Mondelez to Bega, the Australian dairy brand ran ads claiming 'Kraft peanut butter is now Bega peanut butter' and that it was 'never oily, never dry, with the same taste you've always loved, and is now Aussie owned by Bega'.

Bega took over the former Victorian Kraft factory in Port Melbourne as part of the sale.

Federal Court Justice David O'Callaghan on Wednesday delivered his judgment declaring that while the goodwill generated by the trademark branding had rightly benefited Kraft, and later Kraft and Mondelez, those rights had been transferred to Bega as part of the sales agreement between it and Mondelez.

As a result, Bega is now 'exclusively entitled' to use the yellow lid, and red and blue peanut label.

Justice O'Callaghan found Bega had breached consumer law with respect to its first advertisement, but Kraft also breached the law in an October 2017 press release when it described its product as 'loved since 1935'.

Bega (pictured) and American food giant Kraft were in a long-running legal battle over the trademark yellow lids

A further hearing will be held which could include discussions about damages.

Bega's executive chairman Barry Irvin announced the win to shareholders with a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

'Importantly, this gives Bega Cheese the right to continue to use the current packaging of its smooth and crunchy peanut butter products,' he said.

The company will review the 178-page judgment before making any further announcements.

Kraft last year tried to get US courts to stop Bega using the branding, seeking 'emergency relief' against Bega from the International Centre for Dispute Resolution while also launching its own action in the US federal court.

Justice O'Callaghan told Kraft proceedings there could not continue until the Australian case was handled.
Once someone gets on law enforcements radar, it becomes a game of Not On My Watch where the only alternative is to seek to lock them up forever, Durkin said. I think we are really beginning to lose our way in this country because that is the only way they know to treat any act of terrorism, any thought of terrorism. They have a national security state that listens in on everything.
A mother only realised her lamb schnitzels had gone off after she cooked them - sparking debate online about whether she's entitled to a refund.

Pastry chef JC Ballis, from Adelaide, 'was looking forward to a nice dinner' before she discovered the meat smelled.

'Can you take back things you've cooked and have smelt off once cooked?' Ms Ballis asked the Markdown Addicts Australia Facebook group on Saturday.

'I got 3 packets of lamb schnitzels today for $2.45 each. Use by today.

'Now I cook for a living and these smell foul once cooked.

'Sometimes it doesn't pay to buy reduced items even when cooked the same day.'

Pastry chef JC Ballis bought three packets of discounted lamb schnitzels (pictured) that she discovered smelt off after cooking them

Some group members believed she was entitled to a refund but others did not agree.

'They won't accept it once its been cooked,' one woman said.

'They will give you your money back based on your word,' another woman said.

'Being a marked down product with an expiry of today you may struggle to get a refund, will depend on the person issuing the refund,' another woman added.

Others warned her to stay away from ready crumbed and marinated meat.

'If meat is starting to go off a lot of places will crumb it or marinate it and it can keep for a few extra days,' one woman said.

Ms Ballis was worried because she did not have a receipt but she did have one unopened packet left and packaging from the opened two.

Was Ms Ballis entitled to a refund or is that the way the schnitzel crumbles? Members of the Markdown Addicts Australia Facebook group disagreed (stock image)

A Coles spokesman said: 'Yes, customers can return cooked items'.

'Coles has a try it, love it or your money back guarantee on all Coles Brand products,' he said.

'Customers can return either the empty packaging or their receipt to their local store for a full refund or replacement.'

Only Coles Brand products can be returned without a receipt while other brands require a receipt for a refund or replacement.

If a customer has lost their receipt of product packaging, the purchase can still be tracked down.

'If a customer has disposed of their receipt and the products, they can contact Coles Customer Care and we can assist in locating a copy,' the spokesman said.

A Coles spokesman said: 'Yes, customers can return cooked items'
'An abomination': Ireland reeled at the sight of Kelly Johnson's Guinness from a bar at Dublin airport

Shocked Irish locals called for a barman to be sacked, flogged and thrown in jail yesterday for serving 'the worst pint of Guinness ever pulled' to an English woman at Dublin airport.

The not-entirely-serious reaction came after a Twitter picture of the drink appalled residents who apologised profusely to the recipient for its almost three-inch head of froth.

Thirsty Kelly Jackson, from Wimbledon, southwest London, said she spent her last euros on the pint as she prepared to jet back to England from Dublin on Monday.

She said a 'young barman' had been responsible for the attempt, and that the drink was 'still unsettled' when it arrived at her table.

'I watched as it settled to what is now the photo, which has gained all this attention,' she told Dublin Live.

'Shocked, I swiftly took it back to the bar. The lady behind the bar looked at it in horror and apologised profusely.'

She said red-faced staff gave her a replacement pint and a free soft drink to make amends.

Kelly (pictured) just wanted a drink, not to cause an international scandal

'It was all in good humour but made extra amusing as I was in fact in the home of Guinness, Dublin, Ireland.'

But locals said the crime against bar-tending should not go unpunished.

Alfred Reid wrote: 'I would sack the person who served this, what a disgrace. As a former professional bartender there is no way we would send a pint out to a customer like that. Guinness should send someone out to show the correct way to pour a pint.'

Alan Byrne called it 'blasphemy', adding: 'Take that bartender out and flog him/her.'

Peter Golden attempted to make amends, telling Kelly: 'I apologise on behalf of Dublin!!'

And johnnymc099 tweeted 'my 16-month-old daughter would pull a better pint'.

Some barroom experts said it appeared the drink had not been left to settle for the required two minutes between pulling the first four-fifths and final one-fifth of the pint.

Others opined that it might have been the first pint from a new barrel, which would have been a 'rookie error' to serve. Others still suggested the barman was just 'an idiot'.

However while the drink shamed Dublin locals, many pointed out it was only the kind of service they receive when they order the Black Stuff abroad.

Paddywagon Tweeted: 'Probably better than the best pint outside of Ireland. But apologies nonetheless.'

Dublin airport was unavailable for comment.


A baby has narrowly avoided death after her mother gave her too much Bonjela to soothe her teething pains.

Jessica Vermunt was putting the recommended doctor's dosage of Bonjela gel on her seven-month-old daughter Athena's mouth before she was rushed to Auckland's Starship Hospital.

'I am currently in Starship Hospital with my seven-month-old baby who was literally minutes from dying after having too much Bonjela,' Ms Vermunt wrote in a parenting group on Facebook.

'The active ingredient in Bonjela will turn your babies blood ACIDIC and cause complete renal failure.'

Jessica Vermunt was putting the recommended doctor's dosage of Bonjela gel on her seven-month-old daughter Athena's mouth before she was rushed to Auckland's Starship Hospital

Ms Vermunt said Athena was in pain over a few days which is why she kept using the gel.

'She kept screaming at us. Over a period of a few days I slowly gave her a bit more,' she told nzherald.co.nz.

The pair were at the doctor's four hours before Athena stopped breathing and responding to anything.

Athena was sedated and put onto a breathing machine while the doctors did blood infusions and transfusions.

'They diagnosed her with salicylate overdose. Salicylate is the active ingredient in Bonjela,' Ms Vermunt told the publication.

She admits to using to using the gel 'more than normal' but said the point was to warn other parent's to be careful of what the gel could do.

'I'm aware that she had more than normal but the point remains that this has the potential to kill your child and there is no real information or warnings about the severity of it,' Ms Vermunt continued.

'The doctor was aware of the amount of Bonjel she was having and didn't think it was of concern at all.

'That is because even the doctors hadn't been informed how dangerous this product is.'

Ms Vermunt from Auckland shared the horrific incident on a parenting page on Facebook

Ms Vermunt linked the incident to case in the UK where in 2009 a total ban of the product was issued for anyone under the age of 16.

She said Bonjela was banned from the shelves until the active ingredient choline salicylate was removed.

The United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) based their decision on a case report published in the British Medical Journal in June 2008.

They found a 20-month-old child had a suspected case of Reye's syndrome following the use of Bonjela.

'I'm begging you, if you do use Bonjela for your baby please please please the smallest amount as little as possible,' Ms Vermunt said (stock)

Further investigations concluded that it would not cause Reye's syndrome but symptoms were more likely due to salicylate toxicity from the overuse of gels.

The MHRA then concluded the use of this product should not be used by anyone under the age of 16.

The medicine's supplier, Reckitt Benckiser, said it was trying to contact Ms Vermunt to investigate the case.

'I'm begging you, if you do use Bonjela for your baby please please please the smallest amount as little as possible,' Ms Vermunt said.

A spokesperson for Bonjela told Daily Mail Australia that they are in direct contact with the consumer about the incident in an attempt to find out what happened.

'Meanwhile we are sending our best wishes to the infant for a quick recovery,' the spokesperson said.

'The health and safety of our consumers is a top priority for us. All Bonjela products in Australia and New Zealand are thoroughly reviewed and approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the regulatory body for therapeutic goods in Australia and the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority (Medsafe) for safety and efficacy.

'As with all medicines, parents should use oral teething and mouth ulcer gels only according to the directions on the packaging and should speak to a healthcare professional if they have any concerns. We welcome our consumers and Health Care professionals to contact us if they have questions on the information in the Patient information leaflet.'
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an order prohibiting U.S. air operators from flying below 26,000 feet in Venezuela's airspace until further notice, citing 'increasing political instability and tensions.'

The FAA notice on Tuesday evening said any air operators currently in Venezuela, which would include private jets, should depart within 48 hours.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.

Venezuelan National Guard members who heeded Juan Guaido's call to overthrow the government fire their rifles in the air on a road outside the Francisco Miranda airbase in the La Carlota district of Caracas on April 30

American Airlines Group Inc in March said it was indefinitely suspending its flights to Venezuela, as the country continued to struggle with political turmoil and unrest.

OPSGROUP, which provides safety guidance to air operators, said options for those choosing to avoid Venezuelan airspace would include routes west via Colombia, or east via Guyana.

'The order comes on a day of an information battle waged between Maduro and Guaido, and although the coup status is uncertain, one thing is clear: taking your aircraft to Venezuela is not a good idea,' OPSGROUP said on its website.

Self-proclaimed Venezuelan interim president Juan Guaido (left) addresses supporters on Tuesday April 30, next to his Popular Will party leader Leopoldo Lopez (right), who has since sought asylum with his family inside the Spanish embassy

An opposition protester stands in front of a burning bus on Tuesday April 30, the day Juan Guaido urged the armed forces to overthrow the government

Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 on Tuesday evening showed some flights between South America and Europe were crossing Venezuelan airspace, but at altitudes above 26,000 feet.

Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent.

Venezuelans were expected to again take to the streets on Wednesday for what Guaido pledged would be the 'largest march' in the country's history.

Protesters clash with security forces on an overpass outside the Francisco Miranda airbase in the La Carlota district of the capital Caracas on April 30

A man walks in front of graffiti reading 'peace' in the Venezuelan capital Caracas on May 1 after an opposition coup attempt
The grieving parents of a baby girl have learned a fake GoFundMe account has been set up in her name - only days after they became targets in an alleged $1,000 extortion plot.

Melbourne couple Jay and Dee Windross' daughter Amiyah died on April 24 after succumbing to an undiagnosed neurological issue she fought since birth.

The parents had made a desperate plea for their lost mobile phone to be returned, as it was full of pictures and videos of their last moments with their daughter.

The couple believe the phone was stolen from the toilets next to Target at Chadstone Shopping Centre last Saturday at about 5.30pm.

While thousands around the country shared their plea and sent messages of support, one woman allegedly lied, claiming she did have the phone, and demanded $1,000 for its return.

Just days after the alleged extortion plot came to light, Mr Windross discovered a fake GoFundMe account set up in Amiyah's name.

Another scammer has targeted the Windross family, who are grieving their baby daughter Amiyah, by setting up a fake GoFundMe (pictured) in her name

Melbourne couple Jay and Dee Windross' (pictured) 11-month-old daughter Amiyah died on April 24 after succumbing to an undiagnosed neurological issue

'As if someone pretending to have your phone and trying to extort money from you when not even in possession of the phone isn't enough,' he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

'Someone is now trying to scam money from the very generous people who plan on pledging their earnings in memory of Amiyah.

'I honestly can't believe the nerve of some people?? Seriously had enough of this!!!'

Mr Windross begged people who have been following his family's tragic saga not to donate to the fake page, and to ensure they used the legitimate link set up by Haylie Barrett.

'I'd rather you spend the money on your own family than donate to a scammer,' he wrote.

'Please beware and share.'

The latest twist comes after Malaysian woman Siti Nurhidayah Kamal, 24, was charged with trying to blackmail the parents, allegedly falsely claiming she had their missing phone.

The mother-of-two is accused of asking for $1000 its safe the return.

Ms Kamal was refused bail on Monday amid fears she will attempt to flee the country.

She reappeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, where she learned that unless her government-funded lawyers can prove she won't skip town she will remain behind bars until at least July 8.

Court documents state Kamal saw the Windross' public pleas for help and 'identified it as an opportunity to make some money'.

Daily Mail Australia has found numerous desperate Facebook posts made by Kamal in the lead-up to the crime asking for money.

She is accused of contacting Mr Windross about 5pm last Tuesday, as baby Amiyah was in her last hours of life, and demanding the cash be transferred to her account otherwise she would sell the phone.

Her lawyer, Royce Dekker, said his client intended to plead guilty to the charge of making an unwarranted demand for cash with menace when it is was eventually heard in the County Court of Victoria.

Don't Judge Me: Siti Nurhidayah Kamal (pictured), 24, was charged with trying to blackmail $1,000 from the parents of the dying baby girl

Kamal allegedly contacted Jay and Dee Windross (pictured outside Ringwood court on Monday) after they made a desperate public plea for the return of the Samsung Galaxy S8 phone

With a large tattoo reading 'don't judge me' visible on her forearm and dressed in a white top with blue pants, Kamal, who appeared in court via a video link from jail, asked how long she could expect to remain behind bars.

The charge of blackmail in Victoria carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in jail and must be heard in the County Court of Victoria.

The court is notorious for its lengthy delays due to the huge volume of matters that pass through it each day.

Contested hearings can take more than a year to be heard, while straight pleas of guilty can take anywhere up to eight months to be finalised.

Siti Nurhidayah Kamal (pictured), 24, was charged with trying to blackmail $1,000 from the parents of the dying baby girl. She was refused bail amid fears she will attempt to flee the country

A Facebook post made by Kamal asking for a loan. It is one of several the desperate woman made leading up to last week's blackmail attempt on the Windross family

'It's despicable. It's disgusting,' Ms Windross said outside court yesterday.

'Why would anyone do that and she knew the position we were in. You could tell by the messages. How could you be so disgraceful?'

'The hours that we spent holding our daughter, this woman was sitting in her own house demanding money from us,' Ms Windross said outside court.

Kamal allegedly contacted the couple via whatsapp after they made several desperate posts on social media to help them retrieve the phone. Her husband is pictured leaving court

Ms Windross left her phone in a toilet cubicle at Melbourne's Chadstone Shopping Centre on April 20, and her husband made a desperate plea on social media to have it returned

Ms Windross said she felt some relief Kamal had been jailed until her guilty plea (pictured: an emotional Ms Windross outside Ringwoods court)

During her court appearance, the Magistrate heard Kamal had been working as an Uber Eats delivery person, earning $120 a day.

Mr Dekker, Kamal's lawyer, said the couple left their children in Malaysia and had been trying to make ends meet when they fell on hard times and couldn't pay the rent.

Kamal and her husband, who attended court yesterday, had been unable to pay the rent on their Springvale home since moving in just two weeks ago.

But Ms Windross argued Kamal had no right to complain about her financial situation.

'They're earning more money than we are,' Ms Windross said.

'They earn more money then we've been living on on one wage each for 11 months and we have had to pay hospital bills, car parking - everything. Mortgage bills. And she's in there crying because they don't earn enough money.'

The court heard Kamal and her husband (pictured leaving court on Monday) had been struggling working as Uber delivery bike riders making $120 a day

A woman tried to exploit the couple's vulnerability by extorting $1000 out of them while their daughter was dying

Ms Windross said she felt some relief Kamal had been jailed until her guilty plea.

'She will have to suffer the consequences of what she's done,' she said.

Outside court, the couple said they hoped Kamal would receive justice.

'She needs to get everything that (the court) are capable of giving to her. She has children. She has two children that are still alive - I don't have my baby anymore,' Ms Windross said.

The couple again urged anyone who had the phone to make contact with them.

'I don't have my baby anymore, I can't take anymore photos of my baby. I don't care who you are,' Ms Windross said.

'Give it back ... you don't have to tell me who you are or where you are. Just put the phone somewhere and let someone know where it is so that I can have it back.'

Kamal's busband (pictured centre) did not comment when he left court on Monday after his wife was refused bail

Kamal (pictured with her husband) had contacted the couple as they spent their last precious moments with their dying daughter
An upstate New York judge who stoked outrage after he sentenced a former school bus driver to probation in the rape of a 14-year-old girl has been inundated with malicious phone calls.

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky sentenced 26-year-old Shane Piche to 10 years of probation last week.

The sentence sparked an online wave of wave of condemnation against the judge from people arguing that the punishment was too lenient.

Piche pleaded guilty in February to raping the teenager at his home in Watertown, New York, last summer.

His sentencing last week drew national media attention and harsh criticism.

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky has faced harsh backlash after sentencing 26-year-old Shane Piche to 10 years of probation last week

Twitter users repeatedly posted the phone number and address of McClusky's chambers in Watertown.

An online petition is also circulating calling for McClusky to be recalled.

'The Judge's chambers have received numerous vitriolic calls regarding the case, the vast majority from out of state, by individuals who know nothing about the facts and circumstances of the case, thanks to social media,' state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen said..

Chalfen said the judge was 'well within' the sentencing range for this type of negotiated plea conviction.

He said the maximum state prison time he could have received would have been from 16 months to 4 years.

Piche, who was a bus driver in the victim's school district, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February.

He was required to register as a Level 1 sex offender - the lowest of three categories based on the risk of another offense.

Three orders of protection were issued and Piche was ordered not to be left alone with anyone under the age of 17.

Piche pleaded guilty in February to raping the teenager at his home in Watertown, New York, last summer

Piche, who was a bus driver in the victim's school district, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February

Jefferson County chief assistant district attorney Patricia Dziuba said all parties acted within the parameters set by law and that the prosecutor handling the case sought up to six months of jail time along with probation, supervision and treatment.

She declined to criticize the judge's sentence.

Piche didn't make a statement during his sentencing.

Calls seeking comment were left Tuesday with McCluskey and Piche's attorney, Eric Swartz.

'He'll be a felon for the rest of his life. He's on the sex offender registry for a long time,' Swartz told television station WWNY of Watertown.

The station said a victim impact statement given to them by the victim's mother read: 'I wish Shane Piche would have received time in jail for the harm he caused to my child.

California voters recalled Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky last year after he sentenced college swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail on a sexual assault conviction

'He took something from my daughter she will never get back and has caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety.'

Chelsea Miller, of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said based on the mother's statement, it's possible that the judge and court officials didn't understand the harm the survivor experienced.

'Unfortunately, this can discourage survivors who see jail or prison time as a form of accountability,' Miller said.

Other judges also have faced public pressure over sex-crime sentences in recent years.

In a prominent example, California voters recalled Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky last year after he sentenced college swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail on a sexual assault conviction. Turner denied the accusation.

Persky cited a probation department recommendation, Turner's youth and his clean criminal record in departing from a minimum sentence of two years in prison.

California's Commission on Judicial Performance ruled that the sentencing was done correctly, but critics said the punishment was too light.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a hit a Chase Bank on Twitter, reprimanding the company in a sharp tweet for their post urging customers to be more frugal.

On Monday Chase shared a tweet joking about how customers overspend and get low balance alerts from the bank.

'You: why is my balance so low. Bank account: make coffee at home. Bank account: eat the food that's already in the fridge. Bank account: you don't need a cab, it's only three blocks. You: I guess we'll never know. Bank account: seriously? #Monday Motivation'.

AOC then responded saying today's money problems stem from minimal wage increases and rising living costs.

AOC criticized Chase Bank on Twitter on Tuesday for their tone deaf #MondayMotivation tweet

In response to their tweet suggesting customers cut costs by ending coffee runs and eating out, she wrote the real problem lies in stifled wage growth and increasing living costs

'You: Why is my balance so low? Economists: Bc working Americans haven't gotten a raise in 30 years despite unprecedented growth & living costs have exploded

'Chase: Maybe if you skipped that Dunkin on April 22nd you'd be able to afford your RX meds. That's how that works right,' she sarcastically tweeted Tuesday.

Her tweet went viral racking up 47,000 likes and over 10,000 retweets.

The Congress freshman serves on the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the nation's largest banks and financial institutions.

Turns out the tweet didn't just fall flat with AOC.

The bank later deleted the tone-deaf tweet altogether after they were criticized for being 'poor-shaming'.

Chase deleted the tweet on Monday after facing major backlash online

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who has made economic justice the centerpiece of her presidential campaign, found a target on Monday in the tweet from Chase Bank

Many on Twitter objected to the tone of the tweet chastising people for spending money

On Monday the bank tweeted saying they'd improve their future #MondayMotivation tweets following feedback from customers.

The backlash came thick and fast with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a long-time critic of big banks, pointing out that JPMorgan Chase received over $25 billion in taxpayer money as part of the government bailout in 2008.

Other's took aim at Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, whose salary was recently raised to more than $31 million.

'It's well-known that Jamie Dimon earned his riches making coffee at home and eating leftovers,' tweeted Ben Walsh, a reporter at Barron's.

Rep. Katie Porter a Democrat from California said tweet reflected the fact the bank and Dimon are 'out of touch.'

'They pay their workers barely enough to make rent, and then try to shame them into thinking it's their own fault for buying an occasional coffee,' Porter said in an emailed statement. 'Meanwhile they spend millions on lobbyists for corporate tax breaks and gutting banking rules. It's outrageous but I'm not surprised.'

'No one should ever shame someone for being poor,' one Twitter user said, 'But all of us should be open to having our bad habits called out so we can live better lives.'
Special Counsel Robert Mueller 'is willing to testify' before House Democrats about the findings of his Russia investigation but the Department of Justice (DOJ) is apparently unwilling to set a date for it to happen.

The DOJ has not agreed to a date, citing Mueller's continued status as a department employee, reported The Daily Beast, who cited multiple sources and added that Judiciary Committee sources said it was their impression that Mueller was willing to testify to discuss his findings. The Special Counsel serves under Attorney General, William Barr.

It comes as a Justice Department Official said Tuesday night that Mueller expressed frustration to Attorney General William Barr last month about how the findings of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election were being portrayed.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs St. John's Episcopal Church, across from the White House in Washington on March 24. Sources say he is willing to testify to discuss his findings but that the Department of Justice is unwilling to set a date

Mueller said he worried that a letter summarizing the main conclusions of the probe lacked the necessary context and was creating public confusion about his team's work, the Justice Department official said.

Mueller communicated his agitation in a letter to the Justice Department just days after Barr issued a four-page document that summarized the special counsel's conclusions about whether President Donald Trump's campaign had conspired with Russia and whether the president had tried to illegally obstruct the probe, the Associated Press reported.

Mueller and Barr then had a phone call where the same concerns were addressed.

The official was not authorized to discuss Mueller's letter by name.

The letter lays bare simmering tensions between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barr's summary adequately conveyed the gravity of Mueller's findings, particularly on the key question of obstruction.

Attorney General William Barr, left, answers a question during a press conference hours before releasing a lightly redacted version of the Mueller report, on April, 18, in Washington D.C. Barr will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Wednesday

Following the revelation, House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Democrat Jerry Nadler released a statement asking that both Mueller and Barr appear before his committee, adding the attorney general had expressed 'some reluctance to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.'

'These reports make it that much more important for him to appear and answer our questions. The Department of Justice has also been reluctant to confirm a date for Special Counsel Mueller to testify,' Nadler added.

Nadler has previously sent a letter to the DOJ asking that Mueller appear for questioning no later than May 23.

Mueller's frustration is likely to be a focus of Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which the attorney general is likely to defend his handling of Mueller's report.

President Donald Trump applauds during an event honoring 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 30

According to prepared testimony released Tuesday night, Barr will tell the committee that Mueller's investigation concluded without any interference and that he never overruled the Justice Department on any proposed action.

The appearance is Barr's first on Capitol Hill since he released a redacted version of Mueller's report on April 18 and comes amid deepening Democratic skepticism about his impartiality.

Those concerns were fueled in part by Barr's statements at a press conference announcing the release of the Mueller report, where he repeated multiple times that Mueller's investigation had not found any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia - even though the report notes that collusion is not a legal term.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Democrat, Jerry Nadler released a statement Tuesday asking that both Mueller and Barr appear before his committee

The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the letter. The newspaper said Mueller complained that Barr's summary 'did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office's work and conclusions.'

Maryland Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen, went further in his criticism, saying Barr lied to him in testimony about Mueller's report and should resign. In that hearing, Barr replied to Van Hollen that he didn't know if Mueller agreed with his conclusions about the report, including that there wasn't enough evidence in the report to support a charge of obstruction of justice.

In light of the Mueller letter, Van Hollen said Barr 'totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign.'
Civil rights activists have claimed the US cop who was found guilty of murdering an Australian-American woman would have walked free if he was white.

Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor was convicted of third-degree murder and manslaughter on Tuesday for his role in Justine Ruszczyk Damond's death.

Noor, a 33-year-old Somali-American, testified he shot the unarmed Australian-American woman, because he believed there was an imminent threat.

Damond, a 40-year-old blonde woman, was gunned down as she approached the officers' vehicle after she had called 911 earlier to report a possible assault.

A jury of ten men and two women announced the verdict after deliberating for 11 hours.

The case is believed to mark the first time a Minnesota cop has been convicted on a murder charge for killing someone while on duty.

Although many agreed Noor was guilty, the jury's verdict sparked a discussion about whether the outcome of the trial may have been influenced by the fact that Noor is black and his victim was white.

Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor (pictured right arriving in court today) has been found guilty of third-degree murder and manslaughter for fatally shooting Justine Damond (left).

Social justice activist Shaun King called the verdict 'the most predictable outcome of any police violence case in American history

Critics were quick to point out that the cop would have walked free if he was white

Social justice activist Shaun King called the verdict 'the most predictable outcome of any police violence case in American history....A Black Muslim immigrant cop killed a white woman,' he tweeted.

'Mohamed Noor was the FIRST cop EVER convicted of murder in Minnesota. I can name 10 cases there with more evidence. This case had no body cameras, no recordings, etc.

'Again, Noor was absolutely guilty. But this verdict has everything to do with race. Everything.'

The jury came to a decision after deliberating for 11 hours

The two tweets received more than 3,000 likes and hundreds of retweets.

Twitter user Malik Bey echoed those sentiments tweeting: 'The biggest mistake Noor made is thinking the corrupted blue badge would override his skin color.

'In a justice system designed to fail black people, it seems it doesn't matter which side of the law you're on as long as you're black.'

Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong said the decision will not prevent another officer from killing again.

'First officer convicted in Minnesota for killing a (white) civilian is a Black, Muslim, Somali man. Coincidence? I think not. Will other (white) officers be held accountable for killing civilians in Minnesota, in light of this verdict? Not likely,' she said in a Facebook post.

'Do communities of color feel safer now that one officer has been convicted? I would venture to say no. Black lives still do not matter in our justice system, which comes as no surprise to those of us who have been paying attention. Cops in Minnesota will still be able to kill with impunity.'

During a press conference on Tuesday, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman responded to the backlash denying the decision was racially-motivated.

Noor (pictured in his mugshot) was found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and was acquitted on the highest charge, second-degree murder

A courtroom sketch depicts former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor on the witness stand Thursday, April 25. Noor had testified he shot Damond after he heard a bang on his squad car, saw his partner was scared, then saw Damond at his partner's window, raising her arm

One user said white cops are hardly ever found guilty of 'anything, let alone murder'

User Charles Johnson said Noor was found guilty because he is a black man who killed a white woman

Civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong the outcome will not affect how white officers are tried for killing civilians in Minnesota

'I've heard a small group in the community make disparaging remarks about me and this office to the effect that I won't charge white cops who shoot black people, but I'll charge black cops who shoot white people,' he said.

'That simply is not true. Race has never been a factor in any of my decisions and never will be.'

But critics have drawn comparisons between Noor's case and various cases of police brutality deaths involving white officers and unarmed black victims over the last few years, such as in the death of Eric Garner.

Garner was killed after NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo allegedly put him in a chokehold while arresting him for selling loose cigarettes.

Pantaleo was ultimately not indicted for Garner's death, sparking protests across the country.

In 2014, 12-year-old Ohio boy Tamir Rice was gunned down by white officer Timothy Loehman after receiving reports that a male had pulled out a gun and was aiming it at people.

The gun was later found to be fake, but a grand jury chose to not indict Loehman.

Ms Damond, a dual US-Australian citizen was to due be married to her fiancee (pictured) a month after her life was cut short

Damond, who was originally from Sydney, had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home in July 2017. Prosecutors argued her death is not a justifiable accident

Earlier on Tuesday, Justine's fiance Don Damond slammed her killer, telling reporter that her death exemplified a 'complete disregard for the sanctity of life.'

'Nearly two years ago my fiance, Justine Damond Ruszczyk, was shot dead in her pyjamas outside our home without warning as she walked up to a police car which she had summoned,' Mr Damond said.

'Ironically, the Minneapolis Police Department emblem on the squad door reads: "To protect with courage and to serve with compassion".

'Where were these values that night? That night there was a tragic lapse of care and complete disregard for the sanctity of life. The evidence in this case clearly showed an egregious failure of the Minneapolis Police Department.'

Noor was found guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and was acquitted on the highest charge, second-degree murder.

He was immediately led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 7 and could face up to 25 years in prison.

The former cop showed no reaction, but his wife cried as the jury's verdict was read at his trial.

During a press conference, Damond's father, John Ruszczyk, described the process as a 'painful journey' but said he was 'satisfied with the outcome'.

Noor's attorney asked that he be released on bond pending sentencing, but prosecutors opposed that on the grounds of the seriousness of the case.

The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office said it had concerns about Noor's safety if he was free.

Damond, 40, was shot on July 15, 2017, shortly after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.

THIRD-DEGREE MURDER CHARGE Third-degree murder is also known as 'depraved-heart murder,' meaning the act was committed without intent to effect death, but caused by acting dangerously and without regard for human life. Second-degree murder means the murder was intentional but was not premeditated. Noor was acquitted on the second-degree murder charge. Second-degree manslaughter occurs when a person causes death through negligence. Advertisement

Noor fired at Damond from the passenger seat of the police cruiser he was in with his partner, Matthew Harrity, when she emerged from her home.

The victim, a yoga instructor, had approached the cruiser after calling 911 twice to report a possible rape in the dark alley behind her home. No such assault was ever found to have occurred.

In court, prosecutor Amy Sweasy said Noor violated Minneapolis police training policies - and endangered the life of his partner and a teenage cyclist also present.

She dismissed speculation that Damond contributed to her own death.

'He pulled (the gun). He pointed, he aimed, and he killed her,' Ms. Sweasy said. 'This is no accident. This is intentional murder,' she said.

Noor had testified that he believed there was an imminent threat after he saw a cyclist stop near the police cruiser, heard a loud bang and saw Harrity's 'reaction to the person on the driver's side raising her right arm.'

Noor added that when he reached from the cruiser's passenger seat and shot Damond through the driver's side window, it was because he thought his partner 'would have been killed.'

He said that after Damond approached the cruiser, his partner screamed, 'Oh, Jesus!' and began fumbling to unholster his gun.

Then, Noor said he saw a blonde woman wearing a pink T-shirt raising her right arm at the driver's window, identified her as a threat and fired.

The prosecutor, however, suggested that the officers should not have been surprised by a woman walking to their car, given that the 911 caller reporting the possible sexual assault was a woman.

Ms Damond, a dual US-Australian citizen was to due be married to her fiancee a month after her life was cut short.

Her death sparked anger and disbelief in the U.S. and Australia, cost the city's police chief her job and contributed to the mayor's electoral defeat a few months later.

Neither officer had their body cameras running when Ms Damond was shot, something Officer Harrity blamed on what he called a vague policy that didn't require it.
ABC News Breakfast show host Virginia Trioli has confirmed she is leaving the role and returning to radio

ABC News Breakfast show host Virginia Trioli has confirmed she is leaving the role and returning to radio.

Trioli, 53, is set to return to ABC Melbourne's morning show to replace Jon Faine, following his retirement in January after 23 years in the job.

She previously worked at the radio station for five years, hosting the drivetime show from 2000 to 2005.

Speaking on air on Wednesday morning, Trioli said she had been given an offer that 'she couldn't refuse'.

'Jon and the ABC Melbourne team, for more than two decades, have created an agenda-setting and community-building program that means so much not only to Melburnians, but to anyone who values great conversation and the vital need for the continuing contest of ideas,' the presenter said in a statement.

'Melbourne  we're going to make great radio together!'

He replacement is yet to be revealed.
The 23-year-old was shot multiple times in his body and died at Mount Sinai Hospital. The other man, 22, was struck in the right buttocks and taken in serious condition to Stroger Hospital, police said. Their identities have not been released.
Amid a battlefield stalemate in Afghanistan, the U.S. military has stopped releasing information often cited to measure progress in America's longest war, calling it of little value in fighting the Taliban insurgency.

The move fits a trend of less information being released about the war in recent years, often at the insistence of the Afghan government, which had previously stopped the U.S. military from disclosing the number of Afghans killed in battle as well as overall attrition within the Afghan army.

The latest clampdown also aligns with President Trump's complaint that the U.S. gives away too much war information, although there is no evidence that this had any influence on the latest decision.

A government watchdog agency that monitors the U.S. war effort, now in its 18th year, said in a report to Congress on Wednesday that the U.S. military command in Kabul is no longer producing 'district control data,' which shows the number of Afghan districts - and the percentage of their population - controlled by the government compared to the Taliban.

The United States military is no longer releasing information about how much territory in Afghanistan is controlled by the American-backed government in Kabul - a move in line with President Trump's (above) desire to limit the release of data he says helps the enemy

The last time the command released this information, in January, it showed that Afghan government control was stagnant or slipping.

It said the share of the population under Afghan government control or influence - a figure that was largely unchanged from May 2017 to July 2018 at about 65 per cent - had dropped in October 2018 to 63.5 per cent.

The government's control or influence of districts fell nearly 2 percentage points, to 53.8 per cent.

Less than two years ago, a top American commander in Afghanistan called population control 'most telling.'

Gen. John Nicholson told reporters in November 2017 that he wanted to see the figure, then about two-thirds, increase to at least 80 per cent, with the Taliban holding only about 10 per cent and the rest contested.

'And this, we believe, is the critical mass necessary to drive the enemy to irrelevance,' Nicholson said then.

Nicholson's successor, Gen. Scott Miller, believes there already are enough such assessments available to the public, including one produced by intelligence agencies.

'We are focused on setting the conditions for a political settlement to safeguard our national interests,' Col. David M. Butler, a spokesman for Miller, said in an email exchange Tuesday.

'The district stability assessment that was previously provided by DOD was redundant and did little to serve our mission of protecting our citizens and allies.'

The war is at a sensitive juncture, with the Trump administration making a hard push to get peace talks started between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan (left) arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, to consult with Army Gen. Scott Miller (right), commander of U.S. and coalition forces in this February 11, 2019 file photo

The Taliban recently launched a spring military offensive and have refused to directly talk to Kabul representatives, viewing the government as a U.S. puppet.

In its report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, said Miller's command offered a further explanation for no longer producing the 'district control' data, asserting there was 'uncertainty' in the way the data were produced and saying 'the assessments that underlie them are to a degree subjective.'

'The command said they no longer saw decision-making value in these data,' the SIGAR report said.

In remarks to reporters last week, John Sopko, the special inspector general, criticized what he called a trend toward less openness by the military authorities who are advising, training and assisting Afghan security forces.

'I don't think it makes sense,' Sopko said.

'The Afghan people know which districts are controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban obviously know which districts they control. Our military knows it. Everybody in Afghanistan knows it. The only people who don't know what's going on are the people who are paying for all of this, and that's the American taxpayer.'

In January, Trump sharply criticized his own administration for disclosing information that he said aids enemy forces.

'Some IG goes over there, who are mostly appointed by President Obama - but we'll have ours, too - and he goes over there, and they do a report on every single thing that's happening, and they release it to the public,' Trump told reporters.

'What kind of stuff is this? We're fighting wars, and they're doing reports and releasing it to the public? Now, the public means the enemy. The enemy reads those reports; they study every line of it.'

Trump then turned to the acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, and said, 'I don't want it to happen anymore, Mr. Secretary.'

The war in Afghanistan is largely forgotten in much of America, as is the enormous, continuing financial cost.

This year the Pentagon budget includes $4.9billion to provide the Afghan army and police with everything from equipment and supplies to salaries and food.

That is one piece of a wider array of 'reconstruction' assistance the U.S. government has provided since the war began in 2001, totaling $132billion.

Overall, the U.S. has spent $737billion on the war and lost more than 2,400 military lives, according to the Pentagon.
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Japan's new Emperor Naruhito inherited the sacred sword and jewel that signaled his succession and pledged in his first public address on Wednesday morning to follow his father's example by devoting himself to peace and sharing the people's joys and sorrows.

Naruhito, the first modern emperor to have studied abroad and the first born after Japan's defeat in World War II, formally succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne at midnight after his father Akihito abdicated Tuesday.

'When I think about the important responsibility I have assumed, I am filled with a sense of solemnity,' Naruhito said in his address.

While noting his father's devotion to praying for peace, Naruhito said he'll 'reflect deeply' on the path trodden by Akihito and past emperors.

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito (left) and Empress Masako attend the 'Sokui-go-Choken-no-gi', or First Audience after the Accession to the Throne

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (centre right) delivers a message for new Emperor Naruhito (centre left) and Empress Masako (centre 2nd left) during a ceremony to receive the first audience after the accession to the throne at the Matsu-no-Ma state room inside the Imperial Palace

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito receives the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel as proof of succession at the ceremony at Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, followed by new Empress Masako, Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, walks to make his first address during a ritual after succeeding his father Akihito at Imperial Palace in Tokyo

New Emperor Naruhito (left) ascended the throne after his father abdicated from the world's oldest monarchy and ushered in a new imperial era.

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito (centre) formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, a day after his father abdicated

'When I think about the important responsibility I have assumed, I am filled with a sense of solemnity,' Naruhito said in his address

New Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend the 'Kenji-to-Shokei-no-gi', or Ceremony for Inheriting the Imperial Regalia and Seals, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

The dawn of a new era: Early-morning clouds cast shadow over the first sunrise, so 80 people chartered a plane to witness dawn breaking over the Japanese Alps

He promised to abide by the constitution that stripped emperors of political power, and to fulfill his responsibility as a national symbol while 'always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them.'

'I sincerely pray for the happiness of the people and the further development of the nation as well as the peace of the world,' he said.

Naruhito is considered a new breed of royal, his outlook forged by the tradition-defying choices of his parents. Emperor Emeritus Akihito devoted his three-decade career to making amends for a war fought in his father's name while bringing the aloof monarchy closer to the people.

Naruhito's mother, Michiko, was born a commoner and was Catholic educated. Together, they reached out to the people, especially those who faced disability, discrimination and natural disasters.

Naruhito was presented with the Imperial sword and jewel, each in a box and wrapped in cloth, at a morning ceremony that marked his first official duty.

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito waves from his vehicle to well-wishers as he arrives back at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 1

Emperor Naruhito receives the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel as proof of succession during the ceremony at Imperial Palace in Tokyo

New Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend the 'Kenji-to-Shokei-no-gi', or Ceremony for Inheriting the Imperial Regalia and Seals

Japan's Emperor Naruhito (second right), watched by Empress Masako (right), giving a speech during a ceremony to receive the first audience after the accession to the throne

Japan's Emperor Naruhito (top left) attending a ritual ceremony to inherit the imperial regalia and seals at the Matsu-no-Ma state room inside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

The ascension to the Chrysanthemum throne of Emperor Naruhito marks the beginning of the Reiwa era. He received the imperial treasures at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 1

His wife and daughter, Empress Masako and 17-year-old Princess Aiko, were barred from the ceremony, which only adult male royals - his brother, now Crown Prince Fumihito, and his uncle Prince Hitachi - were allowed to witness. Their guests included a female Cabinet minister, however, as the Imperial House Law has no provision on the gender of commoners in attendance.

The banning of female royals at the ceremony underscored the uncertain future of a paternalistic imperial family that now has just two heirs.

Nevertheless, Japan festively celebrated an imperial succession prompted by retirement rather than death. Many people stood outside the palace Tuesday to reminisce about Akihito's era; others joined midnight events when the transition occurred, and more came to celebrate the beginning of Naruhito's reign.

Dozens of couples lined up at government offices to submit marriage documents to mark the first day of Naruhito's era, known as Reiwa, or 'beautiful harmony.'

Natsumi Nishimura, a 27-year-old saleswoman, and Keigo Mori, a 32- year-old government worker, were at a Tokyo office on Wednesday, saying they decided to tie the knot at the start of a new era to mark their new life together.

The items are sacred and represent the three primary virtues: valor (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and benevolence (the jewel). They are also a symbol of imperial power - as Japan has no imperial crown

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, right, leaves after the ceremony to receive the Imperial regalia of sword (shown being carried by an official) and jewel as proof of succession at Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Standing at back is Crown Prince Akishino

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) delivers a message for new Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako (not in picture)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako is driven to Imperial Palace to greet Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko in Tokyo

New Emperor Naruhito waves on arrival at the Imperial Palace to attend ceremonies to mark his accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne

Emperor Naruhito inherited Imperial regalia and seals as proof of his succession and pledged in his first public address Wednesday to follow his father's example in devoting himself to peace and staying close to the people

Japan's new Empress Masako, wife of Emperor Naruhito, 59, waves as she arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan

'Opportunities like this don't come by often so we thought it would be a day we won't forget,' Nishimura said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe congratulated Naruhito on his ascension, pledging to create a 'bright future' during the new era that is peaceful and full of hope.

Naruhito also received congratulations from abroad. President Donald Trump's message said America and Japan will renew the bonds of friendship in the new era.

Xi was quoted by state media as saying China and Japan should work together to promote peace and development and bilateral ties.

From a car window on his way to and from the palace, Naruhito smiled and waved at people cheering on the sidewalk. He and his family will continue living at the crown prince's Togu Palace until they switch places with his parents after refurbishments.

New Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako leave the Matsu-no-Ma hall after the 'Sokui-go-Choken-no-Gi' ceremony that Naruhito receives representatives of the people in audience for the first time after his accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Imperial Palace

Naruhito, 59, is the nation's 126th emperor, according to a palace count that historians say likely included mythical figures until around the 5th century.

The emperor under Japan's Constitution is a symbol without political power. Wartime militarist governments worshipped the emperor as a living god until Naruhito's grandfather renounced that status after Japan's 1945 war defeat.

Akihito during his three-decade reign embraced an identity as peacemaker and often made reconciliatory missions and carefully scripted expressions of regret on the war. His immersion in that role leaves Naruhito largely free of the burden of the wartime legacy, allowing him to carve his own path.

Palace watchers say he might focus on global issues, including disaster prevention, water conservation and climate change, which could appeal to younger Japanese, while also emulating his father's focus on peace.

Japanese people washed down the new era with sake - an alcoholic rice wine - served in plain wooden blocks

Women dressed in festival costume walk on Danjiri-parade to celebrate the start of Japans new imperial era Reiwa on May 1

Some 30 Shinto priests wearing traditional white robes conducted a festive ceremony to 'report' the new emperor's accession to his ancestors, the Shinto gods

Danjiri, large wooden carts in the shape of a shrine or temple, are carried by local people around the city to welcome the new era of Reiwa

Couples celebrate the new 'Reiwa' era at Tokyo's Sumida ward office while register their marriage on the first day of Reiwa on early May 1, 2019

Japan's bride Mika Kobayashi (left) and groom Tsubasa Moriya hold their wedding ceremony cross the final day of 'Heisei' era and first day of 'Reiwa' era in Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture on early May 1

That's what many Japanese hope Naruhito will pursue.

'I hope the new emperor will be like the Heisei Emperor (Akihito), who cherishes peace,' said Takayori Kobayakawa, a 71-year-old retiree who came from Shizuoka, central Japan. 'I have high hopes for him.'

Naruhito also faces uncertainties in the imperial household. Crown Prince Fumihito, 53, and Fumihito's 12-year-old son, Prince Hisahito, can currently succeed him. The Imperial House Law confines the succession to male heirs, leaving Naruhito's daughter out of the running.

Naruhito's wife Empress Masako is a Harvard-educated former diplomat who may prove an adept partner in his overseas travels and activities. But much will depend on her health, since she has been recovering from what the palace describes as stress-induced depression for about 15 years.

Well-wishers gather and wave to New Emperor Naruhito who is seen on arrival at the Imperial Palace to attend ceremonies to mark his accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne

Emperor Naruhito is seen on departure for the Imperial Palace to attend ceremonies to mark his accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Akasaka Palace. Naruhito has formally inherited the imperial regalia and seals that serve as proof that he is the emperor

About 45 Danjiri, large wooden carts in the shape of a shrine or temple, are carried by local people around the city to welcome the new era of Reiwa

Danjiri, wooden carts line up along the road to celebrate of the start of Japan's new imperial era Reiwa - meaning 'beautiful harmony'

Japan rang in the new imperial era in festive mood Wednesday as Naruhito became their 126th emperor.

Unseasonable rain had somewhat dampened the party atmosphere for Tuesday's historic abdication of Naruhito's father Akihito, with only a handful of hardy souls cowering under umbrellas to pay their respects at Tokyo's sprawling Imperial Palace.

But the skies cleared Wednesday for the first day of the 'Reiwa' era - meaning 'beautiful harmony' - and the Japanese, enjoying an unprecedented 10-day holiday, packed into Meiji Jingu shrine in central Tokyo to celebrate.

As crowds lined the path, some 30 Shinto priests wearing traditional white robes and tall black hats marched under a huge gate towards the main building to conduct a festive ceremony to 'report' the new emperor's accession to his ancestors, the Shinto gods.

Women dressed in festival costume walk on Danjiri parade to celebrate start Japan's new imperial era Reiwa in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, on May 1

Crowds cheers the motorcade carrying Japan's new Emperor Naruhito as he leaves the grounds of the Imperial Palace

People gather along the roadside to take images of Japan's new Emperor Naruhito upon his return to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

People take pictures as the Japanese royal family arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday May 1

And thirsty revellers rushed to scoop up 'masu' or plain wooden blocks filled with sake, with 1,000 free cups gone in just 30 minutes.

Shrine maidens wearing white robes and bright orange 'hakama' or wide-legged trousers dished up the rice wine that is synonymous with Japan from a wooden barrel using a long ladle.

'The sake is delicious,' said Midori Okuzumi, 49, who travelled from eastern Tokyo with her husband Hirokazu for the celebrations.

'It's a slight shame that the masu (wooden cups) ran out before our turn came but it's still tasty,' she said, clutching a small paper cup instead.

People celebrate of the start Japan's new imperial era Reiwa on May 01, 2019 in Kobe Japan's sixth-largest city which is located in Hyogo Prefecture, on May 1

A police escort accompanies Emperor Naruhito as he leaves the Imperial Palace after attending his imperial rituals in Tokyo, Japan May 1, 2019

An aerial view shows the motorcade transporting Japan's new Emperor Naruhito drive past in front of well-wishers as he leaves the Imperial Palace after attending his imperial rituals

A police officer and a police dog patrol around prior to Japan's new Emperor Naruhito leaving the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Office worker Kiyohiko Izawa, 28 and his wife Naoko, also 28, who works at a bank, visited the shrine to report their marriage to the Shinto gods.

'I'm happy that we were able to report our marriage on the first day of Reiwa,' said Naoko.

The change of era is a huge event in Japan, on a par with the accession of a new emperor. Several couples chose to get married on the stroke of midnight and there were long queues at post offices to get stamps bearing the first day of the Reiwa era.

Natsumi Nishimura, a 27-year-old saleswoman, and Keigo Mori, a 32- year-old government worker, were at a Tokyo office on Wednesday, saying they decided to tie the knot at the start of a new era to mark their new life together.

'Opportunities like this don't come by often so we thought it would be a day we won't forget,' Nishimura said.

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, a day after his father abdicated from the world's oldest monarchy and ushered in a new imperial era

Residents show the extra edition of newspapers reporting new Emperor Naruhito's accession to the throne in Tokyo on May 1, 2019

A resident shows the extra edition of a newspaper reporting new Emperor Naruhito's accession to the throne in Tokyo

And some people went to extraordinary lengths to ring in the new era.

With early-morning clouds casting a shadow over the first sunrise, around 80 people paid for a specially chartered plane to soar above them to capture dawn breaking over the Japanese Alps.

'Although passengers could not see Mt. Fuji due to bad weather, they were able to enjoy the first sunrise of Reiwa,' said Sho Inoue, an airline company spokesman.

People wait to see Japan's new Emperor Naruhito outside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, on May 1, 2019

People celebrate the new era of Reiwa on the street of central Osaka in the Kansai region of Japan on early May 1, 2019

Around 370 early birds travelled to Nemuro on the island of Hokkaido, one of the easternmost points of Japan, in a bid to be the first to see the sunrise but clouds cast a shadow on proceedings there.

Others went to watch the formal ceremony and Naruhito's first speech on massive screens outside Shinjuku, the world's busiest train station.

Gazing up at the screen, 21-year-old law student Mito Okuno said she had come from Himeji, some 600 kilometres to the west of Tokyo, to savour the historic moment.

Dressed in a striped orange, red and black kimono, Okuno said: 'I am someone who loves history and what we are experiencing now will be talked about for a long time.'

'That's why I wanted to come in person.'

Japan has new Emperor Naruhito after succeeding the Chrysanthemum Throne from his father Akihito who abdicated the night before

People try to take photos of Japan's new Emperor driven from Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Wednesday, May 1

Well-wishers cheer and wave Japanese flags as a motorcade carrying Japan's new Emperor Naruhito leaves the grounds of the Imperial Palace

Naruhito formally succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne at midnight and several hundred braved torrential rain to cram into the famous 'scramble' crossing at Shibuya to count down to the new era.

Tamae Moriyama, a 48-year-old restaurant worker, said she hoped the historic events would spark a debate about women ascending the throne, which is currently forbidden.

'I hope that women will one day be able to take the throne like in Britain. I am happy that the subject is being debated. Times have changed but the imperial system has not changed with them,' she said.
A new movie about the life of Elvis Presley directed by Baz Luhrmann will be filmed in Australia.

The production, announced by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday, will be shot at Village Roadshow studios in Oxenford.

Oscar winner Tom Hanks will star as Elvis' manager Colonel Tom Parker, but a search is still underway for an actor to play The King.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palazczuk (right) announced a new Elvis Presley film will be directed by Baz Luhrmann (left) at Village Roadshow studios

Oscar winner Tom Hanks will star as Elvis' (pictured in 1968) manager Colonel Tom Parker but a search is still underway for an actor to play The King

Ms Palaszczuk met with Mr Luhrmann in London last month to approve the production of the film yet to be titled.

The Australian director, based in New York, said he is excited to return to Queensland, saying the city was 'a conducive creative environment to realise this film'.

He said he was 'committed to developing Queensland's creative culture and supporting filmmakers, storytellers and artists of all kinds'.

Ms Palaszczuk said she was 'passionate about the Queensland Screen industry.'

'You might say I have a burning love for it,' she said, referencing one of Elvis' popular songs.

Mr Luhrmann is pictured at Graceland - Elvis' former home in Memphis

The production is expected to create 900 new jobs, including set production, catering and costume design  adding more than $105 million to the local economy.

'It doesn't just offer work for Queenslanders  it offers opportunities for actions from other parts of the world to come and visit Queensland,' Ms Palaszczuk said.

Notable Hollywood movies including Thor: Ragnarok, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Aquaman have all been filmed in Queensland.

Mr Luhrmann is known for directing popular films such as The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet.
The head of Venezuela's secret police has broken ranks with embattled President Nicolas Maduro as the country braces for a second day violence following the turmoil surrounding a military uprising.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets on Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration and fierce resistance from forces loyal to Maduro.

In a possible sign that Maduro's inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuela's secret police wrote a letter on Tuesday breaking ranks with the embattled leader.

In a letter directed to the Venezuelan people, Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera - the head of Venezuela's feared SEBIN intelligence agency - said he had always been loyal to Maduro but now it is time to 'rebuild the country'.

Violent street battles erupted in parts of Caracas on Tuesday in what was the most serious challenge yet to embattled Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro

In a possible sign that Maduro's inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuela's secret police - Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera - wrote a letter on Tuesday breaking ranks with the embattled leader

He said corruption has become so rampant that 'many high-ranking public servants practice it like a sport'.

'The hour has arrived for us to look for other ways of doing politics,' Figuera wrote.

The authenticity of the letter circulating on social media was confirmed by a senior U.S. official.

In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an 'illegitimate government' with the support of the U.S. and neighboring Colombia.

Maduro said that the unrest had been quelled and that Venezuela wouldn't succumb to right-wing forces intent on 'submitting our country to a neocolonial economic domination model and enslaving Venezuela.'

'Now you can see a Venezuela largely in peace,' he proclaimed.

Venezuelans waited to see if that remained the case Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Guaido sought to keep the momentum going at the end of the day by releasing his own video message in which he pressed Venezuelans to take to the streets again on Wednesday.

The competing quests to solidify a hold on power capped a dramatic day that included a tense moment when several armored vehicles plowed into a group of anti-government demonstrators trying to storm the capital's air base, hitting at least two protesters.

The stunning events began early Tuesday when Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armored crowd-control vehicles, released a three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets on Tuesday to call for a military uprising

Supporters of President of the Venezuelan Parliament, Juan Guaido, clash with the National Bolivarian Police during a protest in Caracas on Tuesday

Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration but also fierce resistance from forces loyal to embattled socialist Nicolas Maduro

He called it the moment for Venezuelans to reclaim their democracy once and for all but as the hours dragged on Guaido stood alone on a highway overpass with the same small cadre of soldiers with whom he launched a bold effort to spark a military uprising.

Like past attempts to oust Maduro, the opposition seemed outmaneuvered again on Tuesday.

What Guaido dubbed 'Operation Freedom' triggered a familiar pattern of security forces using repressive tactics to crush small pockets of stone-throwing youths while millions of Venezuelans watched the drama unfold with a mix of fear and exasperation.

The opposition's hoped-for split in the military didn't emerge, a plane that the U.S. claimed was standing by to ferry Maduro into exile in Cuba never took off and by nightfall one of the government's bravest opponents, who defied house arrest to join the insurrection, had quietly sought refuge with his family in a foreign embassy.

Guaido, the telegenic 35-year-old leader of the opposition-dominated congress who is recognized by the U.S. and over 50 nations as Venezuela's rightful president, nonetheless pressed forward in calling for a new round of mass street protests Wednesday.

Opposition forces are hoping that Venezuelans angered by broadcast images of armored vehicles plowing into protesters and fed up with their nation's dire humanitarian crisis will fill streets across the nation.

'We need to keep up the pressure,' Guaido said. 'We will be in the streets.'

The latest chapter in Venezuela's political upheaval marks the most serious threat yet to Maduro's contested rule.

The leader, who has been relying on support from Russia and China, was largely absent as events unfolded Tuesday. He finally emerged late in the evening to call the small-scale uprising a failed U.S.-backed coup attempt.

In one dramatic incident during a chaotic day, several armored vehicles plowed into a group of anti-government demonstrators during clashes with the Venezuelan National Guard

An anti-government protester walks near a bus that was set on fire by opponents of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro during clashes between rebel and loyalist soldiers in Caracas on Tuesday

The turmoil Tuesday began when Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armored crowd-control vehicles, released a three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Guaido's political mentor and the nation's most-prominent opposition activist, stood alongside him. Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces following an order from Guaido.

'I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers,' Lopez declared.

As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Guaido at a plaza a few blocks away. A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind on the highway, lobbing rocks and gasoline bombs toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

'It's now or never,' said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers.

Amid the mayhem, several armored utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd. Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the armored vehicles sped away dodging gasoline bombs thrown by the demonstrators.

The head of a medical center near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating over 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets. At least one person had been shot with live ammunition. The Venezuelan human rights group Provea said a 24-year-old man was fatally shot during an anti-government protest in the city of La Victoria.

Later Tuesday, Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence and later moved to the Spanish Embassy. There were also reports that 25 soldiers who had been with Guaido fled to Brazil's diplomatic mission.
Ex-CIA agent Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, is expected to plead guilty on Wednesday to spying for China in a change-of-plea hearing

A former CIA officer accused of spying for China is scheduled to plead guilty to conspiring to divulge U.S. secrets.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, is expected to plead guilty at a change-of-plea hearing on Wednesday in Alexandria, Virginia, according to court filings.

The naturalized U.S. citizen, who lives in Hong Kong, was an agent for the CIA for 13 years from 1994 to 2007.

He served as an overseas case officer where his primary duty was to 'recruit clandestine human intelligence sources'.

Lee pleaded not guilty last year to charges of conspiring to deliver defense information to a foreign government.

He's accused of illegally possessing classified information and leaking it to Chinese intelligence.

He was arrested in New York in January 2018 for possessing that information in two handwritten notebooks including the names and phone numbers of covert CIA employees and informants.

Then he was indicted by a federal grand jury on an additional count of espionage last May.

Prosecutors say two Chinese intelligence officers in Shenzhen, China offered to pay Lee for information in 2010. They promised to take care of him for life financially if he cooperated and an immediate cash gift of $100,000.

Hong Kong media have identified former CIA agent Lee as the man on the right in a blue tie

After that meeting Lee's Chinese contacts delivered more than 20 envelopes between 2010 to 2011 spelling out specific tasks for him to perform, most of which asked him to reveal sensitive information.

He allegedly continued to receive instructions from them until at least the following year.

The indictment states that Lee traveled to China in July 2012. The next month, on a trip from Hong Kong to the U.S., the indictment says he was carrying top secret information in his luggage, including the real names of CIA assets.

Court records show that Lee was under investigation for more than five years leading up to his arrest in January 2018.

Since then, the case has proceeded largely in secrecy with closed hearings and sealed court motions pertaining to classified information. A trial that had been scheduled to begin Tuesday was wiped off the docket last week, an indication that a plea deal might be in the works.

Lee was an agent for the CIA for 13 years from 1994 to 2007. He's accused of leaking information to the Chinese starting in 2010

His lawyer, Edward MacMahon, declined comment when asked to provide any details on the plea agreement.

The investigation into Lee was a part of a FBI-CIA task force investigation that concluded that the Chinese government penetrated the CIA's method of clandestine communication with its spies, according to NBC.

The Chinese then used that knowledge to arrest and execute at least 20 CIA informants, according to several U.S. government officials.

Lee's plea comes as another ex-CIA officer is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of spying for China. Kevin Mallory of Leesburg, Virginia, was convicted of providing top secret information to Chinese handlers in exchange for $25,000. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for Mallory, while defense lawyers are requesting a term of no longer than 10 years.
The ringleader of a plot to bomb New York City's subway could get off with a lighter prison sentence tomorrow after he switched sides and offered valuable intelligence on al-Qaeda.

Najibullah Zazi - once described as the man behind 'one of the most serious threats to our nation' since 9/11 - has helped prosecutors to bring down other terrorists after pleading guilty to his role in the plot.

Following his 2009 arrest he testified against co-conspirator Adis Medunjanin - who is now serving prison time at a 'Supermax' prison in Florence, Colorado.

He also helped to convict Muhanad Mahmoud al-Farekh, a U.S. citizen born in Texas who was found guilty of supporting al-Qaeda and conspiring to bomb a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Najibullah Zazi, who admitted being the ringleader of a plot to bomb New York City's subway, may receive a lighter sentence after co-operating with the government

In 2015, he gave critical evidence in the trial of Abid Naseer, a Pakistani national convicted of leading an al-Qaeda plot to bomb a shopping mall in England.

As a result he may escape without a life sentence when he is sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday.

The full extent of Zazi's cooperation has yet to be publicly disclosed but some elements have become public through his testimony in other terror prosecutions.

Another fellow conspirator in the New York plot, Zarein Ahmedzay, met with the government more than 100 times as part of his own co-operation.

In return, the same judge who will decide Zazi's punishment sentenced Ahmedzay last December to only 10 years- essentially time served.

Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University's Program on Extremism, predicted Zazi would also get 'considerably less' than a life sentence.

Prosecutors at the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office 'tend to look favorably on cooperation when it comes to terrorism cases,' he said.

And the lengthy lag between Zazi's guilty plea and sentencing, Hughes added, 'speaks to the value that prosecutors saw in terms of Zazi testifying against others.'

Born in Afghanistan, Zazi moved to Pakistan as a child and then relocated to New York City as a teenager.

At age 14 he was living in Queens, where his father drove a cab. Friends said he initially seemed to like American life. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen and took a job operating a coffee cart on Wall Street.

Fellow food vendors said Zazi changed, though, after a series of trips back to Pakistan.

Zazi (pictured after his arrest by the FBI in 2009) is due to be sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday, and may escape without a life sentence

He grew a long beard, stopped wearing western clothes in favor of tunics and began playing holy music. He also ran into financial problems, declaring bankruptcy in 2008.

Not long after that, Zazi and two childhood friends from Queens- Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin - agreed to travel to Pakistan in 2008 to try to join the Taliban.

Instead, they were recruited by al-Qaida operatives for a 'martyrdom operation' on U.S. soil.

The plot called for the three men to conduct suicide bombings on subway lines during rush hour near the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Zazi, who had moved to a Denver suburb and briefly worked as an airport shuttle driver, later said he wanted to 'bring attention to what the United States military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan by sacrificing my soul for the sake of saving other souls.'

He cooked up explosives in a Colorado hotel room, made from a recipe of beauty supplies.

Secretly, though, the FBI had gotten tipped off that Zazi was involved with militants.

He was placed under surveillance in Colorado and followed as he drove to New York, where police stopped his car as it entered the city. Officers let him go, but his rental car was later towed by the FBI.

Zazi was further spooked by a call from a Queens imam warning police were asking about him. He rushed back to Colorado.

FBI agents executed a series of raids. News outlets learned of the investigation and also began hounding Zazi, who told reporters he had no idea what was going on. He was soon arrested.

Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder said Zazi was behind 'one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation' since the September 11 attacks.

Other would-be terrorists have been able to gain their freedom by cooperating with prosecutors.

American Al-Qaeda recruit Bryant Neal Vinas, who spent years providing investigators with details on militant activities after he was arrested in 2008 in Pakistan, was sentenced to time served - about eight years - and released in 2017.
A woman who caused a social media outcry after she posted a photo of a dead brushtail possum online has been found guilty of killing the protected animal.

The photo, which was posted on Facebook on February 19 and has been since removed, showed two women with the dead possum, police told the court.

Mikala Ann Burns, 24, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to shooting the animal in the Amamoor State Forest on January 24.

The photo, which was posted on Facebook on February 19 and has been since removed, showed two women with the dead possum

She initially denied shooting the animal following a barrage of angry comments on Facebook - but eventually admitted it in the Gympie Magistrates Court, The Gympie Times reported.

She also pleaded guilty to unlawfully discharging a weapon in Amamoor State Forest, and with using a firearm without a permit, during the same course of action.

Ms Burns shot and killed the animal while she was taking part in night hunt, in which she was searching for dog food, the court was told.

Kingaroy Crime Squad detectives, who investigated the incident, said the 24-year-old told police she was using spotlights at the time to hunt for kangaroos.

The court heard Ms Burns shot the animal after she saw its eyes in the grass and thought it was a hare.

She claimed she also fired twice to ensure the animal wasn't wounded, and she didn't know 'discharging a weapon' was an offence, the court heard.

Ms Burns shot and killed the brushtail possum while she was taking part in night hunt, in which she was searching for dog food, the court was told (stock)

Ms Burns pleaded guilty to unlawfully discharging a weapon in Amamoor State Forest (pictured), and with using a firearm without a permit, during the same course of action

Ms Burns' solicitor told the court his client had 'learned a valuable lesson' following the social media backlash - especially when faced with the prospect of fines and possible jail time.

'The animal was wounded and she did the humane thing and shot it (again),' the solicitor said.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan concluded Ms Burns shot the possum, but didn't identify her target and had realised it was wounded.

'Shooting in the forest was the most serious (of the charges),' Magistrate Callaghan said. 'Someone else could have been there.'

He fined the 24-year-old $1000 - which he suggested she convert to community service - with no conviction recorded given she didn't have any prior convictions.
An Australian woman is fighting for her life in an intensive care unit after she contracted legionnaires disease while holidaying in Bali.

Perth based sales manager Lindsay Munro and her family were holidaying in Kuta last week.

But when they returned home, her sister was diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease, and is currently fighting for her life at Joondalup Health Campus in Perth, Western Australia.

Legionnaires' disease occurs when a person breathes in contaminated water or dust, and the corresponding bacterial lung infection causes symptoms like fever, chills, shortness of breath and coughing.

The disease occurs when a person breathes in contaminated water or dust, and the corresponding bacterial lung infection causes symptoms like fever, chills, shortness of breath and coughing (stock image)

The woman was diagnosed with the potentially deadly disease, and is currently fighting for her life at Joondalup Health Campus (pictured)

SYMPTOMS OF LEGIONNAIRES' DISEASE Headache

Muscle pain

Chills

Fever 40C or higher

Cough, which may come with mucus and sometimes blood

Shortness of breath

Chest pain

Nausea

Vomiting

Diarrhea

Confusion or other mental changes Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement

In the most serious cases, it can be fatal.

Ms Munro initially shared her story on the Facebook page Bali Bogans, warning other holidaymakers to exercise caution in the region.

She said the family planned to inform the health department in order to get to the bottom of where the disease originated.

She said people she has tried to speak with have blamed the illness on the air-conditioning in her sister's hotel room.

'But I feel like it is more likely this place that she stopped for OJ,' she said.

She went on to say she couldn't remember the name of the venue, but asked members of the group currently holidaying in Bali to keep an eye out for it.

'It is the place next to the teeth whitening place,' she said.

'If you are there, can you please take a photo and post it to me as the health department will want to know.'
One of the two brothers accused of a terror plot to blow up a packed Etihad flight from Sydney using a bomb hidden in a meat grinder has been found guilty.

Khaled and Mahmoud Khayat were accused of hatching a plot to bring down flight EY451 to Abu Dhabi with 400 passengers and crew members on board in July 2017.

Khaled, who claimed he was trying to prevent a terrorist attack, was found guilty by a NSW Supreme Court jury on Wednesday after more than two days of deliberations.

Khaled Khayat (pictured), who claimed he was trying to prevent a terrorist attack, was found guilty by a NSW Supreme Court jury on Wednesday after more than two days of deliberations

The 51-year-old had pleaded not guilty to conspiring - between January 20 and July 29 in 2017 - to do acts in preparation for, or planning of, a terrorist act.

But the jury determined Khaled was guilty of the charge which involved the Etihad bomb plot and another plan to carry out a lethal poisonous gas attack on people in a confined space.

The jury is still deliberating on the same charge for Khaled's 34-year-old brother Mahmoud.

Prosecutor Lincoln Crowley QC alleged the bomb was in a meat grinder to be put into the luggage of a passenger who was flying out of Sydney on the flight.

The plan to detonate the bomb was aborted when the luggage was deemed too heavy at Sydney International Airport's check-in.

The luggage was returned to Khaled Khayat's home and part of the bomb was found by police in his garage two weeks later.

The jury is still deliberating on the same charge for Khaled's 34-year-old brother Mahmoud (pictured)

In his police interview, Khaled spoke of walking into the airport with the concealed bomb.

He said when he saw children at the airport he thought 'don't do it, don't be stupid, don't do it' and removed the bomb from the baggage.

But his barrister, Richard Pontella, told the jury that contrary to what his client told police, he never took the bomb to the airport and was actually trying to prevent a terrorist attack.

The court previously heard that Khaled was motivated to promote Islamic State and support militant groups fighting against the Syrian regime, ABC reported.

Khaled will be sentenced on July 26 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
A pet owner has been left perplexed after her cat came home with a strange handwritten note attached to her collar.

The cat was wandering the streets in Newtown, in Sydney's inner west, when it came back home with the strange note.

The owner shared the note onto a Facebook group asking others if their pets had come home with a strange note.

'Keep cats safe from people and protect (the) environment. Keep inside!' the note which was written in black permanent marker read (pictured)

'Anyone else's cat ever come home with a strange message on their collar?' she asked.

'Not really sure how I feel about this.'

'Keep cats safe from people and protect (the) environment. Keep inside!' the note which was written in black permanent marker read.

'Anyone else's cat ever come home with a strange message on their collar?' she asked (stock)

Some social media users thought the note was a bit strange while others agree with the mysterious note writer that the cat should be kept indoors.

'Good advice delivered in a creative way,' one wrote.

'Cats need to be kept indoors these days as they kill too many animals and animals kill them,' another wrote, agreeing with the note writer.

'Too much danger outside with cars, random cat haters and other hazards,' someone else's comment read.
In the second case, a father was charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment after a road rage incident while his son was in the car. A DCFS report indicated that the child said that his father pulled out a gun and pointed it at the car next to them. But when a prosecutor contacted the DCFS investigator who reported the childs statement, she said it was not her report and she never spoke to the child but was covering for someone else on that day. Kenneally paraphrased the investigator in his letter, saying she said, this is what she gets for doing someone a favor.
A fraudster who doused himself in acid in the dock was accused of swindling the family of shamed footballer Adam Johnson out of 170,000 as they fought to clear his name.

Career conman Marc Marshall - who uses a number of different aliases - emptied a metal bottle full of corrosive liquid over himself at Inner London Crown court.

The 54-year-old, of Woolwich, south London, was being sentenced for cashing 135,000 in fake cheques before he had to be hosed down by firefighters as his skin burned.

Witnesses heard him scream in agony and his face 'went white' before he was taken to hospital where he is currently in a critical condition. A female custody officer who was guarding him in the dock was injured and was treated at the scene.

Career conman Marc Marshall - who uses a number of different aliases - emptied a metal bottle full of corrosive liquid over himself at Inner London Crown court

The court service is said to be 'deeply concerned' about how he was able to bring the substance into the building and it has launched an investigation.

Marshall was reported to have been carrying a metal water bottle but CCTV footage is said to have been filmed sipping from it as he went through security.

Marshall, who was jailed for two years and four months for the latest offences, has hidden behind a string of different identities to dodge the authorities in the past.

In 2016, it was reported that footballer Adam Johnson's family hired him after the footballer was jailed for six years for intimately touching a girl of 15.

The family of the former Premier League star, who has now been released, allegedly made a stream of payments to a him - he then used the name Mark Hill-Wood - who promised he could unearth vital evidence in his favour.

In another fraud Marshall got a luxury package to watch the Monaco Grand Prix, including hospitality on the Mercedes F1 yacht. Photographs later emerged of him posing with former British Formula 1 racing driver David Coulthard during the racing

But Marshall - who touted himself as a special investigator and claimed to have spent 25 years working for GCHQ and MI6 - is said to have duped Johnson's family.

He had made a professionally produced website for his firm FullProof Intelligence.

The Daily Mail revealed he persuaded them to hand over 36,000, and up to 170,000 was paid - until they severed ties when they realised he was not delivering.

Hill-Wood has racked up at least 48 convictions using different aliases.

In April 2014 using the name Phillip Buffett, he defrauded Harrods out of a 216,000 watch and was handed a suspended sentence.

He used a cheque from a closed bank account to leave the Knightsbridge store with the Hublot timepiece, a second watch, a camera and clothing worth a further 28,000.

The family of the footballer (pictured with his then girlfriend Stacey Flounders - who has now been released - allegedly made a stream of payments to Mark Hill-Wood

Marc Marshall was in the dock at Inner London Crown Court (pictured) when he poured the substance over himself

The following month the fraudster, who has also used the names Mark Cas and Mark Castley, flew to Monaco to watch the Formula One Grand Prix. He was arrested at Gatwick Airport on his return.

He was criticised in the dock by a judge because he was wearing a Ralph Lauren shirt, with the judge asking 'What's wrong with M&S?'

He admitted seven counts of fraud against businesses and individuals, totalling another 119,000, as well as breaching a ban on him acting as a company director.

The court was told he also cheated several companies and defrauded two men who applied to him for work under the umbrella of a company known as Uber Intelligence

One of the firms, a market leader in counter-explosive and IED products and training, was conned out of more than 27,000, it was reported.

Marshall was treated at the scene by a paramedic - who is said to have described his injuries as 'life-threatening' - and was taken by ambulance to St Thomas' Hospital (pictured)

In another fraud the defendant got a luxury package to watch the Monaco Grand Prix, including hospitality on the Mercedes F1 yacht.

Photographs later emerged of him posing with former British Formula 1 racing driver David Coulthard during the racing.

In March 2011 he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for conning money out of elite UK athletes with the promise of lucrative sponsorship contracts in the build up to the London Olympics in 2012.

During his appearance at Inner London Crown court this week, he was being sentenced for targeting photography companies across London.

He paid for equipment worth 77,000 with bogus cheques which he then tried to sell at Cash Converters.

He had pleaded guilty to three counts of false representation and one of concealing criminal property.

A witness told the BBC that when he was sentenced he poured the liquid over his face which 'looked like he had glue on his skin.' It is believed that he had also drunk some of the liquid.

A court administrator said: 'We had the fire brigade here to douse him off, and a few ambulances.

'Several firemen came inside and there were police as well.'

Marshall was treated at the scene by paramedics - who is said to have described his injuries as 'life-threatening' - and was taken by ambulance to St Thomas' Hospital.

The case had already been delayed because Marshall suffered serious medical problems after stabbing himself in the neck when he was arrested by police in 2016.

A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police said: 'Police were called to Court 10, Inner London Crown Court, at 12.01pm on Monday, 29 April, following reports of a serious assault.

'Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance attended and a male aged in his fifties was found to have doused himself with a noxious substance.

'He has been taken to hospital for treatment of his injuries. His condition is critical.

'A female dock officer was also injured by some of the substance. Her injuries are not believed to be serious and she did not require hospital treatment.'

A HM Courts and Tribunals Service spokesman said: 'The safety and security of all court users is our priority and we're deeply concerned about the incident.

'Police are urgently investigating what happened and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.'
A Liberal candidate has stepped aside after homophobic comments he wrote about a gay MP from his own party were made public.

Peter Killin announced he would not contest the seat of Wills in northern Melbourne, making him the second Coalition hopeful to be forced out in one day.

The Christian conservative publicly agreed with a comment on a far-right political blog calling Tim Wilson MP a 'notorious homosexual'.

Liberal candidate Peter Killin (pictured) has stepped aside after homophobic comments he wrote about a gay MP from his own party were made public

Mr Killin publicly agreed with a comment on a far-right political blog calling Tim Wilson MP a 'notorious homosexual', then bemoaned that he was not at the preselection for the seat of Goldstein in 2016 to vote against Mr Wilson, who won by just two votes

Another commenter in December called on 'the Liberal grassroots [to] remove preselection from that notorious homosexual Tim Wilson'.

'Your observations about Mr T Wilson, federal member for Goldstein are most pertinent at this point,' Mr Killin said in response.

'Many of us will recall he was the openly homosexual who proposed to his boyfriend in parliment (sic).'

Mr Killin then bemoaned that he was not at the preselection for the seat of Goldstein in 2016 to vote against Mr Wilson, who won by just two votes.

'What do you reckon, Wilson won preselection by a landslide? Maybe 100 votes? NO, he 'won' by 1 (might have been 2) votes,' he wrote.

'Google it and check. ONE LOUSY VOTE! So, if you and I were there to participate in preselection the result = no homosexual MP.'

Mr Killin in the same post said Christians should join the Liberal Party and push it to oppose 'evil laws' like 'abortion, euthanasia' and 'gender ideologies'.

'My suggestion is to change a party from within: 1. Infiltrate 2. Influence 3. Impel,' he wrote.

Mr Wilson famously proposed to his boyfriend while on the floor of parliament and is an outspoken advocate within the party

His boyfriend Ryan Bolger was in the public gallery when Mr Wilson proposed to him during debate on the same-sex marriage bill in 2017. The couple married in March 2018

In a Facebook post advocating a similar strategy, he called for 'termites' to be kicked out of the party and be replaced with 'Godly god'.

'In the medium to long term; however, we need to displace the bad people in the party with the good people - it is clear; the enemy is also within the party,' he wrote.

Mr Killin last February he made a submission to the Ruddock Religious Freedom Review expressing other anti-LGBT views.

His submission quoted a 2011 blog post by Presbyterian pastor Campbell Markham, which described homosexuality as 'distressingly dangerous' and 'having appalling health risks'.

'The dangers and health risks have been well documented in many reliable medical sources for years', he wrote.

'Markham's is a biblical perspective backed up by current medical science. It was written on a Christian church blog, it is a statement of fact.'

Mr Wilson said as he was 'raised Anglican' he would 'turn the other cheek and leave judgment to others'.

Mr Killin in the same post said Christians should join the Liberal Party and push it to oppose 'evil laws' like 'abortion, euthanasia' and 'gender ideologies'

'I've been absolutely consistent from preselection to election to seeking re-election that I'm a forward-looking, modern Liberal proudly representing a forward-looking modern liberal community and that won't change,' he told The Age.

Adam Pulford, the Greens candidate for the seat Mr Killin was running from, expressed his surprise that his former opponent secretly hated him.

'I've been standing next to Peter Killin at pre-poll today. It's strange to think he harbours so much hatred to me, just because of who I am,' he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Killin was forced to apologise for his remarks, which are still online, but initially refused to step down.

'My comments were wrong and I apologise unreservedly for making them,' he said.

Hours later he resigned about 4pm on Wednesday amid a push to have him disendorsed from the race.

Another Victorian Liberal candidate, Jeremy Hearn, was on Wednesday morning dumped by the party after anti-Muslim comments he made online.
A mother who had four miscarriages is desperately trying to raise enough money to save her only child, who has leukaemia.

Rebecca and Will Handley, from Norwood in south London, are pleading for help to fund treatment for their two-year-old daughter Esme, who was diagnosed with high risk acute myeloid leukaemia in June last year.

After six months of steady recovery, in April they were given the news the leukaemia had returned to Esme's bone marrow.

They are now trying to raise 500,000 for treatment which may not be available on the NHS, so that Esme 'can see her third birthday.'

Rebecca and Will Handley are trying to fund treatment for their two-year-old daughter Esme, who has high risk acute myeloid leukaemia

After months of treatment, in April the leukaemia returned to Esme's bone marrow

Esme, who is now two years and seven months old, was diagnosed on the first day of their holiday to Greece in June, 2018.

Her her parents took her to hospital on the first night of their trip, concerned about bruising she suffered in a fall the day before they flew out.

On his blog documenting Esme's battle, Mr Handley wrote: 'In what seems like a different life my wife Rebecca, Esme my 22-month-old daughter and I flew out to a resort in Thessaloniki, Greece for a much-needed, long-awaited weeks holiday.

'Throughout her treatment Esme has been the epitome of resilience, positivity and cheekiness, and deserves a shot at a permanent cure for life'

'The day before we flew Esme had taken a tumble and we were becoming alarmed at the disproportionate size of the bruising that followed.

'In hindsight this followed a pattern of easy bruising and on our first night, instead of relaxing over a bottle of wine, we began a Google search that ended in a cold sweat for the both of us.

'On our second day in Greece we booked a doctor-on-demand Skype call and found ourselves falling through a series of trap doors from the resort doctors to blood tests at a regional hospital and the irreversible moment in time we were taken into the office of a Paediatric Consultant and heard the word leukaemia.

'We spent our second night in tears and in a Greek hospital with Esme on a drip next to us.

'On what should have been our third day on holiday we took emergency flights back to London.

'In my hand luggage I carried a hypodermic needle, an adrenaline shot and an oxygen mask kit given to me in case Esme showed any further reaction to the platelets transfusion shed been given that morning to be fit to fly.

The toddler spent five months as an in-patient at the Royal Marsden hospital in Sutton and received a stem cell transplant in September after three rounds of intense chemotherapy.

Esme, who is now two years and seven months old, was diagnosed on the first day of their holiday to Greece in June, 2018 (pictured)

Specialists have advised the couple that Esme's best chance of survival is a second transplant stem cell transplant as soon as possible

WHAT IS ACUTE MYELOID LEUKAEMIA? Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a type of blood cancer that starts in young white blood cells in the bone marrow. AML affects around one in 200 men and one in 255 women in the UK at some point in their lives. Approximately 19,500 new cases occur every year in the US. It is most often diagnosed in older people. Symptoms can include: Fatigue

Fever

Frequent infections

Bruising or bleeding easily, including nosebleeds or heavy periods

Weight loss

Bone and joint pain

Breathlessness

Swollen abdomen

Pale skin AML's exact cause is unclear, however, risks include: Smoking

Being overweight

Radiation exposure

Previous chemotherapy

Certain blood disorders, such as myelodysplastic syndrome

Some immune conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis AML is usually treated via chemotherapy. A bone marrow or stem cell transplant may be required. Source: Cancer Research UK Advertisement

Writing on her fundraising page, her parents said in April they 'heard the news we've dreaded; the leukaemia has returned to Esme's bone marrow.'

Mrs Handley told The Sun: 'To hear the leukaemia was back, it's like your whole world has ended.

'The first time was hard enough but to get that diagnosis, after everything we've already gone through and watching her build herself back up, we're completely crushed.

'If she goes, I feel like I don't want to be here either.'

Specialists have advised the couple that Esme's best chance of survival is a second transplant stem cell transplant as soon as possible.

Her parents wrote: 'NHS policy is typically not to offer second transplants to patients who relapse within 12 months, but due to the aggressive nature of her disease, Esme simply may not have that long.'

The couple said they are 'desperate to save Esme's life' because she is their only child.

They added: 'Rebecca suffered four miscarriages (and three operations, one which nearly killed her) to bring Esme into the world.

'Throughout all her treatment Esme has been the epitome of resilience, positivity and cheekiness, and deserves a shot at a permanent cure for life.'

They have set a 500,000 target with any unsent money donated to The Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group.

To donate to Esme's fund on GoFundMe, click here.

To read her story, click here
An Indian Hindu nationalist group allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a ban on veils after Sri Lanka prohibited the garments in the wake of the ISIS Easter Sunday attacks.

Sri Lanka imposed its ban on Monday to help security forces identify people under an emergency law put in place after suicide bomb attacks in churches and hotels killed more than 250 people.

'We welcome this decision and demand Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows in Sri Lanka's footsteps and bans the burqa and niqab in India,' the Mumbai-based Shiv Sena party wrote in an editorial in the Saamana newspaper.

The Indian nationalist group Shiv Sena, loyal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demands a ban on veils like burqas (left) and niqabs (right), worn by some Muslim women, after Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday terrorist attacks

The hardline Hindu group argues that Islamic attire, like burqas and niqab, had nothing to do with Islam and Indian Muslim women who wore it were only following the tradition of the Arab world, where women wear it outside to protect themselves from the sun.

The Ministry of Home Affairs declined to comment.

Some Muslim leaders said a ban on the burqa would be an attack on civil liberties, and the demand was being made now to whip up controversy as Hindu-majority India votes in a staggered general election.

About 14 percent of India's 1.3 billion people are Muslim.

Some liberal Muslim women see the burqa and the niqab as part of a culture that suppresses women's freedom.

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who lives in India, said she supported the ban on the burqa, but not because she thought it would stop terrorism.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been urged by a nationalist group within his country to take measures and implement a ban on Muslim women's garments for security reasons. The demands come shortly after the Sri Lanka's terrorist attacks on churches and hotels and a warning from the Islamic State to carry out strikes in India and Bangladesh

'People are saying banning the burqa wont stop terrorism,' Nasreen wrote on Twitter. 'I agree, it won't stop terrorism but it will definitely stop women from being faceless zombies.'

Nasreen had to leave Bangladesh because of hostility from conservatives in response to her criticism of militant Islam.

The demand comes after an Islamic State-affiliated group, which has named Abu Muhammed al-Bengali as its new emir in Bengal, issued a threat to carry out attacks in India and Bangladesh.

'If you think you have silenced the soldiers of the Khilafa in Bengal and Hind and you are certain about that then listen we men are never to be silenced. And our thirst for revenge is never to be faded away (sic)', read the ISIS statement according to The Times of India.

This development comes a day after the Islamic State carried out a minor explosion near a cinema theatre in Dhaka, where no casualties were reported but several policeman were injured.

Indian intelligence is on high alert in Bangladesh as they suspect that this incident could be just a warning for a real attack in the area.
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Russia could secretly install nuclear missiles in Venezuela if the Maduro regime is allowed to continue, a US Republican congressman claimed - hours after the country nearly descended into civil war.

Mario Diaz-Balart made the claims after Venezuela's US-backed opposition leader, Juan Guaido, called for his rival President Nicolas Maduro to be expelled from office.

As part of his justification for U.S. military intervention in the deepening crisis, Diaz-Balart told Fox News that if Maduro was to stay in power it could be an 'open door for the Russians and for the Chinese and for others to increase their activity against our national security interest'.

The claims come as a photojournalist was reportedly shot during running battles between anti-government protesters and troops loyal to the embattled president.

A video posted on social media showed a photographer wearing a bulletproof vest and lying on the back of a truck with blood pouring from either the side of his body or an arm wound.

A tweet accompanying the clip claimed he was shot by one of the Venezuelan National Guard (GNB) in Caracas today.

A US Republican congressman has claimed that Russia could install nuclear missiles in Venezuela, hours after the country was on the brink of civil war as opposition leader Juan Guaido (pictured) called for President Nicolas Maduro to be ousted

Security forces confront anti-government protesters during clashes in the surroundings of La Carlota military base in Caracas

Security forces confront anti-government protesters during clashes in the surroundings of La Carlota military base in Caracas

An anti-government protester throwing a rock toward pro-regime security forces during violent clashes in Caracas

Protesters, one carrying a homemade mortar, take cover as security forces fire tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Caracas

An anti-government protester launches a Molotov cocktail at National Guard forces outside La Carlota airbase

The photographer was seen with blood pouring from what was reported to be a bullet wound sustained during clashes between anti-government protesters and the Venezuelan National Guard

Venezuelan VPITV journalist Gregory Jaimes (centre) was also injured. He is seen her being helped by colleagues after being injured during clashes of anti-government protesters and security forces

Jaimes was carried away by colleagues in a separate incident during violent clashes in Caracas

A photojournalist has been shot by the GNB in Caracas#Venezuela #1M pic.twitter.com/Os2vVh9OqH  CNW (@ConflictsW) May 1, 2019

The injured photographer received medial treatment and was surrounded by paramedics who loaded him into the back of a vehicle and drove from the scene.

Earlier today Diaz-Balart claimed Russian, Chinese, Iranians and Hezbollah were already in Venezuela and could used the country as a platform to attack the United States.

When asked during a Fox News interview on Wednesday whether he believed Vladimir Putin would invade the U.S., Diaz-Balart said: 'The closest we ever came to nuclear war was because the Russians put missiles, right, nuclear missiles in Cuba.'

Journalist Tucker Carlson continued his line of questioning and asked: 'Are you saying the Russians will put nuclear missiles in Venezuela?'

Mr Diaz-Balart then replied: 'What I am suggesting is that they are already there'.

While he gave no evidence to support his claims, Putin's support of Venezuelan President Maduro has been previously compared to the situation which preempted the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis - which saw nuclear-armed Soviet missiles installed in Cuba.

The claims also come hours after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Juan Guaido was not defeated in his attempt to overthrow the leftist regime of Nicolas Maduro.

Bolsonaro said a 'crack' had been opened that could bring down the Venezuelan government.

Protesters launch missiles at the Venezuelan National Guard as violence outside the La Carlota military base in Caracas raged for a second day

Anti-government protesters work together to light a firework in a homemade mortar, during clashes with security forces in Caracas

Smoke fills the air as Juan Guaido supporters clash with pro-Maduro troops from the National Guard who used tear gas on demonstrators

Anti-government protesters clash with security forces in the surroundings of La Carlota military base in Caracas during the commemoration of May Day

When asked whether he thought Russia would put nuclear missiles in Venezuela, in a similar manner to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Mario Diaz-Balart said: 'What I'm suggesting is that they already have'

TV journalist Gregory Jaimes was injured during clashes and was left covered in blood as he was carried away during from the violence

Protesters take cover during clashes with security forces who are firing tear gas from La Carlota airbase

Mario Diaz-Balart made the unsupported claims hours after Venezuela nearly descended into civil war

He said today during a meeting discussing the Venezuelan crisis at the defence ministry: 'This is by no means a defeat, I recognise the patriotic and democratic spirit of Juan Guaido in his struggle for the freedom of his country.

'We have information that there is a crack, getting closer and closer to the armed forces. There is the possibility that the government could collapse,' he added.

But General Augusto Heleno, the minister for institutional security and a close adviser to Bolsonaro, was more sceptical in an interview with Brazilian news site G1, describing Tuesday's uprising as a 'disorganised movement that looked like a fight between football fans.'

Heleno warned it was 'a road with no return.'

A defiant President Maduro said late last night that the attempted coup had failed and he promised criminal prosecutions over the 'serious crimes that have been committed.'

At least 25 Venezuelan troops have applied for asylum in Brazil's embassy in Caracas, Bolsonaro's office confirmed earlier.

Tensions in Venezuela have soared since Guaido, who heads the National Assembly, announced on January 23 that he was the acting president under the constitution as Maduro had been fraudulently re-elected last year.

Brazil and the United States are among dozens of countries that have recognised Guaido as Venezuela's president.

Guaido's call on Tuesday for troops to join him in his campaign to oust Maduro was backed by the United States, which said it is prepared to take military action to stem the crisis, if necessary.

Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, says that military action in Venezuela 'is possible' raising fears of conflict with Russia, which heavily backs Nicolas Maduro's regime and is thought to have mercenaries in the country guarding him

Anti-government protesters on a highway clash with President Maduro's security forces

A lone shirtless government opponent walking towards military vehicles in a confrontation between Guaido supporters and troops loyal to Maduro

Anti-government protesters charge at security forces armoured vehicle in Caracas

Anti-government protesters prepare for the confrontation with pro-regime forces with a helmet, gas mask and homemade mortar launcher

An anti-government protester being carried away as he suffers from the effects of tear gas launched by security forces outside La Carlota airbase

A demonstrator gets sprayed with the full force of a water cannon during clashes during May Day protests today

An anti-government protester runs from an oncoming National Guard armoured vehicle during clashes between the two side in Caracas

Demonstrators cheers in front of a burning military vehicle during clashes with Maduro's security forces

Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro take part in a demonstration in Caracas

The ongoing tension in the country prompted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to say that American military action in Venezuela is a possibility 'if that's what's required'.

Pompeo, speaking on Fox Business, said America would prefer not to intervene, but added: 'The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do.'

Any military action by America would raise the prospect of conflict with Russia, which is a staunch ally of the Maduro regime and is thought to have mercenaries in the country protecting the President.

Pompeo spoke out as Guaido urged protesters on to the streets for a second day of action, after declaring the start of a 'military uprising' on Tuesday that descended into a series of bloody clashes in the capital Caracas and elsewhere that left at least one dead and 100 injured.

Trump ally John Bolton told a radio show today that Maduro and his top military allies were hiding out at a compound called Fort Tiuna, being protected by Cuban forces.

Guaido promised the 'largest march' in Venezuela's history as he branded Maduro 'a tyrant who locks himself away in fear' in a videotaped rallying cry posted on Twitter overnight Tuesday.

Juan Guaido issued a rallying cry to his supporters via Twitter on Tuesday night in which he urged people back on to the streets for fresh May Day protests against Nicolas Maduro, following a day of violent clashes in Caracas

Guaido launched what he called the 'final phase of Operation Liberty' to force Maduro from power on Tuesday before demonstration in Caracas descended into violence (pictured, masked and armed supporters of Maduro in the capital)

Members of the Bolivarian National Guard who joined Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido fire into the air to repel forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro

Supports of Juan Guaido prepare Molotov cocktails outside La Carlota airbase to be launched at the pro-regime forces of the Bolivarian National Guard

An anti-government protester wearing a cycle helmet shooting from a homemade mortar at security forces

A Venezuelan National Guard vehicle fires a water cannon at anti-government demonstrators

Paramedics carry a woman protesting on the pro-Juan Guaido side after she was injured in a clash with police forces

Demonstrators scattering as a crowd flees the National Guard as tear gas is fired into their number

A member of the pro-Maduro security forces fires his weapon during clashes with demonstrators

Supporters of Venezuela's President Maduro at a rally in support of his government and to commemorate May Day in Caracas

The pair are locked in a battle for control of the military, which will be key to deciding Venezuela's future. While Guaido claimed he is 'the legitimate commander of the armed forces' in his video, Maduro used his his own TV address to insist that he retains control of the troops.

Asked about the violence, Pompeo said: 'It's our hope that violence levels will remain low. We saw violence today, we regret that, we're watching to see who chooses violence and who's choosing other means. We'll hold those folks accountable when the time comes.'

He also said that everything possible was being done to protect Guaido, who gave rallies to supporters on Tuesday, and promised a 'strong reaction' if he is harmed.

Pompeo was also due to speak with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday about the situation in Venezuela, according to National Security Adviser John Bolton.

It comes after the Secretary of State claimed that Maduro wanted to leave the country on a plane Tuesday, but was told to stay in place by Moscow, calling the intervention 'unwelcome'.

Bolton elaborated on those remarks, adding: 'This is our hemisphere. 'It's not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. It's not going to lead to an improvement of relations.'

Washington's acting defence chief Patrick Shanahan has cancelled a planned trip to Europe as he deals with the Venezuela crisis.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaking during a May Day rally in Caracas. Opposition supporters demonstrated for a second consecutive day in support of their country's self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaido as he bids to overthrow Maduro

Guaido and Maduro are wrestling for control of Venezuela's military, which will be key to deciding its future. A small band of troops have defected to the opposition leader (pictured) but the majority seemed to remain loyal to Maduro

Pro-Guaido supporters are seen near the La Carlota airbase in the capital Caracas, which was seized by those loyal to the opposition leader on Tuesday, and formed the focal point of clashes

A woman cries out as National Police drive away with detained anti-government protesters on a motorcycles

Venezuelan National Guards throw tear gas to Pro-Juan Guaido demonstrators as they build a barricade in the street during a demonstration at Plaza Altamira in Caracas

Government security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators and on at least one occasion opened fire with live ammunition, though there were no reports of casualties

Police officers who switched loyalty from the government to back Guaido and his supporters stand guard in front of the group of demonstrators in Caracas

Anti-government protesters collect paving stones to throw during clashes with security forces in Caracas

Dirty, smoke and projectiles can be seen flying through the air as security forces and demonstrators clash in Caracas

An anti-government protester is carried away after he was affected by tear gas launched by security forces outside La Carlota military base

In his own address to Venezuelans on Tuesday night, Guaido issued a rallying cry for his 'uprising'.

In footage posted on Twitter, he said: 'My fellow Venezuelans, good evening. This is your acting president Juan Guaido, the legitimate commander of the armed forces.

'The regime's claim that it has control of the arms forces is a farce. Maduro does not have the backing, nor the respect of the armed forces.

'Nor does it of the Venezuelan people because it (government) doesn't protect anyone, doesn't provide results, doesn't provide solutions.

He continued: 'Tomorrow, May 1, we will continue with this, we will continue out on the street, in meeting points throughout Venezuela. We will be out on the streets, we will see you out on the streets, on our territory.

'This is not a coup in Venezuela but rather a peaceful (transition), like that we saw today, against a tyrant who locks himself away in fear...

'We Venezuelans have the chance to conquer our futures, for the definitive phase of Operation Liberty, for an end to the usurpation. Tomorrow, all of Venezuela to the streets.'

At least one high-ranking official announced he was breaking with Maduro and joining Guaido on Tuesday, in the most serious setback so-far for the embattled President.

In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Mr Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an 'illegitimate government' with the support of the United States and neighbouring Colombia.

He said Venezuela had been a victim of 'aggression of all kinds'.

The competing quests to solidify a hold on power capped a dramatic day that included a tense moment when several armoured vehicles ploughed into a group of anti-government demonstrators trying to storm the capital's air base, hitting at least two protesters.

Pro-Government military forces face off with pro-Guaido supporters close to the La Carlota airbase in the capital Caracas

A pro-Guaido supporter holds a tear gas canister near La Carlota airbase where hundred of people gathered to confront Pro-Government military forces

At one point armoured cars of the National Guard (GNB), which has largely remained loyal to Maduro, drove at protesters and ran several of them over

Demonstrations against Maduro spread around the world following Guaido's rallying cry, as police clashed with crowds in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Tuesday night

Venezuelan citizens protest against President Nicolas Maduro outside the Venezuelan embassy in San Jose, California

An anti-government protester uses binoculars to look at National Guard forces outside La Carlota airbase during clashes between the two sides in Caracas

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said the Trump administration was waiting for three key officials, including Mr Maduro's defence minister and head of the supreme court, to act on what he said were private pledges to remove Mr Maduro. He did not provide details.

The stunning events began early Tuesday when Mr Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armoured crowd-control vehicles, released the three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

Venezuela crisis: Which countries are supporting the opposition? Support for Nicolas Maduro's regime comes from Russia, China, Turkey, Mexico and Iran, wheres the EU, United States, Canada, Australia and neighbours Brazil recognise Juan Guaido as leader of Venezuela Supporting 'interim' President Juan Guaido: United States

Canada

United Kingdom

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Guatemala

Honduras

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Kosovo

The EU 27

Australia Supporting incumbent President Nicolas Maduro: Russia

Belarus

Greece

China

Iran

Cuba

Mexico

Turkey

Syria

Bolivia

Uruguay Advertisement

In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Mr Guaido's political mentor and the nation's most prominent opposition activist, stood alongside him.

Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Mr Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Mr Guaido.

'I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers,' Mr Lopez declared.

As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from an overpass, troops loyal to Mr Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Mr Guaido at a plaza a few blocks from the disturbances.

A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

Amid the mayhem, several armoured utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd.

Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.

'It's now or never,' said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers.

The head of a medical centre near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets.

At least one person had been shot with live ammunition. Venezuelan human rights group Provea said a 24-year-old man was shot and killed during an anti-government protest in the city of La Victoria.

Later on Tuesday, Mr Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence in Caracas, where another political ally has been holed up for over a year. They later moved to the Spanish embassy. There were also reports that 25 troops who had been with Mr Guaido fled to Brazil's diplomatic mission.

Amid the confusion, Mr Maduro tried to project an image of strength, saying he had spoken to several regional military commanders who reaffirmed their loyalty.

'Nerves of steel!' he said in a message posted on Twitter.

Flanked by top military commanders, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned Mr Guaido's move as a 'terrorist' act and 'coup attempt' that was bound to fail like past uprisings.

'Those who try to take Miraflores with violence will be met with violence,' he said on national television, referring to the presidential palace where hundreds of government supporters, some of them brandishing firearms, had gathered in response to a call to defend Mr Maduro.

President Nicolas Maduro, left, flanked by three of Venezuela's most senior military figures, give a TV address asserting his control over the country and denouncing what he called a coup by 'fascists and the extreme right'

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's supporters gather holding banners and flags during a demonstration in Caracas

Maduro and his supporters (pictured) argue that Guaido's 'uprising' is actually a right-wing coup by American 'imperialists' to destroy the socialist regime

Thousands of pro-Maduro activists march through the streets of Caracas on Tuesday, where clashes broke out with Guaido's supporters with fear of more violence on Wednesday

enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's supporters gather holding banners and flags in the capital Caracas

But in a possible sign that Mr Maduro's inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuela's secret police penned a letter breaking ranks with the embattled leader.

Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of Venezuela's feared SEBIN intelligence agency, wrote a letter to the Venezuelan people saying that while he has always been loyal to Mr Maduro it is now time to 'rebuild the country'.

He lamented that corruption has become so rampant that 'many high-ranking public servants practice it like a sport'.

'The hour has arrived for us to look for other ways of doing politics,' he wrote. 'To build the homeland our children and grandchildren deserve.'

The letter circulating on social media was confirmed by a senior US official. He said the general's wife is currently outside the country.

Mr Guaido said he called for the uprising to restore Venezuela's constitutional order, broken when Mr Maduro was sworn in earlier this year for a second term following elections boycotted by the opposition and considered illegitimate by dozens of countries.

'The armed forces have taken the right decision,' said Mr Guaido. 'With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history.'
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's location has been narrowed down to just four locations after the terrorist group released a propaganda video featuring him for the first time in five years.

Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said the purported appearance by the jihadist group's elusive supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi showed him in what appeared to be a 'very simple and isolated' location.

Mahdi did not confirm which country al-Baghdadi was in, but Iraqi security adviser Hisham al-Hashemi said officials had narrowed his whereabouts from 17 to a possible four locations.

Speaking in Berlin during a visit, Mahdi added that the world's most wanted man did not seem to be among his followers, as in the video announcing the birth of the 'caliphate' in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's location has been narrowed down to just four locations after the terrorist group released a propaganda video featuring him (pictured)

The group lost its remaining territory in the Syrian town of Baghouz in March, but Mahdi warned the so-called Islamic State 'has not completely disappeared but suffered painful blows'.

He cautioned that IS 'will try to rebuild trust among its fighters, will try to launch further operations' like the Sri Lanka April 21 attacks which killed more than 250 people.

'Daesh was broken, but if little cells are left, it could reactivate and resurface and commit painful attacks,' he added, according to interpreted remarks.

Similarly, German chancellor Angela Merkel said the video was a sign that 'we will remain occupied for some time to come with the question of how IS can finally be defeated'.

Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi cautioned that IS 'will try to rebuild trust among its fighters, will try to launch further operations' like the Sri Lanka April 21 attacks which killed more than 250 people

The speaker in the 18-minute video, a man with a long grey beard that appeared dyed with henna, sat in a room with a Kalashnikov assault rifle leaning against the wall behind him.

He was identified as Baghdadi by both SITE, which tracks IS activity, and Hisham al-Hashemi, an Iraqi expert for the group.

Meanwhile, a French IT expert said Baghdadi took a risk in broadcasting the video, but added that IS probably has specialists able to cover any tracks.

'Daesh has a specialist cyber brigade, they're being tracked by security services. They know how to use multiple filters before distributing something,' said Gregoire Pouget of cybersecurity NGO Nothing2Hide.

'They are not idiots, these masking tools are easy to use.'
Attorney General William Barr has released a five-page written statement as he prepares to answer Senators' questions on the Mueller report today.

In the statement Barr said he had to make a 'prosecutorial judgment' on whether Donald Trump had committed obstruction of justice after the special counsel left the question open.

He also insisted he had 'made every effort to ensure that the redactions were as limited as possible' after some parts of the report were hidden from public view.

Barr will have to defend his actions in front of Democrats who accuse him of spinning the report in the President's favor.

Witness: Attorney General William Barr (pictured at the press conference when he released Robert Mueller's report) is due to testify before Senators today

Here is his full statement.

Good morning, Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Feinstein, and Members of the Committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to appear today to discuss the conclusion of the investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III, and the confidential report he submitted to me, which I recently released to the public after applying necessary redactions.

When I appeared before this Committee just a few months ago for my confirmation hearing, Senators asked for two commitments concerning the Special Counsel's investigation: first, that I would allow the Special Counsel to finish his investigation without interference; and second, that I would release his report to Congress and to the American public. I believe that the record speaks for itself. The Special Counsel completed his investigation as he saw fit. As I informed Congress on March 22, 2019, at no point did I, or anyone at the Department of Justice, overrule the Special Counsel on any proposed action. In addition, immediately upon receiving his confidential report to me, we began working with the Special Counsel to prepare it for public release and, on April 18, 2019, I released a public version subject only to limited redactions that were necessary to comply with the law and to protect important governmental interests.

1. Preparation for Public Release

As I explained in my letter of April 18, 2019, the redactions in the public report fall into four categories: (1) grand-jury information, the disclosure of which is prohibited by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e); (2) investigative techniques, which reflect material identified by the intelligence and law enforcement communities as potentially compromising sensitive sources, methods, or techniques, as well as information that could harm ongoing intelligence or law enforcement activities; (3) information that, if released, could harm ongoing law enforcement matters, including charged cases where court rules and orders bar public disclosure by the parties of case information; and (4) information that would unduly infringe upon the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties, which includes deliberation about decisions not to recommend prosecution of such parties. I have also made available to a bipartisan group of leaders in Congress, including Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein, a minimally redacted version that includes everything other than the grand-jury material, which by law cannot be disclosed.

We made every effort to ensure that the redactions were as limited as possible. According to one analysis, just eight percent of the public report was redacted. And my understanding is that less than two percent has been withheld in the minimally redacted version made available to Congressional leaders. While the Deputy Attorney General and I selected the categories of redactions, the redactions themselves were made by Department of Justice attorneys working closely with attorneys from the Special Counsel's Office. These lawyers consulted with the prosecutors handling ongoing matters and with members of the intelligence community who reviewed selected portions of the report to advise on redactions. The Deputy Attorney General and I did not overrule any of the redaction decisions, nor did we request that any additional material be redacted.

Attorney General Barr declared that he had allowed special counsel Robert Mueller (pictured with his wife Ann in Washington) to conduct his investigation 'without interference'

We also permitted the Office of the White House Counsel and the President's personal counsel to review the redacted report prior to its release, but neither played any role in the redaction process. Review by the Office of White House Counsel allowed them to advise the President on executive privilege, consistent with long-standing Executive Branch practice. As I have explained, the President made the determination not to withhold any information based on executive privilege. Review by the President's personal counsel was a matter of fairness in light of my decision to make public what would otherwise have been a confidential report, and it was consistent with the practice followed for years under the now-expired Ethics in Government Act.

2. Bottom-Line Conclusions

After the Special Counsel submitted the confidential report on March 22, I determined that it was in the public interest for the Department to announce the investigation's bottom-line conclusionsthat is, the determination whether a provable crime has been committed or not. I did so in my March 24 letter. I did not believe that it was in the public interest to release additional portions of the report in piecemeal fashion, leading to public debate over incomplete information.

My main focus was the prompt release of a public version of the report so that Congress and the American people could read it for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

The Department's principal responsibility in conducting this investigation was to determine whether the conduct reviewed constituted a crime that the Department could prove beyond a reasonable doubt. As Attorney General, I serve as the chief law-enforcement officer of the United States, and it is my responsibility to ensure that the Department carries out its law enforcement functions appropriately. The Special Counsel's investigation was no exception. The Special Counsel was, after all, a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice charged with making prosecution or declination decisions.

The role of the federal prosecutor and the purpose of a criminal investigation are well defined. Federal prosecutors work with grand juries to collect evidence to determine whether a crime has been committed. Once a prosecutor has exhausted his investigation into the facts of a case, he or she faces a binary choice: either to commence or to decline prosecution. To commence prosecution, the prosecutor must apply the principles of federal prosecution and conclude both that the conduct at issue constitutes a federal offense and that the admissible evidence would probably be sufficient to obtain and sustain a guilty verdict by an unbiased trier of fact. These principles govern the conduct of all prosecutions by the Department and are codified in the Justice Manual.

The appointment of a Special Counsel and the investigation of the conduct of the President of the United States do not change these rules. To the contrary, they make it all the more important for the Department to follow them. The appointment of a Special Counsel calls for particular care since it poses the risk of what Attorney General Robert Jackson called 'the most dangerous power of the prosecutor: that he will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.' By definition, a Special Counsel is charged with investigating particular potential crimes, not all potential crimes wherever they may be found. Including a democratically elected politician as a subject in a criminal investigation likewise calls for special care. As Attorney General Jackson admonished his United States Attorneys, politically sensitive cases demand that federal prosecutors be 'dispassionate and courageous' in order to 'protect the spirit as well as the letter of our civil liberties.'

The core civil liberty that underpins our American criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence. Every person enjoys this presumption long before the commencement of any investigation or official proceeding. A federal prosecutor's task is to decide whether the admissible evidence is sufficient to overcome that presumption and establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If so, he seeks an indictment; if not, he does not. The Special Counsel's report demonstrates that there are many subsidiary considerations informing that prosecutorial judgmentincluding whether particular legal theories would extend to the facts of the case and whether the evidence is sufficient to prove one or another element of a crime. But at the end of the day, the federal prosecutor must decide yes or no. That is what I sought to address in my March 24 letter.

3. Russian Interference

The Special Counsel inherited an ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, and whether any individuals affiliated with President Trump's campaign colluded in those efforts. In Volume I of the report, the Special Counsel found that several provable crimes were committed by Russian nationals related to two distinct schemes.

First, the report details efforts by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian company with close ties to the Russian government, to sow social discord among American voters through disinformation and social media operations. Second, the report details efforts by Russian military officials associated with the GRU to hack into computers and steal documents and emails from individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton for the purpose of eventually publicizing those emails. Following a thorough investigation, the Special Counsel brought charges against several Russian nationals and entities in connection with each scheme.

Barr insisted he had he had to make a 'prosecutorial judgment' on whether Donald Trump (pictured) had committed obstruction of justice

The Special Counsel also looked at whether any member or affiliate of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump participated in these crimes. With respect to the disinformation scheme, the Special Counsel found no evidence that any Americansincluding anyone associated with the Trump campaignconspired or coordinated with the Russian government or the IRA.

Likewise, with respect to hacking, the Special Counsel found no evidence that anyone associated with the Trump campaign, nor any other American, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its hacking operations. Moreover, the Special Counsel did not find that any Americans committed a crime in connection with the dissemination of the hacked materials in part because a defendant could not be charged for dissemination without proof of his involvement in the underlying hacking conspiracy.

Finally, the Special Counsel investigated a number of 'links' or 'contacts' between Trump Campaign officials and individuals connected with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign. The Special Counsel did not find any conspiracy with the Russian government to violate U.S. law involving Russia-linked persons and any persons associated with the Trump campaign.

Thus, as to the original question of conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, the Special Counsel did not find that any crimes were committed by the campaign or its affiliates.

4. Obstruction of Justice

In Volume II of the report, the Special Counsel considered whether certain actions of the President could amount to obstruction of justice. The Special Counsel decided not to reach a conclusion, however, about whether the President committed an obstruction offense. Instead, the report recounts ten episodes and discusses potential legal theories for connecting the President's actions to the elements of an obstruction offense. After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report, and in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other Department lawyers, the Deputy Attorney General and I concluded that, under the principles of federal prosecution, the evidence developed by the Special Counsel would not be sufficient to charge the President with an obstruction-of-justice offense.

The Deputy Attorney General and I knew that we had to make this assessment because, as I previously explained, the prosecutorial judgment whether a crime has been established is an integral part of the Department's criminal process. The Special Counsel regulations provide for the report to remain confidential. Given the extraordinary public interest in this investigation, however, I determined that it was necessary to make as much of it public as I could and committed the Department to being as transparent as possible. But it would not have been appropriate for me simply to release Volume II of the report without making a prosecutorial judgment.

The Deputy Attorney General and I therefore conducted a careful review of the report, looking at the facts found and the legal theories set forth by the Special Counsel. Although we disagreed with some of the Special Counsel's legal theories and felt that some of the episodes examined did not amount to obstruction as a matter of law, we accepted the Special Counsel's legal framework for purposes of our analysis and evaluated the evidence as presented by the Special Counsel in reaching our conclusion. We concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.

***

The responsibility of the Department of Justice, when it comes to law enforcement, is to determine whether crimes have been committed and to prosecute those crimes under the principles of federal prosecution. With the completion of the Special Counsel's investigation and the resulting prosecutorial decisions, the Department's work on this matter is at its end aside from completing the cases that have been referred to other offices. From here on, the exercise of responding and reacting to the report is a matter for the American people and the political process.

As I am sure you agree, it is vitally important for the Department of Justice to stand apart from the political process and not to become an adjunct of it.
Florin Radu, 33, pictured, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after he forced a 23-year-old woman to operate as a prostitute against her will in Greater Manchester in 2013

A Romanian criminal who fled the UK and went on the run for almost five years after he cut off his electronic tag and slipped out of Britain was returned to prison today.

Pimp Florin Radu, 33, had been facing trial for human trafficking and assault in 2014 after he beat and forced a 23-year old woman to work as a sex slave in the UK having falsely promised her she would get work as a waitress.

The woman managed to escape Radu in November 2013 and was able to flag down a passing police car in Oldham.

Radu was arrested the following March as he was about to board a flight back to Romania. He was granted bail on condition he wore an electronic tag.

In December 2014 Radu cut off the tag and was able to leave Britain, evading UK Border Force officials and returned to Romania.

In 2015 a jury in Manchester convicted Radu in his absence of trafficking for sexual exploitation, controlling a prostitute for gain and two counts of common assault.

However despite public appeals for information he remained at large until earlier this month when he was detained in Romania on a European arrest warrant and extradited back to Britain.

The father of four later claimed he had fled home to Romania because he had no job in the UK and needed to work to feed and clothe his children. He also said he was concerned his family were about to evicted from their property. He even obtained a character reference saying: 'Florin Radu is somebody who helps you whenever you are in need.'

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Radu who was also convicted of failing to surrender to custody was jailed for seven and a half years.

The woman's ordeal began in August 2013 after she arrived in the UK with friends believing she was about to start work in a restaurant.

But after she was introduced to Radu at a rendezvous point in Dudley, near Birmingham, the victim was moved around houses and hotels in the Midlands and North West of England - including the Fallowfield, Oldham and Wigan areas of Greater Manchester.

The woman was forced into prostitution against her will and ordered to hand over her earnings to Radu.

The court heard the victim was forced to have sex with up to eight men a day.

Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, pictured, heard Radu ordered his victim to hand over all the cash she earned from being forced to work as a prostitute having sex with up to eight men a day. If she refused, Radu would physically assault the woman

Prosecutor Nigel Booth said: 'If she refused to perform sex acts as the defendant ordered her she was subjected to violence - but when she was paid he took her money. He bought food for her sometimes showing her a receipt to show how much had been spent on food for her.

'The defendant accompanied her everywhere and said he didn't want her to go out of his sight. She would be given 100 and he threatened to kill her if she asked for more. The overall period was about four months during that time she was assaulted by him, he hit her and bit her, he kicked her and hit her at the house and later at hotels where he took her.

'There was one occasion where she banged her head against a wardrobe having been struck by him. She was moved to various hotels across the country in Wigan and Wolverhampton in the Midlands. The purpose of that was so she would have sex with men earning money that Radu would take off her, she was subjected to violence in order to compel her to prostitution.

'She was moved to an address in Fallowfield, she lived in a front room downstairs, was provided little food and a mobile phone which was used by customers to book appointments. Customers would attend the address and sexual acts took place there, Radu took the money they paid, if she refused to take part he subjected her to threats and to violence.

'It may not be the case that she was imprisoned - the fear she felt left her in no real position to leave the address alone.'

The woman was rescued in November 2013 after she escaped from a house in Oldham and flagged down a passing police patrol car. Radu was arrested 300 miles away the following March at Luton Airport waiting to board a flight to Romania. He told police he did meet the victim when she arrived and later met her at his sister's address in Dudley near Birmingham.

But he said he only spoke briefly with her and had met her again in 'coincidental meetings' they would have in hotels, he claimed to have no knowledge or involvement in her working as a prostitute or being trafficked around the UK for sex.

In mitigation defence lawyer James Gray: 'Mr Radu maintains his innocence. The violence is of relatively low level and the period over which Mr Radu controlled the complainant is limited to a relatively short period, while it is a long period to be controlled, in the scheme of these kind of cases four months is a relatively short period.

'He was in custody from March until September 2014 and it wasn't as if he took the first opportunity to escape. He remained on tag until December 2014 and the reason that compelled him to cut his tag and return to Romania was that he could not work in this country.

'He had children that he needed to keep and feed and there was a problem in his home country with his family house that for various reasons they were about to be evicted from. He now has four children and one on the way he is the sole earner for that household.'

But sentencing Judge Julie Warburton told Radu: 'This young woman had no knowledge of this country and didn't speak the language and had no support network. She believed she had come here to work as a waitress and no doubt believing you were assisting her but with no knowledge of what was really to follow. Rather than helping her you preyed upon her youth and vulnerability and trafficked her into prostitution.

'She was unable to speak to or communicate with her family and was terrified that you would kill her. She was forced to have sex with men and required to work all day while you waited outside, seeing one man per hour.

'At one stage you left her alone and she took the opportunity to flee with another female and they slept rough for a couple of days before landing in Oldham unfortunately again at a brothel. This went on for a period of four months during which you treated her like a piece of your property.

'I bear in mind that you are the father to a young family and that they will be deprived of you for some time but these are very serious offences.'

At the time Radu was missing, Det Con Simon Hurdley of Greater Manchester Police Sexual Crime Unit said: 'He is a predator who preyed on a vulnerable woman who believed that she was coming to the UK for a better life before he got hold of her and made her life a misery, putting her through one horrific ordeal after another.'
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Students at Kate and Wills' old university braved the chilly temperatures for a dawn skinny dip in the sea this morning as May Day celebrations kicked off around the country.

The University of St Andrews holds its May Dip on the East Sands every year, with students plunging into the North Sea on the East Sands at 5.30am - traditionally to guarantee luck in their exams.

Attendees at this year's event grimaced as they took to the cold water, but thankfully pleasant conditions and a stunning sunrise made for a more pleasant experience than in some previous years.

It comes as thousands of Britons take part in May Day celebrations, including University of Oxford students who flooded the streets for the annual 500-year-old tradition of listening to the Magdalen College choir.

And in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the White Rose Morris Men took to Castle Hill for their annual 'Dance of the Dawn' to welcome the new month.

May Day is traditionally celebrated as the beginning of spring and has been marked for thousands of years in Britain and other countries in the northern hemisphere.

Students at the University of St Andrews pose for the camera after taking part in the traditional May Dip this morning to see in the new month - one of many May Day celebrations taking place across the country

The students took the plunge on the East Sands as the sun rose shortly before 5.30am. The dry and pleasant weather made the experience slightly less bracing than it could have been

The White Rose Morris Men during their 'Dance in the Dawn' to mark May Day, or Beltane as it was once known, at first light on Castle Hill in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

In Oxford, students packed the streets for the annual tradition of listening to madrigals sung from the tower of Magdalen College. Some looked to be struggling with the early hour (left) while one man dressed up in May green (right)

The rising sun created a stunning scene at this morning's May Dip in St Andrew's. Jumping into the freezing North Sea at dawn on the first of May is traditionally said to promote good luck in exams

St Andrews advises those who do not fancy taking part in the dip can help by looking after their friends' clothes on the beach. These students (left and right) looked to be enjoying themselves

It was a quick turnaround for these St Andrews students, who sprinted back to dry land after taking part in the May Dip this morning

Students laugh and chat as they take part in the annual May Dip this morning, with some grimacing at the bracing conditions

Students from St Andrews University stand on the beach at East Sands in St Andrews after jumping into the North Sea

Students make a splash in the chilly North Sea at dawn this morning as they take part in the traditional May Day Dip

Students lark around in the North Sea during this morning's May Dip, which hundreds of people attend every year

The May Day Dip is just one of the many traditions that take place at the 600-year-old university in Fife, Scotland

May Dip participants celebrate in triumph after braving the cold North Sea for the St Andrews May Dip - which is said to promote good luck in exams

Oxford University students pose for the camera as they prepare for the annual tradition of listening to madrigals sung from the tower of Magdalen College in Oxford

Huge crowds of students, locals and tourists packed the street outside Magdalen College for the traditional May Day event this morning

Morris dancers perform outside Magdalen College. Madrigals are a form of unaccompanied singing performed by several people

Students get a snap of the choir at the top of the Magdalen College tower. The tradition is 500 years old and celebrates the arrival of spring

The stunning sight of the Thieving Magpie Morris Side (Morris Dancers) during their 'Dance in the Dawn' to mark May Day on Castle Hill in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

The White Rose Morris Men originally formed in the autumn of 1953, although the roots of the tradition of Morris Dancing date back to pre-Christian times

Morris dancing - seen here on Castle Hill - was first recorded in England in the 16th century and there are now participants worldwide

The White Rose Morris Men dance as the sun rises on Castle Hill in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire on the first day of May this morning

The dancers made the most of the beautiful sunrise as they performed on Castle Hill above the Yorkshire city
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen has demanded William Barr's resignation after claiming the Attorney General lied to Congress.

The Maryland politician accused Barr of 'misleading the public' after it emerged Robert Mueller had voiced concerns over the Attorney General's handling of his report.

Barr had stated on April 20 that he 'did not know' whether Mueller agreed with his four-page summary of the report.

But it now appears he had discussed Mueller's concerns with the special counsel before then.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen (pictured) has demanded William Barr's resignation after claiming the Attorney General lied to Congress

Calling Barr the 'chief propagandist for President Trump', Van Hollen said he should 'resign immediately'.

Van Hollen said: 'On April 20, I asked Barr, "Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?" His answer was, "I don't know whether Mueller supported my conclusion."

'We now know Mueller stated his concerns on March 27, and that Barr totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign.'

The Senator went on: 'Anyone who believed the Attorney General was acting as the public's lawyer just had a big wakeup call.

'Attorney General Barr can no longer be trusted by the American people.'

Barr is under increasing pressure from Democrats who accuse him of spinning the Mueller report in Donald Trump's favor.

Barr (pictured) had stated on April 20 that he 'did not know' whether Mueller agreed with his four-page summary of the report

In his March 24 letter he effectively cleared Trump of collusion and announced that the President would not face charges for obstruction of justice.

The letter allowed the White House to claim an emphatic victory after the two-year investigation.

But it has now emerged that Mueller expressed frustration just days after the letter about how his findings were being portrayed.

According to reports, Mueller voiced concerns that the 'context, nature and substance' of his work were being misrepresented.

The Justice Department said Barr and Mueller had spoken on the phone to discuss what Mueller had said.

Democratic congressman Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has demanded that Mueller's letter to Barr be released.

Barr insisted he had he had to make a 'prosecutorial judgment' on whether Donald Trump (pictured) had committed obstruction of justice

Barr has said Mueller answered 'no' when he asked him whether he would have recommended indicting Trump but for a Justice Department opinion that says a sitting President cannot be prosecuted.

Mueller's report, however, makes clear that his thought process was shaped in part by that legal opinion.

He believed it would be unfair to publicly accuse the president of a crime if he could not be prosecuted and have a trial to defend himself.

Barr is likely to face questions about his contacts with Mueller when he appears before Congress this week.

He is due before the Senate Judiciary Committee today and has issued five pages of written testimony in advance.

In it he says he had to make a 'prosecutorial judgment' on whether Trump had committed obstruction of justice after the special counsel left the question open.

Attorney General Barr declared that he had allowed special counsel Robert Mueller (pictured with his wife Ann in Washington) to conduct his investigation 'without interference'

He also insisted he had 'made every effort to ensure that the redactions were as limited as possible' after some parts of the report were hidden from public view.

House Democrats are also hoping to question Barr on Thursday but the Attorney General has signalled he may not appear.

The Justice Department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question Barr.

Mueller's report included an account of how the President attempted to seize control of the investigation.

The report said that in June 2017, Mr Trump directed White House counsel Don McGahn to demand that Mueller be fired.

Mueller evaluated 10 episodes for possible obstruction of justice, including Mr Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey.

The president's lawyers have said Trump's conduct fell within his constitutional powers.
I was looking at him and I noticed he was so calm, he was smiling and having fun and I just thought thats a tool that could be a solution to some of the violence, she said. We may not be able to get rid of all of it, but some of it.
An American couple with Down syndrome have been finally parted by death after 25 years of marriage.

Paul Scharoun-DeForge passed away last month at the age of 56 after a long battle with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, leaving his wife Kris, 59, widowed.

Relatives believe their marriage was the longest between two people with the condition.

Paul Scharoun-DeForge, who passed away last month, and his wife Kris at their wedding in 1993

The couple from the town of Liverpool in New York state, were both born with Down syndrome, but their families ignored doctors' advice to place them in institutions.

It was love at first sight met at a dance for disabled people in the 1980s.

After years of dating, Kris proposed to Paul in 1988.

'He made me laugh,' she told the Washington Post. 'I looked into his eyes and saw my future, and that's when I proposed to him.  He said yes.'

Happy times: Kris and Paul Scharoun-DeForge having dinner at Kris' elder sister Susan Scharoun's home

But it took five years for them to win the right to wed from New York state officials.

They were forced to take tests of their sexual knowledge, feelings and needs to prove they were able to consent to marriage.

After their marriage the couple took each other's names, with the bride's unconventionally coming first.

'The combination of the two names was just perfect,' Susan said. 'Our family was just so delighted to have Paul join us, and his family was delighted to have Kris join them.'

Paul and Kris renewed their wedding vows in August 2018 after she was hospitalised with pneumonia

Last August they renewed their wedding vows after Kris was hospitalised with pneumonia.

The eulogy read by a relative at his funeral in Liverpool on April 6 expressed how lucky Paul believed he was.

'To an outsider, it may not seem that way  but to those of us who knew and loved him, it's absolutely true,' it said.

'They are role models for everybody who wants a good relationship,' Kris's elder sister Susan Scharoun told the Washington Post. 'They were a team: They deferred to each other and looked out for each other.'

Paul and Kris were delighted to be godparents to their niece, and both held jobs while living in a sheltered apartment

Susan, a psychology professor at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, recalled that at Kris's hen party a friend asked her what she loved about Paul.

Kris replied that she really loved that he had Down syndrome. 'For us, that was a complete acceptance of self,' said Susan.

The couple lived together in an apartment in a state-supported sheltered housing project for people with disabilities.

Both had jobs, Paul at the Arc of Onondaga, an organisation for people with disabilities, and Kris at Pizza Hut before moving to the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.

The often celebrated their wedding anniversary with holidays in the Adirondack Mountains.

Paul began showing the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease last year, and eventually had to go into care, which left Kris distraught.

But they were still able to share Sunday dinners at Susan's home.

'Little by little, you do get used to having them less there,' Susan said.

'He was still a part of the family, but you could tell he didn't really recognize people.'

But Paul had no trouble remembering his sweetheart.

'When he would see Kris, he would just look at her, and you knew there was that recognition,' Susan told the Washington Post.
IKEA has issued a warning to customers who bought a 140 baby changing table after reports infants had fallen from the folding top.

The Swedish furniture giant are urging customers who bought the changing table from the SUNDVIK range to ensure they 'use the safety locking fitting provided at all times'.

The changing table and chest has a piece that can be flipped over and converted into a changing table.

Injuries involved the piece that flips coming loose and children falling because the locks weren't installed, according to IKEA.

IKEA has issued a warning to customers who bought the changing table from the SUNDVIK range (pictured). They are urging customers who bought the table ensure they 'use the safety locking fitting provided at all times'

A spokesman said: 'Customers must not use the product for infant changing if these fittings are not in place correctly or are missing.'

He said that 'to make sure such accidents are not repeated', IKEA is offering to provide additional safety locking kits free of charge to customers in the UK free of charge, even without proof of purchase or a receipt.

The company's Children's Business Area Manager Emelie Knoester said: 'Safe products are always an IKEA priority and we are truly sorry to hear about the incidents but grateful that, to our knowledge, the children are fine.

'IKEA has now taken precautionary actions and will further improve the product communication.'

The changing table and chest has a piece that can be flipped over and converted into a changing table. Injuries involved the piece that flips coming loose and children falling because the locks weren't installed, according to IKEA who will provide free lock kits to customers

This comes after three infants were crushed to death by a changing table from the Swedish company in the last five years.

In 2014, the company issue a warning about its free-standing drawer from the MALM range after it toppled over two-year-old Curren Collas from Pennsylvania in the US and crushed him.

This tragic incident was followed a few months later when a 23-month-old Camden Ellis died in a similar incident involving the same table in Washington, US.

IKEA had to urgently reiterate the warnings after 22-month-old Ted McGee was killed when a six-drawer unit fell on top of him in February 2016 in Minnesota.

In 2016 the Swedish giant agreed to pay a US$50 million lawsuit following the three deaths.

Customers in the UK who purchased the SUNDVIK changing table can get their free safety locking kit by calling 0203 645 0010.
Chris Evans, pictured last November, claimed the royal baby may have already been born

Chris Evans sensationally claimed live on air today that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have already had their baby.

The 53-year-old Virgin Radio breakfast show presenter claimed 'I think I know something' as he suggested that 'there might be a new royal baby already'.

Evans said the Queen had been to see Prince Harry and Meghan, following reports that she joined them at home in Frogmore Cottage at Windsor Castle in Berkshire over the Easter weekend.

Meghan told well-wishers her due date was the end of April or early May, but royal fans are still waiting for news, with no sign of the youngster so far.

But Evans told his listeners on the show this morning: 'We sit here still finding ourselves. Some say minus a new royal baby or do we ladies and gentleman?'

His news presenter Rachel Horne asked him: 'What do you know?' And Evans then replied: 'I'm not sure what I know, but I think I know something.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a visit to Westminster Abbey on March 11 this year

She asked him: 'What do you think you know?' He then said: 'I'll tell you after today's absolute classic'  before she interrupted him to ask: 'A little hint?'

Evans continued: 'Well, there's more than a hint, what more of a hint do you want, other than the fact that I think there might be a new royal baby already?

What did Chris Evans say about the baby? Chris Evans: 'We sit here still finding ourselves. Some say minus a new royal baby or do we ladies and gentleman?' Rachel Horne: 'What do you know?' Evans: 'I'm not sure what I know, but I think I know something.' Horne: 'What do you think you know?' Evans: 'I'll tell you after today's absolute classic' Horne: 'A little hint?' Evans: 'Well, there's more than a hint, what more of a hint do you want, other than the fact that I think there might be a new royal baby already? I'm just saying, I'm just putting it out there, right? The Queen has been to see Meghan and Harry' Horne: 'Did she drive past your house?' Evans: ' at their place, right? Now, she doesn't do that. That's all I'm saying.' Horne: 'When, when, was it last night, was it this morning, middle of the night? I need details?' Evans: 'Why?' Horne: 'Because I need to know these things.' Evans: 'The Queen has been to see them. Now, that doesn't happen.' Advertisement

'I'm just saying, I'm just putting it out there, right? The Queen has been to see Meghan and Harry'  before Horne asked: 'Did she drive past your house?'

Evans continued: ' at their place, right? Now, she doesn't do that. That's all I'm saying.'

Horne then asked: 'When, when, was it last night, was it this morning, middle of the night? I need details?' Evans replied: 'Why?'

And Horne said: 'Because I need to know these things.' Evans continued: 'The Queen has been to see them. Now, that doesn't happen.'

Meghan and Harry have said they will only announce news of the birth once they have had time to celebrate together as a new family.

They are looking set to have a May-born baby. The first day of the month of May is known as May Day, which stems from pagan festivals celebrating spring and fertility.

May Day is synonymous with the maypole - the spring ritual of dancing around a pole garnished with flowers and ribbons.

The earliest May Day celebrations appeared with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers.

The day is also associated with Morris dancing, the crowning of a May Queen and the arrival of a Jack-in-the-Green or a Green Man as an embodiment of spring.

The ancient Celtic feast of Beltane is traditionally held on May 1 to mark the halfway point between spring and summer.

(From left) The Duke of Sussex, Zara Tindall, Mike Tindall, the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke of Cambridge greet the Queen at an Easter Sunday service in Windsor last month

Evans, pictured outside the Virgin Radio studios in London with his wife Natasha in January

In Oliver Cromwell's time in the 17th century, maypole dancing was described as a 'heathenish vanity' and the puritans banned it by law.

Could Baby Sussex be called 'Allegra'? The Duke and Duchess of Sussex could name their firstborn 'Allegra' if they have a girl, bookmakers have claimed. According to Ladbrokes, Allegra is now the sixth most likely name in the royal baby betting after a flood of bets over the last 24 hours saw it slash odds from 100/1 down to just 12/1. The name was said to be a favourite of Princess Diana - whose own name is still the favourite among punters - with reports in 2004 claiming she had wanted to have a girl with the moniker. The names Diana and Grace continue to head the betting at 6/1 apiece ahead of Arthur and Elizabeth 8/1. Advertisement

When Charles II was restored to the throne, people across the country put up maypoles in celebration and as a sign of loyalty to the crown.

May 1 is also International Workers' Day - a public holiday in many countries - which is often marked by rallies and protests, sometimes leading to riots.

A May 1 arrival would see baby Sussex share a birthday with Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur, actress Joanna Lumley, Lady Sarah Chatto - Princess Margaret's daughter - and actor Matt Di Angelo.

If the royal baby arrives on May 2, he or she will be born on Princess Charlotte of Cambridge's fourth birthday.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to have visited Frogmore Cottage following the Easter Sunday church service at St George's Chapel in Windsor.

The Duke of Sussex attended the service alongside other senior royals but the heavily pregnant Meghan stayed at home.
A chicken factory night shift worker from East Timor who hasn't seen his wife and two children for five years now plans to take them on a luxury holiday to Bali after winning 58,000 from a 2.70 bet on the lottery.

Elisio Ximenes has given up his job at the Two Sisters Food plant in Scunthorpe, which he used to send money to his family, and now plans to return home and set up his own restaurant business.

The 33-year-old selected five numbers in Betfred's 49's lotto based on his identity number at work - which all went on to appear in the draw.

Elisio Ximenes has given up his job at the Two Sisters Food plant in Scuthorpe, which he used to send money to his family, and now plans to return home and set up his own restaurant business

'I moved from East Timor five years ago and have not seen my wife Jovita and my boys who are 13 and seven, since then,' he told The Grimsby Telegraph.

'When I rang her to tell her everything had changed for just 2.70 she, like me, just can't believe it - and said that God must be looking down kindly on our family.

'She is a good cook making traditional food and now we can set up in the restaurant business in my country; but first all the family will be going on a holiday to Bali which is a beautiful place I have always wanted to visit.'

Mr Ximenes is a devout Catholic who goes to Mass every week and sends much of his 1,200-a-month pay packet home to his wife and two children.

He had a drinks party at his home in Scunthorpe to celebrate the win and now plans to fly back to East Timor as soon as possible next month.

Mr Ximenes selected the numbers 26, 27, 46, 47 and 49 and put 1 on all five numbers being drawn and another 1.70 on only four of them appearing.

The first bet won him 50,000 and the second an additional 8,000.

The 33-year-old selected five numbers in Betfred's 49's lotto based on his identity number at work - which all went on to appear in the draw
Britain's most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson has sent part of his iconic moustache to his former Coronation Street actress wife - to celebrate their separation.

Notorious Bronson and Paula Williamson are splitting after he asked her to visit him in HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes dressed in a catsuit to impress fellow prisoners.

Ms Williamson was said to feel 'humiliated' at the order and refused.

Britain's most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson, pictured, sent part of his moustache to his former partner actress Paula Williamson to celebrate their divorce

Paula Williamson, pictured, split from the armed robber after he asked her to wear a catsuit when visiting him in jail - an outfit she considered demeaning

Ms Williamson and Bronson split after spending five years as a couple

Bronson, 66, has celebrated the split with a party in prison and has now sent her part of his iconic moustache as a separation present.

A source close to the couple said: 'Charlie had a great divorce party. He saved up orders from the prison canteen so he had sweets and milkshakes.

'It went well. But he realised he needed to do something to please Paula. She obviously couldn't come to the party.

'He thought sending her a bit of his moustache was a great idea. It's iconic. When you think of Charles Bronson you think of the moustache.

'He has sent it as something for her to remember him by. It's a decent chunk, not just a few bits.

'Some people would consider it a strange thing to do. But this is Charlie.'

Bronson, is now known as Charles Salvador after changing his name in tribute to the famous artist, Salvador Dali.

He is said to have sent the piece of his moustache to show off his 'eccentric' side.

The source added: 'All artists are characters and eccentric. Charlie is no different.

'The moustache idea is part of his personality. It sums him up very well.'

Bronson reportedly also sent part of his tash to actor Tom Hardy when he played Bronson in the biographical crime thriller of the same name in 2008.

Bronson, 66, has moved from HMP Frankland in Durham - which held murderers such as the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and child killer Ian Huntley - to HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.

The source said he feels he is living a more 'peaceful and content' life at the new jail.

He added: 'The moustache will grow back.

'He knows it's over with Paula. He thinks she'll keep the bit of his tash.

'I'm not sure how she'll react. It's not the usual sort of item you receive in the post.'

Last year the couple fell out when a man buried his head in Ms Williamson's chest on a wild night out in Tenerife.

But the marriage was back on and the pair were exchanging flirty letters and calls.

But now after the catsuit demand the marriage is over.

The couple wed in November 2017 and have been together for around five years.

Bronson, who has changed his name to Charles Salvador, is serving a life term for robbery and kidnap.
US Navy soldiers were reportedly told to clap 'like they were at a strip club' before the arrival of Mike Pence yesterday.

The Vice President was making a visit to the USS Harry S. Truman on Tuesday to reassure sailors that the veteran warship was not going to be retired ahead of schedule.

But according to CNN, just hours before his arrival at the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, crewmembers were informed by the ship's senior enlisted sailor that they would be expected to 'clap like we're at a strip club'.

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Sailors behind Mike Pence clap as the Vice President ends his speech onboard the Truman yesterday

Pence reassured sailors on the nuclear vessel that their ship was not going to be pulled from service

Lt. Cmdr. Laura Stegherr, a spokesperson for the ship told CNN that the comments had been made and called them 'inappropraite'.

'We can confirm that this statement was made by USS Harry S. Truman's Command Master Chief to Truman's Sailors, prior to the arrival of the Vice President,' Lt. Cmdr. Laura Stegherr said.

'This statement was inappropriate, and this issue is being addressed by Truman's leadership,' she said.

Despite the controversial orders, pictures from the event showed some sailors clapping more enthusiastically than others during his speech.

Pence greets a group of soldiers at the naval base on Thursday after he delivered his speech

A group of servicemen and women salute Pence as he takes to the podium in Norfolk, Virginia yesterday

Pence addressed hundreds of sailors on the deck of the famous vessel and told them the Trump administration would be fighting to save the Truman.

'As we continue to fight Congress to make sure the military has the resources you need to accomplish your mission, President Donald Trump asked me to deliver a message to each and every one of you on the deck of the USS Truman,' Pence said.

'We are keeping the best carrier in the world in the fight. We are not retiring the Truman.

'The USS Harry S. Truman is going to be giving them hell for many more years to come.'
Two 17-year-olds convicted of multiple rapes were secretly flogged and executed in Iran.

Cousins Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat were executed in Adelabad prison in Shiraz on April 25, having spent the past two years in jail.

Human rights group Amnesty International claimed the pair, who were arrested when they were both 15, had 'unfair trials'.

They reportedly were beaten in a police detention centre and had no access to their lawyer during the investigation.

The organisation also claimed that Sohrabifar, Sedaghat, their lawyers and their families were not told they were to be executed.

Cousins Mehdi Sohrabifar (left) and Amin Sedaghat (right), both 17, were secretly flogged and executed in Iran after being convicted of multiple rapes. Amnesty International have claimed the pair had 'unfair trials'

Their families were granted a visit a day before they died, but were not told why.

Amnesty International slammed the Iranian government for using the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime, which is strictly prohibited under human rights laws.

Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International, said: 'The Iranian authorities have once again proved that they are sickeningly prepared to put children to death, in flagrant disregard of international law.

'It seems they cruelly kept these two boys in the dark about their death sentences for two years, flogged them in the final moments of their lives and then carried out their executions in secret.'

He added: 'We have identified a trend in which Iran's authorities are carrying out executions of juvenile offenders in secret and without giving advance notice to the families, seemingly in a deliberate attempt to avoid global outrage.

'This makes it all the more important for influential international actors such as the EU to increase their diplomatic and public interventions to pressure Iran to end the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders.'

The Iranian government has executed at least 97 people who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes between 1990 and 2018, according to an Amnesty International report.
Christopher Holding, 30, pictured, has been handed a community order after assaulting his former partner Jamie Anne Moutarde at their south London flat

A love rat once jailed for stealing from nine ex-girlfriends has landed on his feet despite being found guilty of assaulting a former partner.

Christopher Holding, 30, attacked ex-lover Jamie Anne Moutarde at their flat in Sydenham, south London, last September and even threw a laptop at her.

Bexley Magistrates' Court heard Holding had also assaulted her at a wedding in Chelmsford the week before the laptop incident.

But the court was told Holding, originally from Preston, has since moved in with a businesswoman in Kensington, who has given him an admin job at a design firm.

Holding, who has a ten-month-old daughter with Ms Moutarde, was jailed for 45 months in 2012 after wooing nine successful women and stealing a combined 8,000 from them by posing as a musician or journalist.

He was convicted in his absence at trial after failing to attend court but did appear for his sentencing yesterday.

Prosecutor Denise Clewes told Bexley Magistrates Court: 'Ms Moutarde called the police to say she had been assaulted by Holding, who had climbed back in through a window and was leaving when police arrived.

'She said they had an argument and he picked up her laptop and threw it at her. She moved so it wouldn't hit her in the face and it struck her shoulder.

'She wouldn't let him back in so he climbed through the window and when police stopped him leaving they found a small bag of cannabis in his jeans pocket.

'[A week before] Ms Moutarde told the police they were at a hotel in Essex and Holding pushed her onto the bed and put one hand on her throat and while holding her arms above her head with his other hand and gently head butted her several times.

'She also pointed out his room in the flat and police found a wrap that contained cocaine.'

When questioned at Lewisham Police Station, Holding said things had been 'very hard' after the birth of their daughter and he had lost his job as a chef.

After returning home from the local Jobcentre the coupled rowed about money and Holding claimed he 'pushed her laptop a little harder than he should have done'.

Ms Moutarde, pictured, has a young daughter with Holding but the court granted an indefinite restraining order against him

He admitted the device fell to the floor but claimed he didn't know he hurt his girlfriend's shoulder.

Holding said he returned via the window to collect cannabis and a grinder, but insisted the cocaine wasn't his.

Ms Clewes added: 'Holding said they were at a wedding the week before and both of them had taken drugs and been drinking when they began arguing about her feelings towards another man.

'He said they were screaming in each other's faces so it was possible his head touched hers, but he was not sure.'

Afterwards Ms Moutarde told police: 'The incident made me incredibly stressed and frustrated. The relationship was deteriorating and wearing me down.

'It is sad that it has come to this and that my child will not have her father in her life.

'I am paranoid about what he might do and my family is under pressure from him contacting them and I am embarrassed to tell my family and friends what happened.'

Holding was also found guilty of causing 115 worth of criminal damage to her laptop, which he threw at her and possessing cocaine and cannabis on the same occasion.

But he told the court he had recently moved in with a female friend, who also gave him a 400 a week admin job at the Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour around the corner from his new home in West Brompton.

He said: 'I have moved in with a friend who has her own business. A chef is what I've always been, my father was a chef, but I want to get out of that environment. It is negative to my life.'

Holding, pictured, was previously jailed for 45 months in 2012 for wooing a string of women and stealing more than 8,000 from them

Holding received an eighteen-month community order, which includes up to 40 sessions of drug addiction treatment and was ordered to pay 200 compensation to his ex, plus 600 costs.

He was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order, prohibiting him using threatening, violent or intimidating behaviour towards Ms Moutarde.

In 2012 his trial for theft heard he posed as an American musician on the cusp of a deal or a high-flying New York Times journalist.

In reality he was a barely literate chef from Preston who used his takings to fuel a hedonistic lifestyle of drink and drugs.

Holding's youngest victim was a 19-year-old North West London schoolgirl and his eldest a Harley Street cosmetic surgery nurse aged 41.

His lies finally unravelled after four years when a detective investigating a theft in May spotted a similar case from a fortnight earlier.

DNA from a pair of socks he left behind after a one-night stand led to his identity and he was caught on a train at Waterloo Station.

The two crimes which led to his capture took place in May 2012 in Camden Lock, North London. The conman met Sara McCluskey, 27, outside a restaurant after they flirted by text message.

Watching her tap in her PIN as she bought drinks, he later took the card and withdrew 240.

Later that month, Holding seduced Ana Calvo. After she let him stay in her home when she went to work, he stole a laptop, camera, phone, and cash.

An earlier victim, Victoria Barrett, 34, was chatted up in a Soho bar in June 2009. Holding moved into her flat in West London, and when she went on holiday, he stole seven gold rings worth 1,500.

She refused to believe it was him until the following March when she returned home and found a 1,000 bracelet and Armani watch were missing.

Holding then vanished. In June 2010, Holding posed as a journalist from California about to relocate to London when he met Anoeshka Smit, 25, while waiting for a flight at Stansted Airport.

He moved in with her in Lewisham, South East London, but weeks later, she realised her grandmother's wedding ring had gone.

She kicked him out but he went on to steal 260 from her bank account
Two people accused of impersonating detectives in a bid to break their 'partner' out of jail have been arrested.

Francine Olson, 22, and Brandon Reyes, 24, allegedly told staff at the sheriff's office in DeSoto County, Florida, that they were 'new detectives'.

Police said the pair were attempting to free their 'partner' George Chanza, 40, from prison.

Francine Olson, 22, and Brandon Reyes, 24, allegedly told staff at the sheriff's office in DeSoto County, Florida, that they were 'new detectives'

The duo talked to staff through the jail entrance intercom and also tried to fool officers into letting them into their vehicles, according to the authorities.

But the ruse was said to have failed and deputies arrested Olson and Reyes on Monday night.

'The two have since been reunited with their partner,' a statement on Facebook from DeSoto County Sheriff's Office said.

Chanza was arrested on April 26 for an outstanding warrant.

Olson and Reyes were charged with false personation of a law enforcement officer.
A male passenger has been arrested in east China for opening a plane's emergency door to get off the crowded flight quicker.

The first-time flier said he thought he could exit via the plane's 'side door' upon arriving at the gate at Zhoushan Airport in Zhejiang province on April 21.

The impatient 65-year-old man, surnamed Song, opened the emergency exit after seeing a long queue of passengers waiting to disembark the cabin.

The first-time flier said he thought he could exit via the plane's 'side door' upon arriving at the gate at Zhoushan Airport in Zhejiang province on April 21

The impatient 65-year-old man, surnamed Song, opened the emergency exit after seeing a long queue of passengers waiting to disembark the cabin. He was given a 10-day detention

The man was travelling with his family on Shandong Airline's flight SC8823, which departed from Jinan, Shandong province at about 7am and arrived in Zhoushan, Zhejiang for a stop-over at 8:30am, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.

As crew members were directing passengers off the plane, Song, who was seated at the back of the plane, saw the emergency exit and thought he could get off quicker that way.

He grabbed the handle and opened the door but 'saw that there were no stairs attached,' according to the report. The exit was clearly marked for emergency use only.

As crew members were directing passengers off the plane, Song, who was seated at the back of the plane, saw the emergency exit and thought he could get off quicker that way

Crew members immediately alerted the police and Song (pictured) was arrested shortly after

Song closed the exit right away and therefore the inflatable slide was not deployed, the report said.

Crew members immediately alerted the police and Song was arrested shortly after, according to The Paper.

According to police, Song said it was his first time flying and didn't understood the proper regulations.

He also said he 'deeply regretted' his actions and did not deliberately open the emergency exit. He was given a 10-day detention.

Song said he 'deeply regretted' his actions and did not deliberately open the emergency door

The man was travelling on Shandong Airline's flight SC8823, which departed from Jinan, Shandong province at about 7am and arrived in Zhoushan, Zhejiang at 8:30am (file photo)

Fortunately the flight departing to Quanzhou was not delayed due to the incident, according to the report.

Last April, a male passenger in south-west China was detained for 15 days after he opened the emergency door and deployed an evacuation slide to 'get some fresh air'.

The man, surnamed Chen, claimed the cabin was 'too hot and stuffy' while waiting to get off the Lucky Air flight in Mianyang Nanjiao Airport.

Mianyang City's civil aviation administration said his actions caused major delays as well as manpower and equipment expenses costing more than 100,000 yuan (11,362).
I know they have very specific ideas about what should be in and what shouldnt, and were going to figure out the ways we can meet in the middle, Lightfoot said. But theres a statement of values around accountability that were going to press for. And I feel confident that were going to see changes in those contracts so that were consistent with the reforms that are already in place and that are anticipated by the (federal) consent decree.
As Juan Guaido launched his latest bid to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, world leaders lined up to back their man in the fight.

On the side of Guaido is the US along with most western governments, while Maduro is heavily backed by Russia and its allies, including Cuba, Bolivia and Syria.

At stake for Moscow is proxy control of the world's largest oil reserves, billions of dollars in investments and loans it has given to the Maduro government, and a key foothold in America's back yard from which to project power in the region.

Meanwhile America is hoping to topple the regime and help to install a westernised democracy which would be friendlier toward Washington and bring the country into its sphere of influence.

Nicolas Maduro is facing a challenge to his rule of Venezuela from Juan Guaido, but is being backed by Russia's Vladimir Putin and his allies

Since 2009, Russia and its state-owned oil giant Rosneft have invested almost $9billion in its Venezuelan counterpart PDVSA.

Meanwhile Moscow has also handed the country some $17billion in loans, underwritten by the oil reserves on which Maduro sits - which are the largest anywhere in the world.

Should control of the country swap to Guaido, who is backed by the US, then it is likely that Russia will never see another cent of this money repaid.

Meanwhile Venezuela is also a major buyer of Russian weapons, having purchased $11billion worth of tanks, missile defence systems, fighter jets and other small arms between 2005 and 2013.

The repayments on these weapons will almost certainly be lost if Guaido takes power, while any future weapons orders will likely be taken over by America.

Venezula's military bases, airfields and ports also make it an ideal staging-post for Russian forces in the region.

Key to Russia's backing is Venezuela's huge oil reserves, and billions of dollars in loans and investments that Moscow has pumped into state oil firm PDVSA (refinery, pictured)

Venezuela also acts as a convenient staging post from which to project Russian military power in the region, with long-range Tu-160 bombers stationed there last year (file image)

In December 2018, Russia landed supersonic bombers in the country in a show of power against American military intervention.

Mercenaries in the employ of Russia's Wagner Group, which is believed to be at least part state-controlled, are also thought to be stationed there.

Venezuela is also a major importer of Russia grain, and has ties to the country's banking industry.

But perhaps more than resources and revenue, Russia is looking to maintain a strategic and ideological foothold in America's back yard, from which it can project its influence across the region.

As Mikael Wigell, a researcher from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told RFE/RL: 'Establishing close relations with Venezuela gives Moscow a certain nuisance power in relation to the United States, and that can be used as a bargaining chip in future dealings with the United States.

'It also can be kind of a showcase for Russia's aspirations to be considered a global power.'

Juan Guaido is being backed by the US and its allies, in the hopes that he will install a westernised democracy that will bring the country into America's sphere of influence

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said America stands with 'the Venezuelan people' while urging the military not to fight protesters

The tussle for power was set to continue on Wednesday as Guaido published a video on Twitter, urging 'all of Venezuela' to take to the streets in protests against Maduro.

He promised the biggest protests in the country's history, while rubbishing Maduro's claim to have control of the military as 'a farce'.

It came after Maduro broadcast an hour-long programme on state TV denouncing what he called a 'coup' while calling for 'maximum loyalty' from his troops.

There were fears of more bloodshed after a day of violence in the capital Caracas which saw live round and tear gas fired, and protesters run over by armoured cars.

At least one person, a 24-year-old, was killed in the central state of Aragua as protests spread, while more than 100 were injured around the country.
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Stunning photographs have captured the mesmerizing beauty of 'long-necked' tribal women adorned in swathes of brass rings.

Kayan women, who live on the border between Myanmar and Thailand, are given the weighty rings when they turn five. They will wear the impressive jewellery throughout their lives.

Although the women appear to have stretched necks, in reality it is their shoulders that have been altered by the accessories.

As the weight of the coils press down, the clavicle is lowered, and with each additional neck ring it falls further, compressing the rib cage as well. The shoulders finally fall away to give the appearance of an elongated neck.

The exact origin of the tradition is not known, but some have speculated they are to protect the women from tiger bites - either symbolically, or literally. Others believe the rings were used to make the women less attractive, and therefore less likely to be kidnapped by rival tribes.

These stunning photographs show the mesmerizing beauty of the 'long-necked' Kayan women who live on the border between Myanmar and Thailand. The exact origin of the tradition is not known, but some have speculated they are to protect the women from tiger bites - either symbolically, or literally

They are first given the rings, which they will wear throughout their lives, at age five. The process is done in three phases during their childhood and teenage years

Although the women appear to have stretched necks, in reality it is their shoulders that have been altered by the accessories

Lebanese photographer Omar Reda, 34, took the striking shots while exploring different tribal societies in South East Asia.

He said: 'Although the height of the neck rings is a little disconcerting at first, the Kayan tribe was one of the most hospitable people - very lovely and welcoming.

'There are many stories told about the origin of why people started wearing these rings. Some believe that it started off as a protective measure against tigers who would attack their prey by biting their neck.

'However, over the years this shield transformed into a sign of beauty and fashion.

'The rings can weigh around 10 kilograms and the ladies informed me that this process is done through three phases in life, during their childhood and teenage years specifically.

'However, the extra weight on the neck is not painful - although the added weight can hurt your knees as you get older - and the rings can be removed without their necks collapsing.

The extra weight from the rings - which can be up to 22lbs - is not painful. They can be removed without the neck collapsing

As the weight of the coils press down, the clavicle is lowered, and with each additional neck ring it falls further, compressing the rib cage as well. The shoulders finally fall away to give the appearance of an elongated neck

Lebanese photographer Omar Reda, 34, took the striking shots while exploring different tribal societies in South East Asia

'They are so proud of their rings. They see it as a beauty accessory and part of their culture identity. It's a fascinating topic which deserves more research.'

Whatever the purpose of the rings, Reda believes his photos tell an important tale about human evolution.

He added: 'I like to reflect emotions through my photos and show the beauty of our diversity. I always compare tribal visits to time travel.

'It is like you ordered the time machine to go back 2,000 years. It shows you how the first human beings survived, and you see the age-old traditions live on. No photo or documentary will ever compare to actually meeting these people and seeing how they live.

'Diversity is a beautiful thing. We should preserve it before the whole world embrace the Western identity, and we become all the same.'

He said: 'They are so proud of their rings. They see it as a beauty accessory and part of their culture identity. It's a fascinating topic which deserves more research'
A nine-year-old boy was left screaming for help from on top of an air conditioning unit eight floors up after he crawled outside to escape a blaze in Russia.

The youngster, who has only been identified as Denis, was heard screaming 'mama, mama help me' - but his mother, Natalia, had left him home alone after school.

One resident of the apartment block in Samara city said 'his screams broke my heart'.

Choking on the smoke, Denis was forced to climb outside an open window after failing to open the flat's outer door.

Terrifying video footage shows the boy crouching on top of the air conditioner and desperately clinging on to the window frame. The boy's training as a climber may have helped him as he battled against falling.

A nine-year-old boy, who has only been identified as Denis, was forced to balance on top of an air conditioning unit outside his eighth-floor flat in Samara, Russia, after a fire broke out

The terrified boy was heard screaming 'mama, mama help me' - but his parents had left him home alone

Anastasia, who saw the blaze, said: 'The boy was home alone. The fire was very strong, flames were coming outside from the balcony.

'The kid had nothing else to do but climb out of the window and crouch on the air conditioner. We feared that the air conditioner would break off and fall.'

Firefighters first attempted to raise a ladder up to the boy, but it got stuck in trees next to the block.

Eventually, rescuers made their way into the flat and pulled Denis to safety.

Firefighter Evgeny Gulyaikin said: 'My partner and I rushed to the bedroom where the boy was outside the window.

'He saw us, I grabbed him tightly. I was so afraid to drop him - the height was eight floors.

It is believed the boy's parents had left him home alone after going to work. Pictured: Denis, his mother Natalia, his younger brother, and father Oleg

Terrifying video footage shows the boy crouching on top of the air conditioner and desperately clinging on to the window frame as firefighters battle to reach him

Firefighter Evgeny Gulyaikin said: 'I was so afraid to drop him - the height was eight floors'

'I brought him in through the window. I immediately took him out of the apartment block and handed him to medics. The boy, of course, was in shock.

'And for us it was very worrying.'

After being alerted to the fire, the boy's father had rushed home and let rescuers into the flat.

Anastasia added: 'His parents arrived at the same time as the firefighters. Thank God, the child is okay, just very scared.'

Denis was hospitalised after suffering serious smoke poisoning in the blaze, and his mother rushed to his bedside. It is believed the boy's parents were at work when the fire started.

In total, 31 residents were evacuated from the burning block. Some 67 firefighters were involved in extinguishing the fire.
Campaigners trying to block Heathrow expansion have lost a High Court challenge against controversial plans for a third runway.

Judges gave their ruling on Wednesday following separate judicial reviews of the Government's decision to approve the plans, brought by a group of councils, residents, environmental charities and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

During a two-week hearing in March, they argued the plans would effectively create a 'new airport' at Heathrow with the 'capacity of Gatwick'.

They also claimed it would have 'severe' consequences for Londoners including health problems and damage to the climate.

But their cases were dismissed by two leading judges on Wednesday.

The campaigners had argued that the expansion was unlawful because it did not take into account the Paris Agreement - which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But the judges held the Paris Agreement was not part of UK law and thus did not apply.

Friends of the Earth have already confirmed it will appeal the decision, with many believing the

Campaigners have lost a High Court battle to block controversial plans to build a third runway at London Heathrow. Pictured is an artist's impression of what the site would look like

Dozens of protesters lined up outside the High Court in London today claiming the extra runway would cause health problems, climate issues and travel chaos to the region

Lord Justice Hickinbottom, sitting with Mr Justice Holgate, said in the ruling: 'We understand that these claims involve underlying issues upon which the parties - and indeed many members of the public - hold strong and sincere views.

'There was a tendency for the substance of the parties' positions to take more of a centre stage than perhaps it should have done, in a hearing that was only concerned with the legality, and not the merits, of the Airports National Policy Statement.'

The claimants will have to pay some of the government's costs and have a week to lodge appeals against the ruling.

The case was brought against Transport Secretary Chris Grayling by local authorities and residents in London affected by the expansion, and charities including Greenpeace, Friends Of The Earth and Plan B.

The campaigners claimed the Government's National Policy Statement (NPS) setting out its support for the project failed to properly deal with the impact on air quality, climate change, noise and congestion.

Support from Labour MPs helped push through the proposals to expand Europe's busiest airport with an overwhelming majority of 296 in a Commons vote in June last year.

Mr Grayling said at the time that the new runway would set a 'clear path to our future as a global nation in the post-Brexit world'.

Construction could begin in 2021, with the third runway operational by 2026.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, centre, was among those opposing the plans today outside the High Court in London

Friends of the Earth chief executive Craig Bennett said: 'Expanding Heathrow is wrong on every level and we can't let it go.

'I could not sleep at night if Friends of the Earth did not challenge this decision. We are going to appeal because we believe the court got it wrong.

'We are in an ecological and climate emergency and Parliament have supported an outdated decision to chase climate-wrecking development.

'How can we take any government remotely seriously when they claim to care about climate chaos while supporting this runway?

'We are going to continue this fight because it's about more than a runway, it is actually about a future fit for our children.'

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK said: 'Chris Grayling has won a court case over whether the third runway is legally permissible, but he's lost the argument over whether it's morally justifiable.

'This verdict will not reduce the impact on local communities from increased noise and air pollution, nor will it resolve Heathrow Ltd's financial difficulties or the economic weakness in their expansion plans.

'But our main concern is allowing Heathrow, the UK's biggest carbon emitter, to expand in the middle of a climate emergency.

'For as long as climate change remains an afterthought in government decisions they are kicking our children in the teeth.

'Our children's future, not the aviation industry's expansion, should be our nation's number one priority.

'Until it is, our commitment to opposing this disastrous scheme through every avenue available will continue.'

Speaking after the ruling, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the decision let the Government 'off the hook'.

Heathrow is the busiest airport in Europe with 78 million passengers in 2017 and a new runway would allow for hundreds of thousands more flights per year

The crowd of protesters carried placards and banners, pictured, pleading with the court to reject the plans

Mr McDonnell said: 'What I find extraordinary in the judgment is that, on the issues with regard to climate change, the Government gets off the hook simply because it has not adopted the Paris Agreement into UK law.

'So, even though our belief is that it (Heathrow expansion) completely undermines the ability to abide by the climate change targets of the Paris Agreement, because the Paris Agreement is not in UK law as yet the Government gets off the hook.'

Will Rundle, head of legal for Friends of the Earth, said: 'On a day when Parliament is being asked to declare a climate emergency and just before the independent committee on climate change is expected to advise the government to tighten its belt on climate-wrecking emissions, this decision feels completely out of step with the real world around us.

'Heathrow Airport is already the single biggest climate polluter in the UK. Expansion will only exacerbate the problem.

'Parliament's decision to green-light Heathrow was morally wrong, but today we believe the courts have got it legally wrong too.

'We are examining the judgment in detail and will consider all options including the possibility of appealing.

What are the alternatives to the expansion of Heathrow Airport? Here are some of the alternatives to expanding Heathrow Airport which have been put forward: Don't do anything: Some say Britain should stop fuelling endless airport growth. But critics warn that not increasing UK airport capacity will harm trade. Boris Island: One of the more eye-catching suggestions, Boris Johnson has suggested a floating airport built in the Thames Estuary should be built. This would mitigate issues of noise, air pollution and space would all be mitigated. It would also provide the chance to close Heathrow entirely - solving the problem of noisy flight paths that have plagued West London and allowing new development of the area. Expansion of Gatwick or Stansted: Fewer people live near Gatwick and Stansted airports meaning that airport development will be far less controversial. Combine Gatwick and Stansted into a super hub airport High speed rail links could join the two airports - providing a super hub that would eliminate the need for Heathrow to be London's main hub airport. Increase capacity at local airports: Regional airports elsewhere in the UK have more spare to build on. These could be expanded eliminating the need for a large hub airport. Advertisement

'The climate case against the third runway is growing stronger every day and Heathrow bosses face many more major hurdles before they can bring in the bulldozers.

'This fight will go on, the issue is just too big to drop.'

Rowan Smith, solicitor at Leigh Day, said: 'Our client Friends of the Earth is of course bitterly disappointed with the result, particularly after all the hard work involved in its tireless campaign against the damaging climate change impacts of a third runway.

'We will reflect on the judgment and advise our client on the prospects of any appeal.

'Despite the court's decision in favour of the Government we expect that this will be overtaken by tomorrow's planned publication of advice from the climate change committee on the need to revise the UK's current climate change targets in line with the Paris Agreement.

'We hope that the committee's advice will positively move forward the arguments that Friends of the Earth have advanced throughout these legal proceedings.'

Liberal Democrats leader Vince Cable said: 'It is a pity that the judicial review process has ended in this way, but the fundamental environmental and economic issues remain.

'Expanding Heathrow is the wrong decision for the country and for south-west London, where air pollution, air traffic noise, and congestion are already a blight.

'With climate change looming large in the public mind, I still believe that the expansion will be revisited before a single brick is laid.'

But Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling welcomed the judgement and said: 'The expansion of Heathrow is vital and will provide a massive economic boost to businesses and communities across the length and breadth of Britain, all at no cost to the taxpayer and within our environmental obligations.

'It [the judgement] makes clear we followed a robust and legally sound process throughout.

'I now call on all public bodies not to waste any more taxpayers' money or seek to further delay this vital project which will benefit every corner of the United Kingdom.'

Paul McGuinness, chairman of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said: 'This is not a win but not a loss.

'The judges were constrained by the legislation, stating that all these contentious matters need to be considered at the planning stage.

'But the fact remains that Heathrow expansion is a bad policy, economically, as well as environmentally.

'It should not go ahead and won't go ahead. It will be challenged until defeated.'

Lawyers for some of the claimants previously argued at a hearing in March that the plans would effectively create a 'new airport' with the capacity of Gatwick and have 'severe' consequences for Londoners.

This graphic shows where the proposed runway would be built in relation to the M25 and M4

Proposals also suggest building a tunnel underneath the runway to prevent disruption of traffic to the M25, pictured in an artist's impression

Previously Outlining the case on behalf of five London boroughs, Greenpeace and Mr Khan, Nigel Pleming QC said the plans could see the number of passengers using the airport rise to an estimated 132 million, an increase of 60 per cent.

The case was brought against Transport Secretary Chris Grayling by local authorities and residents in London affected by the expansion and charities including Greenpeace, Friends Of The Earth and Plan B.

The campaigners claim the Government's National Policy Statement (NPS) setting out its support for the project fails to properly deal with the impact on air quality, climate change, noise and congestion.

Had they been successful, the Government would have had to draw up and new plans and send them back through Parliament for approval.

Friends Of The Earth and Plan B argued Mr Grayling failed to take enough account of the impact on air quality when reaching the decision to approve the third runway.

Lawyers representing Mr Grayling said the claimants' case was 'unarguable' and 'premature', as they will all have the opportunity to make representations at a later stage in the planning process.

Support from Labour MPs helped push through the proposals to expand Europe's busiest airport with an overwhelming majority of 296 in a Commons vote in June last year.

Demonstrators gatehered outside the court this morning ahead of the ruling by Lord Justice Hickinbottom and Mr Justice Holgate.

Speaking ahead of the judgment, Paul McGuinness, chairman of the No 3rd Runway Coalition, said: 'Expansion of Heathrow airport would be a major policy error for the UK.

'The consolidation of this aviation behemoth in the already well-endowed south east would further entrench the regional imbalance of the economy.

'It would be an environmental disaster.'

A Department for Transport spokeswoman previously said: 'Expansion at Heathrow is a critical programme which will provide a boost to the economy, increase our international links and create tens of thousands of new jobs.

'As with any major infrastructure project, we have been anticipating legal challenges and will robustly defend our position.'

A Heathrow spokeswoman previously said: 'Our work in delivering Britain's new runway will continue in tandem with this process following overwhelming support in Parliament.

'We remain focused on the work needed for our development consent order submission in 2020 and we are getting on with the delivery of this project which will benefit the whole of the UK.'

Heathrow is the busiest airport in Europe with 78 million passengers in 2017.

A third runway would allow hundreds of thousands more flights a year.
Donald Trump Jr has torn into Instagram for deleting a photo of him posing with a US Army veteran.

The President's son hit out at the social media site after Army veteran Omar Avila claimed it had taken down a picture of him posing with Trump at a National Rifle Association event.

Avila, an Army veteran who lost his right leg and suffered third and fourth-degree burns across 75 percent of his body, posted that he 'honestly didn't know' why the picture had been taken down.

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Donald Trump Jr reposted a picture of him with Army veteran Omar Avila which was reportedly taken down from the soldier's account. It shows the pair posing together at an NRA event

Trump said Instagram had censored the picture 'presumably because it has me in it' and accused the social media company of 'bias'

Trump soon chimed in with his own upload, accusing Instagram of 'bias deleting' and saying it had 'presumably been removed because I'm in it'.

'There was nothing harsh or political in there and as usual it magically somehow "violated standards", presumably because Im in it and thats too much for the social media gods in California,' Trump Jr wrote.

'Omar aka "Crispy" is a vet severely wounded in conflict who has undergone I believe over 100 surgeries to fix the damage done.

'This man is amazing and he should not be censored, in fact we would be better off as a nation with many more with his attitude, demeanor, and patriotism.

'The bulls**t has to stop. If Instagram can censor a hero like this who the hell wont they suppress???'

Avila had earlier posted on Instagram saying he 'wasn't sure what guidelines he had violated' and thanking Donald Trump Jr for his support.

'I honestly dont know why this picture was taken down by Instagram... Not sure what guidelines it violates But here we go again... Thank you Donald Trump Jr for always taking the time out your busy schedule to say hello to chat,' Avila wrote on Instagram.

Trump Jr has previously clashed with several social media companies over their perceived censorship of conservative users.

Last month he penned an op-ed in which he slammed tech companies like Facebook and Twitter, claiming their treatment of conservatives could enact a system of censorship equal to the one used in China.

'Left unchecked, Big Tech and liberal activists could construct a private 'social credit' system  not unlike what the communists have nightmarishly implemented in China  that excludes outspoken conservatives from wide swaths of American life simply because their political views differ from those of tech executives,' Trump Jr., the son of the president, wrote in The Hill newspaper.

Tech companies argue they dont single out conservatives for censorship.

The president's son has also accused social media of setting up their censorship of conservatives ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

'I had one week  this summer I called it out. I had something like 10 million organic impressions and zero new followers. It's statistically impossible,' he told Fox News last month.

'So it feels like it's a dry run where they are trying to suppress any kind of right-wing message  any kind of conservative message for 2020. I mean they're setting it up. They are just seeing how far they can get away.'

MailOnline has contacted Instagram for comment.
Persimmon Homes has today told thousands of families that they could be at risk because it has skimped on fire safety measures.

The controversial house-building giant has been accused of putting lives in danger, after a homeowner launched his own investigation when a fire broke out on the Greenacres Estate in Exeter.

He learned that essential fire barriers were missing from his property and more than 3,000 people living in new builds have now been contacted by the firm and warned their properties could be affected by a similar fault.

This comes as the beleaguered developer said it was 'investing to improve customer satisfaction', after facing a barrage of recent criticism over build quality.

Paul Frost, a resident of the Greenacres estate in Exeter, Devon, launched his own investigation when a fire broke out along his road. He later learned that essential fire barriers were missing from his property

A homeowner launched his own investigation when a fire broke out on the Greenacres Estate in Exeter (pictured)

More than 3,000 people living in new builds have now been contacted by the firm and warned their properties could be missing cavity barriers

Under-fire building firm boasted 1bn profits Persimmon, the housebuilder which is at risk of seeing its lucrative Help to Buy contract removed, saw pre-tax profits surpass 1billion last year. Pre-tax profits rose 13 per cent to 1.091billion in 2018, on a four per cent rise in revenues to 3.74billion, it has been reported. Of these, nearly half, or 7,970, were sold to people using the Help to Buy scheme - some 288 more compared to 2017. Dave Jenkinson (left) took over from Jeff Fairburn (right) after a pay dispute The housebuilder is reportedly at risk of being stripped of its right to participate in the Government's Help to Buy mortgage scheme. That is allegedly because of issues including the use of Help to Buy to acquire houses with leases, the quality of Persimmon homes and treatment of customers, and its leadership in the wake of the backlash over pay. The FTSE 100 company also recently confirmed that interim chief executive Dave Jenkinson will stay on in the role after previous boss Jeff Fairburn was forced out last year following an outcry over his 75million bonus. Advertisement

Persimmon Homes scored the worst figures of all the major house-builders in the latest Home Builders Federation new homes survey.

It also faced an investor revolt last year after paying big bonuses to senior executives and enjoying a substantial rise in profit on the back of the Government's Help To Buy scheme.

The fire safety issue was first highlighted after a fire started by a dropped cigarette spread up to the roof of a house, and then to the adjacent properties on an estate in Exeter, in April last year.

Paul Frost, a resident of the Greenacres estate in Exeter, Devon, launched his own investigation when the fire broke out along his road.

He later learned that essential loft fire barriers were missing from his property.

Mr Frost, who is the leader of a homeowners campaign aimed at forcing Persimmon to fix fire risks, claims the companys new boss opposed a major investigation.

He claims Chief Executive Officer Dave Jenkinson told him four weeks ago that only 50 dwellings would be inspected.

The company has since agreed to check 3,200 properties in which the barriers are legal requirements.

Of these 679 have needed remedial work.

Mr Frost, 55, said he met Mr Jenkinson and Persimmons regional manager Richard Oldroyd on April 1.

He told MailOnline: I got involved because a house fire in our road last year exposed the appalling reality of what Persimmon had allowed to happen.

Failing to install proper loft fire safety measures amounts to messing with my familys life and the lives of hundreds of others.

Dave Jenkinson told me that they were looking to inspect about 50 dwellings on various housing developments and if they all passed they werent going to worry about the rest.

They started out trying to blame just one sub-contractor. They didnt want to take it nationwide. They were trying to portray it as a very local issue.

I knew, because Im a builder myself, that this was probably nonsense. Finally, they are now doing a proper check which has proved my fears were correct.

But it is disgusting that they havent done it until now. Could that be because it has only now gone public in the media?'

Mr Jenkinson succeeded Jeff Fairburn as Persimmons CEO last year in the wake of criticism of Mr Fairburns 75 million bonus - reward for the companys 1.1 billion annual profit.

At the time his own bonus was revealed as 34 million.

Residents on the Greenacres Estate, which includes Trafalgar Road, have spoken of their anger at Persimmons attitude to fire safety

Residents on the Greenacres Estate, which includes Trafalgar Road, have spoken of their anger at Persimmons attitude to fire safety.

NHS administrator Kim Gill, 59, told MailOnline: They have got off so lightly. It has taken a fire in our road - in which thankfully nobody died - to make them wake up to their responsibilities.

Most of the houses affected are timber-framed like mine. And mine didnt have the barriers correctly in place.

Persimmon sent a carpenter round and he told me theyd discovered a problem that occurred particularly on timber-framed properties.

He said it happens when theyre hammering on the exterior wood cladding. The vibrations or impact from that can dislodge the internal loft barriers.

He said these barriers used to be securely fixed. Now they dont bother.

Mr Frost (pictured) who is the leader of a homeowners campaign aimed at forcing Persimmon to fix fire risks, claims the companys new boss 'opposed a major investigation'

Fair enough, the problem has been resolved. But for us residents it is almost a stigma to have a Persimmon home.

Joanne Garfoot, 54, former director of a housing company specialising in special needs properties, bought her 400,000 house in Trafalgar Road six years ago.

With that kind of money you dont expect shoddy workmanship, she said. But thats exactly what we got along with terrible after-sales service.

I feel sorry for the people who had the fire up the road. But thank God there was a fire in which no one was hurt. Because otherwise none of this would have come out.

Its just appalling. Apart from anything else, the lack of fire protection meant our home insurance was effectively invalid.

Lydia Burge, 68, a retired accountant who worked for a small Devon building firm, said Persimmon had claimed to have fixed her faulty barriers although I have no faith in anything they say.

She added: My old bosses would have been horrified to find a mistake like this in one of their properties.

But they would have found it because our directors went round to inspect every house personally.

I bought my home for 225,000 off-plan six years ago. When I got in I found 120 faults including holes in the kitchen floor and a missing door.

Nothing was done for ages. Persimmon builders even had the nerve to pop round asking if they could take off another of my doors for a different house.

Another householder, who asked not to be named, told Mail Online: I have no problem with Persimmon making money.

Its the way they do it that enrages me. The workmanship is atrocious and they couldnt care less about the dozens of faults once theyve sold.

Dealing with them is a war of attrition.

Sarah Dennis, a resident at the Persimmon Homes Greenacres development in Exeter, said: 'Neighbours asked if we could smell smoke...the next minute [our bedroom] was engulfed in flames'

Paul Frost, a resident of the Greenacres estate in Exeter, Devon (pictured) launched his own investigation when the fire broke out along his road

Missing fire barriers are flouting building regulations Building Regulations require that, by law, new homes are built with fire protection measures to delay the spread of fire and allow crucial time for escape. In many new builds, particularly timber-framed buildings, fire barriers are a vital part of this fire protection. The barriers are used to form a complete seal between different areas of a home, and without them, experts say, fire and smoke can spread five to ten times faster. Industry expert Andrew Mellor told Watchdog Live: 'A comparison is if you were to buy a new car and you ultimately found that it didn't have an airbag in it. It's an integral safety feature within the home.' Advertisement

Sarah Dennis, another resident at the Persimmon Homes Greenacres development in Exeter, said: 'Neighbours asked if we could smell smoke.

'We went inside to check on the kids, there was smoke in the bedroom, and firemen arrived within a couple of minutes.

'Just a bit of smoke coming from the back and the next minute it was engulfed in flames.'

Mr Frost raised the issue with Persimmon Homes, who sent out letters to thousands of residents warning them about the hazard.

A BBC Watchdog Live investigation has now thousands more homes could be missing fire control boards.

The investigation has looked at houses built throughout the country by Persimmon Homes, as well as Bellway Homes, which operates in Scotland.

A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes said: 'A number of timber frame properties in our South West region, cavity barriers were missing or installed incorrectly during construction'. Pictured, the Greenacres Estate

Trafalgar Road in Exeter, Devon, where many houses don't have the required fire safety barriers

Firm reveals drop in shares - as it says it will cost more to build homes Persimmon has today revealed a drop in forward sales with sales revenues declining to 2.7 billion, from 2.8 billion over the same period last year. Its weekly private sales rate declined 5% in the four months of the year to date, it said, as it was affected by changes in its marketing practices. The UK's second-largest house-builder also followed rival Taylor Wimpey in saying that it will cost more to build homes. Persimmon said construction costs would rise by around 4% this year, including investment to enhance specifications and improve customer satisfaction. Persimmon's shares fell 0.8% to 2,219p in early trading on Wednesday. Advertisement

The programme, due to air tonight, has found many new builds were sold with missing or incorrectly installed fire barriers.

A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes said: 'In October last year we established that in a number of timber frame properties in our South West region, cavity barriers were missing or installed incorrectly during construction.

'We are taking this very seriously and have taken extensive action since the issue was discovered.

'To date, we have written to c. 3,200 home owners in the South West region to inform them of the issue and to arrange inspection of their property.

'We have established a dedicated national helpline number - 0800 915 0980 - which any homeowner with a concern can call for more information and to arrange an inspection of their property.

'This should not have happened and we would like to apologise to all affected homeowners and assure them that we are doing everything we can to rectify the issue swiftly.

'We have taken independent expert advice on the issue from a fire safety specialist and they have confirmed that the action we are taking is appropriate.'
Suspect: Trystan Terrell (pictured), 22, has been charged with two counts of murder and four of attempted murder after Tuesday's shooting

The suspected University of North Carolina at Charlotte gunman has been described as 'quiet and standoffish' by classmates who said he was never seen at social events.

Trystan Terrell, who was charged with murder this morning, is believed to be a former history major who dropped out of his studies at the Charlotte campus.

His grandfather said he had never showed any interest in guns or other weapons and said a shooting was 'not in his DNA'.

Terrell, 22, faces two charges of murder and four of attempted murder and is also accused of assault and firearms offences.

A fellow student told FOX46 News: 'He just seemed really quiet and standoffish.

'I've never seen him talk to anyone else or socializing really like the rest of the people around campus, because we're pretty close-knit.

'Everyone knows everyone pretty much and I've never seen him at events or parties or anything like that'.

The suspect's grandfather Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, said that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area two years ago after his mother died.

Trystan Terrell, the 22-year-old suspect in the shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Tuesday, was seen smirking as he was led into the police station during his arrest

Police keep the campus on lockdown after the shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Video posted on social media from moments earlier shows police taking Terrell, the suspected gunman, into custody in Charlotte on Tuesday

Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language learning program his grandfather bought him and was attending UNC-Charlotte, Rold said.

But Terrell never showed any interest in guns or other weapons and the news he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning, he Rold.

'You're describing someone foreign to me,' Rold told the Associated Press on Tuesday night. 'This is not in his DNA.'

In December 2011 Terrell's mother, Robyn, died of breast cancer at the age of 47, in Arlington, Texas.

Police are seen above on the campus in Charlotte during the emergency on Tuesday

Trystan is one of two children that Robyn shared with her husband of 21 years, Craig Terrell.

His sister, Chloe Terrell, studied psychology at Texas Woman's University. She graduated from the school in 2016.

In May 2016, Craig Terrell revealed on his daughter's blog that Trystan was diagnosed with autism.

He wrote: 'When my son was three, I watched as a nurse in a neurologists office had my son walk down the hallway.

'And just because he walked on his tiptoes, she said, Has anyone ever mentioned the word autism to you?

'And with one sentence, our lives got more complicated.'

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a shooting incident at the school

The dead victims were named on Wednesday morning as Riley Howell, 21, and Ellis Parlier, 19.

Four others were injured. They are Drew Pescaro, 19, Sean Dehart, 20, Rami Alramatin, 20, and Emily Haupt, 23.

The shooting prompted a lockdown and caused panic across the University of North Carolina campus.

Police had received a call in the late afternoon that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students.

Officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman in the room where the shooting took place.

'A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses,' said Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

'Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school.

'And I know that this violence has to stop... In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward.'
David Noakes, 66 (pictured), was jailed for 15 months last year after he made 10million selling a substance called 'GcMAF' he claimed provided a miracle cure for cancer, HIV and autism

A multi-millionaire who was jailed for selling a fake 'wonder drug' claiming to cure cancer has been moaning about the 'hard beds' and 'awful food' he endured in prison.

David Noakes, 66, was jailed for 15 months last year after he made 10million selling a substance called 'GcMAF' he claimed provided a miracle cure for cancer, HIV and autism.

He was recently released from HMP Wandsworth in London and quickly launched a bizarre rant complaining about how his jail time has 'aged him' because the pillows were too hard and there wasn't a gym.

The disgraced businessman, who used to live in Guernsey but now resides in Dover, Kent, said: 'It's put 20 years on me. The food was awful, so was the filth.

'The prison is built in 1851. Sometimes we were locked up 23 hours a day. I desperately needed the gym initially, but couldn't get any prison guards to unlock the cell doors. I gave up, then became too weak to use it anyway.

'My body, particularly my arms and shoulders, ache from the hard beds and pillows.'

Announcing his release he complained he was let out 'a month late', despite him having 'autism and eight other illnesses'.

He claimed he has lost one and three quarter stone after being locked up, feels cold all the time and 'incredibly weak'.

Noakes added: 'Too weak to drive sometimes and can't handle a big supermarket.'

He was recently released from HMP Wandsworth in London (pictured) and has launched a bizarre rant complaining about how his jail time has 'aged him' because the pillows were too hard and there wasn't a gym

He and his wife Loraine, 58, were convicted after a three-year investigation found his company Immuno Biotech was illegally manufacturing Globulin component Macrophage Activating Factor (GcMAF) and selling it as a 'wonder drug' online.

Mrs Noakes, of Ringwood, Hampshire, admitted two counts of selling or supplying medicinal products without market authorisation and was given a suspended six-month prison sentence.

Immuno Biotech scientist Dr Rodney Smith, 55, of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was jailed for eight months, while another scientist a the firm, Emma Ward, 44, was given a suspended sentence for her part in the scam.

Made from human blood, his company sold the product to around 10,000 people between 2012 and 2015.

The supply was discovered during a raid by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) who warned the public the drug may pose a significant risk to people's health.

Noakes pleaded guilty to money laundering and manufacturing, supplying and selling an unlicensed medicine at Southwark Crown Court.

He was jailed for 12 months in November for the manufacture and sale of GcMaf with three months to be served consecutively for money laundering.

The court previously heard that Immuno Biotech made 10million from the sale of products with Noakes spending nearly 1million of it on planes.

In his post-prison message he added that he is still having products confiscated through the Proceeds of Crime Act.
This is the moment a ticketless reveller took a flying kick at a security guard at a Barcelona metro station.

Guards had the reportedly drunk group access to the platform at El Maresme Forum station after accusing them of failing to purchase tickets.

Video shows the group brawl with security guards who brandish batons and lock them out of the transport hub.

Revellers may have been heading home from 'Feria de Abril de Barcelona 2019' happening above when the fight broke out at 4am.

The shocking moment a member of the gang flying kicks a security guard in Barcelona. The group was denied access to the platform as security staff said they hadn't purchased a ticket

A loud fight then broke out at the train station, caught on video, as the gang quarrelled with security. After a metal chair appeared to be thrown they were herded out of the station

Security guards herded the gang out of the station and later closed it to avoid further disturbances

In shocking footage, the gang is seen facing off with security staff in a several minute brawl at the entry gates.

At one point, one kung-fu kicks a security guard in the chest and later a metal chair appears to be thrown at a group of baton-wielding guards.

Whacked in the chest, the guard staggers backwards before brandishing his baton at the gang.

The thugs pushed, hit and hurled insults at the guards, as well as screaming and trying to grab onto the barriers.

The aggressive group was then herded outside and the main doors were closed on them.

Reports said that some who managed to remain inside went onto the tracks where they were chased away by security staff.

Catalan police arrived and made one arrest it was reported in Spanish media

Security closed the station following the fight 'as a preventative measure' in case of further disturbances that evening, Spanish media reports.

Officers of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) arrived and arrested one gang member, it is claimed.

It is unclear whether the authorities are trying to track down others involved in the metro station fracas.
Theresa May clashed with Jeremy Corbyn today in their last Commons set-piece confrontation before loal elections tomorrow - but both avoided talking about Brexit.

Mrs May squared off against the Labour leader at Prime Minister's Questions less than 24 hours before the polls open in elections in England and Northern Ireland.

The Prime Minister was grilled over social mobility, poverty and the use of food banks and when she tried to respond was so loudly heckled by Labour MPs that Speaker John Bercow had to call for order.

But both she and Mr Corbyn have been badly damaged by internal party fights over Brexit and neither mentioned the topic during PMQs.

The Prime Minister's party is expected to lose as many as 800 seats in their worst local election result for 20 years as voters vent their fury over the handling of the UK's departure from the EU - which has been pushed back to October 31 at the latest.

It came after the Prime Minister was handed a 'silver lining' of good news today ahead of tomorrow's local council elections - before clashing with Jeremy Corbyn in their last Commons set-piece confrontation before the polls open.

The Prime Minister might not receive the massive hammering predicted in the elections because a lack of alternatives mean disgruntled Brexiteer Tories might stay at home, leading political academic Sir John Curtice suggested.

He said that the absence of any candidates from Nigel Farage's Brexit Party and a shortage of people standing for Ukip could be a minor boost for the Prime Minister.

But he warned that it still may be difficult for the embattled leader, who is facing widespread anger for failing to deliver Brexit as planned on March 29.

Mrs May clashed with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister's Questions in their last set-piece confrontation before the local elections tomorrow

Mr Corbyn attacked the Prime Minister for the Government's record on poverty and the use of food banks

Sir John, Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde, told LBC radio that many of the seats were in 'Tory Shires for the most part - so this is an area where there are plenty of Tory seats to be won over.'

He added: 'We have to remember that the Brexit Party is not on the ballot paper tomorrow. And Ukip are only fighting around one in six of the seats.

'So those leave voters who are unhappy with the Conservatives over Brexit frankly face the choice tomorrow in most of the local elections of either turning out to vote and still voting for the Conservatives - because I doubt that they'll consider voting for Labour or the Liberal Democrats - or staying at home.

'Therefore, probably, the results won't be quite as bad for the Conservatives as perhaps some of the impression you might have from the headline opinion polls.'

Nigel Farage has landed some high profile defections to his new Brexit Party, including former shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe, but they are standing in Euro elections

Former Ukip leader Mr Farage has attracted some high profile candidates to his new party.

They include Tory former shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe and Annunziata Rees-Mogg, the sister of Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and herself a former general election candidate for the Conservatives.

But they are all standing in the European elections widely expected to take place in May, after the EU gave the UK a Brexit delay until October 31 to try to get a deal through Parliament.

The party is not standing candidates in the local elections, although they are tipped to run a candidate for a new Peterborough MP if incumbent Fiona Onasanya is booted out tonight, after being jailed for perverting the course of justice.

Some 8,374 council seats are up for grabs in England and 460 in Northern Ireland on Thursday.

The Tories currently have 4,628 seats and is contesting 95 per cent of all the seats up for grabs, more than any other party.

In contrast Ukip, which has been hit by a slew of defections to the Brexit Party and controversy over its links with English Defence League co-founder Tommy Robinson, is contesting just 16 per cent of seats.

At PMQs Mr Corbyn claimed Theresa May's Government had 'completely failed' to take action to tackle 'burning injustices' in the UK, according to Jeremy Corbyn.

The Labour leader began by highlighting a Social Mobility Commission report, which warned inequality will remain entrenched in Britain 'from birth to work' without urgent Government action.

Touching on Thursday's local elections, Mr Corbyn said: 'For many people this Government has delivered nothing but failure.'

He recalled Mrs May's pledge to fight against 'burning social injustices' on her first day in office, but then flagged the commission's report.

Mr Corbyn asked: 'Can the Prime Minister now admit that her Government has completely failed to take action to tackle the burning injustices?'

Mrs May said the commission's chairwoman, Dame Martina Milburn, had highlighted a 'real commitment in Government to try to make a difference in this area' before telling MPs: 'I want everyone to have the opportunity to reach their potential, whatever their background.

'And that's why we're improving education, helping to create higher paid jobs, we're boosting home ownership.'

Sir John Curtice told LBC: 'The Brexit Party is not on the ballot paper tomorrow. And Ukip are only fighting around one in six of the seats'

Mr Corbyn said that a 'record 1.6 million food parcels were given out last year alone', attacking the Government's policies for creating a situation where 'in one of the richest countries on this earth food banks are now handing out 14 millions meals a year to people, some of whom are in work, who simply haven't got enough to eat'.

Mrs May began her response by saying the 'best route out of poverty...' before she was roundly heckled.

She then continued to say that the best route was through work, and that her Government had seen 'record numbers of people in employment' and was helping people 'keep more money in their pockets' with tax cuts and wage increases.

But Mr Corbyn said: 'Many of those people receiving food parcels, which has increased by 600,000 in four years, are actually people in work because of the low wages that they are on.'

He added that even the PM's 'own Secretary of State admitted that Universal Credit has caused people to rely on food banks'.
In the absence of this, we have a noted and pretty much agreed upon $3.2 billion  structural (budget) deficit, Hutchinson said. And if we dont do this, then we can raise taxes on everybody, or we can cut 15 percent across the board, or we can argue that the status quo and the lack of investment that were making in all the things that we all care about and all agree on should stay as broken as it is today.
The identity of the man who murdered a schoolgirl in 1946 remains a mystery after DNA left on her 'little red riding hood' coat failed to link to a notorious child killer.

Police believed 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater might have been a victim of a known serial killer when she was raped and murdered in 1946.

But when they tested a stain on Muriel's coat it did not come up with a link to child murderer Harold Jones - who is also suspected of being a serial killer dubbed Jack the Stripper.

Police believed 12-year-old Muriel Drinkwater (left) might have been a victim of a notorious serial killer Harold Jones when she was raped and murdered in 1946

Jones killed two young girls when he was just 15 and was jailed for 20 years.

But he was later released and served in World War II before his military career ended in 1946.

And four months after Jones left the army Muriel was raped and shot dead as she walked home from a school bus in Penllergaer, Swansea.

Police confirmed a cold case review on the stain found on Muriel's coat in 1946 had now been tested by forensics teams.

But they said the results now ruled out Jones as a suspect in her murder.

Muriel Drinkwater was raped and shot dead as she walked home from a school bus in Penllergaer, Swansea

Serial killer Harold Jones (pictured as a 15-year-old) killed two young girls when he was just 15 and was jailed for 20 years

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lewis, head of the Specialist Crime Review Unit said: 'The results of the forensic examination categorically confirm that Jones was not responsible for the murder of Muriel Drinkwater.

'Due to advances in forensic technology we have been able to look again at evidence from the murder in 1946 and I am now able to rule out Harold Jones completely as a suspect in this case.

'I have spoken to Muriel's family and bring them up to date with the latest details of this investigation.

'All historic murder cases, often referred to in the media as 'cold cases,' are allocated to the Specialist Crime Review Unit and remain under active consideration and will be subject of re-investigation as and when new information is received or when there are advances in forensic science.

'Each case is reviewed periodically. If information comes in from the public or other forces we act on it.'

Glamorgan Police and men of the 169th Bomb Disposal Unit make a break for a meal during their search for evidence after her murder on June 27, 1946

Jones, originally of Abertillery, South Wales, is a suspect in the killings of six women in London in the 1960s. The killer was dubbed Jack The Stripper because of the way he left his victims

Muriel's death was known at the time as the Little Red Riding Hood Murder because of the bright red coat she was wearing.

Officers are now examining a semen stain on Muriel's coat to see if it can be linked to Jones.

The 73-year-old stain was discovered during a cold case review in 2003 and is thought to be one of the oldest pieces of evidence in the world.

Jones, originally of Abertillery, South Wales, is a suspect in the killings of six women in London in the 1960s.

The killer was dubbed Jack The Stripper because of the way he left his victims.

to have gone on to kill six women in London in the 1960s - and was dubbed Jack The Stripper.
As Democrats weigh a field of 20 White House hopefuls that includes candidates who would be the youngest or oldest president ever elected, new Reuters/Ipsos polling shows age could be a liability at either end of the spectrum.

More than half of all Democrats, 57 per cent, said they would be less likely to support a candidate over 70 years old. The result was the same across both parties and independents.

Overall, 61 per cent of women said the same thing

More than a third of Democrats, 37 per cent, said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate younger than 40, according to the April 17-22 opinion poll.

Among all voters, that number jumped to 46 per cent.

About a quarter of all Democrats said a White House candidate's age did not matter.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is 76 years old and would be 78 if he took over the White House; more than half of all Democrats said in a new poll that they would be less likely to support a candidate over 70

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is the oldest declared candidate in the 2020 presidential race, at 77

AGES OF THE 2020 CANDIDATES ON INAUGURATION DAY As of April 8, 2020 there were two major party candidates in the 2020 presidential election. Here is the age each of them would be on Inauguration Day 2021 if he were to win: Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) : 78 years, 2 months, 1 day

: 78 years, 2 months, 1 day President Donald Trump (R) : 74 years, 7 months, 7 days Advertisement

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, 77, and former Vice President Joe Biden, 76, are the oldest contenders in the vast Democratic field. So far, they appear to be defying concerns about age as they sit together atop public opinion polls. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren will turn 70 in June.

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and U.S. Representatives Tulsi Gabbard and Eric Swalwell are the youngest, with all three White House contenders under 40. U.S. Representative Seth Moulton is 40.

At a Buttigieg event in Des Moines, Iowa, Davis Chambers, 31, said his top priority was finding a candidate who could beat Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election. Like many in his age group, Chambers did not think youth was disqualifying but said advanced age made a candidate less attractive.

'I worry about having somebody who is close to 80 years old in the office,' Chambers said.

Trump, who turns 73 in June, would be the oldest president ever re-elected if he retains the White House. Former President Ronald Reagan, who was 73 at the time of his re-election, currently holds that title.

Former President John F. Kennedy was the youngest person elected to the White House, beginning his term at age 43 in 1961. The U.S. Constitution mandates presidents be at least 35.

The poll found many Democrats were generally wary of supporting older candidates.

Among Democrats ages 18 to 34, 54 percent said they were somewhat or much less likely to support a candidate over the age of 70.

Among 35-to-54-year-old Democrats, 58 percent said they were somewhat or much less likely to support a candidate who is over the age of 70, while 59 percent of Democrats aged 55 and older said the same.

Despite such concerns, Biden and Sanders lead the Democratic field for the 2020 presidential nomination in Reuters/Ipsos polling. Thirty percent of Democrats said they would vote for Biden and 15 percent said they supported Sanders in the latest Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll.

Sue Carrera, 56, a childcare worker from Inglewood, California, said she worried Biden and Sanders were too old to deal with the demands of being president.

'I mean, they are in their 80s at the end of their first term. The prospect of mental issues is a concern for me,' Carrera said over the weekend at a candidate forum in Las Vegas with union workers.

'I don't want [candidates] to be too inexperienced, but I don't want them to be old because then there is a possibility they might die in office,' she added.

The poll found younger candidates may see a benefit with younger voters but have trouble convincing some older voters that they are ready to lead.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana is 37 years old, just a few years older than the constitutional minimum to be president

Donald Trump was 70 when he took office in January 2017, beating Ronald reagan's previous record of 69 for a first-term commander-in-chief

Among 18-to-34-year-old Democrats, 49 percent said they were somewhat or much more likely to support a candidate under 40, while 28 percent said it did not matter. Twenty-three percent said they were less likely.

But among Democrats who are at least 35, 44 percent said they were less likely to support a candidate who is under 40.

Yiran Zhang, 24, a graduate student at Loyola University in Chicago, also attended the Las Vegas forum. Reflecting the polling showing that young adults are less likely than older Democrats to penalize a candidate for being over 70 or under 40, she said age was 'irrelevant.'

'What really matters is what you stand for, if you stand on the side of the working class,' Zhang said. 'I don't care what age you are.'

President Donald Trump said last Friday that he expects to make quick work of former Biden if he survives the grueling Democratic primary season.

And he suggested the older Democrat is already showing his age on the campaign trail. Trump, 72, called himself 'a young, vibrant man.'

'I look at Joe, I don't know about him. I don't know,' he said. 'I would never say anyone's too old but I know they're all making me look very young both in terms of age and in terms of energy.'
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A pair of feisty konik ponies were pictured fighting for dominance at the National Trusts first ever nature reserve, 120 years after it opened its doors.

The majestic animals were pictured during the foaling season at Cambridgeshires Wicken Fen, as the site aims to boost its wildlife population.

The groups oldest nature reserve is the most species-rich area of the UK with more than 9,300 recorded, including 25 that were new to the UK and seven declared as new to science.

The most recent discovery, in March, was a flat bark beetle in a pile of cut sedge near Wicken Fen's mill. The silvanus recticollis, which is around the third of the length of a grain of rice, had not been found in Britain before.

Konik ponies and free-roaming highland cows were introduced in 2001 to spread seeds which they carry in their hooves, mane and coat.

The ponies originate from Poland and were originally bred from the now extinct wild horses of Europe known as Tarpan. The ponies are resilient to harsh climates and have adapted to foraging in the wild. As well as this they are able to delay their growth in times of food shortages.

Konik ponies fight for dominance during the foaling season at the National Trust's Wicken Fen Nature Reserve in Cambridgeshire, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year

Smile for the camera! The ponies looked gleeful as they rested their head on one another following the battle for dominance

Wicken Fen, where the ponies were fighting, is a two-acre piece of land when bought by the National Trust in 1899, now stands at almost 2,000 acres and the trust wants to expand it further to 13,000 acres

Martin Lester, countryside manager, said that fenland once dominated East Anglia but now accounts for less than 1% of the landscape after much was bought by wealthy investors and drained for farming in the 17th century (pictured: a konick pony drinking from a lode)

The reserve faced destruction during the Second World War with plans to use it as a bombing range, but was spared when it was found that a plant found there could be used to make time fuses (pictured: a pony foal at the reserve)

Several species including cranes, Norfolk hawkers and otters, have returned to the Cambridgeshire reserve after an absence of several decades (pictured: konik pony smiling)

Highland cattle stand in a mere at the National Trust's Wicken Fen Nature Reserve where they have recently been introduced
A Romanian teenager has won a place at Cambridge University less than two years after moving to Britain.

Bogdan Vicol arrived in the UK back in May 2017, a day after the country voted to leave the EU in the Brexit referendum

The aspiring rocket scientist, 18, enrolled at the Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre in east London after reading about students from the school who won places at top universities around the UK, as well as the US.

After months of studying and exams Mr Vicol, who hails from the small town of Bacau, in north east Romania, was astounded to open the letter telling him he was going to the renowned university.

Bogdan Vico (pictured) has won a place at Cambridge University less than two years after moving to Britain to study at the Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre in east London

'It's one of the most famous and prestigious universities in the world. It's surreal,' he said.

'My parents are so proud. I don't think I ever would have applied to somewhere like that if it hadn't been for Newham Collegiate. I just wouldn't have been encouraged or known where to start.'

Despite Brexit being a concern, Mr Vicol said his parents, who run a furniture distribution business, knew he had to leave Romanian for him to get a 'top class education'.

'I didn't know if I would be able to stay in the UK or if I would be eligible for any university funding. But my parents and I knew that to get a top-class education, and the best chances in life, I had to come to the UK.'

Mr Vicol will be studying a degree in engineering, specialising in aerospace and aerothermal engineering at Gonville and Caius College, in Cambridge when classes start in September

Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre has had a successful run of students attending prestigious universities across the UK and the US

He will be studying a degree in engineering, specialising in aerospace and aerothermal engineering at Gonville and Caius College, in Cambridge when classes start in September.

'I'm particularly interested in space engineering and will now be studying alongside some of the brightest minds in the world.

'To one day be able to say "hello, I'm a rocket scientist" will be quite something.'

Newham Collegiate principal Mouhssin Ismail, who gave up his high paying job as a lawyer to set up the school, said : 'Bogdan has done outstandingly well and has been one of our top students.

Tafsia Shikdar (pictured), from the class of 2017 student, won a scholarship to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston to study a degree in engineering

'He left his home and life behind to achieve his ambitions, which was a brave thing to do. He deserves all the success in the world.'

For two years running, 95 per cent of students at school have been offered places at Russell Group universities.

Tafsia Shikdar, from the class of 2017 student whose family moved from Bangledesh in the early 90s, won a scholarship to Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston to study a degree in engineering.

The scholarship is worth 200,000 to help pay for tuition, accommodation and books.
President Trump launched an extraordinary Twitter fight with the Joe Biden-supporting International Association of Fire Fighters, retweeting dozens of his own supporters who insist that the 'rank and file' back him instead.

Trump blasted the 'dues-sucking' labor union this morning after it backed the former vice president's 2020 bid to replace him.

More than 50 Trump supporters, many of them firefighters or relatives of firefighters, voiced their backing for the president in response, and he retweeted all of them.

The sustained stream of online swipes is Trump's longest since taking office in 2017.

It suggested that Trump sees Biden as his biggest threat to reelection, although a top aide insisted Wednesday that he was 'bemused' more than frustrated by the endorsement.

'I don't think it's frustration, I think it's bemusement, because he knows very well, we can't keep up with all the people who call us, who call up the campaign saying, "I'm a firefighter, I'm with the president, here's why. I'm upset with their leadership," ' Kellyanne Conway told White House press.

President Trump has launched an extraordinary Twitter storm by retweeting dozens of firefighters who vowed to back him over Democrat Joe Biden

Trump blasted the 'dues sucking' International Association of Fire Fighters this morning after the labor union backed the former Vice President's 2020 campaign

Conway told reporters that many of the rank and file are with Trump and the Republican politician is going to run up his vote totals from union workers in places like Pennsylvania, where Biden was campaigning this week.

'We know that there are many people who don't seem like they are going to vote for the Republican nominee, and they end up doing it, she told reporters at the White House as she engaged in her own slash-and-burn campaign against the vice president.

Trump insists he has 'done more for firefighters' than the union. He has suggested that Joe Biden, who's only a few years older than he is, is too old to be president.

A common refrain among conservatives who oppose the political power of America's largest unions is that their leaders are far more liberal than their members  and lavish dues money on candidates the workers don't support.

One supporter said: 'As a retired firefighter I can only speak for my fellow retirees, and I can assure you NONE of us support him, OR the union's decision.'

Another asserted that 'that the majority of the rank and file are conservative or moderate and DO NOT support liberal Democrats.'

A Trump supporter claimed 'real firemen' back the president while another said 'just the union leadership' is pro-Biden.

The President retweeted dozens of messages from supporters - many of them firefighters or relatives of them - who promised to back him over Joe Biden

Trump supporters predicted that the President would 'win by a landslide' in a poll of fireman and claimed it was 'just the union leadership' that backed Biden

'I am furious that the board would make such an announcement without even taking the membership view into account,' a commenter said.

Another wrote: 'I bet if someone did a firemans poll, President Trump would win by a landslide.'

Still another tweeted: 'My husband a New York City firefighter for 15 years will be voting Trump 2020 all the way!!'

That one turned out to be a trap: After Trump's retweet, the anonymous user changed her name to 'F**k Donald Trump' and adopted a Bernie Sanders logo as her avatar.

The latest rant comes two days after Trump raged: 'The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me. Some things never change!'

The firefighters' union declined to endorse either Trump or Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.

One user Trump retweeted later changed her name to 'F**k Donald Trump'

Biden has made a working-class pitch in a bid to cancel out Donald Trump's gains in the blue-collar Midwest, which propelled him to victory over Clinton in 2016.

He held his first campaign rally on Monday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, emphasizing his blue-collar roots and support from big labor.

'Quite frankly folks, if I'm going to be able to beat Donald Trump in 2020, it's going to happen here. It's going to happen here in western Pennsylvania. With your help,' he said.

Surrounded by union workers in yellow 'fire fighters for Biden' t-shirts, he said: 'I make no apologies. I am a union man.

'Workers feel powerless and too often humiliated. I call it an abuse of power. And I can't stand it. Never have been able to,' he told supporters.

Joe Biden (pictured) won the backing of the firefighters' union this week as he makes a pitch to working-class voters to back him in 2020

'And when I think about work, I think about dignity. I think about a lot about my dad, a proud gentleman.'

'My dad had an expression. He said, Joey, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity.'

'We have to choose hope over fear, unity over division, and maybe most importantly, truth over lies,' he said in one of his biggest applause lines.

'We love Joe! We love Joe!' the crowd at the Teamsters Local 249 banquet hall shouted back.

Speaking to Robin Roberts of Good Morning America, Biden explained what he would tell a Trump supporter enjoying a strong economy, including record low unemployment.

Biden responded: 'What I'd say is, did you get any benefit from the tax cut?'

'Have your wages really gone up like you think you deserve? Do your employers treat you with any more respect and dignity than they did before?'

'What's the story? Ask these folks - they're not getting their fair share.'

Conway said that Biden is spinning his wheels, and the number of Democrats entering the race, in spite of his seniority in the party, shows that they believe he's not candidate to face Trump.

'I don't think we're worried about Joe Biden,' she said. 'Certainly not frustrated...How do you get away with saying you want to build a middle class economy, when somebody beat you to the punch, in large part because you failed to build a middle class economy when you were here for 8 years.'

Early Democratic polls have shown Biden leading the race for the Democratic nomination ahead of candidates such as Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Trump has nicknamed Biden 'Sleepy Joe', resuming the personal attacks on his opponents which were a feature of his 2016 campaign.

He claimed on Twitter this week: 'Pittsburgh jobless rate hits lowest point since the early 1970s (maybe even better than that) and Sleepy Joe just had his first rally there.

'Fact is, every economic aspect of our Country is the best it has ever been!'

When Biden entered the race, Trump responded: 'Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe.'

'I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign,' he said. 'It will be nasty - you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!'
The aircraft device at the center of two Boeing plane disasters had been flagged as faulty more than 200 times, it has emerged.

Flight crews had warned of broken 'angle of attack' sensors on a regular basis - including dozens of times on Boeing jets.

The sensors, which can force the nose of a plane downwards, have been linked to the Indonesia and Ethiopia air disasters which killed a combined 346 people.

The incident reports, compiled by CNN, add to the growing pressure on Boeing in a crisis which has cost the planemaking giant at least $1billion so far.

Boeing has faced severe pressure after the deadly Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes. Pictured: the very Boeing 737 Max 8 jet which crashed in Ethiopia on March 10

The 216 complaints since 2004 reportedly include an emergency aboard a Boeing jet, when the flight crew declared that the angle of attack software had failed.

They are said to include incidents where the sensor was found to be frozen, struck by lightning or hit by flying birds, or otherwise badly installed.

Some of the problems reportedly forced pilots into emergency landings or abandoned take-offs.

The FAA had warned last year that a faulty sensor could cause 'excessive nose-down attitude, significant altitude loss, and possible impact with terrain'.

An AOA sensor provides data about the angle at which wind is passing over the wings and tells pilots how much lift a plane is getting.

A report into the Lion Air disaster in Indonesia found the software repeatedly forced the plane's nose down despite it not stalling.

The sensor was said to have triggered the automated Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) to bring the plane's nose down.

MCAS was introduced by Boeing on the 737 Max 8, which has been grounded worldwide since mid-March.

The cockpit of a Boeing Co. 737 MAX 9 jetliner is seen during production at the company's manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington

Angle of attack sensors would tell MCAS to point the nose of a plane down if it was in danger of stalling.

Some 189 people died when the Lion Air flight crashed into the Java Sea shortly after taking off from Jakarta on October 29.

In the Ethiopian Airlines disaster, 157 people died six minutes after the plane took off from Addis Ababa on March 10.

In both cases, the pilots lost control soon after take-off and fought a losing battle to stop their jets plunging down.

Boeing has said it will change its rules to make an optional cockpit warning light compulsory, in the wake of the two crashes.

The 'AoA Disagree' alert warns pilots when the plane's critical 'angle of attack' readings may be wrong.

Ethiopian emergency services work at the scene of the crash near Addis Ababa on March 10

An Indonesian officer holds the Lion Air JT610 flight data recorder shortly after it was found underwater last November

But some Boeing aircraft were not equipped with it as it was not required by regulators.

This week the company's CEO Dennis Muilenburg defended the planemaker's safety record.

Mr Muilenburg denied that the Max was rushed to market and said Boeing followed the same design and certification process it has always used.

'As in most accidents, there are a chain of events that occurred,' he said, referring to the two crashes.

'It's not correct to attribute that to any single item.'

Fixing the faulty sensors was a 'software update that we know how to do' which would 'make the airplane even safer,' he said.
This is the nail-biting moment an elephant thunders towards a group of tourists on safari who only manage to speed away a split-second before being rammed.

Frightened screams from the tourists cry out as a man on foot sprints past their vehicle being pursued by an adult male elephant.

But as the man races past them, the tusked animal switches his target and bares down on their stationary safari car.

And the dramatic video, taken yesterday at Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India, captured the tourists' lucky escape.

Frightened screams from the tourists cry out as a man on foot sprints past their vehicle being pursued by an adult male elephant at Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India

The 12-second clip shows a helmet-clad man in a bright green top running along a tarmacked and tree-lined road.

A short distance behind him, an elephant is seen stomping after him and leaving a trail of dust in its wake.

One of the female tourists then yells at the driver to start the car as the jungle animal hurtles towards them.

But amid the panic, another woman uses the rare close-up to sneak in a quick video of the looming elephant on her phone.

As a motorcyclist races past the tourists on foot (left), the tusked animal switches his target and bares down on their stationary safari car (right)

The engine of the vehicle is heard revving up and it suddenly bursts forward as the elephant is just inches away from ploughing into them.

As they dart away from the enormous animal, which gives up its chase and plods back down the path, the shaken-up safari group continue to shriek.

Although it is not confirmed, their close shave was reportedly caused by the man in the helmet who had pulled over his motorcycle to relieve himself and, in turn, had angered the elephant.

However, elephants are not known to be aggressive animals and are only normally territorial when protecting their calves.
A multi-million pound deal to run emergency ferries under a No Deal Brexit was scrapped today at an estimated 50million cost to the taxpayer.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling cancelled contracts with three firms designed to kick in on March 29, after Brexit was twice delayed.

The move will fuel speculation a No deal Brexit is now impossible - as MPs have refused to back any more which might let the UK quit without an agreement.

Mr Grayling awarded contracts worth a total of more than 100million to three firms - Brittany Ferries, DFDS and Seaborne Freight - to run extra services from ports including Plymouth, Poole and Portsmouth to ease pressure on the main Dover-Calais route.

After the expected March 29 date of EU withdrawal was delayed, first to April 12 and now October 31, sailings went ahead even though the feared disruption to essential supplies like food and medicines did not materialise.

The National Audit Office estimated in February that the maximum cost of compensation to ferry operators if contracts were terminated would be 56.6 million, but a Whitehall source said the actual figure was expected to be around 10 per cent lower.

Prime Minister Theresa May said that early termination was better value for taxpayers' money than allowing the contracts to run on.

She told the House of Commons Liaison Committee: 'The combined termination costs with the operators is actually lower than the NAO's recent estimate of termination costs, thanks to the decisions we took. It's also lower than keeping those contracts on.

'I'm sure everyone would agree that we have to take the decision that is best in terms of the use of taxpayers' money.'

Asked if the contracts might have to be revived if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on October 31, Mrs May said that it was 'not entirely in the hands of the Government'.

Mr Grayling awarded contracts worth a total of more than 100 million to three firms - Brittany Ferries, DFDS and Seaborne Freight - to run extra services from ports including Plymouth, Poole and Portsmouth to ease pressure on the main Dover-Calais route.

Mr Grayling has been criticised for a number of ministerial failings during his time in charge of transport, including awarding a eight-figure ferry contract to a firm with no ships

Famous Chris Grayling bungles Banning books for prisoners The controversial ban on parcels of books being sent to prisoners was condemned as 'unenlightened' when then Justice Secretary Chris Grayling introduced it in 2013. He claimed parcels being sent into prisons had been a vehicle for 'contraband' and there were not enough staff to check them all properly. Mr Grayling insisted prisoners could access books from jail libraries and could purchase more using money earned by working inside. He was removed as Justice Secretary when the all-Tory government was formed in May this year, with Michael Gove  a former Education Secretary - taking his job. Seaborne Freight Mr Grayling's decision to award Seaborne Freight a contract worth 13.8 million to run services between Ramsgate and Ostend  despite having no ships  attracted widespread criticism. The DfT's decision was challenged by Eurotunnel, and on Friday the Government announced it had reached an agreement worth up to 33 million with the Channel Tunnel firm. Rail timetable chaos Mr Grayling faced a vote of no confidence  but survived  over Northern Rail's chaotic timetable collapse in June. Up to 770 trains were cancelled per day. He had rejected calls for Northern to be renationalised, although he accepted the situation experienced by passengers was 'unacceptable'. In a later appearance before the Commons Transport Select Committee, he raised eyebrows by insisting: 'I don't run the railways,' and instead blamed Network Rail. Advertisement

Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said: 'Chris Grayling and the ferry contracts will for evermore be a case study in ministerial incompetence.

'The Transport Secretary's approach to procurement and planning has cost taxpayers tens, if not, hundreds of millions of pounds.

'His career as a minister has left a trail of scorched earth and billions of pounds of public money wasted. This country cannot afford Chris Grayling.'

It is the latest expensive Brexit ferry-related move by hapless Mr Grayling, who has come under heavy fire over his handling of his department in recent months.

The decision to give a 13.8million contract to Seaborne was ridiculed after it was revealed the firm owned no ships and had never run a ferry service before.

Its deal to provide sailings from Ramsgate was scrapped in February after an Irish company backing the deal pulled out.

Last week Mr Grayling was handed a new headache over a 33million bill to settle a lawsuit over the bungled Brexit ferry contracts after P&O launched its own legal challenge against the Government.

The Dover ferry giant believes the huge chunk of taxpayers' cash handed to its cross-Channel rival should be classed as illegal state aid - and will go to court to prove it.

Eurotunnel agreed a 33million settlement to drop its claim over the 'secretive' way the Government awarded lucrative deals for ferry companies to run extra crossings in case of a No Deal.

His allies insisted it was 'unfair' to single him out for criticism as the contract had been decided on a 'cross-government' basis - but Labour and other begged to differ, calling him an 'international embarrassment'.

Now P&O says the 33million paid to Eurotunnel to make improvements to its terminal put its business at a 'competitive disadvantage'.

If it wins the case Eurotunnel may have to hand some or all of it back.

The contract with Seaborne Freight to provide extra ferries in the case of a No Deal Brexit was eventually cancelled (pictured is the Port of Ramsgate)

Britanny Ferries has been operating 20 additional cross-Channel sailings a week since March 29 under the contract, despite Brexit not going ahead as expected on that date.

Some 30,000 passengers had their travel disrupted by new schedules introduced in March to accommodate the DFT contract, which are due to remain in place for six months.

The company has taken on 50 extra port staff in the UK and France and has spent large sums on fuel for the 2,000 additional nautical miles sailed each week.

Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: 'The Brexit ferry chaos on Chris Grayling's watch has moved from farce to national scandal with the taxpayer picking up the bill.

'If he had listened to the maritime unions none of this would have happened. Grayling has reduced the shipping industry in this island nation to a global laughing stock.'

Grayling's ferry failure: How the cross-channel no-deal Brexit plan descended into farce Chris Grayling has been widely attacked over his December decision to award ferry contracts to cover the possibility of a no-deal Brexit causing problems at the UK's borders: December 22: Department for Transport awards contracts worth 108 million to DFDS, Brittany Ferries and Seaborne Freight to lay on additional crossings to ports other than Dover in a no-deal Brexit.

December 29; The news is revealed and the DfT says there was no time to put them out to tender.

December 30: It is revealed that Seaborne Freight had been given a contract worth 13.8 million but owned no ships.

January 2: Mr Grayling defended the decision as 'supporting new businesses'. He insisted he had checked Seaborne Freight would be able to deliver goods between Kent and Belgium if needed in a no-deal scenario.

January 3; It was alleged the firm's website copied its terms and conditions from a takeaway shop, with a long run of small print that featured a section about 'placing an order' that placed an obligation on a customer to check their 'meal'. It was later deleted.

January 9: It was revealed Seaborne would not be ready to begin services until April, missing Brexit day on March 29.

February 10: The contract with Seaborne is officially cancelled after it backers, Arklow Shipping, pulled out. The Government says no money changed hands.

February 11: Eurotunnel launched a legal case against the DfT over the way the contracts were handed out to ferry firms.

March 1: The Government agrees a 33 million deal with Eurotunnel and the firm drops the legal case.

April 26: P&O launch legal challenge to the Eurotunnel deal.

May 1: Mr Grayling announces that all the No Deal ferry contracts are to be axed at an estimated cost of 50million. Advertisement




A 14-year-old boy suffered serious injuries today after a tree branch fell on him at his school.

The youngster was on a path on his way into Ysgol Bryn Elian school in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, at 8.50am today when he was hit by the falling tree.

Fire services used cutting equipment to free him after he became trapped under a branch of the tree, which is feared to have been weakened by recent storms.

Fire and ambulance crews on the scene this morning after a 14-year-old boy was hit by a tree branch on a path on his way into Ysgol Bryn Elian school in Colwyn Bay, North Wales

Staff at Ysgol Bryn Elian, which has 820 pupils aged 11 to 18, closed the entrance where the incident happened and called for parents to use the main gates this morning

The boy was airlifted 50 miles by Wales Air Ambulance to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool for emergency treatment to his injuries, described by police as 'serious'.

Staff at Ysgol Bryn Elian, which has 820 pupils aged 11 to 18, closed the entrance where the incident happened and called for parents to use the main gates.

Police Chief Inspector Owain Llewelyn said: 'Although the boy sustained a number of serious injuries, they are not now thought to be life changing or threatening.

'The boy, who is local to the area and was on his way to school, is receiving the hospital treatment he needs and we wish him all the best with his recovery.

'I would also like to again thank everyone who assisted this morning, their quick response was greatly appreciated.'

The fire service, police, ambulance and air ambulance were all in attendance this morning

A school spokesman said: 'We can confirm that an incident has taken place this morning at Ysgol Bryn Elian involving one pupil.

'The fire service, police, ambulance and air ambulance were all in attendance. The school remain in contact with the pupil's family.'

A Welsh Ambulance Service spokesman said: 'We were called at approximately 8:50am this morning to reports that a tree had fallen on a male in Colwyn Bay.

'We sent one emergency ambulance, one paramedic in a rapid response vehicle, one advanced paramedic practitioner in a rapid response vehicle and crews were supported by Wales Air Ambulance. The patient was airlifted to Alder Hey Hospital.'

A Conwy County Borough Council spokesman said: 'Conwy Education Service has been informed, and is offering support to the school.'

The school confirmed that an 'incident has taken place this morning... involving one pupil'

And a North Wales Police spokesman added: 'A teenage boy was taken to Alder Hey Hospital by air ambulance with serious injuries after being hit by a falling branch from a tree on a footpath at 9am today as he made his way to school.'

Meanwhile a Health and Safety Executive spokesman said: 'HSE inspectors have attended the site and our investigation is ongoing.'

The school says in its prospectus that its 'beautiful coastal location provides a quiet and attractive setting for the students to enjoy the full range of our amenities'.

It was rated 'good' in its most recent inspection in 2015 by schools watchdog Estyne.
A teenager has become the second person to be killed by a bull at a Spanish festival in the past week.

Fran Gonzalez, 19, died after being gored in the groin during an annual celebration in the east coast town of Chilches near Castellon.

He was rushed to nearby Sagunto Hospital after being hurt around 6pm yesterday, but died shortly after arriving.

Organisers of the San Vicente Ferrer festival suspended the events planned for the rest of the night and a minute's silence was held today.

Mr Gonzalez, who came from the nearby town of Vall de Uxo, was well known in the area and took part in exhibitions with bulls where he performed as a recortador.

Fran Gonzalez, pictured at a previous bull festival, died yesterday after a bull gored him in the groin

Mr Gonzalez, pictured, is the second person to be killed by a bull in the past week. Witnesses said Mr Gonzalez was bleeding heavily and was unconscious when he was taken to hospital

Recortadores is the term used in Spain for people who use their bodies to dodge the bull as it runs at them.

The teenager is believed to have been gored moments after the bull, called Juanito or 'Little Juan' in English, was released from its pen into an area where spectators watch from behind a pallet-style protective fence.

Witnesses said Mr Gonzalez was bleeding heavily and was unconscious when he was taken to hospital.

He was admitted to A&E just before 8pm but news of his death emerged just an hour later.

A spokesman for the event organisers said this morning: 'Today a minute's silence will be held as a public show of our support and condolences for the dead man's family and friends.'

Late last week a 74-year-old man gored by a bull during a festival in Vejer de la Frontera near Cadiz in south west Spain, died in hospital.

He was named as Juan Jose Varo.
We destroyed our higher education system. We have decimated our social service safety net, and weve stopped investing in all the things that every single one of us that comes to this chamber decides to run on, Hutchinson said. We have hollowed out state government in a way that makes it heartbreaking to have a conversation about taxes without talking about what taxes pay for.
A disabled train passenger's Shih Tzu dog was dragged to its death when the driver didn't see its lead was caught in the doors.

Rose Barry watched her poor pooch Jonty being pulled off into the distance after the train doors closed as she was trying to board with her pet.

Now, a report looking into the accident, which occurred in September last year has found that on-board technology could have help prevent the tragedy.

A picture, taken from the report, shows how retired nurse Rose can do nothing but look on in horror as the train doors closed as she was trying to board, trapping her dog's lead and her belongings inside the carriage.

Rose (left) had to watch as her pooch Jonty (right) was dragged to his death along the platform

A picture from the report shows Rose trying to pull the lead out of the train doors before it departs

Instead of checking his mirrors, the driver pulled out of Elstree and Borehamwood Station, in Hertfordshire, with the dog still stuck, pulling it along the platform.

Investigators looking into the incident discovered that the 75-year-old had been wearing a long scarf, which came dangerously close to her being pulled to her death with her dog.

CCTV of the event from September revealed the dog's lead becoming trapped as the doors closed on the departing train.

Jonty became trapped on the platform at Elstree & Borehamwood station (pictured above)

Panicked, the Rose tried to raise the alarm by waving her arms and shouting - but the train pulled off into the distance.

According to The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), the driver missed the passenger on his on-board train cameras.

Rose had been 'standing close' to the train when he decided to close the doors before it was safe to leave the station.

Modern trains include an obstacle-detection system, but a thin object, such as the lead, wasn't picked up by the sensors.

Devastated Mr Barry claims she was left screaming for help as Jonty was dragged along the platform and onto the tracks by the train, but said still no one came to her aid

Rose was left very distressed following the accident which happened in September last year

The RAIB recommended that Govia Thameslink Railway develop guidance on what time drivers should close their train doors.

It was also suggested that their onboard technologies were investigated to 'better assist train staff to detect people or items'.

A spokesman for the RAIB said: 'At around 2.03pm on Friday, September 7, 2018, a passenger and her dog were involved in a train dispatch accident at Elstree and Borehamwood station.

Retired nurse Rose shows a picture of Jonty on her iPad

'As the passenger was boarding the train, the doors closed trapping her dog's lead, while the passenger and the dog were left standing on the platform.

'The train then departed, dragging the dog off the platform and into the gap between the platform and train. The dog suffered fatal injuries.

'The passenger was not physically injured but was very distressed by the accident. In slightly different circumstances, the passenger herself could have become trapped by the long scarf she was wearing.'

He added that the driver has been operating trains on the Thameslink route from Bedford into central London since 2003.

Rose had previously told how her disability sometimes meant she needed a little bit more help when boarding a train.

In September, she said: 'I have been travelling for 20 years and did everything correctly when I boarded the train on Friday, it's just my disability means I sometimes need a little extra help.

Rose (pictured above) said she had been out with Jonty who was on a short leash

'I had my folding walker and my bag, and was holding Jonty on a short leash.

'He was nervous because he wasn't used to travelling on the train but had recently become more confident in doing so. As the train arrived, I waited to get onto the disabled carriage.

'But to my horror, I found the step was so high it was a struggle to get in on my own, and there was no guard on the platform.

'I managed to put my bag on board, and had turned around to pick up Jonty when the doors suddenly closed, trapping Jonty's lead.'

In a statement to MailOnline Mark Whitley, Head of Safety for Govia Thameslink Railway, said: 'This was a deeply upsetting incident and we are very sorry for the distress caused to the dog's owner.

'Safety is our top priority and we conducted our own investigation as well as fully supporting the RAIB's. We have already made a number of improvements in line with the RAIB's recommendations.

'We have over 2,000 qualified drivers who help to deliver a safe railway for our passengers. We will ensure that they have the continued support and guidance to perform to the highest standards.'
Lindsey Graham, one of only two lawmakers to have viewed the unredacted Mueller report, has questioned why most of the document has been censored.

Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he 'did not understand' why a large portion of the text has been obscured after reading the full version.

Attorney General William Barr, who was responsible for blacking out swathes of the publicly-available version, has reportedly given 12 members of Congress access to the uncensored report.

Barr is due to be questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee today as he faces calls to resign from some Democratic senators.

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Lindsay Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said 'nothing changed' for him after reading the unredacted report

The recently released redacted verstion of the Mueller Report with blacked out sections throughout

But the only other Congressman to have read the report so far is Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

The other four Republicans have said they will be reading it in the coming days, while the six Democrats have boycotted it en masse - complaining Barr should have made the uncensored version more widely available.

Graham told Politico that after viewing it, 'nothing changed for me.'

'I don't know why they redacted half of what they redacted,' he added.

'It didn't change anything,' Collins said. 'Some of the redactions could actually be implied from other parts of the report that were not redacted.'

Collins refused to go into specifics of what the redacted portions contain, but hit out at the Democrats for failing to take the opportunity to go through it.

Barr's redacted version, released earlier this month, omitted four categories of subject matter; classified information, material related to ongoing investigations, information that could damage the reputation of 'peripheral third parties' and evidence collected by Mueller's grand jury.

Attorney General William Barr released the unredacted report to 12 members of Congress

Barr on Wednesday is due to face lawmakers' questions for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, in what promises to be a dramatic showdown as he defends his actions before Democrats who accuse him of spinning the investigation's findings in President Donald Trump's favor.

His appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to highlight the partisan schism around Mueller's report and the Justice Department's handling of it.

Graham is set to chair the Republican-led committee, and is expected to focus on concerns that the early days of the FBI's Russia investigation were tainted by law enforcement bias against Trump.

Barr is likely to defend himself by noting how he released the report on his own even though he didn't have to under the special counsel regulations, and that doing so fulfilled a pledge he made at his confirmation hearing to be as transparent as the law allowed.

Barr may say that he wanted to move quickly to give the public a summary of Mueller's main findings as the Justice Department spent weeks redacting more sensitive information from the report.

Rep. Doug Collins is the only other congressman to have read through the unredacted version

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen demanded William Barr's resignation after claiming the Attorney General lied to Congress.

Barr is under increasing pressure from Democrats who accuse him of spinning the Mueller report in Donald Trump's favor.

Van Hollen accused Barr of 'misleading the public' after it emerged Robert Mueller had voiced concerns over the Attorney General's handling of his report.

Barr had stated on April 20 that he 'did not know' whether Mueller agreed with his four-page summary of the report.

But it now appears he had discussed Mueller's concerns with the special counsel before then.

As he prepared to face questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee today, however, Barr released a five-page written statement claiming he was right to clear Trump of obstruction.

In the statement Barr said he had to make a 'prosecutorial judgment' on whether Donald Trump had committed obstruction of justice after the special counsel left the question open.

He also insisted he had 'made every effort to ensure that the redactions were as limited as possible' after some parts of the report were hidden from public view.
A 'ruthless' cyber criminal took part in a massive TalkTalk hack and blackmailed the former chief executive after he was turned down for a college computer course, a court heard.

Disgruntled student Daniel Kelley, from Llanelli, South Wales, turned to 'black hat' hacking when he failed to get the necessary GCSE grades.

The 22-year-old was one of a group of cyber criminals behind the massive data breach in October 2015 which cost the telecoms company 77m in lost business.

The gang demanded 465 bitcoin - now worth more than 285,000 - from 51-year-old former TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding, also known as Baroness Harding of Winscombe, in exchange for not releasing the data.

Kelley and his fellow hackers got hold of email addresses, names and phone numbers, as well as 21,000 unique bank account numbers and sort codes.

TalkTalk was fined a record 400,000 for security failings which allowed customers' data to be accessed 'with ease' in one of the biggest data breaches in history.

Daniel Kelley turned to 'black hat' hacking when he failed to get the necessary GCSE grades for a computer course, a court heard

Daniel Kelley's computer in his bedroom in Llanelli, South Wales, where as part of a hacking gang took part in one of the biggest data breaches in history

The defendant, who has Asperger's syndrome and depression, only received 4,400 worth of Bitcoins from his blackmail attempts, having made demands for more than 115,000.

Kelley went on to target companies large and small, as far afield as Canada and Australia, and attempted to hold bosses to ransom.

He appeared at the Old Bailey today to be sentenced after pleading guilty to 11 hacking-related offences.

Between September 2013 and November 2015, he took part in a wide range of activities from the deliberate, damaging disruption of computer networks to blackmailing individuals and companies whose data had been stolen by hacking.

The hacking gang blackmailed Dido Harding, chief executive officer of TalkTalk, to not release the tranche of customer's data

While he largely remained anonymous online, his crimes were revealed in snippets retrieved from chat logs, interest in Bitcoin accounts, and downloaded material, the court heard.

In September 2012, he boasted on Skype that he was 'involved with black hat activities and I can do ddos (Distributed Denial of Service)' in reference to malicious hacking.

The court heard that Kelley was just 16 when he hacked into Coleg Sir Gar further education college in Carmarthenshire out of 'spite or revenge'.

The DDoS attack caused widespread disruption to students and teachers and also affected the Welsh Government public sector network, including schools, councils, hospitals and emergency services.

After he was arrested and bailed in the wake of the chaos, Kelley continued his cyber crime spree for a more 'mercenary purpose'.

Prosecutor Peter Ratliff described Kelley as a 'prolific, skilled and cynical cyber-criminal' who was willing to 'bully, intimidate, and then ruin his chosen victims from a perceived position of anonymity and safety  behind the screen of a computer'.

Mr Ratliff added that Kelley had been 'utterly ruthless' in his hacking activities.

He said: 'Where confidential and sensitive information had been stolen in the hack  typically the personal and credit card details of the company's clients  the defendant would threaten the company with the public release of the material, knowing and exploiting the fact that the release would risk the ruin of the company concerned.'

Kelley hacked into TalkTalk and blackmailed Baroness Harding and five other executives for Bitcoin, the court heard.

His activities contributed to TalkTalk losses of tens of millions of pounds, while smaller firms he targeted were forced to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds to mitigate the damage.

The hack attack on TalkTalk's website cost the company tens of millions of pounds in lost business

The prosecutor added: 'It is clear from the content of the emails that the defendant sent that he derived enjoyment and excitement from the power he wielded over those he sought to intimidate.'

In December 2016, Kelley pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including hacking with intent, six counts of blackmail, encouraging hacking, offering to supply data in connection with fraud, and possession of articles for fraud.

In mitigation, Dean George QC appealed to the judge to not impose a jail sentence on a young man who suffers 'severe depression'.

Kelley, who has been on conditional bail, had gone from being 'overweight' in 2016 to undergoing 'extreme' weight loss, as a result of the case.

Mr George said: 'There are some cases which are exceptional. Courts can make a difference to some people and this is one of those circumstances. It's a tough decision.'

The lawyer described his client as being reduced to 'skin and bone', adding: 'The surprise would be if he makes it out of prison.'

Judge Mark Dennis QC indicated that he would hand down his sentence next Tuesday.
Israel's UN ambassador has demanded anti-Semitism be criminalized amid continued outrage over the New York Times' cartoon.

Danny Danon said that those who engage in anti-Semitism 'must be punished. Whether it is here at the UN [or by] political leaders, editors, policy pundits or college professors, it does not matter.'

His remarks come after the New York Times was forced to apologize for running an anti-Semitism political cartoon in the international edition on Thursday.

Danny Danon said that those who engage in anti-Semitism 'must be punished. Whether it is here at the UN [or by] political leaders, editors, policy pundits or college professors, it does not matter'.

The cartoon depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading a blind Donald Trump clad in a yarmulke.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Mr Danon said: 'The time for talking and having a conversation is over.

'What Israel and the Jewish community around the world demand is action - and now,' reported The Jerusalem Post.

'Antisemitism should have no place in our society,' he continued. 'Until it becomes criminal, this bigotry will persist; it will fester. It is only a matter of time until it erupts again in violence and bloodshed.'

His remarks come after the New York Times was forced to apologize for running an anti-Semitism political cartoon in the international edition on Thursday

Earlier this week, Israel's UN ambassador insisted the New York Times hold accountable those responsible for publishing the cartoon.

He said the cartoon 'could have been taken from the pages of Der Sturmer, the Nazi propaganda paper, and yet these actions have gone unpunished.'

The newspaper apologized for the cartoon on Saturday, saying: 'The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgment to publish it.'

'I am not in a position of accepting or not accepting the apology, but if somebody make a mistake, I think somebody should be accountable,' said Danon, who added that such images can incite violence against Jews.

On Sunday, the NYT issued an additional statement saying it was 'deeply sorry' and committed to 'making sure nothing like this happens again.'

'We have investigated how this happened and learned that, because of a faulty process, a single editor working without adequate oversight, downloaded the syndicated cartoon and made the decision to include it on the Opinion Page,' it said.

The NYT said the matter was under internal review and that they 'anticipate significant changes'.
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A mob of rioters linked to France's Yellow Vest movement tried to storm the intensive care unit of the hospital where Princess Diana died.

In unprecedented scenes that have caused shock and outrage, agitators wearing black masks and carrying improvised weapons attacked the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris today.

Rioting broke out in Paris earlier on Wednesday afternoon as thousands gathered for May Day protests dubbed 'Armageddon' by extremist demonstrators.

Thugs from the so-called Black Bloc anti-capitalist movement were involved in running battles with police soon after 1pm and by 2pm, there were around 300 arrests in Paris, most for public order offences related to the rioting.

Clusters of anarchists and Yellow Vest protesters disrupted the May Day rallies in Paris by throwing rocks, setting rubbish cans on fire and antagonising police riot squads.

Officers used tear gas, flash grenades and rubber ball launchers as troublemakers wearing black masks and hoods confronted them in the street and pelted them with stones and other objects.

The confrontations broke out near the start of the main May Day march near Montparnasse train station and started again at the end of the route near the Place d'Italie in southeast Paris as police tried to disperse stragglers.

Black Bloc activists with their faces covered could be seen leading attacks on officers, and smashing up vehicles and shop fronts.

A masked protester dressed in black standing next to a burning barricade during clashes on the sidelines of a May Day demonstration in Paris

A protester holding a flag of the Romani people as he stands on burning planks on the sidelines of the annual May Day rally

An anti-riot policeman holds a 40-millimetre rubber defensive bullet launcher LBD (LBD40) during clashes with anti-capitalist protesters

A masked protester dressed in black smashing a shop window as Black Bloc demonstrators set fire to barricades and trashed businesses in the French capital

A crowd control canister exploding in front of riot police officers during clashes with police and demonstrators as 300 were arrested for public order offences

French Riot Police stand in clouds of tear gas near a burning barricade as demonstrators set fire to rubbing bins and vehciles around Paris

A Yellow Vest protester kicking a tear gas shell back towards the police as a motorbike and a pile a cardboard boxes burn in front of him

A Gilet Jaune or 'Yellow Vest' protester standing on top of a burning barricade as demonstrations for International Labour Day turned violent with widespread rioting and vandalism

As the violence spread across the city even a hospital was targeted with between 15 and 30 intruders wearing the movement's trademark florescent yellow jackets.

Martin Hirsch, the director of the University Hospitals Pitie-Salpetriere, said his staff faced up to the mob 'in an attempted intrusion that left patients in danger'.

It happened at around 4.30pm on Wednesday towards the end of chaotic May Day protests across Paris that saw almost 300 people arrested.

An unidentified captain from a CRS (Republican Security Company) riot control unit had been admitted to the Pitie-Salpetriere earlier in the afternoon, after being hit by a slab of concrete, and around 15 of his comrades were also being treated for lesser wounds.

Another hospital source said: 'We do not know if the thugs were trying to get at the captain or other officers, but they were clearly very angry. Security guards signalled that they were trying to force themselves through a locked gate that eventually gave way.

'It was then that a mob got into the hospital grounds, and made its way up a staircase to the first floor intensive care unit. Staff had to secure a door of a unit full of patients who require intensive care.'

Numerous sources said some of the 30-odd intruders were wearing Yellow Vest motoring jackets which have become a symbol of the anti-government movement.

French riot police unleash tear gas cannons on anti-government protesters in Paris as demonstrations descended into violence

Riot police and demonstrators clash as scuffles and skirmishes break out around Paris

Masked Black Blocs protesters, some in wheelchairs and waving banners, throw stones at riot police during demonstrations

Heavily armed riot police in protective gear use batons and tear gas on Yellow Vest protesters

French riot police surround and protect an injured police officer as he receives medical treatment during a demonstration

French riot Police intervene and grabs protesters during a demonstration as large parts of central Paris were put under lockdown

An injured French riot police officer receives medical treatment during from firefighters

Tear gas flooded the Parisian air as riot police confronted anti-government demonstrators

A protester receives medical treatment during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the Yellow Vests

Others had their faces covered and were dressed in black, suggesting they were part of the anti-capitalist Black Bloc group.

Doctors, nurses and interns were among those who got behind the door to the unit, showing 'incredible courage,' said the source.

The stand-off between staff and rioters lasted for around 10 minutes, and it was then that police finally arrived and began making arrests.

Marie-Anne Ruder, another hospital worker, said: 'Staff are deeply shocked that the hospital could become a target - it was a very painful moment for all those who experienced this violent and brutal intrusion.'

It is believed that some 30 protesters were arrested around the Pitie-Salpetriere, where Diana, Princess of Wales, died on August 31 1997.

The Mercedes limousine she was travelling in crashed into an underpass wall, also killing her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed, and their chauffer, Henri Paul.

Commenting on today's attack, France's Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the hospital was 'ransacked' by Black Bloc members.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn, who is a highly respected medic, said: 'Picking on a hospital is unspeakable.'

A man, his face covered in blood and heavily bandaged, is assisted as he walks away during a May Day demonstration in the French capital Paris today

People hold blue, white and red smoke bombs as they demonstrate to mark May Day or Labour Day on May 1, 2019 in Toulouse, southwestern France

A wounded riot policeman is comforted by colleagues as medics treat him during clashes with police on the sidelines of a May Day demonstration in Paris

A police officer assists an injured man as demonstrators march though Paris during the annual May Day protests on May 1 in Paris

A protester throws back a tear gas canister, during clashes with riot police officers, prior to the start of May Day demonstrations, in Paris on May 1, 2019

A 'Black Bloc' anti-capitalist protester throws a rock at a van during May Day demonstrations today. More than 7,400 police and gendarmes will be deployed across Paris with orders from the French President to take an 'extremely firm stance' if faced with any violence, a government spokeswoman said on April 30

Rubbish bins burn as riot police intervene protesters during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes'

French fireman extinguishing a burning barricade in the centre of Paris

A man walking past garbage and wheelie bins set on fire in Paris. Brief scuffles between police and protesters broke out in the city as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures

A protester wearing a cat mask standing in front of tear gas smoke during running battles with riot police

The worst early violence was outside La Rotonde, President Emmanuel Macron's favourite restaurant in Montparnasse.

'Black Bloc agitators were throwing stones and other missiles at us, and we had to charge,' said a CRS riot control officer of the French National Police at the scene.

'Tear gas has also been deployed to bring order to the situation. The situation is very tense.'

Many 'radical activists' more are expected to come from neighbouring countries including Britain, Germany and Italy to join in the mayhem.

There are fears that they will target public monuments, banks and high-end shops, while also threatening the kind of fires that have become common at protests.

This has led to the Champs Elysee  the most famous avenue in France  being closed, along with Paris's governmental and diplomatic districts.

The Ile de la Cite - the island where Notre Dame Cathedral is situated was also in lockdown following the blaze that almost destroyed it last month.

A Mercedes on fire during the demonstration by the Yellow Vests and trade unions as part of Labour Day demonstration

Riot police with shields and protective gear walk past a barricade in central Paris

Protestors run past a burning barricade as demonstrations for International Labour Day turn violent, with widespread rioting and vandalism

Black Blocs protesters move a Black Swan banner towards riot police during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes'

Riot police firing tear gas canisters towards a crowd of protesters

Black Blocs protesters move a Black Swan banner towards riot police as missiles and flares land around them

A 'Yellow Vest' protesters kicking tear gas shells back towards the police during clashes with riot police that saw swathes of Paris descend into violence

Yellow Vest protesters demonstrating on top of a burning barricade as demonstrations for International Labour Day turned violent

Weapons were also confiscated as the police used tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges to try and restore order.

Huge parts of Paris were in lockdown as an unprecedented 7,400 police officers were drafted on to the streets.

Groups of masked and hooded protesters were seen causing damage and then merging with the much larger number of peaceful May Day marchers.

Some vandalised a parked van, kicking the vehicle and breaking its windows. Others set small fires to rubbish bins.

Tens of thousands of labour union and 'yellow vest' protesters were on the streets across France, days after Macron outlined a response to months of street protests including tax cuts worth around 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion).

The Russian Foreign Ministry alleged that French police used batons on the head and shoulder of a correspondent for state news agency RIA-Novosti, Viktoria Ivanova.

'We consider the use of violence against journalists in the exercise of their professional duties to be unacceptable,' the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The hard-left CGT union denounced police violence and said its secretary general had been tear-gassed.

'This current scenario, scandalous and unprecedented, is unacceptable in our democracy,' it said in a statement.

A masked protester dressed in black throws a stone to the windscreen of a vehicle, prior to the start of May Day demonstrations, in Paris on May 1, 2019

The windscreen of a vehicle was broken by a rock thrown by protesters, prior to the start of May Day demonstrations, in Paris on May 1, 2019

A Black Bloc protester throws a projectile towards riot police during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes'

The violence was worst outside La Rotonde - a favourite restaurant of President Emmanual Macron, which received international attention after he and his entourage celebrated his first round victory in the Presidential elections

Street medics check an injured protester before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris, France

Street Medics attend to an injured protestor in the Montparnasse district of Paris, prior to the start of the annuel May Day workers' demonstration

French Gendarmes stand guard as street medics intervene (right), prior to the start of May Day demonstrations in Paris on May 1

A French riot police officer with his baton drawn arresting a protester during clashes on the sidelines of the annual May Day rally in Paris

Protesters taking part in an event called 'BenallApero', to prevent police from getting to the Contrescarpe square in Paris, a site where a former Elysee senior security officer Alexandre Benalla was caught on video hitting a protester during a previous May Day rally

Demonstrators smash a bank entrance as shops and businesses were trashed during demonstrations that saw huge parts of Paris put under lockdown by the police

A French riot police officer arresting a protester on the ground during a demonstration of the French trade unionsand the Yellow Vests

It wasn't immediately clear how many people were injured. At least two men with head wounds were helped away by paramedics and firefighters helped a woman in a wheelchair. Some police officers also fell on the ground.

The French Interior Ministry said 24 protesters and 14 police officers were injured. The ministry said 28,000 people marched in Paris and more than 164,000 in May Day rallies across the country.

Paris police said one police officer was taken to a hospital with a head injury.

The massive security presence was announced by Interior Minister Christophe Castaner who said: 'There's no question of dramatising anything, it is a question of being prepared.'

May Day is a Bank Holiday and a traditional time for Left-Wing workers to rise up against the ruling elite.

While some of the people clashing with police wore the signature yellow vests of a French anti-government movement, the peaceful march also had participants in yellow vests as well as waving labour union flags.

Authorities had said they expected some 2,000 Black Bloc protesters from France and across Europe to turn up on the sidelines of the rallies.

A protester raises his arms amid teargas smoke during clashes with French anti-riot police officers

Riot police officers restrain a man during a May Day demonstration in Paris - dubbed 'Armageddon' by extremist demonstrators from Black Bloc - an anti-capitalist movement

A man wearing a yellow vest and a mask stands amidst a cloud of tear gas during today's May Day demonstrations in Paris, France

French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that 'radical activists' could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country.

Activists make their way through tear gas during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for the expected 'Armageddon' riots today

A protester in a wheelchair, wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) faces anti-riot police forces in the Montparnasse district of Paris, ahead of the start of the annual May Day (Labour Day) workers' demonstration

More than 7,400 police and gendarmes will be deployed across Paris with orders from the French President to take an 'extremely firm stance' if faced with any violence, government spokeswoman said on April 30

An injured protester is assisted by a street medic prior to the start of the annual May Day rally in Paris. A heady mix of labour unionists, 'yellow vest' demonstrators and hardline hooligans are expected to hit the streets today for Labour Day

A masked protester dressed in black kindles a burning barricade during clashes on the sidelines of a May Day demonstration in Paris, on May 1

Black Blocs protesters move a Black Swan banner towards riot police during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement marking Labour Day in Paris

Riot police clash with demonstrators as they march though Paris during the annual May Day protests

Tear gas floats around masked protesters during clashes before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris, France

The yellow vest protests, named after motorists' high-visibility jackets, began in November over fuel tax increases but have evolved into a sometimes violent revolt against politicians and a government seen as out of touch.

The sudden violence caught many marchers by surprise, with union members who were caught in the crossfire infuriated by what they claimed was an indiscriminate police crackdown.

One union member with tears in his eyes, referring to the momentous student-led protests in Paris that took place in 1968, said: 'I've never seen anything like it, not even in '68. It was outrageous.'

Yellow vest supporters joined the traditional May Day union march to show their common rejection of President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, seen as favouring the wealthy and big business.

Macron last week tried to address the complaints of the yellow vest movement by announcing tax cuts for middle-class workers and an increase in pensions.

Yellow Vest protesters chant slogans against President Macron while waving a symbolic yellow flare filling the air with smoke

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said extra officers were needed because '1,000 to 2,000 extremists' were expected to join in the trouble today

More than 7,400 police and security forces have been deployed in the city to prevent a repeat of the violence and disorder seen in 2018

Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hardline demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded the city in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence

French riot police gather to protect the Rotonde restaurant during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and protesters of the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement marking Labor Day in Paris

Masked protestors - part of the 'black bloc' direct action movement - attack a van in the Montparnasse district of Paris on May 1 2019

Protesters stand amid smoke during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement marking Labor Day in Paris

A protester kicks away a tear gas canister in front of French riot police during a May Day demonstration in Paris on Wednesday

Protesters throw projectiles towards the riot police during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the Gilets Jaunes

A firefighter spraying water on a tree after planks were set ablaze under it by protesters causing huge parts of Paris to be put on lockdown

Protesters stacking up a barricade by adding a wheelie bin as others chant against President Macron

A member of the French anti-riot police CRS receives medication after being injured during clashes with demonstrators

French firefighters help an injured 'Yellow Vest' protester hit by a police grenade in central Paris

Protesters gather on the Place d'Italie at the end of the annual May Day rally in Paris

Philippe Martinez, secretary general of one of France's major trade unions, the CGT, temporarily left the march for security reasons during the scuffles between the anarchist protesters and police.

After rejoining the march, he stressed that yellow vest and union activists 'are marching together in all French cities'.

'That's a protest of workers who tell the government and the president of the republic: ''Change your policies,'' Martinez said of the support from the movement that started in November. 'We are very satisfied of the mobilisation.'

He later returned, visibly agitated, with sharp words of criticism for the police whom he accused of 'charging at well-identified union members'.

Signs held aloft during the march read 'Long live freedom, long live socialism,' 'Police, gendarmes, join us,' and 'What are we going to leave our children? Wake up.'

French authorities had warned 'radical activists' might disrupt the Paris demonstration Wednesday as in previous yellow vest protests and on May Day during the last two years.

A masked protester in black gestures prior to the start of May Day demonstrations in Paris. France's zero-tolerance approach to protest violence will be tested as a mix of labour unionists, 'yellow vest' demonstrators and hardline hooligans are expected to hit the streets today

French riot Police intervene protesters during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement marking Labor Day in Paris, France, 01 May 2019

A Black Bloc protester throws a projectile towards riot police during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement marking Labor Day in Paris

People including protesters wearing yellow vests gather near La Rotonde restaurant during the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris

French police apprehend protesters during the traditional May Day labour union march with French unions and yellow vests protesters in Paris

French police detain a protester during clashes on the sidelines of the annual May Day workers' rally in Paris on May 1, 2019

Demonstrators clash with police as they march though Paris during the annual May Day protests on May 01, 2019 in Paris, France

Protesters gesture and face riot police officers amid tear gas smoke, prior to the start of May Day demonstrations, in Paris on May 1, 2019

French riot police officers face Black Blocs and Yellow Vests protesters chanting anti-government slogans and waving placards as they marched through Paris

A man wearing an Anonymous mask and a Yellow vest walks past French riot police during a May Day rally in the southern French city of Marseille on May 1

In France, there have been around 5,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers deployed for recent Yellow Vest demonstrations that have descended into anarchy.

Today a further 2,400 were deemed necessary as the Vests were joined by trade unionists, climate change protesters and Black Bloc who had posted messages on social media pledging an 'Armageddon' that would turn Paris into the 'Riot Capital of Europe'.

Mr Castanar said the extra officers were needed because '1,000 to 2,000 extremists' were expected to join in the trouble.

These would be added to around 25,000 Yellow Vests in Paris alone, and some 100,000 more in other parts of France, said Mr Castaner.

The French Interior Ministry said about 16,000 people marched in Paris and more than 151,000 in May Day rallies across the country.

A private company hired by a group of French news outlets, Occurrence, counted 40,000 protesters in Paris.

More than 7,400 police officers were deployed in Paris because of the May Day events. The Paris police department said there were 288 arrests. Officers also carried out more than 12,500 'preventive searches' of bags.

A French riot police officer being evacuated from the scene of violent clashes in the city after being injured during a demonstration in central Paris

Masked protestors dressed in black, some carrying the famous yellow vests of the anti-government protest movement gather in the Montparnasse district of Paris

Demonstrators clash with police as they march though Paris during the annual May Day protests on May 01, 2019 in Paris

French anti-riot policemen detain a protester in the Montparnasse district of Paris, prior to the start of the annual May Day (Labour Day) workers' demonstration in Paris on May 1

Tear gas floats around masked protesters during clashes with French riot police during a demonstration as part of the traditional May Day labour day in Paris, France, May 1, 2019

Tear gas surrounds masked protesters wearing French flags and Yellow Vests during clashes with French riot police in Paris

French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement attend a protest marking Labor Day in Paris, France, 01 May 2019

Protesters run during clashes with police on the sidelines of the annual May Day rally in Paris on May 1, 2019

French riot Police intervene protesters during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement marking Labor Day in Paris, France, 01 May 2019

Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station

A police officer points a 40-millimetre rubber defensive bullet launcher LBD, as he stands guard with gendarmes and riot police officers, prior to the start of May Day demonstrations, in Paris on May 1

Protesters hold a sign reading 'Patriarchy Murderer' during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and protesters of the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement through Paris' streets marking Labor Day in Paris

French CRS riot police apprehend a protester during clashes at a demonstration during the traditional May Day labour day in Paris, France

A protester hold a placard that translates as 'The People are fighting the Human Vegetables' during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019

An injured protester being evacuated from the area by street medics. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that 'radical activists' could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country

Far-left politician Eric Coquerel, member of France Insoumise ('Rebel France') said 'violence is, unfortunately, often playing against protesters.' Larger numbers of demonstrators would be 'more efficient' to put pressure on the government, he said.

French police ordered the closure of more than 580 shops, restaurants and cafes on the Paris protest route and numerous subway stations were shut.

Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT union, temporarily left the march for security reasons during the scuffles between the anarchist protesters and police.

After rejoining the marching throngs, he stressed that yellow vest and union activists 'are marching together in all French cities.'

A masked protester walks past a fire during clashes with riot police as part of the traditional May Day labour union march with French unions and yellow vests protesters in Paris

Protesters walk past a burning barricade during clashes with police on the sidelines of a May Day demonstration in Paris

Masked protesters burn street furniture during clashes with riot police as part of the traditional May Day labour union march with French unions and yellow vests protesters in Paris

A protester is arrested by French riot Police during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and protesters of the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) movement marking Labor Day in Paris

A man kicks away a tear gas canister during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. France's interior minister said there was a risk that 'radical activists' could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris today

Police face demonstrators during a May Day rally in Paris today. By 2pm there had been a total of 300 arrests in the French capital with huge parts of the city on lockdown

Demonstrators march though Paris as they take part in the annual May Day protests on May 01, 2019 in Paris, France. More than 7,400 police and security forces have been deployed in the city to prevent a repeat of the violence and disorder seen in 2018

French CRS riot police apprehend a protester during clashes at a demonstration during the traditional May Day labour day in Paris, France

Protesters wearing yellow vests gather in the Montparnasse district before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris, France, May 1, 2019. The placard reads: 'RIC (Citizens Initiated Referendum)'

French riot police stand guard during clashes with protesters

Riot police clashed with demonstrators as they marched though Paris with burning barricades set up around the city

Riot police escort a demonstrator from the area during violent clashes across Paris

Police wearing motorcycle helmets stand in a cordon during during a confrontation with anti-government protesters

Armoured cars and water cannons were also being deployed next to historic buildings such as the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomhe.

The Vests  who are named after their high visibility motoring jackets  started as an online group calling for an end to high fuel prices last November.

Some agitators vowed on social media to turn Paris into 'the capital of rioting', the government said it had deployed security on an 'exceptional scale'.

They have been demonstrating in major cities such as Paris every Saturday since, and are now calling for President Emmanuel Macron to resign.

He went on television last week to outline a package of economic reforms worth around 4.5billion, but it has failed to pacify his critics.

As Mr Macron prepares for European Parliament elections this month, he wants to show he is capable of maintaining law and order in his own country.

Maxime Nicolle, aka Fly Rider, one of the leading figures of the 'yellow vests' (gilets jaunes) movement, looks on prior to the start of the annual May Day rally in Paris

French CRS riot police secure a position during clashes at a demonstration during the traditional May Day labour day in Paris

A man holds up a banner that plays on the name of disgraced former top presidential security aide Alexandre Benalla, during a May Day rally in the southern French city of Marseille on May 1. Benalla was identified by Le Monde newspaper on 18 July 2018 as the person filmed beating up a young protester during the 2018 May Day demonstrations in Paris while impersonating a police officer

Street medics check an injured protester before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris today

A masked protester wrapped in a French flag looks on while standing in front of riot police prior to the start of the annual May Day rally in Paris

A protester holds a scale and a placard which reads 'LBD40, CAC40 same fight' in front of French riot police during the traditional May Day labour day march in Paris

A police officer points a 40-millimetre rubber defensive bullet launcher LBD prior to the start of May Day demonstrations, in Paris on May 1, 2019

A yellow vest protester wearing an Alexandre Benalla mask gestures prior to the start of the annual May Day rally in Paris on May 1, 2019. Benalla was identified by Le Monde newspaper on 18 July 2018 as the person filmed beating up a young protester during the 2018 May Day demonstrations in Paris while impersonating a police officer

Authorities have warned that this year's marches could be tense, coming barely a week after leaders of the yellow vest anti-government movement angrily dismissed a package of tax cuts by President Emmanuel Macron

A protestor walks through a cloud of tear gas during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019

French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that 'radical activists' could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country

French riot police secure a position before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris, France on May 1

People including protesters wearing yellow vests gather before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris

Union members and others march during a May Day or Labour Day rally in the western French city of Bordeaux on May 1, 2019

A woman holding a placard reading 'Only Frexit turns me on' takes part in a march called by the Popular Republican Union party (Union Populaire Republicaine - UPR) in Paris

A man wearing a helmet sporting French and British flag as well as the Croix de Lorraine (Cross of Lorraine) takes part in a march called by the Popular Republican Union party (Union Populaire Republicaine - UPR) in Paris on May 1, 2019, as part of the EU election campaign

Protesters wearing yellow vests and masked protesters gather before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris

Union members and others march during a May Day or Labour Day rally in the western French city of Bordeaux on May 1, 2019

A woman holds up a placard that reads,'28 suicides in 4 months, join us', referring to police suicides since the start of the year during a May Day or Labour Day rally in the western French city of Bordeaux on May 1, 2019

Protesters hold a sign reading 'Patriarchy Murderer' during a demonstration of the French trade unions members and protesters of the 'Gilets Jaunes' (Yellow Vests) in Paris

France's powerful labour unions had hoped to use the traditional May Day march for workers' rights to raise their profile after finding themselves sidelined for months by the grass-roots yellow vest movement.

May Day demonstrations were also expected today in major cities such as Bordeaux, Marseille and Toulouse.

International Workers' Day demonstrations also took place across the world in Nigeria, Algeria, Turkey and Indonesia today.

Many countries celebrate or protest for workers rights on May 1, which is a public holiday in many countries, after socialists settled on the date to commemorate the Haymarket affair.

In Saint Petersburg, home city of Vladimir Putin, officials allowed pro-Kremlin marchers to rally freely. But police swiftly broke up a sanctioned march by supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and made some 60 arrests after protesters chanted anti-Putin slogans.

A placard that reads, 'We need Frexit' - of a French exit from the EU - during a May Day or Labour Day rally in the western French city of Bordeaux on May 1

A flare is burning in front of gendarmes officers, prior to the start of May Day demonstrations, in Paris on May 1, 2019. - France's zero-tolerance approach to protest violence will be tested on May 1, when a heady mix of labour unionists, 'yellow vest' demonstrators and hardline hooligans are expected to hit the streets on Labour Day.

Protesters wearing yellow vests and masked protesters gather before the start of the traditional May Day labour union march in Paris, France

An activist kicks away a tear gas canister during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that 'radical activists' could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country

Masked protesters stand in heavy tear gas smoke prior to the start of the annual May Day rally in Paris on May 1, 2019

People holding a portrait of the head of the Popular Republican Union (UPR) party, Francois Asselineau take part in a march called by the Popular Republican Union party (Union Populaire Republicaine - UPR) in Paris on May 1, 2019, as part of the EU election campaign

A protestor stands on a pedestrian crossing light during a May Day demonstration in Paris on Wednesday May 1 2019

People carry a banner that reads, 'State of Climate emergency' during a May Day or Labour Day rally in the western French city of Bordeaux on May 1, 2019

A protestor confronts police officers during a May Day demonstration in the French capital Paris on Wednesday, May 1, 2019

A protestor attends a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday on May 1, 2019

One of the Yellow Vest (Gilet Jaune) movement's leading figures Jerome Rodrigues gives a thumbs-up as he arrives in the Montparnasse district of Paris, ahead of the start of the annual May Day (Labour Day) workers' demonstration in Paris on May 1

Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures

A protestor holds a banner criticising the funding of the Notre Dame cathedral renovations, during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019

A man in costume holds a banner that reads, 'What are we going to leave our children, wake up' during a May Day or Labour Day rally in the French capital Paris on May 1, 2019

Thousands began rallying for May Day in Paris with a heady mix of labour unionists, 'yellow vest' demonstrators and hardline troublemakers expected to turn out in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on protest violence

French police apprehend protesters during the traditional May Day labour union march with French unions and yellow vests protesters in Paris

A protestor kicks back a tear gas canister during clashes with police prior to the start of the annual May Day rally in Paris on May

Protesters stand amid tear gas during clashes with security forces on the sidelines of the annual May Day workers' rally in Paris on May 1, 2019

Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures

Balloons from the French Trade Union CGT float over the traditional May Day labour union march with French unions and yellow vests protesters in Paris, France, May 1, 2019

A demonstrator wearing a yellow vest (gilet jaune) holds a placard reading 'yes, I'm for the citizen dialogue, tax justice, social action and a real ecological transition', during a May Day demonstration

Demonstrators clash police as they march though Paris during in the annual May Day protests on May 01, 2019 in Paris, France

In Nigeria, the marches were protesting against the harsh economic downturn and at the same time demanding for better welfare and working conditions.

Turkish police arrested 127 people as they sought to hold a May Day rally in an Istanbul square in defiance of a ban.

Istanbul police made dozens of arrests of people at an unauthorised rally at Taksim Square, the city's traditional focal point of protest.

And in Manila, some 8,000 protesters torched a giant effigy of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte over his policies' impact on the nation's poor.

Protests also marked Labour Day rallies in Algeria, where marchers called for top politicians to quit, and the Philippines, where a giant effigy of President Rodrigo Duterte was torched.

And the tense standoff between pro-and anti-regime elements continued in Venezuela after opposition leader Juan Guaido called for a massive May Day protest to increase the pressure on President Maduro.

Workers protesting during a May Day rally in Surabaya, East Java Province, Indonesia, wore red and took selfies

Supports of the Lebanese Communist party were seen holding an Arabic banner that says 'unite' during this Labour Day protest

People marched at the Agege Stadium in Lagos earlier today, where workers protested against the harsh economic downturn

Pictured: members of the Otohu Diamond Women Initiative hold a placard arguing for sex workers' rights in Lagos, Nigeria

Here, a demonstrator uses a megaphone during a protest at a May Day march in Algiers, Algeria, while draped in the country's flag

Students hold images of Marxist leaders and flags as they shout slogans during a Labour Day rally in Ankara, Turkey

Sri Lankan women working in Beirut in Lebanon held up signs saying 'we need freedom' during today's march against worsening economic conditions in the country

Workers raise their caps during a rally to mark Labour day at the Agege Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria, earlier today

These women were seen shouting slogans and holding placards as they attended a May Day rally in Karachi, Pakistan
One who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a hero, as the Chinese saying goes.

Apparently, way too many people wished to be heroes today and ended up getting trapped on the famous fortress attraction.

More than 54,000 tourists flooded a popular section of the Wall in Beijing, causing a massive 'human traffic jam' on the historic landmark.

The Great Wall of People! Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists flocked to the famous fortress attraction in Badaling, Beijing, today as they celebrated the Labour Day on a four-day break

Incredible footage shows throngs of visitors slowly moving forward on the stone stairway before coming to a complete halt as hundreds more people are still waiting ahead.

The scenes were captured at Badaling, the most visited section of the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing.

The keen Chinese travellers were celebrating the Labour Day, a national holiday in the country.

People around the country are given four days off to enjoy the occasion and many have taken the opportunity to realise their life-time dream of scaling the Great Wall.

And you thought this was busy! The ancient fortification is expected to get even more packed tomorrow as twice as many tickets have been booked through Chinese travel site Tuniu

One tourist told BJ News that the Wall was extremely busy and she often had to wait for more than one minute to move just a little further.

Another first-time visitor couldn't contain his joy as he told Pear Video: '[The Wall] is better than I thought.'

A third visitor told Beijing Youth Daily that he made the trip just to see how busy the Great Wall would get: 'I often see short videos online which claim that the Great Wall could be "people mountain people sea". [I] have come here to see this especially.'

Badaling (pictured) in Beijing is the most visited and best preserved section of the Great Wall

The Great Wall of China was first built in the Qin Dynasty (259BC to 210BC) by the first emperor of China, Qinshihuang, in a bid to fend off invaders from the north.

Situated about 70 kilometres north-west to the Tian'anmen Square (43.5 miles), Badaling was built in 1505 during the Ming Dynasty (13681644) under the rule of Emperor Hongzhi.

It was one of the nine strongholds on the Great Wall from the Ming Dynasty and is the best preserved section today.

The renowned scenic spot receives an average of 20,000 tourists a day, but on national holidays like today the figure could double or triple.

The ancient fortification is expected to get even busier tomorrow as twice as many tickets have been booked through Chinese travel site Tuniu.

Many of the visitors are visiting Beijing also to see the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019, or Expo 2019.
John Worboys, 62, allegedly committed the crimes between 2000 and 2008 in London

A black cab driver was today charged with four offences of drugging women to rape or sexually assault them.

John Worboys, also known as John Radford, who is currently being held at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire, allegedly committed the crimes between 2000 and 2008 in London.

He was charged with two counts of administering a stupefying or overpowering drug with intent, contrary to Section 22 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.

Worboys, who turned 62 yesterday, was also charged with two counts of administering a substance with intent, contrary to Section 61 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Each of the four charges relates to offences against four separate people.

He is due to appear in custody on May 23 at Westminster Magistrates' Court after being charged by postal requisition today. The charges relate to allegations made in early 2018.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: 'In September 2018, the Crown Prosecution Service received a file of evidence from the Metropolitan Police relating to allegations of non-recent sexual assault and of administering drugs to cause unconsciousness.

'Following a review of the evidence, the CPS has today charged John Radford, formerly known as John Worboys, with four offences.'
Deborah Pringle (pictured), 48, bombarded Jason Gillespie, 23, with text messages, emails and phone calls after he broke off their relationship in June last year

An American woman who stalked her Scots toyboy and bombarded him with hundreds of messages after he ended their fling has escaped punishment.

Deborah Pringle, 48, bombarded Jason Gillespie, 23, with text messages, emails and phone calls after he broke off their relationship in June last year.

Pringle contacted him around 200 times in just three days in July  and threatened to self-harm if he did not get back to her.

When he refused to answer her calls, she began phoning him from a withheld number to dupe him into answering.

Pringle, who was born in Scotland but moved to the US and holds dual citizenship, also turned up at his parents home in the early hours of the morning in August last year.

She admitted engaging in a course of conduct which caused Mr Gillespie fear or alarm by repeatedly sending him text messages and emails, phoning him, and going to his parents home uninvited.

The charge stated the offence was aggravated by involving the abuse of her ex-partner.

But Sheriff Tom McCartney opted to admonish Pringle over the case, meaning it shows on her criminal record but she receives no punishment, pointing out that she was a first-time offender.

Pringle (above) contacted Mr Gillespie around 200 times in just three days in July  and threatened to self-harm if he did not get back to her. When he refused to answer her calls, she began phoning him from a withheld number to dupe him into answering

He denied the Crown motion for a Non-Harassment Order.

The sheriff said: I do that because I have taken into consideration the absence of any previous convictions and the fact that you have in no way failed to comply with the bail conditions not to approach or contact Mr Gillespie.

This offence occurred at a very difficult period for you and you have moved on from there and there is no chance of you attempting or planning or looking to make any contact with Mr Gillespie.

'On that basis, I do not consider such an order as necessary or appropriate.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard that the relationship began when the pair met each other online.

The court heard it was a physical and not a romantic relationship, with hook-ups in a number of Glasgow hotels.

But Mr Gillespie broke off the fling and failed to respond to Pringles messages, resulting in her going to his parents home in Barrhead to try and speak to him at 2am.

Paisley Sheriff Court (pictured) heard that the relationship began when the pair met each other online. The court heard it was a physical and not a romantic relationship, with hook-ups in a number of Glasgow hotels

She was met at the door by his father, who sent her away. After going home, she continued to send Mr Gillespie messages and he responded, telling her to leave him alone, before he went to the police.

Defence solicitor Iain Bradley told Sheriff McCartney: Her age defies her youth  she is a youthful lady. Their relationship was limited to sexual contact between them  it was simply repeated sexual contact.

Pringle admitted her guilt last November but sentence was deferred for her to be of good behaviour.

Mr Bradley said she had been diagnosed as suffering from depression and seasonal affective disorder, defined by the NHS as a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern and is sometimes known as winter depression because the symptoms are usually more apparent and more severe during the winter.

The lawyer said a conviction would affect Pringle when she was in the US. He said Mr Gillespie had tried to contact her, but that she had ignored his attempts.

Mr Bradley said a non- harassment order, which would see her banned from contacting him, might be a sledgehammer breaking a nut.
Magazine bosses have been left red-faced after mistakenly using a picture of one of France's most well known landmarks to promote an attraction in Cornwall.

The 2019 edition of the South West Attractions and Accommodation Guide featured an advertisement promoting tourism in the southwestern county.

But the image used to promote one of the areas biggest attractions was Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France instead of Cornwall's own Saint Michael's Mount.

The magazine publisher Archant apologised for the 'production error', in a statement to the BBC.

Magazine bosses have been left red-faced after mistakenly using a picture of France's Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy (pictured) instead of Cornwall's own Saint Michael's Mount in a travel advertisement about Cornwall

'We have rectified this on our records and apologise for this error.

'South West Attractions is an annual edition so we would normally mention this in the next edition, but in this case it will be some time.'

The magazine publisher Archant apologised for the 'production error'. Despite the error, the mistake appears to be easily confused for Cornwall's own Saint Michael's Mount (pictured) as both landmarks look almost identical, have similar names and historical links to each other

Historical links between Saint Michael's Mount and Mont Saint Michel It can be easy enough to confuse Cornwall's Saint Michael's Mount with Normandy's Mont Saint Michel. Both structures sit on a rock off the mainland and have religious purposes as monasteries dedicated St Michael. Following the Norman Conquest 1066, Robert de Mortain, Earl Of Cornwall, gave Saint Michael's Mount to the monks on the Normandy island. Links between the icons were further severed by Henry Vlll dissolved the monasteries and turned the priory into a defence fortress to stop the Catholics from France and Spain invading. Source: Christopher Long Advertisement

Despite the error, the mistake appears to be easily confused for Cornwall's own Saint Michael's Mount since both landmarks look almost identical, with similar names, and have historical links to each other.

Both structures sit on a rock off the mainland and have religious purposes as monasteries dedicated to St Michael.

Normandy's Mont Saint Michel was built between the 11th and 16th century.

It is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and is visited by three million visitors a year.

Cornwall's Saint Michael's Mount began construction in 1135 and the monastery of Saint Michael.

Following the Norman Conquest 1066, Earl Of Cornwall Robert de Mortain gave Saint Michael's Mount to the monks on the Normandy island.

Links between the icons were later severed when Henry Vlll dissolved the monasteries and turned the priory into a defence fortress to stop the Catholics from France and Spain invading.
Buskers in the capital could face 1,000 fines if they fail to play different music, because they are making residents' lives a 'misery' with their repetitive tunes.

Kensington and Chelsea Council could be set to introduce a stringent set of new rules to street artists, limiting them to a 45-minute time limit on performances and demanding they play a 'full and varied repertoire'.

Buskers will be told to avoid 'excessive repetition' and could be restricted to certain zones within the borough.

Violinist Antonio Palanovic, 24, who busks around South Kensington, said: 'I'm not sympathetic to the residents because they want me to stop playing. Most are very rude'

The proposals, which look set to be given the green light at a council meeting this evening, come amid a wave of complaints from business owners and residents.

Performers will be asked to provide evidence of a busking licence - which costs 15 for six months - when asked by a council official or police officer, and could face a fine if they fail to provide one.

The council says it receives more than 1,200 complaints about noise each year from stricken residents in the well-heeled London borough.

The rules would apply to buskers in tourist hotspots including Notting Hill and Portobello Road, around the museums in South Kensington, Westminster and Kensington High Street.

One resident said: 'Often the performers are untalented with only one or two songs in their repertoire. The tunes are repetitive and detrimental to my health.'

Another added: 'I work in an office block overlooking Exhibition Rd, SW7. Around 20 of us working in that block are at our wits' end after years of daily loud and repetitive steel drum and saxophone music from buskers on the street immediately overlooked by our offices.

'We wear earplugs, go and work in another room if available, work at home where possible.

'I've lived by Notting Hill Gate for over 30 years. Now, for the past year or so, we've been beset by a legion of truly awful beggars trying to play music loudly, badly, repetitively, on accordions, drums, and even a small 'ensemble', often amplified - the worst is a clarinettist who only half-knows one tune, the theme to Doctor Zhivago, and plays it constantly at full volume.'

A doctor who lives in the borough told the consultation: 'I often work odd shifts in the emergency department, the performers are loud, not always good quality and disturb my sleep for shifts. I would be very grateful for restriction/licensing.'

But not everyone is in favour of the clampdown.

One resident said: 'I would prefer not to live in a totalitarian state that even considers such fascistic regulation of musicians.'

Another added: 'My job is to get new talent to the labels. I truly hope none of the proposals will be considered, they are counterproductive and downright Orwellian.'

If given the go-ahead by the cabinet tonight, those breaching the new rules could be hit with a 1,000 fine or a 100 on-the-spot penalty.

Bubble man Steves Szczepan Atroszko performing outside the Natural History Museum in South Kensington - but some residents have complained the bubbles 'make the pavement slippery'

The code of conduct proposes some 11 commandments for performers, including a ban on performing on the same spot twice in a day.

Violinist Antonio Palanovic, 24, who busks around South Kensington, told the Evening Standard: 'I'm not sympathetic to the residents because they want me to stop playing. Most are very rude.'

The council launched a public consultation last summer, asking residents and performers whether buskers should be restricted or even banned.

The council said it decided to propose the restrictions on buskers after receiving complaints about them from people who took part in the consultation.

Its policy on the proposal states that the rules will enable enforcement officers to 'promote responsible busking and street entertainment'.

It also states it will 'better enforce and deter anti-social busking and street entertainment in high impact areas'.

Kensington and Chelsea Council's lead member for Streets, Planning and Transport, Cllr Will Pascall, said: 'For Kensington and Chelsea  and London as a whole, if we are to maintain our proud tradition of being a global powerhouse of music  more needs to be done to support and regulate our busking community.

'We need to strike a balance between what works for both residents and street performers. Our goal is to ensure that street entertainment doesn't impact negatively on the quality of life for residents.'

Details on how the proposed changes to street rules will be enforced are currently being examined by the council.

A spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea Council said: 'The full details of plans for enforcing these new proposals are being developed, but they will potentially equip enforcement officers with new tools, like the ability to issue fixed plenty notices.'

The Exhibition Road Cultural Group, a group which represents Museums and other cultural and educational organisations in the borough, said it supported the proposals.
The suspect's grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, said Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died. Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language learning program his grandfather bought him and was attending UNC-Charlotte, Rold said. But Terrell never showed any interest in guns or other weapons, and the news he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning, said Rold, who had not heard about the Charlotte attack before being contacted by an Associated Press reporter.
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London's world famous black taxi drivers have their own secret code for discussing various famous landmarks across the city... some of which can be less than complimentary.

MPs and Peers hailing a taxi for a ride to Westminster may not know that drivers refer to the Palace of Westminster as the 'Gasworks' - presumably due to the 'hot air' spouted in both chambers.

Over in Broadcasting House, home of the BBC, radio stars such as John Humphrys, Jeremy Vine and Mishal Husain speak unto the nation from 'The Tripe Factory' (aka 'The Tripe Shop').

And as for those making millions at the London Stock Exchange, their place of work is known by cabbies as either the Den of Thieves or (the wonderfully Dickensian) Fagin's Kitchen.

The cabbie slang was revealed by lexicographer Susie Dent - famous for her appearances in 'Dictionary Corner' on Countdown - during her Something Rhymes With Purple podcast on Tuesday.

Taxi drivers have developed their own slang for parts of London which include describing the rank at King's Cross Station as 'The Scent Box' - a punning reference to its 'rank' smell

MPs and Peers might be less than impressed to discover that London's black taxi drivers secretly refer to their place of work as 'The Gasworks' - due to the 'hot air' spouted in both chambers

Traders at the London Stock Exchange may not realise that their place of work is known by cabbies as either the Den of Thieves or (the wonderfully Dickensian) Fagin's Kitchen. And the area surrounding Piccadilly Circus (right) is known as the Magic Circle because drivers find customers galore there

Not fans of Auntie? The BBC's Broadcasting House building (above) is known to drivers as The Tripe Factory, or The Tripe Shop

Earls Court is renowned for the number of Australians who live in the area, so obviously it has been named Kangaroo Valley - while the old Park Lane Hotel was known as the American Workhouse.

Black taxi drivers refer to the National History Museum, in South Kensington, as the Dead Zoo, while they describe the area around Piccadilly Circus as the Magic Circle - because they always find plenty of work in that part of town.

However, cabbies are not especially generous when it comes to describing some of the ranks where they congregate.

A cab shelter at Albert Bridge is known as The Kremlin, while passengers travelling from the rank above Victoria station to Gatwick wait at The Raft.

Embankment station's rank is known as The Rat Hole, while Waterloo's is the Rat Run. Over in King's Cross Station, taxi drivers describe that rank as the Scent Box - a punning reference to the 'rank' smell.

According to Steve McNamara of the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, many of the nicknames have evolved over generations.

He told MailOnline: 'Some of them are quite obvious, like the Lloyds building is known as The Oil Rig and the Blackwall Tunnel is The Pipe.

'Chiswick Roundabout is known as the Cherry Blossom as there was once a large tree there.

'Many of the names go back generations. The green hut rank opposite the Victoria and Albert is known as the Bell and Horns - even though the pub it was named after is gone more than a century.

Black taxi drivers refer to the National History Museum (pictured), in South Kensington, as the Dead Zoo

Some of the nicknames are quite old, such as The Resistance, which refers to Harley Street - home of private medical consultants who opposed the creation of the National Health Service. The memorial to Queen Victoria (right) opposite Buckingham Palace is known as The Wedding Cake - due to its white colour and tiered appearance

'The rank in Kensington is known as All Nations, because of the number of embassies in the area.

'There is great humour in the taxi business and much of it is based on the history of the city.

'There is an eclectic mix of drivers.

'Some of the nicknames used by drivers come from Russian or Yiddish words.

'After the war many Eastern Europeans became cab drivers. They were joined in the 1960s by West Indians and now more recently, by Muslims.

'The rank on Park Lane is known as The Mosque, because many drivers use it when going to pray.'

Some of the nicknames are quite old, such as The Resistance, which refers to Harley Street - home of private medical consultants who opposed the creation of the National Health Service.

The Athenaeum Club in Pall Mall, home to 52 Nobel Prize winners is known as The Spit and Cough.

And the memorial to Queen Victoria opposite Buckingham Palace is known as The Wedding Cake - due to its white colour and tiered appearance.
Islamic State is still the biggest threat facing Britain and was behind four in five terror plots in the West last year, the chief of MI5 warned today.

Andrew Parker said home-grown extremists are being inspired by the 'startling pull' of the jihadi group's propaganda despite its last stronghold in Syria collapsing.

He told how ISIS still has the 'ability to perpetuate misery through launching large-scale attacks' because its extremist ideology does 'not require territory to survive'.

MI5 chief Andrew Parker (pictured in October 2017) said home-grown extremists are being inspired by the 'startling pull' of the jihadi group's propaganda

Mr Parker, 55, who has led MI5 since 2013, told the Evening Standard: 'Of the multiple terrorist threats facing the UK, Islamist terrorism remains the most acute.'

The father-of-two also revealed 80 per cent of plots thwarted in 2018 were by people inspired by ISIS ideology but who had never been in contact with it in Syria or Iraq.

He added: 'We also know that, despite their losses, IS's remaining members are intent on directing terrorist attacks around the world, including on European soil.

'And this ambition is shared by Al Qaeda, whose desire and capability to attack the West hasn't diminished while IS has been in the spotlight.'

Mr Parker also disclosed that his agency is working with police, other public bodies and private companies to develop 'cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies' to analyse the intelligence picture.

Citing the vast amounts of data generated by smartphones and the emergence of applications that encrypt communications, he said: 'The haystack is bigger and the needle smaller.

'Increasingly, the vital piece of information that might stop an attack is unlikely to be held by MI5 but buried somewhere else in the mountain of data scattered across the world.'

MI5 has joined police in combating the threat from right-wing terrorism, following a rise in the number of investigations in the last three years, while dissident Republican groups 'still cling to terrorist methods' to disrupt the Northern Ireland peace process, Mr Parker said.

Police and MI5 are running a record 700-plus live terrorism investigations.

There are around 3,000 active 'subjects of interest' (SOI), plus a wider pool of more than 20,000 'closed' SOIs who have at some point featured in probes.

A video released after the Sri Lankan bombings on Easter Sunday last month saw a group of attackers claiming responsibility and pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Britain was hit by five attacks in 2017, while 14 Islamist and four extreme right-wing plots have been foiled in just over two years.

His comments come after a man claiming to be ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared for the first time in five years in a video, vowing a 'long battle' was ahead.

The man also said the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka which killed more than 250 people were 'part of the revenge' that awaits the West.

Despite claims about his death in recent years, al-Baghdadi's whereabouts remain a mystery. Many of his top aides have been killed, mostly by US-led coalition air strikes.

He is among the few senior ISIS commanders still at large after two years of losses that saw the self-styled 'caliphate' shrink to a tiny speck in the Euphrates River valley.

A member of Islamic State waves an ISIS flag as he walks down a road in Raqqa in June 2014

The man accepted ISIS had lost the war in Baghouz, its last sliver of territory, which was captured last month by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The fall of Baghouz marked the militants' territorial defeat and the end of their self-declared Islamic caliphate over parts of Syria and Iraq.

The man said that the battle for Baghouz demonstrated the 'barbarism and brutality' of the West and the 'courage, steadfastness and resilience of the nation of Islam'.

With a 19 million US bounty on his head, al-Baghdadi is the world's most wanted man, responsible for steering his organisation into the mass slaughter of opponents.

The man in the video bragged his group had carried out 92 attacks in eight countries to avenge the loss of territory in Syria, citing Sri Lanka, Libya and Saudi Arabia.
A Camille Pissaro painting looted by the Nazis was rightfully acquired by a Spanish museum, a U.S. federal judge has ruled.

Lilly Cassirer's family launched a bitter legal fight 20 years ago to get back the priceless artwork that she surrendered in order to survive the Holocaust.

U.S. District Judge John F. Walter ruled yesterday that the Madrid museum who bought the piece in 1992 is the work's rightful owner.

Although he criticized Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza for not looking into the piece's origin when he bought it in 1976, he found no evidence the museum knew it was looted art when it took possession in 1993.

Under Spanish law, he ruled, the painting is legally the museum's, although he criticized the country for deciding to keep the piece.

A U.S. District Judge has ruled this Camille Pissaro painting was rightfully acquired by a Spanish museum, despite the artwork being looted by the Nazis in 1939

Spain and other countries have previously signed international agreements 'based upon the moral principle that art and cultural property confiscated by the Nazis from Holocaust (Shoah) victims should be returned to them or their heirs'.

The museum's U.S. attorney, Thaddeus Stauber, said: 'As a lawyer who has been involved in this case for 14 years, I'm pleased that the court did conduct a full trial.

'We now have a decision on the lawful owner and that should put an end to it.'

Walter, who has seen the case returned to court twice by appeals and conducted the trial last December, indicated in his 34-page ruling that another appeal could still be possible.

A lawyer for Lilly Cassirer's great-grandson, David Cassirer of San Diego, didn't say whether the family plans to appeal.

'We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments,' attorney Steve Zack said.

The painting at issue, Pissarro's 'Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie', is a stunning oil-on-canvas work depicting a rainy Paris street scene the artist observed from his window in 1897.

Lilly Cassirer's great-grandson David, pictured right with his lawyer, launched a legal battle 20 years ago to get back the painting she surrendered for safe passage out of Germany

It was purchased directly from Pissarro's art dealer in 1900 by the father-in-law of Lilly Cassirer, who eventually inherited it and displayed it in her home for years.

When she and her family fled the Holocaust in 1939 she traded it for passage out of the country.

For years the family thought it was lost, and the German government paid her $13,000 in reparations in 1958.

Then in 1999 a friend of her grandson, Claude, who had seen photos of the painting, discovered it was in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

It had been hanging there since shortly after a nonprofit foundation funded by Spain bought the baron's entire collection for $350million and named the museum for him.

The painting had been sold and resold after Cassirer and her family fled Germany. The baron, a German industrialist who settled later in Spain, bought it from a U.S. dealer for $300,000 in 1976.

The baron never hid the painting, putting it on exhibition often.

'The court finds that there were sufficient suspicious circumstances or "red flags" which should have prompted the baron to conduct additional inquires as to the seller's title,' the judge said.

Still, despite missing and torn provenance labels, the judge concluded that the baron and the museum foundation did not know the work was looted, and under Spanish law that allows the museum to keep it.
A teenager has been charged with aggravated assault after shooting at least nine children with a pellet gun at an Atlanta-area elementary school last Thursday.

The charges were reportedly laid on Tuesday, five days after the incident left the nine students at Wynbrooke Elementary in Stone Mountain hospitalized with injuries.

Authorities have not publicly named the suspect, but he is 14-years-old and resides in Georgia, according to WSB-TV.

A reporter at that network tweeted that the teen had been charged with nine counts of assault, but said it was unclear whether he had been taken into custody.

A teenager has been charged over a pellet gun shooting at Wynbrook Elementary in Georgia last Thursday, which left nine children in hospital

The teen allegedly used a pellet gun similar to the one pictured to shoot the students whilst they were on the playground

The charges came the same day worried parents met to address concerns about what happened and to discuss the school district's response.

One claimed that she wasn't even informed of the shooting, WSB-TV reported.

Others said it was hard to send their children back to classes while the perpetrator was still on the loose.

The DeKalb County School District is reportedly considering the construction of a fence around the playground, after reports the pellet gun was fired from a wooded area off-campus.

Following Thursday's shooting, there was a heavy police presence at the school, as shocked parents arrived to picked up their children.

WSB-TV host Michael Seiden tweeted that the boy had been charged with nine counts of aggravated assault

After last Thursday's shooting, shocked parents were seen picking up their children as police stood guard

Nine students were rushed to hospital with non life-threatening injuries

The district promised to post additional staff and law enforcement at the school on Friday to ensure students' safety.

They said in a statement: 'The shots appear to have come from a position away from the school grounds. There was never a threat of anyone getting into the school building and the remaining students were not injured.

'The health and safety of our students is, and always will be, the number one priority at The DeKalb County School District. '
President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said on Wednesday that the U.S. deems the uprising in Venezuela to be a Western affair and outside actors, including Cuban forces, must leave the South American country immediately.

Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba's director-general of U.S. affairs, said in Washington that the U.S. is falsely accusing his country of having more than 20,000 troops and intelligence agents in Venezuela in support of embattled leader Nicolas Maduro.

De Cossio said there are roughly 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela but virtually all are medical workers.

'There are no troops,' he said in English. 'Cuba does not participate in military operations nor in security operations in Venezuela.'

Meanwhile, Bolton told White House reporters on Wednesday morning that Trump is returning to the Monroe Doctrine and will be exerting its influence to stabilize Venezuela, and to show its support of opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido.

'We've made it very clear that the Monroe Doctrine is alive in this administration. We expect foreign influences to depart,' Bolton said.

On Tuesday, Guaido, whom many countries recognize as the legitimate president of the South American nation, publicly called for the military to back him to force Maduro from power, but so far the military has remained loyal to Maduro.

The call for an uprising sparking protests and violence on Wednesday, with some 850 Venezuelans fleeing to Brazil ahead of the demonstrations, the government said.

President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton (pictured) said Wednesday that the U.S. deems the uprising in Venezuela to be a Western affair and outside actors, including Cuban forces, must leave the South American country immediately

'We have to acknowledge that yesterday there weren't enough [pro-Guaido military defectors],' CNN reported that Guaido told a crowd of demonstrators on Wednesday.

'We have to insist that all the armed forces [show up] together. We are not asking for a confrontation. We are not asking for a confrontation among brothers, its the opposite. We just want them to be on the side of the people.'

At least 25 members of the military attempted to request asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Caracas on Tuesday, but were not able to enter the building, according to Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro.

'They were not able to get into the embassy because as we have seen in Venezuela, the Maduro dictatorship, there are obstacles so people can't get into the embassy very easily,' Bolsonaro said.

In front of thousands gathered in Caracas, the opposition leader encouraged demonstrators to stay vigilant in their efforts to oust Maduro.

'From now on everyday we're going to have protests ... until we reach our objective,' Guaido said.

The call for an uprising sparking protests and violence on Wednesday. In front of thousands gathered in Caracas, the opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido (pictured) encouraged demonstrators to stay vigilant in their efforts to oust Maduro

'We have to acknowledge that yesterday there weren't enough [pro-Guaido military defectors],' Guaido (pictured) told a crowd of demonstrators on Wednesday. 'We have to insist that all the armed forces [show up] together. We are not asking for a confrontation. We are not asking for a confrontation among brothers, its the opposite. We just want them to be on the side of the people'

From the U.S., Bolton directed his contempt at Russia, calling for foreign influence to step aside in Venezuela. He said the U.S. has evidence that Vladimir Putin's government convinced Maduro not to flee the country and make way for a peaceful transition of power.

'This is our hemisphere. It's not where the Russians should be interfering,' Bolton asserted. 'This was a mistake on their part.'

The U.S. National Security Council was set to meet at 2pm on Wednesday to discuss possible options, Bolton said.

Cuba and Russia have aligned themselves with Maduro and against the U.S. and opposition leader Guaido.

In Cuba's most detailed public remarks yet on the U.S. accusations of military support for Madurio, de Cossio said that despite the lack of Cuban boots on the ground, he could not deny intelligence cooperation because 'I don't have that information.'

Carlos Fernandez de Cossio (pictured), Cuba's director-general of U.S. affairs, said in Washington that the US is falsely accusing his country of having more than 20,000 troops and intelligence agents in Venezuela in support of embattled leader Nicolas Maduro. De Cossio said there are roughly 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela but virtually all are medical workers.

Broader intelligence or military cooperation would be 'totally legitimate,' de Cossio added.

'The United States has over 800,000 Americans stationed around the world with over 600-700 military bases anywhere in the world. Any two countries in our region have military or intelligence cooperation and we have it with many countries. So it is totally legitimate, it is a sovereign right of Cuba and Venezuela to do so,' de Cossio said.

'But what I am saying is that in spite of having that right, there are no military personnel of Cuba or troops, nor do we participate in any military or security operation as is constantly alleged,' he added.

Bolivia has provided national guard troops to Maduro to help beat back the opposition.

The U.S. and most of the West are backing the opposition movement that's trying to oust Maduro and reassert democracy.

The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. policy implemented under former President James Monroe in 1823 that viewed any intervention by foreign governments in the political affairs of the Americas, both North and South, as a potentially hostile act against the U.S.

'There is no defeat,' Brazil's president Bolsonaro said of Guaido in remarks broadcast on TV. 'I commend and recognize the patriotic and democratic spirit that he has to fight for freedom in his party.'

Trump's administration claims that without foreign interference, Maduro would have fallen already.

The U.S. and most of the West are backing the opposition movement that's trying to oust Maduro and reassert democracy. 'There is no defeat,' Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (pictured) said of Guaido in remarks broadcast on TV. 'I commend and recognize the patriotic and democratic spirit that he has to fight for freedom in his party'

Members of the Bolivarian National Guard who joined Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido fire into the air to repel forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro who arrived to disperse a demonstration near La Carlota military base in Caracas

WHAT IS THE MONROE DOCTRINE? The Monroe Doctrine, named after former President James Monroe, sought to limit European influence in North and South America. The U.S. agreed in return to stay out of European affairs. It was created by John Quincy Adams, who would later become president himself, and first asserted in 1823. Monroe attempted to stop the colonization of North and South American countries by Europe. Advertisement

Cuba and Venezuela have had an extraordinarily tight alliance over the last two decades. That relationship has centered on Venezuela sending an estimated $30 billion worth of oil since 2003, in exchange for Cuba dispatching tens of thousands of medical workers and other civilian government employees.

Cuba also has a large and highly professional security and intelligence apparatus, which includes thousands of operatives who would not be considered military troops. Venezuelan defectors have reported the presence of Cubans in key positions among the Venezuelan armed forces and intelligence services, but to date there has been no public proof.

The Trump administration has nonetheless repeatedly insisted that there are more than 20,000 Cuban security operatives in Venezuela tasked with directly supporting embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

'If this afternoon 20-25,000 Cubans left Venezuela, I think Maduro would fall by midnight,' Bolton said at the White House on Tuesday.

'It's this foreign presence, that sits on top of the military, sits on top of the government that makes it impossible for the peoples' voice to be heard,' he contended.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Tuesday evening that Russia is responsible for Maduro's decision to remain in Caracas. He said in a 'Situation Room' interview on CNN that Maduro had a plane on the tarmac, and was about exile himself in Cuba, when the Russians told him not leave the country.

'He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay,' Pompeo insisted. 'He was headed for Havana.'

Pompeo has refused to back down from the claim and repeated it on Fox News 'Special Report' forty minutes later.

'He was ready to go. He'd made a decision that we'd been urging him to make for quite some time,' Pompeo said. 'He was diverted from that action by the Russians.'

Maduro denied the account, calling it 'craziness' and 'lies and manipulation.'

He told the U.S., 'Please, Mr. Pompeo, you're not being serious.'

Russia also denies that the event took place. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told CNN, 'Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war.'

Bolton claimed Wednesday that Maduro decided to stay in Venezuela 'because Russian advice,' despite mounting pressure for him to step down.

He said that the Russians have not revealed the entire conversation with Maduro. He attempted to sow discord in the embattled leader's administration with claims that his allies were prepared to sign documents relinquishing his authority.

Bolton said after a series of television appearance that he could not explain how the U.S. knows Maduro was about to leave but he has 'very, very high confidence' in the information he received.

'I really can't tell you the specifics of it,' he said. 'I think it reflects the role Russia has in Venezuela, I don't say this is an ideological conflict, but this is our hemisphere. It's not where the Russians should be interfering. This was a mistake on their part. It's not going to lead to an improvement in relations.'

He blamed Russia for claims that Guaido is staging a 'coup' in Caracas. Gauido is the elected head of the national assembly and the self-proclaimed acting president of Venezuela.

'It's not a coup when a legitimate president gives orders to his government,' Bolton argued. 'What is a coup, is the presence of Cuba and Russia, directing the top affairs of the government of Venezuela.'

Trump ordered Russia out of Venezuela in March, while Guaido's wife visited with him at the White House.

'Russia has to get out,' he said. He told press asking if Russia was aware of his position, 'They know very well.'

Trump threatened to issue an embargo on Cuba on Tuesday after he claimed the communist government was assisting Maduro's efforts to hold power in Venezuela.

The president said if Cuba did not pull troops from Venezuela, he would place the 'highest-level sanctions' on the nation.

'If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba,' Trump tweeted Tuesday as violent conflict broke out in the socialist-controlled South American nation,' he tweeted.

'Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!'

Congress would have a say in sanctions, and Bolton said Wednesday he had been in touch with lawmakers from both parties. He said they are 'united' in their opposition to Maduro's regime.

President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he would issues a 'full and complete embargo,' and the 'highest-level sanctions' on Cuba after claiming they had troops in Venezuela assisting socialist regime leader Nicolas Maduro hold power

National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday that 'all options are on the table' with regards to a possible military intervention

Venezuela crisis: Which countries are supporting the opposition? Support for Nicolas Maduro's regime comes from Russia, China, Turkey, Mexico and Iran, wheres the EU, United States, Canada, Australia and neighbours Brazil recognise Juan Guaido as leader of Venezuela Supporting 'interim' President Juan Guaido: United States

Canada

United Kingdom

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Guatemala

Honduras

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Kosovo

The EU 27

Australia Supporting incumbent President Nicolas Maduro: Russia

Belarus

Greece

China

Iran

Cuba

Mexico

Turkey

Syria

Bolivia

Uruguay Advertisement

Cuba meanwhile challenged the Trump administration to back up claims that the nation was assisting Maduro in Venezuela.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said last week that Bolton a 'pathological liar' after he claimed that some 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela are providing security support for Maduro.

Rodriguez said those few ten thousand Cubans are mostly medical workers.

'That State Department memorandum says Cuban special forces were deployed to the border between Colombia and Venezuela to engage in provocative military exercises. That's a lie. I invite them to provide evidence,' Rodriguez said at an April 25 news conference.

Trump and top administration officials went after foreign adversaries as situation worsened in Venezuela.

The U.S. president said he is keeping watch over the situation and violence against protesters in the divided nation.

'I am monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely. The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!' he tweeted.

Bolton told press at the White House on Tuesday that the president is receiving regular updates.

He refused to say whether the U.S. would get involved militarily, repeating an oft-sworn statement that 'all options are on the table.' He warned Maduro against using brute force on civilians.

The U.S. has vocally supported Guaido, and Vice President Mike Pence told the opposition Tuesday to 'Go with God' in a multilingual tweet.

'To @jguaido, the National Assembly and all the freedom-loving people of Venezuela who are taking to the streets today in #operacionlibertadEstamos con ustedes! We are with you!' Pence tweeted on Tuesday. 'America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored. Vayan con dios! #FreeVenezuela'

Trump said he was monitoring the violent interaction between Maduro's socialist regime and the opposition movement, led by Juan Guaido

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said in a video posted to Twitter early Tuesday morning that he had began the 'final phase' of his plan and urged protesters and military members to join the effort

Vice President Mike Pence also put his support behind Venezuela's opposition movement, which seeks to oust President Nicolas Maduro and his socialist regime from power in the South American nation. 'Go with God,' the vice president tweeted

Guaido is calling on all Venezuelans to push Maduro out of power in Venezuela, once and for all, in an uprising against his government rival.

He said in a video taken at La Carlota airbase in the capital city of Caracas, while surrounded by heavily-armed soldiers, that 'the moment is now,' and urged protesters and members of the military to join the 'final phase of Operation Liberty.'

In the three-minute video, opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who has been under house arrest for leading an anti-government push in 2014, joined Guaido.

It was his first public appearance since his detention. He said he had been 'freed' by soldiers supporting Guaido.

'This is the moment of all Venezuelans, those in uniform and those who aren't,' Lopez said. 'Everyone should come to the streets, in peace.'

Bolton noted Tuesday that more than 40 people had been killed by the Maduro regime and called it 'an act of bravery,' as he spoke to reporters during a hastily-arranged briefing.

'Juan Guaido is out on the streets of Caracas now, rallying the people,' Bolton told the press outside the West Wing. 'Guaido is behaving in the same courageous way he and other leaders of the opposition have been for the last few months.'

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also expressed his support for Guadio's Operation Liberty. 'The U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy,' Pompeo said.

Venezuelan soldiers, who have backed Guaido, exchanged gunfire with troops loyal to President Maduro outside La Carlota airbase in the capital Caracas on Tuesday. The airbase, located in Venezuela's capital city, was where Guaido filmed the video

Protesters representing Guaido were caught in the cross-fire and ran through clouds of tear gas in order to take cover

Pompeo said in a Tuesday tweet that the 'U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy.'

He called for Maduro's 'illegitimate regime' to step aside so the country could 'return to prosperity,' and lauded 'the will of the people to peacefully change the course of their country from one of despair to one of freedom and democracy.'

'#OperacionLibertad is underway in #Venezuela & the world is watching. @jguaido's safety must be guaranteed,' Pompeo tweeted Tuesday afternoon. 'The Venezuelan people are demanding change, a peaceful democratic transition, & return to prosperity. It's time for the illegitimate regime to step aside. #EstamosUnidosVE'

Troops supporting Guaido set up defensive positions around the base before Maduro's forces arrived and opened fire with tear gas followed by live rounds, according to witnesses.

Guaido claimed Maduro had lost the support of the military, but he said he had spoken with his officers and they assured him of their 'total loyalty' to his administration.

'Nerves of steel!,' Maduro said on Twitter. 'I call for maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of peace. We will win!'

Guaido, who has the backing of the U.S. and most Western governments, has been trying to oust Maduro for months using largely non-violent protests.

Guaido has been trying to oust Maduro for months using largely peaceful protests, but that changed on Tuesday as he announced an uprising against the President

Maduro hit back on Twitter, saying that he maintained the complete loyalty of the military and pledging 'nerves of steel' for the fight against the opposition

Additional protests were slated to take place on Thursday in Venezuela, and the U.S. urged Maduro not to use lethal force against civilians.

Maduro's allies say they are staging a 'coup' and are considered 'traitors' by their country.

Foreign Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in a tweet: 'We inform the people of Venezuela at the moment we are confronting and deactivating a reduced group of military traitors who are positioning themselves in the Distribuidor Altamira (neighbourhood) to promote a coup d'etat against the constitution and the peace of the Republic.

'To this intent is added the putschist and murderous ultra right which announced its violent agenda months ago. We call on the people to maintain maximum alert so, together the glorious National Armed Bolivarian forces defeat the intent to mount a coup and preserve the peace. We will win.'

Guaido claims that Maduro's power grab is unconstitutional and an election that kept him in power was rigged in his favor.

The U.S. and its allies consider Maduro a dictator and Guaido, the elected head of Venezuela's National Assembly, the country's interim and acting president.

Roughly 50 countries are supporting Guaido, primarily in the West. Greece, Iran, Turkey, Mexico, China and Syria have sided with Cuba, Russia and Maduro.

Many who back opposition leader Guaido, who deemed himself interim president, feel Maduro's claim to victory in the last elections were 'rigged'

After announcing the final phase of his uprising, Guaido left the military base in order to hold a rally on the streets of Caracas in order to prove he holds popular support

A Venezuelan opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, talked to media for the first time after being released from his home in Caracas, Venezuela, where he has been kept under house arrest since 2014. Lopez said he had been 'freed' by soldiers supporting Guaido

Venezuela leadership battle: A timeline of key events April 2013: Maduro is elected leader of the South American nation, succeeding Hugo Chavez as President. February 18 2014: Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is placed under house arrest after a wave of protests against Maduro. July 17 2017: Millions of Venezuelans vote down Maduro's plans to take control of the country's National Assembly. May 20 2018: Maduro wins another snap election despite claims of vote rigging by opposition leaders. January 23 2019: Guaido declares himself acting president at a rally of tens of thousands of people in Caracas demanding that Maduro quit. US President Donald Trump immediately recognizes Guaido as acting president, as do Canada and major Latin American powers. Maduro gets the support of allies including China, Russia, Turkey, Mexico and Cuba. January 26: Six European countries say they will also recognize Guaido unless Maduro calls elections. January 30: thousands of opposition protesters, led by Guaido, call on Venezuela's military to abandon Maduro. He demands that the Venezuelan government allow in foreign humanitarian aid, claiming the lives of thousands of people are at risk. February 4: Some 20 European countries also recognize Guaido. February 16: Guaido says he has the support of thousands of people to bring in aid via Colombia, Brazil and the Dutch island of Curacao. Venezuelan troops however block the road, preventing the aid from entering. February 21: Maduro shuts the border with Brazil. February 22: Russia also accuses the United States of using aid deliveries as a ploy for military action. March 7: most of Venezuela is plunged into darkness by a major power cut that lasts five days, followed by sporadic blackouts. March 24: two Russian military planes bring in around 100 soldiers and 35 tons of equipment. Advertisement




The mother of an apprentice who was killed in a horrific construction accident has broken down while calling for a change to workplace safety.

Patrizia Cassaniti led the Union May Day March in Sydney on Wednesday, after losing her 18-year-old son Christopher last month.

'He had so many plans, which unfortunately now are not able to be fulfilled,' she said.

'I'm taking a stand for Christopher and I'm here to help change the rules and I promise you, to continue until it's done.'

Patrizia Cassaniti made the call for change at the Union May Day March in Sydney on Wednesday, after losing her 18-year-old son Christopher last month

Mr Cassaniti died at Macquarie Park in north-west Sydney on April 1 when a 15-metre tower of scaffolding fell on top of him

Mr Cassaniti died at Macquarie Park in north-west Sydney on April 1 when a 15-metre tower of scaffolding fell on top of him.

Frantic tradesmen tried to rescue the 18-year-old and another trapped colleague from the pile of twisted metal, but only managed to save his 39-year-old co-worker.

Mr Cassaniti was declared dead at the scene and his colleague is still recovering after sustaining injuries to his lower body.

Exactly one month on, Ms Cassaniti marched alongside hundreds of workers down the Sydney streets calling for safer working conditions, 9 News reported.

She spoke of her heartache of having her son taken away from her, who had only turned 18 days before he was killed.

At the time, she had been serving coffee from a van close by the site.

Within minutes of the accident happening, she was at the scene where she immediately broke down on hearing the tragic news.

'We need to change the rules so your family does not have to go through what mine is going through,' she said on Wednesday.

Tearful friends and family attended Mr Cassaniti's funeral at St Mary's Cathedral on April 12.

Mr Cassaniti was declared dead at the scene and his colleague is still recovering after sustaining injuries to his lower body (pictured, Christopher Cassaniti celebrated his milestone birthday with proud parents Patrizia and Rob)

Tearful friends and family attended Mr Cassaniti's funeral at St Mary's Cathedral on April 12(pictured, Patrizia Cassaniti poses with her son Christopher)

Christopher's uncle Joe has previously described his nephew as the 'jewel of our family'.

'We feel devastated and empty by the loss of our beautiful boy Christopher.'

Construction company Ganellen released a statement last month saying it was rocked by the turn of events.

Speculation has mounted as to what caused the collapse.

Union bosses believe that human error was the most likely cause.

CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan hinted that the scaffolding was either not put up properly or overloaded.

Ganellen along with Synergy Scaffolding and witnesses at the scene have given statements to police and Safework as an investigation into the accident continues.

May Day Marches were launched around the world as trade union members and activists called for better and improved working conditions.
A slave gang forced a Romanian woman to clean hotel rooms for 1.80 an hour', whilst rationing hot water and living in a cockroach infested room.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how the victim, who could not be named for legal reasons, was made to sleep in a bedroom sectioned off from men by a curtain.

She had arrived in Wembley, north West London in September 2015 and had slept rough in a park before starting work for a family of Romanians.

The family had been led by Valentin Lupu, 24, who profited from the suffering and inhumane conditions forced upon the woman and other victims for five years.

The Premier Inn in Waterloo where it is alleged that the woman had been forced to work for 1.80 an hour

It is claimed that Valentins father Viorel, 49, and mother Victorita, 51, kept their fellow countrymen in squalor.

The woman was forced to work for them as a chambermaid at the Premier Inn hotel at Waterloo cleaning three bedrooms an hour.

Speaking from behind a screen the Romanian said there had been a curtain in the middle of the where they had beds.

The curtain was separating the couples from the men. I said four because in fact there were many more and I was never sure of the names.

Blackfriars Crown Court (pictured above) heard that the woman was rationed with the amount of hot water she was allowed to us

You can imagine would change in the bathroom, but I could not sleep in at ease in my PJs.

The curtain would move it would be pulled across because they had to get to the door.

She told the jury while she was living in Barking, east London, she slept in the clothes she worked in.

The woman said: There was hot water, but it would stop precisely when you were having a bath. We were given a ration.

The main part for switching the water on and off was in the kitchen.

I was working around eight hours a day seven days a week with one day off every two weeks.

Bower House in Barking, east London, where the woman is alleged to have been forced to live in squalor

Jurors heard the lights at the property were switched off at 8pm and workers had to be home by 9pm.

Ian McLoughlin, prosecuting said workers were forced to live in squalid conditions at the property with the cockroaches, the insects, the mice.

The woman lived there from 5 September to 14 November in 2015, but rarely got the money she was owed.

Grigore Lupu, 39, along with Valentin reacted violently if anyone challenged why they were not getting paid, according to the prosecution.

Brothers Viorel, Toader, Grigore and Alexandru Lupu, 43, sat in the front row of the dock sporting beards and an array of designer tracksuits including Adidas.

Toader, 45, supplied the documents and certificates to the works which they needed to gain entry to the building sites, it was alleged.

His son, Ionut, 25, would sometimes go to Romania to find the workers in bars and offer them 500 for 30-days work while his mother Violeta, 44, served inedible food and kept the houses filthy, the prosecution claim.

Mr McLoughlin argued Alexandrus involvement was crucial because he leased several of the properties used to house their fellow countrymen.

Toader, Ionut and Violeta, all of Dagenham, deny two counts of conspiring to require other persons to provide forced or compulsory labour and conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the transport of others with a view to exploitation.

Viorel, Victorita, Valentin, and Grigore, all of Ilford and Alexandru of Forest Gate deny one of each count.

All deny conspiring to convert criminal property and between December 2013 and 2018.

The trial continues.
President Donald Trump blamed the Obama administration for not doing anything to stop Russia from interfering in the 2016 elections.

'Why didn't President Obama do something about Russia in September (before November Election) when told by the FBI? He did NOTHING, and had no intention of doing anything!' Trump posted in a Twitterstorm Wednesday morning.

Trump said former President Barack Obama ignored the FBI when they alerted him to the potential threat from Russia.

Attorney General Bill Barr handed over a redacted-version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report to Congress in April, a few weeks after releasing a four page summary of the report on March 24.

The report found no evidence that anyone within Trump's campaign or administration conspired with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 elections. It was inconclusive on whether Trump obstructed justice during the investigation. Mueller instead left that determination to be made by Congress.

President Donald Trump blamed former President Barack Obama for doing nothing to stop Russia from interfering in the 2016 elections while he was still in office

Trump said the FBI provided Obama with information a few months before the 2016 elections, which told him that Russia was attempting to influence the outcome

Trump claims that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report has fully exonerated him, and says it found that he had not colluded with Russia or attempted to obstruct justice throughout the investigation

In the attorney general's summary, Barr concluded that there was no obstruction, a classification that Mueller said 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance' of the full report.

Trump said the report fully exonerated him in finding no collusion or obstruction.

'NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION,' Trump tweeted Wednesday. 'Besides, how can you have Obstruction when not only was there No Collusion (by Trump), but the bad actions were done by the 'other' side? The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!'

Several Democratic lawmakers, however, say ten separate points of possible obstruction laid out in the report are enough grounds to begin impeachment proceedings against the president. Other Democrats have cautioned their colleagues not to jump the gun on impeachment.

Barr is testifying about the special counsel's report before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

Attorney General Bill Barr, who is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, gave a four-page summary of Mueller's report in March. In April he handed over a redacted-version of the report to Congress, and it was later made available to the public

Mueller indicated he was not satisfied with Barr's classification of the full 448-page report, especially the part where Barr indicated he felt the report did not find evidence that Trump obstructed justice. Mueller laid out 10 different 'episodes' that could potentially be obstruction, but he left the decision up to Congress

Trump continues to push his claims that the special counsel found there was no obstruction and no collusion. He says the 'bad actions were done by the "other" side'

Mueller has expressed, according to multiple reports, that he was unhappy with the media coverage Barr's synopsis prompted.

'There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation,' Mueller said at the time. 'This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.'

Barr and Mueller spoke on the phone after the summary was released, and complained particularly about Barr's classification of the obstruction part of the report.

Later, Barr released the full 448-page report, with many parts blacked-out and redacted for various reasons, like potentially causing harm to other ongoing matters, personal privacy issues or the information would reveal an investigative technique.

Trump has oftentimes attacked Mueller's investigation, calling it a bipartisan 'witch hunt' launched by 'angry Democrats.'

Now that Mueller's almost two-year investigation has come to a close, Democrats in Congress have upped their calls for impeachment and are moving forward with several other investigations into the 2016 elections and Trump and his associates' relationships with Russia.
A group of Australian men have appalled tourists and locals alike after stripping naked, urinating in public and damaged property during a drunken rampage in Bali.

The group of at least five men ran naked through the streets, hurling insults at drivers and hung out of a moving vehicle.

The group's tour guide filmed the raucous bender and uploaded it to Snapchat on Saturday.

Footage shows the men climbing telephone posts in the nude and playing loud music from their party bus.

'Do it naked or it's not funny!' one of the men shouts to his two friends as they strip down and run naked through a busy Bali street

'Do it naked or it's not funny!' one of the men shouts to his two friends as they strip down and run naked through a busy street.

The group are also filmed running naked through the streets before shouting at motorists and one man yelled 'you f****ng idiot!' to a cyclist.

One man also makes himself vomit out of a tuk-tuk window, as another cheers him on and yells 'yeah boys!'

Another man runs and dives into a shop's blow-up display.

The group of at least five men appear drunk while wreaking havoc in the streets in Bali. One man can be seen jumping from a moving ute

Ross Taylor from the Indonesia Institute, an organisation aimed at promoting relations between Australia and Bali, told 7 News the group were lucky they weren't arrested.

'I don't think I've seen anything as obscene as what I've just seen,' he said.

'Something like this is just seen as a mixture of offence, disdain.'

A Queensland couple who are holidaying in Bali echoed Mr Taylor's sentiments.

The shameless group tears through the streets with music in their party bus blaring, and scream at local drivers, 'you fu***ng idiot!,' one man yells to a man on a bike

'The behaviour's terrible, disgusting, I wouldn't like seeing that sort of behaviour back home, so I don't like seeing that sort of behaviour in Bali,' they said.

Australians back home are also condemning the men's behaviour as disrespectful, idiotic and un-Australian.

'How bloody disrespectful to the Balinese and an absolute embarrassment to Australians!,' one Facebook user commented.

Australian men holidaying in Bali were filmed urinating in public (pictured) and screaming at locals

One man is seen making himself vomit out of a tuk-tuk's window, as another cheers him on

'This is so disrespectful to their culture, and we are also offended as Australians as it gives us a bad name,' said another.

'No respect for the local culture, if it was done here everyone would be screaming about them but because they are in Bali they think they can do everything they want,' another person wrote.

The tour guide who filmed the men's antics has not commented on the incident.
The White House's top lawyer has blocked a demand for a raft of documents surrounding the security clearances of senior West Wing officials, suggesting House Democrats have already leaked information to the press and would do it again.

In a nine-page letter, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings that his team is 'harassing and seeking to punish political opponents,' and blamed him for jeopardizing the privacy of current and former officials.

He wrote that the White House has learned 'that, without any notice, the Committee staff conducted an on-the-record interview of a current employee of the Executive Office of the President on a Saturday, obtained information that was not authorized to be disclosed, and apparently promptly released this information to the press.'

'This caused media organizations to link specific information from background files to particular named individuals.'

Cipollone also dismissed Democrats' claim that Congress has a responsibility to oversee the security clearance process at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone (left), pictured with acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, told congressional Democrats on Wednesday that they can't have any information about the process that resulted in security clearances for Jared ushner, Ivanka Trump and others

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, insists that dozens of Trump administration officials were granted security clearances despite 'disqualifying issues' in their backgrounds

'Respectfully, it is not within the authority of Congress to second guess how the President selects his advisors or who has access to the information necessary to provide the President with fully-informed advice,' he wrote.

The White House's chief attorney claimed Democrats' efforts to interview Trump aides without the White House's consent were 'gross breaches of privacy principles' and have already resulted in leaks that should have been avoided.

'It is highly improper for the Committee to induce or encourage the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information in order to launch public political attacks on individuals as part of advancing a partisan political agenda,' Cipollone wrote.

'Harassing and seeking to punish political opponents based on their political beliefs is not a valid exercise of Congress's investigative powers.'

'It has long been recognized on both sides of the political aisle that there is no legitimate need for access to such sensitive information about individuals,' he added, reminding Cummings that 'there was a time when you agreed with and vigorously defended the very position the Administration is taking now.'

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, both key presidential aides, got security clearances; Kusner's was initially held up by FBI concerns

In a letter to Cummings, Cipollone wrote Wednesday that not only shouldn't Congress have FBI files because of privacy concerns, but Cummings' committee has already shown a willingness to leak private information to reporters

CNN was first to obtain Cipollone's letter.

Cummings' committee on April 1 demanded White House files covering security clearance applications, and the processes that resulted, for national security adviser John Bolton, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, senior advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and five other officials.

A White House whistle-blower had claimed some clearances had been stalled by serious security concerns until then-White House personnel security director Carl Kline overruled a career official's objections.

Kline is scheduled to testify before the committee on Wednesday, following Cummings' public threat to hold him in contempt if he refused.

Cipollone gave him the green-light a week ago.

President Donald Trump said last week that he and his team would fight 'all the subpoenas' from Democrats that threaten to derail his presidency in the wake of a largely positive review from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

That extends to former White House Counsel Don McGahn, whom Trump has determined should not have to testify before Congress.

Cummings has insisted that Congress should investigate reports that Trump overruled McGahn and intelligence officials, granting his son-in-law Kushner a security clearance.

The White House has contended that the president has absolute authority to decide who can see classified information.

National Security Advisor John Bolton's clearance files were also sought by congressional Democrats

But Cummings said in March that 'there is a key difference between a president who exercises his authority under the Constitution and a president who overrules career experts and his top advisers to benefit his family members and then conceals his actions from the American people.'

The broader debate over White House security clearances followed a DailyMail.com report about Rob Porter, the president's former staff secretary who enjoyed a top clearance despite claims of spousal abuse from two ex-wives making him a blackmail risk.

Porter had a temporary clearance at the highest level even though intelligence agencies told the White House a permanent one would face significant obstacles.

Following Porter's public exposure and resignation, then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly downgraded Kushner's clearance, which had been stalled under circumstances that were different from Porter's but appeared to be similarly disqualifying.

Kushner got a final clearance last May, reportedly over Kelly's objection.
The report also makes clear the investigation did not assess whether "collusion" occurred because it is not a legal term. The investigation found multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, and the report said it established that "the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts."
A carer from Maine has been found guilty of fatally beating a four-year-old girl to death in an attack the judge described as 'outrageous, revolting, shocking and brutal'.

Superior Court Justice William Stokes announced on Tuesday that 44-year-old Shawna Gatto, of Wiscasset, was guilty of depraved indifference murder in the death of Kendall Chick in her home in December 2017.

Gatto asked for the case to be heard by the judge, not a jury, because of the emotionally charged evidence and testimony.

Shawna Gatto sits with attorney Jeremy Pratt at the Capitol Judicial Center as she is found guilty

Superior Court Justice William Stokes told the court the attack was 'revolting' as he dismissed Gatto's version of events. Right: Kendall Chick

But finding her guilty yesterday Judge Stokes called her version of events 'utterly unworthy of belief'.

Kendall was placed in the home of Gatto and her fiance, Stephen Hood, who was Kendall's grandfather, while the youngster's mother battled addiction.

Judge Stokes said Kendall had suffered months of abuse at the hands of Gatto.

Witnesses testified the youngster's body was covered with bruises and one of her eyes was swollen shut when responders discovered her lifeless body in December 2017.

An autopsy showed Kendall had more than a dozen injuries consistent with severe child abuse.

'The photographs of Kendall's injuries are profoundly disturbing,' Stokes said.

'Kendall's face and head look as if she has been repeatedly pummeled.'

'We will never be able to undo the harm that was done when young Kendall's life was brutally taken from her, but today's decision is a step toward accountability for her killer,' said Democratic state Sen. Bill Diamond, of Windham, who has introduced a bill to overhaul Maine's child welfare system.

Shawna Gatto, center, wipes tears as she receives the judges verdict on Tuesday afternoon this week

A Maine Department of Health and Human Services caseworker was said to have visited the home just once over the three years the girl lived with the couple.

The high-profile deaths of Kendall and another girl, ten-year-old Marissa Kennedy in Stockton Springs, led to a series of health department changes after a legislative watchdog said 'poor job performance and inadequate supervision appear to have been factors' in both cases.

But Diamond said more needs to be done by the agency, by lawmakers and by law enforcement. 'We need to act now,' he said.

He said reform efforts have fallen short since the death of a foster child, 5-year-old Logan Marr, who was duct-taped to a high chair and suffocated in 2001.

'Since Logan Marr died in 2001, through four gubernatorial administrations, we've had seven commissioners of DHHS, and kids are still dying,' he said.

Gatto now faces 25 years to life in prison when she is sentenced in June.
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn has married his long-term consort and given her the title Queen Suthida just days before his coronation, in a surprise move.

Photos show Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, laying on the floor as she was given a gift by the king during the marriage ceremony.

She 'legally married' the King in accordance with royal traditions, an announcement in the Royal Gazette said, with a statement from the royal family explaining that the King had decided to promote General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Aydhaya, his royal consort, to become Queen Suthida'.

According to CNN, the statement added that 'she will hold royal title and status as part of the royal family'.

Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn has married his long-term consort Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, pictured during the ceremony at the Ampornsan Throne Hall in Bangkok, just days before his coronation

Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, newly named Queen Suthida, prays at the feet of her husband during the ceremony

Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, 'legally married' the King in accordance with royal traditions

The marriage took place ahead of this weekend's coronation, which will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago

Queen Suthida signs marriage license documents during the royal marriage registration ceremony while a member of the royal court lay at the King's feet

It was also explained that the monarch had 'performed a royal wedding ceremony with General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Aydhaya in accordance to law and royal traditions in a full and righteous manner', which explains why the bride had to lay at her husband's feet.

Thai royal traditions dictate that the ruling king is to be regarded as god-like and semi-divine, and as a result, he must sit higher than everyone else, to the point that, during official ceremonies and speeches, his feet should be elevated above everyone else's heads.

During the ceremony, once the royal couple is seated, the bride is able to sit alongside her husband - as Queen Suthida is shown doing in images from the wedding.

However others taking part in the wedding must continue to lay before the King, as one member of the royal court is seen doing while the queen signed her marriage license.

Long seen trailing the King in public events as part of his personal security retinue, Suthida was given the rank of 'general' in 2017.

The unpredictable royal is due to be crowned the 10th monarch of the Chakri dynasty in an elaborate three-day ceremony starting Saturday.

Why did King Maha Vajiralongkorn's bride have to lay at his feet? According to royal tradition in Thailand, the ruling monarch is seen as god-like and semi-divine, and is revered as such among his subjects. As a result, the King must always be seated higher than everyone else, and during official ceremonies, events, and speeches, the monarch's feet are supposed to be above the heads of those around him. Tradition also dictates that guests at the Thai Royal Palace are required to approach the King and Queen crawling on their hands and knees; this custom was even observed while King Maha Vajiralongkorn's father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, sat on the throne, despite the fact that he was known to his people as a kind and humble ruler. It is therefore viewed as a sign of great respect for the bride to lie at the feet of the King, before being invited to sit by his side during the marriage ceremony, when she was given the official title of Queen Suthida. Moving forward, it will likely be expected that other members of the royal court, as well as visiting guests, will approach the royal couple in a similar manner, as one aide was seen doing during the wedding ceremony, lying before the King and his Queen while the bride signed the marriage license. Thailand's lese majeste laws also make it illegal to defame, threaten, or even insult 'the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent'. Article 112 of the country's criminal code dictates that anyone found guilty of this crime can be punished with between three and 15 years of jail time. Advertisement

The new king is well-known for his eccentricity and was spotted wearing a crop top and carrying a poodle in 2016

The scantily-clad woman with the King in the photos from 2016 is his new wife, pictured carrying the King's poodle

Long seen trailing the King in public events as part of his personal security retinue, Suthida was given the rank of 'general' in 2017

Vajiralongkorn, who has been married three times, is due to be crowned the 10th monarch of the Chakri dynasty in an elaborate three-day ceremony starting Saturday

Vajiralongkorn, who has been married three times, has spent much of his time in Germany.

Harsh lese-majeste laws have shielded public scrutiny of his colourful private life, and all media in Thailand must self-censor.

This weekend's coronation will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago.

It was not immediately clear what role Queen Suthida will play in the ceremony.

Thailand's new king is well known for his eccentricity.

In 2016, he was spotted wearing a tight, white crop top, his body adorned with temporary tattoos and holding a white fluffy poodle, while standing next to his consort.

A father-of-seven, he has three failed marriages, a love of fast jets and a reputation for having an explosive temper.

During an attempted coup in Thailand in 2014, a film was published online of his third wife dressed in nothing but a black G-string while she sang happy birthday to the royal couple's beloved pet poodle, Fufu.

The unpredictable monarch, pictured in 1999, is due to be crowned the 10th monarch of the Chakri dynasty in an elaborate three-day ceremony starting Saturday.

The King's mother, Queen Sirikit (pictured) has previously described her son as a 'Don Juan' and womaniser

Vajiralongkorn's late father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was crowned nearly 70 years ago and his son is set to succeed him

The king's relationship with his newly crowned queen has been compared to musical 'The King and I' (pictured) which features the King of Siam and a woman hired to tutor his children

In 2009, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra spoke of his doubts about the then-Prince's suitability for the role of king.

In 2007, footage published online showed the king throwing a party for his pet poodle - who held the rank of Air Chief Marshall - at the Royal Palace in Bangkok.

Princess Srirasmi, who sang happy birthday to the dog topless, also got on her knees and ate from a dog bowl in the same video.

The relationship between the King and his new Queen has been compared to the famous musical The King and I.

The play follows strong-willed, widowed schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, who arrives in Bangkok at the request of the King of Siam to tutor his children.

Romantic feelings later blossom between the King and tutor.
A British couple who died on holiday at a hotel in Egypt may have suffered the effects of an infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals and did not die from natural cases, a coroner heard today.

John Cooper, 69, and his wife, Susan, 63, died suddenly on August 21 last year after becoming ill while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

Part of a preliminary expert report from Dr Nick Gent, a senior medical adviser at Public Health England, suggested neither radiation, natural causes, carbon monoxide poisoning nor food poisoning caused the couple's deaths.

John, 69, and Susan Cooper, 64, died on August 21 after being taken ill during a Thomas Cook holiday in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada before their mysterious death

While the cause of death is still unknown, Dr Gent's view pointed towards the cause of death most likely being exposure to an 'infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals'.

But the pre-inquest hearing at Preston Coroner's Court heard the British authorities still have not received all the necessary medical and other reports from the Egyptian authorities to definitively establish the cause of death.

This was despite 13 requests over six months, including from the UK Ambassador to Egypt, for the evidence so the coroner can establish what happened.

Kelly Ormerod, the Burnley couple's daughter, who was on holiday with her parents and her own daughter at the time of the deaths, criticised the 'lack of cooperation' by the Egyptian authorities, saying there had been a lack of compassion.

Tearful Kelly Ormerod, the Burnley couple's daughter, criticised the Egyptian authorities for failing to hand over information that could help the coroners' probe

Outside court, Ms Ormerod said: 'I'm not surprised by the lack of co-operation from the Egyptian authorities. From the tragic incident of both my parents dying, to today, no compassion or humanity has been shown.

'My aspiration now is to find who is responsible for the deaths of my mum and dad.

'To be on holiday where happy memories are meant to be made and cherished, tragedy struck our family.

'Our whole world came crashing down, right in front of my very eyes. This should have never happened.'

Neither of the couple were known to have any serious medical conditions before they left the UK for the holiday on August 13.

They were staying in one room with their 12-year-old granddaughter, Molly, while Ms Ormerod stayed in another room with her two other children.

On the evening of August 20 the couple dined at the hotel buffet. Upon returning to room 5107, they noticed an acetone type smell.

Molly said the smell was making her feel unwell and went to her mother's room to sleep.

At around 11am the next day, Ms Ormerod went to the room when her parents had not appeared, and when her father answered the door she became 'very concerned' and doctors were called.

Mr Cooper collapsed and died in the room and his wife died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.

Susan and John were staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel (pictured) when they fell ill

Investigations carried out by the authorities in Egypt reported the cause of deaths as being linked to E.coli bacteria.

Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Blackburn with Darwen, asked lawyers representing the hotel and Thomas Cook for a raft of documents to do with his investigation into the deaths ahead of a full inquest.

He quoted from a report by Dr Gent, saying: 'What he's explained is that his preliminary views is that the illness and deaths did not result from radiation-induced injuries.

'The (cause) is most likely to be exposure to infectious biological agent or toxic chemicals.'

The hearing was told there had been 13 requests from the British consular staff for reports from the Egyptian authorities, but the documents have not been handed over.

The coroner added: 'Getting information across England and Egypt is problematic' and asked lawyers for the hotel and Thomas Cook to use their 'influence' in that country.

Sam Harmel, representing Ms Ormerod, said the family had been 'left in the dark' and asked for any documents received from Egypt to be shared with the family.

Neither of the couple were known to have any serious medical conditions before they left the UK for the holiday on August 13

The court also heard a German tourist, believed to have been in the room next door, checked in and immediately checked out of his room.

Hotel records showed house-keeping had been called to the Coopers' room at least three times on the day before the couple died, and that the next door room had been fumigated.

The coroner also asked for the hotel air-conditioning maintenance logs, as there were discrepancies in the records he had received.

The couple had requested their room air-conditioning to be fixed on August 17, four day before their deaths, the logs showed.

A further pre-inquest hearing will be held at a date yet to be fixed.
A New York man who brutally stabbed his elderly partner to death before attacking her nine-year-old granddaughter has been jailed for just 17 years.

Henry Maldonado was sentenced on Tuesday April 30 for his horrific rampage three years earlier, after pleading guilty to manslaughter and attempted murder in January.

Maldonado murdered his live-in girlfriend Carmen Irizarry, 60, in a row over money on May 11 2016, then turned the knife on her granddaughter Heaven.

Henry Maldonado (left) stabbed his partner Carmen Irizarry, 60, (right) to death in a row over money, then tried to kill her granddaughter Heaven before torching their apartment and trying to kill himself

Carmen Irizarry's granddaughter Heaven, 9, barely survived the brutal attack

The little girl managed to escape and seek refuge with an upstairs neighbour before Maldonado torched the apartment and tried to kill himself.

Please, help me, help me! Heaven begged, the neighbour told the New York Daily News. Oh, God, hes going to come up here and get me!

Police officers had to use a Taser to subdue the knife-wielding maniac.

The girl miraculously survived the knife wounds to her chest, back, armpit and legs. Prosecutors said one thrust barely missed her femoral artery.

We hope the sentence he received today will help the deceased victims family to heal, especially the brave, resilient young girl who survived and recovered from the horrific attack, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said.
A father who honored his late daughter's wishes by donating her body to science has learned that her remains actually went to a pair of alleged black market dealers.

After the sudden death of his daughter Alexandria in 2014, John Butsch and his family chose to donate the 26-year-old's remains to the Biological Research Center of Illinois.

Months later the organization was raided by the FBI and shut down as its directors, Donald Greene Sr and his son Donald Greene Jr, were accused of fraud.

Investigators confirmed that most of Alexandria's body was among the remains seized in the raid, even though the family had previously been given ashes said to belong to her.

'We have no way of knowing if they are Alexandria's ashes. In fact, we are pretty convinced theyre not because she's in a freezer in Detroit,' Butsch told CBS2.

Scroll down for video

John Butsch honored his late daughter Alexandria's wishes by donating her body to science and later learned that her remains actually went to a pair of alleged black market dealers

Alexandria Butsch (above) unexpectedly died in 2014. Her remains are now sitting in an FBI holding center after they were seized during a raid at the Biological Research Center of Illinois

Alexandria's remains are currently housed at an FBI holding center in Detroit as the case against the Greenes is ongoing.

The woman's family will have to wait until the case is closed before her body is returned and she can finally be laid to rest five years after her death.

'I'm fairly stoic about these things, but it's painful,' Butsch said.

The father said he knows his family wasn't the only one duped in the alleged scheme, so he founded a group called BRCIL Donors, which is working to make sure no one else suffers through what they have.

'I would like to think there is a community of us that can sit down with our senators and our representatives and say: "Look, we have to control this industry or we've got to forbid it,"' he said.

FBI officials raided the Biological Resource Center in Rosemont, Illinois, and discovered that most of Alexandria's body was stored there, even though the family had been given ashes said to belong to her. Investigators are seen above during the raid in 2014

In a federal indictment released in early April, federal prosecutors accused Greene Sr and Jr of selling cadavers for up to $100,000 to researchers without disclosing that some of them had tested positive for infectious diseases including HIV, sepsis and hepatitis.

Greene Sr is charged with wire fraud and Greene Jr is charged with intentionally concealing a crime. They are scheduled to enter pleas at a hearing in June.

Prosecutors say the dealers were aware that some of the body parts were diseased but did not disclose that information to buyers.

The scheme was run from 2008 to 2014 through the Biological Resource Center of Rosemont, Illinois.

A search warrant said that one mother was told her son's tissues would be donated to colleges and research centers, but parts of her son's body were instead sold for $5,000.

While it is not illegal to sell or dismember body parts, it is illegal to knowingly sell diseased remains.

Federal authorities came across a link to the Greenes while investigating notorious Detroit body broker Arthur Rathburn, who was sentenced to nine years in prison last May.
A man accused of bludgeoning his fiancee to death has appeared at the Old Bailey in London today charged with murder.

Roderick Deakin-White, 37, allegedly killed his Australian fiancee Amy Parsons at their home in east London last week.

Police had been called to the flat in Whitechapel over concern for Ms Parsons, 35, on April 25.

She was pronounced dead at the scene and a post-mortem examination revealed she had been struck several times.

Roderick Deakin-White, 37, left, has been charged with the murder of fiancee Amy Parsons. She was found dead at the couple's home in Whitechapel, east London

The couple had been together for around six years.

Graphic designer Deakin-White appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday via video link from Thameside prison charged with her murder.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC set a plea hearing for July 23 and a trial from October 28, due to last up to two weeks.

The defendant was remanded into custody until his next hearing.

The couple, pictured, had been together for around six years. Australian Ms Parsons was found dead after being 'struck several times', the court heard
A prominent Southern California fertility doctor has been charged for his wife's murder three years after he told police she 'fell down the stairs'.

The Orange County district attorney's office said in a press release on Tuesday that Dr Eric Scott Sills was arrested last week in connection to the 2016 death of his 45-year-old wife, Susann.



In the early morning hours of November 13, 2016, deputies were called to the Sills residence on the 10 block of Via Cancion in San Clemente.

Sills, 53, told deputies that he woke up to find his wife, Susann, dead at the bottom of the stairs after an apparent fall.

Prominent Southern California fertility doctor, Eric Scott Sills, has been charged in connection to the murder of his wife, Susann Sills, three years after he told police that she 'fell down the stairs' of their home

In the early morning hours of November 13, 2016, deputies were called to the Sills residence (pictured) on the 10 block of Via Cancion in San Clemente. Sills, 53, told deputies that he woke up to find his wife, Susann, dead at the bottom of the stairs after an apparent fall

Deputies secured the scene and due to the unknown nature of the death, the Orange County Sheriffs Department Homicide unit was called to investigate.

After an extensive investigation including an autopsy, the department's coroner determined that Susann's death was a homicide in November 2017.

Since that time, detectives have continued to investigate her death.

As information continued to develop, an arrest warrant was issued for her husband, who was taken into custody last Thursday.

Sills was on his way to work when he was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into the Orange County Jail.

He posted a $1million bail on April 29. He is scheduled to be arraigned on May 23.

After an investigation including an autopsy, the department's coroner determined that Susann's (left) death was a homicide in November 2017. As information continued to develop, an arrest warrant was issued for her husband (right), who was taken into custody last Thursday

Susann was the co-founder of the Center for Advanced Genetics, the IVF & infertility practice based in Carlsbad, California, where her husband was the medical director. The couple had been married for more than 10 years and had twins

Investigators did not say how Susann died or what led up to her husband being charged.

His father, James Sills, told the Orange County Register that the family is shocked by the arrest.

'We never expected this, and are looking to see what comes out in the news just like everybody else,' James said.

Susann was the co-founder of the Center for Advanced Genetics, the IVF & infertility practice based in Carlsbad, California, where her husband was the medical director.

The couple had been married for more than 10 years and have twins.

Eric Sills practiced fertilization in Europe and the United States and authored several books on the topic.
The list comes after it was recently revealed that Disney boss Robert Iger earns 1,400 times more than the average employee

Notably, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ranked twentieth on the list, with $22.6 million in compensation at the company, which had $40.7 billion in revenues

At the top of the list are co-CEOs of Oracle, Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, who made $108.3 million each in one year at the company which has revenues of $37.7B

Almost all of the largest U.S. companies have CEO pay that stretches well into the seven and eight figure range, according to a new compensation analysis

Chief executive officers are typically the highest paid employees in any business - sometimes making more than 1,000 times what an average employee earns - and a new report reveals the top earning CEOS at America's biggest companies.

Experts at 24/7 Wall St. analyzed compensation packages at the 150 of nation's biggest, publicly traded companies, based on revenue for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Their report found that almost all of the largest companies have CEO pay that stretches well into the seven and eight figure range - well beyond what the typical worker will ever see.

In fact for the top-paid CEOs, their salaries are hundreds of times more than their average employees.

Scroll down for the full list

Safra Catz (left) and Mark Hurd (right) each made $108.3 million in compensation at Oracle, making the co-CEOs the highest paid executives in America

At the top of the list are co-CEOs of Oracle, Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, who made $108.3 million each in one year - more than a thousand times more than the average worker's salary. The company has revenues of $37.7 billion and 138,000 employees.

Robert Iger, of Disney ranked third on the list, with $65.6 million in compensation at a company with $55.1 billion in revenues and 199,000 workers.

His pay amounts to 1,424 times that of the typical Disney employee.

Iger was recently slammed by Disney heiress Abigail Disney, who branded his salary 'insane.'

In fourth place was Brian Roberts, of Comcast, with a $32.5 million compensation package at the company with $84.5 billion in revenues and 164,000 workers.

James (Jamie) Dimon's $31 million compensation at J.P. Morgan Chase put him in fifth place. The company has $113.9 billion in revenues and 252,539 employees.

Robert Iger (left), of Disney, ranked third with a $65.6 million compensation package, followed by Brian Roberts (right), of Comcast, who received $32.5 million in compensation

James (Jamie) Dimon's $31 million compensation at J.P. Morgan Chase placed him in fifth place. The company has $113.9 billion in revenues and 252,539 employees

Randall Stephenson (left), chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T Inc., came in sixth, with a compensation of $29.1 million, followed by Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman (right) who had $28.2 million in compensation

R. Stephenson, of AT&T, came in sixth, with a compensation of $29.1 million at the company, which had $160.5 billion in revenues and 254,000 employees.

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman ranked seventh on the list with $28.2 million in compensation at the company, which had revenues of $43.6 billion and 57,633 employees.

Michael Neidorff, of Centene, came in eighth place, with a $26.2 million compensation package at a company with $48.6 billion in revenue and 33,700 workers.

John Milligan, who has since stepped down from Gilead Sciences, most recently made $26 million with the company, which had $26.1 billion in revenues and 10,000 employees.

Microsoft's Satya Nadella ranked tenth on the list, with a $25.8 million compensation package with the company, which had $90 billion in revenue and 124,000 employees.

Michael Neidorff (left), of Centene, came in eighth place, with a $26.2 million compensation package, followed by John Milligan (right), who has since stepped down from Gilead Sciences, and most recently made $26 million with the company

Indra Nooyi, who has since left Pepsi, followed in eleventh place, with $24.5 million in compensation at the company, which had $62.8 billion in revenues and 263,000 workers.

In twelfth place was Miles White, of Abbott Laboratories, with a $24.3 million compensation package at the company, which had $27.4 billion in revenue and 99,000 employees.

Northrop Grumman's Wesley Bush ranked thirteenth, with a $24.2 million compensation package prior to his stepping down from the company, which had $25.8 billion in revenues and 70,000 employees.

Michael Corbat, of Citigroup, came in fourteenth with $24.2 million in compensation at a company with $88 billion in revenue and 209,000 workers.

Notably, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ranked twentieth on the list, with $22.6 million in compensation at the company, which had $40.7 billion in revenues and 25,105 employees.

This table ranks the 100 highest-paid CEOs in America
A deaf man has taught his adopted deaf and visually impaired rescue dog to take commands via sign language.

Nick Abbott brought Emerson home from North Florida Rescue of Maine about two weeks ago when he was just 12-weeks-old, and the two of them plus Abbott's older dog, Scout, have become fast friends.

The black Labrador Retriever pup hit it off right away with Scout, and picked up on the sign language commands within a matter of days.

'He is such a calm, loving puppy. We have a great connection, and he is so loved - even by Scout,' Abbott said of his family's new addition.

Today, after surviving seizures and the deadly canine parvovirus, Emerson is now healthy and happy, and can understand visual commands to sit, lay down and stay, plus a few others.

This deaf man adopted a deaf rescue puppy and taught him commands using sign language  https://t.co/Yk1AIh0s9U pic.twitter.com/uv6CedEVtt  CBS News (@CBSNews) April 29, 2019

Before owning Emerson, Abbott said he had never thought about taking in a deaf dog, and had never met one before, but it was apparent to him right away that the two were meant for each other.

Abbott told WABI at the time he first met Emerson: 'I saw he was deaf and thought, ''He's deaf too, maybe I can go check him out and see what he's all about."

'He came straight to me at the door and sat right away at my feet and stayed there.

'So you can tell he kind of picked me. And I knew right then and there that we would get along and understand each other pretty good.'

Nick Abbott, who was was born deaf, has taken in a deaf rescue dog named Emerson, and has taught him to understand command with sign language

Nick was born deaf so felt he could offer the perfect home for Emerson

After bringing Emerson home, Abbott immediately began teaching the pup commands with sign language, which he picked up in a matter of days

Emerson can now understand sign language commands to sit, lay down, and stay, plus more

Due to his early health complications, Emerson was the last of his litter left at North Florida Rescue in Maine when Abbott learned about him through a Facebook post by the rescue group

Due to his early health complications, Emerson was the last of his litter left at NFR Maine when Abbott learned about him through a Facebook post by the rescue group.

Once Abbott laid eyes on Emerson he knew he had to bring him home, and immediately began training him, using sign language and hand signals to give the pup commands.

'I was drawn to him right away because we have similarities,' Abbott told CBS. 'I felt I could understand him.'

So far, Emerson sits when Abbott makes a sign for the letter 'S' and lays down when he signs a straight line.

'The bond that we have is awesome,' Abbott said. 'We understand each other very well. I'd like to think it was meant to be. He's special.'
Sedley Alley is seen prior to his 2006 execution in Tennessee

The daughter of a man executed for murder has requested a DNA test to prove once and for all his guilt or innocence, in a case that is the first of its kind.

Sedley Alley was executed by lethal injection in Tennessee in 2006 for the 1985 rape and murder of 19-year-old Lance Corporal Suzanne Collins near Naval Air Station Millington.

On Tuesday, Alley's daughter April Alley, 43, asked a judge in Memphis to grant DNA testing on the remaining evidence in the case, in order to settle the question of her father's involvement.

Sedley Alley never denied his involvement in the grisly murder of Collins by beating and impalement, but rather maintained that he had no memory of the events due to heavy drug and alcohol abuse. He insisted that his confession, which did not accurately describe the murder, was coerced under threats from the police.

Marine Lance Corporal Suzanne Collins, 19, (left and right) was brutally raped and murdered near Naval Air Station Millington in Tennessee in 1985

Sedley Alley is seen with his daughter April prior to the 1985 murder. She is now pushing for DNA testing on the remaining evidence to put her questions of his guilt to rest

'I don't want it to be like that  that he actually did it,' April Alley told the New York Times in a report on the case. 'But it would almost make it easier. Because the thought of all of that happening for no reason doesn't sit well with me at all.'

Collins' murder unfolded on the evening of July 11, 1985, when she was jogging near the base at around 11pm.

Two Marines saw a station wagon driving erratically and then heard screams of a woman in distress in the direction Collins was jogging.

They alerted base security, and about an hour later, at midnight, then 29-year-old Sedley Alley was pulled over in a station wagon with his wife, who was in the Navy.

Base security questioned the couple and determined that what the two Marines had heard was the couple arguing. Alley and his wife were sent home and MPs watched their home for the night to ensure there was no further trouble.

The following morning, Collins' body was found in Edmund Orgill Park. She had been beaten roughly 100 times and strangled, and a sharpened tree branch had been driven through her body.

Alley was driving this station wagon, which witnesses said matched one seen near the scene where Collins was abducted while jogging late at night

Alley was immediately arrested and questioned. After denying any knowledge of the murder for hours, he eventually changed his story and confessed, but described events that clearly did not match the evidence. He said that he had hit Collins with his car and then stabbed her with a screwdriver, neither of which matched the wounds on her body.

Alley said that he had been browbeaten and coerced by the police officers who interrogated him.

The physical evidence used to link Alley to the crime was not conclusive. Napkins from the restaurant chain Danver's were found on the floor of his car as well as near the body. Type O blood, the same as both Alley's and Collins' blood type, was found on the driver's side door of Alley's car. And a stolen air conditioner pump from a home near where Collins had been running showed that Alley had been in the area.

Alley pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at trial, with his lawyers claiming that he had multiple personality disorder. He was convicted in 1987.

Alley's daughter April Alley, 43, (above) asked a judge in Memphis to grant DNA testing on the remaining evidence in the case, in order to settle the question of her father's involvement

Ever since the trial, the Shelby County clerk has kept exhibits that include the victim's underwear, a pair of red briefs apparently worn by the attacker and a 31-inch tree branch.

However, as DNA technology progressed, the items were never tested. Though Alley petitioned for the tests, the court rejected his requests, saying that even if another person's DNA were discovered, it would not prove his innocence.

In 2003, a private investigator turned up a note by the medical examiner estimating Collins' time of death as after midnight - when Alley had been sent home under guard by the base MPs.

The investigator also turned up mention of a romantic partner of Collins who drove a station wagon. That man fit the five-foot-eight description of a man seen near the abduction scene, while Alley was eight inches taller.

Now, his daughter April's petition raises the possibility that Alley could be the first executed inmate to be exonerated based on DNA.
The Chicago Tribune Editorial Board rightly advised lawmakers to slow down on marijuana (Should Illinois legalize marijuana? Not so fast, April 14). As the sponsor of a bipartisan House resolution (H.R. 157) advising lawmakers to slow down on their push for legal weed, I couldnt agree more. Both the editorial board and I also agree its imperative that policymakers learn from other states. But I would argue its been a failed experiment in every other state that has made the move to legalize marijuana  and for those reasons, we must not bring legal recreational marijuana to Illinois too.
This is the incredible moment a snowboarder ditches his board and instead rides down the slope standing on his friend's back.

As one man races down the piste on his belly, another carefully balances on his back and even grips tightly on to his hood to steady himself.

And the brave new way of descending the mountains in Flachauwinkl, Austria, provided an awesome slow motion shot of the daredevil duo shooting through the snow to the stunning alpine backdrop.

The clip begins with the two men at the edge of a small ridge which drops down to a relatively steep slope in Flachauwinkl, Austria

The 42-second clip begins with the two men perched on the edge of a small ridge which drops down to a relatively steep slope.

One man dressed in black clothes, a helmet and ski goggles lies flat on his stomach while a young man casually dressed in trousers and a jumper crouches on his back.

The rider plants his feet along his friend's spine in the orthodox position - left foot forward - and keeps his centre of gravity low to maintain balance.

He slowly shifts his weight forwards and the pair tilt over the edge of the slope and start to zoom down.

The crazy technique provided an awesome slow motion shot of the daredevil duo shooting through the snow to the stunning alpine backdrop

As the pair pick up speed the rider appears to sway backwards and, before he falls, leaps off and on to the snow where he sprawls into a heap

The rider clutches his friend's hood for support in the first few seconds but as he finds his feet releases the garment, stands up straight and spreads his arms wide to balance himself.

His friend, who is acting as the makeshift board, locks his arms down by his sides and keeps his legs together to make himself streamlined.

He also raises his snowshoes up off the floor so they don't drag on the snow and the the nylon fabric coat and trousers ensures he can easily slip through the down the piste.

As the pair pick up speed the rider appears to sway backwards and, before he falls, leaps off and on to the snow where he sprawls into a heap.

And the human board also plunges his hands into the ground to stop himself sliding down further.
This is the moment an 'inexperienced' martial arts instructor grips a student in a choke hold until the boy passes out and convulses on the gym floor.

In a move that could have killed the young boy, the teacher repeatedly ignores taps to his arm, a clear sign to let go, and continues strangling him.

Video shows the pupil gurgling before collapsing in Salta, northern Argentina. The area's martial arts association said his actions were 'outrageous'.

The Instructor, Chespi Romero, doesn't have enough experience or training to be teaching according to the association.

An 'inexperienced' martial arts instructor, Chespi Romero, gripped a student in a choke hold until he passed out and convulsed on the gym floor

A horrifying video on their social media page shows the student struggling desperately as the teacher squeezes his neck, cutting off the oxygen supply.

The boy then collapses onto the floor and the teacher asks someone to lift his legs.

When the boy comes to, a few seconds later, he swears and moves away from the instructor as the man in charge laughs loudly.

President of the state martial arts association Gustavo Ramasco told local media: 'I found it outrageous and I was very angry.

'Here, there are many fantasy teachers who give lessons after watching a few online videos and do not realise the risk they are taking with their students.

After passing out in Salta, Argentina, the instructor asked another boy to lift the passed-out pupils legs in the air

'The guy was practising a rear naked choke. With this technique, his arm pressed against the students carotid artery. As it is a main artery for the brain, the person passed out due to lack of oxygen.

'That is why, when a fighter is struggling and taps his rivals arm, you should let him go.

'It is inexplicable what he does, the guy taps him at least five times and the teacher does nothing.

'He could have killed him.'

In their social media post, the society said: 'As an association we totally repudiate what happened in this video.

The area's martial arts association said the instructor's actions were 'outrageous' and that the teacher didn't have enough experience or training to give a lesson

'You should never continue with the technique when the opponent surrenders to avoid injuries.

'These people are the ones who damage the sport that we love so much, people who do events without a valid guarantee in the province and without using protection for the boys who participate, when many of them are just starting.'

According to local media, the instructor is known as Chespi Romero and he is yet to comment or apologise for the incident which has so far racked up 477,000 views.

Ramasco claims that the instructor does not have sufficient knowledge or training to give lessons to others.

He said: 'He was one of my students four years ago and today he is giving lessons to anyone in this way.'

Ramasco also said that he has not yet reported Romero, but plans to meet with other provincial instructors to decide on the course of action to take.
A climate change sceptic politician has rejected claims he threatened to punch an activist who dressed up in a dinosaur suit with a sign calling him a 'denialosaur'.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly was approached by Peter Thompson, who was wearing a T-rex costume, at a Sydney train station on Wednesday.

Mr Thompson said he was trying to have a friendly conversation with Mr Kelly, but was met with abuse when he approached the Hughes MP.

Police are now investigating the incident.

Peter Thompson, the man in the T-rex suit, said he was trying to have a friendly conversation with Kelly, but was met with abuse when he approached the Hughes MP

'I was just going to shake his hand, he swivelled around and said, 'f**k off. If you approach me like that again, I'm going to punch you out',' Mr Thompson told the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Thompson said his version of events would be corroborated by CCTV footage from the train station, and described Mr Kelly's behaviour as 'very menacing and intimidating'.

Mr Kelly, however, denied accusations he raised his fist to Mr Thompson, claiming he was the one who was 'harassed'.

Mr Thompson (in dinosaur suit) said his his version of events would be corroborated by CCTV footage from the train station, and described Kelly's behaviour as 'very menacing and intimidating'

'I may have gesticulated and pointed but raising my fist? No,' he told the St George Shire Standard.

'He came up right behind me while I was handing out flyers and I turned around and told him to rack off and get out of my space.

'We should be free to go about our jobs and not have people coming up and intimidating us.'

Kelly does admit to telling Mr Thompson to 'f**k off', as he felt his space was being invaded.

'I was handing out flyers to the public, as every Member of Parliament does, and we should be free to do that without people dressed up in some kind of outfit sneaking up and trying to harass us in such a way that should be condemned,' he said.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly denies threatening to punch a climate change activist who dressed up in a dinosaur costume with a sign saying 'Craig Kelly denialosaur'

Mr Thompson and a colleague who witnessed the alleged incident have both made statements to Miranda police, saying Kelly threatened them with violence.

Wednesday morning's incident isn't the first time the T-rex has been spotted on the campaign trail, showing up to pre-polling booths and train stations in Kelly's south Sydney electorate of Hughes.

Kelly has staunchly opposed climate change, even once arguing that renewable energy was causing child drownings because it was increasing the cost of operating swimming pools - making swimming lesson prices go up.
Shocking footage of a wild brawl involving up to 30 teens in front of shocked bystanders at a busy shopping centre has been described as confronting by police.

A manhunt is underway for those involved in the brawl at Secret Harbour Square on Perth's outskirts just after 4pm on Tuesday in what police believe was a pre-arranged fight.

A male Good Samaritan, 52, suffered a black eye while trying to help a security guard.

Shocking footage has emerged of a violent brawl at a Perth shopping centre on Tuesday

Two police officers were also injured while trying to intervene in the violent melee outside Woolworths, which was witnessed by young children.

All three injured were taken to hospital for treatment.

Western Australia Police have publicly released CCTV footage in the hope more witnesses will come forward.

'It's confronting, concerning and quite distressing,' WA Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Craig Donaldson told reporters on Wednesday.

'One of the those who struck an officer got away yesterday afternoon but our concerns were more so on the safety of the all people in the shopping centre.'

'There's far better things to be done than going to shopping centres, causing grief.'

A Good Samaritan and two police officers were injured when they tried to intervene

A bag was also stolen in the chaos, which contained a treasured ring given to Brock Cathro by his grandfather before he died on Monday.

'He gave it to me two days prior on his deathbed, so it has a lot of sentimental value to me,' Mr Cathro told Seven News.

A 21-year-old man was arrested and is assisting police with their inquiries.

No charges have yet been laid.

'Our focus is on asking those people at the shopping centre to assist with our inquiries to identify those involved,' Assistant Commissioner Donaldson said.

Secret Harbour Square was packed with shoppers at the time of the incident on Tuesday

'There were a few involved but there were also quite a few that weren't involved. It those who weren't involved we want to give us a call to assist us in identifying the key ringleaders.'

Police are investigating reports the brawl was linked to an earlier incident at a nearby McDonalds, where a window was damaged.

They have since stepped up patrols at the shopping centre.

Witnesses who have not yet spoken to police are urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

No charges have yet been laid in relation to the incident described by police as confronting
An evacuation was ordered and classes suspended at the Community College of Rhode Island after a shell casing was found in a hallway early this morning.

The college tweeted Wednesday to 'Please evacuate the Warwick Campus immediately.' The school also said to 'remain calm' and 'wait for further instructions.'

Shortly before 10.30am, the college tweeted that the evacuation was not related to an active shooter.

The college evacuation in Rhode Island came less than 24 hours after two students were shot dead and four others were wounded at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.

The Community College of Rhode Island was evacuated this morning over what it says is a 'public safety concern'

During a press conference late Wednesday morning, the Rhode Island college's president Meghan Hughes said that a spent shell casing was found next to the elevators on the sixth floor of the Knight Campus at 7am.

'In light of the tragedy yesterday at UNC Charlotte, we made the decision to evacuate our campus,' she said, referring to the deadly campus shooting that took place in North Carolina on Tuesday.

State police with troopers and firearms detection dogs searched the campus and found no additional casings or weapons.

Officials say about 7,000 students were present on campus at the time of the evacuation.

'Its worrying me a little bit but I think theyre handling it pretty well,' Miguel Martinez, a freshman at CCRI, told Providence Journal.

A message will go out later today to students and staff to let them know when the campus will be reopened.

Police stand guard at the entrance to the Community College of Rhode Island's campus in Warwick, Rhode Island, which was evacuated and where classes were suspended as a precaution Wednesday morning

Warwick Police Chief Col. Rick Rathbun said that the investigation remains open and that detectives are still trying to figure out where the casing came from.

Founded in 1964, CCRI bills itself as the largest community college in New England, with current total enrollment of nearly 18,000 students spread over four campuses.
Thomas Tramaglini, a former superintendent who pooped on the running track at a high school in Holmdel, New Jersey, filed a lawsuit against the local police department on Tuesday alleging that they violated his constitutional rights by releasing his mug shot (above)

A former New Jersey superintendent who pleaded guilty to defecating on a high school's track has sued the local police department for releasing his mug shot to the media.

Thomas Tramaglini filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that Holmdel police violated his constitutional rights by taking the photo and then sharing it with news outlets.

The suit seeking unspecified damages asserts that police departments are 'expressly prohibited' from taking booking mugshots for 'low-level, non-criminal offenses' under New Jersey law.

Tramaglini was arrested last April after being caught on camera relieving himself in public multiple times at the Holmdel High School track.

He claimed that he had a medical condition that affects his bowel movement when he runs.

The superintendent resigned from Kenilworth schools in July after pleading guilty and paying a $500 fine.

Police released the mug shot after the case was resolved.

Thomas Tramaglini, right, is seen in Holmdel Municipal Court in June after he was accused of pooping on the running track at Holmdel High School. The superintendent resigned from Kenilworth schools in July after pleading guilty and paying a $500 fine

The Tramaglini case received national exposure after details came to light and he became the subject of what his lawyer called 'reckless, inaccurate and sophomoric news stories'.

In February, Tramaglini asked New Jersey's attorney general to investigate whether police acted unlawfully when they took his mug shot and released it to the media.

His attorney Matthew Adams said in a letter to Attorney General Gurbir Grewal that actions by the Holmdel Police Department were designed to 'create a media spectacle' around the charges against the administrator.

The letter also claimed that a review of arrest reports provided by the township involving similar violations has revealed no instances in which mug shots were released since 2007.

'The malicious and unlawful conduct by one or more representatives of the Holmdel Township Police Department achieved exactly what was apparently intended,' Adams wrote.

Tramaglini previously made a notice of intent to sue the police department for potential damages of more than $1million.

He claimed the damages covered loss of income, harm to his reputation, emotional distress and invasion of privacy.
Eight middle-school confirmation class members have decided against joining a Methodist church in protest at the denomination's renewed ban on same-sex marriage and gay clergy.

The eight were scheduled to become part of the congregation at First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska in a confirmation ceremony on Sunday.

But the seventh- and eighth-graders declined and issued a written statement instead, citing the United Methodist Church's policy forbidding same-sex marriage and gay clergy members.

On Friday, the denomination's judicial council upheld key portions of a plan adopted in February by the church's legislative assembly and designed to strengthen the bans on same-sex marriage and ordination of homosexual pastors.

Eight middle-school confirmation class members have decided against joining the Omaha First United Methodist Church (above) in protest at the denomination's LGBT policies

'Most of us started the confirmation year assuming that we would join the church at the end,' the confirmands wrote in a statement posted on the church's Facebook page.

'But with the action of the general conference in February, we are disappointed about the direction the United Methodist denomination is heading,' the statement added.

It says that if they were to join now, that would send the inaccurate message that they approve of the United Methodist Church's 'immoral' policies on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Kent Little, the Omaha church's senior pastor, told the Omaha World-Herald that the confirmation class statement was written entirely by the kids without help from teachers or others.

The confirmands issued this statement rather than moving forward with the ceremony

He said that to the best of his knowledge, the group is the only Methodist confirmation class anywhere to make such a move after the General Conference decision.

The Omaha congregation shares the group's rejection of the judicial council's ruling.

On April 2, the congregation's council voted to allow both its clergy and others to perform same-sex weddings on church property in defiance of the denomination's governing body.

The congregation and the confirmation class are waiting to see what may develop at a regional denomination meeting in June.

The pastor says that the congregation may weigh the option of becoming independent or joining another denomination if the United Methodist Church does not reconsider its stance.
Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was forced into a hasty backtrack after his team said he supported 'some exceptions' to mandatory vaccines.

The Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said there could be 'personal or religious exemptions' allowing people to opt out of the injections.

'Pete does support some exceptions, except during a public health emergency to prevent an outbreak,' his spokesman told Buzzfeed News.

The comments sparked alarm following a surge in measles cases and growing skepticism of vaccinations - fears which have no basis in science.

Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (pictured) was forced into a hasty backtrack after his team said he supported 'some exceptions' to mandatory vaccines

The Buttigieg campaign later clarified that he 'believes vaccines are safe and effective' and would only support medical exemptions.

'There is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe, and he believes children should be immunized to protect their health,' the spokesman said.

'He is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions. He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed.'

One critic had said: 'The only exemption should be if a person isn't healthy enough to receive a vaccine. There is no herd immunity if people opt out just because they aren't feeling it.'

Another told Buttigieg: 'Personal and religious exemptions are what got us into this mess. Please be smarter about this.'

Other 2020 candidates including Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker voiced more full-throated support for vaccines.

Sanders warned that allowing opt-outs could create 'deadly risks' for children who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons.

Seventeen states allow some kind of non-medical vaccine exemption on personal or philosophical grounds.

Washington state tightened its rules earlier this year to reduce exemptions.

A spokesman for Buttigieg (pictured) later clarified that he 'believes vaccines are safe and effective' and would only support medical exemptions

The vaccine 'debate' has become highly charged as an 'anti-vax' movement spouting falsehoods about injections gains influence.

In the U.S. more than 700 measles cases have been reported so far this year in 22 states.

Most of the New York cases have been unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities.

This year's total in the U.S. has already eclipsed the total for any full year since 1994, when 963 cases were reported. A decade ago, the cases numbered fewer than 100 a year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this year's count includes 44 people who caught the disease while travelling in another country.

No deaths have been reported but 66 patients were hospitalized.

Experts fear the return of measles could be a sign of resurgence for other preventable diseases, such as rubella and bacterial meningitis.

In a high-profile case in February, a teenager had himself vaccinated as soon as he turned 18 after his parents had refused to allow the injection when he was a child.

Bernie Sanders (pictured) warned that allowing opt-outs could create 'deadly risks' for children who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons

Some of the vaccine fears are based on long-discredited claims that the MMR vaccine - covering, mumps and rubella - could be linked to autism.

The 1998 research by a British doctor - who has since been struck from the profession - has been comprehensively debunked.

Donald Trump voiced such fears before he became President, suggesting there were 'many cases' of children developing autism after being vaccinated.

He has since changed his stance and has now urged parents to give their children the 'important' vaccinations.

CDC health bosses have warned: 'If you wait until you think your child could be exposed to a serious illness  like when he starts child care or during a disease outbreak  there may not be enough time for the vaccine to work.

'Fortunately, most parents choose to vaccinate their children. However, some children have not received all of their vaccines, so they are not fully protected.

'It's important that children receive all doses of the vaccines according to the recommended immunization schedule. Not receiving all doses of a vaccine leaves a child vulnerable to catching serious diseases.'
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has posed with a Labour councillor who he has personally blasted for posting anti-Semitic messages and films on Facebook, it was revealed today.

Hounslow's former mayor Nisar Malik shared a video suggesting that 'Zionist Jews' were behind the 9/11 attacks and another post claimed Israel and America 'created ISIS'.

Mr Malik also previously posted a video about Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad which suggested he might not be as terrible as the media said.

Last night Sadiq Khan opened Hounslow House, the west London council's HQ, and posed next to Mr Malik and his colleagues.

He removed the Facebook posts and was 'reported through the Labour Party disciplinary process'. He was subject to a full investigation last year which resulted in the party's ruling NEC issuing him with a Reminder of Conduct.

But according to his website he remains a Labour councillor and was allowed to stand again in last Mays local elections.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has posed with Labour councillor Nisar Malik, who he has accused of putting anti-Semitic posts on Facebook

In this deleted post, Nisar Malik posted a conspiracy theory about Israel and America creating ISIS

After seeing his posts last year, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told LBC last year: 'Some of those remarks are clearly anti-Semitic.

'I think the Labour Party should be investigating those comments speedily and if those complains are upheld then anybody with those views should be kicked out of the Labour Party.

'There must be no place in our party for anybody with racist views. Anti-Semitism is racism. We should be a party that is seeking to shape and change people's views for the better, not being a place where people think it's ok to join our party with anti-Semitic views.'

Cllr Malik has repeated written about America acting to 'please the Zaniest (sic) government of Israel' - these were shown to Sadiq Khan, and he called then anti-Semitic

Mayor Khan tweeted about his visit to Hounslow yesterday but sources have suggested he did not know who he was when they posed together.

A spokesmand for Sadiq Khan said: 'Sadiq utterly condemns anti-Semitism wherever it rears its head. Any allegation must be swiftly and thoroughly investigated.

'The Mayor was at the opening of the civic centre for Hounslow - Hounslow House - and pictures were taken with councillors and others.'.

Mr Malik has said previously he is not anti-Semitic and told the Evening Standard that he put up videos 'for people who read my posts or people who have a different view'.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has come under fire after it emerged that he wrote a foreword to a century-old book which argued that banks and newspapers were controlled by Jews.

In a new edition of economist JA Hobson's Imperialism: A Study, published while Mr Corbyn was a backbencher in 2011, the MP described the work - written in 1902 - as 'brilliant, and very controversial at the time' and 'a great tome'.

Labour has denied that his comments amounted to an endorsement of sections of the book which are widely regarded as anti-Semitic.

A poster emerged online today showing that Mr Corbyn was top of the bill at the launch of a controversial book

In the book, Hobson suggested that finance in Europe was controlled 'by men of a singular and peculiar race who have behind them many centuries of financial experience' and 'are in a unique position to control the policy of nations'.

He argued that the great financial houses have 'control which they exercise over the body of public opinion through the press'.

And he suggested that no European state would engage in a great war 'if the house of Rothschild and its connections set their face against it'.

Hobson's theory that imperialism was driven by international finance seeking new markets was quoted approvingly by Lenin.

And Mr Corbyn wrote in his foreword: 'Hobson's railing against the commercial interests that fuel the role of the popular press with tales of imperial might, that then lead on to racist caricatures of African and Asian peoples, was both correct and prescient.'
The Jerry Springer Show is being sued by the family of a man who committed suicide shortly after appearing on an episode of the controversial show.

The family of Blake Alvey said he was ambushed on the NBC series when he was confronted by his fiancee Cassie Rutter.

Rutter told Alvey that she had been unfaithful with his good friend, no longer wanted to marry him, and had sold the engagement ring he had given her.

The Jerry Springer Show has been sued by the family of Blake Alvey, who they claim committed suicide after he appeared on the show with his fiancee Cassie Rutter

During the show, Rutter told Alvey that she had been unfaithful with his friend, no longer wanted to marry him, and had sold the engagement ring he had given her

The show filmed on May 8, 2018 and aired on May 24, 2018. On June 3, 2018, Alvey took his own life.

A description for the episode, titled 'Gay Phase...Over', reveals that 'Cassie has moved on - to her boyfriend's good friend'.

'I don't want to get married,' Rutter tells Alvey in the trailer of the episode. 'And there's someone else.'

Alvey's friend then confronts him during the episode and they briefly fight before being separated, in usual Jerry Springer fashion.

Alvey's good friend (pictured) then confronts him during the episode in front of the audience

The men briefly fight before they are separated, in the usual Jerry Springer fashion

Alvey's family have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jerry Springer and NBC, claiming the show knew it would 'elicit an extreme reaction' from Alvey.

The suit, obtained by WDRB, claims that Alvey, who left behind a newborn son, killed himself 'as a result of severe emotional and mental suffering and anguish'.

It accuses the Jerry Springer show of 'reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others'. Rutter has also been named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

'The Jerry Springer Show was designed to humiliate and exploit people like Blake, [disregarding] the devastating consequences that their conduct can have on people's lives,' Brenton Stanley, Alvey's family attorney, said in a statement.

'We will fight to hold them accountable,' he added.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Jefferson Circuit Court last week, is requesting unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.

The show filmed on May 8, 2018 and aired on May 24, 2018. On June 3, Alvey took his own life. Rutter has also been named a defendant in the wrongful death lawsuit

Alvey and Rutter got engaged on April 20, just weeks before they appeared on the show

Alvey, of Louisville, Kentucky, posted a tribute to Rutter on his Facebook less than a month before he appeared on the show.

'Cassie Rutter I love you with all my heart I swear to god I do...your my baby girl despite all your flaws your still #1 to me you (sic)'.

The caption appeared alongside a picture that read: 'The couples that are meant to be are the ones who go through everything that is meant to tear them apart, and come out even stronger than they were before.'

Less than three months before he died, Alvey posted two foreshadowing posts about problems with friends.

One was a meme that read: 'PSA to All Guys: DO NOT choose your boys over your gf because when you break up its your "boys" who be in her DM like "he dumb, you don't deserve that.'"

Alvey, of Louisville, Kentucky, posted a tribute to Rutter on his Facebook less than a month before he appeared on the show

Alvey's Facebook still states that he is engaged. His bio reads: 'Cassie Ann is the woman of my dreams 5evaa'

In her own bio, Cassie continues to pay tribute to Alvey with the words '#Rip Blake'

Another was Alvey's own post, which read: 'God, I can handle my enemies just protect me from my friends.'

Alvey's Facebook still states that he is engaged. His bio reads: 'Cassie Ann is the woman of my dreams 5evaa.'

In her own bio, Cassie pays tribute to Alvey with the words '#Rip Blake'.

DailyMail.com has reached out to The Jerry Springer Show for comment.

For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or click here.

For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here.

For confidential support in Australia, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or click here.
Preckwinkle did not dispute the Tribunes findings but said that she, Evans, Foxx and others continue to meet regularly and review data produced from the courts in order to work together to continue these efforts and address any issues that arise. Let me be clear: One victim of domestic violence is one too many. We must always work to make sure we are balancing the rights of those who have been accused with those who have been victimized. Despite our strides, there is much more work to be done.
Mark Turner, 56, is accused of wounding his girlfriend and her grown son after getting into a heated argument over which car maker is better: Chevy or Ford

A disagreement between family members in Virginia over which American car maker is better went from 0 to 60 in just minutes, leaving three people with gunshot wounds and landing a fourth person in jail.

Prosecutors say the Chevy-versus-Ford debate in Bedford, Virginia, last week got so heated that Mark Edwin Turner, 56, stabbed his girlfriend, then shot the woman and her adult son, Logan Bailey, before barricading himself in a home for more than two hours.

Turner was charged with felony malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a felon, reported the station WSET.

A prosecutor said in court Monday that Turner was at a family dinner at a home on Shepherd Lane on April 23 when he began to argue with Bailey, who works in auto repair, about the merits of cars made by Chevrolet versus cars made by Ford.

The prosecutor said the fight escalated, with Turner producing a knife and then a handgun. In a scuffle, Turner plunged the knife into his girlfriend's lower back, inflicting a six-inch wound.

He then went back into the house and returned with a gun. His girlfriend shielded her son with her body and was shot five times in the leg.

The shooting took place in Bedford, Virginia, after a family dinner on April 23

Prosecutors say Logan Bailey (left) was shot once in the arm during the fight, while his girlfriend (right), was hit in the cheek and back by a round that ricocheted

According to the prosecutor, Bailey was shot once in the arm, and the man's girlfriend was struck by two rounds that ricocheted and wounded her cheek and back.

Police who responded to the scene found three victims screaming in pain and observed Turner inside the house. After a two-hour standoffs, officers shot Turner with a bean bag round and took him into custody.

The prosecutor said the man appeared to be heavily intoxicated. Records cited by VirginiaFirst.com indicate that Turner was charged with distribution of methamphetamine in 2003.

The suspect was denied bond on Monday. He is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Friday.
Benjamin Murray, 19, died in May 2018 while studying at the University of Bristol

A student suffering with anxiety fell to his death from a bridge after he was dismissed from his course despite telling officials he had been 'struggling' to settle in, his parents told an inquest today.

Benjamin Murray, 19, died in May 2018 while studying at the University of Bristol, where 12 students have taken their own lives in the last three years.

The first-year English undergraduate had been told the university had chosen to 'dismiss' him after his lack of attendance at lectures and an exam.

But his parents James and Janet Murray told an inquest into his death at Avon Coroner's Court today that they felt the university 'failed' their son.

Mr Murray, from London, said 30 different members of staff were involved in email correspondence during his son's seven months at the University of Bristol.

The undergraduate had been told the University of Bristol (above) had chosen to 'dismiss' him

But he said not one face-to-face meeting was organised with Ben. The student then became 'confused and upset' about the decision to dismiss him from his course.

In a statement, Ben's parents said: 'As a family we believe time was a critical factor in Ben's death. He spent far too long 'struggling in the water', so to speak.

How 12 Bristol students took their own lives in the last three years MIRANDA WILLIAMS (University of Bristol) - October 13, 2016 The 19-year-old philosophy student from Chichester had struggled with anxiety and depression, and took her own life with a drug overdose. She was only in her first term at the university, and was praised by her mother as 'an amazing young woman' with a 'wonderful circle of friends'. A coroner concluded her death was suicide. DANIEL GREEN (University of Bristol) - October 21, 2016 The 18-year-old history fresher, who lost his mother aged two to cancer, was found hanging in his room at university. An inquest was told he had started talking about starting counselling services, but had been in 'good spirits' just two days before his death. In a narrative verdict the coroner concluded he had taken his own life. KIM LONG (University of Bristol) - November 10, 2016 The 18-year-old law student was just starting his first term at the university but was found dead in his halls of residence after leaving a note for his parents. Mr Long was described as a 'highly intelligent' young man with 'a sense of humour' by his parents, and had not shown signs of depression. The coroner concluded suicide. LARA NOSIRU (University of Bristol) - January 30, 2017 The 23-year-old student from Essex took a large number of sleeping tablets and some LSD before jumping off Clifton Suspension Bridge in the city. She had suffered from depression for several years and tried to kill herself on several previous occasions. The coroner said she took her own life. ELSA SCABURRI (University of Bristol) - March 20, 2017 The 21-year-old student had been suffering with depression when she was found hanged after leaving a note on her bed. The modern languages student was said to have gone 'downhill' quickly during a year abroad in Italy and came back to Britain to be with her mother. The coroner concluded her death was suicide. RAVEN HUNT (University of West England) - April 13, 2017 The 21-year-old sociology student, who had a history of anxiety, hanged herself in woods near the city. Her family later spoke of their devastation. Her mother Emmy Hunt, who has three other children, said she is now on anti-depressants and gets panic attacks following the death. SAM SYMONDS (University of West England) - May 1, 2017 The 19-year-old student, who was described as 'so lovely', was found dead after his friends raised the alarm when he had not been seen. His girlfriend and flatmate came home from work to find police at the flat, who said he had killed himself. A post mortem found he died from hanging. In a narrative verdict the coroner concluded he took his own life. JAMES THOMSON (University of Bristol) - October 25, 2017 The 20-year-old maths student had been battling depression for about 18 months before his body was found by a friend. During an inquest, his parents questioned why the university did not do more to get in touch with them when they found he was suffering from depression. The coroner concluded his death was suicide. JUSTIN CHENG (University of Bristol) - January 12, 2018 The law student from Canada, is in the third year of his degree, is believed by police to have taken his own life. The coroner concluded his death was suicide. ALEX ELSMORE (University of Bristol) - April 21, 2018 The 23-year-old electrical and engineering student took his own life. The undergraduate, whose father is Guy, 52, the Archdeacon of Buckingham in the Diocese of Oxford, was originally from Liverpool and had four siblings. The coroner concluded his death was suicide. NATASHA ABRAHART (University of Bristol) - April 30, 2018 Second-year physics student Natasha Abrahart was only 20 when she was found dead in her flat having taken her own life. In February last year she wrote to tutors to tell them she had had suicidal thoughts, and later that month tried to kill herself. BEN MURRAY (University of Bristol) - May 5, 2018 First-year student Ben Murray took his own life last May. His father has since appealed for universities to do more to share details about at-risk students. Advertisement

'Much earlier intervention was needed and should have happened.

'Ben was not even referred to the university halls welfare officer, as he was not considered at risk.

'But in the workplace, you do not just send letters to sack people. There are proper, face-to-face procedures that should be followed.

'For a 19-year-old fresher to be kicked out of his first year course without a face-to-face meeting is unacceptable and extraordinary.

'If a 19-year-old says he is anxious, and is not attending lectures, you should immediately take action, and not just send him links.

'What further signs do you need that something is wrong? We believe Bristol Uni failed on a number of occasions with the lack of pastoral care given to Ben.'

Ben's social media messages to his university friends had suggested he was suffering from depression and they urged him to speak to student services.

He had twice told senior tutor Charles Gunter that he was not feeling well, and had been 'struggling to connect', an inquest heard.

But although Mr Gunter emailed Ben information on how to register with student services, no checks were made on whether Ben actually did so.

The inquest heard that Ben was sent a letter dated February 21, informing him that he was being dismissed from his course due to lack of engagement.

This followed Mr Gunter holding a phone call with Ben on December 14, during which Ben said he was 'struggling to settle in at uni' and 'struggling to connect'.

Mr Gunter said: 'I told him it was quite natural to feel a little bit unsettled.

'I established that he hadn't registered with the uni health services, and sent him information on that and how to register.

'I wanted to make sure that he was aware that there was support.'

After Ben missed an exam in January, Mr Gunter got back in touch with him and advised him to fill out an exam absence form, as Ben once again told him he had been unwell.

Mr Gunter added: 'At the start of February the next teaching block started, and for the second term in a row Ben did not complete registration for that teaching block.

'I asked various tutors if he was attending classes, and I received mix replies. Some said he had been to lectures, others said he had come to some of them.

'The situation became one that required attention. This was not just Ben missing one or two classes, or failing to hand in an assignment. He had failed to engage and had not passed 60 credits.'

At a faculty meeting at the start of February, the university Arts Faculty made the decision that Ben be dismissed from his course.

However, despite Mr Gunter contacting the Humanities School education doctor, Lesel Dawson, to try and raise Ben's attendance, the senior tutor said that the dismissal letter of February 26 was the last contact the English School had with Ben.

He said: 'I had hoped that Ben's issue was just an issue with settling in in the first term. I escalated Ben's case to Dr Dawson because I felt I had already made contact and had done what I could.

'I find that sometimes if a student no longer wants to engage with one member of staff, perhaps talking to a new member of staff can help.'

However, Dr Dawson proposed a meeting with Ben on March 22 - two days after Ben's appeal period to remain at the university would have passed, the inquest heard.

And, the day before his death, Ben's friend Stefan Lossev said Ben messaged him, concerned and confused about an email informing him he had to move out of his halls the following week.

Ben wrote to Stefan: 'I feel like I'm leaving the Matrix or unplugging', to which Stefan replied: 'Don't kill yourself, please.'

The inquest heard that Ben had been known to take recreational drugs - and it was believed to be this that had contributed to his poor attendance at university lectures.

Ben suffered fatal injuries after falling off Clifton Suspension Bridge. The inquest continues and is expected to finish tomorrow.

For confidential support in the UK call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details.
Tommy Robinson was accused of 'spouting sh**e' on the campaign trail yesterday by a mother pushing a pram he accosted in the street.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is running as an independent candidate in the north west in this month's European elections.

Trying to win votes in Salford, Greater Manchester yesterday he got embroiled in a row with a woman over his overturned conviction for contempt of court.

But the mother took him to task and asked him whether he would have got involved in the trial 'if they were a group of white men' - and not Asian.

The heated exchange was caught on camera by passer-by Matthew Gaskell and uploaded to social media where it has been shared thousands of times.

Hundreds of commenters congratulated the mother for speaking 'common sense' and slammed Robinson for targeting her when she was with her baby.

Mr Gaskell, 36, who was shopping in the area at the time, told MailOnline: 'I wanted people to know what he's doing and to show everyone he's not as popular as he thinks he is.

'He's targeting poor areas of Salford and Wythenshawe and trying to groom them to hate Muslims. It's nothing but racism.'

The 36-year-old came out of one of the shops to find Robinson arguing with the woman about why he got involved in the Huddersfield trial.

He added: 'He'd targeted this woman with a baby, it's shameful.

Robinson is pictured getting animated in a row with a mother pushing a pram about his overturned contempt of court conviction in Salford Shopping Centre, Greater Manchester, yesterday

Tommy Robinson is pictured in Wythenshawe, Manchester, where he announced he is running as an independent MEP candidate last week

'He was talking about paedophiles, but I said to him, there's more middle aged white men who are paedophiles than Asian men.

'Then I shouted "what about the church gangs", but he just kept coming back to the same issue.'

Sharing the clip on Facebook, he wrote: 'She's a star whoever she is.'

One person responded: 'Love how she tells him straight lol,' while another wrote: 'Well said this lady!'

Another person commented: 'So heartwarming to see people do not welcome those kind of views in their towns.'

Robinson was convicted and jailed for contempt of court after live-streaming prejudicial statements outside Leeds Crown Court during a rape trial in mid-2018.

He later appealed and managed to quash the conviction, but the Attorney General has since said he should face another trial.

Robinson could be jailed after Geoffrey Cox QC's intervention if found guilty of contempt when the case is heard later this month.

A still of the 'Vote Tommy' website is pictured where people can register to vote online

He is standing as an independent candidate in the north west of England, where he is targeting 'working class' communities.

The 36-year-old father-of-three is allowed to stand for office despite his conviction - because he served less than a year in prison.

Robinson told crowds of around 300 people in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, last week: 'This is one of the working class estates which has been betrayed and politicians need to understand our power as a working class community.

'If you want to leave the European Union then you need to vote for me.

'The reason we are betrayed is because we don't vote  I've never voted because there is no one to vote for. We need to take their seats.

'Over the next four weeks I will travel a roadshow to the working class communities of the North West.'

He promised residents a 'David versus Goliath' battle to represent underprivileged communities and took a swipe at Nigel Farage, branding him 'Just another millionaire who looks down at the working classes'.

Robinson (pictured with supporters), whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is pictured with supporters at a rally he held in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester last week

Manchester faith leaders and MPs have united to condemn Robinson's political activity in the area..

A joint open letter says Robinson and 'far-right political views are not welcome in our town and our great city.

'We want to make this statement about Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

'Together, on behalf of our community, we felt it necessary to speak out against his visit.

'We are firm in our belief that violence and racism have no place in our political discourse'.
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Vintage photos of one of London' oldest markets show the hustle and bustle of the capital city in the 1950s.

The images, captured in 1957 in Petticoat Lane in the East End, show a flamboyant hawker displaying his tropical birds and cages, a crateload of puppies for sale, and a cigarette-smoking vendor standing impatiently by his collection of historic medals waiting for a sale.

Elsewhere, a throng of punters look to grab a bargain and the self-proclaimed 'Mayor of Petticoat Lane' tries to flog his blankets.

The world-renowned market dates back hundreds of years, from at least the early 1700s. Somewhat confusingly, the name 'Petticoat Lane' no longer exists on modern maps but is a hangover from the Victorian era.

According to some sources, the name was changed to avoid upsetting some punters with very conservative sensibilities - and it's now listed as Middlesex Street.

These wonderful vintage photos show the hustle and bustle of London's Petticoat Lane market, in the East End's Spitalfields area, in 1957. It is one of the oldest, and most famous, markets in the city. (Above, a punter carefully examines a pocket watch)

Petticoat Lane has been home to a market for centuries, dating back to at least the 1700s - when the area started to become more commercial. The site was first recorded at 'Peticote Lane' in the 1600s, and its draw as a place for trading grew as London itself grew, with more housing and businesses developing around the city. (Pictured, crowds gather to look at a selection of puppies)

A street trader drums up business for his caged birds. At the beginning of the decade, the RSPCA regularly swooped on some markets, along with the police, to make sure certain birds being sold were not illegal. The Pet Animals Act of 1951 ensured that only those with licensed freestanding pet stores could sell live animals as pets

The name of the street was apt, given the lace goods, and other clothing, mainly sold there - usually cheap or second-hand items. (Pictured, wool and nylon socks on display.) 1957 marked the year that the then Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, made an optimistic speech in which he told his fellow Conservatives that 'most of our people have never had it so good'

A car bonnet sale at the market, with clocks and a wireless for sale. Somewhat confusingly, the name 'Petticoat Lane' no longer exists on modern maps but is a hangover from the Victorian era. According to some sources, the name was changed to avoid upsetting some punters with very conservative sensibilities - and it's now listed as Middlesex Street

A dapper salesman standing alongside his vintage medals, available for the right price. The Sunday market at Petticoat Lane thrived during the 1800s and early 1900s, partly due to the influence of the local Jewish community, who had fled persecution in East Europe and settled in the area. With Saturday being their Sabbath, they did much of their shopping on Sundays

The authorities were unimpressed by the market and, on occasion, police cars and fire engines were driven through it to disrupt the trading. Petticoat Lane market was not given legal trading rights until an Act of Parliament in 1936. (Above, boys consider purchasing a puppy or two)

As new waves of immigration ensued, the market continued to prosper. It still attracts crowds of clients every week and has more than 1,000 stalls, mainly specialising in clothes and household goods but with something for everyone

Bicycle parts for sale at the market. In May 1957, petrol rationing came to an end following the Suez Crisis. Children from working class families at the time rarely had new bicycles, so such stalls were a godsend

A man tries to sell his 'Africa art' and 'hand-made novelties' in the 1950s. Certain Victorians had viewed the market as a 'modern Babel' - to be avoided by 'respectable' people. Over the decades, such attitudes changed - resulting in a much more multicultural feel to the place

A stallholder shows off his fine crockery. It was not uncommon to see a salesperson throw their wares high into the air before catching them to show off their hardiness and to catch the passerby's eye

A trader proudly holds aloft what appears to be a porcelain dog. Among the other prominent markets in the East End were one at Brick Lane, and the Columbia Road Flower Market. Petticoat Lane is one of the oldest surviving markets in Britain

The self-proclaimed 'mayor of Petticoat Lane' showing off his stack of blankets. Although Petticoat Lane is best known for clothing, there are stalls where you can find leather, yard goods, lace, watches, hardware, and toys

The market has attracted huge crowds for hundreds of years. Items are usually tagged with a price but haggling is commonplace along Petticoat Lane

A customer inspects themselves in a mirror while they try on a long coat. It is said that the name Petticoat Lane was changed to Middlesex Street to spare the blushes of Victorians who didn't like to have a street name that referred to underwear

A top-hatted shoes salesman barters and banters with customers. These days, you can also buy everything from designer goods to fruit and veg

Eagle-eyed punters examine the wares of a carpet dealer. The market has on occasion attracted criminal activities - which gave rise to the saying: 'You can expect someone to steal your petticoat at one end of the market and then sell it back to you at the other end'

Entrepreneur and businessman Alan Sugar first set out his stall in Petticoat Lane, where he used to boil and sell beetroot
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Protesters clashed with police across the globe on May Day during rallies against poor working conditions and economic problems.

While riots broke out in Paris as Black Bloc activists attacked police and smashed up vehicles and shop fronts, activists in Turkey defied a ban against demonstrations by attempting to march towards Istanbul's symbolic main square, chanting 'May Day is Taksim and it cannot be banned'.

As small groups attempted to break the police blockade, more than two dozen were detained, according to the official Anadolu news agency.

Taksim holds symbolic value for Turkey's labor movement. In 1977, 34 people were killed there during a May Day event when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.

Union members set off smoke canisters and held up placards saying 'long live the international solidarity of the working class' in central London

Police officers with riot shields were seen preventing marchers from demonstrating in Algiers, Algeria, earlier today

Students were seen holding pictures of Marxist leaders and flags as they ran during a Labour Day rally in Ankara, Turkey, despite a ban

Supporters of the Lebanese Communist party were seen holding an Arabic banner that says 'unite' during this Labour Day protest

Workers protesting during a May Day rally in Surabaya, East Java Province, Indonesia, wore red and took selfies

Pictured: Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell speaks to union members in Trafalgar Square, central London, earlier today

These women were seen shouting slogans and holding placards as they attended a May Day rally in Karachi, Pakistan

Around 100,000 people descended on central Moscow during a rally organised by Kremlin-friendly trade unions today.

Over the years, the May Day in Russia has transformed from the occasion for rallies for workers' rights to an official event carefully orchestrated by Kremlin-controlled groups. Opposition activists, however, often try to use the May Day to promote their agenda.

The OVD-Info group said more than 100 people were arrested across Russia, with at least 68 arrests in St. Petersburg in an anti-government contingent that authorities had sanctioned as part of the main May Day demonstration.

Police brutally manhandled people in the opposition contingent, including local lawmaker Maxim Reznik.

Some of them were carrying placards saying 'Putin is not immortal' in reference to President Vladimir Putin who has been at the helm of the country since 2000. Most of them are supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Around 100,000 people descended on central Moscow during a rally organised by Kremlin-friendly trade unions today

But in St. Petersburg, around 68 people were detained as they attended an opposition rally earlier today, with more than 100 arrested across the country

In Istanbul, Turkey, roads were blocked off as the government banned demonstration marches in areas including Taksim Square, but many protesters continued to march with flags (pictured)

Pictured: members of the Otohu Diamond Women Initiative hold a placard arguing for sex workers' rights in Lagos, Nigeria

Sri Lankan women working in Beirut in Lebanon held up signs saying 'we need freedom' during today's march against worsening economic conditions in the country

Here, a demonstrator uses a megaphone during a protest at a May Day march in Algiers, Algeria, while draped in the country's flag

Greece was left without national rail, island ferry and other transport services for a day as unions held strikes and rallies to celebrate May Day.

Hundreds of people gathered in central Athens for three separate rallies and marches to parliament organized by rival unions and left-wing groups.

In London, union members gathered in Trafalgar Square to listen to Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell give a speech.

Other rallies were held in Algeria, Nigeria, Indonesia, Lebanon and Pakistan on International Workers' Day.

Many trade union groups protest for workers rights on May 1, which is a public holiday in some countries, after socialists settled on the date to commemorate the Haymarket affair.

Cubans were seen marching at a May Day rally at the Revolution Square in Havana earlier today

People marched at the Agege Stadium in Lagos earlier today, where workers protested against the harsh economic downturn

Activists in Turkey attempted to march towards Istanbul's symbolic main square, chanting 'May Day is Taksim and it cannot be banned'
This is the heartwarming moment a Filipino diving guide rescues a trapped sea turtle from drowning by untangling it from an underwater buoy rope.

A group of tourists snorkeling off the island of Apo in the central Philippines spotted the large turtle snared in the rope in shallow water.

Their guide dived under and freed the animal, allowing it to rise to the surface for a much-needed gulp of air.

Snared: Tourists found the turtle struggling underwater after becoming untangled in a buoy rope

Their guide dived under and freed the animal, allowing it to rise to the surface for a much-needed gulp of air

'My friends and I went to Apo Island to swim with turtles, but we came upon one trapped on the seabed,' the tourist who made the video said.

'The rope, on which the turtle becomes entangled, is attached to a float marking the area marked for tourists, the rest is out of bounds.

'Thankfully the guide swam down and freed it. I watched it surface for some air and it carried on feeding.'

Pictures show the animal slowly rising to the surface for some much-needed air after being freed
A 390-pound bodybuilder who goes by the name Iranian Hulk has announced he will make his mixed martial arts debut this year by taking on a Brazilian opponent.

Sajad Gharibi, who is also known as the Persian Hercules, stands at 6'2" tall and weighs roughly as much as a killer whale calf.

He announced his intention to move into MMA on Instagram in January, when he threw down the gauntlet to anyone who was willing to step into the octagon with him.

Iranian bodybuilder Sajad Gharibi, 27, who weighs 390 pounds and stands 6 ft 2 inches tall - will make his MMA debut his year

The bodybuilder announced on Instagram that he has accepted a challenge from an opponent from Brazil and the two will battle it out before the end of the year

'Be brave and Invite me to fight, rather than hiding behind your sponsors,' Gharibi wrote.

'I am ready to fight you, show me what you've got to say in the ring.'

And last week he revealed that he had accepted the challenge of a Brazilian rival, with the fight to take place before the end of the year.

'So Im finally accepting my first professional fight from a Brazilian fighter before 2020,' he wrote on Instagram, where he has amassed nearly 450,000 followers.

Gharibi has a cult following of some 450,000 Instagram users and regularly posts about his day-to-day life

Gharibi did not name his opponent, but some have speculated that it could be 29-year-old Romario dos Santos Alves, also known as the Brazilian Hulk.

Alves, who threatened to 'tear off' Gharibi's head in an Instagram video last month, started training seriously in 2009 and currently weighs 229 pounds (104kg).

According to local media, he nearly lost an arm in 2013 due to synthol oil injections which caused a severe reaction.

Romario Dos Santos Alves, the Brazilian Hulk, said on Instagram last month that he would 'tear off' Gharibi's head

Some people speculate that Alves (pictured), who weighs 230 pounds and is 5ft 8" tall, will be Gharibi's opponent in his debut MMA fight

The use of injected oil to enhance muscle appearance is common among bodybuilders despite the fact that synthol can cause pulmonary embolisms, nerve damage, infections and the formation of oil-filled ulcers in the muscle.

Over the last five years the Brazilian Hulk has reportedly changed his lifestyle and now trains healthily.

Gharibi, meanwhile, has a cult following on social media where he posts about what he does best - weightlifting.

His Instagram page displays an array of topless photos of himself and pictures of him going about his day to day life. He often takes pictures with objects that look incredibly small when held next to him - such as can of Fanta orange.

The Iranian hulk can lift up to 180 kilogrammes which is almost as much as his bodyweight

In another photograph he wraps his enormous arm around a normal sized friend.

He can lift around than 180kg, which is almost as much as his bodyweight, and competes in the powerlifting category of competitions.

He has also participated in bodybuilding competitions representing his country.

If the two Hulks do square off in the ring, the Iranian will have a significant size advantage - some 160 pounds and 6 inches in height.

But that does not necessary mean he will triumph if the two do meet in the ring.

Larger contestants can often be less agile and tire more easily than their lighter opponents.
Whats the point of a bank?

To make money, take care of our money and offer us professional guidance on how best to save our money.

I mean its pretty much as simple as that isnt it?

So it was entirely unsurprising to see Chase, one of Americas largest banks, tweet the following words of advice to its customers this week:

You: why is my balance so low

Bank account: make coffee at home.

Bank account: eat the food thats in the fridge

Bank account: you dont need a cab, its only three blocks

You: I guess well never know

Bank account: seriously?

The tweet ended with the hashtag, #MondayMotivation.

To me, this seems like eminently sensible words of encouragement from a bank that wants its lower-income customers to think more carefully about how they spend their money.

Sensible advice: The post Chase tweeted on Monday offering followers humorous advice on how to make small changes to save money

After all, most people waste cash in a needlessly frivolous manner, right?

So it follows that most people could use a bit of friendly advice on how to save, not waste it.

I know that when I first went out to work, this was exactly the kind of thing my mother would say to me to instil some much-needed fiscal frugalness into my lifestyle. Look after the pennies and the pounds (dollars) look after themselves, was the family mantra.

It was good advice then, and its good advice now.

But the Chase tweet, which said much the same thing in a slightly more contemporary manner, soon attracted the attention of socialist firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted back this snarky response:

You: Why is my balance so low?

Economists: Bc working Americans havent gotten a raise in 30 years despite unprecedented growth; & living costs have exploded.

Chase: Maybe if you skipped that Dunkin on April 22nd, youd be able to afford your RX meds. Thats how that works right.

Bite back: Socialist firebrand AOC was quick to slap down the bank's advice

Within seconds, the Ocasio-Cortez retort was storming virally across the internet, with her woke fan-base shrieking with joy that shed stuck it to a bunch of corporate fat-cats in such brutal fashion.

Now, let me make it very clear that Ive got no great desire to defend banks like Chase.

Like all major financial institutions, theyre big enough, rich enough, and greedy enough, to defend themselves.

Theyve been found guilty in the past of charging overly high overdraft fees on low-income checking accounts, so are certainly worthy of strong criticism for helping to exacerbate customers low account balance issues.

Jamie Dimon (left) is the flamboyant boss of Chase bank and earns a whopping $31m salary while his staff struggle on meagre wages

And their flamboyant boss, CEO Jamie Dimon recently hit headlines over a savage grilling in the House Financial Services Committee for being paid a $31m salary but failing to understand why the banks low-level employees would struggle to survive on their meagre wages.

But these werent the criticisms that Ocasio-Cortez levelled at Chase.

Instead, she specifically chose to mock the banks very uncontroversial advice to customers that they should be more careful in how they spend their money.

She wasnt the only high profile Democrat to attack Chase over the tweet.

Elizabeth Warren, who is running for President in 2020, was incensed by what she saw as Chases hypocrisy because its parent company JP Morgan Chase got a $25bn taxpayer bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, while many Americans lost everything.

Elizabeth Warren quickly followed suit with AOC and tweeted a similar acerbic comment

She tweeted:

Taxpayers: we lost our jobs/homes/savings but gave you a $25b bailout.

Workers: employers dont pay living wages

Economists: rising costs + stagnant wages = 0 savings.

Chase: guess well never know

Everyone: seriously?

But again, I dont understand why a bank that got a $25bn payout - to stop, lest we forget, ALL its customers potentially losing their savings  should therefore not be allowed to offer wise advice to stop customers wasting money?

As financial expert Dave Ramsey told NBC News: No one should ever shame someone for being poor, but all of us should be open to having our bad habits called out so we can live better lives.

Exactly.

Banks have a duty to shareholders to make as much money as possible, but they also have a duty of care to their customers and its one they like to shout loudly about.

As JP Morgan Jr. told the US Senate in 1933: The banker must be ready and willing at all times to give advice to his clients to the best of his ability.

(And when it comes to the Morgans judgement, its worth noting that his father, the first JP Morgan, was scheduled to be on the Titanic, but cancelled at the last minute because he thought hed have a better time extending his holiday in the French Alps. ..)

Yet rather than stand by their very sound advice, Chase, like so many companies pathetically do these days when they come under social media fire from the Politically Correct Police, immediately choked.

'Woke' Twitter users quickly jumped on the bandwagon and deluged the Chase account with their own takedowns, using the bank's original hashtag #MondayMotivation

They deleted the tweet, and later posted a grovelling replacement saying: Our #MondayMotivation is to get better than our #MondayMotivation tweets. Thanks for the feedback, Twitter world.

Oh please, pass me the vomit-bag!

Ironically, this gutless surrender to Ocasio-Cortez and her merry band of shrieking virtue-signallers, made me furious in a way the original tweet never did.

Why delete perfectly sensible advice?

Why make such a snivelling expression of gratitude to a baying mob?

Why give an increasingly shrill, aggressive and often woefully informed young congresswoman the completely unnecessary pound of flesh she so desperately wanted?

Piers Morgan would rather trust the notorious ponzi scheme fraudster Bernie Madoff with his money than AOC

That last point particularly enraged me because AOC as she likes to call herself has spent months espousing fanciful economic policies like the Green New Deal that experts have estimated could cost up to $93 trillion, or $600,000 per US household.

Then she wants to spend another $40 trillion on other progressive programs like free Medicare for all, free college tuition, paid family leave, and Social Security expansion.

So the irony is that under AOCs unworkable madcap spend-spend-spend economic vision, Americans would all be left unable able to afford to even make a coffee at home or have any food in their fridge.

Frankly, when it comes to financial advice, Id rather trust Bernie Madoff than Ms Ocasio-Cortez.

So if Id been running the Chase Twitter account, Id have fired back at her:

You: Why is my balance non-existent?

Economists: Bc Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became President, enforced all her ridiculous ideas and bankrupted the entire country.

Chase: Bye Alexandria!
Images posted to social media on Tuesday show seven naked people covered in body paint depicting the Avengers being paraded up a street in the Mexcan city of Nuevo Laredo, reportedly on the orders of a drug cartel.

The photographs, which went viral, reveal six men and a woman standing and lying on the ground in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.

According to news outlet Radio Formula, the Northeast Cartel shamed the victims by stripping them naked and covering their bodies from head to toe in paint.

They then forced the group to walk down Guerrero Avenue near the historic city center.

Members of the Northeast Cartel reportedly stripped seven people naked and covered their bodies in paint which resembled Marvel characters

A male victim (left), wearing a red similar to Iron Man, walks alongside a woman (right), depicting Captain Marvel

The criminal organization painted a man in the colors of Spider-Man

Victims were made to look like Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain Marvel.

Three of the victims resembled Black Panther, according to news outlet Vanguardia.

In one of the pictures, several residents are spotted in the background as a male and a female cover their faces.

Another image showed the moment five men and a woman leaned against the gate of a closed business while another man covers his face and genitals.

The images also revealed a man with bruises to his buttocks.

One of the victims was covered in body paint that depicted him to be the Black Panther

Authorities have yet to reveal the motive behind the cartel's decision to strip naked seven people and parade them through the streets of Nuevo Laredo

A man struggles to stand on his feet after he was forced by a Mexican cartel to walk around Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which his body covered in paint

Authorities have not revealed the motive behind the cartel's decision. No arrests have been announced.

However, the group has used similar tactics before.

In February, a man was abandoned in the street with a message painted over his back as a warning to a rival criminal organization.

The Northeast Cartel became a force in 2014 after it splintered off from Los Zetas following the arrest of the gang's leader, Omar Trevino Morales, also known as Z-42.

The group has been engaged in several turf wars against rival factions that also spun off from Los Zetas, and has also waged war on the Sinaloa Cartel, once headed by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's.

The Northeast Cartel operates mainly out of Nuevo Laredo but also maintains its presence in the states of Veracruz, Monterrey and Zacatecas.
Oklahoma authorities said on Wednesday that the mother of a five-year-old boy who was killed after falling off the back of a motorized scooter she was driving has fled to Mexico to avoid criminal charges.

An arrest warrant was issued for Evelyn Ortiz-Luevano on Friday related to the death of her son, Caiden Ortiz-Luevano, The Tulsa County District Attorneys Office said.

Evelyn drove a Lime scooter into oncoming traffic with her son on the back on April 23, when she swerved to avoid a car, Tulsa World reported. The driver of the car, Renier Davison, also swerved to avoid the scooter, but the vehicle struck Caiden, leading to his death later that night at a hospital.

Rather than face felony child neglect and misdemeanor negligent homicide charges, Evelyn left the country over the weekend, according to Tulsa Police Sergeant Shane Tuell.

It's not clear whether she attended a memorial service for her son, which is believed to have been held on Sunday.

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Evelyn Ortiz-Luevano (right), the mother of a five-year-old Caiden (left), who was hit by a car and died after falling off the back of a motorized scooter she was driving, is said to have fled to Mexico to avoid criminal charges

A witness told police that she saw Evelyn driving one of two scooters on April 23, near the 31st Street entrance to a park called The Gathering Place.

Evelyn's scooter had Caiden on the back, as she was driving it under a pedestrian bridge and into oncoming traffic.

The witness said drivers began honking their horns, with one coming to a complete stop, as Evelyn continued to drive through tunnels on Riverside Drive with a friend on a second scooter following about 40 yards behind her and Caiden.

A probable cause affidavit states Evelyn swerved left to avoid the car driving in her and Caiden's direction when Caiden was thrown from the scooter onto the roadway.

The driver, Davison, also swerved left, avoiding the scooter but hitting the child.

Caiden (pictured) died at a hospital on the night of April 23 after being hit by a car

The driver of the car, Renier Davison (left), fled the scene immediately following the accident but turned himself in to the police on Wednesday. Rather than face felony child neglect and misdemeanor negligent homicide charges, Evelyn left the country over the weekend, Tulsa Police Sergeant Shane Tuell said. Caiden is pictured at right

It's not clear whether Evelyn attended a memorial service for her son, which is believed to have been held on Sunday. The Lime scooters being ridden that night is shown

Davison fled the scene immediately following the accident but turned himself in to the police on Wednesday, after the Honda he was driving was found parked at an nearby apartment, according to Fox News.

He now faces charges of leaving the scene of a fatal collision, driving with a suspended license and causing an accident without a valid drivers license.

A coworker of Ortiz-Luevano, who created a GoFundMe page to help fund a memorial service for Caiden, wrote on the campaign site on Sunday that the service was 'beautiful.'

It's not known whether Evelyn was present at the service, but police said tips they had received makes them believe Evelyn is now in Mexico.

The negligent homicide charge she faces carries a possible sentence of up to one year in jail.

The potential penalty for the child neglect charge ranges from probation to life in prison.
In one instance, about a month before she was killed, Bennett called police and told them Johnson had showed up at her work, even though he was out on bond after allegedly threatening her and violating the order of protection. She told the officers assigned to the case that she wanted to press charges, but the officers did not take any steps to investigate the matter or arrest Johnson, the lawsuit alleges.
Surgeons in China have removed a live spider from a man's ear after watching it spinning webs inside the patient's hearing organ.

Medics were surprised to discover the eight-legged creature in Mr Li's ear during an examination after the man complained about itchiness.

They extracted the spider by filling medical solution into Mr Li's ear which brought out the creature half a minute later, according to reports.

Footage released by the hospital to media in China shows the spider inside the patient's ear

Medics removed the eight-legged creature by filling medical solution into the man's ear canal

According to Yangzhou Evening News, Mr Li went to the Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University Medical School in Yangzhou to seek medical help on Sunday.

He told doctors that the inside of his ear felt so itchy he could not bear it.

Surgeons failed to notice anything abnormal with their bear eyes, but with the help of a microscope, they saw a grey spider in the patient's ear canal.

They told Yangzhou TV Station that the spider had been weaving webs in Mr Li's ear, therefore they suspected it had been living inside the man for quite a while.

The patient, Mr Li, told doctors that the inside of his ear felt so itchy he could not bear it

Surgeon Zhang Pan (pictured) said the spider had been living deep inside Mr Li's ear for a while

Zhang Pan, a surgeon at the hospital, said the spider had been living deep inside the patient's ear canal and kept on moving quickly, therefore it was difficult for him to remove it with tools.

The surgeon gently injected saline solution into Mr's Li ear and successfully got rid of the spider.

The patient did not sustain any injuries, surgeon Zhang said.

Small living creatures such as spiders and cockroaches seem to love crawling into human ears.

A human's ear is said to be a 'safe place' for small creatures, such as spiders and cockroaches

In May last year, a man from Florida woke up and realised there was a live cockroach in his ear. ER doctors later discovered that the roach had already laid eggs in his ear before having the insect removed.

A human's ear is a 'safe place' for cockroaches to eat and rest, experts previously told The Verge.

Professor Coby Schal from North Carolina State University, who studies insects, said cockroaches were attracted by human's earwax, especially its smell.

A human's earwax could be tasty snacks for cockroaches.

Surgeon Zhang from China urged the public to seek medical assistance if they experience similar symptoms instead of poking their ears with their fingers or tools.
Eight members of a county lines gang who waved cash and zombie knives in drill rap videos as they sold more than 400,000 of drugs are jailed for 43 years.

The WEZ gang, led by Ahmet Karagozlu and his right-hand men Ozlem Simsek and Kaan Cicek, sent children as young as 13 to force their way into addicts' homes and sell drugs.

Determined not to be stopped by police, Karagozlu, 20, would replace his child dealers as quickly as they were arrested.

A court was shown a video the brazen gang leader filmed of himself waving a large wad of money around to show off to rival gangs, while further videos revealed other members of the east London gang wielding zombie knives, rapping and smoking cannabis.

Ahmet Karagozlu, 20, who was the gang leader (left) and his brother Halil Karagozlu, 18, posing with a wad of cash (right)

The WEZ gang waved zombie knives (left) in drill rap music videos while holding large wads of bank notes (right)

During the week-long sentencing hearing for eight of the gang, it was heard 22-year-old Cicek even stabbed two men while in Basingstoke, Hants, where the WEZ gang were running their operation.

Judge Richard Parkes today told Cicek he had a 'serious and dangerous interest in knives' as he jailed the gang for a combined 43 years at Winchester Crown Court, Hants.

The Judge added Cicek's actions in the video showed his pride in having the weapon and in 'vile gang culture'.

The court heard the gang sold more than five kilograms of both heroin and crack cocaine, bring in more than 5,000 a week over a 15 month period.

Ozlem Simsek, 22, (left) and Kaan Cicek (right) were described as right-hand men in Karagozlu's operation in Basingstoke

Prosecutor Mark Ruffell told the court the WEZ gang were part of a larger group, known as the DM Crew, which has drug operations across the country.

Also known as the 'Dangerous Minds Crew', the gang are based in Waltham Forest, London.

Mr Ruffell told the court the gang, who taunt rivals through videos on YouTube and have even appeared on DJ Tim Westwood's channel on the site, would film themselves holding money.

It was heard Cicek, who was seen in a video waving a flick knife around, stabbed two men while in Basingstoke in a dispute over drugs money.

Cicek, 18, was convicted of two counts of wounding with intent and one of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and today jailed for 10 years.

Gang leader Karagozlu was jailed for eight years and eight months, his brother Halil, 18, jailed for six and half years and right-hand woman Simsek, 22, jailed for three years and four months after each admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Matthew Keeley, 40, (left) was a vulnerable addict who allowed his home to be used by the drug dealers and Byron Whitfield, 18, (right) who was a gang member

Other gang members Byron Whitfield, 18 and Donnell Willocks, 22, were both also jailed, with Whitfield convicted of supplying class A drugs and sentenced to seven years behind bars and Willocks admitting the same charge.

Willocks was handed a five year jail term.

It was heard the gang took over vulnerable addicts' homes, including Matthew Keeley, 40, and Diane Brill, 42.

Prosecutor Mr Ruffell said Keeley allowed the gang into his home and worked as a dealer for them, while Brill was paid in drugs by the gang for use of her house.

Both admitted conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and was sentenced to two years and eight months in custody.

Halil Karagozlu (left) - the leader's younger brother - and Donnell Willocks, 22, (right) who was also jailed

At an earlier hearing Faith Willis, 21, (left) was sentenced to 33 months in prison and Ian Brown, 21, (right) was sentenced to 30 months in prison

The judge jailed Keeley for two years and eight months and Brill was handed a two year prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Ian Cullen said: 'Thanks to the determination of our officers, this dangerous gang has been completely dismantled.

'The gang were able to evade detection by cuckooing in addresses in Basingstoke and Tadley - that included Diane Brill and Matthew Keeley.

Tyler Farley, 19, was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison at an earlier hearing

'In Diane Brill's address, the gang filmed themselves holding thousands of pounds in cash, waving knives and singing drill music, showing off to other gangs in London.'

Six members of the WES gang network were sentenced at earlier sentencing hearings.

Abigail Forder, 22, of Basingstoke, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class A and was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.

Warren Gobey, 24, of Basingstoke, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.

Faith Willis, 21, of London, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class A and was sentenced to 33 months in prison.

Tyler Farley, 19, of Essex, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class A and was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.

Ian Brown, 21, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class A and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

And a 14-year-old boy from Walthamstow, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of Class A and Possession with intent to supply Class A and was sentenced to youth rehabilitation order.
Secondary school students have taken to social media to slam the Scottish examinations board over biology exams they claim were more like math tests.

Students aged 15 and 16 have set the biology and higher biology exams, which form part of the National 5 qualification, over the past few days.

Those doing the tests set by the Scottish Qualifications Authority say they were faced with questions involving problem solving rather than biology questions.

Parents and students have taken to social media to slam the Scottish examinations board over biology exams they claim were more like math tests

One furious student complained there was no 'f****** biology' in the biology paper.

One of the Higher biology questions showed a graph and asked candidates to: 'Calculate the percentage decrease in viable cells after being exposed to disinfectant for 6 minutes.'

Online @PamelaMalik raged on behalf of her daughter: 'Past papers and test in class she'd done were absolutely nothing like this exam. She wasn't doing Nat 5 Maths. It was Nat 5 biology.'

'Higher Biology, if that's what you can call it that wasn't even f******g biology,' @orlarose02 said.

'Love the fact I took Higher Biology for a full year to have about 3% knowledge come up and the rest was maths and problem solving,' @-cariboyle added.

'Raging that I spent a whole year learning the course for Higher Human Biology for my exam to be full of maths and reading of graphs,' student @seren-adams posted.

While @eilidhcaldwell1 added: 'Wtf was that a Higher Human Biology exam. Literally all maths and problem solving.'

Michaela Wilson, 54, a college lecturer from Edinburgh, whose daughter sat the National 5 Biology exam said: 'When it came to the actual exam it looked nothing like a past paper. It was nothing resembling biology and was more like a math exam.

Students doing the test say they were faced with maths problems rather than biology questions in tests set by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)

'There are too many elderly ex-teachers at SQA who don't live in this word anymore and bring up stuff that is outdated and irrelevant. I'm going to be writing a letter to [education secretary] John Swinney and the SQA about this.'

Online @IreneTh76395040 said: 'My Lucas did the Higher Human biology exam today. Came home greeting his eyes oot.'

Another student, @EllieHorsburgh took to Twitter: 'Unreal how much I was literally trying to hold back tears during that Higher Human Biology exam, nothing like any of the past papers.'

A question from the Higher Biology 2019 paper shows a graph with a series of joined up dots creating a lineage of primates.

It then asks students: 'Which row in the table identifies the time that the last common ancestor of vervet monkeys and humans existed, and the number of other species that shared this common ancestor?'

To help it provides a table with 'time (millions of years before present) and 'Number of species that shared this common ancestor'.

In England , there are multiple exam boards which administer qualifications such as the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance

A bar chart showing a percentage decrease in different type of crops and then ask students to predict the which crop will have the 'greatest yield' if apply pesticides and insecticides.

Last year the National 5 Maths exam sent Scottish pupil into meltdown as several question tripped up students - including one which asked pupils to figure out if Chris' umbrella would fit in his locker and another about justifying the size of popcorn.

The SQA made a historic blunder in the National 5 history exam where they managed to get the date of Mary, Queen of Scots execution wrong by 20 years.

One furious student complained there was no 'f****** biology' in the biology paper.

An SQA spokesperson told MailOnline: 'The 2019 Higher Biology and Human Biology question papers, and the National 5 Biology question paper, were all valid tests of the subject, using content from across the course, giving candidates a fair opportunity to display and apply their knowledge and understanding of the course.

'The papers are designed to sample across the full breadth of the course, and ensure candidates have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding. They are set in accordance with the course specifications and specimen question papers, and the marks allocated to scientific problem solving skills, and to knowledge and understanding, are within the appropriate range.

'External experts review papers to ensure the standards are consistent with previous papers and course expectations. Yesterday, more than 21,000 candidates sat National 5 Biology, while over 14,000 sat Higher Human Biology, and Higher Biology combined, and while we are aware of some discussion on social media, we would suggest this is of a relatively low volume.'

Tearful youngsters claim that without warning they were faced with mind-boggling mathematics problems rather than asked to display their knowledge of biology

One furious student complained there was no 'f****** biology' in the biology paper

The SQA administers all of Scotland's academic qualifications.

In England, there are multiple exam boards which administer qualifications such as the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance.

The National 5 exams part of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate and is equivalent to GCSE's.
The Trump administration is asking Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency spending for border security as the administration contends with a surge of Central American migrants at the southern border.

That's according to two people familiar with the request who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly before a formal announcement.

A summary of the request obtained by the AP says the White House wants $3.3 billion for humanitarian aid to increase shelter capacity for unaccompanied migrant children and the feeding and care of families.

An additional $1.1 billion would go toward operational support, including personnel expenses, detention beds, transportation and investigative work on smuggling. And the final $178 million would be used for mission support, including technology upgrades.

Need the money: Trump has sent

Emergency: This is a temporary facility for processing migrants requesting asylum, at the U.S. Border Patrol headquarters in El Paso, Texas, part of the response to the migrant surge

Border crossers: A group of migrants from Central America surrender at El Paso late last month - part of a surge of arrivals who are largely not from Mexico

'DHS projects it will exhaust resources well before the end of the fiscal year,' reads the formal request letter to Congress, also obtained by the AP.

'Without additional resources, the safety and well-being of law enforcement personnel and migrants are at substantial risk.'

It also says the Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the care of migrant children who arrive alone or who are separated from their parents by DHS under certain circumstances, will exhaust its resources by June.

The request emerged after Trump tweeted a demand for immigration laws to be changed and claimed that there would be 400 miles of his wall by the end of next year.

He also demanded 'Mexico must stop the march to the Border!' a reference to the latest caravan of migrants making its way through the country to the U.S. border.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan had said Tuesday that his department is running out of money amid the crush of migrants crossing the Southern border and that the White House was going to ask for more funds.

McAleenan told a House panel the money will be for temporary and semi-permanent facilities to process families and children and increase detention. He didn't specify a figure.

'Upgrades are badly needed,' he said. 'We will need funding even sooner.'

The facilities are outdated, designed when the flow of migrants over the border was mainly Mexican men who could be processed and returned quickly. Now, most of the people coming are Central American families that cannot be easily returned. Nearly 100,000 migrants crossed the border in March, a 12-year high.

McAleenan said President Donald Trump would also be sending legislative requests for faster deportations and to ask that families be detained for the length of their immigration case. Right now, children cannot be detained longer than about 20 days per a federal court agreement that governs the rights of children in immigration custody.

Trump said in a memorandum signed Monday that he would begin charging asylum seekers to process their applications, but did not specify a fee, and directed his administration to resolve cases within 180 days.

It can take months for cases to be resolved. The immigration court has a massive backlog of about 1 million cases.

More arrivals: Border Patrol released footage from this weekend of a large group of arrivals in Arizona.

He also wants to bar anyone who has entered or tried to enter the country illegally from receiving a provisional work permit and is calling on officials to immediately revoke work authorizations when people are denied asylum and ordered removed from the country.

McAleenan told the committee he was there to help try to solve the border crisis through bipartisan work - and he was praised by many of the lawmakers from both political parties.

Democratic Congresswoman Nita Lowey, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, congratulated McAleenan on taking over at a critical time for a department, but hinted it would be a tough job.

McAleenan, the former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, has been in charge about two weeks.

'It seems like the car is driving off the cliff with no one to take the wheel,' she said of the DHS, referring to the staff shake-up orchestrated by the White House that saw top leaders leave and resulted in the resignation of former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

'Although I guess Mr. Secretary, you are now driving. Congratulations,' Lowey said.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday that the government would set out to remove the bodies of 63 miners that have been buried inside a coal mine in the northern state of Coahuila since 2006.

A massive coal shaft blast at 2:30am local time on February 19, 2006 trapped 65 workers before they died inside the Pasta de Conchos mine in San Juan de Sabina.

Fortunately, 11 miners were fled to safety, suffering first and second degree burns.

Shortly thereafter, rescue workers were able to extract two dead victims, identified as Felipe de Jesus Reyna Torres and Jose Manuel Pena Saucedo.

However, by April 4, 2006, Grupo Mexico, one of Latin America's largest miners, shut down the mine and indefinitely suspended any and all future rescue efforts.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday that the government would set out to remove the bodies of 63 miners that have been buried at a mine since 2006

Some 65 workers were killed after a gas explosion at a mine in northeastern Mexico the early morning of February 19, 2006. The blast also injured 11 workers, who fled to safety

According to Mexican newspaper El Universal, the company argued at the time that between 25 percent to 75 percent of the mine was flooded. It also stated that the bacterial contamination inside the mine could have compromised the lives of rescue workers, their family members and nearby residents.

Lopez Obrador made the campaign promise to bring closure to the family members of the victims.

The announcement came on Mexico's Labor Day holiday, and the Mexican socialist leader said he did not expect the company that operated the mine to oppose him.

'This is an act of justice and it's also a commitment we made going back a long time,' the president told reporters at his regular morning news conference.

He did not put a price tag on the mission, saying that 'whatever is necessary' would be spent.

Search and rescue workers and volunteers were able to pull out the bodies of two men killed in the 2006 coal mine blast that left 65 dead

Grupo Mexico, the largest mining company in Mexico, shut down all search and rescue efforts on April 4, 2006, but Lopez Obrador vowed to recover the remains

Grupo Mexico, the largest mining company in Mexico, has maintained that the blast was an unfortunate accident and said it has compensated families, spending some $30million on trying to find the 63 remaining miners.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The incident provoked bitter recriminations that have lingered.

A special prosecutor for the case blamed Grupo Mexico for allowing a deadly mix of methane, heat and oxygen to build up in the mine, failing to build proper ventilation shafts or to neutralize explosive coal dust. Government inspectors who failed to enforce the necessary safety precautions were also implicated.

Obrador said the recovery effort would begin soon, and that German Larrea, the head of Grupo Mexico and one of Mexico's richest billionaires, had been sought out but that this was a government decision.

'If (Larrea) helps, that's welcomed. If he doesn't help this is something we will do,' said Lopez Obrador, who has clashed in the past with the reclusive tycoon.

In the moments following the blast, the workers were likely buried by thousands of tons of rock, making it very difficult to reach their bodies.

Investigators later determined that it was possible that many of the men were incinerated as the explosion sent temperatures soaring to 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Former Vice President Joe Biden joined calls for Attorney General William Barr to resign, saying he has lost the confidence of the nation.

'I think he's lost the confidence of the American people. I think he should,' Biden told a small group of reporters at the end of a two-day Iowa campaign swing Wednesday.

Biden made the comment to a small group of reporters including DailyMail.com after Barr delivered dramatic testimony in Washington where Democrats grilled him over his letter describing the Mueller report  as well as about his own testimony that did not acknowledge a letter the special counsel wrote to him contesting his initial characterization.

The former vice president, who leads in early Democratic presidential polls, joined several of his presidential rivals in calling for Barr to go.

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Attorney General Bill Barr to resign his post

He weighed in on the hot topic despite efforts by his aides to keep him away from the media  including moving his black car around the block from where reporters were camped out and using underground tunnels that connected to a Jimmy John's sandwich show. The exchange was captured on video.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted that Barr is a 'disgrace' and wrote of his 'alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that he's not a credible head of federal law enforcement.'

Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, grilled Barr during tense Senate Judiciary Committee testimony Wednesday, saying afterward Barr 'lacks all credibility.' She also called for him to 'resign now.' Joining the calls were Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, another Judiciary member, and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas.

Booker, who also questioned Barr on Wednesday, emailed supporters to say: 'I have no confidence in Barrs ability to continue leading the Justice Department.'

Biden's comments came as Trump sent out a fundraising email titled 'Stand with Bill Barr' and attacking Democrats.

'Weve seen them lie over and over again about President Trump, and now theyre doing the same to Attorney General William Barr' said the email appeal, signed by Team Trump 2020.

ON TAP: Vice President Joe Biden responded to President Trump's Twitter storm at a campaign stop in Iowa

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden bids farewell to supporters after a campaign stop in Iowa City, Iowa, U.S. May 1, 2019

Trump spoke to a crowd at an indoor/outdoor venue in Iowa City before heading to Des Moines

The increased pressure from presidential candidates came on a day when Barr finally released the letter Mueller wrote to him days after his own four-page March 24 letter providing an overview of the Mueller report. Mueller's letter stated that Barr's own letter 'did not capture the context, nature, and substance' of the 448-page report.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Biden used to chair, said Barr was acting to provide cover for President Trump rather than as the attorney general for the American people.

Biden spoke outside an event venue where he agreed with attendees at an Iowa rally that there was a 'class war'  and said it was being perpetuated by the silence of the middle class.

Biden made the comments after a woman yelled out about a class war during remarks in Des Moines, where Biden also said there had been a 'war on labor's house for the past 20 years.'

'There is a class war,' a member of the audience yelled out after Biden made comments about treatment of capital gains that allows billionaire Warren Buffett to pay a lower rate than his secretary.

'Well they are winning and they shouldn't be,' Biden responded.

He mentioned a 'class war' later in his remarks, after mentioning 'ridiculous things' in in the tax cut signed by President Trump, which contributed to a $2 trillion increase in the national debt.

'There's a class war only because we're being silent. We're one America. We've always done better when we act as one America,' said Biden, returning to the themes he has woven into four campaign events over two consecutive days.

Biden hammered President Trump for his tax cut. He pointed to job losses in retail. 'Not because of bad people  because of Amazon,' he said.

He returned to the online retail giant  a favorite target of President Trump's, primarily due to Jeff Bezos' ownership of the Washington Post  while discussing recent reports that top corporations paid no money in federal income taxes.

The law increased 'the number of multi-billion dollar corporations that pay zero in taxes  and Amazon's one of them,' he said. 'Zero, zero, zero in taxes. Come on!' Biden said.

The New York Times reported that the firm paid no income tax on $11 billion in earnings and got a $129 million rebate.

In the case of Buffett, Biden was discussing how some wealthy filers are able to face lower effective rates by taking most of their earnings as capital gains rather than ordinary income, which gets taxed at a higher rate.

'It's a loophole that is overwhelmingly beneficial to the super wealthy not just the wealthy,' said Biden.

Biden fired off his blasts at income inequality even as he continues to style his campaign as an effort to reassemble the Obama electoral map by reaching out to displaced workers, unions, and older Americans who want to preserve Medicare.

He mentioned people who are losing jobs where they used to make $50,000, with no clear path forward.

'Think about the fear. What do you do? ... We havent been talking to them. Theyre frightened. With good reason,' he said. 'Theres things we can do.'

Biden also used a pair of Iowa stops to go after Trump after the president unloaded on him with a Twitter storm attack that included dozens of retweets within a span of hours.

But after bringing up the incident at campaign speech at a brew pub in Iowa City, Biden quickly moved on  days after launching a campaign he calls a battle for the 'soul of the nation.'

Biden, campaigning for a second consecutive day in the state, mentioned the Twitter barrage early in his remarks, connecting it to his own success but without delivering anything close to a direct blow on the president.

Biden has been trying to stick to the script during his early campaign events

'I understand the president tweeting a lot about me this morning,' Biden told a crowd of a few hundred at Big Grove Brewery.

'I wonder why the hell hes doing that?' Biden said, chuckling. 'You know, anyway, ah, so,' he stammered, without following up with a standard political attack. 'Im going to be the object of his attention for a while, folks,' Biden said.

He refined the line in Des Moines, saying he learned from a local reporter that Trump had tweeted about him 50 times.

Trump launched an extraordinary Twitter fight with the Biden-backing International Association of Fire Fighters, retweeting dozens of his own supporters who insist that the 'rank and file' back him instead.

The union provided Biden with his first major endorsement, and he touted it on Tuesday as he thanked firefighters for saving his home and providing assistance when he suffered an aneurism.

The president also blasted the 'dues-sucking' labor union Biden's bid to replace him.

Biden called working people the 'backbone' of the nation

'We've got to defeat Donald Trump in 2020,' Biden said, in one of his biggest applause lines

Biden's remark didn't mention the International Association of Fire Fighters or its endorsement.

But some of his biggest applause lines came when he took on Trump directly.

'We've got to defeat Donald Trump in 2020,' Biden said to applause.

And he delivered a wind-up similar to one that had a crowd on its feet Tuesday.

'We choose hope over fear. We choose unity over division. We choose truth over lies. And we choose science over fiction, folks. Time to pick our heads up. This is the Untied States of America and I mean it,' he said.

Firefighter Brandon Pflanzer (center-right in hat) said: 'Nobody can come close to Joe Biden's record of supporting use since Day One'

'Let's get up and take it back and make this country what it can be,' he concluded.

'The Dues Sucking firefighters leadership will always support Democrats, even though the membership wants me. Some things never change!' Trump raged this week.

More than 50 Trump supporters, many of them firefighters or relatives of firefighters, voiced their backing for the president in response, and he retweeted all of them.

Biden held his third of four Iowa events, after kicking off a tour Tuesday by showcasing his trademark emotive style where he talked about personal tragedies, blasted the Trump tax cut, and heralded unions and workers as the 'backbone' of the country.

Biden has been lingering at each event to meet with Iowans, and mostly succeeding in keeping close to his script, telling similar stories at his events.

His campaign debut came after a pronounced jump in the polls following his campaign announcement in Pittsburgh. Biden holds a 24-point lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders in a CNN poll and a 26-point lead in the Quinnipiac University poll.

As he did Tuesday, Biden tore into the Trump tax cut, asking sarcastically: 'It really has helped you a great deal, man?'

Then he mentioned the nearly $2 trillion increase in the debt. 'Its the same old deal, folks.'

'And it increased the number of loopholes for the super wealthy,' he said, bringing up the extension of a deduction for race horses.

Biden also continues to hail the man who brought him to the White House, saying he wanted to 'say something about my buddy.'

'President Obama is a man of extraordinary character,' said Biden, to applause.

Biden is hoping to rely on an appeal to middle class and working class voters, stressing his roots in Scranton,

The fact of the matter is the backbone of America, hard working class people are being crushed. They're in real, real trouble across the country, while calling for the defeat of Trump.

'The fact of the matter is, the backbone of America, hard working class people are being crushed. They're in real, real trouble across the country,' he said.

2020 Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S., April 30, 2019. He was back on the trail Wednesday in Iowa City

Trump blasted the International Association of Firefighters as a 'dues-sucking' union

President Trump has launched an extraordinary Twitter storm by retweeting dozens of firefighters who vowed to back him over Democrat Joe Biden

The President retweeted dozens of messages from supporters - many of them firefighters or relatives of them - who promised to back him over Joe Biden

Trump blasted the 'dues sucking' International Association of Fire Fighters this morning after the labor union backed the former Vice President's 2020 campaign

As at earlier events, Biden held back releasing specific plans, sometimes even joking about it as he jumped from topic to topic.

'I have an ambitious plan  Im going to be laying out,' he said. Then he joked: 'Youre going to be laying down if I keep going, if I laid it all out.'

Biden continues to assure Iowans he'll be back  signaling that he wants to use the Iowa Caucuses to use his superior name recognition to winnow down the crowded field.

'Ninety-nine counties here I come,' he said, referencing the state's political map.

And he keeps throwing in self-deprecating remarks, knowing of his reputation as a long-winded senator.

'If it starts raining, yell stop, Joey stop!' he joked to listeners seated near outdoor fire pits at a venue that used to be a facility for University of Iowa surplus materials.

One local firefighter and union official, Brandon Pflanzer, said he liked how Biden handled the Trump tweets, which he had heard about, and stressed Biden's positions on fire grants, work hours, and safety for firefighters.

'Nobody can come close to Joe Biden's record of supporting use since Day One, 1973,' he said after the event.
Michael Gargiulo, the 'Hollywood Ripper', 43, will go on trial May 2 facing two counts of murder and one of attempted murder

Accused 'Hollywood Ripper,' Michael Thomas Gargiulo - who police believe may have killed up to 10 women, including Ashton Kutcher's one-time girlfriend Ashley Ellerin - goes on trial in Los Angeles tomorrow.

Gargiulo, 43, is facing two murder charges: the 2001 killing of 22 year-old Ellerin who was stabbed 47 times in her Hollywood home, with her head almost severed from her body; and the 2005 slashing death of mother-of-four Maria Bruno, 32, at her apartment in Monterey Park, east of LA. Both are capital crimes that carry the death penalty.

The former heating and air-conditioning repairman - called 'Mike the Furnace Man' by people who knew him - is also charged with the 2008 attempted murder of Michelle Murphy who, though stabbed multiple times at her Santa Monica home, bravely fought off and survived the attack and is expected to be the prosecution's star witness at Gargiulo's trial, which could last six months.

It was the failed murder attempt on Murphy in April of 2008 that ended what police claim was a 15-year killing spree by Chicago native Gargiulo.

DNA evidence collected at Murphy's apartment not only led to his arrest in June 2008 for his alleged attack on her, but also linked him to the Ellen and Bruno murders, say prosecutors. He was indicted for those killings just two months later

Cops also claim that those DNA traces from the Murphy crime scene also tied Gargiulo to the 1993 murder of 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio who was brutally stabbed to death on the porch outside her home in the Chicago suburb of Glenview where Gargiulo lived at the time.

He is accused of fatally stabbing Ashely Ellerin, 22, in her home in2001 - who at the time was dating actor Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher has been named as a potential witness in Ashley Ellerin's murder after he claimed to have gone to her home the night of the murder but she never answered the door

Gargiulo was a close friend of Pacaccio's brother and detectives had long suspected him in the killing. But they could never put together enough evidence to charge him with Pacaccio's murder - until the attack on Michelle Murphy 15 years later.

Prosecutors have branded Gargiulo 'a serial, psycho-sexual thrill killer who engages in the systematic slaughter of beautiful women because he takes sexual pleasure from manipulating, stabbing and killing his victims.'

At Gargiulo's murder trial - being held before Judge Larry Fidler at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown LA - Two and a Half Men star Ashton Kutcher, 41, is expected to be called as a witness.

Kutcher was 23 and starring in his first TV hit, That 70s Show, when his then girlfriend, Ashley Ellerin, was murdered on the night of February 21 2001.

Ashley, a model and student at the Los Angeles Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, was supposed to be going with Kutcher that night to an after-Grammy party.

But when he showed up at 10.45pm to her apartment behind the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and knocked on the door, she didn't answer - even though her lights were on and her car was parked outside.

Kutcher looked through her window and saw what he thought was red wine spilled on the floor. He later told police that he figured she wasn't answering the door because she was upset with him for being late. So he left.

The next day Ashley's roommate found her horribly mutilated body in the apartment. The stain Kutcher had thought was red wine was actually blood from the 47 gaping wounds - some up to six inches deep - inflicted on her neck, chest, stomach and back by a knife-wielding intruder who attacked her while she was taking a shower.

Gargiulo was roaming free until 2008 when he allegedly attacked Michelle Murphy, who fought him off and survived after she was stabbed 17 times

Gargiulo is believed to have killed up to 10 women, including Maria Bruno, 32,(right) in 2005 and 18-year-old Tricia Pacaccio in 1993(left)

Tricia Pacaccio's body is rolled out from her Chicago, Illinois home in 1993. Gargiulo was a friend of her two brothers

According to CBS's 48 Hours Mystery, Ashley's friends were quick to point the finger at Gargiulo, who lived nearby and had done repair work on Ellerin's apartment heater.

DNA samples from the attack connected him to the three murders and he was arrested in 2008 awaiting trial for her death

They told detectives that Gargiulo had been acting suspiciously, showing up at Ashley's home at late hours and sitting outside her home in his pick-up truck. But police could not come up with enough evidence to charge Gargiulo and Ellerin's murder became an unsolved 'cold case.'

It was the same story four years later with the vicious killing of Maria Bruno, who had recently separated from her husband and moved into a Monterey Park apartment in the same complex where Garguilo lived.

On December 1, 2005 Bruno was butchered to death in her bed and the frenzied multiple stab wounds she suffered prompted lead detective Mark Lillienfeld - now retired - to tell TV's 48 Hours Mystery, 'It was unlike any other scene I had ever seen. The violence that was visited upon her was phenomenal.'

Both the Ellen and Bruno murders remained cold cases for years - until cops got the breakthrough they were waiting for when, on April 28, 2008, Michelle Murphy woke up in bed in Santa Monica to find a man viciously stabbing her.

Her attacker plunged a knife into her body 17 times but despite the terrible gashes to her chest, shoulder and right arm, Michelle - who is only 5ft 1in tall - courageously fought back and lived to eventually become a key witness against Gargiulo at his trial.

Gargiulo allegedly left blood at Murphy's apartment and just weeks later he was arrested and charged with her attempted murder when DNA from that blood sample proved a match. And that same sample also allegedly matched DNA found at the scenes of the murders of Ellerin and Bruno.

Police were searching for this woman pictured hugging and kissing Michael Gargiulo

At last, detectives had their man, they believed, and Gargiulo was arrested in June 2008.

In the almost 11 years since then, he has been held in the LA County Jail while police and prosecutors have been carefully assembling the evidence they hope will convict him of two murders and one attempted murder.

Now, Gargiulo is finally facing trial. A jury was selected over the past few days and tomorrow, May 2, prosecution and defense attorneys will give their opening statements.

Gargiulo is pleading not guilty to all charges.

In an interview with 48 Hours Mystery in 2011 - the year he was indicted for the Tricia Picaccio murder - he said: 'My truth is being 100 per cent innocent, being wrongfully charged.'

While the death penalty is still on the books for capital crimes in California, in March this year Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a moratorium on executions, giving a reprieve to the 737 people already on death row in the state.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has been appointed the first female Defence Secretary following Gavin Williamson's sacking over a Huawei leak.

Minister of State Rory Stewart - a friend of Prince Charles, former Army officer and sometime travel writer - will take on Ms Mordaunt's former role.

Mr Williamson was sacked after Theresa May discovered he was the source of a highly controversial leak about Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, following a high-profile probe into revelations at a top secret National Security Council meeting.

Late this afternoon, Ms Mordaunt was appointed to the senior role. She, like her predecessor, is a Brexiteer.

Mr Williamson's ambitions for leadership have been dashed after the leak - a possible attempt at appearing tough on China - was exposed.

Penny Mordaunt leaves the Ministry of Defence (left) after being appointed UK Secretary of State for Defence. She spoke to journalists soon after being given the position (right)

Penny Mordaunt arriving at Downing Street on Tuesday, she has replaced Gavin Williamson as the Defence Secretary

Former Minister of State Rory Stewart will serve in Ms Mordaunt's former role as International Development Secretary

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson walks from Parliament after attending Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday

Ms Mordaunt and her replacement Mr Stewart both have military backgrounds, she serves as a Royal Naval Reservist and he was formerly an adviser overseas to the Foreign Office following a brief stint with the Black Watch.

Ms Mordaunt appeared on ITV diving show Splash where she was coached by Olympian Tom Daley.

But her experience in the water goes back to her training with the Royal Navy on Whale Island, later serving as an acting sub-lieutenant on HMS King Alfred.

She has worked in communications in the private, public and charitable sectors and was Head of Youth for the Conservative Party under John Major and Head of Broadcasting for the Tories for two years under William Hague.

She was George Bush Jr's Head of Foreign Press for his first presidential election in 2000.

Ms Mordaunt's appointment signals how successfully she has navigated through supporting Mrs May as Prime Minister while being a fervent Brexiteer.

She was a renowned Leave campaigner and later supported Andrea Leadsom in the leadership contest.

In October last year she refused to back Mrs May's Chequers deal with the EU, instead saying she was optimistic it would change.

Then Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt (centre) stepping out in uniform to watch live firing exercises at the Sennybridge Training Area in the Brecon Beacons, Wales

Ms Mordaunt walking outside 10 Downing Street earlier this year

Mr Stewart had threatened to quit within a year as prisons minister if he was unable to reduce drugs and violence levels.

As the new International Development Secretary he no longer has that Sword of Damocles hanging over him.

His international pedigree is documented in several books about his travels across Afghanistan during the US invasion, walking from Bangladesh to Turkey - not to mention his rambles over the Lake District.

Rory Stewart enters the BBC for The Andrew Marr Show in London on Sunday

Prior to his service in the army and his career as a diplomat in the Middle East, he had become friends with Prince Charles.

The Etonian was approached by the Prince of Wales not long into his history degree at Oxford, according to the New Yorker.

The Prince was looking for a summer tutor for his sons William and Harry - then ten and eight - and was invited to the Highgrove residence in Gloucestershire.

He went on to teach the young princes for two weeks in the summer of 1993 in Scotland, tutoring both the boys English, as well as maths to Harry.

'I spent a lot of time with the Prince of Wales,' Mr Stewart told the New Yorker. 'Thats really where my friendship with him began.'

Mr Stewart is a vocal ally of Mrs May and her Brexit deal, writing on his website: 'If parliament repeatedly refuses the deal we will crash out of the European Union, with no economic or political arrangements in place, in just four months' time. This is not something that can be "fudged".'

A Downing Street spokesman said earlier on Wednesday: 'The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet.

'The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

The Prime Minister sacked Gavin Williamson tonight, setting out her reasons in a letter to the former minister

'The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed.'

Mr Williamson told the BBC that he was not the source of the leak and that neither he nor his team would do such a thing.

The National Security Council leaks to the Daily Telegraph triggered a Whitehall inquiry spearheaded by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill to root out the culprit.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson is seen in New Palace Yard at Parliament before it was announced that he was sacked on Wednesday

Ministers and aides were reportedly issued questionnaires requiring them to explain where they were in the hours following Tuesday's NSC meeting.

The spotlight was on the five ministers who were said to have voiced objections to the Huawei decision - Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

MPs were quick to link the leak to the manoeuvrings around the Tory leadership, with whoever was responsible hoping to burnish their credentials for being tough on China.

All five, however, have either publicly denied being the guilty party or let it be known through aides that they were not responsible.

Also present at the meeting were David Lidington, the Cabinet Office Minister and Mrs May's de facto deputy, Chancellor Philip Hammond, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright.

Much of the anger around the leak from the NSC - where ministers are briefed by the heads of the intelligence agencies, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ - reflects concern among MPs and officials that it could damage intelligence-sharing with key partners such as the US.

Some MPs have called for the matter to be referred to the police or for MI5 investigators to be brought in, amid concerns that conventional Whitehall leak inquiries have a poor track record of finding the culprit.
A rape suspect wanted for three sex attacks on women may have been released from prison by mistake, the Ministry of Justice said today.

Joseph McCann, who is accused of abducting three women before raping them, is believed to have been released from prison early on licence because he was thought to 'no longer be dangerous'.

The 34-year-old, who police describe as 'extremely dangerous', is thought to have been released in February 2017 after being jailed for aggravated burglary.

The Ministry of Justice is reportedly conducting an 'urgent review' into the decision to release McCann, according to the BBC.

His release should have been decided by the Parole Board as he was subject to an indeterminate sentence but it was incorrectly treated as a 'determinate sentence' with an automatic release, the BBC reports.

McCann was thought to have been released after serving half of his three-year jail term. He committed the offence while on licence for a previous burglary.

In 2008 McCann, then aged 23, was sentenced to an indeterminate prison sentence for threatening to stab an 85-year-old man in his home.

Officers have issued an appeal to trace 33-year-old Joseph McCann (pictured) wanted in connection with the abduction and rape of two women

He told the elderly man 'give me money or I will knife you' before taking his wallet and banking papers.

McCann was given an indeterminate sentence, meaning he could only have been released if he convinced a parole board he was no longer dangerous. His release two years ago suggests he was able to do that.

The suspected rapist is now being hunted for abducting three women off the street before attacking them over a period of four days in April.

Initially suspected of two abductions and attacks, he is also wanted in connection with the rape of a 21-year-old woman at knifepoint in Watford in the early hours of April 21 - four days before the the first two incidents.

The victim was forced into a blue Mondeo and driven to numerous locations around the town for six hours, before she was raped.

A reward of up to 20,000 is being offered for information which leads to the arrest and prosecution of McCann.

The Metropolitan Police issued an appeal with a 20,000 reward for information yesterday to trace McCann for two suspected abductions and rapes, after victims were snatched off the street in Chingford and Edgware, both in north London, before being raped.

The car he was driving is said to have been a silver or grey Ford S-Max people carrier with false registration plates (pictured)

McCann, who is known to use false names - most recently Joel - has links to Watford, Hertfordshire, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire and Ipswich in Suffolk, police said.

As news of the third rape emerged, Hertfordshire Police said: 'We are investigating the rape of a 21-year-old woman in Watford in the early hours of Sunday 21 April. It is believed that a woman was approached by a man holding a knife in Hagden Lane, Watford, close to the junction with Rickmansworth Road at around 3.30am.

'She was forced into a blue Ford Mondeo and driven to numerous locations around the town over the next six hours. These included the Rushton estate in Watford, near to Watford Library on Hempstead Road, North Western Avenue, and the BP garage on Wiggenhall Road. During this time she was raped at an address in the town.

'A suspect was identified and a significant amount of work was done to try and locate and arrest him, which proved unsuccessful. The named suspect was circulated on our social media channels as wanted on recall to prison on Thursday (25 April) as a result of our investigation.

'The matter is being linked to the offences currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Service.'

A map showing where the women were abducted and the location of the guesthouse in Watford

It has emerged that one of the women abducted in north London, who were both in their 20s, managed to escape following her abduction on April 25 after smashing a vodka bottle over the kidnapper's head.

McCann is of muscular build and 5ft 10ins tall. He has blue eyes, a bald head or shaved blond hair with a light-coloured short beard.

Police say he has a slight Irish accent. He is a distinctive tattoo of the name 'bobbie' on his stomach.

Officers believe McCann may attempt to disguise his appearance.

Police have already released a CCTV image of the suspect, which was captured by cameras at a hotel in Osbourne Road, Watford at 1pm on Thursday.

The first woman had been abducted from a street in Chingford at 12.30am on Thursday, 25 April.

The second woman taken from a street in Edgware 12 hours later, at 12:15pm.

The women were driven to the hotel in Watford and an attempt was made to book a room around 1pm.

At around 2.30pm, a struggle between the women and the suspect took place on Osborne Road in Watford.

Police said the two women had been in the car while the suspected attacker went into the bed and breakfast in Watford (pictured)

Yesterday it emerged that the attacker asked to book Room 15 at the Phoenix Lodge guest house.

He told the manager he wanted a double room for two nights on Thursday before signing the register book.

Police said the two women had been in the car while the suspected attacker went into the bed and breakfast.

Roughly an hour-and-a-half later, one of the women, who was said by a witness to be pregnant, escaped from the car on Osbourne Road and managed to seek help at a nearby shop after she smashed a bottle of vodka over the kidnapper's head.

She was said to have been bleeding profusely from her hand when she rushed into the Watford shop, revealing she had been kidnapped and managed to escape - and that another woman was still in the car.

As the women escaped, two builders were reported to have heroically chased off the rapist after they heard the women screaming.

Officers are still to trace a silver or grey-coloured Ford S-Max people carrier in connection with the offences.

This reportedly had false registration plates.

The attacker asked to book Room 15 at the Phoenix Lodge guest house in Watford, Hertfordshire, telling the manager he wanted a double room for two nights on Thursday before signing the register book

Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin, from the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: 'We would ask anyone with any information about McCann's whereabouts to contact us immediately.

McCann is considered extremely dangerous and a risk to the public and we ask people not to approach him, but instead call 999.

'If you wish to remain anonymous, call Crimestoppers. It is vitally important we trace him in connection with these offences.

'My team continues to work around the clock and we are making progress in furthering the investigation.'

The women, both in their 20s, have been left 'traumatised' and are receiving support from specialist officers.

The investigation, into what officers are treating as two random but linked attacks, is being led by officers from the Homicide and Major Crime Command.

It is being supported by other specialist and local officers as well as Hertfordshire Constabulary.

A 33-year-old man arrested on Sunday, 28 April on suspicion of conspiracy to rape has been released under investigation.

Anyone who can help is asked to call the incident room on 020 8785 8244 or 999 quoting CAD 3041/25Apr.
Gavin Williamson was defence secretary for less than two years, but his tenure has been dogged by controversies including revelations of an affair shortly after his appointment.

The gaffe-prone 42-year-old took up the post on November 2, 2017 having served as the MP for South Staffordshire since the 2010 election. He was given the position following the resignation of Sir Michael Fallon over sexual harassment claims.

During his time in the post he earned a less-than-desirable reputation, regularly inviting the Captain Mainwaring response of 'Stupid Boy!'. Having suggested ideas for defence including arming tractors with guns and paintballing Spanish ships.

Despite this he had been an outside contender to replace Theresa May as Tory leader when she eventually steps down. When he landed the defence job, he achieved the highly unusual distinction of being promoted directly into the Cabinet without having held a more junior ministerial job.

Gavin Williamson is seen in his first public appearance since being appointed as defence secretary in November, 2017. He is conducting the band of the Grenadier Guards at Waterloo Station in London

Williamson (pictured) earned a less-than-desirable reputation during his time in the role, regularly inviting the Captain Mainwaring response of 'Stupid Boy!'

Williamson (pictured during his time as an MP for South Staffordshire) even suggested during his tenure as defence secretary that tractors be armed with guns

He got his big break as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to David Cameron from 2013-16 and was selected by Mrs May as her parliamentary campaign manager for the contest for the Conservative leadership triggered by Mr Cameron's resignation following the Brexit referendum.

As he rose rapidly through the ranks, he was regarded as a right-hand man of Prime Minister May who remained by her side as other key allies fell by the wayside in the wake of her disastrous snap election.

But now his short stint in the role has come to a shocking end, after it was alleged that he was behind a highly controversial security leak about Chinese mobile phone giant Huawei last week.

The sacking leaves his political career in tatters and raises the question of whether he will face police action into his conduct in leaking details from a top secret meeting.

It is the latest in the strong of controversies the Scarborough born MP has faced. One of the first was that of an affair. Just months into his position as Defence Secretary, in January 2018 it was revealed by The Daily Mail that he had been engaged in an office romance with a former colleague.

He insisted the relationship had not gone beyond kissing 'a couple of times' and that she had forgiven him for the antics which took place in 2014. The couple have two daughters and he has stressed that his family is central to his life.

Gavin Williamson is pictured with his wife Joanne Williamson. After revelations of an affair in January 2018, he stressed that his family is central to his life

'My family means everything to me and I almost threw it away This incident nearly destroyed two marriages,' he said at the time.

Just months later, in March 2018, he faced another controversy. Soon after the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Williamson was lambasted for saying: 'Frankly, Russia should go away and should shut up.'

The remarks were widely ridiculed in both Russia and the UK, and he was later criticised for his use of informal language when dealing with sensitive topics.

It was an issue brought up by Richard Madeley on Good Morning Britain, but Williamson stonewalled the presenter so much he was cut off. Madeley told him: 'Right, you're not going to answer, are you? OK. All right, interview terminated because you won't answer the question.'

In July 2018, Williamson became the first minister to be heckled by his own phone at the dispatch box in the House of Commons.

The Cabinet minister was making a statement on operations against ISIS in Syria when his voice triggered Siri on his mobile.

As Mr Williamson spoke, a disembodied voice could clearly be heard saying: 'I've found something on the web about Syria. Syrian democratic forces supported by....'

Belatedly realising what was happening, Mr Williamson groped for the phone in his pocket to turn it off.

'It is very rare that you are heckled by your own mobile phone,' he joked nervously.

Soon after the poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Williamson was lambasted for saying: 'Frankly, Russia should go away and should shut up'

In July 2018, Williamson became the first minister to be heckled by his own phone at the dispatch box in the House of Commons (pictured)

Williamson has his own Instagram account, in which he posted images from both his role as Defence Secretary and from his private time

Williamson has encountered problems on social media. In the same month he was appointed defence secretary, he accidentally revealed his classic Landrover - which he has proudly boasted about on Instagram - was untaxed

Mr Williamson took part in ice breaking drills in Bardufoss, Norway, in February. It came as he announced that British forces were to step up Arctic deployment to protect NATO's northern flank from Russia

It was certainly not that only time Williamson has encountered issues with his mobile phone in the House of Commons. He was chastised for flouting a ban on photography inside the chamber.

In September last year he posted images taken from inside the chamber on social media. They showed Theresa May statement about Brexit.

It was a move which later led to him being rebuked by parliamentary authorities.

Elsewhere on social media, Williamson has also encountered problems. In the same month he was appointed defence secretary, he accidentally revealed his classic Landrover - which he has proudly boasted about on Instagram - was untaxed.

Williamson was chastised for flouting a ban on photography inside the House of Commons last year. In September he posted images taken from inside the chamber on social media. They showed Theresa May statement about Brexit

Claiming the vehicle had a 'go anywhere do anything attitude', DVLA records revealed that road tax on the classic 1981 vehicle ran out at the end of October, 2017 and had not yet been renewed.

He later also wrote that the vehicle 'epitomises everything that is so great about Great Britain', having forgotten Land Rover has actually owned by India's Tata Motors for years.

During his tenure, Williamson is also reported to have made a number of eccentric suggestions about how to use the defence budget effectively. The Sun revealed in August last year that he had proposed a series of 'bizarre' and outlandish ideas to bolster the UK's military.

These included fitting guns to tractors and disguising defence systems as Coca-Cola lorries, the newspaper claimed.

The proposals sparked anger within the ranks of the military, who feared his strange demands could hamper chances of securing additional funds from the Treasury.

Much to the surprise of his staff, Williamson proposed another intriguing idea in January of this year suggesting paintballs be fired at Spanish ships to stop them trespassing in Gibraltar's waters.

He made the suggestion off the back of a huge upsurge in Spanish vessels entering British waters off the Rock.

He even wanted to send a Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer to the Spanish territory of Ceuta on the Moroccan coast to deal with the growing Spanish threat.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson performs the cutting of the sod during a visit to RAF Lossiemouth where he launched construction of a new home for maritime patrol aircraft and boarded a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft

Williamson risked flushing his reputation down the pan in his battle with the Kremlin after visitors spotted a roll of lavatory paper adorned with Mr Putins face in his MoD office (stock image)

Prior to his appointment as Defence Secretary, Williamson served as an MP for South Staffordshire. He got his big break as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to David Cameron from 2013-16

Williamson's sacking leaves his political career in tatters and raises the question of whether he will face police action into his conduct in leaking details from a top secret meeting (he is pictured before being appointed to the role of defence secretary)

In the same month he risked flushing his reputation down the pan in his battle with the Kremlin after visitors spotted a roll of lavatory paper adorned with Mr Putins face in his MoD office.

Mr Williamson, a former Chief Whip, caused consternation in Westminster even before his appointment as Defence Secretary.

He used to keep a tarantula called Cronus in his whips office  but it was barred from moving to the MoD because a member of his staff has arachnophobia.

More recently, and perhaps more seriously, he was at the centre of a cabinet row in February as government sources blamed him for offending the Chinese and causing the cancellation of a crucial trade visit to Beijing by Chancellor Philip Hammond.

On that occasion, the then Defence Secretary had made a speech days before the mission in which he talked about sending a Royal Navy warship to the sensitive waters of the Indo Pacific, words that did not go down well in Beijing.

Some Westminster commentators speculated that some of the remarks that caused controversy were deliberately designed to boost his profile and his popular appeal with a view to boosting his chances of succeeding Mrs May as Tory leader.

But now his stint as Defence Secretary has come to a close after it was alleged today that he was behind a highly controversial security leak about Chinese mobile phone giant Huawei last week.
South Africa: All systems go for elections next week

South Africas 26.7 million registered voters have been urged to flock to the Independent Electoral Commissions (IEC) 22 000 voting stations to cast their ballot in the National and Provincial Election on 8 May.

The clarion call was made by IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini on Tuesday during the launch of the National Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Pretoria.

Addressing delegates at the venue, which has been set up with large screens with the names of all the political parties contesting the election, Mashinini said it was all systems go for 8 May.

Over the past two years the IEC has been preoccupied with ensuring that a credible election is delivered. The credibility of our elections is also protected and secured through a variety of checks and balances through each stage of the process, he said.

He said it is the inclusivity and transparency of the counting and results system which provides all stakeholders with the necessary confidence that the results cannot be rigged.

South Africans have a patriotic duty to protect and defend the elections and democracy for future generations.

He urged those who have been organising and participating in civic demonstrations to respect the election process. The right to protest and demonstrate is a right protected by our Constitution and has its roots in our democracy and the conduct of peaceful elections, he said.

IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo said Election Day will be a culmination of two years of preparing, planning and training and it was now down to the voters to cast votes.

An election is a dynamic confluence of varied core functional components, such as legal, infrastructure, logistics, human capacity and security, he said.

The IEC has recruited 189000 volunteers to conduct the counting processes.

In connection with the various state security institutions, including the South African police services, we have arranged for security at each voting stations and critical infrastructure.

The IEC has printed and distributed 60 million national and provincial double ballot papers. Over 300 000 ballot boxes, 45 000 voting compartments along with stationery packs and posters have been procured.

All we now await is the final component which is the eager participation of the 26.7 million voters in whose hands the outcome of the election now rests, he said.

Last Saturday, 29 000 South African expats and members of the South African National Defence Force voted at the countrys various foreign missions.

Initial indications are that a significant number of votes were cast by those who had notified of their intention to vote outside of the Republic. The cast ballots were now in the process of being transported back to South Africa where they will be counted before party representatives. The result of the count will be counted for the national ballot after Election Day.

On Monday and Tuesday, 770 000 special voters will cast their ballots at the various voting stations and during home visits. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Gavin Williamson (pictured) has been sacked over the leaks

MPs last night wrote to the head of the Metropolitan Police demanding a criminal investigation into Gavin Williamsons conduct.

They demanded to know whether the sacked defence secretarys actions breached the Official Secrets Act.

Government workers and others can be charged under the act if they are found to have made an unauthorised disclosure of information relating to security or intelligence.

The offence carries a maximum two-year jail term.

In her letter sacking Mr Williamson, Theresa May said she considered the matter closed  suggesting she did not want a police investigation.

But last night there were calls for Cressida Dick, the Met Police commissioner, to launch a formal inquiry.

A letter signed by Lib Dem MPs Jo Swinson, Sir Vince Cable and Sir Ed Davey said a probe was needed to ascertain whether the actions of Mr Williamson constitute a breach of the Official Secrets Act, given that the leak originated from the National Security Council and related to highly-sensitive information.

Labours deputy leader Tom Watson and defence spokesman Nia Griffiths also demanded police action. Mr Williamson was at last weeks National Security Council meeting but strenuously denies being behind the leak, which provoked fury in Whitehall.

NSC meetings, chaired weekly by the Prime Minister, are supposed to be held in strict confidence. It is a forum where secret intelligence can be shared by GCHQ, MI6 and MI5 with senior ministers, all of whom have signed the Official Secrets Act. Foreign intelligence is also often discussed, involving key allies.

Labours deputy leader Tom Watson (pictured earlier this week) and defence spokesman Nia Griffiths also demanded police action

Mr Watson took to Twitter to demand police action be taken should Mr Williamson have leaked from the National Security Council

Scotland Yard said in a statement: Were aware of the media reports in relation to the leak and that is a matter for the National Security Council and the Cabinet Office to look at.

At this time, were not carrying out an investigation.

It is not necessary to have signed the Official Secrets Act in order to be bound by it and Government employees are usually informed they are subject to it in their contracts.

Many are still asked to sign the act as a way of reinforcing its content.

Prosecutions under the act are very rare. In 2002, former MI5 agent David Shayler was handed a six-month jail term for selling intelligence secrets to the Mail on Sunday.

He claimed MI5 tapped the then Labour MP Peter Mandelsons telephone, had a file on foreign secretary Jack Straws involvement in Left-wing politics and that MI6 tried to bomb Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

In her letter sacking Mr Williamson (pictured), Theresa May said she considered the matter closed  suggesting she did not want a police investigation

Sir Vince Cable (pictured), who leads the Lib Dems, said: This story cannot begin and end with dismissal from office

In 1984, Ministry of Defence civil servant Clive Ponting passed details to Labour MP Tam Dalyell about the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands War. He was charged under the Official Secrets Act but acquitted by a jury and he subsequently resigned from the Civil Service.

Earlier that year Sarah Tisdall, a clerk at the Foreign Office was prosecuted and jailed for leaking information to The Guardian about when US cruise missiles were due to arrive on British soil.

Mr Watson said last night: Its the most brutal sacking letter of any minister Ive seen in my lifetime. The magnitude of the allegation against him is very serious. He said because Mr Williamson denied the allegations, the best way for him to have his voice heard would be through a criminal inquiry.

Sir Vince Cable, who leads the Lib Dems, said: This story cannot begin and end with dismissal from office.
America could reduce suicide rates by raising the minimum wage and through other economic policies to help the poor, according to a new study.

The finding is based on the premise that the 33 percent increase in the national suicide rate from 1999-2017 is at least in part a result of limited economic prospects among less-educated people and working-class Americans, according to the paper published this week in the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Researchers at the University of California Berkeley analyzed 1999-2015 death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, finding that when states increased the minimum wage, or raised a tax credit for working families, the suicide rate went down.

They projected that increasing minimum wage and the earned-income tax credit (which was established to increase take-home pay among low-income workers) by 10 percent could prevent as many as 1,230 suicides a year.

This graph illustrates the rate of suicide deaths per 100,000 people for the U.S. from 1999-2017. Source: Centers for Disease Control

'Our estimates clearly suggest that if we were to increase the minimum wage that would result in fewer suicides among less educated Americans,' co-author Anna Godoey told DailyMail.com.

At the heart of the research is the concept of 'deaths of despair'  which include suicides, as well as deaths from drug overdoses and alcohol-related health issues.

The phrase was coined by economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, of Princeton University, to describe the rising death rates among middle aged white people, particularly those without college degrees who struggle to find good-paying jobs.

The researchers at Berkeley wanted to better understand how policy decisions could play a role in increased deaths among that population.

They examined the states that had raised their minimum wage or state earned-income tax credits from 1999-2015, as well as states that were affected by increases in the federal minimum wage.

This graph illustrates the total number of suicide deaths in the U.S. from 1999-2017, along with the breakout for men and women during the same period. Source: Centers for Disease Control

They measured the rate of change for suicides and other 'deaths of despair' before and after the policies took effect, finding a dramatic drop in the number of suicides that wasn't present in states that didn't have similar increases in minimum wage and tax credits.

Specifically, among adults without a college degree, a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage reduced suicides by 3.6 percent, while a 10 rise in tax credits resulted in a 5.5 percent drop in suicides.

The raise in the minimum wage led to an immediate decrease in suicides, however the tax credit increase resulted in a more delayed effect that was noticeable only after the changes went into effect the following year.

The difference was most significant among young women and minimum wage workers.

Researchers did not find a significant change in the number of drug overdoses.
Saudi Arabia is being plagued by a huge outbreak of locusts which is sweeping the country.

Darkened skies and layers upon layers of the insects were discovered on trees as masses of the bugs arrived along the Red Sea and invaded the country from Sudan and Eritrea.

Egypt has also been struck by large numbers of locusts, with 80 million in a swarm there could be devastating consequences for food supplies.

Experts have warned crops will be put at risk from the legions of bugs flooding Najran at the weekend.

Unusually heavy rainfall in the region led to the deluge of biblical bugs arriving in the country in mid-January with even more coming in a week later.

Worshippers in the Holy City of Mecca were covered in the bugs when they first started to arrive leading cleaners to have to fumigate the Great Mosque.

Specialist teams also had to be drafted in to tackle the bug infestation.

Mass invasion: Locusts flooded into the country over the weekend into Najran

Skies start to darken: Swarms of the biblical bugs have arrived due to unusual heavy rain

At risk: The insects pose a major threat to food supplies sparking warnings from experts

Sweeping the region: Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan have all been plagued by the bugs

With a small swarm capable of chomping its way through the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people, UN experts warned about the level of creatures arriving in Saudi.

Fruits, crops and vegetation are all at risk of being eaten through.

'Good rains along the Red Sea coastal plains in Eritrea and Sudan have allowed two generations of breeding since October, leading to a substantial increase in locust populations and the formation of highly mobile swarms,' the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation warned.
Attorney General William Barr says the Department of Justice is investigating leaks to the media of sensitive information about the government's investigation into Russian election meddling.

He did not say who the subjects of the investigations were as he addressed the issue that GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley raised in questioning at a Wednesday hearing.

'We have multiple criminal leak investigations under way,' Barr said.

President Trump pushed his previous attorney general to probe the leaks, and at one point, 27 investigations were known to be open.

One of Trump's top aides, Kellyanne Conway, told DailyMail.com after Barr's testimony that she has no information on the probes.

She added, 'I would be very concerned about that if I were the leakers and the leakees. I would be very concerned.'

Attorney General William Barr says the Department of Justice is investigating leaks to the media of sensitive information about the government's investigation into Russian election meddling

Conway suggested that Obama-era intelligence chiefs James Clapper and John Brennan should be at the top of the DOJ's list. They're retired from government service and have paid gigs at a major networks as national security analysts.

'Let's see who was talking to Clapper, Brennan, or if anybody, maybe not, they seem to be media figures now, too. Let's find out if in fact its relevant,' she said.

It wasn't immediately clear what classified information she thought that Clapper, the director of national intelligence in the last administration, and Brennan, an ex-CIA director, may have shared on television or elsewhere.

Grassley indicated in his questioning of Barr that he was referring to information about leaks to national newspapers.

Leaks undermine the ability of investigators to investigate, further leaks to the papers while Congress questions to the department go unanswered is unacceptable, Grassley said at a Senate Judiciary hearing. What are you doing to investigate unauthorized media contacts by the department and FBI officials during the Russian investigation?

Barr assured him that DOJ is looking into it without offering specific details.

At the White House, the presidential counselor, Conway, came out to do a round of television hits during a break in Barr's testimony.

Kellyanne Conway, told DailyMail.com after Barr's testimony that she has no further information on the investigations.

Speaking to other press afterward, she said, in response to an inquiry from DailyMail.com, that leakers should be afraid of the criminal investigations Barr mentioned.

'I would be very concerned about that if I were the leakers and the leakees, I would be very concerned. And I have to be honest with you, it seems to me that some people look really worried these days about that particular issue. But I can't say anything about that,' she insisted.

Conway boasted, 'I know who the real leakers are, but I also, if I reveal them, I have to reveal the leakees, but I'll do it some other time.'

'But I'll let the attorney general worry about that,' she added.

She signaled her approval for the investigations that could root out career officials who oppose this president and are working in the federal government.

'You've called for full transparency and accountability, so let's have at it. Let's see who was talking to Clapper, Brennan, or if anybody, maybe not, they seem to be media figures now, too. Let's find out if in fact its relevant,' she said.

The White House revoked Brennan's security clearance last August. It threatened to cut off Clapper's access to classified material, too, but it never followed through.

Trump's administration did not accuse Brennan of leaking to the media. But Trump has said numerous times that he believes former FBI director James Comey, who was on the review list, is a leaker, a liar and a dirty cop.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at an August briefing that Brennan's conduct was 'erratic' and posed risks to national security.

'Second, that conduct and behavior has tested and far exceeded the limits of any professional courtesy that may have been due to him,' she said.

She reporters during a White House press briefing,'The president has a constitutional responsibility to protect classified information and who has access to it, and that's what he's doing, is fulfilling that responsibility in this action. This is actually specific to Mr. Brennan and the others are currently under review.'

Barr signaled Wednesday that White House officials or Trump himself had intimated that they wanted him to conduct investigations into enemies of the president.

The White House revoked John Brennan's security clearance last August (left). It threatened to cut off Clapper's access to classified material, too, but it never followed through. Conway suggested Wednesday that they're part of a class of leakers

He testified, under oath, 'they have not asked me to open an investigation,' but couldn't say definitively whether Trump or anyone else in the White House had recommended an investigation into a specific person.

According to the Intercept, at least 6 people have been charged in DOJ leak investigations since Trump took office.

Trump has said he'd like to reshape American media law so that journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information. Much of what Trump has taken issue with, however, is information that may or may not be sensitive but is unflattering to him.

As Barr was about to testify, a new leak threatened to embarrass the administration.

A scolding letter Robert Mueller sent Attorney General Barr appeared in the Washington Post. Mueller told Barr that his four-page summary of the special counsel report was misleading and led to public confusion.

Testifying about the matter on Wednesday, the attorney general said he does not know how the Post obtained the letter but he assumes the leak came from within DOJ.

He told Sen. Mike Crapo that it is his belief that a political bias drives some of the leaks. But that's not the prevailing reason prosecutors and agents leak, he said.

'I think some of the leaks, some of the leaks are maybe for political purposes,' he told the Republican senator. 'I think probably more leaks are because people handling a case don't like what their superiors or supervisors are doing, and they leak it in order to control people up the chain.'
An Oregon man was arrested in connection to a cold-case rape and murder of a Vancouver woman found strangled in her bed nearly 25 years ago after he was linked to the victim through DNA from a tossed cigarette.

Richard Eugene Knapp, 57, was arrested near his home in Fairview, Oregon, on Sunday during a traffic stop.

Investigators from the Vancouver Police Department took Knapp into custody for allegedly killing Audrey Hoellein.

Hoellein, who was then 26 and also known as Audrey Frasier, was found strangled at the Family Tree Apartments on July 17, 1994, where she lived with her five-year-old son, according to newspaper archives.

She had also been raped, authorities said.

Richard Knapp (left), 57, of Oregon, was arrested on Sunday in connection to the 1994 rape and murder of Audrey Hoellein (right), 26, after he was linked to the victim through DNA from a tossed cigarette

Officers who responded to her apartment that night collected DNA evidence, which didn't match any of their initial suspects at the time, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Clark County Superior Court.

Persons of interests were compared against the DNA profile over the years without a match. A profile sent to a national database also did not return a hit, the affidavit said.

The case went cold until 2018 when the DNA was sent to Parabon Nanolabs to create a genetic data profile.

From there, the genetic data profile was submitted to a public genetic genealogy database for comparison in hopes of finding people who share significant amounts of DNA with the unknown person from the crime scene, according to The Oregonian.

After narrowing down a list of people, Vancouver police eventually identified Knapp as a suspect. Knapp had lived in Clark County around the time of the woman's murder.

Knapp had been convicted of sexual assault in Clark County in 1986, and he strangled the victim in that case, according to the affidavit.

He complied with an order then to provide a biological sample to authorities, but the sample was never uploaded to any database and was destroyed in 2000, according to the affidavit.

Law enforcement started surveilling Knapp at his home and place of employment in the past year in hopes of obtaining a discarded item to get his DNA for comparison, according to the affidavit.

In February, authorities obtained a cigarette butt belonging to Knapp and his DNA matched the original profile, Vancouver police said at a Tuesday news conference. Pictured is Audrey Hoellein

In February, authorities obtained a cigarette butt belonging to Knapp and his DNA matched the original profile, Vancouver police said at a Tuesday news conference.

'I've been in contact with the family for a few weeks now, to keep them appraised of the situation. I can't tell you enough how happy they are that the case is still being actively worked, that an arrest has been made,' Vancouver police Detective Dustin Goudschaal said during a press conference.

'They have been through a lot.'

The Hoellein family said in a statement that the crime not only took away a sister from her two brothers, it left a mother and father without a daughter, and a young child without a mother.

'As this case is starting to unfold after almost 25 years, the wound is being re-opened, and our family is experiencing the pain all over again,' the statement said.

'Since then the family has grown with nephews that will never meet their aunt, and a grandchild that can only see grandma in pictures, only knowing her from shared memories.

'But thanks to detectives Dustin Goudschaal and Neil Martin, our family may finally have the opportunity to find closure to our biggest unknown.'

Knapp was booked into Washington's Clark County Jail where he's being held.
A Denver police officer has been suspended for 30 days after he placed a suspected thief into a chokehold that rendered him unconscious.

Shocking bodycam footage of the incident shows the unarmed suspect, Jaworski Gauthier, gagging for more than a minute as Sgt. Rudolph Suniga locks an arm around his neck.

The situation unfolded on September 23 of last year, with Suniga responding to a report that Gauthier had earlier tried to steal a parked car and a parked Greyhound bus.

Bodycam footage reveals that Suniga arrived on the scene as Gauthier was involved in a confrontation with another officer.

He then promptly proceeded to place the suspect in the chokehold.

'I can't breathe!' Gauthier is heard gasping shortly afterwards, as his airway is restricted by Suniga's arms.

'Stop resisting! Lay on your stomach!' Suniga responds, before he continues to place pressure around the suspect's neck for a minute.

Police body cam captured the incident as it unfolded in downtown Denver in September last year

Other police body cameras showed Sgt. Rudolph Suniga performing the chokehold as he tried to make an arrest

Other officers then arrive on the scene with their sirens blaring, and their own body cameras capture Suniga performing the maneuver on Gauthier.

The suspect then passes out, before one of the officers says: 'Just get an ambulance!'

Gauthier regained consciousness shortly after.

According to The Denver Channel, Suniga received notice of his pending suspension on April 19, with the police department saying that the chokehold had 'violated department policies'.

A chokehold is one of the take-down techniques that is available to officers, but may only be applied in certain aggravating situations.

A letter informing Suniga of his suspension claimed that the arrest of Gauthier did not constitute an 'aggravating situation'.

Suniga says he plans to appeal the disciplinary action, claiming he did not intend to choke the suspect and that he could not hear him making gagging noises.

Meanwhile, Gauthier eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated motor vehicle theft under $1,000.

He was sentenced April 25 to 180 days in jail, but has received credit for 148 days of time served.

The suspect briefly passed out after being placed in Suniga's chokehold, with another officer calling to 'get an ambulance'
A student who was shot dead by a stray bullet as she drove her boyfriend home in rural Iowa may have been the victim of illegal hunters, police have claimed.

Micalla Rettinger, 25, died after being shot while driving on U.S. Highway 218 at 2.30am on Sunday.

She was taking her boyfriend Adam Kimball home from his bar job at the time.

Authorities say the freak incident may now have been the fault of illegal hunters who were prowling for animals in the dark.

Micalla Rettinger was killed by a stray bullet which pierced her neck as she was driving at 2.30am in Waterloo, Iowa, on Sunday. She is shown with her father Steven who said he 'bolted awake' at the same time in his home in Florida

Major Joe Leibold of the Waterloo Police Department said it is one of the many theories police are looking in to.

Another is that someone randomly fired a gun in her direction.

Rettinger's boyfriend was shot in the head and someone else in the car was injured but they both survived.

The bullet pierced her neck and she died after turning off the highway at the nearest exit.

Her father, who lives in Florida, claimed that at the very moment she was struck, he 'bolted awake'.

'I mustve woke up right when it was happening,' her father, Steven Rettinger, told The Des Moines Register.

Police say Rettinger may have been killed by illegal hunters. Her boyfriend Adam Kimball was shot in the face but survived

He said his daughter wanted to become a dentist.

'(The world) lost a good-hearted person, who was a good citizen, and they probably lost a person who would have become a damn good dentist.

'She was very committed (to becoming a dentist).

At the same time, she found time for her friends and family and making the world a better place,' he said.

Police in Iowa are offering a $14,000 reward for any information that could help lead to her killer.

They have ruled out that it was road rage and described it as being random.

'That was one of the first things we looked into, is to whether these people were involved in a dispute or something that had occurred earlier. The passenger said there was nothing like that. They simply left work and drove here.

'There wasnt a lot of traffic. So there wasnt they cut something off, nothing that occurred to the passenger in the vehicle.

'They simply left work and driving home, there was nothing unusual nothing that got their attention,' Major Leibold said.
A 19-year-old Massachusetts man allegedly suffering from psychosis has been arrested after police and witnesses say he repeatedly bit a gas station clerk and then used the man's blood to paint his own face.

Joel Davila, of Taunton, was taken into custody at the Sunoco gas station at 231 Broadway on Monday night after a Good Samaritan prevented his escape.

Michael Keegan, who witnessed the gruesome attack, told police that Davila said to him, 'I dont eat flesh, I just drink blood.'

Gruesome: Joel Davila, 19, is pictured left with blood coating his face and staining the floor at the time of his arrest on Monday. He is accused of biting a gas station clerk on the face and arm (right) in Massachusetts

Police say Davila, who has a past criminal record, attempted to steal a drink from this Sunoco gas station in Taunton, but a 55-year-old worker stopped him

According to police, Davila mauled the 55-year-old store worker at around 11.25pm after the man caught him trying to steal a bottle drink from a cooler, reported WHDH.

Davila was reportedly known to the store clerk from an earlier alleged shoplifting incident.

All smiles: Davila wore a smile when he was photographed for his mugshot on Tuesday

Police say after biting the clerk on his arm, Davila allegedly used his teeth to tear out a chunk of flesh out of the victim's face, causing him to bleed profusely.

The middle-aged store worker was later taken to Morton Hospital in Boston to be treated for serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Keegan, the eyewitness, recounted how the suspect used the victims blood to finger paint his own face, and even licked some of it, NECN reported.

When police responded to the scene, they say they found Davila sitting on the floor and dipping his fingers in a puddle of blood.

When an officer inquired of the suspect about the flesh missing from the clerk's face, the teen reportedly replied: 'I think I ate it, you can cut my stomach open to check.

Davila is pictured grinning at his relatives during his arraignment Tuesday

A clinical psychiatrist told a judge Davila 9left and right) has a history of psychotic disorders, suffers from schizophrenia and substance abuse problems

Davila was initially taken to a hospital for an evaluation and later booked into jail, where he was being held without bail.

In his mugshot, Davila is pictured with a smirk on his face.

During his arraignment Tuesday on charges of assault with intent to maim and mayhem, the 19-year-old was seen grinning at a group of his family members and making kissing faces at them.

A judge ordered Davila to undergo a mental health evaluation after hearing from a clinical psychiatrist, who said that the 19-year-old has a history of psychotic disorders, suffers from schizophrenia and substance abuse problems, reported Taunton Daily Gazette.

Davila is due back in court for a competency hearing on May 17.

Davilas grandmother apologized on her grandsons behalf to the victim outside court

Records indicate that Davila was arrested last November for allegedly vandalizing the Broken Chains Biker Church in Taunton.

Leaving court on Tuesday, Davilas grandmother apologized on her grandsons behalf to the victim of the savage gas station attack and wished him a full recovery.

Information posted on Davila's Facebook page offers a glimpse into his apparently troubled life.

In the 'intro' section, the 19-year-old calls lists his job as Eviscerator at Human Slaughterhouse' and his school as 'The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls.'

He also describes himself as 'masonic, iconic, psychotic.
Larry Joe Scott (above), 65, was arrested Monday in Florida and charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of 33-year-old Bonnie Neighbors

A Florida man has been arrested in one of North Carolina's coldest cases: the 1972 slaying of a woman found bound and shot beside her four-month-old baby.

Larry Joe Scott, 65, was arrested Monday in Bradenton and charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of 33-year-old Bonnie Neighbors.

Neighbors was kidnapped with her baby boy while on her way to pick up her seven-year-old son from school, The News & Observer reported.

Her body, and the living infant, were later found in a migrant worker house near Benson.

Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell, who reopened the case in 2007, says the investigation picked up after nearly 47 years when newer DNA technology pointed to Scott.

Bizzell said it was the oldest cold case in Johnson County.

State Attorney General Josh Stein says confirmatory testing is in process.

On December 14, 1972, Neighbors was kidnapped with her baby boy while on her way to pick up her seven-year-old son from school

Her body was found bound with multiple gunshot wounds while her four-month-old son, Glen (right), lay a few feet away from her. He was unharmed. Glen Neighbors (left) works today as a paramedic in Four Oaks, North Carolina, according to his LinkedIn profile

The sheriff said Scott was being held in Bradenton before his expected extradition to North Carolina to face charges of murder and kidnapping.

At a news conference announcing the arrest on Tuesday, Bizzell grew emotional as he recalled breaking the news to the Neighbors family that a suspect was in custody.

'I was finally able to tell her son that we had found his mothers murderer,' Bizzell said.

'Justice had been far-too-long delayed for her. For all those years we had looked to find who had done it.'

Bizzell said that Scott lived in Benson, a small town in Johnston County, in 1972, the year in which Bonnie Neighbors was slain.

Investigators say they have yet to pinpoint a motive for the crime, as it appears that Scott did not know Neighbors or her family.

Ken Neighbors (above), Bonnie's husband, has waited four decades for justice

Bizzell said that investigators achieved a breakthrough two weeks ago when they contacted their counterparts in Florida.

He said that DNA evidence collected in the case was retested using sophisticated technology.

The new test led to a match, which resulted in Scott's arrest, according to Bizzell.

'In 1972, I was only 14 years old, but something about Bonnie Neighbors killing and about this case always bothered me,' Bizzell said.

'After I became sheriff in 2007, I was still haunted because her killer had not been found.'

Glen Neighbors, 47, works today as a paramedic in Four Oaks, North Carolina, according to his LinkedIn profile
Jeremiah Triplett, 30, is facing charges of institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and a litany of other charges in relation to interactions with two students at a Pennsylvania school where he works at a music teacher

A Pennsylvania high school teacher has been arrested after he allegedly had sex with a student in his office and repeatedly supplied the victim and her friend with marijuana-infused edibles.

Jeremiah Triplett, 30, is facing charges of institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and a litany of other charges in relation to a series of incidents at the Archbishop Carroll High School, in Radnor, where hes employed as a music teacher.

Police say they were alerted to Triplett after they received an anonymous tip in March, suggesting the music teacher had given marijuana-laced edibles  including brownies and gummy bears  to two female students of Catholic school.

A later investigation is also said to have revealed that Triplett bought shopping bags of mini liquor bottles to share with the girls, Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland said.

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Triplett was arraigned in court and posted bail on Wednesday. Triplett was placed on leave by Archbishop Carrol High School last month. He was also the musical director at St. Katharine of Siena Parish in Wayne prior to leave of absence

Triplett is accused of sleeping with one of the girls on at least one occasion in his office at the Archbishop John Carroll High School

Copeland also detailed how Triplett would have lunch in his office with both of the girls  something frowned upon by other teachers  and on up to 10 occasions gave them firecrackers, which are crackers topped with Nutella and THC.

The criminal complaint further states that Triplett would vape with the two girls and they would regularly blow smoke into each others mouths.

In one exchange, the 30-year-old allegedly kissed one of the girls, grabbed her backside and told her he couldnt wait until she was 18.

[Triplett] used his position of trust and authority as a teacher to prey on students and endangered their health by providing them with THC infused food, Copeland said in a statement.

When questioned by investigators, one of the teens said she had sexual contact with Triplett beyond kissing.

The alleged sexual act is believed to have taken place in Tripletts office, on at least one occasion.

Police say they were alerted to Triplett after they received an anonymous tip in March, suggesting the music teacher had given weed-laced edibles  including brownies and gummy bears  to two female students of Catholic school

Its heart-breaking for everybody involved, Marita Finley, a parent of students at Archbishop Carroll, told NBC 10

Investigators say the girl, who hasnt been named, also said she had seen the teachers penis and described its size and appearance.

When asked if she viewed Triplett as a sexual predator, she replied that she was now 18, and didnt see it as an issue, according to cops.

This was the extent of Witness knowledge of the incident, the complaint detailed.

Triplett was placed on leave by Archbishop Carrol High School last month.

He was also the musical director at St. Katharine of Siena Parish in Wayne prior to leave of absence.

Its heart-breaking for everybody involved, Marita Finley, a parent of students at Archbishop Carroll, told NBC 10.

All my kids have had contact [with Triplett]. We've all had contact from the school and the parish and I never had any indication or any feeling whatsoever that anything wasn't right.

A spokesperson from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia released a statement, claiming Triplett passed all background checks before being employed by the school.

Prior to beginning employment at Archbishop Carroll, Mr. Triplett obtained clear criminal record checks as well as child abuse clearances, the spokesperson wrote. In addition, he completed mandatory safe environment training programs.

Triplett was arraigned in court and posted bail on Wednesday.
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Universities must 'decolonise' the curriculum to better appeal to ethnic minority groups, an influential report has urged.

Universities UK, the membership group for vice chancellors, says black and Asian students are put off their studies by a lack of diversity on reading lists.

It is urging course tutors to consider including more ethnic minority writers and thinkers  such as African Americans Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison and the Palestinian American academic Edward Said  to better reflect the 'experience' of a multicultural society.

Valerie Amos, the director of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, co-led the report

But Valerie Amos, the director of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London  who co-led the report, denied the move meant 'elbowing off' traditional writers.

She said: 'I don't accept that. Universities are about critical engagement. They're about broadening perspectives.

'And this is about adding to that. It's not about taking things away.'

However, SOAS has produced a 'Decolonising SOAS Learning and Teaching Toolkit'.

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: 'By definition, if they expand the reading list they will dilute the content.

'It risks moving the focus away from traditional writers such as Shakespeare and Milton.'

Universities UK, the membership group for vice chancellors, says black and Asian students are put off their studies by a lack of diversity on reading lists.

It comes following student campaigns which complained about subjects such as English, history and philosophy being overwhelmingly 'white' because they focused on European thinkers.

This is the first time UUK has come out in favour of the campaign and is likely to mean more vice chancellors ordering curriculum reviews.

The report, which was also led by Amatey Doku, vice president for higher education at the National Union of Students, aimed to explore what universities can do to address the attainment gap between black students and their peers.

In 2017, only 57 per cent of black students got a first or 2:1, compared to 71 per cent of Asian and 81 per cent of white students.

Baroness Amos said: 'There are a range of things that universities need to be doing. And one aspect of that is around ensuring that you work to create more inclusive environments at universities.'

She said students may also feel put off by a lack of ethnic minority professors. UUK is asking vice-chancellors to pledge to work with students and use its recommendations.

The report says 'some curriculums do not reflect minority groups' which can lead to a 'poor sense of belonging'.
A cruise ship had to be quarantined in St Lucia's port after a case of measles was confirmed on board.

Health officials docked the cruise ship, which was carrying 300 passengers, on Monday after discovering a female crew member had contracted the disease.

According to NBC, officials declined to name the ship, but Sgt Victor Theodore from St Lucia's Coast Guard said it was called the 'Freewinds' - the same name as a 440-foot ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology.

Sgt Theodore also identified the quarantined vessel as the same one which was listed on the church's website.

Health officials docked the 'Freewinds' cruise ship (pictured) on Monday after discovering a female crew member had the measles. The ship is still in quarantine in St Lucia's port, officials said Wednesday

Officials declined to name the ship, but Sgt Victor Theodore from St Lucia's Coast Guard said it was called the 'Freewinds' - the same name as a 440-foot ship owned and operated by the Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology website describes the Freewinds as a floating 'religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion'. It says its home port is Curacao.

MailOnline has contacted the Church of Scientology for comment.

The island's Chief Medical Officer Merlene Fredericks-James told CNBC that the ship is still docked at the port and the crew member is in isolation on board.

Other crew members and passengers are not allowed to disembark.

St Lucian officials have been working with the Pan American Health Organization and Caribbean Public Health Agency.

Fredericks-James said that it is 'likely that other persons on the boat may have been exposed', but no other cases have been confirmed.

The measles virus is highly contagious and can cause blindness, deafness, brain damage or death. It is currently spreading in outbreaks in many parts of the world.

According to the World Health Organization, 95 per cent of a population needs to be vaccinated to provide 'herd immunity,' a form of indirect protection that prevents infection in people too young or sick to be vaccinated.

The island's Chief Medical Officer Merlene Fredericks-James said the ship (pictured) is still docked at the port and the crew member is in isolation on board. Other crew members and passengers are not allowed to disembark

Fredericks-James said that it is 'likely that other persons on the boat may have been exposed', but no other cases have been confirmed

US public health officials have blamed the current outbreak in part on rising rates of vaccine skepticism that have reduced measles immunity in certain communities.

For travelers to outbreak areas abroad, the CDC recommends adults consider getting another dose of MMR unless they have proof of receiving two prior doses, take a blood test showing immunity, or were born before 1957.

In general, the CDC says two doses of the measles vaccine should provide 97 percent protection; one dose should offer 93 per cent protection. However, immunity can wane over time.

This has occurred even in adults with two documented doses of the vaccine, said Dr. Michael Phillips, chief epidemiologist at NYU Langone Health, which serves parts of New York City, a hot spot in the current US outbreak.

He said in kids, 'the vaccine is really effective,' but in some adults, memory T-cells, which recognize and attack germs, do not fight the virus as effectively as they once did.

Rapid blood tests are available that can detect whether a person is immune based on the level of measles antibodies, but the tests are not 100 per cent reliable.

The measles virus is highly contagious and can cause blindness, deafness, brain damage or death. It is currently spreading in outbreaks in many parts of the world

Adults who have any doubt about their immunity should get another dose, Schaffner said: 'It's safe. There's no downside risk. Just roll up your sleeve.'

Measles continues to spread across the United States, with more than 700 cases reported so far this year in 22 states.

US health officials on Monday updated the national tally. It has already eclipsed the total for any full year since 1994, when 963 cases were reported.

The CDC says this year's count includes 44 people who caught the disease while traveling in another country.

Some of them triggered US outbreaks, mostly among non-vaccinated people.

That includes the largest outbreaks, in Orthodox Jewish communities in and around New York City.

Three-quarters of those who caught the disease are children or teenagers.
Carla Annette Haynes, 54, was arrested on Friday in Hartsville, Tennessee

An elementary school teacher has been arrested after police said that she dragged a four-year-old girl down a hallway by her ankles.

Carla Annette Haynes, 54, was booked on Friday in Hartsville, Tennessee following the incident at Trousdale County Elementary School where she is a pre-kindergarten teacher.

A school resource officer was watching the school's security cameras when he saw Haynes carrying a four-year-old girl and putting her into a kneeling position, WZTV reported.

Haynes then allegedly pushed the child onto her back and grabbed the girl by her feet, dragging her 15 feet down the hall and around the corner.

Haynes is a pre-K teacher at Trousdale County Elementary School, but was suspended and charged after allegedly dragging a four-year-old girl down the hallway by her ankles

The officer informed an assistant principal, who notified the superintendent. Haynes was suspended the same day.

After the girl's parents said they wanted to press charges, Haynes was booked on a charge of child abuse.

Haynes was freed on a $5,000 bond. A message left by DailyMail.com at a phone number listed for her was not immediately returned.

Trousdale County Director of Schools Dr. Clint Satterfield said the incident did not reflect on the school system as a whole.

Satterfield credited the camera system, which was installed this year, for helping officials quickly intervene in the matter.
Jewish activists called on Jeremy Corbyn to consider his position after it emerged he had endorsed a book containing anti-Semitic ideas.

The Labour leader wrote the foreword for a new edition of JA Hobson's 1902 book Imperialism: A Study while he was a backbencher in 2011.

He described it as a 'great tome'  even though it spread conspiracy theories about the Rothschild banking family and said finance was controlled 'by men of a single and peculiar race' who in turn controlled 'the policy of nations'.

The Jewish Labour Movement slammed Mr Corbyn yesterday for endorsing 'anti-Semitic propaganda' and said he should consider quitting. And the Board of Deputies of British Jews said he should provide a 'full explanation' for his actions.

The Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn leaves his north London home ahead of Prime Minister's questions on Labour Day on Wednesday

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks at a Climate emergency protest in Parliament Square outside the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday

Mr Corbyn still had not apologised last night, with a spokesman merely saying that 'Jeremy completely rejects the anti-Semitic elements' of the book. In the foreword, he praised the 'brilliant' analysis of western imperialism at the turn of the 20th century, which was 'very controversial at the time'.

He also praised Hobson's 'correct and prescient' passages 'railing against the commercial interests that fuel the role of the popular press with tales of imperial might'.

In his book, Hobson invoked an anti-Semitic Rothschild conspiracy theory, saying: 'Does anyone seriously suppose that a great war could be undertaken by any European state, or a great state loan subscribed, if the house of Rothschild and its connections set their face against it?'

4th arrest in dossier probe A fourth man has been arrested in connection with a dossier of alleged anti-Semitism by Labour members. The 44-year-old was arrested in Newham, east London, and remained in police custody last night. An investigation was launched into alleged anti-Semitism among party members in November after a dossier of evidence was handed to the Metropolitan Police. The probe was prompted after an internal Labour file was obtained by LBC radio. Three others were arrested in March on suspicion of publishing or distributing material likely to stir up racial hatred. It is understood that disciplinary action was taken by Labour against those thought to be under investigation, and they are no longer party members. A Labour spokesman said the party is committed to challenging anti-Semitism. He added: We welcome the police investigating these individuals alleged crimes. Advertisement

And he claimed that 'great financial houses' have 'control which they exercise over the body of public opinion through the Press'.

A Jewish Labour Movement spokesman said: 'Once again, Labour members find that their leader has endorsed anti-Semitic propaganda. Given how much he says he abhors anti-Jewish racism, Jeremy Corbyn must be the unluckiest anti-racist in history. But in truth, it's no accident that he's praised an author who peddled what we would recognise as left anti-Semitic tropes.'

The organisation said it would be submitting a complaint to the Labour Party and asking the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to include it in their potential investigation.

Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies, said: 'This is pure and unequivocal racism', while Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt also condemned Mr Corbyn, adding that he should apologise for writing the foreword and accusing him of having 'massive blind spots on anti-Semitism.'

However, a party spokesman said the Labour leader stands by his contribution to the publication and denied that he was 'blind' to one form of racism.

He said the book contains 'language which most people would regard as repugnant and racist not just in relation to Jewish people, but about Africans and Asians across the board. It is not that he [Corbyn] didn't notice those things. It is not that he couldn't see that. It is the fact that he wasn't talking about that.'

British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry meet with Prime Minister of Iceland Katrin Jakobsdottir in the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday

Meanwhile Labour grandee Lord Prescott was accused yesterday of ranting at a Jewish journalist that the party's anti-Semitism crisis was all 'about Israel'.

The Jewish Chronicle reported that the peer was asked by the journalist, who asked to not be named, how best to resolve the issue, to which he said: 'Is there anything you can do about Israel and its behaviour?'

He went on: 'All of this is about Israel... dead children.. settlers on someone else's land.'
Pret a Manger is removing allergens from 70 products following the deaths of two customers.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, and Celia Marsh, 42, both had allergies and died after buying food from the high street chain.

Now bosses are to put full ingredient labelling on every freshly made sandwich or baguette, rather than just having the information on its shelves or website.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who died after a severe allergic reaction to sesame in a Pret a Manger baguette

The new labels went live in 20 London shops this week and will be extended to other shops across the UK over the summer.

The sandwich chain will also install touchscreen tablets in every outlet to help customers who have a food allergy to identify products that are safe to eat.

And 70 Pret recipes have been reformulated to remove one or more allergens.

Natasha suffered a fatal allergic reaction to the sesame in a Pret baguette in July 2016.

Coroner Dr Sean Cummings described Pret's labelling as 'inadequate', largely because the company used a legal loophole to avoid providing a full list of ingredients on the pack.

Following Natasha's death, her parents, Nadim and Tanya, from Fulham, South West London, launched a campaign for better labelling.

Subsequently, the Secretary of State for Food and Farming, Michael Gove, set up a consultation exercise designed to lead to a change in the law.

Natasha's parents, Nadim and Tanya, launched a campaign for better food labelling following the teenager's death

It then emerged that Natasha was not the only death linked to Pret.

Mother of five, Mrs Marsh, from Wiltshire died in December 2017 after eating a supposedly dairy-free 'super-veg rainbow flatbread'.

An inquest into Mrs Marsh's death has still not been held, however bosses at Pret are likely to face further criticism of their labelling policy when it finally gets underway.

The changes at Pret are based on recommendations from Tim Smith, who is chairman of the chain's Food Advisory Panel and a former chief executive of the Government's Food Standards Agency.

Chief executive at the company, Clive Schlee, said: 'The issue of allergies has struck a deep chord within Pret A Manger following the tragic deaths of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse and Celia Marsh.

'We said we would learn from the past and make meaningful changes. This plan brings together some of the most important changes we have been making to help customers with allergies.'
A woman is suing Hawaiian Airlines after an air-hostess allegedly spilled scolding hot tea on her lap, leaving her with agonising burns.

Dimity Plaister, 47, claims she was left with scarring, anxiety and depression after the accident on flight HA444 from Brisbane to Honolulu in April 2017.

She claims the air-hostess placed the tea on her fold-out tray but then leaned over to pass the milk and sent the searing hot liquid cascading into her lap.

Ms Plaister, from the Gold Coast, says she was left with burns to her hip, thigh and buttocks.

Dimity Plaister, 47, claims she was left with scarring, anxiety and depression after the accident on flight HA444 from Brisbane to Honolulu in April 2017 (stock image; not actual)

She says she told staff that she had been burnt but was not offered any help or given anything to dry herself, reported the Courier-Mail.

Ms Plaister also claims that she was unable to enjoy her 10-day holiday to Honolulu because of her burns.

Her claim, which was heard in court on Wednesday, states: 'The tea was scalding hot.

'In the process of passing a carton of milk to Ms Plaister for her tea, the cabin crew member knocked over the cup of black tea into her lap.'

Hawaiian Airlines has not yet filed a defence and the case was adjourned until 10 May.

Ms Plaister's solicitor, Shine Lawyers, told Daily Mail Australia that burn complaints on flights are becoming more common.

'We are receiving a rising number enquiries from travellers with scalding injuries which is a genuine problem in the airline industry,' a spokesman said.

'Airline carriers are required to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their passengers on board and should be taking proactive steps to stop burns being sustained in flight.'

Hawaiian Airlines told Daily Mail Australia in a statement: 'We won't be commenting on specifics as this matter is in legal process.'

'This was an unfortunate incident which we have investigated internally. We were disappointed to learn of this court case as we are satisfied that appropriate procedures were followed on board,' the statement read.

'We also continually review our safety procedures against international airline industry standards to ensure the inflight safety of our passengers.'
The Florida teenager obsessed with the Columbine school shooting killed herself before the FBI even learned that she had traveled to Colorado and launched a massive manhunt for her.

Sol Pais, 18, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 15 in the foothills west of Denver, according to the Clear Creek County coroner.

Authorities said she took her own life the same day she arrived in Denver from Miami.

The FBI has said it only learned the next day that Pais had traveled to Colorado and purchased a shotgun and ammunition.

Authorities launched a wide scale manhunt for the teenager and warned that she was armed and 'extremely dangerous' just days before the 20th anniversary of the deadly Columbine massacre.

The FBI said she had made threats to 'commit an act of violence' in Denver after becoming fixated on the 1999 shooting that left 13 people dead.

Sol Pais, 18, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 15 in the foothills west of Denver, according to the Clear Creek County coroner

Columbine and other schools tightened security and dozens closed entirely as authorities launched a wide-scale search for the teenager.

Police and the FBI were tipped off about Pais after the Miami Beach high school student made troubling remarks to others about her 'infatuation' with the 1999 bloodbath at Columbine High.

She purchased three one-way tickets to Denver on three consecutive days, then flew in on April 15 and went directly to a gun store to buy a shotgun.

Pais' body was found on April 17 off a trail near the Echo Lake Campground in Mt Evans - a recreation area about 60 miles southwest of Denver.

Investigators got a tip from the ride-share driver who took her there.

The driver reported the information to authorities on April 16 after investigators started their frantic search for Pais in the Denver area.

While authorities said Pais had not made a specific threat to an individual school, they said her fascination with the massacre and the gunmen and her recent actions had raised suspicions.

Pais' body was found on April 17 off a trail near the Echo Lake Campground in Mt Evans - a recreation area about 60 miles southwest of Denver

Columbine and other schools tightened security and dozens closed entirely as authorities launched a wide-scale search for the teenager after warning that she was extremely dangerous

Two teenage boys who attended Columbine High School shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher on April 20, 1999 before committing suicide. At the time, it was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

A disturbing website belonging to Pais, as well as posts on the National Gun Forum seeking advice on buying a shotgun in Colorado, emerged as the manhunt was underway.

While authorities said Pais had not made a specific threat to an individual school, they said her fascination with the massacre and the gunmen and her recent actions had raised suspicions

The FBI said they were looking at the website and other online activity as part of their investigation.

The website was filled with self-hate journal entries and contained a tribute to a Marilyn Manson song that was inspired by the high school shooting.

She was also behind a series of posts on the National Gun Forum website in March asking for advice on buying a gun in Colorado.

'Florida resident here. I am planning a trip to Colorado in the next month or so and wanna buy a shotgun while I'm there and I was wondering what restrictions apply for me? I've found a few private sellers I might want to purchase from; is it legal for me as a Florida resident to purchase a shotgun in Colorado? I'm 18 years old too, if it's important,' she wrote.

'The problem is I have no friends in FL who are into guns like me so it's not as fun having to do all of this alone,' she wrote in a follow up post.

Many questions still remained unanswered about Pais but a friend disputed the contention by authorities that she posed a threat.

In the days after her body was found, her friend Adrianna Pete painted a complex picture of Pais, saying she was deeply troubled, lonely and often talked about suicide but was also brilliant, kind and a talented artist who loved to draw.

A disturbing website belonging to Pais, as well as posts on the National Gun Forum seeking advice on buying a shotgun in Colorado, emerged as the manhunt was underway

Pete, 19, a college student in Carleton, Michigan, said she met Pais online two years ago through a mutual friend and quickly developed a friendship involving near-daily communication. They met in person twice, once when Pete traveled to Florida and once when Pais went to Michigan.

Pete faulted authorities for overreacting in portraying Pais as a threat based on her activities before her death.

'She never threatened anyone,' Pete said. 'There are no credible threats and only assumptions that she was just because the word Columbine was included.'

Pete said Pais had a weird obsession with the Columbine killers but that didn't mean she was planning an attack. The killers were 'someone she could relate to' because they were lonely, not because of their violence, Pete said.

'She would say I hate life, life sucks and that she was very alone,' Pete said. 'Then she told me she had it figured out with her parents before so I assumed like she was doing OK... She actually posted about it a lot, wanting to die.

'I believe she was just very mentally ill and had no one but me to confide in and a few people on the internet.'
ABC News chief medical correspondent Jennifer Ashton reveals she may have seen her ex-husband take his own life if she had left for her workout class just minutes earlier.

The 50-year-old mother-of-two was heading from her New Jersey home to the exercise session in New York around the same time surgeon Robert C. Ashton Jr. jumped from George Washington Bridge on February 11, 2017.

Having finalized her divorce from her spouse of 21 years only 18 days before, Ashton shares in her new book  which provides support, information, and comfort for those attempting make sense of their loss - that she initially blamed herself for his suicide.

'I was on my way to Soul Cycle that morning. I missed Rob by maybe 10 minutes, which is beyond a sickening thought to me,' she writes in Life After Suicide, out May 7.

Jennifer Ashton's ex husband Robert Ashton Jr. died by suicide February 11, 2017. They are pictured 2009

The surgeon jumped off George Washington Bridge 10 minutes before she drove across

Later detectives came to her home  where she lives with son Alex, 20, and daughter Chloe - to break the news of her former spouse's passing.

Ashton continues that law enforcement told her: 'I'm very sorry to tell you, but we found your name on the remains of' he didn't even finish the sentence.

'I collapsed onto my knees and, as I was collapsing, I heard him say, "Your husband." I became completely hysterical. I started screaming, "No, no, no, no, no".'

ABC News correspondent says in new book Life After Suicide that she blamed herself for his death

The doctor admits it made her doubt the handling of their split after she had believed they'd 'done our divorce well' and was 'excited for everyone's future'.

But after a conversation with her brother, she realized an explanation for the 52-year-old's passing wasn't so simple.

'I finally said to him exactly what I was feeling, and what I imagined everyone was thinking  "This is my fault",' she recalled from a chat with her sibling.

'He put his hands on my shoulders, looked directly into my eyes, and said, "Jen, you're a doctor, I'm a doctor, Rob was a doctor. He would have done this married to you or not married to you. Divorce doesn't cause someone to commit suicide. The reality is, you cannot let this destroy you".'

The mother says she and her children saw a counselor the day after her ex-husband's death and they still see one every so often.

She believes therapy was a huge help for dealing with their anger, guilt shock and feelings of rejection.

'Rob loved Alex and Chloe more than he loved himself. For him to leave them shows how much pain he was in. How can you be angry with someone for being in pain?' she reasons.

The parents of Chloe (center left) and Alex (second right) divorced after 21 years, just 18 days before his suicide. Jennifer is pictured second left and Robert is pictured right

Ashton told PEOPLE her former spouse left suicide notes for the three of them saying it's not his family's fault he killed himself

Ashton said therapy helped the family cope with Robert's death. They first saw a counselor the day after he died. He is pictured with his daughter Chloe

Although she doesn't open up fully about the contents of the three notes he left for her and their children, Ashton confirms in an interview with PEOPLE that he reassured them they were not at fault.

She told the publication: 'The only thing that I'll share from my note is his first line, which said, "First no one is to blame". It speaks to how well he knew me.'

Ashton was reluctant to open up about her personal tragedy on screen but decided to after Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade killed themselves last year.

Ashton decided to open up about experiencing the suicide of a loved one after Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain killed themselves last year. Ashton is pictured with Robin Roberts on January 7

Ashton's brother helped the doctor understand that her former husband would have taken his own life regardless

She took the first step by appearing on Good Morning America and now in her 'part memoir and part comforting guide' that incorporates the latest insights from researchers and health professionals, Ashton 'opens up completely for the first time', according to the description for her book.

'The end result is a raw and revealing exploration of a subject that's been taboo for far too long,' the blurb states.

For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255
A desperate search has been launched for a 12-year-old autistic boy who spent the night by himself after he was accidentally abandoned at a train station platform.

Jayden Whyte had been with a family member at Melbourne's Southern Cross Railway Station on Wednesday night.

The pair were headed to Bendigo but the 5.55pm train departed before Jayden boarded.

Jayden Whyte, 12, had been with a family member at Melbourne's Southern Cross Railway Station on Wednesday night headed to Bendigo but the train departed before he boarded

The family member returned to the platform but by that time Jayden had left the station.

Concerns have been raised for Jaydens welfare as he has autism and also due to his age.

Police have released an image in the hope someone recognises him and can provide information on his whereabouts.

Jayden is described as about 150cm tall with a slim build and short fair hair

He was last seen wearing glasses, a black jacket with a white logo, a school jumper, blue shorts and a black cap.

Police believe he may have boarded a tram about 6pm at Bourke Street, near Southern Cross Railway Station, and travelled east towards Bourke Street Mall.

Anyone who sees Jayden or may have information on his whereabouts is urged to contact Melbourne West Police Station on 8690 4444.
Attorney General William Barr will refuse to attend a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday to face questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report in a dramatic escalation of tensions between the Trump administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Barr and the Justice Department object to chairman Jerrold Nadler's demand that in addition to grillings from members of Congress, he would face questions from staff attorneys.

CNN reported Wednesday night that it couldn't identify any examples of past congressional hearings where such an extraordinary arrangement was allowed. But by refusing to set a new precedent, Barr could subject himself to a subpoena and ultimately a contempt of Congress citation.

A Jutice Department spokeswoman said in a statement that 'Chairman Nadler's insistence on having staff question the Attorney General, a Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, is inappropriate.'

'Further, in light of the fact that the majority of the House Judiciary Committee  including Chairman Nadler  are themselves attorneys, and the Chairman has the ability and authority to fashion the hearing in a way that allows for efficient and thorough questioning by the Members themselves, the Chairmans request is also unnecessary.'

Federal lawmakers have only cited one U.S. attorney general for contempt, Eric Holder of the Obama administration, for refusing to hand over documents related to the 'Operation Fast and Furious' gun-running scandal that plagued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Since Holder himself ran the Justice Department, he was able to ignore the contempt citation from House Republicans by refusing to prosecute himself. Ultimately, an Inspector General investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.

Power struggle: Attorney General Bill Barr (left) is refusing to turn up to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Democratic congressman Jerrold Nadler (right)

Senators Corey Booker (left) and Kamala Harris (right), Democrats on the Judiciary Committee who are running for president, both questioned Barr and then called for him to resign

Go now: Mazie Hirono, the Hawaii Democratic senator, told Barr that he had lied to the American people about the contents of the Mueller report and said: 'You should resign.'

Nadler, a New York Democrat who has crossed swords with President Donald Trump for decades, said Wednesday that he would go ahead with Thursday's scheduled hearing as planned and said: 'We may issue a subpoena, but our first priority is to get the unredacted Mueller report.'

That, too, may prove elusive. In a letter to Nadler Wednesday evening, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote that handing it over would be ilegal because some of it consists of privileged grand jury material.

The specific federal law in question 'contains no exception that would permit the Department to provide grand-jury information to the Committee in connection with its oversight role,' Boyd wrote.

He added that the Justice Department has already provided the leadership of both houses of Congress with 'a version of the report that redacts only the grand jury information.'

Reading that version, he said, 'would permit review of 98.5% of the report, including 99.9% of Volume II, which discusses the investigation of the President's actions.'

To date, according to CNN, only Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Doug Collins, the Renking Republican on Nadler's House Judiciary Committee, have read it.

Nadler insisted on Wednesday that he was right to use professional lawyers to question the nation's top law enforcement official, and that Congress had the power to make its own decisions.

'When push comes to shove the administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing in our hearing room,' Nadler said.

Barr's defiant move came amid calls from Democratic senators, including some who are running for president, for him to resign after a stormy session in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Barr repeatedly clashed with Democrats as he defied them to find fault with his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's landmark report on Russian election interference and dared them to challenge his version of events.

In the final exchange of the day, Connecticut Sen Richard Blumenthal tried to establish that a March 27 letter from Mueller that asked for quicker public disclosure of his report's executive summaries was so unusual that it indicated official misconduct.

'This letter was an extraordinary act, a career prosecutor rebuking the Attorney General of the United States, memorializing in writing, right? I know of no other instance of that happening, do you?' Blumenthal, a liberal Democrat, asked.

In a letter Wednesday, the Justice Department informed Jerrold Nadler's House Judiciary Committee that it wouldn't be getting the full, unredacted Mueller report; AG Barr also won't testify before the committee on Thursday

'He was a political appointee with me at the Department of Justice,' Barr shot back, suggesting that Mueller himself hadn't drafted the brief missive.

'You know, the letter's a bit snitty, and I think it was probably written by one of his staff people.'

The bombshell letter had revealed Mueller's concern at how Barr had handled the report.

It was one of two which the special counsel sent the attorney general after Barr published a four-page memo to Congress giving what he called the report's 'bottom line' conclusions.

The memo revealed that Mueller had cleared Trump of collusion and announced he and Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein had cleared the president of obstruction of justice. It took another four weeks for redactions to be finished and the report to be released.

Democrats pounced on the letter saying it contradicted Barr's sworn testimony on April 9 when Florida Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist asked him if he knew about reports 'that members of the Special Counsels team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24th letter, that it does not adequately or accurately necessarily portray the reports findings.'

Despite having read Mueller's letters, Barr replied: 'No I don't.'

Barr insisted Wednesday in the Senate hearing that Crist's question reflected frustrations among Mueller's legal team, not from the special counsel himself.

Hawaii Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono claimed Barr had 'lied' to the American people, telling him: 'America deserves better. You should resign.'

That set the tone for other Democrats after the hearing, including Kamala Harris, the California senator who is running for president. Asked as she walked out of the committee room whether Barr should resign, she simply said: 'Yes.'

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who also questioned Barr on Wednesday, emailed supporters to say: 'I have no confidence in Barrs ability to continue leading the Justice Department.'

Joining the calls for resignation were Elizabeth Warren of Massachussetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who are both running but don't serve on the Judiciary Committee.

Blumenthal, who is not running for president, told CNN after the hearing that Barr should go, saying he had a 'duty to resign,' and that if he would not, he had to recuse himself from overseeing the 12 open cases that Mueller handed off to other federal prosecutors.

Democrats on the GOP-dominated panel claimed all day that Mueller's letter was proof that he disagreed with a four-page overview Barr had sent a quartet of congressional leaders days before he wrote it on March 27.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut played the role of attack dog late in the day, demanding notes from Barr's phone call with Mueller in which Barr said Mueller never took issue with the substance of what he shared with Capitol Hill

Robert Mueller (pictured) wrote Barr a letter complaining that his memo to Congress summarizing his Russia investigation and exonerating President Trump of collusion did not fully capture the substance of his report; Barr decided he didn't want to release the actual report in a piecemeal fashion

Attorney General Bill Barr told senators on Wednesday that a crucial letter from Robert Mueller came across as 'a bit snitty' as he said he was right to dismiss the special counsel's demand that he release large portions of his final report more quickly

Barr insisted that Mueller found no fault with the letter he sent to Capitol Hill on March 24, but merely wanted an expanded set of material put in the public domain.

Under questioning, Barr told Blumenthal that 'there were notes taken of the call, but senators wouldn't be allowed to see them.

'Why not?' asked Blumenthal, inviting a pregnant pause.

'Why should you have them?' Barr asked.

Barr clashed with Democrats for most of the day in his first appearance on Capitol Hill since the release of the special counsel's Russia report, insisting that 'it was my decision how and when to make it public, not Bob Mueller's.'

In a tense standoff with Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, an uncharacteristically combative Barr insisted that Mueller's March 27 letter didn't establish any substantive disagreement with Barr's findings.

'His concern was not the accuracy of the statement of the findings in my letter,' Barr said, 'but that he wanted more out there to provide additional context to explain his reasoning on why he didn't reach a decision on obstruction [of justice].'

'He wanted more out,' he said, comparing his situation to that of a judge charged with communicating a jury's verdict to the public long before publishing a trial transcript.

'I'm out there saying, "Here is the verdict," and the prosecutor comes up and taps me on the shoulder and says, "Well, the verdict doesn't fully capture all my work. How about that great cross-examination I did," or, "How about that third day of trial where I did that? This doesn't capture everything".'

'My answer to that is I'm not trying to capture everything. I'm trying to state the verdict.'

Democratic Whip Dick Durbin on Illinois grilled Barr about Mueller's demand for his own redacted versions of his report's executive summaries to be released immediately upon delivery

Barr, shown facing cameras on Wednesday, said he was never trying to summarize Mueller's report, but to tell Americans what the overall 'verdict' was in a brief fashion because of the intensity of public interest in the case

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse sparred with Barr about Mueller's own redacted versions of his summaries; Barr said it wasn't Mueller's job to decide how much to release, and he was operating under his 'supervision'

Mueller will have his turn to speak this month, in a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, told reporters the special counsel will testify by a date hasn't been finalized.

Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse challenged Barr about why he ignored Mueller's request to immediately release a redacted version of the report summaries, which the special counsel said were scrubbed of most information prohibited from public disclosure.

'I wasn't interested in putting out summaries, period,' Barr replied.

Mueller had written that his own redactions covered the department's obligations to keep Grand Jury proceedings secret, along with information related to open criminal cases and decisions about targets who wouldn't be prosecuted.

He didn't, however, mention the need to protect information that could reveal intelligence agency sources and methods. Barr said Wednesday that 'there were redactions made in the executive summaries' by his office.

'Bob Mueller is the equivalent of a U.S. attorney,' he said. 'He was exercising the powers of the attorney general, subject to the supervision of the attorney general. He's part of the Department of Justice.'

'His work concluded when he sent his report to the attorney general. At that point, it was my baby. And I was making the decision as to whether or not to make it public. I effectively overrode the regulations, used discretion, to lean as far forward as I could to make that public. And it was my decision how and when to make it public. Not Bob Mueller's.'

Democrat after Democrat accused Barr of spinning the Mueller investigation's findings in President Donald Trump's favor, especially by honoring an Office of Legal Counsel opinion that prohibits the Justice Department from charging a sitting president with a crime.

Barr said he pretended the opinion didn't exist, but acknowledged that Mueller saw it as precluding some of what he might otherwise have been required to do.

Both sides had shredded their playbooks Tuesday night with the revelation of the letter Mueller wrote to Barr, complaining that his March 24 memo to Congress announcing Trump would face no legal consequences related to alleged collusion with Russia, and clearing him of obstructing justice, 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance' of his 448-page findings.

Barr said Mueller told him the four-page memo didn't misrepresent the larger report, but he wanted his own executive summaries released immediately instead of waiting for the rest of the tome to pass scrutiny of lawyers deciding what could be released to the public.

Barr said Wednesday that he never thought his four pages to Capitol Hill were a summary of Mueller's work, but were meant to tell an impatient public the bottom-line findings in the way a judge delivers a verdict.

Mueller, he said, had told him 'his concern focused on his explanation of why he did not reach a conclusion on obstruction [of justice], and he wanted more put out on that issue.'

'He was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report,' Barr said.

But he told senators that he decided it was inappropriate 'to put out the report piecemeal. I wanted to get the whole report out.'

Mueller, angry that Barr hadn't immediately released his executive summaries, wrote to Barr that his four-page letter to Congress was an inadequate top-line summary

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a Trump ally, chaired Wednesday's hearing

Barr's four-page top-line letter to congressional leaders was released more than three weeks before a redacted version of Mueller's final report was released to the public on April 18

Mueller's March 27 letter asked Barr to release 'the introduction and executive summary for each volume' of his report, and included versions that he said were 'marked with redactions to remove any information that potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e); that concerned declination decisions; or that related to a charged case.'

Rule 6(e) concerns secret Grand Jury testimony and the other two groups of information are meant to protect the rights of people who have been investigated and either charged or not charged with crimes.

'I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time,' Mueller wrote.

Deciding what to redact in the report was not Mueller's responsibility. That fell to Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who also decided the evidence Mueller collected did not rise to the level of a criminal obstruction of justice charge for President Trump.

Mueller's larger objection was that Barr's letter to Congress 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions.'

'There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations,' he wrote.

LINDSEY GRAHAM DROPS 'F-BOMB' IN BARR HEARING Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham apologized to 'kids' watching the hearing Wednesday after he read aloud a text that called President Donald Trump a 'f***ing idiot.' During his opening remarks ahead of Attorney General Bill Barr's testimony on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, the senator from South Carolina read texts between then-FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. 'These are the people investigating the Clinton email situation and started the counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign. Compare them to Mueller,' Graham said, praising Mueller and criticizing the former FBI agents who were involved in the probe. '"Trump is a f***ing idiot. He's unable to provide a coherent answer,"' Graham quoted a text sent from Strzok to Page on October 19, 2016. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham read a vulgar tweet between FBI agents, and lovers, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. He read the text word for word that called Trump a 'f***ing idiot,' and apologized to any children who may be watching the hearing 'Sorry to the kids out there,' Graham said. 'These are the people that made the decision that Clinton didn't do anything wrong, and that counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign was warranted.' The hearing was being streamed and broadcasted live both online and on cable news channels, including networks like Fox News and CNN. 'We want to let our viewers know that about 90 minutes ago, I let a little bit of language slip by us and for that we want to apologize to our viewers down the line,' Fox News' America's Newsroom host Bill Hemmer said in an interruption of the hearing to update the audience on House-side proceedings. 'We can thank Senator Lindsey Graham for his candid response there,' Hemmer said. In Graham's opening remarks, he attacked investigators for their bipartisanship, and in reading the texts between the FBI agents showed how their involvement in the investigation proved how the odds were stacked against Trump from the beginning of the probe. 'This committee is going to look long and hard at how this all started,' Graham said, focusing his attention on Hillary Clinton's email scandals and how the investigation would have been handled differently if it were Clinton's campaign and administration being looked into, instead of Trump's. Advertisement

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (right) and former chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (left) led Republican efforts to mute the Democrats' attacks on Wednesday

Senator Dianne Feinstein the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, grilled Barr

House Judiciary Committee Democrats released the letter Wednesday morning, a half-day after The Washington Post obtained a leaked version and published most of it.

According to Justice Department officials, Barr wanted to issue the report all at once with the redactions  which took several weeks.

Barr's four-page top-line letter went to Congress more than three weeks before a redacted version of Mueller's report was released to the public on April 18.

Mueller and Barr also spoke by phone after he sent the letter, according to Justice Department officials.

In the call, Mueller is said to have expressed concerns that the public wasn't getting an accurate understanding of the investigation.

Justice Department officials said Barr asked Mueller if he thought the memo was inaccurate and Mueller responded that he didn't.

Barr is also invited to appear on Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question the attorney general.

His appearance Wednesday was before a Republican-led committee chaired by a close ally of the president, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who focused on concerns that the early days of the FBI's Russia investigation were tainted by law enforcement bias against Trump.

Tensions on the Senate panel are notable given how Barr breezed through his confirmation process, picking up support from a few Democrats and offering reassuring words about the Justice Department's independence and the importance of protecting the special counsel's investigation.

The first hint of discontent surfaced last month when Barr issued his four-page statement about Mueller's main conclusions.

Question time: Bill Barr, who last took a tiny number of questions when he unveiled his version of what Mueller's report said just before the full document was published, will appear in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday

In the letter, Barr revealed that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had cleared Trump of obstruction of justice after Mueller and his team found evidence on both sides of the question but didn't reach a conclusion.

After the letter's release, Barr raised eyebrows anew when he told a congressional committee that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied on, a common talking point of the president and his supporters.

He also equivocated on a question of whether Mueller's investigation was a witch hunt, saying someone who feels wrongly accused would reasonably view an investigation that way.

That was a stark turnabout from his confirmation hearing, when he said he didn't believe Mueller would ever be on a witch hunt.

A person familiar with Barr's thinking has said that Barr, a former CIA employee, did not mean spying in a necessarily inappropriate way and was simply referring to intelligence collection activities.

The FBI did obtain a secret surveillance warrant in 2016 to eavesdrop on the communications of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.

Then came Barr's April 18 press conference to announce the release of the Mueller report later that morning.

He repeated about a half dozen times that Mueller's investigation had found no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia, though the special counsel took pains to note in his report that 'collusion' was not a legal term and also pointed out the multiple contacts between the campaign and Russia.

In remarks that resembled some of Trump's own claims, he praised the White House for giving Mueller's team 'unfettered access' to documents and witnesses and suggested the president had the right to be upset by the investigation, given his 'sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks.'

The hearing give the attorney general his most extensive opportunity to explain the department's actions, including a press conference held before the report's release, and for him to repair a reputation bruised by allegations that he's the president's protector.

Barr has also been invited to appear Thursday before the Democratic-led House Judiciary panel, but the Justice Department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question the attorney general.

At the White House during Wednesday's hearing, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway said Democrats questionin Barr were 'starting to sound a little bit desperate.'

'I know everybody wants to find something thats not there, many people, and to impugn the integrity, reputation, character and competence of Bill Barr, and coming from certain people who are doing that is really rich, including people on Capitol Hill.' she said.

'He said, "Look, I put the summary out because I saw former government officials, in the media, saying that if we were going to have evidence of collusion, there was a crime committed by the president and his campaign team." And he said, "I had to put out something before we could wait that long".'
Two 'suspicious' fires have been lit at the same house months apart while three men were asleep inside.

The first blaze at the home in Toongabbie in western Sydney was sparked about 1am on December 22, 2018, while three men aged 58, 68, and 71 were inside.

A 68-year-old man suffered burns and the front of the house was significantly damaged.

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An arsonist who lit two fires at the same house (pictured) months apart while three men were asleep inside is on the run from police

The first blaze at the home (pictured) in Toongabbie in western Sydney was sparked about 1am on December 22, 2018, while three men aged 58, 68, and 71 were inside

Another fire at the same house broke out about 12.20am on April 24, with the same three men inside.

No one was injured in the second fire but the roof of the house was damaged.

Detectives are investigating the 'suspicious circumstances' of both blazes.

According to police inquiries, the first fire was lit using a plastic container containing accelerant and was ignited on the front porch of the house.

CCTV footage captured during the second fire showed a small, white car driving past the house

The second fire was started using accelerant as well. The accelerant was set on fire after being poured over the front porch and then ignited.

CCTV footage captured during the second fire showed a small, white car driving past the house.

A man was also seen running from the fire.
A 3.5metre saltwater crocodile photographed 60 kilometres from the coastline is feared to have escaped from a breeding farm.

Truck driver Dino Licitra snapped the reptile on the side of the road in Biboohra, near Mareeba, south-west of Cairns, on Tuesday.

'I've never seen a saltie in Mareeba before, it shouldn't be here,' he said.

A 3.5metre saltwater crocodile photographed 60 kilometres from the coastline is feared to have escaped from a breeding farm

The spotting is at least the second time the crocodile has been seen at Two Mile Creek, Biboohra, over the last two weeks, Cairns Post reported.

Mr Licitra said the sighting suggested there could be other crocodiles lurking in the area.

He noticed the reptile on Pickford Road, only a few hundred metres from Melaleuca Crocodile Farm.

Juergen Arnold from Melaleuca Crocodile Farm told Daily Mail Australia he was aware of the sighting but Mr Arnold denied allegations the crocodile had come from the farm.

'We would have noticed if a 3.5 metre crocodile escaped,' he said.

Mr Arnold added that the Department of Environment and Science (DES) had set up a trap to catch the crocodile.

Truck driver Dino Licitra noticed the reptile on Pickford Road, only a few hundred metres from Melaleuca Crocodile Farm

SALT WATER CROCODILE The salt water crocodile is the largest of all living reptiles. The average total length is three to five metres and males grow much larger than females. Saltwater crocodiles can be found in rivers, estuaries, creeks, swamps, lagoons and billabongs. In Australia, saltwater crocodiles are found in northern coastal areas and drainages, from Broome in northwestern WA to the Gladstone area in south-eastern QLD. SOURCE: Australian Museum Advertisement

Sam Musumeci, Mareeba Chamber of Commerce vice president, said he was concerned about how far the crocodile is from its natural habitat.

'As far as we're concerned, saltwater crocs are an introduced species here, and they shouldn't be here,' he said.

'We haven't got any evidence that it's come from the croc farm, but it's just 500 metres away, so it's pretty hard to ignore.'

The chamber had previously urged residents to notify the DES when they saw the reptiles amid a recurring number of sightings two years ago.

A DES spokesperson confirmed a trap had been set up to try and capture the crocodile.

However, they were unable to determine where the reptile had come from.

'A member of the public saw a crocodile, estimated to be 3.5m in length, on the creek bank on 19 April and reported it to DES,' the spokesperson said.

'Crocodiles that pose a threat to human safety are targeted for removal under the Queensland Crocodile Management Plan.

'DES is unable to determine where the animal came from, but the department monitors all crocodile farms for compliance with their approvals under the Nature Conservation Act 1992.

'Members of the public are encouraged to report crocodile sightings as soon as possible.'
Former FBI Director James Comey ripped into Bill Barr Wednesday as the attorney general testified before Congress.

'Accomplished people lacking inner strength can't resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from,' Comey wrote in an op/ed published in the New York Times when referencing Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

'Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites,' Comey continued.

Rosenstein resigned at the end of April, and will take effect May 11. He was the acting attorney general when he named Mueller to head the Russia probe.

Comey said it takes people with character, like former Defense Secretary James Mattis, who 'resigned over principle,' to avoid the damages President Donald Trump causes.

As the article was published, Comey's tenure at the top of the FBI was a topic discussed with Barr by Republican senators, who accused the bureau under his leadership of anti-Trump bias. Barr told Republicans he was investigating the origins of claims of Russian collusion and pointedly praised the work of Christopher Wray as the new FBI director.

Former FBI Director James Comey wrote in an op/ed Wednesday that Attorney General Bill Barr and his deputy Rod Rosenstein don't have the 'inner strength' to survive President Donald Trump, and claimed he would therefore continue to compromise himself

Trump fired Comey in May 2017, and in the article he claimed that the president 'eats your soul in small bites'

Trump fired Comey in May 2017, right in the midst of the then-FBI director's investigation into whether the president's advisers colluded with the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential elections.

The abrupt firing led to increased calls from Democrats for a special counsel to lead the Russia probe, which happened a few days later when Robert Mueller was appointed.

Comey, who has been a vocal critic of Trump since his firing, used the article to answer questions he said many asked him after the Russia report was made public.

'People have been asking me hard questions. What happened to the leaders in the Trump administration, especially the attorney general, Bill Barr.' Comey wrote. 'How could Mr. Barr, a bright and accomplished lawyer, start channeling the president in using words like "no collusion" and F.B.I. "spying"? And downplaying acts of obstruction of justice as products of the president's being "frustrated and angry?"'

He said that 'amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them.'

Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to expand on his classification of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's completed report on the Russia investigation.

The attorney general released a summary of the report March 24, and in April turned over a blacked-out version to Congress, where less than 10 per cent of the report was redacted for various reasons.

The report concluded that there was no evidence that Trump, or his campaign or administration, had conspired with the Russian government to influence the elections in 2016. It did, however, lay out 10 'episodes' of potential obstruction of justice.

Comey released the New York Times op/ed on the same day Barr appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report

Barr took questions from the panel after releasing a four-page summary of the report on March 24, and handing over a redacted-version of the report to Congress in April, which was shortly thereafter made available to the public

Comey said that Barr succumbed to the president and started using Trump's wording like 'no collusion' and FBI 'spying' because 'amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them'

Although the report was inconclusive on whether the president obstructed justice through the duration of the investigation, Barr said in his four-page summary of the report that Mueller found no obstruction.

Democrats challenge this claim, and have called for the president's impeachment, concluding that the report provides enough evidence of obstruction to begin proceedings to remove Trump from office.

Comey, as someone who formerly found himself under the president's thumb, described how some leaders found themselves compromised by Trump.

He said it starts with those surrounding Trump becoming complicit by silently sitting by while the president lies, and then devolves after he starts 'attacking institutions and values you hold dear.'

'Yet you are silent. Because, after all, what are you supposed to say? He's the president of the United States,' Comey wrote. 'Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values.'

'And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul.'

Barr received criticism from Democratic lawmakers at the hearing Wednesday for publicly saying 'no collusion,' which Trump has repeatedly uses to assert that the Mueller report fully exonerated him from collusion or obstruction allegations.
Tashaun Jones, 15, was described by friends as a 'good guy' who produced drill music

The mother of a 15-year-old aspiring musician killed in a double stabbing in London cried as she arrived at the scene today: 'It's my son, it's my son.'

Tashaun Jones, who was described by friends as a 'good guy' and produced Afrobeat and drill music, died after the attack in Hackney, East London, which also left a 16-year-old boy in hospital.

The 43th murder of the year in London took place hours before a third stabbing in Camden Town around midnight as the knife crime epidemic continues.

The killing of Tashaun - who was said by friends to have worked with 'some big artists' - is the 27th fatal stabbing in London so far this year, and he is the eighth teenager to die violently in 2019.

Police had been called to Hackney yesterday evening to reports of a stabbing, and Tashaun was given first aid by officers before paramedics.

A resident who lives in the local estate said: 'I could hear people shouting. They were screaming the F-word. I think it was the friends of the poor boy.'

Members of the victim's family were seen today at the estate in Hackney, East London, carrying flowers. One woman was heard to scream: 'It's my son. It's my son'

Police in Hackney, East London, this morning after a 15-year-old boy was stabbed to death

A blood-stained concrete bollard is pictured this morning at the scene of the Hackney murder

One friend who said he had Tashaun 'for years' said: 'He would spend hours in his room producing beats. Tashaun went to Hackney Youth Orchestras Trust school.

'He had a laugh you would never forget. He was talented, but his laugh, it was so infectious. His producer name was Dots Tb.'

A family member, who wished to remain anonymous, said at the scene: 'We just lost our family there, our blood is on the floor.'

Elaine Thomas, 40, a youth worker at the Mentoring Lab in Hackney, said: 'They used to have a community centre - it closed after a boy was killed ten years ago.

'There's a lot of parents that need more help from the local community. Some have children in gangs but are embarrassed to speak out about it.'

A blue tent was erected overnight in Hackney as police continue to investigate this morning

Members of the public leave flowers at the scene in Hackney today following the stabbing

Metropolitan Police vans remain at the scene in Hackney today after the double stabbing

Two friends who knew Tashaun spoke of their shock at the scene. One said: 'My friend called me this morning to tell me ... so we came to see it for ourselves.

'It's sad. It came to us as a surprise because he was a good guy. We did music together. He didn't only produce Afrobeat, he made drill music as well.

'He also sold some beats to some big artists. I never thought that any of my friends would be murdered. I'm shocked.'

The other friend added: 'I'm so done. It doesn't feel safe anymore. I saw him the day before yesterday. He was a good friend, a nice lad.'

Members of Tashaun's family were later seen at the estate, carrying flowers. One woman was heard to scream: 'It's my son. It's my son.'

Police officers investigate the scene in Hackney last night after the boy was stabbed to death

Forensic officers search for evidence and speak to people at a local supermarket last night

An air ambulance arrived at the scene last night but Tashaun was pronounced dead at 9.49pm. Scotland Yard said overnight that his family had been informed.

Another teenager aged 16, who was found with stab injuries, wastaken to hospital - but police said his condition was not life-threatening.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted: 'I am deeply saddened by the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old boy in Hackney. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

'This horrific violence has absolutely no place on our streets. To anyone with information - please contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously.'

No arrests have been made and the Metropolitan Police put a Section 60 order in place for Hackney, which allows officers to stop and search anyone in the area.

A man was left in a life-threatening condition overnight after he was stabbed near Camden Town Tube station in North London shortly after midnight. Police are pictured at the scene

There have been 43 murders in London so far this year, and another on a London-bound train

This morning, a handful of police officers were still at the scene with cordons still up, although there were no crime scene managers there.

A police officer told a reporter at the scene: 'The cordons are likely to remain up for the entire day and foreseeable future.'

Officers have asked members of the public to avoid using the road and find alternative routes to their destination.

Most businesses at the scene were closed, but residents and employees based on the road nearby were asked to sign in and out for verification.

Also last night, a man was left in a life-threatening condition after he was stabbed near Camden Town Underground station in North London.

Police officers were called to Hackney, East London, yesterday evening to reports of a stabbing

An air ambulance arrived at the scene in Hackney last night but the boy was pronounced dead

Another teenager aged 16, who was found with stab injuries in Hackney, was taken to hospital

The Metropolitan Police said it was called at 12.17am. Officers and paramedics attended the scene, which is in an area popular for its nightlife.

The force said a man was found with stab injuries and treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to hospital.

No arrests have been made and a crime scene has been established in the area.

The Hackney and Camden Town stabbings follow Scotland Yard launching three murder inquiries into four deaths in just three hours last Friday.

Two bodies were found in Canning Town at 11.45am, before Amy Parsons, 35, was killed in Whitechapel at 1.30pm, and Joshua White, 29, in Hackney at 2.43pm.
Burglaries, car thefts and common assaults are being probed by 'inexperienced' bobbies on the beat due to a severe shortage of detectives, a report warns today.

Up to a quarter of these high-frequency crimes are not being 'effectively' investigated and evidence is routinely overlooked.

The report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) warned the cases are being handed to 'under-qualified' neighbourhood policing officers because there is a national shortage of detectives, with up to one in seven posts currently unfilled.

HMIC also raised concerns about the 'phenomenon' of screening out crimes, which is when forces decide to drop investigations based on an initial assessment.

Police outside the Houses of Parliament in London on March 29 - the number of officers in the country dropped by more than 20,000 since 2010

Police outside Westminster - a report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) warned cases are being handed to 'under-qualified' neighbourhood policing officers

Only last week Greater Manchester Police  one of the country's largest forces  admitted 43 per cent of crimes were screened out due to a lack of officers.

The inspectorate also warned the public are 'losing faith' in the 101 non-emergency number and, 'rather than waiting for an answer', are dialling 999 instead.

Figures for 2018 show calls to the 101 number fell by 3 per cent while 999 calls increased by 5 per cent.

The report, which looked at a snapshot of 2,608 crime files from four of 43 forces in England and Wales, found 25 per cent of theft offences and 24 per cent of common assaults did not have 'effective' investigations.

Many were probed by inexperienced neighbourhood policing or response officers who missed possible lines of inquiry or evidence, it said.

The findings come amid growing concerns about the state of policing. A damning report by MPs in October last year warned police risk becoming 'irrelevant' after the number of officers dropped by more than 20,000 since 2010.

Matt Parr, of the HMIC, said: 'Volume crime  relatively low harm, relatively low risk  is often conducted by staff with much less training and weaker supervision.

'Only about three-quarters of things like theft and common assaults had what we thought were effective investigations. That means about a quarter of victims of these crimes aren't getting the service they expect.'

He added: 'That's in crimes investigated. Of those they chose to inspect, only about three-quarters are properly investigated.

'In an ideal world it would be CID (Criminal Investigation Department, or detectives). It's the bobby on the beat rather than the CID.

'One issue here is there is a national shortage of detectives, with 14 per cent [of roles] unfilled.

'There's a shortage of detectives to do routine detective work and very often it's being farmed out to people who will do their best, but are not trained at the same level.'

Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service Cressida Dick arrives at Number 10 Downing Street on April 1, 2019

A British police SUV speeding down a rainy motorway - figures for 2018 show calls to the 101 number fell by 3 per cent while 999 calls increased by 5 per cent

Mr Parr added: 'The phenomenon of screening out to manage demand is now commonplace. How deep it goes depends on the type of crime and the nature of the force.'

The HMIC's report was based on inspections of forces including Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire, Durham and Wiltshire.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We welcome the findings of HMIC, which show these forces are generally performing well. We recognise new demands are putting pressure on the police. This is why we have provided a more than 1billion increase in police funding compared to last year.'
Russia is one of the key allies of Maduro's regime and - according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - the only reason he is still in the country, after Moscow ordered him not to flee as protests broke in May 2019.

One of the main reasons that Putin is backing Maduro so heavily comes down to oil and the billions of dollars that the Kremlin has pumped into Venezuela's drilling industry.

Russia and its state-owned oil giant Rosneft have invested almost $9billion in its Venezuelan counterpart PDVSA since 2009, while Moscow has also handed the country some $17billion in loans, underwritten by the oil reserves on which Maduro sits - the largest anywhere in the world.

Should control of the country swap to Guaido, who is backed by the US, then it is likely that Russia will never see another cent of this money repaid.

Meanwhile Venezuela is also a major buyer of Russian weapons, having purchased $11billion worth of tanks, missile defence systems, fighter jets and other small arms between 2005 and 2013.

The repayments on these weapons will almost certainly be lost if Guaido takes power, while any future weapons orders will likely be taken over by America.

Venezuela is also a major importer of Russia grain, and has ties to the country's banking industry.

Perhaps more than resources and revenue, however, Russia is also keen to maintain a strategic and ideological foothold in America's backyard, from which it can project its influence across the region.

As Mikael Wigell, a researcher from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told RFE/RL: 'Establishing close relations with Venezuela gives Moscow a certain nuisance power in relation to the United States, and that can be used as a bargaining chip in future dealings with the United States.

'It also can be kind of a showcase for Russia's aspirations to be considered a global power.'
Researchers say they've dispelled skeptics of the most abundant, mysterious, and not to mention, hypothetical, substances in the universe: dark matter.

In a recent paper, researchers from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) say that they've disproved alternate theories that seem to preclude the existence of dark matter by studying one of the most puzzling questions in astrophysics.

The phenomena, known galaxy rotation curves, has to do with discrepancies with the way objects act within a galaxy.

Dark matter is mysterious and abundant according to theories which say it could account for as much 85 percent of all matter in the universe

While the laws of astrophysics dictate that solar systems and objects that rotate around the outskirts of spiral galaxies should be moving at slower speeds due to lower amounts of luminous matter, the observed velocity in spiral galaxies like our own, the Milky Way, are uniform.

In order to reconcile that observation with our understanding of astrophysics as we know the, specifically Kepler's Laws, scientists have hypothesized that there is matter on the outskirts, and indeed everywhere in our galaxy that we're not seeing -- dark matter.

'We have studied the relationship between total acceleration and its ordinary component in 106 galaxies, obtaining different results from those that had been previously observed,' said Paolo Salucci, professor of astrophysics at SISSA and one of the research authors.

'This not only demonstrates the inexactness of the empirical relationship previously described but removes doubts on the existence of dark matter in the galaxies.

'Furthermore, the new relationship found could provide crucial information on the understanding of the nature of this indefinite component.'

Dark matter has also been used to explain the formation of galaxies and their unique shapes, acting like a kind of glue that holds their form together.

Though popular among astrophysicists, dark matter has yet to be observed by any scientists which has lead some to grow skeptical over the substance's existence.

Recently, the credence of dark matter was under scrutiny by researchers that say by tweaking our laws of gravitational theory, the explainable phenomena like those seen in galaxy rotation curves can be reconciled by current models.

The discovery which lead researchers to their skepticism of dark matter was a galaxy which contained almost none of the substance.

In a startling discovery researchers say they've found not one but two galaxies without almost any dark matter.

'We thought that every galaxy had dark matter and that dark matter is how a galaxy begins,' said Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University in a statement regarding the discovery last year.

'This invisible, mysterious substance is the most dominant aspect of any galaxy. So finding a galaxy without it is unexpected.

'It challenges the standard ideas of how we think galaxies work, and it shows that dark matter is real: it has its own separate existence apart from other components of galaxies...'

They recently discovered a second of such galaxies in April.

Scientists at SISSA, however rebut dark matter heretics with their newest study which tests expands analysis to galaxies outside of spiral ones like our own.

'Three years ago, a few colleagues of the Case Western Reserve University strongly questioned our understanding of the universe and the in-depth work of many researchers, casting doubt on the existence of dark matter in the galaxies,' said Chiara Di Paolo, a doctoral student of astrophysics at SISSA.

Their new results, which studied 72 galaxies with low surface brightness (LSB) and 34 dwarf disc galaxies, as well as take into account morphology and galactic radius, swing back in dark matter's favor, they say.
Awkward laughter was the order of the day at Facebook's event last night as CEO Mark Zuckerberg made light of his firm's recent privacy scandals.

His levity was met with awkward silence following his remarks.

Beaming into the audience, he said: 'I know that we don't exactly have the strongest reputation on privacy right now, to put it lightly.

'I get that a lot of people aren't sure that we are serious about this.'

The final statement drew a few strained chuckles from attendees.

Awkward laughter was the order of the day as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met privacy concerns with levity during a speech at the firm's developer conference

The Facebook CEO, 34, made the awkward quips during an presentation on the stage during the first day of the company's annual developer conference on April 30.

During the event, the company revealed plans for broad changes to its various platforms and instant messaging apps  both outwardly and behind the scenes.

Highlights of the announced developments include stronger messaging app encryption, a focus on group interactions and de-emphasising of the news feed.

The privacy-focused redesign follows a challenging year for the social media company, which has faced heavy recent criticism for various security breaches.

Mr Zuckerberg had been detailing the company's new 'privacy-focused vision, which has been put forward following a spate of criticism over security leaks and poor data handling, as well as fostering hate speech and the spread of misinformation.

Facebook hopes that the new redesign will encourage users to spend more time interacting in smaller, more intimate groups  such as available through their various private instant messaging apps.

The shifts will play down Facebook's News Feed  the platform's flagship feature  which has been experiencing reduced uptake in both Europe and the US.

Other developments include a greater focus on disappearing stories, as well as trying to change Instagram's user experience.

Other developments announced include a greater focus on disappearing stories, as well as trying to change Instagram's user experience (Pictured: Instagram product head Adam Mosseri speaks during the F8 Facebook developer conference on April 30, 2019)

'We don't want Instagram to feel like a competition,' said Instagram head Adam Mosseri.

Instead, the multimedia sharing platform will be experimenting with hiding the number of user 'likes' that uploaded photographs get.

'We want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they're getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about,' he added.

The Facebook chief executive, 34, made the awkward quips during an presentation on the stage at the company's annual developer conference on April 30. (Pictured: conference attendees stick notes onto a giant Facebook logo)

Mr Zuckerberg (pictured) had been detailing the company's new 'privacy-focused vision, which has been put forward following a spate of criticism over security leaks and poor data handling, as well as fostering hate speech and the spread of misinformation

Alongside these front-end changes, the company has also announced that it will be strengthening the encryption used by its messaging apps, including Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct.

They also report plans to taking broader measures to tighten overall security and limit hacking.

Facebook has been beset by various international controversies in recent months.

The Irish Data Protection Commission is presently investigating the company for the internal leak of user passwords.

Meanwhile, the Canadian authorities assess Facebook's privacy policies following a release of private information for political ends.

The firm also revealed last week that it was setting aside 2.3 billion ($3 billion) to prepare for a potential fine from the US Federal Trade Commission due to recent privacy violations.
Hundreds of Mayan artefacts have been found in a lake in Guatemala by underwater archaeologists.

These include a stone mace head was also discovered which could be is related to the final battle that saw Guatemala being colonised by the Spanish, the researchers said.

The haul also found tools like glass blades that indicate rituals of blood sacrifice, say the research team.

If this were the case, the finds could place the historical event on the lake's island, rather than further west where most written sources the fall of the Mayan took place.

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The discoveries could place final battle between the Maya and Spanish conquerors on the lake's island Flores, rather than a location further west.The photo shows an incense burner found in Lake Peten Itza on the lake-bed

Water has special significance in Mayan mythology, and bodies of water are often believed to be the 'gateway to the underworld'.

Among the other artefacts from the lake-bed of Lake Peten Itza were an incense burner and ceramic vessels, including some containing animal bones and one carved with rites.

The Polish team heading the research say that these artefacts were either dropped or lowered into the lake by the Maya as an offering to the gods.

Hundreds of Mayan artefacts have been found in a lake in Guatemala by polish underwater archaeologists. A stone mace head (pictured) was also discovered which could be is related to the final battle that saw Guatemala being colonised by the Spanish, say archaeologists.

A stone mace head was also found which researchers say is related to the final battle that saw Guatemala being colonised by the Spanish. The image above shows a pot found at what is known as the 'sacred spot' in Lake Peten Itza

Their finds could also indicate activities on the island in the middle of the lake.

Team leader Magdalena Krzemien, of Poland's Jagiellonian University said: 'Water had very special and symbolic meaning in ancient Maya beliefs.

'It was thought to be the door to the underworld, the world of death  Xibalba, where their gods live.

'We planned our dives according to written sources and a little bit of intuition. We wanted to check places that seem to be very important in the history of the Itza Maya group.

The archaeological evidence could place the last battle with the Spaniards on the lake's island Flores, rather than further west, where most written sources say it took place. Among the finds was an obsidian blade (pictured) was found that may have been used for blood sacrifices

Water has special significance in Mayan mythology, and bodies of water are often believed to be the gateway to the underworld. The image shows an incense burner on the lake bed

WHAT WAS THE FINAL BATTLE THAT LED TO THE FALL OF THE MAYANS? The Mayan capital of Nojpeten - also known as Tayasal - in Peten is widely cited as where the Spanish finally conquered Peten in 1697. It was a long and drawn out attempt by the Spanish to conquer the region pf Peten, an lowland area of dense forests the Spanish found hard to penetrate. The final assault on the capital saw the Mayan city fall after a short and bloody battle that saw many Mayan fighters killed. The Spanish reportedly only suffered minor casualties. There were some Mayan survivors who apparently swam away and escaped into the surrounding forests. After the Spanish finally conquered the region of Peten in 1697 they produced lots of written documentation of the battle. Advertisement

A stone mace head was also found which researchers say is related to the final battle that saw Guatemala being colonised by the Spanish, on an island in the lake called Flores.

The island was once home to Nojpeten, also known as Tayasal - the capital of the Maya in Guatemala.

Ms Krzemien, said: 'Most of the written sources say that the battle between the Spaniards and the Maya, who lived in Nojpeten, took place on the west side of the island.'

She added: 'It seems we have confirmed the location of the last battle between the Maya and Spaniards, and we probably found the area of the ritual activity of the Itza.

'That is a great beginning to the process of better learning their customs, beliefs and culture.'

One of the artefacts now recovered is an obsidian blade that may have been used to make blood sacrifices.

'Ancient Maya used blades like this during their rituals.

'They could make blood-letting offerings or even kill somebody to offer human blood to the gods.'

A stone mace head was also found which researchers say is related to the final battle that saw Guatemala being colonised by the Spanish. The map shows the location of the finds in a lake in northern Guatemala

However, Ms Krzemien is keen to emphasise that her team have only undertaken reconnaissance of the sites, rather than complete excavations.

Ms Krzemien said: 'Right now we can't be sure about the context of the objects, and whether their location is not the result of water movement or other factors.

'But if we can confirm that, in this area, the ritual objects were found in situ  and we think two ceremonial objects were  at least one part of the lake could be called sacred.'

'We already have the general view of where we should make much more complex excavations in coming years,' she added.
Hundreds of radioactive cubes  which once sat at the heart of a failed nuclear reactor built in secret by Nazi scientists  are being hunted by US researchers.

After mysteriously receiving one of the cubes, Timothy Koeth of the University of Maryland has been working to unpick the reactor's history and learn the fate of its other parts.

Accompanying the cube of uranium was a crumpled note, which read: 'Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger.'

The reactor, built by Hitler, was dismantled by US soldiers at the end of WWII, and the 664 cubes  which had been buried by the Nazis  were shipped to America.

While there were not enough blocks in the reactor to make it fully operational, the team led by Professor Koeth has now discovered in Nazi documents that enough existed elsewhere in Germany to have completed it.

The extra cubes were in the possession of a competing research team, but if the scientists had pooled their resources of the uranium they would have been closer to success.

These extra 400 cubes went onto the black market after the war, and the locations of most the blocks from insider the reactor were lost to history after they arrived in the US.

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Hundreds of radioactive cubes (like the one pictured) that once sat at the heart of a failed nuclear reactor built in secret by Nazi scientists are being hunted by US researchers

After obtaining one of the cubes, Professor Koeth's curiosity was piqued.

He teamed up with fellow Maryland researcher Miriam Hiebert to investigate the history of the reactor and track down any other surviving parts.

The B-VIII reactor was built by Nazi scientists in Berlin in the final stage of World War II, before ultimately being relocated to the town of Haigerloch in south-west Germany.

The Nazi's experimental laboratory was small, located underneath the town's castle church in a converted potato and beer cellar.

Today, the remains of the underground facility are open to the public, having been converted into the 'Atomkeller' (or Atomic Cellar) Museum.

Among the German scientists who worked on the reactor was Werner Heisenberg, the theoretical physicist who is credited with the creation of the field of quantum mechanics, who was ultimately captured by Allied forces in 1945.

At the heart of the reactor were 664 uranium cubes that had been strung together in chandelier-type arrangement. The core of the reactor was surrounded by a metal-encased graphite shell, which in turn sat inside a concrete-lined tank of water

The core of the reactor was surrounded by a metal-encased graphite shell, which in turn sat inside a concrete-lined tank of water. As neutrons bombarded the uranium-235 atoms in the cubes, the atoms would have split, releasing enormous amounts of energy

Today, the remains of the underground facility are open to the public, having been converted into the 'Atomkeller Museum' (pictured, the museum's interior)

Among the German scientists who worked on the reactor was Werner Heisenberg (pictured, in 1930). A theoretical physicist, Werner is credited with the creation of the field of quantum mechanics and was ultimately captured by Allied forces in 1945

At the heart of the reactor were 664 uranium cubes, each of which were 2 inches (5 cm) on each side, like the one currently possessed by Professor Koeth.

They were strung together in a chandelier-type arrangement and tied by aircraft cabling.

The core of the reactor was surrounded by a metal-encased graphite shell, which in turn sat inside a concrete-lined tank of water.

This uranium 'chandelier' itself was hung in heavy water, which would have acted to regulate the nuclear reaction.

The Nazi's experimental laboratory was small, located underneath the town's castle church in a converted potato and beer cellar. Today, the remains of the underground facility are open to the public having been converted into the 'Atomkeller Museum' (pictured)

At the heart of the network of cubes would have been a source of neutron radiation.

As neutrons bombarded the uranium-235 atoms in the cubes, the atoms would have split, releasing enormous amounts of energy and three more neutrons.

These extra neutrons would have then in turn split three more atoms, and so on, leading to a chain reaction.

Nuclear reactions release millions of times more energy than any chemical reaction.

The energy from this nuclear fission could be used to turn water into steam, driving a turbine and producing electrical power.

'This experiment was [the Nazis] final and closest attempt to create a self-sustaining nuclear reactor,' said Professor Koeth.

'But there wasnt enough uranium present in the core to achieve this goal.'

In order to reach the critical mass of uranium needed for a self-sustaining nuclear reactor, about half as many cubes again would have been needed.

Although the 664 cubes held at Haigerloch were insufficient on their own, the researchers were surprised to learn that another 400 cubes were actually present in Germany at the time, in the possession of a competing research group in Gottow.

Put together, and the Nazi scientists would have had enough uranium, at least, to get the Haigerloch research reactor fully operational.

'If the Germans had pooled their resources, rather than keeping them divided among separate, rival experiments, they may have been able to build a working nuclear reactor,' said Ms Hiebert.

This, she adds, highlights one of the biggest differences between the German and US nuclear research programmes.

'The German programme was divided and competitive; whereas, under the leadership of General Leslie Groves, the American Manhattan Project was centralised and collaborative.'

However, there may have been other factors preventing the experiment's success.

'Even if the 400 additional cubes had been brought to Haigerloch to use within that reactor experiment, the German scientists would have still needed more heavy water to make the reactor work,' said Professor Koeth.

Allied forces had blown up the Nazi's heavy water production facility inside the Vemork Hydroelectric Plant in Telemark, Norway, in 1943.

Norwegian resistance forces subsequently sank the ferry which had been transporting all the remaining reserves of heavy water left within the plant back towards Germany.

'Despite being the birthplace of nuclear physics and having nearly a two-year head start on American efforts, there was no imminent threat of a nuclear Germany by the end of the war,' Professor Koeth said.

Water tanks and the blasted remains of the reactor's aluminium cauldron, as seen in the Atomkeller Museum in Haigerloch

Professor Koeth was astounded when he received the mysterious cube back in 2013, which he recognised from grainy black-and-white photos he had seen in history books.

The dense uranium block, weighing about 5lbs (2.3kg), was gifted to him wrapped in brown paper towels, and sheathed in a small cloth lunch pouch.

'Its surprisingly heavy, given its size, and its always a lot of fun to watch peoples reaction when they pick it up for the first time,' said Ms Hiebert.

First, Professor Koeth set out to determine if the cube was actually from the Haigerloch reactor.

The surface of the cube is pockmarked, as would be expected from the types of early uranium processing methods used back in the forties.

Groves on two sides would have allowed cabling to be tied around the block.

The uranium 'chandelier' was hung in heavy water, which would have acted to regulate the reactors nuclear reaction

The researchers measured the energy of the gamma rays given off by the cube, which enabled them to confirm that it was indeed made of natural, enriched uranium.

But the fact that the cube does not emit the specific type of gamma rays that come from the radioactive isotope caesium-137 told the researchers that the cube had never been inside a properly working reactor.

Accompanying the cube was a crumpled message.

It read: 'Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger.'

Robert Nininger  whose name appears to have been misspelt in the note  was an expert involved in the Manhattan Project, the United States programme that developed the first atomic bomb.

According to his widow, Nininger did indeed once own a uranium cube, which he ultimately passed on to a friend.

A 'chandelier' of 664 uranium cubes made up the core of the prototype reactor

The researchers believe that, after this, the cube probably changed hands a number of times before eventually arriving in Professor Koeth's possession.

At the end of the war  just like the other allied powers  the US military launched an effort to capture and exploit Nazi scientific projects.

The German nuclear research programme was a key target of this mission, which was code-named 'Alsos'.

On April 20, 1945, the Alsos mission captured the town of Haigerloch and dismantled the nuclear reactor.

On April 20, 1945, the Alsos mission captured the town of Haigerloch and dismantled the nuclear reactor

Soldiers found that the Nazi scientists had hidden parts of the reactor and related data.

A sealed drum of documents was found secreted in a cesspool and three drums of heavy water and, a week after the town was captured, 1.4 tonnes (1360 kg) of uranium cubes were found buried in the fields around Haigerloch.

The cubes were subsequently shipped to the US, where their ultimate locations has become a mystery.

Allied soldiers found that the Nazi scientists had hidden the core parts of the reactor. Pictured: Michael Perrin (Britain), Colonel John Lansdale, Jr (US), Samuel Goudsmit (US), and Commander Eric Welsh (Britain) searching for uranium in the fields around Haigerloch in 1945

Allied soldiers found that the Nazi scientists had hidden the core parts of the reactor in the fields around Haigerloch. Pictured, left to right: James A. Lane, Carl Fiebig, Marte Previti, Harold Brown and Walter A. Parish discovering the buried uranium cubes

The researchers are working to trace the other cubes from the Haigerloch reactor.

'Cubes were distributed to various individuals around the country,' said Ms Hiebert.

'We dont know how many were handed out, or what happened to the rest.'

Alongside working to trace the cubes sent to America, the duo are also striving to learn the fate of the other 400 uranium cubes, which ended up on the European black market at the end of the war, where they were presumed valuable.

'There are likely more cubes hiding in basements and offices around the country, and wed like to find them!' Ms Hiebert added.

The core of the reactor (reconstruction, pictured) was surrounded by a metal-encased graphite shell, which in turn sat inside a concrete-lined tank of water. This uranium 'chandelier' itself was hung in heavy water, which would have acted to regulate the nuclear reaction

The researchers have already located 10 other cubes, including one held in the collections of Harvard University and another at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.

Professor Koeth and Ms Hiebert are encouraging anyone who has information on the location of one of these uranium cubes to get in touch with them by email.

'We hope to speak to as many people as possible whove had contact with these cubes,' added Ms Hiebert.

''As much as weve learned about our cube and others like it, we still dont have an answer about how exactly it ended up in Maryland 70 years after being captured by Allied forces in southern Germany.'

Professor Koeth is intending to loan his cube to a museum, where it might be seen by members of the public.

The researchers recount the full findings of their investigation in Physics Today.
Archaeologists have discovered Denisovans, the ancient human ancestor, lived on the oxygen-starved Tibetan Plateau 11,000 feet above sea level 160,000 years ago.

Genes from the species are found in some modern-day people, such as the Sherpas, and allows them to thrive at high altitudes.

It was previously unknown how some natives of Tibet thrive at such altitudes, where oxygen levels can be up to 40 per cent less than at sea level.

Half a mandible - the jaw bone - was found and archaeologists say it proves the now-extinct race predated humans at the high-altitude region by around 100,000 years.

The bone was first unearthed in a cave in China in 1980 and was in the hands of a monk before being analysed by scientists.

It is believed to be the oldest hominin fossil ever found in the high altitude Himalayan region.

Denisovans are believed to have interbred with primitive Homo sapiens and their genes are why some groups of human are so adept at living at high altitudes.

Pictured, the Xiahe mandible remains. The Denisovan jawbone was originally discovered in 1980 by a local monk who donated it to the sixth Gung-Thang Living Buddha, a Buddhist Lama, or teacher, who passed it to Lanzhou University for the research

Traces of Denisovan DNA have been detected throughout Asia, spanning as far as Australia and in present day Australia and Melanesia.

This suggests they may once have been widespread but evidence to prove this has never before been found.

It is the first ever evidence of the ancient hominins living outside the small Siberian cave which earned them their name.

Both Denisovans and their sister human sub-species, the Neanderthals, are known to have interbred with the ancestors of people living today.

Most intriguingly, modern Sherpas and Tibetans appear to have inherited Denisovan genetic variants that help them cope with high altitudes.

Modern day humans are not thought to have arrived on the Tibetan plateau until around 40,000 years ago, but the two species then interbred.

Baishiya Karst Cave, where the jawbone was discovered, is at an altitude of 10,760 feet (3,280 metres).

Archaeologists have discovered the first ever evidence of Denisovans - the ancient human ancestor that bred with humans - outside their small Siberian cave. Half a mandible - the jaw bone - proves the extinct race populated the Tibetan Plateau around 160,000 years ago

Views of the virtual reconstruction of the mandible after digital removal of the adhering carbonate crust. The mandible is so well preserved that it allows for a virtual reconstruction of the two sides of the mandible

A heavy carbonate crust covering the fossil allowed scientists to date it to at least 160,000 years old. The half a mandible is a huge finding in understanding the history oh ancient human species and their spread throughout Asia

Scientists were unable to find any DNA preserved in the fossil, but managed to extract proteins from one of the molars.

Analysis showed that it was clearly Denisovan.

Dr Dongju Zhang, from Lanzhou University in China's Gansu province, who co-led the research, said: 'Archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan plateau in the Middle Pleistocene and successfully adapted to high-altitude, low oxygen environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens.'

The well-preserved jawbone is robust with very large molars, features shared by Denisovans and Neanderthals, according to the study reported in Nature.

The cave is facing southeast and about 40 meters above the modern Jiangla riverbed in front of it. It is both a locally famous Buddhist cave and a famous tourist place

The entrance of the cave is relatively flat with a gentle slope up to the inside, where two small trenches were plotted in 2018

A heavy carbonate crust covering the fossil allowed scientists to date it to at least 160,000 years old.

The oldest specimens from 'Denisova Cave' in Siberia are from a similar time period.

However, the Siberian site is only 700 metres (2,296ft) above sea level. Sherpas have lived in the Himalayas for at least 6,000 years.

Studies have shown that they have developed a physiology similar to that of a fuel-efficient car.

Their muscles get more mileage out of less oxygen than those of the average person.

Sherpas have mitochondria - tiny rod-like power plants in cells - that are extra-efficient at using oxygen.

While their red blood cell count is increased in thin mountain air, it remains below the point at which the blood thickens and strains the heart, causing altitude sickness.

The Denisovan jawbone was originally discovered in 1980 by a local monk. He donated it to the sixth Gung-Thang Living Buddha, a Buddhist Lama, or teacher, who passed it to Lanzhou University.
To deal with the growing shortfall and adverse impacts of cultivating livestock, scientists are turning to a less utilized form of protein to foot the bill: insects.

Researchers at the University of Queensland are exploring the use of maggots, locusts, and other insects to develop an array of 'specialty' foods.

'An overpopulated world is going to struggle to find enough protein unless people are willing to open their minds, and stomachs, to a much broader notion of food,' University of Queensland Meat Science Professor Dr. Louwrens Hoffman said in a statement.

While maggots are usually a sign that your food has gone back, researchers say they could be the food itself by developing an array of specialty products. Stock image

'Would you eat a commercial sausage made from maggots? What about other insect larvae and even whole insects like locusts?' the researcher adds.

'The biggest potential for sustainable protein production lies with insects and new plant sources.'

Researchers say while they're pretty sure people won't eat foods made exclusively from bugs, they are beginning to try and incorporate insects into certain food products as a protein supplement.

Among those cutting-edge treats are insect ice cream and certain chicken products made from the black soldier fly -- the latter of which could help mitigate the environmental effects of the world's voracious chicken consumption.

Insects are not only abundant but nutritious, which is why some researchers are looking for ways to use them in a variety of food products like ice cream and sausage, seen above

In 2009, the global chicken population was estimated to have grown to 50 billion worldwide.

'Poultry is a massive industry worldwide and the industry is under pressure to find alternative proteins that are more sustainable, ethical and green than the grain crops currently being used,' he said.

According to their research, chicken products that contain up to 15 percent 'larvae meal' don't compromise the the flavor, tenderness, aroma, or nutrients.

A black soldier fly was used to help supplement chicken products. Scientists say 15 percent insect meal is the threshold at which the food still retains its smell, taste, and overall feel

As the human population grows the world has begun to take stock of its most important resources, food among them.

In addition to a potentially waning supply, concern over the consumption of meat has also centered on its ill-effects on the environment.

Cows in particular have caught the attention of climatologists who say that the cattle industry has contributed to climate change through a number of unintended effects.

One, say scientists, is methane gas -- the second most potent greenhouse gas -- that is released through cow's burps and flatulence. One cow can release between 30-50 gallons of methane in one day and there are an estimated 1.3 to 1.5 billion on Earth.

Another cause of concern are the resources that go into taking care of the animals.

To create one pound of beef requires 1,800 gallons of water according to a 2015 report from Stanford University.

Companies have looked to upend the traditional live stock industry by introducing a line of lab-grown products approximating naturally originated meat. File photo

As a result, other companies -- one's that aren't focused on integrating insects -- have begun to develop less environmentally detrimental alternatives to the meat humans know and love.

Among them are companies like Impossible and Just which are developing 'meat' grown in petri dishes using cultured cells.

With millions of dollars in investment, lab-grown products that mimic mimic the real thing could be on shelves as soon as 2021.

In the meantime, however, researchers like Dr. Hoffman say that humans already have a completely viable alternative to animal-borne protein right in front of their eyes -- or in this case, buzzing around their kitchens.

'It's all pretty logical if you think about it, he said in a statement.
The boss of British Airways has admitted he wasn't surprised by the backlash when the airline began charging passengers for food on short-haul flights.

In January 2017, the British flag carrier scrapped handing out free drinks and snacks in economy and instead began selling products from Marks & Spencer - leaving some passengers unhappy.

But now BA CEO Alex Cruz has said that scrapping free food and drinks was always going to prompt a reaction and that two years on, passenger satisfaction is higher than it was before.

The CEO of British Airways has admitted he wasn't surprised by the backlash when the airline replaced free food and snacks with paid-for products from Marks & Spencer

CEO Alex Cruz has said that two years on from the move from free to paid-for snacks, passenger satisfaction is higher than it was before

Speaking at the Skift Forum Europe event in London, the Independent reported Mr Cruz as saying the passengers' reaction to paying for food 'didn't surprise me at all.'

He went on: 'If you have a perception that you are getting something for free, however bad quality or no-choice it is, if you're taking something away there's a reaction.'

The CEO added that there had been teething problems in the early days of offering M&S products, with passengers complaining that there was little choice or that supplies had run out.

But he said that this had been rectified and that on reflection, the change was a 'no-brainer', because hardly any other European airlines offer free food or drinks.

He added: 'It was difficult at the beginning as a consequence of this change, but we're very pleased where we are.'

Before January 2017, BA passengers in economy on short-haul and domestic flights were offered a light snack, such as a bacon roll, and a soft drink.

The change to paid-for food came at a time when BA's parent company IAG was trying to cut costs due to increasing competition in the European short-haul market.

The airline said the switch to selling M&S food was driven by customer dissatisfaction with its short-haul economy catering.

Speaking when the move was announced, a senior executive at an established low-cost airline said: 'I think BA's move is an acceptance that the old legacy airline model just does not work.

Business class customers on short-haul BA flights are still offered a full, complimentary menu

'It is simply no longer popular with passengers because you are giving them something they do not necessarily want and which they take for granted and no longer appreciate anyway.'

But some passengers argued that they preferred using BA rather than a low-cost airline as they did not want to pay extra for snacks.

The M&S food selection on board is updated four times a year.

Business class customers on short-haul flights are still offered a full, complimentary menu.

Complimentary food and drinks are also still offered to all passengers on long-haul flights.
Former Days of Our Lives star Wesley Eure believes he was fired from the iconic U.S. soap for being gay, claims Hollywood journalist Craig Bennett.

In his new book, True Confessions of a Shameless Gossip, Craig details his friendship with Wesley, who played Mike Horton on Days of Our Lives from 1974 to 1981.

Although Wesley publicly stated at the time that he quit the show because of the tiring workload, he had actually been fired and suspected it was due to his sexuality.

Bombshell claims: Former Days of Our Lives star Wesley Eure (pictured) believes he was 'fired from the soap for being gay'

'Wesley told me he suspected he'd been fired because he was gay,' Craig writes.

'As he explained, he didn't flaunt his homosexuality but he refused to hide it, and so other big-name and very closeted stars on the show perhaps felt uneasy and feared he might out them.'

In a 'coming out' interview with New Now Next in 2009, Wesley himself claimed that he was sacked from Days of Our Lives for being gay and that his sexuality had hurt his career in Hollywood.

Flashback: Wesley was an A-lister in the 1970s thanks to roles in Days of Our Lives and Land of the Lost. Pictured: Wesley in Land of the Lost in the early '70s

'No one would ever say [I was sacked for being gay] because that would be a lawsuit,' Wesley said at the time.

'It was all kept under the table, but through the makeup artists who worked on Days of Our Lives, I'm still in touch with a lot of the people from the show. The real reason was because I was gay.'

During his stint on the daytime soap, Wesley secretly dated Hollywood legend Richard Chamberlain from 1975 to 1976.

'The real reason was because I was gay': Wesley, now 67, claims his sexuality was the reason he was fired from Days of Our Lives. Pictured on set in 1977

Secret romance: Wesley dated Hollywood legend Richard Chamberlain from 1975 to 1976. Pictured: Richard at the 1993 Golden Globes in Los Angeles

Craig also touches upon the relationship in his book, claiming that Wesley had boasted about Richard's skills as a lover.

'Richard was nearly 20 years older,' writes Craig. 'Wesley explained that for him, Richard was not only a wonderful lover and a mentor to a young actor, but also a "father figure" - Wesley had been abandoned by his own father when he was a tot.

'He said he loved Richard deeply and they lived together secretly for a year, and how Hollywood would have been mortified if word had gotten out.

'He loved Richard deeply': Wesley described Richard as a 'wonderful lover', according to journalist Craig Bennett. Pictured: Richard at the Twin Peaks premiere in Los Angeles in 2017

'I remember Wesley had tears in his eyes as he revealed that Richard had broken his heart by falling in love with another man.'

That 'other man' was actor and producer Martin Rabbett, whom Richard later married in a civil union in 1984.

Richard officially came out as a gay man in his 2003 autobiography, Shattered Love.
Florence Moerenhout has received a wave of backlash after claiming co-star Elora Murger was only interested in Alex Nation for ' attention' during Tuesday's episode of Bachelor In Paradise .

Shortly after Florence made her assessment of the Tahitian beauty, fans quickly took to Twitter to accuse her of being 'biphobic'.

'The hell is up with this sly biphobia from Flo?' one viewer penned.

Another wrote: 'Flo clearly doesn't believe that people can be bisexual, there's only gay or straight in her mind.'

'Honestly Flo needs to stop with all the nonchalant HELLA queerphobic comments,' another fan of the show wrote.

Elsewhere another expressed their frustration, writing: 'Omg Flo girls can kiss each other not for men's pleasure.'

'She clearly doesn't believe people can be bisexual': Fans accused Florence Moerenhout (L) for being 'biphobic' after she claimed Elora Murger (R) is interested in Alex Nation for attention and boredom during Tuesday's episode of Bachelor In Paradise

'The hell is up with this sly biphobia from Flo?': During Tuesday's episode, fans quickly took to Twitter to accuse Florence, 29, of being 'biphobic' after she claimed Elora was only interested in Alex Nation on Bachelor In Paradise for 'attention'

Meanwhile, one stated: 'Someone needs to like... talk to Flo about being less biphobic/homophobic.'

Some fans, however expressed their admiration for the blonde beauty, with one fan gushing: 'Flo is a f***ing legend.'

Other Twitter users wrote: 'Flo is very opinionated and honest and it's fun. She's just hilarious tbh,' 'I can't get over how much I love Flo this time around,' and 'Flo is actually hilarious.'

'I love her so much': Some fans, however, expressed their admiration for the blonde beauty, with one fan gushing: 'Flo is a f***ing legend'

'Oh, she's bisexual now?': And the tweets come after Florence (pictured) reacted with surprise after learning Elora is bisexual after she asked Alex Nation out on a date

The tweets came after Florence reacted with surprise after learning Elora is bisexual when she asked Alex Nation out on a date.

'Oh, she's bisexual now?' Florence said after Elora and Alex went off for a quick chat.

'She was so straight on The Bachelor, this is now gonna be a thing?' Florence added.

'She was so straight on The Bachelor, this is now gonna be a thing?' Florence added. Pictured: Alex Nation (L) and Elora (R)

'Wouldn't be the Bachelor without a little bit of lesbian kissing, like, straight girls turning lesbian. It's like what we do when we get bored or we don't get attention,' Florence added

In a piece-to-camera, she later continued: 'I know Elora better than most girls and I didn't know she was bisexual.

'Wouldn't be the Bachelor without a little bit of lesbian kissing, like, straight girls turning lesbian. It's like what we do when we get bored or we don't get attention,' she added.

Later in the episode, Florence cuddled up to some of her female co-stars while jokingly saying: 'We're lesbians now'.

Elora, who made her debut on Bachelor In Paradise on Tuesday, failed to secure a rose at the ceremony and ended up going home single.
Bake Off: The Professionals

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The ingredients that go into Bake Off: The Professionals (C4) are astonishing. Your senses whirl with chantilly cream, nougatine, almond sable and all 15 of the French vowel sounds. It's a rich confection.

Judge Benoit Blin reinvents every word he speaks. 'Ze stondurd ees axpected to rase,' he declared as the show returned for its second series.

Then he mentioned rumours, or 'rheumoures', a favourite word of Inspector Clouseau  though actor Peter Sellers sounds positively monotone, compared to Benoit.

Bake Off: The Professionals has fun and flamboyance but offers nothing you could copy at home. Above (left to right): Tom Allen, Cherish Finden, Benoit Blin, and Liam Charles

What fellow judge Cherish Finden lacks in a ludicrous accent, she makes up for with her savage commentaries. Instead of tasting one chef's efforts, she just picked up the pastry and crumbled it with an icy stare. It was the technique of an East End gangster come to collect protection money.

Another contestant was told: 'I refuse to taste the tart because it is not cooked.' In fact, it appeared just fractionally underbaked.

Bake Off star Liam Charles and stand-up comic Tom Allen turned up the campery, flouncing around to shout the times out and tease the chefs. Mostly, though, they were just a distraction... and no one had time for that.

The standard (or 'stondurd') is so high because these cooks are all full-time pastry wizards, several of them from five-star hotels or restaurants boasting Michelin stars.

Split screen of the night: Peter (Toby Jones) tackled an intruder in Don't Forget The Driver (BBC2), only to realise it was his twin, Barry. That gag was funny when Laurel and Hardy played their own doubles, and it's still a winner. Advertisement

Despite this, a couple were barely out of their teens and another, Connor from Hull, was just 19. That's impressive.

Their showstoppers were worthy of the name. One duo, Daisy and Reshmi, created a fairytale tableau in sponge and chocolate, with a wolf dressed as Red Riding Hood that deserved a role in Game Of Thrones.

Another did dainty triangular sandwiches that were really Bakewell tarts. More tea, vicar?

There were the usual Bake Off disasters, such as mousses that failed to set in the fridge (I suspect the producers can turn the studio freezers into ovens at the flick of a switch).

Unlike the basic Bake Off, though, it offers nothing you could copy at home... unless you feel able to craft a grandfather clock out of red velvet cake and chocolate.

With such flamboyance, we scarcely needed the presenters.

Flamboyance was, however, in short supply on Trust Me (BBC1), the Gothic hospital murder mystery starring Alfred Enoch as Jamie, an injured Army veteran.

In Trust Me, Alfred Enoch's Jamie is so repressed that when his heart monitor flatlined, nothing about his personality changed

Jamie's emotions are so repressed that when his heart monitor flatlined at the episode's climax, nothing about his personality changed.

He lay still with his eyes glazed and his face an impassive mask of fury, just as he did when he had a heartbeat. The doctors were battling to bring him back to life, but how will they be able to tell?

Jamie's inability to show his feelings has been a distinct disadvantage, as he hunts the serial killer bumping off paraplegic patients on the underlit ward. When creepy Dr Alex (Richard Rankin) tortured him with a hypodermic needle, all Jamie could do was wince.

Later, burly nurses held him down and forcibly injected him with drug overdoses  other people might have cried out, but Jamie just gritted his teeth.

He sneaked out with an ex-Army mate to go clubbing and, when his wheelchair got kicked over, just lay on the dancefloor looking cross. Even in his dreams, he has no discernible emotions, merely waiting for an unseen enemy to slit his throat.

All this has another disadvantage: it stops us from caring very much about the character. He's a boring hero.
Charlize Theron rocked a wrap mini-dress with a monochrome print when she was glimpsed out in New York City this Tuesday.

The 43-year-old actress, who hails from South Africa, cinched a black belt around the ensemble and rounded off the look with black stiletto boots. Her entire look was Celine By Hedi Sliman.

Slicking her dark hair tightly back behind her head, she accentuated her screen siren features with makeup including a slick of bright scarlet lipstick.

On the move: Charlize Theron rocked a wrap mini-dress with a monochrome print when she was glimpsed out in New York City this Tuesday

Her outing comes after she revealed on The Howard Stern Show that a 'big deal' producer made advances on her during an audition when she was 18 or 19.

Charlize's modeling agent had arranged for 'my first audition ever' to take place at 9pm on a Saturday at the producer's home.

At the time, she dismissed the odd setting by reasoning: 'I guess this is what they do' - and as she told Howard, this particular producer 'is still a big deal.'

The producer greeted her at the door in his pajamas and when she offered to read for him she was informed that the pair of them were 'just gonna talk.'

Made for walking: The 43-year-old actress, who hails from South Africa, cinched a black belt around the ensemble and rounded off the look with black stiletto boots

Tres chic: Slicking her dark hair tightly back behind her head, she accentuated her screen siren features with makeup including a slick of bright scarlet lipstick

More alarm bells went off because of how close he sat to her, plus the fact he was drinking, and then 'he put his hand on my knee and that's when I just went: "Oof."'

She talked her way out of his home, but regretted not telling him to 'go f*** himself' - and after a few years passed, she encountered him again.

'It took me eight years for this thing to come full circle because he offered me a job and I went purely just to have my moment,' said Charlize.

Looking back: Her outing comes after she revealed on The Howard Stern Show that a 'big deal' producer made advances on her during an audition when she was 18 or 19

'He said nice to meet you and I said: "No, we've met before," and he had no recollection of it,' explained the Oscar-winner, adding that 'his producing partner was standing right next to him and he was embarrassed.'

Charlize, who at 15 witnessed her mother shoot her father dead in self-defense, adopted her children Jackson and August in 2012 and 2015 respectively.

Earlier this month, Charlize announced in the Daily Mail that Jackson, whom she introduced to the public as a boy, is actually a little girl.

'Yes, I thought she was a boy, too. Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said: "I am not a boy!"' the Tully star explained.
Barbara Corcoran showed a morbid sense of humor when she celebrated her 70th birthday party with friends and family in New York City this past weekend.

The Shark Tank investor surprised her guests by laying in a coffin when they first arrived.

'After 90 friends and family paid their respects, I popped out of the coffin in a red Carolina Herrera gown to the Diana Ross song I'm Alive!,' she said in the caption of a picture that showed her lifting her head and leg out of the casket.

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Shocker! Barbara Corcoran surprised her friends and family by staging her own funeral for her 70th birthday party in New York City on Saturday

The antics didn't end there: there was a life size cardboard cutout of her in a nun's outfit, and once Corcoran jumped out of the coffin she proceeded to dance the Tango.

'What the heck, you only die once, you might as well be around for it,' the New Jersey native ended the caption.

According to Page Six, Corcoran informed the guests beforehand that the dress code was 'tango', and that she had hired a professional tango dancer for the birthday bash.

Surprise: The Shark Tank investor laid in a coffin when friends and family first arrived

Morbid sense of humor: The New Jersey native laughed at her own joke

Make that move: Corcoran informed the guests beforehand that the dress code was 'tango', and that she had hired a professional tango dancer for the birthday bash

She got it: Corcoran's daughter Kate laughed and seemed to enjoy the morbid joke

Stunned! Radio personality Elvis Duran and Shark Tank co-star Mark Cuban laughed at Corcoran's birthday antics but did call the entire affair 'creepy'

Apprehensive: Shark Tank co-star Draymond John appeared to be creeped out by the stunt

So sweet: Draymond gave Barbara a tender kiss on the temple as she lay in her casket

Shark Tank co-stars Daymond John and Mark Cuban were among the 90 people who attended the stunning bash at a Manhattan penthouse.

The two gathered around her casket to pay their respects, and at one point John leaned in to give her a kiss.

In an Instagram Story, the Dallas Mavericks owner called the whole affair 'creepy', while John added, 'I don't know what to say.'

The evening also included a cake that was decorated with a plastic doll being eaten by a shark.

Cheers! The host gave a big thanks to her guests for going along with the joke

Lap of luxury: The evening also included a cake that was decorated with a plastic doll being eaten by a shark

Amazing: Barbara's Instagram updates from her party included an outdoor snapshot of the swank venue, which was festooned with lights

Around the floor: One of Barbara's male guests wrapped his arms around her for a dance

Seeing double: The antics didn't end there: there was a life size cardboard cutout of her in a nun's outfit

Corcoran also shared a quick video clip of her daughter on her Insta-Story with the headline: 'My daughter Kate handled it like a pro! Now I'm thinking... should I be worried?'

The jokester also shared a closeup photo of herself in the coffin with the statement: 'The only thing I died from was laughter when I pulled this prank on all my guests!'

The evening also included a cake that was decorated with a plastic doll being eaten by a shark.

Dearly departed: Guests could be seen snapping photos of the birthday girl in the coffin

Words to live by: In the caption of her Instagram album about the occasion, she vamped: 'What the heck, you only die once, you might as well be around for it!'

So affectionate: Barbara and Mark seemed to be having a ball in each other's company
Shannon Baff and Connor Obrochta left Bachelor in Paradise together on Tuesday's episode, with fans assuming she would move to America to live with her new boyfriend.

But in the six months since filming the show in Fiji, it seems the long-distance couple have officially called it quits.

Here, Daily Mail Australia breaks down the very telling clues that all but confirm Shannon and Connor's relationship didn't last.

Does this prove Shannon and Connor SPLIT after Bachelor in Paradise? The six telling clues that suggest the couple are no longer together

No gushing posts on Instagram

While other Paradise couples usually take to social media to gush about their secret romances the second they're able to, Connor and Shannon have stayed silent.

Following their romantic departure on Tuesday night, neither of them has shared a single post addressing their relationship.

Interestingly, Connor is yet to share a single post to Instagram referencing the reality show at all, which suggests he does not look back on the experience fondly.

Why so shy? While other Paradise couples usually take to social media to gush about their secret romances the second they're able to, Connor and Shannon have stayed notably silent

Weird! Following their romantic departure on Tuesday's episode, neither of them has shared a single Instagram post addressing their relationship. Connor, meanwhile, is yet to share any post referencing the show at all, which suggests he doesn't look back on the experience fondly

Shannon has not moved to America

As Shannon and Connor walked out of the villa on Tuesday's episode, she said: 'Now we've got to make it work outside. I might move to America, baby!'

But since uttering those words in December, a quick glance at Shannon's Instagram account seemingly confirms she hasn't left Australia since filming wrapped.

The 26-year-old has shared posts every few days, all of which are tagged in her home country, meaning that any secret trips to the U.S. must have been very brief.

It's a long way! Despite hinting that she may move to America to live with Connor, Melbourne-based Shannon doesn't appear to have left Australia since December

Connor hinted he was still looking for love in March

In March, four months after he filmed Bachelor in Paradise, Connor took to Instagram to hint that he's still looking for love.

He captioned a photo of himself holding a single red rose: 'Now that the @BachelorABC is over I'm just looking for someone to accept my rose.'

The post was referencing his stint on the U.S. version of The Bachelorette, and did not allude to any secret relationship with Shannon.

'I'm just looking for someone to accept my rose': In March, four months after filming Bachelor in Paradise, Connor took to Instagram to hint he is still single

Have they even met up in the past six months?

A quick glance at both Shannon and Connor's Instagram profiles hints that they may not have seen each other at all since filming wrapped.

If they were in a long-distance relationship, it is likely they would have organised trips to see each other on special dates like New Year's Eve or Valentine's Day.

Yet both of their accounts include pictures of themselves celebrating these occasions with friends while in different countries.

That's not what couples do! In the six months since filming wrapped, Shannon and Connor have spent special occasions such as New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day separately

Shannon's solo trip around Australia

In March, Shannon revealed on Instagram that she was planning to pack her life into a campervan and travel the coast of Australia on her own.

'I can't wait to be out in Mother Nature, free spirited and fully inspired,' she wrote, suggesting that she is single and will be embarking on her journey alone.

'I am so ready to draw from my experience and write as much as possible, make some gorgeous music and have the most memorable time of my life,' she added.

'Free spirited and fully inspired': In March, Shannon revealed on Instagram that she was planning to pack her life into a campervan and travel the coast of Australia on her own

Connor snubbed the cast reunion in Sydney

Not only has Connor failed to mention Bachelor in Paradise on his Instagram page, he also decided not to attend the cast reunion in Sydney on Monday night.

While Shannon and many of her co-stars filmed the 'juicy tell-all' special, dubbed 'Bachelor In Paradise: After Paradise', Connor remained at home in Florida.

If he was still dating Shannon, it's likely Channel 10 would have wanted them reunited on screen to demonstrate that the show does, in fact, produce lasting relationships.

That's odd! While Shannon and many of her co-stars filmed the 'juicy tell-all' special, dubbed 'Bachelor In Paradise: After Paradise' in Sydney on Monday, Connor stayed at home in Florida
She found love with Michael Brunelli on this year's Married At First Sight, and now Martha Kalifatidis has her sights set on superstardom.

The brunette beauty, 30, took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce she had been signed to MGMT management.

Martha posted a black and white photo of her scantily-clad in a sheer top and pantyhose over black underwear.

Reaching for the stars! MAFS' Martha Kalifatidis poses in a racy Kim Kardashian style photo shoot as she becomes the latest reality celebrity to sign with professional management

She captioned the picture: 'Get your people to talk to my people @mgmt.'

According to their Instagram account, the MGMT agency 'represents digital influencers and content creators in beauty, fashion, lifestyle and travel'.

Fellow MAFS star Jules Robinson, 36, was the first to comment on Martha's announcement, writing: 'Looks great! Congratulations xx.'

Social media influencer? According to their Instagram account, the MGMT agency 'represents digital influencers and content creators in beauty, fashion, lifestyle and travel'

The post was also liked by Jules' fiance, Cam Merchant, 34.

MGMT posted a picture of Martha from the same shoot, this time showing the busty beauty in side profile, and a colour photo of her wearing a white linen top.

The company simply captioned the pictures: 'Now representing @marthaa__k.'

Up close and personal: Martha's management company MGMT posted a picture of her from the same shoot, this time showing the busty beauty in side profile

Picture perfect: The brunette beauty was also seen wearing a white linen top in a colour photo

Martha joins fellow MAFS stars Cam and Jules in having MGMT professional management.

Martha and her TV 'husband' Michael Brunelli, 27, became one of the poster couples on MAFS.

They agreed to stay together during their final vows on MAFS, despite having doubts about getting involved in a long-distance relationship.

Martha is based in Bondi Beach, Sydney, while Michael worked as a schoolteacher in Melbourne until recently.

Signed up: Martha joins fellow MAFS stars Cam Merchant and Jules Robinson (pictured) in having MGMT professional management
Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans' second husband David Eason was accused of 'killing her dog' on Tuesday at their North Carolina home, which they call 'The Land.'

An unidentified male made the frantic 911 call reporting the alleged felony and the Columbus County Sheriff told Radar Online they plan on filing a report after thoroughly investigating the matter.

It's unclear which of the on/off couple's three dogs was harmed as they adopted a French bulldog Nugget in August and they also have two Pitbulls.

More drama: Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans' second husband David Eason was accused of 'killing her dog' on Tuesday at their North Carolina home (pictured in 2017)

The 27-year-old reality star hasn't posted about any of her canine companions since 2017 as she has been far more excited about the Sebastopol geese, fancy chickens, and pig she's added to her '#HomeStead.'

The horrifying dog killing allegation came six months after Jenelle accused the 30-year-old pipewelder of breaking her collarbone while violently 'pinning her down on the ground.'

'He got violent because he's been drinking,' Evans sobbed to the 911 operator in October.

'I'm recovering from a surgery on Monday. I can't breathe. I have four kids in the house with me right now. They're all sleeping. I don't know what to do. He left the house. I don't know what to do right now.'

Horrifying: An unidentified male made the frantic 911 call reporting the alleged felony and the Columbus County Sheriff told Radar Online they plan on filing a report after thoroughly investigating the matter (pictured in 2016)

Which one? It's unclear which of the on/off couple's three dogs was harmed as they adopted a French bulldog Nugget (L) in August and they also have two Pitbulls (R)

'Call me mother goose': The 27-year-old reality star hasn't posted about any of her canine companions since 2017 as she has been far more excited about the Sebastopol geese, fancy chickens, and pig she's added to her '#HomeStead' (pictured March 27)

The hot-tempered brunette - who changed her Facebook relationship status to 'separated' on Valentine's Day - has a two-year-old daughter Ensley Jolie with David as well as two sons Kaiser and Jace from prior relationships.

Eason was notoriously fired off Teen Mom 2 after tweeting homophobic posts in February 2018, which included 'I'm going to teach [my children] not to associate with [LGBTQAI people] or be that way.'

The Brett Kavanaugh supporter also has a son Kaden and daughter Maryssa with his ex-wife Whitney Johnson.

Catch more of Evans - who was arrested four times between 2010-2012 - and her endless drama in the long-running reality show Teen Mom 2, which airs Mondays on MTV.

'He got violent because he's been drinking': The horrifying dog killing allegation came six months after Jenelle accused the 30-year-old pipewelder of breaking her collarbone while 'pinning her down on the ground' (pictured December 20)
Rose McGowan revealed her reasons for wearing her iconic nude dress at the VMAs.

During the 1998 MTV award show, the actress hit the red carpet with then-beau Marilyn Manson in a completely sheer black beaded dress with a visible thong.

'I [wore] that for a reason. It was my first public appearance after being raped,' the 45-year-old said in a conversation with actress Jameela Jamil for her I Weigh interview series.

Opening up: Rose McGowan revealed her reasons for wearing her iconic nude dress at the VMAs; (pictured September 2018)

'And I thought, it was kind of like Russell Crowe and Gladiator when it comes out in the ring and hes like, "Are you not entertained?

'And that was why I did that. That was my response to being assaulted,' she added.

A leader of the #MeToo movement, McGowan was one of the first people to accuse disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

She alleges that he raped her at his hotel during the Sundance Film Festival in 1997.

Flashback: During the 1998 MTV award show, the actress hit the red carpet with then-beau Marilyn Manson in a completely sheer black beaded dress with a visible thong

Statement: 'I [wore] that for a reason. It was my first public appearance after being raped,' the 45-year-old said in a conversation with actress Jameela Jamil for her I Weigh interview series

McGowan was one of the first women to speak out in The New York Times and The New Yorker when news broke about Weinsteins decades of alleged sexual misconduct and assault.

The former Hollywood mogul has now been accused by more than 60 women and faces a potential life sentence.

McGowan hinted at the reasoning behind the barely-there dress last year when she visited Dr. Oz.

'Ive never worn something like that before or since,' she explained.

'That was a political statement. Of course, there was no Twitter at the time or Instagram, no way to speak for yourself.'
Emotions ran high on Tuesday as Kaley Cuoco and her castmates on The Big Bang Theory shared their final filming of the series via social media.

The 33-year-old actress documented her day as fans lined up to see the cast perform in unison for the final time.

Cuoco shared a shot of herself as she greeted the fans that had gathered, writing, 'Went to the WB parking lot to visit the fans who are waiting for a seat into tonight's show.'

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Vivid: Emotions ran high on Tuesday as Kaley Cuoco, 33, and her castmates on The Big Bang Theory shared their final filming of the series via social media

She subsequently shared a shot of the cast bowing before the audience after the show, writing, 'Final bows tonight.'

Earlier on Tuesday, her husband, equestrian Karl Cook, filmed her as she relaxed in a plaid robe ahead of the big day.

'I just want to hide here and pretend it's not happening,' said Cuoco, who previously appeared on the series 8 Simple Rules.

The actress who plays Penny on the top-rated CBS hit, was one of many to take to social media on the sentimental occasion, as castmates Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Mayim Bialik, Melissa Rauch, Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg all chimed in.

Ensemble: The cast united for a selfie posted by the show's Melissa Rauch

Encore, encore! The cast took a final bow after the historic TV taping

United we stand: The CBS cast huddled together for a final time filming their show

Parsons, who played Sheldon Cooper on the comedy, posted to Instagram a detailed paragraph of his farewell to the cast and fans, with a shot of his apartment door on the show, 4A.

'As we get ready to tape our final episode tonight, to walk in and out of this apartment door for the last time, it is hard to find the words to articulate what a profound experience this has been,' the actor, 46, wrote. 'But the words "love" and "gratitude" come to mind... so love and gratitude to all of you. ALL of you. Thank you.'

Galecki shared a shot of his apartment, 4B, writing, 'More feelings than words can express.'

Fan support: Cuoco ventured to the area where the show's faithful fans congregated for the taping

Campers: Many of the fans had camped out in an effort to witness the filming

Grateful: TV veteran Galecki showed his gratitude to the fan base, writing, 'We love you all very, very much'

Bialik thanked the fans and writers and called the day 'overwhelming' amid 'all of the feelings: gratitude, sadness, joy, excitement, grief...it's the end of a huge part of our lives and the beginning of who knows what.'

She added: 'I get to play dress up for a living and I am so honored to be a part of this cast, this crew, this staff, and this wonderful show about how these brilliant characters live, think, and love. It all started with a big bang.'

Nayyar had a post choc with gratitude toward fans amid the end of the show, thanking them for their words, encouragement, viewership and support.

'Thank you, for lifting us up when we were down,' Nayyar wrote. 'Fame can feel like a cage, so Thank you for making us feel safe enough to be free ... thank you, for you, because without you - there would be no us. So this goes out to you, the fans... One last time.'

Enter: Cast members shared shots of the doors from the set of the show

Light-hearted: Rauch and Nayyar relaxed on the set in this shot she shared. Nayyar was celebrating his 38th birthday Tuesday

The network announced this week that, prior to the series May 16 finale, they will air Unraveling The Mystery: A Big Bang Farewell, a half-hour look back at the long-running series. In the special, Cuoco and Galecki will open up about their dozen years on the show, and take viewers on a tour through the sets where the magic was made.

The Chuck Lorre-produced series, which has also spawned the successful spin-off Young Sheldon, has been a success with both fans and critics, racking up 10 Emmys over 52 nominations since 2009.

The Big Bang Theory airs on CBS Thursday at 8/7c.

Hamming it up: Rauch shared a shot as she posed next to Galecki, who celebrated his 44th birthday Wednesday

And many more! A smattering of sweets such as cakes and cupcakes were laid out at the taping

Tower of power: Mayim shared a shot of the landmark Warner Bros. tower marking the studio in Burbank, California

Collector's items: A case featuring collectibles from the set was being dismantled

Snooze: Bialik showed an area where she would take naps on long days on-set

Happy: Kevin Sussman, who played Stuart Bloom on the series, posed with Mayim in a finale selfie
Post Malone is currently in the middle of his Australian tour.

And during his concert at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday, the rapper entertained his fans by drinking from a shoe.

The unhygienic stunt drew rapturous applause from the crowd.

Thirsty? Rapper Post Malone drank from his shoe during a concert in Melbourne on Tuesday

On his Australian tour, the 23-year-old star is being supported by Jaden Smith, 20.

The pair will hit the stage in Melbourne once again on Wednesday and Thursday night, before heading to Brisbane for shows on Saturday and Sunday.

Next week, the rappers will perform at Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena.

Last year, Post Malone told GQ that he likes to blend styles of music with his tracks and doesn't want his music to be labelled with one genre.

'It should just be music, you know?' he told the publication, with his songs typically fusing hip hop, country and rock.

'Because I've met so many people that'll say, "I listen to everything except for this or this" you know? And I think that's stupid. If you like it, you should listen to it.'

Touring: On his Australian tour, the 23-year-old star is being supported by Jaden Smith

Post Malone, who hails from New York, got his big break in 2015 and is known for hits including I Fall Apart, Better Now and Wow.

He has amassed a huge following in Australia in recent years, earning three No. 1 singles on the ARIA chart.

His sophomore album, Beerbongs & Bentleys, also reached No. 1 on the ARIA chart and was certified platinum.
He's an award winning actor who announced his battle Parkinson's disease over two decades ago.

And Michael J. Fox appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival on Tuesday to discuss his storied career.

The 57-year-old actor was joined on stage at the Stella Artois theater by his longtime friend Denis Leary, 61.

Talking it out: Michael J. Fox was joined on stage at the Stella Artois theater by his longtime friend Denis Leary, 61, and wife Tracy Pollan.

Fox sported a dark denim jacket over a midnight blue shirt and sported straight-legged blue jeans.

The Back to the Future star left some stubble around his chin and his mustache and his hair look freshly trimmed.

He was joined by his wife of 30-years Tracy Pollan, who looked stunning as usual in a leopard-print skirt and black top.

Her heartbreaking cheekbones shining under the flash bulbs, the Bright Lights, Big City star dazzled with a gold necklace and a gold watch as her only accessories.

Star of the show: The 57-year-old actor appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival on Tuesday to discuss his storied career

Happy family: He was joined by his wife of 30-years Tracy Pollan, who looked stunning as usual in a leopard-print skirt and black top

To no one's surprise, Leary was sporting a black leather jacket as he made his way inside.

He donned a medium grey shirt along with blue jeans and his strawberry blond locks looked freshly combed.

Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal donned a burgundy coat over an all-black ensemble.

Classic look: To no one's surprise, Leary was sporting a black leather jacket as he made his way inside

Founder: Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal donned a burgundy coat over an all-black ensemble

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's at the age of 29, sharing the news public ally in 1998.

Over the course of his career he has been a New York Times bestselling autor and has won five Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two SAG Awards, and a Grammy.

One of those Emmy's came for a guest appearance he made on Leary's show Rescue Me.

Winner: Over the course of his career he has been a New York Times bestselling autor and has won five Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two SAG Awards, and a Grammy
The second season of Love Island Australia returns later this year and producers are searching for around a dozen new contestants.

And several former stars from the UK version revealed this week what applicants should do to impress the show's casting agents.

They say that having a collection of 'good stories' about yourself is essential for the auditions, and advise that it's best to be genuinely looking for love.

Want to be on Love Island Australia? Former UK stars how they impressed the casting agents. Pictured: Love Island Australia's season one winners, Tayla Damir and Grant Crapp

Speaking to Radio Times, former contestants Amber Davies, Laura Anderson, Scott Thomas and Theo Campbell all had their say.

'Go on there to find love not fame,' said Amber, who was one half of the winning couple from the 2017 season.

All of the UK stars agreed that 'you have to really think about it before saying yes' and said that applicants must also consider what happens after the show.

Speaking out: Speaking to Radio Times this week, Amber Davies (pictured), Laura Anderson, Scott Thomas and Theo Campbell all had their say on the audition process

'You've got to be mentally strong': The former contestants all agreed that applicants 'have to really think about it before saying yes' to appearing on the show. Pictured: Scott Thomas

'You've got to be mentally strong to be on that show, and you've got to be mentally prepared for what happens when you leave,' Scott said.

He added: 'It's not for the faint-hearted.'

His comments come after the suicide of Mike Thalassitis and death of Sophie Gradon sparked a discussion about the 'aftercare' services provided to reality TV stars.

Tips and tricks: The Love Island UK stars say that having a collection of 'good stories' about yourself is essential for the auditions. Pictured Laura Anderson

In addition to have a bank of 'good stories', other ways to impress casting agents include 'having fun' during the audition and being open and honest about your intentions.

Love Island Australia is set to return to Channel Nine later this year with Sophie Monk as host.

Auditions opened last month and would-be contestants can apply online.
'Mama' June Shannon and her boyfriend Geno Doak defied a judge's orders to stay away from each other and checked back into their favorite casino, the Wind Creek Montgomery, in Alabama on Tuesday around midnight.

'The two had been staying at the casino for some time but had checked out and moved to a different spot, until coming back today,' a source told The Blast.

'They have been gambling and playing the slots all morning and talking to friends they made on the floor.'

Inseparable: 'Mama' June Shannon and her boyfriend Geno Doak defied a judge's orders to stay away from each other and checked back into their favorite casino, the Wind Creek Montgomery, in Alabama on Tuesday around midnight

A source told The Blast: 'They have been gambling and playing the slots all morning and talking to friends they made on the floor' (January 18 stock shot)

The 43-year-old G&J Home Improvements CEO was ordered to stay away from the 39-year-old reality star due to his third-degree domestic violence charge stemming from their March 13 arrest at an Alabama gas station.

The Macon County District Attorney's Office charged both Doak and Shannon with possession of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia (needles and pipes).

Last month, their shared attorney argued that June wanted the court to lift the order because it was all a 'misunderstanding' and she depends on Geno (born Eugene) because 'she is partially blind' - according to TMZ.

Doak - who previously served time at Coastal State Prison - reportedly has a long rap sheet which includes burglary, theft, and criminal damage to property.

'Threatened to kill her': The 43-year-old G&J Home Improvements CEO was ordered to stay away from the 39- year-old reality star due to his third-degree domestic violence charge stemming from their March 13 arrest at an Alabama gas station

Busted: The Macon County District Attorney's Office charged both Doak and Shannon with possession of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia (needles and pipes)

Dependent? Last month, their attorney argued that June wanted the court to lift the order because it was all a 'misunderstanding' and she needs Geno because 'she is partially blind'

Bad influence? Doak - who previously served time at Coastal State Prison - reportedly has a long rap sheet which includes burglary, theft, and criminal damage to property

'#truelove': The Toddlers and Tiaras alum called her buzzcut beau loyal because he dated her back in 2015 - a year before she underwent her $75K surgical makeover which included gastric sleeve surgery and breast augmentation (pictured in 2016)

Close: Making matters more complicated is June's 13-year-old daughter Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson (L), who called Doak the 'best stepdad anyone could ask for' in October and gushed she loved him and he makes her 'smile every day'

The Toddlers and Tiaras alum called her buzzcut beau loyal because he dated her back in 2015 - a year before she underwent her $75K surgical makeover which included gastric sleeve surgery and breast augmentation.

Making matters more complicated is June's 13-year-old daughter Alana 'Honey Boo Boo' Thompson, who called Doak the 'best stepdad anyone could ask for' in October and gushed she loved him and he makes her 'smile every day.'

Shannon is also mother to daughters Lauryn, 19; Jessica, 22; and Anna Cardwell, 24; from three different babydaddies.

But on Monday's episode of Mama June: From Not to Hot, the former warehouse worker tearfully confronted Geno over his allegedly sexting of intimate photos to 'multiple women' through Instagram.

Grandmother-of-three! Shannon is also mother to daughters Lauryn, 19; Jessica, 22; and Anna Cardwell, 24; from three different babydaddies
Sharon Osbourne opened up about her battles with depression on Tuesday's episode of The Talk, revealing that she attempted suicide three times.

The 66 year old host said she used to joke about her depression, casually mentioning that she tried to kill herself three separate times without divulging details.

She admitted that she shouldn't have joked about such a serious matter, before speaking about her suicide attempts.

Sharon opens up: Sharon Osbourne opened up about her battles with depression on Tuesday's episode of The Talk, revealing that she attempted suicide three times

'I was joking about this, but I shouldn't, joking about my depression, and I was like saying, 'Oh the first time I tried to kill myself was OK, the second, all right, the third, oy,' she admitted.

'But, I'm still here, I still do what I do and you struggle,' Osbourne admitted, while the audience applauded and she was comforted by host Carrie Ann Inaba.

'I wish everybody could think flowers and daisies and princesses, but you can't... and we lived happily ever after,' Osbourne concluded.

No joking matter: She admitted that she shouldn't have joked about such a serious matter, before speaking about her suicide attempts

Osbourne has previously opened up about her struggles, talking about taking medication for 16 years on a November 2014 episode of The Talk.

'Some days are better than others, and some days you feel like you just want to pull the sheets over your head and just stay in that bed and not do a damn thing  except rot,' she said at the time.

Then in 2016, she opened up about a mental breakdown she had, which was much more serious, resulting in her five-week emergency leave from the show after her family put her in a mental health facility.

Still here: 'But, I'm still here, I still do what I do and you struggle,' Osbourne admitted, while the audience applauded and she was comforted by host Carrie Ann Inaba

'I had a complete and utter breakdown,' she said at the time. 'I woke up in Cedars-Sinai Hospital and for probably three days I knew nothing. I couldn't think, I couldn't talk, I could do nothing. My brain just shut down on me.'

'I was doing too much of everything,' she said. 'My brain just totally fused and I just couldn't cope with anything. My family put me into a facility and in this facility, the diagnose you, there's therapists, psychiatrists and you do a lot of group therapy.

'And I found for me that the group therapy was the best thing that I could do because there were several people suffering with what I was suffering,' she added.

Breakdown: 'I had a complete and utter breakdown,' she said at the time. 'I woke up in Cedars-Sinai Hospital and for probably three days I knew nothing. I couldn't think, I couldn't talk, I could do nothing. My brain just shut down on me'

Osbourne recently opened up about her husband, rock legend Ozzy Osbourne's health, after he was forced to postpone tour dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

'Years ago, he had a motorbike accident, where he was in a coma for days. And what he'd done was he re-injured his back and neck and shoulders. All of the metal rods and everything that were put in his body were dislodged. So we had to cancel his year events.

'He just feels terrible. He says its the only thing hes ever done right in his life, his performing, and he just feels terrible,' Sharon added.
Kim Kardashian has been blasted by vegan activists in Australia, after posing with an elephant in Bali.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was criticised by members of the Facebook group, Vegans of Australia, on Wednesday.

Kim, 38, shared busty selfies to Instagram this week, which showed her patting an elephant which had a rope around its neck, during a family holiday in Indonesia late last year.

Under fire: Kim Kardashian (pictured) has been blasted as 'repulsive' by vegan activists in Australia, after posing with an elephant in Bali last year

The reality TV star and her husband, Kanye West, 41, visited an elephant sanctuary, which rescues animals, and irate vegans were up in arms.

'That elephant looks so sad,' one user wrote.

'Awful. Power to do so much for animals but effort to do absolutely nothing, makes me fume,' another commented.

'Pretty crazy with the teams they'd have that no one called this out...,' a third person wrote.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Kim Kardashian for comment.

The Instagram photos come five months after Kim was criticised for riding an elephant during the same trip.

Controversy: It comes five months after she was criticised for riding an elephant during the same trip. Pictured on October 30, 2018 in Bali

Kim captioned the Instagram photos: 'Missing Bali! and the amazing elephant sanctuary.'

Peter Egan, who stars on Downton Abbey, blasted her on Twitter on November 3, 2018 with a biting tweet.

Drama: Kim received heavy criticism last year when she was pictured riding the beautiful animal, including a tweet from actor Peter Egan. She responded hours later

'Such ignorance and such a lack of care. Doesn't she understand the cruelty inflicted on these poor elephants in order for her inane photo shoot. Pathetic: Kim Kardashian wears a bikini to ride an elephant,' he wrote.

Hours later, Kim took to Twitter to respond to the criticism.

'We visited an elephant sanctuary that has rescued these elephants from Sumatra where they would have otherwise gone extinct. It is an organization that is working to save these beautiful animals. We did full research before going,' she tweeted.

Kim posed with one hand on the animal's trunk - with a man holding something in his hand while sitting on top of the creature.

The mother-of-three showcased her abs, her cleavage and her legs in a barely-there bandeau black bikini top with a coordinating high-waisted fitted maxi-skirt.

Kim flashed her pins with the skirt's thigh-high slit, adding grey and black sneakers with a large gold statement necklace and reflective sunglasses.

More: Another picture showed Kim blowing a kiss to the camera while cuddling the elephant's trunk; her husband Kanye West was also pictured

The elephant appeared to have a blanket on its back.

Another picture Kim shared featured her blowing a kiss to the camera while cuddling the elephant's trunk; Kanye grinned and turned his head toward the magnificent creature.

The third picture the reality star shared was of her with both hands on the trunk of the elephant looking at the camera; the elephant's trunk curled around the top of her thighs.

Close-up: The third picture the reality star shared was of her with both hands on the trunk of the elephant looking at the camera; the elephant's trunk curled around the top of her thighs

Throwback: Kim captioned the slideshow with: 'Missing Bali! and the amazing elephant sanctuary'

In episode three of season 16 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim was seen riding the elephant at what appears to be the Mason Elephant Park.

Elephant sanctuaries have been criticised in the past, with animal lovers pointing out that if you can ride or bathe with them, then it's not a real sanctuary.

According to the Bali Animal Welfare Association, 3.8 million tourists visit Bali every year; the organization encourages tourists to never go on an elephant ride or visit attractions where animals are made to perform.

The website also notes that tourists should not stay in resorts or hotels that have elephants in captivity.

The trip: In episode three of season 16 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim was seen riding the elephant at what appears to be the Mason Elephant Park

According to the Global Federation Of Animal Sanctuaries, a 'true sanctuary' is: 'providing excellent and human care for their animals in a non-exploitative environment and having ethical policies in place,' regarding 'tours, exhibition, commercial trade, acquisition and disposition and breeding.'

In an article by The Telegraph, Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan in Indonesia were listed as the 'worst destinations in the world' in regards to animal cruelty in captivity - based on a report by World Animal Protection (WAP).

Sad: In 2014, Kim took photographs with a baby elephant with a rope around its neck during her trip to Thailand

While some fans complimented Kim on the picture and her outfit, others criticised her for posing by an elephant who has a man on its back and sharing pictures on her social media.

One person said: 'Elephants are not ridden at sanctuaries and please look at the man's right hand he is clearly pushing something into the elephants head to make him stand and pose for your ignorance.'

Others called on Kim to educate herself on elephant welfare.

In 2014, Kim took photographs with a baby elephant while on holiday in Thailand.
She previously revealed she is being 'supported by her parents' while she lives in their 'Versace Palace' in Melbourne.

On Wednesday, Married At First Sight star, Martha Kalifatidis revealed the real cost of living at home with mummy and daddy.

In a series of clips shared to her Instagram stories, the 30-year-old unemployed makeup artist said she no longer fits into her favourite pair of Levi jeans because her parents 'constantly feed' her.

Martha made the announcement to her 279,000 followers while she stood in front of a mirror wearing a bra and the ill-fitting trousers, which were unbuttoned.

'Guys so this just happened...I actually don't fit into my favourite jeans,' she said as she filmed herself standing in a wardrobe.

'If you remember I wore these jeans while filming MAFS,' the brunette star added.

'Feel free to point and laugh!' MAFS' Martha Kalifatidis (pictured) revealed she no longer fits into her favourite pair of jeans because her parents 'constantly feed' her while she lives in their 'Versace Palace' in Melbourne

Martha continued to film herself 'busting out' of the tight denim while remarking: 'They're one of my favourite pair of Levi's and they don't fit me anymore, which is quite stunning.'

'But I mean it's easy when you live at home with your parents and they're constantly feeding you. Easter...Greek Easter,' she explained to her fans.

Martha went on to reveal she plans to throw herself into a gruelling exercise regime so she can fit back into her prized pair of pants.

'I'm stunned!' Martha continued to film herself 'busting out' of the tight denim while remarking: 'They're one of my favourite pair of Levi's and they don't fit me anymore, which is quite stunning.' Martha (left) wearing a pair of Levi jeans in March 2019. Martha (right) wearing a pair of ill-fitting Levi jeans in May 2019

'No excuses. I'm about to go full drill sergeant on myself and get back into these jeans.

'If you guys want to see this and you want me to post and share - I am more than happy to!'

'Otherwise here's a video of me busting out of my jeans. Feel free to point and laugh! Enjoy guys!' she concluded.

Nice genes! Martha is seen donning a pair of similar pair of high-waisted jeans in an Instagram photo shared in January 2018

Last month, Martha revealed during the MAFS reunion dinner party that her parents help 'support' her lavish lifestyle.

'I'm not working, my parents are supporting me,' the Kim Kardashian-lookalike said.

While at the dinner table, she discussed her financial situation with fellow bride Jessika Power.

'I don't know how I keep still getting money,' Jessika said.

Wow: Last month, Martha revealed during the MAFS reunion dinner party that her parents help 'support' her lavish lifestyle

Martha responded: 'Me either, somehow it manages to just find its way into my account!'

Jessika added: 'Yeah, my dad is like, "Do you need five grand?" and I'm like, "Yes, daddy!"'

Following this controversial exchange, Martha clarified that her parents were only supporting her for a few months while MAFS was still in production.
Acting can certainly drum up one's appetite - just ask Neighbours star Madeleine West.

The super-slim 38-year-old was spotted in Melbourne on Monday carrying an armful of groceries, suggesting she was about to tuck into a hearty breakfast.

Madeleine, who is believed to be in Melbourne for work, cradled a large box of Kellogg's Sultana Bran, a packet of Tip Top English muffins and a Clif Bar snack.

What's for breakfast, Madeleine? Super slim Neighbours star West (pictured), 38, stepped out with a selection of grocery items including English muffins in Melbourne on Monday

And, as if anticipating a bout of indigestion, the brown-haired beauty also carried a box of Rennie antacids.

The mother-of-six looked trim in a grey workout top, matching tights and blue trainers as she took to the city streets with her hoard.

It seems she had forgotten to take her re-usable bag to the supermarket, forcing her to carrying all her groceries along with her wallet, phone and car keys.

Hungry? Acting can certainly drum up one's appetite - just ask Neighbours star Madeleine

Breakfast of champions: Madeleine, who is believed to be in Melbourne for work, cradled a large box of Kellogg's Sultana Bran, a packet of Tip Top English muffins and a Clif Bar snack

Madeleine was no doubt relieved to drop the goods into the boot of her blue Audi car, parked nearby.

After administering some eye drops near the passenger-side window of her vehicle, the Playing For Keeps star thought for a moment before crouching down to check her phone by the side of the road.

She was soon the spotted chatting to an older male friend, who was dressed in a blue collared shirt and blue jeans, near the row of cars.

Just in case! And, as if anticipating a bout of indigestion, the brown-haired beauty also carried a box of Rennie antacids

On a mission! The mother-of-six looked super trim in a grey workout top, matching tights and blue trainers as she took to the city streets with her hoard

Almost there! Madeleine took the long walk back to her car, loaded up with her day's essentials

Phew! Madeleine was no doubt relieved to drop the goods into the boot of her blue car, parked nearby

Quick refresh: After administering some eye drops near the passenger-side window of her car, the Playing For Keeps star thought about her next stop

Down to business: The TV star stood in front of her blue Audi and took a moment to check her phone

Madeleine looked happy to see the bespectacled gentleman.

He returned her warm smile and the duo hugged before enjoying a chat in the Melbourne sunshine.

The brunette, with a camouflage backpack slung over one shoulder, held a black long-sleeved top in her left hand as she chatted with her pal.

Meet 'n greet: She was soon the spotted chatting to an older male friend, who was dressed in a blue collared shirt and blue jeans, near the row of cars

Happy catch-up! Madeleine looked happy to see the bespectacled gentleman

Saddled up: Madeleine, with a camouflage backpack slung over one shoulder, held a black long-sleeved top in her left hand as she chatted with the friend

After their friendly roadside chat, the two friends said their goodbyes, with Madeleine smiling broadly as she walked away.

The actress looked determined to get on with the rest of her day, which possibly included a workout, given her sporty attire.

Indeed, the TV star looked in fine shape, with her long, shiny brunette locks trailing behind her as she walked determinedly through the city streets.

Soaking up the sunshine: It was the perfect day for a leisurely chat in the street

Old pals: The friends appeared to have a long and involved discussion, possibly about new acting roles in Melbourne or simply to reminisce about old times

Must be going! After their friendly roadside chat, the two friends said their goodbyes, with Madeleine smiling broadly as she walked away

Things to do! The actress looked determined to get on with the rest of her day, which possibly included a workout, given her sporty attire

In fine form! Indeed, the TV star looked in fine shape, with her long, shiny brunette locks trailing behind her as she walked determinedly across the street

She stopped for a spot of shopping at one point, and was seen carrying to a blue tote bag.

Given the fact that the Wrong Girl star lost her voice for seven days recently, it is not surprising that she was in such an ebullient mood.

The TV star suffered from laryngitis in April and said that not being able to speak was a 'truly horrid sensation'.

Spring in her step: Given the fact that the Wrong Girl star lost her voice for seven days recently, it is not surprising that she was in such an energetic mood

The veteran actor revealed in a piece for 9Honey that she lost her 'sense of self' when she couldn't communicate.

'It was a truly horrid sensation, and it was only the knowledge that with rest, honey and lemon, a disinfectant gargle and a decent dose of antibiotics, my voice, my sanity and my sense of self would be returned to me,' she wrote.

Madeleine added: 'For the first time, I caught a fleeting glimpse of what life looked like for those who truly have no voice, be it literal or metaphorical, for whom there is no immediate remedy.'

Voicing her concerns: The TV star suffered from laryngitis in April and said that not being able to speak was a 'truly horrid sensation'

Lost for words: The veteran recently revealed in a piece for 9Honey that she lost her 'sense of self' when she couldn't communicate

Stocking up: The brunette beauty stopped for a spot of shopping at one point, and was seen carrying to a blue tote bag

'It forced me to rely on others to communicate my needs, and at times make assumptions about what I wanted, what I needed, stripping me of any sense of free-agency,' she wrote.

Madeleine's confession came after she and her long-term chef partner Shannon Bennett announced their separation after 13 years together.

The pair share six children under fourteen: son Hendrix, 10, and daughters Phoenix, 13, Xanthe, seven, Xascha, eight, and four-year-old twins, Xahlia and Margaux.

However, the pair appear to be reconciling their relationship, as they were recently spotted on a family outing day out in Bryon Bay in March, where the family are now thought to be based.
MasterChef introduced a fresh batch of culinary hopefuls when the eleventh series premiered on Monday night.

And judge George Calombaris, 40, has revealed that three quarters of the show's former contestants are now gainfully employed in the food industry.

The Greek-Australian chef told Woman's Day on Monday: '75 per cent of all our past contestants are working in the industry.'

'They're doing amazing things!' MasterChef judge George Calombaris (pictured) has claimed that '75 per cent of the show's previous contestants are now working in the food industry'

He added: 'They are doing amazing things.'

It comes after the new season of MasterChef was beaten by Channel Nine's surprise hit Lego Masters on Monday night.

MasterChef drew 715,000 metro viewers, while Lego Masters had an audience of 1.053 million in the same 7:30pm time slot.

In the spotlight: Sashi Cheliah (pictured) triumphed during last year's season of MasterChef

Channel 10's chief content officer Beverley McGarvey was quick to spin a positive statement about the show's performance.

She told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: 'After 11 years, it's great to see audiences flock back to the MasterChef Australia kitchen with 905,000 national TV viewers tuning in to last night's launch.

'The launch was up year on year on 10 Play and was the #1 show across social platforms yesterday.'

Off the boil already? It comes after the new season of MasterChef (left) was beaten by Channel Nine's surprise hit Lego Masters, hosted by Hamish Blake (right), on Monday night

MasterChef was the seventh most-watched program on Monday night, a far cry from its previous status as a guaranteed ratings winner.

Meanwhile, George recently baffled fans when he wore a pair of dark sunglasses during an interview on The Project on Monday night.

He later clarified that it wasn't a fashion choice, saying he needed to conceal his eyes from the studio lights as he recovers from surgery.
Chris Lilley is one of Australia's most popular - and controversial - comedians.

And following the release of his Netflix show Lunatics, deleted scenes have resurfaced from his previous mockumentaries, Angry Boys and Ja'mie: Private School Girl.

The never-before-seen footage was first shared by the comedian on YouTube in 2016 and went viral in the past week due to the headlines surrounding Lunatics.

Previously unseen: Chris Lilley (pictured) has shared deleted scenes from Angry Boys and Ja'mie: Private School Girl that never aired on TV - as he hits back at critics of Lunatics

In the Angry Boys clip, Daniel discusses his lack of success with women.

'It's s**t that Nath [his identical twin] looks exactly the same as me but he pulls way more chicks than me,' says Daniel.

The 17-year-old brothers, who live on a small farm in South Australia, first appeared on Chris' original series We Can Be Heroes in 2005.

The unseen footage was filmed in 2010, but was not featured when the show aired on television the following year.

Remember this? In the never-before seen Angry Boys clip, Daniel discusses his lack of success with women compared to his identical twin brother

Bonus footage: Another deleted scene from Ja'mie: Private School Girl shows the titular character assisting her love interest Mitchell (Lester Ellis Jr.) as he works out in a home gym

Another deleted scene from Ja'mie: Private School Girl has also re-emerged.

The show, in which Chris plays snobby schoolgirl Ja'mie King, aired in 2013 after the character first appeared in We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High.

In the deleted scene, Ja'mie assists her love interest Mitchell (Lester Ellis Jr.) as he works out in a home gym.

Fan favourite: The character of Ja'mie King, a snobbish private school girl, first appeared in We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High

Over the weekend, Chris hit back at critics of his controversial new series Lunatics, which debuted on Netflix last month.

He defended his mockumentry-style comedy, telling The Weekend Australian he won't give in to naysayers.

'I'm not trying to do the thing that is trendy at the moment,' he said.

The award-winning funnyman added that he plans to continue making 'clever, layered' characters like he has done in the past.
She is usually joined by her two sons, Alexander 'Sasha' Pete, 11, and Samuel 'Sammy' Kai, 10, on her daily stroll.

But on Tuesday, Naomi Watts played the role of a doting mother to her dog Bob.

The 50-year-old actress was dressed casually chic as she took the tiny Yorkie for a walk through the streets of New York City.

They call it puppy love! Naomi Watts cut a casual chic figure as she took her rescue pup Bob for a stroll in New York

The Birdman actress looked every bit the New Yorker, sporting a grey pinstripe jacket with dark denim cropped jeans and white sneakers.

She teamed the look with a grey striped scarf and baby pink wayfarer sunglasses.

Bob, a rescue pup from Hurricane Harvey, was seen happily prancing alongside Naomi on a red leash as she multi-tasked by texting and walking.

New Yorker: The Birdman actress looked every bit the New Yorker, sporting a grey pinstripe jacket with dark denim cropped jeans and white sneakers

Naomi has been juggling multiple film roles, with four movies and two television series' either in post or pre-production.

Most recently, she finished shooting two new films: the drama Once Upon A Time In Staten Island, and science fiction action flick Boss Level.

She's now gearing up to star in the highly-anticipated prequel to HBO's massive hit Game of Thrones. The series, The Long Night, will begin filming early this summer.

Accessories: She teamed the look with a grey striped scarf and baby pink wayfarer sunglasses

Naomi has two children with her ex-partner Liev Schreiber, 50, sons Alexander Pete, 11, and Samuel Kai, 10.

She has most recently been linked up with Bill Crudup, who has a 14-year-old son name William Atticus Parker with his ex-partner Mary-Louise Parker.
She underwent surgery last week after breaking her arm during a horse riding accident in Mexico.

But Kelly Gale was already back in the gym on Tuesday, squeezing in a 'booty workout' in Los Angeles just four days after her hospital visit.

The 23-year-old shared a video to Instagram of her exercise session, telling fans she's now able to resume her fitness routine because she is off painkillers.

Does she ever stop? Victoria's Secret model Kelly Gale squeezed in a 'booty workout' on Tuesday just four days after having surgery on her broken arm. Pictured in hospital last week

'Four days post-surgery off of the painkillers and back at it. Booty getting a burn today,' Kelly captioned the workout video.

In the footage, she wore leggings and a T-shirt while performing various leg exercises, including raises and lunges.

Kelly explained that she had to briefly stop working out because her doctor told her she can't sweat in the first week after surgery.

'Back at it': The 23-year-old shared footage to Instagram of her workout session, before telling fans she's now able to exercise because she is off painkillers

Stop, start: Kelly explained that she had to briefly stop working out because her doctor told her she can't sweat in the first week after surgery

'Had to take a break 15 minutes in because there is no sweating allowed first week post-surgery,' Kelly wrote.

Just four days ago, Kelly had surgery on her broken arm.

At the time, she shared a humourous video to Instagram of herself coming around as the anaesthetic wore off.

Health woes: Four days ago, Kelly had surgery on her broken arm after a horse riding accident

Kelly shared a humourous video to Instagram of herself coming around as the anaesthetic wore off. In the clip, Kelly mumbled incoherently and even tried to exercise in her hospital bed

In the clip, Kelly mumbled incoherently and even tried to exercise in her hospital bed. At one stage, she spoke about going to Africa 'to save the elephants'.

Kelly is very much dedicated to health and fitness, and last year revealed her gruelling workout regimen ahead of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

She told her followers that she was exercising non-stop for four hours at a time.
Steven Yeun is a dad for the second time, welcoming a newborn daughter with wife Joana Pak on Tuesday afternoon.

The 35 year old actor hasn't posted anything on social media yet, but Pak, who he's been married to since 2016, shared a first look at the child on her Instagram story.

The child's name and official birth date have not yet been revealed at this time.

Second child: Steven Yeun is a dad for the second time, welcoming a newborn daughter with wife Joana Pak on Tuesday afternoon

Yeun announced in December 2018 that he was expecting his second child with Pak, with their first born in March 2017, Jude Malcolm Yeun.

The actor, best known for playing Glenn on The Walking Dead for seven seasons, married photographer Pak in 2016 after many years of dating.

Last month, Pak opened up with a touching Instagram post where she reflected on her first pregnancy with Jude.

Opening up: Last month, Pak opened up with a touching Instagram post where she reflected on her first pregnancy with Jude.

'There was a period of time after becoming pregnant with Jude where I stayed quiet. It was just me, myself, and I processing an abundance of changes that kept me,' she began.

'Questions of postpartum and the wonders of motherhood became monotonous and I felt dissociated with myself. My transformation happened this way,' she continued.

'It has been 2 years since this photo was taken, and I am so grateful to find myself carrying a baby girl,' the new mom said.

Happy couple: 'There was a period of time after becoming pregnant with Jude where I stayed quiet. It was just me, myself, and I processing an abundance of changes that kept me,' she began

'As I remember my mamas words   . I lay myself down and surrender. I know that I know nothing,' she added.

'I went to visit @sparrows_nest_massage yesterday and upon the relief that shes always been able to give, I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude. Life can be so fickle like that,' the mother said.

'I die everyday with gratitude for love is all,' she concluded.

Busy actor: Just a day before his second child was born, Yeun's new film Burning, a South Korean film from director Chang-dong Lee, was released on Netflix

Just a day before his second child was born, Yeun's new film Burning, a South Korean film from director Chang-dong Lee, was released on Netflix.

Yeun also lends his voice to the Netflix animated series Tuca & Bertie, with Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong voicing the title characters, debuting May 3.

He is also playing Mark Grayson in the TV adaptation of Invincible, based on the Skybound/Image Comics title of the same name.
Patricia Arquette appeared before Congress in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to express her support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

The 51-year-old actress cited 'a groundswell in this country' to institute the amendment, which places legal protections for women against discrimination on account of gender.

'Women are rising up by the millions and saying they will not be sexually assaulted, they will not be paid less, they will not be treated as subhuman and they will have their voices heard,' said the actress, according to the Huffington Post.

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Seeking change: Patricia Arquette, 51, appeared before Congress in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to express her support of the Equal Rights Amendment

The Oscar-winner spoke to the House Judiciary Committee, pledging her support for a bill that would scuttle a 1982 deadline for the amendment that was never officially ratified after receiving support from 35 of a necessary 38 states after Congress had passed it a decade earlier.

The Chicago native wore a white gown in solidarity with fellow activists, with her blonde locks in a bob. She was front-and-center as Congress - which welcomed a record-setting number of female representatives after last fall's Midterm Elections - held its first hearing in 36 years on the matter, amid a bill California Rep. Jackie Speier sponsored.

The True Romance star, speaking to ABC News, said the amendment is a critical one that impacts all people.

'It really should be personal for every woman, and it should mean a lot to every man who loves women or who cares about equality at all,' Arquette said. 'On the outside, you think that when you look at America women have equal rights.

Nice to meet you: The True Romance star shoot hands with chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, New York Rep. Jerry Nadler

Focused: The Academy Award-winning star cited 'a groundswell in this country' among women to institute the amendment

'But when you start picking it apart - at all the ways women are falling through the cracks - you start to think maybe we aren't really equal?'

Also appearing at the hearing on Tuesday was actress Alyssa Milano, who said that the ERA would 'build a wall - a wall that will actually do something against the never-ending assault on our rights from the current or future presidents.'

Milano, 46, said that ratifying it after 36 years would signal 'to the nation and to the world that the most important document in American history refuses to allow any person to be discriminated against because of who they are.'

Dedicated: For years, the Oscar-winning star has been outspoken about social and political issues near to her heart
He jetted out of Sydney this week after embarking on a whirlwind trip through Sydney to promote the final episodes of Game Of Thrones.

But Isaac Hempstead Wright wasn't about to leave without getting to see some of Australia's famous fauna.

Taking to Instagram Wednesday, the 20-year-old star shared a picture of himself getting up close and personal with a tawny-frogmouth at the Wild Life Zoo in Sydney's Darling Harbour.

He's the BRAN new Zoo Keeper! Game Of Thrones star Isaac Hempstead Wright posed with an adorable tawny-frogmouth bird at Sydney's Wild Life Zoo while in town to promote the HBO series

The actor, who plays Bran Stark , also known as the 'Three-Eyed Raven' on the hit HBO series, posed happily as the adorable bird sat calmly on his shoulder.

Dressed in a safari-themed ensemble, Isaac wore a beige corduroy shirt and white cap while still sporting his signature round black frames.

Isaac was in Australia for just three days to promote the eighth and final season of the world-wide phenomenon - which he has starred in since it's inception.

Almost over: Isaac was in Australia for just three days to promote the eighth and final season of the world-wide phenomenon - which he has starred in since it's inception. Pictured: Isaac as Bran Stark on Game Of Thrones

Although he said he's sad the show is finally coming to an end, Isaac admitted he's keen to explore roles outside of the show.

Talking to The Daily Telegraph Confidential on Monday, the actor confessed that after the show's relentlessly grim and gory story lines, he's ready for something 'lighthearted'.

'I want to do something in a different kind of world, something light-hearted would be fun after this,' he explained.

Isaac is also planning on returning to his studies in neuroscience at the University of Birmingham.

Time to move on: Although Isaac said he's sad the show is finally coming to an end, Isaac admitted he's keen to explore roles outside of the show.

He said he had put his studying on hold to focus on his acting career and role on Game of Thrones.

'For ages, between going to school and being on Game Of Thrones, I haven't had much time to fit anything else in,' Isaac told to the publication.

'So this is the time now where I can kind of find my style and find what kind of projects appeal to me.'
Winona Ryder was decked out in 1940s attire on the set of her upcoming HBO miniseries The Plot Against America.

The mini-series is based on Philip Roth's 2004 novel of the same name, which charted an alternate history of America after hero pilot Charles Lindbergh won the 1940 Presidential election over Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The 47 year old actress was cast in the miniseries earlier in April, with Deadline reporting that she was playing Evelyn Finkel.

1940s Winona: Winona Ryder is decked out in 1940s attire on the set of HBO's The Plot Against America in New York City

Ryder is wearing a black coat cinched off with a cloth belt tied in a bow tie, with a purple dress underneath.

She is also wearing a colorful purple and blue hat, with small earrings and a gold eagle pin on the lapel of her coat.

The actress was also holding a black purse with a gold clasp and wearing thick black heels.

40s fashion: Ryder is wearing a black coat cinched off with a cloth belt tied in a bow tie, with a purple dress underneath

The Plot Against America will be a six-part mini-series based on Roth's novel, which imagines America as it delves into neo-fascism under new president Lindbergh, who, in real life, was long suspected as a Nazi sympathizer.

The show follows a working class family in New Jersey who watch Lindbergh's rise through their own perspective.

Ryder will play Evelyn Finkel, an unmarried woman who has spent the past 10 years taking care of her invalid mother, and sister to the main character Bess (Zoe Kazan).

Winona: The Plot Against America will be a six-part mini-series based on Roth's novel, which imagines America as it delves into neo-fascism under new president Lindbergh, who, in real life, was long suspected as a Nazi sympathizer

Evelyn is noticed by a key political figure, Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf (John Turturro), a key Lindbergh supporter, which changes her life.

The cast for The Plot Against America includes Morgan Spector as Bess' husband Herman Levin, Anthony Boyle as Alvin Levin, Herman's orphaned nephew.

The cast is rounded out by Azhy Robertson as Philip Levin, the youngest of the family, and Caleb Malis as Sandy Levin, Bess and Herman's artistic teenage son.

New role: Evelyn is noticed by a key political figure, Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf (John Turturro), a key Lindbergh supporter, which changes her life

Ryder most recently starred on the big screen with Keanu Reeves in the 2018 romantic comedy Destination Wedding, the UK release date is May 10.

She also returns as Joyce Byers in Season 3 of the hit series Stranger Things, which is set to premiere July 4 on the Netflix streaming service.

HBO has yet to announce a premiere date for The Plot Against America, which was adapted by The Wire creator David Simon and Ed Burns.
Chris Lilley, 44, is one of Australia's most reclusive celebrities.

And following the release of Netflix's Lunatics, a background actor from the new series has offered a rare insight into the fiercely private comedian.

Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, Anna Luky, who appeared as an extra in scenes with character Keith Dick, has described Chris as an 'extreme perfectionist'.

Tell all: An extra from Netflix series Lunatics has revealed what Chris Lilley (pictured in 2014), 44, is REALLY like behind the scenes and offered a rare insight into the fiercely private comedian

'Chris has a very strong personality and takes a lot of attention from the surroundings,' said Anna, who fans will spot as store worker Sam on the show.

'He is an extreme perfectionist and between scenes he is very focused, watching what has been done [on monitors], and re-shooting some scene again and again.'

Anna, who filmed with Chris on the Gold Coast in early 2018, continued to praise the comedian for creating a 'stress free' and enjoyable environment on set.

Starring role! Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, Anna Luky (centre), who appeared as an extra in scenes with character Keith Dick (left), has hailed Chris as an 'extreme perfectionist'

'He is very focused': Anna (right) says that Chris would often 're-shoot scenes again and again' until he felt they were right - and has an 'incredible sense of humour' in real life

'He has an incredible sense of humor,' added Anna, while revealing he is equally as amusing when the cameras stop rolling.

'If you want a closer understating of where all of those massive personalities (characters) come from, it's easy: he is a Scorpio, [who are] the most charismatic people in the world, with high mastering of personal magnetism.'

Anna, who has a day job as a stylist, went on to reveal she had no idea who Chris was prior to meeting him on set - with this also being her first big TV gig.

'I have never been filming before, that's why I wasn't really familiar who Chris was.'

'I wasn't really familiar': Russian-born Anna, who has a day job as a stylist, went on to reveal she had no idea who Chris was prior to meeting him on set - with this also being her first big TV gig

Wow! Anna went on to reveal that Chris 'called her agent' after her first day on set to offer her more scenes, and comforted her when she was nervous about having to ad-lib some dialogue

Anna added: 'After my first day on set, I got a call from my agent and he said that Chis had enjoyed working with me and I was offered one of the main [extra] roles.'

The Russian-born background actor then confessed that after experiencing nerves when she was given a speaking role at the last minute, Chris comforted her.

'After my non-speaking role was converted to a speaking one, I said to Chris that I don't have any script, and he said, "Don't panic! You'll be creating a dialogue and answering a few questions I'll ask".'

Lunatics is available to stream now on Netflix.
She's expecting her third child with NRL star husband George Burgess later this year.

And on Tuesday, Joanna Burgess showed off her growing baby bump in a striped bikini as she hit Coogee Beach in Sydney with George and their two-year-old son Boston.

The 29-year-old looked happy and confident as she splashed around with her belly on full display.

Baby on board! Joanna Burgess showed off her baby bump in a striped bikini at Coogee Beach in Sydney on Tuesday

Meanwhile, George sported a pair of red-and-white Budgy Smugglers, which featured the brand name written across the backside.

Always the doting daddy, the rugby player was seen playing in the sand with his two-year-old son Boston.

Joanna, a former model-turned-WAG, confirmed her third pregnancy in February.

Cradle: The heavily pregnant WAG protectively cradled her growing bump with two hands

Happy: The 29-year-old looked happy and confident as she splashed around with her belly on full display

Family affair: Joanna was joined by her husband George and their two-year-old son Boston

Taking to Instagram, she revealed she and George were 'beyond excited' to be welcoming a new addition to their family.

'George and Bossy will officially be outnumbered soon,' she wrote. 'We are beyond excited to have another mini Birdie join the four of us in July.'

Joanna and George already share two children: son Boston, who turns two in April, and five-month-old daughter Birdie.

Muscular: George showed off his physique in a tight pair of Budgy Smugglers

Brand recognition: The Budgy Smuggler brand name was plastered on the backside

Doting daddy! George splashed around the surf with his two-year-old son Boston

The announcement came after The Sunday Telegraph reported in early February that Joanna was three months along, and had fallen pregnant 'eight weeks' after welcoming Birdie.

'They have told their close friends they are expecting again,' a source told the newspaper at the time.

'I've heard she fell pregnant eight weeks after giving birth to her daughter in August.'

Bikini babe: The former model wore a striped string bikini and carried a white sarong

Mummy duties: The blonde beauty sat in the sand with her young son

The couple officially tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Noosa, Queensland.

Joanna isn't the only Burgess to be expecting, as it was revealed in January that George's twin brother Tom and his girlfriend Tahlia Giumelli, 26, are preparing to welcome their first child.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph at the time, Tahlia said that she and Tom, 27, were thrilled with the 'happy surprise'.

Keeping cool! Joanna remained in the water while George and Boston played in the sand

Boys will be boys! George and Boston looked like they were having a great time making sandcastles

Chip off the old block! The father-and-son duo bent down in the sand and played

'I'm three months along, so we've just hit that 13-week mark,' she said.

'I'm showing a little bit, but I don't know if it's just all the food I've been gobbling up or if it's a Burgess baby, they are quite large kids!'

Tom and Tahlia are expecting their baby in August.

Keeping cool: Joanna affectionately placed a hand on George's shoulder
She jetted into Melbourne on Wednesday.

And despite the long-haul flight and presumably some jet lag, Jada Pinkett Smith, 47, looked well refreshed as she grabbed some lunch upon her arrival with son Jaden Smith, 20.

The actress cut a casual figure in double denim as the pair dined at an eatery in the CBD, near their hotel.

No jet lag here! Jada Pinkett Smith cut a casual figure as she and son Jaden Smith stepped out for lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday after the actress arrived in Australia to support his tour with Post Malone

Jada wore ripped white denim jeans with a blue denim jacket, which she teamed with white sneakers.

The American actress and wife of Will Smith, 50, also had a blue denim shirt tied around her waist.

She covered her face with a black cap and dark sunglasses.

Mommy and me! The pair looked happy and relaxed, smiling and laughing as they caught up

Catching up: The pair caught up over lunch in Melbourne's CBD

Jaden, who has been performing around Australia as a support act of Post Malone, stood out in baggy pink Pangaia sweatpants and a black hooded jumper.

The pair looked happy and relaxed, smiling and laughing as they caught up.

The outing comes after Jaden sparked concern when he opened Post's Melbourne show at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday.

The musician hit the stage with a bandage on his left hand.

Everything okay? The outing comes after Jaden sparked concern when he opened Post's Melbourne show at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday

Despite the mysterious patch, Jaden put on a lively show, taking to Instagram on the night to share a video of himself hyping up the crowd.

'You were UNREALL! (sic),' one fan commented underneath the post.

The pair will hit the stage in Melbourne once again on Wednesday and Thursday night, before heading to Brisbane for shows on Saturday and Sunday.

Next week the pair will perform in Sydney.
Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson star in the soon-to-be released move, The Hustle.

And it appears the Hollywood actresses forged quite the friendship behind-the-scenes on the comedy film set.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Australian star Rebel shared a video of herself and the Oscar-winning actress jumping into a pool fully clothed after filming.

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Pooling around: They star in the soon-to-be released movie, The Hustle, and Anne Hathaway (right) and Rebel Wilson (left) clearly forged quite a friendship on set

'@annehathaway & I at the end of a long day filming in Mallorca, Spain!' the Pitch Perfect star captioned the clip.

The video shows the two women holding hands with their arms outstretched, as they prepare to jump into an infinity pool.

A woman filming can be heard counting to three, before they both cheer and leap into the water, fully-clothed.

Onlookers can be heard clapping, cheering and laughing in the video, as the two actresses take a moment to adjust to the water.

Pure admiration: Anne was full of praise for her Aussie co-star during an interview with ET in April

Jump in: Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Rebel, 39, shared a video of herself and the 36-year-old Oscar-winning actress jumping into a pool after a day of filming

'That is so nice,' Anne can be heard saying.

Rebel then suggests racing to the end of the pool, and they begin to swim through the water with pace.

Anne is seen narrowly beating Rebel, with the two women punching their arms victoriously into the air as they pose at the edge of the pool.

Sink or swim: A woman filming can be heard counting to three, before they both cheer and leap into the water, fully-clothed

In first place: Anne is seen narrowly beating out Rebel, with the two women then punching their arms victoriously into the air

As they begin to exit the pool, Anne comments that her white dress has turned 'really see-through'.

A man off-camera can then be heard saying, 'no photos, please,' before the camera is switched off.

Anne was full of praise for her Aussie co-star during an interview with ET in April.

'It was such a joy to watch you do your thing that you do pretty much better than anybody,' Anne told Rebel

Joking around: 'It was so hard not to laugh. I would just love the moments when the entire crew would be like busting a gut laughing... and I would have to keep it together'

'It was such a joy to watch you do your thing that you do pretty much better than anybody,' she told her.

'It was so hard not to laugh. I would just love the moments when the entire crew would be like busting a gut laughing... and I would have to keep it together.'

'I feel like my not breaking (ending a scene early) skills got much better working with you.'

The Hustle is released in Australian cinemas on May 9
Gloria Bell actress Julianne Moore had the honor of introducing Dan Krauss' AIDS documentary 5B during the Verizon Media NewFront in Manhattan on Tuesday.

The inspirational, uplifting film - hitting US theaters in June and VOD this fall - details the doctors, nurses, and caregivers caring for the infected at San Francisco General Hospital in 1983.

The Oscar winner easily defied her 58 years in a crisp white blouse, black wide-leg pants, and matching heels selected by stylist Leslie Fremar.

On the mic: Gloria Bell actress Julianne Moore had the honor of introducing Dan Krauss' AIDS documentary 5B during the Verizon Media NewFront in Manhattan on Tuesday

Hitting US theaters in June! The inspirational, uplifting film details the doctors, nurses, and caregivers caring for the infected at San Francisco General Hospital in 1983

The Bel Canto beauty rocked a metal bejeweled choker over her conservative turtleneck.

Hairstylist Ryan Trygstad coiffed Moore's signature auburn waves.

Make-up artist Hung Vanngo brightened up Julianne's alabaster complexion with peachy blush and lipstick.

While at the Verizon screening, the two-time Golden Globe winner made sure to pose beside Verizon Media CEO K. Guru Gowrappan as well as the group of medical professionals featured in 5B.

Sophisticated: The Oscar winner easily defied her 58 years in a crisp white blouse, black wide-leg pants, and matching heels selected by stylist Leslie Fremar

Accessory: The Bel Canto beauty rocked a metal bejeweled choker over her conservative turtleneck

'Here's your selfie!' Hairstylist Ryan Trygstad coiffed Moore's signature auburn waves

Babe! Make-up artist Hung Vanngo brightened up Julianne's alabaster complexion with peachy blush and lipstick

Group shot: While at the Verizon screening, the two-time Golden Globe winner made sure to pose beside Verizon Media CEO K. Guru Gowrappan (R) as well as the group of medical professionals featured in 5B

The Boston University grad's New York sighting came five days after she was honored with the Coolidge Award in Massachusetts.

'To be back in Boston, in a theater, in a town this formative to who I am as a human being and as an actor, is extraordinary,' Moore told the Brookline crowd - according to The Boston Globe.

'I truly mean this from the bottom of my heart: thank you very, very much.'

'Long live Eraserhead!' The Boston University grad's New York sighting came five days after she was honored with the Coolidge Award in Massachusetts

Moore told the Brookline crowd: 'To be back in Boston, in a theater, in a town this formative to who I am as a human being and as an actor, is extraordinary'

Missing from Julianne's (born Julie Anne Smith) side were her second husband Bart Freundlich, their 17-year-old daughter Liv, and 21-year-old son Caleb.

The married couple of 15 years fell in love in 1995 when the 49-year-old filmmaker first directed her in The Myth of Fingerprints.

UK audiences can next catch the Army brat as a 'free-spirited 50-something woman seeking love at LA dance clubs' in Gloria Bell when it finally hits theaters on June 7.

Family hike: Missing from Julianne's side were her second husband Bart Freundlich, their 17-year-old daughter Liv (L), and 21-year-old son Caleb (R, pictured January 2)
The series five finale of Line Of Duty airs on Sunday, and with just five days to go, the BBC have given sofa detectives some more vital clues in the case of 'H'.

The hugely popular show's penultimate episode saw AC-12 boss, Superintendent Ted Hastings arrested for conspiracy to murder, with all the clues pointing to him to be the mysterious super villain 'H'.

But new photos of the series finale released on Wednesday seem to prove that Hastings isn't the top bent copper.

Finale: Line Of Duty have unveiled a series of new images from the series five final episode, which airs on Sunday

The series of images focus on Ted, played by Adrian Dunbar, in a room with new character DCS Patricia Carmichael.

But while last week Patricia and Ted were facing off in an interrogation, ending with Ted's arrest for conspiracy to murder undercover copper John Corbett, the new images show them in what looks like a police briefing room.

Ted is still out of police uniform and in the prison jumper he was seen in at the close of the penultimate episode, but this time he's standing shoulder to shoulder with Patricia, suggesting he's helping to solve the case.

Helping: The new photos seem to prove that Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar, pictured centre) isn't 'H' as after being thrown in a prison cell last week he now appears to be helping with the investigation alongside Patricia Carmichael (Anna Maxwell Martin and Tranter (Natalie Gavin)

It looks as though Ted is helping with an investigation as a huge map is on the wall behind him and he appears to be examining evidence on a table.

Further proving he is not being questioned, is the absence of his federation rep Joel Rossport (Peter De Jersey), who sat in on his interview last week.

One significant photo shows AC-12 Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) on a radio as she joins the briefing with Ted and Patricia, while a brunette woman can be glimpsed in Ted's eyeline.

Is that Gill? One significant photo shows Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) on a radio as she joins the briefing with Ted and Patricia, while a brunette woman can be glimpsed in Ted's eyeline

Drama: Another shot shows a perturbed looking DCS Patricia looking at something on a monitor with DCC Wise (Elizabeth Rider) sat beside her

Friends or foes? While last week Patricia and Ted were facing off in an interrogation room, the new images show them in what looks like a police briefing room

There he is! Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) appears in one photo, joining the group in the briefing room, which has a huge map on the wall

While her face cannot be seen, the woman bears a resemblance to police lawyer Gill Biggeloe (Polly Walker), who is the current bookies favourite to be unveiled as 'H', with fans citing the first mention of 'H' as a significant clue.

Bent copper Dot gave the codename H to Kate Fleming when he blinked to signal the letter while on his deathbed at the end of series three.

But while for two seasons the show has referred to 'H', some fans have suggested Dot actually meant to signal 'G' and he 'blinked too slowly'.

New evidence? Wise and Carmichael don't look pleased with the new twists and turns

Bringing in H: Elizabeth Rider and the show's new star Anna Maxwell Martin appear to have key scenes in the finale

Popular addition: Anna stole scenes in her debut episode last week, interrogating Hastings and arresting him for conspiracy to murder John Corbett

Where's the uniform? Ted is still in the prison jumper he was seen in at the close of the penultimate episode, but this time it looks as thought he's helping to solve the case

Everyone's there! Sergeant Tranter, who first appeared in last week's episode, also pops up in the photos, as she helps her boss Carmichael with the case

Things are getting serious: Wise and Carmichael appear to have a tense moment in the final snap

One fan tweeted on Sunday: 'A lot of people are saying Gill is H... maybe when Dot recorded his dying declaration he blinked on G and that got mistaken as H??!!

Another agreed, writing: 'Still think Gill Bigelow is H. And also when Dot Cotton blinked, he was blinking G ... Kate just couldn't count. #LineOfDuty.'

'So I thought Gill could be 'H' assuming Kate mistook Dot's blinking as H not G. But then OCG call him/her H so either that name was leaked from police or it really is an 'H'? I always assumed that H had a real name and we said H because of the 'blink' code from Dot #LineOfDuty,' pointed out another confused fan.

Remember this? Bent copper Dot gave the codename H to Kate Fleming when he blinked to signal the letter while on his deathbed at the end of series three

Wild theory: While for two seasons the show has referred to 'H', some fans have suggested Dot actually meant to signal 'G' and he 'blinked too slowly' with Gill Biggeloe now in the frame

Others were adamant Gill has set up Hastings following their affair which never really got started. 'Beyond confused but Could it be Gill seeking revenge after being turned down by #hastings , could she be the secret H . You've set him up Gill I'm convinced @Line_of_dutyI'm thinking Gill is H. Let slip to Ted she used to be a criminal defence lawyer so links to crims,' tweeted a fan.

Gill was seen in the latest episode of series five offering to help Hastings before his interrogation and arrest.

She informed the Superintendent that he was due to be investigated by East Midlands Constabulary's AC-3, and urged him to consider retiring so he could avoid disciplinary procedures.

Tense: Gill was seen in the latest episode of series five offering to help Hastings before his interrogation and arrest

Shock: She informed the Superintendent that he was due to be investigated by East Midlands Constabulary's AC-3

She also offered to represent him as his solicitor, having previously worked as a defence lawyer, but Ted refused both offers.

Fans are hoping H's identity will be revealed in next week's final episode, but with two more series confirmed and Mecurio's love of a cliffhanger, nothing is certain.

The theories are wide-ranging with Patricia Carmichael (Anna Maxwell Martin), who had her first scenes in the show on Sunday, the latest name in the frame.

Names in the frame: Fans are hoping H's identity will be revealed in next week's final episode, with Carmichael, who had her first scenes in the show on Sunday, the latest suspect

Back when series five began it was thought the mystery had been solved, with DCC Derek Hilton - who was killed at the end of series four - the main man. But with H's activities still ongoing after Hilton's death that theory seems dead and buried.

Another dead copper Les Hargreaves was also in the frame earlier this series, but it seems more likely he was just another corrupt copper hired by the OCG and not the top man.

Minor characters like DCC Andrea Wise aren't out of the running either, with Wise conveniently being the one who removed Ted from the investigation into Operation Peartree,

Demise: Dead copper Les Hargreaves was also in the frame earlier this series

Could it be her? Minor characters like DCC Andrea Wise aren't out of the running either

Iconic: Top names from previous series are also in the frame, including Thandie Newton's character Roz Huntley

Top names from previous series are also in the frame, including Thandie Newton's character Roz Huntley - whose surname at least fits the profile.

Meanwhile Rochenda Sandall, who plays OCG member Lisa McQueen, wasn't giving away any clues when she appeared on This Morning on Monday.

When asked about the fan theory that series lead and AC-12 veteran Kate Fleming could be H, Rochenda coyly replied: 'Oh really? I've not heard that yet...'

Line of Duty series five concludes on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.

Keeping mum: Rochenda Sandall, who plays OCG member Lisa McQueen, wasn't giving away any clues when she appeared on This Morning on Monday
She's the former Big Brother star who has spent the last week in exotic Bali.

And on Wednesday, Tully Smyth shared a stunning snap of herself luxuriating in skimpy bikini during her tropical getaway.

Taking to Instagram, the 31-year-old flaunted her washboard abs and svelte figure in an skimpy orange bikini while in Bali's trendy hot spot, Canngu.

Bikini babe: Former Big Brother star Tully Smyth, 31, (pictured) showed off her washboard abs and svelte frame in a skimpy bikini while enjoying a tropical holiday in Bali on Wednesday

'Hey Dad, its me. Soz but Im not coming home. Love you!' Tully wrote.

In a second photo, the blonde beauty showed off her flawless visage as she went makeup-free for a beach selfie while drinking from a coconut.

'A coconut a day etc etc Im running out of creative holiday captions,' she joked.

What a bod! Taking to Instagram, the 31-year-old flaunted her washboard abs and svelte figure in an skimpy orange bikini while in Bali's trendy hot spot, Canngu

Flawless: In a second photo, the blonde beauty showed off her flawless visage as she went makeup-free for a beach selfie while drinking a coconut

In the past week the former reality star has spent her time hanging out at some of Bali's trendiest locations including, Tropicana pool club, OMNIA bar and La Brisa.

She's also shared some enviably beautiful snaps from her luxury accommodation, taking snaps of her fruity cocktails while enjoying them poolside.

The holiday posts come just weeks after the model revealed that she had been placed on 'suicide watch' by Big Brother producers after she was evicted from the show.

Cocktail o'clock: In the past week, she's shared some enviably beautiful snaps from her luxury accommodation, taking snaps of her fruity cocktails while enjoying them poolside

Sunset drinks: The former reality star has also spent her time hanging out at some of Bali's trendiest locations including, Tropicana pool club, OMNIA bar and La Brisa. Pictured: La Brisa Bali

Talking on the Shameless podcast in March, she admitted: 'They were concerned the public backlash was so bad that I might do something silly.'

Tully explained that after she came out of the Big Brother house, she found out about the media attention, the death threats and public backlash from fans due to her cheating scandal with fellow housemate, Anthony Drew.

'Bless them, the producers and Channel Nine offered protection in different forms,' Tully said.

Taking a break: The holiday posts come just weeks after the model revealed that she had been placed on 'suicide watch' by Big Brother producers after she was evicted from the show

Breakfast is served: Talking on the Shameless podcast in March, she admitted: 'They were concerned the public backlash was so bad that I might do something silly

'So usually you stay the night in the hotel and then you go home the next day and then you're flown back up the next weekend for your meet and greet at Dreamworld. That didn't happen to me.'

'I was kept in the hotel, basically on suicide watch,' she continued.

'I didn't know this at the time but they wanted to keep me on the Gold Coast under a watchful eye because they were concerned the public backlash was so bad that I might do something silly,' she said, adding that her best friend was with her the entire time.
She shares her adorable mini-me Sophia, five, with husband of five years, Jay Rutland.

But Tamara Ecclestone enjoyed some time off her mummy duties as she treated herself to a bouncy blowdry at her hair salon Show Dry in London's Westbourne Grove district on Tuesday morning.

The F1 heiress, 34, looked sensational as she highlighted her slender frame in a nude low-cut bodysuit, tied in with a pair of classic black skinny jeans.

Pampering session: Tamara Ecclestone treated herself to a bouncy blowdry at her hair salon Show Dry in London's Westbourne Grove district on Tuesday morning

Upping the style ante, the daughter of Bernie Ecclestone finished off her look with a metallic pink maxi coat and matching suede stilettos.

The socialite caught the eye with her choice of accessories as she was dripped in diamond earrings and necklaces, and toted a designer black handbag.

Framing her stunning visage with her fresh curls, the TV personality stunned in shimmery eyeshadow, false lashings and light pink lipgloss.

Tamara first launched her Show Dry brand in 2013, and has since opened salons in Notting Hill, Wimbledon Village and Manchester, as well as in-store stations in department stores Harvey Nichols and House Of Fraser nationwide.

Catching the eye: The F1 heiress, 34, looked sensational as she highlighted her slender frame in a nude low-cut bodysuit, tied in with a pair of classic black skinny jeans

All in the details: The socialite caught the eye with her choice of accessories as she was dripped in diamond earrings and necklaces, and toted a designer black handbag

Last month, Tamara and Fifi enjoyed a stay at one of their favourite destinations, the Atlantis in the Bahamas alongside husband Jay Rutland, 38.

Meanwhile, the doting mother recently spoke exclusively to MailOnline about life in the Ecclestone-Rutland household.

The Italian-born beauty gushed about her beloved daughter and her decision to breastfeed her until recently - which has long caused controversy.

Treating herself: Tamara enjoyed some time off mummy duties as she sat in the hairdressing chair

Stunning: Framing her stunning visage with her fresh curls, the TV personality stunned in shimmery eyeshadow, false lashings and light pink lipgloss

Businesswoman: She first launched her Show Dry brand in 2013, and has since opened salons in Notting Hill, Wimbledon Village and Manchester, as well as in-store stations in department stores Harvey Nichols and House Of Fraser nationwide

She said: 'The first time it happened we were breastfeeding on the beach with no one around and I said to Jay take a picture and there was this huge uproar and people fighting and getting aggressive about a picture!...

'When that happened I knew every time I did this it would happen but I was not going to let that stop me so I continued...

'There was such a circus around it so I thought... let me use this platform. People messaged me saying I gave them confidence to stand up to people asking them to stop and people came up to me and told me their stories.'

Family first: The Italian-born beauty shares her adorable mini-me Sophia, five, with husband of five years, Jay Rutland

Earlier this year, Tamara reportedly told Strictly Come Dancing producers she would 'love' to come on board now that her daughter Sophia is older.

A source told The Sun: 'Tamara has been on producers' lists before, but she wasn't in a position to do it. Now her daughter is older she feels its something she would love to do.

'She looks great and is from a fascinating background. She would undoubtedly be the richest person theyve ever had on the show by a country mile.'
She stars as Cristina Ferrare in new film Framing John DeLorean.

And Morena Baccarin attended the premiere of the flick alongside her husband Ben McKenzie during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at SVA Theate on Tuesday.

The actress, 39, looked super chic in a high-necked black gown as she took to the red carpet with her beau and the rest of the cast.

Chic: Morena Baccarin attended the premiere of the flick alongside her husband Ben McKenzie during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at SVA Theate on Tuesday

The striking Greta Constantine dress features blocks of vibrant sections of colour, in hues of yellow, pink and blue, giving the otherwise classic dress a modern twist.

In her hand she toted a small black box clutch, complete with a statement circular chain handle, which no doubt held all of the essentials for the evening.

The Deadpool actress swept her raven locks back from her pretty face and wore them in a sleek chignon, while accentuating her features with a glitzy pink eye look and red lip.

Handsome couple: The actress, 39, looked super chic in a high-necked black gown as she took to the red carpet with her beau and the rest of the cast

Standing by her side, husband Ben looked dapper in a navy checked suit jacket which he teamed with a pair of grey suit trousers and brown shoes.

In the film Morena plays John DeLorean's second of four wives Cristina, as the film tells the tale of his rise to prominence as an executive at General Motors before falling short of the presidency.

After missing out on the chance to run the mega company he went on to start his own DeLorean Motor Company, the film explains.

Pretty: The Deadpool actress swept her raven locks back from her pretty face and wore them in a sleek chignon, while accentuating her features with a glitzy pink eye look and red lip

Framing John DeLorean is a documentary but also features some dramatizations, in which Alec Baldwin will star as the tycoon himself.

His surname passed into legend when a DeLorean car was used as the time-travel device in Back To The Future and its sequels.

In the early 1980s he was arrested for cocaine trafficking, and although he was eventually acquitted the scandal destroyed his career.

Double date: Morena and Benjamin got together on the red carpet with Alec and Hilaria, forming a duo of Hollywood hot couples for the cameras

Morena and Benjamin got together on the red carpet with Alec and Hilaria, forming a duo of Hollywood hot couples for the cameras.

Alec, Morena and cast-mate Josh Charles posed with Tamir Ardon, a producer on the movie, and the documentary's directors Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce.

Framing John DeLorean will be released on June 7 2019.
She was pictured on Monday without her 'engagement' ring on.

And Jeremy Meeks put on a chirpy display in LA's Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday despite his girlfriend Chloe Green's vacant ring finger.

The 'Hot Felon' model, 35, was joined by a friend as he cut a casual figure in the iconic shopping district.

Chirpy: Jeremy Meeks put on a chirpy display in LA's Beverly Hills, California, on Tuesday despite his girlfriend Chloe Green's vacant ring finger

Jeremy wore a pair of bleach skinny jeans which he teamed with a sweatshirt, matching coloured trainers and a collection of gold necklaces.

The model's appearance comes after his girlfriend Chloe, 28, was seen without her 'engagement' ring as she attended a Cash & Rocket photoshoot for the charity's 2019 road trip in London on Monday.

Topshop heiress Chloe ditched her sparkling diamond for the photocall, although she has been seen without the bling before.

Where is it?: The model's appearance comes after the Topshop heiress, 28, was seen without the sparkling diamond bling as she attended a Cash & Rocket photoshoot on Monday (pictured)

Casual: The 'Hot Felon' model, 35, was joined by a friend as he cut a casual figure in the iconic shopping district

The star, mother to 11-month-old son Jayden, sported a slogan t-shirt with the message 'A mother, a daughter' to promote the charity's empowering message.

MailOnline has contacted both representatives for Chloe and Jeremy for comment.

In March, Chloe and Jeremy jetted off on a romantic break to Thailand and shared a slew of snaps from their idyllic getaway.

Smitten: In March, Chloe and Jeremy jetted off on a romantic break to Thailand and shared a slew of snaps from their idyllic getaway (pictured on the holiday)

Loved-up: The couple enjoyed some alone time together as they continue to settle into their roles as parents to their son Jayden, born in May 2018 (pictured together on the holiday)

The couple enjoyed some alone time together as they continue to settle into their roles as parents to their son Jayden, born in May 2018.

Before their holiday, the lovebirds were hit with rumours they had a public spat in Dubai in February where Jeremy stormed out of a club leaving Chloe alone.

The couple were further reported to have split after the Topshop heiress was seen without her rumoured engagement ring.

Split claims: They were reported to have split earlier this year after she was seen without her rumoured engagement ring (pictured without the eye-catching diamond on her finger)

However, insiders revealed to MailOnline of their latest sighting in Thailand: 'They seemed really happy in each other's company and there was no sign of a strain in their relationship as has been reported recently.'

'We spotted them at the lagoon at Hong Island, near to Krabi, Thailand, at midday on Sunday...

'We were only with them a short time as they were paddling alone together in the lagoon, but they seemed very happy, they were hugging and taking pictures.

'We saw them coming just two of them on a canoe, and there was a boat "parked" close to the lagoon.'
They are major players in the Hollywood film industry known for always commanding attention on the red carpet.

And Jordana Brewster and Cobie Smulders dazzled as they attended the Veronica Beard store opening party in Pacific Palisades, California on Tuesday.

The Fast & Furious actress, 39, and the Avengers star, 37, worked statement sartorial looks as they posed up at the glittering launch.

Chic: Jordana Brewster and Cobie Smulders dazzled as they attended the Veronica Beard store opening party in Pacific Palisades, California on Tuesday

Jordana slipped her toned frame into rose pink satin co-ords, consisting of a plunging slip style top.

This was paired with a floaty ankle-length skirt with a ruched hem, with the ensemble completed with patent leather peep toe heels.

Jordana's ombre locks were teased into soft waves, parted in the middle while metallic gold shadow and fuchshia lipstick adorned her visage.

Friends From College star Cobie donned a black midi dress adorned with scarlet and lavender floral print.

Work it: The Fast & Furious actress, 39, and the Avengers star, 37, worked statement sartorial looks as they posed up at the glittering launch

Gorgeous: Jordana slipped her toned frame into rose pink satin co-ords, consisting of a plunging slip style top

The star revealed her toned legs courtesy of the dress' thigh-high split while a pair of simple nude Kenneth Cole heels boosted her height.

Her brunette locks were swept back into a sleek updo while her pretty features were enhanced with a simple swipe of lipstick and fluttery lashes.

Jordana first found fame on the daytime soap As The World Turns on which she appeared from 1995 to 2001.

But it was her casting as Mia in 2001's The Fast And The Furious opposite Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, hat really put her over the top.

Elegance: This was paired with a floaty ankle-length skirt with a ruched hem, with the ensemble completed with patent leather peep toe heels (with Nazanin Boniadi)

Floral finesse: Friends From College star Cobie donned a black midi dress adorned with scarlet and lavender floral print and Kenneth Cole heels

Glow: Her brunette locks were swept back into a sleek updo while her pretty features were enhanced with a simple swipe of lipstick and fluttery lashes

She has gone on to reprise the role in five franchise films and is currently preparing to return for a sixth Fast & Furious movie scheduled for release in 2020.

Most recently she starred for three seasons on Fox's small screen version of Lethal Weapon.

Jordana is married to producer Andrew Form with whom she shares two sons.

While Cobie previously starred in Netflix's comedy series Friends From College, in an ensemble featuring Keegan-Michael Key and Fred Savage.

Here she is: Awkafina joined the ladies for a glamorous snap

Leading ladies: : Veronica Swanson Beard, Jordana and Veronica Miele Beard posed up

Stateside success: Nazanin looked effortlessly chic in a white jumpsuit and black Kenneth Cole heels

The series released its second season on Jan. 11, but Netflix announced it had canceled the program a month later.

The show failed to drum up excitement among critics and was one of the streaming giant's worst-reviewed shows.

In addition to her upcoming return to network television, the Vancouver-born actress and wife of SNL veteran Taran Killam, 36, has a busy year ahead in film.

The Marvel Studios star recently lent her voice to The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, in which she played Wonder Woman, one of the flagship characters for rival comics empire DC.

She'll continue that comic book trend when she reprises her role as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill in Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Avengers: Endgame will be released nationwide on April 26, and Spider-Man: Far From Home will hit theaters July 5.
EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace has admitted she is 'too scared' to allow her teenage daughter to go out after school in a comment about crime rates in London.

Responding to a tweet posted on Tuesday about an 18-year-old fighting for his life in Muswell Hill, where she lives with her family, the actress wrote: 'It's at the point where I'm too scared to let my daughter out after school now.'

In March Jessie, 47, blasted Met Police's failure to investigate her daughter Tallulah's mugging last year in north London.

Mother: EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace has admitted she is 'too scared' to allow her teenage daughter go out after school after commenting on crime rates in London

In a Twitter message in March, Jessie recalled how Tallulah was robbed by a gang in Muswell Hill when she was just 14.

She said police failed to investigate the crime after calling at the house in the early hours of the next morning, seven hours after the attack.

Jessie was responding to a concerned father on social media who made several attempts to report his own daughter's mugging on March 5, 2019.

Scared: Responding to a tweet about an 18-year-old fighting for his life in London, the actress wrote: 'It's at the point where I'm too scared to let my daughter out after school now'

The worried parent tweeted: 'Teenage daughter mugged by gang, dials 999. @metpoliceuk will investigate. We hear nothing.

'Ring 101. Rec message. Find out names of gang. Send to police... nothing.'

'Police station closed/luxury flats. Not seen a real life policeman for years. Gang continue...what happens next? (sic)'

Concerned: In March Jessie, 47, blasted Met Police's failure to investigate her daughter Tallulah's mugging last year in north London

Jessie jumped on the thread to reply with her own story, concerning an incident that happened to her teenager last year.

'This happened last year in Muswell Hill to my daughter. I call the police at 8pm and they knock on my door at 3 am. Nothing was ever resolved.'

Tallulah's father Dave Morgan was a policeman when he was dating her mother over 10 years ago. But the couple split shortly after Jessie gave birth in 2004.

Crime: Jessie was responding to a concerned father on social media who made several attempts to report his own daughter's mugging on March 5, 2019

It's now been confirmed that Jessie is dating greengrocer Paul Keepin, 40, from Kent, to whom she was first romantically linked last October.

In 2018, Metropolitan Police was dealing with a 21% rise in knife crime and reports of personal robbery up by around a third.

However, the number of police officers across the 43 forces in England and Wales has fallen by more than 20,000 since 2009 but the Prime Minister has said there is no correlation between the decline and 'certain crimes'.
She recently returned from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for her sixth getaway in just three months.

And Millie Mackintosh appeared in great spirits as she attended the launch of Laurent-Perriers Cuvee Rose Jeroboam at Mayfair's private members club Annabel's in London, England, on Tuesday evening.

The former Made in Chelsea star, 29, opted for her signature sophisticated style as she slipped into a fuchsia pink tea dress, embellished with bright floral patterns throughout.

Springtime chic: Millie Mackintosh attended the launch of Laurent-Perriers Cuvee Rose Jeroboam at Mayfair's private members club Annabel's in London, England, on Tuesday

Maintaining her elegant appearance, the TV personality added height to her frame in a pair of nude criss-cross heeled sandals.

The social media sensation, who married husband Hugo Taylor in June 2018, added even more glamorous touches to her look as she accessorised with gold dangle earrings and her flashy diamond wedding band.

With her tresses styled into loose waves, Millie accentuated her out-of-this-world beauty with soft pink-toned make-up.

She was in good company as she joined stunning model Jada Sezer at the intimate bash.

Patterns galore: The former Made in Chelsea star, 29, opted for her signature sophisticated style as she slipped into a fuchsia pink tea dress, embellished with floral patterns throughout

Posing up a storm: The TV personality struck a sassy pose in the venue's famous bathroom

Starry: Millie was in good company as she joined stunning model Jada Sezer at the intimate bash

Millie was without her husband Hugo, 32, at the event, who she tied the knot to at his uncle's country estate as they opted for a religious blessing in June last year.

The couple originally dated in 2011 while on Made In Chelsea, but split up when it emerged he had cheated on Millie with her friend Rosie Fortescue, who attended their wedding alongside a bevy of other co-stars.

Millie and Hugo confirmed their reunion in May 2016 - the same week Millie's previous divorce was finalised - and he proposed during a holiday in Mykonos, Greece, in July 2017.

She was previously married to rapper Professor Green, 35, real name Stephen Manderson, from September 2013 until they announced their separation in February 2016.

Standing tall: Maintaining her elegant appearance, the Wiltshire native added height to her frame in a pair of nude criss-cross heeled sandals

Radiant: With her tresses styled into loose waves, Millie accentuated her out-of-this-world beauty with soft pink-toned make-up

Looking good: The social media sensation, who married husband Hugo Taylor in June 2018, added even more glamorous touches to her look as she accessorised with gold dangle earrings and her flashy diamond wedding band

Off she goes: The blonde beauty sported a cream longline jacket and oversized sunglasses as she left the event

Millie has recently visited Ibiza, the Maldives, Azerbaijan and Finland in the past three months all on gifted stays, reaping in the benefits of her influencer status.

Earlier this year, the TV star was among 16 stars and influencers who had breached Advertising Standards Authority rules surrounding paid posts on Instagram.

The blonde beauty is far from alone in having flouted advertising guidelines in this way as Instagram is often flooded with famous faces who promote products, arguably without making it clear they are being paid for the sponsorship.

Smitten: Millie was without her husband Hugo, 32, at the event, who she tied the knot to at his uncle's country estate as they opted for a religious blessing in June last year

Idyllic: She recently returned from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for her sixth getaway in just three months

That is why the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) conducted an investigation into concerns that social media stars are not properly declaring when they have been paid, or otherwise rewarded, to endorse goods or services.

All the stars identified in the investigation, which began last August, agreed to change their ways.

Under consumer protection law, influencers are required to clearly state if they have received payment for products they endorse - either in gifts, money, or by loan of the products.
The Mummy Diaries' wedding special is finally set to hit screens.

So Billie Faiers is naturally excited for Wednesday night's show, as she spoke to MailOnline exclusively ahead of the launch - yet confessed she had early misgivings about letting cameras into the biggest day of her life.

The 29-year-old former TOWIE star, who wed Greg Shepherd in an idyllic Maldives ceremony last month, admitted she was worried about the ITVBe cameras' presence at the big day yet later praised the crew for not interfering.

She's back: Billie Faiers is naturally excited for Wednesday night's show, as she spoke to MailOnline exclusively ahead of the launch - yet confessed she had early misgivings about letting cameras into the biggest day of her life

Billie and Greg, 34, who share Nelly, four, and Arthur, two, wed during a stunning stay on the island of Kuramathi after their lengthy engagement.

Ensuring they let their fans into every moment of the big day, the couple were filmed for the wedding special - yet Billie convinced it wasn't an immediate decision.

She said: 'Obviously before we agreed to film in the beginning there was so much back and forth, I was a little bit wary I didn't want it to take over my day...

'It was so important for me for the TV crews to be in the background. I'm so glad we did it, the crew were so discreet. They didn't interfere. Tomorrow we can relive and reminisce all of the the memories'.

Their love: The 29-year-old former TOWIE star, who wed Greg Shepherd in an idyllic Maldives ceremony last month, admitted she was worried about the ITVBe cameras' presence at the big day yet later praised the crew for not interfering

Wed: Billie and Greg, 34, who share Nelly, four, and Arthur, two, wed during a stunning stay on the island of Kuramathi after their lengthy engagement

Clearly with no regrets over the decision, Billie admitted that she couldn't be happier: 'We're really excited. It's so mad. It's kind of the best wedding video in the world. Not only do we have the day filmed but we have the build up.'

When asked if she had any other regrets, she pushed: 'No regrets. None at all. I should have kept it to a minimum lots of photographers and cameras...

'I would have my timings planned more. We planned everything in fine detail, the schedule and timings were something we brushed over a bit. I was 30 minutes late, Greg says 40. But I did have eleven kids so I had to get them up to the sandbank.'

We made it! On her highlight of the big day, she said: 'For me it was just seeing all of our loved-up ones like our Nan's and Grandad's'

On her highlight of the big day, she said: 'For me it was just seeing all of our loved-up ones like our Nans and Grandads...

'We are so fortunate to have the older generation out . For myself and Greg it was pinch me moment. We both said this will never happen again with our whole family, which for us was so amazing and wonderful.'

In teaser clips for the big day, Billie left Greg waiting at the aisle as she was seen throwing a tantrum in her hotel room while Greg nervously waited at the aisle.

Shocker: In teaser clips for the big day, Billie left Greg waiting at the aisle as she was seen throwing a tantrum in her hotel room while Greg nervously waited at the aisle

Speaking about her self-professed bridezilla moment, she said: 'I've not been Bridezella at all but that last hour in the room I had my moment. We had so many people getting ready in one room, it was really hot my eyes were watering with air con...

'I saw Greg and his best men go past in the boat on the water villa and then I panicked because I thought why are they going then? I wasn't even in my dress, I didn't have the flowers in my hair and I just hit panicked mode...

'I couldn't get my vows, I just panicked I thought why are they going there I'm not ready. I don't know what happened. I freaked out'.

The Mummy Diaries: The Wedding is on Wednesday 1st May at 9pm on ITVBe
James Packer has sparked rumours he's undergone more weight loss surgery after taking a stroll in Los Angeles wearing what appears to be a medical device.

A thin tube was visible underneath the businessman's blue polo shirt as he walked through the grounds of UCLA with his personal trainer in tow.

The Australian billionaire underwent lap band surgery in 2011 and UCLA has a world-renowned obesity treatment centre, but it's unclear if James is a patient there.

More surgery? James Packer has sparked rumours he's undergone more weight loss surgery after taking a stroll in LA with what appears to be a medical device under his shirt

The U.S. university specialises in weight loss techniques for those who have already undergone bariatric surgery.

Packer lost 35kg in 2011 after undergoing his first procedure, which involved fitting an adjustable band to the top of his stomach.

Speaking of the operation, he told News.com.au at the time: 'I used to eat a big portion, and the message used to go from my stomach to my brain: "I'm hungry".'

Stretching his legs: A thin tube was visible underneath the businessman's blue polo shirt as he walked through the grounds of UCLA with his personal trainer in tow

Surgical past: The Australian billionaire underwent lap band surgery in 2011 and UCLA has a world-renowned obesity treatment centre, but it's unclear if James is a patient there

'Now, my stomach sends messages to my brain saying the whole time: "I'm full". How good's that?' he added.

But by the end of 2016, following his messy break-up with pop star fiancee Mariah Carey, James tipped the scales at 130kg.

The UCLA sighting comes amid business struggles for the casino mogul.

Experts: The U.S. university specialises in weight loss techniques for those who have already undergone bariatric surgery

Looking back: James previously said of his first weight loss surgery in 2011, 'I used to eat a big portion, and the message used to go from my stomach to my brain: "I'm hungry"'

Weight struggles: James tipped the scales at 130kg by the end of 2016 after calling off his engagement to pop star Mariah Care. Pictured together on May 14, 2016 in New York City

Last month, American casino giant Wynn Resorts abruptly ended talks about taking over Packer's Crown group.

Crown's value has fallen 20 per cent since mid-2018 as profits have fallen short of expectations.

The gaming company owns casinos in Melbourne, Perth and London and will soon open another in Sydney.
It broke records as one of the longest battle scenes in film history, knocking The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers off the top spot.

And Game Of Thrones' Night King star Vladimir Furdik has admitted that filming the Battle Of Winterfell scenes were 'very difficult' and it wasn't an 'easy day or night'.

The stunt actor's, 48, character met his demise on Sunday's gripping 82 minutes-long third episode by the hands of Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams.

Intense: Game Of Thrones' Night King star Vladimir Furdik has admitted that filming the Battle Of Winterfell scenes were 'very difficult' and it wasn't an 'easy day or night'

Battle Of Winterfell is believed to have taken 55 days to film, taking three months of shooting and an extra one month of rehearsal time.

And Vladimir has revealed that it wasn't an 'easy' thing as it was 'cold' and 'rainy, while he added that the scene where his character is stabbed took 15 times to get during an interview to The Hollywood Reporter.

He said: 'She was on a wire, in a harness, jumping many times. It wasnt just the one time; it was maybe 15 times. When I have to hold her under the jaw and it looks like she dies, we had to spend a lot of energy on that particular scene.

Gripping scenes: The stunt actor's, 48, character met his demise on Sunday's gripping 82 minutes-long third episode by the hands of Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams (both pictured in character)

Wow: Battle Of Winterfell is believed to have taken 55 days to film, taking three months of shooting and an extra one month of rehearsal time (Maisie's character pictured during the episode)

'It was very, very difficult. We are very good friends. We know each other. It wasnt easy for me to [pretend to] hurt her. When I grabbed her under the jaw, it wasnt easy [on a practical level].

'If you make a bad move  if you dont grab her well  she could have an injury. So I was under pressure and she was under pressure. It was not an easy day.'

During Sunday night's gripping Battle Of Winterfell, the Night King seemed to have the battle all but won, arriving underneath the Weirwood Tree to kill the Three-Eyed Raven, played by Isaac Hempstead Wright.

Yet as he reached back to grab his sword, Arya flew through the air with her valyrian steel dagger.

A long day: And Vladimir has revealed that it wasn't an 'easy' thing as it was 'cold' and 'rainy, while he added that the scene where his character is stabbed took 15 times to get (pictured in character)

While he was able to stop her first attempt, she dropped the valyrian steel dagger, catching it with the other hand and stabbing him through the chest, killing him and every white walker instantly.

On Tuesday, the Night King was unmasked as hunky Slovakian stuntman-turned-actor Vladimir, who has previously appeared in blockbusters Skyfall and Thor: The Dark World.

Gone were the eerie prosthetics and chilling CGI blue eyes, as the handsome star, 48, showed off chiselled features and classic good looks on his Instagram page.

Giving a glimpse into his evil Game of Thrones role - which he has played since season six, the star was seen in make-up covered in dove grey prosthetics and posing up with co-stars Gwendoline Christie and Kristofer Hivju.

Under pressure: 'If you make a bad move  if you dont grab her well  she could have an injury. So I was under pressure and she was under pressure. It was not an easy day,' he revealed (pictured in character)

Unmasked: On Tuesday, the Night King was unmasked as hunky Slovakian stuntman-turned-actor Vladimir, who has previously appeared in blockbusters Skyfall and Thor

Showing he is nothing like his ruthless on-screen alter-ego, Vladimir was seen enjoying an ice cream before filming a battle scene and adorably kissing a horse on the nose.

The Night King was previously played by Welsh actor Richard Brake in seasons four and five.

Game of Thrones continues with the fourth of six episodes in this final season on Sunday, May 5 at 9pm ET on HBO.

While it will be aired in the UK on Monday, May 6, at 9pm on Sky Atlantic.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 is set to go into production next year, it has been reported.

The third chapter in the Marvel franchise was plunged into uncertainty last year when director James Gunn was fired from the role due to a clash with distributors Disney.

However in March he was reinstated as director, with The Hollywood Reporter claiming filming could begin in 2020.

Soon! Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 is set to go into production next year, it has been reported [pictured Chris Pratt in Vol 1]

Despite the filmmaker being re-hired, he has since signed on for other projects, also adding to the delay.

He will helm The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. This is set to begin production this autumn.

The Suicide Squad is set for an August 6, 2021 release, meaning there will theoretically be time in mid-late 2020 for Gunn to begin work on Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3.

With regards to the Marvel universe - which is currently reaping the rewards of hit film Avengers: Endgame - 2019 is thought to see Black Widow and The Eternals filmed before the year is out.

Back on board: The third chapter in the Marvel franchise was plunged into uncertainty last year when director James Gunn was fired from the role due to a clash with producers Disney

Next year: The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that filming could begin in 2020

Disney fired Gunn, 52, in July last year after offensive tweets he wrote between 2008-2012 joking about rape, child abuse, and pedophilia resurfaced in the #MeToo movement.

The family-friendly studio publicly refused to be swayed, despite the Guardians cast - including Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana - signing a joint statement 'fully supporting' James that same month.

Revealing the re-hire, Variety added that the move comes after a series of meetings between Gunn and Walt Disney Pictures boss Alan Horn.

Indeed according to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney never even met with other potential directors, instead returning to Gunn to secretly sign the new deal.

Along with directing, Gunn will be writing the screenplay for the project, now expected to be released in 2020.

Following his firing last year, Gunn was snapped up by Warner Bros to write and direct The Suicide Squad sequel, starring Idris Elba, out in 2021. He will now juggle both projects.

Humble: Taking to Instagram on Friday, Gunn thanked his supporters and said he 'deeply appreciated' Disney's decision

Support: Among those responding to Gunn's reinstatement was Mexican actress Eiza Gonzalez, who wrote 'You are a sweet amazingly talented person'

Taking to Instagram on Friday, Gunn thanked his supporters and said he 'deeply appreciated' Disney's decision.

'I am tremendously grateful to every person out there who has supported me over the past few months,' he wrote. 'I am always learning and will continue to work at being the best human being I can be.

'I deeply appreciate Disney's decision and I am excited to continue making films that investigate the ties of love that bind us all. I have been, and continue to be incredibly humbled by your love and support. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Love to you all.'

#MeToo movement: Disney fired Gunn in July after offensive tweets he wrote between 2008-2012 joking about rape, child abuse, and pedophilia resurfaced (pictured in 2015)

'We fully support James': The family-friendly studio was not at all swayed when the Guardians cast signed a joint statement of support over social media on July 30

Support: The Guardians cast - including Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, seen here in the first film - signing a joint statement 'fully supporting' James

When Gunn was first fired, he issued a statement apologizing for his controversial tweets.

'My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative,' he wrote.

'I have regretted them for many years since  not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.'
She rose to fame as Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell in the late 80s and early 90s.

And Tiffani Thiessen couldn't look further away from her past character as she stepped out in New York City on Tuesday.

The actress, 45, wore a pair of high-waisted gingham trousers with a V-neck black top tucked into them.

Stunning: Tiffani Thiessen couldn't look further away from her past Saved by the Bell character as she stepped out in New York City on Tuesday

She layered her ensemble with a white cashmere long belted coat while she added height to her frame with a pair of black heels.

However, Tiffani made a practical fashion choice as she was spotted carrying a pair of brown rattan flat shoes in her perspex handbag.

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star styled her brunette locks into a glossy crimped hairstyle, she added a slick of minimal make-up.

Clever!: The actress, 45, made a practical fashion choice as she was spotted carrying a pair of brown rattan flat shoes in her perspex handbag

Chic: Tiffani wore a pair of high-waisted gingham trousers with a V-neck black top tucked into them

Tiffani was in the Big Apple to appear on AOL Build Series at the Build Studio, which is on Broadway.

Only recently, in April, the actress had a mini-reunion with her Saved By The Bell cast in Los Angeles.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mario Lopez, Tiffani, and Elizabeth Berkley - who played Zack Morris, AC Slater, Kelly Kapowski, and Jessie Spano, respectively - gathered for dinner at Petit Trois in the tony neighborhood of Sherman Oaks.

Mario, 45, posted the pic to his Instagram and captioned the adorable snap: 'Friends Forever.'

Elegant: She layered her ensemble with a white cashmere long belted coat while she added height to her frame with a pair of black heels

Reunion!: Only recently, in April, the actress had a mini-reunion with her Saved By The Bell cast in Los Angeles

'Fun dinner tonight with some old friends,' Mario said in an Instagram video.

'We ate an obscene amount of food. Great group right here, now its time to play credit card roulette for the bill.'

Mark-Paul, 45, commented on the photo: 'This is what 30 plus years of friendship looks like'

Saved by the Bell - which also featured Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, and Dennis Haskins - ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993.
They've been dating since the end of last year after meeting through a mutual friend in her home city of Durham.

And Scarlett Moffatt has heaped praise on her handsome police constable boyfriend Scott Dobinson in an exclusive chat with MailOnline.

As she promotes her role as an ambassador for the Virgin Media Must-See Moment award at the Virgin Media BAFTAs, Scarlett admitted she's full of confidence about her busy year ahead, thanks to her new beau.

Loved-up: Scarlett Moffatt has heaped praise on her handsome police constable boyfriend Scott Dobinson in an exclusive chat with MailOnlin

'I dont know if I want to give all of him the credit of being happier but I think yeah I am happier in myself, he makes me feel good about myself,' gushed the Gogglebox star.

Adding of their low-key romance, Scarlett said: 'Me and Scott are alright, Ive been putting facemasks on him today, hes sitting with me at the moment. Everythings good.'

The relationship comes after Scarlett's period of heartache which included a split from personal trainer Lee Wilkinson in April last year. Before that she also dated hairdresser Luke Crodden.

Scarlett explained that her new found confidence has helped her deal with trolls, especially when it comes to critics of her red carpet appearances.

Exciting times ahead: As she promotes her role as an ambassador for the Virgin Media Must-See Moment award at the Virgin Media BAFTAs, Scarlett admitted she's full of confidence about her busy year ahead, thanks to her new beau

'If everybody just worried about what they look all the time people would just never leave the house. Youve got to be happy in yourself,' she declared.

'I feel like especially women being in social media everybody has to deal with trolls it doesnt matter if youre on TV. You have to remember not to hate the people who are hating on you but love the people who are loving you.'

'Lifes too short and you can get so caught up in it. You just have to remember these people are irrelevant, they dont know you,' she added.

Speaking about her involvement with Virgin Media Must-See Moment award at the BAFTAs, Scarlett said she wanted to become an ambassador because of her love of TV.

'I think everybody sort of knows I spend a lot of time watching TV. The BAFTAs is very special in my family, we watched it when we did Gogglebox. When I was asked to be an ambassador, I thought: Oh my god. Im doing it alongside people like Rylan, so its a lot of fun.'

While fans can vote for their must-see TV moment of the year for the award, Scarlett insisted she can't pick.

Telly addict: Speaking about her involvement with Virgin Media Must-See Moment award at the BAFTAs, Scarlett said she wanted to become an ambassador because of her love of TV (pictured with fellow ambassador Rylan Clark-Neal)

'Its a hard one. I love Peter Kays Car Share because everybody wanted them to get together. Then Killing Eve all of my friends were talking about. Queer Eye - that makes me cry every time.'

As for her favourite reality show, the telly addict has a clear favourite. 'I do really, really love Strictly Ive been dancing since I was four years old,' Scarlett explained.

'I havent danced in 10 years to be honest with you. I mean I think Ive always wanted to do Strictly because its so different to any other reality show. Its a bit like Dancing On Ice where you have a brand new talent, well some people do. I would love to do Strictly.'

Scarlett is an ambassador for the Virgin Media Must-See Moment award at the Virgin Media BAFTAs, hosted by Graham Norton on May 12th at Royal Festival Hall . The award celebrates the most influential and talked about moments of 2018 - the moments which really had us gripped as a nation and got our chins wagging and fingers itching to post on social. Nominees are found by viewing figures, media coverage and social media.

This the only TV BAFTA voted for by the public. You can vote for your winner until May 1st and enter the chance to attend the TV BAFTAs at www.virginmedia.com/bafta
She is the super stylish actress who shot to fame on teen drama, One Tree Hill, back in 2003.

And Sophia Bush oozed elegance as she attended the annual Milken Institute Global Conference at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The John Tucker Must Die star, 36, showed off her sartorial prowess in a striking scarlet and emerald green Gucci jumper, emblazoned with the fashion house's signature double G logo.

Chic: Sophia Bush oozed elegance as she attended the annual Milken Institute Global Conference at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles on Tuesday

Keeping the look sleek and stylish, she donned camel check trousers, with a high-waist that clung to her taut midriff.

The brunette beauty boosted her height with a pair of simple yet elegant white stilettos.

Her tresses were styled into a sleek updo with wavy strands framing her face.

Smoky shadow and berry lipstick accentuated her pretty features.

Designer: The John Tucker Must Die star, 36, showed off her sartorial prowess in a striking scarlet and emerald green Gucci jumper, emblazoned with the fashion house's signature double G logo

The star joined a host of celebrities including Gayle King, Alex Rodriguez, Gene Simmons and Ivanka Trump at the conference.

The Milken Institute is a non-profit independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California.

The actress was enjoying a well-earned break from shooting her lead role in upcoming CBS spy drama series, Surveillance.

In the complex thriller, Sophia plays a charming NSA operative who finds her loyalties torn between protecting the government's secrets and her own.

Line-up: Sophia posed with producer Scott Budnick, editor Zack O'Malley Greenburg and author Caron Butler

The screen favourite will also appear alongside Patriot star Michael Dorman in the upcoming indie flick Hard Luck Love Song, which is due for release later this year.

Sophia shot to fame starring as Brooke Davis on teen drama One Tree Hill from 2003 to 2012.

She recently spoke out about how the show's 'opportunistic' producers exploited her break-up from One Tree Hill co-star Chad Michael Murray, 37, following their split back in 2005.

The pair met when they played screen loves in the show in 2003 and soon developed a relationship off-camera.

Star-studded: Founder and CEO of Milken Alex Rodriguez addressed the conference

Leading lights: Gayle King, Co-Host, CBS This Morning (L) and Anastasia Soare, Founder and CEO, Anastasia Beverly Hills, participate in a panel discussion

Rock on: Kiss rocker Gene Simmons also attended the conference

The couple got engaged in 2004 and married in Santa Monica, California, in April 2005.

By September 2005, the union was all over and they separated after just four months of marriage, finalising their divorce in December 2006 after Sophia's request for an annulment on the grounds of fraud was denied.

Speaking on Dax Shephard's Armchair Expert podcast in December 2018, Sophia said One Tree Hill producers were 'really deeply inappropriate' following the split.

Glamour: Ivanka Trump spoke at the prestigious conference

U2 artist: David Howell Evans AKA The Edge looked focused as he addressed the crowd

Debate: Maria Bartiromo, Anchor and Global Markets Editor, FOX Business Network (L) and Mick Mulvaney, Assistant to the President and Acting Chief of Staff spoke at the event

'They ran TV ads about it. It was really ugly,' she explained.

'They made practice of taking advantage of people's personal lives and not just for me and for my ex - for other actors on the show who would share... deeply personal things that were happening in their lives and they would wind up in storylines.

'It wasn't OK. It was opportunistic and ugly. When you run a show, you're like a parent. You're supposed to protect your flock and it was the opposite of that.

'It was a very ugly situation on their part. I think they kind of lived for the drama.'
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Daniel Craig was pictured cruising through the Caribbean sea on a custom-built sailing boat as he joined his French stunt double Jean-Charles Rousseau during day two of filming for Bond 25 in Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon.

The 51-year-old actor emulated James Bond's calm and collected persona as he tapped into full relaxation mode while shooting scenes on the Spirit Yachts watercraft for the hotly-anticipated movie, set for release in April next year.

Screen star Daniel was in good company alongside hunky Jean-Charles, thought to be in his 30s, who sported a sturdy blue life vest in preparation for the film's high-octane scenes in the Caribbean ocean.

On the grind: Daniel Craig was pictured cruising through the Caribbean sea on a custom-built sailing boat as he joined his French stunt double Jean-Charles Rousseau during day two of filming for Bond 25 in Jamaica on Tuesday afternoon

Working hard: Screen star Daniel was in good company as he was pictured on set with hunky Jean-Charles (pictured above), who sported a sturdy blue life vest in preparation for the film's high-octane scenes in the Caribbean ocean

Keeping in theme with the film's beachy location, the Logan Lucky actor donned a lightly-distressed grey T-shirt, and protected his eyes from the sun in a pair of rectangular-framed shades.

Daniel was pictured engaging in conversation with crew members in between takes as they sailed through the country's scenic coastlines.

Bearing a striking resemblance to the leading actor, Jean-Charles rocked a near-identical ensemble to Daniel, before switching into a pair of black shorts, brown slip-on shoes and a light pink shirt, which he left unbuttoned at his toned chest.

The latest film sees Bond living a tranquil live in Jamaica after leaving active service before Felix turns up asking for help in a mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist.

Off he goes: The 51-year-old actor emulated James Bond's calm and collected persona as he tapped into full relaxation mode while shooting scenes on the Spirit Yachts watercraft for the hotly-anticipated movie, set for release in April next year

Relaxed: Keeping in theme with the film's beachy location, the Logan Lucky actor donned a lightly-distressed grey T-shirt during his time on the boat

Busy bee: He was pictured engaging in conversation with crew members in between takes as they sailed through the country's scenic coastlines

The fierce mission turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

Frenchman Jean-Charles grew up adoring the James Bond series and 'dreaming' of being in American action films like The Terminator and Die Hard. His Hollywood resume features appearances in Jason Bourne, Fast and Furious 6 and Mission Impossible 6.

The dramatic fight sequences that involved the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Piers Brosnan inspired him to go into Hollywood.

As a boy, he planned and choreographed scenes with his friends - and as he got older, he began filming them and making his own movies.

Now living in Paris, his dedication paid off in 2015 when he was cast as a stuntman in the James Bond film Spectre, directed by Sam Mendes.

Stuntman Jean-Charles, who also starred in Mission Impossible, Jason Bourne and Doc Martin, has the same light brown hair, broad stature and rugged features as his better-known doppelganger.

He was even nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his stunt work in Jason Bourne in 2017, and again for his role in Mission Impossible: Fallout earlier this year.

Solo scenes: There was no sign of the recently announced new castmembers on set. Oscar winner and Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek has been brought on board to play the villain in the upcoming film

Various locations: As well as Jamaica, filming will take place in Norway, Pinewood Studios, locations around London along with Matera, Italy

Hunky: Bearing a striking resemblance to the leading actor, Jean-Charles rocked a near-identical ensemble to Daniel, before switching into a pair of black shorts, brown slip-on shoes and a light pink shirt, which he left unbuttoned at his toned chest

Impressive: Jean-Charles has previously starred in Mission Impossible and the Jason Bourne movie

Focused: The crewmembers traveled from a inflatable boat and into the patent black sailboat as they shot scenes for the spy film

Bond 25 is believed to be his biggest role to date, and while his Instagram profile highlights his daredevil stunts and death-defying skills, the hunk gives away scant detail about his personal life, and there is little evidence to suggest that he might have a love interest.

There was no sign of the recently announced new castmembers on set on Tuesday. Oscar winner and Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek has been brought on board to play the villain in the upcoming film.

Also joining the cast are Dali Benssalah, Lashana Lynch, Ana De Armas as Paloma, David Dencik and Billy Magnussen.

Ralph Fiennes (M), Lea Seydoux (Dr Madeleine Swann), Ben Whishaw (Q) and Rory Kinnear (Bill Tanner) are all set to make a return to screens in the movie. Behind the scenes Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been recruited to help pen the script.

End with a bang: The movie will served as Daniel's fifth and final outing as 007, having previously starred in Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015)

Inner workings: The upcoming film has reportedly been operating under the working title Shatterhand, a reference to the original Ian Fleming novels where Bond and his nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, first appeared

All about the details: The sailing boat proudly flew the Red Ensign flag

Star-studded: Oscar winner and Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek has been brought on board to play the villain in the upcoming film

As well as Jamaica, filming will take place in Norway, Pinewood Studios, locations around London along with Matera, Italy.

Bond 25 will be Craig's final appearance as Bond, having previously starred in Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015).

The upcoming film has reportedly been operating under the working title Shatterhand, a reference to the original Ian Fleming novels where Bond and his nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, first appeared.

Blofeld used the alias Dr Guntram Shatterhand in the 1964 novel You Only Live Twice, which follows Bond to Japan where he finds his arch- enemy living under that name, hinting at the setting and basis of the new film.

Exciting times ahead: The latest film sees Bond living a tranquil live in Jamaica after leaving active service before Felix turns up asking for help in a mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist

Picking up where he last left off: In Spectre, Bond was last seen driving into the sunset with sultry psychologist Swann after apprehending perennial nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Behind the scenes: Several boats were filled with crew and equipment for another day of filming

Last month filming got underway on Bond 25 in Nittedal, Norway, where a mysterious, theatrically masked gunman was seen stumbling in pursuit of a terrified young girl as she fled across the ice.

Cameramen tracked the pair during what appeared to be a dramatic scene, filmed in a large clearing surrounded by pine trees.

In Spectre, Bond was last seen driving into the sunset with sultry psychologist Swann after apprehending perennial nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

The film, which divided critics, delved into his past as he traced the origins of a mysterious ring, only to discover it belongs to a global terrorist organisation led by childhood friend Franz Oberhauser - the son of Bond's legal guardian.

Originally thought dead, Oberhauser, played by Christoph Waltz, had instead masterminded the criminal group under the alias of Blofeld - his mother's maiden name - with the objective of killing Bond.
As another year marked by the global pandemic comes to an end, our photojournalists remain challenged  and, frequently, awed - by the constant state of change.



We documented our ever-evolving world in ways few photo staffs could as we all worked to regain normalcy amid COVID-19s seemingly unbreakable hold on our communities. We showed the relieved faces of people receiving a coveted vaccine, telling the story of a scientific breakthrough with images of those benefitting from it. We covered new workplace policies, school protocols and policing practices. We traveled half-way across the world to an Olympics where the athletes couldnt hug each other, masked medalists step atop the podium and no one came to watch.



The Chicago Tribune faced its own series of changes, too. We have new owners. New bosses. Endured another move. Gained new talented journalists and lost many others from the newsroom ranks. The one constant has been our dedication to providing photography on a daily basis that is relevant to the communities we cover: The joy of picnicking at the lakefront on a summer afternoon, the pain of children, police officers and neighbors all falling victims to violent crime. Documenting whos in and whos out in the political landscape, escaping to your favorite cultural event or sports competition.



We hope this installment of the annual Photos of the Year project reminds us of the moments that shaped our lives and the thoughtful way we portray them. Its also a platform for acknowledging the talent and dedication of Tribune photographers, and all photojournalists, who make change a way of life.



The Chicago Tribune staff photographers for 2021: Brian Cassella, Erin Hooley, Terrence Antonio James, Vashon Jordan Jr., John J. Kim, Youngrae Kim, Jose M. Osorio, Antonio Perez, Armando L. Sanchez, Chris Sweda, Abel Uribe, E. Jason Wambsgans, Stacey Wescott and Raquel Zaldivar.



Tribune visual editors: Mark Hume, Andrew Johnston, Marianne Mather, Steve Rosenberg and Peter Tsai.

- Todd Panagopoulos, Director of Content/Visuals
He's playing songwriter Bernie Taupin in the new Elton John biopic, Rocketman.

And Jamie Bell stopped off at the This Morning studios on Wednesday morning to discuss the upcoming film, starring Kingsman actor Taron Egerton as Elton himself.

The 33-year-old star discussed working with the 'incredibly gracious' musical superstar behind-the-scenes, reminiscing about when they first met during his Billy Elliott days.

Latest project: Jamie Bell stopped off at the This Morning studios on Wednesday morning to discuss the new Elton John biopic, Rocketman

Talking about how helpful Elton was with leading man Taron, Jamie revealed he had invited him over to his house and gave him his old diaries to read.

He said: 'Elton was 'incredibly gracious' with Taron, but but it doesn't relieve the stress of turning up to set and embodying him every day.

'Elton really gave him the authority to say, you need to go off and make it yours.'

Discussing their initial meeting, Jamie told Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield: 'I know Elton from way back, 150 years ago when Billy Elliott premiered at Cannes.

In character: Jamie plays songwriter Bernie Taupin in Rocketman (pictured right) opposite Kingsman actor Taron Egerton as Elton himself (left)

Hands on: The 33-year-old star discussed working with the 'incredibly gracious' musical superstar behind-the-scenes in the flick

Moved: Jamie revealed he's known Elton since his Billy Elliott days (pictured aged 13 in the 200 film) when the moving film left the superstar 'weeping'

'He was a mess, he was in tears, he was weeping. It affected him so deeply; it was the relationship with Billy and the dad because it reminded him of his own relationship with his father.'

Elton then went on to write the music for the Billy Elliott musical and Jamie describes working with the music legend again after all these years as a 'real synergy'.

Jamie also teased what fans can expect from the highly-anticipated film, set for UK release on May 24.

'It spins off into the surreal sometimes', he said. 'I think thats how Eltons life has been like, for him living it and us looking at it, he went from Reginald Dwight to being one of the most recognisable faces in the world.'

He said: 'It spins off into the surreal sometimes. I think thats how Eltons life has been like'

In conversation: The actor spilled the beans to Jamie told Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield

The star added: 'I think using fantasy and his music to tell the story is only way to tell the story.

'If you consider performing at the Troubadour in 1971 when the record company were like, "youre over", to The Lion King Elton John  the time span is so dense how do you cover it?'

Jamie plays songwriter Bernie Taupin in the new film, who wrote the lyrics for Elton and was his 'rock'.

American twang: Viewers took to Twitter to express their surprise at Jamie's unusual accent

Admitting that meeting the iconic man was an honour, he found him incredibly 'down to earth' and was fascinated by the pair's collaborative work.

Viewers took to Twitter to express their surprise at Jamie's unusual accent, having gained an American twang thanks to his LA lifestyle and wife Kate Mara.

The Northern actor - who was raised in Billingham, County Durham - had a strong regional accent during his Billy Elliott days.

One fan shared, 'Who knew Jamie Bell was American? #ThisMorning', while another mused, 'What accent is Jamie Bell sporting? #ThisMorning'.

A third joked: 'Defo wouldn't be kicking Jamie Bell out of bed for eating biscuits....that weird new accent is a tad annoying tho #thismorning'.
She won huge praise for her role as Georgie Lane in hit BBC drama Our Girl.

So Michelle Keegan fans will no doubt be delighted to discover she is returning to set once more, as she revealed she is 'overjoyed' to kick off filming her role yet begrudged the early start as the army medic in the fifth season of the show.

Having found fame on Coronation Street in 2007, the 31-year-old will be in good company as the new line-up coming to the screen included a host of stars, including a trio of former soap stars, from shows including EastEnders and Hollyoaks.

They're back! Michelle Keegan fans will no doubt be delighted to discover she is returning to screens once more, as she revealed she is 'overjoyed' to kick off filming her role as the army medic in the fifth season of the show

Earlier this week, Michelle was spotted on set in South Africa as filming gets underway after she was confirmed to be returning for another series in July last year.

Viewers watched as 2 Section attempted to desperately flee from an armed cartel and were forced to leap over a cliff into the unknown at the end of season four.

The episode also saw the medic finally succumb to her feelings for Captain Charles Jame (Ben Aldridge) after it was revealed his marriage to Molly Dawes is over.

Now back on to screens with a bang, Michelle said of her return: 'It is such a joy to reprise the role of Georgie Lane and this season we return to Afghanistan where the British Army retains a presence training Afghan National Army personnel...

Tired? Taking to Instagram on Wednesday morning, she shared a selfie from behind-the-scenes as she revealed it was 5.30am when she started her day

Way back when: Following in Michelle's former soap star footsteps are Nico Mirallegro, who famously played Barry 'Newt' Newton in Hollyoaks (pictured in the role in 2007)

Changing days: He has scooped the role in Our Girl after leaving EastEnders 14 years ago (pictured left, in 2004, right, in April)

'With some of the most incredible and explosive scripts Ive ever read, this 6 part story will rip the heart out of our loyal fan base and new viewers alike'.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday morning, she shared a selfie from behind-the-scenes as she revealed it was 5.30am when she started her day.

Following in Michelle's former soap star footsteps is Nico Mirallegro, who famously played Newt in Hollyoaks, while ex-EastEnders stars Amy-Leigh Hickman, who played Linzi Bragg, and Nabil Elouahabi, who starred as Tariq Larousi.

Adding to the excitement of the new series is writer and creator, Tony Grounds, who said of the series: 'Fantastic to be with 2 Section once again as they head back to Afghanistan to assist with the training and mentoring of the Afghan National Army...

That was then... EastEnders star Amy-Leigh Hickman, who played Star "Linzi" Bragg from 2016 to 2017, has also joined the show

Back to work: Michelle has been spotted on set in South Africa as filming gets underway

Dramatic: The show, in which Michelle plays army medic Georgie Lane, was confirmed to be returning for another series in July last year after a dramatic season finale

'Into our platoon we have enlisted some of the most talented young actors of the next generation. Michelle Keegans Sergeant Georgie Lane is an inspiration to all and it is a delight and honour to work with such a troupe.'

Meanwhile, Executive Producer for BBC One Mona Qureshi, said: 'Our Girl continues to grip BBC One audiences and we are thrilled to have Michelle Keegan and a troop of new and familiar faces back for the fourth series...

'Tony Grounds incredible scripts bring perspective to real events happening in the world in an entertaining and engaging way'.
Holly Willoughby has revealed some of the most disastrous things that happened to her live on air as a children's TV presenter following 'wild' boozy nights out.

The TV presenter, 38, recalled her boob popping out of her dress during one unfortunate episode of Ministry Of Mayhem as well as vomiting live on air.

The star admitted that everyone in kids television stays up until the early hours partying and she would often head from the hotel bar straight to the studio.

Nightmare: Holly Willoughby has revealed some of the most disastrous things that happened to her live on air as a children's TV presenter following 'wild' boozy nights out

However Holly's stomach was often turned when she was made to try some revolting mixes such as anchovies and custard first thing in the morning.

She told the Mail On Sunday's Live magazine: 'There were times when we went straight from the hotel bar to going live on air.

'Everyone in children's TV drinks until 5am. If you mess up, no one cares. It got a bit too wild when my breast popped out of my dress.'

Had a shocker! The TV presenter, 38, recalled her boob popping out of her dress during one unfortunate episode of Ministry Of Mayhem as well as vomiting live on air

Messy: The star admitted that everyone in kids television stays up until the early hours partying and she would often head from the hotel bar straight to the studio

'It doesn't help when you read the script and you've got to drink anchovies in custard with some eight year old. No matter how hard you scrub in the shower, you can't get the smell of custard pie off your skin.'

Ministry of Mayhem was a CITV children's game show which saw Holly dress as a French maid and even boast a cockney accent, encouraging her guests- and celebrity guests- to catapult sweet treats off a skateboard.

The show was later renamed Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown, aired from January 2004 to July 2006, and also featured Michael Underwood.

Yuck! However Holly's stomach was often turned when she was made to try some revolting mixes such as anchovies and custard first thing in the morning

Co-hosts: The show was later renamed Holly & Stephen's Saturday Showdown, aired from January 2004 to July 2006, and also featured Michael Underwood

Holly and Stephen have stayed firm friends over the years after their two-year presenting stint together on the children's television show.

As their friendship has flourished over time, their presenting careers have blossomed in the limelight.

Holly's most recent success includes reportedly securing a six-figure sum to step into the embattled star Ant McPartlin's shoes for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

Day job: She has been co-presenting This Morning alongside her pal Phillip Schofield since 2009, winning audiences with her lovable charm

She has been co-presenting This Morning alongside her pal Phillip Schofield since 2009, winning audiences with her lovable charm.

Holly's hectic schedule has also included her Dancing On Ice hosting role, which she reprised in 2018 after the show returned following a seven-year hiatus.

Despite her clean-cut image, Holly also showcases her cheekier side during appearances on Celebrity Juice, which she has been a team captain on since 2008.

Holly is a firm fan-favourite on the programme, which she worked on alongside her pal Keith Lemon and best pal Fearne Cotton, until she left in 2018.

True love: During her soaring career, Holly has had one constant by her side throughout, her husband of 11 years, Dan Baldwin

Big brood: They are now parents to three children together, Harry, nine, Belle, eight, and Chester, four

Before embarking on her TV career, she was signed to British icon Kate Moss' former modelling agency Storm Models at the tender age of 14.

During her soaring career, Holly has had one constant by her side, her husband of 11 years, Dan Baldwin.

Sparks first flew between producer Dan and Holly when they met during their time on Ministry Of Mayhem and enjoyed a secret romance.

Speaking of their relationship, Holly previously explained: 'At first, I didn't fancy Dan at all  I didn't even think about it,' she revealed to Woman & Home. 'I don't think he could have fancied me either because it was such a genuine friendship.'

However their friendship proved to be a firm foundation for their romance, as six months after meeting they embarked on a relationship.

After just 18 months of dating Dan popped the question and the couple later tied the knot in 2007 in a lavish ceremony.

They are now parents to three children together, Harry, nine, Belle, eight, and Chester, four.
She's taking some time to unwind ahead of a busy few months at work.

And Amanda Holden looked in very relaxed spirits as she shared more updates from her detox retreat on Wednesday.

The Britain's Got Talent star, 48, wowed in another shot of her favourite white swimsuit as she kicked back to pool in a blissful day that also included a luxurious facial.

Kicking back: Amanda Holden looked in very relaxed spirits as she shared more updates from her detox retreat on Wednesday, looking stunning in a racy white swimsuit

After racking up the Instagram likes on Tuesday with a sizzling swimsuit shot, Amanda shared another stunning photo a day later.

The TV star looked sensational as she lounged by the pool in the sunshine, wearing the same racy lace-up swimsuit she showed off in the previous snap.

She captioned the shot #juice #detox' as she enjoyed a glass of green juice during her sunbathing session.

And relax: In between sun sessions, work outs and tucking into healthy meals, Amanda found time for a facial, sharing a selfie from the spa session on her Instagram page

In between sun sessions, work outs and tucking into healthy meals, Amanda found time for a facial, sharing a selfie from the spa session on her Instagram page.

With a gold mask covering her face and her hair fanned out behind her, the glam star showed off her bronzed skin as she relaxed, captioning the shot: 'Golden Holden'.

Replying to a pal in the comments who gushed that they thought Amanda was her daughter Lexie, Amanda revealed of the treatment: 'Well it is anti-ageing!'

Out to sea: Amanda posed by the sea in the same skimpy swimsuit for another sizzling Insta snap from her trip on Tuesday

It's thought Amanda is in Turkey for the detox - which she appears to be undertaking ahead of BGT's live shows and her new gig on Heart Radio.

This week she confirmed to MailOnline that on June 3 she will be joining the station as Jamie Theakston's new co-host, reportedly landing 3million for a two-year contract, making her the best-paid female showbiz host.

The presenter also revealed that the show will go national in the process, telling MailOnline that she is 'thrilled' and 'delighted' to be hosting to the nation alongside Jamie, four months after Emma Bunton stepped down from the show.

Exclusive: Amanda confirmed to MailOnline that on June 3rd she will be joining Heart radio's breakfast show as Jamie Theakston's new co-host

She told MailOnline: 'I'm delighted to announce that the Heart Breakfast Show is going NATIONAL on June 3rd! I'm thrilled to finally be able to say I'll be hosting with Jamie Theakston.

'Having listened to the show for years I'm excited to be part of the Heart FM team! Look forward to waking you all up.'

According to The Sun, Amanda will earn a whopping 3million over the duration of her two-year Heart breakfast show contract, meaning she will pocket more than Radio 2s Zoe Ball, who earns around 1.2million a year.

MailOnline has contacted Global for comment. Amanda's representative declined to comment on her reported 3million fee when approached by MailOnline.

Departed: In December, after five years co-hosting the prime time radio show, Spice Girl Emma Bunton announced she would be stepping down

Amanda is currently estimated to be worth 6million, with that figure set to skyrocket thanks to a string of lucrative deals on top of her new radio gig.

A source told the publication: 'Amanda is a multi-faceted talent. Shes whats known as a triple-threat in showbiz as she can sing, act and dance  and shes stunning.

'Her looks and figure mean she is a dream for brands and commercial modelling contracts. This year she will really see a boost to her pay packet.'
She's constantly socialising with her friends across the globe.

And Kate Moss appeared in good spirits on Wednesday as she bumped into her pal David Furnish while out for a stroll with a different companion in London.

The supermodel, 45, looked effortlessly chic as she enjoyed a cigarette while putting on an animated and fun display with her friends.

Happy: Kate Moss appeared in good spirits on Wednesday as she bumped into her pal David Furnish while out for a stroll with a different companion in London

Kate oozed 70s chic in a pair of denim flared jeans which she teamed with a black camisole and matching coloured blazer.

Adding some stylish accessories, she added height to her frame with a pair of black heeled boots, oversized brown sunglasses, gold necklace and a black handbag.

The supermodel wore her blonde locks into a relaxed blow-dried loose hairdo, she appeared to go make-up free.

Chic: The supermodel, 45, looked effortlessly chic as she enjoyed a cigarette while putting on an animated and fun display with her friends

70s: Kate oozed 70s chic in a pair of denim flared jeans which she teamed with a black camisole and matching coloured blazer

Details: Adding some stylish accessories, she added height to her frame with a pair of black heeled boots, oversized brown sunglasses, gold necklace and a black handbag

Kate appeared in good spirits as she shared a laugh with her pal, later bumping into Elton John's husband David as they hugged each other.

Earlier this week, Kate looked like she was thoroughly enjoying her tee-total lifestyle as she enjoyed lunch in Notting Hill with her pals on Monday.

The supermodel recently celebrated 18 months of sobriety after deciding to overhaul her life and focus on her health following the premature deaths of some of her closest friends.

In April, the mother-of-one marked 18 months away from alcohol and the lack of booze has reportedly made Kate a 'much more sociable and friendly person'.

Busy bee: The supermodel wore her blonde locks into a relaxed blow-dried loose hairdo, she appeared to go make-up free

Something funny?: Kate appeared in good spirits as she shared a laugh with her pal, putting on a very animated display in the street

Last autumn, it was revealed Kate had been teetotal for an entire year after deciding to focus on her health following the premature deaths of some of her closest friends.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: 'Kate is like a new woman and a much better version of herself. She is focused, professional and glowing with health.

'Everyone is amazed at how well she has done in not drinking for a whole year, considering what she used to be like. But she has found it easier as time has gone on.'

Kate will reportedly tie the knot with her boyfriend Nikolai von Bismarck - with friends suggesting the pair will wed next summer.

Friends: She later bumped into Elton John's husband David as they hugged each other on the street during her afternoon outing

Health kick: The supermodel recently celebrated 18 months of sobriety after deciding to overhaul her life and focus on her health following the premature deaths of some of her closest friends

Nikolai, 32, is said to have confided in friends he wants to 'do things properly with a traditional proposal and church wedding' as he is 'madly in love' with the supermodel.

A source told the Sun: 'Kate and Nikolai's relationship is going brilliantly  and they have chatted about getting married.

'Nikolai has confided in friends about it and wants to do things properly with a traditional proposal and church wedding. He is an old-fashioned guy and is madly in love with Kate  so wants to put a ring on it.

Glowing: A source told The Sun on Sunday : 'Kate is like a new woman and a much better version of herself. She is focused, professional and glowing with health.

'They have talked about marriage for a long time, but now they are both leading a sober and healthy lifestyle it has become more of a reality.'

An insider also revealed Kate is 'getting on really well with Nikolai's family' who had previously held reservations about the relationship due to her 'party girl image'.

MailOnline contacted Kate's representatives for comment at the time.

Kate and German aristocrat Nikolai have been happily dating since late 2015, following the supermodel's split from The Kills rocker husband Jamie Hince.
Charlize Theron has candidly opened up about finally feeling 'at peace' with herself after 'getting stuff out of her system' in her 20s and discovering therapy in her 30s.

The Long Shot actress, 43, revealed that she felt a pressure to experience life by travelling the world and taking drugs, as she discussed packing her life into a rucksack and backpacking across Turkey for four months.

During an interview with Marie Claire, Charlize also admitted that by doing these things she felt ready to settle down and have children without regrets that she hadn't experienced enough.

Candid: Charlize Theron has candidly opened up about finally feeling 'at peace' with herself after 'getting stuff out of her system' in her 20s and discovering therapy in her 30s

Charlize said: 'My 20s were really about getting a lot of stuff out of my system  wanting to experience the world, do drugs, travel to Turkey for four months with a backpack and I did all of that, so by the time I had kids, I was really ready.

'You don't want to be 80 and on your death bed and wonder what might have happened. If I die tomorrow, I'm at peace with who I am in my life.'

The South African star also detailed feeling like there was a constant clock ticking during the early years of her life, she said: 'My 20s were like 'You can die, so get it done.'

Wild days: The Long Shot actress, 43, revealed that she felt a pressure to experience life by travelling the world and taking drugs, as she discussed packing her life into a rucksack and backpacking across Turkey for four months

She added: 'I always felt like there was a clock ticking, like everything was life and death, and I'm not a citizen, so if I don't make it...'

Following a hectic decade in her 20s, Charlize detailed discovering therapy and battling her demons after she reached her mid-30s.

Charlize explained: 'My reasons for going [to therapy] had a lot to do with South Africa and uncertainty and living with an alcoholic every day of my life. What I discovered was that my life was an all-encompassing thing.

'It showed me that I can see the big picture and understand the reason to get to a place where I could create a life for my own kids.'

No regrets: During an interview with Marie Claire , Charlize also admitted that by doing these things she felt ready to settle down and have children without regrets that she hadn't experienced enough

Another thing Charlize confessed she deals with his OCD, admitting that she has to organise things she can see so that she feels more in control.

She said: 'I'm definitely obsessive. Obsessing is good for me. I'm very focused on the stuff that I really care about, but I do struggle with a bit of OCD, so I have to organize things that I can see: closets, drawers. That has to do with when I feel that things I can't see are out of control.'

Charlize recently revealed that she is 'raising two beautiful proud black African girls', after her seven-year-old daughter was introduced to the world as a boy.

Charlize said: 'My 20s were really about getting a lot of stuff out of my system  wanting to experience the world, do drugs, travel to Turkey for four months with a backpack and I did all of that, so by the time I had kids, I was really ready

The Hollywood star first exclusively revealed to the Daily Mail, that she was raising Jackson as a girl alongside her three-year-old sister, August.

Discussing motherhood, she said: 'I love being a mom. I get up with them at 5:30am every day. I make them breakfast. I pack their lunches.

'On the weekends, we hang out with family and friends. I'll cook lasagna for them  or steak. We do a lot of grilling. We go to Medieval Times.'

Charlize is currently promoting her new romantic comedy Long Shot also starring Seth Rogen, 37.

The movie follows journalist Fred Flarsky, played by Seth, who begins to spend time with his former babysitter Charlotte Field, played by Charlize, who is now running for president.

On her new film, she said: 'I never thought I would be in a rom-com. I don't think I would know how to do justice to a straight-forward rom-com.'

Read the full article in the June 2019 issue of Marie Claire, on newsstands May 21.
Home and Away heartthrob Jake Ryan has announced he is expecting his first child with his girlfriend Alice Quiddington.

The soap opera star, 35, revealed the happy news as he shared a loved-up photo of him with his DJ partner sporting a noticeable baby bump on a boat in Sydney.

'Anyone know what you get when you cross a polar bear and a squid,' he wrote as he took to Instagram to make the announcement.

Incoming baby joy! Home and Away heartthrob Jake Ryan announced he is expecting his first child with his girlfriend Alice Quiddington in an Instagram post on Wednesday night (pictured)

Co-star Georgie Parker was among the first to send their congratulations to the couple.

'Thats just amazing. Congratulations to you both,' she wrote.

Jake referred to Alice as a 'squid' and himself as a 'polar bear' in a post in January - when she made her first appearance on his social media profile.

Well-wishers: Co-star Georgie Parker was among the first to send their congratulations to the couple (pictured in January)

The pair's romance was first reported in February after The Daily Telegraph claimed they had been spending quality time together.

The duo were said to have gone on a group holiday together along with actors Ryan Corr, Kipan Rothbury, Emilie Cocquerel and musician Craig Ruddy.

Jake, who is the on-screen love interest of former Bachelorette star Sam Frost, has previously denied rumours his co-star.

Just friends: Jake, who is the on-screen love interest of former Bachelorette star Sam Frost, has previously denied he was dating his co-star. Pictured in 2018

Prior to his romance with Alice, Jake told New Idea magazine in 2017 that he hadn't been on a date in years.

'I haven't been on a date in years  I'd be terrified. That was the last time I was in a relationship  that was about four years ago now,' he said.

He continued: 'I'm definitely not looking for it, but the door isn't closed. It's not on the top of my priority list.'

As well as his appearances in Home and Away, Jake is known for featuring in Outback horror movie Wolf Creek and Wentworth.
Davina McCall defended her healthy lifestyle during a candid interview on Wednesday's Loose Women.

The TV star, 51, regularly shares snaps of her in-shape figure and her work outs on social media, but when asked about trolls who criticise her for 'over exercising', she was adamant that her regime is healthy.

The outspoken star also got into a mini spat with Loose Women panelist Janet Street Porter, 72, over exercise routines.

Fitness fan: Davina McCall defended her healthy lifestyle during a candid interview on Wednesday's Loose Women

Asked by the panel - which featured Ruth Langsford, Brenda Edwards, Janet and Stacey Solomon - how she deals with trolls who claim she is 'addicted to exercise', Davina said:

'I don't really care. I would much rather be trolled about doing too much exercise. At least that is a good thing. I exercise three or four times a week for an hour, that's not too much.'

Janet though insisted No, no, I think to you thats normal. But a lot of people watching will think four hours of the week of exercise is a lot, when actually all the figures and research show that even if you only walk for 15 or 20 minutes a day you are getting enough exercise, its giving you benefits.

In shape: The star, 51, regularly shares snaps of her figure and her work outs, but when asked about trolls who criticise her for 'over exercising', she was adamant that her regime is healthy

Davina had her own views on that research though, replying: 'I have always said three times a week or nothing.'

'If you don't do three times a week, you are never going to get the benefit from exercise. 15 or 20 mins walk a day might help with your blood pressure. I am not dissing other people.'

'I don't think three or four hours a week is addicted If I met someone that told me they did two hours every day and had the weekend off, I still wouldn't think they were addicted.'

Spat: 'I exercise three or four times a week for an hour, that's not too much,' Davina said. Janet Street Porter (right) though insisted No, no, I think to you thats normal'

Working it out: Davina had her own views on that research though, replying: 'I have always said three times a week or nothing'

Defence: 'I don't think three or four hours a week is addicted,' the in-shape star explained

Davina, who is fronting Garnier's 'Recycle Plastic To Make Your School Fantastic' campaign, also had a message for those who blast her for posing bikini selfies on social media.

She said: 'Well, don't follow me. I am always going to do it. The more you tell me not to do it... If you tell me not to do it, I am going to do it. I think the older I get, the more defiant I am. I want to be naughtier.'

'I really embrace anyone who is owning anything they are wearing and however they are looking. If you wear it with confidence'

Dressed to impress: Davina looked gorgeous in a checked midi dress for her TV appearance

Her way: Davina, who is fronting Garnier's 'Recycle Plastic To Make Your School Fantastic' campaign, also had a message for those who blast her for posing bikini selfies on social media

Davina, who is training to be a personal trainer, did admit, however, that she doesn't always have motivation to exercise.

She said: I don't have [motivation] all the time. I look at other people on instagram. I follow this great account called The 6am club...When I get up at whatever time, I know they will have already done their run at 6. I think, if they have done it, I have got to do it.'

The presenter, who battled drug addiction in her 20s, admits her commitment to health and fitness started late in life and only really clicked following the birth of daughter Tilly in 2003.
EastEnders newcomer Jessica Plummer has slotted right into the action after making her debut in March.

She has joined the cast of the BBC One soap as Chantelle Atkins, the long-lost daughter of Mitch Baker and Karen Taylor, and will join the rest of her on-screen family at the funeral of Bailey's biological mum Dinah.

Jessica, 26 - who was a member of girl band Neon Jungle from 2013 until 2015 - was dressed to impress in a smart suit with designer accessories.

On set: EastEnders newcomer Jessica Plummer has slotted right into the action after making her debut in March

The striking actress looked like she was getting along famously with her co-stars as they chatted in between takes.

Also attending the funeral were her on-screen parents Karen (Lorraine Stanley) and Mitch (Roger Griffiths), her half-sister Bailey and her brother Keegan Baker (Zach Morris).

It has recently been revealed that Bailey's mother Dinah was terminally ill and plans were put in place for the youngster to go and live with the Taylors.

Filming: Jessica is playing the long-lost daughter of Karen Taylor (left) and Mitch Baker (right)

In mourning: Also attending the on-screen funeral was her brother Keegan Baker (Zach Morris)

Moving storyline: Bailey (pictured with Jessica) had been acting as a full-time carer to her mum

Also spotted filming in the churchyard was Toby-Alexander Smith, who plays Chantelle's husband Gray.

Chantelle is no wallflower and is expected to cause a stir among the locals thanks to her fiery relationship with her mother.

Jessica has joined the soap after she starred in 2017 film How To Talk To Girls At Parties starring Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman.

Dapper: Zach was dressed to impress in a smart grey suit as filming got underway

Tragic: Bailey's mother Dinah has been terminally ill and plans had been put in place ahead of her death

She said: 'Just like the majority of the UK, I grew up watching EastEnders.

'It's an absolute honour to be joining the cast with all my childhood favourites... Rickaaaaaaaay.'

The soap's senior executive producer Kate Oates said Chantelle's 'picture-perfect' life could lead to conflict in the family.

Drama: The soap's senior executive producer Kate Oates said Chantelle's 'picture-perfect' life could lead to conflict in the family

Girl band past: Jessica, 26, was a member of girl band Neon Jungle from 2013 until 2015

Glamorous: The actress was dressed to impress in a power suit with designer accessories

Excited: Jessica, who made her soap debut in March, couldn't wait to join the show

She said: 'I'm so excited to welcome Jessica and Toby to Albert Square.

'Chantelle is a Taylor through and through: tough, sharp and streetwise.

'To the rest of the Taylor family, she is definitely the one who's "done good": leaving home early, and landing on her feet marrying the handsome and successful Gray.

'But will Chantelle's picture-perfect lifestyle put her and Gray into conflict with the rest of her family?'

Snacking: Lorraine - who plays Karen - was enjoying an apple in between takes
It is plain to see the stylish genes run in their family.

And Yasmin and her daughter Amber Le Bon were proving just this on Wednesday as they made a glamorous appearance among fellow stars at the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund announcement lunch in London.

The 54-year-old model showed off her edgy style in a leopard print mini-skirt with a James Bond-themed jumper, while her stunning daughter nailed early Spring chic in a chevron striped top with a thigh-skimming floral mini.

Happy days: Yasmin and her daughter Amber Le Bon (left-right) were proving just this on Wednesday as they made a glamorous appearance among fellow stars at the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund announcement lunch in London

Yasmin, who shares Amber with her Duran Duran star husband Simon Le Bon, looked stunning in a jumper which bore the slogan for the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill no doubt in a nod to the current press surrounding Bond 25.

She paired the look with a glitzy leopard print mini-dress which emphasised her legs with the help of the A-line shape and her elegant gold shoes.

Amber meanwhile wore a short skirt with chic knee-high boots to help emphasise her model legs while she also scraped back her brunette tresses.

A host of other stars joined the duo at the bash, including Vogue editor Edward Enninful, model Maxim Magnus and Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council Caroline Rush.

Wild thing: The 54-year-old model showed off her edgy style in a leopard print mini-skirt with a James Bond-themed jumper, while her stunning daughter nailed early Spring chic in a chevron striped top with a thigh-skimming floral mini

Sexy stuff: Amber meanwhile wore a short skirt with chic knee-high boots to help emphasise her model legs while she also scraped back her brunette tresses

If looks could kill: Yasmin, who shares Amber with her Duran Duran star husband Simon Le Bon, looked stunning in a jumper which bore the slogan for the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill no doubt in a nod to the current press surrounding Bond 25

Friends in high up places: Vogue editor Edward Enninful posed with Yasmin inside the event

Amber is currently starring in Painting Challenge alongside George Shelley, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, and Jane Seymour.

Throughout the Celebrity series the DJ has been tested on her artistic flair. For the first challenge the group had to partake in a life drawing class featuring Lily Allen's dad Keith, followed by a three-hour self-portrait.

Amber is close with her family and is often seen out and about with her mum Yasmin, and her sisters Saffron, 26, and Tallulah, 23.

But the brunette beauty previously admitted it's hard to build an individual brand when coming from such a famous family.

Chic: She looked stunning in the ensemble as she strutted in

Hot stuff: Speaking at Ciroc vodkas campaign launch, she previously said: 'I do feel I had to work extra hard. You have to work to create your own persona and you have more to prove'

Happy days: Edward also posed alongside Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council Caroline Rush

Out and about: Jack Guinness was also in attendance at the glam bash

Speaking at Ciroc vodkas campaign launch, she previously said: 'I do feel I had to work extra hard. You have to work to create your own persona and you have more to prove.

'It took me a while to be able to say to myself, "Okay, youre good at this". I have been working. If I wasnt doing something right, people wouldnt still be hiring me'.

As a true homebody, Amber recently revealed the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for her was surprise her by inviting her family along on their dinner date.

Chic: Belgian model Maxim Magnus, 21, cut an edgy figure in a biker-inspired ensemble

A vision: Maxim looked sensational as she chatted away to her fellow diners

Chic: Fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner cut an elegant figure in all-black while giving a splash of detail with cow-print shoes
She dated Hollywood hardman Jason Statham when she was just 18, splitting in 2004 after six years together.

And Kelly Brook, 39, has confessed she was able to meet A-list actor Brad Pitt via her famous ex, breaking the ice in a very unexpected way after Jason introduced them on the set of Snatch.

The model and presenter made the comments during her Heart London Drivetime radio show on Wednesday, stepping out in a cute terracotta playsuit after her morning duties.

Famous friends: Kelly Brook, 39, has confessed she was able to meet A-list actor Brad Pitt via her famous ex, breaking the ice in a very unexpected way after Jason Statham introduced them on the set of Snatch

The former glamour model teamed her summery number with white trainers and a shearling leather jacket.

Kelly and her co-host JK were interviewing Line Of Duty star Stephen Graham (aka John Corbett), and the pair went on to discuss how Kelly knew him.

She recalled: 'When we first met him [Stephen Graham] he, I think it was kind of at the beginning of his career and everyone was saying what a great actor he was.

Stylish: The model and presenter made the comments during her Heart London Drivetime radio show on Wednesday, stepping out in a cute terracotta playsuit after her morning duties

Stylish: The former glamour model teamed her summery number with white trainers and a shearling leather jacket

'So when we got the script for Snatch, cause obviously I used to be with Jason [Statham] who was in Snatch, we kind of like recommended him and Jason was like "Well just do it in a cockney accent. Dont say youre from Liverpool."

'So I think the whole audition and everything he just did with a cockney accent. Hes spoken about it as well  and so Guy [Richie] didnt realise he was actually from Liverpool until he got the part.'

Kelly and her co-host went on to discuss the film in general and her experience of meeting Brad Pitt.

A-list connections: She dated Hollywood hardman Jason Statham when she was just 18, splitting in 2004 after six years together. The pair are pictured together in January 2001 at the US premiere of Snatch

JK asked her: 'Please tell me, I would have gone crazy, please tell me you did get to meet Brad Pitt?'

'Yeah we played Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Im not even joking, hes really good at it. Me not so much', she replied.

Kelly added: 'Board games are great. Broke the ice.'

Tune into Heart London Drivetime with JK and Kelly, weekdays from 4pm  7pm.
She recently returned from a trip to the Caribbean with her husband of two years Tom Ackerley.

And on Wednesday, Margot Robbie was spotted stepping out of her hotel in New York City.

The gorgeous Australian actress, 28, flaunted her toned legs in Chanel shorts with a long-sleeved white button up blouse while heading to the Hulu Upfronts.

Beautiful lady: Margot Robbie was spotted stepping out of her hotel in New York City on Wednesday morning

The Once Upon A Time In Hollywood star showed off her toned figure in the thigh-grazing bottoms, which had a large silver Chanel logo accent along the waist.

Margot paired the shiny dark hued shorts with a long-sleeved top that had silver buttons down the center and a statement neckline.

The blonde beauty hit the pavement in black mules with white stitching while toting a backpack in one hand.

Margo styled her tresses center parted in low hairdo with just a few piece loose near her face.

Amazing: The gorgeous Australian actress, 28, flaunted her toned legs in Chanel shorts with a long-sleeved white button up blouse while heading to the Hulu Upfronts

What a lady: Margot paired the shiny dark hued shorts with a long-sleeved top that had silver buttons down the center and a statement neckline

The movie star rounded out her look with pink lipstick and a touch of shadow, highlighting her natural beauty.

Margot just returned from a trip to the Caribbean islands with her husband Tom Ackerley.

The duo jetted off the the beach holiday after she finished filming scenes for Birds Of Of Prey, which sees her star as Harley Quinn.

Goddess: The blonde beauty hit the pavement in black mules with white stitching while toting a backpack in one hand

Chic style: Margo styled her tresses center parted in low hairdo with just a few piece loose near her face

Elegant: The movie star rounded out her look with pink lipstick and a touch of shadow, highlighting her natural beauty

Margot and Tom met on the set of the 2014 film Suite Francaise when he was the assistant director and she was starring in the movie.

The lovebirds tied the knot in December 2016 in a private ceremony in Byron Bay, Australia and now reside in Los Angeles.

Her film Dreamland just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on Monday; she plays Allison Wells in the drama thriller.

Her other movies coming soon to theaters include Once Upon A Time (out July 26, 2019), Fair And Balanced (out December 20, 2019) and Birds Of Prey (out February 7, 2020).

Margot is producing a series called Dollface alongside Brett Hedblom, Bryan Unkeless and Scott Morgan; Kat Dennings stars in the upcoming comedy, which will debut on Hulu.

Happiness: Margot just returned from a trip to the Caribbean islands with her husband Tom Ackerley

Happy: Margot beamed while posing alongside Kat Dennings

Good times: Kat, 32, and Margot hit the stage at the Hulu Upfronts, which took place at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday morning
Hollywood actor Ricky Schroder is in jail after he was allegedly arrested for domestic abuse on Wednesday.

Police were reportedly called to the 49-year-old star's Los Angeles home after midnight and spoke to his girlfriend. Soon after he was arrested for felony domestic violence according to law enforcement sources that spoke to TMZ.

The former child star's bail is set at $50,000.

Schroder came to fame on the TV series Silver Spoons in the 1980s and was on NYPD Blue in the late 1990s. He has also appeared on the TV series Scrubs, Strong Medicine and 24.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Ricky's rep for comment.

Tough month: Hollywood actor Ricky Schroder is in jail after he was arrested for domestic abuse on Wednesday. Seen in 2017

A recent selfie: Police were reportedly called to his Los Angeles home after midnight and spoke to his girlfriend. Soon after he was arrested for felony domestic violence according to law enforcement sources that spoke to TMZ

It is not known what type of injuries the girlfriend had, but she refused to go to the hospital, it was claimed.

It has been a bad month for the former child star as a similar arrest was made 30 days ago.

The LA County Sheriff's Department took him into custody on April 2 for felony domestic violence, according to the site.

During that incident, the star allegedly 'punched his girlfriend in the face as she tried to leave their home,' the site stated.

On Wednesday afternoon TMZ added that the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office 'has declined to prosecute Rick for his April 2 arrest due to lack of sufficient evidence' though the investigation is 'still ongoing.'

Ricky seemed to have a very stable life before he split from his wife Andrea in 2016. - just weeks before reaching their 24th wedding anniversary.

Better times: Ricky seemed to have a very stable life before he split from his wife Andrea in 2016. - just weeks before reaching their 24th wedding anniversary. Seen in 2015

The couple have four children between the ages of 18 and 27.

Andrea filed divorce documents in Los Angeles citing irreconcilable differences in 2016.

Andrea, 47, had requested sole legal and physical custody of their youngest, Faith, with visitation allowed for Ricky.

The former couple are parents to daughters Faith, 18, Cambrie, 22, and sons Holden, 27, and Luke, 27.

Like their father, the children have gone on to pursue acting.

Faith's credit as an actress includes an appearance on the Disney show Shake It Up, which she appeared on in 2013.

Their family: The former couple are parents to daughters Faith, 18, Cambrie, 22, and sons Holden, 27, and Luke, 27. Seen in 2011

Early times of joy: Ricky and Andrea with Luke and Holden at the Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home premiere in 1995

Ricky and Andrea wed in 1992 after meeting in Canada.

'Ricky and I met in Canada when I was just 18 years old and he was 20,' she told Malibu Times last year.

Andrea, an interior designer who runs a candle company, went on to explain the dynamics to their relationship.

The good old days: With Joel Higgins, Franklyn Seales, Erin Gray and Alfonso Ribeiro Silver on Spoonsm which aired from 1982 until 1987

She added that as opposites, they did encounter conflict.

'Ricky and I are like one  we have grown up together. Ricky attacks life. Hes fearless, highly intelligent and super cute. I add the beautification side to the family and teach values, traditions, art, travel,' she said.

'We are opposites, which can be extremely synergistic, but can also cause conflict so, like anything worthwhile, our marriage takes effort.'
Susanna Reid has confessed Piers Morgan 'drove her to drink again,' after seven months of sobriety.

The Good Morning Britain host told Prima Magazine that it's a 'good thing' her outspoken co-presenter has knocked the 'BBC neutrality' out of her, which she said she carried for 20 years of her career.

Reflecting on her new outlook on life during the candid interview, Susanna also said her favourite part of gaining life experience is being able to give herself a break.

Glamorous: Susanna Reid has confessed Piers Morgan 'drove her to drink again,' after seven months of sobriety in a candid interview with Prima magazine

Susanna said: 'When Piers Morgan joined Good Morning Britain in 2015, I'd been teetotal for seven months. Believe it or not, he drove me to the booze again!'

But the star then went onto laud her friendship with her presenter, who she said has 'poked and prodded her' into having an opinion.

She explained: 'At 6.01am every morning, I would think, "I can't do this". He's not afraid to say the most personal and provocative things, which I found infuriating. I tried ignoring it at first, before realising he was determined to prod and poke me until I was forced to have an opinion on something

Joker: 'When Piers Morgan joined Good Morning Britain in 2015, I'd been teetotal for seven months. Believe it or not, he drove me to the booze again!' the star said

Change of pace: Susanna, 48, also claimed that it's a 'good thing' her co-presenter Piers Morgan has knocked the 'BBC neutrality' out of her, which she said she carried for 20 years of her career

''He now says he's drained out of me the BBC neutrality that I carried with me for the first 20 years of my career  he's right. Actually, it's turned out to be a good thing.'

The pair are now so close that they even have their own GMB WhatsApp group, where they chat about who their dream guest to interview would be.

She revealed: 'We have a WhatsApp group where we discuss our dream guests; my number one is Michelle Obama. I've just started reading her memoir, Becoming, and there's so much I'd love to ask her.'

Susanna also admitted she no longer fears the prospect of getting older and has recently embraced life in her 40s.

She explained: 'The best thing about life in my 40s is being able to give myself a break. I no longer feel the need to try to be perfect all the time; it's a false game because none of us are perfect. I now realise that you can have moments of weakness and that's fine.'

Taking a break: Reflecting on her new outlook on life during an interview with Prima magazine, Susanna said her favourite part of gaining life experience is being able to give herself a break

She told the publication: 'The best thing about life in my 40s is being able to give myself a break. I no longer feel the need to try to be perfect all the time; it's a false game because none of us are perfect. I now realise that you can have moments of weakness and that's fine'

However one downside to her presenting role on the breakfast show Susanna previously revealed, is that the early starts caused weight to 'pile on quickly'.

Susanna told Lorraine in March: 'It can creep up without noticing, I cut out snacking, I found waking up so early in the morning and you're in energy deficit and all your body can think it have toast have biscuits and you can pile it one really.'

After losing a jaw-dropping two stone, Susanna revealed what triggered her discussion to lose weight, she said: 'This time last year, I went to the doctor with a skin problem and he told me I could do with losing some weight.

'It turned out I was at the upper end of my BMI and, I have to admit, I'd been feeling a little heavy for a while.I've lost a stone and a half since then and I feel fantastic.'

'I often look at pictures of myself and think, 'Wow I don't like that.' But that's normal isn't it? There are more bad pictures of me in existence than there are good.but the fact is I'm a real woman, i just happen to be on TV and I'm quite proud of that.'

Pals: Susanna admitted that part of her change in viewpoint is thanks to her friendship with Piers, who she said has 'poked and prodded' her into having an opinion

During Monday's episode of Good Morning Britain Susanna addressed her recent split from Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish, 53.

As Piers asked, 'Are you single again? You are aren't you?' an upbeat Susanna replied: 'Yep. Let's not dwell. I'm fine, we're fine, we're very good friends. We were at the match on Saturday.'

The couple were seen cosying up to one another as they watched Crystal Palace over the weekend, but Susanna maintained that they are now just friends.

The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant became close with Steve, following her break-up with Dominic Cotton, the father of her three children, in 2014.

The couple, who bonded over their shared love of Crystal Palace, were first pictured together in November 2018 after a romantic mini-break in Paris.

The full interview appears in the June issue of Prima on May 2
She plays Elizabeth Kloepfer, the former girlfriend of Ted Bundy, alongside Zac Efron in upcoming biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.

And Lily Collins has claimed the ghosts of the serial killer's victims visited her every night at 3am while she filmed the crime thriller movie over the festive period last year.

During a new interview with the Observer magazine, the Les Miserables actress, 30, insisted she felt 'supported' by their presence as she emulated Ted's partner Liz - who was unaware of his chilling murder spree during the 70s.

Spooky: Lily Collins has claimed the ghosts of the serial killer Ted Bundy's victims visited her every night at 3am while she filmed upcoming biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile last year

Recalling the confusing period, the screen star shared: 'I would go downstairs and have a cup of tea, trying to figure out why I had woken up again... I started being woken up by flashes of images, like, the aftermath of a struggle.'

The daughter of musician Phil Collins revealed that after researching potential reasons behind her odd sleeping pattern, she discovered '3am is the time when the veil between the realms is the thinnest and one can be visited.'

Convinced Ted's victims were contacting her during that time, Lily detailed: 'I didnt feel scared  I felt supported. I felt like people were saying: "Were here listening. Were here to support. Thank you for telling the story".'

Ted, born Theodore Robert Cowell, was executed in Florida in 1989 when he confessed to murdering 36 women during his reign of terror, after more than a decade of denials.

Support: The Les Miserables actress, 30, insisted she felt 'supported' by their presence as she emulated Ted's partner Liz (pictured in the film with Zac Efron as Ted)

Murderer: Ted, born Theodore Robert Cowell, was executed in Florida in 1989 when he confessed to murdering 36 women during his reign of terror, after more than a decade of denials (pictured in 1978)

In the upcoming film, set for release on Friday, High School Musical star Zac, 31, gives a convincing portrayal of the troubled serial killer Ted who terrorised the US with his violent murders.

The thriller opens with the picture-perfect early days of his romance with Liz, played by Lily, before the serial killer embarks on a barbaric murder spree.

Liz became suspicious of Bundy five years into their relationship and tried to turn him into the police.

She recorded her experiences in memoir The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy which was published when she was 36 years old and Bundy was on death row.

Tragic: The killer targeted a series of females, including (left to right) Roberta Parks, Julie Cunningham, Brenda Carol Ball, Georgann Hawkins, Susan Rancourt, Kimberly Leach, Nancy Wilcox, Janice Ott

Double take: In the movie based on the chilling true story, the actress (R) transforms into Ted's girlfriend Liz (L) who is unaware of her boyfriend's murder spree

The couple first crossed paths in 1969 and they dated until they parted ways for good in 1980.

Earlier this week, brunette beauty Lily revealed she met Liz in order to get into character for the movie.

The Love, Rosie star explained it was 'helpful' to have the opportunity to meet the 'gracious' woman she plays during her appearance on This Morning.

She told Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield: 'I went and met the woman that I play. It was really helpful. She was so gracious, giving me material to look at and speaking to me.'

Double life: Ted was living with Liz before and while he murdered a series of young women and girls during the 1970s

Spitting image: Alongside Lily, Zac Efron (L) gives a convincing portrayal of the charming yet troubled serial killer Ted (R) who terrorised the US with his violent murders

Love story: The thriller opens with the picture-perfect early days of their romance before the serial killer embarks on a barbaric murder spree

The To The Bone star gushed Liz was a 'positive light' on the movie set of the thriller where Lily filmed scenes with her co-star Zac Efron.

She said: 'I don't know if she's going to see the movie because it's difficult but within the filming process she came on set and she was a positive light on set. You wouldn't expect that with what happened. She gave us her support. She's really lovely.'

As well as meeting Ted's girlfriend, Lily also insisted she wouldn't look at any crime scene imagery Elizabeth wouldn't have seen to ensure she mastered the part.

She said: 'I play the girlfriend, she had a daughter, and they were a family unit before he committed the crimes. In preparation for the film, I wouldn't look at any imagery. I didn't want to look at anything Liz hadn't seen.'

Discussion: Earlier this week, brunette beauty Lily revealed she met Liz in order to get into character for the movie during a discussion with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning




Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans' second husband David Eason has admitted to murdering their family dog Nugget after the French bulldog nipped the face of their daughter.

The the 30-year-old gun advocate has come under fire after he was accused of 'killing her dog' at their North Carolina home, and he defended his actions on social media Wednesday.

In North Carolina, killing a dog is a Class H Felony under the Animal-Cruelty statute.

But officials told TMZ on Wednesday that they will only go after David if Jenelle reports him.

Evil: Jenelle Evans' husband defended himself after he and shot and killed their family dog, a French bulldog named nugget, for nipping their two-year-old in the face on Wednesday

In response to the accusations that he killed the defenseless animal, Eason shared a video on social media of the small dog being baited to nip the girls face.

Eason took to his HickTownKing Instagram page and posted the clip showing Nugget on the couch with his daughter Ensley who tries to go in for a kiss.

Instead of intervening between the animal, who is clearly uncomfortable as it cowers and pulls away from the little girl, Eason sits across the room and films the dog nip back at the girls face, causing her to cry.

He also shared a photo of a tearful toddler after the incident with a slight red welt on her cheek, the skin having not been broken by the dogs teeth.

Heartless: In response to the accusations that he killed the defenseless animal, Eason shared a video in his defense on social media of the small dog being baited to nip the girls face while he sat across the room and watched

Proof? Eason shared a photo of his daughter after the nip that showed a small welt as the dogs teeth had not broken the skin

'I dont give a damn what animal bites my baby on the face... whether it be your dog or mine, a dog is a dog and I dont put up with that s**t at all,' he wrote in the caption.

'I'm all about protecting my family, it is my lifes mission,' he continued.

He wrote: 'Some people are worth killing or dying for and my family means that much to me. You can hate me all you want but this isnt the first time the dog bit Ensley aggressively. The only person that can judge weather or not a animal is a danger to MY CHILD is ME.'

Eason turned off the comments function on the video post.

'I dont give a damn what animal bites my baby on the face... whether it be your dog or mine, a dog is a dog and I dont put up with that s**t at all,' he wrote in the caption.

On Tuesday unidentified male made the frantic 911 call reporting the alleged felony and the Columbus County Sheriff told Radar Online they plan on filing a report after thoroughly investigating the matter.

Eason's reality star wife took to social media to express her grief at the situation.

'Nugget... Im crying everyday. I love you so much and Im so sorry. Im speechless. You were my side kick and knew the moment I felt bad and would cuddle with me,' she penned.

Adding: 'You still had a lot to learn and a lot to grow from your lessons. Everyday I wake up youre not here, when I come home youre not here, when I go to bed... youre not here. Youre gone forever and theres no coming back. #Heartbroken #Distraught'

Unsafe: The couple have two other dogs, pitbulls, the safety of status of which are unknown

Jenelle had adopted the French bulldog in August and the couple also has two Pitbulls.

The horrifying dog murder came six months after Jenelle accused her husband of breaking her collarbone while violently 'pinning her down on the ground.'

'He got violent because he's been drinking,' Evans sobbed to the 911 operator in October.

'I'm recovering from a surgery on Monday. I can't breathe. I have four kids in the house with me right now. They're all sleeping. I don't know what to do. He left the house. I don't know what to do right now.'

Horrifying: An unidentified male made the frantic 911 call reporting the alleged felony and the Columbus County Sheriff told Radar Online they plan on filing a report after thoroughly investigating the matter

The hot-tempered brunette - who changed her Facebook relationship status to 'separated' on Valentine's Day - has a two-year-old daughter Ensley Jolie with David as well as two sons Kaiser and Jace from prior relationships.

Eason was notoriously fired off Teen Mom 2 after tweeting homophobic posts in February 2018, which included 'I'm going to teach [my children] not to associate with [LGBTQAI people] or be that way.'

The Brett Kavanaugh supporter also has a son Kaden and daughter Maryssa with his ex-wife Whitney Johnson.

Eason is also a supporter of gun rights and is particularly vocal about defending the use of bump stocks - which are a modification to a weapon that allow it to function like an automatic weapon.

A federal bump sock ban officially went into effect in March.
Kiernan Shipka was seen with a mystery man on Tuesday in LA.

The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina star, 19, had fun as she laughed with this person during lunch.

This comes weeks after it was claimed she is dating Gary Oldman's son Charlie Oldman.

Casual: Kiernan Shipka, 19, was spotted out with a different man on Tuesday in Los Angeles, laughing and enjoying each other's company

Labels: While heading down the sidewalk, Shipka was decked out head to toe in recognizable name brands

While heading down the sidewalk, Shipka was decked out head to toe in recognizable name brands.

Her white sneakers were from Chanel, which she donned with loose fitting black pants.

Kiernan also wore a blue tie-dye shirt from Rodarte, priced at $172.

And, hanging across the t-shirt was a Miu Miu silver leather shoulder bag, going for over 1K.

Fantastic: Kiernan giggled alongside her pal, looking overjoyed to be enjoying a relaxing day

Looking like the teenager that she is, the beauty wore her hair half up with a high pony.

She giggled alongside her pal, looking overjoyed to be enjoying a relaxing day.

The starlet first made her mark in Hollywood playing Sallie Draper on the popular drama series, Mad Men, starting in 2007 when she was just eight-years old.

It girl: The starlet first made her mark in Hollywood playing Sallie Draper on the popular drama series, Mad Men, starting in 2007 when she was just eight-years old

Now, she currently stars in the lead role of the supernatural Netflix series, with the second part of season one having premiered April 5.

The show was renewed for a second season of 16 new episodes, which will also be split into two parts.

Her latest film, the upcoming Christmas romantic comedy -Let It Snow - is currently in post-production. It also stars Isabela Moner, Shameik Moore, Odeya Rush, Jacob Batalon and Joan Cusack.

Shipka's resume also includes voicing Jinora in the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel, The Legend Of Korra (2012-2014) and as B.D. Hyman in the FX series Feud: Bette And Joan (2017).

Recently, Shipka and Charlie, 20, appeared to confirm that they are in fact dating with a sweet Instagram selfie that showed her puckering up near his forehead.
Jack Whitehall will host The Graham Norton Show later this month, after the presenter had to step down from his duties for the first time in 20 years.

The comedian, 30, will guest host the talk show on Friday May 17th, and said he is 'honoured' to fill the 56-year-old's showbiz boots while Graham is away in Tel Aviv preparing for the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday May 18th.

Speaking about hosting the show, Jack said: 'I was so honoured Graham asked me to do this for him.

Handing over the reigns: Jack Whitehall will host The Graham Norton Show later this month, after the presenter had to step down from his duties for the first time in 20 years

'The thought of stepping into his huge showbiz boots fills me in equal measure with fear and excitement.

'Worst case, I will make everyone appreciate just how lucky we are to have him.'

Graham, meanwhile, said he was delighted the Fresh Meat star will be fronting his show while he is away but joked he shouldn't get 'too comfortable' because he will be returning to his presenting chair.

Big shoes to fill: The comedian, 30, will guest host the talk show on Friday May 17th, and he is honoured to fill the 56-year-old's showbiz boots while Graham is away in Tel Aviv

He said: 'I'm thrilled to know that I am leaving the show in Jack's capable hands. He is bound to do an amazing job.

'I should warn him not to get too comfortable in my chair though, because like a slightly fey terminator, I'll be back.'

Jack's guests include, Luke Evans, Paloma Faith and Gwendoline Christie.

As well as the small screen, the comedian is landing more movie roles and is set to join Idris Elba in film Mouse Guard.

The Jungle Cruise actor is reportedly in discussions to join Idris, Andy Serkis, Samson Kayo and Thomas Brodie-Sangster in Fox's adaptation of the popular Boom! Studios comic, which is being directed by Wes Ball.

The motion picture - which is set in a medieval world - will tell the story of an order of mice who are the sworn protectors of their realm.

Jack is reportedly in a 'calm and measured staff wielder' named Kenzie.
Cara Delevingne enjoyed another day with her 'true love', Ashley Benson.

The couple were spotted heading towards their apartment in New York on Wednesday, after Cara, 26, defended their romantic relationship from cruel trolls online.

Ashley, 29, looked super stylish in a midnight blue coat, black skinny jeans, with her dark blonde hair slicked up into a top knot.

Double trouble: Cara Delevingne and Ashley Benson were spotted heading towards their apartment in New York on Wednesday

The Pretty Little Liars star finished off the sleek look with glossy ankle boots and a purse slung across her shoulder.

Cara opted for a flashier style during her low-key day with Ashley.

The catwalk queen wore a bold print jacket, skinny jeans, sneakers, along with royal blue socks.

Arms laden with a black leather jacket with a grey beanie over her hair, Cara was the picture of city cool style.

Edgy: Arms laden with a black leather jacket with a grey beanie over her hair, Cara was the picture of city cool style

Cara has been dating Ashley for a year now, and the model has not been shy about expressing her feelings for the star.

Cara recently defended her relationship with Ashley after an Instagram commenter told her she 'needs a man', despite being in a relationship with Cara.

When one fan said Benson was not gay and she 'needs a man,' Benson responded, 'You need to mind your own business. Stop making things up.'

A step in the right direction: Ashley rocked a slick pair of ankle boots while Cara made do with sneakers

Cara then responded with a message of her own, stating, 'You are fking disgusting!'

'If you have a problem with true love then come and say this st to my face instead [of] pathetically hating through Instagram.'

'I genuinely feel sorry for you both, you are clearly not happy with your lives and have far too my time on your hands,' she added.

'Maybe get a hobby that doesnt involve being homophobic and hating others for being happy.'
They filmed their final Big Bang Theory scenes together on Tuesday.

And the gang was back together the next day as they were honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California.

The cast appeared together once more as they made speeches and thanked their supportive fans.

Scroll down for video

Gorgeous: Kaley Cuoco went for flower power on Wednesday as she lead her Big Bang Theory co-stars at the TCL Chinese Theater handprint ceremony in Hollywood

Kaley Cuoco, 33, stunned in a floral number for the prestigious honor.

Her dress featured a high neck, puffy shoulders and cinched in at the waist before flaring out to above her knees.

She ensured her frock stole the show by teaming the look with a pair of nude pointed toe heels.

Made it! All the Big Bang Theory cast members were there to leave their handprints at the iconic tourist attraction

Flower power! Kaley Cuoco, 33, stunned in a floral number for the prestigious honor

Goofing around: The beauty was seen both taking photos and videos throughout the day as well as give a speech on her cast's behalf

Kaley's blonde tresses were styled out into a voluminous ponytail with her front strands left out to frame her face.

The star who played the role of Penny kept her makeup simple with rosy cheeks, lash extensions and a pink lip.

The beauty was seen both taking photos and videos throughout the day as well as give a speech on her cast's behalf.

Taking to social media, she revealed how grateful she was to be part of such a wonderful cast and series of 12 years.

Jim Parsons, 46, looked incredibly dapper during the ceremony on Wednesday.

The star wore a light blue colored suit and was seen getting on his hands and knees to write his signature in cement.

Simple: She ensured her frock stole the show by teaming the look with a pair of nude pointed toe

Beauty: The star who played the role of Penny kept her makeup simple with rosy cheeks, lash extensions and a pink lip

Suit and tie: Jim Parsons, 46, looked incredibly dapper during the ceremony on Wednesday

The actor of Sheldon Cooper wore a white button up shirt with a coordinated black tie and framed glasses.

Fellow original co-star Johnny Galecki, 43, kept things classy in a three piece set.

His suit was of a dark plaid design and featured a buttoned-up vest as well.

Mayim Bialik, 43, was a ray of sunshine as she graced the ceremony on Wednesday.

She opted for a bright yellow midi-length frock that featured ruffled layers and a gorgeous v-neck design.

The real life PhD neuroscientist who played the role of Amy Farrah Fowler, sported a pair of complimentary colored framed glasses and styled her short brunette tresses out into loose waves.

Ray of sunshine! The real life PhD neuroscientist, Mayim Bialik, who played the role of Amy Farrah Fowler, sported a pair of complimentary colored framed glasses and styled her short brunette tresses out into loose waves

Iconic: The stars all left their handprints to dry in a cement slab

One final time: Following the handprint ceremony, they posed together for photos

During the hand print ceremony, she was seen posing next to co-star Melissa Rauch, 38.

The beauty sure had the right idea, opting for pants and a shirt with lots of bending and kneeling required.

Melissa, who played the role of Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS show stunned in checkered trousers and a black vest underneath a button-up blouse.

Her blonde tresses were voluminous with waves and her glam kept simple and radiant.

The beauty's on-screen husband Simon Helberg, 38, who played Howard Wolowitz, opted for a grey three-piece suit for the ceremony.

His hair was slicked back, a very different style to co-star Kunal Nayyar, 37, who let his curls out.

Far right! Melissa Rauch, who played the role of Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS show stunned in checkered trousers and a black vest underneath a button-up blouse

Reflecting: Show co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre was also at the ceremony and shared some words with fans as a featured speaker

The actor of Rajesh Koothrappali sported a similar look to Jim Parsons, opting for a tie to go along with his suit.

Show co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre was also at the ceremony and shared some words with fans as a featured speaker.

'Having just wrapped the final episode the night before, we're on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster,' he began.

'But we can definitely count this iconic hand print ceremony at the Chinese Theater as one of the highs. We'd like to thank all of our viewers who've supported us over the last 12 years and made an unforgettable event like this possible.'

The final Big Bang Theory episode will air on May 16 on CBS at 8/7c.
It's been a rough week for Randall Emmett, the fiance of Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent, who has been embroiled in an embarrassing social media tete-a-tete with rapper 50 Cent.

After Emmett finally ended his public feud with the rapper, real name Curtis Jackson, it appeared that the fight may have caused trouble at home with his bride-to-be.

On Tuesday, Lala, 28, inexplicably scrubbed all evidence of their relationship off of her Instagram feed which included their engagement post.

What is happening? Lala Kent confused her fans when she removed all photos of her fiance Randall Emmett from her Instagram feed on Tuesday while he posted new videos of the pair on his page following his feud with 50 Cent.

Fans became even more confused about the status of their relationship as Emmett was simultaneously sharing photos and videos of Lala, including one in bed.

She later shared a video of her own of the pair hanging out with friends on her Instagram story but didn't put back any of the images into her feed. This comes after a bizarre week of fighting over money with 50 Cent.

The rap mogul had been on a social media warpath against Emmett over a $1 million unpaid loan and launched a public attack last week demanding he pay back the six-year-old loan.

Fans of the Rules star first began wondering if the financial rift between 50 and Emmett had caused relationship issues at home after the Candy Shop rapper brought her into the fold.

Why? On Tuesday, Lala, 28, inexplicably scrubbed all evidence of their relationship off of her Instagram feed which included their engagement post

Mixed signals: Emmett was simultaneously sharing photos and videos of Lala, including one in bed, while she was deleting shots of him

The pair's row boiled to the surface when 50 Cent shared a clip of Kent talking to her co-star about the first time she had sex with Randall.

'I let him hit it the first time and we were inseparable; he would just send me, like, really expensive gifts,' Kent, who got engaged to Emmett last fall, tells castmate Stassi Schroeder in the clip.

'The first night we banged, I got a car the next day. He was like, "Do you want a Range Rover?"'

Issues: It's been a rough week for Randall Emmett who has been embroiled in an embarrassing social media tete-a-tete with rapper 50 Cent

50 Cent went on to make fun of Kent in his Instagram caption, writing: '10 seconds left in the 4 quarter h*** are Winning. Do you want A range rover, yes, b**** yassss. Then just run out and s*** a d***. LOL smh.'

Kent was quick to personally respond in the comments, telling 50 Cent she was 'disgusted'.

'We've sat up at dinners solo with you, you showing mad love, while begging Rand to put one of your new talentless b*****s in a film, and this is how you come for me? On the gram?'

Too far! The star's row with Emmett boiled to the surface when 50 Cent shared a clip of Kent talking to her co-star about the first time she had sex with Randall

Moving on: After paying up, Emmett finally ended his public feud with the rapper and said he was 'glad' they had 'settled up'

Emmett, who repeatedly pleaded to be left alone and claimed he was going to the hospital from stress over the feud, finally wired the rapper all the money on Monday.

The following day Kent removed all photos of the couple from her popular Instagram page further prompting fans to question whether she'd split from Emmett.

In an attempt to shut down those rumors that there were problems between the Power producer and the reality star, Emmett shared two snaps of the pair on social media Tuesday.

'What a fun night with my fiance,' he wrote in the caption of a shot of the two hugging and laughing in a kitchen.

The past? All shots of the couple from their relationship, including this one, have been removed from Lala's page and she's not commented on the status of their relationship

In his story, the producer also shared a shot of the reality star hanging with friends and talking about Game of Thrones as well as an intimate video of the pair laying in bed.

They giggled and exchanged 'I love yous' in the selfie video that saw Lala makeup-free and laying on Emmett's arm.

He mentioned in the clip that she was heading off on a girl's trip to Paris, France.

'I'll miss you,' she responded.

The social media posts are curious considering that there is no longer any vestige of their relationship at all on Lala's page and she has yet to comment on the status of their romance.
Danniella Westbrook has revealed a dramatically clean cut new look as she prepares to leave residential rehabilitation after receiving treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

The former EastEnders actress, 45, appeared to be reaping the benefits of an abstinence based lifestyle following a three-month spell as an in-patient at a Bedfordshire clinic, arranged by The Jeremy Kyle Show.

Sharing a selfie with Instagram followers, Danniella - whose battle with cocaine addiction is well documented - looked fresh faced, healthy and happy.

Fresh and healthy: Danniella Westbrook has revealed a dramatically clean cut new look as she prepares to leave residential rehabilitation after receiving treatment for drug and alcohol abuse

Captioning the shot, the actress revealed she had paid a visit to a local hair salon to get her roots touched up ahead as she prepares to leave rehab in three days time.

The healthy new look has been accentuated by Danniella's decision to dye her brunette hair blonde and cut it into a chic bob.

The actress, whose previous attempts at rehabilitation were unsuccessful, previously admitted she is finally ready to embrace sobriety with the help of Narcotics Anonymous.

New look: Danniella has dyed her brunette hair blonde and cut it into a chic bob

Old times: Danniella's new look is a far cry from the days and moths leading up top her current spell in treatment

She told Instagram followers: 'I can honestly say I have the life I never thought myself worthy of. It's very early days, just three months give or take a few days but I know in my heart I am home.

'Being part of this fellowship and being show how to help myself and others is just a real gift. So thank you all who stood by me and loved me when I was too sick to do that for myself for years and to those of you who are new in my life.

'I wanted to share my my gratitude and say thank you for never giving up on me.'

In need of help: Danniella entered rehab in February following her tearful appearance on a Jeremy Kyle Show celebrity special, during which she admitted to using as many as eleven bags of cocaine a day

Danniella entered rehab in February following her tearful appearance on a Jeremy Kyle Show celebrity special, during which she admitted to using as many as eleven bags of cocaine a day at the lowest point of her addiction to the class A substance.

And the former soap star is said to be making another appearance on the chat show soon with an update on her progress.

Speaking in March, a source told the Daily Star: 'Danniella is in rehab for the next month and a half trying to overcome her demons. She is doing really well and is better than she has been in a long time.

'Earlier this week she got her hair professionally cut and dyed blonde ahead of Jeremy Kyle filming from inside the centre.'




Karolina Kurkova, 35, is one of the most successful models in the world, but the beautiful blonde is also an entrepreneur.

The former Victoria Secret model attended a launch event in New York for her new children's wellness line, Gryph & IvyRose, on Wednesday.

The Czech model wore a pink, blue and beige wrap cardigan that perfectly matched the child-like aesthetic of her brand's packaging.

Spring forward: Karolina Kurkova's color block cardigan perfectly matches her brands aesthetic as she attends the launch event on May 1 in New York

She paired the sweater with skinny jeans and pointed stilettos and accessorized with gold bracelets, rings and hoop earrings.

The mom-of-two went fresh faced with a light blush and rose colored lip stick.

The Vogue cover girl wore her shoulder length blonde hair down in loose curls.

Co-founders: Karolina co-founded the lifestyle brand with fellow mother Rachel Finger and father Orion Nevel and it's already hitting the shelves

The star has two children with actor/producer Archie Drury: Tobin, nine, and Noah, three.

In an interview with W Magazine, Kurkova said that what excited her most about the kids wellness line was the ability to have a 'more well-rounded and comprehensive approach to childrens health.'

Karolina co-founded the lifestyle brand with fellow mother Rachel Finger and father Orion Nevel and it's already hitting the shelves.

And Upscale beauty retailers like C.O. Bigelow, Gee Beauty and Botanica Bazaar have already scooped up the line.

12-step: The line has 12 products for children including detangler, probiotic chocolates and shampoo and conditioner

Not just for kids: While the probiotics are portioned for children, there's no reason why parents can't enjoy a few as well, as the model is seen taking a piece for herself

Comprehensive solutions: Items in the line include bath and body products, herbal elixirs and probiotics

Items in the line range in price from $22.50 to $29, and include bath and body products, herbal elixirs and probiotics.

According to their website, their mission is to 'support the bodys immune function, present high performance and lasting results as well as offer multiple ongoing regimens to address the different challenges our children face... in a sustainable, accessible and prestigious way.'

Mom knows best: The Vogue cover star has two children with actor/producer Archie Drury: Tobin, 9, and Noah, 3

Entreprenurial spirit: This isn't the first venture the supermodel has taken on

This isn't the first entrepreneurial venture Kurkova has taken on.

In March, the actress launched a custom baby stroller line.

In an interview posted to the Cybex website, Karolina talks about her new baby buggy design, saying she cares about safety, style, simplicity and sustainability.

'I am super excited that we were able to create a stroller cover using 31 plastic bottle,' she said.

Children are the future: Karolina has launched two products for children, a stroller line and now a wellness line
Jude Law married his partner Phillipa Coan in an intimate wedding in London on Tuesday.

And the actor looked smitten with his new wife as they arrived at the Alfred Dunhill Private Members Club in Mayfair after getting married at Marylebone Registry office.

The actor, 46, and Phillipa, 32, decided to shun a Hollywood guest list and invited only their closest friends and family to the nuptials.

Newlyweds! Jude Law looked smitten with his new wife Phillipa Coan as they arrived at the Alfred Dunhill members club after getting married at Marylebone Registry office on Tuesday

Glow: Phillipa looked stunning in her bridal gown as she flashed her new wedding ring

The Sherlock Holmes actor couldn't take his eyes off his beautiful bride as the pair chatted in the back of a car, with Phillipa showing off her gorgeous new wedding ring.

Jude flashed his hunky physique in a low-slung white t-shirt paired with a crushed velvet blazer and matching pinstripe trousers.

Adding a dapper and jaunty edge the star slipped on a fedora hat and a natty scarf to complete the look, while he also revealed his elegant silver wedding band.

Look of love: The Sherlock Holmes actor couldn't take his eyes off his beautiful bride as the pair chatted in the back of a car, with Phillipa showing off her gorgeous new wedding ring

Groom: Jude flashed his hunky physique in a low-slung white t-shirt paired with a crushed velvet blazer and matching pinstripe trousers

PDA: Jude looked enamoured with his new wife as they shared a special moment in their car

Gorgeous: Business psychologist Phillipa looked radiant in a cream mini dress with a statement ruffle as she smiled and chatted with her new husband

Special moments: Phillipa looked so in love as she and Jude celebrated their big day

Business psychologist Phillipa looked radiant in a cream mini dress with a statement ruffle as she smiled and chatted with her new husband.

She opted against a traditional full-length dress for the nuptials, instead showcasing her legs in the gown's thigh-high hemline.

Phillipa enhanced her natural beauty with an understated bouquet of wild flowers.

The psychologist, who holds a PhD in environmental change and runs her own consultancy, wore a cream fascinator atop of her blonde hair, which was styled in an elegant chignon.

The reception comes after pictures obtained by The Sun showed the Alfie star as he arrived for the civil ceremony with Phillipa following shortly behind.

Radiant: The psychologist, who holds a PhD in environmental change and runs her own consultancy, wore a cream fascinator atop of her blonde hair, which was styled in an elegant chignon

Hunky: Adding a dapper and jaunty edge the star slipped on a fedora hat and a natty scarf to complete the look, while he also revealed his elegant silver wedding band

Chat; The star looked focused as he took a phone call at the members club

Handsome: Jude looked handsome as he took a phone call at the club

Celebration: The Hollywood actor rang in his wedding after-party with loved one s

Party: The star's rakish wedding hat made for a stylish look as he chatted

Hunky: The star looked dapper in his wedding outfit as he spoke with friends

The publication reports the couple arrived at the Town Hall together in a chauffeur-driven Range Rover at 11.40am.

They emerged around an hour later, with their wedding bands on display and headed back to their car without taking pictures.

The wedding has come as a surprise to many, given previous reports that Jude and Phillipa were planning a springtime wedding in France, surrounded by their showbiz pals.

Looking good: Jude flashed his new wedding band as he left the venue

Newlyweds: The couple confirmed they were engaged back in February, after four years of dating (pictured in Rome in 2015)

Just married: The pair decided to shun a Hollywood guest list and invited only their closest friends and family to the nuptials (pictured in December 2016)

High spirits: Jude's son Rafferty, 22, shared a slew of snaps on his Instagram page after the nuptials. Taking to his stories, the model sung on a roof top as he puffed a cigarette

Best man? After the pair announced their engagement, it was reported the Sherlock Holmes star had asked his eldest son, whom he shares with ex wife Sadie Frost, to be his best man

After the pair announced their engagement, The Sun reported the Sherlock Holmes star had asked his eldest son Rafferty, 22, whom he shares with ex wife Sadie Frost, to be his best man.

A source revealed to the publication: 'The wedding itself will be a good old fashioned knees up with plenty of booze and dancing.'

Rafferty shared a slew of snaps on his Instagram after the nuptials. Taking to his stories, the model sung on a roof top as he puffed a cigarette.

Smart: The model later showed Boutonniere on his grey suit lapel

Smitten: The couple confirmed they were engaged back in February, after four years of dating (pictured July 2016)

He later showed Boutonniere on his grey suit lapel.

Several of Jude's actor pals including Jonny Lee Miller, Ewan McGregor, Brad Adams and Sean Pertwee, were all reported to have made the guest list, but it seems they missed out on invites to the low-key ceremony.

MailOnline have contacted Jude's representatives for comment.

Loved-up: Speaking on his romance, Jude previously said: 'Shes mine and no one elses. Im very, very happy. Our relationship is a very private thing' (pictured in 2016 at Wimbledon)

The lovebirds first made their relationship public back in 2015, hitting the red carpet at the Hay Festival in 2015.

A source told MailOnline at the time: 'He's serious about her. He loves how intelligent Pippa is and finds it refreshing to date a girl who is not from his showbiz world.

'He's pretty smitten and doesn't want to mess it up.'

Jude previously discussed his romance with Phillipa in an interview with Modern Living.

He said: 'Shes mine and no one elses. Im very, very happy. Our relationship is a very private thing, and I think part of the fact it works so well is exactly because of that.'

Divorce: This is the second time lucky for father-of-five Jude, who was previously married to designer Sadie from 1997 until their divorce in 2003 (pictured in 1998)

Ex: Jude also has an nine-year-old daughter Sophia with model Samantha Burke (pictured in 2009)

Father-of-five: Jude is also father to Ada, four, with musician Catherine Harding (pictured in 2015)

This is the second time lucky for father-of-five Jude, who was previously married to designer Sadie from 1997 until their divorce in 2003.

The former couple share three children together, Rafferty, 22, daughter Iris, 18 and 16-year-old Rudy.

Jude also has an nine-year-old daughter Sophia with model Samantha Burke and Ada, four, with musician Catherine Harding.

The star famously dated fellow A-lister Sienna Miller, with Jude famously issuing a public apology to her after having an affair with his children's nanny.
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It was a sunny day for Tamra Judge as she stripped down to a yellow bikini during a Real Housewives Of Orange County group trip in Miami, Florida.

The 51-year-old reality star soaked up the heat on Wednesday in Miami, Florida, while showing off her flat stomach in a bright two-piece.

It looked as if the women were letting their hair down as they enjoyed a few drinks in the sun.

Hot, hot, hot: Tamra Judge, 51, soaked up the heat on Wednesday in Miami, Florida, during a group trip with cast members of The Real Housewives Of Orange County

Relaxing back on yellow chairs covered in white towels, the women took in the glorious day.

Tamra looked red hot in the tiny yellow mesh bikini lined in blues, purples and greens. Her tight abs and bodacious curves were highlighted by the risque suit.

The mother of four carried a bottle of Corona beer with her as she went back to sitting next to cast member Emily Simpson.

Vaca mode: The mother of four carried a Corona with her as she went back to sitting

Getting chilly: Judge, who's married to Eddie Judge, later covered up with a long black sweater

Tamra, who's married to Eddie Judge, later covered up with a long black sweater.

She tip toed around in backless straw sandals with a clear strap across her feet, showing off a bright neon pink pedicure.

And, her blonde locks were tied back into the perfect messy ponytail and a gold necklace with her name in charms fell across her tanned chest.

Sun session: Emily Simpson of RHOC also was spotted getting some sun by the pool

Sweet tooth: Judge enjoyed a bright treat as well as she spread out on a lawn chair next to Emily Simpson

Judge enjoyed a bright treat as well as she spread out across the long chair next to Emily.

The women appeared to be enjoying a group trip together as RHOC cast member Gina Kirschenheiter also posted pictures on social media of herself with Emily.

Kelly Dodd also shared a snap on Instagram having fun with Gina and Emily.
Nicole Kidman, 51, has spoken candidly about her desperate bid to have a baby before meeting her now husband, Keith Urban.

On Thursday, the Hollywood superstar told The Australian Women's Weekly that it was a dream come true to fall pregnant to Keith, also 51.

'I had spent my whole life trying to get pregnant,' she tells the magazine.

'I had spent my whole life trying to get pregnant': Nicole Kidman , 51, has spoken candidly about her desperate bid to have a baby before meeting her now husband, Keith Urban. The couple are pictured her with their children Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret

The Big Little Lies star was previously married to fellow actor, Tom Cruise, 56.

The couple share adopted children, Isabella Cruise, 26, and Connor Cruise, 24.

In her candid interview, Nicole says that both she and Keith were itching to meet the right person in the hopes of having a family, before meeting each other.

Fate: In her candid interview, Nicole says that both she and Keith were itching to meet the right person in the hopes of having a family, before meeting each other

'We both were desperate to find that person [to have children with],' she says, adding, 'we'd also reached that place of going, "Gosh, I wonder if it's ever going to happen".'

Nicole and country music superstar Keith have been married for 13 years.

The couple have two daughters together - Sunday Rose, 10, and Faith Margaret, 8.

Happy: Nicole and country music superstar Keith have been married for 13 years

Nicole is notoriously private about the children she adopted with ex Tom.

But the actress recently gave Vanity Fair readers some rare insight into her older kids lives during an interview for the magazine.

The star revealed that Bella lives in London while son Connor resides in Miami.

Family ties: The Big Little Lies star was previously married to fellow actor, Tom Cruise (far left), 56. The couple share adopted children Isabella Cruise (right), 26, and Connor Cruise, 24 (second from right) They split in 2001

Both offspring were adopted during her 11-year marriage to Tom.

The couple tied the knot in 1990 and split in 2001.

'Bella lives just outside London,' Kidman told the publication, adding that her eldest is married and recently launched the T-shirt line BKC (Bella Kidman Cruise).

Speaking about the outspoken Scientologist's link to the UK, Nicole said: 'You know, she really feels more English. We lived there for Eyes Wide Shut, Mission Impossible, and The Portrait of a Lady. They both had English accents when they were little.'
Having just returned from a beach holiday with boyfriend Scott Disick in Mexico, Sofia Richie decided to keep things low key on Wednesday.

Richie, 20, was spotted out for lunch with a gal pal at Malibu fine dining Italian restaurant, Tra Di Noi..

The up-and-coming model forwent her usual ab-flaunting crop top, instead opting for mom jeans and a modest black bomber.

Mom jeans: Sofia Richie forwent her usual ab-flaunting crop top, instead opting for mom jeans and a modest black bomber for lunch in Malibu on Wednesday

The model wore a black tee under her jacket with the words Grand sport Japan displayed on the front, along with a picture of a car and Japanese writing.

She paired the dressed down look with white trainers, silver earrings and a pair of retro cat eye sunglasses.

The daughter of music legend Lionel Richie wore her long blonde hair down.

It blew behind her on the windy LA day.

Not present for the outing was Scott Disick, Sofia's boyfriend of almost two years.

Retro: The model wore a black tee under her jacket with the words Grand sport Japan displayed on the front, along with a picture of a car and Japanese writing

Foodie: Richie posted a video to her Instagram stories of the delicious orecchiette al tartufo pasta she and her friend had

Market price: The pasta dish Sofia ate had homemade orecchiette pasta with peas and mushrooms, and finished in pecorino cheese wheel. It's prepared table side and topped with shaved, fresh truffles

The 35-year-old reality star shares three children with eldest Kardashian sister Kourtney, including 8-year-old Mason, 6-year-old Penelope, and 3-year-old Reign.

In last Sunday's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kourtney Kardashian and Scott were told they are each other's 'soulmates' by a local healer.

Sofia responded by saying she 'doesn't care about the "soulmate" thing,' according to Us Weekly insider source.

High public profile: Richie has been dating Keeping Up With The Kardashian's star Scott Disick for nearly two years

Viva Mexico: The couple was spotted catching some rays in Cabo San Lucas

The 20-year-old model, who started dating Scott in the summer of 2017, is '100 percent fine with his and Kourtney's relationship. They have no issues and they get along,' the insider revealed.

Richie started modeling at the age of 14 and signed with London-based modeling agency Select Model management when she was 16.

Over the last four years she has been featured in a number of advertising campaigns that includes Chanel, Adidas, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, DL 1961, and Madonna's Material Girl line.
She became an overnight social media sensation after sharing incredible photos of her post-baby body, just two months after giving birth in 2014.

And on Thursday, Tammy Hembrow, 24, posted an epic throwback photo of her bare baby bump while she was pregnant with her son Wolf.

The influencer shared a heartwarming tribute on Instagram in honour of Wolf's fourth birthday, and one photo showed her heavily pregnant with her firstborn.

Throwback: Tammy Hembrow shared this throwback photo to Instagram on Thursday, which showed her heavily pregnant in a bikini

'Happy fourth birthday to my sweet little Wolf,' she captioned a series of throwback photos.

'You changed my life in every way & taught me of a love I never knew could exist. I'm in awe of you every single day & am beyond blessed to have you. Forever my sun, my moon, & all my stars.'

Tammy displayed her huge bump in a tiny white bikini while frolicking at the beach.

Tribute: The fitness entrepreneur shared a series of throwback photos in honour of her son Wolf's 4th birthday

Inspiration: She became a global social media sensation after sharing incredible photos of her post-baby body, just two months after giving birth in 2014

Motherhood: Tammy shares two children with her ex-fiancee, Reece Hawkins - Wolf (pictured) and a two-year-old daughter, Saskia

Another photo showed Tammy flaunting her gym-honed physique, months after Wolf was born.

The Queenslander rose to stardom five years ago after documenting her post-baby body transformation on social media.

She went on to build a lucrative fitness empire, which includes her workout app Tammy Fit and activewear label Saski Collection.

'Did you have a Brazilian butt lift?' The Queenslander became an overnight sensation five years ago after documenting her post-baby body transformation on social media. However, in October last year, trolls accused the mother-of-two of having a 'fake' backside after she shared a video of herself wearing a G-string to Instagram

Then and now: Tammy previously shared this before and after photo to Instagram and told fans she transformed her body 'with hard work, consistency and determination'

Tammy is believed to be worth at least $3million, with reported earnings for Saski reaching over $3.6million over the last 12 months, according to a representative.

In October last year, trolls accused the fitness entrepreneur of having a 'fake' backside after she shared a video of herself wearing a G-string on Instagram.

'Did you have a Brazilian butt lift?' one follower asked, which prompted Tammy to reply that she had 'a 100 [per cent] natural booty'.
On the eve of Anzac Day, the coalition is promising a $63 million package to look after those who have served in Australia's defence forces.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will unveil the pledge in Darwin, home to more than 5000 defence personnel and their families, where he is campaigning on Wednesday for the first time this election.

He's also expected to visit US Marines based in Darwin.

Mr Morrison will announce that if re-elected on May 18, the coalition would spend $30 million building veterans' wellbeing centres in Darwin, Townsville, Adelaide, Perth, Nowra and Wodonga.

The centres would be service hubs integrating government assistance, health services, advocacy and wellbeing support tailored to those who have served.

Another $16.2 million would go to Soldier On, Team Rubicon and RSL state branches for programs to help former servicemen and women find meaningful civilian jobs in their post-military life.

The government will exempt veterans who are totally and permanently incapacitated from a new limit of 12 sessions with allied health providers such as physiotherapists, in a move expected to cost $17 million.

This restriction was due to start on July 1 and allied health workers told a Productivity Commission inquiry the measure was an "archaic" model of care that would have led to people missing out on much-needed treatment.

The government will also make it easier for veterans to access schemes that help them to find a home after their service and get building insurance.

Veterans' Affairs Minister Darren Chester says these are practical measures that veterans want.

"I've met with hundreds of veterans this year and listened to their ideas on additional measures the government could take to support veterans in their communities," he said.

"These are men and women who signed up to the Australian Defence Force prepared to put their lives on the line for our nation so we need to do more to both respect and recognise our returned service men and women."

At the weekend, Labor promised an extra $118 million in taxpayer cover for veterans' funeral costs, art therapy programs, upgrades to local war memorials and a Kokoda Trail master plan to conserve the historic wartime trail.

The government is now promising $10 million for local war memorials and another $10 million for commemoration projects in Papua New Guinea.
Federal politicians are preparing to go head-to-head on policy issues in a series of election campaign debates.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Bill Shorten will have their first one-on-one debate in Perth next Monday, which will kick off the third week of campaigning for the May 18 election.

The National Press Club in Canberra will play host to a number of head-to-head debates, beginning next Thursday with Health Minister Greg Hunt and Labor's health spokeswoman Catherine King.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will also debate shadow treasurer Chris Bowen on May 6 at the venue.

Just two days later the Press Club will host Agriculture Minister David Littleproud and the Labor MP vying for the role, Joel Fitzgibbon.

President of the National Press Club Sabra Lane says more policy debates are being negotiated.

Leaders are also set to give individual addresses, beginning with Nationals boss Michael McCormack next Tuesday and Greens leader Richard Di Natale the following day.

Mr Morrison and Mr Shorten will also speak at the National Press Club in the final week of the campaign, which begins May 13.
Jason Day candidly admits his attitude has been lacking in the Presidents Cup previously and he wants to make amends at Royal Melbourne in December - hopefully in a glamour pairing with Adam Scott.

Former world No.1 Day's record for the International team in the biennial clashes with the powerhouse United States team is poor - earning just seven points from 20 matches across four Presidents Cup contests.

In the foursomes - alternate shot - format, he has no wins from eight outings.

Day admitted on Tuesday that the timing of the Cup contests late in the year had found him wanting.

"I'm the first one to put my hand up...because, unfortunately, it has to start at the top, and I've made mistakes with regards to not mentally being there," said Day of his 2017 Cup performance in South Korea where he went 1-3-1.

"I need to understand we've got 11 other guys on the team that are trying just as hard or trying even harder than myself, so I've got to pick the slack up too."

Internationals captain Ernie Els is trying to reverse the team's long losing streak by building culture and combinations for the future.

Hence Day and countryman Scott have joined forces at this week's two-man PGA Tour teams event in New Orleans, along with other potential team combos including Branden Grace and Justin Harding, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel and Si Woo Kim and Sangmoon Bae.

Again the Internationals face a huge task. On current rankings US captain Tiger Woods could draw his entire 12-man team from the world top 20 while Els would need to go down to No.54, with only Day in the top 20.

"I've sat through a lot of Presidents Cup beat-downs over the years, and I've kind of had enough of it," said No.28 Scott.

"So I'm prepared to do whatever it takes, whatever Ernie thinks it takes, to kind of change the culture in our team. Certainly an effort has been made by a lot of guys here this week that want to do that."

While they have been on four Presidents Cup teams together, Day and Scott have only combined in one Cup match, earning a half in 2017.

Scott said he'd asked to play more with Day in the past.

"You have to do what's best for the team, but I would definitely push for this pairing certainly in Australia. I think it's very formidable," he said.

Day is ready to draw from Scott's passion for Presidents Cup.

"Scottie has been one of the major voices in the team room, and you can see in his emotions and his attitude with regard to losing every single year, " said Day.

"It's disappointing for me to sit there and know that I can do better, and I should be doing better.

"But you know, I'm going to try and change my attitude and be a lot better for the Presidents Cups that I can play in."
High-profile Liberal candidate Georgina Downer has taken top spot on the ballot paper for the South Australian seat of Mayo at the May 18 election.

Ms Downer, the daughter of long-serving foreign minister Alexander Downer, is bidding to win back his former seat for the Liberals from Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie.

She also ran in last year's by-election in Mayo which was called when Ms Sharkie fell foul of citizenship laws.

In that poll Ms Sharkie increased her majority and now holds the seat with a margin of about five per cent.

A total of six candidates will stand in Mayo.

In SA's most marginal seat of Boothby, incumbent Liberal Nicolle Flint drew fifth spot on the ballot, importantly one above her Labor rival Nadia Clancy.

Top spot in Boothby went to Geoff Russell from the Animal Justice Party while controversial Queensland Senator Fraser Anning is also running a candidate.

Adrian Cheok will stand for Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party as one of eight candidates vying for Boothby which Ms Flint holds by just over two per cent.

In the race for the SA Senate spots, The Great Australia Party was allocated the first spot on the left hand side of the paper ahead of Senator Anning's party.

The Liberals took the seventh spot while Labor is in 15th, on the right-hand-side of the ballot.

The Centre Alliance - with lead candidate Skye Kakoschke-Moore who is trying to win back the seat she was also forced to abandon over citizenship issues - has taken third spot, with One Nation in fifth and the Greens in 10th.

Greens lead candidate and sitting Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said it was the Senate race in SA that would be most closely watched.

"Regardless of who forms government, whether it's Bill Shorten or Scott Morrison in the lodge after May 18, who controls the Senate is going to determine what laws get passed," she said.
The crimes of an Adelaide child sex tourist are the most serious of their kind in Australian legal history, a court has heard.

Ruecha Tokputza, 31, appeared in the District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to 51 charges against 13 babies and boys over more than six years.

He groomed Australian and Thai children for sex, filmed their abuse and shared it online.

Prosecutor Heath Barklay SC told the court there was "no body of comparable cases" for Tokputza's crimes because of the multi-faceted way in which he offended.

Mr Barklay said his actions were more serious than those of notorious Families SA pedophile Shannon McCoole, who was sentenced to 35 years in jail in 2015.

He said a major difference between the pair was McCoole's remorse, which he showed through a letter of apology to his victims.

"When one contrasts the two in that way, in my submission, this matter is plainly much more serious," Mr Barklay said.

"It's for that reason that there is a limit to the use of the McCoole matter in this case."

McCoole also committed fewer crimes - 20 offences against seven victims over the span of more than three years.

Craig Caldicott, for Tokputza, asked Judge Liesl Chapman to hand his client a sentence that could have him released on parole after he had undergone rehabilitation.

"I would suggest that the sentence should be fashioned in such a way that it does give him some hope of eventually being released," he said.

Tokputza was arrested following a joint investigation by Australian Federal Police, SA Police, NSW Police and Interpol.

His charges include sexual intercourse with a person under 14, aggravated assault, engaging in sexual activity with a child outside Australia and transmitting child exploitation material.

Judge Chapman will sentence Tokputza in May.
Waking early to attend an Anzac Day dawn service is a fitting tribute to Tasmania's past and present defence personnel, a senior veteran says.

Thousands of people are expected to attend Hobart's service at the Cenotaph on Queens Domain from 6am on Thursday.

It's a time for people to recognise the sacrifice of those who served the country and it is important for the Anzac tradition to continue, Tasmania's RSL president Geoff Leitch said.

"People need keep remembering what we have and how we got it through remembering the sacrifice that was made back then," he told AAP on Wednesday.

The Anzac spirit had continued from the First World War, through World War II, the Vietnam War and subsequent conflicts, he noted.

"A lot of people gave a lot for what we have today and it's important we don't forget."

Since the centenary of the start of World War I, more people have been attending services across Tasmania, with young people bringing their parents, Mr Leitch added.

Vietnam Veterans Association president Terry Roe encouraged people to set their alarm clocks for an early wake up call on Thursday.

"The least we can do is hop out of bed early in the morning and head to a dawn service to show our veterans past and present that we support their sacrifice and service," he said.

Hobart's commemorative service will feature an address by Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner, before a gun fire breakfast and the parade through Macquarie Street.

Numerous events are scheduled across the state.
Pauline Hanson's chances of getting two of her One Nation colleagues over the line in the Senate have lifted with lucky ballot paper draws in Queensland and Western Australia.

One Nation drew second spot on the Queensland Senate ballot paper and first on the WA paper, in a process conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission on Wednesday.

Senator Hanson is aiming to get ex-senator Malcolm Roberts up in Queensland and return Senator Peter Georgiou in WA.

The right-wing Rise Up Australia Party claimed first spot in Queensland with Clive Palmer's United Australia Party third.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton drew second place on the ballot paper in his Brisbane seat of Dickson, just ahead of Labor rival Ali France and behind the Greens' Benedict Coyne, whose preferences will be crucial to a potential upset.

Mr Dutton did not attend the draw.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott placed ahead of main rival independent Zali Steggall in his Sydney seat of Warringah.

Both were on hand to watch the draw in a crowded office in Manly.

Ms Steggall placed eighth, while the former prime minister was drawn in sixth spot.

"The electors are pretty smart and they'll navigate the ballot paper pretty well, I'm sure," Mr Abbott told reporters.

Ms Steggall compared the ballot to her time as an Olympic skier.

"I've been at the draw before in an Olympic Games race where you're really hoping to get that number one because you're going to have a clean course. This is about people choosing and focusing on policies," she said.

Labor's Libby Coker claimed second spot for the marginal Victorian seat of Corangamite, ahead of sitting Liberal MP Sarah Henderson in sixth place.

Liberal candidate for the South Australian seat of Mayo, Georgina Downer, scored top spot ahead of sitting Centre Alliance candidate Rebekha Sharkie in sixth and last place.

Election analyst Kevin Bonham said a higher place on a ballot paper represented about a 0.5 point advantage for a major party candidate.

And there was strong evidence confusingly-named parties received an advantage of about two points if they drew to the left of a similarly named party.
Victoria will slash its timber harvest area by 5000 hectares but is promising the cuts will not impact on contracts and is opening additional areas for new-growth native logging.

The Labor government's agriculture minister Jaclyn Symes announced the move ahead of Wednesday's release of VicForests' Timber Release Plan.

"The new allocation order provides certainty for the timber industry this year, as we continue our work towards a long-term solution that balances job protection with conservation - and a boost in the use of plantation timber," Ms Symes said.

The plan will identify the areas available for harvest.

"The release of the allocation order and timber release plan amendments are vital components to VicForests' planning and operations processes," VicForests chief executive Nathan Trushell said.

An additional 550 hectares of crown land near Maryvale and Yallourn North in the Latrobe Valley will be planted with native blue gum for future timber needs, the minister announced.

The sites will be planted this winter and additional plantations are planned for 2020, Ms Symes said.

VicForests is the state-owned business responsible for harvesting, selling and the re-growing timer from state forests.
Homicide detectives have renewed their push to locate one of the country's most wanted suspected killers who fled the country after allegedly stabbing a father to death in Sydney two decades ago.

James Dalamangas allegedly killed George Giannopoulos when the 32-year-old father of two intervened in a fight at a Belmore night club on Anzac Day in 1999.

An arrest warrant was issued for Dalamangas the following day but police have never located him.

The 48-year-old is believed to be living in Greece, and on Friday will mark 20 years as one of Australia's most wanted fugitives.

The NSW Police Force and Australian Federal Police are working with Greek authorities to bring him to justice and a $200,000 reward remains in place for information leading to his arrest.

Police intelligence suggests Dalamangas is now going by the name John or Jim, Detective Acting Superintendent Grant Taylor said.

"This year marks 20 years since George's death and we are committed to finding Mr Dalamangas and providing the Giannopoulos family with some closure," he said in a statement on Friday.

"The $200,000 reward is available internationally, so we are urging anyone - whether in Australia, Greece, or wherever in the world - to come forward us and assist us in our pursuit of justice for George and his family."

Dalamangas is Mediterranean in appearance, between 180 and 185 centimetres tall with a medium build, dark hair with brown eyes.
The Australian Electoral Commission has asked federal police to examine whether former senator Rod Culleton has given a false statement about his eligibility to run for the Senate.

Mr Culleton, who was disqualified from parliament in 2017, declared on an official form he was now clear to run for parliament and the AEC formally declared his candidacy this week.

Electoral laws do not give the AEC power to reject a fully completed candidate nomination, regardless of whether any answer to a question of the qualification checklist is incorrect, false or inadequate.

However, given Mr Culleton's prior disqualification by the High Court, the AEC has sent his candidate nomination form to the Australian Federal Police to examine if a false declaration has been made, relating to his status as an undischarged bankrupt.

Being an undischarged bankrupt prevents a person from being chosen, or to sit, as a senator under section 44 of the constitution.

"A search of the National Personal Insolvency Index indicates that Mr Culleton is currently listed as an undischarged bankrupt," the AEC said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Culleton's name will remain on the WA Senate ballot paper.
The South Australian governor has delivered a message of unity and sympathy to the local Sri Lankan community after the Easter Sunday terror attacks which killed more than 350 people.

Governor Hieu Van Le invited representatives of Sri Lankan community groups to an afternoon tea at Government House in Adelaide on Wednesday.

"At this very sad time I think they need to know that we are standing with them, they need to know that we feel the grief and the pain they are feeling," he told reporters after the gathering.

"This is what community is all about - this is an inclusive community."

Sri Lankan police say nine suicide bombers carried out a series of coordinated blasts in churches and hotels, killing at least 359 people and injuring about 500.

Nazli Farook, president of the Australia-Sri Lanka Association, said the community was in shock but grateful for the outpouring of support over the last few days.

"It gives us a lot of support and strength that we are not alone in this calamity that we are facing right now," he said.

"We feel assured from the governor and all our friends here in South Australia who have come out and said so much and volunteered to help us in any way possible."

Earlier this week, Labor Senator Penny Wong also met with members of the Sri Lankan community to express sympathy and offer support over the attacks.
A hit-and-run driver who struck and killed West Australian man Andrew Mallard on Hollywood's iconic Sunset Boulevard has reportedly been arrested by Los Angeles Police.

US television station KTLA 5 has reported 19-year-old Kristopher Ryan Smith surrendered to police just after 12pm on Tuesday, and was charged over the death.

Security footage showed Mr Mallard, 56, walking across a busy section of Sunset Boulevard early last Thursday and what appears to be a silver sedan striking him.

Mr Mallard's death and tragic life story have received widespread media exposure in the US, with a reward up to $US25,000 ($A35,000) being offered.

Mr Mallard was wrongly imprisoned for 12 years for the 1994 death of Perth jeweller Pamela Lawrence. He had his conviction quashed by the High Court in 2005.
AAP FactCheck Investigation: Is Prime Minister Scott Morrison guilty of peddling fake news about death taxes?

The Statement

"The Greens are up for death taxes. Even Andrew Leigh is up for death taxes, let alone the union movement."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison. April 20, 2019.

The Verdict

Somewhat False - Mostly false but there is more than one element of truth.

The Analysis

Prime Minister Scott Morrison stands accused of spreading "fake news" by claiming Labor, the Greens and the union movement all support the reintroduction of a "death tax". [1]

AAP FactCheck examined Mr Morrison's claims that the Greens, shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh and "the union movement" are all "up for" death taxes.

AAP FactCheck found the PM's claim to be somewhat false.

Death taxes, otherwise known as inheritance taxes, are a one-off levy paid on money or property exceeding a certain threshold when the original owner dies.

They serve as another form of revenue for government and are considered to stimulate philanthropy by encouraging donations to charities. [2]

Death taxes were introduced in Australia's colonies in the early 19th century. By federation in 1901, they had been adopted by all states. The federal government introduced additional death taxes in 1914, but by 1984 all death taxes levied at state and federal level were abolished. [3]

During the second week of the 2019 federal election campaign Labor accused the Liberals of running a "scare campaign" by peddling "fake news" on social media that Labor plans to introduce a death tax. [4]

Labor complained to Facebook, demanding the social media platform take down posts containing these false claims. [5]

Australian Council of Trade Union's boss Sally McManus was dragged into the debate when a fake tweet, photo-shopped to imply it came from her account, was shared by conservatives including a former Howard-government minister Gary Hardgrave who later apologised for being duped.

The fake tweet read, "At the Labor National Conference the imposition of an Inheritance Tax was passed by a majority of candidates as being an objective within the term of the next Parliament, the ACTU proudly supports this initiative." [6]

Greens leader Richard Di Natale told AAP FactCheck the prime minister was "desperate" and "lying" by claiming the Greens were pro death taxes. "An inheritance tax is not part of our fully-costed election platform in 2019," the senator told AAP FactCheck.

Last month however Greens Queensland Senator Larissa Waters told ABC Radio's RN Drive that death taxes were in the party's "policy platform", but it was not a policy they were taking to the election.

"We have reams and reams of fantastic policy that our members write, and it's up there for all to see. We then craft from that an election policy platform that we cost," Senator Waters said. "But we're open to the conversation." [7]

A spokesperson for Senator Di Natale told AAP FactCheck the party did not object to the concept of death taxes in principle, but it was not policy they've adopted.

Regarding shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh, he worked as an Australian National University economics professor, with a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, before entering politics in 2010. [8]

In 2006, he wrote an article for The New Matilda, an independent news website, advocating for the return of the "inheritance tax". "We believe that reinstating an inheritance tax on the super-rich would be consistent with the Australian values of egalitarianism and the fair go," he said. [9]

Mr Leigh has since repeatedly said, most recently on radio 2GB on April 22, 2019, he no longer holds that view. Speaking on Money News Mr Leigh said: "Inheritance taxes died at the federal level 40 years ago in 1979. Labor has no plans to bring them back."

"Thirteen years ago I was an academic floating ideas. Now, as a policymaker, I've been asked repeatedly my views on inheritance taxes, death taxes over the years. I've always said I don't support them. Let's call it for what it is: it's a lie. It's a lie, pure and simple." [10] [11]

Back in 2016 Mr Leigh also rejected claims he supported death taxes in an interview with Peter Van Olsen on Sky News TV.

"Peter, you're like a dog with an old manky bone that has been dug up deep in the backyard. I think this is like the sixth time you've raised this issue with me... Inheritance taxes are dead Peter, get over it," he told Sky News. [12]

Regarding the position of the ACTU, the current tax policy linked on the union's website includes a section stating, "Congress believes that consideration should be given to taxing inheritances in the hands of the beneficiary. A lifetime threshold could be made available to the taxpayer with tax payable once cumulative inheritances exceeded the threshold."

However, the ACTU does not prosecute a case for death taxes, as it does with other categories in its tax policy. [13]

A spokesperson for the ACTU told AAP FactCheck, "The ACTU supports the tax policies of the ALP. These do not include a death tax."

Based on the ACTU's statements, AAP FactCheck finds the PM's claim about the union to be mostly false.

Based on Mr Leigh's strong and constant rejection of death taxes as a politician, AAP FactCheck finds the PM's claim is false.

Based on the statements from the Greens, AAP FactCheck finds the PM's claim is mostly true, as while a death tax is not a 2019 Green's election policy, it is part of their suite of policy platforms.

The Verdict

Somewhat False - Mostly false but there is more than one element of truth.

The References

1.'It is a lie': Bill Shorten targets Liberals for death tax 'fake news' on Facebook', by Fergus Hunter. The Sydney Morning Herald. April 20, 2019: https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/it-is-a-lie-bill-shorten-targets-liberals-for-death-tax-fake-news-on-facebook-20190420-p51fu6.html

2. 'Death Taxes', by Julia Kagan. Investopedia. May 22, 2018: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/death-taxes.asp

3. 'A brief history of Australia's tax system', by Sam Reinhardt and Lee Steel. Treasury Department: http://archive.treasury.gov.au/documents/1156/html/docshell.asp?URL=01_Brief_History.asp

4. 'The facts about an inheritance tax'. ALP: https://www.alp.org.au/the_facts_about_an_inheritance_tax

5. 'Labor demands Facebook remove 'fake news' posts about false death tax plans', by David Wroe. The Sydney Morning Herald. April 19, 2019: https://www.smh.com.au/federal-election-2019/labor-demands-facebook-remove-fake-news-posts-about-false-death-tax-plans-20190419-p51fpk.html

6. 'Fake Tweet About Death Taxes Blasted As 'Dangerous Attack On Democracy', by Josh Butler. 10 Daily. April 22, 2019: https://10daily.com.au/news/politics/a190422thx/fake-tweet-about-death-taxes-blasted-as-dangerous-attack-on-democracy-20190422

7. 'Greens abandon "death tax" policy'. ABC Radio RN Drive. March 27, 2019: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drive/greens-abandon-death-tax-policy/10946236

8. Andrew Leigh MP: http://www.andrewleigh.com/andrew

9. 'Bring Back the Inheritance Tax', by Andrew Leigh. New Matilda. March 7, 2006: https://cpd.org.au/2006/03/bring-back-the-inheritance-tax/

10. 'Tax havens causing real problems', Transcript. 2GB Money News. Andrew Leigh MP. April 23, 2019: http://www.andrewleigh.com/tax_havens_causing_real_problems_transcript_2gb_money_news

11. 'Inheritance taxes died at a federal level 40 years ago. Labor has no intention of bringing it back', by Ross Greenwood. Radio 2GB. April 22, 2019: https://www.2gb.com/podcast/inheritance-taxes-died-at-a-federal-level-40-years-ago-labor-has-no-intention-of-bringing-it-back/

12. 'Labor is making sure the omnibus savings bill won't hurt the most vulnerable', by Andrew Leigh. Andrew Leigh MP. September 12, 2016: http://www.andrewleigh.com/making_sure_the

13. 'A Fair Share: Tax and Revenue Policy. ACTU Congress18: https://www.actu.org.au/media/1034001/tax.pdf
A Melbourne man "lay in wait" before murdering a neighbour on the nature strip, shooting him to the head and groin and laughing during the attack.

Just days before his Supreme Court trial was due to begin, Dale Stone, 50, pleaded guilty to the December 2017 murder of Wayne Binse, 37.

The victim was the half-brother of crime figure Christopher "Badness" Binse, who infamously taunted police by sending them postcards while on the run, and shot at officers during a 44-hour siege.

The court was told Stone had an ongoing dispute with his neighbours because any vehicle parked outside their house impacted his ability to use his driveway.

Before the killing, Stone held his hand like a firearm and pretended to shoot, intimidating Mr Binse's partner, prosecutor Robyn Harper said.

On the day of the murder, Mr Binse and his partner arrived home to find the windows of their home broken.

Stone fired a round from his 12-gauge shotgun, which had been fitted with a silencer, and hit Mr Binse in the groin from a range of eight to 12 metres.

He walked closer to Mr Binse, laughing and shot his victim to the head from close range, asking: "Do you think you're smart now?".

Stone then called triple zero twice, the second time claiming another person had "driven by" and shot Mr Binse.

Stone later told police he had only discharged his firearm because two men had entered his front yard.

He didn't want to refer to the offence as a murder, but preferred "termination of an individual".

Ms Harper said Stone smashed his victim's windows to give credibility to his claim that the incident had been a drive-by shooting.

Mr Binse's other brother Barry read a statement to the court on Wednesday, saying it was "extremely difficult" watching their mother come to terms with the loss.

"My baby brother is gone," he said.

"We all wish he was here. This will reflect on us forever."

Stone's lawyer Richard Edney disputed the idea the killing was an "ambushed, premeditated murder".

He said Stone had increased his use of alcohol and cannabis and had become paranoid, "experiencing florid psychotic phenomena".

Before the killing, Stone had been assaulted by Mr Binse, Mr Edney said.

Ms Harper agreed there had been an assault, but disputed its severity, and argued the killing was "planned, premeditated, unprovoked".

"He lay in wait, shut the gates and broke the windows of the property," she said.

Justice Paul Coghlan said he needed to calculate the influence of Stone's mental illness on the crime.

Sentencing is expected in a few weeks.

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Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has joined hundreds of Darwin locals to pray for the victims of the Sri Lanka church bombings.

Mr Shorten attended a multi-faith prayer service at St Mary's Cathedral on Wednesday evening after flying into the Northern Territory.

The blasts killed more than 350 people including foreigners at luxury hotels and churches on Sunday morning.

One of the suicide bombers involved in the Easter attacks studied in Australia.

Mr Shorten embraced federal Labor colleagues Luke Gosling and Warren Snowdon outside the cathedral before the three men entered arm-in-arm.

The opposition leader stopped in the aisle to speak to several young men, who were among about 200 people in attendance.

The Australian and Sri Lankan flags were draped over the altar as the service opened with the national anthems of both countries.

Catholic readings were complemented by prayers in Sinhalese and Tamil, out of respect for those killed in the suicide bombings.

"May those who have lost loved ones and who comfort the injured be strengthened by your grace and have the courage to face the future," prayed one Sri Lankan man.

"May those who were injured and shocked by the tragic events in Sri Lanka recover quickly and return to their normal lives soon," offered another.
A police officer has been charged with neglect of duty after a complaint about a sex offender failed to get him off the streets before he allegedly raped a child at a Sydney dance studio.

Anthony Peter Sampieri, 55, allegedly raped, choked and filmed a seven-year-old girl he held captive in a Kogarah dance studio bathroom in November.

Two adults burst in and Sampieri allegedly stabbed one before being subdued, arrested and hauled before the courts on child rape and assault charges.

NSW Police said an internal investigation revealed a woman filed a complaint about an offensive call from Sampieri at St George police station on October 26.

At the time Sampieri was on parole after being jailed for raping a 60-year-old woman at knifepoint in his Illawarra home in 2012.

Had police at St George notified the parole board of the complaint, Sampieri's release could have been investigated and revoked, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told reporters last year.

But he allegedly slipped through the net and went on to rape again.

Police suspended the leading senior constable with pay following the internal investigation.

But they went one step further on Wednesday to charge the 31-year-old with four counts of neglecting duty.

His lawyer was served with a court attendance notice and the officer is expected before Downing Centre Local Court on June 6.

The case's notoriety, in the months following Sampieri's arrest, prompted more alleged victims to come forward.

Earlier this year he was charged with making dozens of offensive phone calls.

His months-long spree saw him make as many as 15 calls on a single day, according to court documents.

Sampieri allegedly made 13 calls in November. Three of those were on the afternoon of November 15 - just four hours before he is accused of going into the dance studio.

The police officer remains suspended with pay.

Sampieri remains behind bars, bail refused, with his next court date scheduled for May 30.
Prince William marks Anzac Day with New Zealanders and will also meet the survivors of the Christchurch mosque attacks, with the country remaining on alert.

The Duke of Cambridge will begin a two-day visit to the country on Thursday by laying a wreath at Anzac commemoration events in Auckland, with tens of thousands, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, expected to join him at the War Memorial Museum.

New Zealand's national threat rating was downgraded from high to medium only last week, so dozens of Anzac events have been called off and consolidated, and reports say security has been a top priority for those organising William's visit.

Despite no signs of imminent threat, armed police are expected in numbers across the country.

But visiting terror-struck Christchurch is the focus of the Duke's trip and events are expected to take a significantly more sombre tone than most royal visits.

William will spend most of his time in the South Island city, visiting first responders, the remaining injured, and meeting members and leaders of the city's Muslim community to offer his condolences after the March 15 shootings that killed 50.

It's not the first time tragedy has brought the Duke to Christchurch.

He visited the city following the 2011 earthquake that killed 185, and last visited with wife Kate - who won't be joining him this week - in 2014.

The Duchess of Cambridge will instead attend a commemoration and thanksgiving service in London on Thursday, continuing a 103-year tradition started by King George V and Queen Mary.
As Australians gather to pay tribute to the nation's servicemen and women on Anzac Day, one in particular will be on Scott Morrison's mind.

The prime minister has told a group of Australian troops and Darwin-based US Marines that he'll be thinking of the stretcher-bearer of whom he has a statue in his office.

"I'll be remembering Leslie 'Bull' Allen, in particular, because of what it means for our relationship between Australia and the United States," he said on Wednesday.

Under heavy Japanese fire in July 1943, the corporal from Queensland carried a dozen wounded Americans to safety down the slopes of New Guinea's Mount Tambu.

He was awarded the US Silver Star for his heroism.

Mr Morrison says life wasn't easy for the corporal before World War II, when he experienced violence as a child.

Nor was it easy when he returned, serving as a reminder of the tough time servicemen and women can experience once they're home.

"They're still fighting the battles that have left the battlefield long ago," the prime minister said.

"We'll remember our duty to our veterans and we'll say thank you for their service, and as a government, we'll continue to say thank you for their service by honouring them with the services we must extend to them."

Thousands of Australians will gather to pay their tributes as the sun rises on Thursday morning, while others will do the same at marches.

Corporal Mark Donaldson, who a decade ago became the first recipient of Australia's highest military honour for bravery in more than 40 years, will speak at the dawn service in Canberra.

The Special Air Service soldier was presented the Victoria Cross in January 2009, after rescuing a coalition forces interpreter from heavy fire in Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan just a few months earlier.

In Adelaide, Australia's oldest living Victoria Cross recipient - who risked his life to save 40 men in Vietnam - will join the city's annual march.

Keith Payne VC AM, 85, received the honour for rescuing fellow soldiers while under enemy fire and suffering his own injuries during the Battle of Ben Het in 1969.

At Villers-Bretonneux in the French countryside, the Last Post will echo once again at dawn after Mr Morrison intervened in February to stop the local service being moved to later in the morning.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne will attend the service, while assistant minister for the Pacific Anne Ruston will be in Papua New Guinea.

Turkey is also closely monitoring the safety of Australians at commemorative events on the Gallipoli peninsula, which Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell will attend amid heightened security fears.

Veteran Affairs Minister Darren Chester has defended a ban on Turkish nationals attending the dawn service at the peninsula, saying the step is not unprecedented.
Australians should use Anzac Day as a time to reflect on the great price paid for freedom and give thanks to those willing to pay it now, the prime minister says.

Scott Morrison will be thinking of the story of Leslie 'Bull' Allen as he attends the dawn service in Townsville on Thursday.

Allen was a stretcher bearer in WWII in Papua New Guinea and was awarded the US Silver Star after pulling a dozen American soldiers off the fields of Mount Tambu, and the Military Medal for rescuing wounded diggers at Crystal Creek.

"Tomorrow I'll be remembering Leslie 'Bull' Allen in particular because of what it means for our relationship between Australia and the United States," Mr Morrison told soldiers and US Marines in Darwin on the eve of Anzac Day.

"But for me, Leslie 'Bull' Allen is a reminder of the tough time our soldiers often have ... our airmen and women and the navy seamen, who have come home and it's still tough and they're still fighting the battles that have left the battlefield long ago."

Earlier, releasing a promised $63 million package to help veterans better access services and find jobs and houses in civilian life, the prime minister said it was just as important to honour Australia's living servicemen and women as it was to remember those who died in past conflicts.

The intense focus on commemorating the First World War during its centenary over the past few years has drawn fire from some who believe there isn't enough being done to recognise and look after contemporary veterans.

Thursday is the third day of election campaigning truce in a week, with Mr Morrison and his opposition counterpart Bill Shorten agreeing not to run ads or make political comments on Good Friday, Easter Sunday or Anzac Day.

Nevertheless, Mr Morrison's presence in Townsville is political as it is not only home to one of Australia's largest military bases but also the nation's most marginal seat, Herbert.

Labor's Cathy O'Toole won the electorate by a mere 37 votes in 2016.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will honour Australian soldiers and veterans in Darwin this Anzac Day, after joining locals to pray for those killed in the Sri Lanka terror attacks.

Mr Shorten flew into the Northern Territory from Townsville to attend the dawn service on Thursday, with federal election campaigns paused for the day.

Overnight, he joined hundreds of people to remember those killed in the suicide bombings on Easter Sunday.

After the service, Mr Shorten urged members of the local Sri Lankan community to unite against evil and hate as they grappled with the senseless bombings.

"Now is not the time to retreat into the caves of our own communities, into the certainty of just our own group, our own tribe, our own clan," he said.

"Now is a time where we need to extend, put our hand out, and say we are all collectively better than the actions of a few."

The blasts killed more than 350 people, including foreigners, at luxury hotels and churches on Sunday morning.

One of the suicide bombers studied in Australia.

Mr Shorten lamented the attacks happening soon after the Christchurch mosque massacre, and being perpetrated against people still reeling from decades of devastating civil war.

"We do genuinely share your sorrow, we mourn with you, we don't accept this is the way of the world," he said.

"No matter what our nationality or our circumstances, the pain and injury done to one is a pain and injury to us all."

The Australian and Sri Lankan flags were both draped over the altar for the memorial service, with prayers spoken in English as well as Tamil and Sinhalese.

Thursday is the third day of an election campaigning truce in a week, with Mr Shorten and Prime Minister Scott Morrison agreeing not to run ads or make political comments on Good Friday, Easter Sunday or Anzac Day.
The federal education minister has described Labor's plans to boost the wages of childcare workers as a "pure and utter bribe".

The opposition is proposing taxpayer-funded pay increases for early educators, boosting their wages by more than $11,000 over eight years.

Labor says its proposal is the only way to boost wages in the industry without increasing costs for parents.

"It is an incredibly unusual arrangement," Education Minister Dan Tehan told ABC Radio National on Monday.

"They are bribing the union to go and stand at childcare centres and tell people to vote for Labor."
Online jobs listing giant Seek says it is investing $142 million in major internet learning platforms Coursera and FutureLearn.

"Both businesses are leveraged to structural trends such as migration of education online and in helping millions of people to adapt to evolving labour markets," Seek chief executive Andrew Bassat said on Monday.

The Australia-based website operator has paid about $50 million for a minority interest in Coursera, which hosts 3,200 courses from more than 150 universities, and $92 million to acquire 50 per cent of Open University-founded education platform FutureLearn.

Seek said in a statement to the ASX that it expected the two transactions would cut $2 million from the company's full-year net profit for the current year.

Seek shares were valued at $18.62 before the start of trade on Monday.
The Nationals' election wombat trail could miss Barnaby Joyce's NSW seat of New England.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said he had offered all Nationals MPs a visit, but it was up to campaign headquarters to decide where he was needed most.

"Some members may want to see me more than once, some members may not want to see me in their electorates because they think they're going well enough," he told AAP.

Asked if Mr Joyce fell into the latter category, Mr McCormack said: "He possibly could."

"I know Barnaby is very good at campaigning. He's proven that - there's no question," he said.

"If Barnaby doesn't need me to come to New England then that's fine. I don't have a problem with that. He doesn't have a problem with that."

Mr McCormack rose to the leadership after Mr Joyce resigned in February last year amid a storm of controversy surrounding his affair with a staffer.

The Nationals leader insists there is no bad blood between the pair, saying they are in regular contact.

"No one supported Barnaby Joyce when Barnaby Joyce was leader more than Michael McCormack," he said.

Since the election was called more than two weeks ago, Mr McCormack has racked up many kilometres through regional Australia.

He has visited 10 of the 16 Nationals electorates, while also making trips to seats the party is hoping to snatch in three-cornered contests or one-on-one battles with Labor.

Six non-Nationals seats Mr McCormack has visited include three of Labor's Tasmanian seats - Braddon, Bass and Lyons - as the party attempts a rebirth on the island.

The deputy prime minister has also hit the campaign trail in the Labor-held NSW seat of Richmond.

Also in NSW, Mr McCormack has visited Gilmore, which looms as a fascinating battle with the Liberals' Warren Mundine up against former state Nationals minister Katrina Hodgkinson and Labor's Fiona Phillips.

The wombat trail on Monday made its second visit to George Christensen's Mackay-based seat of Dawson, which is held with a 3.4 per per cent buffer.
Serial baby killer Kathleen Folbigg says she would write in diaries rather than talking to her then-husband Craig Folbigg as "a release" or to vent, an inquiry into her convictions has heard.

Folbigg was jailed for at least 25 years in 2003 after she was found guilty of killing her four babies - Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura - in the decade from 1989.

The 51-year-old did not give evidence at her trial but faced the Coroners Court in Sydney on Monday.

Six of her diaries taken from the 10 to 11-year period, in which her four children died, are before the inquiry while up to five others are unaccounted for.

In questioning Folbigg, barrister Chris Maxwell QC for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said: "I'm suggesting you got rid of the diaries because there was significantly incriminating material in those diaries. What do you say to that?"

"I don't agree with that at all," Folbigg replied.

The diaries obtained by police include comments such as Laura being "a fairly good-natured baby" which "saved her from the fate of her siblings".

"I think she was warned," Folbigg wrote in December 1997. Laura died in March 1999.

"With Sarah all I wanted was her to shut up, and one day she did," Folbigg wrote in November 1997, adding in a January 1998 entry that Sarah "left, with a bit of help".

The inquiry continues.
Australia's second pill testing trial has been declared a success by advocates after detecting dangerous substances which were binned by festival-goers.

The ACT government allowed the pill testing trial at Canberra's Groovin the Moo festival on Sunday following an Australian-first pilot last year.

The trial tested 171 samples from 234 participants with MDMA the most prominent substance identified, according to a joint media release from Pill Testing Australia, Take Control and Harm Reduction Australia.

Seven dangerous substances containing N-Ethylpentylone were detected, with patrons using an amnesty bin to toss the drugs once alerted.

N-Ethylpentylone is often mis-sold as MDMA or ecstasy and has been linked to multiple deaths according to the World Health Organization.

"The pilot was again overwhelmingly successful by any measure but particularly by doing everything possible to keep our kids safe," Pill Testing Australia's Gino Vumbaca said.
An Adelaide Uber driver has lost his licence after blowing more than five times over the blood alcohol limit with fare-paying passengers in his car.

The 38-year-old man was stopped on Anzac Day at suburban Birkenhead where he blew 0.252, police said on Monday.

He's lost his licence for 12 months, had his car impounded for 28 days and will be summonsed to appear in court at a later date.

Uber drivers in South Australia are required to return a zero blood-alcohol level.
Three women assaulted by a serial rapist, who targeted his victims using dating app Tinder, have told a Melbourne court how the attacks have devastated their lives.

The brother of a fourth woman, who took her own life earlier this year, spoke of the "permanent and unforgivable" damage inflicted upon her family.

Glenn Antony Hartland, 44, sat at the back of the room for his pre-sentence plea hearing in the County Court on Monday morning.

He has pleaded guilty to three charges of rape and one of indecent assault over attacks in Melbourne's eastern suburbs between May 2014 and March 2016.

His surviving victims quietly wept and one had to leave the room as their statements were read aloud.

Hartland seduced his victims via Tinder and entered intimate relations with them before engaging in forced, non-consensual sex or indecent assault.

One victim spoke of how Hartland would combine "grandiose romantic gestures" and charm with threats of suicide and violent mood swings to control and manipulate his victims.

All three described themselves as intelligent and strong-willed women prior to the abuse.

His lawyer is expected to argue later on Monday that Hartland had a difficult childhood in which he regularly moved and was rejected by his mother.

The hearing continues.

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Clive Palmer's United Australia Party is "surfing the rather odious wave of fake news" as it makes serious inroads into the Liberal and National Party vote, a leading political analyst says.

Flinders University professor of politics Haydon Manning says UAP is the clearest example yet in Australian politics of a populist party appealing to floating voters, those people with no particular political affiliations and who often make up their minds as late as polling day.

"UAP is essentially a populist party prone to spruiking conspiracy theories," he said.

"UAP claims Chinese ownership of Australian infrastructure is part of a military plan to take over Australia and that Labor has a secret plan to force five million people into unemployment.

"Fake news never got in the way of a relentless political push and UAP is surfing that rather odious wave as it pitches to the floating voter."

With the increased support for Mr Palmer's party, Prof Manning said the federal government had little choice but to agree to a preference deal ahead of the May 18 election.

But with preference flows from UAP to the Liberals and Nationals possibly as low as 60 per cent, or even lower, he said the gains for Prime Minister Scott Morrison might not be big as the government would hope for.
Penrith are drawing upon their own slow start from two years ago as inspiration they can turn their NRL season around.

Known as the NRL's comeback kings, the Panthers desperately need to pull off one of their biggest revivals after falling to a 2-5 start to the year.

It marks the second time they have been in such a predicament in the past three years, after they won just two of their first nine in 2017 but recovered to finish seventh.

"It's very similar," captain James Tamou said.

"I think we are a better team from then.

"The fact that we have been in that position before and the guys we've got here, the experience from that two years ago.

"We've only shown shades of our best. We haven't really put in an 80-minute performance. I know what the team is capable of.

"The last few weeks we have been building and getting there. We need a win, we need to put it altogether."

Part of that lesson though is the knowledge things have to change now for the Panthers, ahead of Saturday's clash with Canberra in Wagga Wagga.

In 2017 they were forced to go on a run of seven straight wins late to make the finals, before they lost three of their last four to bow out in the second week of the post-season.

"You don't want to be in this position early on. We're lucky in that we have been in this situation previously," second-rower Isaah Yeo said.

"We probably put ourselves under the pump a bit at the back end of the year.

"It would be nice if we can string a few in this next part and not leave it too late."

Panthers players also insisted morale in the group had improved after last week's four-point loss to Souths.

It follows star five-eighth James Maloney's questioning of the side's mental toughness, as he admitted the mood of the group was wavering with each loss.

"It (the mood)'s probably not as low as it has been in the past couple of weeks," Yeo said.

"It was a step in the right direction, but we don't want to accept losing. I think that's the way everyone feels."
Australian literary giant Les Murray has died on the NSW mid north coast aged 80.

Mr Murray is one of the nation's most celebrated poets, winning many literary awards including the Grace Level Prize, the Petrarch Prize and the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize.

In 1999 he was awarded the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry.

He was born in Nabiac on the state's mid north coast before moving to Bunyah with his parents.

His time in the Australian bush and Bunyah specifically featured prominently in his poetry.
Secular political lobbyists are campaigning for public schools to dump scripture and chaplains, prevent the expulsion of students and teachers on religious grounds and to repeal laws criminalising abortion.

On Monday the National Secular Lobby launched their federal election policies ahead of the May 18 vote.

NSL ambassador Chris Schacht called on MPs to stop fearing that "organised religious groups" will punish them at the ballot box.

"We want to show, that, listen, if you're worried about losing some votes in the Christian voters, 70 per cent of the population are with us, so who do you want to be with? It's a simple mathematical equation," Mr Schacht said.

The lobby group, which formed in January 2018, campaigned last year against a policy of returning religious instruction to public schools under then-Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy during the Victorian state election.

The organisation is calling on candidates and voters to focus on its "secular agenda" during the upcoming federal election.

Dozens of social policies are still heavily influenced by church doctrines determined by overseas religious bodies, Mr Schacht said.

Federal election issues for the NSL include the removal of chaplains and religious instruction from public schools, the repeal of laws criminalising abortions, and preventing religious schools being able to expel students or fire staff on religious grounds.

These issues, among others, will be put before MPs and the lobby will seek to personally meet with politicians.
NSW Waratahs lock Jed Holloway has been suspended for three weeks after pleading guilty to elbowing Sharks' prop Thomas du Toit in the head.

He was sent off in the 45th minute of Saturday's 23-15 Super Rugby loss at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium.

The ban means Holloway will miss the Waratahs' two games in South Africa against the Bulls and Lions and an Australian derby with the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.

A SANZAAR committee deemed the act of foul play merited a mid-range entry point of six weeks, but a number of factors contributed to reducing the ban.

"Taking into account mitigating factors including the player's clean judicial record, the player's expressed remorse and the fact the player has pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity, the foul play review committee reduced the suspension to three weeks," said committee chairman Adam Casselden SC.

The Waratahs are running second in the Australian conference, four points behind the Melbourne Rebels.
Leaked footage shows a One Nation senate candidate groping dancers and making disparaging comments about a woman in a Washington DC strip club, as the blowout from the party's trip to the United States continues.

The party's Queensland leader Steve Dickson was also caught saying "I've done more Asian than I know what to do with" and that strip clubs are better in the Philippines because women dance on top of the bars and "then take everything off", an undercover investigation by Al Jazeera claims.

The recording was captured by an undercover journalist and was leaked to Nine's A Current Affair which broadcast the footage on Monday night.

Mr Dickson, who is married, reportedly calls one of the dancers a "bitch" before describing her as "hot" and can be heard saying Asian women don't know what they're doing during sex and "white women f*** a whole lot better".

It comes more than a month after the Al Jazeera investigation released footage from a meeting between Mr Dickson, Pauline Hanson's chief of staff James Ashby and the National Rifle Association in Washington, DC in September 2018.

In footage Mr Dickson is recorded as saying that with enough funding, One Nation would get the balance of power and have control over the government, to be able to weaken Australia's gun laws.

Senator Hanson stood by the men after the footage was aired and insisted Mr Dickson was a "family man".

"He's a good man and Steve Dickson would never ever want to water down the gun laws in Australia, the same as I won't," she said at the time.

Senator Hanson is expected to hold a press conference on Tuesday morning.
Today's Birthday, April 30: Lars Von Trier, Danish filmmaker and director (1956 - )

Lars Von Trier has fostered a filmmaking career over four decades thanks to his visually distinctive style and daring subject matters.

The House That Jack Built (2018) is Von Trier's 13th feature film. It marks a comeback for the Danish auteur, who suffers from depression and alcoholism.

After winning the Palme d'Or for Dancer in the Dark in 2000, Von Trier was banned from Cannes in 2011 after calling himself a Nazi during a press conference for Melancholia, which was competing that year.

Despite Von Trier later apologising, describing his joke as "completely stupid", he was investigated by the Danish police and threatened with five years in a Marseille jail.

After a seven year hiatus, Von Trier returned to the Cannes fold with much-anticipated The House That Jack Built. The film in classic - brutal - Von Trier style, prompted more than 100 walk-outs during its festival debut.

Born in Denmark, Copenhagen, Von Trier studied film theory then direction at the National Film School of Denmark.

Aged 25, he won two Best School awards at a Munich festival for Nocturnal and Last Detail.

He founded film production company Zentropa films in 1992 to ensure creative control and financial independence over his movies.

In 1995 Von Trier, along with key Danish filmmakers including Thomas Vinterberg, penned a cinematic movement they called Dogme 95. Internationally recognised, the initiative influenced many films around the world.

Breaking the Waves (1996) was the first in his Golden Heart trilogy. The Idiots (1998) and Dancer in the Dark (2000) were the other two films in the series.

Another of Von Trier's trilogies, all featuring film and music star Charlotte Gainsbourg, focused on themes of mental health and grief the director himself has experienced. The Depression trilogy consists of Antichrist (2009), Melancholia (2011) and Nymphomaniac (2013).

After the filming of Dogville, starring Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany, had wrapped in 2003, Betany later said he refused to ever watch the film, citing his awful experience under the direction of a "control freak".

"He's a precociously brilliant director...but he has no interest in what the actors think," Bettany said.

The House That Jack built was released in 2018 and stars Matt Dillon, Riley Keough, and Uma Thurman. Set in Washington State, the film charts the life and crimes of a serial killer over a 12-year period.
Government scientists will guide large-scale water diversion projects including dams under a re-elected coalition government.

The National Water Grid would be a new statutory authority planning and managing water infrastructure nationally.

Nationals leader Michael McCormack will make the election promise when the wombat trail makes a pit-stop in Canberra on Tuesday at the National Press Club.

"We know the key to unlocking the potential of regional Australian the answer is simple - just add water," he said.

The National Water Grid would employ scientists to find the best ways to harvest and harness water.

Their work would inform decisions about water infrastructure, in a bid to guard against political agendas.

Water is one of the most vexed policy areas affecting regional Australia, with the issue of buybacks returning to the spotlight during the election campaign.

The Nationals have been keen to promote dams and other infrastructure projects to support water security and agriculture.

Mr McCormack said the authority's first order of business would be to examine large-scale water diversion projects to deliver reliable and cost-effective water to farmers and regional communities.

The federal government would ask state and territory counterparts to co-invest in the body, while also giving them $100 million to kick-start their own water diversion projects.

The announcement comes one day after the coalition narrowed the gap in the latest Newspoll, though the government remains on track to get the boot.

Mr McCormack lavished praised on Prime Minister Scott Morrison's campaign efforts so far.

"He could be one of the great modern prime ministers, if he's given a chance," the Nationals leader told AAP.

Mr McCormack said feedback during his time campaigning in regional Australia had been positive, but he's not getting ahead of himself.

He's counting on Australians looking at the "big picture" when they cast their vote.

"Their incomes whether they're retired or they're working are reliant on the Liberal-Nationals government returning. Hopefully they'll vote accordingly," he said.

Mr McCormack campaigned in Mackay on Monday with Dawson MP George Christensen as pre-poll voting opened ahead of the May 18 election.
Undecided voters picked Bill Shorten as the winner of the first leaders' debate, despite questions about the cost of his tax and climate policies.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison pressured the Labor leader on how much he will increase taxes and what his climate policies will do to the economy.

But Mr Shorten said the cost of inaction was greater, and he argued it was time to put middle Australia first instead of the nation's wealthiest.

A record 110,000 people cast early votes on Monday before the debate, and Mr Morrison used that to demand answers from Labor on the cost of tax and climate policies.

"Voting has started, people deserve to know what the cost of change is," Mr Morrison said on Monday night.

But Mr Shorten said people were voting early because they wanted change, and that included action on the climate and healthcare.

"The cost of not changing is this: longer waiting lists," Mr Shorten said.

"I can categorically say that if we don't take real action on climate change that will be a disaster for our economy."

Of the 48 voters watching the debate in person, 25 said Mr Shorten won, 12 picked Mr Morrison, and 11 remained undecided.

Mr Shorten is still in Perth on Tuesday to announce a $1 billion program to help up to 4000 schools put solar panels on their roofs

"Schools are an excellent location for solar investment and the creation of virtual power plants, because they often don't use energy at times of peak demand," Mr Shorten said.

"Annual savings from reduced electricity costs alone have been estimated to be up to $89,000 for a large school in NSW, or $15,000 for a small school."

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation will provide $1 billion in cheap loans to schools so they can install the solar panels.

Mr Morrison is also still in Perth on Tuesday and he will announce $20 million to put 2600 CCTV cameras at 500 crime hot spots around the country.

"Australians are entitled to feel safe in their own homes and within their local communities," Mr Morrison said.

The coalition is aiming to hold Attorney-General Christian Porter's seat of Pearce, on a margin of 3.8 per cent, and Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt's seat of Hasluck, on a margin of 2.1 per cent.

But the Liberals are also targeting Labor MP Anne Aly's seat of Cowan, which she holds by just 0.7 per cent.

Mining billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest will host a fundraiser for Mr Morrison on Tuesday night, two days after he hosted a similar one for Mr Shorten.
Up to 2600 CCTV cameras will be installed at 500 "crime hot spots" around the country in a coalition election promise aimed at reassuring worried voters.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will make the $20 million commitment in Perth on Tuesday after losing the first leaders' debate on Monday night.

Undecided voters in the room handed the debate to Labor leader Mr Shorten, despite Mr Morrison pressuring him on the cost of his tax and climate policies.

Mr Morrison said the CCTV funding will come from the Safer Communities Fund, which has already spent $130 million from the proceeds of crime on 340 projects.

"Australians are entitled to feel safe in their own homes and within their local communities," Mr Morrison said.

"Our country is the best place in the world to live, work and raise a family and I want to protect that and secure our future with a safer community and a stronger economy."

Mr Morrison said the CCTV would back up the work of the strengthened National Anti-Gangs Squad, which has already been given an extra $90.6 million to target organised crime.

The Liberal leader will spend Tuesday campaigning in Perth, where the coalition is trying to save several key seats.

The coalition needs to hold Attorney-General Christian Porter's seat of Pearce, on a margin of 3.8 per cent, and Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt's seat of Hasluck, on a margin of 2.1 per cent.

But the Liberals are also targeting Labor MP Anne Aly's seat of Cowan, which she holds by just 0.7 per cent.

Mining billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest will host a fundraiser for Mr Morrison on Tuesday night, two days after he hosted a similar one for Mr Shorten.

The latest Newspoll found Mr Morrison had closed the gap with Labor on the two-party preferred vote, with the coalition on 49 per cent and Labor on 51 per cent.

The boost comes on the back of a preference deal with controversial billionaire Clive Palmer, whose advertising spending spree has convinced five per cent of voters to put him first.
A member of the Rebels bikie gang has become the ninth person charged over the "violent" bashing murder of a man at a NSW Central Coast service station.

Clint Starkey, 42, was set upon at the Caltex outlet in Peats Ridge in April 2017.

He died in Gosford Hospital two months later without recovering from serious head injuries.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin at the time said the bashing was the result of "a dispute" between Mr Starkey, a bikie associate and Rebels members.

Two men, aged 54 and 25, were pulled over and arrested at Lisarow on Tuesday afternoon.

The older man, a Rebel, was charged with Mr Starkey's murder. The younger man was charged with hindering a police investigation and tampering with evidence during the 54-year-old's arrest.

They were refused bail and are expected before Gosford Local Court on Wednesday.

The pair are related to a life-long Rebel, Colin Crane, according to police sources. Crane was charged with Mr Starkey's murder in July 2018.

Six people are now charged with Mr Starkey's murder. They include a Rebels sergeant-at-arms and other bikie associates.

Three people in total have been charged with hindering the investigation.

"We have a pretty clear picture on exactly why this occurred," Det Chief Insp Jubelin told reporters in October 2017.

"This was a particularly violent offence. A man was bashed to death."
Some Australian universities are increasingly hiring casual or short-term staff instead of keeping permanent workers, it has been revealed.

Monash University employs 15,823 staff across all its Australian campuses and 11,531 are in short-term positions, its 2018 annual report tabled in Victorian parliament on Wednesday showed.

This is an increase from the 15,367 employees and 11,230 short-term staff in 2017.

The University of Melbourne had a total of 17,361 staff with 12,581 employed casually or on a short-term contract, equating to about 72.5 per cent, its 2018 annual report shows.

Again, the latest figures showed an increase from 2017's 11,962 casual and fixed-term staff.

Casual university tutor Shan Windscript said that since 2013 she had lived on "starvation wages" which were equivalent to half of the Newstart allowance and were unsustainable.

The National Tertiary Education Union calculated the average of the total fixed-term and casual staff at eight universities was more than 68 per cent according to the annual reports.

It used data provided by Monash University, the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University, Victoria University, Deakin University, RMIT, Swinburne Institute of Technology and Federation University.

"This is the first-time the Victorian government has required this report to be made public ... which not only tells us about Victoria but in fact about what is happening around Australia," ACTU president Michele O'Neil told reporters on Wednesday.

The union noted Federation University had about a third of its total 1520 staff on fixed term and casual employment.

Federal opposition spokeswoman for universities Louise Pratt said Labor, if elected, would look to give casuals a right to request long-term or permanent work status after 12 months.
Specialist police have searched a second tract of bushland for the remains of missing Sydney woman Samah Baker and seized several "items of interest" which will undergo forensic examination.

Ms Baker, 30, was last seen by a friend after being dropped at her Parramatta home on Early Street in the early hours of January 4.

Relatives reported her missing later that day after they couldn't get in touch.

Local detectives, with help from the homicide squad, launched an investigation and James Hachem, 32, was arrested on March 9 at a shopping centre in Hurstville and charged with murder.

Officers searched bushland at Yarra, southwest of Goulburn, in March.

Police from the riot squad, dog unit, Operations Support Group and marine command launched a second search at South Nowra on Tuesday.

Images released by NSW Police show officers combing through bushland with tools and wading through rivers trying to locate Ms Baker's body.

AAP understands Hachem is not providing any information that would help with the search.

NSW Police allege Ms Baker was murdered between 2.30am and 8am on January 4.

Hachem is believed to be an acquaintance of Ms Baker but the nature of their relationship remains unclear.

The latest search, which took place about 90 kilometres east of the first bush search, uncovered "several items of interest", a police spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The items will be subject to forensic testing.
A new population of a critically endangered aquatic carnivorous plants has been found in Western Australia's remote Kimberley region after a long search, with the ecstatic researchers calling it a dream come true.

Curtin University research fellow Adam Cross and honours student Thilo Krueger have combed swamps and billabongs throughout northern Australia for rare species like Aldrovanda vesiculosa for almost a decade.

When they recently discovered thousands of the plants on Theda pastoral station east of the Mitchell Plateau, Dr Cross said he couldn't believe his eyes.

It is the first time the species, which captures and digests small insect prey using snapping traps, has been found in the Kimberley for more than 20 years.

The only other known population in WA is more than 2000 kilometres away near Esperance, where a population of only a few dozen plants was found in 2007.

"This discovery gives us hope that northern Australia is still a stronghold for the species in the face of its continuing global decline," Dr Cross said.

The species was once widespread around the world, but habitat loss and water quality changes have led to it becoming extinct in up to 30 countries, Mr Krueger said.
AAP FactCheck Investigation: Did Labor 'cut and paste' the coalition's policy to fix regional black spots?

The Statement

Regional Services Minister Bridget McKenzie accuses Labor of blatantly "cut and pasting" the coalition's policy on upgrading regional communications.

May 1, 2019.

The Verdict

Misleading - The claim is mostly true but somewhat misleading.

The Analysis

AAP FactCheck examined Regional Services Minister Bridget McKenzie's claim that Labor was guilty of 'cut and pasting' the coalition government's policy to deliver better communications for regional voters.

The Victorian National Party senator made the accusation in response to a $160 million announcement by Labor spokesman for regional communications Stephen Jones' "to deliver improved mobile coverage through two further rounds of the Mobile Black Spot Program". [1]

Senator McKenzie's office told AAP FactCheck the source of her claim was Labor's 'Plan for Better Regional Communications' announced on April 30, 2019. [2]

The coalition's mobile phone black spot program was a 2013 election commitment by the Abbott government to improve phone coverage in remote and regional areas. [3]

Senator McKenzie's office says the coalition released its Stronger Regional Digital Connectivity Package on March 20, 2019. The package includes $160 million for two new rounds of the Mobile Black Spot Program and $60 million for a new Regional Connectivity Program. [4]

Labor's alternative Plan for Better Regional Communications includes "$160 million to deliver improved mobile coverage through two further rounds of the Mobile Black Spot Program" and "$60 million to local projects to address regional connectivity issues". [2]

AAP FactCheck asked the ALP and Mr Jones for a response to Senator's McKenzie's claim about an alleged "cut and paste" but received no reply. However, on Twitter Mr Jones counter-accused Senator McKenzie of copying Labor's policy from a speech he delivered at the 2018 CommsDay Summit in Sydney in April. [5]

In his 2018 speech, Mr Jones said that during the 2016 federal election "Labor pledged to match coalition funding for a black spots program". [6]

This pledge demonstrates Labor's intention to match the government's funding in its own Better Regional Communications plan and accounts for the similarity of the two parties funding commitments.

AAP FactCheck concludes Senator McKenzie's claim about a "cut and paste" of policy by Labor is correct as it has the same funding commitment. However, Labor is on the record stating it would match coalition funding.

The Verdict

Misleading - The claim is mostly true but somewhat misleading.

The References

1: ALP pledge $245 million to improve regional communication', by Leighton Smith. The Daily Examiner. May 1, 2019: https://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/news/alp-pledge-245-million-to-improve-regional-communi/3715289/

2: 'Labor's Plan to deliver Better Regional Communications'. Labor: https://alp.org.au/policies/labors-plan-to-deliver-better-regional-communications/

3: 'Coalition's. Mobile Black Spot. Programme'. August 2013: https://www.aph.gov.au/~/media/Committees/fapa_ctte/estimates/.../pm34_att25.pdf

4: 'More reliable connections for the bush'. Department of Communications and the Arts. Australian Government. March 20, 2019: https://www.communications.gov.au/departmental-news/more-reliable-connections-bush

5: 'Stephen Jones MP'. Verified Twitter Account. April 30, 2019: https://twitter.com/search?q=%40Commsday&src=typd

6: Stephen Jones MP. Speeches'. July 25, 2018: http://www.stephenjones.org.au/unwired_revolution_commsday_conference
As I got older I saw those places slowly go away and as I have become an adult I have always felt a bit sad about the fact that creative young people in the south suburbs didnt seem to have a place to go to meet people and make music and art, he said. I think communities need places for young and old people to be and I think spaces for art and music invite and attract new people to a community.
Wests Tigers utility Michael Chee Kam will be free to return in round nine against Penrith after the NRL club finalised his punishment for a common assault.

The Tigers on Wednesday stood Chee Kam down for two matches and fined the 27-year-old an undisclosed amount, after he pleaded guilty in a Sydney court last week.

Chee Kam has already served one game of his ban against the Gold Coast on Saturday night, while he was not named to face the Sydney Roosters this weekend.

It's understood the punishment has been signed off by the NRL, with the club and integrity unit having worked closely on the matter.

Chee Kam had originally been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm in January, however that was withdrawn and dismissed in court last Wednesday.

Instead the New Zealand-born forward pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of common assault over the December incident. He will be sentenced on May 7.

The two-game ban means Chee Kam can return as part of the NRL's Magic Round at Suncorp Stadium - the same venue he was the last-minute hero for the Tigers against Brisbane in round five.
Federal Labor admits it will only be able to deliver on its promise of over $1.1 billion over 10 years for remote indigenous housing - with matching Northern Territory government funding - if it stays in power.

The funds match the NT Labor Government's own 10-year promise and go beyond the federal Coalition's five-year $550 million commitment.

Housing shortages and chronic overcrowding were contributing to poor outcomes in health, education, employment and community safety for residents living in remote communities, a federal Labor statement said.

Aboriginal residents from the remote Santa Teresa community won compensation after suing the NT Government over the squalid state of their houses and lawyers have threatened to pursue more cases.

"We can certainly promise it because that's what we will certainly do as Labor if we are fortunate to continue for that amount of time," NT Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy said.

"I would say to any incoming government beyond these next three years: don't be so mean, seriously this is significant to the First Nations people of this country."

Senator McCarthy said while too much public money had been spent on administrative costs in past agreements such as Labor's Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program(SIHIP) she said lessons were learnt and she believed it would not happen again.

The funding deal between NT Labor and the federal government threatened to fall apart this year after the NT accused the Commonwealth of putting unrealistic conditions on the agreement.

While a deal was struck after a bitter public dispute, on Wednesday Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion repeated his criticism of NT Labor and accusing them of not involving Indigenous groups.

During a visit to the Tiwi Islands, he said local land council members told him they were not consulted about Labor Leader Bill Shorten's remote housing commitment.

"If Mr Shorten managed to elicit $550 million from the Northern Territory Government for an additional five years - well good on you, Bill, but let me tell you mate, they can't be trusted, they've got no money and you'll need to hold them to account," Senator Scullion said.

In 2014-15, more than half of indigenous Australians in very remote areas lived in overcrowded households, and overcrowding is the leading contributor to Indigenous homelessness, Labor said.

The deal also provides $251 million in funding to Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia in 2019-20.
A man has been charged with attempted murder after a Melbourne man was left fighting for life after being attacked with a weapon in a city street.

The victim, a 27-year-old from Seabrook, was allegedly approached by a group of men on King Street at West Melbourne when he was hit with a weapon about 4.30am on March 24.

A man from Rose Bay in New South Wales was arrested and charged with attempted murder on Wednesday and will be extradited to Victoria.
Today's Birthday, May 2: Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (2015-)

Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge may only be celebrating her fourth birthday today but she has already perfected her royal wave.

In only four years on the planet, the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - or Prince William and his wife Catherine - has made international headlines multiple times, sometimes with just that wave alone, and starting with her birth on May 2, 2015.

The world caught their first glimpse of the young royal - who is fourth in line to the British throne - on the Lindo Wing steps of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London.

Her full name was later revealed to be Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, the moniker paying tribute not only to her great-grandmother the Queen but also to her late grandmother Diana, Princess of Wales.

Princess Charlotte was christened at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham on Sunday, July 5 2015. The Archbishop of Canterbury performed the baptism with water from the River Jordan.

Barely a year old, the princess embarked on her first royal tour to Canada in September 2016 alongside her parents and older brother Prince George.

While there she stole the show at a children's party held for military families when she ran towards a balloon display yelling "pop".

The next year in July she joined her family on an official visit to Poland and Germany.

The tiny tot captured hearts again when her mother released photos she had taken of her daughter to mark her second birthday.

In January 2018 the princess started at Willcocks Nursery School in London. Three months later in April she became a big sister when younger brother Prince Louis was born.

Visiting her little brother for the first time, Charlotte stole the show with a confident wave to the sea of photographers gathered outside the hospital.

The tiny princess repeated her scene-stealing antics at Louis' christening when she appeared to tell photographers gathered to capture the moment "you're not coming" with the family.

In just four years the princess has already been a bridesmaid four times, first for her aunt Pippa Middleton, then for her godmother Sophie Carter, her father's cousin Princess Eugenie, and most spectacularly for her uncle Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle.
The suspected bomber walks past a door (L) with a backpack on, before entering St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo

Sri Lanka's government on Wednesday acknowledged "major" lapses over its failure to prevent the horrific Easter attacks that killed more than 350 people, despite prior intelligence warnings.

Recriminations have flown since Islamist suicide bombers blew themselves up in packed churches and luxury hotels on Sunday, in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

Overnight, security forces using newly granted powers under the country's state of emergency arrested 18 more suspects in connection with the attack, as the toll rose to 359.

Police have so far arrested 58 people, all Sri Lankans, and security remains heavy, with bomb squads carrying out several controlled explosions of suspect packages on Wednesday.

But the government faces anger over revelations that specific warnings about an attack went ignored.

Children sit next to flowers left by mourners near St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, two days after a series of bomb blasts killed more than 350 people

Sri Lanka's police chief issued a warning on April 11 that suicide bombings against "prominent churches" by the local Islamist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) were possible, citing information from a foreign intelligence agency.

CNN reported that Indian intelligence services had passed on "unusually specific" information in the weeks before the attacks, some of it from an IS suspect in their custody.

But that information was not shared with the prime minister or other top ministers, the government says.

"It was a major lapse in the sharing of information," deputy defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene conceded at a press conference on Wednesday.

"The government has to take responsibility."

- Chilling footage -

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also defence and law and order minister, pledged Tuesday to make "major changes in the leadership of the security forces in the next 24 hours".

Chilling CCTV footage has emerged showing one of the attackers (C) calmly walking into the packed St Sebastian's church before detonating his bomb

"The restructuring of the security forces and the police will be completed within a week," he said.

He also called an "all party conference" with the country's political parties for Thursday, and will meet with religious leaders too.

New details emerged about some of the bombers on Wednesday, with Wijewardene saying one had studied in Britain and then did post-graduate studies in Australia before returning to Sri Lanka.

"Most of them are well-educated and come from middle, upper-middle class families, so they are financially quite independent and their families are quite stable financially, that is a worrying factor in this," the minister added.

And chilling CCTV footage emerged showing one of the attackers calmly patting a child on the head and shoulder moments before he walked into the packed St Sebastian's church and detonated his bomb.

A US FBI team is now in Sri Lanka, Wijewardene said, and Britain, Australia and the United Arab Emirates have all offered intelligence help.

The United Nations said at least 45 children, Sri Lankans and foreigners, were among the dead

Experts say the bombings bear many of the hallmarks of IS attacks, and the government has suggested local militants could not have acted alone.

But it has not yet officially confirmed any IS role in the blasts against three churches packed with Easter worshippers and three high-end hotels.

A desperate search was under way for other suspects linked to the blasts, including the head of the local Islamist group believed to have played a key role in the attacks.

The government has said the NTJ group was behind the attack, perhaps with international help, and its leader Zahran Hashim remains unaccounted for.

He appears to be among eight people seen in a video released by IS on Tuesday, leading seven others in a pledge of allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

It was not yet clear whether Hashim was among the suicide attackers or had escaped after the blasts.

- Multiple attackers -

Government officials have said they cannot rule out further attacks while suspects remain at large.

In all, nine people are believed to have blown themselves up in Sunday, either during attacks or when police attempted to arrest them.

Security remained tight at the churches targeted in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan police sources have told AFP that two Muslim brothers, sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader, blew themselves up at the Shangri-La and the Cinnamon Grand hotels.

Their father is now one of the 58 in custody.

The Kingsbury hotel in the capital was the last one hit. A fourth planned attack on a hotel failed, authorities said. The would-be attacker was followed back to a Colombo lodge, where he blew himself up, killing two people.

Sources close to the investigation said two more people -- a man and a woman -- blew themselves up at another location as security forces launched a raid. Those blasts killed three police.

Work was continuing to identify foreign victims in the blasts.

A Danish billionaire lost three of his children in the attacks, a spokesman for his company said.

Eight Britons, 10 Indians, four Americans and nationals from Turkey, Australia, Japan and Portugal were also reported killed.

The United Nations said at least 45 children, Sri Lankans and foreigners, were among the dead.
Kim was received by an honour guard following his arrival

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was looking forward to his first talks with President Vladimir Putin as he arrived in Russia on Wednesday seeking support in Pyongyang's nuclear deadlock with the United States.

Kim's armoured train rolled in to the Tsarist-era station in Russia's Pacific port city of Vladivostok, where the summit will take place on Thursday.

Wearing a long black coat and fedora, Kim stepped out onto a red carpet on the station platform before making his way outside where he was received by an honour guard and military band.

His limousine drove off after the ceremony, bodyguards in suits running alongside.

The talks, only confirmed at the last minute, will be Kim's first face-to-face meeting with another head of state since returning from his Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump, which broke down in February without a deal on the North's nuclear arsenal.

Talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia's President Vladimir Putin are to take place in Vladivostok on April 25

"I hope this visit will be successful and useful," Kim told Russian television in the border town of Khasan, where women in folk costumes welcomed him with bread and salt in a traditional greeting.

"I hope that during the talks... I will be able to have concrete discussions on resolving situations on the Korean Peninsula and on the development of our bilateral relationship," Kim said.

Putin was due to arrive in Vladivostok on Thursday, then fly on after the talks for another summit in Beijing.

- Island venue -

Russian and North Korean flags were flying on lamp posts on Vladivostok's Russky island, where the summit is expected to take place at a university campus.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on his private armoured train

The island is connected to the rest of Vladivostok by a bridge built in 2012 that crosses a harbour used for commercial and naval ships.

Kim plans to stay on in Vladivostok on Friday for a series of cultural events, including a ballet and a visit to the city's aquarium, Russian media reported.

The talks follow repeated invitations from Putin since Kim embarked on a series of diplomatic overtures last year.

Since March 2018, the formerly reclusive North Korean leader has held four meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, three with South Korea's Moon Jae-in, two with Trump and one with Vietnam's president.

Analysts say he is now looking for wider international support in his standoff with Washington, while Moscow is keen to inject itself into another global flashpoint.

The Kremlin has said the focus of the talks will be on finding "a political and diplomatic solution to the nuclear problem on the Korean Peninsula" but that no joint statement or signing of agreements was planned.

Russia laid out the red carpet for the North Korean leader

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear programme -- launched in 2003 with the participation of North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- remained the best option for finding solutions but that other efforts were worth looking at.

"There is currently no other effective international mechanism," Peskov told reporters.

"On the other hand... all efforts deserve support if they are really pursuing the goal of denuclearisation and resolving the problems of the two Koreas."

- Cold War ties -

Moscow was a crucial backer of Pyongyang for decades and their ties go back to the founding of North Korea, when the Soviet Union installed Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung as leader.

The Soviet Union reduced funding to the North as it began to seek reconciliation with Seoul in the 1980s, but Pyongyang was hit hard by its demise in 1991.

Soon after his first election as Russian president, Putin sought to normalise relations and met Kim Jong Il -- the current leader's father and predecessor -- three times.

Kim stepped out of his armoured train and onto a red carpet

The first of those meetings was in Pyongyang in 2000, when Putin became the first Russian leader to visit the North.

China has since cemented its role as the isolated North's most important ally, its largest trading partner and crucial fuel supplier, and analysts say Kim could be looking to balance Beijing's influence.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday that Beijing was happy to see talks between its "friendly neighbours".

"We believe this will contribute... to peace and stability on the peninsula and in the region," Geng said, noting that China and Russia "have always maintained close communication and coordination" on the issue.

While ties between Russia and North Korea have remained cordial, the last meeting between their leaders came in 2011, when Kim Jong Il told then-president Dmitry Medvedev that he was prepared to renounce nuclear testing.

His son has since overseen by far the country's most powerful blast to date, and the launch of missiles capable of reaching the entire US mainland.
Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe (C, pictured April 2018) must "obtain a visa to enter Botswana", and local media have accused her of meddling in the country's politics

Botswana has banned the wife of a South African minister, who is also a sister of a powerful mining tycoon and the president's sister-in-law, from entering the country visa-free, according to documents seen by AFP on Tuesday.

A document issued by Botswana's Immigration Minister Magang Ngaka Ngaka on April 17, 2019, said South African Energy Minister Jeff Radebe's wife Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe must "obtain a visa to enter Botswana".

The official reason for the move is not given, but local media have accused her of meddling in Botswana's politics.

Motsepe-Radebe, 59, is president of the South African Mining Development Association.

She is also the older sister of billionaire Patrice Motsepe, and of South Africa's first lady, Tshepo Motsepe.

Forbes says Patrice Motsepe in 2008 became the first black African on its rich list. It estimates his wealth at $2.5 billion (2.23 billion euros).

South Africans normally do not require an advance visa to travel to their land-locked, diamond-rich neighbour, although several prominent figures have been blocked from entering the country without first applying for permission.

The document did not state a reason for the visa requirement, although Motsepe-Radebe has faced allegations she interfered in the recent leadership election of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in a bid to remove President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Local media reports alleged she and her mining mogul brother had funded the campaign of President Masisi's rival for the party top job, former foreign affairs minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa sent Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to Gaborone last week after the accusations surfaced in the media that his sister-in-law had meddled politically.
During shuttle diplomacy in recent months, US and Chinese officials have alternated between projecting optimism and warning that success is not guaranteed

Two top American officials will head to Beijing next week to continue talks on the bruising trade war between the US and China, the White House said on Tuesday.

"United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing for continued negotiations on the trade relationship between the United States and China," the White House said in a statement.

The talks -- which will be led by Vice Premier Liu He on the Chinese side -- will begin on April 30, and a delegation from Beijing will travel to Washington on May 8, the statement said.

"The subjects of next week's discussions will cover trade issues including intellectual property, forced technology transfer, non-tariff barriers, agriculture, services, purchases, and enforcement," it added.

During shuttle diplomacy in recent months, US and Chinese officials have alternated between projecting optimism and warning that success in their high-stakes talks is not guaranteed.

The two sides have exchanged tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade since last year, weighing on both countries' manufacturing sectors and unnerving global stock markets.
Political leaders and tech company executives have been called to a meeting in Paris to commit to a pledge the "Christchurch Call" designed to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online

New Zealand and France will bring together global leaders at a Paris summit next month aimed at stopping social media being used to organise and promote terrorism, the countries' leaders announced Wednesday.

Political leaders and tech company executives have been called to a meeting -- to be co-chaired by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron -- in Paris on May 15.

They will be asked to commit to a pledge called the "Christchurch Call" designed to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.

Ardern said the March 15 terrorist attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, in which 50 Muslim worshippers were killed, saw social media used "in an unprecedented way as a tool to promote an act of terrorism and hate".

The mosque attacks were live-streamed on the internet and showed distressing footage of the gunman firing indiscriminately at men, women and children.

In Paris, the Elysee presidential palace said the meeting would ensure that "new, concrete measures are taken so that what happened in Christchurch does not happen again".

Nearly six weeks after the massacre, social media sites are still struggling to stamp out copies of the gunman's video.

"We're calling on the leaders of tech companies to join with us and help achieve our goal of eliminating violent extremism online at the Christchurch Summit in Paris," Arden said.

The meeting will be held alongside the "Tech for Humanity" meeting of G7 Digital Ministers, and France's separate "Tech for Good" summit also scheduled for May 15.

"We all need to act, and that includes social media providers taking more responsibility for the content that is on their platforms, and taking action so that violent extremist content cannot be published and shared," Ardern said.

"It's critical that technology platforms like Facebook are not perverted as a tool for terrorism, and instead become part of a global solution to countering extremism."

Macron has previously stated his ambition for France to take a leading role in devising new regulatory measures "to reconcile technology with the common good".

Ardern said the joint action was not aimed at curbing freedom of expression but at preventing extremist violence from spreading online.

"I don't think anyone would argue that the terrorist on March 15 had a right to livestream the murder of 50 people and that is what this call is very specifically focussed on," she said.

A French Muslim group said on Monday it was suing Facebook and YouTube for allowing the grisly live broadcast of Christchurch massacre to be streamed.

The livestream lasting 17 minutes was shared extensively on a variety of internet platforms and uploaded again nearly as fast as it could be taken down.

New Zealand has banned both the livestreamed footage of the attack and the manifesto written and released by Brenton Tarrant, who faces 50 murder charges and 39 of attempted murder following the mosque attacks.
Fugitive from Japanese justice Carlos Ghosn says his wife Carole played no part in his escape

Carole Ghosn, who not so long ago was an influential but discreet figure in the New York fashion world, has been thrust into the limelight by the arrest of her tycoon husband Carlos, and his subsequent flight from Japan.

The second wife of the former Nissan boss, who like him also has Lebanese citizenship, vocally led the campaign for her husband's freedom but what role she played in his epic escape from Japan remains unclear.

Carole was reunited with her husband last week after he jumped bail in Tokyo, where he had been jailed and then held under house arrest over several counts of financial misconduct.

On Tuesday Japanese prosecutors obtained a warrant for her arrest, accusing her of "false testimony", without offering further details.

Carole Ghosn has spent a large part of her life in the United States.

But over the past year, she has criss-crossed the globe, spearheading a campaign to clear her husband's name.

She was not with him on November 19, 2018 when he was dramatically arrested aboard his private jet at a Japanese airport, and was shocked to learn the news thousands of kilometres away.

She was prevented from seeing her husband during his detention and initially kept largely silent about his case but was ever-present after he was released on bail to a central Tokyo apartment in March.

- 'Traumatised' -

Carole appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron, complaining in an interview with the newspaper Journal du Dimanche that the silence of French authorities in the case was "deafening".

She also contacted the White House and gave a tearful interview to US media in which she said her 65-year-old husband was in poor health, a state exacerbated by what she described as "mental abuse" while he was detained.

"During the month he was free, they tried to live normally, go for walks, eat good meals," said a Tokyo-based friend of the couple.

This was in spite of the photographers who camped outside their residence -- to Carole's visible annoyance.

The respite was brief and Carlos was rearrested at dawn on April 4 to answer further allegations -- an event that "traumatised" her, according to her friend.

In interviews she claimed that prosecutors scoured their 50-square-metre (550-square-foot) apartment, searched her, took her passport and even accompanied her to the bathroom.

"It was a huge trial, among the worst moments of her life," said the couple's French lawyer, Francois Zimeray, who praised her for her "dignity" under pressure.

Using another passport, she then left Japan for France but returned a few days later to face questioning and show "she had nothing to hide".

The exact circumstances of Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan are unclear, but dramatic reports continue to emerge, including that he was spirited out of the country inside a box that had been smuggled onto a private jet.

The former Nissan chairman insisted last week that he had not received help from any government and had organised his escape "alone", denying reports that his wife orchestrated the daring operation.

He is due to give a press conference on Wednesday.

- 'Beauty Yachts' -

Born in 1966 in Beirut as Carole Nahas, the businesswoman has spent most of her life in the US. She holds American nationality along with her three children from her first marriage.

Highly educated and successful in her own right, in the 2000s she founded a company selling luxury kaftans.

Carole and Carlos Ghosn at Cannes film festival in happier times

She met Carlos and the couple fell quickly in love, with Carole providing a calming influence on the impulsive tycoon, according to one friend.

They were married in 2016 at the gilded Versailles Palace near Paris in a lavish ceremony that has since caught the attention of authorities amid questions over how it was funded.

According to sources close to the case, she is named as president of a company used to buy a luxury yacht that prosecutors suspect was purchased partly with funds diverted from Nissan.

Authorities have questioned her over the British Virgin Isles-registered company "Beauty Yachts" but she has not been charged and denies wrongdoing.
The prison was in use from 1858 to 2002. Designed by Chicago architect W.W. Boyington, it was built with convict labor using limestone that was quarried on the site. Inside the walls on the sites 25 acres are more than 20 buildings.
During the first three months of 2019, international and pro-government forces were responsible for the deaths of 305 civilians, most from air strikes or from search operations on the ground

Afghan civilians are for the first time being killed in greater numbers by US and pro-government forces than by the Taliban and other insurgent groups, a UN report released Wednesday revealed.

The bloody milestone comes as the US steps up its air campaign in Afghanistan while pushing for a peace deal with the Taliban, who now control or influence more parts of the country than at any time since they were ousted in 2001.

During the first three months of 2019, international and pro-government forces were responsible for the deaths of 305 civilians, whereas insurgent groups killed 227 people, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a quarterly report.

The majority of the deaths resulted from US air strikes or from search operations on the ground, primarily conducted by US-backed Afghan forces, some of which UNAMA said "appear to act with impunity".

"UNAMA urges both the Afghan national security forces and international military forces to conduct investigations into allegations of civilian casualties, to publish the results of their findings, and to provide compensation to victims as appropriate," the report states.

Afghanistan civilian deaths

UNAMA started compiling civilian casualty data in 2009 amid deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan.

It is the first tally since records began that shows pro-government forces have killed more civilians than insurgents have, though insurgents were responsible for more than twice as many injuries as were pro-government forces.

Colonel Dave Butler, spokesman for US Forces-Afghanistan, said the US military holds itself "to the highest standards of accuracy and accountability" and that it strives for precision in all its operations.

"We reserve the right of self-defence of our forces as well as the Afghan Security Forces," Butler said in a statement.

"The best way to end the suffering of non-combatants is to end the fighting through an agreed-upon reduction in violence on all sides."

- 'Shocking number' -

In 2017, the US military started quickening its operational tempo after President Donald Trump loosened restrictions

In 2017, the US military started quickening its operational tempo after President Donald Trump loosened restrictions and made it easier for American forces to bomb Taliban positions.

According to US Air Force Central Command, the US dropped 7,362 bombs in Afghanistan in 2018, the highest number since at least 2010, and up from 4,361 in 2017.

While other nations may contribute logistical or technical support, it is US aircraft that conduct most strikes. Afghanistan's fledgeling air force is also flying more sorties.

The US has sent huge B-52 bombers on runs over the country and benefited from an increase in aerial hardware as operations against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria tapered off.

UNAMA's report did, however, also find that civilian casualties dropped 23 percent compared with the first three months of 2018.

In all, UNAMA documented 1,773 casualties in the last quarter: 581 deaths and 1,192 injured -- the lowest first-quarter toll since 2013.

The US has stepped up its air campaign in Afghanistan while pushing for a peace deal with the Taliban

The drop was driven by a decrease in the use of suicide bomb attacks, but UNAMA did not know if this trend came as a result of a harsh winter or if the Taliban were trying to kill fewer civilians during peace talks.

In contrast, the first three months of 2018 saw a spike in horrific attacks that skewed numbers higher for that part of the year compared to 2019. For instance, more than 100 people were killed in Kabul in January 2018 when an explosives-packed ambulance blew up.

UNAMA chief Tadamichi Yamamoto, who also serves as the UN secretary general's special representative for Afghanistan, said a "shocking number" of civilians are still being killed or maimed.

"All parties must do more to safeguard civilians," Yamamoto said in a statement.

"Anti-government elements need to stop deliberately targeting civilians ... pro-government forces are called upon to take immediate measures to mitigate the rising death toll and suffering caused by air strikes and search operations," he added.

Andrea Prasow, Human Rights Watch's deputy Washington director, said casualties caused by pro-government forces cause more psychological harm.

"People who expect the government to be protecting them and then have their lives devastated, its particularly significant," Prasow told AFP.

"This report really highlights some of the psychological harm that the Afghan people are suffering."

Last year was the deadliest yet for Afghan civilians, with 3,804 killed, according to UNAMA.
The disaster struck at a jade mine in Myanmar's northern Kachin state, killing 50 miners

Myanmar recovery teams battled treacherous conditions Wednesday to pull a fourth body from the sludge left by a mudslide that buried more than 50 jade miners -- the latest fatal accident in a notoriously dangerous but highly-lucrative industry.

Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a poorly regulated industry rife with corruption.

The latest disaster struck a mine in Hpakant township in northern Kachin state late on Monday night.

Police described how a "mud lake" engulfed 54 miners -- all now feared dead -- while they were working a night shift.

Just three bodies were recovered on Tuesday.

Local police told AFP it was too dangerous to search further than the very edge of the vast oozing pool of sludge.

AFP watched as rescuers continued operations Wednesday under the searing sun, threatened by occasional small landslides falling ominously around the near-vertical sides of the mud-filled mine crater.

Delicately balancing on excavation equipment, they painstakingly managed to uncover one body before bringing it to firm ground to hose it clean.

More than 100 onlookers, including grieving relatives, stood watching the recovery efforts.

"You can only imagine how sad I am as a father," said Tin Shine, 57, as he waited in vain for his son's body.

Recovery operations stopped at nightfall Wednesday and were due to resume in the morning.

The site is mined by Myanmar Thura Gems and Shwe Nagar Koe Kaung companies.

Myanmar Thura Gems director Hla Soe Oo told AFP that the company was "helping the families identify the victims' bodies".

-- 'Better protection' needed --

The open jade mines in Hpakant township have turned the landscape into a vast moonscape-like terrain of barren hills and vast valleys of dirt scoured by companies for the precious gems.

Impoverished ethnic communities often scavenge the terrain for scraps left behind by big firms -- and are frequently the main victims of landslides.

But police told AFP that there were no informal workers on the site at the time of this mudslide.

A major collapse in November 2015 left more than 100 dead, while in July of last year, the bodies of 23 victims were recovered after a search hampered by heavy monsoon rains.

Ye Lin Myint, national co-ordinator for the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA), said workers in the country's mines should be better protected.

Acting UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator to Myanmar Knut Ostby offered condolences to the families of victims, calling for urgent action to implement a new health and safety law.

The jade industry is largely driven by insatiable demand from neighbouring China, where the translucent green gemstone has long been prized.

Watchdog Global Witness estimated the industry was worth some $31 billion in 2014, although very little reaches state coffers.

Northern Myanmar's abundant natural resources -- including jade, timber, gold and amber -- help finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.
Victims of Japan's 'eugenics' programme complain the compensation offered is not enough

Thousands of Japanese people -- some as young as nine -- forcibly sterilised under now-defunct eugenics laws, will receive government compensation after lawmakers passed historic legislation on Wednesday.

Following the unanimous vote, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voiced "sincere regret" and said the government "apologised wholeheartedly" over the notorious policy.

Some 16,500 mentally disabled people were sterilised without their consent under the law that remained in force until 1996, according to health ministry data.

Each victim will receive 3.2 million yen ($29,000) under the measures passed on Wednesday -- an amount derided by campaigners as "failing to meet the seriousness" of the damage suffered.

The issue hit the headlines last year after a Japanese woman, now in her 60s, sued the government over a sterilisation operation carried out in 1972 after she was diagnosed with a mental disability.

Lawyers and campaigners have long criticised the government and parliament for failing to compensate victims long after the eugenics law was abandoned in 1996.

About 20 victims have so far filed lawsuits across the country seeking compensation of up to 38 million yen.

The first verdict over the issue will be announced on May 28, and plaintiffs' lawyers have vowed to seek compensation they say matches the gravity of the harm suffered.

"It is understandable that lawmakers have been hurrying to enact the law to pay one-off compensation to ageing victims," lawyers said in a statement before the legislation was passed.

But without sufficient compensation, it is not a "true solution to the issue," they charged.

Tokyo has pledged to pay the compensation "swiftly" but the government will likely continue to battle in court against victims claiming more.

Germany and Sweden had similar eugenics laws and governments there have also apologised and paid compensation to the victims.

Under Japan's law, some leprosy patients were also forced into abortions under policies that forbade them from having children.

In 2005, a Japanese court for the first time ordered the state to pay damages to a former leprosy sufferer affected by this law.
John William King (C) is pictured in 1999 after being sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a black man

A white supremacist convicted of murdering a black man by dragging him behind a pickup truck is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday in the US state of Texas.

John William King, 44, one of three men convicted of the June 1998 killing of James Byrd, is to die by lethal injection at the Huntsville penitentiary.

Lawrence Brewer was executed in 2011 for the murder, while Shawn Berry -- who cooperated with investigators -- was given life in prison.

Berry testified during his trial that he and the two others were out drinking beer and cruising in a truck when he picked up Byrd and drove him to a remote country road.

The men severely beat Byrd before chaining him to the back of the truck.

Byrd was still alive while being dragged along a paved road for some two miles (3.2 kilometers) and suffered great pain until he was decapitated when his body hit a concrete drain pipe along the side of the road, a pathologist testified during King's trial.

His dismembered body was found outside a black church in the small town of Jasper, Texas.

The circumstances surrounding the killing horrified the US public, especially African Americans, who saw in it the unextinguished embers of a brutal racist history.

Some 10 years after King's conviction, then-president Barack Obama signed a law in the name of Byrd as well as Matthew Shepard, a young gay man murdered the same year, with the aim of strengthening the fight against hate crimes.

- Reprieve denied -

During the sentencing phase of his trial, attorneys for King argued prison violence compelled him to hook up with a white prison gang and festoon his body with racist tattoos, with attorney H. "Sonny" Cripps saying: "He wasn't a racist when he went in, he was when he came out."

John King, pictured in 2017, was unanimously denied a reprieve by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles

But a psychiatrist for the prosecution said the viciousness of the crime "removed all doubt" that death was the appropriate punishment.

The 1999 sentencing of King -- a member of the racist group known as the Confederate Knights of America -- was the first time since the 1970s that a white man was handed a death sentence in Texas for killing a black man.

His lawyers have since made repeated efforts to have his conviction overturned, but their attempts failed, with the Supreme Court refusing to examine King's case in 2018.

On Monday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously refused to grant him a reprieve.

If King's execution is carried out as scheduled, it will be the fourth so far this year in the United States.

But some members of Byrd's family have opposed capital punishment for his killers, with his son Ross joining protests against Brewer's 2011 execution, CNN reported.

"You can't fight murder with murder," the channel quoted him as saying.
India is smarting over unexpected US decisions, like the ending of Iranian oil import waivers, that it sees as ignoring the interests of a close ally

President Donald Trump may count Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi among his international allies, but New Delhi is smarting over unexpected US decisions it sees as ignoring the interests of an increasingly close partner.

The Trump administration this week said it would start to sanction countries that do not comply with its orders to stop buying oil from Iran, demanding that eight governments -- including India and China -- end all imports when six-month waivers run out next week.

The move, which triggered a hike in global oil prices that could disproportionately hit poorer Indians, came just as Modi was campaigning for a new mandate in ongoing, multi-phase elections.

The Iran diktat followed Trump's announcement in March that India, along with Turkey, would no longer enjoy a preferential trading status for a wide range of manufactured goods.

Trump, who has rocky relations with the leaders of numerous Western allies, has publicly highlighted his bond with Modi, a Hindu nationalist who shares the US president's hawkish stance on radical Islam.

India's main opposition Congress party quickly seized on the Iran sanctions to attack Modi. Its spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted that the Indian leader is "sitting as a mute spectator over the country's oil needs and security."

Trump, while popular among much of the Hindu right, has also drawn resentment in India over viral reports that he mimics Modi's accent in private -- a far cry from the reverential treatment US presidents since Bill Clinton have shown Indian leaders.

- 'Surprised and disappointed' -

An Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described New Delhi as "surprised and disappointed" by the decision on Iran, saying the Trump administration had sent a message in March that India's cuts in imports were sufficient to be granted a fresh waiver.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought warm ties with all Middle Eastern players

"We thought that, as a major defense and strategic partner, the United States would take into consideration our concerns," the official said.

Trump is seeking to eliminate Iran's top source of revenue in a bid to curb the clerical regime's regional clout, including its backing of Shiite militants.

India is the world's third-largest oil importer. The official said the South Asian nation has cut Iranian oil from 17 to five percent of its total crude imports and had also ended oil purchases from Venezuela, succumbing to US pressure as Trump tries to oust leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

"We did this not because we agree with the US, but because we are strategic partners," he said.

Similarly, the official said the Trump administration ignored a detailed proposal from New Delhi when it announced it would scrap its designation in the Generalized System of Preferences, which grants favorable access to goods from developing countries.

India is proposing a 90-day delay in implementation as the government cannot make a counter-proposal under laws that forbid policy decisions during elections, the official said.

Another rift could come up as India -- a Cold War partner of the Soviet Union turned major buyer of US defense equipment -- finalizes its purchase of Russia's advanced S-400 missile system.

Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently told AFP that India has been "heard and understood" by the United States, which imposed sanctions on China and has warned NATO ally Turkey over buying the S-400.

- Years of growing ties -

Few expect India and the United States to drift apart significantly, let alone return to their Cold War estrangement, with the major parties in both democracies broadly supporting a strong relationship.

US President Donald Trump is popular among much of the Hindu right

And Trump pleased Modi in February by backing India's air incursions into rival Pakistan, home to virulently anti-Indian militants, in response to an attack on Indian forces in divided Kashmir.

Tanvi Madan, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of its India Project, said that this week's sanctions decision for the United States "is about Iran, not about its approach to India."

"But I think that India will feel once again that it will be collateral damage," she said.

"It reinforces the sense in India that the US isn't factoring in Indian interests when it comes to these decisions, yet they affect India."

Madan added that New Delhi was less concerned about oil than with preserving a relationship with Tehran, even while developing close ties with Iran's rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia.

India is hoping to keep working with Iran on its Chabahar port, through which New Delhi hopes to send supplies to war-torn Afghanistan, cracking the landlocked country's reliance on Pakistan.

Madan said there was one wild card that could shake up US-India ties -- if China seized on the rift and offered reconciliation with India by making concessions on the Asian giants' myriad disputes.

"Will that happen? I find it hard to believe the Chinese will get around to doing it," she said. "But the possibility exists."
The collapse of the nine-floor rabbit warren of textile factories at Rana Plaza in Dhaka on April 24, 2013 killed 1,138 workers and shone a spotlight on the poor safety standards in Bangladesh's $31 billion garment industry

Six years after one of the world's most devastating factory disasters led to international safety monitoring in Bangladesh, campaigners are warning of "grim consequences" if such oversight is abandoned.

The collapse of the nine-floor rabbit warren of textile factories at Rana Plaza in Dhaka on April 24, 2013 killed 1,138 workers and shone a spotlight on the poor safety standards in Bangladesh's $31 billion garment industry.

Under intense pressure, top brands such as H&M, Inditex, Carrefour and Gap set up two watchdogs to look at more than 4,500 factories that make clothes for Western stores.

One of the watchdogs, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, has already wrapped up after reviewing nearly 1,000 factories that produced mostly for US brands.

The future of the larger monitor, "Accord on Fire and Building safety", representing some 200 European labels such as H&M, Primark and Tesco, is to be decided by Bangladesh's Supreme Court after a lower court ruled it should also wind up.

Laura Gutierrez of the US-based Worker Rights Consortium, a labour group, warned that ending the international oversight "will have grim consequences for workers and factory owners".

It "will cause brands to see the country as a far riskier place to produce," she added.

Christie Miedema of the Clean Clothes Campaign added that progress of safety "will be lost -- setting the country on a path back to the situation before the Rana Plaza collapse".

Top brands including H&M, Zara, Adidas, Tesco and Next have backed concerns raised by such labour rights groups.

British brand Next said that "any early termination of the current Accord operations in Bangladesh would be detrimental to the safety of workers in the readymade garment industry there".

Accord, for its part, says it needs more time to enforce safety in the 1,700 factories it has reviewed so far, while manufacturers argue that the programme's five-year mandate has already expired.

- Major fires -

The Bangladesh government says factory fatalities have dramatically declined since the disaster because of upgrades overseen by the monitoring groups and local agencies.

It argues that the national inspection agency can now handle the enforcement of factory safety alone.

However, two major fires in Dhaka -- in which 100 people died -- have highlighted the lingering dangers.

One of those blazes tore through a 22-storey building that housed several garment businesses. A probe found it did not have a safety license and breached multiple construction rules. Many emergency exits were locked.

Despite this, the influential Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), whose members own the factories, want international oversight to end.

The group's outgoing President Siddiqur Rahman told AFP it is "negotiating for an amicable settlement with the Accord steering committee".

- 'Shocking level of unreadiness' -

Campaigners say that textile companies fear the monitors could start looking into other workers' rights issues, in an industry where minimum wages start at $95 dollars a month.

"Manufacturers fear Accord might put the industry under greater scrutiny," said Salahuddin Swapan, a Bangladesh garment union leader.

Critics say that Bangladesh's factory inspection agency, which would take over the monitors' work, lacks the means and desire to push through costly safety upgrades.

But Shib Nath Roy, head of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), said the agency was now better placed than the international monitors to take on the work.

He said it had had "made significant progress" with scores of extra inspectors employed since the Rana Plaza disaster.

A consortium of groups campaigning for garment workers' rights, including the Clean Clothes Campaign and International Labour Rights Forum, dispute that the government is ready to take over.

They say none of the 745 factories under the government inspection programme has yet eliminated "high risk safety hazards" identified in the past five years.

"Our research shows a shocking level of unreadiness" by the government to take over Accord's work, they said in a report this month.
Protestors gathered outside Parliament House after Sogavare won the backing of MPs in a controversial run-off

The election of veteran politician Manasseh Sogavare as the Solomon Islands' new prime minister sparked violent protests in the capital Honiara Wednesday, with riot police deployed in a bid to maintain order.

Eyewitnesses reported unrest in Chinatown and at least one other area of the city after Sogavare won the backing of parliamentarians for a record fourth term in office.

Shops and offices closed and workers were advised to go home as police and community leaders appealed for calm.

Following an inconclusive election earlier this month, Sogavare won the backing of 34 of 50 members of parliament in a controversial run-off, with his opponents boycotting the vote.

In a brief statement, the 64-year-old said "God" had delivered the outcome.

"I wish to assure the nation that we are listening to what has been said, it has not fallen on to deaf ears," he said.

It is the first election on the self-styled "hapi isles" since thousands of Australian-led peacekeepers left in 2017, and there will be fears the islands' fractious politics will be reignited.

The Solomon Islands has struggled repeatedly with ethnic tensions and political violence since gaining independence from Britain in 1978.

Sogavare's last term in office ended abruptly in a 2017 vote of no confidence

A 2006 election prompted widespread rioting in the capital with shops in Chinatown looted and burnt down, forcing foreign peacekeepers to step in.

Within hours of the ballot Wednesday there was similar unrest.

Crowds of protestors shouting and waving tree branches were denied access to parliament and were heading to Chinatown to hurl rocks and trash businesses before being contained.

"Each time an election of this sort happens, we have to move to my parent's place where it is safer," said a food outlet owner in Chinatown, who asked not to be named.

"Imagine each time, we have to pack our stuff, get the kids and move out from our place. It had been like this since the big riot in 2006. It is like the normal thing to do now."

By Wednesday afternoon rioting was centred on the Kukum area of the city. There were unconfirmed reports of a locally owned hotel and casino being damaged in the attacks.

The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force urged residents to "go back to your homes" and "accept the announcement of the Prime Minister with a good heart."

- Foreign interests -

The Australian government said it was monitoring the protests and endorsed "calls for calm by Solomon Islands authorities."

"We recommend exercising normal safety precautions in Solomon Islands overall and to avoid protests and political rallies, as they may turn violent."

The Solomons, where only about 50 percent of the population have access to electricity, is heavily reliant on foreign aid

Sogavare's last term in office ended abruptly in a 2017 vote of no confidence amid unconfirmed allegations he had received donations from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

The Solomon Islands is one of Taiwan's few remaining diplomatic allies, but is being courted by China which has been investing heavily in the Pacific. The Solomons, where only about 50 percent of the population have access to electricity, is heavily reliant on foreign aid.

In the run-up to the election, several Solomon Islands politicians, including caretaker prime minister Rick Houenipwela were reported to have said they would review diplomatic relations with Taiwan if elected.

Houenipwela was a member of Sogavare's Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must be brought back into the fold.
In addition to collapsed buildings and flooded roads, sewer lines were blocked and electricity pylons had toppled over

Devastating floods in South Africa have left 51 dead and forced more than a thousand people from their homes, according to an updated toll issued Wednesday as President Cyril Ramaphosa flew to the deluged region.

Heavy rains have lashed the southeast of the country, tearing down homes and ravaging infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.

Speaking to the affected Amanzimtoti community in Durban, after returning from emergency African Union talks in Egypt on the crises in Libya and Sudan, Ramaphosa said "there are more than 1,000 people who are now displaced."

He raised concerns about Free State province north of KwaZulu-Natal, saying that continuing downpours there were causing "risky situations."

The government will set aside emergency funding to help survivors rebuild their lives, Ramaphosa vowed.

Rescuers are combing through debris for those who might be trapped underneath landslides

Fifty-one people have been confirmed dead so far, although local media have given a toll as high as 54, rising from 33 on Tuesday.

Rescuers on Wednesday continued to comb debris, desperately looking for people feared trapped by landslides.

Emergency responders reported collapsed buildings and flooded roads, blocked sewer lines and toppled electricity pylons.

For safety reasons, schools and some businesses were shut in the affected areas.

South African military personnel have been dispatched to help rescue and evacuation efforts.

The South African Weather Services warned that more heavy rain and gale force winds were expected, which could threaten low-lying bridges and roads.
Last month, Britain identified "significant technological issues" in Huawei's engineering processes that pose "new risks" for the nation's telecommunications

British Prime Minister Theresa May has given the go-ahead for China's Huawei to help build a 5G network, shrugging off security warnings from senior ministers and Washington, the Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

The country's National Security Council, which is chaired by May, agreed Tuesday to allow the Chinese technology giant limited access to build "noncore" infrastructure such as antennas, the report said.

The decision was made despite concerns raised over May's approach by Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

Downing Street declined to comment on the newspaper report.

The United States has banned Huawei's 5G technology from its territory and has urged allies in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence sharing collective -- which also includes Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand -- to follow suit.

Huawei is the leading manufacturer of equipment for next-generation 5G mobile networks with almost instantaneous data transfer that will become the nervous system of Europe's economy, in strategic sectors like energy, transport, banking and health care.

However, the technology titan faces pushback in some Western markets over fears Beijing could spy on communications and gain access to critical infrastructure.

Last month, Britain identified "significant technological issues" in Huawei's engineering processes that pose "new risks" for the nation's telecommunications, according to a government report.
A New Zealand flag held at a vigil for the Christchurch mosque massacres. New Zealand has offered permanent residency to those directly affected by the attacks

New Zealand opened a two-year window Wednesday for people directly affected by the Christchurch terror attacks to apply to stay permanently in the country.

The special visa category "recognises the impact of the tragedy on the lives of those most affected, and gives people currently on temporary and resident visas some certainty" about their status, Immigration New Zealand said in a statement.

People living in New Zealand who were present at one of the mosques and their immediate family based in New Zealand qualify for the visa.

The definition of "immediate family" has been expanded to include a wide circle of family members including partner's family and the grandparents of children under 25.

Mustafa Farouk, the president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, said it was a generous gesture.

"We are very happy," he said, adding he expected everyone eligible would apply.

"Some of these people have not only lost their loved ones, they have also lost their main provider."

A self-styled white supremacist opened fire on Muslims at prayer in two Christchurch mosques on March 15.

Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian" has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 of attempted murder.
The results of the race for three trustee seats were not immediately clear after the April 2, with three candidates on the ballot and two others running as write-ins.
The eight men the Islamic State group says carried out the attacks, as shown in this video grab from the group's propaganda agency Amaq

For years, Sri Lanka's Muslim community warned authorities about a firebrand cleric. Now it seems Zahran Hashim may have played a key role in one of the worst attacks in the country's history.

A video released Tuesday by the Islamic State group, which earlier claimed responsibility for the Easter attacks that killed over 350 people, appears to prominently feature Hashim.

He appears to be the round-faced cleric in the footage -- the only one of the eight figures depicted whose face is uncovered.

Dressed in a black tunic headscarf and carrying a rifle, Hashim is seen leading seven purported attackers in a pledge of allegiance to IS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

The other seven people in the video all wear the same black tunics but with their faces obscured by black-and-white checkered scarves.

Sri Lanka's government had already pointed the finger at Hashim indirectly, calling the little-known Islamist group he was believed to lead -- the National Thowheeth Jama'ath -- its prime suspect.

Hashim was identified, albeit with his name misspelled as Hashmi, by police as heading NTJ.

But the video released by IS was the first concrete evidence of the apparently central role played by the Sri Lankan cleric in the Easter attacks.

- 'A loner' -

Hashim was a virtual unknown before the onslaught -- even inside Sri Lanka.

He had attracted several thousand followers on several social media sites, including YouTube and Facebook, where he posted incendiary sermons.

In one, the cleric with an unkempt black beard, delivers an extremist diatribe against non-Muslims against the crudely photoshopped backdrop of flags in flames.

Hilmy Ahamed, vice-president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, said he had gone to local authorities with concerns about Hashim three years ago.

"This person was a loner and he had radicalised young people in the guise of conducting Koran classes," he told AFP.

"But nobody thought these people were capable of carrying out an attack of such magnitude."

Ahamed said Hashim, who has also gone by the names Mohamed Zahran and Moulavi Hashim, was around 40 years old and from the east coast region of Batticaloa.

The only one of the attacks on Sunday to hit outside of the Colombo area was at the Zion Church in Batticaloa.

- Dead or alive? -

"Zahran belonged to an average Muslim middle-class family. He was a drop-out," said Ahamed, adding that the cleric had studied at an Islamic college in Kattankudy, a Muslim-majority city in eastern Sri Lanka.

He was considered a menace by the local Muslim community and caused trouble at Kattankudy's Thowheeth mosque.

"The mosque saw continuous conflict with the traditional mosque goers. Once Zahran took a sword out to kill people belonging to the traditional Muslim mosque," Ahamed said.

Local media said Hashim formed the NTJ in Kattankudy in 2014.

There was still confusion Wednesday about whether that group, or a splinter organisation, carried out the Easter attack.

"There has been a group that has split from the main body," of the NTJ, Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said Wednesday.

"We believe that the leader of this group has also committed suicide in one of the attacks," he added, refusing to confirm if he was referring to Hashim or someone else.

Sri Lankan officials are still investigating to what degree IS may have helped the attackers, but Ahamed said Hashim was known by the community to have international ties.

"All his videos have been uploaded from India. He uses boats of smugglers to travel back and forth from southern India," he said.

A source close to the investigation told AFP there was no evidence yet whether Hashim had been among the suicide bombers.

"Until we do DNA tests on everybody we can't be sure," the source said.

"I don't know if he is dead or alive," added Ahamed.
Israel's army used explosives and heavy machinery to destroy the home of a Palestinian accused of killing two Israelis

Israel's military on Wednesday destroyed the West Bank home of a Palestinian accused of having killed two Israelis in March, the army said.

Soldiers surrounded the home late Tuesday in Az-Zawiya in the Salfit region of the occupied West Bank before carrying out the demolition using explosives and heavy machinery.

Omar Amin Abu Laila was accused of fatally stabbing soldier Gal Keidan, 19, and stealing his weapon on March 17, the army said at the time.

He then fired at Israeli motorists, hitting 47-year-old rabbi Ahiad Ettinger, a resident of the Eli settlement, who later died of his wounds, according to the army.

Abu Laila, 19, was shot dead two days later during an arrest raid by Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Abwein, north of Ramallah.

Israeli authorities accused Abu Laila of opening fire at forces, who killed him.

Israel routinely demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of attacks as part of a policy it says discourages future violence.

But human rights groups and Palestinians say the practice amounts to collective punishment, with family members forced to pay for the acts of a relative.
The offensive on the Libyan capital Tripoli has left 264 dead and more than 1,200 wounded, UN figures show

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the internationally-recognised government in Tripoli, angrily denounced France Wednesday for supporting rival Khalifa Haftar, underlining the growing diplomatic tensions over fighting there.

Speaking to French dailies Liberation and Le Monde, Sarraj denounced Paris for backing a "dictator" in his harshest criticism yet of French diplomacy.

France has long been suspected of offering backing to Haftar, a former army field marshal based in eastern Libya, who heads the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) and has gradually expanded his territorial control.

But on April 4, Haftar launched a drive towards Tripoli where Sarraj's UN-recognised government is based, triggering fighting that has claimed 264 deaths and left more than 1,200 wounded.

"We are surprised that France does not support our government that is democratic, but supports a dictator," Sarraj told the newspapers in comments published in French on Wednesday.

"When (French president) Emmanuel Macron called me, I warned him that public opinion was against France. We don't want Libyans to hate France. France still has a positive and important role to play," he said.

In a separate interview with Le Monde on Monday, Sarraj said France was partly to blame for Haftar's offensive on Tripoli.

"The disproportional support from France towards Haftar is what made him decide to take action and abandon the political process," he said.

France denies supporting Haftar, saying it has contact with all the actors in war-ravaged Libya where a complex mosaic of militias and political factions are competing for advantage.

- 'A big shock' -

France has long had contact with Haftar, who was invited to Paris alongside Sarraj in 2017, in what was seen as an ambitious gamble by Macron shortly after he was elected president.

That marked the beginning of Haftar's appearance on the international stage and last year, he was invited back to a conference of the various factions in Paris which also helped legitimise him.

But his bold move on Tripoli three weeks ago has taken the international community by surprise, raising questions about possible French "complicity" -- an idea firmly dismissed by Paris.

"It was a big shock," said a diplomatic source at the foreign ministry, insisting France had "no prior knowledge" of the offensive.

Haftar's campaign began barely two weeks after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian met with him in the eastern city of Benghazi during a trip on which Le Drian also met with Sarraj.

Michel Duclos, a former ambassador who advises the Paris-based think tank Institut Montaigne, said the April offensive was a "shocking rejection" of French support.

"In terms of image, this is a high stakes affair for French diplomacy. It has given the impression in recent years of compromising with a dictator in the making," he wrote in a briefing note.

"This risky attitude could be justified if it facilitates a way of passing on messages to Marshall Haftar which stop the fighting."

Speaking in Paris, Le Drian urged both sides to "stick to the agreement" reached in Abu Dhabi in February, referring to talks between Sarraj and Haftar at which they agreed to work towards organising elections.

- Bulwark against Islamists? -

French diplomatic sources have previously raised concerns about Sarraj's apparent lack of influence and his alleged dependence on Islamist militias and the Muslim Brotherhood group.

He is backed by Qatar and Turkey, analysts say.

Haftar is increasingly seen by his allies, which include Russia and Egypt, as a bulwark against Islamists who gained a foothold after the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Haftar won overt backing from US President Donald Trump last week too.

The White House said Trump "recognised Field Marshal Haftar's significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya's oil resources" during a phone call between the two men.

That came a day after Russia and the United States opposed a British bid at the UN Security Council, backed by France and Germany, to demand a ceasefire in Libya.
US Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said the approval marked an 'important step' for the integration of drones into the US economy

Wing Aviation, a firm owned by Google parent Alphabet, on Tuesday became the first drone operator to be certified as an airline by US authorities, allowing it to begin commercial deliveries in the country.

A number of companies have been testing drone delivery systems around the world for everything from food delivery to crop spraying as they aim to win over regulators and the public amid concerns about safety, noise pollution, privacy and collisions with other aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) certification paves the way for Wing Aviation to start delivering a variety of small items like food and medicine to customers using its drones after they place orders using an app.

"This is an important step forward for the safe testing and integration of drones into our economy," said US Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, in an FAA statement on the approval.

"Safety continues to be our Number One priority as this technology continues to develop and realize its full potential."

As drones increasingly crowd the skies in many parts of the world, regulators have been pushed to formulate rules -- for everyone from hobbyists to commercial delivery services.

This is the second major approval for Wing, which has been testing its drones in the United States, Finland and Australia.

Earlier this month, after trials for a year and a half, Australian authorities gave it the green light to start delivering small items such as food and over-the-counter pharmacy items to residents of the capital Canberra.

But Wing's drones in Australia must be piloted and not autonomous.

In a statement after the approval, Wing claimed its data showed "that a delivery by Wing carries a lower risk to pedestrians than the same trip made by car," and that it had carried out more than 70,000 test flights and 3,000 deliveries in Australia.

The company said it will now reach out to communities and businesses in Blacksburg and nearby Christiansburg in Virginia -- where it has been allowed to operate -- for feedback, aiming to launch a delivery trial later this year.
Iran criticised US President Donald Trump for failing to condemn Saudi Arabia's mass execution

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday condemned the silence of US President Donald Trump's administration on Saudi Arabia's mass execution of 37 people convicted of terrorism.

"After a wink at the dismembering of a journalist, not a whisper from the Trump administration when Saudi Arabia beheads 37 men in one day -- even crucifying one two days after Easter," Zarif said on Twitter.

He was referring to the murder of prominent Saudi journalist and regime critic Jamal Khashoggi last year in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The 37 Saudi nationals were executed on Tuesday "for adopting terrorist and extremist thinking and for forming terrorist cells to corrupt and destabilise security", according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

It said one person was crucified after his execution, a punishment reserved for particularly serious crimes. Executions in the ultra-conservative oil-rich kingdom are usually carried out by beheading.

Rights group Amnesty International, in a statement, said most of those executed were Shiite men "convicted after sham trials that violated international fair trial standards (and) which relied on confessions extracted through torture".

The rights watchdog said 11 of those executed were convicted of spying for Shiite majority Iran, while at least 14 others were sentenced in connection with anti-government protests between 2011 and 2012 in the Eastern Province where most of Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority live.

At least 100 people have been executed in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia since the start of the year, according to data released by SPA.

In 2016 Saudi Arabia angered Iran with the execution of 47 people convicted of "terrorism", including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran were attacked in violent demonstrations, prompting Riyadh to sever relations with Tehran.

Both countries accuse each other of attempting to "destabilise" the region and of interfering in their own internal affairs.

Last year, Saudi Arabia carried out 149 death sentences, making it one of the world's top three executioners along with China and Iran, according to Amnesty International.
A monument for victims of the Rana Plaza building collapse is covered with floral wreaths as people mark the sixth anniversary of the disaster at the site where the building once stood on the outskirts of Dhaka

Six years after one of the world's most devastating factory disasters, moves to cut international safety monitoring of Bangladesh clothes factories led Wednesday to warnings of a new threat to lives.

Hundreds of workers attended commemorations for the collapse of the nine-floor rabbit warren of textile factories at Rana Plaza on April 24, 2013 that killed 1,138 workers.

Some laid wreaths at a makeshift memorial, demanding justice for the victims as well as highlighting their safety fears.

"Six years have passed since the disaster, yet nothing has happened to the perpetrators. The victims haven't had any justice. Six years later, safety issues in the factories have not been fixed," said Joly Talukder, a top union leader.

Under intense pressure at the time, top brands such as H&M, Inditex, Carrefour and Gap set up two watchdogs to look at more than 4,500 factories that make clothes for Western stores.

One, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, has already wrapped up after reviewing nearly 1,000 factories that produced mostly for US brands.

The future of the Accord on Fire and Building safety, representing some 200 European labels such as H&M, Primark and Tesco, is to be decided by Bangladesh's Supreme Court after a lower court ruled it should also wind up.

Laura Gutierrez of the Worker Rights Consortium, a US-based labour group, warned that ending the international oversight "will have grim consequences for workers and factory owners".

It "will cause brands to see the country as a far riskier place to produce," she added.

Christie Miedema of the Clean Clothes Campaign said progress on safety "will be lost -- setting the country on a path back to the situation before the Rana Plaza collapse".

Bangladeshi activists and relatives of victims of the Rana Plaza building collapse take part in a protest to mark the sixth anniversary of the disaster

H&M, Zara, Adidas, Tesco and Next have backed concerns raised by the labour groups.

British brand Next said that "any early termination of the current Accord operations in Bangladesh would be detrimental to the safety of workers in the readymade garment industry there".

Accord says it needs more time to enforce safety in the 1,700 factories it has reviewed so far. The manufacturers argue that the programme's five-year mandate has already expired.

- Major fires -

The Bangladesh government says factory fatalities have declined since the disaster and argues that the national inspection agency can now handle the enforcement of factory safety alone.

However, two major fires in Dhaka -- in which 100 people died -- have highlighted the lingering dangers.

One of those tore through a 22-storey building that housed several garment businesses. A probe found it breached multiple construction rules and many fire exits were locked.

Despite this, the influential Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) says it wants international oversight to end.

The textile companies fear monitors could start looking into other worker rights issues, in an industry where minimum wages start at $95 dollars a month, critics say.

Over 1,100 people died when the Rani Plaze building collapsed

They say also that Bangladesh's factory inspection agency, which would take over the monitors' work, lacks the means and desire to push through costly safety upgrades.

But Shib Nath Roy, head of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), said the agency was now better placed than the international monitors to take on the work.

He said it had had "made significant progress" with scores of extra inspectors employed since the Rana Plaza disaster.

A consortium of groups campaigning for garment workers' rights, including the Clean Clothes Campaign and International Labour Rights Forum, say none of the 745 factories in a government inspection programme has yet eliminated "high risk safety hazards" identified in the past five years.

"Our research shows a shocking level of unreadiness" by the government to take over Accord's work, they said in a report this month.
China became the first nation to land a rover on the far side of the moon when its Chang'e-4 touched down in January

Beijing plans to send a manned mission to the moon and to build a research station there within the next decade, state media reported Wednesday, citing a top space official.

China aims to achieve space superpower status and took a major step towards that goal when it became the first nation to land a rover on the far side of the moon in January.

It now plans to build a scientific research station on the moon's south pole within the next 10 years, China National Space Administration head Zhang Kejian said during a speech marking "Space Day", the official Xinhua news agency reported.

He also added that Beijing plans to launch a Mars probe by 2020 and confirmed that a fourth lunar probe, the Chang'e-5, will be launched by the end of the year.

Originally scheduled to collect moon samples in the second half of 2017, the Chang'e-5 was delayed after its planned carrier, the powerful Long March 5 Y2 rocket, failed during a separate launch in July 2017.

China on Wednesday also announced its Long March-5B rocket will make its maiden flight in the first half of 2020, carrying the core parts of a planned space station.

The Tiangong -- or "Heavenly Palace" -- will go into orbit in 2022, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said.

It is set to replace the International Space Station -- a collaboration between the United States, Russia, Canada, Europe and Japan -- which is due to be retired in 2024.

Beijing last week also said it would launch an asteroid exploration mission and invited collaborators to place their experiments on the probe.

The current Chang'e-4 moon lander carried equipment from Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.

China now spends more on its civil and military space programmes than do Russia and Japan, and is second only to the United States. Although opaque, its 2017 budget was estimated at $8.4 billion by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (L) has coaxed leaders of several EU countries to attend a Belt and Road Summit in Beijing, but not Angela Merkel

The complicated, hot-and-cold relationship between Europe and China takes another turn this week, as several EU leaders break ranks to attend the Belt and Road summit in Beijing.

The list of European leaders attending the showcase for China's global influence -- held Thursday through Saturday -- is dominated by eurosceptics and populists eager to vex Brussels, as well as countries hard-up for investments.

Giussepe Conte, head of Italy's coalition government, will headline the European contingent, with Hungary's firebrand Viktor Orban also taking a break from his virulent anti-EU campaigning at home to visit Beijing.

Austria's Sebastian Kurz, whose cabinet includes members of the far right, will make the trip, as will Greece's leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, whose country turned to China at the peak of the debt crisis when ties with the EU were at their worst and Athens desperate.

France and Germany and most EU states are sending only ministers to the summit, with diplomats behind the scenes quick to castigate those that weaken European unity against China.

Belt and Road "is a development that we didn't see coming," a senior EU diplomat admitted to AFP. "There's a big risk of complications between the member states."

- Italy's 'middle finger' -

The summit is the third time in a month that Europe and China must face their tricky relationship.

In March, President Xi Jinping, China's supreme leader, embarked on a tour of Europe with Italy's signing onto the Belt and Road as the centrepiece.

Graphic on China's massive infrastructure investment project including road, rail and ship routes around the world.

Italy was the first G7 nation to sign on to the BRI, and infuriated Washington as well as much of the EU.

But China watchers, as well as diplomats and officials speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted that the importance of China's breakthrough in Italy should not be overblown.

"In Italy, it is more of a case of the coalition government in Rome giving the EU the middle finger," said Stephen Tsang, director of the China Institute at London's School for Oriental and African Studies.

"If an individual member state wants to take advantage of BRI to put pressure on the EU or other member states, Beijing is very happy to do that," he said.

Italy's red carpet for Xi -- who also visited President Emmanuel Macron in France -- was quickly followed by a visit to Europe by China's number 2 leader, Premier Li Keqiang.

During a stop in Brussels, EU officials claimed victory after Li accepted to sign a joint declaration pledging a more open economy after Europeans branded China a "systemic rival".

Italy's President Sergio Mattarella (R) is another EU leader who has reached out to Chinese President Xi Jinping

But then the premier stopped in Croatia for a so-called 17+1 summit, an economic platform for Beijing's BRI investments in 12 European Union states -- now including Greece -- and five Western Balkan countries.

The idea is to link the Chinese-owned Piraeus port to the heartland of Europe with infrastructure projects across the Balkans that will be largely delivered by Chinese companies and workers.

"Because these countries are poorer and are often treated as second-class Europeans by the likes of France and Germany," they welcome China, said Philippe Legrain, a former EU official now at the London School of Economics' European Institute.

However, "like the US Marshall Plan after World War II, the BRI also has a political dimension - namely, drawing Europe into China's sphere of influence," he said to Project Syndicate.

- No 'Normandy landing' -

But sceptics downplay the politics and see BRI as mostly a ruse to export Chinese overcapacity.

"BRI is often seen as a beachhead of Chinese influence but it is not a Normandy landing, it's a discount coupon," said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, director of the ECIPE Brussels thinktank.

This "has more in common with price dumping" than diplomacy, he said.

"China is saying we have a lot of cement and we have a lot of construction equipment and we have a lot of workers. We can actually build something for you," Lee-Makiyama said.

A top EU diplomat from a poorer European state said that funding from China came easier than aid from the EU.

Piraeus, Greece's largest port, is a Chinese gateway to Europe, and is majority-owned by COSCO Shipping, the world's biggest shipping company

"The upside is that a project finds funding even if it is overlooked by the IMF or EU agencies because it doesn't make sense to them," said Tsang, of London's SOAS.

But officials in Brussels insisted that they are no longer naive on China.

"We will not do with Italy what we did with Greece," a European diplomat said, referring to the takeover of the port of Piraeus.

"We had an openness towards China that we no longer have," he added.

Despite the splits, the EU can unite and annoy Beijing.

Two years ago, at the last BRI summit, many EU states gathered forces and refused to sign a Chinese statement on trade, handing a rare public rebuke to President Xi.
Washington has dismissed Beijing's global infrastructure initiative as a "vanity project"

Washington will not send officials to a Beijing summit on Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature global infrastructure project, the US embassy said Wednesday amid a raft of disputes between the two powers.

Leaders from 37 countries and officials from dozens more are expected to attend the Belt and Road Forum from Thursday to Saturday, but Washington has dismissed the initiative as a "vanity project".

"The United States has no plans to send officials from Washington to the Belt and Road Forum," a US embassy spokesperson told AFP in an email.

"We call upon all countries to ensure that their economic diplomacy initiatives adhere to internationally-accepted norms and standards, promote sustainable, inclusive development, and advance good governance and strong economic institutions," the spokesperson said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told journalists at a briefing last week that American diplomats, state government representatives and members of the business community will be attending the forum.

At the first Belt and Road summit in 2017, the US was represented by White House adviser Matt Pottinger.

Since then, more countries have signed up to Belt and Road, most notably Italy, which became the first G7 nation to join the global scheme that aims to link Asia to Europe and Africa through massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects.
Lebanese writer Hoda Barakat, photographed in 2015 after she was short listed for the Man Booker International Prize

Lebanese author Hoda Barakat has won the Booker international prize for Arabic fiction for her novel "The Night Mail".

She will receive $50,000 (44,600 euros) and the five other authors who reached the final short-list will each receive $10,000, the organisers revealed late Tuesday.

Conceived in Abu Dhabi in 2007, the prize is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation in London and financed by Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism.

Born in Beirut, Hoda Barakat lives in Paris and has published several novels including "The Stone of Laughter" and "My Master and My Lover".

"The Night Mail" is her sixth novel and has been translated into French.

Alongside the prize money, funds will also be provided for translating the book into English.

The novel consists of a series of letters by individuals "facing social misery and their own demons", according to publisher Actes Sud.

Abu Dhabi, capital of the emirate of the same name, has become an increasingly significant cultural hub.

The city hosts the Louvre Abu Dhabi -- the first museum to take the name "Louvre" outside France -- which houses nearly 600 works in a futuristic building designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.
On the menu: The compact menu contains mini-tacos and not tacos along with rice bowls, sides and desserts. The idea, Greenwalt says, is to forget what you think you know about a taqueria. The tacos reflect a variety of global influences, including Mexican, South American, Asian, Spanish and Italian. Offerings  available in either a soft tortilla or bibb lettuce shell  include baja fish, chicken chorizo, mojo pork carnitas, Portobello, cauliflower and falafel. Glazed pork belly (an early bestseller), tuna tatako, crispy rock shrimp, seared swordfish, carne asada and roasted duck tacos are priced a little higher. A standout dessert is the key lime pie in a jar. The bars specialty is handcrafted cocktails.
Sudanese protesters from the city of Atbara -- where demonstrations against deposed president Omar al-Bashir began more than four months ago -- cheer upon arrival at Bahari station in Khartoum on Tuesday

Sudanese protest leaders Wednesday mounted pressure on the country's military council by calling for a million people to march to demand power be handed over to a civilian administration.

"We are calling for a million (people to) march on Thursday," said Ahmed al-Rabia, a senior leader of the Sudanese Professionals Association, the umbrella group that launched protests against deposed president Omar al-Bashir in December.

In a separate statement the SPA said the march calls for "civilian rule" in Sudan, the central demand of protesters since the army ousted Bashir on April 11.

The demonstrations began in the central town of Atbara on December 19 against a decision by Bashir's government to triple bread prices.

The protests swiftly turned into nationwide demonstrations against his rule, and the seizure of power by a new military council.

But that council -- led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, after his predecessor lasted barely 24 hours in the post -- says it has assumed power for a two-year transition period.

The protesters have therefore turned their agitation against the council, suspending talks with the army rulers on Sunday over their refusal to transfer power immediately.

Thousands have camped outside the military headquarters in central Khartoum since before Bashir was deposed, and have vowed not to leave the area until their demand has been met.

The protesters have found support in Washington, which has backed their call for civilian rule.

"We support the legitimate demand of the people of Sudan for a civilian-led government, and we are here to urge and to encourage parties to work together to advance that agenda as soon as possible," State Department official Makila James told AFP on Tuesday.

"The people of Sudan have made their demand very clear," she said.

"We want to support them in that as (it is) the best path forward to a society that is respectful of human rights, that respects the rule of law and that would be able to address this country's very serious issues," she added.

But on Tuesday several African leaders, who had gathered in Cairo at the behest of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, insisted on "the need for more time" for a transition, according to the Egyptian presidency.

The leaders urged the African Union to extend by three months a deadline for Sudan's military council to hand over power to a civilian body, Egypt's presidency said.

The AU on April 15 threatened to suspend Sudan if the military failed to transfer power within 15 days.
Prince William will arrive in New Zealand on Thursday and is likely to make an appearance at an Anzac service in Auckland, according to local media

Armed police will patrol Anzac Day services across New Zealand Thursday in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks, as thousands honour the country's war dead and Britain's Prince William arrives on a visit.

Frontline officers have historically been unarmed in New Zealand, although this policy was changed following last month's shootings that left 50 worshippers dead until the terrorism threat level was lowered last week.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there are no specific security threats for Thursday's memorial services. Still, the number of Anzac services in Auckland has been reduced to avoid overstretching security forces.

Britain's Prince William will arrive in New Zealand on Thursday, when local media say he is likely to make an appearance at an Anzac service in Auckland, which is expected to draw a crowd of around 20,000.

He will also pay his respects to those affected by the mosque attacks during the visit.

Anzac Day marks the April 25, 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli on the Turkish peninsula in an ill-fated WWI campaign against the German-backed Ottoman forces.

It left more than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen dead and failed in its military objectives, but gave rise to commemorations of the courage and close friendship that bind the two countries.

Graham Gibson, president of veterans group the Auckland Returned Services Association said it was a shame some services had been cancelled.

"Maybe things next year will get back to normal but it doesn't hurt to take certain precautions and we are all geared up for it and it is going to be a great day," he said.

Tensions were raised on Tuesday when a Sri Lankan minister said preliminary investigations had found that the Easter Sunday bombings, which left more than 300 dead, were "in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch."

However, Ardern said she had no intelligence reports to back that claim and argued her country is not a haven for terrorism.

"New Zealand's position remains utterly consistent. We stand opposed to all forms of extreme violence, all forms of terrorism and we've made that very clear."

Her government also received assurances from Turkish authorities that New Zealanders and Australians attending Anzac commemorations at Gallipoli would not be in danger, following hot-tempered remarks from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Out campaigning last month, the Turkish leader said Australians and New Zealanders who threaten Turkey would be "sent back in coffins" like their grandfathers.
Meng Hongwei vanished last September during a visit to China from France and was later accused of accepting bribes

China has formally arrested former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei on suspicion of accepting bribes, prosecutors announced Wednesday, as he faces possible corruption charges.

In a remarkable fall from grace, Meng -- who had also served as vice minister of public security -- vanished last September during a visit to China from France, where Interpol is based, and was later accused of accepting bribes.

Prosecutors "decided to arrest Meng Hongwei on suspicion of accepting bribes," the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a brief statement.

It added that the case is being "further processed", an indication that he could soon be charged.

Meng has been expelled from the Communist Party and his official positions, as the powerful Public Security Ministry sought to distance itself from him.

The ministry said last month that Meng's "poisonous influence" had to be "thoroughly eliminated", and that it was investigating other party cadres involved in Meng's case.

Meng is part of a growing group of Communist Party cadres caught in President Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign, which critics say has served as a way to remove the leader's political enemies.

Over one million officials have been punished so far during Xi's six-year tenure.
Militia fighters in clashes with forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar in al-Hira region around 70 kilometres south of Tripoli on Tuesday

He's only 20, but Mohamad is already fighting in his second Libyan conflict -- after battling the Islamic State group, he is now trying to stop a "new dictator" taking power.

Mohamad has joined fighters from his home town of Misrata, western Libya, to battle against eastern commander Khalifa Haftar who on April 4 launched an offensive to take the capital Tripoli.

"Hundreds of fighters died to get rid of" former dictator Moamer Kadhafi back in 2011, he said.

"We will do everything to make sure these sacrifices were not in vain," he added, standing by a pick-up truck mounted with a machine gun.

Behind him in Al-Hira, at the foot of the Nafusa mountains, a dense fog blended with dust and fumes from a truck and field that were both ablaze.

Haftar is backed by an administration in Libya's east and is fighting forces loyal to the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli.

In the complex patchwork of Libya's militia loyalties, Mohamad's armed group styles itself as anti-Haftar, rather than explicitly pro-GNA like numerous other factions.

The young fighter is keen to see the battle through, but his father insists he must return home within a week to go and study in Malaysia.

Militia fighters take aim during clashes with forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar south of the capital Tripoli's suburb of Ain Zara, on Tuesday

"I want to stay here. They tell me that the war 'will not stop without you'. But if everyone said the same thing, there would be no-one left on the front," Mohamad told AFP.

Along with fellow Misrata fighters, he took part in the battle to oust IS jihadists from the city of Sirte in 2016.

"And now, Haftar says that he wants to rid the west of the country from terrorism. Where was he when we fought IS?" said Mohamad.

Armed groups from Misrata and numerous towns in western Libya have succeeded in pushing back Haftar's forces a few kilometres south of the capital in recent days.

Haftar's men "run away at each starting gun. They are scared. They can't face us," said another fighter, Hisham Abdallah.

- 'Fight for the homeland' -

On Tuesday the anti-Haftar forces said they had seized strategic positions, cutting the road between the suburbs of Tripoli and the city of Gharyan, which lies some 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the southwest.

"We are advancing towards Gharyan -- we will soon do away with this despot," said a commander from Zintan which was one of the first cities to rise up against Kadhafi in 2011.

"We will continue until Rajma," Haftar's headquarters in Benghazi, this commander said.

A fighter fires a heavy weapon mounted on a truck towards fighters loyal to the self styled Libyan National Army in clashes south of Tripoli on Tuesday

His forces hold a security checkpoint that they took from Haftar's self styled Libyan National Army (LNA) less than 20 kilometres from Gharyan.

But shells and machine gun fire forced some fighters to pull back from the checkpoint for a few minutes, as a plane flew overhead.

The atmosphere remained tense, but the men escaped the barrage unhurt and did not lose their position.

"We will defeat (the LNA) because our cause is just. We fight for the homeland, but they fight for one person," said Khalifa Derdira, a 30-year-old from Zintan.

"We will not let him destroy Tripoli or other cities like he's done to Benghazi," he added.

But damage has already been done to the southern outskirts of the Libyan capital, where fighting has left 272 dead and nearly 1,300 wounded, according to the World Health Organisation.

More than 35,000 people have been displaced since April 4, according to the United Nations.

After launchuing its offensive on April 4, Haftar's LNA has lost ground in at least one suburb south of Tripoli in recent days

Half way between Tripoli and Gharyan, the city of Al-Aziziya is deserted after residents fled days of clashes.

"Here is the result," said fighter Derdira, as cartridge and shell cases scattered the main street, and the walls of homes sported gaping holes.

Haftar "has decided to destroy the whole country and we will be set back by decades," he added.

"But his fate will be worse than that of Kadhafi," Derdira said, referring to the killing of the ousted dictator by rebels after his capture in 2011.
Washington has vowed to "bring Iran's oil exports to zero"

Saudi Arabia has no immediate plans to raise oil output after the United States ends sanctions waivers for buyers of Iranian crude, energy minister Khalid al-Falih said Wednesday.

"(Global) inventories are continuing to rise despite what's happening in Venezuela and tightening sanctions on Iran," Falih told a finance conference in Riyadh.

"So I don't see the need to do anything immediately."

His comment came amid speculation that the kingdom, the world's top crude exporter, could boost output to plug the gap left by the removal of Iranian crude.

The White House said on Monday it would end the practice of granting exemptions from unilateral US sanctions on Tehran, as it seeks to "bring Iran's oil exports to zero".

Eight countries including China, India and Turkey had been given temporary waivers by the US when it reimposed sanctions on Iran last year.

The end of the exemptions sparked fears of supply shortages, pushing prices to near six-month highs.

Washington's announcement pushed crude prices to near-six-month highs

President Donald Trump tweeted however that his close ally Saudi Arabia would "more than make up" for any resulting supply shortage.

Falih said that while the kingdom had no immediate plans to boost output, Riyadh was committed to balancing the oil market.

"We will not leave our customers scrambling for oil," he said.

Countries looking to replace Iranian crude "know which number to dial," he added.

Washington's move came as Saudi Arabia slashes production as part of a concerted push to boost oil prices.

In March, the OPEC kingpin cut its oil production to its lowest level in two years, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.

Brent crude prices rose from $50 a barrel in December to above $71 this month.
Khamenei addresses workers in Tehran on Wednesday

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called the end of oil sanction waivers by the United States a "hostile measure" that "won't be left without a response".

"US efforts to boycott the sale of Iran's oil won't get them anywhere. We will export our oil as much as we need and we intend," his official English-language Twitter account said, quoting from a speech he delivered to workers in Tehran.

The United States announced on Monday it would halt the practice of exempting countries including India, China and Turkey from sanctions on purchases of Iranian oil.

In May last year, US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers, which had given the Islamic republic sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Washington reimposed oil sanctions on Iran in November, but initially gave eight countries, including several US allies, six-month reprieves.

Five of the countries -- Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan -- have already heavily reduced their purchases from Iran.

Iran has said the sanctions are "illegal".

"They (the US) wishfully think they have blocked Iran oil sales, but our vigorous nation and vigilant officials, if they work hard, will open many blockades," Khamenei said in the speech, partially aired on state TV.

"Enemies have repeatedly, in vain, taken action against our great nation (and our) revolution... but they must know Iranians won't give in," he added.

Khamenei, speaking in Tehran, also repeated his stance that Iran should move towards the sale of oil derivatives such as refined oil and petrochemical products instead of crude.

"I appreciate any decrease of dependency on this type of oil sales," he said.

Iran's foreign ministry said Monday that Iran "did not and does not attach any value or credibility to the waivers given to the sanctions."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif vowed on Tuesday that Iranians would not listen to Trump.

"Escalating #EconomicTERRORISM against Iranians exposes panic & desperation of US regime," he tweeted.

"Inheritors of ancient Persian civilisation don't base strategy on 'advice' of foreigners-let alone Americans."
Forbes lists Issad Rebrab as Algeria's richest man and the sixth-wealthiest in Africa, with a net worth of $3.38 billion

Algeria's biggest company expressed "astonishment" at the detention of CEO Issad Rebrab and denied allegations of false customs declarations, in a statement received by AFP Wednesday.

Rebrab, head of conglomerate Cevital, was detained Monday, one of numerous high-profile businessmen to be probed in Algeria following the resignation of president Abdelaziz Bouteflika after 20 years in power.

"We express our astonishment in the face of this unexpected measure," said Cevital, Algeria's biggest privately-owned conglomerate, which was founded by Rebrab.

The allegations against Cevital's CEO do not concern "a matter of corruption, nor embezzlement, nor misappropriation of public funds," the company said.

Forbes lists Rebrab as Algeria's richest man and the sixth-wealthiest in Africa, with a net worth of $3.38 billion.

Cevital said he was arrested following a complaint by the customs authority, related to imports last year.

The probe involves "allegations of false declarations, overcharging and importing used material," on the part of subsidiary EvCon Industry, Cevital said.

Cevital employs 18,000 people, produces electronics, steel and food, and in recent years acquired businesses in France.

The conglomerate denies the charges, stating the imported items were "new goods and the declared value corresponds to their real value," the firm added.

Algeria's state news agency APS said Rebrab has been accused of importing used equipment to exploit tax and tariff breaks intended for the purchase of new products.

He is also "suspected of having made fake statements concerning the transfer of funds to and from abroad", APS reported Tuesday.

Rebrab has been in open conflict with Algerian authorities since 2015, accusing them of blocking his investments in the country.

Despite his businesses flourishing under Bouteflika's rule, last month the billionaire threw his support behind protesters demanding the president's resignation.

A number of tycoons have been arrested, since protests against Bouteflika gained momentum.

Three brothers from the influential Kouninef family were moved to jail Wednesday after appearing before a judge over an "insider influence" case, a judicial source told AFP.

Algeria media reported four Kouninef brothers were arrested on Sunday, but the source said just three had been detained in addition to an unnamed business executive.

The case follows the arrest of Ali Haddad, one of Algeria's top businessmen and a Bouteflika backer, who was detained late last month while trying to cross the border into Tunisia, days before the president's resignation.

Algerian media has reported around a dozen businessmen are under investigation, all with ties to Bouteflika's entourage.
Mexican soldiers drive along a section of the US-Mexico border fence in Sonoyta, Mexico on February 16, 2017

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US is sending armed soldiers to the southern border after Mexican soldiers recently "pulled guns" on US troops.

Trump appeared to be referring to an April 13 incident in which Mexican troops reportedly questioned and pointed their weapons at two US troops conducting surveillance on the border.

"Mexico's Soldiers recently pulled guns on our National Guard Soldiers, probably as a diversionary tactic for drug smugglers on the Border. Better not happen again!" he tweeted.

"We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border. Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!"

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his government would analyze the incident, take into account Trump's comments, and act "in keeping with law within the framework of our sovereignty."

"We are not going to fall for any provocation," he told reporters in Mexico City.

"The most important thing is to tell (Trump) we are not going to fight with the government of the United States. The most important thing is to say we want a relationship of mutual respect and cooperation for the sake of development."

A Pentagon official told AFP some of the 2,900 active duty and 2,000 National Guard troops deployed at the border have always been armed "for force protection only."

"We are always reviewing our policies," the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.

US Northern Command said the two US soldiers involved in the April 13 incident were in an unmarked vehicle conducting "border support operations" on the American side of the border when they were approached by five to six Mexican military personnel

The incident occurred north of the Rio Grande in Texas, but in an unmarked area south of the border fence.

An inquiry "revealed that the Mexican military members believed that the US Army soldiers were south of the border. However, the US soldiers were appropriately in US territory," NORTHCOM said.

Defense officials told CNN the Mexican soldiers pointed their weapons at the US troops, removed a soldier's sidearm and returned it to their unmarked vehicle.

The command's statement said only that the Mexican soldiers departed the area "after a brief discussion between the soldiers from the two nations."

"Throughout the incident, the US soldiers followed all established procedures and protocols," it added.
The 48-year-old Malaysian man summited the mountain with at least 31 others but failed to return to the nearest camp

A Malaysian man was stranded in Nepal near the summit of Mount Annapurna, expedition organisers said Wednesday, after the climber was separated from other trekkers while descending the treacherous peak.

The 48-year-old summited the 8,100-metre (26,500-feet) Himalayan mountain on Tuesday with at least 31 others but failed to return to the nearest camp, a kilometre below the peak.

Thaneshwor Guragain of Seven Summit Treks said the man's guide stumbled into the camp late Tuesday after the two had lagged behind the team.

"Details of the climber's condition are not clear, but his guide said it was impossible to bring him down by himself. We are aware of his location," Guragain said.

"We are in conversation with the Malaysian embassy to plan what to do next," he added.

Some team members waited at the camp for extra oxygen in the hope of reaching the man but efforts to send a helicopter with supplies were hampered by bad weather.

The Malaysian had returned to Nepal after summiting Everest last year.

Annapurna is technically difficult and avalanche-prone and has a higher death rate than Everest, the world's highest peak.

Hundreds of people from around the world travel to the Himalayas each year for the spring climbing season, when conditions are best.

Nine South Koreans were killed last October after a snowstorm swept them off a cliff on Mount Gurja, west of Annapurna.
US President Donald Trump says he will try to contest a possible impeachment effort by Congress in the Supreme Court, though the court has no jurisdiction over the process

President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to fight a possible impeachment effort by Congressional Democrats in the US Supreme Court.

That could be difficult -- the US constitution, and the court itself, have made clear that it has no role in impeachment proceedings, which represent the legislature's power to check wrongdoing by the president.

But Trump's tweet suggested the White House is taking seriously a debate among Democrats on whether to launch the process that could remove the president on the basis of evidence of obstruction of justice in the Mueller report released last week.

"The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn't lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG," Trump wrote.

"If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the US Supreme Court."

Released on Thursday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report from his Russia meddling investigation listed a dozen separate actions by Trump that supported obstruction allegations.

But Mueller demurred on concluding if they amounted to a crime, leaving that decision to Congress, where the House of Representatives has the power to impeach a president -- formally charge him -- and the Senate to find him innocent or guilty.

The constitution is clear on the process: the very first article gives the House of Representatives "the sole power of impeachment" and the Senate "the sole power to try all impeachments."

In a 1993 case testing those principles, the Supreme Court itself ruled unanimously that it did not have a role.

"Giving the Supreme Court a role in the impeachment process itself was carefully considered but deliberately and emphatically discarded" by the authors of the constitution, said Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe.

Democrats on Wednesday were still debating whether undertaking a politically divisive impeachment effort would be a good idea less than 19 months before the next presidential election.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned the United States against sealing off the Strait of Hormuz

Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday warned the United States of unspecified "consequences" if it tried to seal off to Tehran the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage into the oil-rich Gulf.

President Donald Trump's administration has been ramping up pressure on the clerical state, this week vowing to stop all oil exports from Iran by sanctioning any countries that defy its order.

"We believe Iran will continue to sell its oil, we will continue to find buyers for our oil and we will continue to use the Strait of Hormuz as a safe transit passage for the sale of our oil," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at the Asia Society in New York, where he was participating in a UN session.

"But if the United States takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that, then it should be prepared for the consequences," he said.

The United States, which is closely allied with Arab states in the Gulf, has had years of small-scale naval confrontations with Iran, which has occasionally threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which 20 percent of the world's oil flows.

"It is in our vital national security interest to keep the Persian Gulf open, to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. We have done that in the past and we will continue to do that in the future," Zarif said.

"But the United States should know that when they enter the Strait of Hormuz, they have to talk to those protecting the Strait of Hormuz -- and that is the Iranian Revolutionary Guards," he said.

The Trump administration recently branded the Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, the first time the United States has made the far-reaching designation against a unit of a foreign government, as it demands that Iran curtail support for militant movements in the region.

The elite force, whose mission is to protect the regime, is in charge of the naval defense of the Strait of Hormuz and also has an array of other interests, including businesses.

Zarif said Trump was being pushed by what he mockingly called "the B Team" -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and John Bolton, the US leader's hawkish national security advisor.

"The B Team wants the United States to take crazy measures, and it won't be the first time the US has taken adventurous measures plotted for it by others," he said.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters (pictured March 2019) placed a wreath of flowers at the foot of the Oslo memorial

Six weeks after the Christchurch mosque attacks, New Zealand's deputy prime minister paid his respects Wednesday to the victims of Norway's 2011 attacks by Anders Behring Breivik, from whom the mosque attacker claimed inspiration.

Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who gunned down 50 people at two Christchurch mosques on March 15, claimed in his manifesto that he "took true inspiration from Knight Justiciar Breivik", who killed 77 people in twin attacks on July 22, 2011.

Winston Peters, who also serves as New Zealand's foreign minister, placed a wreath of flowers at the foot of the Oslo memorial, located near the government offices.

It was near this site where the Norwegian right-wing extremist first set off a van bomb that killed eight people, before opening fire on a Labour youth camp on the island of Utoya that killed another 69.

Interviewed on Norwegian television, Peters downplayed the similarities between the Norway and New Zealand attacks.

"We don't want to be premature in coming to findings, but if you look at some of his (Tarrant's) dialogues in his manifesto, he seemed to be... contaminated... by many sources," Peters said.

Peters was accompanied at the memorial by Lisbeth Kristine Royneland, the head of a support group for families of the victims, and Vanessa Svebakk, a dual citizen from Norway and New Zealand, who each lost a daughter in the Utoya attack.

Brievik, who is now 40 and goes by the name Fjotolf Hansen, is serving a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended as long as he is considered a threat to society.

Meanwhile Tarrant, 28, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder.
Law professor Benny Tai (R) and sociology professor Chan Kin-man (L) were two of the leaders jailed

Four prominent leaders of Hong Kong's democracy movement were jailed on Wednesday for their role in organising mass protests in 2014 that paralysed the city for months and infuriated Beijing.

The prison terms are the latest hammer blow to the city's beleaguered democracy movement which has seen key figures jailed or banned from standing as legislators since their demonstrations shook the city but failed to win any concessions.

Nine activists were all convicted earlier in April of at least one charge in a prosecution that deployed rarely used colonial-era public nuisance laws over their participation in the Umbrella Movement protests, which called for free elections to appoint the city's leader.

Their trial renewed alarm over shrinking freedoms under an assertive China which has rejected demands by Hong Kongers for a greater say in how the financial hub is run.

Two key leaders of the mass protests -- sociology professor Chan Kin-man, 60, and law professor Benny Tai, 54 -- received the longest sentences of 16 months in jail, sparking tears in court and angry chants from hundreds of supporters gathered outside.

The founders of the Occupy Central movement in 2013 were found guilty of 'conspiracy to commit public nuisance'

Two others -- activist Raphael Wong and lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun -- received eight months while the rest had their jail terms suspended or were given a community service order.

One defendant, lawmaker Tanya Chan, had her sentencing adjourned because she needs surgery for a brain tumour.

The jail terms are the steepest yet for anyone involved in the 79-day protest which vividly illustrated the huge anger -- particularly among Hong Kong's youth -- over the city's leadership and direction.

As Wong was led away by guards he proclaimed: "Our determination to fight for democracy will not change."

Tai and Chan founded a civil disobedience campaign known as "Occupy Central" in 2013 alongside 75-year-old Baptist minister Chu Yiu-ming, one of the defendants to have his jail term suspended.

Their original idea of taking to the streets to demand a fairer system was a precursor to the student-led Umbrella Movement a year later that brought parts of the city to a standstill.

- 'Chilling warning' -

Authorities in Hong Kong and the mainland have defended the prosecutions as a necessary measure to punish the leaders of a direct action movement that took over key intersections of the city for many weeks.

But activists and rights groups have argued that the use of the vaguely worded public nuisance laws -- combined with a steeper common law punishment -- is an insidious blow to free speech and a new tactic from prosecutors.

"The long sentences sends a chilling warning to all that there will be serious consequences for advocating for democracy," said Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on China.

Amnesty said the four jailed men were "prisoners of conscience" and that the record-breaking sentences set a "dangerous precedent".

Carefully worded criticism came in from western diplomats in the city.

Washington's consulate said it was "concerned by the Hong Kong Government's decision to bring these charges" while Britain's added that it would be "deeply concerning" if the jailings "were to deter the people of Hong Kong from participating in peaceful protest in the future".

Members of the media surround a prison van carrying the four leaders sentenced to jail

There were emotional scenes outside the courthouse as the four leaders were driven away in a prison van as supporters shouted "Add Oil!", a popular Cantonese phrase to signal encouragement.

Speaking after the sentencing, Tanya Chan told the crowds: "I hope Hong Kongers will not lose hope, will not be afraid, will not have regrets or back down now".

Many supporters were holding umbrellas, an emblem of the 2014 protests after they were used by young demonstrators to defend themselves against police batons, tear gas canisters and pepper spray.

A small group of Beijing loyalists welcomed the jail sentences

While Hong Kong enjoys rights unseen on the Chinese mainland under a 50-year handover agreement between Britain and China, there are fears those liberties are being eroded as Beijing flexes its muscles and stamps down on dissent.

Hong Kong's leader is elected by a group of just 1,200 largely pro-Beijing appointees, in a city of seven million.

Judge Johnny Chan ruled that the 2014 protests were not protected by Hong Kong's free speech laws because the demonstrations impinged on the rights of others.

During sentencing, Chan said the defendants had expressed no regret for the "inconvenience and suffering caused to members of the public". He added that an apology was "rightly deserved... but never received" from the protest leaders.
Presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders (left) and Joe Biden are the two leading candidates in the 2020 Democratic nomination race, and at 77 and 76, respectively, they are also the oldest

Democrats seeking to reclaim the White House are calling for generational change. It may be time for a woman, they say, or a minority figure.

But for all the talk of breaking new presidential ground, the opposition party's top candidates to become the new boss look about the same as the current boss: white, male and pretty old.

President Donald Trump is a 72-year-old billionaire, and for many he epitomizes the white male privilege that Democrats often decry.

But the top two candidates leading the race to replace him are pale, male and stale too.

Former vice president Joe Biden, who jumped into the race Thursday, is 76 and has spent the bulk of his life in national politics, while Senator Bernie Sanders, 77, has been in Congress since 1991.

The two men's dominance in the 2020 Democratic field is at odds with last year's midterms, when record numbers of women and minorities were elected to the most diverse US Congress ever.

The presidential race itself is historically diverse: six female candidates, three African Americans, a Hispanic former cabinet member, an Asian-American, a Hindu congresswoman, and a gay military-veteran mayor. Nine contenders are under 50.

The 2020 campaign "calls for a new generation of leadership," candidate Pete Buttigieg, the Indiana mayor who at 37 is less than half Biden's age, said recently.

And yet it is the two septuagenarians who currently dominate the nominations landscape, with Biden at 29 percent and Sanders at 23 percent in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average. No one else is in double digits.

The White House has relished the irony.

"Old, white, male career politicians like Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden is not exactly what the Democratic Party had in mind for 2020 when they're running all these different folks who are talking about identity politics and what makes them different," counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway told Fox on Thursday.

The Democratic candidates with the more traditional profiles, Biden and Sanders -- each of whom has run for president before -- have the strongest name recognition.

That has "significant influence on polling at this point," Kelly Dittmar, an expert at the Center for American Women and Politics, told AFP.

Eighteen of the 20 candidates in the running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, a generally diverse and youthful group led by two 70-something white men

Unlike recent congressional elections, "presidential politics has been the most dominated by men, and masculinity, for all of our history." Dittmar said that is true not just in who inhabits the office, but in the norms of behavior and expectations voters place in presidential leaders.

A woman, of course, has made the case that it's possible to shatter that presidential shield of masculinity, as Hillary Clinton did when she won more popular votes than Trump in 2016.

- White man's privilege -

There are signs that a post-Clinton mindset has yet to evolve.

The hype that accompanied the entry into the race by Texan Beto O'Rourke (6.3 percent in polling), a white forty-something ex-congressman with a thin resume, contrasted sharply with the muted coverage of the rollout by progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren (6.5 percent).

She was the first heavyweight to enter the race and is the candidate with the most concrete policy platform, but she has been spinning her wheels in the polls.

Texan Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, 46, received fawning coverage when he entered the race, despite a campaign short on policy specifics

O'Rourke, who literally wandered in the wilderness before launching his campaign, appeared to acknowledge the hand he has been dealt.

"As a white man who has had privileges that others could not depend on, or take for granted, I've clearly had advantages over the course of my life," he told NBC News in Iowa.

Dittmar said she is not confident that Sanders and Biden, unlike O'Rourke, "have gotten to that point in which they realize... the limitations they have as older white men in being able to understand the challenges of women and communities of color."

Those limits came into sharp relief this past week. Biden faced awkward questions about refusing to directly apologize to women who said they were made uncomfortable by his touching and the affectionate gestures he lavished on them.

Sanders was booed by black women at a conference when he conveyed a 56-year-old anecdote about marching with civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. when asked how he would combat racism and advocate for people of color.

Such gestures by the frontrunners are "not enough," Dittmar said.

Both Sanders and Biden have built campaign teams that reflect America's diversity.

At 8 percent in a recent average of polls for US Democratic candidates, Kamala Harris is the leading woman and candidate of color, but trails far behind two 70-something white men, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders

But they will need to speak "in a more detailed way about how you're going to best empathize with the experiences of women and communities of color in a way that goes beyond a tag line, or one thing you did" in the past, Dittmar added.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein (C), who was shot in the hands, led his congregation outside and continued preaching until the emergency services arrived at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in Poway, California

A rabbi who carried on preaching despite being wounded in the latest deadly shooting at a US synagogue said Sunday that Jews would not be intimidated by the "senseless hate" of anti-semitism.

A 60-year-old woman, Lori Kaye, was killed and three people were wounded when a gunman burst into the synagogue in the southern Californian town of Poway on Saturday and opened fire on the final day of Passover.

Police identified the shooter as John Earnest, 19, who had posted angry anti-Jewish remarks online just before the shooting and claimed he was behind the arson of another mosque in the area weeks earlier.

According to San Diego County Sheriff's Department records, Earnest faces one charge of murder and three of attempted murder, and will appear before a judge to be formally indicted on May 1.

Mourners participate in a vigil for the victims of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue shooting at the Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church in Poway, California

Coming six months to the day after a white supremacist shot dead 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, it raised new questions about a nationwide rise in anti-Semitism and in hate crimes generally -- and about President Donald Trump's often controversial response to them.

Ahead of the funeral for Kaye, the synagogue's rabbi said authorities had to do more to protect places of worship.

"Terror will not win. As Americans we cannot cower in the face of the senseless hate that is in anti-Semitism," Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein said in an interview to NBC television from his hospital bed.

- 'Indescribable' -

Later, he recounted the attack to reporters, saying he was finalizing his sermon when he heard a loud bang and stopped in his tracks.

"I turn around and I see a sight that I -- indescribable. Here is a young man standing with a rifle, pointing right at me," he said.

President Trump said the nation stood in solidarity with the Jewish community, telling a rally the "evil of anti-Semitism and hate" must be overcome

"And I look at him. He had sunglasses on, I couldn't see his eyes, I couldn't see his soul. I froze."

Before he could reach Kaye, "more shots came" and he raised his hands -- eventually losing his right index finger to a bullet despite a four-hour operation to try to save it.

The rabbi saw children were still playing in the banquet hall and rushed to get them out -- including his own four-year-old granddaughter.

He was joined in this effort by Almog Peretz, who Goldstein said was a Israeli "war veteran."

Peretz "ran into the banquet hall, gathered more children, he got a bullet in his leg, risking himself to save the children."

It was then that the shooter's assault weapon jammed, creating an opening for others to jump in, said Goldstein.

Two others attempted to stop Earnest from fleeing: US army veteran Oscar Stewart, who tried to tackle him, and off-duty Border Patrol officer Jonathan Morales, who Goldstein said shot at the shooter's car.

"I've been told that I may have saved some lives -- I never thought about that I think...I just did what I did," Stewart told reporters.

"I'm not a hero or anything, I just did it."

After the shooter had fled, Goldstein returned to the lobby to find Kaye unconscious. He led his congregation outside and continued preaching until the emergency services arrived.

"I got up there and just spoke from my heart, giving everyone the courage," he told NBC.

Flowers and notes of condolence and solidarity were left at a makeshift memorial across the road from the synagogue on Sunday, when mourners also held a candlelight vigil for a second night.

- 'Evil of anti-Semitism' -

Goldstein also said he received a 15 minute call from US President Donald Trump, with the White House later confirming Trump called to "offer his comfort and condolences."

Mourners, including Poway Mayor Steve Vaus (hat) and his wife Corrie, participate in a candle light vigil for the victims of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue shooting

On Saturday, the president told a rally that the "evil of anti-Semitism and hate" must be overcome.

The shooting came only days after former US vice president Joe Biden highlighted Trump's 2017 remarks about the neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia that left a counter-protester dead.

Trump at the time said that "there were very fine people on both sides" of the protest which was against the removal of a Confederate-era statue.

After Biden on Thursday brought up the comment when announcing his presidential bid, Trump doubled down, saying he had phrased his 2017 remarks "perfectly."

Human rights groups say recent years have seen the biggest rise in anti-Semitic incidents in decades while some critics say Trump's rhetoric has played a part.

The shooting at the Chabad of Poway Synagogue, raised new questions about a nationwide rise in anti-Semitism and in hate crimes generally

Trump has forged an exceptionally close relationship to Israel and its current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu while his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner are Jewish.

But critics blame him for stoking racial hatred with comments about Muslims and Latino immigrants.

Peretz and his eight-year-old niece Noya Dahan were two Israelis injured in the shooting -- originally from Sderot, a town bordering the Gaza Strip that it is a frequent target of rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. Both have been discharged from the hospital.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the shooting as "atrocious," adding that "the international community must step up the struggle against anti-Semitism."
Japanese people are notoriously hard workers and some are daunted by the prospect of extra holidays as a result of the imperial abdication

For the Emperor's abdication on April 30, Japanese workers are enjoying an unprecedented 10-day holiday as a rash of special days off combine with the traditional "Golden Week" in May.

But not everyone is popping the champagne corks in famously workaholic Japan.

"To be honest, I don't know how to spend the time when we are suddenly given 10 days of holidays," said 31-year-old finance worker Seishu Sato.

"If you want to go travelling, it's going to be crowded everywhere and tour costs have surged... I might end up staying at my parents' place," he said.

A survey by the Asahi Shimbun daily showed 45 percent of Japanese "felt unhappy" about the long vacation, with only 35 percent saying they "felt happy".

"I won't be able to take days off. On the contrary, we'll be super-busy," said Takeru Jo, a 46-year-old pizzeria worker.

Others who have to work over the period complain about childcare.

"For parents in the service sector, the 10 days of holiday is a headache. After-school care, nurseries -- everything is closed," tweeted one disgruntled parent.

Many expect Tokyo and other large cities to empty as Japanese seize the rare opportunity for an overseas trip.

"Most of our tours for the holiday period were sold out last year," said Hideki Wakamatsu, a spokesman for Nippon Travel Agency, adding that many others were on the waiting list.

As the holiday kicked off on Saturday, airports were packed and there were long queues for Shinkansen bullet trains. Highways out of Tokyo were jammed with motorists aiming to make a getaway from the capital.

- 'Love marriage' -

Still, if people are curiously indifferent to the idea of extra holidays as a result of the emperor, the imperial family remains as popular as ever.

A poll by public broadcaster NHK found almost no one would admit to a "feeling of antipathy" towards the emperor with the vast majority saying they had a "positive feeling" or "respect." Only 22 percent voiced indifference.

This positive sentiment has risen every year since 2003, according to the NHK poll.

Takeshi Hara, politics professor at the Open University of Japan, said much of this stemmed from the imperial couple's "welfare-related activities".

"Their attention to the elderly, the disabled and the victims of natural disasters -- those ignored by politicians in the past three decades -- has earned public support," Hara told AFP.

The fact that Emperor Akihito married his sweetheart Michiko "for love" -- the first love marriage in imperial history -- has also boosted his standing, said Hara.

But Hideto Tsuboi, from the Kyoto-based International Research Center for Japanese Studies, said one of the main reasons for Akihito's popularity lay in the fact that he was "conscious of the responsibility of the post-war generation" to reflect on Japan's wartime atrocities.

On the 73rd anniversary of the end of World War II last year, Akihito reiterated "deep remorse" over the war and his continued wishes for peace.

Unlike in many constitutional monarchies, there is almost no republican movement to speak of and criticism of the emperor is anathema -- a phenomenon known as the Chrysanthemum taboo, after the throne.

Hara said that while tabloids are beginning to dig deeper into the royals' private lives, memories of right-wing atrocities against imperial opponents "means there is pressure not to criticise the emperor in public".

In 1961, a right-winger invaded the house of a publishing company's president and stabbed his housekeeper to death over a novel perceived to be critical of the imperial family.

More recently, in 1990, the then-mayor of Nagasaki was shot and injured after he remarked that Akihito's father Hirohito was partially responsible for World War II.

However, a reminder that security needs to be maintained was provided just days before the abdication ceremonies when two knives were found at the school desk of Japan's Prince Hisahito, Akihito's grandson.

- 'Highly religious nature' -

While criticism of the emperor is virtually non-existent, there has been some opposition to the financing of some of the ceremonies surrounding the abdication and enthronement.

More than 200 Japanese citizens have filed a lawsuit against the government for planning to use taxpayer money to fund the ceremonies.

They say the ceremonies are religious in nature and funding them from the public purse breaks the constitutional principle separating religion and state.

They received unexpected backing from a member of the imperial household, Prince Akishino, the emperor's youngest son, who will become Crown Prince when his brother Naruhito ascends the throne.

Noting that one of the rituals "has a highly religious nature", Akishino mused: "I wonder if it is appropriate to finance this highly religious thing with state funds."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's party is trailing in the Australian election but he remains more popular than opposition leader Bill Shorten

The two men vying to lead Australia for the next three years faced off over the economy and plummeting trust in politicians in a testy first televised election debate Monday.

As polls showed the race to the May 18 vote tightening, embattled conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison and frontrunner Bill Shorten of the centre-left opposition Labor party traded sometimes personal barbs as they debated the country's future.

Morrison -- who faces electoral defeat less than a year after coming to office in a party coup -- painted the opposition leader as a poor custodian of this G20 economy.

"Who do you trust to manage a $2 trillion economy?" asked Morrison, framing the debate as a choice between the Liberal party's continued stewardship and costly policy changes.

While Australia's economy has grown solidly for more than two decades, storm clouds are gathering and there is unease at the rising cost of living and vast income disparities.

Tapping into that sense of growing malaise, Shorten accused the Liberal government of looking after "the top end of town".

"There is a mood for change in Australia," he said, promising to improve incomes and put "middle and working class people back on top".

"Everything is going up in Australia except people's wages," he said.

Morrison accused the Labor leader of not being honest with voters about the cost of new emissions reduction targets and other policy changes.

For months the polls have shown the opposition headed for a sizeable victory, but ahead of the debate a Newspoll survey showed Labor's lead narrowing to two percentage points, well within the margin of error.

The campaign so far has been dominated by shrill attacks and hyperbolic accusations of impending doom if one side or the other wins.

That tension was on full display, with cries of "rubbish" and frequent interruptions from the candidates as moderators in Perth tried to keep the debate on track.

When asked to say what they admired about the other man, the pair could offer only tepid endorsements about public service in parliament and on a few specific issues.

- Controversial tycoon -

Monday's poll showed the election will be closely fought, but also underscored the complexities of Australia's election system -- which asks voters to rank parties by preferences and encourages voting pacts between major and minor parties.

The poll for the first time counted support for controversial mining mogul Clive Palmer, who has bought his way to five percent of the vote with months of ad spending worth tens of millions of dollars.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten's Labor party is ahead in the polls

His populist "Make Australia Great" message can be seen on billboards and TV screens across the country, echoing the campaign waged successfully by Donald Trump in his 2016 run for the White House.

The Newspoll predicted that 60 percent of Palmer's supporters would preference Morrison's Liberal party, boosting its showing relative to Labor.

Morrison tried to distance himself from Palmer, but insisted Labor and the Greens were a bigger risk to the Australian economy than the controversial millionaire.
Landslides and floods are common in Indonesia especially during the monsoon season between October and April

Floods sparked by torrential rains have killed nearly 40 in Indonesia with a dozen more still missing, officials said Monday, marking the latest calamity for a disaster-prone nation.

Landslides and floods are common during the monsoon season between October and April, when rains lash the vast Southeast Asian archipelago.

On Monday, Indonesia's disaster agency confirmed 29 deaths and said at least 13 more people were missing in Sumatra island's Bengkulu province.

A landslide triggered by heavy rain in neighbouring Lampung province on Saturday also killed a family of six.

Meanwhile, flooding in and around parts of the capital Jakarta last week killed at least two people, forced more than 2,000 to evacuate their homes and set 14 pet pythons on the loose.

In Bogor, a satellite city of Jakarta, residents had to contend with the prospect of coming face to face with the giant serpents, after they were set loose from a private property due to the high waters.

Activists have long warned deforestation from rampant mining in the province could trigger severe floods

Six of the snakes -- which were as long as four metres (13 feet) -- have been found, but eight were still missing, officials said at the weekend.

"If you find them please report it to authorities or volunteers," said Indonesian disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

That was not much comfort for some Bogor residents.

"We're terrified to hear this," said Samsudin, who goes by one name.

"Apparently they're very big so we want authorities to help us find them or take action."

- Illegal mining -

In Sumatra, some 12,000 residents have been evacuated from water-logged Bengkulu with hundreds of buildings, bridges and roads damaged.

Authorities have set up temporary shelters and public kitchens for those displaced by the rains.

Hardest hit was Bengkulu Tengah district, just outside of the provincial capital, where 22 people were killed along with hundreds of livestock.

Authorities say illegal coal mining was partly to blame for deadly landslides

Illegal coal mining was partly to blame for deadly landslides, authorities said.

"Apart from natural factors like the heavy rain, (the flooding) was also caused by human activity that destroys the environment," disaster agency head Doni Monardo told reporters in Bengkulu on Monday.

Activists have long warned deforestation from rampant mining in the province could trigger a catastrophe.

At least four major rivers in Bengkulu overflow every time it rains due to environmental damage near their banks, activists said.

"The flooding in Bengkulu was made worse by the severe damage... caused by coal mining," Ali Akbar from local environmental group Kanopi Bengkulu said in a statement.

Illegal mining was blamed for killing dozens on the island of Sulawesi in March when a makeshift mine collapsed.

Mineral-rich Indonesia has scores of unlicensed mines -- many with complete disregard for even the most basic safety procedures.

Also in Sulawesi this year, some 70 people were killed by floods and landslides that wiped entire villages off the map. Nearly 10,000 people were displaced.

Last month, some 112 people died and more than 90 remain missing after torrential rains pounded Indonesia's Papua region, triggering landslides and flash floods.

Indonesia, a nation of some 17,000 islands, is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are a common occurrence.
Singaporean activist Jolovan Wham as found guilty of contempt of court for posting on Facebook that Singapore's judiciary lacked integrity and independence

A Singaporean activist was Monday fined for questioning the independence of the judiciary on Facebook, the latest case to highlight what critics say is the country's heavy-handed approach towards dissent.

While it is wealthy and modern in many ways, tightly-controlled Singapore is regularly criticised by rights groups for restricting freedom of expression with tough laws.

In the latest case, activist Jolovan Wham was found guilty in October of contempt of court for posting on Facebook that Singapore's judiciary lacked integrity and independence in cases involving the government or politicians.

On Monday, High Court Judge Woo Bih Li sentenced him to a fine of Sg$5,000 ($3,674) or a one-week jail term if he fails to pay. He was also ordered to pay more than Sg$7,000 in legal and other costs.

State prosecutors had asked for a fine up to three times higher, with a maximum three weeks in jail if he failed to pay.

Wham, who is also an advocate for migrant workers' rights, said he will appeal the conviction and sentence.

"It's not over yet," the 39-year-old told AFP.

The judge noted that Wham "did not show any remorse" even after conviction, but did not agree to a request from prosecutors for the court to order him to apologise and remove the post.

It was Wham's latest run-in with the authorities. In February, he was fined Sg$3,200 for organising an illegal public discussion that featured prominent Hong Kong democracy campaigner Joshua Wong speaking via Skype.

He is also appealing that ruling.

His cases are among several that have alarmed rights groups. In December, the editor of a Singaporean website was charged with defamation for publishing a letter alleging corruption among the country's leaders.

The same month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sued a blogger for defamation after he shared an article on Facebook linking the leader to a corruption scandal in neighbouring Malaysia. Lee said the article was false and without basis.
The loya jirga (grand assembly) is being held as the US and Taliban are discussing a possible foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

Thousands of politicians and officials from across Afghanistan gathered amid tight security in Kabul Monday to discuss the war and US efforts to forge a peace deal with the Taliban.

More than 3,000 people have been invited to the rare "loya jirga", which is being billed as the largest in modern Afghan history, in a bid to set possible conditions under which they might accept a peace settlement.

The loya jirga -- literally "grand assembly" in Pashto -- is being held as the US and Taliban are discussing a possible foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and various Taliban pledges.

The talks have so far cut out the government of President Ashraf Ghani, whom the Taliban view as a US stooge.

"We want to specify the main lines for the negotiations with the Taliban," Ghani said at the start of the summit. "We want clear advice from all of you."

Ghani's government hopes the high-stakes meeting will set out Kabul's conditions for any deal, including the continuation of the constitution and the protection of women's rights, the media, and free speech.

Ghani had invited the Taliban but the insurgents, having waged an unrelenting guerrilla war since 2001, refused.

Much of Kabul was locked down Monday, with a weeklong public holiday declared for the duration of the four-day event.

Streets across the capital were closed and hilly overlooks blocked. In the past, the Taliban have blasted rockets at a tent hosting a loya jirga.

In a statement, the Taliban have vowed that any decisions or resolutions made at a loya jirga are "never acceptable to the real and devout sons of this homeland".

The most recent jirga was held in 2013, when Afghan officials endorsed a security agreement that allowed US troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond their planned withdrawal in 2014.
Opponents fear Hong Kong's pro-Beijing establishment is using the killing to push through the deeply unpopular extradition move

A Hong Kong man wanted in Taiwan for strangling his pregnant girlfriend in a case used by the city to justify controversial changes to its extradition laws was jailed Monday, but not for murder.

Chan Tong-kai, 20, confessed to Hong Kong police that he killed Poon Hiu-wing and dumped her body on the outskirts of Taipei last year.

Poon, who was 20 and was five months pregnant, was strangled during a Valentine's holiday to the island by Chan who fled back to Hong Kong which has no extradition agreement with Taiwan.

The killing sparked sympathy for Poon's family and was used by the Hong Kong government to advocate changing the financial hub's laws to allow extraditions on a case-by-case basis to Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.

But the decision to include the mainland in those proposals sparked huge protests and a major backlash within the city's business and legal communities who fear it will hammer Hong Kong's international appeal and tangle people up in China's opaque courts.

With Hong Kong prosecutors unable to charge Chan for murder, he was instead charged with money laundering related to his possession of Poon's phone, camera and money he withdrew from her account.

On Monday a judge sentenced him to 29 months in jail.

Judge Anthea Pang said "great frustration and a serious sense of unfairness" should not overshadow the fact that the case was a money laundering prosecution, not a murder trial.

She said sentencing someone for a crime they are not convicted of would mean "short circuiting" the justice system.

Having been in custody since March last year, Chan has already served 13 months.

The length of the sentence means Chan would likely not be freed until after the extradition law change -- now winding its way through the city's legislature -- comes into effect.

The government have pointed to the murder as a reason for why the law must be swiftly changed.

But opponents fear the city's pro-Beijing establishment is using the killing to push through the deeply unpopular extradition move.

They argue Hong Kong should cooperate with Taiwan directly or consider trying homicide cases involving Hong Kong permanent residents at home.

Historically Hong Kong has baulked at mainland extraditions because of the opacity of China's criminal justice system and its liberal use of the death penalty.

But the current administration of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam argues it is time to bring some form of extradition parity with the mainland.

The planned changes sparked a huge protest Sunday, the largest Hong Kong has seen since mass pro-democracy protests in 2014.

In response to the backlash Lam's administration has excluded some economic crimes from the extradition proposals and says political dissidents will not be at risk. But they have vowed to press ahead with the law change.

Critics say they have little faith in the administration's assurances at a time when the city's leaders have cracked down on dissent, jailed protest leaders and banned opponents from standing for election.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied the allegations against him

Israel's attorney general has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until next week to confirm he wants a formal hearing to defend himself before corruption charges are filed against him.

In a letter made public Sunday evening Avichai Mandelblit told Netanyahu's lawyers that if he wants to excercise his right to defend himself before possible indictment he must notify authorities by May 10.

The hearing itself must then take place no later than July 10.

Netanyahu's lawyers have been protesting non-payment of their fees to date and are refusing to collect the case files until they are paid, the letter said.

The prime minister wants to raise a $2 million from two American businessmen -- his cousin Nathan Milikowsky and friend Spencer Partrich -- to pay his attorneys, Israeli media reported.

However, the government committee that vets requests by government officials to accept money from outside sources has twice rejected his petition.

In February, Mandelblit announced his intention to indict Netanyahu on charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery, following up on police recommendations.

At Netanyahus request evidentiary material was only made available to lawyers the day after the April 9 general election, for fear that files would leak and sway voters.

Netanyahu, who won a fifth term in office and now faces the prospect of becoming the first sitting Israeli premier to be indicted, has called corruption allegations against him a "witch hunt".

"The issue of the fees," Mandelblit said in the letter, "does not justify any delay in transfer of the most important material to the prime minister or his lawyers and in any event does not effect the date of the hearing".

In what is considered the most serious of the cases, Netanyahu is accused of advocating regulatory benefits allegedly granted to telecommunications firm Bezeq in exchange for positive news coverage for himself from a media company owned by the then Bezeq CEO.

Another involves Netanyahu allegedly seeking a secret deal with the publisher of Israel's top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot to ensure positive coverage in return for pushing forward a law that would have limited the circulation of a rival paper.

The third case involves suspicions the premier and his family received luxury gifts such as cigars and champagne from wealthy individuals, including Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan, in exchange for financial or personal favours.

Netanyahu denies the accusations and calls them an attempt by his political enemies to force him from office.

Even if he is charged, Netanyahu, 69, would not legally be forced to withdraw until he had been convicted and exhausted the appeals process.

Analysts believe he will fight the charges through every level of the courts, which could take years.

His election rival Benny Gantz accused the premier and those around him of becoming "addicted to the pleasures of power, corruption and hedonism".
Fighting for control of the Libyan capital Tripoli could worsen the humanitarian conditions in the country, the UN warns

Fierce fighting for control of Libya's capital that has already displaced tens of thousands of people threatens to bring a further worsening of humanitarian conditions, a senior UN official has warned.

"As long as the situation continues, even if it just stagnates and continues like this, we can expect to see a continuing deterioration," UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya Maria do Valle Ribeiro told AFP.

Strongman Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) launched an offensive against Tripoli, the seat of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), on April 4.

"When we see the use of air power, the indiscriminate shelling of densely populated areas, it is very difficult to be optimistic," do Valle Ribeiro, who is also the deputy UN envoy to Libya, said late Sunday.

She was speaking after air raids by the LNA on Tripoli on Saturday killed four people and wounded 20 others, according to the GNA.

"We continue to call for a respect of civilians, we continue to call for humanitarian pauses and most of all we continue to hope that the situation can return to a more peaceful settlement of the crisis," she said.

The fighting has killed at least 278 people and wounded more than 1,300, according to a toll released Wednesday by the World Health Organization.

It has also forced 41,000 people to flee combat areas around Tripoli, do Valle Ribeiro said, while many remain trapped and in need of humanitarian assistance.

- Migrants at risk -

UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya Maria do Valle Ribeiro says civilians and migrants held in detention centres are the most vulnerable people

Among the most vulnerable are about 3,500 migrants and refugees held in detention centres near the combat zone who are at "risk", the UN official said.

She said that 800 considered most in danger had been evacuated, after the UN and rights groups said gunmen attacked a detention centre south of Tripoli last week.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said several migrants and refugees were shot and wounded in the attack.

Libya has been mired in chaos since the NATO-backed uprising that deposed and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

People smugglers have taken advantage of the lawlessness, ferrying mostly sub-Saharan Africans from Libyan shores to Europe.

According to the International Organization for Migration some 6,000 migrants are held in official detention centres in Libya. Hundreds more are held by armed groups elsewhere in the war-hit country.

On Sunday Pope Francis called for "humanitarian corridors" to be opened to evacuate them.

The UN official also voiced concern over a breakdown in basic services, including electricity and water supplies, and said more relief funds were needed for Libya.

"We appealed for an additional 10.2 million (dollars) which doesn't cover all that we foresee... but it covers at least the essential response for the first three, four weeks," she said.

During the first week of fighting, she said, "over a million schoolbooks" that were stored in a warehouse of the ministry of education were destroyed when the compound was hit.

"Symbolically, it says a lot about the impact of such strife and clashes on not just the immediate survival of people but on the future of Tripoli children."
It was the first attack on a church in Burkina Faso since the jihadist violence began

Gunmen killed four worshippers and a pastor in the first jihadist attack on a church in Burkina Faso, security and local sources said Monday.

Sunday's attack took place in the small northern town of Silgadji near Djibo, the capital of Soum province, and two others were reported missing.

"Unidentified armed individuals have attacked the Protestant church in Silgadji, killing four members of the congregation and the main pastor," a security source told AFP.

"At least two other people are missing," the source added.

It was the first attack on a church since jihadist violence erupted in the west African nation. Muslim clerics and imams have been targeted as well.

"The attack happened around 1:00 pm, just as the faithful were leaving the church at the end of the service," a member of the church who did not want to be identified told AFP.

"The attackers were on motorbikes. They fired in the air before aiming at the members of the congregation," the witness added.

Burkina Faso has suffered from increasingly frequent and deadly attacks attributed to a number of jihadist groups, including the Ansarul Islam group, the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.

The attacks started in the north of the country before targetting the capital Ouagadougou and other regions, notably the east of the country.

In February, a Spanish priest, Father Cesar Fernandez, was killed in a raid attributed to jihadists in Nohao in the centre of the country.
Palestinians, including Christian and Muslim clerics, march with national flags and pictures of prisoners held in Israeli jails during a rally marking Palestinian Prisoners' Day in the West Bank city of Ramallah

The Palestinians on Monday restated their refusal to accept tax revenues collected on their behalf by Israel so long as the Jewish state deducts millions of dollars over a dispute about prisoners.

"Our position is as it was: We will not receive any money from Israel if it is incomplete," Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmud Abbas told the weekly cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"This is something we will not accept at any cost."

Israel collects around $190 million a month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports, and then it transfers the money to the PA.

In February, the Jewish state decided to deduct around $10 million a month from those revenues, corresponding to the amount it said the PA paid families of prisoners or directly to inmates serving time in Israeli jails.

The Palestinians responded by saying they would refuse any funds where unilateral deductions had been made.

Israeli public radio reported Monday that a month's payment -- minus the $10 million deduction -- had recently been transferred to PA bank accounts, in the hope the authority would quietly accept payment.

But after two weeks, the radio said, the money was returned to the Israeli finance ministry.

Israel sees the payments to those who have carried out attacks against Israelis as encouraging further violence.

The PA describes the payments as a form of welfare, while the Palestinian public regards prisoners jailed by Israel as national heroes.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah

The Arab League pledged last week to provide the PA with $100 million monthly, potentially averting a financial crisis caused by the row.

Abbas on Monday called on the body to honour that pledge.

"We do not have high hopes, but perhaps the amount could be considered a debt that we return as soon as Israel returns" the money, he said.

Abbas also renewed his opposition to a proposed US peace plan expected to be unveiled this summer.

He has refused to negotiate with Donald Trump's administration since December 2017, when the US president controversially recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Abbas praised Europe's continued support for a two-state solution and opposition to the US embassy move, and said the continent had a responsibility to solve the conflict.

"The European position -- I don't want to say it is 100-percent fair, but it has started to (show) understanding," he said.

Abbas, 84, has previously faced accusations of anti-Semitism in comments about the history of Israel, Jews and Zionism, the ideological movement behind the creation of a Jewish state, accusations he denies.

On Monday, he said: "Europe created -- this slightly annoys our neighbours -- Zionism and Israel."

"Let's not fool ourselves -- this is what history says."
Chief of police Pujith Jayasundara had refused to quit after the Easter bombings and he was suspended on Monday

Sri Lanka's president suspended the chief of police on Monday and appointed a new defence secretary in a shake-up of the shell-shocked country's security services following the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

Intelligence warnings from abroad alerting to possible attacks by Islamist extremists were ignored ahead of the multiple bombings of churches and upscale hotels on April 21 that killed 253 people and injured nearly 500.

Chief of police Pujith Jayasundara had refused to quit to clear the way for a shake-up of the 85,000-strong force, prompting President Maithripala Sirisena to suspend him on Monday.

Senior Deputy Inspector-General Chandana Wickramaratne was appointed acting police chief in his place, Sirisena's office said in a statement.

Separately Sirisena appointed on Monday a former head of the army, Shantha Kottegoda, as the country's top defence official.

His predecessor at the ministry of defence and law and order, Hemasiri Fernando, stepped down on Thursday in the wake of the attacks, which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

General Kottegoda, 69, was forced to retire as head of the army in December 2005, by then-president Mahinda Rajapakse.

Sirisena said an intelligence agency from a neighbouring country had provided precise details of the impending attack 17 days in advance, but local authorities had failed to take counter measures.

Official sources said the president was referring to information provided by India's Research and Analysis Wing which apparently gleaned details of the Easter attacks from a jihadist suspect in Indian custody.

The government has since declared a state of emergency and deployed thousands of troops for search operations against Islamist extremists.

Security forces searched a Muslim burial ground in Colombo Monday following information that explosives had been hidden there, but the troops did not find any, officials said.

However, cordon and search searches were carried out across the country and 13 foreign nationals overstaying their visas were arrested, police said.

It was not clear if the foreigners -- 10 Nigerians and one each from India, Iran and Thailand -- were linked to religious extremists or the Easter attacks.

Over 150 people have been arrested since April 21 and more than 15 people killed in raids.
French national Felix Dorfin would be eligible for a death sentence under Indonesia's tough drug smuggling laws, which can include execution for traffickers, if convicted

Indonesian prosecutors Monday demanded a 20-year jail term for a French man accused of drug trafficking, a crime punishable by execution under the country's tough smuggling laws.

Felix Dorfin was arrested in September carrying a false-bottomed suitcase filled with four kilogrammes (8.8 pounds) of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines at the airport in Lombok, a holiday island next to Bali, authorities said.

Lead prosecutor Ginung Pratidina told a court in Lombok Monday that Dorfin, 35, had been "legally and convincingly" proven guilty.

But he asked for a 20-year prison sentence and that Dorfin pay a whopping 10 billion rupiah ($700,000) fine or serve an additional year in jail.

Indonesian courts have been known to go beyond prosecutors' demands, so Dorfin could still be at risk of execution by firing squad if convicted.

A date for the verdict has not been set.

The accused drug trafficker looked down and shook his head as he listened to the sentencing recommendation.

"Dorfin told me that 20 years in prison is too hard," his lawyer Deny Nur Indra told AFP after the hearing.

"But ... considering all the facts presented in court, I expect he would serve less than 15 years."

The Frenchman made headlines in January when he escaped from a police detention centre and spent nearly two weeks on the run before he was captured.

A female police officer was arrested for allegedly helping Dorfin escape from jail in exchange for 14.5 million rupiah.

Indonesia has executed several foreign drug smugglers in the past including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran -- the accused ringleaders of the Bali Nine heroin smuggling gang.

Its only female member was released from jail last year.

Indonesia has not executed anyone since 2016, but a number of foreigners are still on death row including a cocaine-smuggling British grandmother and Serge Atlaoui, a Frenchman who has been on death row since 2007.
Thirty-eight people have died and 35,000 homes damaged or destroyed

Heavy rain battered northern Mozambique on Monday as residents and relief workers confronted devastation wrought by Cyclone Kenneth, the strongest cyclone to ever hit Africa, which killed 38 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

Roads have been washed away, fields submerged and many buildings wrecked by the storm, which came weeks after Cyclone Idai struck the Mozambican city of Beira, 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) to the south.

Cyclone Kenneth made landfall late on Thursday in Cabo Delgado province, packing wind gusts of up to 220 kilometres per hour.

Cyclone Kenneth

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described it as the strongest cyclone to ever lash the continent, and predicted further heavy rain over the coming days.

"Cyclone Kenneth made landfall at the end of the rainy season, when river levels were already high, increasing the risk of river flooding," the UN agency said in its latest update.

"Humanitarian needs in Mozambique have sky-rocketed, and the humanitarian response will need to rapidly scale-up."

According to figures provided by the Mozambique authorities to NGOs, around 200,000 people in Pemba city, the capital of Cabo Delgado, are in danger.

The National Institute of Disaster Management (INGC) said 38 people have died, 39 have been injured, more than 23,000 people are without shelter and nearly 35,000 homes have been either partly or completely destroyed.

Before smashing into Mozambique, the cyclone hit the Comoros islands, killing at least three people and damaging 75,000 homes.

- 'We don't know what we'll do' -

"The water came inside the house and all the way to the backyard," said Sumala Cabila, 23, standing in his family home in Pemba's working-class Paquite suburb which flooded on Sunday morning.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described it as the strongest cyclone to ever lash Africa

As rain poured down and roads in the district became unpassable except for 4-wheel-drive vehicles, Cabila's sister struggled to look after her one-month-old child.

"If it continues to rain. we don't know what we'll do," he said as water streamed of his slanted roof.

Fellow resident Tina Machude, whose home was largely flattened, said she had watched houses fall one by one in the storm and floods.

"Everything was falling... properly built houses too," she told AFP. "We went outside running, so that things wouldn't fall on us, especially the children.

"To rebuild this home, we will have to demolish it and start again."

In Pemba, a tourist destination, staff mopped up pools of water at a hotel and collected tree branches out of the lobby fountain, while labourers struggled to clear out the city's drainage system blocked by flood debris.

"(We) planned to mobilise as much aid as possible to Ibo and also from there to Quissanga," said UN OCHA official Saviano Abreu, naming two areas outside Pemba worst hit by storm damage and flooding.

"It was the priority for government and humanitarian organisations, as these two areas are in urgent need.

There is an acute shortage of food

"We managed to send one flight with World Food Programme (WFP) supplies of rice and biscuits, and some non-food items. But unfortunately the weather conditions are changing too fast and threatening the operation. It's raining again and the second flight couldn't go."

To the north of Pemba, the town of Macomia was also badly hit, with homes and businesses destroyed, roofs torn off, trees and electric pylons uprooted.

"We have grave fears for the thousands of families currently taking shelter under the wreckage of their homes. They urgently need food, water and shelter to survive the coming days," said Nicholas Finney, head of Save the Children's response team in Mozambique.

The northern region hit by Cyclone Kenneth is more sparsely populated than Beira, which was hit by Cyclone Idai in mid-March when about 1,000 people were killed in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

But the area has also been hard hit by deadly raids by a jihadist group over the past 18 months that the army has been unable to control.
Several times in recent months the authorities have prevented Ugandan musician turned politician Bobi Wine from giving concerts

Ugandan police arrested pop star turned MP Bobi Wine on Monday, barely two days after lifting the house arrest of a potential challenger to veteran President Yoweri Museveni, and placed him in custody over a protest he organised last year, his lawyer said.

Wine, at 37, is the figurehead of a new generation who grew up under Museveni but want to see change and his anti-government songs have helped win him a big following.

Police arrested him after he answered a summons to the Criminal Investigations Directorate on Monday morning, said one of his lawyers, Asuman Basalirwa.

"Bobi Wine and four others including his brother and his bodyguard have been remanded to prison until May 2," Basalirwa told AFP.

"The state claims my clients in July 2018, held a demonstration against the social media tax without notifying the police contrary to the provisions of Public Order Management Act," he said.

"The state further claims the accused refused to cooperate with police to ensure participants in the alleged demonstration were unarmed and peaceful. All the claims have been denied by him (Wine) and the others," he added.

Wine and other activists had held a demonstration in Kampala against a two shilling fee for cellular phone users to pay for access to social media links.

Wine entered parliament in 2017. One of his songs contains the lyric "freedom fighters become dictators," while others hint that Museveni has stayed in power too long.

The 74-year-old leader has ruled Uganda since seizing power at the head of a rebel army in 1986 but intends to contest a sixth term in office.

Wine was being held at a police station 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of the capital Kampala, said Basalirwa.

- 'Ridiculous' move -

Police spokesman Fred Enanga confirmed the arrest, which was immediately denounced by the opposition.

"This is ridiculous. How can they bring a case of 2018 now? This is a state campaign to ensure Bobi Wine fails in his political agenda" opposition lawmaker, Moses Kasibante, said.

From Tuesday to Saturday last week, Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, found himself under house arrest at his Kampala home as police officers blocked his way when he tried to leave for a concert at his nightclub.

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Last week, Enanga described that as a "preventive arrest" imposed when the authorities decide someone is about to commit a crime.

The authorities' cancellation of one his performances last week led to clashes between opposition supporters and baton-wielding police who also fired tear gas.

Several times in recent months authorities have prevented Wine giving concerts and his house arrest last week was part of those efforts to keep him offstage.
Sudanese anti-regime demonstrators holding up a banner calling for "Freedom, Peace and Justice" around the army headquarters in Khartoum

Ahmed al-Kheir's friends and family are delighted with the Sudanese president's ouster but say justice will only be served once ex-regime officials are made to pay for the village teacher's death in custody.

"We, the family of Ahmed al-Kheir, are very happy with the toppling of (president Omar al-) Bashir and his regime," Kheir's brother Saad told AFP at their family home in Khashm el-Girba, a small village in the eastern province of Kassala along the border with Eritrea.

"We believe that Bashir's entire regime was responsible for Ahmed's killing."

Kheir, 36, was arrested in late January in his village by agents of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) on allegations he was one of the organisers of anti-Bashir protests in the area.

Days later, Kheir's family was told to collect his body from a local mortuary.

A top official in Khartoum confirmed in February that Kheir had died from wounds suffered in detention.

Kheir "had wounds on the back, legs and other parts of his body that led to his death", the official said.

Security agents of the NISS had launched a deadly crackdown on protests that erupted in December in response to the Bashir government's decision to triple the price of bread.

The protests swiftly mushroomed into nationwide demonstrations against Bashir's iron-fisted rule, with protesters urging him to step down.

Dozens of people died in a crackdown by security forces, while hundreds were wounded and thousands jailed.

On April 11, the army finally ousted Bashir after months-long protests that were initially led by a group of teachers, doctors and engineers.

- 'Honest man' -

Saad, 35, charged that senior officials of Bashir's regime were behind the killing of his brother.

"The group that came to take my brother was acting on orders from the higher ups," he said.

"Had the regime's top officials objected, that unit would not have done something like this."

Kheir's death fuelled anger against Bashir's regime, not just in Khashm el-Girba but also across Kassala and in Khartoum, where protesters held rallies to express solidarity.

A Sudanese girl draws a portrait of Ahmad al-Kheir, a teacher who died from wounds suffered in detention during Bashir's regime, outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum

Thousands of protesters who remain encamped outside army headquarters in central Khartoum still chant: "Blood for blood, we will not accept compensation."

They demand punishment for officials responsible for killings by the regime during Bashir's 30-year rule.

Protesters outside the army complex want the military council that took power after Bashir's ouster to step down, making way for civilian rule.

Khashm el-Girba is a farming village, with one main road that cuts through its mud houses, many painted in pink.

Kheir whose one-storey pink structure has a courtyard in the middle, was a popular teacher, colleague Bakhit Mohamed Ahmed said.

"He was an honest man who took part in community functions," he said.

Ahmed recalled an incident when Kheir returned to local authorities around 30,000 pounds ($630) that had been saved from the school's meals-for-children programme.

Kheir was also a member of the Popular Congress Party, Sudan's top Islamist party and an ally in Bashir's government.

The party later called for a probe into all deaths during the initial weeks of protests.

- 'Freedom, peace, justice' -

Last week, Sudan's acting prosecutor general Al-Waleed Sayyed Ahmed lifted the immunity of an unspecified number of NISS agents allegedly involved in Kheir's death.

"Those who killed him should be tried in a civilian court," said Ahmed.

A Sudanese protester walks past a recently painted mural of Ahmad al-Kheir, a teacher who died from wounds suffered in detention during Bashir's regime, outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum

Salah Ali al-Nour, 55, one of Kheir's neighbours, said the teacher had given his life for "freedom, peace, justice," the catchcry of the protest movement.

"We hope that freedom, peace and justice will be achieved," said Nour, his voice choking as tears swelled in his eyes.

"We want all the criminals to be punished."

Nationwide, protest leaders are calling for Bashir and his regime officials to be held accountable for crimes committed during his rule.

"We are not seeking retaliatory measures... but we want to rebuild our justice system to hold them accountable," said Amjad Farid, a spokesman for the protest movement.

Bashir himself, who was initially detained by the new ruling military council, has been transferred to the capital's Kober prison, according to a family source.
More than 50 Amazon employees from as far afield as Egypt, Brazil and Pakistan gathered in Berlin on Monday

Amazon worker representatives from 15 countries met in Berlin on Monday to coordinate their strategy against one of the world's most powerful companies, after years of individually battling against its often-criticised employment practices.

Alfred Bujara of Amazon Poland proudly showed off images from his latest campaign to a German colleague, urging their employer to "stop the rat race".

"Conditions are bad around the world, but in Poland they're worse," said Bujara, a member of the Solidarnosc union.

Workers' movements are tracked "down to the second" and "if they can't cope, then they're fired," he complained.

More than 50 representatives from as far afield as Egypt, Brazil and Pakistan, as well as neighbouring Italy, Poland and France, gathered in the German capital in a closed-door summit set to last into Tuesday.

The aim: to compare notes on working conditions in Amazon's logistics centres around the world, the engine rooms that speed wares from the so-called "everything store" to customers' homes.

Seattle-based Amazon boasts around 800 such depots worldwide and regularly opens new ones.

- Sharing information -

"We're sharing information about the different rules and regulations, then we can use those in the negotiations," Bujara said ahead of a "family photo" in the Berlin rain, fist raised alongside his colleagues from abroad.

"We learn that we're not alone, that we're facing some of the same challenges everywhere in the world," said Christy Hoffman, secretary-general of the international UNI Global Union.

As well as Amazon Logistics' machine-like demands and fine-grained surveillance of employees, workers complain of low salaries and are demanding collective bargaining agreements, or at least a more orderly form of dialogue with management.

"We reject the allegations raised by the trade union (UNI)," Amazon Germany responded in a statement.

"Amazon proves every day that you can be a fair and responsible employer without a collective bargaining agreement."

European unions have struggled since 2013 to secure recognition from Amazon bosses, picking key days for online shopping like "Prime Day" or "Black Friday" to throttle package deliveries and draw public attention to their working conditions.

In 2018, industrial action reached a new height as around 50 strikes were organised around Europe and, in a rare show of cross-border solidarity, some were coordinated to hit simultaneously in several countries.

"If we coordinate amongst ourselves, France, Italy, Spain, then Amazon reacts. If there's a struggle, Amazon agrees to talks," said Stefanie Nutzenberger of German service workers' union Verdi.

- First steps -

But the cross-border movement is still in its infancy outside of Europe.

"In South America, we're in totally unknown territory. They've just opened an operations centre in Brazil and the employees there are not at all prepared," said Henry Oliveira, a union representative from Uruguay.

Many Amazon workers used the social media hashtag #wearenotrobots in November as a rallying cry for their campaign against the giant.

More in-depth exchanges are going on informally and under the company's radar in private messages, British UNI member Matthew Painter told AFP.

It could be some time before a global strike along the same lines as the Europe-wide actions seen last year.

"That would be hard given how different legislation is across countries," Painter acknowledged.

Nevertheless, "we're preparing for other conflicts and they will extend beyond our borders," German rep Nutzenberger said.
Boeing faces its shareholders at an annual meeting amid uncertainty and scrutiny following two deadly crashes that led to the global grounding of the 737 MAX

Boeing management faces a potential rebuke by shareholders on Monday when investors gather at an annual meeting six weeks after a top-selling plane was grounded globally following two deadly crashes.

Proposals that Boeing opposes would direct the company to make its chairman an independent director and to disclose its lobbying activities and trade association memberships.

Majority votes against the company would be the most visible sign of displeasure among shareholders at Boeing and Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg, who opened the gathering at the in Chicago with a moment of silence.

"We at Boeing are sorry for the loss of lives in these tragedies," Muilenburg said early in the gathering when a moment of silence was held.

The annual gathering for investors -- often a speedy affair at Boeing and other highly profitable companies -- has the potential this year to be a much more contentious affair.

The 737 MAX has been grounded since mid-March following Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air crashes that together claimed 346 lives, a crisis that has raised questions about whether the US giant sacrificed safety in its zeal to market a new narrow-body plane and compete with Airbus.

US carriers such as American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are targeting August to resume flights on the 737 MAX in the expectation that Boeing will receive regulatory approval for its fix by that time.

Dennis Muilenburg, who has been chief executive since 2015, faces one of the biggest challenges in the company's history with the grounding of the 737 MAX after two deadly crashes

Shareholders overwhelmingly sided with Boeing on similar votes on company leadership structure and lobbying last year, but that was before the 737 MAX crisis.

"The company faces serious challenges in regaining the confidence of regulators, airlines, pilots and passengers worldwide," Institutional Shareholder Services said in a note earlier this month that supported both measures.

"Any missteps in the process of remediating the issues and open questions that have led to the grounding of the 737 MAX, or any repeat of the problems in future aircraft programs, could have a devastating impact on the company's prospects, its brand and its reputation, for years."

Beyond those two votes, the Boeing shareholder meeting could also provide a sounding board for critics.

Fresh questions were raised over the weekend following revelations Boeing deactivated a signal on 737 MAX planes for Southwest without telling the carrier.

The Federal Aviation Administration considered recommending grounding the planes as they explored whether pilots flying the aircraft needed additional training about the alerts, said a source familiar with the matter.

They decided against that -- but never passed details of the discussions to higher-ranking officials in the FAA, the source said.
Isral's Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, demanded that the New York Times hold accountable those responsible for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon

Israel's UN ambassador on Monday demanded that the New York Times hold accountable those responsible for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon, despite an apology issued by the newspaper.

The cartoon, which appeared in the international edition on Thursday, depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading a blind Donald Trump -- who was wearing a kippah, or a Jewish skullcap.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the cartoon "could have been taken from the pages of Der Sturmer, the Nazi propaganda paper, and yet these actions have gone unpunished."

The newspaper apologized for the cartoon on Saturday, saying: "The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgment to publish it."

"I am not in a position of accepting or not accepting the apology, but if somebody make a mistake, I think somebody should be accountable," said Danon, who added that such images can incite violence against Jews.

On Sunday, the NYT issued an additional statement saying it was "deeply sorry" and committed to "making sure nothing like this happens again."

"We have investigated how this happened and learned that, because of a faulty process, a single editor working without adequate oversight, downloaded the syndicated cartoon and made the decision to include it on the Opinion Page," it said.

The NYT said the matter was under internal review and that they "anticipate significant changes."

"Those who engage in anti-Semitism must be punished, whether it's here at the UN, political leaders, editors, policy pundits or college professors," said Danon, who spoke to reporters ahead of a Security Council meeting on the Middle East.
Police are questioning a man after two knives were found at the school desk of Prince Hisahito (C, with his parents Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko)

Japanese police on Monday arrested a 56-year-old man in connection with two paring knives found at the school desk of Prince Hisahito, grandson of Emperor Akihito, local media reported.

The incident comes as authorities were beefing up security ahead of the popular emperor's abdication on Tuesday after a 30-year reign.

The man, identified as Kaoru Hasegawa, was arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the premises of the junior high school the 12-year-old prince attends on Friday, public broadcaster NHK and other news reports said.

His motive was not immediately clear.

NHK said police officials were questioning him and suspected he placed the knives at the desk, while Nippon Television said he admitted the allegations.

Security has been stepped up ahead of the abdication of the popular Emeror Akihito on Tuesday

A police spokesman declined to comment.

Hisahito, who began attending the school this month, was not in the classroom when the knives are believed to have been left.

There were no reports of any injuries or damage at the school, while police did not find any threatening note related to the case.

Security camera footage showed a man with a helmet trespassing on the school grounds at around noon, they said.

Police had been searching for the middle-aged man who was dressed as a construction worker.

Emperor Akihito (with Empress Michiko) steps down on Tuesday after 30 years on the throne

Threats to the imperial family are relatively rare. In 1975, Akihito was almost hit by a Molotov cocktail in Okinawa, a major World War II battlefield where there was strong anti-emperor sentiment.

The incident comes as Japan is preparing for the abdication of Akihito, the first monarch to relinquish the throne of the world's oldest imperial family for two centuries.

Akihito's eldest son, 59-year-old Crown Prince Naruhito, will take the throne on Wednesday in a series of ceremonies.

Hisahito is the son of Naruhito's younger brother and the last eligible male heir.

Japan's centuries-old succession would be broken if Hisahito does not have a male child as the Imperial Household Law, in place since 1947, does not allow women to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne.
President Donald Trump addressing a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as his tally for making "false and misleading claims" topped the 10,000 mark, according to the Washington Post.

After just over 800 days in office, President Donald Trump has made more than 10,000 "false or misleading claims," according to a tally released Monday by the Washington Post.

The count, kept by the newspaper's "Fact Checker" database, was started in the Republican leader's first 100 days in office in early 2017. At the time, Trump averaged just five false claims a day. In the past seven months, that total has risen to an average of nearly 23 every day, made at rallies, on Twitter, in speeches or in encounters with the media.

During his "Make America Great Again" rallies, Trump has taken the most liberties with the truth, the Post said: 22 percent of his erroneous comments are made at rallies of his dedicated supporters.

Another notable element of these claims is that the former reality television star -- who frequently rails against the "fake news" media -- has a tendency to repeat the same false formulas again and again.

The Post said the president passed the 10,000-untruth mark on Friday, a day before he appeared before a crowd in Green Bay, Wisconsin to make the claim that pro-abortion Democrats support the execution of babies who have already been born.

"The baby is born," he told his fans. "The mother meets with the doctor. They wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby."

As well as denouncing the media as "enemies of the people," Trump also lashed out at fact checkers themselves earlier this year, calling them "some of the most dishonest people in the media."
Fighting took place overnight at Libya's main oil field, the National Oil Company says without identifying the combatants

Fighting took place overnight at Libya's main oil field, the National Oil Company said on Monday without identifying the combatants.

The NOC said on Twitter that it "forcefully condemns overnight clashes and an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) attack on station 186 at the #Sharara oil field."

Al-Sharara is located about 900 kilometres (560 miles) south of Tripoli is run by Akakus, a joint venture between the NOC, the Spanish group Repsol, Total of France, Austria's OMV and Norway's Statoil.

It produces 315,000 barrels per day, or nearly one third of Libya's oil output, but has frequently been the target of attacks and blocked by militias.

The NOC said "production remains unaffected" from the overnight fighting and staff were unharmed.

It called for "the immediate cessation of hostilities, both across the country, and in and around key national energy infrastructure."

Libya plunged into chaos after the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with a multitude of militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

It has two rival governments: the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli and a parallel administration in the east of the country.

In February forces of strongman Khalifa Haftar, who backs the eastern administration, seized the Al-Sharara field without fighting as part of a military operation in the south of the country.

Since April 4, Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army has been carrying out an offensive on Tripoli but has met stiff resistance from forces loyal to the GNA.

The fighting has killed at least 278 people and wounded 1,332, according to the World Health Organization. More than 40,000 people have been displaced.

The NOC on Saturday expressed concerns about the fighting.

"NOC rejects all attempts to use corporation equipment and facilities for military objectives," said chairman Mustafa Sanalla.

"NOC is the lifeline of the Libyan economy and must be protected from all forms of conflict," he said in a statement.
Petitioners with relatives missing or detained in Xinjiang hold up photos of their loved ones during a press event at the office of the Ata Jurt rights group in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on January 21, 2019.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres raised the plight of ethnic Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang region during talks with Chinese leaders and stressed that China must fully respect human rights, his spokesman said Monday.

Guterres faced calls to speak out on human rights during his visit to Beijing where he attended a summit on Saturday of China's prized Belt and Road Initiative and held talks with President Xi Jinping.

The UN chief delivered a three-point message that stressed that human rights must be upheld in the fight against extremism, while recognizing China's sovereignty and condemning terrorism.

"Human rights must be fully respected in the fight against terrorism and in the prevention of violent extremism," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

"Each community must feel that its identity is respected and that if fully belongs to the nation as a whole."

As many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are being held in internment camps in Xinjiang, according to a group of experts cited last year by the United Nations.

Beijing claims the camps are "vocational training centers" to steer people away from extremism and reintegrate them, in a region plagued by violence blamed on Uighur separatists or Islamists.

- Guterres pressed to speak out -

In the runup to the trip, Guterres had met with UN ambassadors from the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Turkey who urged him to raise the situation in Xinjiang during his meetings, UN sources said.

That presented Guterres with a diplomatic challenge to discuss the ultra-sensitive matter with China, the UN's second largest financial contributor and a veto-wielding Security Council member.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet last month complained that she had yet to be given the green light by China for a fact-finding mission to the region following a request made in December.

Guterres told Chinese leaders that he "fully stands by the initiatives" of his rights chief, Dujarric said, but there was no announcement on dispatching an independent assessment team to Xinjiang.

Dujarric described the talks as "very cordial" and "frank," adding that the dialogue will continue.

Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth last week wrote a scathing op-ed about Guterres, accusing him of being silent on human rights and firmly siding with quiet diplomacy since he became UN chief in January 2017.

Roth said Guterres had yet to speak out publicly on the plight of the Uighurs. "Instead, he praises China's development prowess and rolls out the red carpet for President Xi Jinping."

Guterres has visited China four times as UN chief.

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German parents and relatives of Islamic State militants demonstrated Monday outside the foreign ministry, urging Berlin to repatriate wives and children of fighters held in Syria.

Some brought posters saying "Children are not responsible", while others held up banners reading "Innocent German children will die and the state is just watching".

"I want my grandchildren to leave Syria and come to Hamburg, to live normally, to go to the nursery, to be protected, to be able to hug them, to have food, to be warm, and to love them," said Intessar Aataba, 51, who is the grandmother of a three-year-old and a year-old toddler born in Syria.

Another protester who identified himself as Shawani, 55, pleaded for his three grandchildren, aged two, three and four, to be repatriated.

"Why blame the grandchildren? What are they guilty of? I don't understand," he said.

According to the interior ministry, at least 59 children of German jihadists were still in Syria at the end of March.

With the collapse of the last IS bastion in Syria last month, the fate of foreign fighters and their families has become a significant problem for governments as the conflict draws to a close.

US President Donald Trump has called for European allies to take back hundreds of IS fighters who were captured in recent months in Syria.

The alternative is to hold them long-term in camps or prisons in Syria or Iraq, but that would need financing.

Germany has begun repatriating from Iraq several children of jailed jihadists since early April.

The foreign ministry has said it was aware of cases of German nationals in custody in northern Syria, but added that it did not have direct consular access to them as the embassy in Damascus has been closed.

Nevertheless, the government is looking for ways to repatriate the German nationals.
Mourners and well wishers leave flowers at a makeshift memorial across the street from the Chabad of Poway Synagogue on Sunday, April 28, 2019 in Poway, California, one day after a teenage gunman opened fire, killing one person and injuring three

After a synagogue shooting in the United States and a church attack in Burkina Faso, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Monday that the world is nearing a "pivotal moment" in the battle against hatred.

"As crime feeds on crime, and as vile views move from the fringes to the mainstream, I am profoundly concerned that we are nearing a pivotal moment in battling hatred and extremism," Guterres said in a statement.

A teenage gunman opened fire at a synagogue in California on Saturday, killing one person and injuring three others including the rabbi as worshippers marked the final day of Passover.

On Sunday, gunmen killed four worshippers and a pastor in a small town in Burkina Faso, the first attack on a church since jihadist violence erupted in the African country in 2015.

On March 15, 160 people were killed in attacks on mosques in New Zealand.

Guterres deplored a "disturbing groundswell of intolerance and hate-based violence targeting worshippers of many faiths," saying such violence had become "all-too-familiar."

"Houses of worship, instead of the safe havens they should be, have become targets," he said.

The UN chief appealed to religious leaders, governments, civil society and all others to combat hate, saying "this is a job for everyone."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that American businesses should think twice on their involvement in China's Xinjiang due to human rights concerns

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked corporate America on Tuesday to think twice when doing business in China's Xinjiang region, where he appeared to liken the scale of mass incarceration of Muslims to Nazi abuses.

Speaking to a business group, Pompeo stopped short of asking firms not to work with China but said he hoped to spark further discussion on the "enormous risk" of doing business in the country.

"We watch the massive human rights violations in Xinjiang where over a million people are being held in a humanitarian crisis that is the scale of what took place in the 1930s," Pompeo said.

"And we see American businesses and their technology being used to help facilitate that activity from the Chinese government. It's something worthy of thinking about," the diplomatic chief said as he received an award from Business Executives for National Security.

Pompeo added that "I don't know the answer," recalling that as a business owner and a conservative Republican he opposes government interference in commerce.

Pompeo's remarks come as US software titan Microsoft faces scrutiny over its joint research with Chinese government-linked scholars on artificial intelligence, with Beijing said to be using facial recognition technology in its crackdown in Xinjiang.

In February, US biotechnology manufacturer Thermo Fisher announced it would stop selling equipment used to create a DNA database of the Uighur minority.

A United Nations panel has cited estimates that China has rounded up some one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities, with activists accusing Beijing of curbing the practice of Islam.

China says the camps are "vocational training centers" to steer people away from extremism and reintegrate them, in a region plagued by violence blamed on Uighur separatists or Islamists.
Tickets for the tour are $45, if purchased by May 10 at fortsheridanhistoricalsociety.org, the society said. After May 10, tickets are $50 each and can be purchased through the website or at the Water Tower on the day of the event.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis both condemned the suspected Maoist bomb attack

A bomb attack by suspected Maoist rebels killed 15 Indian elite commandos and their driver on Wednesday, police said, in the latest incident of election-time violence in a decades-long insurgency.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the 1960s in several areas of India in clashes between security forces and guerrillas first inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

In the latest incident, "Maoists attacked a team of commandos travelling in a private vehicle to inspect an earlier attack. So far 16 men have died," an official at police headquarters in the western state of Maharashtra told AFP.

The attack, the deadliest carried out by the Maoists since 2017, happened in the densely forested Gadchiroli region of Maharashtra, deep in the Indian interior.

Gadchiroli police official Prashant Dute told AFP that the police commandos had been on their way to the scene of the earlier attack in the same area in which more than 30 vehicles were torched.

The Maoists insurgents are believed to be present in at least 20 Indian states but are most active in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand.

Thousands of armed men and women -- also known as Naxals -- say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribal people, including for land, resources and jobs.

India's current election began on April 11 and is due to run until May 19. Attacks by Maoist rebels often spike as the country goes to the polls.

Last weekend rebels opened fire on Indian police, killing two constables and wounding a villager in the central state of Chhattisgarh, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

One constable and an assistant constable died at the scene and the villager, shot in the chest, was taken by local residents for treatment, PTI reported.

A roadside bomb attack on a political convoy in early April killed five people in Chhattisgarh, two days before the world's biggest election began.

The rebels often call for a boycott of elections as part of their campaign against the Indian state.

- 'Red corridor' -

The Gadchiroli district, some 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of state capital Mumbai, has long been a hotbed of violence, with at least 17 police killed there in 2009.

It is a key transit point for the guerrillas, connecting western India with central and southern states in a restive tranche known as the "red corridor".

On April 11, the day voting began, a landmine planted by Maoists exploded near a polling centre there. There were no injuries.

In April 2018, raids on rebel camps in the region killed at least 37 insurgents, police said. Many of the slain rebels were women, police said.

Wednesday's attack was the deadliest by Maoists in India since 2017 when at least 25 paramilitaries were killed in the Sukma district of central Chhattisgarh state.

That in turn was the deadliest since Maoists killed 75 paramilitary soldiers from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in 2010 in the same state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday swiftly condemned the latest attack.

"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel," Modi tweeted.

"Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," he added.

Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally of Modi, said he was "anguished" by the "cowardly" attack.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh called it "an act of cowardice and desperation".

"We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel," he said. "Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain."
The US State Department has already said its peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad will visit Doha this month to meet the Taliban

A new round of peace talks between the Taliban and the US got underway in Qatar on Wednesday, as the foes continue to seek a way out of America's longest war.

The latest negotiations come as pressure builds for some sort of breakthrough in the gruelling Afghan conflict, with Washington jostling for a resolution.

According to a Taliban spokesman, the group's top political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar met with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the men discussed "key aspects for a peaceful resolution of the Afghan issue".

Khalilzad, who has stressed "there is no final agreement until everything is agreed", has previously outlined the basic framework for a deal.

The pact would see the US agree to pull its forces from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban vowing to stop terror groups ever again using the country as a safe haven.

According to the Taliban, Baradar told Khalilzad it was vital those two key points "be finalised". The US embassy in Kabul confirmed only that talks were taking place.

Khalilzad, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, has spent several months shuttling between Asian capitals and Washington in a bid to build consensus for a deal.

On Sunday, the Afghan-born envoy said Washington was "a bit impatient" to end the war, given its $45 billion annual cost to the US taxpayer and the continued toll on US forces, some 2,400 of whom have been killed since the US-led invasion in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

US President Donald Trump provided additional momentum when in December he told advisors he wanted to pull about half of America's 14,000 troops from Afghanistan.

- Mega meeting in Kabul -

Despite several rounds of negotiations between the US and the Taliban, none of the talks thus far have included the Afghan government, which the Taliban views as a puppet regime.

That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree a deal and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must still forge some kind of accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.

An initial attempt for an "intra-Afghan dialogue" -- due to take place last month in Doha -- collapsed at the last minute amid bickering over the lengthy list of delegates Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wanted to send.

Separately, thousands of Afghan politicians and representatives are meeting in Kabul this week at a "loya jirga" peace summit to discuss conditions under which they could envision a deal with the Taliban.

Among top concerns are that the militant Islamist extremists would try to undo advances in women's rights, media freedoms and legal protections.

Mohammad Omar Daudzai, Ghani's special envoy for peace, welcomed the fresh US-Taliban talks and described how the jirga could feed into peace talks.

"The jirga sets a logical beginning for the peace process," Daudzai told reporters. "The people in the jirga will decide and set boundaries and the framework of talks."

Khalilzad went to Moscow last week, where Russia and China voiced support for the US plan for a peace deal and stressed the need for intra-Afghan dialogue that would see all sides in Afghanistan at a negotiating table.

He tweeted Wednesday he was in Doha and had met with the Indonesian foreign minister, who offered support for the talks.

Meanwhile violence across Afghanistan continues apace, and the Taliban last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive.
Sudan's top opposition leader and former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, whose elected government was toppled in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup, speaks during an interview on May 1, 2019

Sudan's main opposition chief on Wednesday warned protest leaders against any provocation of the country's army rulers, saying they will soon hand power to a civilian administration as demanded by demonstrators.

The call by Sadiq al-Mahdi, chief of Sudan's opposition National Umma Party, comes amid a deadlock in talks between the protest leaders and the 10-member army council on forming a joint civilian-military body to rule the country three weeks after leader Omar al-Bashir was ousted.

"We shouldn't provoke the army council by trying to deprive them of their legitimacy, deprive them of their positive role in the revolution," Mahdi, 84, told AFP in an interview at his residence in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum across the Nile.

"We must not challenge them in a way that makes it necessary for them to assert themselves in a different way," the veteran politician said.

Mahdi's elected government was toppled by Bashir in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.

The former premier fought Bashir politically, and in January threw his weight behind the protest movement that finally saw the military topple the leader on April 11.

Since then the army has resisted transferring power to a civilian government as demanded by the protesters, who have camped in their thousands outside its Khartoum headquarters in a round-the-clock sit-in.

The military has been pushing for a 10-member joint civilian-military council including seven army representatives and three civilians.

Protest leaders want a majority of civilians on a 15-member joint council with seven military representatives.

- 'Asking for trouble' -

Leaders of the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protest movement, insist the army generals are not serious about handing power to civilians.

Protest leader Mohamed Naji al-Assam told reporters on Tuesday that the military had actually been seeking to "expand its powers daily".

The protest leaders have even called the military council headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan "a copy cat of the toppled regime".

Sudanese protest leaders have called for a 'million-strong' march on Thursday to put pressure on the army

In a move to step up pressure on the army rulers, the protest movement's leaders have called for a "million-strong march" on Thursday.

"I think there are some signs that some of them (the army) have been provoked by some statements from the opposition that seem to belittle their role," said Mahdi, dressed in a traditional Sudanese turban and robe.

"If we provoke ... the armed forces which contributed to the change, we will be asking for trouble."

Mahdi, whose party members are involved in the negotiations, expressed optimism the military would transfer power.

"They will hand over executive power to a civilian government if we present a credible, viable form of a civilian government," he said.

This, he said, was "because they know if ultimately they settle for a military dictatorship, they will be in the same position as Bashir".

Mahdi said it was the armed forces that had averted major bloodshed when the protesters began the sit-in to push for Bashir to go.

"Bashir was so much hostile to this that he wanted to dispel (the sit-in) even if a third of the population as he said was killed," said Mahdi.

- 'Counter coup' -

He said top security officials had faced a choice either to follow Bashir's order or oust him.

"They decided to oust him instead of killing the people," Mahdi said.

Mahdi warned that the days ahead were critical when it came to handling of negotiations.

"All the elements that supported the previous regime are there," he said.

"And any kind of feeling that there is chaos will be exploited by them for some kind of counter coup," he said, describing Bashir's regime as one that was "despotic and unjust".

However, he said that the current deadlock over talks between protest leaders and army rulers will end.

"Within days we will achieve some kind of roadmap ...but what we aspire for may take weeks," said Mahdi.

"I assure you that ultimately this will be resolved, because all of us have a great interest in making this revolution a successful story."
Sri Lankan police said anti-terror laws would be used to confiscate the attackers' property

Sri Lanka's police Wednesday named nine people who staged Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 253 people, and said the attackers' assets will be confiscated in line with anti-terror laws.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera confirmed that two of the luxury hotels were bombed by two brothers from a wealthy Colombo family involved in spice exports.

The group of Islamists had used one bomber at each of the locations hit on Easter Sunday, except at Shangri-La hotel where there were two suicide explosions.

One of the Shangri-La bombers was Zahran Hashim, the leader of the local jihadist group responsible for the audacious attacks that were claimed by the Islamic State group.

Hashim headed the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) which has since been banned. He attacked the Shangri-La in the company of fellow Islamist Ilham Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim.

Ilham's elder brother Inshaf Ahmed was the man who bombed the nearby Cinnamon Grand hotel.

The third hotel to be targeted, the Kingsbury, was bombed by a man identified as Mohamed Azzam Mubarak Mohamed. His wife was now in police custody, Gunasekera said.

The St. Anthony's Church was targeted by a local resident named Ahmed Muaz. His brother has been arrested. The St. Sebastian bomber was Mohamed Hasthun, a resident from the island's east where Hashim was based.

The Christian Zion church in the eastern district of Batticaloa was hit by a local resident, Mohamed Nasser Mohamed Asad.

Another man who failed to set a bomb off at a de luxe hotel, but blasted his explosives at a guest house near the capital. He was identified as Abdul Latheef who had studied both in Britain and Australia.

Shortly after the hotel bomb attacks, Fathima Ilham, the wife of the younger of the two brothers, blasted explosives strapped to herself, killing her two children and three police officers who rushed to the family home in Colombo.

"We are going to use prevention of terrorist financing laws to confiscate their property," Gunasekera said.
Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based Islamist Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group who was put on the UN terror list, arrives at Karachi Press Club to address a press conference in 2000

The United Nations on Wednesday added Masood Azhar, the leader of a Pakistan-based Islamist group, to its list of global terrorists after China lifted its objections to the move.

The UN sanctions committee on the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda announced in a press release the designation of Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), over his ties to Al-Qaeda.

JeM has claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops and stoked tensions between India and Pakistan.

Considered the founder of JeM, Azhar was hit by an international assets freeze, a ban on global travel and an arms embargo. JeM itself has been on the UN terror list since 2001.

China had blocked three previous attempts at the sanctions committee to blacklist Azhar and put a technical hold on a fourth request from Britain, France and the United States in March.

UN diplomats said the request was again submitted to the committee last week and that China had not opposed the move to blacklist Azhar by the Wednesday deadline. Any decision to add individuals or groups to the UN terror list is taken by consensus in the committee.

India applauded the move which came after its air force in February carried out air strikes on a JeM militant camp inside Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is campaigning for re-election, told a rally on Wednesday that the decision was "late, but it's the right thing", and described it as a "success of India's long-term fight against terrorism".

Pakistan stressed that the designation of Azhar had nothing to do with the Pulwama attack in February. Islamabad has denied any involvement in the suicide bombing, one of the deadliest attacks on Indian security forces.

Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Faisal told reporters in Islamabad that it would be "false and baseless" for India to claim that the sanctions on Azhar were a victory.

- India-Pakistan tensions -

Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since the February attack in Kashmir that prompted tit-for-tat air raids, fueling fears of an all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two wars over it.

The decision to blacklist Azhar came after Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan last week on the sidelines of a summit of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing.

France, which slapped unilateral sanctions on Azhar in March, also welcomed the decision and stressed it had pushed for many years for the JeM leader to be put on the list.

In March, the United States had ratcheted up pressure on China by putting forward a draft Security Council resolution to blacklist Azhar -- a move that would have forced Beijing to use its veto to block the measure.

"After 10 years, China has done the right thing," a US administration official said. Beijing seems to have "understood that it was increasingly important that its actions on the international stage on terrorism match its rhetoric."

Azhar is linked to terrorism for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities" carried out by JeM, according to the sanctions committee.

Azhar founded JeM after he was released from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh (C) says US efforts to bring Tehran's oil exports to zero 'is an illusion'

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on Wednesday claimed two neighbouring countries were "exaggerating" their production capacity to reassure markets after the US ended sanction waivers for buyers of Iranian crude.

Zanganeh also said Washington's stated aim to bring Iran's oil exports "to zero" was "an illusion".

The White House announced last week it would end from Thursday oil purchase waivers granted to Iran's main customers -- including China, India and Turkey.

Since then, Zanganeh claimed, "two of our neighbouring countries constantly try to reassure the market, by issuing statements and by exaggerating their surplus capacities".

These countries which he did not name were trying to signal to the world that "there would be no problem facing global supplies as Iranian oil goes off the market".

It's "an exaggeration", Zanganeh said, speaking at an oil and gas conference in Tehran.

"World affairs are not as simple as America and some of its supporters and instigators think. The oil market cannot be managed with statements, what is determining is real oil production that is placed on the market."

The end of the exemptions sparked fears of supply shortages, pushing prices to near six-month highs.

After the US announced an end to the oil waivers, Iran's regional rival and neighbour Saudi Arabia said the kingdom had no immediate plans to boost output but was committed to balancing the oil market.

"We will not leave our customers scrambling for oil," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on April 24.

Countries looking to replace Iranian crude "know which number to dial," Falih said.

"(Global) inventories are continuing to rise despite what's happening in Venezuela and tightening sanctions on Iran," he added.

Saudi Arabia, a member of the OPEC cartel, is the world's top crude exporters.

Iraq, the cartel's second-largest producer and also a neighbour of Iran, has the capacity to increase its exports by 250,000 barrels a day to compensate for any market shortfalls, an Iraqi government official said last week.
TONALA, Mexico (AP) - Central American migrants traveling through southern Mexico toward the U.S. on Tuesday fearfully recalled their frantic escape from police the previous day, scuttling under barbed wire fences into pastures and then spending the night in the woods after hundreds were detained in a raid.

In the Chiapas state town of Tonala, migrants flocked to one of the few places they felt they could be safe - the local Roman Catholic church - only to start with fear at the sound of a passing ambulance's siren.

"There are people still lost up in the woods. The woods are very dangerous," said Arturo Hernandez, a sinewy 59-year-old farmer from Comayagua, Honduras, who fled through the woods with his grandson. "They waited until we were resting and fell upon us, grabbing children and women."

Mexican immigration authorities said 371 people were detained Monday in what was the largest single raid so far on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through the country last year.

The once large caravan of about 3,000 people was essentially broken up by the raid, as migrants fled into the hills, took refuge at shelters and churches or hopped passing freight trains. A brave few groups straggled along the highways, but with dozens of police and immigration checkpoints, they were bound to be caught.

Journalists from The Associated Press saw police target isolated groups at the tail end of the caravan near Pijijiapan Monday, wrestling migrants into police vehicles for transport and presumably deportation as children wailed.

A Central American migrant detained by Mexican immigration agents looks out from a van on the highway to Pijijiapan, Mexico, Monday, April 22, 2019. Mexican police and immigration agents detained hundreds of Central American migrants on Monday, the largest single raid on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through Mexico last year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Now terrified of walking exposed on the highways, some turned in desperation to a tactic that used to be a popular way north, clambering aboard a passing freight train bound for the neighboring state of Tabasco. It's been years since migrants hopped trains in large numbers.

Javier Nunez, a 25-year-old Honduran, said he and his family walked through the hills, along a river and by some train tracks after Monday's raid before venturing into the town of Pijijiapan to find something to eat. But agents appeared again Monday night and detained his wife and son, who he said were taken to an immigration facility in Tapachula for deportation processing.

"They were hunting us," Nunez said. As he sees it, the only thing to do is go on alone, see how far he can make it. "Now we are afraid of everyone who looks at us or approaches."

Asked about the detentions at a Tuesday morning news conference, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged that the government is not letting migrants simply go wherever they please. He denied taking a hard line, saying controls are for migrants' security because human traffickers are allegedly infiltrated among the caravans.

"We don't want for them to just have free passage, not just out of legal concerns but for questions of safety," Lopez Obrador said.

His immigration chief, Tonatiuh Guillen, said later that Monday's incident was "regrettable," particularly in the case of the children who were frightened.

He said it was not something he wanted to repeat. But he also maintained it was a normal migration enforcement action.

Guillen said Mexico has deported 11,800 migrants so far this month and is being more selective in who is given a humanitarian visa, which allows a migrant to remain in the country and work.

Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero said the migrants who were detained Monday had refused to register for a regional visa that would have allowed them to remain in southern Mexico.

While U.S. President Donald Trump has ramped up public pressure on Mexico to do more to stem the flow of Central American migration through its territory, Lopez Obrador has rejected criticism from some that the immigration policy seems unclear or even contradictory.

In recent months Mexico has deported thousands of migrants. It has also issued more than 15,000 humanitarian visas.

AP journalists who were present for the raid did not witness any initial violent behavior by the migrants, though immigration authorities said otherwise. During a second detention operation, some from the caravan took up rocks and clubs and at least one stone was thrown, but authorities did not report any injuries to agents.

It was "a planned ambush ... to break up this caravan," said Denis Aguilar, a factory union leader from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. "They grabbed the children ... the strollers are abandoned there."

Aguilar said he and his brother fled through the woods until they found a ranch house whose residents took them in. In the morning, the family drove them to a bus stop.

Maria Mesa, a homemaker from La Esperanza, Honduras, said she saw officials tugging children as their mothers battled to pull them through the barbed wire fences. She saw other children weeping, alone, on the edge of the woods. Mesa has kids of her own, but left them home because she knew it would be a hard journey.

Her decision to go alone contrasts with the many thousands of others from Central America migrating with relatives toward the U.S. border, where detentions of people traveling in families have spiked. They typically say they are fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries, and many hope to seek asylum.

Those who arrive at the U.S. border must contend with policies limiting how many are allowed to apply for refuge each day. The United States has also returned some to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases inch through a backlogged court system. Trump recently told migrants not to come, saying: "Our country is full, turn around."

Migrants who opt to join caravans do so figuring there is safety in numbers and also because it is a relatively inexpensive alternative to paying thousands of dollars to a "coyote," or smuggler.

But they are finding it a much tougher go through Mexico than before. In addition to Monday's dramatic raid, migrants have experienced a cooler reaction from townspeople, who last year donated food and clothing but have grown tired of the groups. Migrants say once-friendly Mexicans now refuse to give even water, leaving them no choice but to drink from puddles at times.

"People don't want them to enter the towns," said Gerardo Lara Espinosa, a bus dispatcher in Tonala, who said the caravans are seen as overwhelming small towns and hurting businesses.

Mexican officials said last month they would try to contain migrants in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico's narrowest stretch and the easiest to control. Pijijiapan is not far from the isthmus' narrowest point, in neighboring Oaxaca state.

About 300 migrants hopped a train Monday to Ixtepec, in Oaxaca. On Tuesday, others were walking along the road to Tonala, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Pijijiapan.

Jorge Herrera, a farm worker from El Progreso, Honduras, said he and his 7-year-old son fled through the woods after the raid. The boy is sunburned and has cuts and mosquito bites. Herrera thinks Lopez Obrador is doing Trump's dirty work.

"He must be bought. He must be paid for them to do this to us," Herrera said.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson reported this story in Tonala and AP writer Sonia Perez D. reported from Pijijiapan. AP writer Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Central American migrants traveling in a caravan to the U.S. rest in the San Francisco Catholic church in Tonala, Chiapas State, Mexico, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Central American migrants traveling through southern Mexico toward the U.S. on Tuesday fearfully recalled their frantic escape from police the previous day, scuttling under barbed wire fences into pastures and then spending the night in the woods after hundreds were detained in a raid. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Central American migrants wait on the top of a parked train during their journey toward the US-Mexico border in Ixtepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. The once large caravan of about 3,000 people was essentially broken up by an immigration raid on Monday, as migrants fled into the hills, took refuge at shelters and churches or hopped passing freight trains. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Central American migrants traveling in a caravan to the U.S. collect water as they rest at the San Francisco Catholic church in Tonala, Chiapas State, Mexico, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Central American migrants traveling through southern Mexico toward the U.S. on Tuesday fearfully recalled their frantic escape from police the previous day, scuttling under barbed wire fences into pastures and then spending the night in the woods after hundreds were detained in a raid. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Central American migrants run for a parked train during their journey toward the US-Mexico border, in Ixtepec, Oaxaca state, Mexico, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. The once large caravan of about 3,000 people was essentially broken up by an immigration raid on Monday, as migrants fled into the hills, took refuge at shelters and churches or hopped passing freight trains. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A Central American migrant woman and her son walk with a Mexican Federal Police agent as they are taken into custody on the highway to Pijijiapan, Mexico, Monday, April 22, 2019. Mexican police and immigration agents detained hundreds of Central American migrants Monday in the largest single raid on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through Mexico last year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Central American migrants traveling in a caravan to the U.S. rest in the San Francisco Catholic church in Tonala, Chiapas State, Mexico, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Central American migrants traveling through southern Mexico toward the U.S. on Tuesday fearfully recalled their frantic escape from police the previous day, scuttling under barbed wire fences into pastures and then spending the night in the woods after hundreds were detained in a raid. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A migrant puts on the socks he'd left behind when his group evaded Mexican immigration agents by running away from the highway and into the brush in Pijijiapan, Chiapas state, Mexico, Monday, April 22, 2019. Mexican police and immigration agents detained hundreds of migrants Monday in the largest single raid on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through Mexico last year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)'

A Central American migrant pushing a child in a baby carriage is detained by a Mexican immigration agent on the highway to Pijijiapan, Mexico, Monday, April 22, 2019. Mexican police and immigration agents detained hundreds of Central American migrants Monday in the largest single raid on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through Mexico last year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A Central American migrant is detained by Mexican immigration agents on the highway to Pijijiapan, Mexico, Monday, April 22, 2019. Mexican police and immigration agents detained hundreds of Central American migrants Monday in the largest single raid on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through Mexico last year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Central American migrants traveling in a caravan to the U.S. border walk on the highway to Pijijiapan, Chiapas State, Mexico, Monday, April 22, 2019. The outpouring of aid that once greeted Central American migrants as they trekked in caravans through southern Mexico has been drying up, so this group is hungrier, advancing slowly or not at all, and hounded by unhelpful local officials. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A Central American migrant woman and her son walk with a Mexican Federal Police agent as they are taken into custody on the highway to Pijijiapan, Mexico, Monday, April 22, 2019. Mexican police and immigration agents detained hundreds of Central American migrants Monday in the largest single raid on a migrant caravan since the groups started moving through Mexico last year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California lawmakers worked to find common ground Tuesday between law enforcement groups and reformers intent on adopting first-in-the-nation standards designed to limit fatal shootings by police.

A state Senate committee tied a police-backed measure requiring more training to a competing proposal allowing police to kill only if they have exhausted non-lethal efforts to resolve or de-escalate a situation. The fatal police shooting of unarmed vandalism suspect Stephon Clark in Sacramento last year inspired the latter.

"To look at these two bills together is a powerful, powerful combination, from my perspective," said Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles.

The move aims to force negotiations between the sides by combining the most progressive elements of each plan. It also may mean no changes will ultimately become law for the second consecutive year, unless the sides can reach agreement on a contentious and highly emotional issue.

"We want to be able to make some change, and it has to be substantive change," said Democratic Sen. Anna Caballero of Salinas, who is sponsoring the police-backed legislation.

If the reformer-backed portion fails, "then it all disappears," Caballero said. "And so what this does is it keeps everybody at the table, negotiating in good faith, trying to work towards a solution."

Theresa Smith, right, the mother of Caesar Cruz, who was killed in a confrontation with police, wipes her eyes after testifying against a police-backed law enforcement training bill by state Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, during a hearing at the Capitol Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Lawmakers worked to find common ground between law enforcement organizations, which support Caballero's bill and reformers supporting a competing measure, by Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, that would adopt the first-in-the-nation standards designed to limit fatal shootings by police. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

The police-backed measure would set a national precedent by creating statewide guidelines on when officers can use lethal force and requiring that every officer be trained in ways to avoid opening fire.

As part of the compromise effort, Caballero stripped her proposal of a section to enshrine in law current standards that let officers kill if they reasonably believe they or others are in imminent danger.

Since that standard has been set by the courts, it would remain if no compromise is reached.

"We clearly have ... many, many, many people up and down the state, and experts, who feel that California's use-of-force standard should be revised," said Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley who chairs the Senate public safety committee and engineered the surprise development to combine the measures.

She said she hopes the committee's move will lead to compromise after listening to dozens of opponents of the original police-backed legislation describe their loved ones' deaths in confrontations with police.

They included Theresa Smith, founder of the Law Enforcement Accountability Network, whose son, Caesar Ray Cruz, was killed by Anaheim police nearly a decade ago. Police were told that the 35-year-old had a gun, and one was found in his vehicle, but he was unarmed when they opened fire in a Walmart parking lot.

"He left behind five boys, who are now having to grow up without their father, not having him there for their birthday or Christmas," she said, her voice cracking. "Police officers shouldn't be shooting people if they're not in imminent danger."

Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber of San Diego, who proposed the tougher restrictions on police, has not yet sat down with law enforcement negotiators, said her spokesman, Joe Kocurek.

Weber praised the Senate action, saying in a statement that it "means that the families who have lost loved ones to police violence have been heard, that their loss matters and that they deserve real change."

Law enforcement leaders said the proposal they support incorporates best practices from around the country. It would require officers to provide medical help to injured suspects and to report and stop any excessive force they see used by other officers.

The training includes how to better respond to mental health crises, which Protect California president Robert Harris said account for nearly 25% of all fatal officer-involved shootings. Law enforcement groups formed the nonprofit to promote their alternative to changing the legal standard for using force.

The legislation "will set a national precedent by establishing the most comprehensive legislative solution to one of the most critical issues facing America today," said Brian Marvel, president of Peace Officers Research Association of California.

Democratic Sen. Steven Bradford of Compton wasn't persuaded either plan would make much difference but voted for the measure as it cleared the committee with unanimous bipartisan support.

"We're dealing with a racist society, and we want to hide behind all these other laws and anything else," he said. "This is straight about race, and all the training in the world - unless you change your heart and your mind - will not have any effect on how our policing happens in this country."

State Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, discusses a law enforcement training bill by state Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, during a hearing at the Capitol Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Lawmakers worked to find common ground between law enforcement organizations, which support Caballero's bill and reformers supporting a competing measure, by Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, that would adopt the first-in-the-nation standards designed to limit fatal shootings by police. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

State Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, left, listens as members of the Senate Public Safety Committee discusses her police-backed law enforcement training bill during a hearing at the Capitol Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Lawmakers worked to find common ground between law enforcement organizations, which support Caballero's bill and reformers supporting a competing measure, by Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, that would adopt the first-in-the-nation standards designed to limit fatal shootings by police. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, chairwoman of the Senate public safety committee, displays a copy of Democratic state Sen. Anna Caballero's police-backed law enforcement training bill during a hearing at the Capitol Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Lawmakers worked to find common ground between law enforcement organizations, which support Caballero's bill and reformers supporting a competing measure, by Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, that would adopt the first-in-the-nation standards designed to limit fatal shootings by police. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - The Latest on the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka (all times local):

11 p.m.

London police are asking for images taken during the terrorist attack in Sri Lanka.

Acting Commander Alexis Boon said Tuesday that counter-terrorism police want to look at any images and footage taken before, during or after the bombings.

The Metropolitan Police dispatched a small team of specialist officers from the Counter Terrorism Command to Sri Lanka to support families who lost loved ones and to help with repatriation of their remains.

The officers are gathering information that might be useful during coroners' investigations.

Family members mourn at the burial of seven-years old Dhulodh Anthony, a victim of Easter Sunday bomb blast at Methodist cemetery in Negombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Boon also is asking for witnesses to the attacks to contact police on a confidential basis.

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8:45 p.m.

The U.N. children's agency says at least 45 children were killed in the Sri Lanka Easter attacks.

UNICEF said Tuesday that 27 children died and 10 were injured in the bombing of St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo.

It said 13 children died in blasts in Batticaloa and 15 were injured.

The agency says that among foreign victims, five were children.

Twenty children have also been hospitalized in Colombo.

UNICEF also says many children lost one or both parents in the attacks and would need psychological treatment.

More than 320 people were killed and 500 injured in the bombings.

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8:30 p.m.

The Islamic State group has released a photo of the man the Sri Lanka government has identified as the leader of the Easter attacks, asserting its claim of responsibility for the assault which killed more than 320 people.

The group released the photo Tuesday evening through its Aamaq news agency.

Sri Lankan authorities have blamed the militant Muslim group National Thowfeek Jamaath for the attack. Its leader, named Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

Earlier Tuesday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said authorities suspected links to the group but were still investigating.

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7:30 p.m.

The Islamic State group claims to have identified the attackers who carried out the Sri Lanka Easter suicide bombings after earlier asserting it was responsible for the assault that killed over 320 people.

The group put out a fuller statement on its Aamaq news agency late Tuesday detailing where each attacker was allegedly deployed. It gave only the nom de guerre of each attacker and didn't specify their nationalities.

The group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made a series of unsupported claims of responsibility.

It offered no photographs or videos of attackers pledging their loyalty to the group, which often have accompanied such claims.

The militant group said six were suicide bombers who "immersed" themselves among the victims before blowing up their vests. It said one attacker clashed with police in Dematagoda.

The group said the attackers targeted citizens of the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS and referred to Easter as an "infidel holiday."

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6:30 p.m.

Sri Lanka's prime minister is warning there are more explosives and militants "out there" after Easter suicide bombings that killed over 320 people.

Ranil Wickremesinghe made the comment Tuesday at a news conference, and said some officials will likely lose their jobs over intelligence lapses surrounding the attack.

Wickremesinghe acknowledged there was a prior warning, and said India's embassy was eyed as a possible target.

The toll from the coordinated bombings at churches, luxury hotels and other sites now stands at 321 dead and 500 wounded. He said a planned attack at a fourth hotel failed and that the leader of a local militant group blamed for the assault may have led the attacks and been killed.

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4:30 p.m.

The office of New Zealand's prime minister says she is aware of comments linking Sri Lanka's Easter bombings to the mosque attacks in Christchurch, though it hasn't "seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based."

The statement came Tuesday after Sri Lanka's minister of defense, Ruwan Wijewardene, made the claim to Parliament, without offering evidence.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office also added that it understood "the Sri Lankan investigation into the attack is in its early stages."

The Christchurch shootings killed 50 people in March.

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4:15 p.m.

The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka that killed at least 321 people, but offered no evidence.

The extremist group made the claim Tuesday via its Aamaq news agency.

The claim said: "The perpetrators of the attack that targeted nationals of the countries of the coalitions and Christians in Sri Lanka before yesterday are fighters from the Islamic State."

It offered no photographs or videos of attackers pledging their loyalty to the group.

The group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made a series of unsupported claims of responsibility.

Sri Lankan officials have blamed a local Islamic extremist group for the attack.

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2:40 p.m.

Sri Lanka's minister of defense says the Easter Sunday bombings were "carried out in retaliation" for attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15.

Ruwan Wijewardene made the comment to lawmakers in Parliament on Tuesday, without providing evidence or explaining where the information came from.

He said the toll from coordinated bombings at churches, luxury hotels and other sites now stands at 321 people dead and 500 injured.

The government has blamed a local Islamist militant group for the attacks.

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12:30 p.m.

Authorities in Sri Lanka are further increasing security measures after the Easter suicide bombings that killed at least 310 people.

Police issued orders Tuesday that anyone parking a car on the street and leaving unattended must put a note with their phone number on the windscreen.

Postal officials meanwhile said they would no longer accept pre-wrapped parcels for mailing.

The country is under a state of emergency and the military is operating under enhanced war-time powers following the attacks, which also wounded hundreds.

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Noon

A warning shared with Sri Lankan security agencies on April 11 said a local group was planning a suicide terror attack against churches in Sri Lanka.

Priyalal Disanayaka, the deputy inspector general of police, signed the letter addressed to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies. He asked the four security directors to "pay extra attention" to the places and VIPs in their care.

The intelligence report attached to his letter called the group National Towheed Jamaar, said it was targeting "some important churches" in a suicide terrorist attack that was planned to take place "shortly." The report named six individuals likely to be involved in the plot.

On Monday, Sri Lanka's health minister held up a copy of the report while describing its contents, spurring questions about what Sri Lanka police had done to protect the public from an attack.

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9 a.m.

As a state of emergency took effect Tuesday giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers, police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived.

Sri Lanka's president gave the military a wider berth to detain and arrest suspects - powers that were used during the 26-year civil war but withdrawn when it ended in 2009.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the death toll from Sunday's attacks rose to 310.

President Maithripala Sirisena has declared a day of mourning for Tuesday, a day after officials disclosed that warnings had been received weeks ago of the possibility of an attack by the radical Muslim group blamed for the bloodshed.

People pray during a nationwide three-minutes silence as a tribute to Easter Sunday attack victims in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Easter Sunday bombings of churches, luxury hotels and other sites was Sri Lanka's deadliest violence since a devastating civil war in the South Asian island nation ended a decade ago. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on Supreme Court arguments over the Trump administration's plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census (all times local):

4 p.m.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority appears ready to uphold the Trump administration's plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, despite evidence that millions of Hispanics and immigrants could go uncounted.

There seems to be a clear divide between the court's liberal and conservative justices in a case that could affect how many seats states have in the House of Representatives and their share of federal dollars over the next 10 years. States with a large number of immigrants tend to vote Democratic.

Three lower courts have so far blocked the plan to ask every U.S. resident about citizenship in the census, finding that the question would discourage many immigrants from being counted.

But on Tuesday, the conservative justices did not appear to share that concern.

From left, New York City Census Director Julie Menin, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, and Dale Ho, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, leaves after the Supreme Court heard arguments over the Trump administration's plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census, in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Critics say adding the question would discourage many immigrants from being counted, leading to an inaccurate count. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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11:30 a.m.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority seems untroubled by the Trump administration's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

There appeared to be a clear divide between the court's liberal and conservative justices in arguments Tuesday in a case that could affect how many seats states have in the House of Representatives and their share of federal dollars over the next 10 years.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh is the court's newest member, an appointee of President Donald Trump. He suggested Congress could change the law to specifically bar a citizenship question if the legislative branch is so concerned that the accuracy of the once-a-decade population count will suffer.

Three federal courts have blocked the question's addition, finding that millions of Hispanics and immigrants would go uncounted.

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11 a.m.

Conservative Supreme Court justices said little as a Trump administration lawyer defended the government's plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census. That could be an indication the court's majority may be inclined to side with the administration.

Liberal justices peppered the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer with questions as arguments got underway Tuesday. But they would lack the votes to stop the plan without support from at least one conservative justice.

The outcome could affect how many seats states have in the House of Representatives and their share of federal dollars over the next 10 years.

Three federal courts have blocked the question's addition. Courts said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated federal law in the way he went about trying to include the question. The courts found that millions of Hispanics and immigrants would go uncounted.

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10 a.m.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over the Trump administration's plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 census. The question could affect how many seats states have in the House of Representatives and their share of federal dollars over the next 10 years.

Three federal courts have blocked the Commerce Department from adding the citizenship question. Those courts have ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross violated federal law in the way he went about trying to include the question on the census for the first time since 1950. The courts found that millions of Hispanics and immigrants would go uncounted.

The lower court judges dismissed Ross' contention that the question is needed to aid in the enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act.
The City of Highland Park is lucky to have a particularly large collection of Prairie School homes by architects, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, George Maher, John Van Bergen and Robert Seyfarth, said Jean Sogin, vice chair of the citys Historic Preservation Commission. But we want to look at that important period in the context of what came before and what came after. So, our architecture tour ranges from 19th century farmhouses to modernist masterpieces.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - It's time for states with leaders who support abortion rights to go on the offensive against Trump administration attempts to restrict abortion that would reduce access to health care, the president of Planned Parenthood said Tuesday.

"States are a critical backstop at a time when we have the Trump-Pence administration stripping away women's health and rights and when we cannot depend on the Supreme Court," said Dr. Leana Wen.

She spoke in an interview ahead of a keynote speech she's scheduled to give in Baltimore this week about an administration proposal to prohibit family planning clinics funded by the government's Title X program from making abortion referrals. Opponents are calling it a "gag rule."

The rule was set to take effect next week, but a federal judge said late Tuesday he would issue a preliminary injunction to block the rule from taking effect, after a lawsuit was filed by attorneys general in 20 mostly Democrat-controlled states, including Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

"With all our champions and supporters, this is the time to be going on the offensive where we can," said Wen, a physician who is Baltimore's former health commissioner.

Wen cited Maryland as a leader among states opposing the rule. Earlier this month, Maryland became the first state to pass a measure that would end participation in the program if the rule takes effect. Maryland's legislature is controlled by Democrats, and the bill now goes to Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. A Hogan spokesman says the governor will review the bill when it officially reaches his desk. A Maryland law from 2017 would provide state funds for family planning.

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 2012 file photo, Dr. Leana Wen stands in the emergency department at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, during her medical residency. Wen spoke out Tuesday, April, 23 2019, against a proposed rule by President Donald Trump to prohibit family planning clinics funded by the federal program called Title X from making abortion referrals. It's set to take effect next week. She says states are a "critical backstop" during the Trump-Pence administration. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

The Democrat-controlled Massachusetts House and Senate this month also approved state money to offset the potential loss of federal funding due to the rule change, a measure signed by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.

Other blue states also are considering whether to opt out.

Meanwhile, Republican-leaning states have been working to start new legal battles that could prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its 1973 decision that legalized abortion.

Alabama has introduced legislation that would make performing an abortion at any state of pregnancy a felony unless the mother's health is in jeopardy. Kentucky and Mississippi have approved bans on abortion once the fetal heartbeat is detected, which happens as soon as the sixth week of pregnancy.

On Monday, the Tennessee General Assembly approved a proposal that would effectively outlaw most abortions in that state, if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Religious conservatives and abortion opponents argue that Title X funding has been used to indirectly subsidize Planned Parenthood, the leading abortion provider in the nation. They have welcomed the president's rule change.

Title X family planning clinics get federal funds to provide people with comprehensive family planning and preventative health services, according to a Health Resources & Services Administration website.

Wen said Title X funding is not used for abortions. The funding is used to provide low-income people with affordable birth control, as well as primary and preventive care, including cancer screenings and HIV tests. She said it would not be acceptable in any other medical field for doctors not to provide patients with full medical information.

"This is about restricting the practice of medicine," Wen said. "It's about politicians making decisions for doctors and for patients. It's about politicians restricting the ability of doctors to give our patients full and accurate medical information."

Planned Parenthood, which serves 1.6 million of the 4 million women who get care through Title X, has said it will leave the program if the rule is implemented.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Venezuelan opposition envoy addressed the Organization of American States from his country's seat Tuesday, the first time it has happened in the two decades since a socialist administration rose to power in the South American nation.

Gustavo Tarre delivered a speech during a session held by the Permanent Council of the OAS exactly three months after Juan Guaido, leader of Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress, declared himself the country's interim president in an escalating confrontation with President Niclolas Maduro.

Ambassadors from at least four Caribbean countries -Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago - left the room before Tarre spoke, showing their opposition to his recognition by the OAS as Venezuela's representative.

The U.S. and most of the regional group's 34 member states recognize Guaido as Venezuela's interim leader. They say Maduro wasn't legitimately re-elected last year because leading opposition candidates weren't permitted to run.

Francisco Paparoni was the last Venezuelan representative to the OAS not aligned with Chavismo, the socialist movement associated with the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Paparoni stepped down in April 1999, two months after Chavez became president and began two decades of socialist rule.

Maduro succeeded Chavez in 2017 started a two-year process to abandon the Washington-based OAS, but Guaido earlier this year asked it to ignore Maduro's request and designated Tarre as his own envoy.

Tarre plans to keep attending OAS sessions and representing Venezuela, even though Maduro's government announced plans to hold a rally next Saturday to celebrate its departure from the organization.

Samuel Moncada, Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations and the only chief of a diplomatic mission loyal to Maduro currently on U.S. territory, used to attend OAS sessions representing his country. But the State Department recently restricted his movements to a 25-mile (40-kilometer) radius around New York.

Tarre, who was recognized earlier this month with the support of 18 countries, said in his speech that he will work to organize free and fair elections in his country and that it once again recognize the authority of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Tarre is considered part of the traditional political class that ruled Venezuela until Chavez was elected president. He served as a congressman in 1979-1999 for the Christian Democratic party.

The OAS and the Inter-American Development Bank are the only two multilateral organizations that recognize Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.

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Luis Alonso Lugo on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/luisalonsolugo
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Port commissioners Tuesday night unanimously approved a proposal to lease land for a 200-bed temporary homeless shelter in the popular Embarcadero tourist area as the city struggles with a severe shortage of affordable housing.

Supporters cheered as the commissioners voted unanimously to lease a port-owned parking lot to the city for two years to create the SAFE Navigation Center. There would be an option for a two-year extension under certain conditions.

Mayor London Breed proposed the shelter as part of her plan to build 1,000 new shelter beds by 2020. Construction could begin in June, with the shelter gradually expanding after initially holding up to 130 people.

In a statement, Breed called the shelter "an important part of our plan to help our unsheltered residents get off the streets."

San Francisco opened its first navigation center in 2015 and currently operates six throughout the city. Unlike traditional shelters, the centers allow people to bring pets and don't kick them out in the morning.

But opponents contend that a shelter for the homeless would be a crime and health risk in the waterfront area, which is a big draw for tourists and is densely populated, with high-priced condos as well as apartments housing thousands of families.

A pair of women opposed to a proposed homeless shelter hold up signs during a meeting of the Port Commission Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in San Francisco. San Francisco port commissioners are deciding whether to approve a new homeless shelter along the city's touristy and residential Embarcadero. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

A neighborhood group, Safe Embarcadero, called the vote illegal and said it is considering legal action.

Public testimony at the commission meeting was heated.

Resident Janet Lawson, who is opposed to the shelter, said that the music festival Woodstock was better organized than the shelter layout. And she criticized Breed for thinking about the next election instead of listening to concerned residents.

"By no means does anyone believe this is the only spot for this place," Lawson said, adding that the city's billionaire tech leaders should offer space. "Why not ask Mark Zuckerberg to give up one of his floors?"

But Jennifer Friedenbach of the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness said that signs in the room rejecting the shelter are symbolic of "unbridled entitlement."

"Commissioners, I know this is uncomfortable for you, but stand up to the hate," she said. "Class bias has turned into class hate."

Homeless services worker Marnie Regan said she was taken aback by the vitriol in the room and urged opponents to talk to people who are homeless.

"These are humans who need to be housed," she said. "This is about people dying, not about your goddamn property values."

There are at least 1,000 people on a waiting list for shelter beds, said Jeff Kositsky, director of the city's Department of Homelessness & Supportive Housing. He said the department has received hundreds of phone calls and emails on the subject.

"Our unhoused neighbors are dying outside and we have to do everything in our power to bring them indoors and ultimately to support them to end their homelessness," Kositsky said in a statement after the vote.

More than 4,000 people sleep unsheltered each night in a city of about 885,000.

San Francisco struggles with income and housing inequity, with homes among the most expensive in the country. A family of four earning $117,400 a year is considered low-income in San Francisco, where the median sale price of a two-bedroom is $1.3 million.

San Francisco companies Pinterest and Lyft recently went public, and Uber and Slack are coming soon, driving fears that newly minted millionaires will snap up the few family homes left for under $2 million.

People opposed to a proposed homeless shelter hold up signs during a meeting of the Port Commission Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in San Francisco. San Francisco port commissioners will vote on whether to approve or reject a proposal to put a temporary homeless shelter along the Embarcadero. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

An overflow crowd spills out into a walkway while trying to hear public comment about a proposed homeless shelter during a meeting of the Port Commission Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in San Francisco. San Francisco port commissioners are deciding whether to approve a new homeless shelter along the city's touristy and residential Embarcadero. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Two men hold signs while listening to public comment about a proposed homeless shelter during a meeting of the Port Commission Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in San Francisco. San Francisco port commissioners are deciding whether to approve a new homeless shelter along the city's touristy and residential Embarcadero. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
WAIKOLOA VILLAGE, Hawaii (AP) - The Latest on a woman being bitten by a shark in Hawaii (all times local):

3:55 p.m.

Hawaii officials say the type of shark that bit a tourist in the thigh has not been confirmed.

Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources spokesman Dan Dennison says a 65-year-old California woman reported that a 5-foot (1.5-meter) black tip reef shark bit her. But he says the type of shark and size are not confirmed.

Fire officials on the Big Island say bystanders brought the woman to shore Tuesday on a kayak with a 1-foot-wide (30-centimeters-wide) bite.

A helicopter took the woman in stable condition to a hospital. A helicopter search didn't find a shark.

The attack occurred off the coast near a bay that surrounds the Waikoloa resort complex, which is a popular tourist destination.

Dennison says once the woman is able, officials will interview her to gather more details.

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12:30 p.m.

Hawaii firefighters say a shark bit a tourist in her right thigh and she is in stable condition.

Fire officials on the Big Island say bystanders brought the woman to shore Tuesday on a kayak with a 1-foot-wide (30-centimeters-wide) bite.

The California woman says she doesn't remember what happened before being bitten.

A helicopter took the woman to a hospital. A helicopter search didn't find a shark.

Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources spokesman Dan Dennison says a 5-foot (1.5-meter) black tip reef shark bit the 65-year-old woman.

The attack occurred off the coast near Anaehoomalu Bay, near Waikoloa, a popular tourist area. Nearby beaches were closed until further notice.

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11 a.m.

Officials say a shark bit a California woman near Hawaii's Big Island and she was airlifted to a hospital.

Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources spokesman Dan Dennison says the 65-year-old woman was bitten Tuesday by a 5-foot (1.5-meter) black tip reef shark.

No further details were available on the extent of her injuries.

The attack occurred off the coast near Anaehoomalu Bay, near Waikoloa, a popular tourist area on the west side of the Big Island. Nearby beaches were closed until further notice.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A U.S Marine veteran from Southern California was part of a group of dissidents wielding machetes and fake guns when they stormed North Korea's embassy in Madrid and tied up and beat officials inside, federal prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint released Tuesday.

Spain is seeking to extradite Christopher Philip Ahn on charges including robbery, illegal restraint and criminal organization. Judge Jean Rosenbluth denied bond for Ahn during a Los Angeles court hearing attended by his wife, mother and about two dozen other supporters.

The judge also denied a defense request to keep the complaint sealed. The Associated Press wrote a letter to Rosenbluth strongly objecting to keeping documents private, though the judge said she was inclined to make them public anyway since Ahn's name was already reported.

Prosecutors said Ahn, 38, was arrested during a raid last week on the Los Angeles apartment of a co-defendant, Adrian Hong Chang, a leader of the Free Joseon group. Hong Chang was not at home and has not been arrested.

Free Joseon, also known as the Cheollima Civil Defense group, styles itself as a government in exile dedicated to toppling the ruling Kim family dynasty in North Korea.

Hong Chang knocked on the embassy's door Feb. 22 and asked to speak to a specific official, according to court papers filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office. After he was let inside and a worker walked away, Hong Chang opened the door and let in six other members of the group, including Ahn, according to the documents.

This Feb. 22, 2019 image from surveillance video at the North Korean Embassy to Spain in Madrid, contained in Department of Justice documents presented by federal prosecutors, shows U.S. Marine veteran Christopher Ahn as he prepares to enter the embassy. Ahn, suspected of involvement in a mysterious dissident group's February raid on North Korea's embassy, has been denied bond by a federal judge and must stay in custody. Ahn appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday, April 23. The charges against Ahn haven't been made public. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)

The group - armed with machetes, iron bars, knives and fake guns - beat some of the workers and then tied them up with shackles and cables, prosecutors alleged. They put bags over some of the workers' heads, beat them and threatened them with the metal bars and guns, according to the court papers.

The wife of one of the embassy officials tried to escape from a terrace but fell and was injured. Another woman and a young child were guarded as the attack continued.

When Spanish police officials arrived, Hong Chang answered the embassy's front door - posing as an embassy official and wearing a pin featuring North Korea's leader on his jacket - and told the officers there was no commotion inside.

The hostages were beaten and held for hours as the group stole several "pen drives," two computers, two hard drives and a cell phone, the complaint said.

Five of the members of the group fled in three vehicles they stole from the embassy, documents said. The vehicles were later found abandoned.

As the other members of the group fled in the stolen embassy vehicles, Hong Chang hailed an Uber using the alias "Oswaldo Trump." He canceled the first ride because the Uber pulled up near police and summoned another a few minutes later behind the embassy, taking a ride to Toledo, Spain.

Three North Korean students went to the embassy, jumped over a fence and ran inside to free the workers who were still tied up.

Outside the embassy, police found a fake Italian identification card with the name "Matthew Chao" and a photo of Hong Chang. Police in Madrid also found four machetes, the imitation pistols, cable ties and a "defensive spray," the documents said. Police believe Hong Chang had purchased the items the morning of the attack.

Hong Chang's attorney, Lee S. Wolosky, didn't immediately respond Tuesday to a call seeking comment.

The day after the attack, Hong Chang retuned to the U.S., flying from Lisbon, Portugal, and met with agents at the FBI's office in New York. During the interview, he turned over the items he stole from the embassy, the complaint said.

Hong Chang also told the agents he had "carried out the raid on the North Korean Embassy in Spain days before," and provided the FBI with details, the papers said.

He told agents that he and members of the group had carried - but did not display - knives and airsoft pistols.

After the attack, Hong Chang also met with FBI agents at the bureau's office in Los Angeles and told them that Christopher Ahn, a former Marine, had participated in the attack.

One of the embassy workers later identified Ahn as an attacker from his LinkedIn profile picture.

When Ahn was arrested, U.S. Marshals found a loaded .40 caliber handgun hidden in his waistband. His attorney, Callie Steele, said in court that the gun was licensed and Ahn carried it after the FBI informed him that there were threats against his life.

In court documents, U.S. prosecutors said Ahn had a "strong incentive to flee" because he faces more than 10 years in prison if he's extradited and convicted in Spain.

Steele denied Ahn was a flight risk because he was a devoted caregiver to his ill mother and 96-year-old grandmother, who is blind. The Los Angeles native received an honorable discharge from the Marines, earned an MBA from the University of Virginia, and has no criminal record, Steele said. The defense asked for home confinement during the extradition process but the judge denied the request and remanded Ahn back into custody.

He was ordered to return to court for a status hearing on July 18.

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Follow Weber at https://twitter.com/WeberCM and Balsamo at https://twitter.com/MikeBalsamo1 .

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Balsamo reported from Washington.

This Feb. 22, 2019 image from surveillance video at the North Korean Embassy to Spain in Madrid, contained in Department of Justice documents presented by federal prosecutors, shows U.S. Marine veteran Christopher Ahn as he prepares to enter the embassy. Ahn, suspected of involvement in a mysterious dissident group's February raid on North Korea's embassy, has been denied bond by a federal judge and must stay in custody. Ahn appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday, April 23. The charges against Ahn haven't been made public. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Legislation that would restore voting rights to convicted felons who complete their sentences except murderers and felony sex offenders moved another step Tuesday toward passage in the Florida House.

Lawmakers debated a measure into the night that would implement a constitutional amendment approved by voters last November. The main issue is whether legislation is needed at all, and whether the House bill sets up unnecessary hurdles for ex-felons such as requiring that all fines and restitution be paid.

A final House vote could come as early as Wednesday. A similar Senate bill is pending.

Republican Rep. Jamie Grant of Tampa, the main sponsor, said completion of a sentence includes any period of probation and any financial obligations ordered by a judge. Grant said proponents of Amendment 4 specifically included those provisions when the issue came before the Florida Supreme Court for approval prior to last year's election.

"We're not putting any additional impediments in. We are upholding what was put before the voters," Grant said. "It absolutely includes fines, fees and court costs."

Opponents said those requirements would bar many former felons from voting and violate the spirit of the constitutional amendment. They compared the financial aspects of the bill to a type of poll tax used to bar African Americans from voting during the Jim Crow era in the South.

Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, answers questions during debate over his House Bill 7089 - Voting Rights Restoration,Tuesday April 23, 2019 in the Florida House of Representatives in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)

"The amendment was self-executing," said Democratic Rep. Joe Geller of Hallandale Beach. "The amendment does not require implementing language for these people to be put on the voter rolls."

Before passage of the amendment, the Florida Constitution prevented any ex-felon from regaining the right to vote unless the governor and Cabinet, sitting as the Board of Executive Clemency, agreed to do so, and only after a period of five to seven years. That system was roundly criticized as inherently unfair and subjective, leading to the new amendment.

An estimated 1.4 million former felons could regain their voting rights under the amendment. There have been no estimates of how many have already registered to vote since its passage.

The House bill also authorizes the Florida secretary of state to come up with a permanent system for determining the eligibility of former felons to vote.

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Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, gets a reaction from Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, as they confer during debate over House Bill 7089 - Voting Rights Restoration,Tuesday April 23, 2019 in the Florida House of Representatives in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - A suburban Atlanta woman has pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing her husband and four children and seriously injuring another daughter.

WSB-TV reports that 35-year-old Isabel Martinez pleaded guilty but mentally ill Tuesday to five counts of murder and other charges. She was sentenced to five life sentences with the possibility of parole plus 21 years.

The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office had declined to seek the death penalty because of Martinez's mental state.

The July 2017 attack injured then-9-year-old Diana Romero and killed 33-year-old Martin Romero, 2-year-old Axel Romero, 4-year-old Dillan Romero, 7-year-old Dacota Romero and 10-year-old Isabela Martinez.

Friends told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Martinez had been depressed before the killings and had outbursts of anger and sadness.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says a U.S. delegation will travel to Beijing next week to continue trade negotiations, and a Chinese delegation will return to Washington for additional talks starting May 8.

President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese imports in a dispute over Beijing's aggressive drive to challenge U.S. technological dominance. China has retaliated by targeting $110 billion in U.S. products.

The two countries are in talks to settle their differences.

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will travel to Beijing for talks that begin April 30. Vice Premier Liu He will lead the talks for China.

Sanders says topics for next week's discussions include protection of intellectual property, agriculture and enforcement.
CHICAGO (AP) - The owner of a famed Chicago popcorn business has sued a former employee, accusing her of stealing thousands of files including information about its secret recipes.

Garrett Popcorn Shops filed the federal lawsuit Monday against Aisha Putnam, one of three people the company says knows the recipes for its popcorn. The company, whose formal name is CaramelCrisp, says that when Putnam was terminated, she took with her a USB drive to which she had copied more than 5,400 files before her termination.

The lawsuit says Putnam was director of research and development for about four years. It says the release of Garrett's secret recipes, formulas and other trade secrets "would be severely detrimental" to the business and "cause irreparable harm."

Putnam's attorney, Uche Asonye, says his client did not spread any of Garrett's trade secrets and has returned or deleted the files in question.
MOSCOW (AP) - For Russian President Vladimir Putin, a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offers a chance to raise Moscow's clout in the region and gain more leverage with Washington.

While Russia's ability to influence Kim's position is limited compared to that of China, a dialogue with Kim could allow Putin to emerge as an essential player in the North Korean nuclear standoff.

With Russia-U.S. ties at their post-Cold War low over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the crisis over North Korea is a rare subject where Moscow and Washington could find some common ground and engage in political dialogue.

"There are areas where Washington and Moscow can and do cooperate, and North Korea is one of those areas," said Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center.

He noted that Putin wants to send a message to Washington - as well as Beijing and Seoul - that "Russia should be factored in when Korean issues are discussed."

Moscow's involvement comes at a tense moment when talks between Washington and Pyongyang are on hold following the failure of U.S. President Donald Trump's summit with Kim in Hanoi. For Kim, the meeting with Putin would be a win even if he just gets a cautious statement of solidarity with the North, or a rebuttal of Washington's policies.

A man passes by a TV screen showing images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. North Korea confirmed Tuesday that Kim will soon visit Russia to meet with Putin in a summit that comes at a crucial moment for tenuous diplomacy meant to rid the North of its nuclear arsenal. The screen reads: "Kim Jong Un visits Russia soon." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

"Right now, after the failure of the Hanoi Summit, Russia can play a role," said Georgy Toloraya, a former Russian diplomat who has extensive experience in the North Korean affairs. "That would be very useful. If Putin ever meets Trump, it will be one of the issues on the agenda."

Russia has a border with North Korea and, like the U.S., strongly opposes Pyongyang's nuclear bid.

"Russia is worried that Korea could become potentially a battleground for a new conflict ... potentially with nuclear overtones," Trenin said. "It is also worried that the North Korean nuclear and missile programs could lead to accidents that could endanger Russian security."

Moscow has argued that the crisis should be settled through U.S. providing security guarantees to the North and easing sanctions against Pyongyang.

Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov hailed the importance of U.S.-North Korean talks and promised Tuesday that the Kremlin will seek to "strengthen the positive trends and work to create preconditions and positive atmosphere for reaching solid agreements."

Putin has welcomed Trump's meetings with Kim, but urged the U.S. to do more to assuage Pyongyang's security concerns.

Trenin predicted that Putin "will try to steer the North Korean leader toward a productive, constructive dialogue with the U.S," but added that "Russia will not go out of its way to help the U.S. to try to push Pyongyang closer to accepting Washington's view."

"We don't need to punish North Korean people or even elite, we need to find a new way for them to be incorporated into the modern world," Toloraya said. "The U.S. knows that we don't have our own egoistic interests in North Korea, unlike China."

A supportive statement from Putin would be a big gift for Kim, who is also hoping to woo Russian investment to help build up its infrastructure.

Russia's past efforts to engage the North haven't always been successful.

Moscow maintained strong ties with Pyongyang during the Soviet era, building dozens of factories, sending supplies and providing weapons. Those ties fell apart after the 1991 Soviet collapse, with Russia withdrawing its support for former Soviet allies amid an economic meltdown.

Putin visited Pyongyang months after he was first elected in 2000. Seeking to steal the global limelight, Putin boasted about securing then-leader Kim Jong Il's promise to abandon Pyongyang's missile program in exchange for foreign help in launching satellites, but he suffered a setback when Kim quickly disavowed his statement.

Despite the flop, Putin continued courting Kim, who crossed Russia by train to visit Moscow in 2001. The North Korean leader again visited regions in Russia's far east the following year, and made another trip across the border in 2011.

When Kim Jong Un came to power, the Kremlin hoped that he would visit Moscow to attend a 2015 Red Square parade marking the 70th anniversary of its WWII victory. Kim didn't show up.

Russia also was involved in the Chinese-led six-nation talks, aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and security guarantees. The North withdrew from those talks in 2009.

For many years, Moscow has pushed for building a trans-Korean railway, natural gas pipeline and power lines - massive projects that would allow Russia to significantly increase its regional clout. No visible progress has been made.

While Russia's leverage with North Korea was dwarfed by that of China, Pyongyang's main sponsor and ally, the North has been wary of its overdependence on Beijing and willing to accept Moscow's engagement.

"China and the U.S. are two superpowers, and North Korea has a reason to stand up to both in different ways," Trenin said. "Russia is a country whose attractiveness to North Korea lies precisely in it not having major leverage. Russia has this potential of being seen as a relatively benign actor by the North Koreans."

Russian-North Korean military cooperation and most of the trade was stopped by United Nations sanctions, but Moscow supplied grain and provided humanitarian aid to the North, and tens of thousands of North Korean migrant laborers have worked in Russia's underpopulated Far East.

Toloraya warned against underestimating a role Russia could play in the standoff, saying that Moscow has taken a cautious line but could emerge as a top player if need be.

"We have the tools, we don't use them. If we would like to supply a dozen or so of S-400 (air defense missile systems) to North Korea, it will change the whole balance of power in Korea, it's just one example."

___

AP Pyongyang bureau chief Eric Talmadge contributed to this report from Tokyo. Francesca Ebel in Moscow contributed to this report.

FILE - This combination file photo, shows Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 9, 2019, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 28, 2019. When Kim meets with Putin for their first one-on-one meeting, he will have a long wish list and a strong desire to notch a win after the failure of his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in February 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Evan Vucci, File)

A worker adjusts the flag of Russia and North Korea along the road in Russky Island, off the southern tip of Vladivostok, Tuesday, April. 23, 2019. Preparations are underway for a summit between the leader of North Korea and Russia's president, Russian officials and media reported Tuesday. Russian media have widely reported that the leaders will meet in the port city of Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean. (Naoya Osato/Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take a walk after their first meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel, in Hanoi. North Korea on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 confirmed that leader Kim Jong Un will soon visit Russia to meet with Putin in a rare summit. For Russia, a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offers a chance to raise its influence in the region and gain more leverage with Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

A woman walks past the Memorial plaque in memory of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's visit to Russia in 2002, at the Okeanskaya railway station where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to make his first stop before his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the border at Russia's Far East, Tuesday, April 23, 2019.North Korea on Tuesday confirmed that leader Kim Jong Un will soon visit Russia to meet with Putin in a rare summit. (AP Photo/Alexander Khitrov)

Oil tankers are parked at the Okeanskaya railway station where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to make his first stop before his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the border at Russia's Far East, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. North Korea on Tuesday confirmed that leader Kim Jong Un will soon visit Russia to meet with Putin in a rare summit. (AP Photo/Alexander Khitrov)

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2016, file photo, South Korean vehicles returning from North Korea's joint Kaesong Industrial Complex pass the customs, immigration and quarantine office near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has two urgent concerns as he heads to the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin for their first one-on-one meeting. Kim also pushed Seoul hard to participate in joint inter-Korean projects to rebuild its railroads and improve its moribund infrastructure. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2019, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, meets U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam. When Kim meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin for their first one-on-one meeting, he will have a long wish list and a strong desire to notch a win after the failure of his second summit with Trump two months ago. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, May 31, 2018 file photo, Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shake hands during a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korea on Tuesday, April 23, 2019 confirmed that leader Kim Jong Un will soon visit Russia to meet with Putin in a rare summit. For Russia, a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offers a chance to raise its influence in the region and gain more leverage with Washington. (Valery Sharifulin/TASS News Agency Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - In this file Saturday, Aug. 4, 2001 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, clinks glasses with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week expands a diplomatic charm offensive that has included meetings with leaders from China, South Korea and the United States.(Vladimir Vyatkin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE In this Saturday, Aug. 4, 2001 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, during their meeting in Moscow, Russia. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week expands a diplomatic charm offensive that has included meetings with leaders from China, South Korea and the United States. (Sergei Velichkin/TASS/Sputnik Kremlin via AP, File)

FILE - In this file Saturday, Aug. 4, 2001 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, listens to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, during their meeting in Moscow. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week expands a diplomatic charm offensive that has included meetings with leaders from China, South Korea and the United States.(Sergei Velichkin/TASS/Sputnik Kremlin via AP, File)

A worker adjusts the flag of Russia and North Korea along the road in Russky Island, off the southern tip of Vladivostok, Tuesday, April. 23, 2019. Preparations are underway for a summit between the leader of North Korea and Russia's president, Russian officials and media reported Tuesday. Russian media have widely reported that the leaders will meet in the port city of Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean. (Naoya Osato/Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2002, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, smiles as he hugs North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during their meeting in Vladivostok. North Korea on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, confirmed that leader Kim Jong Un, a son of Kim Jong Il, will soon visit Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin. The summit would come at a crucial moment for tenuous diplomacy meant to rid the North of its nuclear arsenal, following a recent North Korean weapons test that likely signals Kim's growing frustration with deadlocked negotiations with Washington. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
And for those who believe that providing alcohol at home stops kids from drinking without their parents knowledge, studies dont support that conclusion either. Those who drink before the age of 15 are at least 4 times more likely to have alcohol problems as adults than those who wait until at least age 21.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Actor Alec Baldwin said Tuesday that his passion about preserving the planet for future generations was sparked by meeting indigenous people who are guardians of their lands at the 2015 Paris conference that adopted the landmark agreement to tackle global warming.

Baldwin was at U.N. headquarters to moderate a panel on threats to "Forest Defenders" on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and spoke to several journalists about his commitment to the environment.

He said he finds it "very, very unsettling" that indigenous people who understand better than anyone else the places where they live face strong opposition from those in power who want "to get rid of them by whatever means necessary" and gain control of natural resources on the land. Baldwin pointed to killings of indigenous activists in Peru and Brazil, and deforestation in rainforests in the Amazon and Asia that are "the lungs of the planet" as examples.

Rukka Sombolinggi, secretary-general of Indonesia's Indigenous People's Alliance of the Archipelago who was sitting beside Baldwin, added that 10 indigenous activists are currently behind bars in her country.

She said world leaders will "have to stop talking and negotiating" at the U.N. climate summit coming up in September. "They just really need to agree on actions" to preserve "mother Earth," Sombolinggi said.

Baldwin, who plays U.S. President Donald Trump on the NBC comedy series "Saturday Night Live," interjected to laughter: "Can't you move here and run for senator?"

"We need someone to say, 'No more talking,'" he said. "We need you in Washington!"

Baldwin said Americans feel they are going to do the right thing because of their resources and economic power, "but you find that we're becoming more and more like other parts of the world where anything goes, regulations being set aside."

He warned that "this may be our last change in the next 20 years" to take action against global warming.

"There are things that we just can't imagine that can happen in terms of the food supply, in terms of climate change, in terms of flooding in coastal areas in the United States and beyond," he said. "The time is now to make certain sacrifices ... so that this planet will remain habitable" for today's children.

Baldwin said that "the imprimatur of the United Nations is important to me."

"My favorite thing about the U.N. is the word permanence," he said. "They have permanent missions and permanent forums. They're the only ones who can say, 'We're here and we're not going anywhere.' And I love the inevitability of that."
HONG KONG (AP) - A court in Hong Kong handed down prison sentences of up to 16 months Wednesday to eight leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests on public nuisance offenses.

The sentences are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests amid pressure from Beijing.

Ranging in age from their 30s to 70s, the nine defendants span generations of Hong Kong citizens who have been agitating for full democracy. The defendants had all pleaded not guilty, calling the prosecutions politically motivated.

Three protest leaders were given 16 months, one of them suspended for two years, two received eight months in prison and two were given suspended eight-month sentences. Another was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. One other defendant, Tanya Chan, had her sentencing postponed because of the need to undergo surgery.

It was not immediately clear if they planned to appeal.

"Thank you for the sentencing," Raphael Wong, given eight months, told Judge Johnny Chan. "Our determination on fighting for genuine universal suffrage will not change."

Occupy Central leader Chu Yiu-ming, center, cries as he speaks to media after sentencing at a court in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. A court in Hong Kong handed down prison sentences of up to 16 months Wednesday to eight leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests on charges of public nuisance offenses. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

While the charges carried potential sentences of up to seven years, they were still seen as unusually harsh by activists in what they called an attempt to intimidate them into silence.

"The long sentences send a chilling warning to all that there will be serious consequences for advocating for democracy," said Maya Wang, Hong Kong-based chief researcher for China at Human Rights Watch.

"The Beijing and Hong Kong authorities appear intent on eliminating the only pocket of freedoms on Chinese soil," Wang said. She cited a law against booing the Chinese national anthem and moves to amend the extradition law that could see suspects sent to China, where they'd be unlikely to receive a fair trial.

Supporters and family members applauded the defendants as they entered the courtroom, then stood outside sobbing after the hearing before breaking into chants.

Those convicted included law professor Benny Tai, retired sociology professor Chan Kin-man and pastor Chu Yiu-ming, who all received 16 months though Chu's was suspended for two years. The others include two current and one former lawmaker, two student leaders and a political activist.

Chan, who will be sentenced June 10, said prior to the hearing that she hadn't lost faith in what the movement stood for. "Although it's an uphill battle, it's not easy, it's time for us to make sure that we are strong enough to face different kind of challenges," Chan said.

The nine were leaders of the "Occupy Central" campaign, which was organized as a nonviolent sit-in that became known as the "Umbrella Movement" after a symbol of defiance against police adopted by the street protests.

Protesters demanded the right to freely nominate candidates for Hong Kong's leader, who would then be elected by all of the territory's roughly 5 million voters. However, they failed to win any concessions from the government, and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam was chosen in 2017 from among a slate of candidates approved by Beijing and elected by a 1,200-member pro-China electoral body.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997 under an agreement in which China promised the city could retain its own laws, economic system and civil rights for 50 years.

However, Chinese President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has been seen as extending his crackdown on civil liberties to Hong Kong, drawing criticism from commercial and legal associations as well as political, human rights and media groups.

"In the verdict, the judge commented we are naive, believing that by having a occupy movement we can attain democracy. But what is more naive than believing in one country two systems?" Chan Kin-man said before the sentences were issued.

In Taiwan's capital, Taipei, youthful supporters rallied to denounce the convictions and growing pressure from Beijing on both their self-ruled island and Hong Kong.

China has demanded Taiwan agree to its claim to the island as Chinese territory, to be annexed by force if necessary, and accept a "one country, two systems," framework for governing along the lines of that in place in Hong Kong.

The Taiwan supporters chanted "Occupy Central is not a crime" and "The Hong Kong government is unjustified."

"The fact that you care about Hong Kong means you care about your own fate. I think this is very important," Tien-chi Martin-Liao, a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, said in an address following the sentencing hearing.

"Your support will be felt in the hearts of those persecuted in Hong Kong, and those who live there," he said.

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Associated Press videojournalist Wu Taijing in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

Occupy Central leader Chu Yiu-ming cries as he speaks to media after sentencing at a court in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. A court in Hong Kong handed down prison sentences of up to 16 months Wednesday to eight leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests on charges of public nuisance offenses. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Occupy Central leaders, from left, Chan Kin-man, Benny Tai and Chu Yiu-ming chant slogans before entering a court in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The court is preparing to sentence nine leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests convicted last month of public nuisance offenses. The sentences to be handed down Wednesday are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Occupy Central leaders, from left, Tanya Chan, Chan Kin-man and Lee Wing-tat chant before entering a court in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The court is preparing to sentence nine leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests convicted last month of public nuisance offenses. The sentences to be handed down Wednesday are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Occupy Central leaders, from left, Lee Wing-tat, Chan Kin-man, Benny Tai and Chu Yiu-ming enter a court in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The court is preparing to sentence nine leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests convicted last month of public nuisance offenses. The sentences to be handed down Wednesday are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday that she and French President Emmanuel Macron will host a meeting in Paris next month seeking to eliminate acts of violent extremism and terrorism from being shown online.

Ardern said she and Macron will ask world leaders and chief executives of technology companies to agree to a pledge called the "Christchurch Call," named after the New Zealand city where dozens of people were killed in attacks on mosques last month.

Ardern didn't release any details of the pledge, saying they were still being developed.

She said she'd been talking with representatives from companies including Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Google along with world leaders and felt they could reach consensus by keeping the pledge tightly focused.

"This isn't about freedom of speech," Ardern said. "It's specifically focused on eradicating those extreme acts of terrorism online."

The man accused of fatally shooting 50 people in two Christchurch mosques on March 15 livestreamed the attack on Facebook after mounting a camera on his helmet. The chilling 17-minute video was copied and viewed widely on the internet even as tech companies scrambled to remove it.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media at her electorate office in Aukland, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Ardern said that she and French President Emmanuel Macron will host a meeting in Paris next month seeking to eliminate acts of violent extremism and terrorism from being shown online. (Jason Oxenham/New Zealand Herald via AP)

Ardern said the shooter had used social media in an unprecedented way to promote an act of terrorism and hate. She said nobody would argue that a terrorist had the right to livestream the murder of 50 people.

"No tech company, just like no government, wishes to see violent extremism and terrorism online," Ardern said. "And so we have a starting point that is one of unity."

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post last month, Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg called for governments and regulators to play a more active role from in policing the internet.

"As part of this, we have a responsibility to keep people safe on our services," Zuckerberg wrote. "That means deciding what counts as terrorist propaganda, hate speech and more. We continually review our policies with experts, but at our scale we'll always make mistakes and decisions that people disagree with."

In his op-ed, Zuckerberg didn't directly address problems with livestreaming, although he did say it was impossible to remove all harmful content from the internet.

Ardern said Macron had played a leadership role among the Group of Seven major economies in trying to eliminate online terrorism, and his role would complement her experience from the recent Christchurch attacks when they co-chair the May 15 meeting.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Two months after he failed to win a badly needed easing of sanctions from President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is traveling to Russia in a possible attempt to win its help as the U.S.-led trade sanctions hurt his country's already-struggling economy.

There are no signs of a financial or humanitarian crisis in North Korea. But some observers say the sanctions, toughened over the past several years, are gradually drying up Kim's foreign currency reserves and he is desperate to find ways to bring in hard currency. His propaganda service is already saying that North Koreans can survive with only "water and air."

Russia, along with China, has called for the easing of the sanctions, though both are members of the U.N. Security Council, which has approved a total of 11 rounds of sanctions on North Korea since 2006. Some experts say Kim may ask Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting set to take place in Vladivostok on Thursday to voice strong opposition to the sanctions, enforce them less stringently and send humanitarian food aid to North Korea.

It's still unclear how much assistance Kim could get from Putin. Along with China, Russia isn't likely to want to openly evade the sanctions and face diplomatic friction with the United States. More than 90% of North Korea's foreign trade has gone through China, with which it shares a long, porous land border.

Analyst Go Myong-Hyun of the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies said Kim's Russia trip, the first by a North Korean leader since 2011, may have been planned long before the February breakdown of the second summit between Kim and Trump in Vietnam. Go said North Korea and Russia had wanted to discuss economic cooperation if the summit had resulted in an easing of sanctions.

What will still likely be on the agenda is a request by Kim for food aid. In February, North Korea's ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Song, issued an unusual appeal for "urgent" food assistance. North Korean officials blamed the shortage on bad weather and the sanctions.

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2017, file photo, The United Nations Security Council votes to pass a new sanctions resolution against North Korea during a meeting at U.N. headquarters. Some experts say North Korean Kim Jong Un may ask Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting set to take place in Vladivostok on Thursday, April 25, 2019, to voice strong opposition to the sanctions, enforce them less stringently and send humanitarian food aid to North Korea. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

Analyst Cho Bong-hyun of Seoul's IBK Economic Research Institute said North Korea needs more than 1 million tons of food aid, so it would want Russia to provide hundreds of thousands of tons of corn, flour and other foodstuff. Russia could send North Korea food, but mostly in a secret manner, Cho said.

Kim will also likely raise the issue of thousands of North Korean workers in Russia, who must return home along with other overseas North Korean workers worldwide by the end of this year under the U.N. sanctions.

"There is a high possibility that Kim will ask Putin to be flexible on the issue as it's related to the inflow of dollars," said analyst Shin Beomchul of the Asan institute. He said North Korea may seek to persuade Russia to overlook North Korean visitors with short-term non-employment visas engaging in illegal work.

In May last year, South Korea's Unification Ministry said North Korea sends an estimated 50,000 workers aboard, mostly to China and Russia. Most work at factories, construction sites, lumber camps and restaurants. They often toil in tough working conditions and large portions of their salaries are taken by North Korea's government, according to activists and defectors.

After Kim failed to get sanctions relief from Trump in Vietnam, he called for national unity under the banner of self-reliance to surmount the sanctions. His state media called self-reliance "the treasured sword," a term previously used to refer to his nuclear weapons.

"It is necessary to sweep away the whirlwind of sanctions by the hostile forces," Kim said in a rare speech at the country's rubber-stamp parliament earlier this month.

The Vietnam summit collapsed after Trump rejected Kim's calls for the end of five of the 11 sanctions that he said impede his country's civilian economy in return for partial steps toward nuclear disarmament. They include a ban on key exports such as coal, textiles and seafood; a significant curtailing of oil imports; and the repatriation of North Korean overseas workers by December.

These sanctions, approved one by one since 2016 when Kim began a series of nuclear and missile tests, are inflicting more pain than the six previously imposed sanctions that largely target North Korea's weapons industry.

The new sanctions especially affect North Korea's official external trade. According to China Customs figures, China's imports from North Korea dropped by 88% and exports to the North by 33% in 2018. South Korea's central bank said North Korea's economy contracted 3.5% in 2017 from a year earlier.

North Korea monitoring groups in Seoul say the prices of rice and other key commodities at hundreds of markets in North Korea remain largely unchanged. South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers last month that it hasn't detected any signs of mass starvation.

Some experts say Kim has likely used some of his foreign currency reserves to import goods from China to maintain price stability. Some say North Korea's huge trade deficit may have been offset by illicit border trade with China that is likely thriving again with lax enforcement of the U.N. sanctions. Others say North Korea is trying to locally produce items it had imported.

"It's certain that North Korea is releasing a large amount of money," Go said. "When its money runs out, it'll face an urgent situation and step up calls for sanctions relief."

There is no independently confirmed data on the size of North Korea's foreign currency reserves. Go said some economists estimate them at $5 billon. Outside speculation varies over how long North Korea can withstand the impact of the sanctions without major economic and social chaos.

Cho speculates North Korea will likely hold out for the next three to five years. But others say it could face a drain on its foreign currency reserves sooner, by December or next year at the earliest.

Whether the sanctions will eventually force Kim to fully give up his nuclear program is unclear. Kim considers his nuclear weapons a stronger security assurance than any non-aggression promises the U.S. could offer. In his April 12 parliamentary speech, he described the sanctions as a plot to disarm North Korea before trying to overthrow his government.

If there is an indication of a humanitarian crisis in North Korea, many experts say China will likely make large-scale food shipments to prevent the exodus of refugees from the North.

Thae Yong Ho, a former minster at the North Korean Embassy in London who defected to South Korea in 2016, said in a recent blog post that there are rumors among North Korean residents that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, in May. He said North Korea's hard-line stance will continue for the time being if it gets help from Russia and China.

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Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.

FILE - In this June 22, 2016, file photo, factory workers operate sewing machines at a shoe factory in Wonsan, North Korea. Two months after he failed to win a badly needed easing of sanctions from U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is traveling to Russia in a possible attempt to win its help as the U.S.-led trade sanctions hurt his country's already-struggling economy. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

FILE - In this July 20, 2017, file photo, men plow fields along the Pyongyang-Wonsan highway in Sangwon near Pyongyang, North Korea. Two months after he failed to win a badly needed easing of sanctions from U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is traveling to Russia in a possible attempt to win its help as the U.S.-led trade sanctions hurt his country's already-struggling economy. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2019, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump take a walk after their first meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel in Hanoi. Two months after he failed to win a badly needed easing of sanctions from Trump, Kim is traveling to Russia in a possible attempt to win its help as the U.S.-led trade sanctions hurt his country's already-struggling economy. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
HONG KONG (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of Hong Kong protest organizers (all times local):

11:40 a.m.

A court in Hong Kong handed down prison sentences of up to 16 months to eight leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests after they were convicted last month of public nuisance offenses.

One other defendant, Tanya Chan, had her sentencing Wednesday postponed because of the need to undergo surgery.

The sentences are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests. The charges carry potential sentences of up to seven years.

Three were given 16 months, one of them suspended for two years, two were given eight month sentences and two given suspended eight month sentences while another was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Occupy Central leaders, from left, Lee Wing-tat, Chan Kin-man, Benny Tai and Chu Yiu-ming enter a court in Hong Kong, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The court is preparing to sentence nine leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests convicted last month of public nuisance offenses. The sentences to be handed down Wednesday are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

It was not immediately clear if they planned to appeal.

___

10 a.m.

A court in Hong Kong is preparing to sentence nine leaders of massive 2014 pro-democracy protests convicted last month of public nuisance offenses.

The sentences to be handed down Wednesday are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests.

The nine were leaders of the "Occupy Central" campaign, which was organized as a nonviolent sit-in that became known as the "Umbrella Movement" after a symbol of defiance against police adopted by the street protests.

They could face up to seven years in prison.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997 under an agreement in which China promised the city could retain its own laws, economic system and civil rights for 50 years.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan and international forces were responsible for more civilian deaths in the first three months of 2019 than the Taliban and other militants, a new U.N. report said Wednesday. It marks the first time in recent years that civilian deaths attributed to government forces and their allies exceeded those blamed on their enemies.

The statistics reflects what many say is a growing problem in Afghanistan's brutal war, in which civilians die not only in suicide bombings and insurgent attacks but also in the cross-fire as Afghan forces and international allies pursue militants.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reported Wednesday that 581 civilians were killed between Jan. 1 and March 31, with Afghan forces and their allies responsible for 305 of those deaths. The insurgents were responsible for wounding more civilians than the coalition forces, the report said.

Nearly half of the civilian deaths attributed to Afghan forces and their allies occurred during airstrikes, while some of the other civilians were killed during searches and raids of militant hideouts. U.S. forces carry out airstrikes when called to assist Afghan forces.

More than 50% of the civilians killed were women and children, said Richard Bennett, UNAMA's human rights director.

"These tactics have resulted in a high proportion of deaths of civilians," raising U.N. concerns, he said, referring to airstrikes and search operations.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Human Rights Director Richard Bennett speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April. 24, 2019. Afghan and international forces have killed more civilians in the war with the Taliban and other militants in the first three months of this year, the first time deaths caused by government forces and their allies have exceeded those of their enemies, a new U.N. report said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

"Every death, every injury is a tragedy for civilians," said Bennett. "This remains an intense conflict and there are way too many civilians being killed and injured by all parties."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani earlier this year urged his ground forces to take greater care to protect civilian lives while conducting search operations.

The resurgent Taliban, who now control nearly half the country, have also asked their fighters to avoid civilian casualties in their near-daily attacks on government forces.

U.S. military spokesman Col. Dave Butler said a cease-fire would be the "best way to end the suffering of non-combatants."

But the Taliban have refused to negotiate directly with Ghani's government, even as they hold talks with a U.S. peace envoy. Talks that were to start last week in Qatar with the Taliban and an array of prominent Afghans, including government officials and opposition representatives, were scuttled after a falling-out between the two sides over who should attend.

Butler said U.S. forces are also concerned over the civilian deaths.

"We hold ourselves to the highest standards of accuracy and accountability. We strive for precision in all of our operations," he told The Associated Press.

Last year's U.N. report was the first to show a dramatic hike in civilian deaths by pro-government forces, including more than 1,000 civilian casualties from airstrikes, the highest since the U.N. began keeping track 10 years ago.

In September, Masih Rahman's family of 12 - his wife, four daughters, three sons and four nephews - were killed when a bomb flattened their home in the Taliban-controlled Mullah Hafiz village in central Maidan Wardak province.

"It's not just my family, there are dozens of families just like mine who have been lost in bombings," Rahman told The Associated Press this week. "The people have no power. ... We are the ones who are dying."

Rahman, who was working in Iran at the time of the airstrike, blamed both pro-government forces and the Taliban, saying a Taliban-run prison was located just 400 meters (yards) from his home.

He has since sought redress from the U.N. and has also taken his case to Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, which put out its own report on civilian casualties on Tuesday.

The commission said 11,212 civilians were killed or wounded between March 31, 2018, and March 31 of this year. In just the last 10 years of Afghanistan's 17-year war, the commission said 75,316 Afghan civilians had died.

"A shocking number of civilians continue to be killed and maimed each day," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan.

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This story has been corrected to show the Afghan commission says 11,212 civilians were killed or wounded, not hurt or wounded, between March 2018 and March this year.

In this Tuesday, April 23, 2019, photo, Masih Rahman speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan. In September last year Masih Rahman's entire family of 11 people, his wife, four daughters, three sons and four nephews, were killed when a bomb flattened their home in Mullah Hafiz village in Jaghatu district of Afghanistan's central Maidan Wardak province. Afghan and international forces had killed more civilians than insurgents in the first three months of the year, the U.N. announced Wednesday, the first time the deaths caused by the government and its allies exceeded their enemies. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Human Rights Director Richard Bennett listens to a question during an interview with the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April. 24, 2019. Afghan and international forces have killed more civilians in the war with the Taliban and other militants in the first three months of this year, the first time deaths caused by government forces and their allies have exceeded those of their enemies, a new U.N. report said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

In this Tuesday, April 23, 2019, photo, Masih Rahman speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan. In September last year Masih Rahman's entire family of 11 people, his wife, four daughters, three sons and four nephews, were killed when a bomb flattened their home in Mullah Hafiz village in Jaghatu district of Afghanistan's central Maidan Wardak province. Afghan and international forces had killed more civilians than insurgents in the first three months of the year, the U.N. announced Wednesday, the first time the deaths caused by the government and its allies exceeded their enemies. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Democrat Andrew Yang understands he's unknown to much of America. But the political newcomer says he'll ride what seems like an improbable path to the White House just like President Donald Trump.

Yang, an entrepreneur who is generating buzz with his signature proposal for universal basic income, is banking on a high-profile appearance on the Democratic debate stage later this year for his message to catch on.

The 44-year-old made his first visit Tuesday to the early voting state of Nevada. At least 300 people turned out to his evening rally to wave signs that said "Math" and "Yang Gang" while the candidate predicted his rise through a crowded pack of 2020 contenders.

Yang said that like Trump, he'll break away by taking on issues no other candidate will talk about - especially his plan to give money to most every American.

"I hate to say it, but the Democratic Party is in need of some new ideas," he said.

Trump won in 2016 by correctly identifying and speaking to economic anxieties, Yang told the crowd. But Yang said Trump's solutions were wrong, racially divisive and ignored the real culprit of increased automation.

Democratic presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks at a campaign event Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

"This campaign is about showing America that it's not immigrants that are causing these economic problems, it is technology," he said.

Yang's plan proposes paying every American adult $1,000 a month, no strings attached. The program would be paid for by a 10% value added tax estimated to generate $800 billion in revenue.

He also predicts savings by streamlining existing social programs like welfare and food stamps, proposing to let people elect to give up those benefits in favor of universal basic income. Yang is also estimating that once the money is distributed to Americans, it will infuse the economy and create further savings by improving people's well-being and curbing current spending on health care, incarceration and homeless.

Critics of guaranteed income plans argue they make people less productive and less likely to work and could attract more unemployed residents.

Yang suggests the only people likely to work less with guaranteed income would be new mothers and teenagers.

Once he's president, he said, Democrats would get on board with the proposal and Republicans would find it politically unwise to oppose a plan to put money in everyone's pocket.

In addition to universal basic income, Yang lists more than 100 policy positions on his website, which range from liberal touchstones like "Medicare for All" to the obscure: a proposal to revitalize and repurpose forsaken shopping malls, a push for free or heavily subsidized marriage counseling for all Americans and plans for a text-line to report abusive robocalls.

Yang, a New York native, is the son of Taiwanese immigrants. He earned Ivy League-degrees studying economics and political science at Brown University and law at Columbia University.

Before launching his run for the White House, he worked as a corporate lawyer, ran a test preparation company and created Venture for America, a fellowship program that helps cultivate entrepreneurs.

Democratic presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, center, meets with people at a campaign event Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Democratic presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks at a campaign event Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Democratic presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang meets with supporters at a campaign event Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Democratic presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks at a campaign event Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks at a campaign event Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Julian Castro's run for president followed a fast rise in the Democratic Party: a big-city Latino mayor of San Antonio at age 34, an Obama Cabinet member and a contender for Hillary Clinton's running mate in 2016.

But signs of an upward trajectory have been hard to spot in his presidential campaign , which on Wednesday returns to Texas - where, even on his own turf, Castro's challenges have been laid bare.

He's been overshadowed by former congressman Beto O'Rourke, who remains a sensation in Texas after his narrow U.S. Senate loss to Republican Ted Cruz. He's drawn smaller crowds than rival candidates who've swung through the Lone Star State. His fundraising has been sluggish, in part because of his earlier choices. Although Democrats long regarded Castro as their brightest star in Texas, time and again he resisted calls to run for statewide office and must now build a supporter list from scratch.

Bigger-name candidates are also struggling for a foothold in a crowded 2020 field, and Castro aides point to a donor uptick in April. But the slow start has nonetheless puzzled some supporters and left a former up-and-comer who delivered Democrats' keynote speech at their 2012 convention in the back of the pack, not even guaranteed of making the first debates .

"I'd have to say that I'm surprised," said Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, a friend of Castro's who worked for him when Castro was President Barack Obama's secretary of Housing and Urban Development. "That a former mayor of a major city, a Cabinet secretary, someone who has executive experience, who is young, who fits that important demographic, who is intelligent, qualified - that he hasn't generated more coverage and interest."

On Wednesday, Castro will join much of the Democratic primary field in Houston for a candidate forum hosted by She The People, an advocacy group focused on political leadership for women of color. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will also hold his first rallies in Texas since his last run for president in 2016.

Julian Castro, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate acknowledges supporters after delivering comments during a rally in San Antonio, Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Sanders led the 2020 Democratic field with $18 million raised in the first quarter . Castro pulled in just $1.1 million, which was less money raised in three months than the reported single-day hauls of some other candidates, including Pete Buttigieg, the early breakout sensation of the race who is mayor of South Bend, Indiana, which is a fraction the size of San Antonio.

The slow start is testing Castro's trust in the long game that brought his carefully plotted career to this stage. At an event in New York on Monday night, Castro brushed off why he's been overshadowed by Buttigieg, who, like Castro, is young and a Harvard graduate. He said voters will come around to seeing he better represents a new era of leadership.

"I'm not interested, necessarily, in being the front-runner in April of 2019. What I want is to be the front-runner in the spring of 2020, when the voting actually starts," he said.

At 44, Castro is among the youngest in the field and the only Latino, and he projects a steady calmness that is the opposite of President Donald Trump's stormy bluster. He remains the only candidate to roll out an immigration policy plan , was the first to visit Puerto Rico and has pledged to campaign in all 50 states.

But to some, he's also seen as too careful or quiet in a field of bigger names. He remains shy of the 65,000 donors needed to lock in a spot on the debate stage, though he still has a good chance of getting there. He raised more than a half-million dollars in the first two weeks of April, about half of what he raised in the first quarter total.

Aides say that there's no need for urgency and that Castro plans to begin talking about education and housing, which plays to his experience in Washington.

"This is not the first time in Julian's life he has been told he's going to have to compete with people who have resources he doesn't have. So we came in knowing that," Castro campaign manager Maya Rupert said.

Domingo Garcia, the national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the ethnic diversity of the country needs to be represented on the debate stage.

"But he still needs to find kind of a breakout moment and an issue that really galvanizes his base and his candidacy," he said.

Jennifer Hernandez is as natural a supporter of Castro as they come. She voted for him as San Antonio mayor, graduated from his high school and made time on a work night to attend one of his rallies. But she's still undecided.

"I'm also looking at Beto and Biden, of course," she said, referring to former Vice President Joe Biden, who is expected to enter the race. Castro is "from here, he knows the people here, we know him. That's why we're here, to support him. The other candidates come here, I'll be there, too."

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Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/pauljweber

FILE - In this April 10, 2019, file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro speaks during a rally in San Antonio. Castro returns to Texas this week lagging in polls and money raised in a crowded 2020 field. Castro will join many of his 2020 rivals in Houston on Wednesday for a candidate forum. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Julian Castro, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, greets supporters during a rally in San Antonio, Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A supporter for 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro holds a sign supporting Castro during a rally in San Antonio, Wednesday, April 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The struggle between House Democrats and the Trump administration over investigations intensified as a former White House official defied a subpoena and the Treasury Department ignored a deadline for providing President Donald Trump's tax returns.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the White House has adopted the "untenable" position that it can ignore requests from the Democratic majority in the House.

"It appears that the president believes that the Constitution does not apply to his White House, that he may order officials at will to violate their legal obligations, and that he may obstruct attempts by Congress to conduct oversight," Cummings, D-Md., said in a statement.

Cummings was specifically referring to Carl Kline, a former White House personnel security director, who was subpoenaed by Democrats.

Kline did not show up Tuesday for a scheduled deposition, and Cummings said he is consulting with other lawmakers and staff about scheduling a vote to hold Kline in contempt of Congress. The committee subpoenaed Kline after one of his former subordinates told the panel that dozens of people in Trump's administration were granted security clearances despite "disqualifying issues" in their backgrounds.

Trump said he doesn't want former or current aides testifying in Congress, "where it's very partisan - obviously very partisan."

FILE - In this April 2, 2019, file photo, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Elijah Cummings, D-Md., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Cummings says the White House is now in "open defiance" of his panel after lawyers advised a former official to resist a subpoena related to the committee's investigation of White House security clearances. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump told The Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday night, "I don't want people testifying to a party, because that is what they're doing if they do this."

Meanwhile, the administration on Tuesday defied a demand from Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., to turn over six years of Trump's tax returns by the close of business - a strong signal that they intend to reject the request. In a letter to Neal, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked for more time and said he would give the panel a final decision by May 6.

Mnuchin wrote Neal that he is consulting with the Justice Department "due to the serious constitutional questions raised by this request and the serious consequences that a resolution of those questions could have for taxpayer privacy."

Neal hasn't announced next steps, but he could opt to issue a subpoena to enforce his demand, sent under a 1924 law that requires the Treasury secretary to furnish any tax return requested by a handful of lawmakers with responsibility over the IRS.

The fight over Kline's appearance comes as the White House has stonewalled the oversight panel in several different investigations. On Monday, Trump and his business organization sued Cummings to block a subpoena that seeks years of the president's financial records. The complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, said a subpoena from Cummings "has no legitimate legislative purpose" and accused Democrats of harassing Trump.

Cummings said the White House "has refused to produce a single piece of paper or a single witness" in any of the panel's investigations this year. Democrats took control of the House in January.

Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's personal attorneys, said he would force the issue into court by ignoring House Democrats' document requests.

"They can't investigate his taxes better than the IRS. They want his taxes to embarrass him," Giuliani said Wednesday on "Fox and Friends." ''That's why a court has a very good chance of ruling this is obstructive, this is harassment, this is not the proper use of legislative power, but fight every subpoena. They are entitled to nothing. This is like the judge saying 'I'm going to hang you, but let's have a little trial first.'"

The back and forth over Kline's testimony played out in a series of letters over the past month between the White House, the oversight committee and Kline's lawyer. The White House demanded that one of its lawyers attend the deposition to ensure executive privilege was protected, but Cummings rejected that request. The White House then ordered Kline, who now works at the Pentagon, to defy the subpoena.

Cummings said the committee has for years required that witnesses are represented only by their own counsel.

"There are obvious reasons we need to conduct our investigations of agency malfeasance without representatives of the office under investigation," Cummings said in a statement.

A spokesman for the top Republican on the oversight panel, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, said Cummings was choosing confrontation over cooperation.

"Chairman Cummings rushed to a subpoena in his insatiable quest to sully the White House," said Russell Dye.

The oversight panel has been investigating security clearances issued to senior officials, including Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former White House aide Rob Porter.

Tricia Newbold, an 18-year government employee who oversaw the issuance of clearances for some senior White House aides, told the committee earlier this year that she compiled a list of at least 25 officials who were initially denied security clearances last year because of their backgrounds. But she said senior Trump aides overturned those decisions, moves she said weren't made "in the best interest of national security."

According to a committee memo, Newbold said the disqualifying issues included foreign influence, conflicts of interest, financial problems, drug use, personal conduct and criminal conduct.

Newbold said she raised her concerns up the chain of command in the White House to no avail. Instead, she said, the White House retaliated, suspending her in January for 14 days without pay for not following a new policy requiring that documents be scanned as separate PDF files rather than one single PDF file. Kline was Newbold's supervisor.

Newbold said when she returned to work in February, she was cut out of the security clearance process and removed from a supervisory responsibility.

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Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

FILE - In this April 9, 2019, file photo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies before a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Mnuchin is asking for more time to respond to House Democrats' request for President Donald Trump's tax returns. Mnuchin says in a letter to House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal of Massachusetts that he will give the panel a final decision by May 6. The committee had set a deadline for Tuesday, April 23. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on a proposed homeless shelter in San Francisco's Embarcadero (all times local):

10 p.m.

San Francisco port commissioners have approved a proposal to put a temporary homeless shelter along the Embarcadero.

Tuesday night's unanimous vote authorizes the port to lease a parking lot to the city for two years to house a 200-bed shelter. The new center would be part of Mayor London Breed's pledge to open 1,000 new shelter beds by 2020.

San Francisco is dealing with a housing shortage even as rental and housing costs soar with an influx of wealthy tech workers.

The waterfront area is a big draw for tourists and is densely populated, with high-priced condos as well as apartments housing thousands of families.

Opponents have heatedly argued that a shelter would be a health and crime hazard. Supporters call the critics heartless.

A neighborhood opposition group calls the vote illegal and says it's considering legal action.

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3:31 p.m.

San Francisco port commissioners are deciding whether to approve a new homeless shelter along the city's touristy and residential Embarcadero.

Angry waterfront residents have packed meetings opposing the shelter that could house up to 200 people. They even shouted down Mayor London Breed, who proposed the shelter, and have vowed to sue if it's approved.

Supporters say the homeless need a safe place to sleep and that the city is in crisis.

The Port of San Francisco owns the land for the proposed shelter site. Staff are recommending commissioners approve an initial two-year lease with the city's homelessness department in a vote Tuesday.

The idyllic site has sparked an intense debate among residents, with both sides raising hundreds of thousands of dollars online in campaigns for and against the shelter.
I really want to think about how we might consider regulating how these acts are used for profit, said Hart, who was in the center of a storm back in 2015 when she and some other County Board members criticized a Lake County Fair event called the Banana Derby, where Capuchin monkeys dressed as horse jockeys ride atop dogs and race around a small track.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Prosecutors in the case of a Minneapolis police officer who shot an unarmed woman have been hammering away at what could be a key element of Mohamed Noor's defense - that he heard a loud slap against his police SUV that stirred fears of an ambush.

The prosecution has tried to raise doubts about whether that slap occurred and attacked officers and investigators for apparent missteps, noting that police at the scene turned body cameras on and off at will, did not share information and possibly disturbed evidence, according to court testimony.

Noor, 33, is on trial for murder and manslaughter in the July 15, 2017, death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who reported a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home. She was shot after she approached the vehicle.

One point of contention is whether Damond slapped the SUV, causing a thump that Noor's partner, officer Matthew Harrity, testified scared him so much that he drew his weapon. Defense attorneys for Noor have said he also heard a loud bang on the squad car, but prosecutors have suggested the slap was concocted. They insist the officers faced no threat.

Harrity testified that he did not tell anyone about the thump on the night of the shooting. The first time he spoke about a noise was three days later, when he sat down for an interview with his attorney and state investigators. But somehow, the notion that Damond slapped the car made its way into a search warrant affidavit hours after the shooting.

"There was a conspicuous absence of information," Chris Olson, assistant agent in charge of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, testified this week.

FILE - In this April 1, 2019, file photo, former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, center, arrives for the first day of jury selection with his attorneys Peter Wold, left, and Thomas Plunkett, at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Noor is charged in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who was killed after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.(Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP, File)

As he was trying to figure out what happened, Olson said, the scene's incident commander, Minneapolis police Sgt. Shannon Barnette, told him she had a brief conversation with Harrity, and that it sounded like Damond had made contact with the car. Olson gave contradictory testimony about whether he or Barnette first suggested that Damond slapped the car, and how that information was passed on to another BCA investigator who crafted the search warrant.

Bradford Colbert, a law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, said that under law, Noor had a right to use deadly force to protect himself or others. For prosecutors, Colbert said, the preferred narrative would be that Damond was shot after merely appearing at the window. For the defense, it would be better if Damond slapped the car, creating the loud, startling noise.

"I can see why the state would be arguing or trying to convey that there was no slap," he said.

Jennifer Kostroski, a BCA latent print examiner, testified there was no forensic evidence to show Damond touched the squad car. But under questioning from the defense, she said knuckles or a backhand slap would not leave prints.

Other witnesses said the squad car was partially dusted for fingerprints - but not entirely - then sent to be washed just hours after the shooting.

"They certainly could've handled it better," said Marsh Halberg, a Minneapolis defense attorney who is not connected to the case. He stopped short of saying investigators made mistakes, but said, "in hindsight, I think everyone could agree things could've been done more smoothly, more thoroughly, more independently."

Representatives of the Minneapolis Police Department and the state BCA said they could not comment.

The trial has revealed other apparent missteps by investigators. Some Minneapolis police officers turned their body cameras on and off, so it's possible that key statements went undocumented. One officer was not told that Noor fired from inside the vehicle, so he entered the car and possibly disturbed evidence. Another investigator was concerned that Damond had been covered by a sheet, again possibly disturbing evidence.

And, one witness testified, state investigators did not follow up on information about the original 911 call made by Damond, so prosecutors conducted their own investigation. Some officers on the scene did not initially know they were dealing with a police shooting - though body camera video shows Harrity and Noor reported that to the first responding officers.

Barnette testified last week that she did not speak with Noor about the shooting that night, acknowledging on the witness stand that if she had, he might have provided different information than his partner.

Colbert said it's possible the state is raising these issues in an attempt to show that "everybody knew this went down wrong," and police responded by going into cover-up mode.

"If it was just simply an accident, you wouldn't go to those lengths. That seems to me to be the state's strategy," Colbert said, adding that prosecutors seem be trying to show that police "knew from the get-go that this is wrong, and they are just trying to cover their tracks."

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Check out the AP's complete coverage of Mohamed Noor's trial.

FILE - In this Aug. 11, 2017, file photo, Johanna Morrow plays the didgeridoo during a memorial service for Justine Ruszczyk Damond at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. The trial of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, who fatally shot Damond, an unarmed woman who called 911, has revealed possible missteps by police and investigators. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP, File)

FILE - In this April 1, 2019, file photo, former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor leaves the Hennepin County Government Center after the first day of trial in Minneapolis. Noor is charged in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who was killed after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - If your tastes are eclectic, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival poses a problem: Which of a dozen acts do you want to hear? Earth, Wind & Fire, Alanis Morissette, or Taj Mahal & the Phantom Blues Band? Van Morrison, Al Green, Johnny Rivers, or all five Marsalis jazzmen playing together?

The festival's first producer recently contemplated the 50th anniversary lineup for the eight-day festival, which begins Thursday. "I think what I want to see is the Marsalis family together, because I haven't seen them together for a long time," George Wein, 93, said in a telephone interview.

Pianist Ellis Marsalis and his sons - trumpeter Wynton, saxophone player Branford, trombonist Delfeayo and percussionist Jason Marsalis - close out the festival's first weekend at the Jazz Tent. It's among 10 music stages and tents, along with the Kids' Tent, an interview stage and a cultural exchange pavilion.

Other first-weekend acts include Katy Perry, Bonnie Raitt, Boz Scaggs and Santana.

There's also a juried arts and crafts show, an African marketplace, a Louisiana heritage marketplace and enough food to leave you in a two-week-long stupor.

About 450,000 fans came last year, across seven days. Wein said he always knew the festival would grow, but not to the current extent.

FILE - In this April 22, 1971, file photo, Edward "Kid" Ory, 84, left, joins in a few notes with the Tuxedo Brass Band in New Orleans, where he returned after an absence of 52 years. If your tastes are eclectic, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival poses a problem: Which of a dozen acts do you want to hear? Earth, Wind & Fire, Alanis Morissette, or Taj Mahal & the Phantom Blues Band? Van Morrison, Al Green, Johnny Rivers, or all five Marsalis jazzmen playing together? The festival's first producer recently contemplated the 50th anniversary lineup for the eight-day festival, which begins Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP Photo, File)

The first Heritage Fair had more performers than audience members, as lesser-known locals performed at the daytime fair. Duke Ellington, Mahalia Jackson, Al Hirt, Pete Fountain and other top acts played at nighttime indoor Jazz Festival concerts.

The next year brought four night concerts and three afternoons in Congo Square, with four stages: blues, Cajun, gospel and street music. That first day was "a ragged little carnival of sound" with 25 acts sometimes clashing, The Associated Press wrote. The enclosure also held "two beer counters, a souvenir store, a cotton candy machine and a food tent where tourists tried red beans and rice but seldom braved the crimson boiled crawfish."

One fan who had paid $2 demanded, "We drove all the way over here from Galveston to hear some jazz. Where is it?" Patty Mouton told Wein his Newport Jazz Festival was great, but "You call this jazz? That old woman singing hymns over there?"

"Sure that's jazz," he replied. "Those hymns are jazz and so is the guy beating on those oil drums. This is the grassroots jazz."

The Heritage Fair moved in 1972 to the New Orleans Fair Grounds racetrack infield, where the New Orleans Jazz Festival and Heritage Fair is still held, adding a second weekend in 1976 .

New Orleans "Queen of Soul" Irma Thomas, who began playing Jazz Fest in 1974, said it gave local artists like herself a chance to be seen by national and international audiences.

"A lot of us worked for years without having agents, and Jazz Fest has been sort of the agent for the locals who have been around since mud and have not been recognized," she said.

Gospel and Zydeco performers also began getting invitations to perform at other festivals and events worldwide after being heard at Jazz Fest, producer Quint Davis said.

By 1976, when about 175,000 people attended over six days, some people said the outdoor fair had grown too big, calling it Son of Mardi Gras.

The record crowd was an estimated 650,000 over seven days in 2001. That festival's lineup included B.B. King, Dr. John, Widespread Panic, Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Allen Toussaint and the Neville Brothers.

Widespread Panic is back this year because health problems knocked the Rolling Stones and replacement Fleetwood Mac out of the lineup. Jerry Lee Lewis, 83, also had to send regrets after a stroke in March.

Wein's favorite memory over the festival's first 49 years is hearing Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder together.

It was in 1977. Wonder, at the height of his career, joined Fitzgerald on stage at the city's Municipal Auditorium. They sang his 1973 hit, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life."

"Stevie's still a star," Wein said.

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Associated Press video reporter Stacey Plaisance contributed.

FILE - In this May 5, 2013, file photo, Jazz Pianist Ellis Marsalis, father of musicians Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Delfeao Marsalis and Jason Marsalis, acknowledges the crowd after performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans. His son Jason is seen on the drums in background. If your tastes are eclectic, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival poses a problem: Which of a dozen acts do you want to hear? Earth, Wind & Fire, Alanis Morissette, or Taj Mahal & the Phantom Blues Band? Van Morrison, Al Green, Johnny Rivers, or all five Marsalis jazzmen playing together? The festival's first producer recently contemplated the 50th anniversary lineup for the eight-day festival, which begins Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week expands a diplomatic charm offensive that has included meetings with leaders from China, South Korea and the United States. Some key moments:

Jan. 1, 2018: In his New Year's address, Kim calls for improved relations with South Korea and offers to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics there.

February 2018: North Korea sends hundreds of people to Pyeongchang Games in South Korea, including Kim's sister, who conveys her brother's desire for a summit with President Moon Jae-in.

March 7, 2018: After visiting Kim in Pyongyang, South Korean presidential envoy Chung Eui-yong says Kim is willing to discuss the fate of his nuclear arsenal with the United States. Days later, President Donald Trump accepts Kim's invitation to meet following a conversation with Moon's envoys.

March 27, 2018: Kim makes a surprise visit to Beijing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an apparent move to strengthen his leverage ahead of his negotiations with Trump.

April 21, 2018: North Korea says it has suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests and announces plans to close its nuclear test site as part of a move to shift its national focus and improve its economy. Trump tweets: "This is very good news for North Korea and the World" and "big progress!"

Flags of Russia and North Korea are seen in front of the central railway station in Vladivostok, Russia, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Wednesday morning for his much-anticipated summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok. (AP Photo/Alexander Khitrov)

April 27, 2018: Kim holds a summit with Moon. The leaders announce vague aspirational goals of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and permanent peace.

May 7, 2018: Kim meets Xi again in China and calls for stronger strategic cooperation between the traditional allies.

May 9, 2018: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Pyongyang to prepare for the planned Trump-Kim summit. North Korea releases three Americans who had been imprisoned, and they return with Pompeo to the United States.

May 24, 2018: North Korean diplomat Choe Son Hui releases a statement referring to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" for his critical comments on the North and saying it was up to the Americans whether they would "meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown." Trump announces he's pulling out of his summit with Kim, citing the North's "tremendous anger and open hostility."

May 26, 2018: Kim and Moon meet at a border village in an effort to revive the summit with Trump. Moon says Kim reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearize but also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States to provide a credible security guarantee in return.

June 1, 2018: After meeting North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol at the White House, Trump says his meeting with Kim Jong Un is back on for June 12.

June 12, 2018: Trump and Kim meet in Singapore, where they repeat the first inter-Korean summit's vague statement on the peninsula's denuclearization without describing when and how it will occur.

June 19, 2018: Kim visits Beijing for his third meeting with Xi, who praises the "positive outcome" of the Trump-Kim meeting.

Aug. 24, 2018: Trump cancels a scheduled trip to North Korea by Pompeo citing lack of "sufficient progress" on denuclearization.

Sept. 19, 2018: Kim and Moon hold their third summit in Pyongyang and the North says it's willing to permanently dismantle its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon if the United States takes unspecified corresponding measures. The Koreas also vow to resume joint economic activities when possible, voicing optimism that international sanctions could end and allow such projects.

Jan. 1, 2019: Kim in his New Year's speech says he hopes to continue his nuclear summitry with Trump, but also that he would seek a "new way" if the United States persists with sanctions and pressure against the North.

Jan. 8, 2019: Kim visits Beijing for his fourth summit with Xi, vows to "achieve results" on the nuclear standoff in his next summit with Trump.

Feb. 8, 2019: Trump announces the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, as the venue of his second summit with Kim.

Feb. 27-28, 2019: Trump and Kim's second summit breaks down over what the Americans describe as excessive North Korean demands for sanctions relief in exchange for partial disarmament steps limited to the Yongbyon complex.

April 13, 2019: Kim says he is open to a third summit with Trump, but sets the year's end as a deadline for Washington to offer mutually acceptable terms for an agreement.

April 23, 2019: North Korea says Kim will soon visit Russia to meet with Putin.
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - When Ahmed Khalil ran out of work as a van driver in the Iraqi city of Mosul three years ago, he signed up with the Islamic State group's police force, believing the salary would help keep his struggling family afloat.

But what he wound up providing was a legacy that would outlast his job, and his life.

In Mosul and elsewhere across Iraq, thousands of families - including Khalil's widow and children - face crushing discrimination because their male relatives were seen as affiliated with or supporting IS when the extremists held large swaths of the country.

The wives, widows and children have been disowned by their relatives and abandoned by the state. Registrars refuse to register births to women with suspected IS husbands, and schools will not enroll their children. Mothers are turned away from welfare, and mukhtars - community mayors - won't let the families move into their neighborhoods.

The Islamic State group's "caliphate" that once spanned a third of both Iraq and Syria is now gone but as Iraq struggles to rebuilt after the militants' final defeat and loss of their last sliver of territory in Syria earlier this year, the atrocities and the devastation they wreaked has left deep scars.

"They say my father was Daesh," said Safa Ahmed, Khalil's 11-year old daughter, referring to IS by its Arabic name. "It hurts me."

In this March 18, 2019 photo, Um Yusuf, a widow of an Islamic State group militant, and her daughter make bread to sell, in Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqi families face crushing social and legal discrimination -- all because of the choices their male relatives made under the Islamic State group's rule. Um Yusuf cannot get social assistance, and her teenage son Omar is being turned away from jobs. (AP Photo/Farid Abdulwahed)

Iraq has done little to probe the actions of the tens of thousands of men such as Khalil who, willingly or by force joined, worked and possibly fought for IS during its 2013-2017 rule. Instead, bureaucrats and communities punish families for the deeds of their relatives in a time of war.

Khalil was killed in an airstrike in Mosul, in February 2017, during the U.S.-backed campaign to retake the city that IS seized in 2014. It was liberated in July 2017, at a tremendous cost - around 10,000 residents were believed to have been killed in the assault, and its historic districts now lie in ruins.

His widow, Um Yusuf, and their seven children were left to bear the stigma of his IS affiliation. She cannot get social assistance, and her teenage son Omar is being turned away from jobs.

They live in an abandoned schoolhouse, living on what they can make selling bread on the streets of the devastated city. Just three of the children are in school - the oldest two dropped out because of bullying about their father, and the youngest two cannot enroll because the civil registrar's office won't issue their IDs.

"It's true their father made a mistake," Um Yusuf said. "But why are these children being punished for his sin?"

Under Iraq's patrimonial family laws, a child needs a named father to receive a birth certificate and an identity card, to enroll in school and to claim citizenship, welfare benefits and an inheritance.

But in post-IS Iraq, virtually every bureaucratic procedure now includes a security check on a woman's male relatives, further frustrating mothers and children.

A U.N. report this year estimates there are 45,000 undocumented children in Iraq. Judges and human rights groups say an urgent resolution is needed or the country risks rearing a generation of children without papers or schooling.

"By punishing entire families, you marginalize them and you seriously undermine reconciliation efforts in Iraq," said Tom Peyre-Costa, a spokesman for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which provides legal aid to Mosul mothers struggling to get their children ID papers.

At al-Iraqiya school in western Mosul, one of the city's first to reopen in 2017, principal Khalid Mohammad said he faces pressure from the community to deny enrollment to children whose fathers are in jail or missing - an absence many interpret as proof of IS affiliation.

"If anyone complains and someone is sent to investigate, I could lose my job," he said.

At a legal office and clinic supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, Nour Ahmed was looking for a way to claim legal custody of her undocumented younger son, in order to collect food and fuel aid for the family.

Her husband, she said, was abducted two years ago in Mosul by a group of pro-government militiamen who likely thought he was an IS member. Ahmed insists he wasn't. He has been missing to this day.

Born in 2016 at a hospital run by IS, their son was given a birth certificate notarized by the Islamic State group. As Iraq doesn't recognize IS documents, the 3-year-old has no legal mother or father.

Ahmed was told she would need to find her husband to re-register her son's birth. If she submitted a missing person's report, it would raise questions about the child's parentage, jeopardizing his right to citizenship.

"I just want to find him," said Nour.

Adnan Chalabi, an appeals court judge, said he sees more than a dozen cases each day related to civilian documentation, brought largely by the wives, widows or divorcees of IS suspects. There is little he can do to help, he said, without a change to the law first.

"Daesh held the city for three years. Did people stop getting married, divorced, and having children during those three years?" he said. "We need a legislative solution."

There is little appetite to change the country's family and patrimony laws, said Iraq's parliament speaker, Mohamad Halbousi, though there is a proposal to open civil registries for a limited period, to register undocumented children.

"These families need to be cared for. They cannot be left to melt away into society," he said.

Outside a mosque in Mosul, where Um Yusuf was selling bread with her children, the widowed mother of seven said she was losing the strength to look after her family.

"We are deprived of everything," she says. "The whole family is destroyed."

In this Feb. 26, 2019 photo, a widow of Islamic State group militant, Muthanna Hussein, listens to legal advice, at a clinic supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, in west Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqi families face crushing social and legal discrimination -- all because of the choices their male relatives made under the Islamic State group's rule. They've been disowned by relatives and abandoned by the state. Registrars refuse to register their births, marriages or divorces; schools won't let their children enroll. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

In this Feb. 26, 2019 photo, women wait for legal advice in a legal clinic supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, in west Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqi families face crushing social and legal discrimination -- all because of the choices their male relatives made under the Islamic State group's rule. They've been disowned by relatives and abandoned by the state. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

In this Feb. 26, 2019 photo, Nour Ahmed, who says says her husband was snatched by unknown assailants two years ago, displays her husband's identification card, at a legal clinic supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, in west Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqi families face crushing social and legal discrimination -- including Ahmed -- all because of the choices their male relatives made under the Islamic State group's rule. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

In this Feb. 26, 2019 photo, a mother of a missing man listens to an attorney at a legal clinic supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, in west Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqi families face crushing social and legal discrimination -- all because of the choices their male relatives made under the Islamic State group's rule. Registrars refuse to register their births, marriages or divorces; schools won't let their children enroll. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

In this March 18, 2019 photo, Um Yusuf, a widow of an Islamic State group militant, and her children have lunch, in Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqi families face crushing social and legal discrimination -- all because of the choices their male relatives made under the Islamic State group's rule. Um Yusuf and her seven children were left to shoulder the stigma of her husband's IS affiliation. She cannot get social assistance, and her teenage son Omar is being turned away from jobs. (AP Photo/Farid Abdulwahed)

In this Feb. 26, 2019 photo, a widow of an Islamic State group militant trains at a sewing workshop supported by the Norwegian Refugee Council, in west Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqi families face crushing social and legal discrimination -- all because of the choices their male relatives made under the Islamic State group's rule. They've been disowned by relatives and abandoned by the state. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - Australia's prime minister and his political rival said on Wednesday they were not tailoring their political messages to suit Chinese censors as the politicians increasingly use Chinese social media to woo Chinese-speaking voters.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Bill Shorten each have accounts with China's largest social media platform, WeChat, which they use to target the Chinese diaspora ahead of federal elections on May 18.

Critics argue that the Australian political leaders risk being kicked off the platform if they don't comply with Chinese censorship rules.

Morrison said his account has not been subjected to Chinese censorship used on social media.

"We haven't experienced any such censorship," Morrison told reporters.

Bill Shorten, who leads the center-left Labor Party, was similarly unconcerned by the type of censorship that the Chinese Communist Party routinely exercises on Chinese social media.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks at a business breakfast in Darwin, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Morrison and his political rival, Bill Shorten, say they are not tailoring their political messages to suit Chinese censors as the politicians increasingly use Chinese social media to woo Chinese-speaking voters. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

"I'm not fussed at all," Shorten told reporters. "I do not feel censored by the Chinese government."

WeChat was launched by Chinese giant Tencent in 2011 and the app, known in China as Weixin, has become essential for daily life in China.

Morrison's account was registered in January under the name of a Chinese citizen in Fujian province, and Shorten's account was registered to a Chinese citizen in Shandong province, Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.

Morrison said his conservative Liberal Party was trying to transfer his account to Australia.

"The way you set up a WeChat account, because of where it's run, is you have to work through these overseas structures and we've been in the process now over the last week or so of seeking to repatriate how that's done," Morrison said.

Shorten said he left his Labor Party to set up his account. The party said it was set up in early 2017 by an Australian resident who is employed by the party. It is jointly operated by Shorten's office and the party.

"Labor has never experienced any censorship of our communications on any social media platforms," a party statement said. "We do not tolerate any outside interference that seeks to undermine our free and fair society."

Fergus Hanson, head of the International Cyber Policy Center at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said politicians' use of Chinese social media in the Australian political debate created the possibility of censorship and self-censorship on subjects sensitive to China.

"It's pretty outrageous that you're in a situation where an Australian politician in a full-blown democracy is being censored in what they can say by the Chinese government trying to speak to other Australians within Australia," Hanson said. "It's absolutely preposterous."

Hanson's own research estimated that there were 1.5 million active WeChat users in Australia including Chinese-speaking Australians, tourists and international students. Australia has a population of 25 million.

ABC reported that in a live WeChat forum last month, Shorten was asked a series of questions relating to the Chinese tech giant Huawei that was banned from Australia's 5G network rollout, Chinese political interference, a billionaire Chinese businessman banned from Australia and perceived negative views of the Chinese Communist Party.

Shorten did not answer any of the questions, the ABC reported.

Fergus Ryan, a Chinese-speaking cyberpolicy analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute who has a WeChat account, suspected Shorten had self-censored.

"It might not be viable for them to answer every single question, but it would seem that ... he certainly side-stepped a lot of those sensitive questions," Ryan said.

The Chinese Embassy in Australia did not immediately respond on Wednesday to a request for comment on the political leaders' use of WeChat and whether the same censorship rules applied.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - The U.S. had no prior knowledge of the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka that killed over 350 people, the American ambassador said Wednesday, despite local claims that foreign officials had been warned an attack was looming.

As the investigation into Sunday's Islamic State-claimed attack continues, FBI agents and U.S. military personnel are in Sri Lanka assisting the probe, Ambassador Alaina Teplitz said.

While declining to say whether U.S. officials had intelligence on the local extremists and their leader who allegedly carried out the assault, Teplitz said America remained concerned over militants at large.

She also said that "clearly there was some failure in the system" that caused Sri Lankan officials to fail to share the warnings they received prior to the attack.

"I can tell you definitively we were not warned and we did not have any prior knowledge of this," Teplitz told foreign journalists from her office at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. "We did not know because believe me, if we had, we would have tried to do something about it."

Sunday's bombings ripped through Christian worshippers at church celebrating Easter and at hotels in Sri Lanka, an island nation off the southern tip of India. The attacks killed at least 359 people and wounded some 500 others, marking Sri Lanka's worst violence since its 26-year civil war ended a decade ago.

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 23, 2019, file photo, Sri Lankans carry the coffins carrying victims of the Easter Sunday bombings in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The U.S. ambassador says America had "no prior knowledge" of a threat in Sri Lanka before the Easter bombings that killed more than 350 people. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Authorities have blamed a local Islamic extremist group called National Towheed Jamaat, whose leader, alternately known as Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

On Tuesday, the Islamic State group asserted responsibility for the attack, sharing images of the leader and other men with their face covered before an IS flag to bolster its claim. The extremist group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made unfounded claims previously.

Asked about whether American officials received warnings or knew about the group and its leader before the bombings, Teplitz declined to comment, saying she would not discuss intelligence matters.

"If you look at the scale of the attacks, the level of coordination, again, the sophistication of them, it's not implausible to think there are foreign linkages," she said. She added that the U.S. believes "the terrorist plotting is ongoing" and said that's why America continued to warn its citizens in Sri Lanka to be careful.

Prior to the bombings, Sri Lankan officials received intelligence reports and warnings that such an attack could be looming. However, that information failed to stop the assault.

Teplitz said the current political situation in Sri Lanka could have exacerbated that. President Maithripala Sirisena ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in October and dissolved the Cabinet, but Sri Lanka's Supreme Court later reversed his actions.

"Certainly the fractious and fragmented political environment has not been good on a number of fronts," Teplitz said.

She later added: "The Sri Lankans themselves have said they received information . and they had their own lapses that resulted in a failure to either mitigate or warn. So that's incredibly tragic."

Wickremesinghe has said some people might lose their job over the intelligence failures.

Teplitz also acknowledged that she heard "legitimate" concerns about civil rights in Sri Lanka after the government announced that it was allowing the military to conduct warrantless searches and hold prisoners for 14 days before bringing them before a judge.

"There is a legacy from that conflict era of human rights abuse, again an issue that the government here has been struggling to move past," she said. "We definitely remain concerned about human rights here and democratic policing; the ability to respect people's rights even in the midst of a crisis like this."

Teplitz said the U.S. also was concerned that the bombings could spark reprisals targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist-majority country of 21 million, which includes large Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities, is rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict.

"I think the recognition that this could be a spark is out there and that there's a pretty significant effort to try and blunt that," Teplitz said.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap
BOWIE, Md. (AP) - A Maryland woman has been indicted on charges of vehicular manslaughter and vehicular homicide in a February wreck that killed a man and five children.

News outlets report 32-year-old Dominique R. Taylor, of Bowie, was indicted Tuesday. It's unclear if she's been arrested. An investigation determined she was driving with more than twice the legal blood alcohol level of .08 in her system.

Prosecutors say Taylor was driving along Route 301 in Prince George's County when she lost control of the car and swerved into trees.

Authorities say the children, all relatives, weren't wearing seat belts and were ejected. Taylor's children, 8-year-old London and 5-year-old Paris, were killed along with 6-year-old Rickelle Ricks, 14-year-old Zion Beard and 15-year-old Damari Herald. Passenger 23-year-old Cornell D. Simon later died from his injuries.

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Information from: The Capital, http://www.capitalgazette.com/
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Philippine police investigators have summoned the owner of a four-story supermarket that collapsed in a powerful earthquake and is feared to have trapped dozens of people, officials said Wednesday.

Chuzon Supermarket owner Samuel Chu on Tuesday appeared at a police station in Porac town in Pampanga province, north of Manila, at the start of an investigation on suspicion the building's construction may have breached regulations, said police Director General Oscar Albayalde.

At least five bodies and nine survivors have been pulled out from the rubble of the supermarket. Monday's quake, which was caused by movement in a local fault, left at least 17 people dead, mostly in Pampanga and nearby Zambales provinces.

Porac Councilor Maynard Lapid said there were no more reports of missing people and rescuers with sniffer dogs were no longer detecting any sign of life in the rubble. Rescuers and workers, however, would continue excavation work in the huge pile of concrete, twisted metal sheets and wood, he said.

Another powerful but unrelated temblor struck the central Philippines Tuesday but was too deep to cause any major damage. Ten people were injured by the quake, which was centered near the town of San Julian in Eastern Samar province, according to the government's disaster-response agency.

Chu could face possible criminal complaints from relatives of victims. Authorities and government engineers were investigating if the construction of two additional floors at the supermarket complied with standards and regulations, Albayalde said.

In this April 23, 2019, photo released by the Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, talks to rescuers as he visits an earthquake-damaged building where operations continue for trapped people in Porac town, Pampanga province, northern Philippines. The Philippine national police chief says investigators have summoned the owner of a four-story supermarket that collapsed in a powerful earthquake and trapped dozens of people. (Richard Madelo/Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP)

Other Chuzon supermarkets were ordered to temporarily close to allow safety inspections, he said.

In a televised meeting in Porac late Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte asked authorities to check if the pillars of the supermarket, which officials said was originally built as a two-story building about two years ago, could withstand the additional two floors.

Duterte said the crumbling of the supermarket "was appalling" and raised a lot of questions since adjacent buildings, including a government gym, did not collapse.

In Manila, a traffic-prone street was partially closed after a college building was damaged by the quake and appeared to tilt slightly toward an adjacent building, officials said. Other buildings swayed as the ground shook and water from one Manila high-rise swimming pool splashed down like a waterfall.

One of the world's most disaster-prone countries, the Philippines has frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," a seismically active arc of volcanos and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

A magnitude 7.7 quake killed nearly 2,000 people in the northern Philippines in 1990.

In this April 23, 2019, photo released by the Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte visits the wake of a victim that was killed when a building collapsed in Porac town, Pampanga province, northern Philippines. The Philippine national police chief says investigators have summoned the owner of a four-story supermarket that collapsed in a powerful earthquake and trapped dozens of people. (Richard Madelo/Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP)

In this April 23, 209, photo released by the Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, stands beside House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, third from left, as they visit an earthquake-damaged building where rescuers continue operations for trapped people in Porac town, Pampanga province, northern Philippines. The Philippine national police chief says investigators have summoned the owner of a four-story supermarket that collapsed in a powerful earthquake and trapped dozens of people. (Robinson Ninal Jr., Malacanang Presidential Photographers Division via AP)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Major food companies in Italy and Denmark have received letters containing an unidentified powder and written threats requesting they pay money or risk having their products poisoned, authorities said Wednesday.

Danish police said the letters in Denmark contained "a hazardous substance" and were sent from Belgium. Danish Crown, which describes itself as Europe's largest meat processing company, confirmed it received such letters but said that staff and consumers were not at risk.

Similar letters have been sent to Italian coffeemakers Lavazza and Caffe Vergnano as well as Nutella producer Ferrero said investigators in Turin, northern Italy.

Danish broadcaster DR said letters also have been sent to food processing companies in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Britain. Swedish broadcaster SVT said that frozen foods giant Findus, based in Malmo, southern Sweden, received a letter with white powder and a threat on April 7.

It was not immediately clear whether the letters were connected.

The letters in Denmark threatened to infect the companies' products if they did not pay 30,000 euros ($33,735), Danish media said. Investigators in Italy said the same demands were made in the Italian cases.

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Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.
KUAJOK, South Sudan (AP) - Despondent, Akon Mathiong points to two small mounds of dirt where she buried her grandsons, 4 and 5 years old, last month. They died after contracting measles in one of the worst-hit areas of South Sudan's latest outbreak.

"Every time I see the graves I feel like crying," Mathiong said.

The family said the boys had been vaccinated against the highly infectious disease. Similar infections are prompting questions about whether some vaccines have been compromised in a country largely devastated by conflict.

As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war, more than 750 measles cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January. That's almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to World Health Organization data.

The increase in measles cases is part of a global one, in part because of misinformation that makes some parents balk at receiving a vaccine. WHO noted a 300% increase in reported measles cases worldwide in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year.

Many in developing countries don't dispute the vaccine but instead are held back by lack of access. Measles, spread by coughing, sneezing, close contact or infected surfaces, has no specific treatment. Malnourished children and those with weak immune systems can develop severe complications that can lead to death - and malnourishment can reduce how well the vaccine protects them.

In this photo taken Tuesday, April 16, 2019, Agiu Nyang, 1, who is sick with measles, sits on the lap of his mother Amel Makir at the hospital in Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Though an emergency vaccination campaign is underway in South Sudan's 12 affected counties the outbreak is spreading, leading some health officials and residents to doubt the vaccine's viability in some cases.

"Those kids were vaccinated but they died. It makes me wonder if the vaccine is working," the boys' uncle, John Garang Ajak, told The Associated Press during a visit to Kuajok town earlier this month. At least two other vaccinated children in his family contracted measles, he said.

While the AP could not independently verify that the children had been vaccinated, medical workers at Kuajok hospital are seeing some vaccinated children contract measles, said Dr. Garang Nyuol. He has seen more than 10 such cases since January.

To ensure the integrity of the highly effective measles vaccine it must be kept at between 2 degrees Celsius (35 Fahrenheit) and 8 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit). Kuajok hospital, Gogrial state's main medical facility, administers measles vaccines year-round, yet several staffers said its two generators often shut down for hours, even days, at a time.

"I'm worried about the effectiveness of the vaccine," Chok Deng, the director general for the state's ministry of health, told the AP. He said he reached out to the United Nations children's agency and WHO for help and was told it was being "followed up."

UNICEF, which provides the majority of vaccines in South Sudan as well as freezers and generators, said the system is designed to be self-sufficient for 16 hours in case of a power failure. The organization conducts regular maintenance and has not "received any messages about generators in Kuajok not running properly," said Penelope Campbell, chief of health for UNICEF in South Sudan.

Dr. Ujjiga Thomas, WHO's Kuajok hub coordinator, said that "at no time has the cold chain been compromised when it comes to fuel or spare parts" at the hospital.

During power outages, medical workers at the hospital move the vaccines to small mobile refrigerators, but experts say a constant shift in temperature reduces the vaccines' strength.

"If we do not respect the storage temperatures, that can compromise the vaccine's effectiveness," said Dr. Alhassane Toure, a vaccination expert with WHO.

Maintaining the cold chain is a challenge across South Sudan, especially in remote areas. An internal document in April from the country's health cluster, comprised of various aid groups, seen by the AP cited a shortage of "qualified cold chain technicians" to address maintenance issues.

A visit to the Kuajok hospital showed the challenges in containing South Sudan's measles outbreak. Just one nurse is available for 50 patients. The isolation tent is so hot that patients lie on the ground throughout the compound instead, at risk of infecting others.

"It's concerning, outbreaks are popping up all over the place," said Natalie Page, health adviser for Medair South Sudan, which recently vaccinated more than 190,000 children in Gogrial state.

Low vaccination rates allow measles to spread quickly, she said. Just 59% of children under 5 in South Sudan have received the measles vaccine, according to the health ministry. Overall immunization rates need to be 90% to 95% or higher to prevent outbreaks. In order for the vaccine to have maximum efficacy, children need to receive two doses.

With the rainy season starting in May, there is concern that reaching remote communities will become more difficult. Meanwhile three to 10 new cases arrive at Kuajok's hospital daily.

Cradling her weakened 1-year-old, Amel Makir unsuccessfully tried to get him to nurse from her breast. Their village is a three-hour walk from the hospital and has not been reached with vaccinations. Now the boy has measles.

"It's been six days and he's not improving," Makir said. "I'm worried he'll only get worse."

___

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In this photo taken Wednesday, April 17, 2019, Agiu Nyang, 1, who is sick with measles, is nursed by his mother Amel Makir as she lies on the ground at the hospital in Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 17, 2019, a community health worker prepares to vaccinate children against measles outside of Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 17, 2019, a boy yells as a community health worker vaccinates him against measles outside of Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 17, 2019, mothers sit next to their children who have measles, at the hospital in Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 17, 2019, three children with measles lie on mats outside the hospital in Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

In this photo taken Tuesday, April 16, 2019, Agiu Nyang, 1, who is sick with measles, sits on the lap of his mother Amel Makir at the hospital in Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 17, 2019, a community health worker vaccinates children against measles outside of Kuajok, South Sudan. As South Sudan emerges from a five-year civil war it is grappling with a measles outbreak in which more than 750 cases, including seven deaths, have been reported since January - almost six times the number of cases for all of 2018, according to WHO data. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)
Theres much at stake in the global trade war President Trump embarked on. For all of his popular backing in farm states  except Illinois  one would think hed be more mindful of what the tariffs have done to his core supporters. Some of us remember how Farm Belt states turned on President Carter in 1980 after he slapped an embargo on grain sales to the Soviets following their misguided incursion into Afghanistan
LONDON (AP) - The killing of journalist Lyra McKee must be a turning point for Northern Ireland, a priest said Wednesday at a funeral service attended by British and Irish leaders alongside mourners in superhero T-shirts and colorful Harry Potter scarves.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and Ireland's President, Michael D. Higgins, were among hundreds of people celebrating the life of McKee, who was shot dead by paramilitary gunfire last week. She was the first journalist killed on the job in the U.K. for almost 20 years, and her death caused wide shock in a region still shaken by tremors from decades of violence.

British opposition leaders and the heads of Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant political parties also attended a service at St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast led by Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy. Some of McKee's family and friends wore Harry Potter and Marvel Comics items in tribute to her love of those fictional worlds.

McKee, 29, was killed Thursday as she covered anti-police rioting in the city of Londonderry, also known as Derry. A small Irish nationalist militant group, the New IRA, said it was responsible.

In his homily, Father Martin Magill said McKee's death should be "the doorway to a new beginning" for Northern Ireland.

He praised the united response of politicians, but asked: "Why in God's name does it take the death of a 29-year-old woman with her whole life in front of her to get to this point?" - as mourners rose to their feet to applaud.

A mourner wearing a Harry Potter Gryffindor House scarf holds an order of service as she arrives for the funeral of slain journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

"To those who had any part in her murder, I encourage you to reflect on Lyra McKee, journalist and writer, as a powerful example of 'The pen is mightier than the sword,'" Magill said.

"I plead with you to take the road of non-violence to achieve your political ends."

The IRA and most other paramilitary groups have disarmed since Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, but a small number of dissidents refused to abandon violence, and have targeted police and prison officials in bombings and shootings.

The New IRA, the largest of the splinter groups, has been blamed for a January car bomb outside a Derry courthouse and letter bombs sent to transit hubs in Britain last month. No one was injured in either attack.

The group acknowledged responsibility for McKee's death, saying she was shot accidentally "while standing beside enemy forces" - a reference to the police.

Police arrested two teenagers and a 57-year-old woman but released all three without charge.

Security officials have warned that political drift in Northern Ireland and uncertainty around Brexit could embolden those bent on violence.

Northern Ireland's power-sharing government has been suspended for two years because of a dispute between the main Protestant and Catholic political parties.

The U.K.'s planned departure from the EU has revived fears of a return to border checks between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and EU member Ireland. Customs posts or other infrastructure along the 300-mile (500-kilometer) frontier would disrupt people and businesses on both sides and could become a target of attack.

Britain, the EU and Ireland all say there will be no hard border, but it remains unclear how that will be achieved.

McKee was a rising star of journalism who had been published in the Belfast Telegraph and The Atlantic and wrote a book, "Angels with Blue Faces," about a Troubles-era political murder. A second book was due to be published next year.

She had written powerfully about growing up gay in Northern Ireland and the struggles of the "cease-fire babies," the generation raised after the 1998 Good Friday accord that ended three decades of sectarian conflict in which 3,700 people died.

"We were the Good Friday Agreement generation, destined to never witness the horrors of war but to reap the spoils of peace. The spoils just never seemed to reach us," McKee wrote in 2016.

Friend Stephen Lusty said McKee "embodied the future of finding commonality, enjoying difference in others." He said she had planned to propose to her partner, Sara Canning.

McKee's sister, Nichola Corner, told mourners that "within each of us we have the power to create the kind of society that Lyra envisioned."

"One where labels are meaningless. One where every single person is valued. ... This is Lyra's legacy that we must carry forward," she said.

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, left, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and Irish President Michael D Higgins attend the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Brian Lawless/Pool via AP)

The hearse carrying the body of journalist Lyra McKee arrives at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald talk, prior to the start of the funeral service of slain journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Brian Lawless/Pool Photo via AP

Irish President Michael D Higgins, right, arrives for the funeral service for journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, left and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald talk, prior to the start of the funeral service of slain journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Brian Lawless/Pool Photo via AP

Ireland's Prime Minister Leo Varadkar arrives for the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Brian Lawless/Pool via AP)

Mourners listen to the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

Mourners listen to the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

The coffin with the body of journalist Lyra McKee is carried into St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

Mourners listen to the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland joined hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

A mourner listens to the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee outside St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)

The crowd gather to listen to the funeral service of journalist Lyra McKee at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, northern Ireland, Wednesday April 24, 2019. The leaders of Britain and Ireland will join hundreds of mourners Wednesday at the funeral of Lyra McKee, the young journalist shot dead during rioting in Northern Ireland last week. (Liam McBurney/PA via AP)
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syrian state-run media say a bomb has killed a civilian and wounded five other people in a Damascus neighborhood.

The official SANA news agency says the bomb had been placed in a car in the Nahr Aysheh district in southern Damascus and killed the driver when it detonated. The agency says an investigation is underway.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Bombings in the Syrian capital have been relatively rare in the past few years, particularly since President Bashar Assad's government last year secured areas around Damascus that had been held for years by rebels.

The country's civil war is now in its ninth year. The conflict has killed more than 450,000 people and displaced millions of others.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is challenging nations who label the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide, saying they should inspect Turkey's Ottoman-era archives and "we have nothing to hide."

Marking April 24, 1915, considered the start of the massacre of the Armenians, Erdogan said nations who accuse Turkey of genocide have a "bloody past."

Historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed around World War I, and many scholars see it as the 20th century's first genocide. Turkey disputes the description, says the toll has been inflated and considers those killed victims of a civil war.

Erdogan said: "when you dig into massacres, genocides (and) torture ., you will find those who cry 'genocide, democracy, freedom' against us."
LONDON (AP) - Scotland should hold a new referendum on independence from the U.K. by 2021 if Britain leaves the European Union, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said Wednesday, even as she acknowledged that she lacks the power to make that happen on her own.

Scots voted against independence 55% to 45% in a 2014 referendum billed as a once-in-generation poll.

In 2016, the U.K. as a whole voted to leave the EU, but people in Scotland voted strongly to remain.

Sturgeon, who leads the pro-independence Scottish National Party, argues that Brexit changes everything because Scotland should not be dragged out of the 28-nation EU against its will.

The first minister told the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh that if Britain leaves the EU "a choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered in the lifetime of this parliament" - before the next scheduled Scottish election in May 2021.

Sturgeon said the Scottish government would introduce legislation setting the framework for a new referendum. Holding such a vote, however, would need approval from the British government, which right now says the time is not right.

First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon issues a statement on Brexit and independence in the main chamber at the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, Wednesday April 24, 2019. Sturgeon says she wants to hold a new referendum on independence from the U.K. by 2021 if Britain leaves the European Union, though she acknowledges she lacks the power to make it happen on her own. Scots voted against independence by 55% to 45% in a 2014 referendum billed as a once-in-generation poll. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

The U.K. government's Scottish Secretary, David Mundell, said Sturgeon "continues to press for divisive constitutional change when it is clear that most people in Scotland do not want another independence referendum."

Sturgeon acknowledged the opposition from the Conservative government in London but said "I believe that position will prove to be unsustainable."

"If we are successful in further growing the support and the demand for independence ... then no U.K. government will be able to stop the will of the people," she said.

Britain's European Union exit, long scheduled to take place last month, has been delayed as Prime Minister Theresa May's government struggles to win Parliament's backing for its EU divorce agreement.

The bloc has given Britain until Oct. 31 to ratify an agreement or leave the 28-nation EU without a deal to smooth the way.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's most trusted policy adviser has been removed from one of his posts, a South Korean lawmaker said Wednesday, a reshuffle that if confirmed may be related to the breakdown of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi in February.

The head of parliament's intelligence committee, Lee Hye-hoon, cited South Korea's main spy agency as saying that Kim Yong Chol lost his Workers' Party post in charge of relations with South Korea earlier this month. He was replaced by little-known Jang Kum Chol as director of the party's United Front Department, Lee said.

Lee said she obtained the information at a private briefing by the National Intelligence Service.

Kim Yong Chol has been North Korea's top nuclear negotiator and the counterpart of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo since Kim Jong Un entered nuclear talks with the U.S. early last year. He traveled to Washington and met President Donald Trump twice before Kim's two summits with Trump.

His rise had baffled many North Korea watchers because he handled South Korea ties, not international or U.S. relations. Previously, he was a military intelligence chief believed to be behind a slew of provocations, including two deadly attacks in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans and an alleged 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures. Both Seoul and Washington imposed sanctions on him in recent years.

The NIS and the Unification Ministry, a Seoul agency responsible for North Korea ties, said they could not immediately confirm the information on Kim Yong Chol.

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2019, file photo, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, and Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, pose for photographs at the The Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington. The head of parliament's intelligence committee, Lee Hye-hoon, on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 cited South Korea's main spy agency as saying that Kim Yong Chol lost his Workers' Party post in charge of relations with South Korea. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

The NIS has a spotty record in reporting developments in North Korea. But if confirmed, Kim Yong Chol's replacement would add to speculation that he is being sidelined from nuclear diplomacy to take responsibility for the failure of the Hanoi summit.

Kim Jong Un, who is desperate to revive his country's moribund economy, returned home empty-handed from Hanoi after Trump rejected his calls for easing U.S.-led sanctions in return for dismantling a key nuclear complex, a limited denuclearization step.

Kim Yong Chol isn't among a list of officials accompanying Kim Jong Un on his current visit to Russia, which began earlier Wednesday. Many experts in South Korea said North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui are likely to take the lead in the nuclear diplomacy.

"(North Korea's) significantly diminished reliance on Kim Yong Chol is a very positive sign for the denuclearization negotiations between North Korea and the United States," said Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute. He called Kim Yong Chol "most responsible" for the second summit's failure due to his hard-line stance.

While the NIS believes the personnel change possibly indicates that the United Front Department is now taking a back seat in the nuclear negotiations with Washington, the spy agency also said it wasn't immediately clear whether Kim Yong Chol would be removed from the talks entirely or immediately, Lee said.

Kim still holds several other prominent titles, including vice chairman of the Workers Party's Central Committee and member of the powerful State Affairs Commission.

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, in Hanoi. At front right is Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief. At left is national security adviser John Bolton. The head of South Korean parliament's intelligence committee, Lee Hye-hoon, on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 cited South Korea's main spy agency as saying that Kim Yong Chol lost his Workers' Party post in charge of relations with South Korea. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - A new bridge proposed for North Carolina's barrier islands is being challenged by local residents, hunters and wildlife enthusiasts.

A lawsuit challenging state and federal approval of the Mid Currituck Bridge was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh by the Southern Environmental Law Center.

It says the $500 million project would lead to growth in undisturbed areas along the northern Outer Banks. The center's attorney says the Federal Highway Administration and the North Carolina Department of Transportation have failed to consider less damaging and less expensive alternatives.

The groups also claim that NCDOT has shut the public out of the decision-making process. They say there has been no public analysis of the bridge and no opportunity for the public to weigh in on options since 2012.

"We are disappointed that NCDOT is pushing forward with this project," Tim Gestwicki of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation said in the news release. "This unnecessary bridge would devastate one of the most important areas for migratory wildfowl impairing the ability of hunters and anglers to enjoy this unique area."

State officials said in March that the Federal Highway Administration had granted its record of decision for the 4.7-mile (7.5 kilometer), two-lane toll bridge. It would connect the community of Aydlett on the mainland and Corolla on the northeastern Outer Banks. The project includes a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) long bridge across the Maple Swamp, and would provide another evacuation route during hurricanes.

Jen Symonds, founder of the group NoMCB, said the bridge would only be used for 13 weekends a year during peak vacation time. She said "$500 million is just too much to spend on vacation traffic when there are so many other needed transportation projects in coastal North Carolina, and so many alternative solutions to deal with the traffic."
CAIRO (AP) - The referendum approved by Egyptian voters that allows President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to extend his rule to 2030 was held in an "unfair and unfree" environment and has "no pretense to legitimacy," an international rights group said.

Human Rights Watch said the three-day vote on a set of constitutional amendments, which concluded Monday, was "marred by serious flaws," including reports of citizens being forced to vote or bribed with food and money.

"The constitutional amendments are a shameless attempt to entrench the military's power over civilian rule, and the referendum took place in such an unfree and unfair environment that its results can have no pretense to legitimacy," Michael Page, the group's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement issued after the results were announced Tuesday.

El-Sissi's "desire to demolish an independent judiciary and secure his autocratic rule for at least 11 more years is re-creating the impoverished and repressive political environment that drove Egyptians to revolt against former President (Hosni) Mubarak in 2011."

Authorities said Tuesday the amendments were approved by 88.83% of voters, with turnout of 44.33%. The constitutional amendments extend the presidential term from four years to six years, but include a special clause extending el-Sissi's current term to 2024 and allowing him to run for another six-year term.

The amendments recognize the military as the "guardian and protector" of the Egyptian state and give military courts wider jurisdiction for trying civilians. They will also allow el-Sissi to appoint top civilian judges.

El-Sissi led the military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013 and was elected president the following year. Last year he was re-elected after all potentially serious challengers were arrested or pressured to withdraw from the race.

Authorities have waged an unprecedented crackdown on dissent since 2013, rolling back freedoms gained in the original uprising. Thousands of people have been jailed, including a number of prominent pro-democracy activists. Local media is dominated by pro-government figures, and vaguely written laws prescribe jail time for any perceived criticism of the government or military.

Ahmed Badawi was arrested in Cairo on Saturday while holding a sign that read "No to the constitutional amendments," according to Doaa Mustafa, a human rights lawyer. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms said a local police station confirmed his arrest. The NGO said he has been questioned by the national security agency.

During the three-day referendum, voters were offered free rides or food parcels in exchange for voting, in efforts organized by pro-government businessmen, The Associated Press reported. The Arab League said Wednesday that its monitors witnessed similar activities.

At least five people in and around Cairo said they saw police stop microbuses and check that all passengers had red ink on their fingers from voting. Those who did not have ink on their fingers were ordered off the buses and told to vote.

"They took our IDs first, then they checked our fingers," said Ahmed Kassem, a 28-year-old worker in a dairy shop. "I had already voted and had my finger inked. When the officer saw the ink, he let me go." Two other people confirmed the incident, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Two other individuals said police stopped their microbus at a temporary checkpoint near Cairo University. They said police took them and five other passengers to a local police station, where they were held for more than an hour until the polls opened. Then they were taken to a nearby polling center and told to vote.

The two individuals, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said they were not told whether to vote yes or no.

Police spokesmen did not respond to multiple calls requesting comment.

In a departure from previous votes, authorities allowed people to cast ballots outside their home provinces. A judge overseeing a polling center in Cairo's Manial neighborhood said it "made the difference" and was key to boosting turnout. The judge spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to brief reporters.
LONDON (AP) - British officials downplayed reports that Prime Minister Theresa May will allow China's Huawei to supply parts of the U.K.'s new internet network, a decision that goes against U.S. pleas to ban the firm as it could help Beijing's spying efforts.

British media reported Wednesday that the government will let Huawei work on "non-core" parts of the 5G network, such as antennas, as the country adopts the next generation technology that will provide faster service and connect a broader array of devices to the internet.

The decision by the National Security Council was first reported by the Daily Telegraph, which didn't provide a source for the information.

Margot James, the government minister for digital and creative industries, said in a tweet that the government hasn't made a final decision, "despite Cabinet leaks to the contrary."

Ciaran Martin, head of the National Cyber Security Centre, said at a security conference in Glasgow that the government would announce the decision as part of a larger package of measures designed to ensure the 5G network is as secure as possible.

"There's a lot more to 5G security than just whether particular companies get particular contracts," he said. "There's a whole framework of improvement we need to make."

FILE - In this March 26, 2019, file photo, Huawei CEO Richard Yu stands during the presentation of the new Huawei P30 smartphone, in Paris. Chinese tech giant Huawei said Monday, April 22, 2019, its revenue rose 39 percent over a year earlier in the latest quarter despite U.S. pressure on allies to shun its telecom and network technology as a security risk. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

The United States has been lobbying allies like Britain to exclude Huawei from all 5G networks, noting that the Chinese government can force the company to give it backdoor access to the data on its networks.

Huawei officials have denied that the company is a security risk, saying that they have no links to the Chinese government and operate like any other international company.

But a key U.K. lawmaker said that allowing Huawei to be involved would increase the risk of cyber espionage by China.

Tom Tugendhat, chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs committee, told the BBC that it is very difficult to separate core and non-core components of the 5G network because the technology represents an "exponential increase" in speed and capability.

Tugendhat said that while he doesn't doubt the integrity of Huawei officials, they are still bound by Chinese law.

"This does mean that it is unwise to cooperate on an area of critical national infrastructure, like telecoms, with a state that can best be described as not always friendly," he said.
BEIJING (AP) - China's government on Wednesday rejected accusations that it steals technology after a former General Electric Co. engineer and his Chinese business partner were indicted on charges of industrial spying.

The charges announced Tuesday come amid a tariff war between Beijing and Washington over U.S. complaints including that China steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.

The foreign ministry said charges against Xiaoqing Zheng, a former employee of GE's power division, and Zhaoxi Zhang, a businessman in northeastern China, appear to be a "common commercial case" that shouldn't be "over-interpreted and politicized."

"The achievements of China's development have not come from theft. It is the result of the Chinese people's wisdom and sweat," said a ministry statement. "We hope the relevant sides can stop unfounded hype and view and deal with the relevant issues objectively and rationally."

The ministry said it had no details of the case beyond what was reported in the press.

Zheng and Zhang are accused of receiving money from the Chinese government and coordinating with officials to make agreements with official institutions to develop turbine technologies. The indictment said Zheng, who specialized in sealing technology, took proprietary information and emailed it to Zhang, who is his nephew.

His lawyer, Kevin Luibrand, said he wasn't commenting on the charges.

Foreign security researchers say China's government has for decades encouraged engineers and scientists to bring home foreign technology, whether obtained lawfully or not. They say Beijing offers financial rewards and operates business parks where people can turn stolen technology into commercial products.

In October, the Justice Department charged an operative of China's Ministry of State Security with attempting to steal trade secrets from GE Aviation and other aerospace companies.

Chinese officials have complained the U.S. accusations are aimed at stopping an emerging competitor.

Tuesday's indictment cited Chinese companies and institutions it said were linked to Zheng and Zhang's case.

They included Liaoning Tianyi Aviation Technology Co. Ltd. and Nanjing Tianyi Avi Tech Co. Ltd. and Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang Aeroengine Research Institute and Huaihai Institute of Technology.

A man who answered the phone in the president's office at the Huaihai Institute said he hadn't heard of the case but defended the university.

"My university is a university with a nature of public good," said the man, who would give only his surname, Wang. "I don't know where the allegation has come from."

A woman who answered the phone at Nanjing Tianyi Aviation Technology said the company's boss wasn't available.

Phone calls to Shenyang Aerospace University weren't answered.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine president has threatened to ship containers of garbage back to Canada and dump some at the country's embassy in Manila if Canadian officials don't take back waste that Filipino officials say was illegally shipped to Manila years ago.

More than 100 containers of household trash, including plastic bottles and bags, newspapers and used adult diapers, were shipped in batches from Canada to the Philippines from 2013 to 2014. Most of the shipping containers remain in local ports, sparking protests from environmental activists. Philippine officials say they were falsely declared by a private firm as recyclable plastic scraps and have asked Canada to take the garbage back.

President Rodrigo Duterte raised the garbage issue in a televised meeting with local officials late Tuesday after visiting earthquake-hit Pampanga province, north of Manila. He said he was ready to "declare war against" Canada.

"I want a boat prepared. I'll give a warning to Canada maybe next week that they better pull that thing out or I will set sail to Canada and pour their garbage there," Duterte said, adding he would ask Canadian officials to "prepare a grand reception."

"Celebrate because your garbage is coming home," he said. "Eat it if you want to."

About five truckloads of the garbage, he added, could be dumped at the Canadian Embassy in Manila.

The Canadian government said through its embassy in Manila that it "is strongly committed to collaborating with the government of the Philippines to resolve this issue." It said it was aware of a Philippine court ruling that ordered a private importer to ship the waste back to Canada.

A group of officials from both sides "is examining the full spectrum of issues related to the removal of the waste with a view to a timely resolution," the embassy said in a statement.

A Manila court ordered the private importers in 2016 to ship the waste back to Canada. Of 103 shipping containers that entered Manila, the waste from 26 containers was buried in a landfill in Tarlac province north of Manila.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said in the past that he discussed the problem with Duterte.

Canadian regulations "prevented us from being able to receive the waste back in Canada," Trudeau said in 2017. He said those legal barriers have been dealt with "so it is now theoretically possible to get it back."

Lingering issues, however, including the consequences of the commercial transaction, which "did not involve government," were delaying the resolution of the problem, Trudeau said.

Last year, Duterte ordered the cancellation of a multimillion-dollar agreement to buy 16 helicopters from Canada after its government decided to review the deal due to concerns the Philippine military might use the aircraft in counterinsurgency assaults.
First Midwest Bank, which holds the mortgage on the property and is seeking to foreclose on the property, is showing little interest right now in completing the development, city attorney Robert Long said. He added city officials think that likely once the issues raised in the lawsuit are addressed, the bank will tell the city its plans for the subdivision.
SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemeni security officials say police have detained at least 5,000 migrants over the last 10 days who were attempting to cross to Saudi Arabia.

The officials said Wednesday that the migrants, most of them from African countries, are being held in overcrowded police stations across the southern city of Aden.

Aden's security chief, Shalal Shaye, says the migrants have launched a hunger strike. He says authorities are seeking assistance from the U.N. migration agency and aid groups.

The other officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

Migrants from the Horn of Africa continue to travel to Yemen en route to jobs in the oil-rich Gulf despite the four-year war between a Saudi-led coalition and Iran-linked Houthi rebels.
DETROIT (AP) - Ford is sinking a half-billion dollars into electric vehicle startup Rivian in a deal that has the companies working together on a new Ford electric vehicle based on Rivian underpinnings.

Ford Motor Co. will become a minority partner in Rivian, which is based outside of Detroit and recently rolled out a new electric pickup truck and an SUV that will go on sale late next year.

The tie-up is another sign that automakers and tech companies are pairing up to share the huge capital costs of developing electric vehicles and even those that drive themselves. Ford and Rivian executives both said there's room for the partnership to grow and for the companies to share expertise.

"We are learning a great deal from this wonderful company and its leadership," Ford CEO Jim Hackett said Wednesday. "We're open-minded to its fresh approach to electric vehicles."

Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe said his company will benefit from Ford's manufacturing and lightweight vehicle expertise. The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker's top-selling Ford F-Series pickup truck has an aluminum body that shaved off as much as 700 pounds from the previous version of the truck.

Rivian will remain an independent company. But Ford President of Automotive Joe Hinrichs will get a seat on the startup's seven-member board. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.

In this undated photo provided by VarnHagen Creative Photo LLC, RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO, and Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford pose for a photo in Dearborn, Mich. Ford announced Wednesday, April 24, 2019, that it is sinking a half-billion dollars into electric vehicle startup Rivian in a deal that has the companies working together on a new Ford electric vehicle based on Rivian underpinnings. (Sam VarnHagen/VarnHagen Creative Photo LLC via AP)

Scaringe said the Ford deal was separate from a $700 million investment from Amazon that was announced in February. The companies haven't disclosed how that deal will take shape.

On a conference call with reporters and analysts, neither company would disclose what Ford vehicle would be built off the Rivian underpinnings, which the company calls its "skateboard platform." Hinrichs said the partnership will speed development and save money on the new Ford vehicle. Rivian would build the platform, which would be sent to Ford for final vehicle assembly, Hinrichs said.

The partnership could extend to autonomous vehicle technology in the future. Hackett said executives in charge of Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle company partly owned by Ford, know Scaringe well.

Rivian has a large engineering and administrative operation in a former cash register factory in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth Township, Michigan, as well as outposts in San Jose and Irvine, California, and Surrey, England. The company also is starting manufacturing operations in a 2.6-million-square-foot factory in Normal, Illinois, that was once used by Mitsubishi.

The company's R1T pickup and R1S SUV that are supposed to have more than 400 miles of range on a single charge. The five-seat pickup is aimed at the market for off-road capable trucks with outdoorsy features, a market that electric vehicle competitor Tesla Inc. has not yet entered. A basic truck with smaller 230-mile (370 kilometers) battery pack will start under $70,000. A truck with the longer-range battery will be around $90,000. They'll roll out in the U.S. first, then to other markets.

Scaringe said Rivian has plans for lower-cost vehicles in the future, and both companies said they likely would have products that compete for buyers.

Ford said the Rivian vehicle is in addition to Ford's plans to invest $11 billion in electric vehicles including a Mustang-inspired SUV and a zero-emissions version of the F-150 pickup.
ISLAMABAD (AP) - A Vienna-based advocacy group has honored a Pakistani journalist known for his critical reporting on the country's powerful military establishment.

The International Press Institute said on Wednesday it named Cyril Almeida the World Press Freedom Hero for 2018. The award honors reporters for contributions to the promotion of press freedoms in the face of great personal risk.

Almeida, who works at Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, was charged with treason after an interview last year with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in which Sharif accused the military of aiding the militants who had carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Sharif was disqualified from office in 2017 and is now imprisoned.

Almedia's case still lingers before a Pakistani court but if and when he goes on trial, he could face the death penalty.
BERLIN (AP) - The U.N.'s human rights chief is calling Saudi Arabia's mass execution of 37 men, including three who were sentenced as minors, "shocking" and "abhorrent."

Michelle Bachelet's office said Wednesday the beheadings in six cities across Saudi Arabia were carried out Tuesday despite repeated warnings from rights officials about lack of due process.

The men mostly belonged to the minority Shiite branch of Islam and had been convicted of terrorism-related crimes. The body and severed head of a convicted Sunni extremist were pinned to a pole as a public warning.

Bachelet said it was "particularly abhorrent that at least three of those killed were minors at the time of their sentencing."

She urged Saudi Arabia to review its counterterror legislation, expressly prohibit the death penalty for minors and halt pending executions.
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) - The Latest on developments in Libya, where armed groups are battling for control of the capital, Tripoli (all times local):

3 p.m.

A top Russian diplomat has called on the self-styled Libyan National Army to cease fire and stop its advance on the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Asked if Moscow is asking the LNA to stop the advance, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin told Russian news agencies on Wednesday that Moscow is asking it to cease fire and "restore a dialogue and political efforts" promoted by the United Nations.

Russia has maintained ties with the U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli and with Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, who leads the LNA and is at war with rival militias loosely allied with the government. Recently, Russia has seemed to favor Hifter. A top official in Hifter's administration was visiting Moscow on Wednesday.

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12:15 p.m.

The U.N. says the fighting in Libya's capital has reached a detention center holding hundreds of detained migrants and refugees.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said Tuesday that the U.N. aid agency has received reports that the Qasr Ben Ghashir detention center, holding some 890 refugees and migrants, was "breached by armed actors." The facility is 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) south of central Tripoli.

The U.N. says some 3,600 refugees and migrants are held in facilities near the front lines of fighting between the self-styled Libyan National Army and other heavily-armed militias.

Libya became a major conduit for African migrants and refugees fleeing to Europe after the uprising that toppled and killed Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Thousands have been detained by armed groups and smugglers.
HAVANA (AP) - The Trump administration's crackdown on business with Cuba's communist government is causing unprecedented concern among European companies on the island, according to the European Union's ambassador.

"There's enormous worry," Ambassador Alberto Navarro told The Associated Press.

"There are businesspeople who've been here 20, 30 years, who've made bets on investing their financial resources in Cuba to stimulate commerce, tourism, international exchange, and many of them tell me that they haven't lived through a similar situation," Navarro said in an interview at the EU embassy Tuesday afternoon.

The Trump administration announced last week that it would allow Americans to sue foreign companies whose partnerships with the Cuban government make use of commercial and industrial properties confiscated from Americans in Cuba's 1959 revolution. The measure also allows suits by the large number of Cubans who fled the island and later became Americans.

The first lawsuits can be filed starting May 2.

Navarro said the European Union will vigorously defend European companies doing business in Cuba in court and before the World Trade Organization.

European Union Ambassador Alberto Navarro speaks during a interview in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. Navarro says the Trump administration's crackdown on business with the communist government is causing unprecedented concern among European companies doing business on the island.(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

"I think I have said with great clarity, any country can adopt whatever legislation it wants, and apply the law within its own country, we can criticize whether we like it or not. What that country cannot do is impose its legislation on others," Navarro said. "We are the front line of defense in Cuba, and obviously have legitimate interests in Cuba and we want to defend them and protect our citizens and our investors."

The EU is Cuba's largest trading partner, with some 2.6 billion euros in annual trade with the island, all but 400 million euros a year in exports from the EU to Cuba.

The Trump administration has imposed a series of recent measures meant to damage the Cuban economy, saying they are meant to prevent Cuba from aiding President Nicolas Maduro's socialist administration in Venezuela.
NEW YORK (AP) - The Oscars have tweaked a few rules, but not any that would limit the eligibility of Netflix films at the Academy Awards.

The Academy of Motion Pictures' board of governors early Wednesday announced a handful of changes passed during its annual April rules meeting. But the biggest news was what the 54-person board elected not to alter: the one-week theatrical release required for an Oscar nomination.

Many in Hollywood, including some academy board members, have argued that a more substantial release should be required than what the academy's Rule Two stipulates: a seven-day run in a commercial Los Angeles County theater with at least three screenings a day.

Netflix premieres most of its movies directly on its streaming platform, but last year made exceptions for a handful of titles, most notably Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma." The film was nominated for 10 awards and won three. Major theater chains have refused to screen movies that don't adhere to the traditional 90-day theatrical window.

In a statement, academy president John Bailey said the issue "weighed heavily" in the board's discussions. But for now, a brief theatrical release remains the bar for entry.

"We support the theatrical experience as integral to the art of motion pictures, and this weighed heavily in our discussions," said Bailey. "Our rules currently require theatrical exhibition, and also allow for a broad selection of films to be submitted for Oscars consideration. We plan to further study the profound changes occurring in our industry and continue discussions with our members about these issues."

Among those reportedly interested in expanding the academy's eligibility rule was Steven Spielberg, who has previously said streaming films ought to win Emmys, not Oscars. But Spielberg has also said initial reports mischaracterized his attitudes. In a New York Times story published Tuesday, Spielberg said he advocates for the survival of the theatrical experience but believes that, big screen or small screen, "everyone should have access to great stories."

The board did elect to rename the best foreign language film award the best international feature film award. Larry Karaszewski and Diane Weyermann, co-chairs of the category's committee, said the term "foreign" is "outdated within the global filmmaking community." The category's shortlist will also be expanded from nine to 10.

"We believe that 'international feature film' better represents this category, and promotes a positive and inclusive view of filmmaking, and the art of film as a universal experience," they said in a statement.

The makeup and hairstyling category will also grow from three nominees to five.

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
BERLIN (AP) - German prosecutors say they've indicted a 21-year-old woman on suspicion of membership in the Islamic State group and of keeping three Yazidis as slaves in Syria.

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that the German-Algerian woman, identified as Sarah O. for privacy reasons, traveled to Syria as a teenager in 2013, joined IS and married a fellow German IS recruit.

Both allegedly received firearms training and conducted "guard and police duties" in IS-controlled areas. They also forced a Yazidi girl and two Yazidi women to work in their household and convert to Islam.

She was arrested in September upon her return to Germany.

O.'s parents-in-law, 51-year-old Ahmed S. and 48-year-old Perihan S., allegedly helped their sons supply IS with equipment such as firearms magazines and scopes. They are indicted on suspicion of aiding IS.
BOSTON (AP) - A New Hampshire man who smuggled rare lizards from the Philippines to the U.S. by hiding them in socks and placing them inside electronic equipment has pleaded guilty.

Federal prosecutors say 26-year-old Derrick Semedo pleaded guilty in Boston on Tuesday to trafficking in protected wildlife in violation of U.S. and Philippines law and international wildlife treaties.

Authorities say from March to December 2016, the Nashua, New Hampshire, man imported 20 live water monitor lizards by placing them in socks, sealing the socks with tape, then concealing them in the back panels of audio speakers or other electronic equipment. The equipment was shipped via commercial carriers to Semedo.

Some lizards were then sold to customers in other states.

He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing scheduled for Aug. 13.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A fire in a sprawling Rohingya refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Wednesday destroyed more than two dozen huts and a mosque, an official said.

Mikaruzzman Chowdhury, the top government official at Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar district, said no injuries occurred in the fire, which broke out in a camp in Kutupalong. He said 28 huts and a mosque were destroyed.

Chowdhury said firefighters were able to douse the blaze before it spread further.

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from western Myanmar's Rakhine state to escape an army-led crackdown on the minority group that started in August 2017. Critics have described the campaign as ethnic cleansing, or even genocide, on the part of security forces in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Smoke and flames rise from the site of a fire at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. A fire raced through a sprawling camp of Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh, destroying more than two dozen huts and a mosque on Wednesday, an official said. (AP Photo)

Firefighters and residents help douse a fire at the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. A fire raced through a sprawling camp of Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh, destroying more than two dozen huts and a mosque on Wednesday, an official said. (AP Photo)
Jarvis helped organize the first official celebration in 1908 in West Virginia. By 1912, observances spread across the nation and, by 1914, the federal government declared it a national holiday. Although selecting a special gift for mom is a large part of the holiday, Jarvis ultimately decried the holiday by the time of her death in 1948, rejecting the commercialization of Mothers Day that happened after it became a national holiday.
ATLANTA (AP) - Some students at Spelman College aren't happy about the selection of Atlanta's black female mayor as this year's commencement speaker.

The students at the city's historically black women's college say they believe Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is in favor of gentrification, they told WSB-TV . Pricing poor people out of available housing "doesn't help the black people rise up," Spelman student Alexi Dickerson said.

"She's a very good role model, but that doesn't mean that she should be a commencement speaker," Dickerson said.

The mayor has her supporters, too: Student Kiersten Mills considers her a role model, part of the "black girl magic" phenomenon when she was elected.

"The mayor is honored to deliver the commencement address and equally proud that the legacy of student engagement and activism remains vibrant at Spelman College," the mayor's office said in a statement.

Mills said those who want another speaker aren't considering the big picture.

FILE - In this April 8, 2019 file photo, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, left, sits with U.S. Congressman John Lewis, second from left, during a tribute to Lewis in the atrium of the domestic terminal at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Some students at Spellman College aren't happy about the selection of Atlanta's black woman mayor as this year's commencement speaker. The students at the city's historically black women's college told WSB-TV that they believe Bottoms is in favor of gentrification. The commencement is set for May 19 at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

"They are focused on who it is and their name, and not their journey to where they are," she said.

Lance Bottoms is Atlanta's only mayor to have served in all three branches of government, Spelman said in announcing her as its commencement speaker. She has been a judge and city councilmember before she was elected mayor.

"Atlanta is fortunate to have such a dynamic leader as Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has had a tremendous impact on the city, in particular on the Westside, where Spelman is located," Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell said in the announcement.

The commencement is set for May 19 at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta.
PARIS (AP) - France's highest administrative court has ruled that doctors can stop feeding and hydrating a man who is hospitalized in a vegetative state despite his parents' objections.

Vincent Lambert was critically injured in a 2008 car accident and has been in a vegetative state since 2014. A team of doctors decided last year to stop giving him food and liquids.

The 42-year-old Lambert's parents and wife disagree on whether to keep him alive artificially. His wife supports the doctors' decision. His parents challenged it and a lower court ruled against them.

The appeals court agreed Thursday it would not be illegal for doctors to suspend artificial feeding. Europe's top human rights court has also ruled Lambert's treatment can be withdrawn.

The case has drawn nationwide attention amid debate over end-of-life practices.
BEIJING (AP) - China announced Wednesday that it has formally arrested former Interpol President Meng Hongwei on suspicion of accepting bribes.

The indictment from the Supreme People's Procuratorate comes after Meng was expelled last month from public office and the ruling Communist Party.

Meng's wife accused Chinese authorities of lying and questioned in a statement Wednesday whether her husband is still alive.

Meng was elected president of the international police organization in 2016, but his four-year term was cut short when he was detained by Chinese authorities during a visit to China last October. At the time, he was also one of China's vice ministers of public security.

The party's disciplinary committee said an investigation found that Meng was guilty of serious legal violations. It said in a statement that he abused his power in order to satisfy his family's "extravagant lifestyle."

Meng is among a slew of high-ranking officials who have been ensnared by President Xi Jinping's sweeping crackdown on graft and perceived disloyalty. Corruption charges usually result in convictions and lengthy sentences, including life in prison.

FILE - In this July 4, 2017, file photo, Interpol President, Meng Hongwei, walks toward the stage to deliver his opening address at the Interpol World Congress in Singapore. China has formally arrested Meng on suspicion of accepting bribes. The Supreme People's Procuratorate announced the indictment on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

Meng's wife, Grace Meng, said in a statement that "Mr. Meng's human rights are still being violated. We don't even know if he is alive."

She has remained in France with their two boys since her husband's detention in September.

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Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
BUTEMBO, Congo (AP) - Doctors at the epicenter of Congo's Ebola crisis are threatening to go on strike indefinitely if health workers are attacked again.

The march on Wednesday comes after a Cameroon national working for the World Health Organization was killed last week on assignment in eastern Congo.

Dr. Kalima Nzanzu said he wants residents to know that the doctors and other medical staff are in eastern Congo to help fight the current Ebola outbreak. He urged government authorities to provide greater security for the Ebola response.

Eastern Congo is a highly volatile area where a variety of armed groups operate. Mistrust of government authorities has complicated the efforts to contain the deadly Ebola disease since the outbreak began in August. Some residents also falsely accuse foreigners of bringing Ebola to the area.
TOKYO (AP) - Japan's government apologized Wednesday to tens of thousands of people who were forcibly sterilized under a now-defunct Eugenics Protection Law which was designed to "prevent the birth of poor-quality descendants," and promised to pay them compensation.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga offered "sincere remorse and a heartfelt apology" to the victims. It came after the parliament earlier Wednesday enacted legislation to provide redress, including 3.2 million yen ($28,600) in compensation for each victim.

An estimated 25,000 people were sterilized without consent under the 1948 Eugenics Protection Law, which remained in place until 1996. The law allowed doctors to sterilize people with disabilities. It was quietly renamed the Maternity Protection Law in 1996, when the discriminatory condition was removed.

The redress legislation acknowledges that many people were forced to have operations to remove their reproductive organs or were given radiation treatment to be sterilized, causing them tremendous mental and physical pain.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a statement, said the problem should never be repeated. "We will do all we can to achieve a society where no one is discriminated against, whether they have illnesses or handicaps, and live together while respecting each other's personality and individuality," he said.

The government had until recently maintained that the sterilizations were legal at the time.

This general view shows a plenary session of upper house house after Eugenics Protection Law was passed in parliament in Tokyo Wednesday, April 25, 2019. Japan's government apologized to tens of thousands of victims forcibly sterilized under the now-defunct Eugenics Protection Law and promised to pay compensation. (Toshiyuki Matsumoto/Kyodo News via AP)

The apology and the redress law follow a series of lawsuits by victims who have come forward recently after breaking decades of silence. That prompted lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties to draft a compensation package to make amends.

The plaintiffs are seeking about 30 million yen each ($268,000) in legal actions that are spreading around the country, saying the government's implementation of the law violated the victims' right to self-determination, reproductive health and equality. They say the government redress measures are too small.

"Looking back at what we have suffered as victims, I don't think what's in the law is sufficient," said a 76-year-old plaintiff in Tokyo who uses the pseudonym Saburo Kita. "I'd rather want my life back." Kita said he was sterilized in 1957 at age 14 when he lived in an orphanage. He broke the secret to his wife just before she died several years ago, saying he regretted she couldn't have children because of him.

In addition to the forced sterilizations, more than 8,000 others were sterilized with consent, though likely under pressure, while nearly 60,000 women had abortions because of hereditary illnesses. However, the redress law does not cover those who had to abort their pregnancies, according to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

Among them were about 10,000 leprosy patients who had been confined in isolated institutions until 1996, when the leprosy prevention law was also abolished. The government has already offered compensation and an apology to them for its forced isolation policy.

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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of former Reading, Pennsylvania, Mayor Vaughn Spencer on corruption charges (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

The former Democratic mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption.

A federal judge Wednesday also ordered 71-year-old Vaughn Spencer to pay a $35,000 fine and serve three years on supervised release.

Spencer will report to prison June 13.

Before his sentencing, Spencer apologized to the citizens of Reading. He said he had let them down.

FILE - In this Aug. 1, 2017, file photo, former Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer departs from the federal courthouse in Philadelphia. The former Pennsylvania mayor who rewarded individuals and businesses that donated to his campaign with expensive city contracts will be sentenced. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Spencer was convicted in August on conspiracy and bribery charges for exchanging contracts for campaign contributions.

He was mayor of Reading from 2012 until his failed reelection bid in 2015.

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10:55 a.m.

The former Democratic mayor of Reading, Pennsylvania, has apologized in federal court for his corruption conviction.

Vaughn Spencer spoke ahead of his sentencing Wednesday in Philadelphia.

He says he let down the citizens of Reading, and "I'm truly sorry."

Spencer was convicted in August on conspiracy and bribery charges for exchanging contracts for campaign contributions.

He was mayor of Reading from 2012 until his failed reelection bid in 2015.

Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 10 to 12 years. Spencer's lawyer asked for leniency. The lawyer says it was the mayor's campaign advisers who led the pay-to-play scheme.

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6 a.m.

A former Pennsylvania mayor convicted of exchanging public works contracts for campaign contributions is set to be sentenced.

It's the second sentencing in six months for a Pennsylvania mayor convicted as a result of a federal pay-to-play investigation.

Former Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer's hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. A jury found him guilty in August of conspiracy and bribery.

Prosecutors accused him of promising engineering contracts to companies that agreed to provide campaign contributions and directing contracts to past donors to ensure they kept supporting his reelection efforts.

Authorities said Spencer also attempted to bribe a former city council president to try to get Reading's anti-pay-to-play ordinance repealed.

Spencer has denied wrongdoing.

Former Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski was sentenced in October to 15 years in federal prison for rigging contracts.
SANDUSKY, Mich. (AP) - Can you get a fair trial if your ex-wife's marriage counselor is on the jury? The Michigan appeals court says yes.

Jason Nelson was convicted of assault in Sanilac County in 2017. He says he didn't realize until after the trial that one of the jurors was a marriage counselor who had met with him and his former wife four years earlier. Nelson says it was a stormy session with profanities.

The counselor said he remembered Nelson's ex-wife, but he didn't recall meeting Nelson. He told a judge that he acted fairly as a juror. The assault allegations against Nelson didn't involve his ex-wife.

Nelson wants a new trial, but the appeals court ruled Tuesday that there's "no evidence" that the counselor lacked impartiality as a juror.
NEW YORK (AP) - When small business owners hire their teenagers, they should be ready to treat their new staffers like any other employees - and be ready for some additional parent/child friction when problems arise.

Here are three things owners should do when their teen comes to work:

-Create a plan. Just as owners should do when they hire interns, they should have a plan for what their teens are going to be doing. It needs to be communicated to the teen, and to managers and co-workers who will be working with the young staffer.

-Set expectations. Owners need to speak with their children so they know what to expect, and what's expected of them. Mike Young, owner of seven Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburger stores in Iowa, told his teens, "their last name would not be helpful to them, and in fact would make their jobs harder." And, that co-workers would be looking to see if the bosses' kids had to follow the same rules and standards as employees did. "If they were not, then our kids, the managers, and my wife and I would all lose credibility," Young says. Teens also need to know that at work, their mothers and fathers are first and foremost their bosses.

Owners also need to prepare managers and other employees, informing them that the bosses' children shouldn't get special treatment, and that if there are problems, the owner needs to be told, says David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc, a human resources provider based in Norwalk, Connecticut. "There needs to be a level of communication up front that explains what the expectations are," Lewis says.

-Check in with your teen's supervisors and co-workers. When Laura Smith didn't ask her employees how her son Jordan was doing, she didn't know that he wasn't able to do the work as well as she expected. Smith, owner of All Star Cleaning Services in Fort Collins, Colorado, trusted that staffers would tell her, but they didn't. Even when employees have been told to inform the boss about any problems, some may not want to get the young person in trouble. They may also be worried that they'll be blamed for the teen's shortcomings.

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Follow Joyce Rosenberg at www.twitter.com/JoyceMRosenberg Her work can be found here: https://apnews.com
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for serial killer Bobby Joe Long.

The warrant signed late Tuesday sets Long's execution for May 23 at Florida State Prison. It was the first death warrant DeSantis signed since becoming governor in January.

Long has been on death row nearly 34 years. The 65-year-old received the death penalty for the May 1984 death of 22-year-old Michelle Denise Simms, a former beauty contestant from California. He was arrested later that year in the kidnapping of a 17-year-old girl who managed to convince him to let her go. She gave police information that led to his arrest.

He eventually pleaded guilty to killing eight other women in the Tampa area and claimed to have raped 40 women in three states.
BERLIN (AP) - Meteorologists in Germany say rain forecast for the next few days is unlikely to provide much relief to parched fields and forests, raising fears of a repeat of last year's drought and serious wildfires.

Udo Busch of the German meteorological agency DWD said if dry conditions prevail, the drought that caused severe crop damage in 2018 could be surpassed this year.

Strong winds in northern Germany have also whipped soil off the fields, creating sand storms in recent days.

The head of Germany's firefighters association, Hartmut Ziebs, called Wednesday for more helicopters to be put on standby to help extinguish potential fires. The country has seen a number of blazes in recent days.

Authorities in Berlin are urging residents to water thirsty trees that line the streets, saying city workers can't water them all.

People enjoy the ride in a horse-drawn carriage through the Wadden sea near Cuxhaven, Germany, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. (Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/dpa via AP)
BOSTON (AP) - The owners of New England's largest supermarket chain are projecting around $100 million in losses from the labor strike that ended Easter Sunday.

Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch company that owns Stop & Shop, said the 11-day strike is expected to lead to losses between $90 million and $110 million.

The company says generally lower sales, lost revenue from "seasonal and perishable inventory" and supply chain costs were the main drivers.

Stop & Shop officials and the United Food and Commercial Workers union reached a tentative, three-year agreement Sunday. Some 31,000 workers at 240 stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut returned to work Monday.

Union members are voting on the proposal Wednesday and Thursday.
LONDON (AP) - Climate change protesters who have brought parts of central London to a standstill for days say they will lift their blockades.

The group Extinction Rebellion says it will end its remaining demonstrations at Marble Arch and Parliament Square on Thursday.

Last week, the protesters blocked Waterloo Bridge and major intersections including Marble Arch and Oxford Circus, snarling traffic and disrupting bus routes.

The civil disobedience movement saw tented protest sites sprouting around the capital. More than 1,000 people were arrested as police tried to clear the sites, though only about 70 have been charged.

Extinction Rebellion thanked Londoners in a statement Wednesday, saying: "We know we have disrupted your lives. We do not do this lightly. We only do this because this is an emergency."

A young Extinction Rebellion climate change protester holds a banner as they briefly block a road in central London, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The non-violent protest group, Extinction Rebellion, is seeking negotiations with the government on its demand to make slowing climate change a top priority. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters hold a banner as they briefly block traffic going around Parliament Square in central London, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The non-violent protest group, Extinction Rebellion, is seeking negotiations with the government on its demand to make slowing climate change a top priority. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Britain's opposition Labour Party Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott addresses Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters on Parliament Square in central London, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The non-violent protest group, Extinction Rebellion, is seeking negotiations with the government on its demand to make slowing climate change a top priority. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters shelter from a rain shower as they stand on Parliament Square in London, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The non-violent protest group, Extinction Rebellion, is seeking negotiations with the government on its demand to make slowing climate change a top priority. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters hold banners as they briefly block traffic around Parliament Square in central London, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The non-violent protest group, Extinction Rebellion, is seeking negotiations with the government on its demand to make slowing climate change a top priority. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters stop a motorcyclist from driving through them as they briefly block the road by Parliament Square in London, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The non-violent protest group, Extinction Rebellion, is seeking negotiations with the government on its demand to make slowing climate change a top priority. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Extinction Rebellion climate change protesters hold banners as they briefly block traffic around Parliament Square in central London, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. The non-violent protest group, Extinction Rebellion, is seeking negotiations with the government on its demand to make slowing climate change a top priority. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on the ethics case against Andrew Gillum (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

Former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine to settle an ethics complaint that he violated civil law by accepting a gift from a lobbyist. The state Ethics Commission agreed to drop four additional counts of violations.

The settlement was announced Wednesday in Tallahassee just as Gillum was to go before an administrative hearing. His attorney Barry Richard said afterward that the one count involved a free boat ride in New York.

The result ends a lengthy ethics investigation that factored heavily in Gillum's unsuccessful campaign for governor last year, when Republican then-candidate Ron DeSantis repeatedly criticized Gillum over the allegations. Gillum denied them at the time.

Gillum said in a statement Wednesday he "never knowingly violated any ethics laws. Once I was made aware of one issue, I took responsibility."

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 2, 2018 file photo, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum speaks during a campaign rally, in Miami. Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Gillum faces an administrative hearing Wednesday, April 24, 2019, over allegations he improperly accepted gifts from lobbyists. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

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1:00 a.m.

Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum faces an administrative hearing Wednesday over allegations he improperly accepted gifts from lobbyists.

The state Ethics Commission says it found probable cause in January to believe that Gillum, the former Tallahassee mayor, accepted gifts in violation of civil law, including travel expenses in Costa Rica and a ticket to the Broadway show "Hamilton."

Administrative Law Judge E. Gary Early is to hear testimony Wednesday in Tallahassee. The judge is not expected to rule this week. If he determines there were violations, the matter would go back to the Ethics Commission for possible sanctions.

Gillum, a Democrat, narrowly lost last year's governor's race to Republican Ron DeSantis, who had pummeled the former mayor about the ethics probe. Gillum denied the allegations during the campaign.
LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May's job is safe, for now, after Conservative lawmakers decided against enabling a new challenge to her leadership.

Graham Brady, chairman of a powerful party rules committee, said Wednesday the body had decided not to change the rule that a party leader can only face one no-confidence vote in a year.

Pro-Brexit Conservatives are angry with May's failure to take Britain out of the European Union, almost three years after voters backed leaving. They want her replaced with a more staunchly pro-Brexit leader.

But May survived a Conservative no-confidence vote in December, leaving her safe for 12 months.

May says she'll step down once Parliament has approved a Brexit deal.

Brady said, however, that May must provide more clarity about her departure and provide "a clear roadmap forward."
Rabbi says gun 'miraculously jammed' in California attack

POWAY, Calif. (AP) - In the minutes after the gunman fled the scene of a shooting that killed a woman inside a Southern California synagogue, a wounded Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein wrapped his bloodied hand in a prayer shawl, stood on a chair and addressed the panicked congregation, vowing to stay strong in the face of the deadly attack targeting his community.

"We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall. We will not let anyone take us down. Terrorism like this will not take us down," Goldstein recalled telling his congregants after the gunfire erupted Saturday at Chabad of Poway.

Congregant Lori Kaye, 60, was killed in the shooting, which injured Goldstein, 8-year-old Noya Dahan and her 34-year-old uncle, Almog Peretz, authorities said. Hours after the three wounded were released from hospitals, Goldstein described the onslaught at a news conference Sunday outside the synagogue north of San Diego.

Goldstein said he was preparing for a service on the last day of Passover, a holiday celebrating freedom, and heard a loud sound. He turned around, and a saw a young man wearing sunglasses standing in front of him with a rifle.

"I couldn't see his eyes. I couldn't see his soul," Goldstein said. He raised his hands and lost one of his fingers in the shooting.

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Police: 8 shot, 1 fatally, in latest Baltimore shooting

BALTIMORE (AP) - A gunman fired indiscriminately into a crowd that had gathered for Sunday afternoon cookouts along a west Baltimore street, killing a man and wounding seven other people, authorities and reports said.

Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the gunfire erupted after 5 p.m. on a block in the city's western district of brick row homes. Harrison said a man approached a crowd on foot and began firing in what he called "a very tragic, very cowardly shooting." Speaking at the scene afterward, Harrison said the shooting appeared "extremely targeted," but he didn't provide a possible motive.

The shooting comes roughly six weeks after Harrison's swearing-in last month as Baltimore police commissioner, when he promised to make the city safer and lead the department through sweeping reforms required by a federal consent decree. It's a daunting task in one of the country's poorest major cities where there were more than 300 homicides in each of the past two years. Harrison is the city's 14th police leader since the mid-1990s.

The commissioner said there were two cookouts taking place on opposite sides of the street Sunday, and that shell casings were found in two different locations, indicating that there may have been a second gunman, or someone firing back at the first shooter, who fled on foot. It was unclear whether the cookouts were related, Harrison said.

One man who was shot collapsed behind a Baptist church nearby and was pronounced dead at the scene. Harrison said initially that six others had been wounded and were taken to hospitals, but he didn't release their names or their conditions. A police statement later said a man was killed, but didn't give his age. It said five of the survivors were men ranging in ages from 27 to 58, as well as a 30-year-old woman.

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Socialists win Spain election, far-right emerges as player

MADRID (AP) - Spain's governing center-left Socialists won the country's election Sunday but must seek backing from smaller parties to maintain power, while a far-right party rode an unprecedented surge of support to enter the lower house of parliament for the first time in four decades.

With 99% of ballots counted, the Socialists led by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won 29% of the vote, capturing 123 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies. The new far-right Vox party made its national breakthrough by capturing 10% of the vote, which would give it 24 seats.

Sanchez announced that he would soon open talks with other political parties, telling crowds gathered at the gates of his party headquarters in central Madrid that "the future has won and the past has lost."

He hinted at a preference for a left-wing governing alliance but also sent a warning to Catalan separatists whose support he may need that any post-electoral pact must respect the country's 1978 constitution, which bans regions from seceding.

"The only condition is to respect the constitution, move toward social justice, coexistence and political cleanliness," Sanchez said of his criteria for working with other parties.

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New group launches to harness political power of women

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three of the nation's most influential activists are launching an organization that aims to harness the political power of women to influence elections and shape local and national policy priorities.

Dubbed Supermajority, the organization is the creation of Cecile Richards, the former head of Planned Parenthood; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. The group, which describes itself as multiracial and intergenerational, has a goal of training and mobilizing 2 million women over the next year to become organizers and political leaders in their communities.

The effort comes at a moment when women have emerged as perhaps the most powerful force in politics.

Millions of women marched in cities across America to protest President Donald Trump's election. Women also comprise the majority of the electorate in the 2018 midterm elections, sending a historic number of female candidates to Congress and helping Democrats retake control of the House. A record number of women are also seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, including four senators.

Richards, who has long been a force in Democratic politics, said women "feel newly empowered and frankly motivated to take action, including so many women who never thought themselves as an activist before."

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Seattle college says student was among those killed by crane

SEATTLE (AP) - A college freshman was among the four people killed when a construction crane fell from a building and crashed onto one of Seattle's busiest streets, the university said Sunday.

Sarah Wong, who intended to major in nursing, was in a car when the crane fell from a building under construction on Google's new Seattle campus onto Mercer Street Saturday afternoon, according to a statement released by Seattle Pacific University.

All four had died by the time firefighters had arrived Saturday afternoon, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. Two were ironworkers who had been inside the crane while the other two were inside a car, Fire Department spokesman Lance Garland said.

The names of those who died are expected to be released Monday.

"While we grieve the sudden and tragic loss of our precious student, we draw comfort from each other," SPU's statement said. "We ask that the community join us in praying for Sarah's family and friends during this difficult time."

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Online hate forges a dark path for suspect in attack plot

GREECE, N.Y. (AP) - A few months after he turned 17 - and more than two years before he was arrested - Vincent Vetromile recast himself as an online revolutionary.

Offline, in this suburb of Rochester, New York, Vetromile was finishing requirements for promotion to Eagle Scout in a troop that met at a local church. He enrolled at Monroe Community College, taking classes to become a heating and air conditioning technician. On weekends, he spent hours in the driveway with his father, a Navy veteran, working on cars.

On social media, though, the teenager spoke in world-worn tones about the need to "reclaim our nation at any cost." Eventually he subbed out the grinning selfie in his Twitter profile, replacing it with the image of a colonial militiaman shouldering an AR-15 rifle. And he traded his name for a handle: "Standing on the Edge."

That edge became apparent in Vetromile's posts, including many interactions over the last two years with accounts that praised the Confederacy, warned of looming gun confiscation and declared Muslims to be a threat.

In 2016, he sent the first of more than 70 replies to tweets from a fiery account with 140,000 followers, run by a man billing himself as Donald Trump's biggest Canadian supporter. The final exchange came late last year.

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AP FACT CHECK: Trump's follies on immigration, health care

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump stretched the truth on various fronts at his Wisconsin rally and in weekend remarks, asserting that an immigration plan to send migrants illegally in the country to sanctuary cities had begun when it hadn't.

He also claimed credit for jobs he didn't create, exaggerated his record on health care and spread untruths about the Russia investigation.

A look at the rhetoric and the reality:

IMMIGRATION

TRUMP: "Last month alone, 100,000 illegal immigrants arrived in our borders, placing a massive strain on communities and schools and hospitals and public resources, like nobody's ever seen before. Now we're sending many of them to sanctuary cities. Thank you very much. ... I'm proud to tell you that was my sick idea." - Green Bay, Wisconsin, rally Saturday.

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Richard Lugar, who helped in securing Soviet arsenal, dies

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Richard Lugar worked to alert Americans about the threat of terrorism years before "weapons of mass destruction" became a common phrase following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The longtime Republican senator from Indiana helped start a program that destroyed thousands of former Soviet nuclear and chemical weapons after the Cold War ended - then warned during a short-lived 1996 run for president about the danger of such devices falling into the hands of terrorists.

"Every stockpile represents a theft opportunity for terrorists and a temptation for security personnel who might seek to profit by selling weapons on the black market," Lugar said in 2005. "We do not want the question posed the day after an attack on an American military base."

The soft-spoken and thoughtful former Rhodes Scholar was a leading Republican voice on foreign policy matters during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate, but whose reputation of working with Democrats ultimately cost him the office in 2012. He died Sunday at age 87 at a hospital in Virginia, where he was being treated for a rare neurological disorder called chronic inflammatory demylinating polyneuropathy, or CIPD, the Lugar Center in Washington said in a statement.

Lugar's long popularity in Indiana gave him the freedom to concentrate largely on foreign policy and national security matters - a focus highlighted by his collaboration with Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn on a program under which the United States paid to dismantle and secure thousands of nuclear warheads and missiles in the former Soviet states after the Cold War ended.

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Tenn. police investigating whether suspect knew 7 victims

WESTMORELAND, Tenn. (AP) - Police on Sunday raised the death toll at two homes in rural Tennessee to seven and said they are investigating whether a suspect captured after an hourslong manhunt knew the victims.

Michael Cummins, 25, was taken into custody Saturday night after being shot about a mile (1.6 kilometers) away from one of the Sumner County crime scenes, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine.

Police said officers responding to a 911 call from a family member led to the original discovery of four bodies and an injured person at the first home. The injured victim was transported to the hospital with unspecified injuries. On Sunday, the TBI said in a statement the body of two more victims had been found at the home.

Another body was found Saturday at another home in the area. The TBI believes the two scenes are related. The slayings were near the town of Westmoreland.

Authorities have not released any details about the victims. They also have not said what kind of weapon was used.

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Ahead of 'The Irishman,' Scorsese and De Niro look back

NEW YORK (AP) - Ahead of their much-anticipated and most recent collaboration, "The Irishman," Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro convened at the Tribeca Film Festival to look back on their long partnership together.

The talk, staged Sunday at New York's Beacon Theatre, gave De Niro, co-founder of the festival, one of his most unlikely roles to date: interviewer. With interstitial clips chosen by Scorsese from the director's filmography, the famously terse actor didn't so much pepper or prod the filmmaker as occasionally announce it was time to discuss "the next one."

But if the conversation relied largely on Scorsese, it still offered a window into their long-running collaboration. Begun with 1973's "Mean Streets" and stretching over nine feature films, it's one of the most famous director-actor pairs in cinema. One of Scorsese's other regulars, Leonardo DiCaprio, was among the full crowd, eager to see the legendary New York duo together.

"The Irishman," which Netflix will release this fall, is their latest gangster film together, following "Mean Streets," ''Goodfellas" and "Casino." It's based on the 2003 book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt, which recounts the life of mob hitman Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran (played by De Niro). Al Pacino plays Jimmy Hoffa, whose disappearance some have traced to Sheeran.

"It's in the milieu of the pictures we've done together and are known for, in a sense, but I hope from a different vantage point," said Scorsese. "Years have gone by and we see things in a special way, I hope."
SEATTLE (AP) - A college freshman was among the four people killed when a construction crane fell from a building and crashed onto one of Seattle's busiest streets, the university said Sunday.

Sarah Wong, who intended to major in nursing, was in a car when the crane fell from a building under construction on Google's new Seattle campus onto Mercer Street Saturday afternoon, according to a statement released by Seattle Pacific University.

All four had died by the time firefighters had arrived Saturday afternoon, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins said. Two were ironworkers who had been inside the crane while the other two were inside a car, Fire Department spokesman Lance Garland said.

The names of those who died are expected to be released Monday.

"While we grieve the sudden and tragic loss of our precious student, we draw comfort from each other," SPU's statement said. "We ask that the community join us in praying for Sarah's family and friends during this difficult time."

The crane struck six cars and also injured four people.

Fire and police crew members work to clear the scene where a construction crane fell from a building on Google's new Seattle campus crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people on Saturday, April 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Kuin)

Frank Kuin, a Montreal-based journalist, was in a Seattle hotel lobby when he heard a "big bang" and felt the floor shake. He said he initially thought there had been an earthquake. Then he saw motorists leaving their cars on a nearby offramp and running toward something.

Kuin followed them around a corner and saw a chunk of the crane lying on top of cars, including three that were crushed.

"To imagine what happened to those people who just happened to be driving by was quite shocking," said Kuin, who later took photographs of the scene from his fifth floor hotel room.

Officials do not yet know the cause of the collapse.

Washington state labor investigators were at the scene of the collapse Sunday, trying to piece together what happened, according to Tim Church, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor & Industries.

"It's a very detailed process," he said. "It will actually be months before we have anything regarding the cause."

Church said the agency has formally opened an investigation into four companies - general contractor GLY, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc., Omega Rigging and Machinery Moving Inc. and Morrow Equipment Co. LLC. Church said he didn't know where the companies are based.

The tower crane was being disassembled when it fell from the building, according to Church.

A stretch of Mercer Street remained closed Sunday.

Of the injured, a 28-year-old man remained hospitalized in satisfactory condition Sunday at Harborview Medical Center. A mother and her infant were released from the hospital Saturday. The fourth person was treated at the scene and released.

The deadly collapse is sure to bring scrutiny about the safety of the dozens of cranes that dot the city's skyscape. With Amazon, Google and other tech companies increasing their hiring in Seattle, the city has more cranes building office towers and apartment buildings than any other in the United States. As of January, there were about 60 construction cranes in Seattle.

On Saturday, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said the city had a good track record with crane safety but that officials would conduct a review.

A line of showers moved over Seattle just about the time the crane fell, the National Weather Service said. An observation station on nearby Lake Union showed winds kicked up with gusts of up to 23 mph at 3:28 p.m., just about the time the crane fell.

The office building the crane fell from was badly damaged, with several of its windows smashed.

A Google spokesperson said in a statement Saturday that the company was saddened to learn of the accident and that they were in communication with Vulcan, the real estate firm that is managing the site and working with authorities.

A crane collapsed in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue in 2006, damaging three neighboring buildings and killing a Microsoft attorney who was sitting in his living room. The state Department of Labor and Industries cited two companies for workplace-safety violations after an investigation that found a flawed design for the crane's base.

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Rachel D'Oro reported from Anchorage, Alaska.

Fire and police crew members work to clear the scene where a construction crane fell from a building on Google's new Seattle campus crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people on Saturday, April 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Kuin)

Workers suspended in a basket reach out toward debris from a building damaged when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

With a portion of the broken crane on the roof behind, workers suspended in a basket survey the damage left on the building when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

With a portion of the broken crane on the roof behind, a worker suspended in a basket clears debris from a building damaged when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Emergency crews work at the scene of a construction crane collapse where several people were killed and others were injured Saturday, April 27, 2019, in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. The crane collapsed near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue pinning cars underneath it near Interstate 5 shortly after 3 p.m. (AP Photo/Joe Nicholson)

A construction crane working on a building collapsed near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue near Interstate 5, Saturday, April 27, 2019, in downtown Seattle. Authorities say several people have died and a few others are hospitalized after the construction crane fell onto a street pinning cars underneath Saturday afternoon. (Genna Martin/seattlepi.com via AP)

Emergency crews work the scene of a construction crane collapse near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue near Interstate 5 in Seattle, on Saturday, April 27, 2019. Authorities say several people have died and a few others are hospitalized after the construction crane fell onto a street in downtown Seattle Saturday afternoon. (Joshua Bessex/The News Tribune via AP)
MADRID (AP) - The latest on the Spanish national election (all times local):

5:05 a.m.

Spain's governing Socialist Party has won the country's parliamentary election but will need backing from smaller parties to stay in power. And for the first time since the 1970s, a far-right party will have members in Spain's lower house of parliament.

With nearly all ballots counted from Sunday election, the Socialists headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez won nearly 29% of the votes. They captured 122 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies.

The new far-right Vox party won 10% of the vote and will have 24 seats. Its success came at the expense of the once-dominant conservative Popular Party, which fell to 66 seats

The Popular Party lost votes both to Vox and to the center-right Citizens party, which will increase its number of seats from 32 to 57.

Supporters of Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party candidate Pedro Sanchez gather at the party headquarters waiting for results of the general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Spain's governing Socialists won the country's national election Sunday but will need the backing of smaller parties to stay in power, while a far-right party rode a groundswell of support to enter the lower house of parliament for the first time in four decades, provisional results showed. At left is his wife Maria Begona Gomez. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

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1:05 a.m.

Spain's socialist prime minister says he will consider talks to form a new government only with parties that respect the constitution and promote social justice.

Pedro Sanchez declared his party the winner in Sunday's general election, a ballot in which the far-right made inroads for the first time since Spain returned to democratic rule.

Sanchez hinted at a preference for a left-wing governing alliance but his stress on the constitution also sent a warning to Catalan separatists even though he may need their support to be elected by Parliament's lower house to a new term as prime minister.

Spain's constitution says regions have no right to secede and sovereignty must be decided by all Spaniards, not just by inhabitants of a particular region. Catalan separatists defied Spain in 2017 with a referendum and subsequent independence declaration. They won 22 seats Sunday.

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12:40 a.m.

The leader of Spain's conservatives is acknowledging that Sunday's election results for his Popular Party are "very bad" - its worst showing ever in a national vote.

Pablo Casado also told his Popular Party members Sunday night that "we have been losing our electoral support for several elections."

According to provisional results, the Popular Party will see its number of seats in Parliament shrink to 66 from the 137 it won in the 2016 elections.

Casado blames the debacle on the splitting of voters on the right, with many being lured away by the center-right Citizens party and the new far-fight Vox party.

The Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez replaced the Popular Party as the biggest vote getter and is poised to stay in power.

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11:45 p.m.

The leader of the United We Can anti-austerity party in Spain says that it has already offered the incumbent prime minister Pedro Sanchez his desire to form a left-wing coalition government.

Pablo Iglesias spoke with provisional results in the country's third election in four years gave the victory to the ruling Socialist Party but short of a parliamentary majority.

He said "we would have liked a better result, but it's been enough to stop the right-wing and build a left-wing coalition government."

United we Can, whose name in Spanish is Unidas Podemos, won 35 seats, 10 less than in the previous national election, in 2016. Iglesias blamed the result on the party's internal leadership fights.

He said the negotiations for possible pacts will last a long time.

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11:35 p.m.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal has euphorically celebrated his new far-right party's results in Spain's general election.

Abascal has told supporters in central Madrid that he blames the once-dominant conservative Popular Party for not being able to garner enough votes for the right-wing to oust incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Abascal gave a thumbs-up sign to celebrate his party's showing as confetti in the party's green and white colors showered down.

He said "we told you that we were going to begin a reconquering of Spain and that's what we have done." That is a reference to the 15th-century campaign by Spanish Catholic Kings to end Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula.

The 43-year-old Abascal said that the 24 lawmakers from Vox that will sit in Spain's lower house of parliament will be enough for the party to set the political agenda.

He said that the lawmakers "will ask those things that preoccupy Spaniards."

Vox, which was formed five years ago, has promised to defend Spain from its "enemies," citing feminists, liberal elites and Muslims among others.

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11:15 p.m.

Spain's government spokeswoman says the Socialist party has won the country's general election with nearly all votes counted.

The result means that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will be able to enter negotiations for a governing alliance with the far-left United We Can Party, whose leader has offered to share a coalition Cabinet.

Both parties still need the votes of around 15 more lawmakers for Sanchez to be able to stay in office.

Government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa said that the incumbent party of Sanchez received nearly 7 million votes, which results in 122 seats in the lower house of parliament.

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11 p.m.

Vox general secretary Javier Ortega Smith has told supporters that "today is historic" after the new far-right party won its first seats in the Spain's parliament.

Provisional results give 24 seats to Vox in the lower chamber after Sunday's election, with the Socialists taking the most votes.

Ortega Smith says that "this is an ephemeral victory since the left knows that with Vox their party is over."

Ortega Smith adds: "the resistance is now in the Congress, and starting tomorrow millions of Spaniards that have been silenced with have a voice in Congress."

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10:40 p.m.

Spain's once-dominant conservative Popular Party is on track to lose more than half of its parliamentary seats amid far-right gains in the general election.

The conservative Popular Party, or PP, was once the leading force in parliament but will likely win only 65 seats - less than get half of its 2016 haul of 137 seats, according to partial results with about 90 percent of votes counted.

The PP's influence has been diluted by the far-right Vox party, which looks set to make a strong entrance into parliament's lower house with 24 lawmakers, according to the partial results. PP also lost votes to the center-right Citizens party, which will increase its number of seats from 32 to 57.

The Socialists are poised to become the most voted party since 2008, but will need to make pacts with other parties to remain in office.

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10 p.m.

Partial results in Spain's election show the incumbent Socialists winning the most votes in the general election but falling well short of a majority. The far-right, meanwhile, has made strong gains.

The provisional results, with 50% of the ballots counted, show that Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's party has won 126 seats and the far-left United We Can got 35. That is still 15 seats short of the 176 majority in the 350-member lower house.

If the results stand, that would mean Sanchez would also need to rely on smaller parties and separatists to stay in office.

The right-wing bloc would be short of a majority, according to the partial results. With 67 seats, the once-dominant Popular Party has lost almost half of its presence in the Congress of Deputies, losing votes to the center-right Citizens party, which grabbed 53 seats and far-right party Vox won 23.

Spain's Interior Ministry says that turnout was over 75%, well above the average in the previous 12 elections since Spain returned to democratic rule.

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8 p.m.

Polls have closed in most of Spain in an election with one of the highest turnout levels in recent years amid division over the role that the far-right could play in influencing the country's politics.

Participation in Sunday's election was more than 9% higher than during the 2016 vote, especially in the northeastern region of Catalonia, two hours polls closed.

Spanish media showed long lines still in many of the polling stations at 1800 GMT (2 p.m. EDT), when all voting is supposed to end everywhere but the Canary Islands, where voting finishes one hour later.

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6:30 p.m.

Voter turnout in Spain's general election is over 9% higher than during the 2016 vote, especially in the northeastern region of Catalonia.

Two hours before the polls close Sunday, Spain's Interior Ministry says nearly 60.8% of all eligible voters have already cast their ballots, up from 51.2% at the same time in the 2016 election.

In Catalonia, turnout is up to 64.2% from nearly 46.4% in 2016. This is the first national election since the region's failed secession attempt in 2017.

In southern Andalusia, Spain's most populous region, turnout has risen to nearly 57.3% from nearly 50.3%. Right-wing parties won Andalusia's regional election in December, ending the ruling Socialists' long-time hold on the region.

A highly polarized campaign that included rising support for the far-right nationalist Vox party and an uncertain result Sunday appear to have motivated voters.

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4:10 p.m.

Turnout is soaring in restive Catalonia as voters go to polling stations in much higher numbers for Spain's first national election since the northeastern region's failed secession attempt in 2017.

The Spanish Interior Ministry says that by 2 p.m. (1200 GMT), voter turnout in Catalonia is more than 11% higher than in 2016 elections, up from 32.31% to 43.52%.

Sunday's election comes during the ongoing trial of 12 leaders of Catalonia's secession bid who are facing charges including rebellion. Five of those defendants are running in the election from inside a jail cell.

Imma Margalef, a 60-year-old administrative assistant, says in Barcelona that she has voted for the pro-secession Republican Left for the first time because "I think it is unfair that they have put these people in jail."

Pilar Olivar, a 62-year-old marine biologist, is against Catalonia seceding and says she has voted for the ruling Socialists to keep the right-wing parties from returning to power.

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3 p.m.

Spain's Interior Ministry says turnout for Sunday's national election so far is 4% higher than the previous ballot.

The ministry says, as of 2 p.m. (1200 GMT), 41.5% of all eligible voters have already cast their ballots Sunday, up from 36.9% at the same time in the 2016 election.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist party is favored to get the most votes, but it is expected to fall far short of a majority. The right-wing in Spain, long dominated by the conservative Popular Party, has now split into three groups, including the Citizens party and the far-right nationalist Vox party.

The uncertain outcome includes the likelihood that a far-right party could enter Parliament for the first time since the 1980s.

Polls close at 8 p.m. (1800GMT) for the nearly 37 million Spaniards allowed to vote.

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12:35 p.m.

The leader of Spain's conservative opposition says that Sunday's general election is perhaps the country's "most decisive" in recent years.

Minutes after casting his vote in a polling station at a Madrid school, Popular Party leader Pablo Casado told reporters that he wishes for a stable government to emerge from the ballot.

Santiago Abascal, the leader of the first far-right party likely to grab a significant number of parliamentary seats since the 1980s, also voted in a public school in the Spanish capital.

"Millions of Spaniards are going to vote with hope. They are going to do it without fear for anything or anybody," he told cameras.

Vox, which has revived Spanish nationalism in response to separatist and liberal-minded movements, posted a tweet with a picture adapted from a battle in HBO's Game of Thrones series. A sword-wielding Vox warrior faces a wall of enemies carrying the symbols of Vox's political opponents: media organizations seen by the party as unfavorable and feminist and gay rights logos.

"Let the battle start, #ForSpain" the tweet said.

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12:25 p.m.

Alicia Sanchez, 38, and her mother cast their ballots in Spain's general election at the Palacio Valdes public school in central Madrid "in order to stop the racist extreme right" from making a significant power grab.

"I've always come to vote, but this time it feels special. I'm worried about how they can influence policies on women and other issues. They are clearly homophobic. Reading their program is like something from 50 years ago. I'm scared," Sanchez said Sunday.

Minutes later, Amelia Gomez and Antonio Roman, she 86 and he 90, emerged from the crowd flocking to the polling station.

Having voted in all elections since Spain returned to democratic rule four decades ago, following the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco, the couple they didn't have much trust in politicians.

"All I want is for whoever wins to take care of the old people," Gomez said, complaining that the two of them together receive less than 1,000 euros (1,100 euros) a month in state pensions.

"They need to watch for the poor, that's their job," Roman added.

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10:30 a.m.

The five top candidates to become Spain's next prime minister are casting their ballots and encouraging people to take advantage of the sunny spring day to come out and ensure a high turnout in Sunday's general election.

All are voting in the Spanish capital except for the center-right Citizens party leader, Albert Rivera, who cast his ballot in a town near Barcelona.

Rivera, who has focused his campaign on unseating the incumbent Socialist prime minister, told reporters that a high turnout is needed for a government change and to "usher in a new era."

Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the left-wing United We Can party, also stressed the importance of voting on Sunday.

"My feeling is that in Spain there is an ample progressive majority, and when there is high participation that becomes very clear," Iglesias told reporters at a public school in the residential suburb near Madrid where he lives.

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9:45 a.m.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he wants Sunday's highly contested general election to yield a parliamentary majority that can undertake social and political reforms in the country.

Surrounded by cameras and accompanied by his wife, the 47-year old incumbent Socialist leader cast his ballot early on Sunday at a cultural center in an affluent suburban neighborhood of the Spanish capital.

He was the first of the five top candidates to vote in the general election marked by the rise of a far-right party and the high number of undecided voters.

All polls forecast that Sanchez's Socialists will overtake the conservative Popular Party to garner the most votes, but Sanchez will be nowhere near a majority in the parliament's Lower House.

Up for grabs are the 350 members of the Congress of Deputies, who then choose a government, and also 208 senators for the Upper House.

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9:05 a.m.

A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether the rise of conservative nationalism will allow the right wing to unseat the incumbent prime minister.

Pedro Sanchez is set to win the most votes, but his Socialists seem far from scoring a majority in parliament to form a government on their own.

The fragmentation of the political landscape is the result of austerity that followed the economic recession, disenchantment with bipartisan politics and the recent rise of far-right populism.

Sanchez called Sunday's ballot after a national budget proposal was rejected in the Lower Chamber by the center-right-conservative opposition and Catalan separatists pressing for self-determination in their northeastern region.

Voting stations opened at 9 a.m. (0700GMT) Sunday and will close at 8 p.m. (1800GMT), with results expected a few hours later.

People line up outside a polling station to cast their vote for the general election in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Galvanized by the Catalan crisis, Spain's far right is set to enter Parliament for the first time in decades while the Socialist government tries to cling on to power in Spain's third election in four years. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In this Podemos party handout picture, Podemos, United We Can, party leader Pablo Iglesias, casts his ballot for the general election in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Galvanized by the Catalan crisis, Spain's far right is set to enter Parliament for the first time in decades while the Socialist government tries to cling on to power in Spain's third election in four years. (AP Photo/Podemos via AP)

Santiago Abascal, leader of far right party Vox, gestures supporters gathered outside the party headquarters following the general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain voted Sunday in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Supporters of Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party candidate Pedro Sanchez react as they gather at the party headquarters waiting for results of the general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain voted Sunday in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Supporters of far right party Vox cheer as the party Secretary General Javier Ortega Smith addresses them outside the party headquarters while waiting for results of the general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain voted Sunday in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Popular Party's leader Pablo Casado talks to journalists outside a polling station after voting in Spain's general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Galvanized by the Catalan crisis, Spain's far right is set to enter Parliament for the first time in decades while the Socialist government tries to cling on to power in Spain's third election in four years. (AP Photo/Paul White)

A woman casts her vote at a polling station for the general election in Pamplona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

People line up to cast their votes during Spain's general election in a polling station in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party candidate Pedro Sanchez, right, leaves a polling station after casting his vote during Spain's general election in Pozuelo de Alarcon, outskirts of Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he wants Sunday's highly contested general election to yield a parliamentary majority that can undertake social and political reforms in the country. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Spanish Prime Minister and Socialist Party candidate Pedro Sanchez casts his vote inside a polling station during Spain's general election in Pozuelo de Alarcon, outskirts of Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. An uncertain outcome and the likelihood of the far right erupting into Spain's Parliament looms over national elections on Sunday, when nearly 37 million Spaniards are called to cast ballots in the most highly polarized election in decades. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

People cast their vote during Spain's general election in a polling station in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

A man casts his vote at a polling station for the general election in Pamplona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether the rise of conservative nationalism will allow the right wing to unseat the incumbent prime minister. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

People line up outside a polling station to cast their vote for the general election in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Galvanized by the Catalan crisis, Spain's far right is set to enter Parliament for the first time in decades while the Socialist government tries to cling on to power in Spain's third election in four years. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People arrive at a polling station to cast their votes for the general election in the small village of Tafalla, around 38 kms (23,6 miles) from Pamplona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

A woman leaves a booth after casting her vote, at a polling station, during the general election in the small village of Tafalla, around 38 kms (23,6 miles) from Pamplona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

People line up to cast their votes during Spain's general election in a polling station in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A girl peeks out of a booth as people cast their votes, at a polling station, during the general election in the small village of Tafalla, around 38 kms (23,6 miles) from Pamplona, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain is voting in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

People queue to vote at a polling station for Spain's general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Galvanized by the Catalan crisis, Spain's far right is set to enter Parliament for the first time in decades while the Socialist government tries to cling on to power in Spain's third election in four years. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Santiago Abascal, center left, leader of far right party Vox, leaves a polling station after voting in Spain's general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Galvanized by the Catalan crisis, Spain's far right is set to enter Parliament for the first time in decades while the Socialist government tries to cling on to power in Spain's third election in four years. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

People check voting sections lists next to a banner celebrating World Autism Day with the words "My world is your world, at a polling station for Spain's general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Galvanized by the Catalan crisis, Spain's far right is set to enter Parliament for the first time in decades while the Socialist government tries to cling on to power in Spain's third election in four years. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
AMPARA, Sri Lanka (AP) - The Latest on the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka (all times local):

11:05 p.m.

The leader of the Islamic State group has praised the attack in Sri Lanka and called it revenge for the fall of Baghouz, Syria, the last territory the extremist group held there or in Iraq.

The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said the acknowledgement of the Sri Lanka attack by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi came during his first propaganda video in nearly five years.

The 18-minute video released Monday by Islamic State's al-Furqan media arm suggests al-Baghdadi filmed the video prior to the Sri Lanka attack.

It is his first video appearance since he delivered a sermon at the al-Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, declaring himself the "caliph" of the territory IS held.

A relative of Easter Sunday bomb blast victim lights a candle on the wall of St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated Sunday Mass in their homes by a televised broadcast as churches across the island nation shut over fears of militant attacks, a week after the Islamic State-claimed Easter suicide bombings killed over 250 people. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

The Easter bombings in Sri Lanka killed over 250 people.

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11 p.m.

Muslim women in Sri Lanka will no longer be able to veil their faces under an emergency law ordered by President Maithripala Sirisena that bans all kinds of face coverings that may conceal people's identities.

The law takes effect Monday, eight days after the Easter bombings of churches and hotels that killed more the 250 people in Sri Lanka. Dozens of suspects have been arrested but local officials and the U.S. Embassy in Colombo have warned that more militants remained on the loose with explosives. Life on the South Asian island nation has been tense for people of all faiths.

The decision came after the Cabinet had proposed laws on face veils at a recent meeting. It had deferred the matter until talks with Islamic clerics could be held, on the advice of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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9:05 p.m.

Sri Lankan police say a woman and a 4-year-old child found wounded after a deadly gunbattle between police and militants have been identified as the wife and daughter of the alleged mastermind of the Easter bombings.

Sri Lanka's military says the gunfight Friday night in Ampara District in the country's east left 15 dead, including six children.

The Islamic State group has claimed three of the militants killed in the shootout.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the two wounded were identified as the wife and daughter of Mohammed Zahran.

Police also said Sunday that 48 suspects were arrested over the past 24 hours in connection with the Easter bombings that killed over 250 people.

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3:45 p.m.

Sri Lankan police have entered the main mosque of National Towheed Jamaat, just a day after authorities declared it and another organization terror groups over the Easter suicide bombings.

Police entered the mosque, located in Kattankudy in eastern Sri Lanka, on Sunday afternoon and stopped an interview with foreign journalists and officials at the mosque.

Later, a senior police officer dispersed journalists waiting outside, saying authorities were conducting a "cordon and search operation."

Police then left, locking up the mosque just before afternoon prayers were to start.

Authorities banned National Towheed Jamaat over its ties to Mohammed Zahran, the alleged mastermind of the attacks that killed over 250 people a week ago.

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6:20 a.m.

The Islamic State group has claimed three of the militants killed in a shootout with police in eastern Sri Lanka.

In a statement published early Sunday by the extremists' Aamaq news agency, IS gave their noms du guerre as Abu Hammad, Abu Sufyan and Abu al-Qa'qa.

It says they opened fire with automatic weapons and "after exhausting their ammunition, detonated on them their explosive belts."

IS falsely claimed their militants killed 17 "disbelievers" in the attack. The militants often exaggerate their claims.

The claim carried a photograph of two men before an IS flag, one carrying a Chinese variant of the Kalashnikov rifle like the one found at the scene, another smiling.

Sri Lanka's military says the gunfight Friday night in Ampara District left 15 dead, including six children.

Sri Lankan police officers secure the area of exploded St. Anthony's Church on Easter Sunday attacks in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Sri Lanka's Catholics on Sunday awoke preparing to celebrate Mass in their homes by a televised broadcast as churches across the island shut over fears of militant attacks, a week after the Islamic State-claimed Easter suicide bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A Sri Lankan Christian catholic family watches and prays inside their home watching live transmission of Sri Lankan Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, in Negombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated Sunday Mass in their homes by a televised broadcast as churches across the island nation shut over fears of militant attacks, a week after the Islamic State-claimed Easter suicide bombings killed over 250 people. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A Sri Lankan police commando secure the area of the exploded St. Anthony's Church on Easter Sunday attacks as people wait next to a small roadside in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Sri Lanka's Catholics on Sunday awoke preparing to celebrate Mass in their homes by a televised broadcast as churches across the island shut over fears of militant attacks, a week after the Islamic State-claimed Easter suicide bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lankan Catholics pray standing on a road as they attend a brief holly service marking the seventh day of the Easter Sunday attacks near the exploded St. Anthony's Church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Sri Lanka's Catholics on Sunday awoke preparing to celebrate Mass in their homes by a televised broadcast as churches across the island shut over fears of militant attacks, a week after the Islamic State-claimed Easter suicide bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
SEATTLE (AP) - The Latest on a crane collapse in Seattle (all times local):

11:30 a.m.

Seattle Pacific University officials say one of its students was among the four people killed when a construction crane fell from a building and crashed onto one of Seattle's busiest streets.

The university says in a statement that Sarah Wong was a freshman who intended to major in nursing and lived on campus.

The university says Wong was in a car when the crane fell from a building under construction on Google's new Seattle campus onto Mercer Street Saturday afternoon.

Tim Church, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor & Industries, says the agency formally opened an investigation into four companies - general contractor GLY, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc., Omega Rigging and Machinery Moving Inc. and Morrow Equipment Co. LLC. Church said he didn't know where the companies are based.

With a portion of the broken crane on the roof behind, a worker suspended in a basket clears debris from a building damaged when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

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10:40 a.m.

Washington state labor investigators are at the scene where a construction crane collapsed in Seattle and killed four people, including two ironworkers who had been inside the crane.

The crane fell from atop a building on Google's new Seattle campus Saturday afternoon, striking six cars and injuring four people.

Of the injured, a 28-year-old man remained hospitalized in satisfactory condition Sunday at Harborview Medical Center. A mother and her infant were released from the hospital Saturday. The fourth person was treated at the scene and released.

The names of the four who died are expected to be released Monday.

Tim Church, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, says the tower crane was being disassembled when it fell from the building.

Church says the investigation into the crash will likely take months.

A stretch of Mercer Street remained closed Sunday.

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12:30 a.m.

Four people were killed when a construction crane crashed down onto cars on one of Seattle's busiest streets.

The crane that fell from a building on Google's new Seattle campus Saturday afternoon struck six cars on Mercer Street near Interstate 5 in the South Lake Union area.

Fire Chief Harold Scoggins says one female and three males had died by the time firefighters had arrived.

Authorities say two of the dead were ironworkers who had been inside the crane while the other two were people were in cars.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan says a 25-year-old mother and her 4-month-old daughter were in a car that was smashed by the crane on its passenger side, and both managed to escape with only minor injuries.

With a portion of the broken crane on the roof behind, workers suspended in a basket survey the damage left on the building when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing four people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Workers, right, suspended in a basket survey the damage left on the building when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, striking both directions of Mercer Street below, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

A worker suspended in a basket reaches out toward debris from a building damaged when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Workers look on where debris is being cleared from where a crane atop a building under construction collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Workers suspended in a basket reach out toward debris from a building damaged when the crane atop it collapsed a day earlier, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Seattle. The construction crane fell from a building on Google's new campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing multiple people. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Police investigate the scene of a construction crane collapse near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Seattle. Several people died and others were injured when a construction crane on the new Google Seattle campus collapsed Saturday, pinning cars underneath. (Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times via AP)

Police investigate the scene of a construction crane collapse near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Seattle. Several people died and others were injured when a construction crane on the new Google Seattle campus collapsed Saturday, pinning cars underneath. (Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times via AP)

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan talks to reporters about the construction crane accident near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue that killed several people and injured others Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Seattle. (Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times via AP)

Blake Haner stands near the scene of the accident with flowers and an expression of condolence for those killed in a construction crane collapse near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Seattle. Several people died and others were injured when a construction crane on the new Google Seattle campus collapsed Saturday, pinning cars underneath. (Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times via AP)

Emergency crews work at the scene of a construction crane collapse where several people were killed and others were injured Saturday, April 27, 2019, in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. The crane collapsed near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue pinning cars underneath it near Interstate 5. (AP Photo/Joe Nicholson)

Emergency crews work at the scene of a construction crane collapse where several people were killed and others were injured Saturday, April 27, 2019, in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. The crane collapsed near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue pinning cars underneath it near Interstate 5. (AP Photo/Joe Nicholson)

Emergency crews work the scene of a construction crane collapse near the intersection of Mercer Street and Fairview Avenue near Interstate 5 in Seattle, on Saturday, April 27, 2019. The crane was atop an office building under construction in a densely populated area. Authorities say several people have died and a few others are hospitalized after the construction crane fell onto a street in downtown Seattle. (Joshua Bessex/The News Tribune via AP)
NEW YORK (AP) - Ahead of their much-anticipated and most recent collaboration, "The Irishman," Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro convened at the Tribeca Film Festival to look back on their long partnership together.

The talk, staged Sunday at New York's Beacon Theatre, gave De Niro, co-founder of the festival, one of his most unlikely roles to date: interviewer. With interstitial clips chosen by Scorsese from the director's filmography, the famously terse actor didn't so much pepper or prod the filmmaker as occasionally announce it was time to discuss "the next one."

But if the conversation relied largely on Scorsese, it still offered a window into their long-running collaboration. Begun with 1973's "Mean Streets" and stretching over nine feature films, it's one of the most famous director-actor pairs in cinema. One of Scorsese's other regulars, Leonardo DiCaprio, was among the full crowd, eager to see the legendary New York duo together.

"The Irishman," which Netflix will release this fall, is their latest gangster film together, following "Mean Streets," ''Goodfellas" and "Casino." It's based on the 2003 book "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt, which recounts the life of mob hitman Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran (played by De Niro). Al Pacino plays Jimmy Hoffa, whose disappearance some have traced to Sheeran.

"It's in the milieu of the pictures we've done together and are known for, in a sense, but I hope from a different vantage point," said Scorsese. "Years have gone by and we see things in a special way, I hope."

Though its release is months away, "The Irishman" - one of Netflix's biggest-budgeted films yet - has already become the new flash point of the ongoing battle between Netflix and movie theaters. The major chains have refused to play releases that don't abide to the traditional exclusive 90-day theatrical window. Netflix has said that doesn't serve the interests of its millions of members.

Actor Robert De Niro, left, and director Martin Scorsese attend "Tribeca Talks - Director Series - Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro" during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at the Beacon Theatre on Sunday, April 28, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)

How Scorsese will navigate those divisions is being closely watched. The 76-year-old filmmaker is among the most respected in movies, and has long been a devoted advocate of film history and film preservation.

The director didn't wade into those issues Sunday, but he spoke about how "Irishman" reverberates with themes that have long propelled him. "Casino," he said, relates to what he considers a current "cultural explosion."

"It's the old story: How much is enough?" said Scorsese. "It has to do with our foibles and our pride. It just so happens (to be told with) gangsters and killers and prostitutes and gamblers."

Scorsese said that "The Irishman" will, like "Casino" did with the score from Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt," include music from another film. He also said his last feature, "Silence," his 2016 religion epic about Jesuit priests in feudal Japan, connects with "The Irishman."

"Terry Malick wrote me a letter when he saw the picture. He said: 'What does Christ want from us?'" said Scorsese. "In the old neighborhood, I saw some of the people doing terrible things. But they still had something in them. They cared for each other."

"This film comes out of that and our new feature comes out of that," he added. "It's right there."

Scorsese is also prepping the release of his documentary "Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story," which will debut on Netflix on June 12. The film will play in a concurrent Oscar-qualifying release in a handful of theaters, as well as "road show" screenings the night before release in some 20 cities.

Music was a constant theme to Scorsese on Sunday - he said it often tells him how to move the camera - as was his enduring interest in gangster films. Alluding to "The Irishman" while discussing "Goodfellas," Scorsese said the genre can contain everything.

"We find that we keep going back to that world because I think we're trying to get to what's essential," said Scorsese. "The microcosm is a macrocosm."

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Actor Robert De Niro, left, and director Martin Scorsese attend "Tribeca Talks - Director Series - Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro" during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at the Beacon Theatre on Sunday, April 28, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)

Actor Robert De Niro, from left, co-founder, CEO, and executive chair of Tribeca Enterprises Jane Rosenthal, and director Martin Scorsese attend "Tribeca Talks - Director Series - Martin Scorsese with Robert De Niro" during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival at the Beacon Theatre on Sunday, April 28, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)
By Guest Blogger Sasha Jones

UPDATED

A high school newspaper in California published a profile of an 18-year-old student who works in the porn industry Friday, following a battle with the district involving censorship.

The Bruin Voice, the student newspaper at Bear Creek High School, had previously received threats from the Lodi Unified School District administration to review the story ahead of time and dismiss the papers adviser if she did not comply. However, on Wednesday, the district backed down following an attorneys review of the article.

Because we are charged with the education and care of our communitys children, we will always be diligent in our efforts to provide a safe learning environment for all students, while complying with our obligations under the law, the district said in a press release .

Bruin Voice news editor Bailey Kirkeby wrote the article, titled Risky business: starting a career in the adult entertainment industry.

I am very proud of the story and how it turned out, she told the San Francisco Chronicle .

Although student journalists are protected under the First Amendment, content that is obscene, libelous, slanderous, incites unlawful or dangerous acts, or may disrupt the school day can be censored. California passed whats known as New Voices legislation in 1977, which provides students with additional protections against administrative censorship.

Adviser Kathi Duffel originally refused to agree to any prior review, citing the students rights to free speech. She told the Associated Press April 26 that the article, which was published Friday in the Bruin Voice, will help students think more critically about the choices they do make at this age in their lives.

But, according to statements by the school district, the district and Duffel later agreed on an independent review of the article by a third-party lawyer before publication. The district complained, however, that the lawyer chosen is serving only as Mrs. Duffels and the students attorney and is not independent.

The district is disappointed that the attorney identified by Mrs. Duffel will not act independently, however the district remains committed to considering all information that has a bearing on this issue, according to the Lodi districts April 29 press release.

The student who is profiled in the story said that she supports publication of the article to dispel rumors.

Im 18, what Im doing is legal, and I dont see why everyone is making such a big deal out of it, Caitlin Fink told the AP.

This is not the districts first attempt to censor the newspaper. According to the publications About page , the Bruin Voices motto, The Voice shall not be silenced was coined after early attempts of censorship following the papers establishment in 1991.

Students additionally protested a social media policy imposed by the Lodi Unified School District in 2013; they received help from the Student Press Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. The policy, which was designed to reduce cyberbulling, prohibited social media posts that were deemed inappropriate by school administrators, including profane or sexual language. The policy also prohibited the liking, retweeting, or favoriting of inappropriate posts by others, and subtweeting"--where a user writes about a person without mentioning their name.

According to the AP, in 2013 the principal at the time also confiscated 1,700 copies of the newspaper when students exposed inaccuracies in the school safety handbook.

According to an Education Week Research Center survey in December of nearly 500 journalism and media educators in 45 states, 44 percent of teachers report a rise in journalism class enrollment in the past two years, with many linking the increase to the national political climate, including attacks on fake news.

But the teachers did not see a similar rise in censorship challenges. Although some student newsrooms have experienced criticism from their peers, 75 percent of educators said that censorship and other challenges related to student press freedom have not changed in the past two years.

Photo courtesy of Getty
NAPAKIAK, Alaska (AP) - An early morning fire at an Alaska jail killed two inmates and seriously injured a guard who was trying to release them, officials said.

Authorities did not immediately identify the victims of the fire Sunday in the village of Napakiak in southwest Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday.

Alaska State Troopers received a report around 1:30 a.m. that the jailhouse was "engulfed in flames" and that two prisoners inside their cells "were not able to get free" of their cells.

The injured guard was flown out of the community by a medivac helicopter. Two other guards escaped the building without reported injuries.

Aspects of the fire remain under question, including who operated the jail in the village of about 380 people southwest of Bethel, the newspaper reported.

It was not immediately known what the victims were in custody for and whether the building was equipped with smoke detectors.

A guard reported the blaze was the result of a prisoner setting fire to a mattress, but it was unclear how materials to start a fire got into a cell.

Two state troopers from Bethel, two fire marshals from Anchorage and an investigator with the Alaska Bureau of Investigation traveled to Napakiak to investigate Sunday, police said.

A 2018 survey of public safety facilities by the Association of Village Council Presidents found problems with windows, door locks and exterior stairs at Napakiak's public safety building, although it was not immediately clear if that was the same location as the fire.

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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
BALTIMORE (AP) - Baltimore city leaders urged witnesses to share what they know with police after a gunman fired indiscriminately into a crowd enjoying Sunday afternoon cookouts, killing a man and wounding seven other people.

Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the gunfire erupted after 5 p.m. on a block in the city's western district of brick row homes. Harrison said a man approached a crowd on foot and began firing in what he called "a very tragic, very cowardly shooting." Speaking at the scene afterward, Harrison said the shooting appeared "extremely targeted."

Both the chief and the acting mayor, Jack Young, urged people in the community to help investigators identify those responsible and whatever motives they had for the violence.

"Someone knows something," Young said. "These things ... they don't happen by happenstance. People know who's doing these shootings."

The shooting comes roughly six weeks after Harrison's swearing-in last month as Baltimore police commissioner, when he promised to make the city safer and lead the department through sweeping reforms required by a federal consent decree. It's a daunting task in one of the country's poorest major cities where there were more than 300 homicides in each of the past two years. Harrison is the city's 14th police leader since the mid-1990s.

The commissioner said there were two cookouts taking place on opposite sides of the street Sunday, and that shell casings were found in two different locations, indicating that there may have been a second gunman, or someone firing back at the first shooter, who fled on foot. It was unclear whether the cookouts were related, Harrison said.

Baltimore police forensics officers place evidence markers next to bullet casings while investigating the scene of a shooting in Baltimore on Sunday, April 28, 2019. A gunman fired indiscriminately into a crowd that had gathered for Sunday afternoon cookouts along a west Baltimore street, killing one person and wounding seven others, authorities said. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

One man who was shot collapsed behind a Baptist church nearby and was pronounced dead at the scene. Harrison said initially that six others had been wounded and were taken to hospitals, but he didn't release their names or their conditions. A police statement later said a man was killed, but didn't give his age. It said five of the survivors were men ranging in ages from 27 to 58, as well as a 30-year-old woman.

A police spokeswoman later Sunday evening was cited by The Baltimore Sun as saying an eighth victim, a man with a gunshot wound to the leg, went to a hospital.

Bullet casings were found scattered on the ground near grills, and a table still had items on it that appeared to be left from a cookout. Police officers could be seen after the shooting placing small orange evidence markers on the ground, just feet from a barber shop. Investigators were seeking witnesses among the many people who were there.

Baltimore has been plagued by drug-fueled violence for decades and it has long been considered one of the nation's most violent big cities. The corrosive impact of the drug trade and a sea of illegal guns continue to spawn a depressing recurrence of tit-for-tat turf wars and retaliatory attacks, particularly in deeply disenfranchised areas of West Baltimore.

While city leaders continue a perennial quest to remake the city in the eyes of potential investors and visitors, Baltimore has been in the throes of a worrying increase of violent crime since 2015, when the homicide rate spiked after the city's worst rioting in decades following the death of young black man in police custody.

Police work near the scene where authorities say several people were shot, at least one fatally, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

A scooter lies among evidence markers near the scene where authorities say seven people were shot, at least one fatally, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

A bin of evidence markers sits near the scene of a shooting in Baltimore on Sunday, April 28, 2019. A gunman fired indiscriminately into a crowd that had gathered for Sunday cookouts on a Baltimore street, wounding several people including at least one of them fatally, the city's police commissioner said. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Police work near the scene of a shooting in Baltimore on Sunday, April 28, 2019. A gunman fired indiscriminately into a crowd that had gathered for Sunday cookouts on a Baltimore street, wounding several people including at least one of them fatally, the city's police commissioner said. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

A forensics worker collects evidence near the scene where authorities say several people were shot, at least one fatally, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Police work near the scene where authorities say several people were shot, at least one fatally, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Police work near the scene where authorities say several people were shot, at least one fatally, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Police work near the scene where authorities say several people were shot, at least one fatally, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

Police work near the scene where authorities say several people were shot, at least one fatally, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - The party that had dominated conservative politics for decades in Spain suffered an unprecedented debacle in national elections Sunday, with the eruption of an ultra-nationalist party causing a seismic shift in the nation's political right.

The Popular Party lost more than half its support from elections just three years earlier as disenchanted voters flocked to conservative rivals outflanking it on both the left and right. Provisional results gave it 66 seats, which was its worst result since it participated in its first national elections in 1989 and was less than half the 137 it won in 2016.

"I am not one to elude responsibilities, the results are very bad," Popular Party leader Pablo Casado told a dejected crowd at his party's headquarters in Madrid. "I only have to say that we are going to start working right now to recover this support and to do so leading the center-right. We had sent warnings out that fragmenting the vote would not be a winning option."

The Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez replaced the Popular Party as the biggest vote winner and is poised to stay in power.

But the votes that the Popular Party lost went to its closest ideological competitors.

The far-right Vox party will enter the lower house of the Parliament by winning 24 seats. It ran as the defender of Spanish traditions such as bull-fighting and railed against illegal immigration and the women's rights movement.

An poster featuring Popular Party leader Pablo Casado looks down from a building on election day in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain voted Sunday in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

The center-right Citizens party, which was participating in its third national election, also improved its share of seats to 57 seats and can aspire to soon overtake the Popular Party. Citizens persuaded some Popular Party members to leave the party and join its ranks during the campaign, including the former president of the Madrid region.

The undisputed loser of the night was Casado. The 38-year-old politician was elected party leader in July to replace former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who retired from public life after he lost a no-confidence vote in Parliament following a court ruling that implicated several former Popular Party members in a corruption ring.

Casado had promised to clean up his party, but he flopped in his first major electoral test.

Vox and Citizens both stole away what had been the banner cause of the Popular Party: the fight against Catalonia's separatists.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal blasted the Popular Party for not wielding a tougher hand with the secessionists, which held an unauthorized referendum on independence in 2017 that Rajoy was unable to stop. Abascal left the Popular Party and took charge of Vox in 2014. He called his former party "the cowardly right" throughout the campaign.

After announcing a "reconquering of Spain" to a thrilled crowd in downtown Madrid late Sunday, Abascal turned up his attacks on the Popular Party.

"I want to send a warning to (the Popular Party), which is already trying to blame us for their failings, for their acts of treason and their fears," Abascal said. "You are the only ones responsible for not being able to stand up to the left."

Spanish voters will return to the polls next month for European, municipal and regional elections.

Santiago Abascal, leader of far right party Vox, addresses supporters gathered outside the party headquarters following the general election in Madrid, Sunday, April 28, 2019. A divided Spain voted Sunday in its third general election in four years, with all eyes on whether a far-right party will enter Parliament for the first time in decades and potentially help unseat the Socialist government. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Three of the nation's most influential activists are launching an organization that aims to harness the political power of women to influence elections and shape local and national policy priorities.

Dubbed Supermajority, the organization is the creation of Cecile Richards, the former head of Planned Parenthood; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. The group, which describes itself as multiracial and intergenerational, has a goal of training and mobilizing 2 million women over the next year to become organizers and political leaders in their communities.

The effort comes at a moment when women have emerged as perhaps the most powerful force in politics.

Millions of women marched in cities across America to protest President Donald Trump's election. Women also comprise the majority of the electorate in the 2018 midterm elections, sending a historic number of female candidates to Congress and helping Democrats retake control of the House. A record number of women are also seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, including four senators.

Richards, who has long been a force in Democratic politics, said women "feel newly empowered and frankly motivated to take action, including so many women who never thought themselves as an activist before."

Richards, Garza and Poo spent the past year traveling the country talking to women about how to harness their activism. They found that despite increased energy, many women find getting involved in politics intimidating and are unclear about how to do more than just march or protest.

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2017, file photo, President Planned Parenthood Federation of America Cecile Richards speak to the crowd during the women's march rally in Washington. Richards and two other women of the nation's most influential activists are launching a new organization that aims to harness the political power of women to influence elections and shape local and national policy priorities. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

"Women are mad as hell and we've been in resistance mode for two years," Garza said. "Now it's time to equip people."

Supermajority isn't expected to endorse individual candidates. But the group will help educate women about candidates' positions on issues including pay equity and affordable child care and push politicians to adopt an agenda akin to what Richards called a "women's new deal."

The effort will be aided by Libby Chamberlain and Cortney Tunis, co-founders of the Facebook group Pantsuit Nation, which was started in the closing weeks of the 2016 election for supporters of Hillary Clinton. The online community now has more than 3.5 million female members.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2016, file photo, Alicia Garza, co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, arrives at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards at NeueHouse Hollywood in Los Angeles. Garza and two other women of the nation's most influential activists are launching a new organization that aims to harness the political power of women to influence elections and shape local and national policy priorities. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
WASILLA, Alaska (AP) - The father of a woman who died of heroin withdrawal in an Alaska jail has settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the state.

A judge approved a $400,000 settlement April 19 of the March 2016 lawsuit filed against the Alaska Department of Corrections by John Green, the father of Kellsie Green, The Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

The 24-year-old died five days after entering an Anchorage jail in January 2016. Her death certificate indicated she died at the Alaska Regional Hospital of malnutrition, dehydration, renal failure and heart dysrhythmia.

Alaska State Troopers arrested the woman, described by her family as a five-year heroin addict, at her parents' request on a community service violation.

Green was willing to settle in part because the state released video, audio and depositions and reports from his daughter's case that he said detail how the system failed his daughter.

Attorneys from the Alaska Department of Law worked with Green's attorney for months to redact names of corrections officers and others.

The state took responsibility for decisions that killed his daughter, Green said, including not immediately providing adequate IV fluids and medically supervised drug detoxification. Jail personnel also failed to respond to frequent calls for help from Kellsie Green's cell while other inmates provided aid, Green said.

He hopes the publication of the case materials will prompt a change in the state's inmate detox procedures.

"I'm just mad. There's no reason this should have happened," Green said. "And it will continue to happen. My biggest fear is it will continue to happen."

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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's navy said Monday that one of its patrol vessels was rammed by two Vietnamese coast guard ships after intercepting a boat it says was fishing illegally in its waters.

Indonesia detained 12 Vietnamese fishermen from the boat, which sank in Saturday's clash, and they are being held at a naval base "for further legal proceedings," said Rear Adm. Yudo Margono, the commander of Indonesia's Western Fleet. Two others were rescued by Vietnam's coast guard.

The Vietnamese fishing vessel was intercepted in waters off Indonesia's Natuna island chain, which is in the southernmost reaches of the South China Sea, Margono said in a statement Monday. Indonesia calls the waters the North Natuna Sea.

"The location of the arrest was actually in Indonesian waters," Margono said. "But the Vietnamese also claimed that the area was Vietnamese waters."

Video purportedly shot from the Indonesian vessel that has been shared widely on social media shows a Vietnamese patrol boat colliding with it as armed Indonesian seamen shout out insults such as "dog," ''pig" and "you die."

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelagic nation, has sunk hundreds of illegal fishing vessels from Vietnam, the Philippines, China and other nations since 2014 as part of efforts to exert greater control over its vast maritime territory.

Its 2017 decision to rename the Natuna waters angered China, which claims most of the South China Sea and is in dispute with many Southeast Asian nations over the competing stakes.

Indonesia doesn't have a territorial dispute with China, but Beijing's claims overlap with Indonesia's internationally recognized exclusive economic zone extending from the Natuna islands.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is spreading misleading rhetoric about illegal immigration.

At a Wisconsin rally , he suggested he's launched his plan to transport immigrants in the U.S. illegally to sanctuary cities in mass numbers - "my sick idea," as he proudly called it. There's no evidence that's happening.

He's also giving a confused outlook on the U.S. population growth, alternating between assertions that the country is too full to accept any more migrants and that it needs more migrants to fill jobs.

In the meantime, Russia kept reverberating over the past week, even with special counsel Robert Mueller's report now part of history.

As much as Trump says he wants the United States to move on, he's found it hard to turn away himself, as seen in a torrent of tweets and remarks railing against Democrats, trashing Mueller and painting his own actions in a saintly light.

A review of rhetoric from Trump and his team, also touching on health care, the economy and the census:

President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, April 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

IMMIGRATION

TRUMP: "Last month alone, 100,000 illegal immigrants arrived in our borders, placing a massive strain on communities and schools and hospitals and public resources, like nobody's ever seen before. Now we're sending many of them to sanctuary cities. Thank you very much. ... I'm proud to tell you that was my sick idea." - Green Bay, Wisconsin, rally Saturday.

THE FACTS: A mass transfer to sanctuary cities is not underway. He proposed the idea in part to punish Democratic congressional foes for inaction on the border, but his Homeland Security officials rejected the plan as unworkable.

Trump said this month he was "strongly considering" the proposal, hours after White House and Homeland Security officials had insisted the idea had been eschewed twice.

"We're in the process of figuring out all the details on how that would work," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday.

Sanctuary cities are places where local authorities do not cooperate with immigration officials, denying information or resources that would help them round up for deportation people living in the country illegally.

By all signs, federal officials considered the president's words little more than bluster. His comments to the Wisconsin crowd appeared to be bluster, too.

People with knowledge of the discussions say White House staff discussed the idea with the Department of Homeland Security in November and February, but it was judged too costly and a misuse of money. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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TRUMP on U.S. population: "We need people to come in." - rally.

TRUMP: "We have companies pouring in. The problem is we need workers." - Fox Business interview Sunday.

THE FACTS: His position is a flip from earlier this month, when he declared the U.S. to be "full" in light of the overwhelmed southern border.

In an April 7 tweet, he threatened to shut down the border unless Mexico apprehended all immigrants who crossed illegally. But it turns out the U.S. is only "full" in terms of the people Trump doesn't want.

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.

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HEALTH CARE

TRUMP: "The Republicans are always going to protect pre-existing conditions." - Wisconsin rally.

THE FACTS: He's not protecting health coverage for patients with pre-existing medical conditions. The Trump administration instead is pressing in court for full repeal of the Affordable Care Act - including provisions that protect people with pre-existing conditions from health insurance discrimination.

Trump and other Republicans say they'll have a plan to preserve those safeguards, but the White House has provided no details.

Former President Barack Obama's health care law requires insurers to take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and patients with health problems pay the same standard premiums as healthy ones. Bills supported in 2017 by Trump and congressional Republicans to repeal the law could undermine protections by pushing up costs for people with pre-existing conditions.

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RUSSIA

TRUMP, calling Mueller's probe a "witchhunt": It's "the greatest political hoax in American history." - Wisconsin rally.

THE FACTS: A two-year investigation that produced guilty pleas, convictions and criminal charges against Russian intelligence officers and others with ties to the Kremlin, as well as Trump associates, is demonstrably not a hoax.

All told, Mueller charged 34 people, including the president's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and three Russian companies. Twenty-five Russians were indicted on charges related to election interference, accused either of hacking Democratic email accounts during the campaign or of orchestrating a social media campaign that spread disinformation on the internet.

Five Trump aides pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with Mueller, and a sixth, longtime confidant Roger Stone, is awaiting trial on charges he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering.

Mueller's report concluded that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was "sweeping and systematic." Ultimately, Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. But the special counsel didn't render judgment on whether Trump obstructed justice, saying his investigators found evidence on both sides.

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TRUMP: "No Collusion, No Obstruction - there has NEVER been a President who has been more transparent. Millions of pages of documents were given to the Mueller Angry Dems, plus I allowed everyone to testify, including W.H. counsel." - tweet Wednesday.

ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR: "The White House fully cooperated with the special counsel's investigation, providing unfettered access to campaign and White House documents, directing senior aides to testify freely, and asserting no privilege claims." - remarks at the Justice Department on April 18.

THE FACTS: It's a huge stretch for them to cast the White House as being "fully" cooperative and open in the investigation into Moscow's interference in the 2016 U.S. election and the Trump campaign's relationship with Russian figures.

Trump declined to sit for an interview with Mueller's team, gave written answers that investigators described as "inadequate" and "incomplete," said more than 30 times that he could not remember something he was asked about in writing, and - according to the report - tried to get aides to fire Mueller or otherwise shut or limit the inquiry.

In the end, the Mueller report found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia but left open the question of whether Trump obstructed justice.

Also on the matter of transparency, Trump is an outlier among presidents in refusing to release his tax returns . Providing tax information as a candidate in 2016 and as president is something party nominees have traditionally done for half a century.

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TRUMP: "In the 'old days' if you were President and you had a good economy, you were basically immune from criticism. Remember, 'It's the economy stupid.' Today I have, as President, perhaps the greatest economy in history." - tweet Tuesday.

THE FACTS: You can assume many previous presidents would beg to disagree that a good economy shielded them from criticism.

Under President Bill Clinton, whose top campaign staffer James Carville coined the phrase "the economy, stupid," to underscore what the campaign should be about, the unemployment rate fell to 3.8% and the nation's economy grew 4% or more for four straight years.

Yet Clinton was under independent counsel investigation for all but one year of his presidency, 1993. The House impeached him in December 1998, at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, though the Senate acquitted him in February 1999. In January 1998, Hillary Clinton alleged a "vast right-wing conspiracy" to take down her husband, a widely mocked complaint about the relentless criticism the Clintons faced from the right (which extended to ridicule over the title of Hillary Clinton's 1996 book, "It Takes a Village.")

Under President Ronald Reagan, the economy expanded 3.5% or more for six years in a row, with growth rocketing to 7.2% in 1984. Yet Reagan was dogged in his second term by the Iran-Contra investigation, which focused on covert arm sales to Iran that financed aid to Nicaraguan rebels.

Both presidents saw much faster growth than Trump has presided over, despite Trump's faulty claim to have "perhaps the greatest economy in history." Growth reached 2.9% last year, the best in four years, but far below the levels achieved under Clinton or Reagan. The unemployment rate touched 3.7% last September and November, the lowest in five decades, but just one-tenth of a percentage point below the 3.8% in April 2000 under Clinton.

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TRUMP: "Mueller was NOT fired and was respectfully allowed to finish his work on what I, and many others, say was an illegal investigation (there was no crime), headed by a Trump hater who was highly conflicted." - tweet Thursday.

THE FACTS: Trump is wrong to suggest that the FBI acted illegally by investigating him. The FBI does not need to know if or have evidence that a crime occurred before it begins an investigation.

Many investigations that are properly conducted ultimately don't find evidence of any crime. The FBI is empowered to open an investigation if there's information it has received or uncovered that leads the bureau to think it might encounter a crime. Apart from that, the investigation into the Trump campaign was initially a counterintelligence investigation rather than a strictly criminal one, as agents sought to understand whether and why Russia was meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump also makes a baseless charge that Mueller was "highly conflicted." Mueller, a longtime Republican, was cleared by the Justice Department's ethics experts to lead the Russia investigation. Nothing in the public record makes him a "Trump hater."

According to the special counsel's report, when Trump complained privately to aides that Mueller would not be objective, the advisers, including then-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, then-White House counsel Don McGahn and then-chief of staff Reince Priebus, rejected those complaints as not representing "true conflicts." Bannon also called the claims "ridiculous."

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TRUMP: "I DID NOTHING WRONG. If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court." - tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: He'd have a tough hearing at the Supreme Court. Justices ruled 9-0 in 1993 that the Constitution grants sole power of impeachment to the House and Senate, not the judiciary.

Under the principle of separation of powers, Congress is a co-equal branch of government to the executive branch and judiciary. The House is afforded power to impeach a president by bringing formal charges, and the Senate convenes the trial, with two-thirds of senators needed to convict and remove a president from office. The Constitution does not provide a role for the judiciary in the impeachment process, other than the chief justice of the United States presiding over the Senate trial.

In its 1993 ruling, the Supreme Court said framers of the Constitution didn't intend for the court to have the power to review impeachment proceedings because they involve political questions that shouldn't be resolved in the courts.

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KELLYANNE CONWAY, White House counselor, saying there's no need for Congress to continue investigating with the Mueller probe concluded: "We all know if Director Mueller and his investigators wanted to or felt that it was right to indict they would have done that. He had every opportunity to indict and declined to indict. Investigators investigate and they decide to indict, they refer indictment or they decline indictment. That's the way the process works." - remarks Wednesday to reporters.

THE FACTS: That's not how Mueller's process worked. According to the report, Mueller's team declined to "make a traditional prosecutorial judgment" on whether to indict - that is, do what prosecutors typically do, as Conway describes it - because of a Justice Department legal opinion that said sitting presidents shouldn't be indicted. "Fairness concerns counseled against potentially reaching that judgment when no charges can be brought," the report states.

As a result, the report factually laid out instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, leaving it open for Congress to take up the matter or for prosecutors to do so once Trump leaves office. Mueller's team wrote that its investigation was conducted "in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh" and documentary material available.

"Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him," the report states.

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HOGAN GIDLEY, White House deputy press secretary: "He's already denounced, multiple times, Russian involvement." - remarks Tuesday to reporters.

THE FACTS: Trump has had it both ways, at times criticizing that involvement but more often equivocating, and long after U.S. intelligence agencies and other parts of his administration became convinced of Russian meddling. "Every time he sees me, he says, 'I didn't do that,'" Trump said of Putin in November 2017. "I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it." In February 2018, he tweeted: "I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said 'it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.'"

Now he has assailed the report by Mueller, whose investigation fleshed out the audacious Russian effort to shape the election in favor of Trump and resulted in indictments against 25 Russians accused either of hacking Democratic email accounts or sowing discord in America through social media, as well as Trump associates.

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TRUMP: "Isn't it amazing that the people who were closest to me, by far, and knew the Campaign better than anyone, were never even called to testify before Mueller. The reason is that the 18 Angry Democrats knew they would all say 'NO COLLUSION' and only very good things!" - tweet on April 22.

THE FACTS: Trump's wrong to suggest that the people "closest" to him weren't called to testify before Mueller's team.

Plenty of people close to him, including in his own family, interviewed with the special counsel's investigators or were at least asked to appear. And of those who did, some said not very good things about their interactions with the president.

Among the advisers and aides who spoke with Mueller was McGahn, who extensively detailed Trump's outrage at the investigation and his efforts to curtail it. McGahn told Mueller's team how Trump called him at home and urged him to press the Justice Department to fire the special counsel, then told him to deny that the entire episode had taken place once it became public.

Mueller also interviewed Priebus, Bannon, former White House chief of staff John Kelly, former White House communications director Hope Hicks and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer who once said he was so close to the president that he'd "take a bullet" for him, also cooperated with Mueller and delivered unflattering details.

Mueller certainly wanted to hear from Trump's family, too, even if not all relatives were eager to cooperate. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., declined to be voluntarily interviewed by investigators, according to Mueller's report. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, spoke multiple times to Mueller's team. One of the president's daughters, Ivanka Trump, provided information through an attorney.

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GIDLEY: "It was Barack Obama who leaned over to Dmitry Medvedev in the Oval Office and said, 'Listen, we'll have more flexibility when the election's over.'" - remarks Tuesday.

THE FACTS: First, the conversation was in South Korea, not the Oval Office. Gidley accurately recounted the gist of what Obama was heard telling the Russian president on a microphone they didn't know was on. But Gidley did not explain the context of the remark.

Obama was suggesting he would have more flexibility postelection to address Russia's concerns about a NATO missile defense system in Europe. The conversation with Medvedev, who was soon succeeded by Vladimir Putin, had nothing to do with Russian meddling that would be exposed in the U.S. election four years away.

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CENSUS

TRUMP: "The American people deserve to know who is in this Country. Yesterday, the Supreme Court took up the Census Citizenship question, a really big deal." - tweet Wednesday.

GIDLEY, when asked whether Trump believes an accurate census count isn't necessary: "He wants to know who's in this country. I think as a sovereign nation we have that right. It's been a question that's been on the census for decades." - remarks Tuesday.

THE FACTS: Not since 1950 has the census collected citizenship data from the whole population.

Moreover, Trump's position that asking a citizenship question in the census is needed to "know who is in this country" ignores the judgment of the Census Bureau's own researchers, who say that it would not result in the most accurate possible count of the U.S. population. The question is already asked in other government surveys.

According to January 2018 calculations by the Census Bureau, adding the question to the once-a-decade survey form would cause lower response rates among Hispanics and noncitizens. The government would have to spend at least $27.5 million for additional phone calls, home visits and other follow-up efforts to reach them.

Federal judges in California, Maryland and New York have blocked the administration from going forward with a citizenship question after crediting the analysis of agency experts. The experts said millions would go uncounted because Hispanics and immigrants might be reluctant to say if they or others in their households are not citizens.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has argued that a citizenship question is needed to help the government better comply with the Voting Rights Act. But the Justice Department has been enforcing the 1965 law, which was passed to help protect minority groups' political rights, with citizenship data already available from other government surveys.

The count goes to the heart of the U.S. political system, determining the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House and how the electoral votes that decide presidential elections are distributed. It also shapes how 300 federal programs distribute more than $800 billion a year to local communities.

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Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Jill Colvin, Christopher Rugaber, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Chad Day, Eric Tucker and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

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President Donald Trump speaks during a Make America Great Again rally on Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (William Glasheen/The Post-Crescent via AP)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs Easter services at St. John's Episcopal Church, Sunday, April 21, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In 2007, the U.S. government made a promise to public service workers: Make 10 years of payments on their federal student loans and any remaining debt would be erased. But officials have largely failed to deliver.

And that's left lawmakers questioning whether to end the program or try to fix it.

The Trump administration and some Republican legislators see it as a lost cause, arguing that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is misguided and has proved too complicated for borrowers to navigate.

But a group of Democrats is pushing to salvage the program, blaming its failure on poor management by the Education Department. The group, which includes six 2020 presidential contenders, proposed a new bill this month that would simplify the rules and expand the offer to a wider swath of borrowers.

"Millions of teachers, social workers, members of the military, nurses, public defenders and countless others have been denied the support they have earned," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., one of the bill's sponsors and a Democratic presidential candidate. "It's time for Congress to fix this program and create a fairer and simpler process for public servants seeking loan forgiveness."

Signed into law under President George W. Bush, the program is meant to help college graduates who pursue jobs that often pay modest salaries but serve a greater good, such as careers in teaching, the military or with nonprofit groups. But turmoil has been mounting around the program since last year, when the Education Department revealed that 99% of borrowers who applied for loan discharges had been rejected. As of December, just 338 public workers had been granted loan forgiveness out of nearly 54,000 applicants, according to recently released department data .

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 10, 2019, file photo, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies before the House Education and Labor Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. A political battle is reheating over a federal program that was designed to cancel student loans for certain public workers but has largely failed to deliver that promise. The program, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, promises to erase federal student loans for public workers who make 10 years of payments while working for approved employers. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Most have been denied because they didn't meet narrow eligibility requirements. Broadly, the program promises to forgive federal loans for public workers who make 120 monthly payments while working for approved employers. But there are caveats: It applies only to certain types of federal loans, for example, and only for borrowers who opted into certain repayment plans.

Thousands of borrowers have said those details were never made clear to them, and many have reported that they were misled by loan servicing companies hired by the government. A scathing 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office concluded that the Education Department had failed to issue clear information to borrowers or loan servicers.

So far, a relatively small number of borrowers have asked for loan cancellations - the window for applications began in October 2017 - but there's evidence that many more are on the way. Education Department data show that nearly 1 million borrowers have taken the initial steps to have their loan payments counted for the program.

John DeGennaro, a 64-year-old English professor, recently applied for loan cancellation for the sixth time; his previous requests were rejected over problems with his paperwork.

"I checked off all the right boxes, I made the 120 payments and then I sent it in, and it started this circus," said DeGennaro, of Encinitas, California. "Every time I sent something, there would be something else that wasn't my error. It started to become absurd."

He's still awaiting a decision on his latest application. Meantime he's stuck with $14,000 in federal student loans that he says he can't pay off with his income as an adjunct at two local colleges.

Seeking a temporary fix, Congress last year approved $700 million to erase loans for borrowers who were rejected because they entered into the wrong repayment plan. But Democrats say the Education Department has failed to implement even that stopgap measure.

An April 15 letter from Senate Democrats says the department has continued to send borrowers misleading information about eligibility and has taken an "unnecessarily restrictive approach" to the rules. The letter asks that Education Department officials be ordered in the 2020 budget to notify borrowers who might be eligible for loan relief.

Other Democrats have used congressional hearings to rebuke Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over her handling of the program. At a March budget hearing, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., asked DeVos if she's really interested in helping borrowers or if she's out to serve "the powerful financial companies profiting off of this malfeasance and incompetence."

DeVos in turn blames Congress for creating a program with such puzzling rules, but she also opposes the offer on principle. "We don't think one type of a job, one type of role, should be incentivized over another," she said at a House hearing this month.

President Donald Trump's 2020 budget proposal asks Congress to eliminate the program, starting with borrowers who take out new loans after July 1, 2020. It argues that the benefit "is not only complicated for borrowers to navigate, but it also inefficiently targets subsidies only to those borrowers in public service jobs."

House Republicans similarly tried to end the program in a bill that failed in the last session of Congress. Some cite the cost, which some federal estimates peg at $22 billion over the next decade, although just $21 million in loans have been discharged so far.

A spokesman for Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the top Republican on the Senate education committee, said the program will be discussed as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, a federal law that governs much of higher education.

Spokesman Taylor Haulsee said Alexander "believes that Congress should maintain but repair and improve the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program so it is easier to understand and operate, and better targeted at occupations taxpayers actually want to subsidize with their generosity."

The bill proposed by Senate Democrats would expand loan forgiveness to all types of federal student loans and all types of federal repayment options. It would also allow borrowers to get half of their loan balance forgiven after five years, and simplify the application process.

Along with Gillibrand, the 13 senators backing the proposal include Democratic presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, along with Bernie Sanders from Vermont, who is independent.

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Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley
ALAMOSA, Colo. (AP) - Republicans such as Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado are arguing the Senate must stay under GOP control in next year's elections to prevent Democrats from pushing the country toward socialism . A sampling of comments from Colorado residents and others on the subject:

Terry Hammond, chairman of the Alamosa County Republican Party: "People depend too much on government rather than doing for themselves. Next thing you know it'll be paying off people's credit cards and mortgages."

Helen Sigmond, Democrat and member of the Alamosa County Commission: "My goodness, they're trying to make it sound horrible," she said of Republican accusations of Democrats' socialism. "But my goodness, who is Trump's best friend? Putin."

Paul Kelly, 64, accountant and unaffiliated voter from Denver suburb of Westminster: "I don't think they understand where it will lead," he said of Democrats' views of socialism. "Democrats are innocents. They think a utopian world exists."

Nicolette Jones, 20, Democrat, student at Adams State University in Alamosa: "I don't see the possibility of the U.S. becoming a socialist country as a reasonable fear."

Angie Horning, 50, Republican, real estate agent from Colorado Springs: "I don't see socialism as having helped anywhere. It's a concern. People don't understand it. It takes freedom away."

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., attends the Alamosa County Republicans Lincoln Day dinner in Alamosa, Colo., on April 24, 2019. Republicans are warning that Democratic proposals aimed at providing universal health care and curbing greenhouse gas emissions show that Democrats want to turn the U.S. toward socialism. Among those making that pitch Gardner, who faces re-election next year. Conversations with more than three dozen Coloradans show that while some harbor concerns about socialism, few volunteer it as a top-flight concern. (AP Photo/Alan Fram)

Nick Saenz, 36, Democrat, history professor at Adams State University: Republican warnings about socialism are "a dog whistle" aimed at older voters' Cold War fears of the communist threat.

David Winston, Republican pollster and adviser to congressional GOP leaders, on next year's elections: "In most of these states, it's the political center that's going to decide the outcome, and the political center is not fond of socialism."

Geoffrey Garin, Democratic pollster and adviser to congressional Democratic leaders, on GOP attempts to woo suburban voters by warning about Democrats and socialism: "With suburban voters, Republicans are just playing a losing hand" because of issues like battling climate change and improving health care coverage.

Andrew Romanoff, former speaker of Colorado House and candidate for Democratic nomination to oppose Gardner: "People support Social Security and Medicare, public education and infrastructure. That doesn't make you a socialist. It's just common sense."

Gardner, on his claim that the country faces a threat from socialism: "One of the leading candidates of the Democratic Party is a socialist. That's the threat. One of the leading voices in the House of Representatives is a socialist. That's not made up. That's not pie in the sky." His references were to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a Democratic presidential candidate, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who call themselves democratic socialists.
ALAMOSA, Colo. (AP) - In this scruffy, high-desert town encircled by prairies and potato farms, Sen. Cory Gardner drew shouts of approval last week for his message that Democrats are shoving the country toward socialism.

"That's not what government is or what it should be," he told about 200 Alamosa County Republicans at a barbecue fundraiser in a National Guard armory. "We have to stand up and fight. Are you going to join me in this fight?"

For Gardner and other Republicans making the same pitch , including President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the key question is whether it will attract moderate voters, not just their conservative stalwarts. Based on interviews with over three dozen Coloradans last week from Denver's suburbs south to this town in the flat San Luis Valley, the argument has yet to take root, though the GOP has 18 months to sell it before Election Day 2020.

Few volunteered a drift toward socialism as a major worry, with health care and living costs cited far more frequently. Several said capitalism was too embedded in the U.S. to be truly threatened and Republicans were using socialism to stir unease with Democrats by raising the specter of the old, repressive Soviet Union and today's chaotic Venezuela.

"They're preying on fear," said David Kraemer, 67, a financial adviser who's not registered with a political party and lives in the Denver suburb of Westminster.

Yet when asked directly whether socialism was a concern, many expressed a wariness of injecting more government into people's lives. Rather than naming policies that troubled them, many mentioned two self-proclaimed democratic socialists: Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who's seeking the Democratic presidential nomination , and freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The comments suggested that Republicans might be tapping into unease over letting either party go too far.

Rhett Lucero, 40, an auto body shop mechanic poses for a photo on April 24, 2019, in Pueblo, Colo. Republicans are warning that Democratic proposals aimed at providing universal health care and curbing greenhouse gas emissions show that Democrats want to turn the U.S. toward socialism. Lucero, says Democrats' efforts to expand health coverage and curb global warming make sense. (AP Photo/Alan Fram)

"Checks and balances are what make this country so great," said Steve Lajoie, 46, a self-employed carpenter from Denver and independent voter.

Gardner, 44, who's expected to face a tough re-election fight next year, has been repeating his argument for months. He cites liberal Democrats' "Medicare for All" bills for government-provided health care, and a Green New Deal proposal for aggressively cutting carbon emissions.

Sanders has sponsored Medicare for All legislation that's been embraced by many of his Democratic presidential rivals. Ocasio-Cortez is an architect of the Green New Deal, which remains a concept, not proposed legislation. Many Democrats, especially moderates, have kept their distance from both plans, divisions Republicans are happy to exploit.

Democrats reject the socialism assertion as a distraction from Trump's unpopularity and the issues they will emphasize, especially improving health care and protecting jobs and income. They say efforts to make health care more available and combat global warming have nothing to do with limiting individuals' rights.

Democrats note that voters gave them total control of Colorado government in November despite GOP attempts to pin the socialism label on former U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, who was elected governor. They say growing numbers of younger, urban and Hispanic residents are steadily making the state more liberal.

GOP cries of socialism are "Cold War stuff" that's irrelevant to most voters, said Morgan Carroll, chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party.

"I think that probably does fire up their base, but you cannot win an election in Colorado with the Republican base alone," Carroll said.

Republicans see a powerful argument in telling voters they need a GOP-controlled Senate for protection against Democrats who are coming after their current health insurance, their energy sector jobs and more.

"I think we're running to be the firewall that saves the country from socialism," McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters recently.

Republicans say the anti-socialism message will prove powerful in a state that overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative creating single-payer health care and where registered unaffiliated voters, often with libertarian leanings, outnumber both Democrats and Republicans.

The GOP hopes the appeal will win over suburbanites whose distaste for Trump helped Democrats capture the House in the fall. They note that public opinion polls find socialism is especially unpopular among older voters, Republicans and moderates.

Avery Jones, of Westminster, is one potential target.

"Taxes kill," said Jones, 27. While she's eager to improve her family's health coverage, she sees "some merit" to checking Democrats from pushing toward universal health care because "it would just drive up taxes."

But for every Jones, there's a Rhett Lucero. Lucero, 40, eating lunch at the Riverwalk park that winds through the city of Pueblo, says Democrats' efforts to expand health coverage and curb global warming make sense.

"It's helping each other out," said the auto body mechanic, who, like Jones, is an unaffiliated voter. "It's putting our taxes to a real good use."

Not all Democrats are dismissive of the socialism strategy.

Eva Henry, a commissioner of Adams County outside Denver, says her community's blue-collar families might buy the GOP argument if they believe Democrats' proposals would drive up taxes. "Our Democrats can vote Republican because they vote their pocketbooks," the Democrat said.

Pueblo Mayor Nicholas Gradisar said he doubts the argument will sway many Democrats but warned, "Democrats have to be wary of it and they have to respond" by telling voters the party "will give you a fair shake." Pueblo County, south of the economically surging corridor that runs from Boulder to Colorado Springs, leans Democratic but backed Trump in 2016.

Republicans, who've already cast Democrats as socialists this year with digital videos and roadside billboards, tried the theme in several states in November, to little effect. It wasn't new: Actor Ronald Reagan and GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater castigated Medicare as socialist in the 1960s, yet it's now a cherished medical lifeline for millions of older Americans.

Republicans say this time will be different. But one Coloradan's comments suggest that past GOP warnings about Democrats may haunt Republicans.

"Every time a Democrat gets elected, they say, 'We're going to lose our guns,'" said Marc O'Leary, 48, of Westminster. "It never happens."

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., attends the Alamosa County Republicans Lincoln Day dinner in Alamosa, Colo., on April 24, 2019. Republicans are warning that Democratic proposals aimed at providing universal health care and curbing greenhouse gas emissions show that Democrats want to turn the U.S. toward socialism. Among those making that pitch Gardner, who faces re-election next year. Conversations with more than three dozen Coloradans show that while some harbor concerns about socialism, few volunteer it as a top-flight concern. (AP Photo/Alan Fram)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak has failed in his bid to have seven corruption charges against him dismissed as his trial entered the third week Monday.

At the start of his trial April 3, Najib challenged the criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering charges against him on grounds they lacked clarity and impeded the preparation of his defense.

Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali ruled Monday that Najib hadn't been prejudiced as his lawyers had extensively cross-examined 21 witnesses who testified so far. The judge ruled the charges would stand.

The trial is the first of several against Najib, who faces 42 graft charges in one of the country's biggest criminal proceedings.

The first seven charges specifically relate to the suspicious transfer of 42 million ringgit ($10.2 million) from SRC International into Najib's bank accounts via intermediary companies between 2011 and 2015.

SRC is a former unit of the 1MDB state investment fund, which U.S. investigators say was pilfered of billions by Najib's associates. The scandal helped lead to Najib's electoral defeat last May.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, walks in a courtroom at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, April 29, 2019. Najib, his former deputy and several high-ranking former officials have already been charged with corruption after the election ushered in the first change of power since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Najib is accused of using his position to receive the money for approving a government guarantee for a government loan to SRC, committing criminal breach of trust and accepting proceeds from unlawful activities.

His lawyers say Najib is the victim of conspiracy by rogue bankers including one identified by U.S. investigators as the mastermind behind the 1MDB fiasco. Prosecutors say Najib, who set up 1MDB in 2009, was the real power behind the fund and SRC.

Evidence so far has shown a complex trail of money in and out of Najib's bank accounts, some of which had been used to pay for his home renovation, some disbursed to political parties in his then ruling coalition, some for charity and some to manage his Chinese Facebook account and monitor six Chinese-language dailies.

His wife, Rosmah Mansor, also has been charged with money laundering and tax evasion linked to 1MDB. She has also pleaded not guilty and her trial date has not been set.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Military officials say the commander of the task force that runs the prison at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been fired for a "loss of confidence in his ability to command."

A statement from U.S. Southern Command says Navy Rear Adm. John Ring was relieved of duty Saturday. The facility's deputy commander, Army Brig. Gen. John Hussey, has been designated the acting commander.

The commander of Southern Command, Navy Adm. Craig Faller, relieved Ring. The statement says the change in leadership "will not interrupt the safe, humane, legal care and custody provided to the detainee population at GTMO."

About 40 prisoners are being held at the facility. At its peak, in mid-2003, it held nearly 700.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's president opened a grand council on Monday of more than 3,200 Afghans seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government.

President Ashraf Ghani hopes to showcase unity at the four-day meeting - known as Loya Jirga - that brings together politicians, tribal elders, many prominent figures and others.

But Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, his partner in a unity government brokered by the United States after a bitterly disputed election in 2014, heads a list of no-shows.

Former President Hamid Karzai, who also is not attending, told The Associated Press on Monday that holding the council at this time risks "delaying and causing an impediment to the peace process." He also voiced concern that by sidelining his chief executive, Ghani could trigger suspicion that personal ambitions may have partly driven him to hold the Loya Jirga now.

"We are all here to talk about the framework of peace talks with the Taliban ... reaching a sustainable peace is very important to us," said Ghani in his welcome address to delegates.

Waving a copy of Afghanistan's constitution, Ghani lauded it as the most Islamic of constitutions - an apparent message to the Taliban who have suggested they want to negotiate articles within the charter, without specifying.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the first day of the Loya Jirga, or the consultative council in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president opened a grand council on Monday of more than 3,200 prominent Afghans seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Ghani gave the chairmanship of the council to Abdul Rasool Sayyaf, a former warlord with past links to Osama bin Laden and the militants who took control of Kabul after the collapse of the communist government in the early 1990s. He is known for adhering to a strict interpretation of Islam, and refusing to meet with women .

During the 2002 Loya Jirga to devise Afghanistan's constitution following the U.S. invasion, it was Sayyaf and his political allies who pressed for the inclusion of a clause prohibiting any laws that are deemed unacceptable to Islam.

In several rounds of talks with the Taliban, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has narrowed the gaps on a deal under which U.S. forces would withdraw in return for guarantees that Afghanistan not revert to a haven for international terrorists. But Khalilzad has struggled to get Afghans to agree on a roadmap for the country's future.

The Taliban have refused to directly talk to Kabul representatives, viewing the government as a U.S. puppet.

Ahead of the council, Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, said that "if Abdullah and his supporters don't attend, there's going to be a glaring absence of key stakeholders that will diminish the event's credibility in a big way."

"Given all the divides in Afghanistan, there is as much of a need for reconciliation within Afghanistan as there is for reconciliation with the Taliban," he added.

The latest attempt at Afghan-to-Afghan talks - scheduled in Qatar earlier this month and intended to include the Taliban, Kabul government representatives, the opposition and other prominent figures - collapsed as the two sides were unable to agree on the participants.

Karzai urged the U.S. to do more to press all sides to the table. "We are in a great hurry for peace."

The Loya Jirga, a deeply-rooted tradition aimed at building consensus among Afghanistan's various ethnic groups, tribes and factions, was intended to strengthen Ghani's hand but risks being seen as just a gathering of loyalists.

The Americans appear increasingly impatient with Ghani, with Khalilzad tweeting his frustration after the Qatar talks fell apart. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Ghani to urge him to join the talks in Doha, where the Taliban maintain an office.

Even Pakistan, which the U.S. and Afghanistan regularly accuse of aiding insurgents, issued a statement saying talks were the only path to peace in Afghanistan. It promised not to interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs and even condemned the Taliban's recent announcement of the start of their annual spring offensive.

"The so-called offensives are condemnable and will undermine the peace process. It is not right to seek an edge in dialogue through coercion," Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said. "Pakistan will not be party to any internal conflict in Afghanistan anymore."

Over the weekend, Khalilzad tweeted his approval of Khan's statement. The U.S. envoy recently met with representatives of China and Russia, saying there is an "emerging international consensus on the U.S. approach to end the war and assurances terrorism never again emanates from Afghanistan."

The State Department said the U.S., Russia and China called for intra-Afghan talks, urged a cease-fire and supported "an orderly and responsible withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan as part of the overall peace process."

The statement also said the Taliban have agreed to fight Islamic State militants in Afghanistan and sever ties with al-Qaida, the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement and other militant groups. It said the Taliban have promised to "ensure the areas they control will not be used to threaten any other country" and called on the insurgents "to prevent terrorist recruiting, training, and fundraising, and expel any known terrorists."

The Taliban effectively control nearly half of Afghanistan and have continued to carry out daily attacks despite their talks with Khalilzad. They have also refused to agree to any cease-fire before international troops withdraw.

A Taliban official familiar with the talks said the two sides are still haggling over a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, with the Taliban demanding six months and the U.S. seeking 18 months. The Taliban official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

But even as Khalilzad nears an agreement with the Taliban, he appears increasingly at odds with Kabul. During a visit to Washington last month, Ghani's national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, accused Khalilzad of personal ambitions and sidelining the government.

Ordinary Afghans, who have endured decades of war, express frustration with both sides.

Hajji Sher Aga, who owns a gas station near Kabul, complained about the lack of security and lawlessness. He blamed widespread government corruption and said peace with the Taliban was the only answer.

"The Taliban are also Afghan," said Hajji Noor Aga, one of his workers.

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Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez and Amir Shah in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

Delegates attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Delegates attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Delegates attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, center, inspects an honor guard during the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, Pool)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2015 photo, former Afghan warlord Abdul Rasool Sayyaf, attends the Afghanistan Protection and Stability Council in Kabul, Afghanistan. On April 29, 2019, President Ashraf Ghani stressed the importance of "sustainable peace" with the Taliban as he opened a four-day grand council in Kabul meant to forge a common agenda for future peace talks with the insurgents. Ghani gave the chairmanship of the council to Sayyaf, a former warlord with past links to Osama bin Laden and the militants who took control of Kabul after the collapse of the communist government in the early 1990s. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

Delegates attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Backdropped by his own image, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks to delegates during the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, center, prays with other delegates during the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

A delegate poses for a selfie photo backdropped by a sign written in Persian "Good consultation, peace with dignity", while attending the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, center, inspects an honor guard during the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, Pool)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, centre, attends during the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, left, speaks during the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Delegates record the speech of Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani, as they attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Delegates attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Delegates attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Delegates attend the first day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, April 29, 2019. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani opened the Loya Jirga grand council on Monday with more than 3,200 prominent Afghans attending to seek an agreed common approach for future peace talks with the Taliban, but the gathering may further aggravate divisions within the U.S.-backed government. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
NEW DELHI (AP) - The fourth phase of India's staggered national election Monday was marred by multiple clashes that injured at least seven people and led to security forces firing warning shots outside one polling station.

A junior minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party, Babul Supriyo, said his car was attacked by supporters of a rival party outside a polling station in West Bengal's Asansol district as they tried to stop him from entering.

In West Bengal's Dubrajpur area, security forces fired warning shots in the air at a group of voters who turned violent when stopped from carrying mobile phones into polling stations, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

Clashes between rival groups elsewhere in the state injured seven people, the agency reported. They included a woman who was hit by a crude bomb that exploded outside a polling station, police said.

The Election Commission said police filed a case of trespass against Supriyo, the minister, for forcing his way into a polling station without authorities' permission.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party is facing a major test as it looks to govern for another five years after winning a clear majority in the 2014 election. The party suffered a setback in December when the opposition Congress party wrested power from it in three key state elections - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Indian men and women stand in queue to cast their votes at a polling booth in Bardhaman east constituency, West Bengal state, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. With 900 million of India's 1.3 billion people registered to vote, the Indian national election is the world's largest democratic exercise. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh were among the nine states voting on Monday.

The remaining three phases of the election will be completed by May 19, and vote counting will begin May 23.

Even before Monday, more than half of India's 543 parliamentary constituencies had already voted in the election, which began April 11. With 900 million of India's 1.3 billion people registered to vote, the election is the world's largest democratic exercise.

On Monday, 64% of 128 million eligible voters cast ballots on electronic voting machines, the Election Commission said.

In the first three phases, voter turnout was around 66.4%, the same as in 2014, when Modi's party came into power. This may not be good news for the BJP, which launched a campaign two years ago seeking to increase voter turnout in the 2019 election.

"The BJP hasn't been able to enthuse people and overcome the voters' apathy," said Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst who has written a biography of Modi.

Modi said in campaign speeches last week that his government was not facing an anti-incumbency bias "as people know that the BJP-led government is working honestly for the development of the country." He also said all past governments in India had faced such biases in national and state elections.

Under the leadership of political dynasty scion Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party, which had ruled the country for more than half a century after 1947 independence, has struggled to coalesce India's many opposition parties into a coherent force that could go head-to-head with the BJP.

The opposition says the BJP's emphasis on Hindu nationalism has aggravated religious tensions and violence against Muslims and other minorities in constitutionally secular India. Hindus comprise 80% of India's population. There is a large Muslim minority, with smaller minorities of Sikhs, Christians and others.

Surveys show Modi's BJP is projected to come out first again, though with a smaller mandate.

An Indian man takes selfies after casting his vote at a selfie point set up outside a polling booth in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. Indians were voting Monday in the fourth phase of a staggered national election, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party facing a major test as it looks to govern for another five years. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
PEMBA, Mozambique (AP) - More rain is forecast for northern Mozambique, where the death toll from Cyclone Kenneth jumped to 38, as flooding and pounding rains hampered efforts to deliver aid to badly hit communities several days after the storm.

More flooding is expected in the northeastern port city of Pemba and the surrounding areas.

An estimated 160,000 people are at risk from the second powerful cyclone to hit the southern African nation in just six weeks, officials said. It was the first time in recorded history that two cyclones had targeted Mozambique in a single season.

Just as most of the more than 600 deaths from last month's Cyclone Idai were caused by flooding in the days that followed, heavy rains in the wake of Kenneth have raised fears of a similar scenario. The storm made landfall on Thursday with the force of a Category 4 hurricane.

Flooding was "critical" in parts of the country's northernmost province of Cabo Delgado including Ibo island and the districts of Macomia and Quissanga, where more than 35,000 buildings and homes had been partly or fully destroyed, the government said.

Mozambique's national weather service on Monday afternoon forecast continued rain in the area. The national meteorological institute said the northeastern region will continue to receive moderate to strong rains, dropping more than 50 milliliters (3 inches) over the next 24 hours.

A woman shows one of her feet after walking in the mud near a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Aid workers have described "total devastation" affecting a 60-kilometer (37-mile) stretch of coastline and nearby islands.

The rising waters have made many roads impassable and hampered air efforts to reach communities outside the region's main city, Pemba.

Authorities were preparing for a possible cholera outbreak as some wells were contaminated and safe drinking water became a growing concern.

The heavy rains in Pemba caused deadly mudslides. Residents of one poor neighborhood dug for bodies on Monday after two houses were crushed by the collapse of a sprawling dumpsite overnight, resident Manuel Joachim said.

A woman's body had been found, he said.

Later, the searchers discovered two hands protruding from the mud and debris. They tied a rope to one of the hands to try and pull out the body, but the rain started pouring again.

Five people in all were thought to be buried there, Joachim said.

In other parts of Pemba, some tried to return to a semblance of daily life amid the destruction. At a school, children in blue uniforms trooped into classes. Traders put their wares on street pavements and wooden tables while others were busy removing rubble from homes and yards.

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Locals and rescuers retrieve a mattress from a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A young boy inspects part of a bicycle retrieved from a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Locals and rescuers gather around a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Brazilian Rescuers arrive at a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Rescuers tie a rope around a hand at the site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A woman and her baby watch locals and rescuers at a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Locals and rescuers retrieve a mattress from a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Rescuers tie a rope around a hand at the site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Brazilian Rescuers are seen at a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Children stand on the edge of a dumpsite where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite when rains poured after midnight, in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A boy does push-ups in the rain, in Pemba, on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Sunday, April, 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Women wait outside a closed shop in Natite neighbourhood, in Pemba city, on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Sunday, April, 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Community leader Estenacio Pilale explains how a brick wall collapsed and killed a woman during floods due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday , April 28, 2019. Downpours began Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

People walk through a flooded path leading to a shop during floods due to heavy rain in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday , April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A woman stand next to a collapsed house where a neighbour was killed due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday , April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A child drinks water from a gutter during floods due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A child drinks water from a gutter during floods due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A man repairs a structure that collapsed due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Downpours began Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

An elderly woman creates a drainage system near her shop to clear away floodwaters due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Downpours began Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

People leave their flooded homes, in Natite neighbourhood, in Pemba, on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Sunday, April, 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A child sits on a bus during rainfall, in Natite neighbourhood, in Pemba, on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Sunday, April, 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A young girl takes a look outside a gate near a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

People watch as an excavator digs, at a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Damaged houses near the area where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A man accused of spying for the United Arab Emirates has been found dead in his prison cell, the Istanbul prosecutor's office said Monday. The state-run news agency described the incident as suicide.

The man was one of two suspects arrested in Istanbul earlier this month on charges of "political, military and international espionage."

The prosecutor's office said his body was discovered Sunday hanging from the bathroom door of the one-person cell he was being held in at Silivri prison, on the outskirts of Istanbul.

The prosecutor's office identified him as Zaki Y.M. Hasan. He died between 8:16 a.m. when a roll-call took place and 10:22 a.m. when he was discovered during the distribution of food, it said.

An investigation has been launched, the statement said.

The two men had allegedly confessed during interrogation that they had been spying on Arab dissidents based in Turkey on behalf of the UAE, Turkish officials said.

Turkish authorities were also investigating the possibility that they could have been involved in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last year.
BERLIN (AP) - German authorities are investigating after police found thousands of liters (gallons) of harmful chemicals and gas containers stored in a depot in western Germany.

German news agency dpa reported Monday that firefighters discovered the containers Sunday in a storehouse in Preussisch Oldendorf, near the city of Bielefeld, while extinguishing a cable fire in the facility.

Dpa reported that the building's owner had sublet it to another person, who is now being sought by police. There were no further details on that person.

Police said they're also investigating why the material was stored in the building and its intended use.

The building was seized by police and the chemicals will be removed by specialists.

The 35,000 liters (9,245 gallons) of chemicals include sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide solution and phosphoric acid.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A fire raged through the top floors of a 21-story residential building in the Philippine capital on Monday in the middle of a scorching summer, killing an elderly woman and injuring five other people, officials said.

Mayor Edwin Olivarez said by telephone that more than 100 firetrucks battled the blaze at the Pacific Coast Plaza condominium in Paranaque city, where one lane of a coastal road along Manila Bay was closed due to falling debris. An elderly woman was found dead in the upper floors and five other people were injured, fire officials said.

A firefighter was given first aid due to fatigue.

Investigators will inspect the floors gutted by the fire, which was put under control about three hours after it started. The fire apparently started in or near the garbage chute that runs from the top to the ground floor, Olivarez said.

At the height of the fire, dark smoke billowed from the mid-section of the top five floors, leaving a black stain on the white facade of the building, which Olivarez said was built more than two decades ago. Many Chinese citizens have moved into the condominium in recent years, he said.

Fire officials say more than 100 fires have hit the Philippine capital this summer, more than in the previous year, mostly because of faulty electrical connections and unattended candles and gas lamps. Some of the fires quickly spread in densely packed shantytowns.

Firemen watch as a fire rages through the top floors of the 21-story Pacific Coastal Plaza condominium in suburban Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines Monday, April 29, 2019. Officials say more than 100 firetrucks converged Monday to battle the blaze that hit residential building in the Paranaque city area of Manila, where one lane of a coastal road along Manila Bay was closed due to falling debris. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

The Philippines has a poor safety record blamed on weak enforcement of regulations and past corruption.

A nightclub fire killed 162 people, mostly students celebrating the end of the school year, in suburban Quezon City in the capital in 1996. Many of the victims were unable to escape because the emergency exit was blocked by a new building next door.

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Associated Press video journalist Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.

Broken glasses fall from the raging 21-story Pacific Coastal Plaza condominium in suburban Paranaque, south of Manila, Philippines Monday, April 29, 2019. Officials say more than 100 firetrucks converged Monday to battle the blaze that hit residential building in the Paranaque city area of Manila, where one lane of a coastal road along Manila Bay was closed due to falling debris. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - An Australian billionaire businessman announced on Monday that his minor party has struck a vote-swap deal with the ruling party that improves the government's chances of being re-elected in a general election on May 18.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer announced the deal with Prime Minister Scott Morrison's conservative Liberal Party as early voting began in the election, in which the ruling coalition is seeking a third three-year term.

Palmer told reporters that the center-left opposition Labor Party also wanted to strike a deal with the party he created, United Australia Party, but were refused because "their policies would destroy Australia."

Labor denies seeking such a deal. Labor and some within the Liberal Party have cautioned against political deals with the maverick businessman and his party.

Morrison defended the deal, telling reporters that Labor would be "far worse for the economy" than the United Australia Party.

Under Australia's system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. Those ranked highest by a majority of voters have a better chance of being elected.

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013, file photo, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer speaks during a news conference in New York. Palmer has announced his minor party has struck a vote-swap deal with the ruling party that improves the government's chances of being re-elected in a general election on May 18. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

The Liberal Party will ask its supporters to rank United Australia ahead of Labor candidates. United Australia will ask its supporters to rank Liberal candidates ahead of Labor.

United Australia's supporters could give government candidates the edge against Labor candidates in close contests for 151 seats in the House of Representatives, where parties need a majority to form a government.

Palmer, who said he is worth 4 billion Australian dollars ($2.8 billion), has been spending tens of millions of dollars of his corporations' money in advertising for months and plans to match the major parties' spending by the end of the campaign.

An opinion poll published in The Australian newspaper on Monday showed that 5% of voters intend to vote for United Australia, up from 3% in a survey two weeks earlier.

The poll was based on a nationwide survey of 2,136 voters over the weekend. It has a 2.3 percentage point margin of error.

The same poll found Labor was narrowly ahead of the conservative coalition, although the difference was within the margin of error.

Palmer said the poll understated the popular support for his party, which he hopes will form its own government after the election.

Analysts agree Palmer has a strong chance of winning a Senate seat for himself. But no other United Australia candidate is expected to succeed.

Palmer served a single term in the House of Representatives after the 2013 election and an earlier version of his party briefly had four senators before they all defected.

United Australia currently has a single senator who defected from another minor party.

Palmer was a major donor to Australian conservative parties before becoming a rival after a falling out with party leaders.

Critics accuse him of failing to pay AU$74 million in employee entitlements when one of his companies, Queensland Nickel, was shut down in 2016 in his home state of Queensland where he hopes to become a senator.

Palmer denies liability and blamed the administrators who shut down the company when it became insolvent for the job losses. His liability is being contested in court. The government has paid AU$70 million toward what hundreds of former employees are owed.

Labor has described Palmer as a "conman" whom it would not deal with.

"What debt is Mr. Palmer going to come knocking on the door of the prime minister for if in fact Mr. Palmer rescues the prime minister?" Labor leader Bill Shorten asked in the first leaders' debate of the campaign.

Former Western Australia state Premier Colin Barnett, a senior figure in the Liberal Party, has warned that a political deal with Palmer could harm the government's relationship with Australia's most important trading partner, China.

As a lawmaker in 2014, Palmer launched an extraordinary tirade on national television in which he called the Chinese "bastards" and "mongrels" and accused Beijing of trying to take over Australia. He later apologized.

The tirade began when Palmer was questioned about a legal dispute between his mining company, Mineralogy, and its Chinese state-owned partner, CITIC Pacific Mining.

Voter who will not be able to cast ballots on May 18 are allowed to vote from Monday.

Such pre-poll voting has become increasing popular since it was introduced in 1984. In the 2007 election, 8% of voters lodged their ballot early. At the last election in 2016, 23% voted early.

Some analysts argue this reflects a modern expectation of being able to choose the timing of pursuits such as binge-watching television programs and online shopping rather than being held to a schedule.
PARIS (AP) - The Paris prosecutor's office says several people, including a minor, have been arrested on suspicion they were preparing an attack possibly targeting French security forces in the near future.

They were arrested Friday as part of an investigation opened on Feb. 1 for terrorist conspiracy, the office said Monday, without providing details about the number of people involved or where they were arrested.

French broadcaster BFM TV said four men were being held by police.

The prosecutor's office said the minor had previously been arrested in February 2017 at the age of 15 as he was trying to go to Syria to join the Islamic State group.

He had been sentenced by a juvenile court to a three-year prison sentence, of which two years were suspended.
Having the chance to pitch proven business experts and investors on the tenth season of Shark Tank is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, said Anthony Pucci, 34, who co-founded Cubicall with brother Nick, 31. Weve come a long way since creating a phone booth out of personal necessity two years ago. Were now in a position to sell the Sharks on our unique value proposition  and were confident theyll see the market opportunity.
KALMUNAI, Sri Lanka (AP) - Suicide bombings at a militants' safe house have shaken the simple homes of this east Sri Lankan town as well as the rest of this idyllic coast, as the investigation into the Islamic State-claimed Easter bombings has spread here.

Police and military checkpoints dot the coastal roads, with people emptying out of buses to present their identity papers. On streets lined with shuttered shops, police officers with assault rifles look warily at passers-by. Whispers persist about the leader of the IS-pledged militant group, which preached the promise of heaven through the killing of others both here and online.

The scale of the explosives seized following Friday night's violence, as well as the continued warning of authorities that more militants remain on the loose, only add to the dread.

"Even though the security forces are here, it's not like earlier," said Chandima Krishanthi, a 42-year-old market vendor in nearby Ampara. "We are living in fear. It's nothing like it used to be."

Sri Lanka's eastern coast was a battleground in the island nation's 26-year civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, a group of secular nationalists who launched over 130 suicide bombings themselves. The war ultimately ended in 2009 with the government crushing the Tigers, with some observers believing that tens of thousands of Tamils died in the last few months of fighting alone.

Violence here in Kalmunai, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, shattered nearly 10 years of peace on Friday night. One neighbor, Ahamed Mohammed Rizwan, told The Associated Press that leaders at his mosque asked him and two others to go the militants' house and check on them as he knew the people living there.

A police officer stand guards at a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants as neighbors gather to watch in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

As they approached, one man opened the gate and said, "Peace be upon you," Rizwan said. He replied the same way and they entered the compound and began talking. Suddenly, another man appeared with a Chinese variant of the Kalashnikov assault rifle and aimed it at Rizwan's chest, saying, "God is the greatest."

Rizwan and the other men fled and found two traffic police officers, who then started walking toward the house. The militants opened fire, sparking the confrontation, Rizwan said. Those inside later detonated suicide vests, killing themselves and others.

AP journalists walking through the neighborhood Sunday found evidence of the firefight. Spent 7.62 mm cartridges littered the ground, likely from the assault rifle one of the militants carried. Down the street, bullet holes punctured the cement block walls of neighbors' homes.

Around the house, the scale of the violence became even more clear. A limb still lay in a drainage ditch. The roof of the home had been blown off by the power of the explosion, pages of religious tracts in Arabic lying atop it.

Inside the home, lined notebooks had a child's shaky Arabic calligraphy. Police also laid out white linen women's dresses recovered from inside, similar to those worn by Buddhists when they go to temple. Investigators spoke softly to each other, wondering if that meant the militants planned to expand their targets beyond Christian churches.

Soldiers waited until sunrise Saturday before entering the home, ending the violence that killed 15 people. Amid the blood-stained walls and shattered glass, they found a young girl, as well as a woman. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara later identified them as the wife and 4-year-old daughter of Mohammed Zahran, the alleged mastermind behind the Easter Sunday bombings of three churches and three hotels that killed over 250 people.

Meanwhile, in nearby Kattankudy, the mosque of National Towheed Jamaat, the organization that Zahran once led, found itself raided by police and military Sunday. Authorities searched and shut down the center just within eyesight of the waves of the Bay of Bengal.

The Islamic State group claimed Friday night's suicide bombings, saying early Sunday morning that "with success from Allah the Almighty" the attackers blew themselves up.

But police discovered the bodies of six children inside of the home, all likely the victims of a powerful blast that tore away part of the home's roof and sent out a deadly wave of small metal balls.

Sifting through debris Sunday afternoon, a police officer discovered the arm of what appeared to be an infant. He cupped it in his gloved hands, blackened from the soot.

"These people are animals," he said. "How can they have children then blow up these children?"

The officer gently laid the child's arm down next to a charred assault rifle magazine, a license plate and pieces of a cellphone. It was now evidence of even greater crimes.

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Associated Press journalists Gemunu Amarasinghe and Rishabh Jain contributed to this report.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Police officers collect evidence from a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Police officers collect evidence from a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Police officers collect evidence from a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Police officers collect evidence from a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants as neighbors gather to watch in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Police officers collect evidence from a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Police officers collect evidence from a site of a gun battle between troops and suspected Islamist militants in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

An army officer checks the identity of a passenger traveling in a van at a roadside checkpoint in Kalmunai, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Police in Ampara showed The Associated Press on Sunday the explosives, chemicals and Islamic State flag they recovered from the site of one security force raid in the region as Sri Lanka's Catholics celebrated at televised Mass in the safety of their homes. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
BOSTON (AP) - When Alfred Brownell arrived in a remote Liberian village, the surrounding tropical rainforest had been leveled by bulldozers. Burial grounds were uprooted, religious shrines were desecrated and a stream people depended upon for water was polluted.

Brownell, an environmental lawyer and activist, blamed the devastation on the palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia. The company had been given a green light in 2010 by the government to expand in the country and was poised to turn more than 800 square miles (2,000 square kilometers) of lush forest into palm oil plantations.

Brownell on Monday was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for exposing alleged abuse by the company and helping to prevent it from converting about 20 square miles (about 50 square kilometers) of forest that is home to elephants, pygmy hippopotamuses and chimpanzees.

He said he was forced to flee the country in 2016 after the government threatened to arrest him for his activism.

"It was total annihilation," said Brownell, now a visiting scholar at Northeastern University's School of Law in Boston.

"It was just not that they were destroying the forest, destroying habitat for species and everything," he said. "They had also a system where they were working with the local government officials who were threatening, harassing and intimidating the communities."

In this Monday, April 22, 2019 photo Goldman Environmental Prize winner Alfred Brownell, a Liberian environmental lawyer and human rights activist, stands for a photograph, in Boston. Brownell, a distinguished scholar at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, says he was forced to flee his country over his fight to hold a Southeast Asian palm oil company accountable for its alleged destruction of Liberian forest and abuse of indigenous communities living around palm oil plantations. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A spokesman for the company, Randall Kaybee, acknowledged in a statement that "there have been lapses in following its own operating procedures, resulting in grievances among some communities and in the inadvertent clearance of some high carbon stock forest areas." He said measures have been put in place to address these problems.

Gregory Coleman, who now heads Bureau of Concessions under Liberia's current government, said authorities are working to avoid past problems like those that arose with Golden Veroleum.

"A green Liberia is the ultimate goal of this government and we have agreed to halt all expansions until we can line up all the requirements in accordance to international best practices," he added.

For his work saving forest lands, Brownell won the Goldman prize along with five others for grassroots environmental activism. The prize was created in 1989 by the late San Francisco philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman. Winners are selected from nominations made by environmental organizations and others. The prize carries a $200,000 award.

The other winners are:

- Linda Garcia of Vancouver, Washington, who rallied local communities to successfully prevent the construction of North America's largest oil terminal.

- Ana Colovic Lesoska of North Macedonia, whose seven-year campaign helped stop hydroelectric projects from being built in the country's largest national park and home to the endangered Balkan lynx.

- Bayarjargal Agvaantseren of Mongolia, who led the fight to create the 2,800 square miles (7,300 square kilometers) Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve. It is the country's only federal reserve for snow leopard conservation.

- Jacqueline Evans of the Cook Islands, whose work led to the conservation and sustainable management of all 763,000 square miles (1.98 million square kilometers) of the Cook Islands' ocean territory and creation of 15 marine protected areas.

- Alberto Curamil of Chile, a jailed indigenous activist who had protested several hydroelectric projects in the country. His efforts were credited with halting two projects and protecting a critical ecosystem surrounding the Cautin River.

Despite Brownell's campaign, palm oil development remains a threat in Liberia as mostly Southeast Asia companies move to expand their operations beyond Malaysia and Indonesia to West Africa.

Golden Veroleum, one of the largest palm oil companies in the country, still holds the concession it signed with the government in 2010 to develop 800 square miles (2,000 square kilometers). Kaybee said the company is confident it will able to develop "a significant part" of the land in its concession while conserving forests.

Supporters say Brownell deserves much of the credit for forcing palm oil companies to change the way they do business in Liberia.

"He has compelled the oil palm companies to undertake robust diligence. He changed the mindset of oil palm companies operating in Liberia forever," said Francis Colee, head of programming for the nongovernment organization Green Advocates International that Brownell founded. "Everywhere, the oil palm companies are now trying to uphold their international commitments or deforestation rules."

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Associated Press writer Jonathan Paye-Layleh contributed to this report from Monrovia, Liberia.

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Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at @mcasey1 .
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Islamists in Sudan who were allied with ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir say they have cancelled a planned rally for fear of violence from the protesters who drove him from power earlier this month.

Ultraconservative preacher Abdel-Hay Youssef said in video posted on Facebook that the decision to cancel Monday's rally came after a meeting with Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known by the nickname Hemedti, who serves as deputy head of the ruling military council.

Youssef says they received assurances from Dagalo and others that "Islamic laws will not be abolished."

Sudan's Islamists played a key role in the 1989 coup that brought al-Bashir to power. An Islamist party says protesters attacked one of its meetings over the weekend, wounding dozens in clashes.

Protesters chant against military rule and demand the prosecution of former officials, at the Armed Forces Square, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday April 28, 2019. Sudanese protest leaders held talks with the ruling military council on Sunday after the military condemned an attack on an Islamist party close to President Omar al-Bashir, who was removed from power and jailed earlier this month. (AP Photos/Salih Basheer)

A man gives a speech to protesters during the sit-in at the Armed Forces Square, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Sudanese protest leaders held talks with the ruling military council on Sunday after the military condemned an attack on an Islamist party close to President Omar al-Bashir, who was removed from power and jailed earlier this month. (AP Photos/Salih Basheer)

A protester shouts: "Freedom, justice, and peace, the revolution is the choice of the people," one of the most used slogans during the revolution, at the Armed Forces Square, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Sudanese protest leaders held talks with the ruling military council on Sunday after the military condemned an attack on an Islamist party close to President Omar al-Bashir, who was removed from power and jailed earlier this month. (AP Photos/Salih Basheer)

A protester carries a Sudanese flag as they chant against military rule and demand the prosecution of former officials, at the Armed Forces Square, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday April 28, 2019. Sudanese protest leaders held talks with the ruling military council on Sunday after the military condemned an attack on an Islamist party close to President Omar al-Bashir, who was removed from power and jailed earlier this month. (AP Photos/Salih Basheer)

Protesters chant against military rule and demand the prosecution of former officials, at the Armed Forces Square, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday April 28, 2019. Sudanese protest leaders held talks with the ruling military council on Sunday after the military condemned an attack on an Islamist party close to President Omar al-Bashir, who was removed from power and jailed earlier this month. (AP Photos/Salih Basheer)

Protesters chant against military rule and demand the prosecution of the former officials, at the Armed Forces Square, in Khartoum, Sudan, Sunday April 28, 2019. Sudanese protest leaders held talks with the ruling military council on Sunday after the military condemned an attack on an Islamist party close to President Omar al-Bashir, who was removed from power and jailed earlier this month. (AP Photos/Salih Basheer)
LONDON (AP) - It's quiet out there. Probably too quiet.

Britain is due to leave the European Union in six months, but you wouldn't know it from the country's news headlines or the debates in Parliament. The issue that consumed the country for almost three years has been reduced to a murmur.

The EU has agreed to delay the U.K.'s exit - long scheduled to take place last month - until Oct. 31 to give Britain's deadlocked politicians more time to approve a divorce deal. European Council President Donald Tusk warned the U.K. not to waste the extra time.

But there has been little progress toward breaking the political impasse that has left Britain in limbo.

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FALTERING TALKS

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May smiles during a visit to the Leisure Box while on the local elections campaign in Brierfield, England, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Prime Minister Theresa May struck a deal with the EU on the terms of Britain's departure late last year, but Britain's Parliament has rejected it three times. May has failed to persuade many Brexit-backing lawmakers from her own Conservative Party to support an agreement that they think keeps Britain too tightly bound to the bloc's rules.

So May changed course and pinned her hopes on a deal with the opposition Labour Party. Senior officials from the two sides have held several weeks of talks, which continued Monday.

But the parties are divided over Britain's post-Brexit relationship with the EU. Labour insists the U.K. should remain in a customs union with the bloc to avoid barriers to trade. The government rejects the idea, arguing that accepting EU trade rules would prevent Britain striking new deals around the world.

Both parties have accused the other of failing to compromise.

"These talks are serious, but there are also some difficulties in finding a way forward," May's spokesman James Slack said.

Despite the lack of visible progress, neither the Conservatives nor Labour is pulling the plug on talks yet. Many areas of the country are holding local elections on Thursday, and neither party wants to do anything to remind voters that Brexit is in a mess.

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UNWANTED ELECTION

Another election is also looming, one Britain was not supposed to be holding.

Unless the Brexit agreement is approved by May 22, Britain must hold elections the next day for U.K. seats in the European Parliament. May has called the idea of participating, almost three years after the U.K. voted to leave the EU, "unthinkable." But Scottish Secretary David Mundell, a member of May's Cabinet, told the Herald newspaper: "It's inevitable now. We've run out of time."

Both Britain's main parties worry that voters will use the European election to punish them over Brexit.

The pro-EU party Change U.K. is hoping to win votes from Labour, which has an internal feud over Brexit.

Many Labour members and lawmakers support a new referendum on Britain's EU membership, but party leaders fear that would lose Labour votes in pro-Brexit areas. The party's governing executive is due to decide Tuesday what stance to take in its EU election campaign.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, face a threat from the newly formed Brexit Party, led by former UKIP chief Nigel Farage. It could take the largest share of votes in the May 23 election if early opinion polls are borne out.

"I think the only person who will have any sense of enthusiasm for this will be Nigel Farage," said Victoria Honeyman, a politics lecturer at the University of Leeds. "He has a single-issue party, a blank slate - he is essentially able to make hay while the sun shines."

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THE END OF MAY?

May's attempt at compromise with Labour has angered pro-Brexit Conservatives, who were already frustrated by her failure to take Britain out of the EU. (May argues that it's pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers who have caused the delay, by voting against her deal).

Some Conservatives want to oust May and replace her with a more strongly pro-Brexit leader, such as former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

But there is no easy way to do that. May survived a Conservative no-confidence vote in December, and under party rules can't be challenged again for 12 months. Last week the party's rules committee considered shortening the time frame, but decided against it.

Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent Brexiteer, said that decision "does not exclude the prime minister deciding of her own accord that the time is up."

May has said she will step down once Parliament has approved a Brexit deal. That looks like a distant prospect.

"The problem is, we haven't moved," said Honeyman. "We have a 31st of October deadline and nothing has changed, and there is no sense in which anything is changing.

"There is no really good strategy to get out of this situation, and that's why the parties are not clamoring to get back into the mire."

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Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit .

MEP, Nigel Farage gestures, during a walkabout and rally in Clacton, Essex, England for his Brexit Party Wednesday April 24, 2019. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A few hundred mostly young people jointly ate bananas outside Warsaw's top national gallery on Monday to protest what they called censorship, after authorities removed artwork there featuring the fruit, saying it was improper.

The protest was called by artists and opposition politicians as part of their action on Facebook and Twitter of posting photos of themselves eating bananas in order to ridicule the ban. The action grew into a show of apparent criticism of the government.

The 1973 video "Consumer Art," by prominent artist Natalia LL, showing a young woman eating a banana with great pleasure, was removed from the National Museum in Warsaw last week after the new museum head, Jerzy Miziolek, was summoned to the Ministry of Culture.

Miziolek said in an interview with the Onet.pl portal last week that he was "opposed to showing works that could irritate sensitive young people" and suggested some visitors have complained. The work had been in the gallery for many years.

A separate 2005 video by another controversial female artist, Katarzyna Kozyra, showing a woman walking two men on all fours, dressed as dogs on a lead, was also removed.

On Monday, Miziolek announced that the works would be reinstated, but only until May 6, when the whole modern art gallery is due for reorganization. Miziolek and the Ministry of Culture denied there was any pressure on the museum.

People with bananas demonstrate outside Warsaw's National Museum, Poland, Monday, April 29, 2019, to protest against what they call censorship, after authorities removed an artwork at the museum featuring the fruit, saying it was improper. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Miziolek, who was appointed to the state-run museum by the right-wing government in November, said Monday he appreciated the role of both artists in Poland's culture, but the gallery's limited space requires "creative changes" to the exhibition.

The dispute is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding art and culture under the conservative and nationalist government that won power in 2015.

Culture Minister Piotr Glinski has repeatedly drawn criticism for cutting subsidies to art festivals that were planning to show controversial theater plays on Catholic themes. Glinski has fired a popular theater director who criticized him as well as the director of a World War II museum, saying the exhibition did not show Poland's suffering or heroism enough.

He recently cut funds for the European Solidarity Center, an exhibition on the Solidarity movement's history and a culture center popular with government critics, saying its activity went beyond its history-teaching mission.

Twitter and Facebook users ridiculed the removal of the art works as narrow-minded and a case of censorship, and many posted photos of themselves enjoying bananas.

Actress Magdalena Cielecka told The Associated Press that the image she posted, of her pointing a banana at her head like a gun, was in protest against any ideological or political limits put on artists.

"An artist, to create, must be free," Cielecka said.

At the collective banana-eating protest Monday night, some people brought more than one banana, while others put banana skins on top of their heads. A few unarmed police officers were on the scene outside the museum, which is closed on Mondays.

Senate speaker and prominent ruling Law and Justice party member Stanislaw Karczewski sought to discredit the protest, tweeting that Polish apples are tastier than bananas and have fewer calories.

"The #BananowyProtest (banana protest) is the straight road to obesity," Karczewski tweeted.

The controversy was widely commented on in national media.

Art critics note that "Consumer Art" was a critical comment on food shortages under communist rule in the 1970s.

People with bananas demonstrate outside Warsaw's National Museum, Poland, Monday, April 29, 2019, to protest against what they call censorship, after authorities removed an artwork at the museum featuring the fruit, saying it was improper. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

People with bananas demonstrate with others outside Warsaw's National Museum, Poland, Monday, April 29, 2019, to protest against what they call censorship, after authorities removed an artwork at the museum featuring the fruit, saying it was improper. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A man with bananas demonstrates with others outside Warsaw's National Museum, Poland, Monday, April 29, 2019, to protest against what they call censorship, after authorities removed an artwork at the museum featuring the fruit, saying it was improper. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

People with bananas demonstrate with others outside Warsaw's National Museum, Poland, Monday, April 29, 2019, to protest against what they call censorship, after authorities removed an artwork at the museum featuring the fruit, saying it was improper. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

People with bananas demonstrate outside Warsaw's National Museum, Poland, Monday, April 29, 2019, to protest against what they call censorship, after authorities removed an artwork at the museum featuring the fruit, saying it was improper. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

A man with bananas on his head demonstrates with others outside Warsaw's National Museum, Poland, Monday, April 29, 2019, to protest against what they call censorship, after authorities removed an artwork at the museum featuring the fruit, saying it was improper. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
MOORESBORO, N.C. (AP) - A fire at a zinc production plant in North Carolina has been contained. The blaze had released sulfuric acid into the air and led to evacuations of nearby residents.

American Zinc Products said in a statement Monday that firefighters contained the blaze in Mooresboro. The company added that none of its employees were injured and all are accounted for.

The fire started Sunday night at the plant, which lies near the border between North and South Carolina. Deputies went door-to-door warning people to evacuate as the burning plant released sulfuric acid. The county says about a half-mile area has been evacuated.

Rutherford County Assistant Fire Marshal John Greenway told news outlets firefighters had at one point pulled away because their gear tested positive for hazardous materials.
Your daily look at late breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. 'I WAS SCARED, REALLY, REALLY SCARED'

Noya Dahan, 8, had finished praying and gone to play with other children at her Southern California synagogue when she was wounded by a gunman.

2. SOCIALISTS SET TO REIGN IN SPAIN

The center-left Socialist party wins re-election and will try to form a government, but it will need to negotiate the support of smaller rival parties to pass legislation.

3. EASTERN SRI LANKA TENSE AFTER EASTER BOMBINGS

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, right, is hugged as he leaves a news conference at the Chabad of Poway synagogue, Sunday, April 28, 2019, in Poway, Calif. A man opened fire Saturday inside the synagogue near San Diego as worshippers celebrated the last day of a major Jewish holiday. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

The scale of the explosives seized following last week's eruption of violence, as well as the continued warning of authorities that more militants remain on the loose, only add to the dread.

4. GOP'S WARNING OF SOCIALISM ISN'T RESONATING

The AP interviewed some voters in southern stretches of Colorado and most say they are more concerned with health care and living costs.

5. WHERE BIDEN PICKED FOR 1ST STUMP SPEECH

The former vice president is signaling he hopes to own what may be the 2020 election's toughest battleground.

6. AFGHAN LEADER SETTING AGENDA FOR TALIBAN TALKS

Ashraf Ghani says a council will set the framework for peace talks with the militant group, but several leading Afghans are boycotting in a sign of discord in the government ranks.

7. LAWMAKERS DEBATE FUTURE OF STUDENT LOAN RELIEF

Legislators are debating whether to fix, expand or end a program that promised public service workers that any remaining debt on federal student loans would be erased after 10 years of payments.

8. CORRUPTION CLAIMS SEND HAWAII POWER COUPLE TO TRIAL

Honolulu's former police chief and his prosecutor wife face charges that they funded a lavish lifestyle by defrauding banks, relatives and children, AP learns.

9. UNIVERSE BELONGS TO MARVEL

"Avengers: Endgame" shatters records for the biggest opening weekend ever selling an estimated $350 million in tickets in the U.S. and Canada, and $1.2 billion globally.

10. PRODIGY HOOPSTER FEATURED AT TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

The new film "The Dominican Dream" helps super-hyped prep star Felipe Lopez tell his story.

Spain's Prime Minister and Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez shakes hands with supporters outside the party headquarters following the general election in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, April 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Cambodia on Monday for an official visit to strengthen ties between the countries.

The three-day visit is the first since Suu Kyi became her country's head of government in 2016. Cambodia's foreign ministry said she will meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen, King Norodom Sihamoni and other Cambodian officials before visiting the famous Angkor Wat archaeological complex.

Suu Kyi arrived from Beijing, where both she and Hun Sen attended a forum about China's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Representatives of 37 countries were at the meeting on the massive infrastructure-building plan.

Myanmar and Cambodia have both grown closer to China in reaction to pressure from Western nations over human rights issues. Concerns about Myanmar focused on the military's abuses of the Muslim Rohingya minority, which drove more than 700,000 across the border to Bangladesh, while Cambodia was criticized mainly for choking off political dissent, especially by having the only credible opposition party dissolved before last year's election.

Speaking last September at the regional World Economic Forum in Vietnam, Hun Sen strongly defended Myanmar against accusations that its security forces engaged in genocide against its Rohingya minority, and he hit back at criticism by outsiders of political issues in the Mekong region, saying that the countries should be allowed to solve their own problems.

Hun Sen said other countries do not understand the problems that Myanmar and its neighbors face.

Myanmar's State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi exits a plane upon her arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, April 29, 2019. Suu Kyi is in Cambodia on a three-day official state visit to Cambodia. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

"The situation in Myanmar is more serious because it has been accused of genocide, but do those who might accuse them know about Myanmar and do they know how to solve the situation up there?" he said, as he sat on the stage with Suu Kyi and the leaders of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

Myanmar and Cambodia both have a history of standing apart from the major powers, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. They established diplomatic relations in 1955, the same year both participated in the 29-nation Afro-Asian Conference, a forerunner of the Non-Aligned Movement.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Charges have been upgraded against a South Carolina woman accused of leaving her newborn daughter to die in a cardboard box in an empty field.

The Greenville News reports that Brook Graham's original charge of homicide by child abuse was upgraded to murder last week.

A man was picking flowers in the vacant field to prepare for Valentine's Day in 1990 when he found the baby now known as Julie Valentine.

Julie was born alive outside of a hospital. She was found dead, wrapped in newspaper and bedding with her umbilical cord and placenta still attached. It's unclear why she was abandoned.

Authorities said DNA submitted to genealogy sites revealed a likely match to the baby's father, who then pointed police to Graham. She was arrested this month.

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Information from: The Greenville News, http://www.greenvillenews.com
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's decades-long discussion about building a new capital has inched forward after President Joko Widodo on Monday approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta.

Widodo decided at a special Cabinet meeting to move the capital outside of Indonesia's most populous island, Java, said Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. It was one of three options discussed. The other alternatives were moving to a location near Jakarta or staying put and relocating all government buildings to a special zone around the presidential palace.

The site for a possible new capital hasn't been announced, but Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo has often been rumored as the location. Brodjonegoro, however, said eastern Indonesia is favored.

"This is a big job, impossible to take just one year, it could take up to 10 years," he said.

Prone to flooding and rapidly sinking due to uncontrolled ground water extraction, Jakarta is the archetypical Asian mega-city creaking under the weight of its dysfunction. Only 4% of Jakarta's waste water is treated, according to the government, causing massive pollution to rivers and contaminating the ground water that supplies the city. Congestion is estimated to cost the economy $6.5 billion a year.

Before the Cabinet meeting, Widodo said other countries such as Malaysia, South Korea and Brazil set up new capitals as part of their development as nations.

The central business district skyline is seen during the dusk in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, April 29, 2019. Indonesia's decades-long discussion about building a new capital has inched forward after President Joko Widodo approved a long-term plan for the government to abandon overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

"The idea to move the capital city appeared long ago," he said. "But it has never been decided or discussed in a planned and mature manner."

Improving inadequate infrastructure in the country of 260 million has been Widodo's signature policy and helped him win a second term in elections earlier this month.

Brodjonegoro said a new capital would require an area of 30,000 to 40,000 hectares (about 74,000 to 99,000 acres) and have a population of between 900,000 and 1.5 million.

Jakarta has a population of about 30 million in its greater metropolitan area.
I cant say Im surprised to see an aggressive timeline, said Jim Sweeney, co-founder of Dunes Action, a grassroots organization that supports renovating the pavilion but not with the multiple bars that Pavilion Partners has planned, adding later, We want to see the building used. We just dont want to see it turned into a three-story saloon.
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund have launched the final round of talks over the $8 billion bailout package for Islamabad, a deal that's expected to be signed next month.

The round started on Monday in the Pakistani capital and is expected to last till May 7.

It comes as the IMF issued a report on Mideast and regional economies, saying that Pakistan's economic growth is expected to slow from about 5% last year to close to 3% this year.

The U.S., which exerts major influence over IMF, has said it should not finance the billions of dollars in loans that Pakistan has taken from China as part of Beijing's "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has promised to improve the country's economy and provide more jobs.
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) - South Sudan's government is paying a U.S.-based lobby firm $3.7 million to improve its relationship with the Trump administration and to block a path to justice for victims of the country's five-year civil war.

The two-year contract, seen by The Associated Press, was signed earlier this month by South Sudan's government and Gainful Solutions, a lobbying firm run by former U.S. Ambassador Michael Ranneberger.

The contract says the company was hired to, among other things, attempt to "delay and ultimately block establishment of the hybrid court." The long-delayed court is a key part of South Sudan's fragile peace deal signed in September and is meant to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes in a conflict that killed nearly 400,000 people.

The contract was signed just weeks before the peace deal's next major deadline, with opposition leader Riek Machar expected to return to South Sudan by May 12 to again become President Salva Kiir's deputy in a unity government. That arrangement has been shaken more than once by outbursts of gunfire, and the opposition now seeks a six-month extension over security concerns.

Worried observers have said the peace deal, already marked by delays and fighting, could fall apart. The government has repeatedly said it does not have enough funds to implement the deal's $285 million initial phase.

South Sudan's opposition criticized the U.S. lobbying contract. "It only shows the desperation the government is in, trying to evade accountability and justice ... misplaced priorities," Henry Odwar, opposition deputy chairman, told the AP.

The contract raises questions about the commitment of South Sudan's government to provide justice for the "countless victims who have been executed, disappeared and raped by government and opposition forces," said Sarah Jackson, regional deputy director for Amnesty International.

South Sudan's deputy chief of mission in the United States, Gordon Buay, said there is no intention to abolish the hybrid court, but the priority needs to be on reconciliation rather than punitive justice.

"The West wants it right away ... but we can't do them concurrently," Buay told the AP. It will be a lot easier to hold leaders to account if the community is on board and that first requires reconciliation, he said.

The Gainful Solutions lobbying firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a possible indication of divisions within South Sudan's government, the country's information minister, Michael Makuei, said he had no knowledge of the lobbying contract and that the peace process is "moving in the right direction."

The hybrid court should have been established and operational within a year of an earlier peace deal in August 2015, but South Sudan's government stalled in signing the memorandum of understanding with the African Union and passing draft legislation that would establish the court.

Meanwhile, many South Sudanese wish for justice after a grueling civil war. A survey of more than 1,500 people conducted by South Sudan's Law Society and the United Nations Development Program in 2014 found that two-thirds of respondents said people responsible for abuses should "face trial."

The lobbying contract says the goal is to open a "channel of communication" between Kiir and President Donald Trump in the hopes of "persuading" Trump's administration to expand economic and political relations and support American private-sector investment in oil, natural resources, energy, gas and mining.

The lobbying firm also will push the Trump administration to open a "military relationship" with South Sudan to enhance the fight against extremism and promote regional stability.

Reports of the contract sparked international and national outrage on social media.

The contract indicates that South Sudan's government "doesn't want the peace deal to be implemented" and the lobbyists are also to blame, said Klem Ryan, former coordinator of the U.N. panel of experts monitoring sanctions on South Sudan.

"Taking money to lobby against accountability and for impunity is disgraceful," he said.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
PEMBA, Mozambique (AP) - The Latest on Cyclone Kenneth in Mozambique (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

Mozambique's national weather service forecasts continued rain in the country's northeast, which has been hard hit by flooding following Cyclone Kenneth, the second severe tropical storm to hit the nation within six weeks.

The government said earlier Monday that 38 people have died as a result of the cyclone, which hit the northeastern port of Pemba and nearby areas on April 18. Since Kenneth made landfall the area has been pummeled with heavy rains have caused heavy flooding and landslides.

The national meteorological institute said the northeastern Mozambican region will continue to receive moderate to strong rain of more than 50 milliliters (3 inches) over the next 24 hours.

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People watch as an excavator digs, at a site where two houses were crushed by the collapse of a massive, sprawling dumpsite that hit just after midnight when rains poured in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Monday, April, 29, 2019. Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

2 p.m.

Mozambique's government says the death toll from last week's Cyclone Kenneth has jumped to 38 as flooding continues.

The new toll was announced Monday as heavy rains continued to hamper efforts to deliver food and shelter to badly hit communities. More rain is forecast in the days ahead.

Kenneth roared into northern Mozambique on Thursday, just six weeks after Cyclone Idai struck the central part of the country. Flooding caused most of the more than 600 deaths that followed.

Now aid workers say they have an "awful sense of deja vu" after Kenneth as flood waters rise.

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8:15 a.m.

Rains from Cyclone Kenneth, the second tropical storm to hit Mozambique within weeks, continued to pound the northeastern city of Pemba and surrounding areas causing massive flooding and destruction.

One death has been confirmed so far and 160,000 people are at risk, with more torrential rain forecast for the days ahead.

The government described the situation as "critical" in other centers of Cabo Delgado province which are unreachable by road. In a statement Sunday night, the government said the death toll could rise due to "worrying" rains.

The towns of Ibo, Macomia and Quissanga have been badly flooded and many buildings and homes destroyed. Access to those centers is currently not possible by road and the heavy rains have made air contact difficult. Safe drinking water has become scarce.

Women wait outside a closed shop in Natite neighbourhood, in Pemba city, on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Sunday, April, 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A boy does push-ups in the rain, in Pemba, on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Sunday, April, 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Community leader Estenacio Pilale explains how a brick wall collapsed and killed a woman during floods due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday , April 28, 2019. Downpours began Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

People walk through a flooded path leading to a shop during floods due to heavy rain in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday , April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A woman stand next to a collapsed house where a neighbour was killed due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday , April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A child drinks water from a gutter during floods due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A child drinks water from a gutter during floods due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A man repairs a structure that collapsed due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Downpours began Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

An elderly woman creates a drainage system near her shop to clear away floodwaters due to heavy rains in Pemba, Mozambique, Sunday, April 28, 2019. Downpours began Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

People leave their flooded homes, in Natite neighbourhood, in Pemba, on the northeastern coast of Mozambique, Sunday, April, 28, 2019. Serious flooding began on Sunday in parts of northern Mozambique that were hit by Cyclone Kenneth three days ago, with waters waist-high in areas, after the government urged many people to immediately seek higher ground. Hundreds of thousands of people were at risk. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
CHICAGO (AP) - U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth has returned to Iraq for the first time since the helicopter she was piloting was shot down during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.

The Illinois Democrat said Friday that she led a bipartisan congressional delegation on a "whirlwind" trip last week.

She says the delegation wanted to show its support for the people of Iraq and express "hope that Iraq will be an independent, strong country and a close ally of the United States for many years to come."

Duckworth lost both legs when her Blackhawk was shot down.

Joining her on the trip were Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine.

They traveled to Baghdad, Taji, and Erbil, where they met with Iraq's top leaders and received intelligence updates.

FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2018 file photo, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., arrives for a Senate Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Duckworth has returned to Iraq for the first time since the helicopter she was piloting was shot down during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004. The Illinois Democrat said Friday, April 26, 2019, that she led a bipartisan congressional delegation on a "whirlwind" trip last week. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is heading to West Africa this week, visiting Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger to express Germany's commitment to stability and developmental cooperation in the region and support for the countries' fight against extremism.

Merkel's office said Monday the chancellor will meet separately with the leaders of all three countries, and attend a meeting with the leaders of the so-called G5 Sahel countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Chad in Ouagadougou on Wednesday.

She will also visit German soldiers stationed in Mali as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, meet with members of civil society, attend a discussion with students in Mali and visit the construction site of a women's shelter in Niger.

She will visit Mali on Thursday and Niger on Friday.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's state-run news agency says police in the capital, Ankara, have detained 22 people suspected of links to the Islamic State group.

Anadolu Agency said the suspects - 17 Iraqis and five Syrians - were detained in simultaneous raids Monday as part of a security sweep ahead of Labor Day festivities.

The agency said the suspects had entered Turkey illegally and had reportedly acted on behalf of IS in Syria and Iraq. It did not elaborate.

Turkey was hit by a wave of attacks in 2015 and 2016 blamed on IS and Kurdish militants that killed around 300 people.

IS claimed responsibility for an attack at an Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations in the early hours of 2017. The attack killed 39 people, most of them foreigners.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - A prominent human rights group said Monday that Bolivia has undermined judicial independence by arbitrarily dismissing nearly 100 judges since 2017 and it asked the Organization of American States to address the issue.

Human Rights Watch said the judges were not given any reason for the dismissals by a Magistrates Council dominated by allies of President Evo Morales.

It said even judges who supposedly had permanent positions have been ousted.

Government officials contacted by The Associated Press said they would have no comment before reading the report.

The New York-based organization noted that the OAS Democratic Charter calls for the "separation of powers and independence of the branches of government" and said several international treaties signed by Bolivia demand an independent and impartial judiciary.

Judges who can be replaced by officials "are much more vulnerable to pressure that the government can exercise," said the organization's Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco. "HRW has received credible complaints of pressure by senior government officials for judges to try opponents."

FILE - In this Nov. 7, 2017 file photo, a supporter of Bolivia's President Evo Morales waves a party flag during a march supporting his re-election, despite a referendum ruling out his run for a fourth term, in La Paz, Bolivia. The prominent human rights group Human Rights Watch says Bolivia has undermined judicial independence by arbitrarily dismissing nearly 100 judges since 2017 and it's asking the Organization of American States to address the issue. HRW says the judges haven't been given any reason for the dismissals by a Magistrates Council dominated by Morales' allies. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)

He also cited a Constitutional Tribunal ruling declaring that Morales has a "human right" to run for re-election indefinitely despite a constitutional ban.

Vivanco said the dismissal of judges "should be a wake-up call for OAS member states," and added, "When people in Bolivia can no longer expect judicial independence, then all their rights are at risk."
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - The father-and-son leaders of a divisive anti-immigrant party were sworn in Monday as Estonia's interior and finance minister.

Prime Minister Juri Ratas presented his 15-member coalition Cabinet on Monday at the 101-seat Riigikogu assembly located in the picturesque Old Town of Estonia's capital, Tallinn.

Earlier this month, Ratas, leader of the left-leaning Center Party, clinched a surprise deal with the nationalist and euroskeptic Estonian Conservative People's Party, or EKRE, as well as with the conservative Fatherland, to create a majority coalition.

EKRE's Mart Helme, 69, was appointed interior minister in the Cabinet, while his son Martin, 43, becomes finance minister.

EKRE's strong rhetoric has divided Estonia ever since the party first entered parliament in 2015. The party has advocated abolishing the law recognizing same-sex civil unions, demanded changes to the country's abortion law and fiercely opposed European Union quotas for taking in asylum-seekers.

It emerged from the election with 17.8% of votes, becoming Estonia's third-largest party.

FILE - In this Monday, March 4, 2019 file photo, Chairman of the Estonian Conservative People's Party (EKRE) Mart Helme speaks at the headquarters after parliamentary elections in Tallinn, Estonia. The father-and-son leaders of a divisive anti-immigrant party were sworn in Monday April 29, 2019 as Estonia's interior and finance minister. EKRE's Mart Helme was appointed interior minister in the Cabinet, while his son Martin becomes finance minister. (AP Photo/Tanel Meos, File)

The three parties will have five ministerial posts each in the government. Fatherland's Urmas Reinsalu became new foreign minister and Juri Luik from the same party continues as defense minister - a key post in this small Baltic nation that neighbors Russia.

The fact that EKRE is entering a governing coalition has caused fierce debates nationwide, with some Estonians blaming it for polarizing society.

In a curious detail, President Kersti Kaljulaid was following the new Cabinet's inauguration ceremonies in the parliament sporting a sweater inscribed with the Estonian words "Sona on vaba," or "Speech is free."

That is seen as a statement on the importance of freedom of speech from the head of state following weeks of public controversy on EKRE, which has accused Estonian media of biased reporting on the party's affairs.

In early April, Peeter Helme - nephew of Mart Helme - was appointed the new editor-in-chief of Estonia's oldest and largest newspaper Postimees. Peeter Helme has worked with the paper earlier.

EKRE claims to defend the interests of ethnic Estonians in the former Soviet republic where some 25% of the 1.3 million inhabitants are ethnic Russians, who have traditionally opted to vote for the Center Party.

Mart Helme told an Estonian radio channel Sunday that it was "wishful thinking" that the party would tone down its strong rhetoric after assuming government power.

A total of five parties are represented in parliament, including the Reform Party that was the biggest party after the March 3 election. Its leader, Kaja Kallas, was first tasked to form a government, but she failed to get sufficient support.

___

Jari Tanner reported from Helsinki.
CLEVELAND (AP) - Plans are underway in Appalachia to create two underground facilities to store ethane, a byproduct of natural gas drilling seen as integral to revitalizing a region still struggling from the loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs decades ago.

Experts say the availability of storage facilities will help the tristate region of eastern Ohio, southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia attract petrochemical plants that turn ethane into raw plastic and, the hope is, attract manufacturing companies to make products ubiquitous to modern life.

Energy Storage Ventures is awaiting approval of state permits to construct an underground facility to store ethane and other natural gas liquids, said David Hooker, the Colorado-based company's president.

Meanwhile, Appalachia Development Group in Charleston, West Virginia, wants to build a much larger storage facility somewhere in the tristate region. Company President and CEO Steven Hedrick said the creation of a petrochemical and plastics industry could lead to billions of dollars in investment and tens of thousands of jobs in the coming years.

"The people of Appalachia deserve this opportunity," Hedrick said.

Technological advances in hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, have helped fuel an oil and gas boom in Appalachia and southwest states like Texas. It has also provided an abundant supply of ethane that is driving the expansion of the petrochemical industry in its epicenter along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, where most ethane storage also is located.

FILE - In this April 18, 2019 file photo a tanker truck passes a petrochemical plant being built on the banks of the Ohio River in Monaca, Pa., for the Royal Dutch Shell company. The plant, which is capable of producing 1.6 million tons of raw plastic annually, is expected to begin operations by 2021. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Ethane is a gas when brought to the surface along with methane, the far more abundant "dry" natural gas used to cook our food and heat our homes. Ethane is colorless, odorless and, like methane, highly combustible. It becomes a liquid when super-cooled at processing plants called fractionaters that separate out other natural gas liquids. While most ethane produced today is shipped out of the region via pipelines, a portion is "rejected" and winds up in the natural gas stream.

"Cooking eggs with ethane in the morning is like cooking eggs with hundred-dollar bills," Hedrick said, paraphrasing U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry. "It gets the job done, but it doesn't make sense."

Industry experts say there is enough potential ethane production in Appalachia's Utica and Marcellus shale fields to supply four or five petrochemical plants in the region. They also say underground storage is vital to providing an uninterrupted supply to those plants.

"When you look at the ethane market that is developing, I just can't imagine those plants operating without storage in that market," Energy Storage Ventures' David Hooker said.

Energy Storage Ventures' subsidiary, Mountaineer NGL Storage, hopes to begin construction along the Ohio River as early as this summer. Hooker said initial plans call for building a facility capable of storing 1.5 million barrels of natural gas liquids, primarily ethane but also propane and butane. The company will use fresh water to carve out space in a salt formation more than 6,500 feet (1,980 meters) underground. Resulting brine water from construction will be transported across the Ohio River via pipeline for use at an alkaline plant in West Virginia, Hooker said.

Appalachia Development Group is considering sites in the region for its Appalachia Storage Hub and Trading Facility, which Hedrick said would be capable of storing 10 million barrels of natural gas liquids.

Hooker said the cost of his project is estimated at $150 million and is fully financed. The estimated cost of the Appalachia Development Group's storage facility is $3.4 billion, which Hedrick attributes to aboveground expenses, such as building pipelines.

Appalachia Development Group is seeking $1.9 billion in federal loan guarantees for its project.

The first signs of the emergent ethane petrochemical industry are clearly visible northwest of Pittsburgh, near Monaca, Pennsylvania, where thousands of workers are building an ethane "cracker" plant for Royal Dutch Shell capable of producing 1.6 million tons (1.45 million metric tons) of raw plastic annually. The plant's ethane supply will come from Shell's own pipeline system connected to processing facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, negating the need for bulk storage.

Petrochemical plants without those resources will need ready access to ethane stored underground, according to experts. That includes a much anticipated cracker plant for ethane conversion that a partnership between two Asian companies is considering building in eastern Ohio's Belmont County. The partnership between Thailand's PTT Global Chemical and South Korea's Daelim Industrial has received clean air and water permits from the state but hasn't fully committed to construction, despite having already spent more than $100 million on planning, according to partnership spokesman Dan Williamson.

Industry analysts and backers of the two storage hubs say the availability of ethane storage and the decision whether to build the plant are intertwined.

"To me, the key is PTT Global," Hooker said, adding that he "can't imagine" the plant operating without ethane storage. He said he's had conversations with PTT-Daelim.

Appalachia Development Group's Hedrick agrees with Hooker's assessment. Without the PTT-Daelim partnership or another regional petrochemical plant, Hedrick said his storage facility project probably won't be viable.

"The two go hand in glove," Hedrick said. "We need both at the same time. Without customers, it's awfully hard to make a business case."

FILE - This April 18, 2019 file photo shows part of a petrochemical plant being built on the banks of the Ohio River in Monaca, Pa., for the Royal Dutch Shell company. The plant, which is capable of producing 1.6 million tons of raw plastic annually, is expected to begin operations by 2021. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - This April 18, 2019 file photo shows part of a petrochemical plant being built on the banks of the Ohio River in Monaca, Pa., for the Royal Dutch Shell company. The plant, which is capable of producing 1.6 million tons of raw plastic annually, is expected to begin operations by 2021. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
ATLANTA (AP) - A gym teacher named Teacher of the Year by his colleagues has been stripped of the title.

WSB-TV reports that educators at Henderson Mill Elementary School in metro Atlanta voted physical education teacher James O'Donnell their teacher of the year. But DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Steve Green said O'Donnell doesn't meet the requirements, because he was suspended last November.

O'Donnell returned to work in February under a legal agreement, even though the school's new principal didn't want him back, and his colleagues honored him in March.

At issue was his discipline of a 10-year-old who was acting up; O'Donnell made him stand outside the door. Instead, the boy ran out in the rain, arriving to his next class wet and cold, and O'Donnell was accused of endangering the child.
A U.S. postal worker, who found the mens bodies in the auto shop, said she was delivering mail in the area when she saw a guy running through the back parking lot behind the cleaners at full speed with something in his hand, court records state. Police made a composite sketch of the suspect based on her description, according to court records.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The search for a place to barbecue turned deadly for one woman, who police say collapsed after a fight over a parking spot in Philadelphia.

Authorities say 57-year-old Lourdes Estremera had set up a grill in the parking spot on Friday night. Another woman drove up and wanted to park in the spot, and the two started arguing.

The dispute turned physical and police were called. Officers soon broke up the fight, but Estremera collapsed a short time later while talking with officers at the scene. She was pronounced dead there a short time later.

The name of the other woman involved in the dispute with Estremera has not been released.

Authorities say no charges have been filed, but the matter remains under investigation.
MADRID (AP) - Spanish political party officials say the country's Electoral Board has ruled that Carles Puigdemont and two other Catalan separatists who fled abroad to escape arrest can't stand as candidates in next month's European Parliament elections.

The conservative Popular Party, which complained to the Electoral Board about the secessionists' plans to stand, and the Together for Catalonia grouping of separatists, which presented the three as candidates, said the Electoral Board informed them of its decision Monday.

The ruling keeps Puigdemont and Toni Comin, who fled to Belgium, and Clara Ponsati, who lives in the U.K., out of the May 26 race to fill Spain's allotted seats at the parliament in Strasbourg.

The three were involved in the Catalonia region's attempt to break away from Spain in 2017.
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) - A Burkina Faso government spokesman says six people, including a pastor, have been killed in an attack on a Christian church in the country's north.

The violence took place Sunday in the village of Silgadji, not far from the volatile border with Mali.

Urbain Kabore, the communications director for the Sahel region of Burkina Faso, said Monday that the six people were slain after Sunday services.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility though violent Islamic extremism has been increasingly destabilizing the country. A number of jihadist groups are known to operate the area.

Authorities said that in a separate incident in the east of Burkina Faso, five teachers were shot to death Friday.

The Islamic extremists also have targeted foreigners, abducting and killing a Canadian geologist earlier this year.
MIAMI (AP) - Federal oversight of the Miami Police following a series of fatal shootings may end a year early.

The Justice Department appointed former Tampa police chief Jane Castor to oversee the Miami police for four years after finding a pattern of excessive use of force. Castor was elected mayor of Tampa last week and is telling the Miami Herald she believes the federal requirements have been satisfied.

The Justice Department hasn't said whether it supports an early end to the agreement, which followed 33 police shootings from 2008 to 2011, including the fatal shootings of seven black men.

Castor was paid $150 an hour as an independent monitor. She says she'll continue her work pro bono if necessary after swearing in as mayor on May 1.
CHICAGO (AP) - The gunman who killed five colleagues at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant and wounded five police officers before he was killed in a shootout had told a co-worker that February morning that he would kill everyone there and "blow police up" if he was fired, prosecutors said in a report released Monday.

The Henry Pratt Co. employee told authorities in Aurora that he knew Gary Martin carried a firearm in his vehicle, but that he didn't report Martin's comments to his superiors because he routinely made "off the wall" statements and that he didn't believe Martin would do anything violent, according to the nine-page Kane County State's Attorney's office report . The employee is not named in the report.

While it has widely been reported that Martin had been fired, the report marks the first time officials have explained that Martin's firing came during a Feb. 15 disciplinary meeting that was called because of his refusal to wear safety glasses.

He anticipated he was about to be fired, telling his co-worker that morning: "If I get fired, I'm going to kill every motherf---er in here," the report says.

It also explains that Martin apparently brought the gun and ammunition into the plant when he arrived at 6:45 a.m. that day. Immediately before the shooting, Martin walked "over to his workstation to retrieve something," put on a hoodie and went into the bathroom, it says.

Martin then went to the meeting during which he was told by Clayton Parks, the company's human resources manager, that he'd been fired. Martin responded with profanities and plant manager Josh Pinkard said, "OK, it's over." Martin said, "Yeah, it is over," and opened fire.

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2019 file photo a man prays at a makeshift memorial placed for five victims near the warehouse of Henry Pratt Co., in Aurora, Ill. A report on the February shooting at the suburban Chicago manufacturing plant found that the man who killed five people after he was fired told another employee that if he lost his job he would kill other workers and "blow police up." The Kane County State's Attorney's office report released Monday, April 29, 2019, says the other Henry Pratt Co. employee didn't report Gary Martin's comments to superiors because Martin routinely made "off the wall" statements and that he didn't believe Martin would do anything violent. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Both Parks and Pinkard were among those who were killed.

The report also gives an account of the police response, beginning with officers being dispatched to the scene at 1:24 p.m. when they are confronted by Martin. Video surveillance footage indicates Martin was waiting for police to arrive after he killed his colleagues and "positioning himself near a doorway." In a five-minute period, five officers were shot in the parking lot and inside the building.

Naperville Police Officer Shaun Moy described searching the building carrying a protective shield and coming upon the bodies of two people on the second floor who he believed were dead, the report says. On the first floor of the warehouse, the officer heard noises from a workshop and saw Martin "quickly pop up from behind some machinery and point a gun at him that was equipped with a green laser," it says.

Moy said he believed the gun was pointing "directly at him," and that he saw Martin fire at least four shots. The officer said he returned fire as other officers set off flash bangs - noisy explosives designed to distract - that allowed other officers to take cover behind a partition wall. Later in the report, Aurora police Detective Chris Bosson said he saw Martin inside a room in the warehouse sitting in a chair, holding a pistol in his right hand.

"It appeared that the offender was waiting for police to enter the area where the offender was located in order to ambush the police," according to the report. The officer said he fired his rifle twice, hitting Martin in the chest and head. The officer said he saw another officer fire his weapon three times.

The report, citing an autopsy, says Martin was shot six times: once in the middle of the forehead, four times in the chest, and once in the jaw - an injury that fractured his skull that the Kane County coroner's report concluded was likely self-inflicted.

Martin fired his weapon dozens of times. Prosecutors wrote that the Illinois State Police recovered 64 casings at the scene from the semi-automatic handgun Martin was carrying.

The report does not say the exact time the shooting started, but that police were dispatched to the scene at 1:24 p.m. The first officers entered the building about four minutes later, and five officers suffered gunshot wounds outside and inside the building between 1:30 and 1:35, the report says.

The next time listed on the timeline is 2:59 p.m. with the words, "suspect is down."

The report concludes that the officers were justified in using deadly force.

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2019 file photo bouquets of flowers are placed for victims in front of the warehouse of Henry Pratt Co., in Aurora, Ill. A report on the February shooting at the suburban Chicago manufacturing plant found that the man who killed five people after he was fired told another employee that if he lost his job he would kill other workers and "blow police up." The Kane County State's Attorney's office report released Monday, April 29, 2019 says the other Henry Pratt Co. employee didn't report Gary Martin's comments to superiors because Martin routinely made "off the wall" statements and that he didn't believe Martin would do anything violent. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A proposed highway that would start at the border with Mexico and serve as the southern leg of Arizona's Interstate 11 is being called both an economic benefit and an environmental threat.

Federal, state and local agencies have reservations about the environmental impact for mostly undisturbed sections of the Sonoran Desert, The Arizona Daily Star reported Friday.

The 280-mile (about 451 kilometers) highway now in preliminary planning stages would extend from Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border to Wickenburg, northwest of metro Phoenix.

Other Arizona sections of I-11 are in planning stages and would connect with a small section already built in southern Nevada. As envisioned, the completed I-11 would extend from Nogales to Reno, Nevada, and incorporate portions of several existing highways.

A draft environmental impact study by the Arizona Department of Transportation includes comments compiled by the agency over the past few years.

Economic reasons Tucson-area leaders back a new route include increasing trade with Mexico and reducing congestion on Interstates 10 and 19.

Critics have said the new interstate is unnecessary and are pushing for a no-build option.

A more detailed environmental study would narrow the highway corridor and help transportation officials identify which homes and businesses would be affected, said spokeswoman Laura Douglas.

Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild wants the department to address the city council, which supports the I-11 proposal ideologically, although the route raises concerns.

"It looks like the proposed route goes right through our water system in Avra Valley; that is a problem," Rothschild said.

The freeway would do serious damage to the community, said Avra Valley Coalition member Albert Lannon. Widening portions of I-10 and constructing a two-tiered highway are options rather than a separate highway, he said.

Wildlife and environmental concerns dominate the Phase 1 environmental impact study that includes correspondence between stakeholder groups and public meeting comments.

The route would pass the Saguaro National Park's western boundary and encroach on animals there, National Park Service officials reported. Traffic noise and congestion are also concerns.

"Nearly a million people come in specifically to see Saguaro National Park and some of the other attractions in the area," said park spokesman Andy Fisher. "So we would definitely want to preserve that character if we can."

A new highway west of I-10 would further fragment wildlife movement, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said.

Increased trade is a primary reason southern Arizona jurisdictions support I-11, said John Moffatt, Pima County Economic Development Office director.

Commercial traffic through Nogales is growing on average by 3% per year and the area can handle 4,000 trucks a day, although southern Arizona freeways are reaching capacity and truckers in Mexico may choose Texas border crossings if delays in Nogales increase, Moffatt said.

"Truckers are like water, they find the least-resistant path," Moffatt said.

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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.tucson.com
MITSERO, Cyprus (AP) - Poor visibility in a man-made lake's toxic waters is hampering the search for a victim of a suspected serial killer, Cyprus authorities said Monday.

Investigators believe a suitcase at the bottom of the lake contains the remains of one of seven foreign women and girls that a Cypriot army captain has confessed to killing.

But it has been slow going for a robotic camera being used in the search at the bottom of the lake that was part of a now-defunct copper pyrite mine, fire chief Marcos Trangolas told The Associated Press.

He said visibility is just mere inches in the murky waters, but authorities will carry on the search until at least two more suitcases believed to also contain human remains are found.

He said a sonar device able to map the lake bottom in great detail will also be deployed in the coming days.

The 35-year-old suspect said he put the bodies of three of his victims - believed to be a Romanian mother and daughter, and a Filipino woman - in suitcases and dumped them in the lake.

Members of the Cyprus Special Disaster Response Unit search for a suitcase in a man-made lake, near the village of Mitsero outside of the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday April 29, 2019. Cyprus' Fire Service chief says poor visibility in the toxic waters of a man-made lake is hampering a search for a suitcase believed to contain human remains, one of seven foreign women and girls that a Cypriot military officer has confessed to killing. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

A suitcase containing the remains of an adult woman and weighed down by a concrete block was retrieved from the lake Sunday.

Authorities have so far recovered the bodies of four of the suspect's alleged victims over what authorities believe was a 30-month time span.

Only one victim has been positively identified - 38 year-old Mary Rose Tiburcio whose bound body was found down a flooded shaft that was part of the same copper mine.

Police said they were tipped off about the body's discovery April 14, touching off an investigation that led to the suspect through his exchange of online messages with Tiburcio with whom he had a six-month relationship.

Investigators told a court that during his arrest, the suspect tried but failed to swallow a mobile telephone SIM card.

The suspect initially admitted to only two killings, but last week admitted to killing seven women - four of them from the Philippines, two from Romania and one who authorities believe to be a Nepalese woman.

Tiburcio's 6-year-old daughter Sierra is also believed to be among the victims and authorities are searching for her body in a reservoir about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) west of the man-made lake.

Members of the Cyprus Special Disaster Response Unit search for a suitcase in a man-made lake, near the village of Mitsero outside of the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday April 29, 2019. Cyprus' Fire Service chief says poor visibility in the toxic waters of a man-made lake is hampering a search for a suitcase believed to contain human remains, one of seven foreign women and girls that a Cypriot military officer has confessed to killing. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on prosecutors' report on a February mass shooting at a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois (all times local):

11:25 a.m.

Prosecutors say a man who fatally shot five co-workers at an Illinois warehouse apparently took the gun and ammunition into the plant when he arrived that morning.

The Kane County State's Attorney's office said in the report released Monday that it found law enforcement officers used justifiable force when they killed the gunman, Gary Martin, during a shootout at the Henry Pratt Co. building in Aurora on Feb. 15.

The report says Martin used profanity and opened fire after he was told he was being fired.

It says before the meeting, Martin walked "over to his workstation to retrieve something," put on a hoodie and went into the bathroom.

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2019 file photo, law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill. A report on the February shooting at the suburban Chicago manufacturing plant found that the man who killed five people after he was fired told another employee that if he lost his job he would kill other workers and "blow police up." The Kane County State's Attorney's office report released Monday, April 29, 2019, says the other Henry Pratt Co. employee didn't report Gary Martin's comments to superiors because Martin routinely made "off the wall" statements and that he didn't believe Martin would do anything violent. (Bev Horne//Daily Herald via AP, File)

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10 a.m.

Autopsy results show an Illinois man who fatally shot five co-workers suffered six gunshot wounds, including one that was likely self-inflicted.

A Kane County State's Attorney's office report released Monday says Gary Martin started shooting at Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora on Feb. 15 after learning he was to be fired.

It says an autopsy found the 45-year-old gunman died of multiple gunshot wounds. He was shot four times in the chest and once in the middle of his forehead. Pathologists say a gunshot wound to his right jaw was likely self-inflicted.

The report says police found a handgun on the floor next to Martin and ten bullets and a knife in his pants pockets. Illinois State Police found 64 fired cartridge casings at the scene. There was additional ammunition among Martin's personal belongings.

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9:20 a.m.

A report on the February shooting at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant found that the man who killed five people after he was fired told another employee that if he lost his job he would kill other workers and "blow police up."

The Kane County State's Attorney's office report released Monday says the other Henry Pratt Co. employee didn't report Gary Martin's comments to superiors because Martin routinely made "off the wall" statements and that he didn't believe Martin would commit violence.

The employee knew Martin carried a gun in his vehicle but had never seen it inside the Aurora warehouse where they worked.

The report also details the shooting and explains that it followed a disciplinary hearing over Martin's refusal to wear safety glasses. Martin was killed by police.

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2019 file photo a man prays at a makeshift memorial placed for five victims near the warehouse of Henry Pratt Co., in Aurora, Ill. A report on the February shooting at the suburban Chicago manufacturing plant found that the man who killed five people after he was fired told another employee that if he lost his job he would kill other workers and "blow police up." The Kane County State's Attorney's office report released Monday, April 29, 2019, says the other Henry Pratt Co. employee didn't report Gary Martin's comments to superiors because Martin routinely made "off the wall" statements and that he didn't believe Martin would do anything violent. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union is prolonging by a year an embargo on any arms that could be used in security crackdowns in Myanmar as well as sanctions against 14 top military and border officials.

EU headquarters said Monday that based on an annual review the restrictive measures will be extended until April 30, 2020.

The travel bans and asset freezes were imposed on the 14 officials "for serious human rights violations, or association with such violations" against Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority.

Myanmar's military launched a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in the western state of Rakhine in 2017, forcing more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.

The EU also refuses to cooperate with, or provide training to, the Myanmar military.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - China has agreed to provide assistance to Cambodia if the European Union implements trade sanctions against the Southeast Asian nation over human rights violations and rule of law issues, Cambodia's prime minister said Monday

Hun Sen announced the assurance on his Facebook page as he was returning from Beijing, where he attended a forum about China's multibillion-dollar "Belt and Road" infrastructure initiative. He said China made the pledge during his talks with President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Prime Minister Li Keqiang, but he did not say what form the assistance would take.

The EU in February announced it was launching action that could suspend Cambodia's preferential access to its market because of "severe deficiencies when it comes to human rights and labor rights." The EU grants duty-free and quota-free access for items other than weapons to Cambodia and other developing countries.

Cambodia's Foreign Affairs Ministry at that time called the decision an "extreme injustice" that ignored steps the government has taken to improve civil and political rights. It said it "is committed to continue enhancing the democratic space, human rights (and) labor rights" and that the European move "takes the risk of negating 20 years' worth of development efforts" that had helped pull millions of Cambodians out of poverty.

Hun Sen also said Monday that China - Cambodia's closest ally - pledged a 600 million yuan ($89 million) military assistance grant.

Hun Sen described current ties between the two countries "as firm as steel" and amounting to a strategic partnership in all sectors.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Beijing. (Madoka Ikegami/Pool Photo via AP)

He said during his stay in Beijing since last Thursday he met several Chinese businessmen, and many more Chinese investors agreed to invest in Cambodia soon.

In January, Hun Sen made a four-day official visit to China and announced that Beijing had agreed to provide nearly $600 million in grant aid as part of a three-year assistance fund, and that the two countries also agreed to increase their bilateral trade to $10 billion by 2023.
As a result of this impact, both vehicles then drove to the left, striking a second semi before all three vehicles came to a rest against the median wall, Fifield said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Somehow, The Washington Post had uncovered Michael Flynn's secret. Somehow, it had learned that he had spoken with Russia's ambassador the same day the Obama administration announced hefty sanctions on the country.

Now the question was raised: Had the incoming national security adviser undermined the sanctions?

Flynn was in trouble.

"What the hell is this all about?" Trump fumed to his chief of staff, Reince Priebus. Priebus called Flynn. The boss is angry, he told Flynn. "Kill the story," he said.

Flynn, the retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who grew close to Trump on the campaign trail, knew it was true. Just weeks before, he had indeed discussed the sanctions and persuaded the Kremlin not to escalate the situation. But feeling the pressure of Trump's anger after Priebus' call, Flynn turned to his deputy.

Call the Post, Flynn said. Tell them there were no sanctions discussions. Even though she knew better, the aide, K.T. McFarland, did as she was told.

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2017, file photo, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn leaves federal court in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

It was the first lie about Flynn's Russia contacts. It wouldn't be the last.

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EDITOR'S NOTE - Another in a series of stories focusing on events detailed in the report of special counsel Robert Mueller, drawing from the document's trove.

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Over the next few days, Flynn repeated the lie to Priebus and others in the White House. No sanctions discussions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, he told Mike Pence, the vice president-elect. He said the same to press secretary Sean Spicer. And they parroted that to the public.

"They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States' decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia," Pence said during a Jan. 15 appearance on CBS "Face the Nation.

The denials set off alarm bells at the Justice Department.

Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, an Obama holdover, and other senior officials knew the comments weren't true. U.S. intelligence agencies, which routinely monitor the communications of foreign diplomats, had learned of Flynn's discussions with Kislyak when analyzing the Kremlin's response to the sanctions. The FBI had also opened an investigation into Flynn's relationship with Russia.

Yates worried that Flynn's lie could put him and other U.S. officials in a compromising position because the Russians could prove the American public had been misled. There was also an ongoing counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia, of which Flynn's calls were now a part of the mounting evidence.

The Justice Department's concerns only increased when, after Trump's inauguration and Flynn's appointment as the nation's top national security aide, Spicer gave his first press briefing. He had spoken with Flynn the night before, he told reporters.

The Kislyak calls weren't about sanctions, he said. Next question.

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Two FBI agents walked into the White House the next day. It was Jan. 24, 2017, and they were there to talk to Flynn.

One of them was Peter Strzok, a senior counterintelligence official who would later face scrutiny for his anti-Trump comments. Flynn agreed to talk with them, and when asked, denied that he told Kislyak to back off from escalating situation in response to the sanctions.

He also lied about a follow-up phone call and another matter: On Dec. 21, 2016, when Egypt pushed a resolution at the United Nations critical of Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner turned to Flynn to push for the Kremlin to oppose the move. Flynn had unsuccessfully pressured Kislyak on the issue. But he told the agents otherwise.

News of the false statements to the FBI- a crime under federal law- quickly made it to Yates, who on Jan. 26, called White House counsel Don McGahn. She needed to discuss a sensitive matter.

In a meeting with McGahn and another White House lawyer later that day, Yates told him that Pence's comments about Flynn weren't true. Also, Flynn's FBI interview hadn't gone well.

McGahn, not entirely swayed by Yates, asked the National Security Council's legal adviser, John Eisenberg, to look into the matter. He also went to Trump.

The president told him to work with Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon to look into it further. He added: Don't discuss this with anyone else.

"Not again, this guy, this stuff," Trump told Priebus, referring to Flynn.

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Over the next week and a half, Eisenberg and McGahn gathered more information, and Flynn had a one-on-one with Trump in the Oval Office. What did you talk about with Kislyak? Trump asked. Flynn acknowledged he might have discussed sanctions.

Days later, the front page of The Washington Post would say the same thing.

The story shook Pence, who had been in the dark. A review of Justice Department documents sealed it. Flynn couldn't have just forgotten. He had lied. McGahn and Priebus told Trump he had to fire Flynn.

That weekend, Flynn flew to Mar-A-Lago with the president. On the plane back to Washington on Feb. 12, Trump asked him whether he lied to Pence. Flynn said he may have forgotten some things but denied lying. "OK. That's fine," Trump responded. "I got it."

The next day, Flynn was out.

Priebus delivered the news. In the Oval Office, Trump embraced Flynn and shook his hand. "We'll give you a good recommendation. You're a good guy. We'll take care of you," he said.

Flynn had spent just 25 days as national security adviser.

Trump had lunch with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie the next day, which was Valentine's Day. "Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over," Trump told him. Christie burst out laughing. No way, he said.

"What do you mean?" Trump responded. "Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It's over."

Flynn is going to be like "gum on the bottom of your shoe," Christie said.

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In the Oval Office later that day, Flynn was still on Trump's mind. The president was being briefed by his top national security team. That included FBI Director James Comey, who Trump was intent on making part of "his team."

As the meeting wrapped up, Trump cleared the room and asked Comey to remain behind. "I want to talk about Mike Flynn," Trump said, according to Comey. There was nothing wrong with Flynn's calls with the Kislyak, he said, but he had to fire Flynn for lying to Pence.

"I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," Trump said, according to Comey. "He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."

Comey awkwardly sidestepped the issue. But over the next few weeks, Flynn remained on Trump's mind.

Trump praised him publicly. Privately, he turned to McFarland, who had covered for Flynn before. On Feb. 22, 2017, McFarland, now the deputy national security adviser, was asked to resign. But Priebus and Bannon, who conveyed the message, suggested it came with a soft landing. The president could make her ambassador to Singapore.

The ask came a day later.

As reporters questioned whether he directed Flynn's Russia contacts, Trump told Priebus to have McFarland draft an internal email saying that the president didn't order Flynn to discuss sanctions with Kislyak.

Priebus went to McFarland, who balked. How could she write such an email? She didn't know if it was true, she told him. She went to Eisenberg, who told her it was a bad idea. "It would also be a bad idea for the President because it looked as if my ambassadorial appointment was in some way a quid pro quo," she wrote in a contemporaneous memo.

Priebus backed off. Forget I even mentioned it, he said.

But Trump wasn't done. Call Flynn to show I still care, he told Priebus. Trump doesn't want Flynn saying "bad things" about him, Priebus later recalled thinking.

In late March, news outlets reported that Flynn had offered to speak with the FBI and Congress in exchange for immunity. "Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!" Trump tweeted.

But privately, Trump asked McFarland to convey a different message. Tell him Trump felt bad for him, he said.

And he should stay strong.

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On Dec. 1, 2017 Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to "willfully and knowingly" making "false, fictitious and fraudulent statements" to the FBI concerning conversations with Russia's ambassador. He cooperated extensively with Mueller's probe and awaits sentencing.

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The article has been corrected to reflect that resolution was at United Nations, instead of States, in Dec 21 phone call.
ALFRED, Maine (AP) - The delayed sentencing of a defrocked Massachusetts priest convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy is scheduled for late May.

Officials at York County Superior Court in Maine say 76-year-old Ronald Paquin will be sentenced on May 24. A pair of men testified they were altar boys when he invited them on trips in the 1980s and assaulted them repeatedly. The jury returned guilty verdicts on 11 of 24 gross sexual misconduct charges, involving one of the men.

Paquin had been slated for sentencing in early March, but his attorney filed a motion requesting a mental health evaluation.

He spent more than a decade in a Massachusetts prison for sexually abusing another altar boy in that state and was released in 2015 before being taken into custody in Maine.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on a Republican candidate in the primary election for a still-vacant North Carolina congressional seat (all times local):

12:10 p.m.

A spokesman for North Carolina's Republican Party is discounting a lawsuit by a congressional candidate barred from GOP debates and access to internal party data.

State GOP spokesman Jeff Hauser said Monday that candidate Chris Anglin's lawsuit seeking access to the party's resources is nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Anglin's state lawsuit seeks to force the state GOP to give him access to benefits provided nine others in the 9th congressional district field.

Republicans call him a Democratic plant. Anglin was a registered Democrat until weeks before running for state Supreme Court as a Republican. The incumbent Republican lost that court seat to a Democrat last year.

The May 14 congressional primary was ordered after an operative working for the Republican who appeared to win last year's election was accused of illegally handling mail-in ballots.

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10:45 a.m.

A candidate for the Republican nomination in a still-vacant North Carolina congressional seat is suing the GOP after being barred from debates and access to internal party data. Republicans call him a Democratic plant.

Candidate Chris Anglin of Raleigh said Monday he wants a state court to force the state GOP to give him access to benefits provided nine others in the 9th congressional district field.

The state GOP didn't comment Monday. Its leaders noted previously Anglin was a registered Democrat before running for state Supreme Court as a Republican. The incumbent Republican lost that court seat to a Democrat last year.

The May 14 congressional primary election was ordered after an operative working for the Republican who appeared to win last year's election was accused of illegally handling mail-in ballots.
BEEBE, Ark. (AP) - A man who was driving his pickup truck through a central Arkansas Burger King drive-thru has suffered severe burns after the vehicle exploded at the window.

Ron Daniel told KARK that he had just picked up a propane tank and decided to stop for a couple burgers Friday when he heard a hissing sound. He realized the tank was leaking so he went turn the tank's valve off.

"The minute I stuck my hand in and touched it, it burst into flames," he said.

Daniel, 78, said he walked a few feet away to wait for emergency services. Soon after, the truck exploded.

"I looked up and saw debris in the air and I just took off running," Daniel said.

Daniel said his body is covered in blisters. He was released from the hospital Friday evening.

No one else was injured in the explosion but the truck was destroyed. Local police and fire arrived and put out the fireball.

Daniel said he was sorry he caused such a problem. He also said he was charged for the two burgers he never received, but he isn't holding it against the restaurant.

Beebe is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock.
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) - Lawyers for a former University of Illinois student accused of killing a visiting Chinese scholar say they are abandoning their mental health defense.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that Brendt Christensen's attorneys had been planning to argue that the 29-year-old suffered from severe mental illness in an attempt to avoid the death penalty if he is convicted of killing Yingying Zhang. Mental health exams were scheduled to begin Monday. The attorneys gave no reason in a Friday filing.

Prosecutors say Christensen lured Zhang into his car in June 2017, tortured and killed her. Her body hasn't been found.

Urbana attorney Steve Beckett, who represents Zhang's family, says he is shocked by the mental-health defense withdrawal.

Prosecutors have asked the court if their own mental health expert can still examine Christensen.

Christensen's trial is set to begin June 3.

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Macon County Sheriff's Office in Decatur, Ill., shows Brendt Christensen. Christensen is accused of luring Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang into his car in June 2017, torturing and killing her. The FBI assumes Zhang is dead though her body hasn't been found. Video of his trial will be streamed from Peoria federal court to a viewing room at the Urbana courthouse. District Judge James Shadid on Tuesday approved the closed-circuit video "to accommodate members of the public and the victim's family." Christensen's trial is scheduled to begin June 3, 2019, in Peoria. (Macon County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

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Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com
WEST CHESTER, Ohio (AP) - The Latest on four people found dead at complex where multiple shots were fired. (all times local):

12:20 p.m.

Three women and a man have been found dead at an apartment complex in Ohio where multiple shots were fired, and police say they haven't identified a suspect.

West Chester Township Police Chief Joel Herzog said at a news conference Monday that the four who died were family members who lived in the same apartment at the Lakefront at West Chester complex. Another family member called 911 saying he returned to find his family on the ground, bleeding.

Herzog says it's too early to suggest a motive and it doesn't appear that there was any return fire. He said Butler County's coroner will determine the cause of death and release the victims' identities.

Herzog said the shooting appeared "isolated" and he doesn't believe there's any danger to the community.

West Chester Chief of Police Joel Herzog speaks to reporters during a news conference, Monday, April 29, 2019, in West Chester, Ohio. Multiple people were found dead at an apartment complex in Ohio after a man called 911 saying he had returned home to find his wife and family members on the ground and bleeding. Herzog said that police were searching the area for any suspect, and there was no immediate threat to the community. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

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9:25 a.m.

Four bodies have been found at an apartment complex in Ohio and police say foul play is suspected.

West Chester Township Police Chief Joel Herzog says authorities are investigating the deaths in the township roughly 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Cincinnati as homicides and were searching for a suspect Monday.

A man's 911 call around 10 p.m. Sunday led police to find the bodies at the Lakefront at West Chester complex. The distraught man can be heard shouting for help and saying he returned home to find his wife and other family members on the ground, bleeding.

Police haven't released information on the cause of the four adults' deaths or any suspect. They said there was no immediate threat to the community.

Multiple agencies are assisting in the investigation.

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5:30 a.m.

Four bodies were found at a West Chester Township apartment complex and police say foul play is suspected.

WCPO-TV reports that Chief Joel Herzog says authorities are investigating the deaths as homicides and that police are still searching for a suspect.

A tip to authorities on Sunday at about 10 p.m. led police to find the bodies at the apartment complex Lakefront at West Chester on Wyndtree Drive.

Authorities established a perimeter around the complex early Monday but did not find a suspect. Police have said there was no immediate threat to the community. A spokesperson says police do not yet have a "person of interest."

Police did not release any information on the victims or how they died.

Multiple agencies are assisting in the investigation.

Police tape cordons off the scene where multiple people were found dead Sunday night, at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex in West Chester Township, Ohio, Monday April 29, 2019. (Keith Biery Golick/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP)
BEACH PARK, Ill. (AP) - Authorities say two of the 37 people sickened by an ammonia leak in suburban Chicago last week remain hospitalized in serious but stable condition.

Lake County Sheriff's spokesman Christopher Covelli said Monday that the other 35 people who were treated after Thursday's leak have been discharged, including all first responders. Eleven firefighters and three law enforcement officers were among those injured.

Covelli says the two who remain hospitalized have been upgraded from critical to serious condition and moved out of intensive care.

A tractor driver was towing tanks of anhydrous ammonia from Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, to an Illinois farm when the chemical leaked, creating a toxic gas cloud.

The leak occurred in Beach Park, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of downtown Chicago. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

After an ammonia spill in Beach Park, an injured woman arrives at Vista East Medical Center on Thursday, April 25, 2019 in Waukegan, Ill. A chemical leak that caused a toxic plume to hang for hours over a northern Chicago suburb Thursday sickened dozens of people, including some who are in critical condition, officials said. (Joe Shuman/Chicago Tribune via AP)
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis police officer has pleaded not guilty in the fatal shooting of a female colleague while playing a variation of Russian roulette.

Twenty-nine-year-old Nathaniel Hendren is charged with first-degree manslaughter and armed criminal action following the January shooting death of Katlyn Alix. The grand jury indictment returned Thursday doesn't affect the charges but means the case can proceed without a preliminary hearing.

Hendren appeared in court Monday.

Prosecutors say that in the early hours of Jan. 24, Hendren and Alix were drinking and taking turns pointing a gun loaded with one bullet at each other and pulling the trigger. Alix died of a chest wound. Hendren was on-duty at the time. Alix was not.
DOVER, N.H. (AP) - A man accused of being married to four women pleaded guilty Monday to bigamy in New Hampshire, but he will avoid jail time if he remains on good behavior for the next five years.

Michael Middleton, 43, married a Georgia woman in 2006, an Alabama woman in 2011 and a New Hampshire woman in 2013. That led to the bigamy charge in New Hampshire, but according to court documents, he also married a fourth woman in Kentucky in 2016.

Prosecutors say he used the marriages to gain access to the women's assets. In court Monday, Assistant Strafford County Attorney David Rotman read a statement from Middleton's New Hampshire wife, Alicia Grant, who blamed Middleton for her transformation from a compassionate person to someone with a "not-my-problem" attitude.

She said she was "satisfied" that he was facing consequences for his actions.

"When we got married six years ago, what I thought I had found in him was a life partner, someone that I could face life's ups and downs with, someone my children could look up to," Grant wrote. "Instead I got six years of pain and misery as I tried to free myself from the prison of his lies and manipulations."

Middleton was arrested in Ohio in February. He also has faced domestic violence charges in Maine.

This undated booking photo released by the York County Sheriff's Department shows Michael Middleton, accused of marrying women in multiple states including New Hampshire. Middleton, accused of being married to multiple women, pleaded guilty Monday, April 29, 2019 to bigamy in New Hampshire but will avoid jail time if he behaves for the next five years. (York County Sheriff's Department via AP)

As part of his 12-month suspended sentence, Middleton was ordered to undergo screenings for domestic abuse and substance abuse, and comply with any recommended counseling or programs. Neither he nor his attorney spoke at the hearing other than to answer brief questions from the judge.

After the hearing, Middleton was asked if he was sorry for his actions. He told reporters he felt "compassion and understanding" for his New Hampshire wife, Grant, after hearing her letter.

"It was a good outcome," he said. "I hope to move forward with my life and everything, and abide by everything that was handed down to me."

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This story has been corrected to show the prosecutor's first name is David, not Michael.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic leaders told President Donald Trump on Monday that American's unmet infrastructure needs are "massive" and they want to hear from him on how to pay for improvements.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday. They sent him a letter outlining their priorities.

"The issue of infrastructure is a bipartisan Congressional priority and we believe there are significant majorities in both the House and Senate to take action on the issue," they wrote.

Leaders of both parties have expressed a desire to pass legislation this year to boost the nation's infrastructure. But big obstacles remain, including how to pay for it.

One of the president's economic advisers said the White House would not be going into Tuesday's meeting with a blueprint for an infrastructure bill.

"We're going slowly on this," said Larry Kudlow, director of the president's National Economic Council. "We would like this to be bipartisan. We would like to work with them and come up with something both sides can agree to. It's an important topic."

FILE - In this April 4, 2019 file photo, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Pelosi and Schumer said an infrastructure package should go beyond addressing roads and bridges and should also include provisions to enhance broadband, water systems, energy, schools and housing.

They also said it should include investments to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change and contain provisions that require the use of domestically produced materials.
During court proceedings and times of sentencing in particular, emotions can run high and our court security officers are trained to respond to these types of situations, Sheriff David Reynolds said in a prepared statement. They respond accordingly with the necessary use of force and with the safety of all those present in the courtroom, as well as with compassion of those taken into custody.
"Like Lions" (Minotaur), by Brian Panowich

Brian Panowich makes a triumphant return to Bull Mountain, Georgia, in his second novel, "Like Lions," as he continues to mix crime fiction with a violent family drama, perfectly melding characters with a sense of place.

As he established in his Thriller Award-winning "Bull Mountain" (2015), Panowich continues the saga of the Burroughs family, who for generations has controlled the region located in northern Georgia's Waymore Valley. The Burroughs empire has grown through the decades, built on moonshine, marijuana, meth and money laundering.

Now only Clayton - the youngest Burroughs - remains. His brothers and father are dead. The family's criminal enterprise continues under trusted lieutenants who aim to take the nefarious business to another level and form partnerships with other gangs. They want Clayton to be involved with the Burroughs' expansion, but he wants no part of it. Always the black sheep of the family, Clayton also is McFalls County sheriff, committed to staying out of the lawlessness that has defined the Burroughs.

But Clayton is, almost against his will, drawn into the criminal side when another crime family tries to move into Bull Mountain and threatens Clayton's wife, Kate, and their toddler son. While the plot revolves around the warring criminals, Clayton's complicated persona forms the heart of this enthralling story. Violence erupts frequently, yet Panowich never uses it gratuitously.

Characters in "Like Lions" are a product of their environment that offers both protection and peril, especially for Clayton. There is no doubt that Clayton is a good man who respects the law. But he also must deal with his volatile side over which he seems to have little or no control. This has led to situations that have left him physically and psychologically impaired.

This cover image released by Minotaur shows "Like Lions," a novel by Brian Panowich. (Minotaur via AP)

"Like Lions" brims with well-designed dichotomies. Clayton knows that his deceased brothers' second in command is a ruthless outlaw while also acknowledging that the man can be "good people." Clayton abhors his outlaw roots, yet in many ways he may be more violent than his kin. He is at once fearless and frightened, violent and tender. As much as he tries to distance himself from his past, he, in a way, embraces it.

"Like Lions" moves at a brisk clip, leading to a stunning, yet believable, finale.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded Monday that the world "step up to stamp out anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred, persecution of Christians and all other forms of racism, xenophobia, discrimination and incitement."

The U.N. chief said he was responding to incidents "that have become all-too familiar - Muslims gunned down in mosques and their religious sites vandalized, Jews murdered in synagogues, their gravestones defaced with swastikas, Christians killed at prayer, their churches often torched."

Guterres cited the most recent incidents: Saturday's shootings at a synagogue in California that killed one woman and Sunday's attack on a Christian church in Burkina Faso that killed the pastor and five others.

Beyond the murders of worshippers, he said, "there is loathsome rhetoric" aimed not only at religious groups but at migrants and refugees as well as "assertions of white supremacy, a resurgence of neo-Nazi ideology (and) venom directed at anyone considered the 'other.'"

Guterres said "parts of the internet are becoming hothouses of hate, as like-minded bigots find each other online, and platforms serve to inflame and enable hate to go viral."

The secretary-general has been speaking out against hatred and intolerance for months as well as rising polarization and populism within nations, ebbing cooperation among them, and "fragile" trust in international institutions. And he has said "democratic principles are under siege."

Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, not pictured, during their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Friday, April 26, 2019, in Beijing. (Parker Song/Pool Photo via AP)

But this statement was his strongest call for global action in the face of escalating deadly attacks - including on mosques in New Zealand and churches in Sri Lanka that caused mass casualties.

The secretary-general said he has launched two urgent initiatives to devise "a plan of action to fully mobilize the United Nations system's response to tackling hate speech" and to see what the U.N. can contribute to ensure the safety of religious sanctuaries.

The initiative on hate speech is being led by his special envoy on preventing genocide and the initiative on safety for religious sanctuaries is being led by the head of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations.

"Hatred is a threat to everyone - and so this is a job for everyone," Guterres said in a statement.

But he said political and religious leaders "have a special responsibility to promote peaceful coexistence."

"I will count on the strong support of governments, civil society and other partners in working together to uphold the values that bind us as a single human family," he said.
A federal jury will be able to hear from a doctor who spent decades advocating for broader use of powerful prescription painkillers before turning against the opioid industry.

A special court master had ruled earlier this month that the testimony of Dr. Russell Portenoy, a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, would not be allowed at the first federal trial against drugmakers over the toll of opioids. The reason was that attorneys representing the local governments suing the industry had failed to disclose for nearly a year that Portenoy was cooperating with them.

But Dan Polster, the Cleveland-based judge overseeing more than 1,500 federal cases filed by local governments, American Indian tribes, unions and others against the opioid industry, ruled that blocking Portenoy's testimony from an initial trial was too "extreme" a punishment. He also noted that the plaintiffs' attorneys had previously shared more than 100,000 Portenoy documents during discovery for the case.

In his ruling Friday, Polster said the plaintiffs would have to pay the drugmakers' cost to take a deposition from Portenoy and up to $100,000 for any needed follow-up depositions.

The special court master, David Cohen, had said that Portenoy's testimony should be barred from the trial scheduled to begin in October on claims brought by Ohio's Summit and Cuyahoga counties, but would be allowed at any additional trials. Polster said the testimony will be allowed at all the trials.

Hunter Shkolnik, a lawyer for the local governments, said Portenoy's testimony would help the case against Purdue Pharma and other drug companies.

"Judge Polster recognized that the jury and the public should have the opportunity to hear Dr. Portenoy say in his own words that both he and Purdue were wrong and that led to this epidemic," he said.

Purdue did not immediately comment on the ruling.

Polster is pushing the parties to reach a settlement to address the nationwide opioid addiction and overdose crisis.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the class of drugs, including prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and illicit drugs including fentanyl and heroin, were involved in a record 48,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2017 - more than in vehicle crashes. Since 2000, the drugs have been linked to 391,000 deaths.

Lawyers representing the governments say "opinion leaders" such as Portenoy were a key reason for the shift in prescribing philosophy.

Portenoy was publishing findings to support expanding opioids' use to combat chronic pain as far back as the 1980s. For a time, he served as president of the American Pain Society, an organization that was heavily funded by drugmakers.

Portenoy and other doctors who advocated more liberal use of opioids were named as defendants in scores of the cases the governments have brought against the drug industry. Even before he agreed to work with plaintiffs, Portenoy had said publicly over the last several years that there is a significant risk of addiction to prescription opioids.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on criminal charges against attorney Michael Avenatti (all times local):

10:45 a.m.

Attorney Michael Avenatti has pleaded not guilty to charges that he stole millions of dollars from clients, cheated on his taxes and lied to investigators.

Avenatti was arraigned Monday in federal court in Santa Ana, California.

Asked to enter a plea, Avenatti told the judge, "Not guilty to all charges."

His trial was scheduled to start on June 25 and the government estimated it will last 15 days.

Avenatti rose to fame representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President Donald Trump.

Avenatti was indicted earlier this month on 36 counts including wire and bank fraud.

He was arrested in March in New York on a separate case alleging he demanded millions to stay quiet about claims he planned to reveal about Nike paying high school athletes.

Avenatti has denied all of the accusations.

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12 a.m.

Attorney Michael Avenatti is expected to be arraigned on charges that he stole millions of dollars from clients, cheated on his taxes and lied to investigators.

The lawyer who represented porn actress Stormy Daniels in her legal battles against President Donald Trump is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in federal court in Santa Ana, California.

Avenatti was indicted earlier this month on 36 counts including wire and bank fraud. He denied the charges on Twitter and said he would plead not guilty and fight the case.

Avenatti was arrested in March in New York on a separate case alleging he demanded millions to stay quiet about claims he planned to reveal about Nike paying high school athletes.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Special counsel Robert Mueller expressed frustration to Attorney General William Barr last month about how the findings of his Russia investigation were being portrayed, saying he worried that a letter summarizing the main conclusions of the probe lacked the necessary context and was creating public confusion about his team's work, a Justice Department official said Tuesday night.

Mueller communicated his agitation in a letter to the Justice Department just days after Barr issued a four-page document that summarized the special counsel's conclusions about whether President Donald Trump's campaign had conspired with Russia and whether the president had tried to illegally obstruct the probe. Mueller and Barr then had a phone call on which the same concerns were addressed. The official was not authorized to discuss Mueller's letter by name.

The letter lays bare simmering tensions between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barr's summary adequately conveyed the gravity of Mueller's findings , particularly on the key question of obstruction. The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Barr of unduly protecting the Republican president and of spinning Mueller's conclusions in Trump's favor. And it will almost certainly be a focus of Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which the attorney general will defend his handling of Mueller's report.

"After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Mueller's letter, he called him to discuss it," Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.

"In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel's obstruction analysis," she added.

Barr's letter, released just two days after the Justice Department received the special counsel's report, said Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence on both sides of the question. Justice Department officials were surprised Mueller had not made a determination, prompting Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to step in and decide on their own that the evidence was insufficient to support an obstruction charge.

FILE - In this March 24, 2019, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs St. John's Episcopal Church, across from the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Though Barr's letter did say that Mueller's team had not exonerated Trump on obstruction nor concluded that he had committed a crime, it did not detail the specific evidence Mueller's team accumulated or describe Mueller's legal analysis as he examined nearly a dozen episodes of potential obstruction, including the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

Barr has sought to downplay any disagreements with the special counsel and has brushed aside allegations that he mischaracterized Mueller's findings.

Barr said Mueller answered "no" when he asked him whether he would have recommended indicting Trump but for a Justice Department legal opinion that says a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted. Mueller's report, however, makes clear that his thought process was shaped in part by that legal opinion and that he believed it would be unfair to publicly accuse the president of a crime if he could not be prosecuted and have a trial to defend himself.

The attorney general also did not acknowledge any sort of potential disagreement with Mueller at a recent Justice Department appropriations hearing, telling a Democratic congressman, "I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion."

As Mueller shared his frustrations with Barr on the phone call, the men discussed whether additional context from the report could be released, Kupec said. But Justice Department officials said they decided it made more sense to release the bottom line findings of Mueller's report rather than include the detailed legal analysis behind them. They also decided against releasing summaries that Mueller's team had prepared. Barr has said such summaries run the risk of being either over-inclusive or under-inclusive.

The letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr. According to prepared testimony released Tuesday night, Barr will tell the committee that Mueller's investigation concluded without any interference and that he never overruled the Justice Department on any proposed action.

The appearance is Barr's first on Capitol Hill since he released a redacted version of Mueller's report on April 18 and comes amid deepening Democratic skepticism about his impartiality. Those concerns were fueled in part by Barr's statements at a press conference announcing the release of the Mueller report, at which he repeated multiple times that Mueller's investigation had not found any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia - even though the report notes that collusion is not a legal term.

The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the letter. The newspaper said Mueller complained that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office's work and conclusions."

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," according to Mueller's letter. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

The Justice Department confirmed the authenticity of that language.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has been negotiating with Barr over a Thursday appearance, demanded that the Justice Department produce the letter by Wednesday morning.

"The Attorney General has expressed some reluctance to appear before the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday," Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "These reports make it that much more important for him to appear and answer our questions."

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said: "This is exactly why I said Mr. Barr should never have been confirmed in the first place. At this point he has lost all credibility, and the only way to clear this up is for Mr. Mueller to testify publicly."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., went further in his criticism, saying Barr lied to him in testimony about Mueller's report and should resign. In that hearing, Barr replied to Van Hollen that he didn't know if Mueller agreed with his conclusions about the report, including that there wasn't enough evidence in the report to support a charge of obstruction of justice.

In light of the Mueller letter, Van Hollen said Barr "totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign."
BEIJING (AP) - American and Chinese trade negotiators met Wednesday for talks on their bruising tariff war after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. side might be moving toward a decision on whether to make a deal with Beijing.

Wednesday's atmosphere appeared amicable. Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, along with China's economic czar, Vice Premier Liu He, smiled for photos and shook hands after their one-day meeting.

But they said nothing to reporters and no details were announced after the talks at a Chinese government guest house. Both governments have said they were making progress. That has helped to calm jittery financial markets.

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the discussions "remain focused toward making substantial progress on important structural issues" and the talks would continue next week in Washington.

The U.S. wants China to roll back industry development plans it says are based in part on stolen technology and that violate its market-opening commitments.

Mnuchin said earlier that Wednesday's meeting and talks next week in Washington would help American officials decide whether to recommend President Donald Trump agree to a deal with Beijing.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, poses with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, before they proceed to their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

Trump raised U.S. duties on $250 billion of Chinese imports last year in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. Beijing retaliated by imposing penalties on $110 billion of U.S. goods.

The talks also cover exchange rates and possible measures to narrow China's multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States.

A sticking point has been American insistence on an enforcement mechanism with penalties to ensure that Beijing sticks to its commitments. Washington also wants to keep tariffs on Chinese imports to maintain leverage over Beijing.

Mnuchin told Fox Business Network on Monday that an enforcement mechanism just "needs a little bit of fine tuning."

U.S. officials and businesses say China has failed to keep past promises concerning its trade practices.

Critics worry any agreement might hurt other countries by shifting Chinese demand away from them. They also worry it might marginalize the World Trade Organization, which is meant to enforce free trade rules for everybody.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, shows the way to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as they proceed to their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, shows the way to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, as they proceed to their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, gestures as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, center, chats with his Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, before they proceed to their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on special counsel Robert Mueller's letter about how the findings of the probe were being portrayed (all times local):

11:15 p.m.

A Democratic senator says Attorney General William Barr should resign.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen says Barr lied to him at a hearing earlier this month in testimony about special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

In that hearing, Barr replied to Van Hollen that he didn't know if Mueller agreed with his conclusions about the report, including that there wasn't enough evidence in the report to support a charge of obstruction of justice.

Mueller had left that question open in the report, which had not yet been publicly released.

FILE - In this March 24, 2019, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller departs St. John's Episcopal Church, across from the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

It was revealed late Tuesday that Mueller had already expressed frustration to Barr about how his findings were portrayed.

Van Hollen says Barr "totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign."

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8:07 p.m.

A Justice Department official says special counsel Robert Mueller expressed concern to Attorney General William Barr about how the findings of his Russia investigation were being portrayed.

The frustration was communicated in a letter that Mueller sent the Justice Department days after Barr released a four-page letter summarizing the main conclusions of the investigation. The two also spoke by phone the next day.

The official was not authorized to discuss the private conversations by name and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the letter.

The letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Advocates for expanding Medicaid in Kansas are looking to block passage of the state's next annual budget to force an expansion plan through the Republican-controlled Legislature over conservative leaders' objections.

Legislators reconvened Wednesday after an annual spring break, and the state Senate rejected an effort by its top Democrat to expedite an expansion debate. The Senate has yet to act on a measure approved by the House in March, and top Republicans want to delay action until next year.

The next Senate vote was 23-13 on pulling an expansion bill out of the committee where it's been stuck for weeks, one short of the 24 votes supporters needed under the chamber's rules. Even before the vote, expansion supporters were focusing on the alternative of tying up the $18 billion-plus budget that lawmakers must pass to keep state government operating after June.

"It's the best leverage we have right now," said House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat. "There's been a lot of discussion."

Medicaid expansion is one of new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's priorities and its approval would be her biggest victory so far in her first months in office. Expansion has enjoyed bipartisan support for at least several years, but Kelly's conservative Republican predecessors were vocal critics of the 2010 federal Affordable Care Act that encouraged it.

During an Associated Press interview, Kelly brushed aside top Republicans' concerns about needing more time to consider the details of an expansion as "just a stall tactic." She said he doubted that lawmakers could draft a better plan with more time.

Advocates for expanding Medicaid in Kansas stage a protest outside the entrance to the Statehouse parking garage as lawmakers, staffers and others drive in, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Topeka, Kan. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and other expansion supporters are trying to get an expansion plan through the Republican-controlled Senate over the objections of its conservative leaders. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

"It is very clear that a strong majority in the Kansas Senate support Medicaid expansion and want the opportunity to debate and vote on it this year," Kelly said after the vote. "Now is the time to get it done."

A small group of expansion supporters stood outside the entrance to the Statehouse parking garage Wednesday morning, holding signs and chanting, "Health care is a human right! Expand Medicaid now!" Advocates have been pushing for an expansion for at least five years.

Still, top Republicans argue that Kelly is trying to rush the debate and that they want to avoid pitfalls that could drive up the state's costs.

"It needs a lot of due diligence and structure to protect the patients as well as the taxpayers," said Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican.

Kelly's plan for expanding Medicaid health coverage to up to 150,000 additional Kansas residents is based on a bill that passed in 2017 with bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican.

Denning called the House-passed expansion bill "regurgitated" and said the state needs policies in place to curb health costs and encourage Medicaid participants to seek preventative care. GOP lawmakers also have mentioned imposing work requirements and even drug testing.

Denning said he agrees with Kelly that expansion "is inevitable" but added, "She's going to have to wait, I hope, until the second year so we can do the massive and complicated plan correctly, rather than in a rush."

The Affordable Care Act was Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy and it encouraged states to expand Medicaid by promising that the federal government would cover most of the cost. Thirty-six states have expanded Medicaid or seen voters approve ballot initiatives.

Kelly's administration has projected that the first full year of Kansas' expansion would come with a net cost of $34 million to the state. Some supporters believe the influx of federal dollars will spur economic activity, generate new state tax revenues and offset those costs. Many Republicans are skeptical and believe the state's next costs could be much higher.

The Senate's top Democrat, Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, of Topeka, tried to pull the expansion bill from a Senate committee.

Democrats hold only 11 seats in the Senate and were forced to rely on Republicans to bypass the normal committee process. It was a tough sell to some moderate GOP senators who lead committees themselves and don't want to face a similar tactic in the future.

"This issue's not going to go away," Hensley said after the vote.

Blocking the budget is "all we have left," said Rep. Susan Concannon, a moderate Republican and expansion supporter from western Kansas.

"If we support Medicaid expansion, that's our leverage," she said.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .

A sign from supporters of expanding Medicaid in Kansas criticizes Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, R-Overland Park, outside the Statehouse, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Topeka, Kan. Denning has said he wants to put off final action on an expansion plan next year because too many details still need to be worked out. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

In this Monday, April 29, 2019, photo, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly answers questions about Medicaid expansion during an interview with The Associated Press in her Statehouse office in Topeka, Kansas. Kelly says arguments by top Republican legislative leaders that lawmakers need more time to work on an expansion plan are "just a stall tactic." (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Kansas state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, left, R-Sedgwick, confers with Sen. Gene Suellentrop, R-Wichita, before a vote on pulling a bill to expand Medicaid out of committee, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The move failed, with McGinn supporting it and Suellentrop opposing it. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
Barr, Mueller trade barbs as Russia probe rift goes public

WASHINGTON (AP) - Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and special counsel Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.

Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller's report, Barr faced sharp questioning from Senate Democrats who accused him of making misleading comments and seeming at times to be President Donald Trump's protector as much as the country's top law enforcement official.

The rift fueled allegations that Barr has spun Mueller's findings in Trump's favor and understated the gravity of Trump's behavior. The dispute is certain to persist, as Democrats push to give Mueller a chance to answer Barr's testimony with his own later this month.

Barr separately informed the House Judiciary Committee that he would not appear for its scheduled hearing Thursday because of the panel's insistence that he be questioned by committee lawyers as well as lawmakers. That refusal sets the stage for Barr to possibly be held in contempt of Congress.

At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee session, Barr spent hours defending his handling of Mueller's report against complaints from Democrats and the special counsel himself. He said, for instance, that he had been surprised that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, and that he had felt compelled to step in with his own judgment that the president committed no crime.

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Key takeaways from AG Barr's testimony, Mueller's letter

WASHINGTON (AP) - It was Attorney General William Barr's testimony, but Robert Mueller's words stole the show.

In his appearance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr was on the defensive after a letter from Mueller surfaced criticizing how the attorney general handled the public release of the special counsel's core findings.

The letter laid bare some of the internal tensions between the attorney general and the special counsel as Barr defended his rollout of the Russia report- and President Donald Trump - while taking some subtle shots at his old friend Mueller.

Some key takeaways from Mueller's letter and Barr's testimony.

MUELLER WANTED MORE INFO RELEASED AT FIRST

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Venezuelans take to streets as uprising attempt sputters

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelans heeded opposition leader Juan Guaido's call to fill streets around the nation Wednesday but security forces showed no sign of answering his cry for a widespread military uprising, instead dispersing crowds with tear gas as the political crisis threatened to deepen.

Thousands cheered Guaido in Caracas as he rolled up his sleeves and called on Venezuelans to remain out in force and prepare for a general strike, a day after his bold attempt to spark a mass military defection against President Nicolas Maduro failed to tilt the balance of power.

"It's totally clear now the usurper has lost," Guaido proclaimed, a declaration belied by events on the ground.

Across town at the Carlota air base near where Guaido made his plea a day earlier for a revolt, intense clashes raged against between protesters and troops loyal to Maduro, making clear the standoff would drag on. There and elsewhere, state security forces launched tear gas and fired rubber bullets while bands of mostly young men armed with makeshift shields threw rocks and set a motorcycle ablaze.

"I don't want to say it was a disaster, but it wasn't a success," said Marilina Carillo, who was standing in a crowd of anti-government protesters blowing horns and whistles.

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Student tackled campus gunman, slain while saving lives

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina college student tackled a gunman who opened fire in his classroom, saving others' lives but losing his own in the process, police said Wednesday.

Riley Howell, 21, was among students gathered for end-of-year presentations in an anthropology class at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte when a man with a pistol began shooting. Howell and another student were killed; four others were wounded.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Howell "took the assailant off his feet," but was fatally wounded. He said Howell did what police train people to do in active shooter situations.

"You're either going to run, you're going to hide and shield, or you're going to take the fight to the assailant. Having no place to run and hide, he did the last. But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed," Putney said. "Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives."

The father of Howell's longtime girlfriend said news that he tackled the shooter wasn't surprising. Kevin Westmoreland, whose daughter Lauren dated Howell for nearly six years, said Howell was athletic and compassionate - and would have been a good firefighter or paramedic.

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Coroner: Woman obsessed with Columbine died before warnings

DENVER (AP) - A Florida teenager obsessed with the Columbine school shooting had already died by suicide by the time authorities launched a manhunt for her after learning that she had traveled to Colorado just days before the 20th anniversary of the massacre, a coroner's report said Wednesday.

An autopsy summary by the Clear Creek County coroner estimated that 18-year-old Sol Pais likely died on April 15 - the day authorities said she flew to Denver from Miami. The FBI's Denver office said it learned of Pais' travel the following morning. Agents also learned the day after she died that Pais had gone directly to a gun store from the airport and purchased a shotgun and ammunition.

Pais was already dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by the time agents began retracing her steps, according to the coroner's initial autopsy findings.

Chief Deputy Coroner Harriet Hamilton said Wednesday that the office is awaiting test results before producing a final autopsy report.

The gun purchase and other warning signs, including Pais' past conversations about the 1999 Columbine shooting, led the FBI and local law enforcement to consider the young woman a potential threat to schools and issue a public warning about her, authorities have said.

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Biden's rise tests Trump plan of casting foes as socialists

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump may want to cast his potential Democratic rivals as a band of angry socialists, but Joe Biden is not cooperating with Trump's reelection strategy, and that's giving the president growing unease.

As the Democratic field expands to more than 20 contenders, Trump and his campaign team have been trying to lump them all together as left-wing radicals. Campaign officials believe it's the best way for Trump to overcome his challenges with moderate voters, particularly in the upper Midwestern states critical to his reelection.

But Biden's working-class appeal and more pragmatic policy approach are putting the GOP framing of the 2020 race to the test. As he campaigned in Iowa this week, Biden showcased his union support and steered clear of the liberal policy debates firing up the Democratic base.

From the White House, Trump watched - and tweeted - with some concern, according to two people familiar with the president's thinking, as Biden earned the endorsement of a prominent International Association of Fire Fighters and secured a spot at the top of Democratic polls. The firefighters' backing, in particular, appeared to irk the president, who relishes the support of first responders. It was the sort of endorsement that threatened to provide Biden with credibility with the centrist voters Trump must hold onto, said the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to reveal the president's thinking on the matter.

Trump blasted out more than 50 tweets and retweets about Biden before 7 a.m. Wednesday - a frenetic pace, even for the prolific social media user. Trump followed up by calling him "Sleepy Joe" in an interview with Boston Herald Radio on Wednesday, adding of Democrats, "They're all pretty heavy leaning left, including him."

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May Day 2019: Workers demand higher wages, rights, respect

BERLIN (AP) - Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.

The tradition of May Day marches for workers' rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners.

Over the decades, the May Day protests have also become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands. Here's a look at Wednesday's protests :

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PROTESTERS MOURN PUERTO RICO'S PLIGHT

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Kentucky Derby favorite Omaha Beach scratched

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Suddenly, the Kentucky Derby is wide open.

Favorite Omaha Beach was scratched because of a breathing problem Wednesday night, leaving a pair of Hall of Famers on the sideline - trainer Richard Mandella and jockey Mike Smith.

Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia revised the morning line to make Game Winner the 9-2 favorite for the 1 1/4-mile race Saturday.

Improbable and Roadster were installed as the co-second choices at 5-1, giving five-time Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert the top three choices in the 20-horse field.

Mandella told The Associated Press that Omaha Beach developed a cough and a subsequent veterinary exam showed the colt has an entrapped epiglottis. It's generally not life- or career-threatening and is typically corrected with minor surgery.

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California inches toward 40M people, but growth rate slows

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California had its slowest recorded growth rate in its history last year as the country's most populous state was hit by a slowdown in immigration and a sharp decline of births.

Estimates released Wednesday show California had 39.9 million people as of Jan. 1, adding nearly 187,000 people for a growth rate of 0.47% - the lowest since 1900, the earliest records available. And while thousands lost their homes after last year's deadly wildfire in the northern part of the state, initial estimates show most people shuffled to cities closest to the blaze.

California's population has been creeping toward 40 million people, viewed as a milestone for a state that began as a frontier outpost and now boasts the world's fifth largest economy. While the state will surely reach that peak, officials on Wednesday noted the latest estimates should temper expectations for robust growth as births decline, deaths rise and immigration slows.

"We see that as a process of maturity," said Ethan Sharygin, a demographer with the California Department of Finance.

Despite the slowdown, California remains by far the country's most populous state. Texas at No. 2 is still shy of 30 million people.

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Drake has huge night at Billboard Awards, wins top artist

Mother's Day is in a couple weeks, but rap star Drake honored his mom when he won the night's top honor at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards.

Drake picked up top artist - besting Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Post Malone and Travis Scott - in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.

He looked up to the ceiling as he held the trophy, then saying: "I just want to thank my mom for her relentless effort in my life."

"I want to thank my mom for all the times you drove me to piano. All the times you drove me to basketball and hockey, that clearly didn't work out. All the times you drove me to 'Degrassi.' No matter how long it took me to figure out what I wanted to do, you were always there to give me a ride, and now we're on one hell of ride," Drake said.

Drake, who walked into MGM Grand Garden Arena with 17 nominations, also won top male artist and Billboard 200 album for "Scorpion."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats are stinging from a trio of high-profile failures to recruit candidates who could help reclaim the majority, including Stacey Abrams' announcement that she would pass up a U.S. Senate run in Georgia.

That decision, announced Tuesday, was a blow to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. After Abrams gained fame from her ultimately unsuccessful effort to become America's first black female governor last year, Schumer personally - and publicly - urged her to consider challenging GOP Sen. David Perdue. In a particularly notable move, he tapped her earlier this year to deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's State of the Union address.

Abrams follows former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper in spurning Senate Democratic leaders' entreaties to take on incumbent Republicans seen as potentially vulnerable. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is likely to follow suit in rejecting a Senate run as he weighs whether to join O'Rourke and Hickenlooper on the 2020 presidential campaign trail.

Also Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne said the freshman would seek re-election next year for her southeast Iowa House seat. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Democrats' campaign organization, had tried persuading Axne to run for U.S. Senate against GOP incumbent Joni Ernst, who will be seeking a second term.

The inability of Schumer and other Democrats to corral well-known candidates underscores that many of the party's biggest players are betting they'll have better futures outside Capitol Hill, where action can be slow - especially in the minority. It's also a sign of how tough Democrats will find their fight to regain control of the Senate next year, a steep climb that sparked glee from Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority in the chamber.

"Today's embarrassing recruitment failure is another devastating blow to Chuck Schumer's dream of a Democratic Senate," said Jack Pandol, communications director for the Senate Leadership Fund, a group linked to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and dedicated to boosting Republican candidates. "Now that top-tier Democrats in nearly every competitive state have all said no to Chuck Schumer, the picture is becoming clear: Democrats simply do not believe in Schumer's ability to lead them into the majority."

In this April 30, 2019, photo, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y. speaks to members of the media following a Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington. Senate Democrats are stinging from a trio of high-profile failures to recruit candidates who could help reclaim the majority, including Stacey Abrams' announcement that she would pass up a U.S. Senate run in Georgia. That decision, announced Tuesday, was a blow to Schumer, who tried to woo Abrams to the campaign.(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

If a Democrat wins the White House next year, he or she will need a Senate majority to push through the ambitious agendas that have been pitched to voters. But to claw back power, Democrats will have to take at least three seats from the GOP.

Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado, Susan Collins of Maine and Martha McSally of Arizona are widely considered among the most vulnerable Republican incumbents, and Democrats scored a recruiting coup when retired astronaut-turned-gun control advocate Mark Kelly launched a campaign against McSally.

But Gardner and Collins have both shown they can effectively wield the advantage of incumbency and are seeking to keep their distance from Trump as the president's unpopularity becomes a political albatross in their states. And even if Senate Democrats defeat all three of their most obvious GOP targets in 2020, they will still struggle to help Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama hold onto a seat that no one expected him to win in that deep-red state two years ago.

That tricky math for Democrats would have proved easier to navigate with well-known candidates such as Abrams, O'Rourke and Hickenlooper forcing Republicans to play defense and spend money in more states to protect their incumbents. But top Democrats declared on Tuesday that they would have no trouble fielding successful candidates next year, particularly amid Trump's persistently low approval ratings.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, who chairs Senate Democrats' 2020 campaign arm, lauded the "phenomenal" quality of her party's recruits and noted that "we have plenty of time" to lock in candidates.

"Just because we don't get somebody that you're aware of doesn't mean we're not going to find or have somebody that can beat those Republican incumbents in a state on the kitchen-table issues that matter to voters," Cortez Masto told reporters.

Democrats point to three key factors in their worry-free approach to 2020's Senate races: the still-early nature of the race, Trump's unpopularity and the GOP's own failure to avoid potentially messy primaries in Alabama and Kansas. Depending on the course of the Democratic presidential primary, in fact, O'Rourke, Hickenlooper and Bullock all could have time to reconsider their reluctance to run for Senate before deadlines pass to get on the ballot in their states.

As for Abrams, she remains a top-tier choice as a running mate for any Democratic presidential candidate and has yet to firmly state her own plans for the White House race. Schumer maintained that he's not concerned about Georgia, where Trump's polarizing record and Abrams' close loss in last year's gubernatorial race have left Democrats hopeful for an upset.

"We're going to win in Georgia," Schumer told reporters. "And we have lots of good candidates in many different states, including Georgia."

But Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who runs the Senate Republicans' campaign arm for 2020, vowed to prove Schumer wrong.

"People are pretty happy with the direction, especially of our economy but more generally of our country, and I think that whomever David Perdue ultimately faces, he's going to win on account of that," Young told The Associated Press.

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Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - A student with a pistol killed two people and wounded four others at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte before campus police disarmed and arrested him, authorities said. The motive for the attack, which had people scrambling to find safe spaces on the last day of classes, was not immediately clear.

A vigil was planned for Wednesday on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where the shooting on Tuesday upended the last day of class. The governor vowed a hard look at what happened in order to prevent future shootings.

"A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses," Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, told reporters. "Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school. And I know that this violence has to stop. ... In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward."

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said authorities received a call in the late afternoon that someone with a pistol had shot several students. Officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman in the room where the shooting took place.

"Our officers' actions definitely saved lives," Baker said at a news conference.

Two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition late Tuesday. Baker said a fourth person's injuries were less serious. Students were among the victims, but officials would not say how many.

This Tuesday, April 30, 2019, booking photo provided by Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office shows Trystan Andrew Terrell. Police arrested Terrell Tuesday on charges of murder and attempted murder after he opened fire on students at a North Carolina university. (Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22. He's in custody, charged with two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, possessing and firing a weapon on educational property, and assault with a deadly weapon.

The suspect's grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, said Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died. Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language learning program his grandfather bought him and was attending UNC-Charlotte, Rold said. But Terrell never showed any interest in guns or other weapons, and the news he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning, said Rold, who had not heard about the Charlotte attack before being contacted by an Associated Press reporter.

"You're describing someone foreign to me," Rold said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. "This is not in his DNA."

Monifa Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots. She said she directed students fleeing the scene to take cover inside a parking deck.

"I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me," she said. "We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we're in the parking deck and there's a shooter and we don't know where he is, he won't have a clear shot."

She added: "My thought was, I've lived my life, I've had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that's what I was going to do."

The shooting prompted a lockdown and caused panic across campus. Aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

"Just loud bangs. A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind," said Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friend's art show.

The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas.

Spenser Gray, a junior, said she was watching another student's presentation in a nearby campus building when the alert about the shooting popped up on everyone's computer screens.

She said she panicked: "We had no idea where he was ... so we were just expecting them at any moment coming into the classroom."

Susan Harden, an UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner, left home when she heard of the shooting and went to a staging area to provide support.

Harden said she has taught inside the Kennedy building, where the shootings happened.

"It breaks my heart. We're torn up about what's happened," Harden said. "Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety."

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Associated Press writers Martha Waggoner and Emery Dalesio in Raleigh contributed to this report.

UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip DuBois receives a hug after a news conference regarding a deadly shooting on the campus earlier in the day, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (David T. Foster III/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a fatal shooting at the school, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

Students gather on the campus of the University of North Carolina Charlotte after a shooting Tuesday afternoon, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (John Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

UNC Charlotte Police & Public Safety Chief Jeff Baker speaks to the media in the aftermath of the fatal shooting on the campus, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (David T. Foster III/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

Police secure the main entrance to UNC Charlotte after a fatal shooting at the school, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

People gather across from the campus of University of North Carolina at Charlotte after a shooting at the school Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. The school shooting left at least a few people dead and several wounded Tuesday, prompting a lockdown and chaotic scene in the state's largest city. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a shooting incident at the school Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a shooting incident at the school Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a shooting incident at the school Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a shooting incident at the school Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a shooting incident at the school Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)

A University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus police officer carries a tactical shield after a shooting Tuesday afternoon, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. The shooting on the campus left at least a few people dead and several wounded Tuesday, prompting a lockdown and chaotic scene in the state's largest city. (John Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

Emergency vehicles cluster on Mary Alexander Road on the campus of University of North Carolina at Charlotte after a shooting Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. The shooting on the campus left at least a few people dead and several wounded Tuesday, prompting a lockdown and chaotic scene in the state's largest city. (John Simmons/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

Police secure the main entrance to UNC Charlotte after a shooting at the school that left at least two people dead, Tuesday, April 30, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina's public school teachers and their supporters showed up in force Wednesday to demand an overhaul of the state's education priorities, bringing thousands to a march and rally in the state's capital.

Chanting "Whose schools? Our schools! Whose voice? Our voice," they rallied in Raleigh for the second year in a row. They want more money for student support staff, such as counselors and nurses - features now included in the state House budget written by Republican legislators.

A fatal shooting at a college campus one day earlier was on many protesters' minds, adding a somber note to the energetic demonstration.

The march was especially personal for Madhavi Krevat, whose son Jacob is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A gunman killed two students and injured four others Tuesday on the UNCC campus.

"I was terrified," said Krevat, 51, of Apex, a member of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action. "My son was on lockdown for four hours. It's something I never thought would happen."

No crowd estimate was available for this year's march and rally. A permit request from the North Carolina Association of Educators estimated 20,000 would attend, about as many as were on hand for last year's protest.

As she approached the North Carolina legislative office in Raleigh, N.C., Allison Carey, 23, a third grade teacher at Powell Elementary School in Raleigh, hoists her sign up high, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

The South Carolina Department of Public safety tweeted that about 10,000 people attended a similar rally at the statehouse in Columbia.

Sophomore Kyle Brantley of Blythewood High School told the South Carolina crowd that improving public schools is "not a Republican or Democratic issue. It's a statewide issue."

"Educators have the right to be compensated fairly for teaching students like me," he said.

South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who previously criticized teachers for marching on a school day, called the rally "instructive."

"These teachers that are here this year need to be in the classroom next year happy teaching. I don't want them to feel like they have to come back here next year," McMaster told The Associated Press in an interview.

North Carolina teachers also were criticized by Republican leaders, including the state superintendent of public instruction, for leaving school for the rally. In response, demonstrators chanted "We are not skipping school! Today we teach the golden rule!"

Krevat said she's often concerned for her daughter, 16-year-old Leah Krevat, a junior at Apex High School. She said the school has received four threats of school shootings in the past four months.

"This march is relevant because ... we don't need more guns in our schools ... we need more services," Krevat said.

Seventh-grader Aaron Painter said he participated because he wants more mental health services in his school, which he said has one full-time counselor.

"We need more help because there are kids that are thinking about suicide and they're only in seventh grade," Painter said, adding that he knows some of those students personally.

Painter marched alongside his mother, Tonya Painter, a third-grade teacher at McGee's Crossroads Elementary school in Johnston County. She's concerned about what she sees as a focus on testing over student safety.

"Every mind matters," she said. "I feel like the school shootings all started years before, with probably bullying or anxiety and depression - things that students are dealing with that they need help working through."

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper told the demonstrators in Raleigh that teachers "are often the first line of defense in crises big and small."

"School safety is vital, and that doesn't mean putting guns with teachers in the classroom," he said to loud applause.

The North Carolina Association of Educators and its allies are hoping the election of more Democrats last fall will help them get some of their demands. The November election broke the Republican supermajority in the state House and Senate, meaning Cooper's vetoes can't be overridden if Democrats stay united.

In an interview Wednesday, Republican House Speaker Tim Moore said he spoke with rally participants from his home county who appreciated the new House budget provisions benefiting education and the previous efforts of legislators.

"We have done a great deal . what we are doing is tremendous," Moore said, adding that tax cuts have ultimately led to more economic growth and more revenue.

He said the association's leadership "doesn't necessarily speak for all the teachers."

The nearly $24 billion spending package includes money to raise teacher pay on average by 4.6%, with increases weighted toward the most veteran educators. A 10% salary supplement for teachers with master's degrees, phased out earlier this decade, would be restored.

It doesn't include several NCAE demands, including a $15-per-hour minimum wage for local school custodians and other workers and expansion of Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of people.

Republican legislators say the NCAE and its allies ignore strong gains in education spending, teacher pay and graduation rates since they took over the General Assembly eight years ago.

The Rev. William Barber, who co-chairs the Poor People's Campaign and led regular "Moral Monday" protests when he was president of the state NAACP chapter, told the crowd that it was morally right to petition legislators.

But it shouldn't have taken a massive event to get their attention, he said.

"It's an insult to make people have to shut down school systems and get in the street for their legislators to turn a little bit in the right direction," Barber said.

___

This story corrects spelling to Krevat instead of Kravet throughout.

___

Associated Press reporters Martha Waggoner in Raleigh and Christina L. Myers in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this story.

Fifth grade elementary school teacher Shirley Pyon, 41, marches in Raleigh, N.C., as part of a teacher's rally in the state capitol, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. She holds a sign with the names of all 28 students in her fifth grade class at Mills Park Elementary School in Cary, N.C., because she said this march is for students. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Teachers and supporters head down Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, N.C., at the start of the teacher's march Wednesday morning, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Teachers and supporters head down Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, N.C., at the start of the teacher's march Wednesday morning, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)

From left, Shannon Daniels, Willie Ramey, Dee Grisset and Amy Harrison take a selfie in the parking lot of The N.C. Association of Educators in downtown Raleigh, N.C., before the start of the teacher's march and rally, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Teachers travel to a rally in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers are taking to the streets for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Khadejeh Nikouyeh/News & Record via AP)

FILE - In this May 16, 2018 file photo, Kevin Poirier, an educator from West Charlotte school, gathers with other educators during a teachers rally at the General Assembly in Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina teachers who are holding their second rally in a year say there's a simple reason why they're doing it: because it works. Educators will gather Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Raleigh in support of higher pay and other issues. Last year's rally attracted an estimated 20,000 people. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

In this May 16, 2018 file photo, participants make their way towards the Legislative Building during a teachers rally at the General Assembly in Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina teachers who are holding their second rally in a year say there's a simple reason why they're doing it: because it works. Educators will gather Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Raleigh in support of higher pay and other issues. Last year's rally attracted an estimated 20,000 people.(AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

As she approached the North Carolina legislative office in Raleigh, N.C., Allison Carey, 23, a third grade teacher at Powell Elementary School in Raleigh, hoists her sign up high, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Teachers and their supporters marched on the state capitol in Raleigh, N.C., on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, to demand better funding in schools, increased salaries, the expansion of Medicaid, and better mental health services in schools, among other things. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Members of Moms Demand Action march in support of teachers Wednesday, May 1, 2019, during a teacher rally, in Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Zoe Powell, 8, leads a chant of "Whose school? Our school!" alongside of her mother, Sarah Jackson, 24, on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, who is a special education teacher at Green Elementary School in Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Teachers and supporters head down Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, N.C., at the start of the teacher's march Wednesday morning, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

From left, Shannon Daniels, Willie Ramey, Dee Grisset and Amy Harrison take a selfie in the parking lot of The N.C. Association of Educators in downtown Raleigh, N.C., before the start of the teacher's march and rally, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it finds a way to reintegrate Taliban fighters into society, combat corruption and rein in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday.

The warning by Washington's Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, which monitors billions of dollars in U.S. aid to the country, came in the group's new quarterly report that also discusses Afghan needs for the "day after" - once there is a peace deal with the Taliban.

Over the past months, the U.S. has stepped up efforts to find a peaceful resolution to Afghanistan's 17-year war and has been holding talks with a resurgent Taliban. The insurgents, however, refuse to negotiate with the Kabul government, which they consider a U.S. puppet. The Taliban also continue to stage near-daily attacks, inflicting staggering casualties, and now control about half the country.

"No matter how welcome peace would be, it can carry with it the seeds of unintended and unforeseen consequences," John F. Sopko, head of SIGAR, said in the report.

The war has already cost America $737 billion, according to the Pentagon. On reconstruction alone, the U.S. has spent $132 billion since 2002, much of that to train and equip Afghan security forces, as well as strengthen government institutions, provide education and better health care, said Sopko.

But the gains are fragile, Sopko said, and solutions are needed to the country's increasing insecurity, "endemic corruption, weak Afghan institutions, the insidious impact of the narcotics trade, and inadequate coordination and oversight by donors."

FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2015 file photo, Afghan Taliban fighters listen to Mullah Mohammed Rasool, the newly-elected leader of a breakaway faction of the Taliban, in Farah province, Afghanistan. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo, File)

Sopko said that failure to reintegrate the estimated 60,000 Taliban fighters and their families into Afghan society would undermine peace.

"These 'day after' risks could threaten U.S. taxpayers' investment in Afghanistan, set back humanitarian and development programs, undermine Afghan government support, or even lay the grounds for new or resumed discord," Sopko said.

For some former Taliban fighters, the transition has been difficult. They blame corruption, and for those not integrated into Afghan security forces, finding a job is difficult in a country where unemployment is more than 40% percent and 54% of Afghans live below the poverty line.

Aman, a former Taliban who left the insurgents with nine fellow fighters to join the government in late 2016 in northern Kunduz province, told The Associated Press this week that he has been jailed and intimidated by corrupt soldiers who stole $6,000 from him.

They also forced him and his fellow fighters to hand over the motorcycles and cars in which they had travelled to the Kunduz provincial capital to join government forces.

Aman, who would not give his full name fearing reprisal from both the government and the Taliban, said he sent dozens of applications to government ministries and an independent human rights commission seeking compensation but to no avail.

He now lives in a poor Kabul neighborhood, makes little money as a porter and can't afford to send his children to school, Aman said. He can't go back to his home in Khanabad district in Kunduz, where the Taliban rule.

"At first they told us we did not have to worry, nobody would touch us," Aman recounts his attempt to joint government forces in Kunduz. But instead the soldiers bound them, told their commanders they had captured Taliban fighters, and threw them in jail.

After more than five months in jail, Aman was able to convince authorities of his innocence and win his release.

SIGAR's report also said that the U.S. military in Afghanistan no longer tracks areas of control by the government and by the insurgents, without offering an explanation for the change. Previous reports had said nearly half of Afghanistan is under the control or influence of the Taliban.

"While the data did not, on its own, indicate the success or failure . . . it did contribute to an overall understanding of the situation in the country," Sopko said.

Sopko said the U.S. Department of Defense estimates it will cost $6.5 billion to finance Afghanistan's security needs in 2019 - $4.9 billion of which will be paid by the U.S. The rest will be funded by other donor countries.

Yet the Afghan military and police forces continue to experience high rates of desertion, the report said.

A program to train Afghan pilots in the U.S. on AC-208 light attack and surveillance aircraft was suspended after 40% of the trainees disappeared in America, SIGAR said. The remaining pilots were returned to Afghanistan to complete their training.

The report also highlighted widespread shortages of food in the country, saying that "most Afghan households faced acute food insecurity" in March - a level of desperation that drives some parents to sell their children or force them into childhood marriages, SIGAR said.

In addition, it said the Afghan government is ill-equipped to meet its needs and can barely cover 30% of its budget, with the rest coming from foreign donors.

FILE - In this April 12, 2012, file, photo, Afghan special forces run after demonstrating a raid for rescuing a hostage at the commando training center in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 15, 2015, file, photo, an Afghan drug addict smokes heroin, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 27, 2013, file, photo, Afghan women work in a saffron field in Herat, Afghanistan, where, 90 percent of the former poppy farmers have switched to growing the pricey spice, according to the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Hoshang Hashimi, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 22, 2011 file photo, Afghan National Army commandos practice a house clearing during a training session at Camp Morehead in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2016 file photo, new Afghan air force pilots attend class at the air force university in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

FILE - In this In this May 27, 2016, file, photo, members of a breakaway faction of the Taliban fighters prepare to guard a gathering , in Shindand district of Herat province, Afghanistan. Afghanistan may not be ready for peace unless it formulates a strategy for re-integration of Taliban fighters into society, combating corruption and reining in the country's runaway narcotics problem, a U.S. watchdog said Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan, File)
PEMBA, Mozambique (AP) - Next to a marble pulpit inside a Catholic church, a young Muslim girl chases around with other children.

The church has become a home for her and nearly 1,000 others from different faiths as they wait out the aftermath of Mozambique's latest devastating cyclone.

Situated in the heart of this predominantly Muslim but diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiliadora parish houses those displaced by the storm in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique's northernmost province.

"We don't ask about people's religions, human life is all we value," Father Ricardo Filipe Rosa Marques, the 41-year-old priest in charge, told The Associated Press.

The government has said 41 people have died after the cyclone made landfall on Thursday, and the humanitarian situation in Pemba and other areas is dire. More than 22 inches (55 centimeters) of rain have fallen in Pemba since Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique.

This is the first time two cyclones have struck the country in a single season, and Kenneth was the first cyclone recorded so far north in Mozambique in the era of satellite imaging.

Women and children shelter inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the country's northern province.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

The danger is not over. More rain was expected and rivers were expected to reach flood stage by Thursday, the United Nations humanitarian office has said, citing a U.K. aid analysis. It is the end of the rainy season and rivers already were running high.

Shelter is a top priority for most cyclone survivors and this is what the church is providing, promoting itself as a safe space even before the storm.

In a region where little-known Islamic militants have reportedly killed dozens of people in recent months, a certain amount of tension might be expected. But for some, what matters most is shelter.

"I had never been in a church before ... but as long as I am safe I don't mind," said Aamilah Felciano, who is Muslim. "It doesn't mean I have abandoned my faith, I am just saving my life."

The church has suspended mass and other routine programs. There is no space or time for such activities, the priest said.

"There can be no better mass than giving people shelter and hope. That is the church's mission," he said.

Women and children have taken up residence inside the main hall. The few belongs they could carry as they fled, mainly clothing and plastic buckets, are tucked close by.

Children climb over the pulpit and the priest's chair, playing. In one corner a woman breastfeeds her baby. Church pews have been turned into washing lines. Outside, shielded from the pounding rains, girls and boys take turns stirring huge pots of rice and soup.

As nightfall approaches, people prepare reed mats or pieces of cloth. Some will sleep on the bare floor. Men sleep on the hall's balcony.

More than 900 displaced people are sheltering here, while about 200 others are staying at church centers elsewhere in the city, according to Joao Paulo, an official with Caritas, a Catholic relief agency.

Some people are still arriving. But getting people to leave their homes was not easy at first.

"The difficulty was that a lot of people here are Muslims, some said they cannot stay in a Catholic church," said the priest, Rosa Marques, adding: "Some refused and preferred to stay at their homes. My heart broke because these people chose to face death over safety."

But there are few religious tensions among city residents, he said, and many of the people arriving at the church with food, medicine and other aid are Muslim. "It is not as difficult as in other areas," he said.

As he spoke, the Muslim call to prayer blared from speakers at one of the numerous mosques nearby, and people left the church to pray.

Cyclone Kenneth is not the first calamity to bring people of different faiths together in the province. When the Islamic extremists intensified their attacks on local communities last year, Muslims and Christians organized joint prayer meetings and opened an inter-faith dialogue center, the priest said.

"People here have suffered a lot. They have been through (Portuguese) colonialism, civil war and the recent killings. They have been living with scars for years yet their love and sense of sharing is amazing," he said.

"I am learning from them. The people here are teaching me how to be a true priest."

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Children relax outside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the country's northern province. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A woman plays with her baby inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the countrys northern province.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A young girl plays with her baby sister inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo.Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm, which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado, the countrys' northern province.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Children play inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the countrys' northern province. AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Rosa Marques, right, a priest, shares a light moment with survivors of Cyclone Kenneth at a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique Tuesday, April, 30, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the countrys northern province.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A man reads a book inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo.Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the country's northern province.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Women and children are seen inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the countrys northern province. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A woman braids anothers' hair inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo.Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the countrys northern province. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

A mother and her children prepare for the night inside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the country's northern province. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Children play outside a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique in this Monday, April, 29, 2019 photo. Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the countrys northern province.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

Rosa Marques, center, a priest, shares a light moment with survivors of Cyclone Kenneth at a Roman Catholic Church in Pemba city on the northeastern coast of Mozambique Tuesday, April, 30, 2019 photo.Situated in the heart of an ethnically diverse city ravaged by Cyclone Kenneth, the Maria Auxiladora parish is housing close to 1000 people displaced by the storm which according to aid agencies has affected Cabo Delgado the countrys northern province.(AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
BERLIN (AP) - Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.

The tradition of May Day marches for workers' rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners.

Over the decades, the May Day protests have also become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands. Here's a look at Wednesday's protests :

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PROTESTERS MOURN PUERTO RICO'S PLIGHT

Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched to traditional music while protesting austerity measures, with many participants at a May Day event demanding the ouster of a federal control board overseeing the U.S. territory's finances.

Demonstrators holding wooden shields are confronted by police during a protest against the Federal Fiscal Control Board, as part of the May Day celebration in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. The U.S. Congress established the appointed Fiscal Control Board to oversee the debt restructuring in order to combat the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

Many in the crowd in San Juan waved Puerto Rican flags made in black and white rather than red, white and blue to symbolize mourning for the island's plight, especially since September 2017's Hurricane Maria.

A protester dressed as comic book superhero Superman was arrested after jumping over a street barrier and hugging a police officer.

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PROTESTS OVER HIGH SPEED TRAIN IN ITALY

Two protesters and a police officer were injured in the Italian city of Turin when police blocked a demonstration against the construction of a high-speed rail line between France and Italy, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency.

Among the protesters were members of the 5-Star Movement, a populist party that is in Italy's ruling coalition but is opposed to the tunnel. One member, Torino city councilor Damiano Carretto, said on Facebook that he was hit in the head and on the hand by a police truncheon.

The 35.7-mile (57.5-kilometer) long Turin-Lyon High-Speed Train tunnel link, known in Italy as TAV, is a key part of an EU project linking southern Spain with eastern Europe. But the 5-Star Movement has long opposed the project.

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RUSSIAN WORKERS MARCH AT RED SQUARE

Authorities in Russia said about 100,000 people took part in a May Day rally in central Moscow organized by Kremlin-friendly trade unions on Red Square. Opposition activists said more than 100 people were detained in several cities, including for participating in unsanctioned political protests.

In St. Petersburg, police arrested over 60 supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Some of them carried signs saying "Putin is not immortal," in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been at the helm since 2000.

Police manhandled dozens of protesters in Russia's second-largest city, including lawmaker Maxim Reznik, who was later released. Reznik told the Dozhd TV station that police detained almost everyone in his protest group but gave no reason for the arrests.

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AGITATORS DISRUPT MAY DAY IN FRANCE

French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fires and smashed up vehicles as tens of thousands of people marched peacefully under tight security.

France's Interior Ministry deployed 7,400 police officers in Paris to counter troublemakers, who disrupted May Day events in the last several years. About 330 arrests were made Wednesday.

Riot police used tear gas to try to control masked troublemakers near Paris' Montparnasse train station, the start of the main May Day march, and again at the end near the Place d'Italie.

They also fired flash grenades and rubber balls to disperse unruly clusters of the black-clad protesters. The Interior Ministry said 24 protesters and 14 police officers were injured.

While some of the people clashing with police wore the signature yellow vests of a French anti-government movement, the peaceful march also had participants in yellow vests as well as waving labor union flags.

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DETENTIONS AT TURKEY'S MAY DAY RALLIES

Turkish police detained May Day demonstrators trying to march toward Istanbul's main square, which has been declared off-limits by authorities, who cited security concerns. Still, small groups chanting "May Day is Taksim and it cannot be banned," attempted to break the blockade, with dozens reportedly detained. Taksim Square has held symbolic value for Turkey's labor movement since 34 people were killed there during a May Day rally in 1977 when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.

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GERMAN UNIONS DENOUNCE NATIONALISM

Germany's biggest trade union urged voters to participate in this month's European Parliament election and reject nationalism and right-wing populism.

The DGB, a confederation of unions with almost 6 million members, warned that the political and economic turmoil in Britain following its vote to leave the European Union nationalism "shows what happens if those who stoke fear but have no plan for the future gain the upper hand."

When night fell, hooded demonstrators lit flares during a traditional May Day event put on by left-wing groups in Berlin. Police arrested several people after some participants threw bottles at officers.

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CLASHES IN SWEDEN, DENMARK

Protesters threw cobblestones and fireworks at police, included mounted officers, who were trying to keep them away from a neo-Nazi rally in Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city.

In neighboring Denmark, helmeted police circled their vans around hooded people in black shouting anti-police slogans to keep them away from other May Day demonstrations in Copenhagen, the capital.

A handful people were detained in both countries.

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SRI LANKA CALLS OFF MAY DAY RALLIES

In Sri Lanka, major political parties called off the traditional May Day rallies due to security concerns following the Easter bombings, which killed 253 people and were claimed by militants linked to the Islamic State group.

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KOREANS DEMAND BETTER WORKING CONDITIONS

Wearing headbands and swinging their fists, protesters in South Korea's capital of Seoul rallied near City Hall, marching under banners denouncing deteriorating working conditions and demanding equal treatment and pay for temporary workers. A major South Korean umbrella trade union also issued a joint statement with a North Korean workers' organization calling for the Koreas to push ahead with joint economic projects, despite lack of progress in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

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MAY DAY HALTS TRANSPORTION IN GREECE

Union rallies in Greece paralyzed national rail, island ferry and other transport services. Hundreds of people gathered in central Athens on Wednesday for three separate marches to parliament organized by rival unions and left-wing groups.

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SPANISH WORKERS PRESS NEW GOVERMENT

Spain's workers marched in its major cities to make their voices heard days before acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts negotiating with other parties to form a new government. Leading labor unions are pressing Sanchez to roll back business-friendly labor and fiscal reforms that have remained in place since the conservatives were in charge.

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GARMENT WORKERS SEEK MATERNITY LEAVE

In Bangladesh, hundreds of garment workers and members of labor organizations rallied in Dhaka, the capital, to demand better working conditions and higher wages. Nazma Akter, president of one of Bangladesh's largest unions, said female garment workers were also demanding six months of maternity leave and protection against sexual abuse and violence in the workplace.

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SOUTH AFRICA'S MAY DAY TURNS POLITICAL

An opposition party in South Africa used May Day to rally voters a week before the country's national election. Economic Freedom Fighters members, wearing their signature red shirts and berets, gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg to cheer populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address topics like economic inequality and land reform.

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FILIPINO WORKERS DEMAND MINIMUM WAGE RISE

In the Philippines, thousands of workers and labor activists marched near the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila to demand that President Rodrigo Duterte's government address labor issues including a minimum wage increase and the lack of contracts for many workers. One labor group said its members would not vote for any candidate endorsed by Duterte in upcoming senate elections and burned an effigy of the president.

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FOREIGN WORKERS PROTEST IN HONG KONG

Construction workers, bus drivers, freelancers and domestic workers from outside the country joined a Labor Day march through central Hong Kong. The protesters marched from Victoria Park to the main government offices, some carrying banners reading "Maxed Out!" The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions is demanding a maximum standard work week of 44 hours and an hourly minimum wage of at least 54.7 Hong Kong dollars ($7).

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LOW-PAID WORKERS PROTEST IN JAKARTA

Thousands of low-paid workers took to the streets in Indonesia in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Laborers in Jakarta, the capital, gathered at national monuments and elsewhere, shouting demands for higher wages, better benefits and improved working conditions.

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Associated Press journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

Workers shout slogans during a May Day rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands of workers attended the rally urging the government to raise minimum wages, ban outsourcing practices, provide free health care and improve working condition for workers in the country. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions hold up their banners during a May Day rally in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands of trade union members and activists are marking May Day by marching through Asia's capitals and demanding better working conditions and expanding labor rights. The signs read "Let's win the wage struggle." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A member of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party attends a May Day Rally in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. In South Africa, the Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party used the day to rally voters a week before the country's national election. Wearing their signature red shirts and berets, members gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg in cheering support of populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address issues like economic inequality and land reform. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Police officers face demonstrators during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Workers wear masks during a May Day rally in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands of workers attended the rally urging the government to raise minimum wages, ban outsourcing practices, provide free health care and improve working condition for workers in the country. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Thousands of workers march towards the Presidential Palace in Manila to pay tribute to workers in celebration of International Labor Day Wednesday, May 1, 2019 in the Philippines. The workers scored President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly for reneging in his campaign promise three years ago to end temporary hiring known as "contractualization" or "ENDO (End of Contract)". (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Police officers arrest a left wing demonstrator during the traditional May Day demonstration in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Supporters of Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) cheer as he arrives at a May Day rally in Alexandra, Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday May 1, 2019. In South Africa, the Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party used the day to rally voters a week before the country's national election. Wearing their signature red shirts and berets, members gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg in cheering support of populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address issues like economic inequality and land reform. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Police officers line up in front of tear gas they fired at protestors during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Demonstrators confront police officers as scuffles broke out during a May Day rally in Turin, Italy, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Alessandro Di Marco/ANSA via AP)

Communist party supporters march with a flag depicting Soviet Union founder Lenin during a May Day rally in St.Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

A protester with a camera returns tear gas to police during a May Day march in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Left wing demonstrators burn bengals on a balcony during the traditional May Day demonstration in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Protesters hold lit flares during the traditional May Day demonstration in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Ralf Hirschberger/dpa via AP)

A man dressed as President Donald Trump holds a golf club as he stands beside a person dressed as a corporate vulture during a May Day rally in front of 40 Wall Street, a Trump-owned property, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Protesters from various groups and causes gather in front of 40 Wall Street, a Trump-owned property, during a May Day rally, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in New York. The woman at left represents FIRE, (Fight for Immigrants and Refugees Everywhere), and the man holding a Puerto Rican flag was protesting the Trump administration's treatment of Puerto Rico. They were joined by others supporting global solidarity for workers and those who object to US involvement in Venezuela. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):

11 p.m.

Venezuelans heeded opposition leader Juan Guaido's call to fill streets around the nation Wednesday but security forces showed no sign of answering his cry for a widespread military uprising, instead dispersing crowds with tear gas as the political crisis threatened to deepen.

Thousands cheered Guaido in Caracas as he rolled up his sleeves and called on Venezuelans to remain out in force and prepare for a general strike, a day after his bold attempt to spark a mass military defection against President Nicolas Maduro failed to tilt the balance of power.

Clashes raged again between protesters and troops loyal to Maduro, making clear the standoff would drag on. State security forces launched tear gas and fired rubber bullets while bands of mostly young men threw rocks.

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A National Guard armored vehicle drives towards anti-government protesters during clashes in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Opposition leader Juan Guaido called for Venezuelans to fill streets around the country Wednesday to demand President Nicolas Maduro's ouster. Maduro is also calling for his supporters to rally. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

6:55 p.m.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says U.S. leaders were fooled by the opposition into believing he was about to flee the country.

The embattled socialist leader told supporters Wednesday at a rally in Caracas that the Trump administration is part of a "pot of lies." Though he didn't specifically deny U.S. statements that high-ranking Cabinet members were poised to break ranks, Maduro likened the comments to "fake news."

He vowed that any conspirators would be placed behind bars soon.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday called on the military to join with the opposition in ousting Maduro in a floundered bid to spark an uprising. The call unleashed a new wave of anti-government protests but has thus far failed to generate any mass defections from Maduro.

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5 p.m.

The number of demonstrators injured in Venezuela's latest political upheaval continues to rise.

Mayor Gustavo Duque says the Salud Chacao medical center took in 27 patients Wednesday by late afternoon. Duque says about half of the injured were hit by buckshot. Several patients reportedly sustained traumatic wounds. One person was shot in the foot with a firearm.

During anti-government disturbances Tuesday, the director of the Caracas hospital said doctors had received over 50 patients injured during clashes between protesters and security forces.

Venezuela is in the throes of a power struggle between socialist President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido. Maduro's government is widely detested and blamed for the country's economic and humanitarian crisis but has managed to keep a grip on power.

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2:25 p.m.

An online censorship watchdog says Venezuela's state-run internet provider has again restricted access to services including live-streaming applications, YouTube and translation products from Google and Microsoft.

Europe-based NetBlocks says Wednesday's blocking began as opposition leader Juan Guaido appeared in public and called for a general strike.

NetBlocks said multiple services were barely reachable most of Tuesday after Guaido proclaimed he had military backing to unseat President Nicolas Maduro.

But Maduro was not ousted and those services were restored shortly before he addressed the nation on TV Tuesday evening.

NetBlocks said Periscope was among live-streaming apps difficult to access for a second day Wednesday.

Online rights activists say blocking translation services is a way of censoring foreign media reports on Venezuelan political unrest, while frustrating access to messaging and live-streaming impedes communications among anti-government protesters.

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1:30 P.M.

Socialist party leader Diosdado Cabello says Venezuela's armed forces remain united behind Nicolas Maduro despite opposition calls for them to revolt.

Speaking at a pro-Maduro rally Wednesday, Cabello said the military "as a block" stood their ground, but for a handful of exceptions.

He said opposition leaders are now "walking like zombies" after failing to provoke the widespread uprising urged by opposition leader Juan Guaido.

The opposition and Maduro loyalists are staging dueling protests as they try to get the upper hand in the nation's power struggle.

The demonstrations come one day after Guaido called for troops to join him. Thus far only a few have heeded his call.

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1:15 a.m.

Safety regulators are requiring that any U.S. airline flights over Venezuela remain at least 26,000 feet high, saying that the roiling political crisis in the country increases an "inadvertent risk" to planes.

The Federal Aviation Administration emergency notice says pilots in Venezuela or its airspace should leave within 48 hours if they can do so safely.

The FAA said exceptions can only be made with approval from itself or other U.S. government agencies.

No U.S. passenger airlines fly to Venezuela since American Airlines suspended its flights in mid-March. The airline acted after union leaders told pilots not to operate the flights due to safety concerns.

The FAA order, which has no end date, could affect flights between the U.S. and other South American destinations in South America.

American Airlines flights to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have avoided Venezuelan airspace for some time. A spokesman said that was to avoid high air-navigation fees imposed by Venezuela's government.

The U.S. has imposed flight restrictions on other countries because of safety issues.

In April 2014, the FAA banned U.S. airlines from flying over parts of Ukraine, citing conflict between the government and pro-Russia rebels. Three months later, a Malaysian Airlines jet was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine. Dutch investigators concluded that the plane was downed by a missile fired from rebel-controlled territory.

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1:10 p.m.

Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido has emerged at a public protest a day after his risky call for a military uprising - an appeal that has thus far gone unheeded.

Guaido said Wednesday that the opposition will need to step up its pressure against President Nicolas Maduro. And he called on supporters to take steps toward a general strike.

With his sleeves rolled up, the 35-year-old lawmaker said his movement is winning, despite the lack of military response on Tuesday. In his words, "The usurper has lost."

Guaido is recognized as the country's legitimate president by the U.S. and more than 50 other nations.

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12:40 p.m.

Brazil's president is praising Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido for his effort to topple the government of Nicolas Maduro.

Bolsonaro praised Guaido's "patriotic and democratic spirit to fight for freedom in his country" in remarks to reporters Wednesday after meeting with Cabinet ministers and military leaders about the situation in the neighboring country.

Bolsonaro also said he had intelligence pointing to a "fissure" within the Venezuelan armed forces.

The Brazilian president also expressed concern that U.S. embargos on Venezuelan oil could impact international oil prices and therefore fuel prices in Brazil.

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12:30 p.m.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has strongly criticized US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for interference in Venezuela's political crisis.

A ministry statement issued Wednesday says that Lavrov and Pompeo spoke by phone at the United States' initiative.

It says "The focus was on the situation in Venezuela, where the day before the opposition ... attempted to seize power," with "the clear support of the United States.

It says the Russians stressed that "Washington's interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, the threat against its leadership is a gross violation of international law."

And it warned that "the continuation of aggressive steps is fraught with the most serious consequences."

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11:30 a.m.

State security forces are using tear gas to disperse protesters opposed to President Nicolas Maduro who have gathered at a middle-class neighborhood in western Caracas.

National Guardsmen on motorcycles arrived at the El Paraiso neighborhood Wednesday as opposition demonstrations got underway.

Some protesters shouted at the agents, saying, "Stop firing at the people!"

Many dispersed after white clouds of tear gas spread through the air while others vowed to remain, waving flags and banging pots.

The protests come a day after opposition leader Juan Guaido attempted to spur a military uprising against Maduro - though few troops so far have joined his cause.

Maduro supporters are also holding rallies.

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10:50 a.m.

Several hundred opposition supporters have gathered in a Caracas neighborhood, heeding a call by opposition leader Juan Guaido for more protests a day after his calls for a military uprising fell short.

Some of Wednesday's protesters in Altamira district said they were disappointed by the failure of the military to respond to the call to oust President Nicolas Maduro, as well as by the lack of a massive presence of demonstrators that could force a change of government.

Sixty-three-year-old Ninsa Borges says she's hoping for a larger turnout of protesters this time.

Maduro has accused Guaido of trying to stage a coup and says there will be criminal prosecutions.

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10:45 a.m.

Venezuela's unrest has forced the cancellation of several international flights to and from the country's main airport.

Spanish airline Air Europa says Wednesday's Caracas flights have been canceled. Flights over the next 10 days also might also be affected because of the "latest developments" in Venezuela.

The Caracas-based travel agency Molina Viajes says flights to and from Miami on Wednesday have been suspended.

Estelar airline says its Wednesday flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Caracas has been cancelled. However, it says flights to and from Peru and Chile are operating.

Things are running more smoothly underground than in the sky: The Caracas subway is operating again after stopping service during clashes between opposition protesters and security forces across the Venezuelan capital a day earlier.

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10:30 a.m.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is surrounded by "scorpions in a bottle" and it's only a matter of time before he leaves power.

Bolton says key figures in Maduro's leadership, including the defense minister and head of the presidential guard, have been "outed" as dealing with the opposition, which is led by Juan Guaido, the National Assembly president who is recognized by the U.S. and scores of other countries as Venezuela's legitimate president.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bolton said he doesn't think Maduro can look at his defense minister any longer and trust him, and claimed the socialist leader spent most of Tuesday at a military prison in Caracas that the U.S. says is a key Cuban command post in Venezuela "because he doubted the loyalty of the Venezuelan armed forces."

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9:50 a.m.

The White House says U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo intends to discuss developments in Venezuela with his Russian counterpart.

That's according to National Security Adviser John Bolton, who says Pompeo and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are expected to speak Wednesday.

Bolton and other U.S. officials say Russia is responsible for a decision by Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to remain in his country. Bolton and Pompeo have claimed Maduro was ready to fly to Cuba on Tuesday following an attempted military uprising against him until Russia persuaded him to stay.

The U.S. has provided no evidence for the assertion, and Maduro has ridiculed it.

Massive pro- and anti-Maduro protests are planned across Venezuela on Wednesday. Bolton says the U.S. does not want a repeat of the violence that marred protests Tuesday.

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8:50 a.m.

Stones, spent shotgun shells and tear gas canisters litter some streets in Venezuela's capital, where both the government and opponents are calling for a second day of demonstrations.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido is calling for Venezuelans to fill streets around the country later Wednesday to demand Nicolas Maduro's ouster. Maduro's also calling for his supporters to rally.

Guaido called for a military uprising on Tuesday, but only a small group of soldiers broke ranks and top military leaders swore loyalty to Maduro.

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3:50 a.m.

Spain's government has confirmed that Venezuelan opposition activist Leopoldo Lopez is at the Spanish Embassy in Caracas following an attempted military uprising on Tuesday that aimed to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.

Spain's government says Lopez, who is Juan Guaido's political mentor and Venezuela's most prominent opposition activist, is at the Spanish ambassador's residence in Caracas along with his wife and daughter.

The Chilean Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero had already said on Twitter that Lopez and his wife had made the "personal decision" to go to the Spanish Embassy because the Chilean Embassy "already had guests."

Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Lopez said on Tuesday he had been released from house arrest by security forces following an order from Guaido.

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11:30 p.m.

He called it the moment for Venezuelans to reclaim their democracy once and for all. But as the hours dragged on, opposition leader Juan Guaido stood alone on a highway overpass with the same small cadre of soldiers with whom he launched a bold effort to spark a military uprising and settle Venezuela's agonizing power struggle.

Like past attempts to oust President Nicolas Maduro, the opposition seemed outmaneuvered again Tuesday. What Guaido dubbed "Operation Freedom" triggered a familiar pattern of security forces using repressive tactics to crush small pockets of stone-throwing youths while millions of Venezuelans watched the drama unfold with a mix of fear and exasperation.

The opposition's hoped-for split in the military didn't emerge, a plane that the United States claimed was standing by to ferry Maduro into exile never took off and by nightfall one of the government's bravest opponents, who defied house arrest to join the insurrection, had quietly sought refuge with his family in a foreign embassy.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, center left, and his wife Cilia Flores, center right, wave at supporters during a rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Opposition leader Juan Guaido called for Venezuelans to fill streets around the country Wednesday to demand President Nicolas Maduro's ouster. Maduro is also calling for his supporters to rally.(AP Photo/Boris Vergara)

An anti-government protester is carried away after he was affected by tear gas launched by security forces, outside La Carlota airbase during clashes between the two sides in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Opposition leader Juan Guaido called for Venezuelans to fill streets around the country Wednesday to demand President Nicolas Maduro's ouster. Maduro is also calling for his supporters to rally. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

An anti-government protester takes cover and uses a skateboard as a shield during clashes with security forces, outside La Carlota airbase in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Opposition leader Juan Guaido is calling for Venezuelans to fill streets around the country Wednesday to demand President Nicolas Maduro's ouster. Maduro is also calling for his supporters to rally. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

National Guards stand behind their shields inside La Carlota airbase amid tear gas fired by them toward anti-government protesters standing outside the base in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Opposition leader Juan Guaido is calling for Venezuelans to fill streets around the country Wednesday to demand President Nicolas Maduro's ouster. Maduro is also calling for his supporters to rally. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Opposition leader Juan Guaido speaks to supporters in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands gathered to demand President Nicolas Maduro's ouster in what could be another critical day in the nation's struggle between a widely detested socialist government and an opposition backed by powerful allies like the United States but unable to secure the loyalty of key factions like the military. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro speaks during an event at the Planalto Presidential Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Bolsonaro convened a meeting of top ministers to discuss the ongoing situation in Venezuela. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
BERLIN (AP) - The latest on May Day events and rallies around the world (all times local):

9:15 p.m.

Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched to the rhythm of traditional music and tambourines while opposing austerity measures, with many demanding the ouster of a federal control board overseeing the U.S. territory's finances.

Protesters in San Juan also called Wednesday for much faster federal help in the island's recovery from September 2017's Hurricane Maria.

Many in the crowd waved Puerto Rican flags made in black and white rather than red, white and blue to symbolize mourning for the territory's plight.

Participants also urged the local government to save a public pension system that faces nearly $50 billion in payments it doesn't have funds to cover.

A boy dressed in a military uniform salutes from his father's shoulders during the annual May Day parade at Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A protester dressed as comic book superhero Spiderman was arrested after jumping over a street barrier and hugging a police officer.

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7 p.m.

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans have taken part in the country's annual May Day march, filing past former President Raul Castro and successor Miguel Diaz-Canel in an event dedicated to denouncing new restrictions and sanctions announced by the U.S. government.

The crowd held an enormous white banner that read, "Unity, Commitment and Victory" in red letters.

The U.S. recently said it would place a new cap on the amount of money that families in the United States can send relatives in Cuba and moved to restrict "non-family travel."

Loudspeakers blared the words of a march leader: "No foreign or extra-territorial law will take decisions in our country."

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4:30 p.m.

Italian news agency ANSA says two protesters and a police officer were injured when police blocked a demonstration to oppose construction of a high-speed rail tunnel between France and Italy.

ANSA said none of the injuries on Wednesday were reported to be serious.

The group of protesters who assembled on a street in Turin included members of the 5-Star Movement, which opposes the tunnel through the Alps. Torino city councilor Damiano Carretto said on Facebook he was hit on the head and hand with a police truncheon.

The movement's partner in governing Italy, the League, has supporters that consider the tunnel vital. The 35.7-mile (57.5-kilometer) long Turin-Lyon High-Speed Train link is a key part of a European Union project linking southern Spain with eastern Europe.

A deputy with the Democratic Party has accused the rival 5-Stars of pushing and verbally abusing Democrats at May Day celebrations.

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4:15 p.m.

French police and some violent protesters have clashed again during a May Day march in Paris.

Some of the troublemakers, wearing masks and black hoods, could be seen throwing rocks and other objects at riot police, who responded with tear gas and flash grenades near the Place d'Italie square.

More than 7,400 police officers were deployed on Wednesday for May Day events in Paris. More than 200 people had been arrested by mid-afternoon.

Authorities had warned against the presence of "radicalized protesters."

The masked protesters clashed with police earlier at the starting point of the main march, near Montparnasse train station.

Activists with France's yellow vest movement joined the traditional march to show solidarity with labor unions in rejecting French President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

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4:00 p.m.

An activist group says more than 100 people have been arrested at May Day rallies across Russia, with over half of the detentions taking place in St. Petersburg.

The OVD-Info group said Wednesday that at least 68 people were detained in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, in an anti-government contingent that authorities had sanctioned as part of the main May Day demonstration. Two people reported injuries.

Police brutally manhandled people in the opposition contingent, including local lawmaker Maxim Reznik. He was released quickly because of his status as a public official.

Reznik told the Dozhd TV station that officers detained almost everyone in his protest group and would not give the reason for the arrests.

Some of them were carrying placards saying "Putin is not immortal" in reference to President Vladimir Putin who has been at the helm of the country since 2000. Most of them are supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

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3:35 p.m.

Police have briefly clashed with protesters in Goteborg, Sweden's second-largest city, and in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, as May Day rallies were being held.

In Sweden, protesters threw cobblestones and fireworks at police as they were being kept away from reaching a rally by a neo-Nazi movement that had received official permission to march.

In Copenhagen, helmeted police circled their vans around a group of hooded people in black who were shouting anti-police slogans, trying to keep them away from other May Day demonstrations.

A handful of people were detained in both countries.

The heaviest May Day clashes in Europe took place in France, where police clashed with stone-throwing protesters as tens of thousands of people started marching in Paris on Wednesday under tight security. More than 200 arrests were made.

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2:30 p.m.

Car-sharing companies are urging customers in Berlin not to park vehicles in areas where May Day protests are expected.

Miles, which has a fleet of cars in the German capital that can be reserved with an app, warned customers against leaving them in parts of the Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain district s until Thursday.

Rallies and May Day celebrations are planned in both areas and have in the past erupted into violence, with protesters torching vehicles.

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1:10 p.m.

French protesters and police have clashed briefly in Paris as thousands of people gather for a May Day march.

Authorities fear some troublemakers could join anti-government protesters and union workers.

Police used some tear gas to control a crowd near Paris' Montparnasse train station.

AP reporters observed groups of hooded people in black shouting anti-police slogans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or waving union flags.

French authorities warned "radical activists" may join the Paris demonstration and renew scenes of violence that marked previous yellow vest protests and May Day demonstrations in the past two years.

More than 7,400 police have been deployed in Paris.

Yellow vests have joined traditional May Day union march to show their common rejection of French President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

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1 p.m.

Spain's workers are marching on May Day in major cities to make their voices heard days before acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts negotiating with other parties to form a new government.

Spain's leading labor unions are pressing for Sanchez to roll back business-friendly labor and fiscal reforms that have remained in place since the previous conservative administration.

Sanchez's Socialist party won Sunday's election on Sunday, but will still need other parties to form a government and pass laws. Sanchez will meet with the leaders of the three other top vote-getters next week. The far-left United We Can party is offering to enter the new Socialist government.

Unai Sordo, leader of Spain's CCOO union, says in Madrid that "the result of the general elections gives us the possibility for a progressive political majority."

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12:30 p.m.

Activists say more than a dozen people have been detained in Russia's second-largest city for participating in an unsanctioned political protest on May Day.

The OVD-Info group that monitors detentions of political activists says that at least 15 people were detained at the May Day rally in St. Petersburg. Most of them are supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The activists were marching with the main May Day demonstration through central St. Petersburg. Some of them were carrying placards saying "Putin is not immortal" in reference to President Vladimir Putin who has been at the helm of the country since 2000.

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12:15 p.m.

An opposition party in South Africa is using May Day to rally voters a week before the country's national election.

Economic Freedom Fighters members, wearing their signature red shirts and berets, gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg to cheer in support of populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address issues like economic inequality and land reform.

The EFF has made some South Africans uncomfortable, however, with comments about foreigners and whites.

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12 p.m.

Greece has been left without national rail, island ferry and other transport services for a day as unions hold strikes and rallies to celebrate May Day.

Hundreds of people gathered in central Athens Wednesday for three separate rallies and marches to parliament organized by rival unions and left-wing groups.

The Greek capital was left without public bus, trolley bus and urban rail services all day due to a 24-hour transport union strike, although the city's metro trains were running most of the day.

The national train and island ferry services are set to resume Thursday.

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11:55 a.m.

Russian authorities say that about 100,000 people are taking part in a May Day rally in central Moscow.

Moscow police said on Wednesday that the rally organized by Kremlin-friendly trade unions on Red Square attracted around 100,000 people.

Over the years, the May Day in Russia has transformed from the occasion for rallies for workers' rights to an official event carefully orchestrated by Kremlin-controlled groups.

Opposition activists, however, often try to use the May Day to promote their agenda.

The respected activists' group OVD-Info which compiles police reports on detentions of political activists said that six political activists have been detained in Moscow before the morning rallies. Separately, in the remote Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia's Far East, police have detained at least 10 people who showed up at the local May Day rally wearing yellow vests in an apparent nod to the protest movement in France.

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11:45 a.m.

Turkish police detained May Day demonstrators who tried to march toward Istanbul's symbolic main square in defiance of a ban.

Turkey declared Taksim Square off-limits to May Day celebrations citing security concerns. Roads leading to the square were blocked Wednesday and police allowed only small groups of labor union representatives to lay wreaths at a monument.

Still, small groups chanting "May Day is Taksim and it cannot be banned," attempted to break the blockade. The official Anadolu news agency said more than two dozen were detained.

Trade unions and political parties will mark the day with rallies at government-designated areas in Istanbul and the capital, Ankara.

Taksim holds symbolic value for Turkey's labor movement. In 1977, 34 people were killed there during a May Day event when shots were fired into the crowd from a nearby building.

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11 a.m.

Ahead of a May Day rally in over a dozen German cities, Germany's biggest trade unions are urging voters to participate in this month's European elections and reject nationalism and right-wing populism.

The DGB, a confederation of unions with almost 6 million members, said Wednesday that the European Union has helped ensure peace on the continent for decades and brought significant benefits to millions, from paid holidays to maternity protection.

The unions called for ambitious EU-wide investments to boost employment and growth, saying "people must feel that the EU improves their lives in a lasting and tangible way."

The unions warned that the political and economic turmoil in Britain following its vote to leave the European Union nationalism "shows what happens if those who stoke fear but have no plan for the future gain the upper hand."

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10 a.m.

Thousands of trade union members and activists are marking May Day by marching through Asia's capitals and demanding better working conditions and expanding labor rights.

A South Korean major umbrella trade union has issued a joint statement with a North Korean workers' organization calling for the Koreas to push ahead with engagement commitments made during a series of inter-Korean summits last year.

Many of the plans agreed between the Koreas, including joint economic projects, have been held back by a lack of progress in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

May Day rallies are also being held in the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar and elsewhere in Asia.

Riot police officers try to detain protesters during a rally in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. The activists were marching with the main May Day demonstration through central St. Petersburg carrying placards saying "Putin is not immortal" in reference to President Vladimir Putin who has been at the helm of the country since 2000. ( Dmitry Yermakov, Interpress via AP)

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters gather at the Alexandra township stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday May 1, 2019, to listen to EFF leader and presidential candidate Julius Malema. In South Africa, the Economic Freedom Fighters opposition party used the day to rally voters a week before the country's national election. Wearing their signature red shirts and berets, members gathered at a stadium in Johannesburg in cheering support of populist stances that have put pressure on the ruling African National Congress to address issues like economic inequality and land reform. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A protestor holds a banner criticising the funding of the Notre Dame cathedral renovations, during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

People march in the city center of Berlin, Germany, during a traditional May Day demonstration of trade unions on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Monika Skolimowska/dpa via AP)

Workers take part in the May Day rally in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Spain's workers are marching in its major cities to make their voices heard days before acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez starts negotiating with other parties to form a new government. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Myanmar workers shout slogan during a marching ceremony Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Yangon, Myanmar. Hundreds most of factory workers marched Wednesday to mark International Workers' Day asked for to get their labor rights. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Protesters with clenched fists sing during a rally organized by the Communist-affiliated PAME labor union outside the Greek parliament, in central Athens, on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Thousands people gathered in central Athens Wednesday for three separate rallies and marches to parliament organized by unions and left-wing groups. Greece has been left without national rail, island ferry and other transport services for a day as unions hold strikes and rallies to celebrate May Day.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Turkish police officers arrest a demonstrator, during May Day protests in Istanbul, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Police in Istanbul detained several demonstrators who tried to march toward Istanbul's symbolic Taksim Square in defiance of a ban by the government, citing security concerns. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Protestors dressed as Clowns talk to police at a May Day demonstration against racism in Chemnitz, Germany, May 1, 2019. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Thousands of workers march towards the Presidential Palace in Manila to pay tribute to workers in celebration of International Labor Day Wednesday, May 1, 2019 in the Philippines. The workers scored President Rodrigo Duterte allegedly for reneging in his campaign promise three years ago to end temporary hiring known as "contractualization" or "ENDO (End of Contract)". (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Malaysian workers stage a rally marking May Day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Hundreds of workers demand raise of basic salary and ending towards discrimination. (AP Photo/Annice Lyn)

A police officer aims a tear gas launcher during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Protesters hold lit flares during the traditional May Day demonstration in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Ralf Hirschberger/dpa via AP)

Police officers arrest a left wing demonstrator during the traditional May Day demonstration in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Left wing demonstrators burn bengalos on a balcony during the traditional May Day demonstration in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
LONDON (AP) - Campaigners fighting British government plans to expand Heathrow Airport lost a challenge in one of the country's highest courts on Wednesday, in a decision which deemed the expansion lawful.

A coalition of local councils, environmental activists and London residents claims the government has failed to properly address the impact on air quality, climate change, noise and congestion that adding a third runway would entail. London Mayor Sadiq Khan had also backed the lawsuit.

But the court ruling, which can be appealed, supports the plan to make Europe's biggest airport even bigger. Britain's Parliament last year approved the project, which the government describes as the most important transportation decision in a generation.

The 14 billion-pound (currently $18.3 billion) project followed decades of study and argument over how to expand airport capacity in southeastern England. Prime Minister Theresa May has said the expansion will boost economic growth.

Heathrow rejoiced in the decision, pledging to get on with the project "that will connect Britain to global growth, providing thousands of new jobs and an economic boost for this country and its future generations." Transport Secretary Chris Grayling urged "all public bodies not to waste any more taxpayers' money or seek to further delay this vital project."

But those most directly affected pledged to fight on.

FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday, June 5, 2018, a plane takes off over a road sign near Heathrow Airport in London. Campaigners fighting British government plans to expand Heathrow Airport have lost a challenge in one of the country's highest courts. A coalition of local councils, environmentalists and London residents claim the government has failed to properly address the impact on air quality, climate change, noise and congestion that adding a third runway would entail. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

"This is not the end of the matter," said Gareth Roberts, who leads the local council for the neighborhood of Richmond, over which planes fly low as they approach the airport. "We defeated a previous government on Heathrow back in 2010. We won then for our residents and we can win again in the future. A runway that breaches legal air quality limits simply cannot be built and opened."

The environmental group Greenpeace said that while the campaigners may have lost this judgment, the government is losing the argument on whether such expansion is "morally justifiable."

The government's decision in favor of the north-west runway proposal was challenged by several local councils affected by the decision as well as the mayor of London and environmental groups such as Greenpeace, Friends Of The Earth and Plan B.

The councils and other opponents argue that the additional runway would effectively create a "new airport," with severe consequences for the capital. They claimed the government statement setting out its support for the project failed to properly address the project's impact.

The High Court dismissed the arguments, though it acknowledged views of the opponents were strongly held.

"There was a tendency for the substance of the parties' positions to take more of a center stage than perhaps it should have done, in a hearing that was only concerned with the legality, and not the merits, of the Airports National Policy Statement," Judge Gary Hickinbottom said in the ruling.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and special counsel Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.

Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller's report, Barr faced sharp questioning from Senate Democrats who accused him of making misleading comments and seeming at times to be President Donald Trump's protector as much as the country's top law enforcement official.

The rift fueled allegations that Barr has spun Mueller's findings in Trump's favor and understated the gravity of Trump's behavior. The dispute is certain to persist, as Democrats push to give Mueller a chance to answer Barr's testimony with his own later this month.

Barr separately informed the House Judiciary Committee that he would not appear for its scheduled hearing Thursday because of the panel's insistence that he be questioned by committee lawyers as well as lawmakers. That refusal sets the stage for Barr to possibly be held in contempt of Congress.

At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee session, Barr spent hours defending his handling of Mueller's report against complaints from Democrats and the special counsel himself. He said, for instance, that he had been surprised that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, and that he had felt compelled to step in with his own judgment that the president committed no crime.

"I'm not really sure of his reasoning," Barr said of Mueller's obstruction analysis, which neither accused the president of a crime nor exonerated him. If Mueller wasn't prepared to make a decision on whether to bring charges, Barr added, "then he shouldn't have investigated. That was the time to pull up."

Attorney General William Barr appears at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Barr was also perturbed by a private letter Mueller, a longtime friend, sent him complaining that the attorney general had not properly portrayed the special counsel's findings in a four-page memo summarizing the report's main conclusions. The attorney general called the note "a bit snitty."

"I said: 'Bob, what's with the letter? Just pick up the phone and call me if there is an issue,'" Barr said.

The airing of disagreements was all the more striking since the Justice Department leadership and Mueller's team had appeared unified in approach for most of the two-year investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The revelation that Mueller, who'd been publicly silent for the entire investigation, was agitated enough to send a letter to Barr - which could, and did, become public - lent his words extra credibility with Democrats, who accused Barr of lying under oath last month when he said he was unaware Mueller's team was unhappy with how its work had been characterized.

Barr downplayed the special counsel's complaints, saying they were mostly about process, not substance, while raising a few objections of his own in the other direction. He said that Mueller did not, as requested, identify grand jury material in his report when he submitted it, slowing the public release of the report as the Justice Department worked to black out sensitive information.

He also insisted that once Mueller submitted his report, the special counsel's work was done and the document became "my baby."

"It was my decision how and when to make it public," Barr said. "Not Bob Mueller's."

Wednesday's contentious Senate hearing gave Barr his most extensive opportunity to date to defend recent Justice Department actions, including a press conference before the report's release and his decision to release a brief summary letter two days after getting the report.

But the hearing, which included three Democratic presidential candidates, also laid bare the partisan divide over the handling of Mueller's report.

Some Republicans, in addition to defending Trump, focused on the president's 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's email practices and what they argued has been a lack of investigation of them.

Televisions across the West Wing, including one just off the Oval Office used by the president, were tuned to cable coverage of Barr's testimony. Trump told advisers he was pleased with Barr's combative stance with Democratic senators, according to an administration official and a Republican close to the White House who were not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

Trump tweeted Wednesday that the probe was "The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!" He has told those around him that, after being disappointed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he has found an attorney general loyal to him.

Democrats also moved to exploit the daylight between Barr and Mueller to impugn the attorney general's credibility. Some also called for Barr to resign, or to recuse himself from Justice Department investigations that have been spun off from Mueller's probe.

"I think the American public has seen quite well you are biased in this situation and not objective and that is the conflict of interest," said Sen. Kamala Harris of California, one of the Democratic contenders for president.

They pressed him on whether he had misled Congress last month when, at an unrelated congressional hearing, he professed ignorance about complaints from the special counsel's team. Barr suggested he had not lied because he was in touch with Mueller himself and not his team.

Unswayed, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said, "Mr. Barr, I feel your answer was purposefully misleading, and I think others do too."

Neither side broke much new ground Wednesday on the specifics of Mueller's investigation, though Barr did articulate a robust defense of Trump as he made clear his firm conviction that there was no prosecutable case against the president for obstruction of justice.

The attorney general asserted that Trump was "falsely accused" during the investigation and that the president therefore lacked the criminal intent required to commit obstruction. Democrats seized on multiple instances in Mueller's report in which Trump was said to have asked aides to lie or sought to seize control of the probe, but in each instance, Barr said Trump's conduct wasn't a crime.

"I didn't exonerate. I said that we did not believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offense which is the job of the Justice Department, and the job of the Justice Department is now over," Barr said.

He was asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee's top Democrat, about an episode recounted in Mueller's report in which Trump pressed White House Counsel Don McGahn to seek the removal of Mueller on conflict-of-interest grounds. Trump later asked McGahn to deny a press report that such a directive had been given.

Barr responded, "There's something very different firing a special counsel outright, which suggests ending an investigation, and having a special counsel removed for conflict - which suggests you're going to have another special counsel."

Barr entered the hearing on the defensive following reports hours earlier that Mueller had complained to him in a letter and over the phone about the way his findings were being portrayed.

Two days after receiving Mueller's report, Barr had released a four-page letter that summarized the main conclusions.

Mueller's letter, dated March 27, conveyed his unhappiness that Barr released what the attorney general saw as the bottom-line conclusions of the investigation and not the introductions and executive summaries that Mueller's team had prepared and believed conveyed more nuance and context than Barr's own letter. Mueller said he had communicated the same concern days earlier.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller wrote in his letter to Barr. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Barr appeared unmoved by the criticism. He said repeatedly that Mueller had assured him that Barr's letter of conclusions was not inaccurate but he simply wanted more information out. Barr said he didn't believe a piecemeal release of information would have been beneficial, and besides, it wasn't Mueller's call to make.

Barr also noted that Mueller concluded his investigation without any interference and that neither the attorney general nor any other Justice Department official overruled the special counsel on any action he wanted to take.

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Associated Press writers Chad Day, Michael Balsamo, Jonathan Lemire and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Attorney General William Barr is photographed as he sits down to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Attorney General William Barr is sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Attorney General William Barr arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The letter special counsel Robert Mueller sent to Attorney General William Barr on March 27, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo/Wayne Partlow)

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., gives opening remarks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, greets ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., right, as they arrive for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, where Attorney General William Barr will testify on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Attorney General William Barr, center, arrives to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., prepares for a hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Nadler plans to face Attorney General William Barr Thursday after demanding a full and un-redacted copy of the 400-page Mueller report and its underlying materials. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Attorney General William Barr testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Scandinavian Airlines is cancelling another 280 flights across the Nordic region through Thursday afternoon (1200 GMT), affecting 20,000 more passengers, due to a pilots' strike.

The cancellation comes on top of 504 flight canceled Wednesday and hundreds more since pilots began an open-ended strike on Friday due to the collapse of pay negotiations.

Karin Nyman, a Scandinavian Airlines spokeswoman, welcomed the resumption on Wednesday of talks with the pilots - the first contacts since talks collapsed - saying it raised "hope that it will lead to constructive conversations." The talks are being held in in Oslo, Norway.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) addresses the unbalanced development in the world, as noted by Luan Jianzhang at the 28th Wanshou Forum, held in Beijing's Tsinghua University on April 27.

Luan, an international relations expert, serves as the director general of the Research Office of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

During an interview with China.org.cn, Luan pointed out of all the problems the old type of globalization brought with it, unbalanced development is the most severe one, and the global governance system established after World War II was responsible for that.

According to Luan, globalization is about letting the market play a decisive role, while global governance is about governments and institutions exerting appropriate control. Only when a balance between the two is achieved will the global economy be set on a sound track and a balanced global development be possible. The BRI is the key to that balance.

Since its inception in 2013, the BRI has become an open and inclusive platform involving 126 countries and 29 international organizations, which have signed cooperation documents with China.

Under the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits, participants of the BRI have provided new impetus for global economic growth and opened new space for global development, said Luan.

The latest studies by the World Bank and other international institutions suggest that the BRI cooperation will cut the cost of global trade by 1.1 to 2.2% and that of trade along the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor by 10.2%. Moreover, it will contribute at least 0.1% of global growth in 2019.

However, Luan emphasized that, like all new initiatives, especially when involving countries with different histories, cultures, political systems and development paths, the BRI needs time to be understood, make achievements, and adapt to changes.

He also stressed that "joint contribution" is crucial to the success of the BRI. It is true that China proposed the BRI, but the initiative belongs to the world. Only through the joint efforts of all participants can the blueprint become a reality; "China alone can't make it."

Madhav Kumar Nepal, former prime minister of Nepal, also expressed this concern at the forum, saying that "united we stand; divided we fall."

Norma Fidelia Guevara, deputy secretary general of Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front of EI Salvador, earlier stated that the BRI got the participating countries together, and this kind of integration would make them stronger and help them solve the problems caused by unbalanced global development.

According to Luan, the world is seeing a growing consensus that the BRI is a new model for multilateralism, and he is confident that more and more countries will join the BRI.

This was echoed by Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, former president of the House of Councilors of Morocco. He said he believed that a new order that is more inclusive, more cooperative, more integrated, and more humane would be established based on the BRI.

Juan Marsa, vice minister of International Relations Department of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, told China.org.cn that as a BRI participant, Cuba would promote the initiative further to other Latin American countries because it will definitely improve their people's livelihood.

Presented in the wake of the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, the 28th Wanshou Forum invited politicians, scholars, and business leaders from across the world to discuss the new type of globalization and global governance in a changing world.
PARIS (AP) - Clusters of anarchists and yellow vest protesters disrupted a May Day march in Paris by setting fires and antagonizing riot police squads at the beginning and end, punctuating the route walked peacefully by tens of thousands of people with bursts of tear gas.

Officers fired flash grenades and rubber balls along with the tear gas as troublemakers wearing black masks and hoods confronted them in the street and pelted them with stones and other objects.

The confrontations broke out near the start of the main labor march near Montparnasse train station and resumed when police tried to disperse stragglers at the finish, near the Place d'Italie in southeast Paris.

The French Interior Ministry said 24 protesters and 14 police officers were injured. The ministry said 28,000 people marched in Paris and more than 164,000 in May Day rallies across the country.

A private company hired by a group of French news outlets, Occurrence, counted 40,000 protesters in Paris, while the CGT union said there were 80,000 participants.

More than 7,400 police officers from across France were deployed in Paris because of the May Day events. The Paris police department said there were 330 arrests. Officers also performed more than 15,300 "preventive searches" of bags.

A man walks past garbage that was put on fire in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

The streets of the French capital calmed down on Wednesday evening as marchers slowly left the area amid a still-heavy presence of police.

French authorities had warned "radical activists" might disrupt the Paris demonstration Wednesday as in previous yellow vest protests and on May Day during the last two years.

Associated Press reporters saw groups of the masked and hooded protesters causing damage and then merging with the much larger number of peaceful May Day marchers.

Some vandalized a parked van, kicking the vehicle and breaking its windows. Others set small fires to trash cans and a shed at a construction site.

At least two men with head wounds were helped away by paramedics and firefighters assisted a woman in a wheelchair. Some police officers also fell on the ground.

Paris police said one police officer was taken to a hospital with a head injury.

The Russian Foreign Ministry alleged that French police used batons on the head and shoulder of a correspondent for state news agency RIA-Novosti, Viktoria Ivanova.

"We consider the use of violence against journalists in the exercise of their professional duties to be unacceptable," the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Paris police department and the French government did not immediately respond to the statement from Moscow.

While some of the people clashing with police wore the signature yellow vests of a French anti-government movement, the peaceful march also had participants in yellow vests as well as waving labor union flags.

Yellow vest supporters joined the traditional May Day march organized by labor unions to show solidarity in rejecting President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies, which some see as favoring the wealthy and big business.

Macron last week tried to address the complaints of the yellow vest movement by announcing tax cuts for middle-class workers, a pension increase and election rules to make it easier to call public referendums.

Philippe Martinez, secretary general of the CGT union, temporarily left the march for security reasons during the scuffles between the anarchist protesters and police.

After rejoining the marching throngs, he stressed that yellow vest and union activists "are marching together in all French cities."

"That's a protest of workers who tell the government and the president of the republic: 'Change your policies,'" Martinez said of the support from the movement that started in November. "We are very satisfied of the mobilization."

Signs held aloft during the march read "Long live freedom, long live socialism," ''Police, gendarmes, join us," and "What are we going to leave our children? Wake up."

French lawmaker Eric Coquerel, a member of far-left party France Insoumise ("Rebel France"), said "violence is, unfortunately, often playing against protesters." Larger numbers of demonstrators would be "more efficient" to put pressure on the government, he said.

French police ordered the closure of more than 580 shops, restaurants and cafes on the Paris protest route and numerous subway stations were shut.

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Jeff Schaeffer contributed to the story in Paris.

A man, his face covered in blood, is helped to leave during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Riot police officers patrol during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A man kicks away a tear gas canister during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Demonstrators smash a bank entrance during a May Day rally in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A police officer aims a tear gas launcher during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Police officers face demonstrators during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

An activist kicks away a tear gas canister during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Activists make their way through tear gas during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A man wearing a yellow stands amidst tear gas during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A man, his face covered in blood, is assisted as he walks away during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Demonstrators smash stands next a garbage on fire during a May Day rally in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A police officer walks in a fog of tear gas during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Demonstrators confront police during a May Day rally in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A protestor throws a pole at police officers from behind a barricade during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Demonstrators confront police during a May Day rally in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

A man holds a banner reading in French "Macron assassinates the people like Cesar", during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Protestors march during a May Day demonstration in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. French authorities announced tight security measures for May Day demonstrations, with the interior minister saying there was a risk that "radical activists" could join anti-government yellow vest protesters and union workers in the streets of Paris and across the country. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

A man walks past garbage that was put on fire in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Demonstrators smash a bank entrance during a May Day rally in Paris, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Brief scuffles between police and protesters have broken out in Paris as thousands of people gather for May Day rallies under tight security measures. Police used tear gas to control the crowd gathering near Paris' Montparnasse train station. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
TOKYO (AP) - Japan has witnessed a rare handover of its Chrysanthemum Throne by a living emperor.

New Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne on Wednesday after his father Akihito abdicated Tuesday night and became emperor emeritus. It was Japan's first abdication in two centuries.

The transition started Tuesday as Akihito, wearing a monarch's dark orange robe and a headdress, reported his retirement at three main shrines, including one where the sun goddess Amaterasu, said to be the direct ancestress of the imperial family, is enshrined.

Akihito, 85, later formally announced his retirement in his final address to his people, thanking them for their support.

Akihito took the throne in 1989 and devoted his career to making amends for a war fought in his father's name while bringing the aloof monarchy closer to the people. His era was the first in Japan's modern history without war.

The nation celebrated the imperial succession prompted by retirement rather than death. Many stood outside the palace to reminisce about Akihito's era; others joined midnight events when the transition occurred; and more came to celebrate the beginning of Naruhito's reign.

Japan's Emperor Akihito, right, leaves after a ritual to report his abdication to the throne, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. The 85-year-old Akihito ends his three-decade reign on Tuesday when he abdicates to his son Crown Prince Naruhito. (Japan Pool via AP)

Naruhito, at a succession ceremony Wednesday, pledged to emulate his father in seeking peace and staying close to the people. He received the imperial regalia of a sacred sword and jewel as proof of his succession.

On his way to and from the palace, he lowered his car window, smiled and waved at people cheering on the sidewalk.

Naruhito is the first emperor born after World War II and the first to have studied overseas.

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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Japan's Emperor Akihito leaves after a ritual to report his abdication to the throne, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Akihito announced his abdication at a palace ceremony Tuesday in his final address, as the nation embraced the end of his reign with reminiscence and hope for a new era. (Japan Pool via AP)

In this photo provided by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan, Japan's Emperor Akihito, left, walks for a ritual to report his abdication to the throne, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. The 85-year-old Akihito ends his three-decade reign on Tuesday when he abdicates to his son Crown Prince Naruhito. (The Imperial Household Agency of Japan via AP)

Japan's Emperor Akihito, left, with Empress Michiko, second from left, and his son Crown Prince Naruhito, second from right, and Crown Princess Masako, right, arrives for the ceremony of his abdication at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Akihito announced his abdication at a palace ceremony Tuesday in his final address, as the nation embraced the end of his reign with reminiscence and hope for a new era. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's Emperor Akihito speaks during the ceremony of his abdication in front of other members of the royal families and top government officials at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. The 85-year-old Akihito ends his three-decade reign on Tuesday as his son Crown Prince Naruhito, second from left, will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne on Wednesday. Empress Michiko is at right and Crown Princess Masako is at left. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's Emperor Akihito speaks during the ceremony of his abdication in front of other members of the royal families and top government officials at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. The 85-year-old Akihito ends his three-decade reign on Tuesday as his son Crown Prince Naruhito, left, will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne on Wednesday. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's Emperor Akihito bows before leaving after the ceremony of his abdication in front of other members of the royal families and top government officials at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. The 85-year-old Akihito ends his three-decade reign on Tuesday as his son Crown Prince Naruhito will ascend the Chrysanthemum throne on Wednesday. (Japan Pool via AP)

People bow toward the Imperial Palace as Emperor Akihito's abdication ceremony is held in Tokyo Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Emperor Akihito announced his abdication at the palace ceremony Tuesday in his final address, as the nation embraced the end of his reign with reminiscence and hope for a new era. (Shinji Kita/Kyodo News via AP)

People take photos of the famous double bridge in the compound of Imperial Palace in Tokyo Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Emperor Akihito is set to abdicate later in the day as Japan embraces the end of his reign with an emotion mixed with reminiscence and hopes for a new era. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

TV screens show news program reporting on Emperor Akihito's abdication, at an electrical appliance store in Urayasu, near Tokyo Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Akihito announced at a ceremony that he is abdicating, in his final official address to his people. (Yukie Nishizawa/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, followed by new Empress Masako, Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, walks to make his first address during a ritual after succeeding his father Akihito at Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito receives the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel as proof of succession at the ceremony at Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, accompanied by new Empress Masako, makes his first address during a ritual after succeeding his father Akihito at Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Crown Prince and Crown Princess Akishino are seen at left. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, accompanied by new Empress Masako, makes his first address during a ritual after succeeding his father Akihito at Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, accompanied by new Empress Masako, leaves after making his first address during a ritual after succeeding his father Akihito at Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (Japan Pool via AP)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, right, leaves after the ceremony to receive the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel as proof of succession at Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Standing at back is Crown Prince Akishino. (Japan Pool via AP)

In this aerial photo, the motorcade of Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, second from left, move past well-wishers after attending his imperial rituals at the Imperial Palace Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Tokyo. Emperor Naruhito inherited Imperial regalia and seals as proof of his succession and pledged in his first public address Wednesday to follow his father's example in devoting himself to peace and staying close to the people. (Takuya Inaba/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito and new Empress Masako are driven to Imperial Palace to greet Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Naruhito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne Wednesday after his father Akihito abdicated Tuesday. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

People gather in the compound near Imperial Palace in Tokyo Wednesday, May 1, 2019. Japan has new Emperor Naruhito after succeeding the Chrysanthemum Throne from his father Akihito who abdicated the night before. (Shinji Kita/Kyodo News via AP)

People gather around the Imperial Palace where Crown Prince Naruhito is to be enthroned to become new Japanese Emperor Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Tokyo. Japan has new Emperor Naruhito to perform his first ritual after succeeding the Chrysanthemum Throne from his father Akihito who abdicated the night before. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People celebrate as the countdown to new Emperor Naruhito's era of Reiwa, start, a few minutes before Wednesday, May 1, 2019, in Tokyo, Japan. Emperor Akihito announced his abdication at a palace ceremony Tuesday in his final address. The screens, rear, shows that Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga unveiled the name of new era "Reiwa." (Yohei Fukai/Kyodo News via AP)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - No longer burdened by territory and administration, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi outlined the new path forward for his group: Widen your reach, connect with far-flung militant groups and exhaust your enemies with a "war of attrition."

The deadly Easter attacks in Sri Lanka a week before his video appearance underscored this message in blood. It also highlighted the ease with which IS, like al-Qaida before it, can inflict chaos through a loosely defined brand of global jihad in the most chilling way. That's even after losing the relative safety of its so-called caliphate across stretches of Iraq and Syria.

"Al-Baghdadi was letting his followers know that he was prepared to lead a guerrilla insurgency in Iraq and Syria, while not forgetting that ISIS is a global organization," said Colin P. Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, using another acronym for the group.

Though disheveled and never standing up in the video released Monday, al-Baghdadi's appearance alone contradicted past Russian and Iraqi claims the militant leader had been killed during the long war targeting the militants. It was the first time he has appeared in public since June 29, 2014, when he delivered a sermon from the pulpit of Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri.

The contrasts in the appearances are glaring.

In 2014, he wore an expensive-looking watch and a neatly trimmed beard and urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the group's self-proclaimed caliphate and obey him as its leader.

FILE - This file image made from video posted on a militant website Monday, April 29, 2019, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, being interviewed by his group's Al-Furqan media outlet. No longer burdened by territory and administration, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi outlined the new path forward for his group: Widen your reach, connect with far-flung militant groups and exhaust your enemies with a "war of attrition." (Al-Furqan media via AP, File)

In Monday's video, he sat on the floor, with an AK-74 assault rifle at his side like the one Osama bin Laden took in Afghanistan during the mujahedeen's fight against the Soviets and always carried with him. He had a big bushy beard and wore a black tunic and a military-style beige vest over it.

No longer an administrator, al-Baghdadi wants to be seen as an insurgent leader. Analysts say that both glosses over the loss of territory the militants claimed would spark an apocalyptic confrontation with the "crusader" West and ensures he maintains his status in the extremist world.

"We believe it is really an attempt to divert attention from the core group's heavy losses and to ensure that the franchise groups and grassroots supporters remain loyal to the Islamic State pole of the jihadist universe," the Austin, Texas-based private intelligence firm Stratfor said in an analysis. "Many are saying that the video is a show of strength, but we believe it is more likely an act of desperation."

The loss of its territory cuts both ways, however. Foreign militants once part of the "caliphate" now have scattered, like they did at the end of the 1980s war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government sheltering al-Qaida.

Al-Baghdadi barely mentioned Iraq and Syria in the 18-minute video, except to praise the steadfastness of his fighters there. Instead, he congratulated militants in Libya, "brothers" in Burkina Faso, Mali, Pakistan and the Western Sahara for pledging allegiance.

The group also recently claimed numerous attacks around the world, including in Saudi Arabia, Congo and Libya. Jihadi propaganda by IS supporters online recently threatened India and Bangladesh, where IS claimed an attack for the first time in some two years this week.

Sri Lankan police late Wednesday made public the names and photographs of nine suicide bombers who carried out the series of Easter Day explosions, including the locations where their bombs were detonated.

The list of eight men and one woman included the man officials say led the attack, extremist preacher Mohamed Zahran, also known as Zahran Hashim, who was one of two attackers at Colombo's Shangri-La Hotel. The woman who was identified was the wife of another bomber who triggered an explosion in front of her children at her spice trader father-in-law's Colombo villa, killing herself and three police officers investigating the earlier near-simultaneous blasts at three churches and three hotels.

While some IS claims of late have been exaggerated or outright bogus, its focus on expanding outward follows the same pattern of al-Qaida, which grew to have dangerous franchises in areas like Yemen.

"This is part of the vengeance that awaits the crusaders and their henchmen," al-Baghdadi said in the video.

He extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz," a reference to the Islamic State group's last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by U.S.-backed fighters in March. The militants involved in the attacks that killed more than 250 people followed a local extremist leader, but more than 30 Sri Lankans are believed to have once been Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

"It is still unclear if any of the Sri Lanka terrorists had fought for ISIS in Syria and Iraq and were returnees, or if they were locally trained and linked up with ISIS online," an analysis from the Asia-Pacific Foundation said. "What we are witnessing has been an evolving terrorist dynamic where an attack is developed and conceived abroad but that local radicals are recruited to implement the final stage."

Simply put: The new threat from the Islamic State is a lot like the old threat, except the group doesn't have a home address anymore. For years, the group's leaders huddled in IS-held cities in Iraq and Syria to plot attacks abroad, even as they terrorized residents at home.

Now mass casualty assaults like the 2015 attacks on the Bataclan theater in Paris may be planned much closer to local militants' homes, like the Easter attack in Sri Lanka. One of the churches hit was just a town from where the alleged leader of that assault preached his extremist message.

That has been the case in the southern Philippines, where al-Baghdadi's group has set its eyes on latching on to local insurgencies or remotely executing plots it has financed, such as a massive siege of the Muslim-majority city of Marawi. Hundreds of IS-aligned local militants occupied buildings, homes and school campuses there in May 2017.

It took Filipino troops five months to quell the urban insurrection, which was reportedly patterned after the IS takeover of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

IS-aligned militants are also accused of carrying out two suicide attacks in the southern Philippines, including the Jan. 27 suicide bombing of a Roman Catholic cathedral during a Mass that killed 23.

That's led to a monthslong counterinsurgency operation that Philippine Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said has contained the militants.

For how long remains the question.

"Intensive military operations may weaken these groups temporarily, but airstrikes and killings only reinforce the narrative of state oppression in a way that serves the ideological cause," said Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict.

As the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins in just days, experts warn there could be even more attacks looming.

"Our battle today is one of attrition and stretching the enemy. They should know that jihad is ongoing until the day of judgment," al-Baghdadi said.

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Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report.

FILE - In this April 22, 2019 file photo, mourners grieve at the burial of three members of the same family victims of an Easter Sunday bomb blast at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. In a video released on April 29, the Islamic State group's leader extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz," a reference to IS' last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by U.S.-backed fighters in March. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

FILE - In this April 22, 2019, file photo, clergymen visit the scene of a suicide bombing at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. In a video released on April 29, the Islamic State group's leader extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz," a reference to IS' last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by U.S.-backed fighters in March. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

FILE - In this April 22, 2019 file, photo, Lalitha weeps on the coffin with the remains of 12-year old niece, Sneha Savindi, who was a victim of Easter Sunday bombing at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. In a video released on April 29, the Islamic State group's leader extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz," a reference to IS' last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by U.S.-backed fighters in March. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

FILE - This undated file image posted by the Islamic State group's Aamaq news agency on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, purports to show Mohammed Zahran, a.k.a. Zahran Hashmi, center, the man Sri Lanka says led the Easter attack that killed over 300 people, as well as other attackers. Sri Lankan authorities have blamed the militant Muslim group National Thowfeek Jamaath for the attack. The Islamic State group released the photo Tuesday to assert its claim on the assault. (Aamaq news agency via AP, File)

FILE - This file image made from video posted on a militant website Saturday, July 5, 2014, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq during his first public appearance. In a video released on April 29, 2019, the Islamic State group's leader extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz," a reference to IS' last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by U.S.-backed fighters in March. (AP Photo/Militant video, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2016 file photo, women hug in front of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, as France marked the anniversary of Islamic extremists' coordinated attacks on Paris with a somber silence that was broken only by voices reciting the names of the 130 slain. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2015, file photo, rescue workers help a woman after an attack by Islamic State militants, outside the Bataclan theater in Paris. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

FILE - In this March 18, 2019 file photo, Islamic State militant positions are ablaze in Baghouz, Syria as U.S-backed Syrian Democratic forces pound the group's remaining territory. In a video released on April 29, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

FILE - EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this March 23, 2019 file photo, the body of a man lies in a tent encampment after U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters took control of Baghouz, Syria from Islamic State militants. In a video released on April 29, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz."(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

FILE - In this March 23, 2019, file, photo, an Islamic State militant flag lies in a tent encampment after U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters took control of Baghouz, Syria. In a video released on April 29, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi extolled militants in Sri Lanka for "striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz." (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican is hosting a conference on the resurgence of nationalism around the world, warning of the dangers of economic protectionism, xenophobic anti-migrant rhetoric and weak international institutions to the democratic world order.

The conference, "Nation, State, Nation-State," opened Wednesday at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, a Vatican thinktank.

German Cardinal Walter Kasper, an ally of Pope Francis, said in a keynote speech that 20th century nationalism produced two World Wars. He said that international institutions created in their aftermath to promote peace had distanced ordinary citizens from decision-making power.

He warned that the resulting insecurities and fears fueled populist and neo-nationalistic ideologies "closed inside walls of isolation."

Francis has denounced such isolationist trends, focusing in particular on the global responsibility for the environment and the plight of migrants.
NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian and Bangladeshi officials and security experts largely dismissed a fresh threat of violence from an Islamic State-aligned media group, insisting that safety measures and surveillance are adequate to keep militants from carrying out a Sri Lanka-style attack elsewhere in South Asia.

Al-Mursalat Media released a poster on Tuesday featuring a photo of five militants who carried out a 2016 attack at a cafe in the diplomatic enclave of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, according to global terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence.

Below the picture of the militants, depicted carrying rifles and smiling, text states that the "soldiers of the khilafah," or caliphate, in Bangladesh and India have not been "silenced" and "the anger of the mujahedeen will suddenly bring destruction upon you."

The poster, with text written in English, Hindi and Bengali and sent over the media group's Telegram channel, came as authorities in India and Bangladesh investigated activities with possible IS links while Sri Lanka pursued suspects tied to the coordinated Easter Day bombings at churches and hotels that killed 253 people.

Sri Lankan police late Wednesday made public the names and photographs of nine suicide bombers who carried out the series of Easter Day explosions, including the locations where their bombs were detonated.

The list of eight men and one woman included the man officials say led the attack, extremist preacher Mohamed Zahran, also known as Zahran Hashim, who was one of two attackers at Colombo's Shangri-La Hotel.

FILE- A Dec. 29, 2018 file photo of Bangladesh police's elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a security force focused on combating extremist groups, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Indian and Bangladeshi officials and security experts largely dismissed a fresh threat of violence from an Islamic State-aligned media group, insisting that routine monitoring of would-be militants would prevent a Sri Lanka-style attack from taking place elsewhere in South Asia. Al-Mursalat Media released a graphic on Tuesday of five militants who carried out a 2016 attack at a cafe in the diplomatic enclave of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, according to global terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence. Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for RAB, told The Associated Press that he didn't place "any great emphasis" on the threat released by the IS-aligned media group. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)

M.K. Narayanan, the former chief of India's external intelligence service, said that while he "wouldn't read this as a harbinger of what they're about to do," President Donald Trump "is off the mark when he says that IS is dead."

Police in Bangladesh are investigating an Islamic State-claimed small crude bomb explosion in front of a shopping center in Dhaka that injured three traffic police officers on Monday.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, a spokesman for Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion, a security force focused on combating extremist groups, told The Associated Press that he didn't place "any great emphasis" on the threat released by the IS-aligned media group.

Though the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the 2016 Dhaka attack that killed 22 people, including 17 foreigners, Bangladeshi authorities have repeatedly denied that IS has a presence in the country. Officials, instead, blamed local militants from Jumatual Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB.

Since then, authorities have captured and killed dozens of suspects, and said JMB has been weakened if not eliminated completely.

"Maybe some small section will try to create some trouble, that's the scenario across the world," Khan said, but he didn't "think any groups are capable of creating any big trouble."

In India, the National Investigation Agency, in charge of counterterrorism, took the rare step this week of publicizing the arrests of four people on suspicion of links to IS, including a 29-year-old man who they said was a follower of the alleged mastermind of the Sri Lankan attacks and was plotting a suicide bombing in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

NIA official Alok Mittal said Thursday that he had seen the Al-Mursalat Media poster but declined to comment on it.

Former Indian military and intelligence officials say the Islamic State group does not appear to have much of a foothold in India, but that the diminished caliphate is far from defeated.

"The threat of attacks can't be completed ignored," said Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, a retired Indian army general who led the command in the disputed region of Kashmir. "You need only a handful of such guys to carry out such attacks. Sri Lanka is a major example."

Sri Lankan security forces began investigating IS sympathizers and activity in the island nation in 2015, upon learning that Sri Lankan national Mohamed Mhuzeen Sarfaz Nilam had been killed in Syria in a U.S. airstrike. Nilam's brother-in-law also later died fighting with IS.

Sri Lanka's director of military intelligence, Brig. Chula Kodituwakku, said that about 35 Sri Lankans, including Nilam's brother and other militants and their families, are embedded with the Islamic State group in Syria.

Kodituwakku said police are still determining whether any of the suicide bombers or other suspects linked to the Easter attacks trained or fought with IS overseas.

Mohammed Zahran, the leader of the militant group Sri Lankan authorities have identified as carrying out the attacks and himself one of the suicide bombers, trained in India, according to a Sri Lankan intelligence official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. It was unclear how long he may have stayed.

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Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi, Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, contributed to this report.

FILE - In this July 3, 2016 file photo, Bangladeshi policemen walk past the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka's Gulshan area, Bangladesh, one day after heavily armed militants held dozens of people hostage at the restaurant in a bloody 10-hour standoff. Indian and Bangladeshi officials and security experts largely dismissed a fresh threat of violence from an Islamic State-aligned media group, insisting that routine monitoring of would-be militants would prevent a Sri Lanka-style attack from taking place elsewhere in South Asia. Al-Mursalat Media released a graphic on Tuesday of five militants who carried out a 2016 attack at a cafe in the diplomatic enclave of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, according to global terrorism monitor SITE Intelligence. (AP Photo/File)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The risk of more flooding will hound Iowa's third-largest city for at least a month as the possibility of a wet spring could see an already swollen Mississippi River pushed higher out of its banks, Davenport officials said Wednesday, a day after floodwaters broke through a temporary barrier downtown.

Meanwhile, cities downstream remain largely dry, but are preparing for a flood threat that could stretch into the summer.

Floodwaters that swamped a couple of blocks of downtown Davenport on Tuesday are not expected to get worse over the coming days, public works director Nicole Gleason said Wednesday. Even with the river set to crest later Wednesday at an estimated 22.4 feet (6.83 meters), just short of a record crest set at Davenport in 1993, it would do little to add to the floodwaters already covering the couple of blocks on the river's edge, Gleason said.

"The longer we can go without rain, the quicker the waters will recede," she said.

But she and other officials expect the river that was bloated by heavy rains and snowmelt earlier this year to remain as such as the region heads into what is typically a wet stretch of spring.

"All we can really do is wait and see," Gleason said.

Davenport firefighters move building to building checking for people trapped after the floodwall failed at River Drive and Pershing Avenue sending Mississippi River floodwater into several blocks of downtown Davenport, Iowa Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (Kevin E. Schmidt/Quad City Times via AP)

National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Gibbs confirmed there's little chance in the coming days of rainfall heavy enough to further raise the Mississippi River flood threat in eastern Iowa. He predicted only scattered showers in the area Wednesday. The service isn't warning of severe weather upstream either, he said.

Unlike cities such as Muscatine downstream, Davenport doesn't have a permanent floodwall, opting instead for an open, picturesque riverfront. Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch said at a news conference Wednesday that the city has 9 miles (14 kilometers) of riverfront, making the prospect of a floodwall to protect all of it outlandishly expensive.

"We live with this river," he said. "We want to protect it and our citizens."

Further downstream, Mississippi River levels are expected to reach rare heights in Missouri. The projected flood would be the fourth-worst ever in St. Louis, Louisiana and Clarksville, and third-worst ever in Hannibal, and officials are scrambling to get ahead of the worst of it.

The Memorial Bridge connecting Quincy, Illinois, and West Quincy, Missouri, closed Wednesday, forcing all traffic to take the only other bridge in Quincy. Officials said Champ Clark Bridge at Louisiana could also be forced to close if the water gets too high, and several roads along the river have already closed on both sides of the Mississippi.

Hannibal, Missouri - a popular tourist town - has a levee that protects the boyhood home of Mark Twain and historic 19th century downtown buildings. The latest crest prediction has the river reaching about 5 feet (1.5 meters) short of the top of the levee, but with heavy rain in the forecast most of this week and next, town leaders are taking no chances. Emergency Management Director John Hark said the town plans to add 2 feet of additional height, probably using sandbags, on top of the levee.

"We're going to have a full-fledged flood fight," Hark said. "The river's going to do what it wants to do, and we've got a lot of water coming."

The National Weather Service projects the river will reach 12 1/2 feet above flood stage in St. Louis, which would leave it lapping at the steps of the Gateway Arch grounds. Downtown rises up from the river, and a flood wall protects nearby industrial areas, so no major damage is expected. But the high water could bring a mandatory halt to river traffic, including barges.

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Associated Press writer Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.

Davenport firefighters walk a rescue boat down West River Drive along the freight house in Davenport, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. (Andy Abeyta/Quad City Times via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Amid a battlefield stalemate in Afghanistan , the U.S. military has stopped releasing information often cited to measure progress in America's longest war, calling it of little value in fighting the Taliban insurgency.

The move fits a trend of less information being released about the war in recent years, often at the insistence of the Afghan government, which had previously stopped the U.S. military from disclosing the number of Afghans killed in battle as well as overall attrition within the Afghan army.

The latest clampdown also aligns with President Donald Trump's complaint that the U.S. gives away too much war information, although there is no evidence that this had any influence on the latest decision.

A government watchdog agency that monitors the U.S. war effort, now in its 18th year, said in a report to Congress on Wednesday that the U.S. military command in Kabul is no longer producing "district control data," which shows the number of Afghan districts - and the percentage of their population - controlled by the government compared to the Taliban.

The last time the command released this information, in January, it showed that Afghan government control was stagnant or slipping. It said the share of the population under Afghan government control or influence - a figure that was largely unchanged from May 2017 to July 2018 at about 65 percent - had dropped in October 2018 to 63.5 percent. The government's control or influence of districts fell nearly 2 percentage points, to 53.8 percent.

Less than two years ago, a top American commander in Afghanistan called population control "most telling." Gen. John Nicholson told reporters in November 2017 that he wanted to see the figure, then about two-thirds, increase to at least 80 percent, with the Taliban holding only about 10 percent and the rest contested.

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2019, file photo, acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, left, arrives in Kabul, Afghanistan, to consult with Army Gen. Scott Miller, right, commander of U.S. and coalition forces, and senior Afghan government leaders. Amid a bloody stalemate in Afghanistan, the U.S. military has stopped releasing information often cited to measure progress in America's longest war. (AP Photo/Robert Burns, File)

"And this, we believe, is the critical mass necessary to drive the enemy to irrelevance," Nicholson said then.

Nicholson's successor, Gen. Scott Miller, believes there already are enough such assessments available to the public, including one produced by intelligence agencies.

"We are focused on setting the conditions for a political settlement to safeguard our national interests," Col. David M. Butler, a spokesman for Miller, said in an email exchange Tuesday. "The district stability assessment that was previously provided by DOD was redundant and did little to serve our mission of protecting our citizens and allies."

The war is at a sensitive juncture, with the Trump administration making a hard push to get peace talks started between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The Taliban recently launched a spring military offensive and have refused to directly talk to Kabul representatives, viewing the government as a U.S. puppet.

In its report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, said Miller's command offered a further explanation for no longer producing the "district control" data, asserting there was "uncertainty" in the way the data were produced and saying "the assessments that underlie them are to a degree subjective."

"The command said they no longer saw decision-making value in these data," the SIGAR report said. In remarks to reporters last week, John Sopko, the special inspector general, criticized what he called a trend toward less openness by the military authorities who are advising, training and assisting Afghan security forces.

"I don't think it makes sense," Sopko said. "The Afghan people know which districts are controlled by the Taliban. The Taliban obviously know which districts they control. Our military knows it. Everybody in Afghanistan knows it. The only people who don't know what's going on are the people who are paying for all of this, and that's the American taxpayer."

In January, Trump sharply criticized his own administration for disclosing information that he said aids enemy forces.

"Some IG goes over there, who are mostly appointed by President Obama - but we'll have ours, too - and he goes over there, and they do a report on every single thing that's happening, and they release it to the public," Trump told reporters. "What kind of stuff is this? We're fighting wars, and they're doing reports and releasing it to the public? Now, the public means the enemy. The enemy reads those reports; they study every line of it."

Trump then turned to the acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, and said, "I don't want it to happen anymore, Mr. Secretary."

The war in Afghanistan is largely forgotten in much of America, as is the enormous, continuing financial cost. This year the Pentagon budget includes $4.9 billion to provide the Afghan army and police with everything from equipment and supplies to salaries and food. That is one piece of a wider array of "reconstruction" assistance the U.S. government has provided since the war began in 2001, totaling $132 billion.

Overall, the U.S. has spent $737 billion on the war and lost more than 2,400 military lives, according to the Pentagon.
SWARTHMORE, Pa. (AP) - The only two fraternities at Swarthmore College have opted to disband amid outrage over years-old documents containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault.

Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi announced their decisions in separate Facebook posts Tuesday night.

"We cannot in good conscience be members of an organization with such a painful history," Phi Psi said in its statement.

Dozens of student protesters at Swarthmore, a highly selective, private liberal arts college in suburban Philadelphia, had occupied the on-campus Phi Psi house during a four-day sit-in, calling for both fraternities to be shut down and the buildings put to other uses. Swarthmore had suspended fraternity activity while it investigated. Its lone sorority wasn't affected.

In mid-April, two campus publications, The Phoenix and Voices, released internal Phi Psi documents from 2012 to 2016 that they said were anonymously leaked. The redacted documents included jokes about sexual assault; derogatory comments about women, minorities and the LGBT community; videos and photos of sexual encounters where all parties might not have known they were being recorded and a reference to a "rape attic."

The authenticity of the documents has not been verified. The college said Wednesday it was reviewing them.

Swarthmore College students gather at the Phi Psi fraternity house during a sit-in, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Swarthmore, Pa. Students at the suburban Philadelphia college have occupied the on-campus fraternity house in an effort to get it shut down after documents allegedly belonging to Phi Psi surfaced this month containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. (AP Photo)

In an open letter posted Wednesday on the college's website, Swarthmore President Valerie Smith wrote that "we respect these students' decision" to disband the fraternities, "and we appreciate their strong condemnation" of the behavior described in the leaked documents.

Smith also condemned what she called "unsubstantiated attacks directed at individual students or student groups ... as too many students have recently endured," taking aim at social media posts and "attempts to exclude students from open campus events based on their affiliations."

She said there's no evidence that any current student took part in the behavior recounted in the documents.

Delta Upsilon said on its Facebook page Tuesday night that disbanding was in the "best interest" of the Swarthmore community, adding: "We hope that our former house will provide a space that is inclusive, safe, and promotes healing."

In its post, Phi Psi said its members were "appalled and disgusted" by the contents of the documents, "which led us to question our affiliation with an organization whose former members could write such heinous statements."

Both houses are on campus and are owned by the college. The Phi Psi house was primarily used for parties and other social activities. The college said Wednesday that both fraternities had decided to relinquish their houses, but no decision has been made about future uses of the properties.

Swarthmore College students gather outside the Phi Psi fraternity house during a sit-in, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Swarthmore, Pa. Students at the suburban Philadelphia college have occupied the on-campus fraternity house in an effort to get it shut down after documents allegedly belonging to Phi Psi surfaced this month containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. (AP Photo)

Swarthmore College students sing during a sit-in at the Phi Psi fraternity house, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Swarthmore, Pa. Students at the suburban Philadelphia college have occupied the on-campus fraternity house in an effort to get it shut down after documents allegedly belonging to Phi Psi surfaced this month containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. (AP Photo)

Swarthmore College students paint a banner to hang outside the Phi Psi fraternity house during a sit-in, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Swarthmore, Pa. Students at the suburban Philadelphia college have occupied the on-campus fraternity house in an effort to get it shut down after documents allegedly belonging to Phi Psi surfaced this month containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. (AP Photo)

Swarthmore College students gather at the Phi Psi fraternity house during a sit-in, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Swarthmore, Pa. Students at the suburban Philadelphia college have occupied the on-campus fraternity house in an effort to get it shut down after documents allegedly belonging to Phi Psi surfaced this month containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. (AP Photo)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland and other nations marked the 15th anniversary of their membership in the European Union with a leaders' summit in Warsaw, while far-right critics celebrated the occasion with protests Wednesday against the 28-nation bloc.

Besides Poland, other countries that joined the EU on May 1, 2004, were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia. The embrace of the 10 countries was the largest single expansion in the EU's history.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hosted government heads and officials from the 10 countries at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Leaders from Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, which joined the EU later, were also present.

State and public observances, including rallies and singing of the EU hymn, the "Ode to Joy," stressed Poland's appreciation for the growth and development it has achieved thanks to membership in the bloc.

Hundreds of far-right EU critics, meanwhile, protested outside the summit's venue and then walked to the EU's mission, chanting slogans against what they called the "dictate of Berlin and Brussels." Their pro-EU opponents tried to stop the legal march, blocking its passage, but were removed by the police.

President Andrzej Duda, addressing a rally in the central city of Pulawy, said "Europe is us, the European Union is us," and urged Poles to vote in the European Parliament election, that will be held in Poland on May 26.

Police remove people who were blocking the march of European Union critics as Poland and other central European nations marked 15 years of EU membership, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Viorica Dancila, the prime minister of Romania, which currently holds EU presidency, said membership in the bloc had raised the nation's living standards and said problems facing the bloc can best be solved through joint decisions and cooperation.

The officials from the EU countries signed a declaration saying EU members should take decisions jointly and in the spirit of cooperation, while stressing that a common market with clear and transparent rules would guarantee further development for all.

Police remove people who were blocking the march of European Union critics as Poland and other central European nations marked 15 years of EU membership, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Police remove people who were blocking the march of European Union critics as Poland and other central European nations marked 15 years of EU membership, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Critics of the European Union march through Warsaw to protest what they call EU's dictate from Brussels, as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club,in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Critics of the European Union march through Warsaw to protest against, what they call EU's dictate from Brussels, as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Critics of the European Union march through Warsaw to protest against what they call EU's dictate from Brussels, as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Critics of the European Union march through Warsaw to protest against what they call EU's dictate from Brussels, as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Critics of the European Union march through Warsaw to protest against what they call EU's dictate from Brussels, as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

European Union enthusiasts yell at a march of EU critics as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Critics of the European Union march through Warsaw to protest what they call EU's dictate from Brussels, as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club,in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Critics of the European Union march through Warsaw to protest what they call EU's dictate from Brussels, as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club,in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

European Union enthusiasts yell at a march of EU critics as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

European Union enthusiasts yell at a march of EU critics as Poland and other central European nations ceremoniously mark 15 years of membership in the club, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, May 1, 2019.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
NEW YORK (AP) - When Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty to being the ringleader in a foiled plot to bomb New York City's subway system, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he was responsible for "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation" since the 9/11 attacks.

Nearly a decade later, Zazi has a shot at an improbable second chance.

The 33-year-old is finally scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn, and prosecutors are expected to credit him with switching sides after his arrest and volunteering valuable intelligence about other al-Qaeda trained terrorists. The cooperation could earn him a far lighter term than the possible life sentence he faces. It might even give him a chance at freedom.

The full extent of Zazi's cooperation has yet to be publicly disclosed. Both prosecutors and his attorney declined to be interviewed in advance of the sentencing hearing.

But some elements of his assistance with U.S. counterterrorism efforts have become public through his testimony in other terror prosecutions.

Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a court document crediting Zazi with implicating his two best friends in the subway plot and providing "critical intelligence and unique insight regarding al-Qaeda and its members."

FILE- In this Sept. 17, 2009 file photo, Najibullah Zazi arrives at the offices of the FBI in Denver for questioning. Zazi, the ringleader of a thwarted terror plot to bomb the New York City subways in 2009 is about to find if becoming a government cooperator will pay off when he is sentenced on Thursday, May 2, 2019. His cooperation could earn him a far lighter punishment on charges that carry a maximum of life. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

The document said Zazi's "extraordinary" cooperation included meeting with the government "more than 100 times, viewing hundreds of photographs and providing information that assisted law enforcement officials in a number of different investigations."

"Zazi's assistance came in the face of substantial potential danger to himself and his family," Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas M. Pravda wrote in the court filing. "By aligning himself with the government against al-Qaeda, Zazi assumed such a risk."

Zarein Ahmedzay, a fellow conspirator in the New York City subway bombing plot who also decided to help American investigators, also faced up to life behind bars but was sentenced last year to 10 years - essentially time served.

Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University's Program on Extremism, predicted Zazi would also get "considerably less" than a life sentence.

Prosecutors at the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office "tend to look favorably on cooperation when it comes to terrorism cases," he said. And the lengthy lag between Zazi's guilty plea and sentencing, Hughes added, "speaks to the value that prosecutors saw in terms of Zazi testifying against others."

Born in Afghanistan, Zazi moved to Pakistan as a child and then relocated to New York City as a teenager.

At age 14 he was living in Queens, where his father drove a cab. Friends said he initially seemed to like American life. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen and took a job operating a coffee cart on Wall Street.

Fellow food vendors said Zazi changed, though, after a series of trips back to Pakistan. He grew a long beard, stopped wearing western clothes in favor of tunics and began playing holy music. He also ran into financial problems, declaring bankruptcy in 2008.

Not long after that, Zazi and two childhood friends from Queens- Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin - agreed to travel to Pakistan in 2008 to try to join the Taliban. Instead, they were recruited by al-Qaida operatives for a "martyrdom operation" on U.S. soil.

The plot called for the three men to conduct suicide bombings on subway lines during rush hour near the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Zazi, who had moved to a Denver suburb and briefly worked as an airport shuttle driver, later said he wanted to "bring attention to what the United States military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan by sacrificing my soul for the sake of saving other souls." He cooked up explosives in a Colorado hotel room, made from a recipe of beauty supplies.

Secretly, though, the FBI had gotten tipped off that Zazi was involved with militants. He was placed under surveillance in Colorado and followed as he drove to New York, where police stopped his car as it entered the city. Officers let him go, but his rental car was later towed by the FBI.

Zazi was further spooked by a call from a Queens imam warning police were asking about him. He rushed back to Colorado. FBI agents executed a series of raids. News outlets learned of the investigation and also began hounding Zazi, who told reporters he had no idea what was going on. He was soon arrested.

Following his 2009 arrest and decision to cooperate, Zazi testified against Medunjanin in the subway plot, providing a tearful account that prosecutors said was "critical to establishing proof of Medunjanin's understanding of and participation in the conspiracy to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan and to conduct a suicide attack on the New York City subways."

In 2015, he gave critical evidence in the trial of Abid Naseer, a Pakistani national convicted of leading an al-Qaeda plot to bomb a shopping mall in Manchester, England.

Zazi also played a role in the prosecution of Muhanad Mahmoud al-Farekh, a U.S. citizen born in Texas who was convicted of supporting al-Qaeda and conspiring to bomb a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Other would-be terrorists have been able to gain their freedom by cooperating with prosecutors.

American Al-Qaeda recruit Bryant Neal Vinas, who spent years providing investigators with details on militant activities after he was arrested in 2008 in Pakistan, was sentenced to time served - about eight years - and released in 2017.

Medunjanin's decision to go to trial rather than plead guilty like Zazi and Ahmedzay came at a heavy cost: He's now serving a life sentence at the "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado.
Under the theme "Intelligence in a New Era: Progress, Planning and Opportunity," the third World Intelligence Congress will be held in Tianjin from May 16 to 19, according to a press conference in Beijing last Sunday.



The congress gathers influential minds from around the world to exchange ideas, build consensus, share achievements and promote the development of the intelligence industry.

So far, more than 1,200 international guests from 30 countries and regions, including delegates from cities along the route of the BRI, have been invited to attend the congress. Japan has been named as the country of honor and Melbourne as the partner city.

A highlight of the congress this year is the strategic alliance for a market-oriented operating model, which brings together 15 enterprises, including Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, Haier, ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB), and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), among others.

The 15 enterprises under the strategic alliance have planned a number of events, including enterprise-specific summits such as BCG's "The Night of Boston."

The enterprises have also joined efforts to bring high-tech services to the congress, including facial recognition, speech translation and VR navigation, as a way to ensure the event meets a high standard.

Drawing on Tianjin's experience as one of the host cities for the World Economic Forum, the congress this year will take place across six pavilions in the city, to be used for government-enterprise meetings, press briefings, media, discussion, interaction and high-tech experiences, aiming to maximize communication among participants.

The organizers conveyed their commitment to professionalism in all areas of the congress, including thematic forums, high-tech exhibitions, and publication of outcomes. Forward-looking research projects will be discussed to enhance the academic quality of thematic forums. Also, guests with professional backgrounds will be invited to the exhibitions, and several of the latest technical advances will be released, including cloud accounts, Carale robots and TCL research.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on Attorney General William Barr's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee (all times local):

8:40 p.m.

President Donald Trump says calls from some Democratic lawmakers for Attorney General William Barr to resign are "so ridiculous."

Trump tells Fox Business Network's Trish Regan that he heard Barr "performed incredibly well" in testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The president noted that three of the senators who questioned Barr are running for the presidency and accused them of "ranting and raving like lunatics, frankly."

Trump was asked about Barr declining to appear before a House panel to testify on special counsel Robert Mueller's report. Barr objected to the format of letting staff attorneys conduct a round of questioning.

Attorney General William Barr responds as he is asked a question from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., as he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Trump says, "They want to treat him differently than they have anybody else," adding, "You elect people that are supposed to be able to do their own talking."

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6:20 p.m.

The Justice Department says the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is trying to place "unprecedented and unnecessary" conditions on the attorney general.

William Barr was scheduled to appear before the committee on Thursday but will not show up.

The attorney general was asked to testify before the committee about special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler's insistence that congressional staffers be allowed to question Barr is "inappropriate."

Kupec says the attorney general "remains happy to engage directly" with members of the committee to answer their questions.

Nadler accused Barr of canceling his appearance because he's "terrified" of facing questioning from the panel.

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6:15 p.m.

The House Judiciary Committee chairman says Attorney General William Barr is declining to appear before the panel Thursday because he's "terrified."

New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Wednesday the "next step" would be to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to provide a fully unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report.

Barr has objected to the committee's plan to have attorneys from both sides, Democrats and Republicans, do the questioning, alongside lawmakers on the committee.

Nadler says Barr is "stonewalling" Congress over the Russia probe and "trying to blackmail the committee" by setting the terms of the hearing. The chairman says he hopes Barr reconsiders his decision not to show.

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5:55 p.m.

Attorney General William Barr has told members of the House Judiciary Committee that he will not testify before their committee Thursday.

That's according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press. The people weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The attorney general was asked to testify before the committee about special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

His refusal to attend the hearing is likely to cause a further rift with congressional Democrats who have accused him of trying to spin Mueller's report to favor the president.

Barr appeared Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

- Mary Clare Jalonick

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3:45 p.m.

"Snitty."

That's the way Attorney General William Barr described a letter from special counsel Robert Mueller expressing concerns about his portrayal of the Russia probe.

Barr was testifying at the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday when Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut asked about the letter. Mueller wrote it March 27, but it was only disclosed publicly ahead of the hearing.

"The letter's a bit snitty," Barr said. He said he thinks it was probably written by someone on Mueller's staff.

Barr said he called Mueller the next day and said: "What's with the letter? Why don't you just pick up the phone and call me if there was an issue?"

Blumenthal characterized the letter an "extraordinary act" of "rebuking the Attorney General of the United States" and "memorializing it in writing."

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2:30 p.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he didn't exonerate President Donald Trump, because that's not the job of the Justice Department.

Barr said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday that he simply decided the evidence gathered by special counsel Robert Mueller was not sufficient to prove that the president obstructed justice.

Barr said, "I didn't exonerate. I said that we didn't believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offense."

The attorney general made the statement as he explained that the Justice Department's job is to identify crimes and prosecute them but not to pass judgment on behavior that's not illegal.

He says the report is now in the hands of the American people, and if they don't like Trump's conduct, there's an election in 18 months.

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2:25 p.m.

Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono has called on Attorney General William Barr to resign at a hearing to review special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

Hirono launched an aggressive line of questioning against the attorney general, asserting he hadn't been honest with Congress and calling on him to resign.

Hirono also asked Barr if it was OK for a president to ask one of his aides to lie, referencing the report's examination of whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

When Barr equivocated, Hirono grew angry, saying, "Mr. attorney general, please give us some credit for knowing what the hell is going on right now."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham shot back: "You have slandered this man from top to bottom."

Barr himself chimed in, asking "How did we get to this point?"

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12:25 p.m.

The House Judiciary Committee has voted to allow its staff to question Attorney General William Barr, throwing his scheduled testimony Thursday into question.

The Democrat-led panel voted to allow extra time for questioning. Barr was testifying in the Senate during the House panel's vote Wednesday and has objected to the change. It's unclear whether Barr will testify before Chairman Jerrold Nadler's panel as scheduled.

Nadler speculated that Barr "is afraid" of testifying, adding, "he apparently does not want to answer questions."

Republicans shot back that Democrats are conducting impeachment-like proceedings against President Donald Trump instead of legitimate oversight.

Barr on Wednesday defended his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's (MUHL'-urz) report. His testimony came after the release of a letter from Mueller expressing frustration about how Barr portrayed his findings.

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12:05 p.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he saw no issue with his choice of words when he told Congress last month he believed "spying did occur" against Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Barr testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee and said the word spying "does not have any pejorative connotation."

Barr made the comment in April during testimony to the House Appropriations Committee. He provided no details about what "spying" may have taken place but appeared to be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on a former Trump associate.

Barr defended himself Wednesday, arguing it's a common term in media reports to refer to lawful surveillance.

When pressed by Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse that the term is not commonly used by Justice Department officials, Barr responded: "It is commonly used by me."

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11:35 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he believes that if special counsel Robert Mueller felt he shouldn't make a decision about whether or not the president obstructed justice then he "shouldn't have investigated."

Barr testified Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He says he isn't totally sure why the special counsel did not reach a conclusion about whether the president obstructed justice. Instead, Mueller presented evidence on both sides of the question.

Barr says that if Mueller "felt he shouldn't go down the path taking a traditional prosecutive decision" then he shouldn't have investigated. He says, "That was the time to pull up."

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (ROH'-zen-styn) determined the evidence was insufficient to support an obstruction charge.

Mueller sent a letter saying that Barr's four-page summary of his Russia report created "public confusion about critical aspects of the results."

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11:05 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr says special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL'-ur) told him that Barr didn't "misrepresent" Mueller's Russia report in a letter summarizing the probe's principal conclusions.

The attorney general testified Wednesday before Congress and responded to the release of a March 27 letter from Mueller complaining that Barr's four-page letter about the report "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance" of the special counsel's "work and conclusions."

Barr says he called Mueller after receiving his complaints and Mueller told him "he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report."

Barr says Mueller told him press reports were reading too much into Barr's letter and Mueller wanted the public to see more of his reasoning for not answering the question of whether President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice.

Mueller's letter says that Barr's summary of his Russia report created "public confusion about critical aspects of the results."

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10:55 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr says he was surprised that special counsel Robert Mueller and his team did not reach a conclusion on whether or not President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Barr said in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that Mueller told him of his team's plans at a March 5 meeting.

A Justice Department legal opinion says sitting presidents cannot be indicted. Barr says Mueller told him he wouldn't have recommended indicting the president even without that opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel.

Barr says Mueller told him that there may come a time when the Justice Department should consider revisiting that opinion but that this is not that case.

Mueller has written a letter saying that Barr's summary of his Russia report created "public confusion about critical aspects of the results."

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10:45 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr is criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL'-ur) for not identifying grand jury material in his Russia report when he submitted it.

Barr says the Mueller team's failure to do that slowed down the release of the public version of the report.

Barr testified Wednesday about his handling of the Mueller report before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The testimony comes after the release of a letter from Mueller. That letter reveals the special counsel had prepared the summaries of his two-volume report for immediate public release but Barr chose not to release them.

Barr instead wrote his own letter summarizing Mueller's findings. Mueller's letter says that Barr's summary created "public confusion about critical aspects of the results" of the Russia probe.

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10:40 a.m.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is requesting that the panel hold a hearing with special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL'-ur).

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (FYN'-styn) said Wednesday in her opening statement at the committee's hearing on Mueller's Russia report that she had asked Chairman Lindsey Graham to invite the special counsel.

Graham has said he doesn't think Mueller needs to testify. The South Carolina senator says he's satisfied with hearing from Attorney General William Barr, who is appearing before the panel on Wednesday.

Graham said in his opening statement he's ready to move on from the report. He says that for him "it's over."

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10:05 a.m.

Special counsel Robert Mueller (MUHL'-ur) told Attorney General William Barr that Barr's summary of the Russia probe's findings caused "public confusion about critical aspects" of the investigation.

A copy of Mueller's letter to Barr was released Wednesday. In his letter, Mueller raised concerns about a letter that Barr sent to Congress detailing what he said were Mueller's principal conclusions.

Mueller said Barr's letter "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance" of the special counsel's work and conclusions.

Barr's letter was released just two days after the Justice Department received the special counsel's report. It said Mueller hadn't reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence on both sides of the question.

Mueller's letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr.

Barr's prepared testimony shows he plans to defend his handling of Mueller's report.

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9:50 a.m.

President Donald Trump is claiming "NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION" as Attorney General William Barr prepares to appear before Congress for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report.

Barr's testimony Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee comes amid new revelations that Mueller expressed frustration to Barr about how the report's finding were being portrayed.

Trump tweeted: "NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION. Besides, how can you have Obstruction when not only was there No Collusion (by Trump), but the bad actions were done by the 'other' side? The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!"

Mueller found no evidence of a conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia in the 2016 election. Barr says he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cleared Trump of obstruction of justice after investigators reached no conclusion on that question.

Barr's prepared testimony shows he plans to defend his handling of Mueller's report.

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9:25 a.m.

Attorney General William Barr is defending his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation report.

Barr is to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. His appearance comes hours after it was revealed that Mueller had sent the Justice Department a letter objecting to the way his findings were portrayed.

In prepared testimony released by the Justice Department, Barr says that Mueller finished his investigation without interference and that neither he nor any other Justice Department official overruled any proposed action.

Barr also will defend his decision to release the bottom-line conclusions of Mueller's report. Barr will say he "did not believe that it was in the public interest to release additional portions of the report in piecemeal fashion."

Barr initially issued a four-page statement that summarized what he said were the main conclusions of the Mueller report. He later released a redacted version of the report.

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1:15 a.m.

Lawmakers have a new line of inquiry to pursue when Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Barr has been expected in Wednesday's hearing to defend his actions surrounding the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report.

But it emerged Tuesday night that Mueller has expressed frustration to Barr in a letter with how the conclusions of his investigation have been being portrayed.

The letter lays bare a simmering rift between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barr's summary of the report adequately conveyed the gravity of Mueller's findings, particularly on the key question of obstruction.

The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Barr of unduly protecting the president and of spinning Mueller's conclusions in Trump's favor.

Attorney General William Barr testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Attorney General William Barr arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, on the Mueller Report. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on a Minneapolis police officer being convicted of murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had called 911 (all times local):

4:20 p.m.

The head of Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is defending the agency's investigation into a police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who had approached his squad car.

BCA Superintendent Drew Evans says agents did a thorough and independent investigation into the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who was shot shortly after calling 911 to report a possible rape behind her home.

The officer, Mohamed Noor, was convicted of murder and manslaughter Tuesday.

Damond's father, John Ruszczyk, called the BCA's early work on the case "either active resistance or gross incompetence." Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman also said the BCA made early mistakes in the case.

Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor, center left, walks into the Hennepin County Courthouse for the verdict in the shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond with his lawyers Peter Wold, left, and Thomas Plunkett, right, in Minneapolis, on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Noor was convicted later of third-degree murder Tuesday in the fatal shooting of the unarmed woman who approached his squad car minutes after calling 911 to report a possible rape behind her home. (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP)

Evans said in a statement that agents worked more than 2,000 hours on the case and worked closely with Freeman's office from the beginning. He said he can't give more specifics of the way the investigation was done because it remains open pending a possible appeal by Noor.

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3:25 p.m.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he's asked for information from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on how it investigated a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman.

Walz said Wednesday he needs to understand what happened and how the BCA's work might need to be improved. He says he expects the BCA to follow best practices and follow the law when it investigates officer-involved shootings.

The BCA came under criticism for its early handling of the investigation into the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. Former officer Mohamed Noor was convicted of murder Tuesday.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman complained during the investigation that BCA agents weren't doing their jobs. But he said Tuesday that the BCA brought in new agents who did exemplary work.

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10:30 a.m.

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar says a guilty verdict for a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed a woman who had called 911 to report a crime is "an important step towards justice" and a victory for people who oppose police brutality.

But Omar also says in a tweet Wednesday that Mohamed Noor's conviction in the death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a white woman, comes after acquittals nationwide for officers who killed people of color. Noor is Somali American, as is Omar.

Noor shot Damond, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, in July 2017 when she approached his squad car after summoning officers to a possible rape behind her home.

Omar says there must be the same level of accountability in all officer-involved killings.

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8:15 a.m.

An association for Somali American police officers says it believes institutional prejudice "heavily influenced" the murder conviction of a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman.

Mohamed Noor was convicted Tuesday in the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a dual citizen of Australia and the U.S. who had called 911 to report a possible rape behind her house. Noor shot Damond when she appeared at the squad car's window immediately after what he said was a loud bang that startled him and his partner.

The Minnesota-based Somali American Police Association also said in its statement that the Hennepin County prosecutor had "other motives" than serving justice in going after Noor. County Attorney Mike Freeman has rejected the suggestion that race played any part in charging Noor.

Noor was fired after he was charged.

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12 a.m.

A jury took little more than a day to convict a black Minneapolis police officer of murder and manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed white woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime.

The guilty verdict sparked questions about whether race played a role.

Mohamed Noor is Somali American. He was convicted in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. Noor testified he shot Damond after becoming startled, and she appeared at his partner's window, raising her arm.

It's rare for police officers to be convicted, but some Minnesota community members say they saw this coming for Noor because he is Somali American.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said race is not a factor in his work and the evidence shows Noor acted unreasonably.

A memorial for Justine Ruszczyk Damond is seen near the alley where she was killed in Minneapolis, on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. A Minneapolis police officer has been convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of the unarmed woman who approached his squad car after she called 911. Mohamed Noor was charged in the July 2017 death of Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has abruptly canceled plans to travel to Europe. Shanahan's spokesman is citing the crisis in Venezuela and the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The spokesman, Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, says in a statement that Shanahan decided he should remain in Washington to coordinate with the National Security Council and the State Department on Venezuela and the border, where the military is assisting the Homeland Security Department with the migrant crisis.

The Pentagon has thus far played no direct role in Venezuela.

Buccino's statement came just three hours after the Pentagon had publicly announced Shanahan's trip to Germany, Belgium and England.

Shanahan was going to attend ceremonies in Germany and Belgium marking the change of commanders for U.S. European Command and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand has announced a plan to give every voter up to $600 in vouchers to donate to a spate of federal candidates.

But those candidates accepting such contributions would have to forgo contributions larger than $200 per donor.

The New York senator's "Democracy dollars" would provide every eligible voter $100 to donate in primary elections and $100 in general elections to presidential, Senate and House candidates.

Candidates accepting them would have to agree to a $200-per-voter cap on individual contributions. That's a significant drop from the current per-donor limit of $2,800 in primary elections and another $2,800 in general elections.

Outside political groups aren't subject to contribution limits. But Gillibrand and other top Democratic 2020 presidential candidates have vowed not to take donations from such groups.
Text of a letter, dated March 27 and made available Wednesday by members of Congress and the Justice Department, from special counsel Robert Mueller to Attorney General William Barr, on Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and obstruction of justice. In the letter, Mueller expressed frustration to Barr about how the attorney general was portraying the investigation's findings:

I previously sent you a letter dated March 25, 2019, that enclosed the introduction and executive summary for each volume of the Special Counsel's report marked with redactions to remove any information that potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure that concerned declination decisions; or that related to a charged case. We also had marked an additional two sentences for review and have now confirmed that these sentences can be released publicly.

Accordingly, the enclosed documents are in a form that can be released to the public consistent with legal requirements and Department policies. I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time.

As we stated in our meeting of March 5 and reiterated to the Department early in the afternoon of March 24, the introductions and executive summaries of our two-volume report accurately summarize this Office's work and conclusions. The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions. We communicated that concern to the Department on the morning of March 25. There is new public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations. See Department of Justice, Press Release (May 17, 2017).

While we understand that the Department is reviewing the full report to determine what is appropriate for public release - a process that our Office is working with you to complete - that process need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation. It would also accord with the standard for public release of notifications to Congress cited in your letter. See 28 C.F.R. 609(c) ("the Attorney General may determine that public release" of congressional notifications "would be in the public interest.").

Sincerely yours,

The letter special counsel Robert Mueller sent to Attorney General William Barr on March 27, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo/Wayne Partlow)

Robert S. Mueller, III

Special Counsel
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Federal prosecutors are investigating the use of federal disaster relief funds given to West Virginia after a deadly flood in 2016.

U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart announced the investigation in a news release Wednesday, saying "diversion, fraud, corruption or delay cannot and will not be tolerated."

"Desperate communities and West Virginians need certainty that in a future disaster intended assistance will be delivered timely and spent properly," he said.

Stuart's announcement did not specify who the investigation is targeting.

The federal probe follows a state audit into the misuse of federal flood money in the city of Richwood that resulted in criminal charges against its mayor, former mayor, police chief and former clerk.

State Auditor John B. McCuskey found that the city didn't keep track of the federal money, diverted funds away from their intended use and shelled out almost a quarter of a million dollars for consultants to help the city with the grant. He said that only about $400,000 of the more than $3 million the city received went toward flood recovery, with the rest unaccounted for.

"What we know is where they didn't go," he told a crowd of angry residents when he released his report in late March. "And anybody can walk down main street in Richwood and see where they didn't go."

Republican Gov. Jim Justice has faced criticism over his administration's slow spending of a flood recovery program that has received $150 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. His spokesman did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment.

"The poor folks who were hurt the most with the flood are still hurting and they haven't been able to get any relief," said state Del. Isaac Sponaugle, a Democrat, who added that he welcomes the investigation.

In June 2016, thunderstorms drenched the region with as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain, leading to overflown rivers and catastrophic flooding. Twenty-three people died, scores of homes were damaged or destroyed and infrastructure was wrecked.
ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Democrat and former Columbus mayor Teresa Tomlinson says she's officially running for the U.S. Senate in 2020, just one day after fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams announced she wouldn't run.

Tomlinson announced her candidacy on Wednesday for the seat now held by incumbent Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue, who in his first term has emerged as a close ally of President Donald Trump.

Tomlinson had previously signaled that she'd run only if Abrams, who grabbed national attention during her unsuccessful run for Georgia governor last year, was out.

In her announcement, Tomlinson took aim at Republican leaders, saying she wants to see a government in Washington "without all the crazy and the mean."

In an interview Wednesday, Tomlinson pointed to the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern border and what she called a "tariff wars on our own farmers" as two examples of what she meant.

Tomlinson said that one of the main focuses of her campaign would be on "financial infrastructure," which she described as an effort to bolster "the framework in which citizens can live their most prosperous life." That will include talking about expansion of health care options, reducing pay inequity and student debt relief, she said.

In this April 4, 2019 photo, Georgia Democrat and former Columbus mayor Teresa Tomlinson poses for a photo in Columbus, Ga. Tomlinson says she's officially running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020, just one day after fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams announced she wouldn't run. Tomlinson on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, announced her candidacy for the seat now held by incumbent Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue. (Mike Haskey/Ledger-Enquirer via AP)

Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority and Abrams had been heavily recruited by Democratic party leaders to run. Her decision not to was a high-profile recruiting blow to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who needs to flip a number of Republican seats seen as potentially vulnerable to win a new majority in 2020.

Tomlinson's campaign said she raised $265,000 within hours of Abrams bowing out.

The 54-year-old Tomlinson served two terms as mayor of Columbus, Georgia's second largest city. She touts reducing crime, reforming budgeting and connecting neighborhoods with trails for walking and biking as accomplishments of her tenure.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee called Tomlinson a "second-tier" candidate and part of a "JV-team primary," while praising Purdue in an email Wednesday.

In this Oct. 4, 2018 photo, Georgia Democrat and former Columbus mayor Teresa Tomlinson poses for a photo in Columbus, Ga. Tomlinson says she's officially running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020, just one day after fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams announced she wouldn't run. Tomlinson on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, announced her candidacy for the seat now held by incumbent Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue. (Mike Haskey/Ledger-Enquirer via AP)

FILE - In this April 25, 2012, file photo, retired Lt. Gen. Carmen Cavezza, left, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, center, and Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson walk into the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center in Fort Benning, Ga. Tomlinson, a Georgia Democrat and former Columbus mayor, announced Wednesday, May 1, 2019, that she's officially running for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020, just one day after fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams announced she wouldn't run. (Joe Paull/Ledger-Enquirer via AP)
BALTIMORE (AP) - Viewers of Baltimore newscasts are getting used to seeing images of embattled Mayor Catherine Pugh's lawyer pulling up to her three-story house and vanishing inside. When he emerges, he routinely insists that her health remains too fragile for her to think clearly enough to make decisions about the future.

After a one-hour Wednesday visit with Pugh, attorney Steven Silverman hinted to reporters that he would "be in a position to tell you what her intentions are moving forward" the following day. But he declined to provide any clarity, keeping Baltimore in confusion.

After a month on paid leave from her $185,000 job as the city's No. 1 official, her lawyer's cryptic comments about Pugh's open-ended retreat inside her home are straining the credulity of many Baltimore taxpayers. A scandal engulfing her life and career isn't going away, leaving her politically vulnerable and deeply isolated.

"I think she's in a tough place and she's hiding at home trying to save face," city resident Rachel Richardson said early Wednesday during a break cleaning streets in Baltimore's bustling downtown. "I definitely know I can't believe what I'm hearing anymore."

While the first-term Democratic mayor still has some supporters with a wait-and-see attitude, numerous citizens who had been willing to give Pugh the benefit of the doubt now perceive her indefinite leave with suspicion. It's something Silverman is acutely aware of as calls for Pugh's resignation accumulate.

"It's very hard when someone is not able to think clearly and feel physically up to task to make major decisions such as this. I know where her heart is: She's a soulful person, she cares deeply about the city despite what some people think right now," Silverman said recently outside Pugh's home where he says they've been discussing her "options."

TV crews report form outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Some are asking why the 69-year-old isn't hospitalized, if she's so ill that she can't think "lucidly," as Silverman stated last week. Silverman has said the ailing mayor suffered a bout of pneumonia followed by bronchitis and is also "extremely emotionally distraught."

Lawmakers are losing patience with her silence. State Sen. Jill Carter, a Baltimore Democrat who sponsored an initial reform bill that exposed alleged "self-dealing" by Pugh and other members of a Maryland medical system's board, says Silverman should produce some kind of documentation from the mayor's physician.

"I imagine she is under tremendous strain which has only exacerbated her health problems. We have to take Mr. Silverman at his word, as he is an officer of the court," Carter said. But "at the very least, he should produce a statement from a doctor as to her actual medical diagnosis, mental and physical."

Within the city and state's political class, demands for Pugh's resignation have been increasingly widespread following last week's raids of her offices, her homes and multiple other locations by teams of FBI and IRS agents. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said Pugh isn't "fit to lead," joining numerous Democrats who have been urgently calling for her to step down.

The scope of their investigation is not yet clear, but federal criminal investigators have joined state and city probes of murky arrangements that somehow earned Pugh roughly $800,000 over years selling her obscure self-published children's books in bulk to customers including a hospital network she once helped oversee as a state senator and major health carriers with business before the city.

A search warrant affidavit is under seal and Pugh has not been charged with anything. But there's no shortage of suspicions that she might have leveraged access and influence or perhaps used her "Healthy Holly" book sales for some kind of personal slush fund. One of her homes that was raided by federal agents has no traditional mortgage, suggesting the purchase, a week after her swearing-in as mayor, might have been a cash transaction.

The federal raids have dredged up a shady image that many Baltimore officials have been trying to shed. With a shrinking population and tax base, one of the country's highest violent crime rates and a police department under federal oversight, Maryland's biggest city needs more outside investment and confidence in its public servants.

Whether or not Pugh has lost her grip is anyone's guess, but she seems unable to do much at this point to salvage her political career. With her alliances in tatters, political analysts say Pugh's biggest bargaining chip with criminal investigators appears to be her refusal to resign. Only a conviction can force her ouster.

John Bullock, a Baltimore City Council member and a former political science professor at Towson University, said he understands clearly that Pugh is in a "sensitive situation," but he believes it's "a bit of a stretch at this point" to say her ongoing leave of absence is entirely health related.

"I'm assuming she's not mentally incapacitated and she's still fit to answer legal questions and stand trial if it comes to that," Bullock said in a phone interview.

During her lengthy political career, Pugh has long had a reputation as a hard worker, logging long days at the office. She frequently started her day as mayor with a pre-dawn jog and always cut a fit figure, even as she approaches 70 years of age.

But Council member Ryan Dorsey disclosed that it's been "widely murmured" in City Hall that Pugh has acted erratically for a while now. He said he's heard about "wild swings of mood and demeanor."

"This just happens to be her legal representative saying what lots of other people who are close to her seem to have been saying for some time," said Dorsey.

He hasn't had any interactions with Pugh in recent weeks, but it's abundantly clear to him that she's not coming back to City Hall, leaving Acting Mayor Bernard "Jack" Young to finish out her term.

"All signs indicate she's going to prison," he said.

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Follow McFadden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dmcfadd

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - In this June 8, 2018 file photo, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh addresses a gathering during the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Boston.When Bernard "Jack" Young automatically became Baltimore's acting mayor on April 1, he emphasized that he'd act only as a "placeholder" for the embattled elected mayor. But it's been more than three weeks since Mayor Catherine Pugh slipped out of sight on an indefinite leave of absence, and it appears Young is settling in for a lengthy stint as Baltimore's No. 1 official. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP)

FILE - In a Tuesday, April 2, 2019 file photo, acting Baltimore Mayor Jack Young talks to reporters after meeting with state senators who represent Baltimore in Annapolis. When Bernard "Jack" Young automatically became Baltimore's acting mayor on April 1, he emphasized that he'd act only as a "placeholder" for the embattled elected mayor. But it's been more than three weeks since Mayor Catherine Pugh slipped out of sight on an indefinite leave of absence, and it appears Young is settling in for a lengthy stint as Baltimore's No. 1 official. (AP Photo/Brian Witte, File)

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide. (Loyd Fox/Baltimore Sun via AP)
ISLAMABAD (AP) - In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations added the leader of an outlawed Pakistani militant group to its sanctions blacklist Wednesday after the group claimed responsibility for a February suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.

Sanctions against Masood Azhar were confirmed by Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal at a news conference in Islamabad. Azhar's addition to the Security Council's Islamic State and al-Qaida blacklist includes a travel ban and freeze on his assets as well as an arms embargo.

The development came less than three months after Azhar's Jaish-e-Mohammed group claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 attack in Kashmir, which is split between the two countries and claimed by both in its entirety. The clashes brought the two nuclear rivals to the brink of war.

India had intensified its lobbying to have Azhar blacklisted after the killing of its soldiers and New Delhi quickly welcomed the Security Council decision. Sanctions against Azhar had been delayed because Security Council member China had blocked them on three previous occasions. But the council went ahead after China no longer objected.

Azhar was blacklisted for his leadership of the al-Qaida-linked Jaish-e-Mohammed. The official listing by the U.N. sanctions committee said the 50-year-old Azhar was associated with al-Qaida by supporting its activities, including by supplying arms and recruiting members, and for financially supporting Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Azhar was released from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 passengers on an Indian Airlines flight hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2000 file photo, Masood Azhar, center, wearing glasses and white turban, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad arrives in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, May 1, 2019, that Azhar, the leader of an outlawed militant group blamed by India for a February suicide attack that killed 40 of its soldiers has been added to a United Nations sanctions blacklist by the Security Council. (AP Photo/Mian Khursheed, File)

As a group, Jaish-e-Mohammed had been put on the sanctions blacklist in 2001 for its ties to al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. The U.N. listing noted that 2008 recruitment posters for Jaish-e-Mohammed "contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that "today is a day that would make every Indian proud! I thank the global community and all those who believe in humanitarian values for their support."

Days after the Feb. 14 Kashmir attack, India responded by launching an airstrike in northwest Pakistan that caused no casualties. Pakistan then responded on Feb. 27 by shooting down two Indian warplanes and capturing a pilot, who was later returned.

Timely intervention by the international community defused tensions between the two South Asian nuclear powers, who have fought three wars since gaining independence in 1947.

Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said the Trump administration commends the decision to sanction Azhar. Azhar's sanctioning comes weeks after Washington said it was seeking to have him put on the U.N. blacklist. Pakistan is a key ally of the U.S. in its fight against extremism.

A senior U.S. administration official told reporters that "after 10 years China has done the right thing by lifting its hold on this designation."

The official, who insisted on speaking anonymously, said Britain and France joined the U.S. in putting pressure on China after the Feb. 14 attack, and Beijing seems to have understood "that it is increasingly important that its actions on the international stage on terrorism matched its rhetoric."

The official said the Trump administration is watching to see if Prime Minister Imran Khan's commitment to crack down on militants "will translate into irreversible steps to end terrorist and militant safe havens inside Pakistan."

Khan has ordered the takeover of assets and property of Jaish-e-Mohammed and dozens of banned militant organizations that operate in Pakistan.

Pakistan has said authorities have detained dozens of people suspected of involvement in the Kashmir attack after receiving a file with intelligence on the attack from New Delhi.

Pakistan said its probe did not establish any direct link between Azhar or his group and the attack that killed the Indian soldiers. However, Islamabad has sought more evidence from New Delhi so that it can act against Azhar and his group.

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Sharma reported from New Delhi, India. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2000 file photo, Masood Azhar, founder of the Islamic militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, arrives in Karachi, Pakistan. On Wednesday, May 1, 2019, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said that Azhar, the leader of the outlawed militant group blamed by India for a February suicide attack that killed 40 of its soldiers, was added to a United Nations sanctions blacklist by the Security Council. (AP Photo/Athar Hussain, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration on Wednesday asked Congress for an additional $4.5 billion in emergency funds for the U.S.-Mexico border as it grapples with a surge of Central American migrant families seeking refuge in the U.S.

Most of the money requested would be used to increase shelter capacity and care for the migrant families who have been fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries. Department of Homeland Security officials said they would likely run out of money without the extra cash.

"DHS projects it will exhaust resources well before the end of the fiscal year," read the administration's formal request letter to Congress, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The request is just the latest in a flurry of efforts by the administration to cope with what it calls a "crisis" that officials say has overwhelmed federal resources and capacity. President Donald Trump has railed against aides and Congress for failing to do more to address the situation, but has also made clear he believes his hard line on immigration was key to his 2016 victory and intends to continue to hammer the issue to motivate his base heading into his 2020 reelection campaign.

It also comes a day after a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy in the care of U.S. Health and Human Services died after falling ill with a fever and chills. His death is under investigation. Two other children died in Customs and Border Protection custody late last year.

The 2019 fiscal year budget already contained $415 million for humanitarian assistance at the border, including $28 million in medical care, senior administration officials said Wednesday.

Acting-Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan prepares for a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on his agency's future funding, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. McAleenan, who is also the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, was directed Monday by President Donald Trump to take additional measures to overhaul the asylum system, which he insists "is in crisis" and plagued by "rampant abuse." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

But the White House now wants an extra $3.3 billion to increase shelter capacity for unaccompanied migrant children and for the feeding and care of families, plus transportation and processing centers.

Of the new request, $1.1 billion would go toward operational support, including personnel expenses, detention beds, transportation and investigative work on smuggling. The remaining $178 million would be used for mission support, including technology upgrades.

It's unclear, however, if Congress will approve the extra funding. Getting Democrats and Republicans to agree on how to address the border situation has been a challenge, especially on the heels of the longest government shutdown in history over Trump's demand for border wall funding. Trump eventually declared a national emergency declaration to circumvent Congress to get the funding elsewhere.

Senior administration officials, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the request by name, insisted the new money would not be used for border barriers and said the funds were different from those Trump has sought to access through his declaration of a national emergency.

The number of families and children arriving alone at the border is now outpacing the number of single adults, putting new strains on the immigration system. The U.S. is on track to have as many as 1 million cross this year, the highest number since the early 2000s, when most of those crossing were single men from Mexico looking for work.

Border stations were not constructed to handle such a large volume of children and families, and they have been pushed to the breaking point.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 50,036 unaccompanied children during the last budget year, and so far this budget year there have been 35,898 children. Their average length of stay in a government shelter is 66 days, up from 59 during fiscal year 2018 and 40 in 2016's fiscal year.

Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday encountered its largest group to date: 424 people, comprised mostly of children and families, in rural New Mexico.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Tuesday before a House subcommittee that his department was running out of money amid the spike and said officials would be submitting a supplemental request, but didn't say for how much.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Russell Vought, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the crisis was overwhelming the ability of the federal government to respond.

"The situation becomes more dire every day," he wrote.

The official request also said the Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the care of migrant children who arrive alone or who are separated from their parents by DHS under certain circumstances, will exhaust its resources by June. The funding request includes $2.8 billion to increase shelter capacity to about 23,600 total beds for unaccompanied children.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said her committee would take a thorough look at the request, but blamed Trump's administration for contributing to the crisis.

"As a country, we must do more to meet the needs of migrants - especially children and families - who are arriving in increasing numbers," she said. "However, the Trump administration appears to want much of this $4.5 billion emergency supplemental request to double down on cruel and ill-conceived policies."

House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., also weighed in, saying she would assess the administration's funding request, while "fighting for policies that will keep our country secure while treating migrants fairly and humanely, and addressing the root causes of migration."

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Associated Press writer Andy Taylor contributed to this report.

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Follow Long and Colvin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ctlong1 and https://twitter.com/colvinj
Free college proposals are multiplying like rabbits as Democratic presidential candidates jump on board with the idea. The most recent came from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren last week.

Federal lawmakers are proposing their own versions. Two Democratic senatorsbacked by some of the presidential hopefulshave introduced the Debt-Free College Act, which would cover all costs of public college without requiring students to get loans. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has long called for programs that cover the cost of public-college tuition.

Half the states have versions of these programs, commonly known as promise programs, in place, according to the College Promise Campaign . Other states are debating versions of the programs fast and furiously (though most havent been enacted yet). Many cities have their own programs , too.



But all promise programs are not equal. Here are some key things to know as a flurry of proposals descends on you during this campaign season.

They generally dont make college free.

The rhetoric around free college programs can make it seem like they cover all college costs for all students, but thats not the case, said Sarah Pingel, an analyst who studies the issue at the Education Commission of the States. Theyre not typically the universal, you-dont-have-to-pay-anything kind of thing people assume when they hear free college, she said.

Most of the programs are scholarships that cover just the cost of tuition at community colleges. New York and Indiana are notable exceptions: Their scholarships cover tuition at four-year institutions. Debt-free proposals are different: they envision paying for most or all of the cost of attending college, so students dont need to get loans.

Most promise programs are last-dollar scholarships, meaning that they pay for whatever portion of tuition is left over after students use grants and financial aid. That can mean that low-income students, in particular, still face the big problem of paying for expenses like housing and food, which can account for nearly half the expense of attending college, according to The Education Trust.

Not everyone can use them.

Promise programs often have rules that restrict their use to certain groups of students. Some, for instance, restrict participation to students in a certain family income bracket. Others require students to matriculate directly from high school to college, attend college fulltime, or choose certain fields of study in order to qualify.

Some programs also require that students meet minimum achievement markers, like grades or test scores, to getor maintaina promise scholarship. Since academic achievement is often linked to family income and educational background, these requirements can make it tougher for underserved students to get these scholarships.

Its not clear that they all work.

A central idea behind free college proposals is to boost college enrollment. Thats important because many low-income students think they cant afford college, so they dont even apply. But signals are mixed on whether making tuition free actually increases college-going.

A study of Milwaukees program by the Brookings Institution found limited impact on enrollment. Researchers who examined five state programs found a wide range in how well they increase college attendance. Another study, on Georgias program , found a healthy boost, but also found that it aggravated differences in college access between wealthy and less wealthy students.

Free college isnt a new idea.

Some states and regions have had promise programs going for a long time. New Jerseys Educational Opportunity Fund, which began in 1968, has been cited as particularly progressive, since it covers costs beyond tuition, and provides support services for its targeted low-income student population.

And there was a time when students didnt need scholarships to go to college in the U.S. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, most U.S. public colleges and universities were free, as National Public Radio notes .

Since then, however, college attendance has soared. And more recently, college pricetags have soared as states have decreased their support for higher education. Pell grant amounts for low-income students have increased, but not enough to keep up with the cost of college, so student debtfor all students, not just poor studentshas soared.

And there you have it: Were back to why plans for free college are proliferating. And why free college isnt always the most accurate way to describe them.

Image: Pablo by Buffer
You are here: China

China has acted to ensure travelers a safe trip during the May Day holiday starting Wednesday.



The Ministry of Public Security has warned the public of the risks including peak flows on expressways and around tourist sites, heavy rainfall, and more traffic violations.

Police have been drafted to secure major transportation hubs such as key railway stations and trains.

Tighter security checks are required with more personnel and facilities involved and patrol has become more frequent, especially in densely populated areas, railway police authorities say.

Plainclothes police have been sent to major train stations and on board to crack down law violations, including theft and fraud. Random inspections of suspicious luggage or items will also be made on trains bound for cities including Beijing and Shanghai.

More police will be arranged to watch and prevent potential safety hazards from natural conditions, such as heavy rainfall and geological disasters, according to railway police authorities.

Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency, estimated that about 160 million trips will be made during this year's four-day May Day holiday.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States is installing new military leadership in Europe at a moment of heightened worries about Russian aggression, doubts about the future of arms control and rising tensions among NATO allies.

These pressures are reflected in stepped-up U.S. military maneuvers in Europe, including the unusual simultaneous deployment last week of two U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups in the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, the Russians are rattling nerves with talk of fielding new "doomsday" weapons such as a nuclear-armed undersea drone and making moves seen by some as risking escalation of the war in eastern Ukraine.

In ceremonies in Germany on Thursday and in Belgium on Friday, Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters will take over for Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti in the dual roles of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and head of U.S. European Command. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan had planned to attend the ceremonies but canceled just hours before his scheduled departure from Washington on Wednesday. A Shanahan spokesman said he decided he should remain in Washington for consultations with the White House and the State Department on the crisis in Venezuela and the situation on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Scaparrotti, who is retiring, spent his tenure's final months dealing with U.S.-Turkey tensions triggered by Turkey's decision to buy a Russian S-400 air defense system. The U.S. and other NATO allies see the deal as incompatible with Turkey's continued participation in the Pentagon's F-35 stealth fighter program, and even its future in NATO. The two countries have been sharply at odds over U.S. support for Kurdish fighters in Syria.

Wolters has made clear his view that the fielding of a Russian air defense system by a NATO ally is unacceptable.

"If Turkey proceeds down a path to procure and operate the S-400, they should not get the F-35," he said at his Senate confirmation hearing on April 2. "I would contend that we all understand that Turkey is an important ally in the region, but it's absolutely unsustainable to support co-location of the F-35 and the S-400."

FILE - In this June 19, 2017 file photo, French President Emmanuel Macron, meets with Gen. Tod Wolters, while visiting the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris. At ceremonies Thursday in Germany and Friday in Belgium, Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters will take over for Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti as head of U.S. European Command and as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Scaparrotti is retiring. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool)

Wolters, a fighter pilot by training, had most recently served as commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and head of NATO's Allied Air Command.

The U.S. dispute with Turkey has the potential to tear the fabric of NATO unity, perhaps achieving a central aim of Russia's strategy toward the West. A Pentagon report to Congress last fall said Turkey's purchase of the S-400 "would have unavoidable negative consequences for U.S.-Turkey bilateral relations, as well as Turkey's role in NATO." Turkey is among NATO member countries in which the United States stores nuclear weapons.

Some in Europe also worry that both Washington and Moscow plan to abandon a Cold War-era treaty that had banned an entire class of nuclear weapons. The U.S. and NATO accused Russia of violating the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty; Moscow denies the charge.

In NATO's 70th anniversary year, the alliance also faces a problem that two former ambassadors to NATO call unprecedented.

"NATO's single greatest challenge is the absence of strong, principled American presidential leadership for the first time in its history," Douglas Lute and Nicholas Burns wrote in a report in February for Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

"President Donald Trump is regarded widely in NATO capitals as the alliance's most urgent, and often most difficult, problem" because of his open ambivalence about the value of the alliance, they wrote. Trump has accused key members, including Germany, of being freeloaders unwilling to pay for their own defense.

In his final appearance before Congress to present his assessment of security issues facing NATO and European Command, Scaparrotti in March said Russia was his main worry.

"Russia is a long-term, strategic competitor that wants to advance its own objectives at the expense of U.S. prosperity and security and that sees the United States and the NATO alliance as the principal threat to its geopolitical ambitions," Scaparrotti said. "In pursuit of its objectives, Moscow seeks to assert its influence over nations along its periphery, undermine NATO solidarity, and fracture the rules-based international order."

Ukraine is at the center of these concerns.

Although Ukraine is not a NATO member, it has a close working relationship with the alliance. So Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and its military intervention in eastern Ukraine are a source of concern in much of Europe. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin heightened those concerns by signing a decree to expedite citizenship applications from some Ukrainians living in areas held by Russia-backed separatists. The European Union called Putin's move a sign that he intends to further destabilize the country.

Philip Breedlove, who served as the top NATO commander from 2013 to 2016, said in an interview that Russia poses a multidimensional threat, and that matters only worsened as the U.S. narrowed its dialogue with Moscow in recent years.

"We're moving away from each other, sadly," he said. "Part of that is just because we can't depoliticize the issue of Russia in Washington, D.C." As a result, he added, relations have worsened and solutions have grown more distant. "We need to move forward on a conversation with Russia to have talks that might bring some fruit."
A Baltimore teenager has been convicted of murder on Wednesday after a jury were shown harrowing body-cam footage of moment he ran over and killed a Maryland cop on a suburban cul-de-sac.

Dawnta Harris, who is 17 but was tried as an adult, now faces life in prison for the slaying of Baltimore County police officer Amy Caprio in May last year.

The jury deliberated for nearly seven hours over two days before the guilty verdict was confirmed.

It came nearly a week after jurors were shown the distressing exchange between Caprio and Harris in full, which had been captured on the slain officer's body-camera.

Dawnta Harris, who's 17 but was tried as an adult, now faces life in prison for the slaying of Baltimore County police officer Amy Caprio, 29, last year

Amy Caprio, 29, had ordered Harris out of a stolen Jeep in May Last year, before the teenager ducked his head, floored the gas pedal and mercilessly run her over

A black stolen Jeep driven by Harris, 16 at the time, can be seen speeding towards Caprio as she bravely stands in the road screaming at him to 'Stop! Stop!' with her hand stretched out in front of her.

The Jeep grinds to a halt just inches in front of Caprio, with the hood shaving the tips of her fingers as she points her weapon at Harris and orders him out of the car.

For a moment, the driver's-side door swings open but Harris fails to emerge. Instead, the teen ducks his head, floors the gas pedal and mercilessly plows over Caprio - leaving her in a heap on the floor.

The 29-year-old officer fired her gun once and shattering the windscreen.

But it wasn't enough to stop Harris who sped away from the scene before ditching the car a few blocks away.

Jury members watched on in horror as they heard the sound of Caprio's final moments, as she lay struggling to breathe on the asphalt as a result of her crushing injuries.

Harris sat slumped and crying in his chair when the presiding juror confirmed his guilt in Caprio's murder, as members of his victim's grief-stricken family watched on.

He was also found guilty of burglary and will be sentenced for both charges in July.

A black stolen Jeep driven by Harris, 16 at the time, who can be seen speeding towards Caprio as she bravely stands in the road screaming at Harris to 'Stop! Stop!' with her hands stretched out in front of her

Harris floors the gas pedal and mercilessly plows over Caprio - leaving her in a heap on the floor

Caprio and her husband (pictured) had been planning to celebrate their third wedding anniversary before she was killed

Three others, identified as Harris' accomplices, also face murder charges in the police officer's death and will stand trial.

Prosecutors say they were burglarizing a home in the moments when Caprio was hit.

And under Maryland law, if someone's killed during a burglary, accomplices can be found guilty of the slaying along with the killer.

Even before Caprio was buried, various authorities in Maryland started blaming each other for having allowed Harris to be on the streets while he awaited sentencing for auto theft.

The troubled ninth-grader was technically still under state supervision when he ran over the Baltimore County officer.

Harris had been deemed a high risk by Maryland's juvenile services department, following arrests for auto theft, and for skipping out of juvenile custody repeatedly.

Even his own mother had asked officials to detain him, hoping to avoid any more trouble.

But despite all that, a judge transferred Harris from a juvenile facility to house arrest with his mother in impoverished West Baltimore.

Jury members watched on in horror as they heard the sound of Caprio's final moments, as she lay struggling to breathe on the asphalt

Three others (left to right) Darrell Jaymar Ward, Eugene Robert Genius and Derrick Eugene Matthews have also been named as accomplices and charged with murder

Harris had been fitted with an ankle bracelet that didn't track his whereabouts, simply indicating whether he was inside or outside their apartment in Gilmor Homes, a public housing project on the city's troubled west side.

Days later, Harris went AWOL again. And a week after that, he ran over Caprio.

On Wednesday, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski thanked the jurors, saying justice was delivered.

'The past couple of weeks have undoubtedly been difficult for Amy's family, friends, and co-workers at the Baltimore County Police Department,' he said in a statement.

The courtroom's gallery was filled with Caprio's loved ones and police colleagues.

Warren Brown, Harris' lawyer, said he hoped the jury's verdict could serve as a kind of warning for other struggling juveniles. The Baltimore defense attorney took on the case pro bono.

'This whole thing has been a tragedy. You've got an officer who gave her life in the line of duty. You've got a kid that is lost and finds himself in this type of predicament. As I indicated at the beginning of this trial there would be no winners, only losers,' Brown said outside the courthouse.

Caprio and her husband had been planning to celebrate their third wedding anniversary before she was killed.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the teacher rally in North Carolina and South Carolina (all times local):

5:35 p.m.

A fatal shooting at a college campus has added a somber note to a teacher rally in support of overhauling North Carolina's education priorities.

Public school teachers and their supporters rallied Wednesday in Raleigh for the second year in a row. They want more money for student support staff, such as counselors and nurses. Those features are now included in the state House budget written by Republican legislators.

The march was especially personal for Madhavi Krevat of Apex, whose son is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A gunman killed two students and injured four others Tuesday on the UNCC campus.

Krevat says the march is relevant because schools need more services. She's a member of Moms Demand Action, which supports gun control.

From left, Shannon Daniels, Willie Ramey, Dee Grisset and Amy Harrison take a selfie in the parking lot of The N.C. Association of Educators in downtown Raleigh, N.C., before the start of the teacher's march and rally, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)

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4:50 p.m.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster says he hopes legislators improve education funding enough that teachers don't believe they must protest again.

McMaster made his comments to The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday, as teachers and supporters rallied in Columbia. About 10,000 people had registered to attend the rally.

McMaster said South Carolina is "weak in education," and said legislators can return after the session ends May 9 if that's what's necessary to get the funding for education. The governor said he found the teachers' voices "instructive" and he hopes the state Senate is listening to them.

However, Senate Education Committee Chairman Greg Hembree has said that there is not enough time to fully debate an education bill.

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4:20 p.m.

A top legislative Republican says the views of the leaders of North Carolina Association of Educators don't necessarily represent those of all teachers.

House Speaker Tim Moore made the comments Wednesday as teachers protested for the second time in as many years. The NCAE organized the rallies.

Moore told The Associated Press that teachers in his home county told him they appreciate the proposed budget provisions from his chamber benefiting education.

That budget includes money to raise teacher pay on average by 4.8%, with the most veteran educators and principals getting more.

But the Rev. William Barber, who co-chairs the Poor People's Campaign, warned the rally crowd the House proposals may not be what they seem. He says it's an insult that teachers must shut down school systems to get the attention of legislators.

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2:15 p.m.

Thousands rallied Wednesday at the South Carolina Statehouse where education advocates are calling for legislators to provide more funding for schools.

They're seeking full funding to address classroom sizes, teacher shortage and retention as well as money to hire school counselors and mental health professionals in school districts.

Students and lawmakers joined educators on the steps of the capitol to hear from speakers after marching from the state's Department of Education building which is a few blocks away from the Statehouse grounds.

According to a Twitter post by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, approximately 10,000 people were in attendance.

At the same time, teachers in neighboring North Carolina were also rallying in support of more education funding.

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1:10 p.m.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper says teachers "are often the first line of defense" in a crisis as he addressed an education rally in North Carolina.

Cooper addressed a teachers' rally in Raleigh on Wednesday, one day after two students at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte were killed in a shooting and four others were injured.

Cooper told the rally "school safety is vital and that doesn't mean putting guns with teachers in the classroom."

North Carolina teachers were rallying for the second year in a row for various demands, including more funding for student support services such as counselors.

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12:20 p.m.

North Carolina teachers are rallying in support of several issues they believe will improve public education, including Medicaid expansion.

Teachers are gathering in Raleigh for their second protest in two years. Last year's gathering attracted 20,000 people. The North Carolina of Educators estimated in a permit application that the same number would attend this year's rally.

The House budget released Tuesday includes some of the teachers' demands: higher pay for veteran teachers and restoration of a salary bump for teachers with masters' degrees.

Seventh-grade student Aaron Painter says he's marching because he wants more mental health services in his school, which he says has one full-time counselor.

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1:05 a.m.

North Carolina teachers are taking to the streets for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands.

Teachers, auxiliary staff and supporters will march Wednesday in Raleigh. Speakers will include Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Rev. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign.

When an estimated 20,000 people marched for teachers last year, Republicans held a veto-proof majority in the state House and Senate. The results of November's election changed that, and now Cooper's vetoes can stand if Democrats remain united.

The House budget released Tuesday includes some of the teachers' demands: higher pay for veteran teachers and restoration of a salary bump for teachers with masters' degrees.

South Carolina teachers also are protesting Wednesday.

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Thousands of teachers, other school employees and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

Teachers and supporters head down Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, N.C., at the start of the teacher's march Wednesday morning, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)

Teachers and supporters head down Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, N.C., at the start of the teacher's march Wednesday morning, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (Juli Leonard/The News & Observer via AP)

As she approached the North Carolina legislative office in Raleigh, N.C., Allison Carey, 23, a third grade teacher at Powell Elementary School in Raleigh, hoists her sign up high, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Fifth grade elementary school teacher Shirley Pyon, 41, marches in Raleigh, N.C., as part of a teacher's rally in the state capitol, Wednesday, May 1, 2019. She holds a sign with the names of all 28 students in her fifth grade class at Mills Park Elementary School in Cary, N.C., because she said this march is for students. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Members of Moms Demand Action march in support of teachers Wednesday, May 1, 2019, during a teacher rally, in Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)

Zoe Powell, 8, leads a chant of "Whose school? Our school!" alongside of her mother, Sarah Jackson, 24, on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, who is a special education teacher at Green Elementary School in Raleigh, N.C. North Carolina teachers took to the streets Wednesday for the second year in a row with hopes that a more politically balanced legislature will be more willing to meet their demands. (AP Photo/Amanda Morris)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The Latest on legislative efforts to expand Medicaid in Kansas (all times local):

11:20 a.m.

Republicans have blocked a move in the Kansas Senate to expedite a debate on Medicaid expansion.

The vote Wednesday was 23-13 to pull an expansion bill from committee, one vote short of the 24 needed.

The House passed the bill in March but the Republican-controlled Senate has not acted on it.

Medicaid expansion is one of new Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's priorities. Her plan for expanding Medicaid health coverage to up to 150,000 additional Kansas residents is based on a bill that passed in 2017 with bipartisan support, only to be vetoed by then-Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican.

In this Monday, April 29, 2019, photo, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly answers questions about Medicaid expansion during an interview with The Associated Press in her Statehouse office in Topeka, Kansas. Kelly says arguments by top Republican legislative leaders that lawmakers need more time to work on an expansion plan are "just a stall tactic." (AP Photo/John Hanna)

GOP leaders say they want to wait until next year to vote on an expansion plan and that Kelly is trying to rush the debate.

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11: 10 p.m.

Supporters of expanding Medicaid in Kansas are looking to block passage of the state's next annual budget to force an expansion plan through the Republican-controlled Legislature.

Legislators were set to reconvene Wednesday after an annual spring break.

The state Senate expected to vote quickly on expediting an expansion debate. The House approved the measure in March, but the Senate has yet to act on it.

Top Republicans want to delay action until next year.

Supporters weren't sure they could pull an expansion bill out of the Senate committee where it's been stuck. That has them focusing on the alternative of tying up the $18 billion-plus budget that lawmakers must pass to keep state government operating after June.

House Democratic Leader Tom Sawyer calls the budget "the best leverage we have right now."
NEW YORK (AP) - Nearly 40 years after it was found by a monk in a Chinese cave, a fossilized chunk of jawbone has been revealed as coming from a mysterious relative of the Neanderthals.

Until now, the only known remains of these Denisovans were a few scraps of bone and teeth recovered in a Siberian cave. DNA from those Siberian fossils showed kinship with Neanderthals. But the remains disclosed little else.

The new discovery was made roughly 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) to the southeast in Gansu province of China. The right half of a jawbone with teeth is at least 160,000 years old, scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. No DNA could be found, but scientists recovered protein fragments that they compared to the Siberian DNA. That showed the fossil came from a Denisovan.

The find addresses several mysteries. One was why the Siberian DNA indicated Denisovans were adapted to living at high altitudes when the Siberian cave is relatively close to sea level. The Chinese cave, by contrast, is on the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau, about 10,800 feet (3,280 meters) high.

"Now we have an explanation," said Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, one of the paper's authors.

In fact, "it's a big surprise" that any human relative could live in the cold climate and thin air of the plateau at that time, more than 100,000 years before our own species showed up there, he told reporters.

This combination of images provided by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig shows two views of a virtual reconstruction of the Xiahe mandible. At right, the simulated parts are in gray. According to a report released on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, the bone is at least 160,000 years old, and recovered proteins led scientists to conclude the jaw came from a Denisovan, a relative of Neanderthals. (Jean-Jacques Hublin, MPI-EVA, Leipzig)

Previous research had indicated that Denisovans must have lived somewhere other than Siberia, because traces of their DNA can be found in several present-day populations of Asia and Australia whose ancestors probably didn't pass through that region. The new finding expands their known range, although Hublin said it's still not clear where Denisovans first appeared. They are named for Siberia's Denisova cave, where the remains were found.

The new work was a long time in coming. The monk who found the fossil in 1980 gave it to a Buddhist leader, who passed it along to Lanzhou University in China. Study of it began in 2010.

The discovery also provides new anatomical details that can be compared to other fossils from China, some of which are "good candidates for being Chinese Denisovans," Hublin said.

Experts unconnected to the research agreed the fossil could help identify other remains as Denisovan.

"We always assumed ... that Denisovans were distributed all across Asia," said Bence Viola of the University of Toronto.

The Nature paper points out similarities to a fossil jaw reported in 2015 that had been dredged by a fishing net off the coast of Taiwan. So maybe the Denisovan range can be extended that far south, he said.

Such linking of fossils might eventually reveal Denisovan body shape and size, he said. From the scant known remains "I assume they were large guys, but it's kind of hard to prove," Viola said.

In addition to the anatomy, the study's approach of using protein from the bone or teeth could also be used on fossils to look for evidence of Denisovan identity, said Eric Delson of Lehman College in New York. Even if a fossil is found not to be Denisovan, the analysis could reveal details of how it fits on the evolutionary tree, he said.

"The method potentially tells us a whole new way of looking at fossils," he said.

Katerina Harvati of the University of Tuebingen in Germany said the ability of Denisovans to adapt to the inhospitable climate of the Tibetan Plateau is remarkable. It adds to growing evidence that our ancient relatives were more capable than scientists had thought, she said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This undated photo made available by Dr. Dongju Zhang of Lanzhou University in April 2019 shows the right half of the Xiahe mandible, found in 1980 in the Baishiya Karst Cave in the Gansu province of China. According to a report released on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, it is at least 160,000 years old, and recovered proteins led scientists to conclude the jaw came from a Denisovan, a relative of Neanderthals. (Qiu Menghan/Dongju Zhang/Lanzhou University via AP)

This undated photo made available by Dr. Dongju Zhang of Lanzhou University in April 2019 shows the Baishiya Karst Cave above the Jiangla riverbed in the Gansu province of China. It is both a locally famous Buddhist cave and a tourist site. According to a report released on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, a jawbone fragment found in the cave is least 160,000 years old, and recovered proteins led scientists to conclude it came from a Denisovan, a relative of Neanderthals. (Dongju Zhang/Lanzhou University via AP)
LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May summarily fired Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson Wednesday after an investigation into leaks from a secret government meeting about the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. He denied any involvement in the leak.

An investigation was launched last week after newspapers reported that Britain's National Security Council, which meets in private, had agreed to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain's new 5G wireless communications network.

The United States has been lobbying allies including Britain to exclude Huawei from all 5G networks, noting that the Chinese government can force the company to give it backdoor access to data on its networks.

The Conservative government insists that no decision has been made yet about Huawei.

The security council includes senior ministers, who receive briefings from top military and intelligence officials, and its meetings are considered highly sensitive.

In a letter to Williamson, May said she "can no longer have full confidence" in him in the wake of the investigation.

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018 file photo, Britain's Defence Minister Gavin Williamson stands in the main chamber during a gathering of NATO defence ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels. British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson has been fired Wednesday, May 1, 2019 after an investigation into leaks from a secret government meeting about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei. Prime Minister Theresa May's office says May has "lost confidence" in Williamson. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, file)

In the letter released by her Downing St. office, May told Williamson that there was "compelling evidence" suggesting his "responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure" from the National Security Council.

"No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified," she said.

Williamson, 42, insisted he was not the source of the leak. In a letter to May, he said "I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved," adding that he was confident a formal and thorough inquiry would have vindicated him.

He said May had offered him the chance to resign rather than be fired. But he said "to resign would have been to accept that I, my civil servants, my military advisers or my staff were responsible: this was not the case."

Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, was appointed to replace Williamson. She becomes the first woman to hold Britain's top defense post.

The leak at the security council comes amid a Brexit-fueled breakdown in government discipline. With May weakened by her failure so far to take Britain out of the European Union, multiple ministers are positioning themselves to try to replace her, partly by cultivating positive press coverage.

The Daily Telegraph said last week it had obtained details of security council meetings about Huawei. It said several ministers, including Williamson, had opposed letting Huawei work on Britain's 5G network.

Opposition politicians called for a criminal inquiry into the leak.

"Clearly, there's been a complete breakdown in discipline and Theresa May needs to take absolutely firm action, and quite frankly I think she needs to call in the police and have a full investigation," said Labour Party defense spokeswoman Nia Griffith.

London's Metropolitan Police force said it was not currently investigating, but "if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that."

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 2, 2019 file photo, Britain's Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson arrives for a cabinet meeting in 10 Downing Street, London. British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson has been fired Wednesday, May 1 after an investigation into leaks from a secret government meeting about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei. Prime Minister Theresa May's office says May has "lost confidence" in Williamson. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
The family of murdered journalist Lyra McKee have paid tribute to her as a best friend and confidante ahead of her funeral.

Ms McKee was killed during clashes between police and New IRA dissidents on the Creggan estate on April 18.

The 29-year-olds funeral will take place in St Annes Cathedral, Belfast, at 1pm on Wednesday, and she will later be laid to rest in Carnmoney cemetery.

A tribute from her mother Joan, brothers Gary and David, and sisters Joan Hunter, Nichola Corner and Mary Crossan said: On Thursday 18th April our beautiful Lyra was taken from us.

A daughter, a sister, an aunt, a great-aunt, a partner, a niece, a cousin, and above all, a best friend and confidante to so many of us.

A friend to all, a gentle innocent soul who wouldnt wish ill on anyone. Such a warm and innocent heart, she was the greatest listener, someone who had time for everyone.

The McKee family added: She was a smart, strong-minded woman who believed passionately in inclusivity, justice and truth.

Lyra spoke to and made friends with anybody and everybody, no matter what their background, those of all political views and those with none. This openness, and her desire to bring people together, made her totally apolitical.

They said: We would ask that Lyras life and her personal philosophy are used as an example to us all as we face this tragedy together.

Lyras answer would have been simple, the only way to overcome hatred and intolerance is with love, understanding and kindness.

Sara Canning, Ms McKees partner, said previously: Our hopes and dreams and all of her amazing potential was snuffed out by this single barbaric act.

Ms McKees funeral is intended to be a cross-community, cross-border and multi-cultural service, while members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) will form a guard of honour.

Various political and community leaders are due to attend, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.

Those attending were asked to wear Harry Potter and Marvel Comic merchandise in tribute to the journalists love of both works.

Miss McKees family asked that only family flowers are laid, but a donation can be made via a

GoFundMe page set up by the NUJ  https://uk.gofundme.com/in-memory-of-lyra-mckee

The New IRA admitted responsibility for the murder on Tuesday in a statement given to The Irish News.

Using a recognised code word, the group offered full and sincere apologies to Ms McKees family and friends, claiming: We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this.

The New IRA is an amalgam of armed groups opposed to the peace process and it recently claimed responsibility for parcel bombs sent to London and Glasgow in March.

Police believe the violence was orchestrated in response to an earlier search by officers aimed at averting imminent trouble associated with the weeks anniversary of the Easter Rising.
Members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance are to share a stage in the UK for the first time.

UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand representatives will meet at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) annual conference CYBERUK in Glasgow on Wednesday.

They will discuss their experiences and how they work together to defend against shared cyber security threats during a public session at the Scottish Event Campus.

It comes as the Daily Telegraph reported Theresa May has given Chinese firm Huawei the green light to work on Britains new 5G network, despite concerns from the Cabinet.

It is the first time the five members of the alliance have met in the UK.

NCSC chief executive Ciaran Martin said: Cyber security is an international team sport and we are delighted to host allies from around the world in this public way to discuss how we best defend from common adversaries.

Cyber attacks do not respect international boundaries and many of the threats and vulnerabilities we face are shared around the globe.

Each nation has sovereignty to defend itself as it sees best fit but its vital that we work closely with our allies to make the world as safe as possible.

Members appearing from Five Eyes are Mr Martin, Rob Joyce, from the US National Security Agency, Scott Jones, head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, Scott McLeod, of Australias Assure and Enable, and Jan Thornborough, of New Zealands National Cyber Security Centre.

Specialists from across government, industry and law enforcement will attend the two-day summit.

David Lidington will be among those making speeches (Brian Lawless/PA)

It will include speeches from GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming and Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington.

The theme of CYBERUK 2019 is to develop good cyber security for the public and help to make the technology they buy more secure.

Around 2,500 security experts are expected to attend the conference.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: The UK is one of the leading cyber powers in the world  but this is a global threat that needs a global response.

Thats why we are working closely with our allies across the globe to deter and tackle cyber threats, share information and respond in a coordinated way to impose a price on malicious cyber activity.

I am delighted to see 2,500 cyber security experts at CYBERUK in Glasgow, working to make cyberspace free, open, peaceful and secure.
Senior Conservatives are expected to hold further discussions on whether to change the party rules to enable an early leadership challenge to Theresa May.

Officers of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee met in Westminster on Tuesday amid growing pressure for the Prime Minister to name the date of her departure.

Afterwards there was no formal statement from the meeting which was said have been inconclusive.

The meeting venue was switched at the last minute to enable members to avoid waiting reporters.

However it is reported that there will be further discussions ahead of the weekly meeting of the full 1922 Committee on Wednesday.

Sir Graham Brady met privately with the PM on Tuesday (Victoria Jones/PA)

Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that changing the prime minister would not resolve the deadlock in Parliament over Brexit.

Speaking at a TaxPayers Alliance launch event in London, he said he still hoped it would be possible to get a majority for a deal.

Changing the prime minister will not change what we need to do to deliver Brexit, he said.

I hope the House of Commons will come to a majority to be able to deliver the result on the referendum.

Ahead of Tuesdays talks, the committee chairman Sir Graham Brady met privately with Mrs May, when he is reported to have told her MPs want her to announce when she is going.

(PA Graphics)

Under current party rules, MPs cannot mount a fresh leadership challenge until 12 months after last Decembers failed attempt.

However, amid growing frustration over the latest delays to Brexit, some MPs now want to the rules to be rewritten to allow another challenge as early as June.

One member of the executive, joint executive secretary Nigel Evans, has called publicly for Mrs May to go as soon as possible.

However other members were reported to have pushed back at Tuesdays meeting, questioning what a fresh leadership contest at the current time would achieve.

Mrs May has already sought to buy time, promising Tory MPs last month that she would go once she has delivered Brexit.

But following the latest extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process there is growing impatience among her critics.

They fear the Tories will suffer heavy losses to Nigel Farages Brexit Party if  as now seems likely  the UK is forced to go ahead with voting in the European elections on May 23.

Among the potential candidates for Mr Farages new outfit will be former shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe, who told the Daily Express: The public needs to send a very clear message and that is we expect the vote to be respected so just get on with the job of getting us out of the EU.

Nigel Evans has called on Theresa May to go as soon as possible (Peter Byrne/PA)

Meanwhile, cross-party talks between the Government and Labour aimed at forging a common way forward are continuing amid recriminations at the slow pace of progress.

After talks resumed in Whitehall on Tuesday following the Easter break, Chancellor Philip Hammond is due to have a further meeting with his Labour counterpart John McDonnell on Wednesday.

However the Prime Ministers official spokesman said that while the discussions with Labour were serious they were proving difficult in some areas, and that progress was needed urgently to enable Britain to leave the EU as soon as possible.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, however, put the blame for lack of progress on the Governments refusal to shift on its red lines.

Well continue putting our case but quite honestly theres got to be change in the Governments approach, he said.

They cannot keep on just regurgitating what has already been emphatically rejected three times by Parliament, theres got to be a change.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Wednesday morning ahead of his much-anticipated summit with president Vladimir Putin.

North Korean media published photos of Mr Kim saluting an honour guard and waving to people carrying flowers at a railway station before boarding his khaki-green armoured train for the lengthy journey.

Russian news agency Tass quoted a local official as saying Mr Kim was given flowers, bread and salt at the Hasan train station after crossing the border.

Preparations for the meeting in Vladivostok, a port city on the Pacific, on Thursday, were held in secrecy because of North Korean security concerns, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said.

Mr Ushakov said the talks would focus on the standoff over the Norths nuclear programme, noting that Russia will seek to consolidate the positive trends stemming from US president Donald Trumps meetings with Mr Kim.

Mr Kim reportedly inspected an honour guard before leaving (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

The secretive leader will be the first North Korean premier to travel to Russia since his late father, Kim Jong Il, visited in 2011.

Mr Kim has had two summits with Mr Trump, but the latest in Vietnam in February collapsed because North Korea wanted more relief from sanctions than Washington was willing to give for the amount of nuclear disarmament offered by Pyongyang.

Some experts say Mr Kim could try to bolster his countrys ties with Russia and China as he has increasingly expressed frustration at the lack of US steps to match the partial disarmament moves he took last year.

It is not clear how big of a role Russia can play in efforts to restart the nuclear diplomacy.

But the summit could allow Mr Putin to try to increase his influence in regional politics and the standoff over North Koreas nuclear programme.

A worker adjusts the flag of Russia and North Korea along the road in Russky Island, off the southern tip of Vladivostok, on Tuesday (Naoya Osato/Kyodo News via AP)

Mr Putins adviser added that the Kremlin would try to help create preconditions and a favourable atmosphere for reaching solid agreements on the problem of the Korean Peninsula, Mr Ushakov said.

He pointed at a Russia-China roadmap that offered a step-by-step approach to solving the nuclear standoff and called for sanctions relief and security guarantees to Pyongyang.

He noted that the Norths moratorium on nuclear tests and scaling down of US-South Korean military drills helped reduce tensions and created conditions for further progress.

Mr Ushakov said the Putin-Kim summits agenda will also include bilateral cooperation.

He added that Russias trade with North Korea is minuscule at just 34 million dollars (26.3m) last year, mostly because of the international sanctions against Pyongyang.

Russia would like to gain broader access to North Koreas mineral resources, including rare metals.

Pyongyang, for its part, covets Russias electricity supplies and wants to attract Russian investment to modernise its dilapidated Soviet-built industrial plants, railways and other infrastructure.

Mr Kim has had two summits with US President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

In the meantime, Vladivostok has been seeing a number of unusually strict security measures.

Maritime authorities said on Tuesday that the waters around Russky Island, off the southern tip of Vladivostok, would be closed to all maritime traffic between Wednesday morning and Friday morning.

The island, which is home to a university with a conference hall, is seen as a likely summit venue.

Separately, local media reported that some platforms at Vladivostoks main train station would be closed for several days, and that buses will be rerouted from the train station on Wednesday.

News website Vl.ru reported that municipal authorities undertook road works to make the entryway in and out of the train station less steep  presumably to allow Kims limousine to drive straight out from the platform.
The second Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network Forum was held in Beijing from April 27 to 28. More than 170 delegates of NGOs from 22 countries attended the forum.

Song Tao, minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, addressed the opening ceremony and put forward four suggestions for the future development of the network. First, it should adhere to the concept of mutually negotiated development and enhance consensus around the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Second, the network should build a high-end platform for people-to-people exchanges. Third, it should continue to share the fruits of development and increase people's sense of gain, and finally, the network should continue to enhance exchanges and mutual learning.

Wang Yajun, vice minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, presented an overview of the achievements of the cooperation network since its establishment two years ago.

Members of the cooperation network have strengthened exchanges and cooperation in the fields of health care, public charity, emergency rescue and relief, volunteer service and environmental protection, and so far have carried out more than 200 exchange activities and livelihood projects in countries along the Belt and Road, Wang said.

In addition, in 2018 dozens of Chinese social organizations "went out" to Cambodia and Nepal and cooperated with local NGOs on projects relating to livelihood, signing contracts for a total of US$6 million, Wang added.

Wang said that in the coming years, the network will promote the establishment of 500 partnerships between NGOs and carry out 200 cooperation livelihood projects in countries along the Belt and Road.

Some delegates shared their views on the people-to-people ties of the BRI and the network forum.

Joseph Kahama, secretary general of the Tanzania-China Friendship Association, said that China has invested more than US$10 billion in Tanzania, creating nearly 150,000 jobs over the past five years. Besides infrastructure investment, Chinese organizations focus on people-to-people ties, providing health care and building solar power to allow children to study at night, he added. However, Kahama said local NGOs have limited information about Chinese social organizations and that he looks forward to future exchanges with these organizations.

G. Khongorzul, senior officer of the Division of International Cooperation of Mongolias Ministry of Health, said they have worked closely with the China Foundation for Peace and Development for many years and have set up three children's clinics in the capital city. As air pollution in Ulaanbaatar has worsened, the establishment of the clinics provides important treatment for children, Khongorzul said.

L. Zendmaa, deputy director of the Health Department of the Governors Office of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, said that NGOs in Mongolia and China can strengthen cooperation on training projects, including scholarship for students who want to learn Chinese language and culture. In addition, she expressed hope that more education, agriculture and infrastructure projects will be launched there in the future, and she looks forward to establishing broader cooperation with Chinese NGOs.

The Silk Road NGO Cooperation Network was launched by the China NGO Network for International Exchange in November 2017. So far, it has involved 310 organization members covering 69 countries, and has become an important platform for NGOs along the route of the BRI.
The Duke of Cambridge will honour the victims of the Christchurch mosque attacks as he arrives in New Zealand for a two-day visit on behalf of the Queen.

William will begin his trip in Auckland on Thursday before travelling to Christchurch to meet with those affected by the terrorist attack, including survivors and their families, first responders and Muslim community leaders.

Kensington Palace has said the duke will pay tribute to the extraordinary compassion and solidarity that the people of New Zealand have displayed in recent weeks.

The Duke of Cambridge will visit Auckland and Christchurch on the 25th and 26th of April.



His Royal Highness will pay tribute to those affected by the Christchurch mosques terrorist attack, and recognise the incredible empathy and unity displayed by the people of New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/aFra5X5bvG  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 17, 2019

His visit comes at the request of New Zealands Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the wake of the deadly shootings at two mosques on March 15.

Fifty people were killed while dozens more were injured when a gunman opened fire during Friday prayers.

William is to meet those affected by the mosque attacks during his two-day visit (AP file /Mark Baker)

The monarch, who is Queen of New Zealand, and other senior royals sent heartfelt messages of condolence following the attacks.

The Queen said she and the Duke of Edinburgh had been saddened by the appalling events, while the Prince of Wales said: This appalling atrocity is an assault on all of us who cherish religious freedom, tolerance, compassion and community.

In a joint message, William, Kate and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said: We have all been fortunate to spend time in Christchurch and have felt the warm, open-hearted and generous spirit that is core to its remarkable people.

No person should ever have to fear attending a sacred place of worship.

William visited New Zealand following the Christchurch earthquake in 2011 and was joined by the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George for a tour of New Zealand in 2014.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, has been charged with murder over the mosque attacks.
US president Donald Trumps long-awaited state visit to the UK in June features heavily in Wednesdays papers.

The visit, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, was hailed as an opportunity to reaffirm the steadfast and special relationship between the UK and US by Prime Minister Theresa May.

But campaigners have said they will hold protests against the visit, while shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the president had systematically assaulted all the shared values that unite our two countries.

Writing in the Daily Mail, columnist Robert Hardman said the announcement was met with the usual preachy chorus from the perpetually offended.

He added: The mere prospect of the democratically elected leader of our greatest ally setting foot on British soil had kickstarted mass hysteria masquerading as high-minded piety.

It could be summed up thus: Donald Trump is not nice, so nice people like us cannot possibly tolerate his presence.

The infamous `Baby Trump protest balloon (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

All these people have clearly missed the point. Mr Trump is not here for sightseeing and royal glad-handing. He is in Europe for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

The Daily Mirror takes a different tone, calling Mr Trump the worst US president in living memory but adding that the president must be greeted formally with politeness, but this should not extend to servility.

The papers leader said: Britain and Europe owe a great debt to US armed forces who, in 1944, fought and died in the landings which liberated continental Europe from the tyranny of Nazi rule.

Sadly the draft dodger in the White House is a poor representative of brave, heroic men.

The Daily Telegraphs leader column takes aim at what it calls the juvenile Left who may look to disrupt the occasion of Mr Trump visiting the country.

It said: Arguably, the full pomp and circumstance of a state visit was too readily promised by Theresa May on her first trip to meet Mr Trump after his inauguration.

But having been promised by Mrs May, it would have been an insult not to confirm the offer. It is fitting that it will coincide with D-Day commemorations both here and in France, which should serve to remind critics of Mr Trump that the office transcends the individual.

Some people will never be reconciled to this particular president, though, as he might well win a second term, they had better get used to him.

One thing is clear: the British national interest is best served by underpinning this countrys most important alliance through a state visit.
A court in Hong Kong has handed down prison sentences of up to 16 months to eight leaders of the major 2014 pro-democracy protests after they were found guilty of public nuisance offences.

The sentences are seen as an effort by the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to draw a line under the protests amid pressure from Beijing.

Ranging in age from their 30s to 70s, the nine defendants span generations of Hong Kong citizens who have been agitating for full democracy. They had all pleaded not guilty, calling the prosecutions politically motivated.

Three protest leaders were jailed for 16 months, with one having the sentence suspended for two years, two were jailed for eights months and two were given eight-month suspended sentences.

Occupy Central leaders, from left, Tanya Chan, Chan Kin-man and Lee Wing-tat chant before entering the court (Kin Cheung/AP)

Another was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service while the ninth defendant, Tanya Chan, had her sentencing postponed because she needs to have surgery.

It was not immediately clear if they planned to appeal.

Thank you for the sentencing, Raphael Wong, who was jailed for eight months, told Judge Johnny Chan.

Our determination on fighting for genuine universal suffrage will not change.

While the charges carried potential sentences of up to seven years, they were still seen as unusually harsh by activists in what they called an attempt to intimidate them into silence.

The long sentences send a chilling warning to all that there will be serious consequences for advocating for democracy, Maya Wang, Hong Kong-based chief researcher for China at Human Rights Watch said.

The Beijing and Hong Kong authorities appear intent on eliminating the only pocket of freedoms on Chinese soil, Ms Wang said.

She cited a law against booing the Chinese national anthem and moves to amend the extradition law that could see suspects sent to China where she said they would be unlikely to receive a fair trial.

Taiwanese supporters show slogans and yellow umbrellas to support the nine Hong Kong pro-democracy leaders (Chiang Ying-ying/AP)

Supporters and family members applauded the defendants as they entered the courtroom, then stood outside sobbing after the hearing before breaking into chants.

Those convicted included law professor Benny Tai, retired sociology professor Chan Kin-man and pastor Chu Yiu-ming, who all received 16 months in jail, although Chus was suspended for two years. The others include two current and one former lawmaker, two student leaders and a political activist.

Chan, who will be sentenced June 10, said before the hearing that she hadnt lost faith in what the movement stood for.

Although its an uphill battle, its not easy, its time for us to make sure that we are strong enough to face different kind of challenges, she said.

The nine were leaders of the Occupy Central campaign, which was organised as a nonviolent sit-in that became known as the Umbrella Movement after a symbol of defiance against police adopted by the street protests.

Protesters demanded the right to freely nominate candidates for Hong Kongs leader who would then be elected by all of the territorys roughly 5 million voters.

However, they failed to win any concessions from the government, and Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam was chosen in 2017 from among a slate of candidates approved by Beijing and elected by a 1,200-member pro-China electoral body.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997 under an agreement in which China promised the city could retain its own laws, economic system and civil rights for 50 years.

However, Chinese President and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has been seen as extending his crackdown on civil liberties to Hong Kong, drawing criticism from commercial and legal associations as well as political, human rights and media groups.
The death toll from the Easter suicide bombings in Sri Lanka has risen to 359 and more suspects have been arrested, police in Colombo have said.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility and released images that purported to show the seven bombers who blew themselves up at three churches and three hotels on Sunday.

It was the worst violence the South Asian island nation had seen since its civil war ended a decade ago.

The government has said the attacks were carried out by Islamic fundamentalists in apparent retaliation for the New Zealand mosque massacre last month, but has said the seven bombers were all Sri Lankan.

(PA Graphics)

New Zealands prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said she had not received any official advice from Sri Lanka or seen any intelligence to corroborate the claims.

Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said investigators were still working to determine the extent of the bombers foreign links.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said on Wednesday that 18 suspects were arrested overnight, raising the total detained to 58.

The prime minister had warned on Tuesday that several suspects armed with explosives were still at large.

IS has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria and has made a series of unsupported claims of responsibility around the world.

Sri Lankan authorities have blamed a local extremist group, National Towheed Jamaar (NTJ), whose leader, alternately known as Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

A Sri Lankan police officer patrols out side a mosque in Colombo (AP)

ISs Aamaq news agency released an image purported to show the leader of the attackers, standing amid seven others whose faces are covered.

The group did not provide any other evidence for its claim, and the identities of those depicted in the image were not independently verified.

Meanwhile, in an address to parliament, Ruwan Wijewardene, the state minister of defence, said weakness within Sri Lankas security apparatus led to the failure to prevent the nine bombings.

By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack, Mr Wijewardene said.

However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials.

In a live address to the nation Sri Lankas president, Maithripala Sirisena, said he also was kept in the dark on the intelligence about the planned attacks.

He vowed to take stern action against the officials who failed to share the information and also pledged a complete restructuring of the security forces.

Mr Wijewardene said the government had evidence that the bombings were carried out by an Islamic fundamentalist group in retaliation for the March 15 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 50 people, although he did not disclose what the evidence was.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith speaks during a funeral service for Easter Sunday bomb blast victims at St Sebastian Church in Negombo (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

The office of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a statement responding to the Christchurch claim that described Sri Lankas investigation as in its early stages.

New Zealand has not yet seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based, it said.

An Australian white supremacist, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, was arrested in the Christchurch shootings.

It emerged on Wednesday that the FBI was on the ground in Sri Lanka to help assist the investigation.

Meanwhile specialist officers from the UKs Metropolitan Polices Counter Terrorism Command have been sent to the country to support the bereaved.

Word from international intelligence agencies that NTJ was planning attacks apparently did not reach the prime ministers office until after the massacre, exposing continuing turmoil in Sri Lankas government.

A block on most social media since the attacks has left a vacuum of information, fuelling confusion and giving little reassurance the danger had passed.

Mr Wickremesinghe said he feared the massacre could unleash instability and he vowed to vest all necessary powers with the defence forces to act against those responsible.

The history of Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million including large Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities, is rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict.

But Sri Lanka has no history of Islamic militancy. Its small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment.
A Google-affiliated company has become the first in the US to be given a government licence for drone deliveries.

The approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) means Wing Aviation can operate commercial drone flights in part of Virginia, which it plans to begin later this year.

The FAA said the company met the agencys safety requirements by participating in a pilot programme in Virginia with the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership and Virginia Tech, and by conducting thousands of flights in Australia over the last few years.

This is an important step forward for the safe testing and integration of drones into our economy, US transportation secretary Elaine Chao said.

Virginia is set to become the site of the first commercial drone deliveries in the U.S. Incredible work by @Wing, with help from @MAAPUAS. https://t.co/lz2i9b2xEW  Virginia Tech ICTAS (@ICTASVT) April 23, 2019

Wing said the approval means that we can begin a commercial service delivering goods from local businesses to homes in the United States.

It said it plans to spend the next several months demonstrating its technology and answering questions from people and businesses in Blacksburg and Christiansburg, Virginia.

Drone (John Stillwell/PA)

Wing said it will solicit feedback with the goal of launching a delivery trial later this year.

Wing said that to win FAA certification it had to show that one of its drone deliveries would pose less risk to pedestrians than the same trip made in a car.

The company said its drones have flown more than 70,000 test flights and made more than 3,000 deliveries to customers in Australia.

In the suburbs of Australia's capital, coffee, food, and other items can now arrive in minutes via drone. Monumental achievement for Wing, one of our partners on the UAS Integration Pilot Program. https://t.co/IIvovbaDDA  MAAP UAS (@MAAPUAS) April 10, 2019

The company is touting many benefits from deliveries by electric drones.

It says medicine and food can be delivered faster, that drones will be especially helpful to consumers who need help getting around, and that they can reduce traffic and emissions.

Drone usage in the US has grown rapidly in some industries such as utilities, pipelines and agriculture.

But they have faced more obstacles in delivering retail packages and food because of federal regulations that bar most flights over crowds of people and beyond sight of the operator without a waiver from the FAA.

The federal government recently estimated that about 110,000 commercial drones were operating in the US, and that number is expected to rise to about 450,000 in 2022.

Amazon is working on drone delivery, a topic of keen interest to chief executive Jeff Bezos.

Delivery companies including UPS and DHL have also conducted tests.
Microchips will be placed in packets of exam papers this summer as part of efforts to stop tests being leaked online, an exam board has said.

Pearson, the parent company of Edexcel, said the pilot scheme would allow it to track the date, time and location of exam packs in case they are opened early.

It comes as prosecutors said they were considering criminal charges after A-level maths papers from 2017 were leaked online ahead of the test, leading to replacement questions being issued at the last minute.

An investigation into a second A-level maths paper leak last year is continuing.

Vice-president Derek Richardson wrote to headteachers saying that breaches of security can significantly undermine trust in the system and it would continue to use tracking technology which helped in their investigations.

He added that both incidents were caused by individuals deliberately setting out to subvert our controls and urged headteachers to regularly inspect the area where papers are kept.

Students sitting exams (Gareth Fuller/PA)

In a statement on its website, Pearson said: In the UK summer examination series in 2017 and 2018, Pearson was subject to a limited external breach of its maths A-level paper. The police have made progress in their investigation from the first limited breach and have referred the first case to the Crown Prosecution Service.

They are also finalising their investigation with the second case and we hope that they will soon be sending materials to the Crown Prosecution Service. We hope this latest update will act as a deterrent for any other isolated individuals that consider this course of action.

Police told the company that evidence was given to the CPS in February.

Pearson said: We have continued to support the police in their investigations, but due to the complexity and unusual nature of these cases, it has taken time to investigate. The police informed us that in February, they referred the first case to the Crown Prosecution Service with the aim of bringing charges against those arrested.

The individuals responsible for these incidents are therefore now being held to account for the disruption that they caused. The police are finalising the second case and we hope that they will soon be sending materials to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The 2018 leak saw a C4 maths paper apparently leaked online a day before thousands of candidates were due to sit the exam.

Students reported seeing the paper for sale online for 200, with the sellers sending over the first question to prove they had it, but demanding the cash before they would reveal the rest.
Specialists from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance are meeting to discuss cyber threats as it emerged that Chinese telecoms giant Huawei will reportedly help to build Britains new 5G network.

Representatives from the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will meet at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) annual two-day conference, CYBERUK, in Glasgow on Wednesday.

It comes as the Daily Telegraph reported that Huawei will have limited access to build non-core infrastructure like antennas despite warnings of potential national security threats.

Senior security figures including the head of MI6 and GCHQ have warned publicly of the risks entailed in allowing a Chinese firm access to the UKs critical communications network.

MI6 chief Alex Younger has warned about the risks of allowing a Chinese firm access to the UKs communications network (Andrew Miligan/PA)

The decision is likely to lead to fresh tension with the US, which has banned Huawei from its government networks and urged others in the Five Eyes alliance to do the same.

Tom Bossert, former homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: Im not sure what the PM was thinking but it seems to be against the advice of some of her security officials.

He expressed concerns about telecoms being sabotaged, information being stolen, and badly manufactured products rushed to market.

Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat tweeted that the decision would cause allies to doubt our ability to keep data secure.

He told Today: I think were seeing in places like Xiangxiang that the Chinese government is experimenting in extremely  how can I put it politely?  adventurous ways of expanding an intelligence state into a domestic infrastructure.

The roll-out of the security state in Xiangxiang is something based on technology that no country has ever tried before and to a degree and depth and totality that no nation has ever tried before.

Mr Tugendhat described the Chinese state as not always friendly and said he was not questioning the integrity of Huaweis officials.

But, he added, they are bound by Chinese law and Chinese law does oblige them to co-operate with the security apparatus of the Chinese state.

Morning. About to do @BBCr4today talking about Huawei. Lets see if the two little dragons nesting in my domestic infrastructure will hack into this broadcast... #radioroulette  Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) April 24, 2019

The decision to allow Huawei access to the 5G network was reportedly agreed at the National Security Council (NSC), chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May, on Tuesday.

Downing Street refused to comment on the report.

MI6 chief Alex Younger has said Britain needs to decide how comfortable it is in allowing Chinese firms to become involved in its infrastructure, while the head of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, has spoken of both the opportunities and threats it presents.

Some critics have expressed concerns that the Chinese government could require the firm to install technological back doors to enable it spy on or disable Britains communications network.

Last month, a government-led committee set up to vet Huaweis products said it had found significant technological issues with its engineering processes leading to new risks to the UK network.

Huawei has denied having ties to the Chinese government, but critics question how independent any large Chinese company can be, with a legal obligation on firms to co-operate with the states intelligence agencies.

Some 2,500 security experts from government, industry and law enforcement are expected to attend the NCSC conference in Glasgow.

The theme of the conference is developing good cyber security for the public and helping make the technology they buy more secure.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said the security and resilience of the UKs telecoms networks was of paramount importance.
Theresa May has given the go-ahead to Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to help build Britains new 5G network despite warnings of the potential threat to national security, it has been reported.

The National Security Council (NSC), chaired by the Prime Minister, agreed on Tuesday to allow the firm limited access to build non-core infrastructure such as antennas, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Ministers including Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt were said to have raised concerns about the decision, according to the Telegraph.

Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid are among the ministers reported to have raised concerns (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Downing Street refused to comment on the report. A spokeswoman said: We dont comment on NSC discussions.

The decision came after a number of senior security figures warned publicly of the risks entailed in allowing a Chinese firm access to the UKs critical communications network.

MI6 chief Alex Younger has said Britain needs to decide how comfortable it is in allowing Chinese firms to become involved, while the head of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, has spoken of both opportunities and threats which they present.

Alex Younger (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Some critics have expressed concerns that the Chinese government could require the firm to install technological back doors to enable it spy on or disable Britains communications network.

Last month a Government-led committee set up to vet Huaweis products said it had found significant technological issues with its engineering processes leading to new risks to the UK network.

The decision is likely to lead to fresh strains with the US, which has banned Huawei from its government networks and urged the other nations in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance  the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada  to do the same.

This was taken up by Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat who tweeted: Allowing Huawei into the UKs 5G infrastructure would cause allies to doubt our ability to keep data secure and erode the trust essential to #FiveEyes cooperation.

Theres a reason others have said no.

Huawei has denied having ties to the Chinese government, but critics question how independent any large Chinese company can be, with a legal obligation on firms to co-operate with the states intelligence agencies.

A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokeswoman said the security and resilience of the UKs telecoms networks is of paramount importance.

As part of our plans to provide world class digital connectivity, including 5G, we have conducted a review of the supply chain to ensure a diverse and secure supply base, now and into the future, the spokeswoman said.

This is a thorough review into a complex area and will report with its conclusions in due course.
A 5G mobile network is to be tested during Glastonbury as part of EEs ongoing trials of the technology.

The trial will be the first time the technology has been installed at a festival.

5G is the next generation of mobile network and is expected to begin publicly rolling out later this year, offering internet speeds up to double that of current generation 4G.

EE has said it will install five temporary masts across the Worthy Farm site, which will enable festival-goers to connect to 2G, 3G, 4G and for the first time 5G networks.

Pete Jeavons, EE and BTs marketing and communications director, said: Smartphones have become a festival must-have as weve seen each year with more and more data being consumed at Glastonbury Festival.

As the long-standing technology partner to this iconic event, we are committed to building a network powerful enough to cope with this huge demand.

With the introduction of 5G this year, we are able to trial this new technology at Worthy Farm and make history as the UKs first 5G-connected festival.

(Ben Birchall/PA)

EE is predicting a record amount of data to be used during the festival, which will attract 200,000 people between June 26 and 30.

The firm says it expects more than 70 terabytes to be used  the equivalent to 784 million Instagram posts.

Acts performing at this years event include Stormzy, Kylie Minogue, Miley Cyrus, The Killers, The Cure and Janet Jackson.

As well as the 5G trial, EE has confirmed it will again have its Recharge Tent in place, offering free charging to all festival attendees.

The firm will sell Juice Tube Power Bars for 20, which once out of battery can be swapped for free, once a day, for a fully charged one to allow mobile charging while on the site.

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said: Were extremely pleased to have EE back again, providing the best possible network for our rural site.

And its great that were going to be one of the first places in the UK to offer 5G.

EE has already run a number of 5G trials and is one of a number of telecoms firms currently testing the technology across different parts of the UK ahead of the anticipated public rollout, due to start later in 2019.
Children from poorer backgrounds are twice as likely to be out of work because of a youth jobs gap between rich and poor, a study suggests.

Research by charity Impetus indicated that one in four young people who were eligible for free school meals, were not in education, employment or training (Neet) after leaving school.

Only 13% of those not having free school meals ended up Neet, said the report.

Education alone cannot explain the employment gap, as youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds still fare worse even when they achieve good qualifications, said the charity.

Young people with similar qualifications to their better-off peers are still 50% more likely to be out of education and employment in early adulthood, the study indicated.

Regional differences were also reported, with a disadvantaged young person in the North East being 50% more likely to end up Neet than a disadvantaged young person in London.

Jobcentre (Philip Toscano/PA)

Impetus chief executive Andy Ratcliffe said: Weve all heard the good news about record levels of youth employment. Our data lets us look beneath the headline figures at what is happening to young people from different backgrounds, in different parts of the country, and with different qualifications, and, for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, this is not a good news story.

We are breaking a fundamental promise to young people in this country. We tell them: Study hard, get your qualifications and good jobs will follow.

For many young people this is true, but for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds it isnt. They are less likely to get those qualifications, and even when they do, less likely to benefit.

Its easy to assume that youth unemployment is yesterdays problem. Our new #YouthJobsGap research shows it isnt. disadvantaged young people are twice as likely to be NEET https://t.co/YHyw4ByA5I @niesrorg  Impetus (@ImpetusPEF) April 24, 2019

Stefan Speckesser, of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, which helped with the study, said: By showing regional and local differences in the employment gap, we find evidence that some local areas are more successfully tackling the negative effects of disadvantage, which are unrelated to education success, on young peoples school-to-work transitions.

The findings, involving 18 to 24-year-old Neets in England, are drawn from Education Department data.

Shadow employment minister Mike Amesbury said: This report must act as a wake-up call to the Government. Young people who have grown up in poverty can face significant disadvantages when they come to look for their first job.

The Tory Party is failing young people, who are too often trapped in low-paid and insecure work, but the Government is refusing to track whether or not its flagship youth employment programme, the Youth Obligation, is working.

Mark Hawthorne, of the Local Government Association, said: The Government needs to consider LGA proposals for an integrated employment and skills service led by local authorities.

Devolving careers advice, post-16 and adult skills budgets and powers to local areas would allow councils, schools, colleges and employers to work together to improve provision for young people so that they can get on in life.

A Government spokesman said: Tackling disadvantage will always be a priority for this government and since 2010, the youth unemployment level has almost halved.

Young people are participating in education and training at their highest rate since consistent records began and the latest figures show that the overall proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training was at 6.3%, the lowest rate on record.

We are working closely with schools to assist 12 to 16-year-olds who have been identified as most likely to be at risk of becoming Neet.

Jobcentres also help school pupils with career planning and link them up with local businesses for work experience placements.

We also provide support for young people after they leave school to equip them with the skills and experience they need to progress.
Prime Minister Theresa May will attend the Belfast funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee today.

Ms McKee was shot dead as she observed clashes between police and New IRA dissidents on the Creggan estate in Londonderry on April 18.

Her family has paid tribute to her as a best friend and confidante.

The 29-year-olds funeral will take place in St Annes Cathedral, Belfast, at 1pm on Wednesday, and she will later be laid to rest in Carnmoney cemetery.

The service will include tributes from friends and a reflection by Fr Martin Magill, Catholic parish priest at St Johns parish on the Falls Road in West Belfast.

Mrs May will miss Prime Ministers Questions to be at the service and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will also attend the funeral.

A tribute from her mother Joan, brothers Gary and David, and sisters Joan Hunter, Nichola Corner and Mary Crossan said: On Thursday 18th April our beautiful Lyra was taken from us.

A daughter, a sister, an aunt, a great-aunt, a partner, a niece, a cousin, and above all, a best friend and confidante to so many of us.

A friend to all, a gentle innocent soul who wouldnt wish ill on anyone. Such a warm and innocent heart, she was the greatest listener, someone who had time for everyone.

The McKee family added: She was a smart, strong-minded woman who believed passionately in inclusivity, justice and truth.

Lyra spoke to and made friends with anybody and everybody, no matter what their background, those of all political views and those with none. This openness, and her desire to bring people together, made her totally apolitical.

They said: We would ask that Lyras life and her personal philosophy are used as an example to us all as we face this tragedy together.

Lyras answer would have been simple, the only way to overcome hatred and intolerance is with love, understanding and kindness.

Sara Canning, Ms McKees partner, said previously: Our hopes and dreams and all of her amazing potential was snuffed out by this single barbaric act.

Ms McKees funeral is intended to be a cross-community, cross-border and multi-cultural service, while members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) will form a guard of honour.

Various political and community leaders are due to attend, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.

Those attending were asked to wear Harry Potter and Marvel Comic merchandise in tribute to the journalists love of both works.

Miss McKees family asked that only family flowers are laid, but a donation can be made via a

GoFundMe page set up by the NUJ  https://uk.gofundme.com/in-memory-of-lyra-mckee

The New IRA admitted responsibility for the murder on Tuesday in a statement given to The Irish News.

Using a recognised code word, the group offered full and sincere apologies to Ms McKees family and friends, claiming: We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this.

The New IRA is an amalgam of armed groups opposed to the peace process and it recently claimed responsibility for parcel bombs sent to London and Glasgow in March.

Police believe the violence was orchestrated in response to an earlier search by officers aimed at averting imminent trouble associated with the weeks anniversary of the Easter Rising.
The US had no prior knowledge of the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 350 people, the American ambassador has said, despite local claims that foreign officials had been warned an attack was looming.

As the investigation into Sundays Islamic State-claimed attack continues, FBI agents and US military personnel are in Sri Lanka assisting the probe, ambassador Alaina Teplitz said.

While declining to say whether US officials had intelligence on the local extremists and their leader who allegedly carried out the assault, Ms Teplitz said America remained concerned over militants at large.

She also said that clearly there was some failure in the system that caused Sri Lankan officials to fail to share the warnings they received before the attack.

The U.S. Embassy in Colombo lowered the flag and paused today with the people of #SriLanka to recognize the victims of the terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday. The American people stand together with our Sri Lankan friends on this day of mourning. pic.twitter.com/za33jXipFd  Charge d'Affaires Martin Kelly (@USAmbSLM) April 23, 2019

I can tell you definitively we were not warned and we did not have any prior knowledge of this, she told foreign journalists from her office at the US embassy in Colombo.

We did not know because, believe me, if we had, we would have tried to do something about it.

Sundays bombings ripped through Christian worshippers at church celebrating Easter and guests at hotels. The attacks killed at least 359 people and wounded 500 others, marking Sri Lankas worst violence since its 26-year civil war ended a decade ago.

Authorities have blamed a local Islamic extremist group called National Towheed Jamaar, whose leader, known as Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

(PA Graphics)

On Tuesday, IS claimed the attack, sharing images of the leader and other men with their faces covered before an IS flag to bolster its claim. The extremist group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made unfounded claims previously.

Asked whether American officials received warnings or knew about the group and its leader before the bombings, Ms Teplitz declined to comment, saying she would not discuss intelligence matters.

If you look at the scale of the attacks, the level of co-ordination, again, the sophistication of them, its not implausible to think there are foreign linkages, she said.

She added that the US believes the terrorist plotting is ongoing and Washington continued to warn its citizens in Sri Lanka to be careful.

Before the bombings, Sri Lankan officials received intelligence reports and warnings that such an attack could be looming, but the information failed to stop the assault.

The Sri Lankans themselves have said they received information, and they had their own lapses that resulted in a failure to either mitigate or warn. So thats incredibly tragic.
Digital Minister Margot James has dismissed reports that the Prime Minister has given the go-ahead for controversial Chinese firm Huawei to work on the UKs 5G network.

It had been suggested that Theresa May had opened the door to the Chinese telecoms giant to help build Britains new network despite warnings of the potential threat to national security.

But Ms James said: In spite of Cabinet leaks to the contrary, final decision yet to be made on managing threats to telecoms infrastructure.

In spite of cabinet leaks to the contrary, final decision yet to be made on managing threats to telecoms infrastructure, you can hear the interview with @NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin @BBCr4today at https://t.co/AL2rGV8VRH - it starts around 2:14:30.  Margot James (@margot_james_) April 24, 2019

Her statement contradicts the Daily Telegraph, which reported that the National Security Council (NSC), chaired by the Prime Minister, had agreed on Tuesday to allow the firm limited access to build non-core infrastructure such as antennas.

Ms James also told Sky News that a final decision has not been made, although she indicated that a security review had concluded.

She said: The decision has not been finally made yet and the Prime Minister will take advice from all of the relevant agencies and departments.

However, Ms James said she was not biased against Huawei and that banishing one supplier would not solve security concerns.

She said: You cant just eliminate all risk by banishing one supplier. That wont work.

It isnt an open-and-shut case and its important we review the advice properly and the Prime Minister and her closest advisers come to a decision based on that best quality advice.

Shadow digital minister Liam Byrne said immediate clarity was needed over the conflicting reports, with the UKs digital networks already lagging well behind the worlds best.

He said: We need clarity on the risks and costs of a decision either way, and we need it now.

Were at a fork in the road. If the Government thinks Huawei threatens our security, it needs to explain why and what it plans to do about it.

If it bans Huawei, telecoms companies are clear that 5G will be delayed for years and cost billions of pounds more.

If thats the Governments choice then we need immediate clarity on what their plan B is to give us the 5G network our future prosperity demands.

Ciaran Martin, head of GCHQs National Cyber Security Centre, told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that the review was about the fundamentals of how to keep these networks safe from any attacker and not just Huawei.

Some of the 5G infrastructure is built over existing networks so its not as if we are completely reinventing the wheel here, he added.

Weve set out that objective independent technical assessment of whats needed and Im confident ministers will reach a decision that will provide for the type of safer 5G networks that we need.

Ministers including Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt were said to have raised concerns about the plan, according to the Telegraph.

Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid are among the ministers reported to have raised concerns (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: We dont comment on NSC discussions.

The reported decision came after a number of senior security figures warned publicly of the risks involved in allowing a Chinese firm access to the UKs critical communications network.

MI6 chief Alex Younger has said Britain needs to decide how comfortable it is in allowing Chinese firms to become involved, while the head of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, has spoken of both opportunities and threats which they present.

MI6 chief Alex Younger (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Some critics have expressed concerns that the Chinese government could require the firm to install technological back doors to enable it spy on or disable Britains communications network.

Last month, a Government-led committee set up to vet Huaweis products said it had found significant technological issues with its engineering processes posing new risks to the UK network.

The decision is likely to lead to fresh tension with the US, which has banned Huawei from its government networks and urged the other nations in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance  the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada  to do the same.

This was taken up by Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat who tweeted: Allowing Huawei into the UKs 5G infrastructure would cause allies to doubt our ability to keep data secure and erode the trust essential to #FiveEyes cooperation.

Theres a reason others have said no.

Huawei has denied having ties to the Chinese government, but critics question how independent any large Chinese company can be, with a legal obligation on firms to co-operate with the states intelligence agencies.

A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokeswoman said the security and resilience of the UKs telecoms networks is of paramount importance.

As part of our plans to provide world-class digital connectivity, including 5G, we have conducted a review of the supply chain to ensure a diverse and secure supply base, now and into the future, she said.

This is a thorough review into a complex area and will report with its conclusions in due course.
The Sri Lankan terror attacks, which targeted churches and hotels, killed more than 350 people, including eight Britons. They are:

 Anita, Alex and Annabel Nicholson

Lawyer Mrs Nicholson, 42, was one of three members of the same family killed as they ate breakfast at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo. Her husband Ben survived.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Mrs Nicholson was a University of Leeds graduate and former senior legal adviser to the Treasury, based in London, but had been living in Singapore since the turn of the year, where she worked for mining and metals firm Anglo American.

Paying tribute, Mr Nicholson, a 43-year-old lawyer, said: Anita was a wonderful, perfect wife and a brilliant, loving and inspirational mother to our two wonderful children. The holiday we had just enjoyed was a testament to Anitas enjoyment of travel and providing a rich and colourful life for our family, and especially our children.

At 14, Alex was the oldest of the two Nicholson children to perish in the attack, while his sister Annabel was 11.

Ben Nicholson with wife Anita, son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel, 11 (Family handout/PA)

His father said of the pair: Alex and Annabel were the most amazing, intelligent, talented and thoughtful children and Anita and I were immensely proud of them both and looking forward to seeing them develop into adulthood.

They shared with their mother the priceless ability to light up any room they entered and bring joy to the lives of all they came into contact with.

 Amelie and Daniel Linsey

The British-born siblings were on the final day of a holiday with their father when they were killed in an explosion in the Sri Lankan capital.

Amelie, 15, was a pupil at the Godolphin and Latymer School in west London, while Daniel, 19, was a student at Westminster Kingsway College.

We were shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of one of our students, Daniel Linsey, in the Sri Lanka bombings.



Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this terrible time, and we are offering counselling and support to students and staff who knew him. pic.twitter.com/pUFelkB8xI  Westminster Kingsway College (@Westking) April 23, 2019

Their father Matthew Linsey, an investor in emerging markets based in London, told The Times his children were born in Britain but had dual US-UK citizenship because he was born in the US.

He said: Amelie was really fun. She was smart, beautiful.

Very loving, very caring, understanding. She cared about her family and her friends.

And the same with Danny.

 Sally Bradley and Bill Harrop

Dr Bradley and Mr Harrop had been living in the Australian city of Perth since 2013, where Dr Bradley was practising medicine.

They were due to return to the UK after buying a retirement home in the Cotswolds.

They died following a blast at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.

Dr Bradleys brother, former Labour MP Lord Keith Bradley, said: She was truly a bright light in many peoples lives.

The light may have been cruelly distinguished for no reason or justification, but she will always live in our hearts and the memories she provided will be forever cherished. I, and my family, will miss her more than words can articulate.

Her family added: She was the personification of joy that life could bring if you approached it with a smile on your face and warmth in your heart.

She held senior roles at the Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust in the north-west of England before emigrating.

Mr Harrop, 56, had two sons from a previous relationship, about whom Dr Bradley was said to have spoken with great fondness.

Mr Harrop retired from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service in 2012 after 30 years as a firefighter and was decorated for his role in the aftermath of the 1996 IRA attack on Manchester.

Former colleague Phil Murphy said of Mr Harrop: The man had a massive heart.

 Lorraine Campbell

The eighth British victim was known as Loz and worked in IT.

The 55-year-old, from Manchester, was said to have been in Colombo on a work trip when she was caught up in a blast at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.

Her husband Neil Evans said: Lorraine was a real tour de force, she epitomised the qualities she lived by, and was a conduit for bringing people together to both make things happen, and make them better.

Ive lost my best friend in the world for all the adventures we shared and planned for the future.
Tottenham continued their perfect start to life at their new stadium after Christian Eriksens late goal secured a 1-0 win over Brighton on Tuesday night.

Here, Press Association Sports Jim van Wijk takes a look back at the four matches Spurs have played since returning home.

Tottenham 2 Crystal Palace 0 (Premier League, April 3 2019)

Tottenham enjoyed a historic homecoming as they opened their long-awaited new stadium with a 2-0 Premier League win over Crystal Palace  some 689 days since they last played at White Hart Lane.

Son Heung-min created a slice of history for himself as the South Koreans heavily deflected effort early in the second half was the first competitive goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in front of a crowd of just over 59,000.

Eriksen scored the other to wrap things up in the final 10 minutes and provide the perfect homecoming party for Mauricio Pochettinos men.

Tottenham 1 Manchester City 0 (Champions League, April 9 2019)

Spurs joy at edging out Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League European tie was dampened by the loss of striker Harry Kane to another ankle injury early in the second half.

Son was the hero for the home side  playing in the last eight of Europes elite club competition for just the second time.

The South Korean forward  so often the man to step up in Kanes absence  fired past Ederson in the 78th minute to make it two wins from two in the north London clubs new home.

Tottenham 4 Huddersfield 0 (Premier League, April 13 2019)

Lucas Moura bagged a hat-trick as Spurs continued to enjoy their new home comforts with a 4-0 Premier League win over relegated Huddersfield.

Two goals in the space of three minutes midway through the first half put Spurs in control.

Victor Wanyama scored his first goal since February 2018 to break the deadlock before Brazilian forward Moura swiftly made it 2-0 when he fired a low shot into the bottom corner.

Moura added a third in the 87th minute when he slid home Eriksens cross and then completed his treble in stoppage time after being played through by substitute Son.

The Brazilian celebrated the memorable moment afterwards in a kick-about with his son on the pitch.

Tottenham 1 Brighton 0 (Premier League, April 23 2019)

Christian Eriksen (left) scored a late goal against Brighton as Spurs won again at their new home (John Walton/PA)

Denmark international Eriksen produced a moment of late quality to give Tottenham a crucial 1-0 win over relegation battlers Brighton to strengthen their grip on a top-four place in the Premier League.

Having seen rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United all dropping points over the Easter weekend, Spurs looked set to be frustrated by the Seagulls determined defence.

Eriksen, though, came to the rescue in the 88th minute when he drilled a low 25-yard shot into the bottom corner, giving Spurs a fourth win from four in their new home and yet to concede a goal.
Many of the suicide bombers who killed more than 350 people in a series of coordinated Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka were highly educated and came from middle- and upper-middle-class families, the countrys junior defence minister has said.

Some may have studied in the UK, he said, as he described the attackers as having broken away from a pair of obscure extremist Muslim groups.

Officials had earlier blamed one extremist group for the bombings.

Their thinking is that Islam can be the only religion in this country, junior defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene told reporters.

They are quite well-educated people, he said, adding that at least one had a law degree and some may have studied in the UK and Australia.

The news came as leaders vowed to overhaul the countrys security apparatus after a series of intelligence lapses.

US ambassador Alaina Teplitz told reporters that clearly there was some failure in the system, but said the US had no prior knowledge of a threat before the bombings.

A Sri Lankan police officer patrols outside a mosque in Colombo (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Sri Lankan officials have acknowledged that some of the countrys security units were aware of possible attacks before the Easter bombings, the worst violence the South Asian island nation has seen since its civil war ended a decade ago, but did not share those warnings widely.

Ms Teplitz called that breakdown in communication incredibly tragic.

Government statements about the attacks have been confused and sometimes contradictory, with police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara telling reporters on Wednesday that there were nine suicide bombers, two more than officials said one day earlier.

One of the additional suicide bombers is the wife of another bomber, Mr Gunasekara said.

The woman, two children and three policemen died in an explosion as authorities closed in on her late on Sunday, hours after the initial attacks against three churches and three hotels.

The ninth suicide bomber has not been identified, though two more suspects were killed in a later explosion on the outskirts of Colombo.

Mr Gunasekara said 60 people have been arrested so far.

Ms Teplitz said a team of FBI agents and US military officials were helping in the investigation.

A security officer stands guard outside St Anthonys Shrine (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the hotel and church attacks and released images that purportedly show those seven bombers.

The groups Aamaq news agency released an image purported to show the leader of the attackers, standing amid seven others whose faces are covered.

The group did not provide any other evidence for its claim.

The Islamic State group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made a series of unsupported claims of responsibility for various attacks around the world.

The government has said the seven main bombers were all Sri Lankans but prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said investigators were still working to determine the extent of the bombers foreign links.

A priest conducts religious rituals during a mass burial (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

Sri Lankan authorities had earlier blamed a local extremist group, National Towheed Jamaar, whose leader, alternately named Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary speeches online.

On Wednesday, Mr Wijewardene said the attackers had broken away from National Towheed Jamaar and another group, which he identified only as JMI.

Ms Teplitz declined to discuss whether U.S. officials had heard of National Towheed Jamaar or its leader before the attack.

If we had heard something, we would have tried to do something about this, Ms Teplitz said.

The country has been on heightened alert since the attacks.

On Wednesday, police set off a controlled explosion after finding a suspicious motorcycle parked near a popular Colombo cinema.

No bomb was found in the motorcycle.

On Tuesday, in an address to Parliament, Mr Wijewardene said weakness within Sri Lankas security apparatus led to the failure to prevent the nine bombings.

By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack, Mr Wijewardene said.

Workers bury coffins (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials.

In a live address to the nation late on Tuesday, President Maithripala Sirisena said he also was kept in the dark on the intelligence about the planned attacks and vowed to take stern action against the officials who failed to share the information.

He also pledged a complete restructuring of the security forces.

On Wednesday, Mr Wijewardene also backed away from his Tuesday comments that the bombings were retaliation for the March 15 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 50 people.

He told reporters on Wednesday that the mosque attack may have been a motivation for the bombings, but that there was no direct evidence of that.

An Australian white supremacist was arrested in the Christchurch shootings.

The history of Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million including large Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities, is rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict.

(PA Graphics)

In a 26-year civil war, the Tamil Tigers rebel army had little history of targeting Christians and was crushed by the government in 2009.

Anti-Muslim bigotry fed by Buddhist nationalists has swept the country recently but Sri Lanka has no history of Islamic militancy.

Its small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment.
Prime Minister Theresa May will attend the Belfast funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee today.

Ms McKee was shot dead as she observed clashes between police and New IRA dissidents on the Creggan estate in Londonderry on April 18.

Her family has paid tribute to her as a best friend and confidante.

The 29-year-olds funeral will take place in St Annes Cathedral, Belfast, at 1pm on Wednesday, and she will later be laid to rest in Carnmoney cemetery.

The service will include tributes from friends and a reflection by Fr Martin Magill, Catholic parish priest at St Johns parish on the Falls Road in West Belfast.

Mrs May will miss Prime Ministers Questions to be at the service and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will also attend the funeral.

A tribute from her mother Joan, brothers Gary and David, and sisters Joan Hunter, Nichola Corner and Mary Crossan said: On Thursday 18th April our beautiful Lyra was taken from us.

A daughter, a sister, an aunt, a great-aunt, a partner, a niece, a cousin, and above all, a best friend and confidante to so many of us.

A friend to all, a gentle innocent soul who wouldnt wish ill on anyone. Such a warm and innocent heart, she was the greatest listener, someone who had time for everyone.

The McKee family added: She was a smart, strong-minded woman who believed passionately in inclusivity, justice and truth.

Lyra spoke to and made friends with anybody and everybody, no matter what their background, those of all political views and those with none. This openness, and her desire to bring people together, made her totally apolitical.

They said: We would ask that Lyras life and her personal philosophy are used as an example to us all as we face this tragedy together.

Lyras answer would have been simple, the only way to overcome hatred and intolerance is with love, understanding and kindness.

Flowers remain at the spot where Lyra McKee was killed in Creggan, Londonderry (Aoife Moore/PA)

Sara Canning, Ms McKees partner, said previously: Our hopes and dreams and all of her amazing potential was snuffed out by this single barbaric act.

Ms McKees funeral is intended to be a cross-community, cross-border and multi-cultural service, while members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) will form a guard of honour.

Various political and community leaders are due to attend, including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.

Those attending were asked to wear Harry Potter and Marvel Comic merchandise in tribute to the journalists love of both works.

Miss McKees family asked that only family flowers are laid, but a donation can be made via a

GoFundMe page set up by the NUJ  https://uk.gofundme.com/in-memory-of-lyra-mckee

The New IRA admitted responsibility for the murder on Tuesday in a statement given to The Irish News.

Using a recognised code word, the group offered full and sincere apologies to Ms McKees family and friends, claiming: We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this.

The New IRA is an amalgam of armed groups opposed to the peace process and it recently claimed responsibility for parcel bombs sent to London and Glasgow in March.

Police believe the violence was orchestrated in response to an earlier search by officers aimed at averting imminent trouble associated with the weeks anniversary of the Easter Rising.
A Spanish foundation has awarded one of the countrys most prestigious awards to British theatre and film director Peter Brook for opening new horizons in contemporary dramaturgy.

The jury that awards the Princess of Asturias Awards said the 94-year-old Brook continues to thrill in an intense way through stage plays of great purity and simplicity.

Theatre director Peter Brook (PA)

Brook came to fame with his staging of Marat/Sade in 1964 and his adaptation of the Indian epic poem Mahabharata in 1985.

He has been based in France for more than four decades,

The 50,000-euro award is the first of eight prizes, also including arts, social sciences and sports, handed out annually by a foundation named for Spanish Crown Princess Leonor.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned the Governments three-year spending review may be unable to go ahead as planned if there is no resolution to the Brexit deadlock.

Giving evidence to the Commons Treasury Committee, Mr Hammond said the spending review process would have to begin before MPs broke for the summer if it was to be concluded before the end of the year.

But he said it may be unwise to go ahead if it was still unclear when the UK would be leaving the EU and on what terms.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond giving evidence to the Commons Treasury Committee (PA)

We will keep an open mind as to how the process should unfold as we go through the next few months, he said.

If we are going to a full three-year spending review we need to formally start the process before the summer recess, carry it on through the summer and bring it to a conclusion around the time of the Autumn Budget.

My own view at the moment is that if we have not clearly found a solution to the Brexit conundrum and we are on our way to delivering an outcome, it probably would not be appropriate to go ahead with the three-year spending review.

That is a decision we will consider more carefully and make in final form in coming months.

He added: It feels to me that making a three-year settlement in a world where we have not yet determined we will be leaving the European Union on a smooth trajectory through a transition period with a deal or whether we will be crashing out without a deal would be an unwise thing to do.

The Government has previously promised it would carry out a full spending review in the course of 2019 as part of the process of ending austerity in the public sector.

Mr Hammond told the committee that the uncertainty over Brexit was continuing to hold back business investment.

He said the Bank of England estimated it was 20% below what it would have expected it to be now before the 2016 EU referendum took place.

It is pretty clear to me that the principal reason is the uncertainty created by the continuing process of working out how we are going to exit from the European Union, he said.

Clearly, where businesses are able to defer investment decisions until they are clearer about the future, many of them are deciding to do so.
Holyroods method of electing MSPs needs to be reformed as part of a series of measures to revitalise devolution in the run-up to the Scottish Parliaments 20th anniversary, former first minister Lord McConnell said.

He also suggested the Parliament could benefit from following the example of Westminster and introducing elected committee chairs.

He said change is needed because at the moment so many members of the Parliament owe their place to the party rather than the electorate.

Lord McConnell, who was first minister from 2001 to 2007, said Holyrood had made attempts to try to work in new ways when it was established in May 1999.

But speaking at an event in Edinburgh to mark two decades of Scottish devolution, he said further changes should be made  including the introduction of elected committee conveners.

Cross party working and power for back bench MSPs remain areas that need work according to @LordMcConnell, reflecting on 20 years of devolution. pic.twitter.com/9CSdWKqkhh  reformscotland (@reformscotland) April 24, 2019

He said if there is no support for major reforms to the additional member system  which sees Scots elect both constituent and regional list MSPs  restrictions should be introduced to limit the amount of time politicians can spend as list MSPs.

Former first minister Lord McConnell has called for changes to be made at Holyrood as the Scottish Parliament approaches its 20th anniversary (University of Stirling/PA)

The former Scottish Labour leader spoke about the impact Yvette Cooper has had in the Commons as the chair of the Home Affairs Committee because of the power and authority of that elected position.

He added: I think the time has come to elect the chairs of the committee of the Scottish Parliament from amongst the backbenchers, not selected by the parties and the party whips.

He also told the event, organised by think tank Reform Scotland: I think there is a case for looking again at the electoral system, either improving what we have or reviewing the system as a whole.

The system of constituency and list MSPs has never really settled, I dont believe that is a system people have ever really become comfortable with, apart from those who benefit from it and have a position in the Parliament.

If theres not a mood for wholesale reform, I would introduce time limits for the list MSPs, because that would force people to then be dragged into constituencies, to build a proper relationship with the electorate, rather than be selected by party leaders and party committees to positions that are relatively safe and secure in the Parliament.

Looking forward to hearing from @LordMcConnell in conversation with our director @chrisdeerin to mark 20 years of devolution. pic.twitter.com/w6wWcSF0Te  reformscotland (@reformscotland) April 24, 2019

He recalled how dire things were in 1999 when the first batch of MSPs were elected, saying at that time Scotland had the worst record on smoking in Europe, the countrys population was declining, and Glasgow had the worst record on knife crime and violence of any European city.

Lord McConnell said: That was the Scotland of 1999, we might have been happy that we had achieved a Scottish Parliament but it wasnt a happy place, it wasnt a place that was moving forward socially.

He said the Parliament has a quite remarkable record in terms of the amount of legislation that has been passed, with almost 300 Acts approved by MSPs.

The creation of the role of first minister has been one of the biggest things that has changed, he said, adding it means there is a leader in Scotland who can speak for Scotland, inside the UK, further afield, but also in Scotland itself, trying to change attitudes and lead the public debate here.

However he said local government reform is a huge challenge that has never been grasped.

Lord McConnell said: Weve still got the same financial regime basically for local government in Scotland that we had when the Parliament was created.

Its a hard thing to do, we looked at it when I was first minister, but I wonder whether there is a case now for devolving more financial responsibility to the local level.

We need to build new reasons for people to want to be in local government and to be leaders.

He insisted there is a need for a much higher percentage of the money spent by local government to be raised locally.

He argued this would bring about real choices for the local electorate  pick your councillor and it will affect your pocket one way or another, pick your councillor and it will affect your level of services and what your kids future is.

He concluded: I think that would reinvigorate local democracy.
The death of Lyra McKee should mark a new beginning for Northern Ireland, a priest has told mourners.

Dissident republican gunmen who killed the Belfast-born journalist, 29, should lay down their arms, Father Martin Magill added.

He urged politicians at Northern Irelands suspended powersharing administration to work together to produce a better life for young people.

Friends arrive for the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee (Liam McBurney/PA)

Fellow journalists formed a guard of honour as the service for their murdered colleague began in Belfast.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Irish premier Leo Varadkar, President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney were among those who attended.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister Theresa May and President Michael D Higgins before the funeral service (Brian Lawless/PA)

Ms McKee was killed by indiscriminate fire as she observed clashes between police and New IRA dissidents on the Creggan estate in Londonderry on April 18.

Her funeral was cross-community and mourners spanned both sides of the Irish border.

Mourners embrace ahead of the funeral at St Annes (Brian Lawless/PA)

Catholic priest Fr Magill said: I dare to hope that Lyras murder on Holy Thursday night can be the doorway to a new beginning. I detect a deep desire for this.

The service of thanksgiving was held in the Church of Irelands St Annes Cathedral, a short distance from her north Belfast home.

The coffin is carried into the funeral service (Liam McBurney/PA)

Fr Magill said: To those who had any part in her murder, I encourage you to reflect on Lyra McKee, journalist and writer, as a powerful example of The pen is mightier than the sword.

I plead with you to take the road of non-violence to achieve your political ends.

Since the killing many have condemned the culture of violence and coercive control practised by dissidents, the clergyman said.

We need to send a very different message and so I appeal to those who have information about Lyras murder but who havent yet come forward to do so now.

The service sheet for the funeral (PA)

If you want to see an end to these brutal rules, and see a new society built on justice and fairness, on hope and not fear, then you can help build that society by letting the police know what you know.

He called on political leaders to break the Stormont negotiations impasse.

I pray that Lyras murder may be the catalyst needed for parties to start talking, to reform that which was corrosive in previous assemblies and to begin anew.

Flowers at the spot where Lyra McKee was killed in Creggan (Aoife Moore/PA)

Those attending the funeral were asked to wear Harry Potter and Marvel Comics merchandise in tribute to the journalists passion for both.

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) formed the guard of honour.

Cameras down in Doha to remember fellow journalist #LyraMcKee senselessly murdered in Derry. Her values of inclusion, love and equality are N Irelands future. #WestandwithLyra pic.twitter.com/vnq4kaffQv  Andrea Catherwood (@acatherwoodnews) April 24, 2019

The congregation was led by Ms McKees partner Sara Canning, 35, her mother Joan McKee, 68, brothers Gary and David and sisters Joan, Nichola and Mary.

Her family have paid tribute to a gentle, innocent soul whose desire to bring people together made her totally apolitical.

Sara Canning (Brian Lawless/PA)

The New IRA is an amalgam of armed groups opposed to the peace process and it recently claimed responsibility for parcel bombs sent to London and Glasgow in March.

Police believe the violence in Derry was orchestrated in response to an earlier search by officers aimed at averting imminent trouble associated with the anniversary of the Easter Rising.
The dissident republican group that murdered journalist Lyra McKee has been urged to walk away from violence.

Father Martin Magill was addressing the funeral service at St Annes Cathedral in Belfast on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old was murdered by the New IRA in Londonderry last Thursday night after a gunman opened fire on a street full of people during disorder in the Creggan area.

I plead with you to take the road of non-violence to achieve your political ends, Fr Magill told a congregation which included Prime Minister Theresa May and politicians from across the divide in the region.

It was encouraging to see that those who provide a political analysis to the organisation responsible for her death chose to call off their parade on Easter Monday following the call from Father Joe Gormley, the parish priest in Creggan where Lyra was killed.

To those still intent on violence, I ask you to listen to the majority of the people on your beloved island of Ireland who are calling on you to stop.

Fr Magill said he dares to hope that the tragedy can be the doorway to a new beginning.

He paid tribute to those who had left red hand prints on the offices of the dissident republican political group Saoradh at the weekend, describing it as a powerful gesture of non-violence, and also commended those who have given information about the murder to police.

There is a rule in many of our communities that we do not, we should not, give information to police, and that to do so is to become a tout, he said.

But that was one of a number of rules  rules that also said that it was OK to brutalise children for petty crimes, or rules that say you can live in the locality until you are told you cant, or rules that said the only way we could gain freedom was by other fellow human beings losing their lives.

But this week I have seen these rules turned on their head. I have seen many people stand up and condemn this culture of violence and coercive control.

We need to send a very different message and so I appeal to those who have information about Lyras murder but who havent yet come forward to do so now.

If you want to see an end to these brutal rules, and see a new society built on justice and fairness, on hope and not fear, then you can help build that society by letting the police know what you know.

There will be special measures put in place to ensure your safety and where you will not be intimidated by coercive controllers, if you do so.

Fr Magill also urged Northern Irelands politicians to start talking to reform the powersharing government which has been collapsed for more than two years.

Many, many wonderful things have been said about her including the warm and deserved tributes paid to her by the Secretary of State and by MPs of all parties in the House of Commons yesterday evening, he said.

In death Lyra has united people of many different backgrounds as further evidenced by this diverse congregation at her funeral.

The Belfast priest said he had met Ms McKee several times and told the funeral of her upbringing in the north of the city, attending Holy Family Primary School and St Gemmas High School, where her love of Roald Dahl novels helped her overcome early struggles with reading, and her later love of the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling.

Many of those who attended the funeral wore Harry Potter merchandise in tribute to Ms McKee.

A mourner in a Harry Potter scarf (Brian Lawless/PA)

Fr Magill recalled in recent years speaking with her as she researched her book The Lost Boys, about youngsters who had disappeared in the past, describing her as like a dog with a bone about the project.

I certainly experienced her gentle, determined doggedness, he said.

I pray her work will be taken up and that their bodies will be found and, even more importantly, that there will be no more lost boys or lost girls.

When I consider Lyras determination, it strikes me that she was the embodiment of the St Gemmas school motto: truth and charity.
Sri Lankas president has asked for the resignations of the defence secretary and national police chief over the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 350 people.

The move marks a dramatic internal shake-up after security forces shrugged off intelligence reports warning of possible attacks.

It was not immediately clear who would be replacing them, but President Maithripala Sirisena said during a televised speech that he planned to change the head of the defence forces within 24 hours.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which struck Christians worshipping in three churches and people at three luxury hotels.

Authorities remain unsure of its involvement, though many suspect experienced foreign militants were advising, funding or guiding the attackers.

Sri Lankas junior defence minister has blamed breakaway members of two obscure local extremist Muslim groups, and said many of the suicide bombers were highly educated and came from well-off families.

Their thinking is that Islam can be the only religion in this country, Ruwan Wijewardene told reporters.

They are quite well-educated people, he said, adding that at least one had a law degree and some may have studied in the UK and Australia.

Leaders have vowed to overhaul the countrys security apparatus after acknowledging that some intelligence units were aware of possible attacks before the Easter bombings.

US ambassador Alaina Teplitz told reporters that clearly there was some failure in the system, but said the US had no prior knowledge of a threat before the attacks, the worst violence in the South Asian island nation since its civil war ended a decade ago.

Relatives carry a coffin for burial (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

Ms Teplitz called that breakdown in communication incredibly tragic.

Government statements about the attacks have been confused and sometimes contradictory, with police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara telling reporters that there were nine suicide bombers, two more than officials said one day earlier.

One of the additional suicide bombers was the wife of another bomber, Mr Gunasekara said.

The woman, two children and three policemen died in an explosion as authorities closed in on her late Sunday, hours after attacks were launched against three churches and three hotels.

The ninth suicide bomber has not been identified, though two more suspects were killed in a later explosion on the outskirts of Colombo.

Mr Gunasekara said 60 people have been arrested so far.

Family members gather at a funeral of Easter Sunday bomb blast victim at Methodist cemetery in Negombo, Sri Lanka (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

A team of FBI agents and U.S. military officials were helping in the investigation, Ms Teplitz said.

Officials say all of the main suicide bombers were Sri Lankan.

We are conducting investigations at the moment to see if there is any direct link to any international organisations, Mr Wijewardene said.

The Islamic State groups Aamaq news agency released an image it said showed the attackers leader standing amid seven others with covered faces. It provided no other evidence for its claim.

The group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made a series of unsupported claims of responsibility for various attacks around the world.

Sri Lankan authorities had earlier blamed a local extremist group, National Towheed Jamaar, whose leader, alternately named Mohammed Zahran or Zahran Hashmi, became known to Muslim leaders three years ago for his incendiary online speeches.

On Wednesday, Mr Wijewardene said the attackers had broken away from National Towheed Jamaar and another group, which he identified only as JMI.

People gather around a television in a cafe showing Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisenas address to the nation (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

Ms Teplitz declined to discuss whether US officials knew about National Towheed Jamaar or its leader before the attack.

If we had heard something, we would have tried to do something about this, Ms Teplitz said.

The country has been on heightened alert since the attacks, with police setting off a series of controlled explosions of suspicious objects.

No more bombs were found on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, in an address to Parliament, Mr Wijewardene said weakness within Sri Lankas security system had led to the failure to prevent the bombings.

By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack, Mr Wijewardene said.

Anusha Kumari, with bandages on her left eye, weeps during a mass burial for her husband, two children and three siblings, all victims of an Easter Sunday bomb blast in Negombo (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials.

In a live address to the nation late Tuesday, Mr Sirisena said he also was kept in the dark on the intelligence about the planned attacks and vowed to take stern action against officials who failed to share the information.

He also pledged a complete restructuring of the security forces.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Mr Wijewardene also edged away from Tuesday comments that the bombings were retaliation for the March 15 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 50 people.

He told reporters that the mosque attack may have been a motivation for the bombings, but that there was no direct evidence of that.

An Australian white supremacist was arrested in the Christchurch shootings.

While Sri Lankas recent history has been rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict, the Easter Sunday attacks came as a shock.

Sri Lanka is dominated by Sinhalese Buddhists, but the country of 21 million also has a significant Tamil minority, most of whom are Hindu, Muslim or Christian.

(PA Graphics)

Tamil Tiger rebels were known for staging suicide bombings during their 26-year civil war for independence, but religion had little role in that fighting.

The Tigers were crushed by the government in 2009.

Anti-Muslim bigotry fed by Buddhist nationalists has swept the country since the war ended but Sri Lanka has no history of Islamic militancy.

Its small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment.
A referendum on the UKs constitution should be a one-off generational thing which cannot be re-run for up to 20 years, a former Labour first minister has said.

Lord McConnell said while it was inevitable that there would be a referendum on Scottish independence, the SNP must get back to basics after losing that ballot in 2014.

He said: Im not in favour of re-running referenda every few years, or even possibly within 15, 20 years.

I think if you lose a referendum you have to get back to basics, and build up your case and fight another day, but recognise that that day is going to be a long way off.

He was speaking just hours before an expected statement by current First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Scotlands future in the wake of Brexit.

Lord McConnell said the 2016 referendum on the UKs membership of the European Union was not necessarily a bad thing in principle, but it had been handled appallingly badly by then prime minister David Cameron.

And while he said he did not enjoy the referendum in 2014, I dont think it was necessarily wrong that at some point we had to make a choice on that.

Speaking at an event in Edinburgh organised by the think tank Reform Scotland, the former first minister said: What I dont like is the idea that we keep having them.

To me a referendum is a one-off generational thing and those who lose, no matter what the circumstances really, unless they are really really extreme circumstances, I think you have to accept the result.

Lord McConnell said referendums on the UKs constitution should not be repeated quickly (PA)

He also warned Labour politicians that a vote for independence in Scotland would not necessarily return his party to power north of the border.

He told the event, held to mark the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Scottish Parliament, Lord McConnell said: I think the political outcome of an independent Scotland would depend a lot on the economic circumstances of the time.

If, as I think is now even perhaps anticipated by some of those who support independence, the early years of independence were a bit rough, people in Scotland would probably look for strong leadership, Im not sure it would necessarily matter what party that was coming from.

So a lot would depend on the leadership of the SNP, Labour the Conservatives, those three parties.

I think those who assume that an independent Scotland would automatically be a Labour Scotland, I dont think that is a correct assumption at all. We are in far too volatile political times for that to be assumed.
Theresa Mays deputy has insisted the Tories and Labour are making a genuine attempt to find a Brexit solution but warned compromises were needed from both sides.

Cabinet Office minister David Lidington said cross-party talks between negotiating teams had been constructive although they had yet to find an option which would attract majority support in the Commons.

Labours Emily Thornberry had raised concerns over the Governments attempts to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland, and insisted the option of a customs union must be put on the table to deal with it.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, standing in for Jeremy Corbyn during Prime Ministers Questions (PA)

The shadow foreign secretary also highlighted warnings from US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi that a US-UK trade agreement would not happen if Brexit undermined the open border, before claiming US president Donald Trumps state visit risked being a giant waste of taxpayers cash.

Mr Lidington and Ms Thornberry deputised at Prime Ministers Questions as Mrs May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn both travelled to Belfast for the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee.

Ms Thornberry asked what the Government was doing to bring her killers to justice and said the incident and response from the so-called New IRA was a sickening throwback, adding those responsible want to turn back the clock and destroy the progress that has been made in Northern Ireland.

In her concluding remarks after exchanges on Brexit, Ms Thornberry said an open border was vital to preserving peace and security.

Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, standing in for Theresa May during Prime Ministers Questions (PA)

She said: If the Government is serious about putting the country first, the whole of our country, will the minister for the Cabinet Office accept that means finally getting serious about the cross-party negotiations and putting the option of a customs union on the table?

Mr Lidington, in his reply, said: The substance and the tone of those conversations between the Government team and the Opposition team have been constructive.

I think there is a genuine attempt to try to find a way through but Im not going to hide the fact that this is very difficult, because if its going to work itll mean both parties needing to make compromises and us ending up with a solution that unlike any other so far proposed will get a majority in the House.

He listed proposals rejected by MPs, before adding: Its not just a matter for the Government or Opposition frontbenches, its a matter for every member of this House to take our responsibilities to the country seriously and find a way to agree on an outcome that enables us to deliver on the referendum result and to take this country forward.

Earlier, Ms Thornberry criticised Mr Trumps forthcoming state visit.

She said: The Government is going to spend millions giving Donald Trump the red carpet, golden carriage treatment in June.

And maybe the state banquet might even be worth it so as long as hes forced to sit next to (schoolgirl climate activist) Greta Thunberg  or how about this, Greta on one side and David Attenborough on the other, that will be three hours well spent.

But the truth is that itll all be a giant waste of taxpayers money because the US Congress will never agree to a trade deal unless we have a solution to the Irish border that will actually work, and this Government simply doesnt have one.

Mr Lidington replied: Its just two short years ago that (Ms Thornberry) said of President Trump We should welcome the American president, we have to work with him.

I just wonder whether something has changed about the US administration or whether something has changed about her own leadership ambitions that causes her to alter her words in this way now.

Tributes were also paid by both Mr Lidington and Ms Thornberry to those killed in the Sri Lanka terror attacks.
Dust from the Sahara Desert has settled in the UK after being blown over from north Africa.

Dust particles were swept high into the air by gales in the Sahara and then transported to the UK before being deposited on the ground during rain showers, according to the Met Office.

The deposits are particularly visible on cars and windows, the forecaster said.

Dust marks were left on a car in Romsey, Hampshire. (Gavin Foster/PA)

Southern parts of the UK were worst hit, according to the Met Office.

Many motorists have posted on social media saying that their cars need cleaning after getting a coating of the red dust.

One Twitter user said: Thanks Sahara Dust. Now I can wash the car again.

Here's the latest @metoffice #Saharadust model dust forecast - the darker colours represent thicker plumes spreading from the south. Good news - it's clearing the UK northwards over the next 36 hours pic.twitter.com/NTwhkTwec5  Met Office (@metoffice) April 23, 2019

Most of the dust was deposited on Tuesday, with many waking up on Wednesday to find red dust settled outside their homes.

Met Office forecaster Mark Wilson said: Strong winds over the Sahara whip up dust.

That goes into the sky and upper part of the atmosphere and heads towards the UK.

Once we get some rain, that washes it out the sky and onto the ground.

Changing weather systems mean that further deposits of the red dust are not likely, according to the Met Office.
A meeting between US President Donald Trump and the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby may seem like an unlikely encounter but one bookmaker is offering odds on it happening.

William Hill has priced Harry and Meghans first child being introduced to the US leader during his state visit at 3-1.

Mr Trump will be a guest of the Queen when he makes his long-awaited three-day official trip in June, and while protesters are planning to launch the Trump blimp  a balloon depicting the president as a nappy-wearing baby  the royal family are likely to attend events with the US leader at Buckingham Palace.

The President of The United States of America, President Donald J. Trump, accompanied by Mrs Melania Trump, has accepted an invitation from Her Majesty The Queen to pay a State Visit to the UK. pic.twitter.com/e3ANW9bUKa  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 23, 2019

Royal fans are waiting on tenterhooks for news of the royal birth, expected any day now, and if it arrives in April it will have diamond as its birth stone.

Betting firms have been inundated with wagers on everything from names  with Diana still the favourite with many  to one punter trying to place a bizarre bet on the baby being born already.

Over the past nine months speculation among Ladbrokes punters has been in favour of the Sussexes having a girl, but bets are now pouring in for a boy and the bookies have been forced to slash the price to 11-10.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby is due any day now. Chris Jackson/PA Wire

Jessica Bridge from Ladbrokes said: Fans have been convinced for so long that the couple are expecting a girl we were close to shutting up shop, however the 11th-hour gamble is in full swing and punters cash is now piling in for a little boy.

The names Diana and Grace are the firms joint 6-1 favourites, and the best placed boys name is Arthur at 8-1, then Philip 10-1 and James 12-1.

A punter from south London tried to place a 100 bet with William Hill on Tuesday suggesting the royal baby had already been born, but it was not accepted.

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adam: Harry and Meghan have thrown a spanner in the works by keeping the birth private and there seem to be a few people who believe that the baby has already arrived.

Either way, we are hoping they dont choose to name the child Diana, Grace or Isabella as all will cost us a small fortune.

He added that Diana, with odds of 4-1, was the firms favourite followed by Victoria at 7-1 and Grace 12-1.

Another betting firm, Coral, said Grace was its new joint favourite with Diana, after a flurry of bets in the past 24 hours which forced the odds down from 20-1 to 6-1, while Arthur is the shortest priced male name at 8-1.

Corals John Hill said: A girl is the odds-on favourite in our gender betting and we continue to see bets for Diana and Elizabeth as we edge closer towards the due date.
Too few workers in Scotland are earning the Living Wage, despite uptake in the scheme being higher than in other parts of the UK, MSPs have heard.

Firms are able to become accredited Living Wage Employers by ensuring workers and any subcontracted staff earn the set rate of 9 per hour, or 10.55 in London.

But despite a high number of companies signing up to the campaign in Scotland, many of the accredited firms have lower number of employees than non-accredited larger private-sector companies, a panel of sector leaders told the Finance and Constitution Committee on Wednesday.

According to statistics published by Living Wage Scotland, around 470,000 people in the country do not earn the real Living Wage.

Helen Martin, STUC assistant general secretary, told the committee that in some industries where collective bargaining coverage is low, such as in hospitality and agriculture, as well as in some parts of the construction sector, people have seen their pay pushed down consistently over several years.

She said: Its important to recognise that weve had quite a large living wage campaign in Scotland and that has been very successful in terms of how many companies have signed up to be Living Wage accredited  weve probably got the highest in the UK.

MSPs heard from a number of contributors at the Finance and Constitution Committee (Jane Barlow/PA)

Yet it doesnt move the measure on how many workers are suffering from pay thats below the Living Wage, which sits sort of static around 20%.

So I think some of our focus going forward needs to be about how we make sure that we raise pay in real-terms for the lowest paid and we try to improve collective bargaining coverage, and we try to improve the security of that work in the private sector in particular.

Anna Ritchie Allan, executive director of Close the Gap, said women are being disproportionately impacted by pay that is lower than the Living Wage.

She said: I think generally we can say that public sector employers are more likely to have done an equal pay review, which women are more likely to benefit from.

But in the private sector, we do see widespread pay practice that is premised on discretionary pay, which evidence shows that women are more likely to dis-benefit from that.

So theres potential for discrimination in relation to pay but also that sustains womens lower pay.

Two-thirds of the workers earning below the Living Wage are women and so theres another clear gender dimension there as well.

"Being a #LivingWage employer shows that we truly respect the dignity of our workers  Bob Padron @PenroseCare



Hear more about what our accredited employers have got to say about paying the real Living Wage to its staff! https://t.co/xYPkLEdOdP pic.twitter.com/xWNozRNA44  Living Wage Foundation (@LivingWageUK) April 23, 2019

IPPR Scotland director Russell Gunson suggested that setting an example on pay within the public sector could influence decision-making at private firms.

He said: For us, theres an absolute direct policy interest in what pay looks like in the public sector, but equally what can we do to influence the private sector through setting pay in the public sector is a real interest to us.

Torsten Bell, Resolution Foundation director, said: Its a really important campaign, we support it, were members, we sign up, but theres not enough people affected by the Living Wages rates for it to be what matters for your labour market as a whole yet.

John Gallacher, Unisons Scottish organiser, said: It is important that public sector bodies get Living Wage accreditation because part of the terms of that is that if they have outsourced contracts, those contracted-out services need to apply that Living Wage rate.
Scots should be given the opportunity to vote again on independence before the next Holyrood elections in 2021, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.

In a statement to MSPs, she said: A choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered in the lifetime of this Parliament.

I can confirm that the Scottish Government will act to ensure that the option of giving people a choice on independence later in this term of Parliament is progressed.

She said Westminster has failed to protect Scotlands interests and that the Scottish Government is taking steps to rectify that by introducing legislation to set out rules for another vote.

The First Minister said: Throughout this, the Scottish Government have worked tirelessly to help find the best way forward for all of the UK.

Whatever Scotlands constitutional status in the future, it will always be in our interests for these islands to have the closest possible relationship with the EU.

Nicola Sturgeon issues a statement on Brexit and independence to Holyrood (Jane Barlow/PA)

We have done everything possible to help avert the Brexit crisis for the whole UK. And we will continue to do so.

She added: The Westminster system of government does not serve Scotlands interests.

And the devolution settlement, in its current form, is now seen to be utterly inadequate to the task of protecting those interests.

Wednesdays statement was the first available opportunity for the First Minister to update MSPs since the EU granted a six-month extension to the Article 50 Brexit process.

A Number 10 spokesman said on Tuesday that Theresa Mays stance on the issue of a second Scottish referendum has not changed  with the PM having previously made clear her opposition to such a ballot.

NS: I believe that the case for independence is stronger than ever & I will make that case.



I will also do all in my power to protect Scotlands right to choose - to do anything less would risk consigning the next generation to the damage of Westminster decisions.  The SNP (@theSNP) April 24, 2019

Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw said: Whatever the First Minister says about being inclusive, her statement is inherently divisive.

Astonishingly, the way Nicola Sturgeon thinks we can come together is for Scotland to be plunged into another divisive referendum within the next 18 months.

That is frankly absurd.

The SNPs plan is clearly to divide families, workplaces and communities all over again, and for the foreseeable future. That is not what the majority of Scotland wants.

People have had enough of constitutional politics and division. Yet, with the SNP, more of this is now inevitable.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: Nicola Sturgeon is using her office as First Minister to put the interests of the SNP before the interests of our country.

Her statement today is not about Brexit, this is about Nicola Sturgeon trying to pacify her party members and back benchers ahead of the SNPs conference.

The chaos of Brexit throws into sharp relief the challenges of leaving a political and economic union.

The Brexit shambles has only confirmed our belief that we would be far better governing ourselves.

Sturgeons drive to stage #indyref2 before 2021 is absurd and divisive.



It's not what the majority of Scots want - people have had enough of constitutional politics and division. pic.twitter.com/LKdrHUErwW  Scottish Conservatives (@ScotTories) April 24, 2019

Leaving the UK would lead to unprecedented austerity for Scotlands public services.

The political dividing line in Scotland is clear: investment with Labour with a focus on fixing our public services and economy or another decade of austerity with the SNP and the Tories with a focus on divisive and destructive nationalism.

Scottish Greens parliamentary co-leader Alison Johnstone said: The Scottish Greens have always believed that Scotlands future should be in Scotlands hands, as an independent nation at the heart of Europe.

The Brexit shambles has only confirmed our belief that we would be far better governing ourselves.

The vision currently being considered by the SNP looks more like the failed economic model of the UK, a vision which has led to cuts to public services and increasing child poverty, than the bold vision for independence the Greens campaigned for and believed in.

The First Minister also announced the establishment of a citizens assembly. We welcome this move, but this body cannot simply be a talking shop. We will put pressure on the Scottish Government to ensure that this body is listened to and shapes government policy.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: People in Scotland voted decisively in 2014 to remain part of the UK, on a promise that the referendum would settle the issue for a generation.

Instead of respecting that result, Nicola Sturgeon continues to press for divisive constitutional change when it is clear that most people in Scotland do not want another independence referendum. The UK Government will stand up for them.

Nicola Sturgeon needs to listen to the views of the Scottish people and concentrate on improving Scotlands economy and schools, not continually trying to orchestrate upheaval and division.
A British intelligence chief has indicated support for Huawei involvement in building the UKs 5G network.

Reports have suggested Theresa May has opened the door to the Chinese telecoms giant helping to build Britains new network despite warnings of a threat to national security.

GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming said engineering is more important than the country behind the technology, otherwise known as its flag of origin.

Our Director, Jeremy Fleming, spoke today at #CYBERUK19 in Glasgow about our #cybersecurity mission in the third decade of the internet agehttps://t.co/Yw226zOXPo pic.twitter.com/caUAc94dxZ  GCHQ (@GCHQ) April 24, 2019

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss also said the decision should be made on a case-by-case basis based on UK intelligence.

Mr Fleming appeared to be trying to calm concerns that the security risk posed by the involvement of Huawei should rule it out.

Speaking at the National Cyber Security Centre conference in Glasgow, he said: A flag of origin of 5G equipment is important but it is a secondary factor.

Its a hugely complex strategic challenge, going to span the next few decades. How we deal with it will be crucial for our prosperity and for our security.

Liz Truss (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Huaweis involvement should not be ruled out based on what other countries have done, Ms Truss told BBC Tadio 4s The World At One, because the UK may have different intelligence advice.

She said: We need to decide on a case-by-case basis based on the security advice, but that should be led by the UK  we shouldnt be deciding on the basis of what the Americans think or what the Australians think.

Earlier, digital minister Margot James dismissed reports that the Prime Minister had given the go-ahead for Huawei to work on the UKs 5G network.

In spite of cabinet leaks to the contrary, final decision yet to be made on managing threats to telecoms infrastructure, you can hear the interview with @NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin @BBCr4today at https://t.co/AL2rGV8VRH - it starts around 2:14:30.  Margot James (@margot_james_) April 24, 2019

She said: In spite of Cabinet leaks to the contrary, final decision yet to be made on managing threats to telecoms infrastructure.

Ministers including Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt were said to have raised concerns about the plan, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid are among the ministers reported to have raised concerns (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Some critics have expressed concerns that the Chinese government could require the firm to install technological back doors to enable it to spy on or disable Britains communications network.

Last month, a Government-led committee set up to vet Huaweis products said it had found significant technological issues with its engineering processes posing new risks to the UK network.

The US has banned Huawei from its government networks and urged the other nations in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance  the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada  to do the same.

Allowing Huawei into the UKs 5G infrastructure would cause allies to doubt our ability to keep data secure and erode the trust essential to #FiveEyes cooperation. Theres a reason others have said no. https://t.co/GA7DaooupI  Tom Tugendhat (@TomTugendhat) April 24, 2019

This was taken up by Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat who tweeted: Allowing Huawei into the UKs 5G infrastructure would cause allies to doubt our ability to keep data secure and erode the trust essential to #FiveEyes cooperation.

Theres a reason others have said no.

Huawei has denied having ties to the Chinese government, but critics question how independent any large Chinese company can be, with a legal obligation on firms to co-operate with the states intelligence agencies.

A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokeswoman said the security and resilience of the UKs telecoms networks is of paramount importance and the review would present its conclusions in due course.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns most trusted policy adviser apparently has been removed from one of his posts, a South Korean politician has said.

The possible personnel reshuffle comes in the wake of the breakdown of the North Korea-US summit in February and as the North Korean leader visits Russia.

The head of the South Korean parliaments intelligence committee, Lee Hye-hoon, cited South Koreas main spy agency as saying that Kim Yong Chol lost his Workers Party post in charge of relations with South Korea earlier this month.

He was replaced by the little-known Jang Kum Chol as the director of the partys United Front Department, Lee said.

Kim Jong Un in Russia (AP)

Ms Lee said she obtained the information at a private briefing from the National Intelligence Service.

Kim Yong Chol has been North Koreas top nuclear negotiator and counterpart of US secretary of state Mike Pompeo since Kim Jong Un entered nuclear talks with the US early last year.

He travelled to Washington and met President Donald Trump twice before Mr Kims two summits with Mr Trump.

His rise had baffled many North Korea watchers because he handled South Korea ties, not international or US relations.

Previously, he was a military intelligence chief believed to be behind a number of provocations, including two deadly attacks in 2010 that killed 50 South Koreans and an alleged 2014 cyber-attack on Sony Pictures.

Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party figure, seated to the left of Kim Jong Un during the Hanoi summit with Donald Trump (Evan Vucci/AP)

Both Seoul and Washington imposed sanctions on him in recent years.

The NIS and the Unification Ministry, a Seoul agency responsible for North Korea ties, said they could not immediately confirm the information on Kim Yong Chol.

The NIS has a mixed record in confirming developments in North Korea.

But if confirmed, Kim Yong Chols replacement would add to speculation that he is being sidelined from nuclear diplomacy to take the responsibility for the failure of the February summit in Hanoi.

Kim Jong Un, who is desperate to revive his countrys moribund economy, returned home empty-handed from Hanoi after Mr Trump rejected his calls for easing US-led sanctions in return for dismantling a key nuclear complex, a limited denuclearisation step.

Kim Yong Chol was not among a list of officials accompanying Kim Jong Un on his current visit to Russia, which began earlier on Wednesday.

Many experts in South Korea said North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho and first vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui would take the lead in the nuclear diplomacy.

(Pyongyangs) significantly diminished reliance on Kim Yong Chol is a very positive sign for the denuclearisation negotiations between North Korea and the United States, said Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Koreas Sejong Institute.

He called Kim Yong Chol most responsible for the second summits failure due to his hardline stance.

Mike Pompeo, right, and Kim Yong Chol during a meeting in Washington (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

While the NIS believes the personnel change possibly indicates that the department takes a back seat in the nuclear negotiations with Washington going forward, the spy agency also said it was not immediately clear whether Kim Yong Chol would be removed from the talks entirely or immediately, Ms Lee said.

Mr Kim still maintains several other prominent titles, including vice chairman of the Workers Partys Central Committee and a member of the powerful State Affairs Commission.
GCHQ  Britains electronic espionage agency  has dismissed fresh claims it spied on Donald Trumps presidential election campaign as utterly ridiculous.

The US president highlighted a claim by a former CIA analyst that British intelligence assisted the administration of Barack Obama by spying on his 2016 run for the White House.

In a trademark tweet, Mr Trump added: WOW! It is now just a question of time before the truth comes out, and when it does, it will be a beauty!

However GCHQ responded by referring to a statement it issued when similar allegations surfaced in 2017 dismissing the claim it was asked to conduct wiretapping against the then president elect as nonsense.

They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored, the statement said.

The row erupted the day after it was announced that Mr Trump would be making his long-awaited state visit to the UK in June.

Downing Street denied that the row risked casting a pall over the visit. Asked if Theresa May feared Mr Trumps tweet would sour his trip to Britain, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said: No. The US and UK are long-standing partners. We do more together than any two countries in the world.

We share intelligence that we do not share with other allies. That unparalleled sharing of intelligence between our countries has undoubtedly saved British lives.

A state visit is an opportunity to strengthen our ties.

The spokesman declined to make any comment on the contents of Mr Trumps tweet, on the grounds that he never discussed security issues in public. Asked whether GCHQ was speaking on behalf of the Government, he replied: GCHQ is indeed part of the Government.

In his tweet, Mr Trump referenced a report by the One America News Network which referred to the claims made by Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst.

Mr Johnson is a controversial figure in the US where he has been accused of making a series of false allegations  including one that Michelle Obama had been recorded using a slur against white people.

GCHQ has dismissed allegations it spied on the Trump campaign as `nonsense (GCHQ/PA)

The allegation that GCHQ spied on the Trump campaign at the behest of the Obama administration was first made in 2017 by Andrew Napolitano, a former judge and commentator for Fox News.

He claimed he had been told by intelligence sources that the Obama team had wanted to use the British agency so there would be no American fingerprints on this.

His comments were then picked up by the then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer to back up Mr Trumps claim that the Obama administration had bugged his phones.

That prompted a rare public denial from GCHQ.

It said in a statement: Recent allegations made by media commentator judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct wiretapping against the then president-elect are nonsense.

Mr Trumps intervention threatened to lead to new strains in the relationship with the US, just as the two countries are preparing for the presidents state visit in June.

It comes amid signs that ministers are prepared to grant Chinese tech giant Huawei a role in building the UKs 5G network  something the US strongly opposes.

Ministers denied a decision had been taken to allow it to provide noncore equipment at a meeting on Tuesday of the National Security Council chaired by Theresa May, saying a final decision was expected later in the spring.

Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, speaks at the National Cyber Security Centre annual conference in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

However, speaking at a cyber security conference in Glasgow, the head of GCHQ Jeremy Fleming said the flag of origin was only a secondary factor when considering whether to allow particular technology to be used in the UK network.

Senior security figures have previously warned that allowing a Chinese firm access to the UKs critical telecommunications network could jeopardise national security.

The US has banned Huawei from taking part in its government networks and has been pressing other partners in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance  the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand  to follow suit.

It reflects fears that the Chinese government could require it to install back door technology that would allow it to spy on them or disrupt their communications.
The official line is always that there is no set protocol of behaviour when the meeting the Queen.

But royal etiquette is still likely to be a tricky business for US President Donald Trump during his high-profile and controversial state visit to the UK.

The Queen with Donald and Melania Trump at Windsor Castle (Matt Dunham/PA)

With the worlds media preparing to dissect Mr Trumps manners and moves as he spends time with the monarch, heres a guide to what the American billionaire needs to know.

1. The bow and the curtsy

The monarchs official website explains: There are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting the Queen or a member of the royal family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms.

For men this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy.

Last time, there was speculation that Mr Trump failed to bow to the Queen when he arrived at Windsor Castle for his brief visit last July.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are greeted by Queen (Chris Jackson/PA)

Opinion among commentators was divided but it appeared as if the US leader actually gave an early nod as he stepped from his car, dipping his head slightly, before walking forwards to shake hands with the Queen on the dais.

First Lady Melania Trump did not curtsy.

Former royal aides have insisted that the Queen is relaxed about such things and understands some people do not feel comfortable doing so.

But Mrs Trump should perhaps bear in mind that royal women greet the Queen with a deep curtsy as a mark of respect.

The Duchess of Cambridge curtsies to the Queen on Easter Sunday (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA)

The Queen is also once said to have remarked about the knees of Cherie Blair, who is married to former prime minister Tony Blair: They stiffen but they do not curtsy.

The Queen stands alongside Cherie Blair outside 10 Downing Street in 2002 (Peter Jordan/PA)

2. The handshake

Mr Trump has form for grabbing hands and holding on to them for an extended period of time.

The Queen is unlikely to accept any extreme hand-holding, and there appeared to be none on show last time.

Donald Trump shakes hands with the Queen (Chris Jackson/PA)

The monarchys official website has some simple advice on the matter.

It declares of those who decide not to bow or curtsy: Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way.

Mr Trump has been described as approaching a handshake like an arm wrestle, in which he clasps the hand and pulls sharply, leaving the recipient off-balance.

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar shakes hands with US President Donald Trump (Niall Carson/PA)

He yanked French President Emmanuel Macrons hand at the Bastille Day celebration in July 2017, holding on to it for nearly 30 seconds.

At the White House in April 2018, he also led the French leader away from reporters after shaking his hand and keeping hold of it.

Watch Trump yank Macron away like hes a kid on a mission to eat some ice cream. pic.twitter.com/tGrDAsakAR  Scott Dworkin (@funder) April 24, 2018

Prime Minister Theresa May also encountered Mr Trumps unusual mode of dealing with foreign leaders.

They held hands as they walked along at the White House during their first meeting in January 2017.

PM Theresa May and US President Donald Trump holding hands at the White House during her visit to Washington DC. Picture by @StefanRousseau pic.twitter.com/mVunAJ0gah  PA Media (@PA) January 27, 2017

Mrs May later said the US president was actually being a gentleman.

We were about to walk down a ramp, and he said it might be a bit awkward, she said.

3. Remember where the Queen is standing

Mr Trumps biggest royal faux pas came when he was invited by the Queen to inspect the Guard of Honour.

Inspecting the Guard of Honour (Matt Dunham/PA)

As the Queen and the president walked across the lawn of the quadrangle to view the troops, the monarch appeared to gesture and point several times for him to move closer to the front line of soldiers.

The Queen guides the president towards the soldiers (Matt Dunham/PA)

Mr Trump moved slightly closer, but then stood still in front of the Queen, meaning the monarch had to navigate her way around him so they could walk side by side.

4. Your Majesty

On presentation to the Queen, the correct formal address is Your Majesty and subsequently Maam, pronounced with a short a as in jam.

The Secretary General of @IMOHQ: Your Majesty, I ... know that you have a deep personal interest in ships and the sea, as your presence here today clearly shows. pic.twitter.com/3ZYRycpvq0  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) March 6, 2018

Eyebrows have already been raised after the White House referred to the Queen as Her Royal Majesty in its announcement of the impending visit.

5. No touching

Buckingham Palace always courteously insists touching the Queen is not a breach of protocol.

But it is the generally accepted custom that you do not touch the monarch other than shaking hands if she puts out her hand to greet you in this way.

That means no hugs, air kisses  unless you are family  or arms around the back or shoulder unless you are firm friends.

Former Canadian cyclist Louis Garneau puts his arm around the Queen as they pose for a photo (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA)

The Queen is unlikely to take offence, although tactile behaviour is not encouraged.

Former Canadian cyclist Louis Garneau put his arm round the Queen in 2002 as his wife took a picture of them together while the monarch was touring Canada.

But the Queen appeared not to mind and smiled broadly for the camera.

In 1992, the then Australian premier Paul Keating was dubbed the Lizard of Oz after cameras caught him giving the Queen a helping hand at Canberras Parliament House by touching her back.

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton revealed that the Queen once gave him a lesson in the etiquette over lunch.

I was excited and started to talk to her but she said, pointing to my left, No, you speak that way first and Ill speak this way and then Ill come back to you, Hamilton revealed.

7. Start outside and work your way in

This is the golden rule for negotiating the cutlery in the Buckingham Palace Ballroom.

The elaborately dressed horseshoe state banquet table in Buckingham Palaces Ballroom (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Napkins must go on a guests lap and be placed on the chair if the guest has to leave the table during the meal. They only go on the table at the end of the meal.

Nineteen stations are set up around the table each manned by four staff  a page, footman, under butler and a wine butler  who use a traffic light system to co-ordinate the serving of courses.

8. Dont fall asleep

The Duke of Edinburgh once dozed off during a state banquet in Seoul in 1999.

The Duke of Edinburgh, with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, during the Queens speech at a state banquet in Seoul (PA)

Seated next to South Koreas president, Kim Dae-jung, he closed his eyes and nodded off briefly during a lengthy speech by the Queen.

9. No selfies

The Queen has occasionally accidentally photo-bombed the odd selfie, but asking the monarch for a selfie is a definite no-no.

A teenager tries to take a selfie in front of the Queen during a walk around St Georges Market in Belfast (Peter Macdiarmid/PA)

She once said she found it strange to be greeted by a sea of mobile phones, telling then-US ambassador Matthew Barzun she missed eye contact.

The Queens second son, the Duke of York, has admitted he does not mind selfies, posing for his own first royal one in the palace in 2015.

At #pitchatpalace 1.0 The Duke took the first Royal Selfie pic.twitter.com/W9G8kTjKtf  The Duke of York (@TheDukeOfYork) June 17, 2015

Mrs Trump posted her own Happy New Year selfie this year, but is unlikely to be able to post one featuring the Queen.
Fellow journalists from across the UK and Ireland held vigils in memory of Lyra McKee as her funeral was under way in Belfast.

Ms McKee, 29, died after being shot by the New IRA in Londonderry last Thursday.

She had worked for publications including The Belfast Telegraph and BuzzFeed News and wrote regularly about her experience of being a young gay woman in Northern Ireland.

She was due to publish a book about the death of Unionist MP Robert Bradford at the hands of the Provisional IRA in 1981.

Reporters from numerous outlets shared images on social media of their own vigils to coincide with her funeral service in Belfast, using the hashtag #WeStandWithLyra.

Many gathered at the Guildhall in Londonderry to offer their respects.

Twenty-nine candles are placed at a vigil for Lyra McKee at St Brides Church in London (NUJ/PA)

Staff from Channel 4 News in London were seen standing beside a screen bearing the hashtag and a photo of Ms McKees face, while the BBC Scotland newsroom also came to a standstill.

ITV Newss Rupert Evelyn tweeted a clip of people applauding the murdered reporter in their Bristol and South West newsroom.

Other similar tributes were seen in Cork, Galway and Glasgow and even as far afield as the United States, China and the Middle East.

NUJ members at the INTO Conference in Galway #WeStandWithLyra pic.twitter.com/lmoQqNaC7z  Daragh Small (@daraghs0) April 24, 2019

Belfast-born BBC reporter Andrea Catherwood tweeted: Cameras down in Doha to remember fellow journalist #LyraMcKee senselessly murdered in Derry. Her values of inclusion, love and equality are N Irelands future. #WestandwithLyra.

Cameras down in Doha to remember fellow journalist #LyraMcKee senselessly murdered in Derry. Her values of inclusion, love and equality are N Irelands future. #WestandwithLyra pic.twitter.com/vnq4kaffQv  Andrea Catherwood (@acatherwoodnews) April 24, 2019

The Press Gazette said that around 60 people had gathered in London at a service at St Brides Church in Fleet Street, known as the journalists church.

Around 60 people have gathered at St Brides Church in Fleet Street for a vigil for murdered journalist Lyra McKee. #WeStandWithLyra pic.twitter.com/XSwq7CzwIP  Press Gazette (@pressgazette) April 24, 2019

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) showed an image of 29 candles placed at the church, in a reference to the age at which Miss McKee died.

All are welcome to sign a book of condolence for #LyraMcKee at #JournalistsChurch EC4Y 7AU as we hold vigil on this her funeral day.



We hold Lyra, her partner Sara, family, friends & colleagues in our hearts and prayers. May she rest in peace.#WeStandWithLyra @NUJofficial pic.twitter.com/gUYwY6gaWD  St Bride's Church, Fleet Street (@stbrideschurch) April 24, 2019

The church tweeted: We hold Lyra, her partner Sara, family, friends & colleagues in our hearts and prayers. May she rest in peace.

At a vigil held last week in Londonderry, a speaker on behalf of the NUJ told the crowd: The NUJ stands by the right of its members to investigate and report the news.

We are deeply shocked that our young member has become the latest of over 1,300 journalists who have been killed worldwide since 1992 simply for doing their job.
The eighth Briton killed in the Sri Lankan terror attack has been described by her husband as a conduit for bringing people together to both make things happen, and make them better.

Lorraine Campbell, 55, was in Colombo on a work trip when she was among at least 359 people killed by a series of blasts at churches and hotels on Easter Sunday.

The IT specialist, originally from Manchester but who had been living in Dubai with her husband whom she married recently, was in the Cinnamon Grand Hotel when it was attacked.

(PA Graphics)

Her husband Neil Evans said: Lorraine was a real tour de force. She epitomised the qualities she lived by, and was a conduit for bringing people together to both make things happen, and make them better.

Ive lost my best friend in the world for all the adventures we shared and planned for the future.

I, Lorraines family and friends are in a state of disbelief and grief for what has happened and as such, would respectfully ask that our privacy at this difficult time is respected.

A statement from Ms Campbells family added: Lorraine, known to most people as Loz, was a woman who embraced life to the full, and meant so much to so many people and there will forever be an enormous void that will never now be filled.

Loz was a wife, mother, sister and aunt, and a close friend to so many people, having risen through the ranks of the IT world, working in multiple cities in the UK and abroad.

Her son, Mark Campbell, told Sky News his mother was like a cockroach in her steely resolve to survive.

A priest conducts religious rituals during a mass burial for victims in Negombo (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

He said: I guess we kind of knew (she had died) but there was that background thought with my mum that she was like a cockroach  you couldnt kill her, couldnt keep her down, couldnt squash her  she always found a way.

In a lot of our minds, (we thought) she had somehow made it.

Police in Colombo have detained 58 people in connection with the bombings, claimed by the Islamic State group, while specialist officers from the Metropolitan Polices Counter Terrorism Command have been sent to the country to support the bereaved and Scotland Yard has asked for images or video taken during the attacks.

One of the bombers behind the attack was reportedly former UK student Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed.

He is understood to have studied in the south east of England at some point between 2006 and 2007  and later did a postgraduate course in Australia, before returning to settle in Sri Lanka.

Mohameds identity was reported by Sky News after officials in Sri Lanka claimed one of the suicide bombers may have studied in the UK.

Many of the attackers came from well-educated, middle-class families, and had been part of a pair of little-known extremist Muslim groups, Sri Lankas junior defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene told reporters.

Briefing foreign corrrspondents on the current situation in #SriLanka https://t.co/tFZU0Wv7J3  Ruwan Wijewardene (@RWijewardene) April 24, 2019

He added at least one had a law degree and some may have studied in the UK and Australia.

Mr Wijewardene distanced himself from suggestions that the bombings were revenge for the massacre at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, which killed 50 people.

He said there was no direct evidence to say the attacks were retaliatory.

In addition to the eight Britons who died, a locally employed British Council employee was in hospital with his wife, both with serious injuries, said Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Among the British victims were Anita Nicholson, her son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel, 11, who died when one of seven suicide bombers struck as they ate breakfast at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.

Ben Nicholson with wife Anita, son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel, 11 (Family handout/PA)

Londoner Matthew Linseys daughter Amelie, 15, and son Daniel, 19, were killed in the same blast on the final day of their holiday.

GP Sally Bradley and her husband Bill Harrop, a retired firefighter, from Manchester, died in the Cinnamon Grand Hotel bombing.
A Kenyan court has found British national Jermaine Grant guilty of possessing bomb-making materials.

Sentencing will be on May 9.

Grant is already serving a nine-year sentence for forging immigration documents.

Grant is believed to be part of an al Shabab-linked cell that planned multiple attacks over Christmas in 2011.

Authorities say cell members include Samantha Lewthwaite, widow of Jermaine Lindsay, one of the bombers who killed 52 people on Londons transport system on July 7 2005.
A second man has been arrested in connection with the death of T2 Trainspotting actor Bradley Welsh.

Mr Welsh, 48, was shot as he walked down the stairs to his Edinburgh flat on April 17.

Police confirmed on Wednesday that a second man was arrested over the death and he has been released pending further inquiries.

It came a day after officers revealed a first man had been arrested over the incident. He was released pending inquiries.

Forensic officers scoured the scene of the shooting in Edinburghs west end (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Welshs partner and young daughter were at home in the Chester Street flat when he was targeted at around 8pm on April 17, sparking a murder investigation.

In a statement, Police Scotland said: This investigation is ongoing and officers are continuing to appeal for information.



Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident number 3782 of April 17, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
SNP MEP Alyn Smith heads the partys list of candidates ahead of next months European Parliament election.

The SNP announced its six candidates for the European election  three men and three women  on Wednesday.

Mr Smith has been an MEP since 2004.

Christian Allard, who was born in France, is second on the list of candidates, followed by the partys former environment minister Aileen McLeod, ex-Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Margaret Ferrier, Scottish Borders councillor Heather Anderson, and SNP national executive committee member Alex Kerr.

Thrilled and honoured to be @theSNP #EuropeanElections lead candidate with 2 @Christia_Allard 3 @AileenMcLeodSNP 4 @MargaretFerrier 5 @heatherbell59 6 @AlexKerr3. Lets get in about it and win for independence in Europe!   Alyn Smith MP  (@AlynSmith) April 24, 2019

Parties rank their preferred six candidates, with the number elected proportional to the share of votes received.

The SNPs announcement of its candidates comes ahead of the partys conference in Edinburgh this weekend.

Alyn Smith will run for re-election to the European Parliament (Philippe Buissin/PA)

Depute leader Keith Brown said the party will ensure Scotlands voice is heard in Europe.

He said: With the Westminster parties making a mess of Brexit, the European elections are Scotlands chance to shine.

Scotland is being dragged out of the European Union against our will. All our efforts to be heard on Brexit have been met with a brick wall.

The people of Scotland have been ignored, the Scottish Parliament has been ignored. And, when the Scottish Government offered compromise, it was ignored too. Enough is enough.

Delighted and privileged to be one of the 6 @theSNP EU Election candidates . If you are a delegate at Spring Conference you will be receiving your ballot just after midday today. I hope I can count on your support. Thank You #EUelections2019 pic.twitter.com/K8zD6vLYwW  Margaret Ferrier MP (@MargaretFerrier) April 19, 2019

We need to send a clear message that we will not accept a Brexit process that silences Scotland, treats our Parliament and Government with contempt and fails to represent the interests of people in Scotland.

And we need to take this opportunity to prove that Scotland wants something different from all this chaos  a seat and a voice at Europes top table.

Only the SNP will champion Scotlands place in Europe, and will make sure that Scotlands voice is heard loud and clear.
The family of a 22-year-old woman found dead in Swansea have described her as a little pocket rocket who loved animals.

Sammy-Lee Lodwig was found dead by police at 3.10am on Tuesday following reports of a serious assault at a property in Carlton Terrace in the Mount Pleasant area of the city.

Armed officers and a police helicopter attended the scene, with cordons placed around streets in the area.

In a tribute released through South Wales Police, Miss Lodwigs sister Miakala described her as a shooting star.

I loved my sister more that life itself. She has been taken from me and my family too early, the tribute said.

She was my little pocket rocket who loved animals, especially her dog Rocky. She will always remain in my heart.

Sammy-Lee Lodwig was found dead at a terraced home in Swansea (South Wales Police/PA)

Words cannot express how I feel at this time, I just want my baby girl back, my shooting star.

The force said specially-trained officers were supporting the family, who have requested privacy to grieve in private.

Detective chief inspector Darren George, of South Wales Police major crime team, appealed for witnesses to come forward.

This remains very much an active investigation into the murder of Sammy-Lee, I would like to again appeal to the local community who may have information in relation to the incident to please come forward and contact the incident room or to contact Crimestoppers in confidence, he said.

A local 49-year-old man remains in police custody having been arrested on suspicion of Sammy-Lees murder.

I am particularly interested in hearing from anyone who would have been in the Carlton Terrace or Mansel Street areas of Swansea between 8pm on Monday evening and 4am on Tuesday morning.

Anyone with information is asked to contact South Wales Police on 101 or Crimestoppers via 0800 555 111, quoting occurrence 1900144514.
A 43-year-old woman was left childless and a widow when suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on churches and luxury hotels in and near Sri Lankas capital of Colombo.

Anusha Kumari pulled herself away from her sisters and flung herself on the three coffins carrying the remains of her loved ones.

The toll was highest at St Sebastians Church in Negombo.

Of the more than 350 people killed by the suicide bombings that the government blamed on Muslim extremists, about a third of them died at the church in the seaside fishing town while attending Easter Mass.

Anusha Kumari holds portraits of her daughter Sajini Venura Dulakshi and son Vimukthi Tharidu Appuhami (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

And perhaps no one lost more relatives than Mrs Kumari, whose daughter, son, husband, sister-in-law and two nieces were killed.

They were buried three days later near the church on some vacant land that has quickly become a cemetery for the victims.

Mrs Kumari, who is still injured from the blast, left the hospital to bury her family.

Afterwards, she reclined in a cane chair at her home, hooked up to an IV dangling from an open window.

Gauze bandages covered the bridge of her nose and her right eye and there was still shrapnel in her face.

A photo of her children was on the wall, while on the shelf were small statues of Jesus, Mary and St Sebastian, an early Christian martyr riddled with wounds from Roman arrows.

She could see her sons drum kit on the upstairs landing, a gift from his father after doing well on exams, and a school portrait of her daughter.

All day, relatives, neighbours and nuns wandered in and out of the large house, offering food, consolation and prayer.

You wont believe it, but I had the perfect family, Mrs Kumari said.

In 24 years of marriage, my husband and I never argued. All four of us slept in the same room. Now I have lost everything.

Tears mixed with blood from her bandaged right eye.

All these people, they have their own families. Theyll go home and Ill be alone, she said.

St Sebastians Church in Negombo (Chamila Karunarathne/AP)

A brother-in-law, Jude Prasad Appuhami, said his extended family, one of the oldest and most prominent in Catholic-majority Negombo, marked all the religious holidays and rituals at St Sebastians, a Gothic-style church patterned after Reims Cathedral in France.

On Easter, though, he was not in church with his 15 relatives because he had to drive a vehicle carrying a statue of Christ for a parade after Mass.

Mr Appuhami arrived midway through the service and heard the blast from the car park.

He rushed in and was overwhelmed by the sight of so much blood.

One of his sisters-in-law, who survived, shouted for him to help their niece.

He found her with her eyes open, picked her up and rushed to the hospital, only to realise she was dead.

Mr Appuhamis wife and 10-year-old daughter, sitting in an alcove to the left of the altar, escaped with minor injuries.

Anusha Kumari, centre bottom, with bandages on her left eye touches coffins during a mass burial for her husband, two children and other family members (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

His 17-year-old daughter, Rusiri, who was sitting at the front of the church because she was going to do a reading from scripture, also survived, but she was left with nerve damage that makes eating painful.

On Wednesday, she struggled to grasp what she has seen.

I dont know how to think of it. Its like a dream, she said.

During the funeral at the makeshift cemetery near St Sebastians, where mourners had to pass through security checks, a military drone buzzed overhead as Father Niroshan Perera led prayers for the dead.

Mr Perera, who grew up with Mrs Kumaris husband, Dulip Appuhami, and his siblings, recalled going as a boy with his friends and family to the churchs well, where the faithful believed the water could cure them of diseases.

When the funeral ended, Mr Perera encouraged everyone to go home quickly, fearing another attack.

Mr Perera, who lost 16 relatives and friends in the blast, said he no longer trusted the Sri Lankan government to protect his flock.
 Flash

Czech President Milos Zeman Tuesday reiterated his welcome to China's participation in highway construction in the Czech Republic.

He said this when appointing new ministers for industry and trade, justice and transport.

"In the construction of motorways, I will bring the commitment of one of the world's largest construction companies, CITIC Group, to be ready to immediately send a design team to the Czech Republic and participate in this work," he said when talking to the new Transport Minister Vladimir Kremlik.

He said recently he saw nice billboards on which it was written "highway, highway, highway" in the country.

"So I would like this inscription to get down from the billboards to the ground and finally to build the motorways at least as fast as, for example, in neighboring Poland," said Zeman.

He added that the Czech Prime Minister has proposed Chinese companies to take part in construction projects in the Czech Republic on the basis of Public-Private-Partnership model.

Vladimir Kremlik will replace Dan Tok as the new minister of transport, while Karel Havlicek will replace Marta Novakova as new industry and trade minister and Marie Benesova replace Jan Knezinek as new justice minister.

Zeman also appointed Havlicek and Finance Minister Alena Schillerova as new deputy prime ministers after dismissing Environment Minister Richard Brabec from the deputy PM post.
Born and brought up in Inverkeithing, Fife, Natalie McGarry studied law at Aberdeen University before working in HR, as a community officer for unemployed parents and as a policy adviser in the voluntary sector.

She rose to prominence politically after helping set up Women for Independence in 2012, an organisation which aimed to represent womens voices and interests in the campaign for Scottish independence.

She contested the 2014 Cowdenbeath Holyrood by-election for the SNP, held following the death of sitting Labour MSP Helen Eadie.

McGarry campaigning with then first minister Alex Salmond ahead of the by-election (David Cheskin/PA)

McGarry lost out to Alex Rowley, who held the seat for Labour with a majority of 5,488.

The following year she was elected as an SNP MP representing Glasgow East, and she was appointed the partys Westminster spokeswoman for disabilities, a post she held for seven months.

In February 2016, the pro-Kurdish politician was briefly detained by security forces in Turkey.

Her lawyer said Turkish special forces became alarmed since she had her mobile phone out near a security checkpoint.

He said she was recording the sound of bombs from Turkish forces falling on a Kurdish area of Sur in Diyarbaki.

Four months later, she caused a stir in the House of Commons by voting in her wedding dress, having just had her marriage to Glasgow Conservative councillor David Meikle blessed in the Parliaments St Mary Undercroft chapel.

McGarry joined First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the campaign trail ahead of the 2015 general election (Danny Lawson/PA)

She resigned the party whip as fraud allegations against her emerged  which she denied at the time  and she continued in Parliament as an independent.

She did not seek re-election in 2017.
As the countdown continues until the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs baby, the Royal Collection has already released a Royal Baby Bear 2019.

Harry and Meghans first born  a great-grandchild of the Queen  is expected to put in an appearance in the coming days.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex receiving two teddy bears from members of the public on Kingfisher Bay Jetty during their visit to Fraser Island in Australia (PA)

The new limited edition cream bear, which costs 125, has been handmade by traditional Shropshire-based teddy bear makers Merrythought especially for the Royal Collection.

Only 100 of the 19cm-tall toys  made using alpaca fleece with 100% cotton back and pure silk  are available to buy.

The hand-made teddy bear which costs 125 (Royal Collection Trust/Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019/PA)

The bear, finished with a cream bow around its neck, has an embroidered golden crown and 2019 on one of its feet.

According to the Royal Collection shop website: Featuring a hand-embroidered nose and smile, each bear has a truly individual personality and is simply finished with a luxurious satin ribbon.

The bear comes in a cream presentation Limited Edition Royal Baby Teddy Bear box.

Parents-to-be Harry and Meghan have already received a number of teddy bears for Baby Sussex on their travels  on Fraser Island in Queensland, Australia, and on a royal visit to Birkenhead in Merseyside.

Harry and Meghan are given a teddy bear on a walkabout in Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, in January (Aaron Chown/PA)

China souvenirs and other royal baby memorabilia were produced following the birth of the Cambridges children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

It is likely the Royal Collection will do the same for Harry and Meghans son or daughter, just as they did for the Sussexes wedding last year.

The couple are said to be settling into life in their new renovated home Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Estate as they prepare for their new arrival.
Nicola Sturgeon will push ahead with plans for a second Scottish independence referendum within the next two years if the UK quits the European Union.

While the First Minister said she wants to have cross-party talks with opposition leaders about Scotlands future in the wake of Brexit, she also announced that new legislation laying down the rules for a future referendum would be introduced shortly at Holyrood.

Plans for this framework Bill, along with the creation of a new Citizens Assembly, were announced in a statement to MSPs on Wednesday.

She told them: I can confirm that the Scottish Government will act to ensure that the option of giving people a choice on independence later in this term of Parliament is progressed.

Ms Sturgeon was clear that a choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered to people before the next Holyrood elections in May 2021.

She set out her stance after Theresa May secured a second extension to the Article 50 process, delaying the UKs EU departure until October 31 at the latest.

For Scots to rush into an immediate decision before a Brexit path has been determined would not allow for an informed choice to be made about the future, the First Minister said.

But she stressed: If we are to safeguard Scotlands interests, we cannot wait indefinitely.

That is why I consider that a choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered in the lifetime of this parliament.

(PA Graphics)

Ms Sturgeon is adamant the Scottish Government has a mandate to hold a second independence referendum as a result of the SNPs victory in the 2016 Holyrood elections  with the partys manifesto explicitly stating such a vote could take place if there was a material change of circumstances since the first vote in 2014.

But with the Prime Minister having repeatedly made clear her opposition to a second independence ballot, Scottish Secretary David Mundell said the UK Government will stand up for those who do not want another vote.

He said: People in Scotland voted decisively in 2014 to remain part of the UK, on a promise that the referendum would settle the issue for a generation.

Instead of respecting that result, Nicola Sturgeon continues to press for divisive constitutional change when it is clear that most people in Scotland do not want another independence referendum. The UK Government will stand up for them.

Sturgeons drive to stage #indyref2 before 2021 is absurd and divisive.



It's not what the majority of Scots want - people have had enough of constitutional politics and division. pic.twitter.com/LKdrHUErwW  Scottish Conservatives (@ScotTories) April 24, 2019

Ms Sturgeon, however, claimed the current constitutional status quo was broken and that it is time for politicians in the Scottish Parliament to consider the consequences of Brexit.

While she insisted she feels this means the case for independence is stronger than ever, she conceded others take a different view.

She has now tasked her Brexit Secretary Mike Russell to explore with other parties areas of agreement on constitutional and procedural change.

Alongside this, the First Minister announced a Citizens Assembly will be set up to bring together a representative cross-section of Scotland to consider issues such as what kind of country Scotland should be.

Scottish Tory interim leader Jackson Carlaw claimed Ms Sturgeons statement was inherently divisive.

He said: Astonishingly, the way the First Minister thinks we come together is for the people of Scotland to be plunged into another divisive referendum within the next 18 months.

First Minister, this is just absurd.

Scotland has had enough of constitutional politics and division. We say no more  enough is enough.

The chaos of Brexit throws into sharp relief the challenges of leaving a political and economic union.



The First Ministers statement is a distraction from the real problems in our communities like poverty. pic.twitter.com/bL0xfb31Dm  Richard Leonard (@LabourRichard) April 24, 2019

Scottish Labours Richard Leonard accused the First Minister of putting the interests of the SNP before the interests of our country.

Arguing that independence would lead to unprecedented austerity for Scotland, he claimed Ms Sturgeons statement was an attempt to pacify her party members and backbenchers ahead of the SNPs conference this weekend.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: The First Minister hasnt done the one decent thing that people in Scotland want her to do, which is to make it stop and take her campaign for independence off the table.

With all the division and chaos with Brexit, with all the wounds still open from the last independence campaign, with all the problems with schools, hospitals and social care, the last thing this country needs is to repeat the mistakes of Brexit.

But there was support for Ms Sturgeon from the Scottish Greens, whose parliamentary co-leader Alison Johnstone said: Scotlands future should be in Scotlands hands as an independent nation at the heart of Europe.

The Brexit shambles confirms our belief that we would be far better governing ourselves.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays official spokesman said: As we have been repeatedly clear, Scotland has already had an independence referendum in 2014 and voted decisively to remain in the United Kingdom. This should be respected. Our position hasnt changed.
The enormous potential of the Five Eyes alliance to work together to improve cyber security has been hailed by an intelligence chief as he attended a major conference.

UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand representatives have all been meeting at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) annual conference CYBERUK in Glasgow on Wednesday.

They have been discussing their experiences and how they work together to defend against shared cyber security threats during public sessions at the Scottish Event Campus  the first time the five members of the alliance have done so in the UK.

Fascinating discussion so far in the first ever Five Eyes panel on UK soil. The third discussion point will be on incident response #CyberUK19 #FiveEyes pic.twitter.com/mCnQbAzfnf  NCSC UK (@NCSC) April 24, 2019

Ciaran Martin, CEO of the NCSC, said the intelligence alliance has been brought into the public sphere by the modern digital world and the need to engage with a range of people and organisations.

Speaking to Press Association Scotland at the conference, Mr Martin said: I think its exciting to show off this formidable powerful alliance, not just in terms of what weve achieved in the past but our plans for the future in cyber security.

I think weve been brought out into the open by the modern digital society and the need to engage with industry, the need to engage with other international partners, the need to engage with victims of cyber attacks.

Ciaran Martin spoke during a Five Eyes session (Andrew Milligan/PA)

And I think the potential for us to work together to secure our digital futures is absolutely enormous.

He told how the alliance faces common problems.

We did an interesting study recently which showed that weve detected the breach of the password 123456 was made 23 million times across the world. That didnt just happen in the UK, didnt just happen in the Five Eyes.

But I think what it shows is that at one end of the worry spectrum youve got highly-sophisticated state actors threatening us and threatening our interests and our common values across the Five Eyes, but in other respects youve got basic vulnerabilities in the way digital technology works and the way people use it that leave us all more vulnerable than we should be.

We can work together on both to make sure weve a more digitally secure future.

Ciaran Martin (UK): "What a formidable partnership to be involved in. Being part of the Five Eyes is a real national asset for the UK. But it's not just based on trust or common threats - it's a contributory alliance. We all have something to offer" #CYBERUK19 #FiveEyes  NCSC UK (@NCSC) April 24, 2019

He said that people are more aware of cyber security than they used to be, but added that sometimes weve made it too hard as government or as technology providers for them to use technology safely in a way thats easy for them.

Mr Martin said: We have to spend more time than I think wed like dealing with some of the more basic attacks  but those basic attacks hurt people, they hurt organisations and they hurt our economy and our society.

One of the exciting things about this conference is were looking at things where, for example, it used to be the case that UK Government brands like HMRC the tax authority were one of the most spoofed in the world  it was in the top 20 most spoofed brands. Its now away outside the top 100 because weve done some really clever things.

What about if we scale that up not just in bits of the UK Government but everywhere in the UK, everywhere in the Five Eyes, everywhere in the allied world? It would be enormously powerful and keep us all safer.

Meanwhile, the head of GCHQ has made the case for a genuinely national effort to help improve the UKs cyber security.

Today at #CYBERUK19, our Director, Jeremy Fleming, called for greater collaboration to improve the #cybersecurity of the United Kingdom pic.twitter.com/Fpt0OmpyPO  GCHQ (@GCHQ) April 24, 2019

Director Jeremy Fleming stressed the need for continued and increasing collaboration between government, academia and industry partners in the UK and abroad when he addressed the conference.

The director of the agency often referred to as Britains listening post argued that the technological revolution brings with it increasing complexity, uncertainty and risk.

He told the audience that getting cyber security right is critical for the UKs future.

Whilst I think weve made a good start, the next stage of our strategy is even more critical. And itll need a national effort if its to succeed, he said.

He called for deeper cooperation with the private sector and closer working with partners and allies, but added that knowledge sharing must go two ways.

He said: A fundamental principle of the NCSC has always been to be more open, more transparent with the information we obtain.

Were already doing that and are committed to share even more in real time, to help business and Government defend themselves and the UK.
A generation of pupils are at risk of having their education compromised because the number of subjects they can study is reducing, academics have warned.

The Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) has created the unintended consequence of students being able to sit fewer exams, MSPs were told, with approximately half of Scottish schools only allowing six subjects at S4 level.

Taking evidence on the narrowing of the Scottish curriculum, the Education Committee heard some local authorities order schools to offer a set number of courses.

Professor Jim Scott, an education expert at the University of Dundee, said: Some local authorities have mandated the schools, almost without exception, to do six courses in S4.

The former headteacher compared the situation to a virus that spread round the north of Scotland with outbreaks in the south and south-west, and he warned: We are in danger of a generation going past who have not had a good experience in education.

He called for a mid-session review of CfE and  after unveiling a long document measuring all 357 secondary schools  added: I have trouble saying to you that anything is improving in this at all.

Mr Scott identified five areas where the Scottish education is struggling: modern languages, ICT, arts, technologies, and in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects.

Roughly half of Scotlands schools are doing six [subjects], he said, explaining that Stem subjects struggle when there are fewer options available.

He added: Weve got to stop this narrowing from happening.

Discussing one possible cause of problems in Scotlands school system, senior education lecturer at the University of Glasgow Dr Alan Britton said: Weve got a system of distributed responsibilities and therefore quite opaque accountabilities.

Dr Allan Britton from the University of Glasgow said that the `profound backdrop to education issues is a lack of clarity over accountability (Scottish Parliament/PA)

Yes, its in the spirit of Curriculum for Excellence for schools and headteachers to be empowered and autonomous to make decisions around the curriculum.

But weve always had that tension between autonomy and central control, and thats the profound backdrop to everything thats happening.

The unintended consequences arise from deep-rooted structures of governance in Scottish education itself, which weve never resolved.

The number of tests schoolchildren can sit has reduced sharply, according to research by think tank Reform Scotland published this week.

A minority of Scottish state schools allow pupils to sit more than six exams, with some only offering five subjects, while more deprived areas have been hit the hardest  contradicting claims by Education Scotland made at the previous committee hearing.

William Hardie, policy advice manager at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, criticised the lack of guidance on the curriculum, meaning schools and local authorities have been somewhat left to their own devices.

Mr Hardie added: Its been quite clear in the research and work that has been carried out that the reduction in course choices  at S4 in particular  is a result of unintended consequence.

Theres no intentional policy stating anywhere that there would be a reduction, I think that its all really an unintended consequence.

Following the committee meeting, Scottish Labour shadow education secretary Iain Gray said the warning from Mr Scott should finally be the wake-up call for John Swinney and Education Scotland to act.

He added: The SNP implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence and the significant cuts to the resources in our classrooms are to blame.

The reduction in subject choices in our schools is a reduction in opportunities for our young people.

Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative shadow education secretary, said: While Nicola Sturgeon is busy pushing for another independence referendum, experts have fully exposed the extent of the subject choice crisis affecting so many schools across Scotland.

Professor Scotts detailed analysis tells us that the majority of state schools are now offering fewer subjects, undermining the strong Scottish tradition of breadth within the curriculum which was so admired around the world.

Parents simply do not buy the argument that restricting subject choice is beneficial.

Instead of giving statements on independence, Nicola Sturgeon should be explaining why experts think the SNPs education reforms are failing a generation of pupils.
Inside the 100 year-old St Annes Cathedral in the heart of Belfast there was standing room only 45 minutes before the funeral of Lyra McKee was due to start.

Elderly women with white perms, pearl earrings and impeccable pastel suits sat next to people in their 20s, with multi-coloured hair, piercings, Harry Potter scarves and Marvel comic t-shirts.

Giant of Northern Irish journalism UTVs Ken Reid greeted person after person at the doorway as he tried to make his way to his seat.

Lyras friends filed in, wearing homemade #TeamLyra t-shirts, with Harry Potter-esque crests on the front.

Mourners wearing Harry Potter scarves at the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee

Some of their eyes were already filled with tears as they were helped to their seat by friends, many with Pride pins on their lapels, and greeted familiar faces as they squeezed into heaving pews.

Necks craned to see the many well-known faces who attended: Sinn Fein leaders Michelle ONeill and Mary Lou McDonald came in together, arms linked.

DUP leader Arlene Foster, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, entered the church separately and alone, until it was time for Prime Minister Theresa May, and Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley to arrive.

The British leader entered via a back door, followed by Irish President Michael D Higgins, and many security personnel.

When the service began the congregation heard from Lyras beloved Stephen Uncle Lusty, a long-time friend who paid tribute to the 29-year-old in a frank and honest eulogy that detailed her many attributes, from her opinions on straight sex to the time she phoned him after midnight for advice after she had broken the ringpull on a can of cider and needed his engineering experience to get inside it without spilling any.

The laughter in the pews was loud and genuine.

Sara Canning (left), the partner of Lyra McKee

Many wept when he spoke about Lyras plans to propose to her beloved girlfriend Sara in New York, and her Donegal wedding in 2022, a dream they were both tragically denied.

Female folk duo Saint Sister played the Cranberries song Dreams, now labelled a Derry Girls anthem after its recent use in the hit Channel 4 show.

The words echoed around the huge stone walls, as they sang without accompaniment for the adopted Derry girl, before Lyras sister Nichola Corner began her own tribute.

Nichola deftly catalogued Lyras young years as the baby of the house, doted on by her older siblings and their partners, and the unconditional love shared between Lyra and her mother Joan, a love Nichola said will continue, despite the empty space that cannot be filled.

She called on all there to live Lyras vision: We must change our own world, one piece at a time. Now lets get to work.

In a striking moment, Catholic priest Fr Martin Magill, from St Johns Parish in Belfast, spoke directly to Sara, and reflected he could not imagine the pain she was suffering.

Floral tributes at the funeral of murdered journalist Lyra McKee

He wondered aloud how her 68-year-old mother, and brothers and sisters found the strength to make the over-hour long car journey from Belfast to Altnagelvin Hospital, already knowing Lyra was dead.

He quoted the first reading of the service, blessed are the peacemakers, and in a rousing speech, spoke directly to the politicians.

He pleaded with them to return to the table, to offer those who had been denied the spoils of peace what they were owed.

The crowd erupted in a long, loud, standing ovation when he lamented: Why does it take a 29-year-olds death to get to this point?

When Lyras coffin was carried down the long aisle, a blessing was sung in Irish, as her heartbroken family followed, mum Joan, pushed in a wheelchair, grabbed the hands of those on the end of the pews, who offered small fleeting comfort as the sun began to light the dim church through the open doors.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Prime Minister Theresa May leave the funeral service of murdered journalist Lyra McKee

The politicians walked close together, Mrs Foster walked with the SNPs Ian Blackford, while proud Derry men SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and the Mayor of Derry John Boyle, followed close behind Mary Lou McDonald who wiped tears from her eyes as they left the church.

More than thousand people filed out behind them, every creed, race, age and gender, in wheelchairs, in prams and on foot.

A man passed by with a tote bag that read: This is who I am.

For Lyra McKees funeral, it seemed perfect.
One of the bombers behind the Sri Lankan terror attack was former UK student Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed.

He is understood to have studied in the southeast of England at some point between 2006 and 2007  and later did a postgraduate course in Australia, before returning to settle in Sri Lanka.

His identity was reported after officials in Sri Lanka claimed one of the suicide bombers may have studied in the UK.

Many of the attackers came from well-educated, middle-class families, and had been part of a pair of little-known extremist Muslim groups, Sri Lankas junior defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene told reporters.

He added at least one had a law degree and some may have studied in the UK and Australia.

Scotland Yard and a UK Government spokesman declined to comment.

St Sebastians Church was damaged in a blast in Negombo, north of Colombo (AP Photo/Chamila Karunarathne)

The identity of Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed was first reported by Sky News.
A portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie is going on display to the public for the first time since it was painted almost 300 years ago.

It will be shown at the National Museum of Scotland for around a month from Thursday.

Museum bosses have described it as a rare opportunity to see the portrait of the young prince, painted by Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera.

Was Prince Charles Edward Stuart really a Bonnie Prince?

Find out when this portrait by Venetian artist Rosalba Carriera goes on public display at the National Museum of Scotland for the 1st time, from 25 April 2019 

Don't miss this chance to see it!https://t.co/9JiRWitzBT pic.twitter.com/JgfeuQSEgx  National Museums Scotland (@NtlMuseumsScot) April 24, 2019

The half-length portrait, in pastel on blue paper, depicts the prince wearing the Order of the Garter.

Charles was 16 when it was painted in 1737 and it is believed to be the only portrait of him pre-dating the 1745 uprising which was not painted in Rome.

The artwork was previously held in a private collection until last year when it came up for auction.

Curator David Forsyth, left, and owner Peter Pininiski unveil the rediscovered portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Jane Barlow/PA)

It was purchased by The Pininski Foundation, which has lent it for short-term display at the Edinburgh-based museum until May 27.

It will be displayed within the Scotland galleries, adjacent to the display of Bonnie Prince Charlie-related material, including his silver canteen of travelling cutlery and targe shield.
Hundreds of indigenous Brazilians have gathered outside Brazils Congress for an annual three-day camping out protest known as the Free Land Encampment.

The lawn in front of Congress is dotted with tents, with indigenous people singing, dancing and selling crafts while wearing traditional feathered headdresses and their faces painted red and black.

Xucuru indigenous people (Eraldo Peres/AP)

The event began on Wednesday amid animosity between Brazils indigenous groups and the new government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

His justice minister is deploying national guard troops for security at the expansive lawn where a total of 4,000 indigenous people are expected to camp out.

The group is protesting Bolsonaro policies that include a practical halt to designations of indigenous lands and his calls for ending or limiting access to a federal indigenous health care programme.
A fare-dodging snake had to be removed from a bus after alarming passengers.

McGills Buses posted an image of the reptile slithering along a window ledge on its service in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

The pet is said to have escaped from a passengers bag on Friday.

McGills said on Facebook: Our Inspector Mick removing a fare dodging passenger from a bus in Paisley yesterday.

Now safely back with its owner but we hope it adder good time.

Bus inspector Mick McArthur was pictured with the pet, believed to be a corn snake, safely in a bag.

The snake was returned to its owner (McGills Buses/PA)

The creature was reunited with its owner after a phone call to lost property.

Ralph Roberts, McGills managing director, told the BBC News website: Mick took one look at it and said he thought it was just a corn snake.

He lifted it up and kept it safe before it could upset any of the passengers.
 Flash

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Tuesday expressed cautious optimism about the prospects of the political process in Syria.

"After eight years of conflict, this process will be long and difficult. But I think it is possible to move forward step by step," Pedersen told the Security Council in a briefing.

Many earlier differences over the constitutional committee, a key element in the Syrian political process, have been narrowed down, he said.

"While nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, we have a clear understanding on balanced co-chairing arrangements, a formula for decision-making, a shared acceptance of the United Nations' facilitation role, and a political commitment to the safety and security of all who would be involved," he said.

Both the Syrian government and opposition have been constructive on these points, said Pedersen. "I believe the final terms of the mandate can be agreed with a modicum of goodwill."

It is also agreed that six specific names on the list of civil society representatives on the constitutional committee need to be removed, he said.

Work continues to identify a set of names that can have the support of all concerned, that can enhance the quality and credibility of the list, while striving to achieve the objective of at least 30 percent female participants, he said.

"I have expended a lot of effort to build buy-in for the way forward on this. If everyone is prepared to compromise just a little, this can move."

But he cautioned that the situation for Syrians remains dire.

There has been "a very troubling surge" of violence in recent weeks in and around the Idlib de-escalation zone, causing civilian casualties and further displacement, he said.

De-escalation must be cemented. Idlib is not the only part of Syria that remains heavily militarized, or where Syrians continue to suffer, he warned.

The situation in the northeast is calmer, for now, but underlying dynamics remain unresolved. There are also reports of growing tensions and violence in the southwest, he said, adding that Syria still contains many threats for renewed escalation or even threats to international peace and security.
Rape victims are being told they must hand over their mobile phones to police or risk prosecutions against their attackers not going ahead.

Consent forms, which ask permission to access messages, photographs, emails and social media accounts, have been rolled out across the 43 forces in England and Wales.

The move is part of the response to the disclosure scandal, which rocked confidence in the criminal justice system when a string of rape and serious sexual assault cases collapsed after crucial evidence emerged at the last minute.

Police and prosecutors say the forms are an attempt to plug a gap in the law, which cannot force complainants or witnesses to disclose their phones, laptops, tablets and smart watches.

Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill said digital devices will only be looked at when they form a reasonable line of inquiry and only relevant material will go before a court if it meets hard and fast rules.

If theres material on a device, lets say a mobile phone, which forms a reasonable line of inquiry, but doesnt undermine the prosecution case and doesnt support any known defence case, then it wont be disclosed, he said.

But privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch has dubbed the measures digital strip searches and said treating rape victims like suspects could deter people from reporting crimes.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Dame Vera Baird said the forms are just part of the problem as police and prosecutors look to harvest third-party material, such as school records and medical notes.

The police are really saying If you dont let us do this, the CPS wont prosecute, she said.

It is a real concern that people will be put off making a complaint in the first place if its widely thought they are going to have to hand over lots of personal data  everyone lives on their phones, particularly teenagers.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays spokesman told a Westminster briefing the issue was complex.

He said: We want victims to have the confidence to come forward and report crimes knowing that they will get the support they need and that everything will be done to bring offenders to justice.

Clearly, this is a complex area and, while disclosure is an important component of the criminal justice system, to ensure a fair trial, the police have acknowledged that the use of personal data in criminal investigations is a source of anxiety and that they understand the need to balance a respect for privacy with the need to pursue all reasonable lines of inquiry.

The police and the CPS will work with victims and the Information Commissioners Office to ensure that the right approach is being taken.

Each police force will also conduct its own impact assessment of the forms as they are rolled out.

Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill says only `relevant material will go to court (Home Office/PA)

In the lead-up to trials, police and prosecutors are required to hand over relevant material that can undermine the prosecution case or assist the defence.

The regime came under sharp focus from the end of 2017 after a string of defendants, including student Liam Allan, then 22, had charges of rape and serious sexual assault against them dropped when critical material emerged as they went on trial.

The CPS launched a review of every live rape and serious sexual assault prosecution in England and Wales and, along with police, has implemented an improvement plan to try to fix failings in the system.

Some 93,000 officers have undertaken training, while police hope artificial intelligence technology can help trawl through the massive amounts of data stored on phones and other devices.

In rape and sexual assault cases, prosecutors also now use disclosure protocols previously used in terror trials.

The digital consent forms can be used for complainants in any criminal investigations but are most likely to be used in rape and sexual assault cases, where complainants often know the suspect.

The forms state: Mobile phones and other digital devices such as laptop computers, tablets and smart watches can provide important relevant information and help us investigate what happened.

This may include the police looking at messages, photographs, emails and social media accounts stored on your device.

We recognise that only the reasonable lines of inquiry should be pursued to avoid unnecessary intrusion into the personal lives of individuals.

Liam Allans trial collapsed after crucial evidence emerged (David Mirzoeff/PA)

Scotland Yards Assistant Commissioner Nicholas Ephgrave said he recognised the inconvenient and awkward nature of handing devices to police and admitted: I wouldnt relish that myself.

He added: People who have been victimised and subjected to serious sexual assaults, for example, thats an awful thing to happen to them and you dont wish to make it worse by making their lives really difficult.

But to pursue the offender, the way the law is constructed, we do have these obligations, so we have to find a way of getting that information with a) as much consent as we can, which is informative, and b) with the minimum of disruption and irritation and embarrassment to the person whose phone it is that were dealing with.

Police and prosecutors have sought to reassure victims of crime that only material relevant to a potential prosecution will be harvested, but the forms state even information of a separate criminal offence may be retained and investigated.

They also state: If you do not provide consent for the police to access data from your device you will be given the opportunity to explain why.

If you refuse permission for the police to investigate, or for the prosecution to disclose material which would enable the defendant to have a fair trial then it may not be possible for the investigation or prosecution to continue.

Griff Ferris, legal and policy officer at Big Brother Watch, said urgent reform is needed so victims do not have to choose between their privacy and justice.

The CPS is insisting on digital strip searches of victims that are unnecessary and violate their rights, he said.

Mr Allan, now working with miscarriage of justice campaign group Innovation Of Justice, said it was completely understandable that rape complainants might not wish to hand over data stretching back a long time before the alleged offence and with no relevance to the allegation.

But he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that, in his case. he did not even think to ask for details of the complainants phone contacts with friends around the time of the alleged assault.

That was some of the valuable evidence, said Mr Allan. If we have to ask for these things, not knowing how the process works, they we are at a disadvantage and its not a fair trial.

The consent form is a good step, as long as its carried out in the right way, as long as its not trawling through unnecessary information.

I was innocent. I was asked to give over my phone. Does that mean I lose all my rights to privacy because I was accused?

It has to work both ways  We deserve the same rights until the point of conviction.

The Information Commissioners Office said it has launched an investigation into use of data extraction technology on the mobile phones of suspects, victims and witnesses.

A spokeswoman said: We are also currently looking at concerns raised around the collection, secure handling and the use of serious sexual crime victims personal information.

A separate investigation will be tracking the journey victims information takes through the criminal justice system, from allegation, through disclosure and on to any compensation application that may be made.

This is to identify areas where victims information is most vulnerable or where processing may be excessive and disproportionate.
Spains governing Socialists won the countrys election on Sunday but must seek backing from smaller parties to maintain power, while a far-right party rode an unprecedented surge of support to enter the lower house of parliament for the first time in four decades.

With 99% of ballots counted, the Socialists led by prime minister Pedro Sanchez won 29% of the vote, capturing 123 seats in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies.

The new far-right Vox party made its national breakthrough by capturing 10% of the votes, which would give it 24 seats.

Mr Sanchez announced that he would soon open talks with other political parties, telling crowds gathered at the gates of his party headquarters in central Madrid that the future has won and the past has lost.

(PA Graphics)

He hinted at a preference for a left-wing governing alliance but also sent a warning to Catalan separatists, whose support he may need, that any post-electoral pact must respect the countrys 1978 constitution, which bans regions from seceding.

Voxs success came at the expense of the once-dominant conservative Popular Party, which fell to 66 seats, losing more than half of its representation since the last election in 2016.

The conservatives also lost votes to the centre-right Citizens party, which will increase its number of seats from 32 to 57.

Pedro Sanchez outside the party headquarters following the general election (Bernat Armangue/AP)

Voters in Spain had become disillusioned as the country struggled with a recession, austerity cuts, corruption scandals, divisive demands for independence from the restive Catalonia region and a rise in far-right nationalism not seen since Spains dictatorship ended in the 1970s.

We told you that we were going to begin a reconquering of Spain and thats what we have done, Vox leader Santiago Abascal said, in reference to the 15th-century campaign by the Spanish Catholic Kings to end Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula.

Supporters of Pedro Sanchez gather at the party headquarters (Andrea Comas/AP)

Vox, which was formed five years ago, has promised to defend Spain from its enemies, citing feminists, liberal elites and Muslims among others. Its emergence on the national stage gives Spain five political parties, furthering political fragmentation in a country that was alternately ruled for decades by the Socialists and the Popular Party.

To stay in office, the Socialists and Sanchez must form a governing alliance with smaller parties, including the far-left United We Can led by Pablo Iglesias.

Mr Iglesias said after the vote that he would have liked a better result, but its been enough to stop the right-wing and build a left-wing coalition government, adding that he had already offered support to Mr Sanchez.

But Mr Sanchez will still need 11 more seats to get the 176-seat majority he needs in the lower house of parliament, meaning he may be forced to make pacts with Catalan and other separatist parties  moves that would anger many Spaniards on the left and the right.

Pablo Casado, who had steered the Popular Party further to the right to try to stop it from losing votes to Vox, called the worst ballot result ever for his party very bad, saying weve been losing our electoral support for several elections.

Santiago Abascal, leader of far right party Vox, addresses supporters (Manu Fernandez/AP)

Turnout was nearly 76%, up more than eight points since the previous election in 2016. The vote surge included a huge boost in the north-eastern Catalonia region, which has been embroiled in a political quagmire since its failed secession bid in 2017 put separatist leaders in jail while they are tried.

Mr Sanchez said he wanted a mandate to undertake key social and political reforms.

The prime minister said he wanted a stable government that with calmness, serenity and resolution looks to the future and achieves the progress that our country needs in social justice, national harmony and in fighting corruption.
There shall be a Scottish Parliament. I like that.

Those were the words famously uttered by Donald Dewar  who went on to become the original first minister at Holyrood  as he unveiled the legislation that led to the creation of the devolved administration.

After decades of campaigning and two referendums  one in 1979 and one in 1997  it was Tony Blairs Labour Government that established the Parliament in Edinburgh that came into being 20 years ago.

On May 6 1999, Scots went to the polls to elect the first group of MSPs.

Donald Dewar with the Queen at the state opening of the Scottish Parliament (PA)

Among those voted in were Mr Dewar  who had been Mr Blairs Scottish Secretary  and the current first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

They were joined by former TV weather presenter Lloyd Quinan and the UKs first elected Green parliamentarian, Robin Harper.

In his speech at the official opening of the Parliament, Mr Dewar hailed it as a turning point and the day when democracy was renewed in Scotland.

Two decades, on politics expert Professor James Mitchell said the most striking thing about the Parliament is how it has established itself at the heart of Scottish life.

It just seems part of the furniture of politics and is just taken for granted, he said.

But Prof Mitchell, of the University of Edinburgh, said for the most part Holyrood had been conservative in policy-making and has not been particularly bold.

Speaking to the Press Association he said: It hasnt satisfied those who hoped it would take Scotland in a different, radical direction.

Scotland was the first part of the UK to stub out smoking in public places (Andrew Milligan/PA)

While devolution saw Scotland become the first part of the UK to outlaw smoking in public places, Prof Mitchell said: Most people forget the Executive was opposed to the smoking ban initially and it had to be pulled into what was happening by private members and learning from elsewhere.

He claimed the Parliament had been conceived as a negative, as a way of defending Scotland from Conservative rule, recalling: It was the stop Thatcher at the border rhetoric of the 80s and 90s, and in that way it has been successful in that there are a lot of policies where  Scotland has gone its own way.

As well as the smoking ban, the Scottish Parliament has introduced free personal care for elderly people and has scrapped tuition fees for Scottish students at the countrys universities.

Prof Mitchell said the early years of devolution had benefited from the phenomenal growth in public expenditure across the UK, not just in Scotland.

He argued this gave ministers a wonderful opportunity to introduce a more radical, preventative policy agenda, aimed at ending inequalities in areas such as health and education.

But he said they had failed to do it, claiming that administrations at Holyrood had been unimaginative in this respect.

He also argued devolution had been largely bad for local government, claiming that over the 20 years of the Scottish Parliament there had been little change in the relationship between councils and central government.

If you go back 20 years there was a hostile relationship between local government and central government, he recalled

The relationship between Scottish local government and the Scotland Office was awful.

You had Conservatives in the Government and Labour in control of local government, and the Scotland Office just ran roughshod over them.

But I dont think it really has changed. The Scottish Government and Executive have made demands on local government, underfunded them but expect them to deliver.

The autonomy of local government has shrunk. Devolution in that respect has been disappointing.

Prof Mitchell said: In the next 20 years it could be time to look at the relationship between local government and the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government because it hasnt fulfilled the promise that was there.

Weve got to be more forward-thinking, I think policy-making has been very immediate, its been driven by short-termism, by headlines and not outcomes

I would love to think the parliament might be able to break out of the short-termism and be a much more forward thinking parliament than it has been.
The Prince of Wales will meet Scout leaders and tour a museum during a visit to Aberdeenshire.

Charles has been invited to view the newly refurbished 1st Macduff Scout Hut, one of the oldest surviving buildings in the coastal town.

He will meet leaders and members of the unit at the stone hut which dates back to the 18th century and serves as a meeting point for Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers.

Charles at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland earlier this month (Liam McBurney/PA)

The prince, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, will later visit a silversmithing and jewellery-making business in Banff.

The social enterprise Vanilla Ink runs classes to help people, vulnerable youngsters in particular, develop the skills.

Charles final engagement of the day will see him tour Banff Museum and view its collection of locally-produced silverware.
A British man said he was traumatised after becoming a prime suspect in the murder of a mother and her one-year-old daughter in Canada.

Robert Leeming said he had been wrongly suspected of killing his tenant Jasmine Lovett, 25, and her daughter Aliyah Sanderson, who vanished from the Cranston area of Calgary earlier this month.

The 34-year-old, who has lived in Canada for six years, was arrested on Thursday at his home in Cranston.

Calgary Police later said an unnamed suspect had been released without being charged, however, he remains the primary suspect in the case.

Speaking to local media after his release, Leeming said he understood he remained a suspect, describing it as a very stressful experience.

They have it wrong, as far as Im concerned. Of course they do, he said.

Jasmine Lovett, 25, and daughter Aliyah Sanderson, one, have not been since April 16 (Calgary Police/PA)

The mother and daughters family said they were devastated by their disappearance.

They are so loved by so many people and we just want answers, they said in a statement to the Calgary Herald.

We are hoping and praying for closure for everyone involved.

Calgary Police said Ms Lovett and Aliyah were last seen in Cranston on the evening of Tuesday April 16, while activity on her bank accounts stopped on April 18.

There have been no signs of life since, the force said.

(We) do not believe this incident to be random because the suspect and victims knew each other, police said.

We are currently working with multiple other agencies to search Cranston and the area around Bragg Creek for evidence.

Leeming said he was being treated as the prime suspect because he was the last person to see them on the evening of Thursday April 18.

The day before, they had gone to a picnic area at Bragg Creek, a beauty spot around 40 miles away from Cranston, he said.

Leeming, who described his relationship with Ms Lovett as just good friends, said he went out with the mother and baby for beers and some food before returning home.

Nothing unusual, he told reporters.

#Calgary police are still looking to speak with anyone who may have seen a Caucasian man in his mid-30s driving a grey, Mercedes SUV (similar to the one pictured), between April 16 & 20 in the #BraggCreek, #Priddis, #ElbowFalls or #EastKananaskis area - https://t.co/g5oGA8MXdF pic.twitter.com/0y0CPu3QP0  Calgary Police (@CalgaryPolice) April 27, 2019

Leeming said he was from England but had moved to Canada in 2013 and been issued permanent residency.

Ms Lovett and her child had been living at his property since October.

Asked if there had ever any romantic involvement between them, he replied: There was initially, but towards the end no.

On Saturday, Calgary Police appealed for anyone who saw a Caucasian man in his mid-30s driving a Mercedes SUV in the Bragg Creek area between April 16 and April 20.

The Calgary Police Service continues to search for evidence in the suspected homicides of Jasmine Lovett and Aliyah Sanderson, the force said.

The man may have been alone or with either of the victims, and may have been carrying mulch in his vehicle, the force said.

Despite changing weather, investigators continue to search the Bragg Creek area as well as a residence in Cranston in connection with this case.

UK Foreign Office officials are understood to be aware of media reports of the case although no request for consular assistance has been made.
An MSP has spoken of his concerns when he became the youngest ever member of the Scottish parliament as Holyrood celebrates 20 years of devolution.

There was something at the back of my mind constantly about the things I would need to do to prove myself to be taken seriously, reflects Ross Greer, three years after being elected.

But the one thing that really bowled me over when I was elected here was just how normal a place of work it was.

The Scottish Green MSP was just short of five years old when the Scottish Parliament was established in Edinburgh.

Twenty years on, he sits on Holyroods European and Education committees, and has quickly become a key figure within his party.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Press Association, he said that the experience of entering parliament in 2016 presented a steep learning curve, but said his fears of not being taken seriously were soon put to rest.

The remarkable thing that Ive found about my experience over the last couple of years is I was elected at first thinking, Im going to have to prove myself every single day, people arent going to take me seriously, theyre going to think Im here as a bit of a novelty, said Mr Greer.

Overwhelmingly, that wasnt the case. There were absolutely, and there still are occasionally, incidences where people dont take me seriously because of my age and I have to work to either prove them wrong or in some cases defeat them  Ive done that, outmanoeuvred opponents in the chamber and won a vote they didnt expect.

But overwhelmingly, I was treated just as seriously as any other MSP, because on the whole I think people in here appreciate that if youre here, its because thousands of people chose for you to be here.

With the chamber at Holyrood designed to encourage less confrontational debate and greater compromise between different parties, Mr Greer agreed with the suggestion that the tone of debate in the Scotland is quite different to that at Westminster.

Theres definitely a difference across the board here, he said.

The Scottish Parliament was set up deliberately to foster a culture that was about compromise and discussion and good natured debate, rather than oppositional debate.

Most of what the Parliament does is actually done by consensus, but most folk wouldnt know that, they wouldnt expect that.

Most of our committee reports are done by consensus, most legislation that we pass everyone will vote for in the end.

There will be moments that are highly contested as people are putting in various amendments and fighting off various amendments, but in the end, consensus is actually the majority of the work that we do and I think thats reflected across the board in the culture of the Parliament.

Its not always the case, and of course theres always going to be personalities that disagree. What you tend to find about the folk in here who dont get on, is more often than not theyre actually in the same party and its just personal disagreements.

The political disagreements rarely make their way out of the chamber into the rest of everyones lives.

The Scottish Green MSP said that parliament must reflect the society it represents (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Greer said that although lessons could be learned from Holyrood by those at Westminster, there is still room for improvement in Edinburgh too.

Referring to MPs, he said: The traditions and procedures that theyre bound by make the process more difficult, make things more tense, make it more confrontational, and thats feedback we get from our colleagues down there quite a lot.

Theres things the Scottish Parliament could learn from Westminster, its not all one-way.

But I think our ability to foster a culture that is more often than not about consensus, even if it doesnt look like that most of the time, is something that would actually do Westminster really well to even take a little bit of and to try and get that cultural change there.

But they could only do that if they change the centuries-old procedures that are holding them back.

Mr Greer also highlighted the importance of Holyrood reflecting Scottish society by ensuring that there is diversity amongst its members.

Parliaments are supposed to look like the society that they represent, he said.

We dont yet do that here. Only a third of MSPs are women, only a couple of us are young, there are only two people from a black and ethnic minority background.

We have a long way to go but I think we have a culture in this Parliament that, while it can be improved, is inclusive enough that we can absolutely achieve those advances and we can make the Parliament look more like the society it represents.
Representatives from social media giants Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Instagram have been summoned by the Government to meet the Samaritans over plans to rid the internet of self-harm videos and other content.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has convened the summit and will ask tech giants to commit to developing ways that might identify and tackle harmful content, including that promoting suicide.

The summit in Whitehall comes three weeks after the Government announced plans to make tech giants and social networks more accountable for harmful material online.

The behind-closed-doors meeting on Monday will be the second involving social media companies, but will mark the first time the Samaritans have been involved.

The maiden summit in February resulted in Instagram agreeing to ban graphic images of self-harm from its platform.

Speaking ahead of the latest meeting, which will also serve as a progress update from all involved, Mr Hancock said: I want the UK to be the safest place to be online and give parents the confidence to know their children are safe when they use social media.

As set out in our Online Harms White Paper, the Government will legislate to tackle harmful content online, but we will also work with social media companies to act now.

I was very encouraged at our last summit that social media companies agreed normalising or glamorising of eating disorders, suicide and self-harm on social media platforms is never acceptable and the proliferation of this material is causing real harm.

We have made good progress working with companies to take proper steps to improve the safety of their platforms, but were clear there is more to be done.

So I am delighted to announce this world-leading partnership, which will see us team up with Samaritans to enable social media companies to go further in achieving our goal of making the UK the safest place to be online.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has convened the summit (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Social media companies and the Government have been under pressure to act following the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell in 2017. The schoolgirls family found material relating to depression and suicide when they looked at her Instagram account following her death.

In a statement, a spokesman for Facebook, which also owns Instagram, said: The safety of people, especially young people, using our platforms is our top priority and we are continually investing in ways to ensure everyone on Facebook and Instagram has a positive experience.

Most recently, as part of an ongoing review with experts, we have updated our policies around suicide, self-harm and eating disorder content so that more will be removed.

We also continue to invest in our team of 30,000 people working in safety and security, as well as technology, to tackle harmful content. We support the new initiative from the Government and the Samaritans, and look forward to our ongoing work with industry to find more ways to keep people safe online.

Ruth Sutherland, chief executive of the Samaritans, said: The internet has evolved rapidly to be a force for good and a new forum to connect with others.

However, there has been a worrying growth of dangerous online content which is an urgent issue to combat and something we cannot solve alone.

There is no black and white solution that protects the public from content on self-harm and suicide, as they are such specific and complex issues.

That is why we need to work together with tech platforms to identify and remove harmful content whilst being extremely mindful that sharing certain content can be an important source of support for some.

This partnership marks a collective commitment to learn more about the issues, build knowledge through research and insights from users and implement changes that can ultimately save lives.

Molly Russell took her own life in November 2017 (Family handout/PA)

The Online Harms White Paper sets out a new statutory duty of care to make companies take more responsibility for the safety of their users and tackle harm caused by content or activity on their services. Compliance with this duty of care will be overseen and enforced by an independent regulator.

Failure to fulfil this duty of care will result in enforcement action such as a company fine or individual liability on senior management.
An eight-year-old girl has revealed how she suffered a shrapnel wound in a deadly shooting at a Southern Californian synagogue.

Noya Dahan had finished praying and gone to play with other children at Chabad of Poway near San Diego when gunshots rang out. Her uncle grabbed her and the other children, leading them outside to safety as her leg bled from a shrapnel wound.

I was scared, really, really scared, said Noya, recalling how the group of children cried out in fear after a gunman entered the synagogue on Saturday morning and started shooting.

A woman cries during a candlelight vigil held for victims (AP)

I didnt see my dad. I thought he was dead.

The onslaught on the last day of Passover, a Jewish holiday celebrating freedom, wounded Noya, her uncle Almog Peretz and the congregations rabbi. Congregant Lori Kaye, 60, was killed.

Authorities said the 19-year-old gunman opened fire as about 100 people were worshipping. The attack came exactly six months after a mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Rabbi Yishoel Goldstein said he was preparing for a service when a young man wearing sunglasses appeared in front of him with a rifle.

I couldnt see his eyes. I couldnt see his soul, Rabbi Goldstein said.

He raised his hands and lost one of his fingers in the shooting.

A 60-year-old woman was killed in the shooting (AP)

And then, the rabbi said, miraculously the gun jammed.

In the moments that followed, Rabbi Goldstein said he wrapped his bloodied hand in a prayer shawl and addressed congregants gathered outside the building, vowing to stay strong in the face of the deadly attack targeting his community.

We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall. We will not let anyone take us down. Terrorism like this will not take us down, he recalled telling the community.

Authorities said suspect John T Earnest, who was not known to police, may face a hate crime charge in addition to homicide charges when he is arraigned later this week.

Police searched Earnests house and said he was also being investigated in connection with an arson attack on a mosque in nearby Escondido, California, on March 24.

There were indications an AR-type assault weapon might have malfunctioned after the gunman fired numerous rounds inside, San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said.

Update #11 This is the second news release about a deadly #synagogueshooting during Passover services at Chabad of Poway.

All road closures have been lifted.

There are no media briefings planned for today. pic.twitter.com/pO47ZAvYHz  San Diego Sheriff (@SDSheriff) April 28, 2019

An off-duty Border Patrol agent fired at the shooter as he fled, missing him but striking his getaway vehicle, the sheriff said.

Shortly after fleeing, Earnest called 911 to report the shooting, San Diego police chief David Nisleit said. When an officer reached him on a road, the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody, he said.

Rabbi Goldstein described Ms Kaye as a pioneering founding member of the congregation and said he was heartbroken by her death.

He said the attack could have harmed many more people had the shooter turned towards the sanctuary where so many were praying.

Lori took the bullet for all of us, the rabbi said, his hands wrapped in bandages. She didnt deserve to die.

He said that Ms Kayes physician husband was called to tend to a wounded worshipper and fainted when he realised it was his wife.

Friends described Ms Kaye as giving, warm and attentive to community members on their birthdays and when they were sick.

Sheriff Gore said authorities were reviewing Earnests social media posts, including what he described as a manifesto. There was no known threat after Earnest was arrested, but authorities boosted patrols at places of worship on Saturday and again on Sunday as a precaution, police said.

A person identifying himself as John Earnest posted an anti-Jewish screed online about an hour before the attack. The poster described himself as a nursing school student and praised the suspects accused of carrying out deadly attacks on mosques in New Zealand last month that killed 50 and at Pittsburghs Tree of Life synagogue on October 27, in which 11 people were killed.

US national security adviser John Bolton told Fox News Sunday: It was a hate crime, no doubt about it.

He said investigators have not seen any connection between the suspect and other extremist groups.
Holyrood still has great potential after two decades of devolution  but it has been unfulfilled in recent years under the SNP, the Scottish Secretary has said.

David Mundell was one of the original crop of MSPs elected to serve in the new Parliament in May 1999, though he has since gone on to politics at Westminster.

He recalled there were very high hopes for the Parliament as he reflected on when he was first elected as a list MSP for the South of Scotland.

David Mundell moved on to Westminster, where he is now Scottish Secretary (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

He said: Not all of those have been realised but I think thats not because of the Scottish Parliament, its because of the different Governments that have been part of it.

I think the Parliament itself, Im still very positive about  its role and what it can do.

But the Government it creates and holds to account need to do better.

The potential remains great but that has to be fulfilled and certainly in recent years, I dont think thats been the case.

David Mundell asked Peter Peacock the first question in the Scottish Parliament (David Cheskin/PA)

As an MSP, Mr Mundell was the first person to ask a question at the newly established parliament on June 1 1999.

It was posed to then-education minister, Peter Peacock, about rural schools.

That shows the issues dont change, Mr Mundell said.

He said there is not enough of a distinction made between Holyrood as an institution and the elected Government.

I think we do need to do more to differentiate in the public mind the Scottish Parliament from the Scottish Government  I think most people are quite clear the House of Commons is not the Government, its different, he explained.

We have to work still to differentiate the parliament itself and all the things that it could do from the Scottish Government and what it does do.

So as someone who has served in both Holyrood and Westminster, how do the two compare?

Twenty years ago, I think the Scottish Parliament was ahead of Westminster in terms of its approach, Mr Mundell said.

Now I think Westminster at the very least has caught up, if not made some changes the Scottish Parliament might like to consider.

One difference frequently highlighted between the Parliaments in London and Edinburgh is the different systems of voting.

In Holyrood, MSPs are able to cast their votes electronically, while MPs at Westminster must still walk down one of two corridors.

Mr Mundell admits Westminster could perhaps adapt to some more fixed points for voting  similar to how Holyrood holds votes at decision time at 5pm.

When Im voting at 11 oclock at night, I do look back fondly to voting at 5 oclock with my card in the Scottish Parliament, he says.

The positive thing is, and this is true about the voting lobbies, is that it is an opportunity to interact with colleagues, with ministers, who youre not bumping into these people all the time. So it does allow that.

But when were voting for the 20th time at 11 oclock, I do think, maybe theres something to be said for electronic voting.

Mr Mundells son, Oliver, is an MSP for Dumfriesshire (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Although he no longer takes a seat in the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish secretary does still have a personal connection to Holyrood  his son, Oliver Mundell, an MSP for Dumfriesshire since being elected in 2016.

They are the only father and son to have served at the Scottish Parliament since it opened.

Im very, very proud of Oliver, says Mr Mundell.

Firstly, he did something that I didnt do, which was he won the Dumfries constituency. Id stood in the Dumfries constituency as a list MSP.

My advice to him is very important and this applies in Westminster as well  Not to get caught up into the bubble.

Your first duty is to your constituents and ultimately your constituents determine whether youre there or not.

And it is easy to get caught up in everything that is going on in Holyrood or at Westminster and just lose touch with what people are saying in Moffat High Street.

Thats my advice to anyone whos in politics  youve got to stay in touch with the people who elect you and not just get drawn into the bubble or into the latest intrigue in Holyrood in what people are saying in the bar or the canteen or whatever.

I think that advice is as relevant to both Holyrood and to Westminster.
A family of five have escaped injury after a car was set alight outside their Co Londonderry home.

The incident happened in Moneymore in the early hours of Monday.

The car, which was parked outside the familys home on Conyngham Street, was deliberately set alight at around 3.30am, police have said.

A family of five have escaped injury in an arson attack in Moneymore https://t.co/MqiSEIW7gW  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) April 29, 2019

The blaze destroyed the vehicle and also caused fire damage to the property.

A couple and their three children who were inside at the time were not hurt.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesman has issued an appeal for information.
 Flash

A Chinese envoy on Tuesday called for the advancement of the political process in Syria by leveraging the role of the United Nations (UN) and by promoting national reconciliation.

The international community should continue to leverage the role of the UN as the main channel of mediation, said Ma Zhaoxu, China's permanent representative to the UN.

The UN should strengthen coordination with the Syrian government and push for the early formation of a constitutional committee that is broadly representative and acceptable to all parties, he told the Security Council at a meeting.

The legitimate concerns of the Syrian government and other parties should be accommodated in order to initiate a sustained and effective political process, he said.

The international community should support the mediation work of UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, support the Astana process, and help foster synergies through diplomacy, he said.

Members of the Security Council should remain united and speak with one voice in an effort to create an enabling atmosphere and favorable conditions for a political solution, said the Chinese ambassador.

The Syrian parties must put the future of their country and the fundamental interests of the people in the first place, and meet each other halfway to resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation, he said.

The international community should encourage and support the Syrian parties in building trust and promoting national reconciliation through measures such as exchanging prisoners of war, said Ma.

Political negotiations are the only realistic way to resolve the Syrian crisis in a lasting manner, he said.

In advancing the political process, Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity must be respected, said the Chinese ambassador.

He also asked the international community to resolutely fight terrorism in Syria in order to create security conditions for the advancement of the political process.

The international community should strengthen coordination and cooperation, unify standards, and fight all the terrorist organizations designated by the Security Council so as to consolidate the achievements of counterterrorism and continuously improve the security environment in Syria, he said.

China stands ready to strengthen communication and coordination with the UN and other relevant parties, jointly push forward the Syrian political process, vigorously improve the humanitarian situation in Syria, and support the Syrian government's efforts in facilitating the return of refugees and in economic and social reconstruction, said Ma.
Officials in Washington state are expected to confirm the identities of the four people killed when a construction crane fell from a Seattle building.

The King County Medical Examiners office said it would release the names of the female and three males who died on Saturday afternoon when the crane crashed onto one of Seattles busiest streets.

Seattle Pacific University said that a first year student was among those killed when the crane fell from a building under construction on Googles new Seattle campus onto Mercer Street.

Workers clear debris in the wake of the tragedy (AP)

Sarah Wong had intended to major in nursing and lived on campus, the university said.

Ms Wong was in a car when the crane fell.

All four people had died by the time firefighters arrived Saturday afternoon, fire chief Harold Scoggins said.

Two were workers who had been inside the crane while the other two were in a car, fire department spokesman Lance Garland said.

While we grieve the sudden and tragic loss of our precious student, we draw comfort from each other, Seattle Pacific said.

We ask that the community join us in praying for Sarahs family and friends during this difficult time.

The crane struck six cars, and left four other people injured.

Several people were hurt in the accident (AP)

Frank Kuin, a Montreal-based journalist, was in a Seattle hotel lobby when he heard a big bang and felt the floor shake.

He said he initially thought there had been an earthquake. Then he saw motorists leaving their cars on a nearby off ramp and running towards something.

Mr Kuin followed them around a corner and saw a chunk of the crane lying on top of cars, including three that were crushed.

To imagine what happened to those people who just happened to be driving by was quite shocking, said Mr Kuin, who later took photographs of the scene from his fifth-floor hotel room.

Officials do not yet know the cause of the collapse.

The tower crane was being disassembled when it fell from the building, according to officials.

A 28-year-old man remains in hospital in a satisfactory condition. A mother and her infant were released from hospital on Saturday while a fourth person injured was treated at the scene and released.

The deadly collapse is sure to lead to increased scrutiny over the safety of the dozens of cranes that dot the citys skyline.

With Amazon, Google and other tech companies increasing their recruitment in Seattle, the city has more cranes building office towers and apartment buildings than any other in the United States. As of January, there were about 60 construction cranes in Seattle.
The Scottish Parliament, which adjourned on March 25 1707, is hereby reconvened.

With that sentence, veteran Scottish Nationalist Winnie Ewing opened the first sitting of Holyrood on May 12  declaring they were the words she had always wanted to hear.

MSPs from the new Parliament met for the first time within days of being elected on May 6.

But the journey to Scotland having its own Parliament had been a much longer one.

Scots had in fact voted in favour of a devolved assembly being established two decades before, in 1979.

While 51.6% of those who turned out in that referendum backed the move, the legislation that set up that ballot required two-fifths of the total population to support it before it could go ahead.

With only 32.9% of all registered voters supporting devolution then, the proposed assembly was never approved.

Despite the result, supporters of devolution continued their work, with a Campaign for a Scottish Assembly formed the following year.

It went on to draw up the Claim of Right for Scotland, asserting the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of Government best suited to their needs.

Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown were among those to sign the Claim of Right for Scotland (Danny Lawson/PA)

In March 1989, at the height of Margaret Thatchers Government, it was signed by more than two-thirds of Scotlands then MPs  including Labours Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling.

SNP MPs at the time refused to sign it because it had failed to consider the option of independence for Scotland.

The Scottish Constitutional Convention, set up following the signing of the Claim of Right, took over the work of campaigning for a devolved Parliament.

It was this organisation that under the leadership of Canon Kenyon Wright published a blueprint for devolution of St Andrews Day, November 30 1995.

Tony Blair and Donald Dewar celebrate the referendum result (Adam Butler/PA)

The Labour manifesto for 1997, when Tony Blair swept into Downing Street, contained a commitment to create a Parliament with law-making powers for Scotland that would be firmly based on the agreement reached in the Scottish Constitutional Convention.

Labours pledge said the Scottish Parliament  along with an assembly for Wales in Cardiff  would be established if these were supported in referendums.

A cross-party body calling for a Yes vote was formed with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP all urging Scots to back the establishment of a new Parliament with tax-raising powers.

Tories opposed the move, with former Scottish secretary Lord Forsyth among those involved in the Think Twice campaign.

Voting in the referendum took place on September 11 1997, with 74.3% backing the creation of the Scottish Parliament, while 63.5% agreed it should have limited tax raising powers.

The following day a triumphant Mr Blair flew into Edinburgh by helicopter.

Landing in the Scottish capital he was greeted by Donald Dewar  the then-Scottish secretary who would go on to become first minister when the Parliament opened.

Speaking about the result Mr Dewar said: Satisfactory, I think.

Mr Blair replied: Very satisfactory and well done.
Scotlands Parliament building has been both award-winning and highly controversial in the 20 years of devolution.

The modernist building, designed by Enric Miralles, is constructed from a mixture of steel, oak and granite and has won no fewer than nine leading architectural honours.

But the building, officially opened by the Queen in October 2004, more than five years after the first Scottish Parliament elections in May 1999, was also massively delayed and some 10 times over budget.

Film star Sir Sean Connery at the opening of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004. (PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

Construction costs for the project mounted from an original estimate of about 40 million to 414 million.

The building opened some three years late, with MSPs mostly doing business at their temporary home at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh before then  with the politicians having to vacate the premises when the General Assembly sat.

A public inquiry, chaired by former lord advocate Lord Fraser, was set up in 2003  before the building was even completed  to examine the delays and the Parliaments escalating costs.

It concluded in September 2004, with Lord Fraser saying then that some of the early decisions which had been made about the handling of the project were fundamentally wrong and had led to massive increases in costs and delays.

The inquiry criticised the decision to use a construction management building method, under which the client has full control but carries all the risk.

The Queen being shown round Holyrood on opening day by then presiding officer Sir George Reid (PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

And Lord Fraser suggested the complexity and cost of the design by its Catalan architect, who died before the building was completed, had not been understood until it had been too late.

Miralles said his design drew inspiration from the surrounding landscape, the flower paintings of famous Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and upturned boats on the seashore.

Since opening it has received almost five million visitors, while the honours it has won include the Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture which is given to what is judged to be the best building in Scotland, in 2005.

It was awarded the prestigious Stirling Prize for architecture that same year, making it the first building in Scotland to win the accolade.
A man had to be rescued in northern Mexico after he accidentally trapped himself in a hole that he had dug so he could spy on his former girlfriend.

The Sonora state attorney generals office said the 50-year-old man had spent days digging the hole in Puerto Penasco, a town on the Gulf of California, only to become trapped and requiring assistance to get out.

The man had been ordered by the courts to stay away from his former girlfriend due to domestic violence charges, and he is now in jail, authorities said.

The newspaper El Universal said the man dug a tunnel under the womans house. It said the woman told police that over the course of a week, she had heard scratching noises but assumed the noise was cats.

When the sound grew louder, she investigated and found her former partner of 14 years trapped below. She said she had ended the relationship because her partner was very jealous.

Police said the man appeared intoxicated and severely dehydrated once they got him out of the tunnel.

The man was found in a dehydrated state (David Cheskin/PA)

Domestic violence is in Mexicos spotlight this week after a woman was hit by a car and then stabbed to death by her husband outside the governors residence in the western state of Jalisco in an incident captured on video.
As the Scottish Parliament marks its 20th year, the Press Association looks at 10 key pieces of legislation that MSPs have passed.

Mental Health (Public Safety and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 1999

Introduced in September 1999, the legislation was the first piece of legislation passed following the opening of the Parliament earlier that year.

It had aimed to close a loophole in the law which had led to the release of convicted killer Noel Ruddle, who had shot his neighbour with an assault rifle.

The Bill added public safety to the grounds for not discharging certain patients detained under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984, however it was repealed in October 2005.

Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000

Section 28 was scrapped by MSPs as part of this broad legislation which also set out a code of conduct for councillors.

Section 2A of the Local Government Act 1986 (more commonly referred to as Section 28) had banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools, but was lifted as part of the legislation under part 6 of the legislation which focused on the teaching and welfare of children.

Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001

Up-front tuition fees were abolished in Scotland, after MSPs voted to replace them with an endowment fee.

The legislation meant that students would only pay a 2,289 graduate fee, with repayments starting once earnings reached 10,000.

The endowment fee was removed in February 2008 after MSPs voted to scrap the charge.

Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002

In February 2002, MSPs voted unanimously in favour of plans to provide free personal care for the elderly.

The legislation meant that all personal care charges for people cared for in their own homes were abolished, while everyone needing nursing care would receive it free of charge.

Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003

Passed in 2003, the legislation placed a duty on councils to provide temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to homeless people.

The Scottish Government at the time pledged that by 2012, 100% of homelessness applications in Scotland would be determined to be in priority need.

In 2012, the legislation was changed, entitling anyone finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own to settled accommodation.



The Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005

A ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and all public places was approved by MSPs in June 2005, with the change coming into effect in March 2006.

Employers could be fined if they failed to enforce the ban and smokers could also face a fine if they were found to be lighting up.

The then Health Minister, Scottish Labour MSP Andy Kerr, described it as being the most important piece of public health legislation in a generation.

Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012

Scotland became the first place in the UK to introduce minimum drink pricing after MSPs voted to back changes to pricing in 2012.

The move meant that alcohol would be priced at 50p per unit, with the hope of tackling historical alcohol abuse problems in the country.

However, the legislation faced a long delay in being introduced after it became tied up in legal challenges.

It was eventually brought in in May 2018 after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the legislation was not in breach of European Union law.

Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013

The legislation which paved the way for Scotland to hold a referendum on independence was passed by MSPs in November 2013 and set out a series of rules for the referendum, such as the question and campaign spending limits.

Separate legislation allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in the referendum had already been passed.

The referendum was held in September 2014, with a turnout of 84.59%  a record high for any election held in the United Kingdom since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1918.

Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014

MSPs backed a bill which would allow same-sex weddings to take place in Scotland, in November 2013, passing in February 2014.

The Scottish Government said at the time that the move was the right thing to do, despite Scotlands two main churches being opposed to it.

The law came into effect in Scotland on December 16 that year, with some of the first marriages taking place on Hogmanay after the usual 15-day notice period for marriages.

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

The Scottish Parliament voted by 118 to one to bring changes to laws over domestic abuse in Scotland.

Under the legislation, a specific offence of abusive behaviour in relation to a partner or ex-partner was created, widening the scope for prosecution, having previously primarily focused on domestic abuse of a physical nature.

Scottish Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell, who had recorded the only vote against the legislation, later explained that she had pressed the wrong button during the vote and that she was, in fact, in favour of the changes.
Five police officers have been accused of gross misconduct after a man lost the tips of three fingers when they were trapped under a toilet rim.

The 33-year-old was being held at Colchester Police Station in Essex in the early hours of May 1 2015 when he was found with his foot in the toilet bowl.

A number of officers tried to remove him from the toilet but he grabbed on to the rim, and as they attempted to restrain him the top of three of his fingers were chopped off.

He was taken to hospital and the severed parts of the digits were retrieved but could not be reattached.

Five @EssexPoliceUK officers to face disciplinary proceedings following man losing fingertips in custody https://t.co/6xuwupOtCE  Independent Office for Police Conduct (@policeconduct) April 29, 2019

On Monday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog said that five Essex Police officers  an inspector, three police constables and a temporary police sergeant  will face gross misconduct proceedings over the case, beginning on May 7.

IOPC regional director Sarah Green said: We concluded that five officers have a case to answer for gross misconduct and Essex agreed. It will now be for an independent panel to consider the evidence and make its judgment.

Five Essex Police officers are accused of gross misconduct (PA)

Essex Police replaced all toilets of the same design in the wake of the injury to the man, who was a foreign national with mental health issues.

In addition to the five officers facing misconduct proceedings, one sergeant admitted misconduct over the case and received a written warning while another received management action.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided in August that no criminal charges would be brought in the case.
A group of French and international architects and heritage experts have called on French President Emmanuel Macron to allow the necessary time to ensure good reconstruction work on the fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral.

Frances government last week presented a bill aimed at speeding up the reconstruction that would allow workers to avoid some ordinary renovation procedures.

Mr Macron has set a goal of rebuilding the cathedral in just five years, which some experts consider simply impossible to achieve.

In a column in French newspaper Le Figaro, a group of 1,100 experts urged Mr Macron to let historians and experts have the time for diagnosis before deciding on the future of the monument.

The blaze devastated Notre Dame (Thierry Mallet/AP)(

They called for a well-considered, thoughtful and ethical approach and warned against a political agenda based on speed.
The Scottish Government has announced it will provide 30 million of funding to help boost the number of properties being built for private rent.

Investment will be provided to Edinburgh property group Sigma through the Building Scotland Fund, which was set up last year to provide loans at commercial rates as a precursor to the Scottish National Investment Bank.

The 30 million will contribute towards a 43 million Scottish Private Rental Sector Fund set up by Sigma to increase the number of rental properties in Scotland.

It is estimated the funding will enable an additional 1,800 properties to be built for private rent across the country.

Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: Renting accommodation is becoming a long-term option for many people, at many stages of life, for example when starting a family or when retiring.

We want everyone who rents to be able to live in a house that suits their needs and in an area where they want to live, including near family, friends or schools.

The Scottish Government has announced a 30 million investment for the rental market (Yui Mok/PA)

We want people to have the security to make that house their home  whether they are looking for a house for three years or 30 years.

She added: The Private Residential Tenancy already offers greater security for tenants, balanced with appropriate safeguards for landlords and investors.

These additional new properties to the sector can give people long-term security and the confidence they are renting from an experienced, professional management company.

The additional long-term stability these properties provide will make a huge difference for many households, especially those wanting to create a family home and settle into a community.

 @NicolaSturgeon: "Starting later this year and running until the end of this parliament, we will offer first-time buyers loans of up to 25,000 to fund or top up their deposit.



That is your SNP government  building a fairer Scotland for the next generation." #SNP19  The SNP (@theSNP) April 28, 2019

Graham Barnet, Sigma chief executive, said: We are delighted to have the support of the Scottish Governments Building Scotland Fund.

Our approach to housing delivery has been working extremely well in England and is helping to deliver thousands of new houses for the private rental market.

We see significant demand for our high-quality, professionally managed homes in Scotland and look forward to using this new fund to assist in addressing Scotlands housing needs.

We are also continuing to explore other opportunities to extend our business model.

The planned investment follows First Minister Nicola Sturgeons comments at the SNP conference in Edinburgh that a 150 million scheme would be established to provide loans to help first-time buyers with deposits.

The scheme would offer first-time buyers loans of up to 25,000 to fund or top up their deposit.
Sri Lankas government has banned face coverings that conceal peoples identities in the wake of the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The emergency law prevents Muslim women from veiling their faces.

The decision came after the Cabinet had proposed laws on face veils at a recent meeting. It had deferred the matter until talks with Islamic clerics could be held, on the advice of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Candles lit in tribute to victims in Colombo (Manish Swarup/AP)

Earlier, the Catholic church in Sri Lanka said the government should crack down on Islamists as if on war footing in the aftermath of the bombings.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said the church may not be able to stop people from taking the law into their own hands unless the government conducts a more thorough investigation and prevents further attacks.

The cardinal said he is not satisfied in the manner in which the government has carried out its investigations so far.

Sri Lankan Catholics pray during mass outside the exploded St Anthonys Church (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Cardinal Ranjith told reporters: All the security forces should be involved and function as if on war footing.

I want to state that we may not be able to keep people under control in the absence of a stronger security programme.

We cant forever give them false promises and keep them calm. (We ask the government) to implement a proper programme in order that the people dont take the law into their own hands.

(PA Graphics)

Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former army commander Shantha Kottegoda as the top official in the defence ministry after requesting the resignation of his predecessor, Hemasiri Fernando, for intelligence failures that led to the bomb attacks.

More than 250 people were killed when seven Islamist suicide bombers blew themselves up, targeting worshippers in three churches and in three luxury hotels.

The victims included at least 40 tourists who were having breakfast at the hotels.

Two other suicide bombers died by triggering blasts  one to avoid capture by the police, and another at an inn where he was staying.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility, and investigators are looking into the extent of their direct involvement with the local radicalised Muslims who carried out the attacks.
Three people have been charged after heroin worth more than 50,000 was seized in Aberdeen.

Police stopped a vehicle as it tried to board a vessel at the Ferry Terminal, Jamieson Quay, on Sunday.

Drugs with an estimated street value of around 50,000 were recovered.

A 41-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man, both from Glasgow, have been charged and are anticipated to appear at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Monday.

Officers have also charged a 49-year-old local man following the recovery of heroin with a street value in the region of 2,000 from Guild Street on Friday.

He is anticipated to appear at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today on Monday.

The three are expected at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Monday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Detective Sergeant Andy Wilson said: The illegal supply of drugs spreads misery and harm in our communities and the last few days has seen a significant quantity of illegal drugs being removed from circulation.

There will be no let up from Police Scotland in our commitment to tackling the illegal supply of drugs and associated antisocial behaviour.
Tottenham will rub shoulders with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Fenerbahce this summer as they take part in the sixth Audi Cup.

The four clubs will go head-to-head at the Allianz Arena in Munich on July 30-31 as part of their preparations for the 2019-20 season.

Spurs will face Zinedine Zidanes Real with Bayern taking on the Turkish outfit in the first round of fixtures with the two losers playing off for third place before the winners meet in the final.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, chairman of the executive board at Bayern, told the clubs official website, www.fcbayern.com: We are very happy the Audi Cup 2019 will again be held at the Allianz Arena.

The four teams guarantee exciting games and two brilliant days for our fans at the Allianz Arena.
Around 3.5 million has been paid out to almost 10,000 low-income families in the first three months of a new payment scheme to help cover the costs of having a baby, according to official statistics.

Following the transfer of 11 social security powers to Holyrood from Westminster, the Scottish Government last year began a rollout of benefits as part of the phased introduction of a new social security system.

It means low-income families have been able to apply for the first part of the new Best Start Grant, the Pregnancy and Baby Payment, since it opened in December.

Cabinet Secretary @S_A_Somerville launches the new Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment. This is 250 for children aged two to three years six months, and is available to families that get certain benefits or tax credits. Apply now at https://t.co/t66xr5vRkG pic.twitter.com/hr32BPn3Ea  Social Security Scotland (@SocSecScot) April 29, 2019

The payment provides 600 for a first child and 300 for any siblings thereafter and is designed to help with the costs of pregnancy or having a baby such as for maternity clothes, a cot or pram.

It replaces the UK Governments Sure Start Grant, which does not entitle payment to children who are not the first born in their family.

Analysis suggests the UK grant paid out around 2 million in 2017-2018.

The funding aims to support families with newborn children (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Figures published by the Scottish Government show payments were made to 2,400 families who have had their first child, while payments were also made to around 7,300 families who had a child already and have now welcomed a newborn into their household.

Cabinet Secretary for Social Security Shirley-Anne Somerville said the statistics are evidence of what Holyrood can do with the powers to help support families across the country.

I am committed to making sure that every child gets the support they need to have the best start in life, she said.

The huge take-up of this new benefit in its first three months highlights just what can be achieved when you design a service with the people who will actually use it.

In doing so, we have simplified the application process and offered multiple ways to apply.

We have found out where we need to promote the payment and who we need to work with  including health and childcare professionals  to make sure that people know that they are entitled.

We want to increase financial support to families, bringing equality to children across Scotland by giving them help towards a fairer start.

The new Best Start Grant Early Learning Payment is 250 for children aged two to three years six months, and is available to families that get certain benefits or tax credits. Apply now at https://t.co/QK5QNcoRkI pic.twitter.com/yiekxUvUxW  Social Security Scotland (@SocSecScot) April 29, 2019

On Monday, the Early Learning Payment, the second part of the Best Start Grant, opened for applications.

It is aimed at helping with the costs of having a pre-school child, for example, the costs of day trips, books or toys for home learning,

The third part of the Best Start Grant, the School Age Payment, will open to applicants in June.

It will focus on providing help to pay for the costs such as new school bags, school trips and after-school activities.

Earlier this year, the Scottish Government was criticised over its decision to delay the full devolution of the social security benefits until 2024.

Scottish Labours social security spokesman Mark Griffin described the delay as a betrayal.

Scottish Greens parliamentary co-leader Alison Johnstone encouraged all eligible families to apply for the Early Learning Payment.

Ms Johnstone said: We know that many people dont claim social security support because either they do not know they are entitled or dont know there is support available at all.

Over 1 billion goes unclaimed every year.

As an entirely new form of assistance, it is all the more important that the Scottish Government does all it can to raise awareness of this new grant amongst eligible families.

That is why Greens have been calling for more action on helping poorer families to maximise their incomes by assisting them to apply for the support that is on offer, and was why we campaigned for and secured the national rollout of the Healthier, Wealthier Children scheme, which puts millions into the pockets of families when it would otherwise go unclaimed.

I hope to see strong uptake of the Early Learning Payment as another step towards a social security system that doesnt hide its support away but actively reaches out to ensure everyone gets what they are entitled to.
Japans 85-year-old Emperor Akihito will end his three-decade reign on Tuesday when he abdicates to his son Crown Prince Naruhito.

He will be the first emperor to abdicate in 200 years.

Why is Akihito abdicating, and how is it different from usual successions?

Emperor Akihito, citing concerns about his age and declining health, expressed in August 2016 his wish to abdicate while he was still well and capable. As a constitutionally defined symbol with no political power, the Emperor sought understanding in a message to his people, and immediately won overwhelming public support, paving the way for the governments approval.

With Japans Imperial House Law lacking a provision on abdication by a reigning emperor and virtually allowing only posthumous succession, the government enacted a one-time law to allow the abdication. Palace watchers say Akihito wanted keep the emperors presence always visible so it would not be veiled and politically used like his fathers wartime role, while others say he tried to smooth the transition for his son.

Winning his abdication was part of changes Akihito has brought to the palace  he was the first emperor to marry a commoner, Empress Michiko, and has decided to be cremated upon his death, which would break a centuries-old burial custom.

Making a final trip to Ise Grand Shrine in central Japan earlier this month (Kazushi Kurihara/Kyodo News via AP)

Who is next in line?

Crown Prince Naruhito will take the throne on Wednesday (Christophe Ena/AP)

Crown Prince Naruhito, who ascends to the throne on Wednesday, is the elder of Akihitos two sons. A musician and avid hiker, the 59-year-old Naruhito spent two years at Oxford and wrote a paper on the 18th-century River Thames transport systems after studying history at Gakushuin University, a school formerly for aristocrats. His wife, Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, is recovering from stress-induced conditions she developed after giving birth to their daughter Aiko amid pressure to produce a boy.

Princess Aiko, daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako (Issei Kato/AP)

Aiko, 17, is barred from inheriting under Japans male-only succession law, and the line goes to Naruhitos brother, Fumihito, better known by his childhood title, Akishino. Fumihitos 12-year-old son, Hisahito, would be next.

Discussions on changing the law to allow female succession quickly ended with Hisahitos birth, but they are expected to resume, with Akihitos abdication raising concerns about the royal familys future. Most Japanese support female succession despite opposition by conservatives in the government and its ultra-right-wing supporters, who want the family to be a model for a paternalistic society.

What are the procedures to abdicate?

Akihito will announce his abdication in a palace ritual on Tuesday evening, but technically he remains the emperor until midnight, when his era of Heisei, or achieving peace, ends and Naruhito takes over, his Reiwa era of beautiful harmony beginning.

On Wednesday morning, Naruhito, in his first ritual as emperor, receives the Imperial regalia, including the sword and the jewel, as proof of his ascension to the throne. Aside from government officials, only adult male royals are allowed to attend, a tradition the government stuck with despite criticisms raised by the public.

The succession not by death has spread festivity across Japan, though the rituals are off-limits to the public and traffic will be tightly controlled outside the palace. A more elaborate enthronement ceremony for Naruhito will be held in October, when he will proclaim his ascension before officials and guests from inside and outside the country.

Then-Crown Prince Akihito pictured on his fifth birthday in December 1938 (AP)

What will Akihito do after abdication?

Akihito will hold a new title, Emperor Emeritus, but he will be fully retired from official duties and will no longer sign documents, receive foreign dignitaries, attend government events or perform palace rituals. He will not even attend his sons succession rituals and will largely recede from public appearances.

His activities will be strictly private so as not to interfere with the serving emperor. Akihito is expected to enjoy his retirement, going to museums and concerts, or spending time on his goby research at a seaside Imperial villa. After abdication, Akihito and Michiko will move to a temporary royal residence before eventually switching places with Naruhito after refurbishments at each place.

The Queen welcomed the Japanese royals to Windsor Castle in May 2012, to mark her Diamond Jubilee (Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA)

What about abdications in other countries?

Japans last abdication was about 200 years ago during the feudal Edo period, when Emperor Kokaku abdicated to his son Ninko while he ascended to a superior title. Spains former King Juan Carlos abdicated at age 76 to King Felipe in 2014 amid scandals, and the succession laws to allow it were changed in just two weeks.

In the Netherlands in 2013, Queen Beatrix, citing old age at age 75, abdicated to her son Alexander, who became the countrys first male successor in more than a century. In Belgium, the former King Albert II, then 79, abdicated to his son Philippe in 2013 due to health reasons. This year, Malaysias King Sultan Muhammad V abruptly stepped down after just two years on the throne, the first abdication in the countrys history.
A man has been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of a father outside a school in Belfast.

Jim Donegan, 43, was shot dead as he waited to collect his 13-year-old son from St Marys Christian Brothers Grammar School in west Belfast in December.

Detectives investigating the murder arrested a 63-year-old man at Musgrave Police Station on Monday morning under anti-terrorism legislation.

He remains in custody at this time.

The Police Service for Northern Ireland issued CCTV footage of a man wearing a hi-viz jacket who detectives wanted to speak to in connection with the shooting of Jim Donegan (PSNI/PA).

Detective Chief Inspector Pete Montgomery said: Jim was brutally murdered as he sat in his car outside a school on the Glen Road in West Belfast on December 4 2018.

I would continue to urge anyone who has any information, or who witnessed the murder, to contact the police on 101.

If someone would prefer to provide information without giving their details, they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Kezia Dugdale has announced she will resign as an MSP at the end of the current session of the Scottish Parliament.

The Lothian list MSP, who was leader of the party from 2015 until 2017, is to take up a post as director of the John Smith Centre for Public Service at Glasgow University.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Ms Dugdale said her next task is to rebuild faith in our politics.

It has been an honour to represent the Lothian region for Labour in the Scottish Parliament and to have had the opportunity to serve the party in a variety of roles for over a decade  from party organiser to leader, she said.

All through that time the passion and commitment of our members has been inspirational.

No matter how difficult things were, activists were always willing to hit the doorsteps to spread Labours message.

She added: I have devoted my working life to public service and this is an incredibly exciting new opportunity for me to lead the work of the John Smith Centre.

Throughout my career I have taken on tough and challenging tasks and my next task is to rebuild faith in our politics.

Disruptive events and the rise of populism has led to increasingly polarised and emotional politics where rational, evidence-based thinking has lost its standing.

Faith in public service, politics and the political process has to be restored and that progress must be sustainable.

John Smith said the opportunity to serve our country  that is all we ask.

It will be an honour to build on his legacy and inspire his values of public service in a new generation.

I wish @kezdugdale the very best for the future. As political opponents, she and I have had our fair share of clashes over the years, but I think she is a big loss to @scottishlabour and to @ScotParl. I hope she enjoys her new challenge. https://t.co/WdXwttOXOr  Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) April 29, 2019

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Ms Dugdale would be a big loss to both Scottish Labour and the Scottish Parliament.

She added: I hope she enjoys her new challenge.

Ms Dugdale has previously voiced her concern over her partys stance on Brexit and has been critical of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

After her resignation as Scottish Labour leader in 2017, she took part in the ITV programme Im a Celebrity  Get Me Out of Here, which she was reprimanded for.

Wings Over Scotland blogger Stuart Campbell (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Two weeks ago, Ms Dugdale won a defamation case brought against her by Wings Over Scotland blogger Stuart Campbell over a column she wrote in 2017.

Mr Campbell sought damages over her claims that he had written homophobic tweets.

She won the case after a sheriff ruled her comments had been fair despite Ms Dugdale being incorrect to imply Mr Campbell is homophobic.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: Kezia will be a loss to the Scottish Labour Party but I am sure she will still play a valuable role in public life going forward.

Kezia stepped forward at a difficult time for the Scottish Labour Party and on many issues  from arguing to use the tax and social security powers of Holyrood to making the case for federalism, she helped the party rebuild after the devastating losses of the 2015 General Election.

On behalf of the Scottish Labour party, I thank Kezia for her service and wish her well in the next exciting chapter of her life.

Speaking at a press conference in the Scottish Parliament following the announcement, Ms Dugdale said the opportunity was not one she could allow to pass by.

I wasnt looking to leave, I genuinely wasnt, she said.

I love being an MSP and its going to be really hard to leave in the middle of July.

But Im leaving to do something I consider to be really important.

I believe in politics, I believe that politicians are good people doing really good, critical, important work and I want to do more to help showcase that.
A strike among pilots at Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has entered its fourth day, with the carrier being forced to cancel 1,213 flights on Monday and Tuesday, affecting some 110,000 passengers.

The flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden said more than 170,000 passengers have been affected since the open-ended strike started on Friday.

Grounded SAS planes at Oslo Gardermoen airport (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP)

The strike began after the collapse of pay negotiations with the SAS Pilot Group, which represents 95% of the companys pilots in the three countries.

There is no sign of when talks might resume on a new collective bargaining agreement.

SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson has urged the pilots to resume talks.

Now we both have to take responsibility and come back to concrete discussions to find solutions that also make the company have a future, even after this conflict, Mr Gustafson told Swedens news agency TT.

We have put attractive offers on the table that they have rejected. Having a list of demands that knocks off the feet of our competitiveness just doesnt work, he added.

Jacob Pedersen, an analyst with Denmarks Sydbank, said the pilots want their share of company earnings after the carrier posted a profit in the past four years following a cost-saving programme that started in 2012.
Holyroods dog of the year title has been won by Sadie and Jeremy Balfour MSP.

Judges crowned the nine-month-old Cavapoo winner of the annual contest, which aims to raise awareness of dog welfare among members of the Scottish Parliament.

Winning pup Sadie is regularly looked after by the Conservative MSP Jeremy Balfour and his family as her owner works long hours.

Mr Balfour, entering his third Holyrood Dog of the Year competition, said: Shes really good with children and shes really friendly  my two girls love her.

To win is absolutely brilliant, its been a really fun day.

The whole point of the event is to publicise how good dogs can be for people and families and also about looking after a dog and issues like the impact of fireworks.

Jeremy Balfour with Sadie won the 2019 Holyrood Dog of the Year, followed by Alison Johnstones George and Monica Lennons dog Cuillin (Tom Eden/PA)

Scottish Greens MSP Alison Johnstone MSP and her dog George were the runners-up, while Labour MSP Monica Lennons excitable one-year-old Labradoodle, Cuillin, was third.

Ms Lennon said: Cuillins a very fun-loving puppy and hes enjoying being part of the Holyrood Dog of the Year competition and meeting all the other dogs.

Its been a great opportunity to be able to talk about dogs welfare and talk about things that are quite scary for dogs, such as fireworks, so hopefully after today there will be much more awareness in Parliament and we will do much more to promote dog welfare.

The Dogs Trust dogs dont have a home at the moment so hopefully someone will come and want to be their family.

MSPs with their dogs at the Holyrood Dog of the Year competition organised by the Dogs Trust and Kennel Club (Tom Eden/PA)

The event is organised by The Kennel Club and Dogs Trust, who brought along several dogs who need to find a loving owner.

Christine Grahame was one of the MSPs competing with a rescue dog and she said: This is Rocky  a wonderful dog, three years old, full of character and looking for a home. Hes an absolute star.

The important thing here, as well as getting these dogs rehomed, is to ask why do they need to be rehomed in the first place.

People have got to think very carefully before they get an animal, although many of these dogs will have come from loving homes they may have been loving homes that couldnt cope.

Scottish Labour Leader Richard Leonard with his dog Copper at the Holyrood Dog of the Year contest (Tom Eden/PA)

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard was a first-time entrant to the competition with his dog Copper.

Mr Leonard said: This annual event tries to shine a spotlight on the importance of animal welfare in general and how we treat our dogs in particular.

Im here with the lovely Copper who never fails to give me an unconditional welcome every time I come home.

The winner of the public vote was Labour MSP Iain Grays trainee guide dog Giles.
A man has been seriously injured after being attacked by a group as he waited at a bus stop.

The incident happened at around 7.30pm on Saturday outside the Indian restaurant Killermont Polo Club in Maryhill Road, Glasgow.

Five or six men approached the 22-year-old victim as he waited at the bus stop, before attacking him and inflicting serious facial injuries.

Police Scotland is appealing for information after a 22 year-old man was seriously assaulted in Glasgow on Saturday night. https://t.co/12JnbUliVq pic.twitter.com/H8CR512AMw  Greater Glasgow Police (@GreaterGlasgPol) April 29, 2019

They then fled on foot along Maryhill Road in the direction of Maryhill railway station.

The victim was taken to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and treated.

Detective Constable Katy Allan, Maryhill Police Office, said: This man has sustained serious injuries and our officers are doing everything they can to trace those responsible.

The group is believed to have been made up of five or six men (David Cheskin/PA)

Violence will not be tolerated.

She added: We know that there were a lot of cars passing by at the time of the incident, particularly a black Range Rover that was turning into the Killermont Polo Club at the time of the attack.

We are asking you to think back, do you remember seeing anything? You may not have realised how serious it was at the time. We urge you to get in touch.

The suspects are described as a group of five or six white men in their late teens or early 20s.

One of the men is described as being 17 to 20, of heavy build with short brown hair.

He was wearing a dark tracksuit.
Every pound invested in fibre broadband in Scotland returns nearly 12 to the Scottish economy, according to a study.

A report by telecoms and technology consultants Analysys Mason was commissioned to look at the benefits brought by a public and private investment project to roll out fibre broadband across the country.

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme was launched in 2013 and is backed by funding from a range of partners including the Scottish Government, the UK Government, the European Union, and BT Group.

Around 442 million has been invested or committed to the programme since 2014, with roughly 930,000 homes and businesses across Scotland now able to connect to fibre broadband.

It is estimated the investment will help to boost the Scottish economy by 2.76 billion over 15 years.

Connectivity Minister Paul Wheelhouse said the projected economic benefits of the programme represent a positive return on investment.

The study estimated the boost that broadband could provide to Scotland (Yui Mok/PA)

He said: Thanks to the programme, and combined with commercial coverage, the programme met its target to deliver fibre broadband access to 95% of Scotland premises by December 2017.

Deployment has continued since, with around 930,000 premises now capable of accessing fibre broadband.

The report reaffirmed that the average broadband speed has tripled between 2014 and 2017, which again is linked to the success of DSSB

The total benefit associated with the DSSB programme estimated by this study is 2.76 billion over 15 years, which represents a strong positive return on public funds used for the deployment

That is money well spent and shows what can be delivered for people and businesses in Scotland when Government works together with public agencies and private providers on a shared ambition.

Dr Matt Yardley, one of the report authors, said: We believe the DSSB Programme has delivered a range of quantifiable benefits to businesses, consumers and government across Scotland.

In addition, we expect the programme will help unlock other longer-term benefits such as those relating to social inclusion and social cohesion, education and the environment.

The report concluded cost efficiencies, additional BT Group investment and higher-than-expected broadband take-up rates within the DSSB intervention area have resulted in extended coverage.

Sara Budge, DSSB programme director said: Thanks to its innovation the DSSB programme has laid a real legacy for the future.

It has also allowed things like working from home to become a reality  helping many peoples work-life balances.

This report reinforces just how positive the DSSB programme has been across Scotland  not just in the present but in the future.

Brendan Dick, chair of the Openreach board in Scotland, welcomed the report.

He said: The conclusion that public money has been used very effectively shows that Openreach is a trusted partner for Scotland.

As well as contributing a third of the total cost of the Digital Scotland project, we have delivered value for money for Scottish taxpayers, who include thousands of our workforce.

From the start the whole teams focus has been on reaching the most people possible with the funds available, which meant difficult decisions had to be made. There is more to do, and weve committed an extra 20 million to the project to help reach even more communities.
Climate campaigners who brought 10 days of disruption to central London are to meet Environment Secretary Michael Gove on Tuesday to discuss their concerns.

Members of Extinction Rebellion will call on Mr Gove to back their demands to declare a climate emergency and commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2025.

The group will also meet with London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Monday and shadow chancellor John McDonnell on Tuesday.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove attended a speech by teenage climate campaigner Greta Thunberg in Parliament (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

A member of Extinction Rebellions political strategy team, 22-year-old Sam Knights, said: The legacy of our political leaders will stand or fall by what they do now.

Either they take steps to give our children the future they deserve or they do nothing. They must respond to the climate and ecological emergency with the clarity and urgency our children demand.

In order to protect life on earth, the UK Government must begin to tell the truth. The British people need to know the reality of what we face.

It is time to declare a climate and ecological emergency and to commit to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. The current political system is not capable of implementing such fundamental changes to the way we live. That is why we need the creation of a national Citizens Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

During the campaign of street protests and roadblocks which saw 1,130 arrests over Easter, Mr Gove said that it was appropriate for Extinction Rebellion to raise awareness of climate issues, but said some of their tactics were over the top.

Extinction Rebellion protesters outside the Treasury Office in London (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

He made clear then that he was ready to meet the protesters, saying: The points been made, lets now have a serious conversation collectively about how we deal with this situation.

And he attended a meeting in Parliament with 16-year-old Swedish protester Greta Thunberg, the inspiration for the global School Strike for Climate, telling her he felt a sense of responsibility and guilt because his generation had not done enough to deal with the issue.

The time to act is now, the challenge could not be clearer, Greta you have been heard, Mr Gove told the teenager.

Extinction Rebellion said that this weeks meeting was Michael Goves opportunity to show hes ready to act on the climate and ecological emergency.

Although the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs described the meeting as private, the campaigners said they would film it and make the footage public.

Mr Khan suffered a backlash on social media after declaring that London should return to business as usual after the protests.

Banners were produced with the slogan: Business as Usual = Death.

Writing for Mirror Online ahead of Mondays meeting, the mayor said the protests had placed an enormous burden on police, but added: I share the protesters passion about tackling climate change and I absolutely agree that we need to do much more as a country, and fast.

Protesters will meet with London Mayor Sadiq Khan (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Mr Khan said: Last year, I declared a climate emergency in London.

The bold policies we have been pursuing from City Hall since I was elected Mayor, are because I recognised that business as usual is simply not enough to stop the worst effects of climate change on our planet.

A Government spokesman said: We can confirm a private meeting will be held between the Environment Secretary, (Committee on Climate Change chairman) Lord Deben and representatives from Extinction Rebellion.

We know the impact climate change is having on our environment and welcome discussions on how we can tackle it.
Caledonian Sleeper has launched its new 150 million fleet of trains, with British travellers now able to sleep on a double bed on the service for the first time.

The new carriages made their debut on Sunday night on the Lowlander route between London and Glasgow/Edinburgh.

This is to be followed by their introduction on the Highlander route between London and Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William in the coming weeks.

Ryan Flaherty, Sercos managing director for Caledonian Sleeper, said: Our new trains have been years in the making and to see them make their debut is a huge moment for everyone involved in making this dream a reality.

The overriding ambition has been to deliver on our vision of a Caledonian Sleeper service fit for todays traveller, one that combines the modern facilities people expect with that feeling of nostalgia that comes from long-distance railway travel.

We want guests to have a magical journey with us, whether they are travelling for business or for pleasure.

Carriages now have en-suite double bedrooms available (Jeff Holmes)

The fleet, built at a cost of 150m, has been part funded by capital grants from Scottish ministers and from the UK Government.

Accommodation ranges from new comfort seats to rooms with double beds and en suites  a first in the history of Caledonian Sleeper.

Other new features on the trains include a hotel-style keycard entry system, charging panels and Wi-Fi throughout.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport Michael Matheson said: The Scottish Government is proud to have played its part in the launch of this new Caledonian Sleeper service.

In subsidy over the 15 years of this franchise, in support for this fleet of new trains and in funding for stations and passenger lounges, this is clear evidence of our genuine commitment to both rail and tourism in Scotland.

The scale of change is remarkable and a credit to everyone who has worked on this project.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell: It is fantastic to see the launch of the new Caledonian Sleeper service.

The UK Government has invested 50 million in the new fleet, improving vital connectivity between Scotland and England, and improving the service for the thousands of passengers. I was pleased to travel on their debut journey and look forward to using this service for years to come.
Poisonous air across Northern Ireland is contributing to illness and early death for many people, it has been claimed.

The stark warning comes as an investigation into air quality in Belfast revealed dangerously high levels of pollutants.

Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were so high in some areas that it breached legal limits at 30 sites across the city.

NO2 is a toxic gas which inflames the lining of the lungs (Green Party/PA)

An environmental group monitored levels of NO2 for several weeks, providing a snapshot of NO2 pollution.

NO2 is a toxic gas which inflames the lining of the lungs.

The results found levels of NO2 pollution breaching legal limits at 30 sites across Belfast and North Down.

The group claimed that particularly high readings were recorded outside the Royal Victoria Hospital and at the Belfast Metropolitan College Millfield Campus.

The legal annual limit for NO2 is 40 micrograms per cubic metre, however there are no safe levels of exposure to air pollution.

The air quality samples were collected using diffusion tubes situated at over 100 sites then processed and analysed by a laboratory.

The Green partys Clare Bailey issued a stark warning (Liam McBurney/PA)

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) test air quality at 18 sites across Northern Ireland with nine in the greater Belfast area.

Green Party leader Clare Bailey warned that polluted, poisonous air across towns and cities in Northern Ireland is contributing to illness and early death for many people.

She said: This is an important study alerting us to an air pollution emergency across Belfast and beyond.

Clean air is a human right, but many of us are breathing in heavily polluted and poisonous air each and every day.

Air pollution is often invisible, with residents in heavily polluted areas not realising the extent of the problem and the resulting health impacts.

Some of the most concerning levels of NO2 were recorded across inner city working class communities, with heavy traffic prevalent.

Tests revealed there were dangerously high levels of N02 pollution breaching legal limits at 30 sites (Green Party NI/PA)

The scientific evidence on the effects of air pollution is well documented and mounting.

Respiratory symptoms, asthma prevalence and certain types of cancer can all be attributed to air pollution.

New studies have linked the problem with dementia and complications during pregnancy.

Urgent action is required to address this public health emergency, Ms Bailey added.

NO2 pollution is closely linked with vehicle emissions, particularly diesel engines. A green transport strategy aimed at reducing the number of vehicles on our roads and increasing access to public transport is long overdue.

The Department must also commit to increased air quality monitoring. Eighteen testing sites across Northern Ireland is inadequate.

Communities are suffering from the poisonous effects of air pollution often without realising the harmful effects of the air they are breathing.

I also want to see the introduction of a Clean Air Act which enshrines clean air as a human right and updates the legislation for modern fuels and technologies to reduce harmful air emissions and protect human health and the environment.
The BBCs Sunday Politics breached broadcasting rules with misleading claims made by presenter Andrew Neil, a watchdog has found.

The host claimed during an interview with former Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond that after a decade of SNP rule, one in five Scots pupils leave primary school functionally illiterate.

Media watchdog Ofcom has found that his statistical claim was not accurate or based on any official source.

The broadcaster had been discussing Scottish education with former first minister Alex Salmond (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Following a complaint about the false statistic, an investigation found that the claim misled viewers during the build-up to elections in 2017.

Neil said his claim was all too credible, even if not exactly accurate, as I now realise.

It was also found that the BBC attempted to find a source to back up Neils inaccurate claim, before conceding it was inaccurate and had no basis.

Ofcom is greatly concerned with the BBCs handling of the complaint, and the time taken to admit the error.

A spokeswoman for Ofcom said: We expect the BBC to take careful note of its errors in the handling of this case to ensure they dont recur.

The length of time it took the BBC to admit there was no factual source to support the statement made in this programme was deeply unsatisfactory.

We expect better standards from the BBC, both in its handling of viewer complaints and in its interactions with Ofcom.

Neil conducted an interview with former Scottish first minister Salmond in 2017, ahead of the local elections in Scotland and a UK general election.

Alex Salmond was offered an inaccurate statistic by Neil (Jane Barlow/PA)

He asked the politician: If services have been so well protected, why, after a decade of SNP rule, do one in five Scots pupils leave primary school functionally illiterate?

Neil then repeated: Why are one in five functionally illiterate?

This, Ofcom has ruled, gave a false impression that Mr Neils question was founded on an established fact or source.

The BBCs subsequent handling of the complaint has also been criticised by Ofcom.

The watchdog found that not only was the claim unfounded, but that the BBC has erroneously pointed to sources to try and give it some factual basis, and offered conflicting explanations on the source from which Mr Neils statement was derived.

The BBC also pointed to the fact that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon did not rebut the statistic in a Scottish parliamentary debate as backing their case that it was not materially misleading.

Ofcoms findings stated that: The BBC now accepts that it was not based on any such source and that it was therefore not accurate.

The watchdog has said that it is concerned that the misleading claims were made during a sensitive election period.

Neil said in his representations to Ofcom: Questions can always be better framed in retrospect. But I refute Ofcoms draft conclusion that my question seriously misled viewers about literacy problems.

He added: Evidence is strong that illiteracy in Scottish schools is still deeply embedded in the system and that, far from improving, is likely getting worse, even after 10 years of SNP government.

A BBC spokesman said: The BBC has already upheld a complaint on this issue in 2017 and we will study Ofcoms findings.
The US has delivered a fresh warning that there is no safe level of involvement by Chinese tech giant Huawei in the 5G networks of Western powers.

Robert Strayer, the deputy assistant secretary for cyber at the State Department, said any role for the firm in building a nations 5G network posed an unacceptable risk to security.

His comments came after Theresa May was reported to have given the green light for Huawei to provide non-core elements of the UK network, overriding concerns of a number of senior ministers.

In an online briefing for journalists, Mr Strayer said that even allowing an untrustworthy operator into the edges of the network created risks of espionage or sabotage.

He said the US would have to reassess its intelligence-sharing arrangements with any country which allowed such a firm to become involved in building its network.

Having potentially compromised equipment and software provided by vendors in any part of that network is an unacceptable risk, he said.

It is our position in the United States that there is no way that we can effectively mitigate the risk to having an untrustworthy vendor in the edge of the network.

We should be concerned about all parts of the 5G network. No part of the 5G network should have parts or software coming from a vendor that could be under the control of an authoritarian government.

He said the increasing use of software in the new networks for tasks previously carried out by computer hardware increased the attack area for attempted interference, while 5G would create vast quantities of new data.

The temptation will be there to come after that data and use it for illicit purposes, he said.

What we really have here is a loaded gun. It is something Western democracies who value human rights should think very carefully about if they want to give that to an authoritarian regime with very different values about the uses of data.

If other countries allow untrusted vendors to build out and and become the vendors for their 5G networks we will have to reassess the ability for us to share information and be interconnected with them in the ways that we are today.

Exactly how that will be done will depend on the risk of the equipment that is put into the networks.

The latest US intervention will heighten the pressure on Mrs May, with many Conservative MPs concerned by the implications of allowing a Chinese firm access to the UKs critical communications network.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman said: Our position has always been that where national security concerns arise in any foreign investment the Government will assess the risks and consider what course of action to take.

Jeremy Hunt (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, one of the ministers said to have raised objections about Huaweis involvement, said the Government needed to be wary in coming to a final decision.

We are right to have a degree of caution about the role of large Chinese companies because of the degree of control the Chinese state is able to exercise over them in the way that would not be possible if they were large Western companies, he told The Daily Telegraph.

That doesnt mean to say that their role is automatically malign, but there are things like the 2017 law which requires all Chinese companies, whatever their ownership, to co-operate with Chinese intelligence services on any occasion.

A hunt is continuing in Whitehall for whoever leaked details of last weeks National Security Council meeting  when Huawei was discussed  to the Telegraph.

Mr Hunt confirmed he had been questioned by officials as part of the probe ordered by Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill, and said he would be prepared to hand over his phone for examination.

I would be very happy for anyone to look at my phone, as would my trusted special adviser, he said.
A man accused of being married to four women has pleaded guilty to bigamy  but will avoid jail time if he behaves for the next five years.

Michael Middleton, 43, married a Georgia woman in 2006, an Alabama woman in 2011 and a New Hampshire woman in 2013. That led to the bigamy charge in New Hampshire, but according to court documents, he also married a fourth woman in Kentucky in 2016.

Prosecutors in New Hampshire say he used the marriages to gain access to the womens assets.

In court on Monday, Assistant Strafford County Attorney Michael Rotman read a statement from Middletons New Hampshire wife, Alicia Grant, who blamed Middleton for her transformation from a compassionate person to someone with a not-my-problem attitude.

Michael Middleton in court (Deb Cram/Fosters Daily Democrat via AP)

She said she was satisfied that he was facing consequences for his actions.

When we got married six years ago, what I thought I had found in him was a life partner, someone that I could face lifes ups and downs with, someone my children could look up to, Ms Grant wrote.

Instead I got six years of pain and misery as I tried to free myself from the prison of his lies and manipulations.

Middleton was arrested in Ohio in February. He also has faced domestic violence charges in Maine.

As part of his 12-month suspended sentence, Middleton was ordered to undergo screenings for domestic abuse and substance abuse, and comply with any recommended counselling or programmes. Neither he nor his attorney spoke at the hearing other than to answer brief questions from the judge.

After the hearing, Middleton was asked if he was sorry for his actions. He told reporters he felt compassion and understanding for his New Hampshire wife, Ms Grant, after hearing her letter.

It was a good outcome, he said. I hope to move forward with my life and everything, and abide by everything that was handed down to me.
Boeing shareholders are meeting six months to the day since the first of two deadly crashes involving the companys 737 Max airliner, and as new questions arise about the aerospace giants handling of the crisis.

Southwest Airlines has said it was not told that a safety feature on the Max was turned off until after the first crash.

Protests outside Boeings annual shareholder meeting in Chicago (Jim Young/AP)

Meanwhile, American Airlines pilots have said Boeings proposed pilot training for new automation on the Max is not good enough.

At the meeting Monday in Chicago, chairman and CEO Dennis Muilenburg said Boeing is close to completing an upgrade to flight software on the jet that will ensure accidents like these never happen again.
A new project that aims to explore remembrance using an 18-tonne mobile museum has been launched.

Bud the truck will travel across Scotland visiting schools and diverse communities, acting as a learning space.

The Poppyscotland initiative will feature exhibits including historical artefacts, displays and the stories of veterans and their families.

Mark Bibbey, chief executive of the charity, said: At the heart of every poppy is a persons unique emotions, opinions and stories, and thats why we created Bud.

This is not about imposing a particular view on visitors  quite the opposite in fact.

Through contemporary conversations about the poppy and our heritage, we hope to better understand the significance of remembrance and its importance to society.

We aim to challenge assumptions and create conversations, and, ultimately, engage a more diverse audience.

It is hoped the mobile museum will help interpret the heritage of the poppy and enable groups to share a contemporary understanding of remembrance, the nature of conflict and the poppys role in modern Scottish society as a symbol.

Pupils from St Denis Primary School in Glasgow at the mobile museum (Mark Owens/Poppyscotland)

The first people to have an opportunity to visit Bud were pupils from St Denis Primary School in Glasgow.

Head teacher Louise Mackie said: The pupils have really enjoyed their time on Bud.

We have previously made use of the excellent Poppyscotland learning materials in the classroom and will continue to do so but being able to deepen their understanding of the poppy and remembrance in such an interesting way has been fantastic.
The father of a student who died after a street assault has claimed authorities showed him no respect by not informing him of a court hearing in which three girls admitted attacking his daughter.

Mariam Moustafa suffered a stroke which left her in a coma after the attack on February 20 last year and died almost a month later on March 14.

Six teenagers had been charged with the offence of affray but three had denied the charge in October and were due to stand trial last week.

But Mariah Fraser, 19, Britania Hunter, 18, and a 16-year-old girl, admitted their part in the attack before Judge Gregory Dickinson QC on April 16.

Three other teenage girls, two aged 17 and one aged 18 admitted affray at Nottingham Youth Court last year.

The case can be reported today after restrictions were lifted by District Judge Timothy Spruce.

The 18-year-old Egyptian students father, Mohamed Moustafa, told the Press Association he was not informed of the recent hearing, describing it as another failure in the case of our daughter.

The familys legal representative said an official complaint has been made to authorities.

Mr Moustafa, 51, said: We were not informed or advised in any way, shape, or form that there was a hearing on that day.

As a family we are entitled to know everything regarding our daughters case beforehand and not after.

We should have been informed of that hearing date and time and we should have been given the opportunity to attend the hearing. This very simple right was taken from us.

This is not the first mistake. A lot of mistakes happened with Mariam from the very first day and now it is just normal. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes with Mariam.

I believe it is not fair at all  because it is my daughter.

Mariam, who Mr Moustafa described as very kind and like an angel after she was attacked, was punched several times during a confrontation with a group of women near a bus stop in Parliament Street, Nottingham, at 8pm.

Mariam Moustafa in a coma before she died (Family handout/PA)

The teenager got on a bus at the scene near the Victoria Centre shopping precinct but was followed by the same group, who it is claimed were threatening and abusive towards her.

She was taken to the Queens Medical Centre in the city and then transferred to Nottingham City Hospital where she was treated until her death.

The attack caused uproar in Egypt and the countrys embassy had called on those responsible to be brought to justice swiftly.

After the final guilty pleas were entered, the teenagers family also expressed their anger at the level of charges the six defendants faced.

Mr Moustafa described affray as very weak  insisting there was strong evidence the defendants should have been tried on more serious charges.

He said: We are very disappointed with the charges pressed against the defendants.

It was not and is not what we expected. Its unfair and unjust to charge those whom killed or, at least by their actions, led to (Mariams) death with such minor offences.

Mohamed Moustafa, 51 and Nessrin Abu-Elenein, 42 parents of Mariam Moustafa at their home in Nottingham (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

It is very weak. It is not fair at all.

From the first day I was very upset about the charge. Affray  its nothing.

We had a big hope that the CPS would be more aware that the attack happened at 7.45pm and the cause of death, the stroke, happened at 10am, which is just over 12 hours. But once more we were let down.

Im sorry, the charge is very stupid, very weak. Its not strong enough.

Mariams father said he was told about the final guilty pleas by his solicitor shortly after the hearing on April 16, rather than before.

He continued: For respect, for the people who lost their daughter they should have informed me. It is not fair at all.

Im very upset. All these mistakes  nobody respects me and my family. This is another failure in the case of our daughter.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: We have worked closely with the police to make sure Mr Moustafa has been kept updated throughout this process and are deeply sorry this didnt happen on this particular occasion. We have contacted him to offer a full explanation.

We were preparing for trial in this case, two of the three guilty pleas were unexpected and we informed the family immediately.

We have also met with Mr Moustafa to explain the charge of affray, the CPS can only charge if the evidential stage of our tests for prosecution are met. Our thoughts remain with her family.

Fraser, Hunter, and the four other teenagers will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.
Two former police officers have described witnessing a gun battle between soldiers and unseen men in Belfast.

Ex-Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers John Jackson and Rolf McGookin were on duty in Springmartin Road on August 9 1971 hours after internment was introduced.

They were standing with a crowd of loyalists watching rioting in front of a temporary Army base at Henry Taggart Memorial Hall.

Six people were killed in the area that day in a disputed shooting, including a Catholic priest and a mother of eight.

Photos of those killed at Ballymurphy (Ballymurphy Massacre Committee/PA)

The episode dubbed the Ballymurphy massacre started on August 9 as the British Army moved into republican strongholds to arrest IRA suspects after the introduction by the Stormont administration of the controversial policy of internment without trial.

A new inquest at Belfast Coroners Court is examining the deaths of 10 civilians over three days in the Ballymurphy area from August 9 to 11.

Claims that IRA gunmen were in the area at the time have been disputed during the inquest hearings.

On Monday, the two retired RUC officers gave evidence in person, while statements made in 1972 were read on behalf of two others who are now dead and one who cannot be traced.

A poster featuring photos of those killed in the Ballymurphy massacre outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast (Rebecca Black/PA)

Their evidence included claims of seeing an exchange of fire between unseen gunmen and soldiers.

Mr McGookin said there were 250-300 loyalists at Springmartin, and described the crowd as initially not hostile.

He said that changed when an unknown person shouted the Fenians are attacking from Springfield Park, and the crowd surged forward to a wire fence which divided the two areas and started to climb it.

He told the inquest that after a person had been taken from a house in Springfield Park by soldiers, there was talk among the loyalist crowd of lynching that person.

Mr McGookin said soldiers fired a number of shots into the air to push back the loyalist crowd, which he described as having turned into a mob.

Mr Jackson said shots were fired from the Moyard, Springfield Park and Ballymurphy areas, and soldiers returned fire, but added that he did not see the gunmen.

In a statement made in 1972, Constable Rex Thompson described helping the soldiers by directing gunfire at those who he said he believed to be gunmen.

Karen Quinlivan QC, acting for the families of some of those killed at Ballymurphy, put to Mr McGookin that witnesses observed an attack at Springfield Park by loyalists in Springmartin that was so ferocious that women, children and the elderly were being evacuated from their homes in the street.

She also put to Mr McGookin that a witness had observed RUC officers laughing and joking with the loyalist crowd at Springmartin.

He rejected that, saying: We didnt have the numbers to control them.

Joan Connolly, one of the 11 victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre in west Belfast (Ballymurphy Massacre Committee)

Later on Monday, a former soldier described to the inquest how the Army accommodation was attacked on August 9 1971, initially with petrol bombs, then nail bombs and finally gun fire.

To say that the IRA was not in Ballymurphy at the time was a load of rubbish, he told the inquest.

The former signaller attached to B Company of the Second Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in 1971, who has been granted anonymity and is referred to as witness M1438, described waking up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet and seeing in the moonlight a number of bodies lined up in the corridor.

He said he believes one of the bodies was Joan Connolly, because of facial injuries.

The bodies were gone when he woke up later.

Michael Mansfield QC, acting for some of the families of those killed, put to M1438 why, as a human being had he not asked anyone about the bodies.

M1438 responded: It was the middle of the night, no-one was there, and when asked whether he had inquired about the bodies later that day, he said he had not.

The inquest continues.
Northern Irelands botched renewable heating scheme was no justification to collapse the Assembly, the Fianna Fail leader has said.

Micheal Martin urged voters in Thursdays local government elections to choose politicians willing to return to powersharing at Stormont.

Former coalition partners Sinn Fen and the Democratic Unionists have held endless rounds of negotiations but have been unable to patch up differences over the place of the Irish language and same-sex marriage.

Fianna Fail leader @MichealMartinTD : There was never any justification to collapse the Executive. @PA pic.twitter.com/ewHPmyRxw3  michael mchugh (@mmchugh02) April 29, 2019

Mr Martin said: There never was a justification to collapse the executive, in my view.

I dont think the heating scheme was a good enough reason to collapse the executive on day one, and I think the issues that are there can be resolved without necessitating the continued absence of an executive and Assembly.

He joined Colum Eastwood canvassing voters for SDLP candidates in south Belfast ahead of this weeks poll.

The botched renewable heating scheme was no justification to collapse the Assembly, the Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin (l) said during local government election canvassing in Belfast (Michael McHugh/PA).

In February, SDLP members voted for a partnership with the larger Irish opposition party in an effort to boost flagging electoral fortunes.

Mr Martin said: There is an opportunity in the local elections and the European elections for people to let their voice be heard.

I think people should indicate that they want people back in the institutions, back in the Assembly, back in the executive.

I would always be hopeful that people will see the light of day. Staying out does not work.

Former Sinn Fein deputy first minister Martin McGuinnesss resignation early in 2017 in protest at the DUPs handling of the over-spending green energy scheme forced the collapse of the devolved institutions.

While same-sex marriage is a live issue between Sinn Fein and the DUP, the Republics citizens overwhelmingly voted in a referendum to legalise it.

Mr Martin said the issue was not weaponised in the Republic as a way to attack a political party.

At the joint SDLP and Fianna Fail event - 'Shaping Ireland Beyond Brexit' in North Belfast this morning. Strong and ambitious leadership on show with a partnership that aims to bring about real change across the island. pic.twitter.com/sRpRxJG0br  Paul Doherty (@PaulDohertySDLP) April 29, 2019

He added: The Assembly here should pass marriage equality, that would be the ideal way to get this resolved quickly.

The absence of an Assembly and executive for two years or more has not helped marriage equality and has not brought it one step further.

SDLP leader Mr Eastwood said someone needed to legislate.

He suggested the petition of concern used to block contentious legislation be suspended and reformed while what he termed marriage equality could be delivered.

Has there being no Assembly delivered marriage equality? No it has not.

Has there being no Assembly delivered anything around Irish language? No it has not.

What has it done? It has led to longer waiting lists, schools being defunded, Brexit happening and us not there to do anything about it.

That is the reality. The strategy that Sinn Fein has deployed has totally and abjectly failed, it may be time to think again.
A sea of red swept the capitals of North and South Carolina on Wednesday, as thousands of teachers turned out to demand higher pay, more school funding, and other changes to education policy.

The protests, which forced dozens of school districts to close, are the latest in a wave of teacher activism that has been sweeping the country since last year . Teachers in both Carolinas make less than the national average of $61,730North Carolina teachers make about $54,000 and South Carolina teachers make about $50,400, according to the National Education Association .

For North Carolina, the teachers rally and march was round two. Last May, thousands of teachers took to the streets to call for higher pay, forcing about 40 school districts to close.

This year, according to the Raleigh News & Observer, at least 34 school districts, including the states five largest, have canceled classes due to the high number of teacher absences. At least 10 charter schools have also closed. The closings will affect 56 percent of students in the state, according to the N&O.

The protest was organized by the N.C. Association of Educators, with support from the grassroots group Red4EdNC . Teachers are asking for a 5 percent raise, extra compensation for advanced degrees, $15 minimum wage for school staff like custodians and bus drivers, more school librarians, counselors, and nurses in schools, and an expansion of Medicaid to improve the health of students and their families.

In an opinion essay for Education Week, North Carolina teacher Justin Parmenter said educators were taking a day off work to protest in order to fight for students futures. He pushed back against state lawmakers claims that teachers were abandoning students.

We have tried writing, calling, emailing our state legislators to let them know what we need, and little has changed, Parmenter wrote. Its time for us to increase the pressure.

The evening before the protest, state legislative leaders announced a budget plan that would give teachers a 4.8 percent raise and non-certified support staff like custodians a 1 percent raise. It also restores extra pay to teachers who have advanced degrees, according to the N&O.

South Carolinas teacher protest was smaller, but still historic. According to The State newspaper, at least seven school districts have closed , and more than 4,000 teachers, students, and other supporters were expected to protest at the statehouse.

The numbers [of teachers] are unprecedented, Jon Hale, an associate professor at the University of South Carolinas College of Education, told The State. This is a movement that really needs to be reckoned with.

Teachers in South Carolina are asking for a 10 percent across-the-board raise, smaller class sizes, uninterrupted planning time, and for the state legislature to reduce the amount of standardized and district-mandated testing. Meanwhile, the state legislature is considering a budget that would raise the state minimum starting salary from $32,000 to $35,000, and would give teachers with fewer than five years experience a 10 percent raise and all other teachers at least a 4 percent raise.

But the top education official in the state has said she does not support the protest. State Superintendent Molly Spearman said in a statement that she instead would serve as a substitute teacher in the classroom of a protesting teacher on Wednesday.

I am not doing this to help facilitate the walkout, but rather to do all I can to ensure as many students as possible receive the instruction they deserve, she said. I support teachers using their voice to advocate for needed change and share in their commitment to ensuring reforms become reality. However, I cannot support teachers walking out on their obligations to South Carolina students, families, and the thousands of hardworking bus drivers, cafeterias, counselors, aides, and custodial staff whose livelihoods depend on our schools being operational.

Protesting teachers pushed back against Spearmans statement. We are doing this FOR our students, one person identifying herself as a teacher tweeted at her . We want there to be excellent teachers for our students but there wont be if things dont change!



And the teacher-led grassroots group SCforED, which organized the rally, tweeted that the protest was not a walkout , it is a day of reflection. Teachers took personal and sick days to attend the rally, the group said.

Image 1: Teachers travel to a rally in Raleigh, N.C., on May 1. Khadejeh Nikouyeh/News & Record via AP

Image 2: Thousands of teachers, other school employees, and their supporters marched up Fayetteville Street through downtown Raleigh, N.C., on May 1. Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP

Image 3: An education advocate holds a sign during a May 1 teacher rally on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, in Columbia, S.C. Christina Myers/AP
Sinn Feins leader has said she is ready to do business on a Stormont powersharing deal, warning that time has run out on the political stalemate.

Mary Lou McDonald said while her party was ready to engage energetically and positively to find a breakthrough, if negotiations fail then it would be incumbent on the UK and Irish governments to step-in to fill the political vacuum.

After a meeting with her partys negotiating team at Parliament Buildings in Belfast, Mrs McDonald said: The current stalemate cannot continue, the current position is simply not sustainable.

A new talks initiative will start on May 7.

Time has run out on inequality. We want powersharing and we need both governments to back powersharing - @MaryLouMcDonald tells media at Stormont pic.twitter.com/xTICbXDmGl  Sinn Fein (@sinnfeinireland) April 29, 2019

Efforts to resolve the political impasse have been injected with fresh impetus following the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, 29, by dissident republicans in Londonderry earlier this month.

The last DUP/Sinn Fein-led powersharing coalition imploded in January 2017 amid a row about a botched renewable energy scheme.

The rift between the erstwhile partners-in-government subsequently widen to take in disputes over the Irish language, same sex marriage and the legacy of the Troubles.

On Monday, Mrs McDonald said: We will enter these talks in good heart, in good faith, we will make every effort to arrive at a conclusion but, in the event that we cannot conclude on what are equality issues for citizens, then be very, very clear that the two government as co-guarantors and signatories of the Good Friday Agreement will have to, at that stage, intervene.

Because time has run out on equality, time has run out on this stalemate, its not good enough. Its not good enough for any of us. We are very clear on that.

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said his party would not be found wanting in any talks process.

Nigel Dodds (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

He said the partys preference remained that Stormont be reinstated immediately, with a talks process happening in parallel  a choreography Sinn Fein has rejected.

Boycotting devolution has hurt the people of Northern Ireland, he said.

Decisions need to be taken on key reforms in our hospitals and schools. Leadership is needed right across our public services. The only way for this to happen is to have ministers back at their desks working on the issues which matter to everyone.

The last ill-fated talks process broke down last February in acrimony amid claim and counter claim on what had actually been agreed.

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley announced a fresh bid to restore Stormont powersharing (Brian Lawless/PA)

Sinn Fein said DUP leader Arlene Foster had agreed a draft deal to re-enter devolved government  a claim Mrs Foster emphatically denied.

Leaked copies of papers exchanged between the parties indicated discussions included a three-stranded legislative approach to deal with the key logjam over Irish language protections.

Last month, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill said her party would not negotiate down from the February 2018 position.

On Monday, Mrs McDonald was asked would she countenance a deal that looked significantly different to that disputed text.

She replied by saying any agreement had to be anchored in the values of equality and respect.

This is not about one-upmanship or one-upwomanship  this is about decency, this is about doing the right thing, the republican leader added.

This is about acknowledging our people, all of them, and that is the only sustainable basis for good government.

The Sinn Fein leader said the talks needed to be substantive.

We have to avoid at all costs the danger of simply talking for talks sake, she said.

We dont need box-ticking exercises. We dont need anything that is superficial or a matter of spin.

She added: We are ready to do the business, we are ready for positivity, we are ready for dialogue and engagement, and, above all, we are now ready for solutions, because stalemate is not an option into the future.

Mrs McDonald said the talks represented a big opportunity to resolve the outstanding issues at the heart of the logjam.

We have an opportunity to establish real, genuine powersharing institutions that serve every one of our citizens, she added.

We have the opportunity to move to a new dispensation where no section of our community and no citizen is left behind.

We hope that others  the two governments and all the political parties  will seize this opportunity.

Mr Dodds highlighted the 1 billion in investment delivered to Northern Ireland through the DUPs confidence and supply Westminster deal with the Conservative Party.

But he said much more could have been achieved in the past two years if the executive had been running.

The DUP will not be found wanting in any talks process but our preference would have been to have talks in parallel with the restoration of a devolved government, he said.

The previous executive had a cross-party agreement for reforming our hospitals, yet it is sitting on the shelf gathering dust. The Assembly and executive should be restored immediately so work on the issues which matter to everyone can be progressed alongside talks to resolve the areas where there is contention.

Whilst Sinn Fein focus on narrow sectional interests, the DUP has been able to deliver 1 billion more for schools, hospitals and roads yet we could have achieved so much more if we had a functioning executive.

Having a fully restored Assembly and our influence in London would enable more delivery for everyone in Northern Ireland.
Two 14-year-old boys have pleaded not guilty to murdering Anastasia Kriegel in Dublin last year.

One of the boys also pleaded not guilty to the aggravated sexual assault of the 14-year-old, whose body was found at a derelict farmhouse in Lucan, Co Dublin, almost a year ago.

The boys cannot be identified because of their age.

The jury has been selected for the trial which is expected to last up to six weeks.

Dublins Central Criminal Court (Niall Carson/PA)

Both boys sat beside their guardians at the Central Criminal Court on Monday where they were accused of murdering the schoolgirl at Glenwood House in Lucan on May 14 last year.

Anastasias naked body was discovered at the derelict house three days later.

Both boys were 13 at the time.

Mr Justice Paul McDermott told the jurors to ensure they are not connected to the case.

If you have a connection with those events you should not serve on this jury, he added.

Anastasia Kriegel (Family handout/PA)

He said the case was covered by the media during the investigation, adding: If there is any element you feel may prevent you from an independent assessment and judgment arising from any knowledge you may have, you should bring that to my attention.

He warned that the case involves the allegation of murder and aggravated sexual assault and added: They involve young people so that may make it more upsetting than other cases of this kind. These are serious offences.

More than 130 witnesses including gardai, forensic experts and doctors are due to give evidence.

Justice McDermott reminded the jury that the accused are entitled to have their identities protected and it is an offence for anyone to broadcast or publish their details.

He also warned the jurors not to disclose any details of the case they have heard.

He added that any publication of the boys identities would be contempt of court.

A jury of eight men and four women were sworn in to hear the trial. The opening statements are expected to be heard on Tuesday.
Anas Sarwar has said he is disappointed by the outcome of a Labour investigation that found a councillor accused of using a racial slur when referring to him has no case to answer.

Mr Sarwar claimed in January last year that a party colleague had made the remark during his campaign to succeed Kezia Dugdale as Scottish Labour leader in 2017.

Davie McLachlan was subsequently named as the councillor alleged to have made the comment and was suspended from the party as it launched an investigation into the remark, which Mr McLachlan has categorically denied.

Mr Sarwar (left) said the comment was made to him when he was standing to be the next Scottish Labour leader, a contest won by Richard Leonard (Jane Barlow/PA)

He was alleged to have told Mr Sarwar he could not support him because Scotland wouldnt vote for a brown Muslim Paki.

At the partys National Constitutional Committee (NCC) hearing on Monday in Glasgow, the case against Mr McLachlan was dismissed.

Following the hearing, Mr Sarwar said he was disappointed by the process and the outcome of the investigation.

I have consistently said that this isnt about one individual, the Scottish Labour MSP said.

This is about challenging a wider culture and we have made great strides in the campaign against Islamophobia.

Just this week we had Scotlands political parties adopt a working definition of Islamophobia.

Im disappointed with the process and outcome and will have more to say about it but I want to give a considered response rather than one made in haste today.

In a statement, Mr McLachlan said his reputation had been badly damaged by the allegation against him.

He said: This has been a tremendously difficult time for my family and me and Im delighted the NCC hearing panel has come to this conclusion.

However, it has been a long and difficult process and I dont think my family and I will ever get over the stress this has brought to all of us.

My reputation and character have been badly maligned by the false accusations that were made against me but there is some consolation for me in the fact that there are many, many people who know for sure that I never have, and never would, harbour racist views.

I have been a Labour Party member for 35 years and a councillor for 24 years and I now look forward to representing my constituents again as their Labour councillor.

A spokesman for Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: Richard has said for some time now that he has concerns about the disciplinary process, how properly resourced it is, and whether it delivers fairness to both sides.

A Labour Party spokesman said: The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously, which are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.
The next prime minister should continue to say no to another referendum on independence, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has said.

Ms Davidson, who returns to work from maternity leave this week, said the majority of Scots do not want another poll on the issue.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last week said another independence referendum should be held before the next Holyrood elections in 2021.

Baby Finn was born last October (Scottish Conservatives/PA)

Westminster has repeatedly refused to countenance such a vote but Ms Sturgeon said surging support for independence could help to bring about a change.

Ms Davidson was asked about the UK Government agreeing to a new referendum in a BBC Scotland interview and said: Ill say no and this Prime Minister and the next prime minister should say so too.

The Scottish Conservatives leader will return to work on Thursday ahead of her partys weekend conference in Aberdeen.

Her deputy Jackson Carlaw has been leading the party in her absence.

Ms Davidson said she does not agree with re-running a referendum Ms Sturgeon said would last for a generation.

She told the BBC: Nicola Sturgeon doesnt agree with Nicola Sturgeon on this.

Not only is she going back on the Edinburgh Agreement that she signed, where she said she would respect the result for a generation, the test she put down for any future referendum before the last election was that a majority of Scots would want it.

The majority of Scots dont want this, and if the majority of Scots need a voice to stand up to Nicola Sturgeon, then I will be that voice.

I dont agree with re-running a referendum in which the main signatories  including as it happens Nicola Sturgeon  said it would last for a generation.

Shes done everything she can to rip that agreement up since then.

She added: Im a Conservative and unionist, I will be campaigning to keep the United Kingdom together and honour the result that over two million Scots made in that referendum.

On Brexit, Ms Davidson said parties need to work together and find a compromise.

She said: My message to colleagues both in my party and others is now is the time, instead of sticking in your trenches and hoping everyone moves to you, is to take that first step forward and start that compromise that clearly needs to happen.

Weve got two sets of people in their trenches shouting at each other  on one side, people demanding a second referendum and on the other demanding a no-deal Brexit.

And actually for the country, the place where we can coalesce is somewhere in the middle.

Thats where Im hoping we can get to and where Im encouraging colleagues to get to.

Keith Brown, SNP depute leader, said: Support for independence is on the rise, and the Tories are clearly running scared  that is what lies behind their utterly undemocratic move to block the people of Scotland having a say.

That is completely indefensible, and will prove to be an untenable position for Ruth Davidsons party.

In terms of Ms Davidson herself, her comments reek of hypocrisy, given her previous statement that the UK Government shouldnt block an independence referendum.
The new Caledonian Sleeper service arrived in London more than three hours late following signalling problems on the line.

The new carriages in the 150 million fleet of trains made their debut on Sunday night on the Lowlander route between London and Glasgow/Edinburgh.

But the train from Glasgow/Edinburgh to London arrived at 10.27am on Monday instead of the scheduled arrival time of 7.07am following signalling issues.

Ryan Flaherty, Sercos managing director for Caledonian Sleeper, said: We apologise to guests affected by delays to our services last night.

These were as a result of signalling problems across the network.

We are engaging with Network Rail to understand why these issues occurred.

The new Caledonian Sleeper (Jeff Holmes/Caledonian Sleeper/PA)

Network Rail said there was also an issue with the train itself.

A Network Rail spokesman said: A signalling fault near Carstairs caused significant delays to trains on Sunday, including the sleeper services.

Our engineers were on site quickly to find and repair the fault, however, the complex nature of the issue meant it was several hours before full repairs were completed.

We apologise to all those passengers who had their journeys disrupted.

The new trains will be introduced on the Highlander route between London and Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William in the coming weeks.

The fleet, built at a cost of 150m, has been part funded by capital grants from Scottish ministers and from the UK Government.

Accommodation ranges from new comfort seats to rooms with double beds and en suites  a first in the history of Caledonian Sleeper.

Mr Flaherty said: Our new trains have been years in the making and to see them make their debut is a huge moment for everyone involved in making this dream a reality.

The overriding ambition has been to deliver on our vision of a Caledonian Sleeper service fit for todays traveller, one that combines the modern facilities people expect with that feeling of nostalgia that comes from long-distance railway travel.

We want guests to have a magical journey with us, whether they are travelling for business or for pleasure.

Other new features on the trains include a hotel-style keycard entry system, charging panels and Wi-Fi throughout.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport Michael Matheson said: The Scottish Government is proud to have played its part in the launch of this new Caledonian Sleeper service.

In subsidy over the 15 years of this franchise, in support for this fleet of new trains and in funding for stations and passenger lounges, this is clear evidence of our genuine commitment to both rail and tourism in Scotland.

The scale of change is remarkable and a credit to everyone who has worked on this project.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell: It is fantastic to see the launch of the new Caledonian Sleeper service.

The UK Government has invested 50 million in the new fleet, improving vital connectivity between Scotland and England, and improving the service for the thousands of passengers. I was pleased to travel on their debut journey and look forward to using this service for years to come.
The Duchess of Cambridge has been awarded a prestigious honour by the Queen in recognition of her efforts supporting the head of state.

The Queen has made Kate a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on the day she celebrates her eight wedding anniversary.

The Queen has been pleased to make the following appointment to the Royal Victorian Order. https://t.co/34sJOY8WYt  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 29, 2019

Awards under the Royal Victorian Order (RVO) are made personally by the Queen, not on the recommendations of Downing Street, for services to the sovereign.

The RVO has five classes from member to Knight or Dame Grand Cross, and Kate follows in the footsteps of the Duchess of Cornwall, who received the same honour in the Queens 2012 Diamond Jubilee year.

 8 years ago today  thank you for your lovely messages on The Duke and Duchess of Cambridges wedding anniversary! pic.twitter.com/jDiIk7bs2V  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 29, 2019

It is likely the honour recognises Kates work over the past eight years as a member of the monarchy.

She has championed her own causes like supporting the early years development of children, travelled the Commonwealth on behalf of the Queen and raised awareness about mental health with William and the Duke of Sussex.

The honour also reveals the esteem in which Kate is held by the Queen and reflects her growing prominence as a senior member of the royal family.

The Queen and Kate visiting Kings College London (Paul Grover/Daily Telegraph/PA)

The monarchys official website says about the duchess: She has been hugely inspired by the leadership the Queen has provided for over 60 years and will continue to play her part in supporting and celebrating the Queen in the UK and around the Commonwealth wherever possible.

Kate has joined the Queen at national events like the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, celebrating the Queens official birthday at Trooping the Colour and joining members of the monarchy to welcome visiting heads of state.

William and Kate wed on April 29 2011 at Westminster Abbey and now have three children  Prince George, Prince Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Kate at East Anglias Childrens Hospices in Quidenham, Norwich (Adrian Dennis/PA)

Over the past eight years the duchess has developed her own public interests, from becoming patron of the National Portrait Gallery and Natural History Museum to becoming royal patron of East Anglias Childrens Hospices.

Royal tours undertaken on behalf of the Queen have taken William and Kate from Tuvalu in the South Pacific to Canada, India and America.
The FBI says it got tips about a threatening social media post about five minutes before a deadly attack on a synagogue near San Diego, but it was too late to identify the suspect.

In a statement to The Associated Press, the FBI said on Monday that it got word about the anonymous post through its tip website and phone line just before Saturdays attack on the Chabad of Poway.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was injured in the attack (Denis Poroy/AP)

The FBI says the tips included a link to the post, but did not offer specific information about its author or the location threatened.

The bureau says its employees immediately took action to identify who wrote the post but the shooting took place before they finished.

The attack killed one member of the congregation and wounded the rabbi and two others.

A 19-year-old man surrendered to police a short time later.
Farmers in Northern Ireland are reverting back to burning fossil fuels having lost trust in renewable energy following the RHI scandal, MPs have been told.

Farm owners and other businesses who signed up to the botched scheme were scathing in their criticism as they gave evidence to a Westminster committee.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, sitting at Parliament Buildings in Belfast, was hearing from a range of boiler owners impacted by the latest Government bid to rein in the RHI overspend bill.

Chris Osborne, a senior policy officer at the Ulster Farmers Union, said of the 300 UFU members who had purchased RHI boilers, more than half were actively exploring a switch back to fossil fuel heat sources.

He said that number was set to rise as the financial hardships brought about by the new reduced tariff rates kicked in.

I am inundated with phone calls from very concerned boiler owners and every one that rings me is saying they cannot afford to basically maintain the renewable heating system they have and they are having to revert to fossil fuels, Mr Osborne told committee members.

The RHI was designed to encourage businesses and farmers to switch to eco-friendly wood pellet boilers (Niall Carson/PA)

There is definitely an urge to revert back to fossil fuel use.

In the absence of powersharing at Stormont, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley is taking legislation through Westminster to significantly reduce the subsidies paid to RHI boiler owners.

Average payments are set to decrease from 13,000 a year to 2,000.

The committee is holding an inquiry into the proposed reductions.

Mr Osborne told members: Its creating a real air of negativity in terms of ever getting involved in any similar schemes going forward.

The RHI was designed to encourage businesses and farmers to switch to eco-friendly wood pellet boilers by offering a subsidy to buy the sustainable fuel.

But errors in its design meant applicants were paid more than it actually cost them to buy pellets.

A public inquiry into the scheme which triggered the collapse of Stormont in 2017 is due to report in the coming months.

Committee chairman Dr Andrew Murrison said any trend back to fossil fuels would be seen as regressive and potentially embarrassing for the Government.

The optics of reverting back to fossil fuels at such a time when we are laying into China for building coal fire power stations are frankly not very good, he said.

Thomas Douglas, a UFU board member and broiler chicken producer for Moy Park, said the poultry industry in Northern Ireland was in danger of becoming a backwater.

He said local producers would no longer be able to compete with counterparts in the Irish Republic and Great Britain, where higher renewable subsidies were on offer.

At the time, RHI was available and a number of us availed of that, he said.

In hindsight, we should never have bothered and put gas in and just burnt fossil fuels  we would have been far better off.

He added: Its the end of the trust with government when it comes to looking at renewables and offering incentives to put renewables in.

Because we have now learnt that you dont trust government when they say, You sign up to this, well guarantee you 20 years. Whos going to do it?

And thats not the biggest problem. What bank is going to lend money to anybody  whether it be farmers, hoteliers, factories  on the strength of a renewable payment going forward when they have done this backward step with RHI?

Theres no credibility there.

Mr Douglas was particularly critical of Stormonts Department for the Economy  which was involved in the original flawed design of the scheme and subsequent controversial moves to change the terms of long-term tariff payment contracts.

They honestly do not know what they are doing, he said. That is my personal view and its a view of a lot of farmers.

He added: To be quite honest, with the track record of the Department of the Economy, I wouldnt put any credence in any word, any figure or anything they come up with.

The group representing RHI owners  the Renewable Heat Association NI  also gave evidence to the committee.

RHANI member Avril Robson, who uses RHI boilers in her hotel and farm businesses in Co Tyrone, said she thought she was taking a positive step for the environment when she signed up.

We all bought into the biomass for the renewable side of it, for our carbon footprint, for the future sustainability of our country and of our future and to set up something that is going to be tangible for the next generation, she said.

Mrs Robson urged the Government to enter into negotiations with boiler owners to find a tariff level that would be acceptable to all sides going forward.

We bought into a grandfathered scheme, a bona fide scheme, set up by the (Stormont) government  we feel very betrayed, we feel ostracised by the community because we were seen to be pariahs, she said.

What would we like  we would like to go back to the original tariff but, if that is not possible, lets have negotiation to find a happy ground for all the stakeholders to be happy with going forward.
A man arrested by detectives investigating the murder of a father outside a school in Belfast has been released unconditionally.

Jim Donegan, 43, was shot dead as he waited to collect his 13-year-old son from St Marys Christian Brothers Grammar School in west Belfast in December.

Detectives investigating the murder arrested a 63-year-old man at Musgrave police station on Monday morning under anti-terrorism legislation and later released him.

Detective Chief Inspector Pete Montgomery said: Jim was brutally murdered as he sat in his car outside a school on the Glen Road in west Belfast on December 4 2018.
The wife of a former Putin ally has had dinner with the Prime Minister and six Cabinet Ministers.

Banker Lubov Chernukhin was entertained by Theresa May after donating 135,000 at a Tory fundraiser  despite the Prime Minister pledging to crack down on Russian influence after the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

A photo of the group in a five star hotel in Belgravia was shared by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss on Monday.

The Instagram post shows Mrs Chernukhin shoulder to shoulder with Mrs May, who is alongside Ms Truss, Andrea Leadsom, Amber Rudd, Caroline Nokes, Karen Bradley and Baroness Evans.

Ms Truss captioned the post: And its ladies night, cabinetandfriends, girlpower.

Mrs Chernukhin is married to Vladimir Chernukhin, a former deputy finance minister under Mr Putin in the early 2000s, who fell out with the president after being dismissed from his job in charge of a state-run bank.

Prime Minister Theresa May was pictured at the event in London (Steve Parsons/PA)

The couple moved to London and Mrs Chernukhin is a British citizen.

But it is understood her donations to the Tories in the last seven years have now topped 1 million, raising fresh concerns over the partys links to Russia.

Mrs Chernukhin was also entertained by former prime minister David Cameron and Boris Johnson five years ago, after bidding 160,000 in an auction.

And she shelled out 30,000 to have dinner with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson in the Churchill War Rooms in Whitehall last year.

Electoral Commission records show she has made 34 donations to the party in the last seven years, 32 of which have been accepted.

However, an attempted cash donation of 10,000 was rejected and marked Impermissible Donor in 2012.

A Conservative spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

The Tories have previously defended taking money from Mrs Chernukhin and there is no suggestion that Mr and Mrs Chernukhins wealth is illegitimate.

A senior Labour source said: There are a lot of questions over the kind of funding that the Tory Party depends on, and that includes its heavy reliance on particular elements of the finance sector.

Weve commented in the past about the use of oligarchic Russian and other money and the way its been used in the system and the damage its done to our politics.

Obviously its a matter for them, but its right that this should be put to full scrutiny. There needs to be transparency and accountability to these donations.

The spokesman added: These are large sums linked to particular interests, both domestic and international and thats the problem. We dont want that kind of money in our political system.
Land managers have been urged to only use deadly control measures on beavers as a last resort as new legislation comes into force to protect them.

It is now illegal to kill the animals or destroy established dams and lodges in Scotland without licence due to them now having European Protected Species status.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS)  lead partners in the Scottish Beaver Trial  have welcomed the move.

They have urged land managers to show restraint while young kits are dependent on their parents, a period from April 1 until August 16.

Jo Pike, chief executive of the SWT, said: Beavers are unrivalled as ecosystem engineers.

They have the potential to greatly increase the health and resilience of our natural environment by creating new habitats.

An adult Eurasian beaver at the Knapdale Forest colony, Argyll and Bute (Steve Gardner)

Granting beavers protected status is an important milestone for the return of the species to Scotlands lochs and rivers.

We accept that land managers need to have the ability to deal with localised negative impacts caused by beavers.

However, it is equally important to ensure lethal control is only used as a last resort and this does not threaten the successful spread of beavers into other areas of Scotland.

Barbara Smith, chief executive of the RZSS, said: This is an historic day for Scotland and a milestone for the many of us who have worked together for years on the return of this species.

The granting of European Protected Status is a vital step in welcoming beavers back as a natural part of our ecosystem and a most welcome success as part of wider and continued efforts to protect and enhance our natural heritage.

From today, beavers are a protected species in Scotland. This is a massive milestone in their return to Scotland's lochs and rivers after an absence of more than 400 years. #BeaversAreBack pic.twitter.com/72SXPrZM0x  Scottish Wildlife Trust (@ScotWildlife) May 1, 2019

There are currently around 450 beavers in Scotland in two separate populations, in Tayside and mid-Argyll.

Beavers offer ecological and social benefits, including increasing biodiversity, reducing flood risk and new opportunities for wildlife tourism.

They disappeared from Scotlands landscape more than 400 years ago due to human persecution.

Protective legislation for the Eurasian beaver in Scotland came into force on Wednesday.

Licences to use lethal control measures can be granted by government body Scottish Natural Heritage.

Karen Ramoo, policy adviser at Scottish Land and Estates, said: Our focus is now on working with members and partners on implementing the management framework, ensuring it works for all land managers.

We have a year in which to learn from experience and evidence before the review takes place, and we will try to make the most of that opportunity.

We accept that beavers should have European Protected Species status but it is important that the management framework operates in a way that supports land managers.
A group of MPs has referred the Home Office to the equalities watchdog over the Windrush scandal, urging an investigation into whether British citizens were unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of their race.

David Lammy said he and 86 other MPs were calling on the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate the department and whether its so-called hostile environment policies led to discriminatory treatment against ethnic minorities.

The Home Office said it was committed to righting the wrongs experienced by the Windrush generation, the thousands of people who came to the UK from the Caribbean between the late 1940s and early 1970s.

A public outcry erupted after it emerged that long-term UK residents were denied access to services, held in detention or removed despite living legally in the country for decades.

The abuse of Windrush British citizens by the Home Office raises serious questions over whether they were discriminated against on the basis of their race, in breach of equalities legislation.



Myself and 86 other MPs are calling on the EHRC to investigate.https://t.co/Le5A5qzJuz  David Lammy (@DavidLammy) April 30, 2019

Mr Lammy, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Race and Community, said: The abuse of Windrush British citizens by the Home Office raises serious questions over whether they were discriminated against on the basis of their race, in breach of equalities legislation.

Myself and 86 other MPs are calling on the EHRC to investigate.

David Lammy and other MPs are calling on the EHRC to investigate possible race discrimination against the Windrush generation (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

According to the Guardian, a letter from the group to the EHRC says the introduction and operation of the hostile environment shows beyond all doubt that the Government does not take its stated commitment to race equality seriously.

Last month, Home Secretary Sajid Javid launched a 200 million compensation scheme to right the wrongs suffered by people who faced difficulties demonstrating their immigration status.

Up to 15,000 eligible claims are expected to be lodged.

Today I launched our Windrush Compensation Scheme. This will go some way in righting the wrongs of the past & help deliver justice to the Windrush generation & their families. We will ensure these mistakes are never repeatedhttps://t.co/7dd9rrJK5E  Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) April 3, 2019

Ministers faced a furious backlash over the treatment of the Windrush generation  named after a ship that brought people to Britain from the Caribbean in 1948.

Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain but many were not issued with any documents confirming their status.

Last year, the Government formally apologised in relation to 18 cases where the Home Office was considered most likely to have acted wrongfully.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: The Home Secretary and the Immigration Minister are committed to righting the wrongs experienced by the Windrush generation and the recently launched compensation scheme is a crucial step in delivering on that commitment.

The Windrush generation have given so much to this country and we will ensure nothing like this ever happens again, that is why the Home Secretary commissioned a lessons-learned review with independent oversight by Wendy Williams.
Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has undergone surgery for an intestinal obstruction, raising questions about his campaign for the European Parliament elections.

Mr Berlusconis office said the surgery was successful and that the 82-year-old media mogul would be released from the hospital in the coming days.

Previously, Mr Berlusconis office had said he was suffering from acute renal colic, pain often associated with kidney stones. He was taken to hospital on the same day he was to present candidates of his Forza Italia party for European Parliament elections on May 26.

Mr Berlusconi himself is running, the first time he has been allowed to challenge for public office following a ban imposed after a 2012 tax fraud conviction.

Citing his good conduct, a court last year ruled that he could take part in elections again.

Milans San Raffaele hospital, where former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi underwent surgery (AP)

Mr Berlusconis office said he had suffered abdominal pain the night of April 29, and that a scan had revealed a blockage in the small intestine.

Exploratory surgery identified the volvulus of ileum, a rare but serious cause of small bowel obstruction.

Mr Berlusconis office said the adhesion stemmed from gallbladder surgery 40 years ago.

The three-time premier has suffered heart problems in the past, including surgery in 2016 to repair a heart valve. He has said that despite his age, he wants to run for the European Parliament elections.

It is not clear how the latest surgery would affect his campaign.

Mr Berlusconi made sure to release excerpts of a speech he had planned to deliver on Tuesday. In them, he railed against the isolationist bent of the current populist government of the right-wing League and the 5-Star Movement.

He warned that Italy could not confront African migration, Chinese imperialistic design and Islamic fundamentalism without European support.

His once-dominant Forza Italia party trails in the polls behind the League, the 5-Stars and the opposition Democratic Party.
Julian Assange has been jailed for 50 weeks for breaching his bail conditions after going into hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London while he was wanted over allegations of sexual offences.

The WikiLeaks founder spent nearly seven years living in the embassy  where he sought political asylum  until last month, when he was dramatically dragged out by police.

Assange wrote to Southwark Crown Court, apologising for his actions, which he said he regretted and acknowledged may have placed him in a graver situation.

Judge Deborah Taylor said this was the first time he had expressed contrition over his actions, which she said cost at least 16 million in public funds.

The judge told a packed court it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of breaching the Bail Act, as she sentenced him to 50 weeks imprisonment, just short of the one year maximum.

Assange  with his beard neatly trimmed, in a stark contrast to the scruffy figure he cut as he was hauled from the embassy  defiantly raised his fist to supporters when he was led to the cells.

They shouted free Julian and shame on you to the court.

Moments earlier, Judge Taylor had told Assange: Firstly, by entering the embassy, you deliberately put yourself out of reach, whilst remaining in the UK.

You remained there for nearly seven years, exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country.

She also said his actions undoubtedly affected Swedish prosecutors efforts, which were discontinued not least because you remained in the embassy.

In a bid to secure a lower sentence, the 47-year-old wrote to the court saying he went into hiding while struggling with terrifying circumstances.

Julian Assange (Victoria Jones/PA)

I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case, he said in the handwritten letter.

I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done  which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears.

I regret the course that this took.

Whilst the difficulties I now face may have become even greater, nevertheless it is right for me to say this now.

In mitigation for Assange, Mark Summers QC told the court the Australian had been gripped by fears that his work with WikiLeaks would provoke rendition to Guantanamo Bay or the US, where he could face the death penalty.

As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned, Mr Summers said.

They dominated his thoughts. They were not invented by him, they were gripping him throughout.

This was no figment of his imagination, the lawyer said, citing examples where Sweden sent people to states where they were at significant risk of ill-treatment, including torture and death.

But the judge found that the background to the case was being used as mitigation rather than as any reasonable excuse for Assanges failure to surrender.

She also said the 16 million figure was spent in ensuring that he was brought to justice if he did voluntarily leave his hiding place.

Julian Assange, pictured at the embassy in 2017 (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Assange entered the embassy on June 19 2012 while under intense scrutiny over the leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables on his whistleblowing website.

The drastic move came after he exhausted all legal options in fighting extradition to Sweden over two separate allegations  one of rape and one of molestation.

Assange, claiming he was the subject of an American witch hunt, said he was at risk of being taken to the US if he was sent to the Scandinavian nation.

On Thursday, he will face a hearing about his potential extradition to the US over the allegation he conspired with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate Pentagon computers.

Prosecutors in Sweden are also considering whether to reopen the sexual assault case against Assange, which was dropped in May 2017. Assange denies the allegations.

His eviction from the embassy on April 11 came after a souring of relations, with Ecuadors president Lenin Moreno claiming Assange had tried to use the Knightsbridge site for spying.

Hours later he was taken to Westminster Magistrates Court, where he was found guilty of the bail breach after failing to surrender to police on June 29 2012.

On Wednesday, the street leading up to the Southwark court was lined with barriers, with security anticipating groups of demonstrators where fans later chanted: No extradition, theres only one decision.

Speaking after the sentencing, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said the sentence was an outrage and vindictive in nature.

But the big fight, he added, is now opposing extradition which he called a question of life and death for Mr Assange.
Dani Alves is hoping Paris St Germain team-mate Neymar will have learned his lesson following his hot reaction in lashing out at a supporter after the clubs Coupe de France final defeat to Rennes on Saturday.

Walking up the steps at the Stade de France to collect his losers medal, social media footage shows Neymar being confronted by a fan with a mobile phone.

The Brazil striker initially pushes away the hand holding the phone, and after a few words are exchanged, he then raises his right arm to the chin of the man who flinches his head backwards.

Fellow Brazil star Alves, speaking to LEquipe, said: I think this is a very delicate moment because this event happened after a heavy defeat.

It was a hot reaction, but misplaced and that should not have happened. But it will serve as a lesson for him to progress as a man.

Ney is an exceptional young man but there are times when he loses his temper.

Neymar has been accused of having a hot temper according to Brazil and PSG team-mate Dani Alves (Mike Egerton/PA)

Despite our friendship, I do not approve of his gesture. But I think he understood the lesson and it will not happen again.

After the incident, Neymar initially conceded in an Instagram post he later deleted that he reacted badly, but added: No-one can remain indifferent in defeat.

In a subsequent Instagram post, he wrote: Nobody likes to lose, so I  who knows me knows how competitive I am and how much defeat shakes me.

But losing is part of an athletes life, makes us grow, makes us think, makes us BETTER.

PSG boss Thomas Tuchel made his feelings clear about Neymars actions during Mondays press conference to preview last nights 3-2 Ligue 1 loss at Montpellier.

Tuchel said: I do not like it. You cannot do that. It is simply not possible to do it.

It was not easy going up to collect the medals after the defeat. It was difficult for me, as well as everybody else. However, we have to accept it. If we win, it is easier. In defeat, you must show respect  always.

You simply cannot get into conflict with a spectator.

Last week, Neymar was banned by UEFA for PSGs opening three Champions League group matches for next season after being found guilty of insulting match officials in another Instagram post following the round-of-16 second-leg defeat to Manchester United at the Parc des Princes on March 6.

For the clash with the fan, French league officials could now hand Neymar a domestic ban it has been suggested could see him miss up to eight matches.
Emperor Naruhito inherited the sacred sword and jewel that signalled his succession and pledged in his first public address to follow his fathers example by devoting himself to peace and sharing the peoples joys and sorrows.

Naruhito, the first modern emperor to have studied abroad and the first born after Japans defeat in the Second World War, formally acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne at midnight after his father Akihito abdicated on Tuesday.

When I think about the important responsibility I have assumed, I am filled with a sense of solemnity, Naruhito said in his address.

While noting his fathers devotion to praying for peace, Naruhito said he will reflect deeply on the path trodden by Akihito and past emperors.

He promised to abide by the constitution that stripped emperors of political power, and to fulfil his responsibility as a national symbol while always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them.

I sincerely pray for the happiness of the people and the further development of the nation as well as the peace of the world, he said.

People gather in the compound near Imperial Palace in Tokyo (Shinji Kita/AP)

Naruhito is considered a new breed of royal, his outlook forged by the tradition-defying choices of his parents.

Emperor Emeritus Akihito devoted his three-decade career to making amends for a war fought in his fathers name while bringing the aloof monarchy closer to the people.

Naruhitos mother, Michiko, was born a commoner and was Catholic educated.

Together, they reached out to the people, especially those who faced disability, discrimination and natural disasters.

Naruhito was presented with the imperial sword and jewel, each in a box and wrapped in cloth, at a morning ceremony that marked his first official duty.

His wife and daughter, Empress Masako and 17-year-old Princess Aiko, were barred from the ceremony, which only adult male royals, his brother, now Crown Prince Fumihito, and his uncle Prince Hitachi, were allowed to witness.

Their guests included a female Cabinet minister, however, as the Imperial House Law has no provision on the gender of commoners in attendance.

Japans new Emperor Naruhito with Empress Masako (Koji Sasahara/AP)

The banning of female royals at the ceremony underscored the uncertain future of a paternalistic imperial family that now has just two heirs.

Nevertheless, Japan festively celebrated an imperial succession prompted by retirement rather than death. Many people stood outside the palace Tuesday to reminisce about Akihitos era; others joined midnight events when the transition occurred, and more came to celebrate the beginning of Naruhitos reign.

Dozens of couples lined up at government offices to submit marriage documents to mark the first day of Naruhitos era, known as Reiwa, or beautiful harmony.

Today marks the beginning of the Japan's new era, Reiwa ? beautiful harmony. People are celebrating the Accession to the Throne and, on May4, the General Public will visit the Imperial Palace for celebration: https://t.co/xnH3DRZbIg pic.twitter.com/vPYi5QUq44  japan (@japan) May 1, 2019

Natsumi Nishimura, a 27-year-old saleswoman, and Keigo Mori, a 32-year-old government worker, were at a Tokyo office on Wednesday, saying they decided to tie the knot at the start of a new era to mark their new life together.

Opportunities like this dont come by often so we thought it would be a day we wont forget, Ms Nishimura said.

Japans prime minister Shinzo Abe congratulated Naruhito on his ascension, pledging to create a bright future during the new era that is peaceful and full of hope.

Naruhito also received congratulations from abroad.

Cars with Japanese flags pass on the double bridge to enter the Imperial Palace (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

President Donald Trumps message said America and Japan will renew the bonds of friendship in the new era.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was quoted by state media as saying China and Japan should work together to promote peace and development and bilateral ties.

From a car window on his way to and from the palace, Naruhito smiled and waved at people cheering on the sidewalk.

He and his family will continue living at his Togu Palace until they switch places with his parents after refurbishments.

Naruhito, 59, is the nations 126th emperor, according to a palace count that historians say likely included mythical figures until around the 5th century.

The emperor under Japans Constitution is a symbol without political power. Wartime militarist governments worshipped the emperor as a living god until Naruhitos grandfather renounced that status after the countrys 1945 war defeat.

Akihito during his three-decade reign embraced an identity as peacemaker and often made reconciliatory missions and carefully scripted expressions of regret on the war.

His immersion in that role leaves Naruhito largely free of the burden of the wartime legacy, allowing him to carve his own path.

Palace watchers say he might focus on global issues, including disaster prevention, water conservation and climate change, which could appeal to younger Japanese, while also emulating his fathers focus on peace.

That is what many Japanese hope Naruhito will pursue.

I hope the new emperor will be like the Heisei emperor (Akihito), who cherishes peace, said Takayori Kobayakawa, a 71-year-old retired person from Shizuoka, central Japan.

The motorcade of Japans new Emperor Naruhito, second from right, leaves the Imperial Palace (Takuya Inaba/AP)

I have high hopes for him.

Naruhito also faces uncertainties in the imperial household.

Crown Prince Fumihito, 53, and Fumihitos 12-year-old son, Prince Hisahito, can currently succeed him.

The Imperial House Law confines the succession to male heirs, leaving Naruhitos daughter out of the running.

Naruhitos wife, Empress Masako, is a Harvard-educated former diplomat who may prove an adept partner in his overseas travels and activities.

But much will depend on her health, since she has been recovering from what the palace describes as stress-induced depression for about 15 years.

He recently said he hopes Masako might slowly expand her role.

Masako has largely limited her public appearances since late 2003, after giving birth to their daughter and facing pressure to produce a son.

Naruhito criticised palace officials in 2004, though subtly, for denying Masakos personality and career and pushing her into a corner.
The Duchess of Cambridge has opened a mental health charitys 40 million centre which officials hope will be a game changer in supporting young people.

Kate was described as being proud to see the new home of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, which she supports as patron.

The facility brings a range of experts under one roof in Kings Cross, London.

Her visit over-ran by more than 30 minutes as she met supporters, staff and donors and later spent time with pupils and their parents and grandparents at the charitys school within the new building, the Kantor Centre of Excellence.

The Duchess of Cambridge spoke at the opening of the Kantor Centre of Excellence (Toby Melville/PA)

Professor Peter Fonagy, chief executive of the Anna Freud Centre, said having various departments together in the new building was crucial.

He said: This is a game changer, and I hope its a game changer for child mental health. We are driving forward a change that is urgently needed because one in eight children and young people have a mental health problem at any one time  thats 1.25 million in England alone.

Were here to transform the way we offer children mental health services  watch Professor Peter Fonagy, @AFNCCF CEO, explain more about the new Centre of Excellence. pic.twitter.com/uralQ7AZmL  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) May 1, 2019

Before an unveiling ceremony, the duchess told the invited guests: We are all here today because we care so much about transforming the mental health of children, young people and their families.

I have learnt so much about early childhood development and the importance of support for parents through your work here at the Anna Freud Centre  this is something I really do care about.

The ambition for the new Kantor Centre of Excellence is hugely inspiring. The bringing together of research, education, practice and policy, all in one place, will take Anna Freud Centres mission to the next level.

It is testament to what can be achieved when people work together to realise a shared vision.

The Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre (Toby Melville/PA)

Kate heard the moving testimony of Amy Herring, a young champion of the Anna Freud Centre, who had a traumatic period when younger but is now a lead governor for an NHS Trust and is studying for a masters in international social policy.

Ms Herring, 22, told the guests: As a child I witnessed gang crime, was sexually abused, experienced the effects of child poverty. I suffered PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) depression and anxiety. At school it affected my behaviour. I became challenging and stubborn because I could not let myself suffer anymore.

She went on to say her suffering had encouraged her to help other people: To me this new centre represents an opportunity to further demonstrate our compassion and create change for young people with mental health and to offer them that chance to reach their dreams, but also empower them to lead the change.

The Duchess of Cambridge speaking to Amy Herring (Toby Melville/PA)

The 22-year-old was photographed sharing a joke, after her speech, with Kate who roared with laughter at one point, Ms Herring said later: I cant remember what the joke was, I was probably just so relieved to have given my speech and was full of adrenaline.

The duchess later joined a small group of children attending their first lesson in the new Pears Family School classrooms and shared a laugh with Narriyah, seven, and her grandmother Rose  about slime.

Rose, who declined to give her last name, said: Kate was talking about her daughter and said when Charlotte plays with slime its pink but by the time shes finished it is brown.

Narriyah is just the same, shes obsessed with slime.

Kate chats to a pupil during her visit to the Anna Freud Centres new home in Kings Cross (Toby Melville/PA)

At one point, the seven-year-old and the duchess clapped their hands in unison for a music project.

The school combines mental health care and education for children aged five to 14, in a setting where a parent joins their child in the classroom.

It is integral to the charitys new set-up of all departments under one roof, Professor Fonagy said: It is important because if we are going to disseminate discovery, the people who do the dissemination have to be close to the people who are doing the discovery otherwise it can take up to 17 years between whats called from bench to bedside.

We train each year about 8,000 clinicians and for them to be here and to learn the new discoveries makes them more effective wherever they are.
An asylum seeker is to appeal after a judge ruled against her in a lock-change row.

Accommodation provider Serco announced plans to issue lock-change notices to tenants refused refugee status last July.

The Home Office contractor said it was forced to act after paying for housing for up to 300 asylum seekers in Glasgow who had been denied the right to remain in the UK.

Two women  a Kurdish Iraqi national and a Kurdish Iranian  launched a legal challenge against Serco and the Home Secretary, arguing their eviction would be unlawful without a court order.

Court of Session judge Lord Tyre last month ruled the arguments were not sound and dismissed the cases.

Govan Law Centre, which represents the women, said it has been instructed to lodge an appeal by the Kurdish Iraqi woman.

Protesters demonstrating in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

The appeal will be lodged at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Thursday.

Mike Dailly, solicitor advocate at Govan Law Centre (GLC), said: GLC believes our client has reasonably good prospects and grounds of appeal.

We were delighted that Lord Tyre held Serco was a public body for the purpose of the Human Rights Act 1998  something that both Serco and the Home Office had strongly resisted at the debate in February this year.

Our understanding is that jurisprudence from the European Court of Human Rights  which has been followed in appellate courts in the UK  requires the interference with our clients human rights by a lock-change eviction to be compatible with the rule of law and not just her article eight right to respect for her home and family life.

GLC previously said any asylum seeker threatened with a lock-change eviction in Scotland would need to challenge the decision by lodging an urgent appeal to the First Tier Immigration Tribunal.

Mr Dailly said: With the greatest of respect, we can see no precise or foreseeable adequate safeguards for asylum seekers by making section 4 applications to the Home Office, or thereafter appealing refusals of further support to the First Tier Immigration Tribunal.

An appeal to the First Tier Tribunal does not stop or prevent an eviction  there is nothing in the tribunal rules to empower the tribunal to put a lock-change eviction on hold pending an appeal.

Serco said it would not be taking any immediate action as a consequence of Lord Tyres decision and stressed it had not restarted the process of lock-change evictions.

It was revealed in January that Serco had lost the Home Office contract in Scotland, which will be delivered by Mears Group after September.
By Stanley Carvalho

ABU DHABI, May 1 (Reuters) - Oman needs fiscal consolidation and better public expenditure alongside implementing reforms to mitigate its growing debt, the regional head of the World Bank said on Wednesday.

Oman's state coffers have been hit by a slump in oil prices over the past few years and the country has increasingly relied on external borrowing to levels that have created concerns among investors and pushed its credit rating into junk status.

S&P Global Ratings estimates Oman's debt to have increased to 49 percent of GDP in 2018 from less than 5 percent in 2014, and it expects it will rise to about 64 percent by 2022.

"There's concern about the growing debt, debt has grown very fast, this is one area they need to pay special attention," Issam Abousleiman, World Bank regional director, GCC countries, told Reuters.

"Fiscal consolidation and improving public expenditure will be key ... these two are important and broader reforms will be very beneficial."

Higher oil and gas prices in recent months have helped Oman and if they press ahead with their economic diversification and reforms, the country should be out from where it is now, he said.

Oman's economy will see growth slowing to 1.2 percent in 2019 as the sultanate's commitment to the December 2018 Opec + output cut constrains oil production, a report released by the World Bank on Wednesday, said.

S&P last month cut its outlook on Oman to negative from stable, saying the country's fiscal and external buffers will continue to erode in the absence of substantial fiscal measures to curtail the government deficit.

For 2019, the oil producer has projected a budget deficit of 2.8 billion Omani rials ($7.3 billion) or 9 percent of gross domestic product, assuming an average oil price of $58 per barrel.

Growth in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) in 2019 is projected to be similar to 2018 at 2.1 percent before accelerating to 3.2 percent in 2020 and stabilising at 2.7 percent in 2021, the report said.

Saudi Arabia, the largest Gulf economy, is expected to see growth moderating to 1.7 percent in 2019 as higher government spending offsets the impact of oil production cuts implemented in the first half of 2019.

Saudi can reduce its fiscal deficit through efficient expenditure management, Abousleiman said.

Saudi has forecast a fiscal deficit of 4.2 percent of GDP for 2019, down from an estimated 4.6 percent of GDP in 2018. (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Joanna Plucinska

WARSAW, May 1 (Reuters) - The mostly ex-communist countries that have joined the European Union in the past 15 years want Brussels to return more powers to national capitals, Poland's prime minister said on Wednesday after hosting a summit of the 13 newcomers.

Mateusz Morawiecki also rejected the notion of a 'multi-speed' Europe that would allow groups of member states to press ahead with deeper cooperation in certain chosen policy areas.

His comments highlight a serious rift between many of the former eastern bloc states, which say they are made to feel like second-class EU members, and, on the other side, the European Commission and older club members such as France.

"Where it doesn't have to, the European Union should leave member countries to their own competences... We say this with a single Central European voice," Morawiecki told reporters, summing up the discussions held at the one-day Warsaw summit.

That message will be enshrined in a declaration and will be discussed at a pan-EU summit in the Romanian town of Sibiu on May 9. It comes just weeks before European Parliament elections in which populist, eurosceptic parties are expected to do well.

As the leaders of the 13 nations met in Warsaw on Wednesday, several hundred far-right supporters marched through the Polish capital in a protest rally that highlighted the growth of anti-immigrant, nationalist sentiment in the EU.

POLISH-EU SPAT

The EU has launched a legal procedure against Poland over reforms of its judicial system it says undermine the separation of power and the rule of law. Warsaw says the reforms make the system more effective and that the EU should not interfere.

While the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) is eurosceptic, it broadly supports Poland's continued EU membership and has no plans to follow Britain in exiting the bloc.

Earlier on Wednesday, European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen warned Poland - a net beneficiary of the EU budget - against treating the EU as a "money machine" and also said its dispute with Brussels over the rule of law had weakened Warsaw's position in the bloc.

Katainen spoke in Warsaw where he was representing the EU executive Commission at the summit.

In an op-ed published on Tuesday in POLITICO Europe entitled "Poland's vision for Europe," Morawiecki said the EU risked harming democracy in its push to integrate, calling such an approach "dangerously misguided."

He said the EU should focus on strengthening its single market, bolstering its position against illegal immigration and avoiding dual standards of products and services between Western and Eastern Europe.

Hungary and Romania have also faced EU censure over what Brussels sees as their erosion of the rule of law, but Morawiecki warned against double standards.

"It is unacceptable for EU authorities to criticize some countries' institutions for practices that do not raise objections elsewhere," he wrote in the op-ed.

Poland is by far the largest of the countries that joined the EU in 2004. The others are Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta.

Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. (Reporting by Joanna Plucinska and Alicja Ptak, Writing by Joanna Plucinska, Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Gareth Jones)
The man who masterminded the deadly attack on 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pulwama on February 14 is an international terrorist  China has finally lifted the technical hold it had put on designating Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as an international extremist.

The move is a massive diplomatic win for India  given that China is considered an all-weather ally of Pakistan.

Masood Azhar has been designated an international terrorist following the Pulwama attack. (Source: Reuters)

This is also the first time a terrorist has been slapped with international sanctions for an attack that happened in Jammu and Kashmir. When the UN banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, it was the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 that had galvanised the international community. Many foreign nationals had died in the attack.

But the attack in Pulwama was targeted against India security forces.

On April 30, China said that positive progress had been made over designating Jaish chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations, indicating that listing him under United Nations Security Council resolution 1267 will happen soon.

India had been pushing for the move for years given that Indian intelligence agencies had succeeded in finding direct links between Masood Azhar-headed Jaish and a series of attacks in India.

China put a technical hold in March on a fresh proposal to ban Masood Azhar, despite Jaish claiming responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack. It was the fourth time that China had blocked Masood Azhar's listing as a global terrorist by the UN.

It reportedly took France, the UK and the US to mount pressure on China to ban Masood Azhar  a fresh proposal was moved by the three countries, which led to China finally removing its roadblock.

Sources said the US, UK and France had been working hard to step up pressure on Beijing by taking the issue directly to the powerful UN Security Council. China insisted that the matter should be resolved at the 1267 Committee, whose proceedings are not publicised.

Masood Azhar has blood on his hands. And the world, including China, now knows it. (Source: Reuters)

Though China can exercise its veto as a permanent member of the UNSC, Beijing has staunchly opposed taking the issue to the UN body as it has to publicly explain its stand on Masood Azhar.

Given that the sanctions against Saeed too could not deter Pakistan from letting him roam freely in the country, the ban on Azhar too is not likely to have a great impact on his terror activities. What the ban does for India is basically score a big diplomatic win which has resulted from Indias economic prowess  the country is set to take over the UK as the worlds fifth largest economy.

The sanctions coming in the middle of the election season also boost the BJPs prospects as the government can now present this to voters as part of its muscular nationalism strategy.

After the Pulwama attack, not only did India ensure terror camps in Pakistan were targeted in surgical air-strikes, but also that the world community took cognisance of Indias concern of Pakistan-based terror organisations launching terror attacks in India.

With Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan having shown reluctance to accept Jaishs role in the Pulwama attack by asking India for proof  despite the terror outfit claiming responsibility  the sanction against Masood for the same crime is a huge setback for both Khan  and those who rooted for him to get a Nobel Peace Prize for diffusing the tensions between the two countries in the aftermath of the attack.

A UNSC tag will subject Masood Azhar to assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

India has been asking Pakistan to hand over Saeed and Azhar to try them for the terror attacks launched in the country. Pakistan is heavily dependent on the world community for its survival, having failed as a country. Increased world pressure on Islamabad could well force it to act against terrorism now.

Also read: China shielding terrorist Masood Azhar is predictable. The world supporting India has been greatly heartening
Whoever had heard of National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) till the deadly Easter blasts that killed close to 300 people? Of these, nine were the suicide bombers, who blew themselves up along with their victims. One of these, a woman, was also reportedly pregnant.

The Sri Lanka terror attack left over 300 dead. (Source: Reuters)

In a video circulating on the internet, a member of the group, sporting an automatic weapon in one hand and a child in the other, was threatening to kill kafirs (non-believers) in chaste Tamil.

Religious radicalism

There was something quite incongruous, and frightening, about these appeals, especially the utter contradiction between the declamatory power of a classical language and the message of murderous hatred and prejudice that were being conveyed.

What is even more alarming is that many such videos circulate quite freely on the internet. How many of the speakers and preachers actually turn terrorists is hard to gauge, but their very frequency and profusion shows how easily susceptible minds are exposed to propaganda.

Religious propaganda is found 24/7 on TV channels and internet portals across the world. (Source: Reuters)

Though not all of it preaches violence against others, religious propaganda is found 24/7 on TV channels and internet portals across the world. Just the other day, I came across a bearded, upper-lip shaven, probably Pakistani, individual openly listening to a hate-sermon without headphones in an airport business lounge in an East Asian country. There were no others, he must have thought, who could understand that language in that part of the world. The sermon, which happened to be in Urdu, promised that Allah would punish non-believers and sinners, all those who refused to heed to his last Prophets call to faith.

What can we do about the real threat that is posed to world civilisation by such religious radicalism? The answer, perhaps, is contained in one word: intelligence. Intelligence, both, prophylactic and strategic: to keep gathering vital information through a variety of means and sharing it in a regular and systematic manner with our allies. In the Sri Lankan tragedy, we know how such intelligence was ignored and what the consequences were. Closer home, what are we doing to ensure such an outrage is not perpetrated on our soil? Intelligence is a much more effective counter-terrorism strategy than post-facto reaction. Is the extent of our investment in or reliance on intelligence sufficient at present? Shouldnt we bolster intelligence-gathering capabilities and upgrade our knowledge base so that we can distinguish significant leads from false ones?

Intel is key

Suspicious organisations and individuals should be constantly and consistently monitored for actionable information. Religious and radical groups under the scanner should be shut down if there is evidence of their turning rogue. True, such citizen shadowing goes contrary to some of our freedoms. However, at stake is the safety and security of hundreds of ordinary citizens. That is why careful and discreet investigation of purveyors of hate is necessary. Religious freedoms should be tempered with the demands of state security.

But the state should be even-handed and fair, and be perceived thus. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Sri Lanka. How credible is this claim needs to be ascertained, but without an international network and logistical support such a large-scale operation would be highly unlikely if not virtually impossible.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Sri Lanka bombings. (Source: Reuters)

But there is another sense of intelligence that is perhaps not all that studied or considered. What is more, it is more appropriately the concern of humanists and generalists as much as of philosophers, psychologists and neurobiologists. At its heart is the question: What is it that makes human beings programmable into human bombs? What are the processes of brainwashing involved? What, moreover, makes certain individuals more susceptible than others to the appeal of such indoctrination?

Encoding peace

Those working in artificial intelligence realised that the human brain is as programmable as a computer. But we are also remarkably free and capable of resisting the daily and relentless conditioning that we are subjected to every minute. This includes all sorts of legal conditioning, including advertising, which influences our behaviour.

Political propaganda, too, is a part of our daily lives. Some of it is so subtle that we dont even know the mind games being played on us. Deep data mining and data analytics, as evident on social media, have been successfully used to create new narratives or counteract older ones. The upshot is as stark as it is startling. We are malleable, pliable, and programmeable to the extent that we act irrationally, harming our fellow beings and ourselves. But we also are capable of being free and mentally aware so that weaponised information does not turn us into monsters.

A good society will create instruments to encourage and safeguard our capacity to be self-directed and self-empowered. It will not succumb to the blandishments and advantages of a compliant, if not brainwashed populace. Only a few may be radically or exceptionally free; as to the rest, better that they be aware and critical rather than be shepherded or controlled by their handlers.

(Courtesy of Mail Today)

Also read: Stop the Waffling: The Sri Lanka terror attack was definitively about religion. It was an Islamic attack on Christians. Why fudge the truth?
6 hours ago

Jurors in the Elizabeth Holmes trial may take next week off

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)  The jurors responsible for assessing 11 charges of fraud and conspiracy against former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes began their third day of deliberations Thursday. If they haven't reached a verdict by the end of the day, U.S.

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Distil Plc, through its subsidiaries, markets and sells spirits. The company offers its products under various brands, including RedLeg Spiced Rum, Blackwoods Vintage Gin, Blackwoods Vodka, Blavod Original Black Vodka, TrAve Botanical Spirit, Diva Vodka, and Jago's Vanilla Cream Liqueur. It markets and sells its products in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Spain, Australia, and Russia. The company was formerly known as Blavod Wines and Spirits plc and changed its name to Distil Plc in April 2014. Distil Plc was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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Nasstar plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides hosted managed and cloud computing services primarily in the United Kingdom. The company offers nSecureSign, which enables secure digital signing of various documents; nSecureWeb Gateway, a Web proxy that protects organization's users from Web based threats; and nMDM, a mobile device management solution, which delivers mobile management platform to manage and secure organization's mobile devices. It also provides nFileSync, a Dropbox style hosted solution to store corporate data and securely share files; nCrypt, a secure email encryption platform; and Enterprise Mobility Suite, a cloud solution that manages identities, devices, apps, and data. In addition, the company offers hosted desktop, software-as-a-service, managed telephony, managed network, Office 365, managed IT, certification-as-a-service, and professional services, as well as hosted exchange and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions. Further, it provides end user support services; and hosts various software applications on behalf of clients. The company serves the legal, recruitment, finance, government, charity, ISV hosting, media, and property industries. Nasstar plc was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Telford, the United Kingdom.

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Great-West Lifeco Inc., a financial services holding company, engages in the life and health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management, and reinsurance businesses in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company offers a portfolio of financial and benefit plan solutions for individuals, families, businesses, and organizations; life, disability, critical illness, accidental death, dismemberment, health and dental protection, and creditor insurance products; and wealth savings and income, accumulation, and annuity products. It also provides employer-sponsored retirement savings plans, individual retirement accounts, enrollment services, communication materials, investment options, and education services; and fund management, investment, and advisory services. In addition, the company offers private-label recordkeeping and administrative services; and investment products, including equity, fixed income, absolute return, and alternative strategies. Further, it provides protection and wealth management products, including payout annuity products; life, annuity/longevity, mortgage, and property catastrophe reinsurance; and pension products. The company offers its products under the Great-West Life, London Life, Canada Life, Freedom 55 Financial, Irish Life, PanAgora, Empower Retirement, and Putnam Investments brand names. It distributes its products through a network of advisors, dealers, brokers, managing general agencies, financial institutions, consultants, third-party administrators, sales force, financial planners, employee benefit consultants, banks, and multi-tied agents. The company was founded in 1891 and is based in Winnipeg, Canada. Great-West Lifeco Inc. is a subsidiary of Power Financial Corporation.

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iShares Russell 2000 ETF's stock was trading at $125.92 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, IWM shares have increased by 76.3% and is now trading at $222.04.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.
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.

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Sanofi provides therapeutic solutions worldwide. It offers Cerezyme and Cerdelga for Gaucher disease, Myozyme and Lumizyme for Pompe disease, Fabrazyme for Fabry disease, and Aldurazyme for mucopolysaccharidosis Type 1; and Aubagio, an immunomodulatory and Lemtrada, a monoclonal antibody to treat multiple sclerosis. It also provides Dupixent for atopic dermatitis; Kevzara for rheumatoid arthritis; Eloctate and Alprolix to treat hemophilia in adults and children; and Cablivi to treat acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura in adults. In addition, it offers Libtayo for metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma; Jevtana and Taxotere taxane for cancers; Eloxatin for colon cancer; Thymoglobulin, an immunosuppressive and immunomodulating agent; Mozobil, for hematologic malignancies; and Zaltrap, for metastatic colorectal cancer. Further, it provides Lantus, Toujeo, Apidra, and Insuman insulins; Amaryl, a sulfonylurea; Adlyxin/Lyxumia, a GLP-1 receptor agonist; Soliqua 100/33/Suliqua, an insulin glargine and lixisenatide combination to treat diabetes; Admelog/Insulin lispro insulin; Praluent, a cholesterol-lowering drug; and Multaq, an anti-arrhythmic drug for atrial fibrillation. Additionally, it offers Plavix for atherothrombotic conditions; Lovenox for the prophylaxis, venous thromboembolism, and acute coronary syndrome; Aprovel and CoAprovel anti-hypertensives; Renagel and Renvela for patients undergoing dialysis; Synvisc and Synvisc-One viscosupplements for osteoarthritis; Stilnox for insomnia; Allegra for seasonal allergic rhinitis and uncomplicated hives; and Depakine for epilepsy. It also provides generic products; consumer healthcare products for allergy, cough, cold, pain, nutrition, digestion, and others; and pediatric, influenza, adult and adolescent booster, meningitis, travel, and endemic vaccines. Sanofi was formerly known as Sanofi-Aventis and changed its name to Sanofi in May 2011. Sanofi was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Abbott Laboratories: 3A Nutrition (Vietnam) Company Limited, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AGA Medical Belgium, AGA Medical Corporation, AGA Medical Holdings Inc., ALR Holdings, AML Medical LLC, APK Advanced Medical Technologies LLC, ATS Bermuda Holdings Limited, ATS Laboratories Inc., Abbott, Abbott (Jiaxing) Nutrition Co. Ltd., Abbott (UK) Finance Limited, Abbott (UK) Holdings Limited, Abbott AG, Abbott Asia Holdings Limited, Abbott Asia Investments Limited, Abbott Australasia Holdings Limited, Abbott Australasia Pty Ltd, Abbott B.V., Abbott Bahamas Overseas Businesses Corporation, Abbott Belgian Investments, Abbott Bermuda Holding Ltd., Abbott Biologicals B.V., Abbott Biologicals LLC, Abbott Bulgaria Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Capital India Limited, Abbott Cardiovascular Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., Abbott Delaware LLC, Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., Abbott Diabetes Care Limited, Abbott Diabetes Care Sales Corporation, Abbott Diagnostics GmbH, Abbott Diagnostics International Ltd., Abbott Diagnostics Technologies AS, Abbott Doral Investments S.L., Abbott Equity Holdings Unlimited, Abbott Equity Investments LLC, Abbott Established Products Holdings (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Finance Company SA, Abbott Financial Holdings SRL, Abbott France S.A.S., Abbott Fund Tanzania Limited, Abbott Gesellschaft m.b.H., Abbott GmbH & Co. KG, Abbott Health Products LLC, Abbott Healthcare (Puerto Rico) Ltd., Abbott Healthcare B.V., Abbott Healthcare Costa Rica S.A., Abbott Healthcare LLC, Abbott Healthcare Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Healthcare Private Limited, Abbott Healthcare Products B.V., Abbott Healthcare Products Ltd, Abbott Holding (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding GmbH, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited, Abbott Holding Subsidiary (Gibraltar) Limited Luxembourg S.C.S., Abbott Holdings B.V., Abbott Holdings LLC, Abbott Holdings Limited, Abbott Holdings Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Iberian Investments (2) Limited, Abbott Iberian Investments Limited, Abbott India Limited, Abbott Informatics Asia Pacific Limited, Abbott Informatics Canada Inc, Abbott Informatics Corporation, Abbott Informatics Europe Limited, Abbott Informatics France, Abbott Informatics Germany GmbH, Abbott Informatics Netherlands B.V., Abbott Informatics Singapore Pte. Limited, Abbott Informatics Spain S.A., Abbott Informatics Technologies Ltd, Abbott International Corporation, Abbott International Enterprises Ltd., Abbott International Holdings Limited, Abbott International LLC, Abbott International Luxembourg S.ar.l., Abbott Investments Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Ireland, Abbott Ireland Financing Designated Activity Company, Abbott Ireland Limited, Abbott Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Kazakhstan Limited Liability Partnership, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Abbott Korea Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Bangladesh) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco (Dos) SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Chile) Holdco SpA, Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique) Limitada, Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Laboratories (Philippines), Abbott Laboratories (Puerto Rico) Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories (Singapore) Private Limited, Abbott Laboratories A/S, Abbott Laboratories Argentina Sociedad Anonima, Abbott Laboratories B.V., Abbott Laboratories C.A., Abbott Laboratories Finance B.V., Abbott Laboratories GmbH, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Abbott Laboratories International LLC, Abbott Laboratories Ireland Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited, Abbott Laboratories Limited - Laboratoires Abbott Limitee, Abbott Laboratories NZ Limited, Abbott Laboratories Pacific Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Poland Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Laboratories Products B.V., Abbott Laboratories Residential Development Fund Inc., Abbott Laboratories S.A., Abbott Laboratories SA, Abbott Laboratories Services Corp., Abbott Laboratories Slovakia s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Laboratories Trustee Company Limited, Abbott Laboratories Uruguay S.A., Abbott Laboratories Vascular Enterprises, Abbott Laboratories d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories de Chile Limitada, Abbott Laboratories de Colombia S.A., Abbott Laboratories de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Abbott Laboratories druzba za farmacijo in diagnostiko d.o.o., Abbott Laboratories s.r.o., Abbott Laboratories(Hellas) Societe Anonyme, Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios S.A., Abbott Laboratorios del Ecuador Cia. Ltda., Abbott Laboratuarlari Ithalat Ihracat ve Ticaret Ltd.Sti, Abbott Laboratorios Lda, Abbott Laboratorios do Brasil Ltda., Abbott Limited Egypt LLC, Abbott Logistics B.V., Abbott Management GmbH, Abbott Management LLC, Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited, Abbott Mature Products International Unlimited Company, Abbott Mature Products Management Limited, Abbott Medical (Hong Kong) Limited, Abbott Medical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Abbott Medical (Portugal) Distribuicao de Produtos Medicos Lda, Abbott Medical (Schweiz) AG, Abbott Medical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Abbott Medical (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Australia Pty. Ltd., Abbott Medical Austria Ges.m.b.H., Abbott Medical Balkan d.o.o. Beograd (Novi Beograd), Abbott Medical Belgium, Abbott Medical Canada Inc./ Medicale Abbott Canada Inc., Abbott Medical Danmark A/S, Abbott Medical Devices Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Espana S.A., Abbott Medical Estonia OU, Abbott Medical Finland Oy, Abbott Medical France SAS, Abbott Medical GmbH, Abbott Medical Hellas Limited Liability Trading Company, Abbott Medical Ireland Limited, Abbott Medical Italia S.p.A., Abbott Medical Japan Co. Ltd., Abbott Medical Korea Limited, Abbott Medical Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Abbott Medical Laboratories LTD, Abbott Medical Nederland B.V., Abbott Medical New Zealand Limited, Abbott Medical Norway AS, Abbott Medical Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Medical Sweden AB, Abbott Medical Taiwan Co., Abbott Medical U.K. Limited, Abbott Medical spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Abbott Molecular Inc., Abbott Morocco SARL, Abbott Nederland C.V., Abbott Nederland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Netherlands Investments B.V., Abbott Norge AS, Abbott Nutrition Limited, Abbott Nutrition Manufacturing Inc., Abbott Operations Singapore Pte. Ltd., Abbott Operations Uruguay S.R.L., Abbott Overseas Cyprus Limited, Abbott Overseas Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Overseas S.A., Abbott Oy, Abbott Point of Care Canada Limited, Abbott Point of Care Inc., Abbott Poland Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Procurement LLC, Abbott Products (Philippines) Inc., Abbott Products (Spain) S.L., Abbott Products Algerie EURL, Abbott Products B.V., Abbott Products Distribution SAS, Abbott Products Egypt LLC, Abbott Products Limited, Abbott Products Limited Liability Company, Abbott Products Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Products Operations AG, Abbott Products Operations LLC, Abbott Products Romania S.R.L., Abbott Products Tunisie S.A.R.L., Abbott Products Unlimited Company, Abbott Resources Inc., Abbott Resources International Inc., Abbott S.r.l., Abbott Saudi Arabia Trading Company, Abbott Scandinavia Aktiebolag, Abbott Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, Abbott South Africa Luxembourg S.a r.l., Abbott Strategic Opportunities Limited, Abbott Trading Company Inc., Abbott Universal LLC, Abbott Vascular Devices (2) Limited, Abbott Vascular Devices Limited, Abbott Vascular Inc., Abbott Vascular Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Abbott Vascular International, Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd, Abbott Vascular Limitada, Abbott Vascular Netherlands B.V., Abbott Vascular Solutions Inc., Abbott Ventures Inc., Abbott West Indies Limited, Abbott drustvo sa ogranicenom odgovornoscu za trgovinu i usluge, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc., Alere, Alere (Shanghai) Diagnostics Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Healthcare Management Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Medical Sales Co. Ltd., Alere (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd., Alere A/S, Alere AB, Alere AS, Alere AS Holdings Limited, Alere BBI Holdings Limited, Alere Bangladesh Limited, Alere China Co. Ltd., Alere Colombia S.A., Alere Connect LLC, Alere Connected Health Limited, Alere Connected Health Ltd., Alere Diagnostics GmbH, Alere DoA Holding GmbH, Alere GmbH, Alere GmbH (Austria), Alere GmbH (Germany), Alere HK Holdings Ltd., Alere Health B.V., Alere Health BVBA, Alere Health Corp., Alere Health Sdn Bhd, Alere Health Services B.V., Alere Healthcare (Pty) Limited, Alere Healthcare Connections Limited, Alere Healthcare Inc., Alere Healthcare Nigeria Limited, Alere Healthcare S.L., Alere Holdco Inc., Alere Holding GmbH, Alere Holdings Bermuda Limited, Alere Holdings Pty Limited, Alere Home Monitoring Inc., Alere Inc., Alere Informatics Inc., Alere International Holding Corp., Alere International Limited, Alere Lda, Alere Limited, Alere Limited (New Zealand), Alere Medical BVBA, Alere Medical Co. Ltd., Alere Medical Pakistan (Private) Limited, Alere Medical Private Limited, Alere North America LLC, Alere Oy Ab, Alere Philippines Inc., Alere Phoenix ACQ Inc., Alere Pte Ltd, Alere S.A., Alere S.r.l., Alere S/A, Alere SAS, Alere San Diego Inc., Alere Scarborough Inc., Alere Spain S.L., Alere Switzerland GmbH, Alere Technologies GmbH, Alere Technologies Holdings Limited, Alere Technologies Limited, Alere Toxicology AB, Alere Toxicology Inc., Alere Toxicology S.r.l., Alere Toxicology Services Inc., Alere Toxicology plc, Alere UK Holdings Limited, Alere UK Subco Limited, Alere ULC, Alere US Holdings LLC, Alere s.r.o., Alisoc Investment & Co, Amedica Biotech Inc., Ameditech Inc., American Generics S.A.S., American Medical Supplies Inc., American Pharmacist Inc., Antares S.A., Apica Cardiovascular Limited, Aquagestion Capacitacion S.A., Aquagestion S.A., Arriva Medical LLC, Arriva Medical Philippines Inc., Arvis Investments Limited, Atlas Farmaceutica S.A., Avee Laboratories Inc., Axis-Shield AD III AS, Axis-Shield AD IV AS, Axis-Shield AS, Axis-Shield Diagnostics Limited, Axis-Shield Ltd., BBI Animal Health Limited, BBI Diagnostics Group 2 Public Limited Company, Banco de Vida S.A., Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc., Bioalgae S.A., Biohealth LLC, Biosite Incorporated, Bosque Bonito S.A., Branan Medical Corporation, Brandex Europe C.V., British Colloids Limited, CFR Chile S.A., CFR Interamericas EL Salvador Sociedad Anonima de Capital Variable, CFR Interamericas Nicaragua Sociedad Anonima, CFR Interamericas Panama S.A., CFR Pharmaceuticals, California Property Holdings III LLC, CardioMEMS LLC, Caripharm Inc., Cephea Valve Technologies, Cephea Valve Technologies Inc., Colibri Medical Aktiebolag, Comercializadora y Distribuidora CFR Interamericas Honduras S.A., Concateno South Limited, Concateno UK Limited, Consorcio Tecnologico en Biomedicina Clinico-Molecular S.A., Continuum Services LLC, Cozart Limited, Dextech S.A., Diagnostik Nord GmbH, Distribuciones Uquifa S.A.S., Domesco Medical Import-Export Joint-Stock Corporation, Duphar International Research B.V., Endocardial Solutions, Epocal (US) Inc, Esprit de Vie S.A., European Chemicals & Co, European Drug Testing Service EDTS AB, European Services S.A., Evalve Inc., Evalve International Inc., FARMINDUSTRIA S.A., Fada Pharma Paraguay Sociedad Anonima, Fadapharma del Ecuador S.A., Farmaceutica Mont Blanc S.L., Farmacologia Em Aquicultura Veterinaria Ltda., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV Ecuador S.A., Farmacologia en Aquacultura Veterinaria FAV S.A., Fernwood Investment S.A., First Check Diagnostics LLC, Focus Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Forensics Limited, Forestcreek Overseas S.A., Fournier Pharma Corp., Fournier Pharma GmbH, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Limited, Framed B.V., Gabmed GmbH, Garden Hills LLC, Global Analytical Development LLC, Globapharm & CO LP, Glomed Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Golnorth Investments S.A., Gynocare Limited, Gynopharm Sociedad Anonima, Gynopharm de Centroamerica S.A., Gynopharm de Venezuela C.A., Hi-Tronics Designs Inc., IDEV Technologies Inc., IG Innovations Limited, IMTC Finance B.V., IMTC Holdings B.V., IMTC Technologies Inc., Ibis Biosciences LLC, Igloo Zone Chile S.A., Igloo Zone S.L., Inmobiliaria Naknek S.A.C., Innovacon Inc., Instant Tech Subsidiary Acquisition Inc., Instant Technologies Inc., Instituto de Criopreservacion de Chile S.A., Integrated Vascular Systems Inc., Inverness Canadian Acquisition Corporation, Inverness Medical (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Australia Pty Ltd., Inverness Medical Innovations Hong Kong Limited, Inverness Medical Innovations SK LLC, Inverness Medical Investments LLC, Inverness Medical LLC, Inverness Medical Shimla Private Limited, Inversiones K2 SpA, Inversiones Komodo S.R.L., Ionian Technologies LLC, Irvine Biomedical Inc., Kalila Medical, Kangshenyunga S.A., Knoll UK Investments Unlimited, LLC VeroInPharm, Laboratoires Fournier S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano Lafrancol S.A.S., Laboratorio Franco Colombiano del Ecuador S.A., Laboratorio Internacional Argentino S.A., Laboratorio Synthesis S.A.S., Laboratorios Lafi Limitada, Laboratorios Naturmedik S.A.S., Laboratorios Pauly Pharmaceutical S.A.S., Laboratorios Recalcine S.A., Laboratorios Transpharm S.A., Laboratory Specialists of America Inc., Lafrancol Dominicana S.A.S., Lafrancol Guatemala S.A. Sociedad Anonima, Lafrancol Internacional S.A.S, Lafrancol Peru S.R.L, Lake Forest Investments LLC, Lightlab Imaging Inc., Limited Liability Company Abbott Laboratories, Limited Liability Company Abbott Ukraine, Limited Liability Company VEROPHARM, Lung Fung Hong (China) Limited, Mansbridge Pharmaceuticals Limited, MediGuide LLC, MediGuide Ltd., Medscreen Holdings Limited, Metropolitana Farmaceutica S.A., Midwest Properties LLC, Murex Argentina S.A., Murex Biotech Limited, Murex Biotech South Africa, Murex Diagnostics Inc., Murex Diagnostics International Inc., Natural Supplement Association LLC, Negocios Denia Sociedad Anonima, Neosalud S.A.C., Nether Pharma N.P. C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank, together with its subsidiaries, provides various personal and commercial banking products and services in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking. The company offers personal deposits, such as chequing, savings, and investment products; financing, investment, cash management, international trade, and day-to-day banking services to businesses; and financing options to customers at point of sale for automotive and recreational vehicle purchases through auto dealer network. It also provides credit cards; real estate secured lending; auto finance; consumer lending; point-of-sale payment solutions for large and small businesses; wealth and asset management products, private banking, investment advisory, and trust services to retail and institutional clients; and property and casualty insurance, as well as life and health insurance products. The company also provides capital markets, and corporate and investment banking services, including underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues; advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures; and trading, funding, and investment services to companies, governments, and institutions. It offers its products and services under the TD Bank and America's Most Convenient Bank brand names. The company operates through a network of 1,085 branches, 3,440 automated teller machines, and 1,223 stores, as well as offers telephone, digital, and mobile banking services. The Toronto-Dominion Bank was founded in 1855 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. Its Otis segment designs, manufactures, sells, and installs passenger and freight elevators, escalators, and moving walkways; and offers modernization products to upgrade elevators and escalators, as well as maintenance and repair services. The company's Carrier segment provides heating, ventilating, air conditioning, refrigeration, fire, security, and building automation products, solutions, and services for commercial, government, infrastructure, residential, and refrigeration and transportation applications. This segment also offers building services, including audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance, and monitoring. Its Pratt & Whitney segment supplies aircraft engines for commercial, military, business jet, and general aviation markets; and provides aftermarket maintenance, repair, and overhaul, as well as fleet management services. The company's Collins Aerospace Systems segment provides electric power generation, power management, and distribution systems; air data and aircraft sensing systems; engine control, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; engine components; environmental control systems; fire and ice detection, and protection systems; propeller systems; engine nacelle systems; aircraft lighting, seating, and cargo systems; actuation and landing systems; space products and subsystems; avionics systems; flight controls, communications, navigation, oxygen, and training systems; food and beverage preparation, and storage and galley systems; and lavatory and wastewater management systems. The company offers its services through manufacturers' representatives, distributors, wholesalers, dealers, retail outlets, and sales representatives, as well as directly to customers. United Technologies Corporation was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut.

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Invesco Quality Municipal Income Trust is a closed-ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Invesco Ltd. The fund is co-managed by Invesco Advisers, Inc., INVESCO Asset Management Deutschland GmbH, INVESCO Asset Management Limited, INVESCO Asset Management (Japan) Limited, Invesco Hong Kong Limited, INVESCO Senior Secured Management, Inc., and Invesco Canada Ltd. It invests in the fixed income markets of the United States. The fund primarily invests in investment grade municipal securities which include municipal bonds, municipal notes, and municipal commercial paper. It employs fundamental analysis with bottom-up security selection approach to create its portfolio. The fund was previously known as Morgan Stanley Quality Municipal Income Trust. Invesco Quality Municipal Income Trust was formed on September 29, 1992 and is domiciled in the United States.

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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.
The following companies are subsidiares of HP: 3Com, 3PAR, ABB CADE, AOME Holdings Ltd., Alpha Holding One B.V., Alpha Holding Two B.V., Anatolus Holding B.V., Antila Holding B.V., Apogee, Apogee Corp, Apollo Computer, AppIQ, Applied Optoelectronic Tech, Aptitude Management Consulting W.L.L., Aquarius Holding S.C.A., ArcSight, Arteis, Artivision Technologies, Aruba Networks, Atos Origin, Atos Origin Middle East group, Aurasma Limited, Autonomy Corporation, Avantek, BT & D Technologies, Bitfone Corporation, Bluestone Software, Boonton Radio, Bristol Technology Inc., Bromium, CEC Europe Service Management, CGNZ, CaLan, Caleum Holding B.V., Callisto Holding B.V., Colorado Memory Systems, Colubris Networks, Colubris Networks, Columba Holding B.V., Compaq Cayman Holdings Company, Compaq Cayman Holdings General Partnership II, Compaq Cayman Islands Vision Company, Compaq Information Technologies, Compaq Information Technologies LLC, Computer Insurance Company, Computing and Printing Global Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Computing and Printing Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Computing and Printing Professional Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Consera Software, ConteXtream Inc, Convex Computer, Crater Holding B.V., David Vision Systems GmbH, Dazel, Division, Dorado Holding B.V., EDS (Electronic Data Systems), EEsof, EYP Mission Critical Facilities, Elara Holding B.V., ElseWare, Eon Systems, Eucalyptus Systems, Eunomia Holding B.V., ExcellerateHRO, Exstream Software, Extreme Logic, F&M Scientific Corporation, F.L. Moseley Company, Flame Holding B.V., Fortify Software, Four Pi Systems, Gram Global Operations Limited, Gram Inc., HP Austria GmbH, HP Belgium BVBA, HP Bermuda Holding One L.P., HP Bilgisayar ve Bask Teknolojileri Limited Sirketi, HP Bilgisayar ve Bask Teknolojileri Limited Sirketi Ankara Subesi, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda, HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda.Branch 01 (Tambore), HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda.Branch 2 (Sorocaba), HP Brasil Industria e Comercio de Equipamentos Eletronicos Ltda.Branch 3 (Porto Alegre), HP Canada Co., HP China Holding B.V., HP Colombia SAS, HP Computing and Printing Middle East FZ-LLC, HP Computing and Printing Nigeria Ltd, HP Computing and Printing Systems India Private Limited, HP Computing and Printing d.o.o. (Beograd), HP Computing and Printing d.o.o. (Zagreb), HP Deutschland GmbH, HP Deutschland Holding GmbH, HP Europe B.V. Regional Dubai Branch, HP Europe BV Amsterdam Meyrin Branch, HP Finland Oy, HP France Holding SAS, HP France SAS, HP France SAS Bahrain Branch, HP Global Trading B.V., HP Global Trading B.V. Kazakhstan Branch, HP Hewlett Packard Group LLC, HP Holdgate Co., HP Inc (Thailand) Ltd., HP Inc AP Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Argentina S.R.L., HP Inc Bulgaria EOOD, HP Inc Chile Comercial Limitada, HP Inc Costa Rica Limitada, HP Inc Czech Republic s.r.o., HP Inc Danmark ApS, HP Inc Gulf, HP Inc Hong Kong Limited, HP Inc Magyarorszag Kft., HP Inc Polska sp. z o.o., HP Inc Romania SRL, HP Inc Slovakia s.r.o., HP Inc Tunisie SARL, HP Inc UK Holding Limited, HP Inc UK Limited, HP Inc. Peru SRL, HP Information Technology R & D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., HP International Sarl, HP International Sarl (Puerto Rico Branch) LLC, HP International Trading B.V., HP International Trading B.V. (Puerto Rico Branch) LLC, HP Italy Holding S.r.l., HP Italy S.r.l., HP Japan Inc., HP Korea Inc., HP Luxembourg S.C.A., HP Nederland B.V., HP New Zealand, HP Norge AS, HP PPS Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Australia Pty Ltd, HP PPS Costa Rica Limitada, HP PPS India Operations Private Limited, HP PPS Israel Ltd, HP PPS Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Maroc SARL, HP PPS Multimedia Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Philippines Inc., HP PPS Sales Sdn. Bhd., HP PPS Services India Private Limited, HP PPS Singapore (Sales) Pte. Ltd., HP PPS Sverige AB, HP Pakistan (Private) Limited, HP Panama S. de R.L., HP Printing and Computing Solutions S.L.U., HP Printing and Personal Systems Hellas EPE, HP Production Company Limited, HP Puerto Rico LLC, HP Schweiz GmbH, HP Solutions Creation and Development Services S.L.U., HP South Africa Proprietary Limited, HP Taiwan Information Technology Ltd., HP Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd., HP Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. Chengdu Branch, HP Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. Guangzhou Branch, HP Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. Nanjing Branch, HP Technology (Beijing) Co. Ltd. Shanghai Branch, HP Technology (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., HP Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, HP Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. Dalian Branch, HP Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. Zhangjiang Branch, HP WebOS LLC, HP-PPS Ecuador Cia. Ltda, HPCP-Computing and Printing Portugal Unipessoal Lda., HPI Bermuda Holdings LLC, HPI Brazil Holdings LLC, HPI CCHGPII LLC, HPI CCHGPII Sub LLC, HPI Federal LLC, HPI J1 Holdings LLC, HPI J2 Holdings LLC, HPI Luxembourg LLC, HPQ Holdings LLC, Hadar Holding B.V., Handspring Corporation, Heartstream, Hewlett Packard Distribution Center Panama S. de R.L, Hewlett-Packard (Chongqing) Co. Ltd, Hewlett-Packard (Chongqing) Manufacturing Export Procurement and Settlement Co. Ltd., Hewlett-Packard (Japan NK) Holdings C.V., Hewlett-Packard Angola Ltda., Hewlett-Packard Arabia LLC, Hewlett-Packard Cambridge B.V., Hewlett-Packard Company Archives LLC, Hewlett-Packard Copenhagen B.V., Hewlett-Packard Danube B.V., Hewlett-Packard Development Company L.P., Hewlett-Packard Enterprises LLC, Hewlett-Packard Europe BVAbu Dhabi Branch, Hewlett-Packard G.K., Hewlett-Packard Global Holdings B.V., Hewlett-Packard Global Investments B.V., Hewlett-Packard India Sales Private Limited, Hewlett-Packard Indigo B.V., Hewlett-Packard Indigo Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Industrial Printing Solutions Europe BVBA, Hewlett-Packard International Pte Ltd, Hewlett-Packard International Pte Ltd Taiwan Branch, Hewlett-Packard Ireland (Holdings) Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Ireland 1 Limited, Hewlett-Packard Ireland Limited, Hewlett-Packard KSA Ltd, Hewlett-Packard KSA Ltd. Qatar Branch, Hewlett-Packard Lisbon B.V., Hewlett-Packard MENA FZ-LLC, Hewlett-Packard MENA FZ-LLC Libya Branch, Hewlett-Packard Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn. Bhd., Hewlett-Packard Mercator B.V., Hewlett-Packard Munich B.V., Hewlett-Packard Products B.V., Hewlett-Packard Products C.V., Hewlett-Packard Products CV 1 LLC, Hewlett-Packard Products CV 2 LLC, Hewlett-Packard Services Saudi Arabia Company, Hewlett-Packard Singapore (Private) Limited, Hewlett-Packard Sunnyvale B.V., Hewlett-Packard Vietnam Ltd., Hewlett-Packard West Indies Limited, Hewlett-Packard World Trade LLC, Hiflex Software, HyperX, IBRIX, IndiGo, Indigo America Inc., Kale Holding B.V., Kale Holding B.V. (Puerto Rico Branch) LLC, Knightsbridge Solutions, Lefthand Networks, Limited Liability Company HP Inc, Logoworks, Lyra Holding B.V., MacDermid ColorSpan, ManageOne, Melodeo, Mensa Holding B.V., Mercury Interactive, Metrix Network Systems, NUR Macroprinters, Neoware, Nihon HP Nin-I Kumiai, Novadigm, NuView ManageX, Nur do Brasil Ltda, OOO "Hewlett-Packard RUS", Opelin, Opelin, Open Skies, Opsware, Opsware, Optimization Systems, Optotech, OuterBay Technologies, OuterBay Technologies, PERSIST Technologies, PFE Investments Ltd., PIXACO, PROLIN, PT Hewlett-Packard Indonesia, Palm, Palm, Palm Asia Pacific Limited Taiwan Branch, Palm Comercio de Aparelhos Eletronicos Ltda., Palm Europe Limited, Palm Global Operations Limited, Palm Inc., Palm Ireland Investment, Palm Latin America Inc., Palm South America LLC, Palm Trademark Holding Company LLC, Pearl Holding Cooperatief U.A., Peregrine Systems, Perseus Holding B.V., Phoenix Holding L.P., PipeBeach, Polaris Holding One L.P., Polaris Holding Two L.P., PolyServe, Propus Holding B.V., Qosnetics, Quartz Holding Co, RLX Technologies, Regor Holding B.V., SPI Dynamics, Samsung Printing Solutions, Scitex, Scitex Vision, Scope Communications, Scorpius Holding B.V., Security Force Software, Shoreline Investment Management Company, Shunra Software, Shunra Software, Silverwire Holding, Snapfish, StorageApps, Stratavia, Synstar, Tabblo, Talking Blocks, Tall Tree Insurance Company, Techink International Pte. Ltd., Technology Partners, Telegra, The Technology Partners, Tourmaline Holding B.V., Tower Software, Tower Software Engineering Pty Ltd, Transoft Networks, Trellis Software & Controls, Triaton, Trinagy, TruLogica, Trustgenix, Turquoise Holding L.P., VeriFone, Verifone, Versatest, Vertica Systems, Vesta Holding B.V., Vital Technology Pte Ltd, Voltage Security, VoodooPC, and ZAO Hewlett-Packard A.O..
iShares MSCI Japan ETF's stock reverse split on the morning of Monday, November 7th 2016. The 1-4 reverse split was announced on Friday, October 14th 2016. The number of shares owned by shareholders was adjusted after the market closes on Friday, November 4th 2016. An investor that had 100 shares of iShares MSCI Japan ETF stock prior to the reverse split would have 25 shares after the split.
Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. The company's personal banking products and services include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and financial and investment advice services; and commercial banking products and services comprise business deposit accounts, commercial credit cards, business loans and commercial mortgages, cash management solutions, foreign exchange, specialized banking programs, treasury and payment solutions, and risk management products for small business and commercial banking customers. It also offers investment and wealth advisory services; digital investing services; financial services and solutions; and investment management, and trust and custody services to institutional, retail, and high net worth investors. In addition, the company provides life insurance, accident and sickness insurance, and annuity products; creditor and travel insurance to bank customers; and reinsurance solutions. Further, it offers client's debt and equity capital-raising services, as well as loan origination and syndication, balance sheet management, and treasury management; strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and recapitalizations, as well as valuation and fairness opinions; and trade finance, risk mitigation, and other operating services. Additionally, the company provides research and access to markets for institutional, corporate, and retail clients; trading solutions that include debt, foreign exchange, interest rate, credit, equity, securitization and commodities; new product development and origination services, as well as risk management advice and services to hedge against fluctuations; and funding and liquidity management services to its clients. It operates through approximately 1,400 bank branches and 4,800 automated banking machines in Canada and the United States. The company was founded in 1817 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.

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Raymond James Financial, Inc., a financial holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the underwriting, distribution, trading, and brokerage of equity and debt securities, and the sale of mutual funds and other investment products in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, RJ Bank, and Other segments. The Private Client Group segment provides securities brokerage services, including the sale of equities, mutual funds, fixed income products, and insurance products to their individual clients; and borrowing and lending of securities to and from other broker-dealers, financial institutions, and other counterparties. The Capital Markets segment offers securities brokerage, trading, and research services to institutions with a focus on sale of the United States and Canadian equities and fixed income products; and manages and participates in underwritings, merger and acquisition services, and public finance activities. The Asset Management segment engages in the operations of Eagle, the Eagle Family of Funds, Cougar, the asset management operations of Raymond James & Associates, trust services of Raymond James Trust, and other fee-based asset management programs. The RJ Bank segment provides corporate loans, SBL, tax-exempt loans, and residential loans. The Other segment engages in private equity activities, including various direct and third party private equity investments; and private equity funds. Raymond James Financial, Inc. was founded in 1962 and is based in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Eastman Chemical: BP - Aviation Turbine Oil Business, CP Films Vertriebs GmbH, Commonwealth Laminating & Coating (Hong Kong) Limited, Commonwealth Laminating & Coating Inc, Crown Operations International LLC, Dynaloy, Eastman Administracion S.A. de C.V., Eastman Chemical (Barbados) SRL, Eastman Chemical (China) Co. Ltd., Eastman Chemical (China) Co. Ltd. - Guangzhou Branch, Eastman Chemical (China) Co. Ltd. - JingAn Branch, Eastman Chemical (Gibraltar) Limited, Eastman Chemical (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Eastman Chemical (PPU) Pte. Ltd., Eastman Chemical AMI GmbH, Eastman Chemical AMI LLC, Eastman Chemical AP Holdings B.V., Eastman Chemical Adhesives (Hong Kong) Limited, Eastman Chemical Advanced Materials B.V., Eastman Chemical Argentina S.R.L., Eastman Chemical Asia Pacific Pte Ltd-Indonesia Rep Office, Eastman Chemical Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Eastman Chemical Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. - Vietnam Representative Office, Eastman Chemical Australia Pty LTD - New Zealand Branch, Eastman Chemical Australia Pty. Ltd., Eastman Chemical B.V., Eastman Chemical B.V. - Czech Republic Representative Office, Eastman Chemical B.V. - Denmark Branch, Eastman Chemical B.V. - Filiale Italiana, Eastman Chemical B.V. - France Branch, Eastman Chemical B.V. - Hungarian Commercial Representative Office, Eastman Chemical B.V. - Poland Representative Office, Eastman Chemical B.V. - South Africa Representative Office, Eastman Chemical B.V. Taiwan Branch, Eastman Chemical B.V. The Hague Zug Branch, Eastman Chemical Canada Inc., Eastman Chemical Company Investments Inc., Eastman Chemical EMEA B.V., Eastman Chemical Europe Middle East and Africa LLC, Eastman Chemical Europe S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Fibers IP GmbH, Eastman Chemical Fibers IP LLC, Eastman Chemical Finance B.V., Eastman Chemical Finance CN S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Finance EUR S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Finance GBP S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Finance SGD S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Finance USD S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Financial Corporation, Eastman Chemical GDL S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Germany Holdings GmbH & Co. KG, Eastman Chemical Germany Management GmbH & Co. KG, Eastman Chemical Germany Verwaltungs-GmbH, Eastman Chemical Global Holdings LLC, Eastman Chemical Global Holdings S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical GmbH, Eastman Chemical HK Limited, Eastman Chemical Holdings do Brasil Ltda., Eastman Chemical Hong Kong B.V., Eastman Chemical Iberica S.L., Eastman Chemical India Private Limited, Eastman Chemical Intermediates (Hong Kong) Limited, Eastman Chemical International GmbH, Eastman Chemical International Holdings B.V., Eastman Chemical International LP LLC, Eastman Chemical Japan Ltd., Eastman Chemical Korea B.V., Eastman Chemical Korea Ltd., Eastman Chemical Latin America Inc., Eastman Chemical Ltd., Eastman Chemical Ltd. - Australia Branch, Eastman Chemical Ltd. - Singapore Branch, Eastman Chemical Ltd. - Taiwan Branch, Eastman Chemical Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Luxembourg Holdings 1 LLC, Eastman Chemical Luxembourg Holdings 1 S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Luxembourg Holdings 2 S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Luxembourg Holdings LLC, Eastman Chemical Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Eastman Chemical Malaysia B.V., Eastman Chemical Middelburg B.V., Eastman Chemical Netherlands Limited, Eastman Chemical Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., Eastman Chemical Regional UK, Eastman Chemical Resins Inc., Eastman Chemical S.C.S., Eastman Chemical Singapore Pte. Ltd., Eastman Chemical Switzerland GmbH, Eastman Chemical Technology BVBA, Eastman Chemical Texas City Inc., Eastman Chemical US Finance LLC, Eastman Chemical Uruapan S.A. de C.V., Eastman Chemical Workington Limited, Eastman Chemical do Brasil Ltda., Eastman Cogen Management L.L.C., Eastman Cogeneration L.P., Eastman Company UK Limited, Eastman Fibers Korea Limited, Eastman Fibers Singapore Pte. Ltd., Eastman Foundation, Eastman Global Holdings Inc., Eastman International Holdings LLC, Eastman International Management Company, Eastman Italia S.r.l., Eastman Kimya Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Eastman LAR Distribucion S. de R.L. de C.V., Eastman Mazzucchelli Hong Kong Limited, Eastman Mazzucchelli Plastics (Shenzhen) Company Limited, Eastman Servicios Corporativos S.A. de C.V., Eastman Spain L.L.C., Eastman Specialties Corporation, Eastman Specialties Holdings Corporation, Eastman Specialties OU, Eastman Specialties S.a.r.l., Eastman Specialties Wuhan Youji Chemical Co. Ltd, Eastman de Argentina SRL, Ecuataminco S.A., Flexsys America L.P., Flexsys America LLC, Flexsys Chemicals (M) Sdn Bhd, Flexsys K.K., Flexsys Rubber Chemicals Limited, Flexsys Verkauf GmbH, Flexsys Verkauf GmbH - France Branch, Flexsys Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Genovique Specialties Corporation, HDK Industries Inc., Holston Defense Corporation, Huper Optik (GP) L.L.C., Huper Optik International Pte. Ltd., Huper Optik U.S.A. L.P., Industriepark Nienburg GmbH, Kingsport Hotel L.L.C., Knowlton Technologies LLC, Monchem International LLC, Mustang Pipeline Company, Nanjing Yangzi Eastman Chemical Ltd, Novomatrix Inc., Novomatrix International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Qilu Eastman Specialty Chemicals Ltd, S E Investment LLC, Sakra Hyco Pte. Ltd., Sakra Island Carbon Dioxide Pte Ltd, Scandiflex do Brasil Ltda., Solchem LLC, Solchem Netherlands C.V., Solutia (Thailand) Ltd., Solutia Brasil Ltda., Solutia Canada Inc., Solutia Chemicals France S.a.r.l., Solutia Chemicals India Private Limited, Solutia Chemicals India Private Limited - Branch, Solutia Deutschland GmbH, Solutia Europe BVBA - Portugal Representative Office, Solutia Europe BVBA - Russia Representative Office, Solutia Europe SPRL/BVBA, Solutia Greater China LLC, Solutia Hong Kong Limited, Solutia Inc., Solutia International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Solutia Italia S.r.l., Solutia Japan Limited, Solutia Performance Products (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Solutia Performance Products Solutions Ltd., Solutia Singapore Pte. Ltd., Solutia Solar GmbH, Solutia Therminol Co. Ltd. Suzhou, Solutia Tlaxcala S.A. de C.V., Solutia UK Holdings Limited, Solutia UK Investments Limited, Solutia UK Limited, Solutia Venezuela S.R.L., Southwall Europe GmbH, Southwall Insulating Glass LLC, Southwall Technologies Inc., St. Gabriel CC Company LLC, Sterling Chemicals Inc, SunTek Australia Pty. Ltd., SunTek Films Canada Inc., SunTek UK Limited, TX Energy LLC, Taminco Argentina S.A., Taminco BVBA, Taminco BVBA - France Rep Office, Taminco BVBA - Hungarian Commercial Representative Office, Taminco BVBA - Oficina de Representacion en Espana, Taminco BVBA - The Philippines, Taminco Chile S.p.A, Taminco Choline Chloride (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Taminco Corporation, Taminco Finland Oy, Taminco Germany GmbH, Taminco Global Chemical LLC, Taminco Group BVBA, Taminco Group Holdings S.a.r.l., Taminco Holding Netherlands B.V., Taminco Intermediate LLC, Taminco Italia S.r.l., Taminco Limitada, Taminco Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Taminco US LLC, Taminco Uruguay S.A., Taminco de Guatemala S.A., Taminco de Honduras S.A. de C.V., Taminco do Brasil Comercio e Industria de Aminas Ltda., Taminco do Brasil Produtos Quimicos Ltda., Te An Ling Tian (Nanjing) Fine Chemical Co. Ltd., TetraVitae Bioscience, V-Kool International Pte. Ltd., and Yixing Taminco Feed Additives Co. Ltd..
Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. engages in the mining of copper, gold and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining; Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining and Corporate, Other and Eliminations. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico. The South America Mining segment includes Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile. The Indonesia Mining segment handles the operations of Grasberg minerals district that produces copper concentrate that contains significant quantities of gold and silver. The Molybdenum Mines segment includes the Henderson underground mine and Climax open-pit mine, both in Colorado. The Rod and Refining segment consists of copper conversion facilities located in North America and includes a refinery, rod mills, and a specialty copper products facility. The Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining segment smelts and refines copper concentrate and markets refined copper and precious metals in slimes. The Corporate, Other and Eliminations segment

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HDFC Bank Ltd. engages in the provision of banking and financial services, including commercial banking and treasury operations. The firm also provides financial services to upper and middle income individuals and corporations in India. It operates through the following segments: Treasury, Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking and Other Banking Operations. The Treasury segment consists of bank's investment portfolio, money market borrowing and lending, investment operations and trading in foreign exchange and derivative contracts. The Retail Banking segment provides loans and other services to customers through a branch network and other delivery channels. The Wholesale Banking segment provides loans, non-fund facilities and transaction services to large corporates, emerging corporates, public sector units, government bodies, financial institutions, and medium scale enterprises. The Other Banking Business segment includes income from para banking activities such as credit cards, debit cards, third party product distribution, primary dealership business, and the associated costs. The company was founded by Aditya Tapishwar Puri in August 1994 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.

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Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd., a medical device company, develops and commercializes diagnostic tools that monitor patients with heart disease worldwide. The company offers Ventripoint Medical System, a medical imaging system that is used to generate three-dimensional models with critical volume and functional measurements of a patient's heart chambers. It also develops a suite of applications for various heart diseases and imaging modalities, including congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension, cardiotoxicity in oncology patients, and Covid-19 related heart issues. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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"To not do what we've been doing for 20-something years, to have that taken away from us last year, you love something this much, once you have it back in your hands, you love it, you cherish it, protect it that much more. So I just want to put a guitar around my shoulders and stand out in stage center and say, 'Let's go.'"
Federal law states that insurers must spend 80% of money earned from premiums on consumers health and on improving the quality of care, rather than on administrative expenses.

According to filings and a statement from a contracted representative, Optima predicts its medical loss ratio will be far below that benchmark.

The company said its profitable margin and low medical loss ratio reflect the companys assumed risk due to the loss of cost-sharing reductions, uncertainty about the future of the Affordable Care Act and a quadrupling membership when other insurers left the area. Optima went from covering more than 17,000 people on the individual marketplace in 2017 to covering 60,000 in 2018 in Virginia.

When insurers were developing rates for 2018, most insurers should have figured out how to keep their MLR at 80%, said Carolyn Engelhard, a public health expert at the University of Virginia. But Optima was new to the market, and because they were scaling up so much, they had to take on much more administrative costs. I think they were freaking out and they didnt know what they didnt know.
Portraying Thomas Jefferson  in all his genius and complexity  is a daunting challenge, yet Bill Barker has succeeded where some of Hollywoods finest have failed, Monticello President Leslie Greene Bowman said in a news release. Bills knowledge, experience, and passion for his subject are unparalleled. We are proud that he will bring Thomas Jefferson home to enliven and deepen the experience of our visitors with Jeffersons immense contributions to the new nation. He will also assist us in conveying an honest, complicated, and inclusive history of freedom and slavery at Monticello.
The initial board is tasked with creating bylaws for a permanent review panel, which are due in June. A working draft has been presented to the City Council, but the board doesnt plan to finally adopt them until late May.

The draft proposal calls for two paid positions.

Payne took a shot at Snook for a previous statement that the proposal violates state law.

Even if initially we have to have different bylaws because of state law, we cant give up on what our initial goals are, he said.

Snook, a defense attorney, stood by his statement, saying, I dont think we should approve these bylaws because they violate state law in so many different ways.

Snook instead pushed to make sure the police department doesnt start a search because they smell marijuana in a car or on a person.

Brown, the only African American candidate running, said that among the candidates he is the only one who looks suspicious.
The unveiling caught the eye of Chris Adzima, a former eBay programmer who had been hired at the Washington County Sheriffs Office to work on an iPhone app that deputies use to track inmates behavior. His agency had hundreds of thousands of facial photos already online and no real way to analyze them. Using Amazons AI, he got a system up and running in less than three weeks.

They didnt really have a firm idea of any type of use cases in the real world, but they knew that they had a powerful tool that they created, said Adzima, a senior information systems analyst who works in a small cubicle at the sheriffs headquarters. So, you know, I just started using it.

Deputies immediately began folding facial searches into their daily beat policing, and Adzima built a bare-bones internal website that let them search from their patrol cars. He dropped the search-confidence percentages and designed the system to return five results, every time: When the system returned zero results, he said, deputies wondered whether theyd messed something up. To spice it up, he also added an unnecessary purple scanning animation whenever a deputy uploaded a photo  a touch he said was inspired by cop shows like CSI.
The North Korean Freedom Week, which has been held annually for the liberation and free unification of North Korean compatriots, began its official schedule on Sunday with a Sunday worship service at the New Hope Bible Church.

In particular, the chairman of the North Korean Refugee Human Rights Association, Kim Yong-hwa vividly conveyed the fierce process of defection through his testimony, and asked for prayers for the immediate return of Koreans who are still suffering from North Korea.

New Hope Bible Church is an American church with only a few Koreans in attendance. The congregants who attended this service prayed together with sorrow while listening to the horrendous human rights situation inside North Korea, and showed deep interest in asking about ways to help them practically.

Kim Yong-hwa, who was a former official from North Korea, defected in 1988 and was arrested in Vietnam. He received Bibles from the help of an interpreter in the prison just before he was sent to North Korea. After receiving the Gospel at that time, he dramatically experienced a miracle allowed him to successfully escape from repatriation to North Korea.

In his testimony, Chairman Kim Yong-hwa said, "I left my wife, 9-year-old child, and 6-month-old baby at the time of defecting. After North Korean defections, the North Korean authorities define my children as the seed of the national traitor, and not only made my 6-month-old baby as a disabled person by stamping its shin, but also killed all the rest of my family.

Kim Yong-hwa said, North Korea is a world of slavery and dictatorship, but so far, three generations have been inherited and have been in power. Kim urged people to know the miserable fact that 23 million people in North Korea are living in a place like prison as a result of the regimes control.

The ceremony was also followed by an introduction to Christian Freedom International(President: Wendy Wright), which is carrying out a ministry to send plastic bottles containing rice and the Bible to North Korea along the water currents.

Christian Freedom International said, "Currently, underground Christians in North Korea are listening to Bible broadcasts from radio stations forbidden in importing, and are living a faithful life by reading the handwritten Bible. The North Korean regime has arrested and abducted them and more than 70,000 North Korean Christians are trapped in prisons and labor camps where they must endure torture and inhuman treatments.

Christian Freedom International is sending two hundred plastic bottles of rice, bibles, and USBs to North Korea through the currents twice a month. In addition, sending balloons to North Korea and radio broadcasts for North Koreans are the other two methods available.

Bobby Stepp, a pastor of New Hope Bible Church, said, "The sad reality of the persecuted Christians and the North Koreans is the news that Christians all over the world should know about."

On this day, along with Ms. Suzanne Scholte, North Korean defectors were introduced together and received great applause during the opening service of the North Korea Freedom Week.

On the 29th of this year's North Korea Freedom Week event, the first forum will present the women and the marketplace mechanism in North Korea. Also, a discussion on the policy gap between North Korean human rights and security threats will be held on the 30th. May 2nd is scheduled to meet North Korean human rights activists in the United States, and on May 3rd, the National Security and Foreign Policy Forum on the possibility of regime change from inside North Korea will be held at the Rayburn House Building. Delegates to the North Korean Free Week will visit the US Congress on May 2nd. In addition to the official visit, private US Congressional briefings on lawmakers also take place several days during the North Korean Free Week.
This page may be updated if the event is repeated

Past Event - Friday, May 10, 2019 This page may be updated if the event is repeated

Bring your appetites to support area food-preneurs at this special lunchtime edition of Early Risers.

Experience the next great Dayton food brands!

2nd Street Market is sponsoring and hosting our next food industry-centric edition of Early Risers on Friday, May 10 from 12-1:30pm.

Bring your appetites to support area food-preneurs at this special lunchtime edition of Early Risers. You'll meet:

Mandy Groszko, owner of Ella Bella Gluten Free, offering gluten-free flour and baking mixes;

Chef Neah Rainey, Owner of SWEET RAIN Desserts, baking up eye-catching, mouthwatering treats;

& Chef Da'Ves Lee Malone, owner of Sprouting Dreams LLC, popping up delicious vegan meals across Dayton!

Come early to grab lunch before the pitches begin promptly at noon, or stick around after the pitches to connect over some local eats at 2nd Street Market. We look forward to spending your Friday lunch break with you!

Early Risers is a pitch series that connects entrepreneurs to the things they need most, like first customers, key employees, mentors, funding, and more. Each startup gets 10 minutes to pitch, then the audience gets 5 minutes for Q&A.

In the last two years, 90% of startups have gotten their ask granted through a connection made at Dayton Tech Guide's morning editions of Early Risers. So grab a sample and find a place you can plug into the Dayton region's food startup community!
The company entered into the insolvency proceedings of Jaypee Infratech to provide relief to over 20,000 homebuyers, NBCC letter said. (Representational Image/PTI)

New Delhi: State-owned NBCC Ltd has received go-ahead from government departments on its revised offer to acquire debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech within a week after its bid was rejected by a lenders' panel due to lack of necessary approvals, sources said.

In its meeting on April 26, the committee of creditors (CoC) decided not to consider NBCC's revised bid to takeover Jaypee Infratech as the same was subject to approval of various government authorities.

NBCC had in the meeting sought some time to take all the necessary approvals. However, the lenders decided to put on vote the offer of Suraksha Realty-led consortium only and not that of NBCC.

According to sources, NBCC has got the approvals from the Department of Expenditure and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for its revised offer.

Meanwhile, financial creditors and home-buyers are currently voting on Suraksha Realty's bid. The voting process started on Tuesday (April 30) and would conclude on May 3.

After its bid got rejected by lenders, NBCC wrote to Jaypee Infratech's Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) Anuj Jain that the company was interested in taking over Jaypee group firm and demanded that the revised offer should be considered on merit as it safeguards interest of financial creditors and home-buyers.

"NBCC continues to be very interested in the resolution process and accord the interest of homebuyers, utmost priority," the company said in the letter.

The company entered into the insolvency proceedings of Jaypee Infratech to provide relief to over 20,000 homebuyers, NBCC letter added.

To protect financial creditors interest, NBCC said it has offered Rs 5,000 crore worth land as well as 100 per cent equity of Yamuna Expressway, the only cash generating asset with Jaypee Infratech.

"We are confident that our proposal will safeguard the interest of the homebuyers and the lenders. Therefore, we request the CoC to consider our proposal on merit," NBCC said in the letter.

Meanwhile, business conglomerate Adani Group had also recently expressed interest to bid for Jaypee Infratech. However, lenders are unlikely to seek Adani's offer until this round of insolvency proceedings gets completed.

Crisis-hit Jaypee Group's promoters too have made a fresh attempt to retain control over its realty arm Jaypee Infratech by seeking the support of homebuyers for its debt resolution plan under the IBC.

Jaypee Group Chairman Manoj Gaur has promised to infuse Rs 2,000 crore to complete apartments over the next four years. The group had submitted a Rs 10,000-crore plan before lenders in April 2018 as well, but the same was not accepted.

In 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution of Jaypee Infratech. The realty firm has an outstanding debt of nearly Rs 9,800 crore.

In the first round of insolvency proceedings, the ?7,350 crore bid of Lakshdeep, part of Suraksha group, was rejected by lenders as it was found to be substantially lower than the company's net worth and assets.

In October 2018, the IRP started a fresh initiative to revive Jaypee Infratech on the NCLT's direction.

Jaypee Group's flagship firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) had submitted ?750 crore in the registry of the Supreme Court for the refund to buyers and the amount is lying with the NCLT. Jaypee Infratech is a subsidiary of JAL.
Jet Airways temporarily suspended operations on April 17 as it ran out of cash after lenders declined to extend emergency funds. (Photo: ANI/File)

New Delhi: In continuing woes for staff, Jet Airways has said there are no funds to pay premium for the group mediclaim policy that expires on Tuesday.

The more than 25-year-old airline temporarily suspended operations on April 17 as it ran out of cash after lenders declined to extend emergency funds.

Jet Airways Chief People Officer Rahul Taneja has informed employees that the airline would not be able to fund the premium for the group mediclaim policy.

"In the absence of any emergency funding from the lenders or any other source of funds forthcoming in the near future, we find ourselves facing a situation where we are not able to fund the premium of our Group Mediclaim Policy. The policy lapses on the midnight of April 30.

"These circumstances are not of our doing and much as we would wish to do things differently, we are left with little choice," he said in a communication.

The full service carrier has more than 20,000 employees, including pilots and engineers.

Noting that the group mediclaim policy would cease from May 1, Taneja urged employees to take a medical insurance cover of their choice.

The domestic lenders to Jet Airways have initiated the bidding process for sale of up to 75 per cent stake in the airline and the list of final bidders are expected to be known in the second week of May.

"I must also state that we have not yet given up on our efforts and continue to engage with the lenders and support them in the bid process. We are working with them proactively to find opportunities to revive our beloved airline," the communication said.
In addition, other projects especially expansion of Chennai and Bengaluru Metro are also under consideration, he said at the Annual Meet of ADB here.

Nadi (Fiji): Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given in-principle nod for financing four metro rail projects and a Rs 30,000 crore rapid rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut as part of its effort to improve urban transport system in India.

Simultaneous discussion are going on with other multi-lateral funding agencies for co-financing of these large urban transport projects in India including Bhopal and Indore Metro projects, ADB Director General (South Asia) Hun Kim said on Wednesday.

In addition, other projects especially expansion of Chennai and Bengaluru Metro are also under consideration, he said at the Annual Meet of ADB here.

"ADB has in-principle agreed to finance these projects with the Centre, which is the guarantor. It depends on the client. If they complete the formalities, we're ready to go (for final approval from the board)," he said.

ADB has funded Jaipur Metro and expansion of Mumbai Metro in the past.

On rapid rail project between Delhi and Meerut (in Uttar Pradesh), Kim said Regional Rapid Trans-port System (RRTS) is a huge project and ADB is looking to co-finance with other multi-lateral funding agencies including Asian Infrastructure Invest-ment Bank.
Washington: US President Donald Trump's unexpected decision to ban all Iranian oil purchases after May 1 ending exemptions for eight nationscame after hawkish economic and security advisors allayed the president's fears of an oil price hike, according to three sources familiar with the internal debate.

The unprecedented move to fully sever Tehran's financial lifelinefinalized just days before the April 22 announcementunderscores the strong influence of hard-liners within Trump's inner circle. They had for months argued for tightening the sanctions over the objections of some State Department officials who favored allowing some partners and allies to keep buying Iranian oil.

"No one's actually tried to take this all the way to zero," a senior administration official told Reuters, adding that forging a consensus among government agencies required "a lot of work."

President Donald Trump has been eager to halt Iran's oil exports since slapping sanctions on the Islamic Republic last November for the first time since 2015, a move intended as punishment for Iran's nuclear ambitions and its support of armed militant groups in the Middle East.

Trump initially backed a go-slow approach, providing waivers to allies and trading partners such as China, India and Turkey.

The United States currently removes about 2 million barrels of oil per day from the world's supply through sanctions on the Iran and Venezuela industries. But Washington hopes that soaring US oil production - now at an all-time high of more than 12 million barrel per day - will keep global markets well-supplied and hold prices down.

By the weekend of April 20, with the initial 180-day waivers given to countries due to expire May 1, top economic and security advisors convinced Trump that the time had come to cut off Iranian oil exports completely, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The State Department had been engaged in talks with at least five of the eight economies holding waivers, according to sources - China, India, South Korea, Japan and Turkey.

Trump discussed the matter with National Security Adviser John Bolton, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

While Bolton and Perry backed ending the waivers, some in Pompeo's State Department reiterated worries about the potential for rising oil prices, the sources said, but they ultimately dropped their objections and supported the more aggressive policy on Iran.

The decision caught several US allies and Iranian oil buyers off-guard. China's Foreign Ministry issued a formal complaint to the United States.
Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in the still from 'Chashni'. (Courtesy: YouTube)

Mumbai: After treating the audience with the glimpses of the crackling chemistry between Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in the teaser, Salman Khan has finally released the love ballad 'Chashni today'. The romantic number in which Salman Khan refers Katrina Kaif as 'Chashni' is sure to win millions of hearts, leaving the audience with a lingering smiles.

Spreading love with the everygreen chemistry of the duo, Salman Khan shared the song on his social media handle and wrote: "Ishqe-di-chashni #ChashniSong"

After creating much anticipation amongst the audience by revealing Salman Khan's multiple looks and then unleashing the first song 'Slow motion' of the film where Salman Khan romances Disha Patani in the young phase of his life, Salman also referred to the gorgeous Disha Patani as 'the Jawaani'. Salman Khan has piqued the excitement among the fans with all the sneak peeks.

The film traces the journey of Salman Khan through six decades and the actor is spotted in multiple looks, which will take you to the visual tour of a journey of a man and a nation, together.

Including stellar performers like Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Disha Patani, Tabu, and Sunil Grover, the Ali Abbas Zafar directorial boasts of an ensemble cast promising power-packed performances.

Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, 'Bharat' is produced by Atul Agnihotri's Reel Life Production Pvt. Ltd and Bhushan Kumar's T-Series is releasing on Eid, 2019.
Mumbai: As we all know that Kangana Ranaut's sister Rangoli Chandel had earlier claimed that filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt threw chappal at her at the screening of Woh Lamhe (2007) after she refused to sign one of his films. But now, the 'Sadak' has finally reacted to Rangoli's comment.

In an interaction with IANS, Mahesh Bhatt said, "She (Kangana) is a bachchi. She started her journey with us. Just because her relative (Rangoli is also Kangana's spokesperson and manager) is attacking me, I won't comment."

"Our upbringing and culture teach us that we should not raise a finger on our children. So saying anything against our children won't be possible. My upbringing stops me to do so... Till I die, I will never ever say anything against our child because it is against my upbringing, it is against my nature," added Bhatt.

For those who are uninitiated, Kangana made her acting debut in Anurag Basu's directorial venture Gangster (2006), produced by Mahesh Bhatt and his brother Mukesh Bhatt.

Kangana had earlier expressed her embarrassment after being compared to Mahesh Bhatt's daughter-actor Alia Bhatt. However, Alia took it sportingly and preferred not to comment on the same and focus on the work.

Rangoli Chandel's tweets:

Dear Soni ji, Mahesh Bhatt never gave her a break, Anurag Basu did, Mahesh Bhatt ji works as a creative director in his brothers production house....(contd) @Soni_Razdan https://t.co/SD22ztrQ29  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 16, 2019

(Contd).... please note that he doesnt own that production house, after Woh Lamhe when Kangana refused to do a film written by him called Dhokha where he wanted her to play a suicide bomber he got so upset that he not only shouted at her in his office..... (contd) @Soni_Razdan  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 16, 2019

.... but later when she went for Woh Lamhe preview to a theatre he threw chappal on her, he didnt allow her to see her own film, she cried whole night .... and she was just 19years old . @Soni_Razdan  Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) April 16, 2019

On the work front, Mahesh Bhatt is all set to don director's cap for his upcoming Sadak 2 which stars Sanjay Dutt, Pooja Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Alia Bhatt in lead roles.
Aamir Khan celebrated Maharashtra Divas by doing Shramdaan in Koregav taluka, Satara district along with wife, Kiran Rao and was accompanied by thousands of Jalamitras who came forward to help Aamir and his non-profitable organisation, Paani Foundation.

Early morning on Maharastra Day, Aamir Khan was seen doing Shramdaan at Chilewadi, Koregaon district where he and his wife, Kiran Rao got welcomed by the villagers.

After the warm welcome, Aamir Khan headed to the location and started carrying out Shramdaan to help and got support from the thousands of villagers who also got inspired and joined the actor in his activity.

Yesterday, the actor was at Zhawadarjun village where he stopped by for 'the best ganney-ka-juice' on the way along with his Jalmitras and their families, the testimony of the same are the pictures on his official social media handle.

Aamir Khan leads the community which works for waterharvesting movement for drought-free Maharashtra. The actor will be visiting multiple districts which also include Sawarde Village.

Every year, the Shramdaan happens with the initiative taken by Aamir Khan's Paani Foundation.

On the work front, Aamir Khan's upcoming project Lal Singh Chadda will be a remake of Forrest Gump, which has gotten the fans excited as the actor aptly moulds into the character and often, delivers a blockbuster.
Alia Bhatt is probably carrying her adulation for Rajamouli a tad too far by saying that she pleaded with the director to be cast in his underdirectorial, RRR. Thing is, Rajamouli and the other producers of the film were themselves exceedingly keen on roping in Alia, primarily to appeal to North Indian audiences, who are most likely not familiar with the films Telugu leading men. Interestingly, we now hear that the films team has augmented Alias appearance in the film with a few songs and a number of additional scenes.

A source in the know spilled the beans to us. Alia was initially not assigned a sizeable role in RRR for it is largely a macho male flick. As a result, no major female characters were included in its script, unlike in Baahubali, wherein Ramya Krishnan played a significant part. Alias role had to be tweaked before the offer was presented to her.
New Delhi: A 25-year-old doctor was allegedly murdered and her dead body was recovered from her rented house in Ranjeet Nagar area, the police said on Wednesday.

The deceased identified as Dr Garima Mishra hailed from Gorakhpur and was residing on the third floor of the building sharing flats with two other doctors, they, however, lived in a separate room.

The incident came to light when Garimas cousin informed the landlord that her room is locked from outside, who in turn informed the police, who broke the lock to find the slit throat body of the slain doctor lying in a pool of blood.

Family members of the slain doctor revealed that she had to visit her hometown soon and the tickets were already booked. When she did not pick up her call for long, her cousin was sent to enquire about her.

The police on Friday arrested her flatmate Chandra Prakash Verma, a resident of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, from Roorkee, a senior police officer said.

Verma, a former colleague of the deceased, had been missing since then.

CCTV footage obtained from the area showed him leaving the apartment at 8.45 pm with a backpack.

The deceased used to stay in a room on a third-floor apartment and the accused used to stay in the adjacent room with another medical practitioner, Rakesh.

The two rooms had a common kitchen and the rent was shared among the three, the police said.

Raids were conducted by the central district police and the Crime Branch of Delhi Police at several places in the national capital and the adjoining areas, including Bahraich, from where the accused hailed.

"We are questioning the accused about the motive behind the killing," the officer said.
The doctor was arrested from his residence in Padmarao Nagar, Chilkalguda, and sent to judicial custody. (Representional Image)

Hyderabad: A 65-year-old doctor was arrested by the Chilkalguda police for sexually assaulting a woman patient who had gone to him for a consultation. He was sent to judicial custody on Wednesday.

Police said the victim was suffering from a skin disease for the last three months and consulted Dr Koshka Chandra Mohan at his clinic, Sri Homeopathy Clinic, in Malargadda, Chilkalguda, Secunderabad.

The doctor recommended medication and asked her to visit him again to check the progress of the medicines. Gopalapuram division assistant commissioner of police K Srinivas said, On Wednesday when the victim approached the doctor to check the progress, Mohan asked her to come inside the check-up room. He checked the pulse and heartbeat, and after making sure that there was no one inside the check up room, he misbehaved with the victim.

The woman was shocked and ran out of the clinic. She told her husband what had happened and the couple lodged a complaint with the Chilkalguda police.

The doctor was arrested from his residence in Padmarao Nagar, Chilkalguda, and sent to judicial custody.
'Heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places the districts of Boudh, Kalahandi Sambalpur Deogarh and Sundargarh of Odisha,' said the IMD. (Photo: File)

Bhubaneswar: Cyclone 'Fani' has intensified into an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and it will cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali by Friday afternoon, the India Meteorological Department said Tuesday.

The IMD has issued a formal cyclone alert for Odisha, West Bengal and parts of Andhra Pradesh, and suggested evacuation of the costal areas.

The Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said Cyclone 'Fani' (pronounced Foni) lays southwest and adjoining west-central and southeast Bay of Bengal about 760 km south-southwest of Puri (Odisha) and 560 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and about 660 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka).

"It has intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm," Additional Director General of the IMD Mritunjay Mohapatra told PTI.

The Election Commission lifted the model code of conduct from 11 districts in the path of the cyclone for speedy rescue, relief and rehabilitation activities. The poll body took the decision to lift the code in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur after chief minister Naveen Patnaik met the during the chief election commissioner on Tuesday.

'Fani' is very likely to move northwestwards till May 1 evening and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri around May 3 afternoon with maximum sustained wind speed of 175-185 kilometres per hour gusting to 205 kmph, the IMD said.

The wind speed of a cyclonic storm is 80-90 kmph gusting up to 100 kmph. In case of an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm', the wind speed goes up to 170-180 kmph and could gain the speed of 195-200 kmph.

In view of the severity of the situation, the Indian Navy has stationed two ships at Visakhapatnam and Chennai carrying expert divers and doctors, an official said. Aircraft of the Indian Navy are also in a state of readiness at two locations for emergency services. The Indian Air Force has also been alerted and their services will be utilised if necessary, Odisha Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) B P Sethi said, adding the state government has taken up the matter with the NDRF.

He said 20 units of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and 335 units of fire services have also been kept in a state of preparedness. After a video conference with Union Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, Odisha Chief Secretary A P Padhi told reporters that the primary task is to ensure proper evacuation of people from low-lying areas of the coastal districts, which will be launched on May 2.

All the 880 cyclone centres have been readied for the purpose. Boats have also been kept in a state of readiness, the SRC said. During the meeting, Padhi sought two helicopters be stationed in a state for emergency and additional NDRF personnel for rescue and relief operation.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the country's top body to deal with emergency situations, met in Delhi Tuesday for a second time in as many days and reviewed the preparedness. The NDRF is deploying 41 teams in Andhra Pradesh (eight teams), Odisha (28) and West Bengal (five teams). In addition, the NDRF is keeping on standby 13 teams in West Bengal and 10 in Andhra Pradesh, a Central government official said.

A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) comprises about 45 personnel. A Home Ministry statement said based on the decision of the first meeting of the NCMC, headed by Cabinet Secretary Sinha, the central government has already released advance financial assistance of Rs 1,086 crore to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.

The IMD issued its 'yellow' warning and suggested total suspension of fishing activities operations, extensive evacuation from coastal areas, diversion or suspension of rail and road traffic.

It also asked the people in areas likely to be affected by the storm to remain indoors and advised against operation of motor boats and small ships in the sea. Distant warning signal II (DW-II) has been hoisted in all ports of Odisha and fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea from Wednesday, the IMD said.

Director of the regional meteorological centre, H R Biswas said the impact of Cyclone 'Fani' is likely to be much more severe than 'Titli', which had hit the Odisha-Andhra coast last year and killed at least 60 people.

The administration of Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Angul, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha have been put on high alert.

Light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy falls at isolated places is very likely in Kerala, at a few places in north coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh till Wednesday. Heavy rainfall is very likely over north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Thursday and light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places a day later.

South coastal Odisha is expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall on Thursday. Rainfall is likely to increase at most places with heavy to very heavy rains at a few places with "extremely heavy falls" at isolated places over coastal Odisha and its adjoining districts of interior Odisha on Thursday.

Light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy falls at isolated places are very likely over coastal districts of West Bengal on May 3 and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal a day later.
'China is constructing railways under the sea and India is producing Chowkidar that too thieves under the garb of Chowkidar,' Sidhu said. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday issued a notice to Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for his alleged personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public rally in Ahmedabad on April 17.

Acting on the complaint filed by BJP leader Neeraj, the ECI has sought the reply from the star campaigner of the Congress party not later than 6 pm on Thursday.

In a rally in Ahmedabad on April 17, the star campaigner of the Congress party had termed Modi as "the biggest liar" in the country.

"China is constructing railways under the sea and India is producing Chowkidar that too thieves under the garb of Chowkidar. I say you are a liar. This is the land of Mahatma Gandhi. It is unfortunate that you will be seen as the biggest liar prime minister," Sidhu had said.

"The video clips and transcript of the relevant portions of speeches made by Navjot Singh Sidhu on April 17 in Ahmedabad have been examined and the statements found to be in violation of the provisions contained in Para (2) of Part 1st of 'General Conduct' of Model Code of Conduct," said the notice issued by the ECI.
The 48-year-old, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his two previous bail applications were rejected following his arrest on March 19. (Photo: File)

New Delhi/London: Fugitive diamond merchant Nirav Modi would make another bail plea on May 8 at the UK court where he is undergoing extradition proceedings to India in the USD 1-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud and money laundering case.

The 48-year-old, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his two previous bail applications were rejected following his arrest on March 19, is to appear before Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrates' Court here on May 8 for a third attempt.

"The next hearing will be on 8 May. The application for bail will be heard before Judge Emma Arbuthnot at Westminster Magistrates' Court," said a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which is representing the Indian authorities in the extradition case.

Barrister Nick Hearn from Furnival Chambers will represent the CPS at the bail hearing, while Modi will be represented by Clare Montgomery of Matrix Chambers.

At the last hearing in the case on April 26, when Modi had appeared before Judge Arbuthnot via videolink from prison, his legal team had made no application for bail and he was further remanded in judicial custody until May 24.

While his two previous bail pleas have been rejected on the grounds that there was a "substantial risk he would fail to surrender", he can make a third application if there is a considerable change in circumstances. Modi is reportedly relying on "new evidence" and will seek to persuade the judge that this constitutes a change of circumstances so that he can be permitted to make another bail application next Wednesday.

His legal team, led by solicitor Anand Doobay, have previously offered one million pounds as security alongside an offer to meet stringent electronic tag restrictions on their client's movements, "akin to house arrest".

It remains to be seen how they plan to bolster the application for a third attempt before the same court. "This is a case of substantial fraud, with loss to a bank in India of between USD 1-2 billion. I am not persuaded that the conditional bail sought will meet the concerns of the government of India in this case," Judge Arbuthnot had said, when rejecting Modi's last bail attempt.

She also noted that "very unusually in a fraud case" the accused had made death threats to witnesses and also attempted to destroy evidence in the case. The diamond dealer's "lack of community ties" in the UK and an attempt to acquire the citizenship of Vanuatu in late 2017 went against him as the judge said it seemed like he was trying to "move away from India at an important time". Montgomery, Modi's barrister, had made a series of offers to try and convince the judge to grant bail, even bringing up his pet dog.

"He did have a son at Charterhouse [school in London] who has now gone to university in the States and as a sign of ageing parents, led Mr Modi to get a dog instead. None of these actions are emblematic of someone setting out to flee the country," she had claimed.

"It is nonsense to say that he is a flight risk. He does not have a safe haven open to him and he has not travelled or applied for citizenship elsewhere he only qualifies for leave to remain in this country, she said. Modi was arrested by uniformed Scotland Yard officers in central London on March 19. During subsequent hearings, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told that Modi was the "principal beneficiary" of the fraudulent issuance of letters of undertaking (LoUs) as part of a conspiracy to defraud PNB and then laundering the proceeds of crime.

At the hearing last week, the court was told that May 30 had been tentatively fixed as the first case management hearing in his extradition case. It remains to be seen how the case will progress after the new bail plea next week.
Karim Nagar: Zilla and Mandal Parishad elections are going to be challenging for three major political parties in integrated Karimnagar district, as the parties are facing the heat of rebels at several places, with more numbers of candidates contesting in the elections.

There has been severe competition to all three major political parties- the TRS, Congress and BJP. Even though the rebels continued to haunt both the Congress and BJP parties, the state and district leadership had initiated efforts to persuade the rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations and support the candidates to whom the B-forms were allotted. But the trouble has been immense in ruling TRS as some of the key leaders, who defected from other parties, joined in TRS and fielded their supporters in the polls.

Out of the several candidates, who filed their nominations, only few of them withdrew and remaining are in fray as rebels in several places.

Around seven members from the TRS filed nominations for Choppadandi ZPTC seat that is reserved for SC women.

The leaders, who worked in TRS from the beginning, alleged that the party leadership has been ignoring them with the joining of new members from other parties.

The issue was also brought to the notice of TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao at Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad.

The TRS leadership has been trying to convince the rebels by explaining them that it would not be possible to allot seats to all of them and to some of the rebel candidates, the leadership promised them that they would be allotted in either Co-option membership or some nominated post, after the elections.

Meanwhile, TESCOB chairman Konduri Ravinder Rao appealed the rebel candidates to withdraw their nominations and support the candidates to whom the party had allotted B-forms. The party will definitely recognise the services of the senior leaders and will allot suitable posts to them in future. Ignoring the parties request, if they contest in the elections, disciplinary actions would be taken against them, he warned.

Apart from these, the parties are also going to face the heat from various communities.

In Mallial mandal of Jagtial district, like that of turmeric farmers, the representatives of 18 communities have decided to contest in Parishad elections and passed a resolution too.

They alleged that since several years, the people of Mallial mandal have been suffering due to acute shortage of drinking water and water for irrigation purpose.

On numerous occasions, the issue was brought to the notice of the government and other political parties, but in vain.

To teach the political parties a fitting lesson, we are contesting in elections, they added.
New Delhi: Condemning the attack in Maharashtras Gadchiroli, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that "the perpetrators of such violence will not be spared."

PM tweeted: Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has also condemned the attack terming it "coward".

Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals today.

My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs families.

Im in touch with DGP and Gadchiroli SP.#Gadchiroli  Chowkidar Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) May 1, 2019

I strongly condemn this attack and we will fight this menace with even more and stronger efforts.



I also spoke to Hon Union Home Minister @rajnathsingh ji and briefed him about the situation in Maharashtra.  Chowkidar Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) May 1, 2019

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh took to Twitter to condemn the attack.

Attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli is an act of cowardice and desperation. We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel. Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain. My deepest condolences to their families. 1/2  Chowkidar Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 1, 2019

Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri @Dev_Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration. 2/2  Chowkidar Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 1, 2019

BJP president Amit Shah condemned and called it a "cowardly attack".

Anguished to learn about the cowardly attack on our security personnel in the Gadchiroli area of Maharashtra. Loss of life of these brave soldiers is an irreparable loss. Their sacrifices will not go in vain. My deepest condolences with the bereaved families.  Chowkidar Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 1, 2019

Naxal attack on security personnel in Gadchiroli Maharashtra is a highly condemnable cowardice act. My thoughts are with the families of brave personnel who sacrificed their lives for the nation. Perpetrators of this heinous act will not go unpunished, tweeted Arun Jaitley.
Tej Yadav, the BSF jawan was sacked for his video complaining about food. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The nomination papers of the Samajwadi Partys candidate Tej Bahadur Thapa were rejected by the district election officer on Wednesday.

After rejection of the nomination papers, Yadav said, My nomination has been rejected wrongly. I was asked to produce the evidence at 6.15pm on Monday, we produced the evidence, still my nomination was rejected. We will go to the Supreme Court.

Tej Yadav, the BSF jawan was sacked for his video complaining about food.

Earlier, the SP had replaced Shalini Yadav with Thapa, who had filed papers as an Independent candidate.

The Election Commission had sent him a notice on Tuesday, asking him to clarify whether he was dismissed.

In the letter, the poll body said employees of the state or central government who have been dismissed for "corruption or disloyalty to the state" shall be disqualified from campaigning for a period of five years.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading
While one person was sentenced to one month in prison, 125 other violators were sentenced to two days of imprisonment each. (Representional Image)

Hyderabad: A total of 2,282 revellers were caught by the Hyderabad traffic police during their special drive against drunken driving through the month of April.

Of the 2,282 offenders, 498 were imprisoned while the driving licences of 167 violators, who were caught driving in an inebriated condition, have been revoked by the court of law. In addition to chargesheets which were filed against them all, a total fine of Rs 49.64 lakh was imposed on the violators by local courts.

However, the hefty penalties and counselling sessions seem to have had little to no effect on motorists as drunken driving cases are still being recorded in the city on a rather regular basis. A total of 116 offenders have been imprisoned till rising of the court.

While one person was sentenced to one month in prison, 125 other violators were sentenced to two days of imprisonment each. The 3rd and 4th Metropolitan Magistrate Courts, Nampally, Hyderabad, sentenced the 498 felons to imprisonment ranging from two days to one month. In addition to the drunken driving cases, four delinquents were jailed for four days for driving without their licences.
Whenever top cadres are around, militia members are strategically positioned around to pick up any movement of troops and that is exactly what happened two days ago. Greyhounds often carry out operations in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.

Hyderabad: More than 48 hours ago, inputs trickled in about the presence of four top Maoist cadres in the thick forests in Gadchiroli. As commandos of Telanganas anti-naxal force Greyhounds were proceeding to the site, two militia members including a woman of the Maoists, who were positioned at a distance from where the Maoist leaders were camping, spotted the approaching Grey-hounds Commandos. Soon, there was an exchange of fire and the two members died. But the exchange of fire alerted the four top Maoists who then vanished into the thick jungles.

These four key Maoist leaders are said to be the masterminds of todays deadly IED attack at Gadchiroli which killed 15 Maharashtra policemen.

Sources in Maharashtra police told this newspaper that there was a specific input about the presence of four Maoists  Hari Bhushan, state committee secretary, Chandran-na who is a central committee member, Malla Raji Reddy, and Damodar, both state committee members  in the forest area in Gadchiroli.

The input was specific and their presence was confirmed and we were very close to neutralising them but due to the exchange of fire with the militia, the operation was not successful. We believe that they masterminded todays IED blast at Gadchiroli, the officials said.

Whenever top cadres are around, militia members are strategically positioned around to pick up any movement of troops and that is exactly what happened two days ago. Greyhounds often carry out operations in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and Chattisgarh.

MAHARASHTRA AND TELANGANA JOINT OPS:

Hours after the IED blast at Gadchiroli, the Maharashtra and Telangana police have begun working together on the leads to hunt down the rebels who executed the ghastly attack. Sources said that there were about 150 Maoists who participated in the entire operation, right from setting 57 vehicles on fire last night to triggering the IED blast this afternoon. It is a combined operation between the police of Maharashtra and TS and even Chattisgarh police will do its bit. Those who carried out the blast were staying put about four kilometres from the blast site and obviously, they moved out of there into the thick jungles, the officials said.

According to them, the rebels may have moved their hideout 10 to 15 km deep inside the forests. We will know their pin pointed location in the next few days and the deaths of 15 policemen will be avenged. Expect action from our side in a few days, the officials said adding that the sleuths had already activated their network, beginning from Charla right up to Gadchiroli. We are in constant touch with the Telangana police, they added.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that the perpetrators of today's attack would not be spared, Maharashtra DGP Subodh Jaiswal also announced that they were ready to retaliate with full force.
At present, Anantapur Medical College (AMC) has only 100 MBBS seats and a proposal has been lyingpending with the MCI, since the past few years, seeking to increase the number of seats in the drought hit area. (Representional Image)

Anantapur: Medical Council of India (MCI) team has expressed satisfaction towards the facilities, according to norms, in Anantapur Medical College to increase the number of medical seats.

At present, Anantapur Medical College (AMC) has only 100 MBBS seats and a proposal has been lyingpending with the MCI, since the past few years, seeking to increase the number of seats in the drought hit area. While few Medical Colleges, from other parts of the region, succeeded to satisfy the teams by reportedly providing temporary facilities, and succeeded to get more number of seats, the government owned medical colleges failed in such ways. The teams had refused to increase seats during previous visits.

However, it has been proposed to increase around 50 additional seats in MBBS for the upcoming academic year and a total of 150 medical seats are expected. A three-member committee from the MCI had inspected Anantapur Medical College and has also been connecting to the General Hospital here two days ago, to study feasibilities to increase the medical seats in the college.

A senior official from the general hospital observed that the team expressed satisfaction about the facilities available at the government owned medical college where they had shown all genuine records and no chance to hire doctors and nursing staff from outside, unlike few private colleges who managed to get additional seats.

Anantapur Medical College was established 18 years ago but was unable to get additional beds and permissions, along with additional staff. Even as the MCI cleared line for PG seats in pharma, microbiology and forensic wings, the other key departments were ignored due to lack of facilities in 2018.

An average of 2,000 in-patients and outpatients were recorded every day. But, the General Hospital did not have enough doctors and nursing staff, along with additional beds, according to MCI norms, sources said.

In addition, the Super Specialty Hospital which was a part of post bifurcation packages, under progress, could help the AMC gain additional strength.

The hospital was being constructed with an estimate Rs 75.25 crore near the Cancer Hospital named as upgradation of Government Medical College under Pradhan Manthri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) under Phase-III. All specialised branches will be in the hospital. The super specialty hospital will soon be part of and an advantage to increase the number of seats in the medical college.
Members of the BJP Mahila Morcha participate in a candle march rally in solidarity with families of the Intermediate students who committed suicide over their results from Adikmet to Ramnagar X Roads on Wednesday. (Image: Deepak Deshpande)

Hyderabad: The BJP called for a bandh on Thursday against the governments attitude in the goof-up in the Intermediate results.

In an open letter to the public, TS BJP president Dr K. Laxman, who went on indefinite strike at the BJP office on Monday and was shifted to NIMS hospital by the cops, urged the support of TS people.

According to sources, cops are planning to take BJP main leaders into preventive custody in the same way they did on Monday when the Opposition leaders called for a bandh.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, BJP workers organised a rally at Ramnagar, Musheerabad, in protest against the undemocratic arrest of Dr Laxman.

He has been on a peaceful indefinite hunger strike demanding justice for the Intermediate students on irregularities in results because of gross negligence by the Board/contract agencies that led to above 23 suicides by students.

BJP leader Dr Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy along with C. Prakash Goud, Sunitha, Madhavi, convenor Ram and others participated.

Sudhakar Reddy condemned the arrest of Dr Laxman and lathi charge, and false cases on BJP workers during the agitation and demanded a judicial inquiry on the irregularities on Inter results.

Meanwhile JNTUH has postponed all its exams due to the bandh declared by ABVP.
The family suffering due to lack of sufficient food at Hamali Colony of Kummaravaripalli in Anantapur.

Anantapur: Reacting to a report Two children die due to lack of sufficient food filed in the columns of this newspaper on Tuesday, district collector Veerapandiyan on Wednesday swung into action and did the needful for the four children and their parents who were suffering due to lack of sufficient food at Hamali Colony of Kummaravaripalli grampanchyat in Kadiri mandal in Anantapur district.

The one-year-old baby was immediately shifted to the children ward in the general hospital in Anantapur and the remaining two children were shifted to a rescue home.

The authorities of various departments also chipped in and tried to do whatever they could for the family.

Two children had already died due to lack of food which was stated in the report published in the newspaper on Tuesday. The two children were found eating soil to fill their hungry stomachs.

The parents of these children, V. Mahesh and his wife V. Neelaveni, migrated to Kummaravaripalli from Karnataka 10 years ago, but could not avail benefits of any government scheme like a ration card, pucca house and a job card.

A team of district officials and an officials from the revenue division reached the village on Wednesday.

Kadiri RDO Ajay Kumar handed over `5,000 as immediate financial assistance to the family and ordered his department officials posted in Kadiri rural mandal to clear files and sanction a ration card and pucca house to the family.

The local FP shop dealer was directed to supply ration to the family till they get ration card sanctioned.

The housing corporation will sanction a house and the MRO will give the house site patta, the RDO said.

The health department officials examined the one-year-old girl and found that it was lacking proper growth due to non-availability of nutritious food. She was sent to Anantapur general hospital for treatment. Neelaveni was found to be addicted to liquor and she was told to be admitted to a de-addiction centre.
New Delhi: On the wording of the proposal for designation of Masood Azhar as global terrorist by the UN that apparently had no reference to the Pulwama terror attack, Government sources late on Wednesday evening said the designation was not based on just a single incident but on the larger evidence linking Azhar to terrorism. Indian Government sources also lambasted Pakistan, accusing it of attempting to salvage something from this huge diplomatic setback for it by diverting the narrative.

Indian government sources said, The objective has been the designation of Azhar as a terrorist and that objective has been achieved. Pakistan is mischievously attempting to salvage something out of this huge diplomatic setback for them by diverting the narrative.

Sources added, The process of listing started in 2009. Since then, several efforts have been made to list Masood Azhar. This was much before Pulwama terror attack took place.
Mumbai: Fifteen C-60 commandos and a driver were killed by Maoists in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in Gadchiroli on Wednesday.

Banners condemning the killing of Maoists were also found in affected areas, the police said.

Last April, C-60 commandos had an encounter with Maoists at Kapewancha. Those murdered in the two-day operation included a divisional committee member, Nandu. During search operations following the first encounter, 15 Naxals bodies were found in the Indravati river.

This encounter marked the end of Perilial dalam of the Maoists, which was one of their most active groups in the recent past. The last dalam that had been wiped out by security forces prior to this was the Sironcha dalam.

The forces had recovered two AK47s, two SLRs, one .303 bore, five 8mm, and six 12-bore firearms from the spot.

Maharashtra director general of police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal said that the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli was not the result of an intelligence failure. Terming it a big loss for the force, Mr Jaiswal said that police were ready to give a befitting reply to the Naxals.

I cannot call this an intelligence failure... The Maharashtra police will take whatever action needed against such activities. It is a big loss for the Maharashtra police, he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condemned the attack, stating that the Naxal menace would be fought with stronger efforts.
Bhopal: Election Commission on Wednesday imposed ban on campaign by BJPs nominee for Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency Pragya Singh Thakur for 72 hours on charges of violation of model code.

The EC has taken cognizance of her statements on slain Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) chief of Maharashtra Hemant Karkare, killed by terrorists during 26/11 Mumbai attack, and 1984 Babri Masjid demolition.

The ban on campaign by her would come into force from Thursday morning.
New Delhi/United Nations (New York): In a huge diplomatic success for India in the midst of poll season, Pakistan-based terrorist and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was finally designated a global terrorist by the United Nations on Wednesday after China reversed its stand and lifted its hold on Indias decade-old proposal.

It is a big success for Indias efforts to root out terrorism... Indias voice is being heard globally. Indias views cannot be ignored any longer, it has been proved, Mr Modi said at an election rally in Jaipur.

The move showed that the relentless diplomatic pressure brought on China by India and Western powers  US, UK and France  finally bore fruit resulting in Beijing ultimately caving in.

Reacting to the development, a chastened Pakistan said, Our position is in line with the statements of Prime Minister Imran Khan who clearly stated that there is no space for any proscribed organisation or its affiliates to operate from Pakistani territory.

In India, parties cutting across ideological divide as well as strategic affairs experts hailed the UN action against Azhar.

The Congress welcomed the move but expressed its disappointment over no mention of JeM chiefs role in the Pulwama terror attack in the UN resolution.

Pakistan based Masood Azhars belated declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step. Indias fight against terrorism is resolute. We are disappointed that UN listing doesnt mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhars role in terrorist activities, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted.

Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah said, No mention of terror in Kashmir and no mention of Pulwama. Its amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win.

According to news agency reports, the UN committee listed Azhar as a global terrorist, for being associated with Al Qaeda, for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to recruiting for otherwise supporting acts or activities of, and other acts or activities indicating association with the JeM.
Hyderabad: A top TRS leader, considered a troubleshooter for the party has, of late, been sending signals to a top industrialist, considered close to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, regarding the irrigation projects in the state.

Top IAS officers, police top brass, including those in the state Intelligence wings of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and even the Income Tax department have begun to send signals to each other without having to worry about their signals being tracked or monitored!

Moving on from Whatsapp and Telegram, several politicians and bureaucrats have, in the last 72 hours, switched over to Signal  a cross-platform encrypted messaging service developed by Signal Messenger.

While Signal was released on Android on April 28, on iOS it was released 24 days ago (April 5) and on desktop it was released on April 17.

The design (of Signal) is such that it does not have a record of the contacts, conversation list and, importantly, your location. It also does not have group titles, user profile name etc and the end-to-end encrypted contents of every message and video call is protected by keys, which is entirely inaccessible even to Signal. The feature I like the most is that once you send a message to another Signal user, it automatically self-destructs in some time. Since we deal with a lot of sensitive matter, it comes in handy, a top police official who switched over to Signal, told Deccan Chronicle.

Signal uses the internet to send one-to-one and group messages, which can include files, voice notes, images and video. Like Whatsapp, all calls are made over Wi-fi or data connection, are free of charge, including international calls. The new app also supports group messaging.

Since all the communication (with other Signal users) is end-to-end encrypted, it is safe unlike Whatsapp, whose chats and calls can be monitored. So why invite trouble when you can communicate without having to worry about the conversations or calls being monitored, another senior IPS officer said.

He added that today Intelligence agencies are well equipped with the latest gadgets, purchased mostly from Israel, which enables them to track and monitor Whatsapp chats and calls besides other apps, but Signal is still safe from the security and privacy point of view.

Importantly, when it comes to Signal, there is end-to-end encryption for both text and voice messages. Neither Signal nor anyone else can see what is in the messages. There is also this feature where the Signal user can configure certain messages or threads to be automatically deleted after a set interval of time, like say five or 10 minutes. There is nothing that the recipient can do about it, explains a Cyber crime expert in the Telangana state police.

Users have a secret code for messages

A top TRS leader, considered a trouble shooter for the party has, of late, been sending signals to a top industrialist, considered close to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, regarding the irrigation projects in the state.

He says that the screen security feature ensures that nothing can capture what is happening inside the Signal app and there is also this secret code between two users which ensures complete privacy.

The keys that are used to encrypt the users communications are generated and stored at the end points (i.e. by users, not by servers), which, experts say, makes it safe to use without being tracked.

The expert says that the same cannot be said about Telegram, though it is similar to Signal in many ways.

The protocol and APIs are open sourced but the core part of Telegram, particularly the server, is not, which is considered to be a privacy concern and therefore people are switching over to Signal. Telegram too has features which self destruct. But what is important to note here is that the back-end services of this app is not open sourced which means that no one can tell what happens to the messages once they reach the Telegrams servers. Therefore, there is a possibility that Telegram, if required, will be able to go through the messages.

For law enforcement agencies, Signal can pose a new challenge as, so far, there are no tools available to monitor the calls or capture data. Previously, all agencies thought Whatsapp data cannot be captured or the calls monitored. But now, many agencies have the gadgets to monitor Whatsapp calls and extract the chats. I feel that even with Signal, a day will come when a gadget is developed that can enable its monitoring, a senior police official said.
156 tonnes of waste is produced from Kadapa every day. (Representional Image)

Kadapa: AP State Haritha Tribunal chairman Justice B. Seshasayana Reddy along with the municipal corporation officials inspected the dumping yards at Ukkayapalle and Madhyamadugu in Kadapa on Wednesday.

The Ukkayapalle dumping yard will be developed as a park in scientific method with Rs 23 crore World Bank funds, he said.

Speaking to the media, Mr Reddy said that previously, the waste form Kadapa city was dumped at Ukkayapalle. The officials shifted the dump yard to Madhyamadugu in view of public health. Now, the old dumping yard at Ukkayapalle will be transformed as a park, he said.

Ten acres of dump yard will be transformed as a park with walking tracks, solar lighting system, sporting instruments and greenery, Mr Reddy said.

The 99 acre dumping yard in Madhyamadugu has been granted Rs 3.09 crore from Swacha Andhra Corporation he said. 156 tonnes of waste is produced from Kadapa, the government is investing huge amount on dumping yards to recycle waste, he added.
Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samiti working president K.T. Rama Rao said on Wednesday that Opposition parties are misleading the people by alleging he has links with the Globarena Technologies contract.

In an address to party workers on the occasion of Labour Day at the Telangana Bhavan, he warned Opposition parties of filing defamation cases against them for making false and baseless allegations, linking him to Globarena Technologies (the company said to be responsible for the Inter results fiasco).

He said the contract for data processing was awarded to Globarena when he was IT minister, but questioned in what way the IT ministry is connected to the education department.

He said that the contract was for Rs 4.30 crore, but Opposition leaders are alleging that a Rs 10,000 crore scam is involved in the awarding of the contract.

If the Opposition parties want to fight politically with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, there are several other issues. But they are raking up the Intermediate results issue as they have no other issues to target the CM, he said.

Maintaining that the Intermediate result controversy is a very sensitive issue, he appealed to students and parents not take any decisions in a hurry.

He also appealed to the media to maintain restraint with regard to the results issue.

Referring to the challenge thrown at him by Congress V. Hanumantha Rao, to swear before Goddess Peddamma that he had no links with Globarena Technologies, Mr Rao asked if he should respond to a meaningless challenge from a buffoon.
Kurnool: Structural stability of Srisailam dam has become a cause of concern. After a prolonged delay, Scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, has begun a videographic survey of plunge pool work from Wednesday.

Executive engineer M. Samba Siva Reddy said that with the help of videos, the depth of the foundation and formation of any cavities could be ascertained. He said that plunge pool was formed in an extent of 400 metres, out of a total length of 594.36 metres (1,950 ft). The corrosion impact and its propensity will be spread to other areas of the dam which is being studied to take remedial measures.

Srisailam dam, which is a designated dam of national importance, was reviewed by National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS) on February 12, 2019 in Bhubaneswar. The minutes of the meeting recorded indicate that there is an urgent requirement to focus on the status of flood review of Srisailam dam, to increase the spillway capacity.

According to the minutes of the meeting, chief engineer of AP , informed that the PMF studies (73,852.3 cusecs) of the dam were carried out by a consultant along with departmental staff. The issues were also referred to a dam safety Panel of Experts (PoE) under the chairmanship of A.B. Pandya, former chairman of CWC.

As suggested by the PoE, regarding the erosion of a plunge pool located opposite to 4th to 16th blocks on the natural river course, the bathymetric survey work entrusted to the NIO, Visakhapatnam was completed and the final report is awaited.

He further stated that for the eroded portion of the apron, the projection measures at the toe of the dam opposite to block numbers 6 and 8 at downstream of spillway bucket is under progress (30% completed).

The committee was informed that the work of preparation of emergency action plan and dam break analysis was entrusted to NIH, Roorkee. The studies were not done. Along with other remarks, reports were communicated to the NIH, Roorkee for a report.

The Srisailam dam project was built during 1963-1982 at a cost of `500 crore. Water discharged from the dam crest gates jump into the bucket area and raises to a height of 200 ft and lands at a distance of 300 metres.

Under the pressure from the water, the 200-ft ditch was formed.

Chief engineer Narayana Reddy said that the NIA team would carry out their work for a period of 10 days, he said.
Shimla: Union minister Nitin Gadkari complained of uneasiness as his blood pressure had shot up during a rally in Himachals tribal Kinnaur district on Wednesday, a state BJP leader said.

The minister was immediately attended to by a team of doctors and a tweet on his official handle later said that he was doing fine.

After the rally, Mr Gadkari, 61, had complained of uneasiness as his blood pressure had shot up, the BJP leader said. Subsequently a team of doctors, led by Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospitals senior medical superintendent Dr Janak Raj, reached Wildflower Hall in Charabra in Shimla district, where Mr Gadkari was staying, the BJP leader said.

Dr Raj said after the clinical examination, Mr Gadkaris indicators were found to be within normal limits.

Mr Gadkari is doing fine... Misleading reports on Mr Gadkaris health are being spread. Do not pay any heed to them, read a tweet on Mr Gadkaris official handle.
With difficulty, only 25 farmers managed to file their nominations, but only one farmer gets the chance to be in the fray.

NIZAMABAD: Of 25 nominations by turmeric farmers of Telangana state filed in Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting, 24 nominations were rejected. The nomination of only one farmer, Isthari Sunnam of Ergatla village in Nizamabad district, was declared valid on Wednesday. The farmer will contest as an independent candidate.

Around 50 turmeric farmers of Nizamabad district in Telangana state tried to file nominations in Varanasi to draw the attention of the nation to their issues like setting up a turmeric board in the state and remunerative price for produce.

With difficulty, only 25 farmers managed to file their nominations, but only one farmer gets the chance to be in the fray.

In Varanasi, of 119 nominations, officials rejected 89 papers citing various reasons. Only 30 candidates including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and turmeric farmer Isthari Sunnam will be in the fray.

Reacting on the rejection of nominations, Telangana state turmeric farmers association president and TRS leader Kotapati Narasimha Naidu criticised the Varanasi election authorities of colluding with BJP leaders and rejecting the nominations of farmers. We will complain to the Chief Election Commissioner of India on rejection of nominations of turmeric farmers he said.

Farmers gave Amethi a miss

However, 179 farmers along with Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Raos daughter K. Kavitha had contested in the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency on April 11 and ther-eby set a record in the country.

During the campaign, Ms Kavitha had also called upon turmeric farmers to file their nominations in Varanasi and Amethi LS constituencies, where PM Narendra Modi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi are contesting, respectively.

But, the farmers filed nominations in Varanasi and spared Amethi and Wayanad Lok Sabha constituencies, where Rahul Gandhi is contesting.
Hassan: Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan and that aptly sums up the clamour in Hassan for taking credit a day after the SSCL results came out and the district, the fiefdom of the Deve Gowda family, topped in the pass percentage dislodging usual winners like Dakshina Kannada.

Leading the charge for Hassan was the irrepressible PWD Minister H.D. Revanna who not only tom-tommed the work done by his wife Bhavani, a Zilla Panchayat member but also questioned the contributions of the previous Hassan Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sinduri virtually reducing her role to nil.

Rohini had reportedly done a lot to improve students' performance by testing the proficiency of teachers, writing to school principals on the need to improve the results and also ensuring that weak students caught up with their brighter counterparts which seems to have finally paid off.

At a press conference here on Wednesday, Revanna waxed eloquent on how Bhavani's concern for students had made her hold review meetings with officials on ways to improve the SSLC pass percentage. He was all praise for his wife for making Block Education Officers (BEOs) conduct special classes for students. "What has Rohini done to improve the SSLC pass percentage? How many meetings did she hold?" wondered the minister while asking the IAS officer to come up with figures on the meetings she held during her stint as Hassan DC. He did not forget to pat his brother and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy too explaining how he had allocated Rs 1,600 crore for educational facilities.

The minister also gave some of the credit for the good work to teachers and students saying 86 high schools in the district have achieved cent per cent pass which was a result of their hard work.

Supporting the establishment of English medium schools, Revanna said in this academic year, at least 2000 English medium schools should be opened from class one to the PU level.
The monthly pension amount for differently-abled persons has also been enhanced from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,016.

Hyderabad: It is becoming difficult for the state government to come up with money to distribute to farmers under its Rythu Bandhu scheme for the Kharif season which starts in June. The government requires about Rs 6,000 crore, as it has increased the investment subsidy from Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per year for each farmer.

The funds will be distributed at the rate of Rs 5,000 per acre in each season of Kharif and Rabi. The funds must be distributed in the last week of this month.

The government was unable to pay out Rs 800 crore in subsidy for the previous Rabi season, but government officials say the pending amount was cleared last month.

In the current financial year, both state and Central governments have presented vote on account budgets. As a result, the state government has no clue about funds flow from the Centre in this financial year.

According to officials the total pending bills amount to Rs 10,000 crore.

The state government has also enhanced the amount for various pensioners under the Aasara scheme. There are 40 lakh beneficiaries under the Aasara scheme.

In addition to this, the state government has revised the age limit for old age pension from 60 years to 57 years.

About 20 lakh new beneficiaries have been identified, in addition to the existing 40 lakh beneficiaries. The amount of the pension too has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,016 per month for old age, widows, single women and other categories.

The monthly pension amount for differently-abled persons has also been enhanced from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,016.

The state government is currently forking out around Rs 500 crore per month for various pension schemes.
Thakur's remark that she is proud of Babri Masjid's demolition was found violative of the MCC. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The Election Commission Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future". The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted". The ban would come into force from 6.00 AM, May 2 (Thursday).

Pragya had said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

She also had said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.
Modi also attacked the Congress by asserting that the party is contesting at the lowest number of seats despite being in power for very long. (Photo: File)

Kaushambi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at opposition leaders claiming that even those leaders whose parties are contesting in a limited number of seats now harbour dreams of becoming prime minister.

Addressing a poll campaign rally, PM Modi said, Today even those contesting on 8 seats, 20 seats and 40 seats also want to become prime minister. They should know that even to become the leader of the opposition more than 50 seats are required.

He also attacked the Congress by asserting that the party is contesting at the lowest number of seats despite being in power for very long.

One of the special characteristics of this election is that the Congress, which ruled for the longest after independence and has many former ministers and chief ministers is in such a condition that it is fighting on the least number of seats in these elections, said PM Modi.

Prime Minister also asserted that he has been continuously working with the single aim of putting right all those things which "were destroyed by a family in 55 years".

He also made a mention of the Kumbh fair which was organised earlier this year and asserted that a corruption-free organisation of this massive fair helped to strengthen the global image of India.

Previously whenever a Kumbh Mela was held corruption charges would come tumbling out. There would be talks of commissions. However, this time Kumbh Mela concluded with not a single corruption allegation. This time there were no complaints of theft. This time the Kumbh fair had made news all over the country for its cleanliness, he said.

PM Modi also alleged that the during the rule of late former prime minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru the administration had suppressed news of a stampede at a Kumbh Mela he visited.

When Pandit Nehru was Prime Minister, he had visited the Kumbh fair once. It was a time when Congress governments ruled from Panchayat to Parliament. During Pandit Nehrus visit, there was a stampede in the Kumbh due to mismanagement, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of people.

"However, to avoid a stain on the Nehru led government, the news was suppressed. Those families who lost their loved ones did not get even a single rupee as compensation. It was not just a stampede but what happened after the stampede, it was the height of insensitivity. This is an example of how governments change the management, Prime Minister Modi said.

He also repeated his adulteration jibe at the opposition and said: These 'mahamilwati' people are strengthening casteist and dynastic politics. These people are either in jail or on bail. Such people can do no good for the state.

PM Modi also invoked the airstrike and surgical strike to assert that new India under his leadership has become aggressive towards terrorism.

The Samajwadi party and BSP leaders who cannot deal with village goons, how can they fight terrorism? We have given complete freedom to our armed forces. First, we did a surgical strike and then air strike. Pakistan was worried and deployed all its machinery to defend its border but we struck from the air. This is the new India which kills them inside their home, said PM Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address two more election rallies in the day. He will be addressing public gatherings in Itarsi and Jaipur.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading.
East Midnapore: BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was silent on NC leader Omar Abdullah's 'separate Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir' remark as she was concerned about her vote bank.

"Omar Abdullah said recently that there should be a Prime Minister in Jammu and Kashmir. Is it possible that you have two prime ministers in a country? We want to know from Mamata didi that what is her stand on Omar Abdullah's demand. But she will not break her silence as she is concerned about her vote bank," Shah said at a public rally here.

He reiterated that Kashmir will remain an integral part of India even if the BJP was not in power.

"I want to tell Rahul Gandhi, Mamata didi and Omar Abdullah. Today, we are in power and Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister. He will continue to hold his post in the coming days as well. But, if a day comes when the BJP is not in power, our workers will fight to ensure that Kashmir remains an integral part of India," Shah said.

Accusing the TMC government of not letting democracy flourish in West Bengal, the BJP president said that elections are crucial as it will test the fate of the democratic system in the state.

"These elections are more important for Bengal than the rest of the country. It will decide if democracy will survive here or not. During panchayat elections, Mamata didi gave a free hand to the 'goons' to indulge in violence. They have murdered democracy here," Shah said.

Alleging that the TMC government created a poor law and order situation in West Bengal, he added, "Not a single factory or industry has come up in Bengal since Mamata didi came to power. Only factories of bomb and guns have been established."

Shah said that BJP will put the perpetrators of chit fund scam behind bars if the BJP came to power in the state. He claimed that only the BJP can defeat TMC.

"The culture of Bengal has been ruined by the state government. Congress and Communists can't fight against Mamata. Only BJP can defeat her and bring peace and harmony in the state," Shah said.

The BJP president claimed that Banerjee was opposing the NRC as the infiltrators are her vote bank.

"After implementing Citizenship Amendment Bill, we will implement NRC. Infiltrators from across the country will be flushed out. The infiltrators are vote bank for Mamata Banerjee and therefore she opposes the NRC," Shah said.

Raking up the Balakot air strike, Shah alleged that Banerjee and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were "mourning", while the entire country was "celebrating" the aerial attack against terrorists.

"While the people of the country were celebrating the attack on terrorists in Pakistan, Mamata and Rahul were mourning over the action. They wanted us to engage in dialogue with the terrorists. Should we engage in talks with those who killed 40 of our jawans in Pulwama? We don't compromise with the security of the country," Shah said.

Four phases of the Lok Sabha polls have already taken place in West Bengal, where 42 seats are at stake.

The remaining three phases of polling are scheduled for May 6, 12 and 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.
China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: In a big diplomatic win for India, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Masood Azhar has been designated as a global terrorist in United Nations after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him under the Security Council's Sanctions Committee.

India's Ambassador to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin on Wednesday confirmed the global victory and tweeted:

Big,small, all join together.



Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list



Grateful to all for their support. #Zerotolerance4Terrorism  Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) May 1, 2019

On Tuesday, China dropped a hint that it could lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar.

Beijing said the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved.

Amid China's Indication, the world body's Sanctions Committee conducted a crucial meeting.

In March a fresh proposal was pushed by the US, UK and France to impose a ban on the chief of the JeM, which claimed the responsibility for dastardly Pulwama terror attack.

It was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years.

On the afternoon on February 14, a suicide bomber detonated a car-load of explosives next to a large convoy of 78 CRPF buses with over 2,500 personnel travelling on the highway from Jammu to Srinagar.

At Pulwama, the car with 60 kg of explosives blew up, killing 40 personnel reporting to duty after leave.
Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate from the seat was rejected Wednesday over 'discrepancies' in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi got former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination "cancelled" as he was "afraid" to contest against him from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate from the seat was rejected Wednesday over "discrepancies" in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him.

Notices in this regard were sent to him on Tuesday.

"There will be fewer occasions in history when the jawans of a country are compelled to challenge their PM, but this is the first time in history that a PM has been so afraid of a jawan that instead of competing with him, he got his nomination cancelled on technical grounds. "Modi ji, you are very weak and the country's jawan won," Kejriwal tweeted.

Yadav was dismissed from the Border Security Force (BSF) after he triggered a controversy by uploading a video in which he alleged that poor quality food was being served to jawans.

In the first set of papers on April 24, he had mentioned that he was dismissed from the Border Security Force.

On April 29 he submitted a second set of papers - this time as the Samajwadi Party nominee for the Lok Sabha seat - but did not give out this information.

He was also required to submit a no-objection certificate from the BSF, giving reasons for his dismissal.

Modi is seeking reelection from Varanasi. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Modi, who contested from two seats --Varanasi in UP and Vadodra in Gujarat-- had defeated Kejriwal from here.

Congress' Ajay Rai finished third.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading.
Modi said names of prospective prime ministers are popping up from every "gali-mohalla. (Photo: ANI twitter)

Kaushambi: Lauding the arrangements by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for this year's Kumbh Mela, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday recalled the 1954 stampede at the religious gathering in Allahabad when Jawaharlal Nehru was PM.

"When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister, thousands of people were killed in the Kumbh stampede in Allahabad," Modi said at an election meeting here.

The prime minister claimed that for saving the image of the then government, the media, too, had suppressed the news. "The stampede victims' families names were never mentioned and not a single rupee was given to them (as compensation)... It was insensitivity and this sin was committed by the country's first prime minister," Modi said.

Lashing out at the SP-BSP-RLD 'gathbandhan (alliance)' in Uttar Pradesh, he said during the last elections, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were on opposite sides of the fence, but they have joined hands this time. "Last elections the SP and the BSP were political foes, today they have become friends," he said ridiculing the alliance.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the SP and the BSP had contested against each other.

Modi said names of prospective prime ministers are popping up from every "gali-mohalla (nook and corner)". "Parties contesting on 20-40 Lok Sabha seats also want to make a prime minister," he said.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading.
The editorial has referred to France, Australia and England claiming that burqa was banned by them in the aftermath of attacks. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: After Sri Lanka has banned burqa in public places, the Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena wants to implement the same in India as well.

"Raavan's Lanka has banned burqa, when will Ram's Ayodhya do so?" asked Shiv Sena through an editorial in its mouthpiece Saamna.

Welcoming the stand taken by the island country, the editorial urges India to follow the suit in national interest.

The editorial has referred to France, Australia and England claiming that burqa was banned by them in the aftermath of attacks.

Though the BJP's Bhopal candidate and Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya has come out in support of the ban, the BJP and its ally Republican Party of India have turned down the demand.
'This valour and strength has emerged due to the political willpower of Prime Minister Modi,' Yogi said. (Photo: ANI)

Ambedkar Nagar: Addressing a political rally here on Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministeral Yogi Adityanath leged that speeches made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi causes his Pakistani counterpart to sweat across the border.

Today when Prime Minister Modi makes a speech anywhere in India, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan sweats in AC room of Islamabad. He remains worried as to when the Indian army would enter Pakistan and destroy terrorist camps there. This valour and strength has emerged due to the political willpower of Prime Minister Modi, said Adityanath.

The chief minister made these remarks at a rally which was also addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, his speech was made before the PMs arrival on the stage.

The UP CM also highlighted various public initiatives of the Centre and said, "Central government has implemented various public friendly initiatives along with developing infrastructure at a rapid pace. In five years 1.5 crore poor have been given houses, 4 crore poor have got free electricity connection and 7 crores poor has been given LPG connection."

He also talked about the Ayodhya centric initiatives of the government and said, "In Ayodhya we have begun the work for the development of a new airport in the name of Lord Ram. To observe the day of Lord's Ram return to Ayodhya after a 14-year exile, we celebrated a grand 'Deepotsav' in the form of a government event.

The Lok Sabha elections are being held from April 11 and will go on till May 19 in seven phases. The polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in all the seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Ambedkar Nagar parliamentary constituency will be voting in phase six of Lok Sabha elections on May 12.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses et all. Happy reading.
The Madras high court has done a signal service in upholding a crucial democratic principle with regard to governance in Puducherry. It's the legitimate right of elected representatives to govern. If this had to be re-emphasised by the court, it's an index of how far the lieutenant-governor may have breached protocol in not allowing the decisions of the chief minister and his Cabinet to be implemented by interacting directly with bureaucrats. The court has clearly said Cabinet decisions are binding on officials, and that a parallel administration revolving around the lieutenant-governor, who is only a ceremonial appointee in the Union territory, can't be allowed to function. The very tenets of democracy and governance will be breached by extra-constitutional powers vested in or grabbed by the administrator appointed by the President.

The court also struck down certain special powers given to the incumbent, Kiran Bedi, by the Centre, which sought to empower her in the day-to-day administration. Puducherry may not be a state, but it has an elected legislature empowered to reflect the people's will in the making of laws, and an elected chief minister and his Cabinet to take legitimate decisions and implement them. There are no parallels really to draw between Puducherry and Delhi, the National Capital Territory. As a former policewoman, and in fact the country's first woman IPS officer, Ms Bedi may have picked up the autocratic habits reflected in her tenure at Raj Nivas. In her overreach as lieutenant-governor, the Magasaysay Award winner who won plaudits for her humane treatment of Tihar Jail prisoners had been harming the very foundational principles of democracy.
Though the cross of Christ is the most popular symbol of Christianity, it ironically signifies not tragedy but triumph, not death but new life.

In the past fortnight, two images have seared their imprint in the hearts of Christians and others worldwide: the gold cross, still shining, midst the burnt-rubble of the Notre-Dame cathedral, Paris, and the tall blood-splattered statue of the risen Christ, in the bomb-ruined St. Sebastians church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Sad as it may seem, these images strikingly capture the essence of Easter and Christianity.

Easter commemorates an unprecedented event in history: the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. Though the cross of Christ is the most popular symbol of Christianity, it ironically signifies not tragedy but triumph, not death but new life. Indeed, post-Easter, Christians reflect upon gospel narratives of the crucified-risen Jesus who appears to his disciples showing them the wounds of his passion.

Thomas  martyred in India and called Apostle of India  typifies the disbelieving disciple with his initial skepticism of Christs resurrection. He said: Unless I see the marks of Jesus passion and put my finger into his pierced hands and side, I will not believe. Later, when the risen Jesus appears to him and other disciples, he exclaims: My Lord and my God! in worshipful surrender.

Saint Thomas and Jesus other apostles were so convinced that the crucified Jesus is, indeed, arisen and alive, that they all laid down their lives rather than deny the truth of his resurrection. Rather than establishing any church-building or Christian-institution, as such, Jesus prime teaching was: Follow me! Hence, long before the word church became widespread, the early Christian community was simply called The Way.

Anyone following The Way of Jesus must walk the pathway of love, service, peace, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and uphold the equality of everyone who is a child of God. The early Christians who earnestly strove to walk Jesus Way were ridiculed, threatened, persecuted, beheaded, crucified and killed. Thus, early Christian apologist Tertullian said: The church is built on the blood of martyrs.

The Christian community regards itself as the Body of Christ believing that it is to be who Jesus was and to emulate what Jesus did. This isnt easy; yet Christian saints achieved a remarkable measure of Christ-likeness. For instance, Saint Sebastian (died 288 AD), was a fearless martyr who refused to deny Christs resurrection and denounce his Christian lifestyle. Roman Emperor Diocletian had him tied to a tree and shot at with arrows. He survived miraculously. Later, he was clubbed to death.

Saint Sebastian is patron of Negombo. His statue stands mute, a powerful witness to the bombing, bloodshed and death, reminding believers that what today is razed will be raised, not only in the afterlife but also here-and-now. Notre-Dames shining cross and the blood-splattered Christ at St. Sebastians proclaim: Christ is risen!
The puzzle involved finding the number that results from running a squaring operation nearly 80 trillion times and multiple mathematical operations. (Photo: Wired)

A cryptographic puzzle designed by Ron Rivest back in 1999 has been prematurely solved by a self-taught Belgian programmer named Bernard Fabrot.

The puzzle was actually a part of a time capsule which wasnt meant to be opened for another 35 years - as that was the amount of time estimated to crack the puzzle, Wired reported. Fabrot used his home desktop and took three-and-a-half years to solve the puzzle.

The puzzle involved finding the number that results from running a squaring operation nearly 80 trillion times and multiple mathematical operations as per instructions to arrive at a number that can be translated into a short congratulatory phrase. The phrase will be revealed at the opening of the time capsule on May 15.

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The issue is of huge concern to advertisers and tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabets Google, which provide free online services to consumers but derive revenues from advertising targeted at consumers based on preferences identified via data collection.

US lawmakers drafting a bill to create rules governing online privacy hope to have a discussion draft complete by late May with a Senate committee vote during the summer and are intensifying efforts, but disputes are likely to push that timetable back, according to sources knowledgeable about the matter.

The issue is of huge concern to advertisers and tech companies such as Facebook and Alphabets Google, which provide free online services to consumers but derive revenues from advertising targeted at consumers based on preferences identified via data collection.

Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal, Brian Schatz and Maria Cantwell, who are leading the effort to draft the measure along with Republican Senators Jerry Moran, Commerce Committee chairman Roger Wicker and the Senates No. 2 Republican, John Thune, met late Tuesday and could meet again as early as next week.

The six senators involved in the privacy working group met for 45 minutes in Thunes Capitol Hill office Tuesday evening to discuss the status of the effort and look at issues where senators do not agree and will need to negotiate to resolve. Its all baby steps, he said. Hopefully we can find a path forward.

Thune told reporters after the meeting senators want to review some legislative language that staffers have drafted.

Were in the early stages, Thune said. For a big legislative undertaking he said he thought the group was in a pretty good place but acknowledged it is not an easy lift to win agreement.

Cantwell told reporters on the way into the meeting that she wants to see a bill that provides meaningful protection for the privacy of individual consumers.

This is the start of a conversation, but you have to have a strong law, she added.

Were making good progress and Im very hopeful, Blumenthal said afterward.

The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on the matter on Wednesday.

Republicans hope to complete a draft of the bill by the end of May so it can be introduced, debated and voted out of committee before Congress leaves for its August recess, according to the sources knowledgeable about the matter.

But that may be delayed if they fail to reach agreement with Democrats who are determined to ensure that the bill does not weaken, and then pre-empt, a California online privacy bill that goes into effect next year.

One dispute that has arisen is whether consumers whose privacy is violated by a company should be allowed to sue that company, with Democrats pushing for this to be allowed, according to one of the sources familiar with the discussions.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation advocacy group has this as one of its highest priorities in data privacy legislation.

At least one key Republican disagrees.

Senator Moran has heard serious concerns from the business community, particularly the small business community, that any private right of action would have serious ramifications in their

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The move comes three weeks after Trump welcomed Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has cracked down heavily on the Muslim Brotherhood. (Photo:AP)

Washington: President Donald Trump is seeking to blacklist the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, a far-reaching step that would place the United States firmly on the side of its authoritarian allies in the Middle East.

"The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process," said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

The Brotherhood, a nearly century-old Islamist movement born in Egypt with pockets of support across the Arab world, was designated a terrorist organization by Cairo after the military in 2013 ousted Mohamed Morsi, a democratically elected president with roots in the movement.

Placing the Muslim Brotherhood on Washington's list of foreign terrorist organizations would make it a crime for any American to assist the group and would ban from the United States its members, who are active in political parties in several countries.

The move comes three weeks after Trump welcomed Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has cracked down heavily on the Muslim Brotherhood as well as other movements ranging from Islamic State extremists to secular activists.

During their White House talks, Trump praised Sisi for "doing a great job," saying the United States and Egypt had "never had a better relationship."

The terrorist designation would delight Sisi as well as Saudi Arabia, which despite its ultra-conservative Wahabi ideology disdains the Muslim Brotherhood due to its support for political change in the kingdom, including over Riyadh's alliance with Washington.

But targeting the movement would be a major new impediment in US ties with NATO ally Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed an Islamist foreign policy that includes support for the Muslim Brotherhood inside Egypt.

Another US ally friendly toward the Muslim Brotherhood is Qatar, with the issue becoming a key source of friction with its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been a longtime supporter of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, co-sponsoring legislation with fellow conservatives to take the step when he was a member of Congress.

The Muslim Brotherhood has emerged in recent years as a favorite bugbear for the US far-right, with numerous social media users on Tuesday hailing Trump's push by sharing unfounded conspiracy theories that the group had infiltrated former president Barack Obama's administration or was attempting to impose Islamic sharia law in the United States.

But the proposal has seen pushback from policymakers who say that it is inaccurate to lump together the Muslim Brotherhood, which includes more moderate and democratic strains, with groups set on apocalyptic violence such as the Islamic State movement and Al-Qaeda.

Human Rights Watch has argued that a terrorist designation would "unfairly taint anyone alleged to be linked to the Muslim Brotherhood," meaning that people based in the United States could face prosecution -- or, if not citizens, deportation -- for backing charities or advocacy groups accused of ties to the movement.

Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which generally backs hawkish policies in the Middle East, doubted that the whole Muslim Brotherhood could be declared a terrorist group under normal processes.

"There is near zero likelihood of the entire network, with all its disparate parts, meeting legal criteria," he tweeted.

"But targeting the violent branches is certainly viable. That, in turn, can enable further designations based on financial ties."

The debate comes less than a month after the Trump administration took the sweeping decision to declare Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group, the first time it has designated a unit of a government.

Egypt is one of the biggest US strategic partners -- an Arab country that made peace with top US ally Israel 40 years ago and remains one of the largest recipients of US aid, at more than USD 1 billion a year.

Trump has all but ended criticism of Egypt's rights record. When Sisi took over in 2013, security forces killed some 700 protesters who had assembled in two Cairo squares -- with courts then sentencing to death 75 people, including Muslim Brotherhood leaders, over the uprising.
Protests erupted in Caracas which the ruling establishment termed as an "attempted coup". (Photo: AP)

Caracas: The crises in Venezuela was addressed by many world leaders raising concerns on the developments. An apparently carefully planned attempt by opposition leader Juan Guaido to demonstrate growing military support on Tuesday, however, disintegrated into rioting in the Venezuelan capital, sparking calls for restraint.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the protests terming them as a "coup attempt". Erdogan, a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, said, "The entire world must respect the people's democratic preferences in Venezuela."

Erdogan further said, "Those who are in an attempt to appoint a post-modern colonial governor to Venezuela should know that the only (way) to determine how a country shall be governed is through democratic elections." Besides Turkey, Maduro is backed by China, Russia and Iran.

The European Union on Tuesday called for "utmost restraint" in the Venezuela crisis. "The EU is closely following the latest events in Venezuela. We reiterate that there can only be a political, peaceful and democratic way out for the multiple crises the country is facing," EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said."

"The European Union rejects any form of violence and calls for utmost restraint to avoid the loss of lives and an escalation of tensions," she added.

Mogherini said the EU "firmly stands with the Venezuelan people and its legitimate democratic aspirations".

Hundreds of Venezuelans rallied in central Madrid late Tuesday in support of their country's self-proclaimed leader Juan Guaido, as riots broke out in faraway Caracas.

As police fired tear gas at the crowds in Caracas, around 300 people gathered in the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid in support of Juan Guaido, waving Venezuelan flags.

A spokeswoman for the Spanish government had earlier said, "Madrid strongly hopes that there will be no bloodshed" in Venezuela.

Spokeswoman Isabel Celaa called for "democratic elections" and said Madrid supports a "peaceful" outcome to the Venezuela crisis. Spain has thrown its support behind Guaido, whom it recognises as interim leader of economically-strapped Venezuela. over President Nicolas Maduro.

A number of Venezuelan troops have sought asylum in Brazil's embassy in Caracas, a senior Brazilian official said.

A source in Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's office confirmed to AFP there had been "various applications" from Venezuelan soldiers. Brazilian media reported 25 had applied so far.

The petitions for asylum came as Bolsonaro threw his support behind Venezuelans "enslaved by a dictator," a reference to President Nicolas Maduro.

"Brazil is on the side of the people of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido and the freedom of Venezuelans," Bolsonaro said in a series of tweets.

"We support the freedom of this sister nation to finally live a true democracy," he said. Brazil is among more than 50 countries that have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's President.
Rioters later blocked the highway with a bus and set it on fire. (Photo: AP)

Caracas: Demonstrators clashed with police on the streets of the Venezuelan capital on Tuesday, spurred by opposition leader Juan Guaido's call on the military to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro -- who said he had defeated an attempted coup.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting.

On Tuesday evening, Maduro declared victory over the uprising -- congratulating the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes."

"This will not go unpunished," Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and the radio. "(Prosecutors) will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace."

Guaido had been immediately backed the United States, where President Donald Trump said in a tweet said that Washington was standing behind the Venezuelan people and their "freedom."

He rallied his supporters with an early morning video message that showed him -- for the first time -- with armed troops he said had heeded months of urging to join his campaign to oust Maduro.

The 35-year-old National Assembly leader was filmed outside the La Carlota air base, where he asked the armed forces inside to join him.

Guaido claimed the move was the "beginning of the end" of Maduro's regime, and there was "no turning back." He later called for a fresh round of protests on Wednesday, in another video message.

Thousands of opposition supporters flocked onto a highway near the air base, many waving Venezuelan flags, but they were met with gunfire and tear-gas fired by soldiers at the compound's perimeter.

Soldiers backing Guaido wore blue armbands to demonstrate their allegiance to the opposition leader -- recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries -- but there appeared to be few of them.

Brazil said later a number of Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy. Brazilian media put that number at 25.

But Maduro had called on his forces to show "nerves of steel" and troops in riot gear, backed by armored vehicles and water tankers, lined up against the demonstrators.

Several vehicles plowed into the crowd, injuring some of the protesters. Rioters later blocked the highway with a bus and set it on fire.

"Today is the day Maduro resigns. Today is the day all the country's drug dealers resign. Today we have a Venezuela. Today we have a nation," said one protester amid the confusion.

As United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to all sides to avoid violence, Venezuela's army chief and defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino issued a stark warning of possible "bloodshed" -- adding that he would hold the opposition responsible.

He later said an army colonel had received a bullet wound during the clashes in Caracas. Health officials said 69 people were injured, including two from bullet wounds.

The US, meanwhile, called on the military to protect the people and support "legitimate institutions" including the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN he believed Maduro was ready to flee the country to ally Cuba before he was dissuaded by Russia -- a claim Maduro later refuted.

Moscow, Maduro's main backer and creditor alongside China, accused Guaido of "fueling conflict" in the oil-rich country.

Maduro's leftist Latin American allies Bolivia and Cuba also condemned Guaido.

Trump threatened a "full and complete embargo" and tougher sanctions against Cuba if it doesn't end military support for Venezuela.

Pro- and anti-Maduro demonstrations were held outside the Venezuelan embassies in several Latin American and European capitals.

The government suspended broadcasts from BBC, CNN International and a Caracas radio station, local media and the National Union of Press Workers said.

In his video, Guaido said the "definitive phase" had begun in his attempt to oust Maduro -- who has presided over a catastrophic economic implosion since taking over from his late mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013.

The opposition plans to hold a massive May Day protest in Caracas, where Maduro will also lead a rival rally.

Tensions in Venezuela have been ratcheted up to a critical level this year, after Guaido announced on January 23 that he was the acting president under the constitution. He said Maduro had been fraudulently re-elected last year.
India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine  as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places. (Photo:AP)

About 600 million Indian citizens are expected to cast their votes over a period of 39 days ending May 19, in the ongoing election for their countrys parliament. There are roughly 900 million eligible voters, and the country has typically seen about two-thirds of them turn out to polling places.

I have been working on the security of electronic voting systems for more than 15 years, and, along with other colleagues, have been interested in understanding how a nation can tally that many votes cast over such a long period. India uses a domestically designed and manufactured electronic voting machine  as many as 4 million of them at 1 million polling places, at least some in extremely remote locations.

Different areas of India vote on seven different days, over the course of a 39-day election period.

The first version of the Indian electronic voting machine debuted in the state election in Kerala in 1982. Now theyre used in elections throughout the country, which happen on different days in different areas.

Indian voters line up outside a polling booth in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. Indians were voting Monday in the fourth phase of a staggered national election. (Photo:AP)

How does it work?

When a voter arrives at the polling place, she presents a photo ID and the poll officer checks that she is on the electoral roll. When its her turn to vote, a polling official uses an electronic voting machines control unit to unlock its balloting unit, ready to accept her vote.

The balloting unit has a very simple user interface: a series of buttons with candidate names and symbols. To vote, the voter simply presses the button next to the candidate of her choice.

After each button press, a printer prints out the voters choice on paper and displays it to the voter for a few seconds, so the person may verify that the vote was recorded correctly. Then the paper is dropped into a locked storage box.

The whole system runs on a battery, so it does not need to be plugged in.

When its time for the polling place to close at the end of the voting day, each electronic voting machine device and paper-record storage box is sealed with wax and tape bearing the signatures of representatives of the various candidates in that election, and stored under armed guard.

A woman tests an electronic voting machine in India in advance of that countrys national elections.

After the election period is over and its time to tally the votes, the electronic voting machines are brought out, the seals opened and the vote counts for each control unit are read out from its display board. Election workers hand-tally these individual machine totals to obtain the election results for each constituency.

Indian men stand in queue to cast their votes at a polling booth in Bardhaman east constituency, West Bengal state, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. With 900 million of India's 1.3 billion people registered to vote, the Indian national election is the world's largest democratic exercise. (Photo:AP)

Security protections  and concerns

The Indian electronic voting machine primarily runs on specialized hardware and firmware, unlike the voting machines used in the U.S., which are software-intensive. It is intended for the single purpose of voting and specially designed for that, rather than relying on a standard operating system like Windows, which needs to be regularly updated to patch detected security vulnerabilities.

Each machine requires only a connection between a balloting unit and a control unit; there are no provisions to connect an electronic voting machine to a computer network, much less the internet  including wirelessly.

After polling concludes, Indias electronic voting machines are sealed with a very old-fashioned technology.

This design does offer some protections against possible tampering with how votes are recorded and tallied. The Election Commission of India has repeatedly claimed that the electronic voting machines are tamper-proof. However, a scholarly study has demonstrated there are ways to rig the machines. In particular, the simplicity of the design allows for simple attacks, such as intercepting and modifying the signal carried over the machines cable.

The Election Commission has not made public any independent security evaluations, so its unclear exactly what is  or isnt  possible. Parties that lose elections often suspect malfeasance and question the equipment.

An elderly Indian citizen is assisted by a polling staff as she prepares to leave after voting at a polling center during the fourth phase of general elections in Mumbai, India, Monday, April 29, 2019. The voting over seven phases ends May 19, with counting scheduled for May 23. (Photo:AP)

As I and others have observed, when the machines are being made, there are a number of opportunities for someone to physically tamper with an electronic voting machine in ways that preelection device testing might not detect. The machines software is designed, written and tested at two electronics companies owned by the government of India: Bharat Electronics Limited and Electronics Corporation of India Limited. The chips for the machines are manufactured outside India. In earlier versions of the machine, the chip manufacturer also wrote the machine code into the chip; today the electronics companies do it themselves.

At any time during manufacture, testing and maintenance, it may be possible to introduce counterfeit chips or swap out other components that could let hackers alter the results.

The Election Commission of India argues that any manipulation or error would be detected because the electronic voting machine is tested frequently and candidate representatives have opportunities to participate in mock elections immediately before a machine is used in a real election. However, it is possible to make changes that will not be detected. Testing can reveal only some problems, and the absence of problems during testing does not mean that problems do not exist.

Auditing the machines results

There is, however, a mechanism for detecting attacks  that printed-out paper bearing the vote and stored securely with the electronic equipment. A 2013 Supreme Court directive asked the Election Commission to create that process to protect the integrity of the balloting process.

An Indian election official displays a sample paper record of an electronic ballot during a demonstration of how the equipment works.

In each constituency, five electronic voting machines will have their results audited by comparing a manual count of the printouts with the electronic tallies. (This means about 1 per cent or 2 per cent of each constituencys machines will be tested.) Opposition parties have asked the Supreme Court to order audits of half of all electronic voting machines, but that may not happen with this years election.

While the electronic voting machine system is useful and functional, officials and observers shouldnt assume theres no way to tamper with the results. The Election Commission should certainly continue to improve testing and provide public reports of independent testing. However, because no technology can be tamper-proof, each election outcome should be verified by a manual audit, to ensure that the results are correct, whatever they may be.

(This article featured 'The Conversation- Global Perspectives')
The US has warned that the terrorist threat in Sri Lanka still remains as active members of the group that carried out the massive suicide attacks on Easter Sunday may still be at large, a media report said Tuesday.

The US Embassy here has said that at the request of the Sri Lankan Government, US security experts were working closely with their Sri Lankan partners on "fulfilling short term, specific objectives" related to the recent attacks and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Nancy VanHorn, the spokesperson at the US Embassy in Colombo that the US believes active members of the attack group that carried out the terror attacks on Easter Sunday may still be at large.

"As the (US) Ambassador (Alaina Teplitz) has previously stated and as reflected in our travel advisory, the terrorist threat is ongoing," the spokesperson told the Colombo Gazette.

Sri Lankan authorities said they believed a little-known local militant Islamist group known as National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) was behind the attack that killed 253 people and injured nearly 500 more. However, the NTJ has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, Sri Lanka's worst.

On Tuesday, the Islamic State terror group said it had carried out the attacks, and released video of men it says were the bombers, pledging allegiance to the group.

The attackers targetted three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels.

Ambassador Teplitz has said the attacks are the work of a few individuals and not of an entire community.

As Sri Lanka looks to the future and to implementing changes in security and communications procedures to prevent future atrocities, the US stands ready to assist with lessons learned from our own past tragedies and through our ongoing cooperation with local authorities, the embassy has said.

"These terrible attacks are the work of a few individuals and not of an entire community. Sri Lankans of all backgrounds and faiths have come together to condemn these atrocities. Unity is the most powerful answer to terrorism," the ambassador said recently.

Teplitz further underscored that "while we work together to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice, we must remain vigilant in defending the democratic ideals that form the pillars of a strong society.

"And we must do so without destroying communities of peaceful, innocent people who share the faith of the attackers, but not their warped ideology," she said.

"We must always respect the wonderful diversity of Sri Lanka and fortify the culture of unity that the country needs to thrive," she said.

On April 26, the Department of State ordered the departure of all school-age family members of US government employees in Kindergarten through 12th grade. The Department also authorised the voluntary departure of non-emergency US government employees and family members from Sri Lanka.

"Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka," the State Department said, adding that terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist spots, religious places other public areas.

According to Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, one American national, two people holding US and UK nationalities were among 42 foreign nationals killed in the Easter Sunday attack.
In an embarrassment to the Congress, the partys rebel leaders from Mandya reportedly held a dinner meeting with Sumalatha, who contested as an Independent candidate against Congress-JD(S) alliance candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy in the recent Lok Sabha election from Mandya seat, in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

N Chaluvarayaswamy and P M Narendraswamy (both former ministers), former legislator H C Balakrishna, Ravi Ganiga and Malavalli Shivanna are among the prominent Congress rebels who were seen at the dinner hosted by Sumalatha at a star hotel. The meeting is seen as an indication that the rebel Congress leaders had worked in favour of Sumalatha in the bitterly fought election in Mandya.

A video clip of the meeting was aired by Kannada news channels on Wednesday.

Interestingly, some of the leaders who attend the dinner meeting are close followers of co-ordination committee chairman Siddaramaiah. In fact, Chaluvarayaswamy and Balakrishna quit the JD(S) and joined the Congress in 2018 at the behest of Siddaramaiah.

These leaders had stiffly opposed the Congress decision to allow alliance partner JD(S) to field its candidate from Mandya. Besides, most of these rebel leaders have a running spat with JD(S) father-son duo H D Deve Gowda and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. Despite efforts by Congress to convince them to work for Nikhil in the elections, the rebel leaders had reportedly indirectly supported Sumalatha, wife of the late M H Ambareesh.

Speaking to reporters, Balakrishna tried to downplay the meeting saying it was a casual get-together. Those who attended the meeting were dead horses. Why attach any importance to it, he asked.

In another development, Higher Education Minister G T Devegowda admitted that a section of JD(S) workers in Mysuru had worked in favour of BJP candidate Pratap Simha. Delay in ensuring understanding between Congress and JD(S) workers led to confusion in parts of Mysuru. The joint campaign started with only five days left for polling, he stated.

State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said it is not proper on the part of a minister to make such statements.
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday said disciplinary committee of the Congress will look into the rebel party leaders holding a dinner meeting with Sumalatha, who contested as an Independent candidate in Mandya parliamentary constituency recently.

The committee will obtain reports from the Mandya unit of the party in this regard and will recommend appropriate measures. The party

will take action against based on the report, he told reporters.

N Chaluvarayaswamy and P M Narendraswamy (both former ministers), former legislator H C Balakrishna, Ravi Ganiga and Malavalli Shivanna are among the prominent Congress leaders who attended the dinner hosted by Sumalatha at a star hotel in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

He also said none of the party leaders who lost the 2018 Assembly elections in Mandya had campaigned in Lok Sabha polls. They had remained away from the elections, he added.
Terrorist leader Masood Azhar finally came under United Nations' sanctions on Wednesday, as China withdrew its objection and stood aside to let the Security Council impose global curbs on the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief, who orchestrated several attacks in India.

A committee of the Security Council designated him as an individual linked to the al-Qaeda, Taliban and the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), placing him under full-spectrum UN sanctions  assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. The impasse at the UNSC over the proposal to sanction him ended on Wednesday, as India  backed by the United States, the United Kingdom and France  could make China change its 10-year-old policy of shielding terrorists based in Pakistan.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has already swung into action to highlight it as a major diplomatic success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and to reap its political dividends ahead of the last three phases of polling for the Lok Sabha elections.

"Today is a day that would make every Indian proud!" the prime minister posted on Twitter. "I thank the global community and all those who believe in humanitarian values for their support. India's fight against terror will continue. We will work towards peace and brotherhood in our planet," he said, without directly referring to the UNSC's decision to sanction the JeM chief.

The Security Council's sanction on the 51-year-old radical cleric  purportedly ailing  will not put any legal obligation on Imran Khan's government in Islamabad to arrest or prosecute him and he can still live free in Pakistan with some curbs on his assets and financial resources as well as on his travels outside the country.

READ | Who is Masood Azhar?

What, however, made the diplomats of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi as well as at the UN headquarters in New York rejoice is the success in making China budge from its policy of blocking moves within the international organisation against terrorists based in Pakistan.

New Delhi welcomed UNSC's move, stating that it was a step in the right direction to demonstrate the resolve of the international community to fight against terrorism and its enablers.

Sources in New Delhi said that it was not only a "huge diplomatic setback" for Pakistan but also a major development in bilateral relations between India and China, particularly as both the nations had been trying to mend ties which had hit a new low over the 72-day military stand-off at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan in 2017.

Beijing earlier blocked New Delhi's move to impose UN sanctions on Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin  both based in Pakistan. They too played a key role in masterminding several terror attacks in India. China, however, kept on shielding them from UNSC sanctions, ostensibly at the behest of its all-weather ally Pakistan.

The communist country blocked UNSC initiatives to sanction the JeM chief four times since 2009. The last time it did so was on March 13, when it put on technical hold a proposal moved and supported by all other permanent members of the Security Council  the US, the UK, France and Russia  to bring him under UN sanctions.

Azhar, who hails from and still lives in Bahawalpur in Pakistan, was the general secretary of terrorist organisation Harkat-ul-Ansar when he was arrested in Kashmir by the security forces of India. The BJP government led by the then prime minister A B Vajpayee set him free in Kandahar in Afghanistan in 1999 to secure the release of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814.

Azhar floated the JeM a few months later and since then orchestrated several major terror attacks in India, the latest being the February 14 suicide bombing at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in which over 40 Central Reserve Police Force soldiers were killed.

"India will continue with its efforts through international forums to ensure that terrorist organisations and their leaders who cause harm to our citizens are brought to justice," Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the MEA, said.
India's efforts to ensure that Masood Azhar is listed under the United Nation Security Council's counterterrorism sanctions bore fruit as China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him under the UNSC Sanctions Committee.

Who is Masood Azhar?

Masood Azhar is the founder and leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a terrorist organisation that operates in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), also known within Pakistan as Azad Kashmir. He is said to have spear-headed four major attacks carried out by the JeM in India. These include the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Pathankot attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack.

Azhar was born in 1968 in Bahawalpur, Punjab, to Allah Bakhsh Shabbir, a headmaster in a government-run school and was the third of 11 children. After dropping out of school in the eighth grade, he went on to join the Jamia Uloom Islamic school, a school in Karachi that follows the traditions of the Darul Ulaam school. The school was linked with the Harkat-ul-Ansar, a Pakistan-based Islamic terror group that primarily operates in Kashmir. He eventually enrolled for a jihad training camp in Afghanistan.

Azhar travelled to both Somalia and England in 1993. During the trip to Somalia, he met with local terror outfits and brought back mercenaries. His England trip involved spreading the word about jihad among Islamic institutions. Azhar gave speeches at Darul Uloom Bury, an important Islamic institution in the UK.

In 1994, Indian officials arrested Azhar in Khanabal near Anantnag. Indian officials said that Masood was travelling under a fake name. In July 1995, a group of people who called themselves Al-Faran kidnapped six foreigners. They demanded the release of Masood in return for the release of the foreigners. Masood wasn't released, however, until 1999. He was eventually released so as to ensure the safety of the passengers aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999.

Upon his release, Masood Azhar started his own terrorist organisation, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, with the help of other terror groups like the Taliban and the Al-Qaeda. The JeM also obtained help from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan.

READ MORE

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In 2001, terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked the Indian Parliament building, resulting in 14 deaths, which included 5 terrorists. The situation escalated quickly with a military standoff between India and Pakistan. Despite being detained initially for the attacks in 2001, Masood was released by Pakistan on December 14, 2002.

The JeM has also claimed responsibility for the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2016 Pathankot air force station attack. The former claimed 166 lives, in addition to nine attackers. The attack also resulted in more than 300 injuries.

The JeM also said they were behind the Pulwama attacks on February 14, 2019. The attack killed 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. As tensions rose, the Indian government retaliated and destroyed JeM camps in Balakot, Pakistan.

However, while Pakistan officials conceded the intrusion of the Indian Air Force into Pakistani airspace and that the Line of Control was breached, they claimed that the payloads were dropped into an open area and denied the presence of terror camps.

China has repeatedly blocked India's move to impose a ban on the JeM. The last technical hold by China came on Nov. 2 when they blocked a proposal by the US, France and the United Kingdom.
UPPER DARBY  A security lockdown at an Upper Darby middle school Tuesday morning uncovered no dangerous materials or a threat to building safety district officials said.

Beverly Hills Middle School was locked down around 8:30 a.m. when a parent notified administration that her child may have gone to school with a loaded gun clip full of bullets. Police searched the premises and no weapons or bullets were found. The student and the parent were talked to by police after the lockdown was lifted, sometime around 9 a.m.

As difficult as it must have been to sit and wait for updates, I truly appreciate the parents who allowed the police to complete the necessary investigation before lifting the lockdown, said district Acting Superintendent Dan McGarry in a statement released not long after the lockdown was lifted. Our security and police department worked together to keep everyone safe. For all of this, and especially for the fact that no one was hurt, I am extremely grateful.

The school day continued without interruption.
RADNOR >> A music teacher from Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor surrendered to police and made an initial appearance in court Thursday morning.

Jeremiah Triplett, 30, was preliminarily arraigned on charges including institutional sexual assault, a felony of the third degree. He was held on 10 percent of $200,000 bail. It was not immediately clear if he was able to post bail. He was taken from district court and placed in a police cruiser.

Triplett was charged Tuesday with having a sexual relationship with a student and supplying drug-laced edibles and alcohol to two juvenile students.

Investigators are also concerned that there may be more victims and are asking anyone who may have had inappropriate contact with the suspect to contact police.

Triplett, of the 1400 block of Limekiln Pike in Dresher, faces charges of institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, two counts each of endangering the welfare of a child and corruption of minors and one count of furnishing alcohol to a minor.

According to the criminal complaint, the investigation by Radnor Police Detective Christopher Four began in late March when the department was contacted by Delaware County Children and Youth Services regarding a case of possible child abuse at the Archbishop Carroll High School between a male teacher and a juvenile female.

A confidential informant told authorities that Triplett was providing drug-infused food to a student and he was having a sexual relationship with her. A second informant then came forward and told investigators about the drug-infused food and that Triplett had made out with another student.

Investigators said the first juvenile was interviewed by police and she told them Triplett was a likable teacher and that she and a friend would go to his classroom during lunch and vape nicotine products.

Although they each used their own vaping devices, they would sometimes shotgun the smoke into each others mouths. During those sessions, Triplett would sometimes kiss her, she told police.

The juvenile also told police Triplett would sometimes bring in gummy candy laced with CBD oil. She also reported that he gave the juveniles THC-laced foods such as brownies.

In a second interview, the first juvenile reported that the kissing was with the tongue and lasted about two minutes. She also told authorities that Triplett grabbed her buttocks over her clothing. He is also alleged to have told her he could not wait until she turned 18.

The second juvenile was also interviewed and told authorities that they vaped with THC oil two or three times and that on one occasion he gave the first juvenile a plastic shopping bag with mini-liquor bottles inside.

She also said that the first juvenile told her she and Triplett had had sex inside his office.

Jeremiah Triplett used his position of trust and authority as a teacher to prey on students and endangered their health by providing them with THC infused food, District Attorney Katayoun Copeland said in a statement. I would like to commend Detective Four of the Radnor Township Police Department for his thorough investigation and the victims for their courage in coming forward and providing information to ensure the defendant will be held accountable for his actions.

In a statement, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said Triplett was placed on administrative leave when it learned of the allegations on March 26 and has had no contact with students since that time.

Prior to beginning employment at Archbishop Carroll, Mr. Triplett obtained clear criminal record checks as well as child abuse clearances. In addition, he completed mandatory Safe Environment training programs. His status remains administrative leave at this time pending the outcome of law enforcements investigation, the statement read in part.

Radnor police have also asked that any other victims or anyone with additional information to please contact them at 610-688-0503.
(CNN)  Scientists have discovered that ocean water warmed by the sun is melting part of the world's largest ice shelf 10 times faster than the overall average.

The north-west sector of the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, which in total is roughly the size of France, is melting far faster than scientists previously thought, according to a press release from the University of Cambridge.

And scientists have identified an unlikely culprit: inflowing warm water from the ocean's surface.

"The stability of ice shelves is generally thought to be related to their exposure to warm deep ocean water, but we've found that solar heated surface water also plays a crucial role in melting ice shelves," said lead study author Craig Stewart from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

Stewart worked on the project while a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Scientists from the UK university worked with others from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and NIWA over four years, collecting data from instruments placed 260-meters deep inside the ice shelf.

The effects of solar heated surface water could have huge consequences for global sea levels, according to the BAS.

Smaller ice shelves floating in warmer ocean water are melting 100-200 times faster than large shelves, said the BAS.

"The difference here is the sheer size of Ross Ice Shelf, which is over 100 times larger than the ice shelves we've already seen disappear," said Poul Christoffersen from Cambridge's Scott Polar Research Institute.

The collapse of the world's major ice shelves could lead to a sea level rise of several meters or more, the BAS says.

Researchers' concerns are intensified due to the shape of the Ross Ice Shelf, which is stabilized because it pushes against Ross Island in the key north-west sector, a phenomenon which is known as a pinning point.

It is close to this area that melt rates are increasing, BAS oceanographer Keith Nicholl said, potentially threatening the stability of the ice shelf if the pressure of the Ross Island pinning point is reduced.

"These ice front pinning points help control the flow of a lot of Antarctic ice shelves, and so the study demonstrates another vulnerability of ice shelves to climate change," Nicholl said.

The full results were published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "World's largest ice shelf melting 10 times faster than the average."
WASHINGTON  The federal government recently pushed more money toward Alzheimer's research  $2 billion in 2018. It's an increase that comes nowhere near the cost of the illness, which burns through individual and government resources to the tune of an estimated $200 billion a year. But it's a welcome infusion that comes as many discouraged drug companies are pulling out of Alzheimer's research, at least for now.

Those are among the statistics that researchers and government experts have shared with reporters in the nation's capitol this week during a four-day fellowship exploration of what's new and old in Alzheimer's disease, put together by the National Press Foundation.

The mixed bag of news is pretty depressing for those of us who watched a loved one wind down with the brain disease. My mom died with Alzheimer's in 2004 after an eight-year battle that wasn't really a battle at all. She was unarmed against the devastation. For more than a decade, I've been telling myself that scientists are going to make a breakthrough virtually any day now. They'll figure out how to treat Alzheimer's before it can claim anyone else I love. But a cure still seems far away.

For more than a decade, I've been telling myself that scientists are going to make a breakthrough virtually any day now.

The news here has been good and bad: According to Dr. Scott Turner, director of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University, the past year has been rough for drug manufacturers as promising potential treatments have bombed their clinical trials. Every anti-Alzheimer's drug since 2003 has failed and most approved medications have limited impact.

But on the positive side, prevalence of the disease seems to be somewhat lower and researchers feel like they've identified a pretty solid list of risk factors, including some against which people are not entirely helpless. You can't do anything about your genetics or advancing age, but many factors believed to contribute to Alzheimer's might be amenable to lifestyle change. The most promising, according to research, is exercise. Given how rough Alzheimer's is over its lethal course, it's puzzling that it's so difficult to get people to embrace exercise. Get moving because that is believed to make a difference and offer some protection. Don't wait, either, because the consensus is brain changes that are part of Alzheimer's begin years, maybe even decades, before symptoms show up.

No one's quite sure what share of the disease the different factors impact or how findings on two major suspects inside the brain  a buildup of amyloid plaques and tau tangles  will play out, but heart- and brain-healthy behaviors like keeping blood pressure and diabetes under control, maintaining healthy weight and staying active are believed to hold real promise for reducing risk.

Preventing Alzheimer's is not just about saving yourself. The disease puts a huge burden on younger generations who must provide care and also bear the cost of programs for the elderly. There are fewer and fewer younger people to heft that load. Dr. Marie A. Bernard, deputy director of the National Institute on Aging in the National Institutes of Health, told foundation fellows that by 2040, projections are that folks over age 65 will for the very first time in the United States outnumber kids under age 5.

Right now, 140 clinical trials are trying to unravel the mysteries of a disease that has broken so many hearts. Each one offers individuals an opportunity to be part of efforts to decipher the disease and aid efforts that may one day end or at least modify Alzheimer's, just as research has turned deadly AIDs into an often-manageable chronic disease or changed the once-lethal story of childhood leukemia to one in which children most often survive.

I'm still not sure I am ready to know whether I carry copies of the APOE4 gene that increases the likelihood I'll have Alzheimer's. But I do want to know what I can do in the way of lifestyle changes to better my odds.

If I can contribute to understanding this disease that battered and bruised my family a decade ago, sign me up.
SALT LAKE CITY  As Temple Square begins a four-year-long renovation at the end of this year, across the street, the Deseret Book flagship store at City Creek Center has just finished a renovation of its own.

The stores celebration of that renovation, a public grand reopening, came Tuesday  11 days after the Temple Square announcement, and just over nine years since the flagship store opened in 2010. The stores refurbishment expands the vision put forward by Sheri Dew, the executive vice president of Deseret Management Corporation and CEO of Deseret Book Company.

We acknowledge the great work of (Deseret Book Companys) founders and leaders and, as has already been mentioned, express special thanks to Sheri Dew for her vision and leadership that brought this flagship into existence, said Keith McMullin, president and CEO of Deseret Management Corporation, the Deseret News' parent company, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday morning.

With Temple Square attracting between 3 to 5 million visitors a year, its understandable for surrounding businesses to be concerned about the massive renovation, and at first glance it seems like a far-from-ideal time for Deseret Book to update its brand, said Laurel Christensen Day, the companys vice president of product and consumer experience. But Day said Deseret Book Company was aware of the potential renovations to Temple Square before the April 19 announcement and decided to still move forward with plans to gut and transform the stores space.

We feel like its important that this representation (of Deseret Book) exist even while Temple Square is under construction  maybe even more so while Temple Square is under construction, Day told the Deseret News. Nothing will ever match the majesty and experience of Temple Square, but there will still be people coming to downtown."

Thats our hope, that while the (Temple Square) renovation is happening, we can bring some traffic to help keep downtown alive.  Laurel Christensen Day, Deseret Book Companys vice president of product and consumer experience

Last year, nearly 1.6 million people visited the downtown store, according to numbers provided by Deseret Book Company. Day believes the results of the stores revamping, which include a Sweet Retreat area featuring a cafe with Crumbl Cookies, a shoppable art gallery with 100-plus works (including 20-30 originals) and a childrens corner with little nooks for kids to sit and read, will continue to draw large numbers of visitors  even during the Temple Square construction. The store will also host multiple events to attract visitiors each month, including book clubs, concerts and guest speakers.

The emphasis is that we want this to be a place (where) people gather and experience  thats our goal, Day said. Our other stores are much smaller and there wont be any store like this one probably ever. But our hope is to have concepts in this store and then take some of those concepts into other stores.

The 14,255-square-foot flagship store is the largest of the 32 Deseret Book stores  18 of which are in Utah. The remodeling of that space, Day said, creates a more inviting place for customers, combining traditional product like books, music and movies with lifestyle product like art and home decor. According to Day, those things dont have to be  and shouldnt be  mutually exclusive.

We will always be Deseret Book, but were not just a bookstore, and the other store was set up so that on one side of the store was books and the other side of the store was lifestyle, she said. It wasnt an integrated experience, and what we found through our research and in talking to our customers is that theyre coming looking for solutions to a problem that they have in their lives, and sometimes that solution is a book, but sometimes that solution is a piece of art.

The store is split fairly evenly between traditional product and lifestyle product, according to Day, and having such a variety in merchandise helps Deseret Book continue to grow its customer base, including people who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We are grateful for the fact that we  survived what so many bookstores didnt survive when brick and mortar really started to shift online," Day said. "Even a lot of the Christian bookstores like Lifeway in the Salt Lake area had to shut down, and we want those customers to feel like they have a place to go to find some of their faith-centered product.

But even as brick-and-mortar bookstores struggle in an increasingly digital age, Day points to Deseret Books best-selling product over the last six months  journal editions of scriptures that allow people to jot down notes as they read  as proof that the value of a physical book is still far from gone.

Digital is convenient, but  you cant gift digital very easily, and Deseret Book is a gift store in so many ways, Day said. People come here looking for meaningful gifts that they can give to the people that they love in their lives.

City Creeks newly remodeled Deseret Book will have been open for eight months by the time Temple Square starts undergoing extensive renovation. The way Day sees it, eight months is plenty of time for the updated store to continue developing and broadening its customer base  after all, Deseret Books remodeling took only four months, and the store was able to remain open the entire time.

The transformation of this space in four months is kind of insane, Day said. Were very unique in terms of the stores that are here at City Creek, and we hope that the traffic we can bring helps City Creek as well. Thats our hope, that while the (Temple Square) renovation is happening, we can bring some traffic to help keep downtown alive.
SALT LAKE  Research shows that the more intelligent a person is, the more trusting he or she is of other people.

Oh my, Utahns must be awfully smart.

Forty-five years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Salt Lake City was gaining a reputation as the stock fraud capital of the country. That story (I retrieved it using Proquest) said securities regulators and SEC staffers referred to the place as the sewer of the securities industry.

I cant know for sure whether this was the first time Utahs capital city was identified in connection with fraud, but the city (and really the entire state) has done little to lose its reputation since the age of bell bottoms and shag haircuts.

And now we know that the billowing smoke of that bad reputation comes from something that looks a lot like a fire.

Jordan Maglich, an attorney in Florida, has compiled a database of fraud cases nationwide, using news accounts over a 10-year period. In it, Utah ranked sixth in terms of Ponzi schemes overall, with only the much more populous states of California, Florida, New York, Texas and Illinois recording more.

But then, as the Deseret News reported earlier this week, Utah attorney Mark Pugsley took that data another step, analyzing it on a per-capita basis, and Utah came out on top. It wasnt close.

He found Utah had a rate of 1.35 Ponzi schemes per 100,000 people. The next highest state, Florida, came in at 0.51.

A Ponzi scheme, named for con man Charles Ponzi, involves luring investors with the promise of large returns. Early investors actually see results, which come from the money invested by later investors. This fuels belief in the promises, which attracts even more investors. Eventually, it all falls apart, because there are no actual investments, and the charismatic person behind the scheme disappears with pockets full of money.

Think Bernie Madoff, only in Utah its on a smaller, more intimate scale. The perpetrator gains the trust of victims by living and socializing among them, often attending the same church.

I started this by talking about research. Heres why: In 2014, the website plos.org published a study conducted in the United States by University of Oxford professors. They compared intelligence tests with answers to the question, Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you cant be too careful in dealing with people?

The results showed that the more intelligent people were, the more likely they were to trust other people.

Writing about this at the time, The Atlantic cited other research that found general trust to be a good thing for society, as well as for individual health and happiness. Institutions operate better in an atmosphere of trust, and economies have a greater chance of thriving.

Unless, of course, we trust the wrong people.

A razor-fine line exists between having a belief in the basic goodness of others and leaving yourself too vulnerable. Many religious people in Utah, struggling to look for the divinity in others, want to avoid having their inclination to love wax cold because of iniquity, to use Biblical language.

Frankly, thats not a bad thing, either.

Its worth noting here that Utahns are hardly alone. Facebook memes may not equate to affinity fraud, but they often commit intellectual fraud, spreading false rumors as fact. Russias entire scheme to attack U.S. elections  one that apparently is alive and well and focused on 2020  counts on us all being gullible.

But forming political opinions based on lies is one thing. Losing ones life savings is another.

As for those study results, the Oxford professors speculated that intelligent people may be better at evaluating others trustworthiness 

Or perhaps, they said, intelligent individuals have a greater chance of interacting with people who are materially better-off, and who therefore have less to gain from acting untrustworthily.

Which could explain a lot about Utah. Churches are open to all comers. People who form associations there do not necessarily self-select their friends because they are materially better off.

Thats a good thing, too.

There is a charm about a place where many people trust one another. But charm disappears quickly when all the money is gone.

Trust can be savvy and skeptical. Those terms dont have to be contradictory. If fact, they also sound like great attributes for a healthy place to live.
SALT LAKE CITY  A Nevada teenager has gone viral for asking the wrong girl to prom.

Teenagers Austin Mousa and Johnny Pashales had a plan  drive to a girls house with a box of doughnuts. From there, Austin would ask the girl, Hannah Masluk, to prom. And Johnny would capture the entire moment on camera, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.

But when they got to the neighborhood, Austin forgot which of the houses was Hannahs home. Johnny, confidently, said he knew which house it was.

Austin then knocked on the door. A young girl answered. He asked her to prom.

But it wasnt Hannah standing there. It was another girl.

"Johnny," Austin said, "you picked the wrong house."

The two boys apologized and left the property.

The video, which you can watch below, has since gone viral. It has been viewed more than 150,000 times on Twitter and 2.5 million times across multiple social media platforms, USA Today reports.

Only I could mess up going to a girls house to ask her to prom @hannahhmaslukk pic.twitter.com/YsXqIx4HyH  austin mousa (@AustinMousa) April 1, 2019

Of course, the story has a happy ending. The boys eventually found the right door for Hannah Masluk and asked her to prom.

Austin and Hannah attended prom together on April 6.

"This story is going to be told within our families for years or generations," said Allison Masluk, Hannah's mother, according to USA Today. "The best part about it is it's all on video. You always hear the story about your parents growing up or whatever  but we have it on video."

"It was a proud mom moment," said Christine Mousa, Austin's mother. "I must have missed Parenting 101."
I read the article in the Deseret News: "Source: Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr., not ruling out another run for Utah governor" (April 8). Normally, I am against career politicians who sit in one office too long and roost like a rooster and stagnate. However, Jon Huntsman Jr. is not that. He has went on to do other jobs after his gubernatorial days ended. I even met former Gov. Huntsman Jr. in 2007 when he was then the incumbent governor at his office in the Capitol. I found him knowledgeable, courteous and a firm decision-maker.

I believe if he should run again for governor, I'd think he would be formidable with his diverse expertise. He is an extremely qualified candidate. He has impeccable credentials as a three-way past ambassadorship to Singapore, China and, currently, ambassador to Russia. Additionally, he has held other posts and most importantly: Huntsman already 'knows the ropes' of being governor. If anybody is ready on day 1 to take over as governor, it's Jon Huntsman Jr. I don't believe he's a "career politician," but someone whose expertise could benefit Utah again, if circumstances were right; pure and simple.

James Marples

Provo
WEST VALLEY CITY  For Ahmad Rasoupour, getting a job interview even in Utah's hot employment market is challenging.

Trained in software engineering and web development, the 30-year-old Iranian immigrant said he finds plenty of positions to apply for online, but getting past the computer algorithm and onto the list of candidates who are awarded an in-person interview has proved difficult.

"Currently, when you apply online, it's so hard to get your resume in front of (real) people," Rasoupour said.

For that reason, among others, he was one of the scores of people in attendance at the annual Utah Diversity Career Fair Tuesday at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. He said having the chance to meet with prospective employers face to face offered an opportunity to make an impression that can't be replicated online.

"Here at the job fair, you can just come and talk directly to people like the (human resources) manager or recruiter and discuss your interests and what you're looking for," Rasoupour said.

He said the personal interaction makes a lot more sense from the job seeker perspective and can potentially expedite the prospective hiring process.

"This kind of (event) presents a pretty high chance for us to show our qualifications and experience and the skills that we have," Rasoupour said. "It helps a lot."

Salt Lake resident Michelle Cisneros said she was attracted to the event because it targeted connecting employers specifically with a diverse employee audience.

"I'm more interested in the businesses that are willing to be here because it shows me what their future path is and what they're looking for when they hire," she explained. With much of her career experience in human resources and operations, she said this employment fair offered the chance to get connected with companies looking for someone with her talents.

"I'm looking for a company who needs a good manager for their teams," she said. "I feel like I can sell myself better in person than I can sell myself on a piece of paper."

A native Utahn, Cisneros noted that while the Beehive States has become more diverse over the years, she is concerned about the political climate that sometimes portrays people of Hispanic heritage negatively and the potential detriment such rhetoric can have.

"What's going on in the world today, it makes me a little bit nervous," she said. Being at a job event where companies expect to find people of different backgrounds helped alleviate some of those fears, she said.

The one-day career fair featured a variety of firms from numerous industries and was sponsored by defense contractor L3 Technologies. Event co-organizer Victoria Pashley, campus recruiting coordinator for the technology giant, said the company is committed to addressing the perception that Utah is not a very diverse place.

"We found in our business that the more diversity we have in technology, the more successful we are as a company," she said. The purpose of creating such an event was to help companies along the Wasatch Front connect with the increasingly diverse pool of talented people who now make up the state's working population.

She noted that many local companies have made a concerted effort to hire more diverse employees because they know the benefits such a variety of thoughts can have on a company's long-term success.

"It's shown on our bottom line, and the diversity has really helped come up with new ideas and expand our horizons and expand what we can really do in technology," Pashley said.

L3 employs about 3,000 workers in Utah, she said. While that is a significant number of people, she said, there is always room to bring on more qualified, diverse talent.

"We need events like this because companies may know they need diversity, but diversity doesn't have a place to go to get hired," she said.

Creating an environment where companies can 'be intentional' in diversifying their workforce is a positive way to get employers to continue on the path toward equity and diversity, explained James Jackson, Zions Bank vice president and founder of the Utah Black Chamber of Commerce who co-organized the career fair.

"This event gives (companies) the opportunity to be a little more intentional in that they want to hire diverse talent, that they have to be in diverse communities and get introduced to diversity on a large scale," he said.

Established in 2017, he said the event has grown and attracted more employers every year, which gives an indication of the state's growing appetite for diversity in its workforce.

"We know that we're in a good position. Utah, itself, knows it's important to acquire diverse talent as far as companies are concerned," he said. "Now it's time for us to learn how to build upon it even more."
SALT LAKE CITY  There won't be a veto override session to reverse Gov. Gary Herbert's rejection of legislation abbreviating the special election process to fill an unexpected congressional vacancy.

"In the Senate, we don't have the votes, but the hope is that we still find a path forward. We're still talking to the governor and trying to find a better way," Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said Tuesday.

Lawmakers had until May 13 to hold an override session to overturn the governor's veto of SB123, sponsored by Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, but needed a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.

House spokesman Matt Lusty said representatives "currently don't plan to have an override session." He said if legislators feel like the veto needs to be addressed, it "will be discussed during the next legislative session."

McCay suggested it could take even longer.

"We know the special election process will require a legislative fix. It looks like we didnt' find the right solution this time," he said. "We will continue to work to find a solution that will get the needed support. Who knows, maybe 2021 is the year."

Adams, however, said there's a possibility the issue could be tackled in a special session this year, although talks with House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, and the governor to come up with a compromise are still in the preliminary stages.

Herbert's deputy chief of staff, Paul Edwards, said in a statement that the governor "appreciates his strong working relationship with the Legislature."

Edwards said "it is remarkable to consider that in a session where the governor signed 539 pieces of legislation into law that there was disagreement over one bill, or less than 0.2 percent of the legislation passed."

The governor's decision to set up a special election process himself in 2017 when former Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced he was resigning his 3rd Congressional District seat sparked a rift with the Legislature.

Lawmakers, who wanted Herbert to let them determine the process in a special session, successfully pushed a change to the Utah Constitution that allows them to call themselves into a special session in addition to passing SB123.

The governor's special congressional election process allowed candidates to gather voter signatures for a place on the primary ballot, an alternative to a political party's traditional caucus and convention system for choosing nominees.

That option, part of the controversial law still known as SB54 that was the subject of a failed lawsuit by the Utah GOP, is not in the vetoed bill. Instead, party delegates would have advanced two candidates to the ballot to speed up the process.

Adams said a compromise between legislative leaders and the governor may result in the special election process being determined by how much time remains in a congressional term.

"If it's a shorter period, there's a bigger need for an expedited process. If there is more time, perhaps the elongated process fits. That's at least part of the discussion right now," he said.

That could mean, for example, the abbreviated process would be used if a member of Congress resigns with a year or less remaining in his or her term. Chaffetz left six months into his two-year term and became a Fox News contributor.

The Senate president said a special session could also include legislation ensuring elections are won with a majority of the vote, not just a plurality, a situation made more likely by the dual path to the primary ballot.

If lawmakers want to consider creating a runoff election when no candidates receives a majority of the vote in a primary, Adams said that can't wait until the 2020 Legislature begins meeting in late January.

"We have to do it before the first of the year because it may affect filing dates and primary dates," he said, adding that he believes it makes sense to consider that issue at the same time as a new process for congressional special elections.

The governor has said he will call a special session as soon as the end of summer to consider tax reform. A legislative task force to come up with a solution to lagging sales tax collections is expected to be named by mid-May.
SOUTH JORDAN  It snowed Tuesday in the higher elevations of the mountains of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, but that didn't stop the forest supervisor from musing out loud about what kind of wildfire season may happen this summer.

Whatever the heat of summer brings, Dave Whittekiend has equipment and firefighters ready to go, and he's already mapping a plan of prescribed burns, mechanical fuels treatments and other stopgaps in a plan of attack.

He knows it may seem early. He knows the snow is months away from going away and there are two magic words that sum up what to expect this year:

"It depends."

In an informal chat Tuesday with reporters at Forest Service offices in South Jordan, Whittekiend identified about $10 million in fuels projects aimed at the Upper Provo River drainage encompassing the Mirror Lake recreation area and critical municipal water supplies.

Three wildland fires have burned through the area that will serve as natural breaks, and the Forest Service has partially accomplished a section of a planned massive prescribed burn. In addition, crews began some mechanical treatments of overgrown forest stands, but have much left to do.

"It is one of the most critical drainages in the state of Utah," he said.

The state of Utah and the Forest Service are teaming up on a five-year goal to treat 1 million acres in an effort Whittekiend says is independent of any mandate.

"The million-acre challenge is a self-created thing, the forest and state of Utah are trying to do more," he said. "I don't know if we will get a million acres treated in five years, but our hope is to stretch this and fix the ifs."

On the conference table in front of him, Whittekiend pointed to a map with bright yellow patches denoting the areas of mechanical treatments, a striped area of the prescribed burn and the three areas of the previous wildland fires.

Winding through all of it is the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway, the 42-mile stretch of state Route 150 that is one of the highest roads in Utah, which is lucky to be open by Memorial Day.

Whittekiend is hoping to get some funding through a collaborative partnership with the state's Watershed Restoration Initiative for fuels projects. An application for $1.5 million in funding was submitted, and word on funding approval could come anytime.

"We are trying to identify the areas that are the highest priorities," he said.

Across the state, there are 1.3 million acres of U.S. forest lands approved through the federal environmental review process for vegetation management projects. The cost is just over $300 million however, so those projects aren't likely to happen soon, Whittekiend admitted.

Funding remains the federal agency's biggest challenge, and too much of the budget is eaten up in reactive firefighting costs rather than proactive fuels treatments.

The hope, however, is to get some success stories in the Upper Provo River drainage so if a wildfire does happen, it doesn't impact the entire system.

Whittekiend is also working on a joint project with the Ashley National Forest to restore hundreds of thousands of acres of aspens that will not only build wildfire resiliency but also help wildlife.
Several weeks after meeting with U.S. President Martin Van Buren on Nov. 29, 1839, the Prophet Joseph Smith traveled by train to Philadelphia arriving on Dec. 21, 1839. His published history says he "spent several days preaching and visiting from house to house, among the brethren and others," according to History of the Church 4:47.

According to Philadelphia historian Charles Muldowney, the Prophet organized a branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints two days later on Dec. 23, his birthday. That branch met on the second floor of a building located on the northeast corner of Seventh and Callowhill streets. That structure is no longer extant.

Joseph wrote: A great work will yet be done in Philadelphia. Our meeting house is very much crowded with attentive hearers and there are no doubt many believers from the favorable expressions, friendly treatment and good feelings which they manifest towards myself and the brethren (see "Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 7: September 1839-January 1841," page 91).

On Dec. 30, Joseph visited some members of the church in New Jersey. One account says he went to Monmouth County but there were at least six branches of the Church in the Delaware River Valley near Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Mercer County, New Jersey. It was estimated that in January 1840 there was a combined membership of more than 250 people in that region (see "Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 7," Page 91, footnote 214).

Also in January 1840, the Prophet Joseph preached to members of the Brandywine Branch in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He used a building, still extant, owned by Edward Hunter. While in Chester County, Joseph wrote a letter to his wife, Emma. It is one of the few surviving letters written entirely in the Prophets hand (see "Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 7," pages 134-136).
SALT LAKE CITY  Technical glitches temporarily interrupted RISE testing in Utah school districts again Tuesday, with some districts opting to halt testing for at least the remainder of the day.

Similar to last week's issues, students received error messages as they attempted to submit test answers or pause testing. The test vendor, Questar, told state education officials they had identified the problem and a solution, which apparently resolved the issue in about an hour.

The vendor determined the cause of the latest glitch was of a different nature than last week's problems, which interrupted testing statewide on Thursday and Friday. Tuesday's issues were resolved in about an hour, according to an email sent to school districts from Utah State Board of Education staff.

Testing scheduled at some 20 Canyons District schools Tuesday was postponed to a later day, according research and assessment director Hal Sanderson.

In Alpine School District, testing was suspended and computers were quarantined to save student test progress until repairs were made, according to district spokeswoman Kimberly Bird.

Mark Huntsman, chairman of the Utah State Board of Education, said board employees have been in constant contact with schools and board members as the state and test vendor work through technological issues.

"The board's expectations are very high. We have contractual requirements we expect out of the vendor. USBE staff is making sure those contractual requirements are being met. That's kind of where we're at. The board isn't being complacent and USBE isn't being complacent and letting it takes its course. It's a very serious time right now with assessment. We want everybody to bring their 'A game' to the table as they're doing it," Huntsman said.

There were also technological issue when the state transitioned to SAGE testing, he said.

"It's not quite business as usual when you have a new system but assessments are happening," Huntsman said Tuesday.

RISE test data is a key component of the state's school accountability system, said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sydnee Dickson. It also drives important decisions in local schools.

"At the end of the day can the educators in our system use this information accurately to make instructional decisions?" she said.

State education officials are monitoring the situation "minute by minute," Dickson said.

"The good news is, anything that was a new element of surprise to the system, that we were able to work through those in the early part of the testing window. We would expect moving forward that the majority of the issues would be minor and remedied very quickly," she said.

The window for this round of RISE testing is March 19 through June 17, with the latter to accommodate schools on year-round schedules.

Earlier, Darin Nielsen, assistant superintendent of student learning, said the highest volumes of testing are expected in the first three weeks of May.

RISE assessments are scheduled to be given annually to students in grades three through eight in language arts and math using online multistage adaptive testing. Beginning in fourth grade, science is also tested. In grades five and eight, writing is tested.
SALT LAKE CITY  A Heber City man who was arrested in a drug case was found to be in possession of children's underwear, police say.

Joshua Cooper Nielson, 34, was charged April 11 with drug possession, a class A misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor. Those charges stem from a search warrant the Wasatch Back Narcotics Enforcement Team served April 9 on Nielson's residence. During the search, investigators found methamphetamine and syringes, according to charging documents.

But detectives reported finding some unexpected items during their search of Nielson's bedroom.

"While searching the bedroom that Joshua claimed was his, detectives noticed several pairs of underwear that appeared to belong to young girls approximately age 5-10 years old," according to a search warrant affidavit filed in 4th District Court.

While being questioned by authorities, Nielson's boss called police to report that he found a backpack that belonged to Nielson that he said contained items "he found very concerning," according to charging documents.

In addition to drugs, investigators found "what appeared to be a pair of very young girls underwear as well as sex toys in the backpack," the charges state.

When interviewed by detectives on April 10, Nielson said he had a fetish with underwear but that he had not abused any girls, the charges state. When investigators searched his phone, they found multiple pictures of two prepubescent girls exposing themselves, according to the charges.

Nielson was charged in that case with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.
SALT LAKE CITY  Sen. Mitt Romney was among the first U.S. politicians to talk with the new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority during his trip to the Middle East last week.

Romney, R-Utah, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., met with Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in Ramallah, a Palestinian city on the West Bank. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also met with Shtayyeh last week on a separate trip.

"He laid out for us the elements that he thought were essential for a peace agreement to be reached," said Romney, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism. Murphy is the committee's ranking member.

U.S.-Palestinian tensions have increased since President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Trump administration last year also significantly cut U.S. funding for the Palestinians, closed the PLOs representative office in Washington, and merged the U.S. consulate general in Jerusalem, which had dealt independently with the Palestinians for decades, into a single diplomatic mission with the U.S. embassy to Israel.

Although the senators did not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because he was on vacation, Romney spoke to him by phone. Romney and Netanyahu are longtime friends, dating back to their days at the same Boston corporate consulting firm.

Romney said he and Netanyahu talked mostly about the Trump administration's upcoming peace plan. Two years in the making, Trump's "deal of the century," could be released soon now that Netanyahu has been re-elected.

"He was interested in what we heard from the Palestinian Authority," Romney said.

Romney and Murphy also met with the U.S. ambassador to Israel and officials from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In Iraq, they met with President Barham Salih, the prime minister and the speaker of the country's Council of Representatives. They ended their trip at the U.S. embassy in Jordan.

Iraqi leaders were "extraordinarily forthcoming" about the "mounting and substantial" challenges facing their country, Romney said.

"Clearly, having defeated ISIS from a territory standpoint, now means that the ISIS fighters are returning to their homes throughout Iraq. They're still extremists and represent a danger," he said.

Romney said there is a question in some parts fo the world as to whether U.S. and coalition troops are needed in Iraq. He said he heard from all three Iraqi leaders that American coalition presence is essential to the perception in the country of stability.

The speaker, he said, was able to sweep aside a proposal from an Iranian subset of the council that wanted to expel coalition forces from Iraq.

"There's a very strong appreciation for Americans being there," Romney said.

Romney said Iraq would benefit from having a U.S. ambassador. Matthew Tueller, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, is awaiting Senate confirmation as ambassador to Iraq.

"I would love to see him get there as soon as possible," Romney said.

Tueller, a Utah native and BYU graduate, has been based in Saudi Arabia since the embassy in Yemen closed in 2015. Romney said Tueller's knowledge of Saudi Arabia would be vital in creating greater stability in the area.
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SALT LAKE CITY  Renovation plans for the historic Sprague Library in Sugar House include a modern feature that might be a first for a public building in Utah: a restroom for anyone and everyone.

Called an all-gender, multiuser restroom or universal washroom, the design does not include urinals, but private toilet rooms that are accessible from a shared sink space.

While gender neutral, single-user bathrooms have emerged on Utah college and high school campuses and other buildings, restrooms with a common area and floor-to-ceiling enclosed stalls havent found their way to the state.

"Were at square one, said Terry Kogan, a University of Utah law professor and one of the two or three leading scholars on public restroom law.

"Hopefully over the next while we will be seeing more examples of all-gender, multiuser restrooms, and when that happens and people begin to use them and see that they are safe places that are respectful of privacy, then the stereotype notions and prejudices will begin to collapse."

Accommodating all

Potties are a serious issue for people like Kogan, who belongs to a group called Stalled! that takes as its point of departure the national debates around transgender access to public restrooms. The University of Utah formed a working group to look at "inclusive" restrooms after attending a Stalled! presentation.

The Sprague Library design  which some say is the wave of the future  might resolve gender identity concerns, but the bathroom issue overall is not without controversy.

States, cities, schools and other government entities have wrestled the past few years with how to accommodate everyone.

The Obama administration tried to ensure transgender people have access to the restroom of their choice. Utah was among 11 states that sued the administration over the directive. The Trump administration rescinded the guideline.

States have passed laws requiring people to use the bathroom matching the sex on their birth certificates and not their gender identity. Those laws were challenged in court. A bill in the Utah Legislature in 2014 aimed at ensuring students use the restroom assigned to the gender on their birth certificate didn't get a committee hearing.

Utah Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka called the Sprague restroom an interesting idea, but wonders how people would receive it.

"A lot of people wouldn't be comfortable going in there if they don't want to be in there with men and women together washing their hands and things," she said.

Ruzicka said the restroom could work if the library still has single-use private stalls for patrons, which it does according to the plans.

"For me personally, I'd probably feel uncomfortable," she said. "I'd rather find something more private (than) coming into a common area with men and women. That's not the toilet area, but you're still in the restroom."

'New and different'

The Sprague Library has moved to a design that, while common in Europe and emerging in the U.S., will apparently be novel in Utah.

"Its nothing really new, but it is new and different to a lot of people who will be using it," said Jeff Davis, an architect with Arch Nexus, the firm working on the Sprague project.

The new restroom design is part of the $5 million renovation of the English Tudor-style building that opened in 1928. Flooding from heavy rainfail in the summer of 2017 that caused more than a $1 million in damage accelerated the remodeling. The project is scheduled go out for bids and take about a year to complete.

Salt Lake City library officials held public meetings, including with the Sugar House Community Council, about the renovation plans. A couple of questions about the bathroom design came up but "barely anybody blinked at it," said Peter Bromberg, Salt Lake City Public Library System executive director.

Bromberg listed cost savings, space limitations, inclusiveness, safety and privacy among the reasons for going to a universal washroom.

"We're making what should be private more private and what doesn't need to be private more public," he said. "By having more people and getting better sight lines in that area, that promotes safety and it promotes better access."

Bromberg said it's also legitimate that some library patrons might be uncomfortable and that's why the building will have other bathroom options.

"I don't think we're used to that mental model," he said of men and women sharing sinks. "Our minds tell us that's a private space because that's what we're used to."

The common area might also make the restroom more suitable for parents with young children. Rather than taking a child into the opposite gender bathroom or letting them go alone to a men's or women's room, a parent could wait next to or accompany a child in a private stall, Bromberg said.

Sprague lists a number for reasons for going to the new design:

 More open areas adjacent to stalls promote visibility and safety.

 Universal multistall designs meet a higher standard of privacy and comfort.

 Is inclusive and provides access for all, including families, caregivers, people with disabilities, and trans and nonbinary people.

 Eliminates the need for womens stalls to outnumber mens at certain ratios, to achieve "potty parity"  the equitable provision of toilet facilities for women and men within a public space.

 Traditional bathroom designs increase costs while reducing usable public space.

Wave of the future

The Sutherland Institute, a conservative public policy think tank in Salt Lake City, opposed the Obama mandate to schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms that match their gender identities.

But Derek Monson, Sutherland vice president for policy, applauded the Sprague Library for taking a community-driven approach.

"Whether it will work or not, I don't know. We'll wait and see," he said. "If it does work, that's great because it's an individual library trying to find a solution that works for its people and that's exactly how resolving issues of bathroom access and gender should happen."

Monson said he hopes the library's decision starts a "different kind of conversation" where government doesn't impose solutions but allows communities and organizations to figure out what works for the people they serve.

Davis, the architect, said those discussions are taking place as people work through changes in society.

"There are definite shifts in culture that are affecting the way we are looking at these things, he said.

Some clients, Davis said, want to move quickly, while others are taking it slowly by converting men's or women's single-occupancy restrooms to use for anyone.

"I think this is a shift and I think that more people are amenable to it because of the cultural changes in our society," he said. "But I know there are many concerns about it as well."

Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, said the trend toward gender-neutral, single-occupancy public restrooms helps transgender people. He said there's no need designate them as men's or women's.

But the Sprague design is the "wave of the future" that solves lots of problems, he said.

"Some advocates have used bathroom panic as way to really push back against recognizing and honoring transgender people in our state," Williams said. "With this kind of design, it kind of neutralizes their arguments against the trans community."

Building codes

Laws in the U.S. did not address the issue of separating public restrooms by sex until the end of the 19th century, when Massachusetts became the first state to enact such a statute, according to Kogan's research. By 1920, more than 40 states had adopted similar legislation requiring that public restrooms be separated by sex.

Most states now adopt the International Building Code, a set of rules that govern construction in the U.S. The International Code Council  a group of about 900 building officials, architects, municipal leaders and construction executives  puts out model codes for various aspects of construction, including plumbing. The rules are updated every three years.

In 2016, the International Code Council adopted an amendment that single user restrooms be designated for use by either sex.

"That was the first major change, Kogan said.

Last October, the council adopted a proposal by the American Institute of Architects allowing a building owner to put in all-gender, multiuser restrooms without having to get a variance from a building compliance officer.

This is a major, major change, Kogan said.

That provision will be included in the 2021 plumbing code. Utah just adopted the 2018 code in the most recent legislative session.

Utah government buildings currently require separate sex and unisex or family restrooms. Most restroom remodels don't require the state to add unisex restrooms, but they would be required for new construction and in larger renovations that include restrooms, according to Marilee Richins, Utah Department of Administrative Services director of operations.

Kogan said it's time for lawmakers to reconsider how public restrooms should be configured and designated. Maybe the time has come to consider a design in which no one will either feel or be made to feel out of place, he said.

"People don't have the sort of imagination or are not committed to the imagination of thinking about how could it be different," he said.

Kogan is a founding member of Stalled!, which, according to its website, formed in 2015 as a response to the "moral panic" triggered by lawsuits seeking to overturn the Obama administration's directive to public schools to let transgender students use the bathroom of their choice.

In March 2018, the Trump administration rescinded the Obama-era guidelines and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Gavin Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board. The case is now headed to trial in the district court.

Grimm, a transgender boy in Virginia, challenged a policy from the Gloucester County School Board ordering him to use a single-stall restroom rather than the boys' restrooms at school. Grimm was born female but identifies as male.

In addition to Kogan, the Stalled! founders are Joel Saunders, a New York-based architect and Yale School of Architecture professor, and Susan Stryker, a trans activist and gender and women's studies professor at the University of Arizona. Kogan handles the legal work for the group, including writing a friend-of-the-court brief in the Grimm case.

Saunders has designed prototypes for Gallaudet Universitys field house renovation and airports.

University of Utah

The University of Utah formed an "inclusive restroom planning group" after Stalled! made a presentation to the architecture school, which Robin Burr, U. chief design and construction officer,and her staff attended.

"We started to think about what can we do and what should we do, with the goal that all students feel safe and comfortable going to the restroom," she said.

That led to taking inventory and redesignating single-stall restrooms in campus buildings from men's or women's to all-gender. The LGBT resource center at the U. lists the locations on its website.

But all-gender, multiuser restrooms like the one planned for the Sprague Library are still down the road. Burr said a strict interpretation of the state building code would not allow the U. to build those kinds of bathrooms.

"We're not sure if it's time to do that," she said

The U., however, is planning for the future as buildings are remodeled and new ones are constructed.

The school is asking that bathrooms be designed in a way that they could be converted to all-gender, multiuser restrooms. Architects would draw men's and women's bathrooms side by side with floor-to-ceiling stalls around an open area.

"If the world changed, and we were ready to try an all-gender, multistall restroom, we could simply remove a partition in the middle and we would have the continuous flow," Burr said.

"I think it would be a huge step for us," she said. "I'm not sure it's a step we're prepared to take in the near future."
SALT LAKE CITY  The Governors Suicide Prevention Fund has awarded $247,500 in grants to organizations working to prevent suicide in Utah.

Davis Behavioral Health, Encircle, HOPE4UTAH, National Center for Veterans Studies, Utah Pride Center, The Family Place, Utah Navajo Health System and Reach4Hope Suicide Prevention Coalition in Washington County have each been awarded a $30,000 grant. Continue Mission will receive $7,500.

"In a small way, these grants represent the hope we would like to share with those among us who feel hopeless," Gov. Gary Herbert said. "We trust these funds will be a boost of support to those agencies that are on the front lines of responding to mental health crises and spreading hope."

The Governor's Suicide Prevention Fund, created in 2018 by HB370, is made up of tax-deductible donations from Utah taxpayers, as well as Intermountain Healthcare, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Legislature, among other supporters.

Grants are awarded to organizations working to provide support to individuals and families while reducing the prevalences of suicidal death, thoughts and ideations and supporting crisis interventions when necessary.

Projects that will be at least partially funded by the grants include recreational group activities for veterans; educational and outreach efforts to enhance understanding and perceptions to serve LGBTQ youth; a statewide volunteer crisis team to support rural areas and charter schools in Utah; training for businesses to address mental health and suicide prevention in the workplace; and, increased follow-up care for service members and veterans.

"The breadth and scope of these projects are an important reminder of what suicide prevention is all about  promoting meaningful lives through overall health and wellness, social relationships and connections, healthy and safe communities and tools to weather life's challenges," Utah Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services administrator Kim Myers said.

Applications for the grants are submitted to and reviewed by the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health and recipients are ultimately selected by the governor.

This year, the Legislature passed HB393, which creates additional programs and funding mechanisms for statewide efforts for suicide prevention, but also institutes a match for funds donated to the Governor's Suicide Prevention Fund this year.



If someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, resources are available. In Utah, the SafeUT app provides a direct connection to a crisis line. Other resources include:

National Hotline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK)

University Neuropsychiatric Institute Crisis line: 801-587-3000

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
SALT LAKE CITY  Sen. Mike Lee continued his defense of President Donald Trump and his assault on Democrats in the wake of the Mueller report Wednesday.

The Utah Republican said Democrats have exploited special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation to undermine the effectiveness of the Trump administration.

Lee's comment came while questioning Attorney General William Barr at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about Mueller's report. Barr released a redacted version of the report last month. Mueller has criticized the attorney general's four-page summary released in March as misleading.

Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., gave Lee the last word in the hearing in which Democrats grilled Barr over his handling of the report.

Lee thanked Barr for his civility and composure "amidst what has been a needlessly and unfairly hostile environment."

During his questioning of Barr, Lee cited the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia saying nothing is as politically effective as the ability to charge that one's opponent is not only wrong-headed or naive but probably a crook, and nothing gives the appearance of validity to those charges as a Justice Department investigation.

That observation, he said, has been borne out the past two years.

"Time and time again, the presidents political adversaries have exploited the Mueller probe, its mere existence to spread baseless innuendo in an effort to undermine the legitimacy of the 2016 election and the effectiveness of this administration," Lee said.

Lee quoted statements from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and others that raise questions about Trump's ties to Russia.

"What does Putin have on the president politically, personally or financially?" Lee quoted Pelosi as saying in January.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said on television that he thinks it's possible that Trump is a Russian agent. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., has repeatedly claimed that Trump "acts on Russia's behalf," Lee said.

After reading each statement, Lee asked Barr if there is any evidence to back up those claims. Barr replied in each case that he was not aware of any evidence.

Trump's alleged collusion with Russia has come up over and over again in the media, on the House and Senate floor and in committee meetings, Lee said.

"But what weve heard is as baseless as any conspiracy theory that weve seen in politics, at least that I can think. The only difference here is that the purveyors of this conspiracy were in many cases prominent members of the opposition party. Thats concerning," he said.

The Senate hearing comes as Mueller complained that Barr's four-page summary of the report failed to "fully capture the context, nature and substance" of the investigation.

Lee told Fox News ahead of Barr's testimony that he expected the attorney general to take heat from Democrats over the letter, and he blamed the media and "deep state."

"The fact is there's nothing inaccurate or misleading about it, so what do they have left to complain about?" Lee said. "Perhaps they didn't like the way it was characterized by the media. But they own the media for the most part and they should take that up with the media, not with the attorney general."

Lee, who called parts of the Mueller report odd, said he would love to find out what pressing questions House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., had about why it took Mueller two years to conclude there was no collusion between Trump and the Russians. Nadler intends to bring Mueller before his committee.

"The fact is we've got a very significant deep state problem here. We've got a very significant element within the U.S. Department of Justice that appears to have been trying to delegitimize the outcome of the 2016 presidential election," he said. "That ought to disturb us."

Lee called the Mueller investigation thorough, but now Democrats are "losing their minds" because they've been relying on the report as "this sort of holy grail from whence was going to come all of these blessings."

Democrats, he said, want to take that out on Barr, and Republicans can't let them.
SALT LAKE CITY  Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., the U.S. ambassador to Russia, said Wednesday that special counsel Robert Mueller's report should not be seen as a "magic elixir" that will soothe tensions between the two superpowers.

Huntsman told Public Radio International's "The World" in an interview that the friction continues despite the recently concluded report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election won by President Donald Trump.

"I think many on the Russian side conclude that maybe this is the magic elixir and all of our issues are all of a sudden solved, and we have to remind them that, no, this does not solve any of our issues," the ambassador said.

The same challenges continue, he said, "that brought about the unprecedented level of sanctions and the deterioration in our diplomatic presences that we see both in the U.S. mission here, and also on the U.S. side for Russia."

Those include Ukraine, where fighting has been underway for years between the government and separatists armed and financed by Russia, human rights concerns and a list that "goes on and on," Huntsman said.

But he also expressed hope that with the investigation finished, "this will allow us to take some positive steps, maybe less on the Russia side but maybe more on the U.S. side," to work out their disagreements.

"The estrangement which we've experienced in the bilateral relationship has gone on too long," Huntsman said, and "can lead to bad conclusions  always assuming the worst in the other, which is, long term, I think, potentially extremely dangerous."

His request for an advance copy of the Mueller report was turned down by the FBI, he said, describing it as "voluminous" and offering "a level of detail that we have talked about in terms of the meddling that took place in 2016" with Russian officials.

"And hopefully, that will be a cautionary note about how we go forward and stay away from meddling and interfering in our election process, which is the most valued thing we have as Americans," he said.

In a separate interview Wednesday, Huntsman said despite the "irreconcilable differences" between the United States and Russia, the two nations can still work together on issues like arms control.

"We just have some differences we're not going to solve anytime soon. They deal with values, and they deal with our loyalty and committment to NATO and our friends and allies," Huntsman said from Moscow on ABC's "The View."

He and his wife, Mary Kaye, appeared live on the network talk show to surprise their daughter, Abby, on her birthday. She is one of the show's hosts.

Asked about the relationship between the United States and Russia on the show, Huntsman offered some possible areas of agreement.

"What we can do to make the world a better, safe place, we can work on things like arms control, dealing with 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons that are in the hands of both countries," the ambassador said.

While that "would be a really good thing for the safety and security of the world," he also said the superpowers can look for "where we have overlapping and common interests" around the globe.

That includes "working together on denuclearization in North Korea, working on solving issues in Syria and ultimately, in hotspots like Venezuela," Huntsman said, areas where the United States and Russia have not been aligned.

"It's a big challenge, there's no doubt about that," the ambassador said. "I, too, get acid reflux disease working on these issues, but that's where we want to take the relationship."

He described that relationship as one "where we have some underlying irreconcilable differences."

Just a day earlier, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Andrea Kalan tweeted that Russia should "stop playing games" with Paul Wheelan, a onetime U.S. Marine detained on accusations of espionage, after Huntsman visited him in a Moscow prison.

The Russian people themselves want to get along with the United States, Huntsman suggested.

"It might come as a surprise, that right outside of where we live right here there are a lot of beautiful, wonderful, talented, brilliant Russians who hope for a better relationship with the United States. I think they really do care about that," he said.

Huntsman stepped down as Utah's governor shortly after the start of his second term in 2009 to become U.S. ambassador to China under then-President Barack Obama.

He made a brief run for president himself in 2012, and was appointed to the Russian ambassadorship by Trump. Recently, a source confirmed to the Deseret News that Huntsman has not ruled out running for Utah governor againin 2020.

Another run for the White House is not in the cards for Huntsman, however, despite being told on "The View" that Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden has said he'd rather see Huntsman as president than Trump.

"I really appreciate Joe Biden giving that kind of set up but no way, no how," Huntsman said. "No. 1, I hate politics. No. 2, I hate raising money for politics.  No. 3, I think the primary process needs to be reformed."

Plus, he said, "as for me, I'm a happy man being Abby's dad."
SALT LAKE CITY  A former academic adviser at the University of Utah accused of misusing public funds was booked into jail this week  three years after charges were filed against him.

Dustin James Porlas, 31, of Reseda, California, was charged April 15, 2016, in 3rd District Court with unlawful use of a transaction card and misuse of public money, both second-degree felonies.

Police say Porlas was issued a procurement card by the university in August 2014 "for authorized business purposes." The procurement card program is used "to allow for the direct procurement of nontravel small dollar-related purchases by the end-user through the use of a credit card," according to the U.'s website. "The Procurement Card, an institutional credit card, is billed directly to and paid by the University of Utah."

Just a year after being issued the card, Porlas reached his spending limit on his card and "many of the transactions appeared to be personal in nature," according to charging documents.

An internal investigation and audit revealed that Porlas had charged approximately $31,153 for personal items, which included transactions at Target, Nordstrom, the Cheesecake Factory, Squatters, Lululemon and Amazon, the charges state.

An arrest warrant was issued on April 15, 2016. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday and made his initial appearance in court on Tuesday, according to court records. He later posted bail. His next court hearing is scheduled for June 28.

Neither University of Utah police nor a spokesman for the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office on Wednesday immediately knew the circumstances of how Porlas came to be in custody after three years.
SALT LAKE CITY  A federal judge has ordered the University of Utah to cover more than $200,000 in attorney fees for a former employee who raised concerns that researchers studying children with autism breached ethics and privacy standards.

A jury last year found administrators violated whistleblower protections and awarded $119,640 in lost wages and some lawyer fees to Judith Zimmerman, the former director of the Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities.

Zimmerman argued she lost her job in retaliation for reporting that her colleagues had accessed the registry without proper permission. Jurors ruled against another claim that the university's psychiatry department terminated her based on bogus performance evaluations.

U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish ordered the new payment of roughly $216,800 on Friday.

"I'm pleased that we've got the attorneys fees and the costs for my salary," said Zimmerman, who is now retired. But she believes the issues she identified when she first sued in 2013 have not been remedied by the university, she added.

The university in a statement said it is "disappointed in this decision and is seeking advice from the attorney generals office regarding an appeal."

Another claim Zimmerman brought alleging breach of contract was transferred to state court, where it remains pending.
SEREMBAN, Malaysia  Malaysia on Tuesday destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products estimated to be worth 13.26 million ringgit ($3.2 million) as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade.

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar said the ivory was confiscated in 15 raids between 2011 and 2017.

The tusks, which were marked, and products such as ivory bracelets and chopsticks were shown to reporters before they were to be thrown into a large incinerator in southern Negeri Sembilan state.

Jayakumar said the tusks and products were burned to ensure they wouldn't be stolen and sold back in the black market.

He said Malaysia is committed to eradicating trading in illegal wildlife, especially in ivory, and to stop smugglers from using Malaysia as a transit hub.

This was the second time Malaysia has disposed of its tusk stockpile, after burning 9.5 tons worth some $20 million in 2016.

Ivory tusks are a cherished decorative craft material in Asia, with the biggest demand coming from China, resulting in the devastation of wild elephant populations in Africa.
Actor Priyanka Chopra had come to India for the wedding of her brother Siddharth Chopra, which has now been postponed. A report in Mumbai Mirror says Siddharths fiance Ishita Kumar had to undergo an emergency surgery just before the ceremony that was slated to take place during the weekend.

A source told the daily, There are rumours that the wedding has been called off but it is not true. Ishita needs some time to recuperate from the surgery and the families are looking for another mahurat.

Priyanka had earlier welcomed Ishita into the family by sharing a picture from their roka ceremony. She had captioned the picture, So proud of my baby brother. Ishita welcome to the family...you are so beautiful together...I wish you both the best for the future! Happy Roka!! @ishittaakumar @siddharthchopra89.

Priyanka was spotted at the Mumbai airport on Monday night in an all white look as she left for home to be with husband Nick Jonas. The actor had spent quality time with her family and friends during her short stay. Many pictures of her dinner with her family, her girls night out at friend Isha Ambanis residence and her fun time with cousin Parineeti Chopra can be found on her Instagram page.

View this post on Instagram Till next time it's a goodbye #priyankachopra A post shared by Viral Bhayani (@viralbhayani) on Apr 29, 2019 at 12:14pm PDT

View this post on Instagram Mumbai diaries.. #family  A post shared by Priyanka Chopra Jonas (@priyankachopra) on Apr 25, 2019 at 11:58am PDT

She had also cast her vote on Monday, post which she visited her mother Madhu Chopras office in Mumbai. She shared a few pics on her Instagram confirming the same. She had also written a note for her mother that read, One of the greatest individual challenges we face in our lives is the ability to constantly evolve as people and professionals. It means pushing yourself to challenge the status quo. Its something I work towards everyday with everything I do. And its a lesson from my mother Dr. @madhumalati. She has constantly reinvented herself in the pursuit to be her best self in her many roles from a physician in the army, to a film producer, an entrepreneur to a daughter, wife, sister, mother and a friend.

Also read: Priyanka Chopra, Parineeti Chopra attend a girls night out at Isha Ambanis house, tease Alia Bhatt for missing the fun. See pic

And today was no different. She took yet another step in her professional journey with a new addition to her successful venture @studio_aesthetique. So proud to stand beside her and her partner @drneetikamodi in this new offering as they unveiled it to the world. Congratulations mom... your ability to challenge yourself to excel at everything you do has inspired us to be the people we are today! Heres to many more milestones!
Salman Khan might not be the king of romance, but like everything else he does, he adds an element Salman Khan-ness to romance as well.

In all his romantic or even emotional numbers there is an element that is unique to Salman Bhai. While there are a lot of signature twits that Salman puts on his songs, the fact that Salman is a true foodie comes across in a lot of his songs. In fact, we genuinely believe that some of his songs talk about hunger for food more than romance. From recently comparing his love with Chashni in Bharat to a Chai Peelanewali being on his priority list, here are a few times Salman Khan was confused between love, romance, and hunger.

Chashni





In the latest Bharat song, a smitten Salman sings to a jalebi eating Katrina Kaif, Tu ban ja meri Ishq di chashni. Is he craving for her love or syrup for his jalebi is not very clear.

Aaj Unse Milna Hai Humein





There isnt a stronger bond than people who bond over mutual love for food. If that is the case with you and your bae, Thodi gujiya-wujiye lete chalein, thodi barfi-warfi lete chalein is perhaps the most romantic song for you. In the song Salman seemed more concerned about getting the right snacks for the love of his life than actually professing his love for her.

Chicken KukuruKu





Salman Khan found what every foodie dreams of. If you are a foodie, you know you have found the one when dances with you on a song that is basically heart-warming ode to chicken, biryani, nalli-nihaari and all kinds of non-vegetarian delicacies.

Garam Chai Ki Pyaali Ho





We all have a lit of qualities we want in our bae, but guess what is on Salman priority list! Ek garam chai ki pyaali ho, koi usko peelane waali ho, is how his list of desired qualities in life partner starts. Bro, you are not in love, you are just craving a cuppa!

Jootey De Do





Kuchh thanda pee lo, mood nahi hai

Dahi wade lo, mood nahi hai

Kulfi kha lo, bahut kha chuke

Paan kha lo, bahut kha chuke

Bahut kha chuke, bahut kha chuke

Aji rasmalayi, aapke liye

Itni mithayi, aapke liye

Pehle joote khayenge kya

Aapki marzi, na ji tauba, na ji tauba

Is this song about romantic 'chher char' or the menu card of your neighboring Aggarwal Sweets? We will never know!
First times are always special, except when it is your first box-office failure. That is exactly what Varun Dhawan in dealing with right now. With Kalank, Varun has delivered the first flop of his career and the star is reeling under the effect.





The flop could not have come at a worse time since Varun was celebrated his 32nd birthday recently. Talking about his birthday and coping with his first flop, Varun revealed in a video, My 32nd birthday... But I am going to tell you how it all went down. I was a little down because my latest release did not go the way I thought it would and it did hit me a little hard, I will be very honest. I didn't know how to react to it. A lot of people told me, 'don't show it'. I don't know how to behave like that. Failures are a part of life.





However, his friends came to his rescue and made sure to lighten up his mood on his birthday. Varun spent his birthday indulging in his favorite martial arts sport Muay Thai. Explaining how his friends came to his rescue, Varun said, My friends though had my back. [They] told me 'pack your bags.' I said, 'What are we going to do?' They said, 'Muay Thai.' So the 1:25 flight on GoAir, we flew and the rest you can watch."

Well, we are glad to hear that Varun did not spend his birthday lamenting the failure of Kalank, but we also hope he learns his lessons and soon gives us a superhit film that we have come to expect from him.
Minister Cannon Welcomes Africa Day 2019 Events across Ireland

Press release

Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Ciaran Cannon T.D. has today welcomed the indication by ten local authorities across Ireland that they will either host or facilitate events and initiatives to mark Africa Day 2019. Supported by Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Africa Day events will take place across the country in Cork, Galway, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Meath, Waterford and Wexford.

Commenting as details of the events are being finalised, Minister Cannon said:

I am delighted that local authorities throughout Ireland have responded so positively to our invitation to engage in helping communities to celebrate Africa Day 2019 by leading their own events and celebrations.

While this year we are taking a different approach to marking Africa Day, I am confident that communities will continue to enjoy multiple wonderful opportunities to learn more about how Ireland engages the countries and people of Africa in so many positive ways.

Whether your interest is in cultural activities, African film and music, or African cuisine, I encourage everyone to keep a close eye on our AfricaDay.ie website and Africa Day social media channels as details of these events are finalised over the coming weeks.

ENDS

Press Office

01 May 2019

Africa Day events in Ireland are coordinated and supported by Irish Aid, the Governments programme for overseas development, at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Financial and practical supports will be provided by Irish Aid in support of Africa Day 2019 events being hosted or facilitated by the following local authorities: Cork City Council Galway City Council Fingal County Council Kildare County Council Laois County Council Limerick City and County Council Meath County Council South Dublin County Council Waterford City and County Council Wexford County Council

As they become available, additional details about each event will be published on the www.africaday.ie website and via Africa Day Twitter and Facebook accounts Africa Day , which falls on 25th May annually, is the official day of the African Union and marks African unity. In Ireland, Africa Day events highlight the scope and benefits of Irelands engagement with Africa by: Raising awareness of the official overseas aid programme managed by Irish Aid and its central focus on sub-Saharan Africa; Raising awareness of the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development; Increasing public understanding of Africa by highlighting the diversity and potential of the continent; and Raising awareness of the potential for bilateral trade and investment linkages between Ireland and African countries.

, which falls on 25th May annually, is the official day of the African Union and marks African unity. In Ireland, Africa Day events highlight the scope and benefits of Irelands engagement with Africa by:

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The Google Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are expected to be announced at Google I/O 2019. Those interested in buying the new Pixel 3a family of phones can register their interest on Flipkart. Pre-orders could go live on May 8.

All eyes are on Google as its annual developer conference, Google I/O 2019, nears opening. The Mountain View-based technology giant will be making announcements about its new Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones, Android Q, Stadia and a lot more at the event. A week before the new, more affordable Pixel phones are unveiled, Google has started teasing their launch in India through Flipkart.

The e-commerce platform will be hosting the sale of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL and has put up a Notify Me page on its mobile app for those who are interested in buying the devices after their announcement at Google I/O 2019. The Flipkart page teases, "Something Big is coming to the Pixel universe. Know more on May 8." It's possible that Flipkart will open pre-orders for Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL starting May 8.

While I/O starts on May 7, In India, it will be May 8 by the time the new Pixel phones are officially revealed. The keynote address starts at 10AM PDT or 10:30PM IST on May 7. The phones are expected to be unveiled during this keynote.

Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a Specs

Both the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL recently received Bluetooth certification, confirming the names of the smartphones. Renders of both devices have also leaked in the past and unfortunately, just like Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, Google has had a difficult time keeping details about the phones under wraps. However, specs leaked so far are subject to change and the leaks have not been very reliable.

The Google Pixel 3a( 30999 at flipkart) and Pixel 3a XL are expected to come equipped with a 5.6-inch and 6.3-inch OLED displays, respectively. Under the hood, they are expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 670 platform coupled with 4GB RAM. The Pixel 3a could be backed by a 3000mAh battery. Both the phones are expected to be announced running on Android 9 Pie and would be the first to receive the Android Q update when it gets rolled out eventually. Google could also bring back the headphone jack, which it killed off with the Google Pixel 3 smartphones. Rumours also suggest that the phones will feature Googles Pixel Visual Core chip for image processing.

Canadian prices of the Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL were leaked online recently. As per the report, the Google Pixel 3a might cost CAD $649 (Rs 34,000 approx), while the bigger Pixel 3a XL could be priced at CAD $799 (Rs 41,500 approx).
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The bill would require oil shipped by rail to have more of its volatile gases removed.



By BLAKE NICHOLSON

Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D.  North Dakota officials are pressuring the state of Washington to back off from legislation requiring oil shipped by rail to have more of its volatile gases removed, urging the governor to veto the bill and threatening a lawsuit over worries it could hamper the energy industry of the nation's No. 2 crude producer.

The bill awaiting Gov. Jay Inslee's signature requires a lower vapor pressure limit for crude shipped by rail than either North Dakota requirements or industry standards. Violations could result in fines of up to $2,500 per day per rail car.





. . .
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By LEX TALAMO

Yakima Herald-Republic

YAKIMA (AP)  For more than a decade, Charles Chip Rognlie II worked as a state park ranger in North Dakota. Then he decided it was time for a new adventure, and with no plan but drive west, find work, he packed what he could into his pickup and camper and headed out.

He arrived in Grandview, where he worked as a laborer for four years, then moved to Yakima in 1990. He worked for the Keith & Keith Funeral Home for five years, then switched to full-time work with Shaw & Sons Funeral Home for three years.





. . .
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SEATTLE  The University Arms, at 201 N.E. 40th St., has sold for just under $5.9 million, according to King County records.

The seller was R.D. Merrill University Arms LLC, related to Pillar Properties, which acquired the property in 2008 for almost $3 million.





. . .
Koreas demilitarized zone (DMZ) is known for barbed wire fences, guard posts and minefields; not tourism. However, in the 66 years since it was erected, this buffer between rival countries (North and South Korea) has unintentionally become a photogenic, 240km long safe haven for animals.

Only problem is, two heavily armed militaries sit 4.5km in either direction, and its off-limits to visitors. That is, it was, until last week.

As Vice Asia yesterday reported, For the first time since it was established in 1953, that DMZ is being opened up to the public for a series of picturesque hiking trails along the volatile frontline.

Their information comes from the Korea Herald, which reported last Tuesday on the United Nations Command (UNC)s decision to approve the opening of the DMZ for peace trails in Goseong (a town on the east coast border), Cheorwon (a county in the Gangwon Province) and Pajut (a city in the Gyeonggi Province).

Gen. Robert Abrams, who leads the UNC, said in a press release that the Korean military has worked hard to ensure the success (of this project) while assuring visitors their safety remains paramount.

The hike also has symbolic significance, with the April 27th opening coinciding with the first anniversary of the Panmunjom Treaty signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2018.

As reported by UPI, the first hikersa group of 20 South Korean civiliansset off over the weekend to experience the long-forbidden zone, reportedly experiencing mixed emotions while walking along the barbed-wire fences and marvelling at the wonderful scenery.

While only Koreans have been so far, the Seoul government hopes to give visitors of all nationalities the chance to learn from Koreas pain of division as well as enjoy the worlds most unlikely wildlife sanctuary, which now stands heads and shoulders above anything in North or South Korea.

As The Guardian reports, the DMZ is replete with red-crowned cranes white-naped cranes100 species of fish, perhaps 45 types of amphibians and reptiles and over 1,000 different insect species, as well as over 1,600 types of vascular plants and more than 300 species of mushrooms, fungi and lichen.

And thats not to mention the rare mammals like Asiatic black bear, musk deer, spotted seals and even tigers (believed extinct on the peninsula since before Japanese occupation), which are rumoured to have made a resurgence as well.

If this strikes your fancy, The tour will take place twice a day, six days a week, with the maximum number of people allowed for the walking route being set at 20 at one time and the vehicle tour at 80, The Korea Herald reports.

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The attorney for a man charged with capital murder in connection with the 1999 killing of two Dothan teens is asking a judge to take the rare step of granting bail to a capital murder defendant.

David Harrison, who represents Coley McCraney in the case involving murdered teens J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, is asking a Dale County judge to consider bail because he believes the actual evidence against McCraney is not strong enough to keep McCraney confined, and McCraneys ties to the community make him a minimal flight risk.

McCraney has been held at the Dale County jail since the middle of March following his arrest by Ozark Police. Authorities say his DNA matches DNA taken from one of the murder victims. The case was bound over to a grand jury following an April preliminary hearing.

The court sat and heard the evidence presented by the state at the preliminary hearing and could not and should not be impressed by the magnitude and quality of the evidence, Harrison wrote in a motion for a bond hearing filed Wednesday in Dale County Circuit Court.
A motion has been filed to continue a sentencing hearing for a Wiregrass man who pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to defraud the government.

Jeffery Charles Justice was indicted May 31, accused of taking money to which he was not entitled from the Livestock Forage Disaster Program. Federal prosecutors are seeking the return of almost $9,000 upon conviction.

Chief United States Probation Officer Scott Wright asked the court to continue Justices May 2 sentencing hearing until May 13 or later, because an unforeseen situation has delayed completion of a pre-sentencing report.

A judge has not yet ruled on the motion.

Two others in the Wiregrass were charged with similar crimes last year. Anna Marie Knowles was acquitted and Dexter Day Gilbert was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to make a lump sum payment of $919,551 in restitution to the U.S. Farm Service Agency after pleading guilty to an accusation that he fraudulently took payments for crop losses.

Follow Michele Forehand on Twitter @micheleforehan1

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Though legal challenges likely await it, many state representatives from the Wiregrass supported a bill that criminalizes abortion in most situations.

The state House of Representatives passed House Bill 314, which makes abortions in most situations a Class A felony, with a 74-3 vote late Tuesday night. State representatives from the Wiregrass Paul Lee, Wes Allen, Jeff Sorrells, Rhett Marques and Steve Clouse all voted for the bill while Rep. Dexter Grimsley (D-Newville) abstained.

The legislation outlaws abortions except in situations where the mothers health is in jeopardy. The House tabled an amendment that would have protected abortions in cases of rape or incest before passing the bill.

Lee (R-Dothan), who chairs the Houses Health Committee, said he expects tenets regarding rape and incest could be addressed later  especially if the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, Roe v. Wade, is overturned in the future. According to Planned Parenthood, Alabama is the 33rd state to initiate legislation that bans abortions in some form.

Lee expressed excitement about House bill 314s passage on Wednesday.
Louth senator Ged Nash has said that the Data Protection Commissioner must launch an immediate and urgent investigation into the circumstances surrounding a serious data breach at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Senator Nash said:

I was contacted yesterday by a local woman who found what appeared to be patient handover notes, dated 11 April. I immediately advised the woman to make contact with the hospital and an official was dispatched to retrieve the five pages of sensitive patient information.

The detailed material included names, dates of birth, medical conditions, treatment regimen and other extremely delicate information of the most confidential nature imaginable.

The patients concerned range across nearly all age groups and this episode represents an egregious violation of patient rights and privacy.

This latest breach is utterly unacceptable. Patients and their families must be contacted urgently and met by senior officials.

The Data Protection Commissioner must carry out an urgent investigation and the casual and dangerously irresponsible treatment of the most personal and sensitive of information by the health system needs to end, and end now.

This is the not the first breach of this nature at the hospital and it seems that nothing has been learned a full year into the lifetime of the new GDPR legislation and the threat of administrative fines targeted at public bodies", the Labour senator concluded.
A Dundalk councillor has welcomed an update from Irish Water about the remedial action that is being taken to deal with the pipe bursting problem at Quay Street, but has urged the utility to speed up the process.

The waste water main on Quay Street has burst three times in recent months, causing extensive flooding to the area, Cllr. Anne Campbell says.

Following the latest incident, which happened in March, Cllr Campbell wrote to Irish Water seeking an update on their proposals to ensure this doesnt happen again.

In an email to the Sinn Fein representative, Irish Water said:

"Irish Water understands the concern of property owners affected by these incidents and apologises for any inconvenience caused.

"A detailed assessment of the main will be required so that the most appropriate solution can be identified. Following this assessment Irish Water will provide an update on the proposed solution including timescales for delivery. This assessment is currently being prioritized by Irish Water.

"In the interim Irish Water has implemented a number of operational measures to mitigate against any impact should another burst occur. The pumps at the pumping station that transfers wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant will automatically shut down in the event of another burst and a call out alarm will notify the relevant person so that appropriate measures can be put in place to minimise any impact".

In response to the update from Irish Water, Cllr Campbell said:

"I welcome the news that Irish Water is taking this problem seriously, because residents and businesses in the area have put up with enough in recent months. However, I would urge Irish Water to prioritise this detailed assessment and ensure that whatever work they discover that needs to be done is completed as soon as possible".
EBRD supports 220 MW Potegowo wind farm with PLN 209.1 million loan

First renewable investment by the Bank in Poland in three years

Milestone represents turning point for Polish energy sector

In its first project in renewable energy in Poland in three years, the EBRD is supporting the 220 MW Potegowo wind farm with a local currency loan of up to PLN 209.1 million (48 million).

The plant in north-eastern Poland will be constructed and operated by Potegowo Mashav Sp. z o. o, a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Poland and majority-owned by the Israel Infrastructure Fund, for a total cost of PLN 1.25 billion (290 million).

The wind farm is expected to make a major contribution to reducing air pollution by replacing 480,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

The EBRDs return to financing renewables in Poland has become possible thanks to a new renewable support mechanism, the implementation of which the Bank was able to support with technical assistance and policy engagement. The project represents a milestone as the first large scale onshore wind farm financed under the new support mechanism.

The main goal of the new support system is to allow Poland to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix. At present, the country remains dependent on coal for almost 80 per cent of its electricity generation which constitutes a serious challenge. All EU member countries are committed to source at least 32 per cent of their final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2030.

Harry Boyd-Carpenter, EBRD Director for Energy EMEA, said: This is a milestone project which represents a turning point for the Polish energy sector. Three major developments have made this possible. Renewables now are at the heart of the framework for the European energy sector. In this context, the Polish energy policy foresees a progressive shift away from coal to renewables. And, finally, we are in an era where renewable energy is not just a means to avoid carbon emissions; it is a source of power which does not damage air quality, does not require energy imports and which is highly affordable. We are proud to support the Israeli Infrastructure Fund, who with this Project is demonstrating the re-opening for the Polish renewables.

Tomer Eizenberg, Mashav Energia CEO: We are thrilled to have the opportunity to build one of the largest wind farms in Poland, which would not have been possible without EBRDs leadership. This is a significant milestone in our wind 220MW farm investment programme, having won the Polish government tender in November 2018 for the supply of wind generated energy to the Polish electricity network.

Yaron Kestenbaum, Managing Partner at Israel Infrastructure Fund, added: We are delighted to be at the forefront of one of the largest on-shore wind farm projects in Poland, together with the team at EBRD. We applaud the professionalism, persistance and patience of the management and team at Mashav Energia, during the recent years of uncertainty in the Polish renewable energies market. We are proud to be a major and direct contributor to reducing air pollution".

Since the beginning of its operations in Poland in 1991, the EBRD has invested almost 9.5 billion in over 410 investments in the country.
No one knows for sure how many things are connected to the Internet, but the Federal Trade Commission reported last year that it was more than 8 billion, and that it would exceed 20 billion by the end of 2020! Astonishing as it seems, it turns out that U.S. privacy laws do not apply to all of those devices and the data they collect.

So, for the third time in three years, the Senate has proposed a new law, the Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019, which actually would apply to IoT products  but only those purchased by the U.S. government. It seems that the FTCs approach to IoT data privacy is put on your own mask first before helping those around you.

What seems really unbelievable is that Internet-connected things communicate enormous volumes of data from our cellphones, watches, health devices, televisions, door bells, security cameraswell you get it, virtually everything is connected to the Internet in 2019. Should we feel that our privacy is properly protected? We would like to think so.

For instance, everyone relies on maps on their cell devices to know which routes to drive to work or home, or to explore a new town. We know that when the maps show a green road we can safely assume there is no traffic, while yellow indicates traffic is slow, and red means traffic is not moving.

However, most people do not stop to think about how the data is acquired. It comes from the cellphones in the vehicles on those roadways. How? Well, remember when you clicked that allow access button that popped up on your map application? You essentially consented to sharing your personal data. Either we are unaware of what allowing access means, or we do not really care.

What Did Brittany Say?

In 2018, Brittany Kasier, cofounder of the Digital Asset Trade Association, made the Cambridge Analytica revelation that much of the information people assume is private actually is provided freely to social media, apps on mobile devices, and online e-commerce companies. Brittany highlighted the fact that most of us are not really aware of what data we are sharing  voluntarily or otherwise  or how that data is being stored and used.

Brittany also pointed out that the popularization of big data relates to IoT, social media and mobile devices, and all of the personal identifiable information (PII) from individuals is cobbled together into big data. Data aggregators buy this PII from various sources because the terms of service (ToS), click agreements, and privacy policies that no one reads give these IoT, social media and mobile devices the right to share our PII.

FTC to the Rescue?

The FTC is the U.S. government agency charged with the responsibility of protecting U.S. citizens personal privacy. In a report on big data it released a few years ago, the FTC disclosed some serious, and alarming concerns about where we are headed.

Despite its concerning findings, the FTC only made recommendations for the consumer market, which arguably are more general questions than suggestions. For example, the FTC has made the following recommendations to manufacturers, software providers, and other related businesses:

Take steps to protect data they collect and store;

Identify who owns the data;

Provide notice of how and what data is collected, and promptly notify individuals when that data is exposed.

These are only recommendations, however. The Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019 takes the next step: requiring that manufacturers of government devices comply with certain security standards. What about the rest of us, you ask? Well, according to Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., this legislation will use the purchasing power of the federal government to establish some minimum security standards for IoT devices.

GDPR to the Rescue?

Unlike the U.S., the EU has implemented stringent privacy protection laws. The EUs GDPR, which became effective last spring, appears to have had a larger impact around the world. Thats likely due to its application being based on the location of EU citizens, regardless of where they might reside in the world.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Because of the global application, many U.S. companies have proceeded under the assumption that they were obligated to protect all EU citizens data under GDPR  a higher standard than the guidelines suggested by the FTC. As a result, many U.S. companies have upped their IT security standards. However, we have not seen any tests in court to see if the GDPR really might apply in the U.S.

Under the GDPR, easy to understand is the critical legal requirement. GDPR requires that privacy policies be written in plain language, not legalese. For example, if you look at Googles Privacy Policy, in effect since May 2018 (and recently updated), you will see an easily comprehensible set of policies, complete with illustrative cartoons.

California to the Rescue!

Many U.S. companies believe it is impossible to verify whether someone living in the U.S. is in fact an EU citizen. These companies have refused to comply with GDPR requirements until U.S. courts direct them to do so.

California last year established a new privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which is akin to the GDPR and goes into effect in 2020.

Other states have been considering similar laws, and if enough states pass these new stricter data protection laws, it is possible that a federal law could be enacted. Which is what Brittany has been hoping for.
Replacing non-biodegradable polystyrene trays with a compostable version is the first target of a pioneering attempt by six big-city school systems to create new markets for sustainable food and lunchroom supplies.

The Urban School Food Alliancewhose members are public school districts in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Orlando, FLhopes to persuade suppliers to create and sell healthier, cheaper and more environment-friendly products by combining their purchasing power.

The sugar cane trays can help fill the high demand for compost. Photo credit: BioMass Packaging

Replacing the polystyrene trays with compostable plates are the alliance's first objective. New York and Miami are running pilot programs and another 30 schools are expected to join in about two weeks.

The alliance hopes to keep a lot of trash out of landfills and save money for other uses. A test run of the program last year reduced cafeteria waste by 85 percent in eight schools.

If all goes as planned, the compostable plates will replace styrofoam lunch trays by September for more than 2.6 million students nationwide. That could add up to some 271 million plates annually that will no longer be burned as trash or buried in landfills.

The alliances next target is healthier food and leaders are now considering suppliers of antibiotic-free chicken. Future initiatives could include sustainable tableware, pesticide-free fruit and goods with less packaging.

Short-term environmental and health benefits, such as reducing antibiotic use in food animals, are not the only goals, Eric Goldstein, the chief executive of school support services in New York City, told the New York Times. Using recyclable plates or serving healthier chicken sets an example students may carry into adulthood, he said, and sets a standard for other school systems.

The foam trays used in many districts are made from petroleum byproducts and can be quickly manufactured in large quantities. The compostable plates, which are made from sugar cane, take longer to make and require more machinery to produce in volume.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), as part of its overall food advocacy work in New York and around the country, is working with the alliance.

"Like these school districts, we see huge potential through this unique coalition to build new national markets for sustainable food and other products," Mark Izeman, NRDC senior attorney and director of the New York Urban Program, wrote this week in his blog.
But what about education spending statistics that are more firmly rooted in what Congress has done?

The U.S. Department of Education last month released funding tables for several major programs for each state, covering fiscal 2018, 2019, and 2020, including state-by-state grants under Title I. Thats the formula-grant program designed to serve disadvantaged students and the single largest pot of money for K-12 in the federal budget.

Despite the Trump administrations attempts to cut the federal budget for fiscal 2018 and 2019, Congress has given small increases to the Education Departments budget for each of those years. That trend includes Title I, which is now getting $15.9 billion, compared with $15.5 billion in fiscal 2017. (Trump signed his first spending bills into law for fiscal 2018.)

However, just because total Title I aid has risen doesnt mean each state is getting more cash. The estimates indicate that 18 states will get less in money for disadvantaged students in fiscal 2019 (which covers the 2019-20 school year) than in the current year. Those states include California (which gets the biggest amount of Title I by far), Colorado, Indiana, Oregon, and Wisconsin.

Important caveat: The numbers for fiscal 2019 are estimates based on the spending bill signed by Trump last September and arent finalized. Because theyre based on legislation passed by Congress, however, most if not all the numbers are probably a good indication of where Title I funding is headed for each state.

The tables also includes state-by-state Title I estimates for fiscal 2020, though Congress has yet to pass spending legislation for that fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

Heres the complete list for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who last week made his entrance into a crowded Democratic field of 2020 presidential candidates, has a K-12 record that touches on several issues, although he never made education policy one of his signature issues during his lengthy tenure in Washington.

Biden, who served as Delawares senator for 36 years prior to joining President Barack Obamas White House in 2009, was a fan of the No Child Left Behind Act in its early days but later soured on the landmark federal education law.

During his time as vice president, Biden was the Obama administrations point man for its response to the fatal shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. That response ultimately included a push to spend $150 million on crafting new school safety plans, and hiring school resource officers, as well as $100 million in additional spending on mental-health measures.

Biden also focused on school safety during his time in the Senate, when he was the key author of the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which prohibited knowingly possessing and discharging a firearm on school grounds or within 1,000 feet of a school, with certain exceptions. (In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump declared that the law merely turned schools into bait for violent criminals.)

Earlier in his tenure as vice president, Biden oversaw spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the stimulus. At the time, he warned that schools should avoid spending $100 billion in stimulus cash on things like swimming pools.

But Bidens views about race and education from several decades ago have also re-emerged in headlines. The Washington Post in March highlighted Bidens opposition to busing as a means to promote school integration during the 1970s. I dont feel responsible for the sins of my father and grandfather. I feel responsible for what the situation is today, for the sins of my own generation, Biden said in 1975. And Ill be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago.

A spokesman for Biden told The Post the former vice president stands by his position on busing but stressed Bidens other work on civil rights including his push to desegregate a Delaware movie theater.

Soured on NCLB

Back in 2001, when he was a senator, Biden supported the bill that became the No Child Left Behind Act. But as the presumptive vice presidential nominee, he switched views; in 2008, Biden said the law doesnt work. When the bill was moving through Congress, he said he backed NCLB because of his faith in Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who was one of the key architects of the law.

I would scrap itor I guess, theoretically, you could do a major overhaul. But I think Id start from the beginning, Biden said. You need better teachers. You need smaller classrooms. You need to start kids earlier. Its all basic.

Earlier in 2008, when he was still a candidate for president, Biden supported providing free preschool to all children, as well as bonuses for teachers who worked in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

His wife, Jill Biden, was a high school teacher and is now a professor at Northern Virginia Community College and championed the role of community colleges during the Obama administration.
Oklahoma education officials recently ordered the Tulsa school district to ensure that the individualized plans of all its special education students comply with federal lawan enforcement action that affects thousands of children and youths in the 39,000-student system.

And it all started with one parent who used a lesser-known complaint option under federal special education law that can yield fast and expansive results, if a concern is found to have legal merit.

Most people who know special education are familiar with due-process hearings, which allow parents to file a complaint with a school district related to their childs individualized education program, or IEP. Those cases are heard by hearing officers and can be appealed to the courtseven the U.S. Supreme Court, in the rarest of cases.

But the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act also lets individuals file complaints directly to the state instead ofor in addition tofiling a due-process complaint. The state has 60 days to investigate, and the findings are not appealable by either side.

Success rates for parents filing state complaints are significantly higher than when parents bring cases before independent hearing officers, according to a 2017 study of five states. Special education law expert Perry Zirkel found that parents prevailed before hearing officers in 24 percent of cases in those states. In contrast, parents received favorable rulings in half the cases they brought directly to the state, said Zirkel, a professor emeritus at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Todd Loftin, the Oklahoma special education director, said his state sees about 30 complaints a year. He said that relatively few are like the Tulsa complaint, where parent Carmon Pool Drummond specifically said her concerns might apply to other similarly situated students.

We feel that the state complaint in terms of the formal dispute-resolution process is one that provides closure more quickly, Loftin said.

That said, the state complaint process has limitations. States only look back at district actions a year from the date a parent filed. And in this case, that the state didnt order Tulsa to take any actions, such as compensatory education, for students who might have had poorly executed special education plans.

I dont think parents and districts are ever happy with all of the decisions we make, Loftin said. Parents want a lot of things through their proposed resolution. But we try to be as reasonable as possible for districts.

One Parents Story

The path to the Tulsa decision began when Drummonds 14-year-old son started high school this school year. A mother of three students enrolled in the Tulsa district, she asked that the names of her children not be used.

Her older son, assessed by private evaluators as being on the autism spectrum, needs special education support in reading, writing, and math, according to his IEP.

But his middle school teachers thought he needed to grow up and take care of business, Drummond said.

High school proved to be just as difficult, from Drummonds perspective. She said she struggled to get her freshman son an updated IEP. She said her older son also had some of the same goals, written in the same language, as her younger son, a 5th grader who has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. And the goals for both seemed impractically broad. One goal for her sons was that student will read and comprehend increasingly complex literary and informational texts, but the IEP offered no useful way to measure progress, Drummond said.

At that point, Drummond said, she knew she had a few options. Her mother, a lawyer who used to specialize in representing parents in special education cases, provided her with a leg up when understanding her legal rights.

I can go to mediation. I can go to due process, Drummond said. But the stress, plus the need to hire a lawyer, was a major barrier. Plus, Drummond said, If I do due process,  its only fixing it for my kid. She suspected that the school district as a whole was using cut-and-paste goals for many children.

Drummond filed her complaint in late 2018. By December, her sons individual case was resolved, with the state requiring the district to hold a meeting to develop an appropriate IEP for him.

By January, the state started investigating Drummonds complaint on behalf of similarly situated students. It examined portions of the IEPs of 181 students who attended the same high school as her son. A state report released in March said that in interviews with the state investigators, teachers said that they used cut-and-paste to create IEPs, removed information from IEPs after they had been signed by parents, and held IEP meetings without an administrator or general education teacher present.

Cookie-Cutter Goals

The IEPs reviewed by the state also repeated goals verbatim. For example, 152 IEPs had reading goals. The goal students will read and comprehend increasingly complex literary and informational texts appeared 60 times.

Of the IEPs reviewed, 113 had written expression goals, but more than a third of students did not even have written expression as an academic need. And the goal students will develop and strengthen writing by engaging in a process that includes prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing appeared 59 times.

In addition to reviewing all student IEPs, the state directed Tulsa to retrain staff members in appropriate IEP development.

We know in Tulsa that weve got a great deal of work to do in order to better serve all of our students and in particular our most vulnerable students, said Devin Fletcher, the districts chief academic and talent officer.

And the report also means that the district needs to focus more on supporting special educators, Fletcher said.

Not to make excuses, but we have significant turnover that happens across the district, particularly in special education classes, he said. Its an opportunity for us to reflect on how we can better serve the adults, from a system level.

Julie Weatherly, who represents districts in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia in special education disputes, said replicating the same goals from year to year and using the same goals for multiple students are common pitfalls that she warns districts against.

I harp on those a lot, because obviously it takes the I"meaning individualized"out of IEP, said Weatherly. And it is going to raise eyebrows that it has been cut and pasted from someone elses bank of goals.

Goal banks, which allow teachers to choose prewritten academic accomplishments through a computer-based IEP development system, should be used sparingly, Weatherly said. The look is bad, even if the goals are somehow applicable for multiple children.

Drummond said shes pleased that the state has ordered changes, though she plans to remain vigilant on behalf of her children.

I really hate being that mom who is harassing people all the time, she said. But at least it puts attention to the fact that you cant just cookie cutter IEPs.
A new breed of students has flooded into career-technical education, and theyre transforming a slice of the K-12 world thats long suffered from stigma and disrespect.

These students are focusing on professions like engineering and health care instead of traditional trades like manufacturing and agriculture. They have higher grades and test scores, and more positive attitudes toward school. They come from better-educated families and are more likely to attend four-year colleges than their peers in old-school career-tech education or what was once known as vocational education.

Take Tony Peeler, for instance. The 18-year-old attends a career-tech-ed program at Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center in Dallas. Under one roof, the program blends old and new: Students can dive into fields like automotive or dental assisting, or study fields like law or engineering that arent traditionally associated with vocational education.

Peeler comes from a professional family: Both his parents have bachelors degrees in accounting. Hes got his own plan mapped out: Hes immersing himself in law and criminal justice studies now, and hell shift to biomedical engineering next fall, when he starts George Washington University in Washington D.C. Then its on to law school, so he can become a patent attorney.

With aspirations like his, Peeler says he fends off a good deal of confusion when he tells people hes in a career-tech-ed program.

Some people know its more than the traditional stuff like automotive and carpentry. But some of them, they say, isnt that a way to have a career right out of high school? They dont know, he said.

The expansion of the career-tech-ed tent, which appears to have taken shape in the last 10 to 15 years, marks a sea change in the world of students who choose career-oriented studies. And it carries the potential to ease the stigma thats long dogged career-technical education.

Since the 1920s, when federal law first provided funding to states for programs in agriculture and the trades, students in vocational education have typically downplayed hefty academicsand collegein favor of hands-on job preparation.

But a new report makes the first data-based case that this could be changing as schools reshape their career-tech-ed programs and build their academic muscle. As a new breed of more academically inclined students flows into career-tech education, they could drive deep changes in those programs, and help erase the low-wage, blue-collar stigma thats trailed them.

Theres risk in the new dynamics, too. The report notes that career-tech ed is bifurcating into distinctly different groups of students. That shift risks concealing, rather than solving, one of career-tech educations key challenges: ensuring that students in traditional fields of study, like construction, are getting as good an education as their peers in white-collar CTE fields like computer science.

If one of the real purposes of vocational education is to serve students who arent very academically inclined, and less likely to go to college, then an increasing share of the new kind of career-tech-ed student could take the focus off the kids who need it the most, said Nat Malkus, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of the new report.

James Rosenbaum, who has long studied career-technical education as a professor of sociology and education at Northwestern University, said the changes outlined in the AEI study remind him of the dynamics hes seen in racially integrated high schools.

You have this integrated school, but the lunch tables are almost always segregated, he said. With CTE, youve got all these kids falling under the career-tech-ed category, but theyre falling into two very separate kinds of occupational fields. The question is how to serve both of those groups well.

Finding A New Type of Career-Tech-Ed Student

Malkus analyzed student transcripts and several sets of federal data to document changes in the career-tech-ed student population and the courses they take, between 1982 and 2013.

He examined students who concentrate, meaning they take three courses in one career field. He created two categories to describe the distinct student types that emerged: traditional vocational and new era.

Traditional CTE students most often took courses in fields such as business, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture, while new-era students more often chose engineering, computer science, public service, communications, and health care.

The two groups family backgrounds and academic orientations show stark differences. Traditional vocational students math scores that hovered around the 38th percentile in 2013, while new-era students were averaging in the 51st percentile. Getting good grades was far more important to new-era students: 63 percent strongly agreed that this is important, compared to 46 percent of traditional CTE students.

Only one-quarter of traditional vocational-education students parents held bachelors degrees, compared to 4 in 10 of the new-era CTE students. Three years after high school graduation, nearly half of the new-era students were in four-year colleges; only one-quarter of the traditional CTE students were.

As the profile of the new career-tech-ed student has changed, so have the courses theyve chosen. A 75 percent drop in the volume of old-style business courses since 1982 reflects shifts in technology; few students take typing and office-procedure classes anymore.

But other course-taking shifts reflect changes in the job market and students priorities. Courses in the other popular CTE fieldsmanufacturing, human services, transportation, construction, and agriculturefell in popularity by one-third between 1982 and 2013. The most-chosen new-era coursespublic service, engineering, computer science, communications, health care, and hospitalitymore than doubled.

Forces Reshaping the Old Voc Ed

A convergence of forces has produced these changes. The labor markets demand for new skills has trickled into career-tech-ed programs.

The CTE field itself, too, has been working for years to shed its image as a route to low-paying jobs that require nothing more than a high school diploma. For decades, teachers and counselors funneled students they perceived as not college materialdisproportionately low-income and minority studentsinto voc-ed tracks.

But the rebranding of career-tech education appears to have worked, the AEI study says: New kinds of students are opting for career-tech-ed concentrations.

Rosenbaum noted that the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, the main federal law for career-tech education, drove that rebranding. In the past 15 years or so, Congress has rewritten Perkins to attract more academically inclined students, and better serve the labor market, he said. By outlining new career-tech-ed fields such as information technology, Perkins offered a roadmap that shaped schools programs, Rosenbaum said.

Because the new-era career-tech-ed students will disproportionately define CTEs average characteristics, the AEI report says, policymakers could be tempted to conclude that career-tech-ed programs are improving. But that would mask an important truth, Malkus writes.

The improvements are likely the result of adding more academically oriented and otherwise college-going students to the CTE tent, rather than of broad improvements in the programs themselves, the study says.

Perkins now demands that schools conduct a much finer-grained analysis of how their CTE programs and students are doing, said Kate Kreamer, the deputy executive director of the group AdvanceCTE, which advocates for high-quality career-tech-ed programs. That data, which states must begin reporting in 2021, will help make the case for which programs are serving students well, and which ones arent, she said.

The big and important questions raised by the AEI report can spark valuable conversations as states and districts examine their programs, Kreamer said.

But she also cautioned against using Malkus two student groupsone with higher academic achievements and aspirations than the otherto oversimplify career-tech ed.

We run the risk of re-stigmatizing the more traditional CTE, and creating two new tracks, with These are the programs we put these kids in, and these are the programs we put those kids in, Kreamer said. We need to think about CTE as one system and figure out how to serve everyone well.
The end of the school year brings a powerful reckoning.

For three seasons, we have given our days and hours to the children in our care. We have thought about them while taking a walk on a Saturday morning, laughed with our friends and family about hilarious things they said or did, and worried about them in the hours between school days.

We have filled our cart at Amazon and Scholastic, putting school stuff on our own credit card because the class rug is just too disgusting to make it another week, the kids will love that giant illustrated hardback of Charlottes Web, or were finally splurging on 144 pre-sharpened pencils shipped from China because we cant take another day of the relentless grinding that lasts a small eternity for every tooth-marked pencil with a broken tip.

Now were heading into May. The end of the school year is simultaneously so close we can taste summer break and agonizingly distant, like that bizarre time warp on a road trip when youre finishing up a long day of driving and the final 45 minutes feels longer than the first 10 hours.

This time of year, we consider with a sense of pride and wonder how far certain children have come. Struggling readers who stumbled over simple words just eight months ago have become voracious readers who burrow into books like the outside world has ceased to exist. Unhappy kids who threw tantrums the first few months of school have become lovable little scholars who throw their arms around us each Monday like it has been a year instead of a weekend. We have a hard time imagining the fabric of our days once their laughter, affection, and potent emotions are no longer woven into our routines.

We also face the reality that a handful of our students are not going to reach grade-level standards by the end of the year. For those of us who have chosen to teach children living in poverty, this piece of our end-of-the-year reckoning can be particularly rough.

Education Cant Fix Poverty

Heres a hard truth: The children who need school most desperately are often the most exhausting to teach.

Not because poor kids are wild, disrespectful, or come from bad families. Not because there is any portion of accuracy in the racism-steeped stereotypes about black and Latino kids living in the inner city, nor the class-based stereotypes about poor white kids living in rural America.

Teaching poor kids is wearying because of a brutal fact: Poverty in America will break your back.

The gap between what children in poverty need and what their teachers are able to give them is too vast for any teacher to fill.

Children who have adequate health care, secure housing, plenty of food in the fridge, and hundreds of books at home will always have a titanic advantage over children who endure shoddy health care, homelessness, food insecurity, and have only a handful of books on their shelves.

The legitimate truths we hold ontoPoverty is not destiny, My students are just as smart as more affluent kids in better neighborhoodscan brew an ugly falsehood: If these kids dont all make it to grade level by the end of the year, I have failed them.

The convenient myth that education can fix poverty persists. Its a narrative that issues from various mouths, from opinionated strangers at cocktail parties to politicians who would rather blame teachers than do the hard work that real equity requires building a society where every child has a fighting chance at the life they dream.

As time dwindles to help our struggling readers, writers, and mathematicians get to where they need to be, its hard not to let the insidious accusation sink in: If some of your students dont reach grade-level standards this year, its your fault.

Confession Time

Since the year 2000, I have taught children living in poverty. Subtracting the years when I went back to school for a masters or took time off to be a stay-at-home dad, I have taught 13 classes of 25 or 30 students each.

In all those years with all those students, I have never finished a school year with every child reading on grade level.

Im hesitant to admit that reality. I know that in many peoples minds, especially those distant from the day-to-day work of teaching children who live in poverty, this disappointing career statistic reveals me as a fraudulent teacher.

I got a masters in elementary education from a great program . I was named a state Teacher of the Year and won the Milken Educator award. So why cant I get 25 students to read on grade level by the end of the school year?

The reasons, no matter how legitimate, sound like excuses. Students with learning disabilities, who didnt receive a diagnosis and the services they needed until the end of the year. Kids like Santiago, who arrived in my class from El Salvador in December, speaking almost no English and knowing no letter sounds in either language.

We have to hold two ideas in our minds at the same time:

1. Children who live in poverty can excel. All 25 of my current students are poor. All but one are English-learners. Yet 22 of those students will end the year reading on or above grade level, including six who are already where they need to be at the end of next year.

2. Having a child in your class who falls short of grade-level expectations does not mean you failed that child. Three children in my class will not reach the benchmark by the end of this school year. I have done everything I know to accelerate their reading, and they will make a years growth, but its excruciating to accept that they will leave my class reading below grade level. That pain means we love our students. It doesnt mean we failed them.

The Kind of Miracles We Work

Teachers dont work the brand of miracles we wish we could. We rarely take a child who cannot read and turn her into a proficient reader in a single year. We dont have the power to pave an untroubled path through life for a child with deep-seated anger issues, autism, or a learning disability.

We cannot provide a child with enough food to eat, a secure home, or the promise that her family will not be torn apart if one or both parents are undocumented.

Teachers cannot fix poverty, no matter how hard we work or how much we love our students.

Instead we work gentler, more gradual miracles. We nurture students who make a year and a halfs growth in a single year, despite the barriers of poverty and learning English as a second language. We provide kids who rely on school for fundamental needs with a refuge where they know they are safe, respected, and loved.

Real miracles are often imperfect. Theyre not immediate and theyre not flashy. They take time. You have to be paying careful attention to recognize them at all.

The end of the school year should elicit reflection on hard truths, including the ways we failed at times to be the teacher our students needed. We should commit to what well do differently next year when we find, like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning, that the spirits have given us another chance. But we should also show ourselves the generosity of spirit we offer our students when they struggle, stumble, or put their whole hearts into a dream but still fall short.

Teachers know two truths. The first: Deeper change is possible than most people can fathom. The second: It takes so much longer than you would ever expect.

In the movie Away We Go , a couple who have adopted their children explain the abundance of love it takes to make their family work. The mom speaks a truth that resonates for those of us who teach: You have to be so much better than you ever thought.

In the past year, we have come to love children who were once strangers. For them, we become better each year than we ever thought we had to be. That transformation is a little miracle in its own right.
Havana, May 1 (epa-efe).- Tens of thousands of people participated Wednesday in the traditional May Day parade in Cuba's capital as President Miguel Diaz-Canel and former head of state and current Cuban Communist Party (PCC) leader Raul Castro watched.

"Unity, Commitment and Victory" was the slogan printed on a large banner that led the enormous crowd of citizens of all ages and occupations through Havana.

The parade started a few minutes after 7:00 am at the iconic Plaza of the Revolution and was watched by the two leaders from the reviewing stand.

At the front of the parade packed with people, banners and signs were health-care workers, one of Cuba's main assets and a group that suffered a setback a few months ago when their contingent in Brazil had to return home following the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

In addition to the student, labor and social groups participating in the march, representatives of the LGBT community marched for the first time.

The group has achieved greater acceptance and visibility in the Caribbean country in recent years, in contrast to the harsh repression the community's members suffered decades ago.

Before the start of the parade, the classic speech delivered 19 years ago on May Day by late leader Fidel Castro was played for the crowd, an address in which he defines the concept of revolution and has become a kind of catechism for the people of Cuba.

In addition to Diaz-Canel and Raul Castro, high-level government officials, military commanders, PCC leaders and representatives from foreign countries, including several Russian Communist Party members, were on the reviewing stand.

The May Day celebration comes on the eve of the implementation of tighter sanctions by the United States, a decision that was repeatedly referred to and criticized by the state television anchors who covered the event live.

On April 17, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, said in a speech in Miami that the US government planned to strengthen the embargo on Cuba and further restrict travel and remittances to the communist-ruled island.

Bolton confirmed that starting on May 2 plaintiffs would be able to turn to the US courts to seek compensation from foreign companies with an economic presence in the US for properties confiscated in Cuba after the 1959 revolution and then used by those firms for business activities on the island.

The national security adviser also said that remittances sent by exiles or other family members to relatives in Cuba will be limited to $1,000 per quarter and that the US Treasury Department will also "restrict non-family travel to Cuba, or in other words, 'veiled tourism.'"

In the Plaza of the Revolution, chants were also heard in favor of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime, Cuba's main partner and supporter in the region, which provides the island with approximately half of its oil at subsidized prices, and against alleged US interference in the South American country.

May Day parades were held in other cities across Cuba, including Santiago, where the second-largest parade took place, and in the central city of Villa Clara, where guerrilla leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara - who is buried there - was honored.
Isle of Man Arts Council launches new student bursaries

The Isle of Man Arts Council launched its new student bursaries for 2019/20 to support students studying the arts who are moving into further and higher education.

There will be three bursaries available, each for 10,000, to be awarded to three students over the duration of their arts course:

The Jonathan Gollow Bursary for Performing Arts in memory of the late music promoter Jonathan Jonno Gollow who was a valued member of the Arts Council until 2012 and who sadly passed away suddenly in 2017.

The Norman Sayle Bursary for Visual Art and Literature in memory of the most celebrated Manx artist of recent times, Noman Sayle RI TH (1926-2007) who was also a dedicated teacher and a former Arts Council member.

The Isle of Man Arts Council Bursary is to be awarded to a student whose extenuating personal circumstances may be preventing their further studies within the arts.

Applications for the bursaries can be made by the Isle of Man Arts Council website: www.iomarts.com and will close on 1 June 2019, with the three recipients being informed after the Arts Council meeting on 14 June.
Bomb attack killed 16 soldiers in India

A bomb attack on a vehicle carrying members of the Indian paramilitary forces has killed at least 16 security personnel, officials said.

At least 16 Indian security personnel were killed in a bomb attack on Wednesday in the western state of Maharashtra, officials said.

16 DEAD

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said: Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families."

The incident took place in Gadchiroli district when Maoist rebels reportedly used an improvised explosive device to blow up the vehicle in which they were traveling. According to media reports, a gunfight is underway between the police and rebels at the site of the blast. The attacks come amid ongoing multi-phased general elections in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also condemned the attack. "Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," Modi tweeted.
Bosnian leaders to pay official visit to Turkey

The focus of the visit to be revised free trade agreement and Sarajevo-Belgrade Highway Project.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Presidential Council members will pay an official visit to Turkey on Thursday upon the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

TRADE RELATIONS WILL BE DISCUSSED

Thursday's visit is going to be the first since Chairman of the Council and the Serb member Milorad Dodik and Bosniak member Sefik Dzaferovic were elected last October.

Economic, trade and infrastructure projects as well as bilateral relations will be discussed during the visit, according to a statement.

Information received from diplomatic sources revealed the focal point of the visit is the revised free trade agreement and the Sarajevo-Belgrade Highway Project supported by Turkey.
Coup attempt not to go unpunished, says Maduro

President Nicolas Maduro said late that a coup attempt in the country will not go unpunished.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said late on Tuesday that a coup attempt in the country will not go unpunished.

THE COUP ATTEMPT WILL BE PUNISHED

His remarks came after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido released a video on Twitter in which he could be seen alongside a small contingent of uniformed military personnel and armored vehicles calling for an uprising. Terming this move a coup attempt, Maduro said prosecutors are investigating the incident. "Those who target the constitution and peace of the society will be charged," he said, speaking at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.

Guaido has called for fresh protests on May Day against the government. "The National Armed Forces have made the right decision, they have the support of the Venezuelan people," Guaido said, announcing "Operation Freedom" against the government.

Venezuela has been rocked by protests since Jan. 10, when Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition. Tensions escalated when Guaido, who heads Venezuelas National Assembly, declared himself acting president on Jan. 23, a move which was supported by the US and many European and Latin American countries.
Military action possible in Venezuela, says Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a television interview on Wednesday that the United States was prepared to take military action to stem the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela.

US military action in Venezuela is possible, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday.

"MILITARY ACTION IS POSSIBLE"

Pompeo was interviewed said while the US would prefer avoiding any form of violence, it is prepared to do what is necessary to rid the country of its president, Nicolas Maduro. "Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo said. "We're trying to do everything to avoid violence. We've asked all the parties involved not to engage in that kind of activity."

The US has thrown its support behind an ongoing military uprising aimed at ousting Maduro from power led by opposition leader Guaido. "We'd prefer a peaceful transition of government there, where Maduro leaves and a new election is held," Pompeo said.

Guaido published a video Tuesday alongside a small contingent of uniformed military personnel and armored vehicles in which he called for an uprising to end the "usurpation" of Maduro. He stressed it was the beginning of the final phase of the effort to oust Maduro, known as Operation Liberty.

The US's top diplomat said Tuesday that Maduro was ready to leave the country, with an "airplane on the tarmac," but Russia had convinced him to stay. "But Donald Trump has made clear that in the event that there comes a moment, and well all have to make decisions about when that moment is, and the president will ultimately have to make that decision," the secretary of state said. "He's prepared to do that if thats whats required."
Regime attacks killed 3 civilians in Syria

A total of three civilians were killed and six others injured in regime's attacks on residential areas in Syria's northern de-escalation zones on Tuesday, local sources said.

Three civilians have been killed and six others injured in regime attacks on residential areas in Syrias northern de-escalation zones, local sources said on Wednesday.

THE ATTACK CONTINUE

The overnight airstrikes and shelling targeted Idlib province's towns of Termela, Keferin, Mintar as well as Hama province's villages of Kafrnabuda, Al-Sahir, Al-Inkawi, Al-Tuweina, Al-Hamra, Al-Hawash, Al-Hawija and Al-Huwaiz.

Regime forces also attacked Rashidin and Khan Al-Asal regions in Aleppo province, the sources said. According to sources with the White Helmets civil defense agency, two civilians were killed and another two injured in Kafrnabuda. Another civilian was killed and four others were injured in Aleppo's Rashidin and Khan Al-Asal.

Last September, Turkey and Russia agreed to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be strictly prohibited. Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected severity.
Trump threatens Cuba with embargo over Venezuela

Trump has quickly declared enthusiastic support for the Venezuelan opposition effort to spark a military uprising against embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump threatened Tuesday to impose an embargo and sanctions on Cuba amid a military uprising aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

TRUMP'S THREATS

"If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba," Trump said on Twitter.

His warning came after Venezuelan opposition leader Guaido released a video in which he could be seen alongside a small contingent of uniformed military personnel and armored vehicles calling for an uprising to end the "usurpation" of Maduro. He stressed that it was the beginning of the final phase of the "Operacion Libertad", or Operation Liberty, to oust Maduro.

"The National Armed Forces have made the correct decision. They have the support of the Venezuelan people," Guaido said.

Venezuela has been rocked by mass demonstrations since Jan. 10, when Maduro was sworn in for a second term following a vote boycotted by the opposition. Tensions escalated when Guaido, who heads Venezuelas National Assembly, declared himself acting president on Jan. 23, a move which was supported by the US and many European and Latin American countries.

"Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!" said Trump.

Venezuela has been in the throes of humanitarian and economic crises amid the political deadlock between Guaido and Maduro as Washington has ramped up diplomatic and economic pressure on the Venezuelan president, including sanctioning his state-run oil company, in a bid to get him to relinquish power.

Shortly after his top officials said the US fully supports the effort being led by Guaido, Trump said he was monitoring the situation in Venezuela "very closely" and the US stands with the Venezuelan people. Cuba and Bolivia said they are with the Venezuelan government against the coup attempt.
Gandhi called Bombay the first city of India by which he meant, among other things, that it had a highly developed, public-spirited civic culture not found in other Indian cities, writes Bhiku Parekh in his foreword to Gandhi in Bombay: Towards Swaraj by Usha Thakkar and Sandhya Mehta.

What comes to mind on 1 May this yearMaharashtra Day and International Labour Dayis whether the city can still be described in these terms. A public-spirited culture calls for public spaces, for a spirit of well-nurtured dissent and protest, an ability to tolerate opposing views and engage in debate and discussion, howsoever passionate. Is this Mumbais reality today?

Mumbai has rapidly changed from an industrialised city to one dominated by services. The continuing onslaught on labour laws and thus workers rights to organise, and the adoption of fixed-term employment by all industries have made the hire and fire phenomenon an ugly reality. Given these work conditions, the commuting woes due to disappearing public transport sources and Mumbais abysmal housing situation, it is no wonder that the struggle to survive subsumes all other pursuits.

And as if in compensation for shrinking public spaces, Mumbaikars are offered more and more malls, the courtyards and lobbies of which are the new meeting places.

This is a city where, as early as 1908 the free-spirited mill workers showed their political consciousness by going on strike for six days to protest the sentencing of Lokmanya Tilak to six years of imprisonment for sedition. Fifteen of them lost their lives in confrontations with the colonial police force. In August 1852, what is commonly described as the first political organisation of Bombay Presidency, the Bombay Association was formed by the citys leading industrialists, philanthropists and merchant princes. The remarkable Narayan Meghaji Lokhande, a follower of Jyotiba Phule was the editor of the labour weekly Deenbandhu from 1880, deposed before the Factory Commission in 1880 and founded the Bombay Mill Hands Association in 1884.

Bombays denizens were forever forming associations, protesting what they saw as injustice and holding public meetings. They were not shy of making demands loudly and in public.

Apart from the work of the great social reformers and freedom fighters that every schoolchild here is familiar with, the keenly fought Samyukta Maharashtra Movement and the work of the communist trade unions in organising workers, this city was privileged to be the venue of countless peoples movements and struggles. Dock workers, postal workers, municipal workers, railway workers, taxi drivers, bus drivers and conductors of Mumbais now threatened iconic public transport undertaking BEST, bank workersall worked and protested and marched for one another in this city which was undoubtedly, triumphantly, a working-class city.

It is not within the scope of this blog to name the massive number of persons who contributed to its character as the first city of India. But some of the most iconic alternatives to the mainstream media publications were started and published from here. Leading trade union leaders, political reformists, the Indian Peoples Theatre Associationthis city has witnessed the dissemination of every hue of political, socio-economic, gender and cultural views. Its history is gloriously intertwined with the history of this nation and has repaid volumes of research.

But today the city is grappling with an enervating situation. Fires in illegally extended eateries and restaurants, a horrific stampede on a railway bridge, the collapse of a road overbridgeall these have chalked up a massive death toll and un-estimated psychological trauma. Apart from these, there are hundreds of deaths that occur when people fall off from overcrowded trains or while crossing railway tracks; massive traffic jams are an everyday phenomenon due to urban policies that are totally skewed towards automobile use while neglecting mass transport, and the privatisation of basic services prioritises profits over public welfare. The daily commute and working lives of its residents is a nightmare. And yet, the prominent political forces here do not find it worth their while to rally citizens on these issues.

Thousands of families can be pushed into a living toxic hell in Mahul and protest themselves hoarse. Residents around Aarey Colony can protest about the Metro 3 station on the few surviving green spots here and be brushed aside, or residents of South Bombay can frantically draw attention to the ecological mayhem that the Coastal Road Project will unleash, fisherfolk can protest what it will do to their already diminishing sources of livelihoodthere is hardly any concerted agitation/protest/campaign.

That iconic site of protest, the Azad Maidan of yesteryears is well nigh unrecognisable today with the infrastructure work there. A corner has been earmarked for protest meetings, and anyway, as activists point out getting police permission is becoming more difficult. Hutatma Chowk was pushed off the map of protest venues in a beautification drive (obviously, fights for justice are not beautiful for the powers that be) and open spaces are falling to concretisation and private interests. Add to this the even more rapid reduction of public transport that leaves the car-less population with restricted mobility.

So this city that reverberated to the spirited slogans of the workers, the independence struggle, the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, the womens marches not to speak of the powadas and songs of Shahirs Amar Sheikh, Annabhau Sathe, Vilas Ghogare, Vaman Kardak, and Shahir Krishnarao Sable, and the street theatre of student groups, is gradually losing its spirit of defiance. This is not to say that there are absolutely no voices that speak of and caste and class and gender injustice. It is just that the noise of the drilling of machines for metros and flyovers is getting louder and louder.
New research being presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Glasgow, UK (28 April-1 May) suggests that having a high BMI in childhood coupled with obesity in adulthood may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. However, children with a high BMI who did not have obesity as adults do not appear to be at greater risk of type 2 diabetes when they grow up.

The meta-analysis of 10 Danish and Finnish cohort studies following more than 25,000 children between 1978 and 2016, found that these associations were not influenced by educational and lifestyle factors suggesting that body mass index (BMI) affects the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the same way irrespective of your education attainment, level of physical activity, or smoking status.

Obesity in childhood and adulthood is already known to be a strong risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but disease risk is also influenced by other factors including age, sex, ethnic differences, and genetic factors which can affect the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes independently of an individual's BMI. But little is known about whether associations between changes in BMI and type 2 diabetes vary by socioeconomic and lifestyle factors.

In this study, Dr Lise Bjerregaard from Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital in Denmark and Danish and Finnish colleagues investigated the relationship between change in weight status from childhood to adulthood and the development of type 2 diabetes in 25,291 children who had BMI measured in both childhood (at ages 7 and 12 years) and in adulthood (20-71 years). They also examined whether these associations were independent of, or modified by, sex, educational attainment, smoking, and physical activity.

In children, BMIs were categorised using age- and sex-specific cut-offs with high BMI defined as more than the 85th BMI percentile. In adults, BMIs were categorised as obese (more than 30 kg/m) or non-obese (equal to or less than 30 kg/m). 2360 children went on to develop type 2 diabetes between the ages of 30 and 85 years.

Analyses showed that girls with high BMI at aged 7 and obesity as adults were five times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes compared with girls who were normal weight at 7 years and not obese as adults. Similarly, boys with a high BMI at 7 years who had obesity as adults were at nearly four times greater risk of type 2 diabetes compared to those who were normal weight at 7 years and not obese as adults.

In contrast, children with a high BMI at age 7 who did not have obesity as adults had no increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Adjusting for other known risk factors for type 2 diabetes including education, smoking, and leisure-time physical activity did little to change the results.

"What our findings suggest is that irrespective of socioeconomic and lifestyle factors such as smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, or lower educational attainment, a high BMI in childhood was associated with increased risks of developing type 2 diabetes only if it continued to adulthood", says Dr Bjerregaard.

"Therefore, public health initiatives should focus on preventing excess weight gain irrespective of these factors. Individuals of all levels of education and physical activity may benefit from health promoting interventions."

The authors caution that their study wasn't designed to find or measure a direct cause and effect relationship between being overweight/obese long-term and a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, but rather to shed light on possible relationships between the two. They also note that they used BMI as an indicator of adiposity, so it is not known whether the changes in the risk of type 2 diabetes are due to changes in lean mass or fat mass, or the location of the fat mass. Additionally, the sample size in some groups may have been too small to show effect modifications--although this reflects that these groups were at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

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For the first time, researchers at King's College London, in collaboration with the University of Suffolk, have found a diverse array of chemicals, including illicit drugs and pesticides in UK river wildlife. The study published today in Environment International, looked at the exposure of wildlife, such as the freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex, to different micropollutants (chemicals found at exceptionally low levels) and the levels of these compounds in the animals.

Consumer products, medicines and drugs can end up in rivers after use and comprise thousands of different chemicals which have the potential to cause environmental harm. The team collected samples from five catchment areas, and 15 different sites across the county of Suffolk. Surprisingly, cocaine was found in all samples tested, and other illicit drugs such as ketamine, pesticides and pharmaceuticals were also widespread in the shrimp that were collected.

Lead author, Dr Thomas Miller from King's College London said: "Although concentrations were low, we were able to identify compounds that might be of concern to the environment and crucially, which might pose a risk to wildlife.

"As part of our ongoing work, we found that the most frequently detected compounds were illicit drugs, including cocaine and ketamine and a banned pesticide, fenuron. Although for many of these, the potential for any effect is likely to be low."

Professor Nic Bury from the University of Suffolk said: "Whether the presence of cocaine in aquatic animals is an issue for Suffolk, or more widespread an occurrence in the UK and abroad, awaits further research. Environmental health has attracted much attention from the public due to challenges associated with climate change and microplastic pollution. However, the impact of 'invisible' chemical pollution (such as drugs) on wildlife health needs more focus in the UK as policy can often be informed by studies such as these."

Dr Leon Barron from King's College London added: "Such regular occurrence of illicit drugs in wildlife was surprising. We might expect to see these in urban areas such as London, but not in smaller and more rural catchments. The presence of pesticides which have long been banned in the UK also poses a particular challenge as the sources of these remain unclear."

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A University of Central Florida College of Medicine scientist is advancing research on how neurons in the heart communicate with the brain in hopes of using those messages to repair cardiac disease.

Dr. Zixi Cheng, a neuro-cardiovascular researcher at the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, recently received a $300,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his research on brain-heart interactions. Dr. Cheng's lab studies communication pathways of neurons -- cells that send and receive information from the brain using electrical signals. Most of the body's neurons - roughly 100 billion - are found in the brain, although some are located in the organs including the gut and the heart. Dr. Cheng explains that the heart's 4,000 to 5,000 neurons control the heartbeat and help the heart contract to circulate blood.

"We don't usually think about it, but the brain and the heart are closely connected as the central nervous system controls the heart," Dr. Cheng explains. "Just think about when you're excited or nervous, how your heart beats faster, and when you relax it slows down."

Because the body has billions of neurons, their individual locations and functions are unclear. That's why Dr. Cheng is developing a comprehensive topographical map that will show the body's neurons and their connection to the heart.

"Our research is trying to figure out how the nervous system is anatomically connected to the heart structure, by mapping the pathways of these neurons and identifying the their functions and how they control the heart," Dr. Cheng explained.

In mice models, Dr. Cheng injects different colored dyes into the heart so he can detect how heart neurons travel to the brain. Using a 3D imaging system, Dr. Cheng's team is then able to create a digital interactive 3D map illustrating the communication pathways.

"Following the pattern of movement of the dye, we are then able to map the pathways of the neurons as they send and receive signals from the brain to the heart," Cheng says. The goal is to develop better life-saving therapies for conditions such as heart failure and arrhythmia.

"If we have a comprehensive mapping of nerves and we fully understand their anatomical structures and functions," Cheng explains, "then we can possibly manipulate specific nerves to emit electrical signals to help repair the heart and effectively treat these heart conditions."

Current studies are exploring therapies that modulate nerve signals as potential ways to treat conditions such as hypertension and heart failure with better recovery and survival rates.

"There are several clinical trials going on, but some are not successful yet," Dr. Cheng says. "So that's why we're going back to basic science to better understand neurons' pathways and functions and this grant will help us to continue to do that."

Dr. Cheng's grant is a sub-award from University of California, Los Angeles, the prime NIH SPARC recipient that leads a consortium of cardiology researchers from universities internationally participating in the research mission. SPARC, an acronym for Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions, supports research into understanding nerve-to-organ interactions with the aim of developing better treatments for diseases and conditions.

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University of Maryland researchers are piecing together what exactly happened to hundreds of cubes of uranium from a secretive and ultimately failed effort to build a working nuclear reactor in Nazi Germany during World War II

WASHINGTON, D.C. May 1, 2019 - Back in 2013, Timothy Koeth, an associate research professor at the University of Maryland, received a rather extraordinary birthday gift: a little cloth lunch pouch containing a small object wrapped in brown paper towels. As Koeth peeled back the layers, his eyes grew wide with astonishment. He immediately asked, "Where did you get that?"

Inside he found a heavy metal cube and a crumpled message, a provocative note wrapped around a stone that came crashing through the window of history. It read, "Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger."

Koeth's friend grinned, picked up the 5-pound block of uranium metal and handed it to him. Though modest in size, the cube was heavy, dense and steeped in lost history. Koeth accepted the cube and its note as an invitation to the adventure of a lifetime.

In the May 2019 issue of Physics Today, Koeth and Miriam Hiebert, a doctoral candidate working with him on this project at UMD's A. James Clark School of Engineering, describe what they've discovered while exploring the German quest and failure to build a working nuclear reactor during World War II.

Uranium is weakly radioactive, and this particular cube measures about 2 inches on each side. "It's surprisingly heavy, given its size, and it's always a lot of fun to watch people's reaction when they pick it up for the first time," said Hiebert.

A Chandelier of Nuclear Elements

This cube represents one of 664 uranium metal components that were strung together in a form reminiscent of a chandelier to comprise the core of a nuclear reactor experiment that a team of German scientists attempted to build toward the end of the World War II, including Werner Heisenberg -- a theoretical physicist and one of the key visionaries of quantum mechanics. The chandelier was submerged in heavy water to regulate the rate of fission.

The Germans' experimental lab was small and located underground in the town of Haigerloch -- it's now the Atomkeller Museum, which the public can visit. "This experiment was their final and closest attempt to create a self-sustaining nuclear reactor, but there wasn't enough uranium present in the core to achieve this goal," said Koeth.

One of the most surprising things Koeth and Hiebert have discovered so far is that while the 664 uranium cubes at Haigerloch weren't enough to build a self-sustaining reactor, an additional 400 cubes were located within Germany at the time.

"If the Germans had pooled their resources, rather than keeping them divided among separate, rival experiments, they may have been able to build a working nuclear reactor," said Hiebert. "This highlights perhaps the biggest difference between the German and American nuclear research programs. The German program was divided and competitive; whereas, under the leadership of General Leslie Groves, the American Manhattan Project was centralized and collaborative."

How Close Did the Germans Get?

How close did the Germans get to a working nuclear reactor? This is difficult to answer, but "it's been calculated that the reactor experiment in Haigerloch would have needed about 50% more uranium to run," said Koeth. "Even if the 400 additional cubes had been brought to Haigerloch to use within that reactor experiment, the German scientists would have still needed more heavy water to make the reactor work. Despite being the birthplace of nuclear physics and having nearly a two-year head start on American efforts, there was no imminent threat of a nuclear Germany by the end of the war."

Another important aspect of Koeth and Hiebert's work is an effort to track down the cubes recovered from Haigerloch that ended up being shipped to the U.S. "Cubes were distributed to various individuals around the country," Hiebert explained. "We don't know how many were handed out or what happened to the rest, but there are likely more cubes hiding in basements and offices around the country, and we'd like to find them!"

Many questions remain unanswered, and chief among them are: How many of these cubes still exist, and what has happened to them? Physics Today helped track down a few.

"We hope to speak to as many people as possible whove had contact with these cubes, said Hiebert. As much as weve learned about our cube and others like it, we still dont have an answer about how exactly it ended up in Maryland 70 years after being captured by Allied forces in southern Germany."

Koeth and Hiebert are also trying to learn more about the fate of the other 400 cubes that ended up on the black market in Europe after the war.

Koeth and Hiebert said that anyone with any information about one of these uranium cubes, can contact them via email at uraniumcubes@gmail.com.

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The article, "Tracking the journey of a uranium cube," by Timothy Koeth and Miriam Hiebert, appears in the May 2019 issue of Physics Today. See https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.4202.

ABOUT PHYSICS TODAY

Physics Today, the flagship publication of the American Institute of Physics, is the most influential and closely followed physics magazine in the world. See https://physicstoday.scitation.org/journal/pto.
LINTHICUM, Md. and ARLINGTON, Va., April 30, 2019 --The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the American Urological Association (AUA) today announced updates to their joint clinical guideline on adjuvant and salvage radiotherapy after prostatectomy in patients with and without evidence of prostate cancer recurrence to include new published research related to adjuvant radiotherapy.

The Adjuvant and Salvage Radiotherapy after Prostatectomy: ASTRO/AUA Guideline (available online in the Journal of Urology and in Practical Radiation Oncology) was amended as follows:

Guideline Statement 2 was modified to account for the latest data from three randomized controlled trials evaluating the use of adjuvant radiotherapy, including new long-term data from the ARO 96-02 trial, which was incorporated to update the existing evidence base.

Statement 2: Patients with adverse pathologic findings including seminal vesicle invasion, positive surgical margins, and extraprostatic extension should be informed that adjuvant radiotherapy, compared to radical prostatectomy only, reduces the risk of biochemical (PSA) recurrence, local recurrence, and clinical progression of cancer. They should also be informed that the impact of adjuvant radiotherapy on subsequent metastases and overall survival is less clear; one of three randomized controlled trials addressing these outcomes indicated a benefit, but the other two trials did not demonstrate a benefit. However, these two trials were not designed to identify a significant reduction in metastasis or death with adjuvant radiotherapy.

Guideline Statement 9 is a new guideline statement written to include outcome data from two randomized controlled trials (RTOG 9601 and GETUG-AFU 16), which evaluate the effects of hormonal therapy on overall survival, and on biochemical and clinical progression among patients who received salvage radiotherapy after prostatectomy. Based on findings from these randomized controlled trials, it was concluded there was sufficiently strong evidence overall to encourage hormonal therapy to be offered to patients who are candidates for salvage radiotherapy. When offered, the clinician must provide information about benefits and harms associated with this therapy, particularly discussing the improved freedom from disease progression documented in both trials, and improved overall survival as reported in RTOG 9601.

Statement 9: Clinicians should offer hormonal therapy with radiotherapy to patients who are candidates for salvage radiation therapy. Ongoing research may someday allow personalized selection of hormonal or other therapies within patient subsets.

In addition to the guideline statements, new information related to genomic classifiers, as predictors of treatment effectiveness, was added to the guideline future research needs. Further study in this area is needed to determine whether a genomic classifier is predictive of outcomes in a yet to be treated patient, and whether it is predictive for efficacy of a particular treatment.

"Evidence from three, well-established randomized trials now confirm significant improvements in biochemical recurrence-free survival among patients with adverse pathological features with the use of adjuvant radiotherapy," said Ian Thompson, MD, co-chair of the guideline panel and professor and chairman of the urology division at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, Texas. "Our expectation is this guideline is fully aligned to the latest science and provides physicians with a relevant blueprint for the use of radiotherapy after prostatectomy."

"As research in prostate cancer evolves and improves, data continue to accumulate in support of radiotherapy following radical prostatectomy. We now know that radiotherapy and the combination of hormone therapy with radiation, following radical prostatectomy, have contributed to even more favorable outcomes for patients than seen previously," said Richard K. Valicenti, MD, FASTRO, co-chair of the guideline panel and professor and chairman of radiation oncology at the University of California-Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in Sacramento, California. "With the current update, this collaborative guideline now reflects nearly three decades of multidisciplinary research."

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The full text of the amended evidence-based Adjuvant and Salvage Radiotherapy after Prostatectomy Guideline is now available online in the Journal of Urology and in Practical Radiation Oncology.

Authors of this Amendment included Thomas M. Pisansky, MD, Ian M. Thompson, MD, Richard K. Valicenti, MD, Anthony V. D'Amico, MD, Shalini Selvarajah, MD, MPH.

About ASTRO: The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the world's largest radiation oncology society, with more than 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. The Society is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy. ASTRO publishes three medical journals, International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics, Practical Radiation Oncology and Advances in Radiation Oncology; developed and maintains an extensive patient website, http://www.RTAnswers.org; and created the nonprofit foundation Radiation Oncology Institute. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 22,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy.
Refugee and migrant integration is currently one of the most contentious topics in the news. It has become a pressing issue, particularly in Western Europe and North America.

De Gruyter's new publication "Responsibility for Refugee and Migrant Integration" edited by S. Karly Kehoe, Eva Alisic and Jan-Christoph Heilinger focuses on the complex nature of integration in European countries and Canada. The publication includes voices of persons who have been displaced, those who work to support migrant integration, and scientists who undertake comprehensive research on migration and integration processes past and present.

"The vexed question of responsibility in issues of refugee and migrant integration is one of the most important challenges currently facing Western states," explains Professor Matthew J. Gibney, from Oxford University and director of the Refugee Studies Centre. "This considered, wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary edited work offers fresh and provocative insights to help us to navigate this turbulent issue."

Including important perspectives that are often overlooked and ignored, the collection of essays promote an extensive analysis of migrant integration and the pressing need for society to work together.

The open access chapter "De-integration of young Syrian activists in Paris" by Yahya Al-Abdullah from the Central European University in Budapest reflects on the lives of young Syrian activists exiled in Paris. A Syrian exile himself, Al-Abdullah highlights the importance of a refugee's exile experiences when considering immigration and integration policies.

The book discusses how the heated and often polarizing debates have made it difficult to understand in measured and constructive ways, the actual challenges of realizing an integrated society. These debates occur at governmental levels, through mainstream media, among the wider public via social media, and within migrant communities.

"It is becoming harder to separate genuine challenges from populist alarmism. The intensity of the debates also creates a degree of chaos, which obstructs deeper understanding of what it feels like to be a migrant in a new place where almost everything, including language, social norms, food products, and weather is unfamiliar," explain the editors of the book.

"Responsibility for Refugee and Migrant Integration" challenges individuals to think about their own role, responsibilities and action in respect to migrant integration. Furthermore, the authors posit that the issues raised may help policy makers learn from important historical comparisons and behavioural science insights.

"This book offers a very important contribution to the ongoing debate on integrating refugees and migrants into societies by gathering insights from different perspectives, experiences from migrants and refugees, and comments from those engaged daily in the work of integration," says Syrian philosopher Dr Housamedden Darwish from the University of Cologne in Germany.

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Medically-induced loss of consciousness (mLOC) during anesthesia is associated with a break-down of brain connectivity at the anatomical macro scale - across cortical areas - yet what role brain micro circuitry plays in LOC remains unclear.

How does our brain generate our consciousness? And why do we lose it during anesthesia? Influential theories suggest that consciousness depends on the brain's ability to discriminate between a specific sensory input and a large set of alternatives, akin to being able to choose one outcome among many.

Indeed, several studies in humans using fMRI have identified a rich set of resting states of cortical activity at the anatomical macro scale, that is, at the level of large brain areas. A researcher team led by Columbia University, however, hypothesized that a person's ability to discriminate between a set of alternatives at any moment should be rooted in micro-patterns of activity, or micro states, at the level of local neuronal ensembles - the functional building blocks of neural circuits.

And in a first of its kind study, researchers from Columbia's Rafael Yuste's Laboratory used cellular resolution in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in mice to investigate changes in the local repertoire of neuronal micro states during anesthesia. The team found that anesthesia disrupts the number of neural patterns by reducing both network micro states and neuronal ensembles in the cortex, and confirmed their findings in micro electrode array recordings from two human subjects. Their results, published today in the journal, Cell Systems, indicate that the functional connectivity of the brain during mLOC breaks down across micro- and macro anatomical scales.

"This study is important because it takes the question of the nature of consciousness to the neuronal circuit level," said Rafael Yuste, director of the Yuste Lab and professor of Biological Sciences and Neuroscience at Columbia. "It provides an intellectual thread that could explain how alterations in the coordination of small groups of neurons, either by pathologies or anesthetics, could lead to alterations in consciousness," added Yuste, who is also a member of Columbia's Data Science Institute and an initiator of the BRAIN Initiative.

A popular notion maintains that while mLOC is associated with a macroscale breakdown of functional connectivity, local networks keep displaying dynamics similar to the awake state, yet in an isolated and insular manner, said Michael Wenzel, the lead author on the paper. "And while this suggests that LOC arises from a discoordination of neural activity across brain areas, we found that local network dynamics change dramatically during mLOC. Our results indicate that the loss of consciousness could arise from alterations in the local microcircuit, which would secondarily generate deficits in macroscale connectivity" added Wenzel, who at the time of study was an Associate Research Scientist in the Rafael Yuste Lab.

The study, "Reduced Repertoire of Cortical Microstates and Neuronal Ensembles in Medically Induced Loss of Consciousness," offers a foundation for understanding how dynamics of local neuronal ensembles could contribute to the loss or emergence of conscious states. The authors noted that mechanistic studies on the role of local circuits in the loss or gain of consciousness remain challenging, thought they hope their research adds to the basic science of the neural circuitry.

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The other members of the research team are Shuting Han, Ph.D., Neuro Technology Center at Columbia (now at ETH Zurich), Elliot H. Smith, Ph.D., Department of Neurological Surgery at Columbia (now at the University of Utah); Erik Hoel, Ph.D., NeuroTechnology Center at Columbia (now at Tufts University); Bradley Greger, Ph.D., School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University; Paul House, MD, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Utah; and Rafael Yuste, MD, Ph.D., the leader of the team and who also directs Columbia's Neurotechnology Center. The research was supported by the The National Institute of Mental Health; the Neuroscience Education Institute; the U. S. Army Research Laboratory and the U. S. Army Research Office. Shuting Han was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Student Research Fellow.
Lugano, Switzerland, 1 May 2019 - De-escalation approaches in the treatment of women with HER2 positive breast cancer need to be personalised, according to Dr Carmen Criscitiello, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. Her comments come on the occasion of the presentation of updated research results at the inaugural ESMO Breast Cancer Congress 2019, 2-4 May, in Berlin, Germany. (1)

"The introduction of anti-HER2 therapies has brought a huge survival benefit in early and advanced HER2 positive breast cancer, thus there is now a need for reducing the intensity and side effects of the treatment administered," said Criscitiello. "However, the priority is to identify which patients might be spared some toxic therapies without worsening the survival benefit."

A de-escalation strategy omitting chemotherapy in the first line treatment of HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer was attempted in the PERNETTA trial. (2) As previously reported, the strategy does not worsen two-year overall survival but significantly shortens progression-free survival.

The phase II trial randomly allocated 210 patients to trastuzumab plus pertuzumab alone versus trastuzumab plus pertuzumab combined with chemotherapy until progression. After progression, both groups received T-DM1 as second line therapy. The primary endpoint of overall survival at two years was reached by 77% of patients receiving antibodies alone and 76% of those who also had chemotherapy. Progression-free survival after first line therapy was 8.4 months with antibodies alone and 23.3 months with antibodies plus chemotherapy group.

New findings revealed today at the ESMO Breast Cancer Congress 2019 show that the results were similar regardless of hormone receptor status, and overall quality of life was also similar between groups during first line treatment. (3) But according to analyses of adverse events and patient reported symptoms, those receiving antibodies alone had less hair loss, mouth sores, nausea, and fatigue.

The difference in progression-free survival between groups has prompted the investigators to look for predictive factors to identify patients who could receive targeted therapy alone with little or no detriment in progression-free survival. They are using the PAM50 test to profile tumours of all patients in the trial.

First author Prof. Jens Huober, of the University Hospital Ulm, Germany, said: "Trials of HER2 positive breast cancer in the neoadjuvant setting have shown that the HER2 enriched subtype is the most sensitive to anti-HER2 therapy. Our hypothesis is that this also applies to the metastatic setting. If the progression-free survival difference is smaller in this subtype, then omitting chemotherapy in the first line may be a good option for these patients."

Huober noted that the trial was conducted to discover if it is safe to omit chemotherapy from first line treatment of patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer who receive dual anti-HER2 therapy followed by T-DM1. "We looked at two-year overall survival because physicians are afraid they will lose patients early if they don't give the maximum treatment. Progression-free survival was shorter but did not seem to affect overall survival in the long run. Omitting chemotherapy in the first line could be discussed as an option with patients who have a low to intermediate tumour burden. However, a phase III trial is needed for definitive proof that patients are not at risk of early death if they start with antibodies alone."

ESMO spokesperson Criscitiello emphasised that it is important for studies in this field to select a specific population in which to attempt treatment intensity optimisation and agreed that using the PAM50 test to select patients with the HER2 enrichment subtype may be an effective approach. "There was no biological selection of patients in the PERNETTA trial," noted Criscitiello, who also highlighted the choice of primary endpoint. "Here we have a progression-free survival that is almost two times less than that achieved with chemotherapy. The short overall survival endpoint did not capture if denying a treatment which is demonstrated to be meaningfully most effective impacts on long-term survival. In addition, the sample size is very small to detect a difference in overall survival. Avoiding chemotherapy in HER2 positive disease is appealing for patients and investigators, but it has to be done safely."

Academic trials are now crucial in breast cancer, added Criscitiello. "The prognosis of patients with breast cancer has dramatically improved thanks to several new available treatments; we might see a reduced interest from industry to further invest in this disease, especially in trials designed with de-escalation attempts. Independent academic supported trials are very important to investigate research questions which are relevant for patients and doctors, like de-escalation to less toxic and demanding treatments and the identification of patients who may benefit the most from such an approach."

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Notes to Editors

Please make sure to use the official name of the meeting in your reports: ESMO Breast Cancer Congress 2019

Official Congress Hashtag: #ESMOBreast19

Disclaimer

This press release contains information provided by the author of the highlighted abstract and reflects the content of this abstract. It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of ESMO who cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the data. Commentators quoted in the press release are required to comply with the ESMO Declaration of Interests policy and the ESMO Code of Conduct.

References

1 ESMO Breast Cancer Congress: https://www.esmo.org/Conferences/ESMO-Breast-Cancer-2019

2 Abstract 288PD 'PERNETTA - A non comparative randomized open label phase II trial of pertuzumab (P) + trastuzumab (T) with or without chemotherapy both followed by T-DM1 in case of progression, in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC): (SAKK 22/10 / UNICANCER UC-0140/1207)' - Jens Huober et al. - Presented at the ESMO2018 Congress. Annals of Oncology, Volume 29, 2018 Supplement 8, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdy268

3 Abstract 150O_PR 'Pertuzumab (P) + trastuzumab (T) with or without chemotherapy both followed by T-DM1 in case of progression in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC)- The PERNETTA trial (SAKK 22/10), a randomized open label phase II study (SAKK, UNICANCER, BOOG)' will be presented by Jens Huober during the Proffered Paper session 1 on Thursday, 2 May, 14:30 to 16:00 (CEST) in the Vienna Hall. Annals of Oncology, Volume 30, 2019 Supplement 3, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdz095

About the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)

ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. With more than 20,000 members representing oncology professionals from over 150 countries worldwide, ESMO is the society of reference for oncology education and information. ESMO is committed to offer the best care to people with cancer, through fostering integrated cancer care, supporting oncologists in their professional development, and advocating for sustainable cancer care worldwide. Visit http://www.esmo.org

150O_PR - Pertuzumab (P) + trastuzumab (T) with or without chemotherapy both followed by T-DM1 in case of progression in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC)- The PERNETTA trial (SAKK 22/10), a randomized open label phase II study (SAKK, UNICANCER, BOOG)

J. Huober1, K. Ribi2, P. Weder3, Q. Li4, L. Vanlemmens5, M.-A. Gerard4, J. Lemonnier6, B. Thurlimann3, E. Boven7, H. Bonnefoi8

1Breast Center, University hospital Ulm, Ulm, Germany, 2Quality of Life Office, IBCSG International Breast Cancer Study Group, Bern, Switzerland, 3Cantonal Hospital, Breast Center St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland, 4Coordinating Center Bern, Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK), Bern, Switzerland, 5Medical Oncology, Center Oscar Lambret, Lille, France, 6R and D Unicancer, Unicancer, Paris, France, 7Medical Oncology, VU University medical center, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 8Medical Oncology, Institut Bergonie Bordeaux, CEDEX, France

Background: We assumed that a strategy with dual blockade of T+P without chemotherapy followed by T-DM1 at progression might be similarly effective in terms of overall survival (OS), but less toxic resulting in better Quality of Life (QoL) in pts with HER2+ MBC. Updated efficacy results by hormone receptor (HR) status and QoL data are given.

Methods: Pts with centrally confirmed HER2+ MBC were randomized 1:1 to receive either P+T alone (arm A) or P+T combined with weekly paclitaxel or vinorelbine (arm B), followed by maintenance treatment with T+P until progression. After progression, T-DM1 was given as 2nd line therapy in both arms. The primary endpoint was OS at 24 months (mo), among secondary endpoints progression free survival (PFS) was included. QoL was assessed every 3 mo up to 24 mo during 1st line by the NFBSI-16 (summary score and subscale scores for disease-related symptoms, treatment side-effects, function/well-being). Two single items assessed treatment burden and coping.

Results: Between 05/13 and 01/16, 210 pts were enrolled. Median age was 58 years, 63% of pts had lung or liver metastases, 36% of tumors were HR-, paclitaxel/vinorelbine was given in 46/59 pts. Efficacy results are shown in table 1. No difference in OS was observed. HR status did not affect PFS for 1st line. During 1st line, changes from baseline showed small improvements in QoL (NFBSI-16 summary scores) in arm A, while QoL scores remained stable in arm B. Patients in arm B reported more treatment burden during the first 6 months, but not thereafter, while coping improved clinically relevant in both arms.

Efficacy results - Table enclosed as an image

Conclusions: Despite shorter 1st line PFS, OS at 2 years was not affected for P+T alone followed by T-DM1. Side-effects were less frequently seen in the chemotherapy-free arm, although QoL was similar during 1st line in both arms.

Legal entity responsible for the study: SAKK

Funding: Roche Pharma

Disclosure: J. Huober: Honorary: Roche, Novartis, Lilly, Pfizer, Celgene. Advisory boards: Roche, Novartis, Lilly, Pfizer, Celgene, Astra Zeneca

B. Thurlimann: Consulting or advisory role: Roche

H. Bonnefoi: Roche: Travel grants and lecture fee

All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
(Gothenburg, Sweden): Industry fire-safety experts from the oil and gas and aviation sectors are joining with firefighter trade unions to urge governments to protect human health and the environment with a global ban on the toxic chemical, PFOA, and to reject loopholes for its use in firefighting foams. The use of PFOA and other fluorinated organic compounds (PFAS) is widespread across many industrial and domestic applications including textiles, food packaging, stain and oil resistant treatments, and industrial processes. Fluorinated firefighting foam is a leading cause of water contamination with toxic chemicals that are associated with cancer, endocrine disruption, and harm to fetal development.

The upcoming 9th Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is scheduled to address a global ban on PFOA as the UN meeting commences next week (April 29-May 10). A key issue will be whether an exemption should be granted for continued PFOA use in firefighting foams. Industry fire-safety experts assert that no exemption is needed because cost-effective fluorine-free alternatives work as well or better than PFOA- and other PFAS-containing foams. Unlike PFAS-containing foams, fluorine-free alternatives do not cause long-term harm to human health and the environment or incur the extremely high cleanup costs of PFAS-containing foams.

The Stockholm Convention's scientific expert body recommended global elimination of PFOA due to its toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulation in the food chain, and ability to travel long distances. They also recommended strengthening the listing of PFOS in the treaty by closing a large number of loopholes. Since PFOA and PFOS have been used in firefighting foams, the expert body addressed alternatives to them, warning against using the entire class of PFAS substances in firefighting foams, "due to their persistence and mobility, as well as their potential negative environmental, human health and socioeconomic impacts." (POPRC-14/2)

In their new report, the fire safety experts demonstrate that PFAS alternatives to PFOA and PFOS are similarly toxic and even harder to control, leading to increased pollution, exposure, and presence in the food chain. In contrast, world-class airports and major companies have thrown their weight behind fluorine-free firefighting foams.

All of the 27 major Australian airports have transitioned to fluorine-free firefighting foams, as have the following major hub airports: Dubai, Dortmund, Stuttgart, London Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Manchester, London City, Leeds-Bradford, Copenhagen, and Auckland, and elsewhere in Europe such as Billund, Guernsey, Bristol, Blackpool, and Ko?ln-Bonn.

Kim T. Olsen, Head of Copenhagen Airport Rescue and Firefighting Academy, noted that Copenhagen Airport is still working on the clean-up and remediation of PFAS contamination from fluorinated (AFFF) firefighting foams and stated that, "Fluorine-free foam is the future. I see no reason to keep on polluting the environment with AFFF types of foam when the fluorine-free foam is just as efficient."

Major players in the oil and gas and transportation sectors have also shifted to fluorine-free foams including Equinor, BP, ExxonMobil, Total, Caltex, Gazprom, Bayern Oil, JO Tankers, and ODFJEL. Some military users, including the Danish and Norwegian Armed forces, have also moved to fluorine-free foams.

Lars Ystanes, Environmental Specialist at Equinor (formerly Statoil), noted that "We can remove a polluting chemical from use without compromising safety and at reasonable cost... [At Equinor] We have investigated and verified all aspects of the fluorine-free foam used, RF1-AG, with respect to operational firefighting efficiency, health, and safety, freeze protection, aging, etc. We regard the new fluorine-free foam as a fully acceptable and even better replacement for AFFF."

Nigel Holmes, a government regulator with the Department of Science and the Environment in Queensland Australia called out the fluorine chemical industry stating, "A significant failure by the fluorochemicals industry and those using their chemicals in products has been to neglect to meet their international obligations under the Precautionary Principle - one of the tenets at the heart of the Stockholm Convention and a major test of the need for concern and action on persistent organic pollutants. "

A recent PFAS study of a large cohort of Australian firefighters found significant elevations of PFAS blood levels, far in excess of the general population in Australia. The study underscores the urgent need for action to protect human health. Commander Mick Tisbury, President of the United Firefighters Union of Australia, and Commander of the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) commented, "Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade transitioned to non-persistent, fluorine-free firefighting foam in 2014, after extensive testing on live fire scenarios. Since then, every B Class fire that MFB has responded to have been extinguished with fluorine-free foam. Recently there has been misleading information circulated by various people with vested interests, regarding the effectiveness of fluorine-free foam (F3) on flammable liquid fires. Based on MFB's experience, Solberg RF3x6 foam concentrate has performed just as well as our previous fluorinated AFFF concentrate."

"Governments should listen carefully to industry fire safety professionals and firefighters who actually put out fires, not the polluting fluorine chemical industry who is lobbying for loopholes to continue selling their toxic products," said Pamela Miller, a convener of the expert group and Co-Chair of IPEN. "Water is a precious resource and clean water a fundamental human right; now is the time to fulfill the Stockholm Convention's protective objective and stop polluting it."

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Reporters and Editors, please contact LauraVyda@ipen.org for additional information and to arrange interviews with industry experts and authors of the report.


the complete review - fiction

Middle England



by

Jonathan Coe



general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:



B+ : engaging if a bit over-stretched

See our review for fuller assessment.

Review Consensus :



Quite enjoyable; quite successful as Brexit novel



From the Reviews :

"At times Mr Coe delivers hammer-blows instead of his trademark satirical swipes, and soapbox speechifying instead of dialogue. His brilliantly funny set pieces are more subtle and successful; similarly, he is more incisive when tracing gradual decline rather than convulsive change. Although the narrative flits between Birmingham and London, this is no tale of two cities. Middle England is a compelling state-of-the-nation novel, full of light and shade, which vividly charts modern Britains tragicomic slide." - The Economist





is a compelling state-of-the-nation novel, full of light and shade, which vividly charts modern Britains tragicomic slide." - "The effect is not entirely satisfactory. It sometimes feels as though Coe has simply tipped the contents of his notebook straight into the novel. These sections of the book suffer from a shortcoming that afflicts any work of fiction that hews so closely to very recent events: they feel like barely sublimated polemic. (...) What is interesting about Coe -- and what is interesting about this novel and the other two in the trilogy -- is not so much his flight from Englishness as his ambivalent embrace of it. " - Jonathan Derbyshire, Financial Times





"(A)n enjoyable, absorbing and less than completely successful attempt to find the sweet spot of that sore point. (...) (I)ts never stronger or more convincing than when its furthest from political events. (...) (I)t is when the political discussion is out of the way that the novel becomes richer and less schematic. (...) Coes writing is as smoothly accomplished as ever." - Sam Leith, The Guardian





"Even though we always broadly know what will happen in Britain during the period described, Coe keeps us eager to learn exactly how it occurs for Benjamin, Sophie, Culpepper and the rest." - Mark Lawson, Literary Review





"Its threads of fiction and reality interweave to form an ironic lament for a country trapped in an imperialist fantasy. Its the tale of what happens when nostalgia turns toxic. (...) Coes metier is the twerpishness of the comfortably-off, dissatisfied British man, available in all flavours. (...) Middle England is extremely funny -- and its funny in a way thats cathartic. If Coe comes across as a Remoaner licking his wounds, he always manages to cover his back, undercutting a rant or a moment of sentimentality with a wink at the reader." - Johanna Thomas-Corr, New Statesman





is extremely funny -- and its funny in a way thats cathartic. If Coe comes across as a Remoaner licking his wounds, he always manages to cover his back, undercutting a rant or a moment of sentimentality with a wink at the reader." - "While we want everything we read at the moment to speak with the voice of our own particular echo chamber, Coe -- a writer of uncommon decency -- reminds us that the way out of this mess is through moderation, through compromise, through that age-old English ability to laugh at ourselves." - Alex Preston, The Observer





"The prose is slick and precise and you always feel in safe hands. Coe is a master of transitions -- using paragraph and section breaks to cut the action -- and his set-pieces are perfect miniatures, stylishly engineered. But reading Middle England can seem like wandering around a model village: you marvel at the extraordinary attention to detail, but feel unsettled by the lack of life." - Jon Day, The Spectator





can seem like wandering around a model village: you marvel at the extraordinary attention to detail, but feel unsettled by the lack of life." - "Middle England takes all that is memorable and moving about his body of work and throws it at the present emergency." - Alex Clark, Times Literary Supplement

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review 's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.



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The complete review 's Review :

Middle England features several characters from Jonathan Coe's earlier novels, The Rotters' Club and The Closed Circle and as such, and with its focus on capturing a further specific period of recent British history (the most recent, 2010 to 2018), is a sequel of sorts, but it also stands quite easily on its own. There is a pervasive feeling and fostering of nostalgia throughout, and in the final sections there's even a King William's School 40th class reunion -- bringing several of the characters back to that formative locale -- as well as a new incarnation of 'The Rotters' Club', but the characters feel quite fully realized (or at least are to the extent necessary) even without familiarity with the two previous installments, with Coe filling enough backstory where necessary.

Even on its own, Middle England is certainly full -- of characters and events -- and fast, zipping across nearly a decade, Coe keeping a great deal moving in this near-contemporary state of the nation (and how it got there ...) novel. It feature a large cast of characters, and shifts between their often quite separate storylines. Coe zooms in on specific events, but also lets time pass, with chapters often weeks and months apart (and in one case jumping a whole year ahead ), whatever happens in the skipped-over meantime -- often matters of considerable significance in the lives of those involved -- then casually filled in; characters are left on their own for months or years at a time, and only eventually caught up with. It's less frustrating than it sounds -- indeed, hardly at all --, with readers rarely feeling they are missing things; there's something of a true-to-life feel to it (which Coe has nicely mastered), of catching up at irregular intervals with what others in one's larger orbit have been up to, rather than being on top of every last thing that happens in their lives, as it happens. (It has the feel of old-time keeping in touch by mail, an occasional catching-up every few weeks or months or years by letter, rather than the Facebook-/Instagram-timeline immediacy of so much modern-day life.)

The one junction where Coe offers a sweeping situating of most of the major players comes on 27 July 2012, the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, held in London. While many of the characters sit in some isolation, in front of their various television sets, it is a rare moment of greater unity, with all of them getting rather caught up in this successful capturing of being English. Even Benjamin Trotter -- the central character in the novel --, who is: "making cuts and revisions to his novel, while listening to a string quartet by Arthur Honegger" when the festivities begin and seems to have missed the boat entirely ("Is that tonight ?" he says, convincingly caught unawares) is sucked into it, and, like all the others, latches onto the common enthusiasm. Typically, too, it's the sense of nostalgia that hits home particularly effectively; for the rest of the novel, however, the real Britain around them is a rather more unsettled place during these years.

Middle England finds Benjamin in his fifties. He recently moved to a converted mill, near Shrewsbury in western England, and is: "probably best described as retired". He doesn't have any financial concerns -- he did well selling his London property -- and while he has been working on an ambitious novel sequence, Unrest, since his university days -- now extending to some million and a half words -- it's increasingly seeming more albatross than anything else:

Supposedly combining a vast narrative of European history since Britain's accession to the Common Market in 1973 with a scrupulous account of his own interior life during that period, it was further complicated by the fact that it also had a musical "soundtrack," composed by Benjamin himself, whose precise relationship to the text he had never quite been able to decide. Shapeless, sprawling, prolix, over-ambitious, misconceived, unpublishable, in parts unreadable and by and large unlistenable, the whole thing had started to lower over Benjamin like an oppressive cloud. He couldn't bring himself to abandon it, but he had lost all sense of whether it possessed the slightest merit.

"I'm not saying ... I mean, I know we made crap cars. I know the Germans and Japanese make better cars than we ever did. I'm not daft. I understand all that. I understand why people want to buy a car from Japan that's not going to break down after a couple of years like ours used to. What I don't understand is ...

"What I don't understand is, where's it going to end ? How we can keep going like this. We don't make anything any more. If we don't make anything then we've got nothing to sell, so how ... haw are we going to survive ?

- M.A.Orthofer, 1 May 2019

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:

Penguin publicity page

Alfred A. Knopf publicity page

Feltrinelli publicity page

The complete review 's Jonathan Coe page

's Jonathan Coe page Official site

See Index of Contemporary British fiction at the complete review

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About the Author :

Born in 1961, Jonathan Coe attended Cambridge and Warwick universities. He is the author of several novels.

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BOSTON - (April 29, 2019) - A change to the approach for treating diabetic macular edema may be on the way, thanks to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was conducted by the DRCR Retina Network, a multicenter clinical research network funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The study found that people with diabetic macular edema, who still have good vision, as measured by standard exam with an eye chart, can safely forego immediate treatment of their macular edema as long as they are closely monitored, and treatment begins promptly if vision worsens.

Diabetic macular edema is the most common cause of vision loss among people with diabetic eye disease in the United States. Diabetes can result in the development of leaky blood vessels in the retina--the light-sensing tissue at the back of eye. Diabetic macular edema is the result of fluid build-up in the central area of the retina, called the macula, which is important for sharp vision. Swelling of the macula can distort vision required for reading and driving.

According to a statement released by the National Eye Institute, the evidence from this study should help physicians and patients navigate a common conundrum in ophthalmology: Treating diabetic macular edema in people who still have good vision too soon may subject them to unnecessary costs and risks associated with treatment. Other patients who get treatment too late might risk losing vision permanently.

"We now know that in patients with good vision and diabetic macular edema, similar to those enrolled in this trial, it's an acceptable strategy to closely monitor patients, and initiate treatment only if their vision starts to show signs of decline," said the study's lead investigator Carl W. Baker, M.D., an ophthalmologist at Paducah (Kentucky) Retinal Center.

The trial included 702 participants with diabetic macular edema and 20/25 vision or better, which is considered normal or near normal vision. At the start of the study, participants were randomly assigned to one of the following three management strategies for one of their eyes: 1) inject into the eye the anti-VEGF agent aflibercept (EYLEA) as frequently as every four weeks, 2) perform laser photocoagulation, or 3) conduct observation of the participants.

During the two-year study, the detection of visual acuity loss prompted aflibercept injections to be given to the people in the laser or observation groups. Aflibercept injections were thus required among 25% of the laser group and 34% of the observation group. Eyes that started aflibercept injections in the laser and observation groups required a similar number of injections overall compared to the group initially assigned to aflibercept.

The researchers checked participants' visual acuity throughout the study at regular follow-up visits in retina specialty clinics. Researchers measured visual acuity in the laser and observation groups at eight and 16 weeks after study entry, and then every 16 weeks unless their visual acuity worsened.

After two years, the percentage of participants whose study eye met a prespecified threshold for visual acuity loss -- one or more lines on an eye chart -- did not differ among the groups: 16% of the aflibercept group, 17% of the laser group, and 19% in the observation group. The average visual acuity, which was 20/20 at baseline, remained 20/20 in all three groups at two years.

"Based on what we've seen in previous, longer-term studies of people with diabetic macular edema, the visual acuity outcomes observed at the end of this two-year study are likely to be maintained if patients continue regular follow-up and treatment as needed over subsequent years," said DRCR Retina Network Co-Chair, Jennifer K. Sun, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of ophthalmology, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School.

"Future technology may do a better job of identifying who might benefit from early treatment, before diabetic macular edema affects vision," said the director of the study's coordinating center, Adam R. Glassman, MS, Jaeb Center for Health Research in Tampa. "But for now, close monitoring of diabetic macular edema in patients with good vision is an appropriate initial strategy as long as they are closely followed and subsequently treated if vision worsens."

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The 91-center clinical trial was funded by NEI grants EY14231, EY23207, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which is also part of the NIH. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01909791

For more information about diabetic macular edema visit https://nei.nih.gov/health/macular-edema/fact_sheet

Reference:

Baker CW, Glassman AR, Beaulieu WT, Antoszyk AN, Browning DJ, Chalam KV, Grover S, Jampol LM, Jhaveri CD, Melia M, Stockdale CR, Martin DF, Sun JK, for the DRCR Retina Network. "Effect of initial management with aflibercept vs laser photocoagulation vs observation on vision loss among patients with diabetic macular edema involving the center of the macula and good visual acuity: A randomized clinical trial". Published online April 29, 2019, JAMA. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2019.5790

NEI leads the federal government's research on the visual system and eye diseases. NEI supports basic and clinical science programs to develop sight-saving treatments and address special needs of people with vision loss. For more information, visit https://www.nei.nih.gov.

About Joslin Diabetes Center

Joslin Diabetes Center is world-renowned for its deep expertise in diabetes treatment and research. Joslin is dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes and ensuring that people with diabetes live long, healthy lives. We develop and disseminate innovative patient therapies and scientific discoveries throughout the world. Joslin is an independent, non-profit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School, and one of only 11 NIH-designated Diabetes Research Centers in the U.S.

For more information, visit http://www.joslin.org or follow @joslindiabetes | One Joslin Place, Boston, MA 617-309-2400
Cells that lose their ability to divide could contribute to inflammation and cell death in neurodegenerative disease

A study in mice shows that selectively removing cells that are no longer dividing from the brains of mice with a form of Alzheimer's disease can reduce brain damage and inflammation, and slow the pace of cognitive decline. These findings, say researchers, add to evidence that such senescent cells contribute to the damage caused by Alzheimer's disease in people.

"Our results show that eliminating these cells may be a viable route to treat Alzheimer's disease in humans," says Mark Mattson, Ph.D., senior investigator in the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging and professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

A report on the work was published April 1 in Nature Neuroscience.

Alzheimer's disease is an age-related degenerative disease of the brain that affects an estimated 5.8 million Americans. The most common cause of age-related dementia, the disorder is marked by the aggregation of amyloid proteins, which can kill off surrounding neurons. The areas of amyloid accumulation and associated nerve cell death, called plaques, are a hallmark of the disease. To date there are no known successful treatments for the disease, and as these plaques begin to form, patients experience progressive memory loss, learning impairment and, in later stages, delusions and paranoia.

Researchers found that a specific brain cell type, called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, appears in high numbers near plaques. In a healthy brain, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells develop into cells that support nerve cells, wrapping them in a protective layer that heals injury and removes waste. The environment created by the amyloid proteins causes these progenitors to stop dividing and conducting their normal functions. In diseases such as Alzheimer's, the oligodendrocytes instead send out inflammatory signals that contribute more damage to the surrounding brain tissue.

"We believe the amyloid is damaging the neurons, and although the oligodendrocytes move in to repair them, for some reason the amyloid causes them to senesce rather than complete their job," says Mattson.

The researchers suspected that if they could selectively remove malfunctioning senescent oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, they could slow Alzheimer's disease progression.

The researchers tested the concept in mice that were genetically engineered to have some of the characteristics of Alzheimer's disease, such as aggregated amyloid plaques. To remove the senescent cells, the researchers devised a treatment with a mixture of two U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs: dasatinib and quercetin. Dasatinib was originally developed as an anti-cancer drug, and quercetin is a compound found in many fruits and vegetables. The drug combination was proven as an effective way to eliminate senescent cells in previous studies of other diseases.

The researchers administered the drugs to groups of the Alzheimer's mice for nine days, then examined sections of the mice's brains for signs of damage and the presence of senescent oligodendrocyte progenitor cells.

They report that the mice treated with the drugs had approximately the same amount of amyloid plaques as mice that received no treatment. However, the researchers say they found that the number of senescent cells present around these plaques was reduced by more than 90 percent in mice treated with the drug combination.

They also found that the drugs caused the senescent oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to die off. Together, these results show that the dasatinib and quercetin treatment effectively eliminated senescent oligodendrocyte progenitor cells.

The researchers next tested whether the physical benefits of the dasatinib and quercetin treatment could protect the mice against the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.

To do that, the researchers fed the genetically engineered mice the dasatinib and quercetin drug combination once weekly for 11 weeks, beginning when the mice were 3 1/2 months old. The researchers periodically evaluated the mice's cognitive function by observing how they navigated mazes.

They found that after 11 weeks, control mice who got no drug treatment took twice as long to solve the maze as their counterparts treated with dasatinib and quercetin.

After 11 weeks, the researchers again analyzed the brains of the mice and found 50 percent less inflammation in mice treated with dasatinib and quercetin, compared with nontreated mice. The researchers say these results show that eliminating senescent cells from the brains of affected mice protected cognitive function and reduced inflammation linked to Alzheimer's disease-like plaques.

Cellular senescence is an emerging area of interest in studies of age-related disease such as Alzheimer's, says Mattson. It has been most extensively studied in peripheral tissues, such as skin, where older cells are rapidly replaced by new ones. In these tissues, senescent cells accumulate as a normal part of aging, causing some of the well-known signs of aging skin, including wrinkles, stiffness and fragility.

Mattson cautions that mice genetically engineered to have Alzheimer's symptoms and characteristics do not directly mimic the biological processes of the human condition. For example, mouse brain cells do not die as amyloid plaques form, while human brain cells do.

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Other researchers involved in this study include Peisu Zhang, Yuki Kishimoto, Ioannis Grammatikakis, Kamalvishnu Gottimukkala, Roy Cutler, Shiliang Zhang, Kotb Abdelmohsen, Vilhelm Bohr and Myriam Gorospe of the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program; and Jyoti Misra Sen of the National Institutes on Aging Intramural Research Program and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Programs of the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and by a National Institute on Aging grant supporting the University of Kentucky Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (P30-AG0-28383).

The authors declare no competing interests.
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- MIT researchers have performed the first comprehensive analysis of the genes that are expressed in individual brain cells of patients with Alzheimer's disease. The results allowed the team to identify distinctive cellular pathways that are affected in neurons and other types of brain cells.

This analysis could offer many potential new drug targets for Alzheimer's, which afflicts more than 5 million people in the United States.

"This study provides, in my view, the very first map for going after all of the molecular processes that are altered in Alzheimer's disease in every single cell type that we can now reliably characterize," says Manolis Kellis, a professor of computer science and a member of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. "It opens up a completely new era for understanding Alzheimer's."

The study revealed that a process called axon myelination is significantly disrupted in patients with Alzheimer's. The researchers also found that the brain cells of men and women vary significantly in how their genes respond to the disease.

Kellis and Li-Huei Tsai, director of MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, are the senior authors of the study, which appears in the May 1 online edition of Nature. MIT postdocs Hansruedi Mathys and Jose Davila-Velderrain are the lead authors of the paper.

Single-cell analysis

The researchers analyzed postmortem brain samples from 24 people who exhibited high levels of Alzheimer's disease pathology and 24 people of similar age who did not have these signs of disease. All of the subjects were part of the Religious Orders Study, a longitudinal study of aging and Alzheimer's disease. The researchers also had data on the subjects' performance on cognitive tests.

The MIT team performed single-cell RNA sequencing on about 80,000 cells from these subjects. Previous studies of gene expression in Alzheimer's patients have measured overall RNA levels from a section of brain tissue, but these studies don't distinguish between cell types, which can mask changes that occur in less abundant cell types, Tsai says.

"We wanted to know if we could distinguish whether each cell type has differential gene expression patterns between healthy and diseased brain tissue," she says. "This is the power of single-cell-level analysis: You have the resolution to really see the differences among all the different cell types in the brain."

Using the single-cell sequencing approach, the researchers were able to analyze not only the most abundant cell types, which include excitatory and inhibitory neurons, but also rarer, non-neuronal brain cells such as oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and microglia. The researchers found that each of these cell types showed distinct gene expression differences in Alzheimer's patients.

Some of the most significant changes occurred in genes related to axon regeneration and myelination. Myelin is a fatty sheath that insulates axons, helping them to transmit electrical signals. The researchers found that in the individuals with Alzheimer's, genes related to myelination were affected in both neurons and oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce myelin.

Most of these cell-type-specific changes in gene expression occurred early in the development of the disease. In later stages, the researchers found that most cell types had very similar patterns of gene expression change. Specifically, most brain cells turned up genes related to stress response, programmed cell death, and the cellular machinery required to maintain protein integrity.

Sex differences

The researchers also discovered correlations between gene expression patterns and other measures of Alzheimer's severity such as the level of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, as well as cognitive impairments. This allowed them to identify "modules" of genes that appear to be linked to different aspects of the disease.

"To identify these modules, we devised a novel strategy that involves the use of an artificial neural network and which allowed us to learn the sets of genes that are linked to the different aspects of Alzheimer's disease in a completely unbiased, data-driven fashion," Mathys says. "We anticipate that this strategy will be valuable to also identify gene modules associated with other brain disorders."

The most surprising finding, the researchers say, was the discovery of a dramatic difference between brain cells from male and female Alzheimer's patients. They found that excitatory neurons and other brain cells from male patients showed less pronounced gene expression changes in Alzheimer's than cells from female individuals, even though those patients did show similar symptoms, including amyloid plaques and cognitive impairments. By contrast, brain cells from female patients showed dramatically more severe gene-expression changes in Alzheimer's disease, and an expanded set of altered pathways.

"That's when we realized there's something very interesting going on. We were just shocked," Tsai says.

So far, it is unclear why this discrepancy exists. The sex difference was particularly stark in oligodendrocytes, which produce myelin, so the researchers performed an analysis of patients' white matter, which is mainly made up of myelinated axons. Using a set of MRI scans from 500 additional subjects from the Religious Orders Study group, the researchers found that female subjects with severe memory deficits had much more white matter damage than matched male subjects.

More study is needed to determine why men and women respond so differently to Alzheimer's disease, the researchers say, and the findings could have implications for developing and choosing treatments.

"There is mounting clinical and preclinical evidence of a sexual dimorphism in Alzheimer's predisposition, but no underlying mechanisms are known. Our work points to differential cellular processes involving non-neuronal myelinating cells as potentially having a role. It will be key to figure out whether these discrepancies protect or damage the brain cells only in one of the sexes -- and how to balance the response in the desired direction on the other," Davila-Velderrain says.

The researchers are now using mouse and human induced pluripotent stem cell models to further study some of the key cellular pathways that they identified as associated with Alzheimer's in this study, including those involved in myelination. They also plan to perform similar gene expression analyses for other forms of dementia that are related to Alzheimer's, as well as other brain disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis, and diverse dementias.

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The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the JBP Foundation, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Prehistoric Iberians created "imitation amber" by repeatedly coating bead cores with tree resins, according to a study published May 1, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Carlos Odriozola from Universidad de Sevilla, Spain, and colleagues.

Many studies have confirmed the ornamental and symbolic importance of amber to European prehistoric peoples. This study is the first to discuss potential prehistoric Iberian "imitation amber" beads made using the application of repeated resinite coatings on top of a bead core.

The authors obtained beads from two prehistoric sites in Spain: two from a cave tomb at the La Molina site in Sevilla, dating from the 3rd millennium BC, and four from a burial site in Cova del Gegant near Barcelona, dating from the 2nd millennium BC. Using infrared spectroscopy, an electron microscope probe, x-ray diffraction, and spectroscopy, the authors were able to study the chemical composition and structure of all six bead cores and coatings.

The beads from Cova del Gegant had a mollusk shell core, covered by a multilayered coating made up of tree resins, most likely pine. The beads were covered by a calcium-containing white deposit, which likely precipitated post-burial from the bone tissue of buried individuals. The beads from La Molina were also composed of a core covered by an amber-like resin, as well as two topmost layers of cinnabar and calcite which probably coated the beads post-burial.

The authors speculate these coating technologies were used to imitate amber's translucence, shine, and color, since during this prehistoric period, amber was relatively rare and highly in demand. However, both tomb sites contained other exotic materials such as ivory, gold and cinnabar, so it's not clear why individuals able to obtain these rare goods would use amber alternatives. The authors speculate that, especially in the Cova del Gegant where "imitation amber" was found directly alongside true amber beads, unscrupulous traders may have substituted low-cost fake amber to cheat their buyers. The authors also suggest chemical analysis of apparent "amber" artifacts could prevent erroneous amber identification in future studies of such Iberian sites.

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Citation: Odriozola CP, Garrido Cordero JA, Daura J, Sanz M, Martinez-Blanes JM, Aviles MA (2019) Amber imitation? Two unusual cases of Pinus resin-coated beads in Iberian Late Prehistory (3rd and 2nd millennia BC). PLoS ONE 14(5): e0215469. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215469

Funding: This research was funded by the MINECO/AEI/FEDER -EU under contract HAR2012-34620 and HAR2017-83474-P. Jose Angel Garrido Cordero acknowledges the University of Seville for a PhD grant under the V Plan Propio de Investigacion de la Universidad de Sevilla. Montserrat Sanz acknowledges the program Juan de la Cierva for a postdoctoral grant (FJCI-2014-21386). Daura holds a postdoctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/ 100507/2014?) from the Portuguese Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia using funding from the FSE/POPH.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215469
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Diabetes is a disease of high blood sugar. Diabetic patients also can experience extremely low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, after fasting, exercising or too large a dose of insulin. If untreated, severe hypoglycemia can lead to coma or even death.

Rescue kits for hypoglycemia are available but are cumbersome and difficult to use. Current rescue kits require someone to mix a solution with dried glucagon in a vial and then put it into a syringe and properly administer it to the patient. Because more than 100 million adults in the United States live with diabetes or prediabetes, the need is great to find better solutions to treat hypoglycemia effectively.

A National Institutes of Health SBIR Phase I/II grant worth up to $1.4 million was recently awarded to Monon Bioventures, LLC to develop better rescue kits for hypoglycemia. The grant will fund a collaboration with Purdue University's Elizabeth Topp, a professor of industrial and physical pharmacy. The grant will support the pre-clinical development of novel derivatives of glucagon, the drug used in rescue kits.

Topp is working with Mark Heiman, the chief science officer for Monon Bioventures and former chief science officer for Lilly Obesity, to develop an easier solution. They faced a challenge when developing their technology: Glucagon is poorly soluble and unstable in solution. They solved this challenge by using derivatives of glucagon, which they have shown to be soluble and stable in solution.

The glucagon analogs created at Purdue are quickly reconverted after injection to natural glucagon by enzymes in the body. This process creates an easier and quicker alternative to delivering glucagon to a person in need.

"Utilizing Topp's innovative approach, we will be able to significantly improve patient access to this important medicine," Heiman said. "The new glucagon solution will enable the development of much easier delivery methods such as an EpiPen-like device. Intranasal delivery may even be possible, and the derivatives may allow for the realization of an effective, dual-hormone artificial pancreas."

Topp has been working with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization and Monon Bioventures LLC, a company created to help investigators translate their research into the clinic, to develop and patent the glucagon derivatives for the improved glucagon solutions. The CEO of Monon Bioventures LLC, Joseph Trebley, received his PhD from Purdue's College of Pharmacy.

"We couldn't be more excited about working with Topp and Purdue on this important project," Trebley said. "The commercial and drug development expertise of Monon Bioventures and the innovative thinking coming out of Purdue University is really an ideal match. We think that this will be the first of many such collaborations."

Their work aligns with Purdue's Giant Leaps celebration, acknowledging the university's global advancements in health as part of Purdue's 150th anniversary. This is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebration's Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues.

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About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Innovation from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org. For more information on licensing a Purdue innovation, contact the Office of Technology Commercialization at otcip@prf.org. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University.

Writer: Chris Adam, 765-588-3341, cladam@prf.org

Sources: Elizabeth Topp, topp@purdue.edu

Mark Heiman, mark@mononbioventures.com

Joseph Trebley, joe@mononbioventures.com
Syracuse University Libraries' Special Collection Research Center (SCRC) and the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences have collaborated on a first-of-its-kind project. Courtney Asztalos, the Libraries' plastics pioneers curator of plastics and historical artifacts, partnered with chemistry professor Timothy Korter to investigate the chemical composition of objects from the Plastics Artifacts Collection, located on the sixth floor of Bird Library.

Korter, chemistry instructor Mary Boyden and chemistry Ph.D. candidate Elyse Kleist created the Syracuse Chemistry of Artifacts Project (SCOAP) to use Raman spectroscopy to analyze plastic items from the Plastics Artifacts Collection. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique using a laser beam to enhance knowledge of the chemical composition of plastics. This information is critical to the Plastics Artifacts Collection's conservation, preservation and curation.

In addition to the benefit to the Libraries, the collaboration is also providing a research opportunity for the Department of Chemistry. With a solid foundation now in place through the creation of a comprehensive reference database of known plastics and formation of research protocols, the SCOAP team has set the stage for undergraduate students to engage in undergraduate research beginning in fall 2019.

Students enrolled in Introduction to Chemical Research (CHE450) will work alongside Korter and Boyden on the project as part of their American Chemical Society certified degrees. They will use Raman spectroscopy to identify the chemical composition of items in the Plastics Collection and will also work with Libraries staff to understand the historical and cultural value of important plastics artifacts.

"From a chemistry perspective, this is an outstanding example of applying rigorous analytical chemistry techniques in a real-world scenario where the students can immediately see the positive impact of their investigative work," Korter says.

"It is magnificent to see the plastics artifacts being utilized in new and exciting ways, especially in contributing to SCOAP's chemical research," says Asztalos.

"We are delighted to partner on this innovative research project, which combines skills and materials from the Special Collections Research Center with faculty and student expertise, and which adds to our knowledge of important items in our collections to benefit future research," adds Dean of Libraries and University Librarian David Seaman. "This is exemplary of the kind of work an R1 research university is engaged in."

The initiative was made possible through financial support from Invest Syracuse and the Department of Chemistry for the purchase of a portable Raman spectrometer, microscope, computer and supplies, as well as Syracuse University Libraries for project space and the purchase of modern polymer reference samples that were used to create a plastics reference library. Members of the Plastics Pioneers Association also donated reference samples to SCOAP's plastics reference library.

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(New York, NY - May 2, 2019) -- Mount Sinai researchers have broken new ground in the understanding of the MDM2 gene--which is often overexpressed in cancer--finding that when it acts with a specific protein, it can lead to cancer cell death. The study appears in the May 2, 2019, print edition of Molecular Cell.

Their findings provide fresh insights into the cellular pathways that cause cancer, and may open new therapeutic opportunities for cancer treatment.

Cancer cells are known for altering the methods by which they consume and produce energy. The exact role and function of MDM2, the chronic expression of which is seen in cancer, was previously unclear to scientists. This was in part because MDM2 is characterized as both an oncogene--a mutated gene that has the capacity to transform normal cells into cancerous cells--as well as a tumor suppressor.

By studying human cancer cells, fruit flies, and genetically engineered mice, the researchers were able to show that when extra copies of the MDM2 gene occur in cancer, their presence disrupts cellular processes. Specifically, they found that MDM2 interacts with a protein found in cancer cells' mitochondria--the part of a cell that produces its energy, and thus its life--in a process that eventually promotes cancer cell death.

In addition, the team found that nutlin-3A, a promising therapy, enhanced the interaction between MDM2 and the mitochondrial protein, and thus would help kill cancer cells. This research also shows that MDM2 can be targeted in novel ways to promote its interaction with the mitochondrial protein in cancer cells to spur their death.

"Future research should involve delving into MDM2 biology and its pharmacological regulation and examining cellular respiration and mitochondrial dynamics. Understanding the exact nature of the cellular responses to MDM2-induced stress will help advance our efforts to develop concrete therapeutic treatments for cancer," explains lead investigator Jerry Chipuk, PhD, Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences, and Dermatology, and Associate Director for Basic Science Shared Resources at The Tisch Cancer Institute.

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This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01 CA157740, R01 CA206005 and R01 GM12995; the JJR Foundation; the William A. Spivak Fund; the Fridolin Charitable Trust; an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award; a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Career Development Award; and an Irma T. Hirschl/Monique Weill Caulier Trust Research Award. This work was also supported in part by two research grants (5FY1174 and 1FY13416) from the March of Dimes Foundation, the Developmental Research Pilot Project Program within the Department of Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Tisch Cancer Institute Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA196521).

About the Mount Sinai Health System

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

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
EL PASO, Texas-Cure SMA recently awarded a $150,000 research grant to Laxman Gangwani, Ph.D., associate professor of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Center of Emphasis in Neurosciences, at TTUHSC El Paso's Paul L. Foster School of Medicine. The grant will support Gangwani's research on a genetic disorder known as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

SMA is caused by a gene mutation that stops the production of a protein critical to the nerves that control muscles. Without the protein, the nerve cells die, leading to debilitating, and often fatal, muscle weakness. There are four types of SMA, and under the most severe form, Type 1, a child cannot hold their neck up or sit, and life expectancy is only approximately two years.

Gangwani's research project, "Function of Senataxin as a Protective Modifier of Spinal Muscular Atrophy," will study a human protein called senataxin that in very preliminary work appears to be able to rescue SMA motor neurons and prevent their degeneration. If the new research can show a positive role for senataxin in a mouse model of SMA, then it would suggest a potential use for senataxin as a therapeutic target in humans, Gangwani said.

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Cure SMA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the treatment and cure of SMA. The organization funds research and provides support for families dealing with SMA. To read more about SMA, click here. To read Cure SMA's Q&A with Gangwani, click here.
A UBC researcher is using her latest study to question whether soil additives are worth their salt.

Miranda Hart, who teaches biology at UBC's Okanagan campus, says despite a decades-long practice, there could be environmental consequences of adding bio-fertilizers into soil. It's common practice for farmers to use bio-fertilizers as a method to improve crop production. These added microorganisms will live in the soil, creating a natural and healthy growing environment.

However, after a multi-year study on four different crop fields, Hart says the inoculants may not be doing much for the soil. The study, which involved researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was published recently in Science of The Total Environment.

"There are so many companies producing microbes and they are lobbying farmers to be part of a green revolution," says Hart. "These products are considered more environmentally friendly than fertilizers and pesticides, but there is no evidence they are working or that they are even able to establish, or grow, in the soil."

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi live in and around plant roots, helping the plants take up nutrients. Hart explains that many farmers will use commercially produced AM fungi to improve soil quality and increase yields. However, after the study, she says there is still little evidence that the inoculants work.

"It's very hard to determine if the microbes established in the soil," she says. "What we showed is that they often didn't establish. And even when they did, there was no difference in crop performance."

Hart's research team studied four fields during the course of two growing seasons in Saskatchewan and Alberta. For their study, a common commercial AM fungal inoculant was introduced into the fields.

The results showed extreme variation, she says. There were areas where the inoculant failed to establish in some fields, while it grew prolifically in others. In one site, it became invasive and took over the resident fungal community in less than a year.

"Bio-fertilizers have been sold for decades and it's an industry worth millions of dollars," says Hart. "An important take away from this study is that there seemed to be no effect on the crops. If the farmer invested thousands on the inoculate, it may have been a waste of money."

Hart's second takeaway is the general lack of knowledge of what these inoculates are actually doing to the land.

"I'm particularly concerned because there is no evidence that these inoculates are helping the environment," she adds. "What we're doing is releasing invasive species into the environment and we don't know the long-term effect of what's happening to the soil."

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Hart's research was partially funded by Agriculture and Agrifood Canada.
MEDIA AVAILABLE: Images of amyloid beta (A-) prions revealed by cellular bioassays and headshots of the corresponding authors available here. Media caption and credit information available here.

Two proteins central to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease act as prions -- misshapen proteins that spread through tissue like an infection by forcing normal proteins to adopt the same misfolded shape -- according to new UC San Francisco research.

Using novel laboratory tests, the researchers were able to detect and measure specific, self-propagating prion forms of the proteins amyloid beta (A-) and tau in postmortem brain tissue of 75 Alzheimer's patients. In a striking finding, higher levels of these prions in human brain samples were strongly associated with early-onset forms of the disease and younger age at death.

Alzheimer's disease is currently defined based on the presence of toxic protein aggregations in the brain known as amyloid plaques and tau tangles, accompanied by cognitive decline and dementia. But attempts to treat the disease by clearing out these inert proteins have been unsuccessful. The new evidence that active A- and tau prions could be driving the disease -- published May 1, 2019 in Science Translational Medicine -- could lead researchers to explore new therapies that focus on prions directly.

"I believe this shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that amyloid beta and tau are both prions, and that Alzheimer's disease is a double-prion disorder in which these two rogue proteins together destroy the brain," said Stanley Prusiner, MD, the study's senior author and director of the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, part of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences. "The fact that prion levels also appear linked to patient longevity should change how we think about the way forward for developing treatments for the disease. We need a sea change in Alzheimer's disease research, and that is what this paper does. This paper might catalyze a major change in AD research."

What are Prions?

Prions are misfolded versions of a protein that can spread like an infection by forcing normal copies of that protein into the same self-propagating, misfolded shape. The original prion protein, PrP, was identified by Prusiner in the 1980s as the cause of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) and spongiform bovine encephalopathy, also known as Mad Cow Disease, which spread through consumption of meat and bone meal tainted with PrP prions. This was the first time a disease had been shown to infect people not by an infestation of an organism such as a bacterium or a virus, but through an infectious protein, and Prusiner received a Nobel Prize for that discovery in 1997.

Prusiner and colleagues have long suspected that PrP was not the only protein capable of acting as a self-propagating prion, and that distinct types of prion could be responsible for other neurodegenerative diseases caused by the progressive toxic buildup of misfolded proteins. For example, Alzheimer's disease is defined by A- plaques and tau tangles that gradually spread destruction through the brain. Over the past decade, laboratory studies at UCSF and elsewhere have begun to show that amyloid plaques and tau tangles from diseased brains can infect healthy brain tissue much like PrP, but considerably more slowly.

Many scientists have been reluctant to accept that A- and tau are self-propagating prions -- instead referring to their spread as "prion-like" -- because unlike PrP prions, they were not thought to be infectious except in highly controlled laboratory studies. However, recent reports have documented rare cases of patients treated with growth hormone derived from human brain tissue, or given transplants of the brain's protective dura mater, who went on to develop A- plaques in middle age, long before they should be seen in anyone without a genetic disorder. Prusiner contends that these findings argue that both A and tau are prions even though they propagate more slowly than highly aggressive PrP prions.

In response to these debates, Prusiner likes to quote from a 1969 lecture by neuroscientist Bernard Katz: "There is a type of scientist who, if given the choice, would rather use his colleague's toothbrush than his terminology!"

Laboratory Bioassays Reveal A and Tau Prions in Human Postmortem Brain Samples

In the new study, the researchers combined two recently developed laboratory tests to rapidly measure prions in human tissue samples: a new A- detection system developed in the Prusiner lab and a tau prion assay previously developed by Marc Diamond, PhD, a former UCSF faculty member who is now director of the Center for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Unlike earlier animal models that could take months to reveal the slow spread of A- and/or tau prions, these cell-based assays measure infectious prion levels in just three days, enabling the researchers to effectively quantify for the first time the levels of both tau and A- prions in processed extracts from post-mortem brain samples. In the new study, they applied the technique to autopsied brain tissue from over 100 individuals who had died of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of neurodegeneration, which was collected from repositories in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

In assays comparing the samples from Alzheimer's patients with those who died of other diseases, prion activity corresponded exactly with the distinctive protein pathology that has been established in each disease: in 75 Alzheimer's disease brains, both A- and tau prion activity was elevated; in 11 samples from patients with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), only A- prions were seen; and in 10 tau-linked frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) samples, only tau prions were detected. Another recently developed bioassay for alpha-synuclein prions only found these infectious particles in the seven samples from patients with the synuclein-linked degenerative disorder multiple system atrophy (MSA).

"These assays are a game-changer," said co-author and protein chemist William DeGrado, PhD, a professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and member of the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute, who contributed to the design and analysis of the current study. "Previously Alzheimer's research has been stuck looking at collateral damage in the form of misfolded, dead proteins that form plaques and tangles. Now it turns out that it is prion activity that correlates with disease, rather than the amount of plaques and tangles at the time of autopsy. So if we are going to succeed in developing effective therapies and diagnostics, we need to target the active prion forms, rather than the large amount of protein in plaques and tangles."

A- and Tau Prion Activity Linked to Alzheimer's Patients' Longevity

The most remarkable finding of the new study may be the discovery that the self-propagating prion forms of tau and A- are most infectious in the brains of Alzheimer's patients who died at a young age from inherited, genetically driven forms of the disease, but much less prevalent in patients who died at a more advanced age.

In particular, when compared to measurements of overall tau buildup -- which is known to increase with age in Alzheimer's brains -- the researchers found a remarkable exponential decline in the relative abundance of the prion forms of tau with age. When the researchers plotted their data, they saw an extremely strong correlation between tau prions and patients' age at death: relative to overall tau levels, the quantity of tau prions in the brain of a patient who died at age 40 were on average 32 times higher than in a patient who died at 90.

"I still remember where I was sitting and what time of day it was when I first saw this data over a year ago," said co-author and leading neurodegeneration researcher William Seeley, MD, a professor of neurology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center who directs the UCSF Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank, which provided tissue used in the study. "I've very rarely, if ever, seen this kind of correlation in human biological data. Now the job is to find out what the correlation means."

The research raises a number of questions that will need to be addressed by future studies, including whether differences in prion infectivity could explain the long-standing mystery of why Alzheimer's progresses at such different rates in different patients. Other open questions resulting from the research include whether higher prion levels in brain samples from younger patients are linked to the early onset of the disease or how quickly it progressed, and whether lower prion levels in older brains reflect less "infective" prion variants or instead some ability of these patients' brains to dispose of misfolded proteins.

The evidence that prion forms of A- and tau play a specific role in Alzheimer's disease -- one that cannot be captured by simply counting amyloid plaques and tau tangles in patient brains -- also raises questions on current approaches to Alzheimer's diagnosis, clinical trial design, and drug discovery, say the authors, who hope their novel assays will spur renewed interest in developing therapies to target the now-measurable prion proteins.

"We have recently seen many seemingly promising Alzheimer's therapies fail in clinical trials, leading some to speculate that we have been targeting the wrong proteins," said Carlo Condello, PhD, one of the study's lead authors. "But what if we just haven't been designing drugs against the distinctive prion forms of these proteins that actually cause disease? Now that we can effectively measure the prion forms of A- and tau, there's hope that we can develop drugs that either prevent them from forming or spreading, or help the brain clear them before they cause damage."

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Authors: Atsushi Aoyagi, PhD, of Daiichi Sankyo Co. in Tokyo and Carlo Condello, PhD, were co-lead authors of the new study. Stanley B. Prusiner, MD, the director of the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases and professor in the departments of Neurology and of Biochemistry and Biophysics, was the study's senior author. Prusiner and Condello are the study's corresponding authors. For a full list of additional authors and brain banks that supplied tissue samples used in the research, please see the study online.

Funding: This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (AG002132, AG031220, AG061874), the Oak Meadow Foundation, the Brockman Foundation, the Glenn Foundation, Rainwater Charitable Foundation, the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, and the Alzheimer's Association (2015-NIRG-339935).

Disclosures: The Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (UCSF) has a research collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo (Tokyo, Japan). Prusiner is a member of the Board of Directors of Trizell Inc. and a member of the scientific advisory board of ViewPoint Therapeutics, neither of which contributed support for this study. DeGrado is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Pliant, Longevity, Cytegen, Amai, and ADRx Inc., none of which contributed support for this study. Seeley received consulting fees from Bristol Myers-Squibb, Merck Inc., and Biogen Idec. Aoyagi, Prusiner, and other co-authors are coinventors on patent # WO/2017/172764 entitled "Modified cell line and method of determining tauopathies."

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.

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University of Cincinnati engineer Francesco Simonetti came up with a process he calls cryoultrasonics to detect flaws in manufactured parts.

"How on Earth did they make that?" asks Francesco Simonetti, commenting on an ice sculpture of a swan.

Simonetti isn't admiring the artistry of shaping a block of ice into a bird. He's admiring the swan's crystal-clear transparency.

Simonetti, an aerospace engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati, is an expert in sound waves, but lately he's been an apprentice in ice. And when it comes to sound waves, the clearer the ice, the better.

Simonetti recently published a novel approach that uses ultrasound to inspect additive-manufactured parts: He dips the part in water and freezes it inside a cylinder of ice. The ice acts as a coupling medium, letting ultrasonic waves enter and reflect against the part's potential defects.

To describe this grouping of ultrasound and ice, Simonetti coined the term cryoultrasonics. Cryoultrasonics can have a dramatic influence on industry, ensuring additive manufacturers build reliable parts.

The work appeared this month in NDT& E International, one of the leading journals in nondestructive testing and evaluation.

Simonetti uses cryoultrasonics to inspect safety-critical parts, like metal parts in jet engines or power plants. Because people's lives are at stake, engineers need to be able to detect any potential defects in these parts before they're used in practice.

In traditional subtractive manufacturing, ultrasound testing works just fine. A manufacturer starts with a solid block of material, which engineers can test for defects by sending ultrasonic waves through it.

But new technologies, like additive manufacturing, challenge this approach. Additive manufacturers build a desired part not by subtracting from a block but by adding layer on layer. Ultrasonic waves bounce off the angles and curves of these new parts, instead of the potential cracks or defects.

"Sound needs a coupling medium to propagate from a source transducer into the volume of a part," says Simonetti. "When the contrast in mechanical properties between the coupling medium and the part is large, very little energy enters, and it doesn't work."

Many people have tested water as a coupling medium. They immersed the part in water and sent ultrasound waves through it. Water's mechanical properties, however, are very different from metals. Very little ultrasonic energy can even make it to the part.

So Simonetti turned to ice.

"Living in Cincinnati, you're always removing ice from the drive way. I got curious to see what the ice properties were," says Simonetti.

"We tried all the conventional techniques and nothing would work. At that point, we looked for desperate measures, and I just thought, 'Why don't we try?'"

Simonetti freezes the metal part in a cylinder of ice and then sends ultrasonic waves through it. Since the physical properties of ice are very similar to those of the metal part, the waves easily pass through the ice and encased metal and pick up any defects in the part. When he's done, the ice simply melts.

At least that's the idea.

"The first attempts were disastrous," says Simonetti.

For ice to act as an effective coupling medium, it has to be crystal clear -- If any cracks or bubbles exist, ultrasound waves will reflect off of the defects in the ice rather than the defects in the part.

But ice isn't crystal clear. It's cloudy and fractured. Send an ultrasound wave through it and the wave bounces in 15 directions. It's even worse for bigger blocks of ice, like those needed to encase some of these metal parts.

Simonetti needed to find a way to freeze ice around the part while keeping the ice transparent. That meant getting a special machine that froze ice without causing bubbles or cracks.

"Of course, we had to build this thing," he says.

Simonetti made this custom ice machine by hand, combining things bought on Amazon like baking pans, griddles and spindles. It's like a science kitchen set, but it does the job. That job is to tackle the two obstacles that prevent the formation crystal-clear ice: cracks and bubbles.

Cracks form because water expands as it solidifies. Water freezes from the outside, forming a solid ice shell with liquid core. As the core solidifies, it tends to expand against the shell, which causes a buildup of internal forces that leads to cracking.

To prevent this cracking, Simonetti has made a cylinder with a metal base and plastic sides. Simonetti puts the metal part he's inspecting inside of the cylinder and fills it with water. He then chills the metal base, which causes the water to freeze from bottom to top. The water eventually solidifies around the metal part and expands to the open top of a cylinder, rather than the sides.

Bubbles are little trickier. Dissolved air exists in water. As water freezes, it expels the excess air. This excess air accumulates on the freeze front, or where the water is turning to ice, to form bubbles.

"In order to prevent this phenomenon, you need to simply reduce the concentration of air on top of the freeze front. To do that, we stir the water to have constant flow," says Simonetti.

To create this constant flow, Simonetti uses a spindle. By keeping the water in motion, the excess air never accumulates and the bubbles never form.

The result is a metal part encased by a block of crystal-clear ice, rivaling even the clearest ice sculpture. Simonetti can send ultrasonic waves unimpeded through this block to measure the safety of a metal part. When he's done, he simply puts the part under water and the ice melts right off.

Simonetti admits that ice is only one step forward in inspecting these critical-safety parts. Ice is a good coupling medium because it has similar properties to that of metal, but it's still not exact.

"Ideally, if the coupling medium were made of the same material as the part, it would be perfect," says Simonetti. "But that is not practical with something like liquid titanium. Experimentally, you couldn't remove it."

Simonetti is now experimenting with nanoparticles to create ice that more closely resembles the properties of a metal part. The idea is to freeze suspensions of nanoparticles into the water to make the ice denser, heavier and mechanically stronger.

Simonetti's taking calls from many industries, including engineering firms, car manufacturers and the military. He thinks the publication has helped establish legitimacy in his cryoultrasonic approach, as well as limit skepticism. He, too, doubted the approach at first.

"It's entirely new. Whenever you have something that is so novel, there are a lot of skeptics from the academic community," he says. "When you freeze water, it looks terrible. You think, 'This is not going to work.'"

Simonetti pulls the finished block of ice out of the freezer to inspect. The ice completely encases the metal part. As Simonetti holds up the ice, he can see right through it. It's as clear as an ice sculpture of a swan and, somehow, just as impressive.

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Expansion of oil palm production in remote forest areas requires careful planning and evaluation if the communities are to benefit, according to a report by researchers at the University of Kent

Expansion of oil palm production in remote forest areas requires careful planning and evaluation if the communities are to benefit, according to a report by researchers at the University of Kent.

Their findings show that unsustainable livelihoods, socioeconomic inequality and environmental issues remain major challenges in the oil palm industry. The research, entitled Does oil palm agriculture help alleviate poverty? A multidimensional counterfactual assessment of oil palm development in Indonesia is published in the journal World Development.

The researchers investigated the claim by palm oil producing countries that oil palm agriculture helps alleviate poverty, despite limited evidence about the contribution of this crop on villager's well-being.

The research was led by a multi-national team led Dr Truly Santika with Dr Matthew Struebig and Professor Erik Meijaard, from Kent's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology along with colleagues in Indonesia, Australia and other countries. They examined the association between the development of oil palm plantations and change in objective measures of well-being between 2000 and 2014 across 6,600 villages in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.

The researchers found that social impacts are difficult to generalise as positive or negative. Improved socioeconomic welfare was found where the villages already had a market based economy, typically in areas with low forest cover. The opposite was found in remote villages relying on subsistence-based livelihoods and with higher forest cover, as well as in more recent palm plantations. Overall, and regardless of location, villages in Kalimantan saw slower improvements to social and environmental well-being if they grew oil palm compared to those that didn't.

Dr Struebig said: 'The research tells us that the potential for oil palm to alleviate poverty depends crucially on the social and environmental context of where it's grown. Countries should think twice about expanding agriculture in forested regions if they are to maximise benefits to local people'.

Does oil palm agriculture help alleviate poverty? A multidimensional counterfactual assessment of oil palm development in Indonesia (Truly Santika, Erik Meijaard and Matthew Struebig, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent; Kerrie Wilson, Queensland University of Technology; Sugeng Budiharta, Indonesian Institute of Sciences; Elizabeth Law, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research; Tun Min Poh, Borneo Futures; Marc Ancrenaz, IUCN Oil Palm Task Force) is published in the journal World Development.

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For further information and interview or image requests contact Sandy Fleming at the University of Kent Press Office.

Tel: +44 (0)1227 823581

Email: S.Fleming@kent.ac.uk

News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news

University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent

Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.

It was ranked 22nd in the Guardian University Guide 2018 and in June 2017 was awarded a gold rating, the highest, in the UK Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

In 2018 it was also ranked in the top 500 of Shanghai Ranking's Academic Ranking of World Universities and 47th in the Times Higher Education's (THE) new European Teaching Rankings.

Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.

Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium.

The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals.

Kent has received two Queen's Anniversary prizes for Higher and Further Education.
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded two highly competitive Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative awards for 2019 to research teams led by a pair of University of Missouri researchers from the Department of Chemistry. Arthur Suits, a professor of chemistry, and his team will receive up to $6.25 million over the next five years. Tommy Sewell, a professor of chemistry, and his team will receive up to $7.5 million over the next five years.

Since the program's inception in 1985, the Department of Defense has awarded yearly funding to multidisciplinary research teams from higher education institutions to pursue basic research that spans many scientific areas. This year, a total of 24 awards were given, and Mizzou was one of only three higher education institutions to receive more than one award.

Controlling chemical reactions

For Suits, manipulating and controlling the outcome of chemical reactions is a dream, and now that dream could be one step closer to reality. To him, chemistry is fundamentally about the scattering of molecules, or molecular collisions. The goal of his team's project is to create a toolkit that will not only help scientists better understand how chemical reactions occur, but also give scientists the ability to control chemical reactions.

"It's pushing the scientific frontier and training the next generation of scientists," Suits said.

Suits' interdisciplinary team includes physicists and chemists from Stanford University; Harvard University; the University of Colorado Boulder; the University of New Mexico; and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Predicting explosive safety and performance

When NASA or Space X sends a rocket into space, human lives and millions of dollars are at stake. Sewell and his team are working -- through a theoretical framework reinforced by specifically designed experiments -- to predict the behavior of energetic materials such as military munitions, rocket propellants, pyrotechnics and industrial explosives.

"The goal is to reduce accidents, improve safety and be able to design energetic formulations that would have much more tightly tailored performance," Sewell said.

To build this framework, Sewell's interdisciplinary team will comb through large amounts of experimental and simulated data using artificial intelligence. Sewell will co-lead his project with H.S. Udaykumar of the University of Iowa, and the two will collaborate with researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University, Purdue University and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

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A drug used to treat erectile dysfunction has been found by University of Manchester scientists to slow or even reverse the progression of heart failure in sheep.

The British Heart Foundation funded study is a breakthrough in the treatment for the disease in which five year survival rates are lower than most common cancers.

The study of Tadalafil - which is in the same class as Viagra - proves that the drug is biologically effective as a treatment for heart failure in sheep.

However, lead author Professor Andrew Trafford argues the effect is likely to also be shown in humans. The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Heart failure is a devastating condition, occurring when the heart is too weak to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.

It also causes a build-up of fluid that backs up into the lungs, resulting in breathlessness as well fluid retention, resulting in swelling of different parts of the body.

Most current treatments are ineffective.

"This discovery is an important advance in a devastating condition which causes misery for thousands of people across the UK and beyond," said Professor Trafford.

"We do have limited evidence from human trials and epidemiological studies that show Tadalafil can be effective in treating heart failure.

"This study provides further confirmation, adds mechanistic details and demonstrates that Tadalafil could now be a possible therapy for heart failure.

"It's entirely possible that some patients taking it for er`ectile dysfunction have also unwittingly enjoyed a protective effect on their heart."

Sheep were used by the team as the physiology their hearts is similar to human hearts.

When the animals had heart failure - induced by pace makers - which was sufficiently advanced to need treatment, the team administered the drug. Within a short period the progressive worsening of the heart failure was stopped and, importantly the drug reversed the effects of heart failure.

And the biological cause of breathlessness in heart failure- the inability of the heart to respond to adrenaline was almost completely reversed.

The dose the sheep received were similar to the dose humans are given when being treated for erectile dysfunction.

Tadalafil blocks an enzyme called Phosphodiesterase 5 or PDE5S for short, which regulates how our tissue responds to hormones like adrenaline.

The research team found that in heart failure, the drug altered the signalling cascade - a series of chemical reactions in the body - to restore the hearts ability to respond to adrenaline.

And that increases the ability of the heart to force blood around the body when working harder.

Professor Trafford added: "This is a widely used and very safe drug with minimal side effects.

"However we would not advise the public to treat themselves with the drug and should always speaking to their doctor if they have any concerns or questions.

"Tadalafil is only suitable as a treatment for systolic heart failure - when the heart is not able to pump properly - and there may be interactions with other drugs patients are taking."

Professor Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said:

"Viagra-type drugs were initially developed as potential treatments for heart disease before they were found to have unexpected benefits in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. We seem to have gone full-circle, with findings from recent studies suggesting that they may be effective in the treatment of some forms of heart disease - in this case, heart failure.

"We need safe and effective new treatments for heart failure, which is a cruel and debilitating condition that affects almost a million people in the UK. The evidence from this study - that a Viagra-like drug could reverse heart failure - should encourage further research in humans to determine if such drugs may help to save and improve lives."

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Type of study: experimental

Type of journal: peer reviewed

Type of subject: animals

NOTES FOR EDITORS

An embargoed copy of the paper 'Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibition improves contractile function and restores transverse tubule loss and catecholamine responsiveness in heart failure' is available.

Professor Trafford is available for comment on Monday afternoon and Wednesday

A video is available of Professor Trafford speaking about the research

For media enquiries contact:

Mike Addelman

Media Relations Officer

Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

University of Manchester

0161 275 2111

07717 881567

michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk
"On August 5, 2010, a violent cloudburst dumped fourteen inches of rain on Ladakh, a mountain region in the far north of India accustomed to getting just three inches of rain in a year. In the principal town of Leh especially, the results were catastrophic: 255 people killed, over 800 injured, and thousands left homeless. Five years later, flooding recurred on a wider scale, destroying buildings, roads, fields, and orchards all over Ladakh and provoking a wide-ranging discussion among locals about changing weather patterns and the causes of climate catastrophe. For even as it suffers from too much water, Ladakh also suffers from too little. Declining snow fall and glacial recession have diminished its water reserves and created unprecedented conditions of agricultural scarcity."

So writes Stewart Weaver, a professor of history at the University of Rochester, describing the devastation of an Indian mountain region that he and a team have observed for the past two summers. Now, Weaver has been selected as a 2019 Andrew Carnegie Fellow to continue work on the project "Climate Witness: Voices from Ladakh"--an effort to preserve the rich culture and history of the locale and its people before it's too late.

The Carnegie Fellowship, among the most prestigious awards in the social sciences and humanities, provides up to $200,000 in support for research toward "the publication of a book or major study that offers a fresh perspective on a pressing challenge of our time," according to the Carnegie Corporation's website. Weaver's was one of 32 successful nominations out of nearly 300.

Mountain environments are particularly susceptible to climate change, placing Ladakh--which translates roughly to "land of high passes"--on the front lines of global warming. "Looking closely at Ladakh," Weaver says, "allows us to draw larger conclusions about the challenges of climate change at high altitude, and the ways in which mountain communities are both struggling with and successfully adapting to them."

An ongoing research collaboration between the University of Rochester, the Himalayan Cultural Heritage Foundation, and the Central Institute for Buddhist Studies in Leh, the Climate Witness project has taken several Rochester students to the region, along with Weaver and his wife and project partner Tatyana Bakhmetyeva, an associate professor of history and gender, sexuality, and women's studies at Rochester, and anthropologist Nancy Chin, an associate professor of public health sciences who has been conducting field research in Ladakh for many years. Over the course of two summers, the team has collected and recorded a wide array of Ladakhi testimonies about the struggle and resilience in this high trans-Himalayan land.

Their challenges are urgent. As Weaver writes, "The Himalaya is the Water Tower of Asia. The snow fields and glaciers on which 700 million people depend for their water are melting fast and calling the sustainability of life in the entire Himalayan watershed into very real question. Out-migration is imminent, and in Ladakh it has begun."

In Ladakh, many local men, unable to support their families in the villages any longer, have already begun migrating to Leh to work in the bourgeoning tourist and service industries. In many ways, Weaver notes, the region is an example of global trends in the age of climate change: weather disturbances, water scarcity, out-migration from rural communities, and the consequent erosion of traditional village life. But it is all happening much faster there, warns Weaver, rendering the collection of oral histories so urgent.

Hearing from local voices may be especially important in the context of climate change. Weaver argues that too many Western scholars still indulge "the romantic tendency to see the trans-Himalaya as an isolated realm away, apart, and above the world at large."

But while today's pace of global warming is unprecedented, Ladakhis have always had to meet the challenges of a harsh environment and develop strategies of resilience and adaptation, he notes. Now Weaver is hoping to be able to "recover some of these adaptive strategies and bring local knowledge to bear on the greatest global challenge of our time."

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Duke Energy is the largest investor-owned electric utility in the U.S., serving 7.7 million customers in North and South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. But a deep dive into Dukes actions, portfolio and regulatory filings reveals another distinction: Considering its size, environmental record, puny investments in solar and wind power, and schemes to penalize customers who want to join the renewable energy revolution, Duke is public energy enemy No. 1.

In its 2017 Sustainability Report,1 Duke boasted that it is reducing air and water pollution from its power plants, expanding its use of renewable energy and working to improve the lives of our customers and vitality of our communities. The utility has even registered the slogan Building a Smarter Energy Future. Duke titles its current annual report Transforming the Future. Here are the facts:

Dirty coal-fired power plants and risky nuclear reactors generate almost 70 percent of Dukes electricity, far more than the national share of about 50 percent. Across all service areas where Duke has a government-protected monopoly, solar and hydro power generate 2 percent of its electricity.

Forced by Environmental Protection Agency lawsuits to reduce its reliance on coal, Duke is staking its future on natural gas power plants and pipelines. Extraction of natural gas relies on fracking, a major source of water and air pollution and a severe threat to public health, and the extraction, transport and burning of natural gas emits methane, a much more powerful global warming gas than carbon.

Duke is systematically undermining customers ability to generate their own solar power and their savings from customer-owned solar and energy efficiency investments.

Based in Charlotte, N.C., Duke operates in so many state and regional markets  each with a different set of rates and rules  that regulators, journalists and consumers dont often get a complete picture of what the behemoth is planning and doing. But EWGs months-long investigation reveals a master plan sharply at odds with Americas urgent need to turn away from outdated energy sources that fuel climate change and threaten public health.

Across the nation, forward-looking utilities are accelerating the development of cheaper, cleaner and safer renewables, energy storage and efficiency, and phaseout of expensive, dirty and dangerous coal, nuclear and natural gas plants. But Duke is seeking to slow the pace of transition to renewables. It wants to retain control of power generation and to protect its own power plant investments against competition and cheaper alternatives.

Dukes government-protected monopolies allow it to pass on to customers the cost of expensive, centralized power plants. These monopolies are relics of an age when regulators wanted to extend electric service quickly to as many people as possible, so they guaranteed utilities exclusive territories and a fair return on investments in new facilities.

But in an era offering multiple, ever-expanding and decentralized sources of energy, this model is an incentive for Duke to keep conventional power front and center, relegating renewables and efficiency to the fringes. This increases Dukes short-term profits for its stockholders2 but at the expense of ratepayers pocketbooks and health, and the nations energy future.

How Duke Makes Money

In 2018, Dukes net income from its electric utility subsidiaries in North and South Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Indiana was about $2.6 billion on revenues of $22.5 billion  an 11.5 percent profit margin. Its plants, equipment and property were valued at $78.6 billion.

In the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky, Duke is a regulated monopoly.3 In its exclusive service territories, Duke owns the plants that generate electricity and the transmission and distribution systems that carry it to customers. State regulators, appointed by the governor and confirmed by legislators, must approve a utilitys investments in new plants. The regulators then set electricity rates to cover the costs of generating and delivering power, plus a guaranteed rate of return on its investments.

This means Dukes customers are obligated to pay for whatever type of power plant the company, wielding its tremendous political clout, can persuade regulators it needs to build.4 It also gives Duke a powerful incentive to pad its profits by building plants it owns and operates  the more expensive, the better  and to discourage customers from generating their own power by installing solar panels or from saving energy through efficiency measures. The more inefficient the electric system, the more Duke, or any other regulated utility, profits.

Companies traded on the stock market must file an annual report with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing risks to their bottom line that investors should be aware of. Dukes SEC filing for 2018 makes clear that it sees the trend toward renewables, efficiency, customer control and environmental sustainability as threats to its profit margin. Duke warns:

State and federal laws mandating greater efficiency will reduce demand for electricity, sticking the company with stranded costs it may not be able to recoup from customers.

Demand will drop as cheaper prices for solar panels, wind turbines and other forms of distributed generation empower customers and local communities to generate their own electricity, freeing them to leave Dukes system entirely.

The expansion of net metering will let solar customers send the electricity they generate back into Dukes system and receive a credit on their monthly bills.

The costs of cleaning up millions of tons of toxic coal ash pollution could damage its reputation and financial position.5 And there are substantial costs and liabilities associated with owning nuclear plants and safeguarding the radioactive waste left behind, including the uncertainties with respect to the technological and financial aspects of decommissioning nuclear plants at the end of their licensed lives.

Undermining Customer Choice and Savings

To undercut the customer incentive to invest in energy efficiency or install rooftop solar to cut electric bills, Duke has used two main strategies: derailing or weakening net metering and raising the fixed monthly customer charge.

Net metering

Net metering works like this: Rooftop solar panels are connected to the homes electric meter. The meter measures the electricity the customer uses from the utilitys distribution system and how much was generated from the customers own solar panels. The utility credits the customer for the solar-generated power returned to the grid and sold to other customers at the same rate it charges for the power it delivered.

Utilities argue that this means solar customers arent paying their fair share of costs of the distribution system. But independent studiesshow that solar installations benefit all customers by reducing the need for expensive new generation and distribution systems. California regulators estimate that customers investments in rooftop solar and efficiency have averted $2.6 billion in transmission and distribution costs for utilities  costs that would have been passed on to customers.

Fixed charges

Most of the monthly bill for all but the largest users consists of variable charges  how much electricity is used, the costs of power plants and the distribution system, and the utilitys profit margin as set by regulators.

The fixed customer charge is the part of the bill intended to cover administrative costs  the cost of installing and reading meters, billing, and the poles and lines that connect the home to the distribution system. Fixed charges have historically run about $5 to $10 a month, depending on the number of customers served.

Utilities can try to discourage customers from going solar by paying them a much lower rate for power sent back to the grid than they charge for power supplied by the grid, or by eliminating net metering altogether. Utilities can raise the fixed monthly charge. Or they can assess solar customers so-called demand charges, based not on actual electricity used but on the customers highest demand for the month.

Duke has relentlessly pushed state regulators to let it implement these and other tactics to punish customers for going solar or investing in energy efficiency.

In South Carolina, Duke derailed 2018 legislation that would have lifted the cap limiting net metering to customers representing 2 percent of utility sales. The state hit the cap that summer, causingnew solar adopters to receive less compensation for their contributions to the grid. In Indiana, Duke and its allies in 2017 pushed through legislation to eliminate net metering by 2022.

In its home state of North Carolina, since 2013 Duke has been allowed to more than double the flat monthly charge, from $6.75 to the current $14. In 2015, the utility lobbied successfully to kill legislation that would have made it easier for customers to borrow and pay back the cost of solar panels, and to stop the extension of a renewable energy tax credit. Duke supported recently passed legislation allowing utilities to add demand charges to solar customers bills, if approved by regulators. Duke also worked to severely weaken North Carolinas implementation of the Public Utility Regulatory Act, a federal law requiring utilities to purchase power from independent developers of solar, wind or other forms of renewable energy.

Duke has two subsidiaries in the Carolinas: Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress, a legacy of its 2012 merger with Progress Energy. In November 2018, the two utilities separately asked South Carolina regulators for major increases in their flat monthly customer charges. Duke Energy Carolinas is seeking an increase from $9.06 to $29, and Duke Energy Progress wants an increase from $8.29 to $28. In 2018, Duke also killed a bill that would have expanded net metering, limiting the number of customers who could participate.

Based on a proposal from Duke, in 2014 Florida regulators rolled back the states energy efficiency goals by 90 percent and eliminated rebates from the utility to customers who invest in solar panels.

In Indiana, the lobbying group for the states large utility companies, including Duke, successfully killed the statewide energy efficiency program. Last year a study estimated that Indiana ratepayers will pay $140 million more from 2015 through 2019 than if the program had stayed in place. In 2017, the lobby group secured passage of a bill to sharply reduce the rate customers are paid for power sent to the grid.

In Ohio, Duke sought in 2017 to increase the flat monthly customer charge from $6 to $22.77, but regulators rejected the request after pushback organized by Ohio Citizen Action and the Sierra Club turned out customers to public hearings, and thousands of letters and postcards against the fixed rate increase were filed with the state public utilities commission.

Slowing the Transition to Renewable Energy

In 2018, coal-fired power plants generated about 31 percent of Dukes electricity. Nuclear reactors supplied about 33 percent, and 34 percent came from plants burning natural gas or fuel oil. Solar and hydro power supplied 2 percent. Duke owns no wind power in its regulated territories. These percentages include purchased power, which makes up about 7 percent of Dukes energy mix. A small portion of Dukes purchased power is from renewable sources.

The generation mix is shifting  but not nearly fast enough to allow Dukes customers to take full advantage of the tremendous potential for renewable energy in its territories, or to reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly enough to head off catastrophic climate change. Duke planning documents filed with state regulators show:

Although it has been forced by economics, lawsuits and tighter emissions regulations to close some dirty, money-losing coal plants, Duke will continue to rely on coal as a significant source of its generation mix for another decade or more. Duke opened a new coal plant in North Carolina in 2012 and another in Indiana the following year. In Indiana, it plans for coal to provide more than 60 percent of its electricity in 2035. In the Carolinas, Dukes last currently operating coal plant wont close until 2048.

Nuclear is Dukes dominant energy source in the Carolinas, with 11 reactors in six power plants generating 52 percent of electricity. By 2033, the share of nuclear power in those states is projected to decline only slightly, to 46 percent. In 2017, Duke canceled construction of two new reactors in South Carolina, although it retained their federal license, for potentially reviving the project in the future.

Duke is staking its future on fracked natural gas. In 2017, the utility said gas will play a major role in Duke Energys clean energy future  not acknowledging the mounting evidence of the health hazards of natural gas production and its significant contribution to climate change. And heavy reliance on natural gas will continue. Duke is investing billions of dollars in new natural gas plants and pipelines. Natural gas will increase to supply more than three-fourths of Dukes generation in Florida by 2027 and more than a third in the Carolinas by 2033.

These investments in coal, nuclear and natural gas come at the expense of more aggressive expansion of cleaner and affordable renewable energy, energy efficiency and storage batteries.

Renewables

In the Carolinas, renewables provide only about 3 percent of Dukes electricity generation. By 2033, that is projected to increase to just 8 percent. In Florida, the Sunshine State, Duke has no solar generation, rising to less than 10 percent in 2027. In Indiana, renewables and efficiency are projected to supply just 13 percent of Dukes energy by 2035.

The most glaring hole in Dukes renewables portfolio is wind power. Duke owns wind projects that sell power on the wholesale market and buys some wind power for resale in Indiana. But it has no wind generation in its monopoly territories.

The utility says its too difficult to site wind turbines in the Carolinas. In 2010 Duke abandoned a plan to build three turbines offshore in North Carolina and more recently rejected a bid for a contract to purchase wind power in the two states. Dukes planning documents project very little expansion of wind power. Advocates led by Southern Alliance for Clean Energy recently filed testimony criticizing Dukes most recent planning document, asserting that retiring coal plants early, avoiding new natural gas plants and shifting aggressively to renewables would be over $5 billion less expensive than their business plan.

Duke makes specious arguments for its tepid solar program and its shunning of wind. It says renewables are unreliable  that their power output is intermittent. Its true that solar and wind output vary depending on the time of day and weather conditions, but their generation overall is predictable. The declining cost of storage batteries means far less natural gas capacity is needed for peak demand times: Prices for projects combining solar and storage are now often cheaper than new natural gas plants. This trend has rapidly accelerated in recent years, but Duke didnt announce its first pilot storage project until last fall. Over the next 15 years, Duke plans to add more than 40 times as much natural gas generation as storage capacity in the Carolinas.

The potential for renewables in Dukes territories is huge. The technical potential for wind off the North Carolina coast is almost five times what the states power plants currently supply to the grid, and off the South Carolina coast, almost eight times more.

Using data from federal agencies and the solar industry,6 EWG calculated that in each state Duke serves, except Florida, the potential of wind and solar power far exceeds electricity demand. Technical potential isnt necessarily economic potential, but even installing a small percentage of that potential would significantly alter the energy mix in Duke territories in favor of renewables. (See Appendix 1 for our calculations.)

Efficiency

Dukes efficiency investments also leave much to be desired. In states with an efficiency mandate, Duke complies with the law but goes no further. In territories without a standard, Duke simply maintains its existing programs, ignoring the potential for energy and customer savings.7

EWG applied data from the Energy Information Administration to the methods used to compile the annual scorecard of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. We calculated that the overall efficiency score for Duke across all its territories is only one out of four  a failing grade by any standard. (See Appendix 2 for our calculations.)

In Indiana, Dukes 2015 planning documents downplay the potential gain from efficiency by assuming that solar costs will remain the same for 20 years and severely underestimating the capacity of wind turbines. The documents also manipulate data to make Dukes money-losing coal plants seem cheaper to operate than they really are.

Grid modernization scheme

Energy storage and efficiency, rooftop solar, and other strategies such as demand response8 can much more cheaply displace or postponecostly transmission and distribution upgrades. But instead of investing in these money-saving technologies, in the Carolinas Duke is seeking regulators approval for grid modernization  costly improvements to the existing system whose costs it would pass on to customers. This strategy is by no means limited to Duke: A November 2018 study by The Brattle Group found that electric utilities across the U.S. are overspending by billions to upgrade transmission lines and other equipment.

Two versions of Dukes plan have been rejected  the first by the legislature; the second by regulators  but the utility is still asking. The public interest groups Appalachian Voices and NC Warn say Duke claims the plan would prepare the electric grid for more renewables but is actually impeding the growth of renewables and storage.

Dukes Power Mix Is Unhealthy and Unsafe

Dukes heavy reliance on conventional power plants  whether coal, natural gas or nuclear  poses serious hazards to public health and safety.

Coal

In 2016, the Center for Public Integrity ranked Americas 100 worst super-polluting coal plants by two measures: emissions of toxic air contaminants, and of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Dukes Gibson plant, in Owensville, Ind., and its Crystal River, Fla., plant made both lists. Gibson was ranked as the nations worst super-polluter overall. Crystal River ranked fifth but was closed in December 2018. The Duke plant in Belews Creek, N.C., ranked as one of the worst emitters of carbon dioxide.

Environmental Protection Agency data show that in 2016, Gibson emitted 15.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 1.4 million pounds of toxic air contaminants. Crystal River emitted 8.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 650,000 pounds of toxics. Belews Creek emitted 10.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

In 2000 the EPA sued Duke for failing to notify the agency of modifications to coal-fired generation units that increased emissions, which would require the plants to meet tougher clean air standards. A consent decree mandated the shutdown of 13 coal units by 2024, and the retrofitting of two others.

Nationwide, coal plants generate more than 100 million tons of coal ash each year, which is laden with toxics like mercury, cadmium and arsenic. In North Carolina, Duke stores 110 million tons of coal ash in unlined pits.

In 2014, a Duke coal ash pit spilled 39,000 tons of ash into North Carolinas Dan River. The EPA fined the company $102 million, and state regulators fined it an additional $100 million, finding pervasive system-wide shortcomings in dealing with coal ash. Duke recently notified the EPA that 24 of its coal ash pits violate federal regulations protecting underground aquifers and wetlands. After Hurricane Florence last year, flooding released an estimated 150 dump truck loads of toxic sludge from a coal combustion waste pit into the Cape Fear River. Despite this malfeasance, in 2016 Duke was behindlegislators weakening of the states coal ash laws.

Natural gas

Contrary to Dukes assertion that natural gas is a clean, low-carbon fuel, in fact it is a significant contributor to climate change. U.S. utilities are building so many new natural gas plants that last year, more carbon was emitted from natural gas operations than from coal plants. The production, transport and burning of natural gas all emit methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Evidence is also mounting that the natural gas boom is a severe hazard to human health.

Natural gas production depends on fracking, which uses and releases large quantities of toxic chemicals, often near homes and schools. A recent report by health professionals and advocates concluded that not only are current fracking regulations inadequate to protect Americans from increased risk of cancer, asthma and birth defects but also that there is no evidence fracking can ever be done without threatening public health. Studies show that babies born near fracked wells are more likely to suffer low birth weight and birth defects.

Nuclear

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, defines near misses as mishaps that can increase the risk of a reactor meltdown by 10 times. In 2016 Greenpeace documented 166 near misses at U.S. nuclear reactors over the previous 10 years, including events at four Duke plants. Two particularly egregious examples were at Dukes Oconee Nuclear Station, in South Carolina.

In 2012, an NRC whistleblower revealed that Duke officials had known since the early 1990s that the Oconee structure housing equipment to cool the reactors during a blackout would have been flooded if an upriver dam failed. The structure was determined not to be high enough to withstand such a flood. In 2016, Oconee workers found that a backup power supply, needed to cool the reactor in an emergency shutdown, wasnt connected to the plant.

In 2012, the Associated Press reported that three-fourths of U.S. nuclear plants had leaks of radioactive tritium and that [t]he number and severity of leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation. From 2007 to 2010, all but two of Dukes nuclear plants reported tritium leaks, including a 100,000 gallon spill at the McGuire plant, in North Carolina.

For decades the NRC has colluded with the nuclear industry to weaken safety standards to keep aging reactors running. The chances for a major accident increase because of wear and tear on parts from extreme heat and radiation exposure. David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and former nuclear safety director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, estimates that, for every 100 reactors, the chances of a meltdown for 40-year-old unit or reactor is 33 percent, for those at 60 years, 45 percent.

Duke owns six nuclear plants in North and South Carolina, with a total of 11 reactors. Four are more than 40 years old. The rest range in age from 32 to 38 years. According to Dukes federal regulatory filings, all its reactors are expected to run for or nearly 60 years.

References

1 The 2018 Sustainability Report was not available by the deadline for publication of this report.

2 By law, Duke is obligated to work in the interest of its stockholders. But in light of the energy markets inexorable transition to renewables, and the climate change, public health and pollution risks of natural gas plants, pipelines and nuclear reactors, Dukes current and planned reliance is not in its shareholders long-term interests.

3 Ohio is a deregulated state that allows customers to choose where their power comes from. However, Duke owns local distribution systems in its Ohio service territory that are regulated.

4 Campaign finance records compiled by the Energy and Policy Institute show that from 2008 to 2018, Duke gave more than $6.5 million to independent expenditure groups for Republican and Democratic gubernatorial, attorneys general and legislative candidates. That was the most contributed to those groups of any of the 75 utility companies in the analysis.

5 For example, in early April, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality ordered Duke to excavate 11 coal ash storage ponds and move the waste to lined landfills or recycle it. Estimated cost is $4 billion to $5 billion, on top of the $5.6 billion Duke is spending on coal ash cleanup.

6 The Energy Department and its WINDExchange program, the Energy Information Administration, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

7 See intervenor testimony in Indiana and North Carolina at https://www.in.gov/iurc/files/CAC_Earthjustice_et_al.pdf and http://www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/uploads/NC-WARNs-Initial-Comments-on-IRPs.pdf

8 Demand response technology allows a utility to cycle a customers air conditioning, central heat and water heater on and off during periods of peak demand, in exchange for lower rates or other financial incentives.

Appendix 1. Wind and Solar Potential in Duke Energys Regulated States

This chart shows the technical potential for solar and onshore wind in states where Duke has monopoly territories, based on data derived from federal and private sources. The technical potential far exceeds each states electric demand for solar, and for wind in every state but Florida. However, solar potential in Florida is enormous and is much greater than current state of electric generation.

Technical potential is not economic potential. Although studies analyzing technical potential take into account areas where development wouldnt be feasible, not all technical potential for wind and solar will be built. But the data show that development of only a modest portion of technical potential would meet a substantial portion, and in some cases almost all, of each states electric demand.

Moreover, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory data for solar is from 2012. Since then, solar costs have dropped substantially. Solar panels are becoming more efficient. In addition, hub heights for wind are now reaching 100 meters as the norm, whereas the data used here is 80 meters, and other technological advances allow for greater capacity factors.

Technical potential for wind and solar will only increase with anticipated cost reductions and technological advances, which also drive economic potential.

Current Capacity and Technical Potential for Wind and Solar in Dukes Territories

(Capacity in megawatts; generation in megawatt-hours. Potential for wind and solar is technical potential.)

State Current Installed Wind Capacity1 Onshore Wind Potential Installed Capacity2 (at 80 meters) Onshore Wind Potential Generation3(million MWhs) Current Installed Solar PV Capacity4 Solar Potential Installed Capacity (rooftop, urban, rural*)5 (millions of MWhs) Solar Potential Generation6(billions of MWhs) State 2016 Net Electric Generation7(millions of MWhs) North Carolina 208 78,000 177 4,412 2.4 4.3 130.8 South Carolina 0 42,000 75 531 1.6 2.8 97.0 Florida 0 38,000 75 1,893 3.7 5.3 238.3 Indiana 2,117 118,000 351 265.64 3 4.9 101.7 Ohio 617 119,000 300 156.44 2.4 3.7 118.2

Source: EWG, from data by the Energy Department and its WINDExchange program, the Energy Information Administration, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

*Other than rooftop

Appendix 2: Scoring Dukes Energy Efficiency Programs

This table shows the life-cycle savings for Duke Energys energy efficiency programs in its regulated territories. EWGs methodology is based on the 2017 Utility Energy Efficiency Scorecard of the American Council for an Energy-Efficiency Economy, or ACEEE. Life-cycle savings data is sourced from the federal Energy Information Administration or EIA.

ACEEE uses many indices to score utilities programs, but life-cycle savings show the commitment to measures with long-term energy savings. Our score is determined by dividing the combined life-cycle savings for residential, commercial and industrial programs by the total megawatt-hour sales for each Duke subsidiary in 2016. The resulting percentage is then matched with ACEEEs scoring table, which scored life-cycle savings on a scale of 0 to 4.

ACEEEs s Scoring System for Life-Cycle Savings

Scoring for Net Lifetime Savings as a Percentage of Retail Sales Percent of Retail Sales Score 32+ 4.0 28.0031.99 305 24.0027.99 3.0 20.0023.99 2.5 16.0019.99 2.0 12.00-15.99 1.5 8.0011.99 1.0 4.007.99 0.5 0.003.00 0

Dukes combined 2016 sales in its regulated territories is 214,760,536 megawatt-hours. The combined life-cycle savings for those utilities is 19,083,258 megawatt-hours. Therefore, the combined savings is 8.8 percent, for a combined score of 0.92, rounded up to 1.

Duke Energy Subsidiaries Megawatt-Hour Savings from Energy Efficiency Programs in 2016

Utility State Residential Megawatt-Hour Incremental Life-Cycle Savings Commercial Megawatt-Hour Incremental Life-Cycle Savings Industrial Megawatt-Hour Incremental Life-Cycle Savings Total Megawatt-Hour Incremental Life-Cycle Savings Total Utility Megawatt-Hour Sales Approximate Percent of Sales for Life-Cycle Savings Score* Duke Energy Progress N.C. and S.C. 2,525,365 1,838,566 0 4,363,646 43,867,438 9.9 1 Duke Energy Ohio Ohio 937,247 1,774,059 0 2,711,333 20,498,646 13.2 1.5 Duke Energy Carolinas N.C. and S.C. 5,083,812 3,802,554 0 8,886,368 79,462,909 11.2 1 Duke Energy Florida Fla. 369,045 279,383 0 649,328 38,773,961 1.7 0 Duke Energy Indiana Ind. 945,878 1,047,740 0 1,993,618 28,058,383 7.1 0.5 Duke Energy Kentucky KY 220,107 258,858 0 478,965 4,099,199 11.7 1.5 AVERAGE OF ALL SCORES 0.92

Source: EWG, derived from ACEEE8 and EIA.9

*The EWG approach to scoring is much simpler than ACEEEs and tends to provide higher scores than ACEEE.

Appendix Sources

1 https://windexchange.energy.gov/states

2 https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/321

3 https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/321

4 https://www.seia.org/states-map

5 https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51946.pdf

6 https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/51946.pdf

7 https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/

8 https://aceee.org/research-report/u1707

9 https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia861/
Wednesday, May 1, 2019

In 1979, the New York Times reported Ferrari trying to increase sales in America. Four years earlier the Italian manufacturer had sold only 188 new cars in the US, and they were now forecasting 850 in the current year. While the cars could outrun and outmaneuver anything else on the highway, annual US sales werent much more than a day worth of production at one of Detroits giant automakers.

Ferrari of Los Gatos believed the opportunity to increase Ferrari sales in North America existed, and they were starting to prove it. Average annual Ferrari sales at the dealership had reached about 200.

The factory in Italy, however, felt differently and focused on the obstacles it had to overcome. US government emission and safety standards, as well as fuel consumption standards, were strict. It would take a considerable investment by Ferrari to meet these regulations to export its most powerful cars, those with V-12 engines, into the US. The only way to justify the cost would be the ability to sell more cars and Ferrari management didnt fully embrace the American market.

The general manager of Ferrari America, Gary E. Rodriguez, explained it this way, By increasing the total volume allocated to the United States, the development costs can be amortized over a larger number of cars, resulting in a lower per-unit impact on the price.

Ferraris Become More Valuable the Older They Get

According to Mr. Rodriguez, some buyers are more interested in an investment than transportation. He continued, 1974 Ferraris that sold for $18,550 now sell for $30,000 to $33,000, and a 1964 car that originally sold for under $30,000 fetched $210,000 recently.

Bet I know which model that was.

The numbers he quoted in 1979 are pretty small compared to the prices today.

In 2018, at RM Sothebys Monterey car auction, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $48,405,000. The same year, WeatherTech founder and CEO David MacNeil paid $70 million for chassis number 4153 GT, a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO. There were only 39 Ferrari 250 GTO models built between 1962 and 1964.

Which Car Had the Best Acceleration Time?

In 1979, all Ferrari models sold in the US had V-8 engines. Nevertheless, they were powerful machines that could rocket to 60 mph in 7 seconds. A Ford Mustang took 10 seconds and the Chevrolet Malibu more than 11 seconds. Sounds pretty slow compared to todays pace to achieve 60 mph.

But the stellar Ferrari performance imposed a penalty. The official government fuel rating of 11 miles per gallon in city driving and 18 miles per gallon on the highway, didnt meet the minimum mileage standards.

Because of the reduced gas mileage, the US Government imposed a tax on cars that did not meet the standards. That tax added about $350 to the price of a Ferrari when purchased. My how times have changed.

Italian Car Manufacturers Struggle to Keep Up

In 1979, Ferraris Italian competition struggled financially. Maserati, also headquartered in Modena, and Lamborghini, located in nearby Bologna, together sold less than 100 cars in the US and Canada.

Ferrari claimed one of the main reasons for its success came from the image created by racing results. We stopped counting victories at 4,500, Mr. Rodrigues said.

Did you or anyone you know ever get close to owning or even driving, a 250 GTO? Please share the story here, or leave a comment below.
Tacoma, Toyotas midsize pick-up manufactured in San Antonio, continues to post record sales, with an increase of 8.3% last month from April 2018.

The Japanese automaker sold 20,375 Tacomas in April, its 18th consecutive month of increased sales, according to Toyota sales figures released Wednesday.

Through April 30, Toyota had sold 78,558 Tacomas this year, up 8.2% from the same four-month period last year.

Tacoma is the best-selling midsize pick-up in the United States, capturing 43% of the market.

The other vehicle manufactured in the San Antonio plant  Tundra, a full-sized pickup  is heading in the opposite direction. Its sales dropped last month by 6.3% from the previous April.

Toyota sold just 8,862 Tundras in April.

Toyota has sold 33,962 Tundras through the end of April, down 5.1% from the first four months of 2018.

The vehicle has only a 5% share of the U.S. full-size pick-up market.

Auto analysts say its a tale of two vehicles. Tacoma has reinvented the midsize pick-up market, attracting new buyers such as recreational users and campers. Tundra, on the other hand, has been unable to gain traction against iconic American pickup trucks such as the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Silverado.

The Tacoma sets the bar among mid-size pick-up trucks, said Jeremy Acevedo, manager of industry analysis at Edmonds.com Inc. The Tundra is overlooked in contrast to the large pick-up truck offerings of large domestic automakers.

Tacomas price also plays a role in its popularity, Acevedo said.

He said the approximately $34,000 price for Tacoma is attractive to many vehicle buyers compared the nearly $50,000 list price for a full-size truck.

Tacoma was introduced in 1995, and analysts say it was able to build market share in a vehicle segment that U.S automakers had largely abandoned.

The vehicle, however, recently has gotten stronger competition. Ford reintroduced the mid-size Ranger pick-up after a seven-year absence, and FIAT Chrysler Automobiles NV introduced its own mid-size truck, Jeep Gladiator. The vehicles started showing up in showrooms in the last two months.

It will be interesting to see what impact the new trucks will have on Tacoma sales, said Karl Brauer, executive publisher of AutoTrader and Kelley Blue Book.

Brauer said Toyota is not taking any chances. He said in anticipation of the competition, the automaker has been stocking dealerships with a wide variety of Tacoma vehicles, in different trims and colors, to offer consumers more choices and encourage sales.

For Tundra, Toyota executives have announced they will redesign the vehicle, which has not had a major design overhaul since 2007. However, they have not announced whether the design will occur for the 2020 model year.

Brauer said the redesign may not be Toyotas top priority, given the difficulty of making inroads against entrenched American pick-up truck competitors.

Randy.diamond@express-news.net
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Solder Preform Market report includes all the important information regarding the overall Market situation and also reflect the Market condition in terms of driver, restraints, opportunities, demand, supply, challenges, sales, and current trend. This report also contains systematic gathering data on companies involved in the Market, their operations and potential customer base. This report will help to understand legislative trends, changing consumer preferences and where business needs to focus its efforts and resources. In fact, it is a statement that reveals the overall nature of the Market that will assist in making better decision to help business more successful.

Download Free Sample Report of Solder Preform Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-38818

This report focuses on the top manufacturers' Solder Preform capacity, production, value, price and market share of Solder Preform in global market. The following manufacturers are covered in this report:

Ametek

Alpha

Kester

Indium Corporation

Pfarr

Nihon Handa

SMIC

Harris Products

AIM

Nihon Superior

Fromosol

Guangzhou Xianyi

Shanghai Huaqing

Solderwell Advanced Materials

SIGMA Tin Alloy

Solder Preform Breakdown Data by Type

Lead Free

Leaded

Solder Preform Breakdown Data by Application

Military & Aerospace

Medical

Semiconductor

Electronics

Other



Solder Preform Production Breakdown Data by Region

United States

Europe

China

Japan

Other Regions

Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Solder Preform Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/38818-solder-preform-industry-market-report

Table of Contents - Snapshot

Chapter 1 Study Coverage

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers

Chapter 4 Breakdown Data by Product

Chapter 5 Breakdown Data by End User

Chapter 6 North America

Chapter 7 Europe

Chapter 8 Asia Pacific

Chapter 9 Central & South America

Chapter 10 Middle East and Africa

Chapter 11 Company Profiles

Chapter 12 Future Forecast

Chapter 13 Market Opportunities, Challenges, Risks and Influences Factors Analysis

Chapter 14 Value Chain and Sales Channels Analysis

Chapter 15 Research Findings and Conclusion

Chapter 16 Appendix

About Us:

DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.

Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.

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Texas service industries picked up steam in April, and fears of an economic downturn eased, survey results released Tuesday by Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicate.

Still, businesses continued to worry about the political climate and its effect on trade.

On ExpressNews.com: Read about manufacturers eyeing 2020 elections

The president is penalizing the border cities for Congress lack of progress on immigration and not backing his wall, which has a direct impact on business in the U.S. and trade with Mexico, a real estate executive wrote. With the tariff impact and the border closure impact, it will be a miracle if we dont start seeing an impact on employment.

While President Donald Trump backed down on threats to close the entire U.S.-Mexico border, the ongoing surge of migrants from Central America has led to slowdowns at international bridge crossings.

A clothing store respondent said sales near the Mexican border continue to drop at double digits.

The April 16-24 surveys drew responses from 230 service-sector and 55 retail-sector executives.

Labor shortages remained a major concern. With the pool of unemployed workers so low, several respondents said they'd focused on sweetening pay and benefits packages to keep current staff.

On ExpressNews.com: Read about San Antonio area's low unemployment

Our searches take three times longer than they did a year or two ago, said a respondent involved in data processing, hosting and related services. We are not sure if increasing our benefits package has helped us with attracting new talent, but it seems to have helped with retention of our current team members.

Another executive, working in scientific and technical services, said: We are actively turning away new business, as despite all efforts including pay increases, hiring and referral bonuses, etc., we are unable to keep a full staff. We will ultimately lose close to $2 million in revenue this year due to lack of available labor.

Retail activity in April surged, reaching its highest level since October.

We saw a significant gain in same-store sales from March to April  a rather large swing for such a short period of time, a food-service executive said. March was really slow!

Retailers reported increased employment but slightly shorter workweeks  and they continued to be downbeat about broader business conditions, though pessimism eased compared with March.

The April surveys included special questions on the 2017 federal tax act.

Of the 33 percent of service sector companies reporting tax savings, 46 percent said they were increasing capital expenditures, 39 percent said they were raising wages and 20 percent said they were increasing hiring. Companies could choose more than one option in the survey.

Of the 43 percent of retailers who paid the government less, 50 percent reported putting savings into capital investments, 36 percent raised wages and 14 percent hired more workers.

Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio-based staff writer covering trade, agriculture and the economy. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | Twitter: @lbrezosky
Theres a reason that Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black has focused on personal stories from the LGBTQ community in much of his work.

Black, who was raised in San Antonio, has witnessed how powerful those stories can be in bringing people together. His relationship with his mother, which is the focus of much of his moving new memoir Mamas Boy: A Story from Our Americas, is a testament to that.

This isnt a memoir in that it is stories skipping across my life, Black said in a telephone interview. Its stories about our relationship that I hope can serve as an example.

Black  who has fought for marriage equality and now is raising a 10-month-old son with his husband, Olympic swimmer Thomas Robert Daley  divides his time between homes in Austin and London. He is spending a fair amount of his book tour in the Lone Star State, including a stop in San Antonio. He will take part in a Q&A following a screening of Milk, the film for which he won his Oscar, at 7 p.m. Monday at the Park North Alamo Drafthouse. Signed copies of Mamas Boy will be available for purchase.

On ExpressNews.com: SA artist Gene Elder aimed to preserve LGBTQ stories

The film is a biopic about Harvey Milk, an openly gay politician and activist who was assassinated in 1978. Milk pushed for gays to find common ground with all sorts of groups, Black said, and that message strikes him as particularly timely now.

Building coalitions is how you get the pendulum of progress moving forward again, Black said. Milk didnt build his coalitions out of just folks he might agree with and see eye-to-eye with. One of the strongest coalitions he built was with union beer truck drivers.

Blacks account of his relationship with his mom Anne  a conservative Southerner who spent her career working in labs in military hospitals, starting at Brooke Army Medical Center  is an illustration of those kinds of connections being forged on a personal level.

In Mamas Boy, he paints a loving portrait of Anne, a tiny, fierce woman who didnt let any of her challenges  including poverty, the polio that cost her the use of her legs, and two bad marriages  stop her from living a full life, setting an example for her three sons.

One of many standout sections in the book begins with her chilly response when Black came out to her as a college student, a revelation prompted by her anger over gays being permitted to serve in the military under the Dont Ask, Dont Tell law. They had been close before that, and her lack of understanding was incredibly painful.

They didnt write each other off. They still talked on the phone, though not as often, and the conversations were much more guarded. Six months after he came out to her, she flew to California to watch him graduate from film school, becoming the first person in his immediate family to earn a degree. She met his friends, a close-knit group of gay and lesbian people who talked openly about their lives. Some talked about being rejected by their families after coming out, and how they had decided to come to California because it would be less likely theyd freeze to death if they ended up on the streets.

Black hung back as they talked, watched his mother from a distance as she listened, certain that she was just being polite while she silently judged them. Later that night, when they were alone, he learned he had misread things. Hearing those stories had changed her point of view. She had even encouraged a cute guy with whom he had gone out for coffee to take Black on a proper date.

In one night, I witnessed generations of my moms hand-me-down misconceptions vanish and be replaced with love, understanding and acceptance, he wrote.

In the interview, he noted that that acceptance was helped along by the fact that he had kept some information to himself.

On ExpressNews.com: David Zamora Casas explores the personal and political

Its partly because I copped out and I never told my mom that I had all these gay and lesbian friends, and I never told them that she hadnt accepted me, he said. They approached each other like they had everything in common, and they spoke from the heart. It was a big lesson for me that a well-told personal story is going to do a whole lot more to bridge divisions than sharing facts.

That lesson is what motivated him to write the book. He and his mother had a lot of conversations in the last few years of her life about the growing divisions in this country and about their own relationship.

We talked a good bit near the end about the unlikely nature of the bridges my mom and I had been able to build over the years, he said. They were built out of necessity. As much as she was raising us, we had to raise her  she was paralyzed, and our father had abandoned us. We didnt have a choice but to build bridges across beliefs and politics.

We looked on with curiosity and concern as we saw people who had once been close start to drift because they were on opposite sides of the political aisle from one another. Certainly, I think she imagined what were seeing and experiencing today, and it was heartbreaking.

As he sees it, many of those divisions are driven by the elevation of political beliefs over all else and an unwillingness to simply listen to what other people have to say.

My theory is that if we can find that higher plane than politics within our families and our communities and our country, we can all get back on track, he said. Its going to take some tough conversations.

We have to listen with curiosity to people who are on the opposite side of the aisle who might have voted for people you dont like. If you dont have the courage to sit down with them and truly listen to what their concerns are, then we wont move forward together.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN

Deborah Martin is an arts writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
Cerronis Purple Garlic, a long-standing Italian restaurant on Austin Highway, is expanding with a second San Antonio location on the North Side. The new restaurant will occupy the former 2,113-square-foot space of the Bagel Factory inside the Galleria Oaks Shopping Center, located between Thousand Oaks and Brook Hollow Boulevard off of US 281.

It will be the same concept, same menu as what we are doing now, said Nick Bolleter, son-in-law of owner Mark Cerroni. Mark has been looking to expand for a while now, and he finally found a location in the area he was looking for.
Amorphous Magnetic Core Market report includes all the important information regarding the overall Market situation and also reflect the Market condition in terms of driver, restraints, opportunities, demand, supply, challenges, sales, and current trend. This report also contains systematic gathering data on companies involved in the Market, their operations and potential customer base. This report will help to understand legislative trends, changing consumer preferences and where business needs to focus its efforts and resources. In fact, it is a statement that reveals the overall nature of the Market that will assist in making better decision to help business more successful.

Download Free Sample Report of Amorphous Magnetic Core Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-38473

The following manufacturers are covered in this report:

Hitachi

Dexter Magnetic Technologies

Zhixin Electric

Zhaojing Incorporated

Qingdao Yunlu

Foshan Catech

ENPAY

Mangal

UAML

TI-Electronic

Amorphous Magnetic Core Breakdown Data by Type

C Core

E Core

Other

Amorphous Magnetic Core Breakdown Data by Application

Transformer

Inverter

Others

Amorphous Magnetic Core Production Breakdown Data by Region

United States

Europe

China

Japan

Other Regions

Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Amorphous Magnetic Core Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/38473-amorphous-magnetic-core-industry-market-report

Table of Contents - Snapshot

Chapter 1 Study Coverage

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers

Chapter 4 Breakdown Data by Product

Chapter 5 Breakdown Data by End User

Chapter 6 North America

Chapter 7 Europe

Chapter 8 Asia Pacific

Chapter 9 Central & South America

Chapter 10 Middle East and Africa

Chapter 11 Company Profiles

Chapter 12 Future Forecast

Chapter 13 Market Opportunities, Challenges, Risks and Influences Factors Analysis

Chapter 14 Value Chain and Sales Channels Analysis

Chapter 15 Research Findings and Conclusion

Chapter 16 Appendix

More Related Report By DecisionDatanases.com @

Global Amorphous Dielectric Market Insights, Forecast to 2025

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Coconut Milk Market report includes all the important information regarding the overall Market situation and also reflect the Market condition in terms of driver, restraints, opportunities, demand, supply, challenges, sales, and current trend. This report also contains systematic gathering data on companies involved in the Market, their operations and potential customer base. This report will help to understand legislative trends, changing consumer preferences and where business needs to focus its efforts and resources. In fact, it is a statement that reveals the overall nature of the Market that will assist in making better decision to help business more successful.

Download Free Sample Report of Coconut Milk Market Report @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/contact/download-sample-38823

The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company:

Theppadungporn Coconut

ThaiCoconut

Asiatic Agro Industry

PT. Sari Segar Husada

SOCOCO

Ahya Coco Organic Food Manufacturing

Heng Guan Food Industrial

WhiteWave Foods

Coconut Palm Group

Betrimex

Goya Foods

Renuka Holdings

HolistaTranzworld

UNICOCONUT

Market size by Product

Regular Coconut Milk

Organic Coconut Milk

Market size by End User

Direct Drink

Dairy & Dessert

Baked Products

Others

Market size by Region

North America

United States

Canada

Mexico

Asia-Pacific

China

Access Report and Full Table of Contents of Coconut Milk Market @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/38823-coconut-milk-industry-market-report

Table of Contents - Snapshot

Chapter 1 Study Coverage

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers

Chapter 4 Breakdown Data by Product

Chapter 5 Breakdown Data by End User

Chapter 6 North America

Chapter 7 Europe

Chapter 8 Asia Pacific

Chapter 9 Central & South America

Chapter 10 Middle East and Africa

Chapter 11 Company Profiles

Chapter 12 Future Forecast

Chapter 13 Market Opportunities, Challenges, Risks and Influences Factors Analysis

Chapter 14 Value Chain and Sales Channels Analysis

Chapter 15 Research Findings and Conclusion

Chapter 16 Appendix

More Related Report By DecisionDatanases.com @

Global Milk Analyzers Market Insights, Forecast to 2025

About Us:

DecisionDatabases.com is a Global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research Report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.

Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.

For More Details:

DecisionDatabases.com

E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.com

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The man accused in the 2016 slaying of Zuzu Verk, whose body was found in a shallow grave in West Texas, is scheduled to stand trial this week.

Verk's boyfriend, 28-year-old Robert Fabian, was indicted in March 2017 on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with or fabricating evidence in the 22-year-old's death in October 2016.

Jury selection started Monday morning in the case, which is being tried in Caldwell County, about 35 miles south of Austin, after a change of venue was requested, a deputy clerk said.

Verk, who graduated from Timber Creek High School in Keller, was last heard from on Oct. 11, 2016, when she went to the movies with Fabian. She didn't show up for work or an exam the next day.

Fabian told police he and Verk got into a "heated" argument about one of his ex-girlfriends that night after Verk went to his apartment for dinner and a massage, but said she later left, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Neighbors reported hearing the couple arguing that night and later said they heard a movie playing loudly followed by "unique sounds" from Fabian's bed.

The night Verk disappeared, Fabian was seen buying painters drop cloths that matched the thin plastic sheets her body was wrapped in, according to the affidavit.

Verk's remains were discovered in February 2017 in a shallow grave outside Alpine, where she attended Sul Ross State University.

Fabian's friend Chris Estrada also was charged in connection with Verk's disappearance.

Police said Estrada drove Fabian to the store to purchase the drop cloths and also visited several commercial trash bins in the hours after Verk was last heard from.

Estrada pleaded no contest in April 2018 to a charge of tampering with evidence and a Brewster County judge found him guilty. He will be sentenced at the conclusion of Fabian's trial, the county sheriff's office has said.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Citing a sexual abuse crisis revealed in a recent Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News investigation, the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy arm has overhauled its 2019 national conference in Grapevine to focus on abuse.

The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is expected to announce Tuesday that it has changed the conference's theme to focus on "the current crisis within the SBC denomination."

The announcement follows a February investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News that found more than 700 people, mostly children, had reported being sexually abused by roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders or volunteers since 1998.

Southern Baptist leaders vowed sweeping changes in the wake of the "heartbreaking" report, titled "Abuse of Faith."

In a statement, commission President Russell Moore said the change was spurred by a "realization" when planning seminars for the conference, which was previously focused on "courage."

"We came to a realization," he said. "That is, the scourge of sexual abuse in churches is the very embodiment of the need for gospel courage. Combating abuse takes clear eyes, resolute focus, and a willingness to engage in painful, complicated questions."

"This is a critical season for churches seeking to address this crisis," he said. "As we thought about this, we realized if we want to talk about courage, then we owed it to our churches and the world around us to talk about courage in light of this area of great need. So that's what we're going to do."

The commission's conference will convene in October in Grapevine. The Southern Baptist Convention is also hosting a national meeting in June in Birmingham, Alabama, where SBC leaders plan to discuss proposed reforms to prevent sexual abuse.

"I think it's a good step, I really do," said Wade Burleson, a Southern Baptist pastor in Oklahoma who has called for the creation of a national database that would keep track of church employees and volunteers who have been accused of sexual abuse. "I think to focus solely on the issue and to talk about prevention, it's the first time it's ever been done."

The conference in Grapevine will include panels with Rachael Denhollander, a lawyer and advocate for sexual abuse survivors whose testimony helped lead to the conviction of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar; Houston-based author and Bible teacher Beth Moore; and psychologist Diane Langberg.

Moore and current SBC President J.D. Greear last summer announced a working group that focuses on sexual abuse. That group is expected to unveil more proposals in Birmingham.

In the wake of the newspapers' investigation, Greear called for inquiries into multiple churches over their handling of sexual abuse. SBC leaders have also pursued changes to the SBC's governing documents to outlaw sexual predators from working in churches.

A Houston church pastored by a convicted sex offender has since been removed from the SBC, and a Georgia music minister accused of molesting multiple young boys in the 1980s was also removed from his position.

A Texas state lawmaker and Southern Baptist minister has also proposed a bill that would allow charitable organizations to disclose sexual abuse allegations against former employees without being sued  an issue that was detailed in one of the Chronicle's reports.
For more than a decade, Jesus Reyes has rented the same pavilion in Rodriguez Park on the West Side for his family to enjoy on Easter Sunday, always making sure to reserve it a year in advance.

This year was no different; Reyes reserved the space April 27, 2018, county officials said.

But when he and his relatives arrived on Easter morning to set up for the days festivities, Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela appeared in uniform and told them they were mistaken.

The pavilion, Vela told him, was reserved for her family.

Reyes refused to move.

A park manager confirmed Reyes had reserved the pavilion and had not canceled, as Vela was insisting. The constable then required Reyes to pay her and her chief deputy $50 an hour for security as her own family regrouped at a nearby BBQ pit.

When Reyes balked, the constable advised him that there were new rules, and that the last person in charge was crooked, a Sheriffs Office report on the incident states.

For the rest of the day, the 48-year-old truck driver shelled out cash to the constable and her chief deputy, Anthony Castillo, until he paid $300 and ran out of money. Vela and Castillo each pocketed half of the payments.

Reyes said that, at around 7 p.m., one of Velas deputies told him that he and his family had to leave the park.

My wife just said, Just pay her the money before we get ran off, Reyes said. Some of these law enforcement agents, youre not going to beat them. And when I find out shes the boss, who am I going to go complain to? Its like, Im going to complain to the boss who just extorted the money out of you? Im not going to win.

Vela insisted the arrangement was appropriate because some of Reyes family members were drinking alcohol.

If they have alcohol present, we have to have security out there because of TABC requirements, she said.

But county officials said Vela overstepped her authority.

On ExpressNews.com: Vela has feuded with other county officials

That is not the way this is supposed to work, Bexar Heritage and Parks Department Director Betty Bueche said. We did have security at virtually every other county park. At Rodriguez Park, Constable Vela decided to be there herself, and that was not part of the plan that we had.

The county, Bueche said, already had arranged to pay peace officers to provide security at all county parks on Easter Sunday  at a rate of $38 an hour. Mark Olivares, a Harlandale Independent School District police officer, coordinated security for the county.

Vela had bridled against that arrangement.

When she contacted me, she was very hostile to me over the phone, Olivares said. She said, Who do you think you are? This is my park.

Olivares relented, allowing Vela to provide security at Rodriguez Park. But the officers at the other county parks did not charge Easter revelers for security, Olivares said.

Since officers already were on-site, we didnt charge people at the pavilions, he said. Thats the county working with the clients, especially on Easter Sunday. Theres no need to be charging if you already have officers out there to begin with.

Bexar County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez, who shares Precinct 2 with Vela, said the constable was out of line.

Certainly if she was demanding a dollar amount that was above and beyond that $38, then certainly I would say that was beyond the scope that she had discussed with the county staff office, Rodriguez said.

After learning about the Easter incident on Tuesday, Bueche reached out to Reyes and offered him a consolation.

Next year, if they decide to come back, we will make sure it doesnt happen again, she said. Were going to make an adjustment for him to compensate him for the unexpected expense that he incurred. We will probably allow him to use the pavilion at no charge next year because they experienced this unfortunate situation.

It wasnt the first time Vela has pushed back against other county officials.

In January, the constable tried to eject Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar from the citys annual Cowboy Breakfast, she acknowledged.

Her office was providing security for the event at the Cowboys Dance Hall parking lot near Windcrest, where more than 30,000 people flocked for free breakfast tacos. Vela, who is mulling a run for sheriff next year, was upset when Salazar arrived at a VIP entrance.

He went through a secure barricaded area, she said. He said he was the sheriff and had a right to go in. We were informing him that the section was assigned for VIP.

Salazar declined to comment.
A pair of international students enrolled at the UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry have filed federal lawsuits against the university and a professor they say sexually harassed them.

The lawsuits, filed anonymously by two women on Tuesday, allege that Marcel Noujeim, an associate professor of oral and maxillofacial radiology, engaged in unwanted touching and verbal abuse, made demeaning comments and sent inappropriate messages, among other behaviors. One of the students claims Noujeim attempted to force her out of the program.

The complaints say the professor spearheaded a smear campaign after the students rebuffed his advances, harming their reputations and academic standing.

On ExpressNews.com: UT dental school dedicates new oral health care center

The students, who are both from Iran, also claim Noujeim made fun of one of the womens accent in front of other students and directed racial insults at the other.

Noujeim declined comment Wednesday. Will Sansom, a spokesman for UT Health San Antonio, said the institution could not comment on the claims because it has not yet been served with the lawsuits.

Terry Gorman, an education attorney, is representing both students. In a news conference in front of the dental school on Wednesday, he called for Noujeims firing and said he filed the federal lawsuits on the students behalf after Title IX complaints and two lawsuits filed in state court were ineffective. Those cases were dismissed by the plaintiffs in December and last month, court records indicate.

Gorman said the lawsuits allege Noujeims behavior has been ongoing with one student since 2016 and the other since 2017.

This has gone on too long and it needs to stop, Gorman said.

Noujeim, 54, graduated from UT Health San Antonios dental school in 2006 with a masters in dental diagnostic science after studying and teaching at Lebanese University in Beirut. He joined the schools faculty as the oral and maxillofacial radiology graduate program director in 2008. He specializes in advanced imaging and three-dimensional reconstruction, according to his faculty biography.

On ExpressNews.com: UT System report concludes behavior of UTSAs Romo was sexual harassment

The first student, identified as Jane, started attending the dental school in the fall of 2016, after completing dental school in Iran in 2011.

It wasnt until her second semester that she started having problems with the head of the Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Program, where she was pursuing her masters, according to the complaint. Starting in 2017, the lawsuit claims that Noujeim regularly made comments with sexual overtones to the student. He also asked another student from Iran about the quality of Janes English.

When she rejected him, he retaliated, the complaint says. He tried to get Jane to leave the program, an effort that included threatening her with academic probation and dismissal, promising to make her life hell if she remained and trying to convince her to sign a form to withdraw from the school.

His behavior also included kissing Jane on the head while trying to persuade her to withdraw her formal grievances against him, commenting on her appearance and disparaging her to other students and faculty, the lawsuit alleges.

The other student, named Mary in her complaint, encountered Noujeim when she enrolled in his program in the fall of 2017. According to her lawsuit, he at one point forced her into a chair and locked her in an office, preventing her from leaving.

Mary also alleges Noujeim sent her inappropriate messages and emails and subjected her to unwanted and inappropriate physical touching. He told her about another student with whom he had a sexual relationship, according to the complaint.

Gorman said his clients have more than 2,000 pages of emails, texts and audio recordings corroborating their accounts, adding that there were other witnesses to what happened.

Lauren Caruba covers health care and medicine in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | lcaruba@express-news.net | Twitter: @LaurenCaruba
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 reach the home stretch of this years municipal election, its increasingly obvious that things are getting chippy out there.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg, while touting his first-term effort to address transportation, housing and climate issues, also has shown no reluctance to throw a punch, with some scathing attacks on his chief challenger, Councilman Greg Brockhouse.

Nirenbergs campaign has created a website  notfitformayor.com  devoted to branding Brockhouse as someone unworthy of this citys most important elective office. (In addition, Nirenberg periodically has used his tweets to promote this website.)

On ExpressNews.com: Brockhouse will have to overcome domestic violence reports

The website, citing various local news articles, brands Brockhouse as a Reported Domestic Abuser, Serial Deadbeat Dad and someone Paid for by Special Interests.

Brockhouse, whose campaign has relied on independent advertising from the San Antonio Police Officers Association, recently fired off a mailer of his own, which, among other things, mocked Nirenbergs support for the Hardberger Park land bridge.

The mail-piece lauds Brockhouse as someone who will double the citys spending on streets and sidewalks and says Nirenberg supported a $15 million bridge for deer to help his political boss and bought himself $18,000 curtains for his office.

On ExpressNews.com: Nirenberg predicts cathartic victory

This reciprocal insult messaging was one of the subjects of this weeks edition of the Express-News Puro Politics podcast.

Its definitely gotten dirtier, said Express-News political reporter Dylan McGuinness. The idea of the gloves coming off here sometimes is a symptom of the numbers being closer than people had anticipated. And I think thats exactly what were seeing here.

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
In the final days of San Antonios often contentious mayoral campaign, the top contenders arent pulling any punches.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg's campaign has launched a website called NotFitForMayor.com, attacking challenger Greg Brockhouse about police reports of domestic violence and liens levied for child support payments. The campaign is trumpeting the site with ads on social media and other websites.

SAPD was dispatched to the home of Greg Brockhouse multiple times on domestic abuse calls, one ad reads. Our families deserve better.

Brockhouses own campaign has been less aggressive, mostly promoting videos on social media this week that feature his wife. But the police union  which previously employed him and is supporting his bid  has done the counter-punching for him. In one mailer, the union criticizes Nirenberg and the Express-News, which broke the story about the domestic violence reports.

On ExpressNews.com: Past domestic violence allegations emerge against mayoral candidate Greg Brockhouse

Under a banner that reads DIRTY POLITICS, the advertisement shows a crumpled-up newspaper.

After one term in office, Ron Nirenberg doesnt have a record of accomplishment, so he and the Express News have resorted to personal attacks against Greg and his family, the mailer reads.

The escalating rhetoric is likely a sign the race is more competitive than many anticipated back in February, when Brockhouse announced he would challenge the mayor.

I think its closer than anyone expected it to be, said Laura Barberena, a veteran political strategist who isnt involved in the mayors race. She said the campaign has been contentious for some time, but its heating up in the final days.

I think the gloves have been off for awhile, Barberena said. I dont know that as many punches were being thrown. Now (Nirenberg) is throwing punches.

Brockhouse has said Nirenberg is resorting to personal attacks because he doesnt have a record of accomplishment. He said the mayor is running one of the most divisive campaigns in recent history.

I just try to stick to the facts and talk about the issues, Brockhouse said. Ron continues to talk about personal smears.

The Nirenberg campaign says the police reports raise legitimate questions.

It speaks volumes about his fitness to serve, said Kelton Morgan, the mayors campaign manager.

The Express-News reported in March that police were twice dispatched to Brockhouses home for reports of domestic violence. He was not charged or arrested in either incident and has denied any wrongdoing.

On ExpressNews.com: To pull off mayoral upset, Brockhouse will have to overcome domestic violence reports

In other advertisements, the police union has utilized Express-News headlines to hit the mayor on issues like the City Councils decision to remove Chick-fil-A from an airport concessionaire contract.

The ads also reprinted a headline regarding the surge of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, which the Nirenberg campaign suggested was a dog whistle because San Antonio doesnt control immigration.

In mailers sent by his own campaign, Brockhouse hits the mayor on other issues, including support for a pricey land bridge  funded as one part of a voter-approved $850-million bond program  that connects the two sides of Hardberger Park on the North Side.

Ron supported a $15 million bridge for deer to help his political boss and bought himself $18,000 curtains for his office, the ad reads.

Money

In campaign finance reports filed Monday, the candidates provided their last glimpse of activity before Saturdays election.

The mayors camp reported dishing out $355,767 between March 26 and April 24, outspending Brockhouse by about a 13-to-1 margin. The number is two times higher than Nirenberg spent in the same span two years ago, when he first ran for mayor.

Morgan said the high spending and negative ads dont mean the mayors re-election efforts are in trouble.

It suggests the mayor is running a strong campaign, has strong support and wants to make sure that people see the very clear difference between the kind of leader, and the kind of person, he is versus his opponent, Morgan said.

On ExpressNews.com: Nirenberg eyes 'cathartic' victory in San Antonio mayor's race

Nirenberg raised $131,995 in that period and has $87,903 left on hand, according to the report.

Brockhouse spent just $27,395 in that same window. He brought in $29,620 and has $11,455 left over.

Since he announced his bid Feb. 9, Brockhouse has raised and spent far less than most serious mayoral contenders in recent memory. But he has received the support of the public safety unions, which have dished out hundreds of thousands of dollars this election cycle.

The unions dont have to file new finance reports until after the election, so it wont be clear how much theyve spent when voters head to the polls.

Between Feb. 9 and March 25, the police union spent $186,697 on the May 4 elections, though its unclear how much of that money benefited Brockhouse. The organization has endorsed five council candidates in addition to the mayoral hopeful.

Mike Fisher

Early vote

When early voting ended Tuesday, 66,875 San Antonians had cast ballots in person in the municipal elections, according to Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanens office.

Thats roughly on par with 2017, when 66,979 people cast early ballots in person.

As usual, polling sites on the North Side dominated the voting haul. The Brookhollow Library had 5,932 votes, far more than any other. The Cody Library (4,040) and Maury Maverick Library (3,895) were the next busiest sites.

Turnout in city elections usually hovers in the low double-digits. In 2017, 11.32 percent of registered voters actually cast ballots. It was 11.89 percent in 2015 and a lackluster 6.94 percent in 2013, when then-Mayor Julian Castro cruised to re-election.

A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the number of people who voted early in person in 2017. It was 66,979 people.

Dylan McGuinness covers City Hall and local politics in San Antonio. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinness
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If youre looking for a silver lining among the dark clouds of lackluster early voting in San Antonio, you might want to turn your attention to Brook Hollow Branch Library.

This North Side polling site  near the intersection of U.S. 281 and Bitters Road  is where democracy works best in Bexar County.

The numbers make a convincing case.

OnExpressNews.com: More than 6,500 votes cast on first day of early voting in San Antonio

At the end of early voting, only 66,875 votes had been cast in the county. But 5,932 of those votes came from Brook Hollow. Only one other local spot had even reached 4,000.

To put it another way, Brook Hollow was one of 40 early voting locations in the San Antonio area, but it generated nearly one-eleventh of the votes.

This is not a new development. For years, Brook Hollow has set the standard for voter turnout in this city.

Its just historically people in this part of the community really get out and vote, said District 9 Councilman John Courage, who lives close to Brook Hollow and has been a constant presence at the library over the past week-and-a-half.

Theyre well-educated, they pay attention to what goes on in the news and I guess also its the quality of the people who get out there and work for them, Courage added. They kind of drive voters to the polls because they know theyre electing good people. Like me.

OnExpressNews.com: Rainy day 3 of early voting sees turnout drop in San Antonio

Its not just voter engagement that makes Brook Hollow special. In the grassy yard just south of the library parking lot, youll find candidates and poll workers with conflicting agendas co-existing with remarkable cordiality.

On Monday afternoon at Brook Hollow, there was a Courage tent a few feet away from a Firefighters for Brockhouse tent, with a yard sign for Courages council challenger  social-conservative warhorse Patrick Von Dohlen  planted in the neutral zone between them. There were no frayed nerves or testy exchanges.

This is about the most peaceful group youll find if you go all around town, said Manny Santos, a retired postal worker helping the firefighters advocate for Brockhouse. We all get along. We hug each other, we say, Good morning.

Sure enough, Santos bonded with Nirenberg volunteer Matthew Zuniga, a 23-year-old political-science graduate from St. Marys University. Santos and Zuniga were so friendly it was easy to mistakenly assume that they backed the same candidate.

You have to (get along), Courage said. Youve gotta respect anybodys decision on who they want to vote for. I think most people have their minds made up when they get here, but I just want them to know that Im here because I care and Im their councilman.

Because of its unusually large voting numbers and its steady poll-worker activity, Brook Hollow also has emerged as a good place to test Brockhouses campaign strategy.

The mayoral challenger has been a modest fundraiser, bringing in only $80,910 in donations thru April 24, less than a third of Nirenbergs $284,232 haul. To a great degree, Brockhouses campaign depends on firefighters persuading voters at polling sites.

Its one thing to convince apathetic residents to show up at the polls; as Courage suggested, its tougher to shift peoples loyalties after theyve already driven to the polling site.

But thats what firefighters are trying to do on Brockhouses behalf.

OnExpressNews.com: To pull of mayoral upset, Brockhouse will have to overcome domestic violence reports

By the time you pull into the Brook Hollow parking lot, youve passed a two-block row of red-and-yellow Firefighters for Brockhouse signs. Once youre there, Santos and his cohorts try to frame the mayoral election as a continuation of last years three proposed charter amendments (Propositions A, B and C) from the fire union, each of them designed to limit the power of San Antonios municipal government.

Ill go back to the A,B,Cs (with voters), Santos said. This is actually Phase Two. Phase One was in November.

Santos said he personally managed to swing about 10 votes to Brockhouse on Monday. One example was a male voter who opposed Nirenberg, but had qualms about Brockhouse  at least partly because of Express-News stories detailing two domestic violence incidents involving the councilman.

In trying to reassure that voter, Santos turned to Brockhouses wife, Annalisa, and asked her to make the case for her husband.

Hearing it from her made a big point. Because I walked away from the conversation. It was a private conversation between them, Santos said. After that, I asked if he was comfortable with what he heard, and he said, Im going in to vote for Greg.

Brook Hollow may not decide Saturdays election. But its safe to say that it will attract more voters and create more unlikely poll-worker friendships than any other election site in town.
AUSTIN  In 2020, voters will pick a president. But 2019 is shaping up to be a big election year in Texas, too.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders want to ask voters in November whether to dedicate a 1 percentage point increase in the sales tax to raise billions to reduce property taxes.

By putting the choice to voters, lawmakers can deflect blame if the measure succeeds and the states sales tax rises to 9.25 percent for most Texans, which would be the highest rate in the nation.

However, legislators also run the risk that voters would reject the idea, which would unravel a crucial part of their plan to deliver homeowners meaningful property tax relief.

The sales tax swap is one of many proposals Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen are backing in an effort to make good on promises to rein in property taxes and boost funding for public education at the same time.

But the swap carries the most political risk, especially after a 2018 election that cost Republicans 14 seats in the Texas House and Senate.

Already, some GOP lawmakers are breaking ranks and opposing the idea, even as leaders in the House prepare to unveil an updated version of the plan, which first was pitched a month ago.

The problem is that for Republicans  in a state that prides itself on low taxes, and in a party that despises tax increases  its a risk, said Brandon Rottinghaus, professor of political science at the University of Houston. The hope, I think, is that people see tangible reductions in their property tax burdens, and are less concerned exactly how they are paying.

Texas Take: Get the latest news on Texas politics sent directly to your inbox every weekday

If former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a guide, lawmakers biggest challenge will be in managing voter expectations.

After the Legislature approved a school property tax relief package in 2006, Perry ran television ads promising $2,000 in savings for the average homeowner. Months later at tax time, his opponent released her own ad accusing Perry of overstating the reduction and asking voters whether they had received their tax cuts yet. Dont go running to your mailbox, candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn said in the ad.

Would voters be impressed by savings?

This years proposed tax swap would start to take effect in the runup to the 2020 election  a presidential year that typically drums up voter turnout. Abbott, Patrick and other statewide officials arent on the ballot, but all 150 House members and half the state Senators are. Voters unhappy with a tax trade could take their frustrations to the ballot box.

The challenge with making property tax relief relates back to its visibility, so people see it and they feel they got something for the sales tax they are paying, said Dale Craymer, president of the business-based Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, which supports the proposed swap. If you put in $2 billion, thats real money, thats real savings. But it is also not particularly visible to the average person.

The sales tax increase is expected to generate $5 billion in its first year to bring down local school property taxes. Lawmakers have said that would cut homeowners property tax bills by 15 cents for each $100 in taxable value  meaning the average owner of a $200,000 home in Texas would see $300 knocked off a property tax bill thats now about $4,360.

For subscribers: Texas has third-highest property tax rate for single-family homes, study finds

Whether that kind of drop is enough to impress voters remains to be seen.

Lawmakers dont need to put the swap before voters; they could make it law themselves. The Texas Legislature has approved all past sales tax rate increases, including the most recent in 1990 that raised the rate from 6 to 6.25 percent. Some lawmakers are lobbying against an election in 2019.

The voters dont need to help us make a decision. They made a decision when they sent us down here, said Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. Now we ought to do our job.

One of the swaps chief architects, however, says making the change with a voter-approved constitutional amendment would ensure the money raised goes to tax relief and cant be raided by lawmakers in the future to pay other state bills.

We want to give the voters a chance to do it, said Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Houston, who authored one of the tax swap bills.

A constitutional amendment, however, triggers other major hurdles  getting it on the ballot will require the backing of at least two-thirds of House and Senate members, instead of a simple majority.

Lawmakers scramble for alternatives

While Abbott, Bonnen and Patrick have united behind the proposed tax swap, legislators of all political stripes are pushing back. Houston Republican Sen. Paul Bettencourt  usually in lockstep with Patrick  is among the skeptics, saying the states never had a swap thats worked.

Democrats argue the sales tax hike will hit renters and the poorest Texans hardest.

Behind the scenes, lawmakers are frantically searching for other sources of revenue to lower school property taxes. Bettencourt has pointed to oil and gas production taxes, while Democrats are floating an expansion of the state sales tax to cover industries and products that have traditionally been exempt.

Were looking at all our additional sources of revenues, said Huberty, who predicts a new version of the tax swap plan to go public later this week.

While the issue is politically fraught, Craymer said lawmakers are learning lessons from 2006, when rising property values erased the billions of dollars the legislature had put toward property tax rate reductions.

In addition to the swap, the House and Senate are planning to tighten limits on what cities and counties can collect each year in property tax revenue without seeking voter approval.

This time, you have the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker saying Lets do the sales tax swap, but only after we get these other controls in place, Craymer said. So whatever tax relief the state provides, it doesnt get taken back.

Allie Morris covers politics and policy in Austin. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | amorris@express-news.net | Twitter: @MorrisReports
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro has decided not to seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. John Cornyn, choosing instead to continue pursuing a fast-rising career in Congress focusing on security and border issues.

Castros decision could pave the way for a contest in 2020 between Cornyn and Mary Jennings MJ Hegar, an Afghanistan war veteran who ran a strong but losing race for Congress last year and who declared her candidacy last week.

Castro, 44, of San Antonio, announced his decision to stay out of the race in an interview with Hearst Newspapers.

Right now, Im going to focus on my work in the House of Representatives. Ive been doing what I feel is important and meaningful work here, he said. If and when I run for another office, it is likely to be something that takes me back home to Texas.

Castro is the twin brother of Julian Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and Housing and Urban Development secretary who is running for the Democrats 2020 presidential nomination. The identical twins act as chief political strategist to one another, and Joaquin has the title of chairman in his brothers quest.

His brothers presidential campaign could have been helpful to Castro, creating excitement among Latino voters and national attention to the unprecedented effort of twins seeking high office.

But Joaquin Castros race also might have produced the uncomfortable scenario of extraordinarily close brothers parting ways on issues.

Joaquin Castro also had a ringside seat to his brothers struggles to raise money, reporting a modest $1.1 million in receipts in the first three months of 2019. Thus far, Joaquin Castro has paid little attention to his own fundraising, bringing in just $36,000 in the first quarter, his Federal Election Commission report shows.

He said he is impressed with Hegar and others considering the race. And like I have for many years, Ill do everything I can to help our Democratic nominee win, he said.

For subscribers: Decorated veteran MJ Hegars candidacy brings heat to 2020 Texas Senate race

Castro has enjoyed wide support among Texas Democrats and his candidacy had been widely anticipated by party officials and Latinos in public office pressing him to make the race.

In opting to remain in his safe House seat, Castro, a four-term House veteran, keeps alive the potential of winning a House leadership spot soon and perhaps becoming the first Latino to rise to House Speaker.

His seats on the Intelligence Committee and Foreign Affairs committees have made him a frequent cable TV guest. Earlier this year, he authored the resolution leading to a rebuke of President Donald Trump for invoking emergency powers to overrule congressional spending limits on construction of a border wall. In December, Castro also took over the chairmanship of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, an alliance that has become influential on immigration and border issues.

Castros announcement clears a significant hurdle for Hegar, who came close to unseating veteran GOP Rep. John Carter in November and who reportedly has been urged by Senate Democratic leaders to run.

Cornyn campaign manager John Jackson issued a statement contending that Hegar is running at the behest of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Hegar may have the support of the New York and California elites but she has none in Texas. Shame on Chuck Schumer and DC Democrats for forcing a high-profile Hispanic leader out of the Senate race, the statement read.

Hegar issued a statement saying that she tremendous respect for Congressman Castro and his commitment to public service, and I know Texas will continue to benefit from his strong leadership. I am laser-focused on our shared goal of defeating Senator Cornyn next November. Texans deserve a new Senator who reflects our values of strength, courage, and independence  someone who will always do whats right for our state and put Texas first."

Democrats are vying to challenge Cornyn, 67, a three-term senator who rose to the No. 2 post in the Senate GOP leadership and twice has led the Republican National Senatorial Committee efforts to elect members of his party.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

Cornyn has prepared for the 2020 contest, maneuvering to head off primary opposition and building a $7 million-plus campaign fund. Yet polls have suggested that Cornyn lacks the support and name recognition that might be expected of a politician who has held statewide office since becoming attorney general in 1998.
President Donald Trump has called the Mueller investigation a witch hunt nearly 200 times on social media alone.

Well, the special counsel concluded he was not a witch. After carefully scrutinizing any links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, Robert Mueller definitively declared the investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities. He didnt do it.

Still, several leading Democrats have called for Trumps impeachment on obstruction-of-justice charges. This is absurd.

The lesson of Watergate, we are told, is that the cover-up is always worse than the crime. But in Watergate, there was a crime to cover up. We now know that Trump committed no crime. There was nothing to cover up. As Mueller put it, unlike cases in which a subject engages in obstruction of justice to cover up a crime, the evidence we obtained did not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference.

This lack of an underlying crime is the source of Trumps justified outrage over the Mueller investigation. Imagine that you were accused of a crime you knew you did not commit, and a special counsel was appointed who spent nearly two years and more than $25 million investigating you. Youd be angry and frustrated. Youd want someone to stand up for you, defend your interests and stop the insanity.

For two years, Trump watched as the investigation dragged on, weighing down his presidency. He had to endure being accused of treason and crimes of a size and scope probably beyond Watergate. He listened as members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, and former intelligence officials, led Americans to believe that they had seen secret evidence showing he had colluded with Russia  evidence he knew did not exist.

Of course, he wanted the investigation to end. But he didnt end it. He didnt obstruct justice because nothing was obstructed. Mueller was allowed to finish his work. The White House cooperated, sharing millions of pages of documents and giving Mueller access to dozens of senior officials. The fact that Trump railed against Mueller to aides and told White House counsel Donald McGahn to fire Mueller (which McGahn did not do, and Trump did not press the matter) is not evidence of obstruction; it is evidence of exasperation. The president has a right to vent in private to his staff. Remember, the only reason Mueller knew about his private exchanges with McGahn is because Trump put no restrictions on McGahns cooperation. The president could have asserted privilege but declined to do so. He let McGahn spend some 30 hours with Mueller, sharing details, according to the New York Times, that investigators would not have learned of otherwise. This is evidence of Trumps cooperation, not obstruction.

As a result of this cooperation, the special counsels report contains some embarrassing moments for the president. But it also proves that Trump was telling the truth when it came to the central question of the investigation: He did not conspire with Russia.

If Democrats want to purse impeachment nonetheless, then to quote Ronald Reagan quoting Clint Eastwood: Go ahead, make my day. Impeachment over anything other than a conspiracy with Russia will backfire with the American people and help ensure Trumps reelection.

First, it will fail, because two-thirds of the Senate will not vote to convict the president. Second, Trumps supporters will see an impeachment effort as an attempted coup detat, energizing his base ahead of the 2020 election. And third, it will be seen as partisan and unfair by persuadable voters, who will not appreciate politicians second-guessing the conclusions of an impartial investigation. Want to push Trumps approval above 50 percent? Try to impeach him.

While Democrats debate pursuing impeachment, they are also abusing their powers to get Trumps tax returns in the hope they will provide what the Mueller investigation did not: evidence of something incriminating. Does anyone really believe that the House Ways and Means Committee wants Trumps returns to assess how the IRS audits and enforces the Federal tax laws against a president? Please. There is no legitimate legislative purpose for this request.

Both the Democrats attempt to misuse a 1920s law to violate Trumps privacy and their partisan response to the Mueller report make clear that they are seeking any pretext to oust Trump. But the only thing they will succeed in doing is eliciting sympathy for an otherwise unsympathetic president.

@marcthiessen
For a conservative idea, there are few things more dangerous and discrediting than the full-on, smothering embrace of Donald Trump. When he forces himself upon an issue  grabbing it, as it were, by the policy prescription  his approach is familiar. He seizes on a half-heard contention, simplifies it beyond recognition, and delivers it with the subtlety and precision of a shotgun blast.

This method is one thing when the topic is building a wall; it is another when accusing opponents of endorsing infanticide. During his April 27 rally in Wisconsin, Trump charged Democrats with generally supporting this test case: The baby is born. The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby, they wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.

This scenario comes under the category of murder, not of wrenching, beginning-of-life ethical choices. It is a completely unfair characterization of views actually held by Democrats. So let me stipulate: Trumps slander obscures rather than enlightens an important policy debate.

If anyone has the right to be angry with the president, it is Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. It is his legislation, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, that helped provoke the current confrontation. And Sasse is neither simplistic nor irresponsible in pressing his case.

Sasses bill  recently blocked by Senate Democrats  does precisely what its unwieldy name implies. It deals only with the case of an abortion or attempted abortion that results in a child born alive. And it does not mandate medical care even in these cases. Instead, it requires doctors to exercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as they would for any other child born alive at the same gestational age.

Cases in this category are admittedly tiny in number. The only remotely authoritative figures I have seen come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (by way of FactCheck.Org). From 2003 to 2014, the CDC recorded 143 cases in which children were born alive after attempted abortions. (Because it is sometimes difficult for the CDC to distinguish induced from spontaneous terminations, the overall number is probably a bit higher.) In 2017, for example, Minnesota had three reported cases of attempted abortions that produced infants born alive. In one case, according to the state Department of Health, the infant was given comfort care until it died.

The Sasse bill seems designed to operate in this very narrow space. Would it outlaw abortions after 24 weeks (roughly the current line of viability)? No, the legislation has nothing to do with the conditions in which an abortion can be obtained. It covers only infants born alive after an abortion is attempted. Would the legislation force a mother and doctor to give pointless health care to an infant born at 21 weeks? No, it covers cases where abortion is attempted, not tragic cases of loss on the edge of viability. And even in these cases, the bill would not require pointless treatment, only the treatment that would be standard for other infants at the same stage of development.

Would this legislation cover the test case of a child with non-life-threatening genetic anomalies delivered live at 24 weeks in the aftermath of a failed abortion attempt? You bet it would. After birth, such anomalies are called disabilities. And we dont kill disabled people just because they are very young.

Senate Democrats have two objections to the Sasse bill: one relatively strong, the other dangerously weak.

The stronger argument is that existing federal and state law already covers almost all such cases. The infamous abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell, after all, was already tried and convicted as a child killer under Pennsylvania law.

The weaker objection  which is not quite consistent with the first  is that Sasses legislation would be too intrusive in difficult matters of life and death on the ethical borderlines, forcing the provision of health care in hopeless cases. This would be horrible if true. But it isnt. The bill only requires that infants born alive after an attempted abortion be treated in the same way as other infants. Why? Because infants should not be allowed to die only because they are unwanted. Their value is inherent.

Members of a political party not dominated by a heedless demagogue would be able to argue this. Members of a political party not dominated by pro-choice interest groups would be able to consider this. As it is, the facts have no place to stand.

michaelgerson@washpost.com
Texas lawmakers are trampling on the rights of voters under the guise of trying to maintain election integrity.

SB 9, one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patricks priorities this legislative session, moved out of the Senate on a 19-12 vote last month and is now in the Texas House for consideration.

The legislation is not all bad; it has some merit, but it could use some major fine-tuning to keep from intimidating voters and discouraging them from exercising their right to cast a ballot. SB 9 would require both electronic and paper ballots by the 2024 general election and addresses concerns about the lack of a paper trail in the event the system is hacked.

However, some of the other provisions in the bill have civil rights activists across the state concerned that it will make voting more difficult, confusing, and punitive for vulnerable populations in Texas.

They make a valid argument.

In the name of maintaining the integrity of the system and reducing voter fraud (in-person voter fraud, by the way, is virtually nonexistent), the bill creates new crimes that would send people to jail for making what are perhaps innocent mistakes on a provisional ballot or for providing assistance to a voter needing help casting a ballot.

Penalties for making a false statement on a voter application increases from a Class B misdemeanor to a state felony punishable by up to two years in a state jail and a $10,000 fine. It also allows for prosecution of cases in which the erroneous information was given mistakenly and there was no intent to deceive. It does not allow the fact that the ballot was never counted to be used as defense.

Such measures would only scare people from the polls and further make what has traditionally been low voter turnout worse. The broadening of the law in these areas invites abuses by overzealous prosecutors grandstanding to a political base.

Law enforcement officials also get more leeway in making voter fraud cases.

SB 9 gives them immunity from prosecution if they break the law as long as they are engaged in the investigation or prosecution of a weakness in the electoral process.

We support giving law enforcement the tools necessary to bring cases to justice, but it should not come with a get-out-of-jail-free card that allows the trampling of a suspects rights.

Despite the political rhetoric, Texas does not have a voter fraud problem. The number of prosecutions dont support those statements.

What the state does have is a terrible track record of trying to disenfranchise minority voters. Most recently, Texans witnessed this when Texas Secretary of State David Whitley attempted to purge 100,000 people who did not appear to be U.S. citizens from voter rolls. Federal litigation swiftly resolved that issue.

Those who break state election laws deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law. Ignorance of the law is never a valid defense in a court of law, but an individuals intent deserves to be a consideration when criminal charges are possible.

Texas needs to encourage voters to cast ballots, not set up roadblocks on the path to the polls.

SB 9 has some good points, but the legislation is in need of some major cleanup if the intent really is to maintain election integrity in Texas.

A better plan altogether, however, would offer measures that encourage as broad a voter participation as possible. We await the day when Texas takes this seriously.
Two reform proposals moving through the Texas Legislature would provide more transparency and level the playing field for landowners forced to relinquish property under eminent domain laws.

SB 421 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, and HB 991 by Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, address concerns that current laws do not provide sufficient government oversight and lack adequate protections for owners of private land. The issue arises when there is forced condemnation of their land by private for-profit entities to accommodate oil and gas pipeline and transmission lines.

The complaints among landowners across the state is that all too often they are novices when it comes to eminent domain and they must deal with companies equipped with expert in-house legal counsel. That leaves them at a disadvantage in a situation where everyone knows the landowner will eventually have to give up rights to some of the property.

The proposed changes to the law would address easement terms and mandate a meeting between the company seeking the easement and the landowners if 25 or more tracts of land owned by separate people are affected. If the group is smaller than 25 individual owners, the owners can request a meeting. The bills have the support of the Texas Farm Bureau and its 520,000 member families.

Eminent domain reform is the property right issue of our time, Russell Boening, a fourth-generation Wilson County farmer and Texas Farm Bureau president, said during a recent meeting with the Express-News Editorial Board.

Boening said property owners have only two options: They can accept an offer or go to court. They do not have the option to just walk away.

There are industry opponents.

The provisions of the bills create an onerous process to construct oil and gas infrastructure and, if allowed to become law, will hinder the Texas economy. Many provisions are unworkable, create opportunities for litigation and cause significant delays or rejections for the construction of critical infrastructure projects that directly benefit our quality of life, such as oil and gas pipelines, water pipelines and electric lines, Thure Cannon, president of the Texas Pipeline Association, said in a written statement.

It is estimated Texas will need more than 10,000 miles of new pipeline in the next three decades to meet the growing energy needs of the state.

But lets be fair about this. There is no harm in this transparency and potentially a lot of good.

An earlier version of this editorial misstated the number of member families in the Texas Farm Bureau and the number on the house bill.
Now we know Attorney General William Barr misled the public about the Mueller report. The report does not exonerate the president from obstruction of justice, and only the Department of Justice policy against indicting a sitting president prevented Robert Mueller from recommending criminal charges.

What about all the Trump supporters who spent the past two weeks celebrating Donald Trumps exoneration because they took Barrs word for it? Will they take their own excellent advice about admitting it when theyve been proven wrong?

Im not holding my breath.

John Maxstadt, Laredo

Yield to scooters

Observing the scooters and their riders downtown reminded me of a bumper sticker from the 1970s: If you dont like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.

Wayne Haymes, Leon Valley

Conservatives sought

I have often told friends I am glad I do not live in Austin due to its very liberal City Council. Ha, seems the joke is on me!

Just look at what we have in San Antonio. One conservative! There needs to be more balance, and I hope we have a few more conservatives running for office.

If you are, please let your intentions be known before we vote. I am begging you.

Brenda Davis

Change the system

Re: Unresponsive inmate found in cell dies, Metro Briefs, April 19:

I read the paper every morning and am often saddened by the news of inmates who have died in the custody of the Bexar County Jail. We have a serious injustice in this city when a 63-year-old is incarcerated for a misdemeanor, cant pay $500 bail and consequently dies in his cell.

I agree with Sheriff Javier Salazar when he was quoted as saying, In my opinion, this inmate should not have been in jail. The Adult Detention Center should not be used to house the mentally ill or for those who simply cannot afford to pay their way out.

The mentally ill, in particular, often have no one to advocate for them. We need to change this system now before this happens again.

Ray Baird
BRIDGEPORT - A local landscaper, who claimed he went to the wrong home in Fairfield to collect a debt, was being held in lieu of $800,000 bond Wednesday after police said he robbed a female homeowner at knifepoint and then led police on a high-speed chase on the Merritt Parkway.

I went to the wrong home, I am a landscaper and I went to get my money, but I went to the wrong home, Fairfield police said Guilherme Lima-DaSilva told them.

But police claimed the 40-year-old Houston Avenue man, forced his way into the 71-year-old womans home Tuesday afternoon and put a knife to her throat.

He was charged with home invasion, second-degree robbery, second and third-degree assault, unlawful restraint, second-degree larceny and engaging police in a pursuit.

During his arraignment Wednesday afternoon Lima-DaSilva claimed he couldnt speak English and was assisted by a Spanish interpreter.

Police said the victim was alone in her home when she saw Lima-DaSilva walking towards her front door. She went outside to meet him and give him instructions on removing some weeds in the backyard when police said Lima-DaSilva grabbed the woman and forced her back into her home breaking the screen door.

Police said Lima-DaSilva ripped the womans cell phone from her hand, pushed her down on all fours and put a knife to her throat. He demanded cash and jewelry as she begged for her life. He fled with about $40 in cash and one of the gold hoop earrings the victim was wearing, police said, driving off in a black sedan.

Police spotted the car a short time later and pulled it over in a driveway on Congress Street. However, police said the car took off as officers approached it, driving through yards to get away.

Police said they pursued the car northbound on the Merritt Park at speeds up to 90 miles per hour. The car got off at the Easton Turnpike where Lima-DaSilva jumped out of the moving car and began running through yards. He was caught hiding under a deck on Lilalyn Drive, police said.

Im going through a divorce, I know Im in trouble, police said Lima-DaSilva told them.
GREENWICH  Whether tolls will return to Connecticuts highways is expected to dominate the final weeks of the legislative session in Hartford.

Two Greenwich lawmakers opposed to tolls, state Reps. Livvy Floren, R-149, and Fred Camillo, R-151, will host a forum on the issue May 13 at Town Hall.

A final bill that spells out what tolling in Connecticut might actually consist of has yet to be formalized. Floren said wiggle room galore remains.

The budget will most likely not be finalized by the end of session on June 5, Floren said. My estimate is that we wont be voting on this until September.

Options still on the table include tolls only for trucks, discounts for residents and local employees, and prices that fluctuate depending on time of day. Additionally, there is the GOP-favored Prioritize Progress plan, which would pay for improvements to infrastructure through short-term bonds, not tolls.

Though tolls are being pushed by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, Floren and Camillo said there is enough uncertainty in the Democratically controlled Legislature to put the issues future in doubt.

It was thought to be overwhelming because of the numbers but it seems some Democrats have peeled off and are having second thoughts, Camillo said. There seems to be some Democratic pushback to the tolls but how much remains to be seen.

Camillo said he also is against the Prioritize Progress plan, though would prefer that to tolling. Weigh stations should be open longer, he said, and the new transportation lockbox, which will prohibit transportation funds from being raided starting July 1, must be given a chance to work.

The lockbox was approved by state voters last November.

The forum will feature two of Camillo and Florens Republican colleagues in the Legislature, state Reps. Henri Martin, R-31, and Laura Develin, R-134. Both are members of the Transportation Committee and have voted against tolls. The Greenwich legislators said the session will include an opportunity for questions and they welcome all sides.

The 7 p.m. forum is scheduled for the same date and time as the Representative Town Meetings vote on the towns proposed municipal budget, which could depress attendance for the event. Floren said they have requested for the event to be recorded by the GCTV cameras that are in the Town Hall Meeting Room for later broadcast and posting online.

The issue of tolls has highlighted the split in Greenwichs delegation to Hartford, which had been entirely Republican for 90 years until last year when state Sen. Alexandra Bergstein, D-36, and state Rep. Stephen Meskers, D-150, were elected. While Camillo and Floren are against tolls, both Bergstein and Meskers made their support of tolls a part of their successful campaigns.

And after taking office in January, Bergstein introduced the first bill for tolls, saying that she considered it a way to create economic development in the state by raising money dedicated to transportation infrastructure improvements.

Neither Bergstein nor Meskers have been invited to May 13s forum and Bergstein said that theyd like to be.

A forum implies that all sides are represented, Bergstein said.

Meskers agreed, saying, I find it really disappointing that you would have an informational forum where the only speakers are those who have stated their position as opposed to tolls. That does not educate the public.

Camillo said on Wednesday that Bergstein is welcome to attend.

Id like to participate in a free and open discussion that focuses on facts, Bergstein said. If thats what this is, I hope theyll invite us to be equal participants/hosts.

Meskers said he understands concerns people have had about where the burden of tolls will fall and he is willing to continue to work on that as the bill takes its final form. However, he said without tolls the state would not be able to address its infrastructure needs and the burden from that would fall hardest on disadvantaged residents.

Meskers said he would like to attend the forum but will not be able to because of the RTM meeting since he is still a member of the body.

There has been pushback against tolls in Greenwich. An crowd of about 20 people gathered on Sunday outside a March On Greenwich discussion that included the towns legislative delegation at YWCA Greenwich. Toll opponents have made their presence felt at other events, particularly ones featuring Bergstein.

How widespread that opposition is remains unclear, however. In April the Greenwich RTM decided not to vote on a non-binding sense of the meeting resolution that would have stated the towns opposition to tolls.

A protest against tolls has reportedly been planned for Saturday morning at 10 a.m. by Exit 5s ramps to Interstate 95 in Riverside.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
GREENWICH  The head of Whitby School has decided to step down and leave at the end of this school year, the Board of Trustees announced Wednesday.

Jason Anklowitz became of head of school at the private school in Greenwich last July.

We respect Jasons decision and appreciate that he has agreed to stay on through the end of the school year to ensure a smooth transition, said Bernadette Rohrbasser, chair of the Board of Trustees. We are grateful for Jasons leadership and contributions to Whitby School and thank him sincerely for his work.

The Board of Trustees has formed a committee to conduct an immediate search for an interim head of school while they conduct a comprehensive search for a permanent head.

Bob Fricker of Carney, Sandoe & Associates has been retained to assist with this search process.

Whitby was founded 60 years ago on the principle that each child must be seen, valued, and understood for achievement to happen, said Rohrbasser. This core belief will continue to drive us every day, and our board and dedicated faculty remain firmly committed to the teaching principles of both the Montessori Method and the International Baccalaureate. We will be firmly guided by these principles as we conduct our search for a future permanent head of school.

Anklowitz was previously the associate head of Carlthorp School, a private K-6 school in Santa Monica, Calif. Before joining Carlthorp, Anklowitz spent five years as head of school for the International School of Trieste in Villa Opicina, Italy. He has taught in schools in Madrid, Washington, D.C., and Boston.

Anklowitz replaced former Head of School Bryan Nixon, who left Whitby to take a new position as head of school at TASIS England, in Thorpe, England. Simone Becker, assistant head of school and head of lower school, and Michelle Summers, chief financial officer and dean of business affairs, led Whitby on an interim basis between the tenures of Anklowitz and Nixon.

Whitby School incorporates a blend of Montessori methods in the early years and International Baccalaureate throughout the school. It has students from age 18 months through Grade 8.

jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com
HARTFORD  For opponents its a slippery slope to eliminating religious exemptions and parental choice, but for those who support the bill it simply reminds school districts that school nurses also have discretion when it comes to acknowledging religious exemptions for vaccines.

I have made it no secret that we do need to look at the religious exemption, but this bill does not do that, Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, said Tuesday during the Education Committee meeting on the bill.

She said the bill, which was forwarded to the House by a 19-13 vote of the Education Committee, compels the State Education Department to alert school nurses of their rights under current law. She said it also adds language to the exemption form that says a nurse or other signor cant be fired if they decide not to sign the form.

And thats only if a parent decides to use the exemption form.

Melissa Sullivan, executive vice president of Health Choice Connecticut, said theres nothing in state law that requires parents to use the form provided by the Department of Public Health. In fact, she encourages parents not to use the form.

She pointed out that when the school nurse signs the form they are only being asked to acknowledge the signature.

Linehan said the bill doesnt change a parents opportunity to write their own religious exemption note to a school. She said the legislation does not require the use of a form.

More for you Number of unvaccinated children in CT schools to be released

Rep. Irene Haines, R-East Haddam, said the chemical makeup of these vaccines is not going to work for everyone.

Rep. Noreen Kokoruda, R-Madison, said she doesnt know why they have to legislate nurses being aware of their rights.

We have too many laws in this state, Kokoruda said.

She said anybody who thinks this bill is not just the first step to totally taking parents rights away and religious exemptions away is wrong.

Kokoruda said hours after this bill passed the Childrens Committee on March 12 there was a press conference held by House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, who said within the next year he wanted to vote on removing the religious exemption.

She said it might not happen with this bill, but there will likely be a vote on getting rid of the religious exemption and every parent has the right to be worried.

Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, said she doesnt even know why they are debating this bill.

Why are we doing this today? I have to admit that I cant see a single reason for it. Is it just to get everybody ginned up now before everything happens next year? Lavielle said.

At some point in May, Attorney General William Tong is expected to release his opinion on whether eliminating the religious exemption is constitutional. Ritter asked Tong for the decision in early April.

The discussion is taking place in the middle of one of the largest measles outbreaks in the United States in several decades. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention on Monday said 503 of the 704 measles infections were in people who were not vaccinated. The vaccination status was unknown for 125 patients, and 76 said they had been vaccinated and got sick anyway.

The committee meeting occurred before Department of Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell announced that by the end of the week she would release data on how many children in each school are unvaccinated.
FAIRFIELD  No opposition was voiced to a proposed plastic bag ban in town, at least not during the public comment session of the April 29 Representative Town Meeting.

I really do think this is so important, Mary Hogue, a member of the Sustainable Fairfield Task Force and environmental advocate, said at the meeting. I really hope you will support this.

The ordinance, submitted and revised at the end of last year, would prohibit retail establishments from providing plastic bags to customers and from providing paper bags that are not 100 percent recyclable.

If approved, the ban would go into effect Feb. 1 of next year in order to let businesses adapt to the new regulation.

Two other residents expressed their support for the proposed ordinance.

Plastic bags live quite a while, almost forever. Its wonderful to see that Fairfield is taking the steps toward eliminating them, David McKinnis said.

According to RTM Moderator Phil Pires, the legislative body will continue to discuss the ordinance at its May 20 and 28 meetings. The latter date will include public comment and a vote on the ordinance is also scheduled.

Only one RTM member, Kerry Berchem from District 8, commented on the agenda item, restating the essence of the ordinance.

With bipartisan support  Pamela Iacono, Republican RTM minority leader supported the measure in committee  the ordinance could pass by end of next month.

This is not the first time that Fairfield has considered a plastic bag ban.

Almost 10 years ago, Heather Dean introduced an ordinance that did not make it out of the administration committee.

The Health Department, per the ordinance, would be in charge of enforcing the new rule. A first violation would incur a written warning, a second a $150 fee and subsequent violations a fee of $250.

Health Department Director Sands Cleary has previously said that, once the ordinance goes into effect, the department would receive and respond to complaints of establishments that are not in compliance.

A decade ago, Westport was the first town east of the Mississippi River to ban single-use plastic bags. In recent months, a small but growing number of towns have become part of that group, including Stamford, Greenwich, Norwalk, New Canaan and Hamden.

As of early April, 20 towns in the state were condidering plastic bag ban proposals, Fairfield among them.

While certain municipalities are passing their own bans, state legislators are also considering similar proposals.

The legislatures Environment Committee, on March 25, approved legislation that would virtually do away with single-use plastic bags by January of next year.

State legislation, similar to Fairfields proposal, would mandate that stores issue 100 percent recyclable paper bags and contain 40 percent recycled material.

humberto.juarez@

hearstmediact.com
Contributed photo

Rosie the Riveter was the star of a campaign that began in 1942 and was designed to recruit women to work in defense industries during World War II. According to History.com, Rosie became perhaps the most iconic image of working women. American women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers during the war, as widespread male enlistment left gaping holes in the industrial labor force. Between 1940 and 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to nearly 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home. Over the years the term Rosie the Riveter has been used as a generic term for all of the working women of WWII.

Gretchen Caulfield, Connecticut State Director of the American Rosie the Riveter Association (ARRA), will come to the Fairfield Museum (370 Beach Road) on Wednesday, May 15 at 12:30 p.m. for a History Bites Lunchtime Lecture to discuss the many ways that women in Fairfield and throughout the state contributed to the war effort during World War II. From factory jobs to volunteer work, Connecticut women stepped up to do their part. Some of these unique stories from interviews will be highlighted.
Commentary by Susan Crowell / editor@farmanddairy.com

In late February, the citizens of Toledo approved an amendment to the citys charter form of government called the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, granting citizens there the right to sue polluters of Lake Erie.

We reported on the ballot initiative when it was approved, as well as on the lawsuit challenging the LEBOR measure that was filed by Wood County grain farmer Mark Drewes.

But theres a backstory that deserves some attention, too.

Who or what is behind the bill of rights? The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), a nonprofit law firm based in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, which identifies communities that are ripe to advance local ordinances to legalize community rights and the rights of nature.

The firm has supported similar local ordinances, often focusing on agriculture or the oil and gas industry. In Toledo, the legal defense fund connected with Toledoans for Safe Water, a group that formed following events in August 2014 that led the city of Toledo to issue a drinking water ban.

The idea marries home rule  meaning local communities, not states nor the federal government, know best how to govern their communities  with environmental activism, and would return civil, political and environmental rights to the local level. They challenge corporate rights with binding local laws, sponsoring democracy schools, that teach citizens how to get involved.

The proponents believe in the rights of nature: that ecosystems have an inalienable right to exist and flourish (without human intervention), calling it liberation ecology. Basically, they believe nature has legally enforceable rights of its own.

There are more far-reaching implications to the rights of nature movement, than just celebrating and preserving natural resources. If you read more about CELDF founder Atty. Thomas Linzey, some would say his ultimate goal is dismantling corporate and private property rights.

Peggy Hall, an associate professor of agricultural and resource law at Ohio State University, has talked to judges and fellow attorneys across the country about the LEBOR issue, and says theres definitely agreement that the amendment is unconstitutional. It conflicts with various state and federal laws, and also violates measures in both the state and federal constitution.

Ohios constitution grants cities the right of self government, but if that home rule reaches beyond a citys limits and interferes with something thats of general concern for the states residents, thats not something the city can control. Lake Erie, as a natural resource, doesnt belong to the city nor its residents and the state of Ohio is actually charged with protecting it.

So if it was doomed to fail, whats the ultimate goal?

Beyond the courtroom, the goal is simply to increase awareness of the concept of rights of nature and home rule, and the proponents dont have to win the case to win that battle.

A good controversy is key to elevating your cause  just ask the folks at PETA, who wrote the book on engaging in publicity stunts to reach the masses.

We are all now talking about it, Hall said during the Ohio Dairy Producers Association annual meeting April 4. They want attention. I think thats their primary goal.

The veiled, death-by-a-thousand-cuts tactic reminds me a lot of the Humane Society of the United States, or HSUS, too.

You keep chiseling away, wounding in small but steady ways, none of which are fatal. But if continued, the blows finally add up to a slow and painful death. Meanwhile, the farm world that failed to get engaged wonders how did this happen? or why didnt someone do something?

Indeed.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is taking advantage of the publicity to start a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to protect Lake Erie and grow the Rights of Nature movement, according to the news release about the campaign.

In time, Hall says, they want to change everything thats stopping this  they want to change the law that says the state can pre-empt this local right. Theyre building momentum, membership and money, so when they have enough people behind this concept, they can go to legislators and say we all want change.

Theyre headed in that direction and its a long view, the attorney added. Thats something we all need to pay attention to.

***

Related commentary: Susan Crowell: Farmers must get out in front (April 25, 2019)

Related content: Ohio Ag Law Blog: Lucas County sues U.S. EPA over western basin water quality
Cattle health schemes have seen a 30% increase in membership as part of farmers' efforts to have healthier herds, a new survey shows.

The figure is shown within a survey of almost 1,000 members of cattle health schemes licensed by regulatory body Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHeCS).

Their survey indicated that instead of joining to increase the sales value of individual animals, more farmers were seeing productivity benefits to controlling disease.

Welsh dairy farmer Abi Reader, who took over as chair of CHeCS last year, explained that more than half of farmers getting involved in a health scheme 10 years ago were doing it to accredit the health status of pedigree animals; fewer than 30% were now doing it for that purpose.

She said: 60% of new cattle health scheme members have now joined for management reasons, including the aim of having a healthier herd, better disease control and saving money on laboratory testing.

Increased uptake from a different type of farmer could explain the jump from 10% to 13% of UK cattle farms in schemes over the past two years.

But the government and industry-led disease eradication or control schemes currently underway, such as Stamp our BVD and Action Johnes, could also be driving demand.

She added: This is borne out by the responses about financial benefits too. More than half in the survey were still aiming to increase the value of individual animals for sale, but 46% also reported more productivity and 45% said fewer losses. Just over a quarter said veterinary and medicine costs had reduced too.

While cattle health schemes have been one of the UKs main routes for controlling or eradicating diseases like BVD, Johnes, IBR, Leptospirosis since the 1990s, their success in the pedigree beef world has meant that many commercial or dairy farmers may have overlooked the benefits of getting involved.

This is the view of Abi Reader, who herself has been systematically reducing a Neospora infection in her herd over the past five years with the help of her vet and her health scheme.

For many farmers like me, an underlying infection from an infectious endemic disease will not be obvious  you just start getting an unexplained underperformance, and increased abortion or slipped calving patterns, she said.

Your vet will be the first person to contact, but then a CHeCS-licensed health scheme will help you get started with something as simple as a bulk milk test.

They also work well with the government and industry-led BVD or Johnes control programmes currently underway across the UK, some of which have financial support.

She added: Over half of survey participants first heard about their health scheme from their vet, underlining the link between disease control and healthier, more productive animals.

Almost three quarters of the farms in the CHeCS survey believe they run a closed herd  yet they had bought in cattle within the past two years.

While only 10% of farmers in the survey said biosecurity measures were not rigorously enforced, a further 14% were ambivalent and 16% didnt know.

Concerned about a perceived weakness in how biosecurity standards were being upheld, CHeCS developed an audit programme which was launched last year and saw through 276 on-farm audits during 2018.

The survey also shows that the two leading diseases being targeted were Johnes Disease (83%) and BVD (78%); around a third were targeting Leptospirosis and/or IBR.
Scottish farmers have called for effective management and licencing schemes now that beavers have been granted protected status.

Beavers have become a legally protected native species in Scotland as of 1 May 2019, meaning it is now illegal to kill beavers or destroy dams.

But agricultural organisations have raised concerns about the destruction caused to farmland from beavers' dam-building.

NFU Scotland said that since the 'illegal release' of beavers on Tayside some years ago, numbers of the animals have trebled.

The union highlights that beavers have negative impacts when they locate and breed in highly productive agricultural areas.

Farm leaders in Scotland have argued it is essential for protected species status to be accompanied by a management and licencing framework.

This would allow farmers to deal with problems should they arise, or prevent problems from arising in the first place.

NFU Scotland welcomed the fact that the Scottish government and Scottish Natural Heritage have established such a framework.

The union's Environment Committee Chairman, Angus MacFadyen said: In 2016, NFU Scotland accepted that beavers should be given protected status. Along with several other interested organisations we acknowledged the value that beavers add to Scotlands biodiversity.

But we also agreed with these other organisations, and with Scottish Government and SNH, that in some locations there is a clear need to manage this species to minimise undesirable impacts on agriculture. 

Mr MacFadyen added: We welcome the statement by Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham that the reintroduction 'will not be at the expense of the productivity of our rural economy' and going on to identify a flexible and responsive licensing system as the solution.

However, he went on to say that beavers can have negative impacts, especially when they occur in highly productive agricultural areas.

As such, the beaver population is already causing many farmers great concern because of the way that beavers can undermine river banks and protective flood banks and potentially impede farmland drainage as a result of damming, he said.
iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF's stock was trading at $25.60 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWU shares have increased by 28.5% and is now trading at $32.90.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.
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The Bank of East Asia, Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking and related financial services. Its personal banking services include corporate, individual, savings, current, time deposit, and supreme accounts; and fixed and call deposits, foreign currency deposits, MAS services, and auto-payroll products, as well as safe deposit boxes and remittance services. The company also provides corporate banking services, such as SME loans and financing guarantee schemes; corporate and commercial financing products, including syndicated and construction loans, acquisition and structured financing, working capital financing, share financing and IPO-related loans, and commercial mortgages; trade finance services and expert trade solutions; factoring services; import trade finance; guarantee services; eTradeConnect that allows buyers and sellers to connect, transact, share information, and submit applications for financing through a single platform; cash management services; corporate wealth management products; foreign exchange and treasury products; trade settlement and financing services; onshore and offshore loans; and marine cargo, property, trade credit, employee compensation, pet, medical, life, savings, and endowment insurance plans. In addition, it provides private banking services comprises investment advisory services; investment solutions, such as unit trusts, linked deposits, currency trading and management, global equities and bonds investments, structured products, and options and derivatives; portfolio management services; securities and futures broking services; cyber banking, credit cards, and ATM; and various international services. The company operates approximately 170 outlets in Hong Kong, Mainland China, other Asian countries and regions, and internationally. The Bank of East Asia, Limited was incorporated in 1918 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.

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The following companies are subsidiares of ENI: Adriaplin Podjetje za distribucijo, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia SpA, Agip Caspian Sea BV, Agip Energy and Natural, Agip Karachaganak BV, Agip Petroli, Aldro Energy, Banque Eni SA, Burren Energy (Bermuda) Ltd(1), Burren Energy (Egypt) Ltd, Burren Energy Congo Ltd, Burren Energy India Ltd, Burren Energy Plc, Burren Shakti Ltd, D-Service Media Srl, D-Share SpA, D-Share USA Corp., Dhamma Energy Group, Dunastyr Polisztirolgyarto Zartkoruen, Ecofuel SpA, Eni AEP Ltd, Eni Abu Dhabi BV, Eni Abu Dhabi Refining & Trading BV, Eni Abu Dhabi Refining & Trading Services BV, Eni Albania BV, Eni Algeria Exploration BV, Eni Algeria Ltd Sarl, Eni Algeria Production BV, Eni Ambalat Ltd, Eni America Ltd, Eni Angola Exploration BV, Eni Angola Production BV, Eni Angola SpA, Eni Argentina Exploracion, Eni Arguni I Ltd, Eni Australia BV, Eni Australia Ltd, Eni Austria GmbH, Eni BB Petroleum Inc, Eni BTC Ltd, Eni Bahrain BV, Eni Benelux BV, Eni Bukat Ltd, Eni CBM Ltd, Eni Canada Holding Ltd, Eni China BV, Eni Congo SA, Eni Corporate University SpA, Eni Cyprus Ltd, Eni Cote dIvoire Ltd, Eni Denmark BV, Eni Deutschland GmbH, Eni East Ganal Ltd, Eni East Sepinggan Ltd, Eni Ecuador SA, Eni Elgin/Franklin Ltd, Eni Energy Russia BV, Eni Exploration & Production Holding BV, Eni Finance International SA, Eni Finance USA Inc, Eni France Sarl, Eni Fuel SpA, Eni G&P Trading BV, Eni Gabon SA, Eni Ganal Ltd, Eni Gas & Power France SA, Eni Gas & Power LNG Australia BV, Eni Gas Transport Services Srl, Eni Ghana Exploration and Production Ltd, Eni Hewett Ltd, Eni Hydrocarbons Venezuela Ltd, Eni Iberia SLU, Eni India Ltd, Eni Indonesia Ltd, Eni Indonesia Ots 1 Ltd, Eni Insurance DAC, Eni International BV, Eni International NA NV Sarl, Eni International Resources Ltd, Eni Investments Plc, Eni Iran BV, Eni Iraq BV, Eni Ireland BV, Eni Isatay BV, Eni JPDA 03-13 Ltd, Eni JPDA 06-105 Pty Ltd, Eni JPDA 11-106 BV, Eni Kenya BV, Eni Krueng Mane Ltd, Eni LNS Ltd, Eni Lasmo Plc, Eni Lebanon BV, Eni Liberia BV, Eni Liverpool Bay Operating Co Ltd, Eni Lubricants Trading (Shangai) Co Ltd, Eni Marketing Austria GmbH, Eni Marketing Inc, Eni Maroc BV, Eni Mediterranea Idrocarburi SpA, Eni Middle East Ltd, Eni Mineralolhandel GmbH, Eni Montenegro BV, Eni Mozambico SpA, Eni Mozambique Engineering Ltd, Eni Mozambique LNG Holding BV, Eni Muara Bakau BV, Eni Myanmar BV, Eni Mexico S. de RL de CV, Eni Next Llc, Eni North Africa BV, Eni North Ganal Ltd, Eni Oil & Gas Inc, Eni Oil Algeria Ltd, Eni Oil Holdings BV, Eni Oman BV, Eni Pakistan (M) Ltd Sarl, Eni Pakistan Ltd, Eni Petroleum Co Inc, Eni Petroleum US Llc, Eni Portugal BV, Eni RAK BV, Eni RD Congo SA, Eni Rapak Ltd, Eni Rovuma Basin BV, Eni Schmiertechnik GmbH, Eni Sharjah BV, Eni South Africa BV, Eni South China Sea Ltd Sarl, Eni Suisse SA, Eni TNS Ltd, Eni Timor Leste SpA, Eni Trading & Shipping Inc, Eni Trading & Shipping SpA, Eni Transporte y Suministro Mexico , Eni Tunisia BV, Eni Turkmenistan Ltd, Eni UHL Ltd, Eni UK Holding Plc, Eni UK Ltd, Eni UKCS Ltd, Eni ULT Ltd, Eni ULX Ltd, Eni US Operating Co Inc, Eni USA Gas Marketing Llc, Eni USA Inc, Eni USA R&M Co Inc, Eni Ukraine Holdings BV, Eni Ukraine Llc, Eni Ukraine Shallow Waters BV, Eni Venezuela BV, Eni Venezuela E&P Holding SA, Eni Vietnam BV, Eni West Africa SpA, Eni West Ganal Ltd, Eni West Timor Ltd, Eni Yemen Ltd, Eni do Brasil Investimentos em Exploracao e Producao de Petroleo Ltda, Eni gas e luce SpA, EniPower Mantova SpA, EniProgetti Egypt Ltd, EniProgetti SpA, EniServizi SpA, Esacontrol SA, Esain SA, Eurl Eni Algerie, FRI-EL Group, First Calgary Petroleums LP, First Calgary Petroleums Partner Co ULC, First Calgary Petroliums, Floaters SpA, Gas Supply Company Thessaloniki - Thessalia SA, Gazoduc Transtunisien SA - Scogat SA, Ieoc Exploration BV, Ieoc Production BV, Ieoc SpA, LNG Shipping SpA, Lasmo Sanga Sanga Ltd, Liverpool Bay Ltd, Mizamtec Operating Company, Mukodo Reszvenytarsasag, Nigerian Agip CPFA Ltd, Nigerian Agip Exploration Ltd, Nigerian Agip Oil Co Ltd, OOO Eni Energhia, OOO Eni-Nefto, Oleoduc du Rhone SA, Petroven Srl, Raffineria di Gela SpA, Resources (Nigeria) Ltd, S. de RL de CV, SEA SpA, SeaPad SpA, Serfactoring SpA, Servizi Aerei SpA, Servizi Fondo Bombole Metano SpA, Societa Petrolifera Italiana SpA, Societe de Service du Gazoduc, Societe pour la Construction du, Tecnoesa SA, Trans Tunisian Pipeline Co SpA, Transtunisien SA - Sergaz SA, Versalis Americas Inc, Versalis Congo Sarlu, Versalis Deutschland GmbH, Versalis France SAS, Versalis International SA, Versalis Kimya Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Versalis Mexico S. de R.L. de CV, Versalis Pacific (India) Private Ltd, Versalis Pacific Trading (Shanghai) Co Ltd, Versalis Singapore Pte Ltd, Versalis SpA, Versalis UK Ltd, Zetah Congo Ltd, Zetah Kouilou Ltd, and zemeljskega plina doo Ljubljana.
Think of Anushka Sharma and you see a brilliant actor whos unafraid to try new roles each time to only get better at her craft. Shes fierce, hardworking and for those lucky ones who know her up-close and personal, shes extremely warm. After proving herself as one of the finest actors in the Hindi film industry, Anushka turned into a producer and seems to be excelling at that as well. Sharma has won both critical and commercial acclaim with films like NH10, Sultan, PK, Pari and Sui Dhaaga to her credit.





Even though she likes keeping her personal life completely private, she often surprises us all with a glimpse of it on her Instagram handle. After travelling with husband Virat Kohli to Australia to support him, shes back in Mumbai and we are already so excited to see pictures from her birthday celebrations.





View this post on Instagram A post shared by AnushkaSharma1588 (@anushkasharma) on Dec 20, 2018 at 10:30am PST

As Anushka turns 31 today, we bring to you her biggest dance hits which got us hooked and we dont seem to get over it. Heres grooving with the birthday girl, Bollywood style!





Enjoy!
"A lot of the activity supporting prices is being driven by first-time buyers around the UK"

Its figures show that prices rose 0.4% month-on-month, after taking account of seasonal factors.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: UK house price growth remained subdued in April, with prices just 0.9% higher than the same month last year.

Indicators of housing market activity, such as the number of property transactions and the number of mortgages approved for house purchase, have remained broadly stable in recent months, even though survey data suggests that sentiment has softened."

Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and former RICS residential chairman, commented: "Soft growth in the last set of figures from Nationwide is continuing and confirmed on the high street. Clearly, Brexit uncertainty in the minds of homebuyers is still outweighing almost record low mortgage rates and employment numbers, as well as improved affordability.

"A glimmer of good news is that first-time buyers are taking advantage, particularly of Help to Buy and deposits from the Bank of Mum and Dad, not forgetting reduced competition from landlords. However, landlords leaving the sector has meant some hardening of rents which has made deposit saving, we are finding particularly in London, more difficult, and which is making that illusive first purchase trickier."

Lucy Pendleton, founder and director of independent estate agents James Pendleton, added: At this point in the country's property diary, the market has had a month to get used to Britain abandoning its abandonment of the EU. The pace of the housing market, however, remains the same.

The run of play is still slightly in the favour of buyers but it is only really a buyers market in any real sense in London and pockets of the South East.

A lot of the activity supporting prices is being driven by first-time buyers around the UK, their pockets still filled with government cash encouraging them to transact.

What estate agents would like to see is a broadening out of demand and less dependency on this group. Thats happening to an extent in London where prices have fallen significantly compared with the rest of the country over the last year.

Any rebalancing in favour of owner occupiers will point to better stock levels and more realistic pricing, both of which are better for the housing market in the long run.
iconectiv extends contract with EETT to deliver reliable number portability to mobile users in Greece

Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) in Greece has extended its contract with iconectiv, an authoritative partner of the global communications industry, to provide the iconectiv TruNumber Portability Clearinghouse service in the country for another 2.5 years. iconectiv manages the clearinghouse with support from Nevapark Management Consulting Services.

Each year, nearly 1M Greek residents switch their personal or business phone number from one service provider to another, thanks to the national implementation of TruNumber Portability Clearinghouse service. National number portability helps ensure that residents have the choice and convenience of selecting the service provider that best meets their personal and business telecommunications needs.

"As one of the earliest adopters of this service, Greece is a pioneer in providing reliable fixed and mobile number portability service to its residents," said Richard Jacowleff, President and CEO, iconectiv. "We have been delivering this service since they introduced it in 2004 and are committed to providing EETT, the service providers and residents with the high-quality service that they have enjoyed for the past 15 years."

In addition to Greece, number portability solutions from iconectiv and its subsidiaries have been implemented worldwide, including in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Tunisia, U.A.E., the United States and Vietnam.

About iconectiv

iconectiv provides authoritative numbering intelligence to the global communications industry. Our market-leading solutions enable the interconnection of networks, devices and applications for more than two billion people every day who count on a simple, seamless and secure way to access and exchange information. With 30+ years of experience and more than 5K customers worldwide, iconectiv has intimate knowledge of the intricacies and complexities in creating, operating and securing the communications infrastructure for service providers, regulators and enterprises. Our solutions span network and operations management, numbering, registries and fraud prevention. For more information, visit www.iconectiv.com.

About Nevapark

Nevapark offers state-of-the-art managed services to telecommunications operators and regulators across South East Europe and the EMEA region in general. Its expertise extends beyond number portability to fraud and revenue assurance, network asset management, MVNE platform solutions, and services incorporating agile methodologies and innovative business models. For more information visit www.nevapark.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190430006293/en/

Contacts:

Sharon Oddy

iconectiv

+1-732-699-5130/908-809-2268

soddy@iconectiv.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 30, 2019) - The Mint Corporation (TSXV: MIT) ("Mint" or the "Company"), announced today that it will be late in filing its audited annual financial statements, MD&A and related CEO and CFO certificates for its financial year-ended December 31, 2018 (the "Year End Filings"). The Year End Filings are required to be filed no later than April 30, 2019. The late filing of the Year End Filings is due to delays in finalizing the audited financial results of Mint's UAE subsidiaries. Management of Mint is working with its auditors to finalize the financial statements and expects that the Year End Filings will be made no later than May 3, 2019.

Mint also announced that Randy Koroll has been appointed as a director of the Company and a member of Mint's audit committee. Mint is pleased that Randy is rejoining the Mint board having previously served as a director from October 2013 to September 2014. Randy brings over 30 years' management and finance experience to the Mint board. He has served as a director of numerous public companies and as the chief financial officer for various publicly-traded and private companies since 2001.

Mint announced that Ashish Kapoor and Julie McClure have resigned as directors of the Company. Vishy Karamadam, CEO of Mint, said "We would like to thank Ashish and Julie for the contribution they have made to Mint's board of directors."

Forward-looking Statements.

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking" statements. These statements relate to future events or our future performance. Forward-looking statements include the expected date for filing the Year End Filings. Such statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to vary from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, any delays in the completion of the auditors' work on the Year End Filings. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, The Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release.

About Mint

The Mint Corporation through its majority-owned subsidiaries (the "Mint Group"), is a globally-certified payments company headquartered in Toronto, Canada with its primary business in Dubai, UAE. The Mint Group provides employers, employees and merchants with best-in-class financial services supported via payroll cards and the feature rich and linked Mint mobile application. Through its mobile enabled payments platform certified globally by Mastercard and UnionPay, Mint brings modern financial conveniences, at reasonable cost, to employers, merchants and consumers.

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 Mint Corporation

Vishy Karamadam

647-352-0666

www.themintcorp.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44455
LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- UK-based financial services firm Smith & Williamson released a new report this month, titled Citizenship vs Residency: The Taxation Implications of Citizenship by Investment Programmes. It explores the tax consequences of an individual participating in Dominica's Citizenship by Investment Programme and concludes that there is no negative impact either on Dominica or on jurisdictions that had taxed the individual prior to his becoming an economic citizen.

"Smith & 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 and, subject to an existing double taxation treaty, an individual is only liable to tax in countries where they are tax resident," note the authors.

Smith & Williamson's assessment is comparable to that of international accounting firm Ernst & Young, which, in March 2019, released a similar report stating that "it is clear 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."

Citizenship Alone, Not Tax Residency

Dominica offers one of the world's oldest citizenship by investment (CBI) programmes. Established in 1993, the programme enables foreign applicants to become citizens of Dominica in exchange for an investment and only after passing very stringent due diligence procedures. Funds from the CBI Programme are used to support ecotourism and sponsor socio-economic initiatives on the island, including several climate change resilience building projects, as the Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit pledged to make Dominica "the world's first climate resilient nation" following Hurricane Maria's ravages in 2017.

Nothing in Dominica's Constitution, Citizenship Act, or Citizenship by Investment Regulations entitles the applicant to anything but the status of 'citizen.' Significantly, citizenship of Dominica, states Smith & Williamson, "does not equate to residence" and "does not bear on a person's status as a Dominican tax resident." This is central to the report's conclusions because, when it comes to a person's tax liability, "only countries where an individual is resident for tax purposes can tax the individual's worldwide income and gains" and "only the United States, Hungary and Eritrea currently tax individuals based on both residence and citizenship." Because Dominica does not tax individuals by virtue of being citizens, an economic citizen cannot claim he is no longer a tax resident of another country on the basis of his or her new Dominican citizenship.

Concerns as to whether Dominica's Citizenship by Investment Programme can facilitate tax evasion have been raised, most prominently, by the OECD in its assessment of whether citizenship by investment can enable circumvention of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Yet, Smith & Williamson suggests these concerns are unnecessary and misplaced since "reporting under the CRS is [] based on tax residence and not on citizenship or the right to reside in a jurisdiction."

No Double Taxation Relief

Finally, Smith & Williamson asks whether tax residence of Dominica, coupled with tax residence of another country, could prove advantageous to the dual tax resident. The answer is a categorical 'no' for anyone who is not a Caribbean dual tax resident, as Dominica only holds double taxation agreements with member states of the Caribbean Community. This means that, in the vast majority of cases, a Dominican tax resident "would only receive a foreign tax credit against their Dominican tax liability for tax already suffered," and there would be nothing to stop the second country of tax residence taxing the Dominican resident. Smith & Williamson illustrates this point by analysing the prospects of a dual UK-Dominican tax resident and Dominican citizen: "Citizenship of Dominica would not have any detrimental impact on UK tax that can be collected and, even if the individual were to also become a tax resident of Dominica, it could expose them to double taxation on their income, which could not be mitigated under the domestic tax laws of the jurisdictions involved."

The full reports by Smith & Williamson and EY can be accessed here.

Contact:

pr@csglobalpartners.com
LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Creation of the largest independent oil and gas company in Europe

On track to reach production target of 750,000 to 800,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day between 2021- 2023, equivalent to an annual production growth rate of 6-8%

Synergies of at least 200 million per year

Initial Public Offering envisaged for 2nd half of 2020

LetterOne and BASF today announced the completion of the merger of their oil and gas businesses to create Wintershall Dea, the largest independent exploration and production company in Europe.

All necessary regulatory approvals were received from nine countries, including Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom and Russia.

This merger, the largest in the oil and gas sector for a decade, creates a new oil and gas company - Wintershall Dea - which is the world's largest privately-held energy company.

Headquartered in Kassel and Hamburg, Wintershall Dea has activity spanning 13 countries across Europe, Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East. The company will be managed by an Executive Board consisting of five members: Mario Mehren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Maria Moraeus Hanssen, Deputy CEO and Chief Operating Officer (COO), responsible for Europe and MENA; Thilo Wieland, Member of the Executive Board responsible for Russia, Latin America and Midstream; Hugo Dijkgraaf, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Paul Smith, Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

LetterOne and BASF have also today announced that Hans-Ulrich Engel, Vice Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, and Lord Browne of Madingley, Executive Chairman of L1 Energy, will be rotating non-executive Chairmen of Wintershall Dea's Supervisory Board. The role will be held by Hans-Ulrich Engel for the first fifteen months. BASF and LetterOne will be supported by independent advisors Scott Nyquist, former senior partner and member of McKinsey's Board of Directors, and Matti Lievonen, CEO of Oiltanking GmbH and former CEO of Neste Corporation.

In 2018, Wintershall and DEA together would have produced approximately 590,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day. On a proven (1P) reserves basis, the combined company's reserves stood at 2.4 billion BOE, giving a reserves to production ratio of 11 years. The combined business of Wintershall and DEA would have had sales in 2018 of 5.7 billion, income from operations before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 3.6 billion and net income of 1.1 billion.

Based on its existing project pipeline, Wintershall Dea is on track to grow production to between 750,000 and 800,000 BOE per day between 2021 and 2023, which equates to an annual production growth rate of between 6 and 8 percent.

Commenting on the completion of the merger, Lord Browne said:

"Size is very important in this industry. Very rarely do you have the opportunity to create a company of this scale and quality. Wintershall Dea will hit the ground running, with a project pipeline that delivers market-leading growth in the years to come. L1 Energy looks forward to seeing Wintershall Dea generate sustainable value growth long into the future."

Hans-Ulrich Engel said:

"With Wintershall Dea we create the leading independent European exploration and production company with international operations in core regions. By combining the two German-based entities, BASF and LetterOne lay the basis for strong profitable growth for Wintershall Dea."

Teams have been preparing the integration of the two companies, including the development of Wintershall Dea's operating model; the identification of synergies is progressing. The company expects to realise annual synergies of at least 200m as of the third year following the closing of the transaction.

Both shareholders are committed to the sustainable and profitable growth of Wintershall Dea. The company will target an investment grade credit rating. After closing, the joint venture will have no shareholder loans outstanding towards BASF or LetterOne.

BASF and LetterOne expect to offer shares in Wintershall Dea through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the second half of 2020, subject to market conditions.

Notes

L1 Energy is the energy investment arm of LetterOne. LetterOne was founded in 2013 and is an international investment business headquartered in Luxembourg. LetterOne's strategy is to build a new portfolio of successful companies that are leaders in their fields and sectors. It makes long-term investments of its own capital in companies in which its sectoral experience and strategic and geographic expertise will improve performance and help companies grow. It has recruited world-class CEOs, sector investment teams and Advisory Boards to invest at scale. It buys and builds assets, which it can develop over time as platforms of long-term sustainable growth. It invests through L1 Energy, L1 Technology, L1 Health and L1 Retail.

Stuart Bruseth

Director of Communications

+44-(0)7739-630539

sbruseth@letterone.com
Keller Group plc

TOTAL VOTING RIGHTS

In accordance with the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rule 5.6.1, Keller Group plc ("the Company") advises that, as at 1 May 2019, the total issued share capital of the Company consisted of 73,099,735 ordinary shares of 10p each, of which 1,039,855 shares were held in Treasury.

Accordingly, the total number of voting rights in the Company's ordinary shares is 72,059,880.

The above number may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Kerry Porritt

Group Company Secretary and Legal Advisor

LEI number: 549300QO4MBL43UHSN10

Classification: 2.5 (Total number of voting rights and capital)
LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tungsten is a vital ingredient used in a wide range of final products. Its special qualities in some key end-uses make it difficult to replace. However, it is not a demand concern that keeps market participants worried, but one more fundamental to any resource market: will there be enough supply? In this Insight we explore the current supply outlook and review some of the major risks to the supply base.

Tungsten is a high-priced commodity, which is consequently used only in products where its performance justifies the cost of the raw material. This includes cemented carbides, high alloy steels and superalloys, electrical and electronic applications. Due to this wide range of applications, total tungsten demand is driven by a combination of developments in the broader world economy (industrialisation).

The tungsten industry has undergone tremendous change. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, sales from the US and later ex-Soviet government stockpiles, plus uncoordinated production from many small-scale Chinese mines, led to oversupply in the tungsten market. This resulted in market prices being depressed to the point where all but a handful of mines outside of China closed.

Western processors and consumers consequently became increasingly reliant on Chinese tungsten concentrates and other products. However, in the 2000s the Chinese government sought to restrict the export of tungsten products, resulting in higher prices and concerns over the security of supply for non-Chinese tungsten processors and consumers.

Since 2013, the world (ex-China) refined tungsten market balance has been negative and relatively static at roughly -13,000 t/y (tonnes per year). With the depletion of stockpiles and this negative balance holding up prices, in the last two years, industry attention has turned again to tungsten. Decreases in supply from existing producers have exacerbated supply shortages and have been caused by a variety of factors, including environmental regulations in China.

Will supply growth be sufficient?

China remains the largest supplier of tungsten so what happens in China has important repercussions for overall tungsten supply growth. The depletion of Chinese domestic resources is fostering doubts about China's long-term ability to supply and CRU forecast Chinese production will continue to decrease.

Read the full story: https://www.crugroup.com/knowledge-and-insights/insights/2019/whose-tungsten-projects-will-satisfy-growing-demand/

Read more about CRU: http://bit.ly/About_CRU

About CRU

CRU offers unrivalled business intelligence on the global metals, mining and fertilizer industries through market analysis, price assessments, consultancy and events.

Since our foundation by Robert Perlman in 1969, we have consistently invested in primary research and robust methodologies, and developed expert teams in key locations worldwide, including in hard-to-reach markets such as China.

CRU employs over 280 experts and has more than 11 offices around the world, in Europe, the Americas, China, Asia and Australia - our office in Beijing opened in 2004 and Singapore in 2018.

When facing critical business decisions, you can rely on our first-hand knowledge to give you a complete view of a commodity market. And you can engage with our experts directly, for the full picture and a personalised response.

CRU - big enough to deliver a high-quality service, small enough to care about all of our customers.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/879916/CRU_tungsten.jpg

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/648443/CRU_Logo.jpg
ABB Robotics to provide advanced robotics painting solutions to SAIC VOLKSWAGEN, helping to build first global New Energy Vehicle (NEV) factory characterized by automation and environmentally-friendly manufacturing technologies.

ABB signed a formal agreement with SAIC Volkswagen to provide robotics painting solutions for the first New Energy Vehicle (NEV) factory of the Volkswagen Group based on the Modular Electric Driver Kit (MEB), an automotive platform specifically designed for the mass production of electric vehicles. Financial details were not disclosed.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005430/en/

ABB Robotics painting solutions (Photo: Business Wire)

The new 610,000 square meter NEV factory will be in Shanghai, opening in 2020 with an annual capacity of 300,000 pure electric vehicles from the Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda brands.

This is the first large automated painting project provided by ABB for SAIC Volkswagen. ABB will install approximately 300 robots to provide painting and sealing solutions on three automated painting production lines. These solutions involve automobile exterior and interior painting, underbody painting, interior cosmetic seam sealing and interior plate wax-spraying.

"We are delighted to support China's rapidly growing electric vehicle industry and to extend our partnership with Volkswagen as the company expands its electric vehicle manufacturing capabilities. This award recognizes ABB's deep expertise in the electric vehicle segment overall and, in particular, our Robotics automotive expertise supported by global applications centers in China, Europe and the United States," said Sami Atiya, President of ABB's Robotics and Discrete Automation business.

Chen Hong, President of SAIC Group said: "Unprecedented changes are taking place in the automobile industry, and electrification and digitalization are inevitable trends. SAIC Volkswagen is actively participating in this change. The NEV plant is an important part of completing SAIC Volkswagen's strategic layout for the future. The NEV plant will become an intelligent, flexible and agile electric vehicle production base of SAIC Volkswagen, helping the company to become the leader in the electric vehicle market in terms of technology and sales volume. It will bring diversified choices with advanced technology and reliable performance to Chinese consumers."

The RMB 17 billion factory is a modern green benchmark factory combining intelligent manufacturing and environmentally-friendly technologies with a special focus on water preservation, energy savings and the reduction of carbon dioxide.

Environmentally-friendly solutions are at the heart of the ABB installation. The painting solutions ABB provides will meet Volkswagen's 2010v environmental standards, the world's leading waterborne painting process. The primerless painting technology employed in the process can improve paint utilization rates and reduce waste.

Compared with the traditional painting process, it adopts a dry spray absorption system instead of a water circulation system, which can circulate air and use limestone to absorb the spray, so the use of water is no longer necessary. Some 95 percent of the air can be reused and the limestone can be recycled resulting in energy savings of up to 60 percent. The emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) can also be reduced by 63 percent.

At the same time, through the rapid acceleration of ABB robots, large flow and fine control of ABB atomizers and the deep application experience of ABB's engineering team, the total cycle time of the three painting production lines will reach 120 Jobs Per Hour (JPH), the fastest in a single paint shop. In addition, all ABB robots will be able to be connected to ABB AbilityTM digital solutions to prepare for the future digital deployment of the factory.

As the world leader in electric vehicle infrastructure, ABB has sold 10,500 DC chargers, including high power chargers up to 350 kW, across 73 countries more than any other manufacturer. ABB entered the EV-charging market in 2010 and offers the full range of charging solutions for electric cars, electric and hybrid buses as well as electrification solutions for ships and railways.

ABB Robotics is a pioneer in industrial and collaborative robots and advanced digital services. As one of the world's leading robotics suppliers, ABB is active in 53 countries and over 100 locations and has shipped over 400,000 robot solutions for a diverse range of industries and applications. ABB helps its customers to improve flexibility, efficiency, safety and reliability, while moving towards the connected and collaborative factory of the future. www.abb.com/robotics

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader with a comprehensive offering for digital industries. With a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB is today a leader in digital industries with four customer-focused, globally leading businesses: Electrification, Industrial Automation, Motion, and Robotics & Discrete Automation, supported by its common ABB Ability digital platform. ABB's market-leading Power Grids business will be divested to Hitachi in 2020. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 147,000 employees. www.abb.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005430/en/

Contacts:

ABB Ltd

Affolternstrasse 44

8050 Zurich Switzerland



Media Relations

Phone: +41 43 317 71 11

Email: media.relations@ch.abb.com



Investor Relations

Jessica Mitchell

Phone: +41 43 317 71 11

Email: investor.relations@ch.abb.com
BLACKROCK LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC (the "Company")

LEI: UK9OG5Q0CYUDFGRX4151

Voting Rights and Capital (Article 15 Transparency Directive, DTR 5.6)

In conformity with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1R, the Company would like to notify the market of the following:

As at 30 April 2019, BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc's capital consists of 39,259,620 Ordinary Shares of 10 cents each, carrying one vote each, excluding 2,181,662 ordinary shares held in treasury.

As at 30 April 2019, the total number of voting rights for Ordinary shareholders in BlackRock Latin American Investment Trust plc is 39,259,620.

Shareholders should use 39,259,620 as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company.

All enquiries:

Sarah Beynsberger

BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, Company Secretary

Tel: 0207 743 2639

1 May 2019
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.
Over 500K Loopia customers to receive Pingdom monitoring to help ensure the availability and performance of their websites

AUSTIN, Texas, May 01, 2019, based in Sweden and one of the largest web and domain hosting providers in the Nordics, whereby the company has selected SolarWinds Pingdom as its exclusive web application performance monitoring (APM) solution. Loopia will include Pingdom in its custom package to over 500K business plans, giving Loopia customers the ability to monitor the uptime and availability of their websites and critical web pages.



Pingdom is a web application performance and availability monitoring solution that uses more than 100 global test servers to provide an outside-in user perspective of web experiences. With the Pingdom uptime checks provided by Loopia, users will be able to receive real-time alerts when issues arise, run tests to quickly resolve problems, and spot trends through easy-to-understand reports to proactively manage and avoid potential risks in the future.

"As one of the largest and most popular web hosting companies in Sweden, Loopia recognizes the significance of maintaining website and application uptime for businesses-because every minute down, is a dollar lost," said Denny LeCompte, general manager, application management, SolarWinds. "Therefore, we are thrilled to be partnering with Loopia to make Pingdom available to their valuable customers and their businesses."

Loopia AB, which is part of Loopia Group, is one of the Nordics' largest and fastest-growing web hosting companies with operations in Sweden, Norway, and Serbia. The company offers innovative solutions at a competitive price point for managing domain names, websites, and email services to both private individuals and companies.

"When we set out to include a web APM tool as part of our custom business package, Pingdom was the obvious choice given its longstanding reputation for helping companies deliver the best possible customer experience by ensuring the performance and availability of business-critical websites and applications," said Jimmie Eriksson, managing director, Loopia. "We look forward to working with SolarWinds and their Pingdom team as we continue to meet and exceed our customers' needs for monitoring."

Pingdom is part of the SolarWinds web application performance monitoring, Loggly , and Papertrail . These products can be used individually to help ensure the performance and availability of custom applications and websites, or used together to maintain full-stack visibility.

For more information or to inquire about becoming a SolarWinds partner, please contact partnership@solarwinds.com .

Additional Resources

Customer testimonial - " SolarWinds Pingdom Testimonial (https://video.solarwinds.com/watch/VzVXBrfseQju5ou8XfP9hc)"

(https://video.solarwinds.com/watch/VzVXBrfseQju5ou8XfP9hc)" Video - " SolarWinds Cloud Monitoring for DevOps (https://www.solarwinds.com/resources/video/solarwinds-cloud-monitoring-for-devops)"

Connect with SolarWinds

THWACK (https://thwack.solarwinds.com/welcome)

(https://thwack.solarwinds.com/welcome) Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/solarwinds)

(http://www.twitter.com/solarwinds) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SolarWinds)

(https://www.facebook.com/SolarWinds) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/solarwinds)

SWIproducts

SWIdevops

About SolarWinds

SolarWindsonline community, allow us to build products that solve well-understood IT management challenges in ways that technology professionals want them solved. This focus on the user and commitment to excellence in end-to-end hybrid IT performance management has established SolarWinds as a worldwide leader in network management software and MSP solutions. Learn more today at www.solarwinds.com .

The SolarWinds, SolarWinds & Design, Orion, and THWACK trademarks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC or its affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be common law marks or are registered or pending registration. All other trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and are trademarks of (and may be registered trademarks of) their respective companies.

 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Innovative Canopy Design Provides Access to Wider Range of Solar Projects

VANCOUVER, BC and KNOXVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / Solar Alliance Energy Inc. ('Solar Alliance' or the 'Company') (TSX-V: SOLR, OTC: SAENF) is pleased to announce it is working with Brooklyn Solar Canopy ("Brooklyn Solar") to install the first Brooklyn Solar Canopy in the U.S. south. Brooklyn Solar's patented canopy design is adaptable to multiple flat roof types, carport and other applications. Because it is extremely versatile, the Brooklyn Canopy integrates seamlessly into Solar Alliance's current product offering and provides access to a greater range of potential solar projects. The first project with Brooklyn Solar is in Nashville, at the same location Solar Alliance is installing a 32 kW system with 6 Tesla electric vehicle chargers. The Brooklyn Solar Canopy is also a great fit for the SunBox residential product that Solar Alliance offers to homeowners, builders and developers.

"Finding solutions for our clients is a big part of what we do," said Myke Clark, CEO of Solar Alliance. "We needed a racking solution that was versatile and adaptable to multiple roof types. After working closely with Brooklyn Solar on the design of the Nashville project we were convinced this canopy system will add significant value to our customers and increase the scope of projects we can now pursue. In the past, we might not even look at hotel roofs with high parapets and all the mechanical equipment to work around. Brooklyn Solar Canopy makes this possible, with an attractive, robust and well-designed product. The fact that this is the first Brooklyn Solar installation in the South illustrates our commitment to sourcing innovative solutions for our customers and we are proud to work with them," concluded Clark.

"The Brooklyn Solar Canopy was conceived to overcome key physical barriers that can make solar implementation challenging in dense urban environments like New York," said Chris Neidl, Director of Business Development for Brooklyn Solar Canopy. "Over the past year, it's been inspiring to see how our partners in very different parts of the country are discovering new use cases for the canopy and different problems that it can solve, opening up creative possibilities for different types of properties. We are incredibly excited to be working with a visionary company like Solar Alliance, and can't wait to see what new directions that canopy will take in Nashville and throughout the southeast under their direction."

The Brooklyn Solar Canopy Company's (BSCC) patented Gen1 canopy design is adaptable to multiple flat roof types, carport or pergola applications. All BSCC canopies are custom fabricated in the United States using 6061 grade aluminum and have been certified by a structural engineer to meet the wind, snow and seismic loads in New York City.

About Brooklyn Solar Canopy (www.brooklynsolarcanopy.com)

Spun off of Brooklyn SolarWorks (BSW) in March 2018. BSW, named one of Fast Company Magazine's Most Innovative Companies in the world in 2019, is the leading solar designer-installer in Brooklyn. BSW invented the patented Brooklyn Solar Canopy with Situ Studio, a design architecture firm based in Brooklyn. The canopy was conceived to overcome space and code constraints that impede solar development on flat roof townhomes, a dominant residential and small commercial building type in NYC; and to create shaded amenity space for decks and other rooftop uses. Since launching in 2015, the canopy has accumulated a number of prestigious awards and accolades from the design and architecture community, and the attention of other solar installers based in other markets. Based on growing interest, BSW spun off the Brooklyn Solar Canopy Company to distribute the canopy to other installers.

Myke Clark, CEO

For more information:

Solar Alliance Sales

(865) 309-4674

Solar Alliance

Myke Clark, CEO

604-288-9051

mclark@solaralliance.com

About Solar Alliance Energy Inc. (www.solaralliance.com)

Solar Alliance is an energy solutions provider focused on residential, commercial and industrial solar installations. The Company operates in California, Tennessee, North/South Carolina and Kentucky and has an expanding pipeline of solar projects. Since it was founded in 2003, the Company has developed wind and solar projects that provide enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. Our passion is improving life through ingenuity, simplicity and freedom of choice. Solar Alliance reduces or eliminates customers' vulnerability to rising energy costs, offers an environmentally-friendly source of electricity generation, and provides affordable, turnkey clean energy solutions.

Statements in this news release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, constitute Forward-looking statements. The words "would", "will", "expected" and "estimated" or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different than those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: uncertainties related to the ability to raise sufficient capital, changes in economic conditions or financial markets, litigation, legislative or other judicial, regulatory and political competitive developments and technological or operational difficulties. Consequently, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release."

SOURCE: Solar Alliance Energy Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543679/Solar-Alliance-Installs-First-Brooklyn-Solar-Canopy-in-US-Southeast
H.I.G. Capital ("H.I.G."), a leading global alternative asset management firm with over $30 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that Jerome Fouille and Jenny Hammarlund have joined the firm's real estate team as Managing Directors. Jerome and Jenny together bring over 35 years of experience originating, structuring and investing in real estate equity and debt. They are based in H.I.G.'s London office.

Prior to H.I.G., Jerome worked for GIC as Managing Director and Head of Tactical Opportunities where he was responsible for investments in Europe targeting Core+ to Value Add transactions across a wide range of asset classes. Prior to this, he was a Senior Vice President at Colony Capital and at Heitman. Jerome holds an M.B.A. from The London Business School.

Prior to H.I.G., Jenny was a Director in the real estate team at KKR, where she focused on sourcing and executing real estate investments across Europe. Prior to this, Ms. Hammarlund was a Director at Varde Partners in London and a Vice President at Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners in New York. Jenny holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Riccardo Dallolio, Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Europe Realty Partners, commented: "I am delighted to welcome Jenny and Jerome to the firm. They are very experienced and successful real estate investors who significantly augment the expertise and capabilities of our team. I am confident they will play an instrumental role in H.I.G. Realty's growth in Europe."

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over $30 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with European offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, and U.S. and Latin American offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Stamford, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:

1. H.I.G.'s equity funds invest in growth investments, management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.

2. H.I.G.'s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.

3. H.I.G.'s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm's current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005520/en/

Contacts:

Riccardo Dallolio

Managing Director

rdallolio@higrealty.com

H.I.G. Europe Realty Partners

www.higrealty.com
Lars-Eric Johansson to retire as President and CEO

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Robert Friedland and Yufeng "Miles" Sun, Co-Chairmen of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF), announced today that the company has appointed Tony S. Giardini as its new President, effective today.

Mr. Johansson, who has served as Ivanhoe's President and Chief Executive Officer since May 2007, has advised the company's Board of Directors that he will retire at the end of June 2019. Mr. Johansson will work alongside Mr. Giardini until then to ensure a smooth and seamless transition.

Mr. Giardini's extensive experience as a senior-level finance and mining executive positions him well to oversee the construction and operation of Ivanhoe's three world-scale mine development projects in Southern Africa - Kamoa-Kakula, Platreef and Kipushi.

"For more than three decades, Tony has built an impressive track record of strategic, financial and commercial accomplishments in the mining sector," said Mr. Friedland.

"We worked closely together at the original Ivanhoe Mines, where he was instrumental in our successful financing, development and construction of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia. He is a trusted leader, and I could not be more pleased about his appointment to this critical role as we look to fast-track development at each of our three principal mining projects."

Mr. Giardini most recently was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Toronto-based Kinross Gold, a position he held since December 2012. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Giardini was Chief Financial Officer of the original Ivanhoe Mines (now Turquoise Hill Resources). Prior to that, he spent 10 years at Placer Dome, where he held a series of senior financial positions, including Vice President and Treasurer. Mr. Giardini is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant, and spent 12 years with the international accounting firm KPMG before joining Placer Dome.

"It is a great privilege to once again work alongside Robert and the rest of the Ivanhoe team to lead Ivanhoe into our next chapter of growth," said Mr. Giardini. "Ivanhoe is uniquely positioned for success with three high-grade, long-life deposits that put the company on a path to becoming a world-scale, diversified mining company. While Ivanhoe now is transitioning to becoming an operator, it still has tremendous exploration potential on its 100%-owned Western Foreland exploration ground right next door to Kamoa-Kakula. I look forward to being part of the team that continues to grow Ivanhoe through the development of additional tier-one discoveries."

Tadeu Carneiro, Ivanhoe's Lead Independent Director, added: "The Board unanimously agrees that Mr. Giardini's leadership and experience with mine development and his proven ability to deliver operational results, make him the right person to succeed Mr. Johansson as the company's President as Ivanhoe moves from explorer to operator."

Lars-Eric Johansson to retire June 30, 2019

Mr. Johansson has been at the helm of Ivanhoe Mines and its predecessor, Ivanplats, since May 2007, guiding it through a major transformation from a pure exploration company to one that now has the assets, funding and partners to become one of the world's leading producers of copper, zinc, nickel and platinum-group metals.

"I'm very proud of the exceptional mineral discoveries we have made and the development work we have accomplished. I'm also honored to have worked alongside some of the brightest, most passionate people in the mining industry," said Mr. Johansson.

"Ivanhoe Mines is in excellent shape, and I will be leaving it in the capable hands of a highly qualified new President, a strong management team, and dedicated employees and partners who are committed to take the company and its projects through to operations and beyond. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ivanhoe and the relationships with Robert, the Board, our employees and partners, and I wish them continued success as they advance the company."

Mr. Friedland commented: "Twelve years ago, we convinced Lars-Eric to help advance our mineral prospects in Southern Africa and take our company public. He successfully led our initial public offering in 2012 that raised US$308 million, assembled and oversaw our team of exploration geologists that made the tier-one discoveries at Kamoa-Kakula and Platreef, and skillfully managed the acquisition of the Kipushi Project. He has built a talented team of exploration, development and finance professionals, and he leaves us on solid ground to quickly progress our three principal projects to production."

"Lars-Eric has done an exceptional job leading Ivanhoe Mines through a period of tremendous growth," said Yufeng "Miles" Sun. "He played a key role in CITIC Metal's transformative, long-term, strategic cooperation and investment agreement with Ivanhoe Mines last September resulting in CITIC initially investing US$560 million, and recently committing to invest another US$457 million through equity financings to fast-track development of the company's three mines in Southern Africa."

Peter Meredith, Chair of the Audit Committee of Ivanhoe Mines, commented: "On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to express our sincerest thanks to Lars-Eric for his years of dedication and leadership. He has guided the company's exploration and mine development efforts with an uncompromising commitment to international best practices in corporate social responsibility, ensuring that we conduct our operations in a manner that is protective of the environment and safe for our employees, contractors and local communities, and has laid the foundation for sustainable, long-term benefits to the host countries and communities where we operate."

About Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Platreef palladium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold discovery in South Africa; and the extensive redevelopment and upgrading of the historic Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC. The company also is exploring for new copper discoveries on its wholly-owned Western Foreland exploration licences, adjacent to the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence.

Information contacts

Investors

Bill Trenaman +1.604.331.9834

Media

Kimberly Lim +1.778.996.8510

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44461
BH GLOBAL LIMITED

(the "Company")

(a closed-ended investment scheme established as a company with limited liability under the laws of Guernsey with registered number 48555)

LEI: 549300BIIO4DTKEMXV14

Directorate Change

01 May 2019

BH Global Limited (the "Company") is pleased to announce that Andreas Tautscher has agreed to join the Board of the Company and has been appointed as Director with effect from 1 May 2019.

Andreas is a Guernsey based independent Director with over 30 years' financial services experience. From 1994 until 2018 Andreas was a senior executive at Deutsche Bank and was most recently CEO Channel Islands and Head of Financial Intermediaries for EMEA and LATAM. He has experience across the full spectrum of funds, trust and banking services in most of the major financial centers. He sat on the UK Regional Governance Board of Deutsche and the EMEA Wealth Management Exco. Andreas has also served on Local Government advisory committees and was for 6 years a Non-Executive Director on the Virgin Group Board. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Elizabeth College, a Guernsey based public school. Andreas started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1994.

The Company announces the proposed retirement of Nicholas Moss as an independent Non-Executive Director of the Company effective from 21 June 2019, the date of the next Annual General Meeting. Mr Moss has been a Director since the formation of the Company in 2008 and will not offer himself for re-election at the 2019 Annual General Meeting.

Sir Michael Bunbury, Chairman, commented: "We are sorry to be losing Nick's skills and experience and thank him for the drive, focus and guidance that he has given to his role as Director of the Company since it listed in 2008. We are delighted that Andreas has accepted our invitation to join the Board of the Company. We look forward to the benefit which his many years' experience as a Director of unlisted funds and senior executive roles will bring to the Company".

Enquiries:

Company website: www.bhglobal.com

The Company Secretary

Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

Tel: +44 (0) 1481 745736
LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Generation Success is hosting an event on Wednesday 1st May at the BBC's New Broadcasting House to support the next generation of talent to gain valuable insights about a career in the media industry.

Meet with professionals who work across: BBC Sounds, Commissioning, Radio 1, 1Xtra & Asian Network and find out what it takes to work for one of the biggest broadcasters in the UK, hear about their journey into Media and get advice and guidance from their Talent Executives and resourcing managers so you can advance understanding of the broadcasting sector.

Our aim is to engage, inspire and connect a wealth of diverse talent with key figures in the broadcasting industry, as well as raise awareness of what it's like to work in business areas such as Commissioning and Radio and Education. There will be two key elements to the event:

Round-table speed mentoring - 60 minutes

An opportunity to speak directly with media and broadcasting professionals and have your questions answered, whilst gaining key tips and insights to help progress your career.

Key note speakers and Panel discussion

Join leading experts , find out what they have to offer, their vision for the future, which will help you understand how your talents, skills and passion can be capitalised.

Spaces are limited for this special event and those interested in a career in the creative sector and radio are encouraged to register today via the Generation Success website https://www.generation-success.com/our-events



Generation Success are looking for companies to join them in creating a generation of success by offering mentoring, internships and work experience opportunities to people from diverse backgrounds to get in touch by email James@generation-success.com

For more information on Generation Success and forthcoming events, please visit our website

http://generation-success.com

Note to Editors

Generation Success is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated towards ensuring that people 16+ from less privileged backgrounds are granted equality in the recruitment process.

Contact: James Adeleke, Email: James@generation-success.com, Telephone Number: +44(0)7883028775

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880414/Generation_Success_Logo.jpg
Open Source SuiteCRM by SalesAgility Takes Aim at Salesforce With New Cloud Hosting Service

New hosting service means the end of per user pricing and paying extra for advanced features

STIRLING, Scotland, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SalesAgility, the authors and maintainers of open source SuiteCRM, are pleased to announce the launch of Suite:OnDemand to provide the freedoms of Open Source CRM as a Software as a Service (SaaS) product.

Suite:OnDemand is designed to radically change the way hosted CRM is priced and delivered. Unlike Salesforce and other enterprise CRM vendors, the practice of pricing per user has been abandoned in favour of per-server hosting packages all of which will support unlimited users. In addition, there's no increase in cost for access to advanced features. With Suite:OnDemand every feature and benefit is available with each hosting package.

"We want SuiteCRM to be available to all businesses and to all users within a business," said Dale Murray CEO of SalesAgility. "Many organisations do not have the experience to run and support our product on-premise or it is not part of their technology strategy to do so. With Suite:OnDemand we are providing our customers with a quick and easy solution to access all the features of SuiteCRM without a per user cost. We're also saying to Salesforce that enterprise-class CRM can be delivered, enhanced, maintained and supported without charging mouth-wateringly expensive monthly fees. Our aim is to transform the CRM market to enable users to make CRM pervasive within their organisations."

Suite:OnDemand offers a range of customer solutions and flexible pricing plans designed to empower organisations of all sizes from start-ups to the enterprise. Compared to proprietary CRM solutions, Suite:OnDemand is significantly less costly to use, customise, adapt, or integrate resulting in a substantially reduced total cost of ownership.

SalesAgility's support for Suite:OnDemand provides world class hosting, data security, GDPR compliance and dedicated support from SuiteCRM experts.

"Data protection, security and privacy were key to the architecture of Suite:OnDemand," said Matthew Lorimer, Head of Development at SalesAgility. "Our new platform provides scalable options that include 24/7 application and server monitoring, auto recovery on failure and a variety of backup options providing our customers with a fast, robust, secure and reliable way of using SuiteCRM without the need to manage their own cloud environment."



Additionally, Suite:OnDemand offers unparalleled flexibility without vendor-lock in. As the cloud matures and organisations adopt hybrid cloud solutions, Suite:OnDemand is ready to respond. You can migrate a hosted Suite:OnDemand instance to an on-premise or private cloud SuiteCRM instance. You can also request copies of your entire database and application. You can't do either of those with Salesforce. Flexibility and openness are two of the key differentiators between SuiteCRM and proprietary software package vendors.

You can start your free trial of Suite:OnDemand at https://suitecrm.com/suiteondemand

About SalesAgility: SalesAgility is the driving force behind SuiteCRM, the world's most popular open source CRM. SalesAgility provides SuiteCRM services that include support, consultancy, custom development, migrations, and training, as well as SuiteASSURED: a fully supported, discrete build of SuiteCRM, created to provide total care for enterprise-class customers and other large organisations.

About SuiteCRM: SuiteCRM is the world's leading open source Customer Relationship Management application. It is used by hundreds of thousands of organisations globally and supported by a community of more than 120,000 users and contributors.

CONTACT:

Jenni McDonald, jenni.mcdonald@salesagility.com, +44(0)1786-585-499
- Two Prestigious Awards and 27 Sessions Underscore SAP Expertise and Success

- Meet NTT Group's family of integrated brands - NTT Communications, Dimension Data, NTT DATA, NTT Advanced Technology, everis, Secure-24 and itelligence - at Booth #421

NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NTT Group, represented by NTT Communications, Dimension Data, NTT Security, NTT DATA, NTT Advanced Technology, everis, Secure-24 and itelligence, today announced its companies will receive recognition for two awards at the SAP Global Partner Summit on May 6 and the SAP SAPPHIRE NOW conference, May 7-9, in Orlando, Florida, held in conjunction with the Americas' SAP Users' Group (ASUG) Annual Conference. In addition, NTT companies will make four official theatre presentations, two ASUG presentations, and 21 booth presentations at booth #421 during SAP SAPPHIRE NOW.

The SAP Innovation Awards team selected itelligence, NTT DATA's SAP specialist, as one of its 2019 Process Innovator Award winners for an application of SAP technology that automated the detection of invasive species using drone images. By exploiting new technologies such as drones, image recognition, detection using neural networks, and deep learning, the itelligence team was able to detect the highly toxic and invasive species, Giant Hogweed, at rates better and much faster than those possible with human resources. The team's flexible data processing platform used the Hadoop stack to process unstructured data with machine learning algorithms, and SAP HANA as the database and application platform. The itelligence solution not only speeds up detection of the toxic plant, but also streamlines the obligatory removal process.

SAP also named itelligence the winner of a 2019 SAP Pinnacle Award: SAP Global Platinum Reseller of the Year. These awards honor a highly select group of SAP partners worldwide for their commitment to value creation, exponential growth and simplification. Of SAP's 18,000 partners, NTT's itelligence was one of only 30 partners worldwide to achieve winner status this year. SAP will formally recognize the Pinnacle Award winners at the Global Partner Summit on May 6.

NTT companies will share their SAP domain knowledge and expertise across four different sessions held throughout this event. Leaders from four NTT companies will address the following topics in SAPPHIRE NOW theatre presentations:

NTT DATA & itelligence: Enhance Your Customer Experience and Speed Innovations with the NTT Family (Tues., May 7 , 11:00 am - 11:20 am , Theater 2)

, - , Theater 2) NTT DATA & itelligence: Digital Transformation: Accelerating the Value of Your SAP S/4HANA Journey ( Wed., May 8 , 2:00 pm - 2:20 pm , Network and Spend Management NE512)

, - , Network and Spend Management NE512) NTT Advanced Technology: Enhance User Experience for SAP SuccessFactors Solutions with NTT WinActor ( Wed., May 8 , 11:00 am - 11:20 am , Services and Support SE734)

, - , Services and Support SE734) Secure-24: Migrating SAP Software Landscapes to Microsoft Azure ( Thurs., May 9 , 12:30 pm - 12:50 pm , Services and Support SE734)

Leaders from NTT's itelligence will address the following topics in ASUG presentations:

itelligence: Transforming to an Intelligent Enterprise with SAP S/4HANA ( Wed., May 8 , 11:00 am - 11:40 am , S330E)

, - , S330E) itelligence: Securing SAP Software Systems from Cyberattacks ( Wed., May 8 , 2:00 pm - 2:40 pm , S330G)

About NTT Group

As an SAP global service partner, NTT Group and its integrated family of global brands, is uniquely positioned to support enterprises of all sizes seeking to gain deeper insights and better outcomes through SAP services and solutions spanning applications, infrastructure, security and communications.

A leader in innovation serving 85 percent of the Fortune Global 100 companies, NTT Group and its more than 15,000 SAP professionals partner with clients to navigate and simplify the modern complexities of business and technology. NTT Group offers a comprehensive portfolio of world-class consulting, implementation and managed services for SAP applications, infrastructure and business processes, including an SAP-optimized infrastructure for private cloud and network access. Visit the NTT Group's family of integrated brands at booth #421. http://www.ntt.co.jp/activity/en/global/

NTT and the NTT logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION and/or its affiliates. All other referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners.  2019 NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION

SAP, SAPPHIRE NOW, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

NTT Communications Contact:

Christopher Davis

Senior Director Marketing Americas

NTT Communications

+1-512-774-6218

c.davis@ntta.com

Media Contact:

Andrea MacLean

Wireside Communications

For NTT Communications

+1-804-593-4181

amaclean@wireside.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / BTU METALS CORP. ('BTU' or the 'Company') (BTU-TSX:V) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jean-Marc Lacoste to the BTU Board of Directors and Audit Committee.

Mr. Lacoste is currently President, CEO and Director of Monarch Gold, a gold producer with a Measured & Indicated resource in excess of 2.5 million ounces. Monarch Gold is listed under the symbol MQR on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

After earning his bachelor's degree in Economics from McGill University in Montreal, Mr. Lacoste started a career in finance at the Montreal Stock Exchange where he worked for National Bank Financial and, subsequently, Merrill Lynch Canada. In 2000 he left Montreal for Toronto to join Northland Power, a wind power energy corporation, as Vice President of Acquisitions.

He returned to Montreal in 2002 where he joined the boards of a few public and private companies. From 2004 to 2010, he took a major role in Golden Goose Resources Inc. where he became President, CEO and Chairman before joining Monarch Gold.

Mr. Lacoste has an extensive background in mining leadership, operations, finance and capital raising.

BTU CEO, Paul Wood commented, 'We warmly welcome Mr. Lacoste to BTU. His all-around skill-sets and leadership ability will be of substantial assistance as the Company advances its Dixie Halo properties in Red Lake, contiguous with Great Bear Resources, as well as its properties in Galway, Ireland.'

The Company has granted Mr. Lacoste 400,000 options at 11 cents per share in support of his role as Independent Director and Audit Committee.

Concurrent with the appointment of Mr. Lacoste, the Company announces the resignation of Ms. Twila Jensen. Ms. Jensen has served on the BTU Board for the past three years. The Company very much appreciates Ms. Jensen's contribution over the past years during which time the Company sourced its qualifying transaction and since grew its portfolio to include its Red Lake properties. The Board wishes Ms. Jensen every success with her future endeavours.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

'Paul Wood'

Paul Wood, CEO, Director

pwood@btumetals.com

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Telephone: 1-604-683-3995

Toll Free: 1-888-945-4770

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward -looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at WWW.SEDAR.COM).

SOURCE: BTU Metals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543652/Mr-Jean-Marc-Lacoste-Joins-BTU-Board-of-Directors
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - MAX RESOURCE CORP. (TSXV: MXR) (OTC: MXROF) (FSE: M1D1) (the "Company" or "Max") is pleased to report that it has successfully submitted twenty-one mineral applications, expanding the Company's Choco Gold-Platinum Project (Choco) area to 2,140 sq. km.

This additional 383 sq. km area falls within the 1,000 sq. km area where the Longwave Infrared (LWIR) geophysical survey anomalies appeared to have a strong correlation with the gold bearing conglomerates, these applications were submitted, as recent field work has been confirming this correlation;

The additional area also covers potential extensions of the 100 sq. km historic Big Flat mineralization.

(Source: R.J. Fletcher & Assoc. (2011), Review of Gold & Platinum Exploration & Production in Choco Province Colombia Part 3. Private Report for Condoto Platinum Limited).

Max CEO, Brett Matich, commented: "Our on-going exploration success continues to extend the limits of the gold bearing conglomerates, necessitating the expansion of the property package." He continued, "The recorded Choco Pacific historic production from Rio Cajon and Rio Sipi appears to support the continuation of the conglomerates through to this area."



Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

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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-Platinum Project, covering an area of 2,140 sq. km, located 100 km south of Medellin, over or 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.

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.

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

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 TSXV. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for Max Resources Corp. 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/44438
Seattle, Washington--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - CFN Media Group ("CFN Media"), the leading agency and financial media network dedicated to the North American cannabis industry, announces publication of an article discussing FSD Pharma Inc. (CSE: HUGE) (OTCQB: FSDDF) (FSE: 0K9). The company has already staked out its plans to address this crisis through endocannabinoid-based treatment options. After partnering with SciCann Therapeutics, the company recently announced the planned acquisition of a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the space.

Chronic pain is a widespread condition affecting about one-third of the American population and billions of other people around the world. Despite their widely known dangers, opioids quickly became one of the most prescribed and profitable classes of drugs in the world. The ensuing opioid crisis has made overdoses a leading cause of non-disease deaths in the United States, as well as an emerging health crisis worldwide.

Opioids vs. Cannabinoids

Chronic pain affects more than 100 million Americans at an annual cost of $600 billion, according to the Institute of Medicine. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, between 20 and 30 percent of chronic pain patients misuse opioid drugs and up to 12 percent go on to develop an addiction. More than 60 Americans ultimately die from opioid doses every day, making it a leading cause of non-disease death after suicide.

Cannabinoids, like opioids, are known for their analgesic and pain relieving effects. Rather than binding to opioid receptors, cannabinoids bind to CB1 and CB2 receptors to block pain signals. These parallel mechanisms of action mean that cannabinoids and opioids could be used together to combat pain. Early research suggests that cannabinoids could be especially helpful for neuropathic and centralized pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia.

FSD Pharma has taken an active approach to targeting the endocannabinoid system as a way toward reducing pain without-or with fewer-opioids. In partnership with SciCann, a Canadian-Israeli specialty pharmaceutical company, it's already helping develop and commercialize cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals. A pilot study in Pittsburgh, PA is testing the safety and efficacy of cannabidiol (CBD) for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.

FSD Pharma's Acquisition

FSD Pharma more recently announced the $17.5 million acquisition of Prismic Pharmaceuticals Inc., a U.S.-based specialty pharmaceutical company developing non-addictive prescription drugs with unique safety profiles with the goal of addressing the opioid crisis, pending various closing conditions. Prismic's drug formulations are focused on the 'entourage effect' that micro-palmitoylethanolamide has on certain drugs impacting the endocannabinoid system.

"This transaction symbolizes FSD Pharma's vision of acquiring a platform company to advance research and development of FDA-approved applications of synthetic cannabinoids and other synergistic molecules," said FSD Pharma Executive Co-Chairman & CEO Dr. Raza Bokhari. "Led by Peter Moriarty, one of the founders of Shire Pharmaceuticals, Prismic's management team has built a solid foundation for a specialty pharmaceutical company."

Prismic has exclusive worldwide licensing rights (except for Italy and Spain) to a patented form of palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) that has an 'entourage effect' on certain drugs impacting the endocannabinoid system. For example, the company's lead drug candidate, PP-101, is a 600mg tablet form of micro-PEA that is used in conjunction with pregabalin (Lyrica) for the treatment of fibromyalgia. Future drugs will focus on cannabinoids and opioids.

Looking Ahead

FSD Pharma Inc. (CSE: HUGE) (OTCQB: FSDDF) (FSE: 0K9) has been increasingly positioning itself as a leader in the research and development of pain management solutions targeting the endocannabinoid system. In conjunction with its 3.8 million sq. ft. former Kraft facility, the company is uniquely positioned to become a leading producer of specialty cannabis products-including potential pharmaceutical combinations.

For more information, visit the company's website at www.fsdpharma.com.

Please follow the link to read the full article on CFN:

https://www.cannabisfn.com/fsd-pharma-doubles-down-on-endocannabinoid-based-pain-management/

About CFN Media

CFN Media (CannabisFN) is the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis. We help marijuana businesses attract investors, customers (B2B, B2C), capital, and media visibility. Private and public marijuana companies and brands in the US and Canada rely on CFN Media to grow and succeed.

Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/featuredcompany

Download the CFN Media iOS mobile app to access the world of cannabis from the palm of your hand: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cannabisfn/id988009247?ls=1&mt=8

Or visit our homepage and enter your mobile number under the Apple App Store logo to receive a download link text on your iPhone: http://www.cannabisfn.com

Disclaimer

CannabisFN.com is not an independent financial investment advisor or broker-dealer. You should always consult with your own independent legal, tax, and/or investment professionals before making any investment decisions. The information provided on http://www.cannabisfn.com (the 'Site') is either original financial news or paid advertisements drafted by our in-house team or provided by an affiliate. CannabisFN.com, a financial news media and marketing firm enters into media buys or service agreements with the companies that are the subject of the articles posted on the Site or other editorials for advertising such companies. We are not an independent news media provider. We make no warranty or representation about the information including its completeness, accuracy, truthfulness or reliability and we disclaim, expressly and implicitly, all warranties of any kind, including whether the Information is complete, accurate, truthful, or reliable. As such, your use of the information is at your own risk. Nor do we undertake any obligation to update the items posted. CannabisFN.com received compensation for producing and presenting high quality and sophisticated content on CannabisFN.com along with financial and corporate news.

The above article is sponsored content. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns CannabisFN.com and CFN Media, has been hired to create awareness. Please follow the link below to view our full disclosure outlining our compensation: http://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/

Frank Lane

206-369-7050

Flane@cannabisfn.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44448
Delta, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Desert Gold Ventures Inc. (TSXV: DAU) (FSE: QXR2) (OTC Pink: DAUGF) ("Desert Gold" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Don Dudek as Principle Technical Consultant. Mr. Dudek's role will be to guide corporate technical strategy including M&A, land acquisition and exploration strategy and oversight of all exploration programs.

Mr. Dudek was first appointed to the Company's board of directors in July of 2017. He has held various senior roles with junior to senior exploration and mining companies over the past 30 years. Mr. Dudek recently served as President & CEO of Savary Gold, which was acquired by SEMAFO. He also had the role of Senior Vice President, Technical Services for Endeavour Mining Corporation while managing a feasibility study for the Endeavour's flagship Hounde gold project in Burkina Faso that achieved commercial production in October 2017. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President Exploration of Avion Gold Corporation, a successful junior gold producer and explorer in West Africa that was acquired by Endeavour Mining in 2012. Mr. Dudek also serves on the board of Roscan Gold Corp. Mr. Dudek holds a B.Sc. Geology (Honors) from the University of Saskatchewan.

Desert Gold's President Jared Scharf remarked, "As a non-executive director Mr. Dudek has been very helpful with exploration guidance and general corporate strategy. He's been extremely generous with his time and the company is delighted to have him work with management in a more formalized role. His experience in Western Africa speaks for itself and the timing of his appointment is important as we look to ramp up our exploration efforts in Mali."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Jared Scharf"

___________________________

Jared Scharf

President & Director

+1 (858) 247-8195

For further information please visit www.SEDAR.com under the company's profile and the company website at www.desertgold.ca.

This news release contains forward-looking statements respecting the Company's ability to successfully complete the Offering. These forward-looking statements entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations, are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such statements, including the inability of the Company to successfully complete the Offering. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the capital markets, the price of gold; operational, funding, and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; and the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with mining operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and available at www.sedar.com and readers are urged to read these materials. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such statements unless required by law. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the united states securities act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the united states or to the account or benefit of a U.S. person absent an exemption from the registration requirements of such act.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44454
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - China Education Resources, Inc. (TSXV: CHN) (OTCQB: CHNUF) ("CER"), an ed-tech company with leading technology of intelligent system and contents to provide online/offline learning, training courses and social media for teachers, students and education professionals, announced its audited financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018. All figures are expressed in U.S. dollars except otherwise stated.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, CER reported aggregate sales revenue of $11,863,341 as compared to $11,825,995 for the same period in 2017. The Company recognized a net loss for the year ended December 31, 2018 of $151,698 attributable to the shareholders as compared to a net profit of $1,357,757 attributable to the shareholders for the same period in 2017.

The 2018 financial highlights are as summarized as follows:





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There was an increase in revenue from the book sales and distribution services and decrease in revenue from online products in 2018 as compared to the same period in 2017. The decrease in revenue from online products was mainly due to the delay in conducting teacher training by some cities in China.

The Group changed from a net income position in 2017 to a net loss position in 2018. This was mainly due to the increase in cost of development and marketing of new programs. We will update our shareholders the progress of the new programs.

In collaboration with China's education administrators and experts, China Education Resources has been helping to transform the curriculum of the world's largest educational system. Recognizing the need to address education reform changes, China Education Resources has created educational tools and curriculum for China's entire kindergarten through twelfth grade system. The Company is playing an integral part in transforming China's educational system through helping to convert the existing educational system from a memory-based learning system to a creative thinking and interactive approach. Presently, China Education Resources has over 1 million kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers registered through its Web portal.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements made herein, and other statements relating to matters that are not historical facts and statements of our beliefs, intentions and expectations about developments, results and events which will or may occur in the future, constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information and statements are typically identified by words such as "anticipate", "could", "should", "expect", "seek", "may", "intend", "likely", "plan", "estimate", "will", "believe" and similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analysis made by China Education Resources, Inc.'s management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, 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 information or statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include those described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" elsewhere in the Company's MD&A filed at www.SEDAR.com. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. Except as required by law the Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward looking statements after the date of this document or to revise them to reflect the occurrence of future, unanticipated events.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed, and does not accept, responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this press release.

Contact China Education Resources at: (604) 331-2388.

Email: admin@chinaeducationresources.com.

Website: http://www.chinaeducationresources.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44459
CHICAGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Robot End-Effector Market by Type (Welding Guns, Grippers, Suction Cups, Tool Changers), Applications (Handling, Assembly, Welding), Industry (Automotive, Electrical & Electronics, Food & Beverages, E-Commerce), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Robot End-Effector Market is expected to grow from USD 2.6 billion in 2019 to USD 5.7 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 16.9% during the forecast period. Due to the fast-changing nature of industries today, demand for modular end-effectors is increasing. Hence, growing demand for modular end-effectors is one of the key factors driving the growth of the robot end-effector market. Another driver for the robot end-effector market includes increasing adoption of collaborative robots (Cobots) owing to their benefits and features.

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In terms of volume, welding guns to hold largest share of the robot end-effector market in 2019

The welding gun or welding torch is the most widely used robot end-effector in the industry. The use of welding guns, especially in the automotive sector, followed closely by the electrical and electronics industry, has helped welding guns retain the top spot with respect to the overall volume commissioned globally. As long as there is a thriving market for automobiles, welding guns will continue to see widespread use. Hence, the high rate of adoption of welding guns in the automotive industry is the key factor fueling the growth of the robot end-effector market for welding guns.

Handling application to dominate robot end-effector market during forecast period

Material handling is automated using end-effectors in 3 cases: lifting heavy objects, performing redundant and unsafe tasks on the factory floor, and improving speed and precision of handling various objects or instruments. Suction cups or vacuum grippers have the largest share of use in this application due to their advantage of handling random objects with less change in its configuration. The increasing adoption of these end-effectors for handling tasks such as pelletizing, packing, picking, and unloading in the electrical and electronics industry is the key factor contributing to the growth of the robot end-effector market for handling application.

APAC to hold largest share of the robot end-effector market in 2019

APAC is expected to hold the largest share of the robot end-effector market in 2019 and is projected to dominate the market during the forecast period. Increasing investment in automation by automotive and electrical & electronics companies, especially in countries such as China, South Korea, and India, is expected to be the key driver for the market in APAC. Also, the increasing adoption of collaborative robots in industries such as wood and furniture, and metal and machinery is another key trend, which has fueled the demand for robot end-effectors in APAC.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Robot End-Effector Market"

69 - Tables

49 - Figures

170 - Pages

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Major players in the robot end-effector market include Zimmer Group (Germany), Schunk (Germany), Schmalz (US), Destaco (US), Robotiq (Canada), Applied Robotics (US), EMI Corp. (US), Festo (Germany), KUKA (Germany), and Soft Robotics (US). Apart from these, OnRobot (Denmark) and IPR (Germany) are few of the emerging companies in the robot end-effector market.

Please Explore Relevant Reports:

Collaborative Robot Market by Payload Capacity (Up to 5 Kg, Between 5 and 10 Kg, Above 10 Kg), Industry (Automotive, Electronics, Metals & Machining, Plastics & Polymers, Food & Beverages, Healthcare), Application, and Geography - Global Forecast to 2025

Top Robotics Market by Top Industrial Robotics (Articulated, SCARA, Cartesian, Parallel, and Collaborative), Top Service Robotics (Logistics, Domestic, Medical, Field, and Defense, Rescue, & Security) - Global Forecast to 2023

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Reflecting Ex-Currency Like-for-Like Adjusted Growth of at Least 8% Vs. 2018 Adjusted Diluted EPS of $4.84

Regulatory News:

Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) will host a live audio webcast of its 2019 Annual Meeting of Shareholders at www.pmi.com/2019annualmeeting today at 9:00 a.m. ET. The webcast will be in a listen-only mode. Louis C. Camilleri, Chairman of the Board, will address shareholders and answer questions. Andre Calantzopoulos, Chief Executive Officer, will give the business presentation, including an overview of PMI's reduced-risk products strategy.

"We recorded a robust financial and strategic performance in 2018, demonstrating that the underlying strength of our combustible business is increasingly complemented by the tremendous opportunity of our smoke-free products led by IQOS - to accelerate business growth," said Mr. Calantzopoulos.

"Building on this overall performance last year, we are off to a promising start in 2019. Positive momentum for our combustible tobacco and smoke-free product portfolios drove total volume and share growth in the first quarter."

"We are very pleased that, yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed that IQOS is appropriate for the protection of public health and has authorized it for sale in the United States. The FDA's decision is a historic milestone and an important step forward for the approximately 40 million American men and women who smoke."

"Regarding shareholder returns, dividends remain the primary use of our operating cash flow after capital expenditures. Last June, we increased our annual dividend for the eleventh consecutive year since the spin in 2008, representing a total increase of approximately 148% and a compound annual growth rate of 9.5%. And while dividends remain at the Board's discretion, we are committed to generously rewarding our shareholders over time."

PMI reaffirms its 2019 full-year reported diluted EPS guidance, provided on April 18, 2019, of at least $4.87 versus $5.08 in 2018. This guidance includes an unfavorable currency impact of approximately $0.14 per share, at then prevailing exchange rates.

Full-Year 2019 EPS Forecast 2019

Forecast 2018 Adjusted

Growth Reported Diluted EPS $4.87 (a) $5.08 2018 Tax items 0.02 2019 Asset impairment and exit costs 0.01 2019 Canadian tobacco litigation-related expense 0.09 2019 Loss on deconsolidation of RBH 0.12 Adjusted Diluted EPS $5.09 $5.10 Net earnings attributable to RBH (0.26) (b) Adjusted Diluted EPS $5.09 $4.84 (c) Currency (0.14) Adjusted Diluted EPS, excl. currency $5.23 $4.84 (c) =8% (a) Reflects the exclusion of previously anticipated net EPS of approximately $0.28 attributable to RBH from March

22, 2019 through December 31, 2019. The impact relating to the eight-day stub period was not material. (b) Net reported diluted EPS attributable to RBH from March 22, 2018 through December 31, 2018. (c) Pro forma.

This forecast excludes the impact of any future acquisitions, unanticipated asset impairment and exit cost charges, future changes in currency exchange rates, further developments related to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, further developments pertaining to the judgment in the two Quebec Class Action lawsuits and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) protection granted to Rothmans, Benson Hedges Inc., and any unusual events. Factors described in the Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements section below represent continuing risks to these projections.

Final voting results will be included in a Form 8-K that PMI will file with the SEC within the next few days.

An archived copy of the audio webcast of PMI's Annual Meeting of Shareholders will be available until 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 30, 2019 at www.pmi.com/2019annualmeeting. Presentation slides and script will also be available at the same website address.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

The presentation, related discussion and this release contain projections of future results and other forward-looking statements. Achievement of future results is subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions. In the event that risks or uncertainties materialize, or underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. Pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, PMI is identifying important factors that, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements made by PMI.

PMI's business risks include: excise tax increases and discriminatory tax structures; increasing marketing and regulatory restrictions that could reduce our competitiveness, eliminate our ability to communicate with adult consumers, or ban certain of our products; health concerns relating to the use of tobacco products and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke; litigation related to tobacco use; intense competition; the effects of global and individual country economic, regulatory and political developments, natural disasters and conflicts; changes in adult smoker behavior; lost revenues as a result of counterfeiting, contraband and cross-border purchases; governmental investigations; unfavorable currency exchange rates and currency devaluations, and limitations on the ability to repatriate funds; adverse changes in applicable corporate tax laws; adverse changes in the cost and quality of tobacco and other agricultural products and raw materials; and the integrity of its information systems and effectiveness of its data privacy policies. PMI's future profitability may also be adversely affected should it be unsuccessful in its attempts to produce and commercialize reduced-risk products or if regulation or taxation do not differentiate between such products and cigarettes; if it is unable to successfully introduce new products, promote brand equity, enter new markets or improve its margins through increased prices and productivity gains; if it is unable to expand its brand portfolio internally or through acquisitions and the development of strategic business relationships; or if it is unable to attract and retain the best global talent. Future results are also subject to the lower predictability of our reduced-risk product category's performance.

PMI is further subject to other risks detailed from time to time in its publicly filed documents, including the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. PMI cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not a complete discussion of all potential risks and uncertainties. PMI does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that it may make from time to time, except in the normal course of its public disclosure obligations.

Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future

Philip Morris International (PMI) is leading a transformation in the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and ultimately replace cigarettes with smoke-free products to the benefit of adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, society, the company and its shareholders. PMI is a leading international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the U.S. PMI is building a future on a new category of smoke-free products that, while not risk-free, are a much better choice than continuing to smoke. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities and scientific substantiation, PMI aims to ensure that its smoke-free products meet adult consumer preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. PMI's smoke-free IQOS product portfolio includes heat-not-burn and nicotine-containing vapor products. As of March 31, 2019, PMI estimates that approximately 7.3 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to PMI's heat-not-burn product, which is currently available for sale in 47 markets in key cities or nationwide under the IQOS brand. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005529/en/

Contacts:

Investor Relations:

New York: +1 (917) 663 2233

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666

Email: InvestorRelations@pmi.com

Media:

Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500

Email: Iro.Antoniadou@pmi.com
Grantee projects focus on community engagement; Foundation total funding now at almost $4M for current Democratic Republic of Congo outbreak

SEATTLE, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation announced the winners of the Ebola Response Accelerator Challenge.

The Accelerator Challenge is designed to provide rapid funding to accelerate the use of innovative approaches for overcoming the insecure conditions and community distrust that are undermining the ongoing response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC is facing the world's second largest outbreak of Ebola, with over 1,400 cases in the eastern region of the country.

"The Ebola Response Accelerator Challenge received dozens of innovative proposals, illustrating the urgent need for assistance to tackle this growing outbreak," said Jody Allen, Chair of Vulcan Inc. and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. "The communities and responders in the DRC deserve attention, assistance, and support from the global community. Governments and private funders must invest at this critical juncture; it's up to all of us to stop Ebola."

Grants funded through the Accelerator Challenge total approximately $2.4 million. When combined with earlier grants to stop this outbreak, these awards bring the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation's commitment to almost $4 million, the largest private commitment to response efforts.

The following organizations will receive grants.

National Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo/International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Localizing Community Feedback Data Systems for Effective Decision-making

For the first time, quantitative and qualitative feedback from communities, including longer narratives, are being collected by more than 800 local Red Cross volunteers. By scaling up this system set-up by IFRC, authentic and actionable insights will allow responders to adapt their actions that will help build trust and acceptance of the response efforts.

World Health Organization, in partnership with the Universite Catholique du Graben

Accelerating Infection Prevention and Control in Priority Health Facilities in Butembo and Katwa

By training Congolese medical students and youth leaders, WHO will help ensure that best practices regarding Ebola infection, prevention, and control are reaching local communities and clinics.

UNICEF

Real-time Monitoring and Feedback Platform in North Kivu

By leveraging U-Report, a free, two-way SMS social monitoring tool and local radio, UNICEF will ensure that target populations are informed about the risks of Ebola and have the tools they need to protect themselves and their communities, while soliciting real-time community feedback that will make response efforts more targeted and effective.

"Stopping Ebola takes a myriad of interventions, from the ones that grab headlines like new vaccines, to the ones that require literal boots on the ground like infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in health facilities and affected communities," said Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme. "This grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation will allow us to build on our current interventions with DRC's Ministry of Health by bringing on board medical students and training and equipping them to work in high transmission areas and health facilities. Once trained, they will in turn empower other health workers and community members to practice good IPC. This will contribute to ending the current outbreak, and will build capacity to prevent other infections. WHO is profoundly grateful for the Foundation's contribution as we collectively work to end this outbreak."

"In-depth community engagement is at the centre of our Ebola response with over 800 Red Cross volunteers-- all coming from Ebola-affected communities-- helping us to map the spread of Ebola-related rumours, which in turn allows us to adapt our community-messaging and tailor our response," said Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, IFRC's Under Secretary General for Partnerships. "With the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation's support, Ebola responders can build trust with communities and, in doing so, make meaningful steps towards finally bringing this outbreak to an end."

"UNICEF and partners have been working day in and day out to address the world's second largest outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In our work to control the spread of disease, support children and families, and provide safe water and sanitation, it's clear that innovations are needed to best meet the needs of affected communities. Thanks to the generosity of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, UNICEF and partners will be able to mobilize effective community engagement through U-Report, a free SMS social messaging tool that allows community members to speak out and engage with critical emergency issues. Together, this impactful partnership will continue to save lives and support healthier futures in the DRC," said Caryl M. Stern, President and CEO, UNICEF USA.

The Ebola Response Accelerator Challenge is part of a larger effort from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to prevent outbreaks from becoming pandemics. In 2014, Paul Allen was the single largest private donor to the West Africa Ebola response, committing $100 million to contain the spread of Ebola and get to zero cases.

ABOUT THE PAUL G. ALLEN FAMILY FOUNDATION

Launched in 1988 by Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and his sister Jody Allen, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation is dedicated to helping solve some of the world's toughest problems. The Foundation's portfolio spans a breadth of threats to human health and wildlife preservation from the fight against Ebola to the fight to save coral reefs. Taking an unconventional approach to tackling these issues, we fill gaps in data and science and then build tools that empower partners to deliver solutions. For more information, visit pgafamilyfoundation.org .

ABOUT THE IFRC

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian network, with 190 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and around 13.7 million volunteers. IFRC works to strengthen and accompany National Societies, so that they may better address current and future challenges. We support coordination of the global Red Cross and Red Crescent network before, during and after disasters and crises. Together, we reach more than 160 million people with life-saving and life-changing support annually. For more information, visit ifrc.org .

ABOUT UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to put children first. UNICEF has helped save more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization, by providing health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more. UNICEF USA supports UNICEF's work through fundraising, advocacy and education in the United States. Together, we are working toward the day when no children die from preventable causes and every child has a safe and healthy childhood. For more information, visit unicefusa.org .

ABOUT WHO

WHO is the UN's health agency. We work worldwide to promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. Our goal is to ensure that a billion more people have universal health coverage, to protect a billion more people from health emergencies, and provide a further billion people with better health and well-being. For more information, visit who.int .

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kerry McHugh

KerryM@vulcan.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API) (OTCQB: APAAF) (FSE: A0I.F) (FSE: A0I.MU) (FSE: A0I.BE) (the "Company" or "Appia) is pleased to provide details regarding the Company's planned exploration activities for the world-class, high-grade critical rare earth elements ("REE") Alces Lake and uranium properties, Athabasca Basin area, northern Saskatchewan.

ALCES LAKE

The Alces Lake Property encompasses some of the highest-grade total and critical REE mineralization in the world, hosted within seven surface showings that remain open at depth. Critical rare earth elements are defined here as those that are in short-supply and high-demand for use in permanent magnets and modern electronic applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines (i.e: Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr) and Dysprosium (Dy)). The Alces Lake project area is 14,334 hectares (35,420 acres) in size, and is 100% owned by Appia.

Follow-up exploration is scheduled to start in June and is planned to include;

3,000 m of diamond drilling on the Ivan/Dylan/Dante zones, Bell/Charles/Charles Lower zones, and reconnaissance drilling on select geophysical/geological targets;

a detailed ground gravity survey exploring for high-grade REO concentrations beneath the surface, similar to the Charles Lower zone;

follow-up prospecting and stripping overburden in and around previously identified radiometric outcrops within a large radiometric anomaly;

airborne radiometric, magnetic and EM geophysical survey over the Forget Lake and Oldman River monazite showings, to be followed with reconnaissance prospecting of said showings; and

continuing heavy mineral and monazite-bearing sand evaluation of the Alces Lake beach sand.

Exploration permits for the proposed summer activities are in-hand.

NORTH WOLLASTON

In addition, the Company is planning an airborne radiometric, magnetic and EM geophysical survey over the North Wollaston property which hosts four uraniferous surface showings with grades up to 0.495 wt% U 3 O 8 . The surface showings, and any additional radiometric anomaly identified from the airborne survey, are expected to be followed-up with ground exploration during the summer. The North Wollaston project area is 11,371 hectares (28,100 acres) in size, and is 100% owned by Appia.

LORANGER

The Company is waiting for drill core geochemical assay results from the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical laboratory. The results are expected within 2 to 3 weeks and will be announced after they are received and reviewed by the Company.

About Appia

Appia is a Canadian publicly-traded company in the uranium and rare earth element sectors. The Company is currently focusing on delineating high-grade critical rare earth elements ("REE") and uranium on the Alces Lake property, as well as prospecting for high-grade uranium in the prolific Athabasca Basin on its Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. The Company holds the surface rights to exploration for 63,980 hectares (158,098 acres) in Saskatchewan.

The Company also has a 100% interest in 12,545 hectares (31,000 acres), including rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones in the Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario, which historically produced over 300 million pounds of U 3 O 8 and is the only Canadian camp that has had significant rare earth element (yttrium) production.

Appia's technical team is directed by James Sykes, who has had direct and indirect involvement with over 550 million lbs. U 3 O 8 being discovered in five deposits in the Athabasca Basin.

Appia has 65.0 million common shares outstanding, 85.9 million shares fully diluted.

The technical content in this news release was reviewed and approved by Mr. Irvine R. Annesley, P.Geo, Advisor to the Board of Directors of Appia, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or including the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward- looking statements and shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Drivas, President, CEO and Director: (tel) 416-546-2707, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email)

appia@appiaenergy.ca

James Sykes, VP Exploration & Development, (tel) 306-221-8717, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) jsykes@uraniumgeologist.com

Frank van de Water, Chief Financial Officer and Director, (tel) 416-546-2707, (fax) 416-218-9772 or (email) fvandewater@rogers.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44467
PALM BEACH, Florida, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent article titled "CBD Market Could Pull In $16 Billion By 2025, Says Study" ran on FORBES website discussing a renowned Wall Street investment bank's view of the future revenues for the CBD market. It said: " New York-based investment bank Cowen & Co. released a study on the CBD (cannabidiol) market. Of the findings, one of the most intriguing was that nearly 7 percent of the 2,500 polled, said they had used CBD, an active ingredient in marijuana that purportedly provides relief to patients without getting them high, as a supplement. This figure was far higher than what the Cowen analysts had expected. Yet even more fascinating was the projected estimate Cowen analysts made about the revenue of this market--$16 billion by 2025. This number is a marked jump from the estimated retail sales of CBD consumer products in 2018 that ranged between $600 million and $2 billion. Although CBD is technically legal as a result of the Farm Bill that passed late last year, the legal marijuana economy is still fragmented as a result of the federal illegality. Currently, 33 states and Washington, D.C. have legal medical markets while 10 states (plus D.C.) permit recreational use." Active companies in the Cannabis market this week include Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTC:NUGS), Terra Tech Corp. (OTCQX: TRTC), Aphria Inc. (TSX: APHA) (NYSE: APHA), MariMed Inc. (OTCQB: MRMD), CV Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: CVSI).

The Forbes article continued: "In addition to the study's conclusion that nearly 7 percent of respondents had used CBD-Azer said she didn't realize that many people tried or used a CBD product-she was surprised by yet another finding: Close to 20 percent of those surveyed said they had sampled a CBD product in beverage form. Interestingly, the study skewed toward the younger generation. The rate of usage for those under 35 was over 9 percent while for those in the 45-55 age bracket, it was 6.4 percent. For people ages 55 and above, the number was 3.7 percent.

Cannabis Strategic Ventures, Inc. (OTCPK:NUGS) BREAKING NEWS: Cannabis Strategic Ventures today announces its expansion into the cannabidiol (CBD) retail space through 'FLORAH,' the newest addition to the Company's operational and investment portfolio. FLORAH is a concept boutique that educates consumers of the benefits of CBD while a curating a best of selection of CBD lifestyle, wellness, beauty and pet products. The company's flagship location is on Melrose Ave in West Hollywood.

"Growth of the CBD retail sector is accelerating and we expect to show leadership in the space," said Simon Yu, CEO, Cannabis Strategic Ventures. "Now that we have secured financing and a retail location, we will diligently work to procure the best CBD products available and prepare for our full brand roll-out and summer grand opening."

The retail market for CBD products is expected to reach $16 billion by 2015, a significant increase from an estimated $2 billion last year, according to leading cannabis investment bank Cowen Inc. Leading categories of this growth are nutraceuticals, tinctures, pain relieving creams and beauty treatments. Perhaps most compelling is that nearly 7% of the 2,500 individuals polled in Cowen's research indicated they had already purchased products containing CBD; an even larger percentage expect to purchase products in this class.

Amid this market growth, entering the CBD retail sector will be a strong addition to Cannabis Strategic Ventures' portfolio, which includes Asher House Wellness Pet CBD products; Fitamins, a proprietary health and wellness formula containing 25 mg of hemp-derived THC-free CBD; LYXR, a line of luxury skincare products derived from hemp CBD and other dynamic ingredients; PureOrganix, a line of high-quality organic cannabis concentrates; and Bud Hire, a staffing firm that allows cannabis entrepreneurs to outsource administrative and staffing functions.

"While major CBD retailers have already announced plans to carry some of the products we currently do or intend to market, we believe CBD-centric retailers that provide educational component around CBD products will do exceptionally well. We plan to announce our full strategy to compete in this arena in the near future," added Yu.Read this and more news for Cannabis Strategic Ventures at: https://www.financialnewsmedia.com/news-nugs

Other recent developments and major influences in the cannabis industry include:Aphria Inc.

(NYSE: APHA) (TSX: APHA) recently announced that the previously announced take-over bid (the "Offer") by Green Growth Brands Inc. ("GGB") has failed to meet the statutory minimum tender condition and has now expired and is terminated. As previously announced on April 15, 2019, the Company entered into a definitive agreement with GGB to accelerate the expiry date of the Offer to April 25, 2019, as well as to terminate certain arrangements with GA Opportunities Corp. ("GAOC") for consideration of $89.0 million payable on future dates as set out in the April 15th press release.

Irwin D. Simin, Aphria's Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer stated, "We are pleased to have this resolved in a favourable manner. We continue to move forward, creating long-term shareholder value by leveraging our production expansion, industrial scale cultivation and automation, brand positioning and our strategic global expansion initiatives that, as mentioned before, will be additionally supported by the $89.0 million in proceeds from the transaction."

CV Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: CVSI) recently announced that it will release financial results for its first quarter 2019 ended March 31, 2019, after the stock market closes on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. The Company will hold a conference call with the investment community at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) that same day. The webcast of the conference call will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at https://ir.cvsciences.com/news-events and at http://public.viavid.com/index.php?id=134448 . The webcast will be archived for approximately 30 days.

Investors interested in participating in the live call can also dial (877) 407-0784 from the U.S. or international callers can dial (201) 689-8560.

MariMed Inc. (OTCQB: MRMD) a major US. hemp and cannabis operator, recently announced that it plans to buy 70% of MediTaurus stake and the transaction will be handled by its MariMed Hemp subsidiary.

MediTaurus holds numerous intellectual property patents for cannabis formulations and it also owns the Florance CBD health brand. The latter has a robust network of pharmacies, wholesalers, online distributors and physicians in the EU and the U.S. MariMed will become the major shareholder in MediTaurus once the transaction is complete. The companies did not reveal the terms of the acquisition deal.

Terra Tech Corp. (OTCQX: TRTC) a vertically integrated cannabis-focused agriculture company, recently announced it has secured a permit to manufacture cannabis for the adult use market at its 15,000 square foot extraction facility in Reno, which is 50% owned by NuLeaf, from the State of Nevada.

Terra Tech commenced IVXX production activities for the medical market at its Reno, Nevada facility, co-owned by NuLeaf, in the late in the third quarter of 2018. Securing this permit allows it to further increase supply of its proprietary IVXX wholesale brand to meet the significant demand for cannabis products from adult users throughout Nevada.

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Companies combine to accelerate the development of product, service and technology offerings and bolster in-market expertise

Safeguard Global, a world leader in driving long-term growth through constant innovation of global workforce deployment for businesses, today announced it has agreed to acquire Europe-based WorkFor Group which includes WorkFor, an employment outsourcing capability, and AdminMe, a global payroll processing capability. The acquisition will combine Safeguard Global's best-in-class payroll and employment outsourcing services with a number of WorkFor and AdminMe products and technologies, including enablement processes for expansion, gross-to-net engines in a variety of countries, time and attendance and payroll/workflow capabilities, as well as key talent across Europe.

Many companies' expansion and growth has been stunted by trying to manage human capital assets--from finding and deploying talent, to adhering to legal and taxation compliance, to paying them on time. Safeguard Global, WorkFor and AdminMe will join forces to further solve these challenges by providing global workforce deployment products and technologies that mitigate risks, automate processes, and empower business to globally grow and scale in a timely, compliant way.

"Exponential technological advancement has made global markets accessible to businesses of all sizes," said Bjorn Reynolds, Founder and CEO, Safeguard Global. "If you're not thinking about expanding your business internationally, you're probably behind. For more than 10 years, Safeguard Global has been empowering companies to scale, grow and thrive globally. That's why this acquisition is so exciting for us--it allows us to take a giant leap forward in our vision for advancing the way multinational companies manage human capital assets, while deepening our in-market expertise in the European market and delivering an even higher level of customer service moving forward."

"Our mission has been simple--to help businesses expand internationally worry-free," said Pablo Contreras, CEO, WorkFor Group. "We are thrilled to be combining forces and expertise with Safeguard Global to help even more multinational businesses to grow and thrive within the European market and beyond."

The acquisition closed on April 25, 2019. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed. WorkFor and AdminMe are companies of Adm In Staff, SA, also known as the WorkFor Group, headquartered in Sion, Switzerland.

For more information on Safeguard Global, please visit www.safeguardglobal.com. For more information on WorkFor, visit work-for.com/company, and for more information on AdminMe, visit admin-me.com/about.

About Safeguard Global

Safeguard Global is the world leader in driving long-term growth through constant innovation of global workforce deployment for businesses. Leveraging more than 10 years of global outsourcing expertise and technology development, Safeguard Global offers industry-leading products and technologies, including Global Employment Outsourcing (GEO) and Global Managed Payroll (GMP), that empower businesses to grow and scale quickly and efficiently, while ensuring compliance in 179 countries. Safeguard Global is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with regional service centers in the UK, India, Hungary, Mexico, employing more than 500 people worldwide. For more information please visit www.safeguardglobal.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005170/en/

Contacts:

Press Contact:

Heath Meyer

heath@zmcommunications.com

858-768-1527
Award recognizes the firm's merger integration efforts as an example of the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology -

IDG's CIOhas announced that Janus Henderson Investors (NYSE:JHG, ASX:JHG) has been named a 2019 CIO 100 award winner. This prestigious award is a mark of enterprise excellence and celebrates 100 organizations that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value.

Janus Henderson Investors (Janus Henderson) is being recognized for the firm's merger integration program, which was both innovative and successful across the key dimensions of technology, operations, culture and finance. The merger integration program delivered a unified asset manager, with a global operating model, consolidated technology platforms and globally aligned business processes. The firm includes more than 2,000 employees and operations across 28 cities worldwide, with a London headquarters, a Denver-based North American hub and operations across Asia.

Dick Weil, Janus Henderson Chief Executive Officer, said: "We are tremendously proud of our team's efforts in delivering optimal business capabilities through leveraging the best of both legacy firms. All our employees globally in every department and region are responsible and deserve credit for the completion of this significant effort to integrate two large global investment firms. This award for the firm's merger integration efforts is a testament to the extraordinary collaboration efforts of our people working across functional groups throughout the organization."

The Janus Henderson integration program, for which the firm won the award, delivered the following critical business results:

A unified global business built to scale and to also optimize regional capabilities, 18 months ahead of schedule

Firm cost synergies in excess of $125 million per year

Substantial new capabilities and global agility based on innovative new technology and ways of working

Paul Algreen, Janus Henderson Chief Information Officer, said: "Today, we are a truly global asset manager, focused around the common goal of delivering successful long-term outcomes for our clients. The firm has quickly and efficiently turned from merger integration, to creating the active asset manager of tomorrow. I'm grateful for the opportunity to look back and appreciate the hard work of our people our greatest asset. We are appreciative of both the employee effort and the trust of our clients through this process."

About the CIO 100 Awards

The annual CIO 100 Awards celebrate 100 organizations and the teams within them that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers. The award is an acknowledged mark of enterprise excellence. Recipients are selected through a three-step process. First, companies fill out an online application form detailing an innovative IT and business initiative. Next, a team of external judges (many of them former CIOs) reviews the applications in depth, looking for leading-edge IT practices and measurable results. Finally, CIO editors review the judges' recommendations and select the final 100. Coverage of the 2019 CIO 100 Awards will be available online at CIO.com in August 2019 and in the summer issue of CIO's digital magazine.

About Janus Henderson

Janus Henderson Group (JHG) is a leading global active asset manager dedicated to helping investors achieve long-term financial goals through a broad range of investment solutions, including equities, fixed income, quantitative equities, multi-asset and alternative asset class strategies.

Janus Henderson has approximately US$328.5 billion in assets under management (at 31 December 2018), more than 2,000 employees, and offices in 28 cities worldwide. Headquartered in London, the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005615/en/

Contacts:

Janus Henderson Media:

Taylor Smith

T: 1-303-336-5031

E: taylor.smith@janushenderson.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Xtra-Gold Resources Corp. (TSX: XTG) (OTCBB: XTGRF) ("Xtra-Gold" or the "Company") , is pleased to announce the assay results for the final 19 drill holes of the 2018 - 2019 mineral resource expansion drill program at the South Ridge gold deposit, on the Company's wholly-owned Kibi Gold Project, located in the Kibi - Winneba greenstone belt (the "Kibi Gold Belt"), in Ghana, West Africa. The 19 diamond core boreholes totalling 2,305 metres were completed by the Company's in-house drilling crew on an intermittent basis from October 2018 to March 2019. A total of 37 boreholes encompassing 4,577 metres were completed during the resource expansion drill program initiated in February 2018; with the program designed to test an approximately 400 metre strike length of the South Ridge gold zone at 50 metre section spacing and to further define the litho-structural setting of the gold mineralization.

Highlights of today's drill results are as follows and complete auriferous intercepts are listed in Table 1 below:

- 30.25 metres grading 1.50 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold, including 2.26 g/t gold over 8.5 metres and 2.56 g/t gold over 9.55 metres from a down-hole depth of 62.65 metres in KBDD18278;

- 11.0 metres grading 3.3 g/t gold (uncut), including 5.96 g/t gold over 5.15 metres from a down-hole depth of 22.0 metres in KBDD19287, 25 metres NW of previously reported high-grade KBDD18264 intercept of 27.0 metres grading 2.85 g/t gold, including 4.84 metres grading 5.12 g/t gold (August 8, 2018 News Release);

- 15.0 metres grading 2.85 g/t gold, including 5.67 g/t gold over 6.0 metres and 8.5 metres grading 3.33 g/t gold, including 6.02 g/t gold over 4.5 metres from down-hole depths of 9.0 metres and 10.5 metres in KBDD19293 and KBDD19292 respectively, 25 metres and 50 metres up-dip from the high-grade KBDD18264 intercept; and

- 7.5 metres grading 6.71 g/t gold (uncut), including 31.00 g/t gold over 1.5 metres from a down-hole depth of 1.5 metres on the zone's most northwesterly drill section.

James Longshore, President and CEO remarked: "We are extremely satisfied with the successful completion of the over 4,575 metre South Ridge resource expansion drill program utilizing our in-house drilling crew, having safely and successfully achieved our mission of advancing the Company's pipeline of gold projects through cost-effective drill support. Next step involves the detailed 3D geological modelling of the South Ridge deposit based on the entire 2008 - 2019 drilling / trenching database to help better define the gold mineralization envelope and identify higher grade centres for possible follow-up infill drilling. Considerable insight has been gained into the litho-structural controls of the South Ridge gold deposit since its 2008 discovery, and we remain steadfast on maximizing its resource potential with the goal of further enhancing the economic viability of the Kibi Gold Project.

The South Ridge deposit has a current inferred mineral resource estimate of 42,000 ounces at an average grade of 1.48 g/t gold. The South Ridge deposit, along with the Big Bend, East Dyke, and Mushroom deposits in Zone 2 and the Double 19 deposit in Zone 3, form part of a maiden National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant mineral resource estimate (October 26, 2012) on the Company's Kibi Gold Project. In aggregate, these five gold deposits lying within approximately 1.6 kilometres of each other (see Figure 1) are estimated to contain an Indicated mineral resource of 278,000 ounces at an average grade of 2.56 g/t gold and an additional Inferred mineral resource of 147,000 ounces at an average grade of 1.94 g/t gold (@ base case 0.5 g/t cut-off). The Zone 2 - Zone 3 maiden mineral resource represents the first ever NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource generated on a lode gold project within the Kibi Gold Belt. Gold mineralization is characterized by auriferous quartz vein sets hosted in Belt-type granitoids geologically analogous to other "Grantoid-hosted" gold deposits of Ghana, including Kinross Gold's Chirano and Newmont Mining's Subika deposits in the Sefwi gold belt. The NI 43-101 Technical Report entitled "Independent Technical Report, Apapam Concession, Kibi Project, Eastern Region, Ghana", prepared by SEMS Explorations and dated October 31, 2012, is filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.



Table 1: Significant Drill Intercepts - South Ridge Gold Deposit (Mineral Resource Expansion Program / October 2018 - March 2019)

Hole ID From (metres) To (metres) Core Length (metres) Gold Grams Per Tonne KBDD18275 65.1 66.05 0.95 4.95 and 72.7 73.7 1.0 1.78 and 86.85 87.85 1.0 2.58 KBDD18276 34.3 40.3 6.0 0.55 and 67.28 70.8 3.52 0.55 and 75.97 78.8 2.83 0.61 KBDD18277 No Significant Results KBDD18278 62.65 92.9 30.25 1.50 including 62.65 71.15 8.5 2.26 including 63.15 63.9 0.75 8.42 including 81.45 91.0 9.55 2.56 including 81.45 83.45 2.0 6.60 KBDD18279 98.4 106.9 8.5 1.80 including 100.2 103.55 3.35 3.75 including 103.05 103.55 0.5 14.19 KBDD18280 116.57 117.29 0.72 8.00 and 136.55 141.25 4.7 2.01 including 136.55 137.55 1.0 6.17 KBDD18281 126.05 132.0 5.95 1.04 including 126.77 127.5 0.73 4.14 KBDD18282 36.16 54.9 18.74 0.57 including 41.9 49.36 7.46 1.04 KBDD19283 39.5 59.5 20.0 0.43 including 39.5 41.0 1.5 2.19 KBDD19284 60.4 75.5 15.1 0.57 including 67.4 70.4 3.0 1.40 KBDD19285 93.8 110.8 17.0 0.44 including 110.3 110.8 0.5 4.01 KBDD19286 138.3 158.3 20.0 0.61 including 148.3 149.3 1.0 4.33 KBDD19287 22.0 33.0 11.0 3.3 including 26.7 31.85 5.15 5.96 including 26.7 27.2 0.5 34.36 KBDD19288 64.2 76.2 12.0 0.59 including 71.2 76.2 5.0 1.10 and 87.95 89.75 1.8 2.01 KBDD19289 3.0 4.5 1.5 2.58 and 29.5 38.8 9.3 0.65 including 29.5 33.9 4.4 1.15 and 47.95 51.5 3.55 3.09 including 51.1 51.5 0.4 18.6 KBDD19290 55.8 68.8 13.0 1.05 including 67.35 67.85 0.5 6.04 KBDD19291 1.5 9.0 7.5 6.71 including 7.5 9.0 1.5 31.00 and 39.2 46.0 6.8 0.60 including 39.2 41.1 1.9 1.34 KBDD19292 10.5 19.0 8.5 3.33 including 10.5 15.0 4.5 6.02 including 12.0 13.5 1.5 13.59 KBDD19293 9.0 24.0 15.0 2.85 including 18.0 24.0 6.0 5.67 including 21.0 22.5 1.5 15.9 and 31.0 41.0 10.0 0.56 including 39.0 41.0 2.0 1.45 Notes: Reported intercepts are core-lengths; true width of mineralization is unknown at this time. Unless otherwise indicated intercepts constrained with a 0.25 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold minimum cut-off grade at top and bottom of intercept, with no upper cut-off applied, and maximum of five (5) consecutive samples of internal dilution (less than 0.25 g/t gold). All internal intervals above 10 g/t gold indicated.

The present drill results correspond to the final 19 boreholes (2,305 metres) of the 37 borehole (4,577 metre) resource expansion drill program at the South Ridge gold deposit on Zone 2 of the Kibi Gold Project. The diamond core boreholes ranging in length from 57 metres to 180 metres were completed by the Company's in-house drilling crew on an intermittent basis from October 24, 2018 to April 1, 2019. The resource expansion drill program was designed to test an approximately 400 metre strike length of the South Ridge gold zone at a nominal 50 metre section spacing and to further define the litho-structural setting of the gold mineralization. The South Ridge deposit consists of a northwest striking / northeast dipping quartz diorite-hosted gold mineralization zone traced to date along an approximately 400 metre strike length and 230 metre downdip depth from surface. Gold mineralization is associated with quartz-albite-carbonate-sulphide vein arrays developed within the quartz diorite body. Exploration significant auriferous intercepts are presented in Table 1 and a drill / compilation plan with collar details depicted in Figure 1, available at:

Figure 1_South Ridge Drill Plan_May 1, 2019

Twelve (12) of the SW-trending, steeply inclined (-75o) boreholes targeted the southeastern 200 metre segment of the South Ridge gold zone, including a pair of 4-hole drill fences (30 metre hole spacing) located approximately 45 metres apart testing the depth continuity of the mineralization at downdip depths extending from approximately 70 metres to 220 metres from surface (i.e., KBDD18277 - KBDD18280 & KBDD19283 - KBDD19286 Fences).

Mineralized intercept highlights for the KBDD18277 - KBDD18280 drill fence include 30.25 metres grading 1.5 g/t gold, including 2.26 g/t gold over 8.5 metres and 2.56 g/t gold over 9.55 metres, from a down-hole depth of 62.65 metres in KBDD18278; approximately 20 metres downdip from the previously reported KBDD12253 high-grade intercept grading 2.85 g/t gold over 36.0 metres, including 7.7 metres grading 7.06 g/t gold (see August 21, 2012 News Release). Hole KBDD18279 returned a mineralized intercept of 8.5 metres grading 1.80 g/t gold, including 3.75 g/t gold over 3.35 metres from a down-hole depth of 98.4 metres, approximately 40 metres downdip from the KBDD18278 intercept. Hole KBDD18280 corresponding to the back (deeper) hole of the drill fence yielded mineralized intercepts of 0.72 metres grading 8.00 g/t gold and 4.7 metres grading 2.01 g/t gold from down-hole depths of 116.57 metres and 136.55 metres, respectively; approximately 200 metres downdip from surface (80 metres downdip of the KBDD18278 intercept). With the lower KBDD18280 gold intercept appearing to represent a new distinct mineralization zone.

All 4 holes of the KBDD19283 - KBDD19286 drill fence located approximately 45 metres to the northwest of the KBDD18277 - KBDD18280 fence yielded lower grade mineralized intercepts including: 17.0 metres grading 0.44 g/t gold, including 4.01 g/t gold over 0.5 metres from a down-hole depth of 93.8 metres in KBDD19285; and 20.0 metres grading 0.61 g/t gold, including 4.33 g/t gold over 1.0 metre from a down-hole depth of 138.3 metres in KBDD19286.

The KBDD19286 auriferous intercept lies approximately 100 metres downdip from previous drilling forming scope of current inferred mineral resource estimate.

Four (4) boreholes consisted of infill holes designed to test the NW / SE flanks of the high-grade gold mineralization intersected in holes KBDD18263 / KBDD18264 at 25 metre section spacing, within the northwestern segment of the South Ridge gold zone (i.e., KBDD19287 - KBDD19290). Holes KBDD18263 and KBDD18264 returned previously reported mineralized intercepts of 2.67 g/t gold over 37.78 metres (uncut), including 5.23 metres grading 13.53 g/t gold and 27.0 metres grading 2.85 g/t gold, including 4.84 metres grading 5.12 g/t gold, respectively (see August 8, 2018 News Release). Mineralized intercept highlights for the 4 infill holes include 11.0 metres grading 3.30 g/t gold (uncut), including 5.15 metres grading 5.96 g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 22.0 metres in KBDD19287 and 13.0 metres grading 1.05 g/t gold, including 0.5 metres grading 6.04 g/t gold from a down-hole depth of 55.8 metres in KBDD19290.

Drilling efforts also included 3 boreholes targeting near surface mineralization at the northwestern extremity of the South Ridge gold zone, including 2 holes (KBDD19292 - KBDD19293) testing the shallow, up-dip extension of the previously reported KBDD18264 high-grade gold mineralization (see August 8, 2018 News Release). Hole KBDD19293 returned a mineralized intercept of 15.0 metres grading 2.85 g/t gold, including 5.67 g/t gold over 6.0 metres from a down-hole depth of 9.0 metres, approximately 25 metres up-dip from the KBDD18264 high-grade intercept; and KBDD19292 yielded 8.5 metres grading 3.33 g/t gold, including 6.02 g/t gold over 4.5 metres from a down-hole depth of 10.5 metres, approximately 25 metres up-dip from the KBDD19293 intercept. Hole KBDD19291 collared on the most northwesterly drill section, approximately 50 metres northwest of KBDD19292, returned a strong saprolite (oxide) material hosted mineralized intercept of 7.5 metres grading 6.71 g/t gold (uncut), including 31.00 g/t gold over 1.5 metres from a down-hole depth of 1.5 metres; appearing to indicate that the mineralization remains open along strike to the northwest.

QA/QC

Yves P. Clement, P. Geo, Vice President, Exploration for Xtra-Gold is acting as the Qualified Person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") with respect to this announcement. He has prepared and or supervised the preparation of the scientific or technical information in this announcement and confirms compliance with NI 43-101. All samples in this news release were analyzed by standard fire assay fusion with atomic absorption spectroscopy finish at the ISO 17025:2005 accredited Intertek Minerals Limited's laboratory in Tarkwa, Ghana. Xtra-Gold has implemented a rigorous quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) program to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of drill core, trench channel, and saw-cut channel samples, the details of which can be viewed on the Company's website at www.xtragold.com.

About Xtra-Gold Resources Corp.

Xtra-Gold is a gold exploration company with a substantial land position in the Kibi Gold Belt. The Kibi Gold Belt, which exhibits many similar geological features to Ghana's main gold belt, the Ashanti Belt, has been the subject of very limited modern exploration activity targeting lode gold deposits as virtually all past gold mining activity and exploration efforts focused on the extensive alluvial gold occurrences in many river valleys throughout the Kibi area.

Xtra-Gold holds 5 Mining Leases totaling approximately 226 sq km (22,600 ha) at the northern extremity of the Kibi Gold Belt. The Company's exploration efforts to date have focused on the Kibi Gold Project located on the Apapam Concession (33.65 sq km), along the eastern flank of the Kibi Gold Belt. The Kibi Gold Project (Zone 2 - Zone 3) maiden mineral resource estimate produced by Xtra-Gold in October 2012 represents first ever NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate generated on a lode gold project within the Kibi Gold Belt. The NI 43-101 Technical Report entitled "Independent Technical Report, Apapam Concession, Kibi Project, Eastern Region, Ghana", prepared by SEMS Explorations and dated October 31, 2012, is filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The TSX does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward- looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results relating to, among other things, results of exploration, project development, reclamation and capital costs of the Company's mineral properties, and the Company's financial condition and prospects, could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements for many reasons such as: changes in general economic conditions and conditions in the financial markets; changes in demand and prices for minerals; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; technological and operational difficulties encountered in connection with the activities of the Company; and other matters discussed in this news release. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Contact Information

For further information please contact:

James Longshore

Chief Executive Officer

416-628-2881

E-mail: info@xtragold.com

Website: www.xtragold.com





To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44466
CHICAGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --According to a new market research report "Autonomous Agents Market by Deployment Type (Cloud and On-premises), Organization Size (SMEs and Large Enterprises), Vertical (BFSI, IT and Telecom, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Transportation and Mobility), and Region - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the Autonomous Agents Market is expected to grow from USD 345 million in 2019 to USD 2,992 million by 2024, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 54% during the forecast period.

The major factors driving the Autonomous Agents Market include the growing adoption of AI-based applications and increased availability of parallel computing resources.

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The on-premises segment to hold the highest market share in the global Autonomous Agents Market during the forecast period

On-premises deployment of autonomous agents solutions requires initial high investment by organizations, though it does not require incremental costs throughout the ownership, as in the case of cloud deployment type. Moreover, security concern associated with private data of customers is a major reason for the adoption of on-premises deployment over the cloud. These types of deployments are popular across large-sized enterprises.

SMEs to grow with the fastest CAGR during the forecast period

Autonomous agents assist Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to automate the business process that reduces the necessity for humans to perform the tedious task. Cost-effectiveness is an essential need for SMEs, as they are always constrained by limited budgets, which leaves them with limited ways to market themselves and gain visibility. To compete with large organizations, SMEs are expected to adopt autonomous agents at a higher rate during the forecast period, to enhance operational productivity.

Speak to our Research Expert:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=201425821

North America to have the largest market size during the forecast period

North America is expected to hold the largest market size during the forecast period in the Autonomous Agents Market, owing to the early adoption and host to innovative initiatives for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Machine Learning (ML). Though the trend is observed globally, in North America, it has prevailed due to the presence of the following factors affecting the development and growth of autonomous agents: state-of-the-art infrastructure, high funding opportunities, widespread customer base across several industries, conducive environment for innovation, and availability of highly-skilled workforce. Furthermore, autonomous agents companies in this region are targeting higher revenues and business expansions due to the stiff competition and demand prevailing across the North American region. In addition, the US and Canada contribute majorly toward the adoption and growth of new technologies, both being the most developed economies in the region. With a well-established economy and advanced technological development, funding opportunities in autonomous agents and related technologies have been the highest in these countries.

Major vendors offering Autonomous Agents Market across the globe include Oracle (US), IBM (US), SAP (Germany), AWS (US), SAS (US), Infosys (India), Nuance Communications (US), FICO (US), Fetch.AI (UK), Affectiva (US), Intel (US), Salesforce (US), Aptiv (Ireland), Google (US) and Microsoft (US).

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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.

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Hong Kong: Astro-camp recruitment starts

The 11th Young Astronaut Training Camp is seeking recruits from local secondary schools from today until May 31.

Selected students will attend astronaut training programmes on the Mainland for free from July 27 to August 4.

They will visit Beijing Aerospace City, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre and the 500-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope in Guizhou.

Students will meet aerospace experts and astronauts, and attend lectures on space science and technology.

Participants will be able to wear spacesuits and use a "space kitchen". They will also receive escape and survival, and blood-redistribution adaptability training.

Each school can nominate two students studying in Secondary 2 to 6. Thirty participants will be selected.

Click here or call 2734 2711 for information.

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, one of the largest film studios in the country, based on the west side of Chicago announced a deal with Amazon Studios to begin filming the half-hour series, "On the Spectrum." Jason Katims, the creator of "Parenthood," has based the project on the Israeli series developed by Dana Idisis and Yuval Shafferman. Described as a coming-of-age comedic drama, the series focuses on three 20-something roommates on the autism spectrum, striving for the same things that we all desire: To get a job, keep a job, make friends, fall in love, and navigate a world that eludes them.

Cinespace Chicago Film Studios welcomes Amazon Studios for filming of the pilot series, "On the Spectrum."

Katims, whose son is diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, will serve as writer and executive producer on the series. Jeni Mulein of Katims' True Jack Productions will also executive produce along with yes Studio's Danna Stern. Universal Television will produce in association with True Jack and yes Studios, which produced the original series.

"I've heard that Katims has called 'On the Spectrum' his passion project and we are honored that he has chosen Cinespace Chicago to create it. This topic is personal to me too," said Alex Pissios, President and CEO of Cinespace Chicago Film Studios.

Pissios's father, Spiros dedicated his career to serving children and adolescents with disabilities and helping them navigate successfully in the community. Although long retired, Spiros continues to volunteer in the Chicago Public School System (CPS) in a work program for students with disabilities. Alex Pissios shares his father's passion for serving people with disabilities. While in college, Alex mentored a young man with autism and, like his father, trained to become a Special Ed teacher.

"Providing support to the disabilities community is one of the core priorities of our family foundation, CineCares. 'On the Spectrum' is a groundbreaking pilot project that shows people with disabilities in everyday life," Pissios added.

The Israeli series, "On the Spectrum" is critically acclaimed, earning nine Israeli TV Academy Awards this year. Executive producers of the original On the Spectrum series are yes Studios' Danna Stern, co-creators Dana Idisis and Yuval Shafferman, Sumayoko's Udi Segal and yesTV's Dganit Atias Gigi and Koby Gal Raday.

About Cinespace Chicago Film Studios:

Cinespace Chicago Film Studios is a family-owned company specializing in the development, management, and operation of studio space and support facilities for the film, television, and digital media production industry. With 31 sound stages on its 1.45 million square foot main campus in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood, and additional studios currently under construction at 31st and Kedzie, Cinespace is the largest film studio outside of California. Since opening in 2011, Cinespace has helped bring more than 16,000 new jobs to the area. As part of Cinespace's commitment to the neighborhood, the family established CineCares Foundation to train and employ area residents through education and job training in TV & Film. The CineCare's Foundation Mirkopoulos Internship Program partners with FOX, HBO, NBCUniversal, Wolf Films and Studio Mechanics Union Local 476. In addition to film production, the campus is home to Stage 18 Chicago, a 501(c)(3) organization and incubator established to retain and grow talent in Chicago. Key tenants at Cinespace include 312 Fast Draw, AbelCine, Cinelease, DePaul FilmSchool, Keslow Camera, Lagunitas and Periscope Post & Audio. For more information or to contract studio or business space at Cinespace, visit the website at ChicagoFilmStudios.com.

Media Contact:

Karolyn Raphael

Winger Marketing

312-494-0422

karolyn@wingermarketing.com

Additional Images

Cinespace Chicago Film Studios

Additional Links

Cinespace Website

SOURCE: Cinespace Chicago Film Studios

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543644/Cinespace-Chicago-Film-Studios-Welcomes-Amazon-Studios-for-Filming-On-the-Spectrum-Pilot
AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" of Al Ahleia Insurance Company S.A.K.P. (Al Ahleia) (Kuwait). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) remains stable.

The ratings reflect Al Ahleia's balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorises as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

Al Ahleia's balance sheet strength is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation, which, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), is at the strongest level, and good financial flexibility with no financial leverage. An offsetting factor is the company's significant holdings in private equity and real estate funds, which expose its capital base to potential volatility. Al Ahleia's dependence on reinsurance is moderate overall, as the high cession rate of the direct portfolio is diluted by significant retention of reinsurance business written by the company's subsidiary, Kuwait Reinsurance Company K.C.S.P. (Kuwait Re).

Al Ahleia has a five-year average return on capital of 9.3%, supported by solid technical performance and positive, albeit volatile, investment earnings. The company's direct insurance portfolio has a track record of excellent performance, helped by favourable inward reinsurance commissions. On a consolidated basis, technical margins are reduced by the lower profitability of reinsurance business underwritten by Kuwait Re, but remain robust, demonstrated by a combined ratio of 96.2% in 2018. Prospective consolidated earnings are expected to reflect the continued excellent performance of Al Ahleia's direct insurance operations, as well as the benefits of strategic decisions implemented by Kuwait Re to improve the profitability of its reinsurance portfolio.

Al Ahleia has an established position as a top four insurer in Kuwait's direct market, with a particular good market share in the commercial segment. Its profile is enhanced by reinsurance arm, Kuwait Re, which provides international diversification through operations spanning the Middle East and North Africa, Asia-Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe. On a consolidated basis, the Al Ahleia group wrote gross premiums of KWD 84.0 million in 2018, with Kuwait Re contributing KWD 44.2 million.

Whilst Al Ahleia and Kuwait Re have in place risk management frameworks considered appropriate for their specific risk profiles, Al Ahleia is still developing a comprehensive group-wide ERM framework. As the group's risk profile continues to develop, it will become increasingly important for Al Ahleia to enhance its ERM capabilities, particularly in areas such as capital management and market risk.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Understanding Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media Proper Use of Best's Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases

AM Best is a global rating agency and information provider with a unique focus on the insurance industry. Visit www.ambest.com for more information

Copyright 2019 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005645/en/

Contacts:

William Keen-Tomlinson, ACA

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 4395

will.keen-tomlinson@ambest.com

Salman Siddiqui

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0331

salman.siddiqui@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Jim Peavy

Director, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

james.peavy@ambest.com
BH Macro Limited (the "Company")

(a closed-ended collective investment scheme established as a company with limited liability under the laws of Guernsey with registered number 46235)

LEI: 549300ZOFF0Z2CM87C29

Directorate Change

1 May 2019

The Company announces the appointment of Richard Horlick as an independent non-executive Director of the Company with effect from 1 May 2019.

Mr Horlick is currently the non-executive chairman of CCLA Investment Management which

manages 8bn of assets for over 38,000 charities and church and local authority funds. He has

served on a number of closed end fund boards most recently Pacific Assets Trusts Plc from

December 2005 until June 2014 and Tau Capital Plc from May 2007 to January 2014. He was a partner and non-executive chairman of Pensato Capital LLP until its successful sale to RWC

Partners in 2017.

He has had a long and distinguished career in investment management graduating from Cambridge University in 1980 with an MA in Modern History. After 3 years in the corporate finance department of Samuel Montagu he joined Newton Investment Management in January 1984 where he became a Director and portfolio manager. In 1994 he joined Fidelity International as President of their institutional business outside the US and in 2001 became President and CEO of Fidelity Management Trust Company in Boston which was the Trust Bank for the US Fidelity Mutual fund range and responsible for their defined benefit pension business. In 2003 he joined Schroders Plc as a main board director and head of investment worldwide. In January 2006 he established Spencer House Capital Management with Lord Jacob Rothschild. In addition he has been a business angel investing in a wide range of private companies.

Mr Horlick is a UK resident.

There are no disclosures to be made in respect of LR 9.6.13 (2-6). All of Mr Horlick's current directorships in publicly quoted companies and in the past five years are noted below as required by LR 9.6.13 (1).

Directorships

Pacific Assets Trust plc - resigned 24 June 2014

Enquiries:

Company website: www.bhmacro.com

Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

Tel: +44 (0) 1481 745001
01 May, 2019

U.S. Oil & Gas Plc.



("U.S. Oil" or the "Company")



Result of AGM

U.S. Oil & Gas Plc, the oil and gas exploration company with assets in Nevada, makes the following announcement:

The Board of Directors of U.S. Oil & Gas plc is pleased to announce that at the Company's Annual General Meeting held on 30thApril 2019 all resolutions were duly passed.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements in this communication reflect the current thinking of the Board and the Company's present plans. The Company reserves the right to alter plans in the light of developing knowledge and circumstances. Shareholders' attention is drawn to the note below concerning Forward-looking Statements.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information". Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: business plans and strategies of US Oil and Gas; operating or technical difficulties in connection with drilling or development activities; availability and costs associated with inputs and labour; drilling and exploration costs; the speculative nature of oil exploration and development; diminishing quantities or quality of reserves; synergies and financial impact of completed acquisitions; the benefits of the acquisitions and the development potential of properties of US Oil and Gas; the future price of oil; supply and demand for oil; the estimation of reserves; the realization of reserve estimates; costs of production and projections of costs; success of exploration activities; capital expenditure programs and the timing and method of financing thereof; the ability of US Oil and Gas to achieve drilling success consistent with management's expectations; net present values of future net revenues from reserves; expected levels of royalty rates, operating costs, general and administrative costs, costs of services and other costs and expenses; expectations regarding the ability to raise capital and to add to reserves through acquisitions, assessments of the value of acquisitions and exploration and development programs; geological, technical, drilling and processing problems; treatment under governmental regulatory regimes and tax laws.

All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements

THE DIRECTORS OF THE COMPANY ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT

Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein constitutes an offer or solicitation by U.S. Oil and Gas Plc for the purchase or sale of any securities nor does it constitute a solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction where solicitation would be unlawful.

For further information contact:

Brian McDonnell, Chief Executive Officer +353 (1) 631 9022



About U.S. Oil & Gas:

U.S. Oil & Gas plc is an oil and gas exploration company with a strategy to identify and acquire oil and gas assets in the early phase of the upstream life-cycle and mature them. The Company's

main asset is in Nye County, Nevada where it holds the entire share capital of US-based company, Major Oil International LLC ("Major Oil"). Major Oil has acquired rights to exploration and development acreage in Hot Creek Valley, Nye County, adjacent to the oil and gas rich Railroad Valley area of Nevada, both of which are part of the Sevier Thrust of central Nevada and western Utah, USA.
LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LibraryBub was founded in 2015 and is the industry's first service dedicated to connecting indie and small-press authors with libraries. Imbued with the enthusiasm and ambition of its founder, the bestselling author Alinka Rutkowska, the core commitment of LibraryBub, working with all major libraries, is to help librarians to identify acclaimed books from the independent publishing sector. Through a broad range of outreach and output, Rutkowska enables thousands of emerging authors to achieve publishing success.

The May list of outstanding books by self-publishing authors appears below. The featured publications have received critical acclaim and are already proving popular with readers. Some have already become Amazon best sellers in their categories. The very best of the selected books have achieved awards within the independent publishing sector. LibraryBub introduces thousands of librarians to bestselling and award-winning books from the independent publishing sector. These books hold enormous potential for enhancing the lives of their readers. Acclaimed novelist Jean M. Auel tells about her portal into writing fiction: "I got the idea for the story of a young woman living with people who were different late one cold winter night in January 1977, but I don't know where it came from. I had never written fiction, though I had been reading it all my life. I discovered when I sat down to try it, that it was fun, except I didn't know what I was writing about. I had never studied archaeology or anthropology. I knew how to find out, though. Libraries are wonderful. They started me on a remarkable odyssey that I'm still in the midst of. They opened my eyes to the fascinating story of our Ice Age ancestors and they gave me the means to learn how to tell it with books on how to write fiction." Librarians enable writers to make that kind of difference to people's lives and LibraryBub CEO Alinka Rutkowska is delighted to support them in that role.

Below is May's selection by category:

FICTION:

Literature & Fiction

Thread for Pearls by Lauren Speeth ISBN: 978-0999707104

Choice (Book One of the Joyful Cup series) by Jacquelyn Lynn ISBN: 978-4294584200

Life Song by Christine M. Knight ISBN: 978-0987434852

Mystery & Thriller

The Chemist (Book One of the Cale Van Waring Adventure series) by Janson Mancheski ISBN: 978-1458200198

Gemini by Randy Eberle ISBN: 978-0692269886

When Memory Fails (Book Five of the Harry Bronson series) by L.C. Hayden ISBN: 978-1090332127

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Advent of Darkness (Book One of the Chronicles of Illumaril series) by Gary Caplan ISBN: 978-1470079130

Crossroads and the Dominion of Four (Book Two of the Crossroads series) by C. Toni Graham ISBN: 978-1504391610

The Return of the Ancient Ones (Book Two of the Chronicles of Illumaril series) by Gary Caplan ISBN: 978-1439272831

Young Adult

The Secrets of Hawthorne House by Donald Firesmith ISBN: 978-1726283151

Children's

All about a Boy Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Ann Marie Hannon ISBN: 978-1480837546

Children of the Elements (Book One of the Steampunk Adventure series) by Ora Wanders ISBN: 978-1797718002

Intrigue in Istanbul(Book One of the Agnes Kelly series) by Christine Keleny ISBN: 978-1949085051

Meredith Discovers Her Destiny by Mary Lee Gutwein ISBN: 978-1640456358

1, 2, 3, Who's Cleaning the Sea?: a counting picture book about protecting our planet (Book Two of the Early Childhood Concepts series) by Janina Rossiter ISBN: 978-1796670196

NON-FICTION:

Biographies & Memoirs

Jeannette Rankin - America's First Congresswoman (Book Two of the Groundbreaker series) by Peter Aronson ISBN: 978-1732077553

Business

Disruptive Leadership: 8 Counterintuitive Secrets for Running a Successful Business by Christopher Catranis ISBN: 978-1943386468

Politics & Social Sciences

Time for the World to Learn from Africa (Book One of the Hearing Others' Voices series) by Ruth Finnegan ISBN: 978-1911221210

Self-Help

Imagineer Your Future - Discover Your Core Passions by Les LaMotte ISBN: 978-1984568564

Mind What Matters: a pep talk for humanity by John Viscount ISBN: 978-1941768358

You Can Choose Your Life: a guide to experiencing more peace, freedom and happiness right now by N.G. Abramson ISBN: 978-1945252419

Jennifer Geist, of Brick Mantel Books, an indie publisher based in Indiana, was impressed by how the LibraryBub press release concerning Kate Kort's novel Laika enabled them to increase their marketing reach. "It was picked up by major news outlets," she observed. "LibraryBub helped us get Laika in front of librarians. We noticed an immediate jump in our Amazon sales rank."

Librarians are encouraged to sign up for LibraryBub at http://librarybub.com/

Independent publishers are welcome to visit http://librarybub.com/authors/ to submit their books for consideration.

Media Contact:

Alinka Rutkowska

alinka@authorremake.com
Hyatt Centric Murano Venice and Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale mark first entry for the lifestyle brand into Italy

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) announced today the opening of Italy's first two Hyatt Centric branded hotels Hyatt Centric Murano Venice and Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale. The hotels offer 119 and 141 guestrooms, respectively, and mark a significant milestone for Hyatt's growth in Europe, targeting adventure-seeking travelers.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005692/en/

Hyatt Centric Murano Venice King Guestroom (Photo: Business Wire)

Hyatt Centric Murano Venice

Hyatt Centric Murano Venice, Hyatt's first hotel in Venice, is located in the popular tourist destination of Murano, world famous for its handmade glass. The modern hotel is located steps from the renowned Murano Glass Museum and is close to Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato, one of the oldest churches in the Venetian lagoon. The hotel is a 20-minute private boat ride from the airport and guests will have easy access into central Venice via a 10-minute boat ride. Built within the walls of an ancient glass manufacturing furnace, Hyatt Centric Murano Venice is home to landmark glass manufacturer Venini's artwork. The property offers contemporary rooms and suites overlooking the Grand Canal of Murano, allowing guests to enjoy the views of Venice from the sanctuary of the island of Murano. For relaxation after walking through the winding "Calli" of Venice, the hotel offers wellness facilities that include a sauna, Turkish bath and fitness center.

"We are thrilled to introduce the Hyatt Centric brand to Venice with the opening of Hyatt Centric Murano Venice," said Leonardo Ometto, general manager of Hyatt Centric Murano Venice. "With its fantastic views of the Grand Canal of Murano, combined with the central location and exquisite interiors, the hotel provides the perfect launchpad for guests who are looking to explore the vibrant city. Our passionately engaged team is happy to provide local expertise to create shareable moments for our guests."

Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale

Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale sits in the heart of the vibrant Porta Nuova district. Situated within walking distance from the metro and Central Station, the hotel serves as the perfect launchpad to discover the best Milan has to offer. Its neighborhood area has undergone significant restoration, recently transforming into Milan's most high-tech and international district. The property boasts a rooftop bar with 360-degree views of Milan. Guests who want to relax will find a Roman bath with jetted tub, as well as a sauna, Turkish bath, salt cave and a relaxation room.

"Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale is in the perfect location for travelers who don't want to miss any moment of adventure that Milan has to offer," said Andrea Pallavicini, general manager of Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale. "Knowing the Hyatt Centric brand encourages exploration and discovery, our curious guests will be in the heart of the action to immerse themselves in all the city's hotspots."

The two new hotels in Italy bring the number of Hyatt Centric branded properties in Europe to five, joining Hyatt Centric La Rosiere, Hyatt Centric Gran Via Madrid and Hyatt Centric Levent Istanbul.

"The acquisition of the two properties has been a perfect opportunity to follow up on the long-standing teamwork with Hyatt," said Matthias Lowin, managing director of German Feuring Group. "After the announcement of the Hyatt Regency development in Dusseldorf and the Hyatt Place development at Frankfurt-Airport, we are very excited to be an integral force behind the introduction of the Hyatt Centric brand to Italy."

The term "Hyatt" is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

About Hyatt Centric

Hyatt Centric is a brand of full-service lifestyle hotels located in prime destinations. Created to connect guests to the heart of the action, Hyatt Centric hotels are thoughtfully designed to enable exploration and discovery so they never miss a moment of adventure. Each hotel offers social spaces to connect with others in the lobby, meanwhile the bar and restaurant are local hot spots where great conversations, locally inspired food and signature cocktails can be enjoyed. Streamlined modern rooms focus on delivering everything guests want and nothing they don't. A passionately engaged team is there to provide local expertise on the best food, nightlife and activities the destination has to offer. For more information please visit hyattcentric.com. Follow @HyattCentric on Facebook and Instagram, and tag photos with HyattCentric

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 19 premier brands. As of December 31, 2018, the Company's portfolio included more than 850 properties in 60 countries across six continents. The Company's purpose to care for people so they can be their best informs its business decisions and growth strategy and is intended to attract and retain top colleagues, build relationships with guests and create value for shareholders. The Company's subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences, vacation ownership properties, and fitness and spa locations, including under the Park Hyatt Miraval Grand Hyatt Alila, Andaz The Unbound Collection by Hyatt Destination, Hyatt Regency Hyatt Hyatt Ziva Hyatt Zilara, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric Hyatt House Hyatt Place Joie de Vivre, tommie, Hyatt Residence Club and Exhale brand names, and operates the World of Hyatt loyalty program that provides distinct benefits and exclusive experiences to its valued members. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005692/en/

Contacts:

MEDIA CONTACT:

Jennifer Rubin

Hyatt

312-780-5808

Jennifer.rubin@hyatt.com



Simone Loretan

Hyatt Europe, Middle East, Africa and Southwest Asia

+41 44 279 1226

simone.loretan@hyatt.com
CALGARY, AB and SAN ANTONIO, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC PINK: EMBYF) (the "Company" or "Emerald Bay") reported today that the Company has filed the annual audited financial statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2018.

The Company is pleased to report that year over year revenue increased 165% to $1,154,491 in 2018 from $435,458 in 2017, while year over year production increased 128% to 49 bbls/day in 2018 from 21 bbls/day in 2017.

The annual filings of the Company can be viewed at sedar.com or on the Company's website.

About Emerald Bay

Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC: EMBYF) is an energy company with oil producing properties in Southwest Texas as well as non-operated oil and natural gas interests in Central Alberta, Canada. EBY is the operator of the Wooden Horse and Nash Creek Projects in Guadeloupe, Texas, where the Company currently now owns a 50.00% working interest those projects. Additionally, the Company owns and operates various working interests in the HugoCellR, Cotulla, and MarPat partnerships. The Company also owns 75% of Production Resources Inc., a South Texas oil company.

For all upcoming news releases, articles, comments and questions, to stay updated and speak with management about Emerald Bay Energy. Please JOIN our Investor Information Group at:

http://bit.ly/8020EBY

For further information, please contact:

Emerald Bay President, Shelby D. Beattie, by telephone at (403) 262-6000

Email: info@ebyinc.com

www.ebyinc.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Emerald Bay Energy Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/543683/Emerald-Bay-Energy-Files-2018-Financials
GCP Student Living plc

("GCP Student" or the "Company")

LEI: 2138004J4ID66FK38H25

Appointment of New Director

GCP Student, the UK's first REIT focused on student residential assets, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Hunter as a non-executive Director of the Company and as a member of the Audit and Risk, Management Engagement, Remuneration and Disclosure Committees, with effect from 1 May 2019.

Mr Hunter is a professional strategic adviser focused principally on UK and international real estate. He is on the boards of both listed and unlisted companies in the UK and overseas, including as chairman of Custodian REIT PLC and ICG-Longbow (the real estate division of Intermediate Capital Group plc), senior independent director of Yatra Capital Limited and a director of Saffron India Real Estate Fund and is adviser to French family office Quilvest. Mr Hunter was previously chairman of South African Property Opportunities Limited.

Mr Hunter qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1978 and has over 25 years' experience as a fund manager, including as managing director of Aberdeen Asset Management's property fund business. David is a past president of the British Property Federation and was actively involved in the introduction of REITs to the UK. He is honorary Swedish consul to Glasgow and an honorary professor of real estate at Heriot-Watt University.

Mr Hunter is not currently, and has not been in the last five years, a director of any other publicly quoted company other than as set out above. There are no other details required to be disclosed under LR 9.6.13R (2) to (6) of the Financial Conduct Authority Listing Rules.

Robert Peto, Chairman, commented, "We are delighted that David Hunter is joining us and look forward to his contribution to the development of the Company".

1 May 2019

For further information please contact:

Gravis Capital Management Limited +44 020 3405 8500

Nick Barker

Dion Di Miceli

Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited +44 020 7710 7600

Neil Winward

Mark Young

Tom Yeadon

Buchanan / Quill +44 020 7466 5000

Helen Tarbet

Henry Wilson




Addition of Return Path Email Deliverability Solutions Further Establishes Validity as a Global Leader in Customer Data Management

Validity, the most trusted name in customer data quality, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Return Path, the market leader in email deliverability. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the acquisition is expected to close in the coming weeks. Tens of thousands of organizations in over 150 countries across the world rely on Validity's current solutions including DemandTools, BriteVerify and Trust Assessments to manage their customer data. With the addition of Return Path, all of the members of the Validity community will now enjoy the industry's most comprehensive technology solutions that sales and digital marketing professionals can use to target, contact, connect with and engage with customers at scale.

Trusted by the leading email service providers and thousands of customers worldwide, Return Path offers a suite of cloud-based products to ensure email campaign optimization and message deliverability. The Return Path platform brings together the world's most comprehensive sources of data from the email ecosystem, covering 3.5 billion inboxes-approximately 70 percent of the world's inboxes. Today, 7 of the top 10 retailers by sales are Return Path customers and 165 of the top email service providers and agencies are Return Path channel partners or customers.

"Validity continues to welcome great leading global brands, such as Return Path, to the Validity family. For over 20 years, the incredible team at Return Path has pioneered innovative ways to solve key issues related to data quality and created the industry's dominant email deliverability platform. We're thrilled to welcome the Return Path team, customers and solutions into the Validity family," said Mark Briggs, CEO of Validity. "There is a critical need in the market for higher fidelity interaction with customers, particularly via digital marketing campaigns. The Validity platform, anchored with our Trust Assessments and now powered by our BriteVerify technology, Return Path deliverability, and global leading CRM data solutions, is exceptionally well positioned to help digital marketers achieve email excellence and help all businesses grow faster by trusting their data."

"At Return Path, we've prided ourselves on being the trusted independent, third party that helps digital marketers across the globe ensure that their email and digital marketing campaigns perform at optimal levels," said Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path. "It was so refreshing to find such a similar vision within the Validity family and I'm just so happy to be able to bring the Return Path offering into this much broader suite of products so that all of our joint customers can benefit from these expanded services."

Email remains as one of the most important and critical channels for businesses with nearly two-thirds of marketers stating that email is one of the most important channels, or the most important channel, in use today. However, marketers continue to leave substantial revenue on the table since nearly one in five emails are never delivered to the intended recipient. Return Path solutions help marketers get more email delivered, reach their subscribers and earn more revenue.

Validity was formed in early 2018 through a partnership with Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm. The company established headquarters in Boston's Back Bay with commercial locations in Tampa and London and made two significant acquisitions CRMfusion, the leading provider of CRM data quality tools, and BriteVerify, the leading email verification service. Today, tens of thousands of businesses run better and grow faster with trustworthy data with Validity.

About Validity

Businesses run better and grow faster with trustworthy data. Backed by Silversmith Capital Partners, Validity is the most trusted name in customer data quality. Tens of thousands of organizations rely on Validity solutions including DemandTools, BriteVerify and Trust Assessments to manage their customer data. With Validity, these organizations make better decisions that drive more leads, close more deals and confidently plan for continued growth. For more information visit, validity.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and @TrustValidity.

About Return Path

Return Path analyzes the world's largest collection of email data to show businesses how to stay connected to their audiences and strengthen their customer engagement. We help mailbox providers around the world deliver great user experiences and build trust in email by ensuring that wanted messages reach the inbox while spam doesn't. To find out more about Return Path solutions, visit us at returnpath.com or request a demo.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190501005878/en/

Contacts:

Media Inquiries

pr@validity.com

returnpath@finnpartners.com
LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Windward, a world leader in maritime risk analytics, today announced the launch of its new compliance product to help energy traders, banks and bunkering service providers protect themselves against the consequences of inadvertently facilitating evasion of UN and U.S. sanctions.

The announcement comes a day before U.S. waivers for importing Iranian oil expire, making all imports by any country problematic under U.S. sanctions. At the same time, it exposes any maritime actor who facilitates such transfers vulnerable to aggressive enforcement action by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Ami Daniel, Co-Founder and CEO of Windward, said: "Iranian oil might now be considered radioactive. Any country, individual, energy trader, financial institution, vessel, port authority, or bunkering provider that touches it is now at risk. The critical challenge for the maritime industry now is knowing which vessels and fleets one can safely do business with."

Existing screening methods are no longer fit for purpose. First, because they don't detect increasingly sophisticated sanctions evasion tactics; and second, because there's too much data to sift through to make accurate and timely decisions.

Windward Compliance is a SaaS technology platform that uses artificial intelligence to screen vessels and help recommend which ones are safe to trade with. In this way, energy traders, banks and bunkering service providers can go about their business, safe in the knowledge that they're protected from the risk of breaching U.S. sanctions.

For more information, please visit www.wnwd.com/compliance

Media Assets can be found here.

About Windward

Windward partners with organizations to help improve their understanding of maritime risk, enabling them to take better actions to manage it. The company's unbiased, data-driven risk insights are based on deep contextual analysis of actual ship operations using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. They're available on-demand, helping customers make the best decisions. Clients include Frontex, the DEA and the UN Security Council, which uses Windward technology to discover vessels helping North Korea evading sanctions. http://www.wnwd.com

Contact: media@wnwd.com
ADNOC has a long and proud history of cooperation with Japanese oil and gas companies, which spans over four decades

ABU DHABI, UAE, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) celebrated, today, the new Japanese Era, known as Reiwa, which signifies "order and peace", by displaying images on the facade of its headquarters.

ADNOC is a reliable and trusted partner in meeting the energy needs of Japan. The company has a long history of mutually beneficial strategic partnerships with Japanese oil and gas companies that span over four decades and cover the entire oil and gas value chain.

The UAE is the 2nd-largest exporter of crude oil to Japan, with strong bilateral economic relations dating back to 1961 when the first shipment of UAE crude oil was exported from Umm al-Shaif offshore field in Abu Dhabi to Japan.

About ADNOC

ADNOC is one of the world's leading diversified energy and petrochemicals groups with a daily output of about 3 million barrels of oil and 10.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. With 14 specialist subsidiary and joint venture companies, ADNOC is a primary catalyst for the UAE's growth and diversification. To find out more visit www.adnoc.ae.

For further information: media@adnoc.ae

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/880752/ADNOC_in_Japan.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/834555/ADNOC_Logo.jpg
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Drone Delivery Canada Corp. (TSXV: FLT) (OTC: TAKOF) (the "Company") announces that Spencer Todd tendered his resignation as a Director of the Company effective April 29, 2019 due to a conflict of interest.

About Drone Delivery Canada Corp.

Drone Delivery Canada Corp. is a drone technology company focused on the design, development and implementation of its proprietary logistics software platform utilizing drones. The Company's platform will be used as Software as a Service (SaaS) for government and corporate organizations.

Tony Di Benedetto, Chief Executive Officer, Drone Delivery Canada Corp.

Tel: (416) 791-9399

Email: tony@dronedeliverycanada.com

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 release.

Notice Regarding Forward Looking Information

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including the use of proceeds of the Offering. This forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, and dependence upon regulatory approvals (both in Canada and internationally). Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward looking information. The parties undertake no obligation to update forward-looking information except as otherwise may be required by applicable securities law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/44479
(1) Performance results are presented on a gross and net-of-fees basis. Net returns reflect the deduction of, among other expenses, management fees, brokerage commissions, administrative fees, and accrued and/or crystallized performance fees, if any, and include the reinvestment of all dividends, interest, and capital gains. Net returns reflect the performance of the Company's Public Shares. Depending on the timing of an individual investor's specific investment, net performance for an individual investor may vary from the net performance as stated herein. Gross returns reflect the performance of the Company's shares in the aggregate and are presented before the deduction of management fees and performance fees, if any. Performance data and other information contained herein are estimated and unaudited. Performance is based on the dollar return for the specific period, including any and all dividends paid by the Company, calculated from the beginning of such period to the end of such period. (2) Reflects the number of positions in issuers in which the Company has previously publicly disclosed an investment, which occurs after the Company has completed its accumulation. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. Multiple financial instruments (for example, common stock and derivatives on common stock) associated with one (1) issuer count as one (1) position. A position that is included in the number of positions will be removed from the table only if the investment becomes 0.0% of the portfolio. (3) For the purpose of determining the equity and debt exposures, investments are valued as follows: (a) equity or debt is valued at market value, (b) options referencing equity or debt are valued at market value, (c) long call options and short put options (or vice-versa, short call options and long put options) held on the same underlying issuer and with the same strike and same expiry are grouped together and treated as synthetic equity positions, and are valued at the market value of the equivalent long equity position (or vice-versa, the equivalent short equity position), and (d) swaps or forwards referencing equity or debt are valued at the market value of the notional equity or debt underlying the swaps or forwards. Whether a position is deemed to be long or short is determined by whether an investment has positive or negative exposure to price increases or decreases. For example, long puts are deemed to be short exposure. (4) Includes all issuer equity, debt, and derivatives related to issuer equity and debt, and associated currency hedges. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. The market values of associated currency hedges are included as part of the associated investment. In the event that there is a change in market cap category with respect to any non-publicly disclosed position, this information is not updated until such position is publicly disclosed. (5) Portfolio composition is reflective of the publicly disclosed portfolio positions as of the date of this report. A position in an issuer is only assigned to a sector once it has been publicly disclosed. (6) "Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. AUM" equals the assets under management of Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Any performance fees crystallized as of the end of the year will be reflected in the following period's AUM. (7) "Total Strategy AUM" equals the aggregate assets under management of Pershing Square, L.P., Pershing Square International, Ltd. and Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (collectively, the "Core Funds"). Redemptions effective as of the end of any period (including redemptions attributable to crystallized performance fees/allocations, if any) will be reflected in the following period's AUM. (8) "Total Firm AUM" is the aggregate of Total Strategy AUM and the assets under management of Pershing Square VI Master, L.P. which operates as a co-investment vehicle investing primarily in securities of (or otherwise seeking to be exposed to the value of securities issued by) Automatic Data Processing, Inc. ("PSVI") without double counting investments by any Core Fund in PSVI.
Other projects especially the expansion of Chennai and Bengaluru Metro are also under consideration, he said at the Annual Meet of ADB in Nadi

Nadi (Fiji): Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given an in-principle nod for financing four metro rail projects and a Rs 30,000 crore rapid rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut as part of its effort to improve the urban transport system in India.

Simultaneous discussion is going on with other multilateral funding agencies for co-financing of these large urban transport projects in India including Bhopal and Indore Metro projects, ADB Director General (South Asia) Hun Kim said Wednesday.

In addition, other projects especially the expansion of Chennai and Bengaluru Metro are also under consideration, he said at the Annual Meet of ADB in Nadi.

"ADB has in-principle agreed to finance these projects with the Centre, which is the guarantor. It depends on the client. If they complete the formalities, we're ready to go (for final approval from the board)," he said.

ADB has funded Jaipur Metro and expansion of Mumbai Metro in the past.

On rapid rail project between Delhi and Meerut (in Uttar Pradesh), Kim said Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) is a huge project and ADB is looking to co-finance with other multilateral funding agencies including Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Earlier this year, the government approved construction of a Rs 30,274 crore worth RRTS to connect the national capital with Meerut through Ghaziabad (in Uttar Pradesh). The 82 kilometre-stretch will be covered in less than 60 minutes,

The RRTS is a first-of-its-kind, rail-based, high-speed regional transit system to be implemented in India. Once operational, it will be the fastest, most comfortable and safest mode of commuter transport in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Kim emphasised that financing logistics projects will also be a priority area for the bank. "We want to be a bank for logistics," he said, pointing to the Vizag-Chennai and the Chennai-Kanyakumari industrial corridors where the ADB is involved in financing preparation of the master plan.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu is emerging as a major "client" of the bank, he said, adding the bank is planning to lend $500 million each for energy projects, and the Chennai Metro Phase II.
By Carolina Mandl SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank will invest $1 billion in Colombian delivery app Rappi, marking the first move by its newly created Innovation Fund for Latin America, according to a statement on Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports. In a statement, Rappi said the proceeds will be used to enhance the company's presence in existing markets and to enter new ones

By Carolina Mandl

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank will invest $1 billion in Colombian delivery app Rappi, marking the first move by its newly created Innovation Fund for Latin America, according to a statement on Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports.

In a statement, Rappi said the proceeds will be used to enhance the company's presence in existing markets and to enter new ones. New products and services are also likely to be created, Rappi said, without providing further details.

At first, SoftBank Group Corp and another SoftBank global investment vehicle, Vision Fund, will split the investment evenly. In a second move the Latin America-focused fund is expected to be offered SoftBank Group's investment.

Rappi did not disclose the stake SoftBank will hold.

In March, SoftBank launched a $5 billion fund to invest in tech firms in Latin America.

"In less than four years Rappi has become one of the fastest growing start-ups in Latin America. This rapid growth demonstrates the immense opportunity in the Latin American region," Marcelo Claure, SoftBank Groups Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive of SoftBank Group International and CEO

of the Innovation Fund said in the statement.

SoftBank will appoint Jeffrey Housenbold, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, to Rappi's board of directors, according to the agreement.

Rappi's investors already included DST Global, Delivery Hero, Sequoia Capital, Andreesen Horowitz and Y Combinator. It was valued at $1 billion in its latest funding round in September, backed by DST Global.

Founded in 2015, Rappi operates in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, besides Brazil.

SoftBank also announced on Tuesday it will invest in early-stage companies jointly with Colombia's government.

(Story corrects last paragraph to remove reference to similar funds in South Korea and Mexico)

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Chizu Nomiyama)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Trump has been eager to halt Irans oil exports since slapping sanctions on the Islamic Republic last November for the first time since 2015

Washington: US President Donald Trumps unexpected decision to ban all Iranian oil purchases after 1 Mayending exemptions for eight nationscame after hawkish economic and security advisors allayed the presidents fears of an oil price hike, according to three sources familiar with the internal debate.

The unprecedented move to fully sever Tehrans financial lifelinefinalized just days before the 22 April announcementunderscores the strong influence of hard-liners within Trumps inner circle. They had for months argued for tightening the sanctions over the objections of some State Department officials who favored allowing some partners and allies to keep buying Iranian oil.

No ones actually tried to take this all the way to zero, a senior administration official told Reuters, adding that forging a consensus among government agencies required a lot of work.

President Donald Trump has been eager to halt Irans oil exports since slapping sanctions on the Islamic Republic last November for the first time since 2015, a move intended as punishment for Irans nuclear ambitions and its support of armed militant groups in the Middle East.

Trump initially backed a go-slow approach, providing waivers to allies and trading partners such as China, India and Turkey.

The United States currently removes about 2 million barrels of oil per day from the worlds supply through sanctions on the Iran and Venezuela industries. But Washington hopes that soaring US oil productionnow at an all-time high of more than 12 million barrel per daywill keep global markets well-supplied and hold prices down.

By the weekend of 20 April, with the initial 180-day waivers given to countries due to expire 1 May, top economic and security advisors convinced Trump that the time had come to cut off Iranian oil exports completely, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The State Department had been engaged in talks with at least five of the eight economies holding waivers, according to sourcesChina, India, South Korea, Japan and Turkey.

Trump discussed the matter with National Security Adviser John Bolton, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Energy Secretary Rick Perry as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

While Bolton and Perry backed ending the waivers, some in Pompeos State Department reiterated worries about the potential for rising oil prices, the sources said, but they ultimately dropped their objections and supported the more aggressive policy on Iran.

Largest importers of Iranian oil, through 2018

Surprise announcement

The decision caught several US allies and Iranian oil buyers off-guard. Chinas Foreign Ministry issued a formal complaint to the United States.

Separately, diplomats interviewed by Reuters from at least two large importers of Iranian oil said discussions about renewing their waivers continued until a few days before the announcement, suggesting the State Department had little time to brief partners on the decision.

Oil prices struck six-month highs after the announcement, but have since eased back.

Trump has long been anxious about rising oil prices impacting the economy and raising retail gasoline prices, and in his last tweet before the waiver decision, he said global oil markets were fragile. He has asked members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase the flow of oil to compensate for losses from Iran and Venezuela.

This was clearly what he was balancing in his own mind, the administration official said.

One senior administration official said Trump held conversations recently with the Saudi and Emirati leaders on oil prices and received assurances that the two oil producers will ensure the market is well-supplied.

Saudi Arabias energy minister responded by saying he saw no need to raise oil output immediately. OPEC production declined by 1.6 million barrels per day between December and March, according to the organizations figures.

The 'right' time

The Obama administration, which had imposed sanctions on Iran in 2012 to thwart its nuclear ambitions, kept its waivers in place through the duration of its pressure campaign.

Obamas sanctions program ended with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an international accord with Tehran reached in 2015 that was meant to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Trump ridiculed the deal and unilaterally abandoned it last year over the objections of the other signatories. International nuclear inspectors said at the time that Iran was abiding by the deals terms.

State Department officials said it was the Trump administrations intention from the start to bring Irans exports to zero. But the timing had not been right until now.

The National Security Council, according to two sources, played a key role in driving the argument to end the waiver programespecially Richard Goldberg, a longtime advocate for confronting Iran.

Goldberg was instrumental, one of the sources said. Bolton added Goldberg to the NSC earlier this year.

In 2018, while an adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, Richard Goldberg, a new member of the Trump administration told Congress that rolling back Irans activities required a no-holds-barred, pedal-to-the-metal approach involving political, economic and ideological warfare, along with overt and covert operations to remove Iranian forces from Syria and Yemen.

White House economic advisors Kevin Hassett and Larry Kudlow had also called for ending the waivers, according to a second senior administration official.

We are doing this ... in a favorable market condition with full commitment from producing countries, said Frank Fannon, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources. We think this is the right time.
The plea, filed by activist Bejon Kumar Misra, said the sudden suspension of air services of Jet Airways has resulted in a major crisis for the passengers

The Delhi High Court has issued a notice to Jet Airways seeking a full refund of airfare to passengers affected by the suspension of Jet Airways operations. The cash-strapped airline suspended operations on 17 April after it did not receive a loan of about Rs 1,500 crore as part of a rescue deal with government-owned lenders.

Delhi High Court issues notice to Jet Airways in a plea seeking full refund of airfare to passengers affected by the suspension of Jet Airways services. Court has also sought reply from DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation. Next date of hearing is 16th July. pic.twitter.com/VYx2qR4Cpb  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

The plea, filed by activist Bejon Kumar Misra, said the sudden suspension of air services of Jet Airways has resulted in a major crisis for the passengers who were not informed about it earlier.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice AJ Bhambhani sought a response from Jet Airways and also asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to file an affidavit on the issue.

The high court said it will hear the matter after summer vacation and posted the matter for 16 July.

The application had sought direction to the ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to adopt prompt redressal mechanism for all affected passengers to access full refund of air tickets with reasonable compensation or arrange an alternative mode of travel for them to reach their destination as an emergency exercise.

The plea, filed through advocates Shashank Deo Sudhi and Shashi Bhushan, said: "It is common knowledge that all competitor airlines have exorbitantly increased their airfares and the toothless and vulnerable consumers are constrained to suffer not only in terms of money, but also in terms of mental harassment of unprecedented scale."

Citing media report, it said more than Rs 360 crore of the passengers/consumers' hard earned money is under threat due to non-refund of ticket value.

"The passengers have to not only purchase alternative tickets at highly exorbitant cost, but also go through lots of anxieties and mental agony. This has resulted in profiteering by other airlines at the cost of the passengers and till date no relief has been announced by the respondents (Ministry and DGCA).

"It is on record that such a situation was existing for more than two years, but was intentionally allowed by the authorities without any concern for passengers and other affected parties," the plea claimed.

On 25 April, Jet Airways said that it will validate claims for flight ticket refunds within 45 days, a media report said. According to Mint, Jet Airways told travel agents that a web interface has been provided to agencies to submit refund applications. The airline added that the claims can be submitted till 20 May. Travel agents can submit a refund application through the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) portal.

A mail sent to travel agents by the airline also said that refunds for tickets bought through credit cards will be validated by Jet Airways and credit card companies each Monday, the report said.

Jet Airways has, however, not given any specific timeline for disbursal of the refunds, said Financial Express report.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice A J Bhambhani, however, remarked that "it (plea) is filed only for publicity, come on 1 May".

--With PTI inputs
There is no major mention of labour reforms in the BJP manifesto, even the Congress manifesto which speaks GST reforms and job creation has paid no significant attention to labour law reforms

Editor's Note: This story was first published on 30 April, 2019. It is being republished to mark International Workers' Day. The theme of Labour Day 2019 is 'Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement.'

Is the absence of private investments the only major hurdle for job creation in India? No, it is not. In a recent research note, JP Morgan has offered some interesting findings on Indias job problem. According to this note, it is not only lack of private investments but also the high effective cost of labour in relation to the capital that is playing a villain when it comes to job creation.

Unsurprisingly, Indias growth has been very capital intensive. Back in 2000, two-thirds of Indias export basket comprised labour-intensive exports (agricultural products, textiles, gems and jewellery, and leather). Today 50 percent comprise capital-intensive auto parts, pharmaceuticals, and capital goods, the note said.

So what is to be done? Policy urgently needs to reduce the effective cost of labour by easing labour laws, lengthening job contracts to incentivise on-the-job skills acquisition, both reforming and investing more heavily in health and education, and avoiding fiscal subsidies to capital (like accelerated depreciation) that further discriminate against labour. Only then will India create enough jobs to pull people out of agriculture, as China did, the JP Morgan note said.

In short, the point here is reforming labour laws is highly critical at this point to revive the lost momentum in job creation. Are our politicians serious about it? Sadly, very little has been done to reform labour laws not just in the last five years of Narendra Modi-government but even during the UPA years. There is no major mention of labour reforms in the BJP manifesto, even the Congress manifesto which speaks GST reforms and job creation has paid no significant attention to labour law reforms.

Instead, what are the major national political parties--the BJP and the Congress--intend to do if they come to power? Congress wants to offer an assured minimum income of Rs 72,000 to poorest 20 percent of the population. The party has easy solutions on how will it find the resources---tax the rich, spare the middle class, roll in other subsidies-easier said than done. Only in 2016, India scrapped a wealth tax finding it less rewarding to the exchequer.

There are about 950 centrally sponsored schemes targeting the needy in specific areas. There is no reliable, updated income data to identify the bottom 20 percent in the income graph. On the other hand, the BJP too is not far behind in competitive populism. It wants to give interest-free loans to farmers, extend Rs 6,000 Kisan yojana to all farmers and offer pensions to all small farmers and shop owners. All these have nothing to do with job creation, at best these can be some sort of consumption drivers.

In both these manifestos, the common factor is a fading focus on land, labour reforms and skill development. The Modi-government began its tenure with a host of schemes on skill development and manufacturing to change India into a global manufacturing hub. But, at the end of this five-year-term, even BJP's political rallies are silent about these schemes.

The unwillingness of politicians to focus on real issues that are roadblocks to job creation will prove costly in Asias third-largest economy. The unemployment levels are rising with more number of people in Indias workforce not getting job opportunities. In the first three weeks of April, the unemployment rate in the country showed a sharply increasing trend, coming at an average 8.1 percent, compared with an average 6.7 percent in the month of March and 7.2 percent in the month of February, according to data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

In the first week of April, the rate was recorded at 7.9 percent, in the second week at 8.1 percent and in the third at 8.4 percent, the economy watchdog said citing the findings of its household survey. In February this year, a Business Standard report had said that the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) which conducts household surveys on employment situation wasnt given permission to release job data that showed the country's unemployment rate at a 45-year-high of 6.1 percent in 2017-18.

Explaining the job problem, JP Morgan researchers noted that labour intensity in organised manufacturing in India has fallen by a factor of five in the last three decades, which explains the strong-growth but weak-jobs disconnect, it said, adding Indias effective cost of labour remains inordinately high both because of strict labour laws (on the demand side) and educational/health/skill constraints (on the supply side).

To sum up, the JP Morgan note clearly spells out the big challenge for the next government, if it is serious about tackling the unemployment problem--work on reviving the long-missing private investments and simultaneously work on labour law reforms. But, will there will be takers for these real solutions for job problem amid the mad race of competitive populism?
SpiceJet has already grounded both the pilots pending an internal enquiry, while the DGCA is conducting the initial probe into the incident

Mumbai: The operations at the Shirdi airport which was suspended Monday after a SpiceJet flight from New Delhi overshot the runway while landing, is expected to resume Wednesday morning, airport director Dhiren Bhosale said.

After the incident, the aircraft was stuck at the runway and authorities had been struggling to remove it and restart the operations.

The Boeing 737 aircraft has been retrieved from the runway and teams from the aviation regulator DGCA and airline are carrying out a thorough inspection of the plane to assess damages to the plane, Bhosale told PTI.

A Boeing 737 aircraft operated by budget carrier SpiceJet on Monday evening landed some 50 meters away from the touch down point, and veered off the runway while landing at the Shirdi airport, forcing the authorities to shut all operations.

"We have towed away the plane which was stuck on the runway. We are expecting to recommence normal operations from Wednesday morning," Bhosale said.

The airport in the temple town handles 24 flights per day, 12 departures and arrivals each, operated by Air India's regional subsidiary Alliance and SpiceJet.

A detailed inspection of the Boeing plane is being carried out by the officials from the directorate general of civil aviation as well as the safety department of SpiceJet, he added.

SpiceJet has already grounded both the pilots pending an internal enquiry, while the DGCA is conducting the initial probe into the incident, in which all passengers were evacuated safely.
The private dispute between the company and farmers became a political issue after 192 organisations publicly urged PepsiCo to withdraw its suit

The Gujarat government should broker a settlement between PepsiCo and the farmers who have been sued by the food and beverages company for allegedly violating its intellectual property rights (IPR) in a registered potato variety, and not make it a nationalist versus multinational issue.

This is because, if PepsiCo cannot enforce its IPR, Indian farmers will lose out in the long run. At the same time, it might be difficult for the company to prove that the farmers it has sued have committed illegality. Seeking damages of Rs 1 cr from each of them is also bad optics.

According to news reports, Gujarats Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has announced that the state government would intervene in the suit on behalf of the farmers. This might help the government assert its swadeshi credentials and blunt the criticism it has faced from Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who has reportedly said the government must not keep its eyes shut to PepsiCos brazenly wrong action.

The private dispute between the company and farmers became a political issue after 192 organisations publicly urged PepsiCo to withdraw its suit.

PepsiCo is prosecuting nine farmers of Sabarkantha and Aravalli districts for growing FC 5, a wafer-quality potato variety registered under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights (PPVFR) Act. They are not its contract farmers.

The PPVFR Act is a unique Indian law passed in 2001 to protect the rights of farmers and communities in plant varieties with desirable traits, which they have conserved over the years. It also protects the rights of breeders who have crafted commercially-useful varieties. New varieties are registered under the Act if they are distinct, uniform and stable (DUS).

PepsiCo got PPVFRA registration for FC 5 in 2016 after passing the DUS trials, which were conducted by the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Shimla. FC5 is high-yielding and has attributes, like high dry matter and low levels of reducing sugars that make it apt for frying.

PepsiCos spokesperson said the variety is meant for captive use; it supplies the seed only to its contract farmers of which they are 24,000 across multiple states. At 3 lakh tonnes annually, he says, it is the biggest buyer of processing-quality potatoes.

According to the spokesperson, contract farmers get the FC 5 seed for Rs 20-25 per kg, depending on the size. They have to return 11-13 times the quantity at about Rs 10 a kg. The purchase price is fixed at the time of contract and holds even if when open market prices are lower. Half the price of the seed has to be paid up front. The rest is deducted from the sale value. PepsiCo accepts potatoes that are more than 45 mm in diameter. Defects cannot exceed 15 percent.

PepsiCo says the farmers it has sued were found to be growing FC 5. It provided evidence of the samples it had obtained from their fields. These have tested positive. The court found PepsiCos complaint had merit and gave an injunction in its favour.

Two of the sued farmers said there were not aware that the variety they were growing was FC5. Bipinbhai Badolkampa of Lakshmanpura village in Vadali taluka of Sabarkantha district said he got the seed from his friends circle. He challenged PepsiCo to prove that the sample presented in court was from his field. Haribhai Patel of Medhkampa village in Vadali taluka said he didnt know why PepsiCo has sent him a legal notice. He disclaimed any knowledge of FC 5.

Fulchand Kachchhava, a buyer for Balaji Wafers, said PepsiCo has also served him a legal notice. Based in Deesa, Banaskantha, Kachchhava has cold storages and is a big trader. His annual procurement is said to be 40,000 tonnes. He said his family grew potatoes on 150 acres. The varieties planted were Lady Rosetta and ATL. The former is a royalty-free variety that was developed by the Dutch breeding company, Meijer. It has blush skin and is quite popular among farmers growing potatoes for chips. ATL or Atlantic is another royalty-free US variety also meant for chips. There is no difference between FC 5 and ATL, Kachchhava says.

Parthibhai Chaudhary, a retired police official and large farmer, says ATL and FC 5 are same to same. Based in Banaskantha he grows potatoes scientifically on 87 acres and has won awards for high yields. Chaudhary says he had planted ATL and Lady Rosetta in the last season.

Vinay Bhardwaj, Head of the Department of Crop Improvement at CPRI disagrees. He says the genetic fingerprints of ATL and FC 5 are different. While doing the DUS trials on FC 5, ATL was used as the check variety for comparison, he says.

Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the sued farmers from Sabarkantha mentioned above, said his clients saw no competitive advantage in FC 5. They were not interested in growing any protected variety in violation of the law. The seed they had planted was obtained through customary and conventional methods from friends and relatives. We are not interested in FC 5 over which they claim registration.

The PPVFR Act gives the farmers wide latitude. It allows them to save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share and even sell farm produce including seed of a protected variety. The only caveat is that a protected variety, when sold, cannot be packaged and branded as such.

The International Union for the Protection of New Variety of Plants (UPOV), which is based in Geneva, objects to this brown bagging provision because it dilutes IPR protection. Indian law also does not make a distinction between small and large farmers. But those supporting farmers rights say brown bag sales happen on trust and buyers do not have legal recourse if they are short-changed. So, only small volume sales can happen.

PepsiCo might find it hard to prove that the farmers it is prosecuting obtained the seeds illegally even if it establishes that they planted its protected variety without a contract. The suit has dented its image. Seeking Rs 1 crore in damages from each of the smallholder farmers is bad optics. The company will be perceived as high-handed. It should have ignored the small fry, or sought token damages from them to send a warning message to the wider community. However, few will object if it prosecutes traders.

Haresh Karamchandani, the CEO of Hyfun Foods, which exports, and supplies potato products to Burger King and KFC, says if PepsiCo cannot enforce its IPR, farmers will be deprived of proprietary varieties that give India a competitive edge in the world market. The company has a processing plant at Mehsana and 5,500 farmers on contract. Though India is the second largest producer of potatoes, it exports and processes a fraction, he says. There are huge opportunities in both areas, but IPR protection is necessary to tap them. Karamchandani cites the reluctance of Meijer to introduce Lady Anna, its French fries variety, to India owing to weak IPR protection.

But farmers also have a point, Karamchandani says. They cannot throw away the undersize potatoes of varieties (including protected ones) which the contract buyers reject. They will save some for own use; the rest they will sell for consumption or as seed. Such sales are kosher, he says, because the contract buyers got the right of first refusal.

Ram Kaundinya, Director-General of the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) says loopholes in the PPVFR Act must be plugged. They are being misused by some in the seed industry to avoid paying royalties or to sell seed that is not approved by regulators.

In a statement, PepsiCo has offered to settle. It wants to buy the FC 5 harvest of the farmers it has sued and has given them the choice of being its contract suppliers. For PepsiCo, inaction was not an option. But it should have chosen its strike targets carefully.

(The author is a senior journalist. He tweets @smartindianagri)
By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders agreed on Tuesday to spend $2 trillion on roads, bridges, water, broadband and power grids, and will meet again in three weeks to discuss how to pay for the plan, Democratic leaders said

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders agreed on Tuesday to spend $2 trillion on roads, bridges, water, broadband and power grids, and will meet again in three weeks to discuss how to pay for the plan, Democratic leaders said.

The meeting, which appeared to be largely positive, contrasts with more heated discussions between the two sides on the trickier issues of immigration and border security. Both parties have shown support for a potential infrastructure bill, which, if passed, would be a rare example of bipartisan legislative success.

"We just had a very productive meeting with the president of the United States," House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters at the White House. "We did come to one agreement: That the agreement would be big and bold."

Despite the united desire to strengthen U.S. infrastructure, the measures to pay for the bill, which would need the approval of Congress, may be a stumbling block to cooperation.

"We agreed on a number, which was very, very good -- $2 trillion for infrastructure. Originally we had started with a lower -- even the president was eager to push it up to $2 trillion," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The White House called the meeting "excellent and productive" and confirmed that another one would take place later in May.

"The United States has not come even close to properly investing in infrastructure for many years, foolishly prioritizing the interests of other countries over our own," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

"The president looks forward to working together in a bipartisan way and getting things done for the American people.

Still, Trump's chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said an agreement was unlikely because Democrats would not back environment deregulation, which the White House would want to speed up construction.

"I think there is a much better chance of getting the USMCA passed than getting the infrastructure bill passed," Mulvaney said, referring to the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills.

The next meeting is set to focus on how to finance the plan. Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow told reporters on Monday the president had not made up his mind on whether to support raising a federal tax on gasoline to help pay for it.

CLASHES

Trump has had a combative relationship with his Democratic congressional counterparts. An Oval Office meeting with Pelosi and Schumer in December included a long, open clash, played out in front of reporters and television cameras.

More recently, the president has criticized Democrats for pursuing investigations of his conduct after the release earlier this month of the redacted report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Russia's intervention in the 2016 U.S. election.

That investigation did not establish that Trump's campaign cooperated with Russia to influence the election, but it did not take a position on whether the president obstructed justice as the probe took place.

Democrats, who control the House of Representatives, are initiating further probes of Trump, but the Democratic leaders said that topic did not come up during the meeting.

"In previous meetings, the president has said, 'If these investigations continue, I can't work with you.' He didn't bring it up. And so, I believe we can do both at once," Schumer said.

"We can come up with some good ideas on infrastructure. We want to hear his ideas on funding. That's going to be the crucial point, in my opinion. And the House and the Senate can proceed in its oversight responsibilities. The two are not mutually exclusive and we were glad he didn't make it that way."

Trump wants to speed up permit approvals to boost construction projects as part of any infrastructure plan, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said earlier on Tuesday. She warned Democrats not to try to include their ideas on combating climate change in any legislation.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Makini Brice and David Shepardson in Washington, and by Matt Scuffham and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Beverly Hills; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Ben Blanchard BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that he hopes to make 'substantial progress' with Chinese negotiators in the next two rounds of trade talks, as the world's two largest economies look for ways to end their bruising trade war. Mnuchin was speaking in Beijing, where he and U.S

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that he hopes to make "substantial progress" with Chinese negotiators in the next two rounds of trade talks, as the world's two largest economies look for ways to end their bruising trade war.

Mnuchin was speaking in Beijing, where he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will hold talks this week, before Chinese Vice Premier Liu He goes to Washington next week for another round of talks in what could be the end game for negotiations.

"We've a meeting here, and then the vice premier and team will be coming back to Washington D.C., and we hope to make substantial progress in these two meetings," Mnuchin told reporters.

Beijing and Washington have cited progress on issues including intellectual property and forced technology transfer to help end a conflict marked by tit-for-tat tariffs that have cost both sides billions of dollars, disrupted supply chains and roiled financial markets.

But U.S. officials say privately that an enforcement mechanism for a deal and timelines for lifting tariffs are sticking points.

"Enforceability is key - it's easy to sign a document if you have no intention of complying with it," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told reporters in Washington, adding that there a few "still lingering" issues that need to be resolved.

"Consequences of lack of compliance need to be very tight in that agreement," Perdue said.

Chinese officials have also acknowledged that they view the enforcement mechanism as crucial, but say that it must work two ways -- and cannot put restraints only on China.

"There must be guarantees for implementation. This is an important part of the negotiations. We must, to the greatest extent possible, lower and prevent the chances of going back on promises," one Chinese official close to senior leaders told Reuters.

A second Chinese official with knowledge of the situation said it was too early to say work was in the final stages, but that both sides were "sprinting".

In Washington, people familiar with the talks say that the question of whether and when U.S. tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods will be removed will probably be among the last issues to be resolved. Trump has said that he may keep some tariffs on Chinese goods for a "substantial period."

Erin Ennis, senior vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said the deal needs to address U.S. complaints about Chinese theft of intellectual property and forced technology transfers, but it also must resolve tariffs.

"Whatever the resolution is it has got to have a plan of action for the ultimate removal of tariffs, because if it's an input for a product made in the United States or something a U.S. company ships to China, the tariffs inflate costs and make their products less competitive," she said.

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida who has taken a hawkish stance on China trade and security issues, warned that a deal based on Chinese purchases of U.S. agricultural products or a deal that cannot be effectively enforced was unacceptable.

"If you're not addressing the key industries of the 21st century, in five or 10 years, it's going to not just going to be a bad deal, it'll be a catastrophic one," he said. "They will de-facto dominate those industries."

U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 4 that a deal might be worked out in about four weeks. Last week, he said he would soon host Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House. A meeting between the two leaders is seen as needed to cement an agreement.

Mnuchin, speaking to Fox Business Network in an interview that aired on Monday, said the trade negotiations aimed at enforcement were close to finished.

The Chinese government's top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi on Tuesday told a separate group of former U.S. lawmakers that the two countries' interests were deeply connected.

"In recent months, both countries' economic and trade teams have held many rounds of high-level consultations and achieved much positive progress," China's Foreign Ministry paraphrased Wang as saying.

China hopes that both sides can "work hard, exclude disturbances, and reach a mutually beneficial, win-win agreement," he added.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Xu Jing in Beijing and Humeyra Pamuk, David Lawder and Alexandra Alper in Washington; writing by Se Young Lee and Ryan Woo; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Nick Macfie and Lisa Shumaker)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Atrocities on Dalits in Gujarat have been rising steadily in the last two decades with the state witnessing a 72 percent increase in the number of registered cases between 2003 and 2018

Atrocities on Dalits in Gujarat have been rising steadily in the last two decades with the state witnessing a 72 percent increase in the number of registered cases between 2003 and 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat in eleven of these 15 years (2003 to 2014).

In 2018 as many as 1,545 cases were registered under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, as compared to 897 cases registered across the state in 2003. Against this rise in cases, the conviction rate in atrocities cases is less than 5 percent in the three years from 2014-2016 where figures are available.

Table 1: Total cases registered in Gujarat from 2001 to 2017 under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act



This has actually emboldened the perpetrators of violence against Dalits and Tribals in the state, said Jignesh Mevani, an independent MLA from Vadgam in Gujarat. Mevani has emerged as a strong Dalit voice standing up for the rights of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the state.

Speaking in a telephonic conversation, he said, "Atrocities against Dalits and Tribals are on the rise across the country. The chief reasons for the rise in crimes against the SCs and STs is the continued agrarian crisis and economic distress where people are channeling their anger towards the Dalits and Tribals. The rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) combine has strengthened the Brahminical ideology. They see the rise of youth Dalit leaders like Chandrashekhar Azad and me as Dalit aggression."

Violence against Dalit women have also seen a sharp rise in Gujarat. Cases of rape against Dalits and Tribal women have increased seven times from 14 cases of rapes registered in 2001 to 104 cases registered in 2018. In eleven districts in the state, cases of atrocities are particularly high. These include Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Junagadh, Banaskanta, Mehsana, Patan, Anand, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar and Kutch.

Table 2: Districts of Gujarat which registered highest numbers of cases under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act

Banaskanta district with less than half the population of Ahmedabad district has almost 60 percent more cases of atrocities registered in the period 2001-2017. Similarly, both Junagadh and Surendranagar in the Saurastra region of Gujarat having less than one fourth the population of Ahmedabad district have 24 percent and 17 percent more cases registered than Ahmedabad district in the same period.

Commenting on the rise of crimes against Dalits and Tribals, Kaushik Parmar, a Dalit activist in Gujarat, said, Since the Modi government came into power in Gujarat, Dalits are suffering and day by day they are tortured. Still their voices are not being heard; instead they are facing false allegations. The BJP government is trying to show love towards Dalits but till today, the victims of Una violence where four Dalits were flogged while being tied to a jeep, haven't got the justice."

Table 3: Types of offences against SCs registered under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act during 2001 to 2016

The Una atrocity case created a big furor in India when Dalit youth were beaten up in broad daylight in full view of the town after they were suspected of having killed a cow in July 2016.

Accusing the Gujarat government of being not serious about curbing crimes against Dalits and Tribals, Kirit Rathod, a Dalit activist who works with Navsarjan, an NGO fighting for the rights of Dalits in the state, said, "Though PM Modi shed crocodile tears on violence against Dalits post the Una incident, he didnt show any seriousness in stopping crimes against Dalits when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. When three Dalit youth were shot dead in a police firing in Thangadh in September 2012, Modi (then the chief minister of Gujarat), didnt visit the families or expressed sorrow over the incident.

No action has been taken in the case even as the families wait for justice for their deceased youth.

Table 4: Conviction rate under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, during the period from 2014 to 2016

He also said that while Modi was the chief minister, the State Vigilance Committee met only six times between 2002 and 2014 though the act states that the committee should meet once in six months to review cases.

The BJP government has not shown any seriousness in tackling violence against Dalits and Tribals and has instead aimed for samrasta (harmony) in society instead of social justice as enshrined in the Constitution. So, events like washing the feet of Dalits by PM Modi are just publicity stunts. BJP is only interested in the picture of Babasaheb Ambedkar and not the Constitution that he made which provided for social justice for Dalits and Tribals, he adds.
Odisha will have 28 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as a storm surge of about 1.5 metres height above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts in at the time of landfall.

Cyclone Fani, which is forming over the Bay of Bengal with wind speeds up to 200 kilometres per hour, has turned into an "extremely severe cyclonic" storm, the Indian Navy has warned. Coastal Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are on high alert as the cyclone is expected to hit the Odisha coast by 3 May.

"The speed of Cyclone Fani at the time of rainfall will be 175-185 kilometres per hour," HR Biswas, director, Meteorological Department, Bhubaneswar, told ANI. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked his officials and the National Crisis Management Committee to stay in touch with the states at risk from Fani.

Initially, it was being thought that the cyclone would graze the Odisha coast and veer off towards the north, but it is now coming straight at the state, officials said.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a "yellow alert" for the Odisha coast predicting heavy to very heavy rain in several areas. "The cyclone will move along the coast of Odisha and go to West Bengal. We have suggested suspension and diversion of railway traffic and advised people to remain indoors," Biswas said.

Odisha's 879 multipurpose cyclone shelters have been kept ready. The shelters can accommodate about one million people during cyclones and floods. Whereas, the Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations along with units of the Air Force in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal been on standby.

Odisha will have 28 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as a storm surge of about 1.5 metres height above the astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts in at the time of landfall.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Tuesday ordered the release of Rs. 1,086 crore to four states as advance financial assistance for undertaking preventive and relief measures to deal with the cyclone. Of the sanctioned amount, Odisha will receive Rs 340.87 crore, Tamil Nadu Rs 309.37 crore, West Bengal Rs 235.50 crore and Andhra Pradesh Rs 200.25 crore.

However, this is not Odisha's first tryst with a destructive cyclone. The state reeled in the aftermath of Cyclone Titli as well in October 2018. The districts affected by Titli were Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Puri, Kandhamal, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Khorda, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Nayagarh, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Angul.

More than 5.7 million people across 7,402 villages were affected and 27 people lost their lives in the natural calamity.

The state also saw immense infrastructural damage, which highlights the long-term economic loss that accompanies such disasters. The storm damaged more than 20,000 houses and completely destructed several bridges, culverts, embankments and roads in the state. Around 0.75 million livestock died and crops on 0.58 million-acre land were destroyed. The fishing industry also lost 300 boats, 473 nets, 607 fish ponds, 69 fish seed farms and 14.66-hectare fish farms.

Follow LIVE updates on Cyclone Fani's arrival here

In October 1999, a super-cyclone (known as the 'Great Orissa Cyclone of 1999') had swept through Odisha, killing at least 10,000 people and leaving an estimated 1.5 million homeless. Winds of over 250 kilometres per hour were recorded, and a devastating tidal surge drove across coastal plains. The storm was classified as a Super Cyclonic Storm in the nomenclature of tropical storms that affect the north Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea.

Within a month of the cyclone's landfall, the Odisha state government reported 22,296 cases of diarrhoea-related disorders. The area's vulnerability to disease was also compounded by a lack of pre-storm vaccinations, raising fears of a potential measles outbreak.

Why is India's East coast so prone to cyclones?

India's eastern coast has a long history of devastating cyclones. 26 of the 35 deadliest tropical cyclones in world history have been Bay of Bengal storms, Down To Earth's report states.

Pre-monsoon cyclones occur regularly but they do not have much impact, but extremely severe cyclonic storms like Fani are rare in this season. Before this, Odisha has only experienced such cyclones five times in May  in 1893, 1914, 1917, 1982 and 1989.

Sarat Chandra Sahu, director of Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC) of SOA deemed university in Bhubaneswar attributes the severity to climate change. Environmental conditions, including the sea temperature of 30 to 31 Celsius, were favourable for intensifying the severe cyclonic storm into an extremely severe cyclonic storm during, Sahu  who is the former director of IMDs Bhubaneswar centre  is quoted as saying in Down to Earth's report.

He, however, said that the interior districts of Odisha, which will receive rainfall, are unlikely to be affected by the cyclone.

Fani is only the second severe cyclone in the past 118 years to form in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) in the month of April and cross over to the Indian mainland, according to data from the IMD.

Fifteen years after the 'Super Cyclone', in October 2014, Cyclone Hudhud also hit India's eastern coast. At that time, the Odisha government had placed 16 districts on high alert: Balasore, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurdha, Nayagarh, Gajapati, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Malkangiri and Koraput.

At the time of the storm's landfall, strong winds and heavy rainfall commenced in southern Odisha districts, leading to disruption of power supply.

Over 13.63 crore people are now bracing for the impact of Fani.

With inputs from agencies
Modi, Rahul and Priyanka will all campaign in Uttar Pradesh today, IMD issues yellow warning in Odisha, West Bengal as Cyclone Fani intensifies, Rahul hits at PM over fire at Shastri Bhawan

Poll focus shifts to Uttar Pradesh as Modi, Rahul, Priyanka go full throttle with campaigning

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will all be in Uttar Pradesh today, campaigning before the fifth phase of election due Monday. While the prime minister has a key rally scheduled in Ayodhya, where all eyes will remain on whether he will visit the disputed Ram Mandir site to pray, Priyanka will have a busy day campaigning in Central Uttar Pradesh, including her brother's constituency Amethi. When Priyanka was in Ayodhya last, she had chosen to skip visiting the Ram temple, but she payed obeisance at other Hindu religious spots in the city.

Rahul, meanwhile, will be campaigning in Sitapur and Barabanki. Modi and Rahul are also due to address rallies in Madhya Pradesh, later in the day.

Cyclone Fani intensifies into 'extremely severe cyclonic storm'

Cyclone Fani, which is forming over the Bay of Bengal with wind speeds up to 200 kmph, has turned into an "extremely severe cyclonic" storm, the N

avy said late on Tuesday night. Coastal Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are on high alert. Cyclone Fani is expected to hit the Odisha coast by 3 May. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked his officials and the National Crisis Management Committee to stay in touch with the states at risk from Cyclone Fani.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is deploying 41 teams at areas considered to be vulnerable - Andhra Pradesh (8), Odisha (28) and West Bengal (5). The NDRF has also kept on standby 13 teams in West Bengal and 10 in Andhra Pradesh. Fishermen have been asked not to venture out far in areas southwest and southeast of Bay of Bengal.

Election Commission's clean chit to prime minister speech on Rahul opting for Wayanad

The Election Commission on Tuesday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech in Wardha in which he lashed out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad and had "indicated" that the Kerala constituency had more voters from the minority community. The Congress had earlier in April approached the EC and had sought action against Modi's "divisive" speech. While addressing a rally in Wardha on 1 April, the prime minister had reportedly said, the Opposition party was "scared" to field its leaders from constituencies where the majority dominates.

"Burning files won't save you": Rahul's jibe at Modi after fire reported at Shastri Bhawan

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi saw a political opportunity when a fire was reported from Delhi's Shastri Bhawan. The building in the heart of the city houses several government departments, and various files are stored there. Although there was no word on any damage caused by the fire, Rahul took at Modi saying "burning files" won't hide the corruption under his government.

"Modi ji burning files is not going to save you. Your day of judgement is coming," Rahul said in a tweet.

Following this, Union minister Prakash Javadekar jumped into the battlefield and accused Rahul of "spreading lies.

.@RahulGandhi ji, stop peddling lies! The fire in Shastri Bhavan has caused no damage to any files. The waste and scrap kept on the top floor caught fire and was extinguished within 30 minutes. Do your homework before casting allegations. One more jhoot of Congress!  Chowkidar Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) April 30, 2019

The case of two voter IDs

Politics has heated up in Delhi over the issue of key public figures carrying 'two voter IDs'. Aam Aadmi Party's North East Delhi candidate Atishi had filed a complaint against her contender, BJP's Gautam Gambhir for allegedly possessing two voter ID cards. Meanwhile, BJP's Harish Khurana too has filed a complaint against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's wife, levelling a similar charge. Delhi's Tees Hazari court is scheduled to hear both matters today. While Gambhir denied the claim, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj tried to downplay the BJPs allegation. He said that Sunita Kejriwal, unlike Gambhir, is not a candidate in the Lok Sabha elections. Even then, if BJP wants to equate the two cases, let both Gautam Gambhir and Mrs Kejriwal be disqualified from 2019 elections.

Sebi directs NSE to pay over Rs 625 cr in misuse of its co-location facility

Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday directed National Stock Exchange to pay more than Rs 625 crore in the case of misuse of its co-location facility. Sebi has been probing alleged lapses in high-frequency trading offered through NSE's co-location facility.

Besides, the bourse's two former chief executive officersRavi Narain and Chitra Ramkrishnahave been asked to disgorge 25 percent of respective salaries drawn during a certain period. They have also been prohibited from "associating with a listed company or a Market Infrastructure Institution or any other market intermediary for a period of five years," Sebi said in a 104-page order.

According to the order, the exchange has also been prohibited from accessing the securities market directly or indirectly for six months.

Facebook F8 developers conference

Facebook at its annual F8 developer conference announced plenty of new features and improvements to Facebooks family of apps, products and services. Key among these was the big update to the Facebook web and mobile app that now features a revamped design and a focus on Groups. Facebook-owned Oculus too launched a brand new VR headset called the Oculus Quest alongside the announcement for the Rift S. Both will go on sale in the US from 21 May at $399.

Chennai Super Kings look to reclaim top spot against Delhi Capitals

The Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals, two teams who have already secured a place in the playoffs will battle it out in the top of the table clash on Wednesday at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. CSK captain MS Dhoni's availability remain an uncertainty after a bout of fever that kept him out of action in the previous game.

Sooraj Pancholi-starrer Satellite Shankar to now release on 6 September

Actor Sooraj Pancholi's next Satellite Shankar has been delayed by two months. The film, directed by Irfan Kamal, was earlier scheduled to release on 5 July this year but now has been moved to 6 September, the makers said in a statement.
India's eastern coast has a long history of devastating cyclones: 26 of the 35 deadliest tropical cyclones in world history have been Bay of Bengal storms

Cyclone Fani: As east coast prepares for another disaster, here's why states like Odisha are prone to natural calamities

India's eastern coast has a long history of devastating cyclones. Twenty-six of the 35 deadliest tropical cyclones in world history have been Bay of Bengal storms, Down To Earth's report states. Pre-monsoon cyclones occur regularly but they do not have much impact, but extremely severe cyclonic storms like Fani are rare in this season. Before this, Odisha has only experienced such cyclones five times in May  in 1893, 1914, 1917, 1982 and 1989. Sarat Chandra Sahu, director of Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC) of SOA deemed university in Bhubaneswar attributes the severity to climate change.

Sexual harassment allegation against CJI Ranjan Gogoi: Why ex-SC staffer's plea for representation holds no water

The pattern of inquiry in probing a judge of a high court, chief justice of a high court, and a judge of the Supreme Court, the procedure remains the same. Which means the committee has right to devise its own procedure and the judge against whom the allegations are made will be be entitled to appear and have his say. But nowhere does it mention that it needs to give the complainant an audience or chance have his or her say.

PepsiCo sues potato farmers: US firm is right in enforcing its IPR, but slapping Rs 1 cr law suit is bad optics

PepsiCo might find it hard to prove that the farmers it is prosecuting obtained the seeds illegally even if it establishes that they planted its protected variety without a contract. The suit has dented its image. Seeking Rs 1 crore in damages from each of the smallholder farmers is bad optics. The company will be perceived as high-handed. It should have ignored the small fry, or sought token damages from them.

Avengers: Endgame  Marvel's finale of The Infinity Saga is a bittersweet reminder that we're all growing old

Avengers Endgame is now a movie which members of this generation, when they grow old and witness huge advancements in cinema and hence much better films, will remember when they are telling their children about pop culture which was the pride and charm of a bygone era. The times they are a changin. But Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, we will always love you 3,000.

Magnus Carlsen interview: Fearless young players will make India strongest chess country in the world

Magnus Carlsen will soon be heading to Ivory Coast where he is slated to play at the Cote DIvoire Rapid and Blitz, the latest addition to the Grand Chess Tour. This will be the first time that a reigning world champion will be seen playing in the continent of Africa. But before he headed there, Firstpost caught up with the world champ for a quick chat.
Fifteen C60 commandos and a driver were killed after the vehicle in which they were travelling was blown up by Naxals in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on Wednesday, according to several media reports.

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"In the times to come, we will conduct and give an appropriate response to this attack," he said.

"15 of our colleagues have made the supreme sacrifice and one private individual also lost his life in the sad incident. It was a dastardly act committed by the Naxalites," he added.

"A Quick Reaction Team of the Gadchiroli Police came under attack by Naxals at around 12.30 pm today," Subodh Jaswal, Maharashtra DGP, said in a press conference.

Tweeting in Marathi, the NCP chief said that the Maharashtra chief minister has no shame and should resign over the Gadchiroli Naxal attack.

Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri @Dev_Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration. 2/2

"Our jawans were martyred. It is only when police gives us more information that we will be able to comment on the security measures," Maharashtra finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told CNN-News18.

"Our jawans are martyred in Pulwama, Gadchiroli. There are some forces who are trying to destroy India from within. But it is my belief that the combined efforts of the central and state government will end Naxalism," Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut told ANI.

"In the times to come, we will conduct and give an appropriate response to this attack," he said.

"15 of our colleagues have made the supreme sacrifice and one private individual also lost his life in the sad incident. It was a dastardly act committed by the Naxalites," he added.

"A Quick Reaction Team of the Gadchiroli Police came under attack by Naxals at around 12.30 pm today," Subodh Jaswal, Maharashtra DGP, said in a press conference.

Subodh Jaiswal, DGP Maharashtra: We are prepared to give a befitting reply to this attack (Gadchiroli Naxal attack); Operations are going on in the area to ensure that no further casualties take place. pic.twitter.com/wZeKfEzAh2

Operations are on to ensure no further casualties take place: Maharashtra DGP

The governor had organised a reception and series of cultural events on the occassion of Maharashtra Day, reported CNN-News18. That reception has now been cancelled in light of the Gadchiroli blasts killing 16 people.

Tweeting in Marathi, the NCP chief said that the Maharashtra chief minister has no shame and should resign over the Gadchiroli Naxal attack.

"I pay my respect to those killed in the attack and wish quick recovery of the injured people. Our government will extend all help," Shah said while addressing election rallies at Panchla and Arambagh.  PTI

"Naxalites attacked Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli. I have come to know that 16 people, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals. This is an act of cowardice and desperation."

BJP president Amit Shah condemned the Naxal attack on police personnel in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli and described it as an act of cowardice and desperation.

Naxal attack in Gadchiroli latest update: NCP chief Sharad Pawar demanded the resignation of Devendra Fadnavis and alleged that the chief minister 'has no shame'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have condemned the Naxal attack.

Fifteen C-60 commandos and a driver were killed after the vehicle in which they were travelling was blown up by Naxals in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on Wednesday, according to several media reports.

IED blast by Naxals on a police vehicle in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. security personnel are injured in an IED blast by naxals in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/MeAmA0wGxN  Amit kaushik (@Amit_Kaushik1) May 1, 2019

The incident occurred on the Kurkheda-Korchi road.

2.) #RedTerror Remains of the police vehicle after Maoists triggered an IED planted on the road, some commandoes reportedly died , some left severely injured @vyenkateshdud @sahiljoshii @IndiaToday @aajtak pic.twitter.com/SIOLDoboN8  Divyesh Singh (@divyeshas) May 1, 2019

An exchange of fire is currently underway between police and Naxals at the site of the blast.

#UPDATE Exchange of fire underway between Police and Naxals at the site of blast in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. https://t.co/KB3rT3Gdna  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

The attack came soon after 27 machines and vehicles were set ablaze by Naxals at a road construction site in Gadchiroli district. Reports said road construction and repair work was taking place for which JCB machine and cement laden trucks were parked on the roadside. The Naxals targetted the vehicles and construction machines, torching them besides also attacking a coal tar plant in the Dadapur area. The authorities are said to have incurred losses amounting to about Rs 1 crore.

"A group of Maoists gathered around 3.30 am at Dadapur where the construction of a national highway has been going on since the last few months," Shailesh Balkawade, Superintendent of Police, Gadchiroli said.

The incident came weeks after an IED blast near a polling booth in Gadchiroli on 11 April, during the first phase of the national election. No one was injured in the incident. On 11 April, an encounter broke out between CRPF personnel and Naxals in Gadchiroli. In January 2019, Naxals set ablaze vehicles in the villages of Kurkheda, Korchi and Potegaon in Maharashtra. Further details are awaited.
The terror attack on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday and the blasts and events of the following days once again reminded us that the threat posed by radical Islam is closer than it appears

The terror attack on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday and the blasts and events of the following days once again reminded us that the threat posed by radical Islam is closer than it appears. Radicalisation and terrorism is not a problem faced by Sri Lanka alone. As a victim and target of Islamic terrorism, India should take precautionary measures to avoid the sort of unpleasant events that have unfolded in the neighbourhood.

The cross-country connection of radicalisation and the movement of men and material is a reality. According to reports, people inspired by radical Islam in south India visited or used the Island Nation as a breeding ground or as a transit point. Preachers from south India are said to have visited there on a regular basis to radicalise the youth. For instance, P Jainalabdeen  the leader of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ), a purported part of the NTJ that plotted the attack in Sri Lanka  was deported from Sri Lanka in 2005 for hate-mongering. In 2015, he was denied a visa for fear of a backlash.

The country has also taken action against another preacher named Kovai Ayoob from Tamil Nadu on similar charges. There are also reports that Islamic preachers from various countries like Egypt are advocating Salafi ideology in Sri Lanka; some are there without valid travel documents.

According to sources, Merin Jacob (from Kochi) and Bestin Vincent (from Palakkad), who converted to Islam and later joined the Islamic State, visited Sri Lanka on multiple occasions under the pretext of a carpet business before crossing over to Afghanistan in 2015. A petition filed by Bindu Sampath, the mother of Nimisha (from Thiruvananthapuram) who converted to Islam and changed her name to Fatima, says that her daughter moved to Afghanistan via Sri Lanka along with a larger radicalised group. Moreover, Nimisha's husband Bexen also known as Issa is the brother of the aforementioned. In a private conversation, Sampath alleged that it was due to the interference of a powerful Kerala politician that the police turned a blind eye to her daughter's case.

Apart from the radical Islamic groups, Pakistan's spy agency ISI also uses Sri Lanka as a hub for operations in South India. The Pakistani High Commission in Sri Lanka is the control centre of such activities. Muhamad Sakir Hussain, a Sri Lankan national arrested in 2014 at Chennai for possible subversive activities, told his investigators that he was handled from the Pakistani High Commission in Sri Lanka and his mission was to organise deadly attacks in south India. In 2012, the Tamil Nadu Police filed an FIR in a Trichy court against Amir Zubair Siddiqui, a diplomat posted at the Pakistani High Commission in Colombo for his alleged spy activities in India. In 2017, a Pakistani national came to India by boat from Sri Lanka was arrested in Ramanathapuram ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

These two crucial factors  radical Islam and Pakistani interference  are a threat to the peace and stability of the region. The focus of the radicalised elements these days appears to be the peninsular region. And the threat is live and imminent. According to reports, Riyas Abubakar, who was arrested in Palakkad by the NIA, claimed that he was willing to act as a suicide bomber. Sources says that although he was operating silently he was a key functionary of Islamic State in Kerala with the nickname Abu Dujane. It is believed that he was radicalised in Tamil Nadu while working there. Although his house is located in an influential PFI/SDPI area, people say he was not seen associated with any organisations there.

Many people get radicalised via the internet and social media. Online preachers and handlers plays a major role in this radicalisation process. Where the handlers are involved, they teach the new recruits how to carry out jihad and also how to make the necessary weapons via online tutorials. They also guide people to certain training centres for further training. It is believed that Abdul Rasheed, a key Islamic State handler from Kerala, who is now operating somewhere in Afghanistan, plays a vital role in the recruitment and training process.

There are also agents in south India to recruit people and send them abroad. And it's not just conversion and radicalisation. Human-trafficking involving women is a major problem associated with this. Akshara Bose from Ranni in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district is a perfect example. According to her, after her forced conversion, her husband tried to take her abroad and sell her to the Islamic State.

Radicalisation is not limited to extreme activities alone. In the past decade alone, Islamic fringe elements have been involved in creating their own pockets, where they can impose a lifestyle based on their ideals. The first step of this process is capturing administrative control of local mosques. According to sources, they are succeeding at this in many places. The ramifications of this process are fearsome. For instance, in some pockets they are not willing to even allow the simple vaccination of kids to protect them from deadly diseases. Recently, violent protests against vaccination were reported from some such pockets in the Malappuram district of Kerala.

This may lead to the reemergence of many eradicated diseases in future. The increase in numbers of radicalised youths and their reluctance to continue the study of non-Islamic curriculum (according to them) and also their reluctance to communicate with non-Muslims pose a real threat to social cohesion and harmony. Muslim youths are increasingly becoming attracted towards radical organisations like PFI and SDPI. It curtailed the influence of traditional and outwardly non-fanatical organisations like the Muslim League.

There are also reports that even the Muslim League sought the support of these groups to secure an electoral victory. The growing financial disparity is another challenge. The involvement of people belonging to the Muslim community in financial crimes like gold smuggling, money laundering, hawala transactions, circulation of counterfeit currency and its possible use in radicalisation and subversive activities is a big challenge. The silence of the political class and media houses due to financial and vote bank considerations is another unpleasant reality that weakens the fight against the unchecked radicalisation in Kerala and south India. These phenomenon indicate a bleak future ahead.

The author is director, Centre for South Indian Studies in New Delhi
Maharashtra Day is observed as a public holiday for government offices, banks, stock markets and educational institutes in Maharashtra. It is also a dry day in the state.

What is Maharashtra Day?

First day in the month of May holds special significance for the state of Maharashtra as the existing state was formed on this day about 59 years ago when it was divided from Bombay in 1960. To commemorate this day, people of Maharashtra celebrate 1 May as the Maharashtra Day or Maharashtra Diwas, which also coincides with the International Labours Day.

Maharashtra Day: History and significance

The state of Bombay formerly comprised of speakers of different languages such as Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani and Kutchi.

During the mid-1950s, a movement known as the Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan started demanding a separate Marathi-speaking state while Mahagujarat Movement aimed at the formation of a state for Gujarati-speaking people. The protests and clashes came to an end in 1960 with the Bombay Reorganization Act. The act passed by Indias Parliament led to the official division of the multilingual state of Bombay into modern day states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, with Gandhinagar and Mumbai serving as their respective capitals.

The legislation came into effect on 1 May, 1960. As the division took place on linguistic lines, following it, Maharashtra comprised of areas where speakers of Marathi and Konkani language resided while Gujarat dominated the Gujarati and Kutchi speaking people.

How is the day celebrated in Maharashtra?

Since then, every year on 1 May, Maharashtra Day is celebrated in the state. This day is observed as a public holiday for government offices, banks, stock markets and educational institutes. It is also a dry day in the state.

The governor of Maharashtra addresses a large gathering at Shivaji Park in Dadar to commemorate the formation of the day. With it, the state government and private sector also launches new projects and schemes. Private celebrations including traditional lavani performances and Marathi poem recitations also take place.
Pakistan will be more than a little worried at Beijings decision to back a UN resolution designating JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist.

Like lips and teeth, gushed former Pakistan president Mamnoon Hussain over his countrys relationship with China. Higher than mountain, deeper than the ocean, stronger than steel and sweeter than honey, former prime minister Yusuf Raza had said on the same issue in 2010. Ever since 1962, there has been no romance Pakistan has spent more energy on than this one: Iron Brother is its biggest single source of Foreign Direct Investment, military equipment and, perhaps as important, strategic support.

Islamabad will, therefore, be more than a little worried at Beijings decision to back a United Nations resolution designating Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar a global terrorist. For decades, it has counted on China to shield it from international heat; now, that appears to have changed.

New Delhi is entitled to savour the diplomatic victory  but its important to understand its one of less consequence than it might seem at first.

First up, the more breathless pronouncements by television anchors notwithstanding, Azhars blacklisting doesnt actually require Pakistan to prosecute him. Resolution 1267 only calls on United Nations member states to "freeze the assets of, prevent the entry into or transit through their territories by, and prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer of arms and military equipment to any individual or entity associated with al-Qaida.

Azhar, in so-called preventive custody since the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, hasnt travelled outside Pakistan since he was released in the Kandahar hostages-for-prisoners swap in 1999  wisely, since this would lead to his immediate arrest.

Perhaps more important, Pakistan continues to hold on to the fiction that Azhar has no assets that can be confiscated: legally, his JeM has been a banned organisation under the countrys own laws since 2001.

That ban hasnt, of course, stopped it from building a nationwide network of seminaries and training facilities  some, as Firstpost revealed earlier this year, owned by his brothers  but given much of the organisations financing operates outside banking channels, an asset freeze will be hard to enforce.

From Indias dismal experience with Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, blacklisted under the same resolution after 26/11, India knows not to expect too much. Even when international pressure has led Pakistan to take some action against Saeed, Pakistans courts have stepped in to protect him.

The story is much the same for other proscribed organisations: long blacklists havent degraded either al-Qaeda, or a Taliban which is resurgent across Afghanistan. The truth is, international law hasnt been that much use in the so-called war against terror.

But the big picture is changing  and with it, the stakes for Pakistan. First up, the skirmishes after Balakot have made clear to Beijing that terrorism against India can also threaten its own interests. The American Enterprise Institute estimates China now has some $27.1 billion invested in India, and another $57.95 billion in Pakistan  investments that would be seriously damaged if the two countries went to war.

Faced with a growing tide of fighters from the troubled Xinjiang to jihadist groups, China has long seen Pakistans army as a reliable partner. Now though, it understands that this relationship also comes with costs.

There are higher than even odds India will return the blacklisting favour to Beijing by reining in the more visible activities of Tibetan nationalist groups  something there have been signs of in recent months.

Even more important, Pakistan itself is in serious trouble. In May, the country had to demonstrate compliance with a 200-point checklist on terror financing from the multinational Financial Action Task Force, or risk being placed on a blacklist that could impose costs of up to $10 billion a year. Failure to act against the Jaish is among the key issues in the FATF process, so Pakistan will have to demonstrate progress.

In addition, Pakistan is desperate for a bailout by the International Monetary Fund  which is, however, insisting it commit to a severe regimen of subsidy cuts and tax hikes. Taking action against terrorism, Pakistani diplomats hope, could ease some of the terms of the deal.

This doesnt, of course, mean that Pakistans jihad-addicted army will shut down its clients  at least, just yet. In 2002, facing similar pressures, General Pervez Musharrafs government put the lid on anti-India terror, but it was steadily ratcheted up again five years later, when circumstances improved.

New Delhi knows security isnt going to come from a United Nations resolution: further expanding counter-terrorism capabilities, and keeping up coercive pressure on Pakistans military are more reliable options.
At least 15 security personnel and a driver were killed in an IED blast in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on Wednesday.

At least 15 security personnel and a driver were killed in an IED blast in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra on Wednesday.

The Naxals triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a police vehicle, which was carrying 16 security personnel from the Kurkheda Quick Response Team of Gadchiroli police. The blast took place between Jamborkheda and Lendhari, according to local police.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to strongly condemn the attack.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave details of the incident in his post on Twitter.

Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs families. Im in touch with DGP and Gadchiroli SP.#Gadchiroli  Chowkidar Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) May 1, 2019

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called the attack on the Maharashtra Police personnel "an act of cowardice and desperation".

Attack on Maharashtra Police personnel in Gadchiroli is an act of cowardice and desperation. We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel. Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain. My deepest condolences to their families. 1/2  Chowkidar Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 1, 2019

Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri @Dev_Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration. 2/2  Chowkidar Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 1, 2019

Earlier on Wednesday, Naxals allegedly set ablaze 27 machines and vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district.

Maharashtra governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao cancelled the Maharashtra Day events scheduled to take place at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai on Wednesday evening.

The governor had organised the reception and cultural programmes for eminent personalities and diplomats on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of Maharashtra. These events have now been cancelled, a statement issued by the Raj Bhavan said.

The reception and the programmes were cancelled as a mark of respect for the police personnel, who lost their lives in the Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district, it added.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar demanded Fadnavis' resignation following the IED blast.

Fadnavis holds the home portfolio and "he should step down immediately", Pawar tweeted.

"Those who feel shame of conscience if not shame of public opinion would have resigned. But the people who are in power today are not going to do so," Pawar added.

Saying that Naxals activities in the state were growing, Pawar said it was the result of "rulers neglecting law and order situation in the Naxal-affected areas".

"Hence there is no option but to condemn the attack and express grief over the jawans' deaths," the NCP supremo said.

State NCP chief and former Maharashtra home minister Jayant Patil said the Naxals deliberately struck on the state's foundation day as they wanted to "demoralise" the state.

"We will not allow this attempt to demoralise the state by deliberately carrying out the attack on Maharashtra Day to succeed," he tweeted.

On 11 April, an encounter had broke out between CRPF personnel and Naxals in the Left-Wing-Extremism affected district of Gadchiroli.

With inputs from agencies
Report of the Committee on in-house procedure provides rules for conducting inquiry into allegations against, a judge of the high court, a Chief Justice of a High Court, or a Supreme Court Justice.

On Tuesday, the former apex court employee who accused Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment decided to withdraw from the proceedings of the in-house committee. According to the complainant's press release, she decided she could no longer participate in the proceedings because she was not being allowed to have a lawyer/support person, the proceedings were not being recorded and she was not given a copy of the statement recorded on 26 and 29 April.

The complainant alleged that when she told the committee she cannot continue to participate in the proceedings if her concerns are not addressed, the committee told her if that was case it would carry on ex parte. Given this development, the most important question is: What will be the committee's next step? Will it proceed ex parte as alleged by the complainant? And most importantly, can it do so?

When the allegations against the CJI first came to light, the question that was immediately asked was: Why was the complaint not referred to the Supreme Court Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee?

The reason for this was that Supreme Court Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC) has no jurisdiction over the employees of Supreme Court, including the judges. Any proceedings, when it comes to allegations against judges, are guided by the in-house procedure adopted by the Full Court Meeting on 12 December, 1999. A careful reading of this procedure can throw light on the nature and powers of the committee in this regard.

Report of the Committee on in-house procedure provides rules for conducting inquiry into allegations against a judge of the high court, a Chief Justice of a High Court, or a Supreme Court Justice. As per the report, in context of the allegations made against a high court judge, After considering the complaint in the light of the response of the judge concerned and the comments of the Chief Justice of the High Court, the CJI, if he is of the opinion that a deeper probe is required into the allegations contained in the complaint, shall constitute a three-member committee consisting of two chief justices of high courts other than the high court to which the judge belongs and one high court judge.

An important point from the report that needs to be highlighted is that it clearly states that, Committee shall hold an inquiry into the allegations contained in the complaint and the inquiry shall be in the nature of a fact finding inquiry wherein the judge concerned would be entitled to appear and have his say. It added, But it would not be a formal judicial inquiry involving the examination and cross-examination of witnesses and representation by lawyers. Another important point in the report is that it clearly states that for conducting the inquiry the committee shall devise its own procedure consistent with the principles of natural justice.

Further, in context of allegations made against the judge of the Supreme Court it states, The said committee (consisting of three judges of the Supreme Court) shall hold an inquiry on the same pattern as the committee constituted to examine the complaint against a judge of a high court and further action on the same lines in the light of the findings of the committee shall be taken by the CJI.

This makes it clear that pattern of inquiry in probing a judge of a high court, chief justice of a high court, and a judge of the Supreme Court, the procedure remains the same. Which means the committee has right to devise its own procedure and the judge against whom the allegations are made will be be entitled to appear and have his say. But nowhere does it mention that it needs to give the complainant an audience or chance have his or her say.

As stated in the in-house procedure the inquiry shall be in the nature of a fact finding and it would not be a formal judicial inquiry involving the examination and cross-examination of witnesses and representation by lawyers. So, the complainant's plea that she was not allowed to be represented by a lawyer and to present evidence does not hold water. However, it can be questioned whether this honours the principle of natural justice.

Given this fact, the committee, which is essentially formed for fact finding, can very much give its findings ex parte, if the complainant choose to stay firm in her decision of withdrawing from the proceedings. High court and Supreme Court judges are protected against any complaint under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The landmark K Veeraswami judgment held, No criminal case shall be registered under Section 154, CrPC against judge of the high court, Chief Justice of High Court or judge of the Supreme Court unless the Chief Justice of India is consulted in the matter. Due regard must be given by the government to the opinion expressed by the Chief Justice. If the Chief Justice is of opinion that it is not a fit case for proceeding under the Act, the case shall not be registered.

The judgment further stated, If the Chief Justice of India himself is the person against whom the allegations of criminal misconduct are received the government shall consult any other judge or judges of the Supreme Court. There shall be similar consultation at the stage of examining the question of granting sanction for prosecution and it shall be necessary and appropriate that the question of sanction be guided by and in accordance with the advice of the Chief Justice of India. In this context, the complainant has no option other than relying on the in-house committee for getting justice.
The Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece Saamna has sought a ban on wearing burqa in India citing the example of Sri Lanka where all types of face veils were banned by the government following the Easter Sunday terror attack.

The Shiv Sena, in its mouthpiece Saamana, has sought a ban on burqa in India, citing the example of Sri Lanka where the government banned all types of face veils following the Easter Sunday terror attacks that killed over 250 people.

In its editorial, the party says Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena made the decision in the interest of national security, and that Shiv Sena welcoms the move. The party appeals to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow in the footsteps of Sirisena and ban the use of burqa or niqab in India, as well, as it poses a threat to national security.

The article also mentions New Zealand, France, Australia and UK as examples to highlight the link between banning articles of clothing that cover the face in the wake of rising terror threats across the world. In this regard, the article asks why has India not followed suit yet and taken the step to ban the burqa.

Saamana also puts forth two reasons why India should ban burqa: First, the editorial says Muslim women no longer want to wear it, and secondly, it is difficult to assess what the person hiding behind a face veil is doing, thereby raising suspicion of being a threat to national security.

The editorial also talks about Muslim countries taking such steps despite being conservative nations. It calls on Modi to take this challenge as a "surgical strike" and implement it at the earliest.

"Burqa and niqab are not religious attires for India. They are being banned all over the world. If some people relate it to religion and Islam in India, then they must not have read the Quran. They should read it properly," Saamana says.

One part of the write-up, written in Marathi, translates to: "Face masks can be dangerous for national and social security. Therefore, by declaring that wearing a burqa or mask at public places would be considered a criminal act, Sirisena has shown courage."

Shiv Sena also claimed that the practice of wearing the burqa has nothing to do with Islam and is actually a practice that was adopted in Arabian countries due to their climatic condition.

"Basically, the burqa is not at all concerned with Islam, and Indian Muslims are following an arrangement of the Arab nation. At one time, to avoid desert heat and sunlight in the Arab nation, women used to cover their face and get out of the house. In Maharashtra also when the temperature rises at many places, the women travelling through cycle and scooters cover their face with a cloth or handkerchief, but this usage is limited to that. But in this delusion or blind faith, that wearing a face cover or burqa is the order of the Quran, Muslims continue to use it," an excerpt from the editorial reads.

The article ends with a question for Modi, asking when will what has happened in "Ravan's Lanka" (Sri Lanka) will happen in "Ram's Ayodhya" (India)? It says that the question is being put up for the prime minister on Wednesday as he leaves for an election campaign near Ayodhya.

However, another NDA ally Union minister Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India, rejected the Sena's proposal, saying burqa should not be banned as it is part of the country's tradition.

"Not all women who wear the burqa are terrorists. It is a tradition and they have the right to wear it. There shouldn't be a ban on the burqa in India," Athwale said.

Furthermore, BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said there was no need for the imposition of any kind of burqa ban in the country.

"We have zero tolerance towards terrorism, but I don't think there is a need to impose any kind of ban as the country is already in the safe hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Everyone is free to make suggestions, but the whole world knows the Central government has effectively dealt with terrorism, and I don't think any new steps are required for this."

Moreover, in response to its burqa ban proposal, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi called Shiv Sena "ignorant".

"The Supreme court judgment on privacy clearly lays down that choice is now a fundamental right. It's a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. I request the Election Commission to take immediate note of it. It's an attempt to create polarisation."
In just over a week since Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka, the meaning of hijab is changing in the island nation; Maithripala Sirisena govt's ban on 'face veil' reaffirms the structural oppression of Muslim women

Back in 2009, then French president Nicolas Sarkozy said hijabs were a sign of women's debasement and began the process of banning them.

In the heat of that particular episode of the global culture war, I interviewed an assortment of hijab-wearing women from across India. A number of young women I spoke to despised the hijab and couldnt wait for a day when they could stop wearing it. But several other women I spoke to were the first in their generation to wear hijabs.

Whichever group they belonged to, every single woman I spoke to ascribed different meanings for the hijab  from modesty to privacy to obedience to the Quran to a political identity formed after the Gujarat riots all the way to an electric enjoyment of the mystery of being the girl with the beautiful eyes. Some of them covered their faces, some covered their hair and some wore them when far from home and some only in the last half kilometre as they approached home.

One of them told me, Sometimes even close friends ask about pressure. I tell them: think of how joyfully you ask your mother to put a teeka on your forehead. Youve to believe that I have a mind.

This week, the Sri Lankan government banned face coverings as a response to the killing of 250 people in coordinated attacks on Easter Sunday. According to the governments statement, "The ban is to ensure national security... No one should obscure their faces to make identification difficult."

Hijabs/niqabs are not named but its clear that is what is meant since the seven suicide bombers are allegedly linked to a local group with ties to the Islamic State.

The hijab means different things everywhere. Two weeks ago, an Iranian woman who protested the hijab by unveiling herself in public has been sentenced to a year in jail. Muslim teenagers in New Zealand have been quoted saying they felt happiness in seeing Sudanese political activist Alaa Salah standing on a car in her headscarf, chanting and looking ready to rule the world. In Sri Lanka that has seen decades of war, reportedly Muslim women are already long accustomed to removing their niqabs at security checkpoints.

And now just over a week since the Easter blasts, the meaning of the hijab is changing again in Sri Lanka where 10 percent of the population are Muslims. The Sri Lanka Muslim Council has called the new hijab ruling "the stupidest thing to do".

Hilmy Ahmed, vice-president of the Sri Lanka Muslim Council is quoted as saying, "Three days ago we (the Muslim community) took a voluntary decision regarding this. The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulema (ACJU) told all Muslim women not to wear face veils for security reasons. If they wanted to wear a veil, then they were told not to come out."

Muslim leaders have been at pains to detail how they had alerted the authorities to the dangers posed by the National Towheeth Jamaath, the organisation allegedly behind the bombings, and its leader Zahran Hashim several times, only in vain.

What are we missing in this picture? What do Sri Lankan Muslim women feel about this situation? As Tehani Ariyaratne, a women's rights activist told Al Jazeera, "Any ban on the niqab without consultation with those who would be directly affected by it, is nothing but a reactionary response by the state, designed to distract from its woeful lack of accountability for the events that have taken place over the last week. Muslim women and Muslim women's rights groups and activists have not been consulted in the process of putting this ban in place."

Sri Lankan gender researcher Megara Tegal draws attention to the organisation that was actually consulted: "The ACJU, one of many Muslim organisations in Sri Lanka, has no women in its leadership. In the past, the ACJU had released a fatwa declaring that Muslim women should conceal their faces in public. The ACJU has also stood against Muslim women who have demanded reforms in Muslim personal law.

This is the kind of structural oppression that Egyptian writer and activist Mona Eltahawy has protested for decades. In the past, she has supported hijab bans such as the one in France. But more recently she has condemned the racist agenda of such bans and said in an interview.

I wish us Muslim women didnt have to constantly use our body to prove that were Muslim. I wish this wasnt the only way to show our opposition to Islamophobia or xenophobia. The body of Muslim women is like a blackboard where everyone leaves their message. But what happens to the messages we want to write? I dont want my body to equate a hijab, she said.

Even without the face covering ban of the Sri Lankan government, a hijab wearing woman in Sri Lanka is likely to become the focus of the Islamophobia in her village and in the gaze of the world. What is the meaning of the hijab in Sri Lanka in 2019? To quote Eltahawy, unless youre a Muslim woman, shut the f**k up and listen to Muslim women". The Sri Lankan government is leaving its own message on the body of Muslim women by linking the hijab to national security.

What does the hijab say about national security? It would make more sense to ban backpacks, the kind the bombers used. It was the backpack that raised the suspicion of Ramesh Raju who stopped the bomber from entering the Zion church in Batticaloa and saved many lives though he lost his own.

The Ladies Finger is Indias leading online feminist magazine
The Telangana crimes unfolded when police began probe into a 'missing complaint' that was filed by the parents of a 14-year-old girl with the Bommalaramaram police a week ago

A day after the case of a missing 14-year-old had led the police to the discovery of two other bodies of girls who were allegedly raped, killed and buried inside a dry well in Hajipur village of Bommalaramaram block in Telangana's Yadadri Bhongir district, the police has arrested a 28-year-old lift mechanic, Marri Srinivas Reddy, for the crimes. The accused had also allegedly killed another woman in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh in 2016 and was arrested a year after along with four others. But Reddy was out on bail later.

Dubbed a serial killer by the police, Reddy is a bachelor who is said to be an alcoholic with a penchant for pornographic movies.

The crimes unfolded when police began probe into a 'missing complaint' that was filed by the parents of the 14-year-old a week ago. Investigations revealed that Reddy had offered the girl lift on 25 April while she was on her way home from school. He then took her to the well, raped her inside it and buried the body, Rachakonda Police commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat was quoted as saying by PTI.

The cops later found the body of another 17-year-old girl who had similarly gone missing on 9 March, 2019 from the same village. Her parents had, however, failed to file a missing person's complaint then because they assumed that she eloped with her boyfriend. Her decomposed body was found along with her bag that contained her Aadhar card  which was the source of her identification.

A report by The Times of India states that she was a Bachelor of Commerce student. The accused had tracked her movement for a few days before offering her a lift, He took her to the fields, raped and throttled her.

Reddy has also confessed to sexually assaulting and killing another 11-year-old girl of an adjacent village in 2015, who was likewise offered a lift by him when she was on her way home.

Bhagawat was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying that the accused had attempted to wipe out evidence by dumping the bodies of the girls in abandoned wells. The Kurnool victim's body was dumped in the water tank of her house.

Soon after the details of the crimes were out, local residents vandalised Reddy's house and questioned the police about the safety of their children.
A decision on whether Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar will be listed as a global terrorist by the UN will be known today amid indications that China could lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar.

United Nations: A decision on whether Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar will be listed as a global terrorist by the United Nations will be known Wednesday as the world body's Sanctions Committee holds a crucial meeting, amid indications that China could lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar.

The Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee is expected to meet and the issue of Azhar's listing is likely to be considered. Sources said that the outcome of the meeting  whether UNSC permanent member China decides to lift its hold on the proposal to blacklist Azhar, paving the way for the UN to slap sanctions against him  will be known Wednesday.

Beijing said on Tuesday that the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved.

In March, China had put a hold on a fresh proposal by the US, UK and France to impose a ban on the chief of the JeM, which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India had moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar.

In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3  the United States, the United Kingdom and France  in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again.

However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

"I can only say that I believe that this will be properly resolved," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing.

He was responding to questions on the media reports that China has reportedly consented to lift its technical hold on a fresh proposal moved by France, the UK and the US to list Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

Keeping up the international pressure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, the US, supported by France and the UK, moved a draft resolution directly in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror organisation's head.

Though China can exercise its veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC, Beijing has staunchly opposed the issue to be taken to the apex UN body as it has to publicly explain its stand on its reservations to list Azhar, whose group JeM has already been designated as terror outfit by UN, before exercising its veto.

"Regarding the listing issue in the 1267 Committee, we have expressed our position many times and I just want to stress two points," Geng said answering a number of questions on Azhar's issue.

"First, we support the listing issue being settled within the 1267 committee through dialogue and consultation and I believe this is the consensus of most members. Second, the relevant consultations are going on within the committee and has achieved some progress. Third, I believe, with the joint efforts of all parties, this issue can be properly resolved," he said.

On reports that China would lift its technical hold on 1 May, he said, "on the listing issue, China is still working with the relevant parties and we are in contact with all relevant parties within the 1267 Committee and I believe with the joint efforts of all parties, this will be properly resolved".

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transit by all states through their territories by designated individuals.

Under the arms embargo, all states are required to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities.

The efforts to resolve Azhar's listing issue gathered momentum last week with the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to Beijing to attend China's 2nd Belt and Road Forum held from 25-27 April.

During the visit, Khan held talks with Xi, besides meeting Premier Li Keqiang and Vice-President Wang Qishan, during which the India-Pakistan tension after the Pulwama terror attack as well as listing of Azhar reportedly figured.

An official statement of China issued after Xi-Khan meeting on Sunday said the Chinese president had expressed hope that Pakistan and India can meet each other halfway and improve their relations.
Costi is around 65 kilometres from the Goa capital Panaji. The village and its roads, previously full of lorries and trucks transporting the ore when mining was in full swing, now wear a forlorn look.

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

***

Curchorem: Theres bleakness in the warm afternoon air in south Goas Costi village; because there's a big question mark on the future of mining operations in the area, which was heavily dependent on the nearby Chowgule iron ore mine. For 26 years, Rama Naik, a resident of the village, worked at that iron ore processing plant and earned enough to run his household. Now, he is barely scraping by. I used to earn Rs 30,000 a month by working on beneficiation at the plant when mining was on. Now, I do odd jobs and dont even get Rs 3,000 every month. The past three-four years have been tough; when mining came to a complete standstill, I quit. I have no hope it will ever resume, Naik said.

Costi is around 65 kilometres from the Goa capital Panaji. The village and its roads, previously full of lorries and trucks transporting the ore when mining was in full swing, now wear a forlorn look. These mines, which used to employ hundreds, now have a lone security guard to keep trespassers away. The locals often reminisce about the days when one had to navigate through the long lines of trucks and packed roads to go about their daily chores. And though many see the mining issue and elections as unrelated, they arent blind to political parties using the issue as an election tool to make new promises about restarting mining. Goa, which voted on 23 April, recorded a voter turnout of 74.72 percent in the Lok Sabha elections and 80.25 percent in the three Assembly bypolls held simultaneously.

Bitter pill or silver lining?

The story of Costi is the story of all villages situated on the states mining belt, which, according to geologists, extends diagonally from Pernem in north Goa through Bicholim, Sattari, and Quepem to Sanguem in south Goa. Since 15 March, 2018, 88 mines have become inactive after a ruling by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by the NGO Goa Foundation against the renewal of the mines leases by the state government.

The Supreme Court clearly asked the state government to issue fresh leases through an auction. [This was a verdict to a writ petition by the Goa Foundation on the illegality of mining in the state in 2014] Instead of doing that, the state renewed the existing leases. We brought the issue to SCs notice again, and in 2018, it ordered shutting down of mines operating under a renewed lease. The state has not adhered to the courts instructions. Our recommendations were to put a cap on the amount mined and also to form a special permanent fund from the mining earnings for the welfare of the people of Goa, said Claude Alvares, president of Goa Foundation.

There are also other organisations in the state that have been up in arms against the illegal mining due to its environmental implications. Abhijit Prabhudesai, a farmer and general secretary of the Federation of Rainbow Warriors, said that after mining stopped, the agricultural yield in the mining belt increased by nearly 70 percent.

Farmers who were troubled by the lack of water due to mining have said their yields have increased manifold. The mining that took place in the 90s and 2000s went unchecked and, as a result, mines were dug even below the water table. In the mining belt, people are facing a water crisis, so most of the locals dont want mining to resume. In a short span of 20 to 30 years, our generation has depleted more than half of our iron ores. So its only fair that we let the future generations decide whether or not mining should resume after 20 years, he added.

At the mercy of the mining lobby?

Who wants mining resumed? To this, Prabhudesai replied that it is in the interests of the influential mining lobby, which consists of business families and those who own the leases and have invested heavily in the mines. The mining lobby in Goa is exceedingly powerful, and the lease owners dont want fresh leases through auctions; they fear that larger corporations will take away their leases. It is also alleged that the state government is stalling the resuming of mining at their behest. Thats why this is a contentious issue, especially with the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

In 2018, nearly 25,000 people whose livelihoods were affected after the ban on mining came together to form Goa Mining Peoples Front. Since then, the front has become a voice of the mine workers, truckers, mechanics, and small shop owners. Its president, Putti Gaonkar, said, The government filed a petition in the SC only this year. This clearly shows how the state wants to use this issue as an election tool. Nearly one-third of the population in the state has been affected by the ban. The people in the mining belt are angry, and I am sure they have given a befitting reply to the government in the elections.

Playing politics

Only two seats in the Lok Sabha are from Goa: north and south. For the past 20 years, the north Goa seat has been held by BJPs Shripad Naik. The BJP has held the south Goa seat twice in the past 20 years (in 1999 and in 2014). Also, BJP-led governments have ruled the state since 2012. For the party, winning the two seats in a state long considered its bastion is a matter of prestige.

The Opposition, however, alleged that there is a nexus between the mining lease holders and the government. Avinash Tavares, spokesperson for the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, said, For the past five years, the BJP government has not provided any alternative to the people (truck drivers, miners, etc). They are holding these people ransom, saying they will bring mining back only if they vote for the BJP. The party fooled the people in 2014 and is at it again this year. We, however, would like to promise that we will bring mining back in a sustainable manner, through auctions and a mining corporation.

The government, on the other hand, rubbished all the allegations and said it is confident of winning both seats. Minister of Power and MLA from Curchorem (south Goa), Nilesh Cabral said, We promised during the 2014 elections to resume mining, and we did. Meanwhile, the same court is yet to reach a verdict in another case regarding the 1987 Act (Abolition of Mining Concessions and Declaration as Mining Leases Act), which is now at the constitutional bench. In that case [in the Supreme Court for the last 20 years], the apex court asked us to allow mining until a judgment was delivered, while another bench hearing the NGOs petition stopped mining. As a result of this duality, we are unable to take any concrete action. The people of Goa know it was the Supreme Court decision that led to these problems, and they also know that our government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, will work only for their benefit.

The issue is an intricate one. Almost everyone alleged wrongdoing by the government at the behest of the mining lobby, while a few are optimistic that the government is working in the interests of those dependent on mining.

The author is a Taleigao-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters
Wild Karnataka has been made for the Karnataka Forest Department, and the government hopes that film screenings will be possible in educational institutions across the state.

By Vasudevan Sridharan

A jungle cat has been raising her kittens on a tiny hillock, surrounded by villages on all sides, in the rugged Koppal town of northern Karnataka. The family competes for space on the crowded mound with several other families of foxes, jackals, hyenas and six other jungle cat species  all amidst a human-dominated landscape. One day, unnoticed by the mother, a king cobra slithers up to her playful kittens. One inquisitive little kitten, inches dangerously closer to the predator who, by then, has raised its hood, ready to strike. What ensues is an intense face-off between the snake and the gutsy little kitten.

This riveting encounter is now part of Indias first blue-chip natural history film, Wild Karnataka.

I wasnt expecting to shoot something like this, honestly. I just chanced upon it, Pooja Rathod, the cameraperson who shot the rare confrontation during her month-long expedition to Koppal, told Mongabay-India. I was initially wondering what kind of danger the foxes posed to the tiny kittens, but then the cobra encounter happened, she added.

Rathod and her colleagues, who spent several weeks filming the jungle cats familial behaviour, were part of the project, which aims to put both Indias rich biodiversity and documentary-making skills on the global map.

And the response Wild Karnataka received at the special screening in early March to mark the World Wildlife Day indicated as much. It helped, of course, that British conservationist and natural historian Sir David Attenborough lent his iconic voice to the film, whose original background score has been composed by Grammy-winning Ricky Key.

Wild Karnataka captures dramatic natural events in high-brow format, accompanied by a sophisticated narration which are key elements of blue-chip films. It is set for public release next month.

The wild wonder that is Karnataka

Karnataka, south Indias largest state, is both species-rich and blessed with a diverse landscape. It is home to more wild elephants and tigers than anywhere else on the planet, narrates the film. From coral-spotted underwater ecosystems and arid desert areas to wetlands-surrounded forest patches and unspoiled mountain terrain, the state has a diversity of habitats.

Capturing this vast biodiversity, in all its glory, in an hour-long film was a challenge that producers, Kalyan Varma and Amoghavarsha JS  who have been associated with BBC and National Geographic in the past  took up happily. From the very beginning, though, they knew that they had their work cut out for them, beginning with picking the best shots  from 400 hours of footage of a four-year-long production. Weve never dealt with so much data. At the end of filming, we had about 75 terabytes of footage, said Amoghavarsha, pointing out that data storage and processing of the footage was a key aspect of the project, which had a tight budget of about Rs 20 million.

We didnt want to flood the film with behaviour sequences. We decided wed have fewer but richer behaviour sequences, said Varma. We had a beautiful sequence of weaver birds. A male builds a nest attracting a female, which in turn inspects the home and mates with the male. We spend many weeks on it. But we had to drop it because we already have a courtship sequence of peacocks. So, it was hard, said Varma, adding that this is the first time a documentary of this kind has been produced chiefly for domestic consumption and not with western audiences in mind. Its like choosing between one of your two kids, Amoghavarsha chimed in.

The biggest revelation for the filmmakers was the existence of rich wildlife in northern parts of the state, which is relatively drier than other parts. More so because the team shot more than half of their footage outside the states 21 wildlife sanctuaries and five national parks.

The team, however, experienced more than just awe and wonder in the four-year-long journey, which included three years of active shooting. There were hurdles in the form of administrative and logistical challenges  from assembling a crew to securing permissions for filming at certain spots. With help from the government authorities, who were familiar with some of the team members, they were able to iron out some of the disputes quickly. Also, given the government is directly backing the project, it helped the filmmakers to accelerate the permission approvals.

A different perspective

Both Amoghavarsha and Varma felt that the presence of a significant number of lenswomen brought in a captivating layer of sensibilities to the film in terms of capturing the sequences. About 40 percent of camerapersons were women; notably higher compared to similar productions elsewhere in India, according to the filmmakers.

Made for the Karnataka Forest Department, with funds raised from independent sources, the government hopes to screen the films in educational institutions across the state. A Kannada version, for the local audience, is also in the making.

According to forest officer Vijay Mohan Raj, who is a key member of the team and also representing the forest department, the biggest takeaway from the film is that it does not focus only on leopards, tigers and elephants but on several lesser-known species. Its amusing to see that even people from Karnataka (who saw the film) were surprised with the kind of natural history thats been showcased, said Mohan Raj, adding that the government has plans for a long-term outreach programme to raise awareness about the states natural beauty through the documentary and follow it up with wider conservation efforts for the ecosystems. Once peoples curiosity is kindled through projects like Wild Karnataka, it can be easily followed up by conservation practices not just for animals like tigers but also smaller birds and animals, he said.

According to Mohan Raj, the short distance between most of the films locales from Bengaluru, Indias technology capital, with a sizeable community of wildlife enthusiasts was a huge advantage for tapping wildlife filmmakers, camera-crew and researchers for the documentary.

***

This article was originally published on Mongabay.com.

Mongabay-India is an environmental science and conservation news service. This article has been republished under the Creative Commons licence.
Narendra Modi looked hard at the photograph of the make-believe Yeti of the Chinese on the table in front of him. He explained: When the Indian Army captured the so-called Yeti, I got an idea. I told Ajit Doval to plant every imaginable kind of bug inside the robot and put it back where it was found. Only after that, the Chinese took the Yeti away. The army is tweeting about the footprints only to keep the pretence going.

Videotape-1: Xi Jinping, Imran Khan

It was as simple as that? Imran Khan asked, impressed.

It was as simple as that, replied Xi Jinping. The Indians are such damned fools.

The Pakistani prime minister said: So the Indians fell for it hook, line and ...

 ... sinker, the Chinese president completed the sentence.

Xi leaned back in his plush chair, placed both his hands behind his head and beamed at Imran. Dont you want to see it?

You cant stop me, Imran said with what looked like a smile on his face.

Xi rang a bell. A frail, elderly man with three white hairs, each a foot long, dangling from his chin walked in. This is Dr Tang Wang Yang, the Chief Scientific Conspirator of the Peoples Liberation Army of China, Xi said to Imran, pointing at the man who looked like a cross between a pirate and a priest. Show our esteemed guest what you have, Tang.

I pressed the pause button on the remote and asked Deep Throat, my source who got the tape. Where did this meeting happen?

Its in the conference room at Xis residence in Jade Spring Hill, a high-security area near Beijing, said Deep Throat. Now watch the rest of it.

I resumed the video.

After an elaborate bow, Dr Tang pressed a button on a device in his hand no bigger than a TV remote. A double-door, nearly 18-feet-high, slid sideways and disappeared into both ends of the wall. The scientist pushed another button.

Imran gave a start, nearly dropping the ornate cup of tea in his hand. There was a great rumbling sound as if the floor was caving in. Xi chuckled happily.

His eyes almost dropping out of sockets, Imran gaped at the open door.

A gigantic ape-like robot strode in, stomping one foot after another, each measuring 32X15 inches, on the floor before it finally rested in a corner. The Pakistani leader had to bend his head backwards awkwardly and look up to see the robots head which nearly brushed the ceiling. Only a close look revealed the intricate wires and tiny bulbs embedded in the imitation fur that covered the robot-ape.

Only one word escaped Khans quivering lips. Y-e-t-i.

Yes, Xi said, slapping his thigh with joy. This was made by Dr Tang at a top-secret laboratory in Shenzhen. We left it in the Himalayan wilds near the Indian border. It took strategically vital pictures of the territory and the Indian Army camps before we recalled it.

Imran was speechless, as Xi continued, You are the only world leader let into this secret. After all, Pakistan is a Chinese colony, aint it?

Imran nodded. How did you get this idea, sir? Was something like this mentioned in Das Kapital or the Communist Manifesto?

No, the Chinese leader revealed, lowering his voice to a whisper, we got the idea from Dr No.

I paused the video again. Dr No? I exclaimed. I should have guessed! Deep Throat winked.

Dr No is the villain in the James Bond novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. A Chinese-American, Dr No creates a buggy that spews flames and makes it look like a dragon to scare away tresspassers from his island. I restarted the video.

The video ended with Xi telling Imran: Well keep this fake Yeti in this conference room. As we plot our conspiracies against capitalists around the world, this contraption will be a constant reminder to us about how awfully stupid the rest of the world, particularly India, is.

Thats not the end of the story, said Deep Throat, fishing out another tape from a pocket.

Videotape-2: Narendra Modi, Amit Shah

When I played this new tape, the contented faces of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah filled the screen.

It was as simple as that? Shah asked, impressed.

It was as simple as that, replied Modi. The Chinese are such damned fools.

The BJP president said: So the Chinese fell for it hook, line and ...

 ... sinker, the Indian prime minister completed the sentence.

Modi looked hard at the photograph of the make-believe Yeti of the Chinese on the table in front of him. He explained: When the Indian Army captured the so-called Yeti, I got an idea. I told Ajit Doval to plant every imaginable kind of bug inside the robot and put it back where it was found. Only after that, the Chinese took the Yeti away. The army is tweeting about the footprints only to keep the pretence going.

And the Chinese have no clue that the bugs transmit to us all the wicked, diabolical plotting they do in that conference room, Shah said. Modi nodded.

You have turned an Abominable Snowman into a lovable Trojan Horse, sir.

The author wrote a weekly satire column called True Lies in The Times of India from 1996 to 2001. He tweets at @sprasadindia
JooJoo Azad founder Hoda Katebi says in this interview: The very nature of fast-fashion imposes unrealistic standards of fashion production that creates an environment which renders violence, and particularly violence against women, inevitable.

Hoda Katebi's blog JooJoo Azad (meaning "free bird" in Farsi)  described as a "radical anti-capitalist, intersectional feminist and body-positive political fashion blog"  already had a dedicated community of readers when an essay she wrote in 2017 propelled it further into the spotlight.

In "Please keep your American flags off my hijab", Iranian-American Katebi took apart artist Shepard Fairey's poster of a woman draped in a hijab composed of the Stars and Stripes.

Katebi provided a seven-point argument of what the poster got wrong, and in a later interview with the New York Times, she explained: The only time you see a Muslim womans face everywhere is when it is created by a white American man, she said. We as Muslims are constantly trying to prove that we are American enough and that we have to wrap this countrys flag around us to be accepted.

That quote is representative of Katebi's ability to articulate inconvenient truths  an ability that was on display in a 2018 TV interview with the network WGN: Meant to focus on her photobook on Tehran's street style and fashion, the hosts veered into talking about nuclear weapons and how "Iran couldn't be trusted". When Katebi countered with a question on America's role in the Middle east, the hosts chided her 

"A lot of Americans might take offense to that. You are an American. You dont sound like an American when you say (that)."

Katebi's response? "That's because I've read."

That interview led to "Because We've Read", an international reading club that aims to "complicate, challenge and redefine the way we think about the world" and which, most recently, featured a conversation with Arundhati Roy as part of its February/March 2019 programming.

2019 has been an important year for 24-year-old Katebi. In addition to continuing her work with JooJoo Azad and Because We've Read, she has also executed a long-held dream and launched the Blue Tin Production Co-Op in Chicago, where she resides. It's Americas first clothing cooperative run by refugee and immigrant women and raised over $32,260 through a crowdfunding campaign. Speaking with The Good Trade about Blue Tin and its objectives, Katebi said, "We want to be able to set the bar in what clothing production can and should look like  but also, the industry in general: owned, run by, and managed by those doing the actual work on the ground.

Some months before she launched Blue Tin, Firstpost interviewed Katebi over email. She discussed her experiences wearing the hijab as a child of Iranian immigrants in the US, the #BecauseWeveRead movement, and ethical fashion. Edited excerpts:

Could you talk about your personal relationship with fashion a little bit? You have previously spoken about the 'othering you experienced in school when you decided to start wearing the hijab, and the role that dressing well played in that context

I started wearing the hijab in Grade Six, and it was from that moment that I truly understood the power of fashion as a mode of politics, communication, and identity. I was physically assaulted, constantly verbally assaulted, and internalised Islamophobia. I tried to use clothes (unsuccessfully) as a way to assimilate and therefore feel accepted, but no matter how much I tried to make my body look like my classmates', the hijab never allowed me to be seen as "American" in the eyes of Americans. So, I eventually learned to say "fuck it" and use my clothing as a mode of resistance. Why hide my culture, be shamed about my religion when there is so much depth and beauty to my identity? Fashion has now become an avenue for me to unapologetically celebrate myself, Eastern beauty, my culture, and my religion  and that, in and of itself, is a form of resistance to white supremacy and Islamophobia.

The WGN interview led you to found Because Weve Read, and the group is engaging in many critical conversations on global issues. What does the road ahead for Because We've Read look like, and what are some of the things you're hoping to accomplish with it?

Yes! #BecauseWeveRead is a radical, international book club aimed to challenge and redefine our understandings of the world and our place within it! Since its launch in April 2018, we already have over 30 chapters around the world, from Delhi to Lahore to Tehran to London, and tens of thousands of readers around the world! We've built relationships with amazing publishers such as Haymarket Books, and have had incredible brilliant guests join us for our monthly YouTube live discussions on the books such as Naomi Klein. Our chapters have also been simultaneously engaged in important, community organising efforts, launching everything from fundraisers for a prison book drive to hosting sold-out panels focused on political education and community engagement. We also have donated hundreds of books to communities and readers in-need.

Moving forward, we're hoping to continue to expand our membership and chapters, specifically in the "subaltern" world (i.e. Africa, Asia, and South America) and build toward larger global community organising efforts

The editorial you wrote about Shepard Faireys American flag on a hijab poster was one that resonated with a lot of readers. And it's a really striking example of how the personal and the political come together in the ideas you articulate. Was that a difficult essay to write?

I actually wrote that essay at 2 am, after laying in bed wide awake and frustrated for several hours. I pulled out my laptop, and started putting everything I was feeling and thinking on a page, cleaned and organised my thoughts, and published the piece and went back to bed, at around 6 am! It was difficult to write only in being able to find the words to adequately express everything I was feeling at the time. I had to figure out why I was so frustrated, and explored that through my writing.

You planned to launch an androgynous fashion line, with womenswear as the norm, rather than menswear. Could you tell us a little about that, and how it reflects your philosophy, and how you intend to retail it? Will it be wholly created by the collective of immigrant seamstresses you've been working with?

I'd describe it less as "womenswear" and more androgynous. I think the distinction between "women's" and "men's" clothing is a silly distinction that only serves to deepen a normalisation of cis (i.e. non-trans) bodies, as well as the creation of a blueprint of highly-gendered ideas of bodies via creating a distinction of how "women" and "men" should dress. I want to challenge that notion and also challenge the notion that this concept is a Western concept, given the longstanding understanding of gender fluidity within our Middle Eastern, Muslim, South Asian cultures.

The collection will be produced with the refugee and low-income immigrant women's sewing co-operative (Blue Tin) I've launched in Chicago. This project has been such a labour of love.

Is there a way for fast fashion to also be ethical fashion?

No, never. I've previously written on JooJoo Azad about how gender-based violence is wholly inherent in fast-fashion production, as, central to the fast-fashion industry is a model of fashion production that centers time and quantity. The very nature of fast-fashion imposes unrealistic standards of fashion production that creates an environment which renders violence, and particularly violence against women, inevitable.

It's incredibly important that we support and uplift garment workers, listen to their voices and stories, and follow their leadership. We will never be able to challenge fast-fashion and move toward systemic change without centering garment workers and following their lead. They are incredibly brilliant, strong, and know the way forward, despite how much our societies might make us think otherwise.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that BJP has hired 'agencies' to bring crowds to Prime Minister Narendra Modis rallies in exchange for money.

Howrah: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that BJP has hired "agencies" to bring crowds to Prime Minister Narendra Modis rallies in exchange for money.

"The BJP is spending extensively. We do not have money power like them. They are spending crores of rupees on every public meeting. They have hired agencies to put up flags and banners for them. They have been hired to bring crowds to Modis rallies in exchange for money," Mamata said during an election rally in Howrah.

"Look at the money spent by the BJP for campaigning. In future, democracy will be in danger if this continues," she added.

Mamata's comments came a day after Modi said the TMC chief's "brain would burst" seeing the enthusiasm of people in BJP's election rallies.

"Seeing todays scenario, condition of some people is going to worsen further. It seems that there is a sort of competition among the people here as the second rally is bigger than the first one, the third one is bigger than the second one, and the fourth one is bigger than the third one. As your enthusiasm increases, Didis (Mamata Banerjee) brain will burst, Modi had said while addressing an election rally in Barrackpore.

Continuing her tirade against the prime minister, the TMC supremo alleged Modi is dividing people on the basis of religion.

"Modi has not done any work in last five years and has no achievements to show. Hence, he is trying to divide people along religious lines, hoping that such a tactic would help him get votes," Mamata said.

Four phases of Lok Sabha polls have already taken place in West Bengal, where 42 seats are at stake. The remaining three phases of polling are scheduled for 6, 12 and 19 May, and counting of votes will take place on 23 May.
Narendra Modi got a clean chit from the Election Commission on his speech in Wardha, and Rahul Gandhi has to apologise to the Supreme Court for misattributing the 'chowkidar chor hai' jibe to the bench.

Four phases of the Lok Sabha election have concluded and campaigning for Phase 5  to be held on Monday, 6 May  is on in full swing. All eyes will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he is scheduled to address a rally in the temple town of Ayodhya, apart from Gosaiganj (Ambedkar Nagar) and Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are going to campaign in the state too, with Rahul addressing rallies in Barabanki, Sitapur. Priyanka will be campaigning majorly in central Uttar Pradesh and will visit Amethi, her brother's constituency.

Modi is also scheduled to address rallies in Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan. It would be interesting to note whether the prime minister visits the Ram temple near the disputed site. Last time, when Congress general secretary Priyanka was in the city, she gave the Ram temple a miss, stating that the issue was still sub-judice.

In in a positive development for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Narendra Modi, the Election Commission on Tuesday evening gave a clean chit to Modi for his speech in Wardha, Maharashtra. In April, the Congress had approached the Election Commission alleging that Modis speech at Wardha  in which he lashed out at Rahul for contesting from Wayanad and had "indicated" that the constituency in Kerala had more voters from the minority community  was "divisive" and in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Rahul was campaigning in Tikamgarh, Damoh, and Panna in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court allowed Rahul to file a new affidavit on Monday after Singhvi assured the bench that Rahul will apologise for wrongly attributing 'chowkidar chor hai' remark to the apex court and that the rectified affidavit would contain the word apology. The court, however, clarified that this order cannot be an acceptance or acknowledgement of the affidavits that have been filed already.

The court posted the matter for next hearing on 6 May, the same day that Rahul's constituency Amethi goes to the polls.

On Wednesday, the Congress chief will address public rallies at Sitapur and Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh and also campaign Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh.

On Monday, Congress MP Sushmita Dev had filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging that Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have been violating the Model Code of Conduct during their campaigning for the Lok Sabha election. During the hearing in the matter on Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission and scheduled the next hearing in the case for Thursday.

Furthermore, BJP vice president Prabhat Jha has sent a legal notice to Rahul for saying, "Narendra Modi sarkar ne ek kanun banaya hai jisme ek line likhi gayi hai ki Adivasiyon ko goli se mara ja sakega (the Modi government has passed a law in which one line allows tribals to be shot)."

Rahul had made the statement at a rally in Bhopal.

As reported by Firstpost, in the the 25-page legal notice, the BJP warned the Congress chief that his remarks on the prime minister are "defamatory, derogatory, lacking verification and without any substance.
The Congress president's lawyer had sought an apology on his behalf from the Supreme Court on Monday. A contempt case was filed against Rahul for his 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' remark.

New Delhi: Responding to the Supreme Court's directive to Rahul Gandhi to file a fresh affidavit in the contempt case against him, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Tuesday said that the apology of the Congress President's lawyer was not enough.

His lawyer apologizing on his behalf in the court is not enough. Rahul Gandhi should file a written affidavit seeking an apology, it is clear that our petition was right and they have committed a crime, they are trying to justify their crime meaning they have no fear of the judiciary, Lekhi said talking to reporters.

The Congress president's lawyer had sought an apology on his behalf from the Supreme Court on Monday. A contempt case was filed against Rahul for his 'Chowkidar Chor Hai' remark. Lekhi added that there was no question on Rahul being an Indian citizen but the question is whether he has Italian citizenship too. She also said that while Italy allows dual citizenship, India does not.

Theres no question on Rahul Gandhi being an Indian citizen. The question is whether he is an Italian citizen or not. Any child born to an Italian mother or father automatically gets Italys citizenship, we want to know whether Rahul revoked his Italian citizenship or not. Italy allows dual citizenship to its citizens but India does not, Lekhi said.

She asserted that Rahul will have to prove whether he revoked his Italian citizenship which he got through his mother, Sonia Gandhi. Adding that Sonia had revoked her birth country's citizenship 11 years after marriage to Rajiv Gandhi meaning her son could have been the recipient of Italian citizenship.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his citizenship after receiving a complaint from Rajya Sabha Subramanian Swamy.
The Election Commission 'strongly condemned' Pragya Thakur's remarks' and 'warned her 'not to repeat the misconduct in future'. The poll panel said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be 'unwarranted'.

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Wednesday barred BJP candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours for her remarks on former Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition.

The commission "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future". The poll panel said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted".

The ban would come into force from 6 am, 2 May (Thursday).

Pragya had said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the ATS.

She also had said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.
Vaghani has been barred from campaigning for violating the MCC at Amroli in Surat on 7 April. The model code is a set of instructions and guidelines to be followed by political parties and candidates for the conduct free and fair elections.

Ahmedabad: The Election Commission has barred Gujarat BJP president Jitubhai Vaghani from campaigning for 72 hours starting tomorrow evening for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The ban will come in effect from 4 pm on 2 May, an EC order said.

Vaghani has been barred from campaigning for violating the MCC at Amroli in Surat on 7 April. The model code is a set of instructions and guidelines to be followed by political parties and candidates for the conduct free and fair elections.

The MCC came into force on 10 March, when the EC announced the schedule of seven-phase Lok Sabha polls.

The poll watchdog had yesterday barred Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan from campaigning for 48 hours starting from 6 am on Wednesday for violating the MCC with his "highly provocative" speeches in which he "appealed to secure votes on religious lines".
Lok Sabha Election 2019 LIVE Update: The Election Commission has sent a notice to Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for allegedly making personal remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Ahmedabad on 17 April. The EC has asked him to reply by 6 pm on Thursday.

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The Election Commission said Wednesday that all polling booths in West Bengal for phase 5 election will be covered by central security forces, adding that no local policemen will be allowed to man the polling booth. The decision comes after violence was reported from several booths in the phase 4 election

The Election Commission on Tuesday served notice to the Samajwadi Partys Varanasi candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav and directed him to procure a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Border Security Force (BSF). The EC asked Yadav to file his response by 11 am on 1 May. Yadav, a former BSF constable, was dismissed from service in 2017 after he released a video on the allegedly poor quality of food served to soldiers. As the candidate representing the SP-BSP opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav is locked in a high-stakes battle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha constituency.

A day after the ECI issued a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his comments on minority community, he is set to hold a mega rally in the heartland of the Babri Masjid dispute  Ayodhya, his first after becoming the Prime Minister. The prime minister is expected to address a public gathering in a small town bordering Ayodhya and Ambedkar Nagar, while some reports say the will be held in Naya Bazar area. However, Modi is most likely to skip the makeshift Ram temple and Hanuman Garhi temple during his visit.

Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati will be holding a joint rally at Ram Snehi Ghat, a location that is on the border of Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki and Ayodhya districts and 70 km from the temple town. It may be a virtual face-off here as PM Modi as also scheduled to hold a rally in Ayidhya.

A BJP delegation, including Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, reaches Election Commission. The panel is likely to raise the issue of alleged poll rigging in West Bengal, where BJP cadres accused TMC workers of intimidating voters, booth capturing and violence.

Urging Ayodhya voters to choose their candidate carefully, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the only thriving business in Pakistan is of exporting terror and terrorist. He said that even though terror related incidents have come down in India, people should not think that the threat has passed. "Savdhani hati ki durghatna ghati. Kamzor sarkar laane ki galti mat kijiyega (the moment you let your attention waiver, some mishap may occur. So don't elect a weak government.)" Modi said.

Training the guns at BSP supremo Mayawati, Modi said that she claims to be driven by Ambedkar's value but has done the exact opposite of his ideology. He also said that the Samajwadi Party had 'ruined' Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati has forgotten about Ambedkar and his teachings, says PM in UP

However, Modi was conspicuous by his silence on the issue of building a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, an issue the BJP has pursued aggressively in the past.

Speaking in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked Lord Rama and the Hindu culture several time: Once to impress that the culture and religion was under threat of terrorism, using the Sri Lanka attack as example, and another time to seek blessings in Ram's bhoomi. Chants of Jai Shri Ram also resonated throughout the rally.

Day after receiving notice from the Election Commission, sacked BSF jawan and SP candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav from Varanasi said, "PM Modi is afraid of me and that is why obstacles are being created for me. This has been the case since the day I filed my nomination," he said adding that he has responded to the EC notice, News18 reported.

He also said that Mamata has been using the illegal immigrants as 'vote bank' which is why she is opposing the NRC.

Amit Shah, during his poll rally in 24 North Parganas district, promised to introduce National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the State if the Narendra Modi government is voted back to power. Addressing a rally here, he said the BJP was committed to protecting the interest of Hindu refugees through the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The Election Commission approved a proposal of lifting off the provisions of Model Code of Conduct in Odisha's Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur so that speedy rescue, relief, and restoration operations can be facilitated.

EC approves lifting off provisions of Model Code of Conduct from districts of Odisha for facilitation of rescue operations

Confident of party's victory in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said that they would turn victorious in their strongholds and in places where their chances of winning are less, they have fielded candidates who will not interfere in grand alliance's vote share. " I am confident that BJP will face huge losses in UP. The Congress is cutting down on BJP's vote share and not the UP Mahagathbandhan's," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi, meanwhile, today hinted at a tactical understanding between the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh and said that her party has fielded candidates who will cut the BJP's vote share in seats where Congress is not that strong, and not that of the gathbandhan.

'Strategised to hurt BJP even in places we are weak,' Priyanka Gandhi reveals Congress strategy in UP

Addressing a rally in Gosaiganj, about 25 km from this temple town, the prime minister said his is the only government that thinks of the poor. "Behenji (Mayawati) used Babasaheb Ambedkar's name but acted against his ideals. In the same way, the SP took Lohia's name at every step but sullied the image of the socialist leader," he said. PTI

In a scathing attack against alliance partners SP and BSP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said they had done nothing for the poor and misused the names of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia.

There was no immediate response from the BJP on the allegation levelled by Yadav, who was dismissed from the BSF after he complained about poor quality food being served to soldiers in a video, which went viral.

"I had filed my first nomination as an Independent candidate on 24 April and on SP party symbol on 29 April. If there were any issues with the nominations, why wasn't I informed earlier. Despite lack of time, our legal team is furnishing all details to the RO (returning officer)," he said.

Yadav's fate on fighting the polls from this temple town currently hangs in balance as the district election officer has served him notices pointing "discrepancies" in the two nominations filed by him.

Samajwadi Party's Lok Sabha candidate and former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav alleged that the BJP was creating "roadblocks" in his nomination process to "prevent" him from contesting elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.

Addressing a rally in Koshambi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that the families of the victims of the 1954 Kumbh stampede were not given any monetary compensation.. "It was insensitive and a sin committed by the first prime minister," he said.

The nomination of SP candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav was cancelled by the Election Commission on Wednesday, a day after the Varanasi district Returning Officer (RO) issued a notice to him asking to furnish a certificate on whether or not he was dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty to the government.

Tej Bahadur says he'll move SC over rejection of nomination Speaking to reporters after the Election Commission rejected his nomination from Varanasi as an SP candidates, Tej Bahadur said, "They asked for the evidence at 6.15 pm on Tuesday. I'm no Adani or Ambani, still we tried to send the documents to Delhi. But since the evidence didn't reach them before 11 am on Wednesday, they cancelled the nomination. It is clear that the authorities are being pressurised. We will go to the Supreme Court.," he said.

Addressing a rally in Barabanki, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "The controller to operate Mayawati and Akhilesh is in Narendra Modi's hands. One must remember that Modi can never put pressure on me, but he can pressurise SP-BSP."

Addressing a rally in Hoshangabad, Rahul Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi earlier used to say, 'Mitron, I have a 56-inch chest, will give employment to 2 crore'. Now he's reading from the teleprompter. The controller says don't talk about farmers. He has nothing left to say. You talk about national security. When the blast happened in Pulwama, who was in power. On Wednesday, Naxal attack took place in Gadchiroli, who is in power now?"

Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate from the seat was rejected Wednesday over "discrepancies" in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him. Notices in this regard were sent to him on Tuesday.

"There will be fewer occasions in history when the jawans of a country are compelled to challenge their prime minister, but this is the first time in history that a prime minister has been so afraid of a jawan that instead of competing with him, he got his nomination cancelled on technical grounds. Modi ji, you are very weak and the country's jawan won," Kejriwal tweeted.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi got former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination "cancelled" as he was "afraid" to contest against him from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

Addressing a rally in Hoshangabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Someone from Congress recently said that Modi should be knocked out in such a way that he lands in Pakistan. The party has so much hatred against me that they are dreaming to kill me. Now, Congress should reveal on whose side they are on: India's or Pakistan's."

"One of the first things Sri Lankan government did after the Easter blasts was to ban Zakir Naik's TV channel. This is the same Zakir Naik in whose 'durbar' Diggi Raja (Digvijaya Singh) was once seen," Narendra Modi said in Hoshangabad. Reports have said that Sri Lankan cable operators blocked Peace TV, the network owned by the controversial Islamic preacher and his organisation in the aftermath of the the deadly bomb blasts which rocked the country on Easter killing 290 people.

During the 17 April rally, Sidhu had claimed that people who are facing hunger and poverty are being asked to do yoga and get bank accounts under the Narendra Modi-led government. Narendra Modi, is this your love for your nation that people have empty stomachs but are made to practise yoga." he had asked.

The Election Commission has sent a notice to Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for allegedly making personal remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Ahmedabad on 17 April. The EC has asked him to reply by 6 pm on Thursday.

Addressing a rally in Barabanki, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "The controller to operate Mayawati and Akhilesh is in Narendra Modi's hands. One must remember that Modi can never put pressure on me, but he can pressurise SP-BSP."

Addressing a rally in Hoshangabad, Rahul Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi earlier used to say, 'Mitron, I have a 56-inch chest, will give employment to 2 crore'. Now he's reading from the teleprompter. The controller says don't talk about farmers. He has nothing left to say. You talk about national security. When the blast happened in Pulwama, who was in power. On Wednesday, Naxal attack took place in Gadchiroli, who is in power now?"

Claiming that the BJP will be voted out of power this time because of its pro-RSS, capitalist, communal and casteist policies, Mayawati said no amount of "drama" or 'jumlebazi' (rhetoric) will help the party.

"Under such circumstance, the electorate have to see to it that neither the BJP nor the Congress... comes to power at the centre," the BSP chief said at an election meeting in Barabanki.

BSP chief Mayawati accused the BJP of using the martyrdom of jawans for election purposes and regretted that the country's borders are still not totally secure. She also alleged that like the previous Congress government, the BJP dispensation too is using the CBI, ED and the Income Tax department against its political opponents for electoral gains.

Yadav's nomination as the Samajwadi Party candidate from the seat was rejected Wednesday over "discrepancies" in the two sets of nomination papers submitted by him. Notices in this regard were sent to him on Tuesday.

"There will be fewer occasions in history when the jawans of a country are compelled to challenge their prime minister, but this is the first time in history that a prime minister has been so afraid of a jawan that instead of competing with him, he got his nomination cancelled on technical grounds. Modi ji, you are very weak and the country's jawan won," Kejriwal tweeted.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi got former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination "cancelled" as he was "afraid" to contest against him from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.

Addressing a rally in Hoshangabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Someone from Congress recently said that Modi should be knocked out in such a way that he lands in Pakistan. The party has so much hatred against me that they are dreaming to kill me. Now, Congress should reveal on whose side they are on: India's or Pakistan's."

Narendra Modi claimed that Congress is dishonest at all levels, but its leaders ensure dynasty and corruption is practised sincerely. On the Opposition alliance, he said, "Those fighting eight seats in Karnataka is thinking they can be the best prime minister. Then there are some who are fighting 40 seats and saying they can become the prime minister. In our country, even to be a Leader of Opposition, the party has to win 50 seats. They are not even fighting on 40 seats and are dreaming to be the prime minister. The many faces that you see in the Opposition alliance, do you see any face that will be able to take on terrorism?"

"One of the first things Sri Lankan government did after the Easter blasts was to ban Zakir Naik's TV channel. This is the same Zakir Naik in whose 'durbar' Diggi Raja (Digvijaya Singh) was once seen," Narendra Modi said in Hoshangabad. Reports have said that Sri Lankan cable operators blocked Peace TV, the network owned by the controversial Islamic preacher and his organisation in the aftermath of the the deadly bomb blasts which rocked the country on Easter killing 290 people.

During the 17 April rally, Sidhu had claimed that people who are facing hunger and poverty are being asked to do yoga and get bank accounts under the Narendra Modi-led government. Narendra Modi, is this your love for your nation that people have empty stomachs but are made to practise yoga." he had asked.

The Election Commission has sent a notice to Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for allegedly making personal remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Ahmedabad on 17 April. The EC has asked him to reply by 6 pm on Thursday.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu wrote to the Election Commission, appealing for the relaxation of the Model Code of Conduct in four districts of East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam due to Cyclone Fani, according to ANI.

Lok Sabha Election 2019 LATEST Update: The Election Commission has sent a notice to Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for allegedly making personal remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Ahmedabad on 17 April. The EC has asked him to reply by 6 pm on Thursday.

At a rally in Hoshangabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Someone from Congress recently said that Modi should be knocked out in such a way that he lands in Pakistan. The party has so much hatred against me that they are dreaming to kill me. Now Congress should reveal on whose side they are on: India's or Pakistan's."

Addressing a rally in Hoshangabad, Rahul Gandhi said, "Narendra Modi earlier used to say, 'Mitron, I have a 56-inch chest, will give employment to 2 crore'. Now he's reading from the teleprompter. The controller says don't talk about farmers. He has nothing left to say. You talk about national security. When the blast happened in Pulwama, who was in power. On Wednesday, Naxal attack took place in Gadchiroli, who is in power now?"

The Election Commission has rejected former BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav's nomination as SP candidate from Varanasi. His lawyer told reporters that they will move Supreme Court over the issue. Earlier in the day, Tej Bahadur had alleged that the BJP was creating "roadblocks" in his nomination process to "prevent" him from contesting elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.

According to the schedules provided by BJP and Madhya Pradeh Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi are set to address separate rallies in Hoshangabad at 4.30 pm on Wednesday.

Priyanka Gandhi hinted at a tactical understanding between the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh and said that her party has fielded candidates who will cut the BJP's vote share in seats where Congress is not that strong, and not that of the gathbandhan.

Confident of party's victory in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said that they would turn victorious in their strongholds and in places where their chances of winning are less, they have fielded candidates who will not interfere in grand alliance's vote share. " I am confident that BJP will face huge losses in UP. The Congress is cutting down on BJP's vote share and not the UP Mahagathbandhan's," she said.

Senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai of the India Today group was seen trying to discipline a crowd of enthused Congress supporters as they interrupted his interview with Priyanka Gandhi with loud jeers.

Sardesai was speaking to Priyanka on a host of issues, including the Congress' campaign strategy and Narendra Modi's attack. However, as the conversation turned towards dynastic politics and the performance of Rahul Gandhi in his constituency, Congress supporters accompanying Priyanka started shouting loudly.

Narendra Modi's Ayodhya speech was high on josh. Supporters blew conch shells after punch line, frequent chants of Jai Shri Ram and a rabble-rousing speech high on nationalism was in store for Ayodhya residents, who saw the PM speak live for the first time. However, the much anticipated reference to the Ram temple was missing from the prime minister's speech.

Speaking in Ayodhya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked Lord Rama and the Hindu culture several time: Once to impress that the culture and religion was under threat of terrorism, using the Sri Lanka attack as example, and another time to seek blessings in Ram's bhoomi. Chants of Jai Shri Ram also resonated throughout the rally. However, Modi was conspicuous by his silence on the issue of building a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, an issue the BJP has pursued aggressively in the past.

Urging Ayodhya voters to choose their candidate carefully, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the only thriving business in Pakistan is of exporting terror and terrorist. He said that even though terror related incidents have come down in India, people should not think that the threat has passed. "Savdhani hati ki durghatna ghati. Kamzor sarkar laane ki galti mat kijiyega (the moment you let your attention waiver, some mishap may occur. So don't elect a weak government.)" Modi said.

Training the guns at BSP supremo Mayawati, Modi said that she claims to be driven by Ambedkar's value but has done the exact opposite of his ideology. He also said that the SP 'ruined' Uttar Pradesh.

Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati will be holding a joint rally at Ram Snehi Ghat, a location that is on the border of Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki and Ayodhya districts and 70 km from the temple town. It may be a virtual face-off here as PM Modi as also scheduled to hold a rally in Ayodhya.

The Election Commission on Tuesday served notice to the Samajwadi Partys Varanasi candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav and directed him to procure a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Border Security Force (BSF). The EC asked Yadav to file his response by 1 May.

The Election Commission said Wednesday that all polling booths in West Bengal for phase 5 election will be covered by central security forces, adding that no local policemen will be allowed to man the polling booth. The decision comes after violence was reported from several booths in the phase 4 election.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will all be in Uttar Pradesh today, campaigning before the fifth phase of election due Monday. While the prime minister has a key rally scheduled in Ayodhya, where all eyes will remain on whether he will visit the disputed Ram Mandir site to pray, Priyanka will have a busy day campaigning in Central Uttar Pradesh, including her brother's constituency Amethi. When Priyanka was in Ayodhya last, she had chosen to skip visiting the Ram temple, but she payed obeisance at other Hindu religious spots in the city.

Rahul, meanwhile, will be campaigning in Sitapur and Barabanki. Modi and Rahul are also due to address rallies in Madhya Pradesh, later in the day.

In in a positive development for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Narendra Modi, the Election Commission on Tuesday evening gave a clean chit to Modi for his speech in Wardha, Maharashtra. In April, the Congress had approached the Election Commission alleging that Modis speech at Wardha  in which he lashed out at Rahul for contesting from Wayanad and had "indicated" that the constituency in Kerala had more voters from the minority community  was "divisive" and in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

Rahul was campaigning in Tikamgarh, Damoh, and Panna in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court allowed Rahul to file a new affidavit on Monday after Singhvi assured the bench that Rahul will apologise for wrongly attributing 'chowkidar chor hai' remark to the apex court and that the rectified affidavit would contain the word apology. The court, however, clarified that this order cannot be an acceptance or acknowledgement of the affidavits that have been filed already.

The court posted the matter for next hearing on 6 May, the same day that Rahul's constituency Amethi goes to the polls.

Furthermore, BJP vice president Prabhat Jha has sent a legal notice to Rahul for saying, "Narendra Modi sarkar ne ek kanun banaya hai jisme ek line likhi gayi hai ki Adivasiyon ko goli se mara ja sakega (the Modi government has passed a law in which one line allows tribals to be shot)."

Rahul had made the statement at a rally in Bhopal.

As reported by Firstpost, in the the 25-page legal notice, the BJP warned the Congress chief that his remarks on the prime minister are "defamatory, derogatory, lacking verification and without any substance."
Modi alleged that for saving the image of the then government, the media too had suppressed the news.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, while lauding the arrangements by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for this year's Kumbh Mela, claimed that "thousands died" during the 1954 stampede at the religious gathering in Allahabad when Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister.

"When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister, thousands of people were killed in the Kumbh stampede in Allahabad," Modi said at an election rally in Kaushambi. The prime minister alleged that for saving the image of the then government, the media too suppressed the news. Reports from the time put the toll in the hundreds, with some saying around 800 were killed.

"The stampede victims' families names were never mentioned and not a single rupee was given to them (as compensation). It was insensitivity and this sin was committed by the country's first prime minister," Modi claimed.

In his memoir published by Hindi magazine Chayakriti, Amrit Bazar Patrika photographer NN Mukherjee described the horrors he witnessed during the 1954 stampede.

"The then prime minister (Jawaharlal Nehru) and president Rajendra Prasad were to come for a bath at Sangam on the same day. Thus all the police and administrative officers were busy making arrangements for their arrival," The Statesman quoted Mukherjee as saying in his memoir.

"At around 10.20 am, Nehruji and Rajendra Babus car came in from the Triveni Road, went past the barrier and headed for the Kila Ghat. A large number of onlookers, who had been stopped on both sides of the barrier, began breaking past the barriers down towards the ghat," Mukherjee further said, adding that the stampede began when a procession of sadhus on the other side of the barrier went awry due to the crowd breaking past the barriers.

It should be noted, however, that although Nehru was present at Kumbh when the stampede took place, he did not take a dip at Sangam, The Quint reported.

Praising the efforts of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in successfully organising Kumbh in Prayagraj, Modi said, "Earlier, there used to be allegations of corruption and commission in Kumbh against ministers, officers and contractors but this time, there was no such allegation and the event was successful."

Continuing his attack over the 1954 stampede, the prime minister said, "There was Congress government in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre. From Panchayat to Parliament, there was only Congress. Some parties even did not exist at that time. You will be astonished to know that there was a stampede in which thousands were killed."

"This time, no stampede happened. The arrangements changed with change in government." The prime minister said he was privileged to attend several Kumbh melas in the past. "I came here towards the end of the Kumbh mela in Prayagraj so that pilgrims did not get affected. Those entrusted with the cleanliness work have changed the image of the country with their works. I got privilege to wash the feet of some during my visit," he said.

With inputs from PTI
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said she did not contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Vanarasi on the direction of senior party leaders who advised her to not focus on a single seat but on all 41 constituencies in eastern UP.

Amethi: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday said she did not contest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Vanarasi on the direction of senior party leaders who advised her to not focus on a single seat but on all 41 constituencies in eastern UP.

"I took the advice of all senior leaders of our party and colleagues in Uttar Pradesh. They firmly felt that I have a responsibility here of looking after 41 seats," Gandhi told media. She further said, "I felt that they (candidates on the 41 seats) would be disappointed if I focus on only one place (Varanasi)."

Priyanka also said that the controversy over Rahul Gandhi's citizenship was "rubbish and drama". She said: "The controversy about Rahul's citizenship is rubbish and drama. The whole of India knows that Rahul Gandhi is an Indian." "He was born, raised and grew up in India. What sort of rubbish is this (controversy) regarding his citizenship," Priyanka said when asked to comment.

Priyanka was here to address election meetings in support of Rahul, who is seeking re-election from Amethi. Amethi goes to poll in the fifth phase of polling on 6 May. The counting of votes will be held on 23 May.
Varanasi district Returning Officer (RO) on Tuesday issued a notice to Samajwadi Party candidate and former BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav to furnish a certificate on whether or not he was dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty to the government.

Varanasi: Varanasi district Returning Officer (RO) on Tuesday issued a notice to Samajwadi Party candidate and former BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav to furnish a certificate on whether or not he was dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty to the government.

Tej Bahadur has to furnish the certificate before the RO till 11 am on Wednesday. The certificate will be issued by the Election Commission of India. "You have not submitted the certificate to the effect that whether or not you were dismissed from the service for corruption or disloyalty with your nomination papers," RO Surendra Singh said in the notice.

It further said: "You are directed through this notice to submit the aforementioned certificate till 11 am on 1 May , 2019." Tej Bahadur, however, said that he had submitted all requisite documents and the notice was a conspiracy against him. He said, "I have submitted all of the documents. This is being done to make us stop from contesting the election."

"It is just a conspiracy against us. Modi ji is scared and it has been done intentionally," said Tej Bahadur, who was dismissed from BSF in 2017 after complaining about the poor quality of food served to soldiers in a viral video. Yadav had posted four videos on social media in January 2017, which showed him complaining about unpalatable food at his camp along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir.

He was named as the Samajwadi Party candidate from the parliamentary constituency to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Earlier, he was in the fray as an independent candidate. Varanasi seat was won by Prime Minister Modi in the last Lok Sabha elections. He had defeated AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal with a massive margin of 3.37 lakh votes.

The election in Varanasi is slated to take place in the last phase of seven-phased Lok Sabha elections on 19 May. The counting of votes will begin on 23 May.
The new battle cry of the JAYS (Jai Adivasi Yuva Sangthan) has been sounded for its maiden battle in parliamentary elections

A new chapter of political empowerment is being scripted in the non-descript Kukshi tehsil, around 360 kilometres away from Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Gathered in a room were around 40 people, drawn from five of the six tribal-dominated parliamentary constituencies in the state. The job on hand was to select three candidates for the Lok Sabha seats. They weighed in on each candidate and finally chose the best three. There was no party high command, no big leaders and no tantrums, as thrown by big parties. The decision was taken through consensus.

With this, the new battle cry of the JAYS (Jai Adivasi Yuva Sangthan) has been sounded for its maiden battle in parliamentary elections. This is a determined assertion of its members' right to be recognised as an equally important partner in the affairs of the State and the refusal to stay on the margins anymore.

The candidates being fielded are Mahendra Kannouj from Dhar, Kamlesh Dodiyar from Jhanbua and Pushpa Pendram from Betul Lok Sabha seats (all reserved) while a decision for the fourth seat of Khargone has been deferred to 6 May.

Potent force

The Adivasis are a potent force with around 22 percent of the vote share in the state, thereby posing a threat to the two major political parties. Also, 47 Assembly seats were reserved for the ST community and Bhil, Bhilada, Gonds, Sahariya, Baiga, Korku, Bhariya, Halba, Kaul and Mariya have a sizable presence across the state. According to a rough estimate, their population ranges from 40,000 to 50,000 in other non-reserved seats.

JAYS, formed in 2012 by tribal youths, has now spread to five states including Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, with over 12 lakh members. It was formed after the educated unemployed youths among the tribes realised that most political parties have only been paying lip service to their major demands. They have been gaining political and electoral advantage by garnering support over the decades. The organisation caught people's attention when it had held the country's first-ever Facebook panchayat in Alirajpur district in 2013, followed by a similar event in Barwani, in 2014.

They made their presence felt in student politics, when in 2017, a total of 162 candidates backed by the organisation won the student union polls in Dhar, Jhabua, Alirajpur and Barwani districts, defeating candidates from the RSS-backed ABVP and Congress backed NSUI.

Setting the agenda

"Both the BJP and Congress have been paying lip service about the Fifth Schedule (forest dwellers rights under the Forest Act), jobs for unemployed youths, health facilities, drinking water, stopping police atrocities and channeling funds for the development of our areas for many decades. We have come to realise that instead of supporting other political parties in the mainstream elections, we need to field our own candidates," says Dr Hiralal Alawa (MD-Medicine) and MLA from Manavar seat in Dhar district, and one of the founder members of the JAYS. He left his well-paid job at AIIMS, New Delhi, as associate professor of rheumatology to contest the election in 2017 and also won the seat as a Congress candidate.

"The JAYS had urged the Congress to field its 80 candidates, especially in the Malwa-Nimar area, in the Assembly polls. It had agreed to declare seven members of JAYS as its candidates. But it just fielded me from Manawar Assembly constituency in Dhar district," the former associate professor says.

JAYS finally realised that it made sense to accept the Congress offer of a seat rather than to send its own man to the state Assembly to raise its voice. In the ongoing Lok Sabha election too, JAYS had demanded six tickets from the reserved seats and held a meeting with Chief Minister Kamal Nath, but nothing came of it. Now the Congress candidates will be pitted against JAYS candidates in four seats. The reserved seats for Scheduled Tribes are Dhar, Jhabua, , Khargone, Betul, Mandla and Shahdol.

Antim Mujhalda, state president of JAYS says that around 4,000 youths are ready to spread to each of the four Lok Sabha constituencies. In each Assembly segment, a team of 100 JAYS workers are being sent to canvass for their candidates. "Those who join the campaigning share our objective of having our representation in the state as well at the Centre," he adds.

Poll fund

Countering the campaign blitzkrieg unleashed by both the BJP and Congress, which are flushed with funds, JAYS members have devised a unique strategy to knock at every door of the village and town and ask for a Rs 10 note and one kilogram of grain to create a poll fund.

Apprehending a serious shift in their vote bank, both the major political parties tried to woo the JAYS by offering some bargains, but these were rejected. The Congress, in its manifesto, included the promise of implementing the Fifth Schedule in its true spirit and the BJP went a step further and offered the Dhar Lok Sabha seat to Alawa, but he declined. "It is good that the BJP has finally accepted our political clout and importance. There was no chance of accepting their (BJP) offer of the Dhar seat as I have just won an Assembly seat as a Congress candidate. If I jump ship and fight as a BJP Lok Sabha candidate, what message will it send to my people? Our fight is not for a seat by bargain, but for respect as stakeholders of our land," he adds.

Sad plight

The fight is a really big deal for them. Tribal areas are facing an exodus and people suffer from diseases like Fluorosis and Silicosis, making their lives miserable. "Every fourth tribal is suffering from one or another of these diseases. Silicosis has destroyed village after village in Alirajpur. The government should have conducted screening camps and provided treatment to the suffering tribals, but nothing is being done," laments Alawa.

In Meghnagar of Jhabua, the big power plant has created massive pollution, turning a large number of boys and girls sterile, claims Alawa.

Owing to a severe water problem and lack of gainful employment, hundreds of tribal families have migrated to Gujarat to work either in factories or as farm labourers. Mahesh Baghel of Ghadala village has just returned from Gujarat after working in a farmland for eight months. He has a family of eight who cannot survive on the land measuring a mere 1.5 acres in addition to the serious water shortage they face. "We are 40 people from this village and the and neighbouring ones who go to Gujarat in search for work. We are paid Rs 100 to 150 per day. There is no option but to leave our home for most of the year," says Mahesh.

Madhav Singh, Jawan Singh and many others of Malpura village in Kukshi also leave their homes in search of employment. There is palpable anger among tribals. Everyone is unhappy with political dispensations and reels out facts and figures to support his or her argument. The major grouse (other than health, water, electricity etc) of Dhar's indigenous people is that the BJP government took 90 hectares of their land for a cement factory against their wishes and in return, gave them just seven jobs in the factory.

Galvanising youth

Gendalal Randa holds an M Ed, but has no job. He is now fully devoted to the cause of JAYS as its state general secretary. He is busy galvanising the youth to support their stir. "We have been deprived for a long time and our state will not change if we do not take affairs in our hands," he says.

JAYS has a very ambitious political roadmap. In February 2020, tribal leaders from 15 states are scheduled to meet and chalk out their strategy for panchayat, madi and municipality elections. After finding their feet in local governing bodies, they will think about the respective state Assemblies. "If all goes as per plan, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, we will field at least 100 candidates in different states," declares Antim. This may sound like a dream, but Alawa, Antim, Gendalal and others are quite optimistic about it.

The indigenous leaders are busy deciding on the name, symbol and flag of their political party. Names like Rashtriya Loktantrik Party or Rashtriya Jantantrik Party are being considered. "We need to have a name that echoes our broader vision and we will need the support of all in our struggle. If we find a good non-tribal candidate who stands with us, we can surely field him in the coming elections," explains Alawa.

Political analyst Girja Shankar, who has been keenly watching the political awakening in the state, feels that their big dreams may not come true as there are serious divisions among various tribes. "We seriously err in thinking that all tribals vote en bloc. The Gonds of Mandla for instance do not go with the Bhils and Bhilada of Dhar, since each tribe has its own agenda. These divisions benefit mainstream political parties, he opines.

However, the fact is undeniable that JAYS can turn into a BSP-like outfit in the elections, if it plays its cards right. It may not win a single seat in the current Lok Sabha election, but can surely be a force to reckon with and an outfit to watch out for.
tech2 News Staff

Steam is currently running the Golden Week sale of 2019 with low to heavy discounts of a thousands of titles. The sale is already running and it will be active until 10.30 pm on 6 May.

A Golden Week is a celebration of four national holidays that fall in the same week every year towards the end of April to the beginning of May. What better way to celebrate a prolonged holiday than by playing video games all day? Well, Steam has all the Japanese gamers covered. But gamers from across the world can take advantage of the Golden Week sale as well.

The number of games, all developed in Japan, which are on sale is probably in the thousands. It includes many big titles but majorly small titles that you can try out in the spirit of the sale. Sony is also hosting a Golden Week sale on the PlayStation Store across multiple PlayStation consoles. Coming back to the Steam sale, if youre confused on what to buy, weve picked a few from the countless offers at hand.
Reuters

Apple on Tuesday forecast stronger-than-expected third-quarter revenue and Chief Executive Tim Cook said iPhone sales had started to stabilize in China, a sign that Apple's price cuts there are helping limit sales declines.

iPhone sales marked their steepest decline ever, falling 17 percent in the fiscal second quarter from a year earlier and slightly missing analyst expectations. But Apple executives said a pickup in iPhone sales toward the end of the second quarter, along with growth in sales of services and wearable devices, made them optimistic about the current quarter.

Shares rose more than 5 percent to $211.50 in after-hours trading after Apple announced the results.

Apple said it expects revenue between $52.5 billion and $54.5 billion for the current quarter ending in June, above analysts' average estimate of $51.93 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

In an interview, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said that iPhone sales started to strengthen during the last few weeks of the fiscal second quarter.

"As we look at the iPhone results through Q2, the results were stronger on a year-on-year basis for the last few weeks of the quarter. We also saw a similar result in China," Cook told Reuters in an interview. "These, along with the continued success with wearables and so forth, give us some confidence that things are getting a bit better."

Apple reported net earnings per share of $2.46 for the March quarter, compared with Wall Street's average estimate of $2.36.

Apple said iPhone revenues were $31.05 billion, slightly below analyst estimates of $31.10 billion, according to data from FactSet.

Services revenue, which includes sales from Apple Music, the App Store and other businesses, reached $11.45 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $11.32 billion, according to FactSet.

Apple has wrestled with a slowdown in iPhone sales in key markets such as China and saw its first ever year-over-year decline in iPhone revenue for the holiday shopping season.

The slowdown stemmed in part from the iPhone's high cost and competition from rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Xiaomi Corp, Oppo and Vivo - all of which sell cheaper phones with features similar to the iPhone.

But Cook said price adjustments in China, along with lower Chinese taxes on the iPhone and the trade-in and financing deals Apple offered, helped iPhone sales start to recover toward the end of the quarter. Cook also said he is "optimistic" that the United States and China will soon reach a trade deal.

"The trade relationship, versus the previous quarter, is better. The tone is better," Cook told Reuters. "The sum of all of this together, it helped us."

Investors are looking to Apple's services business to fuel growth as iPhone sales slow. Last month, Apple revealed a new credit card offering and subscription services for news, television and gaming, though only the news subscription is currently available to purchase.

Apple on Tuesday said it has 390 million total subscribers to both its own and third-party services on its devices. The company has set a goal of 500 million by 2020.

Apple also beat analyst expectations for its wearable business, bringing in sales of $5.13 billion compared with estimates of $4.79 billion, according to FactSet data.

For its fiscal second quarter ended in March, Apple reported revenue of $58.02 billion, above analysts' average estimate of $57.37 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Apple also said its board had authorized an additional $75 billion in share repurchases and raised its dividend by 5 percent. Apple said it spent $27 billion on share buybacks and dividends during the fiscal second quarter, which is a record for the company.
Reuters

By Carolina Mandl

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank will invest $1 billion in Colombian delivery app Rappi, marking the first move by its newly created Innovation Fund for Latin America, according to a statement on Tuesday, confirming earlier media reports.

In a statement, Rappi said the proceeds will be used to enhance the company's presence in existing markets and to enter new ones. New products and services are also likely to be created, Rappi said, without providing further details.

At first, SoftBank Group Corp and another SoftBank global investment vehicle, Vision Fund, will split the investment evenly. In a second move the Latin America-focused fund is expected to be offered SoftBank Group's investment.

Rappi did not disclose the stake SoftBank will hold.

In March, SoftBank launched a $5 billion fund to invest in tech firms in Latin America.

"In less than four years Rappi has become one of the fastest growing start-ups in Latin America. This rapid growth demonstrates the immense opportunity in the Latin American region," Marcelo Claure, SoftBank Groups Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive of SoftBank Group International and CEO

of the Innovation Fund said in the statement.

SoftBank will appoint Jeffrey Housenbold, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, to Rappi's board of directors, according to the agreement.

Rappi's investors already included DST Global, Delivery Hero, Sequoia Capital, Andreesen Horowitz and Y Combinator. It was valued at $1 billion in its latest funding round in September, backed by DST Global.

Founded in 2015, Rappi operates in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, besides Brazil.

SoftBank also announced on Tuesday it will invest in early-stage companies jointly with Colombia's government. The Japanese group has similar co-investments in South Korea and Mexico.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Chizu Nomiyama)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
tech2 News Staff

As we board the hype train for the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro launch on 14 May, it is important to remember that the Chinese smartphone maker also has other products under its belt as well. One of the more recent accessories are OnePlus' Bullets Wireless and wired earphones. Just a few weeks from launch, leaked photos of the second-gen versions of the Bullet Wireless earphones along with a Warp Charge 30 Car Charger have now begun to show up online.

YouTuber Linustechtips tweeted out photos of the retail boxes of these two products but later deleted them and reliable tipster Ishan Agarwal posted these images again. While the actual devices are not visible we can get a pretty good idea about how they look from the images on the retail boxes.

The Bullets Wireless 2 look more-or-less like the previous product with the absence of silicone ear hooks. Although it is hard to make out for certain in the retail box image. It is also not clear if they will come bundled with the OnePlus 7 Pro or not.

It seems like LinusTechTips mistakenly posted the image of OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2 (They will have better sound quality this time) and Warp Charge 30 Car Charger... Both the products look good and the bullets wireless 2 box confirms the previous leak: https://t.co/O32SxqzWlZ. pic.twitter.com/Vhpfw4yNel  Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24) April 30, 2019

The Warp Charge 30 car charger, as the name suggests, would likely be employing the 30 W fast-charging technology that was earlier seen on the OnePlus 6T McLaren edition. This would appear to be a separate product that OnePlus will sell.

Recently, OnePlus pushed out a full-page teaser ad of the OnePlus 7 Pro smartphone in The New York Times.

While there's absolutely nothing wrong in hyping the launch through ads, they reveal something OnePlus hasn't explicitly spoken about earlier  a notchless design and display (not that this bit of information is new though). OnePlus also teased a pop-up front-facing camera sitting at the top edge of the phone.

The Chinese smartphone maker had earlier shared a small video teaser across social media channels confirming that the OnePlus 7 Pro will feature triple rear cameras with sensors placed vertically in the top-center position.
tech2 News Staff

Samsung has unveiled a new TV which none of us really asked for. Called 'The Sero', the new 43-inch QLED television rotates for viewing mobile content.

The company says 'The Sero' is essentially meant for millennials and can be synchronised to a smartphone display via NFC mirroring.

Samsung suggests customers can use the vertical orientation to view images or shop while reading comments at the bottom of the screen. When rotated to landscape, the TV functions much like a conventional television.

Featuring a rather unique-looking stand, the Sero can also be used as a digital photo frame when not in use  somewhat similar to Samsung's 'The Frame' TV.

The Sero comes equipped with a 4.1-channel, 60 W speakers and can be used to play various online music services such as Samsung Music, as well as music stored on smartphones. The TV also features Samsung's AI assistant, Bixby built-in.

Commenting on the launch, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung, Han Jong-hee said, "Samsung will continue introducing screens that respect personal consumer tastes. We will think outside the box to bring different types of screens and different user experiences."

The Sero will first be released in Korea at the end of May for 18.9 million won (approximately Rs 11,30,000) and there's no word on a global release just yet.
tech2 News Staff

After a big to-and-fro drama with the Madras High Court, popular video sharing app TikTok is now back on Apple App Store and Google Play Store, six days after a blanket ban on the app was lifted.

When the judgment was passed to reverse the ban on 24 April, TikTok had initially put out a celebratory post but the app was nowhere to be found on either of the major app stores until now.

The reason as to why the app was not available immediately after the judgment was that, as per IANS, Madras High Court hadn't sent the directive to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It appears that has now happened.

(Also Read: TikTok ban in India lifted: Company setups up a committee to regulate content on the app)

The Madras HC on 3 April directed the Centre to ban the app TikTok, used to create and share short videos, as it voiced concern over "pornographic and inappropriate content" being made available through such platforms.

Hearing a plea by the Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, challenging the ban, the Supreme Court refused to stay the Madras HC order but asked ByteDance to raise its grievances before the high court.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna on Monday directed the high court to decide the plea for vacating its ban order.

TikTok had a record 41.7 mn app downloads in Q1 2019 and has 119.3 million active users in India before a ban was placed removing the app from Play Store and Apple App Store.
tech2 News Staff

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine while speaking to the International Planetary Defense Conference in Washington DC warned that meteors are a very serious threat to Earth.

This is not about Hollywood, this is not about movies, this is about ultimately protecting the only planet we know right now to host life, he said.

Bridenstine spoke about a meteoroid impact that took place at Chelyabinsk, Russia on 13 February 2013. It was 20 meters in diameter and travelling more than 60,000 km per hour.

It was brighter in the sky than the Sun and people could feel the heat, from this object, 62 km away. It had 30 times the energy of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. Over 1,500 people were injured.

That same day, 16 hours after the meteoroid in Russia, NASA detected another meteor 17,000 miles from the Earth, which was 30 meters in diameter

According to scientific modelling systems, these events will occur once every 60 years. Bridenstine said, "I wish I could tell you that these events are exceptionally unique but they are not. These events are not rare  they happen. Its up to us to make sure that we are characterising, detecting, tracking all of the near-earth objects that could be a threat to the world.

The White House, in 2018, published an action plan that NASA needed to track and characterised 90 percent of the near-earth objects, but the administrator said that the agency had a long way to go before it would reach that goal. They want more international partners that will join them in this effort.

Bridenstine said, We know for a fact that the dinosaurs did not have a space program. But we do, and we need to use it because if we do not, it would have catastrophic consequences."
Opposition leader Juan Guaido took to the streets of Venezuela to call for a military uprising against socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

Caracas: Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration and fierce resistance from forces loyal to socialist Nicolas Maduro.

The violent street battles that erupted in parts of Caracas were the most serious challenge yet to Maduro's rule. And while the rebellion seemed to have garnered only limited military support, at least one high-ranking official announced he was breaking with Maduro, in a setback for the embattled president.

In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Maduro declared that the Opposition had attempted to impose an "illegitimate government" with the support of the United States and neighboring Colombia. He said Venezuela had been a victim of "aggression of all kinds".

Meanwhile, Guaido sought to keep the momentum going at the end of the day by releasing his own video message in which he pressed Venezuelans to take to the streets again on Wednesday.

The competing quests to solidify a hold on power capped a dramatic day that included a tense moment when several armored vehicles plowed into a group of anti-government demonstrators trying to storm the capital's air base, hitting at least two protesters.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said the Trump administration was waiting for three key officials, including Maduro's defense minister and head of the supreme court, to act on what he said were private pledges to remove Maduro. He did not provide details.

The stunning events began early Tuesday when Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armored crowd-control vehicles, released the three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Guaido's political mentor and the nation's most-prominent Opposition activist, stood alongside him. Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Guaido.

"I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers," Lopez declared.

As the two Opposition leaders coordinated actions from a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Guaido at a plaza a few blocks from the disturbances. A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind on the highway, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

Amid the mayhem, several armored utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd. Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.

"It's now or never," said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers.

The head of a medical center near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets. At least one person had been shot with live ammunition. Venezuelan human rights group Provea said a 24-year-old man was shot and killed during an anti-government protest in the city of La Victoria.

Later Tuesday, Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence in Caracas, where another political ally has been holed up for over a year. They later moved to the Spanish embassy. There were also reports that 25 troops who had been with Guaido fled to Brazil's diplomatic mission.

Amid the confusion, Maduro tried to project an image of strength, saying he had spoken to several regional military commanders who reaffirmed their loyalty.

"Nerves of steel!" he said in a message posted on Twitter.

Flanked by top military commanders, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned Guaido's move as a "terrorist" act and "coup attempt" that was bound to fail like past uprisings.

"Those who try to take Miraflores with violence will be met with violence," he said on national television, referring to the presidential palace where hundreds of government supporters, some of them brandishing firearms, had gathered in response to a call to defend Maduro.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said the "right-wing extremists" would not succeed in fracturing the armed forces, which have largely stood with the socialist leader throughout the months of turmoil.

"Since 2002, we've seen the same pattern," Arreaza told The Associated Press. "They call for violence, a coup, and send people into the streets so that there are confrontations and deaths. And then from the blood they try to construct a narrative."

But in a possible sign that Maduro's inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuela's secret police penned a letter breaking ranks with the embattled leader.

Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of Venezuela's feared SEBIN intelligence agency, wrote a letter to the Venezuelan people saying that while he has always been loyal to Maduro it is now time to "rebuild the country".

He lamented that corruption has become so rampant that "many high-ranking public servants practice it like a sport".

"The hour has arrived for us to look for other ways of doing politics," he wrote. "To build the homeland our children and grandchildren deserve."

The letter circulating on social media was confirmed by a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details of the case. He said the general's wife is currently outside the country.

Protesters erected barricades of debris at several downtown intersections about 10 blocks from the presidential palace, but police in riot gear moved in quickly to clear the roads. Most shops and businesses were closed and the streets of the capital unusually quiet, as people huddled at home to await the outcome of the day's drama.

Guaido said he called for the uprising to restore Venezuela's constitutional order, broken when Maduro was sworn in earlier this year for a second term following elections boycotted by the opposition and considered illegitimate by dozens of countries.

He said that in the coming hours he would release a list of top commanders supporting the uprising.

"The armed forces have taken the right decision," said Guaido. "With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history."

Anti-government demonstrators gathered in several other cities, although there were no reports that Guaido's supporters had taken control of any military installations.

As events unfolded, governments from around the world expressed support for Guaido while reiterating calls to avoid violent confrontation.

Bolton declined to discuss possible actions - military or otherwise - but reiterated that "all options" are on the table as President Donald J. Trump monitors developments "minute by minute."

He said he was waiting for key power brokers including Padrino, Supreme Court chief justice Maikel Moreno and head of the presidential guard to make good on their commitments to achieve the peaceful transfer of power to Guaido.

"All agreed that Maduro had to go. They need to be able to act this afternoon, or this evening, to help bring other military forces to the side of the interim president," Bolton said. "If this effort fails, (Venezuela) will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives."

Elsewhere, Spain's socialist caretaker government urged restraint, while the governments of Cuba and Bolivia reiterated their support for Maduro.
The genesis of International Labour Day or International Worker's Day wasin the labour union movement of the US in the 19th Century, when industrialists exploited labourers who protested against them.

International Labour Day  also known as May Day or International Workers' Day  celebrates the struggle, dedication and commitment of the working class and is an annual public holiday in several countries. While many of us know it as an extra off day at work, very few are aware of its origins.

The genesis of this day is in the labour union movement in the United States in the 19th Century, when industrialists exploited the labour class and made them work at least 15 hours a day. The movement involved protests that delivered a strong blow to the cycle of exploitation and made eight-hour working days a reality.

Origin of International Labour Day

This connotation dates back to May Day, 1886, when some 200,000 US workmen engineered a nationwide strike demanding eight-hour working days.

The 1 May, 1886, labor action wasn't just any strike  it was part of what came to be known as the Haymarket tragedy. On 1 May of that year, Chicago and a few other cities were the site of a major union demonstration in support of the eight-hour workday demand. The protests in Chicago were meant to be part of several days of agitations. But on 3 May, a strike at an industry in the city turned violent, and the next day, a peaceful meeting at Haymarket Square became even more so.

When the last speaker was completing his talk, a delegation of 180 policemen marched to break up what remained of the meeting. They stopped a short distance from the speaker's wagon. As a captain ordered the meeting to disperse and the speaker cried out that it was a peaceable gathering, a bomb exploded in the police ranks, wounding 67 policemen, of whom seven died. The police then opened fire at the gathering, killing several men and wounding around 200. And, hence, the Haymarket Affair became a part of US history.

In 1889, the International Socialist Conference declared that in commemoration of the Haymarket affair, 1 May would be an international holiday for the labor force, now known in many places as International Workers' Day.

How do we celebrate Labour Day

While many still turn up to hear Labor Day speeches and attend parades, the holiday is also viewed as the last hurrah of summer. Labor Day may not be one in which people actively celebrate an occasion, but it does give working people a much-needed respite, which is equally important.

Labour disputes continue even today, but workers' lives have generally improved in the 21st Century, though it's worth reflecting on how history got to that point.
A man armed with a pistol opened fire on students in a classroom building at a North Carolina university during the last day of classes Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four others, police said. Officers who had gathered ahead of a campus concert raced over and disarmed the suspect in the room where the shooting happened.

Charlotte, North Carolina: A man armed with a pistol opened fire on students in a classroom building at a North Carolina university during the last day of classes Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four others, police said. Officers who had gathered ahead of a campus concert raced over and disarmed the suspect in the room where the shooting happened.

The shooting prompted a lockdown at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and caused panic across campus as students sheltered in place.

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said authorities received a call around 4.40 pm that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students. He said officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the scene, where they apprehended the male suspect. Authorities did not immediately release the suspect's identity.

"Our officers' actions definitely saved lives," Baker said at a news conference.

He said two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition late Tuesday. He said a fourth person's injuries were less serious.

Monfia Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots ring out. She said she began urging students fleeing the danger to go into a parking deck for cover.

"I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me," she said. "We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we're in the parking deck and there's a shooter and we don't know where he is, he won't have a clear shot."

She added: "My thought was, I've lived my life, I've had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that's what I was going to do."

Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friend's art show, described a chaotic scene.

"Just loud bangs. A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind," he said.

Shortly after UNC Charlotte issued a campus lockdown, aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department later said that the campus had been secured and that officers were going through buildings to let people who had sheltered in place know that it was safe.

In a tweet, Governor Roy Cooper praised the officers' quick response.

"This is a tragic day for Charlotte and this great university," he said. "We mourn the lives lost and we will all be here to support each other."

The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is located northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas.

Spenser Gray, a junior, said she was in a campus building near where the shooting happened watching another student's presentation when they were alerted to the shooting.

"During his presentation which was on one of the campus computers, a popup came up ... that there was an active shooter," she said, adding that she immediately felt panic and worried the gunman could come to her classroom. "We had no idea where he was ... so we were just expecting them at any moment coming into the classroom."

Susan Harden, an UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner, was at home when she heard of the shooting. She went to a staging area, she said, to provide support.

Harden said she has taught inside the Kennedy building, where the shootings occurred.

"It breaks my heart. We're torn up about what's happened," Harden said. "Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety."
President Maithripala Sirisena denied reports claiming that hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo and other parts of the country in the aftermath of the Easter blasts in Sri Lanka while claiming support from Muslim community in the 'face veil' ban

President Maithripala Sirisena "venehemently denied" reports claiming that hundreds of Muslim refugees fled Negombo and other parts of the country in the aftermath of the Easter blasts in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to CNN-News18's Pradeep Pillai in an exclusive interview on Wednesday, the Sri Lankan president said, "It is an utterly false report which has been made. There is great co-operation between the Christian community and the Muslim community. The conduct of the Maulvis and the clergys is a good example for this. Therefore I deny that statement."

Sirisena also claimed support of the Muslim community on the recent ban on "any face garment which hinders identification", saying that the request for the "face veil" ban had come from the Muslim community itself.

"This request for ban on face covers came from the Muslim leaders and the Muslim clergy. And such an example has been set in many powerful nations of the world. For example, in European countries, after terror attacks, similar measures were taken to ban the burqa. Clearly, the Muslim community in those countries were not against it, except for a limited segment of the extreme elements," the Sri Lankan president said.

"It is because of the requests from the Muslim clergy and Muslim leaders that this ban was affected under the status of Emergency law. Once the Emergency law is lifted from the country, if the Muslim community feels it is necessary (to continue with the ban), we can discuss about it further," he added.

At least 253 people were killed in the coordinated series of blasts targeting churches and hotels on 21 April in Sri Lanka. Two days after the incident, Sri Lanka's state defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene had said that an initial probe revealed that the attack was in "retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch".

Sirisena told CNN-News18 that though the Sri Lankan intelligence services had prior information about the attacks, he wasn't made aware of it.

"Had I been informed of the possible attack, I would have taken necessary action. Very clearly, some officers in our intelligence services have neglected their duty. Already, action have been taken against those who have been irresponsible. And in future, I will be taking necessary disciplinary action against them as well," he said.

The Sri Lankan president also said that a special investigation committee that was setup to probe the attacks is supposed to submit its complete report in two weeks' time.

"Once their complete report reaches me, I will be able to know who is responsible for these irresponsible action. We understand that large number of lives were lost because of their action. Therefore, with consultation of the Attorney General, I will be taking necessary action once the report reaches me," he said.

Sirisena said he was "highly appreciative of the support" being rendered by India after the attacks. "Within a few hours of the attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi contacted me over the telephone. At that time, I was in Singapore. Modi expressed his heartfelt condolences and pledged his full support to eliminate this terrorist threat in our country. Already, expert knowledge is provided from the side of India to our officers to carry out our investigations and other raids and operations which are currently underway. Therefore, we are highly appreciative of the support that is being rendered by India at this point," he said.

On former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa's comments on lack of action against local jihadist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ), which was allegedly behind the attacks, Sirisena said, "It is unfortunate if such a statement has been made. We have to understand that, at one point, people rejected him as a leader and defeated him at an election. And we have to understand that the route, the initial start of this organisation was 15 years ago during his regime. The prime minister and I share a very cordial relationship and in terms of the responsibility of the government, we are working together in a very cordial and friendly manner and instructing our security forces to do what is needed.

"Therefore as a government, in terms of our responsibility, we are not stepping back, we are not weak. We are doing what needs to be done, as a result of which, we have been able to show results within a very short period of time. You have to understand that the fight with LTTE and fight Islamic State, it's not the same, it is very different. Those who know the facts should understand this."

The Sri Lankan president also asserted that he won't allow national security to become an issue for parties to fight on in any of the upcoming elections. "I am confident that I will be able to eliminate this threat of terrorism before that. There might be other reasons that people want to fight over for the elections, but this would not be it," he said.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday evening issued an order prohibiting US air operators from flying below 26,000 feet in Venezuelas airspace until further notice, citing increasing political instability and tensions.

Washington: The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday evening issued an order prohibiting US air operators from flying below 26,000 feet in Venezuelas airspace until further notice, citing increasing political instability and tensions.

The FAA notice said any air operators currently in Venezuela, which would include private jets, should depart within 48 hours.

Venezuelan Opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro, but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.

American Airlines Group Inc in March said it was indefinitely suspending its flights to Venezuela, as the country continued to struggle with political turmoil and unrest.

OPSGROUP, which provides safety guidance to air operators, said options for those choosing to avoid Venezuelan airspace would include routes west via Colombia, or east via Guyana.

The (FAA) order comes on a day of an information battle waged between Maduro and Guaido, and although the coup status is uncertain, one thing is clear: taking your aircraft to Venezuela is not a good idea, OPSGROUP said on its website.

Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 on Tuesday evening showed some flights between South America and Europe were crossing Venezuelan airspace, but at altitudes above 26,000 feet.

Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent.

Venezuelans were expected to again take to the streets on Wednesday for what Guaido pledged would be the largest march in the countrys history.
By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States told Russia on Tuesday to stop playing games over a detained former U.S. marine accused of espionage and said it feared his long isolation increased the risk of Moscow trying to extract a forced confession. The comments from the U.S

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States told Russia on Tuesday to stop playing games over a detained former U.S. marine accused of espionage and said it feared his long isolation increased the risk of Moscow trying to extract a forced confession.

The comments from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow were the sharpest yet from Washington in the case of Paul Whelan, who was detained in a Moscow hotel room on Dec. 28 and accused of espionage, a charge he denies.

Whelan, 49, holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, and if found guilty could be imprisoned for up to 20 years.

His case has dragged already dire U.S.-Russia relations lower, as has that of another American, prominent investor Michael Calvey, who is under house arrest while being investigated on embezzlement charges.

U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman visited Whelan in a Moscow jail on Tuesday. Following this Andrea Kalan, a spokeswoman for the embassy, said the situation surrounding Whelan was beyond a joke.

"Today marks 124 days in detention for #PaulWhelan," Kalan wrote on social media.

"Why havent Russian officials provided proof? Perhaps its lost along with Pauls mail. Complete lack of evidence + Paul's isolation = greater likelihood officials will try to get a forced false confession. Stop playing games," she wrote.

Kalan complained that Huntsman's visit was "a joke" since under the rules of Moscow's Lefortovo jail he was unable to read aloud letters from his family, unable to ask him to sign a power of attorney, and banned from "talking about anything that actually matters".

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Whelan after an acquaintance handed him a flash drive containing classified information. Whelan's lawyer says his client thinks he was set up by the acquaintance and the FSB.

Whelan thought the flash drive contained holiday photos, the lawyer has said.

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously dismissed U.S. criticism of Moscow's handling of the case.

Whelan is due to be kept in pre-trial detention until May 28 while investigators continue to look into his case.

A Russian court this month extended until July 14 the house arrest of Calvey. The investor denies the charges against him.

(Editing by Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Julian Assange, who was arrested on 11 April after Ecuador gave him up, will serve the nearly one-year sentence while fighting a separate attempt to transfer him to the United States

London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced on Wednesday to 50 weeks in jail for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.

The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on 11 April after Ecuador gave him up, will serve the nearly one-year sentence while fighting a separate attempt to transfer him to the United States.

The 47-year-old, his shaggy beard neatly trimmed, raised his fist to supporters in the public gallery at London's Southwark Crown Court as he was taken down to the cells.

They responded by raising theirs and shouting "Shame on you!" towards the court.

Assange fled to Ecuador's embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.

He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over the release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.

At the sentencing hearing, his lawyer Mark Summers said Assange had been "gripped" by "reasonable fears" that he would face rendition to the US.

"As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned," the lawyer said.

In a letter read out on his behalf, Assange expressed regret, saying: "I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done."

There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed.

However, Assange is facing a US extradition request, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest, when he was dragged shouting from the embassy by police.

US hacking conspiracy charge

Assange appeared in court within hours of his arrest, and a judge found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions.

The biggest concern for his lawyers is the US extradition request. An initial hearing in the case has been scheduled for this Thursday.

The US indictment charges him with "conspiracy" for working with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password stored on Department of Defence computers in March 2010.

Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing US military wrongdoing in the Iraq war and diplomatic secrets about scores of countries around the world.

Assange could face up to five years in jail if found guilty, although his team is fighting his extradition and the process could take years.

The charge has raised serious concerns among organisations advocating free speech, including politicians such as British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

WikiLeaks is also back in the news in the United States, over its alleged role in the leak of Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 US presidential election.

The Swedish claims against Assange date back to 2010, when he was at the centre of a global storm over WikiLeaks' exposures.

The sexual assault claim expired in 2015, but while the rape claim was dropped in 2017, the alleged victim wants the case reopened.

If Stockholm makes a formal extradition request, Britain must decide whether to consider it before or after that of the United States.

A group of British lawmakers have urged the Swedish case to take precedence, saying the rights of the alleged victims must not be lost in the political row.
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worth paying multiplex prices for

worth a look, but wait for DVD, unless your favorite actor is in it

give it a miss

my reaction under consideration

my reaction under gag order for now

not yet seen by me
After launching three smartphones in the S Series in 2015, Samsung has been launching only two S Series flagships starting with the Galaxy S7 in 2016, but this year the company launched the Galaxy S10e along with the Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy S10+. Usually the cheaper version of the flagship phones have downgraded specifications. Even though the Galaxy S10e has a smaller FHD+ screen, capacitive fingerprint scanner and a smaller battery, it retains the powerful SoC, wireless charging along with Wireless PowerShare. Is this the best compact flagship smartphone? Let us dive into the review to find out.

Box Contents

Samsung Galaxy S10e in Prism Black color

Samsung charger with Adaptive Fast Charging (9V-1.67A/5V-2A)

Protective case

USB Type-C cable

USB Type-C OTG connector

In-ear earphones tuned by AKG

SIM ejector tool

Quick start guide and warranty information

Display, Hardware and Design

The Galaxy S10e comes with a 5.8-inch Full HD+ Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display with a resolution of 2280  1080 pixels at 438PPI, aspect ratio of 19:9 and a screen-to-body ratio of about 83%, thanks to minimal bezels. It has a flat screen instead of a curved screen on the S10 and the S10+ so it doesnt have the edge rejection. Since the phone has AMOLED display, blacks are perfectly black, the screen is bright and the colors are vibrant. It is HDR10+ certified similar to other S10 models. The punch-hole display is not distracting when viewing videos on full-screen and I feel that it is better than the Infinity-U and Infinity-V displays since the hole is small.

Due to the aspect ratio content doesnt extend to the sides of the phone when you are watching normal 16:9 videos, but you can pinch to fit, which crops some part to fit the video to the sides. You can also hide the front camera by adding a black bar to the top of the screen, but this is a waste of space.

Similar to the other phones, there is Blue light filter that is said to reduce eye strain by limiting the amount of blue light emitted by the screen. You can change font size and style and select apps that you want to use in the full screen aspect ratio, but there is no option to reduce the display resolution. There are two screen modes  Vivid and Natural along with color balance option to set the screen to cool and warm depending on your preference. You also get advanced color balance options to adjust the Red, Green and Blue colors. It also has Edge panel with Edge lighting for notifications and Always on display that shows up in the lockscreen when the phone is in standby.

On the top there is an earpiece grill that also doubles up as a speaker and a 10-megapixel camera inside the notch. The phone also Hidden Light Sensor and Proximity Sensor as well as Barometer, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor and Hall Sensor. Samsung has removed the notification LED in favor of Always On Display and Edge lighting. There is a ring of light around the camera cutout that lights up when the camera is in use, but there are third-party apps that lets you use it for notifications. Samsung is said to be planning to bring this as a feature by default via software updates in the future.

It has a tiny bezel below the display. Even though there are on-screen navigation buttons, you can enable gestures, which is better with Samsungs One UI.

Regarding the button placements, the volume rockers and the Bixby button are present on the left side. The capacitive fingerprint scanner is on the right that also doubles up as the power button. On the top there is a secondary microphone and the Hybrid SIM slot. The 3.5mm audio jack, USB Type-C port, primary microphone and the speaker grill are crammed on the bottom. You can also view the antenna bands since this has a metal frame.

Samsung is still sticking to Hybrid Dual SIM slot. This takes two nano SIMs or a nano SIM and a microSD.

On the back, there are 12-megapixel primary camera along with a secondary 16-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens along with LED flash.

Similar to other S Series phones, this has a glass back, and it is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, compared to Corning Gorilla Glass 6 on the S10 and the S10+. We have the Prism Black which changes color to dark blue when light hits the phone at certain angles. It also comes with Prism White color in India.

Even though the phone has a 5.8-inch screen, it is compact to hold, making it one of the most compact phones. It measures 142.2x 69.9 x 7.9mm, making it one of the compact smartphones. It weighs 150 grams, lighter than the 157 gram S10. The phone has IP68 ratings for Water and dust resistance, but Samsung warns that you should not immerse the phone in water deeper than 5 feet or keep it submerged for more than 30 minutes.

The glass back makes the phone slippery to hold, but you can use the bundled case that also protects the sides of the phone. Other official cases include  Silicone Cover at Rs. 1,599, Leather Cover at Rs. 3,199, LED Cover and Clear View Cover at Rs. 3,499 each and the LED View Cover at Rs. 4,099.

Camera

It has a new 12MP Dual Pixel F1.5/F2.4 variable aperture 77 wide-angle main SAK2L4 sensor with 1.4m pixel size and OIS along with a 16-megapixel fixed-focus F2.2 aperture 123 ultra-wide S5K3P9 sensor with 1.0m pixel size, but it loses out the Telephoto lens from the S10. On the front there is a 10MP Dual Pixel F1.9 aperture 80 S5K3J1 sensor with 1.22m pixel size.

The Dual Aperture camera is designed to adapt to various lighting conditions, automatically letting in more light when its dark (f/1.5 mode) and less when its too bright it switches to f/2.4 mode. The lenses automatically adjust their apertures to reduce visual distortion and deliver the best possible picture, and help the camera provide better reception to light. You can manually switch to f/1.5 mode in pro mode, which is helpful in close-up shots but there is not much difference between the two modes in daylight.

The 16MP Ultra Wide Camera delivers a 123 degree field of vision. Since the lens is curved, sides of the images are automatically cropped and adjusted, but at some places like buildings, images look a bit weird, which is common. The 10MP front camera is better than the 8MP camera on earlier Samsung models such as S9 series and the Note9. Live focus is available for both the rear and front cameras, which uses software to blur the background. Other than normal background blur, there are Spin, Zoom and Color Point options.

The Scene Optimizer uses AI to recognize 30 popular subjects, and the local tone mapping automatically adjusts the camera settings to the scene to help capture the best shot available, and also includes Blink and blur detection. There is AR Emoji as well.

There are different modes such as Food, Panorama, Pro, Live focus with bokeh effect, Photo, Video, Super Slow-mo, Slow motion and Hyperlapse. The latest update also added Night mode.

Coming to the image quality, there is an improvement in the S10e compared to the Galaxy S9 series and the Note 9 in the normal mode. The camera captures a good amount of detail, creates really well exposed photos with good dynamic range and detailing, and dynamic range can further be improved using the HDR mode, which can be set to auto from the settings. The autofocus speeds are fast and accurate. Thanks to Dual Pixel technology, every single pixel enables precise and fast focusing. Low-light performance is decent, thanks to the variable aperture option that switches the aperture to F1.5, but there is still some noise. Night mode that captures images at multiple exposures and stacks them, so the shots are better. Selfies captured using the 10MP camera are clear and offers good details, and there is also 4K recording for the front camera.

Check out some camera samples (Click the image for the full resolution sample).

It can record videos at 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels) or 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) at up to 60 fps, and Slow Motion video recording in 1080p at 240 fps or 960 frames per second (fps) Super Slow-mo at 720p. There is HEVC (H.265) video mode and even HDR10+ option in beta for the rear camera. Video quality is good, and the audio is good as well, thanks to secondary microphone. Check out the video sample.

Software, UI and Apps

It runs Android 9.0 (Pie) based on the new Samsung One UI 1.1, which was introduced recently aimed at making the navigation much easier and designed around how we use our phones in the day-to-day. It was launched with March 2019 Android security patch, but it got the April security patch through OTA update recently.Search option in the

The new UI also brings improvements to Always On Display, reorganized settings menu to make settings easier to find, new Biby features and lots more. You can also remap the Bixby button finally.

Device care option lets you manage your devices battery life, storage, RAM usage, and security all in one place. Apart from the usual set of utility apps and Google Apps, the smartphone comes with Facebook app and Microsoft Apps  Office Mobile, OneDrive and LinkedIn. The phone has Samsung Pay, which is Samsungs own payment service. It works with Samsungs patented Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology as well as with Near Field Communication (NFC).

Out of 6GB (LPDDR4X) of RAM, you get 5.4GB of usable RAM, out of which about 2.2GB of RAM is free when the default apps running in the background. Out of 128GB (UFS 2.1) of internal storage, 109B of storage is free.

Fingerprint Sensor and Face unlock

Unlike the on-screen Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor on the S10 and the S10+, the S10e has a side-mounted Capacitive Fingerprint sensor. This unlocks the phone immediately when you place the finger and also doubles up as a power button, so you get a clicky feel when you press it. You can add up to 4 fingerprints, and the fingerprint always on feature lets you wake and unlock the phone by touching the power key without pressing, which is convenient. Since the fingerprint sensor is present on the right side, unlocking the phone might be comfortable if you are a left-hand user.

Since Samsung has removed the top bezel on the S10 series in favor of punch-hole display, it has removed Iris recognition, so it comes only with the face recognition that uses the phones front camera to unlock the phone. Face recognition doesnt work well if the lighting is poor in the room, if you are wearing glasses, hats, or use heavy makeup and is also less secure compared to fingerprint unlock.

Music Player and Media

Google Play Music is the default music player. It has equalizer, UHQ upscaler, Dolby Atmos technology (Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby Atmos for gaming that is automatically enabled when you play games and supports Ultra High Quality Audio Playback  UHQ 32-bit & DSD support PCM: Up to 32 bits, DSD: DSD64/128. All these improve the audio when listening through earphones. That said, audio through the bundled Samsung-made headphones tuned by AKG is good and the loudspeaker output from the stereo speaker tuned by AKG is good as well and is loud. It doesnt have FM Radio, similar to earlier Samsung flagships.

Dual SIM and Connectivity

The connectivity options include, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/ WiFi- 6 ax (2.4/5GHz),VHT80 MU-MIMO,1024QAM, Bluetooth v 5.0 (LE up to 2Mbps), GPS with GLONASS, NFC and USB 3.1 with support for USB OTG. It has 4G connectivity with support a lot of bands and also has Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) support for Reliance Jio, Airtel and other operators. It has Dual 4G VoLTE that enables 4G VoLTE on both the SIMs. Call quality and earpiece quality is good, and we did not face any call drops. You can set preferred SIM for voice call, text and data from the SIM card manager. It has Smart Dual SIM feature, similar to other latest Samsung Dual SIM smartphones.

Performance and Benchmarks

The Indian version of the Galaxy S10e is powered by an Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 9 Series 9820 processor that has two of the companys 4th generation custom designed Exynos M4 CPU cores clocked at up to 2.7GHz per core, two ARM Cortex-A75 cores clocked at up to 2.3GHz per core for optimal performance and four ARM A55 CPUs optimized for efficiency. It uses tri-cluster architecture for the first time. It has 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM and packs a Mali -G76 MP12, so the gaming performance is smooth without any frame drops and the RAM management is good as well to run several apps in the background and open them instantly. The performance is smooth, and the phone gets a bit hot on 4G usage and gaming since it lacks a vapor chamber like the S10+, but it doesnt get too hot to handle. Check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.

Battery life

Coming to battery life, the 3100mAh battery lasts for day with normal use and less than a day with normal use, which is not the best compared to other flagships in the price range. I got around 4 hours of screen on time in a days use. The Snapdragon model is said to offer slightly better battery life compared to Exynos version due to improved power efficiency of the SoC. You can improve the battery life a bit by using dark theme and enabling Adaptive power saving that sets the power mode automatically based on your usage patterns to save power when its not needed. You can also use medium and maximum power saving modes that restricts background data and limits CPU speed to further reduce power.

In our battery test the smartphone achieved a One Charge Rating of 15 hours and 41 minutes, which is just average, but with the 3100mAh battery you cant expect much. Thanks to 15W adaptive fast charging, it can charge from 0 to 100% in 1 hour and 33 minutes and from 0 to 50% in just 33 minutes using the bundled charger. The phone also comes with Wireless PowerShare that lets you charge other Qi-certified devices by simply placing the device on top of your phone in the center.

Conclusion

At a price tag of Rs. 55,900, the Galaxy S10e is definitely the best compact flagship from Samsung that doesnt cut corners with respect to specifications. With the latest offer you can get it for Rs. 46,990 after Rs. 5000 instant cashback and Rs. 4000 HDFC Cashback (bank offer extended till May 31st). It is powered by Samsungs flagship Exynos SoC, has same main and wide-angle cameras as the S10, and the One UI is the best Samsung software yet offering smooth experience, however the company takes ages to push Android updates.

Competition

Except for the Pixel 3, we dont have any other compact flagships in the Indian market, and even most mid-range phones have more than 6-inch displays. Google is planning to release the Pixel 3a next week, which is rumored to be priced in the similar range as the Galaxy S10e, but this might be powered by Snapdragon 670 SoC, even though it is said to retain the same camera as the Pixel 3.

Pros

5.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen with minimal bezels

Comfortable one-handed usage

Smooth performance

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner is really fast

Wireless charging and Wireless PowerShare

Cons

Battery life could have been better

Average low-light camera performance

Photography by Siraj
As the companies have posted their earnings, International Data Corporation (IDC) has announced that smartphone vendors have shipped 310.8 million units in Q1 2019, down 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year, and this also marks sixth consecutive quarter of decline.

Samsung still retains the top spot with 71.9 million shipments, but it is down 8.1% from 78.2 million in Q1 2018. HUAWEI has posted 50.3% growth and climbs to the second spot with 59.1 million shipments, while Apple has been pushed to the third spot since it has managed to achieve just 36.4 million shipments, down 30.2% YoY. Xiaomi has also experienced decline in the quarter with 25 million shipments, down 10.2% YoY.

Vivo and OPPO grab the fifth spot with 23.2 million and 23.1 million shipments, respectively. Vivo has posted 24% growth, with India continues to be its most important market outside of China, but OPPO has seen a 6% decline YoY.

Source
Ameresco Inc (NYSE:AMRC)

Q1 2019 Earnings Call

, 8:30 a.m. ET

Contents:

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Q1 2019 Ameresco, Incorporated Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Miss Leila Dillon, Vice President of Marketing. Ma'am you may begin.

Leila Dillon -- Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Thank you, Daniel and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your joining us for today's call. Joining me here are George Sakellaris, Ameresco's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mark Chiplock, Interim Chief Financial Officer.

Before I turn the call over to George, I would like to make a brief statement regarding forward-looking remarks. This call contains forward-looking information regarding future events and the future financial performance of the company. We caution you that such statements are predictions based on management's current expectations or beliefs. Actual results may differ materially as a result of risks and uncertainties that pertain to our business. We refer you to the company's press release issued this morning and to our SEC filings. These documents discuss important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the company's projections or forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to revise any forward-looking statements made on today's call.

In addition, we will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures during this call. These non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. A GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation, as well as an explanation behind the use of non-GAAP financial measures, is available in our press release and in the Appendix of the slides, which can be downloaded from our website.

With that, I will now turn the call over to George. George?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Leila, and good morning, everyone. The year is off to a great start; the financial results were ahead our expectations, we improved our profitability, and most importantly, we significantly expanded our pipeline of assets in development. Revenue, net income, EPS and adjusted EBITDA, were all above our expectations. Gross margin and adjusted EBITDA as a percent of revenue were both higher than the year ago.

Looking forward, we are very excited about our business. One reason of that excitement is the growth in our pipeline of energy assets in development and the expanding market opportunity. The pipeline build was simply outstanding; we ended Q1 with 267 megawatts in development; this is a 50% jump over the course of the quarter. The size of this pipeline built is an early indication of the strength of our platform and the wisdom of our strategy to invest in energy asset development across all our regions. By putting in place the resources, the talent, and the capability to design, develop, build and operate energy assets nationwide we have started to see the intended acceleration of our portfolio.

Our development teams are now penetrating in new industries and new geographies. For example, historically our energy assets were concentrated in a handful of states, especially the northeast. We now have sizable wins across our business units throughout North America. The new awards spend at variety of industries and national accounts, and even as we penetrate new geographies, we continue to build momentum in more established regions. For example, in Massachusetts alone, we recently announced new solar awards totalling over 12 twelve megawatts of capacity. We've continued to deepen our commitment to energy infrastructure. In January, we announced the hiring of an industry leader to become our new Vice President of Energy Storage, complementing the Vice President of Microgrid Technology who we hired last year.

Also in January, we acquired Maximum Solar, a solar O&M specialists that deepens our capability in operating solar power assets. Energy assets helped to create the foundation of high margin recurring revenues that underpins our business model. We now have 236 megawatts of operating energy assets, including the Phoenix green gas plant which was placed into service in Q1. Our operating portfolio has visibility on over $900 million of contracted revenue and incentives over the next 20 years. If we combine our assets in development and un-contracted revenue sources, we have line of sight to over $3 billion of high margin revenue.

The other major high margin recurring revenue stream operations and maintenance also performed well. Revenue was up and we added another $5 million of new O&M work to our backlog, bringing our top line and backlog to $918 million. The recurring profit managing sales and O&M is only one of the many attractive elements of our business model. And other is the cash generated by our core project business which we reinvest back into energy asset development.

In Q1, our project performance was solid as well, and we again build visibility in our backlog. Total project backlog grew 3% from the start of the quarter and is again over $2 billion. Growth was balanced with both awarded and contracted expanding. Importantly, our anticipated gross margin on the backlog is about 1 percentage points higher than the year ago, driven by large and more complex project. A great example of a technically advanced and comprehensive project is a new award in Canada with an existing customer, this is $9 million utility services agreement where we supply power, gas and water; we will develop, construct and operate a distributor generation which includes solar and geothermal. All of resources will be fed into a campus microgrid. A microgrid includes battery storage for load level and backup, this project is attractive on it's own. However, it's also proof that these advanced technologies bring new growth opportunities to our existing customer portfolio.

Another example of a project using advanced technologies -- excuse me, is our award for Phase 3 of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia; this $14 million energy savings performance project includes 4.3 megawatts of solar generation along with ongoing operation and maintenance. And solar is a fortified design for cybersecurity, corrosion and hurricane resistance. We used a single access tracking system to increase output by over 20%. The Canadian Microgrid and NASA Wallops projects are the latest examples in a growing portfolio of projects that utilize advanced technologies to create a robust energy infrastructure. Of course, our project portfolio, we are seeing a growing interest in intelligent controls, the resiliency and microgrids. We have seen these advanced technologies become a larger part of our projects.

Microgrids that use renewable power and battery storage for resiliency and low level are becoming a critical element for energy infrastructure across a wide range of facility types including higher education, military bases, commercial and industrial customers, and the alike (ph). The energy savings performance model, in which efficiency savings help to pay for the infrastructure upgrades is allowing our customers to include this newer technologies.

Let me conclude by reiterating that 2019 is a growing technically strategic year for us. We have billions of dollars of revenue visibility from our core energy infrastructure business, asset portfolio, and in a backlog. Perhaps, more importantly, we have tremendous growth prospects in an expanding total addressable market. We are putting in place the resources to capture these opportunities, maintain our leading market share and accelerate future growth.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Mark for comments on our financial performance and outlook. Mark?

Mark Chiplock -- Vice President, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

Thank you, George and good morning, everyone. As I review the financials, please keep in mind that all figures refer to the first quarter 2019, and all comparisons are for the year-over-year changes unless I say otherwise. As George mentioned, we had a solid quarter financially, and did a tremendous job of further building visibility. We had outstanding growth in energy assets and development, and steady progress in our project backlog.

Energy sales grew 16%, integrated PV sales grew 11%, O&M was up modestly, and other revenue grew by 25%. Lower project revenues were impacted by revenue recognition timing from active projects. Our strong gross margin performance was driven primarily by a better mix of projects, as well as the growing proportion of energy and O&M revenue. Operating expenses decreased due to a gain of $2.2 million recognized upon the deconsolidation of a variable interest entity. Excluding this one-time gain, operating expenses increased due to higher salary and benefit costs related to planned headcount growth. As George mentioned, we are investing for growth by accelerating our investment in strategic resources to capture growing market opportunity. Our tax rate was higher this year due to the one-time tax benefit realized last year under 179D; that tax benefit has since expired. As a reminder, that tax benefit contributed $3.8 million or $0.08 per deluded share in Q1 2018.

Now let's turn to the balance sheet which is healthy with plenty of liquidity and borrowing power. Cash did decrease as days sales outstanding was up and we reduced payables which is normal at this time of the year. As we reduce DSO and normalized payables to regular levels, over the course of the year we expect to improve our cash position. We grew modestly on our line of credit to fund some of the investments for construction of our energy assets. Recourse corporate debt is only 21% of total debt, the rest is non-recourse project financing. As always, keep in mind, that the Federal ESPC liability is not debt to Ameresco.

Now, let me quickly review the energy assets which represent our primary capital investment. Total energy assets on our balance sheet are $477 million of which 88% are in operation while the balance is in development or construction. During Q1, we placed our 6 megawatt Phoenix RNG plant into service. Because it was ramping up, it did not contribute meaningfully to our results. Later this year once it is operating at full capacity it should contribute approximately $1 million of EBITDA per megawatt on an annualized basis, or $6 million per year at expected RIN prices. This is consistent with the guidelines we gave you for modelling all of our green gas projects.

Our development pipeline is 267 megawatt equivalent which more than doubled from a year ago. Expected CapEx for these assets is approximately $500 million over the next 12 to 30 months. We are fully confident in our ability to finance this pipeline. Of course, we also have assets and even earlier stages of development but those are not yet counted in our formal assets and development metric. For the full year, we still expect to place between 50 megawatt to 60 megawatt equivalents of assets into service.

Let me conclude with our outlook for the year. We are raising the lower end of our earnings range. We now expect EPS in the range of $0.77 to $0.85, and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $95 million to $103 million. We expect revenue to be in the range of $845 million to $885 million. We do not give quarterly guidance, but we will provide some additional color to help shape the remainder of the year. We expect our results to be heavily skewed toward Q3 and Q4 due to the execution of some large projects in the back half of the year. Q2 should be similar to last year.

Keep in mind, that for our GAAP measures like net income and EPS, our tax rate this year is far higher than it was in 2018. As always, we encourage you to focus on our performance over long-term horizon. Our business is lumpy from quarter-to-quarter, especially in the winter month, but overtime, the trend in growth and profitability is consistent and attractive.

That concludes our prepared remarks. So, now we'd like to open the line for your questions. I will turn the call back over to our coordinator, Daniel, to run the Q&A.

Questions And Answers

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. (Operator's instructions) Our first question comes from Craig Irwin with ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is now open.

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Hi, good morning and thanks for taking my questions. First thing I wanted to ask about is the Phoenix plant; can you maybe discuss some of the things that you've learned in the process of commissioning this plant? You know, proceduraly, are there things that will enhance your ability to execute on future projects? What have we learned that translates into the ramp and commissioning of the next couple of plants that come online in California?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Actually, we've done quite a bit. In the bottleneck on the Phoenix plant had to do more with some of the local issues and the local permitting; the inspector and so on. Once we started the plant up and the interconnection was the pipeline, originally, for example, they gave us the specifications as where they wanted to have the measuring station and install all the mirrors to make sure that the gas here meets all the criteria associated to be connected into the natural gas pipeline. And then after the monitor we did the test, we proved to them it's working, they wanted in a different location. But once we got this plant started and bringing our output (ph) upto capacity we did a better job than we did at the first plant that we build up in Michigan.

So we are learning and I think as we go forward, it's good to assume that we will keep improving the way we construct. And it has to do sometimes deliver better planning and communication with all the agencies involved, especially on the local permitting and the gas transportation systems; that's about it. And because they are complex projects, but however, I was very encouraged to see how fast they ramped up this particular Phoenix plant once we got all the issues involved and the permission from the gas pipeline to interconnect. Every gas pipeline has different rules and neglect that we've got to pay more attention to prove that upfront and plan accordingly.

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Yes, excellent. Thank you, George. So then, I know you're really conservative about what you consider a project that's in the pipeline; can you maybe describe for us what is sort of permits and what -- what the checks are that you wait for to include projects in your pipeline? I mean, how far along are these California plants in the permitting process?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, because they are complex in there -- you know, these are the gas -- the transportation systems and they are routing in order to get the preference with the pipeline to go let's say from the landfill site to the pipeline. And because they are in California you're right, especially with the two plants, the (inaudible), we are very, very careful and conservative to hit the nail on the head. And then, the other one in Texas that we developed in the McCarty (ph) Project, I will say this but we are pretty close to announce one of them in this particular quarter but it slipped to the next quarter because of a couple of minor issues but we are making good progress. And I would have been surprised that over the next quarter or so we'll probably put two projects into the pipeline of green gas projects; one in the city (ph) of Texas and one in California little bit further behind because of some local permitting issues of the pipeline interconnected to the transportation system.

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Thank you. So, I also wanted to ask about the stability of EBITDA. So, this quarter 75% of EBITDA from recurring business is nice, stable profitable stream. As we look out over the next few years, do you expect this number to bounce around significantly over the course of 2019? Will we exit 2019 with roughly 75% of EBITDA for the full year coming from your more stable recurring business lines?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

No. And actually I was one of the big contributors this quarter. We were expecting it to be slightly below 70% and the performance of the assets we have, they did very well at the O&M, did very well; and also the operating direct operating expenditures associated with the operate assets was pretty much under budget, it was very, very good contributor. You have to remember Craig that the first quarter has the lowest top line revenue, so it represents a higher percentage margin. So by the end of the year most likely we will see it around 65% contributor overall, maybe a little bit higher than that.

Because we -- and that's why we gave the guidance on -- little bit of guidance on the second half of the year. We have some large contracts that will contribute the plan to be executed this second half of this year, and they will contribute to the revenue, so the revenue will pick up. So there will -- the percentage of assets will keep growing up but it's not going to be 75%.

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Great. And then last question if I may; I know it's little early in the year for us to have positive project closeouts but can you maybe update us on book-and-burn revenue; how you feel we're doing? I guess we're one-third of the way through the year right now. Is this potentially something that could be similar to last year? Are we looking at still elevated uncertainty for book-and-burn in 2019? How is that shaping up for the year?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

On the close out actually in this quarter, the projects that we actually closed out I think it was -- it was neutral on it close out but every quarter though it's customary and we do a better job at the end of the year. We review each and every project that's over 90% complete and then see if there is any budget revision that we will do otherwise if the project is ahead of schedule and below budget, substantially below budget, then we will update the project as to what we think it will finish. But we wait to get a better pickup associated with that project once we get it completed and accepted by the customer. Because we have seen -- you've been with us long enough, we have seen some of those go the other way. Actually we had a couple of projects close out this quarter that surprised me that we had the negative.

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Yes, understood. And the book-and-burn revenue, you know, fast fast book and execute revenue; is that coming through in any material volume or is it something that usually materializes later in the year?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

I'm not so sure I understand the question.

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

The revenue, the project's scope that's booked in an individual quarter and burned in that same quarter; I understand that's one of the other elements of uncertainty in the guidance because you don't really know how much of that revenue actually materializes. I know that this is opportunistically executed a lot of the time, I was just wondering if you had an update on whether or not that's been something that's been a positive contribution at all or if the outlook is there for that to be a contribution over the rest of '19?

Mark Chiplock -- Vice President, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

Craig, this is Mark. So I think as we look through at this point, looking forward at the rest of the year; you know, we still have better than $200 million that we need to convert out of our awarded backlog and into revenue in the back half of the year, and I think that's why we're expecting the second half of the year to be stronger than normal because we do have some large projects that we'll need to execute and deliver out of our backlog. Compared to where we were last year, it's similar but we're probably higher -- we're a bit higher in terms of what needs to be contributed out of our awarded backlog over the remainder of 2019.

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Thank you very much for that and congratulations on the strong results.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Noah Kaye with Oppenheimer. Your line is now open.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Good morning, George and Mark. First, just a clarification question on the guidance. You said 2Q would be similar to last year, is that similar in terms of seasonality or similar in terms of absolute levels of new EPS?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

The way I will describe it similar to last year, maybe even little bit later than the last year because of what Mark said and the guidance we gave. We have some large contracts that we expect to be signed and those will be signed sometime during the summer months and they will contribute a lot to the second half of the year. Mark, you want to add anything?

Mark Chiplock -- Vice President, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

I agree. I think it will look very similar across the Board other than -- you know, last year we still had in Q2 an additional discrete benefit from the 179D, and so that definitely contributed to a higher EPS last year. Outside of that I think we'd expect them to be to align pretty closely.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Okay, in terms of absolute levels; just making sure.

Mark Chiplock -- Vice President, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

So then a question on the significant step-up in solar assets and development, you had 131 megawatts of solar in developments 3 months ago, now you have 225 megawatts. So what growth of step-up -- how much of this was organic versus the acquisition you completed?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

That is a good question. Actually you know, because we did the acquisition last year even though they had it in their pipeline over 100 megawatts potential. Out of that it's only 2 megawatts, the rest of it is all organic and that's why we're very excited about the performance of the company this quarter. The fact that each and every unit across the United States and Canada they entered, they did add new assets in development that we will own and operate and maintain, and that is -- that was a great performance; and that speaks tremendous about the platform that we have established and that's what we all have said, before we would -- again, that's the Northeast and Federal doing assets which we'll own if we manage to expand that capability across our platform it will help us a great deal. And we are glad we are very happy to see that it's helping, and also the investment that we are making, it's paying off already.

To me, that was -- to us, that was the business achievement about this particular quarter and we feel very good about that.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Did you organically add -- yes, you organically added over 90 megawatts?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

That is correct.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

In 3 months?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

And just -- you know, similar to Craig's question before, can you just remind us what checkmarks need to be there for you to add a solar project to your pipeline PPA signs? How close to coming online so that we can understand how quickly you can convert this 90 megawatt placement service?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

The most important that we get right to the land, PPA is what we know who the customer is; that even though the ultimate action PPA may not be executed but as far as the business of terms or the letter of intent on the PPA has been executed, the interconnection agreement with a particular utility is there even though later on we might have difficulties associated with it. And many of these -- so you know, they are our RFPs; so but the customer will go out with a particular RFP and a couple of them -- I don't disclose the names but the one is the puzzle and another one is a particular utility.

Anyway it's here in New York that we won; and then, you know, that the likelihood of a project going ahead, it's probably over 90%. And unless we feel that comfortable, we don't put it into backlog, and that goes back to Craig's question to why didn't I put couple of those green gas plants into the development. I want to make sure once we put them there that the likelihood is over 90% that that will come to reality.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Okay. I guess a related question; you've flagged $500 million of expected capital requirements over the next few years to fund this energy asset pipeline; consolidated leverage trailing 12-months now upto 2.5 times. Look, I totally understand 80% of the debt is non-recourse and presumably the new debt-to-fund energy asset should be predominantly non-recourse. But just so we can have a benchmark, what level are you comfortable going to in terms of consolidated leverage?

Mark Chiplock -- Vice President, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

Yes. I mean, no -- I think as we've said before, I mean -- I think we're -- because it's non-recourse, we're happy to continue to leverage up these assets as high as the banks will allow us. I think obviously, they're going to have their own checks and balances in place to kind of manage the risk there. But from our perspective, you know, from a non-recourse standpoint we're happy to lever them up as high we can.

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

And on the average noise (ph) you have to remember that we monetize the ATC and accelerate depreciation of these solar assets; so the amount of equity that we've put in this particular asset is pretty small amount. And the other thing when the financing that this may come up, we do have some dry power where I call that some of the assets -- landfill assets that we owned for some time now, some -- the debt has been paid-off and we may finance them. We have otherwise some projects that have zero debt on, and I call them our dry power and down the road, if we need to, we will refinance and put some debt on them and be able to continue accelerating the growth of our assets portfolio.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

That's very helpful color. And then just last on the SPC business; you know, I think you're getting out for a little bit in terms of -- what needs to happen over the course of the year. But, just can you -- can you remind us what your assumptions were in the revenue guidance around -- basically project level revenues for the full year? And is that an up or down year versus '18?

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

We have about $150 million to $175 million coming from awarded projects that we think they will be executed in the rest of the year, sometimes, like I said in the third quarter. And because they are large projects, we have -- we have a substantial amount that is capitalized development expenses, and that -- and as soon as those contracts get actually good (ph), then that becomes a part of the revenue associated with this particular project. And then in addition to that, we have about $30 million to $50 million of revenues we assume they will come from the pipeline but the projects that we think that they will convert in the short period of time into awards. And some of that will come -- if you remember, we are conservative -- my $80 million project is showing the backlog is awarded. And after we do the detailed energy work and negotiate the scope of the customer, it might become a $75 million project. And we think we have two or three projects in that category.

So even though we did not say that it's awarded, it's in the pipeline; we know it's within a particular customer that we will convert once the scope of the projects has been negotiated with the customer.

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

Very helpful. Thank you so much.

Operator

(Operator Instructions) And I am not showing any further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to George Sakellaris for any further remarks.

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Daniel. To conclude, this year is all about investing and strategically positioning the company to higher growth in the coming years. We are investing to enable all of our regions to develop the expertise to take advantage of growing markets. We are highly encouraged as we are seeing results from these initiatives already in Q1. Thank you for your attention this morning. I will now turn the call back to the operator. Daniel?

Operator

Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes today's program, and you may all disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.

Duration: 34 minutes

Call participants:

Leila Dillon -- Vice President, Marketing and Communications

George P. Sakellaris -- Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer

Mark Chiplock -- Vice President, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

Craig Irwin -- ROTH Capital Partners -- Analyst

Noah Kaye -- Oppenheimer -- Analyst

More AMRC analysis

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Growth trends in the gaming industry today are dominated by what's taking place in Macau. And despite the fact that MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM) only has two resorts in the Chinese territory, and most of its revenue is generated in the U.S., that holds true for it too. Macau still drives more than a quarter of MGM's adjusted EBITDA, a proxy for cash flow coming from resorts.

As 2019 unfolds, MGM will be focusing on growth in Asia, but Macau may not be what's most important for investors in the long term.

Las Vegas casinos are slow but steady

One of the odd numbers from the company's first quarter was a 13% drop in Las Vegas Strip casino revenue. There was a bit of bad luck in the quarter, but table game volume was down 7%, a large drop for any quarter. For perspective, MGM's volume decline was slightly smaller than the 9% decline in overall table game revenue on the Las Vegas Strip.

It had more success in non-gaming areas. Room revenue was up 5% in Las Vegas, and revenue per available room jumped 3.7% to $155. Food and beverage revenue was also up 8% as Park MGM and NoMad Las Vegas began contributing to results.

The increasing share of revenue coming from non-gaming sources isn't shocking given the long-term trends in Las Vegas. MGM now gets less than half of its Las Vegas revenue from the casino floor, and sees non-gaming as its growth driver in the city.

Macau growth continues

As usual, Macau was where the largest share of growth came from for MGM Resorts. Revenue from the territory rose 23% to $734 million and adjusted EBITDA climbed 26% to $191 million.

On a resort level, the results were more mixed. EBITDA at MGM Macau fell 11% to $129 million, and MGM Cotai, which opened in February 2018, generated EBITDA of just $62 million. It'll take more time for MGM Cotai to hit full speed, and it has a long way to go if it's going to catch up with neighboring resorts that rake in $500 million-plus in EBITDA annually. Meanwhile, the declining results from MGM Macau, which is on the Macau Peninsula, could be the result of the new resort siphoning away some of its business.

Japan is the whale MGM Resorts really wants

The big opportunity MGM Resorts is focused on is Japan, which last summer legalized casino gambling. The company is essentially all-in on Osaka as its location to build, considering that it's the only city to indicate it wants a resort and casino.

We know Japan will allow as many as three new casinos, but the details on what the gaming industry will look like there are sparse, and the country's government still needs to decide which companies will receive concessions. MGM Resorts has as good a chance as any to be one of them. If it does win a license, it will take a large share of a future casino gaming market that is expected to range in size from $10 billion to $40 billion annually.

MGM continues on a steady path

Investors weren't pleased with MGM Resorts' Q1 results -- shares fell 6.9% on Tuesday after they were announced. But the company continues to churn out cash in Las Vegas, Macau revenues are rising, and a potential growth driver is on the horizon in Japan. This won't be a huge growth stock, but given the company's strength in attractive gaming markets, I think that it's a solid long-term play.
Hyatt Centric Brand Expands into Italy with Opening of Two New Hotels in Venice and Milan

Hyatt Centric Murano Venice and Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale mark first entry for the lifestyle brand into Italy

May 01, 2019 // Franchising.com // CHICAGO - Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) announced today the opening of Italys first two Hyatt Centric branded hotels - Hyatt Centric Murano Venice and Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale. The hotels offer 119 and 141 guestrooms, respectively, and mark a significant milestone for Hyatts growth in Europe, targeting adventure-seeking travelers.

Hyatt Centric Murano Venice

Hyatt Centric Murano Venice, Hyatts first hotel in Venice, is located in the popular tourist destination of Murano, world famous for its handmade glass. The modern hotel is located steps from the renowned Murano Glass Museum and is close to Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato, one of the oldest churches in the Venetian lagoon. The hotel is a 20-minute private boat ride from the airport and guests will have easy access into central Venice via a 10-minute boat ride. Built within the walls of an ancient glass manufacturing furnace, Hyatt Centric Murano Venice is home to landmark glass manufacturer Veninis artwork. The property offers contemporary rooms and suites overlooking the Grand Canal of Murano, allowing guests to enjoy the views of Venice from the sanctuary of the island of Murano. For relaxation after walking through the winding Calli of Venice, the hotel offers wellness facilities that include a sauna, Turkish bath and fitness center.

We are thrilled to introduce the Hyatt Centric brand to Venice with the opening of Hyatt Centric Murano Venice, said Leonardo Ometto, general manager of Hyatt Centric Murano Venice. With its fantastic views of the Grand Canal of Murano, combined with the central location and exquisite interiors, the hotel provides the perfect launchpad for guests who are looking to explore the vibrant city. Our passionately engaged team is happy to provide local expertise to create shareable moments for our guests.

Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale

Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale sits in the heart of the vibrant Porta Nuova district. Situated within walking distance of the metro and Central Station, the hotel serves as the perfect launchpad to discover the bst Milan has to offer. Its neighborhood area has undergone significant restoration, recently transforming into Milans most high-tech and international district. The area is known for its many notable businesses, beautiful residential towers and the ultra-fashionable Corso Como. The majority of the guestrooms offer private balconies with views across the city, along with terraces within the suites. The property boasts a rooftop bar with 360-degree views of Milan. Guests who want to relax will find a Roman bath with jetted tub, as well as a sauna, Turkish bath, salt cave and a relaxation room.

Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale is in the perfect location for travelers who dont want to miss any moment of adventure that Milan has to offer, said Andrea Pallavicini, general manager of Hyatt Centric Milan Centrale. Knowing the Hyatt Centric brand encourages exploration and discovery, our curious guests will be in the heart of the action to immerse themselves in all the citys hotspots.

The two new hotels in Italy bring the number of Hyatt Centric branded properties in Europe to five, joining Hyatt Centric La Rosiere, Hyatt Centric Gran Via Madrid and Hyatt Centric Levent Istanbul.

The acquisition of the two properties has been a perfect opportunity to follow up on the long-standing teamwork with Hyatt, said Matthias Lowin, managing director of German Feuring Group. After the announcement of the Hyatt Regency development in Dusseldorf and the Hyatt Place development at Frankfurt-Airport, we are very excited to be an integral force behind the introduction of the Hyatt Centric brand to Italy.

The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.

About Hyatt Centric

Hyatt Centric is a brand of full-service lifestyle hotels located in prime destinations. Created to connect guests to the heart of the action, Hyatt Centric hotels are thoughtfully designed to enable exploration and discovery so they never miss a moment of adventure. Each hotel offers social spaces to connect with others in the lobby, meanwhile the bar and restaurant are local hot spots where great conversations, locally inspired food and signature cocktails can be enjoyed. Streamlined modern rooms focus on delivering everything guests want and nothing they dont. A passionately engaged team is there to provide local expertise on the best food, nightlife and activities the destination has to offer. For more information please visit hyattcentric.com. Follow @HyattCentric on Facebook and Instagram, and tag photos with #HyattCentric

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 19 premier brands. As of December 31, 2018, the Company's portfolio included more than 850 properties in 60 countries across six continents. The Company's purpose to care for people so they can be their best informs its business decisions and growth strategy and is intended to attract and retain top colleagues, build relationships with guests and create value for shareholders. The Company's subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences, vacation ownership properties, and fitness and spa locations, including under the Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Alila, Andaz, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Thompson Hotels, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Joie de Vivre, tommie, Hyatt Residence Club and Exhale brand names, and operates the World of Hyatt loyalty program that provides distinct benefits and exclusive experiences to its valued members. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.

Media Contacts:

Jennifer Rubin

Hyatt

312-780-5808

Jennifer.rubin@hyatt.com

Simone Loretan

Hyatt - Europe, Middle East, Africa and Southwest Asia

+41 44 279 1226

Simone.loretan@hyatt.com

SOURCE Hyatt

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The Gyro Shack Broadens Fan Base with New Menu Expansion

Un-bowl-lievable New Options for Rice, Salad or Gyro Bases Satisfy More Cravings for Quick "Mediterranean on the Move" Option

May 01, 2019 // Franchising.com // BOISE, Idaho - The Gyro Shack, Idahos own homegrown brand renowned for its fast, affordable and delicious Mediterranean offerings, announced today it has expanded its menu to include new rice bowls and salads, joining the signature gyros to encompass the new brand tagline: Mediterranean on the Move.

For the first time ever, the Gyro Shacks menu will offer customers the choice of enjoying its delicious Mediterranean gyro combinations atop a bowl of yellow lemon rice, as a salad or wrapped within a pita as the traditional gyro. The Gyro Shacks new options will further cater to customers fast-paced lifestyles and love for authentic, unique Mediterranean cuisine.

As part of the rebrand, The Gyro Shack has also debuted a fitting new tagline - Mediterranean on the Move. The new tagline will be visible on all logo usage and throughout all aspects of the various locations in-store marketing, further strengthening its brand identity for a more cohesive customer experience.

The rollout of the newly expanded menu and tagline signals a larger, strategic shift in the brands identity, as The Gyro Shack strives to seamlessly align its menu, messaging, service style and customer experience to exemplify that authentic Mediterranean menu options and convenience are not mutually exclusive.

Rolling out this menu expansion with additional rice and salad bases and introducing our new tagline to our fans marks a major milestone for The Gyro Shack, said Doug Miller, CEO of The Gyro Shack. Weve modernized both our menu and messaging to represent exactly what our customers have come to know and expect from us  high quality, authentic Mediterranean cuisine ready to eat on the move.

The Gyro Shacks customer experience provides face-to-face window service and made-to-order gyros, bowls and salads with meat carved Off the Spit and fresh ingredients piled high before customers very eyes.

Gyro offerings available on rice or salad and in the original gyro range from the traditional to the extraordinary, such as the BLT and the Spicy Bacon Avocado. Vegetarian lovers of Mediterranean fare will also find plenty to tempt their palates, including a Greek salad, and hummus and pita. The tzatziki and spicy green sauces are a delicious way to top off any order to perfection.

With new menu options and tagline in place, The Gyro Shack will continue to revolutionize the way customers think about Mediterranean cuisine with a cohesive brand experience thats customized to fit the modern lifestyle preferences of their loyal customers.

To learn more about The Gyro Shack and its new menu, visit thegyroshack.com.

About The Gyro Shack

Founded by Gus Zaharioudakis, The Gyro Shack began as a food truck and two restaurants in former coffee drive-through kiosks. Today, the brand brings its authentic and unique take on the classic Greek favorites to drive-through customers with 10 Pacific Northwest locations revolutionizing the way customers think about fast Mediterranean cuisine. Using only fresh ingredients, made to order as customers drive up, the brand remains focused on valuing customers time and money.

Media Contact:

Mackenzie Coopman

All Points PR

Public Relations Account Lead

Office: 847-897-7486

SOURCE The Gyro Shack

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Firehouse Subs is a red-hot product in the fast-casual sandwich space.

The proven and established brand is growing by leaps and bounds as it continues opening stores across North America. The Jacksonville, Florida-based brand was launched in 2005 and now has more than 1,160 restaurants operating in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada. Along the way, the sandwich brand has gained a reputation for premium meats and cheeses steamed and piled high on toasted sub rolls and served with the freshest produce and condiments. But the brand is also known for its support of first responders and public safety organizations across the country.

Now the brand has its expansion sights set on the Pacific Northwest. Thats where area developer Maryellen Mech has overseen the opening of 19 Firehouse Subs locations so far in cities throughout her territory of Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Northern Idaho. Shes also busy working on 7 additional stores that are in the pipeline and scheduled to open soon.

Mech, who has previous franchising experience with a pizza brand, says she simply fell in love with Firehouse Subs, its food, and their incredible commitment to local first responders. She says the brands steadfast commitment to the highest-quality ingredients and its unwavering pledge to support first responders in the communities in which it operates through its Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation are what really sold her on the brand. To date, more than $42 million has been donated to public safety organizations via Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation.

This unique mix of dedication to quality and support for the community have helped create a deeply passionate culture among Firehouse Subs operators that you just dont find in other brands. As Mech further explains, While we have an incredible product, best-in-class support, and an amazing philanthropic mission  we will always be in the people business first.

Customers across the Pacific Northwest have shown their support for the brands great food and community-focused first-responder mission by making Mechs stores consistently one of the top regions for sales volume across the entire Firehouse Subs system.

The Firehouse Subs brand knows its important to stand behind its existing franchisees as well as offer the kind of support new franchisees will need to be successful. Thats why it offers best-in-class training and support, the latest technology tools, loyalty programs, and more. As a Firehouse Subs area developer, Mech has helped the brand sign and support franchisees throughout the Pacific Northwest. With a history of innovative products, a focus on exceptional customer service, and a one-of-a-kind brand identity, she says, Firehouse Subs will always be committed to building profit for franchisees.

The Firehouse Subs brand is now looking to add 30 more restaurants across the Pacific Northwest. The brand is looking for franchisees who are a cultural fit, exceptional small business operators, and who will add value and be an integral part of the communities where they operate.

This expansion would create approximately 15 to 20 full-time management and support staff employment opportunities at each location, says Mech. Were ready to go and continue to search for the right franchise partners to facilitate our growth.

If this sounds like the kind of opportunity that would suit you, and you would like to become a part of the Firehouse Subs family, visit http://www.firehousesubsfranchising.com for more information.
She has a gene that prevents her body from getting rid of toxins and another that is super-sensitive to chemicals. As a result, a whiff of a candle, drop of cologne or even electromagnetic waves from Wi-Fi can cause hives, dizziness, a rash that starts at her head and marches down to her feet and an overall feeling of suffocation.

She has a similar reaction to most medicines. A baby aspirin can cause her heart and breathing to go into overdrive. Her whole body feels like its on fire, from the inside out.

Your body is on high alert all the time, she said, constantly producing histamines to attack whatever it sees as an alien invader, including mold, dampness, smells or chemicals. Everything it comes in contact with, it says, Lets kill it. I never know whats going to cause it.

Lunceford and her husband, Tracy, live in a 100-year-old farmhouse where they raised two biological and two adopted children. They also took care of about 30 foster children, until she got sick. Hes a part-time pastor and works in sales, which provides the couples health insurance.
The attorney for a Fredericksburg pharmacist accused of illegally selling prescription pills to a police informant multiple times last year claims his client was threatened and entrapped by a con man.

Hardik Patel, 32, is charged with money laundering and 17 counts of illegally distributing drugs. His jury trial started Wednesday in Fredericksburg Circuit Court.

According to court records and evidence presented by prosecutor Justin Witt, Patel was the owner of HnR Family Pharmacy at 3449 Fall Hill Ave. in the city when he was arrested last year.

Witt said that between April 9 and June 21, Patel sold various prescription pills to informant Timothy Urbani for which he did not have a prescription. Nearly all of the transactions were recorded with audio and video, Witt said.

According to the prosecutor, drugs purchased by Urbani included oxymorphone, methadone, lorazepam, oxycodone, Xanax and gabapentin. He paid between $400 and $500 per transaction, money that was provided by a regional drug task force.
A Locust Grove man has been charged with multiple felony charges after being accused of molestating at least one child.

Kevin Lee Goodman, 64, of Spotswood Road in Lake of the Woods, is charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of crimes against nature.

According to a news release from the Orange County Sheriffs Office, Lt. Becky Jones headed an investigation that began following a sexual assault complaint. The Orange County Department of Social Services assisted in the investigation.

It is not clear if there is more than one alleged victim or when the alleged offenses took place. The charges indicate that the victim or victims were between the ages of 13 and 15 when the molestation took place.

Goodman is being held in the Central Virginia Regional Jail under no bond.

Keith Epps

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OConnell brought up the right to a speedy trial factor, saying she wanted it on the record that Humphries was the one who delayed proceedings when requesting a new attorney. Durrer acknowledged this, saying Humphries waived his speedy trial rights because of irreconcilable differences with his former attorney, Adam Rhea.

The defendant, sporting a long beard and hair, rolled his eyes as the judge spoke, and looked to his family sitting in the audience, including a sister.

Randle declined comment on his clients behalf after the hearing Monday.

Orange authorities responded to the scene of the reported shooting that February morning and found a man with a gunshot wound to the head. Smith was on his stomach on the floor, along with three spent cartridges and a loaded cartridge, according to court records.

While still on the scene, the lead investigator was notified that Humphries had turned himself in at the local jail. The defendant reportedly told police he shot a guy, according to the criminal complaint.
Just when it stopped raining long enough to take a hike or work in the flower bed, Mother Nature showed shes still got something up her sleeve.

Its tick season, and not only are health and pest-control officials saying its going to be a bad one, but theres also a new menace on the horizon. Last fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started warning about a new invasive species called an Asian longhorned tick. It first surfaced on a New Jersey sheep in 2017 and has been discovered in eight other states since then, including Virginia.

The fact that this tick lays as many as 2,000 eggs at a time and can reproduce without mating reeks of science fiction. Thoughts of hundreds of ticks on a person, pet or animal in the wild is enough to produce nightmares.

But whether the threat of a tick biteand contracting one of the growing number of problems it causeswill keep a person from going outdoors depends on the individual.

Guy Mussey, a horticultural agent with the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service in Stafford County, said theres no cause for hysteria.
The media have too often failed in their responsibilities as well. Hate is hate. But frankly, media outlets dont always present a level playing field. They dont seem to trust that Americans are mature enough to know that all Muslims arent responsible if an Islamist commits a hate attack, just as all of Christendom is not culpable when a white nationalist invokes Scripture to justify murder.

We American Jews live with the fact that we are the No. 1 target of religious-based hatred. In 2019, we are more worried than ever, not only because of the unprecedented level of deadly violent attacks, but because anti-semitism is now accepted in the mainstream of society.

We are incensed and worried that Americas anti-semite in chief, Louis Farrakhan, is rarely called out for decades of violent hatred of Jews and Judaism.

We watch in horror as freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, DMinn., has injected anti-semitism into the mainstream of American political culture. Her hatred is excused or winked at by the top leadership of her party.

Heres what we need from our Democratic and Republican leaders: Spare us the morning-after news releases and work together to stop the hateall hatefrom the far right to the far left.
All out on May Day

Make May Day 2019 a show of strength by the working class! Demonstrate your support for the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Change the Rules campaign. With May Day just weeks out from the federal elections, it is important the Coalition and employers they represent feel the full might of the working class.

Photo: Anna Pha

May 1 is the International Day of Working People. Millions of workers around the world will be taking to the streets to celebrate the past achievements that were fought for, often with huge sacrifices, and won.

Today, many of these past gains are being taken back and eroded. Penalty rates, working conditions, workplace safety, the eight-hour day are on the chopping block and must be fought for.

The right to strike is central to this fight for workers rights but industrial action or even the threat of such action has all but been outlawed and is punishable by massive fines.

Trade unions are up against a barrage of anti-union, anti-worker laws, the most draconian of them in the building and construction industry where an illegal action can cost a worker $42,000 a time.

In Sydney, a group of trade unions, including the CFMEU Construction, Maritime Union of Australia, Electrical Trades Union and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union have decided to reclaim May1 as a holiday and will be rallying on May 1 (see CPA statement page 5). They will be supported by climate-striking students.

They do so in the face of an escalation by the government, and the capitalists they represent, of their war on the trade unions and the working class  the class war. The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is asserting itself as the main weapon of attack in that industry.

Lowest of low life

The ABCC is a vicious class weapon for use against organised labour. It has now sent servers family homes on the eve of Easter delivering court documents with the threat of hefty financial penalties against them: Only the lowest of low life stoop to such methods.

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus accused the ABCC of disgusting anti-worker, anti-family conduct. This is a blatant abuse of power by an organisation that has lost its moral authority to exist, McManus said.

Forty-four construction workers at Perth Airport rail project sites face fines of up to $42,000 each for the alleged offence of unlawful industrial action.

The construction union (CFMMEU) and three of its officers are also being taken to court for allegedly organising the action and being involved in a picket outside the head contractors office. The union faces a maximum penalty of $210,000.

ABCC Commissioner, Stephen Burney, boasts that his police force currently has 38 cases against the CFMMEU before the courts and intends to keep taking court action during and after the election campaign.

During April the ABCC commenced court proceedings against the CFMMEU in six new cases this month alone.

On April 5, a Full Federal Court handed out penalties totalling $1.7 million against the CFMMEU and nine of its officials. The individual fines ranged from $3,000 to $45,000.

The Coalition government has:

Restored Howards ABCC and given it more powers

Ignored employers ripping off and injuring or killing workers

Outlawed and criminalised legitimate trade union activity

Increased penalties tenfold for breaking bad construction laws

Slashed penalty rates for 700,000 low paid workers

Ignored tax rorts of the rich and big corporations

Cut spending on public health, education and the NDIS

Cut pensions and other social security payments

Increased military spending

Encouraged expansion of coal and gas sectors.

Living standards continue to fall for medium and low-income workers. Millions of workers have become the working poor, struggling in precarious employment, often with two or more jobs.

The unemployed have not had a real increase in the dole since 1994. Pensions and unemployment benefits fall well below the poverty line. Childcare is unaffordable, as is housing. Electricity is burning a hole in household budgets. The gender wage gap is still showing no sign of narrowing.

A re-elected Coalition government will restore individual, employer-dictated work contracts; deny union officials right of entry and the right to organise; abolish the minimum wage and penalty rates, gut Awards and EBAs; outlaw all industrial action and pickets; privatise Medicare and cut funding to public education and hospitals; cut taxes for big business and the rich; cut social security payments, age pension and funding for NDIS; increase military spending and join US in new wars; continue to exacerbate climate change.

We must Change the Rules and Change the Government. The May 18 elections are our opportunity to change the government. With a new government, new rules will only be won if the campaign continues and builds outside Parliament.

For a better future

The Communist Party of Australia calls on the new government to:

Fully restore penalty rates, increase minimum wage by $50 a week and support union-negotiated Industry agreements

Abolish labour hire arrangements and put workers currently employed through labour hire and the gig economy on company books

Close the pay gender gap

Abolish the ABCC

Restore the right of entry, the right to organise and recruit

Protect the Right to strike by law without complex ballot systems

Create jobs with a shorter working week with no loss of pay and investment in public infrastructure

Divert the war budget to fund social needs such as public housing, health, education and transport

Make bulk billing of Medicare dental care universally available

Fully fund public schools and phase out funding to private schools

Abolish university and TAFE fees and fully fund them

Nationalise the energy sector and regulate electricity prices

Replace coal-fired power stations with renewable energy generation.

May Day is also a day of international solidarity where workers express their solidarity for their brothers and sisters and trade unions around the world in their struggles.

We all belong to the working class and are all fighting the same enemy: capitalism at its imperialist stage.

Workers of the world, unite!
Editorial

The wealth belongs to those who produce it!

The World Federation of Trade Unions, on the behalf of its 97 million members in 130 countries of the five continents, greets the celebration of the International Workers Day 2019 with the slogan: The wealth belongs to those who produce it!

We greet workers throughout the globe, and their irreplaceable role in the production of all goods and services, necessary to cover all contemporary needs of the peoples internationally. We honour the history of the world working class, the great struggle of workers in Chicago in May 1886, who fought and achieved the establishment of the 8-hour working day, even by sacrificing their life.

The class-oriented trade union movement, through the ranks of the World Federation of Trade Unions, firmly continues its struggles with demands for the essential improvement of the working and living conditions of workers and poor popular strata.

Nowadays, when one percent of the population possesses more than 80 percent of the produced wealth, while 4.5 billion people live in poverty and misery, workers must claim even more dynamically all the wealth we create, so as to put an end to the injustice and inequalities!

In the countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, monopolies exploit their immense natural wealth, giving peanuts to the peoples. The rivalries among the powerful imperialist states maintain tensions, outbreaks of war and open wounds in countries where interventions, wars and bombings have taken place in the previous years, where crowds of uprooted peoples, of migrants and refugees, were created.

Even in the so-called developed countries, the attack against salaries and pensions, against historic achievements of workers, is taking place in the name of the capitalist economic crisis, for the support of the profitability of big businesses. Poverty, unemployment, insecurity are on the rise, healthcare services have deteriorated, governments try to limit the action of the militant trade union movement with fierce repression, by putting obstacles to trade union actions, to the right to strike.

The World Federation of Trade Unions calls on its members, friends, workers of the world, to hoist the flag of historic struggles of the peoples and to organise May Days strike for one more year, in a way worthy of the day when the world working class celebrates.

With massive, dynamic strike mobilisations everywhere, under the banners and slogans of WFTU, which express class unity and internationalist solidarity. With demands for full-time stable work for all, salary and pension rises, free and high quality health and education services for workers and their families. In defence of the rights of youth and women of the working class.

For peace, for the end of foreign interventions in internal affairs of countries. For the right of the peoples to decide on their own about their present and future.

For the end of racism, fascism, xenophobia, which are promoted by capitalist exploitation. For the unity of all workers. For the end of imperialist wars, waged for the interests of a minority who exploit the toil of workers and bathe the peoples in blood.

For the end of capitalist exploitation, for a society with true justice and equality, where the wealth will belong to those who produce it, to workers, who are the driving force of all progress and achievements of humanity.

Since the first moment of its foundation and for the 74 years of its course and action, the WFTU stands firmly by the side of the workers around the globe. On the occasion of May Day 2019, expresses once more its solidarity to the peoples of Venezuela, Cuba, Palestine, Syria, Yemen and Libya.

We will steadily continue our struggles, aiming to make them stronger through new initiatives, activities and mobilisations! With internationalism and solidarity.

Lets continue our efforts for the strengthening of the militant trade unions with many new members, with young people and women, with the enhancement of class characteristics and of the class unity of all workers.

Long live the International Workers Day!

The wealth belongs to those who produce it!

World Federation of Trade Unions
SALEM  A $1 billion-per-year tax plan to boost education cleared a major procedural hurdle in the Capitol Monday  and it got a big political boost in the process.

The legislation, House Bill 3427, goes to the House following Monday evenings party-line vote in the Joint Student Success Committee.

The milestone follows more than a year of work by the committee to seek ways to improve local schools and find the money to do so. The bipartisan group of lawmakers visited school districts across Oregon, hearing from students, parents, teachers, administrators and support staff.

Among the goals of the new spending is to increase the number of students graduating from high school and improving reading in elementary schools throughout Oregons 197 school districts, which serve about 580,000 students.

Jim Green, executive director of the Oregon School Boards Association, said the Student Success Act has drawn more interest than any education-related bill he can recall since the early 1990s, when the state pushed smaller districts to unify.

This is a huge investment, he said.

Oregon schools are among the worst performing in the nation, data collected by the U.S. Department of Education indicates.

Within the continental United States, only New Mexico and Washington, D.C., graduate a smaller percentage of their high school students on time. Oregon also ranks poorly in school attendance and instructional time.

State Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, spent about three decades working at Marshfield High School, first as a math teacher and later as a principal.

I watched the slow erosion of the opportunities that kids have, from the time I started back in the early 1970s to the time when I left in 2005, said Roblan, who co-chaired the Student Success Committee. Even after that, weve had population growth. Weve had less money available for schools. So the things that were just common-sense offerings before have gone away. The class sizes have gotten bigger.

The state currently allocates $8.2 billion in the 2017-2019 budget to the state school fund, which pays school districts on a per-student basis. A state commission said last year that amount should be closer to $10.7 billion in the 2019-2021 budget to pay for a quality education model.

Instead of just adding to the school fund, however, the Student Success Act sets up what it calls student investment grants. The idea is to provide money for school districts across the state that show they will spend it on certain needs that committee members identified as important.

Roblan and Rep. Barbara Smith Warner, D-Portland, the committee's other co-chair, said one of the biggest priorities they heard during their tour of the state was behavioral health. School districts that receive student investment grants are expected to put part of that money toward meeting those health needs, as well as toward academics.

Student investment grants could be used to improve health and safety in schools, a broad category that encompasses behavioral health. Aging schools with health hazards  asbestos, for instance  could also use state money to upgrade their facilities.

Increasing instructional time is another allowable use of grant money. That could mean longer school hours, more school days or summer classes, to name a few.

Many school districts are struggling with large class sizes, which have swollen into the 40s at some schools due to budget cuts. Districts could use grants to reduce class sizes, such as by adding instructional assistants to alleviate teachers' workloads.

The act also provides more money for arts and music classes, physical education, life skills courses, college preparation, and career and technical education, among other well-rounded learning experiences.

To get an award, districts and state officials would have to agree on how the money would be used and measure its effectiveness.

We're giving school districts a lot of latitude on how they want to spend that, Roblan said.

Smith Warner said the state takes the blame when schools underperform, she noted, and she wants to ensure that the new money goes where it's most needed.

We are held accountable, to some extent, for what the districts are doing, said Smith Warner, the Student Success Committees co-chair. We're trying to find a middle ground between, 'Here, just spend this all how you see fit'  and, 'Everybody have your class sizes that are this, everybody have these instructional hours, everybody have the same seven classes that are this.'

In extreme cases, a limited number of school districts where students are lagging behind the rest of the state could participate in a four-year intensive program. They would get more money and advice from experts on how to spend it. They would have to follow those recommendations and report progress.

Smith Warner prefers the targeted approach over putting more money into the state school fund.

We actually have very little ability to tell those school districts how to spend that state school fund money, she said, adding, The idea is that we want to do a version of 'outcome funding.'

Christy Perry, superintendent of the Salem-Keizer School District, said the accountability mechanisms seem reasonable for school districts.

If it really helps the Legislature feel like they can invest in education, its worth it, she said.

The infusion of money would also provide full funding for Ballot Measure 98, which voters approved in 2016 to expand career and technical education at high schools. Oregon has faced criticism for not meeting the voter-approved level of $800 per high school student since the measures passage.

The bill requires the Oregon Department of Education to fund the measure at the prescribed level.

Morgan Allen, deputy director of policy and advocacy for the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators, said Measure 98 funding would be especially helpful in smaller districts.

Its a little bit harder sometimes in smaller districts, because the welding equipment costs the same and the economies of scale are hard to achieve, he said.

Other initiatives include supporting local programs to reengage high school dropouts, keep students on track to graduate, and counter harassment and bullying in schools.

The Student Success Act also allocates about one-fifth of the new money to early learning programs, such as preschool, pre-kindergarten, and special programs for developmentally and behaviorally challenged children.

Brown had pressed legislators to also find money for community colleges and financial aid, but she backed off that demand last week, saying she will focus on the budget process instead. The Legislature is tasked with producing a 2019-2021 budget by the end of June.

I will continue to fight to make sure that  there are adequate resources for my priorities of ensuring that higher education is affordable and accessible to Oregonians, Brown said.

The education package is fueled by a corporate activity tax. The tax would be levied on businesses with sales of at least $1 million per year in Oregon. Businesses would have to pay 0.57% of their gross receipts over $1 million to the state, although they would be able to deduct up to 35% of their labor or production costs, whichever is highest.

In a surprise development, a major business lobby that had criticized the gross-receipts tax proposal declared it would be neutral before Mondays committee vote.

Sandra McDonough, president and chief executive officer of Oregon Business & Industry, said the group shares the committees goals and wont fight the tax proposal.

We feel comfortable with the direction that this conversation is going, McDonough told committee members.

To dampen the impact on consumers, legislators exempted grocery and fuel from the new tax.

Many individual taxpayers would get a break as well. The personal income tax rate for all but the top bracket would be trimmed by a quarter-percent under the plan.

For Roblan, the Student Success Act represents something of a crowning achievement.

I believe this is the 30-year-late response to Measure 5, Roblan said.

Voters approved Ballot Measure 5 in 1990, slashing the amount of money that school districts get from property taxes in Oregon. The Legislature was expected to come up with another funding source, Roblan said, but it didnt  until now.

Its time to live up to that commitment, Roblan said.

Because it raises taxes, the bill needs at least 36 out of 60 House members to approve for it to pass. Democrats have 38 seats. It faces a sterner test in the Senate, where Democrats hold 18 seats and will need 18 senators to pass the bill.

None of the Student Success Committee's Republican members, including its vice chairs, Rep. Greg Smith of Heppner and Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend, voted for the Student Success Act on Monday.

Reps. Cheri Helt, R-Bend, and Sherrie Sprenger, R-Scio, said they support investing in education but have serious concerns about how businesses will be taxed to pay for the new tax. Sens. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, and Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River, also voted no.

Roblan and Smith Warner were joined in support by eight Democrats: Reps. Brian Clem of Salem, Julie Fahey of Eugene, Diego Hernandez of Portland, John Lively of Springfield and Nancy Nathanson of Eugene, and Sens. Lew Frederick of Portland, Mark Hass of Beaverton and Kathleen Taylor of Milwaukie.

Reporter Mark Miller is a reporter for Pamplin Media Group. Rachel Alexander works for Salem Reporter. The Oregon Capital Bureau is a collaboration of EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group and Salem Reporter. Reporter Rachel Alexander: rachel@salemreporter.com.

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An Albany man accused of attempted murder has been charged in a separate case with an assault involving a weapon.

Christopher Ardien Anderson, 27, was arraigned in Linn County Circuit Court on a charge of second-degree assault on Tuesday afternoon.

Judge David Deslman set his bail in the new case at $50,000, the minimum required by statute for such a serious offense.

According to the charging document, the crime allegedly occurred on Jan. 27, and a male was the victim of the crime. The deadly or dangerous weapon was not specified on the charging document.

The Albany Police Department was the investigating agency, according to Oregon's online court database.

A probable cause affidavit wasn't immediately available after Tuesday's court hearing.

The next hearing in Andersons cases was scheduled for May 6.

Second-degree assault is a Measure 11 crime that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of nearly six years in prison.

Earlier in April, Anderson was accused of attempted murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree assault and first-degree burglary for an incident that occurred on Feb. 2 in the 1000 block of 18th Avenue Southeast in Albany.

An Albany man was shot in the neck during the home invasion robbery.

Delsman set Andersons bail at $250,000 in that matter.

In mid-February, co-defendant Duane Strader, 54, was charged with attempted murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and tampering with physical evidence.

Authorities have identified a third suspect in the case.

Kyle Odegard can be reached at kyle.odegard@lee.net, 541-812-6077 or via Twitter @KyleOdegard.

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The Corvallis School Board has four open positions open in the May 21 election, and only one candidate registered for each position. Each position is for a four-year term on the board.

Two of the candidates are current school board members running for reelection, Sarah Finger McDonald, elected to the board in 2017 and Terese Jones, who was appointed to the board in 2017. Two new candidates, Brandy Fortson and Tina Baker, are also running.

Below is an overview about the candidates:

Position 2

Name: Tina Baker

Occupation: Parent, community volunteer

Age: 44

Q: What you would like to accomplish on the board?

A: I am a lifelong Corvallis resident. My two grown children attended Corvallis schools and my youngest is currently in middle school. As a parent I have advocated for accessible classrooms, programs and extracurricular activities. I am committed to our community and the families in our district. I believe families deserve equitable solutions to the challenges of today.

This is why I am in support of access to mental health services, equity and accessibility, and sustainable practices.

Over the next four years I would like to address:

 The need for mental health support within the Corvallis School District. By investing in our childrens mental health, we will also be supporting our teachers, staff, and families.

 Identifying and implementing equitable solutions to issues like accessibility while collaboratively working towards addressing systemic barriers that many of our students and their families face.

 Ensure ways the district can increase sustainable practices, both in terms of our environment as well as our budgets.

Position 3

Name: Terese Jones

Occupation: Faculty at Linn-Benton Community College and a doctoral student at Oregon State University, studying human development and family sciences.

Age: 40

Q: What you would like to accomplish on the board?

A: It is a privilege to serve this community, where student learning is highly valued and widely supported.

My interest in serving on the school board is guided by my desire for every child to have a viable and attainable pathway to healthy and thriving development that support their ability to see and strive toward their best self.

As a member of the Corvallis school board, I am working to create a district that moves beyond closing the opportunity gap toward closing the outcomes gap. It is not enough to ensure opportunities if we do not also ensure that the barriers to opportunities are deconstructed through a deliberate and mindful approach.

In the next four years, my primary interest is to see our district further the commitment to health and equity in all approaches to policy and administrative regulations, so that every policy and practice may answer directly, "How will this support healthy and thriving development for all of our students?"

I look forward to continuing this work alongside the many in Corvallis who share a desire to keep striving to realize our community's best self.

Position 6

Name: Brandy Fortson

Occupation: Precinct committee person for Benton County Democrats and co-chair/event planner for Heart of the Valley Democratic Socialists of America

Age: 32

Q: What you would like to accomplish on the board?

A: Im Brandy Fortson and I am running for CSD 509J Position #6. Im a queer nonbinary person and Im so honored to bring this representation to the school board. Over the next four years I hope to see the Corvallis School District accomplish the following tasks:

 Implementing comprehensive and inclusive LBGTQ+ sexual education, including harm reduction and healthy relationships into our high school curriculum.

 Requiring districtwide education on utilizing proper pronouns and how that is beneficial for students' mental health, graduation and test score increases.

 Continuing to advocate and push for equity in all our school districts programs, policies, and teaching practices. In addition to pushing for equitable learning environments regardless of the socioeconomic location of the schools.

By advocating for growth and change within our school system we here in Corvallis can create an environment not only where our children attend school but where they thrive.

Position 7

Name: Sarah Finger McDonald

Occupation: Academic adviser, Oregon State University

Age: 47

Q: What you would like to accomplish on the board?

A: Our schools should be a place where all kids and families belong and thrive.

I have a lot of hope for our school district. We are headed in a good direction but we still have work to do. A year ago, voters approved a bond to fund school improvements. I want to make sure the voters' money is used responsibly and the projects are completed successfully.

Our board has set goals for the district around student achievement, equitable systems, real world learning, and health and wellness. I want to continue serving on the Corvallis School Board to work to achieve those goals.

Having strong public schools is good for kids and good for our community. I am running for a second term on the school board to be part of the essential job of educating our future voters, workers, and decision-makers.

Anthony Rimel covers weekend events, education, courts and crime and can be reached at anthony.rimel@lee.net, 541-758-9526, or via Twitter @anthonyrimel.

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Indigenous voices slam Budget

Last months Federal Budget has been slammed by Indigenous organisations but it did include one welcome surprise: $7.3 million to pursue a First Nations Voice to Parliament. Late last year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, incorrectly characterising it as nothing more than a third chamber of power.

However, a bipartisan committee later urged the government to kick-start a co-design process with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Budget papers said the government remains committed to the process of constitutional recognition for Indigenous people, and will conduct a referendum once a model has been settled.

The Prime Minister said the Indigenous voice  which was recommended by about 300 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives at Uluru in 2017, along with a makarrata, truth-telling commission and a framework towards treaty  was important.

But what remains even more important, to be honest, is the package we announced the other night, he said, referring to federal funding for youth mental health and suicide prevention.

Youth suicide is reaching devastatingly into remote Indigenous communities, he said.

If you ask me what my number one priority is for Indigenous Australians, I want to do everything I can to ensure that young Indigenous Australians dont take their own lives. Thats my priority for Indigenous Australians, and Im very certain that would be the priority of Indigenous parents for their children.

Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) director Professor Pat Dudgeon and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership in Mental Health (NATSILMH) chair Tom Brideson cautiously welcomed the mental health and suicide prevention Budget announcements but said they needed more detail.

$15 million Indigenous specific funding in a $461 million youth mental health and suicide prevention package, within a $736 mental health package, is not enough to meet our needs, Brideson said. Indigenous people comprise three percent of the population and have about double the suicide prevention needs, and three times the mental health needs, of other Australians.

In terms of equity, we estimate about nine percent of the total package, about $70 million, should be dedicated Indigenous expenditure. While this may seem a significant amount, it should not be forgotten that the bulk of Indigenous mental ill-health is preventable with access to primary mental health care, and yet the social costs of untreated Indigenous mental health difficulties are likely to run into the billions.

In fact, a long-called-for reinvestment funding approach to our mental health, particularly justice reinvestment, should eventually enable the Australian government to make savings in many areas as well as making a big contribution to Closing the Gap and Indigenous wellbeing.

This is particularly in relation to the enormous cost of imprisoning over 13,000 Indigenous people, many of whom are in prison because of untreated mental health and related issues.

The National Congress of Australias First People criticised the Budget for lacking concrete measures in areas of high importance for First Peoples and said they were disappointed by the continued rollout of cashless debit card trials.

Congress co-chair Jackie Huggins said the $128.8 million spent on the trials over the next four years would be better used to fund vital health, education and support services.

No increase to Newstart means recipients will continue to bear the enormous financial and emotional stress of not knowing if they will have enough for the bare necessities each week, she said. Planned tax cuts have little impact on the disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are low income earners.

There have been no changes to the Community Development Program; participants continue to work below minimum wage, and are in constant fear of being subject to harsh penalties for even minor breaches of program requirements. Money allocated under the Indigenous Advancement Strategy continues to be wasted on culturally inappropriate and ineffective services, while our organisations are forced to shut down due to lack of funding.

SNAICC (the peak body for Indigenous children) chair Muriel Bamblett said First Nations children were again ignored in the Budget.

Its incredibly difficult to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children mentioned at all in this Budget, she said. Some of our children are the most vulnerable children in the country, and they face barriers that dont exist for other children. This Budget shows the absence of a long-term strategy or investment in our children.

Legal and justice organisations condemned the federal governments plan to change funding for Indigenous legal services, amid fears it could lead to even more shutdowns or amalgamations of stand-alone Indigenous bodies.

And the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) chief executive Pat Turner said she was disappointed at the lack of funding for Indigenous health services.

The Koori Mail
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Statement

The Cuban Revolution and Solidarity

April 17 is the anniversary of the launching of the United States 1961 military invasion at Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs). The Cuban peoples resolute response in defence of the Revolution and socialism, within only 72 hours, produced the first military defeat of imperialism in America.

Strangely, the date was chosen by the current US government to announce new aggressive measures against Cuba and to reinforce their implementation of the Monroe Doctrine.

The Revolutionary Government rejects, in the strongest terms possible, the decision to now allow action to be taken in US courts against Cuban and foreign entities, and to aggravate impediments to entering the United States faced by leaders and families of companies that legitimately invest in Cuba, in properties that were nationalised. These are actions established in the Helms-Burton Act which was denounced long ago by the international community, and which the Cuban nation has repudiated since its promulgation and implementation in 1996, with the fundamental goal of imposing colonial tutelage on our country.

We repudiate, as well, the decision to reinstate limits on remittances that Cuban residents in the US send to their families and friends, to further restrict travel by US citizens to Cuba, and impose additional financial sanctions.

We strongly denounce references that attacks against US diplomats have occurred in Cuba.

They attempt to justify their actions, as is customary, with lies and coercion.

Army General Raul Castro stated this past April 10: Cuba is blamed for all evils, using lies in the worst style of Hitlers propaganda.

The US government resorts to slander, to cover up and justify the obvious failure of its sinister coup manoeuvre, designating in Washington an impostor President for Venezuela.

They accuse Cuba of being responsible for the strength and determination shown by the Bolivarian Chavista government, the countrys people, and the civic-military union defending their nations sovereignty. They lie shamelessly, alleging that Cuba has thousands of military and security troops in Venezuela, wielding influence, and determining what happens in this sister country.

They have the cynicism to blame Cuba for the economic and social situation Venezuela is facing  after years of brutal economic sanctions, conceived and implemented by the United States and their allies  to economically asphyxiate the country and cause suffering within the population.

Washington goes so far as to pressure governments in other countries to attempt to persuade Cuba to withdraw this unlikely supposed military and security aid, and even to stop lending support and solidarity to Venezuela.

The current US government is well-known, within the country itself and internationally, for its unscrupulous use of lies as a tool in domestic and foreign policy. This is an old habit among imperialisms practices.

The images are still fresh of President George W Bush indecently lying about supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a lie that served as the pretext to invade this Middle Eastern country.

Recorded in history, as well, are the bombing of the Maine anchored in Havana, and the self-inflicted Gulf of Tonkin incident, episodes that served as pretexts to unleash brutal wars in Cuba and Vietnam.

We cannot forget that the United States used fake insignia painted on the planes that carried out bombings here as a prelude to the Playa Giron invasion, to hide the fact that they were US aircraft.

It should be clear that the US slanders are based on lies. Their intelligence agencies have more than enough evidence, surely more than any other state, to know that Cuba has no troops in Venezuela, and does not participate in military or security operations, even though it is the sovereign right of independent countries to determine how they cooperate in the area of defence, which is not a US prerogative to question.

Those making this accusation have more than 250,000 soldiers and 800 military bases abroad, some of them in our hemisphere.

This government also knows, as Cuba has repeatedly stated publicly, that the more than 20,000 Cuban collaborators, more than 60 percent women, are undertaking in this South American country the same work currently being done by another 11,000 professionals from our country in 83 nations; contributing to the provision of social basic services, fundamentally in healthcare, which has been recognised by the international community.

It should also be absolutely clear that our firm solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is Cubas right as a sovereign state, and also a duty that is part of our tradition and among the irrevocable principles of the Cuban Revolutions foreign policy.

No threat of reprisal against Cuba, no ultimatum or pressure on the part of the current US government will dissuade the Cuban nations internationalist vocation, despite the devastating human and economic damage caused by the genocidal blockade to our people.

It is worth remembering that thuggish threats and ultimatums have been used in the past, when Cubas internationalists supported liberation movements in Africa, while the United States supported the opprobrious apartheid regime in South Africa. Cuba was expected to renounce its solidarity commitments with the peoples of Africa in exchange for a promise of forgiveness, as if the Revolution needed to be pardoned by imperialism.

At that time, Cuba rejected the pressure, as we reject it today, with the greatest disdain.

Raul Castro recalled this past April 10: Over 60 years, facing aggression and threats, Cubans have shown the iron will to resist and overcome the most difficult circumstances. Despite its immense power, imperialism does not possess the capacity to break the dignity of a united people, proud of its history and of the freedom conquered with so much sacrifice.

The Cuban government calls on all members of the international community and US citizens to put an end to this irrational escalation and the hostile, aggressive policy of the Donald Trump government. Member states of the United Nations rightly demand, year after year, almost unanimously, an end to this economic war. The peoples and governments of our region must ensure that the principles of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace prevail, for the benefit of all.

The President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, declared on April 13, Cuba continues to have confidence in its strengths, its dignity, and also in the strength and dignity of other sovereign, independent nations. But Cuba also continues to believe in the people of the United States, the homeland of Lincoln, who are ashamed of those who act beyond the boundaries of universal law, in the name of the entire nation.

Once again, Cuba repudiates the lies and the threats, and reiterates that its sovereignty, independence, and commitment to the cause of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, are not negotiable.

Two days before the commemoration of the 58th anniversary of the victory at Playa Giron, a historic site within our national territory, where mercenary forces backed by imperialism tasted the dust of defeat, the Cuban Revolution reiterates its resolute determination to confront the aggressive escalation of the United States, and prevail.

Havana, April 17, 2019
Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL expected to launch in India on May 8 News oi-Karan Sharma Flipkart has teased a new page which indicates that Google Pixel 3a and 3a XL are going to unveil on May 8. All you need to know about the new pixel smartphones.

There are many rumors already about Google's upcoming Pixel smartphone which is going to be Google's mid-range phone. The smartphone was also accidentally teased as Pixel 3a by the company itself on its official store along with that the company has also released a teaser on its website which claims that 'Something big is coming to the Pixel Universe. Now Indian e-commerce website has teased the same teaser today indicating that Pixel 3a and 3a XL might be going to launch in India on May 8, 2019.

The e-commerce giant has posted a teaser on the home page which reads 'Losing sight after twilight'. The teaser suggests that the upcoming Pixel 3a/3a XL will arrive with low light camera capabilities. Along with that the teaser page also says 'Help is on the way. Something big is coming to the Pixel universe on 8th May.

The Flipkart teaser has confirmed that India is going to witness the launch of Pixel 3a/3aXL on May 8 and it will be made available for sale via Flipkart.

According to earlier rumors, the Pixel 3a is expected to arrive with a 5.6-inch OLED display with an aspect ratio 18:5:9. Under the hood, the smartphone is said to powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 670 Octa-core SoC.

On the other side, the Pixel 3a XL is expected to come with 6-inch FHD+ OLED display with an aspect ratio of 18:5:9. The smartphone will be backed by a Snapdragon 710 SoC, clubbed with 4GB of RAM and 32/64GB of storage.

On the optical front, Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL are expected to sport 12.2-megapixel rear camera with and LED flash and an 8-megapixel front camera sensor for selfies and video calls. Let's see what we are going to get on May 8 launch.

Source

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Samsung Galaxy S10 variants and OnePlus 6/6T receives Microsoft phone screen-mirroring support News oi-Rohit Arora The support for new phones and Notifications feature is added in the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build 18885 (20H1).

Microsoft's ambitious phone screen mirroring app has received a new update under the company's latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build 18885 (20H1). With the new update, Microsoft has added some of the most recent smartphones to the list of handsets that now support real-time screen mirroring on Windows 10 PCs. The new additions in the list are- OnePlus 6, OnePlus 6T, Samsung Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy Note 9.

Microsoft's blogs explain that the new preview allows you to:

 See incoming phone notifications in real-time

 View all of your phone notifications in one place

 Customize which notifications you want to receive

 Clear notifications individually or all at once

As per Microsoft, the feature will gradually roll out to Insiders on 19H1 builds. The tech giant also informed that it may take a few days for this feature to show up inside the Your Phone app. You can use the Your Phone app on any Windows 10 PC running Windows builds 1803 (RS4) or newer and most Android phones running Android version 7.0 or newer.

With the new Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18885 (20H1), Microsoft also added support of 'Notifications' to Your Phone app.

The configuration requirement for Notifications feature is as follows:

1. Android devices version 7.0 and greater with at least 1GB of RAM.

2. Windows 10 PC running Windows builds 1803 (RS4) or newer.

3. Not supported on devices that have Notification Access disabled by work or other policy.

Microsoft has also listed some issues in its blog related to new updates. Microsoft's blog reads that some notifications may not appear automatically. Users should press refresh to see an updated list of notifications. Besides, Notification responses are not supported.

Notably, you need to install the Microsoft's Your Phone app on your Android phone to screen mirror in real-time on a Windows 10 machine. Post setup, you can have instant access to everything on your phone, right on your PC.

For instance, you can access phone's text messages on your PC and can also access all your images on Windows PC which are stored in your phone's gallery. Additionally, you can also sync files between your Android phone and Windows PC with the real-time screen mirroring app from Microsoft. Importantly, if you have joined the Microsoft Windows Insider program, you will have access to some extra features.

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CPA statement on May Day 2019

The Communist Party of Australia congratulates workers who have taken militant strike action in Sydney and in cities around the world to celebrate May Day, the international workers day.

May 1st is our day to celebrate the unity of workers of the world, their commitment to internationalism and class struggle. This is an outstanding display of class solidarity in opposition to the attacks of the capitalist system, governments and employers on working people which has resulted in a downward spiral of living standards.

The actions of the Sydney Unions is a militant return of May Day to its class conscious roots of struggle against employers and governments that support capital.

Workers are taking to the streets demanding that the rules have to change so that the Australian working class have the right to strike and to broaden bargaining rights across industries so they can break away from shackles placed on the organised working class by enterprise agreements.

CPA General Secretary Andrew Irving said, The CPA supports the Change the Rules campaign and believes its demands should be sharpened to highlight the main issues such as the right to strike, to allow solidarity between workers in different industries and supply-chain bargaining. We strongly support the action of workers to strike on May Day as part of a campaign to achieve these demands. The CPA is participating and gives its full solidarity.

The Communist Party of Australia congratulates the leaderships of the MUA, CFMEU Construction for taking this initiative and for the participation of the AMWU and ETU. The CPA also welcomes the support of student climate strike representatives for the May 1 Sydney actions noting that the broadest movement is required in the struggle against the capitalist system.

CPA President Vinnie Molina has been invited by the Cuban Workers Central, CTC to share the celebration of May Day with Cuban Workers in Havana.

Comrade Molina said, It is an opportunity to stand with the Cuban workers, their unions and government against the US blockade and implementation of the Helms-Burton Act. This is unacceptable intimidation of the Cuban people and the world must condemn the Trump administrations decision to strengthen the US blockade of Cuba and Venezuela.

The CPA stands in solidarity with Cuban and Venezuela Workers and condemns the inhumane blockade of both Cuba and Venezuela. We support and seek worker solidarity with President Nicolas Maduro and those in Venezuela who despite the threats are building the Bolivarian revolution.

The Communist Party of Australia sends its solidarity greetings to all Australian workers, to all our fraternal Communist and Workers Parties internationally and all workers and oppressed peoples in struggle for their rights, liberation and real change wherever they may be.

Long Live May Day!

Long Live Internationalism!

Long Live Peace and Socialism!
Vodafone denies 'backdoors' in Huawei products in Italy

Global Times

By Chen Qingqing Source:Global Times Published: 2019/4/30 18:55:40

Telecom company Huawei was made aware of historical vulnerabilities in 2011 and 2012, which had been addressed at the time, the company told the Global Times on Tuesday in response to the latest reports that the European carrier allegedly found backdoors in the Chinese company's products.

"The issues in Italy identified in the Bloomberg story were all resolved and date back to 2011 and 2012," Vodafone said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Tuesday.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Vodafone, the largest carrier in Europe, found vulnerabilities in Huawei's products in Italy, and identified hidden back-doors in the software that could have given Huawei un-authorized access to the carrier's fixed-line network there, according to the carrier's documents from 2009 to 2011.

"Software vulnerabilities are an industrywide challenge, and Huawei has a well established public notifi-cation and patching process to tackle the issue," the company's spokesperson told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Telecoms network security has been under the spot-light as the US government has been accusing Huawei, which is also a major player in global 5G roll-outs, of establishing backdoors in its equipment to gather intel-ligence for the Chinese company.

Senior executives of the Shenzhen-based firm, includ-ing Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, have repeatedly de-nied the claim, and reiterated that the company would never allow any backdoors.

The "backdoor" that Bloomberg refers to is Telnet, which is a protocol commonly used by many vendors in the industry to perform diagnostic functions. It would not have been accessible from the internet, Vodafone's statement said.

And it is also incorrect to say that this "could have giv-en Huawei unauthorized access to the carrier's fixed-line network in Italy," Vodafone added.

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UK may defy US warnings on Huawei cooperation: UN envoy

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 09:56AM

UK Ambassador to the United Nations Karen Pierce says her country may continue cooperation with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei despite security warnings by the United States.

Speaking at Bloomberg's headquarters in New York on Monday, Pierce said while London understood Washington's concerns, it was still going to involve Huawei in developing Britain's 5G network as long as it deemed the cooperation safe.

"We will not take a decision that would compromise British national security," Pierce said. "There are some issues where we don't wholly share the analysis of the US, much as we share the same strategic policy."

The administration of US President Donald Trump accuses Huawei of spying and has sought to persuade the UK and the rest of its allies to avoid contracting the 5G tech pioneer from building their next-generation telecommunications networks.

American officials charge that components made by the Chinese company could double-function as spying devices for Beijing, a claim that Chinese officials have denied.

Having failed to convince allies to join the push against Huawei, Washington has ramped up the threats.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said earlier this month that Americans might stop intelligence-sharing operations with NATO allies in case they use Chinese technology in their communications systems.

"We've made clear that if the risk exceeds the threshold for the United States, we simply won't be able to share that information any longer," Pompeo told reporters after meeting NATO counterparts in Washington earlier this month.

Ignoring the threats, however, British Prime Minister Theresa May decided recently to allow Huawei to build some parts of the country's 5G network.

May's critics have demanded a rethink of the decision, saying allies like the US and Australia have banned the Chinese company from similar plans.

Pierce said that any decision in this regard will be "evidence-based."

"There will be a proper review of the 5G network and the requirements to work out whether a line can sensibly be drawn in this case," the envoy said.

The dispute can undermine the intelligence alliance known as the Five Eyes, which includes the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

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Vodafone Confirms It Found Security Vulnerabilities in Huawei Equipment

Sputnik News

15:16 30.04.2019

The Chinese tech giant has been fighting off US espionage allegations, as Washington is trying to dissuade its allies across the world against using Huawei in developing the next-generation 5G network. The reputation of the Chinese firm has been challenged yet again after revelations by a European telecommunications giant.

Vodafone Group Plc has confirmed to Bloomberg that it discovered hidden backdoors in the software of Huawei's equipment, supplied to their Italian branch, almost years ago. The vulnerabilities in the system allowed unauthorised access to Vodafone's fixed-line network that provided Italians with the internet, the American outlet reports, citing the London-based company's security briefing and insiders.

According to Bloomberg, in 2011 and 2012, vulnerabilities were discovered in home internet routers, optical service nodes, transporting traffic over optical fibers, and broadband network gateways, responsible for subscriber authentication and access to the web. Like is often the case with such backdoors, there was reportedly a risk that third-party actors could access Vodafone's customers' personal computers.

Vodafone stated to Bloomberg that when these vulnerabilities in routers and broadband network gateways were discovered, they resolved the issue with Huawei. The company also indicated that no evidence of any data breach or historical vulnerabilities in equipment installed beyond Italy had been found.

"In the telecoms industry it is not uncommon for vulnerabilities in equipment from suppliers to be identified by operators and other third parties", the company said.

For its part, Huawei has claimed in a statement that the historical vulnerabilities were addressed after the company was informed about it at the time.

However, the US news agency reported, citing people close to the situation that these backdoors were not eliminated after 2012. According to these insiders, the London-based telecommunication giant stuck with the Chinese firm for its competitive prices. The flawed equipment was allegedly used in the UK, Germany, Spain, and Portugal.

Additionally, the cited documents suggested that even after Vodafone informed Huawei about the discovered failures and received assurances they were removed, further testing showed it had not been fixed. In the end, Huawei refused to fully remove the source of the problem, saying it needed the telnet service for "quality" purposes. It offered to disable the code after configuring device information and conducting tests on Wi-Fi.

After sticking for years with Huawei despite the reported concerns over cybersecurity, the UK telecommunications conglomerate announced in January that it had suspended the use of equipment manufactured by Huawei in its core networks in Europe. The company's CEO Nick Read cited an "unhealthy level of noise" around Huawei as the reason for the move but added that Vodafone would still continue to purchase Huawei equipment to build its 4G and 5G networks.

Huawei has recently faced allegations that it is linked to the Chinese government and even involved in espionage on its behalf, something that the company has vehemently denied. The US has been pushing for the European Union to ban the Chinese company from its broadband network.

Some US allies have complied, as apart from the US, New Zealand and Australia have already banned Huawei from developing their 5G networks, citing security threats. But some, including the UK, India, and the United Arab Emirates have been reluctant to follow suit, the latest reports suggest. Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain have resisted the pressure so far.

 Sputnik

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East Africa Response Force support potential unrest near Congo

By U.S. Africa Command, staff writer April 30, 2019

DJIBOUTI -- A crisis on a continent as large, diverse and complex as Africa requires a robust whole of government approach where the Department of Defense and Department of State work together to quickly provide for the safety of American citizens and facilities. A key component of this response rests in the East Africa Response Force, located at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.

The EARF, under the command and control of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, provides a combat-ready rapid deployment capability to support crises operations in the U.S. Africa Command Area of Responsibility.

It demonstrated its rapid response capabilities, Jan. 2, 2019, when President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of the EARF to Libreville, Gabon, in support of potential unrest in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Their mission was to "be in a position to support the security of the United States citizens, personnel, and diplomatic facilities in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)," in a notification to Congress signed by the President of the United States.

Reports of possible violence and unrest in the DRC by the delay of scheduled presidential elections there, resulted in the deployment of the EARF shortly after receiving orders to mobilize.

"With 53 countries and more than 50 U.S. embassies and consulates, ensuring an ability to quickly respond to any challenge is a top priority and one we take very seriously," said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. William West, AFRICOM deputy director of operations. "Through our relationships, talented professionals, and constant coordination and communication with our African partners, we remain committed to ensuring the safety and security of U.S. personnel and citizens while achieving mission objectives on the continent."

The EARF deployment was part of an AFRICOM- and DoS-coordinated response-planning process known as New Normal where planners across both agencies work together to ensure crisis response efforts are fully coordinated. The New Normal construct is composed of several areas of planning, security and whole-of-government communication.

To coordinate and centralize planning efforts during crises, AFRICOM establishes interagency teams, also known as Operational Planning Teams. The OPTs include representatives from AFRICOM, DoS, the FBI and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

For the 2019 elections in DRC, AFRICOM convened an OPT to plan for the timeliness of execution to send a security team to the embassy and tasked CJTF-HOA to reduce the flight response time from Djibouti to Kinshasa.

"We prudently positioned our forces to put ourselves at a relative advantage, mostly against time, to be able to respond if that request came through," said U.S. Army Col. Ryan P. O'Connor, CJTF-HOA director of operations. "The tyranny of distance in Africa cannot be overstated."

O'Connor said the EARF is capable of responding to a broad range of military operations including the protection of U.S. citizens and diplomatic facilities, support for non-combatant evacuation operations, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief operations, recovery capabilities of aircraft and personnel, and other missions as directed.

Upon arrival in Gabon, the EARF Soldiers established contact with the U.S. embassies in Gabon and the DRC, as well as with the Gabonese Republican Guard and emergency medical personnel.

"I am glad to be a part of this mission as it is unlike anything I have done previously," said U.S. Army Capt. Connor McCarthy, the commander of Bravo Company, 1-26th Infantry Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. "Essentially, our company is able to be the primary response force for the majority of the African continent. Though it isn't always the best of situations, if we get the call, our company is always ready to support."

After several weeks monitoring the situation in the DRC and because anticipated violence did not occur, the EARF redeployed to Camp Lemonnier to stand by for the next rapid response request.

"The EARF's readiness to respond at a moment's notice provides a critical and valued capability when time is of the essence," West said. "It is reassuring to know the capability is always there and able to respond rapidly when called."

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The Values of April

45 years since Portugal overthrew fascism

April 25, 2019, marks the 45th anniversary since the April Revolution in Portugal when a mass democratic uprising overthrew the fascist dictatorship that had ruled the country for nearly five decades. What started as a coup by anti-fascist army officers quickly morphed into a revolt of the whole Portuguese people. As she walked the streets of Lisbon that day, restaurant worker Celeste Caeiro started placing red carnations into the barrels of soldiers rifles and tanks, giving the 25th of April its other name  the Carnation Revolution. Below is an excerpted speech delivered in the Assembly of the Republic, the countrys parliament, by Portuguese Communist Party member Diana Ferreira.

Today we celebrate the 45th anniversary of the April Revolution  a unique moment in the history of our country, a moment of profound significance for what it overthrew and for what it built.

And when we remember the alliance between the people and the MFA (Armed Forces Movement), when we remember the uprising that followed the MFAs action on that morning of April 25, 1974, we do not forget. Nor do we forget the dark years of the fascist dictatorship.

Fascism in this country meant poverty, famine, illiteracy, and disease. It imposed child labour. It subdued women. It was the sustaining power of half a dozen millionaire families. It corrupted the whole state. It censored and overwhelmed the people. It chased down and arrested anti-fascists. It built the concentration camp at Tarrafa  the slow death camp. It tortured. It killed.

And it was April, with its liberating action, that put an end to this time of terror. It was April which brought a time of hope and the strength to transform.

Let us not forget this, as we have not forgotten the role of the Portuguese Communist Party in that time. Let us not forget the generations of communists, other democrats, and anti-fascists courageously and selflessly faced the fascist dictatorship and  even in the underground, even under the whip of censorship, repression, and torture  fought to overthrow it, often paying with their lives.

Many did not live to see the 25th of April. But all of them were essential for April to happen.

Because the 25th of April is not just a day  it is the culmination of dozens of years of struggle. It was the destination of a path cleared step-by-step by those who always believed that Portugal was not condemned to live gagged. That its people would not be condemned to live crushed and oppressed by the fetters of fascism.

April brought freedom  a freedom where free thought and opinion can live without any kind of censorship.

A freedom where fundamental rights are enshrined in our Constitution, a document emanating from the April Revolution that translates into its text the wishes and aspirations of a people who wanted to be free and dared to fight for their freedom.

April is the freedom of expression, of assembly, of political and trade union organisation. Its freedom of the press. Free elections and voting rights. The end of colonial war.

It is national minimum wage, Christmas allowance, vacation entitlement, and paid vacation. It is the right to work and to dignity on the job with collective bargaining, prohibition of dismissals without just cause, equal pay, and the right to strike.

It is the right to health, education, social protection and social security; to culture, knowledge, sport, and housing.

It is the right to retirement, protection in maternity and paternity; child protection and rights for youth.

It is democratic local power. It is access to public services and fundamental goods.

It is the defence of national peace, sovereignty, and independence.

We speak of all this and much more when we talk about what the 25th of April meant for the Portuguese people.

Many of those rights have been eroded or never guaranteed by right-wing governments in the years since April, putting in question the achievements of April and the fulfilment of what is enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.

Just as struggle was essential in the past to defeat fascism, today struggle is indispensable to advance our rights and guarantee progress and social justice.

In a country hit by more than four decades of right-wing politics ... much has had to be done to defeat the plans of those who ... sought to perpetuate the policy of limiting rights and increasing exploitation and impoverishment.

It has necessary to fight hard, but with the workers struggle and the decisive action of the Portuguese Communist Party, this immediate objective has been achieved, now clearly translated in the recovery of rights and income and in the many measures that allowed, in this new phase of national political life, things such as salary increases, extraordinary increases in pensions, increases in family allowances and other social benefits, free textbooks for students up to the 12th grade, a reduction of the tax burden on workers, improved access to retirement payments for workers with long contributory careers or tough professions in quarries and mines.

All the measures taken are certainly small steps, considering the scale of the problems faced by the people and the country, but they are steps that should be valued for what they mean in the life of the Portuguese people because they demonstrate that it is worth fighting. These victories confirm that there is nothing to do but move forward.

But beyond defence, it is necessary to go further and move decisively towards a real alternative policy, committed to the values of April  toward a policy that responds to the structural problems of capitalism that affect the people and the country, and not to go backwards.

A policy of defending and enforcing workers rights (a prerequisite for the development and progress of a country), creating jobs with rights, valuing wages and pensions, and strengthening social protection.

A policy of combating precariousness, unemployment, social inequalities, and ensuring a better and fairer distribution of wealth.

A policy that defends the social rights of the people, strengthening and investing in the social functions of the state  a national health service that is universal and free, quality public schools that are free, a social security system that covers all, and a culture of serving the public.

A policy of defence and investment in the national production and recovery of strategic sectors for our economy that aims at freeing the Portuguese economy from its structural dependency on and domination by monopoly groups.

A policy affirming the sovereign right of Portugal to determine its own path of development, rejecting the interference and impositions of the European Union.

A policy that defends the right of peoples to self-determination and sovereignty and to oppose militarism in favour of international cooperation, peace, and disarmament.

The April Revolution is living proof that it is worth struggle for change, that a peoples strength defeats inevitabilities.

There have been many moments across these past 45 years that have demonstrated that it is only by struggle that we can advance  that the struggle of the workers and the people is essential for social transformation.

April belongs to the people. It was your strength that built it; it will be your strength that will consolidate it.

The future of Portugal will be built with the values of April  a freer, more democratic, more developed, fairer, and more unified Portugal.

We do not give up dreaming, nor give up on struggling to turn dreams into life.

As the poet Jose Carlos Ary dos Santos said, the doors that April opened no one else will ever close.

Peoples World
April 30, 2019

News

By C. Todd Lopez

Defense.gov

Middle East Security Still Critical to U.S.

WASHINGTON -- Though the National Defense Strategy has shifted U.S. focus to China and Russia as near-peer competitors, North Korea and Iran as "rogue state actors," and has also placed emphasis on counterterrorism as a priority, the Middle East is still going to be getting U.S. attention, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East said yesterday.

Mick P. Mulroy discussed current threats in the Middle East, U.S. priorities and future plans for military involvement during a forum at the Center for a New American Security here.

Threats From Iran

Iran, he said, poses a threat in five distinct spheres. First, Mulroy said, is the threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"We have plans to prevent that from happening, and the president has been fully clear in his intent to not let that happen," he told Ilan Goldenberg, a senior fellow at CNAS, and director of the Middle East security program there.

Second, Mulroy said, are threats to maritime security in the region. He noted that countering that threat includes keeping safe and open navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, between the United Arabian Emirates and Iran  where the Persian Gulf opens into the Gulf of Oman and then to the Indian Ocean; and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, between Yemen and Djibouti  where the Red Sea opens into the Gulf of Aden and then to the Indian Ocean.

"A substantial portion of our energy trade and commercial goods ... go through those straits," Mulroy said. "The Iranians are constantly threatening those. We of course have plans to make sure that doesn't happen, and we keep those trade routes open."

A third threat from Iran includes support to proxies and terrorist organizations, including Lebanese Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq. "They're housing and safe-harboring senior al-Qaida leaders," Mulroy said.

Ballistic missiles are the fourth theat, he said. Iranian-made missiles emanate from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward allies in Saudi Arabia  where there are many American citizens; and also on the border with Israel, advanced weapons there are of concern.

Finally, cyber is an issue. "It comes up in literally every discussion about anything now," Mulroy said. He said when he started his career around the time of 9/11, cyberterrorism was something "very fragmented. And then we figured how to work together as interagency."

Planning the Pushback

Mulroy said one way the U.S. will push back on Iran is through the extensive planning he's witnessed on the part of the U.S. military  something he said he's been impressed with for years.

"As CIA personnel, I was uber-impressed with how much the military plans for everything," Mulroy said. "And Iran is no exception."

He said the Defense Department plans include defending key allies to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons; opening the Strait of Hormuz; and responding to any aggression.

Defense posture is also important. There are bases throughout the Middle East," Mulroy said, where U.S. forces are ready, if needed.

"We are on bases with our key allies throughout the Middle East," Mulroy said. "That limits the Iranian freedom of movement. That protects the key straits, the key choke points of maritime trade. It's important in that regard."

He also pointed to the U.S. military's proven ability at executing expeditionary warfare.

"One thing I would add to that is the U.S. is by far the most capable when it comes to expeditionary warfare, and the ability to project power anywhere in the world to create effect," he said. "That and what we call dynamic force employment, where we routinely have forces show up in an area that may not be expected, shows our ability to do that."

Regional Partnerships

Building up partnerships such as the Middle East Strategic Alliance is critical, he said, adding that the NDS requires that kind of partnership building.

The MESA is a security partnership between Gulf Cooperation Council nations, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, with the addition of Jordan and Egypt. It was announced in May 2017.

Mulroy said the U.S. wants the MESA "to be a holistic agreement. We want an economic part, we want an energy part, we want a political part, we want a security part. I fully recognize there are challenges in many of those."

Politically, he said, there's a rift, specifically with Qatar. And there's an array of diverse economies in the Middle East as well to contend with. He added that MESA will not supersede of pre-existing agreements in the Middle East.

But on security, MESA looks for a "realistic approach," Mulroy said.

One area of focus is on capabilities, he said, which includes a center to teach best practices when it comes to maritime, air defense, water, cyber, asymmetric warfare, and then command and control.

"We're going to look for places we already have infrastructure," Mulroy said. "This isn't about spending more money. This is about us being in a role of facilitator and instructor, and the countries themselves adding to the and basically at their expense."

Another key security focus of MESA is the establishment of a common picture, he said. That includes joint strategy and identifying threats, Mulroy said.

"This is not an alliance to counter Iran," he noted. "This is an alliance to defend ourselves. That's the current threat. It could change in the future."

Finally, Mulroy said, regional security requires a collective effort. "We need to have the ability to talk to each other. Interoperability. Which still isn't completely fixed in NATO. And we need to have common munitions, weapons, and the ability to actually work together," he said.

Mulroy stressed that MESA is not meant to establish an "Arab NATO."

"[There's] no intent to turn this into an 'Article 5'-type situation where we have a treaty and are required to defend. This is an attempt to work together with our GCC+2  Egypt and Jordan  partners, to make them more effective so we can best defend ourselves and stabilize the region."

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Cuban leader rebuffs US allegation of military role in Venezuela

Global Times

Source:Xinhua Published: 2019/4/30 13:35:42

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Monday dismissed recent US allegations that Cuba is aiding embattled Venezuela with military troops.

"With nearly 800 bases and hundreds of thousands of troops around the world, US is accusing Cuba of having military personnel in Venezuela," Diaz-Canel said via Twitter.

The accusation makes "a mockery of the world" and is "an insult to two sovereign nations," said the president.

Washington alleges that Havana has thousands of intelligence and security forces in Venezuela to shore up Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government, which Washington is openly seeking to oust from power.

On April 17, US President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a speech in Miami that Cuba had sent special troops to the border between Venezuela and Colombia, an accusation that was categorically denied by the island.

That same day, the White House announced a new round of punitive measures against Havana. Washington also announced a cap on remittances to the island and restrictions on non-family-related travel, a move that could affect American cruise companies and airlines that sail or fly to the island.

Currently around 20,000 Cubans, mostly doctors and healthcare workers, work in Venezuela as part of a cooperation agreement, which dates back to 2000.

US-Cuba ties have deteriorated under Trump, who has rolled back the detente initiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.



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Humanitarian Mine Action in Morocco

US Marine Corps News

By Capt. Clayton Groover | 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit | April 30, 2019

U.S. Marines and Sailors with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, participated in Humanitarian Mine Action with members of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces April 1-26, 2019, at Unite de Secours et Sauvetage's Base, Kenitra, Morocco.

The HMA program assist allied and partner countries in reducing landmines and explosives that threaten civilian population, according to the U.S. State Department website. In order to further this effort in Morocco, U.S. Marine Corps explosive ordnance disposal technicians and a U.S. Navy corpsman trained alongside the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces for four weeks, instructing their Moroccan partners on proper ordnance disposal techniques and tactical combat casualty care.

"The goal at the beginning of the course was to conduct a refresher on basic demolition practices and ordnance identification," said U.S. Marine Sgt. James Roberts, an EOD technician with SMPAGTF-CR-AF 19.2. "We were here to instruct HMA level two, which teaches the students about fuse functioning and how to conduct reconnaissance and research on an ordnance item."

After the refresher training, the U.S. Marine instructors put their Moroccan Royal Armed Forces counterparts through multiple complex scenarios to test their knowledge of the subject matter and to have the students make decisions in real time.

"We started off in the classroom with a quick overview of HMA level one," said U.S. Marine Sgt. Efrain Moreno, an EOD technician with SPMAGTF-CR-AF 19.2. "During the second week we went in depth on how fuses function. This type of training gave the students a deeper respect for how ordnance items work."

During the scenarios, the students would go downrange with their gear, conduct reconnaissance on the inert explosives, and take measurements and pictures in order to get a good understanding of the type of ordnance they were dealing with. After the students executed reconnaissance of the inert items, they returned to the classroom to reference their learning material in order to identify the type of ordnance they were dealing with. The students would then rehearse procedures to dispose of the item.

"A lot of the scenarios were designed to have the students dispose of the item, either by [notionally] blowing it in place or moving it," said U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Jay Lorenzo, an EOD technician with SPMAGTF-CR-AF 19.2. "We wanted to ensure they had a firm understanding on how to dispose of the item properly and determine the safest way to do that. If they had to move the item, then they had to determine how to move it and the safest way to go about moving it."

The trainers also incorporated medical training into the HMA course, which included tactical combat-casualty care and combat lifesaving skills. This allowed the students to gain experience dealing with combat-related injuries they could encounter during an EOD scenario.

"We taught the basic combat lifesaving skills, how to improvise, and how to treat specific casualties," said U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Andres Caldas, a corpsman with SPMAGTF-CR-AF 19.2. "The students were very receptive and they wanted to know more. They were eager to learn and they liked the hands-on experience."

While the students and instructors enjoyed their time together and learned from each other, the importance of the training was not lost throughout the HMA. Both the U.S. and Moroccan service members were well aware of the dangers associated with the job.

"In the end, it's about sacrifice," said Warrant Officer Lee Bowden, an EOD officer with SPMAGTF-CR-AF 19.2. "Every piece of ordnance destroyed equals another life saved."



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Iran rejects Pompeo's claims on Yemen truce deal as 'blame game'

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 05:53PM

Iran has dismissed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's claims of Tehran's negative role in the implementation of a ceasefire deal between Yemen's warring sides in the port city of Hudaydah, saying Washington's "blame game" is meant to cover up the Saudi-Emirati crimes in the war-torn country.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Moussavi said on Tuesday that the US secretary of state's accusations were aimed at covering the crimes being committed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the war on Yemen and the pair's attempts to hinder the Stockholm agreement.

Speaking at an event in Washington hosted by The Hill newspaper on Monday, Pompeo claimed that Iran is directing Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah fighters to renege on the commitments they made in Stockholm last December.

The Houthis "continue to refuse to comply with the agreements that they signed up for in Stockholm, Sweden, they refuse to withdraw from the port of Hudaydah... this is because Iran has chosen to direct them to do that," Pompeo said.

In December 2018, representatives from the Houthi Ansarullah movement and the Riyadh-sponsored government of ex-president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, reached the truce deal during UN-mediated peace talks in Sweden.

Under the deal, they agreed to the withdrawal of their troops and the deployment of UN monitors to the port city, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.

The Iranian spokesperson further said reports indicate cooperation between the Ansarullah-led government, known as the National Salvation Government of the Republic of Yemen, and the United Nations special envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths, "their readiness to implement the Stockholm agreement and , at the same time, the opposite side's [bid] to create obstacles" in the implementation process.

Moussavi said the Islamic Republic has played a positive role in efforts that led to the conclusion of the Stockholm agreement.

Instead of leveling unfounded allegations against other countries, the US, as a country that support Saudi Arabia and the UAE crimes in Yemen, should urge the aggressors to stop throwing a wrench in the implementation of the truce agreement and remain committed to their obligations under the deal.

Yemeni forces have repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia and its allies of violating the Stockholm agreement.

Yemen's armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Sare'e said that Saudi-led forces had violated the ceasefire 184 times over a period of 48 hours.

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Six killed as tensions mount between Sudan military rulers, protesters

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 04:56PM

At least six Sudanese security personnel have been killed and several others injured in a series of violent clashes with protesters, as tensions mounted over the makeup of a new joint civilian-military council.

Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the Transitional Military Council (TMC)'s vice president said in a press briefing on Tuesday that the clashes took place after demonstrators reinforced barricades outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum over the past 24 hours.

"In different incidents, six people from the security forces were killed and 16 wounded," said Dagalo, adding, "There were incidents of burning of markets and looting."

Dagalo also warned that the army will not accept unrest in the country.

"We will not accept chaos. We will deal with it firmly in accordance with the law," he stated, noting, "We do not want to escalate the situation. We are committed to negotiation. After today, there will be no chaotic scenes."

Meanwhile, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, Sudan's leading protest group in a statement on Tuesday called for a "million-strong march" to demand a civilian administration.

"We are calling for a million-strong march on May 2 to assert our main demand, which is for civilian rule," the statement read.

On Monday, Sudan's main protest group said the military was trying to remove barricades at the sit-in outside the army headquarters.

"The military council is a copy cat of the toppled regime. The army is trying to disperse the sit-in by removing the barricades," said the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the group that first launched a movement against the government of Omar al-Bashir.

"We are calling on our people to come immediately to the sit-in area. We are calling on the revolutionaries to protect the barricades and rebuild them."

Risking the anger of protesters, a top Sudanese general announced Tuesday that the new body would be headed by current military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

This comes as the military and the opposition remains divided over the composition of a joint civilian-military council.

The military had earlier agreed to allow civilians into the transitional administrative body. It also accepted the resignation of three of its members who were accused by the opposition of being involved in a recent crackdown that left dozens of protesters dead.

The joint council is supposed to replace the military body that took power after Bashir's ouster in the face of mass protests against his three-decade rule.

But the two sides are at odds over its composition, with the military pushing for a 10-member council including seven military representatives and three civilians.

The protesters want a majority of civilians on a 15-member joint council with seven military representatives.

Thousands of protesters have been camping outside the army headquarters in Khartoum, almost three weeks after the military and security forces removed Omar al-Bashir from power on April 11.

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Blackwater planning to oust Maduro by sending mercenaries to Venezuela: Report

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 09:19AM

The notorious US mercenary firm Blackwater has been reportedly lobbying with the administration of President Donald Trump as well as opposition figures of Venezuela for a secret mission to topple the Latin American country's president, Nicolas Maduro.

The exclusive report by Reuters on Tuesday, citing four unnamed sources, revealed that Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial private security firm, who is also a firm Trump supporter, has offered to deploy an army to the South American country in order to oust Maduro.

According to the report, Prince has been mainly seeking investment and political support for his plan from influential Trump supporters and wealthy Venezuelan nationals who have long been living in exile.

The sources said he has asked for at least $40 million in funds plus a chunk of billions of dollars Venezuela has in frozen assets around the world.

In his private meetings, which stretch from the United States to several European countries, Prince has set out a plan to recruit up to 5,000 mercenaries on behalf of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has challenged Maduro since January by proclaiming himself president.

The sources who had direct knowledge of Prince's plan said it started with intelligence operations and continued by deploying to Venezuela between 4,000 and 5,000 forces from Colombia and other Latin American nations to carry out the mission.

The attempt is still ongoing as one source said Prince has held meetings as recently as mid-April.

It is not yet clear which Trump officials Prince has been able to reach out to.

Earlier this year, National Security Adviser John Bolton was photographed holding confidential papers included two lines of writing: "Afghanistan -> Welcome the Talks," which referred to ongoing negotiations between Washington and the Taliban militant group, and "5,000 troops to Colombia."

The mysterious line might provide clues into Washington's secret plans to carry out military intervention in Venezuela, an option American official have said is on the table along with other economic and diplomatic measures.

A Guaido spokesman told Reuters that Venezuela opposition officials have not discussed security operations with Prince.

This is while Lital Leshem, director of investor relations at Prince firm Frontier Resource Group, had recently confirmed Prince's interest in possible Venezuela operations.

"He does have a solution for Venezuela, just as he has a solution for many other places," she said without providing further details.

Marc Cohen, a spokesman for Prince, said earlier this month that the Blackwater chief "has no plans to operate or implement an operation in Venezuela" and declined to answer further questions.

One source said Prince insists that Venezuela needs a "dynamic event" to break the political stalemate.

Maduro has denounced Guaido, who has been recognized as Venezuela's president by a number of western nations, a US puppet looking to stage a coup.

Venezuela's key government institutions  including the military  remain loyal to Maduro despite international pressure to join Guaido.

During the Iraq war, the US government hired Blackwater to provide security for State Department operations there.

In 2007, Blackwater employees sparked international outrage by killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad.

Prince renamed the Blackwater security company and sold it in 2010 after the scandal. However, he recently opened a company called Blackwater USA, which sells ammunition, silencers and knives.

He has also been trying to convince the Trump administration to replace US soldiers in Afghanistan with security contractors following Trump's announcement to reduce the number of foreign forces in the country.

Since 2014, Prince has been running the Hong Kong-based Frontier Services Group, which provides security, aviation and logistics services to Chinese firms operating in Africa.

Prince donated $100,000 to a political action committee that supported Trump's election. His sister, Betsy DeVos, is the administration's education secretary. .

The two sources with direct knowledge of Prince's Venezuela plan said he is seeking $40 million from private investors.

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Sudan protests to continue as talks with military body fail

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 07:52AM

Sudan's military rulers and protest leaders have failed to reach an agreement on a joint civilian-military council to rule the African nation after holding talks, with the protest organizers calling for continued civil disobedience and a general strike.

The key protest group in Sudan called for the defiant measures on Monday after talks with current military rulers  functioning as the Transitional Military Council (TMC)  earlier in the day failed to provide any breakthrough on the establishment of a joint transitional council.

While TMC spokesman Shams El Din Kabbashi described the Monday talks as positive and claimed the two sides had agreed to clear certain sites occupied by protesters, the civilian-led Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) denied agreeing to end the acts of civil disobedience.

Kabbashi said that during the negotiations, the SPA had agreed to open some roads, a railway line, and two bridges that lead to or pass near the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum.

The SPA said no such agreement had been made. "This is counter to reality and negates any agreement with the military council, and we affirm that we are maintaining our sit-in, and everything that the [TMC] spokesman said is incorrect," the SPA said in a statement later on Monday.

The protest movement further called for a general strike and civil disobedience through the holy month of Ramadan  beginning in early May  and the Eid holidays that follow.

"The military council is a copycat of the toppled regime. The army is trying to disperse the sit-in by removing the barricades," added the SPA statement, in reference to the regime of long-time president Omar al-Bashir, which was toppled on April 11. "We are calling on our people to come immediately to the sit-in area. We are calling on the revolutionaries to protect the barricades and rebuild them."

The TMC spokesman told reporters after the Monday talks that "the military council has presented its vision for a 10-member joint council, with seven military representatives and three civilians." He said the other side "presented its vision of a 15-member joint council, with eight civilians and seven military representatives."

Khabbashi also said the talks would resume on Tuesday.

A joint council, if agreed, would replace the existing military council that took power after the army ousted Bashir amid popular protests against his rule.

Like Bashir, the TMC is backed by despotic Arab states in the Persian Gulf such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The formation of a joint council would further pave the way for a civilian administration as demanded by the protesters.

The military council says it has assumed power for a two-year transitional period but has been negotiating to form a partially-civilian body amid continuing protests. Many of the protesters want all of the generals out now.

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Tear Gas, Gunfire As Venezuela's Guaido Says 'Final Phase' Of Bid To Oust Maduro Under Way

By RFE/RL April 30, 2019

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said he has begun the "final phase" of his plan to oust President Nicolas Maduro, claiming support from "brave soldiers," but backers of Maduro said they remained in control.

Officials in Maduro's government denounced Guaido's actions on April 30 as an attempted coup, and reports said that tear gas was fired at Guaido and dozens of men in military uniform at a rally outside an air base in Caracas.

Citing witnesses, Reuters reported that Guaido's uniformed backers were exchanging fire with soldiers acting in support of Maduro.

"People are going to continue arriving, [military] units who are on the side of the constitution are going to be arriving," Guiado told reporters. "We invite the world to witness what is going to happen here which, as always, is within the parameters of the constitution, democratic and nonviolent as it has been up to now -- always demanding the end of the usurpation."

Maduro said in a tweet that he had "total support" from the military, but called for a mobilization of "the militias" and ended his message with "we will win."

Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said on Twitter that Maduro's socialist government was confronting a small "coup attempt" led by military "traitors" backed by right-wing opponents.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said that the armed forces remained "firmly in defenSe" of Maduro's government and that all military units nationwide had reported "normality" at their barracks and military bases.

Guaido, whose claim to the presidency is backed by the United States and other countries, appeared in a video shot next to the La Carlota air base surrounded by several heavily armed soldiers backed by a handful of armored vehicles.

Guaido said soldiers who had taken to the streets were protecting Venezuela's constitution, a day ahead of a planned anti-government rally.

"The moment is now," he said.

The United States and more than 50 other countries have recognized Guaido as Venezuela's interim president.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Twitter that "America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet that the U.S. "fully supports" Guaido's call for the start of "Operacion Libertad (Operation Freedom)" and that Washington stands with the Venezuelan people "in their quest for freedom and democracy."

On Twitter, U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton said the military "must protect the Constitution and the Venezuelan people. It should stand by the National Assembly and the legitimate institutions against the usurpation of democracy."

"The United States stands with the people of Venezuela," Bolton wrote, addressing defense chief Padrino in the tweet.

The White House said that President Donald Trump had been briefed on the events in Venezuela and was monitoring the situation.

Russia, Iran, China, and Cuba are among countries supporting Maduro, who started a second term in January following a May 2018 election marred by an opposition boycott and claims of vote-rigging, leading to mass street protests.

In March, Russia, which has substantial economic ties to Maduro's government, sent planes to Venezuela carrying nearly 100 military personnel the U.S. government believes included special forces and cybersecurity experts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Venezuela, among other topics, with members of his Security Council, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, and Interfax

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/venezuela-in-turmoil -as-guaido-says-final-phase-of-bid-to-oust- maduro-under-way/29912458.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Trump Admin Reverses Decision to Retire Aircraft Carrier USS Truman Early

Sputnik News

23:20 30.04.2019

The Trump administration has reversed its decision to give the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier an early retirement.

US Vice President Mike Pence announced the move Tuesday during a speech aboard the warship in its home port of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.

"I know that the future of this aircraft carrier is the subject of some budget discussions in Washington, DC," Pence said. "As we continue to fight Congress to make sure that our military has the resources you need to accomplish your mission, President Donald Trump asked me to deliver a message to each and every one of you on the deck of the USS Truman."

"We are keeping the best carrier in the world in the fight. We are not retiring the Truman. The USS Harry S. Truman is going to be giving 'em hell for many more years to come," Pence said, referencing the ship's battle cry of "give 'em hell."

At a press conference following his speech, Pence told reporters that US President Donald Trump had "made the decision on the spot" that morning, following a discussion about the ship and its sailors' contributions to the Navy.

"The budget is always a deliberative process," Pence said. "People bring their best ideas forward. This is a president who committed our administration to rebuilding our military after years of budget cuts in the last administration."

The Pentagon had initially floated the idea in February of slashing its aircraft carrier fleet from 11 to 10 ships  a move expected to save $3.4 billion by retiring the Truman only halfway through its life instead of overhauling it. That plan would have seen the Truman put into mothballs in 2024, and the it closely followed a controversial decision by the US Department of Defense to buy two new Ford-class carriers at once. One government watchdog called the $15 billion decision "acquisition insanity," Sputnik reported.

The decision to mothball the Truman also ran counter to the US Navy's own force assessment in 2016, which reaffirmed the need for a 12-carrier fleet. The massive, 100,000-ton floating airfields are the backbone of US power projection around the world.

 Sputnik

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Treasury: Venezuela's Institutions Should Support Guaido to Get Sanctions Relief

Sputnik News

20:09 30.04.2019

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Venezuela's institutions should support opposition leader Juan Guaido in order to receive sanctions relief from the United States, the US Department of the Treasury said in a press release on Tuesday.

"The path to sanctions relief for individuals and entities aligned with the former Maduro regime, including institutions such as PdVSA, is to change behaviour by supporting Venezuela's democratically elected leader and those who seek to restore democracy," the release said.

Washington has targeted Venezuelan officials and businesses with multiple sanctions in recent months amid a campaign to force President Nicolas Maduro from power.

"The United States and our partners and allies stand ready to leverage the tools of the international financial community to help swiftly restart Venezuela's economy. This Administration will continue to hold accountable those who stand in the way of restoring democracy to Venezuela," the Treasury added.

Earlier on Monday, Guaido urged Venezuelan civilians and armed forces to take to the streets to help force Maduro out of office. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said in response that the country's armed forces "firmly support the national constitution and legitimate authorities."

The situation in Venezuela has been tense since January when US-backed opposition leader Guaido illegally declared himself the country's interim president after disputing Maduro's re-election.

The United States and 54 countries have recognized Guaido. However, Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey and a number of other countries have said they recognize Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.

Maduro has called Guaido a puppet of the United States and accused Washington of trying to orchestrate a coup to effect a change in government and take over Venezuela's natural resources.

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West backed the wrong man in Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskys victory in Ukrainians Presidential election marks the moment when the Western populist wave comes to the post-Soviet space. It also serves as a complete rejection of the divisive, ethno-nationalist policies pursued by his opponent, Petro Poroshenko, over the past five years.

Like US President Donald Trump and Italys Beppe Grillo, Zelensky has leveraged a major television profile for political gain, but hes pulled it off on an inclusive platform in his campaigning, contrasting with the discordant rhetoric of his opponent.

Now, Ukraine faces an unusual situation. It has replaced an ideologically fanatical President with a complete unknown quantity. One who lacks any parliamentary power-base and must wait six months for elections to the legislature, the Rada.

The paradox of Ukraines 2014 Maidan was that it looked like a revolution, but its aftermath amounted to more of a re-arranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic than any real change of power.

Now, those chickens may finally have come home to roost. And that movements Western backers can only blame themselves for having prioritised their own geopolitical interests over the genuine desire of Ukrainians for change.

Hoodwinked heroes

Poroshenko and those around him were products of the 1990s, when the post-Soviet oligarchic system was formed. And the limited reforms they acquiesced to were enacted under pressure from the US and the EU.

Perhaps the elite was smart to resist. After all, the harsh measures inspired the emigration of millions of Ukrainians, mostly to Poland and Russia. The drift to the latter a glaring paradox, given Poroshenkos hostility to his neighbour.

The outgoing presidents strategy was obvious. And cynical. He knew he could rely on Western support so long as he maintained an anti-Russian posture, and to hell with promised structural reforms. Because, as Poroshenko was acutely aware, Brussels and Washington will tolerate any transgressions which suit their geopolitical agenda.

For evidence, witness Western silence as he pushed one-time US darling Mikhail Saakashvili out of Ukrainian politics. In just over six months, the former Georgian President went from being Governor of Odessa to being rendered stateless, after Poroshenko revoked his Ukrainian citizenship and later had him deported. All done with barely a whimper of protest from a Western establishment which once lionised Saakashvili.

Sadly, for Poroshenko, Ukrainian voters were less accommodating. And now the West has to deal with Zelensky, who may just turn out to be more pro-Ukraine than pro-West. If so, he will know that, if Ukraine has any chance of prospering, it must somehow normalise relations with Moscow, which remains its largest trading partner.

Real Change?

Zelenskys TV series Servant of the People was essentially a dramatized campaign advert. Beaming the actor into the homes of millions and making ordinary Ukrainians comfortable with the concept of him leading the country. Although, of course, many may have voted for the idea of his character, Vasyl Holoborodko, rather than the real deal.

In the series, Holoborodko is a straight-shooter who battles corrupt elites. And, of course, corruption is the number one issue for Ukrainian voters, who know Poroshenko, as an oligarch himself, was never going to destroy the system which helped create his own fortune.

Thus, Zelensky, or at least the fictional politician he plays in the show, was obviously more credible than his opponent when promising to tackle graft.

Zelensky also chose a positive campaign platform, avoiding unrealistic promises. By contrast, Poroshenko stood on his ability to hold firm against Russia. But, in doing so, he often gave the impression he thought he was competing with Vladimir Putin instead of his actual opponent.

Furthermore, his Russia-bashing, often hysterical, alienated voters in central, southern and eastern regions, many of whom feel an affinity with Russian culture and use Russian as their primary tongue. Indeed, it doesnt seem to have worked in the West either, as exit polls suggest Poroshenko lost in every region except the hyper-patriotic Galicia.

Most people here viewed the Ukrainian election as circus and watched it like a form of reality TV. Not because they wished to emulate it. With this in mind, the conduct of the campaign probably did more harm than good to the prospects of Western-style democracy taking off in Russia.

Zelensky may turn out to be ineffective. And, unless he can somehow orchestrate a radical overhaul of the Rada this autumn, he will be rendered politically weak.

Nevertheless, his election victory confirms that Ukrainians are tired of being used as pawns by both external actors and their own elites.

RT  Russia Today
Moscow Accuses Venezuelan Opposition of Trying to Whip up Conflict

Sputnik News

18:42 30.04.2019(updated 21:14 30.04.2019)

The situation in crisis-torn Venezuela received new impetus earlier in the day after opposition leader Juan Guaido urged Venezuelan civilians and armed forces to take to the streets to help depose President Nicolas Maduro.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday accused the Venezuelan opposition of fuelling the conflict, provoking public disorder, and trying to draw the armed forces into clashes.

Venezuela's issues should be resolved via responsible talks without preconditions, the statement further reads.

"We call for renouncing violence. It is important to avoid unrest and bloodshed. The problems facing Venezuela should be resolved through a responsible negotiation process without preconditions. Any actions should be taken exclusively within the framework of the legal field, in strict accordance with the constitution and without destructive external interference", the ministry said.

"We confirm the principled position in favour of political and civilised ways to resolve internal differences by the citizens of Venezuela. We urge all members of the international community, including the country's closest neighbours, to reaffirm adherence to the UN Charter, norms, and principles of international law, to support the return of Venezuela to the path of stable and progressive development through dialogue of all responsible political forces", it said.

Earlier in the day, Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president of the country, Juan Guaido, published a video calling on soldiers to join the ranks of his supporters against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Commenting on the move, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that he had spoken with military leaders and that they had shown "their total loyalty".

 Sputnik

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US Signs Off on Coup, Calls on Military to Support Opposition - Venezuela FM

Sputnik News

17:54 30.04.2019(updated 18:05 30.04.2019)

BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - The United States signed off on an attempted coup in Venezuela, calling on the country's armed forces to support the opposition parliament, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Tuesday.

"The leaders of the coup acknowledge their unscrupulous authorship. The Trump administration in desperate to generate an internal conflict in Venezuela. Democratic institutions in Venezuela will guarantee the country's peace. #TrumpHandsOffVenezuela," the minister wrote on Twitter.

Earlier in the day, opposition leader Juan Guaido urged Venezuelan civilians and armed forces to take to the streets to help depose President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido added that the military personnel who supported him could expect the people to back them. Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said in response that the country's armed forces "firmly support the national constitution and legitimate authorities."

US National Security Adviser John Bolton, in his turn, said that the Venezuelan military should support the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

Large-scale protests against Maduro began in Venezuela on January 21 soon after he was sworn in for a new term. Guaido proclaimed himself an interim leader of the country. A number of Western countries, including the United States, backed his claim.

Maduro, in turn, has accused the United States of trying to orchestrate a coup in order to install Guaido and take over Venezuela's natural resources. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia, Turkey and a number of other countries have voiced their support for Maduro as the only legitimate president of Venezuela.

 Sputnik

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'They've Shown Total Loyalty': Maduro Says He Has Spoken With Military Leaders

Sputnik News

17:14 30.04.2019(updated 21:46 30.04.2019)

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president of the country, Juan Guaido, has published a video calling on soldiers to join the ranks of his supporters against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Nicolas Maduro spoke out on the ongoing situation, hours after the provocative video was published, saying that he has spoken with military leaders and that they have shown "their total loyalty".

"Nerves of steel. I spoke to the commanders of all Integral Strategic Defense Regions (REDI) and Integral Defense Operations Zones (ZODI), who declared their complete loyalty to the people, the constitution and homeland. I call for maximum popular mobilization to confirm the victory of the peace. We will win," Maduro wrote on Twitter.

As if revoicing Maduro's statement, the country's Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said that the Venezuelan Armed Forces were loyal to the constitution.

Earlier in the day, Venezuelan Minister of Defence Vladimir Padrino Lopez said that the country's military fully supported "the constitution and legitimate authorities."

Guaido proclaimed himself interim-president of the country earlier this year, immediately receiving support from the US and a number of other western states. At the same time, many other countries, including Russia, China and Turkey have supported constitutionally elected President Nicolas Maduro.

The latter considers the opposition leader a "US-puppet" and has accused him of organising the sabotage on the country's biggest hydroelectric dam with help from Washington, resulting in nationwide blackouts that lasted weeks.

Venezuelan authorities launched an investigation into Guaido's actions early in April, stripping his parliamentary immunity. He has been accused of committing treason with some of his allies also being scrutinised.

 Sputnik

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China Positive on Terror Tag for Pak-based JeM Chief Masood Azhar

Sputnik News

16:54 30.04.2019

China had initially placed a technical hold on prohibiting the proposal to declare Azhar as an international terrorist under the 1267 Taliban Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, which has the authority to do so.

New Delhi (Sputnik): China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a media briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, said that at present, the relevant consultations are under way in the 1267 Committee within the framework and that positive progress has been made.

"China supports the issue of listing, which should be resolved through political consultation within the framework of the 1267 Committee. We think that is also the consensus of the overwhelming majority of the members of the Council", China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Masood Azhar, founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), as per the Indian government, is the man behind the 14 February Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 Indian security personnel were killed and many were left wounded.

India reportedly provided some documented proof against Azhar to the global community and urged them to support declaring Azhar an international terrorist at the UN.

The Indian government had shared the evidence against Azhar with China, urging Beijing to remain "sensitive to each other's concerns".

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during his meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on 22 April, stressed that as neighbours, China and India must step up their "strategic communication" to shape the global agenda.

On Friday, UK High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith told reporters in New Delhi that "we are waiting to see whether the country that has so far been resisting, agreeing to the listing will lift that objection. I remain optimistic that we will reach that conclusion".

China has been put on technical hold the attempt to declare Azhar as international terrorist since 2009. In 2009, India was the lone proposer, while in 2016, India's proposal was co-sponsored by the US, France, and UK. In 2017, the US, UK, and France moved the proposal.

 Sputnik

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Blackwater's Founder Plotting to Send 5k Mercenaries to Topple Maduro  Report

Sputnik News

15:59 30.04.2019(updated 16:00 30.04.2019)

The development comes amid calls by Venezuelan self-proclaimed interim President Juan Guaido, supported by the US, to ensure the "definitive cessation of the usurpation" of legitimately elected President Nicolas Maduro as part of his so-called Operation Freedom, which has repeatedly failed to attract a large audience in the country.

Erik Prince, the founder of the Blackwater private security contractor and a supporter of US President Donald Trump, has offered to deploy an army of mercenaries to help oust Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reported, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter.

According to the report, over the past few months Prince has been seeking investment and political backing for his alleged plans from Trump supporters and well-off Venezuelans living in exile.

In a series of private meetings, the Blackwater mastermind reportedly pitched an idea to deploy 5,000 soldiers-for-hire from Colombia and other South American nations on behalf of Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president.

Reuters noted that neither the White House, nor the Maduro government had responded to the comments, while Edward Rodriguez, a spokesman for Guaido, said that the country's opposition officials had not discussed security ops with Prince.

As for Prince, his spokesperson Marc Cohen said earlier this month that the Blackwater founder had "no plans to operate or implement an operation in Venezuela".

However, according to Reuters, the director of investor relations at Prince's private equity firm Frontier Resource Group, Lital Leshem, confirmed his interest in a Venezuela mission.

"He does have a solution for Venezuela, just as he has a solution for many other places", the media outlet cited her as saying.

Two insiders with direct knowledge claim that Prince had requested at least $40 million in funds from private investors, as well as billions of dollars in frozen Venezuelan assets  although it remains unclear how the Guaido-led opposition could get hold of them.

His efforts to start an intelligence mission in the chaos-hit Latin American country are still ongoing, as one source alleged that Prince had held meetings in mid-April.

Earlier in the day, Guaido encouraged the nation and the Venezuelan Armed Forces to take to the streets in Caracas and ensure "the definitive cessation of the usurpation" of constitutionally elected President Maduro.

His calls were denounced by Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Lopez, who blasted Guaido's "coup movement" and attempts to "fill the country with violence". The minister reaffirmed the military's loyalty to President Maduro, saying that the situation at all military bases remained stable.

Venezuela has been mired in an ongoing political crisis since early January, when Guaido was elected the head of the opposition-led National Assembly that all other government branches have been refusing to recognise since 2016.

In mid-January, two days after the Venezuelan Supreme Court annulled his election, Guaido proclaimed himself interim president in defiance of legitimate President Maduro, who was sworn in for a second term on 10 January.

Guaido's move was immediately recognised by the United States, with other countries around the world following suit, while Maduro blasted Guaido as a US "puppet" and dismissed the entire situation as a coup attempt staged by Washington.

As the Venezuelan crisis was gaining momentum in late January, US National Security Adviser John Bolton was spotted holding a yellow notepad with the words "5,000 troops to Colombia" during a presser on new sanctions against Caracas.

Given POTUS' repeated remarks that "all options are on the table" for Venezuela, the mysterious note reinforced concerns that the Trump administration was planning to deploy armed forces to Colombia amid the political crisis in neighbouring Venezuela.

At the time, Acting US Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan told reporters that he had not discussed the alleged plan with Bolton.

 Sputnik

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Increasing US Troop Presence in Poland Will Violate Russia-NATO Act - Lavrov

Sputnik News

13:53 30.04.2019(updated 14:18 30.04.2019)

The day before, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced during a televised speech that Warsaw and Washington had decided to increase the US military presence in the country.

Commenting on the recently announced measures taken by Warsaw and Washingtom, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that the decision to deploy more US troops in Poland would violate the Russia-NATO founding act.

"[The plans] reflect the United States' policy of scrapping all security arrangements that have existed in the Euro-Atlantic region. In this case, we deal with undermining one of the key provisions of the founding act between Russia and NATO, according to which no substantial combat forces are stationed on a permanent basis on the territory of new members of NATO," Lavrov said.

At present there are around 4,000 US troops in Poland, deployed to the country as part of NATO's mission in the wake of Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014.

Last September, US President Donald Trump announced during a visit by his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda to Washington that the US was thinking of establishing a permanent military base in the country.

The Polish president offered to pay around $2 billion of the total costs and suggested that the base should be named Fort Trump.

 Sputnik

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Caracas Confronts Military Traitors as Guaido Urges End to Maduro's "Usurpation"

Sputnik News

12:59 30.04.2019(updated 17:17 30.04.2019)

Venezuela has been embroiled in a political conflict that further escalated after opposition leader, Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim-president of the country. He has repeatedly called on Venezuelan citizens to join rallies to oust elected President Nicolas Maduro, but has failed to attract broad support for his efforts.

Venezuelan Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez has reacted to opposition leader Juan Guaido's calls regarding Venezuelan troops, saying that the government is confronting a small group of "military traitors" attempting a coup in the country. He further called on both civilians and the Venezuelan Army to be on "high alert" in order to thwart the coup attempt.

Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Lopez has denounced Guaido's "Coup movement" and stated that it aims to "fill the country with violence". He further reaffirmed the army's loyalty to President Nicolas Maduro and reported that the situation at all military bases remains normal.

According to a report by the AP, tear gas has been fired on the Caracas highway in front of the airbase, where Guaido appeared with people in military uniforms and opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez.

The minister's remarks come after Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim-president Juan Guaido published a video with a call for Venezuelan soldiers, as well as citizens, to go to the streets in Caracas to ensure "the definitive cessation of the usurpation" of constitutionally elected President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido, speaking in the video and surrounded by people in military uniforms, stressed that Venezuelan will be fighting "in the nonviolent struggle" to "assume competencies of the government".

The opposition figure claimed on his Twitter that he has already received the support of the country's armed forces and announced a so-called "final phase" in his struggle to oust the Venezuelan president.

"The national armed forces have taken the correct decision, and they count on the support of the Venezuelan people", Guaido said

Reuters reported, citing an eyewitness, that Guaido and a group of around 70 soldiers are standing on a Caracas highway next to a military base. The opposition leader earlier announced that he was filming his video at the La Carlota Air Base.

The last time that Guaido called on Venezuelan citizens to join his so-called Operation Freedom in the wake of a massive blackout in the country, which was a result of sabotage on a power plant, he claimed to have gathered "thousands" of protesters for rallies across the country.

Despite failing to attract a larger audience in the country, Guaido announced another rally, scheduled for 1 May, promising that it will be "the largest march in Venezuela's history" and the "definitive phase" in deposing elected President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido proclaimed himself interim-president of the country, immediately receiving support from the US and a number of other western states. At the same time many other countries, including Russia, China and Turkey have supported constitutionally elected President Nicolas Maduro.

The latter considers the opposition leader a "US-puppet" and has accused him of organising the sabotage on the country's biggest hydroelectric dam with help from Washington, resulting in nationwide blackouts that lasted weeks.

Venezuelan authorities launched an investigation into Guaido's actions early in April, stripping his parliamentary immunity. He has been accused of committing treason with some of his allies also being scrutinised.

 Sputnik

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Treasury Statement on Restoring Venezuelan Democracy

U.S. Department of the Treasury

April 30, 2019

Washington  Today, the Department of the Treasury issued a statement in support of efforts underway in Venezuela to restore democracy. This statement can be attributed to a Treasury spokesperson:

"The United States stands with the Venezuelan people and interim President Juan Guaido in opposition to the illegitimate Maduro regime. The path to sanctions relief for individuals and entities aligned with the former Maduro regime, including institutions such as PdVSA, is to change behavior by supporting Venezuela's democratically elected leader and those who seek to restore democracy. The United States and our partners and allies stand ready to leverage the tools of the international financial community to help swiftly restart Venezuela's economy. This Administration will continue to hold accountable those who stand in the way of restoring democracy to Venezuela."



####

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US Negotiator Ends 2 Days of Afghan Peace Talks in Pakistan

By Ayaz Gul April 30, 2019

The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has concluded two days of official discussions in Pakistan on how to advance the Afghan peace process.

Officials said Khalilzad arrived Monday in Islamabad and led delegation-level talks with senior foreign ministry officials before meeting Pakistani military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other military leaders. He was accompanied in these meetings by senior State Department diplomat for the region, Alice Wells.

"Ambassador Khalilzad requested and received support for the need to accelerate intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations as well as a reduction in violence, concrete steps necessary for a comprehensive settlement," the U.S. embassy noted Tuesday in a post-visit statement.

The Afghan-born American diplomat heads a team of U.S. negotiators who have held several rounds of direct negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar since late last summer to encourage the insurgent group engage in Afghan-to-Afghan talks for finding a political settlement to the 17-year-old war in the country. Both sides have acknowledged the dialogue is making a steady progress.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi reiterated Tuesday his country has arranged the U.S.-Taliban dialogue by bringing insurgent leaders to the negotiating table to assist in international efforts to establish a lasting peace in Afghanistan.

"The progress achieved so for as a result of the ongoing peace process is a welcome development," Qureshi told an unofficial meeting of Pakistani and Afghan experts in Islamabad.

"Pakistan has rendered its full support to direct talks between the U.S. and the Taliban. We hope that the talks ... will lead to a comprehensive intra-Afghan dialogue, which is essential for sustainable peace in Afghanistan," he stressed.

Intra-Afghan meeting

An intra-Afghan meeting, involving the Taliban, was scheduled to take place in the Qatari capital of Doha on April 20. But a dispute about who should participate and in what capacity prompted the Taliban to pull out at the last minute.

Qureshi lamented the cancelation of the talks was an unfortunate development.

"Intra-Afghan dialogue holds the key to the Afghan peace process. We hope that the meeting will be held at an early date," he said.

The foreign minister, who was out of the country during Khalilzad's presence in Islamabad, noted that in his previous meetings with the U.S. reconciliation envoy, both sides agreed that "we cannot afford to miss this opportunity of peace in Afghanistan."

Pakistan is believed to have long maintained close ties to the Taliban amid Afghan allegations insurgent leaders are allowed to use the neighboring country for orchestrating cross-border attacks. Islamabad rejects the charges.

US troop withdrawal

Khalilzad has acknowledged that in his meetings with the Taliban in early March, both sides had drafted a preliminary agreement on how and when U.S.-led foreign troops will withdraw from Afghanistan in return for insurgent assurances that transnational terrorist groups will not be allowed to again use the country as a sanctuary.

The chief American negotiator, who is scheduled to hold another round of discussions with Taliban representatives in coming days, has linked a final agreement to cessation of hostilities by the Taliban and their participation in intra-Afghan talks.

The Taliban refuses to stop the fighting and insists it will not engage in any Afghan-to-Afghan talks until Washington finalizes and announces a troop drawdown agreement.

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Indonesia Charts Two Soft Courses to Contain China

By Luke Hunt April 30, 2019

Expanding Chinese maritime interests in the Indian and Pacific oceans have emerged as a foreign policy priority across the region with Indonesia wanting and expected to play a key role as President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo settles in for his second term.

Two approaches are being pushed in diplomatic circles, but quietly, amid fears among smaller nations  like Cambodia, Laos, Brunei and even The Philippines  that opposing Beijing's seaborne strategy would risk losing Chinese largesse and investment.

A trilateral relation between Indonesia, India and Australia is finding traction but is currently on ice with all three countries holding elections in the first half of this year. The second is the Indo-Pacific strategy, or Indo-Pac, an alliance between Indonesia,Australia, India, the US and Japan.

Kevin O'Rourke, an analyst with PT Reformasi Info Sastra, said the Indonesian economy remains Jokowi's top priority and he is also reluctant to risk potential Chinese investment.

"However, he does seem to have a decent rapport with the current foreign minister Retno Marsudi, so she should continue, and she's been a solid proponent of efforts to discuss the Indo-Pacific strategy, which has substantial support within elements of the foreign ministry,"he said.

"So I think that inclination for an Indo-Pacific strategy is going to continue in a second Widodo term."

Chinese Expansion

China launched its "string of pearls" strategy a forward line of ports and trade routes  at the turn of the century, crossing international sea lanes in the South China Sea and claiming disputed islands and reefs. Some within the Exclusive Economic Zone of its neighbors.

It has ignored its own signature to the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea and lost its claims to islands held by The Philippines at an international tribunal in The Hague.

Despite objections it pressed on.

On land, expansion was recast into China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), described by the US as a"vanity project",investing and lending heavily, then seizing assets when countries cannot afford to repay, known as debt traps.

Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean was forced to handover Hambantota Port. In the Pacific, Australia was forced to outbidChina for control of a debt-ladened port in Fiji, a traditional base in its US-Pacific alliance.

Mohan Malik, of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, said Australia and Indonesia were the "quintessential Indian-Pacific" nations," in the sense that both these countries are Pacific powers as much as they are Indian ocean powers."

Beijing also fell foul of Jakarta when it claimed Natuna Island  long recognized as Indonesian sovereign territory  as part of its nine dash line delineating its claims in the South China Sea. In a bid to reassert its sovereignty Jakarta renamed that maritime zone the North Natuna Sea.

"Indonesia wants to be a global maritime fulcrum, how it can play that role is open to question, it's a lofty concept, it's identical to the Indo-Pacific construct," Malik said.

Twin strategies

Don Greenlees, a senior fellow with Australian National University, said Indonesia's China policy remained "a work in progress" as it was difficult to predict what China would do next.

"They do see the South China Sea as potentially quite a dangerous flashpoint. They've got their territorial problems there with China, north of Natuna, and so it's a bit of a balancing act and I think it's the same balancing act, frankly, that everybody's trying to grapple with," he said.

Indian elections will not be completed until May 19,Australians go to the polls on May 18 while the next Indonesian government will not be sworn in until October 1.

Any further movement on building a trilateral relation between the three or formalizing and expanding the Indo-Pac strategy to include other countries is unlikely until later this year.

Both would mean increased military exercises, joint-policing and naval bases to counter Chinese influence from spreading southeast and southwest. Last year Indonesia signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Australia and is expected to sign a similar pact with India soon.

Analysts said the trilateral relationship was the easier option because it was underpinned by common diplomatic sense and three regional powers with common interests.

However, the Indo-Pac strategy and efforts to coax support from other countries had been tainted by a heavy US influence and its trade war with China, which Malik said had made Indonesia reluctant to offer its support publicly.

"What is very off is the security orientation or connotation that this concept has acquired under the US-Trump administration; free and open Indo-Pacific, which is seen as putting countries on notice in terms of choosing sides," Malik said. "Other countries are torn between China and the U.S."

Ties that bind

In the meantime, all three countries are pushing ahead with their own strategies.

Indonesia and India are developing a 40 meter deep port at Sabang on the northern tip of Sumatra. India's navy is building military facilities at Port Blair, including new airstrips, and is expanding its its reach across the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

In March, Australia launched the Indo-Pacific Endevour 19, a naval deployment with India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

"That sends a very strong signal to China," Malik said, adding that naval drills between Australia, India and Indonesia could become routine."It would make sense for Indonesia to come out openly in favor of a Indo-Pacific concept."

India has objected to BRI saying, in part, it violates its sovereignty because of developments built in Pakistan controlled areas that India regards as its own.

It was also a pointed no show at this weekend's second BRI Forum in Beijing, which attracted delegates from 150 nations, including 36 leaders. Indonesia was the only country from Southeast Asia not to send its head of state while Australia mustered a mid-level delegation.

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US seeks to strangle Cuba ... again

The Trump administration has declared the most severe new sanctions against Cuba since President John F Kennedy imposed an economic embargo banning all trade with the communist island in 1962. That was the assessment of William M LeoGrande, a widely respected Cuba analyst, in reaction to announcements on April 17 by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton concerning new economic sanctions being imposed on Cuba.

In Washington, Pompeo, following up on previous State Department announcements, declared that, as of May 2, the Trump administration would indeed be implementing Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996. That provision enables former owners of properties nationalised by Cubas revolutionary government decades ago to seek damages in US courts for losses they suffered.

Meanwhile in Coral Gables, Florida, Bolton indicated that US citizens without family connections in Cuba will soon be barred in most instances from travel to the island. He announced that henceforth individual Cuban Americans could no longer provide family members on the island with unlimited amounts of money; they would be limited to sending no more than US$1,000 every three months. Bolton also announced new sanctions were in place against Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Under Title III of Helms-Burton, US courts may order companies from around the world to compensate former owners for their use of nationalised properties. International lending institutions, already leery of supporting ventures in Cuba, presumably will regard future loans for business projects in Cuba as risky. Diminished availability of loans would endanger an already precarious economy dependent on commercial dealings on a global scale.

Shortly after enactment of Helms-Burton in 1996, the European Union, Great Britain, Mexico, and Canada prohibited companies under their jurisdictions from complying with the law. Consequently, the United States delayed putting Title III into effect  until now. European countries and Canada are protesting once more.

The central criticism of the Helms-Burton Act from all quarters (outside the US) relates to its extraterritoriality. The word signifies US violation of the sovereignty of nations. US courts may be flooded with lawsuits. According to Washington attorney Robert Muse, a specialist in legal aspects of expropriation, Title III puts virtually every commercial enterprise on the island in question at this point and subject to a lawsuit.

Properties for which claims are possible include: Canadas Sherritt Corporation, hotels managed by the Melia Corporation of Spain, port facilities in Havana, and Cubas Jose Marti International Airport. Cruise ship operators and airlines using the latter two properties are at potential legal risk.

The White House reiterated that, with full activation of the law, foreign business persons trafficking in nationalised Cuban properties wont be receiving visas. The administration added five entities to its list of over 200 tourist facilities off-limits to US visitors.

Professor LeoGrande thinks that the Trump administration, having inflicted additional punishment on Cuba, will be disadvantaged in Florida in the 2020 elections, although activating the law may please Cubas former wealthy business owners. Alluding to opinion surveys, he suggests that most Cuban Americans oppose sanctions harmful to relatives on the island.

Speaking in Coral Gables on April 17, John Bolton reminded listeners that the Obama administrations policies toward Cuba have enabled the Cuban colonisation of Venezuela today. He proclaimed, We must all reject the forces of communism and socialism in this hemisphere  and in this country (gearing up for the Trump theme in the 2020 election).

Bolton also blamed the Cuban government for attacks on US diplomats in Havana. He was referring to their experiences of auditory phenomena together with neurological symptoms. No cause has been established. Truth-telling apparently is not one of Boltons strengths. As undersecretary of state for arms control in 2002, he falsely claimed Cuba had provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states. He later told the BBC that the US was confident that Saddam Hussein has hidden weapons of mass destruction ... in Iraq.

On April 17, Cubas revolutionary government noted, Today ... an anniversary is celebrated [marking] the beginning of military aggression at Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs) in 1961. Curiously that was the date chosen by the present government of the United States for announcing ... new measures of aggression against Cuba and reinforcing its application of the Monroe Doctrine. Bay of Pigs veterans had invited Bolton to Coral Gables to make his speech. There he declared, Today, we proudly proclaim for all to hear: The Monroe Doctrine is alive and well.

The Cuban government issued a call to all members of the international community and to US citizens to stop the irrational escalation and politics of hostility and aggression. It called upon peoples and governments of our region to provide backing for the proclamation [by the CELAC alliance in 2014] of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace. The Helms-Burton Act threatens to establish total dominion by the United States over the Cuban nation, opined one foreign ministry official. Helms-Burton presents a big obstacle to bilateral ties, another observed.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel stated, Cuba remains confident in its forces, in its dignity, and also in the force and dignity of other sovereign and independent nations. But we continue believing also in the North American people, in the homeland of Lincoln.

Peoples World
Terror Attacks on the Rise in Burkina Faso

By Carla Babb April 30, 2019

Violence fueled by extremists is on the rise in the West African nation of Burkina Faso and appears to be getting worse.

In April more than 65 people died in ethnic clashes inflamed by Islamist extremists seeking to gain a stronghold in the Sahel. On Sunday, four worshippers and a pastor were killed when gunmen targeted a church in the small northern town of Silgadji, local security sources said.

"What we fight against, what we see every day is like a toxin," Lt. Col. Kanou Coulibaly of the Burkina Faso Armed Forces told VOA.

Use the arrows below to navigate to Carla Babb's video reports from Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso has seen more than 230 attacks in just over three years, and the United States is hoping local forces can increase pressure on the militants, even as the U.S. military decreases its force numbers in the region.

The attacks began shortly after the country elected its first new leader in decades, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, in 2015.

U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso Andrew Young tells VOA that the violence has quickly spread across a nation virtually untouched by terrorism just a few years ago.

"They're trying to target the resilience of this community, which has lived in harmony for thousands of years. There are Muslims and Christians who are in the same family, and those terrorist groups (are trying) to break down a stable society and attack a fragile democracy," Young said.

Now, just as instability provided terrorists an opening to infiltrate in Iraq and Syria, Islamist groups are planting their flags in West African nations like Burkina Faso.

"We know that al-Qaida considers the Sahel right here to be a very important area for them to deliberately and quietly build infrastructure. They've been doing this for a number of years, and they've been fairly successful," Air Force Maj. Gen. Marcus Hicks, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, tells VOA.

Speaking on the sidelines of Flintlock, a major U.S.-led military exercise held in Burkina Faso involving more than 30 African and Western countries that ended in March, Hicks says, "At this time, we are not winning" the counterterrorism war in West Africa.

Officials worry that if the terrorists win in Burkina Faso, the country could become a launchpad for terrorists to expand their influence to West Africa's coast and beyond.

US, international training

That's why training exercises with Sahel nation forces are critical, Hicks says. African militaries learn skills ranging from how to plan operations to how to treat and evacuate the wounded.

Burkinabe Gendarmes First Lt. Robert Compaore says the newly honed skills make a big difference on the battlefield.

In response to the uptick in violence, the U.S. embassy has tripled its funding to Burkina Faso for security assistance.

But instead of bringing in more troops, the U.S. is actually decreasing its numbers in West Africa. About 1,000 American troops will remain in the region, and Hicks says that's still enough forces to help build local security partners.

However, he does not recommend further cuts and has warned the terrorism threat will be "a long-term problem."

The military is not the only security prong to receive U.S. and international training in Burkina Faso. The United States also funded training for law enforcement units who would likely serve as first responders to attacks in the capital, Ouagadougou.

"So we move from battlefield to custody, chain of custody, judicial process to accountability through the rule of law system. That's the key to success in the long term," Ambassador Young says.

But the U.S. Embassy's Regional Security Officer Rosendo "Rosie" Cedeno says there is a major hitch in that system -- terrorism cases are not going to trial.

"So here in Burkina Faso, there are a lot of terrorism cases. And one of the challenges is that they haven't been able to prosecute a case just yet," Cedeno said.

Sources familiar with Burkinabe terrorism cases tell VOA there are about 400 cases involving nearly 200 terror suspects imprisoned in Burkina Faso with no trial date.

The government of Burkina Faso has not replied to VOA requests for comment.

In response to the backlog, the U.S. embassy has sent a U.S. prosecutor from the Department of Justice to help build and try these cases.

Education targeted in attacks

The United Nations reports more than 100,000 people have been displaced this year in the Burkina Faso because of violence. The threat from jihadist violence is now so severe in Burkina Faso that is preventing about 5,000 teachers and 150,000 children from going to school.

"Any Burkinabe must be concerned because to destroy a country, you just need to destroy education," education advocate Hawa Bissiri, of Burkina Faso's IQRA Association, told VOA.

For displaced teacher Sia Michael, "It's a matter of life and death."

As he spoke to VOA at a local elementary school playground in the capital, he remembered the joy of his students before Islamic militants burned down his school and forced him to flee.

"What are you going to do? You have to leave. Once they burn down the school, then your life is next," he said.

The school closings have spread across the country's east and north, where jihadists from neighboring Mali and Niger have spilled over the borders.

Opposed to Western education, the militants destroy some schools like Michael's. Others are closed by teachers worried they'll be targeted next.

Badina Joseph told VOA that Salafists showed up in December at his village near the country's northern border with Mali and "warned teachers that if we did not move or start teaching in Arabic the following day, we better leave the village."

He said the requirement was impossible since they didn't speak the language, so teachers closed the schools and left before the holidays.

Officials are working to reopen some schools, but many fear children won't attend as long as violence remains on the rise.

Mamadou Diop and Issa Napon contributed to this report.

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Venezuela: 'Attempted Coup' Underway, as Guaido Calls for Military to Help Oust Maduro

By Ken Bredemeier April 30, 2019

Venezuela's socialist government said Tuesday that an "attempted coup" was underway in Caracas, with opposition leader and U.S. recognized interim president Juan Guaido saying there was "no turning back" in his efforts to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital, with gunfire erupting and troops loyal to Maduro firing water cannons at protesters. Television footage showed one Venezuela National Guard vehicle running over demonstrators who were throwing rocks at the military.

In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter he was "very closely" monitoring the situation, adding, "The United States stands with the People of Venezuela and their Freedom!"

Trump's National Security Adviser John Bolton described the unfolding drama as "a very serious situation ... a very delicate moment." He called on top Venezuelan officials, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, to convince military commanders to defect to Guaido.

"We want a peaceful transition of power," Bolton said.

In video and Twitter messages, the U.S.-supported Guaido said, "Today brave soldiers, brave patriots, brave men supporting the constitution have answered our call."

He declared, "The moment is now! The 24 states of the country have taken the path, no turning back, the future is ours. People and the Armed Forces united by the cessation of usurpation."

But Maduro responded on Twitter, saying, "Nerves of Steel! I have spoken with the commanders of all the (defense regions and operational zones), who have expressed their total loyalty to the People, the Constitution and the Fatherland. I call for the maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of Peace. We will overcome!"

Guaido said military troops had joined his effort to overthrow Maduro.

But the government's communications minister, Jorge Rodriguez, said on Twitter, "We are currently facing and deactivating a small group of treacherous military personnel who took positions" near a military base "to promote a coup d'etat. We call on the people to remain on maximum alert to -- with our glorious National Bolivarian Armed Forces -- defeat the attempted coup and preserve peace."

Maduro loyalists fired tear gas at demonstrators outside a military base.

Guaido appeared alongside opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez who had been put under house arrest by Maduro but said he had been "freed" by soldiers supporting Guaido.

Lopez posted a picture of men in uniform on Twitter, with the message, "Venezuela: the definitive phase to end the usurpation, Operation Liberty, has begun."

Defense Minister Lopez asserted on Twitter that the situation in the military barracks and bases in the country was "normal" and that the military was "firmly in defense" of Maduro.

Despite widespread food and medical shortages and a failing economy in Venezuela, the socialist Maduro regime has clung to power with the support of most of the country's military.Venezuela's two biggest creditors, Russia and China, also have continued to support Maduro. But Bolton said, "We expect the Russians not to interfere."

Meanwhile, the U.S., one of about 50 countries that has recognized Guaido as the country's legitimate leader, has imposed sanctions on Caracas in an effort to curb its international oil sales.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, "Today interim President Juan Guaido announced start of Operacion Libertad. The U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy. Democracy cannot be defeated."

Colombian President Ivan Duque called on Twitter for "soldiers and the people of Venezuela to place themselves on the right side of history, rejecting dictatorship and Maduro's usurpation."

Spain, which also recognizes Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader, said it did not support a military coup.Madrid said, "We ... have no doubt that the solution for Venezuela has to come hand in hand with elections.Spain does not support any military coup."

Guaido heads Venezuela's National Assembly.He invoked the constitution to declare himself interim president in January after calling Maduro's leadership illegitimate because of election fraud.

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US Anxiously Watches Venezuela at a Tipping Point

By Steve Herman April 30, 2019

White House officials are anxiously watching what they acknowledged is a tipping point in Venezuela, hoping for a groundswell of support there by citizens and the military that would peacefully allow Juan Guaido to quickly take power from Nicolas Maduro.

President Donald Trump tweeted he is "monitoring the situation in Venezuela very closely." A few minutes later, his national security adviser spoke to reporters outside the West Wing to say Trump is following what John Bolton termed "a very serious situation" minute by minute.

What is happening in the country is confusing and the U.S. government is receiving conflicting information, according to the State Department's special representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams.

Bolton, further indicating the uncertainty of success for Guaido, who is backed by the United States and dozens of other countries, called for Venezuela's defense minister, its supreme court chief judge and the commander of the presidential guard "to act this afternoon or evening" and support the action to remove Maduro from power.

At a State Department briefing, Abrams said it appears the three top-level Maduro officials are not going forward with what they had promised during internal Venezuelan negotiations.

"If this effort fails, they will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives," predicted Bolton.

The Trump administration blames Cuban and Russian support for maintaining Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, succeeding the late Hugo Chavez, who had come to power in 1998 by winning an election following his unsuccessful coup attempt.

"We expect the Russians not to interfere in Venezuela," Bolton warned.

In response to a VOA question about what happens next if Guaido is not able to prevail on Tuesday, Bolton replied it is possible the current situation could persist.

"We don't see any indication that there's any substantial part of the military that's ready to fire on innocent civilians, their fellow countrymen," added Bolton.

The national security adviser downplayed a televised scene of a military vehicle running over demonstrators who had been pelting the armored personnel carrier with stones.

"It could be an isolated incident," he said.

Bolton declined to say what kind of support the United States is currently providing on the ground besides humanitarian assistance.

As he and the president have emphasized repeatedly for months, Bolton said all options remain on the table when asked about the possibility of U.S. military intervention.

"I'm simply not going to be more specific to that," he added.

Administration officials say Guaido's attempt to take power should not be regarded as a coup attempt because the national assembly leader is already recognized as the head of state by Western governments.

Besides Cuba and Russia, countries such as China and Turkey continue to regard Maduro as Venezuela's president.

Cindy Saine at the State Department contributed to this report.

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Mixed Reactions to Uprising Against Maduro

By VOA News April 30, 2019

The United Nations called on all parties in Venezuela to avoid violence Tuesday as opposition leader and self-declared ruler Juan Guaido said he had the support of the military to oust president Nicolas Maduro.

"The Secretary-General urges all sides to exercise maximum restraint and he appeals to all stakeholders to avoid any violence and take immediate steps to restore calm," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters, adding that the Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in contact with both sides.

The U.S. government, which has been supporting Guaido and is one of many countries pressuring longtime President Nicolas Maduro to step down, expressed full support for the "Venezuelan people".

President Donald Trump said he is monitoring the situation in the country "very closely."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "Today interim President Juan Guaido announced start of Operacion Libertad. The U.S. Government fully supports the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom and democracy. Democracy cannot be defeated. #EstamosUnidosVE."

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro expressed his support for Guaido and the Venezuelan people "enslaved by a dictator" in a series of tweets Tuesday.

"Brazil is on the side of the people of Venezuela, President Juan Guaido and the freedom of Venezuelans," Bolsonaro wrote.

Despite widespread food and medical shortages and a failing economy in Venezuela, the socialist Maduro regime has clung to power with the support of most of the country's military. Venezuela's two biggest creditors, Russia and China, also have continued to support Maduro.

Russia urged talks between the conflicting sides Tuesday, but accused Guaido of "fueling violence" in the region.

"The radical opposition in Venezuela has once again turned to heavy-handed methods of confrontation," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Turkish government said opposition calls for an uprising against Maduro threaten the constitutional order.

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Trump Warns Cuba on Venezuela

By Steve Herman April 30, 2019

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening Cuba with "full and complete embargo" of the island and the "highest-level sanctions" if the communist government does not immediately cease military and other support for Venezuela.

The tweeted demand comes as the White House anxiously watches what it acknowledges is a tipping point in Venezuela, hoping for a groundswell of support there by citizens and the military that would peacefully allow Juan Guaido to quickly take power from Nicolas Maduro.

Minutes after Trumps tweet, his secretary of state asserted that Maduro had been prepared to depart Venezuela on Tuesday morning but was talked out of it by the Russians.

He was headed for Havana, Mike Pompeo said on CNN.

Asked to say something directly to Maduro, Pompeo replied: Fire up the plane.

Of the Cubans, Pompeo said, It is unacceptable that they are protecting this thug.

Earlier in the day, National Security Adviser John Bolton acknowledged a very serious situation in the South American country and said Trump was monitoring it minute by minute.

The Trump administration blames Cuban and Russian support for maintaining Maduro in power. In 2013, he succeeded the late Hugo Chavez, who had come to power in 1998 by winning an election following his unsuccessful coup attempt.

"We expect the Russians not to interfere in Venezuela," Bolton told reporters Tuesday outside the White House West Wing.

Bolton, further indicating the uncertainty of success for Guaido, who is backed by the United States and dozens of other countries, called for Venezuela's defense minister, its supreme court chief judge and the commander of the presidential guard "to act this afternoon or evening" and support the action to remove Maduro from power.

At a State Department briefing, the agency's special representative for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, said it appears the three top-level Maduro officials are not going forward with what they had promised during internal Venezuelan negotiations.

"If this effort fails, they will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives," predicted Bolton.

In response to a VOA question about what happens next if Guaido is not able to prevail Tuesday, Bolton replied it is possible the current situation could persist.

"We don't see any indication that there's any substantial part of the military that's ready to fire on innocent civilians, their fellow countrymen," added Bolton.

The national security adviser downplayed a televised scene of a military vehicle running over demonstrators who had been pelting the armored personnel carrier with stones.

"It could be an isolated incident," he said.

Bolton declined to say what kind of support the United States is currently providing on the ground besides humanitarian assistance.

As he and the president have emphasized repeatedly for months, Bolton said all options remain on the table when asked about the possibility of U.S. military intervention.

"I'm simply not going to be more specific to that," he added.

What is happening in Venezuela is confusing, and the U.S. government is receiving conflicting information, according to Abrams.

Administration officials say Guaido's attempt to take power should not be regarded as a coup attempt because the national assembly leader is already recognized as the head of state by Western governments.

Besides Cuba and Russia, countries such as China and Turkey continue to regard Maduro as Venezuela's president.

Cindy Saine at the State Department contributed to this report.

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Trump moving to renew plan of designating Muslim Brotherhood a terror group: report

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 06:14PM

US President Donald Trump has renewed a previous plan to blacklist the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, according to a report from The New York Times.

Trump, the paper reported on Tuesday, had directed his national security and diplomatic officials to place sanctions on the Brotherhood which has presence in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, among other countries.

Labeling the Brotherhood organisation as a terrorist group would include economic and travel sanctions on companies and individuals that interact with it.

However, it is unclear how the labeling would affect Americans and humanitarian organizations working with the group.

The Times report said Trump's plan had uncovered differences within the administration departments.

National security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were said to support Trump's plan, while the Pentagon, national security staff and diplomatic as well as legal experts, have expressed concerns.

The move follows a visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to the White House earlier this month.

During a private conversation between the two leaders, Sisi reportedly asked Trump to join Egypt in designating the group a terror organization.

Trump, according to the Times, told Sisi that the plan would make sense, which some officials said could be interpreted as an agreement.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders acknowledged in a statement to the Times that the administration was reviewing the plan.

"The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process," Sanders said.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 in Egypt and initially used violence in an effort to push for society to be governed by Islamic law, the Times noted. The organization renounced violence in 1970s and largely turned toward democratic efforts, although some branches and ex-members have engaged in forms of terrorism.

Officials told the Times that the criteria for the designation do not appear to fit the Brotherhood, which is a more loosely organized structure. The newspaper noted that it is often used as a moniker by political parties in different countries, such as Tunisia and Jordan.

Sisi has overseen a wide crackdown on dissent that has led to the detention of thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood. He helped lead a coup in 2013 to overthrow Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who was a former Brotherhood leader.

The president of Egypt reportedly urged Trump's predecessor to crack down on the Brotherhood, but President Obama's administration refused, citing diplomatic and legal concerns, according to the Times.

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Trump Administration Seeks to Designate Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Group

Sputnik News

15:40 30.04.2019(updated 16:02 30.04.2019)

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the late 1920s and has since morphed into a pan-Islamic organisation with over a million followers worldwide across 70 nations. It is considered a terrorist organisation by multiple countries, including Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that the Trump administration was working on blacklisting the Muslim Brotherhood* by assigning it the status of a foreign terrorist organisation.

"The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process", Sanders said, as quoted by The New York Times.

The report suggests that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as National Security Advisor John Bolton, have favoured the idea.

Nevertheless, the US Department of Defence, along with several national security and diplomatic officials, has expressed opposition to the move, suggesting a more limited step instead.

The development comes as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reportedly called on the US president to make the move in the course of a visit to the White House that took place on 9 April.

Cairo outlawed the group in 2013 after el-Sisi ousted President Mohamed Morsi, who belonged to the Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood, also known as the Society of the Muslim Brothers, is a transnational Sunni Islamist organisation established in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928.

* The Muslim Brotherhood (sometimes referred to as the Society of the Muslim Brothers) is an extremist organisation banned in Russia.

 Sputnik

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US Considers Designating Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization

By VOA News April 30, 2019

President Donald Trump is considering placing Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on a U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, the White House said Tuesday.

"The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders wrote in an email to reporters.

Naming Egypt's oldest Islamist movement a foreign terrorist organization would allow Washington to impose sanctions on any individual or group with links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood responded by saying it is stronger than any politician's decision.

"We will remain... steadfast in our work in accordance with our moderate and peaceful thinking in what we believe to be right, for honest and constructive cooperation, to serve the communities in which we live and humanity as a whole," a Brotherhood statement reads.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt more than 90 years ago. It came to power when its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, won the 2012 presidential election. Morsi had led the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak a year earlier.

Current Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sissi toppled Morsi in 2013, outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, and threw Morsi and many of its leaders in jail.

El-Sissi has shown little tolerance for the opposition and any dissent.

Trump hosted el-Sissi at the White House three weeks ago, praising him as a "great president" and asserting that U.S.-Egypt relations had never been stronger.

Many U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups have blasted al-Sissi for what they say have been numerous abuses and the recent successful referendum extending presidential terms which could allow him to rule until 2030.

Organized opposition to the referendum in Egypt was almost nonexistent.

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US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Discusses Level of Threat in Country

By VOA News April 30, 2019

As it continues to reel from the impact of the deadly Easter Sunday explosions, Sri Lanka on Monday banned women from wearing face veils.

The ban came in the form of an emergency law implemented by President Maithripala Sirisena.

Officials said the move would help security forces with the identification process as the country continues to search for people responsible for the Easter Sunday explosions that targeted churches and hotels.

The U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz talked with VOA about the veil ban as well as what she considers to be the level of threat that remains in the South Asian country.

VOA: A few days ago you and others said there were still elements of terrorist organizations in Sri Lanka. You said they were all armed and ready to go and they could do harm to the people of the country. Is that still the case?

Teplitz: Well our travel advisory indicates what we know and that is that we still believe there are terrorists actively plotting. I think the good news is that there has been a lot of progress in the investigation. The Sri Lankan authorities have been successful in apprehending suspects and finding safe houses. These are obviously very positive developments with regard to the immediate safety and security in the people and the people of the island. I think the challenge when you're looking at a situation like this is that a lot of coordination has to happen to disrupt these active plots.

And then there's a lot of work that's going to have to go on behind the scenes going forward, coordination between intelligence and law enforcement focused by the government on this global terror threat. So there's always going to be a need to be vigilant. And I think even after the active plot is wrapped up the government foreign partners, everybody, is going to have to remain focused on this as a potential threat.

VOA: What has the United States done so far as far as reaction to the attacks that have taken place and what further can this country do?

Teplitz: The United States has done a couple of things. First we surged support to the government of Sri Lanka to help with the investigation and then apprehension of the of the active plotters. We have an FBI team here on the ground working hand in glove in a joint investigation with the Sri Lankan authorities. We also have been very vigilant about warning American citizens that we take seriously our obligation to protect our public and want to make sure that they have the best information possible so that they can make the best decisions about their environment.

You might have noticed that our travel advisory has been upgraded twice since this event occurred. And that we are poised of course as new information comes in, to share with the public any threat that we might perceive is there. We also have been helping American citizens who were victims of this attack. So many Sri Lankans, so many families impacted by this, and many others from the foreign community. But of course there were four Americans who lost their lives four more who were injured in this. And we did our best to support them in an hour of need.

VOA: So the Sri Lankan government with all of its recent problems is working well with you in helping to solve the problems, is that correct?

Teplitz: That's right. We have a good cooperation and they had welcome to help.

VOA: There's a new development that Muslims in Sri Lanka will no longer be able to build their faces that under emergency law ordered by President Maithripala Sirisena that it bans all kinds of face covering so they say they can see people's identities.

Do you have any reaction to that?

Teplitz: Well the government is looking I think at a number of emergency measures.

They certainly wanted to be able to respond promptly in the wake of this attack.

We have been following their efforts in this regard and encouraging them as President Sirisena himself said to ensure that these measures are very focused and limited to the scope of this particular incident going forward.

The country had been working on revisions of its terrorism laws has been looking at other reform measures and we encourage them to continue to head in that direction.

The government has committed to, um, addressing some of the poor human rights practices of the past.

We've been encouraging them to reform their processes and approaches for the future.

I think this is even more reason why that needs to be done because respecting people's democratic rights respecting the rights of communities is something that can co-exist in a democratic society with efforts to combat global terrorism.

The Sri Lankans can make very good choices about how to approach that and the president's indication that these emergency powers would only be used to, um, focus on the perpetrators of this terrible crime, I think it's an important acknowledgement of that.

VOA: What about the division between the Sri Lankan president and the country's prime minister is that still causing problems as far as politics and programs advancing in that country?

Teplitz: Well you're aware of the constitutional crisis that the country was immersed in at the end of last year.

That crisis was resolved and the president and prime minister have been focused more intently on the needs of the nation.

We certainly encourage them to stay focused on what needs to be done to ensure Sri Lanka security and its prosperity going forward.

Clearly united leadership is going to contribute to security and prosperity.

So that's something that I think, everyone's got to be mindful of. Everybody needs to rise above the politics to a certain degree.

VOA: How did you feel when this attack occurred here you were in a beautiful country, many things to do?

What went through your mind when you heard that this had happened?

Teplitz: Well the first thing that went through my mind with this that it has happened is what can we do to help.

We have obligations on a number of levels.

And it's a responsibility that we're certainly very proud to carry out even while we're terribly saddened by the circumstances that we sometimes have to engage in.

So our first task actually was to find out who might have been caught up in this terrible event.

We had a team, we had teams out searching the hospitals in the morgues to find American citizens who might have been killed or injured in this to make sure that we could support their families.

And then we were simultaneously engaging with our hosts here with the Sri Lankan government to see what we could do to assist and bring our resources to bear.

When something a tragedy of this kind strikes, such a senseless attack our first impulse is to see what we can do to help everybody who's been impacted.

VOA: Any other issues that you feel we should discuss.

Teplitz: Well obviously, we have been very focused also on expressing our support and sympathy for the families of the victims in a very direct way of course supporting the American families.

But more broadly this was such a terrible and despicable act and the people who were victims of it certainly did not deserve this nor did the country here and I want to renew our commitment to pursuing terrorist groups and to pursuing them on a global level not just here in Sri Lanka.

I think that is a challenge that all nations are ready to face.

Indeed to dig in on in order to ensure that this kind of thing doesn't happen again.



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North Korean official censures Pompeo for 'dangerous' remarks

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 01:51PM

A senior North Korean official has strongly denounced US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his "stupid and dangerous" remarks last week that the US would "change paths" should diplomacy with Pyongyang not succeed.

On Tuesday, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said that Pompeo's comments in an interview with CBS last week were "foolish and dangerous ideas that imply overthrowing our system with military."

"This is a very stupid and dangerous idea of breaking down our system by using military methods as [the US] cannot break us down with the maximum pressure and economic blockade," she said. "The 'change of path' mentioned by the US  is not a privilege that the US has but is our choice."

"Our will to achieve denuclearization remains unchanged and we will denuclearize in due time, but it can be possible only under the condition that the US changes its current way of calculation and re-establish its stance," official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted her as saying

And if the US did not change its stance by the end of this year, it will "face (an) unwanted outcome," she said.

Speaking to CBS last Wednesday, Pompeo said he believed that the path to North Korea's denuclearization would be "bumpy" and that the US would consider alternative solutions should "good faith negotiations" and "real conversations" break down.

Just days before, director general of the North foreign ministry's Department of American Affairs Kwon Jong Gun called on US President Trump to remove Pompeo as his top nuclear negotiator. Accusing Pompeo of "self-indulgence" and "reckless remarks," Kwon warned that Pyongyang would be reluctant to engage in dialogue with the US should they be led by Pompeo.

Choe has also recently censured National Security Advisor John Bolton for remarks in which he said the North would need to make a "real indication" of willingness to denuclearize before a third summit takes place.

"As it was before, we have never expected that adviser Bolton would ever make a reasonable remark," Choe reportedly said, adding "his word has no charm in it and he looks dim-sighted to me."

Choe on Tuesday cited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's remarks during a "policy speech" earlier in the month that he would be open to a third summit with Trump, but only if it resulted in a "fair" deal beneficial to the two countries.

"We know the path that we will move toward, but we are hesitating to make a choice as we set the deadline for the U.S.," Choe said Tuesday, warning the U.S. of "consequences" should it decide against continuing negotiations.

Pyongyang and Washington have been at loggerheads since the collapse of a summit between Kim and Trump in February with no deal reached on the North's denuclearization.

In late February, the North Korean leader and President Trump of the United States met for the second time in Hanoi, Vietnam, where no agreement was reached. In their first summit last year, the two sides reached a vague denuclearization agreement.

Washington has refused to offer any sanctions relief in return for several unilateral steps already taken by North Korea. Pyongyang, on the other hand, has suspended its missile and nuclear testing, demolished at least one nuclear test site, and agreed to allow international inspectors into a missile engine test facility.

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An ongoing Soviet inspiration

Theres something to learn from the USSRs cultural policies, not least its promotion of working-class participation in the arts which has had an impact in Britain, says Christine Lindey.

Socially and politically, the impact of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and creation of the USSR cannot be overestimated. Yet the impact of Soviet art on its British counterpart in the inter-war years and beyond has been undervalued for, while it directly inspired only a minority of British artists and was disparaged by many, the aesthetic and social issues it raised still provoke much debate in art circles.

Initially, Bolshevik experiments such as El Lissitsky and Lyubov Popovas abstractions made little impact on the rather insular 1920s British art world. But in the early 1930s, avant-garde artists Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson were obliquely influenced by Soviet abstraction through their membership of the international Abstraction-Creation Group which included Soviet artists.

Yet some socially committed artists were troubled by the international avant-gardes focus on formal innovations, which they saw as individualist elitism which ignored artists social responsibility.

They were also appalled by Britains mass unemployment and dire social inequalities which contrasted unfavourably with the new worker states socio-political achievements. In the early 1930s a few including Cliff Rowe, Betty Rea, Misha Black and Pearl Binder set off for the USSR to see for themselves.

They discovered a dynamic and pluralist art world, where some Marxist artists energetically opposed their own avant-gardes obscure abstract concoctions. Arguing for an accessible, forward-looking art, in 1922 they founded the influential Association of Artists for Revolutionary Russia (AKhRR).

Its realist art celebrated working-class achievements through depictions of contemporary Soviet life in its revolutionary development. Precursors of the method of socialist realism adopted in 1934, their styles ranged from Isaak Brodskys precise realism to Alexandr Deinekas and Kusma Petrov-Vodkins moderate absorption of modernism, all of which were readily understandable.

Some British artists had reservations about the styles of Soviet art but all were impressed by Soviet cultural policies. Unlike capitalist societies, which cast artists as individualist outsiders competing for inadequate patronage, the USSR integrated art and artists into society.

It democratised access to art and art education and promoted state patronage, including of public art such as murals, sculpture and illustration and it encouraged artists organisations. Unlike in depression-hit Britain, illustration and design work was plentiful in aid of public information and literacy campaigns and international artists were welcomed. The communist Rowe and the socialist Binder were among those who stayed on to work there.

In 1933 Rowe returned to Britain, believing the political struggle to be more urgent here. That year, partly inspired by Soviet artists organisations, he initiated the formation of the Artists International (AI), an artists collective aiming to spread Marxism and oppose war on the Soviet Union, fascism and colonial oppression.

It fostered working-class politicisation through the public arts of banners, posters, leaflets and illustrations in left-wing publications and democratised access to art through meetings and exhibitions pointedly held in proletarian districts where the middle class feared to tread.

In 1935, it widened membership by tempering its Marxist outlook and renaming itself the Artists International Association (AIA). Yet it retained socialist policies and grew rapidly during the Spanish civil war from 1936 to 1939, which galvanised progressive artists into supporting anti-fascism.

The AIA blossomed during WW2, when state policies to create social cohesion included popularising the arts and these were partially coloured by Soviet-inspired AI and AIA ideals. Thus the influential government organisation the War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC) commissioned highly realist patriotic works including Laura Knights Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-ring of 1943, which could well be mistaken for a Soviet painting.

The wartime Anglo-Soviet Alliance prompted much British interest in the USSR. There were publications and exhibitions about its art and even normally snooty critics reviewed these relatively sympathetically.

Yet many British artists, including socially committed ones, were bemused by Soviet arts aesthetic conservatism. This was partly due to the Soviet wartime art establishment favouring narrow interpretations of socialist realism like Serafima Rianginas 1934 painting Higher Ever Higher, prints of which were sold and reproduced in Britain.

In 1942, the rather patronising tone of Edward Carters earnest but embarrassed defence of it in the pro-Soviet Anglo-Soviet Journal implied that he too was baffled.

The cultural cold war killed hopes of the continuation of a socially inclusive British art. The dominant aesthetic now demonised Soviet socialist realism as old-fashioned, retrogressive and lacking in artistic freedom.

It was contrasted with Western abstractions freedom of expression which now triumphed at the pinnacle of a stylistic hierarchy, at whose base languished all forms of realism, tainted through association with Soviet art.

Ironically, the art establishment now adopted Bolshevik abstraction as a precursor in its narrative of international abstraction but stripped it of its original social intentions. Yet a small minority of courageous British socially committed realists such as Rowe carried on regardless.

Christine Lindey is the author of Art for All: British Socially Committed Art from the 1930s to the Cold War arterypublications.co.uk

Morning Star
Activists Urge China to Not Repatriate N. Korean Defectors

By William Gallo April 30, 2019

Activists are urging China not to repatriate seven North Koreans who were detained in an eastern Chinese province after leaving their homeland.

The group, which includes a nine-year-old girl, fled North Korea last month but was detained by Chinese authorities in the northeast province of Liaoning, according to activists.

China regularly sends defectors back to North Korea, where they face punishment including forced labor, imprisonment, torture, or execution.

About two dozen activists, including many who also fled North Korea, protested Tuesday in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul, urging Beijing to release the group.

The nine-year-old girl's mother, who left North Korea several years ago and now lives in South Korea, also attended the demonstration.

"I'm worried about my young daughter and her safety ... it's been three years since I've seen my daughter," said the woman, her voice quivering.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, left a message in the Chinese embassy's mailbox. An activist also shouted into the intercom outside the embassy entrance, but received no response.

Former senior North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho, who defected with his family to South Korea in 2016, helped organize the protest.

"We should not let China's government repatriate their nine-year-old daughter back to North Korea," said Thae, who made appeals in Korean, Chinese, and English.

Thae, one of the highest level North Korean officials to defect in years, also urged the U.S. government to "exert its influence" on China to release the North Koreans.

The number of North Korean defectors has declined, in part because of China's expanded crackdown. In 2018, just 1,137 North Koreans defected to South Korea, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry. In 2009, that figure stood at 2,914.

Though China has signed the United Nations refugee convention, it does not recognize North Koreans as refugees. It instead sees them as illegal economic migrants.

According to a 2017 Human Rights Watch report, China has increased the number of guards and laid more barbed wire fencing along the border.

"China has also expanded CCTV surveillance on the border and increased checkpoints on roads leading away from the border," the group said.

Though not common, China has in the past released North Korean defectors. In 2018, China freed 30 defectors, following international pressure, according to South Korean media reports.

Many activists complain North Korean human rights have become less of a priority amid negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

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US Defence Giant Blasts Germany's Refusal to Buy F-35s as 'Retrograde Step'

Sputnik News

18:44 30.04.2019

Germany has been fiercely criticised by US President Donald Trump for failing to comply with the NATO spending target of two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Berlin's decision against purchasing Lockheed Martin's stealth combat aircraft has further strained the already tense relations between the NATO allies.

Lockheed Martin's vice president for Europe, Jonathan Hoyle, predicted in his interview with The Financial Times that Germany's decision to waive the F-35 stealth fighter jet as a possible replacement for its ageing Tornados could hamper its ability to operate at the same level as NATO.

He revealed that the choice to consider buying either Airbus-made Eurofighters or F-18s from another US-based corporation, Boeing, had caught a lot of governments "on the hop". According to the top-manager, the move puzzled other European governments when it came to "Germany's position going forward" as well as what it means for NATO. He cited several ambassadors who had voiced "disappointment" and noted that "Germany, which has the biggest defence budget, has just taken this retrograde step and isn't going to be there".

"So when we go off and collaborate together operationally, if you are flying stealth, fifth-generation jets, you don't want a fourth-generation jet in the middle of your operations because everyone can see that", he claimed, pointing out that other allies had invested in Lockheed Martin's latest technology, opting for the F-35.

Despite the setback in Germany, Lockheed Martin's vice president referred to Europe as a key area of growth; notably, Poland has vowed to spend two percent of its GDP on defence and is expected to develop into a regional hub for the company.

Earlier this year, numerous reports, citing officials from the country's Defence Ministry, said that the German Armed Forces, Bundeswehr, had decided against buying Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth combat aircraft, which is capable of performing both ground attacks and air missions. Berlin is expected to choose between US-based Boeing's F/A-18 jets or Eurofighters produced by European giant Airbus, as Germany pursues its plan to replace its ageing Tornados, which entered service with the German Air Force in 1983.

The country's government wants to adhere to NATO's nuclear weapon obligations despite plans to replace the Tornado jets, which currently fulfil this function, earlier reports suggested. The air force has stationed about 45 Tornado aircraft, designed to carry American nuclear bombs in the event of a crisis, at a key air base in Buchel, while the country's other aircraft are incapable of fulfilling such tasks.

Over the past two years, the European powerhouse has come under fire from US President Donald Trump, as it still does not meet NATO's defence spending target. Although Germany is raising their military expenditures, it remains far behind the two percent target level set in an agreement between member states in 2014.



 Sputnik

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US will see Iran keeping oil exports: President Rouhani

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, April 30, IRNA -- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday poured cold water to hot statements of US officials by saying that Iran will keep on oil exports and the US will find out that it was 'a mistake' to think that Iranian oil exports can be halted.

Rouhani who was addressing a national festival of Iranian laborers in Tehran, said, 'The Americans are trying to cut Iran's revenues through economic pressures and hindering oil exports, but, Godwilling, we will bring them to their knees.'

'Preventing Iran's oil exports to halt it was the Americans' wrong thought and decision,' he said affirming that it will not be realized.

'They would see in the coming months that we would have been keeping exporting oils,' the Iranian president said.

Iran's paths of oil exports are not limited to one way, rather there are six alternatives that would never come to the Americans' mind, he said.

Describing the laborers on the frontline of confronting the US, the president said, 'They would resist to the US economic pressures and threats by working hard to boost production.'

The first and foremost goal of the US officials in sanctions against Iran is to cut its foreign revenues, and a main source of the revenues for Iran has been selling oil, condensates and oil and gas related industries, he said referring to the sanctions that the US President Donald Trump imposed on Iran after a unilateral withdrawal from the international nuclear deal in May 2018.

Washington has explicitly announced that the sanctions were imposed to target the oil-based economy of Iran. The US last week announced that it would not extend sanctions waiver for Iran's crude major buyers.

9156**1416

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INSTEX ready to conduct first transaction with Iran

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, April 30, IRNA -- Director of the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) Per Fischer on Monday voiced the company's readiness for undertaking first transaction with Iran at the earliest.

In a meeting with the British economic activists, commercial companies and officials in London, he presented an explanation on the function of the system and addressed concerns of the British companies in doing business with Iran.

Iran's Ambassador in London who attended the meeting wrote in his tweet account that Fischer announced that despite challenges, INSTEX is seriously seeking to conduct first transactions with its Iranian counterpart.

INSTEX is a special financial mechanism created by Germany, France and Britain in January 31, 2019 to facilitate non-dollar trade.

The instrument is aimed at enabling legitimate trade between Iran and the European Union in the first phase before expanding to cover third parties as well.

Fischer visited Tehran in March to attend talks between Iranian authorities and representatives from France, Germany, Britain, and the European Union on how to best implement the payment channel.

A meeting was held between delegations from the Foreign Ministry and relevant bodies and the EU economic and political delegations.

8072**2050

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President addressing Worker's Week ceremony: We had $40bn non-oil exports

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Tue / 30 April 2019 / 14:21

Tehran (ISNA)  Iranian President described the goal of US' sanctions as pressurizing people, workers and less privileged classes, stressing, "Workers are at the front of fighting US' sanctions".

Addressing a ceremony for Worker's Week on Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani added, "Any production unit that increases its production capacity will receive more resources from the National Development Fund".

He also referred to the $40bn non-oil exports, saying, "The goal that the United States is seeking by stopping oil exports is to reduce our foreign currency incomes. To prevent this, we need to increase our non-oil exports".

The President went on to refer to the fourth year of self-sufficiency in wheat, adding, "This is what we need to avoid the need for foreign currency".

He continued, "Today, we are witnessing that the products made by Iranian workers is being sold in our neighbouring countries, which is very proud".

"All authorities are unanimous that America's decision to stop Iran's oil exports is incorrect, and we will not let that happen," said Rouhani.

"Today, 95 per cent of our medicine is being produced domestically, and if we can produce the remaining 5 per cent, this means that our need for foreign currency in this sector is removed," he said.

Stating that during sanctions, the production sector has a very heavy responsibility, the President said, "Workers, employers and producers have a very important part to play in reducing our dependence to foreign currency".

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran added, "Some countries retreat in the face of US pressures, but Iranian nation is standing strong".

"The government's power is because of people's support and workers' hard work," he continued, saying, "Floods have made problems for the people, but this year is the year of blessings from God".

He went on to say, "150 thousand hectares of wheat has been destroyed in Khuzestan Province only, but we will not have to import wheat this year".

Dr. Rouhani also said, "Increasing quality and quantity of production cannot be done with orders," adding, "Workers need to benefit from production units' more profits".

Stating that, "The country's growth and power is possible through work and production," he continued, "With the help of Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation and banks within the past year, 136,000 new jobs have been created".

End Item

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Zarif: World catching on to Bolton's chronic warmongering

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 06:10PM

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif highlights again how the US National Security Advisor John Bolton has been feverishly trying to push Washington towards war with Iran.

Tweeting on Tuesday, Zarif wrote, "Today, the world's catching on to Amb. John Bolton's chronic warmongering."

The top diplomat cited many evidenced revelations across the US media and elsewhere to exemplify his remarks.

The tweet incorporated a snapshot of a 2018 article in The New York Times that showed how Bolton had been promoting the notorious and deadly anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) as "viable opposition" and an alternative to the establishment in the Islamic Republic.

Zarif also attached another image captured from a profile published by The New Yorker on Monday that detailed Bolton's idiosyncrasies, including by citing a former senior advisor to the US administration's remarks that "John wants to bomb everyone."

"But Iranians didn't need to read a 10,000-word New Yorker profile to be convinced," Zarif chided.

"We've seen him (Bolton) shill for a cult terror group," he tweeted. The Iranian foreign minister was referring to evidence showing how Bolton had received a $40,000 "speaking fee" to address the MKO's annual gathering in Paris.

"andalong with his B-Team accomplicestarget Iranians with Economic Terrorism," he added.

Zarif was echoing remarks he had made to Fox News on Sunday, in which he identified the B-Team as Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The US has been pursuing a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran under US President Donald Trump, which has Bolton as its top security aide. The policy has seen Washington reinstating draconian economic sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic.

Washington has been enlisting the assistance of its regional allies in implementing the policy. Recently, it said that it would target every country potentially buying Iran's oil as of May 2 with "secondary sanctions."

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates immediately reported that they would be making up for potential shortages of the Iranian crude.

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President Rouhani signs off on US CENTCOM terrorist designation law

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 04:34PM

President Hassan Rouhani has signed off on the law recently approved by Majlis (the Iranian Parliament), which designated the American forces based in West Asia  known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM)  as a terrorist organization.

The chief executive put his signature to the legislation on Tuesday, thus obligating its enactment by Iran's Intelligence, Foreign, and Defense Ministries as well as the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the country's top security body, and the Plan and Budget Organization.

The MPs lent their overwhelming approval to the law last Tuesday in a counter-measure against the US's earlier blacklisting of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). The legislation was approved by 173 to 4 votes, with 11 abstentions.

On April 8, the White House had labeled Iran "a State Sponsor of Terrorism" and the IRGC a "foreign terrorist organization," claiming that the elite defense force "actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft."

Under the new law, "CENTCOM as well as forces, organizations and bodies under its command, are declared terrorist and providing any assistance  including military, intelligence, financial, technical, educational, administrative and logistical  to these forces in order to counter the IRGC and the Islamic Republic of Iran amounts to collaboration in an act of terror."

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Russia commends Iran's patience in JCPOA's implementation after US exit

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 03:05PM

Russia praises Iran's "patience" in fulfilling its commitments under a 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement following Washington's much-criticized exit from the landmark deal, saying Tehran's "responsible approach" merits respect.

The comments were made by Moscow's delegation to the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) at the UN headquarters in New York, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Moscow further said Iran chose to exercise "patience" and "restraint" and adopt a "responsible approach to fulfilling its obligations, despite constant provocations and blackmail," adding that Tehran's stance deserves to be "commended and respected," the statement added.

It also emphasized that Iran's "successful" implementation of the deal's nuclear provisions is a "crucial contribution" to strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Elsewhere in the statement, Russia welcomed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s "professional and impartial" approach in carrying out inspections of Iranian nuclear sites as part of the implementation of the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Since the JCPOA's conclusion almost four years ago, the IAEA regularly verified that Iran has continued to strictly comply with the restrictions on its nuclear activities under the nuclear deal, including by proactively providing the UN nuclear agency's inspectors with access to all nuclear facilities, it added.

In a quarterly report in February, the IAEA once again reaffirmed Iran's compliance with its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA, even as the United States re-imposed sanctions against Tehran.

Despite Iran's full compliance with the deal, the US under President Donald Trump withdrew in May 2018 from the JCPOA, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council  the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China  plus Germany in July 2015.

Afterwards, Washington re-imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the deal, despite objections from the other signatories  including its own allies  along with the entire world community.

The remaining parties to the JCPOA have vowed efforts to keep the deal in place without the US.

Russia has repeatedly slammed the US for abandoning the Iran deal, saying it would leave no stone unturned to preserve the accord and blunt the impact of Washington's anti-Iran bans.

In a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Tehran in September 2018, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani commended Russia for its role in efforts to protect the Iran deal following America's exit.

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India tells US replacing Iran oil 'impossible': Paper

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:44PM

India has told the US it should be allowed to import crude oil from Iran without being punished by Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran, major Indian newspaper Hindustan Times reports.

US waivers for eight importers of Iranian oil end on Wednesday, with American authorities saying neither a wind-down period nor a short-term exemption are being considered for those seeking to continue purchases.

India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj accosted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the plan during a phone conversation, saying New Delhi "should be allowed to import Iranian crude for some more time without being impacted by US secondary sanctions", the paper reported Tuesday.

"Swaraj explained India's political and economic conditions to Pompeo and sought some relaxation as making immediate arrangements for 23.5 million tonnes of oil  the amount supplied by Iran every year  from an alternative source was not possible," it said, citing people familiar with the developments.

"However, Pompeo did not make any commitment and told Swaraj the matter was no longer handled at his level as a decision had been made by the US administration to strictly enforce sanctions," it added.

According to the paper, Swaraj was initially scheduled to speak to Pompeo a day before he announced on April 22 that the Trump administration would no longer grant exemptions from sanctions to any country importing Iranian oil.

The call could not go through only because of "scheduling issues" and the two finally spoke on Saturday, it said.

India is Iran's second biggest oil buyer after China, getting about 10% of its supplies from the Islamic Republic.

According to the Hindustan Times, Indian officials had held extensive consultations with their US counterparts about an extension of the six-month waiver announced last November and were expecting a positive outcome.

With a general election underway in India, Swaraj told Pompeo that "the next government with a fresh mandate will take a final call on this issue".

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already come under opposition attacks over his failure to guarantee continued access to Iranian oil.

"The US ban on exporting crude oil from Iran to India, is it not an attack on India's sovereignty?" Randeep Singh Surjewala, a Congress Party lawmaker and national spokesman, said on Twitter last week. "Why is Modiji, who falsely boasts of his bravery, now silent?"

Another national opposition party, the Communist Party of India, condemned the US decision for its negative impact on India and said Modi must continue buying Iranian oil.

"Any step to stop importing oil from Iran will harm India's energy security and national interests," the communist party said as it urged Swaraj to reject Trump's "illegal" move.

"Since the United States has unilaterally imposed these illegal sanctions, the BJP-led government must reject these sanctions and continue to buy oil from Iran which is in the country's interests."

Pompeo warned countries and companies on Monday that it would be a costly mistake to violate US sanctions by importing Iranian oil after Wednesday.

"Companies that choose to violate the sanctions, we will pursue and we will ensure they are held accountable for the violations they engage in," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Among Iran's largest oil importers, Turkey and China have already dismissed such threats and pledged to continue oil imports from Iran.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said last week the sanctions will backfire as he made it clear that his country will continue to have trade with Iran.

"Iranians are remarkably resilient and have learned how to live under adverse conditions since 1979," he said in Ankara.

Analysts have warned that Washington's uncompromising stance is set to further strain its already rockey relations with world countries.

Pompeo on Monday tried to put on a brave face on that, saying it was confident trade talks between the United States and China would not be affected by the end of Iran oil waivers.

"We have had lots of talks with China about this issue. I'm confident that the trade talks will continue and run their natural course," he said.

Chinese tabloid newspaper the Global Times on Monday said China and India could work together "to form a buyers' bloc" to counter US sanctions on Iran.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said the US decision to end sanctions waivers had angered Washington's allies,

"People are not happy. China is not happy, Turkey is not happy, Russia is not happy. France is not happy. US allies are not happy that this is happening and they say that they will find ways of resisting it," Zarif told Fox News.

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Iran to continue oil exports despite US pressure: President Rouhani

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 09:15AM

President Hassan Rouhani has downplayed Washington's recent plan to cut Iran's oil sales to zero, saying Tehran has its own ways of selling oil and will keep up its exports despite US pressure.

"America's decision to block and cut Iran's oil exports to zero is wrong and we will not let this decision become operational," Rouhani said during a ceremony commemorating Workers' Week in Tehran on Tuesday.

"In future months, Americans will see that we will continue our oil exports," he said.

The Iranian chief executive noted that while the US is busy blocking one path for exports, Iran will still have multiple other methods at its disposal for crude oil sales, of which the Americans are unaware.

"The first goal of Americans in (imposing) cruel sanctions against Iran is to cut the country's foreign exchange revenue," said Rouhani, adding, "God willing, we will bring America to its knees."

The Iranian president described resilience and resistance against Washington as the main duty of the government and nation.

The US administration said in a statement on April 22 that buyers of Iranian oil must stop their purchases by May 1 or face sanctions. The move ended six months of waivers, which allowed Iran's eight biggest buyers -- Turkey, China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan -- to continue importing limited volumes.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that the US administration's hostile attempts to block Iran's oil sales will lead nowhere, and that the country will export "as much crude as it needs and wishes" in defiance of American sanctions.

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Rohani: Iran Will Continue Oil Exports, Despite U.S. Sanctions

April 30, 2019

Iran will continue to export oil despite increasing pressure by Washington, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said in a speech broadcast live by state TV on April 30.

"In future months, the Americans themselves will see that we will continue our oil exports," Rohani said.

"America's decision that Iran's oil exports must reach zero is a wrong and mistaken decision, and we won't let this decision be executed and operational," the president said.

Rohani's remarks came days after Washington announced that it had decided not to renew waivers in May allowing importers to buy Iranian oil without facing U.S. sanctions.

"This decision is intended to bring Iran's oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue," the White House said in a statement on April 21.

The decision means sanctions waivers for five nations, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Turkey won't be renewed when they expire on May 2.

The announcement sparked condemnations in Tehran, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying the elimination of the waivers was a "hostile measure" that "won't be left without a response."

Washington has ramped up sanctions on Iran since President Donald Trump withdrew from its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers last year.

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal with six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany -- had given Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear program and ensuring it is not trying to produce nuclear weapons.

Trump says the Iran nuclear deal was "fatally flawed" because it did not address Iran's ballistic-missile program or Tehran's alleged state sponsorship of terrorism.

Earlier this month, a U.S. official said that U.S. sanctions have denied Tehran more than $10 billion in oil revenue.

Based on reporting by Reuters and irna.ir

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/rohani-iran-will-continue-oil-exports -despite-u-s-sanctions/29911983.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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India Urges US to Continue Waiver on Iranian Crude Import - Reports

Sputnik News

14:25 30.04.2019(updated 17:17 30.04.2019)

In a phone conversation, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asked her US counterpart Mike Pompeo for a relaxation of sanctions considering that a government with a new mandate would soon be elected in the country.

New Delhi (Sputnik) The government of India has urged the US to continue with its special waiver of Iranian sanctions for some more time in light of the ongoing parliamentary elections, reports Indian daily The Hindustan Times. However, America's top diplomat was non-committal during the conversation, the newspaper added further.

Swaraj explained India's political and economic conditions to Pompeo while asking him to continue the waiver, as after the 23 May poll results, a new government with a fresh mandate will take a call on the issue.

It was also emphasised that it would not be an easy task for India to arrange a replacement for 23.5 million tonnes of oil  the amount supplied by Iran annually  from an alternative source.

Waivers for Iranian oil exports to countries like India, China, and Japan will come to an end on 3 May, and these countries will have to replace the annual intake from Iran with some other sources.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabian Minister for Energy, Industry, and Mineral Resources Khalid Falih has told Sputnik that the kingdom is ready to meet the demands of those customers who are substituting Iranian barrels for Saudi barrels, but the output revision under OPEC plus one will happen only after July this year.

The US has advised Iranian crude oil buyers to stop purchases, which were granted under the sanction waivers.

"We have had extensive and productive discussions with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other major producers to ease this transition and ensure sufficient supply", the US Department of State said.

Soon after the US announcement, India's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said that India would fill the gaps left by Iranian oil with imports from other major oil producing nations, saying that "Indian refineries are fully prepared to meet the national demand for petrol, diesel and other petroleum products".

India imported 479,500 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian oil in 2018/19, compared with about 458,000 bpd a year before, which is five percent more, according to the data compiled by Reuters.

In November, the US had decided to allow India to continue to buy about 300,000 bpd oil until early May 2019.

 Sputnik

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Report: Iran Escalates Targeting of Non-Shiite Muslims, Other Religious Minorities

By Michael Lipin, Farhad Pouladi April 30, 2019

A U.S. government body that monitors global religious freedom says conditions in Iran worsened last year, with escalated government targeting of non-Shi'ite Muslims and minority Baha'is and Christians.

In its annual report published Monday, the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said Iran merits designation as one of 16 countries of particular concern based on conditions in 2018.

The State Department has made that designation for Iran every year since 1999, a move that enables the United States to impose travel restrictions and other sanctions on Iranians responsible for perceived religious freedom abuses.

USCIRF uses its religious freedom findings to make policy recommendations to the U.S. president, State Department and Congress.

"Sadly, this year [our report] shows no progress in Iran at all between last year and this year," USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer told VOA Persian at a Monday presentation of the report at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington. "[Iran]) continues to persecute various religious minorities including Muslim minorities that don't agree with its Shi'ite regime."

There was no immediate response to the USCIRF report in Iranian state-approved media.

Iran is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation led by Shi'ite clerics who established the Jaafari school of Shia Islam as the state religion in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Of the 99% of Iranians who are Muslims, U.S. government data show 9095% are Shi'ites while 510% are Sunnis.

Iran's constitution permits the practice of four schools of Sunni Islam. But, it does not recognize Sufism, a mystical form of Islam whose adherents, known as Dervishes, are seen as a heretical minority by Iran's ruling clerics. USCIRF's report said hundreds of Sufis were arrested and scores were sent to solitary confinement and beaten in prison last year.

USCIRF said Tehran also discriminated against minority Sunnis by rejecting their repeated requests to build an official mosque in the Iranian capital last year. It said several Iranian Sunni clerics were targets of violence, with a gunman killing one last July in southern Iran.

Iran's estimated 300,000 Bahai's, who constitute the nation's largest non-Muslim minority, faced ongoing arbitrary detention, harassment and imprisonment based on their religion last year, according to the report. The Iranian government does not recognize the Baha'i faith as a religion and labels its followers as heretics as well. "[Iran] continued its long-term practice of egregious economic and educational persecution of the [Baha'i] community," USCIRF said.

Iran recognizes Christianity, but the USCIRF report said it "drastically" escalated arrests of the nation's almost 300,000 Christians last year. USCIRF said Iranian authorities arrested 171 Christians in 2018, most of them in the first week of December ahead of the Christmas holiday. It said Iran arrested only 16 Christians the year before.

USCIRF said another Iran-recognized religious minority, a community of 15,000 to 20,000 Jews, faced a government-driven anti-Semitic sentiment that was less pronounced than in previous years. But, it said Iran continued to "propagate and tolerate anti-Semitism," highlighting an Iranian presidential aide's role in organizing an October 2018 Tehran conference that accused Jews of manipulating the global economy and exploiting the Holocaust.

"The Iranian government regularly calls for a second Holocaust when they call for the destruction of the only Jewish state in the world," USCIRF Commissioner Bauer told VOA Persian.

The USCIRF report urged the U.S. government to speak out frequently at all levels about what it called "severe religious freedom abuses" in Iran; to freeze the assets of Iranian officials responsible for such abuses and bar their entry into the United States; and to press for the release of all prisoners of conscience in the country.

"We have asked both the [Trump] administration and Congress to keep religious liberty and human rights as a central part of our dealings and negotiations with Iran," Bauer said.

The Trump administration has said it wants to negotiate a new deal with Iran to end an alleged nuclear weapons program and other perceived malign behaviors. But Iranian leaders have rejected any negotiations until the United States lifts all sanctions re-imposed on Tehran since Trump withdrew last year from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.

This article originated in VOA's Persian Service.

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Iraqi Forces Target Daesh Sleeper Cells in northern Iraq

U.S. Central Command

Release No: 19-027 April 30, 2019

April 30, 2019

Release # 20190430-01

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- In the largest combined operation since the defeat of Daesh's so-called physical caliphate, Combined Joint Task Force  Operation Inherent Resolve supported an Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service attack on Daesh sleeper cells and its support base in the Wadi Ashai area of northern Iraq on April 24, 2019.

Wadi Ashai is located in northern Iraq among the Hamrin mountain range in an area where Daesh is generally believed to be moving materiel and people in an attempt to support its resurgent operations.

CJTF-OIR destroyed multiple Daesh tunnel systems, buildings, caves, and command and control positions in preparation for Counter Terrorism Service clearance operations. The combined strikes and clearance also removed several Daesh fighters from the battlefield.

"The clearance of the Middle Euphrates River Valley in March represented a substantial loss for Daesh, but it was not the end," said Maj. Gen. Christopher Ghika, Deputy Commander-Stability for CJTF-OIR. "The CTS have dealt a major blow to Daesh's ambitions; and with this strike, they lose even more of their capacity to destabilize Iraq."

The 74 nations and five international organizations that constitute the Global Coalition are operating at the invitation of the Government of Iraq in support of Iraqi Security Forces in the regional pursuit of an enduring defeat of Daesh.

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'Human Time Bomb': Charity Warns 45,000 Born Under IS In Iraq May Become Stateless

By RFE/RL April 30, 2019

An estimated 45,000 displaced children who were born under the rule of the extremist group Islamic State (IS) are being excluded from Iraqi society because the authorities deny them ID papers, an international charity group says.

The undocumented children -- most of whom are now in camps after IS lost control of the territory it held in Iraq -- are a "possible human time bomb," Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said on April 30.

"Allowing these children to have an education, health care, simply the right to exist, is key to ensuring a sustainable future for them and for the country," Egeland said.

In a report titled Barriers From Birth, the group said the Iraqi government considers their birth certificates invalid because they were issued by IS.

Most of the children were born in 2013 to 2017, when the extremist group controlled up to nearly one-third of Iraq. Others lost their documents as they fled during the conflict.

The report quoted a health official who said that without a valid birth certificate, children are unable to receive vaccinations in some areas, raising fears that diseases could be contracted and spread.

Children need ID documents to enroll in Iraqi schools, and documentation is also often required to obtain graduation certificates.

The report said that as the children reach adulthood, they risk being denied state-recognized marriages, owning property, or even being formally employed.

It is nearly impossible for children from families accused of affiliation with IS to obtain civil documentation in Iraq, the Norwegian Refugee Council said.

"Children are not responsible for crimes committed by their relatives, yet many are denied their basic rights as Iraqi citizens," Egeland said.

The advocacy group urged the Iraqi authorities to "ensure that undocumented children have the right to exist like any other Iraqi citizen" as a crucial step to guarantee the country's road to recovery and reconstruction.

With reporting by AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/human-time-bomb- charity-warns-45-000-born-under-is-in-iraq -may-become-stateless/29912356.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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EU extends arms sanctions against Myanmar over Rohingya

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 05:32AM

The European Union (EU) has extended sanctions, including a weapons embargo, against Myanmar for one year over the Myanmarese military's deadly crackdown on minority Muslims in the country.

The European Council said in a statement on Monday that the sanctions included restrictions on arms, dual-use products, and surveillance equipment that could be used for "internal repression" in Myanmar's Kachin, Rakhine, and Shan states, where minority Rohingya Muslims have been subjected to state-sponsored violence.

"The sanctions regime includes an embargo on arms and equipment that can be used for internal repression, an export ban on dual-use goods for use by the military and border guard police, and export restrictions on equipment for monitoring communications that might be used for internal repression," the Council said in the statement.

The EU also extended sanctions on 14 senior military and border officials over human rights violations, including killings and sexual violence. The measures bar them from traveling to or through the European bloc and freeze any assets they hold in Europe.

Under the sanctions, the EU will also be refusing to train soldiers from Myanmar.

The measures will stay in place until at least April 30, 2020.

The statement referred to the findings of the independent international fact-finding mission (FFM) of the UN Human Rights Council, which "concluded that gross human rights violations were committed in Kachin, Rakhine and Shan States, in particular by the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw)" and urged the government of Myanmar "to take, without further delay, meaningful action and to make progress in all areas of concern set out" in its previous conclusions of February 26, 2018.

The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have faced horrific violence since 2012. In 2017-18, Rakhine State in particular was the scene of an organized crackdown committed against the Muslims by the country's military and Buddhist mobs. Thousands of Muslims were killed in that crackdown and some 800,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where they currently live in camps in dire conditions.

The violence in Rakhine has been described by the United Nations as genocide.

Last year, a UN fact-finding mission said the campaign against the Rohingya was orchestrated with "genocidal intent." It urged charging the Myanmarese army chief and five other generals with the "gravest crimes under international law."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already opened a preliminary examination of the violence.

While the Myanmarese military has escaped all accountability in that campaign of violence, new reports have been emerging about potential rights violations against suspected Buddhist rebels as well.



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Increased Violence in Northwest Syria

Press Statement

Morgan Ortagus

Department Spokesperson

Washington, DC

April 30, 2019

The United States is alarmed by the escalation of violence in Idlib and northern Hama. Ongoing Russian and regime airstrikes, along with attacks by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other groups connected to Al Qaeda in Syria, continue to destabilize the region, exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation, and cause dozens of civilian deaths and injuries - many of them children. These attacks have targeted civilian infrastructure, including homes, medical facilities, and settlements for internally displaced people who have been forced from their homes by such violence. Russia and the regime also blatantly continue to militarily target humanitarians such as White Helmets volunteers as they attempt to save victims in many of these affected communities.

The violence must end. The United States reiterates that any escalation in violence in northwest Syria will result in the destabilization of the region. We call on all parties, including Russia and the Syrian regime, to abide by their commitments to avoid large scale military offensives, return to a de-escalation of violence in the area, and allow for unhindered humanitarian access to address the humanitarian disaster created by the ongoing violence.

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F-35 jet program doomed to failure if Turkey excluded, Erdogan says

Iran Press TV

Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:57PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized the United States for threatening to stall the delivery of F-35 fighter jets to his country over the purchase of Russian-built advanced S-400 air defense missile systems, complaining that Ankara is being subjected to "an imposition" and unfair treatment on the issue.

"The F-35 project is bound to collapse if it excludes Turkey," Erdogan told the audience at the 14th International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF'19) at Tuyap Fair and Exhibition Center in Istanbul on Tuesday.

He noted that Turkey has not accepted any impositions in the political, diplomatic and economic spheres, and will not bow down to any impositions in the defense field.

"We were surely not going to remain silent against our right to self-defense being disregarded and attempts to hit us where it hurts," he said. "This is the kind of process that is behind the S-400 agreement we reached with Russia."

Erdogan highlighted that those trying to exclude Turkey from the F-35 project had not thought it through, stressing that his country has become a leading actor regarding the production of armed and unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles.

"Nowadays, we are being subject to a similar injustice  or rather an imposition  on the F-35s," he said.

The president added that Turkey has reduced its foreign defense industry dependence from 80% to 30% and it now exports defense industry products.

He underlined that his country has also taken steps to make its own fighter jets.

The United States announced on April 1 that it would be suspending all "deliveries and activities" related to Turkey's procurement of F-35 stealth fighter jets over Ankara's plans to purchase the S-400s.

On April 24, Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country will look elsewhere for an alternative to American F-35 fighter jets if Washington blocks the delivery of its advanced stealth warplanes to Ankara.

"We are already partners in the F-35 manufacturing program, we participate in this project, we have paid the necessary amount. There are currently no problems with this," Cavusoglu said.

"But in the worst case scenario, we will have to satisfy our need in another place, where the best technologies will be offered," he added.

Moscow and Ankara finalized an agreement on the delivery of the S-400 in December 2017.

Back in April 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said in Ankara that they had agreed to expedite the delivery of the S-400. At the time, it was said that the delivery could be made between late 2019 and early 2020.

A number of NATO member states have criticized Turkey for its planned purchase of the S-400, arguing the missile batteries are not compatible with those of the military alliance.

They also argue that the purchase could jeopardize Ankara's acquisition of F-35 fighter jets and possibly result in US sanctions.

The S-400 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.

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.

Ankara's ties with its Western allies in NATO have been strained over a range of other issues, including Washington's support for Kurdish militants in Syria as well as the US government's refusal to hand over Fethullah Gulen, a powerful opposition figure living in the US blamed for a coup attempt against Ankara in July 2016.

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F-35 Project Without Turkey is Bound to Collapse - Erdogan

Sputnik News

12:10 30.04.2019(updated 14:53 30.04.2019)

Relations between Turkey and the US have been strained since Ankara made it clear that it would proceed with purchasing Russian S-400 systems. The move prompted the US to suspend its delivery of F-35 fighter jet parts to Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday at a defence industry fair that a multinational project on the development of the F-35 Lightning II would collapse without Turkey taking part in it.

"When we felt the need for missile defense systems, we turned to the allies, but did not receive the necessary response. Therefore, we reached an agreement with Russia on the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. Now [the allies] are trying to exclude us from the F-35 project. Without Turkey, this project will suffer great damage," Erdogan said at the opening of the international defence industry exhibition IDEF-2019 in Istanbul.

At the same time, according Deputy Chief of Russia's Rosoboronexport Sergei Ladygin, Moscow and Ankara are in talks over a possible creation of Turkey's own long-range air defence systems.

"We are holding consultations on creating a new national long-range air defense system in Turkey's interests," the official said.

The statements come amid a row between Washington and Ankara over the latter's decision to purchase Russian S-400 air defence systems.

Washington has repeatedly voiced concerns that if Turkey acquires both S-400s and F-35s, it will jeopardise US or NATO military equipment, since it would allegedly provide Russian experts with key insights into sensitive information related to the warplane's technology.

Ankara, for its part, has maintained that the S-400s were not connected to the security of NATO, the US or the F-35 in any way. Despite Ankara's explanation on the issue, Washington has decided to stop deliveries of F-35 fighter jet parts to Turkey.

Russia and Turkey sealed the $2.5 billion S-400 deal in December 2017, having signed a loan agreement for the shipment of a total of four batteries. The first delivery is scheduled for July 2019, according to Turkish authorities.

 Sputnik

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AUSTIN, Texas, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Datical , the leading provider of database release automation solutions, today announced the results of an independent survey that found database deployments continue to be a software delivery bottleneck, a process that has not improved within the past year. Additionally, the growing pressure to deliver application updates faster is greater than ever before. Companies with the fastest application release cycles suffered the biggest impact from slow, manual deployment of database schema changes.



The 2019 State of Database Deployments in Application Delivery research, conducted by Dimensional Research , surveyed application developers, application release engineers, enterprise architects, and DevOps engineers. Of those, 92% reported it is difficult to accelerate the deployment of database schema changes in an effort to match the pace at which they deploy application code changes. This finding shows there has been no improvement as the same statistic was reported last year in the 2018 State of Database Deployments in Application Delivery survey.

The process of deploying database schema changes is very complex and demanding. It frequently involves spending hours, if not days, manually reviewing and validating every database change script and schema change within those scripts. In fact, 91% of survey respondents reported they have to re-work database changes multiple times before they are ready for production deployment. This backs up another key finding among survey participants - 80% agree that it takes longer to deploy database code changes than other types of code changes.

Moreover, neglecting the database deployment process has proven to have significant business impacts. Enterprises rely on mission-critical applications and their databases to run the business and drive the customer experience. If database change errors occur and are not resolved quickly, application performance can suffer, service outages can occur, and the risk of data loss increases  all leading to brand reputation damage. The research found that 84% of application stakeholders had serious production issues due to database change errors; 57% of all application changes require a corresponding database schema change; and 88% report taking more than an hour to resolve these schema change issues, up from 81% a year ago.

The lack of automated testing, change validation, and code deployment around database releases are the biggest threat to an organizations ability to accelerate application delivery and keep pace with customer demands, said Robert Reeves, CTO and co-founder of Datical. As executives search for ways to accelerate application delivery and remove errors, the resolution is simple - automate the database release process. This survey proves the database release process is a significant bottleneck to application delivery. Those that dont automate this process will see initiatives like agile and DevOps fail.

The overwhelming majority (92%) of enterprises realize that automating database deployments provides tremendous business value and accelerates overall application release cycles. According to survey respondents, the top benefits of database release automation include the ability for developers to find and fix database schema change errors faster (65%), reduced application downtime because of fewer, bad database schema changes (60%), and removing database deployment process bottlenecks in the application release process (52%).

This research clearly shows the database deployment process is often considered the most frequent source of bottlenecks and risk to the application release cycle. This indicates a need to deliver error-free application experiences faster without increasing risk, said Diane Hagglund, principal researcher at Dimensional Research. This research clearly indicates that organizations see the benefits of automating their database deployment process, especially since the data proves that deployments get hard as application release cycles get faster.

To view all survey findings, including the business impact of neglecting the database, as well as the benefits of automating database deployments alongside application deployments, download the full report here .

Survey Methodology and Participant Demographics

The State of Database Deployments in Application Delivery survey, commissioned by Datical, was conducted in March 2019 and gathered responses from a total of 307 highly qualified application developers, application release managers, enterprise architects, and DevOps professionals at large enterprises. All had the responsibility for mission-critical applications that connected to enterprise databases, which included a mix of job levels, application responsibilities, databases used, and industry verticals.

Resources

About Datical, Inc.

Daticals mission is to transform the way businesses build software so they can deliver better customer experiences faster. Datical solutions deliver the database release automation capabilities technology executives need to get the most out of their Agile, Cloud, DevOps and Continuous Delivery investments. With Datical database release automation, organizations can shorten the time it takes to bring applications to market while eliminating the security vulnerabilities, costly errors, data loss and downtime often associated with current database deployment methods. For more information, visit www.datical.com , call 737-402-7187 or connect via @datical .
TORONTO, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Angus Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: GUS.P) (Angus or the Corporation) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement (the Agreement) with Luxor Exploration Inc. (Luxor), a private company incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario), and Canstar Resources Inc. (TSX-V: ROX) (OTCQB: CSRNF) (Canstar), a company incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario), dated April 25, 2019. Pursuant to the Agreement, Angus will acquire an aggregate 100% interest in the Slate Bay property (the Property) from Luxor and Canstar (the Proposed Transaction). Angus will acquire Canstars 75% interest in the Property in consideration for the payment to Canstar of $30,000 and issuance to Canstar of 70,000 common shares of the Corporation. Angus will also acquire Luxors 25% interest in the Property in consideration for the payment to Luxor of $30,000. The Proposed Transaction will, if completed, constitute Angus Qualifying Transaction as such term is defined in Policy 2.4  Capital Pool Companies (Policy 2.4) of the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV). All figures are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.



The Slate Bay Property

The Slate Bay Property is an exploration property prospective for a copper-gold-silver skarn mineralized system located in the Red Lake gold mining district in the Province of Ontario. The Property is located 10 kilometres north of the town of Red Lake, Ontario, within the Red Lake greenstone belt and consists of the eight patented mining claims in southern McDonough Township within the Red Lake gold camp. The Property is royalty-free. No resources or reserves exist on the Property.

A map accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4368b709-ad89-4723-9d72-5be2b6532620

Canstar and its predecessor conducted three programs of drilling on the Property totaling 2,300 meters of drilling from 2002 to 2008. Additionally, there was historical exploration programs completed on the property from the 1930s to 1980s. Management believes the previous exploration results confirm the significance of the Slate Bay skarn system in terms of its size and intensity as well as its exploration potential. Skarn deposits as a class constitute an important source of copper, gold and silver worldwide. At Slate Bay, a large mineralized (locally intensely mineralized) system of considerable thickness has been identified, with lower grades over significant intervals (0.80% Cu, 0.27g/t Au and 16.96 g/t Ag across 21.07 m and 0.85% Cu, 0.30 g/t Au and 30.25 g/t Ag across 11.06 m in SB-02-1) and some excellent results over shorter intervals. Skarns typically form at or near the contact between carbonate-rich rocks and an intrusive body and tend to be zoned, with metal grades generally increasing with proximity to the intrusion. At Slate Bay, the causative intrusion has not been identified at surface and is therefore postulated to potentially occur at depth. It is instructive therefore, that the highest-grade sample returned to date from Slate Bay has come from the deepest hole (e.g. 7.2 g/t Au, 5.81% Cu and 183 g/t Ag over 0.34m in SB-05-6). This apparent increase in both copper and gold grades at depth coupled with an apparent increase in both copper and gold grades within the un-brecciated skarn towards the northeast, and the limited amount of drilling to date suggest that the near-term exploration priority should include testing the skarn zone down dip.

Management of the Resulting Issuer

Subject to the approval of the TSXV, upon completion of the Proposed Transaction, it is currently anticipated that the board of directors of the Corporation will consist of three individuals who are currently directors of the Corporation, biographies of whom are set below: Patrick Langlois, Dennis Peterson and Andrey Shamis. It is anticipated that there will be no additional insiders of the Corporation upon completion of the Proposed Transaction.

Patrick Langlois

Mr. Langlois is a financial professional with over 15 years of corporate development, venture capital and investment banking experience. Mr. Langlois brings a successful track-record in capital markets and M&A transactions which further strengthens the Companys ability to identify and realize new opportunities. Mr. Langlois held senior positions with Canadian investment banks and venture capital funds. He is a CFA Charterholder who holds a B.A. (Finance) and an MBA from Universite de Sherbrooke.

Dennis Peterson

Mr. Peterson has over 30 years experience as a corporate securities lawyer specializing in corporate finance matters for small cap companies. Most of Mr. Peterson's practice focuses on junior natural resource companies, and he has extensive experience with all aspects of prospectus financings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions in the junior public markets. Companies he has worked with are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange. Mr. Peterson holds a B. Comm (Hons.) degree from Queens University and an LL.B. degree from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

Andrey Shamis

Mr. Shamis has been an associate at Peterson McVicar LLP since 2016. Mr. Shamis practices in the field of corporate law and securities and has experience in private mergers and acquisitions, public and private offerings, regulatory compliance, continuous disclosure and corporate governance. He received his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

Angus and Canstar are "non-arm's length parties" as each of Dennis Peterson, a director of Angus, and David Palmer, an insider of Angus, is also a director of Canstar. The Proposed Transaction will constitute the Company's Qualifying Transaction (the Qualifying Transaction). Pursuant to Policy 2.4, the Proposed Transaction does not constitute a Non-Arms Length Qualifying Transaction, and, accordingly, shareholder approval is not expected to be required in connection with the Proposed Transaction. Following completion of the Proposed Transaction, it is anticipated that the Corporation will be listed on the TSXV as a Tier 2 mining issuer. No concurrent financing is anticipated to occur in connection with the Proposed Transaction.

Pursuant to Policy 2.4, Sponsorship of a Qualifying Transaction of a capital pool company is required, unless an exemption is obtained. The Corporation intends to seek a waiver to the sponsorship requirement. There is no assurance that an exemption will be granted.

The closing of the Proposed Transaction is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory consent and approval, as well as the receipt of definitive documentation, and is expected to close in Q3 2019.

Qualified Person

Paul Chamois, P.Geo, is an Independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

For more information, please contact:

Patrick Langlois

President and Chief Executive Officer

Angus Ventures Inc.

Tel: (416) 807-1311

Christos Doulis

Chief Executive Officer

Canstar Resources Inc.

Tel: (647) 557-3442

Chris Rice

President

Luxor Explorations Inc.

Tel: (647) 202-5572

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Angus Ventures Inc.,

Patrick Langlois

President and Chief Executive Officer

Forward Looking Information

Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance and if applicable pursuant to Exchange Requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. A halt in trading shall remain in place until after the Qualifying Transaction is completed or such time that acceptable documentation is filed with the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Company is a capital pool company pursuant to Policy 2.4 of the Exchange (the "CPC Policy"). Except as specifically contemplated in the CPC Policy, until the completion of its "Qualifying Transaction" (as defined in the CPC Policy), the Company will not carry on business, other than the identification and evaluation of companies, business or assets with a view to completing a proposed Qualifying Transaction. This News Release includes certain forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, future plans and objectives 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. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companys expectations are the risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators including the following: (i) the Company has no commercial operations and has no history of profit; (ii) investment in the common shares of the Company is highly speculative given the unknown nature of the Companys business and its present stage of development; (iii) there is no assurance that the Company will find a profitable undertaking or that it can successfully conclude a purchase of such an undertaking at all or on terms which are commercially acceptable; (iv) the directors and officers of the Company will only devote a portion of their time to the business and affairs of the Company and some of them are or will be engaged in other projects or businesses such that conflicts of interest may arise from time to time; and (v) there can be no assurance that an active and liquid market for the Companys common shares will develop and an investor may find it difficult to resell its common shares. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Companys forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Companys forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

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.
CALGARY, Alberta, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX, NYSE: ECA) The following matter was voted upon at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Encana Corporation (the Corporation) held on April 30, 2019, in Calgary, Alberta. Each of the matters is described in greater detail in the Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and 2019 Proxy Statement dated March 14, 2019.

Election of Directors



By resolution passed via ballot, the following 12 nominees were appointed as Directors of the Corporation to serve until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders of the Corporation, or until their successors are elected or appointed. The results of the ballot were as follows:



Name of Nominee Votes For Percent Votes Withheld Percent Peter A. Dea 987,809,495 96.82 32,421,184 3.18 Fred J. Fowler 981,020,420 96.16 39,210,259 3.84 Howard J. Mayson 987,986,202 96.84 32,244,477 3.16 Lee A. McIntire 982,258,886 96.28 37,971,793 3.72 Margaret A. McKenzie 983,158,333 96.37 37,073,346 3.63 Steven W. Nance 1,010,884,091 99.08 9,346,588 0.92 Suzanne P. Nimocks 950,547,292 93.17 69,683,387 6.83 Thomas G. Ricks 1,004,130,631 98.42 16,100,048 1.58 Brian G. Shaw 1,009,757,781 98.97 10,472,898 1.03 Douglas J. Suttles 1,009,880,832 98.99 10,349,847 1.01 Bruce G. Waterman 961,011,343 94.20 59,219,336 5.80 Clayton H. Woitas 944,409,976 92.57 75,820,703 7.43

Encana Corporation

Encana is a leading North America energy producer that is focused on developing its strong portfolio of resource plays, held directly and indirectly through its subsidiaries, producing oil, natural gas liquids and natural gas. By partnering with employees, community organizations and other businesses, Encana contributes to the strength and sustainability of the communities where it operates. Encana common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol ECA.

Further information on Encana Corporation is available on the companys website, www.encana.com, or by contacting:

Investor contact:

(281) 210-5110

(403) 645-3550 Media contact:

(281) 210-5253

SOURCE: Encana Corporation
PHOENIX, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SoldierStrong, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing advanced medical technologies to veterans, donated an EksoGT Suit exoskeleton to the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System today.



"This is an incredible day for our veterans, said Rima Nelson, director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System. Were beyond grateful for this generous donation that will make such a difference in the lives of our veterans as they continue their rehabilitation.

U.S. Army Reserves veteran Dan Rose, who was paralyzed from the chest down when an 1,100-pound improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated near him while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2011, demonstrated the exoskeleton that will be used by patients at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center.

Noting the exoskeleton has provided significant physical and mental health benefits for him, Rose predicted others would experience similar results.

I had given up on walking and thought of it as a pipe dream, so to be able to stand on my own two feet and walk across a room was a very emotional experience. The first time I stood up I realized Id forgotten what it was like to be eye level with everyone. It was like standing on top of a mountain, said Rose, who will throw out the first pitch at tonight's Arizona Diamondbacks-New York Yankees game at Chase Field. I guarantee that this donation will change lives because it will provide a spark of hope and rekindle enthusiasm for the future."

Since the nonprofits inception following the tragic events of 9/11, SoldierStrong has donated more than $3 million of medical devices to help injured veterans. Today's donation marks the organizations 20th exoskeleton donation. It is the 16th exoskeleton donation to the VA system.

Today's contribution marks a significant milestone. It represents a doubling of our initial commitment to donate 10 such high-tech medical devices to benefit our countrys injured veterans, said Chris Meek, SoldierStrong co-founder. We're extremely proud to help as many veterans as we can so that they will experience the physical and emotional benefits of standing and walking again.

Nationwide, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been studying the impact that exoskeletons have in rehabilitation and on the physical well-being and mental health of paralyzed veterans. Of particular interest is whether the loss of bone density and muscle atrophy can be slowed or reversed as patients make regular use of the devices to move around.

About SoldierStrong

SoldierStrong, previously known as SoldierSocks, helps American patriots literally take their next steps forward. Through educational scholarships and by harnessing the most innovative technology in advanced rehabilitation, we help our returning service men and women to continue moving in the only direction they should know  forward. Nearly every dollar SoldierStrong receives goes towards direct support of American patriots so that they can re-acclimate to civilian life. Our organization works to remind those men and women who sacrificed so much that we are forever thankful. For more information, visit: https://www.soldierstrong.org/




TORONTO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ARHT Media Inc. (ARHT or the "Company) (TSXV:ART), the global leader in the development, production and distribution of high-quality hologram content through its patented Holographic Telepresence technology, continues to make headway supporting the rollout of 5G, as the Company once again worked with China Unicom to help showcase the capabilities of their 5G network.



Last week, in partnership with NetDragon Websoft, ARHT beamed in live interactive holograms to the Shanghai 5G Innovation Development Summit and China Unicom Global Industry Chain Partner Conference in Shanghai. The event was held to launch China Unicom's 5G public network trial in select cities across China, as well as showcase a number of different applications to the over 3,000 attendees.

Our China business, and Asia as a whole, is gaining significant momentum with events showcasing our technology to the tech industries biggest companies and clients happening almost every week lately, stated ARHT CEO Larry OReilly, This is the second major event with China Unicom in less than a month and follows similar events in Wuhan, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur in recent weeks.

Applications at the showcase included 5G cloud gaming, smart home and smart city solutions, remote healthcare and ARHT's Holographic Telepresence. ARHT's technology is a complete solution to capture, transmit and display high-quality 4K holograms of people that are completely interactive and make it feel like the holographic person is present in the room with you.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/34a658fb-4ef0-4962-938b-b19dc7dd1e6f

With the launch of 5G, China Unicom joins a select number of mobile carriers globally that are currently testing the technology over their public networks, making China one of the few countries in the world to offer 5G to the public.

During the event, China Unicom also announced that it was entering into two strategic alliances. The first, a 5G Application Innovation Alliance that will see a number of companies with applications for 5G join forces. As well as a 5G International Cooperation Alliance with the intention of exploring international 5G roaming alongside Spains Telefonica, Japans NTT, Frances Orange and the UKs BT Group.

ARHT expects to leverage these channels through its presence at events like this to further showcase the capabilities of Holographic Telepresence over 5G.

With 5G implementation gaining steam in China, we are looking to work with China Unicom to offer ARHT's holographic telepresence all over China, allowing speakers, educators, and executives to be beamed to events anywhere in the country, with lifelike presence and low latency, stated Lincoln Cheung, General Manager of ARHT Asia.

Many industry experts expect the rollout of 5G to keep ramping up over the course of this year. This will increase the opportunity to integrate ARHT's technology into even more markets around the world, and will soon make 5G and communication via holograms the norm.

About ARHT Media

ARHT Medias patented holographic telepresence technology is a complete end-to-end solution that creates a sense of presence for audiences  as though the holographic presenter was actually live in the room. With no noticeable latency, ARHT Media creates two-way live communication with a 3D holographic presenter anywhere in the world possible. We can also playback pre-recorded content and 3D animations on our displays to deliver rich holographic experiences.

Connect with ARHT Media

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ARHTmedia

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ARHTmediainc

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/arht-media-inc-

For more information, please visit http://www.arhtmedia.com or contact the investor relations group at info@arhtmedia.com.

ARHT Media trades under the symbol ART on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange.

ARHT Media Press Contact

Salman Amin

samin@arhtmedia.com

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, disclosure related to the Companys participation in the Shanghai 5G Innovation Development Summit and China Unicom Global Industry Chain Partner Conference event; the Companys sales funnel; the Companys technology; the potential uses for the Companys technology; the future planned events using the Companys technology; the future success of the Company; the ability of the Company to monetize the HumaGram technology; the development of the Companys technology; and interest from parties in ARHTs products. Generally, forward looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "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" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic and competitive uncertainties; regulatory risks; risks inherent in technology operations; and other risks of the technology industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Exploration planned on three properties in 2019 with partner Hochschild Mining

Horsethief and Bellview programs underway, BP to start in early summer

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alianza Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: ANZ) (Alianza or the Company) reports that field work has started on two of the three properties recently optioned to Hochschild Mining (US), Inc, a subsidiary of Hochschild Mining PLC (Hochschild, LSE:HOC). A magnetics survey has commenced at the Bellview property located in the southern extension of the Carlin Trend, 13 km north of the Bald Mountain Mine. At the Horsethief property located 26 km east of Pioche, NV, a detailed mapping program to refine drill targets shortly. Work at BP will start in late May or early June. Hochschild is funding this work under a commitment to fund a minimum of US$700,000 amongst the three properties. Hochschild can earn a 60% interest in each property by making exploration expenditures (a) over 4.5 years totalling US$2.5 million at BP and totalling US$3.5 million at Bellview and (b) over 5.5 years totaling US$5 million at Horsethief. Alianza is the operator of the exploration programs.

We are pleased to be active in the field and advancing these projects, stated Jason Weber, P.Geo., president and CEO of Alianza. For the sake of efficiency and timing for follow-up drill programs, field crews are starting at Horsethief and Bellview. It is expected that the crews will finish up at Horsethief in late May or early June and move to BP for a mapping and sampling program. During this time results can be compiled and targets prioritized at Horsethief for a subsequent drill program.

For more commentary from Jason Weber view the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irmS_nSmDF0

Horsethief Gold Project, NV

Exploration at Horsethief is targeting sediment-hosted gold mineralization in a window of Cambrian carbonate rocks overlain by volcanic flows and pyroclastics. Work by prior operators included mapping and sampling hematite-rich jasperoid breccia outcrops and shallow drilling. Historic drilling, generally 100 metres or less in depth, returned multiple intervals of gold mineralization including 13.7 metres averaging 1.2 g/t gold and 39.6 metres averaging 0.79 g/t gold with four holes terminating in mineralization. Subsequent geophysical surveys (Induced Polarization chargeability and resistivity) indicate that stratigraphy and potentially mineralized targets dip to the east under the volcanic cover and below the extent of prior drilling.

The current program includes mapping and geochemical sampling to refine targets for subsequent drilling. This work will focus on mapping alteration, structure and stratigraphy to focus drill targeting based on potential fluid conduits in prospective rock units in the stratigraphy. Management is also contemplating reprocessing magnetic, Induced Polarization (IP) and resistivity data collected by a previous operator to aid in drill targeting.

Bellview Gold Project, NV

The Bellview property is located in White Pine County, 85 km south of Elko, Nevada and 13 km north of the Bald Mountain Gold Mine on the southern extension of the Carlin Trend. Bellview features a geological setting prospective for sediment-hosted gold mineralization. Work by a previous operator identified stratigraphic targets similar to the geologic setting observed at Bald Mountain. Targets are primarily defined by gold-in-soil geochemical anomalies and gold-bearing silicified jasperoid breccias in stratigraphy recognized regionally and at the Bald Mountain Mine to host gold mineralization.



A magnetics survey is underway to identify important structural features that may represent gold-bearing fluid conduits and determine if any buried intrusive bodies are associated with alteration and mineralization on the property. The survey will assist in targeting future drill programs.

About Alianza Minerals Ltd.

Alianza employs a hybrid business model of joint venture funding and self-funded projects to maximize opportunity for exploration success. The Company currently has gold, silver and base metal projects in Yukon Territory, British Columbia, Nevada and Peru.

The Company has 60.3 million shares issued and outstanding and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: ANZ).

Mr. Jason Weber, P.Geo., President and CEO of Alianza Minerals Ltd. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Weber supervised the preparation of the technical information contained in this release.

For further information, contact:

Jason Weber, President and CEO

Sandrine Lam, Shareholder Communications



Tel: (604) 687-3520

Fax: (888) 889-4874



To learn more visit: www.alianzaminerals.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. STATEMENTS IN THIS NEWS RELEASE, OTHER THAN PURELY HISTORICAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING STATEMENTS RELATING TO THE COMPANY'S FUTURE PLANS AND OBJECTIVES OR EXPECTED RESULTS, MAY INCLUDE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON NUMEROUS ASSUMPTIONS AND ARE SUBJECT TO ALL OF THE RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES INHERENT IN RESOURCE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT. AS A RESULT, ACTUAL RESULTS MAY VARY MATERIALLY FROM THOSE DESCRIBED IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS.
Fort Myers, FL, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Oncology Network, LLC (AON) is pleased to announce that Hematology Oncology of Indiana, (HOI), a leading community oncology/hematology practice in Indianapolis, Indiana, a leading community oncology/hematology practice in Indianapolis, Indiana, has joined AON, effective May 1, 2019. AON is an alliance of physicians and veteran healthcare leaders uniting to ensure the long-term success of community oncology.

HOI has six locations, including two offices in metropolitan Indianapolis, and auxiliary offices in Logansport, Lebanon, Noblesville, and Fishers, IN. With the AON affiliation, the practice will increase its current service offerings to their patients with enhanced technology, an expanded oral oncolytic outpatient pharmacy and enhanced care management services.

AON CEO, Bradley Prechtl, MBA, stated, The physicians and staff of Hematology Oncology of Indiana are dedicated to serving and supporting patients in Indiana with compassionate, patient-centric care in a community setting. They have developed an excellent reputation in Indianapolis and surrounding communities, and we are very excited to welcome HOI to the American Oncology Network.

AON Board Member and Strategic Advisor, Dr. William Harwin, said, The physicians of Hematology Oncology of Indiana come from some of the most prestigious oncology programs in the United States, such as MD Anderson, John Hopkins, Columbia University, Northwestern and Indiana University. In fact, this is one of the best fellowship-trained groups we have ever come across at AON. The level of expertise and experience HOI brings to their patients is excellent.

HOI President, Dr. Raymond Harwood, said, We believe that partnering with AON is in the best interest of our patients and the communities we serve. In this age of a challenging and ever-changing healthcare environment, this alliance allows our physicians, clinicians, and staff to continue focusing on treating patients while enhancing the services that we provide.

With a determination to help every American receive access to exceptional cancer care, AON was founded by well-respected leaders in community oncology with decades of experience helping oncology practices to thrive by providing proven solutions.





###

About American Oncology Network, LLC: (AONcology.com)

Founded in 2017, American Oncology Network, LLC (AON) is an alliance of physicians and seasoned healthcare leaders partnering to ensure the long-term success of community oncology. The executive management team of AON brings more than three decades of oncology practice management experience, enabling physicians to focus on what matters most . . . providing the highest quality care for patients.



The organization provides unique and comprehensive protocols for managing administrative procedures and enhancing ancillary services for its affiliates. AON is able to aggregate volume and attain economies of scale, as it guides its member physicians and practices through the transition to value-based reimbursement models that improve the patient experience and help to reduce the per-capita cost of cancer care.



AON also provides a unique model of physician led, community-based oncology management. With services such as a centralized specialty pharmacy, diagnostics, pathology, fully integrated electronic medical records, a Care Management Team and a variety of financial assistance programs, an alliance with AON ensures that patients experiences will be at the very pinnacle of cancer care today.





Attachment
TORONTO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YAMANA GOLD INC. (TSX:YRI; NYSE:AUY) (Yamana or the Company) declares a second quarter 2019 dividend of $0.005 per share. Shareholders of record at the close of business on June 28, 2019 will be entitled to receive payment of this dividend on July 12, 2019. The dividend is an eligible dividend for Canadian tax purposes.



As previously announced, the Board of Directors of the Company has approved a 100% increase in its annual dividend to $0.04 per share with the increase contingent on closing of the Chapada Sale Transaction. The Chapada Sale Transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019 and the dividend increase is expected for the third quarter dividend.

About Yamana

Yamana is a Canadian-based gold producer with significant gold production, gold development stage properties, exploration properties, and land positions throughout the Americas including Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Yamana plans to continue to build on this base through existing operating mine expansions, throughput increases and optimization initiatives, development of new mines, the advancement of its exploration properties and, at times, by targeting other gold consolidation opportunities with a primary focus in the Americas.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

416-815-0220

1-888-809-0925

Email: investor@yamana.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated (NYSE:HR) today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019. The Company reported net income of $4.9 million, or $0.04 per diluted common share for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Normalized FFO for the three months ended March 31, 2019 totaled $48.6 million, or $0.39 per diluted common share.



Salient quarterly highlights include:

Same store cash NOI for the first quarter increased 4.1% over the first quarter of 2018. For the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2019, same store cash NOI grew 3.5%:

- Revenues increased 2.7% and revenue per average occupied square foot increased 2.8%.

- Operating expenses increased 1.4%.

- Average occupancy was stable, decreasing by 10 basis points.

- Revenues increased 2.7% and revenue per average occupied square foot increased 2.8%. - Operating expenses increased 1.4%. - Average occupancy was stable, decreasing by 10 basis points. Predictive growth measures in the same store multi-tenant portfolio include:

- In-place contractual rent increases averaged 2.91%, up from 2.81% a year ago, partially attributable to future annual contractual increases of 3.09% for leases commencing in the quarter.

- Weighted average cash leasing spreads were 3.3% on 541,000 square feet renewed:

- 7% (<0% spread)

- 2% (0-3%)

- 69% (3-4%)

- 22% (>4%)

- Tenant retention was 85.5%.

- In-place contractual rent increases averaged 2.91%, up from 2.81% a year ago, partially attributable to future annual contractual increases of 3.09% for leases commencing in the quarter. - Weighted average cash leasing spreads were 3.3% on 541,000 square feet renewed: - 7% (<0% spread) - 2% (0-3%) - 69% (3-4%) - 22% (>4%) - Tenant retention was 85.5%. Leasing activity in the first quarter totaled 669,000 square feet related to 149 leases:

- 575,000 square feet of renewals

- 94,000 square feet of new and expansion leases

- 575,000 square feet of renewals - 94,000 square feet of new and expansion leases Year-to-date acquisitions of $121.0 million included four properties totaling 350,000 square feet that were 89% leased:

- In March, the Company acquired two medical office buildings on AA+ rated Inova Health's Fair Oaks Hospital campus in Washington, D.C. for $46.0 million. The 75% leased buildings total 158,000 square feet.

- Also in March, the Company acquired a medical office building on AA rated Indiana University Health's Methodist Hospital campus in Indianapolis for $47.0 million. The 143,000 square foot building is 100% leased.

- In April, the Company acquired a medical office building adjacent to AA- rated Piedmont Healthcare's hospital in the Buckhead area of Atlanta for $28.0 million. The 48,000 square foot building is 100% leased.

- In March, the Company acquired two medical office buildings on AA+ rated Inova Health's Fair Oaks Hospital campus in Washington, D.C. for $46.0 million. The 75% leased buildings total 158,000 square feet. - Also in March, the Company acquired a medical office building on AA rated Indiana University Health's Methodist Hospital campus in Indianapolis for $47.0 million. The 143,000 square foot building is 100% leased. - In April, the Company acquired a medical office building adjacent to AA- rated Piedmont Healthcare's hospital in the Buckhead area of Atlanta for $28.0 million. The 48,000 square foot building is 100% leased. Year-to-date dispositions of $13.0 million included four medical office buildings totaling 67,000 square feet in Tucson, AZ, three of which were located off-campus.

On March 19, 2019, the Company completed the sale of 3.7 million shares of common stock for net proceeds of $115.8 million to fund investment activity. Also during the quarter, the Company raised $4.3 million through its at-the-market equity program.

Leverage decreased with net debt to adjusted EBITDA at 5.0 times.

A dividend of $0.30 per common share was declared for the first quarter. Dividends paid totaled $37.6 million, which equaled 77.3% of normalized FFO and 87.2% of FAD.

Healthcare Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust that integrates owning, managing, financing and developing income-producing real estate properties associated primarily with the delivery of outpatient healthcare services throughout the United States. As of March 31, 2019, the Company owned 201 real estate properties in 26 states totaling 15.0 million square feet and was valued at approximately $5.5 billion. The Company provided leasing and property management services to 11.3 million square feet nationwide.

Additional information regarding the Company, including this quarter's operations, can be found at www.healthcarerealty.com. Please contact the Company at 615.269.8175 to request a printed copy of this information.

In addition to the historical information contained within, the matters discussed in this press release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks are discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Healthcare Realty Trust, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 under the heading "Risk Factors," and as updated in its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed thereafter. Forward-looking statements represent the Company's judgment as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims any obligation to update forward-looking statements. A reconciliation of all non-GAAP financial measures in this release is included herein.





Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets 1 DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA





ASSETS MARCH 31, 2019 DECEMBER 31, 2018 Real estate properties Land $230,206 $230,206 Buildings, improvements and lease intangibles 3,757,260 3,675,415 Personal property 10,739 10,696 Construction in progress 40,326 33,107 Land held for development 24,647 24,647 Total real estate properties 4,063,178 3,974,071 Less accumulated depreciation and amortization (1,035,800 ) (1,015,174 ) Total real estate properties, net 3,027,378 2,958,897 Cash and cash equivalents 11,313 8,381 Assets held for sale, net 10,568 9,272 Operating lease right-of-use assets 128,141  Financing lease right-of-use assets 9,259  Other assets, net 175,864 214,697 Total assets $3,362,523 $3,191,247 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY MARCH 31, 2019 DECEMBER 31, 2018 Liabilities Notes and bonds payable $1,343,110 $1,345,984 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 61,519 80,411 Liabilities of properties held for sale 633 587 Operating lease liabilities 91,044  Financing lease liabilities 14,294  Other liabilities 46,144 47,623 Total liabilities 1,556,744 1,474,605 Commitments and contingencies Stockholders' equity Preferred stock, $.01 par value; 50,000 shares authorized; none

issued and outstanding   Common stock, $.01 par value; 300,000 shares authorized; 129,214

and 125,279 shares issued and outstanding at March 31, 2019 and

December 31, 2018, respectively 1,292 1,253 Additional paid-in capital 3,302,814 3,180,284 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (1,611 ) (902 ) Cumulative net income attributable to common stockholders 1,093,010 1,088,119 Cumulative dividends (2,589,726 ) (2,552,112 ) Total stockholders' equity 1,805,779 1,716,642 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $3,362,523 $3,191,247

The Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for complete financial statements.





Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income 1 DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA





THREE MONTHS ENDED MARCH 31, 2019 2018 Revenues Rental income 2 $110,696 $110,229 Other operating 1,961 1,895 112,657 112,124 Expenses Property operating 42,725 41,818 General and administrative 8,510 9,101 Acquisition and pursuit costs 305 277 Depreciation and amortization 42,662 39,573 94,202 90,769 Other income (expense) Gain on sales of real estate assets 15  Interest expense (13,588 ) (12,668 ) Interest and other income, net 9 493 (13,564 ) (12,175 ) Net Income $4,891 $9,180 Basic earnings per common share - Net income $0.04 $0.07 Diluted earnings per common share - Net income $0.04 $0.07 Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic 124,130 123,257 Weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted 124,232 123,348

The Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America for complete financial statements. Beginning in the first quarter of 2019 with the adoption of Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842, bad debts, net of recoveries associated with lease revenue was recorded within rental income.





Reconciliation of FFO, Normalized FFO and FAD DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA - UNAUDITED





THREE MONTHS ENDED MARCH 31, 2019 2018 Net income $4,891 $9,180 Gain on sales of real estate assets (15 )  Real estate depreciation and amortization 43,383 40,003 Funds from operations (FFO) $48,259 $49,183 Acquisition and pursuit costs 1 305 277 Lease intangible amortization 2 84  Forfeited earnest money received  (466 ) Normalized FFO $48,648 $48,994 Non-real estate depreciation and amortization 1,465 1,466 Provision for bad debt, net (75 )  Straight-line rent income, net (270 ) (1,330 ) Stock-based compensation 2,639 2,822 Normalized FFO adjusted for non-cash items 52,407 51,952 2nd generation TI (4,326 ) (5,867 ) Leasing commissions paid (1,483 ) (1,851 ) Capital additions (3,462 ) (4,184 ) Funds available for distribution (FAD) $43,136 $40,050 FFO per common share - diluted $0.39 $0.40 Normalized FFO per common share - diluted $0.39 $0.40 FFO weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted 3 124,928 123,984

Acquisition and pursuit costs include third party and travel costs related to the pursuit of acquisitions and developments. The Company adopted the 2018 NAREIT FFO White Paper Restatement during the first quarter of 2019. This amended definition specifically includes the impact of acquisition related market lease intangible amortization in the calculation of NAREIT FFO. The Company historically included this amortization in the real estate depreciation and amortization line item which is added back in the calculation of NAREIT FFO. Prior periods were not restated for the adoption. Diluted weighted average common shares outstanding for the three months ended March 31, 2019 includes the dilutive effect of nonvested share-based awards outstanding of 696,432 shares.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA - UNAUDITED

Management considers funds from operations ("FFO"), FFO per share, normalized FFO, normalized FFO per share, funds available for distribution ("FAD") and FAD per share to be useful non-GAAP measures of the Company's operating performance. A non-GAAP financial measure is generally defined as one that purports to measure historical financial performance, financial position or cash flows, but excludes or includes amounts that would not be so adjusted in the most comparable measure determined in accordance with GAAP. Set forth below are descriptions of the non-GAAP financial measures management considers relevant to the Company's business and useful to investors.

The non-GAAP financial measures presented herein are not necessarily identical to those presented by other real estate companies due to the fact that not all real estate companies use the same definitions. These measures should not be considered as alternatives to net income (determined in accordance with GAAP), as indicators of the Company's financial performance, or as alternatives to cash flow from operating activities (determined in accordance with GAAP) as measures of the Company's liquidity, nor are these measures necessarily indicative of sufficient cash flow to fund all of the Company's needs.

FFO and FFO per share are operating performance measures adopted by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, Inc. (NAREIT). NAREIT defines FFO as net income (computed in accordance with GAAP) excluding depreciation and amortization related to real estate, gains and losses from the sale of certain real estate assets, gains and losses from change in control, and impairment write-downs of certain real assets and investments in entities when the impairment is directly attributable to decreases in the value of depreciable real estate held by the entity. The Company defines Normalized FFO as FFO excluding acquisition-related expenses, lease intangible amortization and other normalizing items that are unusual and infrequent in nature. FAD is presented by adding to Normalized FFO non-real estate depreciation and amortization, deferred financing fees amortization, share-based compensation expense and provision for bad debts, net; and subtracting maintenance capital expenditures, including second generation tenant improvements and leasing commissions paid and straight-line rent income, net of expense. The Company's definition of these terms may not be comparable to that of other real estate companies as they may have different methodologies for computing these amounts. FFO, Normalized FFO and FAD do not represent cash generated from operating activities determined in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and is not necessarily indicative of cash available to fund cash needs. FFO, Normalized FFO and FAD should not be considered an alternative to net income as an indicator of the Companys operating performance or as an alternative to cash flow as a measure of liquidity. FFO, Normalized FFO and FAD should be reviewed in connection with GAAP financial measures.

Management believes FFO, FFO per share, Normalized FFO, Normalized FFO per share, and FAD provide an understanding of the operating performance of the Companys properties without giving effect to certain significant non-cash items, including depreciation and amortization expense. Historical cost accounting for real estate assets in accordance with GAAP assumes that the value of real estate assets diminishes predictably over time. However, real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions. The Company believes that by excluding the effect of depreciation, amortization, gains or losses from sales of real estate, and other normalizing items that are unusual and infrequent, FFO, FFO per share, Normalized FFO, Normalized FFO per share and FAD can facilitate comparisons of operating performance between periods. The Company reports these measures because they have been observed by management to be the predominant measures used by the REIT industry and by industry analysts to evaluate REITs and because these measures are consistently reported, discussed, and compared by research analysts in their notes and publications about REITs.

Cash NOI and Same Store Cash NOI are key performance indicators. Management considers these to be supplemental measures that allow investors, analysts and Company management to measure unlevered property-level operating results. The Company defines Cash NOI as rental income and property lease guaranty income less property operating expenses. Cash NOI excludes non-cash items such as above and below market lease intangibles, straight-line rent, lease inducements, lease terminations, tenant improvement amortization and leasing commission amortization. Cash NOI is historical and not necessarily indicative of future results.

Same Store Cash NOI compares Cash NOI for stabilized properties. Stabilized properties are properties that have been included in operations for the duration of the year-over-year comparison period presented and include redevelopment projects. Accordingly, stabilized properties exclude properties that were recently acquired or disposed of, properties classified as held for sale, and development conversions. In addition, the Company typically excludes properties that meet any of the following Company-defined criteria to be included in the reposition property group:

Properties having less than 60% occupancy that is expected to last at least two quarters;



Properties that experience a loss of occupancy over 30% in a single quarter; or



Properties with negative net operating income that is expected to last at least two quarters.

Any recently acquired property will be included in the same store pool once the Company has owned the property for eight full quarters. Development properties will be included in the same store pool eight full quarters after substantial completion. Any additional square footage created by redevelopment projects at a same store property is included in the same store pool immediately upon completion. Any property included in the reposition property group will be included in the same store analysis once occupancy has increased to 60% or greater with positive net operating income and has remained at that level for eight full quarters.

Carla Baca

Associate Vice President, Investor Relations

P: 615.269.8175




What may appear to be a new bank is actually a homespun Roanoke institution wrapped in the branding of the out-of-town bank that recently bought it.

Danville-based American National Bank & Trust Co. has bought and assimilated HomeTown Bank. The changeover took place this past weekend. The process of moving customer accounts, activating new bank cards and transitioning HomeTown customers to the online platforms of American National is wrapping up.

As with a typical bank switch, new bank cards and passwords will be a must. But former HomeTown customers may keep their account numbers.

Like HomeTown, American National offers online banking through its website and an app, said Carolyn Kiser, a former HomeTown executive who is now American Nationals senior vice president and marketing director.

HomeTown permitted customers to bank with their leashed dogs. That will also continue, Kiser said.

In many ways, HomeTown Bank becoming American National Bank & Trust is a huge change, the company said in a 60-page welcome guide, which shows a dog and customer on the cover, but in other ways it may be a change that youll barely notice.

Either way, the event deserves a place in Roanoke banking history. For the first time since at least 1995, the city has no locally based bank. Roanoke is still the headquarters of Member One Federal Credit Union, which is larger than HomeTown Bank, as is Roanoke County-based Freedom First Federal Credit Union.

But American National is pledging to keep what people liked about HomeTown. After HomeTown Bank vanished, American National Bank brought it back with a slogan that says, Welcome to the NEW HomeTown Bank.

The saying appears on an easel in the lobby at Campbell Avenue and Jefferson Street, which has been HomeTowns headquarters since more than 2,000 shareholders who wanted a new local bank dedicated to customer service formed the institution in 2005.

CEO Susan Still, 65, has been with HomeTown since its start and agreed to stay on. Her new title is president of Virginia banking for American National, a job she contracted to perform through 2019, when she plans to retire.

Shes also among three HomeTown directors to receive seats on the board of American National. Her merger-related compensation is given in a federal filing as an estimated $977,000.

Some HomeTown employees were let go, while others retired, Kiser said. She said she did not have the number of layoffs.

A crane hoisted an American National sign to the south face of the downtown branch building Sunday. There is another American National sign at street level.

Five former HomeTown branches were reflagged, while a HomeTown branch in Moneta was closed because American National already had a branch nearby. In combination with HomeTown, American National has 28 branches and $2.5 billion in total assets.

HomeTowns office on Brambleton Avenue  which is not a branch  also is slated to close.

American Nationals Ogden Road branch will convert to a commercial banking office and limited-service branch with night deposit only.

American has long seen Roanoke as an attractive banking market, it said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It bought Franklin Community Bank in Rocky Mount in 2015.

In 2016, it hired away a slew of commercial lenders from BNC Bank in Roanoke as a foundation for future expansion. BNC Bank later merged into Pinnacle Bank.

HomeTown, for its part, did not consider itself for sale or looking for a merger partner, according to the filing. It is a profitable bank, earning $4 million last year. But HomeTown executives had deliberated the possibility of merging to sweeten the stakes for shareholders.

American National and HomeTown started talking informally in January 2018. Ten months later, they announced merger plans.

The deal was worth an estimated $96 million.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  While Google has dominated the online ad market for almost the entirety of its existence, its first quarter earnings report suggests that competitors may be nipping at its heels.

Investors pushed down the stock of Google's parent company, Alphabet, more than 7% in after-hours trading Monday after it reported revenue that fell short of analyst expectations. That dip could shave more than $65 billion from Alphabet's market value if it holds when the markets open Tuesday.

Google's advertising revenue, its key moneymaker, grew by 15 percent to $30.7 billion  slower than investors had hoped. Its digital-ad rivals Facebook and Amazon, meanwhile, both reported strong earnings last week, adding to the investor surprise when Alphabet stumbled despite a strong economy.

Alphabet executives deflected concerns of growing competition on a conference call with analysts Monday, instead suggesting that fluctuating currency rates and changes to Google ad products during the quarter led to the slowdown. The online-ad industry is also still in a yearslong shift to phone and tablet ads and away from ones aimed at desktop users. Ads for mobile devices bring in less money.

Still, the results sparked concerns that Google's enormously profitable advertising machine might be starting to sputter. Some analysts suggested it's a signal that Google might need to diversify its business more quickly.

"Does this put more pressure on Google to make more aggressive bets on cloud?" asked Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.

Google executives highlighted the company's cloud-computing business as one of its fastest growing segments during the Monday call. But the cloud currently accounts for only a small slice of Alphabet's overall revenue. The company reported $5.4 billion in "other" revenue, which includes cloud, hardware and Play Store purchases.

Hardware sales also slowed during the quarter for the Pixel phone, Google chief financial officer Ruth Porat said on Monday's call, reflecting a broader industry slowdown in smartphone sales.

Alphabet reported a first-quarter profit of $8.3 billion, down 6% from $8.9 billion in the year-earlier period. Profit amounted to $11.90 per share, well above Wall Street estimates of $10.60.

That figure doesn't include an expected charge of $1.7 billion to account for a European Union antitrust fine. The fine was imposed in March for anti-competitive practices in Google's advertising business, referring to a specific exclusivity practice Google now says it has ended.

Google and Facebook, along with other internet companies, are feeling rising heat from regulatory bodies around the world as people and governments question their privacy practices. Some regulators express concern that the largest companies are so big that they're stifling competition.

Including the fine, Alphabet's profit of $6.7 billion fell short of analyst estimates. Excluding advertising commissions that Google pays to customers, Alphabet's overall revenue was $29.5 billion  also falling short of the $30 billion analysts were expecting.

Alphabet also reported widening losses in its "Other Bets" category  a broad segment that includes experimental ventures such as self-driving car business Waymo and internet-balloon subsidiary Loon. Losses grew to $868 million from $571 million a year ago.
BLACKSBURG  A spirited group of hundreds of Virginia Tech students walked out of class and marched across campus to express their frustrations with the universitys Title IX office Tuesday afternoon.

The crowd demanded reform in that office and for the school to increase its efforts to stop sexual assault, which Title IX covers. They ended their march at the North End Center, where Techs Title IX office is based.

They handed their demands over to Kelly Oaks, Techs assistant vice president for Equity and Accessibility, who was flanked by police officers. Then more than a dozen speakers shared their stories of being sexually assaulted, the stories of their friends and what people can do to combat the problem to a crowd of about 500. Over the course of the march, the size of the group fluctuated to almost 1,000 people.

Local activist Phyllis Albritton, who has participated in Blacksburg protest movements since the 1970s, said it was one of the largest student action protests shes seen at Tech.

The walkout was organized by Tech students Sabrina Ahmad and Juan Pacheco.

They said they were drawn to action by fellow student Rachel Bailey who last week tweeted shoutout to Virginia Tech for finding my rapist not guilty and for putting ME on deferred suspension for SELF DEFENSE. Ive never been more disappointed to be a Hokie.

Bailey said she was frustrated with her Title IX case that began in December and was ongoing until this month. She said a fellow student assaulted her and he accused her of being verbally abusive to him, which landed her on deferred suspension. He was, though, suspended because of an unrelated drug arrest and has been banned from campus, she said.

The stress from the hearings was too much, she said. Shes had difficulty getting out of bed and to classes this semester as her Title IX investigation played out, she said.

University spokesman Mark Owczarski declined to comment on the specifics of Bailey's case.

Tuesdays event invigorated her, she said, because to get so much support was inspiring. That was a sentiment reflected by many of the sexual assault victims who also spoke.

The group called for reform. As the gathered students marched to the Title IX office to present a list of eight demands, they also posted printed out emails of crime alerts from Virginia Tech Police to raise awareness of the assaults because those emails might "be the only justice victims receive," Pacheco said.

"We're standing in solidarity to make our institution better, Ahmad said.

This can be a home for everyone, Pacheco said. We just have to fight for it.

Tech President Tim Sands released an open letter to the university community Tuesday about sexual assault.

"No one should have to live in fear of sexual assault on a college campus," Sands wrote. "As survivors know all too well, such an experience will alter ones life forever. For students, the trauma can significantly affect their ability to focus on learning and be an engaged member of the campus community.

"We must do everything in our power to end this threat and fundamentally change the aspects of our culture that promote sexual assault and downplay the severity of its impact. It will take all of us working together, including our campus community, parents, teachers, administrators, law enforcement, and lawmakers, to make this happen."

According to Virginia Techs Title IX annual report, during the 2017-18 academic year the university received 214 reports of gender based violence and harassment involving students, including 88 reports of sexual assault. The report said Title IX investigators referred 37 cases to the office for student conduct for adjudication and 19 students were found responsible for conduct violations, 16 were found not responsible and four are still pending.

The report said In most instances, students reporting gender based violence or harassment declined to move forward with, or participate in, formal investigations. Nonetheless, many students received support and resources from the university outside of a formal investigation, including no contact orders, housing assistance, academic assistance, and referrals to counseling services.

Tech has seen a rise in the number of gender-based violence reports. The university received 30 reports in the 2012-13 school year compared to the 214 in the last school year.

Reports, though, Sands noted don't tell the whole story, as only some are reported.

"While we are making progress in some areas, we continue to be concerned that only a small fraction of sexual assault cases are reported, and the maze of regulations and legal restrictions is becoming more complicated and difficult for survivors to navigate," he wrote.

Oaks, the Tech administrator who oversees Title IX, and Virginia Tech Police Chief Kevin Foust declined to be interviewed Tuesday, deferring comment to the Tech spokesman Owczarski.

Tthe university appreciated and supported the students and their right to march and call for reform on campus, Owczarski said.

"We encourage people's voices to be heard and when they do have concerns to express them," he said.

The university has already responded to many of the students' demands, he said. The school conducts Title IX training at new student orientation and has offered training for all new faculty and staff hires as well as for current faculty and staff, he said.

He said he hopes to continue "an ongoing dialogue" with concerned students about Title IX reform and sexual assault issues.

Ahmad said the walkout event wont solve every problem with sexual assault on Techs campus and beyond. However, she hopes it starts a dialogue among students to rise together and use their voices for activism.

Techs semester ends in a couple weeks, and she hopes momentum from the walkout continues moving forward as students come together asking for more transparency and input into the Title IX process. Next fall, students will come back ready to have their voices heard, she said.

"I want to keep this rolling, she said. This is not the end and we have each other to make this change.
THUNDER BAY, May 1, 2019 - Premier Gold Mines Ltd. ("Premier" or "The Company") (TSX:PG) is pleased to announce its first quarter production results for 2019. Production in the quarter was in line with the full year production schedule at Mercedes and the Company remains on track to meet its full year guidance.

Q1 2019 Mercedes Production Highlights:

17,614 ounces of gold production

57,681 ounces of silver production

"Our objective at Mercedes during the first quarter was to drive development work necessary to support planned production growth for the remainder of the year" stated John Begeman, Executive Chairman of Premier. "First quarter production at Mercedes is in line with plan, and we are currently on track to meet annual operating and production related targets".

Mercedes Mine, Mexico

With development work weighted heavily toward the first half of 2019 and monthly production levels weighted toward the second, the Mercedes team focused on meeting development objectives that will drive planned production levels for the remainder of the year. In addition to meeting development targets, the team continued to demonstrate improvements in safety, efficiency and cost control, all of which are contributing positively toward performance against the 2019 plan.

Development of the drift from the Lagunas mine to access the higher-grade Marianas deposit located on-strike continued during the quarter with underground drilling at Marianas, which commenced in 2018, planned to continue throughout 2019.

Exploration and resource definition drilling are a priority at Mercedes where current surface and underground drill programs are testing several new targets to identify new deposits at Mercedes.

South Arturo Mine, Nevada

The South Arturo Mine is a key joint venture project for the Company that is operated by Barrick Gold Corp. ("Barrick"). Future production opportunities are being advanced with two additional developments underway at the Property. The Phase 1 open pit and the El Nino underground mine are now under construction with production expected to ramp up late in the second half of 2019 at El Nino.

Exploration drilling in 2019 will focus on expansion and delineation of the El Nino Mine and the East Dee deposit that is located proximal to the Phase 1 pit.

2019 Annual Production Guidance

Production guidance is maintained for the year and presented in the Tables below.

Table 1: Production Guidance for 2019

PROPERTY Gold (Au ozs) Silver (Ag ozs) Cash Costs (1) (US$/oz Au) AISC (1) (US$/oz Au) Mercedes 75,000 - 85,000 225,000 - 250,000 730 - 780 900 - 950

Table 2: South Arturo Pre-Commercial Production Estimate for 2019 (2)

PROPERTY Gold (Au ozs) South Arturo 5,000 - 10,000

(1) Cash cost and all in sustaining costs ("AISC") are non IFRS measures. A cautionary note regarding Non-IFRS financial metrics is included below in the section "Non IFRS Measures". (2) Premier's proportionate share of development capital at South Arturo for 2019 (excluding proceeds from pre-commercial production gold sales) is $39 million. Proceeds from pre-commercial production gold sales will be credited against development capital.

Q1 2019 financial results and conference call details:

Full financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2019, will be released before market open on May 8, 2019 and a conference call with senior management will be held at 10:00am EST.

Details for the conference call and webcast can be found below and will be accessible on the Company's website.

Toll Free (North America): (+1) 888 390 0605

International: (+1) 416 764 8609

Conference ID: 90889716

Webcast Link

https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1989861/7E60C55C7426BC143258EA66DA8C6155

Conference Call Replay

The conference call replay will be available from 1:00pm EST on May 8, 2019 until 11:59pm EST on May 15, 2019.

Toll Free Replay Call (North America): (+1) 888 390 0541

International Replay Call: (+1) 416 764 8677

Passcode: 889716 #

Premier Gold Mines Ltd. is a gold-producer with a respected exploration and development pipeline of high-quality precious metal projects in proven, accessible and safe mining jurisdictions in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Premier remains focused on creating a low-cost, mid-tier gold producer through its two producing gold mines - South Arturo and Mercedes - as well as mine development opportunities at McCoy-Cove in Nevada and Hardrock in Ontario.

Stephen McGibbon, P. Geo., Executive Vice President, Corporate and Project Development, is the Qualified Person for the information contained in this press release and is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

Non-IFRS Measures

The Company has included certain terms and performance measures commonly used in the mining industry that are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") within this document. These include: cash cost per ounce sold and all in sustaining cost ("AISC") per ounce sold. Non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore, they may not be comparable to similar measures employed by other companies. The data presented is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures prepared in accordance with IFRS and should be read in conjunction with the Company's consolidated financial statements. Readers should refer to the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis under the heading "Non-IFRS Measures" for a more detailed discussion of how such measures are calculated.

This Press Release contains certain information that may constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements about strategic plans, including future operations, future work programs, capital expenditures, discovery and production of minerals, price of gold and currency exchange rates, timing of geological reports and corporate and technical objectives. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including the risks inherent to the mining industry, adverse economic and market developments and the risks identified in Premier's annual information form under the heading "Risk Factors". There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. Premier disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Premier Gold Mines Ltd.
The Sacramento City Teachers Association, embroiled in a labor dispute with the Sacramento City Unified School District, announced Tuesday that it will hold its second strike on May 22.The teachers union made the announcement at a press conference at its Sacramento headquarters, joined by leaders from the California Teachers Association, Oakland Education Association, United Teachers of Los Angeles, Sacramento Central Labor Council, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, California Nurses Association and others.The teachers union held a one-day strike last month on April 11 alleging unfair labor practices by the district. The strike stemmed from allegations by the teachers union that the district is not honoring its 2017 agreement, including directing health-plan savings strictly toward reducing class sizes and funding more health workers and counselors.District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar sent a letter to the teachers union Monday stating it is in agreement with the SCTA that "when and if changes to the current health plan providers offered to SCTA members (HealthNet and Kaiser) are made and our budget issues are resolved, savings from those changes should go to improving services for students."But the district says that since the teachers union has yet to negotiate changes, approximately $11 million of the district's dollars went to the health insurance company last year to cover employee health benefits. That scenario is set to repeat itself this year as well, the district says.The district says the union has chosen not to meet with the California Education Coalition for Health Care Reform representatives, so the district said it is ready to implement changes."The district has been and remains ready to make health plan provider changes as soon as SCTA is ready," Aguilar stated in his letter.HealthNet was restored for teachers and early retirees after the district unilaterally eliminated the health plan in a controversial move in 2015.The second strike will come just weeks before the district's deadline to balance its budget and identify cuts to address a $35 million deficit by the end of June or face a takeover by the state.According to a district tally, about 48 percent of Sacramento City Unified's 42,000 students did not attend class and about 86 percent of the 2,240 SCTA members did not show up to work on April 11. The teachers union said it believed 98 percent of teachers picketed on strike day.
Mixed Messages

Unanswered Questions

Two states often on opposite sides of the political spectrum have landed on the same solution to rising drug prices: import prescriptions from Canada.Florida is poised to become the second U.S. stateto pass a drug importation bill. Vermont passed its legislation last year, and Florida lawmakers sent theirs to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it , on Tuesday.Thirteen other states have proposed importation bills this year, according to the National Academy of State Health Policy, though most havent moved beyond committees.But patients in Florida and Vermont shouldn't expect lower drug prices just yet. The states need approval from the federal government to make their vision a reality. Even if they get it, there's uncertainty over whetherthis idea would work.The United States has the most expensive prescription drugs in the developed world. Retail prescription costs per capita in the U.S. tally $1,100, compared to $669 in Canada. To put that into perspective, the cost of Lipitor, a cholesterol drug, can be more than $150 in the U.S. but just $50 in Canada.Drug prices are a popular talking point among Democrats running for president. Several candidates support policies that would lower drug prices . But the issue is gaining traction with Republicans. U.S. GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley co-sponsored a bill this year with Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a presidential contender, that would crack down on some rising drug costs.U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar came out against Canadian drug importation last year, calling it "a gimmick" with "no meaningful effect." Earlier this year, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urged consumers to stop using prescriptions from our northern neighbor. (Hundreds of public and private employers across the country have been helping their employees buy drugs from Canadian companies since the early 2000s.)But Florida officials are getting a different message from the White House."I spoke personally to President Trump ... about this. He's not only supportive, he's enthusiastic," DeSantis said in February Many other developed countries pay a lot less for prescription drugs because they have an oversight organization that negotiates a fair rate. In the U.K., the federal government is the buyer; the Netherlands has an alliance of private insurance companies; and Canada has a "semi-judicial" governmental body that controls prices on the provincial level.Apart from the Veterans Administration, the U.S. doesn't have this sort of federal oversight to clamp down when drugmakers raise their rates. The high cost of drugs in America can also be attributed to the slow process for approving generic drugs and a patent that allows manufacturers to have a monopoly on drugs, according to a 2016 study in the"We need more of a system in place where we can say to manufacturers, 'Were not going to pay that price.' We need more leverage on the national scale," says Shawn Bishop, vice president of the Controlling Health Care Costs program at the Commonwealth Fund.Opponents of the idea -- pharmaceutical groups, in particular -- argue that importing prescription drugs could be dangerous. According to the FDA, around 80 percent of ingredients in prescriptions used in the U.S. are already manufactured outside the country. And during the 15 years since some employers started allowing employees to use Canadian drugs, the FDA has had no reports of any harmful side effects, according toOnce DeSantis signs the bill as expected, Florida plans to submit two importation proposals to the federal government: one for public agencies, including Medicaid and the corrections department, and one for commercial pharmacies run by the states Department of Business and Professional Regulation. If approved, both proposalswouldnt go into effect until 2021 at the earliest.In Vermont, state officials aim to have their proposal to the federal government by July 1. It hasn't yet been decided when it would go into effect or if it would be for public and commercial use.It's unclear, however, whether Canadian drug manufacturers will agree to supply the U.S. on this scale, and if they can handle the needs of a state as populous as Florida."In Vermont could they pull that off? Sure. But Florida is a really big state," says Bishop. "Can Canada supply Florida, or will there be shortages?"Even the people pulling together the proposal in Vermont concede that there are more questions than answers right now."What will be the context of the federal governments permission? I doubt itll be a slip that says do it. With Vermont being so small, is there a viable business for that [importation]?" asks Al Gobeille, the states human services secretary. "We dont want to look too far down the road."Still, the state plans to task a state agency with becoming a licensed drug wholesaler or to contract with a licensed drug wholesaler that would be responsible for importing, repackaging and ensuring the drugs are up to FDA standards.The state estimates that importing drugs from Canada could save between $1 million and $5 million a year for commercial insurance plans. But significant savings aren't likely for Medicaid because drugs paid for through the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program already come with a steep discount. There's currently no estimate for how much it would cost to establish the program.Despite Vermont's caution, drug pricing experts appear optimistic."Ive thought for a long time that states could do this," says Jane Horvath, a consultant on state drug cost containment policies. "We have a global supply of manufacturing now, and over the past 20 years, manufacturing has largely moved overseas. This is not a stretch to do anymore, particularly for a state."
Expansion Supporters Flocked to Capitol

The Case For and Against Expansion

How a Bill Becomes a Law (or Not)

A Political Price to Pay?

A majority of Kansas senators voted in favor of Medicaid expansion on Wednesday. It failed anyway.In March, the state House voted to make more low-income people eligible for government-run health insurance, as allowed under the federal Affordable Care Act. Anthony Hensley, the Democratic leader in the Senate, forced a procedural vote that could have moved the House bill onto the Senate floor.The move needed support from 24 of the 40 senators to succeed. It fell just short, garnering 23 votes.It is very clear that a strong majority in the Kansas Senate support Medicaid expansion and want the opportunity to debate and vote on it this year, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said after the vote.Thirty-six states have expanded Medicaid coverage and eligibility. Two years ago, the Kansas Legislature voted in favor of expansion but failed to override a veto by Sam Brownback, then the GOP governor.Since passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, support for Medicaid expansion has grown, but the idea is still opposed by many Republican lawmakers. Other Democratic governors, including Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Roy Cooper of North Carolina, have tried and failed to make headway on the issue this year.Republican leaders in the Kansas Senate maintain that the state cant afford to take on the costs of expanding Medicaid, despite the promise from Washington that the federal government will pick up 90 percent of the tab.Support from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a presidential candidate, may have hurt Medicaid expansion's chances in Kansas. After Sanders tweeted his approval of the House vote, Republican opponents in Kansas characterized the idea as a socialist one.Socialist Bernie Sanders and his allies lost today, but Kansans won, tweeted Dan Hawkins , the House majority leader.In Kansas, polls indicate that a solid majority of residents support expansion. During her campaign last year, Kelly made clear that Medicaid expansion would be one of her top priorities as governor.Im voting yes for the rural hospitals that desperately need health and my constituents who need a lifeline, Republican Ed Berger said on the Senate floor.Supporters of Medicaid expansion -- lobbyists, citizens and members of the state House -- packed the Senate chamber for Wednesday's vote.So many people are out there its ridiculous, one Senate aide muttered.Those who were refused entry monitored the action from just outside the chamber, listening in via YouTube.I worked with a lot of families in poverty, said Scott Henson, a retired educator who came to the capitol to watch the vote. I know what challenges families have, and I know Medicaid expansion would support those families who dont currently qualify.Along with other supporters, Henson was frustrated that the proposal didnt receive a straight up-or-down vote.In a meeting last week with the governor, Senate GOP leaders argued that the idea needs more study, saying they would work in the coming months on a bill to consider during next years session. Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning pointed out that the current bill -- which was passed by the House as an amendment -- had received no hearings or testimony. He also argued it wasnt prudent to take on additional costs before the state Supreme Court has ruled whether a recently passed budget will be enough to satisfy the courts demand for increased education spending.I vote pass because Im not saying no. Im saying this policy isnt ready, Denning said.Supporters point out that expanded Medicaid has been in place in most states for nearly a decade, and that studies from expansion states indicate that the influx of federal health dollars has generated sufficient economic activity to offset additional coverage costs borne by the states themselves.Gov. Kelly estimates that Kansas has sent $3 billion to Washington in support of Medicaid expansion but seen no benefit.Its so sad that we pay so much money into the Medicaid system and dont get the coverage, says Anita Austin, who works for a social justice advocacy group in Topeka and was monitoring the Senate action.But Republicans worry the feds may pull the rug out from under them. They argue the state would face a heavy burden if Washington stops funding the expansion, as has happened with other government programs.Conservative opponents also point to a study examining Medicaid expansion in Oregon that showed that while beneficiaries reported improvements in mental health and relief from financial anxiety, markers of physical health did not improve. Advocates maintain that sustained access to health care provides clear benefits over time. The Oregon study only looked at care over a two-year timeframe.In Kansas, the issue didn't receive a full floor debate. The process itself, however, became a matter for debate.GOP Sen. Molly Baumgardner complained that bills that are moved to the floor without consideration in committee are the worst type of legislation we can pass. But Democratic Sen. Barbara Bollier said it was abhorrent that the Senate wasnt allowed to consider the underlying bill.Republican Carolyn McGinn said she was unhappy about the process, which has not allowed an airing of all the issues involved. But she said she'd heard from many constituents who support expansion and decided to support the procedural maneuver.As much as I hate this process, its the only path weve been given, McGinn said. As chair, if I had a bill 24 members wanted, Id let them have it.The bill is likely dead for the year. Senate President Susan Wagle is adamant that Medicaid expansion wont receive floor time this session, which will end in about two weeks.Denning, the majority leader, has become a particular target of Medicaid advocates. They placed placards around the capitol grounds featuring his picture and asking, Why wont Senator Jim Denning Expand KanCare?, the name of the states Medicaid program.Democrats hope that putting senators' opposition to Medicaid expansion on the record could cost them some voters' support in next years elections. Dennings district supported Kelly along with three of the four other Democrats who ran for statewide office last year. Democratic state Rep. Cindy Holsher announced last week that she will challenge Denning, due to his opposition to Medicaid.Sen. Denning once again refused to support Med Expansion today, Holsher tweeted . If you r disappointed w/his vote, this would be a good time to contribute to my campaign.But Republicans arent convinced theyll pay a political price.Politically, I dont think Medicaid expansion is going to be a big winner, says Alan Cobb, president of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, which opposes expansion. Its become a Democratic and liberal litmus test, and I dont think thats going to play well in a state like Kansas.
A Question of Cost

Its increasingly likely that someone you know has the opioid overdose rescue drug naloxone in their pocket or medicine cabinet. In fact, a new mobile app, NaloxoFind, will tell you whether anyone nearby is carrying the lifesaving drug.In the last five years, at least 46 states and the District of Columbia enacted so-called good Samaritan laws, allowing private citizens to administer the overdose-reversal medication without legal liability. And all but four states  Connecticut, Idaho, Nebraska and Oregon  have called on pharmacies to provide the easy-to-administer medication to anyone who wants it without a prescription, according to the Network for Public Health Law.But a handful of states are going even further by requiring doctors to give or at least offer a prescription for the overdose rescue drug to patients taking high doses of opioid painkillers.New naloxone co-prescribing laws in Arizona, California, Florida, Ohio, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state also call on doctors to discuss the dangers of overdose with these high-risk patients. Tennessee lawmakers this year passed a similar bill, which is awaiting the governors signature.Patients are free to decide whether to fill the naloxone prescription. But pain doctors who endorse the initiative say that even if patients dont fill their prescriptions for naloxone, the offer of a rescue drug underscores the dangers of long-term opioid use and creates a teachable moment.By offering a naloxone prescription to a patient, the physician is saying Im so concerned this medication might kill you that you need an antidote in the house, so a family member can rescue you. That gets their attention, said Andrew Kolodny, co-director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University and director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, an organization that promotes safe painkiller prescribing.Legal experts say these new laws  which have been endorsed by the federal government as well as the medical community  are likely to spread.Last April, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams recommended widespread use of naloxone, and since then, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has called on physicians to co-prescribe naloxone to patients taking relatively high doses of opioid painkillers and to educate patients on the risk of overdose.In 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill, the Co-Prescribing to Reduce Opioid Overdoses Act, that ultimately was included in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. Although never funded, it would have provided $5 million in federal grants to support co-prescribing naloxone.In addition, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted in December to recommend that all physicians co-prescribe naloxone for patients on high doses of opioid pain medications.People taking more than the equivalent of 50 mg of morphine a day are more than twice as likely to overdose compared with those taking lower doses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Even physicians, who typically object to government-mandated medical rules, have signed on to the initiative. Following the surgeon generals directive last year, the American Medical Association announced that it also encouraged physicians to co-prescribe naloxone for all patients at risk of overdose.From 1999 to 2017, nearly 218,000 people died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids. And in more than 40% of those deaths, bystanders were present, yet naloxone was rarely administered by a layperson, the CDC reported based on medical examiner reports.Ensuring that naloxone gets into the hands of people who are most likely to witness an overdose, namely the family and friends of people taking long-term, high doses of pain medications, could change that, Kolodny said.Most often sold as a nasal spray known as Narcan, naloxone was approved by the FDA in 1971. Local drugstores in 2017 sold about 800,000 doses of naloxone to individuals who wanted to be prepared if someone close to them lost consciousness and a drug overdose was suspected.And thousands of doses have been given away free to anyone who signs up for a quick training session at local health departments, community health centers and harm reduction centers.Police and fire departments, emergency medical services, schools, harm reduction centers and other nonprofits receive the drug at no cost from manufacturers and purchase additional supplies as needed. The federal government also offers grants to purchase naloxone.But most naloxone doses go to hospitals, nursing homes, health management organizations, community clinics, prisons and universities, which purchased roughly 5 million units of the drug in 2017, according to market research data analyzed by the FDA.Requiring all doctors to prescribe naloxone to everyone who takes prolonged high-dose opioid medications would sharply increase the number of naloxone doses in the hands of bystanders and potentially inflate the cost of U.S. health care substantially, some critics have said.Mary Ellen McCann, a member of the FDA advisory board and associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, voted against the co-prescribing proposal. She described co-prescribing as an expensive way to saturate the population with naloxone, according to news reports from Reuters and other media outlets.Im concerned about a person going in with a broken arm and ending up with $30 of a codeine product and a (naloxone) autoinjector at $4,000-plus, she said.Rather than purchasing an autoinjector, people can choose to buy the much less expensive nasal spray.Americans filled more than 190 million prescriptions for opioid painkillers in 2017, according to the CDC. If even a fraction of those patients were to fill a prescription for naloxone and give the drug to a designated family member or friend, the number of doses in the hands of average people would skyrocket.An FDA advisory panel estimated that 48 million more doses of naloxone would be needed if all states required doctors to co-prescribe naloxone for patients on high doses of opioids.Thom Duddy, vice president of corporate communications for Emergent Biosolutions, the maker of Narcan, said the company is prepared to meet that demand. Already, the company has seen a spike in sales in the eight states that have enacted co-prescribing laws, he said.In California, for example, retail sales of the drug more than quadrupled in the first four weeks after the law took effect, according to company sales data.A two-pack of Narcan costs $125; an off-label nasal spray that requires some assembly costs around $40; and an EpiPen-like dispenser sold as Evzio costs $4,100.U.S. Senate lobbying records show that Narcans and Evzios makers, Emergent Biosolutions and Kaleo, respectively, have lobbied on naloxone access in recent years, as have first responders, medical associations and the insurance industry. The records dont, however, show how much was spent on that specific issue and what position the organizations took on the matter.In November, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reported that Evzios Richmond, Virginia-based manufacturer, Kaleo, had hiked its price more than 600% as the opioid epidemic worsened.Following the report, the manufacturer announced in December that it would offer a two-dose carton of a generic version of its autoinjector at a list price of $178 in mid-2019.In April, the FDA announced approval of a generic, over-the-counter version of naloxone nasal spray that does not require assembly. Teva North America, which will sell the generic version, did not return a call from Stateline regarding what it will charge or when the rescue drug will be made available.
A bill making it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion passed in the Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday 74 to 3.Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur said the goal of the bill is to bring the legislation to the U.S. Supreme Court in order to overturn Roe V. Wade and change the country's abortion laws. Sixty-six of 104 House members signed on as co-sponsors for the bill.The bill would make it a Class A felony for a doctor to perform an abortion and a Class C felony for attempting to perform an abortion unless there is a serious health risk to the mother.HB314 does not include any exceptions for instances of rape or incest, which has garnered criticism from both pro- and anti-abortion groups.Rep. Anthony Daniels, D- Huntsville, asked Collins to amend the bill to make exceptions for rape and incest. Collins said she would not take any amendments to the bill because she wants the focus of the bill to be on overturning Roe. The amendment was tabled on a 72-26 vote.Merika Coleman, the Assistant Minority Leader, suggested an amendment that would make legislators who vote for the bill pay for the the ultimate legal challengers the bill would incur with their own salaries. The amendment was tabled with a vote of 61-27."I don't know why you are standing there with that smirk on your face, [Rep. Teri Collins] when you are destroying so many ladies in this country," Rep. Mary Moore, D-Birmingham said.The bill was hotly debated for almost two hours before the final vote.Rep. Louise Alexander, D-Bessemer asked Rep. Mike Jones, R- Andalusia, what he would do if either of his daughters were raped and became pregnant. He said he could not know what he would do unless he was faced with that reality, to which she said proved her point."Nobody knows what a woman goes through," Alexander said. "I know you don't because you're not a woman. You don't know why I would want to have an abortion. It could be because of my health, it could be for many reasons. My choice is important. I just want to say one thing. Until all of you walk in a woman's shoes, y'all don't know."Rep. Rich Wingo, R-Tuscaloosa compared abortion to murder."I believe that this chamber, this body will never make a greater decision that today I believe that with all my heart, protecting the life of an unborn child," Wingo said. "In Tuscaloosa, Alabama there are more murders, more abortions than anywhere in the state of Alabama. 3500 average per year take place right on River Road. There are more abortions in Tuscaloosa than there are births....Its time for Alabama to lead for once."In 2017 there were 2,538 births in 2017 and 3,148 abortions at the West Alabama Women's Center. Pregnant people travel from all over the state to get to the Tuscaloosa clinic as it is one of three in Alabama.Rep. Rolanda Hollis, D-Birmingham read from a poem "If My Vagina was a Gun," comparing the gun's rights debate to the debate of a woman's right to an abortion."We expected this vote to happen and we are ready for a fight in the Senate," said Staci Fox, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates. "Today's floor debate made it crystal clear what Alabama lawmakers think about women. It also revealed just how callous and flagrant they can be."The ACLU of Alabama has promised to fight the bill if passed. The state paid ACLU of Alabama and Planned Parenthood $1.7 million in 2016 after a law requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges was ruled unconstitutional."We are disappointed that the Alabama House passed HB314 despite the fact it would criminalize abortion and interfere with a woman's personal, private medical decisions. It is unfortunate that members of the House are putting their personal beliefs ahead of what's in the best interest of our state. The people of Alabama are paying the bill for unconstitutional legislation and we hope that the Senate members will realize its detrimental impact and stop this bill from becoming law. Otherwise it will be challenged in federal court."
(TNS)  Grayson County, Texas, moved one step closer to getting its new voting machines Tuesday.The Grayson County Commissioners had previously given Elections Administrator Deana Patterson permission to submit her pick for the new machines to the Secretary of State's Office for approval, but Tuesday, they gave her permission to officially enter into the contract with Election Systems and Software, as the Secretary of State has given its approval.The contract provided to commissioners and available on the county's website shows the new machines will cost $1,287,234. The county will get $147,100 in trade for its old iVotronic machines, though that does not include $209,490 for maintenance, $120,390 for hardware maintenance, $26,025 for the software license maintenance and support, or $63,075 for the firmware license and maintenance.Grayson County Judge Bill Magers said the county will be paying the machines over three payments with less than 1 percent interest. The money for the new machines was included in the 2019 budget last summer.In a previous interview, Patterson said the new system will include express vote ballot marking devices and will allow voters to make their candidate selections in a manner similar to the machines that have recently been in use in Grayson County. The new machines will then print out a paper ballot that will be reviewed by the voter and then placed by the voter in a scanner that will scan in the vote into that polling places' votes tabulation.This system is called a hybrid because it uses both a paper ballot and an election marking device. Voters will not walk away with anything that shows the manner in which they vote, though Patterson pointed out that was also the case even when people voted with only paper ballots.ES&S, she said, will provide training and support for the county as it moves to the new system.The machines are expected to be delivered in May. Then the Elections Department will work with area voters on education about how to use the new machines.
Amazon Alexa devices in Mexico and Spain have been able to speak and understand Spanish for a while, but in the U.S. Alexa currently only operates in English. Thats about to change, however, starting with the introduction of a new voice model for the Alexa Skills Kit. This model allows developers to create Alexa skills specifically for Spanish-speaking users.Later in 2019, Amazon is planning to roll out full Spanish language support across its range of Echo devices in the U.S. Additionally, full Spanish support will come to devices from manufacturers including Bose, Facebook and Sony with Alexa built in, as well as to Works with Alexa devices from Philips, TP Link and Honeywell.
The Alzheimers Association is seeking local volunteers to facilitate virtual Family Caregiver Support Groups in Washington State and Northern Idaho.

Caregivers of those with dementia often feel helpless and alone in their experience. A virtual support group facilitator has the ability to make a meaningful difference in the lives of these caregivers from anywhere in the state via telephone, Skype, or other means of virtual communication.

Support group facilitators arent required to be experts. Our Chapter-trained volunteers receive excellent training, ongoing support, access to resources, and continuing education opportunities.

Anybody with a helping heart is welcome to apply. A commitment of at least one year is required.

For more information on becoming a virtual support group facilitator, contact April Scott, Manager of Community Support, at 1.800.848.7097 or 206.529.3875, apscott@alz.org.
Easter Sunday is the holiest day for observant Christians worldwide. It is the day followers of Jesus Christ celebrate his resurrection, and many believers choose to be baptized or receive their first communion on the special day. It is the day on which Christians celebrate the central tenets of our faith, which is why the coordinated suicide bombings on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka that targeted minority Christians at four churches as well as foreigners at four hotels shocked that island nation and the world.

The terrorists targeted Christian places of worship and hotels frequented by foreigners in the capital city of Colombo and the cities of Negombo and Batticaloa. As of this writing, more than 200 people are confirmed to have lost their lives, including 45 children, with hundreds more wounded. Counted among the victims are citizens of the U.S., Bangladesh, China, India, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Spain, Turkey, Australia, and the U.K.

The Islamic State has taken credit for these unspeakable atrocities, while the Sri Lankan government says it believes a local Muslim militant group, National Thowheed Jamath, is responsible. In either case, the attacks show that radical Islamic terrorism continues to threaten innocent people, and it must continue to be condemned and combatted worldwide. In a gesture of interfaith solidarity, flags of mourning were draped from the Grand Mosque in Negombo, one of the Sri Lankan towns where a church was targeted by bombers.

President Trump expressed condolences and pledged U.S. support for Sri Lanka in bringing the perpetrators to justice in a call with the countrys prime minister.

While minorities of many religions face persecution or are targeted for hateful attacks, as evinced by horrific attacks against Muslims in New Zealand, the Sri Lanka bombings illustrate the growing persecution faced specifically by Christians around the globe. The Christian organization Open Doors tracks oppression and reported in its 2019 World Watch List that one in three Christians in Asia now faces high levels of persecution. The report found that 245 million Christians face high levels of persecution this year, an increase over 215 million in 2018.

President Trumps administration has made addressing the growing persecution of Christians a priority. In 2017, Vice President Mike Pence said while addressing the In Defense of Christians Conference, the United States of America will always stand with those who suffer for their faith, and we will always support them in the hour of their need. The Trump administration has acted on that promise by reinvigorating the Office of International Religious Freedom at the U.S. State Department.

Amidst such terrible loss in Sri Lanka, the words of Christ in Matthew 5:11 stand out as a comfort: Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. We pray for the victims of persecution everywhere, and we remember Christians and all innocents who lost their lives on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka.
Top F1 drivers should not "judge" Formula E before trying it.

That is the view of Andre Lotterer, a multiple Le Mans winner who even did a race for Caterham in 2014.

But now he drives in Formula E, and responded to the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton who have dismissed the all-electric series.

"We have incredible acceleration from the electric motor," the German told Kolner Express newspaper.

"We do not need the huge downforce that they have in Formula 1 so we can fight better, and Formula E is much cheaper," Lotterer added.

"We also drive on exciting tracks in metropolises like Paris, Rome and Berlin. Every race here is Monaco.

"Hamilton and Vettel should give it a try before they judge," he said.

(GMM)
An international research partnership, led by the University of Bristol, is one of 15 awarded a total of 7million from the UK Government-funded Challenge-led Grants to help address resilience challenges facing developing countries

Dr Katerina Michaelides from the Universitys School of Geographical Sciences is working with colleagues from the University of Nairobi and Addis Ababa University to develop tools for communities in East Africa to access current and future water resource conditions and receive vital drought-related information.

Climate change presents great challenges for dryland regions, especially in communities where socioeconomic livelihoods are tied to the consistency of seasonal rainfall.

In the dryland regions of East Africa, drought is a major threat to rainfed agriculture, grazing pastures, and to drinking water supplies, and regional climate is projected to increase drought frequency and severity.

Figuring out the best ways to adapt to droughts requires relevant, timely, and practical information about the propagation of projected droughts into usable water in the ground.

People need straightforward answers to a practical set of questions: How will regional climate change affect soil moisture required to grow crops or the water table in wells that provide precious drinking water in a parched landscape? How will the water stores change season by season and over coming decades? Furthermore, what adaptation strategies are available to address this challenge?

The aim of this interdisciplinary project is to create a new, widely accessible tool for monitoring water storage in drylands, and to use this tool for communicating and enhancing social adaptation to short-term climate shocks and long-term changes to regional hydrology in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.

The team are working across disciplines on climate, hydrology, social factors, forecasting tool and mobile phone app development.

Dr Michaelides said: Pastoralists and farmers in the drylands of East Africa are becoming increasingly worried about climate change and future droughts.

I am looking forward to working together with Professor Assen at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, and Dr Oliver Vivian Wasonga at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, as well as with my UK team of collaborators at the Universities of Bristol, Cardiff, and East Anglia, to provide some practical and useful tools that will hopefully aid communities in adapting to future droughts.

Last years invitation from the UK National Academiesfor research teams across different disciplines to propose solutions for the globes most challenging issues of resiliencehas resulted in 15 international and interdisciplinary consortia receiving over 7 million from the UK Government funded Challenge-led Grants.

The awardees cover research from tsunami resilience and a circular economy of sanitation, to fishery stewardship in a warming climate and a clearer understanding of HIV-related cancers.

Launched as a cross-academy initiative by the UK National AcademiesThe British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Societythe grants aim to foster collaboration not just between disciplines but countries, too, with each consortium being composed of one research group from the UK and two from developing countries.

The grants are part of the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), a 1.5 billion fund announced by the UK Government to support cutting-edge research and innovation that addresses the global issues faced by developing countries.
ELON  An Elon University student faces a felony charge after a shotgun was found in his dorm room Tuesday night.

Elon News Network, the university's student-run media, reported Wednesday that university police seized a shotgun the night before from a room in the Danieley Center, a campus residence hall complex.

An Elon vice president said in a campuswide email Wednesday that police got an anonymous tip that a student might have just bought a shotgun. The Elon official also said that the student had not threatened anyone or used the weapon and that there was no immediate threat to campus.

The unnamed student was arrested without incident and charged with felony possession of a weapon on campus. The student also faces university disciplinary action.
Among the Mueller witnesses lawmakers are eager to hear from is former White House counsel Donald McGahn, who was at the center of the episodes of possible obstruction of justice that Mueller explored. But Barr suggested Wednesday that they should not count on his testimony.

Barr noted of McGahn that the White House had not "waived executive privilege" - even though McGahn was allowed to talk extensively to Mueller's team about potentially privileged matters, and Trump allowed the material he provided to be revealed in Mueller's report. Barr would not commit to saying that the former White House lawyer would be allowed to testify.

"That's a call for the president to make," Barr said.

Barr also told senators that he has already assigned members of his staff to review allegations that there was "spying" conducted on the Trump campaign before the 2016 election and that he anticipates reporting to Congress at the conclusion of that inquiry.

Barr's comments came in response to questions from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who asked whether the Justice Department has begun a review to determine whether surveillance conducted of anyone associated with Trump's campaign was properly predicated.
Most important, in contrast to President Trump, Biden is freighted with copious supplies of empathy. While Bidens well-known personal losses have made him a fuller man capable of great compassion, Trump seems to have been born without the capacity to feel anything for others beyond their utilitarian value. Following his annual physical in February, the surprise wasnt that he has a strong heart but that he has one at all.

The question for Biden, who became the 21st Democrat to toss his hat in the ring, is whether he is tough enough to be president. And, given the youthful fervor of the Democratic Party these days, is he, at age 76, too old?

Id never say someone is too old for a given job, assuming qualifications and good health. I might question why anyone would want to be president at any age, but Bidens explanation rings true. He is viewed by many as the candidate most likely to take Trump down. To kill him with kindness, as it were, as well as with experience, knowledge and a remarkable personal history.
My faith in state government was restored when the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality issued its order for Duke Energy to excavate and move coal ash from Belews Creek. DEQ evaluated the issue, listened to residents and took the appropriate action. Bravo!

My faith in Duke Energy, ever dubious at best, has now circled the drain. Duke is already appealing the DEQ order.

In 2008, the catastrophic coal ash spill in Kingston, Tenn., issued Duke a dire warning. Duke has had more than a decade to address this issue but now wants to leave the coal ash in place, to further pollute our water. Another harrowing warning came in 2014  the Dan River spill. Adding insult to injury, Duke wants to charge North Carolina citizens for the cleanup.

A bill (SB 651, HB 566) sponsored by state Sen. Michael Garrett says it all: Polluter Pays. Citizens must urge their senators and representatives to support these bills. One would not put a Band-Aid over a severed, spouting artery and hope for the best. We need complete excavation and removal.

That requires full accountability, not the cowardly, redacted version Duke offers.

Claudia Lange

Greensboro
A statue of American music legend Johnny Cash will soon stand in the hallways of the U.S. Capitol, looking as if hes ready to warn all those politicians to walk the line, but not everyone is as happy about that as I am.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a measure to replace two marble figures on the wrong side of history with statues of Arkansas native Cash and civil rights icon Daisy Lee Gatson Bates, part of a move by some states to revamp the two statues they are allowed to place in the Capitol building.

Back in Arkansas, where the lawmakers were doing the debating, the politicians in charge had the good sense to offer few objections to Daisy Bates, but Johnny Cash had some of them singing a different tune. One of those was Rep. Doug House.

Mr. Cash is a great musician ... but the drugs, the alcohol, the women, that kind of thing ... no, I cant hold him up to my children as a model, House said .

The measure failed in the state House by a single vote, according to reports, but eventually wound its way back through the process. When all the speechifying was over, Johnny got the OK.
On public property, in particular, freedom of speech isnt constrained by intentions or offensiveness. If you want to grunt out an anti-Semitic rap on my property, I can boot you off of it. But if you are otherwise complying with the rules and expressing yourself on public property, no such response is permissible.

With what rules must you comply? As I mentioned, you cant exhort people to violence or criminality. In addition, you may have to accept time, place, and manner restrictions that serve to facilitate and protect free expression on campus.

For example, not everyone can speak, hold an event, or march in precisely the same place at the same time. A scheduling system is not only permissible but necessary as long as it applies strictly to scarce public spaces and is administered fairly. Related to that, freedom of speech does not extend to a hecklers veto. If my student group schedules a speaker on campus and you show up to shout down or obstruct the speaker, you arent exercising free speech. Youre trying to shut it down. Removing you is, again, not just permissible but necessary to protect freedom of speech.
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans would send $300 million more to Puerto Rico in a new offer aimed at breaking a logjam over a multibillion-dollar disaster relief bill that has stalled for months in a fight over aid to the island.

A key Democrat reacted positively Wednesday, in an optimistic sign for prospects for a deal. But White House officials were still reviewing the proposal, and President Donald Trump, who has resisted sending more money to Puerto Rico, had yet to endorse it.

The proposal from Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., makes several concessions to Democrats' demands, after months of wrangling over the disaster bill that would send assistance all over the United States and to Puerto Rico as the island continues its recovery from Hurricane Maria.

Most notably, the offer would increase spending for Puerto Rico, the issue that has held up the legislation as Trump has opposed Democratic attempts to make it more generous for the U.S. territory. On top of $600 million that was already included for Puerto Rico's food stamp program, which has been forced to reduce benefits, $300 million would go to the island in the form of Community Development Block Grant assistance.

Additionally, the offer includes language to speed access to a $16 billion pot of CDBG money already appropriated by Congress, of which $8.3 billion would go to Puerto Rico. The remainder would go to Texas and other states.

The offer includes language to ensure that the money is spent properly and to prevent waste, fraud and abuse. The new CDBG money for Puerto Rico could be spent only after certification that most of the money previously received under the program had been used up, and with a plan in place to spend the new funds. Trump has complained of mismanagement by Puerto Rico of aid funds, and such controls are a priority for the White House.

Also, the overall price tag of the bill would increase from $13.5 billion to just more than $17 billion to incorporate a number of changes, including more help for Midwestern states hit by flooding.

"We're trying to work out whatever differences we have. We want to get something the House can go along with, and I'm pretty optimistic that something can happen," Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Appropriations Committee Democrat, told reporters after discussing the offer with Shelby. "We're a lot closer."

In describing the offer to reporters late Tuesday, Shelby had indicated that it did not include any new money for Puerto Rico. Details described by aides Wednesday, however, make clear that it does. The aides spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of a public agreement on the legislation.

Even though the White House has yet to endorse the proposal, it appears to represent the most significant movement in some time on the disaster bill. As the legislation has remained mired in political stalemate, Republican senators from states including Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida have grown increasingly strident in urging that some resolution be found.

All over the country, in those states and others, communities, farms and military installations continue to recover from hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and other natural disasters that have struck in recent months and years.

"I hope that this will break this logjam," said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., who's been a leader on the issue. "I honestly think both sides are trying right now."

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said of the new proposal: "I'm hopeful. It deals with additional resources to Puerto Rico, it deals with making sure the money doesn't get wasted."
UPDATE: 9:56 P.M.

GREENWICH  Five customers of Eversource remain without power Wednesday night.

Estimated restoration has been pushed to 10 p.m.

UPDATE: 8:45 P.M.

GREENWICH  There are five Eversource Energy customers still without power in Greenwich Wednesday night.

Estimated restoration time is by 9:30 p.m., Eversource said.

UPDATE 6:30 P.M.

GREENWICH  A total of 43 customers were without power Wednesday evening in Greenwich, according to Eversource.

The number of customers went up and down throughout the afternoon and evening. At about 2:30 p.m., 852 customers were without power in town. By 3:30 p.m., most of the outages had been restored with only nine customers still without power in Greenwich, according to Eversource.

Most of the outages were blamed on a tree that fell on wires on Riversville Road, closing it to traffic while repair and restoration work was completed. The road was closed between Pecksland Road and Sherwood Avenue.

Greenwich Town Hall, which was in the dark for about an hour, reopened Wednesday evening for previously scheduled meetings.

UPDATE 4:15 P.M.

GREENWICH  Eversource reported that electricity was being restored across Greenwich on Wednesday afternoon after hundreds lost power.

Originally, 852 customers were reported without power earlier in the afternoon. But as of 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, only nine customers were still in the dark, Eversource said.

Eversource spokesman Frank Poirot said he expected service to be completely restored soon.

The outages were caused by a tree falling onto wires on Riversville Road, Poirot said. He said it was not immediately clear what caused the tree to fall.

Town Hall was closed after the power outage but will reopen for all scheduled Wednesday night meetings.

Original story:

GREENWICH  Greenwich closed Town Hall due to a power outage on Wednesday afternoon, town officials announced.

Eversource was reporting 852 customers with out power in Greenwich as of 2:55 p.m. Wednesday. That is about 3 percent of the town.

Parkway School was operating on a generator Wednesday afternoon, but otherwise the towns schools were not affected, according to Kim Eves, Greenwich schools spokesman.

Town Hall closed for business at 3 p.m. It was unknown whether it would be reopened in time for scheduled meetings Wednesday night. The Representative Town Meetings Budget Overview Committee is scheduled to meet at Town Hall at 7:30 p.m.

Barbara Heins, executive assistant to First Selectman Peter Tesei, said it was unclear whether that and other meetings would take place.

Whether they will proceed as scheduled is dependent upon restoration of power by Eversource, Heins said. We will provide updates as information becomes available.

The location of the fallen tree and wires is corrected. The tree fell on Riversville Road.
5 1 of 5 Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 File / Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 5 of 5









GREENWICH  Greenwich police are investigating after a parent reported a suspicious exchange with a stranger near a bus stop, the Greenwich Public Schools announced in an email to parents Tuesday evening.

The exchange occurred on Monday near Hassake Road and Havemeyer Lane, on the west side of town off Route 1 near the Stamford border, according to the email.
BRIDGEPORT  Bridgeports Stress Factory comedy club owner Vinnie Brand said he was caught by surprise when comic Pete Davidson left before his Monday night show.

Davidson claimed Brand made jokes about his love life, which Brand wholeheartedly denied.

Media reports began surfacing on Tuesday that 25-year-old Davidson, a stand-up comic and Saturday Night Live cast member, left the show, alleging that Brand came out before his set and said dont ask any questions about his exes Ariana Grande or Kate Beckinsale.

Stress Factory crowd, club owner react after Pete Davidson bails on Bridgeport gig. Warning: Some viewers may find some language offensive.

Brand said he was completely blindsided by Davidsons departure. He said he never intended the comments as a joke  he was just setting some ground rules per the request of his performer.

Brand said Davidson had a specific list of rules that he wanted followed, including that no one have cellphones out during his performance, and that no one yell out anything about Davidsons exes. Brand said he was happy to oblige.

Ive known Pete for a long time, Brand said. I love Pete. I dont want any of this to come off like I dont love Pete.

Brand said his only intent was to reiterate the rules with patrons before Davidson hit the stage. He said he even cleared his comments with Davidsons security team before going on.

I was just laying down the rules, he said. If you were there in the room that night, no way would you have thought anything I did was disrespectful.

However, after his talk, Brand went back to Davidson, who told Brand that he had been humiliated by the comments, and that he was leaving. Brand said he begged Davidson not to leave, and that the walk-out could hurt the club. Davidson left anyway, and Brand had to go out and break the news to the crowd.

Brand then performed a stand-up routine in what would have been Davidsons spot.

Davidson took to social media after leaving the Bridgeport comedy club Monday night and briefly talked about what happened in a series of videos posted on his Instagram story.

Hey, guys, in Connecticut, the video begins, Im sorry that we had to leave the show before I got to go on. The owner, Vinnie Brand, disrespected me and did something that I told him not to do and I cant, you know, perform under those circumstances.

Everybody who got tickets to that show: I am doing a free show for you guys, Davidson goes on to say in the video. He said the details of that show are still being worked out, but that it would happen in the next week.

Brand seemed shaken by the incident during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon, calling it deeply hurtful.

I just cant wrap my mind around what happened, he said.

For the most part, fans of Stress Factory seem to have taken Brands side, particularly on the Stress Factory Facebook page. Under a post announcing that Davidson would be performing, disappointed fans complained about the fact that he never took the stage.

Was in attendance last night and Pete never performed but Ill tell you what Vinnie put on one hell of a good show! wrote one poster. Definitely a great time, was my first time there and Ill be back.

Another fan said she was disappointed that he walked out and did not perform.

One of Davidsons claims to fame is that he is the youngest member of the current SNL cast, as well as the first cast member to be born in the 1990s.

Davidson shot his first one-hour stand up special for Comedy Central in 2016 and was named one of Forbes 2016 30 Under 30.

Brand said he hopes the incident wont keep people away from the club. I love the customers, he said. We love Connecticut.

Staff writer Tara ONeill contributed to this story.
NORWALK - Carol Bauer attended a semester of seminary at the urging of her fiance before she realized she could do more as a teacher and wife of a generous man than she could as a minister.

But it was the loss of the couples first child, Jeffrey, when he was just an infant that prepared Bauer to be a healing presence for others in the maternity and pediatric units at Norwalk Hospital, where she has been the on-call volunteer chaplain for a decade.

So the Bauers $15 million gift to build a seven-floor pavilion at Norwalk Hospital is less like an extraordinary one-time donation, and more like the steady pattern of giving that has marked the lives of the Wilton couple.

We are blessed with this money and we are blessed to give it away, said Carol Bauer during an interview at the hospital. People have said to us so often, When are you two going to do something for yourselves? and I say, What makes you think we dont love what we are doing?

Bauer and her husband, George, a retired IBM executive, have given gifts to the hospital to help establish the Bauer Emergency Care Center, the Jeffrey Peter Bauer Newborn Intensive Care Unit and the Carol Bauer Nursing Scholarship.

We really do love what were doing - we both do, said Carol Bauer, who has volunteered at the hospital for 40 years. When we see a life change for a patient here and we think that we made a difference, we rejoice in that.

Of course, the Bauers gift is extraordinary - the 200,000-square-foot tower that is scheduled to open in 2022 represents the largest expansion in Norwalk Hospitals 126-year history.

Blueprints call for new facilities in the tower for surgery, pediatrics, critical care and womens health, according to a release from Nuvance - the newly named umbrella health network that operates Danbury and Norwalk hospitals, along with a four-hospital network based in New York.

The umbrella health network, which was recently approved by state and federal regulators, created a $2 billion organization serving 1.5 million people from the Sound Shore to the Hudson River.

The Bauers gift follows the unveiling of a $4 million pediatric section at Danbury Hospital that is designed as a first step to expand its services, in partnership with the Connecticut Childrens Medical Center in Hartford.

The Bauers tower concept is similar to the 11-story pavilion that opened in 2014 at Danbury Hospital with the help of a $30 million donation from Subway co-founder Peter Buck.

The health networks top officer called the Bauers gift remarkably generous.

We are dedicated to making investments in people, facilities, programs, and services to advance the caliber and scope of care we provide our patients, said John Murphy, CEO of Nuvance, in a prepared statement. This transformative gift from the Bauers will allow us to do just that in Norwalk.

Carol Bauer, a certified chaplain who wears a white hospital coat when she goes on pastoral visits, said the devastating experience of losing her son after only five days taught her that each experience of grief is unique.

We dont preach, we dont proselytize - we are with patients at their most vulnerable times and we listen to them and we affirm their feelings, she said. The process of learning to listen is almost detective work: you try to understand what are they really telling you - and then you acknowledge that if you can.

She credits her ability to give generously to her partnership with her husband of 64 years.

The secret to our marriage is he makes the money and I spend it, she said. Truly, it is my husband who has done so well in business who has given us the opportunity to give.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
GREENWICH  As the Greenwich Library prepares to begin a major renovation project this summer, it is enjoying a major boost from a loyal supporter.

The Ashforth Company, a 123-year-old commercial real estate firm, announced it will match any new donations  up to $100,000  for the librarys ReImagine ReNew RePurpose Capital Campaign.

Most of the $17 million price tag for the project will come from donations.

The name Ashforth has been associated with the Greenwich Library since 1895, when Elizabeth Milbank Anderson, the great-great-grandmother of the companys current owners, gave a building on Greenwich Avenue to the town for a library in memory of her parents, Jeremiah and Elizabeth Lake Milbank.

That tradition continued with Henry Ashforth, Andersons great-grandson and a former president of the Greenwich Librarys Board of Trustees. He was on hand when the current building was modernized and expanded. Ashforths son, Hank, is now part of that legacy, serving on the board and bringing through the company gift.

Libraries are increasingly important to communities as both educational and societal hubs, said Hank Ashforth, executive vice president of the company. Greenwich Library does an incredible job, and we want to see Greenwich Library continue to have that kind of an impact in town for years to come.

Ashforth said he hopes the match challenge gift will inspire others to show their support for the library project.

We are very excited about the modernization, he said. This is a chance to truly freshen up and modernize.

Darrell Harvey, a family member and co-CEO of the company, praised Anderson as a strong leader, advocate and supporter of education, particularly womens education. He noted her work with the library as well as with Greenwich Academy.

We are proud to be part of this tradition and to continue the growth of the library as an educational resource for our community, Harvey said.

The librarys Board of Trustees is grateful for The Ashforth Companys support.

Were incredibly thankful for the generosity of The Ashforth Company and the Ashforth family for providing this challenge match, board president Rob Marks said. On our current board, we are most fortunate to have the wise counsel of Hank Ashforth.  His wisdom has helped shape this major project.

For the project, the library building will not increase, but the use of space will be reimagined on every floor. A new entrance will be added, leading patrons to a lower level with a new cafe, outdoor space and renovated auditorium. The lower level will also have a new 100-seat multipurpose room and a learning center to go with the existing technology training center.

Other improvements will be made throughout the building, including a new reading room, a dedicated area for teens, new meeting rooms and five new soundproof phone booths.

Ashforth said he was particularly excited about the new cafe and auditorium because they will add to the social component of the library.

Some of the money for the project will come from the town, but the majority of it will be through private fundraising and other sources. A Community Development Block Grant of $65,000 is slated for the library for work on the new lower level entrance and atrium.

That allocation needs the approval of First Selectman Peter Tesei as well as the towns Board of Estimate and Taxation and Representative Town Meeting.

The town Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the library project earlier this month.

That approval paves the way for work to begin in July on the 16-month project. Completion is expected in 2020.

For more information on the project and to donate online, visit www.greenwichlibrary.org/reimagine.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
WASHINGTON - Sen. Rick Scott has emerged as the most prominent and vocal booster for using American military might to support the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The Republican from Florida swiftly issued a statement of support on Tuesday morning when opposition leader Juan Guaido called for the Venezuelan military, which has stuck by Maduro, to remove him from power.

"The U.S. military MUST be ready to supply humanitarian aid and defend freedom and democracy in Venezuela," Scott declared in the rare official statement from a U.S. senator that put certain words in ALL CAPS. "President Trump should immediately position American military assets to be ready to deliver aid to the people and defend freedom and democracy as well as U.S. national security interests in our hemisphere."

Violent clashes quickly erupted across the country between Maduro's forces and Guaido's supporters and are expected to continue today. At least one man was killed while dozens of others were reported wounded and at least 119 were reported detained. Video showed an armored vehicle plowing into a crowd of Guaido supporters in Caracas. While thousands of opposition backers battled with security forces, by the end of the day there did not seem to be a widespread response by the Venezuelan army to Guaido's call.

Undeterred, Scott said in an interview last night that the U.S. should ratchet up support for Guaido. "I still think the [Venezuelan] military is going to come to their senses and say, 'We can't kill our own families,' because that's really what's going on here," he said. "If people continue their fight, then I think we have a good shot at winning. Unfortunately, there's bloodshed today. But hopefully these individuals that lose their lives today are not going to lose their lives in vain."

Scott came to the Senate in January after eight years as governor of a battleground state with a massive population of Venezuelan expats. He's used his friendly relationship with President Donald Trump to guide U.S. policy toward regime change. Along with former Trump primary opponent Marco Rubio, the senior senator who has been most publicly identified with the Venezuela crisis, Scott encouraged the president to recognize Guaido as the rightful leader of the oil-rich country.

The 66-year-old traveled to Venezuela's border with Colombia last Wednesday during the Senate's Easter recess. He visited a soup kitchen funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which he said serves about 5,000 meals a day of rice and beans to refugees. Scott recounted a conversation with a woman who fled Venezuela with her three children. "They're sleeping on the streets," he said. "They're stranded there." The senator met separately with Panama's president on Tuesday, Colombia's president on Thursday and Argentina's president on Friday.

Scott said he's been in touch with both Trump and national security adviser John Bolton. "I've been talking to the White House quite a bit," Scott said. "I talked to the president again this weekend about how we can't let up. We've got to do everything we can. This is our chance. If we don't, we're going to have Syria here in our own hemisphere."

Bolton told reporters at the White House Tuesday afternoon that "the president wants to see a peaceful transfer of power." Bolton repeated, as he has for months, that "all options" remain open to Trump but said nothing further about any potential use of U.S. military forces.

Scott, who characterizes Maduro's repression as a "genocide," advocates an "all-of-the-above approach" that uses every elements of American national power. Scott was enthusiastic after Trump accused Cuba of conducting military operations inside Venezuela and threatened to impose a "full and complete embargo" on the communist island if it does not "immediately" stop. "We have a big shot here, and I'm going to do everything I can," the senator said last night. "I talk to the military. I talk to everybody every day and ask: What else can we do?"

I pressed Scott about the risk of U.S. military forces getting dragged into a protracted military intervention that could turn into a quagmire a la Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam. He said this situation is different. "We have an interim government in place, so we have a national assembly in place," Scott explained. "So it's not like Iraq or things like that. That's a positive. I think what we ought to be doing is to focus on humanitarian aid, which makes it more difficult for people there to go against us. . . . We're going to do everything we can to create democracy. Thank God we have a president that cares about democracy for a change."

Scott scored a seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee when he took office in January and has quickly carved out a niche as a leading hawk on the Hill. He enlisted in the Navy after attending community college and served on active duty as a radar man aboard the USS Glover. Then he used the GI Bill to attend college at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and law school at Southern Methodist University.

Scott's father served as a paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. On display in his Senate office is a rifle used by a man in his dad's company during combat jumps back then. When I interviewed Scott recently, the senator invited me to grab the gun off its mount on the wall to feel how heavy it is. (He also pointed out that the firing pin was removed so that he could bring it onto the Capitol grounds.) Scott also proudly displays an array of military challenge coins that service members have given him over the years.

Florida has a massive military presence.U.S. Southern Command, which would oversee any military operation related to Venezuela, is headquartered in Doral.

But the Sunshine State is also poised to once again be the biggest battleground in the 2020 presidential campaign. Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton there.

Scott visited Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle on Monday to inspect its recovery from Hurricane Michael. Trump's reelection campaign announced while Scott happened to be there that the president will hold a rally in nearby Panama City on May 8. The news release noted that this will be Trump's 39th rally in Florida since announcing his candidacy in June 2015.

Chatting on the Senate subway as I spent a recent afternoon shadowing him, Scott predicted that the president would carry the state if the election were held today.The senator added that there are probably 200,000 to 300,000 Venezuelans in Florida who can vote."It's a lot of votes," he said.

But Scott is adamant that domestic political considerations aren't why he's pushing for Maduro's removal. "The reality is I just do my job. . . . They're all Floridians," he said. "I do believe that American citizens don't know enough about what's going on in Venezuela. I think they'd put a lot more pressure on everybody to do something if they realized what was happening. . . . This guy is just a complete murderer and thug. Every bad word you could say, this guy is."

Scott said he's been having substantive conversations with Trump about Venezuela since just weeks after the 2016 election. "The way President Trump works is he calls and asks what you think," Scott said. "He asks a lot of people how they're thinking about things."

The senator said he's been speaking with the president an average of once a week since he came to Congress in January. The calls don't come at a scheduled time, and they could be about whatever topic is on the president's mind or on cable news. But often, Scott said, they wind up talking about Venezuela.

In January, Trump met with Scott and three other Florida GOP leaders at the White House to discuss the issue. Scott, Rubio, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart strongly endorsed the idea of recognizing Guaido as the rightful leader of the country. The next day, Guaido asserted that he was. And Trump formally publicly backed him.

Scott sees what's going on in Caracas as a proxy war, as well as a 21st-century test of whether something akin to the Monroe Doctrine still applies. James Monroe declared in 1823 that the United States would oppose European colonialism in its backyard, including South America.

"Our enemies are using Venezuela as a foothold in the Western Hemisphere," the senator said. "This is a fight against Cuba, Russia, China, Iran and Hezbollah, who are all in Venezuela right now. . . . President Xi [Jinping], President [Vladimir] Putin, the Castro regime and Maduro are all committing genocide. . . . And we have to step up.

"Here's the positive," he added. "We have way more focus on it. Our government for decades has not put enough effort into Latin America. They're our closest trading partner besides Canada and Mexico, so we ought to be putting more effort into it."

"There's opposition to Scott's approach and language," the Miami Herald notes Wednesday. "Republican Sen. Rand Paul [of Kentucky] said it's a 'mistake' to send U.S. troops into Venezuela and that the president doesn't have the authority to do it. California Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna and Barbara Lee also spoke out against military intervention on Tuesday. Miami Democrats Donna Shalala, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Debbie Wasserman Schultz along with Central Florida Democrat Darren Soto expressed support for Guaido at a news conference in Washington but did not think Scott's call for U.S. military involvement was the right direction. 'We're getting way ahead of ourselves if we're talking about what happens if this doesn't work. We're here to back up the support the United States has provided to Juan Guaido,' said Wasserman Schultz, whose district includes Weston, one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the United States."

Scott is still adjusting to his membership in the world's greatest deliberative body. He was chief executive of America's third-most-populous state for eight years. Now, he's No. 100 out of 100 in Senate seniority. He wasn't declared the victor over Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, until after a recount, and he wanted to finish out the final days of his gubernatorial term. That meant he wasn't sworn in with the rest of the Class of 2018. But Scott has shown how a freshman can wield power if he's in the majority and friendly with both the majority leader and president. He's backed Trump up on tough votes and the issues the president cares about most, such as upholding the national emergency declaration to divert military construction funds for border wall construction.

For Scott, it's all about cultivating relationships. He uses that word constantly. In his office, he's got a framed - and autographed - picture of himself with Mitch McConnell from the early 1990s. "He was my senator because I bought all the Humana hospitals in 1993," Scott explained. "So we got to know he and Elaine."

Elaine is Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, McConnell's wife.

"I've probably given away 5,000 of 6,000 copies of 'How to Win Friends & Influence People,'" Scott said in his office. "I did it in business. I did it in the governor's office. And I really do believe in that. . . . When you get married, you will find you don't get everything your way. But if you build a relationship, then it's a pretty good deal. I've been married since I was 19, and we figured it out. . . .

"One of my goals is to figure out how to sell here," he added. "You do it in a different way than as governor and in business. One of my companies had 285,000 employees, so I had to sell a lot to get them to do what I believed in. It's not like you're a dictator, and they all do it. You've got to go sell constantly. What you find in politics is you have to figure out how to get your message out to get people to come along."

Scott said it's really helpful that GOP senators eat lunch together every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. With a net worth of at least $232 million, making him one of the richest members of Congress, Scott has gravitated toward fellow conservatives who have done well in business, especially Ron Johnson from Wisconsin and Mike Braun from Indiana. He said he really likes Tim Scott, too. The South Carolina Republican sits by him during Committee on Aging hearings, and Rick Scott jokes that they can share a nameplate.

Scott said he sits next to Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., during Armed Services Committee hearings, and she's been teaching him about how the Air Force really works on the inside. McSally was the first American female fighter pilot to fly in combat.

He's also been trying to make friends with some Democratic senators. Scott said he really likes West Virginia's Joe Manchin, also a former governor, although he recalled that "it felt a little awkward" when the two were chatting on the Democratic side of the floor while Chuck Schumer was blasting McConnell for changing the rules of the Senate to accelerate the confirmation of judicial nominees. "When you're new, you're trying to figure out how to do this the right way," he said.

Scott said partisanship is worse in Washington than Tallahassee, but that's because Republicans have unified control of the Florida legislature. He took office during the partial government shutdown and with Democrats in control of the House.

Because he's last in seniority, Scott is assigned to spend hours each week presiding over the Senate - a tedious, boring task for someone accustomed to being governor. He's there around lunchtime every Tuesday and Thursday when the chamber is in session - and then from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday evenings. He uses the time to write thank-you notes and review briefing books. He'd always heard about it, but he finally understands how cloture works. "There's a lot of rules here," he said.

Scott has been trying to pick his spots, identifying a handful of issues on which he can establish himself as a leader in the Senate.Venezuela is one, along with Puerto Rico, prescription drug prices and the temporary protected status program. "Bob Corker said something really interesting to me. I used to live in Tennessee, so I knew him back when," Scott said, referring to the recently retired former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. "He said you will get a lot more opportunities to get involved in something in the Senate when you're really knowledgeable about that issue. We'll see how good I am. That's the test."
Some may question the economic acumen of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., but the candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination is clearly no slouch when it comes to the art of politics. So, when Sanders says, as he did during an April 15 Fox News town hall, that illegal immigration has become a "serious problem" that merits government action, Democratic legislators should listen. Or pay attention to a Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday indicating that Democratic voters' concern about a "crisis" at the southern border has jumped 17 points since January.

Maybe Democrats in Congress should even work with Republicans to resolve the crisis before the 2020 election.

The recent surge of Central American migrants - more than 100,000 were apprehended or denied entry in March, the most in one month in a dozen years, according to The Post - is beginning to play right into President Donald Trump's hands, and experienced politicians such as Sanders know it. That's why he called for "sensible immigration reform" to accommodate an "overflowing" immigration system.

Ever the advocate of more government, Sanders proposed hiring hundreds of new immigration judges to help expedite immigration proceedings. Policies that stemmed the flow of illegal border crossings would obviously address the underlying problem and vitiate the need for all these judges. But, admitting there is a problem and offering at least some solution is progress - in February, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., toured the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry in California, along with three of his congressional colleagues, and declared, "There is no crisis at the border."

While there are many factors contributing to the current migration spike - crime, political oppression, a strong U.S. economy with more than 7 million job openings and the desire to escape hardship, to name just a few - Democrats have largely failed to articulate an effective solution. Rather, calls from the left to open the border (then-Democratic National Committee Deputy Chairman Keith Ellison), to abolishImmigration and Customs Enforcement (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) or otherwise prevent enforcement of U.S. immigration laws have paralyzed a Congress in which meaningful reform requires a bipartisan solution.

Democrats may not like the "wall" option - although many once did - but it has the benefit of being easily understood and having a clear objective: stemming the flow of illegal immigration.

With the crisis becoming increasingly apparent and no viable solutions coming from the Democrats, the president has had virtually free rein to dominate and shape the immigration debate.

For example, Trump's latest proposal to address the border crisis is to ship undocumented immigrants to sanctuary cities before releasing them. Any time Trump takes on what his base views as the hypocrisy of "coastal elites" and traps them in his trolling game, he's winning. The more enraged Democrats become, the more effective that strategy is.

While many on the left blasted the sanctuary-cities solution, actress and entertainer Cher appeared to take it more seriously. No fan of Trump, she inadvertently helped make his point with an April 14 tweet: "I Understand Helping struggling Immigrants, but MY CITY (Los Angeles) ISNT TAKING CARE OF ITS OWN.WHAT ABOUT THE 50,000+Citizens WHO LIVE ON THE STREETS.PPL WHO LIVE BELOW POVERTY LINE,& HUNGRY? If My State Can't Take Care of Its Own(Many Are VETS)How Can it Take Care Of More."

Democratic presidential hopefuls Cory Booker and Kamala Harris also seem to have gotten the message. At an April 16 campaign event in Iowa, Booker called on fellow Democrats not to "deny" the problem at the border, acknowledging that "nations should have borders, borders should be respected." Harris on March 27 tweeted that there is "unmistakably a humanitarian crisis" at the border.

But other candidates vying for the Democratic nomination aren't on board. Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke in February called for the existing border wall to be torn down, and while campaigning in Iowa on April 4, called Trump's immigration rhetoric racist and reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Former Obama secretary of housing and urban development Julian Castro, meanwhile, wants to decriminalize illegal immigration and create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants - a plan that Trump would surely ridicule to great effect during the presidential campaign as a form of "open borders."

The country is undoubtedly facing a crisis at the border, and Americans know it. A recent Fox News poll found that immigration is now voters' top concern (21 percent), out-polling the economy (10 percent) and health care (9 percent). Rather than ceding the political advantage to the White House, Democrats would be wise to work with the president to resolve the crisis - and get immigration off the table before voters go to the polls.

- - -

Puzder is the former chief executive of CKE Restaurants and the author of "The Capitalist Comeback."
Hours after IDC published its report on global smartphone shipments, Counterpoint also sent out a press release with its findings. The readings are similar and confirm an ongoing trend - Huawei keeps gaining market share and has just reached an all-time high piece of the shipments pie - whopping 17%.

However, the total shipments are 345 million or 5% less than an year ago, revealing a declining demand for new smartphones.

Huawei was really proud when it became the second biggest smartphone company in the world and announced plans that it wants the top spot by 2021. It looks like the Shenzhen manufacturer is poised to snatch it, unless something catastrophic happens. Looking at Samsung and Apple, they lost respectively 1% and 2% of market share, meaning Huawei devoured smaller competitors.

The rest of the Top 5 is completed by Xiaomi, which kept pretty much the same amount of devices shipped YoY, and Oppo, which saw a 10% increase. The other BBK Electronics subsidiary vivo also deserves a mention with the staggering 27% grow.

In absolute numbers, Samsung shipped 72 million phones, Apple moved 42 million iPhones, and Xiaomi, Oppo, and vivo also kept an eight-digit tally. They all account for 245.1 million shipped devices, which is over 70% of the global amount.

The market is clearly marginalizing with every quarter, with former megastars like HTC and Sony nowhere to be seen today, and LG slowly following their path with a 40% drop in just a year.

Source
A new report from IDC revealed some insight into the smartphone industry in terms of a number of shipments during the first quarter of 2019. Between January and March, a total of 310.8 million smartphones were shipped, which is a 6.6% decline year over year. In 2018, Q1 declined 4.1%; in 2017 - 3.5%. The decline is clearly getting steeper with every new year.

The United States saw the worst decline with shipments dropping 15% on a yearly basis. The US is continuing to slow down in smartphone upgrades despite being one of the worlds largest markets.

Consumers continue to hold on to their phones longer than before as newer higher priced models offer little incentive to shell out top dollar to upgrade. Moreover, the pending arrival of 5G handsets could have consumers waiting until both the networks and devices are ready for prime time in 2020.

 Anthony Scarsella, IDC research manager

Samsung remains at the #1 spot with 71.9 million shipments, even though it saw an 8.1% decline from last year. Huawei holds the second spot but rapidly comes closer to surpassing Samsung. The Chinese maker saw a 50.3% increase in smartphone shipments to 59.1 million vs last years 39.2 million.

Apple holds up in Top 3 with 36.4 million shipments; however, it took a significant blow of 30% compared to the 52.2 million units Apple shipped in Q1 of 2018, the most significant decline out of the top six brands this quarter.

Both Huawei and Apple have been teetering between the #2 and #3 spots throughout 2018. Based on Apples current trajectory, we anticipate Huawei will remain at the #2 or even reach #1 in 2019. Samsung better watch out for Huawei.

Apple isnt the only one feeling the heat. Xiaomi (#4) saw a 10.2% decline while Oppo (#5) saw just a 6% drop. Like Huawei, vivo (#5) also saw a boost in shipments by 24%. With vivo sitting at 23.2 million shipments and Oppo at 23.1, IDC recognizes both brands as honorable enough to be 5th.

Despite the overall market decline, Huawei is really pushing ahead and is getting closer to its goal of becoming the number 1 smartphone maker in the world by 2021. It has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and leading innovation among Chinese phone makers in design and image optics.

Source
The Samsung Galaxy A70 debuted in India last month, and now it arrives on sale for INR28,990 ($415). It can be purchased at Flipkart, Samsung Opera House, Samsung e-Shop, as well as brick-and-mortar stores.

The Galaxy A70 has Snapdragon 675 SoC under the hood which is mated to 6GB RAM. It runs Android Pie with One UI atop and flaunts a 6.7" FHD+ Infinity-U display. There is a 32MP selfie shooter on the front and a triple camera setup at the back with a 32MP main snapper, 8MP ultra-wide, and 5MP depth sensor sensors.



Samsung Galaxy A70 in Black, Blue, and White colors

The Galaxy A70 comes with 128GB storage, features an in-display fingerprint scanner, and ships with a 4,500 mAh battery with 25W fast charging support.

Source 1  Source 2




Haiti - FLASH : Small results for Senatus in the case of phone calls with Arnel





Tuesday at a press conference, Senator Jean Renel Senatus, after announcing the day before that he was going to unveil the list of names of politicians and the private sector (entrepreneurs political leaders and parliamentarians...) having had regular telephone contacts with the Chief of Gang Arnel, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27597-haiti-flash-senatus-promises-to-publish-the-names-of-people-in-contact-with-arnel.html disclosed only 3 names, the only ones that the Senate Committee Justice and Public Security could identify, including Senator Garcia Delva.



These are the former Prime Minister Jean Henry Ceant and Vladimir Jean Louis, a close security agent of the former President Joseph Michel Martelly, on more than 585 pages of telephone records... to say that the announcements of Senatus were disproportionate to the meager results published.



This investigation covers calls made on the telephone number of Gang leader Arnel Joseph from January 15 to March 1, 2019. Senatus confirmed that the Commissioners are unaware of the contents of these conversations that are the responsibility of the courts and that would be in the hands of the Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ). Therefore, in addition to speculation, neither Senatus nor the Commission can say that it was the substance of his conversations.



Jean Renel Senatus indicates that Jean Henry Ceant, contacted by the Commission, confirmed having communicated with Arnel, but that once informed that he was a gang leader, he had ceased all contact. According to Ceant, at the time Arnel was seeking funding for various rehabilitation and infrastructure works in the village of Dieu.



Vladimir Jean Louis, one of the bodyguards in function to former President Martelly made a total of 28 phone calls with Arnel Joseph. Contacted by the Commission, he acknowledged that this was his telephone number and said he was willing, if necessary, to answer questions of justice about the content of his conversations.



TB/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Security : Youri Latortue proposes 12 measures to the PNH to fight against the banditism





Given the proliferation of acts of banditry in the country, Senator Youri Latortue informs have written to Michel-Ange Gedeon the Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) to propose 12 measures that can help put an end to this dangerous and worrying situation that sows mourning and terror in the population.



In his letter, a copy of which was sent to the Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament, Senator Latortue divided his 12 measures into 3 groups :



1 - Administrative and logistical measures :



Redefine the police operational map to identify all high-risk areas to ensure better deployment of specialized units;



Increase the number of staff available to serve the population, by reducing by 50% the police personnel seconded to the personal service of the state authorities;



Ensure the payment without delay and in priority of the obligations due to the policemen and the execution of all the profits which they were promised;



Identify, revoke and arrest police officers involved in gang activity.



2 - Business and Intelligence Measures :



Ensure that operations are coordinated, scheduled and executed under the exclusive professional management of the HNP command and establish a criminal intelligence brigade;



Establish police filter dams in all unstable areas to prevent sporadic lethal attacks such as Carrefour Feuilles, without affecting the daily functioning of citizens;



Submit any vehicle, if need is, without exception for the official state or national plaques, to searches respecting the prescribed professionals in the matter;



Carry out day and night patrols on major highways and extend judicial police services to ports and airports to control entry and exit of weapons and ammunition.



3- Weapon Control Measures :



Ask any citizen who possesses a weapon for his defense within the limits of their home, to declare it to the police for legalization. If not, the police will take the necessary action;



Make an inventory of all weapons purchased by the Haitian state and compare them with current stock to locate missing weapons;



Identify and disarm all armed groups attached to various branches of the Government and in particular the Ministry of the Interior and the State Secretariat for Public Security;



Strengthen outreach relationships with moral leaders in different communities and use state-seized homes to provide protection services to police informants when they feel threatened.



PI/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Social : Taiwan satisfied with the results of the food assistance program





Tuesday, in the presence of the Ambassador of Taiwan (Republic of China) accredited to Haiti, Hu Cheng Hao, Marie Elise Brisson Gelin, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Chancellor Edmond Bocchit, Charles Ernest Chatelier, Director General of the Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES) took stock of the program "Bourad Manje" which includes 3 components: "Panye Solidarite", "Kantin Mobil" and "Restoran Kominote".



In this circumstance Chatelier expressed his great satisfaction for the success of this program which was funded by the Embassy of Taiwan in Haiti to the tune of $5 million.



281,847 kits were distributed under the "panye solidarite" program, 205,000 dishes were distributed in the "kantin mobil" program. 417 community restaurants have already been launched while the FAES hopes to launch 775 and 600,000 dishes have been sold (10 Gourdes the dishes) in these restaurants.



Ambassador Hu Cheng Hao was also pleased with the success of the program and in order to avoid any disruption in the supply of community restaurants, he promised that a donation of 800 tons of white rice will be handed over to Taiwan soon to the Haitian Government.



In recognition of the Government, the Minister of Social Affairs presented Ambassador Hu Cheng Hao a plaque of honor.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





PM invited to present his General Policy

Prime Minister Jean Michel Lapin is invited to present his General Policy statement on May 9 in front of the Senators Assembly.



Driver and passengers of a minibus, taken in hostage

Tuesday morning, a minibus connecting Cayes / Port-au-Prince was diverted near the police station of Portail Leogane by armed bandits to an unknown destination. For the moment nothing is known about the fate of the driver and the passengers taken in hostage.



Salary : Outsourcing workers want 1,500 Gdes

On Wednesday, May 1, International Workers' Day, several workers' organizations have planned to march in the streets of Port-au-Prince, to demand now a daily wage of 1,500 gourdes for the workers of the sub industries treatment (Segment F) against 420 Gourds currently https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-25766-haiti-flash-all-details-on-new-minimum-wages.html and 750 Gourdes offered by Deputies https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27295-haiti-politic-revised-minimum-wages-according-to-the-bill-voted-by-the-deputies.html



Seizure of weapons

As part of the police operation where the leader of the band Sony Jean, aka "Tije" responsible for the massacre at the impasse Eddy (Carrefour-Feuilles) which made 20 victims April 24 last https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27559-haiti-flash-massacre-of-carrefour-feuilles-death-toll-climbed-cspn-emergency-meeting.html dead under the bullets of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-27595-haiti-flash-the-dangerous-gang-leader-tije-dies-under-the-bullets-of-the-pnh.htmlthe police seized in a cache, 5 automatic firearms including a galil, a T65 and ammunition, according to the inspector Michel-Ange Louis Jeune spokesperson of the PNH.



Government Celebrates May 1st in Marion

"An n kontinye kore pwodiksyon nasyonal la pou kwape lavi che" is the theme chosen this year by the government for the commemoration of Labor Day and Agriculture on May 1st. The official ceremony will be held in Marion, Terrier-Rouge. There will be a visit of the various building sites : the dam https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-25959-icihaiti-terrier-rouge-follow-up-of-the-works-of-the-dam-and-the-reservoir-of-10-million-m3.html , the construction of the Seed Center and the installation of the solar pumping system in Marion. There will also be the traditional agro-artisan exhibition fair that will be organized at the Esperance et Vie farm in Terrier-Rouge. See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-27612-icihaiti-social-the-feast-of-agriculture-and-labor-celebrated-on-saint-pierre-s-square.html



Closed Consular Service

Due to development and improvement works, the consular service of the Embassy of Haiti in Brussels will be closed from Thursday, May 2, 2019 until Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 10:00.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Sperry Drilling

iStar Intelligent Drilling and Logging Platform

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From U.S. Department of Interior

WASHINGTON  The Department of the Interior announced today that nearly 3,000 landowners with fractional interests at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana have been sent more than $27 million in purchase offers from the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations.

As President of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, I am pleased to announce the return of the Buy-Back Program to our Reservation and the continuing efforts of consolidating trust land for Indian reservations, said Fort Belknap Indian Community President Andrew Werk Jr. This Program is a benefit to our tribal people and will ensure a homeland for them well into the future.

Hard work and dedication have once again brought opportunity to the people of Fort Belknap through the Land Buy-Back Program. This Program provides a win-win situation for landowners and the Tribe here, added Curtis Horn, Fort Belknap Indian Community tribal council member. Efforts of the Land Buy-Back team will benefit our reservation through employment and economic development, and will provide a solid land base for generations to come.

The Buy-Back Program implements the land consolidation component of the Cobell Settlement, which provided $1.9 billion to consolidate fractional interests in trust or restricted land within a 10-year period set to expire in November 2022. To date, approximately $339 million remain. Consolidated interests are immediately restored to tribal trust ownership.

This is the programs second round of implementation at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. During the initial implementation, the Program consolidated more than 25,000 fractional interests, placing over 200,000 equivalent acres in trust for the Tribe.

As with the prior round of implementation, the Program has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Fort Belknap Indian Community to guide implementation at the Reservation. To date, the Department has entered into agreements with 51 tribal nations to cooperatively implement the Buy-Back Program. The agreements outline coordinated strategies to facilitate education about the Program to landowners but are unique based on particular circumstances at each location.

The Buy-Back Program is pleased to be partnering again with the Fort Belknap Indian Community for another round of implementation at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, said Program Director John McClanahan.

Through our cooperative agreement we seek to promote awareness of this unique opportunity and ensure that landowners have the information they need to make an informed decision regarding their fractional land interests. The Program appreciates the Tribes involvement and commitment to consolidating land to enable more effective land management and increased opportunities for the Community.

Returning fractionated lands to tribes in trust has the potential to improve tribal community resources by increasing home site locations, improving transportation routes, spurring economic development, easing approval for infrastructure and community projects, and preserving traditional cultural or ceremonial sites.

Landowners with fractional interests at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation have until May 14 to consider and return accepted offers in the pre-paid postage envelopes provided.

Various informational tools are available to landowners, who are encouraged to think strategically about their options and carefully consider how to use the funds they receive from selling their land.

The Programs website includes detailed frequently asked questions and additional information to help individuals make informed decisions about their land.

Landowners also can contact the Trust Beneficiary Call Center at 888-678-6836 or visit their local Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians to ask questions about their land or purchase offers and request a copy of the appraisal completed for their land.



Online: Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations site: https://www.doi.gov/buybackprogram/.
HELP Committee and Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Prevention Specialist Susan Brurud looks at the Parenting Montana app on her mobile phone.

Some new tools to help parents help their children are being promoted in the area.

Havre Encourages Long Range Prevention - HELP - Committee and Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Prevention Specialist Susan Brurud is working with several Hill County organizations to give parents the tools they need to have open communication with their children about issues such as drugs, alcohol and relationships.

"We give them the tools to cope with some of the society pressure that they are going to encounter as they get older," Brurud said. "... Sometimes as a community, we do need to unite, as parents we need to unite."

One of the efforts is promoting and teaching the use of Parenting Montana, a website that can be accessed through a computer or a mobile device.

The site, created by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Addictive and Mental Disorders Division and the Center for Mental Health and Safety Culture, was created to provide easy-to-use parenting tools that grow social and emotional skill in children, skills which can lead to healthy and successful lives, the site said.

"ParentingMontana.org Strengthens social and emotional skills for parents and their children," it said. "Contributing to healthy, successful lives and reductions in risky behaviors like underage drinking.

The website said vehicle crashes, overdoses and suicide account for six of every 10 deaths of children and young adults between the ages of 5 and 25 in the state. Alcohol is a main contributor to these deaths and is the most commonly used and abused substance with young adults.

In the United States, underage drinking resulted in approximately 119,000 emergency room visits, according to a study in 2013, and more than 4,300 deaths, according to a study in 2010.

The site added that underage alcohol or drug use has shown to also lead to academic problems in school, legal problems, physical and sexual assault unwanted pregnancies, suicides, vehicle crashes and lifelong impacts on brain development.

"Research shows that parents and caregivers can reduce underage drinking," it said.

Parenting Montana addresses more than 15 common challenges parents face, including homework, establishing routines, healthy friendships, managing stress and setting clear expectations regargin under age drinking, it said. It also has links for more information, a place for parents to submit questions and videos for parents to watch.

Brurud said that Parenting Montana has a wealth of information available about children from 5 years old throughout their teens.

"But, really, the great thing about Parenting Montana is building that relationship with your child before you are in stress, learning to talk to your child before you come to that moment of decision," she said. "They already have an open way of communicating with each other and, hopefully, that makes everything a little bit easier as a parent and as a child to have those tools in place."

HELP Committee and Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Executive Director Krista Solomon said the HELP Committee formed in 1982 and was incorporated in 1983. The committee started after Lloyd and Audrey Kaercher donated $15,000 to the Hill County attorney to start a drug and alcohol prevention program for the community. The HELP Committee was then formed and has gone on to create several programs in the Hill County community such as the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line and several drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention programs.

The HELP Committee over the years has also had a number of parenting classes to help parents receive information on how to keep good, healthy communication with their children, she said. She added that Parenting Montana is a great program because parents can now, from the privacy and comfort of their own home, receive crucial information about how to communicate with their children.

Brurud added that communication between parents and children is important to preventing children from abusing substances.

Solomon said Brurud's work is through a program funded by a grant awarded to the HELP Committee by DPHHS in January of this year. The grant also includes a variety of other programs in a five-year plan that Brurud is working on as well as continuing other programs.

Parenting Montana is only the first program being implemented, she said.

Brurud said that since January she has worked with Court Appointed Special Advocates, Child and Family Services, foster parent groups, such as Child Bridge, and juvenile probation officers. She has also worked with Havre Public Schools with the Hill Country Health Consortium.

"It's just something that the whole community can use as a toolkit to kind of engage their youth in a little bit healthier way," she said.

She added that she has already seen and heard that a few parents have been using the website, but the ultimate success is when the children begin using the tools they are being taught.

"I think prevention is our ultimate goal like helping these kids have healthier outcomes," she said.

Other Programs

Another program Brurud is working on is starting the Torch Club for the middle school age children, Brurud said, which is a student leadership group to help encourage students from using and abusing drugs and alcohol.

She added that the increased awareness of prevention has also got many other students involved. At the Boys & Girls Club, a group of 9- and 10-year-old children asked her how they could be involved with increasing awareness. Brurud said that the children came up with an idea for a drug-free pledge wall, with the goal of getting 200 signatures,

She said she directed them a bit with organizing the event but the effort was entirely student lead.

"Their pledge was, 'If I see drugs, I will split,'" she said.

May 15 the club will celebrate achieving more than 200 signatures during their family night by serving banana splits, to reward the students for their work and devotion, she said.

Brurud said that the community also needs to commend children when they do a good job and show support of their good work.

"Our kids need to know that adults see and appreciate when they are making an effort," she said.

She said that the community also has other ways of getting involved and getting information when they are in need. Brurud said the people can visit the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Facebook page where there is open discussion as well as a separate private page where people can ask more private questions. People can also visit the Let's Face It Montana site where more information is available. These pages are great, she said, because they allow parents to speak to other parents.

"So many times you just feel alone, you feel like your the only one dealing with this situation, but when really most parents have probably dealt with a similar type of situation," Brurud said.

Parents or people who want more information or want to get involved can by contacting her at the Boys and Girls Club, she said.

"Really that's what we want is a safe, happy, healthy community," she said.

People can contact Brurud at 265-6206 ext. 307 or by email at [email protected]

--

HELP Committee's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/HELPCommittee/about/?ref=page_internal/.

Parenting Montana: https://parentingmontana.org/.

Let's Face It: https://www.letsfaceitmt.com/.
Electronic forms and applications available online

From Montana Department of Agriculture

The Montana Department of Agriculture is reminding producers to get covered through the State Hail Insurance Program.

Montana producers can access and fill out applications for state hail insurance online by visiting the programs website at https://agr.mt.gov/Topics/Hail-Insurance/.

Producers can insure crops against hail damage at the maximum coverage rate of $75 per acre for dryland and $114 per acre for irrigated land. Rates charged are a percentage of the insured amount and vary by county. A detailed list of rates by county and crop can be found at http://bit.ly/2J42JXA/.

An application for insurance and more details about payment options have been mailed to producers who previously purchased state hail insurance. Completed forms can be emailed, mailed or faxed to the department or used as a reference when contacting the office by phone.
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Tuesday during his monthly rural conference call that for the second time in four years Customs and Border Protection has proposed reducing hours for the Port of Raymond.

"We need this administration to show greater transparency and greater accountability on decisions of this magnitude," Tester said. "In Washington, D.C., some folks don't understand that reducing hours at these ports is going to force farmers, ranchers and truckers, folks of all walks of life, to drive many more hours to sell or buy good in the United States and or in Canada."

The Port of Raymond is one of three 24 hour ports in Montana, he said.

The other 24-hour ports are at Sweetgrass north of Shelby and Roosville north of Eureka.

In 2015, CBP proposed cutting the hours at Raymond. After a year of opposition, including from Tester, it reversed its decision in December 2016.

Tester said that early in April, Customs and Border protection held town hall meetings with the public where representatives from his office and community members relayed the message that the port means a lot to local economy.

CBP reduced the hours at Raymond effective April 14 with reduced hours at three other ports pending.

After the town hall meetings Tester sat down face-to-face with Customs and Border Protection Commissioner and Homeland Security acting Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan and he restored Raymond to having 24 hour service reinstated for 30 days.

"That means the fight is not over," Tester said.

Town hall meetings will be held at the Glasgow Senior Citizens Center May 3 at 5 p.m .; Great Northern Hotel Conference Room in Malta May 4 at 2 p.m .; Richardson Theater in North Scobey May 6 at 5 p.m., and Sheridan County Civic Center in Plentywood May 7 at 5 p.m.

The problem with the public meetings in the past was that the Customs and Border Protection cut people off and didn't listen to what the people had to say, Tester said. He added that the purpose of these meetings was to gathering public input and not stonewall peoples' opinions. Tester said that they would have been more successful if they listen to what the people.

"That's not the Montana way," Tester said. "You've got to be able to listen and hear people out and make sure that their information is valued."

He added that President Donald Trump's administration also is planning cut hours for ports of entry in Scobey, Morgan and Opheim which will hurt the agricultural economy.

"Whenever folks have a say, the government works better," he said.

Montanans rely on trading with Canada, for buyers and sellers, with the ports of entry playing critical role in the future of Montana's economy, he said, such as importing hemp seeds from Canada.

Industrial hemp can be a strong, successful, rotational crop for grain growers in the state, Tester said. He added that he has worked to removed hemp from Drug Enforcement Agency's list of prohibited substances and the 2018 Farm Bill made it easier than ever to grow hemp. Tester described hemp as an "emerging cash crop."

He added that although it hemp may not be as big of a market as grain or pulse crops it would be good for producers to get in rotation as well as it being beneficial to the soil.

United States Department of Agriculture dragged its feet and failed to approve Montana's 2019 hemp program in time for farmers to purchase seeds and plant them, he said.

He said that he has worked with with both the USDA Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and leadership in the Customs and Border Protection face-to-face to get farmers the green light to purchase hemp seeds in time to plant them this year.

"These face-to-face meetings are important," Tester said, "whether it's a public town hall or holding government agency secretaries accountable to our great state. Eyeball-to-eye ball meetings are the best way to get this done."

He added that in order for hemp to be successful, the state is going to need an investment of hemp processing facilities. Growers can plant hemp, and learn how to harvest the crop, but without processing facilities there is no market value yet.

At the conference call, Tester also talked about illegal drug and child trafficking in the state. He said this is a major issue on both the southern and northern borders, adding that they tend to get increased traffic in poverty-stricken areas, such as Native American reservations.

"Law enforcement is critically important," he said. "... Make no mistake about it, trafficking has been a problem for a good portion of years. I think that there are more people talking about it now, including myself, and I think that's going to help getting more resources on the ground."

Tester said another issue the country is facing is the problems with national trade agreements. The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement needs to be fair, but is critically important that the country maintains trade with Mexico, Canada and the Pacific Rim.

"If we don't have trade, specifically foreign trade, we're in trouble," he said.

The Trump Administration's pulling out from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement was a mistake, Tester said, and empowered the country's biggest competitor economically, China.

Tester said that decision is part of what caused the trade wars and tariffs which are affecting Montana's grain prices. Montana ships out an incredible amount of product to domestic and foreign markets, he said, adding that the tariffs are putting many producers at risk.

"There are going to be a lot of people going broke if this doesn't change," he said.

He said that he is watching the progress of the United StatesMexicoCanada agreement and once it is finalized he will be most likely going to support it.

Tester said that the agreement should be taken up in June and he don't know how it's going to be implemented. He added that knowing how the agreement is going to be implemented is critical, because and that's what is really going to affect the market. He said that he or anyone else in Congress currently knows that status of this agreement.

"I intend to support it but I want to see it," he said.
UM News Service

MISSOULA  This summer, storytellers of all backgrounds and skill levels from across the country are invited to attend hands-on workshops taught by top-tier media professionals at the new Montana Media Lab, an innovative, digital media lab based at the University of Montana School of Journalism.

Workshop topics range from podcasting and social media to writing and documentary film, with instructors from National Public Radio, PBS, Transmitter Media, the Newseum Institute, the University of Chapel Hill School of Media and Journalism, and UMs School of Journalism.

The following workshops are accepting applicants:

 Audio Storytelling and Podcasting, June 10-14  Michael May, senior producer of NPRs Story Lab, will cover interviewing, gathering sound, writing and editing a script, and cutting and mixing audio. Participants will learn how to plan, produce and market their own podcast.

 Audio Tools for Non-Audio Storytellers, June 27-29  Lacy Roberts, managing producer of Transmitter Media, will provide audio training for those who tell stories in a different medium  photographers, filmmakers, writers and more. Participants will learn to use digital audio recorders, capture sound in the field, write for the ear and edit long-form narratives and short-form news pieces.

 Writing Well: Telling Stories People Notice, July 8-10  Jule Banville, associate professor of journalism at UM, will teach the fundamentals applicable to all forms of writing  from social media and websites to nonprofit and business communication.

 Mobile and Social Media Engagement, July 17  Media strategist and digital journalist Val Hoeppner will share tips on how to grow audience engagement and develop mobile and social media storytelling skills. From efficient apps to best practices, participants will learn how to create and leverage engaging digital content.

 Short and Smart: Mobile Video Storytelling, July 18  Media strategist and digital journalist Val Hoeppner will cover the principles of smartphone video storytelling  from sequencing and interviewing to capturing high-quality sound and publishing.

The Montana Media Lab combines small classes, experienced instructors and the latest technology. Participants can elect to take most workshops for university credit via a partnership with the UM School of Extended and Lifelong Learning. Interested participants can view a complete list of summer workshops and register at http://www.montanamedialab.com/workshops.

In addition to experiential workshops, the Montana Media Lab designs and implements digital storytelling projects in rural public schools across Montana.

Our goal is to give journalists and non-journalists alike the tools to tell their stories effectively across multiple platforms, founding director Anne Bailey said. In Montana schools, we aim to empower rural and Native American youth to find their voices at a young age and learn to navigate the 24/7 media world they live in.

For more information, people can call Bailey at 406-243-4401 or email [email protected]
Trinity College and the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) are broadening the discussion on the importance of art for brain health which gives space for perspectives that may help change the narrative on how we view older adults and promote their active participation in life.

Dr Lenisa Brandao is an Atlantic Fellow at GBHI and studies the application of the arts of narrative and clowning in interventions applied to promote the enhancement and recovery of cognitive-communicative skills of older adults, with and without neurological disorders.

Clowning involves the whole body and engages the emotions without speech. The use of humour improves the quality of life for patients with dementia, reduces tensions and settles agitated emotions, while improving patients social bonds.

Clowning can be a medium of expression and empowerment for anyone interested in learning about their selves, using multiple channels of communication and shifting their perspectives on failure. It can also be a medium for promoting the critical education of health professionals, as it provides a context for experiencing horizontal and empathetic relationships, she continued.Dr Brandao, a speech and language therapist said: Clowning gives you freedom to use more ways of expressing yourself; you get to express emotions through gestural movements of your body  which can be very helpful for people whose verbal skills are impaired, through dementia or a stroke.

Clowning has been extensively practiced in health settings through the visit of clown professionals in hospitals and geriatric centres. Dr Brandao proposes that active clowning be practiced by diverse populations, such as older adults who survive stroke and those who live with dementia.

As a Speech and Language Therapist, her latest work has concentrated in promoting the brain health of older adults who survive stroke and live with a condition called aphasia, a language impairment caused by brain damage. Due to language difficulties, aphasia provokes idiosyncratic experiences and loneliness. Language is no longer fully available. However, emotions are there and nonverbal abilities are usually preserved. Communicating functionally and experiencing well-being during communication is essential for this population.

 Communicating is more than using words and sentences. Discourse involves the whole body, especially gestures and facial expressions. People living with aphasia should be encouraged to use their strengths. And that is when therapeutic clowning comes into play; empowering individuals who are highly stigmatised in society. Empathy and nonverbal communication play a huge role in this process. Clowning provides a context of freedom to use all channels of communication while promoting self-acceptance, she concluded.

You can view the Irish Times video of the Clown Around event which took place as part of Trinity Week 2019 here.

More information on the GBHI at Trinity is available here: https://www.gbhi.org/

More information on Dr Lenisa Brandaos work at GBHI is here: https://www.gbhi.org/lenisa-brandao

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
Marley Alutec has recently secured a new Scottish independent merchant stockist and federation membership.

Marley Alutec products will now be stocked by John Cameron (Plumbers and Builders Merchants) Ltd in Glasgow. Specifically, Camerons will be stocking the Alutec Evolve Half Round and Evolve Deepflow aluminium guttering systems, as well as the Evolve 63mm and Tudor 63mm downpipe systems, all of which are popular amongst the merchants client base.

Managing Director, John Cameron said: We receive a lot of interest in the Marley Alutec Evolve system due to its simple bolt free, clip together installation.

We believe that stocking the Evolve system will add value to our product offering and we are looking forward to working with Alutec to promote the range in the future.

Already an associate member of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Alutec has also recently become an associate member of the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers Federation. Alutec will be involved in many of SNIPEFs regular events, either through sponsorship or attendance, to promote its product offering and liaise with local installers.

Drummond Mckenzie, Marley Alutecs Area Sales Manager for Scotland, said: We are delighted that Camerons has become an Alutec stockist as it is a notable, recognised brand in Scotland and it has provided a lot of support to Alutec in the past  it is great to now be in partnership.

We are also looking forward to attending future SNIPEF events to meet and support new and existing Marley Alutec customers.

Pictured: John Camerson (left) and Drummond McKenzie.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has promised 25 extra gardai for feud-torn Drogheda.

His commitment came yesterday at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.

"The minister and I have been in contact over the last months around this feud," Mr Harris told reporters.

"So what I was able to inform the minister of today is that next month we will increase the establishment in Drogheda itself by a further 25 members."

Speaking after meeting Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, Mr Harris said the number of personnel in armed support units was being increased, with an additional 79 members to be transferred into them by the end of the year.

He also said a new unit would be established in Cavan, but rejected the GRA's demand for an armed response unit in every division, insisting they would remain deployed on a regional basis.

Earlier, Mr Flanagan said gardai would have an extra 300 new garda vehicles by the end of the year, as well as improved IT capabilities.

He also rejected assertions by rank-and-file gardai that they are not properly resourced.

Mr Flanagan spoke to reporters at the GRA conference, where he denied claims by national executive member Gda Damien McCarthy that he was "negligent" in relation to the budget handed out to gardai by the Government.

The minister repeatedly pointed out that gardai had been given "record resources" of 1.76bn this year and denied he had misled the public about garda resources.

Thugs

He said he was "very concerned" about the "unacceptable" feud, which he described was being led by "a small number of thugs, all of whom are known to gardai".

Meanwhile, members of An Garda Siochana will take part in Dublin's Pride parade in uniform for the first time this year.

Mr Harris made the ann- ouncement yesterday.

In 2017, uniformed gardai joined their PSNI colleagues at Belfast's Pride parade.

PSNI officers and staff have been involved in the festival there for many years, but 2017 was the first time they took part in uniform.

Members of the Garda Marching Band have been involved in Dublin's Pride parade since 2014.

Mr Harris also said in his speech to delegates that garda units will be provided with 2,000 smartphones by the end of the year, which will give them instant access to a host of information on criminals and suspect vehicles.

"We are currently looking at how to best distribute these throughout the country," Mr Harris said.

"Thousands more smartphones will then be provided in 2020."

Earlier, the GRA again highlighted the issue of lack of resources.

"Gardai are weary of hearing about grand ideas that don't have the money to make them a reality," GRA president Jim Mulligan told the minister.

H e warned Mr Flanagan that the Government would have to fully finance the recommendations made in the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland report.
A retired garda who feared he was going to be doused with petrol and set on fire has been awarded just under 50,000 damages at a garda compensation hearing in the High Court.

Karl Cummins (59) told Mr Justice Michael Twomey he had been on security duty at the protection post outside the Department of the Taois- each in 2009 when he was approached by a serial protester carrying a container of petrol.

"He kept clicking a cigarette lighter, which thankfully did not light for him. It was probably why no one was physically burned in the incident," he said.

He added that the terrifying incident had led to him developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which had changed his life.

Agitated

Mr Cummins, of Alderwood Lawn, Springfield, Tallaght, said the protester had accused him mistakenly of having been part of a group of gardai who had allegedly beaten him up outside the Dail some time previously.

The man became very agit- ated and angry and shouted expletives at him and other gardai.

He told his barrister, Brid O'Flaherty, that when he smelled petrol fumes and saw the man, his face contorted in rage, threateningly click the lighter and brandish the petrol container close to him, he withdrew and raised the alarm.

Mr Cummins said this had led to the Department of the Taoiseach being locked down, with no member of his staff being allowed to enter or leave the building.

He had caused the department to be alerted and advised that if the then taoiseach, Enda Kenny, was on his way to his office he should be warned of the threat and enter the building by another entrance.

Ms O'Flaherty told the judge that the then Gda Cummins called for back-up and gardai and firefighters rushed to the scene.

Mr Cummins said firefighters trained hoses on the protester in readiness for any attack until the arrival of the hero of the hour, Inspector John Rice.

Insp Rice, despite being doused with petrol himself, struggled with the protester and succeeded in "disarming" him.

Mr Cummins told the court that he considered himself to be in grave danger and feared for his life.

He had expected the petrol to be thrown over him and then ignited. He did not know if the man also intended throwing petrol over himself and setting himself on fire.

Ms O'Flaherty told Mr Justice Twomey that Mr Cummins developed PTSD and was off work for months, before later retiring from the force.

She said there was a conflict in opinion of psychiatrists for both Mr Cummins and the Public Expenditure and Reform Minister.

Neither was being called to give evidence and the matter was being left for the court to resolve on the basis of their expert medical reports.

Nightmares

Mr Cummins told the court he had developed intrusive recollections of the incident and suffered multiple symptoms including anxiety, sleeplessness and nightmares.

"I became a different man, both argumentative and irritable," he said.

Mr Cummins told Kevin Dinneen, counsel for the minister, that he had rarely taken alcohol before the incident, but had "taken comfort" in it after the event.

Mr Justice Twomey, awarding Mr Cummins 25,000 damages, together with more than 24,000 for expenses and loss of earnings, said he had suff-ered psychological injuries but had substantially recovered by May 2010.
Father-of-two Dean Joyce (26) was jailed for 22 months and banned from driving for 20 years when he admitted a series of charges at Dublin District Court.. Stock Picture

A dangerous driver with 220 previous convictions was a "classic case" of someone who goes into prison, comes out and re-offends, a court has heard.

Father-of-two Dean Joyce (26) was jailed for 22 months and banned from driving for 20 years when he admitted a series of charges at Dublin District Court.

Joyce, of Rowlagh Park, Clondalkin, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at the Western Parkway, Clondalkin, last November 4.

He was seen driving erratic- ally and at more than 170kph, undertaking other vehicles. He had no licence or insurance.

He also admitted a series of thefts of petrol from service stations in Clondalkin and Swords, as well as in Maynooth and Celbridge, Co Kildare, on dates last year.

Cheap

Of his 220 convictions, 165 were for motoring offences, including 31 for uninsured driving and 10 for dangerous driving.

A garda said cars could be bought cheap and without log books being exchanged.

Joyce was "just getting his hands on" cars and driving them around, his solicitor Claire Barry said.

He had made bad decisions as a teenager which progressed and he spent "vast periods of his early adulthood in prison".

Judge Hughes said Joyce's record was appalling. He had been buying cars without ever seeking to insure them.

The judge said Joyce should be required to resit the driving test before he can be eligible to drive again.

He fixed bail in the event of an appeal.
A suspected rapist wanted over the abduction of two women is a 34-year-old fugitive described by police as "extremely dangerous".

Joseph McCann, who has a "slight Irish accent" and is being hunted by Scotland Yard, is currently on recall to prison, Hertfordshire Police said in a public appeal.

Metropolitan Police officers warned yesterday that he is known to use false names and may be using a disguise.

McCann is accused of separately snatching two women in their 20s in north London last Thursday. He is understood to have been wanted for aggravated burglary at the time of the offences.

Tattoo

Police described McCann as being muscular, about 5ft 10in tall and having a "distinctive" tattoo of the name "bobbie" on his stomach.

He is said to have blue eyes, a bald head or shaved blond hair with a light-coloured beard and a "slight" Irish accent.

Officers said he had recently gone by the name of Joel and has links to Watford, north-west London, Buckinghamshire and Ipswich.

Det Chief Insp Katherine Goodwin said: "McCann is considered extremely dangerous and a risk to the public and we ask people not to approach him."

Both women were raped after being snatched in a Ford S-Max people carrier with false registration plates.

The first woman was abducted at 12.30am from a street in Chingford before the second was seized around 12 hours later at 12.15pm from a street in Edgware. One of them may have been pregnant.

They were driven to a hotel where the suspect attempted to book a room at around 1pm, but the women managed to escape in Osborne Road, Watford, at about 2.30pm. They were both "traumatised" by their ordeal.

A 33-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to rape.
A house and car which were firebombed in the ongoing Drogheda feud

The gangland feud in Drogheda which has seen more than 70 violent attacks and shootings was sparked by an assault on a woman linked to one of the warring gangs, gardai believe.

Three attempted murders, along with dozens of petrol bomb attacks and punishment beatings, have been directly linked to the violence in the town between two gangs.

Armed gardai have also been drafted in to patrol the area on a 24/7 basis while a special policing plan, Operation Stratus, has also been launched in response to the vendetta.

Sources have told the Herald that the violence was ignited after a woman was allegedly assaulted by an associate of mob boss Owen Maguire.

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Rivals

She was linked to the gang feuding with the Maguire faction and claimed to have been assaulted in early 2018.

This, gardai believe, led to an escalation in tensions between two gangs who were already rivals in the local drug trade.

"There were always tensions between the two gangs who were vying for control of the drugs turf in Drogheda," a source told the Herald.

"This assault was the spark that really ignited the feud which has been going on for the past year."

Since last June, 74 violent incidents have been directly linked to the escalating feud - including assaults, shootings and petrol bomb attacks.

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One of the mobs is led by a 24-year-old criminal who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

He has been living in a number of properties in Drogheda because of the threat to his life and also drives a number of luxury cars.

Last November, a viable pipe bomb was placed in the exhaust of a car belonging to the mobster's innocent girlfriend.

Gardai believe he leads a gang of more than 30 associates, including several women and teenagers.

The outfit has links across three counties, with its main base in Drogheda, as well as having connections in Meath and north Dublin.

A 21-year-old relative of the mob boss is believed to be his 'number 2' in charge and the gang also has close links to a number of criminals from the capital.

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Another senior gang member is a 23-year-old criminal who was only released from prison in February.

The man is suspected of carrying out a number of petrol bomb attacks and has been arrested over the shooting of Brendan Maguire, the brother of mob boss Owen, in February.

Gardai suspect that Owen Maguire leads a crime gang of close to 20 people, as well as having links to Dublin criminal Cornelius Price.

Officers have been carrying out a number of searches both in Drogheda and in Ashbourne ahead of Price's release from prison in the coming weeks.

In a significant seizure last week, gardai found a firearm and components for nine pipe bombs, linked to the Maguire faction.

Strain

Garda management has admitted that the gangland feud is taking "considerable strain" on resources in Drogheda and across Louth.

A letter sent in early April from Assistant Garda Commissioner Barry O'Brien to TD Fergus O'Dowd, seen by the Herald, details that Operation Stratus was set up specifically to target two "organised crime groups operating primarily in Drogheda".

"While the ongoing criminal emergence of this dispute has placed considerable strain on the resources of the Drogheda district and Louth division, local garda management closely monitors the allocation of all resources in place on a district, divisional and regional level to ensure optimum use is made of the garda resources, and the best possible garda service is provided to the public, and this situation is kept under constant review," Mr O'Brien said in the letter.

Fine Gael TD Mr O'Dowd has been calling for extra garda resources for Drogheda in recent months.

He said at least 36 additional gardai were needed for the town.
Gardai at the Finglas house after the first shooting incident

A gunman has opened fire at a home linked to an associate of drug dealer 'Mr Flashy' for the second time in a month.

Gardai were called to a house in Finglas on Monday night after receiving reports of a shooting.

The incident occurred in the Cappagh Drive area shortly before 11pm.

Casings

When gardai, including members of the Armed Support Unit (ASU), arrived at the scene they discovered spent shell casings on the ground.

However, a number of people who were in the area at the time declined to assist officers.

A garda spokesman told the Herald that no injuries were reported and an examination of the scene was carried out by officers.

Investigators at Finglas Garda Station are appealing for anyone with information to contact them.

It is the second time in just over a fortnight that the house linked to an associate of 'Mr Flashy' has been targeted.

On April 13, a number of shots were fired at the house at around 11pm, but again on that occasion witnesses would not co-operate with gardai.

Detectives are investigating if the shooting is linked to a feud in west Dublin between two criminal gangs. One faction, led by former members of the infamous Westies gang, is being supported by the mob led by a drug dealer known as 'Mr Flashy'.

His 21-year-old associate, targeted in Monday night's attack, is also suspected of supporting this faction.

The rival mob is led by two brothers from the Corduff area who have also been targeted in gun attacks.

A number of shootings have taken place as well as petrol bomb attacks and serious assaults. Gardai have increased armed patrols in the area in recent months.

More than 30 people have been linked to the violence, which has seen a number of people formally warned that their lives are at risk.

Crossbow

Gardai have also seized firearms including pistols, shotguns and a crossbow during crackdowns on the gangs.

Last Friday night gardai recovered a loaded pistol during searches near Riversdale Community College and the Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown.

A loaded Makarov 9mm pistol and silencer were among the items seized in one search, which involved members of the Defence Forces.

The search team also discovered nine shotgun cartridges and four 9mm bullets at a separate location.
Dharma expects to hire about 30 initially with a likelihood of growing to 150 employees.

The permit language includes a provision that the permit shall terminate 12 months after a written contract or agreement is signed by the [mall] property owner committing to the development of the entire mall as a master plan blend of uses as recommended by the citys comprehensive plan.

Mall owner Par Ventures is also an investor in Dharma.

The second permit covers a 1.1-acre parcel adjacent to the mall where Dharma could build a free-standing processing facility, should it ever need to relocate out of the mall, which is also the proposed site of a resort casino.

Earlier on Tuesday, the citys Planning Commission voted 5-1 to advance both requests to the council following a lengthy debate over the 12-month provision and its potential future application should other businesses locate in the mall.
All the worlds a stage, and now men and women arent the only players. A Microsoft researchers analysis using artificial intelligence to break down Shakespeare is a nifty trick showing off some shiny software. But its also a reminder in an increasingly automated age of what exactly it is that makes us human.

The Microsoft project uses natural language-processing techniques to map out emotions in William Shakespeares text. The test is designed to prompt people who already (at least sort of) understand Shakespeare to consider his works in new ways, and to help those who have trouble understanding pierce the complexity. Romeo, it reveals in colorful graphs, feels everything more keenly than his Capulet lover Juliet, despite prevailing stereotypes of stoic masculinity. King Lear tells a story of steady decline, whereas Coriolanus has peaks and nadirs aplenty to signal a bumpier narrative ride.
Meritus enacts surge plan, pauses COVID antibody therapy

Our projections now show that in the coming weeks, we could reach record levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Maryland," said Gov. Larry Hogan.
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Investigators believe McQuay came up behind Harvey and doused her with gasoline before setting her on fire. First responders reported they smelled gasoline coming from the back of Harveys vehicle that morning, Adams said.

Through sobs, Jackson and Harveys two daughters addressed the court, while Harveys son declined to make a statement.

Jackson said her aunts death has left their family broken and unwilling to trust anyone. After speaking in court, Jackson told reporters she also believes McQuays sentence is not justice.

I believe that he should have gotten life without parole, Jackson said. Thats what I believe. I believe he knew his intent, and what he was going to do.

Harveys eldest daughter, Dominae Francis, said she wants her mother to be remembered as a strong woman.

You only broke me for a minute, you didnt break me permanently, Francis said, addressing McQuay. ... Every child needs their mother whether they admit it or not, and you took that from me.
The Samjhauta judgment has been grist to the Hindutva apologists mill, which has worked overtime to argue that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) spawned the bogey of Hindutva terror at the behest of the Congress. They say that there exists no evidence against Aseemanand and Co, and, in fact, leads that pointed to a Pakistan hand in the train blast, which were being pursued by other investigating agencies before the formation of the NIA, were ignored.

This sanitisation of Hindutva terror links crumbles before evidence. In February 2007, the explosion of an incendiary device in the unreserved bogeys of the Pakistan-bound Samjhauta Express led to the death of 68 people. Within days, the Haryana government constituted a Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by senior police officer, VN Rai. From among the debris of the singed bogey, Rais team discovered a second, unexploded, device in a suitcase. This suitcase and the canvas cover led the team to a market in Indore. Rai has reminisced in interviews that their initial suspects included Pakistani militant outfits, as well as the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

However, with time, the hand of a Hindu radical group became apparent. The SIT zeroed in on the names of Sunil Joshi, Ramji Kalsangra and Sunil Dange, who remained mysteriously untraceable, till Joshi was murdered at the end of the year. With this, the leads effectively dried up. The investigations received a new lease of life when Hemant Karkare cracked the 2008 Malegaon blast tracing the bomb-bearing motorcycle to Pragya Thakur. This led to the unravelling of a shadowy Hindu extremist network. The Central Bureau of Investigation, to whom the Mecca masjid case was transferred, also placed Sunil Joshi at the centre of the conspiracy, finally arresting Aseemanand from Haridwar in November 2010. Thus, before the NIA took up the cases, different agencies independently arrived at the same conclusion, and Karkares findings provided speed and spine to these investigations.

What of the Pakistani angle? In 2009, the UNSC and the US treasury department sanctioned the Laskhar financier, Arif Qasmani, for supporting the Samjhauta blast on the basis of an Indian Intelligence Bureau dossier. This dossier was based not on inputs from the Haryana SIT, whose case diaries do not even once mention Qasmani, but on the Gujarat polices narco test of SIMI leader, Safdar Nagori. Nagoris revelations are the staple of several news channels, but these scientifically dubious narco tests have no evidentiary value in court.

Now let us turn to the manner in which these cases were prosecuted, and allowed to collapse. The NIA special public prosecutor Rohini Salians revelations that she was asked to go slow in these cases must be measured against the conduct of the agency itself. It is strange that in the Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta cases, the judges have specifically found that evidence has not been brought on record: for example, the Call Detail Record of the accused, which could have helped prove their presence in the Indore market, was not produced, nor were the jail records which would prove that Aseemanands meeting Abdul Kaleem (arrested for Meccas masjid blast but later let off) in jail led to his change of heart and confessing his involvement. This reluctance is only matched by the prosecutions refusal to cross-examine, to contradict and confront the witnesses who recanted from their statement recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as noted in the Samjhauta verdict.

Why has the prosecution not appealed against adverse verdicts? Surely, this is unheard of  though, of course, exceptions exist. The lower court may have thrown out Aseemanands recorded confession before the magistrate, but surely, a prosecuting agency would like a higher court to take a view on the centrepiece of its own case? Moreover, when the confession is used to attack political opponents, as the BJP does, it is to suggest that the judge who recorded it was also part of this so-called conspiracy. If the NIA investigations were indeed malicious, why has the government not prosecuted the officers responsible? Instead, the home minister calls it a very credible investigating agency while announcing on television that the Samjhauta case is over and no appeal shall be filed. The NIA, has however, maintained that it strictly followed all procedures.

Finally, why the rush to declare the endgame to Hindutva terror theory? The NIA court has convicted three ex-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharaks, including Sunil Joshi for the Ajmer Sharif blast. The Malegaon case is still going on, though the NIA insists that Pragyas motorcycle is insufficient evidence. Is it so difficult to connect the dots?

Manisha Sethi is the author of Kafkaland: Law, Prejudice and Counterterrorism in India

The views expressed are personal
During this election season, a controversy arose when a trial court in Bengaluru issued an ex parte injunction at the behest of Tejaswi Surya, a BJP Lok Sabha candidate. The order required 49 named media houses to desist from publishing malicious, defamatory, or derogatory material about the politician. The order was passed in the wake of various #MeToo allegations surfacing about Surya, which the court found suspicious, as they coincided with the start of the election season.

While the order of the trial court was set aside within two weeks by the High Court of Karnataka on April 12, its conduct in this case was not a one-off. Increasingly, trial courts across the country have been seen to grant similarly worded injunctions on the very first day of hearing, before the other side is present. On being shown some articles or newspaper reports, these courts pass a sweeping order restraining named (or unnamed) entities from publishing defamatory material against the plaintiff, until further orders.

There are many things that are wrong with orders of this kind. The first is the very manner in which they are framed. According to the civil law of defamation, a statement is defamatory if it lowers the reputation of the plaintiff. However, that does not mean that the offence of defamation is automatically completed. A defendant has numerous defences available  for example, she could argue that her statement was true, or that it was a fair comment. If any of these defences succeeds, then for obvious reasons, there shall be no liability, even though the statement was defamatory.

Therefore, when a court passes an injunction preventing anyone from making a defamatory statement, what does that mean? Read literally, it would prohibit any statement that lowered the reputation of the plaintiff, even if that statement was true or a fair comment. This would effectively mean a blanket shut down of all discourse that is not complimentary or neutral towards an individual  something that has far-reaching consequences, especially where politicians or other powerful public figures are concerned. It also has the bizarre effect of prohibiting people from making statements even though such statements do not constitute any offence in the eyes of law.

Another way of reading such orders is that they prohibit people from committing the offence of defamation. However, that would make them self-contradictory and self-defeating. It would also betray a misunderstanding of the basic principles of tort law, and of the civil offence of defamation: the appropriate civil remedy, in case defamation is established, is that of compensation. Unlike criminal law, for example, which also expresses a moral disapprobation of the crime (apart from penalising it), tort law simply sets a price upon certain activities: defame if you wish to, just be ready to pay the price for it.

This brings us to the second important problem underlying orders of the kind that the Bangalore trial court passed in Suryas case. Because of the civil nature of the offence, injunctions in defamation cases are supposed to be issued only in the rarest of rare cases. Defamation law strikes the balance between the freedom of expression and the right to reputation in the legal remedy of compensation, in case defamation is proved at trial. For this reason, an injunction is to be granted only if, at any stage, it becomes abundantly clear that even prima facie, the defendant has no case at all  that in no conceivable circumstances could the statement be true, or a fair comment, or fall within other available defences. As long as the defendant pleads a defence, the court is meant to let the trial continue, and not stifle expression in the meantime. This is the accepted position in common law, and was affirmed in 2011 by Justice Ravindra Bhat of the Delhi High Court, in a lawsuit brought by the Tatas against Greenpeace.

Consequently, wide-ranging trial court orders prohibiting the media (and others) from making defamatory statements (especially about public figures) are not only draconian, but also go against well established principles of defamation law and free speech. The Karnataka High Courts order in Suryas case is welcome, but the problem is systemic, and needs to be tackled at the level of the trial courts, ensuring a fair and uniform application of the law.

Gautam Bhatia is an advocate in the Supreme Court

The views expressed are personal
The moment the court announced its judgment in the Samjhauta blast case, every party connected to the case started interpreting the judgment according to its own convenience. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Congress by pointing out that the conspiracy to use the Samjhauta blast incident to defame Hindus as terrorists now stood exposed.

The Samjhauta blast took place on February 18, 2007, and the state of Haryana, through its Special Investigation Team (SIT), was investigating the matter till 2011 when a suo-motu decision was taken by the government to transfer several blast cases to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). By that time, the Haryana SIT had recorded the statement of Usman, a Pakistani national. His statement suggested the involvement of Pakistan in the blast. From February 2007 till February 2011, the SIT investigated the matter but made no progress.

The NIA took just four months to complete a task that SIT Haryana could not perform in four years. Interestingly, the NIA continued sending requisitions to international bodies with a view to investigating the role of Arif Qasmani in the Samjhauta blast. The first request on Qasmani was sent by the NIA in 2011 which was pursued from time to time even during pendency of the trial. Thus, the NIA was prosecuting the chargesheet and simultaneously investigating the Pakistan angle. The US has declared Arif Qasmani a global terrorist.

A bare reading of the judgment shows that the court at Panchkula discarded all evidence produced by the NIA. The whole case against the accused was based on the confessional statement of one of the accused, namely Aseemanand, u/s 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure Act. The trial court discussed at length various glaring irregularities in the whole process of obtaining the confession. On this issue, three dates were very important. On January 13, 2011, Aseemanand submitted to the court that he had no intention of giving any confession and he was remanded to judicial custody by the court. On January 15, 2011, he was again produced by the NIA before magistrate and his confession was recorded. No permission was taken from the remand court and thus the NIA violated the law. It is curious as to how Aseemanand changed his mind within 48 hours. On January 15, 2011, after recording his so-called confessional statement, Aseemanand was again sent to police custody.

This sequence of events shows that the allegation of torture cannot be ruled out. On May 12, 2011, at the first available opportunity of being produced before a special court, Aseemanand retracted his confession. It is in these circumstances that the NIA special court at Panchkula has now discarded the confessional statement and the whole case has collapsed. If at all the NIA possessed any circumstantial evidence supporting the confessional statement, the outcome would have been different.

The most shocking observation of the court is with regard to the NIAs failure in investigating and producing vital evidence such as: 1) CCTV footage at Delhi railway station that might have shown who were the real culprits behind the blasts. 2) Fingerprint expert reports to show who was behind the blast and whether the accused really had any connection with the blast. 3) Test identification by the tailor in Indore who had stitched cloth covers for the bags containing explosives recovered at the blast site to establish whether the accused had any role in getting these. 4) Tracking the trail of some unknown passengers from the train who got down probably after planting the bomb.

Thus, the acquittal of the accused is not due to the weak presentation of the case during trial but due to a legally untenable chargesheet founded on a concocted story.

What pains me is the fact that the politically motivated projection of the case emboldened the defenders of terror emanating from Pakistan. Whenever Indian civilians or soldiers fell to terror attacks at the hands of jihadis and India tried to raise the issue at international forums, the pro-jihad lobbies promptly retaliated by pointing out Indias official acknowledgement of the existence of saffron terror and the vigour with which Indias premier investigating agency admitted the role of Hindus in a terror attack.

Today, the accused stand acquitted. However, the damage caused to the war on terror is irreparable. Political opportunism has defeated not only the national interest but has also harmed the global campaign against terror.

Rajeev Panday is an advocate, Supreme Court of India

The views expressed are personal
Actor Alia Bhatt along with father Mahesh Bhatt hosted the screening of Soni Razdans film Yours Truly on Monday. The film premieres on digital streaming platform Zee5 on May 3. The event turned out to be a family affair as the Bhatts posed together for the paparazzi and welcomed guests at the event.

Dressed in a red floral dress, Alia was all smiles as she stood between her parents. The Bhatts were joined by actor Aahana Kumra who attended the event in a white lace gown.

Directed by National award-winning film maker Sanjoy Nag, Yours Truly stars Soni Razdan in the lead role along with Aahana, Pankaj Tripathi and Vinay Pathak. Mahesh has also played a small but pivotal role in the film. It is based on Annie Zaidis story The One That Was Announced and portrays Soni as a middle-aged woman named Mithi, who is on her journey to find love.

Alia Bhatt joins parents Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan and Aahana Kumra at Yours Truly event in Mumbai. (Varinder Chawla)

Alia Bhatt and Soni Razdan at the event. (Varinder Chawla)

Alia Bhatt joins parents Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan at Yours Truly event in Mumbai. (Varinder Chawla)

Mahesh Bhatt clicks a picture. (Varinder Chawla)

Ayan Mukerji (left) and Alia Bhatt (right) at the airport. (Varinder Chawla)

According to a report in DNA, Soni Razdan said about the film, Yours Truly is a sensitive film about loneliness and finding love. The story has a universal appeal and it will strike a chord across age groups. I am looking forward to the release of the film.

Soni was recently seen in Ashvin Kumars No Fathers in Kashmir and had earlier shared the screen space with Alia in the 2018 award-winning film, Raazi. Alia will soon begin work on her fathers film Sadak 2 which also stars Aditya Roy Kapoor, Pooja Bhatt and Sanjay Dutt.

Later, Alia was spotted at the Mumbai airport with Brahmastra director Ayan Mukerji as they flew to London for the films shoot. Dressed in casuals, Alia carried a double sided twin bag which caught the attention of the paparazzi. Alia will be seen sharing the screen space with boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor for the first time in Brahmastra.

Also read: Wedding of Priyanka Chopras brother Siddharth postponed, actor flies back home. See pics

Talking about the film, the actor had told Pinkvilla in an interview, Its a vision of some other kind, but at the same time, its rooted in the Indian sentiment. Brahmastra is the most powerful weapon that was used in every battle - the Ramayana and Mahabharata. In our film, theres a reference to the Indian mythology which is why we launched our first logo in the sky. Theres a reason for it. The film is set in contemporary, modern times but the world is deeply a part of our mythology. You feel the magnitude and the amazingness of whats possible to get out of our own Indian roots and the universe. Theres Amit jis dialogue which says jisme pure brahmand ki shakti bhari hui hai.

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Once upon a time, in the golden era of Indian cinema, there lived an actor, who was the crown prince of the times. His name was Balraj Sahni. The name may not ring a bell for the millennials, but to anyone with even an iota of interest in Bollywood, Balrajs name is uttered with reverence. On his 106th birth anniversary, a tribute to one of the legends of Indian screen.

Born Yudhishthir Sahni (May 1, 1913) in Rawalpindi in modern-day Pakistan, he is the father of actor Parikshit Sahni (last seen in Salman Khans Sultan) and the elder brother of famous Punjabi writer and intellectual Bhisham Sahni, best known for his work Tamas (Darkness) on Indias Partition in 1947.

Balraj worked during the era of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, each known for their distinct styles of acting. Yet Balraj was a class apart and a shining example of the natural school of acting. Who can forget his performance in 1965s song, Oh Meri Zohra Jabeen, from the film Waqt?

Balrajs acting was influenced by his political leanings. He remained a committed leftist all his life. His most famous works were with directors with similar leanings. He is best remembered for his work in films like Bimal Roys Do Bigha Zameen (1953), Amiya Chakrabortys Seema (1955), Kabuliwala (1961), based on Rabindranath Tagores famous short story of the same name and MS Sathyus directorial Garam Hawa (1973), scripted by poet-lyricist Kaifi Azmi. He was a member of Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA), as were many of his contemporaries. It shouldnt come as a surprise that his most of iconic roles are about the underdog and the under privileged. His roles arent romantic ones; however, he proved early on that the protagonist of a story could be a father, a middle aged man and yet stand out.

Also read | Balraj Sahni: Man of myriad roles

Balraj is perhaps one of the few well educated actors in Bollywood and hailed from a well-off Punjabi-speaking family of pre-Partition India. He got a masters degree in English Literature and taught at Tagores Vishva Bharti University, Shanti Niketan in the late 1930s. During the war years, he was in London, working with BBC in its Hindi broadcast service.

Balraj Sahni in Do Bigha Zameen.

He had always been keen on acting and on his return to India, joined IPTA and his first film was Dharti Ke Lal (1946), directed by KA Abbas. He starred in several films after that film. However, he had to wait for Bimal Rays iconic Do Bigha Zameen to arrive in 1953 before recognition came his way. The film, which tells the story of an impoverished and landless farmer who travels to Kolkata in search for work, becomes a hand-pulled rickshaw puller in the proverbial City of Joy, has become an icon of Nehruvian India. The film is based on Rabindranath Tagores Bengali poem Dui Bigha Jomi, replete with socialist themes.

Do Bigha Zameen won an international award at Cannes Film Festival.

The iconic scene, where one of his customers tempts Balrajs character Shambu with money and asks to run fast and chase another rickshaw with his girlfriend in it, used to be aired often on television in the years gone by. It reflects class barriers and lack of empathy in Indian society. The film went on to win laurels across the world including an international acclaim at Cannes Film Festival and reportedly made money as well. For the film, Balraj practised pulling a rickshaw for a week, it is said. For a card-holding member of CPI, imagine his disappointment when Russian leader and communist icon Stalin wasnt impressed by the film. According to a report in Tribune India, Stalin was shown the film in 1955 in Moscow. Not impressed, he reportedly called it a pseudo socialist documentary.

Balraj Sahni in Kabuliwala.

Nonetheless, the film is best remembered for its humanism, its championing the cause of the underdog and its remarkable neo-realistic style of cinema, reminiscent of the works of European masters like Vittorio De Sica. Reportedly, Bimal Roy was influenced by Italian neo-realistic cinema and yet the film used Indian cinematic devices like songs very effectively. If you havent heard Manna Deys song Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke, you have missed out on one of best-loved songs of its era and definitely among the most remarkable songs in Indian cinema.

His next most celebrated work was based on a famous story by Tagore called Kabuliwala. The heart-warming film deals with the unlikely friendship between a child, daughter of an affluent Bengali zamindar and a burly Afghan dry fruits seller from Kabul. Balrajs warmth, his tenderness as a father figure to young Mini and little girl reciprocating his warmth with her innocence, left everyone teary-eyed. The film is remembered to this day and while there have been many remakes of this story, the most recent being Danny Dengzongpas Bioscopewala, Bajrajs Kabuliwala remains a benchmark.

His next film that figures among the most powerful cinematic experiences in the country is MS Sathyu directed Garam Hawa. Based on a short story by Ismat Chugtai and jointly scripted by Kaifi Azmi and Shama Zaidi, the film documents the life on an aging Muslim gentleman, head of a large family, who stoically refuses to leave for Pakistan, even when matters turn grave in India. Balrajs restrained performance is the highlight of the film. As a man conflicted by the situation he finds his family in, Balraj is said to have delivered the performance of his life. Unfortunately he passed away in April 1973 before the film released. Reportedly, the last lines he dubbed for the film were: Insaan kab tak akele jee sakta hai (how long can a man live in isolation).

In the meanwhile, Balrajs activism continued all through his years of cinematic success. However, he had a fall out with his party for his support for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. He had been depressed during this period over the untimely demise of his daughter Shabnam as well. As per the Tribune India report, he died of a massive cardiac arrest in Mumbai with Karl Marxs Das Kapital under his pillow.

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Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel has been on the offensive against Alia Bhatt for some time - either questioning her acting skills or slamming her for staying away from political comments. Alias dad and filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, however, does not want to comment at all on this. Calling Kangana a bachchi, Mahesh said that he would not like to comment against someone who started her Bollywood journey as an actress from his production company Vishesh Films.

Also read: Happy birthday Anushka: Check out her 10 best pics with Virat

On being asked about the recent social media attack by Rangoli, Bhatt told reporters, She (Kangana) is a bachchi, started her journey with us. Just because her relative (sister Rangoli) is attacking me, I wont comment. Our upbringing and culture teach us that we should not raise a finger on our children. So saying anything against our children wont be possible. My upbringing stops me to do so. Till I die, I will never ever say anything against our child because it is against my upbringing, it is against my nature.

Pooja Bhatt, Alia Bhatt, Soni Razdan, Shivam Raina and film director Mahesh Bhatt attend the screening of No Fathers in Kashmir. (AFP)

Bhatt was talking to mediapersons at the screening of the film Yours Truly, which is also his acting debut. His comments came after Rangoli attacked him and his wife Soni Razdan earlier this month. Rangoli also attacked Bhatts wife and their superstar daughter Alia Bhatt and called them non Indian.

In an earlier interaction with media, Kangana had termed medias comparison of her performance with Alias Gully Boy an embarrassment. Media have taken filmy kids love too far. Stop pampering mediocre work or else bar will never be raised, the Manikarnika actress had said.

Watch | Mahesh Bhatt refuses to comment on Kanganas tirade, says its against upbringing

While Alia had earlier said she would like to earn Kanganas approval with hard work, at a recent media event, she refused to respond to any offensive statements. When asked by mediapersons whether it hurts her to see her parents getting dragged in the mud while she has been so graceful under fire, Alia responded, Dekhiye, agar main aisi hu then my family is 10 times more mature and stronger than I am. Mujhe isme padna hi nahi hai, you know. I just want to be happy, positive, work hard, be a better version of myself every day. Log kya kahe, kya na kahe I should not pay attention to it. Everybody has a right to say what they want to say. Main bas chup rahugi, thats my stand.

Kangana started her journey in Bollywood in 2006 with the film Gangster, which was produced by Mahesh Bhatt. Kangana also bagged the best debutant award for her performance in the movie.

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Bollywood actors Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar, who play the roles of elderly shooters in the film, got emotional as they wrapped up the shooting of Anurag Kashyaps production Saand Ki Aankh. The duo also shared pictures from their last day on the sets in Uttar Pradesh. Directed by Tushar Hiranandani, the film is based on the lives of Indias oldest woman shooters and sisters-in-law, Chandro Tomar and Prakashi Tomar.

Also read: Mahesh Bhatt refuses to comment on Kangana Ranaut-Alia Bhatt row, calls Manikarnika actor a bachchi

Bhumi got quite emotional as she shared pictures from her last day on sets. Some goodbyes are so tough #saandkiaankh, she wrote alongside a pic where she and Taapsee are hugging a crew member. The post attracted comment from Chandro Tomar, the character Bhumi essays onscreen. Really, really tough, thara sab bhala ho (May you be blessed), she commented.

She also shared a video of the entire crew. Its a wrap #saandkiaankh Thank you all for making this journey so special,am going to miss each and everyone one of you so much,my #saandkiaankh family, she wrote.

Taapsee shared a group photo of the crew and wrote, I firmly believe it was the magical energies of so many and more that made this nearly impossible goal hit the bulls-eye. 50 days of holding hands and walking through, they truly helped the Saand to navigate in the right direction. Cheers to these rockstars of #SaandKiAankh We are coming to celebrate DIWALI with you all 

Taapsee and Bhumi shot for the film in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh and constantly shared candid pictures from the sets of the film. They can be seen making a heart symbol with their hands while wielding pistols in their other hand in one of the pictures. They are riding a tractor and making cowdung cakes in other pics.

Saand Ki Aankh also stars Prakash Jha and Vineet Kumar Singh in important roles.

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Bollywood actor Sanjay Kapoor has said that his daughter Shanaya Kapoor is working as an assistant director on cousin Janhvi Kapoors upcoming film on fighter pilot and Kargil war hero Gunjan Saxena and added that she wanted to learn the craft onsets. The untitled film is being shot in Lucknow and Sanjay has confirmed that Shanaya is in Lucknow for the film.

Sanjay told Pinkvilla in an interview, Its true that Shanaya is now in Lucknow and working as an assistant on Janhvis film. It was a joint decision. She was very keen on doing something different to understand the space, rather than just wasting time. Before she wanted to take up a film, she didnt want to be abroad for a three-year course. Instead, she chose something personal like this. Obviously, Im always there to guide her. Nothing in life is better than experience.

Also read: Balraj Sahni birth anniversary: A gentleman actor millennials might not even have heard of

Sanjay also refuted rumours that Karan Johar is planning to launch Shanaya. Theres no truth to that. Shes just assisting on his production venture. She has not taken a call on anything yet. Yes, shes definitely getting ready for a Bollywood career. Hopefully soon, she must work hard and land a good film. We will all wait for that. I just want her to concentrate on this for now, he told the website.

Sanjay had announced Shanayas Bollywood entry earlier in February and his wife Maheep wrote on Instagram, All the best Shanaya #newbeginnings #newjourney, Sanjay wrote alongside his post, which shows the father-daughter duo posing together. My babys gone to Lucknow for 2 weeks #MissYouAlready #AssistantDirectorsLife #LoveYou @shanayakapoor02 #ProudMama.

He wants Shanaya to learn the importance of working hard and said, For me, I believe my kids need to also know that this is an extremely professional space and it isnt a cakewalk. Today, she is in Lucknow where its 41 degrees. So it will be difficult and requires a lot of hard work. She might be from a film family and connections are easy but sustaining wont be easy. Its very tough to survive in this industry. I know it really well which is also why I made her go through this process of assisting. All the glamour is only an exterior thought, inside, its a lot of hard work.

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A 25-year-old doctor was found with multiple stab wounds and her throat slit at a rented apartment in central Delhi. Her flatmate, also a doctor, is the prime suspect for the murder, police said on Wednesday.

The woman and the 29-year-old man lived in separate rooms in a third-floor flat in Ranjit Nagar. He has been missing since the incident, police said. A third flatmate, who was not in the apartment at the time of the murder, is being questioned. All three worked as interns at a government hospital in Karol Bagh.

Police suspect that the victim, Garima Mishra from Uttar Pradeshs Gorakhpur, may have had an altercation with Chandra Prakash Verma after which he killed her using either a kitchen knife or a surgical blade. A case of murder (Indian Penal Code 302) has been registered at the Ranjit Nagar police station.

The exact sequence of the events leading to the doctors murder and the motive behind the crime can be ascertained only when we nab the suspect. As of now, Verma is our prime suspect because he is missing since Tuesday night, deputy commissioner of police (central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

The footage of a CCTV camera installed in the lane outside the building shows Verma leaving the area at 8.45 pm, around the same time Mishra is estimated to have been killed, the police added. All the three doctors were preparing for their Doctor of Medicine (MD) exams and were taking classes at a coaching institute in Delhis Rajendra Nagar. Gautam Khurana, who owns the building where the three lived, said Mishras cousin, Shivendra Pandey, saw the body at 10.30pm on Tuesday after he came to check on her because she was not answering phone calls from family members for the last two hours. Mishra was supposed to leave for Gorakhpur on Tuesday night, and had a bus ticket for 10pm, Pandey told the police.

Mishras room was locked from outside. Her cousin wanted to break it because he panicked after he found the ceiling fan on. I arranged a stool  he climbed on it to peep inside through the ventilator. He saw her bleeding on the floor and her luggage kept nearby, Khurana said.

After Pandey called the police control room, a team from the Ranjit Nagar police station broke open the door and rushed Mishra to hospital, where she was declared brought dead.

Mishras second flatmate, Rakesh Yadav, said he had found Mishras room locked when he returned after visiting a nearby temple around 9pm but did not think anything was amiss. He told the police that he was in his room when Khurana and Pandey arrived.

Yadav told us that he last met Verma in the lane while he was returning home from the temple. He was carrying a backpack and looked in a hurry. When Yadav asked where he was going, Verma told him that he was going to his friends home to return books, said a police officer associated with the case who asked not to be named.

Khurana said that Mishra and Verma had rented the two-bedroom flat in January. Verma started living from the first week of that month, while Mishra moved in a fortnight later in the other room. Yadav started living in Vermas room from February.
The turf battle between Puducherry Chief Minister, V Narayanasamy, and Lieutenant Governor, (L-G) Kiran Bedi, which began when she assumed office in 2016, has now reached some resolution with the Madras High Court making it clear that Ms Bedi cannot interfere in the day to day activities of the government. The court also said that she had no power to call for files or give direct orders to officials. The last word on this has not been written with Ms Bedi saying she is looking into the matter, but this ruling will, with luck, end what had clearly been overreach on the part of the L-G on many occasions. Things came to such a pass that the chief minister actually sat on a dharna to protest the erosion of his powers by the L-G.

The situation in Puducherry is not of a piece with a similar battle that has been ongoing in Delhi. Puducherry is governed by the provisions laid out in the Rules of Business of the Government of Pondicherry, 1963, which make it binding on the L-G to act on the advice of the government on matters relating to law and order, land, finance and services.

The ministry of home affairs has often weighed in on Ms Bedis side to highlight that she has an integral role to play in running the Union Territory (UT), muddying the waters further. The people of the UT have been caught in the war between the two power centres with various schemes, such as the free distribution of rice, allocation of financial aid to SC/ST students, and the distribution of grant-in-aid and development works often being held up.

Over the years, the office of the governor and L-G has become more and more politicised with the ruling dispensation of the day using the governor it has appointed to destabilise opposition governments. The importance of the office of the L-G is that it is a crucial link within the federal structure in maintaining that communication lines remain open between the state/UT and the Centre.

For this to be effective, an L-G or a governor has to be a neutral arbiter in disputes that should ideally be resolved through consultation, and not through confrontation, as we have seen Puducherry and numerous other states. Ms Bedi is right when she says that she cannot be a rubber stamp. But she waded into constitutionally tricky territory, the result of which was a governance gridlock in the UT. For the moment, the air seems to have been cleared by the high court, giving the Union Territory a much-needed respite from the almost daily bickering between the CM and LG.
The result of class 10 (ICSE) and class 12 (ISC) 2019 will be declared on May 7 (Tuesday) at 3 pm, said Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) in a press statement Tuesday.

The individual candidates can access results by logging into councils website (www.cisce.org) or (www.results.cisce.org). The students can access results through SMS.

The Indian Certificate Secondary Education (ICSE) exams were conducted between February 22 and March 25 while the Indian School Certificate (ISC) exams began on February 4 and concluded on March 25.

The ICSE exam began with English Paper 1 and the ISC examination with Art Paper 3 (Drawing or Painting of a Living Person).

The results of the ICSE and ISC 2019 examination will be made available through the CAREERS portal of the council, the website of the council and through SMS. The schools can access the results by logging into careers portal of the council using the principals login id and password.

The council has made provisions for the candidates to apply for rechecking directly through the councils website. In addition, the provision of applying for rechecking by the head of schools through the career portal is also available.

The online module for submitting the requests for recheck of the results will remain open for only 7 days from the day of declaration of results. The council will make the digitally signed copies of the statement of marks and pass certificate available for the candidates through DigiLocker facility.

The candidates who took the ICSE examination will also be provided with digitally signed copies of the migration certificate. The digitally signed document will be available after 48 hours of the publication of results.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rajeev Mullick Rajeev Mullick is a Special Correspondent, he writes on education, telecom and heads city bureau at Lucknow. Love travelling ...view detail
Maoist rebels triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) on Wednesday, blowing up a vehicle carrying crack C-60 commandos in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district, killing 15 of them and the driver in the deadliest attack on security forces in five years in the state.

The attack was believed to be in reprisal for the killing of 40 rebels by C-60 troopers a year ago.

Rebels suspected to be members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), or CPI (Maoist), detonated the device on Dadapur road near the village of Jambhurkheda in Gadchiroli, some 250 kilometres from Nagpur, bordering Chhattisgarh.

The explosion, condemned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi amid ongoing general elections, took place at about 11.30 pm on Maharashtra Day, almost 10 hours after Maoists allegedly torched three dozen vehicles engaged in road widening and construction work in Gadchirolis Kurkheda area.

After burning the vehicles, the rebels put up posters to mark a week-long protest on the first anniversary of the killing of the 40 suspected Maoists by C-60 commandoes in the district on April 22, 2018.

Two senior CPI (Maoist) leaders, Srinu alias Srikanth and Sainath alias Dolesh Madhi Atram, were among those killed in the encounter. The shootout followed the killing of at least half-a-dozen villagers by Maoists who suspected them of being police informants.

The distance between the places where the IED was detonated and the vehicles torched is about 25 kilometres, the police said. How powerful the blast was can be gauged from the fact that the vehicle carrying the commandos was reduced to a mangled wreck. After triggering the blast, the suspected Maoists, lying in ambush, opened indiscriminate fire before fleeing.

According to the police, the explosion took place when the commandos were on their way to conduct a search in the area where the vehicles had been burnt. The police said no official vehicle was available so the men travelled on a private one on the orders of sub-divisional police officer (Kurkheda), Shailesh Kale.

No advance road clearance party including an anti-landmine vehicle was sent ahead of the C-60 team to clear the road for them, as is the typical practice, a police officer, who didnt want to be identified, said.

A home ministry official, who did not wish to be named, said anti-Maoist forces in the stat have been asked to intensify operations. A combing operation in Maoist-affected areas was launched after the attack.

An initial analysis indicated that standard procedure was not completely followed. Yesterdays attack [in which vehicles were torched] was meant to lure the forces, another official said. Our inputs indicate the Maoist group that carried out the strike is about 40 strong, he said on condition of anonymity. Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba had written to top officials in Left Wing Extremism-hit states two months ago to ensure standard operating procedure was being followed.

As the vehicle carrying the commandos took the Dadapur Road on their way towards Korchi, bordering Chhattisgarh, the Maoists triggered the IED blast, killing all the occupants.

As the police top brass learnt about the blast, reinforcements were rushed to the spot immediately. We have cordoned off the area and a massive search operation is on to nab the Maoists, said Ankush Shinde, the deputy inspector general of police (DIG), Gadchiroli.

Maharashtras director general of police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal said an inquiry had been ordered to probe if any lapses had taken place.

We are moving tactically considering that it is a forest area and also the local terrain. Many times it is seen that Naxalites trigger another blast or lay the second ambush following the first one. Considering it, we have to move tactically, said the DGP.

Chhattisgarh director general of police DM Awasthi said some Maoist reinforcements had been sent from Bastar to the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border during the rebels annual tactical counter offensive campaign called TCOC . We fear that the attack was a joint operation by rebels in the two states to inflict maximum damage, he said.

Wednesdays assault is the latest in a string of attacks staged by the rebels since March, when the TCOC starts. On April 9, BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi, along with five police personnel, was killed by Maoists in an IED blast in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada. On April 10, a CRPF jawan was injured in an IED blast in Gadchiroli and on polling day on April 11, an IED was detonated near a voting booth in Gadchiroli in which no one was injured.

Watch | At least 16 jawans killed in IED blast by Maoists in Maharashtras Gadchiroli

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar sought the resignation of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadanavis after the attack. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of failing to control Maoism in the states ruled by it. Fadnavis said the state police was prepared to give a fitting reply to left-wing extremists.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts and solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared, he tweeted. Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he was saddened by attack on security forces by Maoists. I express my deep condolences to the families of the victims, he tweeted.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh described the attack on the Maharashtra police commandos as an act of cowardice and desperation. We are extremely proud of the valour of our police personnel. Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain. My deepest condolences to their families, Singh tweeted.

(With inputs from Ritesh Mishra in Raipur and Sudhi Ranjan Sen in New Delhi)

Also read: BJP legislator, 4 security personnel killed in Maoist attack in Dantewada
Prime minister Narendra Modi said during a rally at Jaipur on Wednesday that it was a proud day for 1.3 billion Indians, after the UN listed of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

I seem to have a special relationship with Rajasthan, this land of the brave, When the air strikes took place, I had come to Churu for a public meeting... Today I have again come to Rajasthan with another news like that one. A media report coming from the US, New York, says that the UN has banned Jaish-e-Mohammed chief and dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar, Modi said. Finally there is consensus in the international community to declare Azhar as a global terrorist and this is a matter of satisfaction. Better late than never, he said.

BJP president Amit Shah and several other party leaders credited Modi for Azhars listing while the Congress noted its disappointment over no mention of the Jaish e Mohammed chiefs role in the Pulwama terror attack in the UN resolution.

The Congress welcomed the blacklisting with party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala saying, designation as a global terrorist is just the first step. All his sources of funding needs to be stopped. He added that the Modi government did not act fast enough on the issue. We expected the Modi government to act at a greater speed in pursuing the declaration of Masood Azhar, but after the agenda-less visit of PM Modi to China (the Wuhan Summit), they did not push for this case with China in the entire period of 2018. Several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided if the Modi government had pushed international community, including China, to agree to declaration of Masood Azhar as international terrorist, he said.

Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah alleged that the sacrifices of CRPF men were sold down the river for a symbolic win. No mention of terror in Kashmir and no mention of Pulwama. Its amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win, he said.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav congratulated the countrys diplomatic corps over the victory. It is the first step in ensuring that Masood Azhar pays for his crimes. We demand Pakistan to immediately arrest him, freeze his assets and shut down all organisations linked to him, tweeted Akhilesh.
A 20-year-old man accused of raping a minor girl rape succumbed to his injuries in Gujarats Rajkot on Wednesday, a week after the victims father and relatives had assaulted him, police said.

The girls father and four other relatives have been taken into custody, they said.

The family had accused the man of taking the girl to a guest house in nearby the pilgrimage town of Chotila in Surendranagar district and forcing her into a physical relationship. Before that, they filed a complaint against him on April 13, saying he had taken the girl to a vacant flat on Kotharia Road and coerced her into a sexual relationship.

Rajkot Police had registered a case against Divyesh for rape and abduction under various sections of the Indian Penal Code as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after the complaint.

The man, police said, was taken to a factory in Balaji Industrial Estate-II area on April 23 soon after he and the girl returned from Chotila and thrashed by her family.

Divyesh Gondaliya, a resident of Kotharia area in Rajkot, was on ventilator since April 23. He was brought to the hospital after he was severely beaten by the five people, including the father and relatives of a 12-year-old girl whom he had allegedly raped twice, said a spokesperson of Aji Dam police station.

According to police, Divyesh worked in a watch factory in Rajkot and had come in contact with the girl through Facebook. The complaint by the girls family said that the two had exchanged phone numbers and began meeting each other.

A case of assault and attempt to murder was registered against father and other five relatives of the girl. A section for murder will now be added to the same, following the death of Divyesh. All the five accused have been taken into police custody, police said.

A third complaint against 37 people, including BJP councillor Mena Jadav, was also registered by police for rioting, assault and obstructing on-duty officials.

The mob led by Jadav had stormed inside Aji Dam police station on April 26 demanding action against the father and other four accused of beating the youth, a police official said.
The Chinese Embassy in Colombo confirmed the death of four Chinese scientists in the Easter explosions in Sri Lanka on Tuesday night, raising the number of Chinese killed in the attacks to six.

Sri Lankan priests look at the debris of a car after it explodes when police tried to defuse a bomb near St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo on April 22, 2019. [File Photo: AFP/Jewel Samad]

The embassy said in a statement that the four Chinese scientists were from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the First Institute of Oceanopgraphy under the Ministry of Natural Resources of China, who arrived in Sri Lanka in the mid of April for research purposes. Their bodies had been found and identified by family members.

The embassy said another five people from the Chinese Academy of Sciences were also injured during the explosions, all of whom already went back to China for further treatments.

In the statement, the Chinese Embassy strongly condemned the terror acts, offered deep condolences over the death of the four scientists, and thanked the Sri Lankan government for its assistance.

Earlier, the Chinese embassy said two Chinese people were killed in the bombings and four others were feared dead.

A string of suicide bombings rocked hotels and churches across Sri Lanka on April 21, killing more than 250 people and wounding 500 others. According to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, 42 foreign nationals are among those killed.
The relatives and friends of Hakikat Singh Panag, who was shot dead along with three other family members in Ohio, are in a state of shock. He and his wife were set to arrive on May 2 at his village in Punjab from the US.

We are totally in the dark. Dont know how it happened and who is behind it? I just know that I have lost my brother. He along with his wife were set to arrive here on May 2, said Harbans Singh, brother of Hakikat Singh.

Hakikat Singh Panag, 59, his wife, Paramjit Kaur, 62, their daughter, Shalinderjit Kaur, 39, and Amarjit Kaur, 58, were shot dead at their residence.

My brother had gone to the US about 40 years back, and was living happily. I dont know much about his work and life style in the US, but in India, he is cordial with relatives and friends. Everyone is in shock, Harbans said.

I dont know who will cremate them in the US or whether they will send the bodies to India, said Harbans. He appealed the External Affairs Ministry to ask the US government to ensure proper investigation and nab the accused.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: The matter is under investigation by the Police but it is not a hate crime. Our Consul General in New York is coordinating with the concerned authorities and will keep me informed me on this.

Both Hakikat and his wife Paramjit Kaur had visited the village last year. Paramjits nephew Jashandeep Singh said, Bhau ji (aunt) was looking forward to visiting India. On May 1, I was to take a taxi to reach IGI (airport). But, yesterday, we got this news.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is a big victory for India in its fight against terrorism.

In a tweet, he said, Weve just got news from the United Nations that notorious terrorist Masood Azhar has been listed as a global terrorist. This is a major breakthrough in Indias struggle against terrorism and its long standing efforts to uproot terrorism.

Terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhars blacklisting by the UN sanctions committee marks a high point for Prime Minister Narendra Modis foreign policy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.

WATCH | PM Modi hails big victory after UN sanctions on Jaish chief Masood Azhar

India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands, the Finance Minister tweeted minutes after Indias permanent representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin made the announcement on Twitter.

China had blocked four attempts to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the last one in March this year before it backed down. The move is seen as a diplomatic victory for Indian efforts.

Also read| Will immediately enforce sanctions imposed on Jaish chief Masood Azhar: Pak

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the UN Security Council decision and described it as a historic success against terrorism. UN Security Council has declared Masood Azhar responsible for the Pulwama attack as a global terrorist. Modi makes it possible, the party tweeted.

Samajwadi Partys Akhilesh Yadav too joined in, complimenting Indian diplomatic corps for the tireless work that led to the significant victory. It is the first step in ensuring Masood Azhar pays for his crimes. We demand Pakistan immediately arrest him, freeze his assets and shut down all organisations linked to him, Akhilesh Yadav tweeted.

The Jaishe-e-Mohammed carried out the Pulwama suicide bombing in February that killed 40 CRPF soldiers. It was the deadliest bombing in Jammu and Kashmir in a 30-year-long militancy and led to a spike in tensions between India and Pakistan.

Also read| Found no objection to list Masood Azhar after studying revised materials: China

The United States, Britain and France had asked the Security Councils sanctions committee to blacklist the Jaish founder that would lead to an arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze soon after. China, however, vetoed the move.

The Jaish was blacklisted by the UN Security Council in 2001, the same year a group of Jaish terrorists along with those from the Lashkar-e-Taiba attacked Parliament.

Also read| Who is Masood Azhar? 10 things to know

Also read| Global terrorist Jaish chief Masood Azhar a blue-eyed boy of Pakistans ISI
Security agencies have made seizures like cash hidden in biryani boxes, gold, and liquor bottles concealed in false cavities of bags as they have increased vigil at airports and railway stations to detect any violations of the model code of conduct (MCC) for the ongoing national polls.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is responsible for security at airports across the country, has made 34 recoveries of over one lakh in cash, according to two officials of the paramilitary force. It has reported 14 recoveries of gold or contraband from passengers in over a month, since the MCC came into force in March.

In March, the Election Commission (EC) cautioned people against carrying cash above ~50,000 and articles and gifts worth over ~10,000 without valid documents. It said unexplained cash of above ~50,000 will be seized and released only after it is proven that it has nothing to do with the elections. Such curbs are imposed to ensure cash and other items are not used to influence voters.

The Railway police, too, have detected 26 cases of unexplained cash and 204 of contraband. The biggest challenge for them is to stop the smuggling of liquor, according to an RPF official.

According to the EC, ~731 crore in cash, liquor worth ~236 crore, drugs valued ~1,170 crore and precious metals like gold worth ~940 crore have been detected since MCC. Passengers, who are unable to give satisfactory reasons for carrying large amounts of cash, are stopped and information is shared with the Income Tax Department. Those carrying cash for genuine reasons are advised to report early since verification takes time. At airports, about ~ 9 crore in cash has been detected so far with Delhi reporting the highest number of cases, 19, followed by Kannur airport, 10, in Kerala, a CISF official said on condition of anonymity.

The CISF detected $2,00000 worth approximately ~1.37 crore from two women passengers travelling to Imphal on April 24 at the Kolkata airport, according to CISF. An investigation in the matter is underway.

On April 10, the CISF found $60,000 concealed inside six biryani packets, according to CISF PRO Hemendra Singh. Similarly, $30,000 was recovered from another passenger inside three biryani packets, he added. An investigation in the case has been initiated.

Passengers are using different modus operandi to avoid detections. Most commonly cash is hidden in false cavities of bags. But our staff has been trained in detecting currency through X-ray..., said another CISF officer said.

About ~1.2 crore in cash has also been recovered, mostly from trains falling under the jurisdiction of the Central and Eastern Railways.

Liquor and contraband worth ~2.7 crore have been recovered mostly under the jurisdiction of Southern and Eastern Railways.

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Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials on Tuesday searched the residences and offices of industrialist and YSR Congress leader, Kanumuri Raghurama Krishnam Raju, in Hyderabad and in Andhra Pradeshs West Godavari in connection with alleged default in loans of about 947 crore taken from various financial institutions.

Two separate teams of CBI officials from Bengaluru and Chennai landed at Rajus villa at Boulder Hills of Emaar Properties near Gachibowli in Hyderabad and at Bhimavaram in West Godavari district in the morning. CBI officials in New Delhi familiar with developments confirmed the raids.

Raju contested the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on a YSR Congress ticket from Narasapuram parliamentary constituency.

Before the elections too, CBI officials had taken my statement. Now they have come again to record my statement [and question on companys transactions]. There is nothing like searches or raids, he said.

The YSRC leader said his company had taken bank loans to the tune of 600 crore but could not repay them as the power project being run by it was in deep losses. We have applied for one-time settlement of the loan amount. I have complete faith in the law, which will take its own course, he said.

IT RAIDS ON LOTTERY KING

Sleuths of the income tax department carried out simultaneous raids on over 70 business premises of Santiago Martin, known as the lottery king across the country on Tuesday. IT officials in Chennai aware of developments said Martin was taken into custody at Kolkata airport earlier in the day.

Martin, an impoverished labourer from Myanmar, established Martin Lottery Agencies in 1988. It is now a nationwide business of more than 7,000 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday continued their questioning of Deepa Talwar, the wife of corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar, in a money laundering case, even as a Delhi court turned down his bail plea. Talwar has been in ED custody since January 31 when he was deported from Dubai.

Deepa Talwars questioning has been going on since April 24. Today was the third time that she has appeared before the ED since then.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court, taking cognisance of the Enforcement Directorates chargesheet against Deepak Talwar, issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against his son Aditya after he, too, was named as an accused.

In its chargesheet, the ED claimed that Talwar had been in touch with former Aviation minister Praful Patel and that he had finalised various communications on behalf of Emirates, Air Arabia that were addressed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the then minister Praful Patel.

Talwar was allegedly involved in securing traffic rights for Emirates, Air Arabia and Qatar Airways illegally in exchange for money. He is being questioned and investigated for the same.

The investigation against Talwar began in August 2017 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the CBI filed an FIR against some aviation ministry officers, Air India and some unknown private persons along with the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL).

In its submission in court, the ED claimed that the companies associated with Talwar had received payments of more than 230 crore in connection with the case.

The court is scheduled to hear the case next on May 9.

Corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar has been accused of criminal conspiracy and forgery under the IPC and under various other sections of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday announced that it has completely lifted the restrictions on civilian traffic movement on the northern part of national highway NH-44.

The restriction on civilian movement between Srinagar and Baramulla on NH-44 will be completely lifted from May 2. There will be no prohibition on civilian traffic in this stretch on Sunday or Wednesday, said a government spokesperson in a statement.

On April 7, the movement of civilian traffic along the highway from Baramulla to Udhampur was restricted by the state for two days a week  Wednesday and Sunday  to allow free movement to security convoys on election duty.

The decision had created a furore in the Kashmir valley with many criticising the order as colonial.

Almost two weeks later on April 20, the administration rolled back the restrictions partially, from two days to one on the 100-km stretch from north Kashmirs Baramulla to capital Srinagar. The state is under presidents rule since December 20 and is being administered by governor Satya Pal Malik.

These restrictions became necessary following the large movement of security forces on an unprecedented scale after the Pulwama terror attack. These forces were required both for anti-militancy operations and for conducting the general elections peacefully, the spokesperson said.

On February 14, a suicide bomber had rammed his car into a security convoy in Pulwama district on the highway killing 40 CRPF personnel and bringing India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Following the tension, the general elections across India including in J&K were announced in March.

After successful polling in Anantnag and Kulgam districts and as the requirement of security forces was now reducing as they were de-inducted, the government has decided to further relax the restrictions, the statement said.

However, the government said that the restrictions will continue on the 200-km Srinagar-Udhampur stretch of highway falling in south Kashmir and beyond.

The restrictions would continue between Srinagar and Udhampur on NH-44 as earlier. However, these would be reviewed periodically and relaxation would be made as the need for restriction reduces, the government said.

It said that the local administration would continue to facilitate movement of civilian traffic as has been happening so far, including by allowing public transport of JKSRTC to move during the period of restriction on the NH.

Baramulla, Srinagar and two districts of Anantnag in the Kashmir valley voted on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. Voting in Pulwama and Shopian districts of Anantnag seat and Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency will take place in the fifth phase on May 6.
A Delhi court on Wednesday took cognisance of the charges filed against lobbyist Deepak Talwar, dismissed his bail application, and issued a non-bailable warrant against his son Aditya Talwar in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and concerning the securing of undue benefits (in terms of flying rights) for some foreign airlines at the cost of Air India.

Talwars wife was also quizzed by Enforcement Directorate , her third such interaction, on Wednesday, an ED officer said on condition of anonymity.

A second ED officer who asked not to be named said Aditya Talwar took the citizenship of Antigua sometime around the last quarter of 2018, for which he submitted a police verification report of United Arab Emirates (UAE), a process required by Antigua while according citizenship to anyone. Ideally, Aditya Talwar should have taken Indias police verification but this shows that father and son had no plans to return to India, said this officer

EDs lawyer also informed the court that Deepak Talwar was in regular touch with former civil aviation minister Praful Patel.

Although Patel has not been named in the chargeheet as an accused, the agency claimed that it has annexed some communications between Talwar and the former minister establishing their association. (Deepak) Talwar finalized various communications on behalf of Emirates, Air Arabia, to be addressed to the then minister of civil aviation Praful Patel, said EDs special public prosecutor D P Singh.

Patel declined comment.

ED now plans to approach Interpol to issue a red notice against Aditya Talwar while an extradition request will also be soon filed with Antigua and Barbuda.

At the time of filing of a charge sheet in the court of Special CBI Judge Santosh Snehi Mann at Rouse Avenue Court Complex. on March 30 against Talwar and his son Aditya Talwar, ED stated in a statement that Talwar, deported from the UAE on January 31 this year, was engaged in liasioning/lobbying with politicians, ministers, other public servants and officials of ministry of civil aviation, for Emirates, Air Arabia, and Qatar Airlines for securing undue benefits for them. He illegally managed to secure favourable traffic rights for these airlines during 2008-09 at the cost of national carrier  Air India. The case has now been transferred to the court of special judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj.

The charges relate to 2008-09 according to a release from ED on 1 May. Investigation under PMLA was initiated by ED in August 2017 on the basis of FIR registered by CBI against officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation, NACIL, Air India, and unknown private persons, it added.

The federal anti-money laundering probe agency has alleged that Deepak Talwar received Rs 272 crore from these foreign airlines for his services. He (Talwar) created a web of his own entities and used companies of his son Aditya Talwar, in India and internationsl offshore havens, to launder ... the statement said.

The agency has claimed that it is trying to find out the names of officials of ministry of civil aviation, NACIL (National Aviation Company of India Ltd) and Air India, who favoured the foreign airlines by making policies favouring the foreign airlines.

Talwars lawyer Tanvir Ahmed Mir said: This whole case is based on misplaced allegations. The CBI began investigations in the so called aviation related irregularities in 2010 and my client has not been called even once by the anti-corruption agency which means there is nothing against him. He added that Aditya Talwar has not lived in India for the past 19 years.
The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday rejected the nomination papers of Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate, former Border Security Force (BSF) trooper Tej Bahadur, as its candidate for Varanasi to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The SP will now be represented by Shalini Yadav, who had earlier filed her nomination as the partys candidate but stepped aside to make way for Bahadur.

We are now contemplating going to the court, SP spokesperson for Varanasi Manoj Rai, said.

Yadav, 43, was sacked from the BSF in 2017 on charges of indiscipline after appearing in a video to complain about the quality of food served to BSF troopers.

A report filed by the Varanasi returning officer, Surendra Singh, listed two grounds for the rejection of his nomination papers: that the documents were not accompanied by a certificate issued in the prescribed manner by the Election Commissioner to the effect that he has not been dismissed for corruption or disloyalty to the state not has he been able to produce any such certificate by 11AM of 1st May, 2019 as prescribed in notice (sic).

Another ground was that his papers ran foul of section 9 as well as section 33(3) of the Representation of the People Act, which states that if a government employee has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the state, then he or she will be barred from contesting elections for a period of five years, unless they furnish a certificate from the EC. Section 33(3) states that without the EC certificate, the papers will be rejected.

Singhs report also stated that there were inconsistencies in the two sets of Tej Bahadurs nomination papers, one of which he had filed as an independent on April 24, and another as a SP candidate on April 29. In the April 24 papers, Bahadur had said that he was dismissed for corruption or disloyalty while holding office, and in the April 29 papers he had said otherwise. Tej Bahadur filed an affidavit that he had made an inadvertent mistake in the first set of nomination papers.

The Varanasi district election officer issued a notice on Tuesday to Tej Bahadur for making different claims in his nomination papers. The former trooper then alleged that been taken at the instance of BJP. A senior BSF officer dismissed reports that Tej Bahadur had to furnish a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the force, and said neither the EC nor Tej Bahadur have not contacted BSF. Shalini Yadav said she was ready for the big battle. Im happy that I have to take on the PM as the Opposition candidate, she told HT.
Five members of a family including a six-month-old infant were charred to death when a fire broke out in their house on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. The house was being used to store LPG stoves and appliances in Ram Vihar Phase 2 of Indira Nagar police limits.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed his condolences and issued an order to the Lucknow Police Commissioner to probe the incident and fix responsibility for any negligence in a weeks time.

According to the police, the deceased have been identified as Sumit Singh, his wife Julie, sister Vandana, nephew Dablu and infant daughter Baby.

Fire service officials said the initial findings suggested that the fire broke out due to a short circuit in the air conditioner when the family was sleeping in one portion of the house.

The fire soon spread to the other portion of the house being used as a godown for LPG stoves by the owner TN Singh. He was not present at the time of the incident, the fire officials said.

The fire officials added that the fire service control room was informed at 2.45 am after locals spotted smoke emanating from the house.

They said the family apparently fell unconscious while sleeping due to carbon monoxide fumes caused due to the fire and could not move out of the building.

The fire officials had to break the wall of the house from the back to enter the house due to the narrow approach route from the front. The flames were doused after almost five hours and the bodies were taken out.

Circle Officer of Ghazipur Deepak Singh said the bodies have been sent for the post mortem examination for further investigations. He said a team of forensic experts have also been called to examine the spot.

Also Watch | Explained: UN lists JeMs Masood Azhar as global terrorist
Authorities on Wednesday announced an end to the restrictions on civilian traffic along the 100km stretch between Uri and Srinagar along the lifeline highway that connects Kashmir to the outside world.

The restrictions will be completely lifted from Thursday, a government spokesperson said in a statement. There would be no prohibition on the civilian traffic in this stretch on Sunday or Wednesday.

Civilian traffic along the 301-km Uri-Udhampur highway was banned from 4 am to 5 pm every Sunday and Wednesday until May 31 to allow exclusive movement of security forces in view of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections that began on April 11.

The ban followed the car bomb attack along the highway that left 40 paramilitary troopers dead in Pulwama district on February 14.

The restrictions triggered protests across Kashmir. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah called the move a people unfriendly way of protecting forces. Patients will not be able to reach hospitals, students will be deprived of access to schools, employees wont be able to reach work and the list goes on and on, he tweeted a day after the curbs were announced on April 4.

The spokesperson called the restrictions necessary in view of a large movement of security forces on an unprecedented scale after the Pulwama attack. These forces were required both for anti-militancy operations and for conducting general elections peacefully.

Two of the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir  Baramulla and Srinagar  went to the polls in the first two phases of elections on April 11 and April 18.

Uri is located in Baramulla district.

Polling for South Kashmirs militancy-hit Anantnag seat is being held in three phases because of the security situation. It will conclude there on May 6. Pulwama comes under the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.

On April 20, restrictions were restricted to one day along the Baramulla-Srinagar stretch.

The spokesman said the restrictions have been further relaxed following the successful conduct of the elections and a reduction in the requirement of security forces.

The restrictions will continue along the 200-km Srinagar-Udhampur stretch of highway, a part of which abuts South

Kashmir.
metropolitan court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday issued summons to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for allegedly calling Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah a murder accused at a rally.

Rahul Gandhi has been asked to remain present in court on July 9, BJP corporator Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt, who filed the defamation complaint, told HT.

Metropolitan magistrate DS Dabhi issued a summons holding that prima facie there was a case of criminal defamation against Gandhi under Indian Penal Code section 500. The complaint states that at an election rally in Jabalpur on April 23, Gandhi had said, Murder-accused BJP chief Amit Shah, wah, kya shaan hai (how glorious)

Brahmbhatt contended that Shah was acquitted by a CBI court in 2015 over his alleged involvement in the killing of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi, and Tulsiram Prajapati.

Brahmbhatts complaint stated that the January 2, 2015 order acquitting Shah was known in all political circles including that of the Congress.

Last month, another magistrates court here had issued summons to Gandhi and Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala in a defamation suit filed by the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank chairman. Shah is a director of the bank. The suit alleged that Congress leaders had claimed that the bank was involved in a scam to swap 750 crore in scrapped notes with valid currency after demonetisation.

We respect the court proceedings and will take required steps when we will receive the summon. But at the same time the defamation case and other issues including raising doubts over Rahuljis nationality, proves that BJP is trying to divert the attention when it is not in position to give an account of its rule of five years, Congress spokesman Manish Doshi said.
On his first visit to Ayodhya district since becoming Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed a rally where he avoided mentioning the controversial Ram Temple issue and stayed away from the disputed site where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has for long promised to build a grand temple.

The site is where the Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, stood until it was demolished 28 years ago by Hindu kar sevaks (volunteers) who believe it marks the birthplace of the god Ram .

At the rally in Gosaiganj, which is 20 km from the temple town, Modi invoked Dalit icon Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and his contemporary socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia to attack the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party (SP-BSP) alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held a joint rally in Barabanki districts Ram Snehi Ghat  around 70 km from the temple town. The two, along with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), have formed an alliance in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls which end on May 19.

Gosaiganj falls in the parliamentary constituency of Ambedkarnagar, which will go to the polls on May 12, along with 13 other Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The ghat in Barabanki district falls under the Faizabad parliamentary constituency, which will vote on May 6. Faizabad was recently renamed Ayodhya by the state government.

Yadav thanked Mayawati for reviving an alliance whose foundations were laid by Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and socialist politician Ram Manohar Lohia, and encouraged by BSP founder Kanshi Ram and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Modi attacked both political parties and said, Mayawati (BSP chief) has misused Babasahebs name but never followed his ideals. The Samajwadi Party also uses Lohias name but the law and order situation worsened in the state during the SP rule.

Mayawati said the BJP did not like it when with the support of BSP, VP Singh, the PM in 1990, implemented the Mandal Commission report and awarded Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar.

Modi attacked the Congress for not doing enough for labourers. For the Congress, 40 crore workers have been just a vote bank. Only the family (Gandhi family) has benefited, he said.

Claiming that his government had effectively tackled terrorism, Modi said, Recently, there was a terrorist attack n Sri Lanka. Before 2014, such attacks were common in India. Serial blasts tore through Colombo on on April 21, which left over 250 dead.

Blaming Pakistan as the source of terror, Modi said, They (Pakistan) want a weak government in India and the SP-BSP Mahagathbandhan is soft on terrorism, he said.

BSP chief Mayawati, however, accused the BJP of using the deaths of Indian jawans for election purposes. The borders of the country are not totally secure under the BJP government as a result of which terror attacks are taking place and several jawans are being martyred. It is most unfortunate that they are anyhow using this for election purposes, she said.

At a rally in Barabanki a day earlier, Modi had referred to the alliance as Maha banawati [grand fake alliance].

Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the SP-RLD-BSP alliance as mahamilawati gathbandhan (fake alliance) whereas the NDA itself has tied up with 38 parties. What will he have to say to that? Yadav asked the crowds gathered at the BSP-SP rally.

Yadav said the November 2016 note ban and the July 2017 implementation of the Goods and Services Tax had dealt a body blow not only to the countrys economy but also to small traders and businessmen. The so-called Digital India, Skill India, Make in India programmes never got off the ground and a large number of industries have shut down or are on the verge of closure, he said.

Mayawati said both Congress and BJP misused government institutions like the Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department and the Election Commission to influence elections. Dont get lured by the false promises being made by the BJP and the Congress. The latter has promised that it would give 6,000 allowance every month to the unemployed and the poor. If we come to power we will give jobs and implement reservation in private sector also, she said.
Two decades ago, Odisha was ravaged by a super cyclone that killed close to 10,000 people and rendered 1.5 million homeless. Between October 29 and October 30, 1999, the super cyclone, with storm surges of 16-23 feet and wind speeds up to 260 kmph, devastated the coastal state and set it back by several decades.

But Odisha learnt from the tragedy. In Odisha we have empowered the local community. All vulnerable parts of the state have active Cyclone Management Centres, where the local sarpanch are spearheading the preparedness. At each centre, there are volunteers who have been given rescue equipment to each centre. In our preparedness, community is our first point of contact for rescue, said Bishnupada Sethi, special relief commissioner of Odisha.

Odisha currently has about 50 local well-trained volunteers attached to each of the 879 multipurpose cyclone shelters who can render assistance during times natural disaster. On June 19 every year, Odisha holds mock exercises on flood and cyclone management to test the preparedness. Like all previous disasters, our goal is not to allow a single person to die, added Sethi.

Odisha also has a disaster-specific institutional mechanism. It established 16 district-level Disaster Management Planning Committees, which reach out to 155 block-level bodies and 22,000 village-level bodies. The state also raised 20 units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), comprising highly trained personnel with multi-disaster tackling capabilities.

The IMD predictions are accurate on cyclone and come at least 72 hours before the system hits the coast. In 1999, by the time IMD predicted it to be a super cyclone, it was just two days prior to the actual landfall, said Sarat Sahu, a meteorologist.

Improvement in coordination between government departments has also helped. There was little coordination between state governments own departments as well as Centre and State. Odisha used to rely on New Delhi and Kolkata for weather forecasts over telephone which led to delay in receiving weather

warnings, he said.
Indian Navy personnel are unprofessional, prone to errors and unprepared to tackle emergencies, a Chinese state media article has said, commenting on a fire that claimed the life of a naval officer on Indias aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, last week.

In its response, the Indian Navy said it prides itself on the highest level of professionalism it maintains while operating a variety of high performance platforms on the frontline, ranging from aircraft carrier groups to nuclear submarines. Navy spokesperson Captain DK Sharma said the strength of the navy also comes from its ability to identify the right lessons from incidents and accidents and put in place correctives that make it emerge better prepared to operate in the demanding and hazardous environment in which it deploys very extensively.

Quoting a military expert, who sounded triumphant about accurately predicting that fires could breakout on INS Vikramaditya, the article said the error-prone Indian Navy had failed to learn its lessons.

It was published within days of the Indian Navy sending two of its frontline ships, including the destroyer INS Kolkata, to attend the maritime parade to mark the 70th anniversary of Peoples Liberation Army-Navys (PLAN) off the coast of Qingdao in eastern China. The two Indian vessels were among the handful of warships to attend the parade. A fire broke out on board aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya on Friday morning and officer, Lt. Cdr. D.S. Chauhan, lost his life in the firefighting efforts, the Navy said in a statement. The fire was brought under control by the ships crew in a swift action preventing any serious damage affecting the ships combat capability, the navy said in a statement.

Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, told the Global Times that the fire was more likely to be out of human error rather than mechanical problems. The fire and the extinguishing process suggested that they are unprofessional and unprepared to address such an emergency, he said.

India has been actively developing its military in recent years, but its military culture is lax and it has loose regulations, which cannot effectively train soldiers to operate advanced military equipment, Li was quoted as saying.

Li noted that the Indian Navys lax regulations mean sailors may neglect or fail to obey the rules on handling advanced equipment. Unlike in India where both the armed forces and media are relatively more open, the PLA and Chinas controlled state media are said to tightly control the flow of information about the military  especially mishaps in military.

Navy spokesperson Captain Sharma said, Its [Indian Navys] operational interactions with an increasing number of leading maritime forces in the world is testimony to its standing as a highly competent and trained force that collaborates widely to enhance regional security. Its training infrastructure and processes have been acknowledged in the region as being of the highest standards...The recent and unfortunate incident of a loss of an officer on a frontline ship will be viewed by the IN [Indian Navy] along these lines and the service will take all steps to emerge stronger from it.
A day before the February 26 air strike by India on a Jaish-e-Mohammed training facility in Balakot in Pakistan, the countrys defence ministry moved the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for acquisition of two more PHALCON airborne warning and control systems (AWACS) aircraft from Israel to match Pakistans growing capabilities, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal is worth around $ 2 billion, with the radar mounted on Russian platform.

With the air strike, and the dogfight between Indian and Pakistani jets the day after, highlighting the importance of aerial supremacy, the Indian Air Force plans to approach the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) after the new government takes over in late May, for the purchase of 21 upgraded MiG-29 air defence fighters from Russia to arrest the growing shortfall in fighter squadrons. This deal is expected to be worth around 4,500 crore. Russia has completely switched to Su-30 platforms and MiG 29 fighters have been lying mothballed with MiG-MAPO corporation.

Four people directly involved in the process said that the need for PHALCON AWACS was felt as Pakistan has seven of them in service as compared to five in service with IAF. After the Balakot strike, the requirement was felt more acutely with Islamabad deploying two AWACS round-the-clock in the north and the south, while India had AWACS up for only 12 hours a day along its northern and western borders. Both sides put AWACS to good use during the February 27 air skirmish in the Nowshera sector of Jammu.

Armed with deep penetration and long-range radars, AWACS control the battle theatre in times of hostilities by providing advance information about movement of air assets of the adversary as well as directing air defence to prevent any breach of home air space.

According to the people cited above, Pakistan has three SAAB-2000 and four Shaanxi Y-8 turbo-prop airborne early warning systems; it reportedly lost two SAAB aircraft in a terrorist attack on PNS Mehran in Karachi on May 22-23, 2011. The SAAB radars provide a 270-degree coverage of the enemy positions but the platform has height restrictions due to turbo-prop engines.

In comparison, IAF has three Israeli built PHALCON AWACS and two more DRDO built early warning systems mounted on an Embraer jet platform. The Israeli aircraft is fitted with the top-of-the-line Green Pine radar system that can look into enemy territory up to a range of 300 to 500km . It is this aircraft that successfully directed the air operations against a package of 24 Pakistan Air Force fighters on February 27 in Nowshera, the people added.

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All families of the trapped miners in the illegally operated coal mine at Khloo Ryngksan village in Meghalayas East Jaintia Hills district have given their nod to call off the search and rescue operations, said Meghalayas disaster management minister on Wednesday.

Revenue and disaster management minister Kyrmen Shylla said the government has received correspondence from all the families stating that they no longer have any objection to the rescue ops coming to an end after four and a half months. Chief minister Conrad Sangma said the state government will be appealing to Supreme Court to order calling off the operations as they are becoming increasingly difficult and have not yielded desired results.

With family members from Garo Hills region informing the district administration through their MLA, Azad Zaman, all families have now agreed to discontinue the operations.

Relatives of the trapped miners from East Jaintia Hills and Assam had already agreed to call off the operations.
Tamil Nadu deputy Chief Minister and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam on Wednesday denied all speculations that he is likely to join BJP.

Speculation had begun to swirl after he travelled to Varanasi to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modis engagement of filing his nomination for the Lok Sabha election.

After my visit to Varanasi to take part in PM Narendra Modis rally ahead of his nomination, many have started to hurt me by saying that I was about to join BJP. It is a hoax which was intentionally being spread by opposition parties. I am aware that AIADMK workers and TN people will not believe such rumours ... I am not having such plans, he said in an emotional statement.

He further claimed that AIADMK and he only have friendly ties with BJP.

It is evident that our leader Jayalalithaa had good friendship with PM Narendra Modi. She had attended Modis swearing-in ceremony at Gujarat. Modi too had come all the way to Chennai to attend our leader Jayalalithaas swearing-in ceremony. As we are following the footprints of our late CM Amma (Jayalalithaa), we are just maintaining cordial relationship with PM Modi, he explained.

Panneerselvam also said that he will be happy with AIADMK workers if they lay the party flag on his mortal remains after his death.
Authorities in Odisha on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of over a million people living in the likely impact zone of Cyclone Fani which is heading towards the states coastline.

People living in areas where the severe cyclonic storm is predicted to hit have been asked to evacuate by Thursday. Authorities also asked all tourists in the coastal temple town of Puri to leave the town by May 2 evening and imposed a ban on fresh tourist arrivals.

Director of the regional meterological centre in Bhubaneswar, HR Biswas said that by 2.30 pm, cyclone Fani which is the strongest pre-monsoon cyclone in the last four decades, lay over the west-central part of the Bay of Bengal, about 610 km south-southwest of Puri and 360 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam, while moving north-northeastwards at a speed of about 6 kmph for last six hours. It is likely to move north-northeastwards and make landfall at Balukhanda near the Puri coast by 5:30 pm on May 3, with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph and gusts up to 205 kmph.

Odisha special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said that from Thursday, collectors in all districts likely to be affected by the cyclone will start moving all vulnerable people living in kuchcha houses, close to the coast or in low lying areas, to 879 multipurpose cyclone shelters. While each of the shelters can accommodate at least 1000 people, many government school buildings will also be used to house people displaced by the cyclone, officials said.

The government has already activated its disaster management machinery.

Twenty eight National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, 20 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) units and other Fire Services units were being dispatched to the coastal districts of Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Bhadrak on a priority basis. The leaves of doctors and employees in the health as well as energy departments have been cancelled over apprehensions of casualties and damage in the cyclonic storm, Sethi said.

Also read: Fani extremely severe, heres what cyclone categories mean

The IMD warned of a storm surge of about 2.5-4.7-metre high sea waves which may inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur at the time of landfall. Puri district is expected to see large-scale sea water inundation on May 3 with storm surge up to 4.7 metres.

The cyclonic storm was likely to trigger heavy to very heavy rainfall at many coastal and interior districts in Odisha from Thursday and heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places over north Odisha on May 4. Biswas said Odisha is likely to receive more than 20 cm of rainfall due to Cyclone Fani, about 10 per cent of the States annual average.

The state is bracing for large scale damage in the cyclone.

Though the wind speed of Fani was not like that of supercyclone of 1999, the 170 kmph speed would ensure total destruction of thatched houses, uprooting of power and communication poles, disruption of railways, overhead power lines and signalling systems, damage to standing crops, plantations, orchards, blowing down of bushy trees like mango and damage of small boats and country crafts, said weather expert Sarat Mahapatra.

Also read: Fani extremely severe, heres what cyclone categories mean

Fani is expected to cause more damage to coastal Odisha as compared to cyclone Titli that had hit the Odisha-Andhra coast last year during Dussehra, said Mahapatra. Though Titli did not make landfall in Odisha, the resultant rain led to landslides in Gajapati district killing more than 60 people.

The East Coast Railway announced the cancellation or regulation of 81 trains on the Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Puri-Visakhapatnam section. Trains from Bangalore, Chennai and Secundrabad to Howrah in the evening of May 2 have been cancelled. Officials in Bhubaneswars Nandankanan zoo also decided to close the zoo from May 2 to May 4 and keep all the animals in feeding chambers.

All colleges coming under administrative control of Higher Education Dept and located in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts will remain closed from 2nd May to 4th May.

The Odisha government has already ordered closure of all schools in the state. The Biju Patnaik University of Technology re-scheduled its examinations in all its 164 colleges scheduled for May 2, 3 and 4. The Election Commission gave its nod for shifting of the EVMs to safer locations in Odisha, where four-phased elections were completed on April 29. The EC has lifted the restrictions under Model Code of Conduct in the 11 districts that are likely to be affected by the storm.

The administration of Jagannath Temple in Puri decided to replace the Patitapabana Bana (temple flag) with a short flag as a precautionary measure to protect the spoked wheel Nilachakra during the cyclone.

The state government has assigned 12 senior IAS and state civil service officers in as many districts for supervision of restoration work of Cyclone Fani. Odisha DGP R.P Sharma also deputed 11 senior IPS officers to as many districts to oversee the police arrangements and coordinate with the district administration and other connected line agencies and field functionaries for rescue and relief operations.
The Maoist attack in Maharashtras Gadchiroli that killed 16 people sparked a row on Wednesday with the opposition seeking Devendra Fadnaviss resignation, but the chief minister trashed the demand and said his government would try harder to fight the menace.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said Fadnavis  he is from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)  should resign owning responsibility for the attack.

He should have resigned on his own immediately after the incident but it cannot be expected from those ruling Maharashtra today, he said.

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan echoed Pawar. The attack on our security personnel... is the result of the casual policy of the state against terrorism and Maoists... Fadnavis has lost the moral ground to continue in the post. It is an example of his failure to handle law and order. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that Naxalism and terrorism were weeded out by demonetisation, but the menace has increased multifold, he said.

The CM dismissed the demand, and said a befitting reply would be given to the rebels. We will fight this menace with more and stronger efforts. The morale of security forces will not be affected by this cowardly attack. I have briefed Union home minister Rajnath Singhji... the CM tweeted.

Sanjay Kumar, acting additional chief secretary (home), said a review would be done to gauge intelligence inputs and the standard operating procedure followed by the forces. We have ordered an inquiry and a report will be submitted by director general of police Subodh Jaiswal, he said.

The state government has convened a special cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss the attack.
Jasvinder Singh had met Hakikat Singh, whom he had known for 11 years, on Sunday morning, shared chai-paani as they had done innumerable times before, and talked.

Later that day, Hakikat Singh, a 59-year-old factory worker, was found dead in his apartment in West Chester Township apartment in Ohio state. Also dead were his wife Paramjit Kaur, 62, their adult daughter and only child Shalinderjit Kaur, 39, and a relative who was visiting from India, Amarjit Kaur, 58.

He was such a nice person, never had any argument and he was so down to earth, Jasvinder Singh, executive president of Guru Nanak Society Sikh Gurudwara Sahib of Greater Cincinnati, said about Hakikat Singh. They had first met when the gurdwara official arrived in the area around 2008. Hakikat Singh, who was from Fatehgarh district in Punjab, had been in the US for much longer, 27-30 years.

Jasvinder Singh said Hakikat Singh came to the gurdwara mostly on Sundays but his wife and daughter visited more frequently. They would come during the week to volunteer in the kitchen and cook for the langar, he said.

The four were found dead by the victims son-in-law, who was married to Shalinderjit Kaur. The couple have three children.

My wife and my family are bleeding... theyre on the ground and theyre bleeding, he had said on the 911 call, a recording of which was released by the police.

West Chester police chief Joel Herzog told reporters on Monday all four died of gunshot wounds. There has been no word on the motive behind the shooting and the police have not said yet if there is a person of interest or a suspect. There has also been no indication yet if investigators are looking at this as a hate crime. The Sikh Coalition, an advocacy group which tracks hate bias against members of the community, posted on Twitter on Tuesday, While there are no immediate signs of bias involved, we are working to learn more details & assess community needs ASAP. It has not issued updates yet.

The victims were identified by the local coroners office on Tuesday. But the bodies have not been released. The family will decide the funeral arrangements and the relatives body will have to be sent to India, Jasvinder Singh said. The Indian consulate general in New York is in touch with the family and the community.

Crime team divers were seen searching a water body behind the apartment complex on Tuesday. A witness said he saw the team pull out an item from the pond. I could see them holding something but their body was between me and (the item), said Rick Karvosky, who lives in the complex, told Journal News, a local publication. I could just see them carrying something up to the shore and put it in a white bucket.

Local authorities have been touch with the family and relatives. Martin Schneider, administrator for the Butler County Coroners Office, said, according to Journal News, the office was continuing to contact the next of kin of those found dead.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had confirmed in a tweet on Tuesday that one of the victims was Indian. Indian Ambassador in United States @IndianEmbassyUS has informed me about the killing of four persons in Cincinnati on Sunday evening. One of them was an Indian national on a visit to US while others were persons of Indian origin.
A deputy superintendent of police (DSP) posted in the CID wing of the Madhya Pradesh police was shot dead at his home in Bhopal on Wednesday evening, police said.

Inspector General of Police (Bhopal) Jaideep Prasad said DSP G L Ahirwar (54) was shot dead at close range by an acquaintance named Himangshu Singh at his house at around 7.30 pm.

Police said that some of the officers neighbours told them that they heard gunshots and saw Ahirwar lying in a pool of blood. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital but was declared brought dead.

The IG said that at the time of the incident, Ahirwars daughter was present at home and prima facie the murder appears to be a result of family and property dispute.

Police said Singh was allowed entry into the house and subsequently there was a dispute between Ahirwar and Singh and the former shot him dead and fled the house.

We are trying to get the details of the dispute and establish the chain of events, but Ahirwars daughter is still in a state of shock. A team has been formed to arrest Singh, Prasad said.
The BJPs Sadhvi Pragya Thakur has waded into another controversy after her comments against the former chief of Mumbais anti-terrorism squad Hemant Karkare and the Babri Masjid sparked outrage in the political circles.

This time, the Bharatiya Janata Partys candidate from Bhopal demanded a ban on burkhas for what she said was for the sake of national security.

Pragya Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon serial blasts in 2008, said on Wednesday that terrorists often take advantage of burkhas by wearing them during their nefarious activities.

We have to remove our burkhas at airports and also when we visit foreign countries during checking. Then we do not say anything. In a democracy, this decision should be taken by them (Muslim community) on their own and I am confident they will take this decision keeping the interest of the country paramount, she said in Bhopal.

Pragya Thakurs statement comes after an editorial in the Shiv Senas mouthpiece Saamna demanded a ban on burkhas in the country in national interest.

India, especially Jammu and Kashmir, has suffered due to Islamic terror. Countries such as Sri Lanka, France, Britain, New Zealand have taken tough steps, the question is when will India do it, it said. The editorial asked, Why is India lagging behind? when other countries have taken steps to ban the burkha after terrorist attacks. It added that scores of Muslim girls want to get rid of the tradition to cover their face in public.

Her comments also follow Sri Lankas decision to ban burkhas and anything that covers the face in the country after the Easter Sunday serial bomb blasts by suspected Islamist militants, which killed more than 250 people and injured hundreds of others.

Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi criticised Thakur for not picking up matters that are relevant to the people.

The BJP has a habit of making issues out of non-issues. The Sadhvi is not talking about farmers, unemployment and other pressing issues. If she feels so strongly about the issue she should have given this suggestion to the Narendra Modi government in the last five years, Chaturvedi said.

Pragya Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon serial blasts in 2008, had said last month that Karkare  who was killed in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008  died because of his karma (fate). She said that she had cursed him a month before his death. Thakur received a notice from the Election Commission for her remarks.

Also read: Cursed ATS chief Hemant Karkare, he died, says Sadhvi Pragya; sparks row

She had also said in a television interview that she was extremely proud of her role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradeshs Ayodhya. She was booked by police for violating the model code of conduct.

Thakur is contesting against senior Congress leader and former chief minister of the state Digvijaya Singh.
A 12-year-old girl is suspected to have been raped and killed in a busy tourist spot in Bhopal, police officials said. The police have taken the girls aunt and two young men known to her into custody.

The girls body was found in the morning at Manuabhan, a small hillock and a popular tourist spot. The girl had had been reported missing at the Koh-e-Fiza police station on Tuesday evening by her parents after she did not return home from tuition.

The girls parents have alleged that the tragedy could have been averted had prompt action been taken by the police.

DIG Irshad Wali said that the rape is yet to be confirmed as they have not received the post mortem report but acknowledged that there were scratch marks on the girls body. We have picked up the girls aunt and two youths who lived in the girls neighbourhood and were familiar with the aunt, the DIG said.

Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he was saddened by the tragedy. BJP Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya said she was stunned by the incident.
The Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday submitted in a sealed cover three documents to the Supreme Court that purportedly establishes former Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumars role in the alleged tampering of evidence in the Saradha and other chit fund cases.

The CBI has alleged, the special investigation team (SIT) headed by Kumar, that was constituted by the West Bengal government to probe the Saradha case in 2013, destroyed crucial evidence to protect several key accused in the case.

The agency handed over the documents a day after the top court asked the CBI to place credible evidence to justify Kumars custodial interrogation. According to a previous court order, the CBI is prohibited from getting Kumars custody. The agency wants the stay to be vacated. Even as the agency placed the documents, the court felt that if the plea is allowed it would have severe consequences. If a public official is arrested that may lead to suspension of the officer. It has severe consequences for the officers. Many countries do not allow custodial interrogation, a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said.

At this, solicitor general Tushar Mehta said: There is evidence of destruction of evidence, shielding the high and mighty, tampering with evidence. If there are consequences, so be it. I am pleading on law and the law should take its course.

Mehta submitted that contrary to the allegations, the CBI was not targeting Kumar. The agency was keen to take the investigations to the logical conclusions. Kumars custodial interrogation is required as he was in-charge of the SIT, he argued.
The Shiv Sena on Wednesday stoked a controversy by calling for a ban on the use of burqa in public places as it welcomed Sri Lankan governments decision to impose a similar restriction in the wake of Easter Sunday bombings.

If such a ban can be imposed in Ravans Lanka, when will it happen in Rams Ayodhya? read an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana. The party also demanded the ban should be imposed in national interest. However, the Sena distanced itself from the matter after it sparked a row and called it a personal opinion [of its executive editor Sanjay Raut].

India, especially Jammu and Kashmir, has been struck by Islamic terror. Countries such as Sri Lanka, France, Britain, New Zealand have taken tough steps, the question is, when will India do it? the editorial said. It also claimed many Muslim women want to get rid of the tradition.

Sri Lanka banned any form of face covering after the coordinated blasts hit three churches and three luxury hotels, killing over 250 people and injuring more than 500 others.

The editorial in Saamana has drawn flak from all quarters. Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the editorial. They (Sena) should read the Supreme Court judgment where it says that the burqa is a choice. You can wear anything...because there is something called as choice, which is our fundamental right, Owaisi said.

Maharashtra Congress said that the demand is made to polarise the remaining phases of Lok Sabha election. ...If security reasons are cited then even scarves and helmets should also be banned..., Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.

Following the controversy, party spokesperson Neelam Gorhe said the view expressed in editorial was not partys stand. ...Todays editorial has neither been discussed nor been announced by the party chief and thus it may be a personal opinion of the editor on current affairs...
The Shiv Sena on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow Sri Lankas footsteps to ban the burqa across the country. Calling for the burqa ban, Shiv Sena said in an editorial that when it could be done in Ravans Lanka, when will it happen in Rams Ayodhya? The Sena said that the ban should be imposed in national interest.

The Sri Lankan government banned the burqa, niqab or any kind of face-covering veil across the island nation following Easter Sundays serial blasts that killed over 250 people.

Though, the election in Maharashtra is over, three phases of polls are still pending in the country including in states like Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said, India, especially Jammu and Kashmir, has suffered due to Islamic terror. Countries such as Sri Lanka, France, Britain, New Zealand have taken tough steps, the question is when will India do it. It asked, Why is India lagging behind? when countries have taken steps to ban the burqa after terrorist attacks. It added that scores of young Muslim girls wanted to get rid of the tradition to cover their face in public.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party said that the current government had taken a decision to do away with Triple Talaq to save Muslim women from exploitation. It added that PM Modi will have to take a decision which will be as courageous as the decision to conduct a surgical strike.

The editorial accused many Muslims of not having understood the true meaning of their religion (Islam). It said that they had confused it with traditions and customs like burqa, polygamy, triple talaq and resistance to family planning. For instance, when any voice is raised against these practices, immediately there are cries of Islam is in danger. The order of preference among Muslims is religion taking precedence over nationalism. Muslim women have been sporting burqas/veils under the wrong impression that it is a Quoranic tenet, the Sena said.
Ten National Investigation Agency (NIA) teams on Wednesday carried out raids at locations in Tamil Nadus Kumbakonam, Adhirampattinam and Keezhakkarai a day after the anti-terror agency detained four suspects in Chennai who may have links with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, an official said on condition of anonymity.

Raids have been carried out in Kerala and Tamil Nadu to track down people linked to the Islamic State (IS) after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in Sri Lanka. On April 23, the IS claimed responsibility for the coordinated bombings that left over 250 people dead.

The NIA and Tamil Nadus Q-branch [Criminal Investigation Department] detained four suspects in Chennai [on Tuesday] in connection with the attack in Sri Lanka, the official cited above said.

The official declined to name the detained suspects, citing security reasons. One of the four is understood to be a Sri Lankan national, who had come to Chennai from Ramanathapuram, according to officials aware of the development. He had rented an apartment using fake documents in the Tamil Nadu capital, they added.

The Sri Lankan national was being interrogated, but NIA officers declined to comment on whether his detention was linked to the April 21 terror attacks in Sri Lanka. Keezhakkarai and Adhirampattinam are two coastal towns close to Sri Lanka across the Palk Strait.

The fresh raids in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday began a day after the NIA arrested a 29-year-old, Riyas A, suspected to be linked to the IS, who allegedly wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala.

The anti-terror agency said Zahran Hashim, the Sri Lankan bombings mastermind, had inspired Riyas A, who is from Keralas Palakkad district.

From the information given by the Kerala-based suspect, we came to know that a few suspects are in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, we raided several places here [Tamil Nadu] too, said another officer. We are in a search of another suspect, who had alleged connections with Zahran Hashim...

The NIA search operation began in Chennais Mannadi on Tuesday night.

An NIA statement on Sunday said Riyas As revelation has stunned the intelligence agencies and they now believe that the Sri Lanka attacks were part of a larger conspiracy to create terror in the region.

The NIA said Riyas A has told his interrogators that he had been following Hashims speeches for over a year.

HT on Sunday reported Hashim and another Sri Lanka bomber, Mohammad Azaan, had travelled to India in 2017 and 2018 to discuss the plans of the IS.
As the UN Security Council on Wednesday finally declared Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Masood Azhar a global terrorist, Chanchal Singh, the then superintendent of Jammus high security Kot Bhalwal prison recalled the day in December 1999 when the dreaded terrorist was freed from the prison.

I still remember the day. The then DIG Jammu Dr SP Vaid, who later became DGP of the state police and is now Transport Commissioner, came to the prison at 10 am that day. He handed me a government order and after fulfilling the formalities, we handed him Masood Azhar and two other terrorists, who were lodged in the prison, said Singh.

Thereafter, a motorcade in tight security straightway headed for Jammu airport, he added.

Two other terrorists - Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh  were released from the prison along with Azhar. The JeM chief was kept in Kot Bhalwal jail until December 31, 1999 before being taken to Kandahar.

The retired superintendent said that Masood Azhar and his aides were segregated and kept in a separate room in the prison.

There was no preferential treatment to him and he and his aides were treated like other prisoners. In fact, we always treated them like terrorists, said Singh. Every morning I used to visit all the barracks of the prison as part of my duty and therefore had to visit Masoods room.

Singh recalled that most of the time Masood used to stay inside his room and kept offering prayers.

A couple of days before he was released, he had come to know about what was going to happen -- that he and two other terrorists would be freed, said Singh.

Singh said, Though Masood Azhar spent around five years in Kot Bhalwal jail, I was given the charge of the prison in May 1999 when I was transferred from Srinagar and he was released in December that year. He remained under my custody for around eight months before being freed and taken to Kandahar.

However, a senior prison official, who pleaded anonymity, said that during Masoods confinement at the prison, some officials used to call him Masood Sahib or Azhar Sahib.

During his years in Kot Bhalwal prison, he continued to radicalise fellow prisoners before being segregated, he added.

Masood was arrested in January 1994 when he visited Kashmir Valley to meet JeM foot soldiers.

In December 1999, an Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC814) from Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked and eventually taken to Kandahar.

The hijackers had demanded the release of Azhar, Zargar and Sheikh.

The February 14 attack in Pulwama by a JeM suicide bomber in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed led to fresh efforts to designate Azhar a global terrorist. In March, China blocked a UN effort for the fourth time with a technical hold before it lifted it on Wednesday to ensure that Azhar was blacklisted.

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A resident of Uttar Pradesh has been awarded over Rs 1 crore, the highest compensation so far given by the government in the Johnson & Johnsons (J&J) faulty hip implant case.

Another victim from the state has also been awarded relief, taking the total number of victims being compensated since March this year to four.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the regulatory body for Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices, issued an order on Tuesday, directing J&J to pay Rs1,01,25,993 to one patient and Rs 90,26,567 to another from the same state. The first victim from Maharashtra was awarded Rs 74.5 lakh, while the second one from Delhi had received Rs 65 lakh in April in March this year.

Four victims have been awarded compensation in the case so far and there are about 200 applications under consideration, said Dr S Eswara Reddy, drug controller general of India.

While the compensation amount is to be paid within 30 days from the date receipt of the order, J&J has not paid any of the victims so far because they had approached the court in the matter that is yet to be decided.

On November 29, 2018, a central expert committee approved compensation amount between Rs 30 lakh and 1.23 crore, based on a specific formula they created to determine compensation amount for the affected patients. The amount was to be calculated on a case-to-case basis depending on the age and the level of disability of the person, with younger people with higher disability getting the maximum compensation.

All states were asked to form a state-level panel, to track and verify eligible patients, and to come up with an amount on the basis of the central committees formula.

The faulty Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) hip implants manufactured by DePuy International Limited, a subsidiary of J&J Pvt Ltd, were recalled in 2010 globally with complaints of more than usual revision surgeries because of complications such as metal leaching, infections among others. The government started awarding compensation amounts from March this year.

Johnson & Johnson Private Limited remains committed to providing assistance, including appropriate compensation within an established framework, to ASR patients in India who have undergone revision surgery. We believe the formula for compensation needs to be within a fully transparent framework arrived at through due process. We remain committed not only to our patients but also to a positive resolution of the matter. As the matter is sub judice, we are unable to comment further, said a company spokesperson.

Meanwhile, J&Js donations to Indian government of bedaquiline that treats multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has drawn flak from activists who say its a clear case of conflict of interest. Ad-hoc donations of bedaquiline threaten sustainable, affordable access for patients; create conflict of interest for health ministry in regulating Johnson & Johnson, read a letter by activist groups. The letter was written Monday in response to the announcement about a second set of donations of 10,000 courses of bedaquiline by J&J.

The ministry has refuted the allegations. Theres no conflict of interest as it is not like the government is at the mercy of J&J to donate the drug. This donation was promised earlier under USAID programme. We are also working out arrangements for voluntary licensing through domestic generic manufacturers that is expected to bring down the cost per course which is at $400 currently, said a senior official.

A J&J India spokesperson, too, dismissed the reports, saying, Johnson & Johnson did not solicit direct requests from governments as part of the bedaquiline donation program. The Indian government independently approached USAID, which administered the donation program, to request an additional 10,000 courses of bedaquiline...
A 44-year-old Israeli man who was arrested in Uttarakhands Banbasa town of Champawat district late Tuesday evening has been found to be staying in India without a valid visa for about seven years, police said.

Yaniv Benaim, alias Atala, a suspected drug dealer was held by immigration authorities at the check post in Banbasa while trying to cross into Nepal, senior police officials said.

In the initial investigations, it was found that he was wanted in a physical assault case registered against him on April 25 in Goas Anjuna.

During the checking by immigration authorities, he failed to show a valid visa for his stay in India. However, he had a valid passport, said director general of police (law and order), Ashok Kumar.

During the questioning by immigration and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) authorities, he told them he was earlier extradited to India in August 2011 from Peru and was arrested in a narcotic case involving police, politicians and drug dealers in Goa.

He was extradited in relation to a drug-related case. Till the disposal of the case, he was lodged in a jail in Goa for five months after which he was acquitted by a court. Since then, he was living in India without a valid visa, said Kumar.

Last month, he was booked in a case of assault in Goas Anjuna.

When we spoke to the Goa Police about it, they confirmed it. After yesterdays incident, a case has been registered against him under section 14 of Foreigners Act. Investigations are on, he added.

In 2008, his former Swedish girlfriend who went by the name Lucky Farmhouse had uploaded a video in her blog in which Atala is heard boasting of how he pays off both politicians and policemen in Goa in order to continue with his drug business and even named one Roy.

Atala also claimed that Goa Police were selling confiscated narcotics back in the drug market and that he was buying drugs from the police themselves.

Atalas boast on video forced the authorities to launch an investigation. Seven Goa Police officials were arrested by the CBI.

He went missing after he was released from jail while the suspended policemen were reinstated.
The government has accorded Z category security to Shaurya Doval, son of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and has upgraded former Jammu and Kashmir governor NN Vohra from Y+ to the top level of Z plus, a home ministry official familiar with the matter said.Under Z-category, Shaurya Doval will be provided a round-the-clock security shield by 15 to 18 commandos of the CISF.

The official said the intelligence agencies had carried out a threat perception on Shaurya Doval, who is associated with think tank India Foundation, and found that he faces threat from forces inimical to his father.

In addition, over a dozen BJP leaders in West Bengal, where incidents of poll-related violence occurred, have also been provided security cover of the central force.
Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, who was listed as a global terrorist by the UN on Wednesday, is one of the few terrorists who have brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

The renewed demand for Azhars listing was raised at the United Nations Security Council after the deadly suicide bombing at Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

Apart from the February 14 Pulwama attack, Masood Azhar has been involved in multiple terror strikes against India, including the October 1, 2001 suicide bombing of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in Srinagar that left 39 people dead.

Here are 10 things to know about Masood Azhar:

1. Masood Azhar was born in Bahawalpur on July 19, 1968. His father Allah Bakhsh Shabir, taught at a local school and was a small-time entrepreneur who ran a dairy and poultry farm.

2. Masood Azhar studied at the Jamia Islamia at the Binori mosque in Karachi under Mufti Sayeed.

3. At the Jamia Islamia, he found himself studying beside students who were under the influence of leaders of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), a terrorist organization that was active in Afghanistan at that time, and which later extended its activities to Kashmir.

4. In 1989, Azhar returned to Jamia Islamia and took up a job as a teacher. His knowledge of Islam and jihad, soon saw him bringing out a magazine called Sada-i-Mujahid or Knock of the Mujahideen, featuring articles on HUMs activities and the war in Afghanistan. Free copies were distributed after Friday prayers and at functions held by the Harkat.

5. In 1989, the 21-year-old Masood Azhar passed the almia (Islamic) examination with distinction. Deeply influenced by the HUM leaders and and his fellow students, Azhar had already made up his mind on what he planned to do with his future. Soon after that, he met Maulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil, the HUM chief, and was on his way to Afghanistan for his training.

6. All of 5 feet 3 inches tall, Masood Azhar underwent training at Yuvar, a training camp in Afghanistan, where he had great difficulty in overcoming the obstacle races and handling weapons. He couldnt complete the mandatory 40-day training programme and later admitted after his arrest in Srinagar in 1994 that it was because of his poor physique.

7. Masood Azhar was released from prison on December 31, 1999 in return for 176 passengers and 15 crew members of the hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC-814 at Kandahar.

8. Masood Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammad in January 31, 2000, soon after he was released in the Kandahar exchange. Addressing a gathering of 10,000 armed followers at a mosque in Karachi, he said: I have come here because it is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India. Kashmir has to be liberated from Indian rule. Soldiers of Islam have come from 12 countries to free Kashmir.

9. In 1993, he was asked to go to Jammu and Kashmir where he was to meet a sharpshooter. But he could only arrive in India a year later in 1994. On his way to India, Masood Azhar first flew to Dhaka and then to Delhi on a Portuguese passport.

10. When Masood Azhar first visited India in 1994, Srinagar was not his first port of call. Instead the Babri Masjid in Lucknow was. Reaching Ayodhya was far more important because the demolition of the Babri Masjid was the spark that ignited his desire for jihad.
Shortly after Maoists blew up a vehicle killing 15 jawans of an anti-Maoist police squad and a driver on Wednesday on Dadapur Road in Gadchiroli district, Maharashtras Director General of Police Subodh Jaiswal vowed to retaliate.

We will take required action tactically. We are prepared to give a befitting reply to this attack. Operations are going on in the area to ensure that no further casualties take place, Jaiswal said at a press conference.

The states police chief also denied that there had been intelligence failure.

It would not be right to term this as an intelligence failure. It is a dastardly attack. We will try our best that such incidents are not repeated, he said.

He said the personnel killed in the blast were travelling in a private vehicle which had been requisitioned by the police.

On April 11, Maoists triggered a blast near a polling booth in Gadchroli district while voting was underway in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

The IED (improvised explosive device) blast took place around 150 metres from the polling booth where people were standing in queues to cast their votes for the Lok Sabha election. No casualty was reported in the incident.

A day earlier, a CRPF trooper was injured when Maosists denoted an IED at Gatta Jambia village of the same district when a polling party was moving towards polling stations under protection of a police party and CRPF personnel.

Wednesdays ambush is the worst in Maharashtra since October 8, 2009 when 17 policemen were killed in a Maoist attack at the Laheri police outpost in Gadchiroli. Several others were injured in the attack.
The Chinese giant salamander, the largest amphibian in the world, is not cute. Weighing as much as an adult human, it has slimy brown skin, a giant mouth curled to a gormless grin, and puny, mistrustful eyes. It is also one of the worlds most endangered species. And yet, unlike its compatriot the giant panda, the giant salamander rarely makes the news.

Why do some animals strike a chord with humans, prompting them to donate millions towards their conservation, while others draw little more than disgust?

And is a sad-eyed panda really worth saving more than a slimy salamander?

Size, intelligence, behaviour, rarity, how closely an animal resembles the human form -- all play a part in our reaction to various endangered creatures.

One of the biggest factors is cuteness: physical characteristics such as big eyes and soft features that elicit our parental instincts because they remind us of human infants, Hal Herzog, emeritus professor at West Carolina Universitys Department of Psychology, told AFP.

An expert in human-animal relationships, Herzog said the dark rings around pandas eyes triggered humans nurturing instincts.

Compare that to the Chinese giant salamander, he said. Google it. It looks like a six-foot-long, 150-pound bag of brown slime with beady little eyes.

The salamanders are a vital part of their ecosystem, just as worms are essential to soil health around the steams and lakes they live in -- which is just about everywhere.

Yet, like maggots, rats and snakes, the main instinct they inspire in humans is revulsion.

Learned disgust

According to Graham Davey, a specialist in phobias from the University of Sussexs School of Psychology, we learn to revile certain creatures at a young age.

Disgust is a learned emotion. Babies are not born with it... its probably transmitted socially, culturally and within families, he said.

Some animals are reviled due to their resemblance to primary disgusting things such as mucus or faeces, Davey said, while others are perceived -- rightly or wrongly -- to pose a direct danger to the beholder.

In terms of threat to humankind, disease and illness are bigger than being attacked by an animal, he said.

This might explain why most of us dont find lions and bears repellent -- they are covered with the same type of soft fur that coat cuddly toys for children, even if it might be better to avoid one in real life.

An orca by any other name

As with most things, popular culture has a huge effect on how society perceives animals.

Whereas the movie Free Willy prompted a wave of sympathy for the protection of endangered orcas, Arachnophobia hardly helped spiders cause.

Even the depiction of fictional creatures can have a knock-on effect on public perception towards certain animals.

Take the main being in Alien, for example.

Seeing the one from the first film that had that mucus-y drawl dripping from the aliens mouth... sensitises people to disgusting things, Davey said.

Nor is it just the public at large who are liable to speciesism, or discrimination against other species in favour of our own.

A study in 2017 found a strong correlation between societys preferred animals and those most studied in scientific research.

Maybe thats because its easier to get money to study well-known animals, said Frederic Legendre, a researcher at Frances National History Museum.

And popular species make money in return, according to Christo Fabricius from WWF -- a conservation group indelibly linked to its panda logo.

Reptiles, for example, are not very marketable, he said.

Protect species, protect habitat

Not that favouring certain cute or charismatic species is necessarily a bad thing for conservation.

When we protect an iconic species, we protect their habitat and therefore all the organisms within it also benefit, said Legendre.

But such species can become a victim of their own popularity.

One recent study suggested that a virtual presence of wild animals such as elephants and tigers -- be that on computer screens, T-shirts or in childrens books -- can fool people into thinking they are more common in the wild than they really are.

The populations of most megafauna -- from hippos to giraffes and gorillas -- remain in peril.

Then theres the risk of poaching.

The rarer the species the more value they provide for traditional medicine, for trophy hunting, and therefore they are poached more often, said Franck Courchamp, an ecologist at Frances National Centre for Scientific Research.

So the next time you see a picture of a Giant Chinese Salamander, remember that theres more to saving Earths wild species than looks.

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It was a bit of both work and play for the 12 main candidates who fought it out for a month before Mumbaiites sealed their fate on April 29. While some got back to office immediately after poll day, some took time off.

In Mumbai North, Congresss star candidate, actor Urmila Matondkar said she will keep track of the other elections in the coming days. The actor has now moved to her Bandra house after staying in the constituency during the campaign period and people close to her said that she wants to spend the next few days with her family and her dogs.

Her opponent, BJPs sitting MP from Mumbai North, Gopal Shetty, however, jumped back to work. He said that he had a busy day on Tuesday as he attended several events. I came to my office at 9am and have been working ever since. I never take a break and thats my style of working, he said.

It was the same with Congresss veteran leader Eknath Gaikwad who was in his Dharavi office, meeting people of the constituency. He said, As elections are over, it is back to the routine of addressing peoples grievances, Gaikwad said.

In Mumbai North Central, Congress candidate Priya Dutt spent some quality time with her family. I got up late and spent some time with family. I will be meeting friends for dinner tonight, Dutt said. Mumbai South candidates, Congress Mumbai unit chief Milind Deora and Shiv Senas Arvind Sawant also took the day off, to unwind and spend time with family.

Mumbai North West candidate from Sena, 75-year-old Gajanan Kirtikar has also planned a week-long vacation in May at his house in Pune. Kirtikar says that the next few days will also be spent in meeting party workers who supported him through the campaign. He said, I want to spend some time with my family so we have planned a vacation in Pune.

Poonam Mahajan, BJP candidate from North Central, spent time with her family on Tuesday. Mahajans associate said that her recreation time is limited as she will also start campaigning for the party in other parts of the country.

NCPs Sanjay Dina Patil was at Vikhroli in the first half of the day, where the ballot boxes in North East constituency were being sealed. His daughter Rajool Patel said he would attend a wedding in Mulund in the evening, apart from meeting people in the constituency.

Senas Rahul Shewale was at Dharavi to meet the family of the poll staffer who lost his life on Monday. He also sent a message to all his well -wishers who supported him through the campaign. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Sanjay Nirupam from Mumbai North West said he is back to playing his favourite sport badminton, which he missed owing to hectic campaigning. Nirupam said he will soon get back to work and address pending issues. I believe in being thankful to the people who have supported me all this while. We have planned lunch and dinner with party workers and leaders.

Meanwhile , the states two star campaigners  CM Devendra Fadnavis and NCP chief Sharad Pawar  returned to their normal schedule on Wednesday with the former choosing to clear files from home, while the latter went on a tour of drought-affected areas. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with senior leaders about the partys performance and assessed the drought situation in the state at his residence . Ashok Chavan, Congress state president, reached his hometown Nanded and met local leaders. He will remain there for a couple of days before coming to the city to assess the partys performance.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday his political opponents were so rattled by his governments aggressive action against black money and corruption that they had now ganged up against him, with some even having visited Pakistan to take help for the purpose.

He also said when bomb blasts were carried out in Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi (Varanasi) and the rest of the country looked vulnerable, the non-BJP parties failed to instill confidence among the people.

Do these parties have any plan to instill confidence. Remember that a nation which cant safeguard its interests doesnt get respect globally, he said adding his governments diplomatic initiatives had helped expose Pakistan as a den of terror.

Modi didnt elaborate on his Pakistan remark even as he tore into BSP chief Mayawati, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and the Congress accusing them of corruption. Addressing a public meeting in Barabanki, he also listed his governments tough measures against corruption, including the one against benaami property as proof.

He ridiculed the opposition saying even those who were contesting in so fewer seats that they would not even be able to become opposition leaders were also lining up to get a Prime Ministers dress stitched.

However, he said, the kaun banega PM (who will be PM) enthusiasm of the opposition had died down after four phases of polls after which, he said, the opposition leaders had started playing hide and seek.

The kind of action we have taken against black money and corruption has forced the opposition to gang up with the Modi hatao slogan and some even visited Pakistan to take help on this, he said.

Claiming that after the fourth round of Lok Sabha polling, leaders of his rival parties have lost their sleep, Modi said, those engaged in maha milawat (grand adulteration) are spending sleepless nights.

My government has brought in tough anti-corruption measures and seized about 2000 benaami properties valued at several crores of rupees. Now, you tell me those whose properties are seized, whose costly cars are seized ... would they want to spare me? Would they not abuse me and not want to remove me at all costs? he asked.

But this is Modi. With the blessings of the poor I act fearlessly and wont come under any pressure. My government closed 3.5 lakh fake companies, he said adding countrys standing has gone up globally.

Modi who is scheduled to hold a rally in Ayodhya region on May 1, began his address in Haidargarh with Ram Ram.

The region where Modi held his rally in Haidargarh was strategically located to maximise the impact as it shares its boundary with Lok Sabha constituency of Rae Bareli, Mohanlalganj, Sultanpur and Amethi.

There was the NRHM scam, meaning your health was compromised. Then there was the memorial scam meaning those great leaders in whose name Mayawatiji seeks votes too were not spared. Then there was the sugar mill scam followed by the power scam in which costly power was purchased to make leaders of both BSP and later SP, rich, Modi said in Haidargarh, part of Barabanki reserved seat where BJPs Upendra Rawat is up against Ram Sagar Rawat of the Samajwadi Party and Tanuj Punia, son of Congress veteran PL Punia.

Modi upped the ante against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav too, describing him as babua. Our babua ushered in such socialism that there was scam in sand and brick and even didnt spare the toti (tap), he said adding that the Congress was the master of them all.

Addressing a rally at Biswariya village on Bahraich-Nanpara road on Tuesday for BJP candidates from Bahraich, Kaiserganj Shrawasti and Gonda parliamentary constituencies, Modi said after the results on May 23, the alliance partners in UP will tear each others clothes.

Continuing his attack on the SP-BSP alliance, Modi said in previous governments power supply was not provided to the areas where SP or BSP vote bank did not exist. Modi said purpose of the election was not that who will become Member of Parliament, minister or the Prime Minister, but to decide the place of India before the world in the 21st century.

(With inputs from Shariq Rais Siddiqui)

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Union minister Manoj Sinha, 59, is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s prominent upper caste leader from Eastern Uttar Pradesh, who is seeking his fourth term in Lok Sabha. Sinha spoke to Kumar Uttam on the campaign trail in his constituency  Ghazipur  ahead of elections there on May 19. Edited excerpts:

How formidable is the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance in Uttar Pradesh?

This is the second time that they have come together. When they first joined hands in the early 1990s, they had a vast social base. Today, their support is limited to a few castes. After years of power struggle, which was acrimonious, they have joined hands and are now facing issues at the ground level. They will not make any impact.

What makes the BJP so confident about its performance in Uttar Pradesh?

We have delivered several benefits to the people not only economic Women faced a lot of trouble because of the lack of toilets. When toilets are built, it is about the honour of women. The Ayushman [National Health Protection] scheme has ensured that villagers do not have to sell their jewellery or land to get treatment. Direct payment to farmers [under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi] has had a huge impact. There is no scope of leakage in it. We have promised pension for farmers, and small businessmen.

This is having a huge impact.

You reaped benefits of several such benefits in the 2017 assembly election when the Opposition was not as united as it is now. Does not the BJP have a disadvantage in 2019?

I do not feel the Opposition is as united as it was in 2014. Leave one state. See West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh or Telangana.

The people have not forgotten the misrule of the SP and BSP... They want a new kind of politics. They will support us.

The SP and BSP had a sizeable chunk of votes even when the BJP-led alliance got 73 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014. Would not their unity hurt the BJP?

This is not the arithmetic that you join their votes and say the first party had 20% and the second 18%. So, going together they will get 38%. Politics is about chemistry, not arithmetic. The chemistry in Uttar Pradesh is different this time. There is a new confidence among people. The government of India was never seen in villages. Today, go and ask people who is giving power, toilet, treatment; and they will reply, [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi. This is the first government after independence that is being seen in villages and at the doors of the villagers.

Will you be able to win 73 seats again?

There will not be any major loss. I am confident we will retain the tally.

Will the Congresss appointment of Priyanka Gandhi as its Eastern Uttar Pradesh in-charge have any impact?

I do not feel so. It is the people who believe that. I will request you to go around and find out what impact she has in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. After you are done with it, you will also agree with me.

The Congress is not a part of the SP-BSP alliance. Is it good or bad for the BJP?

The Congress is fighting for its existence. The [SP and BSP have formed the] gathbandhan [alliance], too, for their existence. They knew the BJPs strength and PM Modis popularity. They knew fighting election will be difficult this time. [Congress chief] Rahul Gandhi is not confident of winning his seat in Uttar Pradesh. So, he has gone to Kerala to contest a second seat, not on the Congresss strength but on that of the [ally Indian Union] Muslim League.

The BJP government introduced the 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections to offset anger over its move to restore the original provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. How is the move playing out?

The Supreme Court gave some order relating to the SCs and STs. There was no role of the government. Some people were provoking them. The government understood the sensitivity of the matter. We felt those who are deprived should get an opportunity. We made changes to the Constitution and ensured it.

But it is equally true that there was a large section, which felt it should not be ignored only because they are poor from the general category.

It was a historic decision of the Modi government that we focused on them. It should not be seen as any sort of compensation against our stand on the SC/ST Act. In doing so, we have ensured there is no tampering with the rights of the Dalits and the backward communities. This has been done beautifully.

It should be remembered how social harmony was disturbed during [the implementation of the] Mandal [Commission report for 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes in 1990] Have you seen any such discontent this time? It has been handled properly.

Why has the BJP been forced to fall back upon nationalism even as you have named several welfare schemes that will work in your partys favour?

Nationalism is our commitment, and our party was born over this issue. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was a member of [Jawaharlal] Nehrus cabinet but he formed a separate party on the issue of nationalism. We did not raise this issue. We did not invite the terrorists to come and attack our jawans in Pulwama.

If CRPF [Central Reserve Police Force] jawans are killed and we maintained silence, you would have said this is an incompetent government.

If the government is doing its job and asking forces to respond adequately, we are accused of trying to politicise the issue.

But you leaders are raising this issue in every rally.

You [media] are raising it. Who is doing politics? The Opposition asks the government to deliver proof of the air strike [carried out in retaliation to the Pulwama attack]. If they are asking for proof, we have to give it. If the country needs development, it also needs security. National security is important.
Several villagers of Balawas village under Hisar-1st block and Nalwa assembly segment of Hisar district have decided to boycott the Lok Sabha elections, alleging local administration and government apathy.

The decision has been taken under the leadership of sarpanch Suresh Kumar and the villagers have begun staging dharna near the village bus stop. The locals say they will not allow any political party to come to the village for campaigning.

Balawas village sarpanch Suresh Kumar said, We took the decision due to government and local administration apathy. In our case, the village had around 57 acres of common land, which was sold off to some persons in connivance with the administration in the 1980s. After that, not even a single inch of land was left in the hands of the village panchayat. However, with the Supreme Court verdict that common land in the village cannot be sold to private persons, the panchayat reclaimed the ownership of the land.

He further said the state government mutated the ownership of the land in the favour of the village panchayat. Sarpanch Kumar claimed that on October 1, 2018, CM Manohar Lal Khattar announced the construction of a waterworks project at an estimated 1.85 crore. But the local administration objected to the project saying the land cannot be used for construction of waterworks due to non-availability of court orders. Even after the panchayat got the orders from the Punjab and Haryana high court, the project could not materialise as the local officials informed them that nobody had participated in the tender bid for construction of the waterworks.

Suresh Kumar further said the village panchayat even met the CM on August 14 and met the local MLA regarding the issue as the village is totally dependant on water supply from adjoining villages. The villagers too, have not been getting proper water supply over the past four years.

Protesters Shiv Kumar and Jasbir Singh said that, Under the leadership of village sarpanch, we took the decision on April 28, that not a single person will vote in the Lok Sabha election. There are almost 1,600 voters in the village with more than 450 resident families. The decision was taken after communicating with the chhatis biradari (36 community).

When contacted, local MLA Kamal Gupta said, No one has approached me recently, but if the villagers are facing any problem, the government will sort out their problem soon. Deciding not to vote is not a correct decision.

Despite repeated calls, Hisar deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Meena was not available for comments.

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In the middle of the 17th general elections, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury tells Saubhadra Chatterji in an interview that the Left, whose presence in national politics has diminished over the years, is ready to play a big role in forming an alternative, secular government at the Centre. Edited excerpts:

Polls in 69% of Lok Sabha seats are now over and the BJP claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power.

Look at the ground reality. In the first three phases, the BJP had 130 sitting MPs. Everyone knows they have bungled up and it would be very difficult to retain even half of their 2014 tally in these phases. The remaining phases have 241 seats, out of which the BJP won 161 in 2014. To stake a claim (to forming government), the BJP, in these phases, has to return with two-third seatsa near-impossible task for them. They might do a lot of tricks in the post-poll situation. They have their own man as the President. There is apprehension they might be called first as the single-largest party and given a long time to prove a majority. But as of now, they are nowhere near a comfortable majority...

Do you predict a hung Parliament?

It will be hung in a technical sense as no party will have a majority and therefore, there will be a coalition government. Remember, in India all alliances that occur pre-poll do not remain relevant to the post-poll situation. This goes back to even in the emergency-era. In 1977, Janata Party government was formed post-election. The arrangement to support VP Singh emerged after the polls {in 1989}. In 1996, the United Front was formed post-election. NDA {National Democratic Alliance} in 1998 and the UPA {United Progressive Alliance} in 2004 were formed post-election. This time too, the ruling alliance will be formed after the elections and we will give the people of India an alternative, secular government.

Read also: In east UP, Congress banks on Priyanka Gandhi in triangular contest

What would be the Lefts role in an alternative government?

We are committed to support a secular government. We will also help the government pursue policies which are completely different from those of the Modi government. To formulate people-oriented policies, the strength of the Left is important in Parliament. Remember, with the strength of the Left in UPA 1, unprecedented pro-people reforms were initiated such as right to Information, Forest Act, right to food security, the new land acquisition law, MGNREGA all these were products of that period as a result of the Lefts pressure.

You need more seats in West Bengal to claim a position of power.

The last two years in Bengal, there have been very big mass mobilizations. The crucial point is: will our support base be allowed to vote? That is where the political battle always takes place in Bengal. In the run-up to the last election, 171 comrades lost lives under Trinamools attack. This time too, efforts are on by Trinamool to resist Left supporters from voting. They beat up our polling agents. Election Commission says central forces will protect voters from 250 metres from polling booths. But who will protect them on their way from home?

Left goofed up a seat pact with the Congress.

Our objective was clear: defeat BJP and defeat Trinamool. We offered that there should be no mutual contest between the Congress and the Left in six seats. The Congress should answer, why they did not accept this proposal. Now, we appeal to the people as the only consistent anti-BJP, anti-Trinamool force. And people are responding positively to us.

Read also: Uncertainty over SPs new Varanasi pick Tej Bahadur

Isnt it an insult to injury for you that Rahul Gandhi is fighting against the Left in Wayanad?

Its unfortunate that he chose to contest in Kerala. I told them, your grandmother, your mother contested from Karnataka. How do you explain your stand that instead of fighting there where you have to defeat the BJP you came to defeat the Left Democratic Front?

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Though there are over 20 days for the Lok Sabha results to be declared, the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) alliance seems to have been overcome by nerves with leaders from both parties outdoing one another to find reasons for the lack of enthusiasm among cadres for alliance candidates.

On Wednesday, state higher education minister GT Deve Gowda fired a fresh salvo when he said that his party workers in the Mysuru constituency had supported BJP candidate Pratap Simha and not CH Vijayshankar, the Congress candidate. In terms of the coalition, both sides are at fault. We should have fielded our candidates separately and fought the elections, he said.

GT Deve Gowda, a senior JD(S) leader, said the seat-sharing discussions went on for too long. Our leaders should have completed everything two months before the polls In some places [the coalition] worked well, but in some other places, for example at Udbur here, it was like panchayat polls where Congress workers worked for their party and our workers supported BJP, GT Deve Gowda said.

This is not the first instance where leaders from both parties, which formed an alliance on May 15 last year, have taken pot shots at one another. The digs have served as regular reminders of the turbulent nature of the coalition between two parties that have been at each others throats in the southern Old Mysuru region, where the BJP is a marginal force.

Also read| Its unfortunate that Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Kerala, against Left: Sitaram Yechury

Criticising GT Deve Gowda, Karnataka state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the statement seemed to reveal that the minister had not delivered on the responsibility given to him.

The coalition was formed a long time ago and it was also decided that we would contest Mysuru quite a while ago. I dont understand how he has worked because his statement is objectionable, Gundu Rao said.

He said that the in 80% of the areas the coalition has worked well, but in some in some places like Kolar, Mandya and Mysuru there have been problems.

Gundu Raos admission that there were problems that the parties could not overcome in the Old Mysuru region does not portend well for the coalition. According to a senior JD(S) leader, who did not wish to be named, the coalition was unlikely to survive if the results for the 28 Lok Sabha seats were not in its favour.

It is obvious to anybody who is involved in the coalition that adverse results will mean the end of the coalition government in the state, we will just not be able to survive it, the JD(S) leader said.

The problem is also compounded by the fact that the coalitions apprehensions arent limited to the Mysuru seat, that former chief minister Siddaramaiah had set out to win at all costs to restore his pride after he was defeated by Deve Gowda in the

Chamundeshwari seat in the district in last years state polls.

In Mandya, where chief minister HD Kumaraswamys son Nikhil fought against independent candidate veteran actor Sumalatha, wife of the late film star and former union minister MH Ambareesh, there are fears that a surprise upset might be in the offing.

Also read: Im boycotting you: Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy tells media

Mandya turned into a prestige battle and some Congress leaders were accused by the chief minister of not having supported his son. State food and civil supplies minister BZ Zameer Ahmed admitted to as much on Wednesday. Apart from Mandya, there were no problems anywhere. Even there, Congress leaders just sat at home, they didnt work for Sumalatha, he said.

The BJP, which is waiting in the wings to form the government should the coalition collapse, claimed that this was an admission that the coalition had fared poorly in the state.

Former deputy chief minister R Ashok of the BJP said: There is a Modi wave primarily in Karnataka. GT Deve Gowda has given voice to the opinion of the people of the state. The workers of JD(S) seem to have decided that this time they would vote for the nation and this statement has made it clear that the coalition is losing here.

With 104 MLAs out of 222, the BJP is only nine short of a majority in the 224-member assembly. The coalition, meanwhile, enjoys the support of 117 MLAs at present, including the Speaker. Along with the Lok Sabha polls, leaders in the state are also keeping a close watch closely at the by-elections to the Kundgol and Chincholi assembly seats, voting for which will be held on May 19, and results will be declared on May 23.

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A day after the conclusion of the fourth phase of the general elections, senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Majeed Memon on Tuesday said NCP chief Sharad Pawar has never said he is not ready to become prime minister but has only maintained he is not in the race for that position.

Memon said Pawar is the most acceptable face in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and should be chosen unanimously for the PM post, in case the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) does not come back to power.

Pawar never said he is not ready. He has always maintained that he is not in the race. But I am sure when such a situation arises he will take up the responsibility and will not run away, Memon said.

Memon, a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from the NCP, is considered close to Pawar.

Pawar had taken the lead in bringing the opposition parties together for the general elections against the Narendra Modi government. Memons statement comes two days after Pawar said West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati would be the top contenders for the PM position, if the NDA fails to get a clear majority.

Pawar did not mention Congress president Rahul Gandhi as one of the possible contenders.

Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati didnt like Congress either and without Congress, UPA will not be able to get the magic figure to form its government. Rahul Gandhi himself has said that he is not in the race for the PM post. In such a scenario, I believe he (Pawar) is the most acceptable face among the opposition parties, Memon said.
The Varanasi district election officer (DEO) issued a notice on Tuesday to Tej Bahadur Yadav, a former Border Security Force (BSF) constable who is the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from the temple town taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for allegedly making two different claims in his nomination papers.

Yadav, 43, who was sacked from the force in 2017 on charges of indiscipline after complaining in a video about the quality of food served to the troopers, had filed his nomination as an independent candidate last week. Later on Monday, after the SP replaced its earlier pick Shalini Yadav with him, Yadav filed another set of nomination papers.

Legal adviser to the Election Commission, SK Mendiratta said, There is a rule under the Representation of Peoples Act that disqualifies a government employee dismissed from service from contesting elections for a period of five years.

According to the district poll authorities, Yadav filed different responses on a question seeking information if the applicant has held an office under the government of India or under the government of a state and whether he has been dismissed for corruption or for disloyalty to the state.

In response to the query in the first nomination paper, which you filed on April 24, you wrote Yes, the notice read. In the second nomination (which you filed on April 29), in the affidavit submitted by you, it was mentioned that you mistakenly wrote yes in the column, the notice added.

Yadav also submitted an affidavit that he inadvertently wrote Yes in his first paper.

In the notice, Varanasi district magistrate and DEO Surendra Singh asked Yadav to submit a no objection certificate from the Election Commission of India by 11 am on Wednesday so that a decision on his candidature could be taken.

Yadav alleged that the step was taken at the instance of ruling BJP. PM Modi has seen his defeat in advance. This is the reason why he doesnt want me to contest from Varanasi. I had furnished all the documents regarding my dismissal from the BSF, he said. SP spokesman Manoj Rai Dhupchandi said Shalini Yadav would remain the partys backup candidate.

101 file nominations in varanasi

As many as 101 people have filed nomination from Varanasi parliamentary seat, from where PM Modi is a candidate. A total of 102 people, including farmers, Tej Bahadur Yadav and 25 turmeric farmers among others are in fray. Around a dozen people have filed nominations from the little known political parties.
Ajay Maken, Congress candidate from New Delhi constituency, is contesting his fourth consecutive election from the same Lok Sabha seat. He has won the seat twice  defeating Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Jagmohan in 2004 and Vijay Goel in 2009. He lost to BJPs Meenakshi Lekhi in 2014.

Maken,55, claims his experience gives him an edge over BJPs Lekhi and Aam Aadmi Partys Brijesh Goyal. In a candid interview, Maken said without an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party, winning all seats in Delhi will be tough.

Excerpts:

If you have to pick three key issues in New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, what would they be?

Stopping the sealing drive will be my top priority. Sealing had happened even when I was the Union urban development minister in 2006. That time, I stopped it within a month by making over 170 amendments to the Master Plan for Delhi and notifying over 3,000 streets.

The next step will be resolving the issues of government employees, which includes addressing anomalies of the Seventh Pay Commission. Third, will be betterment of slums. I will restart in-situ slum rehabilitation project. We had started the Kathputli Colony rehabilitation project through the Delhi Development Authority, which had to be stopped later due to some disputes.

Also Watch | Lok Sabha Elections: No Cong-AAP gathbandhan in Delhi; is it advantage BJP?

But considering the political situation is quite different now, will it be equally easy to stop the sealing drive?

Why do you think that if I become an MP, I wont be a minister? (laughs) Otherwise too, an MP is an important functionary of the government even if he/she is in the Opposition. I am not like the AAP or the BJP MPs, who keep shifting blame. I am confident that if I go to a minister or an officer with a solution to a problem, they will act on it. If they dont, they will face me in the Parliament. I am not the kind wholl sit on a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhis statue in Parliament. I am a man of action and I know how to get work done.

Also Read | Lok Sabha elections 2019: Fight for New Delhis Lok Sabha constituency has local issues at hand

You were strongly in favour of a Congress-AAP alliance. Now that it is a triangular contest, do you think the fight has become tougher for the Congress?

Had there been an alliance, we would have won on all seven Delhi seats by margins of 2-3 lakh each. Now, we wont win all seven seats and the margins will be smaller. But, it is also about conviction. When I stepped into the political arena, no one gave me a chance against BJPs three-time MP Jagmohan. But, I defeated him by over 12,000 votes in 2004. In the 2009, I defeated BJPs Vijay Goel by about 2 lakh votes. So, in the past also I have seen these moments and I am sure the real issues of unemployment, sealing, injustice to Central government employees and slums will make people vote wisely.

Do you think anti-BJP vote will split?

Anti-BJP votes wont split much. People are going to vote for the Congress because our candidates have huge administrative and political experience. Many of us also have an unblemished track record.

Also Read | AAP, Congress battle for Muslim votes as BJP banks on split in Delhi

What do you think of AAPs candidates? All of them are fighting the elections for the first time

People do not have much confidence in the AAP candidates. But, I must say that some of them have made their mark.

Who is a bigger competition for you - the AAP or the BJP?

This is a national election. So, the Congress is in a direct fight with the rival national party, which is the BJP.

What is Congress stand on full statehood for Delhi?

Our manifesto is very clear about full statehood. We have categorically said that barring three things  land, law and order and police  the Delhi government should have full administrative powers and the Lieutenant Governor should act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers.

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Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday barred the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) candidate for the Bhopal parliamentary constituency, Pragya Singh Thakur, from campaigning for three days for violating the Model Code of Conduct by stirring up communal feelings. The poll watchdog said in its order that the decision came in light of her comments against slain IPS officer Hemant Karkare and on the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The ban would come into force from 6.00 am on Thursday.

The EC added that while Thakur apologised for her comment on Karkare, it found them unwarranted. An FIR has also been filed against her under section 188 (disobedience to a public servants order) of the Indian Penal Code. ...the Commission has carefully gone through the contents and averments made in the aforesaid reply of Sadhavi Pragya Singh Thakur and found it provocative and also on religious lines that have the propensity of spreading hatred among various communities..., the order read.

Thakur, one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, where six people died and at least 100 were injured, triggered a political storm earlier this month when she said her curse had killed Karkare, who died while fighting terrorists during the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks. Karkare was the chief of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad that charged Thakur in the Malegaon case. The Congress and other opposition parties condemned her remarks while the BJP had distanced itself.

The EC said that in her reply after its show-cause notice, Thakur said that it was her right to speak about what had happened to her in custody. Thakur has alleged that she was tortured while in custody by Karkare on the behest of the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. She added that her comments should be taken into consideration in its entirety, and blamed the media for taking out a part without context.

Thakur also stoked a controversy when she said she was proud of her participation in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Uttar Pradeshs Ayodhya in 1992. In reply to another EC notice on her Babri Masjid comments, she said it was not her intention to hurt the feelings of any community, caste, language or followers of any religion. The EC said that the Bhopal district poll officer did not find her reply satisfactory.

Congress candidate from Bhopal, Digvijaya Singh, welcomed the order. It is natural when the BJP fields (a person) accused of terrorism and those (who) indulge in the politics of communal hatred. It would be better had the nomination of such candidates was cancelled for safeguarding the ideals of democratic values, he tweeted. Bhopal votes on May 12.

Thakur said she would appeal the decision. I will abide by the law. Legal experts are looking into the EC decision. I will appeal against the same, she said.
, Apr 30 (PTI) Actor-turned-politician and Congress candidate from Patna Sahib constituency Shatrughan Sinha has movable and immovable assets of Rs 112.22 crore.

Sinha, who joined the Congress recently after switching his loyalty of more than three decades with BJP, is locked in a direct electoral battle with Union Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Sinha filed his papers on Monday, the last date for filing of nomination papers for Patna Sahib constituency which would go to polls on May 19.

As per the affidavit, Sinha has movable assets of Rs 8.60 crore and immovable assets of Rs 103.61 crore while his wife Poonam Shatrughan Sinha has movable assets of Rs 18.67 crore and immovable assets of Rs 62.65 crore.

Sinha, who graduated from FTII, Pune in 1967, has shown Rs 4,58,232 as cash in hand while his wife has Rs 5,95, 366 as cash in hand.

The filmstar has Rs 2.74 crore as fixed deposits in bank and Rs 29.10 lakh as investments in shares, bonds, mutual funds while his wife has FD of Rs 10.68 crore and Rs 2.96 crore as investments in shares, bonds, mutual funds, the affidavit said.

The actor possess gold, silver and precious stones valued at Rs 1.03 crore while Poonam Sinha possess jewellery items worth Rs 1.15 crore, the affidavit said.

According to affidavit, Sinha possesses seven cars including one ambassador, two camry, one each Fortuner, Innova, Maruti Ciaz and Scorpio all worth Rs 14.80 lakh whereas his wife has a Mercedes car of 2013 make worth Rs 48.20 lakh.

Both husband and wife have not taken any loans from banks or financial institutions but both owe an outstanding due in crores to be paid to their actor daughter Sonakshi Sinha.

As on March 2019, the outstanding dues that Sinha owes to his daughter stood at Rs 10.59 crore while his wife has taken Rs 16.18 crore from her daughter.

As per the affidavit, Sinhas declared annual income reduced to Rs 63,87,233 in 2018-19 from Rs 1,28,38,400 in 2015-16 whereas his wifes annual income has increased to Rs 1,34,24,388 in 2018-19 from Rs 53,94,830 in 2014-15.

Sinhas rival and BJP candidate Ravi Shankar Prasad and his wife have less assets in comparison to Bollywood star and his wife Poonam Sinha.

Prasad has movable assets of Rs 18.35 crore and immovable assets of Rs 3.74 crore whereas his wife Maya Shankar has movable assets of Rs 1.43 crore but does not possess any immovable assets, as per the affidavit filed by Prasad in his nomination papers.

There is no outstanding loans or dues of any bank, financial institutions pending against Prasad or his wife, it said.

Prasad owns three vehicles - Toyota Fortuner, Honda Accord and Scorpio SUV worth Rs 48,70,513 while his wife possess a Honda city car worth Rs 11.50 lakh, the affidavit said.

Maya Shankar possess 550 gram of gold worth Rs 17.05 lakh while the Law minister has 20 gram of gold worth Rs 62,400.

Prasad, who is a well-known Supreme Court lawyer, did his graduation and post graduation from Patna College and he completed his LLB from Patna Law College in 1976-79.
Prime Ministry Narendra Modi attacked the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance on Tuesday and said that they worried about the BJPs popularity among the masses.

Addressing a rally at Ambedkar Nagar near Ayodhya, PM Modi said, Whenever they see the support for me among the people, the blood pressure of SP and BSP shoots up.

The Prime Minister accused the SP and BSP of using BR Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohias name for political gains and not implementing their ideals. Be it SP, BSP or Congress, they all did the same. Behen ji (Mayawati) used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but her actions were opposite to what he stood for. SP used the name of Lohia ji but they destroyed the law and order situation in UP when they were in power, Modi said.

Also read: Ban him for 72 years: Akhilesh Yadav stings PM Modi for Bengal speech

He continued to target the opposition on tackling terrorism and asserted that only a strong government at the Centre can fight terror. He said that the terror factories across the border are hoping for a weak government in India.

From our neighbourhood, all they do is export terror and terrorism. It is important for a government that can tackle terrorism to come to power, said PM Modi.

Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati have been involved in a war of words with the Prime Minister in the last few weeks. Akhilesh Yadav had demanded a 72 hour ban for Modis speech at a poll rally in Bengal where he claimed 40 Trinamool MLAs are in touch with him.

The Election Commission has recently barred several leaders including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu from campaigning for 72 hours due to poll code violations.

The SP-BSP combine has fielded Tej Bahadur Yadav, the BSF jawan who was sacked for his video complaining about the food in 2017, against PM Modi from Varanasi. Modi had won the seat in 2014 with a 56 per cent share of the votes polled.

Also read: As Gujarat CM, Modi got his caste in backward list for poll gain: Mayawati
Ramkaran Singh, 53, a small-scale farmer from Bamla village in Bhiwani bought a new motorcycle recently. His son, Amit, cleared the state governments group D exam earlier this year.

No one in our family has ever got a government job. It is because this government is honest and gives jobs on merit that my son cleared the exam and will work as a beldar, said Singh. In the coming Lok Sabha polls, Singhs vote is reserved for the BJP. He says he is impressed by PM Narendra Modi and CM Manohar Lal Khattar. But he has no opinion on MP Dharambir Singh, the BJP candidate. I am not aware if he has done anything, he says.

Dharambir himself is not seeking votes on the merit of his work, but rather reminding people of PM Modi and state BJP governments achievements. His speeches to voters in Bhiwani and Mahendragarh include talks of nationalism, free and fair recruitment in government jobs, a befitting reply to Pakistan and militants in Kashmir, and so on.

Dharambir faces a stiff competition from former Congress MP Shruti Choudhry, who is the granddaughter of former state CM Bansi Lal and daughter of Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry. In 2014, Shruti had finished third, losing out to Dharambir by a margin of 1.3 lakh votes and Rao Bahadur Singh of INLD by 7,000 votes. This time, she and her mother are going the extra mile to ensure her victory.

We are counting on the work we accomplished in our time. We got this constituency in the ambit of National Capital Region (NCR), provided water to all villages and started many health and education projects. But the BJP, after coming to power, put a full stop to all our development, says Shruti.

Also Read | Jats and Muslims voters dominate Haryanas Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat

Congress nominee from Bhiwani Mahendragarh constituency Shruti Choudhry campaigning, Monday, April 30, 2019 (Manoj Dhaka / HT Photo )

Bhiwani district used to be the stronghold of INLD. However, after the party split following a bitter clash between Chautalas, the Jat votes it had in its kitty may be lost to the Congress. This has put Shruti back in the race.

Like most constituencies in Haryana, the caste factor dominates Bhiwani-Mahendragarh constituency as well. With a population of over 3 lakh, Jats form the largest majority while Yadavs come second followed by Brahmins, Gurjars, Mahajans and Punjabis.

It appears to be a straight fight between Dharambir and Shruti. Initially, it seemed JJPs Swati Yadav could complicate things, but her weak campaign is not impressive enough to make a significant difference. Bhiwani voters favoured Ajay Chautalas family in Bhiwani. If INLDs offshoot JJP had nominated any of the Chautala family members from here, it still had a chance of getting the Jat votes. But now, Congress will get Jat votes, and BJP will get non-jats votes, says Somesh Sharma, a political analyst in Bhiwani.

The constituency, comprising districts of Bhiwani, Mahendragarh and Charkhi Dadri has a distinct demographic preference as well. While voters in Mahendragarh are happy with PM Modi and BJPs work, those in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri may seek changes as the farming community remains apprehensive of schemes like Fasal Bima Yojna and demands loan waivers.

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The Virar police on Tuesday detained a 30-year-old man for allegedly murdering a 27-year-old married woman, who he was in a relationship with. Police said the accused was cheating on the woman and murdered her after she confronted him about it.

According to the police, the accused in the case, Amol Modak, worked with the victim, Mayuri More, at an imitation jewellery store in Borivli.

The victim discovered about the accuseds affair. She called him to her home in Virar on Sunday and confronted him about his affair with another woman. The two got into a heated argument, and the victim slapped the accused. In a fit of rage, the accused took a kitchen knife and slit her throat. He then fled the spot, said a police officer from Virar police station.

When the victims husband, Mahesh, 37, returned home, he saw Mores body on the floor and approached the police.

During investigation, the police checked Mores call records and discovered that she had called Modak many times, following which, they detained him for questioning. However, no arrests were made until the time of going to press, police informed. A case of murder has been registered.
Game of Thrones actor Gemma Whelan, better known as Yara Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, is one of the most fearless female characters on the show who gives men a tough fight on the field. But off the camera, Gemma is a caring mother to a toddler who accompanied her to the sets for the shooting of the eighth season. The actor has now shared a behind-the-scenes picture on her Instagram account where she is seen breastfeeding her baby girl.

Gemma is seen in makeup as she was captivated by her uncle Euron Greyjoy on the show. Enjoy tonights episode guys...! Yaras got some big news... #got #hbo #plottwistahoy, she captioned the picture.

Gemma Whelan in a still from Game of Thrones season 8 episode 1.

The first episode saw her being rescued by brother Theon Greyjoy, who then seeks her permission to leave for Winterfell in order to fight against the army of the dead. The fans were impressed by the actors multi-tasking skills and applauded her efforts. Many called the picture empowering and brave with the channel HBO being the first ones to respond to the picture.

The official HBO Instagram handle called her, aggressive fighter, loving mother in the comments section. A user wrote, Proud of you, mama. Nothing like nursing sessions between battle scenes, Im sure. Another wrote, Yara. The ultimate feminist that women need. Woop woop. One more user commented, Oh my lovely @gemwhelan to hear you worked and got to breastfeed on set while you filmed the last few episodes made me so happy. should be a inspiration for other work places to be more adaptable. My journey of Motherhood could have really appreciate from this.

Also read: Russo Brothers pit Thanos against Night King, fans call it Endgame of Thrones

Some fans even dropped funny comments such as, What is fed may never cry. One viewer commented, I hear Giants Milk is all the rage these days. Another wrote, Thats Yaras secret weapon on defeating the Night King...a baby!!!

As some of the fans raised concern if the picture was a spoiler, she revealed that it was taken after she filmed one of her scenes for the first episode of Season 8.

Gemma had earlier revealed during her appearance on Good Morning Britain in April that her daughter was on set for the entire duration of filming for the shows final season. She had spoken about how it was very difficult for her as she was tied into her armour most of the time.

Follow @htshowbiz for more

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A man armed with a pistol opened fire on students in a classroom building at a North Carolina university during the last day of classes Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four others, police said. Officers who had gathered ahead of a campus concert raced over and disarmed the suspect in the room where the shooting happened.

The shooting prompted a lockdown at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and caused panic across campus as students sheltered in place.

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said authorities received a call around 4:40 p.m. that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students. He said officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the scene, where they apprehended the male suspect. Authorities did not immediately release the suspects identity.

Our officers actions definitely saved lives, Baker said at a news conference.

He said two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition late Tuesday. He said a fourth persons injuries were less serious.

Monfia Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots ring out. She said she began urging students fleeing the danger to go into a parking deck for cover.

I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me, she said. We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if were in the parking deck and theres a shooter and we dont know where he is, he wont have a clear shot.

She added: My thought was, Ive lived my life, Ive had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, thats what I was going to do.

Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friends art show, described a chaotic scene.

Just loud bangs. A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind, he said.

Shortly after UNC Charlotte issued a campus lockdown, aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department later said that the campus had been secured and that officers were going through buildings to let people who had sheltered in place know that it was safe.

The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is located northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas.

Spenser Gray, a junior, said she was in a campus building near where the shooting happened watching another students presentation when they were alerted to the shooting.

During his presentation which was on one of the campus computers, a popup came up ... that there was an active shooter, she said, adding that she immediately felt panic and worried the gunman could come to her classroom. We had no idea where he was ... so we were just expecting them at any moment coming into the classroom.

Susan Harden, an UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner, was at home when she heard of the shooting. She went to a staging area, she said, to provide support.

Harden said she has taught inside the Kennedy building, where the shootings occurred.

It breaks my heart. Were torn up about whats happened, Harden said. Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety.
United Nations on Wednesday designated Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar as a global terrorist for being associated with Al-Qaida. The UNSCs Sanctions Committee 1267 decision came after China, which had blocked the proposal four times, lifted its hold decision following the global pressure, mainly from France, UK and the US. Here is the complete summary of reasons put out by the United Nations Security Council on blacklisting Masood Azhar.

Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi

In accordance with paragraph 13 of resolution 1822 (2008) and subsequent related resolutions, the ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee makes accessible a narrative summary of reasons for the listing for individuals, groups, undertakings and entities included in the ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.

Date on which the narrative summary became available on the Committees website: 1 May 2019

Reason for listing:

Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi was listed on 1 May 2019 pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4 of resolution 2368 (2017) as being associated with Al-Qaida for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of, supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to, recruiting for, otherwise supporting acts or activities of, and other acts or activities indicating association with:

Jaish-i-Mohammed (QDe.019).

Additional information:

Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi founded Jaish-i-Mohammed (QDe.019) (JEM) upon his release from prison in India in 1999. Azhar was released from prison in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan. Azhar has also financially supported JEM since its founding.

The UN Security Council listed JEM on October 17, 2001, as being associated with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden, and the Taliban for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of, supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to or otherwise supporting acts or activities of Al-Qaida (QDe.004), Usama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Azhar is also a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat ul-Mujahidin / HUM (QDe.008), aka Harakat ul-Ansar; most of these groups members subsequently joined JEM under Azhars leadership. In 2008, JEM recruitment posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces.

Related listed individuals and entities:

Jaish-i-Mohammed (QDe.019), listed on 17 Oct. 2001

Harakat ul-Mujahidin / HUM (QDe.008), listed on 6 Oct. 2001
The United States of America has called for the different parties involved in the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist to move forward together on the issue.

Alice Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, while talking to journalists at the US Embassy in Islamabad, said: We would encourage the parties to move forward with the designation (of Azhar). It reaffirms the centrality of UN and UN role in designating terrorists.

She noted: We believe the designation process should be technical in nature, even assessment of evidence and countries moving forward to ensure that UN process works and works well and the international community is able to take corrective action against any terrorist, whoever they are, wherever they are located.

On Tuesday, China had hinted at progress having been made on Azhars designation by the United Nations 1267 Sanctions Committee, as the US called to resolve the contentious matter, local newspaper Daily Dawn reported on Wednesday.

The Dawn report quoted Pakistani officials as saying that China could lift its technical hold leading to Azhars designation, while developments in this regard are likely to be shared by the Pakistan Foreign Office with the media at a special briefing.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, speaking at a media briefing in Beijing, said: We support the listing issue being settled within the 1267 committee through dialogue and consultation and I believe this is the consensus of most members. Second, the relevant consultations are going on within the committee and have achieved some progress. Third, I believe, with the joint efforts of all parties, this issue can be properly resolved.

India has been seeking Azhars listing since 2016, but the latest push came after the February 14 Pulwama attack which was claimed by the JeM. The Indian resolution was backed by UNSC permanent members the US, the United Kingdom and France. China had, however, halted the process by applying a technical hold for the fourth time.

This time, the US, the UK and France, in a change of tactics, plan to table a resolution in the Security Council.

Ambassador Wells was on a two-day trip to Pakistan during which she met Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat, Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood, and several other key officials. Her visit coincided with the trip of US Special Envoy for Afghan Peace and Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and the two together held a few meetings.
Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was on Wednesday designated a global terrorist by the UN after China withdrew its long-standing block to the move, marking a major diplomatic and political victory in the Indian governments efforts to counter cross-border terrorism.

Azhar was listed by the UNs 1267 Sanctions Committee for his association with al-Qaeda and his role in financing, planning and facilitating terrorist acts by the JeM, shortly after officials announced in Islamabad that Pakistan would no longer object to his designation  a sign to iron brother China to lift the technical hold it had placed on four attempts to sanction Azhar.

Hindustan Times first reported on Tuesday that China was expected to lift its hold on listing Azhar at the UN on May 1.

Following the designation, Pakistan will be required to take three steps  freeze the funds and financial assets of Azhar, enforce a travel ban on him, and cut off his access to arms and related materials.

Also read| Big victory: PM Modi on Masood Azhars listing as global terrorist by UN

At 6.30 pm IST, Indias permanent representative to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, informed Sanjeev Singla, private secretary to PM, about the listing and asked him to brief the boss. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been inquiring about the matter since morning, he could not be directly informed by Singla as the premier was in the midst of an election rally.

Singla is believed to have informed National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who rushed to the PMO from Sardar Patel Bhawan and informed Modi of the development on a secure line.

WATCH | PM Modi hails big victory after UN sanctions on Jaish chief Masood Azhar

Shortly after the February 14 suicide attack in Pulwama that killed 40 Indian troopers and was claimed by JeM, France, with the backing of the US and the UK, moved a proposal at the 1267 Sanctions Committee to sanction 50-year-old Azhar. After a 10-day period to consider the matter, China blocked the proposal on March 13 by saying more time was needed to discuss the issue.

This angered the US, which threatened to take the matter to the UN Security Council, where discussions are held in public, unlike consultations held behind closed doors by the sanctions committee. The heavy lifting was done by the US as it wanted the terrorist tag for Azhar during consultations on April 23, but China and Pakistan wanted it to happen after the Indian elections as they didnt want the listing to benefit Modi, people familiar with developments said.

The date was then moved by the US to April 30, though China was insisting on May 15. A compromise of May 1 was reached after the US hinted it would take the matter to the Security Council, the people said.

Also Read | Masood Azhar: Man behind the terror tentacles, with links to al-Qaeda, Taliban

India and its Western allies also continued to work with China throughout this period. During a visit to Beijing last week, foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale shared evidence on the role of Azhar and JeM in terrorist attacks with Chinese officials, including foreign minister Wang Yi.

A fifth proposal to sanction Azhar was moved by France, the US and UK last month. In an apparent face-saving measure for Pakistan at the behest of China, this proposal didnt contain references to the Pulwama attack and terrorism in Kashmir, the people said.

The statement issued by the UN on Azhars listing referred extensively to his links with al-Qaeda, its slain chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban, and his role in supporting and facilitating these terrorist entities and providing them arms but made no mention of Kashmir, where JeM has carried out several devastating attacks, or Pakistan, where Azhar is based.

The statement referred to Azhars role as former leader of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen but made no mention of this groups activities in Kashmir. The statement also referred to Azhars activities only till 2008, with no mention of attacks such as the 2016 assault on Pathankot airbase blamed on JeM.

Also Read| Masood Azhars listing is one small step in Indias fight against terrorism

Indian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, brushed aside Pakistans efforts to play up these and highlighted the symbolism of Beijing removing its block despite its strong relationship with Islamabad and how this paved the way for sanctioning Azhar after 10 years.

As long as the designation is done, a long-pending demand in our campaign against terrorism has been met. There were some who had questioned Indias quiet diplomacy on this issue but this listing shows high-decibel and high-octane diplomacy isnt always needed, said an Indian official.

Since the February 21 unanimous resolution by the Security Council named JeM as being responsible for the Pulwama attack and talked about nailing the perpetrators, India and its allies decided to nail Azhar rather than get into peripheral issues, the officials said.

Also Read | Masood Azhars listing is one small step in Indias fight against terrorism | Editorial

The sense of triumph among Indian diplomats was reflected in a tweet by Syed Akbaruddin, Indias permanent representative to the UN: Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support.

Akbaruddin described the listing as a good day for those who would like to pursue the approach of zero tolerance for terrorism. He added it was a significant outcome because we have been at it for several years.

I am grateful to the many many countries who were supportive of this effort. The designating states, that is the US, the UK and France, also several others within the (Security) Council and outside the Council, who came forward without any restraints and supported this Indian effort at not tolerating a terrorist, he added.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a statement that the designation of Azhar is a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers.

Indian officials said China had been forced to choose sides on the issue of terrorism and there will now be more pressure on Islamabad to crack down on terrorists operating from its soil.

A statement from Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said all designations of terrorists should be done in an objective, unbiased and professional manner and based on solid evidence and consensus among all parties. He added, Recently, relevant countries revised and re-submitted the materials for the listing proposal to the 1267 Committee. After careful study of the revised materials and taking into consideration the opinions of relevant parties concerned, China does not have objection to the listing proposal.

The proper settlement of the issue of Azhar again showed that in international counter-terrorism cooperation, parties have to uphold rules of the relevant UN body, resolve differences and build consensus through dialogue, and prevent politicising technical issues, Geng added.

The statement also contended Pakistan had made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism and Beijing will continue to support Islamabads efforts to combat terror.

Azhar formed JeM on his release from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines flight that was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan by Pakistani terrorists. The UN Security Council listed JeM as a terrorist group in October 2001 for its links with al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

However, experts have questioned Pakistans enforcement of listing measures imposed by the UNs 1267 Sanctions Committee on other terrorist leaders such as Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Saeed was designated a global terrorist by the UN shortly after the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the US has offered a $10 million bounty for him, but he continues to operate freely, raise funds and recruit members for his group.

The first proposal to list Azhar at the UN was moved by India in 2009, and the second was moved by India with the support of the US, the UK and France in 2016. France, the US and the UK moved the third proposal in 2017 and the fourth one earlier this year. They were all blocked by China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council.

Wang Dehua, South Asia expert at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, described the listing of Azhar as a fruit of last weeks meeting between Indias foreign secretary and his Chinese counterpart.

This is a win-win situation for both sides in counter-terrorism cooperation, which is not only beneficial to Indian national stability and to promote the peace process between India and Pakistan, while signifying solidarity of SCO members. It will have a very good impact on Sino-Indian ties, Weng said.
Britains embattled Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday sacked defence secretary Gavin Williamson following an investigation into the leak of sensitive issues related to Chinese telecom major Huawei and its potential role in building the UKs 5G network.

May wrote to Williamson in a strongly-worded letter her conclusion following the investigation that provided compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure during last weeks meeting of the National Security Council.

She added: It is therefore with great sadness that I have concluded that I can no longer have full confidence in you as Secretary of State for Defence and a minister in my Cabinet and ask you to leave (the) Government.

Williamson, who previously denied leaking the information to the Daily Telegraph, was soon replaced in the post by women and equalities minister, Penny Mordaunt, who becomes the first woman defence secretary in the country's history.

The disclosure that the May government was considering offering a role to the Chinese company in non-core sectors of the network prompted fury from Britains allies, including the United States, who went to the extent of threatening a halt to intelligence cooperation.

Cabinet ministers who attended the security council meeting went public with their denial that they leaked information, including Williamson. After being sacked, Williamson, however, continued to deny any role in the leak.

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A foreign mastermind may have planned the Sri Lankan Easter Sunday bombings, President Maithripala Sirisena told Sky News.

Sirisena also warned it may be possible Islamic State has launched a new strategy by targeting smaller countries, Sky News said on Wednesday.

The April 21 attacks on hotels and churches in Sri Lanka killed more than 250 people, including 40 foreign nationals.

Authorities suspect members of two previously little-known groups - National Thawheedh Jamaath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim - of carrying out the attacks, although Islamic State has claimed responsibility.
The US led the world community in welcoming the listing of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it expects all UN members to enforce an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo on him.

While a UN statement and the sanctions committees narrative summary of the reasons for listing Azhar did not name Pakistan, where he is based, the US statement did. We appreciate...Imran Khans stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow the operation of militant and terrorist groups from its territory, the statement said.

France, which backed the proposal to sanction Azhar, welcomed the move and said it signals the successful realisation of its efforts. For many years, France had been working for the sanctioning of Azhar, the head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack, it said in a statement. Britain said the designation of Azhar was a positive development for stability in South Asia and long overdue.

In Islamabad, Pakistans Foreign Office spokesman said Pakistan had advocated the need for respecting technical rules of the UNs 1267 Sanctions Committee and opposed its politicisation.
Greta Paa-Kerner returned to her alma mater April 27 to receive the prestigious Alumni Achievement Award 2019 from UCSDs Graduate School of Global Policy and Strategy. The award is given to alumni for outstanding success in their careers and contributions to society. Paa-Kerner graduated from UCSD in 1996 and now lives in England. Paa-Kerner is also a Torrey Pines High School graduate and Del Mar native.

Paa-Kerner has journeyed far in her professional life  both literally and figuratively. Her career choices have been as diverse as the countries shes visited, including Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and Asia. Ive always wanted to work internationally, just as when I was in school I always wanted to study abroad, explains Paa-Kerner. When I had the opportunity to work at Hewlett Packard in Rancho Bernardo with the printer division based in Barcelona, I thought I had died and gone to heaven because it was my ambition to work in that division. She then went on to work with a large advertising firm in the UK before starting her own successful company, designing her own home products.

Paa-Kerners next professional move is sure to surprise anyone. She went from the design/arts world to international banking, working at Barclays Bank in London as a financial wealth advisor.

Greta Paa-Kerner receiving her UCSD Alumni Achievement Award. Courtesy

I am a very creative person and if I could sit around and do arts and crafts in a studio all day, I would love it, she admits. But London is a financial capital and so professionals who live there inevitably end up having some sort of brush with the financial industry. I chose to go into banking because it was a great opportunity, and because it pays the bills much better than art. With three kids and private-school fees to think about, it wasnt time to be an artist. I will definitely pick up where I left off when my husband and I dont have as many mouths to feed.

After banking, Paa-Kerner furthered her career in the realm of higher education. She is now the head of business engagement at Bucks New University in England, overseeing the development of innovation hubs and the enterprise function of the university. According to Leslie Bell-Friedel, who is an alumna herself and nominated Paa-Kerner for the award, Greta oversees the growth and development of the universitys relationships with businesses and other organizations including knowledge exchange and partnership opportunities. As a GPS graduate, this is the heart of what the program does for its students -- ensuring that the business world is connected to the university so the education and experiences students have are relevant and students are equipped to hit the ground running after graduation.
I do not have a parachute

BY THE TIME Lyndon B. Johnson became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, the United States had already made a significant commitment to South Vietnams struggle against communist forces. Military advisers were first sent to Vietnam in 1950 by President Harry S. Truman, and their numbers grew during the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Kennedy, but no combat troops were there when Johnson came into office. On Aug. 2, 1964, three small North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin (a second attack was alleged on Aug. 4 but did not occur). Johnson ordered airstrikes against North Vietnam, and Congress on Aug. 7 passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing the president to use all necessary measures to deal with the North Vietnamese threat. In November, Johnson soundly defeated Republican Barry Goldwater in the presidential election. Throughout the fall, the presidents team debated the proper course of action in Vietnam, but when Johnson began his new term in January 1965, there were still no U.S. combat troops in Vietnam. That would soon change, as historian Michael Beschloss describes in rich detail in his book Presidents of War.

In his inaugural address, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1965, Johnson said not a word about Vietnam. The president spoke exclusively of domestic affairs, for he planned to make fundamental changes in American lifewith his War on Poverty, voting guarantees for all Americans, Medicare, aid to education, and other initiativesthat would install the architect of the Great Society in the record books.

Three days after being sworn in, at 2:26 a.m. on Saturday, Johnson was hurried by ambulance from the White House to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. Lady Bird feared that he had suffered another heart attack. She stated in her diary that she just patted him and sat down and held his hand. It could have been a frightening day. It was a day I had expected and thought about. Without telling him, she bought a black dress, in case she needed one for her husbands funeral.

When Johnson returned to the White House after three days at Bethesda, Lady Bird wrote that he was feeling washed out and depressed. Eight days after his collapse, she recorded that Lyndon spent most of the day in bed, and for a man of his temperament, it means you have time to worry. She told her diary, Its sort of a slough of despond. . . . The obstacles indeed are no shadows. They are real substanceVietnam, the biggest.

On Saturday, Feb. 6, the Viet Cong attacked a U.S. Army barracks in Pleiku, killing eight Americans. That evening, Johnson called House Speaker John McCormack, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and other advisers to the Cabinet Room and told them he would order retaliatory airstrikes against three North Vietnamese targets. Johnson explained he had kept the shotgun over the mantel and the bullets in the basement for a long time now, but now they had to act because cowardice has gotten us into more wars than response has. He contended that the United States could have avoided both world wars if we had been courageous in the early stages.

Then, on Wednesday morning, Feb. 10, McGeorge Mac Bundy, the presidents national security adviser, called Johnson to report that the Viet Cong had attacked a U.S. aircraft maintenance barracks in Qui Nhon. Twenty-three Americans were killed, the most of any single incident yet in Vietnam. Bundy noted that the North had recently attacked train facilities; therefore the United States and South Vietnam could together retaliate against a northern railroad, an extremely easy target. Johnson asked that Gen. William Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam, be told to notify captains on aircraft carriers to begin loading their stuff, and lets pick the targets. Eager to bring in Congress, Johnson called McCormack and said, Weve got to meet right quick on targets.

The president knew the gravity of the step he was taking. He went to see Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Im not temperamentally equipped to be commander in chief, he told Humphrey. Im too sentimental to give the orders. On Friday, Johnsons directive was executed.

Seeking reassurance and hoping to thwart Republican opposition, Johnson called Eisenhower at his winter home in Palm Desert, California: I dont want to put it up like we are in deep trouble, because I dont think its reached that point, but you could be more comforting to me now than anybody I know. He asked, Why dont you come stay all night with me? During his White House visit, Eisenhower advised Johnson that if it took eight American divisions, in a campaign of pressure, to protect South Vietnam from a communist takeover, so be it. Should China or the Soviets threaten to intervene, we should pass the word back to them to take care, lest dire results occur to them. Eisenhower was suggesting a reprise of the hints of nuclear attack that he had quietly dropped in his effort to obtain a Korean armistice. He told Johnson that the greatest danger now would be if China concluded that we will go just so far and no further in pursuing the Vietnam War. The former president described how he had conveyed his nuclear threat to the Chinese in 1953 through three channels. Johnson asked how he might convey a similar warning to the Chinese. Eisenhower suggested using the Pakistani president, Mohammed Ayub Khan, a very fine man, whom he knew from his own time in office.

Johnson asked Eisenhower what he should do if Chinese forces crossed the border into Vietnam. Eisenhower advised him to hit them at once with air and use any weapons requiredincluding tactical nuclear weapons. He complained that during the Korean War the Chinese believed that Truman had made a gentlemans agreement not to cross the Yalu River or use nuclear arms. In Vietnam, we should let it be known that we are not bound by such restrictions, he said.

With Korea on his mind, Johnson also called Truman in Independence, Missouri. Im having hell! Paternally, the 80-year-old former president asked him, Whats the trouble? Johnson replied, A little bit with Indochina. Im doing the best I can. My problem is kind of like what you had in Korea. Johnson added, I think when they go in and kill your boys, youve got to hit back. And Im not trying to spread the war, and Im not trying Truman broke in, You bet you have! You bust them in the nose every time you get a chance, and they understand that language better than any other kind. Objecting to the airstrikes, two Democratic senators, George McGovern of South Dakota and Frank Church of Idaho, publicly asked Johnson to negotiate. Furious, the president told Bundy that the two senators ought to be told what hurts us most is not the hitting our compound but these goddamned speeches that the communists blow up, that show that we are about to pull out. McGovern went to see Johnson, who warned him that North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh was a tool of the Chinese. The senator, who had taught history at Dakota Wesleyan University, rejoined that the Chinese had been struggling against the Vietnamese for a thousand years. By McGoverns later account, the president told him, Goddamn it, George, you and [Arkansas Democratic Sen. J. William] Fulbright and all you history teachers down thereI havent got time to fk around with history. Ive got boys on the line out there.

Johnson told his old friend Everett Dirksen, the Senate Republican leader from Illinois, that the North Vietnamese cant come bomb us, kill our people and expect us to go in a cave. To the presidents delight, Dirksen replied that his only mistake had been not to have attacked the North hard enough. Invoking the appeasement of prewar Nazi Germany at a conference in Munich, as well as the domino theory, Johnson replied, We know, from Munich on, that when you give, the dictators feed on raw meat. If they take South Vietnam, they take Indonesia, they take Burma, they come right on back to the Philippines.

Johnson was outraged to find that his vice president wished to get out of Vietnam. Humphrey wrote him that involvement in a full scale war would not make sense to the majority of the American people. He conceded that it was always hard to cut losses, but for the newly elected president, 1965 is the year of minimum political risk. As Humphrey later recalled, his letter made Johnson so angry that the president threw him into political limbo.

Johnson tried to expand his struggle against the North by stealth. When the U.S. Embassy in Saigon confirmed, in late February, that the United States had used B-57 and F-100 jet bombers for the first time against the Viet Cong, Johnson complained to Secretary of State Dean Rusk that this news looked desperate and dramatic and that all of TV was heralding an entirely new policy.

That month, the president had quietly approved McNamaras proposed Operation Rolling Thunder, a gradual, sustained bombing campaign intended to ratchet up pressure against the North. But in a telephone call to McNamara on Friday morning, Feb. 26, he spoke these bone-chilling words: Now were off to bombing these people. Were over that hurdle. I dont think anything is going to be as bad as losing, and I dont see any way of winning. No earlier chief executive had pushed Americans into a major war with such initial pessimism.

On Monday, March 1, Johnson told McNamara to unleash Rolling Thunder without public announcement. But that same day, the New York Times reported that the highest U.S. officials in Saigon were confiding that Johnson had decided to open a continuing, limited air war. Furious at the leak, Johnson snapped, Am I wrong in saying that this appears to be almost traitorous? He added that it was not good to say that weve got a plan to bomb this specific area before were bombing it. Because, Christ, I guess every anti-aircraft and everything they can get is alerted.

The next day, Rolling Thunder began, with more than a hundred U.S. aircraft striking a munitions depot and navy base. During the following three years, Rolling Thunder would unload more bombs on the North than struck all of Europe during World War II. As if to make up for the private helplessness he seemed to feel about the war, Johnson made sure that he scrutinized the aerial forays, boasting, They cant hit an outhouse without my permission!

Poignantly, the president stayed up late into the night hoping for assurance that his boys had returned safely, saying later, I want to be called every time somebody dies. After the first mission, a Situation Room duty officer called him very early on Tuesday, March 2, to report that two planes were probably missing. Johnson asked, Whats it look likeour two pilots lost? He was told that rescue efforts were underway, and, later, that six U.S. aircraft had been shot down, but five of the pilots had survived.

By Friday, Johnson was pondering Westmorelands request for 3,500 Marines to protect U.S. flyers and air bases in South Vietnam, which Rusk, McNamara and the Joint Chiefs had approved. The president told Bundy, Now, the Marines! I havent made that decision. Im still worried about it.

The next day, Johnson told Democratic Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia, I guess weve got no choice, but it scares the death out of me. I think everybodys going to think, Were landing the Marineswere off to battle. He predicted that the North would get them in a fight, just sure as hell. Theyre not going to run. Then youre tied down. Russell replied, Weve gone so damn far, Mr. President, it scares the life out of me, but I dont know how to back up now. Johnson said, That is exactly right. Were getting in worse. Morosely, the president confided, A man can fight if he can see daylight down the road somewhere. But there aint no daylight in Vietnam. He added: The more bombs you drop, the more nations you scare, the more people you make mad, the more embassies you get Russell said, Its the worst mess I ever saw in my life. Johnson exclaimed, If theyd say I inherited, Ill be lucky. But theyll all say I created it!

Two hours later, the president told McNamara that if theres no alternative, he could send the Marines to protect the U.S. airmen: My answer is yes, but my judgment is no. McNamara pledged to minimize the announcement, but warned that it would provoke a lot of headlines. Johnson replied, Youre telling me!

In April 1965, hoping to avert further dramatic escalation, Johnson publicly offered Ho Chi Minh a billion dollars to develop the Mekong River Delta, so long as the North Vietnamese leader would guarantee the freedom of the South. But the money was refused. McNamara and Westmoreland that month persuaded Johnson to approve nine new battalions for Vietnam, which would increase U.S. forces there to 82,000.

Johnson asked Congress for $700 million to meet mounting military requirements in Vietnam. The House and Senate backed the president, almost unanimously, but newly elected Sen. Robert Kennedy of New York told colleagues on the Senate floor that his yes vote should not be taken as a blank check for any wider war. Escalation, he warned, could bring hundreds of thousands of American troops to Vietnam and might easily lead to nuclear warfare. Johnson complained to McNamara, a friend of the senator, that Kennedy was making little snide remarks in the Senate cloakroom that the president had manipulated Congress on Vietnam. Youve just got to sit down and talk to Bobby, he said.

Some of the Joint Chiefs advised Johnson to bomb Hanoi. The president told congressional friends he had stalled them off by warning that this might force China to enter the war. Johnson later reported to Russell that some of the military leaders were awfully irresponsible. Theyll just scare you. Theyre ready to put a million men in right quick.

On Monday, June 7, Westmoreland wired McNamara from Saigon that he urgently needed 41,000 more combat forces and 52,000 later on, which would mean 175,000 troops in Vietnam. He argued that the United States must abandon its defensive posture and take the war to the enemy, in which case even greater forces may be required. The defense secretary told colleagues, Were in a hell of a mess.

Calling the president, McNamara now said, Unless were really willing to go to a full potential land war, weve got to slow down here and try to halt, at some point, the ground troop commitment. Johnson refused, noting that the North was putting their stack in, and moving new chips into the pot. The choice, he said, was either tuck tail and run or respond to those who were telling the United States, The Indians are coming!

To gauge the attitude of the doves, Johnson called Mansfield, confiding that his military people were warning that our 75,000 men are going to be in great danger unless they have 75,000 more. But then theyll have to have another hundred and fifty. And then theyll have to have another hundred and fifty. The majority leader said, Weve got too many in there now. . . . Where do you stop? Johnson replied, You dont. . . . To me, its shaping up like this, Mikeyou either get out or you get in.

Westmoreland cabled that short of decision to introduce nuclear weapons against sources and channels of enemy power, I see no likelihood of achieving a quick, favorable end to the war.



The first U.S. combat troops to arrive in Vietnam, a battalion from the 3rd Marine Division, come ashore at a beach north of Da Nang on March 8, 1965. (Bettmann/Getty Images) The first U.S. combat troops to arrive in Vietnam, a battalion from the 3rd Marine Division, come ashore at a beach north of Da Nang on March 8, 1965. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Johnson predicted to Sen. Birch Bayh, a Democrat from Indiana, that ultimately the Viet Cong would last longer than we do because their soldier was willing to hide out in a rut for two days without water, food or anything, and never moves, waiting to ambush somebody. Now, an Americanhe stays there about 20 minutes and, God damn, hes got to get him a cigarette!

In June, the president told McNamara, Im very depressed about it. He didnt believe the communist forces were ever going to quit, and I dont see . . . that we have any . . . plan for a victorymilitarily or diplomatically.

With cold candor, Johnson told McNamara at the start of July: We know ourselves, in our own conscience, that when we asked for this [Gulf of Tonkin] resolution, we had no intention of committing this many ground troops. Were doing so now, and we know its going to be bad. That same week, he confided to Lady Bird, Vietnam is getting worse every day. I have the choice to go in with great casualty lists or to get out with disgrace. Its like being in an airplane and I have to choose between crashing the plane or jumping out. I do not have a parachute. She told her diary, When he is pierced, I bleed. Its a bad time all around.

On Thursday, July 22, 1965, Johnson made his decision. At 5:30 a.m., agitated in his bed, he turned, woke up Lady Bird, and told her, in torment, I dont want to get into a war and I dont see any way out of it. Ive got to call up 600,000 boys, make them leave their homes and their families.

Briefing congressional leaders, Johnson confessed, We all know that it is a bad situation, and we wish we were 10 years backor even 10 months back.

McCormack assured the president that they were united behind him, along with all true Americans.

Johnson rejected suggestions to announce his big decision before a joint session of Congress or in an Oval Office television address. Instead, at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28, he read a brief statement on Vietnam during a regular East Room press conference. Citing Westmorelands request, Johnson announced that he would raise our fighting strength from 75,000 to 125,000 men, almost immediately. Additional forces will be needed later, and they will be sent, as requested.

Revealing his ambivalence, Johnson confessed, This is the most agonizing and the most painful duty of your president. But unless the nation stood up against men who hate and destroy, then all of our dreams for freedomall, all will be swept away on the flood of conquest. So, too, this shall not happen. We shall stand in Vietnam. During a speech the following week, he gave no hint of his private doubts about the war and told the crowd, America wins the wars that she undertakes. Make no mistake about it!

Michael Beschloss has written nine books on presidential history. He is the NBC News presidential historian and a contributor to the PBS NewsHour.
Half Moon Bay, CA (94019)

Today

Cloudy with periods of light rain. Thunder possible. Low near 50F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Cloudy with periods of light rain. Thunder possible. Low near 50F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
W estminster council has approved a new 42-storey skyscraper, which, thanks to its inky terracotta cladding, white ridges and distinctive curved profile has been dubbed the Blue Marrow.

Its size and location, on a key site between Harrow Road and the north side of Paddington Basin, mean it will become a looming landmark across much of central and west London.

Together with a second, comparatively diminutive 21-storey conventional-looking tower, the project is the final piece in the Paddington Basin jigsaw  a Zone 1 waterfront regeneration zone that has been brewing since 1998, when developer European Land bought a tranche of brownfield land in this backwater behind Paddington station.

The new buildings will together include 426 flats. There will also be shops, a sky bar at the top of the 492ft building, and a cinema may also be included.

1 Merchant Square: at 42 storeys the so-called Blue Marrow will loom over west London

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has the final say on the proposals, and early indications from the Greater London Authority are muted, to say the least. It has dismissed the offer of 16 per cent affordable housing, or 67 homes, and has called for at least 35 per cent.

European Land points out that it is also giving the council 20 million to help fund local regeneration projects as a condition of planning permission. It aims to start work on the three-year build as soon as practical according to a spokeswoman.

The finished 500 million Paddington Basin project will create just over 900 homes and 970,000sq ft of office space on an 11-acre site, served by an increasingly impressive and mainly independent range of cafes, restaurants, street food vans and open space.

Property for sale in Paddington Basin

For sale now are two-bedroom flats under construction at No. 3 Canalside Walk, a project that has fared reasonably well in Londons Brexit-stalled market. The 84 waterfront apartments went on sale in October 2017 and all but 15 have now sold in advance of completion next year. Prices start at 1.2 million

As well as building homes, European Land has put energy and intelligence into how it manages its site. On sunny days the well-curated range of bars and restaurants are full and in July the annual Dragon Boat Regatta draws huge crowds, while there are regular open-air film screenings, free events for children and paddleboard yoga sessions.

Good use has been made of the canal basin at the site. A floating pocket park  in reality more of a pontoon  has been built, and two kinetic bridges installed. Both bridges span the basin but can be raised like small-scale, far more contemporary versions of London Bridge.

Floating pocket park: good use has been made of the canal basin, with a pontoon park for public space

Olympic cauldron designer Thomas Heatherwick designed one of the bridges, which looks like a conventional footbridge until it curls up into a ball thanks to a system of hydraulic cylinders. After a period of maintenance the bridge will be back in Instagrammable action later this month.

But Paddington Basin has a bigger problem to deal with than a malfunctioning bridge, and that is the state of Londons underlying property market.

Anyone considering buying into this brave new world of trendy coffee shops and landmark buildings will need to see it more as a medium-term lifestyle choice than an easy way to make money.

Dylan James, sales manager at Chestertons, estimates that prices have fallen by 20 to 25 per cent since the market peak of 2014, leaving buyers who bought properties off-plan with the aim of making a quick exit from W2 in a predicament. In a lot of cases they are actually losing money, he says. They are selling for less than they bought for, or they are taking their property off the market and renting it instead.

While transaction rates remain very low, James has seen a spike of interest from buyers for the area this year, although of course registering with an agent does not necessarily translate to a sale. He believes that until Brexit is resolved the market will remain quiet  and that goes for period homes around Paddington station as well as purpose-built flats in the basin.

The market is still active below 1 million, he adds. But above that it is very slow. Landlords and vendors are taking their properties off the market and renting them instead.

Fawzi Moosa, managing director of Paddington Estates, agrees fully with Jamess assessment of the state of the market. But ironically as prices subside, so the basin is becoming a better and better location.

As well as Merchant Square, there is the imminent promise of Crossrail services from Paddington station, while the Paddington Cube is due to open in 2022. This 14-storey glass block of offices with shops and restaurants set around a new public square is the latest offering from the Sellar Property Group, of Shard fame. Like the Shard, the Cube is designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. Paddington Basin has become a beautiful place, says Moosa.
A majority of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors rejected key parts of the San Diego Association of Governments new multibillion-dollar plan for regional transportation.

The divided board voted 3-2 Tuesday, April 30, for the county to oppose much of the new proposal, which would dramatically shift regional transportation priorities toward expanding public transit and away from building highways and roads.

Supervisors Dianne Jacob, Jim Desmond and Kristin Gaspar voted for the measure, while Supervisors Greg Cox and Nathan Fletcher voted in opposition.

The board action calls on the county to advocate for highway and road projects in the new plan and requests that SANDAG seek different sources of funding for public transit projects not already included in the 2004 TransNet ordinance, which includes the half-cent sales tax voters approved.

The vote also means the county will oppose any modification to the TransNet ordinance.

SANDAGs new vision, revealed last week, would use TransNet sales tax dollars and other sources of funding to add hundreds of miles of high-speed transit lines throughout the county, as far east as Poway and as far north as Oceanside. SANDAG staff said this would help the region meet state mandates related to greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan also would do away with many long-anticipated highway improvement and expansion projects, including adding express lanes to state routes 78 and 52 and widening state routes 67 and 56. Those road projects were initially promised when voters approved the half-cent sales tax, though some supporters say the language of the TransNet resolution appears to have been non-binding.

Those discarded projects have been the main point of contention for many East and North County officials, including Desmond and Jacob, whose districts cover much that territory.

Desmond said that if SANDAG were to use the TransNet money while discarding those road projects, it would be a bait-and-switch to voters.

Im not really opposed to the new vision; however, I think it should be in addition to and not replace the projects that have already been promised by TransNet, said Desmond, who proposed the boards action Tuesday, April 30.

Gaspar said she is concerned about not having a definitive price tag for SANDAGs new vision.

The supervisors voted to send a letter to SANDAG expressing these views, but the ultimate decision about transportation priorities will be SANDAGs. Although two county board of supervisors are on SANDAGs board, its weighted vote process gives more influence to big cities.

Public speakers in support of SANDAGs vision outnumbered those in opposition Tuesday, April 30, with supporters highlighting the importance of having an ambitious plan to help the region meet the state-mandated emissions standards.

A handful of speakers in opposition said SANDAG needs to follow through on voters expectations. Some said mass transit may not provide what residents want for transportation.

Fletcher issued a press release soon after the supervisors voted.

Today the majority of the Board made a choice to contribute to increases in greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion, he said.

My choice is to fight for a better future and reject the idea of clinging to a failed past. The non-binding resolution will not prevent SANDAG and our community from moving forward with delivering fast, safe, reliable and green transit for San Diego.

Cox, whose district includes much of the South Bay, said the boards actions were preemptive because SANDAG has not come forward with a comprehensive plan yet. He added that he would support advocating for highway and road projects and looking for sources of funding for public transportation, but he believes SANDAG should have the flexibility to modify TransNet, to pursue big opportunities when they present themselves.

In his district, for instance, TransNet bought the South Bay Expressway, SR 125, in 2012 for $341 million, about a third of what it cost a private company to build it.
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Paris riot police fired teargas as they squared off against hardline demonstrators among tens of thousands of May Day protesters, who flooded the city Wednesday in a test for France's zero-tolerance policy on street violence.

Tensions were palpable as a heady mix of labor unionists, "yellow vest" demonstrators and anti-capitalists gathered in the French capital, putting security forces on high alert.

Demonstrators take part in a May Day demonstration, next to the statue of Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) in the 13th arrondissement of Paris on May 1, 2019. [Photo: AFP]

Ahead of the main march, the city was on lockdown with more than 7,400 police and gendarmes deployed with orders from President Emmanuel Macron to take an "extremely firm stance" if faced with violence.

Clashes briefly erupted on Montparnasse Boulevard, where hundreds of anti-capitalist "black bloc" activists pushed to the front of the gathering crowd, hurling bottles and other projectiles at police, who fired tear gas and stingball grenades, an AFP correspondent said.

Used at ground level, the grenades release scores of rubber pellets that cause an intense stinging to the legs.

Authorities had warned this year's marches would likely spell trouble, coming barely a week after leaders of the yellow vest anti-government movement angrily dismissed a package of tax cuts by President Emmanuel Macron.

And with some agitators vowing on social media to turn Paris into "the capital of rioting", the government moved to deploy security on an "exceptional scale" throughout the capital.

Last year, officials were caught off guard by some 1,200 troublemakers who ran amok in Paris, vandalizing businesses and clashing with police.

A car and a motorbike burn during a demonstration on the sidelines of a march for the annual May Day workers' rally in Paris on May 1, 2019. [Photo: AFP]

By early afternoon, thousands had flocked to the Montparnasse area, many wearing the hi-visibility jackets that gave the name to the yellow vest protesters.

Since November, the city has struggled to cope with the weekly yellow vest protests, which have often descended into chaos with a violent minority smashing up and torching shops, restaurants and newspaper stands.

Across the city on Wednesday, streets were barricaded and shops had boarded up their windows, with police ordering the closure of all businesses along the route of the main march.

"We are not afraid of the union marches but of the black blocs," local restaurant owner Serge Tafanel told AFP.
May Day: The Workers Day!

A reprise of our columnist Jerry Friedmans 2006 article on the history of May Day, courtesy of the Center for Popular Economics.

Gerald Friedman

This article is from Dollars & Sense: Real World Economics, available at http://www.dollarsandsense.org

This article is a web-only article.

For over a century May Day has been celebrated throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America, as a day of labor celebration marked with strikes and with parades flying red flags and waving revolutionary banners. In Europe, May Day has been celebrated in this way since 1890. Answering a call by the newly-formed Socialist International, labor rallies were held throughout Europe on May 1, 1890 to demand the 8-hour day. A quarter million people marched in Londons Hyde Park, joining workers throughout France, Germany, and other countries who joined together in the worlds first international day of labor protest. Two French militants, Raymond Lavigne and Jean Dormoy, suggested May 1, 1890 as the date for this campaign because that was the date chosen by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) for its campaign for the 8-hour day. It might seem odd, but this international celebration of labors power was inspired by the American labor movement; May Day, the revolutionary holiday, began in the United States.

The AFLs call for demonstrations on May Day 1890 was the second time the organization had launched a May Day campaign. The first, the worlds first May Day, was in 1886, and it led to disasters from which the American labor movement has never fully recovered. At the 1884 convention of the AFLs ancestor, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU), the 18 delegates in attendance voted a resolution declaring simply that eight hours shall constitute a legal days labor from and after May 1, 1886. The FOTLU was a poor candidate to inaugurate this movement. Formed in 1881 as a counterweight to the more militant Knights of Labor (KOL), the FOTLU had few resources to commit to the campaign; and the KOL jealously refused to join. But the idea of a united national campaign to win a shorter work day was so attractive that it inspired local activists throughout the country. Rallying to the banner of labor unity, workers throughout the country rushed into unions and joined strikes. Union membership almost tripled in 1886, including new unions among African-American sugar workers in Louisiana, migrant timber workers of the Pacific Northwest, and female office clerks in the urban Northeast. The number of strikers in 1886, over 500,000, almost equaled the total for the preceding four years. Half of these strikers were in the first week of May alone. On May 1st, 11,000 Detroiters marched, 5,000 paraded in Troy, New York, 10,000 in Milwaukee, 6,000 white and black in Louisville, Kentucky. The epicenter of the Mayday events and the radical labor movement, Chicago, was nearly closed by the Mayday strikes.

So powerful was the May Day movement that some commentators warned that the Labor Movement would soon transform America. But such forecasts had not counted on American business. In Chicago, employers and the police adopted an aggressive stance against the strikers. On May 3, police killed several strikers while clearing a path for strike-breakers to enter the McCormick Reaper Works. Labor leaders called a protest meeting for the following evening (May 4) was to be held in at the Haymarket Square. Just as the meeting was dispersing, someone threw a bomb at the police, killing seven officers; surviving officers charged the crowd with guns blazing, killing at least seven workers, maybe more.

Hysteria about anarchist bombings went national, provoking the nations first red scare. Police and employers took license from the events to arrest and beat up labor activists. The Chicago labor movement was devastated. Public meetings, the life blood of an active labor movement, were banned and police raided union offices, seizing documents and rounding-up activists. Eight Chicago movement leaders were arrested and tried for murder for involvement in the bombing. The trial was a farcethe state never produced evidence directly linking the defendants to the bombing but it still secured convictions of all eight and sentences of death for seven. A travesty of justice, a judicial murder, the convictions were appealed to no avail to the Illinois Supreme Court and then the United States Supreme Court. Four defendants, Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, and Adolph Fischer, were hung on November 11, 1887.

The hanging of the Haymarket martyrs provoked a wave of international indignation. But among practical minded labor activists in the United States, it provoked a reconsideration of the martyrs radical political agenda and union program. Instead of labor radicalism and solidarity, American unions learned that to survive in a hostile environment they needed to adopt a more conservative politics and narrow craft-union orientation. European observers noted that the AFL called for another May Day demonstration for 1890; what they missed was that the 1890 demonstrations were to be confined to a single craft, the carpenters, in hopes of avoiding a general strike like 1886 and the subsequent repression.

Today, Haymarket and the events in Chicago 1886 still resonate. The Haymarket rebels left an enduring memory of martyrdom embedded in labor lore around the world. This was predicted by one of the martyrs, August Spies, whose last words are remembered long after his accusers are forgotten: The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.

is a professor of economics at the University of MassachusettsAmherst.

Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy (Princeton, 1984); Henry David, The History of the Haymarket Affair: A Study in the American Social-Revolutionary and Labor Movements (New York, 1958); Philip Foner, May Day: A Short History of the International Workers Holiday, 18861986 (New York, 1986); Gerald Friedman, State-Making and Labor Movements: France and the United States, 18861914 (Ithaca, New York, 1998); James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement, and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America (New York, 2006).

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Pipeline

1 May 2019

Rising 61 storeys above the thriving Back Bay neighbourhood, the all-new Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street, Boston is a beacon of modernity in one of America's most historic cities. With thoughtfully appointed accommodations, a full-floor spa and wellness centre including a stunning indoor pool, light-filled event spaces, and the New England debut of the world-renowned Zuma restaurant, it's both a destination unto itself and a gateway to all the city has to offer.

The soaring glass skyscraper - now the city's third tallest building at 724 feet or 220 metres - was designed by Harry Cobb of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners in collaboration with Gary Johnson of Cambridge 7 Associates. Surrounding the elliptical "guitar pick" shaped building are three distinct streetscapes by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, including a 5,000 square foot (465 square metre) park adjacent to the building's grand entrance.

With Every Comfort and Convenience Anticipated

The Hotel's 215 hotel rooms and suites boast floor-to-ceiling windows, with every detail anticipating the needs and wants of modern travellers, from state-of-the-art soundproofing between floors and rooms and precision glazed windows, to at-your-fingertips in room technologies.

Original works from the Hotel's multi-million dollar art collection curated by Kate Chertavian complement interior design by Bill Rooney of Bill Rooney Studio in every room and suite, as well as public spaces throughout the building.

Dining and Drinking at Four Seasons

Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street will be home to the newest location of Zuma, the global sensation dining experience renowned for its informal yet sophisticated twist on a traditional Japanese izakaya. Designed by Noriyoshi Muramatsu of Tokyo-based Studio Glitt, the interiors incorporate the natural elements of earth, fire, water and air. The restaurant will serve contemporary Japanese cuisine from three kitchens: main, sushi counter and robata grill.

Also on-site is One + One, destined to be the go-to choice for power breakfasts with its wall of windows in the heart of Back Bay. The streetfront Trifecta Lobby Bar will offer chic cocktails after work and into the evening, accompanied by a menu of light fare by the Hotel's Executive Chef Ellis Chong.

An Entire Floor Dedicated to Wellness

The spa and wellness centre spans the entire 7th floor of the Hotel, providing a refuge above Boston's busy streets for Hotel guests, residents and day visitors. The spa itself includes five treatment rooms, with one designed for couples to share the spa experience together. There's also a salon offering hair, nails and makeup services - a plus for bridal parties celebrating marriage at the hotel, as well as those who just want to look their best every day.

Fitness buffs will love working out on Precor equipment as chosen by Four Seasons partner and celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, with many machines offering inspiring floor-to-ceiling views, as well as a private yoga and Pilates studio.

The piece de resistance is the 64 foot (20 metre) lap pool that arcs in concert with the building's curved windows. Swim laps, relax on a day bed, or curl up in one of the plush chairs next to the windows.

Memorable Events and Productive Meetings at Four Seasons Boston's newest and most exciting venue for business and social events is undoubtedly Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street. The suite of seven spaces - two ballrooms with pre-function areas and five additional rooms - are all filled with natural light. The remarkable shape of the Beacon and Clarendon Ballrooms welcomes sunshine by day and affords glittering views by night, while the St. James and Dartmouth Rooms have wrap-around terraces that invite creative event options as well as a welcome breath of fresh air during a long day of meetings.

Uniquely, clients have the option to book the entire suite of rooms on the third or sixth level, affording complete privacy for their events. As always, expert Four Seasons staff collaborate closely with meeting planners, event hosts and wedding couples to create one-of-a-kind events that are flawlessly executed to the tiniest detail.

An Entire Floor Dedicated to Wellness

The spa and wellness centre spans the entire 7th floor of the Hotel, providing a refuge above Boston's busy streets for Hotel guests, residents and day visitors. The spa itself includes five treatment rooms, with one designed for couples to share the spa experience together. There's also a salon offering hair, nails and makeup services - a plus for bridal parties celebrating marriage at the hotel, as well as those who just want to look their best every day.

Fitness buffs will love working out on Precor equipment as chosen by Four Seasons partner and celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, with many machines offering inspiring floor-to-ceiling views, as well as a private yoga and Pilates studio.

The piece de resistance

is

the 64 foot (20 metre) lap pool that arcs in concert with the building's curved windows. Swim laps, relax on a day bed, or curl up in one of the plush chairs next to the windows.

Memorable Events and Productive Meetings at Four Seasons Boston's newest and most exciting venue for business and social events is undoubtedly Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street. The suite of seven spaces - two ballrooms with pre-function areas and five additional rooms - are all filled with natural light. The remarkable shape of the Beacon and Clarendon Ballrooms welcomes sunshine by day and affords glittering views by night, while the St. James and Dartmouth Rooms have wrap-around terraces that invite creative event options as well as a welcome breath of fresh air during a long day of meetings.

Uniquely, clients have the option to book the entire suite of rooms on the third or sixth level, affording complete privacy for their events. As always, expert Four Seasons staff collaborate closely with meeting planners, event hosts and wedding couples to create one-of-a-kind events that are flawlessly executed to the tiniest detail.
Now Open

1 May 2019

Especially one Danish hotel chain is looking very much forward to summer, sun and happy tourists this year. The selected-service hotel chain Zleep Hotels opens its 12th hotel, which becomes the chain's second hotel in Aarhus.

The right location

Whether you are a tourist or a business traveler in Aarhus, the new Zleep Hotel Aarhus North will be an obvious location to spend a night or maybe five. The hotel is located right next to the super hospital in Skejby close to industry, offices and conference facilities. The highway is easy to reach and if you arrive by car you can park at the hotel's large car park. If you wish to experience the inner Aarhus, you can reach the center in less than 15 minutes. The nearest light rail station is just 200 meters from the hotel.

A sustainable construction

There is already one Zleep hotel in Aarhus in the district of Viby, Zleep Hotel Aarhus South, and on June 4th, the brand new Zleep Hotel Aarhus North opens in the district of Skejby. The hotel will have 100 rooms all equipped with quality beds and in line with the chain's design profile, the lounge area will be decorated in a beautiful Scandinavian design. In addition, the construction is sustainable, and the goal is to achieve the DGNB certification.
Now Open

1 May 2019

The first Clarion Pointe hotel opened today in Sulphur Springs, Texas, less than eight months after Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) launched the Clarion brand extension. The new select-service hotel combines the premium elements guests desire with an affordable travel experience and builds on the company's eight decades of expertise in the midscale segment.

The 72-room Clarion Pointe Sulphur Springs features custom murals showcasing popular Sulphur Springs attractions in each room, a brand hallmark that brings the hotel's location to life for every guest. Located at 411 East Industrial Drive, the new hotel is near Interstate 30 and well-known local attractions, including Hopkins County Veterans Memorial, Coleman Park, Main Street Theatre, and The Hopkins County Museum and Heritage Park.

Nearly 30 Clarion Pointe hotels are expected to open and 10 are planned for this year, including in Medford, Ore.; North Charleston, S.C.; Oklahoma City; and Rochester, N.Y. Influenced by the Clarion brand promise of creating environments for people to connect and socialize, Clarion Pointe allows guests to maximize their travel experience with "focal pointes," including:

The new Clarion Pointe Sulphur Springs was developed by Helm Hotels Group, a family-owned company with over 35 years of experience in Texas.
Appointment

1 May 2019

Dorothy Dowling, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Best Western Hotels & Resorts, has been named Allied Leadership Council (ALC) President for the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) - the world's largest professional association and a leading source of business travel knowledge. Appointed to this prominent leadership post by Christle Johnson, GBTA president, and Bhart Sarin, GBTA Chairman, Dowling will continue to play a key role in setting the strategic direction of GBTA and shaping the organization's future.

In her new role, Dowling will remain a champion for diversity and inclusion within the hospitality sector, continuing as Chair on the Strategic Advisory Board for WINiT by GBTA - a network focused on the advancement of women professionals in the industry.

Reflecting the significant impact Dowling has made as a GBTA Allied member, she was the recipient of the coveted 2018 GBTA Allied Member of the Year award. Dowling has also contributed greatly to the success and innovation of the Best Western brand, which has undergone a substantial transformation in recent years. Under Dowling's guidance, Best Western has become a trusted leader in business travel, earning a number of prestigious industry accolades such as Best Western Plus and Best Western ranking as the number one upper-midscale and midscale hotel brands by Business Travel News, a leading business publication. This recognition marked the brand's fifth consecutive year of being top ranked by the outlet.
Press Release

1 May 2019

Warwick Hotels & Resorts (WHR), a global hospitality company present in 25 countries around the world, announced its expansion plans today at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Accelerating its expansion across the area, the group has set an ambitious target of 25 hotels representing 2,500 room by 2025. The company currently operates 16 hotels in the MENA region spread across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon, both in 4- and 5- star categories. In addition, it has a strong development pipeline with six new properties coming up in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain and Lebanon.

Mr. Jamal Serhan, Senior Vice President and CEO MENA, Warwick Hotels & Resorts (WHR), stated: "We are focused on expanding our presence in the GCC in the 4- and 5-star segment, especially in Saudi Arabia with an overall target to reach 25 hotels by 2025 in the MENA region. The Kingdom, that commands a giant's share of the Arab GDP, holds strong potential for the growth of tourism and hospitality sector in accordance with Saudi Vision 2030 and we are delighted to be part of it. New leisure and tourism facilities in KSA are forecasted to fuel domestic tourism at 8% per year until 2023 as well as boost international arrivals to 23.3 million. Hence, investment in Saudi Arabia is very important for us and will hold strong benefits for our company. We will be opening in Riyadh this year two hotels one with 100 rooms and one with 90 rooms. We also have another property coming up in Dammam with 105 keys."

Elaborating on Warwick's compelling brand proposition, Mr. Serhan stated, "Warwick Hotels & Resorts has a proven track record of over 38 years for delivering results and outperforming the very best in hotel management, starting from its first hotel, the iconic Warwick New York, acquired in 1980. Warwick has developed a collection of luxury hotels and resorts worldwide derived from its identity. It is our belief that the creation of a new hotel is an art form and not a science in standardization. Today, the Collection continues to grow around the world with a strong pipeline of new locations to be opened in North America; Middle East; Africa; Europe and Asia-Pacific."
Press Release

1 May 2019

The world's largest luxury hotel brand, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, has today announced the launch of Haut Patisserie: a limited-edition, art-inspired high tea available across all InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in Australia and New Zealand. The high tea is a creative extension of the brand's partnership with contemporary artist Alexander Hall, also known under the alias as Haut de Gamme, who created a stunning, one-of-a-kind art installation to celebrate 200 InterContinental Hotels & Resorts across the globe.



Alexander recently visited Australia to officially unveil Haut Patisserie in collaboration with InterContinental's inspired culinary talent. During his Sydney visit, 15 exquisite pieces of the 200 InterContinental Hotels and Resorts art installation were specially flown into Double Bay, including unique pieces created for Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Japan.

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The original and full installation is made from 200 champagne bottles, individually hand-painted by Alexander Hall in his bright, energetic drip-style. The creative collaboration was designed to commemorate the milestone of reaching 200 InterContinental Hotels and Resorts around the globe, with each bottle uniquely and especially-designed, inspired by each of the InterContinental brand's 200 hotels.

The artworks by Alexander Hall will be displayed for a limited time in Stillery Bar & Dining at InterContinental Sydney Double Bay until 31 May. The Australian bottles offer a unique glimpse into Hall's interpretation of Australia, with pops of bright colour, patterns and hand-painted Sydney icons to showcase our iconic lifestyle. A special Hayman Island bottle was also crafted with aqua hues and bold strokes of golden yellows to signify the coast.

Alexander Hall said: "Champagne for me means happiness, joy, celebration and the idea of bringing people together. When I decided to paint on champagne bottles to celebrate the 200 InterContinental hotels, I wanted the bottles to reflect each InterContinental hotel's unique personality, design and location.

Collaborating on Haut Patisserie felt like a natural extension to fuse art and food together with the tradition of high tea. Australia is full of rich flavours and texture, both in dining and nature, and it's been an honour to help bring this to life with another unique experience for guests."

The limited-edition high tea, aptly named Haut Patisserie, is a remarkable blend of art and patisserie, crafted by InterContinental Hotel's extraordinary culinary team of pastry chefs. Guests will indulge in edible art with specially-crafted macarons infused with Champagne jelly in a rich buttercream and embellished with Haut de Gamme's signature artistry. Guests will also indulge in a glass of Champagne to enhance the high tea, included with compliments.

Haut Patisserie is available at each InterContinental Hotel & Resort across Australia and New Zealand, including InterContinental Sydney, InterContinental Melbourne the Rialto, InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort, InterContinental Adelaide, InterContinental Sydney Double Bay, InterContinental Perth City Centre and InterContinental Wellington.

The limited-edition high tea is available from 1 May to 31 May 2019.

Terms & conditions apply, please visit each hotel for pricing and availability.

Discover more about Haut de Gamme here: www.hautdegamme.com | @hautdegamme_
Press Release

1 May 2019

Airbnb's mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. To advance our mission, we are focused on reimagining travel by building an end-to-end travel platform that combines where you stay, what you do, and how you get there, all in one place. To achieve this goal, we are investing in creating new businesses that will power our growth over the long-term.

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Airbnb has an unrivaled global community of hosts and guests: We can connect travelers to more than 6 million places to stay, and there have been more than half a billion guest arrivals in Airbnb listings. More and more of these travelers are choosing to participate in an Airbnb Experience as part of their trip, and increasingly, locals are using Airbnb Experiences to explore the cities in which they live.

Airbnb Experiences immerse travelers in local communities around the world by offering one-of-a-kind activities that are handcrafted and led by local experts. From walking with wolves in LA to listening to live jazz in a repurposed London shipping container, Experiences go beyond typical tours or classes by immersing guests in each host's unique world.

Today, we are offering a series of updates regarding the growth of Airbnb Experiences, along with background on the different kinds of Experiences that are proving popular with travelers.

Experiences Bookings Increase Nearly 7x

We know travelers are looking for new, unique things to do when they hit the road. In a recent survey conducted for Skift, "69 percent of respondents said they would rather spend more money on better activities than a nicer hotel room (31 percent)," and 65% "want to come back having experienced something new," versus 35% saying they "want to come back feeling rested and recharged."

Airbnb Experiences are meeting that demand, offering a new way for people to experience a destination or the city they call home:

In 2018, the number of seats booked on Airbnb Experiences increased nearly 7x, year over year.

In 2016, Experiences launched with roughly 500 experiences. Today, over 30,000 Experiences are available around the world.

While city expansion drove demand, we also grew our attach rate within cities; tripling the number of US guests booking an Experience alongside a home.

Unique and High-Quality

In order to provide the best end-to-end trip, we've put a strong emphasis on quality and require all Experiences to meet our high quality standards. This focus on quality is paying off. Today, over 90 percent of all Experiences have 5-star reviews.

Airbnb Experiences are also unique. Unlike tours and activities offered by others, many of Airbnb Experiences are not offered on any other major online platform. In a recent survey of guests who booked an Airbnb experience, 96% of surveyed guests said identifying a more local, authentic experience was a factor when booking with Airbnb, while 92% said their trust in the quality of Airbnb Experiences influenced their decision to book one.

An Economic Opportunity for Hosts

The growth of Experiences also offers new ways for small entrepreneurs to market their time and experiences and talents. In the past, it was difficult for individuals to market and sell independent experiences to travelers. Airbnb has given entrepreneurs access to our global network and while the average person earned $2,500 per Experience listed in 2018, some of our top hosts are earning more than $300,000 in a year from hosting Experiences.

Food, Nature, Art, Animals

In the last two years, we have learned a tremendous amount about the kind of Experiences travelers are looking for, with food and dining, nature, art, and animal-themed experiences such as visiting a Sea Turtle hospital in Miami or Discovering Arctic Foxes, generating significant revenue for hosts.

Understanding the opportunity presented by specialized categories such as these, we are making new investments in these areas. We recently hired new experts who specifically focus on growing the number of Experiences related to Food & Drink and Animals, respectively, while ensuring the Experiences meet our high quality standards.

Social Impact Experiences

Social Impact Experiences empower nonprofits by giving them a platform to fundraise and promote their mission, and by driving Airbnb users to engage in social causes around the globe. Each organization decides what Experience will most help the communities they serve  whether it's fundraising, building awareness, volunteering, or all of the above  and we waive our fees so that 100 percent of the proceeds go directly to the nonprofit.

With these experiences, Airbnb uses its global footprint and peer review system to support impactful organizations, often in neighborhoods that are not normally on the tourist map, including in underserved urban areas. The opportunity to immerse in a social cause, community, mission and vision of a non-profit can inspire people to act beyond the lifespan of the experience, creating long-term donors, volunteers, and ambassadors to a cause.

Social Impact Experiences are already making a difference. To date, non-profits have raised almost $4 million by hosting a Social Impact Experience and over 65,000 people have connected with a non-profit on an Experience.

Moving Forward

The desire for new, unique experiences represents a tremendous market opportunity. The New York Times recently reported, "Global spending on the so-called experience economy, which is being driven primarily by millennial consumers, is expected to reach $8.2 trillion by 2028, according to the market research firm Euromonitor."

Airbnb Experiences are well positioned to seize this opportunity while providing an antidote to mass produced tourism, enabling travelers to experience a different and authentic side of a city through local residents. We will be making aggressive investments in Experiences in 2019, making it easier for guests to find the kind of Experience they are looking for while significantly increasing the supply of Experiences available around the world.
Marriott Internationals Aloft Hotels partners with Blue Water Development and Real Hospitality to bring waterfront hotel within steps of Ocean Citys famed boardwalk, pristine beach and unparalleled nightlife

Aloft Hotels, in partnership with East Coast hospitality specialist Blue Water Development and Real Hospitality, announces the opening of its newest hotel, Aloft Ocean City. Taking a design-driven, tech-forward approach to modern hospitality, this 120-room, pet-friendly hotel is located in the 45th Street Village on the bayside of Ocean City and is expected to officially open May 2, 2019.



Aloft Ocean City will be equipped with beautifully appointed common areas; a state-of-the-art fitness center; an indoor and outdoor pool, including a poolside bar and private balconies overlooking Isle of Wight Bay. It will also feature two bay-facing event spaces totaling 3,250 square-feet, ideal for both business functions and weddings, as well as a 380 square-foot space perfect for corporate meetings and other intimate gatherings. The hotel is one of the first examples of the refreshed design approach for Aloft Hotels globally; with modern features such as check-in pods, light and airy loft-like guest rooms, public spaces designed for live music events and the latest technology.

"As Blue Water's first new construction in Ocean City, it's been thrilling to watch the Aloft come alive and reflect our vibrant coastal atmosphere," said Todd Burbage, Blue Water co-owner. "The sleek design and energetic vibe can't be found anywhere else in Ocean City, so we can't wait for our guests to begin enjoying the Aloft lifestyle in this popular resort town."

To energize for a day at the beach, guests can grab on-the-go breakfast options from Re:fuel by Aloft, the 24/7 one-stop shop for snacks and bites, including Aloft's innovative new portable breakfast "pots". In the evenings, they can enjoy signature cocktails and a full American bar menu at the W XYZ bar, accompanied by live music from the brand's Live at Aloft Hotels music program. After taking in one of Ocean City's 200+ restaurants, 10-mile beach, unique attractions and craft brewery scene, guests can unwind in rooms featuring plush platform beds, custom Aloft bath amenities by Bliss Spa, walk-in showers with rainfall showerheads and more. Four-legged guests will enjoy Arf, Aloft's pet program that offers branded beds, bowls, treats and toys.

"Aloft Hotels are different by design, aiming to give today's modern, tech-savvy traveler an energized experience that includes everything they need and nothing that they don't," said Bridget Higgins, senior global brand director, Aloft Hotels. "We're thrilled to be bringing this innovative concept to Ocean City, particularly as it is one of the first examples of our future-proofed design for Aloft Hotels worldwide."

In addition to bringing the first lifestyle hotel to Ocean City, Aloft will provide at least 60 jobs to the area once open.

"Infusing jobs and business opportunities into our local economy is very important to us," added Burbage. "Locally-sourced builders are always a priority for us; we employed over 100 individuals from local construction companies to work on the Aloft. We're proud to collaborate with our hometown business partners to provide an exciting new option for our Ocean City visitors."

The hotel will officially kick off the 2019 season with a cocktail reception opening event on May 21, 2019.

Aloft Ocean City is located at 4501 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, Maryland 21842.







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As a purveyor of all things streaming, Netflix has crafted a steady slate of brand new, original content regularly hitting the platform. Whether its television series, documentaries, childrens programming, or new movies  its become difficult to keep up with the queue.

Lately however, Netflix has really been leaning into its original films, which stream exclusively on the media provider. Ranging from the latest Adam Sandler comedy to the new Duplass Brothers indie  the sheer variety and act of choosing can often be the most overwhelming part of Netflix and chill.

Recently a few Netflix Original Films (Roma, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Mudbound) have even broken into the Academy Awards race, proving the Netflix film model is more than a glorified direct-to-video service. Following the success of Roma at the 2019 Oscars, its now almost expected for Netflix to repeat having a Best Picture nominee. Perhaps one of these 10 Netflix Original Films releasing over the summer, starting today, will be the talk of the town next awards season.

May 1  Knock Down the House

As the lone documentary featured on our list, and the only one that will be on Netflix as of publishing, its worth noting that director Rachel Lears began working on the film that ominous Wednesday following the 2016 Presidential Election. Immediately reaching out to political action committees in search of "charismatic female candidates who weren't career politicians, but had become newly galvanized to represent their communities," Lears ultimately found her four female candidates in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri, and Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia. Knock Down the House follows the four female, progressive Democrats in their 2018 pursuits for Congressional office. After winning the U.S. Documentary Audience Award and the Festival Favorite Award at this years Sundance Film Festival, Netflix quickly acquired the documentary for an early May release.

May 3  Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile stars Zac Efron as Ted Bundy, the charismatic serial killer of the 1970s. Based on the memoir, The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, by his then girlfriend, Elizabeth Liz Kloepfer  the film tells the story of a charming sociopath as he kills repeatedly, escapes prison, and represents himself in a death penalty trial. The movie premiered at Sundance this past January and also stars Lily Collins as Liz, Kaya Scodelario as Bundys wife, and John Malkovich as Judge Edward Cowart, the man for whom the title phrase was is attributed.

May 10  Wine Country

Its a Saturday Night Live cast and writers reunion in Amy Poehlers Napa Valley-based directorial debut, Wine Country. The hilarious cast includes Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell, Emily Spivey, and Tina Fey as a group of friends celebrating a 50th birthday while on a girls weekend in Northern Californias wine country. The story is loosely inspired by an actual trip to Napa the actresses went on. While Poehler has directed episodes of Parks & Recreation and Broad City in the past, it will be interesting to see how her first foray into film turns out. Cheers!

May 17  See You Yesterday

To know See You Yesterday you must first know its filmmaker, Stefon Bristol. Bristol is a student of, and assistant to iconic filmmaker Spike Lee. And according to his IMDb bio, his favorite films are Do the Right Thing and Back to the Future Part II. Now knowing all of that See You Yesterday is a time travel action-adventure about two best friends, CJ and Sebastian, who build a time machine and must use it in order to prevent the wrongful death of CJs brother. So pretty much, Do the Right Thing-meets-Back to the Future. Judging by the trailer, the young filmmaker pulled off a great homage to his favorite films while simultaneously crafting an inventive debut feature.

May 24  Rim of the World

No trailer released yet

Best known for helming the early-2000s Charlies Angels film franchise  director McG returns to Netflix, following the success of 2017s The Babysitter, with a good old-fashioned sci-fi adventure. Rim of the World follows four teenagers when an alien invasion interrupts their summer at camp. Written by Zack Stentz (Thor, The Flash), the new take on the kids-save-the-world premise stars Jack Gore (The Kids Are Alright), Benjamin Flores Jr. (Lil P-Nut), Lynn Collins (True Blood), Tony Cavalero (School of Rock) and Vine star King Bach.

May 24  The Perfection

Only months after the release of Jordan Peeles second consecutive suspense thriller sensation, Us  the star of Get Out, Allison Williams, reunites with Girls director, Richard Shepard, for another stab at a modern horror classic. In the film, Williams plays a disturbed musical prodigy who befriends her schools new star student, Logan Browning (Dear White People). The two go down a dark and erotic path thatll leave viewers unsure of whether or not to look away. After premiering at Fantastic Fest last September, The Perfection hits Netflix at the end of May.

May 31  Always Be My Maybe

Following the global sensation of Crazy Rich Asians last summer, its no surprise to see an upcoming romantic comedy starring two Asian Americans on Netflixs docket. Written by and starring Ali Wong (American Housewife) and Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat)  Always Be My Maybe tells the story of childhood friends of disparate social and economic classes as they fall for each other later in life. Directed by Nahnatchka Khan (Dont Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, Fresh Off the Boat), the made-for-Netflix romcom also stars Daniel Dae Kim (Lost), Charlyne Yi (Paper Heart), Michelle Buteau (Someone Great), and Keanu Reeves.

June 7  I Am Mother

No trailer released yet

Another film that found its way to Netflix following a premiere at 2019s Sundance Film Festival  I Am Mother is an Australian sci-fi thriller in which a teenage girl (Clara Rugaard) is raised underground by a maternal robot (voiced by Rose Byrne) whos designed to repopulate the world after an event thats led to mankinds extinction. However, the bond between robot Mother and human Daughter is strained when an injured stranger (Hilary Swank) arrives with news that will make the girl question everything shes ever known. I Am Mother is the feature film debut of director, Grant Sputore, who appears to have a bright future ahead of him.

June 14  Murder Mystery

Its been over a decade since Adam Sandlers historic hot streak of classic comedies hit a serious decline in quality. However, the past five years of Sandler/Netflix films has made for some interesting viewing to say the least  cranking out a movie a year. Reuniting with his Just Go With It co-star, Jennifer Aniston, Murder Mystery finds Sandler as a New York cop who takes his wife (Aniston) on their long-delayed European honeymoon. During the flight, a dapper gentleman invites them to a yacht party where theyre framed for murder. Directed by Kyle Newacheck (Workaholics) and written by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), the action-mystery looks like Sandlers best comedy in years.

August 9  In the Shadow of the Moon

No trailer released yet

And for our final film In the Shadow of the Moon is a dramatic thriller about a detective on the hunt for an evasive serial killer who times his murders around the lunar cycle. Starring Boyd Holbrook (Narcos), Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Cleopatra Coleman (The Last Man on Earth) and Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo)  director Jim Mickle (Hap & Leonard) commented on working with Netflix, saying: Any studio that makes Okja has a permanent place in my heart. So true.
Berner is readying yet another project which is set to drop very soon. The rapper's been consistently delivering new music over the years at a frequent pace. Earlier this year, he teamed up with fellow California native Mozzy for their collaborative effort, Slimey Individuals which hailed major features outside of the Taylor Gang conglomerate. As he readies the release of El Chivo which arrives next week, he unleashes a new single with Wiz Khalifa and Chevy Woods.

Berner keeps his latest track, "Wassup" a strictly Taylor Gang affair. The rapper links up with Wiz Khalif and Chevy Woods for the track which finds them hopping on production that's reminiscent of the Cabin Fever tapes. Berner's new single follows the release of his 4/20 anthem "Get Rich Or Die Smokin."

Wiz and Chevy make additional appearances on El Chivo. Wiz Khalifa joins Berner "Do What We Want" while Chevy joins Berner and Majix on "Sit Down.'

Quotable Lyrics

Kingpin shit, big grown, Colorado

Ride out to Vegas with clones in the Tahoe

Big Bern, baby girl, I'm a dope boy

I kill for my brother like Doughboy
Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt has lowkey been meeting with students from Cleveland City Schools this off-season to speak about his mistakes. According to The News-Herald, Hunt and the Browns are keeping the visits on the down low because he doesnt want any attention to distract from his message.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1123317417009086469



During an appearance on 92.3 The Fan earlier this week, Cleveland Browns GM John Dorsey explained how Hunt has been visiting kids in local schools on his down time in hopes that they'll learn from his off-field issues.

Per The News-Herald:

We all know hes remorseful, Dorsey said during an interview with Bull and Fox on 92.3 The Fan. Weve said this all along: You have to earn the right to be a member of this organization. There are no guarantees. I like the way hes attacking this thing day in and day out. I applaud him for what hes doing on the field and how hard hes working. But what people dont realize is once hes off the field, hes doing things unannounced. Hes actually going out and talking to young kids and working behind the scenes to teach young kids, Dont make the same mistake I made. 

https://twitter.com/_/status/1123593889368113152



Hunt will serve an eight game suspension to start the 2019-20 season for violating the league's personal conduct policy, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Browns signed Hunt on February 11, several months after the 23-year old running back was released by the Kansas City Chiefs when video footage of him pushing and kicking a woman surfaced.

Cleveland's 2019 season begins at home on September 8 against the Tennessee Titans, followed by a Monday night matchup against the Jets at MetLife Stadium. The Browns have a Bye in Week 7, meaning Hunt will be eligible to return for their Week 10 home game vs the Buffalo Bills.
The court of public opinion has determined Jussie Smollett is guilty of being a blatant liar, even though the charges against him were dropped. The actor has been working towards rebuilding his public image after claiming that he was the victim of a vicious hate crime. His fate on Empire was likely determined by the incident while he allegedly hoped the "attack" would boost his career, it seems to have done the opposite. Fox announced that the show would be returning for a sixth season but the fate of Smollett is still in the air.



Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

"By mutual agreement, the studio has negotiated an extension to Jussie Smollett's option for season 6, but at this time there are no plans for the character of Jamal to return to Empire," Fox said in a statement.

It's a strange agreement to have. The company seems to be keeping Smollett nearby but they haven't confirmed whether he'll be making his way back on the show. What could be a determining factor in all of this is the civil lawsuit filed against him by the City Of Chicago who is demanding that he cough up six-figures to repay the cost of the investigation.

What's even more weird about this is that by extending Jussie's option for the show's sixth season, they would likely have to pay him for the contract. This ultimately means that he'd be getting some money from the show even though he's not in it.

Smollett was previously seen having lunch with executives of the show and it seemed promising that he'd be making his return.

[Via TMZ]
Instagram has evolved into its own cultural phenomenon that has crept into every corner of the world. For as long as businesses have been around, people have used branding to their benefit, but never on this global of a scale. Instagram can make or break someone's career, it can expose their darkest secrets to an international audience in a matter of seconds, and for years it's been how millions have measured their self-worth and popularity by likes and views.

Recognizing that the addictive social media platform has its negative effects, especially regarding mental health and emotional security, Instagram executives are trying something different. There have been a number of updates and changes for their millions of users, but nothing quite like what they may have coming soon. At Facebook's "F8 Conference" earlier today, a spokesperson said that the company is beta testing hiding likes from the publicand they're beginning next week.



Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

"We are testing this because we want your followers to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get," an Instagram spokesperson told Techcrunch. "[...] We understand that this is important for many creators, and while this test is in exploratory stages, we are thinking through ways for them to communicate value to their brand partners." Those who are still addicted to their "likes" numbers need not worry; hiding the amount of "likes"won't affect the algorithm.

However, may social media influencers use Instagram to rake in the dough. Companies measure their desirability based on the number of likes they receive, and if those aren't viewable to the public, then thousands may need to think about sprucing up their resumes. We understand that this is important for many creators, and while this test is in exploratory stages, we are thinking through ways for them to communicate value to their brand partners, the spokesperson stated.



Rachel Murray/Getty Images

Instagram will begin testing in Canada because "Canadians are highly social and tech-savvy, with over 24 million people connecting across our family of apps each month. We wanted to test this with a digitally savvy audience that has a thriving community on Instagram, a company spokesperson explained to Tech Crunch.

The company also wants to lead the fight against internet bullying by rolling out some new features that include (as defined by Tech Crunch):

A new nudge feature will warn users if theyre about to comment something hurtful. The test stops short of censorship while still addressing bullying before it happens.

Away Mode will encourage users to take a break from Instagram at intense times in their life, like moving to a new school. They dont have to delete their account, but can still get a break from constant notifications and concerns about how they look.

Manage Interactions will allow users to set limits on how certain people interact with them without having to block them completely. Maybe you dont want someone to be able to comment on your posts, but still Like them. Or youre cool with them seeing your photos but dont want to get DMs from them.

Do you think it's a good move for Instagram to remove "likes" from their platform?
John Singleton's efforts have left a long-lasting impact in the film industry. The trailblazing director died at the age of 51 yesterday after suffering from a stroke earlier this month. Singleton's directorial debut was Boyz N The Hood, a unique coming-of-age tale of a boy in South Central Los Angeles navigate his way through challenges in the inner-city. It was met with immediate praise from critics and consumers alike, leading Singleton to become the youngest and first African-American to get nominated for Best Director. Earlier today, the director was remembered by the former POTUS who penned a short, but meaningful, tribute on Twitter.



Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Singleton's contributions to film undoubtedly opened the doors for more people of color who strived be make it in Hollywood. Obama thanked the late-director for his efforts which ultimately helped a new generation of filmmakers to tell their own stories.

"Condolences to the family of John Singleton. His seminal work, Boyz n the Hood, remains one of the most searing, loving portrayals of the challenges facing inner-city youth. He opened doors for filmmakers of color to tell powerful stories that have been too often ignored," Obama wrote.

Singleton's efforts to bring the Black experience to the mainstream wasn't solely done in Boyz N The Hood but also, in many of his subsequent efforts from Rosewood to Higher Learning and Poetic Justice.
Remy Ma's found herself in some trouble with the law following an alleged altercation at Irving Plaza earlier this year. TMZ reports Remy Ma has been arrested by police over the alleged attack of Love & Hip-Hop Star, Brittney Taylor, who claimed the "Wake Me Up" rapper clocked her in the face.

Remy Ma surrendered to authorities earlier today (May 1), accompanied by her lawyer. Sources claim that she's been charged with misdemeanor assault.

Taylor claimed that she and Remy Ma punched her in the face backstage at Pretty Lou's annual benefit concert. Taylor previously alluded to be preparing to file a civil lawsuit against the rapper. Last month, she requested that the police preserve all of the evidence from the alleged assault including surveillance footage.

Taylor told her side of the story after the incident. As she told it, Remy Ma punched her in the face after she told the rapper that she saved Remy's step-daughter from getting beat up from a man during Spring Break. What happened with me and Dej in Miami is I saved herI saved her life, and [Remy] got aggressive [when Britteny told her at Irving], she said. She was like, Thats not what I heard, and she punched me in the face."

Taylor's attorney said that she "will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities."
There have been tons of twists and turns in the complicated federal case involving Tekashi 6ix9ine. At the beginning of the case, his former manager, Shotti, reportedly proclaimed in court, we don't fold, we don't bend, we don't break. It's Tr3yway," while under oath. That statement has not aged well given that 6ix9ine and Shotti were among the half a dozen defendants who took guilty pleas in the case. Earlier today, the case had its first all-defendant conference since February where it was revealed that a few more Nine Trey associates could also be copping guilty pleas.



Bob Levey/Getty Images

According to Complex, the hearing at Manhattan's Thurgood Marshall Courthouse focused primarily on procedural issues as well as new evidence brought forth by the feds. Kintea "Kooda B" McKenzie was at the center of the new evidence that was introduced. Kooda B is accused of ringing off shots at Chief Keef outside of Manhattan's W Hotel last year which he was promised $20K from 6ix9ine for the act. 6ix9ine admitted to his involvement in the case.

The evidence brought forth was a water bottle that was seen in the surveillance video of the Manhattan shooting. The police found the bottle before sending it off for DNA testing. According to the government, McKenzie's DNA was "included" on the bottle. U.S. Attorney Michael Longyear said that the chances that the DNA belongs to someone else are "a trillion to one."

Longyear told the judge that they were working on more guilty pleas. "We are engaged in active plea discussions with several of the defendants," he told the judge before revealing that there are less than three defendants in talks for taking guilty pleas.
Travis Scott's Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG collab unexpectedly released on Tuesday night in celebration of Scott's birthday, marking the second time that the kicks have suddenly dropped - the first time was back in March.

The next time the Cactus Jack 1s release you'll be ready, because Nike has officially announced that the collab will be releasing on May 11 alongside a matching range of apparel.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1123398125861818368



The shoe stands out with earthy tones and textures, paying homage to his childhood backyard where he played as a kid, and features a backwards Nike Swoosh, a hidden heel pocket and subtle Cactus Jack branding. The shoe also incorporates Scotts personal touch with hand-sketched logos.

The Travis Scott x Jordan Brand apparel collection will consist of a fleece hoodie, fleece shorts, a tracksuit and tees - all decked out in Cactus Jack colors and imagery.

The apparel collection is just another form of expression and design. said Scott, It brings the creative to other lifestyles pieces for the brand.

Again, the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG will be available May 11, on SNKRS, SNEAKRS and at a group of retailers across the globe. The Travis Scott apparel collection will also be available May 11 at a group of retailers across the globe.
You cant say we didnt call it.

As we predicted last year, Tygas has finally hit his stride musically. His newest appearance on the single Light It Up, a party-ready collaboration with Chris Brown and superstar producer/DJ Marshmello, is just the latest in a string of strong efforts from the 29-year-old Compton rapper. Hes followed up successes like Taste (which peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100 last summer) and Dip with a string of fire singles thus far in 2019, including Girls Have Fun, Goddamn and Floss in the Bank.

Tyga performing at The Hollywood Bowl - Kevin Winter/Getty Images

His current hot streak is even more impressive considering where T-Raww was (or perhaps, was not) in the hip-hop conversation just a couple of years ago. A messy separation from Kardashian ingenue Kylie Jenner and a seemingly infinite number of run-ins with the paparazzi made his career more about tabloid appearances than a singular, identifiable musical style.

At the same time, his musical output was mostly falling on deaf ears; not inciting any particularly strong feelings on either end of the spectrum. Starting with 2016s Rawwest Alive, Tyga took big swings and missed on four consecutive albums. That down period hit a breaking point with Kyoto, a lifeless mess of a record that was scrutinized more for its now-infamous cover art than its complete lack of energy or sense of direction.

Luckily for Tyga, he was able to turn things around with the help of his frequent collaborator, and current powerhouse producer D.A. Doman.

Originally from Chicago, Doman played no small in this recent resurrection process, crafting instrumentals that have brought the best out of the rapper time and time again. Starting with Taste, he utilized a wide variety of elements, from strings to steel drums to silky-smooth vocal samples, to add a more varied textural flavor that had been missing from Tyga previous work.

Theres also a clear sense that T-Raww has scaled back some of the moodier parts of his character and has been more focused on refining the sex rapper part of his persona. You could draw a straight line between where he is in the mainstream firmament right now and where Lil Wayne was ten or so years ago. There are shades of Weezy tracks like Mrs. Officer dotting Tygas most recent output, crafting songs that feel as much at home in the club as they do in the bedroom.

In a Billboard article published in Fall 2018, the young emcee explained that his erratic-seeming career moves are all in service of his gut instinct. I go off feeling, he said. Sometimes it has worked for me. Sometimes it hasn't. In this case, referring to his success of Taste, I guess it worked. Like the continual underdog still working to earn well-deserved public respect, Tyga summed it up perfectly later in the piece: Im a guy you can never count out.

That swagger is apparent in his record release tactics, often dropping tracks with little-to-no notice, and seemingly with no larger project attached. With tens of millions of combined followers across his social media accounts, generating a buzz without much advance hype isnt something Tyga struggles with  in fact, it adds to his carefully cultivated mystique of a rapper who always has something new and exciting in the works. His prolific release schedule during the past 24 months is also a clear indication that he consistently makes good on those implied promises to fans.

Tyga at the 2019 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards - Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

The culmination of those different factors bring us back to Light It Up, a song that has drawn the ire of at least one Marshmello collaborator, leading to a social media backlash that, for once, has worked in Tygas favor. For a man who keeps finding himself on the receiving end of lawsuits and other negative media attention, it is certainly a wonder that his rap career hasnt been completely derailed, much less blossomed into a force to be reckoned with.

Then again, maybe thats been his plan all along. Slowly building on the potential heard in his earliest hits (Rack City still slaps, yall), Tyga is that rare breed of music superstar who cant stay down for very long. From TMZ videos to singles or albums that have bombed, T-Raww continues to impress with his tenacity as much as his talent.

The biggest reason for that? He lets those missed opportunities fuel his future efforts, instead of chalking them up as regrets. From that same Billboard article: Ill get success, gain momentum, then lose it, get it again, lose it [] If you fuck up, you got to get back up. [Thats] it. Nothing to it.

Along with his ability to spit a fire flow when he feels inclined (and the inclination seemingly goes hand-in-hand w D.A Doman beats), this is how Tyga finally hit his stride.
Property owners have until May 15 to protest the appraised values of their homes and businesses, and given how poorly the system works, there is little reason not to go for it.

Appraisals are the first step in calculating Texas sky-high property tax. Officials from local appraisal districts are supposed to determine the market value of a real estate holding, but they rarely get it right because they dont have all the necessary information.

You can appeal the value every year in Texas, so why not? said Richard Hurt, a senior property tax consultant at Marvin F. Poer and Company with 40 years of experience. Thats good management.

Property buyers are not required to disclose how much they paid, and appraisers do not have time to visit every property every year. Therefore, they rely on sales, income and cost data that is analyzed using the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas politicians promise property tax reform, just dont expect lower taxes

Appraisal district officials would like you to believe this is a clear-cut formula, but the process is highly subjective.

A mass appraisal is designed to cover a broad range, and thats where the details of the characteristics of the property come into play, Hurt said. Unique properties are going to need special attention and thats why there is a hearing process.

A property owner can submit additional information to justify a lower appraisal. Photos of an old kitchen, a bad roof or an estimate for repairs can convince an appraiser to mark down the property value.

Texas law also requires that appraisal districts assign similar values to similar properties based on age, location, size, use and construction type. If the district values your property substantially higher than your neighbors, and your homes or businesses are basically the same, you can demand the lower valuation through an equity appeal.

JW Marriott convinced the Bexar County Appraisal District to knock $36 million off a $270 million appraisal of a luxury resort in 2017. The hotelier sold the property for more than $600 million last year, according to reporting by my colleague Allie Morris.

Property owners, mostly businesses, shaved $44 billion off the tax rolls last year in the states five biggest counties: Harris, Bexar, Dallas, Tarrant and Travis, Morris found. Texans saved $1 billion on their public school taxes alone, keeping that money in their pockets instead of paying for education.

Businesses file protests the most, but any property owner can, and probably should fight to lower their appraisals. Hurt says every property owner should start by making sure the appraisal district has an accurate description of the property because oftentimes, simple facts like the amount of air-conditioned space are wrong.

Anyone who has protested a property appraisal on their own knows the grind and futility of fighting the tax man. Ive spent hours waiting to meet an appraiser, sitting through a rapid-fire monologue loaded with jargon and acronyms to justify why my home is worth more than the house down the street.

These meetings usually end with the appraiser offering a slight reduction to the assigned value with the not-so-veiled threat that attempting to win a more significant concession will involve more bureaucratic torture. Not to mention, the appeals board can raise an appraisal just as easily as lower it.

Big businesses and the wealthy dont take those kinds of chances; they employ consultants like Hurt who have worked at an appraisal district and know the system inside and out. In many cases, the consulting firm doesnt get paid unless they lower the clients tax bill, minimizing the risk to property owners.

For many, filing protest the appraisal has become a spring ritual.

Property owners in Harris County filed over 5,000 lawsuits in 2017 making an equity argument, Morris reported last month. Roughly 90 percent came from commercial property owners and wiped out more than $5.8 billion from the tax rolls, data from the Harris County Appraisal District shows.

On HoustonChronicle.com: To fix outrageous property taxes, Texas needs Californias Prop 13

Texas growing population is driving up property values and stressing government services. But higher property taxes are driving people to sell their homes and forcing small businesses to shutter. No current proposal before the Texas Legislature would lower taxes, only slow their rise.

The only option is for every property owner in the state to protest their appraised values. Every time a property value is reduced, so is the median value, which allows for more protests.

Once we paralyze the appraisal districts with appeals and lawsuits, perhaps our politicians will bring about real property tax reform.

Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy.

chris.tomlinson@chron.com

twitter.com/cltomlinson
WASHINGTON  Some of the biggest names in the oil industry managed to avoid paying any taxes last year under the new tax code that President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans passed in 2017.

Despite earning billions of dollars in profits, companies such as the California oil major Chevron, the Houston independent oil companies Occidental Petroleum and EOG Resources, and the Houston oil field services company Halliburton were able to claim tens of millions in tax rebates, according to a study earlier this month by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

They were among 60 of the biggest names in corporate America, including Amazon, General Motors, IBM and Netflix, who collectively received a rebate of $4.3 billion on earnings of $79 billion.

Oil companies have long used favorable terms within the federal tax code to reduce their liability. But critics say the tax cuts two years ago have allowed oil and other sectors to reduce their tax bills even further, causing tax revenues to plummet despite Trumps promise the cuts would not increase the budget deficit.

It is a big windfall for oil companies, as it is for all kinds of large corporations, said Seth Hanlon, who served as special assistant for economic policy to former President Barack Obama and is now a senior fellow at the Washington think tank Center for American Progress. The tax cuts add to the debt and they further increase economic inequality and make the most powerful corporations richer and even more powerful.

Trump championed the new tax code as a means to boost the economy and grow American jobs. And with the national unemployment rate at 3.8 percent, the administration has cited the tax cuts as a driving force.

Getting a check

Those lower taxes is money going back into the economy, and thats why we have the economic growth we do, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC earlier this year.

Under the new corporate tax rate of 21 percent  down from 35 percent under the previous tax code  the 60 companies cited in the study were expected to pay $16.4 billion in taxes. But those companies were able to use a variety of tax breaks to not only avoid their bills, but even get rebates.

For instance, Chevron and Halliburton were able to deduct the full cost of their capital investments in 2018, rather than doing it piecemeal as the investments depreciated over the years, as was required under the former tax code.

Chevron reported $290 million of depreciation-related tax breaks in 2018, and Halliburton reduced its taxes by $320 million, the study read. Companies profiled in this report appear to be using a diverse array of legal tax breaks to zero out their federal income taxes.

Oil companies cited in the study either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

The tax reform championed by Republicans in 2017 was supposed to get rid of many of the tax breaks that corporations and wealthy individuals use to reduce their tax bills, simplifying the tax code while reducing overall tax rates. And while some of the loopholes were eliminated, many have stayed in place, including those that benefit the oil sector, said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at the activist group Public Citizen.

The oil industry really showed its muscle in Congress because it got its reduced rate while still retaining a lot of its exemptions, he said.

For instance, Pioneer Natural Resources in Irving, which paid zero taxes, and Occidental in Houston, which received a $23 million tax rebate, were able to use oil-sector specific tax breaks such as depreciation and percentage depletion to reduce their liability. Across the energy sector, companies benefited from the tax cuts.

Breaks for renewables

Wind and solar farms also provided power companies ample tax shelter. North Carolina-based Duke Energy claimed $129 million in renewable energy production tax credits last year, while Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy claimed $75 million in wind productions credits.

But with the budget deficit growing to $234 billion in February, the highest monthly shortfall in American history, many economists are wondering how long Trumps tax cuts can be maintained before driving the national debt to unsustainable levels.

Despite the growing economy, overall tax revenues have not increased since last year, even as Congress has increased spending. The Treasury Department reported revenues from corporate taxes, which historically make up about 10 percent of overall tax revenues, were down 31 percent in 2018.

This was a more precipitous decline than in any year of normal economic growth in U.S. history, the study read.

james.osborne@chron.com

twitter.com/osborneja
Most of us can immediately picture them, but what might the northern lights sound like?

Known as aurora borealis (or aurora australis in the southern hemisphere), the lights occur when ionically charged subatomic particles produced by the sun, known as solar wind, interact with Earths magnetic field around the poles.

A less scientific way to put would be that these incredible swaths of colored light streaking across the frigid sky are simply God, or Mother Nature, showing off. The phenomenon is so awe-inspiring its been regularly mistaken for supernatural and/or extraterrestrial activity from ancient times to the present day.

This weekend Houston Symphony composer-in-residence Jimmy Lopez will at last give the northern lights a soundtrack when the orchestra premieres his Aurora violin concerto, a showcase for Spanish-born soloist Leticia Moreno.

Lopez, a 40-year-old Peruvian native who this fall enters his third and final season of his residency, first experienced the lights as a student at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Not long after he got there, a friend invited him along to visit his familys village within a vast forest.

Sounds of silence

Aurora When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday Where: Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana St. Details: $25-$119; 713-224-7575, houstonsymphony.org See More Collapse

What struck him immediately, recalls Lopez, was the silence.

At some point we were talking, talking, talking, and he said, Just stop for a minute and listen, and then we were quiet, he says. There was no one around us; it was the middle of the night. I tried to listen and all I could listen to was my own heartbeat. It was like being in a vacuum chamber.

I remember this quote from [late Russian pianist] Emil Gilels, saying that he loved silence because without silence there cant be any music, he adds. When I experienced that, I immediately felt that kind of connection.

Waves retain certain properties no matter the medium, and Lopez says he began imagining how to depict the waves of light he saw in the sky as waves of sound.

Its that feeling of them sweeping, and that sense of vastness that they convey, and that curviness, lets say, as well, he explains. That roundness. That periodicity that you feel when one comes and [then] the other comes. I try to translate that kind of feeling.

Lopez also hopes the concerto will turn Jones Hall into a sort of echo chamber, he says, but coyly insists I dont want to give too much away, because I want it to be a surprise for the audience.

Meeting of musical minds

Shortly after Lopezs Houston Symphony residency began in mid-2017, music director Andres Orozco-Estrada asked him to write a violin concerto for Moreno. He turned to the piece he had begun for a violinist back in Finland, and never quite stopped tinkering with even after the original commission fell through.

He visited Moreno at her home in Valencia, Spain, that summer, where the two completed the bulk of the piece in short order but its premiere was delayed. (Aurora is yet another arts-related event to indirectly feel Hurricane Harveys wrath.)

I think the concerto became a much better piece [after] I met her, says Lopez. A composer can have his ideas in the abstract of what he wants to convey, but your knowledge cannot match the knowledge of the instrumentalist in terms of the inner workings of the instrument.

The two collaborated so closely, Lopez says, that Aurora became infused with Morenos personality as well.

Leticia is full of fire, he says. She is capable of incredibly intimate and quiet moments, but what impressed me being so close to her  just a few feet away from her  was the power that she was able to take from that instrument. When I heard that, I felt like I really needed to use this quality more.

Every musician has something that makes them special, and of course she has plenty of [those], adds Lopez. But what I was taken aback by was how powerful her playing is all throughout the range of the violin.

Chris Gray is a Houston-based writer.
The Vietnam War has been the subject of so many documentaries and feature films that there doesnt seem to be much new to be said. But the documentary Soul Alley, screening at the AMC Houston 8 Saturday as one of the 55 features or shorts at the third National Black Film Festival, proves otherwise.

The film, from Houstons Ted Irving, tells the story of a Saigon laneway, nicknamed Soul Alley, where black GIs hung out to find some rest, recreation and relief from the war  and the antagonism they sometimes received from white soldiers. The narrow street was located near what was then the U.S.-operated Tan Son Nhut Air Base, and it was enlivened by shops, bars, clubs, soul-food restaurants and brothels. (Soul Alley was also called 100P Alley because a sex act with a prostitute could be purchased for 100 piastres, roughly $1 in American currency at the time.)

Most documentaries (about Vietnam) its all about the death and the killing, said Irving, 49, in a phone interview. I didnt want to do any of that stuff. I wanted to showcase something that, for African-Americans, that really was a positive. That street was where you went to have fun, get their minds off the war, sex, drugs and all that kind of stuff.

Soul Alley When: Noon, Saturday Where: National Black Film Festival, AMC Houston 8, 510 Texas Ave. Details: $10; the festival runs through Sunday. For the full line-up, go to nationalblackfilmfestival.com See More Collapse

Some of the vets that I interviewed, if you mention Soul Alley or 100P, theyd lighten up and say, Oh yeah, I remember that place. In most movies, like Apocalypse Now and Full-Metal Jacket, you dont hear about 100P Alley. These terms were in use for (the soldiers) but in terms of American culture in cinema, nobodys ever heard of them.

Irving, director of HTV (Houston Television) out of the mayors officde, said he had long been fascinated by the African-American experience in the Vietnam War after seeing a photo in a Time Life book as a kid. There was an African-American male sitting on a step, and there was one line that mentioned a place called Soul Alley. In nowhere else, in any other book or in other volumes, does it exist, he said. It has just stayed in my head since 1982.

In 1999, he was going to shoot a self-financed documentary but that fell apart. It wasnt until three years ago, when he received $45,000 in funding, that he was able to finally put it together. He actually got to go to Vietnam for the films other focus: the fate of Amerasian children fathered by African-American soldiers.

While Irving said the documentary, which runs about an hour, is finished, there are elements he would like to include if he had the chance. For example, while he talks to soldiers and biracial Vietnamese adults, he doesnt feature any of the Vietnamese mothers. They are hard to find, he said. I would love to go back and talk to some of the mothers, if they would talk about it.

As for the film, it doesnt have distribution yet though he would like to get it on Amazon or Netflix. Yet hes also pondering his next project. Im thinking about an environmental documentary focusing on the city of Houston, he said.
In the indie superhero film El Chicano, opening Friday, Raul Castillo is a Los Angeles cop who moonlights as the titular character, a masked avenging angel on a motorcycle trying to keep a powerful cartel from moving into his largely Latino East L.A. where he grew up.

In the real world, Raul Castillo is a Texan who has had an acting career for nearly 20 years  hes best known as Richie Donado in the 2014 HBO ensemble show Looking and as Baco in the current Starz series Vida  but is only now starting to break out into wider recognition.

In fact, Castillo, 41, is glad that fame didnt tap him on the shoulder sooner. I was a mess when I was 22, he said recently by phone from L.A. People start to treat you a little differently, and they start to recognize you. As an actor, one of your greatest assets is being able to observe people, how they are in their natural state but celebrity affects people in very interesting ways.

Im not saying Im a celebrity but people are starting to recognize me more and more. ... If I was younger, I dont know that I would have been well equipped to deal with that.

As much as the McAllen High School grad had wanted to be an actor since his teenage years  he was very involved in his schools drama department  he wasnt sure he had what it takes to make it as an actor. So he started writing plays, too. I saw theater as a ticket out, Castillo said. I had a friend [in high school], Tanya Saracho, shes a showrunner on Vida, and she pushed me to study hard, get good grades so I could get out.

He landed at Boston University where he studied theater writing and wrote plays about his South Texas youth inspired by the likes of Latino writers Luis Valdez (Zoot Suit) and Miguel Pinero, co-founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. But he still had the desire to act.

Honestly, I didnt think I could be an actor. I was sort of unpolished and mumbled a lot. I had long hair and was kind of goofy, he said. But I just loved acting so much that I never stopped doing it.

In the early 2000s, he appeared in productions in Austin  including a staging of Santos & Santos for which the Austin Chronicle noted that he showed an intense energy  and eventually moved to New York City. Since then, he has had parts in a variety of TV series including All My Children, Nurse Jackie, Law & Order and Damages but it wasnt until Looking  in which he played one of a group of gay friends in San Francisco  that he began to make his mark.

I remember friends of mine would ask me if I was nervous about playing a gay character, and its such a high-profile show. They were thinking it was going to limit me. I think its been quite the opposite, he said. It opened up a lot of opportunities for me. [Richie] is such a great character, and hes such an interesting guy. He was very endearing to a lot of people. It put me on a fantastic platform.

But El Chicano could him take to places that a niche show like Looking could not. Id love for a whole trilogy, he said with a laugh. I hope this is just the beginning. I think its an incredible character.

Castillo said he was immediately drawn to the story, directed by Ben Hernandez Bray and co-written by Bray with Joe Carnahan, director of The A-Team movie and The Grey. The character felt familiar to me, he said.

Even though he grew up in South Texas, not East L.A., Castillo said he had no trouble transcending any cultural differences. When I was a kid and saw movies like American Me or Blood In, Blood Out, movies that were talking about the people of East L.A., it felt very familiar to me, he said. Those were the movies that inspired me. When I saw Jesse Borrego, Benjamin Bratt and Edward James Olmos, I thought that I could do it. I feel like East L.A. is the heart and soul of Mexican America.  I live in New York, but Im in LA constantly. I feel I should just get the bus pass because Im here so often.

His next film, Knives Out, directed by Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) and starring Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Daniel Craig and La Keith Stanfield, might have Hollywood producers calling more than they already are.

Still, that doesnt mean he doesnt miss Texas. He tries to return as often as possible. I miss the food, first and foremost, he said. I dont eat meat really anymore but I miss Whataburger. Ive got friends and family throughout Texas  in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley. These are all the places the film is going to play, and Im really excited for the film to play in Texas.

Im so stoked for young kids in the Rio Grande Valley to discover my work in a new way, he continued. Its an all-Latino cast.  They havent seen a film like this  Selena might have been one of the last movies with an all-Latino cast  so its been a long time coming. I hope people embrace it, and I hope my family and friends back home love it as much as I do.

cary.darling@chron.com
Sunday marks the anniversary of the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla. We know it better as Cinco de Mayo. We know it way better as a reason to get our tequila-on.

May 5 will be celebrated with drink and food specials at bars and restaurants throughout Houston.
Its easy for Dawn Fudge to kid about the eccentricities of Last Concert Cafe. After all, she is its reigning eccentric  the charming, well-connected, Earth Mother non-conformist who for 30 years has been the gatekeeper to one of Houstons most idiosyncratic music and dining venues.

But she wasnt joking when she said she needed help to help modernize her crumbling enterprise. The restaurant and live music haunt at 1403 Nance in the Warehouse District had seen better days: Worn and more than a little beat up around the edges, Last Concert was in desperate need of love.

It got a heap of it, thanks to a recent investment from a collaboration aimed at ensuring that the music never stops and the kitchens famous enchiladas will roll on for generations to come.

Last November Fudge became business partners with investors who embraced the operations funky nature: a solid though unsung Tex-Mex kitchen and the hippie hideaway/live music platform under one rambling, ramshackle roof. These new partners include restaurateurs/entrepreneurs Jon Deal and Todd Johnson (together they own Beavers and the iconic El Patio) and Kevin Hanratty, who owns a Houston private equity firm and brought the partners to the table. Together they set about upgrading all aspects of the Last Concert experience from righting crumbling infrastructure and installing new bathrooms to a new paint job and upholstery as well as hiring a music booker and producer to secure better talent to the outdoor stage.

The food, meanwhile, was a happy constant that has remained largely unchanged over the past couple of decades. Although a kitchen overhaul and expansion is on the table, the partners are in agreement that Last Concerts menu is a thing of beauty  an unapologetically retro lineup of Tex-Mex standards that is rarely celebrated in media coverage of what makes Houstons culinary scene great. But ask longtime Houstonians and theyll tell you the house salsa, crispy tacos and cheese enchiladas are iconic representations of a way of dining that has no interest in being trendy.

Guardian of the enchilada galaxy

For about 20 years, Eudel Hernandez has been the guardian for the unchanging flavors that loyalists prize about the Last Concert menu. He describes his start at the restaurant as something of an audition. Fudge, who bought the business in 1986, insisted that recipes from the original owner, Elena Mama Lopez, rule the menu. Eudel, a Mexican immigrant from La Luz de Juarez, Mexico, was 17 when he cooked for Fudge. She tasted and liked it, he recalls.

He got the job. From a ridiculously small kitchen Hernandez and his crew can turn out as many as 300 meals on a busy day  chicken flautas, nachos, grilled beef and chicken fajitas, and enchiladas with carne gravy that loyalists are mad for.

Hernandez is loyal, too. Fudge said her executive chef has been offered other opportunities, but hes stuck with Last Concert. The little kitchen, he said, makes magic, and hes happy to carry on a culinary legacy that now is being encouraged to grow. The partners have promised to upgrade the kitchen and have encouraged Hernandez to spread his wings as he sees fit.

Theyre good people, he said. Theyre trying to make it bigger and better.

And whether its completely new dishes or elaborations on existing Last Concert themes, Hernandez said hes looking forward to making my own history.

19th-century structures

Set in one of downtowns oldest structures (two 19th-century residences), Last Concert has been undergoing subtle renovations and upgrading for the past several months. Johnson and Deal seem to be perfectly suited for the preservationist attention that Fudge says Last Concert has needed.

With a passion for old institutions, as Johnson puts it, the partners have spruced up the tiny main dining room and outdoor patio, installed a new bar in an old shipping container, expanded parking, built new restrooms, and brought on consultant Scott Holmes to act as new talent booker and production manager for the music venue.

Im not an idiot  I can tell its better, Fudge said of the upgrades.

Deal, who said he and Johnson have a talent for circling around cool old stuff (they bought El Patio and Club No Minors in 2001), said while Last Concert needed new blood and new direction, those changes had to be significant but subtle. Part of Last Concerts charm is its hard-won patina, the partners acknowledge.

It needed to be more user friendly, Deal said, We needed to clean it up without cleaning it up.

Fudge welcomes the changes but recognizes that anything too drastic would alienate the folks who loved its beat-nik, inclusive, anything-goes attitude. It needed to respect the old community while finding a new audience, the partners agree.

I hope the new people who come experience that sense of community, Fudge said, and start the cycle over again.

Dont worry, some things will never change: You still have to knock twice on the red door to get in.

greg.morago@chron.com
3 1 of 3 Fairchild Napa Valley Winery / Fairchild Napa Valley Winery Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Fairchild Napa Valley Winery / Fairchild Napa Valley Winery Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Fairchild Napa Valley Winery / Fairchild Napa Valley Winery Show More Show Less





Lawrence Fairchild  a former Washington insider (during the Reagan years) turned California start-up maven  got into the wine business in the mid-aughts and he went all in. His hat-trick lineup of Stones wines, made by cult winemaker Philippe Melka from seriously fussed-over fruit grown in some of Napa Valleys toniest terroir, have consistently earn critics scores in the high-90s, and demand far outpaces supply.

About 100 Fairchild collectors/fans recently converged in Houston to chat with Fairchild and his wife of only 16 months, Spring native Jacquelyn Hartman, while ordering their 2016s, which are just now being released. Theyre all tiny-lot cabernet sauvignons  and as Hartman can attest from experience (her first wine gig out of Texas A&M University was at Texas Flat Creek Winery), Cab is king in Texas.
CONROE The University of St. Thomas and the City of Conroe announced Monday that the Houston-based Catholic college is opening a new campus in Conroe next fall and has chosen Deison Technology Park as its proposed location.

Conroe Mayor Toby Powell called the project the grand prize for Conroe and an asset to the community.

Its a vision that weve all had in the past. We just didnt know where it was going to lead us and how it was going to get here, Powell said.

The Conroe campus, which the university publicly hinted at in late March, will be the third site for St. Thomas, which has its main campus in the Montrose area and another campus nearby for its St. Marys Seminary, which houses the universitys school of theology.

The proposed space for the campus  the 248-acre Deison Technology Park, which is adjacent to the Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport  was originally designed to attract corporate headquarters, research and development operations, and to also complement the manufacturing focus of nearby Conroe Industrial Park North. The park has remained vacant since its grand opening in May 2013, but the city has long envisioned hosting a university there, according to officials.

RELATED: University of St. Thomas considers Conroe for its next campus

St. Thomas University President Richard Ludwick said that the new project makes good sense for the university, especially in a place like Conroe  a city that offers opportunities for growth and innovation and where programs in aviation, technology and engineering are bound to do well.

We bring with us a 2,000 year tradition of the Catholic intellectual experience, and that sits right in the heart of how we think the frontiers of this world get to be made, Ludwick said. You bring with you the good things of the past, and you form even better things in the future. Thats what this project is about.

The university will launch a nursing program at the Conroe campus first, according to officials, and an accelerated bachelor of science nursing program for second-degree candidates will be offered, said Poldi Tschirch, the St. Thomas dean of nursing. The accelerated program would offer individuals with bachelors degrees a chance to change careers and move into nursing at a faster pace, completing the program in around 12 months and would help meet the need for nurses throughout the region and state.

We believe that this partnership is going to help us serve, and were grateful for the opportunity, Tschirch said.

Ludwick said the growing partnerships related to the new campus have felt providential.

Conroe City Councilman Jody Czajkoski contacted him out of the blue about a year ago regarding the possibility of locating a four-year university in Conroe, he said.

He said hey, why dont you bring a Catholic university up here to Conroe, Ludwick told the crowd of about 50 people. I said that seems like an intriguing invitation that you dont get every day.

Czajkoski said his hope is to expand Conroes offerings in higher education and employment as it continues to grow. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Conroe was the fastest growing large city with a population of 50,000 or more between 2015 and 2016. The city grew at 7.8 percent, making its growth rate more than 11 times the nations growth rate of 0.7 percent.

RELATED: University of St. Thomas in Houston to offer flat-rate tuition, new degrees this fall

We have been working to get a four-year Ivy League-type institution like University of St. Thomas in our area. Were just looking forward to it, Czajkoski previously told the Houston Chronicle. The community is growing, and we wanted a way to train our local talent and keep them in the Conroe community.

Houston resident Vincent DAmico, who graduated from one of the first classes at St. Thomas in 1952, has also volunteered 50 acres of his land in East Montgomery to the project. DAmico gifted the property, located at FM 1485 and Waukegan Road, to provide an opportunity for St. Thomas to raise capital for the new campus, Ludwick said.

DAmico, 88, said hes adamant about the donation being an ironclad transfer to the university that will strictly benefit the nursing program.

The inception of a campus on Deison Technology Park, however, will not be immediate.

University officials have yet to sign a deal to purchase land in Conroe and they are still studying plans for the new campus. They do, however, have a concept. A rendering of the campus, distributed at the press conference Monday, illustrates a bustling campus with greenery and multiple buildings.

In the meantime, the city has agreed to allow the university to use the Old Conroe Police building, across from the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, as a temporary site for classrooms, administrative offices and lab facilities for up to three years.

Thatll be sort of the ground zero, the beginnings of University of St. Thomas in Conroe, said Ludwick, who added that the number of students attending will largely depend on the demand.

We arent going to put up a building here just yet, Ludwick said. We are going to make sure we get our ducks in a row before we do that. This is something we are committed to.

Until then, Ludwick said Conroe is making St. Thomas feel right at home.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com
Police have released a new video of a man they believe is targeting businesses primarily along Bissonnet Street in southwest Houston.

Since Dec. 29, 2018, it is believed the suspect has robbed six stores, the latest on Thursday, March 28.

Now, Crime Stoppers and the Houston Police Departments Robbery Division are asking the public for help in identifying the suspect responsible for the aggravated robberies with a deadly weapon. The newly released video of the suspect comes from the Comfort Mattress and Furniture located at 11231 Bissonnet.

Now Playing: Crime Stoppers and the Houston Police Departments Robbery Division are asking the public for help in identifying the suspect responsible for at least six aggravated robberies with a deadly weapon. The latest robbery was at the Comfort Mattress and Furniture located at 11231 Bissonnet at 7:50 p.m. Thursday, March 28, 2019. Video: Houston Police Department

According to the Houston Police Department, at 7:50 p.m. Thursday, March 28, an unknown male, armed with a handgun, entered the Comfort Mattress and Furniture, located at 11231 Bissonnet, in Houston, Texas.

NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.

The suspect reportedly approached an employees in the store and forced him to the back of the business where the other employees were at. Once the suspect had the employees together and a customer, he began to take their money individually and then demanded money from the business. The suspect placed the money in a black bag and then fled the scene in an unknown direction.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 18 to 19 years old, about 6 feet tall with a mustache, black jacket and khaki pants.

HPD believes the same suspect is responsible for the following robberies since Dec 29, 2018:

12/29/18 at 2:20 p.m. at a Boost Mobile, 12635 Bissonnet.

12/29/18 at 1:30 p.m. at a Boost Mobile, 11231 Bissonnet.

1/7/19 at 7:50 p.m. at a King Mattress, 11231 Bissonnet.

1/14/19 at 11:40 a.m. at a Nail Shop, 12629 Bissonnet.

1/26/19 at 2:34 p.m. at the HTV Nail, 12380 W. Bellfort.

Crime Stoppers may pay up to $5,000 for information leading to the charging and/or arrest of the suspect in this case. Information may be reported by calling 713-222-TIPS (8477) or submitted online at www.crime-stoppers.org

The latest video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/mevH5mUltrc. Previously released videos can be viewed at https://youtu.be/8a0YmyFF-sY.

Crime Stoppers may pay up to $5,000 for information leading to the charging and/or arrest of the suspect in this case. Information may be reported by calling 713-222-TIPS (8477) or submitted online at www.crime-stoppers.org.

rkent@hcnonline.com
WASHINGTON - Special counsel Robert Mueller III wrote a letter in late March complaining to Attorney General William Barr that a four-page memo to Congress describing the principal conclusions of the investigation into President Donald Trump "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of Mueller's work, according to a copy of the letter reviewed Tuesday by The Washington Post.

The letter and a subsequent phone call between the two men reveal the degree to which the longtime colleagues and friends disagreed as they handled the legally and politically fraught task of investigating the president. Democrats in Congress are likely to scrutinize Mueller's complaints to Barr as they contemplate the prospect of opening impeachment proceedings and mull how hard to press for Mueller himself to testify publicly.

At the time Mueller's letter was sent to Barr on March 27, Barr had days prior announced that Mueller did not find a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian officials seeking to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. In his memo to Congress, Barr also said that Mueller had not reached a conclusion about whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, but that Barr reviewed the evidence and found it insufficient to support such a charge.

Days after Barr's announcement, Mueller wrote the previously undisclosed private letter to the Justice Department, laying out his concerns in stark terms that shocked senior Justice Department officials, according to people familiar with the discussions.

"The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions," Mueller wrote. "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

The letter made a key request: that Barr release the 448-page report's introductions and executive summaries, and it made initial suggested redactions for doing so, according to Justice Department officials. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.

Justice Department officials said Tuesday that they were taken aback by the tone of Mueller's letter and that it came as a surprise to them that he had such concerns. Until they received the letter, they believed Mueller was in agreement with them on the process of reviewing the report and redacting certain types of information, a process that took several weeks. Barr has testified to Congress previously that Mueller declined the opportunity to review his four-page memo to lawmakers that distilled the essence of the special counsel's findings.

In his letter to Barr, Mueller wrote that the redaction process "need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation."

Barr is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee - a much-anticipated public confrontation between the nation's top law enforcement official and Democratic lawmakers, where he is likely to be questioned at length about his interactions with Mueller.

A day after Mueller sent his letter to Barr, the two men spoke by phone for about 15 minutes, according to law enforcement officials.

In that call, Mueller said he was concerned that media coverage of the obstruction investigation was misguided and creating public misunderstandings about the office's work, according to Justice Department officials. Mueller did not express similar concerns about the public discussion of the investigation of Russia's election interference, the officials said.

Barr has testified previously he did not know whether Mueller supported his conclusion on obstruction. When Barr pressed Mueller on whether he thought Barr's memo to Congress was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not but felt that the media coverage of it was misinterpreting the investigation, officials said.

In their call, Barr also took issue with Mueller calling his memo a "summary," saying he had never intended to summarize the voluminous report, but instead provide an account of its top conclusions, officials said.

Justice Department officials said that, in some ways, the phone conversation was more cordial than the letter that preceded it, but that the two men did express some differences of opinion about how to proceed.

Barr said he did not want to put out pieces of the report, but rather issue the document all at once with redactions, and that he didn't want to change course, according to officials. Barr also gave Mueller his personal phone number and told him to call if he had future concerns, officials said.

Throughout the conversation, Mueller's main worry was that the public was not getting an accurate understanding of the obstruction investigation, officials said.

"After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Mueller's letter, he called him to discuss it," a Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday evening in a statement. "In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel's obstruction analysis. They then discussed whether additional context from the report would be helpful and could be quickly released.

"However, the Attorney General ultimately determined that it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion," the spokeswoman said. "The Attorney General and the Special Counsel agreed to get the full report out with necessary redactions as expeditiously as possible. The next day, the Attorney General sent a letter to Congress reiterating that his March 24 letter was not intended to be a summary of the report, but instead only stated the Special Counsel's principal conclusions, and volunteered to testify before both Senate and House Judiciary Committees on May 1 and 2."

Some senior Justice Department officials were frustrated by Mueller's complaints because they had expected that the report would reach them with proposed redactions, but it did not. Even when Mueller sent along his suggested redactions, those covered only a few areas of protected information, and the documents required further review, these people said.

The Washington Post and the New York Times had previously reported some members of Mueller's team were frustrated with Barr's characterization of their work, though Mueller's own attitude was unknown before now.

In some team members' view, the evidence they had gathered - especially on obstruction - was far more alarming and significant than how Barr had described it. That was perhaps to be expected, given that Barr had distilled a 448-page report into a terse, four-page memo to Congress.

Wednesday's hearing will be the first time lawmakers question Barr since the Mueller report was released on April 18, and he is expected to face a raft of tough questions from Democrats.

Republicans on the committee are expected to question Barr about an assertion he made earlier in April that government officials had engaged in "spying" on the Trump campaign - a comment that was seized on by the president's supporters as evidence the investigation into the president was biased.

Barr is also scheduled to testify Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, but that hearing could be canceled or postponed amid a dispute about whether committee staff lawyers will question the attorney general. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the panel's chairman, called for a copy of the Mueller letter to be delivered to his committee by Wednesday morning.

Democrats have accused Barr of downplaying the seriousness of the evidence against the president.

Mueller's report described 10 significant episodes of possible obstruction of justice but said that because of long-standing Justice Department policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted and because of Justice Department practice regarding fairness toward those under investigation, his team did not reach a conclusion about whether the president had committed a crime.
Two city council members say the Houston fire union asked them to return campaign donations after they voted to send 60-day layoff notices to hundreds of firefighters, allegations the fire union president vehemently denies.

Martha Castex-Tatum and David Robinson were among the 10 council members who voted last week to send layoff notices to 220 firefighters to help offset the cost of raises mandated by Proposition B, a voter-approved amendment to the citys charter that gives firefighters equal pay to police officers of corresponding rank and experience.

Both said they were contacted afterward by Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association. They said Lancton asked that they return donations his group had given their campaigns through its political action committee.

Lancton denied it.

I find it interesting that they now appear to be trying to play the victim here, Lancton said. Never one time did we ask a council member to return fire PAC political money.

Robinson late Tuesday provided screenshots of texts he said were sent to him by Lancton last Wednesday, days after friends of Robinson died in a plane crash in Kerrville.

Robert Downen

We will pray for you, the text reads. We will also never forget. We also think its highly appropriate that you return the (unions) contributions made to you. If you need the address please let me know.

Asked about the text, Lancton said Robinson and his campaign repeatedly offered to return the campaign contributions, contending that the exchange left out the full context of their discussions. It is unclear if the two discussed the donations outside of texts, but the screenshot provided by Robinson does not show any text conversations since November.

In a statement, Castex-Tatum said she refused to play quid pro quo with the fire union. Her chief of staff said Lancton asked for the money back in a text, though the council member declined to share the text with reporters.

Last week, Lancton texted Castex-Tatum, We will accept your offer to give back any contributions by the FFs, according to a screenshot provided by the union president. Castex-Tatum declined to comment when asked through her chief of staff if she had offered to return the contributions. She earlier had said she had asked an attorney about returning the funds.

Castex-Tatum took office in 2018 after winning a special election for the District K seat held by Larry Green, who died of a drug overdose. She received a $5,000 campaign donation from the fire unions political action committee in April 2018, a few weeks before the election.

Robinson, meanwhile, has received $17,500 from the fire unions PAC since the start of 2015, not including in-kind contributions. He did not say whether he planned to return the funds.

Asked by text Tuesday if Lancton had asked him to return campaign donations within the last week, he responded, Yes.

Buck Wood, an Austin-based campaign finance lawyer, said there is nothing illegal about such requests. The union, he said, could file a lawsuit if it believes the money was used improperly, but otherwise has few options other than political retribution.

Its a nice thing to talk about but once you have donated that money, you have lost control of it, he said. Short of (elected officials) taking it and putting it in their pocket for personal use, theres nothing you can do.

Castex-Tatum and Robinson declined to provide details of their conversations with Lancton, saying they preferred to not fan the flames of an acrimonious fight between the union and Mayor Sylvester Turner over the implementation of Prop B.

Last week, a state district judge ordered the two sides to join the Houston Police Officers Union in mediation until they can agree on a schedule for implementing Prop B raises or the mediator declares an impasse.

Turner has asked that the union agree to phase the measure in over five years and avoid any of the hundreds of layoffs at HFD and other city departments to cover Prop Bs estimated $80 million annual cost. The fire union has said it would ask its members to vote on a three-and-a-half-year implementation if the city promises no firefighters would be laid off.

The layoffs must go into effect before July 1 so the city can approve a balanced budget for the next fiscal year, Turner said.

More Information https://twitter.com/RobDownenChron/status/1123377871643394048 See More Collapse

Tension and political stakes have increased as that deadline approaches. On Monday, Councilman Dwight Boykins was accused by some of his colleagues of political grandstanding after he convened an ethics committee meeting to discuss his claim that council members were not aware of hundreds of potential HFD demotions that accompanied the layoff vote.

HFD Chief Sam Pena rebuffed Boykins claim in remarks before the committee, saying that he had detailed the demotions when briefing council members about his plan to cover HFDs $25 million share of Prop Bs costs. Several other council members said they were aware of the potential demotions before the vote.

Mayor Pro-Tem Ellen Cohen abruptly left the committee meeting in protest, but not before questioning Boykins motives and briefly referencing the donation allegations without naming Lancton, the union or any council members.

As far as Im concerned, the only thing that might be unethical is the fact that donations to council members are being asked to be returned, which to me smacks of quid pro quo. That, to me, is something unethical, she said.

Mayor Vice Pro-Tem Jerry Davis, who most recently received a $2,500 contribution from the union in September 2015, said he was not contacted about returning the campaign cash, but had heard about the requests.

I think it would be in bad form, he said, adding that campaign contributions are intended to help put the right people in good city government, rather than sway those people once theyre in office.

Councilman Greg Travis agreed: If the union is doing that, theyre saying, We intended to buy you.  Im very troubled by that, if thats what happened.

Councilman Michael Kubosh said he was fine with the idea. Returning the donations is the right thing to do, he said.

I think its a conscience thing, he said. I think they should give it back.

Through its PAC, the fire union has donated more than $165,000 to Houston municipal campaigns since the start of 2015 and spent thousands more on campaign literature, such as flyers and push cards. The union PACs recent campaign activity is not publicly available, with the latest finance report covering only the end of 2018.

Among the unions beneficiaries during that span are 12 incumbent council members, with the most campaign funds going to Boykins. He has received $25,000 since March 2015, with the most recent contribution coming in June 2018.

The union also has given to Turner, Controller Chris Brown and other 2015 controller candidates, according to the union PACs finance reports.

The union has donated funds to council members who voted against layoffs, including Kubosh, Mike Laster and Brenda Stardig, and those who voted for them, such as Davis, Amanda Edwards and Karla Cisneros.

Cohen last received a $5,000 contribution from the union in September 2015 and said Lancton had not contacted her about returning the funds.

In November 2017, the fire union recouped campaign contributions from several state representative and senators who voted for Houstons pension reform legislation, which Turner supported and the union vehemently opposed.

A month after voiding the checks, the union contributed $25,000 to the campaign of Kristin Tassin, a Republican mounting a primary challenge against the pension reform bills author, state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston. Huffman defeated Tassin by 45 percentage points the following March

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Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday unanimously approved the hiring of four new assistant district attorneys to prosecute environmental crimes and appointed a new interim head of the Pollution Control Services Department, the latest moves toward reform after two massive, recent chemical fires caught the county unprepared.

District Attorney Kim Ogg, who unsuccessfully lobbied court members in February to approve 102 new prosecutor hires, found a more receptive audience to her argument that the county needs to more aggressively pursue charges against polluters. The request also included two investigators and two support staff.

Assistant District Attorney Alexander Forrest, who leads the offices environmental division, said prosecutors primarily investigate minor crimes, including mom-and-pop operations that illegally dump chemicals. With more resources, he said the county can pursue complex cases against large industrial firms.

Forrest said the five misdemeanor charges the district attorney brought against Intercontinental Terminals Co., in which the county alleges the firm polluted waterways during the petroleum storage tank fire in March, likely could have been complemented with more serious charges through a more thorough investigation.

If taxpayers want the environmental arm of the district attorneys office to be primarily tied up in housekeeping violations, I think its a disservice to the community, Forrest said. We have to go after the cases we know are happening that we cant see.

Vivian King, Oggs chief of staff, said prosecutors are so busy they sometimes are forced to ignore tips from would-be whisteblowers.

The three Democratic court members, who sank Oggs original request to increase the prosecutor corps by a third, said they were trying to strike a delicate balance between improving the countys ability to prosecute polluters while also investing in efforts to prevent environmental crimes. They warned Ogg against coming to Commissioners Court with a series of small hiring requests.

We need to be thoughtful, and making clear, that were not opening the door for the 102 new prosecutors to be brought piecemeal, Hidalgo said. Theres a reason why we wanted to look at an evaluation of the criminal justice system as a whole.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, who supported hiring the 102 new prosecutors in February, said the court missed an opportunity to improve the district attorneys environmental crimes division. The staffing boost court members approved Tuesday was included in Oggs original request.

Houston attorney Rusty Hardin, who represents Arkema executives facing criminal charges after the companies failed to prevent fires at its Crosby plant following Hurricane Harvey, said prosecuting petrochemical companies is a misguided idea. He said charging executives would fail to serve as a deterrent and instead encourage firms to share less information with the public during incidents.

If every time one of these tragedies happens on the Ship Channel, if they think if they make a discretionary decision, they can be charged with a crime, theyre not going to come forward, Hardin said. Im just tired of a tragedy turning into a felony. Sometimes, bad stuff happens.

A number of speakers urged the court to approve the hires Tuesday.

Nicole Scalin of the Galveston Bay Foundation said settlements the county has won from environmental cases has allowed the nonprofit to conduct water testing during incidents such as the ITC fire. Sgt. Mark Kilty, an environmental crimes supervisor at the Houston Police Department, said his officers work closely with the district attorney and would benefit from more prosecutors.

Court members on Tuesday also accepted the resignation of Pollution Control Services Director Bob Allen and appointed his deputy, Latrice Babin, as interim director.

Last week, Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia criticized how Pollution Control Services responded to the ITC fire, and said he lost faith in Allens leadership. The county initially had no ability to process and publish real-time air monitoring results and scrambled to design a website from scratch.

Allen announced his retirement on April 4, though he said the timing was unrelated to the fires.

Babin, an environmental toxicologist, earned her doctoral degree from Texas Southern University and joined Pollution Control Services in 1995.

Court members approved a nationwide search, at a cost not to exceed $10,000, to find a permanent director for the department.

The court at recent meetings has approved lawsuits against the two firms where the blazes occurred, Intercontinental Terminals Co. and KMCO, and the county fire marshal has launched two investigations. Court members also have asked county departments to re-evaluate their preparedness for natural and manmade disasters.

Zach Despart covers Harris County for the Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at zach.despart@chron.com .
Houston firefighters have started to receive layoff notices amid the implementation of Proposition B, Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton said in a statement Wednesday.

Houston City Council voted last week to layoff 220 firefighters to help offset firefighter raises mandated by the voter-approved proposition. The union said the firefighters received the notices via email Tuesday in what Lancton called a "slash-and-burn plan" from Mayor Sylvester Turner.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Council members, fire union spar over campaign contributions

Lancton also expressed disappointment with Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena over the layoffs.

"We are deeply disappointed that Samuel Pena has become the first fire chief in Houston history to willingly execute mass layoffs and demotions of firefighters," Lancton said in a statement. "From the city's founding to the Great Depression, to two world wars and deep downturns of the energy industry, no fire chief had taken this course of action until today. Chief Pena now is alone among all Houston fire chiefs in that dubious distinction."

Hundreds of HFD personnel also received demotion notices Wednesday, according to a letter provided to Chron.com. The firefighters union estimates upwards of 450 HFD personnel will be demoted.

In both notices, Pena addresses the personnel by saying the decision to layoff and demote HFD personnel was a "business decision."

Mayor Sylvester Turner issued the following statement regarding the notice of layoffs:

Proposition B came without a funding source as it adds $80 million to $100 million a year to the city's bottom line. At the same time, the city is experiencing a $117 million budget gap, with the cost of Prop B added on top of that.

By law, the city must balance its budget before the start of the next fiscal year, July 1.

The City asked Patrick "Marty" Lancton of the firefighters' association to phase in Prop B over five years to avoid any layoffs of firefighters and municipal workers. He refused and is demanding the immediate implementation of Prop B. The City is doing precisely that. but it will require layoffs to balance the city's budget.

On Wednesday, April 24, city council voted to lay off 220 firefighters to help balance the budget. The 60-day layoff notices were delivered to each firefighter on April 30.

Prior to that, 67 fire cadets received notice that they will be laid off in 60 days and 47 municipal workers received notice.

In the absence of a phased-in approach, the City's options are limited when we must balance our budget by the end of June.

On April 18, State District Judge Tanya Garrison ordered all parties to attend mediation until a settlement is achieved or the mediator determines they have reached an impasse.

The mediation resumes Thursday afternoon on Thursday, May 2, 2019.

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
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A baby was shot in a possible road rage incident Wednesday along the Southwest Freeway feeder road.

The boy, who is 18 months old, was in the backseat of his father's Toyota Camry when the father accidentally cutoff another driver around 1 p.m., he told witnesses. The driver of the car he allegedly cutoff then fired two shots into the Camry, striking the young boy in the upper-left portion of his back, according to Houston Police Department Asst. Chief James Jones.

The boy's father immediately pulled into a gas station at the intersection of the Southwest Freeway and Gessner Road and ran inside with his injured boy, witnesses told Chron.com.

Now Playing: An 18-month-old baby boy was shot during an apparent road-rage shooting along the Southwest Freeway on Wednesday. Video: Houston Chronicle

TORTURE HOUSE KIDNAPPING: Third suspect arrested in connection with Cypress case

A nurse inside the gas station helped render aid to the boy as others called 911, convenience store manager Pursuram Sharma said.

"The guy comes in with his kid," Sharma said. "The kid was bleeding from behind. He handed over the phone to me so I could call 911."

The father was having trouble communicating with 911 operators because he was apparently hard of hearing and had trouble speaking, Sharma said. The baby boy appeared calm for most of his time in the convenience store, according to Steven Gamez, a distributor who works often in the store.

"(The bullet) missed the spine by about an inch," Gamez said. "It definitely did not go through, because there wasn't an open wound in the front.

"For being shot, I would think the baby would be hysterical," he said. "But the baby was calm."

Jones said the shooter's vehicle is believed to be a blue, late model Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Detectives had not developed a detailed description of the shooter as of 3 p.m.

Officers on scene told Chron.com that the boy was listed in stable condition. HPD's Homicide Division is investigating the shooting since the boy is so young, according to HPD. Lt. Alisa Smith.

Anyone with information about the shooter is urged to call the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
A worker who was owed $3,305 in wages from her employer never recovered the money after the Texas Workforce Commission closed her case when the employer declared bankruptcy.

A worker developed a urinary tract infection after working 12-hour shifts at a child detention center without a bathroom break policy.

A domestic worker in The Woodlands worked 16 hour days without breaks at about $5 an hour while her employers withheld her passport and threatened to deport her should she try to leave.

These were among the 975 complaints the Fe y Justicia Worker Center received and documented between February 2018 and March 2019, according to a report released by the nonprofit on Wednesday.

Of these complaints, 623 were workplace abuse claims that could be referred to a labor agency or court. They ranged from wage theft cases to instances of labor trafficking.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, said Marianela Acuna Arreaza, the worker centers executive director.

Arreaza noted that the figures in Wednesdays report only take into account workers who chose to come forward with their claims. When taking into consideration undocumented workers in low-paying jobs who fear repercussions if they filed workplace abuse claims, the total number of labor violations in Houston can be larger, she added.

Labor violations by the numbers 975 messages from workers with labor complaints sent to the Fe Y Justicia Worker Center 623 actionable workplace abuse claims 542 claims related to wage theft 92 occupational hazard or injury claims 64 claims of workplace discrimination 49 claims of non-discriminatory violence or abuse 10 claims of labor trafficking. Source: Fe y Justicia data from February 2018 and March 2019 See More Collapse

The report found that more than $1.2 million were stolen in worker wages in Houston in 2018, with the average claim amount totaling $3,317. That comes out to about a quarter of a workers annual wages.

While the majority of the reported wage theft claims came out of construction, other industries included domestic work, janitorial and maintenance, restaurants and transportation.

The report also noted 64 complaints of discrimination in Houston workplaces, including 14 cases of sexual harassment. Restaurants and retail work were the dominant industries for those claims.

RELATED: New Houston worker protection program launched

On the far end of the labor violation spectrum, the Fe y Justicia Worker Center received 10 reports of labor trafficking cases. In 2018 the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified an additional 59 cases of labor trafficking which is defined by the report as forcing, defrauding or coercing a person into involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or enslavement.

While Houston is recognized as a top city for human trafficking cases, Melissa Torres, a local human trafficking researcher and consultant, noted that often the spotlight is on sex trafficking.

Labor trafficking actually happens far more than sex trafficking and thats worldwide, Torres said, who helped in compiling the Fe y Justicia report.

Torres also noted that in cases of reported discrimination in the workplace, race, gender and sexuality arent the only issues at play. Often workers are thought to be undocumented and therefore taken advantage of in a number of ways when really they are legal residents or working on a visa or even citizens, she added. Its these workers who then come forward to report the abuse, although there are undocumented workers willing to do so as well.

Linda Morales, organizing coordinator for the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO called on workers to seek help, speak up and organize in workplaces to prevent labor violations in the future.

You may think that this is only happening to you, but you may find that there are others in the workplace being mistreated like you, she said.

Arreaza from the worker center recommended workers keep detailed journals of what work they do, for how long and for how much pay and to get any and all agreements with their employer in some form of writing including text messages. Such documentation will help workers chances in filing legal claims against their employer, she said. The worker center itself offers free journals with guides on how to keep track of this information.

The report released Wednesday will serve as a baseline for future reports documenting self-reported claims made to the worker center, Arreaza added.

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Unlicensed handgun owners would be allowed to carry their weapons  openly or concealed  in public for up to a week in any area where a local, state or federal disaster is declared, under a bill that has been overwhelmingly approved by the Texas House, 102 to 29.

House Bill 1177 by Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, now awaits its first hearing in the Texas Senate. Phelan said he wrote the bill so gun owners dont have to leave their firearms behind when evacuating their homes. Existing laws allow gun owners to store them in their vehicles, with some conditions.

I dont want someone to feel like they have to leave their firearms back in an unsecured home for a week or longer, and we all know how looting occurs in storms, Phelan said. Entire neighborhoods are empty and these people can just go shopping, and one of the things theyre looking for is firearms.

Opponents say Phelans bill could make a bad situation worse by adding firearms to an already volatile situation.

For subscribers: The Gun Hunters of Harvey  tracking weapons stolen in Houston during the storm

Its permitless carry in an emergency and that phrase should bring fear to all of us, said Gyl Switzer, executive director of Texas Gun Sense.

Phelans bill is sponsored by the National Rifle Association, and has 41 co-authors in the House.

Alice Tripp, legislative director of the groups Texas organization, said Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey showed that gun owners need to protect themselves and their possessions from looting after a major disaster.

It weighs on us  we know the kind of devastation that can happen and the chaos that can happen getting people out, Tripp said.

The bill also had strong support in the House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety, passing with a 6-3 vote in March. Representatives Celia Israel, D-Austin, Gina Calanni, D-Katy, and Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, voted against it.

The way that bill was written puts emergency shelters at risk for liabilities and having to determine who can have a gun and cant have a gun, Calanni said. I think we just want to be really careful when were bringing guns into any situation that we are being conscious of everyone involved.

Phelan has said gun owners and people operating shelters would be able to decide if a firearm should be brought to a shelter and how it could be safely stored.

Florida has had a similar law since 2015, but that law only allows unlicensed people to carry handguns in mandatory evacuation areas. Phelans bill originally only allowed unlicensed carry if a mandatory evacuation was declared, like the Florida law, but he amended it during the House floor debate to allow unlicensed carry in any declared disaster area, regardless of whether an evacuation is ordered.

For subscribers: State troopers intercept gun-rights activist at House Speaker Dennis Bonnens home

Since the beginning of 2016, seven different disasters have been declared across different part of Texas, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency website.

Switzer said the bill is addressing a problem that could be taken care of by simply preparing for the worst case scenario.

Thats the way you need to prepare for any emergency is having plans in place, Switzer said. The plan is not to carry them with you wherever you go including in the high stress environments with other people who do not have guns.

The early successes of Phelans bill are in contrast to broader debate on constitutional carry  allowing unlicensed owners of handguns to carry them in public  in the Texas Legislature, which has failed to get off the ground this session.

I think one day constitutional carry will be in that vein where its not a big deal, Phelan said. I think well get there one day, but it takes small steps like this to prove to people that law abiding citizens are just fine carrying a firearm.
After facing blowback from business leaders and civil rights groups, a House committee on Wednesday restored protections for LGBT workers to a bill that would prevent cities from regulating private employers scheduling and overtime.

The House State Affairs Committee passed Senate Bill 2486 on a 10-2 vote taken just before midnight Wednesday, following more than six hours of testimony. The legislation has already passed the Texas Senate and now moves to the House.

The bill was part of a package of bills striking down similar local regulations, such as requirements that employers give workers paid sick leave enacted in Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.

The bills had drawn fierce opposition from a coalition of businesses and advocacy groups who said that they would also nullify locally enacted anti-discrimination rules that protect LGBT Texans in the workplace.

Committee chair Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, did not give an explanation Wednesday as to why he amended the bill to explicitly protect anti-discrimination ordinances. But the move signaled House members may be open to compromise on the issue if it would push forward legislation once considered a shoo-in for Republicans.

Legislators have been under pressure to make the change after several business leaders from companies including Amazon, Facebook, Google and IBM opposed the legislation in recent months.

The author of the bills, state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, as well as a lawyer from the Texas Attorney Generals office, have said the bills would not affect the non-discrimination ordinances. But those assurances have not convinced groups that advocate for LGBT people.

Creighton and other supporters say the bills are necessary to ensure consistent regulation of employment practices across Texas cities and maintain a strong economy.

For subscribers: Texas Senate approves bill to strike down local paid sick leave ordinances

The committee on Wednesday did not vote on three other bills that would bar cities from regulating paid sick leave and other benefits as well as restricting an employers ability to ask about a job applicants criminal history.

During Wednesdays hearing, Rep. Richard Pena Raymond, D-Laredo, asked all speakers whether theyd support the bills if they included protections for non-discrimination ordinances. Most who said they were in support of the bills said they would not object.

Cities including Austin, Dallas and San Antonio have passed paid sick leave ordinances; San Antonios paid sick leave ordinance took effect Jan. 1 but is not set to be enforced until this summer.

According to a University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, 71 percent of Texas voters, including 56 percent of Republicans, support policies requiring sick leave.
Texas' airport executives want travelers to pay more to fly. They're lobbying Congress to raise taxes on airline tickets and dedicate that revenue to airport infrastructure projects.

Airports already have plenty of funding for infrastructure upgrades. Hiking ticket taxes would needlessly enrich airport operators at the expense of travelers. The members of Texas's congressional delegation  particularly Sen. Ted Cruz, who heads the Senate's Subcommittee on Aviation and Space  would be wise to oppose such hikes.

The lobbyists representing America's airports are calling for an increase in the "passenger facility charge." Congress first implemented this PFC tax in 1992. It's currently capped at $4.50 per flight. On round-trip bookings with layovers, this levy can add as much $18 to each traveler's airfare. That's on top of a host of other taxes, such as the 7.5 percent federal excise tax on air travel, a $4 flight segment tax and a security fee.

All told, Americans pay an estimated $6.7 billion a year in airport taxes.

And airports claim passengers still aren't paying enough. According to a new report from the Airports Council International, the nation's airports will need $128 billion in the next four years to rebuild and modernize. To help pay for these projects, the industry  and its allies in Congress  want to raise the PFC cap.

Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Washington, the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee, has proposed nearly doubling the PFC to $8.50. Others lawmakers have proposed getting rid of the cap completely.

Larsens not alone. The Appropriations Committee approved a similar increase in 2017. And Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who chairs the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, has championed a PFC hike for years. DeFazio was instrumental in creating the tax in the first place.

But airports don't need more money. They took in roughly $30 billion in revenue in 2017, a per-passenger increase of nearly 50 percent since 2000. The nation's airports have an astonishing $14.5 billion of cash on hand, or just over a year's worth of liquid assets.

On average, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport had more than 600 days of cash on hand between 2012 and 2017. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport increased operating income by more than $60 million during the 2017 fiscal year.

If all that cash wasn't enough to fund upgrades, airports could turn to the nearly $7 billion surplus sitting in the Aviation Trust Fund  a federal funding source created specifically for capital improvements at airports.

They could also sell bonds or take out loans to fund such improvements. America's airports enjoy investment-grade credit ratings. DFW, for instance, has an A1 rating from Moodys, as well as A+ ratings from both Standard & Poors and Fitch. It could cheaply raise large amounts of capital. Houston's airport has stellar credit ratings from both agencies, as well.

For proof that airport operators don't need a PFC hike, just look at all the upgrades they're currently undertaking without much financial strain. IAH is adding a new $490 million international terminal, a $450 million federal inspection services building and a $20 million project management office building.

Last fall, San Antonio officials held a hearing on adding a new terminal and runway to the existing airport.

And in March, Austin Bergstrom International Airport opened a new music venue inside one of its terminals, part of a $350 million expansion and renovation.

The PFC proposal is simply an attempt by cash-rich airport operators to offload costs onto consumers. Air travelers already pay their fair share. They don't need to pay another tax.
At 96, James Buckley still is, like good cheddar, sharp and savory. Buckley, whose life has been no less accomplished than his brother Bills, recently said at a National Review gathering that his speech there would be his last public appearance. Let us hope not.

He adorned all the governments branches  senator; undersecretary of state for international security affairs; judge on the nations second-most important court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Shortly after his 1970 election to the Senate (as a member of New Yorks Conservative Party; the age of miracles had not yet passed) he was handed a recent study showing that the work of the average congressional office had doubled every five years since 1936. He explains:

Given the fact that, in simpler times, Congress worked at a leisurely pace and was in session for only five or six months a year, its members could take the initial increases in stride simply by devoting more hours per day and more months per year to their work. Over time, however, the available hours and months had been exhausted, and the doubling could only be accommodated by squeezing deliberation out of the legislative process.

In 1934, after 145 years of congressional activity, the U.S. Code consisted of one volume of federal statutes. Buckley says when he came to Congress 36 years later, there were 11 volumes. Today, 49 more years on, there are 41 volumes  supplemented by 242 volumes of regulations having the force of law. This, says Buckley, is the result of a Congress that largely substitutes political reflex for reflection, and that is so averse to messy details that it delegates essentially legislative authority to executive agencies. All this stems, however, from abandonment of the Constitutions limits on federal authority.

Buckley says that the mischief erupted after a 1937 Supreme Court ruling that Congress, in promoting the general welfare, can supply states with money to implement programs that Congress has no enumerated power to write into law. When Buckley entered the Senate, such programs distributed $24 billion. Today, he says, the sum, properly computed, is in mid-$700 billions. The idea of enumerated powers having been erased, so has the 10th Amendment (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.).

Buckley has hitherto proposed converting all such programs into block grants to states. He now proposes a presidential tweet vowing to veto any bill that tells the states how to run their own affairs. He proposes, and believes there is a chance, that the Supreme Court might reverse its 1937 ruling on the ground that federal grants to states have proven to be inherently coercive. These proposals are equally sensible, and  the age of miracles has now passed  equally unlikely.

The problem, as Yuval Levin says, is Congress willful underactivity. But the growing problem that will continue to exacerbate this problem is this: Having marginalized itself, with judicial encouragement, Congress now attracts members who either disdain it or think members of the presidents party exist to tug their forelock when the president issues orders.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who has been campaigning to escape from the Senate into the White House since arriving there 28 months ago, considers the legislative branch a constitutional superfluity: Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their [sic] act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun-safety laws, and if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action. The 100 days are granted by the grace of Queen Kamala I. In January, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., explained why Republicans would not consider a bill funding the government without money for a border wall: The president wont sign it. Why would we work on it? Perhaps because there is value in Congress expressing its independent view of the public good?

An omnipresent, micromanaging federal government will necessarily be presidential government, with the chief executives discretion unbound, and unsupervised by a Congress that manages to be both harried and lethargic. Many progressives have long understood this  and have approved of it because they thought Woodrow Wilson and the two Roosevelts would be the sort of presidents who would benefit from it. But because of the 45th president, progressives are having second thoughts. They should consider Buckleys thoughts.

Will is a Washington Post columnist.
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The School Building Needs Commission talked a bit about what is the next capital project for the city.

Pittsfield School Building Needs Starts Convo On Next Steps

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Superintendent Jason McCandless believes Conte, Morningside, and Crosby should be linchpins in deciding what will be the next school capital project.

Conte and Morningside both have 1970s-style open plan classrooms, an outdated style of education McCandless said has a number of drawbacks. Those two also have had little in terms of capital projects in the last 40 or so years with Conte receiving a renovation in 1974 and Morningside the following year.

"That was an idea whose time came in the '70s and like many things in the '70s, went in the '70s," McCandless said of the open-plan classrooms.

Crosby had previously been the city's No. 1 target for renovation but never moved forward. McCandless said that school has been largely untouched since 1962 other than maintenance.

Further, the three schools have the highest percentages of low-income students and have been ranking toward the bottom in the state's accountability standards.

"Crosby and Conte are remaining firmly in the sights of the commonwealth," McCandless said of the accountability data.

McCandless said the Massachusetts School Building Authority and a former city maintenance director have ranked those schools as being in the worst physical condition. The superintendent believes that those issues should be addressed first.

However, City Councilor John Krol, who filed a petition that prompted the conversation, believes addressing the elementary schools hasn't been the expectation. The city just completed a $120.8 million renovation of Taconic High School and addressing the aging Pittsfield High School was believed to be next.

"I do feel it is important to acknowledge that this is a change in the direction we have articulated to the community for more than a decade. Many times it was stated and accepted that the project at Taconic High School would be followed up by a renovation of Pittsfield High School. If we are not doing that, the public deserve us to articulate it clearly," Krol, who was unable to attend Monday's meeting, wrote in a letter to the School Building Needs Commission.

Krol filed a petition calling for a plan for the future of Pittsfield High School, which led to Monday's discussion.

The concept of consolidating into one high school was hotly debated more than a decade ago and ultimately the decision was to renovate both separately. The city submitted a statement of interest in 2005 to get funding for multiple schools at once  Crosby Elementary School, Taconic High School, and Pittsfield High School.

The state rejected the Crosby application and later made the city choose between Taconic and Pittsfield, with city officials chosing the former. The new Taconic opened for its first year and with a dropping student enrollment districtwide, the question remains what to do with the remaining schools and what capital repairs should be undertaken.

Krol is particularly interested in how to use the Crosby campus for not only Pittsfield but for the wider region.

"I hope that the commission will think creatively and innovatively about how we can utilize the Crosby campus for Pittsfield and for the wider region, such as a regional pre-K center, and/or a flagship for a new model for elementary education (K-6th grade) or other concepts that would be consistent with best practices and the regionwide challenges explored by the county's educational task force," Krol said.

Krol was referring the collective body of educators who have spent the last few years re-thinking how education is delivered locally. With the shrinking population, the Berkshire County Educational Task Force believes there needs to be fewer isolated districts and more regionalization  thus reducing the percent of costs for administration and offering new ways to deliver a larger spectrum of programming.

The task force found that as enrollment shrinks throughout the county, individual districts are scaling back programming to meet budgets. A larger regional model would help create the pool of students needed to provide enough interest in various programs to keep them more robust.

McCandless said countywide the district is down by about 10,000 students from 15 years ago and Pittsfield dropped by about 1,500.

The School Building Needs Commission didn't touch that issue in depth on Monday. Instead the group that, which had not met in a while, determined that it would start with information gathering and then renew efforts to plan for the future.

Member Patrick Mele put the responsibility for the first step on the School Committee, City Council, and city administration to develop an educational plan the commission can coalesce around.

"We are just the bricks and mortar pieces of it, not necessarily the educational piece," he said.

Mayor Linda Tyer asked if the MSBA would fund multiple school projects at once to which Skanska USA Project Manager Jim Moran responded, yes, and that it would likely be more cost effective to do so because of economies of scale. The multiple projects could only have one architect and one builder, he said, thus reducing expenses.

There are multiple moving pieces going into the city's educational future. McCandless said there are four top options for the city to consider capital-wise: to do nothing right now because of the number of large capital projects the city has recently taken on, to focus on getting rid of the two open classrooms, to focus on PHS,or to focus on Crosby.

For consolidation, the decisions need various considerations. Taconic right now isn't big enough to have students from both schools. Reid and Herberg has population levels stable and also could not be consolidated. And the elementary schools have various population levels and building conditions. Meanwhile, Crosby is deeded to remain a school.

"Can we fit 9-12 in this building in a decade? I don't know. We have a decent guess via the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, but these are the things the School Committee will be taking on," McCandless said of the high schools.

One concept kicked around was to turn Taconic into a 10-12 high school and make the middle schools academies. However, McCandless said that becomes challenging because of the vocational program  the state wants those as four-year programs.

"We have to make some good plans based on some sort of consolidation," said School Committee Chairwoman Katherine Yon.

The city won't be able to get a statement of interest in for a capital project this year but city officials say they do need to take a closer look at what is to come.

"There is a lot of information and legwork that we need as a commission to decide what the next project will be," said School Building Needs Commission Chairwoman Kathleen Amuso.
(CNN)  For centuries, humans have been searching for the Yeti  and now, in an unceremonious tweet, the Indian Army is claiming to have found evidence of the mythical Himalayan monster.

On Tuesday, the official, verified Twitter account of the Indian Army's Additional Directorate General of Public Information tweeted a picture of what it claimed were Yeti tracks in the snow.

"For the first time, an Indian Army mountaineering expedition team has sited (sic) mysterious footprints of mythical beast Yeti," read the post, which was accompanied by three pictures of footprints, and a group photo that appeared to be of the expedition group.

The prints allegedly measured 32 inches by 15 inches (81 centimeters by 38 centimeters) and were spotted on April 9 close to Makalu Base Camp, an isolated mountainous area between Nepal and Tibet, the tweet elaborated. "This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past," the post claimed.

Unsurprisingly, the tweet prompted a flurry of incredulous responses on social media, with many rebuking the Indian military for propagating theories previously debunked by science. Others poked fun at the tweet, with the hashtag #Yeti becoming one of the top Twitter trending topics in India on Tuesday.

The Indian Army provided no further evidence of its find and had not replied to CNN's request for comment by time of publication.

In a press release on March 26, the Indian Army said an 18-strong unit would make its its maiden expedition to Mount Makalu between March and May. The unit was heading there as part of its objective of reaching the summit of all challenging peaks above 8,000 meters (26,247 feet), the statement said.

In Nepali folklore the Yeti  dubbed the "Abominable Snowman" in the West  is a furry ape-like creature taller than an average human, which inhabits the Himalayas and other regions.

Their existence has been never been proven, but they have captured the imagination of many, including acclaimed British naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

The Indian Army doesn't usually venture into matters of mysterious monsters  many of its tweets are more mundane, about former army members or public events.

While the latest claim has aroused excitement among Yeti-lovers on social media, it is at odds with scientific findings.

A 2017 study on the Himalayan "Yeti" used mitochondrial DNA sequencing to examine 24 "Yeti" samples including hair, bone, skin and feces. Charlotte Lindqvist and her team discovered that some of the items came from a Himalayan brown bear and a black bear. One tooth was from an animal in the dog family. The paw of the "Yeti" kept in a local monastery came from a black bear. Another bone kept as a monastic relic was from a Tibetan brown bear.

Other investigations reached similar conclusions. A study in 2014 found 30 hair samples believed to come from Yetis had actually originated from a variety of beasts such as a Paleolithic polar bear, other types of bear and dogs.

Kushal Prajapati, who describes himself as a scientist in his Twitter bio, responded to the Indian Army's tweet on Tuesday, saying: "With all due respect, institutions such as yours should be more responsible and careful before going ahead and declaring the sighting of any footprints as 'Yeti's'!"

He added that there was a lot of research done on Yeti in the past, and none had proved the creature's existence.

The Yeti became part of local traditions about 350 years ago, when a holy man named Sangwa Dorje took up residence in a cave near the remote village of Pangboche, which had a clear view of Everest. According to local folklore, he was said to have been aided by Yetis and to have kept relics from the beasts.

Yeti fever took off in the West after British explorer Eric Shipton snapped a picture west of Mount Everest in 1951 of what appeared to be a large primate-like footprint.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "'Yeti' footprints sighted claims Indian Army tweet  and social media reacts."
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The committee has fined an unnamed company for repeatedly breaching a negotiated agreement for the first time in its history, showing a significant change in approach
Illicit drugs, including cocaine and ketamine, as well as an array of banned pesticides and other pharmaceuticals have been detected in the bodies of animals living in British waterways, raising concerns about the impact of invisible pollutants on wildlife.

Researchers at Kings College London, in collaboration with the University of Suffolk collected samples from 15 sites across Suffolk and looked at the exposure of wildlife, including the freshwater shrimp, to various micropollutants.

They found cocaine present in 100 per cent of the freshwater shrimp samples tested, and ketamine, pesticides and other chemicals were widespread.

Lead author, Dr Thomas Miller from Kings College London, said: Although concentrations were low, we were able to identify compounds that might be of concern to the environment and crucially, which might pose a risk to wildlife.

As part of our ongoing work, we found that the most frequently detected compounds were illicit drugs, including cocaine and ketamine, and a banned pesticide, fenuron. Although for many of these, the potential for any effect is likely to be low.

Endangered and threatened species of Britain Show all 10 1 /10 Endangered and threatened species of Britain Endangered and threatened species of Britain Hedgehog In 1950 there were an estimated 36 million hedgehogs in the UK, there are now only one million Getty/iStock Endangered and threatened species of Britain Hazel dormouse The population of the hazel dormouse is thought to have declined by over one third since 2000. It is threatened by loss of habitat Getty Endangered and threatened species of Britain Red squirrel Famously ravaged by the North American grey squirrel, the red squirrel is nowadays very rare with a population of around 140,000 Getty Endangered and threatened species of Britain Mountain hare The population in Scotland stands at 1% of its 1950 level and only one colony remains in England in the Peak District Getty Endangered and threatened species of Britain Natterjack toad Threatened by the disappearance of their coastal habitats, the natterjack toad is now only found at a handful of site across the UK Getty Endangered and threatened species of Britain Water vole Once found across Britain, the water vole is no longer anywhere to be seen in 90% of waterways Getty Endangered and threatened species of Britain Turtle dove On the Red List of conservation concern, the turtle dove population has declined by 97% since 1970 Getty Endangered and threatened species of Britain Small tortoiseshell butterfly Amid a general decline in butterfly population since records began in the 1970s, the small tortoiseshell saw a 38% drop in population in 2018 Getty Endangered and threatened species of Britain Noble chafer beetle Classed as vulnerable, the noble chafer beetle became increasingly rare throughout the 20th century due to habitat loss. Members of the public are encouraged to report any sightings to the People's Trust for Endangered Species gbhone Endangered and threatened species of Britain Stag beetle Their population is not known but due to habitat loss and other threats they are a protected species. Members of the public are encouraged to report any sightings to the People's Trust for Endangered Species Getty

While there is growing concern about the impacts on the planet of man-made pollutants and waste such as microplastic pollution, as well as climate change, there is lower awareness of the impact of chemicals on the natural world, the authors said.

Professor Nic Bury from the University of Suffolk said: Whether the presence of cocaine in aquatic animals is an issue for Suffolk, or more widespread an occurrence in the UK and abroad, awaits further research.

Environmental health has attracted much attention from the public due to challenges associated with climate change and microplastic pollution. However, the impact of invisible chemical pollution, such as drugs, on wildlife health needs more focus in the UK as policy can often be informed by studies such as these.

Other issues the study raised were the prevalence of banned pesticides, which are already known to have a detrimental impact on ecosystems.

Dr Leon Barron from Kings College London added: Such regular occurrences of illicit drugs in wildlife was surprising. We might expect to see these in urban areas such as London, but not in smaller and more rural catchments.

The presence of pesticides which have long been banned in the UK also poses a particular challenge, as the sources of these remain unclear.
The High Court has rejected a legal challenge against a controversial third runway at Heathrow Airport, despite growing alarm at the climate crisis.

Judges delivered their ruling on Wednesday following separate judicial reviews of the governments decision to approve the plans, brought by a group of councils, residents, environmental charities and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

Ahead of the ruling, Nigel Pleming QC, who was representing five London boroughs, Greenpeace and Mr Khan, said the plans could see the number of passengers using the airport rise to an estimated 132 million, an increase of 60 per cent.

The case had been brought against transport secretary Chris Grayling by local authorities and residents in London affected by the expansion and charities including Greenpeace, Friends Of The Earth and Plan B.

Under current laws, the government has a legal obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent, compared with 1990 levels, by 2050.

Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Show all 13 1 /13 Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Four teenage protesters, holding a banner reading Are we the last generation Simon Calder Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Reuters Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow EPA Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Police surround the protesters Simon Calder Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Getty Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Reuters Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Simon Calder Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Getty Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Getty Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Simon Calder Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow PA Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Simon Calder Teenage climate change protesters threatened with arrest at Heathrow Simon Calder

But the release of the Climate Change Committees report on Thursday will call for emissions to be reduced to net zero by 2050.

Key parts of the legal challenge against the government argued the third runway is not compatible with climate change targets in UK domestic law, and also those agreed under international obligations in the Paris agreement in 2015.

The House of Commons overwhelmingly voted in favour of the 18bn third runway plans at Heathrow last year, approving Mr Graylings plans by 415 votes to 119.

Responding to the airport being given the go-ahead from the High Court, Greenpeace said while the campaigners may have lost this judgment, the government is losing the argument on whether such expansion is morally justifiable.

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK said: Chris Grayling has won a court case over whether the third runway is legally permissible, but hes lost the argument over whether its morally justifiable.

This verdict will not reduce the impact on local communities from increased noise and air pollution, nor will it resolve Heathrow Ltds financial difficulties or the economic weakness in their expansion plans.

But our main concern is allowing Heathrow, the UKs biggest carbon emitter, to expand in the middle of a climate emergency.

For as long as climate change remains an afterthought in government decisions they are kicking our children in the teeth.

Speaking after the ruling, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the decision let the government off the hook.

Mr McDonnell said: What I find extraordinary in the judgment is that, on the issues with regard to climate change, the government gets off the hook simply because it has not adopted the Paris agreement into UK law.

So, even though our belief is that [the expansion] completely undermines the ability to abide by the climate change targets of the Paris agreement, because the Paris agreement is not in UK law as yet the government gets off the hook.

Caroline Russell, the chair of the London Assembly environment committee, described the High Court decision as devastating news.

Have any of the judges noticed what David Attenborough, Mark Carney, Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion have been saying? she wrote on Twitter.

In a statement she said: Although the governments policy on Heathrow has survived this court hearing, it is still not the right course for London or the environment.

The governments own figures show that the extra traffic caused by expansion will worsen air pollution widely across London, shortening Londoners lives. At the same time, 200,000 more people will be affected by noise from an expanded Heathrow.

The chair of the London Assembly transport committee, Caroline Pidgeon added: It is bitterly disappointing that the High Court has made this decision. The London Assembly has long been opposed to the expansion of Heathrow  all advice from the Assembly, protestors and experts seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Recommended Sir David Attenborough backs school climate strikers

This committee has consistently raised the issue of the governments lack of planning for improving surface transport access to Heathrow Airport, yet the situation remains largely unchanged.

The government has persisted with this decision without proper preparation for the influx of people that would be travelling to and from Heathrow by car, train and many other means.

Friends of the Earth today appeared to be considering a further challenge to the court judgement, and said the decision was out of step with the world.

Parliaments decision to green-light Heathrow was morally wrong, but today we believe the courts have got it legally wrong too. We are examining the judgement in detail and will consider all options, they said.

The organisation added: Heathrow airport is already the single biggest climate polluter in the UK, expansion will only exacerbate the problem.

Gareth Redmond-King, head of climate change at WWF, said: The climate emergency is here, and yet we are acting as if we have time to waste. When the Committee on Climate Change report is published tomorrow, politicians will say that they are committed to tackling climate change. But how can they be taken seriously if they press ahead with expanding airports?

Chris Grayling responded to the courts judgement saying the new runway would benefit every corner of the United Kingdom.

He said: The expansion of Heathrow is vital and will provide a massive economic boost to businesses and communities across the length and breadth of Britain, all at no cost to the taxpayer and within our environmental obligations.

I welcome the courts judgment today. It makes clear we followed a robust and legally sound process throughout.

I now call on all public bodies not to waste any more taxpayers money or seek to further delay this vital project which will benefit every corner of the United Kingdom.

In a statement a Heathrow spokesperson said: We are delighted with todays ruling which is a further demonstration that the debate on Heathrow expansion has been had and won, not only in Parliament, but in the courts also. We are getting on with delivering the once-in-a-generation project that will connect Britain to global growth, providing thousands of new jobs and an economic boost for this country and its future generations.

The High Court findings come on the same day Mr Grayling said he was terminating contracts with three ferry companies which were too expand lorry freight capacity in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

He decided to terminate the agreements after the deadline for the UK's departure was extended until the end of October, but the Department for Transport will still have to pay 50m for part of the value of the contracts.

The 50m bill comes on top of a 33m payment to Eurotunnel, earlier this year, to settle its legal case over the cross-Channel contracts.

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald responded to Mr Graylings announcement saying: His career as a minister has left a trail of scorched earth and billions of pounds of public money wasted.

This country cannot afford Chris Grayling.
Doctors have identified a new type of dementia which may so far have been misdiagnosed as Alzheimers, according to a new report.

Millions of elderly people have been suffering with this newly identified condition, which has similar symptoms Alzheimers  the most common and well researched type of dementia.

The disease is known as Late (limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy), and was identified in a report published this week in neurological science journal Brain.

Up to a third of people diagnosed with Alzheimers may actually be suffering from Late, which affects the brain differently, although both diseases can co-exist leading to a more severe cognitive decline.

These misdiagnoses may be partly why its been impossible to find a dementia cure so far.

Portraits of people living with dementia around the world Show all 8 1 /8 Portraits of people living with dementia around the world Portraits of people living with dementia around the world South Africa Heidedel Community Centre - A community centre dedicated to taking care of people displaced by mental illnesses and disabilities. It mostly houses people living with dementia. Many traditional healers tell family members that if they have dementia or other disorders they are cursed. These people do not have family to care for them, and this centre is one of the first centres that is privately funded in a township with limited government support Leah Beach Portraits of people living with dementia around the world Guatemala This is a family from Antigua in Guatemala. After undergoing surgery the father lost his ability to walk and also had amnesia, which developed into dementia. His wife who is a full time teacher had to make sacrifices to care for him. The daughter also left her job to care for him full time, while the mother works. They all adore him and would do anything and sacrifice anything for him Leah Beach Portraits of people living with dementia around the world South Africa Heidedel Community Centre - A community centre dedicated to taking care of people displaced by mental illnesses and disabilities. It mostly houses people living with dementia. Many traditional healers tell family members that if they have dementia or other disorders they are cursed. These people do not have family to care for them, and this centre is one of the first centres that is privately funded in a township with limited government support Leah Beach Portraits of people living with dementia around the world Guatemala ERMITA is an adult day-care centre located in the heart of Guatemala City. It is a privately funded organization that allows families to not only drop off loved ones for physical therapy and alternative therapeutic treatment methods, but also offers medications at a huge discount, and training classes for care partners. They have even established a dementia carers programme at the local university, as well as providing outreach in local homes Leah Beach Portraits of people living with dementia around the world South Africa Heidedel Community Centre - A community centre dedicated to taking care of people displaced by mental illnesses and disabilities. It mostly houses people living with dementia. Many traditional healers tell family members that if they have dementia or other disorders they are cursed. These people do not have family to care for them, and this centre is one of the first centres that is privately funded in a township with limited government support Leah Beach Portraits of people living with dementia around the world South Africa This woman is cared for by her son. The photograph captures the moment he brought out a pot that she had left on the stove which caught fire. As you can see in the photos shes so embarrassed. He says he worries to leave her on her own and is so sad to see her lose her independence Leah Beach Portraits of people living with dementia around the world India This woman is a member of the Parsi community, a cultural group in India which has Persian ties. People with Persian heritage are considered to be a race in India and there are often separate hospitals and community centres. This woman, who asked to remain anonymous, is an inhouse patient in the Parsi ward of a public hospital. She is living with dementia and her family hardly ever come to visit her. Most patients living in this ward are abandoned by their family, or have no family to look after them Leah Beach Portraits of people living with dementia around the world India Mrs Roop Chungani, 72 years old. Mrs Roop was a hairstylist in her youth and was known to be one of the most famous hairstylists in Mumbai, working with celebrities and high-profile stars of Bollywood. She worked in one of Bombays most famous beauty parlours. After her dementia diagnosis, she says that her husband was very hard on her because of the change in her behaviour Leah Beach

Doctors believe that Late affects one in five people over the age of 80, and say there is an urgent need for more research in order to be able to treat and prevent the disease.

Nina Silverberg, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Centers Program at the National Institute on Aging and co-chair of the Late workshop, told Live Science: "The ultimate goal ... is to either prevent or at least be able to treat the causes and the symptoms.

"In order to do that, we have to understand what's causing the symptoms. Sorting through who has what [condition] hopefully should help us."

The difference between the two diseases is the type of protein build-up in the brain. In cases of Late, its TDP-43, while Alzheimers is characterised by two proteins: beta-amyloid and tau.

Currently, these can only be identified during an autopsy after death, but the hope is that further research will be able to find biomarkers which allow for early diagnosis.

Professor Robert Howard from University College London told the BBC: "This is probably the most important paper to be published in the field of dementia in the last five years.

"Treatment trials of drugs that are designed to work against Alzheimer's will not have any efficacy against Late and this has important implications for the choice of participants in future trials."

Despite extensive research and various clinical trials, there is currently no cure for dementia.

According to the Alzheimer's Society, there are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK.
A space rock smashed into the Moon and left a huge crater in its surface  and chose its timing exactly right, scientists have said.

The meteorite hit right in the middle of the recent lunar eclipse, allowing scientists and amateurs to get perhaps the best ever view of such rocks colliding with the Moon's surface.

During the total lunar eclipse in January, even amateur observers spotted a very short flash in the corner of the lunar surface.

Right away, scientists got to work trying to understand what had caused it and what it might tell us about our nearest neighbour. And now the researchers have revealed early results from that study, published in a new paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The rock hit the moon while it was going 61,000 kilometres an hour, they said, and left a crater behind that will be 10 to 15 metres across. When it hit, it did so with the force of 1.5 tonnes of TNT, throwing out debris that was as hot as 5400 degrees Celsius, roughly the same as the surface of the Sun.

Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427  more commonly known as WR 124  and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead  sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later  having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region

Despite all that force, it lasted only 0.28 seconds.

The Moon has no atmosphere to protect it from such impacts, meaning that even small rocks can make their way to the planet and hit its surface. They are often travelling at very fast speeds when they arrive, meaning the rocks vapourise instantly and leave a plume of debris that can be seen even from Earth.

That flash was the first ever to be filmed during a lunar eclipse, despite repeated attempts by scientists.

"Something inside of me told me that this time would be the time", said Madiedo, who was impressed when he observed the event, as it was brighter than most of the events regularly detected by the survey.

By analysing the flash using a vast set of telescopes, the researchers were able to conclude that the rock had a a mass of 45kg, measured 30 to 60 centimetres across, and hit the surface at 61,000 kilometres an hour.

The team plan to keep watching for such impacts in the future, and learning more about how they happen. As well as yielding important scientific information, such study will be necessary to ensure the safety of the astronauts who are expected to head back to the lunar surface in years to come.
The president's Twitter account has accidentally tweeted another user with the name "f*** Donald Trump" in an apparent prank.

The post  which was still online at the time of publication  appeared to be a generic reply indicating that the users' husband was a Trump-voting firefighter. Mr Trump's account has spent much of the morning sharing posts from people claiming to be firefighters who were backing the president over rival presidential hopeful Joe Biden, who has been endorsed by the firefighters' union.

One of the tweets shared by the president's account read: "My husband a New York City firefighter for 15 years will be voting Trump 2020 all the way!!"

But at least one of the posts does not appear to have come from a firefighter at all. Instead, someone appears to have shared the tweet above from a fake account.

As soon as Mr Trump had retweeted the post, the account's name was changed to read simply: "F*** Donald Trump". It also changed its profile image to a badge reading "Bernie 2020".

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was 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 AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

It followed up with another post that made clear that the account had been a prank, created by someone who said they disagreed with Mr Trump.

"What a great morning. In all seriousness, our president is an awful, hateful human being who wants nothing more than to keep the status quo and hatred prevalent in our country when we should be pushing forward with the rest of the world towards progress and change," a tweet posted on the account now reads. "Please vote."

Before the account changed its name, and when Mr Trump retweeted it, it appears to have been a genuine-looking account. In fact, it appears to have taken the identity of another account, copying its name and profile photo and using the exact same name, swapping out the "L" in the original handle for an uppercase "i", which looks identical.

Whoever is in control of that account presumably saw that the president's Twitter had been sharing posts by a flurry of people who replied to it indicating they were firefighters who will be voting for Mr Trump, and took the opportunity to send in another of those tweets in the hope it was shared. When it was, the name appears to have been changed to embarrass the president.

After the world's attention was drawn to the account, it posted another tweet reading: "Damn this blew up check out my Soundcloud", alongside a link. That link actually sent users to the Spotify page of Third Eye Blind, a US rock group.

The prank appears to have been at least a year and a half in the making. Ever since September 2017, it has been posting messages of support to Donald Trump in an apparent attempt to trick him into retweeting them, though the none of them have worked until today.
Google is celebrating Labour Day with a Google Doodle honouring workers around the world.

Labour Day, celebrated around the globe on 1 May, is a day dedicated to labourers of the working class.

The day originated in the US in the 19th century when the labour union movement rose up against unjust working conditions and demanded better pay, reasonable hours, and paid leaves.

While the day stands for different things depending on the country, the overall theme of the public holiday is celebrating the achievements of workers.

These are four interesting things you should know about Labour Day.

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It began in Chicago

The holiday originated in the US city in 1886 as a protest in support of an eight-hour workday and saw thousands of labourers around the country take to the streets. The day commemorates the Haymarket affair, which took place on 4 May.

The Haymarket affair began as a peaceful labour rally near Chicago's Haymarket Square before turning violent when a protestor threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the explosion, which led to the conviction of eight radical labour activists.

The number eight is symbolic

The numbers importance symbolises the work-day length advocated for by members of the labour union movement.

Recommended Google Doodle pays tribute to Japanese inventor Seiichi Miyake

In Australia, where one of the first Labour Day marches occurred on 1 May 1891, the number is often seen on union buildings.

It also goes by the name Workers' Day

In some countries, such as Ethiopia, South Africa, and Brazil, the public holiday is referred to as International Workers Day or just Workers day.

The theme of this year's holiday is "Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement".

America celebrates the holiday on a different day

Although the labour movement has its roots in the US, Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September rather than in May.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

While historical reports vary, it is said that the official holiday takes place in September because it was first celebrated in the early 1880s by the Central Labor Union - years before labourers would protest their working conditions.
No official merchandise is going to be released in celebration of the birth of the royal baby, it has been revealed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have turned away from royal convention on several occasions, recently announcing that the arrival of their baby will be kept a secret so that they can "celebrate privately as a new family".

In another departure from tradition, it has been confirmed that a range of official royal baby paraphernalia will not be sold by the Royal Collection Trust following the birth of the Prince Harry and Meghan's baby.

"We have no new ranges to announce," a spokesperson for the Royal Collection Trust told The Independent.

The charity, which is chaired by Prince Charles, released collections of merchandise for the births of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in 2013, 2015 and 2018, respectively.

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

Several items which were released to mark the birth of the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2018 are still available on the website.

The most expensive item still available is a commemorative pillbox, which is on sale for 35.

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The lid of the china pillbox is decorated with a design of a lion and a unicorn, and features the statement: "Welcome to our new royal baby."

An official commemorative plate featuring the same design and message is also on sale for 24.50, reduced from 49.

While no merchandise will be sold when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby arrives, there are several items still available on the Royal Collection Trust which pay tribute to their wedding in May 2018.

These include a royal wedding tankard for 39, a plate for 49 and a calendar for 12.95.

Keep up to date on all the latest news on the birth of the royal baby by following The Independent's live blog here.
Passengers at Luton airport are being hit by multiple strikes this week as taxi drivers and security guards take industrial action in protest about low pay and changes to working conditions.

Cab operator Addison Lee, which has an exclusive contract to operate taxis from in front of the terminal building, hiked commission rates to 35 per cent last autumn and charges drivers 210 per week to hire a vehicle, leaving some being paid just 4.72 per hour. The minimum wage for over-25s is 8.21.

The 24-hour strike will impact travellers at Luton airport from 5am on Wednesday  a busy day as people jet off for a long bank holiday weekend. Passengers are advised to take alternative transport.

Security guards also walked out on Wednesday until 9pm on Sunday after the airport imposed changes to shift patterns. The strike affects baggage checks across the airport, causing delays. A second week-long strike is planned to start on the bank holiday Monday, 6 May, at 4.30am.

The guards say new shift patterns will mean they must work an extra 15 days a year.

A survey of 50 Addison Lee drivers at Luton by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) found they work an average 70-hour week.

McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Show all 24 1 /24 McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay JD Wetherspoon, McDonald's and TGI Fridays stage walkouts in a pay dispute Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Strikers want to highlight the issue of poverty pay and insecure working in the UK hospitality industry. Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay The hospitality sector employs around 4.5 million people  ten per cent of the UKs working population. But its workers have not traditionally organised to demand better pay and conditions, making the current strike significant, despite its small scale Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay A growing movement of low-paid workers, particularly in the fast-food industry, has come together over recent years, catalysed by the Fight for $15 campaign in the US Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay A McDonalds spokesperson said the company was disappointed to hear about planned UK strikes and said the numbers of people involved represented an extremely small proportion of its 120,000 workforce. Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay This is against a backdrop of more people choosing to join our business, with more than 1,000 new managers recruited in the past year. Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Shadow chancellor John McDonnell backed the action and reiterated Labour's plan to give all workers a living wage of 10 an hour. "I am giving my support to the striking workers in Wetherspoons, TGI Fridays and McDonald's today," he said. "These are workers that have been ignored by their employers and are simply asking for a wage they can live on and the same basic rights at work we should all be entitled to." Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Wetherspoon spokesperson Eddie Gershon said rates of pay at the pub chain were increasing as they are in the economy generally. We are also moving to the same rate for 18-21s as we already have for over 21s from 5 November 2018, he said. In addition, we are putting up the rate of pay. In the last financial year we paid record monthly bonuses and free shares of 43 million, equivalent to about 50 per cent of our net profits. Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou McDonald's, Wetherspoons and TGIs workers strike over pay Angela Christofilou

An employment tribunal ruled in November that Addison Lee drivers should be classified as workers and therefore entitled to the national minimum wage, but they remain self-employed.

The case is one of a number that has gone against gig economy firms such as Uber.

Addison Lee drivers have been protesting for several months against increases to commission and vehicle costs but say the company has been unwilling to negotiate.

More than 90 per cent of drivers working from Luton airport voted in favour of industrial action.

IWGB branch secretary Yaseen Aslam called on Lutons Labour-run council to take action against below-minimum wage pay.

With this strike we want to send a message not only to Addison Lee but also the council: Do your job as a regulator and stop letting these companies drive your citizens into abject poverty.

Luton Addison Lee driver Imran Iqbal said: On an average week Im working 65 hours and taking home less than 350. So while Ive been earning far below the minimum wage, Addison Lees owners made tens of millions last year.

Addison Lee drivers have been protesting for months against increases to commission and vehicle costs (IWGB)

We have tried talking to the company, we have tried protesting and now we are left with no other option but to strike. We owe it to our families and each other to keep on fighting until Addison Lee delivers a fair deal.

Addison Lee has had the exclusive right to operate the taxi rank at Luton airport since 2012, when the local Labour council awarded the company the contract for 2m.

A spokesperson for Addison Lee said: We engage directly with our self-employed Luton driver partners to help them earn a decent living.

We have invested almost 7m in our Luton operation since 2016, which has benefited drivers directly, and average Luton driver partner pay increased by 11 per cent between 2017 and 2018. We regularly review our driver deal to ensure it is competitive.
A Viagra-like drug widely used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction may provide an effective treatment for life-threatening heart failure.

UK scientists hailed the breakthrough findings after demonstrating the effects of the drug tadalafil, sold as Cialis, in sheep.

But they said it was entirely possible that some men being treated for impotence are already benefiting from the protection it affords.

Animals made to develop the disease did not progress into heart failure when given the drug, while those with the condition improved.

This discovery is an important advance in a devastating condition which causes misery for thousands of people across the UK and beyond, said Professor Andrew Trafford, from the University of Manchester, the lead researcher on the study.

Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Show all 10 1 /10 Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Subarachnoid vessels The runner-up image came from Matt MacGregor Sharp, a PhD student at the University of Southampton. The super-high resolution image shows a normal artery at the surface of a rats brain and was taken with a powerful scanning electron microscope. These subarachnoid vessels supply blood to the brain and also act like a drain to remove toxic waste products. Matt Macgregors team are trying to show that failure to remove waste by these vessels is one of the underlying causes of vascular dementia. The researchers took the image using a technique called freeze fracture, where tissue or cell samples are frozen and then split apart to reveal the hidden layers within the sample so they can be studied in extreme detail. Sitting above the brown brain tissue, the artery appears blue, and its surrounding layer, the pia mater, is shown in purple. Matt MacGregor Sharp, University of Southampton, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Explosive beginnings Winner: Endothelial cells line all blood vessels in the body, forming a barrier between the circulating blood and the vessel wall. They also help to protect blood vessels from damage and release important chemical messengers which help to control blood pressure. The winning researcher, Courtney Williams, is a Masters student and PhD candidate at Leeds University. Her lab are developing new ways to map the growth of new blood vessels within their surrounding landscape in 3D. Understanding the complex secrets of blood vessel formation could be harnessed to boost the regrowth of damaged blood vessels after a heart attack, and halt blood vessel growth when its counterproductive. Courtney Williams, Leeds University, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize A snapshot of platelet production - Reflections of Research Supporters Favourite This image from Abdullah Obaid Khan, a PhD student at the University of Birmingham, won the supporters favourite. What look like precious jewels are actually platelets forming within the bone marrow. Platelets are the smallest of our circulating blood cells with a hugely important role in preventing bleeding. However, they also play a role in the formation of clots, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes. Abdullah Obaid Khan and his team are studying rare bleeding disorders. Abdullah Obaid Khan, University of Birmingham, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Cardiac collagen web - Shortlist This colourful image shows the web-like, network of the smallest blood vessels in the heart  the microvessels. Magenta marks the outer collagen layer of the vessels; while orange marks their inner lining and blue the cell nuclei. Dr Neil Dufton, Imperial College London Dr Neil Dufton, Imperial College London, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Heart to Heart - Shortlist This piece shows four ventricles (from a mouse) arranged into the shape of the hearts four normal chambers. The researchers have used fluorescent markers to recognise certain proteins and created the image using of hundreds of images assembled together. Dr Elisa Avolio and Dr Zexu Dang, University of Bristol Dr Elisa Avolio and Dr Zexu Dang, University of Bristol, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Loving artery - Shortlist This image shows a cross section of an artery and the different layers which make up the artery wall. Affiliate Professor Silvia Lacchini, University of Glasgow Silvia Lacchini, University of Glasgow, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Oxidative inkblot - Shortlist This colour explosion shows one of the culprits in cardiovascular disease  an enzyme called NADPH oxidase. The enzyme is considered Janus faced because it is important in health, as well as disease. This picture shows the active enzyme in patients who have high blood pressure. Dr Livia de Lucca Camargo, University of Glasgow Dr Livia de Lucca Camargo, University of Glasgow, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Neon skeleton - Shortlist This image shows the developing blood vessel system of a two day old zebrafish embryo. The researchers used gene enhancers (the on-off switches of genes) to switch on fluorescent markers in different types of endothelial cells  the important cells which line all blood vessels. All blood vessels switch on the red marker, while the veins also switch on the green marker, resulting in yellow veins and red arteries. Dr Svanhild Nornes, University of Oxford Dr Svanhild Nornes, University of Oxford, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Calcium reef - Shortlist This image shows calcium in blood vessel cells from people who have high blood pressure and resembles Australias Great Barrier Reef. Dr Rheure Alves-Lopes, University of Glasgow Dr Rheure Alves-Lopes, University of Glasgow, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research Under the skin  best of the British Heart Foundation 2018 image prize Budding blood vessels - Shortlist This image shows the growing blood vessels in the mouse retina. In red you can see all the blood vessels and in yellow/green you can see the blood vessels that are actively growing (a process called sprouting). PhD candidate Kira Chouliaras, University of Oxford Kira Chouliaras, University of Oxford, British Heart Foundation - Reflections of Research

He added that limited evidence from human trials and epidemiological studies demonstrates tadalafil can be effective in treating heart failure, but this study explains why it is so effective, and shows it to be a possible therapy.

Its entirely possible that some patients taking it for erectile dysfunction have also unwittingly enjoyed a protective effect on their heart, Professor Trafford said.

Heart failure occurs when the heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood around the body. It can follow a heart attack, or be caused by a genetic abnormality.

People affected by heart failure are quickly exhausted and suffer breathlessness and swelling caused by fluid backing up in the lungs.

As the condition worsens it can become life-threatening. Five-year survival rates for heart failure are lower than for most common cancers.

For the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, sheep were fitted with pacemakers that induced heart failure advanced enough to need treatment.

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The animals were chosen because they have hearts similar to those of humans.

Cialis almost completely reversed the biological cause of breathlessness in sheep with heart failure  the inability of the heart to respond to adrenaline.

The hearts ability to force blood around the body when working harder was increased.

However, Professor Trafford warned patients not to self-treat, despite it being widely used, because of potential interactions with other drugs or conditions.

Professor Metin Avkiran, from the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, said Viagra-like drugs were initially developed as heart medications.

We seem to have gone full circle, with findings from recent studies suggesting that they may be effective in the treatment of some forms of heart disease  in this case, heart failure, he said.

We need safe and effective new treatments for heart failure, which is a cruel and debilitating condition that affects almost a million people in the UK.

Tadalafil acts like Viagra but is favoured by many men because of its longer-lasting effects.

Additional reporting by PA
Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching bail and spending seven years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The Wikileaks founder took refuge in the building in 2012 to avoid extradition from the UK to Sweden where he faced allegations of sexual assault.

Sentencing at a packed Southwark Crown Court, Judge Deborah Taylor said: You remained there ... exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country.

Assange now faces a separate hearing on Thursday to decide if he can be extradited to the US where he is accused of orchestrating one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets.

The sentencing hearing on Wednesday heard how the 47-year-old Australian had remained living in Ecuadors embassy  out of reach of British police  until his asylum was withdrawn last month and officers were invited in to arrest him.

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

In a letter read out in court, Assange apologised to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way that I have pursued my case.

He added: This is not what I wanted or intended. I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best.

Mark Summers QC, for Assange, said the secret-spiller had only gone on the run because he believed he may end up at Americas infamous prison camp Guantanamo Bay.

The fear was [of] onward removal from Sweden to America and even Guantanamo Bay, said Mr Summers.

He added: [There were] suggestions from inside the US administration that he could be kidnapped wherever he was with or without the approval of the country in which he was residing and brought forcibly to the US. That is no less than the threat of a rendition.

But Judge Taylor dismissed the claim and said it was difficult to imagine a more serious example of a breach of bail case.

By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK, she said, adding he had cost the British taxpayer 16m.

As the convict was led down to the cells, he raised a defiant fist to supporters in the public gallery.

Sweden itself has since withdrawn its extradition request for Assange  who denies the allegations  but he remains wanted in the US on charges of conspiring to hack into Pentagon computers and aiding whistleblower Chelsea Manning. He faces up to five years in prison if extradited and found guilty.

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The accusations date back to 2006 when Wikileaks published hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and files that laid bare US intelligence and was said to have put the lives of hundreds of its staff at risk.

The website followed that, in 2010, by publishing a classified US military video showing a 2007 helicopter attack which killed 18 civilians in Iraq.
May Day is perhaps most closely associated by Britons with a three-day bank holiday weekend and an excuse not to set the alarm on 2 May.

But the traditions of 1 May have their roots in pagan festivals celebrating spring and fertility, and the date has come to be linked to everything from maypole dancing to anti-capitalist sentiment.

The national holiday itself is a recent invention, with the Labour government only introducing it to the calendar in 1978.

So what is it, and why do we have it?

How did May Day come about?

Three different celebrations in late April seem to have merged to give 1 May its special significance.

Gaelic May Day in Ireland and Scotland, known as Beltane, was held halfway between the spring equinox in the middle of March and the summer solstice in the middle of June.

Marking the beginning of summer, Beltane was celebrated by villagers with bonfires and rituals to protect crops and cattle, along with a big feast.

Beltane is still celebrated in its traditional pagan form in some parts of England including Glastonbury (Getty Images)

In Germany, Finland and Sweden, meanwhile, Walpurgis Night celebrated a special saint with a feast on 1 May that included dancing and young women being kissed  and was sometimes seen as a night when witches would await the arrival of spring.

Another festival held by the Romans to celebrate Flora, the goddess of flowers, in late April also marked the arrival of summer.

Eventually, together these celebrations became the secular festival of May Day now in existence.

What happens on May Day?

Maypole dancing was banned by Oliver Cromwells government in 1660 (Getty Images)

May Day is synonymous with the maypole, believed to be rooted in a pagan tradition of cutting down young trees and sticking them in the ground to mark the arrival of summer  and then dancing around them in rival performances between villages.

The day is also associated with Morris dancing, usually by groups of men wearing different coloured clothes depending on the part of the country they dance in.

Well-dressing and making flower garlands can be part of the festivities, while a May Queen and sometimes a Green Man might also make an appearance as the embodiments of spring.

Why have there been riots on May Day in the past?

Members of Indonesian Labour unions and labour activists march on May Day in Jakarta in 2014

The date coincides with International Workers Day, which has its roots in a labour union movement that advocated an eight-hour working day.

Anti-capitalist riots have marked the date as a result, first in Ohio in 1919 when disorder during a parade of unionists, socialists, communists and anarchists was violently suppressed by police.

In 2000 and 2001 there were May Day protests in London in which McDonalds, a statue of Winston Churchill and the Cenotaph were attacked and 95 people were arrested.

Other protests took place around the world in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to promote workers rights.

What are some of the weirder facts surrounding May Day?

Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans described maypole dancing as a heathenish vanity and passed legislation against it in 1660.

Merry Monarch Charles II, however, returned them to national consciousness by erecting a huge 40-metre pole on the Strand in London and remaining there for almost 50 years.

In Oxford, a Latin hymn or carol is sung from the top of Magdalen College tower on May Day morning, followed by the ringing of bells to signal the start of Morris dancing in the streets.

And one of the more unusual annual traditions associated with the date involves students at St Andrews rushing naked into the sea at sunrise on 1 May out of enthusiasm for the change of season.

This article was originally published in April 2016
A Sinn Fein politician has been criticised for saying that dissident republicans who murdered Lyra McKee besmirch the name of the IRA.

Pearse Doherty, who is a TD for Donegal in the Irish parliament, is reported to have made the comments at a republican commemoration in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone on Easter Sunday.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that while denouncing dissident republicans, Doherty called out tiny armed groups at the present time who seem determined to drag us all back to the past. On Thursday one of these gangs murdered a talented young journalist, Lyra McKee.

The people behind such senseless acts masquerade as the IRA but they are not the IRA. They besmirch the name of the IRA.

In a response to the Independent, Sinn Fein did not deny Doherty's comments. A spokesperson said: "Those responsible for the recent killing in Derry of Lyra McKee have no support, no strategy, and no politics. They need to end their actions against the community, pack up and go away."

Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots Show all 21 1 /21 Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots A burning car in Creggan, Derry after petrol bombs were thrown at police during riots in Northern Ireland PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots Armed police at the scene of unrest PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots Petrol bombs being thrown at police PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots Belfast Journalist Lyra McKee was killed during the riots. Police Service of Northern Ireland said that McKee was allegedly shot while reporting on clashes with dissident republican rioters EPA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots The scene on Fanad Drive the following day PA Violence erupts in Northern Ireland as journalist killed during riots PA

Sinn Fein strongly condemns dissident republicans who have continued a policy of armed resistance against British rule since the island of Ireland adopted the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. But the party has never explicitly condemned the campaign of the provisional IRA during The Troubles, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.

Responding to the comments on Tuesday, DUP leader Arlene Foster tweeted: It saddens me greatly when senior new generation SF politicians fail to see the horrors inflicted on innocent men, women and children by the PIRA.

Dohertys comments were also condemned by Alliance party MLA Kellie Armstrong who said: The name of the IRA is already inextricably linked to death and destruction during The Troubles.

While Sinn Fein may seek to distinguish between crimes of the past and those today, the pain of victims and the grief of families is the same.

Rather than seeking to defend the record of the IRA, Sinn Fein needs to focus on defending the peace we now have thanks to the Good Friday Agreement and deliver a better future for everyone.

Following the murder of Lyra McKee in Derry earlier this month, a rare show of unity from Sinn Fein and the DUP led to renewed calls for a return to power-sharing.

Talks between the two parties will resume in Belfast on 7 May, after over two years of no functioning government at Stormont.
Students priced out of EU universities by higher fees after Brexit should stay in Britain and enjoy higher-quality courses, Theresa May says.

The prime minister dismissed a protest that only rich children will be able to afford to study abroad in future by insisting no EU country could match the standards on offer at home.

EU countries are expected to hike their fees for UK students if  as a leak revealed last weekend  the government presses ahead with scrapping limits on charges for EU students in this country.

Asked if she feared domestic students would then be priced out of studying at universities in other EU countries, Ms May replied: While there are students from the United Kingdom who choose to go and study at universities elsewhere, we are very fortunate in the United Kingdom in having a number of our universities that are actually in the 20 of universities in the world.

Im pretty certain, for the top 10, we are the only EU country that does have universities in that category. We have excellent universities here in the United Kingdom.

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But Rachel Reeves, a Labour MP, protested: I dont want to see a situation where only children from better-off families  either from the EU or from this country  are able to access the universities of their choice.

Cliffs of Dover lit up in Brexit protest Show all 5 1 /5 Cliffs of Dover lit up in Brexit protest Cliffs of Dover lit up in Brexit protest Campaign group Led By Donkeys projected this statement by Nigel Farage on the Cliffs of Dover on the evening of April 4 @ByDonkeys / Twitter Cliffs of Dover lit up in Brexit protest Campaign group Led By Donkeys projected this statement by former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab on the Cliffs of Dover on the evening of April 4 @ByDonkeys / Twitter Cliffs of Dover lit up in Brexit protest Campaign group Led By Donkeys projected this message to the EU on the Cliffs of Dover on the evening of April 4 @ByDonkeys / Twitter Cliffs of Dover lit up in Brexit protest Campaign group Led By Donkeys projected this message on the Cliffs of Dover on the evening of April 4 @ByDonkeys / Twitter Cliffs of Dover lit up in Brexit protest Campaign group Led By Donkeys projected this message on the Cliffs of Dover on the evening of April 4 @ByDonkeys / Twitter

She demanded to know how the plan would help to tackle the injustices you have spoken about so passionately?.

Giving evidence to a committee of MPs, Ms May did not deny the plan to force EU students to pay full international fees, from the autumn of next year.

Instead of 9,250 a year, they would face the unregulated annual charges of up to 38,000 faced by other overseas students  and no longer be eligible for loans to cushion the blow.

The plan has been condemned by Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliaments Brexit chief, who said angrily: Students mustnt be victims of Brexit. I will write to PM May saying we will never accept this.

But, speaking to the Commons Liaison Committee, the prime minister also dismissed fears that fewer EU students would come to Britain, if the price soared.

There are overseas students that obviously pay higher fees than EU students do at the moment  and we have seen increases from many of those countries, she argued.

The fee level has not been something that has put those students off.

What I hope attracts those students to come to the country is the quality of education they receive in our universities, and I hope that will continue whatever the arrangements for the fees that we put in place in the future.

The MPs were told that students would be given sufficient notice in due course of the fee levels from autumn 2020.
A candidate for Nigel Farages Brexit Party has responded to criticism from the father of a schoolboy killed in an IRA bombing condemned her absolutely disgraceful past views about the terrorist group.

Claire Fox, now a candidate for the European Parliament, was a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), that defended the deadly bomb attack in Warrington on 20 March, 1993.

Three-year-old Johnathan Ball was killed by the blast and Tim Parry, 12, died in his father Colin's arms five days later in Liverpools Walton Hospital. Another 56 were injured.

Mr Parry OBE, said Ms Fox should explain her comments, referring to the viewpoint published by her RCP party at the time.

He said: What she said at that time is highly inappropriate. For somebody to come out with comments I believe she made, and being an apologist for the IRA is absolutely disgraceful. If this woman would care to explain her comments back at that time to me and my wife, I would like her to do so. She should disavow these comments if thats her position and say, I was wrong, I was foolish.

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

Ms Fox said she had genuine feeling for all involved in the Troubles.

My political views have never made me insensitive to the pain and suffering caused to the innocent victims of events such as the Warrington bomb, she said.

The Brexiteer was a leading member of the far-left party which published a newsletter in April 1993, days after the bombing, defending the right of the Irish people to take whatever measures necessary in their struggle for freedom.

Ms Fox is now the Brexit Partys top candidate in the North West of England at the European elections.

If the polls are correct, she is likely to become Warringtons MEP.

 Nigel Farage says Brexit Party 'can stop a second referendum'

A spokesman for the Brexit Party said Ms Fox does not deny she did hold those views in the past, but they were made more than 20 years ago and she supported a peaceful solution and the Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to the violence.

In separate statement, Ms Fox said: I feel the greatest sympathy for the Parry family. The loss of their son was tragic and must have been terribly painful, as for all victims of violence during the Troubles. My personal politics and views are well known and I have never sought to disguise them, though on this issue they have remained unaired for many years.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, the history of Ireland has been marked by tragedy and I acknowledge that without hesitation and with genuine feeling for all involved.

My political views have never made me insensitive to the pain and suffering caused to the innocent victims of events such as the Warrington bomb. In fact, I have always been inspired by the humane conduct of Mr Parry in the way he responded with compassion and dignity to the tragic loss inflicted on his family.

Warrington councillor Dan Price said Ms Fox was totally unfit for office.

Mr Price, one of Change UKs candidates for the upcoming elections, said: Since Foxs candidacy was announced and her history has surfaced, Ive been approached by lots of people in Warrington who are furious she could soon be representing them. I live in Warrington, I know the Parry family and Ive seen first-hand the work their peace foundation has done.
MPs have passed a motion making the UK parliament the first in the world to declare an environment and climate emergency.

The symbolic move  recognising the urgency needed to combat the climate crisis  follows a wave of protests launched by the Extinction Rebellion strikers in recent weeks.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for the motion to set off a wave of action from parliaments and governments around the globe.

He added: We pledge to work as closely as possible with countries that are serious about ending the climate catastrophe and make clear to US president Donald Trump that he cannot ignore international agreements and action on the climate crisis.

According to Labour, the respected House of Commons library could not find any examples of a national or parliamentary declaration of a climate emergency

Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Show all 12 1 /12 Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures In the protest that started a movement, Greta skips school to sit outside of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm in order to raise awareness of climate change on 28 August 2018 Getty Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 25 January AFP/Getty Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta stages a protest at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 25 January Reuters Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta speaks at the House of Commons in London on 23 April PA Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta addresses to the occupation at Marble Arch in London on 21 April AFP/Getty Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta meets the pope on a visit to Rome Reuters Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta speaks at the senate in Rome on 18 April Reuters Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta addresses a debate of the EU Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 16 April AFP/Getty Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta receives the Special Climate Protection Award at the German Film and Television awards in Berlin on 30 March AFP/Getty Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta attends a children's climate protest in Berlin on 29 March AFP/Getty Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta addresses a children's climate protest on 1 March in Hamburg Getty Greta Thunberg inspires climate activists everywhere: In pictures Greta attends a meeting for the Civil Society For rEUnaissance at the EU Charlemagne Building in Brussels on 21 February AFP/Getty

The result came in after Theresa May decided not to whip her MPs against Labours motion, and instead encouraged them to be out campaigning ahead of the local elections tomorrow.

Introducing the motion on Wednesday, Mr Corbyn called on MPs to recognise the devastating impact that volatile and extreme weather will have on all walks of life, as he urged them to declare an environment and climate emergency.

We have no time to waste, he added. We are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action now.

This is no longer about a distant future. We are talking about nothing less than the irreversible destruction of the environment within our lifetimes.

During the debate on the motion environment secretary Michael Gove, who met with climate activists at Westminster on Tuesday, also said the government recognises the situation we face is an emergency, but stopped short of meeting Labours demands to officially declare one.

It is a crisis, he added. It is a threat that all of us have to unite to meet.

Mr Gove continued: Five of the warmest years that this planet has endured have happened since 2010. The consequences for all of us are visible.

While statistics can sometimes be abstract and the impact can seem distant, we can all know that as individual citizens and as parents that the next generation will face the consequences if we do no take action now to deal with climate change.

The cabinet minister also insisted the legislation will be introduced by the government shortly to ensure the UK has the highest standards of environmental protection as he claimed it would mark a step change in how this country tackles the twin challenges of climate change and broader ecological degradation.
A Labour frontbencher has defended Jeremy Corbyn over allegations of antisemitism after it emerged he had endorsed a century-old book that suggested banks were controlled by the Jews.

In a fresh row about anti-Jewish sentiment, the Labour leader wrote the foreword for a new edition of JA Hobsons Imperialism: A Study, in which the author argues European finance was controlled by men of a single and peculiar race.

In 2011, Mr Corbyn, then a backbencher, described Hobsons 1902 book as a great tome, which was brilliant and very controversial at the time, according to The Times.

In the book, the left-wing economist suggested finance in Europe was controlled by men ... who have behind them many centuries of financial experience and are in a unique position to control the policy of nations.

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

He argued that the great financial houses have control which they exercise over the body of public opinion through the press.

And he suggested no European state would engage in a great war if the house of Rothschild and its connections set their face against it.

Mr Corbyns decision to write the books foreword was described as damning and damaging by Jewish campaigners, and comes amid concern about the handling of antisemitism complaints within Labour.

But shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey insisted Mr Corbyn had not condoned antisemitic tropes but instead commented on the wider thought around western imperialism.

She told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: I havent read the book myself, but as I understand it Jeremy, like many politicians, has quoted this relevant political thinker.

Jeremy quite vigorously would not support any antisemitic statement made by that particular writer or indeed any other particular writer.

Pressed on the issue, she said: I think he was looking at the political thought within the whole text itself, not the comments that were antisemitic in any shape or form.

Jeremy certainly wouldnt countenance the support of any antisemitic comments, as I have said.

Labour MP Wes Streeting urged his colleagues not to defend Mr Corbyn for lauding a book containing classic antisemitic tropes.

Ex-Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the party over its handling of antisemitism allegations, said the news cast doubt on Mr Corbyns ability to lead the party.

He said: Jeremy Corbyn endorsed a book that peddles racist stereotypes of Jewish financiers and imperialism as brilliant and a great tome.

He attacked the USA and Nato, but defended the Soviet Union and Venezuela. He is completely unfit to lead the Labour Party.

Euan Philipps, of the campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism, said: The revelation Jeremy Corbyn wrote the foreword for a reportedly deeply antisemitic book is damning and damaging.

A Labour spokesperson said: Jeremy praised the Liberal Hobsons century-old classic study of imperialism in Africa and Asia.

Similarly to other books of its era, Hobsons work contains outdated and offensive references and observations, and Jeremy completely rejects the antisemitic elements of his analysis.
To the intense frustration of Jeremy Corbyns supporters, the accusations of antisemitism against him and the Labour Party refuse to go away.

Although party members continue to be suspended and expelled by Labours disciplinary committees, new instances keep coming to light.

And journalists keep finding things in Corbyns own recent history that require strenuous explanation. The latest example is his 2011 foreword to a reissue of John Hobsons 1902 book, Imperialism: A Study.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is calling on MPs to accept their historic duty and declare a national climate emergency following the wave of Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests.

MPs are set to debate a Labour motion for Parliament to declare an emergency and pledge to act with commensurate urgency to tackle rising temperatures and wildlife loss.

It also calls on the government to set a new target to reach net zero emissions before 2050, boost renewable energy, low carbon technology and green jobs, and bring in urgent measures to restore nature and cut waste.

The Labour leader will tell the Commons there is no time to waste as he calls for a reengineering of the economy.

We are living in a climate crisis that will spiral dangerously out of control unless we take rapid and dramatic action now," he will say.

Extinction Rebellion supporters Show all 19 1 /19 Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at the closing ceremony in Hyde Park on Thursday 25 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter dressed as Charlie Chaplin at the closing ceremony in Hyde Park on Thursday 25 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter at the closing ceremony in Hyde Park on Thursday 25 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter dressed as Charlie Chaplin at the closing ceremony in Hyde Park on Thursday 25 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter at the closing ceremony in Hyde Park on Thursday 25 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Saturday 25 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter dressed as Charlie Chaplin at the closing ceremony in Hyde Park on Thursday 25 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter at Marble Arch on Saturday 20 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Tuesday 23 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Tuesday 23 April 2019 Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Tuesday 23 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter at Marble Arch on Tuesday 23 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Tuesday 23 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Tuesday 23 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter at Marble Arch on Tuesday 23 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Saturday 20 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters An Extinction Rebellion supporter at Marble Arch on Saturday 20 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Saturday 20 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent Extinction Rebellion supporters Extinction Rebellion supporters at Marble Arch on Saturday 20 April 2019 Anu Shukla/The Independent

The move comes in the wake of widespread demonstrations which saw more than 1,000 people arrested.

Mr Corbyn will point to the young people who have walked out of lessons in recent school strikes as well as the XR activists who took part in disruptive action.

Today, we have the opportunity to say We hear you, he will tell MPs. By declaring a climate emergency, we could set off a wave of action from parliaments and governments around the world. Its a chance that wont be available to succeeding generations. It is our historic duty to take it.

Striking a positive note, the Labour leader will also argue the emergency can provide opportunities, calling for a green industrial revolution which would see huge investment in new technologies and green industries.

Jeremy Corbyn met climate activist Great Thunberg earlier this week. (PA)

An emergency of this magnitude requires large-scale government intervention to kick-start industries, to direct investment and to boost research and development in the green technologies of the future, he will say.

The solution to the crisis is reprogramming our whole economy so that it works in the interests of both people and the planet. This is not a time for despair. It is a time for action.

Activists denounced Michael Gove for moral and political failure after meeting the environment secretary on Tuesday.

One member of the XR group said the meeting with Mr Gove was less shit than I thought it would be, but only mildly, as the collective expressed dismay at Mr Goves refusal to declare a climate emergency and lack of action from minister.

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has already declared a climate emergency in the capital, Nicola Sturgeon declared one at the Scottish National Party conference and the Welsh government has followed suit in Wales.

The governments official climate advisers are due to publish advice on emissions targets later this week.

The Committee on Climate Change is expected to recommend ministers legislate to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The Home Office has been referred to the equalities watchdog due to the Windrush scandal and wider hostile environment.

More than 80 MPs from six political parties have called on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate whether the department unlawfully discriminated against the Windrush generation and continues to discriminate against ethnic minority Britons as a direct result of its immigration policies.

In a letter by Labour MP David Lammy  chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Race and Community  87 MPs argue the government is acting unlawfully and in breach of equalities legislation by routinely discriminating against British citizens on the basis of their race.

They have called on the EHRC to act fearlessly and robustly to expose the role of the Home Office in the development and operation of the hostile environment policy, as well as its impact on the Windrush generation and their descendants, and the departments wilful disregard of its public sector equality duty.

Mr Lammy said: The gross mishandling and abuse of the Windrush generation by the Home Office raises serious questions over whether British citizens were discriminated against on the basis of their race and ethnicity, in breach of equalities legislation.

More than a year after I first raised this in parliament, nothing has changed. Justice must mean not only due compensation and reparation, but changes to the institution and immigration laws that created this crisis.

This is why we are calling on the EHRC to investigate the Home Office, and in particular the hostile environment legislation, which appears to have led to discriminatory treatment against ethnic minority British citizens.

MPs argue the Home Office has breached equalities law and the public sector equality duty, which commits public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic, including ethnic minorities, and those who do not.

They have asked the EHRC to investigate the treatment of the Windrush generation and, more widely, whether the implementation of the Conservatives hostile environment policies  which transfer immigration control functions to private citizens such as landlords, employers and NHS staff  represents institutional racism.

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

A Home Office spokesperson said: The home secretary and the immigration minister are committed to righting the wrongs experienced by the Windrush generation, and the recently launched compensation scheme is a crucial step in delivering on that commitment.

The Windrush generation have given so much to this country and we will ensure nothing like this ever happens again, that is why the home secretary commissioned a lessons-learned review with independent oversight.
Alabamas House of Representatives has approved an abortion ban which, if signed into law, would make abortion a felony.

On Tuesday, Alabama politicians voted 74 to 3 to pass the Human Life Protection Act, legislation that has been called a direct attack on Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion.

Under HB 314, which does not make exceptions for victims of rape or incest, abortion would be a Class A felony and carry a maximum prison sentence of 99 years for doctors performing the procedure.

Attempted abortion would also be illegal and punishable with a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

During the vote, CBS News reports nearly all Democratic members of the House walked out of the chamber in protest after an amendment that would have added an exception for victims of rape and incest was tabled.

Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Show all 23 1 /23 Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions An abortion rights activist holds placards outside of the US Supreme Court before the Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law placing a raft of restrictions on abortion clinics, handing a major victory to the "pro-choice" camp in the country's most important ruling on the divisive issue in a generation. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Pro-life activists pray on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Texas abortion provider Amy Hagstrom-Miller looks on as Nancy Northup, President of The Center for Reproductive Rights speaks to the media outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions An abortion rights activist holds placards outside of the US Supreme Court before the Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law placing a raft of restrictions on abortion clinics, handing a major victory to the "pro-choice" camp in the country's most important ruling on the divisive issue in a generation. Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Texas abortion provider Amy Hagstrom-Miller wipes a tear as she walks down the steps of the United States Supreme Court with Nancy Northup, President of The Center for Reproductive Rights on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Abortion rights activists Morgan Hopkins of Boston, left, and Alison Turkos of New York City, celebrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 27: Abortion rights activists Morgan Hopkins of Boston, left, and Alison Turkos of New York City, celebrate on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. (Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images) Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activist Morgan Hopkins of Boston, celebrates on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down one of the nation's toughest restrictions on abortion, a Texas law that women's groups said would have forced more than three-quarters of the state's clinics to close. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists embrace after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of a ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. / AFP / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists embrace after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Pro-choice activist, Alissa Manzoeillo, of Washington, D.C. waits for rulings in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. A ruling is expected in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, a Texas case the places restrictions on abortion clinics, as well as rulings in the former Virginia Governor's corruption case and a gun rights case. Pete Marovich/Getty Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists cheer after the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law placing restrictions on abortion clinics, outside of the Supreme Court on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. In a case with far-reaching implications for millions of women across the United States, the court ruled 5-3 to strike down measures which activists say have forced more than half of Texas's abortion clinics to close. Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. AFP/Getty Images Supreme Court strikes down abortion restrictions Abortion rights activists hold placards outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of an expected ruling on abortion clinic restrictions on June 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. AFP/Getty Images

A proposed amendment that would see the salaries of Alabama lawmakers who vote in favour of the bill being used to fund subsequent lawsuits contesting the abortion ban was also rejected.

Recommended South Carolina House passes six week abortion ban

All Republican members of the House voted in favour of the bill except for two, who did not vote.

Prior to the vote, the bills sponsor Representative Terri Collins said: The heart of this bill is to confront a decision that was made by the courts in 1973 that said the baby in the womb is not a person.

This bill addresses that one issue. Is that baby in the womb a person? I believe our law says it is.

In addition to proposing a near-total ban on abortion, the legislation also includes offensive language comparing the number of lives lost in the Holocaust to the number of abortions that have occurred since Roe v Wade, according to CBS.

Following the vote, HB 314 will now move to the Senate, where Alabama Republicans also hold a majority.

In a statement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama (ACLU) expressed disappointment with the states decision to pass the bill and made it clear it would sue if the bill is signed into law.

One of the previous lawsuits against legislation restricting access to abortion cost the state $1.7m in attorney fees, the ACLU wrote.

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According to the Guttmacher Institute, Alabama already has some of the country's strictest abortion restrictions, under which a woman is required to receive state-directed counselling and then wait 48 hours before receiving the procedure.
When Jon Paul Rodriguez arrived on Venezuelas Caribbean coast, the plight of the imperilled yellow-shouldered parrot was dire. Then it got even worse.

A decision to transform Margarita Island into a duty-free zone lured thousands of tourists and further reduced the habitat of the bird, coveted as a pet and routinely netted by poachers.

Three decades on, Mr Rodriguez, 51, and his Provita organisation have turned the situation around and the number of parrots has soared from just 650 to 1,700. They did this by changing peoples attitudes towards the birds, recruiting poachers to be eco guardians who carry out a round-the-clock watch on their nests, and establish local pride in the environment. That this was achieved amid political upheaval and even violence was all the more striking.

This week, the efforts of Mr Rodriguez and his team were recognised in London when he was named the winner of Whitley Fund for Natures gold award. Sometimes referred to as the Green Oscars, the awards honour conservationists and activists working in the most difficult circumstances. A prize of 60,000 ($78,000) will allow Mr Rodriguezs work to continue and even expand.

Edward Whitley, founder of the Whitley fund, of which Sir David Attenborough is a trustee, said: Jon Pauls work has been crucial in turning the situation around for the yellow-shouldered parrot. He has worked with local communities for more than 30 years and has led his team with commitment.

Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Show all 8 1 /8 Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Tourists observe elephants Left devastated by Mozambique's civil war, Gorongosa National Park is now thriving Bob Poole / Gorongosa National Park Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Waterbuck graze in the open floodplains A restoration project with government backing has battled poachers who were depleting the already slim animal populations AFP/Getty Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Hippos take a dip In 2008, there were around 10,000 large animals in Gorongosa; today there are over 100,000 J Da Silva / Gorongosa National Park Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Wild dogs in Gorongosa National Park Tourism is an important part of the restoration project Gorongosa National Park Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Waterbuck on the savannah Tourists create jobs for locals, expanding the conservation workforce, and safaris in Gorongosa are used to educate visitors about the project Getty Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique A lioness The civil war killed 95% of Gorongosa's lion population, today there are 104 lions who are monitored by conservationists Ticky Rosa / Gorongosa National Park Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Sunset over the Gorongosa National Park Getty Conservation success for the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique Tourists in Gorongosa National Park Bob Poole / Gorongosa National Park

Speaking while on a recent visit to New York, Mr Rodriguez said his approach to conservation, which placed the community at the centre of efforts, had been inspired by projects elsewhere around the world in which people were made to feel they had a stake.

Over the last two decades we hear been able to restore the birds, he told The Independent. We do 24-hour nest protection. We have a team of eco guardians. In the past they were poachers who caught the parrots, but now they work with us to save the birds.

Poaching still goes on in other parts of the country  there is a domestic market for the parrots as pets, and some international trade. We can offer the poachers something different to bust and boom. We employ them for several months, when previously these men would have been fighting to catch the birds. Then we do everything we can to find employment for them doing the rest of the year.

Venezuela is one of the richest bird habitats in the world, with 1,383 confirmed species  of which 45 are endemic. The Venezuelan troupial is its national bird.

 Worlds rarest bird released into wild in historic conservation project

Birds of Venezuela, a 1978 guide written by Rodolphe Meyer de Schaunesee and William Phelps, and which contains vibrant colour plates drawn by Guy Tudor, says: The richness of the Venezuelan avifauna is attested to by the fact that about 44 per cent of all species found in South America occur within the boundaries of the republic.

Mr Rodriguez, who was presented with his award by Princess Anne at the Royal Geographical Society, said Venezuela was once a regular destination for international birdwatchers. But tourism had fallen off as the countrys problems had exacerbated, with opposition leader Juan Guaido seeking to oust president Nicolas Maduro with the support of the US and several other countries. More than 3 million people have fled the country, and this week the capital, Caracas, saw violence as supporters of Mr Guaido clashed with security forces.

Mr Rodriguez said that away from the capital, peoples interaction with the authorities was more straightforward. He said a crucial step in safeguarding the yellow-shouldered parrot was to have it recognised as as the official, regional bird of the state of Nueva Esparta.

Though still endangered, numbers of the yellow-shouldered parrot have finally rebounded (Courtesy Whitley Fund for Nature)

We are lucky to have the support of of international groups and organisations, he said. This allows us to weather local challenges.

Mr Rodriguez won his original Whitley Award in 2003 in support of his work, and has received several further funding grants from WFN since then.

He said the Whitley gold award would greatly contribute to increasing his international visibility and projecting him to the global conservation arena.

Six other conservationists have also been honoured with awards  Ghanas Caleb Ofori-Boateng, Bulgarias Nikolai Petkov, Madagascars Vatosoa Rakotondrazafy, Argentinas Jose Sarasola, Indonesias Wendi Tamariska and Costa Ricas Ilena Zanella.

In 2016, Mr Rodriguez was elected Chair of IUCNs Species Survival Commission, a global conservation organisation founded in 1948 and which has its secretariat in Switzerland. He was the first person from outside Europe or North America to hold this position.

He said he dreamed of a future for Venezuelan birdwatching and conservation in which international visitors paid for a package that included a week on the Caribbean beaches, and then three or four days in the forest, getting close up with nature.

The country is uniquely located at the tip of South America, and there were all these different habitats  Amazon, Andean, Orinocan. In a relatively small area, you get all this diversity, he said.

We used to have a large birdwatching community. That has declined as the political situation has worsened. But the birds are still there.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has unveiled a plan to give registered voters $200 each to donate to federal elections.

Explained in a Medium post on Wednesday, the proposed Clean Elections Plan is Senator Gillibrands first major policy reveal in her primary run for the Democratic 2020 candidate.

The plan would give participants vouchers, called Democracy Dollars, to donate $200 per election to House, Senate, and presidential races, for a total of $600 per participant.

To receive donations from Democracy Dollars, candidates would have to opt out of taking any donations over $200, a significant decrease from the current $2,800 limit.

Senator Gillibrand explained that her plan is modelled after a similar plan in place in Seattle, Washington, which began in 2015. That plan, called the Democracy Voucher Program, gives registered voters four vouchers for $25 each.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Seattles voucher program dramatically increased the number of Seattle residents participating in the campaign finance system. However, the Center found that donations received by vouchers still mirrored the typical pattern of donations in the area, with significantly higher donations received from white, middle- and high-income households, and older Seattle residents.

Senator Gillibrand says she hopes Democracy Dollars will work against that trajectory, however. Her reason for pushing the plan is to empower young people, women, and people of colour.

Senator Gillibrand plans to pay for Democracy Dollars by eliminating the loophole that makes taxpayers subsidize excessively high CEO compensation, which she says would raise $60 billion in ten years.

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was 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 AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

Campaign finance reform is one of many issues thats jumped to the forefront of the Democratic primary, after 2018s midterm elections placed an emphasis on small donations and pledges against taking money from large corporations.

In her own campaign, Senator Gillibrand filed $3 million raised in the first quarter of the year, a lower amount than the considered frontrunners.
The man accused of shooting two people dead on a college campus has been filmed smirking as he told reporters: "I went into a classroom and shot some guys."

Trystan Andrew Terrell made the chilling remarks as he was cuffed and taken into custody on Tuesday night, shortly after two people were killed and four injured at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte.

The shooting began around 5.40pm, when Terrell entered an anthropology class and began shooting, according to witnesses, until he ran out of bullets.

In an interview on Wednesday with local radio, UNC Chancellor Phillip Dubois named those who were fatally injured as Ellis R Parlier, 19, and Riley C Howell, 21.

Mr Dubois said that three of the injured students had undergone surgery and were expected to make a full recovery. A fourth student, who was less seriously injured, has been treated and released by a hospital.

Mass shootings in America Show all 8 1 /8 Mass shootings in America Mass shootings in America Camden shootings  1949 Howard Unruh killed 13 people, including three children, during a 12-minute walk through his neighborhood on September 6, 1949, in Camden, New Jersey, when he was 28 years old. The incident became known as the "Walk of Death". Unruh was found to be criminally insane and died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of 88, following 60 years of confinement. Alamy Mass shootings in America University of Texas tower shooting  1966 Charles Whitman killed 17 people and injured 31 others in Austin, Texas. After stabbing his mother and wife the night before, he headed to the University of Texas, where he opened fire on people in the campus and streets from the observation desk. He was shot dead after a policeman and civilian reached the scene. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library Mass shootings in America Easter Sunday Massacre  1975 James Ruppert killd 11 family members in his mother's house, which included his mother, brother and his wife, as well as their eight children. He used a magnum, two handguns and a rifle. Mass shootings in America Wilkes-Barre shootings  1982 Former prison guard, George Banks, shot dead 13 people in Pennsylvania, including five of his own children. AP Photo/Times Leader Mass shootings in America Wah Mee massacre  1983 Three men, Kwan Fai Mak, Wai-Chiu Ng, and Benjamin Ng, killed 13 people who were in Seattle's Wah Mee gambling club. YouTube/KIRO 7 News Mass shootings in America San Ysidro McDonald's massacre  1984 James Huberty killed 21 people and injured 19 others after he walked in a McDonald's in San Diego. He was shot dead by a sniper after 78 minutes of him entering the restaurant. Alamy Mass shootings in America Palm Sunday massacre  1984 Ten people were shot dead from handguns at close range in a New York home. A baby girl was the only survivor after convicted dealer, Christopher Thomas, shot three women, one teenage girl and six children in their Brooklyn home. Thomas was convicted of manslaughter and cleared of murder. He was released from prison after 32 years. Mass shootings in America Edmond post office shooting  1986 Patrick Sherrill, a postal worker at the Edmond post office in Oklahoma, killed 14 co-workers and injured 6 others, before he shot himself. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Collection

CBS News reports that the entire campus was put on lockdown following the start of the shooting. UNC sophomore Tristan Field, who was in the anthropology classroom during the shooting, told CBS that he believes Mr Terrell sat in the room for 10 minutes with the students before opening fire.

Mr Field described the panic as many as 50 students attempting to leave the room when the shooting began. He had also tweeted during the shooting, writing on Tuesday night There was an active shooter in my room in the Kennedy building at UNC Charlotte, get to safety immediately.

Why would anyone do this? his tweets continued. We were just doing presentations and someone started shooting up the room. We didn't do anything but our work. Stay safe UNCC.

On Twitter early Wednesday morning, the professor of the anthropology class said his students were in the midst of giving team presentations when the shooting began.

Mr Terrells grandfather, Paul Rold, told the Associated Press that Mr Terrell was previously enrolled at the university, but its unclear if he was a student at the time of the shooting. Mr Rold says his grandson grew up in Texas and moved to North Carolina with his father after his mother died in 2011.
The language app Babbel has apologised for airing an advertisement during Tucker Carlson Tonight, calling the Fox News show "repugnant".

Mr Carlson's show, which is known for presenting white nationalist ideas, has lost a number of advertisers in the last few months. Many companies have been highlighted for their support of the show by non-profit media watchdogs like Sleeping Giants, which Babbel tagged in a response to their Tuesday afternoon tweet apologising for their ad.

"If you saw our ad on Tucker Carlsons show, youre right to be upset. We are too," the company's tweet read. "While we did place our ad with Fox, we did not know it would air on a show so repugnant and at odds with our mission and values. We are blacklisting the show going forward. We are deeply sorry."

Babbel's ad aired during an episode of the show earlier this week.

In response to their apology, a spokesperson for Fox News told the Hill the company would "not allow voices like Tucker Carlsons to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts from the intolerant partisan activists Media Matters, Sleeping Giants and Moveon.org whose only goal is to silence conservative thought they dont agree with."

Mr Carlson came under fire in December for airing a segment in which he suggested immigration made the US made the country "poorer and dirtier and more divided." He has been steadily losing advertisers ever since.

Mr Carlson has met the backlash to his segments with a determined view of himself as a censored voice. In March, he told audiences he would "never bow to the mob" after interviews conducted by radio host Bubba the Love Sponge between 2006 and 2011 in which Mr Carlson expressed misogynistic opinions about statutory rape and women in general surfaced.
US Navy sailors were instructed to clap like were at a strip club for Vice President Mike Pence.

The instruction was given by a senior officer just before the vice presidents visit to the USS Harry S Truman on April 30. It was reported by WTKR-TVs Brendon Ponton on Twitter.

In a statement to CNN, Lt Cmdr Laura Stegherr confirmed the order was given by USS Harry S. Truman's Command Master Chief to Truman's Sailors.

The statement was inappropriate, and this issue is being addressed by Truman's leadership," she said.

The vice president did not appear to know about or comment on the strip club remark. He did, however, offer surprising news for the sailors: the USS Truman will not be retired.

Recommended US sails ships through Taiwan Strait ahead of trade talks with China

This news comes after weeks of debate over the administration's own plan for the ships retirement by the Department of Defense and top Navy officials. The plan to decommission the ship in order to to free up funds for more modern technology was part of the Trump's 2020 budget proposal.

In an op-ed for for the US Naval Institutes monthly magazine Proceedings, retired naval captain Robert C Rubel argued that the ships retirement was prudent in the wake of the resurgence of Russia and the rise of China with its increasingly powerful navy.

However, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been sceptical of the administration's plan. Both Democratic senators from Virginia, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, were particularly vocal in their opposition l to the decommission, which would have affected their constituents. Senator Kaine called the proposal "a head-scratcher."

Vice President Pences speech to the Trumans sailors reflected a conversation with President Trump that led to the administrations decision to keep the ship afloat.

"I told [the president] about some of the discussion about possibly retiring the USS Truman, Mr Pence said, according to a report by WTKR. We talked about her record of success and the president told me, 'You go tell that crew that we're not retiring the Truman.

In a tweet sent Wednesday morning, the president confirmed that he will override "the Decommission Order" for the aircraft carrier, which he called magnificent."

The sudden reversal is being met with frustration at what appears to be a lack of strategy.

"While I am glad the administration ultimately reconsidered this terrible idea," Senator Mark Warren tweeted on Wednesday morning, "the incoherence here has not been good for morale or defence planning."
Bernie Sanders has attacked Joe Biden for his vote to approve the Iraq War, taking his 2020 challenger to task for his part in the worst foreign policy disaster in the modern history of America.

Mr Sanders blasted Mr Biden for the 2002 vote on Wednesday, highlighting the legislative measure that led the United States into a lengthy entanglement that left hundreds of thousands of dead.

I voted against the war in Iraq, Mr Sanders said in the US Capitol. In fact, helped lead the opposition to what turned out to be the worst foreign policy disaster in the modern history of America. Joe voted for it.

The two men are leading in the crowded field of 2020 Democrats vying for the partys presidential nomination, with both hoping to overcome previous failures in the contest to become the Democratic standard bearer taking on Donald Trump.

For now, Mr Biden leads in most polls, with 32.8 per cent support in an aggregate of polls put together by Real Clear Politics. Mr Sanders comes in second, meanwhile, with an average of 19.4 per cent of the vote.

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was 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 AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

The two men provide stark contrasts for Democratic voters, even as they pursue the same nomination.

Mr Sanders ignited something of a political firestorm during his 2016 run, which has extended into the 2020 contest as he calls for populist measures like Medicare for All, big tax hikes on the wealthy, and for other major policy changes that would dramatically rework the US economy. Funding his campaign are thousands of small donors, as the candidate has refused money from corporate PACs and has rejected special interest financing.

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Mr Biden, meanwhile, has come to represent the Democratic establishment, after having spent eight years as vice president and decades in Washington cultivating deep ties with the party. Mr Biden, who raised more money than Mr Sanders in his first day on the campaign trail, has not rejected money raised by special interest groups.
A deal has been brokered for Robert Mueller to testify to Congress about his report into Russian election interference and possible obstruction of justice by Donald Trump  an event that has immediately become the latest, most eagerly anticipated appearance of an official on Capitol Hill.

As it emerged Mr Mueller had written to the department of justice to say he did not believe attorney general William Barrs four-page summary of his 450-page report correctly captured its context and content, a Democratic congressman said the 74-year-old special counsel would likely appear some time this month. It would be the first public appearance by Mr Mueller for more than two years.

The head of the House of Representatives judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler, told news agency Reuters it was important the former FBI director testified: which they've agreed to do subject to setting a date, and we'll see if they do that, sometime in May.

said that while the former FBI director was expected to testify at some point in May, no date had been set.

Mr Nadler also released the letter Mr Mueller sent to Mr Barr that asserted the attorney generals snap summary of the Russia probes findings caused public confusion about critical aspects of the investigation.

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

In his letter, Mr Mueller raised concerns about a short summary that Mr Barr sent to Congress detailing what he said were Mr Muellers principal conclusions. The summary said Mr Mueller had not managed to reach a legal conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence of occasions where Mr Trump may have impeded the investigation.

The summary was released two days after the Department of Justice (DoJ) received the special counsels report, which was several weeks before a redacted version of Mr Muellers 400-page report was released on 18 April.

In a letter dated 24 March, Mr Mueller said Mr Barrs summary did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of the special counsels work and conclusions.

The special counsel told Mr Barr: [This] threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

Mr Muellers report revealed 11 instances where the behaviour of the president or officials related to his campaign might have amounted to obstruction. The report also said that the Trump campaign was receptive to assistance from Moscow during the 2016 election and expected to benefit from Russian interference.

Mr Mueller also wrote: While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

Mr Mueller said in his report that he believed his hands were tied over criminal charges by DoJ rules that prevented a sitting president from facing such action. However, he made it clear that he did not exonerate Mr Trump of obstruction of justice but left the decision about whether to chase criminal charges to the attorney general. Mr Barr and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, said that they believed the actions mentioned in the report did not rise to the level needed for a criminal prosecution.

Recommended Mueller letter to Barr criticising attorney general leaked

As Mr Nadler announced the deal over Mr Muellers testimony, Mr Barr appeared before a Senate panel to face questions about his handling of the special counsels report amid accusations  particularly from Democrats  that Mr Barr had misrepresented the documents findings.

Asked if he was happy for Mr Mueller to testify, he said the decision would be up to Mr Trump, but added: Ive already said I have no objection.

Mr Barr defended the way he dealt with the reports release and redactions  removing parts of the document to protect sensitive information  made by the DoJ. In prepared testimony to the senate judiciary committee hearing, he denied accusations that he has sought to protect Mr Trump.

At the outset of the hearing, the committees chairman, Republican Lindsey Graham  who has said that Mr Trump said to fight Democrat-led investigations into the report like hell  remarked that the report showed that congress should focus on protecting the coming 2020 election from foreign interference.

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My takeaway from this report is weve got a lot to do to defend democracy against Russians and other bad actors, Mr Graham said.

Mr Barr faced tough questions from Democrats on the committee, with senator Dianne Feinstein setting the tone.

Contrary to declarations of total and complete exoneration, the special counsels report contained substantial evidence of misconduct, Ms Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, said in opening remarks.

Reuters contributed to this report
Pete Buttigieg has backpedalled after expressing support for some religious and personal exemptions for vaccinations.

Mr Buttigieg, a 2020 presidential candidate, had released a statement through a spokesperson saying that he does support some exceptions to vaccinations, but not when there are emergencies.

Pete does support some exceptions, except during a public health emergency to prevent outbreak, the spokesperson told Buzzfeed on Tuesday.

These exemptions include medical exemptions in all cases (as in cases where it is unsafe for the individual to get vaccinated), and personal/religious exemptions if states can maintain local herd immunity and there is no public health crisis.

The statement was amended on Wednesday to say that Mr Buttigieg only believes in medical exemptions for the procedure.

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was 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 AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: 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 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

Pete believes vaccines are safe and effective and are necessary to maintaining public health, the spokesperson said in a clarifying statement.

The statement continued: There is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe, and he believes children should be immunised to protect their health. He is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions. He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed.

The question was raised after the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention released a report declaring that the US is experiencing its largest measles outbreak since the disease was said to have been eliminated in 2000. The CDC said there have been more than 700 cases reported in 22 states.

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The outbreak has led most Democratic presidential candidates to say that they support vaccinations unequivocally. The recent outbreak has even forced Donald Trump  who had previously falsely declared that the medical measure can cause autism  to call vaccines important.

They have to get the shots, Mr Trump said. Th vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now. They have to get their shots.
Robert Mueller complained to the Trump administration that the attorney generals summary of his report on the Trump-Russia investigation did not correctly represent the context, nature, and substance of his probe, it has been revealed.

In a letter to William Barr, the special counsel said he was concerned the public could be confused by the four-page summary the attorney general sent to senior members of Congress.

The summary letter the department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, Mr Mueller wrote to the department of justice.

According to the Washington Post, he added: There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

A spokesman for Mr Mueller declined to comment on the report, which Mr Barr is certain be questioned about when he appears on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

Mueller investigation: The key figures Show all 12 1 /12 Mueller investigation: The key figures Mueller investigation: The key figures Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led. REUTERS Mueller investigation: The key figures Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt". AFP/Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public. EPA Mueller investigation: The key figures Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes  in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact. REUTERS

However, justice department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec confirmed Mr Mueller wrote to Mr Barr after the summary was released to express frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage, particularly about the special counsels conclusions on possible obstruction of justice.

After the attorney general received special counsel Mueller's letter, he called him to discuss it, said Ms Kupec.

In a cordial and professional conversation, the special counsel emphasised that nothing in the attorney generals 24 March letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the special counsel's obstruction analysis.

 Trump rants about Democratic investigations within the Mueller report

The Post said it reviewed a copy of Mr Mueller's letter, which was written in late March after Mr Barr released a summary that said Mr Mueller did not establish that members of Mr Trumps campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

Mr Barr also said in the summary that Mr Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether Mr Trump obstructed justice. Mr Barr said he and then deputy attorney General Rod Rosenstein had found the evidence insufficient to support such a charge.

When a redacted version of the report was subsequently released, it emerged that Mr Mueller had uncovered numerous connections between members of the Trump campaign and Russia, while finding no evidence of collusion. On the issue of obstruction of justice, Mr Mueller also wrote while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

As it was, Mr Trump told supporters the report did exactly that - no collusion, no obstruction.

The Associated Press said the letter laid bare a growing rift between Mr Mueller and his team, and the attorney general.

Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler, chair of the House of Representative's judiciary committee, told the Post Mr Barr should not have taken it upon himself to describe the special counsels findings in a light more favourable to the president.

He demanded the justice department release a copy of Mr Mueller's letter by Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Mr Barr is due to appear before the Senate judiciary committee hearing, at which the attorney general will defend his handling of Mr Mueller's report.

Additional reporting by agencies
 Close US attorney general William Barr says there was no collusion between Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election

William Barr has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, doubling down on his interpretation of the Mueller report and claiming that he never misled Congress about the special counsel's frustrations.

The testimony came just after the public release of a March letter from special counsel Robert Mueller to the attorney general, in which the investigator expressed frustration with how Mr Barr had presented the findings of the Trump-Russia report ot the public.

Mr Barr had released a four page summary of the report to Congress, which said that the nearly two year investigation found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016, and that there was not sufficient evidence to charge Donald Trump with obstruction.

But, Mr Barr was met with criticism from Senate Democrats who expressed amazement that Mr Barr had told a Congressional committee in April that he had not been aware of any frustration from the special counsel or his team related to his presentation of the summary. The recently released letter, Democrats said, showed that Mr Barr had been directly confronted on the issue, even though Mr Barr claimed that he called Mr Mueller personally after receiving the letter.

The hours-long testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee ended with committee chairman Lindsey Graham  a prominent Trump supporter  telling reporters that the issue is "over", and that he had no intention of asking Mr Mueller to testify before his committee. Democrats meanwhile, pushed for that testimony in the Senate, while the House announced Mr Mueller would testify there.

Mueller investigation: The key figures Show all 12 1 /12 Mueller investigation: The key figures Mueller investigation: The key figures Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led. REUTERS Mueller investigation: The key figures Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt". AFP/Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public. EPA Mueller investigation: The key figures Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes  in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact. REUTERS

Since the report's release, Mr Trump and the right-wing media have hailed the findings of the report as a total exoneration, despite Mr Mueller declaring the opposite and the report painting a highly unflattering portrait of Mr Trump and his inner circle.

Mr Barr, during his testimony, stood by his determination not to charge Mr Trump for obstruction  arguing that, since there was no collusion or conspiracy, that the president could not have obstructed justice by firing former FBI director James Comey and then repeatedly attempt to get others to fire Mr Mueller.

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When pushed on whether it was appropriate for Mr Trump to lie to the American people about contacts between his campaign and Russians, about his intentions with regards to Mr Mueller's employment as special counsel, and other questionable instances surfaced by the report, Mr Barr said that his job is not to determine who is behaving well or not.

"I'm not in the business of determining wether lies were told to the American people," Mr Barr said of the president. "I'm in the business of determining whether crimes were committed."

Mr Barr will return to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

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Robert Mueller's letter to William Barr, in which he criticised the attorney general over a summary of his report on the Trump-Russia investigation, has been released online.

In the letter, the special counsel said he was concerned the public could be confused by the four-page summary that Mr Barr sent to senior members of Congress.

"The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not full capture the context, natures and substance of this Office's work and conclusions," the note reads.

It continues: "There is new public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Mr Barr's summary had said Mr Mueller did not establish that members of Donald Trumps campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.

Mr Barr also said in the summary Mr Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether Mr Trump obstructed justice. Mr Barr said he and then deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had found the evidence insufficient to support such a charge.

Val Demings, a Democratic congresswoman who sits on the House judiciary committee, said the letter showed Mr Barr had "lied about the investigation to protect the president".

Democrats on the committee leaked the letter just minutes before Mr Barr testified to the Senate judiciary committee over Mr Mueller's 448-page report.

Letter in full:

I previously sent you a letter dated March 25, 2019, that enclosed the introduction and executive summary for each volume of the Special Counsel's report marked with redactions to remove any information that potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure that concerned declination decisions; or that related to a charged case. We also had marked an additional two sentences for review and have now confirmed that these sentences can be released publicly.

Accordingly, the enclosed documents are in a form that can be released to the public consistent with legal requirements and Department policies. I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time.

As we stated in our meeting of March 5 and reiterated to the Department early in the afternoon of March 24, the introductions and executive summaries of our two-volume report accurately summarize this Office's work and conclusions. The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions. We communicated that concern to the Department on the morning of March 25. There is new public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations. See Department of Justice, Press Release (May 17, 2017).

While we understand that the Department is reviewing the full report to determine what is appropriate for public release  a process that our Office is working with you to complete  that process need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation. It would also accord with the standard for public release of notifications to Congress cited in your letter. See 28 C.F.R. 609(c) ("the Attorney General may determine that public release" of congressional notifications "would be in the public interest.").

Sincerely yours,

Robert S. Mueller, III

Special Counsel
Attorney general William Barr will not testify before a House committee probing the handling of the Mueller report, a senior Democrat has claimed, accusing him of being terrified.

In the latest twist to the feud between the Trump administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill seeking to force officials to testify, Democratic congressman Jerry Nadler said Mr Barr would not appear before his committee.

Mr Barr had been due to testify before the House of Representatives judiciary committee on Thursday, following his testy appearance before the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, where the attorney general clashed with Democrats as he defended his handling of the publication of Robert Muellers Russia probe report.

But barely an hour after Mr Barr had completed testifying before senators, Mr Nadler held a press conference to reveal there would be no subsequent appearance on Thursday. The attorney general had declined to appear after Democrats insisted he be questioned not just by senators but by committee lawyers.

Hes trying to blackmail the committee, declared Mr Nadler. The administration cannot dictate the terms of our hearing in our hearing room.

Mueller investigation: The key figures Show all 12 1 /12 Mueller investigation: The key figures Mueller investigation: The key figures Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led. REUTERS Mueller investigation: The key figures Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt". AFP/Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public. EPA Mueller investigation: The key figures Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes  in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. Getty Images Mueller investigation: The key figures Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty. AP Mueller investigation: The key figures Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact. REUTERS

Mr Nadler, who also said the department of justice had informed his committee it would not comply with its subpoena for the full, unredacted report from the special counsel, did not rule out issuing another subpoena to try and force Mr Barr to appear on Thursday. He said he hoped Mr Barr would reconsider his position overnight.

The department of justice confirmed Mr Barr would not appear and claimed Mr Nadler had put unprecedented and unnecessary conditions about his testimony.

Congress and the executive branch are co-equal branches of government, and each have a constitutional obligation to respect and accommodate one anothers legitimate interests, said department spokesperson Kerri Kupec.

The decision by Mr Barr is just the latest tussle between the White House and Democrats, who now control the House. While Democrats, disappointed that Mr Muellers report did not include a smoking gun to bring down the president, are determined to question under oath his top officials, Mr Trump is determined to try and ensure they do not.

There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress, where its very partisan  obviously very partisan, Mr Trump recently told the Washington Post. I dont want people testifying to a party, because that is what theyre doing if they do this.

 Nancy Pelosi claims William Barr has 'gone off the rails' after attorney general claims US intelligence spied on Trump campaign

The appearance of Mr Barr came shortly after the emergence of a letter from Mr Mueller, sent to the attorney general, in which he outlined complaints about the four-page summary that had been presented to Congress about his report.

The summary letter the department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, Mr Mueller wrote.

In his summary, Mr Barr said that while Mr Mueller had found no evidence the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, he had not reached a decision about the claims of obstruction of justice.

When a redacted version of the report was subsequently released, it emerge that Mr Mueller had uncovered numerous connections between members of the Trump campaign and Russia. Mr Mueller also wrote while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

Mr Barr, during his testimony, stood by his determination not to charge Mr Trump for obstruction  arguing that, since there was no collusion or conspiracy, that the president could not have obstructed justice by firing former FBI director James Comey and then repeatedly attempt to get others to fire Mr Mueller.

Pushed on whether it was appropriate for Mr Trump to lie to the American people about contacts between his campaign and Russians, about his intentions with regards to Mr Muellers employment as special counsel, and other questionable instances surfaced by the report, Mr Barr said that his job is not to determine who was behaving well or not.

Im not in the business of determining wether lies were told to the American people, Mr Barr said.Im in the business of determining whether crimes were committed.

Mr Nadler also revealed he hoped Mr Mueller would himself testify on May 15.
Venezuelas Nicolas Maduro has claimed victory over what he described as the coup-mongering far right, following a bold challenge by opposition leader Juan Guiado who took to the streets of Caracas with rebels on Tuesday.

In an hour-long address on Tuesday night following a day punctured by violent exchanges, Mr Maduro said the opposition had failed to win the support of the military and that Mr Guaidos attempts at an armed confrontation could be used as a pretext for foreign interference  specifically by Donald Trumps imperialist gang.

But Mr Guaido said Mr Maduro had lost control of the armed forces, and said a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela was underway, as he called for further action on Wednesday.

The rebellion was launched by Mr Guiado early on Tuesday morning when he released a video calling for action in a move he called Operation Freedom, in which he was flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armoured crowd-control vehicles, near the Carlota air base in the capital.

Mr Trump was quick to announce his support for the rebellion.

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

However, a larger split in the military which has remained largely loyal to Mr Maduro failed to emerge.

The confrontation between the two opposition leaders erupted on an overpass, with troops loyal to Mr Maduro firing tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd which quickly swelled to several thousand ran for cover, reappearing later with Mr Guaido at a plaza a few streets away from the disturbances.

A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails towards the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

Amid the mayhem, several armoured utility vehicles crashed over pavements and drove at full speed into the crowd.

Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.

Health officials said about 70 people had been injured in the violence, with two people sustaining bullet wounds.

As the clashes unfolded, Mr Guaido wrote on Twitter: We are in a process that is unstoppable. We have the firm backing of our people and the world to achieve the restoration of our democracy.

In one blow to Mr Maduro, the head of Venezuelas feared intelligence agency announced he was breaking ranks with the embattled socialist leader.

In the morning address Mr Guaido had also unexpectedly been joined by Leopoldo Lopez, one of Venezuelas most-prominent anti-government activists. He was detained in 2014 for leading previous protests. Mr Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces following an order from Mr Guaido.

I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers, Mr Lopez declared.

With Mr Guiado calling for a new round of mass street protests on Wednesday, his opposition forces are hoping Venezuelans angered by broadcast images of armoured vehicles ploughing into anti-government protesters and exasperated by the dire humanitarian crisis will fill streets across the country.

We need to keep up the pressure, Mr Guaido said. We will be in the streets.

Also on Tuesday, the Trump administration threatened Cuba with a full and complete embargo over its support for Mr Maduro.

If Cuban troops and militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba, Mr Trump tweeted.

Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island.

Additional reporting by AP and PA
 Close Venezuelan military vehicle drives into crowd of civilians on highway

Protestors have taken to the streets in Venezuela in competing demonstrations as the battle for power continues in Caracas and beyond.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido has declared himself the legitimate leader of the country, backed by the US and dozens of other nations, after accusing President Nicolas Maduro of fraudulently keeping his place in office. He has called for mass protests.

Mr Maduro has called the uprising a coup and has said that he has subdued the traitors in the military who have backed Mr Guaido.

He too has called for his working class supporters to take to the streets on Wednesday, which is International Workers Day.

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

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said that the US will take military action in Venezuela if required but would prefer a peaceful solution to the crisis.

The Pentagon on Wednesday appeared to downplay any active planning to directly intervene in Venezuela to topple President Nicolas Maduro, telling Congress it had not been given orders to prepare for war and stressing support for diplomacy.

Asked whether the US military had been given instructions to prepare for a military conflict, perhaps by prepositioning troops, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Kathryn Wheelbarger said: We of course always review available options and plan for contingencies.

But in this case we have not been given (the) sort of orders that youre discussing, no, Ms Wheelbarger told the House Armed Services Committee.

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Police have clashed with protesters in major cities across Europe as workers held traditional May Day rallies in a backdrop of simmering unrest across the continent.

More than 200 people were arrested in Paris after anarchists and gilets jaunes protesters joined trade unionists on the streets, clashing briefly with 7,400 police, who used tear gas on a crowd.

Police also clashed with protesters in Gothenburg, Swedens second city, where anti-fascist protesters threw cobblestones and fireworks as they tried to reach a neo-Nazi rally.

In Copenhagen, police tried to split off black-clad anarchists from the main May Day march by encircling protesters with vans and making a handful of arrests.

There were also scenes of heavy-handed policing in Russia, where activists say more than 100 people have been arrested across the country, with at least 68 detentions in St Petersburg, according to activists.

Some protesters carried placards that read Putin is not immortal in reference to the Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has been at the helm of the country since 2000. Many of the protesters are supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Russian authorities say around 100,000 people took part in peaceful May Day rallies in Moscow, an event staged by Kremlin-sanctioned trade unions. Observer group OVD-Info says six activists were detained in the Russian capital before the morning rallies.

Separately, Russian police in the remote far-eastern Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky arrested 10 people after they turned up to a May Day rally wearing yellow vests  in an apparent nod to the French protest movement.

Riot police officers detain protesters during a rally in St Petersburg (AP)

In Istanbul, police detained May Day demonstrators who attempted to march towards the symbolic central Taksim Square, in defiance of a ban. The Turkish government cited security risks and only allowed small trade union delegations through to the square to lay wreaths there.

May Day rallies also took place in around a dozen cities in Germany. There, the countrys trade union federation used the occasion to urge its members to participate in the upcoming European parliament elections later this month. The DGB, whose unions total six million members, said the EU was responsible for securing social rights, from paid holiday to maternity protection.

 Police take on protesters and neo-Nazis in clash during May Day riots in Sweden

The union confederation said in a statement that the Brexit vote in the UK shows what happens if those who stoke fear but have no plan for the future gain the upper hand.

In Berlin itself, car-sharing firm Miles warned its users not to park its cars near an area where May Day protests were expected to be held. Rallies in the past have erupted into violence and ended with cars being torched. Tens of thousands of activists in Berlin are using the occasion to protest against gentrification and the rising cost of living in the city.

In pictures: May Day rallies around the world Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: May Day rallies around the world In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-2.jpg EPA In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-21.jpg Getty Images In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-3.jpg Reuters In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-4.jpg EPA In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-6.jpg Getty Images In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-5.jpg AP In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-9.jpg AP In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-8.jpg AP In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-10.jpg AP In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-11.jpg Getty Images In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-12.jpg AP In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-13.jpg EPA In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-14.jpg Reuters In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-15.jpg AP In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-16.jpg Getty Images In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-17.jpg Reuters In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-18.jpg Reuters In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-19.jpg AP In pictures: May Day rallies around the world may-day-20.jpg AP

In the Greek capital of Athens, three separate May Day rallies took place, organised by rival groups. A series of strikes by trade unions across the country to mark international workers day has left the capital without bus and metro services, and the whole country without national rail and island ferry services  leaving some municipalities isolated from the rest of the country.

Meanwhile in Italy two protesters and a police officer were injured in the northern city of Turin in protests over the construction of a new high-speed railway. Some of the protesters are aligned with the governing Five Star Movement, but its coalition partner League supports the project.
 Close Tear gas thrown at May Day rally in Paris

Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested across Europe as May Day protests turned violent.

European capitals from Paris to Moscow and Copenhagen to Athens saw mass rallies, strikes and violence on the streets.

French police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fires and smashed up vehicles as thousands of people gathered for May Day rallies under tight security.

Neo-nazis scuffled with police in Sweden while in Greece a mass-walkout crippled public transport.

The global day of action saw people take to the streets in dozens of Asian and African capitals, with cities in North and South America also braced for disruption later on Wednesday.

A union rally in London was carried off peacefully and police there said they were not expecting significant demonstrations or violence.

Follow all the action and reaction in our liveblog below.
Two activists linked to the Russian protest group Pussy Riot have successfully appealed against their rejected asylum application and received shelter in Sweden, Swedish broadcaster SVT has reported.

Lusine Dzhanyan and Alexei Knedlyakovsky, who have two children, won their appeal of a 2018 ruling, where Swedish authorities said their situation did not justify asylum.

SVT said Ms Dzhanyan and Mr Knedlyakovsky sought asylum in the Scandinavian country a year earlier, claiming they had received death threats and experienced politically motivated harassment because of the groups protests.

Ms Dzhanyan told SVT: I am happy that my children will grow up in safety, especially considering the developments at home (in Russia).

Pussy Riot came to prominence in 2012 when its members were imprisoned for staging a protest against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow.

Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures Show all 9 1 /9 Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures Maria Alyokhina of Pussy Riot during a photocall for the Saatchi Gallery's Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism exhibition, in London PA Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures An exhibit depicting Pussy Riot on display at the Saatchi Gallery PA Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures A visitor looks at paintings called 'Pussy Icons', portraits of members of Pussy Riot EPA Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures Visitors looks at exhibits at the Saatchi Gallery EPA Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures A visitor passes a exhibit called 'History of Russia in Axes' by Vasiliy Slonov EPA Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures Visitors pass paintings during a press preview of 'Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism' EPA Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures A visitor looks at a painting of members of Pussy Riot during a press preview of 'Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism' at the Saatchi Gallery EPA Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures An assistant poses with 'Masks Show Series 2' artwork by The Blue Noses group AFP/Getty Pussy Riot at the Saatchi Gallery  in pictures An assistant poses with 'Pussy Riot Icon' artwork by Russian artist Artem Loskutov AFP/Getty

Mr Knedlyakovsky was jailed for 15 days in 2016 for hanging a cross on a statue depicting the head of the FSB, Russias security service.

Last year, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Russia for sentencing three Pussy Riot members to two years in a prison colony after they performed the protest song against Mr Putin in 2012.

AP
Rob Zomer has heard the comments many times over: Youre cowards, killers. How could you stand there and do nothing?

Insults like this only add to the mental injuries he suffered 20 years ago, when he was part of a vastly outgunned and outnumbered Dutch battalion of United Nations peacekeepers who failed to halt the slaughter by Bosnian Serb forces of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia.

When you hear  for 20 years now  only about bad things that you do, said Mr Zomer, that makes you stressed, crazy.

Mr Zomer is quick to acknowledge that the main victims of what is believed to be the worst massacre on European soil since the Second World War are the mothers, wives and daughters of Srebrenica, who lost their men and boys in July 1995. But the lives of the small contingent of lightly armed Dutch troops who were powerless to intervene also changed forever. Many suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, and some have taken their own lives.

The Srebrenica massacre also had a profound effect on the Dutch nation. The government resigned seven years later after a damning report criticised authorities for failing to adequately prepare, arm and support the troops, sending them to Bosnia with a vague mandate to protect lives but seemingly insufficient weaponry to shield civilians from Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic.

Now, as a result of what happened in Srebrenica, this nation that prides itself on a long history of contributing to international peacekeeping efforts makes sure its servicemen and women are ready no just to protect local populations, but also themselves when they are sent overseas.

Dutch troops sent to serve in the international force in Afghanistan were sent with plenty of military hardware and a robust mandate.

They had big weapons, big armoured personnel carriers, they had helicopters, they had close air support  F16s, Apaches (helicopter gunships), said Denis Waan, a former Srebrenica peacekeeper who has also suffered trauma.

Rob Zomer now lives near the site of the massacre (AP)

The lack of air power was key to the failure of the UN peacekeeping force in Srebrenica. The Dutch commander repeatedly called in vain for air backup as Serb troops bore down on the enclave. In the end, only one Serb tank was hit by an air attack carried out by two American and two Dutch planes, said Joris Voorhoeve, the Dutch Defence Minister at the time.

Mr Voorhoeve said a contributing factor was an agreement between major powers not to use air strikes against Serb forces because it could endanger peacekeepers being held by Mladic.

We could have bought time by earlier, stronger application of air force, Mr Voorhoeve said.

He added it would not have saved the enclave, but could have given the UN a window to evacuate the population.

Instead, Mladic summoned scores of buses and separated men and boys from women as they were loaded on board. The buses with the males went in a different direction and we know the horrible effects, Mr Voorhoeve said.

Both Mr Waan and Mr Zomer still struggle with the after-effects of their roles in Srebrenica. Neither managed to hold down a job after leaving the military.

Mr Waan joined the police in the Netherlands but had to leave due to stress-related complaints. Mr Zomer became a locksmith but wound up quitting the job and the country.

However, instead of running from the Srebrenica phantoms haunting him, Mr Zomer went back and confronted them. He now lives in a house he built himself overlooking the undulating hills and forests of Srebrenica. He spends his summer days tending his small herd of goats, cutting the grass with a scythe and making hay.

He still has horrific memories of doing what little he could to help Srebrenicas terrified population as Mladics Bosnian Serb forces bore down on the enclave.

Mr Zomer recalls a young mother pressing a baby into his arms. He carried the infant to a Dutch field hospital, but medics there were unable to save the child. Mr Zomer was forced to bury the baby himself.

Years later, the mother found the remains of her child and buried them in a cemetery in Srebrenica reserved for victims of the genocide. He said he hopes the babys mother one day hears that, I put her baby in the ground with a lot of respect, Mr Zomer said.

Now, he helps other veterans deal with their traumas. Dozens have dropped in since he moved to Srebrenica three years ago. They come to revisit places of horror etched into their memories by the events of July 1995.

Mr Zomer hopes they leave with new memories. He takes his former brothers in arms to places where they served as peacekeepers. There, they build a fire, grill some meat and talk.

First youre thinking of that place only (in terms of) stress, he said. After a barbecue on a summer evening, then you have another mindset.

Some local residents, however, dont appreciate Zomers decision to move to Srebrenica, where survivors still blame Dutch troops for not doing enough to protect the enclaves men. He said that mothers of victims of the genocide still wont shake his hand if they are invited to memorial events to mark the massacre.

Mr Waan has been back to Bosnia repeatedly and says he has made friends there. They said to me, Dennis, you also have to continue your life. You cant stay in 1995.

Final journey: 136 more victims

Thousands have lined Sarajevos main street as a huge truck bearing 136 coffins passed on its way to Srebrenica, where newly-identified victims of the massacre will be buried on Saturday. As the truck rolled down the street covered with rose petals, the sobbing of the victims relatives pierced the air.

International courts have labelled the massacre, in which some 8,000 died, as an act of genocide. So far 7,000 bodies have been retrieved from 93 graves or 314 on-surface locations.

Remains are still being found in mass graves, and among the 136 newly-found victims to be laid to rest are 18 minors. The oldest, Jusuf Smajlovic, was 75 when he was executed. He will be laid to rest together with his 29-year-old grandson, Hebib.

AP

Some names have been changed
In the remote, mist-covered slopes outside the city of Danao in the central Philippines sits the illegal, makeshift workshop of a master gunmaker. Accessible only by foot on a steep, winding pathway camouflaged by thick vegetation, the ramshackle shop owned by I Launa has a tattered tarpaulin roof, a work table and several machines for cutting and shaping steel. The whole operation can be packed up and moved on short notice.

Illegal gunmaking is a livelihood that has helped put food on the table and send the familys children to school since the 1970s, and Launa, who asks that only the initial of his first name be used for fear of being arrested, is just one of a host of such small-scale gunsmiths in the region. His village alone is home to about a dozen.

The trade  which contributes to the estimated two million unregistered guns in the Philippines; slightly more than the 1.7 million legally registered weapons  is able to flourish in a remote place where jobs are scarce, police presence is thin and lawlessness runs deep.

Gunmaking is an essential craft passed on from one generation to another here, says Launa, 63, who learned the craft from his father and has taught it to his son. Many presidents have come and gone, he adds, as a single fluorescent light illuminates the table in front of him, where several unfinished Colt .45 pistol replicas lie. But we are still here.

Gunsmithing blossomed in the area during the Second World War, as locals were taught to make weapons to support a guerrilla movement fighting the Japanese. By the 1960s, Danao had become the go-to place for outlaws and ordinary citizens wanting cheap but high-quality replicas. Once these gunmakers would sell their products out in the open, but now they employ runners to surreptitiously deliver their wares. Sometimes, a broker stops by to commission a gun for a client.

In the 1990s an effort was made to legalise the trade by regulating gunmakers, but the project failed to win government support. The handguns  which even an enthusiast would have a hard time determining are illegal copies, down to the Colt Automatic Caliber .45 Government Model engraving  are sold to buyers for around 7,000 pesos, about 280, which is much cheaper than authentic models.

Other weapons, like submachine guns, can be commissioned too, although orders for the higher caliber weapons have become slow amid the government crackdown. The craft practised here is taking a deadly toll across the country.

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Police say hitmen working for rival politicians have been known to source their weapons from the Danao area, and that sales have picked up slightly as the country prepares for elections in May. Several politicians have been killed in election-related violence.

Danao-made guns, according to police, have been found at the site of extrajudicial killings, which have been attributed to pro-government militias carrying out orders by president Rodrigo Duterte to stamp out drug crimes. Police say the guns have also made their way into the hands of Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent terrorist group in the south that is increasingly allying itself with Isis.

Right now, anyone can buy a gun here, as long as you have the money to pay, even if you were a thief, a killer or a gun for hire, says the local police chief, Jaime Quiocho, who notes the appeal of such illicit purchases to criminals. Will you buy a gun that is licensed and can be traced back to you?

A boy holding a slogan calling to stop extrajudicial killings in Caloocan (Getty) (Getty Images)

Bordered by rugged mountain ranges, Danao lies 20 miles from Cebu, the bustling main city in central Philippines. An electronics factory provides jobs to a portion of the population of 130,000, which is mostly Catholic and poor, although farming and fishing are the main industries.

At Launas workshop, which on any given day might be working on four gun orders, metal cuts of gun parts are scattered on the table. His 28-year-old son is fine-tuning a barrel and a trigger mechanism for a pistol. He chisels and hammers every inch of the weapon, before assembling it and repeatedly checking its mechanism. As a final test, he fires into a hole in the ground.

Asked whether he ever feels guilty knowing his guns might have been used in summary killings, Launa says: I make guns but I dont tell people to kill others.

I make guns but I dont tell people to kill others I. Launa, illegal gunmaker

The popularity of guns has, in a way, made the local industry a victim of its own success. The more the guns have become known, the more they have attracted the eyes of organised groups of thieves and of the police who want to shut the workshops down. We have to hide because one has to be careful nowadays, Launa says.

Police chief Quiocho acknowledges the gunmakers have little incentive or opportunity to abandon a trade that has provided a livelihood for generations. It has been a way of life for many, he says. If they stop it, what will happen to them? He says pursuing illegal gunmakers is only a stopgap measure that can not fully solve a problem also rooted in poverty. That isnt to say he has given up trying.

Police conducted about 70 raids last year that led to the seizure of about 92 firearms, Quiocho says. Charges were filed against around 80 people, though some were released on bail. Tracking down the gunmakers has not been easy. Many of them have spies who inform them of impending raids, giving them time to move to another location. Others have migrated elsewhere. The police chief suggests legalising the industry so Danao guns can be properly tracked.

They will make guns whether we like it or not, he says. So why not control the industry, their quality and where they go?

Impressed by the quality of the confiscated guns he comes across in the course of raids, Quiocho says Danao gunmakers could compete with other manufacturers in the region if given the support.

Gunsmiths here can make replicas just by looking at the pictures, he says. That is a testament to their advanced skills. They can compete with high-end makers.

Francisco Lara Jr of International Alert Philippines, a conflict monitoring group, agrees that Danao guns should be legalised, to stem the product and flow of illicit weapons into the market.

The city government has tried to offer alternative livelihoods, though it has been a tough sell in a place where gunmaking is ingrained in the fabric of society.

Launas son initially set out on a different path. After finishing school, he hoped to support himself with a job in the city so he could save up to study to become an engineer. But his menial jobs paid just enough to eat, and eventually he decided to return home. So here I am, he says. I make guns for a living. It is an honest job.

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The Instagram trailer opens with a bubbly teenager called Eva appealing to viewers to follow her Instagram page, where she documents her life, loves and friendships through boomerang videos and selfies.

But very quickly the story changes. Shaky footage shot by the teen shows Nazi soldiers marching into her town and later storming her home. Soldiers round up her family.

This Eva is based on a real-life Hungarian Jew: 13-year-old, Eva Heyman. Before she was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944, she documented the final few months of her life in a personal diary that was only discovered years later.

It is the trailer of a controversial new Israeli social media campaign that aims to bring to life the fading memory of the Holocaust for a young social media generation by asking the question: What if a girl in the Holocaust had Instagram?.

Eva Stories is the brainchild of Israeli tech multimillionaire Mati Kochavi and his daughter Maya, who, from Wednesday afternoon, will post dozens of clips to the @Eva.Stories Instagram account.

The footage, shot as if Eva were using a mobile phone and social media apps, documents the Nazi occupation of her hometown Nagyvarad and her eventual deportation to a concentration camp, where she was killed.

The project, timed to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, has been endorsed by recently re-elected prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who appears to see it as a means of bolstering the countrys role as both a haven and historical homeland for Jews.

The originality of the idea has been widely praised in Israel but has also received some backlash. Some have complained that the use of Instagram stories, hashtags and boomerangs cheapens the horrors of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed.

Mr Kochavi, who realised it might stir controversy, defended the unusual storytelling method, saying it is part of keeping the history of the Holocaust alive.

In the digital age, when the attention span is low but the thrill span is high, and given the dwindling number of survivors, it is imperative to find new models of testimony and memory, he said in a statement.

Instagram is a storytelling platform, and like any media and content platform it can tell both deep and superficial stories.

Mr Netanyahu lauded the idea on his own social media accounts.

He said on Twitter: [Such projects are important] so that the world will understand, so that we will remember what we lost and what was restored to us with the foundation of the State of Israel.

Every day, episode by episode, the great tragedy of our people is essentially exposed through the story of one girl.

The trailer, which was posted two days ago, has already garnered three-quarter of a million views, and the Instagram account more than 400,000 followers. Billboards promoting Eva Stories have also popped up across Israel.

Eva Stories tells the story of Eva Heyman, who died in the Holocaust, using Instagram (Screenshot from Eva Stories Instagram page) (Screen shot from Eva Stories Instagram page)

According to a press statement, 400 technicians, actors in period costume and extras helped make the videos, which were filmed in Lviv, Ukraine. The actor playing Eva is British.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 social media influencers and Israeli celebrities have been recruited to help promote the project.

Most of the comments on the trailer praised the producers, but some expressed concerns it would only trivialise the story.

A cheapening of the Holocaust compacted into Boomerang, wrote one user on the Eva Stories Instagram account.

Eva Stories is told from the perspective of a teenage Hungarian girl, imagining she had social media (Screenshot from Eva Stories Instagram page) (Screen shot from Eva Stories Instagram page)

Two other users, both teenagers, said the project was demeaning to the youth. Another posted poor and shocking.

Nonetheless, the creators have said Eva, who deals with day-to-day troubles including her parents divorce and the hopes of one day becoming a famous journalist, will strike a chord with young people who will be drawn into her story.

Maya Kochavi said: Theres a lot that young kids will really feel and relate to and hopefully this continues as her journey becomes more difficult and she starts to experience some of the more horrific parts of the story.
For decades, migrant domestic workers in Lebanon have complained of rampant abuse at the hands of their employers. Stories of unpaid wages, being locked into the homes where they work, of violence and sexual assault are all commonplace.

The underlying cause of these abuses has been known for just as long: the kafala (sponsorship) system  labour rules that tie the legal residency of migrant domestic workers to their employers.

Rights groups say the system, common across the Middle East, creates a vast power imbalance between the worker and the employer, which facilitates abuse. Despite years of efforts by activists and campaigners, it has proven remarkably resilient in Lebanon.

But the countrys new labour minister  an internationally renowned lawyer with no background in politics  has vowed to change that. In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Camille Abousleiman details plans to introduce changes to the current system, which he likens to modern-day slavery.

Camille Abousleiman, Lebanon's minister of labour, shortly after taking up his post in February (Ministry of Labour / Camille Abousleiman ) (Ministry of Labour / Camille Abousleiman)

It needs to change. Its not an acceptable system for the 21st century, Abousleiman, who took up the role in February, tells The Independent.

It's a form of modern slavery, in its extreme. There are two things: what the rules are, and the application. Today, for instance, it is forbidden to withhold someone's passport, but its being done. So its not the system, its more in the application of the system, he adds.

There are an estimated 250,000 migrant domestic workers in Lebanon, most of them from Ethiopia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The majority are from impoverished backgrounds and work in private households to send money back home to their families. When they arrive in Lebanon, many find themselves trapped in exploitative conditions from which they are unable to escape.

Abousleiman, who left a senior role at a prestigious global law firm in London to join Lebanons new government, said making changes to the kafala system was a matter of basic human rights.

In his first few months in charge, he has asked the most active NGOs working on the issue to form a committee and give practical recommendations on what should change. He is working on plans to set up a 24/7 hotline for migrant domestic workers to report abuse (a hotline already exists, but rarely works). He is also planning to tackle rule-breaking recruitment agencies, which often ignore reports of abuse or are responsible for it themselves.

I will have some resistance but I dont care, I want to do the right thing. They need to be educated about the rights of their workers, he says.

The ministers plans have been cautiously welcomed by campaigners, but previous attempts to fix the kafala system have had little impact  committees, draft laws and other piecemeal measures have not gone far enough.

Most Lebanese are good, genuine and generous people, but you cant rely on someone's fundamental kindness and goodwill. That's not how legal relations are built. You have to have a system that protects the weak Camille Abousleiman

Calls for reform have been given an added urgency by the release of a major new report from Amnesty International last week on the abuse of migrant workers in Lebanon.

A months-long investigation by the rights group found that the inherently abusive migration sponsorship system was to blame for significant and consistent patterns of abuse of women domestic workers, including human trafficking, withholding salary, physical and verbal abuse, restrictions on freedom of movement and deprivation of food.

Underlining the power imbalance between employers and migrant domestic workers, many said they were particularly subjected to such abuse when they tried to challenge their employers, the report says.

Despite the high levels of abuse, many migrant domestic workers fear going to the police. Because the kafala system links a workers legal status to their employer, simply escaping from an abusive employer can put them at risk of detention.

The 42-page report takes its place alongside a body of research by NGOs and rights groups, dating back years, which makes for startling reading.

A 2016 study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) found that 22.5 per cent of employers always or sometimes locked workers inside their homes. The ILO said the actual number may be much higher due to the stigma of admitting to the practice. The same study found that 18 per cent of those employers believed they were legally entitled to do so.

Taken together, these conditions have led to an alarming rate of suicides among migrant domestic workers. A 2017 report by The New Humanitarian, citing official Lebanese government figures, found that an average of two domestic workers were dying every week. The figures included natural deaths, but suicides and deaths from botched escape attempts  often workers who jump from balconies of apartments where they work  are common. This month alone there have been three suicides and one attempted suicide.

The most concerning thing for me is the spate of suicides, says Abousleiman. I've organised a task force to try to address this issue. I want to do something with the embassies as well and some NGOs to get to the root of the problem.

Migrant domestic workers from various nationalities demonstrate in the northern suburbs of Beirut to protest against abuses and ask for law protection in 2018 (AFP/Getty)

Abousleiman says his job will require taking on vested interests in a country where he has not been a permanent resident for nearly 40 years, but hopes his status as a political outsider and experience in international law may help him avoid the mistakes of his predecessors. The role of labour minister is his first job in politics, and he has no plans to seek another one.

I think what I bring is a new perspective. When I come here its not continuing the same system  Im coming from England, in addition to being a lawyer with senior managerial responsibilities, in a law firm that plays a lot of attention to these things, he says.

In his previous role, Abousleiman was focused on corporate finance and international capital markets, but the firm  Dechert LLP  has worked on issues surrounding modern slavery.

The minister says he was given the benefit of a personal education from Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, an international lawyer and former fellow partner at the firm, who is married to the former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

She was very vocal on modern slavery so I had the benefit of a private tutorship on that. I am completely familiar with the modern slavery concept. We as a firm were very active with this, he says.

In the wake of its report, Amnesty International launched a campaign calling for the kafala system to be abolished. Lebanons Anti-Racism Movement, a campaign group active on the migrant domestic worker issue, has said it hopes for concrete steps from the new minister.

 Qatar hopes to end kafala system in 2015

We are encouraged by the recent comments from the Ministry of Labour on the rights of migrant domestic workers, and hope that this translates directly in policy and on-the-ground change, a representative tells The Independent.

The group also believes that the kafala system should be abolished, and has called for true accountability for labour violations and other forms of violence.

But Abousleiman has so far stopped short of calling for its complete removal.

I don't think I will come up with 100 per cent of what the NGOs want, because there are other constituencies that I have to consult. But my priority is the safety and wellbeing of the employee. Priorities have to change, he said.

As I understand the kafala system, the main aspect of it is that there is a dependency on the employers goodwill, and consent to change job. This we need to break, we need to change the approach. I have to give some weight to the fact that most employers are not rich people, and they have spent money, so I cannot come up with a system that penalises completely somebody who paid $4,000 [3,100] to hire a domestic worker, he says.

Abousleiman says he will try to implement all the desired changes to the current system through the Ministry of Labour, to avoid getting bogged down in trying to pass laws. But he concedes that changing regulations is only part of the battle.

Its not just a legal thing, its a general outlook. Bad habits have developed over time in the population. There is right and wrong here and peoples lives are at stake, he says.

Most Lebanese are good, genuine and generous people, but you cant rely on someones fundamental kindness and goodwill. Thats not how legal relations are built. You have to have a system that protects the weak.
Q We have booked a holiday to Australia in November through an agent. We are going to Dubai for a few days, Brisbane, Hobart and flying out from Launceston to Melbourne for the return flight to the UK. We have now heard from friends in Melbourne who would like us to stay with them for a few days. We asked our travel agent if we could change our return flight by three days and were quoted about 825 to do so. One way we thought we could get around this is to book a flight ourselves from Launceston to Melbourne a few days earlier and cancel our other flight. This is obviously going to be a lot cheaper. Will this affect our return flight home, ie will it be cancelled by the agent? We will only be missing a flight and rebooking another one ourselves. Nothing else will be changed.

Dorothy R

A The agent will not cancel the trip if you dont take the booked Launceston-Melbourne flight, but the airline may well. The standard rule in international aviation is that if a passenger fails to show up for one leg of an itinerary, all subsequent flights are cancelled.
Awful lot of white men, my mum mused, breath tight in her chest but trying to sound cheery. It was my first day at Cambridge, and touring the grounds of where I would be living for the next three years, wed stumbled upon my colleges formal dining hall, walls dripping with portraits of famous alumni and former college masters. It really was quite staggering  but the nervous, first-year me pretended not to notice. And for the next three years, I continued trying to pretend.

The University of Cambridge approaches race uncritically. At best, like in the case of my colleges dining hall, this means being surrounded by faces that do not look like your own. At worst, the legacies of colonialism and slavery  which directly affected my ancestors as well as those of most students of colour at the university  are erased, overlooked, and thus silently condoned.

Yesterday the university announced that it will launch a two-year study into the extent to which it benefited from slavery, saying: We cannot change the past, but nor should we seek to hide from it. Well, its a step; but, as many have pointed out, one that is long overdue. The issue of decolonising the university isnt just an intellectual problem, it is also a problem that has tangible effects on its students for generations to come.

In 2015, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign swept Cape Town and came to Oriel College, at the University of Oxford. At the time, I was in my first year at Cambridge and it was the talk of the town. Headlines focused on student snowflakes and the perceived ethics of rewriting history, but they overlooked the glaringly obvious: the campaigns focus wasnt on the statue of Cecil Rhodes, but on how to address the institutional racism embedded within university structures and cultures.

When we talk about universities involvement in colonialism and slavery, its important to remember that we are not just talking about issues of the past, but the message sent to current students and academics by overlooking histories of racism.

Top 10 universities 2019 Show all 10 1 /10 Top 10 universities 2019 Top 10 universities 2019 10. University College London Down 3 places on last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Getty Top 10 universities 2019 9. University of Warwick Down one place on last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Jez Sutton Top 10 universities 2019 8. University of Lancaster Up one place on last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Rwendland Top 10 universities 2019 7. Loughborough University Up 3 places on last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Top 10 universities 2019 6. Durham University In the same place as last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Getty Top 10 universities 2019 5. University of St Andrews Down 2 places on last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Getty Top 10 universities 2019 4. Imperial College London Down 3 places on last year in the Complete University Guide rankings PA Top 10 universities 2019 3. London School of Economics Up one place on last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Getty Top 10 universities 2019 2. Oxford University In the same place as last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Getty Top 10 universities 2019 1. Cambridge University In the same place as last year in the Complete University Guide rankings Getty

Attending a university that has been complicit in white supremacist thinking is draining. But attending one that then fails to acknowledge its role in that history can be worse.

For black students in Oxford, walking past a statue of a slave owner who believed that [white people] are the finest race in the world every day, without so much as a plaque to contextualise its meaning, was a continual reminder that the university wasnt interested in creating a space that students of colour could call home. It asks black students to adapt to the racism of the institution, avoiding the bother of changing the institution itself.

Ive seen for myself how this can take its toll on the mental health and wellbeing of students of colour. Next to Rhodes Must Fall, Cambridge didnt have an equivalent symbolic moment that captured the imagination of the media, but the issue of decolonisation was still pressing on campus. Students had to sit in dining halls that showcased stolen goods from their ancestors, study thinkers who saw them as subhuman without criticism, and subscribe to academic ideology that saw the west as the beacon of all knowledge.

When I started working on race and wellbeing as the universitys welfare and rights officer, students would tell me every day about how their mental health was worn down as a result of simply having to exist in a space that was not built with them in mind. The universitys priorities were clear: reputation, always, over students themselves.

The announcement of this study is a tiny step towards change. It sends a small message to Cambridge students that the university is interested in unthinking its history.

But we should resist the temptation to see it as an isolated newsbite that on its own will address and overhaul the horrors of the past. One piece of research does not systemic change make. It cannot be overstated that the main potential for change lies in how that research is harnessed and deployed.

As the journalist Gabby Hinsliff acknowledged, we should not only anticipate but hope for more aspects of Cambridges colonial legacy to be called into question, including statues, names of buildings, libraries and parts of the curriculum. Id also like to see the university follow in the footsteps of the University of Glasgow, which launched a reparative justice programme. Decolonisation is a comprehensive project. It demands to be part of reimagining the very fundamentals of the university.

Theres no way to talk about decolonisations effect on students without acknowledging the role that students have played in getting the issue on the table in the first place. The most powerful agitators have and will always be students of colour themselves  groups such as the Black Cantabs Project, FLY and Decolonise Cambridge, whose work far predates any acknowledgement of decolonisation from university management.

Make no mistake: the lions share of the work has been done tirelessly, and voluntarily, by students. And this is an issue of wellbeing too  to continually fight within Cambridges rigid and highly bureaucratic structures is tiring.

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When we think about the heavy role played by student-led groups, news of the Cambridge study reveals that decolonisation is now on the agenda within the central university in a way that it simply wasnt previously. That is to the credit of those student and staff activists. Now, their task is to ensure that this is not some rudimentary box-ticking exercise.

As archaic, inaccessible, majority-white institutions seek to show they are improving access, we should remember that changing the way our universities look, think and operate with regards to race first requires taking a long, hard look in the mirror at the tools that built them. Interrogating the past is the first of many requirements to demonstrate some level of accountability for current and future students of colour.

So go forth. Your students are listening.
Despite all the accumulating evidence, some circumstantial, some more telling, I had always tried to give Corbyn the benefit of the doubt. His understandable passion for the plight of the Palestinian people, and anger at the actions of Israeli governments might boil over into inadvertent  and that is an indulgent word for it  antisemitism, as is the case with so many on the left.

Either through intellectual laziness or ignorance or carelessness  inadequate excuses, but explanations all the same  they might have confused indignations about Netanyahu or anti-Zionism with antisemitism. They probably havent read much history, poor things. A little education might do them some good.

It was a little bit of a mystery as to why the Labour Partys disciplinary procedures were so painfully slow, but then it is a bureaucracy, after all. The Chakrabarti Report into antisemitism in the party was a cynical disgrace, but then politics is like that isnt it? And she is herself a doughty campaigner for human rights. Shami Chakrabarti was nominated by Corbyn for the House of Lords shortly after her complacent investigations were completed, with little further action.

It is a report that stands out in its refusal to recognise antisemitism as a unique phenomenon, and not simply a subset of racism. Her terms of reference were carefully set to enquire into antisemitism and other forms of racism, including Islamophobia. See the skilful elision there? She refused to acknowledge the peculiar aspects and history of antisemitism thus: There is not, and cannot be, any hierarchy of racism. Hopeless. But, as I say, politics is like that.

Perhaps, too, Labours refusal to accept the International Holocaust Alliance's working definition of antisemitism was simply a matter of pride, wanting to say things in their own words. Corbyn reportedly had a particular problem with the bit about claiming that the existence of a state of Israel is a racist endeavour. He, maybe, wanted to be able to do that, based on his reading of the events of 1948, presumably. On the other hand, I dont know what he thinks about the catastrophe/war of independence specifically, because no ones yet asked him, or, if they have, the answer hasnt been so self-condemnatory as to make the headlines.

Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Show all 9 1 /9 Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Brexit Labour is committed to leaving the European Union but would have different negotiating priorities to the Conservatives. It has said it would have a strong emphasis on staying in the single market and the customs union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leading figures in Brussels have been unambiguous that membership of the single market is impossible without free movement. PA Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Immigration The party would drop bogus immigration targets but move to a managed system of migration favoured by many leave voters. It has said this may include employer sponsorship, work permits, visa regulations or a tailored mix of all these. Getty Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained The Economy Labours manifesto commits to balance government spending with the amount raised by taxation, which can mean little more than significant tax increases. The greatest burden will fall on higher earners but they cannot meet demand on their own. It has also promised to bring rail companies back in to public ownership and cap fares. The party would also renationalise Royal Mail. It also promises a transition to publicly owned energy. Peter Byrne/PA Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Tax No one earning under 80,000 would pay any more in national insurance or income tax. It would raise corporation tax, from the current low of 19p to 26p. This higher rate would still be a competitive internationally, but the government is currently fighting hard to attract business in the wake of Brexit and they say a low corporation tax rate is crucial. Labour would also lower the top, 45p income tax threshold to 80,000. In theory, this could raise 7bn, but only if higher earnings did not decide to move abroad. Reuters Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained NHS Labour has promised more money for GP services, free hospital parking for patients, staff and visitors, and to take a million people off NHS waiting lists by guaranteeing treatment within eighteen weeks. These promises will be expensive to keep, and there is no certainty that the party s commitment to raising taxes on higher earners, increasing capital gains tax and reversing cuts to corporation tax will be enough to meet the need. PA Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Education The party has pledged to abolish university tuition fees and reintroduce maintenance grants and give free school meals to all schoolchildren. PA Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Housing Labours manifesto commits to building 1m new homes, and would introduce controls on rent rises for private renters. It would also scrap the so-called bedroom tax. Getty Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Environment Labour would ban fracking, but, crucially, also supports new nuclear projects. It would also introduce a new Clean Air Act to deal with illegal air quality Getty Should I vote Labour? Corbyn's biggest policies explained Defence Its manifesto says it is committed to the NATO target of 2 per cent spending on defence. It is also committed to the renewal of Trident, even though Jeremy Corbyn has spent a lifetime campaigning against it. AFP/Getty Images

When you start to add it all up, though, you do start to wonder whats going on in his head. Particularly, you wonder whether, in fact, all Corbyns political prejudices  against American imperialism, Nato as an occupying force, about international finance capitalism, for Hezbollah and Hamas  are just fanning out, or feeding in, to one unifying theme: an unacknowledged antisemitism. The best that can be said is that he is so dim he probably doesnt even realise it, but that may be too generous.

Now I am not so sure even about that. Yes, we have reached a tipping point. The foreword he wrote, only a few years ago, to Imperialism: A Study by JA Hobson (first published in 1902) endorsing this great tome is as damaging as any of the rest of the revelations that have emerged because it endorses this old trope about the international conspiracy.

The relevant passage in Hobsons critique of imperialism, one that inspired Lenin, concerns the pressures that drove the British and others to acquire their colonies and subjugate their peoples, the forces of international capitalism, controlled by men of a single and peculiar race, who have behind them many centuries of financial experience  in a unique position to control the policy of nations. I dont think he was talking about the Irish.

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Apparently, in intellectual lefty circles this slight problem with JA Hobson is well known. In fact, a quick glance at Wikipedia tells us: While not as antisemitic as his previous books, Imperialism includes an accusation that there is an international conspiracy of Jewish financiers. In an earlier work, concerning the Boer War, Hobson was even more explicit about who he blamed for it: a small group of international financiers, chiefly German in origin and Jewish in race.

Hobson, then, is the intellectual granddaddy of Corbyn's half-baked conspiracy theories about Wall Street and capitalism, and, thus, his antipathy to the European Union, which he has always thought of as a bosses club inimical to state socialism. As Keynes once remarked: Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. And, in vulgarised and still more aggressive terms, the notion of the international Zionist conspiracy sustains all the Twitter Jew-haters who send their mad, upsetting messages to the likes of Luciana Berger.

It also seems to infect all those in the top reaches of the Labour Party who display unforgivable apathy towards what is going on in their ranks. They have been taking the notion of no enemies on the left to an absurd and dangerous extreme. It seems to have occurred to none of them that they really have, literally unthinkingly, adopted the premises that led to the Nazis and the Holocaust. Yet they wonder why Jewish people get upset.

Even if I were not now convinced that Corbyn is an antisemite, if not a particularly sophisticated or clever one, I would still be highly disturbed by his distorted view of the world. Writing a foreword to a dusty old work of eccentric economics is the rough equivalent of talking to oneself in the bath, but now we come to overhear the words they are quite astonishing.

Here they are, in all their pretentious grandeur, just in case you were curious about what philosophical underpinnings will lie beneath a Corbyn government: The big imperial force has been the United States on behalf of global capitalism and the biggest mostly US-based corporations. Obviously Jeremy has never heard of Volkswagen, Huawei or Softbank. The future leader of the opposition goes on: Thus the Cold War was followed by American media and cultural values, in an attempt to create an empire of the mind. Thatll explain The Simpsons, then.

As I say, thanks to the efforts of the likes of Tom Watson, and journalists such as Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, and the equally estimable Danny Finkelstein of The Times, we are learning more about Labour and, now, this especially feeble artefact of Corbyns ideology. Many of us might have been inclined to give the poor old fool, the last of the Bennites, the benefit of the doubt before. He has, as everyone does acknowledge, spent a life-time campaigning against racism, getting himself arrested outside South Africa House in Trafalgar Square protesting about apartheid, and all the rest of it.

But he does seem to have a bit of a problem with the Jews. Theres a word for that, you know.
And so, in the end, it was not Russia but Gavin Williamson himself that shut up and went away. Cut off from the heart of government, cut off as he once was by Richard Madeley in front of a semi-rampant elephant in a Midlands safari park. Out of the frying pan and, in the fullness of time, back to the fireplaces.

Oh Gavin, we will never see your like again. It is nothing short of a wonder that we ever saw your like in the first place. Never happier than when Instagramming pictures of the skips you had filled at the weekend, or the microwave popcorn you so enjoy while watching back episodes of Friends. And suddenly, there you were, in charge of the fifth largest armed forces in the world.

However did it happen? Well, technically how it happened was that it turned out that Theresa Mays safest pair of hands were not safe, but wandering. And so on your advice Michael Fallon was sacked, and also on your advice he was replaced  by you.

And the rest, as they say, has been short but spectacular history. What was the peak of Gavin Williamsons high statesmanship? People will say it was the time, in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attacks, that as defence secretary he stood on a stage and told Russia to shut up and go away.

It would, however, be unfair to overlook the less remembered incident that happened later, such as when he threatened to send aircraft carriers into Chinese territory, a few days before the chancellor was scheduled to arrive there for trade talks that were promptly cancelled.

Recommended Williamson sacked from defence secretary post over Huawei leak

This, by the way, after he used the front pages of The Times newspaper to seek to have the chancellor blacklisted from Royal Air Force passenger planes until his bill was settled.

In any case, all of this is to rush past the classic kiss-and-tell expose in the Daily Mail. A kiss-and-tell in the sense that he once kissed a work colleague, decades ago, and then told to the newspapers about it himself.

And then there has been the high drama of his final days. From the moment it became known that a vanishingly small number of potential cabinet ministers or their advisers had leaked information from a National Security Council briefing, and that one of those ministers could have been Gavin Williamson, a new dramatic form has emerged. Not so much a whodunnit, as a when-will-it-be-confirmed-Gavin-dunnit?

Try to imagine a BBC Christmas Agatha Christie, in which a former fireplace salesman from Stoke wanders in plain sight around the stately home, hands dripping blood, dead bodies piled high over each shoulder, and you might come close to understanding the kind of tension that has gripped the nation, as it waited for the probability of it having been Gavin Williamson all along to make that final leap from 99.99999999 per cent, all the way up to 100. Niche, perhaps, but it cant be doubted theres a market.

It had been said, when he got the job, that a man who is known only for keeping a pet tarantula on his desk may not quite be the substantial figure demanded of the role. But, in his defence, he has done more than enough over the last 21 magnificent months to leave a legacy almost like no other. Certainly, no one is talking about the tarantula now.

No news event was too big or small for Gavin Williamson to offer up the military to step in and sort it out. The army stands ready to tackle knife crime. The army stands ready to sort out a no-deal Brexit. The army stands ready to collect the tax on cans of fizzy drink. The army stands ready to roll out universal credit and drive driverless cars on British roads by the end of 2021. And now, the army stands ready for a new defence secretary. The army stands ready, one suspects, to jump for joy.

Indeed, it may even be that the high arc of the Gavin Williamson narrative has not yet even bent towards its conclusion. For Gavin has not shut up. Gavin has not gone away. Rather he has, this 42-year-old schoolboy, told Sky News that he swears on his childrens lives that he is not the leaker. There has been an exchange of letters. Oh, the dignity of it all.

Nothing became his political life. Not even the leaving of it.
There are, potentially, reasons that Leon Trotsky came up with a thing called entryism, and chose to leave exitism uninvented, at least until now.

Entryism is the kind of thing that can allow a curious cabal of hard-left weirdos to transform one of Britains two major political parties into a Jew-hating troll farm with personality cult attached, and still look like winning the next general election.

Exitism, on the other hand, would appear to be the kind of thing that can lead a curious cabal of ex Tory and ex Labour MPs, and a handful of medium fish from the small Remain Twitter pond to set up an explicitly pro-Remain political party with two names and a redacted zebra crossing for a logo, and still somehow end up less popular in pro-Remain London than Nigel Farages Brexit Party.

That is the current fortune of Change UK  The Independent Group, whose unlikely black branding, and all its unfortunate associations with the far right, can now be found on the far right of all sorts of polling charts, far to the far right not just of the Brexit Party but absolutely everyone bar the Lib Dems.

Yes the early signs are that Change UK  The Independent Groups various dramatic exits from their various political parties appear to have more than a touch of the Jerry Maguires about them. Whos with them? Well, no one, really. But thats surely nothing that a decent rally cant sort out, and that is what drew upwards of eighty people to a small pre-booked hotel conference suite in central London.

As rallies go, this was only marginally less aggressive than anything contested between the late Sir John Betjeman and Miss Joan Hunter Dunn. Former BBC man turned Change UK  The Independent Groups Gavin Esler was there to inform his audience that he has named his dog Nigel Farage, because it doesnt go out in the rain, and expects someone else to clear up its mess. All very well, but stolen, clearly, from the French Ambassador to the EU, who recently claimed to have called her cat Brexit, because it howls to be let out, and then when she opens the door it wont leave. Which does rather beg the question  has Gavin acquired this dog in the last few weeks, solely for this rather lame gag? A dog is for life, Gavin, not just the European Parliamentary elections.

Still, what Change UK  The Independent Group really needs, apart from a name that doesnt already take up half of the vanishingly small amount of air time that might be assigned to it  is for Remainers finally to work out that the Labour Party isnt on their side.

And the Labour Party is, to their credit, doing their level best to make sure that doesnt happen. Jeremy Corbyn and co like to credit their success in not losing the 2017 election by anywhere near as much as everybody predicted to having an extremely popular manifesto. But its 2019 now, and theyve worked out the secret to success in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections is to have a manifesto that no one can possibly understand.

At the end of an all day meeting of their National Executive Committee which is best understood as a kind of six hour Brexit Mornington Crescent spectacular, they are, dont panic, still backing a second referendum. But only if they cant have a general election or a customs union, and if there isnt a R in the month or the day ends in a Y.

Still, voters arent stupid. Theyll work out this a load of rubbish soon enough. The question then is whether theyre then smart enough to work out who on earth Change UK  The Independent Group actually are and not just decide to sod it and vote for The Brexit Party instead. At least they know what that actually is. The early signs are not encouraging.
If you offer someone a cup of tea and they ask for it without milk, you wouldnt go ahead and top it up with semi-skimmed. Sure, you might see if theyd rather have soy. Or almond milk. But, to borrow the old tea and consent analogy, if someone says "yes" to tea on the condition that its dairy-free, you wouldn't ignore this and demand they drink it anyway.

Last week a man was found guilty of rape after he removed a condom during sex without his partners consent. The verdict is pertinent for several reasons, not least because it is one of only a handful of cases in the UK where an argument of conditional consent has been successfully put forward. The fact that a court convicted the perpetrator is even more significant because the woman he assaulted was a sex worker.

Lee Hogben was convicted of rape and two counts of sexual assault after it emerged that the woman had consented to sexual intercourse only on the condition that condoms were used. The conviction is a reassuring sign that we are starting to talk about consent in more nuanced terms and it is vitally important that we continue in this vein if we want more victims of sexual violence to come forward. Just because someone consented to something at one time, in one situation, does not mean they consent to anything at any time. People may consent to some sexual activities but not others, or they may consent if certain criteria are met. As MPs call for Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden to answer to similar allegations, it is encouraging to see this matter handled responsibly in our own courts.

And significantly, the case also recognises that just because someone consents to sex as a contract does not mean they cannot withdraw that consent  or that their consent does not have its own conditions or caveats.

As writers Juno Mac and Molly Smith discuss in their recent book, Revolting Prostitutes, people often view the purchase of sex as a kind of access-all-areas pass. That a sex worker can win a rape case on grounds of conditional consent is an important moment in the fight for sex worker rights; it's also an important moment for our cultural understanding of consent.

20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Show all 20 1 /20 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Someone celebrates underneath a rainbow-coloured flag as the Supreme Court in India rules that gay sex is longer a crime. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling People celebrate in the street following the ruling. The Chief Justice of India stated that the outlawing of gay sex had been "irrational, arbitrary and indefensible". AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Up until now, gay sex in India had been punishable by up to 10 years in prison under Section 377 of the Indian constitution. AFP/Getty 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling The law was originally imposed during the Victorian era while India was still under the rule of the British Empire. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling "Any consensual sexual relationship between two consenting adults - homosexuals, heterosexuals or lesbians - cannot be said to be unconstitutional," said Dipak Misra, Chief Justice of India. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Members and supporters of the LGBT+ community in India were overjoyed by the decision, with the celebrations awash with rainbow-coloured paraphernalia. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling "They have opened the door to discussing rights," Anjali Gopalan, founder of the Naz Foundation charity that has been fighting against Section 377 told The Independent. "They have apologised to the gay community, and they have said copies of the judgement will be handed to every police station. It is the best judgement we could have hoped for." AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling People were dancing and smiling as the Supreme Court's ruling was announced. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Bismaya, an activist with the Delhi brand of LGBT+ advocacy group Impulse, told The Independent: "I'm so happy, it's overwhelming. I cried when we heard the news. I'm gay and I'm not afraid of that. It's something I used to say, but now for the first time I have the legal backing." AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling The rain did little to dampen people's spirits as they celebrated the historic ruling in New Delhi. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling A woman exclaims with joy as she holds hands with others on the day of the ruling. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Members of the LGBT+ community in India hold a placard reading "Love is genderless" while standing outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling The celebrations in India were bright, colourful and full of happiness. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Bismaya, activist for LGBT+ advocacy group Impulse, said: "It's great for me but it's also a great day for the whole of India. Acceptance in wider society will take time, because we cannot expect change overnight. It has been a battle for two decades for this judgement. If now we get full acceptance in a couple of years, that would be great." AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling Members and supporters of the LGBT+ community in member celebrate the landmark ruling in Siliguri with a cake and confetti. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling People join in the jubilant festivities in Kolkata. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling A woman cries with happiness in Chennai as the ruling made by the Supreme Court in India is announced. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling The celebrations in Kolkata were full of happiness and energy. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling A group of people stand in heavy rainfall in New Delhi as they celebrate the outlawing of the outdated ban on gay sex in India. AFP/Getty Images 20 best pictures of India celebrations following gay sex court ruling The movement to reconsider Section 377 started in 2001 with a legal challenge made to the Delhi High Court from the Naz Foundation. AFP/Getty Images

The announcement this week that rape victims are being told to hand over their mobile phones to police or risk having their cases dropped has raised questions over whether consent granted in one context (such as online messaging) might override someones claim that they later withdrew that consent.

What we consent to may change, not just from one sexual encounter to the next, but also over the course of a single encounter. And the Hogben case shows that we are finally starting to talk about  and understand  consent as something more than a tick-box exercise.

The case recognises the potential for any of us to say not just "yes" or "no" but Yes, if, or Not unless..., or As long as. The verdict accepts the need for context, criteria and an understanding of circumstances.

The fact that these subtleties are being discussed, both in courts and in society more broadly, is extremely heartening. We need to see more of it.
One week after the Easter Sunday attacks, Sri Lanka is still in turmoil. As law enforcement and security forces proceed with investigations, and searches throughout the island have uncovered more weapons, fear, confusion and misinformation are rife.

It wasnt long before Islamophobes called for a burqa and niqab ban, and the government wasted no time in issuing a statement declaring a ban on all face coverings soon after, though their intended target is clearly the niqab and burqa worn by some Muslim women.

At the time of writing, there was no gazette under emergency regulation, therefore the ban was not legally in effect as early as many in the public thought it was, although the gazette has now been published.

It is clear that the government is reacting to racist rhetoric, as there has been no evidence to suggest that the niqab or burqa was used by the suicide bombers. In fact, CCTV footage reveals that they were men dress in pants and shirt, carrying large backpacks.

In over two decades of war; Sri Lankan Muslim women who covered their faces always complied with security personnel at checkpoints, and revealed their faces for identification purposes. Removing the burqa/niqab for security purposes is not new to them or contested by the community. A blanket ban therefore is extreme and unwarranted.

Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Show all 38 1 /38 Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lankan Special Task Force officers raid a house following an explosion in capital Colombo AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A blood-spattered statue of Jesus Christ while crime scene officials inspect the site of a bomb blast, as the sun shines through the blown-out roof, inside St Sebastian's Church in Negombo Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A police officer inspects the damage after a bombing at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sri Lankan capital Colombo AP Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lankan soldiers look on inside the St Sebastian's Church at Katuwapitiya in Negombo following a bomb blast during the Easter service AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A woman cries next to a coffin of a bomb blast victim. A series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on April 21, killing more than 300 people AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath People who live near the church that was attacked the day before, leave their houses as the military try to defuse a suspected van before it exploded in Colombo Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Shoes and belongings of victims are collected as evidence at St Sebastian's Church AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lankan police were forded to clear an area while Special Task Force Bomb Squad officers inspected the site of an exploded van near a church the day after it was attacked Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath The Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka following a bombing AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Queues at the National Blood Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka after a request for blood to aid in recovery efforts Mr Lavasquabble/Twitter Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Medical response team work to remove dead bodies from the scene of bombings in Sri Lankan capital Colombo AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lankan security personnel inspect the debris of a car after it exploded when police tried to defuse a bomb AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Security personnel work at the scene of a bombing at a church in Batticaloa in Sri Lanka AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A woman is helped near St Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday 21 April 2019. At least 130 people were killed and more than 500 hospitalised after near-simultaneous explosions hit three hotels and three churches on Easter Sunday. AP Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lankan police officers clear the road as an ambulance drives through carrying injured of church blasts in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday 21 April 2019 AP Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A Sri Lankan soldier stands guard near a car explosion AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A woman prays at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Priests stand inside St Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade church on the outskirts of Colombo after a bombing Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A Sri Lankan woman living near St. Anthony's shrine runs for safety with her infant after police found explosive devices in a parked vehicle in Colombo AP Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath People react during a mass for victims, two days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Security personal react as a device was detonated in a controled explosion in a van near the St Anthony's Church EPA Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Security forces inspect the scene of a bombing at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sri Lankan capital Colombo Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath The Kingsbury hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka after a bombing attack Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath The damaged interior of a church in Negombo, Sri Lanka following a bombing attack Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Police and security personnel stand guard outside the Shangri-La Hotel in Sri Lankan capital Colombo following a bombing attack EPA Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Debris is seen at St Anthony's Church in this still image from video footage after explosions hit churches and hotels in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 21 April 2019 Derana TV/via Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Damage inside a church following a bombing attack AP Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A Sri Lankan Special Task Force officer scales a house during a raid following an explosion in capital Colombo AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A general interior view showing damage after an explosion hit St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade, Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday 21 April 2019 EPA Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Priests walk into St Anthony's Shrine Kochchikade church after an explosion in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 21 April 2019 Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A Sri Lankan police officer stands outside St Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after a blast on Sunday 21 April 2019 AP Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath A shoe of a victim is seen in front of the St Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade Church Reuters Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Local and security officials gather at the scene at St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade, Colombo, Sri Lanka EPA Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath An ambulance is seen outside the church premises with gathered security personnel following a blast at St Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade, Colombo, on Sunday 21 April 2019 AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Armed policemen patrol the area after an explosion hit at St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 21 April 2019 EPA Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday 21 April 2019 AP Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Sri Lankan security personnel keep watch outside the church premises following a blast at the St Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade, Colombo, on Sunday 21 April 2019 AFP/Getty Sri Lanka: Scene of the bomb attacks and aftermath Police officers inspect the scene after an explosion hit at St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 21 April 2019 EPA

This move will only embolden racist vigilantes who harass Muslim women during the frequent attacks on the Muslim community in post-war Sri Lanka. Incidents have occurred where the headscarves worn by some Muslim women are supposedly mistaken for the niqab or burqa by security persons and civilians, leading to some headscarf-wearing women being asked to remove the shawls or scarves during security checks.

A more hostile encounter can be seen in a video circulating on social media in which a civilian man aggressively demands a woman passerby to remove her niqab. Her voice shakes as she agrees to reveal her face if he stops video recording her.

One of the strangest things about this ban is the fact that the government chose to consult a controversial Muslim organisation in drafting legislation against the burqa and niqab. The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), one of many Muslim organisations in Sri Lanka, has no women in its leadership. In the past, the ACJU had released a fatwa declaring that Muslim women should conceal their faces in public.

The ACJU has also stood against Muslim women who have demanded reforms in Muslim personal law. Currently there is no stipulation of age of marriage in the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) and girls as young as 14 years are sometimes given off in marriage.The law also does not require the consent of the women to be married. Given this background, what gives the ACJU the authority and expertise to represent women in the Muslim communities and dictate to Muslim women how they should or should not dress?

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The Ministry of Justice is fully aware of well-established Muslim womens groups that could have been consulted. These groups consist of Muslim women academics, theologians, and womens rights lawyers all of whom are adequately capable on advising the issue and its detrimental impacts.

Muslim women who have covered their faces for over 20 years, are now afraid to leave their homes. They have not had time to adjust to the ban and they are not mentally prepared for it. For them, concealing their face in public is part of their practice as Muslims; it is part of their identity. Whether the niqab and burqa is a religious obligation or not, this callous call for an overnight ban has left Muslim women more vulnerable and afraid in an already difficult time for everyone in the county.

In all of this, the government has conveniently ignored the reality that it is women who are victimised by extremists and Islamophobes alike.

When Islamic extremism took root in Sri Lanka, the violence was first turned inwards towards Muslim women. Now that this violence has turned outwards, Muslim women are, yet again, the first to face the brunt of the backlash.
A leading UCD professor has reported a drop in popularity in his Food Safety Masters students attending curriculum farm visits as they are "mortified" by everyday farm practices such as cows calving.

Professor of Public Health at UCD Dr Paddy Wall told farmers at the IFA Smart Farming Seminar that he brings his Masters in Food Safety students on visits to every level of the supply chain such as abattoirs, feed mills and farms as part of the curriculum but in recent years has noticed a decline in popularity in farm visits.

The farm visits used to be really popular but Ive noticed a trend that the students dont like them anymore. We went to a dairy farm where they saw a farmer calving a cow and they saw the calf getting jacked out.

"On the following Monday they wanted me to ring up the Department of Agriculture and report the farmer for cruelty but this is something we as farmers we see all the time. We have to be aware that theres a big disconnect between consumers and us.

Last year we went to a beef farm and there was a massive Belgian Blue bull there and I thought this was some bull, really good. The farmer was explaining that he had seven cows and they all had to have Caesarean sections. They all had three to five sections, said Dr Wall.

On the Monday the students gave feedback and they were mortified and asking me why are the farmers creating cows that cant have a calf normally. They said that that shouldnt be allowed.

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Dr Wall said he wasnt losing sleep over the fact future food safety professionals werent finding the farm visits as enjoyable and instead he said its up to the farmers to find ways to connect with detached consumers and combat aggressive vegan advertising campaigns.

Consumers believe small is good and big is evil. When you buy half a dozen eggs they dont show you chickens in a big house, they show you them running around outside, he added.

The aggressive campaigns out there that say clean up your arteries and go vegan is what the public is being bombarded with and those signs are on every bus shelter in Dublin. We need to counteract that message.

If we didnt have any customers we wouldnt have any businesses. Theres a disconnect between customers and how our food is produced and that is getting wider and wider.
The GLAS scheme involves more than 50,000 farmers

Over 25m in GLAS balancing payments to over 42,000 farmers in the GLAS scheme will commence this week.

The balancing payment represents the final 15pc of the 2018 payment and completes the total payment for GLAS actions undertaken last year.

This payment rate is 50pc higher than last year in terms of applicants paid.

Commenting on the payments the Minister said he was delighted to be commencing these GLAS balancing payments a fortnight earlier than expected to over 42,000 farmers.

"This will be a significant cashflow assistance to those farmers, particularly suckler farmers who are the majority of GLAS participants.

The Minister also reminded that there are a small number of cases where GLAS 3 participants have not yet completed their GLAS Training.

The Minister encouraged these applicants to undertake the outstanding training required as quickly as possible. All GLAS 3 participants must complete the required training by 31 December 2019 to remain in the Scheme.
Funding of 500,000 for the roll out of a Lean Principles Programme for pig farmers has been announced by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.

The programme will be available to pig producers in Ireland who are members of the Bord Bia Pigmeat Quality Assurance Scheme.

Participants in the programme will work with a panel of Lean consultants established by Bord Bia and Teagasc to deliver a mix of on-farm Lean Start and Lean Plus projects.

Speaking on the announcement Minister Creed said: In a sector which has shown itself to be remarkably resilient over recent years, the adoption of Lean business principles will assist pig farmers to further increase performance and competitiveness without compromising the animal welfare and food quality principles that are critical to the success of the sector.

I would strongly encourage pig farmers to avail of this unique opportunity to work directly with Lean experts on their farms.

This comes as pig farmers have been experiencing all time low prices over the last 12 months.

Although pig prices have lifted by 4c/kg over the last week, the IFA recently claimed that price hikes of at least 10c/kg were justified following confirmation of significantly tighter global pork supplies due to continuing disease troubles in China.

Pig prices have improved to a base of 1.51-1.54/kg, but the IFA claimed that processors will have to move to a base of 1.60/kg to reflect current market returns.

Pig production in China - which is the world's largest producer and consumer of pigmeat - is forecast to contract a third this year due to an epidemic of African Swine Flu (ASF) which has infected up to 200 million animals. Rabobank estimates that this ASF outbreak will cut Chinese production by close to 40 million tonnes and result in a serious shortfall in the country's overall meat supplies.

IFA pigs chairman Tom Hogan said the expected shortage of supplies in China had already been reflected in improved prices across Europe.

"Demand from Chinese buyers has been strong in recent weeks, due to a shortage of domestic pork production," Mr Hogan said. "Across the EU there have been dramatic price increases since January. Countries with a similar producing and export profile to Ireland have experienced price increases of 25-30pc," he added.

Although Irish prices have increased by around 16c/kg since March, returns to farmers are still well below those available across the EU, Mr Hogan said.

There are reports this week in the global media that African Swine Fever may also have spread to North Korea.
MAXIME Lombardini, the former chief executive and current chairman of Eir shareholder Iliad, has been fined 600,000 for insider dealing. The fine is for selling shares in the French company before the public was informed that the firm had made an approach to buy T-Mobile operations in the US.

The enforcement committee of France's financial markets authority, AMF, also fined Iliad 100,000. The committee said that on July 2, 2014, Mr Lombardini sold Iliad shares he beneficially owned, and on July 11 sold Iliad shares his partner owned.

When Iliad disclosed on July 31 that it had made an approach to but T-Mobile USA, shares in the French company fell about 7pc. The enforcement committee said that by July 24 that year, Iliad could no longer ensure that its approach to T-Mobile USA could remain confidential, but didn't formally tell the market of the play until July 31. The committee said that Iliad had "failed in its obligation to communicate any insider information as soon as possible". Both Iliad and Mr Lombardini are free to appeal the ruling of the enforcement committee. Iliad, founded by Xavier Niel, who is its majority shareholder, acquired a 31.6pc stake in Eir in 2017. An investment vehicle controlled by Mr Niel, NJJ, acquired an additional 32.9pc. The Lombardini case is part of an AMF probe that included a look into how the bid was leaked during a Eurostar trip from London to Paris. During the journey, a UBS Group AG banker caught a few glimpses of messages that popped up on the phone of his unsuspecting neighbour, a Lazard dealmaker and close financial adviser to Iliad.
Pictured from left to right were Gerry Britchfield, Acting CEO of Coillte, Bernie Gray, chairperson and Fergal Leamy, outgoing CEO, at the announcement of Coilltes financial results for 2018

Semi-State forestry group Coillte delivered record earnings of 115m last year, up 35pc on the previous year.

The performance was driven by a 127m return on the sale of windfarms.

Operating profit jumped 47pc to 71.5m in 2018.

Meanwhile, the body generated record revenue of 330m, a 10pc increase year-on-year.

Chairperson of Coillte, Bernie Gray, said: "This strong performance by Coillte is the culmination of a transformation which has been taking place in the business over the last number of years."

"The transformation targets set by the management team four years ago have been exceeded and Coillte is now positioned as one of the best forestry and land solutions companies in Europe."

The group's dividend paid to the State increased 87pc to 15m.
DAA chief executive Dalton Philips expects legislation to formally appoint Fingal County Council as the noise regulator for Dublin Airport to be signed into law within a matter of weeks.

The move will kick-start a process whereby the DAA will eventually be able to seek the removal of two planning conditions that would reduce the number of flights that can be operated at Dublin Airport during key hours once its new runway opens in 2021.

One of the conditions would limit the total number of flights at Dublin Airport between 11pm and 7am to 65. It currently handles 115 flights between those hours, many of them between 5am and 7am.

Fingal County Council is being appointed under EU legislation that requires such a regulator to be in place.

But the council has previously voiced concerns to the Department of Transport that it did not have the necessary expertise to perform the function, and said that given its extensive involvement with the DAA in relation to planning matters for Dublin Airport, it may not be the most appropriate body to act as noise regulator.

Mr Philips insisted that Fingal County Council is "well up for the challenge", and added that the DAA will "make its case" for the removal of the conditions.

"We're going to have to make a very solid submission, which we will," he said. "We're not trying to put more flights into Dublin in the middle of the night. People don't want to travel in the middle of the night."

Mr Philips was speaking as the DAA reported a strong financial performance for 2018, when it handled 33.5 million passengers.

Its turnover rose 5pc to 897m, while profit after tax was 6pc higher, at 133m.

The DAA also controls Cork Airport.

DAA's chief financial officer Ray Gray said that the group is currently in talks with the European Investment Bank regarding a possible 200m loan to help bankroll elements of a 1bn capital expenditure programme at Dublin Airport.
THE Government has been urged not to ease up on insurance reform after 1,000 jobs were saved when play centres secured insurance cover.

Some 61 play centres were threatened with closure over difficulties getting insurance.

The Alliance for Insurance Reform said there was still a need for major changes in the insurance and legal sectors.

Meath businesswoman Linda Murray has managed to keep her play centre in Navan open by securing insurance for her firm, and 60 similar facilities across the country.

Soaring premiums and the reluctance of some insurers to quote businesses for cover because of false and exaggerated claims meant the play centres could not get cover.

Ms Murray broke down when she told TDs and senators on the Oireachtas Finance Committee about the situation.

She begged committee members: "Save our livelihoods, save the livelihoods of our staff, and give our children somewhere to play."

Ms Murray feared her play centre would have ended up shutting with the loss of 12 jobs. Insurers were quoting a premium for the next year of 16,500, a 1,000pc rise in the past five years.

She started up a group of 61 play centres, called the Play Activity and Leisure Ireland (PALI). That group has now persuaded an insurance broker to get a UK provider to write policies for all of them.

"We presented ourselves as a group and approached five in Ireland and 15 in the UK and two of the insurance companies in the UK agreed to underwrite us," she said.

However, she is angry at the lack of help from the Government and the Irish insurance industry regarding her plight over the last number of months.

"We need to remember that insurance reform still has to happen. We need to tackle the compensation culture," she said.

The Alliance for Insurance Reform, where Ms Murray is a director, welcomed the fact that PALI has secured cover for its play centre members for the next two years.

Director of the alliance Peter Boland said: "Let the Government and the vested interests be on notice that this issue and our campaign will not be pausing for breath until policyholders have received real reform and do not have to scramble for short-term fixes just to keep their doors open."

He said there was an urgent need to reduce high awards for very minor injuries.
Written by ACM



*Strasbourg/Press Club/Angelo Marcopolo/- Questioned by "Eurofora" whether he Believed that a much needed Solution might be Found by the CoE, before an Important Time Deadline of June 2019 (See Infra), on the crucial Russia issue, (which notoriously risks to Divide Europe since the 2014 Ukranian Controversy, after CoE's Parliamentary Assembly [PACE] striped Russian MEPs of their Rights, followed by Moscow's Suspension of its Financial Contribution to the CoE), the PanEuropean Organisation's experienced Chief Spokesman, and Press/Communication Director, Daniel Holtgen, a Geo-Economics PhD holder from Cambridge, of German-British origin, after reflecting, Replied with a Crystal-clear : - "I don't want to lose Hope !"

He was speaking after a Lecture on main current European Issues, given at Strasbourg's "Press Club", earlier Today, following which, he also Replied to other relevant Questions by "Reuters", "Eurofora", German Web-Medias, and other participants.

The Point about the June 2019 Rendez-vous, is that a Timely Settlement would allow to the New CoE's Secretary General for the period of 2019-2024 to be Elected also with the Votes of Russian MEPs, as normally required, while also Moscow could Settle its Financial Obligations before eventual threats of Sanctions by CoE's Ministers (See Infra). And all this Could be realized during the forthcoming French Presidency of the CoE (May - November 2019), which is followed by the Rotating Chairmanship of Georgia (11/2019 - 5/2020) and Greece (5 - 11/2020), etc.

- Currently, "Finland's Presidency tries to Find a Consensus on a Draft Decision by CoE's Committee of Ministers, which would be Based on a (recent) PACE's Resolution, while adding also their contribution", at the forthcoming CoE Foreign Ministers' Summit at Helsinki, on May, Holtgen advanced.

He was referring to the Resolution on Challenges for PACE's Role and Mission, drafted by Experienced Dutch MEP Tiny Cox, President of the Euro-Left Group, which was Debated and Adopted Earlier this Month (on April 10), through an "Urgent" procedure, calling, inter alia, also to "Avoid creating new Dividing lines" among CoE's 47 Member States, but, on the Contrary, "Preserve the Pan-European mission of the CoE". While criticizing what it calls "illegal Annexation of Crimea" by Russia, (that Moscow views as a Popular Referendum for ReUnification, following an illegal violent "Putch" at Kiev), nevertheless, "asks to Avoid a situation in which the Biggest member State would be asked to, or chooses to, Leave the Organisation", provoking negative "Geopolitical implications" and "Consequences for Russian Citizens". Thus, the Resolution "calls" on Russia "to appoint a Delegation" to the PACE, "and to Resume" its Contribution to COE's Budget, in order to prevent an eventual demand by its Ministerial Committee to "Suspend" Moscow's overall participation, and "Welcomes the efforts made by the Finnish Presidency" to saveguard the "PanEuropean" role of the CoE (Comp. Supra).

- "The Big Question is whether that will be enough, also for the Russians : I think, Yes", he estimated. (In this regard, 2 or 3 recent Public Statements by Senior Russian Officials, also indicated that, contrary to the Past, Nowadays, a rather Positive and promissing process might have really Started, inside the CoE, added to the latest Political Developments in Ukraine too).

- But, "in which Time Deadline ?", Holtgen wondered.

- Many point at "January 2020", he reminded.

- However, in that case, "Won't they be able to participate in the Election of CoE's New Secretary General (on June 2019) ?"

- "This could be rather a Symbolic Question, since Both 2 finalist Candidates, are not particularly opposed to Russia, so that with, or without Russian MEPs, this wouldn't be a big Difference", while it's also "50% of EuroJudges who have been Elected withOut the Russians", since 2014, "the New CoE's Commmissioner for Human Rights, etc. So that, perhaps, it's not so much a Substantial Question".

- "But, it's necessary for their Financial Contribution to become anew possible, (normally also from June 2019).

- At least, "they (Russian MEPs) should come back on January (2020). That should be Possible", he concluded.

-----------------------------

- At this pont, in a Question raised by "Eurofora", we observed that, according to Senior CoE Officials' analysis, including prominent PACE Top Officers (as, f.ex., the exerienced PACE Secretary General, Wojciech Sawicki's relevant Replies to "Eurofora"s earlier Questions : See: http://www.eurofora.net/newsflashes/news/coeandrussiain2019.html, etc),

it would be Technically and Legally Possible, to act even Earlier, (almost at any moment of the Year), if there is enough Political Will in the Committee of Ministers, and a Majority in PACE.





- Indeed, "in order to accredit National Delegations (of MEPs) DURING the Year (and not only on January, i.e. at the Beginning), a Change of Rules is Necessary, and, for this Change (to be done smoothly) a 2/3 Majority must exist in the Committee of Ministers, as well as a Positive Decision of the PACE too", Holtgen agreed in reply.

+ "This practically means an Additional (PACE) Meeting, between May 17 (Ministerial Summit in Finland : Comp. Supra), and June 24" (i.e. PACE's Plenary Session for the Summer 2019, due to Elect also CoE's New Secretary General, etc), he pointed out, with accurate precision.

By the way, PACE's powerful "Standing Committee" (almost equivalent to a Plenary session) and other Important CoE's Meetings, are currently Scheduled for the End of May/Beginning of June, in Paris.

- It would be "Good also from the point of view of Financial Regularity", (i.e. the settlement of Russia's Annual Financial Contribution to the CoE : Otherwise, CoE's Ministers might Suspend all Russia's participation, after June 2019, until Payement : Comp. Supra).

- "But it's not obvious whether all involved might be ready to move fast enough", he added as a Cautious reserve.

On the Contrary, Holtgen did not find absolutely necessary, at this juncture, that PACE also Changes its Rules of Procedure, as far as some Controversial "Sanctions" are concerned, (including, f.ex., MEPs' Right to Vote, Participation, etc), as a Collegue Journalist suggested at this point :

- "I don't think that there might be a problem there for now, since PACE has Recently Adopted the above mentioned, relevant New Resolution (Comp. Supra), CoE's Spokesman reminded, and, moreover, the Russian MEPs would rather prefer to Debate and Vote that (subsequent) Change of PACE's Rules just after they would have already returned inside the Assembly, in order to avoid, f.ex., that what they call as "Russophobe forces", might, eventually, hijack this move, he guessed.

+ Nevertheless, independently of that, there is also the fact that any CoE's Member States should, in principle, be Careful about issues concerning their Annual Financial Contribution, since, among others, f.ex., at least in certain CoE's Partial Agreements, as that of "GRECO" (against Corruption), there are some Rules which imply that if a Member does Not Pay its Contribution, then, it's quasi-automatically Out, he Warned, (given, in addition, that June is, normally, a Crucial Time Deadline for Regular Financial Settlements inside the CoE).

---------------------------------------------

Almost at the same time, However, CoE's chief Spokesman, observed, in his speech, that while Russia has been considerably Changed by several CoE's Activities for Human Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy, on the Contrary, developments in Turkey have Deceived me, criticized the experienced Top Officer, who has worked also Together with the former EU Commission's vice-President, Gunter Verheugen, initially in charge of EU Enlargement, when he too used to support Turkey's controversial and unopular EU bid in the Past. (I.e. Before even the former EU Parliament's President and German Socialist Party's Candidate for Chancellor, Martin Schultz, more recently, notoriously Changed his stance on 2017, declaring his Opposition to Turkey's EU entry claims).



But, at another topical point, Holtgen (who spoke Both of CoE and the EU) regretted also those Eras of the Past, during which European Debates used to Focus on Big "Projects", such as the creation of the Common Market, Shengen area, Trans-Border High-Speed Train Networks, etc.

Something similar still lacks Today, at least for the moment, he rightfully criticized, shortly after showing Recent Polls where all European People's number 1 Concern currently is Security and Terrorism, followed by Natural Environment and Climate for South-Western Countries, or Mass Irregular Migration, for former Central-Eastern Countries, as Number 2 Concerns Nowadays...

(../..)

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(NDLR : "DraftNews", as already send to "Eurofora"s Donors/Subscribers, earlier. +Fast Translation from the Original in French. A more accurate, full Final Version, might be published asap)

***
Two Irish businessmen have joined up with a carbon capture pioneer to develop breakthrough CO2 emission- sucking technology.

Three former BP divisional chiefs are backing the pair, one of whom is oil and natural resources businessman John McKeon. They are working with carbon-capture pioneer Professor Klaus Lackner to develop vast fields of carbon capture columns around the world in a bid to help reverse carbon dioxide emissions.

Silicon Kingdom Holdings (SKH) CEO and former Xerox corporate venture lab entrepreneur Pol O Morain said they will establish a core team of finance, engineering and research staff in Dublin to work on their plan, in conjunction with partner Arizona State University (ASU), where Prof Lackner is based, and has developed the columns.

"Ireland should be a centre of excellence for negative carbon emissions technology, with a similar research function to that in ASU," Mr McKeon, SKH's chairman added.

The firm is talking to engineering firms here about building giant fields of their columns around the world. Industrial users of high grade CO2 are keenly interest in the proven technology's potential. They currently pay up to $200 per tonne to use the gas. A large food company might use 30,000 tonnes a day.

Airline and oil firms in the US are understood to be interested in the columns as a way to cut their carbon emissions.

Large businesses, family offices, private-equity firms and a number of high-net-worth investors are interested in backing the technology that uses a method known as direct air capture. Silicon Kingdom claims that it is thousands of times more effective than trees at absorbing CO2.

Mr O Morain said a pilot deployment of 1,200 of the columns, probably in the US, would suck 100 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere a day, at an initial cost of about $100 a tonne - less than rivals.

Full-scale projects would consist of 120,000 columns, covering about a square mile, absorbing 3.6 million tonnes of carbon a year - the same as 800,000 cars emit. Global CO2 emissions are about 37bn tonnes a year, so 1,000 full-scale plants could cancel out one tenth of global emissions.

Prof Lackner said investment in the technology "means placing a trillion dollar bet that the regulatory cost of CO2 emissions will rise".

As pressure is ramped up on governments and businesses to take more rapid action, there is growing interest in the technology.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and oil and natural resources giants Chevron and BHP have backed Canadian firm Carbon Engineering, which plans to make synthetic fuels using direct air capture.

Many climate campaigners argue that the immense task of planting 1.2 trillion trees around the world could reduce atmospheric CO2 by over 90 billion tonnes a year, but not until they are 20 or 30 years old.
McDonald's Ireland has reported a "very strong" start to 2019, with good first quarter sales and an increase in customer numbers.

McDonald's UK and Ireland CEO Paul Pomroy said March "broke all records".

"We are clear that alongside our franchisees, we need to maintain investment to succeed," Mr Pomroy said. "Customers tell us they want choice, value, convenience, so this continues to be our focus." Overall, McDonald's group reported a 2pc fall in operating income to $2bn (1.8bn) in the three months to March 31, according to a trading update from the group. Its revenue fell 4pc to $4.9bn, however, global sales increased 5.4pc, reflecting strong comparable sales across all segments. "Two years into the Velocity Growth Plan, our sustained performance gives us confidence that our strategy is working, as more customers are experiencing a better McDonald's every day," said McDonald's president and CEO Steve Easterbrook. During the period the company returned $1.9bn to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends.
WEWORK, the world's biggest co-working company, is planning to go public, joining a wave of highly-valued technology startups moving to the US markets.

The New York-based company - which has six premises across Dublin - said Monday it filed paperwork confidentially with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to hold an initial public offering.

WeWork, which rents office space to companies and freelancers, would likely be the year's biggest US IPO after Uber, which expects to start trading next week.

WeWork, which also goes by the brand We Co, was most recently valued at $47bn (41.90bn) in a January investment from SoftBank, its biggest investor.

Similar to the crop of other big-name tech IPOs this year, such as Uber and Lyft, WeWork runs a business with eye-watering losses. That's due in part to heavy real-world expenses, such as building-lease commitments that can last 15 years. The company lost $1.93bn on $1.82bn in sales last year.

In an email to staff Monday, WeWork's chief executive officer, Adam Neumann, painted the company's responsibilities in the lofty terms expected of a company whose mission is to "elevate the world's consciousness." The email's subject line read: "Just Getting Started."

"We have regularly focused on how to take our business to the next level in every aspect," Mr Neumann wrote in the email viewed by Bloomberg.

"Partly due to technology and partly due to the times we live in, the world has never felt smaller and yet more people than ever are sharing that they feel alone.

"As one of the world's largest physical networks, it is our responsibility to help lead the way and set the global example for people and corporations on how we should take care of each other and of our planet."

Since its founding in 2010, WeWork has raised more than $12bn in funding, most of it from SoftBank. The Japanese conglomerate has reshaped the world of tech startups with its $100bn fund backed by Saudi Arabia. SoftBank is a major investor in several of the biggest public offerings planned for this year, including Uber and Slack Technologies.

WeWork said it initially filed plans to go public in December and recently issued updated documents. Around the time WeWork first filed with regulators, the company was in talks with SoftBank to sell a majority stake.

Bloomberg
ONE in two people say they know someone who has committed insurance fraud.

But many are hesitant to report a suspected fraud due to a fear of being identified, according to market research commissioned by insurer Allianz and conducted by Red C Research.

And most people say they are not aware how to go about reporting fraudulent car and home insurance claims.

The Allianz research found that 46pc of those surveyed have heard of or know someone who has committed insurance fraud.

But a third of those surveyed said they would not report it for fear of being found out.

The research, among 1,002 people, found that most people would not be tempted to make a false claim, but 8pc said they would make a dodgy claim.

People least likely to make a claim are those aged between 18 and 34, those who work full time and people who personally know someone who has made a false claim.

Also unlikely to be tempted to make an exaggerated or make-up claim are those over the age of 55, homemakers and retired adults.

Chief executive of Allianz Sean McGrath said the findings are concerning and point to the need to further educate the broader public of the consequences of attempted insurance fraud.

There has been progress in changing the perception of insurance fraud not being a victimless crime, but more needs to be done as this fraud costs the public in the long run.

Mr McGrath said Allianz will continue to proactively tackle insurance fraud. He said a huge proportion of the claims it contested last year were fraudulent.

Each case that Allianz won in 2018 delivered an average saving of 20,000 per claimant, which is in our customers best interest.

The findings come as former High Court president Nicholas Kearns recently warned that Ireland has a huge problem with fraudulent motor claims, and there appeared to be no punishment for lying in court.

He said settlements for claims were large in this country, which encouraged fake claims; there was also very little chance of detection for those making false claims; and the other factor encouraging fraudulent claims was that few fraudsters were ever prosecuted for perjury.

Mr Kearns said the chances of a fraudster being charged with perjury were infinitesimal.

Meanwhile, another insurance company, Aviva, said it had paid out 182m in general insurance claims last year to customers and third-party claimants.

And it vowed to continue the fight against fraudulent claims.

The majority of the total was for motor claims, with almost 64mn paid to third party claimants as a result of personal injury awards.

Of those third-party claims that were paid out, whiplash remains the predominant injury, accounting for almost 90pc of the total.

Head of general insurance claims at Aviva John Farrell said the firm will continue to pay all genuine claims, whilst continuing to advocate for claims reform.
The Irish Data Protection Commissioner says that the first batch of major investigations by her office under GDPR into companies like Facebook and LinkedIn will conclude over the summer of 2019.

Speaking to the US Senate, Helen Dixon said that there are currently 51 large scale investigations underway.

17 relate to the large tech platforms and span the services of Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram, she said.

The first sets of investigations will conclude over the summer of 2019.

Of the 17 cases, 11 relate to Facebook or its subsidiary firms, Instagram and Whatsapp.

The most recent investigation to be opened occurred last week, when the data privacy watchdog opened a new case into Facebook.

The probe will aim to uncover how millions of passwords were stored in insecure plain text format by the tech giant.

Under GDPR law, the Irish Data Protection Authority can fine companies up to 20m or 4pc of global turnover.

Ms Dixon also outlined some examples of how Irish people have seen their data privacy violated.

In one case, a multinational agent dealing by web chat about a customer service complaint took note of the consumers personal details including mobile phone number she used to verify her account. The agent then contacted the user asking her on a date.

Independent of the complaint received by the DPC, the agent was fired from the job, Ms Dixon said.

A further complaint dealt with was lodged by an individual who had suffered a family bereavement, she said.

A tombstone company issued immediate correspondence to her family advertising cheap headstones in respect of the dead relative. The tombstone company had taken data from an online death notice website and recreated the full address from multiple other sources.

"The actions of the company were not only distasteful but in breach of the purpose limitation requirements of data protection law.

Ms Dixon is one of four witnesses appearing before the US Senate Committee on commerce, science and transportation. She is there to give testimony on the topic of Consumer Perspectives: Policy Principles for a Federal Data Privacy Framework.

US legislators are currently debating whether or not to tighten privacy rules that might replicate some of the principles of Europes GDPR.
A new documentary about Fiona Sinnott, the 19-year-old mother-of-one who went missing in Wexford in 1998, claims she was subjected to domestic abuse.

Emmy-nominated producer and director Shauna Keogh spent 18 months researching the case, interviewing Fionas family, friends and people in the local community, and delving into the young womans medical records for Missing: Fiona Sinnott: True Lives.

In the course of the film, Fionas family sat down together to review those records in an effort to learn more about Fionas life in the months before she went missing.

The medical records were extremely shocking for them, says Shauna. Norman, Fionas brother, asked How come we didnt know? The truth is she never told them and I think thats not unusual for somebody experiencing [domestic abuse].

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That was the difficult thing for them to see, that there was a lot of trauma beforehand. It was very hard for them to take. [Fionas sister] Gina said to me that after they went through the records together none of them could eat or sleep for three days.

Fiona was last seen leaving her local pub, Butler's, in Broadway on February 8, 1998. At the time she had an 11-month-old daughter and they were living together in a rented house.

Despite thousands of hours of investigations by the gardai and her family, no sign has ever been found of Fiona. In 2005 her case was upgraded to a murder investigation and six people were arrested and released without charge.

Over the years the family has issued many pleas for information, chased many tip offs, and even organised digs in an effort to find her body.

I think they know that Fiona wont be returning, says Shauna. Watching a family look at properties and dig for a body is just incredibly... I cant really describe it. Its so hard at times to believe this is what is happening.

Without closure, the family continues to search for the truth, and not knowing what happened to their loved one is a gruelling and unbearably difficult burden to carry for more than two decades.

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One of the scenes at the end of the documentary is a tip off and thats the other thing that is so hard, chasing every single lead, wondering what to believe and what not to believe. They spend their whole lives just going into places and looking and they dont have any result, reveals Shauna.

"Its finding the strength to follow another tip off to get your hopes crushed because there is no outcome. Gina was saying her uncles were in septic tanks looking for Fionas body. Its shocking and just so sad.

Fionas family gave careful consideration as to whether or not to take part in the documentary as it is a difficult process emotionally given they would have to relive the most traumatic period of their lives.

Twenty years is so long, the anger has subsisted to a certain degree. The pain never goes away. The pain is etched on their faces, says Shauna. Ultimately, however, they decided to go ahead as they wanted to give Fiona a voice.

Theyre doing this for Fiona and to give Fiona a voice. After all these years they dont want her to be forgotten, says Shauna. The family has also shared poignant home footage of Fiona for the first time.

Fiona Sinnott, as the years went by, she was an image on a poster, or youd read something somewhere and she was just a face essentially, says Shauna. One of the most important things for me was getting the moving imagery of Fiona for the first time and to see her as a young, beautiful girl, just a teenager in some of the footage. She was a young mother, a daughter, a friend, and those things start to resonate.

The familys motivation now, she says, is to simply bring Fiona home; They just want a burial. Thats what they want. Theyre not looking for vengeance. All they want is to bring her home. Its incredibly sad.

In the course of the documentary detective Alan Bailey describes the case as one of the most solvable cases in Ireland. There are, he believes, people who have information about what happened to Fiona who are remaining silent.

It is the price of that silence which Shauna hopes the documentary drives home. While she says she is "no armchair detective" and does not have the answers, she hopes that the film will prompt somebody with information to step forward and finally give Fionas family closure.

"If they can look at this documentary and see the emotional distress this family have gone through, if they have any information they can come forward and just pass it on, says Shauna. Alan Bailey said all it would take would be a phone call. Its that simple.

Missing: Fiona Sinnott: True Lives airs on Virgin Media One tonight (Wednesday May 1) at 9pm.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, installation view of Earwitness Inventory at Chisenhale Gallery (courtesy the artist and Chisenhale Gallery, London. Photo by Andy Keate)

An artist who conducted interviews for an installation with former detainees of a notorious jail in Syria has been shortlisted for this years Turner Prize.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 34, used survivor testimonies from Saydnaya, a high-security prison which has been described as an architectural instrument of torture, to create a sound installation.

Prisoners had been subjected to total sensory deprivation and forced to live in darkness in the prison, operated by President Assads Syrian regime.

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The artist, who lives in Beirut, used sound effects to help six survivors recall their audio memories, to map the unknown architecture of the prison and to understand what happened there.

His interviews were part of an audio investigation by Amnesty International and research group Forensic Architecture and were interspersed with re-enacted whispers in the installation.

The shortlist for the contemporary art prize also features Helen Cammock, 48, who lives in London and whose film explores the history and role of women in the civil rights movement in Londonderry in 1968.

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Her film weaves together various archive materials, newly produced footage and a series of interviews Cammock made with women active in the movement, as well as those affected by it.

The work of Colombian-born Oscar Murillo, 33, included installing industrial ovens to make sculptures made of corn mixed with clay, resembling rocks or bread, in a work addressing consumption, labour and basic human sustenance.

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The sculptures were piled up in heaps or bulged out of intestine-like forms, along with stuffed cloth torsos, printed with workers slogans and international trade routes.

Murillos work explores materials, process and labour, as well as issues of migration, community, exchange and trade in todays globalised world.

Self-taught artist Tai Shani, 42, who lives in London and explores feminine subjectivity and experience through a gothic/science-fiction lens completes the shortlist.

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An exhibition of work by the four shortlisted artists will be held from September 28, 2019 to January 12, 2020 at Turner Contemporary in Margate.

The winner of the 40,000 prize will be announced on December 3 at an award ceremony live on the BBC.
Detectives hunting a suspected rapist who abducted two women off the streets of London have offered up a 20,000 (23,000) reward for information that could lead to his arrest.

Met Police in the UK have identified Joseph McCann (34) - who has a "slight Irish accent" - in relation to the north London abduction.

They have described the man as "extremely dangerous" and have told the public not to approach him but to call 999 immediately.

The suspected rapist allegedly abducted two women and threatened to kill a builder who helped them escape.

Two women, aged in their 20s, were snatched separately in London on Thursday - the first shortly after midnight from a street in Chingford and the second around 12 hours later at 12.15pm from a street in Edgware.

They were driven to a hotel in Watford and the suspect attempted to book a room about 45 minutes later, but this was unavailable.

After a struggle, the women managed to escape at around 2.30pm, with officers still trying to trace the grey Ford S-Max people carrier used by the suspect.

Police believe McCann may attempt to disguise his appearance.

The women who were subjected to these terrifying ordeals are being supported by our specialist officers," Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin said.

I would like to highlight that stranger attacks like this are extremely rare and we appreciate the worry that this will have generated in the areas affected.

If you see Joseph McCann, do not approach him as he is considered extremely dangerous but instead call 999 immediately.

We are doing everything we can to ensure the man sought in connection with these offences is located as quickly as possible," she added.
Scene: The derelict house and farmyard on the Clonee Road, Lucan, where the body of Ana Kriegel was found. Photo: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

One of the two boys accused of murdering teenager Ana Kriegel "lured" her to a derelict farmhouse then watched "voyeuristically" as the other sexually assaulted and murdered her, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Investigating gardai found a zombie mask, shin guards, knee pads and gloves in a backpack worn by the boy who carried out the attack, the prosecution alleged.

Prosecutor Brendan Grehan SC made the comments in his opening speech to the jury.

Mr Grehan also said that Ana was last seen alive in the company of one of the accused.

The youths, who are now 14, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Anastasia Kriegel at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Road, Lucan, Dublin, on May 14 last year. One of the boys, Boy A, has also denied a charge of aggravated sexual assault.

In his opening address to the jury, Mr Grehan said that at 1pm on May 17 gardai, who had been looking for Ana, searched a derelict building where they found her body.

She had been reported missing three days earlier by her mother and father.

Ana was found naked, except for her socks, and there was a ligature around her neck.

Mr Grehan said Ana had obvious head injuries, the scene was bloody and blood was splattered around the room.

He said gardai began a murder investigation, and Professor Marie Cassidy conducted a post-mortem, which found Ana suffered severe and extensive injuries to her head and neck, which caused her death.

Mr Grehan said it is alleged that Ana was last seen by her family around 5pm on May 14, when she left her home as a result of a visit by Boy B.

She left in his company and was last seen at a public park with him.

Having failed to contact Ana, her family made various attempts to locate her before going to Lucan garda station.

The gardai responded immediately and ascertained Boy B's address, which was not known to the Kriegels.

They arrived there and spoke to Boy B and his mother. The boy gave the first of many different accounts, telling them he called to Ana and they went to the park where he last saw her. Significantly, he did not mention his friend, Boy A, Mr Grehan alleged.

Gardai interviewed Boy B again and at that stage he said he had called to Ana on behalf of his friend Boy A.

Boy B said they both met her at the park and told gardai he knew Ana was interested in Boy A. He said the suggested purpose of the meeting was so Boy A could tell Ana that he was not interested in her.

There was no suggestion by Boy B that Ana was told this, but that she was told Boy A wanted to meet her.

Boy B claimed that after a short conversation in the park between Ana and Boy A, she went one way and the boys went the other and separated, leaving the park.

When contacted, Boy A had a "somewhat different" account, saying he met them in the park, but he did not say there was an arrangement.

When asked when and where they met Ana, divergences began to emerge in what they said, Mr Grehan said.

Beyond the fact that she was missing and not answering her phone, there was no other suggestion of foul play at that stage. CCTV was sought and obtained and Ana was seen on it with Boy B, heading towards the park.

Through mobile phone providers, gardai managed to "ping" the last activity on Ana's phone. It pinged in the "general area" at 5.32pm.

A number of people gave accounts of seeing Boy A limping, with blood on his face and clothing, not long after 5.32pm. Boy A later told a friend and his parents he had been attacked in the park by two older men whom he had fought off.

He repeated this account to gardai and a park ranger, and made a statement including references to having seen Ana in the park and that he was mugged a short time after.

"It is the prosecution's case that (Boy A) came by these injuries in a struggle with Ana in which he sexually assaulted and killed her and this was a made-up story," Mr Grehan said.

There was a "compelling" forensic case based on "subjective scientific evidence" by way of DNA, Mr Grehan said.

It was alleged Boy A was connected to the scene by male DNA found on Ana's neck and on the tape used as a ligature on her neck, as well as semen found on her top.

Various items were found in Boy A's home that were connected to him and also connected to the alleged murder.

This included the contents of a distinctive backpack he was seen carrying in the park containing "gloves, kneepads, shin guards and perhaps most chillingly, a zombie-type mask".

"There is no explanation consistent with innocence to explain these objective scientific facts," Mr Grehan told the jury.

The prosecution's case against Boy B was that he aided and abetted in the murder of Ana by assisting and helping Boy A, knowing what was going to happen.

It would be alleged he did this by luring her from her house to meet Boy A, knowing that she would want to meet him and knowing that meeting him "in some romantic way was not the purpose at all."

It was alleged he knew they were going to meet Boy A in a "dirty, dark, derelict house that he or (Boy A) made sure was empty before entry".

It was alleged he knew preparations had been made and remained, "voyeuristically watching her murder and sexual assault and participating in the cover-up afterwards".

The prosecution would say he lied repeatedly.

The trial continues.
After several delays, the first trial of Najib Razak, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, began on April 3rd. He is accused of plundering the Malaysian Sovereign Wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which he set up to drive the development efforts in Malaysia. This represents a stunning reversal in fortune for Najib Razak who after ruling for nearly a decade was handily defeated in the elections last year amid allegations of massive corruption.

The 1MDB case became global news when the U.S. Department of Justice brought the largest ever civil complaint seeking to forfeit and recover over $1 billion in assets involving Malaysias 1MDB. The lawsuit left Malaysian Official 1 unnamed but the new Malaysian Government later confirmed that the individual was Razak.

The co-conspirators were allegedly able to siphon off more than $4 billion in 1MDB funds through a series of complex transactions using fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts located in the Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the United States to conceal the origin, source and ownership of the funds.

Corruption also leads to devastating human development outcomes. Venezuela is a prime example. The man-made humanitarian crisis unfolding in Venezuela has plunged a once-prosperous country to the brink of destitution and complete ruin. Here too, shell companies have enabled corruption. In 2013, Reuters reported that shell companies account for about 40 percent of buyers of dollars through Venezuelas currency control system. This massive fraud cost the nation billions of dollars. Last year, a banker plead guilty in a Miami federal court in a $1.2 billion Venezuela money laundering case regarding embezzled funds from the state oil company for the stepsons of an unnamed Venezuelan government official. News reports later identified this individual as President Nicolas Maduro.

It is increasingly common to see the use of anonymous companies to enable corruption. Almost every large corruption scandal in the last few years (FIFA, Petrobras) has included actions taken by anonymous companies. All kleptocrats need to move their illicitly obtained wealth to avoid scrutiny and they do so by opening companies in places where it is possible to hide the real owners, so-called anonymous shell companies. Given this widespread problem, collecting information about the natural persons who control anonymous companies or derive economic benefits from them (beneficial owners) is key to reducing opportunities for corruption.

Ignoring the problem that anonymous companies pose allows kleptocrats to easily move their funds and lets corruption flourish. We as a nation and as citizens have a responsibility to tackle corruption because of its devastating impact on human rights, development and American national security. The U.S. Department of States anti-corruption webpage recognizes the strong link between corruption and national security. This link exists because corruption is inherently destabilizing. It perpetuates weak governance and institutions, which allow extremist ideologies to thrive. In this atmosphere, democracy and the rule of law cannot be effective.

The problems associated with anonymous companies do not only threaten the governments and institutions of foreign countries. Anonymous companies provide the veil necessary to obfuscate identities of foreign nationals or governments who engage in election meddling, which directly challenges American democracy. The recently released Mueller report investigating Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election contains several references to anonymous/shell companies including shell companies associated with St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency and the shell companies associated with Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort.

Paul Manafort was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for a variety of crimes including money laundering, failing to register as a foreign lobbyist, filing false tax returns, bank fraud, failure to report foreign assets and obstruction. He used shell companies to get millions for his work for Ukrainian politicians and then used the shell companies to buy cars, real estate and other luxury goods while hiding the money from the government. In addition to his prison sentence, Manafort had to forfeit millions to the federal government and pay restitution to banks.

In an ironic twist, prosecutors now claim that Manafort may be using a shell company registered in Nevada to save some money from forfeiture by faking a $1 million loan. Prosecutors cannot tell if the beneficial owner of the Nevada registered company is Manafort himself because the U.S. does not collect that information.

The United States has suffered from years of inaction on legislation to promote transparency of ultimate ownership of anonymous companies but there is increased momentum building. The Clearing House, which is an association of the largest banks, supports legislation to collect ultimate ownership information upon incorporation. Several companies support more transparency of anonymous companies. And so does law enforcement. Encouragingly in March 2019, the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy (Committee on Financial Services) held a hearing on Promoting Corporate Transparency: Examining Legislative Proposals to Detect and Deter Financial Crime.

The hearing included reviewing a draft of the Corporate Transparency Act introduced by Representative Maloney which would require the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to collect beneficial ownership information upon incorporation and would give law enforcement access to the information to conduct complex money laundering investigations. There is bipartisan support for having FinCEN collect the information. FinCEN has a strong track record of securely handling information and working with law enforcement to get them the information they need in a timely fashion. Law enforcement opposes alternative approaches like having the IRS collect the information.

It is shocking that to renew a public library card in Arlington,Virginia an individual needs to provide their drivers license showing their current address or a utility bill when less is needed to open an LLC in some states in the U.S. We can do better.

The time for Congress to act is now. End anonymity of shell companies.

____

Shruti Shah, pictured above left, is a contributing editor of the FCPA Blog. Shes the President and CEO of the Coalition for Integrity (formerly Transparency International-USA). She can be contacted here.

Michael Hershman, above right, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Integrity and a co-founder of Transparency International. He is also is the founder of the International Anti-Corruption Academy and serves as the Chair of the International Advisory Board. He was the senior staff investigator for the Senate Watergate Committee, and a chief investigator for a joint Presidential and Congressional commission reviewing state and federal laws on wiretapping and electronic surveillance.
The scene of the fatal collision on the N20 Cork-Mallow road. Photo: John Delea

A lorry driver "stood no chance" of avoiding a crash which claimed the lives of two American tourists whose rental car made a right turn in front of him as they made their way to Blarney Castle in Co Cork, an inquest has heard.

Widow Deborah Baker hugged driver of the truck Stephen Murphy at the conclusion of the inquest in Blarney yesterday.

A Garda crash forensic expert indicated that Mr Murphy could not have avoided the crash which resulted in the deaths of James (Jim) Baker (62) from Columbia City in Indiana and Peggy Sue Bockey Adams (59) from Delphos, Ohio. Eyewitnesses also gave evidence to this effect.

Ms Baker, her husband Jim and friends Ms Adams and her husband Jack Adams travelled to Ireland in September 2017 for a dream holiday.

Mr Adams was Mr Baker's first cousin.

The couples rented a 161 Skoda Octavia with a sat-nav device in Dublin Airport. They travelled around for a few nights before deciding to go to Blarney Castle from Limerick on September 11, 2017.

Mr Adams was driving southbound on the N20, heading towards the Waterloo junction at around 11am. He turned right and went straight into the path of a lorry coming from the other direction.

His wife was in the rear seat behind him with Ms Baker. Mr Baker was in the front passenger seat.

Mr Adams was not at the inquest. In a statement, he said he could not remember receiving instructions from a sat-nav device. He stated that his car was hit from the left-hand side "without warning".

Ms Baker said in her statement that she couldn't recall any details of the accident.

"I just feel bad for everyone in this situation," she said.

The inquest heard from Garda forensic collision expert Dermot Carroll, who stated that truck driver Mr Murphy had just 1.6 seconds from when be braked to the point of impact with the tourists' car. He was driving well within the speed limit and had no chance to avoid an impact.

Coroner Frank O'Connell said in spite of initial fears that Mr Adams may have been following sat-nav instructions to make the right turn at the junction for Blarney Castle, gardai said the device did not direct them to take that route during a test-run a few hours after the collision.

However, Garda Carroll said that he could not say definitively that it did not happen on any other occasion. Sat-nav software has since been changed to exclude that right turn for motorists.

Mr O'Connell heard that it was a sunny day and that the jury was entitled to conclude that the driver did not see the truck.
Patrick Quirke (left) has been found guilty of the murder of Bobby Ryan (inset). Mary Lowry is pictured right

FARMER Patrick Quirke has been found guilty of murdering his love rival Bobby Ryan.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court returned the majority verdict of 10-2 this afternoon after deliberating for 20 hours and 39 minutes.

The verdict comes after a 15-week murder trial, the longest in the history of the State.

Quirke (50), of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, had denied murdering Mr Ryan (52) on a date between June 3, 2011, and April 2013.

It was alleged Quirke killed Mr Ryan so he could rekindle his affair with Mary Lowry, the widow whose farm Quirke was leasing. This was denied by Quirke.

Mr Ryan was in a relationship with Ms Lowry at the time of his disappearance.

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The jury has heard Mr Ryan disappeared after leaving Ms Lowrys house at Fawnagown, Co Tipperary at 6.30am on the morning of June 3, 2011.

His body was discovered 22 months later by Quirke in an underground tank on the farm, but the prosecution alleged this was a staged discovery.

Quirke showed no reaction when the verdict was delivered.

He was taken into custody only to be brought back to court a short time later to be sentenced.

Mr Quirke's prisoner number will be 107243.

A number of friends and relatives of victim Mr Ryan - a father of two and part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight - wept after the verdict was delivered.

"On June 3, 2011, our lives and world as we knew it was torn apart," his daughter Michelle said in an emotional victim impact statement.

"I cant find the words to describe how it feels emotionally. It is a torment that is constantly with us. A black hole that is with us every day.

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"The mental anguish wondering every day was daddy calling out for help. Was he calling our names for help?

"We close our eyes every night and picture daddy with fear in his eyes," she added.

Daddy, I described you as wow when I was asked, because that is what you are. Such a wonderful, caring father and grandfather.

We will carry you in our hearts every day in everything we do for the rest of our lives.

So until we meet again Moonlight, just know how much you are loved and sorely missed by us every day."

Ms Justice Eileen Creedon sentenced Quirke to a mandatory life sentence, starting from today.

When Quirke reappeared in court for the sentencing hearing, he was no longer wearing the tie he had on earlier in the day.

He looked directly ahead as Michelle Ryan delivered her victim impact statement.

There was no sign of emotion on his face.

Earlier, on entering the court just after 2.30pm, the court registrar asked the jury foreman if they had reached a verdict. He confirmed they had and handed the issue paper to the registrar.

The foreman then confirmed the verdict was one of guilty on a majority verdict of ten to two.

Ms Justice Creedon thanked the jury for their service. She said the jury had shown "exceptional patience" and she exempted each juror from jury duty for the rest of their lives.

The jurys verdict came just hours after the judge told jurors that at this stage of their deliberations she would accept a majority verdict.

The prosecution case against Quirke was made up almost entirely of circumstantial evidence. The prosecution said that various circumstantial evidence, when woven together, proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

However, the defence disagreed. It said there was no hard evidence against Quirke and that he should be acquitted.

Although the jury did not give reasons for its decision, it is likely a number of strands of evidence proved crucial.

These included the evidence of Mary Lowry.

She bared her soul and candidly told everything about her private life, her guilt over a seedy affair with Quirke and her joy at finding a new relationship.

Her testimony gripped the nation and the truth she spoke was unmistakeable. She could not be shaken by the defence, no matter how hard they tried.

The evidence of artificial insemination technician Breda ODwyer was also crucial.

Knowing Patrick Quirkes habits over the 15 years she had been going to his farm, she said he was unusually late finishing his milking on the morning of Mr Ryans disappearance and was adamant she was not mistaken on this. His alibi was suddenly shredded  opening up a window for murder.

Another key strand of evidence was the agony aunt letter to Patricia Redlich of the Sunday Independent in which Quirke wrote first hand of his anger at Mary Lowry that she had begun a new relationship despite all he had done for her.

"My problem is that I am broken hearted and angry at how well things have worked out for her, despite her lying and cheating on me, he wrote. This proved to be a chilling, first hand account of what drove Quirke to murder.

Via video link from the Irish consulate in Boston, and with a slight American twang, social worker Deirdre Caverley gave evidence of a phone call she had taken in her role as social worker in south Tipperary, from Patrick Quirke in February 2011.

He had expressed concerns about the three Lowry children. He claimed Mary had 'lost the run of herself' and had become fixated on this relationship. It showed the extent to which Quirke would stoop to exert control over Ms Lowry  hoping she would be forced to choose between her children and Bobby and then come back to him.

The pathology evidence showed that Mr Ryan had similar injuries to punishment victims inflicted by members of paramilitary organisations, Jack Crane, the former Northern Ireland Chief Pathologist told the trial. Photographs showed Mr Ryans skull suffered multiple fractures.

CCTV footage was also a important part of the evidence.

This showed Quirke prowling Mary Lowrys house and peering in her windows and interfering with underwear on her clothes line.

In garda interviews he said he was only looking at the label on the underwear because he was curious.

Multiple attempts were made by the defence to prevent internet searches by Quirke being put into evidence.

But it was futile  and the Google searches conducted by Quirke for human decomposition proved to be the turning point in the trial.

Another crucial piece of evidence was the A4 notepad with the writing deliberately left by Quirke in his study, which pointed to a clear plot by Quirke to implicate Mary Lowry in the murder of Bobby Ryan. However, the hidden writings revealed the murky truth, with Quirke writing: What the guards will know and dispose of clothes\phone\any other evidence.

The moment when it emerged that Quirke was effectively paying 1,600 a year to rent the 60 acres of prime land in the Golden Vale, as well as getting various loans from Ms Lowry was also a crucial event in the trial.

Gardai put it to him that he was using Mary Lowry in every way for cash on demand and sex on demand. Quirke denied it. But with such indisputable evidence, a clear motive emerged.

Another key piece of evidence came when Mary Lowry took the stand for the final time and secret recordings made of her by Quirke were put to her.

He had taped her laughing and chatting in her house with her then partner, Flor Cantillon. She had not known the tapes were made, nor had she consented to them. The tapes were played in court and we heard her, light-hearted, giggling and oblivious to the sinister, watchful monitoring of her.

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A 43-year-old west Clare man has pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of the first book to be banned here in nearly two decades.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Clifford Murrihy, of Crovroghan, Kildysart, Co Clare, pleaded guilty to the possession of 'The Raped Little Runaway' by Jean Martin.

The book, published by Star Distributors Ltd, became the first book to be banned by the Censorship of Publications Board (CBB) since 1998 in March 2016.

Mr Murrihy pleaded guilty to knowingly having in his possession child pornography - 'The Raped Little Runaway' - at his home in November 2015, four months before the book was banned by censors.

Counsel for the State Lorcan Connolly said the guilty plea was being made by Mr Murrihy in the context of the main witness for the State not being available.

Counsel for Mr Murrihy, Patrick Whyms BL, said it now becomes a matter of sentencing and said that the case could be adjourned to May 20 to fix a date for sentence.

In its ruling, the CBB found that the book - which contains multiple descriptions of child rape - to be "indecent" and "obscene". It voted to prohibit 'The Raped Little Runaway' at a meeting on March 1, 2016, and its decision prohibited the sale and distribution of the book in the State.

At the time, board chairman Shane McCarthy said the decision was unanimous among the five board members.

He said: "It was the only resort The collective view of the board was that it was a vile publication as it contained graphic descriptions of the rape of a minor."

Mr Murrihy has made his guilty plea under Section Six of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

Judge Gerald Keys remanded Mr Murrihy on bail to appear before Ennis Circuit Court on May 20.
SEX tapes of Patrick Quirke and Mary Lowry, as well as of Quirke and his wife, Imelda, were discovered by gardai on Quirkes computer.

However the three intimate audio recordings were not put before the jury because they were deemed potentially prejudicial since the judge said they touched on Quirkes strange proclivity.

A garda reconstruction of the discovery of Bobby Ryans remains in the tank was also ruled out by the judge, on the grounds that the evidence it offered was frail.

While the jury was prevented from hearing evidence that Mr Quirke had visited a blog with the title: Why Joe OReilly thought he had committed the perfect murder, on the basis that it could be prejudicial.

The recordings of Quirkes sexual activities were amongst the evidence found on his computer hard drive taken from his house in a garda search.

However they were not heard by the jury after Judge Eileen Creedon decided they offered no benefit, since there was very little dialogue between the parties involved.

She said she had been persuaded by the defence that the tapes touched on the sexual behaviour of the accused and his strange proclivityand therefore might be prejudicial.

The prosecution told the judge they had provided the court with four recordings but the judge said that when she had played the memory stick provided to her, she only heard two.

She was told three were of an intimate nature.

Detective Garda Paul Fitzpatrick of the National Cyber Crime Bureau told the court in the absence of the jury that he associated the recordings with a Nokia mobile phone.

The defence argued that the computer evidence, including the searches for human decomposition, should be excluded in full as it could not be established that Quirke was operating the computer.

They also sought to have the tape of the conversation between Mary Lowry and Flor Cantillon, secretly recorded by Quirke, ruled out, claiming the matter had not been properly investigated.

They described the tapes as highly prejudicial and proved nothing.

Bernard Condon SC said the jury must be instructed that they could draw no inference on how the material ended up on his clients computer, if not we are into the realm of speculation because it has never been investigated.

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He argued the recordings had never been put to Pat Quirke in interviews.

However Michael Bowman SC for the prosecution said: The tapes described as sex tapes were dealt with on two separate occasions and on each occasion, the defendant chose to exercise his rights.

Mr Bowman said the fact that there was a recording between Mary Lowry and Flor Cantillon taken out of Mr Quirkes property would be established by facts.

We cant say how it came to happen, he said.

He said the court would warn the jury not to speculate on any element of the case.

And he said the recording was important since it clearly communicates the interest Mr Quirke had regarding Mr Cantillon and Ms Lowry.

Judge Creedon ruled the material in - however said internet searches for Jo Jo Dullard, Siobhan Kearney and Joe OReilly could not be put before the jury since these were notorious cases about which many people could conduct searches and could be prejudicial.

The prosecution had sought to have the two rectangular concrete lids of the run-off tank brought into the courtroom to be shown before the jury.

However the defence counsel objected strenuously to this suggestion, with Bernard Condon SC describing the exercise as entirely unnecessary.

This is a piece of theatre - the doors of this court will open and these enormous slabs will be rolled into court and guards will huff and puff as they bring them in, he said.

The jury would be urged: Have a look at these, look at these massive slabs, he added.

He dismissed the bid as: a piece of rank theatre, it adds nothing to this case, a piece of high theatre.

David Humphries BL for the prosecution objected to Mr Condons remarks, saying: This is a matter that can be organised so that there is no huffing and puffing.

This is not a piece of theatre, not for titillation, he said, adding: "This goes to a real issue in the case. It goes to the ability of various persons with access to the farm to move these slabs.

However Judge Eileen Creedon in the end decided that the introduction of the slabs into the courtroom was not necessary.

In a voir dire or trial within a trial conducted in the absence of the jury, the Judge heard that in June 2014, the team investigating the murder of Bobby Ryan staged a tank reconstruction at the scene at Fawnagowan, Co Tipperary.

The aim was to recreate, with the aid of photographs, the scene at the run-off tank on the day the body was discovered  April 30, 2013.

Gardai were interested in testing Patrick Quirkes theory that he could see a foreign object or plastic dummy through the wedge gap that emerged as he pushed a pipe into the tank to draw water.

Mr Quirke had claimed he had prised one of the concrete lids aside using a shovel and put a suction pipe through the gap to draw whatever water was there.

As the water was being sucked up he noticed what he thought was a plastic dummy or an inflatable doll in the tank. He turned off the pump and pulled off the second slab, which he said was easier to move. He said: I could see clearly it was a body.

Gardai were keen to test this claim and so on June 11 2014, Inspector Patrick OCallaghan went to Fawnagowan to inform Mary Lowry that they would be carrying out a reconstruction.

He then went to the local hardware store and bought some insulation slabs and heavy duty plastic.

The following morning, at around 7.30am, he met with a team of gardai, organised by Sergeant Deborah Walsh.

The area around the tank was overgrown, he said, with half of the roof still on. This was taken off to carry out the reconstruction.

Insp OCallaghan said it was a sunny day with the sun was high in the sky.

At 10.45am Detective Garda John Grant, the scenes of crime manager, who attended at the scene on April 30, arrived with Garda John Kavanagh, the original scenes photographer.

As Insp OCallaghan supervised the reconstruction, Garda Kavanagh took photos and several short videos.

The insulation slabs were placed on top of the tank, replacing the concrete slabs that were on it the day the body was found.

A white, life-size, training dummy, provided by the fire service, was dressed in a crime scene suit and placed in the tank.

"We pulled back the nearest lid and put a pipe down, similar to the pipe Patrick Quirke used on the day of the discovery," said Insp OCallaghan in court.

The inspector said he looked down into the tank and could see "absolutely nothing."

It was dark. The pipe disappeared into it. You could see nothing else, he said.

After the second slab was lifted he said that he could see the head of the dummy and light trace of remainder.

The exercise finished at 1pm.

Insp OCallaghan told that court that prior to the reconstruction, he had received Pat Quirkes account, in which he stated that he looked in and saw what he thought was a plastic dummy.

I could see nothing, said Insp OCallaghan of his own reconstruction.

In his statement about the exercise, Insp OCallaghan said that given what he had been able to view during the reconstruction, he had no hesitation in saying Pat Quirke could not have seen the actual remains of Bobby Ryan and furthermore could not say he was naked.

Lorcan Staines, SC for the defence, put it to Insp OCallaghan that the transcript of Mr Quirkes description of what he said he saw was incorrect.

Investigators had incorrectly typed I hadnt taken the second lid off, instead of had.

This had resulted in the Inspector wrongly assuming that Pat Quirke was describing what he saw through the triangular wedge gap when in fact he had also taken the second lid off, giving a better view underneath.

Inspector OCallaghan said he accepted that but added, thats that part but go back to the other disclosure at the start. He said dummymy view is that he couldnt have seen that.

Detective Garda John Grant, who also attended the reconstruction, told the court that he could see nothing when he looked through the opening created by the pipe.

Once the second slab was removed, there was an outline but he could not definitely say it was a body.

Several short videos of the reconstruction, each about 30 seconds long, were played in court.

They showed Garda Conor Ryan in the tank, being told were to put the training dummy and a pipe being placed down in between the plastic slabs.

Mr Staines challenged the reliability of the reconstruction, saying there had been an utter lack of scientific thought put into a process that should have been a scientific exercise, taking into account the time of day, the shadows created by the sun and the size of the wedge angle.

He said that the tomfoolery seen in the videos would never have happened if gardai had enlisted an engineer to assist.

Judge Creedon found in favour of the defence and ruled out the reconstruction, based on the frailty in the evidence of the witnesses.

Meanwhile the jury also did not hear Michelle Ryans claim that her father, Bobby, had informed her that Pat Quirke had warned him to stay away from Mary Lowry at a Brendan Grace concert they had all attended.

The defence objected to this being put before the jury on the basis that it was hearsay.
Ana Kriegel was tall and strong and looked older than her years

The mother of schoolgirl Ana Kriegel has said she was "a loner" who found it difficult to make friends and was "bullied endlessly" in secondary school.

Geraldine Kriegel told the trial of two 14-yer-old boys, accused of murdering her daughter, that Ana was adopted from Russia by herself and husband Patrick when she was two-and-a-half-years old.

Ms Kriegel said Ana "loved dancing" and spent hours in their front room "listening to music, dancing, practising her moves and singing".

She told the Central Criminal Court how Ana loved primary school, and was happy, though she had a few difficulties in sixth class.

Ana had a tumour in her right ear, which had to be removed, and she had hearing difficulties, so she was always "standing on the right-hand side of people". She also had problems with her eye sight and had worn glasses until she started wearing contact lenses, as she couldn't do all her dance moves with her glasses on.

Ms Kriegel said Ana was tall and strong, looked older than her years and "could pass for an 18-year-old".

She could also "swim like nobody I've ever seen".

Ms Kriegel said that Ana had been excited about going to secondary school in September 2017, but a teacher in her primary school had expressed concern to her that Ana was "so vulnerable and innocent in her manner" that others may tease or make a mockery of her, or take advantage of her.

Ms Kriegel said she expressed these concerns to the principal of Ana's secondary school. There had been problems the summer before secondary school, and Ana had received "awful, explicit messages".

Ms Kriegel said she was concerned about cyber bullying so she checked Ana's phone and iPad every night.

Ana didn't like this "too much" but she knew she would lose these devices if she didn't show them to her mother.

Ms Kriegel also said Ana would post videos online, some of her tap dancing and with her niece. She received some nasty comments, including one which told her to "go die" and another who said he would have Ana executed.

Ms Kriegel had also been concerned about a picture on her daughter's phone of Ana blindfolded and tied to a chair. However, this had just been a prank between her and her friend. They had sent the picture to a boy she liked in the hope he would come and rescue her.

Ms Kriegel also said Ana was a "loner" and had self-harmed after she was suspended from school.

However, Ms Kriegel felt Ana was more likely copying a friend who had expressed suicidal thoughts, and though she went to counselling her counsellors had no concerns for her.

However, the family was advised to bring and collect Ana from school as she was "so terrified of the bullies".

Ms Kriegel also said Ana "volunteered for everything" but was "bullied endlessly" in secondary school.

She will continue to give evidence this morning.
Former Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe has settled his High Court proceedings against the State for an undisclosed sum.

Last night, a Justice Department official confirmed the Garda whistleblower agreed to a confidential settlement following mediation with State officials.

"An agreed settlement of these legal actions has now been reached through mediation. The settlement agreement is confidential and no further comment will be made in that regard," a spokesperson for the department told the Irish Independent.

Sean Costello, the McCabe family solicitor, told RTE last night: "All the litigation has been resolved to their satisfaction. Maurice and Lorraine and their family are happy to be able to move on now and leave all of this behind them."

Mr McCabe, who retired from An Garda Siochana last October, had brought numerous High Court proceedings against State officials, including former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan, the Justice Minister and the Attorney General as well as child and family agency Tusla.

He retired from the force after 30 years' service a number of weeks after the Disclosures Tribunal, led by Mr Justice Peter Charleton, published its report exonerating the Cavan-based sergeant.

He also thanked Mr McCabe for his "considerable service" to the State.

The tribunal found former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan and superintendent David Taylor - formerly head of the Garda press office - had engaged in a smear campaign against Mr McCabe.

In February, the High Court was told the State was to write an "open letter" to Mr McCabe and his legal team to see whether any of the legal actions against the State could be resolved through mediation.

Mr McCabe's lawyers had filed a motion at the time seeking a judgment against the parties over their alleged failure to file a defence to his claims.

Gerald Meehan Bl, for the State defendants, had said his clients had not filed a defence as it would not help bring the sides together in a bid to see if a "conciliatory mediation" could take place.

Counsel said the proposed mediation would involve all cases taken against the State by Mr McCabe.

He said such mediation would not just be in the interests of all parties involved but in the "public interest" as well.

State officials would not comment on when the mediation took place, nor would they disclose the amount of the settlement reached.

However, the Justice Department said the Government fully acknowledges the findings of the disclosures tribunal since the report was published in October 2018.

"The Government has made it clear its full acceptance of the report and the failings it identified," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"The Minister for Justice and Equality met with former Sergeant McCabe and his wife Lorraine in November and apologised on behalf of the State for the manner in which he was treated," the statement read. "As had been stated previously, the minister and the Government's clear wish was to ensure that the legal actions initiated by former Sergeant McCabe against the State were settled as quickly as possible to the satisfaction of Mr McCabe, without the need for litigation before the courts."

In its third interim report, the tribunal chairman found "Sergeant Maurice McCabe, who exemplified hard work in his own calling, was repulsively denigrated for being no more than a good citizen and police officer".

The damning report found that Mr Callinan and Mr Taylor engaged in a defamatory campaign against the whistleblower who highlighted abuses of the penalty points system and other shortcomings by the force. But instead of being lauded by his then commissioner, he was targeted in "a frontal attack" during 2013 and 2014. This was done to "head off" what Mr Callinan said he saw as "the undermining of standards of duty and loyalty to which he had devoted his career".
GARDAI targeting feuding gangs in west Dublin have recovered a loaded sawn-off shotgun following searches in the area.

Searches were conducted across areas of a housing estate in Blanchardstown along with one home.

The semi-automatic weapon was found yesterday in the estate hidden in the undergrowth of wasteland.

It has been sent for ballistic testing by gardai.

"As part of an ongoing policing operation targeting criminality in the Blanchardstown area of Dublin, a residential premises at Sheephill Park, Blanchardstown was searched yesterday," a spokesman said.

"As part of this operation wasteland at Sheephill Estate was also searched, during the course of this search a loaded semi-automatic sawn off shotgun was recovered concealed in undergrowth."

No arrests have been made by gardai with investigations still ongoing.
GoMeta, a San Diego, CA-based application and augmented reality (AR) experience building company, closed a $6M funding round.

The round was led by Bitkraft Esports Ventures with participation from Mark Pincus, Michael Eisner, Jonathan Terleski, and Mike Jones, among others.

The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations and its development efforts.

Founded in 2016 and led by Dmitry Shapiro, CEO, and Sean Thielen, CTO, GoMeta provides:

 Koji, which is in beta, to rapidly create applications, test them with real users, and deploy them across web, mobile, and desktop, and

 Metaverse, to create augmented reality experiences for iOS and Android, without writing code.

FinSMEs

01/05/2019
GardaI and CAB officers during a raid on a house today

GardaI and CAB officers during a raid on a house today

THE Criminal Assets Bureau have carried out a series of early morning raids across two counties as part of a major probe into a Kinahan cartel associate.

Shortly before 6am this morning local and national garda units, backed up by heavily armed officers, raided 18 properties in Dublin and Kildare.

During the searches seven Rolex watches, two high-end SUVs, a GPS tracker and designer clothing were seized.

A 36-year-old man was also arrested on suspicion of money-laundering and is being held at Irishtown garda station.

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Documentation relating to the ownership of assets, financial documentation, mobile phones and electronic storage devices were seized and are currently being examined by CAB officers.

Gardai said that evidence of considerable expenditure on a number of homes in Dublin has also been obtained and will be analysed.

Sources told Independent.ie that the main target of the investigation was a 36-year-old Crumlin man who is a senior associate of the Kinahan cartel and suspected of involvement in international drug trafficking.

The convicted drug dealer also has strong links to Liverpool gangs and has been involved in organised crime since his teens.

This mans Crumlin home along with other addresses in Walkinstown, as well as Kildare, were raided by members of the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and Armed Support Unit (ASU).

A garda spokesman said: Todays search operation is a significant development in the CAB investigation and will be seen as a major upset to the network used by this Organised Crime Gang to launder the proceeds of their drug dealing activities.

The CAB were also assisted by organised crime gardai, detective and drug units from Crumlin and Sundrive Road garda stations and the Kildare garda region.

The Air Support Unit and Garda Dog Unit were also involved in the organisation targeting the international organised crime gang.
The second-level education system in this country can be seen to be in a very robust state. A healthy pluralism exists in that the predominantly denominational voluntary schools account for roughly half of provision and State schools account for the other half.

This implies choice and diversity, and an incremental evolution to meet changing demographic needs and to cater for parental choice is ongoing.

Our schools and our education system are well-regarded, nationally and internationally, and are continually referenced as a reason why so many firms invest here and value our workforce. We have an emphasis on education that is considered relatively balanced and focused on the holistic as well as the academic, and a retention rate in our schools that is enviable in international comparisons.

We are cognisant of changing needs and are engaged in reforms of pedagogy and curricula that aim to prepare our young people for the challenge, professionally and personally, of the world they inhabit. A reform of Junior Cycle is underway and a consultation process has commenced regarding how our Senior Cycle might change that has seen a fruitful engagement with our students.

There is a continual focus on how to assess what we might need and implement what is required, in a manner that exhibits investment and professionalism. Education matters and many able, committed and talented people have a profound sense of their responsibility and stewardship.

But we should never take things for granted. Traditionally, much of what was positive in our schools emanated from a sense of vocationalism and service that may not be as easy to sustain in years to come due to a deficiency in Government funding.

The problem of teacher supply that has arisen in recent years needs to be addressed. What tends to be forgotten by many is that so much of what is valued in our school tradition comes from the extra-curricular and the freely given, and there is a richness here that we do not want to lose. This is not the norm in most countries. Finland is often advanced as a model of best practice in education, and there is much we have learned from its system, but it has no tradition of extra-curricular activities in school. We have so much of value here that we should try to nurture, and it is incumbent on us all to support the profession and ensure that the cohort of talented and committed people who work in our schools is suitably replenished and sustained.

The balance we have in our second-level school system between voluntary and State provision is commendable. Our voluntary schools can be seen to represent a successful and long-standing model of public-private partnership. These schools, the majority of which are faith-based, are highly regarded in educational terms and intrinsic to the fabric of our communities. The faith-based school sector is popular, not only in Ireland but throughout Europe, where one-third of children attend Catholic schools, and is generally afforded an autonomy and support that allows it to prosper. This entails a willingness to respect the characteristic spirit and founding intent of our schools in a pluralist and inclusive environment, and this is something we should not lose sight of, ensuring the voluntary in this country continues to thrive.

Separately, we have been concerned for a number of years that an initiative and compliance overload has made leadership difficult and the position of principal less attractive. Too many principals wish to leave early or there are insufficient applicants when posts are advertised. This is a real issue. We need more administrative and deputy-level support, or the realisation that change and what is expected of our leaders should be measured and tapered according to capacity. The most effective work a principal may undertake with students and staff is unmeasurable; watching out for, anticipating and trying to help and support students before problems might occur. It will benefit us all if principals can use their skill-set on more than the administrative and to allow them to realise that sense of service and engagement that attracted them to teaching in the first instance.

That space is always afforded to care for the student is crucial.

Of course, there are imperfections and work to do, but as a society, we have so much to look forward to given the inherent strengths of our system, the calibre of the young people who emerge from our schools and the vibrancy in debate and reform that characterises our education sector.

John Curtis is General Secretary of the Joint Managerial Board (JMB), the representative organisation for schools in the voluntary secondary sector, whose annual conference opens today.
Applications for the SUSI grant opened last Thursday - this may have gone unnoticed by some as it occurred over the Easter holidays. As we enter this final and extremely short school term, applying for the SUSI grant should be high on the list of priorities of any prospective higher or further education student who thinks they may be eligible.

The grant is means tested, so second-level students should enlist the assistance of a parent when preparing their application. It is also available to those returning to education.

Applicants will be assessed as either dependent or independent. Their status will be determined by their age and whether or not they were living with their parents last October.

SUSI support is broken into two parts. There is a maintenance grant to assist with day-to-day costs, which is paid over nine months into the recipient's bank account. The amount awarded depends on the household income, and the distance one will have to travel to the college. In addition, applicants attending higher education, for example on a CAO course, may be awarded a fees grant, which is a contribution to the course fees and is paid directly to the college.

Students attending further education receive a maintenance grant only.

Students studying at undergraduate level in the EU may be eligible for a maintenance grant, but will not be eligible for a fees grant.

Anyone considering attending further or higher education this year, who thinks they may be eligible for SUSI, should begin the application process as soon as possible, even if they have not yet decided if they will definitely attend. The first step is to log on to susi.ie , which has all the relevant information on income thresholds. Potential applicants can then use the SUSI eligibility reckoner to see if they are likely to qualify for support.

Grant applications will be assessed on the basis of nationality, residency, previous education and income. Applicants should be EU/EEA, Swiss and resident in Ireland for three of the last five years to be fully eligible. If an applicant does not meet these criteria, they may still be eligible for some funding, but should see the nationalities section of susi.ie for more details. Applicants must be entering an approved course.

Anyone interested should register with SUSI, where they will be asked to create an account which will be protected by a password and pin.

Next week, this column will look at the application form itself in more detail.

Aoife Walsh is a guidance counsellor at Malahide Community School, Co Dublin
Ireland's education system has transformed in the past 20 years in terms of the supports it offers children with special educational and additional care needs.

There has been groundbreaking legislation and funding to deliver resources, including special needs assistants (SNAs) to cater for a pupil's non tuition needs, such as mobility, eating and toileting.

The focus has been on making the system inclusive, so that, where possible, a child with special needs can be educated with, and given supports to enable them to access the same opportunities as, their peers. Overall, supporting pupils with special educational and additional care needs amounts to 19pc of the Department of Education budget.

From where the system was in the late 1990s when mothers were going to the High Court to secure an education for a child with special needs, the change has been revolutionary.

Despite the progress, the inclusion journey is not over. As evidenced by the protest outside the Dail yesterday, parents are still battling on behalf of their children, including many wondering why their local school is not providing necessary support for pupils on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Another identified gap is the absence of therapy services in school itself. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has proposed the School Inclusion Model to fill that gap. It describes it as the delivery of the right supports at the right time to students with special educational and additional care needs.

Bringing the health system into schools in this way would be a further revolutionary step for Irish education, but one that those who have experienced it say delivers big benefits.

It translates as having a team of professionals, including occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists, nurses with experience of complex medical needs and behavioural practitioners, working full-time with, and in, a cluster of schools, responding to their distinct needs.

It started as a review of the SNA scheme. Ultimately, the NCSE concluded that a better model of support was required, one that would involve both an upskilling programme for SNAs, but also the introduction of a range of other personnel with relevant qualifications and skill-sets into schools.

It led to various Government departments and agencies dipping their combined toes in the water with a demonstration project across 150 schools and early-childhood settings in the Kildare, Wicklow and South Dublin region over the course of the current school year.

The collaboration involves the Departments of Education and Skills, Health, and Children and Youth Affairs, as well as the NCSE and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

While a formal evaluation is ongoing, the anecdotal evidence is strong and the promising outcomes have led to a further phase, in the form of a trial, to be conducted in the 2019/20 year.

The trial is limited to the 75 schools, both primary and post-primary, involved in the demonstration project, but will be deeper in scope: it retains the therapy element and additional features include more intensive support from the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), nursing services, front-loading of schools' SNA allocation and SNA training.

Some 19 speech and language therapists and 12 occupational therapists will deliver supports within the 75 schools, and they will have the backing of an NCSE regional support team with four speech and language therapists, two occupational therapists and two behaviour support practitioners.

The occupational and speech and language therapists work in teams, typically across 14 schools each.

A multi-tiered approach involves working with individual and small groups of pupils, as well as upskilling staff to build capacity within the school generally to include pupils with additional needs and to provide other supports for pupils. A new national training programme for SNAs is also part of the plan.

Amy Collins, the clinical lead for speech and language therapy on the demo project, says it has been "really positive".

Initial contact with a school involves setting up an in-school project team, and it is that team that sets the agenda for the service.

Occupational therapist Brian Fitzgerald says that setting up those structures is very important. "The therapists are not in the school every day of the week; the project team is on the ground and they can prioritise," he says. In the course of the demo project "in the morning, you could be working with a two-year-old and, in the afternoon, you could be working with a 17-year-old", he says.

In-school supports are not intended to replace attendance at a HSE clinic such as for speech and language therapy, "but if you have a child attending a clinic, the therapist in school could liaise with the therapist there", says Fitzgerald.

The purpose of the trial is to see how this will all knit together.

Then the big question will be the level of Government commitment to extend a final version of the model to all 4,000 schools. Education Minister Joe McHugh says that if a Government decides it is working, there would be "a duty on the Government to roll it out nationally".
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who hosted the naming and commissioning ceremonies of the new Naval Service vessel L.E. George Bernard Shaw on the Frank Cassin Wharf in Waterford.

Little Emily Byrne was guest of honour when the Naval service's newest vessel, the LE George Bernard Shaw, was officially named and commissioned.

The event came just months after she received a liver transplant from a "living donor" who is in the service and a family friend.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar might have travelled to Waterford to oversee the proceedings, but all eyes were on 22-month-old Emily, from Knockanore, near Tallow in Co Waterford.

Emily carried out the naming ceremony with help from her mother Ann Marie, while her proud dad Sean and big brother Cormac looked on.

And also present was petty officer Naval diver John Fenton, a friend of Emily's family and the donor.

Emily was just five months old in late 2017 when, seriously ill, she was flown to King's College Hospital in London by the Irish Air Corps and placed on a list for an immediate liver transplant.

But Mr Fenton voluntarily donated 20pc of his liver to Emily, putting his own life on hold for a year as a result.

"She's good overall," her mother Ann Marie said after the ceremony. "She's flying around the place and living life to the fullest.

"She's getting up to all sorts of mischief, it's fantastic, and that's thanks to John being her donor.

"If he hadn't put himself forward as a donor, we don't know where we would be now."

The Taoiseach said Mr Fenton's act "epitomises the values of our Naval service; courage, determination and putting other people first".
A doctor who was among four medics who revealed the cramped conditions at a hospital mortuary where bodies leaking fluids must be placed in a corridor yesterday accused management of trying to discredit them.

Prof Rob Landers, a pathologist at University Hospital Waterford, was reacting to a statement issued by a public relations firm on behalf of the South/South West Hospital Group saying there was no evidence to substantiate the claims made by doctors and that it had received no formal complaints from the public or staff.

Last week, Prof Landers spoke of the sub-standard conditions at the mortuary which left some bodies without proper temperature control and leaking fluids, leading to distress for bereaved relatives.

He said yesterday that the response from the hospital was an attempt to discredit the doctors who had "put their reputations on the line in order to improve conditions at the hospital". He added: "For the HSE to claim they were unaware of the issues and risks associated with the mortuary is at best disingenuous."

Prof Launders said the HSE at regional and group level were warned of the conditions as early as 2004 and the retired State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy had written about her concerns.

The letter outlining the conditions from the four doctors was written to the hospital last October and was made public by the 'Waterford News and Star' newspaper, after a freedom of information request for its release was turned down.

The newspaper has since reported on how a doctor wrote to the hospital group management through an email in 2017 saying a body had to be taken to another county due to lack of room in Waterford mortuary. The hospital group claimed earlier this week that no complaints were received, but it was engaging with one bereaved family who had sought answers after the recent revelations.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, in Waterford yesterday, said that it was a "strange story."

"I don't know if those claims are true or not, but it doesn't seem that there's any evidence to support them and certainly those who made them haven't put forward any evidence to support them," he said. "What really matters is that the new mortuary... is being built."

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said he was briefed by Minister of State John Halligan, who spoke to the doctors involved.
A takeover of Independent News and Media (INM) - if it goes ahead - will boost revenues by about 20pc to 1bn at Antwerp-headquartered Mediahuis.

It is enough to push the business, which was only founded in 2013, into the top flight of Europe's fractured media sector and is also Mediahuis's first foray into the vast English language media market - where its chairman Thomas Leysen clearly has further ambitions.

The Belgian-Dutch company has expanded rapidly since 2013, when it was formed from a merger of Belgian newspaper rivals, going on to gobble up regional and national titles, most notably including Dutch newspapers 'De Telegraaf' and 'NRC Handelsblad'.

In Dublin yesterday, Mediahuis chief executive Gert Ysebaert and chairman Thomas Leysen placed huge stress on the company's experience transitioning established print brands to commercially viable online models, but also the individuality of titles - including editorial independence and a case-by-case approach to metering paywalls.

Its existing media assets are a lively mix of conservative and liberal titles spanning the equivalent of the broadsheet and tabloid markets. Its oldest title, 'Haarlems Dagblad', dates back to 1665, while its newest products include digital-only apps and podcasts. No single title dominates the group.

The private company that controls Mediahuis is in turn owned by shareholders - the Van Puijenbroek family, who had a Dutch media business for 70 years before merging with Mediahuis; the Baert family in Belgium whose publishing business dates back 120 years, and chairman Thomas Leysen himself, whose father led a rescue of Belgium's 'De Standaard' 40 years ago.

In Belgium, the main assets are Flemish language, which overlaps linguistically with neighbouring Dutch. In the Netherlands, Mediahuis has a 35pc share of the newspaper market, in Belgium it has 43pc.

The group also owns classifieds businesses - including property, cars and dating websites, as well as radio assets.

The INM deal represents a major departure - the first out of its language area and the biggest part of the business that will not bring in new shareholders.

Mr Leysen, who is familiar with Ireland as chairman of Brussels-headquartered KBC Bank Group since 2011, said the INM deal would be funded with additional debt at the parent level - which would push its financial gearing to a still conservative 1.5 times to two times earnings.

Mr Leysen himself is one of Belgium's best-known businessmen - he sits on the steering committee of the Bilderberg group of corporate and government leaders.
Belgian-Dutch media group Mediahuis moved with extraordinary speed in securing an undisputed position in the driving seat at Independent News & Media (INM) in a matter of just hours.

INM is the countrys largest independent media company and the publisher of the Irish Independent.

At 7am yesterday, INMs board announced to the stock market that they were unanimously recommending a 146m takeover offer from Mediahuis.

By 11.30am, small shareholders at INMs annual general meeting were still reacting to the approach.

The Antwerp-headquartered publisher then announced it had a 27pc stake in INM.

It also had binding commitments from the previous largest shareholders, Denis OBrien and Dermot Desmond, to sell their remaining shares at the agreed price of 10.5 cents per share.

Mediahius chairman Thomas Leysen said he believed his company had put forward a fair price for INM.

INM chief executive Michael Doorly confirmed the board would consider a higher offer if one emerged for the company.

But Mediahuis ended the day controlling a large enough stake to effectively block any rival bid emerging and as INM's biggest shareholder.

The Mediahius bid was conditional on Denis O'Brien, with 29.88pc of shares, and Dermot Desmond, with a 15pc stake, providing irrevocable undertakings to support the offer by a deadline of 5pm yesterday.

In the event they each committed to the deal early and had sold a combined 26pc stake by 11.30am.

At a briefing for journalists in Dublin, Mediahius chairman Thomas Leysen said: "I think it's a significant premium to what the company traded at before we came on to the scene."

Mediahuis had factored into its price the potential bill from an ongoing investigation into corporate governance at INM by High Court-appointed inspectors, and a parallel Data Protection Commission probe.

The group - formed in 2013 from a merger of Belgian media businesses - believes in quality, independent media and editorial independence but that can only happen if titles are financially viable, he said.

"We are in it for the long haul," he said.

An acquisition of INM will include the Irish Independent, Independent.ie, 'Sunday Independent', 'Sunday World', 'The Herald', 'Belfast Telegraph' and several regional newspapers.

However, at the INM AGM a number of smaller shareholders reacted angrily to the Mediahuis offer price.

"You are giving the bloody company away," investor Donald Pratt told INM chairman Murdoch MacLennan and the other members of the board.

Former employee and current shareholder Michael Nolan said a "once great company" was being "sold for buttons".

Shareholder Colm Moore, a private investor, questioned whether the price offered reflected the cash on INM's balance sheet and the value of a 100m unrecognised tax asset resulting from historic losses.

However, Mr MacLennan said the price offered represented a premium of approximately 44pc to INM's closing price of 7.28 cents on April 3, 2019.

"We believe this is the best deal for shareholders," he said.

Mediahuis had made the initial approach to INM, he said. "We didn't put the company up for sale, they came and made a cash offer for the business," he said.

"We have looked at it very carefully, and it is the best offer we have had," he told shareholders.

Mediahuis's plans for INM will focus on the transition of Irish titles from overwhelmingly print revenue to digital, although executives declined to comment on specific synergies.

In Belgium and the Netherlands, Mediahuis sells 1.4 million copies a day of its stable of newspaper titles, but has moved the digital editions of all titles to some form of paid for model. INM is currently developing a dual commercial model of advertising and subscription for its online titles.

INM shareholders will be circulated details of a proposed scheme of arrangement within 28 days, Mr MacLennan said.

A scheme of arrangement is a mechanism to complete a corporate transaction such as a sale even if not all shareholders agree - it must be signed off by the High Court - and in INM's case will mean that if holders of 75pc of shares accept the offer, then remaining shareholders can be forced to sell too to ensure a full takeover.

Circulation of that documentation will be followed by an extraordinary general meeting, at a date not yet set.

Shareholders can then raise questions about the offer and the sale process, managed for INM by investment bank Lazard and Davy.

Mediahuis CEO Gert Ysebaert said he believed "INM will thrive under Mediahuis's ownership".

"Mediahuis can contribute the relevant experience, skills and resources to invest in INM's brands and significantly enhance its operational and digital capabilities.

"Underpinned by our unreserved belief in independent and quality journalism, we are optimistic about the combination of Mediahuis and INM and its potential contribution to the Irish media landscape," he said.

Mediahuis operates news brands such as 'De Standaard', 'Het Nieuwsblad', 'Gazet van Antwerpen' and 'Het Belang van Limburg' in Belgium and titled in the Netherlands include 'De Telegraaf', 'NRC Handelsblad', 'NRC Next', 'De Limburger' and 'Noordhollands Dagblad'.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  The public will soon find out the next batch of new lawyers in the country.

The Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it will release the results of the 2018 Bar Exams on May 3. Bar Exams Chair and Associate Justice Mariano Del Castillo will reveal the number of passers on the Supreme Court front yard on that day. The complete list will also be displayed on a large screen in the area.

A total of 8,155 applicants took the exam last year, the highest recorded number of test-takers for the Bar.

For the 2017 Bar Exam, 25.5 percent or a total of 1,724 examinees out of 6,748 takers passed the exam. The 2016 Bar Exam yielded the highest number of passers with a whopping 59.06 passing percentage. Out of 6,344 examinees, 3,747 examinees passed the rigorous month-long exam.
Forefront Telecare, Inc., a provider of behavioral telehealth solutions for vulnerable seniors in rural communities across the United States, closed a $15m growth equity funding round.

New investors Tech Council Ventures and Boston Millennia Partners joined lead investors Spring Lake Equity Partners and the Ziegler Link-Age Fund in the round we already covered at the beginning of 2019.

The company plans to use the funds to:

 grow its nationwide network of psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners,

 further develop its HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform and

 expand into new states.

Led by Rob Rebak, Chief Executive Officer, Forefront is a pioneer and U.S. leader in the delivery of behavioral health services via its HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform, which incorporates software, hardware and comprehensive service protocols developed over years in the field. Its national provider network of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners and other behavioral health professionals work with Forefront to serve the behavioral health needs of clients and patients. Through flexible scheduling technology, management systems and logistics support, combined with a deep behavioral health experience, Forefront delivers solutions that integrate with existing client systems and workflows.

In addition to the funding, the company opened an office in Hamilton, New Jersey to complement its California offices, which will house senior management team members across several functional areas.

FinSMEs

01/05/2019
Communications Minister Richard Bruton has all but ruled out mobile broadband as an alternative to fibre for the State-backed National Broadband Plan roll-out.

Mr Bruton says that a 4G or 5G mobile broadband network capable of covering every rural home and business would require an extra 6,000 masts around the country in rural areas, double the amount currently in place.

He also said that it would take up to three times as long to build and that the broadband quality would be significantly poorer than a fixed-fibre service.

"A mobile 5G service is not a suitable alternative to fibre-to-the-home broadband, for many reasons as outlined by ComReg and others," Mr Bruton said in social media comments.

"Mobile coverage of 30mbs to 99.5pc of the country would require an additional 6,000 new masts around the country, would take over 10 years, would have insufficient capacity and [the] signal would be significantly affected by home insulation and hills."

Mr Bruton pointed to a recent report from the telecoms regulator, which estimated that it would cost almost 2bn to build a mobile broadband network that reached 99pc of the country, geographically.

The same report, commissioned by ComReg and conducted by Frontier Economics, found that the quality of a rural broadband network based on mobile technology would struggle in comparison to fixed-fibre counterparts and may not qualify under the "future-proof" requirements set out in the National Broadband Plan criteria.

"The [mobile] service modelled is not the same level of service outlined in the NBP service requirements, which are notably higher," said the report. "In particular, the NBP proposed a minimum level of service of 30Mbps to premises, and bidders were also requested to provide a future-proofed network which responded to growing demand for bandwidth."

However, the report also found that a mobile broadband network that was built to reach 99pc of the population, rather than the geographical landmass, would be considerably cheaper, at a cost of 511m.

Mr Bruton's comments come amid criticism over the cost of the National Broadband Plan, expected to be around 3bn over 25 years. Some critics of the plan have suggested a 5G wireless or mobile broadband network instead, arguing that it may cost less to construct.

Others have argued that the state's ambitions for high-speed broadband should be restricted to the original 1,100 villages and small towns initially identified by the process, and that communities themselves should then find a way to connect individual households and businesses to the state fibre.

The National Broadband Plan is expected to go before the Cabinet next week. Mr Bruton has indicated that he will recommend proceeding with the current bidder, Granahan McCourt. That consortium, led by businessman David McCourt, was the only remaining bidder for the contract after Eir and Siro - a joint venture between Vodafone and the ESB - backed out, citing a lack of interest in building the rural network.

If given the green light, the bulk of the network - which will reach 540,000 homes and businesses in mostly rural areas of the country - is expected to take three years.

Entry-level speeds under in the new fibre network will start at 150Mbs, which exceeds the best available speeds on the majority of Eir landline broadband services.

The Government has promised that access to the broadband services will cost rural householders no more than similar products in urban areas.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has promised 25 extra gardai for Drogheda as gang feuding in the town continues to spiral out of control.

It came amid mounting pressure over resourcing the town, which has seen more than 70 criminal incidents linked to the ongoing feud since last summer.

In the past week there have been seven firebomb attacks and an attempted gun murder.

The Irish Independent yesterday revealed how a new armed Garda unit for the Border region was stalled despite being expected by the end of March.

The Commissioner's announcement of extra gardai for Drogheda came at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Mr Harris said: "[Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan] and I have been in contact over the last months around this feud. So what I was able to inform the minister today, is that next month we will increase the establishment in Drogheda itself by a further 25 members."

Mr Harris explained the number of personnel in armed support units was being increased, with an additional 79 members to be added by the end of the year.

He also said a new unit would be established in Cavan, but rejected the GRA's demand for an armed response unit in every division, insisting they would remain deployed on a regional basis.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was "very concerned" about the situation in Drogheda.

Asked about the reported delay in providing a second armed response unit, he said there was now unprecedented investment in the gardai "following years of under-investment because of the financial crisis".

"Obviously, where resources are allocated is a matter for the Garda Commissioner, but I have spoken to the Justice Minister specifically about Drogheda," the Taoiseach said.

"I'm very concerned about the situation there. I very much feel for the citizens there, the residents there, just going about their normal lives who obviously are now in fear and we're going to make sure the resources are in place."

However, Fianna Fail said even more resources were required for Louth and the Border. Its justice spokesperson Jim O'Callaghan said: "The increased criminality, particularly from gangs targeting ATM machines, means that extra resources in the northern region are required.

"An armed support unit devoted exclusively to the Cavan/Monaghan division would greatly assist in tackling increased serious crime in the area."

Thugs

Earlier, Mr Flanagan said gardai would have 300 new vehicles by the end of the year, as well as improved IT capabilities.

The minister also rejected assertions by rank-and-file gardai that they are not properly resourced.

He said he was "very concerned" about the "unacceptable" feud, which he described was being led by "a small number of thugs, all of whom are known to gardai".

He again indicated extra gardai recruits from Templemore would be deployed to Co Louth later this year, which was then confirmed by Mr Harris.

Mr Flanagan defended the Government's record on policing, pointing out that since September 2014, almost 2,400 recruits have been assigned to mainstream duties nationwide, including 800 new trainees last year.

Meanwhile, members of An Garda Siochana will take part in Dublin's Pride parade in uniform for the very first time this year. In 2017, uniformed gardai joined their PSNI colleagues in Belfast's Pride parade.

Members of the Garda Marching Band have been involved in Dublin's Pride event since 2014.
PEOPLE who wish to donate an organ to strangers will be able to do so for the first time in under a proposed new law.

The Cabinet has given health minister Simon Harris approval to draft the Human Tissue Bill which also includes a "soft opt-out system" for organ donation.

This means that parts of an adult's body can be used in transplants - unless they have opted out. But families and next of kin can still veto the removal of organs.

The issue of altruistic donations was highlighted in recent days by the case of a Dublin doctor who traveled to Northern Ireland to donate a kidney to help a sick stranger.

Dr Dominick Natin, an occupational physician in the Mater Hospital in Dublin, is one of a handful of altruistic donors who have given a kidney to someone they do not know.

There is no such programme in the Republic, which confines donation of kidneys from people who have died or from living donors of relatives or friends.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced plans to progress Opposition Bills with the goal of getting them passed by the Dail or the Seanad by the Summer recess.

It includes a proposal by Independents4Change TD Clare Daly for the introduction of mandatory inquests following maternity deaths in hospitals.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin's proposed law on creating a new offence for sharing intimate images without consent and so-called 'revenge porn' is also to be fast-tracked.

And proposals to extend unpaid parental leave from 18 to 26 weeks put forward by Social Democrats co-leaders Roisin Shortall and Catherine Murphy are also to be adopted.
LAWYER Gerald Kean has said his issues with Revenue are being sorted and blamed his high profile for the matter making headlines.

Im helping people with considerably bigger problems than me, but it never gets me," he said.

Collector General Joe Howley has begun High Court proceedings against the celebrity solicitor amid reports he owes a six-figure sum.

The matter was first listed for mention on April 5, and Kean signalled that he planned to defend the case on April 16.

It comes shortly after Kean moved his offices to Dublins Trinity Street after being forced to leave his previous base on Pembroke Street, where he had been for many years.

According to reports, he owed his landlord nearly 180,000 in unpaid rent and other debts. He sold his home in Wicklow in 2017 for 1.45m.

Asked about the current status of the case, he said it was being dealt with, and added that he felt it was only a result of his high profile that made it a matter of public interest.

Its being sorted anyway, he said.

I think that because some people are more in profile than others, that if I run into a small problem then its made out to be a bigger problem.

Im helping people with considerably bigger problems than me.

Kean said Irish banks should be doing more to help domestic businesses during difficult times.

It didnt happen so much when the banks were supporting businesses, because when the banks were supporting businesses this didnt happen because you could rely on somebody, he said.

Now you cant. You cant rely on somebody now, you have to do it yourself and theres many people like that.

Its tough, but the most important thing is not to let it get you down.

Kean said that while the economy was definitely more buoyant, it was still a long way off Celtic Tiger levels.

I think the banks not supporting businesses is a big problem. Theres many business owners in trouble, he said.
I attended baby massage classes when my babies were tiny - it is generally recommended that infants are around four to six weeks old before starting classes.

According to Baby Massage Ireland, infant massage is the very special art of using nurturing touch to communicate with your baby, to show them that they are loved, welcomed and respected, and that they can feel safe and secure in their new world.

It is a great way of bonding with your baby as it works on an emotional as well as a physical level, developing closeness between parent and baby that has lifelong benefits. Parents massage their own baby using a specifically designed series of strokes. This series combines Indian and Swedish massage along with reflexology techniques and some gentle yoga-based exercises into a routine designed to be beneficial for infants.

I found it a lovely bonding experience with my children, and I believe the techniques I learned helped to soothe my daughter's colic and it became a firm part of our bedtime routine - plus it's a great way to get out of the house and meet other new mums.

To find classes run by a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI) in your area, see babymassageireland.com.

It is hard to comprehend what life with a newborn is really like until you have experienced the highs and lows of new motherhood. Now a mum-of-two, I realise those first 100 days - also known as the 'fourth trimester' - can seem like the longest days of your life, while at the same time flying by, leaving you wondering, "Where has the time gone?".

While it's impossible to know everything in advance of your little bundle of joy's arrival - and with the added bamboozlement of so much conflicting advice out there from the experts as well as well-meaning friends and family - there are some steps you can take to feel that little bit more prepared.

NURSERY ESSENTIALS

Let's start with the must-have nursery items. Where will baby sleep? I used a moses basket for my two children - Isabella (now aged five) and Luca (2). They were in it for about six weeks before they got too big and moved into their cots. However, some parents prefer to place their newborn straight into the cot.

The benefit of a moses basket is that it takes up much less space than a cot, meaning it's easier to fit in your bedroom, and I used to also move it from the bedroom into the living room during the day. Another great option is a 'co-sleeper' which can attach onto the side of your bed - this can make middle-of-the-night feeding easier and baby is right next to you while not actually being in your bed (sharing your bed with baby is not advised by the experts).

According to the HSE, the safest place for your baby to sleep is in a cot in the same room as you. Research has shown that their risk of cot death is lower than babies who sleep in a separate room. Keep your baby's cot in the same room as you for at least the first six months, says the HSE. It is also recommended that baby is placed on his or her back.

A changing table is often part of a baby's bedroom furniture, however, I found I hardly ever used mine (and friends have told me the same). You do need one or two plastic changing mats which you can place wherever is handy to change baby's nappy. Speaking of nappies, it's a good idea to stockpile nappies and wipes for those first weeks and months - it's surprising how many nappies a day such a tiny person can get through.

What else might you need?

 When it comes to clothes, your little one will likely be wearing babygros most of the time in those first 100 days, so no need to splash out on too many fancy outfits. Make sure you have plenty of babygros and vests, some cardigans and socks, and little hats to keep that little head warm. There will be many outfit changes, day and night, so be prepared.

 Room thermometer: Infants can overheat or get cold very quickly, so a room thermometer will allow you to regulate the temperature of your baby's room.

 Comfy chair for feeding, be it breastfeeding or bottle-feeding. We have a reclining glider chair with foot stool, which is very comfortable and has a smooth and gentle rocking motion to soothe baby. One of the expert baby shops will be able to advise you on the best solution for you.

ON THE MOVE

For the first six months, when baby can't be in a seated position, a pram, or lie-down seat on a pushchair, is essential. One of the best options - especially if you have a car - is to purchase a 'travel system'. This is a combination of pram/buggy and car seat and you can use the two simultaneously, meaning the car seat can sit atop the frame of the pram/buggy. I used a travel system with both my kids and they are very handy. If you are out and about in those first 100 days - and it is vital for you and baby to get some fresh air and have a change of scenery - you can just pop the car seat onto the buggy frame. Prices for travel systems can range from around 300 to close to 2,000, so do shop around.

FEEDING TIME

This is obviously one of the most important aspects of newborn life - tiny babies have tiny stomachs and will feed often, and a big part of your day and night in the early months will be spent feeding and burping, and feeding, and burping, and feeding

The World Health Organisation and the Department of Health recommend that you breastfeed your baby exclusively for the first six months and then continue to breastfeed as you introduce weaning foods (weaning usually starts around the six-month mark).

Do remember though that "every breastfeed makes a difference" - that means the colostrum after birth, a few days of breastfeeding, or breastmilk exclusively for the first six months. Breastfeeding has been proven to help fight respiratory tract infections, gastrointestinal infections, childhood cancers, obesity, and even sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). And according to breastfeeding.ie, it can benefit mums too, by helping stave off ovarian cancer, breast cancer, postnatal depression and type 2 diabetes.

However, for many different reasons, breastfeeding might not work for you, so educate yourself about bottle-feeding as well - after all, 'fed is best'. Personally, I breastfed my daughter for six months, though I introduced a bottle of formula per day around the four-month mark. With my son, breastfeeding didn't come as easily and I only breastfed him for four weeks. Both are healthy and thriving so I try to keep the mummy-guilt about the different amounts of breastmilk they received at bay.

If you do bottle-feed, make sure you have everything you might need before junior's arrival. Obviously you need bottles, and there is a big array out there. Make sure the bottles you purchase are suitable for newborns. These bottles now come in all shapes and sizes, there are even glass options and toxin-free stainless steel varieties, and some feature anti-colic mechanisms. Brands like Tommee Tippee, Philips Avent and Dr Brown offer starter kits which may include all your bottles, cleaning brushes, bottle warmer and even a steriliser, all essential to successful bottle feeding.

Personally, I also found an electric breastpump to be a lifesaver. There are also less expensive manual pumps on the market.

Even if you are exclusively breastfeeding, it's a good idea to give baby a bottle of expressed milk now and again, just so they are used to taking a bottle - from personal experience I know how hard it can be to convince a little one to drink from anything but your breast after the first 100 days or so.

MUM MATTERS TOO

After the delivery, everyone's focus will be on the tiny human you have created. However, it's important to remember that you will need some TLC as well. Your body has been through pregnancy and birth; now you are sore and exhausted and supposed to know what to do with this little miracle. It can all be a bit overwhelming, which is why it's important to ask for and accept help from friends and family.

Most new mums feel tired and unsure in the first weeks - this is known as the 'baby blues' - but if these feelings persist, you could be suffering from postnatal depression (PND). According to the HSE, PND occurs in 10 to 15pc of women within the first year of giving birth - make sure you speak to your public health nurse or GP if things get on top of you.

Try to eat healthily and get out into the fresh air with your baby every day - I found going on walks with the buggy kept me sane. In the first months, baby will sleep happily in the pram so, if it's an option, you can meet friends for a coffee and bring your sleepy little one along.

It will take time to find your feet and adjust to motherhood, so be kind to yourself and have patience with yourself and with baby while you figure out this exciting road ahead together.
When I celebrated my 10th birthday in 1969 Dublin was a city before supermarkets. Every grocery shop was a fiefdom ruled by a white-coated monarch who leaned across the counter to demand a password upon entry.

The password was the name of whatever item I was sent to purchase - goods I could see tantalizingly within reach on shelves behind the shopkeeper. But the name might have been in some extinct language for all the chance I had of being able to say it.

I was caged by a terrible stammer. To be a child so afflicted back then was to suffer daily public crucifixions. My panic at being sent to the shops began before I left the house. By the time I reached the shop it crystallized into palpable terror.

Because no matter how often I rehearsed a phrase as simple as "a pint of milk, please" on the empty street, once I queued in the shop I became tongue-tied, unable to speak. What I wanted became guess work for shopkeepers. Most were kind, but some were gruff and impatient, making you feel they didn't suffer fools gladly and, back then, having a stammer made me feel like the greatest fool on earth.

Stammerers in films were figures of fun and mockery, but a stammer was no laughing matter. Respecting neither creed nor class, it could affect anyone from a child in Finglas to Britain's reluctant wartime monarch, George VI, who strove to project a strong public image while privately fighting to control his stammer.

I always admired Proinsias De Rossa who refused to be defined or defeated by his stammer. But whether suffering, like him, from an involuntary repetition of words or, like me, from an inability to pronounce words, any stammer can strip away your self-confidence, making you socially isolated.

My true purgatory was being sent to buy "a sachet of shampoo" because I also suffered severe difficulties in pronouncing the "S" sound. Fifty years ago in 1969, when my mother began taking me for speech therapy to Temple Street Children's Hospital, it seemed impossible that I could ever say a phrase that my therapist patiently tried to teach me: "sixty-six sneaky, silvery snakes".

Unbeknownst to me, my mother was seriously ill and died later in 1969. Some of my last memories of her involve us walking past a blacksmith shoeing horses at Kelly's Row - a back lane on route to that hospital.

Her concern for her youngest son - considered a dunce due to my inability to speak - was greatly alleviated by my kindly therapist who assured her, "he is under a cloud now, but is actually a bright penny".

1969 was also an important year for The Irish Association of Speech & Language Therapists (IASLT) - Ireland's professional association of Speech & Language Therapists. In September of that year the first course started to train speech therapists in Ireland, with just fifteen students. Before this, the few therapists working in Ireland were foreign or - if Irish - had needed to be trained abroad.

Today in TCD, NUI Galway, the University of Limerick and Cork University over 100 students train to become speech therapists each year. But this year's IASLT conference in Croke Park on May 16th and 17th will host a special exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of speech therapist training starting in Ireland and will pay homage to pioneers like Sr. Marie De Montfort Supple - a major force in setting up the Dublin College of Speech Therapy and its first Director - and Sr. Mary Threadgold from Temple Street, both of whom will attend fifty years on.

The success of such pioneers is shown in how in 1971 there were just 20 speech therapists in Ireland and today there is over 1,800.

None of the pioneers who worked in the Temple Street speech therapy unit will likely remember this small boy from Finglas being brought there fifty years ago by my mother.

I'm just one of thousands helped during the past half century. But few tongue-tied children like myself have forgotten the patient assistance we received there and in the other institutions where therapists, who first began being trained here in 1969, now work.

I left Temple Street finally able to pronounce the S sound but my stammer didn't disappear overnight. It took years and occasionally I still get stuck on a word.

But when my mother died in 1969, so worried about her son, she could never have envisaged that, fifty years later, I'd make my living giving public readings and lectures as a poet. In the coming weeks I have speaking engagements in Ireland, France, Portugal and Britain.

In most venues an engineer will do a sound check in advance, asking me to say random words into the microphone.

But my words are never random. Staring at the seats waiting to be filled I remember my mother who brought me to Temple Street, the kindly speech therapists there patiently helping me gain the power of speech, the fifteen pioneer students who began training in Ireland in 1969 and the thousands who have followed.

Then slowly and distinctively, to honour them, I annunciate into the microphone: "sixty-six sneaky, silvery snakes."

What you need to know ABOUT speech therapy

What is the Irish Association of Speech & Language Therapists (IASLT)?

The IASLT is the recognised professional association for Speech and Language Therapists in the Republic of Ireland.

The aims of the organisation include:

 Developing and maintaining professional standards of practice

 Evaluating and accrediting speech and language therapy training courses

 Supporting continuing professional development of its members

 Representing the profession nationally and internationally.

How can I contact the IASLT?

For most queries, it is best to email: info@iaslt.ie.

Otherwise, call 01 8728082; or contact: Suite 108 The Capel Building, Mary's Abbey, Dublin 7, Ireland.

How do I get an appointment with an SLT in the public health service?

Parents wishing to make appointments for their children can contact their Local Health Office (LHO) to seek appointments with a speech and language therapist.

For clients with additional needs, many charitable organisations offer a speech and language therapy service.

Unfortunately, there are very few speech and language therapy posts in ireland dedicated to the care of adult clients in the community, though your LHO will be able to advise you whether one exists in your area. If not, local support groups relevant to your need (eg. stroke, Parkinson's, etc) may be able to provide you with information.

If your child attends a special needs school or a special needs class within a mainstream school, they may be able to access speech and language therapy through the school.

If you need to access speech and language therapy as a result of a medical condition and you attend a hospital for your medical condition, you may be able to access speech and language therapy through the hospital. Your hospital doctor will advise you on this.

Where can I find information about private practioners?

Please note the IASLT website does not provide a list of practising speech and language therapists. You can contact the HSE for details of your local speech and language therapy department.

Please consult Independent Speech-Language Therapists of Ireland (ISTI) for details of fully qualified SLTs in private practice.
'Irish Gothic Fairy Stories from the 32 Counties of Ireland' is out now.

Looking at fairies on my farm is the same as looking at traffic in Dublin. But they dont come everyday.

I kind of expect it. When I was younger if I hadnt seen them, youd think there was something wrong. Ive seen them on a good few occasions after that.

Pat Noone (52) lives on a 60-acre farm in Galway, and says that 16 acres of it is a fairy field  complete with a fairy fort, a fairy tree and a tunnel running through it.

On his land also lies a megalithic cairn and a fairy stone, monuments that have attracted visitors as far away from Pakistan.

[The fairy field] has the portal to the fairies  where the whitethorn meets the blackthorn. I have a cairn where an Irish chieftain was buried - there are a lot of those in Sligo.

[The fairy field is] a very special place and people have come out frightened out of it.

Growing up, Pat would hear his father regal visitors with folklore tales, and hed see him giving tours around the farm.

My father was a historian as well as a great folklorist, and had a lot of history of the local area  he was an authority on local history.

When I was small, people would bring him a half quarter of tobacco and hed bring them around and show them the fairy forts and the fields.

I was never frightened of the fairies, Id heard a lot of stories about them. Ive been farming since I was 14 or 15 and I ran into the fairies because I was up all night calving or lambing.

I met them on a few occasions, I chatted to them. They say you should never take a drink from the fairies, but I took a drink from them.

Today, May 1, is one calendar day in particular that Pat keeps watch for fairies  and hares.

Ive often seen the Irish hare disappear into the hills in the morning, they become fairies early in the morning.

Traditionally on May 1, a 'May Bush' which is usually a Whitethorn (Fairy Tree), is decorated with rags and colourful ribbons to pay homage to the fairy folk and make wishes for the year ahead.

May Flowers are also traditionally thrown onto roofs of houses on May 1 to appease the fairies.

Every farmer is up May morning because he doesnt want another fairy to steal his luck. Thats a big fairy morning; its the big day that the fairy has real power... and they have given real power to other people on May day.

When the fairies will give you the words, thats when the magic comes in. I got them from my father, he got them from the fairies. He was sick for a year twenty years ago, and he had the opportunity to give them to me before he died.

Ive seen a few people coming to me looking for the words, but I wont because it can be abused as well.

Possessing the sacrostanct "words" gives a person a healing power, Pat believes, and also the power for a little witchery.

He explains: If you put eggs on another property on May morning you can steal his luck, but you have to have the words, that is crucial.

I can make fairy water as well, I have a big stone on the field, and because I have the words, it can heal the land and people.

What about other supernatural forms, like the banshee? Is she someone he'll happily greet?

Ive seen her on a few occasions, it was scary enough, I didnt speak to the banshee at all, I kept going on my way. She was combing her hair, a young woman, it was in spring time, this time of the year, and she was sitting on the stone on a few occasions. I didnt speak to her. Everyone has something that theyre afraid of and that was mine. But nothing ever happened to me.

I havent had any bad experience because of it, but it stuck in my head about death, and thats why I didnt speak to her.

Farming the land from a young age, Pat says, gave him an easy opportunity to meet the fairies.

I was about 17 or 18, Id be out minding cows, I was always out fishing and hunting at night. It was all-night work, and I like outdoor sports. So I wasnt in the kitchen [growing up], I was reared outdoors.

I was coming down after looking at the cows in that 16-acre field. I heard the music and saw the fairies dancing and I went over and got talking to them. They talked English to me, I had no problem talking to them. They told me they just wanted me to keep the land the way it was, and told me not to take any of the bushes out. I listened to the music and I went home.

I have great luck with the stock, with farming, youll have your ups and downs with sick animals and nature takes its course, but overall Ive had very good luck with the farm. And I dont use any chemicals or sprays. Thats what the fairies told me. I use no weed killers at all whatsoever. Its not the modern farm that people expect, I let the ditches grow naturally and then trim them back with the saw. Its left naturally here.

Storyteller Steve Lally, who recently wrote a book 'Irish Gothic, Fairy Stories from the 32 counties of Ireland' with his wife Paula, says folklore is still very much a living part of contemporary Ireland.

"Even when people say they don't believe they still wouldn't dream of cutting down a fairy tree. Myself and Paula have heard stories from people who live in cities and towns who heard the wail of the Banshee. In ancient times boys were put in dresses as baby's to protect them from being stolen by the fairies, because boys were more sought after than girls in the fairy world."

"This ritual for example still exists today where we see both boys and girls dressed in christening gowns."
It is not good enough for the Government to continually bleat that gardai have sufficient resources when basic tools to do the job are often denied to members.

Usually, whenever gardai feature prominently in the media, it relates to a scandal, a tribunal or a crime spree. So, it's useful for a change to consider the danger that faces officers every single day on the beat.

Buried towards the end of a monthly status report, supplied by the Garda Commissioner to the Policing Authority at the start of April, is an incident which allegedly occurred in Dublin that underscores the inherent threats in the job.

It states that in early March, following reports from the public of a man seen brandishing a gun outside a shop, three unarmed gardai followed a man into a house "where a struggle ensued, during which the male discharged a number of shots from the gun in the direction of the members. The members successfully restrained the male, disarmed him and secured the weapon."

During the same incident, it is further claimed that "gardai then located a grenade in the bathroom with the pin pulled out. An EOD (Explosives Ordnance Disposal) team attended the scene and carried out a controlled explosion on the grenade which, following examination, was determined to be faulty".

The danger gardai face is ever present. Back in 2007, an unarmed member of the traffic corps, Paul Sherlock, was shot and suffered serious injuries after the driver of a stolen car opened fire on him with a sawn-off shotgun during a routine traffic stop.

Many brave gardai have also made the ultimate sacrifice and been killed in the line of duty, most recently Tony Golden, who was murdered while attempting to help the victim of domestic violence in Louth in 2015, and Adrian Donohoe, who was murdered by a criminal gang with links to dissident republicans in Louth in 2013.

Given the risks gardai face, complaints from members that a lack of resources are hindering them, or sometimes even endangering them, should be taken extremely seriously.

Instead, what invariably happens is that politicians immediately move to assure the public that adequate resources exist without ever engaging with the substance or merits of these complaints.

This is exactly what happened yesterday when criticism was made of a lack of funding for basic necessities like equipment, training and accommodation by rank-and-file gardai attending the annual general meeting of the Garda Representative Association.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, speaking with Miriam O'Callaghan on RTE radio, insisted he was attending the AGM to "listen" to these concerns, but then undermined that commitment by persistently reiterating an "unprecedented level" of resources had been made available to gardai.

After all, what's the point in listening if your mind is already made up?

Mr Flanagan is correct the budget for An Garda Siochana - 1.76bn - is large but there is a difference between an overall budget and an efficiently spent budget, which directs money to plug holes and fill gaps where most needed.

Take training, for instance. Mr Flanagan glossed over the fact that on-the-job training has essentially been absent from An Garda Siochana for a decade.

According to the report from the Commission on the Future of Policing, which received a ringing endorsement from his Government, "budget cuts after the 2009 crash led not only to a recruitment freeze for nearly six years and therefore no recruit training, but also to a reduction of in-service training almost to zero".

The report notes "established members of any profession benefit from learning about new challenges and techniques, developments in best practice, or new skills needed for new assignments", but "An Garda Siochana has not treated training as a critical function".

One garda interviewed yesterday raised the issue of new domestic violence legislation which criminalises, for the first time, coercive control and said gardai were expected to implement this legislation without having received any training on how to do so. This lack of foresight and planning does a disservice not only to gardai but to members of the public they are tasked with protecting.

If the Government and An Garda Siochana intend to treat domestic violence seriously, then surely, at a minimum, gardai should be given training on major changes to the law.

Meanwhile, a lack of resources in the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau has been endemic for years with lengthy backlogs endangering the prosecution of those found with images of child abuse on their computers.

Earlier this year, a man appeared in court charged with possession of 2,000 images of abuse on his device, which had been seized by gardai during a raid in August 2012.

The delay in prosecution was because it took five years to forensically examine his computer. Similar delays have been reported for years now with one Circuit Court judge, Sean O Donnabhain, describing an identical five-year delay as "inexcusable" back in 2016. What has changed in the interim?

How can the State claim to take crimes of this nature seriously when computers, on which images of child porn have been downloaded, are left gathering dust for years in Garda HQ due to a lack of investment?

When it comes to the safety of Garda members, the number of armed support units is an item that is high up the agenda for the GRA, but not addressed adequately by the commissioner or justice minister.

After recent violence in Drogheda, including the attempted murder of a man who was shot and seven separate petrol bomb attacks, gardai complained the northern region's only ASU was deployed at the Border due to the spate of ATM robberies, and was not available to support gardai in the town.

According to GRA representatives, the existence of just one ASU per Garda region means that unarmed gardai can often face unnecessary risk as they are the ones tasked with responding to incidents in which a weapon has been used.

The fact Ireland is in a minority of countries where rank-and-file officers are not armed is something to be proud of, but when those officers need the support of armed colleagues, it has to be available.

Like every representative body, the GRA exists to fight for its members and will always demand more that an individual government or commissioner has the power to immediately deliver.

However, when legitimate criticisms are made, which have the support of a multiplicity of independent reports, then those criticisms should be taken seriously. Not merely fobbed off with no explanation given.
Pangaea Ventures, a Vancouver, BC venture capital firm, closed its fourth advanced-materials fund, at approx. $70m.

Pangaea Ventures Fund IV received support from limited partners including VanCity and BC Tech Fund, managed by Kensington Capital Partners, CoorsTek, JSR, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Adidas, Doosan, Henkel, Lam Research, PTT Global, Sekisui, Severstal, Shin-Etsu and TOSOH.

Fund IV has made six investments to date, in materials-driven companies addressing diverse market applications. The portfolio includes startups with commercial products in display materials, medical devices, 5G data electronics, and the 3D printing of living human tissue.

It is expected that the fund will make a further 6-8 investments.

Established in 2000 and led by General Partner Chris Erickson, Pangaea Ventures is a venture capital firm which invests in startups using advanced materials. Its portfolio addresses multi-billion dollar markets in energy, electronics, health, and sustainability.

The firm has offices in Vancouver BC Canada, Scottsdale AZ USA and Hillsborough NJ USA.

FinSMEs

01/05/2019
Bertie Ahern summed it up: "If you don't have councillors, you'll find it very hard indeed to have TDs."

It was 2003 and he was talking about the huge hill a man called Enda Kenny (remember him?) had to climb with the Fine Gael band after its general election meltdown in June 2002. Well, that wheel has turned a full 180 degrees - and back again - since then.

But the three-times Taoiseach's point was that any serious politician will disparage the local elections at their peril.

In precisely 24 days - three weeks from Friday - voters will be invited to choose their local councillors. This local election model pre-dates the foundation of the Irish State and has been with us since 1898.

Councils and councillors are an easy mark for satirists and comedians. But many of us who keep our eyes open to the world also know that a good councillor can exert considerable influence and be a real force for community good.

The local elections are also a crazy mix of the local personalities and issues - set against big-picture national sentiment. Local council elections in 2009 were a harbinger of major national calamity coming down the tracks for the governing Fianna Fail-Green Party coalition in the General Election which followed in February 2011.

The same can be said of both Fine Gael and Labour in the 2014 locals, as huge councillor losses for both were followed by comparable Dail losses in the general election of February 2016. Bertie Ahern's maxim was borne out on each occasion.

On Friday, May 24, things just might be different. The country is relatively, albeit fretfully, prosperous and voters do not have the same urge for vengeance.

Strategists inside both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are quietly confident they can make gains.

Fianna Fail may be the better placed as last time, in May 2014, it performed a political Houdini act by becoming the biggest local authority party three years after it was left on the verge of extinction.

Fine Gael can surely win back a large share of the 110 local council seats lost in 2014 and it is their stated aim. But for both parties much now depends on the strength of their respective campaigns and the quality of their local candidates.

Sinn Fein has had some great local elections in its recent past. But this one will pose challenges amid many local rows, being stalled in the polls and a bad outcome in last October's presidential election.

Labour is keeping the bright side out but very badly needs a comeback if it is to continue arguing its decline is not terminal. The Green Party and other smaller parties have their own grounds for hope. Independents may be declining in national polls but a good local Independent is a tailor-made councillor.

It may well be the first election where climate change features as an issue.
The pace of expansion of the investor "build to rent" phenomenon is frightening. Houses and apartments are being built or bought up by investor landlords, private equity funds and real estate investment trusts.

Since 2011, property prices have risen at seven times the rate of wages, and this "build to rent" model turns what are already severely unaffordable homes into safety deposit boxes - wealth-accumulating investment assets - for the wealthy. "Generation Rent" is being locked out of home-ownership and locked into an unaffordable and insecure private rental sector. Increasingly, professionals, the elderly, students and many others face insecurity, poverty, and stress.

This is no accident. It is a direct result of Government economic and housing policies that sought to attract investor funds via Nama and bank sales at discount, allowing rent and house price inflation, favourable tax laws, public-private partnerships, and the shift from State-built social housing to private rental schemes.

A report I wrote in 2017 pointed to the dangers of the increased role of investors, noting that "from 2013, there was a significant increase in the purchase of housing in Ireland as an investment, and that these purchases add a significant demand for housing and thus are inflating house prices and making them less affordable for those seeking housing as a home".

The ministers for finance and housing have downplayed concerns, but the Central Statistics Office states "the non-household sector is a significant actor in the Irish residential property market". Within this sector, "banks, holding companies, trusts, funds, and real estate management companies" were the largest purchaser of residential property in 2017, spending 1bn. That is a 43-fold rise on investor spending in 2011. Central bank data shows investor flows into real estate in Ireland have quadrupled from 6.9bn in 2014 to 27bn by Q3 of 2018.

Ministers cannot spin this away. Kennedy Wilson proudly announced that the Finance Minister joined it and Nama in the penthouse to launch its new 22-storey tower in Dublin. This close relationship between ministers and investment funds is worryingly similar to mistakes of the past. Policy is still heavily influenced by those with wealth.

Even the Department of Finance accepts the "significant role of institutional investors in certain segments of the residential property market", stating "some would-be purchasers have undoubtedly been displaced". Corporate landlords can effectively set higher market rents in an area. This risks embedding unaffordability into the housing market. Monopolistic pricing power will grow as they scale up over time. These investors also further expose the Irish housing market to global risks. We do need supply, but not unaffordable supply that drags rents upwards.

Government policy, along with tax and fund firms, ensure these funds and investors pay minimal, if any, tax on profits.

In 2013, a tax break for real estate investment trusts (REITs) exempted rental profits from corporation tax. One tax firm explains that despite recent changes, Ireland still provides "a favourable tax regime and combined with a high demand and continuing high yields, Irish real estate remains an attractive investment for international private equity".

This low-tax "Bermuda triangle" regime costs the taxpayer twice - through unaffordable housing and as tax forgone. Ireland has also become a "hub for the financing and management of tax- efficient cross-border investment in rental property assets", enabling the conversion of homes into a financialised asset.

The UN Rapporteur stated Ireland is acting "contrary" to its international human rights obligations, as it "has disconnected housing from its core social purpose of providing people with a place to live in with security and dignity".

Yet there has been political resistance to freeze rents and enact stronger tenants' protections in order to ensure Irish housing is attractive to investors. Policy is responsive to the investor lobby, but "Generation Rent" and homeless families and children pay the price.

This is a manufactured scarcity of supply of homes with private sector hoarding and Government refusing to build social and affordable housing on scale. State housing policy adds to demand when a third of private tenancies are taken up by housing schemes like Housing Assistance Payment and 94pc of additional state social housing in 2018 came from the private sector. Meanwhile, Nama is selling to investors at unaffordable prices. Its strategy goes against the interest of the taxpayer. Why isn't it selling at affordable rates and to housing associations?

There are many solutions. Curtailing how funds facilitate speculative investment, implementing taxes to cool off speculative equity, abolishing the REIT tax incentive, and implementing laws to protect tenants and provide lifetime leases, a temporary freeze of all rents and a legal right to housing implemented in law would encourage investment that provides affordability and security, stabilise the sector and reduce "boom-bust" cycles.

The Government needs to cast aside its ideological aversion and build 20,000 affordable housing units per year. This should include a mix of cost rental, social and cooperative ownership that is available to all income levels like the successful housing systems in Europe.

A referendum is needed to put the right to housing in the Constitution to provide a guiding principle for policy and ensure the primary purpose of the Irish housing system is to ensure everyone has access to an affordable and secure home.

Social inequality will worsen as an elite amass wealth while making our cities unaffordable for the average worker, with devastating consequences for families, community, society and the environment.
Police officers pass by burning rubbish as they confront demonstrators (Francois Mori/AP)

Clusters of anarchists and yellow vest protesters disrupted May Day rallies in Paris by throwing rocks, setting rubbish bin fires and antagonising riot squads as tens of thousands of people marched through bursts of tear gas.

Police officers used tear gas, flash grenades and rubber ball launchers as troublemakers wearing black masks and hoods confronted them in the street and pelted them with stones and other objects.

The confrontations broke out near the start of the main May Day march near Montparnasse railway station and started again at the end of the route near the Place dItalie in south east Paris as police tried to disperse stragglers.

Frances interior ministry said about 16,000 people marched in Paris and more than 151,000 in May Day rallies across the country.

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A private company hired by a group of French news outlets, Occurrence, counted 40,000 protesters in Paris.

More than 7,400 police officers were deployed in Paris because of the May Day events.

The Paris police department said there were 288 arrests.

Officers also carried out more than 12,500 preventive searches of bags.

French authorities had warned radical activists might disrupt the Paris demonstration Wednesday as in previous yellow vest protests and on May Day during the last two years.

Groups of the masked and hooded protesters causing damage and then merged with the much larger number of peaceful May Day marchers.

Some vandalised a parked van, kicking the vehicle and breaking its windows.

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Others set small fires to rubbish bins.

It was not immediately clear how many people were injured.

At least two men with head wounds were helped away by paramedics and firefighters assisted a woman in a wheelchair.

Some police officers also fell on the ground.

Paris police said one police officer was taken to a hospital with a head injury.

While some of the people clashing with police wore the signature yellow vests of a French anti-government movement, the peaceful march also had participants in yellow vests as well as waving labour union flags.

Yellow vest supporters joined the traditional May Day union march to show their common rejection of President Emmanuel Macrons economic policies, seen as favouring the wealthy and big business.

Mr Macron last week tried to address the complaints of the yellow vest movement by announcing tax cuts for middle-class workers and an increase in pensions.

Philippe Martinez, secretary general of one of Frances major trade unions, the CGT, temporarily left the march for security reasons during the scuffles between the anarchist protesters and police.

After rejoining the march, he stressed that yellow vest and union activists are marching together in all French cities.

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Thats a protest of workers who tell the government and the president of the republic: Change your policies,' Mr Martinez said of the support from the movement that started in November.

We are very satisfied of the mobilisation.

Signs held aloft during the march read Long live freedom, long live socialism, Police, gendarmes, join us, and What are we going to leave our children? Wake up.

Far-left politician Eric Coquerel, member of France Insoumise (Rebel France) said violence is, unfortunately, often playing against protesters.

Larger numbers of demonstrators would be more efficient to put pressure on the government, he said.

French police ordered the closure of more than 580 shops, restaurants and cafes on the Paris protest route and numerous subway stations were shut.
Fireworks launched by opponents of Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro land near Bolivarian National Guard armoured vehicles loyal to Maduro (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

Opposition leader Juan Guaido took a bold step to revive his movement to seize power in Venezuela, taking to the streets on Tuesday to call for a military uprising that drew quick support from the Trump administration and fierce resistance from forces loyal to socialist Nicolas Maduro.

The violent street battles that erupted in parts of Caracas were the most serious challenge yet to Mr Maduros rule.

And while the rebellion seemed to have garnered only limited military support, at least one high-ranking official announced he was breaking with Mr Maduro, in a setback for the embattled president.

In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Mr Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an illegitimate government with the support of the United States and neighbouring Colombia.

He said Venezuela had been a victim of aggression of all kinds.

Manana continuamos con la ejecucion de la #OperacionLibertad. Iniciamos la fase final y estaremos de forma sostenida en las calles hasta lograr el cese de la usurpacion.



Vamos con todo, con mas fuerza y determinacion!#ConTodoPaLaCalle https://t.co/ep1vC824j6  Juan Guaido (@jguaido) May 1, 2019

Meanwhile, Mr Guaido sought to keep the momentum going at the end of the day by releasing his own video message in which he pressed Venezuelans to take to the streets again on Wednesday.

The competing quests to solidify a hold on power capped a dramatic day that included a tense moment when several armoured vehicles ploughed into a group of anti-government demonstrators trying to storm the capitals air base, hitting at least two protesters.

US National Security Adviser John Bolton said the Trump administration was waiting for three key officials, including Mr Maduros defence minister and head of the supreme court, to act on what he said were private pledges to remove Mr Maduro. He did not provide details.

The stunning events began early Tuesday when Mr Guaido, flanked by a few dozen national guardsmen and some armoured crowd-control vehicles, released the three-minute video shot near the Carlota air base.

In a surprise, Leopoldo Lopez, Mr Guaidos political mentor and the nations most prominent opposition activist, stood alongside him.

Detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest, Mr Lopez said he had been released from house arrest by security forces adhering to an order from Mr Guaido.

I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers, Mr Lopez declared.

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As the two opposition leaders coordinated actions from an overpass, troops loyal to Mr Maduro fired tear gas from inside the adjacent air base.

A crowd that quickly swelled to a few thousand scurried for cover, reappearing later with Mr Guaido at a plaza a few blocks from the disturbances.

A smaller group of masked youths stayed behind, lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the air base and setting a government bus on fire.

Amid the mayhem, several armoured utility vehicles careened over a berm and drove at full speed into the crowd.

Two demonstrators, lying on the ground with their heads and legs bloodied, were rushed away on a motorcycle as the vehicles sped away dodging fireballs thrown by the demonstrators.

Its now or never, said one of the young rebellious soldiers, his face covered in the blue bandanna worn by the few dozen insurgent soldiers.

The head of a medical centre near the site of the street battles said doctors were treating 50 people, about half of them with injuries suffered from rubber bullets.

At least one person had been shot with live ammunition. Venezuelan human rights group Provea said a 24-year-old man was shot and killed during an anti-government protest in the city of La Victoria.

Later on Tuesday, Mr Lopez and his family sought refuge in the Chilean ambassadors residence in Caracas, where another political ally has been holed up for over a year. They later moved to the Spanish embassy. There were also reports that 25 troops who had been with Mr Guaido fled to Brazils diplomatic mission.

Amid the confusion, Mr Maduro tried to project an image of strength, saying he had spoken to several regional military commanders who reaffirmed their loyalty.

Nerves of steel! he said in a message posted on Twitter.

Nervios de Acero! He conversado con los Comandantes de todas las REDI y ZODI del Pais, quienes me han manifestado su total lealtad al Pueblo, a la Constitucion y a la Patria. Llamo a la maxima movilizacion popular para asegurar la victoria de la Paz. Venceremos!  Nicolas Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) April 30, 2019

Flanked by top military commanders, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez condemned Mr Guaidos move as a terrorist act and coup attempt that was bound to fail like past uprisings.

Those who try to take Miraflores with violence will be met with violence, he said on national television, referring to the presidential palace where hundreds of government supporters, some of them brandishing firearms, had gathered in response to a call to defend Mr Maduro.

But in a possible sign that Mr Maduros inner circle could be fracturing, the head of Venezuelas secret police penned a letter breaking ranks with the embattled leader.

Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, the head of Venezuelas feared SEBIN intelligence agency, wrote a letter to the Venezuelan people saying that while he has always been loyal to Mr Maduro it is now time to rebuild the country.

He lamented that corruption has become so rampant that many high-ranking public servants practice it like a sport.

The hour has arrived for us to look for other ways of doing politics, he wrote. To build the homeland our children and grandchildren deserve.

The letter circulating on social media was confirmed by a senior US official. He said the generals wife is currently outside the country.

Mr Guaido said he called for the uprising to restore Venezuelas constitutional order, broken when Mr Maduro was sworn in earlier this year for a second term following elections boycotted by the opposition and considered illegitimate by dozens of countries.

The armed forces have taken the right decision, said Mr Guaido. With the support of the Venezuelan people and the backing of our constitution they are on the right side of history.
Simon Hayes arriving at Worcester Crown Court charged with perverting the course of justice by claiming not to know the identity of American pensioner Earl Roger Curry Photo credit should read: Aaron Chown/PA Wire

A "fantasist" who claimed to be in the elite SBS special forces unit has been jailed for his part in a plot to dump a dementia-suffering American pensioner in rural England.

Simon Hayes left 78-year-old Roger Curry with medical staff near Hereford Hospital on November 7 2015, claiming he had found him "face down" in a country lane.

Prosecutors said Hayes, 53, of Somerset, told "a pack of lies" about Mr Curry, but his motivations for getting involved were still unclear.

Described in court as a "pathological liar", Hayes' actions and false witness statements led detectives on a "wild goose chase" trying to work out where Mr Curry had come from, and how he had got to the UK.

Opening the case on Tuesday, Simon Davis QC, prosecuting, said Hayes was contacted by "best mate" Kevin Curry - the victim's son - then living in California.

They exchanged a series of texts and calls before Kevin Curry flew with his mother and father to London Gatwick on November 5 2015.

On November 23, Kevin Curry and his mother flew to Denmark - without his father.

At Hayes' sentencing at Worcester Crown Court, Mr Davis said: "The defendant was part of a plan to bring Roger from the US and dump him in Hereford, abandoning him so he could receive care from local health care providers.

"It was clearly planned."

At 4.20pm on November 5 2015, Hayes, dressed in a fake military uniform and putting on a US accent, took Mr Curry to Hereford bus station, near the hospital, telling a nurse and later paramedics that he had found the older man in a country lane.

Hayes, of Ivy House Park, Taunton, left Mr Curry with medics after claiming he could not give any contact details because he was "working with the SAS" at their nearby camp.

Mr Davis said Hayes then joined Kevin Curry and his mother on a holiday to France and Copenhagen in Denmark.

Back in Hereford, the mystery of Mr Curry's identity - dubbed Credenhill Man after the location where he was found - triggered an international police appeal for information, even involving the FBI, before the truth came out.

Police began to suspect he had been deliberately dumped, and suspicion even fell on the nurse Hayes had initially spoken to at the bus station as "police could not establish if she was telling the truth".

By March 2016, Roger Curry, who had an autistic spectrum disorder and Alzheimer's, had managed to tell nurses his name.

Inquiries led authorities to ring Kevin Curry's address in Whittier, California, but he claimed nobody called Roger lived there.

The police got a break when Hayes, for reasons which are still a mystery, called West Mercia Police, identifying himself as the man who handed the victim to medics.

Jailing Hayes for two and a half years, Judge Daniel Pearce-Higgins QC said: "There's no certainty that had he not done that, he'd ever have been found."

But Hayes again lied, claiming he and a "Canadian Army serviceman" had found Mr Curry, that he lived in Los Angeles, and that at the time he had been "attending a course at the SAS base".

The court heard Hayes had spent some time in the US but was deported in January 2013 after a drink-driving conviction.

He also twice changed the exact location he allegedly found the elderly victim, but it was "all lies", said Mr Davis.

When Hayes claimed he was visiting his parents in Taunton, police spoke to his father Ken, who confirmed his son knew Roger and Kevin Curry.

Detectives arrested Hayes, who claimed he was a "qualified physiotherapist" and "had met Sir Frank Williams, David Coulthard and also trained racing drivers", Mr Davis told the court.

The prosecutor added: "He said he had been in the SBS and been in Hereford for a short while - but was unable to answer a simple question any serviceman would know - 'what's your Army number?'."

Hayes admitted perverting the course of justice and a separate case of fraud, in relation to a false character reference, ahead of a sentencing hearing on Tuesday.

Hayes' barrister Ashley Hendron told the court: "It is possible he believes his own fantasy."

After Hayes was deported from the US he sent unsuccessful visa applications in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

These were supported by a fake reference claiming to be from British Major-General Francis "Buster" Howes.

The reference claimed Hayes had been a captain in the Royal Marine Commandos, and had won the Military Cross in the Gulf War.

Maj Gen Howes told police he had never heard of Hayes, the court was told.

The victim was cared for by the NHS while a public appeal and criminal investigation continued, costing the NHS up to 20,000.

He was safely returned to the US in 2016.

Mr Davis said Mr Curry's son is under investigation in the US for elder abuse, fraud and kidnapping.

Describing the crime as a "well-planned deception", Judge Pearce-Higgins QC said: "There was an enormous waste of police and public resources because of false information put forward by the defendant.

"I cannot find any case remotely similar to the facts of this case, curiously because there appears to be no apparent benefit to the defendant."
British Prime Minister Theresa May fired her defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, on Wednesday, saying an investigation suggested he was to blame for leaking discussions about Chinese telecoms company Huawei from her National Security Council.

Last week it emerged that Britain would allow Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network, seeking a middle way in a bitter dispute between the United States and China over the next generation of communications technology.

The NSC is a forum in which senior cabinet ministers discuss top secret national security information, and the leak, first reported in national newspapers, sparked anger in parliament.

May wrote to Williamson that an investigation into the leaks had provided "compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure."

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"No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified," she added.

Williamson had repeatedly denied that he was responsible for the leak. A BBC correspondent said she spoke to him after his firing was made public and he continued to deny blame.

May appointed international development minister Penny Mordaunt to succeed Williamson as defence secretary, and named prisons minister Rory Stewart to Mordaunt's former role.

Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

"It is vital that I have full confidence in the members of my Cabinet and of the National Security Council," May wrote in her letter to Williamson, which was released by her office.

"The gravity of this issue alone, and its ramifications for the operation of the NSC and the UK's national interest, warrants the serious steps we have taken, and an equally serious response."

Mr Williamson denied that he had any role in the leak of information about Chinese telecoms company Huawei.

"I am sorry that you feel recent leaks from the National Security Council originated in my department. I emphatically believe this was not the case," he wrote in a letter to May that he published on Twitter.

"I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position," he added.
Vodafone has apparently discovered hidden "backdoors" in Huawei equipment as far back as 2011.

The UK-based company found vulnerabilities in routers and other equipment that could have given the Chinese company unauthorised access to its network in Italy, Bloomberg reported.

Both Vodafone and Huawei told Bloomberg these vulnerabilities were addressed in 2011 and 2012.

However, it was reported the vulnerabilities remained after that and could also be found in Vodafone's UK, German, Spanish and Portuguese businesses, citing anonymous sources. Vodafone apparently kept using Huawei equipment because it was competitively priced.

Vodafone disputed the report in an emailed statement, saying the "backdoor" mentioned is a protocol used to perform diagnostic functions and wouldn't have been accessible from the internet.

"In addition, we have no evidence of any unauthorised access. This was nothing more than a failure to remove a diagnostic function after development," the spokesperson wrote. "The issues were identified by independent security testing, initiated by Vodafone as part of our routine security measures, and fixed at the time by Huawei."

Huawei mirrored this statement, noting that it addressed the "historical vulnerabilities" in 2011 and 2012.

"Software vulnerabilities are an industry-wide challenge," a spokesperson said.

The story comes as China urges Britain to let Huawei play a role in developing its 5G network, even as the US pressures its European allies not to adopt Huawei's 5G equipment.

US officials have said the gear could be used to spy for China. Huawei denies this.
Roundtrip, a Philadelphia, PA-based company connecting healthcare and transportation providers, completed a $5.14m Series A funding.

The round was led by Motley Fool Ventures, with participation from a multi-billion dollar international healthcare software and medical device company, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University.

The company intends to use the funds to enhance software capabilities and to attract sales, engineering, and account management talent.

Founded in 2016 by CEO Mark Switaj, Roundtrip is a digital transportation marketplace providing a patient ride ordering software that makes available a community of ride providers who complete the transport.

It is built for healthcare professionals  care coordinators, social workers, nurses and other transport requestors  and offers online and mobile platforms that connect patients, care managers, and families with non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) options. Roundtrip is a comprehensive solution which supports all levels of transport: Lyft, facility-owned vehicles, volunteer drivers, medical cars, wheelchair vans, stretcher vehicles, ALS/BLS/SCT, all payors, and all trips delivered when and where they are needed.

The company, which has built several partnerships, spanning over 20 states, is actively recruiting talent to join the team of 26 employees between their Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Richmond, Virginia locations, with plans to more than double in size.

FinSMEs

02/05/2019
Lloyds Banking Group has been given a boost after regulators allowed the lender to free up around 1 billion in capital (Yui Mok/PA)

Lloyds Banking Group has been given a boost after regulators allowed the lender to free up around 1 billion in capital, potentially paving the way for further share buybacks.

The Bank of Englands Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) set Lloyds a lower level of the so-called systemic risk buffer  a requirement designed to boost the capital strength of retail banks.

It came within a wider announcement by the PRA on the capital buffer rates for large retail banks and building societies, which will apply from August 1.

Lloyds shares rose more than 1%, having lifted as much as 5% at one stage, after the bank confirmed the move would lead to a cut in one of its key capital measures, equivalent to around 1 billion.

This is seen as boosting the groups share buyback capacity by the same amount.

This is clearly positive news for investors and reflects managements good work over recent years to simplify and reduce the risk profile of the groupGary Greenwood, banking analyst

Lloyds said it had a progressive and sustainable ordinary dividend policy and added that the board will continue to give consideration to the distribution of surplus capital at the end of the year.

Banking analyst Gary Greenwood at Shore Capital said: This is clearly positive news for investors and reflects managements good work over recent years to simplify and reduce the risk profile of the group.

This is the first example we can think of where one of the large quoted UK banks has actually reduced its capital requirement, after a number of years of upward revisions, he added.

The news comes ahead of Lloyds first quarter results on Thursday, when it is expected to post pre-tax profits of 2.05 billion in the first quarter, up slightly from the 2 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Its comments on the state of the UK economy amid Brexit uncertainty will be in sharp focus, given that the banks performance is closely linked to consumer and business confidence.

Rival Royal Bank of Scotland last week reported a 12.5% fall in bottom line profits to 707 million, partly due to uncertainty among businesses, with many reining in spending as Brexit fears linger.
ISIL remains a potent threat around the world despite reduced capabilities, Iraqi prime minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said yesterday, adding its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had made his latest video appearance in a "remote area".

A video showed a man it said was Baghdadi in what would be his first appearance since he declared the jihadists' now- defunct "caliphate" five years ago. The authenticity and date of the recording could not be independently verified.

Mr Abdul Mahdi said Baghdadi's appearance was an attempt to boost militants and Isil would attempt to carry out more attacks.

"Regarding the location of Baghdadi, we can't give intelligence information right now, but it's clear from the video he's in a remote area," Mr Abdul Mahdi said.

Baghdadi, an Iraqi, is believed to be hiding out in an isolated area of either Iraq or Syria, part of vast desert regions Isil once held and from where it is thought the jihadists are now waging regular insurgent-style attacks against security forces in both countries.

Hisham al-Hashemi, a security adviser to the Iraqi government, said officials had narrowed his whereabouts to four possible locations. "These are in the desert of Iraq's Anbar (province) or in the (eastern) desert of Homs in Syria," he said.

Mr Abdul Mahdi said Isil's capabilities had "greatly reduced", but that the group still posed a threat.

"Daesh [Isil] is not just a small organisation, it's widespread and will try to put confidence back in its militants and carry out acts such as those in Sri Lanka," he said, referring to the Easter Sunday attacks claimed by the group.

In the 18-minute video, a bearded man with Baghdadi's appearance says the bombings in Sri Lanka were Isil's response to losses in its last territorial stronghold of Baghouz in Syria.

The video would be the first from Baghdadi since he was filmed in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. More recent speeches have been released as audio recordings.

Baghdadi vowed to carry out revenge attacks against the West in retaliation for the fall of Baghouz, the town in eastern Syria where his fighters made a last stand to defend Isil-held territory against advancing Kurdish forces.

"Your brothers in Sri Lanka have pleased the hearts of the believers with their [suicide] attacks," he said. "This is only part of the revenge awaiting the crusaders."

He said Isil supporters had carried out 92 attacks in eight countries in response to the defeat in Baghouz. He stressed the jihadists had not retreated in the face of overwhelming odds and instead fought to the end.

In reality, hundreds of suspected Isil fighters surrendered to Kurdish forces before Baghouz was captured in late March. Baghdadi acknowledged Isil's defeat there, but said jihadists would continue "a war of attrition". ( Daily Telegraph, London)
Groundbreaking: John Singleton was the first black director nominated for an Oscar. Photo: Getty Images

Director John Singleton, who made one of Hollywood's most memorable debuts with the Oscar-nominated 'Boyz N The Hood' and continued over the following decades to probe the lives of black communities in his native Los Angeles and beyond, has died aged 51.

Singleton's family said he died in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, after being taken off life support. Earlier this month, he suffered a major stroke.

Singleton was in his early 20s, just out of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, when he wrote, directed and produced 'Boyz N The Hood'.

Based on Singleton's upbringing and shot in his old neighbourhood, the low-budget production starred Cuba Gooding Jr and Ice Cube and centred on three friends in South Central Los Angeles, where college aspirations competed with the pressures of gang life.

It was a critical and commercial hit, given a 20-minute standing ovation at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and praised as a groundbreaking extension of rap to the big screen, a realistic and compassionate take on race, class, peer pressure and family. Singleton would later call it a "rap album on film".

Singleton became the first black director to receive an Academy Award nomination, an honour he would say was compensation for the academy's snubbing Spike Lee and 'Do The Right Thing' two years earlier, and was nominated for best screenplay, losing out to 'Thelma & Louise'. At 24, he was also the youngest director nominee in Oscar history.

"I think I was living this film before I ever thought about making it," Singleton told 'Vice' in 2016.

In 2002, 'Boyz N The Hood' was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, which called it "an innovative look at life and the tough choices present for kids growing up in South Central Los Angeles".

Singleton's death followed a turbulent week during which his family members made opposing court filings regarding his health. He had been in intensive care in a Los Angeles hospital since he had a stroke on April 17.
Reaching out: Joe Biden and wife Jill at an campaign event in Pittsburgh. Photo: Reuters

Former US vice president Joe Biden said in an interview broadcast yesterday that Congress would have "no alternative" but to impeach President Donald Trump if his administration seeks to block its investigations of issues raised in the special counsel's report on Russian election interference.

Appearing on ABC's 'Good Morning America', Mr Biden said that the report by special counsel Robert Mueller left several unanswered questions related to whether Mr Trump obstructed the nearly two-year probe, and he argued that Congress should follow up.

"What the Congress should do and they are doing is investigate that," Mr Biden said. "And if in fact they block the investigation, they have no alternative to go to the only other constitutional resort they have: impeachment.

"My job in the meantime is to make sure he's not back as president of the United States of America," added Mr Biden, who formally launched his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination last week.

Mr Biden's comments came during a wide-ranging interview in which he also continued to grapple with controversies over his affectionate, physical style with women and his handling of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' 1991 Senate confirmation hearing. He also declined to say whether he would pick a woman as his running mate.

Frustration has been building among House Democrats as the Trump administration refuses to co-operate with an array of congressional inquiries, including several related to the report. Attorney General William Barr has threatened not to show up at a hearing scheduled for tomorrow in the House to address how he handled Mr Mueller's findings.

Mr Mueller's report did not find sufficient evidence to bring charges of criminal conspiracy with Russia against Mr Trump or anyone associated with his campaign. It did not offer a conclusion on whether Mr Trump obstructed justice.

Mr Barr later concluded that there was not sufficient evidence for obstruction of justice. But Mr Biden said in the ABC interview that are "about seven or eight things that are left undone" related to possible obstruction that Congress should pursue.

The interview aired on the same day that a new poll found Mr Biden opening up a lead in the crowded Democratic presidential field. In the poll released by CNN, 39pc of voters who identify as Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents say Mr Biden is their top choice for the nomination. His nearest competitor, Bernie Sanders, got 15pc of support.

The poll also showed the race remaining fluid, with only about a third of potential Democratic voters saying they would definitely support their preferred candidate.

A 'Washington Post'-ABC poll conducted mostly before Mr Biden's announcement also suggested there is room for other candidates to grow.

It found that over half of Democratic-leaning adults had no preference for the party's nomination when asked an open-ended question that did not name any candidates, though Mr Biden held a slight edge among those who did.

As he prepared to campaign in Iowa yesterday for the first time since his announcement, Mr Biden also released a new video that heavily features former president Barack Obama - whose endorsement Mr Biden has said he did not seek.

The video opens with Mr Obama praising his then-vice president in January 2017 as he bestowed Mr Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour. Mr Obama calls Mr Biden "an extraordinary man with an extraordinary career in public service".

In the ABC interview, Mr Biden said he was "really proud" of his service in the Obama administration but that he is not running for a third Obama term. "It's a new time, it's a new day," he said.

Mr Biden also continued to try to move past the controversy over how he has interacted with women, publicly touching them in ways that some have said made them feel uncomfortable.

"I've always thought that part of leadership, part of politics was listening to people, hearing them, making them feel comfortable," Mr Biden said. "It's my responsibility to be more sensitive to whether or not someone wants me to reassure them or wants to say hello or wants to show affection toward." ( Washington Post)
Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group reported a 1% increase in revenues in the first three months of the year, as its chairman Ian Burke announced his departure.

However, like-for-like revenues for the quarter to March 31 remained flat, it said in a stock market update.

Sales at Mecca Bingo venues slipped 1% against the same period last year, as a fall in customer visits was partially offset by a rise in average spend per visit.

Rank stemmed declining revenues across its 52 Grosvenor casino venues, where sales remained flat after declines in the previous two quarters.

Strong London sales buoyed the casino arm, offsetting a disappointing performance across in its provincial sites.

Total digital gross gaming revenues rose 2% over the period, although this represents a slowdown from 10% growth in the previous quarter.

Grosvenor digital gross gaming revenues jumped 6%, after net gaming revenues increased by 15% following action to manage bonuses more efficiently.

Meccas digital arm saw gross gaming revenues remain flat, but net gaming revenue rose 10%.

Spanish online bingo platform YoBingo, which was acquired for 52 million euro (44 million) in May 2018, continues to perform well, it said.

In a separate statement this morning, non-executive chairman Ian Burke announced his decision to leave the group after 13 years.

Mr Burke joined Rank as chief executive in 2006, before becoming executive chairman in 2011 and then taking a non-executive role in 2014.

He said: I have enjoyed my time at Rank immensely and am extremely proud of what we have achieved as a company.

I have decided to step down as chairman in the knowledge that Rank has a strong management team and board which will take the business forward through its transformation programme.

Rank launched a three-year transformation plan in December to grow revenue, reduce costs and ensure the necessary technology and processes are in place.

The programme delivered the expected cost savings in the quarter, and the company held firm on its profit expectations for the year.
US attorney general William Barr is to face questions before a US senate committee for the first time since releasing special counsel Robert Muellers report into alleged Russian collusion.

Mr Barr is expected to defend his actions before Democrats who accuse him of spinning the investigations findings in US president Donald Trumps favour.

Mr Barrs appearance before the senate judiciary committee is expected to highlight the partisan schism around Mr Muellers report and the American justice departments handling of it.

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It will give the attorney general his most extensive opportunity to explain the departments actions, including a press conference held before the reports release, and for him to repair a reputation bruised by allegations that he is the presidents protector.

A major focus of the hearing is likely to be the revelation that Mr Mueller expressed frustration to Mr Barr, in a letter to the justice department and in a phone call, with how the conclusions of his investigation were being portrayed.

Mr Barr has also been invited to appear on Thursday before the Democratic-led House judiciary panel, but the justice department said he would not testify if the committee insisted on having its lawyers question the attorney general.

His appearance will be before a Republican-led committee chaired by a close ally of the president, senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is expected to focus on concerns that the early days of the FBIs Russia investigation were tainted by law enforcement bias against Mr Trump.

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Democrats are likely to press Mr Barr on his statements and actions in the last six weeks, which have unnerved them.

The tense relations are notable given how Mr Barr breezed through his confirmation process, picking up support from a few Democrats and offering reassuring words about the justice departments independence and the importance of protecting the special counsels investigation.

The first hint of discontent surfaced last month when Mr Barr issued a four-page statement that summarised what he said were the main conclusions of the Mueller report.

In the letter, Mr Barr revealed that he and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had cleared Mr Trump of obstruction of justice after Mr Mueller and his team found evidence on both sides of the question, but did not reach a conclusion.

Mr Barr is likely to defend himself by noting how he released the report on his own, even though he did not have to under the special counsel regulations, and that doing so fulfilled a pledge he made to be as transparent as the law allowed.

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He may say that he wanted to move quickly to give the public a summary of Mr Muellers main findings, as the justice department spent weeks redacting more sensitive information from the report.

After the letters release, Mr Barr raised eyebrows when he told a congressional committee that he believed the Trump campaign had been spied upon, a common talking point of the president and his supporters.

An insider said Mr Barr, a former CIA employee, did not mean spying in a necessarily inappropriate way and was simply referring to intelligence collection activities.

He also equivocated on the question of whether Mr Muellers investigation was a witch hunt, saying someone who feels wrongly accused would reasonably view an investigation that way.

That was a stark turnabout from his confirmation hearing, when he said he did not believe Mr Mueller would ever be on a witch hunt.

Then came Mr Barrs April 18 press conference to announce the release of the Mueller report later that morning.

He repeated about a half dozen times that Mr Muellers investigation had found no evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia, though the special counsel took pains to note in his report that collusion was not a legal term, and also pointed out the multiple contacts that took place between the Trump campaign and Russia.

In remarks that resembled some of Mr Trumps own claims, Mr Barr praised the White House for giving Mr Muellers team unfettered access to documents and witnesses.

He suggested the president had the right to be upset by the investigation, given his sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fuelled by illegal leaks.
Cooper and other state officials were on campus Tuesday evening to pledge their support and help for the students and the university.

Renee and I are heartbroken to see this violence in our community and at my alma mater. We are grateful for the quick and selfless action of first responders and police. Our thoughts and prayers are with victims, their families, and the entire 49er community. I will continue to monitor the situation and pray for the safety of all on campus.
Tuesday, May 7

The Senior Citizens at Living Water Church of God Advanced Youth Group, 60 and over, will meet at 2 p.m. Seniors get-together is to start finding ways to help the community. Anyone in the community is invited to come. The church is located at 166 N. Little Texas Road, Kannapolis. For more information, call 704-932-6396.

Saturday, May 11

Life Giving Church of God, Concord will be having its annual Mother Daughter Breakfast at 9 a.m. This event is free to the public and will be held at the Parkwood Baptist Church Ministry Center, 1069 Central Drive, Concord. Pastor Y.T. McNeill from the New Restoration Church, Kannapolis will be the Keynote Speaker. All are invited to come for a morning of Worship, Praise, the Word, Food, Giveaways, and much more. For more details call 704-425-7635.

RECURRING
TerraClear, Inc., a Bellevue, Wash.- and Grangeville, ID-based based robotic agtech company, closed a $6.1m funding round.

The round, which brought total capital raised to date to more than $13m, was led by Madrona Venture Group with participation from existing investors.

In conjunction with the funding, Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain will join TerraClears board of directors.

The company will use the new funds to accelerate hiring, product development, and testing.

Founded in December 2017 and led by Brent Frei, CEO, TerraClear is a provider of smart agricultural implements to improve farmers lives by automating time-consuming work. The company integrates machine vision, aerial sensing, and advanced robotics in an end-to-end solution for farmers to clear rocks from their fields.

It recently opened a lab and test facility in Grangeville, Idaho, to engage with large-scale farmers on a regular basis and test their implement in field conditions.

FinSMEs

01/05/2019
When news about the shooting at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte began to spread, support came in from all across the state and even further on social media.

The hashtag #CharlotteStrong is now trending on Twitter.

On his Twitter account, Gov. Roy Cooper released this statement:

This is a tragic day for Charlotte and this great university. We mourn the lives lost and we will all be here to support each other. I commend the first responders for their quick action and am grateful that the campus is now secure.

Gov. Cooper also ordered all North Carolina flags at state buildings, grounds and facilities to be lowered to half0staff through sunset on Friday to honor the victims.

Rep. Richard Hudson shared a statement on the tragedy. UNCC was his alma mater.

Renee and I are heartbroken to see this violence in our community and at my alma mater, said Rep. Hudson. We are grateful for the quick and selfless action of first responders and police. Our thoughts and prayers are with victims, their families, and the entire 49er community. I will continue to monitor the situation and pray for the safety of all on campus.
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A non-Indian gaming firm will get to open a casino in Massachusetts even though state regulators said it covered up a sexual misconduct scandal.

The $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor is due to open in June. But its backers will have to pay a $35 million fine and its top executive will have to pay a $500,000 fine for what the Massachusetts Gaming Commission said were "repeated systemic failures" and a "pervasive culture of non-disclosure" in connection with the misconduct allegations.

With respect to honesty, integrity and good character, the commission is highly troubled by the evidence presented, the commission said in a suitability decision issued on Tuesday.

The scandal focused on Steve Wynn , the billionaire gaming mogul who won the license for the casino after trashing tribes during the review process. He was forced to step down from his namesake company after The Wall Street Journal reported on numerous allegations against him.

Wynn denied wrongdoing but his company failed to disclose settlements that were paid out to former employees who had accused the mogul of sexual assault, misconduct and other inappropriate behavior. His name was eventually removed from the project -- it went from "Wynn Boston Harbor" to "Encore Boston Harbor."

News Alert: MGC Issues Decision and Order Regarding Suitability of Wynn Resorts and Wynn MA, LLC https://t.co/c1piAwhZJr pic.twitter.com/qC1A8JsZP2  MA Gaming Commission (@MassGamingComm) April 30, 2019

During the bidding process, Wynn criticized the Mohegan Tribe , a rival bidder for the license. He claimed that the tribe was going to encourage big spenders to gamble at its existing casino in neighboring Connecticut rather than focus on Massachusetts.

What do you think theyre going to do when it comes time to move a big customer, pay 25 percent to Massachusetts, or shovel them off to Mohegan Sun in Connecticut where they pay nothing," Wynn told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Bloomberg News reported in January 2014. He was referring to the 25 percent tax rate imposed on commercial casinos in Massachusetts, glossing over the fact that the tribe shares 25 percent of slot machine revenues under its Class III gaming compact in Connecticut.

Wynn even tried to lower his tax rate , citing competition from the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe . He said he shouldn't be forced to pay any more than the tribe, whose compact includes revenue sharing rates between 15 percent and 21 percent.

A Wampanoag casino in Taunton would be a mere 40 miles from our proposed investment in Everett and a real alternative for our patrons, Wynn's company told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission stated, The Boston Herald reported in January 2014. All (resort casinos) should operate pursuant to the same economic terms with the same tax applied to all operators of the same type of facility."

Wynn's argument failed to differentiate his project, which was authorized under state law, from the tribe's. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act bars states from taxing tribal process, although tribes across the nation have entered into compacts to share a portion of their revenues with states.

Encore Boston Harbor is located in Everett, a city near Boston, the most populous metropolitan area in Massachusetts. It is the sole gaming facility in the eastern part of the state.

MGM Resorts International, another non-Indian company, won the license for the western part of the state. The Mohegan Tribe also tried to bid on that region but was knocked out of the running after losing a local referendum that was required under state law.

MGM subsequently engaged in a legal, political and lobbying campaign to prevent the Mohegan Tribe and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation from opening their own facility in neighboring Connecticut. The effort went all the way to Washington, D.C., and resulted in the Trump administration stalling the tribes for almost two years.

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe also has been dealt a blow by Washington when the Trump administration reversed course on the its land-into-trust application. The decision has prevented the tribe from resuming construction on a casino in the southeastern part of Massachusetts.

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Nora Boesem sat before the doctor, nervous and fearful about his medical opinion.

She didnt know what was wrong with her three foster children, ages 2, 3 and 6. She only knew something was wrong.

The doctor informed Nora and her husband Randy that the children suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder , a disease Nora very little about. And the doctor offered the Newell, South Dakota, couple some personal advice.

Give the children back while you still can, he told them.

The Boesems didnt heed the doctors advice. And more than a decade after receiving it, the couple has cared for nearly 160 foster children, nearly all of them from South Dakotas Pine Ridge Reservation and suffering from fetal alcohol spectrum.

But theyve also experienced pain as a result of their efforts, having lost their 15-year-old son to suicide. The Oglala Lakota teenager suffered from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

I dont want to bury anymore of my kids, she said.

Foster parent Nora Boesem, left, talks about efforts to establish a healing center in Whiteclay, Nebraska, during an event held at the Lincoln Indian Center in Lincoln on April 25, 2019. Seated next to her is Deb Evensen, an educator in the field of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Photo by Kevin Abourezk

Boesem believes she can help other children suffering from the disease that took her son, as well as provide hope for those parents struggling to imagine a future for their sons and daughters.

She wants to establish a trauma and healing center in Whiteclay, Nebraska, for children living with FASD.

The Hope Healing Center would provide diagnosis and treatment for children suffering from FASD, which is a neurological and cognitive disorder caused by prenatal consumption of alcohol. It would do so just two miles from a Native community wracked by the effects of the disease, as nearly one out of every four children on the Pine Ridge Reservation is born with FASD.

Despite that, Boesem wants the Lakota people to know they arent the only ones struggling to fight the disease. Every nation and every race is seeking solutions to the problem.

Its not an Oglala Lakota problem, she said. Its not a Native problem.

At a meeting last week in Lincoln, two activists who enlisted Boesems help four years ago in their fight to close four beer stores in Whiteclay spoke to Nebraska tribal leaders about the Hope Healing Center.

John Maisch, a documentary filmmaker and former Oklahoma liquor regulator, and Winnebago activist Frank LaMere spoke in Omaha and Lincoln at various events last week, seeking support for the center.

Maisch and LaMere led efforts to shut down four beer stores in Whiteclay, a movement that led to the closure of those stores on April 30, 2017, by the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission. Prior to their closure, the four beer stores had sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer annually, primarily to residents of the nearby dry Pine Ridge Reservation.

Maisch said the Hope Healing Center would turn a place of death of destruction into a place of hope and healing.

Boesem and a nonprofit called Whiteclay Memorial, which will serve as the umbrella organization for the healing center , are seeking to purchase 5 acres in Whiteclay that once served as the home for Lakota Hope Ministries, a former street outreach program that closed recently.

The current owners of the property have given the healing centers supporters until June 3 to come up with $150,000 to buy the land and buildings on it.

Thats the easy part, said Alan Jacobsen, a Lincoln roofing company owner who ran for governor in 1994.

The hard part, he said, will be establishing the healing center once the land is purchased. But he said he has confidence in Boesem to create a program that will serve as a model for other FASD diagnosis and treatment centers.

Boesem, who has a master's degree in social work and is a qualified mental health professional, serves as the director of the Family Services Department for Catholic Social Services in Rapid City, South Dakota.

She said she plans to incorporate Native healing methods into centers treatment program. She said boosting the self-esteem of children with FASD will be a primary goal for the center.

Many FASD children simply dont understand their own self-worth, and that insecurity tends to spike during their adolescent years as they become more aware of how different they are from other youth, Boesem said.

She said her son, Donovan, often expressed feelings of loneliness and isolation prior to committing suicide.

Whiteclay, Nebraska, is a town just across the border from the Pine Ridge Reservation whose economy was based on selling alcohol to members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Liquor sales were halted there in 2017 in response to decades of complaints from tribal officials and Native activists. Photo: Ammodramus

Deb Evensen, who works with FASD children and their parents in Alaska, said treating children who suffer from the disease also helps communities heal from the trauma of chronic alcoholism and the hopelessness that causes it.

LaMere said that while parents of FASD children must be held accountable for causing the disease, alcohol peddlers also need to be considered culpable for contributing to the misery of alcoholism and FASD.

He said building a healing center in Whiteclay for children with the disease would be a significant step toward making reparations to the Lakota people.

And he urged Boesem to move forward with the idea.

You have moral authority, he told her. Nobodys going to give it to you. It means nothing unless you do something with it.

You make everybody pay attention over there.

Indianz.Com Video by Kevin Abourezk: Meet Leo Yankton - A Lakota Man With A Dream

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TUCSON  An 11-year old girl from El Salvador coughs into the sleeve of her purple hoodie while Dr. Anna Landau presses a stethoscope to her chest. She struggles to hear the childs heartbeat over the cries of other sick children in the hallway but is determined to find a diagnosis.

Todo se escucha bien, she tells the girl in Spanish: Everything sounds good.

Landau decides to test for strep throat. Until the results come back, she gives the girl Tylenol and a bottle of water to treat her fever.

Landau, smiling reassuringly, instructs her to finish the entire bottle.

Landau is a medical coordinator for Casa Alitas, a volunteer organization that provides health care to migrant families. However, providing health care also is a responsibility of the governmental agencies that take in migrants.

Cronkite News Video by Marcella Baietto: Migrant Medical Costs

In the United States, health care can be difficult to afford. But for the thousands of migrants currently showing up at the U.S.-Mexico border, its nearly impossible.

In recent months, the number of migrants entering the United States has increased significantly. In March alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection saw nearly 92,000 apprehensions at the southern border, an almost 150% increase since March 2018.

Migrants often arrive with critical health issues that have strained the agencies overseeing them. According to CBP, Border Patrol sends an average of 63 people to receive further medical treatment every day.

Border Patrol agents are spending more time than ever providing transportation and hospital watch for medical care of those in our custody, Border Patrol Chief Brian Hastings told The Hill. The increase in flow combined with the stress of the journey, crowded conveyance and flu season have resulted in significant increases for referrals to medical providers.

But what happens when those receiving health care cant pay for it? Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1986, anyone who needs access to health care must receive it, regardless of their ability to pay.

The federal government has an actual fund for the care of migrants in the case of trauma or acute conditions that need immediate reversal, said Dr. Nicholas Vasquez, an emergency physician at Chandler Regional Medical Center and Phoenix Childrens Hospital.

Dr. Anna Landau, the medical coordinator for Casa Alitas in Tucson, Arizona, sorts medicine for a migrant family. Photo by Nicole Ludden / Cronkite News

However, not all conditions meet the criteria for coverage by federal funds.

Theres a pool of money for the emergent care of people who are in dire need and who would die otherwise. But beyond that, just general wellness, it depends, Vasquez said. Oftentimes, it lands on the hospital or on the health care system or on the charity or community health center that takes them.

Casa Alitas, a program within Catholic Community Services, is one of these non-governmental organizations that provides health care to a portion of the migrants entering the United States.

Casa Alitas houses and provides medical care to migrants at the Benedictine Sanctuary in Tucson, which every day receives dozens of families released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.

Most of the families Casa Alitas receives are from Central American countries. For many recently arrived migrants in the United States, their journey began far before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Landau, the medical coordinator for Casa Alitas, said nearly everyone comes into her facility with some level of dehydration.

A lot of people come in with some sort of upper respiratory infection. Colds, coughs, those kind of very common things, Landau said. On top of that, we often have fungal infections of the feet because people have been walking for days without being able to wash, have a shower for 10 days or more.

Casa Alitas medically screens every migrant who enters their shelter. It provides flu vaccinations, over-the-counter medications and the facilitation of prescriptions to be called in and picked up at no cost to the individual in need.

When we find out the family needs something more focused on their issues, Casa Alitas program coordinator Diego Pina Lopez said, were able to essentially meet that need, get those resources together, go pick it up from the pharmacy in several hours at a discounted rate from us that we will purchase for those families.

As a volunteer organization, Casa Alitas depends on donations to provide medical care, including 1,000 doses of flu vaccines from the Pima County Public Health Department.

Weve been really fortunate in getting diverse ways of medications and resources of that nature, Pina Lopez said. Tylenol, Advil, anything that you would get in that sense, weve been really fortunate with doctors and other people donating the funds for or buying what they see is needed in this space.

As a volunteer organization, Casa Alitas in Tucson, Arizona, depends on donations to care for migrants. Photo by Nicole Ludden / Cronkite News

The opportunity to provide medical care to migrants at no cost to them is not one Casa Alitas takes for granted.

Many of these families have been in so many situations that they dont have any control over, Landau said. I think just using that little bit of human touch is the bottom line. Making sure they know that were here and were giving them medical care because they deserve it.

Most of the migrants who arrive at Casa Alitas are seeking asylum and already have been processed by ICE or Border Patrol.

Joseph Curran, a Tucson Sector Border Patrol agent whos also a trained emergency medical technician, treats apprehended migrants for such things as dehydration, heat-related illnesses and blisters on peoples feet.

Border Patrol agents, some of us  232 in Tucson Sector  are also emergency medical technicians, Curran said. Agents who are cross-trained as EMTs can be deployed to these areas where medical attention is needed and perform the same duties as a regular EMT would.

Migrants initially apprehended by Border Patrol may receive medical treatment, but only as far as Border Patrols resources can manage.

If its determined that they need to go to a hospital, well contact the local ambulance company if it dictates so, and that individual will be transported to the local hospital still in Border Patrol custody, Curran said.

More from Cronkite News Authorities continue to release migrant families into U.S. Shelters struggle to keep pace with the release of migrants into the community, while migrants once held in detention centers set out on their journeys as they await court hearings.

However, the cost of providing health care to migrants and transferring them to receive care at other medical facilities has not come cheap. According to CBP, Border Patrol has spent more than $4 million in salary expenses to perform hospital watch for detainees in the past three months alone.

Hastings said that number is expected to rise to $12 million by September.

To address the issue of rising migrant health care costs, Dr. Vasquez, at Chandler Regional and PCH, believes there should be a serious revamp of policies dealing with health care for migrants.

We dont have a good policy in place on how to care for people who show up with nothing, he said. Regardless of how you feel about immigration, just the human challenge of taking care of families that have needs, that have no resources, that are in a foreign country and dont speak the language, makes resources required.

Regardless of depleted resources, Vasquez said, hell continue to care for migrants in need.

Were in this for the care of people. We got into medicine for the health and wellness of people, so we welcome the patients as they come and we will take care of them regardless of their ability to pay, Vasquez said. What are we doing about it? Were doing the best we can.

This story originally appeared on Cronkite News and is published via a Creative Commons license . Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University

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GPTCHB proposes a 60/40 split between themselves and IHS

RAPID CITY  Sioux San employees and Rapid City Indian community members are in for another rollercoaster ride as the Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Health Board continues efforts to take control of Sioux San Hospital via an Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act Title I contract.

According to employees of Sioux San Hospital, on April 18, CEO of the GPTCHB, Jerilyn Church met with staff outlining procedures to carry out what has been termed a 60/40 split, 60 percent to be managed by GPTCHB and 40 percent management retained by Indian Health Service.

In a memo to IHS employees Church states: GPTCHB is honored to have been asked to carry out the programs of the Rapid City Service Unit (RCSU) on behalf of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. It updated its proposal to IHS on February 14 and expects to assume operations this summer. Negotiations have started between GPTCHB and IHS with the face-to-face negotiations occurring this week and next.

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A court case filed in the mid 90s broke up the former Rapid City Indian Health Board, giving three tribes administrative oversight of Sioux San Hospital. Oversight was split between the Cheyenne River, Rosebud and Oglala Lakota Nations because according to IHS The three authorizing tribesmake up nearly 80 percent of the [Service Units] active patient population.

In April of 2018 all three tribal councils passed identical resolutions authorizing the Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Health Board to seek management of Sioux San via a PL98-638 Title I ISDEAA contract.

The Sioux San Hospital is an Indian Health Service facility in Rapid City, South Dakota. Photo by Kevin Abourezk

Local residents who utilize Sioux San Hospital voiced concerns that they were essentially left out of the consultation process. They also believe they are disenfranchised and marginalized by their own tribes and denied their constitutional right to equal representation by not being allowed to vote in tribal elections. They state they did not elect the tribal leaders who claimed to represent them and authorized the GPTCHBs takeover of Sioux San.

Rapid City Indian leaders point out ISDEAA regulations for the Title I 638 contract:Any legally established organization of Indians is controlled, sanctioned or chartered by such governing body or which is democratically elected by the adult members of the Indian Community to be served by such organization and which includes the maximum participation of Indians in all phases of its activities: Provided, that in any case where a contract is let or grant made to an organization to perform services benefitting more than one Indian Tribe, the approval of each such Indian tribe shall be a prerequisite to the letting or making of such contract or grant.

Then on Dec. 18, 2018, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council voted to reconsider and rescind their resolutions 2018-116 and 117 which originally authorized the GPTCHB to enter into ISDEAA agreements on their behalf.

On January 29, 2019, after the Rosebud Sioux Tribe rescinded a resolution of support, IHS sent leaders of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Oglala Sioux Tribe as well as the CEO of the GPTCHB letters announcing their final decision of a proposal by GPTCHB to take control of the Rapid City Indian Health Service Unit via a ISDEAA 638 contract.

IHS stated that they fully decline the proposal because it no longer satisfies Indian Self- Determination regulations based on the grounds that the proposal could not be lawfully carried out due to the rescinded Rosebud Sioux Tribe resolution. However the GPTCHB and the other two tribes continued to move forward without Rosebuds shares by amending their resolutions and authorizing the Great Plains Tribal Chairmens Health Board to continue its efforts to assume programs, services, functions, and activities of Sioux San.

The GPTCHB issued the following statement: On January 10, 2019, the GPTCHB sent a letter to the Great Plains Area IHS Acting Director, Jim Driving Hawk, to notify IHS of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes and Oglala Sioux Tribes intent to contract their portions of shares of the Rapid City Service Unit on behalf of their Tribes and to remind IHS that it would still have an obligation to ensure Rosebud tribal members receive services.

The authority for GPTCHB to assume services and related funding of the Rapid City Service Unit is dependent on tribal authorization, which changed when IHS construed the Rosebud Tribes December 18 action as a rescission of its resolution. There had been an enormous financial investment by the GPTCHB, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Oglala Sioux Tribes for the planning and negotiations on behalf of the three Tribes, which were days away from being finalized when Rosebud acted."

"After the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Councils each met with the GPTCHB in January, each decided they wanted the GPTCHB to proceed with the assumption on their behalf," the statement continued. "When notice of their latest actions was given to IHS, GPTCHB wanted to be sure IHS was reminded of its responsibility to use resources IHS would retain on behalf of Rosebud to ensure healthcare for Rosebud beneficiaries.

Contact Ernestine Chasing Hawk at staffwriter@nativesunnews.today

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today

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Rhe nepotism trend continues and no, we don't say so. On Koffee With Karan, Chunky Panday's daughter Ananya Panday admitted she got an easy debut and is forever grateful to Dharma for the big break.

Yes, Ananya Panday is all set to make a mega debut with Student Of The Year 2 opposite Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria. While many thought, the two actresses will crush on Tiger but looks like their choices are very clear. Since Tiger is so vocal (his Sundays at Bastian say it all) about his relationship with Disha Patani, Ananya has taken a liking to one of the former students.

Ananya, who featured on the cover of a leading magazine spoke about her favourites in Bollywood, "Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor Khan. I am obsessed with both of them. Even Varun Dhawan! His energy...and he is so cute. He knows I am in love with him and it's a bit awkward."

That's not all, during a recent press interaction, Ananya still went on about her Varun Dhawan.

Talking about her crazy obsession for the Badlapur actor, she stated, "I am the biggest Varun Dhawan fan ever. His picture used to be my wallpaper. The one wherein he was shirtless with a guitar in his hand. As of now, Punit Malhotra's picture is my wallpaper as SOTY 2 is coming out."

On Varun Dhawan's birthday too, Ananya declared him as the student of the decade who she will forever crush on.

Clearly, Ananya Panday's feeling for Varun Dhawan is practically all of us. Ananya's debut film Student Of The Year 2 is slated to release on 10th May, 2019 and is directed by Punit Malhotra. Do you think it'll outnumber the original SOTY? Tell us in the comment section below.
Tiger Shroff and Hrithik Roshan are coming together for a film and fans already have really high expectations. Considering two of the most popular stars will be seen together in an action film, it's already one of the most anticipated films.

Tiger Shroff, who will be facing off against Hrithik Roshan in his upcoming action film, says the idea of the project is like having a battle between Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible character Ethan Hunt and iconic British spy James Bond.

Directed by Siddharth Anand, the yet-to-be-titled action film is backed by Yash Raj Films. Actor Vaani Kapoor also stars in it and this is the first ever film in which Hrithik and Tiger will be sharing the screen space.

"I feel that film is going to be something cool. The idea is to get Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt of Mission Impossible versus James Bond, together in the same film. That's the idea," Tiger said in a group interview.

The film's shoot is almost over, with dance potions still remaining to be shot. The Baaghi 2 star admitted that he was like a typical fan boy, who was enamoured shooting with his idol, Hrithik, that he often forgot his dialogues.

"It has been an amazing experience. A lot of the times it used to happen that, because I was looking at my hero, I used to just forget my dialogues and go blank. I couldn't believe I was working with him."

Apart from this, the actor will also be seen in the Bollywood remake of Rambo. When asked, how does the team plan to go about the film, considering the climax of Baaghi 2 was also set in the Rambo zone, Tiger said the setting has now been changed. He adds,

"Yes, that was a bit of a problem. Luckily Rambo has a different terrain altogether now, a different world, something people won't expect."

In one of the earlier interviews, where they announced the film, Tiger had said,

"Hrithik sir is coming in top form. I have seen him train day and night, I have seen him work hard on a set and I have seen his work ethic so, I think, if he is not the same as he was in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, he must be even better and younger looking now."

Currently, Tiger is busy with the promotions of his upcoming film 'Student Of The Year'!
The global fashion industry has seen some revolutionary changes in the last two years. From plus-size models walking down the ramps at major fashion weeks to the much-needed acceptance of faces across ethnicity and diversity on magazine covers. This is the change we have been waiting for all along.

And Harper's Bazaar India's latest cover - The Body Issue with Jameela Jamil proves the conversation and movement around body positivism is not going anywhere, and it's time to change how we perceive beauty.

Jameela has always been an unapologetic advocate for body positivity, and even for this cover shoot she insisted her photographs are sans any sort of digital retouching or airbrushing. It has to be as authentic as it gets, just like her.

However, that was not the only thing that caught our attention.

For the very first time ever, Harper's Bazaar India shot an entire cover on the soon-to-be-released OnePlus 7 Pro, and as you can already see the results are nothing less than sensational.

The OnePlus 7 launch will take place in three cities simultaneously i.e New York, London and Bangalore on May 14 at 8:15 PM IST.

Going by the photos from the shoot, it is safe to say that OnePlus 7 Pro's camera will be a total gamechanger. In fact, we hear OnePlus 7 Pro is rumoured to include a pop-up camera selfie camera instead and also have QHD+ 90Hz AMOLED display. Honestly? We cannot wait for the launch to happen, and those of who you cant make it to the event, you can live stream it here.
When the country was celebrating International Labour Day, Maharashtra witnessed a brutal (improvised explosive device) IED blast carried out by Maoists targeting a police vehicle in the Naxalite-infested Gadchiroli district on Wednesday. At least 15 Jawans and a civilian were killed in the blast.

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NCP chief Sharad Pawar Wednesday demanded Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' resignation following the incident. "He should step down immediately", Pawar tweeted adding "Those who feel shame of conscience if not shame of public opinion would have resigned. But the people who are in power today are not going to do so."

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Everyone including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bollywood stars including Javed Akhtar and Swara Bhasker has condemned the attack.

What has happened in Gadchiroli is senseless and barbaric . This is nothing but terrorism that shouldnt be tolerated .  Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) May 1, 2019

I totally condemn Naxal attack in Gadchiroli, killing 16. Dastardly, inhuman & reflects the utterly degenerate mindset of the so-called revolutionaries. Ultra left & anarchist violence weakens democracy, hurts the poor. The state must crack down on perpetrators & ensure justice  Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) May 1, 2019

My tributes to the martyrs & jawans who lost their lives in terrible #NaxalAttack on our security personnel in #Gadchiroli, #Maharashtra. I pray for the families of jawans and wish the injured a speedy recovery  Sunny Deol (@iamsunnydeol) May 1, 2019

Terrible news coming in from Maharashtra. This HAS to stop! In solidarity with the families of those that lost their loved ones. Prayers, love, strength. These words have started to seem hollow for they are said too often. Salute to our commandoes. #Gadchiroli  Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) May 1, 2019

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

This is a ghastly attack - burning a dozen vehicles to create the diversion to boobytrap security forces. Such terror tactics must be condemned by every Indian.

Terrorism has no ideology or flag - red, green, saffron or black. Nothing justifies any kind of terrorism!#IndiaFirst https://t.co/OZUpcJHGXe  Rakesh Sharma (@rakeshfilm) May 1, 2019

The dastardly attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra is shameful & sad. I hope the urban naxals, Congress, tukde tukde gang , Lutyens media will not ask for proofs of this massacre of our soldiers. Heartfelt Condolences to the bereaved families.   !  Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) May 1, 2019

OMG. This is terrible. This was coming. I have been saying it for long. Since the new government in Chhattisgarh Naxal movement has rejuvinated. The entire #UrbanNaxals ecosystem has been working to create unrest and chaos.

My prayers with the victims families. https://t.co/QcO5zFUf9B  Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) May 1, 2019

Before the blast, Naxals had torched 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor.
The Election Commission has relaxed the model code of conduct in 11 districts in Odisha as the state is making arrangements to provide speedy relief and rescue operation in view of cyclonic storm Fani which is expected to make landfall on Friday.

MCC been lifted in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur districts.

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Earlier Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had met Election Commission officials asking for the lifting of the model code in several coastal districts of the state to facilitate disaster management activities ahead of cyclone Fani.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a yellow warning for residents along the coast as it predicted that Cyclone Fani would intensify into an extremely severe cyclonic storm by Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the state is taking all precautions and has deployed the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, and National Disaster Response Force for relief measures.

#CycloneFani: A cyclone can be devastating. Follow these do's and don'ts of a #cyclone before it inflicts heavy damage to your region. pic.twitter.com/ZfO6Hrc7Kt  NDMA India (@ndmaindia) May 1, 2019

All leaves of doctors and health staff in Odisha have been cancelled till May 15. Those who are on leave have been asked to report back to respective headquarters by Wednesday evening.

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Extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani, which is approaching India's eastern coast, is likely to hit Gopalpur and Chandbali, south of Puri in Odisha on Friday with a wind speed of 175-185 km per hour.
At least 15 security personnel are feared dead after maoists blew up a vehicle carrying police personnel in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district.

The improvised explosive device (IED) blast happened while the security personnel was traveling through Lendri pool around 6 km from Kurkheda in north Gadchiroli.

#UPDATE Maharashtra: 10 security personnel injured in an IED blast by naxals in Gadchiroli. The blast was executed by naxals on a police vehicle which was carrying 16 security personnel. pic.twitter.com/PXBJaqPuF1  ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

There were also reports of an exchange of fire is underway between the security men and the Maoists at the site of the blast.

Earlier the ultras had targeted and torched more than two dozen vehicles a road construction company in Gadchiroli.

The vehicles were owned by a company which is involved in construction works of NH 136 near Dadapur village.

The incidents came on a day the state is celebrating its foundation day, Maharashtra Divas.

This is the second major strike by the Maoists in recent times.

BJP MLA Bheema Mandavi and four police personnel were killed in an attack carried out by the insurgents in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada last month.
The footprints of mythical Yeti have created a lot of ripples across social media and since the claim was made by Indian army, people took it with both hands. However, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has come out with a counter narrative and said that the footprints could be of any other animals and similar situation where footprints have been believed of Yetis had made to news earlier as well.

News18 reported citing sources in WII. "There is a mention of Yeti in Nepalese and also in Buddhist literature. The foreigner explorers have spent ample time in collecting evidence about the mythical snowman. Some have even collected hair and bones from Himalayas and had done genetic analysis of the samples which came out to be of brown or black bear," senior scientist at WII, GS Rawat said.

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The WII scientist believed that the footprints could be of any other animal.

"Sometimes bear also walks on two legs and the same footprints could expand after three or four days. I once spotted footprints of sambhar (a deer) in the upper Kedarnath glacier that appeared as huge as elephant's," Rawat added.

"They (Army) should have followed (footprints) as Yeti cannot disappear in the thin air. If Army or Nepal government (as the site is in Nepal) still feels there is something, then they should install camera traps," the dean of WII advised.

For the first time, an #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast 'Yeti' measuring 32x15 inches close to Makalu Base Camp on 09 April 2019. This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past. pic.twitter.com/AMD4MYIgV7  ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) April 29, 2019

The army in its tweet with pictures claimed that the footprints measuring 32X15 inches belonged to the mythical Yeti. Army later said in a statement, "We tweeted as we thought prudent to excite scientific temper and rekindle the interest. Some of us who reject the story, surely shall have a definite answer to the evidences."

The image also had imprint of only one feet which again raises more doubts.
Beating all odds, Jagtap Kiran Suresh, 29, made it to the Indian Forest Service (IFS) in 2016 after continuously chasing his dream for five-years.

Hailing from a nondescript village called Vangudi near Pune, Jagtaps father Suresh a traffic sub-inspector with Maharashtra police  has never been unsure of his sons success. His love for detective books has showed from early years that his mind was focused on solving problems. And here he is today, ready to solve the problems of world. I am a very proud father, he said in Marathi.

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Jagtap had been a topper in studies during both school and college days. He has a degree in agriculture. He had been one of the toppers in Maharashtra state board examinations in both class 10 and 12.

The young officer said that his source of motivation is his mother, while she feels that nothing but sheer dedication has paved way to his success. Earlier, Suresh was also selected to Employees Provident Funds Organisation (EPFO) for the post of assistant provident funds commissioner.

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His mother Kamal Jagtap recalls, He used to study for over 18 hours every day to crack the examination. He chose forestry over other things due to his compassionate nature. He reads fiction as a stress buster.

Speaking about the main challenges for India in conserving forests and battling climate change, Jagtap said, Though the forest cover of our country is increasing, the biomass is as it is. It is a matter of concern as it is supposed to increase over the years. Less biomass means less sequestration of carbon in the forests.
Fifteen policemen and their driver were killed in Kurkheda town near Gadchiroli at Maharashtra in India on Wednesday after a powerful explosion, set off by maoists, blew up their vehicle. An improvised explosive device (IED) blast was set off on a private vehicle when a team of the C-60 Quick Response Team of the Gadchiroli police was on way to inspect a fleet of vehicles torched by Maoists earlier in the day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Delhi termed the attack 'despicable' and said that the 'perpetrators of such violence will not be spared'. This is the fourth Maoist attack in Gadchiroli, which borders Chattisgarh, since the national election began in April. CM Devendra fadnavis from Mumbai also tweet 'I strongly condemn this attack and we will fight this menace with even more and stronger efforts.

Here are some images of brutal maoist attack Gadchiroli in Maharashtra:

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As the probe widens in India about the possible role of Indians in the Easter blasts in Sri Lanka and links between radical groups in two countries, more details are now emerging.

Now two radical Islamic preachers from Tamil Nadu are under the scanner for their links with extremist groups in Sri Lanka.

According to The Indian Express, one of them is P Jainulabdeen, the founder of Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamaath (TNTJ).

While his connections with Salafi groups in Sri Lanka goes long back, Jainulabdeen had become out of favor after a section of them accused him of creating a rift within the community.

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He was once deported from Sri Lanka in 2005 and was denied visa in 2008 and 2015. Little known outside his community, Jainulabdeen made headlines in 2013 for leading the protests against Vishwaroopam, a Tamil film starring Kamal Haasan.

Another Salafi preacher under suspicion is Kovai Ayub, who like Jainulabdeen, had his share of run-ins with the Lankan authorities in 2009 for his controversial view.

The role of controversial televangelist Zakir Naik who is facing multiple terrorism-related charges in India has also come under scrutiny. According to investigators, the men who carried out the blasts on Easter Day used to follow Naik's speeches.

Following this revelation, most of the cable operators in Sri Lanka has removed his Peace TV from their networks. It is already banned in India and Bangladesh following the Dhaka terror attacks in 2016.

It is not just the role of the preachers that have come to light following the Easter Day attacks.

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It first emerged in 2016 when a total of 21 Keralites, including six women and three children, from Kasaragod and Palakkad, had left the country to join ISIS.

Initially, the families of the missing had claimed that they had gone to Sri Lanka to lead an "Islamic life" but later it emerged that they had further traveled to Afghanistan and some even to Syria.

Even Riyas Aboobacker, a youth from Kerala who was arrested by NIA on Monday for his alleged links with ISIS used to follow the preachings of Zaharan Hashim, the leader of National Thowheed Jamaath. Riyas and his associates were also planning suicide attacks in Kerala when they were nabbed by the NIA.
Finally, the world has accepted what India had been saying for years. Massod Azhar is a terrorist, who threatens world peace. The United Nations has designated Jaish-e-Mohammed chief as global terrorist.

This came after China agreed to not block India's proposal at the Security Council's Sanctions Committee.

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India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador, Syed Akbaruddin shared the news with the following tweet, "Big,small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support."

Big,small, all join together.

Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list

Grateful to all for their support. #Zerotolerance4Terrorism  Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) May 1, 2019

It was China that was hampering India's efforts at the UN to get Azhar designated as a terrorist. The move was initiated by France, UK and the US in the Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the horrific Pulwama attack, for which Jaish claimed the responsibility.

Meanwhile, China was putting a technical hold in March on a fresh proposal to impose a ban on Azhar.

Reports suggest that it was for the fourth time that China had blocked the JeM head's listing as a global terrorist by the UN.

What does it mean now?

Here's what happens when an individual or an organisation is sanctioned as global terrorist:

1. Asset freeze

The United Nations member states freeze the funds and other financial assets or economic resources.

2. Travel ban

The UN states prevent entry into or transit through their territories.

3. Arms embargo

The UN states stop direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities.

The committee keeps a check on the implementation of the sanctions

This designation will force Pakistan to act against him and individuals and entities associated with Azhar. All institutions, including madrasas and terror camps related to Azhar will have to be shut by Pakistan.

With Inputs from Economic times.
It's been 50 years since Tarsem Singh Sandhu brought about a sea change in England by helping lifting the ban on Turban.

Back in August 1967, a 23-year-old Sikh man from Merridale, Wolverhampton, Tarsem Singh Sandhu, was turned away from his job as a bus driver.

50 years ago my Mamaji, Tarsem Singh Sandhu fought for the right to wear a turban at work . The story was told to me by my mother long after it was forgotten in the press. He is a living legend and an inspiration who epitomises Sikh values. #turban #Wolverhampton pic.twitter.com/7tIb8D8gt1  Balvinder Puar (@BPuar) April 9, 2019

He refused to remove his turban or shave his beard for the job and his act of rebellion sparked a row that changed the world.

According to BBC, Sandhu's suspension led to march against the oppressive religious laws and nearly 6,000 Sikhs gathered in his support.

Sandhu received support from local Sikh community groups, notably from the West Midlands Shiromani Akali Dal and its leaders, according to this report.

Today, after five decades people are lauding the man for helping remove such a regressive law.

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Fifty years ago in Wolverhampton, you wouldnt have seen many turbans. Not because there werent any Sikhs, but because they were made to take them off. That is until Tarsem Singh Sandhu changed things. I got to meet him for my latest feature  https://t.co/3DBQ5en87Y  Riyah Collins (@Reeyuhh) April 30, 2019

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Marking 50 years since the so-called turban disputes, when Sikh bus driver Tarsem Singh Sandhu refused to shave his beard or remove his turban in order to wear the regulation bus driver's cap. His brave actions led to a change in legislation about religious expression at work. https://t.co/CuIfXfy2uN  Wolverhampton City Archives (@WolvesArchives) April 30, 2019

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Actually one of my earliest political memories, if not the very first. I remember my dad, a steelworker who spoke when he needed to, and never spoke of politics, getting mildly vocal about this bloke's right to wear what he thought was right. I remember us being surprised.  Paul Cotterill (@Bickerrecord) April 30, 2019

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It's one of those great stories that's sort of been overwhelmed by Rivers of Blood, I think. A bit like Malcolm X going to Smethwick to sort out segregation just before he got shot.  Liam Barnes (@LiamapBarnes) April 30, 2019

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Tarsem Singh Sandhu won the right to wear a turban to work 50 years ago. He had no help from his union.

Today racism and religious discrimination still affects people in workplaces. Our unions must be at the forefront of those fights.

https://t.co/DnXLTaQGY8  Emma Runswick (@ERunswickBMA) April 30, 2019

Watch Sandhu narrate his journey through the years:
To mark the 500th death anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci, the Louvre in Paris will be hosting an exhibition of the painters masterpiece this year. However, the worlds most expensive and one of the greatest works of the legend, may not be a part of the show.

Known as Salvator Mundi, it was sold at a 2017 auction for a record Rs 3,127 crore. But ever since the sale, the painting has not been displayed to the public. The painting is a portrait of Jesus that has now triggered debates about its ownership and authenticity.

According to the reports, the painting was to go on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi in September 2018. However, the exhibition was postponed without any explanation. The Louvre Abu Dhabi has not shared any details of the buyer, saying that the Emirates Department and Culture and Tourism has acquired the painting.

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Now, the mystery of Salvator Mundi has deepened ahead of a visit by Italian President Sergio Mattarella and he will be meeting French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to mark the death anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci. "The Louvre has asked the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi for the painting to be given on loan," a Louvre spokesperson told AFP.

A Wall Street Journal report claimed that the painting was bought by Saudi prince Badr ben Abdallah. However, the prince himself didnt confirm that he bought the painting.
Followers of the controversial Indian guru Ram Rahim Singh are seen outside the 'Dera Sacha Sauda' ashram in Sirsa on Aug. 27, 2017. Amandeep Singh, who claimed he was severely beaten by members of the minority sect, was denied asylum in a March 25 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Calif. (Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)
Thirteen-year-old Dhriti Narayan, a 7th grader at Sunnyvale Middle School in Sunnyvale, Calif., has been in a coma since April 23, when she and members of her family were stuck down by a motorist as they were walking in an intersection. Sean Webby, spokesman for the Santa Clara County District Attorneys office, told India-West the incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime. (Dhriti Narayan GoFundMe page)
Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar (right), was declared a global terrorist May 1 by the United Nations Security Council. He is seen addressing a group of militants in this 2001 file photo. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)
President of the National Akali Dal party Paramjeet Singh Pamma (center) shouts slogans with supporters against the bomb attack on Indian elite commandos by suspected Maoist rebels in the Gadchiroli region of the Indian state of Maharashtra on May 1. (Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images)
President Muhammadu Buhari has endured several backlashes, following his private trip to the UK, without writing to the National Assembly to formally hand over power to his vice, Prof Yemi Osinbajo.

However, presidential spokesperson Mr. Garba Shehu said his principal broke no law for travelling to the UK without formally writing to the National Assembly.

He said that the president wouldnt be the first to embark on a private trip, as some leading democracies in the world even mandate their leaders to engage on a vacation where he/she stays away from public duties.

Is Buhari right Does the constitution agree?

According to the 1999 constitution provided for occasion when the president should transfer powers to the vice-president before leaving the country. Its section 145(1) states the vice-president would be acting in his stead whenever he leaves on vacation or is unable to discharge his duties.

According to the subsection, whenever the President transmits to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a written declaration that he is proceeding on vacation or that he is otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary such functions shall be discharged by the Vice-President as Acting President. 

Subsection two states thus: In the event that the President is unable or fails to transmit the written declaration mentioned in subsection (1) of this section within 21 days, the National Assembly shall, by a resolution made by a simple majority of the vote of each House of the National Assembly, mandate the Vice-President to perform the functions of the office of the President as Acting President until the President transmits a letter to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives that he is now available to resume his functions as President. 

A constitutional lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, says the president was supposed to have written to the National Assembly, regardless of whether he was going to be out of the country for up to or more than 21 days or not.

What he wrote

The Constitution does not say that the President should transmit a written declaration if his vacation externs to or exceeds 21 days. That is a strange and indefensible attack on the spirit and letters of Section 145 (1) of the Constitution.

Mr. Shehus proposition is with respect, an invention of his imagination. The Constitution expressly says whenever (every time or any time). The fact that the president is proceeding on vacation for less than 21 days does not derogate from his duty to transmit a written declaration to the National Assembly.

Section 145 (2) only becomes operative and applicable if the President violates his constitutional duty under subsection (1) of Section 145.

In other words, the National Assembly is authorised to intervene and pass a resolution empowering the Vice President to become the Acting President where the President violates subsection (1) by refusing or failing to transmit a written declaration as enjoined for a continuous period of 21 days.

There is no legal or moral justification for the President to commit such grave constitutional infraction even for one day. A grave violation of the Constitution amounts to gross misconduct which is an impeachable offense under Section 143 of the Constitution. 
Senator Shehu Sani says he didnt become a member of Nigerias upper legislative chamber to be silent.

The lawmaker who represents Kaduna Central said this on Wednesday while revealing his encounter with a fellow lawmaker during plenary on Tuesday.

According to Sani, he was attacked by a Katsina lawmaker for always standing up to talk about insecurity in some parts of the country  However, the Senate president Bukola Saraki intervened and affirmed his rights.

On Tuesday at the Plenary, a Katsina senator tried to attack me for always standing up to speak on insecurity, kidnappings, and killings in the country, until the SP intervened and affirmed my rights. I didnt go to the Senate to be silent. Our conscience and convictions are our compasses, he said.
Celebrity OAP, Toke Makinwa has made a landmark announcement by revealing that she gets paid to attend events.

Toke Makinwa, on Monday, hit the front of social media controversy, when she called out comedian Bovi for pulling up jokes about her backside.

Also Read: Regina Daniels Alleged Husband Gifts Her N1 billion To Prepare For Wedding, Other Wives At Logger Head With Husband

Now she has revealed in a new post on Instagram that she is paid to attend events. The media personality also stated that she has built a bankable brand over the years, and she is only focused on building, sustaining and reinventing herself.

See her posts below:


A former Niger Delta militant leader, Asari Dokubo in a new video revealed that he will kill the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, the later dares him.

According to the former militant leader, Nnamdi Kanu has compromised the struggle for the actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra and threatened to kill the IPOB leader if he dares him.

Speaking in a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday morning, accused Kanu of killing Prophet Anthony Nwoko, and running shelter instead of facing the Nigerian government.

Dokubo who says he hasnt killed anyone as a Muslim before said in the video thus;

Our fellow Biafrans, in this period of darkness, a few people have decided to thrash our struggle in the blood of our own people. So that they will become Supreme leaders, saviours, and messiahs.

We didnt see the red flag, the signals were always there but some people saw it before us.

But because we believed that Biafra must be achieved with any means possible, we did not see these dangerous signals early enough.

Dokubo decried that the Biafran struggle has turned into bloodshed, while still referring to the killing of Biafra Prophet, Nwoko.

Ill smoke you out. Im not boasting, he warned.

Ill smoke you out from every hole, every corner. They know me.

If one idiot threatens to attack me and makes good his words to attack me, Ill kill him.
Popular Nigerian comedian, Bright Okpocha, also known as Basket Mouth has reacted to the social media created by Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh, today after accusing her husband of being a yahoo boy.

Basket mouth while taking to his Instagram page to react to Tonto Dikehs outrageous revelation said he wonders how peaceful the Internet would be if the network providers would start checking the mental state of people before selling data to them.

The post:
Nairabet owner, Oloye Akin Alabi, has taken to his Twitter handle to share his undiluted support for Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, in the race for the next Speaker of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Akin Alabi who spoke through his Twitter handle shared group photos he had with the Lagos born legislator and dropped a caption: Our next Speaker, @ femigbaja. Insha Allah 

Photos:
Nollywood actress, Regina Daniels, is now more confident to step out with her man, 59-year-old billionaire, Ned Nwoko.

The couple who stepped out together for the first time a few days ago were again spotted out together as Ned received an Honorary Doctorate Award from the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun (FUPRE), Delta State, Nigeria.

The photos show Regina Daniels celebrating with her man and his kids suspected to be from his 5th wife who is believed to be Morrocan. The family were all spotted at the after of the event.

See more photos of them having fun below;
Senate president Bukola Saraki has taken to his Twitter handle to salute Nigerians on the occasion of workers day being celebrated today.

Saraki in his address described the Nigerian workers as the fabric that makes up the society as a result of their tireless contribution to the socio-economic development of the nation.

His post:
Nollywood Actress, Tonto Dike who has been in the face of controversy in recent days over her continuous missiles launched at her ex-husband, Olakunle Churchill, has told media houses to stop calling her for interviews.

Tonto Dikeh in a new post on Instagram made it known that media houses should stop calling her for interviews, pointing out that she created a new youtube page where she will be dropping videos of every saga there, so that she can make money from them too.

ALSO READ: Breaking: Iker Casillas Suffers Heart Attack

See her post below:

Dear media houses, stop calling me for interviews. I have a YouTube channel now every saga will be talked about there!! Lets all make this money together, copy and paste from my YouTube!! In 4days more DROPS!! Thanks signed King Tonto.
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Some of the older folks I was working with during the internship werent as interested in trying to learn about and adopt new things they werent familiar with, such as online rating systems  and thats fair enough. That gave me a good opportunity to come in and do something different from an agency standpoint. I took that opportunity to try new things and introduce new technology, and it has snowballed ever since, Payne told Insurance Business.

Today, Payne is the sole proprietor of Field Insurance, which is a multi-line agency offering competitive insurance products for Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Hilton Head, and surrounding areas of South Carolina. With an average staff age of under 35, the agency has grown into a tech-savvy firm, which uses digital marketing to open up new opportunities and compete with bigger-name brokerages, while still remaining completely independent.

As a producer, Payne specializes in catastrophic exposed risks, as well as other lines and has a full-time team of 20 assisting daily. Both carriers and industry groups have recognized Payne and his team for their success and profitability, particularly in the E&S marketplace. A lot of this comes down to effective communication, digital marketing, and, most importantly, good relationships, he explained.

Social media has been a big influence at Field Insurance over the last several years, Payne commented. When it comes to digital platforms and digital adverts, Facebook has been particularly relevant for us. What happens on Facebook, for example, is it gives instant credibility to your brand and your company when people engage with or like a post. If a Facebook friend shares one of our posts and says what a great experience they had with us, that gives our brand instant credibility with other consumers on their network. It opens up an opportunity for us because it gets us in front of more consumers  we just have to deliver on that opportunity.

Delivering quality services has not been a problem for Field Insurance under Paynes leadership. In sticking resolutely to the independent agency model, the agency represents over 100 different insurance carriers and is not afraid to approach tons of different markets to get the best fit for the consumer based on the coverage and the price, explained Payne. He added: We dont follow the idea that you should bundle every single risk with one carrier like a State Farm or an Allstate.

If youve got a property owner, for example, thats got five properties in South Carolina and North Carolina, the chances of us placing those policies with the same carrier is very unlikely, he said. Because of our independent model, were able to approach lots of different markets depending on what the actual risk is, and were able to find the best fit for the consumers. That business strategy has opened up a lot of doors for us, and consumers are sharing plugs for us via word of mouth and social media.

A lot of folks that deal with us, whether thats in-person, over the phone or via email, say they get a good sense of family with Field Insurance. Then, when something comes up with their friends or family, they put in a plug for us. In reality, weve got thousands and thousands of clients, so we cant maintain that real personal relationship all year round  but weve worked hard to build that small, boutique-type operation with personal attention, which really goes a long way.
Producers have been frustrated by their inability to meet the needs of clients about offering a market for difficult risks to the commercial auto marketplace. PPCI provides exactly that market, said PPCI president and CEO Rick J. Lindsey.

PPCI offers coverage solutions for a wide variety of commercial auto risk classes  trucking, taxi cabs, towing, waste hauling and paratransit operations. The company also handles its claims in-house via its Claims Direct Access (CDA) service, which has successfully resolved more than 60,000 property & casualty claims and lawsuits.

Read more: PPCI debuts in the Kentucky commercial auto insurance market

Earlier this year, PPCI expanded its operations in the state of Kentucky, where it also operates as an admitted carrier.
Insurtech is emerging as a category in its own right, with over $20 billion of investment received by start-ups serving the sector since 2015, said Sabine VanderLinden, CEO of Start-upbootcamp InsurTech and partner at Rainmaking. While we are at the very beginning of our journey identifying those disruptive innovations that will affect the insurance sector forever, we need to be mindful that to do so we need to create innovation centers and hubs that welcome unique, innovative minds, talent and expertise. Lets build Hartford as a global insurtech capital where young ventures directly engage with the rich local ecosystem of insurers, adjacent market players, new entrants, local communities, city representatives, the governor and the regulator to create differentiated capabilities that leverage Connecticut and Hartfords strengths.

All 10 start-ups relocated to Hartford for the three-month accelerator program. Three were from the United States, while the rest relocated from countries such as Australia, South Africa, Canada, Switzerland and Germany.
I have a new hobby. It compliments one of my other hobbies, reading insurance policies. What is it?

Ive started reading legislation. What a thrill to print (yes, print) 16 pages of legislation. The numbered lines, the underscores and strikethroughs. Lets not forget the references to new and old sections, chapters, and paragraphs in the law. Its enough to make me happy for days.

Since the Florida legislature finally decided that it had enough evidence that this was an actual issue, and decided to take legislative action, I feel compelled to read their magnum opus. It must be good because weve already heard from groups on both side of the issue. Some that support their action have absolved the legislature for the seven years they failed to do anything about it. Meanwhile, those against the new law have already proclaimed that this is the beginning of the apocalypse.

We will find some reality somewhere in the middle. Since the bill is 16 printed pages, we wont be able to go through the whole thing in one post. Instead, I want to look at a few specific lines that I think are of particular importance. If youre interested in reading the whole bill, you can find the text that was sent to Governor DeSantis here.

Quoting from CS/CS/HB 7065, lines 163-180

(4) An assignee:

(a) Must provide the assignor with accurate and up-to-date revised estimates of the scope of work to be performed as supplemental or additional repairs are required.

(b) Must perform the work in accordance with accepted industry standards.

(c) May not seek payment from the assignor exceeding the applicable deductible under the policy unless the assignor has chosen to have additional work performed at the assignors own expense.

(d) Must, as a condition precedent to filing suit under the policy, and, if required by the insurer, submit to examinations under oath and recorded statements conducted by the insurer or the insurers representative that are reasonably necessary, based on the scope of the work and the complexity of the claim, which examinations and recorded statements must be limited to the matters related to the services provided, the cost of the services, and the assignment agreement.

(e) Must, as a condition precedent to filing suit under the policy, and, if required by the insurer, participate in appraisal or other alternative dispute resolution methods in accordance with the terms of the policy.

For those who think that this is an apocalyptic herald, we look at these provisions as being very consumer friendly. In fact, we find them friendly to all parties that could be involved, including the contractors, their attorneys, and the insurance companies. Yes, this is good for everyone involved, but Im just focused on the consumer for now.

It is good because it retains the consumers freedom.

The AOB was designed to simplify the claims process for the consumer and the contractor. This bill retains that freedom. Contractors can still use the AOB to help get the claims process moving so that they can get paid and the customer can be made whole. I maintain that the idea of the assignment of benefits (AOB) is a good one. When it works right, it allows the contractor to negotiate with the claim adjuster, hire a public adjuster, get the work done, and get paid quicker than might be possible with the insured in the loop.

When the insured is part of the process, they have to gather information from the contractor, send it to the adjuster or company, get a list of questions from the adjuster or company, send those to the contractor, wait for the contractor to get back with them, and on and on ad nauseam. The AOB can be a great tool to expedite the process, get the insured indemnified, and get live moving back in the right direction.

This bill doesnt hinder the insured from signing an AOB. It simply protects them from the worst actors (contractors who want to cheat good people, the attorneys that work with those cheater contractors, and the insurance companies that might act poorly when served suit.)

It is good because it protects the consumer from surprises.

Before this new law goes into effect, there are some surprise actions that a contractor and their attorney can take, which are bad for the consumer. This bill is designed to prevent those actions. The contractor must keep the insured in the loop regarding the cost of repairs, must do acceptable work, and cannot ask for money beyond the policys deductible.

Can you imagine the shock at thinking that the repairs should cost one amount and find out that your insurance company was sued for twice that? Thats on the list of anti-consumer actions that this bill is designed to stop.

What about hiring a contractor, signing the AOB, and the work never getting done? Possibly worse, work gets done, but its done so poorly that the customer would have been better off without the work getting done. Let me remind you that it does indeed happen. This bill specifically writes out what most of us would assume should happen. We believe that our contractors should do good work. The problem is that you really do have to write these things down to make sure that people understand whats expected sometimes.

It is good because it takes the lawsuit away as a default method to get what the contractor (and their attorney) wants.

Before the contractor can file suit against the insurance company, they have some responsibility now. They have to submit to examination under oath and alternative dispute resolution if required by the insurance company. These two actions allow the insurance company to determine whats going on with the claim before they have to deal with the legal process.

These are two provisions of many policies that applied to the insured but didnt necessarily apply to the assignee. Where the company would normally be able to ask for appraisal or mediation (depending on the policy wording) when dealing with the insured, the assignee didnt have that requirement. Now, they have to submit to these requirements before going to court.

In short, it forces the contractor to sit down and have conversations with the insurance company before filing suit. Conversations are always good things.

Lets not be confused about this issue. It isnt the end of the story. The Governor has promised to sign it, but that hasnt happened yet. The courts havent weighed in yet (and they will). Theres no reliable way to tell what all will come out of this legislation, but well keep watching it with you.

If Ive learned anything working in insurance in Florida, its that theres always something else around the corner. The bad actors will find another way to steal from the customer and blame the insurance industry. And the rest of us will have to take up the warning cry against that new issue.

Ill see you on that hill when it shows up.

Topics Lawsuits Carriers Legislation Florida Claims Contractors
Vault, an insurer focused on the needs of the high net worth market, has received approvals to underwrite in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

This adds to their existing operations in Florida and South Carolina and non-admitted coverage offerings in the U.S.

Vault offers insurance coverage and services for high-value homes, art, jewelry, cyber and personal excess liability coverage. Its business model, built on agent feedback, delivers these options under one transaction, powered by a web platform that offers quick quote and binding.

Vault was founded in 2017 in Florida by former AIG executives. The company is a combination of a policyholder-owned reciprocal insurance exchange and a surplus lines company focused on serving the needs of the affluent. Vault is majority-owned and supported by Allied World. Allied World provides significant capital and operational support to Vault.

Vault is the marketing name used to refer to Vault Reciprocal Exchange, a Florida-domiciled reciprocal insurance exchange managed by Vault Risk Management Services, LLC as its attorney-in-fact, and its affiliates.

Topics Carriers Florida
A Connecticut nursing home is being sued over the strangling death of a 76-year-old patient who police say was killed by her 81-year-old boyfriend in November.

The Connecticut Law Tribune reports the lawsuit filed Monday by the estate of Patricia Ann Way says Autumn Lake Healthcare at Bucks Hill in Waterbury should have known about her boyfriends violent history and failed to protect her. The estates lawyer says the lawsuit seeks at least seven figures in damages.

Nursing home officials did not respond to messages from the Law Tribune.

Ways boyfriend, John Jensen, is charged with murder. He has been declared incompetent to stand trial, but another competency hearing is scheduled for June 25.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Connecticut
An activist hedge fund on Tuesday nominated five directors and urged insurance company Argo Group International Holdings Ltd to cut $100 million in expenses, including corporate jets and housing for its chief executive.

Voce Capital Management LLC wants Argo shareholders to back its plan to double return on equity at the companys annual meeting next month, saying the current board is responsible for a culture of indulgence, according to a securities filing, seen by Reuters.

Voce, a $250 million hedge fund run by J. Daniel Plants, said Argos return on equity could climb to over 10 percent from an average of 5.7 percent if it slashed expenses such as the jets, sponsorships and CEO pay and housing, including a waterfront villa in Bermuda and a penthouse apartment in New York City.

The numbers Plants has put forward are fantasy, an Argo representative said.

The hedge fund owns 5.6 percent of $2.4 billion Argo, which specializes in insurance and reinsurance products in property and casualty insurance. Voce announced plans to push for changes in February.

Voces director candidates have global insurance and capital allocation expertise plus public company board experience. Voce proposes to replace five directors, including ones not up for re-election now, and called the current board weak.

Voce wants a combination of expense cuts, improved capital allocation and portfolio realignment, including possibly spinning off certain businesses.

Investors would reward such moves, Voce said, forecasting shares could climb as high as $126, compared with Tuesdays closing price of $78.07. If nothing is done, the hedge fund said, the stock price could also drop, erasing gains made since Voce began pressuring Argo.

Voce also said the companys Gulfstream 5 jet logged 584 flights in the last three calendar years to places where Argo CEO Mark Watson III has homes.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Beverly Hills, California; editing by Matthew Lewis and Lisa Shumaker)

Related:
Faced with lawsuits over a plane crash half a world away, Boeing Co. is arguing it shouldnt have to defend itself in a courtroom a short walk from its corporate headquarters.

The worlds largest planemaker has indicated in court filings that its likely to request that cases on behalf of victims in the October crash of a 737 Max plane be moved from the federal courthouse in Chicago to Indonesia, where the plane went down and where most of the victims lived.

On Tuesday, a federal judge told the company it must make the request within 45 days, according to plaintiffs lawyers. They say Boeing  if it can shift the U.S. cases 10,000 miles away  would skirt responsibility and lessen its financial liability.

They dont want them to have justice, said Steven Hart, a Chicago lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs from the Lion Air crash into the Java Sea on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people aboard.

Boeing said theres precedent for such cases to be heard in the country where the incident took place.

The disputes relating to the Lion Air Flight JT 610 accident should be heard and resolved by the courts of the nation with the greatest interest in the matter, the company said when it disclosed its plan in a legal filing late last year. That means the Indonesian courts, just as other cases arising out of Indonesian aviation accidents have been resolved by the Indonesian courts.

One of the lawyers representing Boeing, Bates McIntyre Larson, said she could not comment on pending litigation.

No Jury Trials

Another lawyer involved in the cases, Brian Kabateck, said it makes no sense to move the litigation to Indonesia because the 737 Max was designed, manufactured and sold in the U.S. The Indonesian judicial system doesnt offer the same protections as the U.S. system, he said, including no jury trials or punitive-damage awards.

This is not like other airline crashes, Kabateck said. Ive never had a case in which everything related to the aircraft happened here. So why shouldnt Boeing be held accountable where they designed and sold the plane?

Our justice system is based on the free flow of information  depositions, pre-trial discovery and due process on both sides, he added. All these issues either dont exist in Indonesia or are murky.

Lawyers for the Lion Air families said in an April 24 filing that Boeing should be forced as soon as possible to seek a formal request to move the cases so the litigation can proceed. Boeing lawyers made their intentions known about moving the cases in a filing that seeks to place the Chicago litigation on hold.

Victims lawyers said they have a strong argument to keep the cases in the U.S. because theres an indication the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration contributed to the accidents by giving Boeing the right to certify its own product.

The issue is particularly important given the second crash on March 10 that killed 157 people in Ethiopia. New evidence is emerging about the aircrafts flight worthiness, including information from whistle-blowers that problems were identified before the crashes, Kabateck said, and that Boeing failed to correct.

In the companys first-quarter earnings call last week, CEO Dennis Muilenburg didnt admit Boeing made any mistakes but in effect acknowledged it hadnt done enough. Referring to efforts to address the problems raised by the two crashes, he said: We own it.

With assistance from Harry Suhartono and Thomas Kutty Abraham.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Lawsuits USA Aviation Aerospace
Integrity Insurance, a property/casualty carrier headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin, has added Steve Genck as territory sales manager for Iowa.

Based in Iowa, Genck will develop and implement sales action plans with Integrity agency partners to drive new business while supporting retention and profitability.

Prior to joining Integrity, Genck was a carrier relationship manager/senior placement consultant with Homes Murphy & Associates in Waukee, Iowa. His background includes nearly 15 years in the insurance industry, on both the carrier and agency side.

Genck is a licensed agent and holds a CIC designation.

Source: Integrity Insurance

Topics Iowa
The Missouri River used to be out of control. It cuts corners, runs around at nights, fills itself with snags and traveling sandbars, lunches on levees, and swallows islands and small villages for dessert, is how the humorist George Fitch (pretty accurately) described it in 1907.

It was also hugely variable in size and shape. Below Yankton, South Dakota, where a narrow valley gave way to a flat expanse five to 18 miles wide, the Missouri and its various secondary channels, sandbars and the like had a width of 1,000 to 10,000 feet during normal flow periods, historian Robert Kelley Schneiders wrote in 1999.During a flood, which usually came in April when snow melted in the Great Plains, or in June when it melted in the Rocky Mountains, the river could become a foaming, misdirected monster that covered the entire valley, sometimes with ice as well water.

Afterward, the Missouri would often resettle along an entirely new course. Here again is Fitch  who got to know the river while working at the newspaper in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the water from Omaha, Nebraska  in what has become a classic description:

It is a perpetual dissatisfaction with its bed that is the greatest peculiarity of the Missouri. It is harder to suit in the matter of beds than a traveling man. Time after time it has gotten out of its bed in the middle of the night, with no apparent provocation, and has hunted up a new bed, all littered with forests, cornfields, brick houses, railroad ties and telegraph poles.

When Fitch wrote that in 1907, local officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had already been trying and mostly failing for several decades to persuade the Missouri to behave more like they thought a river should, flowing in a single channel navigable by barges and staying off neighboring cornfields and out of houses. It is our purpose to improve the Missouri River from its source to its mouth, to make it thoroughly available for navigation, a Kansas City businessman and former mayor had declared at a regional summit on the matter in 1885. This, if accomplished, would be an exceedingly valuable thing to the commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural interests of this section of the country.

It took a while, and a lot of wasted Congressional appropriations, but in the early years of the Great Depression the Corps and more than 10,000 temporary workers finally succeeded, by means of pile dikes, stone and concrete revetments, willow mattresses and simple dredging, in channelizing the river from Kansas City to where it meets the Mississippi at St. Louis. An extended drought, though, left it still too shallow for barges. This inadequacy, along with the New Deal penchant for projects that employed lots of people, led to the construction of Fort Peck Dam in Montana, which after its completion in 1940 allowed the Corps to store water to be released into the river in drier months, followed by major channelization efforts upstream from Kansas City.

Big Floods

Then came big floods in 1943, after which Congress assented in 1944 to a combined plan cooked up by the Corps and the irrigation-focused Bureau of Reclamation to dam the Missouri at five places in the Dakotas, the last of them Gavins Point Dam on the South Dakota-Nebraska state line near Yankton. These dams drowned the best parts of several Indian reservations and created the countrys largest reservoir system, with 72.4 million acre-feet of storage (for comparison, thats almost twice the water that all of Californias farms and cities use in a year). These were from the beginning to be multipurpose reservoirs, operated to provide flood control, navigation, irrigation, hydroelectric power, drinking water, recreation and even habitat for fish and wildlife, but with the Corps in control the first two of those authorized purposes clearly predominated. In 1945, the Corps also got the go-ahead to build hundreds of miles of levees from Sioux City, Iowa, to St. Louis, and to firm up and deepen the river channel to at least nine feet for that entire distance.

The largely artificial river-like entity that resulted, which has existed in more or less its current form since the mid-1960s, is about 200 miles shorter than the meandering 2,546 miles the Missouri River was measured at in 1895. Its also a lot narrower than that Missouri River was, with a channel width ranging from 600 to 1,100 feet. The one thing that hasnt changed is that its still largely devoid of barges: The 5 million short tons of cargo transported in 2017, most of it sand and gravel, ranked the Missouri River 15th among U.S. rivers and waterways in freight tonnage and was just 1.6 percent as much as the Mississippi River carried.

For a long time, though, this new infrastructure did seem to succeed at keeping floodwaters at bay. Yes, there was some flooding in 1967, 1975, 1978, 1984, 1986 and 1987, and a lot in 1993. But the 1993 floods were caused by epic summer rains in the Midwest, not snowmelt from the Plains or the Rockies, and the worst of the damage was on the Mississippi River and on the lower Missouri far from the dams. In 1997, in a triumph for the Corps, the Upper Missouri Basin experienced the biggest runoff year since regular record-keeping began in 1898, but major flooding was averted.

Disaster? Yes. Natural? No.

Lately, though, things havent been going so well. A new runoff record in 2011, 22 percent higher than the 1997 peak, proved too much even for even the nations biggest reservoir system to manage, and there was heavy flooding downstream from and between the dams. This year, even though it isnt expected to set any overall runoff records, is looking even worse. Floodwaters breached levees in more than 40 places along the Missouri in mid-March, and more than a month later much of the river valley from Omaha and Council Bluffs southward to Missouri  most of which, because the river channel hugs the hills on the Nebraska side, is in Iowa  is still soaked. Interstate 29, which connects the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area to points south, is closed to just past the Missouri state line and not expected to reopen until June.

These floods got some but not a huge amount of coverage in the national media, most along the lines of, Wow, a natural disaster! Yet the modern Missouri River isnt natural, and floods in the Missouri basin have at least as much to do with what people have done to shape the river as with nature. The river is part of American history (as Meriwether Lewis and William Clarks main conveyance, among other things) and it is deeply enmeshed in modern conflicts over natural resources, economic development and the proper role of government. Thats where the interesting stories lie  at least the ones that interest me.

Nature does still play a role, of course. The precipitating event for this years floods was, as is usually the case, precipitation  heavy rains that started the night of March 12 in eastern Nebraska, southern South Dakota and western Iowa. The rain fell upon snow packed atop frozen ground that gave the rain and snowmelt nowhere to go but into creeks and rivers that eventually empty into the Missouri. Flows from the biggest of them, Nebraskas Platte River, peaked at an estimated 170,000 cubic feet (about two Olympic-size swimming pools) per second, 20 times the rivers March average and almost equal to the Missouris flow where the Platte met it just south of Omaha.

That caused flooding slightly upriver at Offutt Air Base and the Omaha suburb of Bellevue, while downriver it overwhelmed levee systems protecting farms and a few small flood plain settlements on the Iowa side. There was also some less-devastating flooding along the Missouri north of Omaha, and spectacular inundations in Nebraska along the Platte and its tributaries the Elkhorn River and the Loup River, as well as the Niobrara River that flows into the Missouri just upstream from Gavins Point Dam. The latter floods swamped the outskirts of several towns, temporarily cutting them off from the world, as well as tearing up roads and knocking out a 92-year-old hydroelectric dam on the Niobrara. But the flooding didnt last long, it generally kept within the 100-year floodplain (that is, areas deemed to have a 1 percent annual chance of flooding) and nobody that I know of was blaming the federal government for it.

Things were different along the Missouri. There, floodwaters engulfed areas that thanks to their levees had been deemed vulnerable only to 500-year floods (that is, they supposedly had only a 0.2 percent annual chance of flooding), and stayed there for weeks. At a Corps of Engineers public meeting in Nebraska City, Nebraska, that I attended earlier this month, it was quite clear that lots of farmers and other residents along the Missouri blame the federal government for what happened.

Corn, Soybeans and Carp

The story that Corps officials had to tell in Nebraska City, most of which is safely ensconced in the hills just west of the river about 50 miles south of Omaha, was that there wasnt a whole lot they could have done. This year the runoff came from uncontrolled tributaries, explained John Remus, chief of the agencys Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. If we would have emptied the reservoirs, it would not have prevented this flood. As for Gavins Point Dam, which was downstream from the Niobrara River floodwaters, it wasnt designed for flood storage and thus could hold back the waters only briefly.

Gavins Point wasnt designed for flood storage because it was designed instead to smooth out flows for navigation, which is necessary because the Fort Randall Dam 70 miles upstream adjusts its releases to meet daily peaks in hydroelectric demand. All those uncontrolled tributaries remain undammed because, as Remus put it to me the day after the meeting, If there were a good dam site, in the 1940s, 50s or 60s some agency would have put a dam there. The Corps actually explored damming the Platte River about 20 miles upstream from the Missouri in the 1930s and concluded that the resulting reservoir would fill with sediment so quickly that the benefits would approach a minimum.

The idea still occasionally catches the fancy of local politicians envisioning speedboat rides from Omaha to Lincoln, but its multi-billion-dollar price tag, the tens of thousands of acres of farmland and one small city it would submerge and the relatively small capacity of the reservoir (it would be quite shallow even before it silted up) mean its almost certainly off the table. In the 1940s, the Corps also considered several options for containing the flow of the Elkhorn River, the tributary responsible for most of those mid-March peak flows in the Platte, and found that the projected costs exceeded the benefits by a more than a two-to-one margin for all of them  which for the dam-happy Corps of the 1940s was really saying something.

Most of the people in attendance in Nebraska City seemed to get this. When the first person from the crowd to speak, Omaha insurance broker Kevin Penrod, advocated damming the Platte, he was greeted with near silence. Of the subsequent comments that got lots of applause, a few did concern inadequate infrastructure. You had crappy levees! exclaimed one man whose name I didnt catch because he stalked out immediately afterwards. Most, though, focused on the conviction that more flooding was happening because, as farmer Donette Jackson of Tekamah, Nebraska, north of Omaha, put it, the Corps long-standing focus on flood control has been reversed to pursue an environmentalist dream of a free river.

There are in fact environmentalists who dream of a free river, and environmental concerns that were ignored during the mid-20th-century damming and channelizing boom do now play some role in how the river is managed. How much of a role is debatable: the Missouri River remains a constrained, artificial waterway, and the rich ecosystem of plants, fish and other wildlife that once thrived along the river has been replaced by corn, soybeans and a much narrower assortment of wild plants, animals and fish, some of the most successful of them non-native invasive species such as carp.

Still, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which instructed federal agencies not to take actions that would jeopardize the continued existence of endangered or threatened species, has forced some changes. With the Missouri and its sandbars home to the endangered pallid sturgeon and interior least tern and the threatened piping plover, the Corps has made alterations to the mostly underwater wing dikes that help keep the river in its channel in order to create habitat for the sturgeon, and adjusts river flows in May and June to try to avoid swamping the nests of terns and plovers. In 2006, after years of wrangling with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and environmental groups, it began releasing spring pulses of water from Gavins Point Dam to encourage the sturgeon to spawn, but these were only conducted in 2006, 2008 and 2009 and have since been discontinued because they didnt seem to be helping.

The fact that these changes were followed in later years by flooding is a coincidental thing, Remus told me. In 2014, though, 372 property owners sued the Corps, claiming that actions taken to protect endangered species were causing floods along the Missouri that represented an unconstitutional taking of private property without compensation. In March 2018, Federal Claims Court Judge Nancy B. Firestone agreed, but only partly, ruling that localized flooding in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014 could be blamed on the Corps, but the big floods of 2011 could not. Im guessing the same will apply for the floods of 2019. Changes made to help endangered species may have made the river valley a little wetter, but keeping it entirely dry seems to be something that simply cannot be guaranteed with the existing infrastructure.

The River Is Going to Fool You

Why not? A fuller river is one reason. As mentioned, this wont be a record runoff year for the Upper Missouri River, but assuming that projections pan out it will mark the fourth time in just 10 years that runoff exceeds its pre-1978 record. A 2016 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration attributed recent runoff increases mostly to a change in weather patterns that has led to more precipitation falling in colder months when less of it evaporates. NOAA concluded that this was probably just natural variation, not climate change, but added that its modeling of future changes caused by global warming bears resemblance to the recent observed trends.

In any case, the less than half a century of reliable runoff data that the Corps had in hand when it designed the reservoir system in the 1940s clearly fell short of capturing the full range of potential outcomes. Precipitation also runs off more quickly when it encounters pavement or houses or even cornfields rather than worm- and gopher-hole ridden grassland, so development and farming are likely culprits as well.

Finally, theres the simple reality that attempts to subdue nature often backfire, or at least disappoint. When you confine a wild river like that to a narrow space its going to fool you, especially now with climate change issues, says W. Carter Johnson, an emeritus professor of ecology at South Dakota State University who has participated in two major National Research Council studies of the Missouri River. Or as a high-profile Bill-Clinton-administration panel led by Corps of Engineers veteran Gerald Galloway, then a brigadier general and now an engineering professor at the University of Maryland, concluded after the 1993 floods:

Persistent flood losses during a half century of flood-control programs raise serious questions concerning the long-term efficiency of such programs. A movement to reduce flood damages through nonstructural means, limiting unwise development of the floodplain and evacuating those at most risk, gradually has become a viable alternative to the construction of dams, levees, and floodwalls.

The word gradually was doing a lot of work there. It was all the way back in the late 1950s that researchers and a few Washington officials began pointing out that flood-control efforts and other government policies were perversely encouraging people to put themselves in the path of floods. But progress in changing those policies has been fitful, and in some areas, especially along the coasts, things seem to be headed in the wrong direction, with more and more people opting to live in harms way. Along the Missouri, though, the situation really isnt all that bad. The rivers floodplain is the lightest-colored area on the terrain map below:

The higher ground consists of what are called loess hills, formations of wind-deposited river silt that rise about 200 feet above the flood plain. The Missouris wild behavior in the pre-dam era, coupled with the fact that the regions economy grew up around railroads rather than boats, meant that most people settled not in the floodplain but among the hills or at least right at their edge  or, as is apparent on the above map, in the floodplains of smaller rivers, which has turned out to be problematic this year but not totally disastrous. Most of the counties along the Missouri River, especially those in Iowa, have been losing population for decades and havent seen lots of new floodplain development. The handful of metropolitan areas along the river have grown, and while mostly located on higher ground have built airports, industrial parks, premium outlet malls and residential neighborhoods on the flats, but they can at least afford pretty good levees and flood walls.

Bigger and Better

Hamburg, Iowa, with a population of 1,086, apparently cannot. The town, wedged against the hills on the east side of the valley south of Nebraska City, was able to fend off floodwaters in 2011 with a temporary addition to its levee. But it couldnt come up with the funds to make the levee improvements permanent, it wasnt allowed to keep the temporary addition and most of it was swamped in March.

Back in the mid-20th century Congress might have just paid for a better levee, but since the passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, non-federal sources have to foot part of the bill  currently at least 35 percent  for new flood-control projects. This kind of cost-sharing makes sense, as does a more cost-benefit-analysis-oriented approach to flood control in general. But such calculations can seem cruelly dismissive of those with limited resources. Cities will tend come out as having more economic value than small towns, industry more than agriculture, rich neighborhoods more than poor ones. A couple of hours into the Nebraska City public meeting, a woman in the audience blurted out, If water were running through the White House, you dont think there would be a solution? Remus paused, smiled and said: I think there would be a solution.

Still, its not like the region is getting no attention from Washington. Vice President Mike Pence showed up the very next day in Pacific Junction, Iowa, a flooded town near the mouth of the Platte River, and declared, according to the Omaha World-Herald, that were going to rebuild  bigger and better than before. Pacific Junction has 470 inhabitants, down from a peak of 744 in 1890. That means it long predates the dams; it was founded at a railroad junction in 1871. But it also sits smack in the flood plain, reliant on levees to keep it from flooding yet again. Maybe, instead of rebuilding it and its levee bigger and better than before, we could pay a little more to move its residents  some of whom want to leave  to safety among the loess hills that rise less than two miles away.

Or maybe not. There are lots of places in this country and around the world that would be underwater much of the time but for human intervention, and they certainly shouldnt all be abandoned. I make no claim to know the proper balance between trying to tame the Missouri River and getting out of its way. It does seem apparent, though, that the approach that reigned from the 1930s through the 1960s was unsustainably unbalanced, and that acknowledging this does not constitute environmentalist extremism.

Even more apparent is that one of the main justifications for re-engineering the Missouri River has turned out to be chimerical. That relatively measly five million tons of barge traffic that I mentioned earlier was almost all downriver from Kansas City. Between Kansas City and Omaha, the river carried only 451,157 tons of freight in 2017, and upstream of Omaha it carried none at all, according to statistics maintained by the Corps of Engineers. Keeping the river navigable all the way to Sioux City seemingly generates no economic benefit, and is clearly at odds with the goal of restoring habitat. And while it was long assumed that ensuring navigability complemented flood control, given that channelization makes the river run faster, in recent years the Corps has been contending with claims from researchers that some of its navigational structures actually worsen flooding. Now that seems like a good fight to pick at the next Corps public meeting about the Missouri River.

This is from Schneiders 1999 book Unruly River: Two Centuries of Change Along the Missouri, which is also the source of much of the historical information in the succeeding paragraphs.

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. He was the editorial director of Harvard Business Review and wrote for Time, Fortune and American Banker. He is the author of The Myth of the Rational Market.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Flood Agribusiness Missouri Mississippi Iowa Kansas Nebraska South Dakota
Atlas General Insurance Services has collaborated with Bascule Underwriting, specialists in equine insurance, to provide an exclusive workers compensation product for horse farm owners.

The program will be administered by Atlas and distributed through Bascules network of independent agents/brokers. The underwriting company is Accredited Surety and Casualty Company, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings, Ltd., with whom Atlas has an existing program administrator partnership.

Eligible classes include a wide range of equine professionals, including those operating a boarding, breeding, or show training facility and may also offer a lesson program. Racing, race training, or rodeo operations are not eligible. The program is available in California, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts and will be expanded into the Southeast and Midwest regions including Georgia, Tennessee, and Illinois soon. Atlas plans to roll-out the program nationally over the next 12-18 months.

Atlas General Insurance Services is a full-service program administrator that offers range of insurance products. It specializes in workers compensation, commercial lines and specialty property coverage.

Bascule Underwriting is an international program administrator with specialist expertise in the equine sector.

Topics Workers' Compensation Underwriting Agribusiness
Preparing for the unthinkable requires a lot thought.

Risk management professionals this week cautioned audiences of the myriad pitfalls in planning for catastrophes during the Risk & Insurance Management Societys annual conference at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Corporations were counseled to make sure they have the right coverage, insurers were advised to defend their rights and business owners were told they may be just one hack away from losing everything.

Edward Colechia, a senior vice president for Marshs claims practice in Boston, outlined the anatomy of a catastrophic general liability loss and offered guidance on how to best cope with the inevitable. Preparation is key, he said. Before any risk is accepted, the insurer should make a site visit to assess the situation on the ground.

Colechia said an on-site visit to one of Marshs clients in the Midwest might have averted a $200 million claim that still left the insured with a $50 million coverage gap. Six people died when a deck collapsed. Colechia said a claims adjuster found that the wooden deck was riddled with mushrooms.

The risk manager must conduct loss runs to assess the full extent of the potential loss, Colechia said. He or she should also have a list with the phone numbers of everyone involved in the insurance tower. Ensure that the language in each policy is aligned so that when the limit on the primary policy is exhausted coverage under an excess policy, for example, kicks in, he said.

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate, Colechia said. That means internal as well as external.

Reservation of Rights

Insurers that have accepted a risk need to make sure they properly reserve their rights in case a claim is excluded under the terms of the policy, said attorney Barry M. Miller, an administrative partner with Mazanec, Raski & Ryder in Lexington, Kentucky.

Miller said a reservation of rights letter should be sent to a claimant as soon as a defense of the claim begins, or soon after. He said such a letter must clearly explain any coverage limits and how they apply to the facts of the claim. Insurers that dont explain limits or exclusions risk a court holding that they are estopped from raising those terms in defense of the claim.

Miller said it should be kept in mind that in some states, insurers are allowed to demand reimbursement of any money spent defending a claim that was not covered. But the right to that reimbursement must be reserved, he said.

Miller said reservation of rights letters should be specific, not boilerplate. Simply restating the limits and exclusions in a policy wont do. He said the letter must explain how the policy language pertains to the facts at hand.

Cyber Attack

The exclusions mentioned by Miller could be a disaster if the claim involves a cyber attack. Strategies for coping with that particular peril was the topic of another presentation from attorney Joshua Gold of Anderson Kill in New York and Lance Ewing, executive vice president of global risk management and client services for Cotton Holdings Inc. Their presentation was titled Cyber Coverage for Things that Go Boom.

Gold said cyber risks keep morphing. In the early days, the privacy of data was the major concern. Policies where written to protect insureds from potential class action lawsuits caused by data breaches.

Covering the risk of bodily injury was not a concern for the cyber insurer or insured. But thanks to the Internet of Things, bodily injury is a very real risk from certain cyber crimes. Concerns about criminal mischief prompted California lawmakers to require security on every device connected to the internet, he said.

Cyber criminals can threaten the very existence of companies. Gold said a medical practice in Minnesota shut down after it was hacked. The physicians spent days manually calling patients to cancel appointments, he said.

Even the risk of cyber attack are well known, organizations dont always manage the risk well.

Ewing said cyber is becoming an increasingly important risk for directors and officers coverage. He said shareholder lawsuits closely follow any data breaches suffered by pubic companies. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has not made it a secret that they are going after any company that hasnt been diligent about cybersecurity.

Public companies are required to disclose in proxy statements any risks that threaten earnings. He said cyber risk has moved up toward the top of the listed disclosures in many of those proxy statements.

Ewing said directors need to pay close attention to their organizations insurance coverage. He said some policies require the insured to follow specific security practices in order to obtain coverage.

It is drastically, direly important to work with a broker who has experience in cyber coverage, Ewing said.

The RIMS conference concludes on Wednesday.

Topics Cyber Risk Management
The Florida House on Monday passed a compromise bill that would make texting while driving a primary offense, as well as create a hands-free area within school zones and construction zones where workers are present.

The bill, House Bill 107, now heads to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who is expected to sign it into law.

The Houses passage came just a few days after the Florida Senate passed the bill with added language about school and construction zones that now requires drivers to use hands-free devices if they want to talk on their phones in those areas.

The Senate voted on Thursday and then sent it back to the House.

Current Florida law, passed in 2013, only allows officers to cite drivers for texting if they are pulled over for some other violation. This bill will allow officers to stop motorists simply for texting or using a handheld phone in prohibited zones.

It was supported by businesses, industry and law enforcement organizations that make up the FL DNT TXTNDRV COALITION.

Logan McFaddin, regional manager for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and a member of the coalition, said Florida is one of eight states that saw a nearly 6% spike in fatalities in 2018, with driver behavior being one of the main reasons for lives lost in car crashes.

This good public policy would go a step further in protecting Florida drivers and lowering insurance costs by making texting while driving a primary offense, McFaddin said.

If signed, the bill will take effect July 1, 2019, but changes will be phased in. Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2019, law enforcement officers will issue only verbal or written warnings to violators. As of Jan. 1, 2020, officers will begin issuing citations to violators.

People who are issued citations can have three points assessed against their drivers license, however, first-time offenders can elect to participate in a wireless communications device driving safety program and, upon completion, have costs and points waived by a court clerk. First time offenders can also have their cases dismissed by county clerks if they show proof to the court they have purchased wireless communications equipment that enables their device to be used in a hands-free manner.

The bill also requires law enforcement agencies to record the race and ethnicity of a violator when issuing a citation and report that information to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. The requirement was added in an effort to guard against racial profiling.

Today, Florida took a giant step forward towards saving lives and making our roads safer, State Representative Jackie Toledo (R-Tampa), who sponsored HB 107 in the Florida House, said Monday. Distracted driving has become an epidemic and I thank my colleagues in both the Senate and House for passing this much needed common-sense legislation.

Advocates of the new texting while driving ban, also praised the passage of the bill.

Despite all the data and the tragic stories of lives lost, drivers continue to ignore the reality that texting and driving kills. By making texting a primary offense that can get you pulled over and held accountable for your action, this bill has the potential to finally change behavior for the better, said NAMIC Regional Vice President of the Southeast Liz Reynolds.

Phone use while driving has become an epidemic across the country, according to a study published by Zendrive last year. Its study found even in the then-14 states that have banned handheld phones behind the wheel, phone usage had increased.

From December through February, Zendrive technology monitored 4.5 million drivers who traveled 7.1 billion miles, comparing the results with the year-earlier period. Roughly two out of three of those people used a mobile phone at least once. Among those who picked up their phones, they used them for an average of almost four minutesa 5 percent increase from the previous year.

Legislation, by itself, is clearly not enough, said Zendrive founder Jonathan Matus.

Topics Legislation Florida Personal Auto
A Georgia man was arrested last month after a joint effort between investigators in the Fraud Unit at the Georgia Department of Insurance and multiple state agencies discovered he was allegedly operating a chop shop in Elbert County.

Officers with the Elbert County Sheriffs Office, the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Northern Judicial Circuit District Attorneys Office, the Comer Police Department, the Oglethorpe County Sheriffs Office, and the National Insurance Crime Bureau contributed to the investigation, which led to the discovery of hundreds of disassembled vehicles, including trucks, buses and heavy equipment, and thousands of diesel auto parts throughout the property owned by Craig Frank Adams, 38, of Athens, Georgia.

Items seized from the location were valued at several million dollars. In addition to the site where the chop shop operation was taking place, investigators raided a separate location in Elbert County and found a number of stolen items connected to Adams, as well as 19 guns determined to be in his possession.

Adams was arrested on April 10 and faces the following charges:

19 Counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon

1 Count of Felony Probation Violation

1 Count of Theft by Receiving Stolen Property

1 Count of Owning or Operating a Chop Shop

After his property was seized and warrants were taken out for his arrest, Adams turned himself in to Athens-Clarke County authorities. He was then transported to Elbert County and booked into the Elbert County Detention Center.

Source: Georgia Department of Insurance

Topics Auto Georgia
Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to pay a $1.05 million penalty to settle alleged federal water pollution violations from an oil pipeline break into Montanas Yellowstone River, according to court documents filed Friday.

Approval of the agreement by U.S. District Judge Susan Watters would resolve the last outstanding federal enforcement case against the oil giant stemming from the 2011 accident that spilled 63,000 gallons of crude.

Terms of the settlement were detailed in a consent decree filed in federal court in Billings. Its subject to a 30-day public comment period.

The spill near the town of Laurel, about 15 miles west of Billings, came after flooding along the Yellowstone scoured the river bottom and exposed the buried pipeline, causing it to break and release crude directly into the waterway.

The accident occurred downstream of Yellowstone National Park along a stretch of river popular among fishers, boaters and other recreational users. About 140 people were temporarily evacuated because of health and safety concerns.

Exxon previously paid $12 million in natural resource damage compensation and $2.6 million for pipeline safety and state pollution violations. The Irving, Texas-based company also spent an estimated $135 million on a months-long cleanup and repairs.

The latest penalty stems from violations of the Clean Water Act. Oil swept downstream by the raging river entered tributaries and nearby wetlands and fouled more than 14 square miles (36 square kilometers) of riverfront, according to court documents.

Exxon spokesman Jeremy Eikenberry said the settlement provides for an acceptable outcome that avoids protracted litigation between the parties.

The company on Friday reported earnings of $2.35 billion during the first quarter of 2019, down by roughly half from the same period a year earlier.

The 12-inch Silvertip pipeline had been installed just a few feet beneath the riverbed, sparking a national discussion over the adequacy of safety rules for thousands of pipelines crossing beneath waterways.

In the years since the Yellowstone spill and at the urging of safety regulators, companies including Exxon have re-installed some lines at greater depths to reduce the risk of accidents. There still are no federal regulatory mandates for lines to be deeply buried.

In 2015, another shallow pipeline broke and spilled 30,000 gallons farther downstream along the Yellowstone near the city of Glendive.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Energy Oil Gas Montana
Human error may have caused a crane collapse that killed four people and injured four others over the weekend, experts said Monday.

Based on videos of the collapse, they said it appears workers who were disassembling the construction crane had prematurely removed pins securing the sections of the cranes mast to each other, and that could explain why the crane toppled in relatively minor wind gusts.

The reason this tower fell over is ironworkers and the people working on it did not follow the manufacturers instructions for disassembling the crane, said crane accident investigator Tom Barth. If the pins had been in, that crane would not have fallen over.

The cranes mast fell over on Saturday afternoon as workers were taking it apart. Sections landed on top of the new Google building where it had been used and on traffic below, striking six vehicles. Two ironworkers on the crane were killed, as were two people in cars  a retired city employee and a college freshman. Four others were injured.

Barth, who has been a tower crane operator, inspector and accident investigator for 38 years, said the only safe way to disassemble a tower crane is to do it by sections.

First, a line from another crane is secured to the top of the section being removed. Only then do workers remove the bolts that secure the section being removed to the one below it. The second crane lowers the section, Barth said.

The videos, including one from a dash camera in a car approaching as the crane fell, appear to show the sections of the tower crane separating cleanly, indicating the pins had likely been removed early, said Dave Kwass, a trial attorney who handles crane accident lawsuits.

Where I would be starting as an investigator is getting a better grasp of what these two ironworkers who tragically were killed may have done in removing the pins, Kwass said. What Im seeing is a crane that looks as though the pins were popped all the way down to the pedestal section.

Kwass also suggested that the shifting weight of the workers at the top of the mast as they tried to grab the wind-swayed hook and line from the other crane might have helped push the mast over.

Early pin removal was blamed after a tower crane mast collapsed during disassembly in Dallas in 2012, killing two workers. Terry McGettigan, a tower crane specialist in Seattle, declined to comment on Saturdays crash, but he wrote a paper on the Dallas collapse warning about the danger of taking shortcuts by loosening or removing the bolts in advance.

The Iron Workers Union Local 29 based in Portland, Oregon, and Local 86, in Seattle, who represented the workers who died, did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

Washington Department of Labor and Industries inspectors were expected to finish their work at the scene Monday, said Tim Church, a department spokesman. He said it was too early to speculate on a cause.

The department on Monday expanded its investigation to include a fifth company: Seaburg Construction Corp., which employed the tower crane operator. The other companies are general contractor GLY, Northwest Tower Crane Service Inc., Omega Rigging and Machinery Moving Inc., and Morrow Equipment Co. LLC

GLY and its sub-contractors involved with this tower crane accident are doing everything we can to investigate the incident, the company said in a written statement. We are cooperating fully with investigators and assisting the local authorities. At this early stage of the investigation, we have no further details.

The ironworkers who died were identified by their unions as Andrew Yoder, 31, of Washington, and Travis Corbet, 33, of Oregon. Corbets wife, Samantha Corbet, told Seattle television stations that her husband had served in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years before becoming an ironworker.

They married last year and planned to go on their honeymoon in June.

Also killed were Seattle Pacific University freshman Sarah Wong, 19, and Alan Justad, 71, who retired in 2014 as deputy director of Seattles Department of Planning and Development.

In a written statement, Mayor Jenny Durkan called Justad a true public servant.

Related:

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A federal judge has ordered BNSF Railway to pay an additional $1 million after reaffirming a $2.1 million jury award in a Montana mans wrongful termination lawsuit.

The Flathead Beacon reported that Judge Dana Christensen last week denied BNSFs motion for a new trial and ordered the railway to pay Zachary Wootens attorneys fees and other court costs.

The Columbia Falls man sued BNSF claiming it violated federal law protecting whistleblowers and people injured on the job after he suffered severe injuries to his wrist and arm in the Whitefish rail yard in July 2015.

A federal jury awarded Wooten for lost wages, pain and suffering and punitive damages in November 2018.

A company spokesperson did not immediately provide comment to the newspaper.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Montana
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  The government has come up with stricter rules in issuing permits to foreign nationals opting to work in the country.

Joint guidelines for the issuance of work and employment permits to foreigners were signed Tuesday by the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Justice department, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Under the new rules, a special work permit will only be issued to foreigners who intend to work outside an employment arrangement. Those who seek to work under an such arrangement are required to obtain an alien employment permit (AEP) from the DOLE. But pending the issuance of an AEP, applicants may work in the country if they have a PWP valid for six months.

Foreign workers are now also required to obtain tax identification numbers from the BIR.

In a statement, the BI said the new policies were created amid concerns about the rising number of foreign workers in the country.

We saw a rise in the number of foreign nationals in the previous years due to emerging industries such as the online gaming industry, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente was quoted as saying in a statement.

Issues and challenges only appear now. This has never been a problem in the past because of the relatively smaller number of foreign nationals working in the Philippines then, he added.

The previous guidelines lack restrictions, making it "prone to abuse," the commissioner added.

The procedures are simple, the process is now quicker, so theres really no excuse for foreign nationals to not follow, he said.

Some sectors had previously called out the increasing presence of Chinese workers as the country strengthen its ties with China.

Bureau of Local Employment Director Dominique Tutay previously told CNN Philippines that from 2015 to 2018, there were 169,893 foreign nationals working in the country--about 51 percent of them are Chinese.

Citing data from the Immigration Bureau, Tutay said in 2018 alone, 185,000 foreign nationals were given special work permits by the agency, and 127,033 of the applicants for such permits were Chinese.
The OECD has issued new guidance on applying the profit-split method (PSM) in the energy and resources (E&R) sector. But will this see an uptick in its use? Deloittes Mark Barker and Aengus Barry discuss.
Sonoma, CA - May 1, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) In a special Friday afternoon meeting, 1st district and Sonoma Valley supervisor Susan Gorin will be the featured speaker at the monthly Sonoma Valley Cannabis Enthusiasts meeting on May 10 at HopMonk Tavern Sonoma.

Gorin, who has been a vocal cannabis supporter during her tenure on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and who is currently running for re-election, will offer her thoughts on the state of cannabis in Sonoma County. The meeting starts at 3pm and is free and open to the public. HopMonk Tavern Sonoma is located at 691 Broadway.

The Sonoma Valley Cannabis Enthusiasts (SVCE) was born on March 21, 2018. The founding steering committee consists of world-renowned Sonoma Valley organic farmers Sam Coturri and Phil Coturri; biodynamic leader and GlenTucky Family Farm founder Mike Benziger; Sonoma Valley florist and farmer Natasha Drengson; Erich Pearson, founder of SPARC; Glen Ellen Star restaurateur Erinn Weiswasser; and Sonoma PR man and farmer Michael Coats. The current board of directors includes former Sonoma Mayor Ken Brown as president; Michael Coats, V.P.; Jani Friedman as secretary and Doug Gardner as treasurer and acting executive director and local cannabis expert and writer Gretchen Giles as marketing consultant.

ABOUT SVCE

With over 50 active members, the SVCE exists to promote Sonoma Valley's distinctive and unique cannabis to residents of California and beyond. SVCE's goal is to highlight our local cannabis' remarkable terroir and to spotlight how Valley cannabis, properly grown, adds value to both our environment and our community. SVCE will develop and promote best practices in the Valley community and the greater cannabis industry. We will influence cannabis policy while facilitating the integration of cannabis businesses into our community. Providing education and information to our members and visitors about the medical and responsible adult uses of cannabis is a high priority of our organization. We support local charities and partner with food, wine, health, and tourist businesses.

Contact:

Michael Coats (707) 935 6203 or michael@coatspr.com

Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions.

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May 1, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Greg Johnson, president and CEO of Metallic Minerals, speaks with Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable about why he believes the company has all the "key ingredients for success" at its project in the Keno Hill Silver District.

Maurice Jackson: Joining us today is Greg Johnson, the president, CEO, and a director of Metallic Minerals Corp. (MMG:TSX.V; MMNGF:OTC), which is known for High Grade Silver in Canada's Yukon Territory.

In our last interview with Metallic Minerals we introduced the unique value proposition the company presents to the market, which we highly encourage you to revisit (here). Mr. Johnson, as a reminder for our audience before we delve into the recent company developments, please share with us who is Metallic Minerals and what is the investment opportunity that you provide?

Greg Johnson: Metallic Minerals is a leading silver focused exploration company focused in the Keno Hill Silver District, in Canada's Yukon Territory; one of the world's highest-grade producing regions with over 300 million ounces of historical production and current M&I resources.

Our business strategy has been to identify district-scale, brownfield properties adjacent to operating mines and infrastructure, where we see the upside for discovery of large deposits that can create significant new value.

Maurice Jackson: What has Metallic Minerals accomplished in the last 2.5 years in the Keno Hill Silver District?

Greg Johnson: Over the past 2.5 years Metallic has been able to consolidate the second largest land position in the high-grade Keno Hill Silver District, adjacent to Alexco Resources' operations, and has developed five large-scale advanced-stage targets at drill testing along with 10 priority multi-kilometer-scale early-stage targets.

Recent major discoveries in the district, totaling over 60 million ounces (Moz) of high-grade silver at Bermingham and Flame & Moth, highlight the exploration potential for new near surface deposits. Despite over a century of smaller scale mining and exploration history, the surface has barely been scratched at Keno Hill.

We feel that based on the past shallow depth of production, large and high-grade recent discoveries and prospective geology the Keno Hill Silver District shows the potential for a Coeur d'Alene scale system hosting +1 billion ounces of silver.

Because of these elements and the district scale, strategic land position owned by the company we believe that Metallic Minerals provides excellent leverage and exposure to rising silver prices and to the potential for major new discoveries, which can create tremendous value for shareholders. And as the district grows and this potential becomes more recognized and demonstrated, we'd expect to see larger players coming in to take a serious look.

By focusing on these elements, we feel we are able to greatly minimize exploration risk and maximize blue sky upside potential.

Maurice Jackson: Mr. Johnson, the historical Keno Hill Silver District is the perfect neighborhood to confirm the company's thesis. Your neighbor Alexco has recently provided a feasibility update on its plans to restart production in the district. Can you walk us through some of the key points from that?

Greg Johnson: Alexco has recently tabled a feasibility update that shows that the shallow, high-grade deposits in the district provide exceptional economics with low capital costs and high margins.The study showed Keno Hill has the highest silver and silver equivalent reserve grade in the silver industry with excellent recoveries and a simple conventional process from the existing mill facility.

Alexco's updated study shows that the Keno Hill operation, in addition to being top in silver grade, would be in the top 15 silver producers in size at 4-5 million ounces per year and lots of room for expansion with new discoveries.

Maurice Jackson: Metallic Minerals just issued a major press release that looks very promising for shareholders. That news is focused on the East Keno Hill Silver District. Before we go into that in detail can you map out the geography and level of development in the different parts of the district and where Metallic is focused?

Greg Johnson: I would first note the sheer scale of the Keno Silver Project and number of target areas at over 35 km long. We have spent a lot of time since the original acquisition on target refinement and zeroing in on precise areas on which to prioritize to focus.

The exploration work has been extraordinarily methodical as we move from broader tools as magnetics/geophysics to then ground truthing via mapping, soil sampling and trenching before setting up drills to begin to confirm the presence of mineralized structures. From there we start to vector along those structures to the higher-grade zones that can lead to new discoveries.

Maurice Jackson: With that overview let's dive into the East Keno Hill Silver District; it sounds like you have identified some very large mineralized areas. Walk us through the results from your recent work in the East Keno area and what you knew about this area, what were the company's expectations, and what did we find out?

Greg Johnson: The April 23 news release is the first in a series that will be rolled out over the ensuing weeks. It covers the results from the East Keno target area, the least explored part of the 35-km-long Keno Hill Silver District, and one the largest areas of Metallic's landholdings in the district.

On the East Keno target area, we have all the key ingredients for success with the right geologic setting, identification of the key structural corridors and now surface mineralization with elevated silver in soils and rocks that show the surface expression of these areas are 1 to 3 km in size indicating potential for discovery of very significant mineral systems.

It's fair to say we are very excited to have identified eight separate multi-kilometer target areas showing Keno-style mineralization, in an area of the district that is virtually untested.

Maurice Jackson: Put this into to some type of perspective for us, how would this compare in relation to the surface expression of the 50 million-ounce Bermingham deposit on the West side of the district?

Greg Johnson: Each of these East Keno targets is as large as or larger than the surface expression of Bermingham in the Western Keno district, one of the world's best silver deposits. The identification of these large-scale targets in the East Keno district validates our brownfields exploration thesis for the potential of the less explored parts of the district and is a major fundamental development.

Maurice Jackson: In summary, Metallic Minerals first set of assays were a knock out of the ballpark, confirming the company's working thesis that the less explored parts of this amazing district have lots of potential for new discoveries. What is Metallic Minerals doing now?

Greg Johnson: We are in the process of completing the modelling work on the 3D geology, airborne geophysical and remote sensing data and integrating that into our evolving understanding of the structural and geologic controls that allow for large deposits to form in this prolific district.

We will be releasing additional comprehensive updates on five additional advanced target areas that cover the Central (Keno Summit) and Western (Galena Hill) parts of the district. These targets on Metallic Minerals' holding are on some of the most productive trends in the Keno Hill district including the Bermingham, Flame & Moth and Keno Hil mine trends, which are some of the largest deposits discovered to date.

Maurice Jackson: At Proven and Probable, we interview some of the most trusted names in the natural resource space. One of the statements that I am always reminded of offline and online is that price does not always match the thesis. Mr. Johnson, Metallic Minerals for all intents and purposes is selling at a significant discount. What would you like to say to current and prospective shareholders?

Greg Johnson: The precious metals market is getting very oversold at these levels and particularly the high-quality exploration stage companies like Metallic Minerals. Many of these companies have recently hit their 52-week lows despite gold and silver being well above their lows of last fall.

This presents a strong value buying opportunity for astute investors.

Maurice Jackson: And for the record, and it should be no secret, we love to buy low and sell high, therefore, we plan to be active buyers of Metallic Minerals at these prices.

Mr. Johnson, the current state of the metals markets is on many investor's minds right now; can you provide your perspective on where we are in the current metal price cycle?

Greg Johnson: As we have discussed previously, one of the most important factors for investors to consider when looking at investments into the precious metals and commodity space are where you are in the metal price cycle.

The Incrementum Group out of Europe has recently updated some of its fundamentals charts, and starting with the really long term they show that right now is one of the lowest relative prices for commodities versus general market equities like the S&P 500 of any time in the past 50 years!

On a more recent term, this same group, along with the folks at Sprott, have recently produced some compelling charts that show that the precious metals sector has moved from the peak in the metal price cycle back in 201112 to forming the trough of this cycle over the past couple of years. This indicates that we appear to be starting into the next major upleg for gold and silver and supports that the current valuations are very low right now.

Maurice Jackson: Mr. Johnson, how does the capital structure look for Metallic Minerals?

Greg Johnson: Metallic Minerals is tightly structured, with significant ownership by the board and management. We now have four institutional investors and will be building on that.

We currently have 66 million shares outstanding and nearly $2.5 million in cash plus callable warrants. We are speaking with the holders of those warrants and would expect to see those start coming in.

Maurice Jackson: Metallic Minerals is part of the Metallic Group of Companies; please introduce us them and what makes the group stand out.

Greg Johnson: With the Metallic Group of Companies we are bringing new exploration thinking to three of the industry's highest-grade districts in silver, platinum and palladium, and copper.In unitizing these previously fragmented districts, we can apply new large-scale models that we believe could result in breakthrough discoveries in these areas that have proven they can produce mines.

By acquiring these district scale, brownfield land packages adjacent to already operating mines during the low period of the metal price cycle, we have created deep, fundamental strategic value in the land holdings for shareholders, and look to add to that value through new discoveries. Existing mine and access infrastructure should allow for reduced capital and operating costs, along with rapid development times compared to remote greenfields projects.

Our dedicated management teams have track records of successful exploration and development and allow us to share administrative resources to keep our costs low.

We started the group with Metallic Minerals in the high-grade Keno Hill Silver District in 2016, then saw the opportunity with Group Ten Metals Inc. (PGE:TSX.V; PGEZF:OTC) in 2017 to consolidate the famous high-grade Stillwater platinum and palladium district in Montana, and at the beginning of this year launched Granite Creek Copper Ltd. (GCX.V:TSXV) in the high-grade Carmacks copper district.

We believe that each of these companies represents a unique, deep value investment opportunity in silver, platinum and palladium, and copper.

Maurice Jackson: It was great having you join us again and I really look forward to having you back with your upcoming results at Keno Hill. For someone listening that wants to get more information on Metallic Minerals the website address is www.metallic-minerals.com. And as a reminder Metallic Minerals trades on the TSX-V: MMG and on the OTCQB: MMNGF. For direct inquiries please contact Chris Ackerman at 604-629-7800 ext. 1 and he may also be reached at info@metallic-minerals.com.

And last but not least please visit our website provenandprobable.com, where we deliver mining insights and bullion sales.

Greg Johnson of Metallic Minerals, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable, and I really look forward to having you back again in the future with your upcoming results at Keno Hill.

Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.

Disclosure:

1) Maurice Jackson: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Metallic Minerals. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: Metallic Minerals is a sponsor of Proven and Probable. Proven and Probable disclosures are listed below.

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 Metallic Group of Companies. Please click here for more information.

3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.

4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own shares of Metallic Minerals, Group Ten Metals and Granite Creek Copper, companies mentioned in this article.

Proven and Probable LLC receives financial compensation from its sponsors. The compensation is used is to fund both sponsor-specific activities and general report activities, website, and general and administrative costs. Sponsor-specific activities may include aggregating content and publishing that content on the Proven and Probable website, creating and maintaining company landing pages, interviewing key management, posting a banner/billboard, and/or issuing press releases. The fees also cover the costs for Proven and Probable to publish sector-specific information on our site, and also to create content by interviewing experts in the sector. Monthly sponsorship fees range from $1,000 to $4,000 per month. Proven and Probable LLC does accept stock for payment of sponsorship fees. Sponsor pages may be considered advertising for the purposes of 18 U.S.C. 1734.

The Information presented in Proven and Probable is provided for educational and informational purposes only, without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose. The Information contained in or provided from or through this forum is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, trading advice or any other advice. The Information on this forum and provided from or through this forum is general in nature and is not specific to you the User or anyone else. You should not make any decision, financial, investments, trading or otherwise, based on any of the information presented on this forum without undertaking independent due diligence and consultation with a professional broker or competent financial advisor. You understand that you are using any and all Information available on or through this forum at your own risk.

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May 1, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) The argument for why this Canadian explorer warrants a look is made in a BMO Capital report.

In an April 23 research note, analyst Andrew Mikitchook reported that BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Probe Metals Inc. (PRB:TSX.V) with an Outperform rating "to reflect expected upside" and a CA$2 per share target price. The company's stock is currently trading at around CA$0.94 per share.

Mikitchook reviewed Probe Metals' advantages.

Its flagship project, Val d'Or East, located in Quebec's Abitibi gold mining district, is "one of the higher-quality Canadian gold exploration properties with prospectivity for resource growth and the potential to transition toward a development-stage project," he described. The project's current mineral resource is 1.4 million ounces (1.4 Moz).

Probe Metals has a strong management team, Mikitchook highlighted, with a "notable track record" of exploration success and shareholder value creation along with decades of experience. For one, the team garnered $25 million in financing for the company, which should cover it through 2020.

Also, the people on Probe Metals' management and exploration teams are the same ones who navigated Probe Mines through two major mineral discoveries and the sale of the company to Goldcorp in 2015 for CA$526 million. During the takeover, Probe Metals was spun out, and Newmont Goldcorp today holds a 14% interest in it.

Val d'Or East has exploration upside, for one, in the parallel trends to the west of Pascalis, like the Courvan Trend where encountered intercepts were comparable to those of Pascalis, Mikitchook pointed out. Pascalis and Courvan remain open along strike and show potential to the north and south. Also, another mineralized trend could exist between Pascalis and Courvan, in the underexplored New Beliveau area. "We are including 0.75 Moz of potential upside in our valuation," he added.

Catalysts throughout 2019 will be results from drilling the new Courvan Trend, including the Southwest and Creek zones, and drilling New Beliveau, seeking new parallel trends, indicated Mikitchook. The major catalyst expected this year, though, is a Val d'Or East resource update in H2/19, which will include expansion of the Pascalis resources and the new Courvan Trend discoveries.

"Probe's Val d'Or East project is on a trajectory to be the next exploration success in the Val d'Or area," Mikitchook concluded. In addition, it has the "prospectivity, jurisdiction and management team to potentially attract acquisition interest as it is advanced."

Disclosure:

1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports (including members of their household) own securities of Newmont Goldcorp, a company mentioned in this article.

Disclosures from BMO Capital Markets, Probe Metals, April 23, 2019

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES

Analyst's Certification

I, Andrew Mikitchook, hereby certify that the views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject securities or issuers. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

Analysts who prepared this report are compensated based upon (among other factors) the overall profitability of BMO Capital Markets and their affiliates, which includes the overall profitability of investment banking services. Compensation for research is based on effectiveness in generating new ideas and in communication of ideas to clients, performance of recommendations, accuracy of earnings estimates, and service to clients.

Company Specific Disclosures

Disclosure 2: BMO Capital Markets has provided investment banking services with respect to Probe Metals within the past 12 months.

Disclosure 3: BMO Capital Markets has managed or co-managed a public offering of securities with respect to Probe Metals within the past 12 months.

Disclosure 4: BMO Capital Markets or an affiliate has received compensation for investment banking services from Probe Metals within the past 12 months.

Disclosure 6A: Probe Metals is a client (or was a client) of BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., BMO Capital Markets Corp., BMO Capital Markets Limited or an affiliate within the past 12 months: A) Investment Banking Services

Disclosure 18: A redacted draft of this report was previously shown to Probe Metals (for fact checking purposes) and changes were made to the report before publication.

For Important Disclosures on the stocks discussed in this report, please click here.

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Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions.

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May 1, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) The company's Manitoba assets were discussed in a CIBC report.

In an April 18 research note, analyst Oscar Cabrera reported that CIBC raised its target price on HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM:TSX; HBM:NYSE) to CA$10.50 per share from CA$9.50 following a management-led presentation and site visit to the company's Manitoba, Canada, projects. In comparison, HudBay is trading at around CA$8.90 per share.

Cabrera summarized the takeaways from both events.

On April 15, 2019, four HudBay executives delivered a presentation, in which they emphasized the potential of Lalor's zinc-gold-copper mineral resource and new exploration targets in the Snow Lake area, both in Manitoba. The "Manitoba assets account for about 16% of the roughly $4.2 billion operations and development project net asset value," wrote Cabrera.

The next day, CIBC attended site tours at Lalor, whose "mine development and operations showed well," and the New Britannia mine and mill located at Snow Lake. Both projects "highlight future potential," noted Cabrera.

The analyst added that "the successful development of Lalor gold and copper-gold zones is expected to increase Manitoba life-of-mine production of gold, copper, zinc and silver by 65%, 23%, 11% and 15%, respectively." CIBC also participated in an aerial tour over Snow Lake.

Regarding Lalor, Cabrera pointed out that management's efforts to improve throughput there are starting to pay off. However, further upside may not be realized until 2012, after the New Britannia mill has been refurbished, commissioned and ramped up.

Cabrera also noted upcoming catalysts. Those in the near term that should increase HudBay's cash flows are strong operating performance at the Manitoba and Peru assets, the Rosemont selldown and the Pampacancha land rights acquisition.

Further out, in early 2020, "an increase of mineral resources with conversion into reserves in the Snow Lake region could deliver a positive catalyst," Cabrera highlighted.

CIBC has a Neutral rating on HudBay Minerals.

Disclosure:

1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.

Disclosures from CIBC, Hudbay Minerals Inc., April 18, 2019

Analyst Certification:

Each CIBC World Markets Corp./Inc. research analyst named on the front page of this research report, or at the beginning of any subsection hereof, hereby certifies that (i) the recommendations and opinions expressed herein accurately reflect such research analyst's personal views about the company and securities that are the subject of this report and all other companies and securities mentioned in this report that are covered by such research analyst and (ii) no part of the research analyst's compensation was, is, or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed by such research analyst in this report.

Analysts employed outside the U.S. are not registered as research analysts with FINRA. These analysts may not be associated persons of CIBC World Markets Corp. and therefore may not be subject to FINRA Rule 2241 restrictions on communications with a subject company, public appearances and trading securities held by a research analyst account.

Potential Conflicts of Interest:

Equity research analysts employed by CIBC World Markets Corp./Inc. are compensated from revenues generated by various CIBC World Markets Corp./Inc. businesses, including the CIBC World Markets Investment Banking Department. Research analysts do not receive compensation based upon revenues from specific investment banking transactions. CIBC World Markets Corp./Inc. generally prohibits any research analyst and any member of his or her household from executing trades in the securities of a company that such research analyst covers. Additionally, CIBC World Markets Corp./Inc. generally prohibits any research analyst from serving as an officer, director or advisory board member of a company that such analyst covers.

In addition to 1% ownership positions in covered companies that are required to be specifically disclosed in this report, CIBC World Markets Corp./Inc. may have a long position of less than 1% or a short position or deal as principal in the securities discussed herein, related securities or in options, futures or other derivative instruments based thereon.

Recipients of this report are advised that any or all of the foregoing arrangements, as well as more specific disclosures set forth below, may at times give rise to potential conflicts of interest.

Important Disclosure Footnotes for Hudbay Minerals Inc. (HBM)

CIBC World Markets Inc. expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services from Hudbay Minerals Inc. in the next 3 months.

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So thats Wednesday nearly wrapped up. Heres some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

TO INFORM

Quirke verdict: Patrick Quirke has been found guilty of murdering his love rival Bobby Mr. Moonlight Ryan.

Quirke verdict: The jury in the Patrick Quirke trial did not hear evidence that the accused had secret audio recordings of him being "intimate" with Mary Lowry and that his computer was used to look up articles on notorious Irish murderers including Joe O'Reilly.

Quirke verdict: Following the verdict Mr Ryan's daughter Michelle delivered an emotional statement in which she said: "We will carry you with us in our hearts for the rest of our lives. So until we meet again Moonlight, know how much you are loved and sorely missed every day."

Anastasia Kriegel murder: A sergeant has testified that he observed a look or glance between the two boys accused of murdering Anastasia Kriegel when they were showing gardai where they claimed theyd last seen her.

Huawei leak inquiry: Gavin Williamson has been sacked as the British Defence Secretary following an inquiry into the leak of information from last weeks National Security Council meeting.

AIB shares: Shares in AIB slipped 1% as the bank said that profits were solid in the first three months of the year despite the uncertainties of Brexit.

Ruby retires: Ruby Walsh has announced he has retired from racing.

TO ENGAGE

Cabinet in Cork: Jokes about the smell of bull were flying as farmers brought a prize Angus bull to their protest outside the Cabinet meeting in Cork.

Cork on the Rise: The Pana ban debate showed Cork can expect to hit further potholes as it bids to modernise the city centre, writes Eoin English.

TO ENTERTAIN

Graham Norton: The Graham Norton Show will be quite different later this month as the host himself is set to take his first ever break from the chat show.

Game of Thrones: In response to the backlash from fans, Game of Thrones cinematographer Fabian Wagner spoke to a number of publications defending the dark lighting.

Most Read

Waterford attack: One of the teenagers who was attacked with a corrosive liquid in Waterford has said he feared he would never be able to see again.
The Government has looked outside the country and named a New Zealand government official as the governor of the Central Bank.

The appointment of Gabriel Makhlouf, who also worked as an official for former British Chancellor Gordon Brown, to replace Philip Lane was a surprise because it was expected to opt for an internal candidate.

Mr Makhlouf's extensive curriculum vitae also includes a stint as chair of the OECD's committee on fiscal affairs, the world's main tax rule-making body.

The announcement of his appointment comes against the backdrop of the Central Bank undertaking enforcement action against the country's main banks in relation to the tracker mortgage misselling scandal; confidence in the eurozone economy lying at a two-year low; and the regulator facing applications from more than 100 financial services firms looking to establish or extend operations in Ireland due to Brexit.

Mr Makhlouf is currently chief executive of the New Zealand treasury and is the chief economic and financial adviser to that country's government.

He will formally succeed Mr Lane as Central Bank governor in September. Mr Lane is set to join the ECB's executive board next month, and serve as its chief economist.

The Central Bank will appoint an, as yet unnamed, interim governor to bridge the gap between Mr Lane leaving and Mr Makhlouf taking office. A temporary governor will be appointed by the time Mr Lane formally leaves in June, the regulator said.

The interim appointee will come from the Central Bank's Commission. This comprises two deputy governors - including Sharon Donnery, favourite for the governor's job in some quarters; the secretary general of the Department of Finance and six members appointed by the Minister for Finance.

Speaking after the Government's special cabinet meeting in Cork, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Central Bank appointment was arrived at in the way any top job appointment should be.

"The logic was that the position should go to the best candidate," the Taoiseach said.

"It wasnt restricted to Ireland, it wasnt restricted to any one gender or anyone who was or was not currently working in the Central Bank so it was done really the way top jobs should be filled. There was an open international advertisement, people submitted their CVs, there was a shortlist. There were interviews, and the interview panel recommended one name to Government and that name was accepted by Government."\
A businessman and his mother cannot act as company directors for five years after the High Court found they failed to keep proper books and records for their liquidated hairdressing supplies and beauty treatments business.

Warren Logan was executive director of Hairspray Wholesalers Ltd, Fashion City, Ballymount, Dublin, and his mother Dolores MacKenzie was a non-executive director.

On May 1, 2013, it was voluntarily wound up and a liquidator appointed.

Liquidator Jim Luby later sought orders from the High Court restricting them from acting as directors or being involved in the formation or promotion of any company for five years, subject to conditions, because of their conduct of the firm's affairs.

Granting the orders, Mr Justice Senan Allen said Mr Logan and his mother blamed their accountants for the historical issues as a significant part of what led to the liquidation.

The judge said those historical issues were that proper books and records had not been kept and there was an issue as to the extent of the company's liabilities.

The judge did not understand how it was hoped the liquidation would obviate the need to deal with the deficit in the books and records. Mr Logan and his mother said it was a choice between making up books and records and liquidation, and they chose liquidation.

They not only did not keep proper books but did not prepare annual accounts or make returns to the Companies Office. The books and records deficit dated back to at least 2011, but was not addressed until the company went into liquidation two years later, the judge said.

The fact that the directors had only a vague, and in the event, quite wrong idea of the extent of the companys Revenue liabilities, and none at all of the liability to directors, was in the judge's view "evidence of irresponsibility".

The directors claimed their formal education was limited and Mr Logan said he had dyslexia. However, they were experienced business people and the fundamental problem was not the ability to understand complex documents but the "absence of relatively straightforward books and records".

They also admitted the companys Revenue liabilities are nearly twice what they thought them to be at the date of liquidation, he said.

They further admitted they had no idea where the figure of 431,655 shown in the statement of affairs for directors loans came from, he said.

He rejected their argument that the absence of proper books and records did not contribute to the insolvency.

While Mr Logan was active in the day-to-day business and his mother was a non-executive director, they had met the liquidator's application for restrictions on them together and on the same basis. There was no basis to differentiate between them.

The judge was not satisfied they acted responsibly in relation to the conduct of the affairs of the company and made the five-year restriction orders against both.
A Bill which would allow thousands of Irish people to live and work in the US has been reintroduced in the US Congress.

A proposal to extend the E3 Visa scheme progressed through Congress last year but did not get enough support in the Senate.
The Government's response to claims about the state of University Hospital Waterford's mortuary has been described as "alarming" by a group representing over 90% of hospital consultants.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association said it fully supported the consultant pathologists in UHW who last October wrote to the South/South West Hospital Group's chief executive about the need to address inadequate facilities in the hospital's mortuary.

IHCA president, Dr Donal O'Hanlon said: The response in recent days from health service management and the Government is disappointing as it has not focused on the risk and concerns highlighted by the consultant pathologists.

The consultant pathologists in Waterford have repeatedly highlighted their genuine concerns about University Hospital Waterford's mortuary facilities to management over a lengthy period. The response by Government to question the validity of these concerns rather than taking the issue in a much more timely manner is disappointing.

After the Government's special cabinet meeting in Cork, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there was a dispute about the facts.

The consultants had claimed in a letter that most deceased people were on trolleys and decomposing but the hospital group said there was no evidence to support that.

The Taoiseach claims a letter from the four consultants is not proof of the poor conditions at the mortuary there, and he has denied calling the consultants liars, but said the facts need to be established.

Mr Varadkar said: "What I said was a statement of fact, there is a dispute about what the true facts are. The claim in the letter is that most deceased people were on trolleys and decomposing, that's what was claimed.

"It seems now that the picture may be a little more different to that and the hospital group has said that there isn't any evidence to support that claim.

Mr Varadkar said the issue needed to be further investigated and that could be done by the Oireachtas Committee on Health or the Health Information and Quality Authority.

He did not know what the absolute truth was but just writing something in a letter or saying something was not in itself proof or evidence.
A judge has hit out at the failure of the State to provide a secure placement for a Co. Clare man declared insane.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Gerald Keys said that the States failure to find a placement for Ross Malone (aged 25) is down to lack of resources and facilities which the State is duty-bound to provide and has failed to do so.

He said: This cant continue - priority must be given and if it is not, there must be some alternative arrangements made, resources obtained somewhere so that this man can be in the correct place.

In court last month, Mr Malone was found not guilty of arson by a jury by reason of insanity after being directed to do so by Judge Keys.

However, Mr Malone of no fixed abode and who previously lived in Ennis and Kilfenora, has remained in Limerick prison since due to an unavailability of beds at the Central Mental Hospital.

Counsel for Mr Malone, Patrick Whyms BL expressed his frustration with the continuing situation.

Mr Whyms told Judge Keys that "we are reaching a situation where the court will have to demand of the State that someone come here and explains why no place has been provided" for Mr Malone.

Counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly BL, said that there are currently 48 individuals on a waiting list for a place at the Central Mental Hospital and that Mr Malone is in the top three.

Mr Connolly said that Mr Malone is a priority case.

Judge Keys stated that it is not the fault of the medics over the availability of a placement.

He said: There is someone else higher up the echelon who provides all of the resources. They are duty bound under our Constitution to provide these facilities and they are not doing it.

It is not good enough to say that there are no resources. All you have to do is read in the newspaper that we have had 7 billion of a windfall on savings in relation to the Exchequer.

Judge Keys added: I get no pleasure having to say these things, but there is frustration just building up all the time in relation to resources in the criminal justice system."

Judge Keys further remanded Mr Malone in custody at Limerick prison to reappear before Ennis Circuit Court next Wednesday.
Last month was the worst April on record for hospital overcrowding according to figures released this morning from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The INMO says 10,229 admitted patients were forced to wait without hospital beds in April 2019.
The Kinahan crime cartel has been hit in a major operation led by the Criminal Assets Bureau, involving 18 searches in Dublin and Kildare.

A well-known criminal from the Crumlin area of south Dublin is the main target of the operation, which was carried out this morning and involved several armed units.

The drug boss is a senior lieutenant in the cartel and was previously a major figure in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud.

A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

A Garda statement said that documentation in relation to the ownership of assets, financial documentation, mobile phones and electronic storage devices were seized and were being examined by CAB officers.

Evidence of considerable expenditure on a number of homes in the Dublin area has been obtained and analysed by an expert on behalf of CAB, the statement said.

In addition, gardai recovered:

Seven rolex watches;

A 152 Nissan X-Trail SUV and a 141 Landrover Discovery;

A GPS Tracker;

An assortment of designer clothing

The operation was carried out by CAB along with the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB).

They were assisted by the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU), DMR Armed Support Unit, Kildare Armed Support Unit, District Detective Unit DMR South, the Garda Air Support Unit and the Garda Dog Unit.

The statement said the operation was targeting the assets and activities of an international Organised Crime Gang involved in the sale and supply of controlled drugs.

In total, 18 searches were conducted in counties Dublin, mainly in Crumlin and neighbouring Walkinstown, and Kildare. Nine were homes.

The operation is ongoing.
A new meningitis vaccine is being introduced in Ireland following a recent spike in cases of a particularly deadly type of meningococcal disease.

Since 2014, cases of meningococcal W (MenW) have more than tripled in Ireland, with 12 cases reported last year.

The MenACWY vaccine is already available in other European countries, including Britain and the Netherlands.

In countries where the vaccine is available, it is administered to teenagers to prevent the spread of MenW.

The number of cases of MenW in Ireland is still relatively small but it is a particularly virulent strain and it is on the rise.

As well as protecting against MenW, the vaccine also offers protection against three other deadly types of meningococcal disease.

Health Minister Simon Harris has approved the introduction of the MenACWY vaccine, and the Department is liaising with the HSE with a view to its administration in the 2019 / 2020 academic year.

A family recently affected by MenW in Ireland contacted the Meningitis Research Foundation and made a personal appeal to Health Minister, Simon Harris, to make the vaccine available.

The Meningitis Research Foundation has been in touch with several families in Ireland who tragically lost children to meningococcal disease, including a recent death from MenW.

In a letter to Mr Harris in February the charity warned that the particularly deadly strain of MenW bacteria circulating in Ireland was the same strain that had been spreading in much of Europe.

As well as having a high fatality rate, it can be very hard to recognise because patients often have gastrointestinal symptoms, such as vomiting, without the characteristic signs of meningitis and septicaemia, such as non-blanching rash.

Meningitis can strike quickly and can kill within 12 hours. About a third of survivors can be left with life-changing after-effects, some as serious as brain damage, limb loss, blindness or hearing loss.

The charity's regional director, Diane McConnell, said there was a higher than normal incidence of meningococcal meningitis reported in Ireland during the last few weeks of last year and the first weeks of 2019.

The introduction of the MenACWY vaccine into the schedule is particularly welcomed because it means that the Irish population will be protected against more types of meningitis and septicaemia, she said.

Both MenB and MenC are covered in the current immunisation schedule in Ireland, with MenC offered since the year 2000 and MenB offered to babies since December 2016.

Meanwhile, the president of the Irish Medical Organisation, Dr Padraig McGarry, has warned that widespread dangerous misinformation about vaccination programmes must be resisted.

Dr McGarry said it was terrible to see how misinformation being spread online and offline could convince people not to vaccinate their children.

The simple truth is that vaccines are safe and effective, and all parents should act to protect their children by ensuring they get vaccinated, he said.
Revenge porn, online stalking, and distributing intimate photos of people without their consent are set to be made crimes punishable by heavy fines and potential jail sentences  three years after the first calls for Government action.

The Cabinet will sign off on the plans at a special meeting in Cork City today which is likely to be targeted by an Irish Farmers Association protest demanding a drastic increase in Brexit supports.

Under plans first put forward by Labour leader Brendan Howlin in 2016, the Government was meant to legislate to ensure people are protected from revenge porn, online stalking, up-skirting, and other matters.

Mr Howlins opposition bill was based on detailed Law Reform Commission recommendations on how to prevent harmful communications and digital safety.

Despite Government promises to act, the bill has been delayed for three years  an issue which the Irish Examiner revealed last week is affecting 145 other opposition bills tabled during the coalitions reign.

In a memo due to be brought to Cabinet this morning, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan will say amendments to the Harassment, Harmful Communications, and Related Offences Bill 2017 are now needed.

In a bid to fast-track the priority bill, he will say a number of changes must take place, including new legal penalties to prevent:

The non-consensual distribution of intimate images, known as revenge porn;

Online harassment and stalking, which include all forms of online and digital communication;

Increased laws to support the existing offence of sending threatening or indecent messages online;

And other matters such as up-skirting.

Mr Flanagan is expected to say that while the Department of Justice began preliminary work on drafting laws to address the concerns in 2016 in response to the Law Reform Commission recommendations, it agreed to stop and accept Mr Howlins plans instead.

He is also expected to say that legal drafting has delayed the tabling of the bill, and that the Government, Attorney General Seamus Woulfe, and Mr Howlin have been working on the changes in recent weeks.

The law change is set to dominate this mornings special meeting in Cork City, which is taking place in part to promote Irelands second city and the Governments local, European, and plebiscite campaigns in the city.

As reported in yesterdays Irish Examiner, the meeting will also see ministers being given an update on the 80m Cork events centre plans which have been dogged by delays in recent months.

The special Cabinet meeting at Cork City Hall  which will be followed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar canvassing in the city centre before a town hall debate at the Clayton Hotel this evening  is also set to be targeted by Irish Farmers Association protesters.

In a statement last night, IFA president Joe Healy criticised the Governments decision to switch the meeting location from Blackrock castle to Cork City Hall due to potential protests.

He said: The Government can run, but they cant hide. Well be at City Hall with the main rally timed for 10.30am.

Beef farmers need a Brexit support package and we will be sending a strong message to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his Cabinet.

"They can have the meeting wherever they like. Well be there.
A woman who cried out when she was victim of a robbery that she needed the money to pay rent was given some of her money back by the culprit.

That was the allegation in a case where it was claimed the young woman was beckoned by a man and then dragged along the ground and robbed of cash.

Detective Garda Mark Durcan said that on April 10, a young woman withdrew her disability allowance at St Lukes post office.

Det Garda Durcan said: On exiting, she had a conversation with a David Long whom she knew. She states he was asking her to come across the road to the junction of Summerhill North and OMahonys Avenue where she was pulled to the ground and her money bag was taken from her pocket.

She said she started crying and pleading with David Long to return the money as she owed it in rent. He took 100 from the money back and returned the rest of the money to her in the money bag.

"He warned her not to contact gardai as this would make matters worse. He left the scene.

CCTV was gathered from various premises in the St Lukes area and it captures both of them walking away towards St Lukes church. He is seen walking away and handing back something to her on the ground.

The amount of money allegedly returned to the injured party was not disclosed in the course of yesterdays bail application by Long.

William Bulman, defending, said the defendant argued that he was not of no fixed address and that he had a place to stay at Bijou by the Lee on North Main St. Det Garda Durcan said this had been checked out by gardai who were told Long was no longer welcome to stay at that address.

Judge John King said: I am refusing bail. I am satisfied that if the accused was granted bail he would commit further serious offences.

"I am further satisfied that there is a danger of interference with witnesses and that there is a possibility he would not turn up in court.

Long was remanded in custody until May 7.

As well as the robbery charge related to April 10, Long also faced a robbery charge related to January 13 where it was alleged he and another man approached a young man and robbed 5 in coins and a bottle of orange from him at South Mall, Cork.

Det Garda Durcan said it was alleged that one of the two men allegedly involved in that robbery produced a knife.
One of the boys accused of murdering 14-year-old Anastasia Kriegel lured her from her home to a derelict farmhouse where he voyeuristically watched another boy sexually assault and murder the vulnerable schoolgirl.

The prosecution said there is a compelling and coercive forensic case against the boy waiting at the farmhouse including a chilling zombie mask found in his backpack.

The Central Criminal Court heard from Anas mother yesterday, who described the bullying her vulnerable daughter had endured in the months before her death.

It was the opening day of the trial of the two teenagers accused of murdering the Kildare girl at Glenwood House, Laraghcon, Clonee Rd, Lucan, Co Dublin, on May 14 last year.

The two accused, both aged 14, cannot be named because they are minors. They have each pleaded not guilty.

One of the boys is further charged with aggravated sexual assault in a manner that involved serious violence. He also pleaded not guilty to that count.

Brendan Grehan, opening the case for the prosecution, explained that gardai discovered Anas body on May 17 at the derelict Glenwood House, 3km from her home through St Catherines Park.

She was naked apart from her socks and a ligature around her neck. She had obvious head injuries.

The scene, which was bloody, comprised a small, downstairs room, not much bigger than the jury box, he said.

Her broken phone and clothes were scattered around the room. Some were damaged, suggesting that they had been forcibly removed, he added.

A postmortem revealed severe and extensive injuries to Anas head and neck, which had caused her death. The pathologist also found injuries suggesting attempted sexual penetration.

The examination concluded that she had been violently assaulted within that room and that there had been a struggle.

The jury heard that Anas mother had reported her missing at 9pm on Monday, May 14.

She was last seen by her family at 5pm that day, when she left her home at Newtown Park in Leixlip, Co Kildare, in the company of the second accused.

She had told her father she would not be long. She was last seen alive with this boy in nearby St Catherines Park.

Her mother was trying to contact her by phone as she made her way home from work around that time. She was getting no reply, which was unusual.

Of concern too was that she had left her home with a boy, who had never visited before, and Mrs Kriegel was searching the park by 5.40pm.

Its the prosecutions case that Ana was already dead at this stage, said Mr Grehan.

The gardai responded to her mothers report that night by going to the boys house and speaking to him and his mother.

In the first of many different accounts (he) was to give the gardai, he told them hed called for Ana and they went to St Catherines park, where hed last seen her, said Mr Grehan.

Significantly, he did not mention his friend (the first accused) at this stage.

They visited him again the following day and he told them that he had called for Ana on behalf of the first boy, who had then met Ana in the park.

He said he knew that Ana was interested in this boy and the suggested purpose of the meeting was for this boy to tell her that he wasnt interested.

He claimed that after a short conversation between the two, she had gone one way while he and his friend had gone the other.

A number of people gave accounts of seeing the first accused limping and with blood on his clothing not long after 5.40pm. He had said he had been attacked by two men, whom he had fought off.

Gardai investigated this allegation and its the prosecutions case that (he) came by his injuries in a struggle with Ana, in which he sexually assaulted and killed her, and this was a made-up story, said Mr Grehan.

He told the jury he would be connected to the scene by male DNA found on her neck and the tape around her neck, and semen on her top found in the same room.

He alleged that various items from his home would also connect him to Anas murder.

These include the contents of a distinctive backpack he was seen carrying in the park, including gloves, kneepads, shinguards, and, perhaps most chillingly, a homemade zombie-type mask, he said.

The prosecution case will be that theres no explanation consistent with innocence.

Mr Grehan said the legal basis for the case against his co-accused was somewhat different.

It is that he aided and abetted the murder of her, that he assisted or helped it to happen knowing what was going to happen, that he provided this help by, in the first place, luring Ana from her house to meet (the first accused), knowing shed want to meet him, he explained.

However, Mr Grehan said he knew that Ana would not be meeting his friend in some romantic way in the park, but at a dirty, dark derelict house that he or (the first boy) made sure was empty before entering, handing Ana over to (him), knowing preparations must have been made by providing the builders tape for the ligature found on her neck by remaining and voyeuristically watching her murder and sexual assault, by participating in the cover-up afterwards, and lying repeatedly to the gardai about what he saw, knew, and did.

Mr Grehan said the jury would also hear other evidence and learn about the background of the two boys, including some peculiar interests they had.
Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe has settled his legal action against the State, the HSE and Tusla for an undisclosed sum.

The settlement came after weeks of negotiations between the legal teams for Mr McCabe and the State agencies over the 11 separate actions brought by the former garda sergeant and his family.

The actions were based on how Mr McCabe, who retired from the force last year, was dealt with in the aftermath of making complaints of malpractice in the force in 2008.

Last year, the Disclosures Tribunal had heard a campaign took the form of smearing Mr McCabe using a false allegation of child sexual abuse.

In earlier years, his complaints were rubbished in an official communique within the force despite being later found by a commission of investigation to be largely correct.

He had also been subjected to a disciplinary inquiry into a missing computer seized from a priest who was convicted of child sexual abuse.

Mr McCabe was found ultimately to have no case to answer but was put through the inquiry process for more than a year.

Controversies that arose in relation to the handling of the McCabe case ultimately led to the resignations of two ministers for justice and two garda commissioners.

Martin Callinan retired in March 2014, in the wake of a controversy over his description of Mr McCabes actions as disgusting in a Public Accounts Committee meeting.

Alan Shatter resigned as minister in April 2014, but a court subsequently held that he had been unfairly treated in a report which prompted his resignation.

In September 2017, then commissioner Noirin OSullivan resigned after a series of controversies, including the McCabe case, had dogged her time at the helm.

And in December 2017, minister for justice Frances Fitzgerald resigned following a controversy over how she had handled the McCabe case at an earlier stage.

Sergeant McCabes woes began in 2008 after he had compiled a dossier illustrating how up to a dozen investigations of mainly serious crime had been mishandled in the district of Bailiboro, Co Cavan.

Later, he exposed the abuse in An Garda Siochana of the penalty points system in road policing.

In both instances of complaint, initial internal inquiries by the gardai provided a picture that was at great variance with Mr McCabes complaints but in both cases, external inquiries later vindicated his complaints.

The chair of the Disclosures Tribunal Judge Peter Charleton found Sgt McCabe, as he then was, had correctly raised concerns about low standards in the force for which there were attempts to wrongly blame him.

Judge Kevin OHiggins, who chaired a commission of investigation into Mr McCabes original complaints, said he had shown courage and performed a genuine public service at considerable personal cost.

For this, he is due the gratitude of not only the general public but also of An Garda Siochana.
Rank and file gardai are demanding a special allowance to compensate members of the force who must pay a higher price for accommodation in designated rent pressure zones.

Garda Damien McCarthy, a member of the Garda Representative Association central executive committee, told day two of its annual conference that many young gardai are struggling to pay for rent in cities, suburbs and adjoining large towns.

At the conference in Killarney, Garda McCarthy listed 22 location countrywide where soaring accommodation costs were acknowledged by the government.

Living or working, in an area designated as a rent pressure zone means an increase in the cost of your day to day life. Put simply, it means that our members are placed in a situation where it costs more to work in an area that is designated as a rent pressure zone, he said.

Take childcare for example. A recent survey by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission showed that the average cost of childcare nationally was 181 per week, which rises to 240 per week for an area that also happens to be a rent pressure zone, he said.

According to a survey from Numbeo, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin are all rent pressure zones and feature in the top 100 most expensive cities to live in the world.

Due to the demands of this job, a newly attested probationer in the Garda College (Templemore) could be assigned to any station within the Republic of Ireland without any say.

"This includes being stationed in or near any one of these 22 rent pressure zones where the cost of living is higher.

"These new probationer gardai are already at the pin of their collar, the bottom of the ladder on the pay scale, faced firstly with the daunting task of finding somewhere to live and then the ability to work in that area within their limited means, Garda McCarthy said.

We hear from Garda management and the Policing Authority on an almost daily basis now of the importance for community policing and for our membership to be a part of the community where they work.

"Well now its time for this association to seek remuneration to make this an affordable model. This could be in the form of a standalone allowance or perhaps even a tax relief for these members."

I spoke to a delegate the other night about this who told me that areas of his division are on the cusp of being declared as rent pressure zones. Ares in Cork such as Middleton, Youghal and Fermoy are in the same situation where there have been large increases in the cost of rent in these towns recently, Garda McCarthy added.
A 48-year-old woman died following a collision with a Luas tram travelling on the Red Line in Dublin. Catriona Cahill from St Anthonys Road in Dublin sustained catastrophic injuries after she was struck by the inbound tram in a poorly lit area between the Fatima and St Jamess stops on July 8, 2017.

The driver of the tram said the lighting was bad in the area and he did not see the woman until it was too late.

Driver Maurice Cronin told an inquest into the womans death that a large, boisterous crowd got on the train at the Fatima stop. He heard a roar and looked in the rear view mirror as the train left the Fatima stop.

I looked out the front window and just for a split second I saw something on the track, he said.

There was nothing I could do. I hoped it wasnt someone. Youre just praying its not somebody, Mr Cronin said.

Dublin Coroners Court heard the incident took place shortly after midnight and involved the last inbound tram service on the Red Line.

Forensic Collision Investigator Garda Damien Farrell said the woman was lying on the track and was not moving when she was struck, 80m west of the Fatima stop.

He noted evidence of the application of emergency brakes and found the body catcher mechanism on the front of the tram had not moved the woman out of harms way.

The area, at the rear of St Jamess Hospital is particularly dark at night, according to Garda Farrell.

The track goes through a green area lined with mature trees. During the hours of darkness, this area is extremely dark, he said.

Barrister for the family Esther Earley asked if the tram was operating with full beams at the time of the collision and Garda Farrell replied that it was not.

The train was travelling at 13kmh at the point of impact following a rapid deceleration from 20kmph, the court heard.

Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane adjourned the inquest in order to hear evidence from witnesses from Transdev, operator of the Luas and from Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the authority responsible for public lighting along the Luas tracks.

The inquest is scheduled to conclude on July 9 next.
Netflix, May 4

Take a large dollop of Jackass, sprinkle it with some Bushtucker Challenge vibes from Im A Celebrity, and mix it all up in a huge barn in Co Antrim.

Basically, thats what well get in this new comedy game-show presented by Seann Walsh.

Contestants must do their best not to flinch in the face of rats, loud noises and other tests; otherwise theyll

instantly be subjected to nasty punishments such as electric shocks or snapping mousetraps.

Derry Girls

Netflix, May 8

If you missed out on season one during its original run on Channel 4, this gives you a chance to belatedly join in those water-cooler conversations.

As well as the excellent cast of school kids, youll spot comedy veterans Tommy Tiernan and Kevin McAleer.

Worth it alone for the How many bags of chips? scene.

Wine Country

Netflix, May 10

Amy Poehler makes her directorial debut by grabbing a bunch of her Saturday Night Live pals to star alongside her in the comedy film about a woman celebrating her 50th birthday in the Napa Valley.

ReMastered: The Lion's Share

Netflix, May 10

Fascinating documentary in the series that also gave us the tale of the massacre of the Miami Showband.

This time around, the focus is on Solomon Linda, the writer of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, a hit in various decades for which the South African musician never got paid properly for.

A reporter helps his family fight for compensation.

The Society

Netflix, May 10

The streaming channel hopes to repeat the success of Stranger Things with the ten-part series about a group of New England teenagers who suddenly find themselves in copy of their hometown without sign of their parents.

A bit 21st century Lord Of The Flies, their freedom feels fun at first, but they have to organise themselves, and find a way of surviving.

What/If

Netflix, May 24

Renee Zellweger leads the cast in a 10-part series that has been produced by Robert Zemeckis.

A pair of newlyweds accept a dodgy offer from a female benefactor in a thriller that Netflix describe as steamy.

Baby Driver

Netflix, May 27

Hugely enjoyable action film from 2017 starring Ansel Elgort as criminal getaway driver with a heart.

Also stars Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm and Jamie Foxx.

Good Omens

Amazon Prime Video, May 31

The eagerly-awaited adaptation of the novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Michael Sheen's Angel, and the Demon played by David Tennant, set off on an adventure to find the Antichrist and save the world. The series will also become available on BBC Two.
Luke Rix-Standing chats with wildlife TV presenter Kate Humble about the challenges facing the environment, and finds her in polemical form

After six years of Springwatch, three of Lambing Live, and a succession of BBC programmes, presenter Kate Humble has become synonymous with wildlife television.

Shes the perfect person to sit and chat about the world, because, over the course of her career, shes seen most of it.

Aged 19, she went on a nine-month solo trip across Africa and shes barely paused for breath since.

Naturalist, naturist, and former president of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), Humble is under no illusions about the state of the planet.

She is not best pleased about it.

What is throwaway culture?

Weve got into a terrible habit of buying things and throwing away the packaging. Plastic pots, coffee cups, and almost everything we buy for our homes.

"Obviously, some is necessary, but a lot isnt. Ive been very lucky and travelled to lots of different parts of the world; some countries which, some might say, are not as developed as the UK.

"But they certainly dont generate the amount of waste and rubbish that we do.

Do you think its a European problem?

No, I think it is a developed world problem. Weve become a society that seems to value convenience over everything else, and with that comes a lot of waste.

"I went to Rwanda a couple of years ago  a country with an astonishingly brutal history  and there was something about it I just couldnt quite put my finger on.

"Then, I realised that its the cleanest place Ive ever been.

"The president has banned plastic bags  you cant use them, you cant bring them in, theyre just banned  and this in a country that suffered a genocide 25 years ago.

"Its so sad that somewhere rubbish-free is so startlingly noticeable, but if they can do that, why cant we?

What is the impact? How do you quantify the damage?

Well, theres the terrible reality of landfill. There is only so much land and were filling it with rubbish.

"All the stuff that cant be recycled sits in the Earth and gradually breaks down, and all the chemicals seep into the soil.

Rubbish that gets dumped in the sea ends up on beaches, and weve all seen the effect that has on wildlife: The turtles that have died because theyve got plastic bags stuck in their gullets; the heartbreaking shots of albatross chicks that are starving because theyve got plastic beads in their stomachs.

"We need to have a whole cultural shift in the way that we behave. The thing that really makes me furious is that we know how damaging this is.

"If there are still human beings on this planet in 200 years time, which I slightly hope there arent, theyre going to look back at our generation and go, What the f***? Its really bad for us.

"Were poisoning the very environment we rely on. Shouldnt that matter enough? Apparently not.

So, how would you go about countering it, and creating this cultural shift?

Just get rid of humans; my husband is terrified that the world will one day wake to find me as their dictator!

"Joking apart, we are making changes and I dont want to get too gloomy, but were not doing things fast enough and weve all got to commit.

"Do I really need to buy something in a plastic pot? Can I buy coffee in my own recycled mug? Can I reuse this packaging? Do we need to buy endless new clothes every season? No, we dont.

"Theres plenty in your wardrobe thats still nice. Im wearing a pair of knickers I dont even want to tell you how old!

"You can be really happy without loads of stuff.

"Nature is remarkable at clawing its way back every time we do something catastrophic, but there will come a point where it wont be able to fix things any more.

"Weve got to take some responsibility.

Does the focus on individuals take the spotlight off companies and governments? Do you think theres a problem there?

I do, but a lot of these big businesses are dependent on us, as consumers, for their very existence.

"Without doubt, its consumers  ordinary people  who have pushed the plastic revolution onto the political agenda.

"Of course, big companies should do more, but they will do more if we say, Right, were not going to buy from that big company any more.

"We do have power, as individuals, and we should absolutely exercise it.

"Some of us, myself included, have been banging on about plastic for 20 or 30 years, so its weird that its suddenly come into the public consciousness now.

"Theres been programmes and films and startling images before. I mean its brilliant  hooray  but strange.

Any idea why that might be?

I dont know, but I do think that in times of political turmoil, life feels uncertain.

"Young people are getting to the end of their school days and thinking, what does the future hold for me?

"Were seeing a slow realisation that its in our hands, and climate change has begun affecting all of us, regardless of where we live.

"Maybe, just maybe, some consciousness is creeping in. Now we need to do something about it.

Kate Humble has recently helped launch the Dettol Trigger Project, to inspire people to make small changes to reduce household waste and trigger a cleaner world.
In 2017, Lorraine McCabe prepared a statement for her husbands legal action against the State, which was settled yesterday.

In it, she gave a flavour of how her familys lives had been upended since Maurice had complained about malpractice in An Garda Siochana.

In 1993, I married a decent, honourable and, above all, an honest man. For the last nine years, because of these admirable traits and his decision to challenge the system for all the right reasons, his life has, intentionally, relentlessly and systematically, been rendered intolerable for him at every turn.

This has had a profound and very destructive effect on me, my children, my marriage, and on our life as a family.

Prior to 2008, the McCabes had been a typical garda family. Most of their friends were guards. Much of their social life revolved around Maurices colleagues. They didnt stand out from the ranks.

Maurices career was on an upward trajectory.

Later, four superintendents with whom he worked closely between 2004 and 2008, when he was station sergeant in Bailiboro, Co Cavan, would speak of his professionalism in effusive terms.

In December 2006, the daughter of a garda colleague made a historic allegation against Maurice McCabe.

It was found to be without substance.

Ten months before the allegation, Sergeant McCabe had reported the girls father for being drunk at the scene of a suicide. The father was disciplined.

He and his daughter have always maintained the two events were unconnected, but the McCabes believe otherwise.

The investigation into the allegation was conducted properly and found there was no case to answer, which was fully endorsed by the DPP.

However, Sergeant McCabe felt that he had not received the support he deserved.

As a result, his authority with rank-and-file members might have been weakened. He observed shoddy work, poor standards, undisciplined behaviour.

In March 2008, he made complaints about criminal investigations.

Suddenly, this man who had dreamed of being a guard, who was dedicated to the job, a guards guard, found himself outside the tent. And, thereafter, his life was thrown into turmoil.

One of the most difficult episodes for me was when Maurice was so low that he was admitted into St John of Gods for help, Lorraine McCabe wrote.

I will never forget the desperation I felt that night, after leaving him and driving home alone and wondering how I could shield the children from this.

He endured rumours that his marriage had ended. Others that he was having an affair.

Darker mutterings tried to portray him preying on children. He was regarded as a rat and branded as such.

At a gathering of guards on one occasion, a member was reported to have said that what Maurice McCabe needed was a bullet in the head.

A complaint was made, but nothing came of it. Nobody wanted to draw attention to what might be going on behind the blue wall.

He was subjected to a disciplinary inquiry into a missing computer, seized from a child-abusing priest.

He had nothing to do with it, but had a finding been made against him, compliant media figures could have put it out there that the whistleblower had a fatal character flaw.

All of the usual family events and celebrations, since this began, have been impacted in one way or another by the situation in which Maurice has been placed.

In addition to the general pall cast over any celebration by virtue of what has been going on in Maurices work life, simple things, like choice of venues for family events, were also influenced by what was happening.

The waves began to wash through Leinster House in 2013.

Now, the whistleblower was bringing his complaints of malpractice in road policing to an Oireachtas committee.

Lorraine and Maurice McCabe

The rumour machine had it that this turbulent sergeant was either crazy or crazed.

John McGuinness, the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, heard the rumours before he met McCabe in late 2013.

They met in a hotel, where McCabe laid out the malpractice that he had uncovered.

Ive listened to you for 40 minutes, and youre not mad and youre not bad, McGuinness told him.

McCabe nodded. He knew the kind of rumours that were being wielded against him.

In the years that followed, high-flying political and policing careers tumbled in the whirlwind generated by the McCabe case.

A scurrilous allegation of child rape was erroneously generated in Tusla.

Of all the errors that could have been perpetrated against all the men in all the country, and this one had to fall on the whistleblower.

The man himself overstepped the mark a few times with erroneous allegations about senior management.

Under pressure, he didnt get everything exactly right, but enough that two judicial inquiries painted him in glowing terms as a member who had done the State considerable service.

I have been continually concerned for Maurices welfare while at work, Lorraine wrote.

I have been equally fearful, at times, that he may never come home. No wife should ever have to live from day to day with such stress, taking comfort only when her husband walks through the door.

Now, when all of this is over, I worry about the future and will we ever recover from the trauma of it all.

Their future began yesterday, with the settlement and final parting-of-ways with An Garda Siochana. The terms of the settlement are believed to be generous in monetary value.

However much the McCabes have received, it certainly wont be enough to buy back the stolen years.

The first draft of the history of the Maurice McCabe story has been written.

Judges, leading politicians, the current commissioner, have all lauded his service and the effect that it might have on the reform of An Garda Siochana.

This opinion is widely shared among the public, many of whom remain disturbed at what he and his family have suffered.

There are others who cling to embers of discontent. A small number of individuals in politics, policing, and the media will still try to tell you that McCabe is a bad un.

They cant accept that they got it so wrong back in the days when they bought into the notion that this turbulent sergeant was either mad or bad.

Their continued denial should be warning enough to the rest of us that there could easily be another Maurice McCabe, sometime in the future, or even out there right now.

Michael Clifford is the author of A Force For Justice: The Maurice McCabe story.
Jokes about the smell of bull were flying as farmers brought a prize Angus bull to their protest outside the Cabinet meeting in Cork.

The Taoiseach was greeted by shouts of 'Where's the beef, ya vegan', as he was confronted outside City Hall by a crowd of up to 500 farmers demanding a 100m support package for the beef sector amid warnings some farmers are facing financial ruin from Brexit losses.

The accusation drew a smile from Leo Varadkar when he was asked to respond to the comment at his post-Cabinet meeting press conference.

"I'm not a vegan, I'm very much an omnivore. My problem is I probably eat too much of everything," he said.

But farmers said they found that hard to swallow given that some of them are facing financial ruin.

Farmers travelled from all over the country to attend the rally in support of the estimated 75,000 beef farmers who say their income has plummeted since Brexit was announced.

They said they need support now, and not in a few months as the government continues talks with the European Commission.

Farming leaders spoke directly to several government ministers, including the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste Simon Coveney and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, as they made their way in to the meeting and told them they needed to hear an announcement after the Cabinet meeting.

The IFA's Munster Regional Chairman, John Coughlan, said beef farmers have been dealing with a hard Brexit for more than two years.

"They need financial support now," he said.

As the Cabinet meeting got underway, IFA President Joe Healy addressed a large rally outside.

He said farmers can't wait any longer and he accused the Taoiseach and the government of failing beef farmers.

Politicians have not delivered on their promises," he said.

Our message to the Taoiseach and his Cabinet here in Cork today is that farmers will judge politicians on their actions on this issue.

"Election Day is three weeks on Friday. May 24 and May 25 will be judgment day, he said.

Today we are sending a strong message to the Government that farmers are rebelling against inaction. The Minister for Agriculture has been standing idly by, adopting a wait and see approach. This is not good enough."

Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, the Taoiseach said the government had a detailed discussion on the issues facing the beef sector.

He said they are very aware of how the financial distress faced by beef farmers has an impact and very significant knock-on effects across the rural economy, and the discussion focused on what they can do to help.

"It's already the case that beef farmers receive more in income supports and more in subsidies than probably any other business in Ireland," he said.

But even taking that into account, we want to do more to help and we've made a submission to the European Commission around what we might be able to do to provide additional income supports.

He said they will be pursuing that over the next two weeks.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed also pointed out that the government has been actively exploring new beef markets and focusing on live exports.

He said Ireland opened a new beef market to China last year and hopes to open a new market to Turkey later this year.

"In fact, the volume of beef gone in to China in the first quarter of 2019 is nearly as much as what we put in in 2018," he said. "And the volume of live exports is up 34% in first three months of the year compared to the same period last year."
The Government is meeting this morning at City Hall, in Cork, but the symbolism of that venue would not protect it from a determined protest by farmers.

The price of beef and a putative 3bn cost for rural broadband are the political crosshairs and Fine Gael is in the sight line.

Then, there is the bigger picture: Brexit; a slowing economy in Germany; and increasing dependence on corporation tax. Local and European elections are three weeks from next Friday.

Whatever the strength of the national picture for the main government party, they are potentially exposed in hinterlands, which should be Fine Gael heartlands.

Fine Gael has a strong slate running for the European Parliament. It should hold its four seats, but a gain seems very unlikely.

In the 2014 local elections, on just 24% of the vote, Fine Gael lost 105 seats. Any poll number you care to pick puts them in a better place now. Its the relativities that will matter.

How does its recovery compare to Fianna Fails and who is better-placed afterwards, not just nationally, but in the handful of constituencies where a few votes will put either Leo Varadkar or Micheal Martin in poll position in the critical vote for Taoiseach in the next Dail?

I see that contest being outside the M50 and centred in Munster especially.

There are a series of issues, and then there is their presentation.

The public face and tone of Fine Gael is not just Dublin; socially, it is from the upper reaches of the capital.

There is a disconnect and a lack of emotional intelligence politically, or perhaps just old-fashioned political cuteness.

Joe Healy, the IFA president, put it today to the Government meeting in Cork that the falling price of beef has cost farmers just over 100m since last September.

A promised package is not in the post, and one isnt in sight, either. EU assistance was connected to Brexit, but Brexit goes on and on.

The next EU council is in June. That puts the focus of farm politics back on the exchequer here.

But if assistance must wait on the budget, it could be January before it reaches the farmyard. Every winter, there is a beef crisis of sorts, as farmers sell cattle rather than feed them in sheds for months.

That big loss of 100m comes down to the more basic fact that every beast is leaving the yard for about 100 to 120 less than it was last September.

Any slide in sterling brings the price of beef down with it. Thats real politics.

If Joe Healy is the face of one problem, unexpectedly, Robert Watt, secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, is another.

A series of newspaper reports stated that he is pushing a contrary and negative analysis of the cost of the National Broadband Plan being prepared by Richard Brutons Department of Communications, Climate Action, and Environment.

Robert Watt

The Taoiseach came out of his partys national conference and told RTEs Aine Lawlor that we would have action by Easter.

Godless cynics say he has already missed that deadline. Liturgically, of course, Easter extends until Ascension Thursday, on May 30. So, there is still time.

There is, however, a problem.

Assuming that Mr Watt has authored contrary opinions, this is a good thing and a bad thing. It is good that the civil service speaks truth to power.

It is a pity, if media reports are correct, that so crude, and likely ineffectual, a means was chosen to do it.

Just over three weeks ago, I attended the funeral of a great Cork man and outstanding civil servant, Padraig O hUiginn, secretary general at the Department of the Taoiseach under three taoisigh.

My association with him came after his retirement, when I was a rookie and very innocent special adviser in the Department of Tourism and Sport. Padraig, by then also a former chairman of Bord Failte, was an unpaid adviser.

It was a master class in the arts of government and politics. Sir Humphrey, at his best, was a crude caricature of O hUiginn, which brings me back to Watt.

There are other implements in the tool box besides the sledgehammer. Putting it up to the Government on an issue in which it is so politically invested has the hallmarks of a losing hand.

The iron hand may be clearly seen, but the velvet glove is missing.

Apart from the fact that advice is simply that, it is likely that any proposal brought forward by Richard Bruton will be stapled to supportive advice from his own officials.

As a citizen whose few cents will be counted among the 3bn, I want to know not just the cost of the project, but its eventual value, and the opportunity cost of not proceeding, which is social as well as economic.

The weakness of the position of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, if reported correctly, is underlined by the fact that, on reform, it has failed.

The National Childrens Hospital is an example of a systems failure that is ultimately administrative and not political in origin.

That responsibility is political and is due to another, deeper, more far-reaching failure of reform.

Reform of the civil service was on the departments agenda, but its 2015 report continued the status quo, with cursory add-ons.

The critical one  to have a new head of the civil service  was abandoned upon announcement. So, ministers are still a corporation sole.

She or he who holds the seal of office is the legal embodiment of the department.

It has no other existence in relation to policy. Officials are an extension of the minister.

The system doesnt work. It, as seen in the National Childrens Hospital debacle, ensures that no one is actually personally responsible in an ever more complex system of public administration.

The Governments conundrum, politically, is to deliver on issues essential in key constituencies.

All the while, it must keep national policy on track, while communicating the lot in a manner and accent that resonate with the public at large.

Its increasing enthusiasm for public sector pay over the public interest limits its room for manoeuvre.

The entire ship of state is floating on a 125% increase in corporation tax over three years.

That is significantly based on an influx of intangible assets into Ireland.

Unlike plants, in say the complex and sophisticated pharmaceutical sector, which, were a decision ever be taken to leave, Ireland could take years to execute, intangible assets could be gone on the next flight.

Its all a delicate ecosystem. Sneeze and its sick.
New Zealand's major media organisations have pledged not to promote white supremacist ideology when covering the trial of the man charged with killing 50 people at two mosques.

The five organisations that signed the agreement said they were aware that accused gunman Brenton Tarrant might try to use the trial as a platform to promote white supremacist or "terrorist" views.

The organisations said the commitment extended to coverage of Tarrant's 74-page manifesto and broadcasting symbolic images.

That clause came after Tarrant made a hand gesture at his first court appearance, which is sometimes associated with white supremacists.

Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian, has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder following the March 15 attacks in Christchurch.

He has not yet entered a plea and remains in a high-security prison in Auckland pending his next court appearance on June 14.

His trial will likely get underway next year.

The organisations that signed the agreement include the country's two main television news stations, its two major newspaper companies, and its public radio station.

John Gillespie, the head of news and current affairs at Television New Zealand, said it would likely be a challenging trial given the number of people affected by the harrowing shootings.

He said the five news organisations did not want the accused gunman to be able to use the court as a platform to encourage like-minded people with extremist political views.

He said they also wanted to let the judge know they had thought carefully about their coverage.

Mr Gillespie said he did not worry that media, which usually compete on stories, were collaborating on the agreement.

Each organisation would still bring its own voice to its work and pursue its own stories, he said.

"The collaboration was well-needed and timely," Mr Gillespie said.

But free speech advocates have argued that New Zealand's Chief Censor David Shanks went too far when he banned Tarrant's manifesto soon after the attacks.

The ban means anybody caught with the document on their computer could face up to 10 years in prison, while anyone caught sending it could face 14 years.

And Danish journalist Claus Blok Thomsen, who works for the Politiken newspaper and covered the trial of Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Breivik, accused of killing 77 people in 2011, said there are dangers in censoring Tarrant.

He said media agreed to similar restrictions in covering Breivik, which pleased many so-called experts but angered some of the families of victims.

"They said when we start to censor ourselves, we just make him into a martyr," Mr Thomsen said.

"We are not able to learn how mad this guy was, what his thinking was, until everything is out in the light."

Mr Gillespie said he thought the protocols were broad enough that they could show something of what the accused gunman was thinking and the terrible flaws inherent within that.
Burma Military Extends Ceasefire in Kachin, Shan for 2 Months

Myanmar military troops at an Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw in 2018 / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGONThe Myanmar military on Tuesday extended its unilateral ceasefire in five regional commands in Kachin and Shan states for two months on Tuesday, with restive Rakhine State remaining exempt from the truce.

The Office of the Commander-in-Chief announced the extension on the last day of its original four-month truce, which started on Dec. 21. The decision came hours after peace talks ended for the day between the government and the four-member Northern Alliance comprising the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Taang Nationalities Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Kokangs Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Muse, northern Shan State on Tuesday.

Military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said the truce had been extended as peace negotiations with the four non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) are ongoing, and the outcome of Tuesdays talks in Muse had been positive. He added that it would help the military achieve its goal of achieving peace by 2020.

The ceasefire period was extended until June 30. The KIA, TNLA and MNDAA also requested the extension of the ceasefire, he said.

The military (or Tatmadaw) began the four-month truce on Dec. 21 at its Northern Command in Kachin State, and the Northeastern, Eastern, Central Eastern and Triangle commands in Shan State, saying those EAOs that had not yet signed the NCA needed to be able to hold peace negotiations with the government.

The military excluded from the truce Rakhine State in western Myanmar, citing the threat posed by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which the government has denounced as a terrorist group.

But fighting in Rakhine between the AA and the military intensified following the AAs attacks on four border police outposts on Jan. 4. Since the truce began, some 30,000 residents of northern Rakhine State have been displaced by the fighting. Dozens of civilians have reportedly been killed, but the government puts the figure at just 12.

However, the militarys stance toward the AA has not changed, Brig-Gen. Zaw Min Tun said. The Tatmadaw vowed to crush the AA to end its insurgent activity, which it said targeted administrative mechanisms and security forces manning national border posts. The Tatmadaw has used both heavy artillery and air strikes against the AA.

It was agreed at the Muse talks between the government delegation, led by the vice chairman of the Peace Commission, and representatives of the KIA, TNLA, AA and MNDAA that further discussions would be held on signing bilateral ceasefire agreements, according to both sides. The participating groups will meet again in the third week of May.

Major Mai Aik Kyaw from the TNLA confirmed that discussions on bilateral agreements would begin this month. He said they agreed on the need to reduce military tensions and to move forward to political discussions, especially in Rakhine State. He said the Northern Alliance members viewed Tuesdays talks as constructive.

The government delegation had already shared its position on allowing the groups to each sign a bilateral agreement or Deed of Commitment before signing the NCA with the four EAOs at talks in Kunming, China on Feb. 25. U Hla Maung Shwe, an adviser to the Peace Commission, said the EAOs also shared their responses during Tuesdays meeting.

He said the government delegation focused its discussion on their proposals and echoed the view that the talks were constructive and that much progress had been made.

This is the third meeting between government and Northern Alliance negotiators this year. Officials from the governments National Reconciliation and Peace Center met them in March 21 in Naypyitaw.

Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint contributed to this story.
On This Day The Day the First Train Pulled out of Yangon Central

An illustration of the event when the first train left Yangon Central Railway Station on May 1, 1877.
Wednesday, May 1st, 2019 (7:51 am) - Score 4,241

Business and consumer ISP Cerberus Networks has today become one of the very few UK internet providers to launch both a 500Mbps and 1Gbps broadband tier using Openreachs (BT) premium Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) products. On top of that theyve also reduced the price of their hybrid fibre G.fast packages.

Openreachs Gigabit capable full fibre tier, as well as their 500Mbps option, were first launched all the way back at the end of 2016 (here and here) but since then very few ISPs have introduced related products (e.g. Spectrum Internet but only in certain parts of the UK).

The extra demands of the service, as well as its initially high connection charge (500 +vat), were often highlighted as obstacles to adoption. Likewise some parts of Openreachs FTTP network were not yet able to support the new tiers. As a result of this most supporting ISPs have tended to only offer the more affordable 330Mbps FTTP tier as their top option for consumers and businesses.

Nevertheless Cerberus Networks has today introduced both of these tiers to their line-up of packages and theyre even offering the option of a free activation with a 24 month contract term (48.00 inc. VAT activation with a 12 month term), although this is somewhat mitigated by the high rental charge.

Like it or not both of these tiers are still aimed more at small business users (although were using inc. VAT pricing below) and would struggle to compete with the 1Gbps pricing being offered to residential users by many rival alternative network ISPs (Hyperoptic, Cityfibre / Vodafone etc.). This is of course down more to Openreachs wholesale charges than Cerberus.

Cerberus FTTP XL Up to 500Mbps down

Up to 165Mbps up

1, 4 or 8 IPs

Unlimited usage (subject to AUP)

Free Zyxel VMG3925 Wireless Router

NetSTATS monitoring and alerting

48.00 MyCloud Voucher PRICE: 187.20 Monthly* with 12 Month Contract * Pricing applies to Ofcom Market B exchanges and where an active BT PSTN phone line is installed at the premises. Non Market B exchanges are subject to a market A surcharge of 175.00 monthly and premises with no active BT PSTN line are subject to a surcharge of 9.00 monthly. Cerberus FTTP Ultra Up to 1Gbps down

Up to 220Mbps up

1, 4 or 8 IPs

Unlimited usage (subject to AUP)

Free Zyxel VMG3925 Wireless Router

NetSTATS monitoring and alerting

48.00 MyCloud Voucher PRICE: 259.20 Monthly* with 12 Month Contract * Pricing applies to Ofcom Market B exchanges and where an active BT PSTN phone line is installed at the premises. Non Market B exchanges are subject to a market A surcharge of 325.00 monthly and premises with no active BT PSTN line are subject to a surcharge of 9.00 monthly.

Cerberus has also launched enhanced care packages for all Openreach-based broadband services. Cerberus Broadband Care offers ether a 7 or 20 clock hour fix for faults, elevated best efforts throughput and one third-party (Qube) engineer visit per month if required. This adds +17.28 or +19.98 respectively to your monthly rental.

Bob Hendy, Cerberus Networks Director, told ISPreview.co.uk: Since we started as a business in 2006, we have always led the way with technically innovative solutions. From being one of the first providers of 24Mbps ADSL2+, to bonded broadband, and now FTTP on Demand and 1Gbps FTTP, we have a proven track record of meeting customer demand for reliability, higher bandwidth and reduced costs. The new 1Gbps and 500Mbps FTTP services, together with the new Cerberus Broadband Care bundles, finally offer a real alternative to Ethernet leased lines for modern businesses. This is a really exciting time for broadband customers looking to consolidate their moves to the cloud or to VoIP.

In addition to new FTTP services, the ISP has also reduced the price of their G.fast broadband. The Cerberus G.fast Pro (up to 300Mbps down, 50Mbps up and with unlimited usage) is now 48 per month without line rental (61.80 inc. line rental). You also get free activation with a 24 month contract, otherwise 124.80 (one-off) with a 12 month contract. If a new phone line is required, a 126.00 installation charge will apply.
Wednesday, May 1st, 2019 (8:59 am) - Score 780

A complaint by JT (Jersey Telecom) has prompted the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to ban a misleading Facebook and website advert for mobile operator Sure, which claimed to be both Jerseys fastest mobile network (mobile broadband) and also officially the fastest in the Channel Islands.

Sure used an old 2017 study by CICRA (Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authority) to support their claim. Meanwhile JT challenged this by highlighting the results from another more recent test of their own 4G network, which appeared to show that JT was faster.

However the ASA ruled that neither piece of research was completely convincing and ultimately upheld the complaint.

ASA Ruling (REF: A19-548111) While the report did show that Sures average download speeds were faster than their two largest competitors (including JT), we noted those speeds were captured in July 2017. The report was not designed specifically to capture fastest network speeds, nor was it a guarantee of future fastest speeds. We noted the testing which JT had relied upon to challenge the claim. We did not accept that this testing was superior to the testing conducted by CICRA, given the lower coverage areas and the fact that it was user-initiated through a specific mobile app. However, we acknowledged that the results contrasted starkly with those captured in CICRAs report. We considered that called into question the age of the CICRA report and its use by Sure as a basis upon which to make fastest speed claims given that it was not specifically designed to capture fastest network speeds. We acknowledged that ad (a) referred specifically to CICRAs report and consequently gave consumers information about the basis upon which they had made the claim. However, for the reasons outlined, we considered that the report was no longer a sufficient basis upon which to make the claim. Because of that, we concluded that the claims that Sure were the fastest mobile network operator in the Channel Islands were likely to mislead.

As usual the ASA banned the original advert and told Sure not make claims that they were the fastest network in the Channel Islands unless they held up-to-date documentary evidence to demonstrate that was the case.
May 1, 2019



POCATELLO  Idaho State University College of Business graduate students competing in the 55th annual International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition (ICBSC) returned from Anaheim, California on Sunday with trophies for first place in Overall Performance and Best Written Documents categories.

This was ISUs fifth year competing in the competition, which over the years has brought teams from throughout the world. As part of the challenge, student teams work to develop their own product complete with a comprehensive business plan. Then each team member works in executive roles to manage their company on a global scale through a computer simulation. The program simulates five years of 60 quarterly decisions in areas of production, finance, marketing and human resources.

Students begin the competition in February with quarters condensed down to weekly decisions, and finish with an intense 48 hours in Anaheim. During this time, students made quarterly decisions every 90 minutes and presented their annual report to a room of high-level judges.

This years team consisted of students with a diverse age range, first-generation college students, and ISUs first online student participant. The students included, Guy Patterson, chief executive officer; Vanesa Fontes Nava, chief financial officer; James Cooper, chief operations officer; Quinton Cheney, chief analytics officer ; Laurel Palmblad, vice president of marketing and human resources; and Elisa Bringhurst-VanOrden, controller.

This competition was great practice for working as a team with members of different age groups and backgrounds, said Cooper in relation to the diversity of the group. But unlike group work in a class, the judges didnt care about anything but results and team synergy, which is much more accurate to a professional setting.

The team runs under the guidance of co-advisors Dawn Konicek, an accounting professor, and Alex Bolinger, management professor. For Bolinger, the groups varying perspectives played an interesting role in their processes.

The groups success is a tribute to the potential, if sometimes elusive, benefits of leveraging diverse perspectives in teams, Bolinger said.

In addition to the opportunity to share multiple perspectives in their decision-making processes, the team also benefitted against their competition due to sticking with their original mission and vision.

We were unique in that we remained consistent in our plan, Cooper said. Many other teams would try to move around a lot to try and gain more sales. We made the goal to provide our product at a low price and took the steps to make this goal profitable. As a result, our decision-making process was made easier because we already knew what we wanted to do for the most part.

Although teams in the competition will often have very different products, the simulation is run as though they are all competing in the same industry and market. Each team starts out with a product priced around $10, which can fluctuate depending on their decisions. ISUs team was unique in that they were able to keep that price point of their product just below $10, which in this case was an affordable solution for clean water consumption. They named their company PurTaste.

We wanted a product that could provide clean water to anyone in the world at an affordable price and on an individual level, Patterson said. Our hypothetical product actually tastes like water, as opposed to chlorine and can be used in a single water bottle.

Throughout the competition, the team was also able to regulate high employee retention levels in their business.

We found that the more money we spent on employee satisfaction and benefits, the less likely we were to lose them, said Palmblad, who joined the group from Richland, Washington, where she is completing her Masters of Business Administration from ISU online while raising two young girls.

Overall, this years competition proved to be one of the most successful yet. And it provided students with not only the opportunity to apply all of their knowledge into a nearly real-world setting, but also experience the work of teams with varying perspectives even from remote locations.

Bolinger noted that there are now 29 alumni of ISUs ICBSC teams employed from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Detroit, St. Louis to Phoenix, and throughout the Intermountain West.

They all make us very proud, Bolinger said.

The ICBSC represents another unique real-world opportunity for College of Business graduate students in which ISU is the only university in the states of Idaho, Utah, Montana and Wyoming that participates in the competition, thanks to generous support from Idaho Central Credit Union.
A warning by the ABC, based on a blog post by Microsoft, that the switch in the Japanese calendar could bring about problems similar to those expected for Y2K appears to have been somewhat overblown, with no reports of any turbulence as the 31st year of Heisei rolled over.

The ABC report on Tuesday cited Microsoft as warning that "the magnitude of the event may be similar to Y2K".

No source was provided for this warning, but it appears to be drawn from a blog post in April 2018, where Microsoft's Shawn Steele offered some advice about Japanese calendar eras.

In that post, Steele wrote: "The Japanese Calendar has Japanese Era Names that coincide with the reign of the Emperor. For most of the modern age of computing that has been the Heisei era. However the Emperor is expected to step down on 30 April 2019 which will bring about the beginning of a new era. Fortunately, this is a rare event. However it means that most software has not been tested to ensure that it will behave with an additional era.

"The magnitude of this event on computing systems using the Japanese Calendar may be similar to the Y2K event with the Gregorian Calendar.

"For the Y2K event, there was world-wide recognition of the upcoming change, resulting in governments and software vendors beginning to work on solutions for that problem several years before 1 January 2000. Even with that preparation many organisations encountered problems due to the millennial transition.

"After the era has changed it will be too late to test for compatibility problems. Therefore, the Windows 10 Spring Release includes a registry entry with placeholder information for the expected Era transition. This is intended to help users discover any software limitations around the expected change to the new era. Users are encouraged to ensure that their applications are well behaved before the actual era change."

iTWire sought Microsoft's take on the issue on Tuesday, but the company's PR handlers did not respond until Wednesday. Microsoft appeared reluctant to answer any queries, with the PR folk offering only a link to a rather anodyne blog post.

Despite asking a second time for a technical person who could answer queries, all the company spokesperson was willing to say was, "Microsoft doesn't have anything further to add on this, other to what is on the website I shared."
Gavin Williiamson has denied any role in the leaking of information from a National Security Council meeting.

British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has been sacked for leaking information about the UK's policy on Huawei which was decided at a meeting of the country's National Security Council on 23 April.

In a letter sent to Williamson, British Prime Minister Theresa May accused him of not co-operating with an inquiry set up to determine who had leaked information about Huawei to London's Telegraph newspaper.

May said in her letter, published by Reuters, that the leak was "an extremely serious matter, and a deeply disappointing one".

"That is why I commissioned the Cabinet Secretary to establish an investigation into the unprecedented leak from the NSC meeting last week, and why I expected everyone connected to it  Ministers and officials alike  to comply with it fully. You undertook to do so," she wrote.

BBC have been told that "more than one concerning issue" had been uncovered regarding Mr Williamson during the leak inquiry and not just the Huawei conversation.



?



Gavin denies he leaked it.  Kevin Beaumont ?? (@GossiTheDog) May 1, 2019

"I am therefore concerned by the manner in which you have engaged with this investigation. It has been conducted fairly, with the full co-operation of other NSC attendees. They have all answered questions, engaged properly, provided as much information as possible to assist with the investigation, and encouraged their staff to do the same. Your conduct has not been of the same standard as others."

The Telegraph said that Williamson had denied he was involved in leaking the information. He was also said to have questioned the quality of the investigation into Huawei on which the decision taken by the government had been based.

A few hours after the meeting on 23 April, it was reported that May had decided to allow Huawei to play a role in the rollout of 5G networks in Britain. This is the first time that information has leaked from an NSC meeting.

The story, published by the Telegraph, said it had been decided that the Chinese company could contribute antennas and other infrastructure that are not considered to be part of the core network.

It also said that five ministers  Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt  had raised concerns about Huawei.

The British Government launched an investigation into the leak and May sent a letter to Williamson on Wednesday, informing him that he had been sacked.

If youre a government official leaking data to the press, please buy a burner phone and use signal from a busy place with few cameras. pic.twitter.com/IoBygwlN8Y  upou@  (@notdan) May 1, 2019

May's office released the following media statement: "The prime minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of defence secretary and as a member of her cabinet.

"The prime ministers decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

"The prime minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed."

The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is conducting a review of the country's telecommunications infrastructure.

A public announcement of the UK's policy on 5G suppliers is expected to be made after the DCMS submits its report during the Western spring. iTWire understands that it will not be a binary review about the country from which telecommunications equipment is sourced.
Chinese vendor Huawei has reached its highest level of smartphone market share, taking 17% in the first quarter of 2019, the analyst firm Counterpoint Research says, adding that Huawei overtook Apple as the second biggest selling smartphone by increasing its sales volumes nearly 50% year-on-year.

But the overall picture was not good, with global shipments falling 5% year-on-year, to mark the sixth consecutive quarter of falling shipments.

Counterpoint associate director Tarun Pathak said the global smartphone market had shown no sign of recovery in 1Q2019. "The rate of decline increased, particularly in February, due to inventory correction by some brands and the production halt during Chinese New Year," he said.

"Another reason for the decline is lengthening replacement cycles, especially in the premium segment. The replacement rate for iPhones is reaching close to 36 months, while the replacement rate for premium Android devices is closing in at 30 months. This can be attributed to the higher quality of devices, increasing average selling price, and the lack of innovative technology.

Counterpoint also found that iPhone shipments declined year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter.

"It is increasingly difficult for Apple to grow ASPs and China remains a declining market for the company," the firm said. "Apples services, user experience, and companion products make up for its slow adoption of the newest technologies. The growth potential for premium products may be difficult in upcoming quarters. iPhone XR was the best-selling iPhone during the quarter."

Regarding the growth of Huawei, Counterpoint research analyst Shobhit Srivastava said: Huawei became the second largest smartphone brand by shipment without a significant presence in an important market like the United States. It was also the fastest growing brand among the top 10.

"At this pace, we expect Huawei to remain ahead of Apple at the end of 2019. What has helped Huawei is the pace of its innovations. It was the first to introduce features like reverse wireless charging, on-board AI, advanced camera, and more. A dual-brand (HONOR) strategy has helped Huawei build a youth connect and gain market share in a sluggish Chinese market.

"Huawei is now a match for Samsung in smartphone hardware. Like Samsung and Apple, Huawei also is becoming increasingly vertically integrated. We believe it is Huawei that Samsung should be worrying about rather than Apple.
Australian businesses were hit by more than 5800 scams in 2018 with scammers taking in excess of $7.2 million from unsuspecting companies through email attacks.

The latest Scamwatch report from the competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, reveals that the high volume of scams represented a 53% increase on the number of scams reported in 2017, with much of the increase due to the $3.8 million reported lost to sophisticated "business email compromise" scams.

And when combined with losses reported to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, these scams cost Australian businesses over $60 million.

Scammers are hacking business email systems and impersonating the intended payment recipient. The scammers request changes to bank account details so that the business makes the payment to the scammer instead of the legitimate business, ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said.

Depending on how long the scammers get away with this and how large the transfers are, this scam can be devastating to a businesss bottom line  to the extent of forcing small and medium businesses into closure.

Keogh said the scam targeted businesses of all sizes, and even small local sporting clubs and community groups and organisations that transfer money via bank accounts is a potential target.

Scamwatch has even received reports of the hackers intercepting house deposits that have been sent to conveyancers, real estate agents or law firms," he said.

Keogh said small businesses with fewer than 20 staff were most likely to be targeted by scammers and accounted for more than 75% of reports to the ACCC.

And Scamwatch warns that businesses were most likely to be targeted with false billing scams (1819 reports), but investment, hacking and phishing scams also caused significant losses.

Australian businesses must protect themselves by ensuring their staff are aware of these scams so they can identify and avoid them, Keogh said.

Every business should have clear processes for transferring money and a procedure for verifying requests to change bank account details that uses multiple modes of communication.

The ACCC says businesses can sign up to its Small Business Information Network to receive emails about new or updated resources, enforcement action, changes to Australias competition and consumer laws, events, surveys and scams relevant to the small business sector.
Multinational software company Citrix Systems says a breach of its internal network took place six months earlier than it initially announced.

A form letter sent to the California Attorney-General on 29 April, and meant to be sent to customers, said: "We currently believe that the cyber criminals had intermittent access to our network between 13 October 2018 and 8 March 2019."

The initial announcement by Stan Black, chief security and information officer, said the company, which has headquarters in both Florida and California, had been told by the FBI on 6 March of the intrusion.

Black added that specific documents that may have been accessed, however, were unknown, adding that there was no indication that the security of any Citrix product or service had been compromised.

The 29 April letter said the attackers "removed files from our systems, which may have included files containing information about our current and former employees and, in limited cases, information about beneficiaries and/or dependants".

The letter said the information taken could have included Social Security numbers and financial information.

It added: "Our investigation has not yet concluded; but out of an abundance of caution, we have sent a notice to the most recent home address on file for current and former employees who were employed by Citrix.

In an update issued on 4 April about the breach, Citrix said:

"We identified password spraying, a technique that exploits weak passwords, as the likely method by which the threat actors entered our network.

"We have taken measures to expel the threat actors from our systems. Additionally, weve performed a forced password reset throughout the Citrix corporate network and improved internal password management protocols.

"We have found no indication that the threat actors discovered and exploited any vulnerabilities in our products or services to gain entry.

"Based upon the investigation to date, there is no indication that the security of any Citrix product or service was compromised by the threat actors."

Soon after the initial announcement, a security firm known as Resecurity claimed that Iranian attackers were behind the breach, a claim that was given air by some tech outlets.

But Resecurity's credentials came under examination when it was revealed that the man behind the company had been in the security industry previously but landed in controversy over some of his media comments, the researcher who discovered his identity claims.

The man appears to be one Andrey Andreevich Komarov, aka Andrew Komarov, and he was identified by a researcher who uses the Twitter handle Deacon Blues, as iTWire reported.

Resecurity has not made any further claims about Citrix, or any other breach.

Thanks to TechCrunch for a link to the letter.
Vodafone New Zealand has been fined NZ$350,000 for making false representations in invoices it sent to customers.

The fine was imposed on the retail telecommunications provider in the Auckland District Court after the company pleaded guilty and was convicted in relation to 14 charges under the Fair Trading Act for conduct that occurred between January 2012 and December 2018.



The court was told that, despite Vodafones contractual terms and conditions stating it would stop charging customers either 30 days after they gave notice to terminate their contracts or on an agreed date, Vodafone sent invoices to more than 29,000 customers that included charges beyond the agreed date of termination.

And as a result, customers across three of Vodafones billing systems overpaid around $285,000.

Customers have the right to expect businesses to invoice them accurately and it is vital businesses take care to ensure their billing systems and processes are doing that, said Commerce Commission competition snd consumer general manager Antonia Horrocks.

For a large proportion of the affected invoices in this case, Vodafone relied on staff to manually adjust them but did not take adequate steps to ensure that process was being consistently followed. As a result, tens of thousands of customers were left out of pocket.

All businesses need to ensure that their billing systems are robust, and that they are making accurate representations when they invoice their customers, Horrocks cautioned.

In sentencing District Court Judge E.M. Thomas described Vodafones representations as highly careless, saying a deterrent penalty was justified as the market needs to have faith in the conduct of its major players.

Vodafone breached the trust that all consumers should be entitled to place in suppliers representations, he said.

The action against Vodafone comes after New Zealands largest telco Spark was fined $675,000 last month after pleading guilty to charges relating to misrepresentations in its customer invoicing and a $100 welcome credit offer to new customers.

And in 2016 was Vodafone was fined $165,000 in the Auckland District Court after pleading guilty to making false price representations in breach of the Fair Trading Act. The charges related to invoices sent to customers who signed on to the "Red Essentials" mobile phone plan in 2014.
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But keep in mind that anything based on dollar figures for sales masks declines in unit volumes of cigarettes given the ongoing price increases by the manufacturers.

Sweanor said that even with Juuls current reign atop e-cigs, competitors also had a sales increase in a rising-tide-lifts-all-boats scenario.

Vuse, the No. 2-selling e-cig by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., rose from 13.4% to 13.7%. Similar flavored e-cigs have not been pulled from retail by Reynolds Vapor.

Imperial Brands Plcs Blu e-cig was at 4.8%, followed by Njoy at 3.1% and Japan Tobaccos Logic at 2.5%.

Those products likely gained sales from Altria Group Inc. opting to stop production of e-cigs MarkTen XL and Green Smoke as part of its $12.8 billion investment in December for a 35 percent ownership stake in Juul.

The uptick in Njoy sales in recent weeks corroborates reports that they now have a product that is competitive even with Juul, Sweanor said.

The success of Juul has created an environment where other companies can raise the funds necessary to engage in research and development, and product launches.
RTHK: Assange jailed for 50 weeks for UK bail breach

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced on Wednesday to 50 weeks in jail for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.

The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador gave him up, will serve the nearly one-year sentence while fighting a separate attempt to transfer him to the United States.

The 47-year-old, his shaggy beard neatly trimmed, raised his fist to supporters in the public gallery at London's Southwark Crown Court as he was taken down to the cells.

They responded by raising theirs and shouting "Shame on you!" towards the court.

Assange fled to Ecuador's embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.

He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over the release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.

At the sentencing hearing, his lawyer Mark Summers said Assange had been "gripped" by "reasonable fears" that he would face rendition to the US.

"As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned," the lawyer said.

In a letter read out on his behalf, Assange expressed regret, saying: "I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done."

There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed.

However, Assange is facing a US extradition request, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest, when he was dragged shouting from the embassy by police.

Assange appeared in court within hours of his arrest, and a judge found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions.

The biggest concern for his lawyers is the US extradition request. An initial hearing in the case has been scheduled for this Thursday.

The US indictment charges him with "conspiracy" for working with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password stored on Department of Defence computers in March 2010.

Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing US military wrongdoing in the Iraq war and diplomatic secrets about scores of countries around the world.

Assange could face up to five years in jail if found guilty, although his team is fighting his extradition and the process could take years.

The charge has raised serious concerns among organisations advocating free speech, including politicians such as British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

WikiLeaks is also back in the news in the United States, over its alleged role in the leak of Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 US presidential election.

The Swedish claims against Assange date back to 2010, when he was at the centre of a global storm over WikiLeaks' exposures.

The sexual assault claim expired in 2015, but while the rape claim was dropped in 2017, the alleged victim wants the case reopened.

If Stockholm makes a formal extradition request, Britain must decide whether to consider it before or after that of the United States.

A group of British lawmakers have urged the Swedish case to take precedence, saying the rights of the alleged victims must not be lost in the political row. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is looking into the series of flight cancellations of Cebu Pacific Air, Secretary Arthur Tugade said.

Authorities are investigating the reasons of the budget airline for canceling several flights since April 28, which are expected to last until May 10.

"I have talked with CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board), MIAA (Manila International Airport Authority) and even CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) to look into the matter," Tugade told CNN Philippines' The Source.

"While we'd like to understand the present predicament of Cebu Pacific in relation to their internal requirements, they should equally understand our mandate of making sure that the traveling public is safe, secure, and convenient."

The budget carrier run by the Gokongwei family canceled 58 round-trip domestic flights from May 1 to 10, citing an "unprecedented level of disruption" in their operations. These flights are mostly to and from Manila.

Prior to this, the airline also held off at least 24 flights from April 28 to 30. Over 23,000 passengers have been affected.

Tugade said a report should be out in the next two weeks, but he refused to disclose initial findings of the ongoing probe.

Tugade said these "internal procedural concerns" refer to the number of available aircraft and their maintenance, as well as the requirements on the ground.

He added that this may also be caused by issues faced in airports, such as delays in taxi ways and runways. The Transportation chief added that they are now closely tracking the on-time performance in gateways.

Tugade added that they are looking into reports alleging overbooked flights and a strike among Cebu Pacific pilots as culprits.

"These are all issues that are very internal to Cebu Pacific... Once we have finalized our findings, then ilalahad namin 'yan," the DOTr chief said.

Cebu Pacific Communications Director Charo Logarta has apologized for the canceled flights, noting that at least three planes have been grounded despite the high demand among passengers.

Logarta has denied that a labor strike caused the cancellations, but acknowledged that a number of Cebu Pacific pilots have resigned recently. She said this has not affected airline operations.
Food-truck festival on Burke Street May 4

The Burke Street Spring Fling will be from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 4, on Burke Street in downtown Winston-Salem.

The Spring Fling is a food-truck festival that was organized after the Burke Street Food Truck Festival was canceled.

The Spring Fling expects to have about 20 food trucks. Trucks will include Taste Jamaica, Lobster Dogs, Taqueria Lucianos, Porterhouse Burger Co. and Apple Babies Gourmet Candy Apples and Treats. It also will have live music, and beer will be sold. Beer ID wristbands cost $5.

The live music lineup will be Six at Sundown (rock) at 2 p.m., Southern Eyes (rock, soul, country, blues) at 3:30 p.m.and Gipsy Danger (NewGrass) at 5 p.m.

Part of the proceeds will go to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina and the Burke Street Beautification Project.

Admission is free. For more information visit the Burke Street Spring Fling page on Facebook.

Michael Hastings

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Advocates showed up at Tuesdays Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board meeting to push for a mandatory African American history class in the school district.

Hate Out of Winston, a group that was vocal in seeking removal of the Confederate statue from downtown Winston-Salem, organized the push for the mandatory class.

The school board also discussed the local, preliminary budget for the 2019-20 school year.

The district is scheduled to present it to the Forsyth County Commissioners on May 9.

Before the board meeting, Hate Out of Winston held a press conference outside the Education Building.

If we dont preserve the history and promote it in the class, it does not exist, said Destiny Blackwell, a member of Hate Out of Winston. It will not be here for us to stumble upon in the future. And so, I believe that if were not teaching black history, we are complicitly allowing it to disappear and I think that would be an injustice to ourselves, to our posterity.

Parents and other community members backing the mandatory classes spoke during the public-comment period at the end of the meeting.
Prince is clearly guilty of downplaying the provenance of the meeting and his familiarity with Dmitriev. But he doesn't specifically say that it wasn't planned beforehand or that he didn't know who Dmitriev was, as he has stated more plainly in his public comments. Thus, proving what he said was lie could be difficult.

- - -

A BRIEF MEETING - OR TWO?

Prince: "The meeting ended after a maximum of 30 minutes. I've had no communications or dealings with him or any of his colleagues before or after that encounter last January." He reinforced later that 30 minutes was the "maximum. It was probably more like 20 minutes."

At another point in an exchange with Schiff, he said he believed there was only one meeting with Dmitriev on the trip:

"So the only two meetings you had while you were there were an hour-long meeting with the [United Arab Emirates] prince and his delegation and an approximately half-an-hour meeting in the bar with Mr. Dmitriev," Schiff said.

"I think that's the order of it, but I'm not - yeah. Something like that," Prince replied.
This will come as news to #Resistance liberals, who are certain Trump will lose, because they dislike him so much. They still havent figured out that 40 percent of the country loves him and at least another 10 percent are very much committed to considering the alternative in comparison to Trump, not reflexively voting against him. That decile is doing very well in this economy. Unemployment remains incredibly low. The markets are soaring. Thats not a given for the fall of 2020, but better to be soaring than falling 18 months out.

On immigration, border security has always been a legitimate concern (and Immigration and Customs Enforcement a legitimate agency). People dont talk much about it as they decline to state anything that will earn them the label racist, but the reality of open borders is understood to be an unqualified disaster by most of the country, and most of the country understands the Democrats to be arguing for a de facto open-border system, if not a de jure one.
Our Constitution has been amended 27 times. This has nothing to do with the Electoral College, which strictly focuses on the election of the president. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the president by a vote in Congress and election of the president by a popular vote of citizens. However, I expect the founders didnt envision a country with 50 states, much less one with such population distributions as to make a persons vote have such a large variance in weight, depending on where one lives.

In North Carolina, our voting power is ranked 45th in the country. We have 483,590 people per electoral vote. In Wyoming, there are 142,741 people per electoral vote. Does it seem fair that a North Carolinians vote is much less powerful than a citizen in Wyoming?

Our Constitution is a great document, but one that continually needs examination and sometimes needs a change. Maybe its time for Amendment 28.

Angela Pearman

Winston-Salem

Please submit letters online, with full name, address and telephone number, to Letters@wsjournal.com or mail letters to: The Readers Forum, 418 N. Marshall St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101. Letters are subject to editing and are limited to 250 words. For more guidelines and advice on writing letters, go to journalnow.com/site/forms/online_services/letter/
LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nexa Resources S.A. (Nexa Resources or Nexa or the Company) (NYSE:NEXA) (TSX:NEXA) has published its 1Q19 Results.

Nexa reports an increase of 3% on Zinc production and continues to advance on its projects.

Aripuanas project continues in advanced stage and around 40% of the total project capex is already committed.

Vazantes dry stacking project was granted with the operational license.

Please find below a message from our CEO, Mr. Tito Martins:

 Despite the recent volatility of base metal prices, we are confident with the long-term outlook for zinc and copper markets. We remain committed to our long-term strategy and we will continue working on the construction of a differentiated, sustainable, integrated and cost efficient mining company, with the best safety practices. In March, all of our mining tailings dams in Brazil received Stability Condition Declarations (DCEs), certifying all of these facilities are safe and stable.

During the first quarter we were able to overcome some operational issues, delivering zinc production growth of 3% compared to 1Q18. We also made significant advances in our main brownfield projects, being consistent in our deliverables. These achievements make us confident we will achieve both our production and capex guidance for 2019, meeting market expectations, as we did in 2018.

For full details, please visit our Investor Relations webpage at: http://ir.nexaresources.com/resultscenter

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About Nexa

Nexa is a large-scale, low-cost integrated zinc producer with over 60 years of experience developing and operating mining and smelting assets in Latin America. The Company currently owns and operates five long-life underground mines - three located in the Central Andes of Peru and two located in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil - and is among the top five producers of mined zinc globally in 2018, according to Wood Mackenzie. Nexa is also one of the top five metallic zinc producers worldwide in 2018, according to Wood Mackenzie.
MONTREAL, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd (the Company or Osisko) (OR: TSX & NYSE) today announced its consolidated financial results for the first quarter of 2019.

Highlights

Earned 19,753 gold equivalent ounces1 (GEOs) compared to 20,036 in Q1 2018;

Revenues from royalties and streams of $33.5 million compared to $32.6 million in Q1 2018;

Generated cash flows from operating activities of $24.8 million compared to $23.3 million in Q1 2018;

Adjusted earnings2 of $5.8 million, $0.04 per basic share2 compared to $8.9 million, $0.06 per basic share in Q1 2018;

Recorded cash operating margins3 of 89% from royalty and stream interests, generating $29.9 million in operating cash flow in the first quarter, in addition to a quarterly cash operating margin of $0.7 million from offtake interests;

Closed the previously announced senior secured silver stream facility with reference to up to 100% of the future silver produced from the Horne 5 property owned by Falco Resources Ltd.;

Repaid in full the revolving credit facility in January 2019 (payment of $30.0 million);

Incurred an impairment charge of $38.9 million ($28.6 million, net of income taxes) on the Renard diamond stream. This impairment is mainly due to a significant impairment charge of $83.2 million announced on March 28, 2019 by the operator of the Renard diamond mine in Quebec, Canada, reflecting a lower diamond pricing outlook than expected;

Acquired for cancellation 852,500 of our common shares for $10.2 million (average acquisition cost of $11.96 per share);

Held $108.5 million in cash and $403.8 million in equity investments4 as at March 31, 2019;

Declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per common share paid on April 15, 2019 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 29, 2019.

For more details, please refer to the Managements Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

Recent Performance

Sean Roosen, Chair and Chief Executive Officer commented on the first quarter of 2019 activities: Our Q1 results were in-line with our expectation and we anticipate to meet our guidance with stronger GEO deliveries from our asset base during the remainder of the year. With stronger deliveries from the Renard and Gibraltar streams as well as growth expected this year from the Lamaque and Eagle Gold royalties, Osisko looks forward to enhanced financial flexibility and to potentially increase its dividend towards the end of the year, and continues to be in a great position to deploy capital as opportunities present themselves in the current depressed market environment. We congratulate the Eldorado Gold Corporation team for achieving commercial production at its Lamaque mine in Quebec.

Outlook

Osiskos 2019 outlook on royalty, stream and offtake interests is based on publicly available forecasts, in particular the forecasts for the Canadian Malartic mine published by Yamana Gold Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, for the Eleonore mine published by Newmont Goldcorp Corporation, and for the Renard mine published by Stornoway Diamond Corporation. When publicly available forecasts on properties are not available, Osisko obtains internal forecasts from the producers, which is the case for the Mantos Blancos mine, or uses managements best estimate.



Attributable GEOs for 2019 remains unchanged from previous guidance. GEOs and cash margin by interest are estimated as follows:

Low High Cash margin (GEOs) (GEOs) (%) Royalty interests 54,700 61,100 99.9 Stream interests 28,000 31,300 65.5 Offtake interests 2,300 2,600 1.2 85,000 95,000

For the 2019 guidance, silver, diamonds and cash royalties have been converted to GEOs using commodity prices of US$1,300 per ounce of gold, US$15.50 per ounce of silver and US$95 per carat for diamonds from the Renard mine (blended sales price) and an exchange rate (US$/C$) of 1.30.

Q1 2019 Results Conference Call



Osisko will host a conference call on Thursday, May 2, 2019 at 10:00 am EDT to review and discuss its Q1 2019 results.

Those interested in participating in the conference call should dial in at 1 (877) 223-4471 (North American toll free), or 1 (647) 788-4922 (international). An operator will direct participants to the call.

The conference call replay will be available from 1:00 pm EDT on May 2, 2019 until 11:59 pm EDT on May 9, 2019 with the following dial in numbers: 1-(800) 585-8367 (North American toll free) or 1 (416) 621-4642, access code 2691455.

About Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd



Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd is an intermediate precious metal royalty company that holds a North American focused portfolio of over 135 royalties, streams and precious metal offtakes. Osiskos portfolio is anchored by its 5% NSR royalty on the Canadian Malartic Mine, which is the largest gold mine in Canada. Osisko also owns a portfolio of publicly held resource companies, including a 32.7% interest in Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd., a 16.6% interest in Osisko Mining Inc., an 18.8% interest in Victoria Gold Corp. and a 19.9% interest in Falco Resources Ltd.

Osiskos head office is located at 1100 Avenue des Canadiens-de Montreal, Suite 300, Montreal, Quebec, H3B 2S2.

For further information, please contact Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd: Joseph de la Plante

Vice President, Corporate Development

Tel. (514) 940-0670

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Notes:

(1) GEOs are calculated on a quarterly basis and include royalties, streams and offtakes. Silver earned from royalty and stream agreements was converted to gold equivalent ounces by multiplying the silver ounces by the average silver price for the period and dividing by the average gold price for the period. Diamonds, other metals and cash royalties were converted into gold equivalent ounces by dividing the associated revenue by the average gold price for the period. Offtake agreements were converted using the financial settlement equivalent divided by the average gold price for the period.

Average Metal Prices and Exchange Rate

Three months ended

March 31, 2019 2018 Gold(1) $1,304 $1,329 Silver(2) $15.57 $16.77 Exchange rate

(US$/Can$)(3) 1.3295 1.2647 (i) The London Bullion Market Associations pm price in U.S. dollars (ii) The London Bullion Market Associations price in U.S. dollars (iii) Bank of Canada daily rate

(2) Adjusted earnings and Adjusted earnings per basic share are not recognized measures under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Refer to the non-IFRS measures provided under the Non-IFRS Financial Performance Measures section of the Managements Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

(3) Cash operating margin, which represents revenues less cost of sales, is a non-IFRS measure. The Company believes that this non-IFRS generally accepted industry measure provides a realistic indication of operating performance and provides a useful comparison with its peers. The following table reconciles the cash margin to the revenues and cost of sales presented in the consolidated statements of income and related notes:

(In thousands of dollars) Three months ended

March 31, 2019 2018 $ $ Revenues 100,726 125,614 Less: Revenues from offtake interests (67,226) (93,029) Revenues from royalty and stream interests 33,500 32,585 Cost of sales (70,104) (93,667) Less: Cost of sales of offtake interests 66,510 90,604 Cost of sales of royalty and stream interests (3,594) (3,063) Revenues from royalty and stream interests 33,500 32,585 Less: Cost of sales of royalty and stream interests (3,594) (3,063) Cash margin from royalty and stream interests 29,906 29,522 89.3% 90.6% Revenues from offtake interests 67,226 93,029 Less: Cost of sales of offtake interests (66,510) (90,604) Cash margin from offtake interests 716 2,425 1.1% 2.6%

(4) Represents the estimated fair value based on the quoted prices of the investments in a recognized stock exchange as at March 31, 2019. For private investments, an internal or external evaluation is prepared.

Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (together, "forwardlooking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address future events, developments or performance that Osisko expects to occur including managements expectations regarding Osiskos growth, results of operations, estimated future revenue, requirements for additional capital, production estimates, production costs and revenue, business prospects and opportunities are forward-looking statements. In addition, statements relating to gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") are forwardlooking statements, as they involve implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions, and no assurance can be given that the GEOs will be realized. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "is expected" "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "scheduled" and similar expressions or variations (including negative variations of such words and phrases), or may be identified by statements to the effect that certain actions, events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur including, without limitation, the performance of the assets of Osisko, the estimate of GEOs to be received in 2019, and Osiskos ability to seize future opportunities. Although Osisko believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may accordingly differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results deriving from Osiskos royalties, streams and other interests to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, without limitation: influence of political or economic factors including fluctuations in the prices of the commodities and in value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions; regulations and regulatory changes in national and local government, including permitting and licensing regimes and taxation policies; whether or not Osisko is determined to have passive foreign investment company (PFIC) status as defined in Section 1297 of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; potential changes in Canadian tax treatments of offshore streams or other interests, litigation, title, permit or license disputes; risks and hazards associated with the business of exploring, development and mining on the properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest including, but not limited to development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties, unusual or unexpected geological and metallurgical conditions, slope failures or cave-ins, flooding and other natural disasters or civil unrest, rate, grade and timing of production differences from mineral resource estimates or production forecasts or other uninsured risks; risk related to business opportunities that become available to, or are pursued by Osisko and exercise of third party rights affecting proposed investments. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including, without limitation: the ongoing operation of the properties in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest by the owners or operators of such properties in a manner consistent with past practice; the accuracy of public statements and disclosures made by the owners or operators of such underlying properties; no material adverse change in the market price of the commodities that underlie the asset portfolio; Osiskos ongoing income and assets relating to the determination of its PFIC status, no material changes to existing tax treatments; no adverse development in respect of any significant property in which Osisko holds a royalty, stream or other interest; the accuracy of publicly disclosed expectations for the development of underlying properties that are not yet in production; and the absence of any other factors that could cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. However, 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. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Osisko cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements and investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements made in this press release, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the most recent Annual Information Form of Osisko which is filed with the Canadian securities commissions and available electronically under Osisko's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects Osiskos expectations as at the date of this press release and is subject to change after such date. Osisko disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) (tabular amounts expressed in thousands of Canadian dollars) March 31, December 31, 2019 2018 $ $ Assets Current assets Cash 108,497 174,265 Short-term investments 13,119 10,000 Amounts receivable 6,871 12,321 Other assets 1,013 1,015 129,500 197,601 Non-current assets Investments in associates 303,407 304,911 Other investments 121,364 109,603 Royalty, stream and other interests 1,391,299 1,414,668 Exploration and evaluation 92,777 95,002 Goodwill 111,204 111,204 Other assets 11,265 1,657 2,160,816 2,234,646 Liabilities Current liabilities Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 9,273 11,732 Dividends payable 7,757 7,779 Provisions 4,439 3,494 Lease liabilities 703 - 22,172 23,005 Non-current liabilities Long-term debt 324,355 352,769 Lease liabilities 9,077 - Deferred income taxes 77,816 87,277 433,420 463,051 Equity Share capital 1,609,435 1,609,162 Warrants 18,072 30,901 Contributed surplus 33,987 21,230 Equity component of convertible debentures 17,601 17,601 Accumulated other comprehensive income 21,090 23,499 Retained earnings 27,211 69,202 1,727,396 1,771,595 2,160,816 2,234,646

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 (Unaudited) (tabular amounts expressed in thousands of Canadian dollars, except per share amounts) 2019 2018 $ $ Revenues 100,726 125,614 Cost of sales (70,104) (93,667) Depletion of royalty, stream and other interests (12,376) (13,230) Gross profit 18,246 18,717 Other operating expenses General and administrative (5,934) (4,426) Business development (1,738) (1,192) Impairment of asset (38,900) - Operating income (loss) (28,326) 13,099 Interest income 1,172 1,492 Finance costs (5,747) (6,634) Foreign exchange gain (loss) (1,121) 187 Share of loss of associates (1,762) (1,397) Other losses, net (35) (2,581) Earnings (loss) before income taxes (35,819) 4,166 Income tax recovery (expense) 9,270 (1,856) Net earnings (loss) (26,549) 2,310 Net earnings (loss) per share Basic (0.17) 0.01 Diluted (0.17) 0.01
Lars-Eric Johansson to retire as President and CEO

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 1, 2019) - Robert Friedland and Yufeng "Miles" Sun, Co-Chairmen of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) (OTCQX: IVPAF), announced today that the company has appointed Tony S. Giardini as its new President, effective today.

Mr. Johansson, who has served as Ivanhoe's President and Chief Executive Officer since May 2007, has advised the company's Board of Directors that he will retire at the end of June 2019. Mr. Johansson will work alongside Mr. Giardini until then to ensure a smooth and seamless transition.

Mr. Giardini's extensive experience as a senior-level finance and mining executive positions him well to oversee the construction and operation of Ivanhoe's three world-scale mine development projects in Southern Africa  Kamoa-Kakula, Platreef and Kipushi.

"For more than three decades, Tony has built an impressive track record of strategic, financial and commercial accomplishments in the mining sector," said Mr. Friedland.

"We worked closely together at the original Ivanhoe Mines, where he was instrumental in our successful financing, development and construction of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia. He is a trusted leader, and I could not be more pleased about his appointment to this critical role as we look to fast-track development at each of our three principal mining projects."

Mr. Giardini most recently was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Toronto-based Kinross Gold, a position he held since December 2012. From 2006 to 2012, Mr. Giardini was Chief Financial Officer of the original Ivanhoe Mines (now Turquoise Hill Resources). Prior to that, he spent 10 years at Placer Dome, where he held a series of senior financial positions, including Vice President and Treasurer. Mr. Giardini is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant, and spent 12 years with the international accounting firm KPMG before joining Placer Dome.

"It is a great privilege to once again work alongside Robert and the rest of the Ivanhoe team to lead Ivanhoe into our next chapter of growth," said Mr. Giardini. "Ivanhoe is uniquely positioned for success with three high-grade, long-life deposits that put the company on a path to becoming a world-scale, diversified mining company. While Ivanhoe now is transitioning to becoming an operator, it still has tremendous exploration potential on its 100%-owned Western Foreland exploration ground right next door to Kamoa-Kakula. I look forward to being part of the team that continues to grow Ivanhoe through the development of additional tier-one discoveries."

Tadeu Carneiro, Ivanhoe's Lead Independent Director, added: "The Board unanimously agrees that Mr. Giardini's leadership and experience with mine development and his proven ability to deliver operational results, make him the right person to succeed Mr. Johansson as the company's President as Ivanhoe moves from explorer to operator."

Lars-Eric Johansson to retire June 30, 2019

Mr. Johansson has been at the helm of Ivanhoe Mines and its predecessor, Ivanplats, since May 2007, guiding it through a major transformation from a pure exploration company to one that now has the assets, funding and partners to become one of the world's leading producers of copper, zinc, nickel and platinum-group metals.

"I'm very proud of the exceptional mineral discoveries we have made and the development work we have accomplished. I'm also honored to have worked alongside some of the brightest, most passionate people in the mining industry," said Mr. Johansson.

"Ivanhoe Mines is in excellent shape, and I will be leaving it in the capable hands of a highly qualified new President, a strong management team, and dedicated employees and partners who are committed to take the company and its projects through to operations and beyond. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ivanhoe and the relationships with Robert, the Board, our employees and partners, and I wish them continued success as they advance the company."

Mr. Friedland commented: "Twelve years ago, we convinced Lars-Eric to help advance our mineral prospects in Southern Africa and take our company public. He successfully led our initial public offering in 2012 that raised US$308 million, assembled and oversaw our team of exploration geologists that made the tier-one discoveries at Kamoa-Kakula and Platreef, and skillfully managed the acquisition of the Kipushi Project. He has built a talented team of exploration, development and finance professionals, and he leaves us on solid ground to quickly progress our three principal projects to production."

"Lars-Eric has done an exceptional job leading Ivanhoe Mines through a period of tremendous growth," said Yufeng "Miles" Sun. "He played a key role in CITIC Metal's transformative, long-term, strategic cooperation and investment agreement with Ivanhoe Mines last September resulting in CITIC initially investing US$560 million, and recently committing to invest another US$457 million through equity financings to fast-track development of the company's three mines in Southern Africa."

Peter Meredith, Chair of the Audit Committee of Ivanhoe Mines, commented: "On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to express our sincerest thanks to Lars-Eric for his years of dedication and leadership. He has guided the company's exploration and mine development efforts with an uncompromising commitment to international best practices in corporate social responsibility, ensuring that we conduct our operations in a manner that is protective of the environment and safe for our employees, contractors and local communities, and has laid the foundation for sustainable, long-term benefits to the host countries and communities where we operate."

About Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company focused on advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Platreef palladium-platinum-nickel-copper-gold discovery in South Africa; and the extensive redevelopment and upgrading of the historic Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine, also in the DRC. The company also is exploring for new copper discoveries on its wholly-owned Western Foreland exploration licences, adjacent to the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence.

Information contacts

Investors

Bill Trenaman +1.604.331.9834

Media

Kimberly Lim +1.778.996.8510
May 1, 2019 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, Canada: Radius Gold Inc. (TSX-V: RDU) is pleased to announce the first results from the second round of its diamond drill program at the Amalia Gold-Silver Project in Chihuahua, Mexico. The program is operated by Radius and funded by Pan American Silver under a joint venture agreement. The first hole of 2019, AMDD19-010, has intersected 44m grading 12.38 g/t Au and 309.3 g/t Ag including an 11m section grading 39.9 g/t Au and 323 g/t Ag. Estimated true width of the mineralized zone is 34m.

Radius's initial drill program at Amalia (see press release December 4th 2018) tested the San Pedro structural zone with 5 diamond drill holes, intercepting gold and silver mineralization in all 5 holes along a 650m strike length. Hole AMDD18-009, the deepest hole, intersected 26m at 7.08g/t Au and 517 g/t Ag, including 5m at 14.71 g/t Au and 1378 g/t Ag.

Hole AMDD19-010 intersected the San Pedro structure approximately 65 meters down dip of the intercept in hole AMDD18-009 (see Figure 1 below). Mineralization observed in both 009 and 010 is hosted within an epithermal breccia and quartz sulphide stockwork vein zone located on or near to the contact between overlying Tertiary rhyolitic ignimbrites and the footwall andesite volcaniclastics of the Late Cretaceous Tarahumara Formation. Diorite dykes appear to be emplaced along the fault zone and are associated with mineralization as depicted in Figure 1 below.

Drilling is currently ongoing at Amalia with holes in progress stepping out 100 meters along strike and +- 50m below known mineralization. At this stage 2000m of drilling is budgeted. Mineralization at San Pedro is open in all directions. On strike from San Pedro, along the Amalia regional fault system, high-grade gold and silver mineralization outcrops at intervals vertically 600m below San Pedro. Similar style major epithermal mines of the Sierra Madre (e.g. Palmerejo, Pinos Altos, La Cienga) located in the same regional volcanic belt as Amalia are known to have mineralization occurring over large vertical intervals between 600 and 750m. To date the Radius / Pan American JV has tested to only a 200m vertical component of the system and it is intended to follow the high-grade mineralization along strike and to depth with further drilling.

Figure 1. San Pedro zone simplified geological section holes AMD18-009 and AMD19-010





Estimated true width of the mineralized zone in hole AMDD19-010 is 34 meters.

Selected core photos, maps and project data are available on Radius website: radiusgold.com/amalia.

The Agreement

Radius has granted to Pan American Silver Corp. the option to earn up to an initial 65% interest in the Amalia Project by making cash payments to Radius totaling US$1.5 million (of which US$100,000 has been received) and expending US$2 million on exploration over four years. Pan American may earn an additional 10% by advancing the property to preliminary-feasibility.

Technical Information

Bruce Smith, M.Sc. (Geology), a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, is Radius's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Smith participated in the reported drill program and prepared and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Drilling is carried out using NQ and HQ size tooling. Drill core is cut in half using a rock saw with one half of the core then taken as a sample for analysis. Sample intervals are generally between 1m and 1.5m producing samples of between 2 to 9 kg. Half-core samples are delivered to the ALS Geochemistry laboratory facilities in Chihuahua, Mexico. The samples are fire assayed for Au and are analysed for Ag and multi-elements using method code ME-ICP61 following a four-acid digestion. Overlimits are analysed using an appropriate method. Radius routinely inserts multi-element geochemical standards and blanks into the drill core sample stream to monitor laboratory performance. Quality control samples submitted to ALS were returned within acceptable limits.

Radius Gold Inc.

Radius has a portfolio of projects located primarily in the United States and Mexico which it continues to advance, utilizing partnerships where appropriate in order to retain the Company's strong treasury. At the same time, management is seeking out additional investment and project acquisition opportunities across the globe.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Simon Ridgway

President and CEO

Symbol: TSXV-RDU

Contact: Simon Ridgway

200 Burrard Street, Suite 650

Vancouver, BC V6C 3L6

Tel: 604-801-5432; Toll free 1-888-627-9378; Fax: 604-662-8829

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.radiusgold.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements which include, without limitation, statements about the results of exploration work and future plans at the Amalia Project; the Company's business strategy, plans and outlook; the merit of the Company's investments and properties; timelines; the future financial performance of the Company; expenditures; approvals and other matters. Often, but not always, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "estimate", "estimates", "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "upgraded", "offset", "limited", "contained", "reflecting", "containing", "remaining", "to be", "periodically", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, the results of exploration work and future plans at the Amalia Project; changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; the Company or any joint venture partner not having the financial ability to meet its exploration and development goals; risks associated with the results of exploration and development activities, estimation of mineral resources and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; unanticipated costs and expenses; and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

Forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to: that the exploration activities at the Amalia Project will advance as planned; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with its public statements and stated goals; that all required approvals will be obtained; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its investments or properties; and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. 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, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
TORONTO, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE: MUX) (TSX: MUX) is pleased to report its first quarter results for the period ended March 31, 2019 (Q1). Production during the quarter was 36,315 gold equivalent ounces(1) (GEOs). The operational challenges we experienced in the first two months of the quarter have largely been resolved. We made progress implementing better mining practices at the Black Fox mine and advanced towards commercial production at the Gold Bar mine. Nevertheless, the temporary production delays at Black Fox and a slower start-up at Gold Bar did lower our revenue in the first quarter, contributing to our consolidated net loss of $10.1 million(2), or $0.03 per share. Our consolidated production rebounded during the month of April with approximately 16,500 GEOs, and we are back on track to deliver our guidance for 2019.

The Company closed a registered direct offering of shares for gross proceeds of $25 million on March 29, 2019, and had cash, investments and precious metals of $40.3 million and $50 million in debt as of March 31, 2019.

Our quarter end conference call will occur on Wednesday, May 1st at 11am EDT. Details are provided below.

The table below provides production and cost results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, comparative results from last year, and production and cost guidance for the full year 2019.

Production and Costs Q1 Full Year

2019 Guidance 2018 2019 Consolidated Production Gold (oz) 35,069 26,938 162,000 Silver (oz) 695,651 703,219 3,225,000 GEOs(1) 44,344 36,315 205,000 San Jose Mine, Argentina (49%)(3) Gold (oz) 10,822 10,559 49,000 Silver (oz) 692,052 701,341 3,225,000 GEOs(1) 20,049 19,910 92,000 Cash Costs ($/GEO)(1)(4) 934 749 830 AISC ($/GEO)(1)(4) 1,148 1,115 1,060 El Gallo Mine, Mexico GEOs(1) 12,217 5,432 13,000 Cash Costs ($/GEO)(1)(4) 691 967 875 AISC ($/GEO)(1)(4) 753 989 915 Black Fox Mine, Canada GEOs(1) 12,078 8,943 50,000 Cash Costs ($/GEO)(1)(4) 849 805 905 AISC ($/GEO)(1)(4) 1,188 1,454 1,080 Gold Bar Mine, Nevada GEOs(1) - (5) 50,000 Cash Costs ($/GEO)(1)(4) - - 930 AISC ($/GEO)(1)(4) - - 975

Notes:

1. Silver and gold production are presented as gold equivalent ounces (GEOs). GEOs approximate prevailing spot prices at the beginning of the year. The silver to gold ratio used for 2018 and 2019 is 75:1.

2. All amounts are reported in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

3. Represents the portion attributable to us from our 49% interest in the San Jose Mine.

4. Earnings from mining operations, total cash costs per ounce, all-in sustaining costs (AISC) per ounce, and cash, investments and precious metals are non-GAAP financial performance measures with no standardized definition under U.S. GAAP. See Cautionary Note Regarding Non-GAAP Measures for additional information, including definitions of these terms.

5. Pre-commercial production at Gold Bar during Q1 2019 was 2,030 GEOs.

For the SEC Form 10-Q Financial Statements and MD&A refer to: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000314203

The table below provides financial highlights for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, and comparative results from last year.

Financial Highlights



Quarter Ended

Mar 31, 2018 Quarter Ended

Mar 31, 2019 Treasury Cash, Investments and Precious Metals ($ millions)(4) 55.4 40.3 Working Capital ($ millions) 39.3 32.7 Debt (Term loan) ($ millions) nil 50.0 Earnings from Mining Operations(4) Black Fox Mine ($ millions) 3.1 0.6 San Jose Mine (49%) ($ millions) 3.5 4.8 El Gallo Mine ($ millions) 12.4 2.0 Consolidated Net Income Net Income (Loss) ($ millions) (5.2 ) (10.1 ) Net Income (Loss) per Share ($) (0.02 ) (0.03 ) Cash Flow Net Cash Provided By (Used In) Operations Activities ($ millions) 6.2 (10.8 )



Financing

We completed a registered direct offering in March 2019 for aggregate gross proceeds of $25 million, $3 million of which was subscribed for by insiders and is contingent on shareholders approval at our upcoming Annual General Meeting on May 23, 2019. The offering was completed in order to fully fund our current mining projects and exploration prospects, and was required in part because of the deferral of revenue from Black Fox and Gold Bar during Q1.

San Jose Mine, Argentina (49%)

The mine is on-track to achieving our full year guidance for 2019 of 92,000 GEOs. Our attributable production from San Jose in Q1 was 10,559 gold ounces and 701,341 silver ounces, for a total of 19,910 GEOs, compared to 20,049 GEOs in 2018. Total cash costs and all-in sustaining costs (AISC) were $749 and $1,115 per GEO, respectively. We received approximately $2 million in dividends from our interest in San Jose during Q1.

El Gallo Mine, Mexico (100%)

Production and cost guidance for 2019 are for 13,000 GEOs at a cash cost and AISC of $875 and $915 per GEO, respectively. During Q1, the mine produced 5,432 GEOs, compared to 12,217 GEOs in 2018. Total cash costs and AISC were $967 and $989 per GEO, respectively. Mining ceased at El Gallo by the end of May 2018, and the mine continues to recover gold from residual leaching of the heap leach. During the quarter, the process plant underwent a small expansion to improve efficiency and enable faster gold recovery.

Fenix Project

During Q1, we spent $0.8 million on activities required to advance the Fenix Project. Work on the Fenix Project feasibility study and permitting is progressing. We expect the feasibility study to be complete in the second quarter of 2019 and permitting in the third quarter of 2019.

Black Fox Mine, Canada (100%)

Production and cost guidance for 2019 are for 50,000 GEOs at cash cost and AISC of $905 and $1,080 per GEO, respectively. During Q1, the mine produced 8,943 GEOs, compared to 12,078 GEOs in 2018. Total cash costs and AISC were $805 and $1,454 per GEO, respectively. AISC was elevated in Q1 due to higher underground development expenses incurred to open more mining areas, an investment that will position the mine for a strong second half of 2019.

Gold and silver production decreased in Q1 as a result of some temporary operational challenges. Beginning in January, the operation had difficulty accessing mineralized material within a working area, and subsequently a fire damaged the crushing plant operated by a contractor. These incidents caused eight weeks of delays in crushing and shipping mineralized material to the mill. Production has now returned to normal.

Our 2019 exploration budget for the Black Fox Complex is $17 million and includes surface and underground drilling. Surface drilling with seven drill rigs started in April, and we will begin announcing assay results in late May.

Gold Bar Mine, USA (100%)

The first gold ingot was poured at Gold Bar on February 16th. During Q1, pre-commercial production totalled 2,030 GEOs. Revised production and cost guidance for 2019 are for 50,000 GEOs at cash cost and AISC of $930 and $975 per GEO, respectively. We expect Gold Bar to achieve commercial production during the second quarter of 2019.

The ramp-up of production at Gold Bar is progressing and we are addressing commissioning challenges with the crushing and screening plants. Issues related to material handling have been resolved and the throughput of the ore handling and stacking system is increasing. Other aspects of the mine are performing as designed. Guidance has been revised from 55,000 to 50,000 GEOs as a result of the slower than expected start-up.

Los Azules Project, Argentina (100%)

We defined a new low altitude all-year access route (Northern access route) in Argentina during 2018. The route was explored by overland expedition during March 2019 and confirmed to be viable for access and also for the proposed electrical transmission line. Preliminary engineering, cost and schedule estimates are in progress. Additional evaluation studies on infrastructure have been ongoing.

During Q1, we spent $0.9 million on technical and environmental baseline monitoring work, to advance permitting efforts. We are targeting the submission of the Environmental Impact Assessment within the next twelve months and expect the Environmental Impact Declaration to be received during 2020.

Conference Call and Webcast

We invite you to join our conference call, where management will discuss our Q1 financial results and project developments and follow with a question and answer session. Questions can be asked directly by participants over the telephone or can be emailed in advance to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please email questions prior to the start of the call.

Wednesday, May 1st, 2019

11:00 am EDT Toll Free US & Canada: 1 (844) 630-9911 Outside US & Canada: 1 (210) 229-8828 Conference ID Number: 7153978 Webcast Link: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/f9aq4wwd

An archived replay of the webcast will be available for one week after it takes place. Access the replay using the link https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/f9aq4wwd or by calling (855) 859-2056 (North America) / (404) 537-3406 (International), Conference ID Number 7153978.

ABOUT MCEWEN MINING

McEwen has the goal to qualify for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index by creating a profitable gold and silver producer focused in the Americas. McEwen's principal assets consist of: the San Jose mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina (49% interest); the Black Fox mine in Timmins, Canada; the Fenix Project in Mexico; the Gold Bar mine in Nevada; and the large Los Azules copper project in Argentina, advancing towards development.

McEwen has approximately 360 million shares outstanding. Rob McEwen, Chairman and Chief Owner, owns 22% of the shares.

Reliability of Information Regarding San Jose

Minera Santa Cruz S.A., the owner of the San Jose Mine, is responsible for and has supplied to the Company all reported results from the San Jose Mine. McEwen Minings joint venture partner, a subsidiary of Hochschild Mining plc, and its affiliates other than MSC do not accept responsibility for the use of project data or the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Technical Information

The technical contents of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Chris Stewart, P.Eng., President & COO of McEwen Mining and a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects."

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING NON-GAAP MEASURES

In this report, we have provided information prepared or calculated according to U.S. GAAP, as well as provided some non-U.S. GAAP ("non-GAAP") performance measures. Because the non-GAAP performance measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by U.S. GAAP, they may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies.

Total Cash Costs and All-in Sustaining Costs

Total cash costs consist of mining, processing, on-site general and administrative costs, community and permitting costs related to current operations, royalty costs, refining and treatment charges (for both dore and concentrate products), sales costs, export taxes and operational stripping costs, and exclude depreciation and amortization. All-in sustaining cash costs consist of total cash costs (as described above), plus environmental rehabilitation costs, amortization of the asset retirement costs related to operating sites, sustaining exploration and development costs, sustaining capital expenditures, and sustaining lease payments. Both cash costs and all-in sustaining costs are divided by the gold equivalent ounces sold to determine cash costs and all all-in sustaining costs on a gold equivalent basis. For both total cash costs and all-in sustaining costs we include our attributable share of total cash costs from operations where we hold less than a 100% economic share in the production, such as MSC, where we hold a 49% interest. For MSC, total cash cost and all-in sustaining cash cost per ounce sold are calculated on a co-product basis by dividing the respective proportionate share of the total cash costs and all-in sustaining cash costs for the period attributable to each metal by the ounces of each respective metal sold. We use and report these measures to provide additional information regarding operational efficiencies both on a consolidated and an individual mine basis, and believe that these measures provide investors and analysts with useful information about our underlying costs of operations. A reconciliation to the nearest U.S. GAAP measure is provided in McEwen Mining's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.

Earnings from mining operations

The term earnings from mining operations is a Non-GAAP financial measure. We use and report this metric because we believe it provides investors and analysts with a useful measure of the underlying earnings from our mining operations. We define earnings from mining operations as Gold and Silver Sales from our El Gallo Project and Black Fox mine, and our 49% attributable share of the San Jose mines Net Sales, less their respective production costs applicable to sales. To the extent that Production Costs Applicable to Sales may include depreciation and amortization expense related to the fair value increments on historical business acquisitions (fair value paid in excess of the carrying value of the underlying assets and liabilities assumed on the date of acquisition), we exclude this expense in order to arrive at production costs applicable to sales that only include depreciation and amortization expense incurred at the mine site level. A reconciliation to the nearest US GAAP measure, gold & silver sales and production costs applicable to sales, is provided in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.

Cash, investments and precious metals

The term cash, investments and precious metals used in this report is a nonGAAP financial measure. We report this measure to better understand our liquidity in each reporting period. Cash, investments and precious metals is calculated as the sum of cash, investments and ounces of dore held in inventory, valued at the London PM Fix spot price at the corresponding period. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure is provided in McEwen Mining's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2019.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information, including "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements and information expressed, as at the date of this news release, McEwen Mining Inc.'s (the "Company") estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements and information are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, risks and contingencies, and there can be no assurance that such statements and information will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, political, economic, social and security risks associated with foreign operations, the ability of the corporation to receive or receive in a timely manner permits or other approvals required in connection with operations, risks associated with the construction of mining operations and commencement of production and the projected costs thereof, risks related to litigation, the state of the capital markets, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral resources and reserves, and other risks. The Companys dividend policy will be reviewed periodically by the Board of Directors and is subject to change based on certain factors such as the capital needs of the Company and its future operating results. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information included herein, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to reissue or update forward-looking statements or information as a result of new information or events after the date hereof except as may be required by law. See McEwen Mining's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption "Risk Factors", for additional information on risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to the forward-looking statements and information regarding the Company. All forward-looking statements and information made in this news release are qualified by this cautionary statement.

The NYSE and TSX have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this news release, which has been prepared by management of McEwen Mining Inc.
Deutsche Bank in Mehlem : Police publish photos of suspects who blew up ATM

BONN-MEHLEM On Tuesday morning, an ATM at a Deutsche Bank branch in Mehlem was blown up with explosives, the culprits taking cash with them. Police used a helicopter to search for the suspects. They have now released security footage of the men.

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Early Tuesday morning, residents of Siegfriedstrae in Bonn-Mehlem were woken from their sleep by a loud bang. Thieves had blown up an ATM in a branch of Deutsche Bank.

According to police reports, witnesses observed two men dressed in dark clothing driving away on a scooter or motorcycle at about 3:20 a.m. The police had been informed that money had been stolen from the ATM. In the search for the suspects, police also used a helicopter, but to no avail.

According to the investigators' initial findings, the suspects drove along the banks of the Rhine from Siegfriedstrasse to Rheinstrasse in Rungsdorf, using their two-wheeled escape vehicle after the crime.

They probably were not wearing helmets and had painted black over the headlights of the motorcycle or scooter. Information collected so far shows they stole an unknown amount of cash.

In the afternoon, police published photos of the suspects. In addition to the two suspects dressed in dark clothing and wearing masks, a bag carried by them was also caught on videotape.

Anyone who can give any information about the suspects based on their clothing or shoes is requested to contact Criminal Investigation Department 21 or the Criminal Investigation Office at 0228 15-0.

Police also ask possible witnesses for help: Anyone who saw suspicious persons in Bonn-Mehlem between 3 and 4 a.m. on Tuesday morning, or saw a suspicious scooter or a motorcycle with two men in dark clothing, is also asked to contact police.

Orig. text: ga.de

Translation: ck
Shopping in the Netherlands : Where you can shop on May 1

Roermond Stores may be closed in Germany on the first of May, but is not a holiday in the Netherlands. Here are some places where people who live in NRW like to shop in Maastricht, Roermond and Amsterdam.

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Stores are closed in Germany on May 1 for the German Labor Day holiday, called Tag Der Arbeit. In neighboring Holland, however, its business as usual. According to the Dutch Tourism Office in NRW, its quite popular for people to go on day trips to cities such as Maastricht, Roermond or Nijmegen to do some shopping there during this German holiday. Experience shows that May 1 is a day on which many consumers from NRW go shopping in Holland, confirms the tourism bureau.

Designer Outlet Roermond

The best known Dutch shopping address is probably the Arthur McGlenn Designer Outlet in Roermond near the German border. This outlet is good for shopping also because it is within walking distance of the Old Town of Roermond. If the outlet is too crowded for you, you can shop there in local shops. The city center of Roermond is open from 10 am to 7 pm. The opening hours of the Outlet Center are 9 am to 11 pm. Parking on the large parking lot of the shopping center costs 2 euros per day.

Venlo

In the Dutch city of Venlo you can shop on the first of May from 9:30 am to 6 pm. In addition to the city center with its many shopping streets and cafes, Venlo also has Maasboulevard, offering more shopping possibilities. Besides many local shops in the city center, there are also some large chains. Maasboulevard is open from 1 pm to 6 pm. Other shops in the city center of Venlo are generally open from 10 am to 6pm. There is sufficient parking in Venlo but it is almost impossible to find a parking place which will not cost you: There are four parking garages and a parking zone where one needs a valid parking ticket.

Eindhoven

The smaller city of Eindhoven in the Netherlands is also very popular among shopping lovers from NRW, because in addition to many small shops in the large pedestrian zone of Eindhoven, the city also offers covered shopping centers and a few outlets. Opening hours vary here. However, the shopping centers are open at least from 10 am to 6 pm. As in other more popular Dutch cities, it is difficult to park for free in Eindhoven near the city center. However, there are a large number of parking spaces where charges apply.

Maastricht

The city of Maastricht is situated between Belgium and Germany on both sides of the Maas River and regularly attracts many people who want to escape the holidays back home. The city is characterized by its beautiful Old Town with many small local shops. Most shops are open from 10 am to 6 pm. There are a lot of parking possibilities here, but the parking fees can be quite high depending on the location.

Amsterdam

If you are willing to take a longer drive, a trip to Amsterdam is also worthwhile. On the one hand, the city offers many possibilities for shopping fanatics. From antique dealers to specialty shops and well-known big chains, you can find a lot here. On the other hand, you can also find many tourist attractions: The royal palace, the many canals as well as the historical main square of the city called "Dam" are all popular destinations. But Amsterdam has much more to offer than can be explored in one day.

If you arrive by car, you have to reckon with the fact that almost everywhere in Amsterdam, parking fees are high. Depending on where you are coming from, train travel might be preferable. Most shops in Amsterdam are open on Wednesdays from 9 am to 6 pm.

The fastest way to the Netherlands

The NRW Transportation Authority recommends the following routes for the short trip: To Eindhoven via the A61 in the direction of Venlo, then via the Dutch motorways A74, A73 and A67 to reach the destination.

Orig. text: Talia Sachs
GRANTS PASS, Ore.  A new Oregon bill could allow the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to refuse new cannabis production licenses for two years. The bill is a response to Oregon's current oversupply of cannabis, which has caused recreational cannabis prices to decrease.

"Prices have plummeted to historic lows," said Michael Johnson, COO of Siskiyou Sungrown. At the current rates, it's costing some cannabis farmers more money to grow and harvest the plant then they can get when the sell it  meaning they are operating at a loss.

"Things have really peaked around 2018. There are over a thousand producers on the recreational side in Oregon," said Johnson. He maintains that his company is still doing well, but a lot of small "Mom and Pop" farmers are really struggling.

"There's a lot of licenses being given up because the farms aren't making it," said Fred Tamayo, the owner of Southern Oregon Cannabis Connection.

Some shops have had to lower the price of cannabis because they get too much supply. The result is a good price for customers, but increasingly poor return for the growers. The new bill now moving through Oregon's legislature was created to help the struggling farmers.

"You know, for a short term fix I think it's not a bad solution," said Johnson

Tamayo, on the other hand, has mixed views on the proposed legislation. "It's negative for me because if I want to expand my business  because I have stores, I am unable to do that," he said.

At the same time, Tamayo understands the struggle because he is also a cannabis farmer. "As they narrow it down and not give more licenses to farms, farmers have a better chance of making it."

Johnson believes that Kate Brown will sign the new legislation if it passes the House, but he said that this should just be a temporary solution. "With all new industries we are going to see these kinds of highs and lows."
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.  A recent mandatory inspection of the Klamath County Detention Center yielded "high marks" for the facility and staff, according to a statement from the Klamath County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) on Wednesday.

We got an outstanding score, a 96.5 percent out of 100. We all worked really hard, said Jail Commander Lieutenant Brian Bryson.

Bryson heads management of the jail under Sheriff Chris Kaber's leadership. The Detention Center is a 152-bed facility with 52 deputies and other staff, processing more than 4,000 inmates and detainees every year, according to KCSO.

A team of nine inspectors from across the state performed this mandatory compliance inspection, spending several weeks "looking at items from afar" before a tour of the facility on April 26.

"Klamath County Detention Center staff had 311 standards they were assessed on, including processing inmates, inmate medical care and grievances, facility cleanliness and maintenance, staff training, department policies, and more," KCSO said.

The inspectors found seven non-compliance issues at the facility, with KCSO characterizing them as minor in scope. The agency said that Lieutenant Bryson's team already had a plan in place to correct those issues within 30 days.

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office recently released detailed results of a grand jury jail inspection conducted in February, also outlining a very positive review.

Oregon jails are generally inspected every two years through the Oregon State Sheriffs Association, KCSO said, in an attempt to ensure that state standards are met  including making sure that both employees and inmates are safe.

"For unknown reasons the Klamath County Detention Center was last inspected 14 years ago, which makes the achievement even more impressive," KCSO said.

The Douglas County Jail in Roseburg recently settled a lawsuit alleging that a female inmate was kept in inhumane conditions, with county officials agreeing to make necessary changes.
SCOTTSBLUFF  A multidisciplinary approach to beef production at the University of Nebraska is using genomics to help better predict beef cattle performance, Jack Whittier, director of the University of Nebraska Panhandle District and Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff told Rotarians at the Scotts Bluff Country Club on Tuesday.

The Nebraska Integrated Beef Systems Initiative (NIBSI) was launched in 2016 in the universitys Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. It is designed to leverage the many systems-based efforts underway at Nebraska to advance science-driven innovation in development of resilient systems for food animal production, health and well-being, and to train the diverse workforce required. With broad capacity across research, teaching and outreach, this initiative hopes to take advantage of the state and universitys potential to lead the development of resilient, integrated systems for the production and delivery of nutritious, high-quality beef.

Whittier presented a program on genomics in-place of geneticist John Pollak, who had to cancel his presentation and agenda on Tuesday due to a family emergency. Pollak is the former director of the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center and is now the coordination lead for NIBSI at the university.
UPDATE 6:30 p.m.

A package believed to be suspicious at Casey's General Store in south Kearney was determined to be not harmful.

A Nebraska State Patrol bomb technician donned in heavy gear approached Casey's around 5:45 p.m., X-rayed the package, located laying on a trash can near the gas station/convenience store entry way, and determined it was empty, said Bryan Waugh, Kearney Police Chief.

The area was deemed safe and Casey's opened after KPD officers processed the scene.

Waugh said the package had all the makings of something suspicious: four inches in diameter, less than one foot long and completely wrapped in duct tape.

The package was collected by KPD officers where it will be processed for evidence.

"Out of an abundance of caution these steps have to be taken to avoid anyone being injured," Waugh said.

In addition to NSP, the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department and paramedics from CHI Health Good Samaritan were at the scene.

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Volunteers help socialize and give love to the animals. In April alone, 36 new volunteers were trained, and more still are needed.

The volunteer program used to mean a lot of cleaning. There wasnt a lot of hands-on with animals, but that has changed, DeWitt said. Now, the staff is here to clean so volunteers do a lot more. We want it to be fun for them.

Volunteers come in whenever they choose. Children can volunteer, too, but those under 15 must come in with a parent. Volunteers can walk the dogs on the nearby hike and bike trail and brush the cats. One volunteer who was slowed by a stroke fills bird feeders and gives animals some love, DeWitt said. This makes them more adoptable.

Derr believes in animal enrichment, especially with the strays who are skittish or were mistreated.

We get dogs out of their cages multiple times a day, or get volunteers into the cages to play with them. We are here for the animals, she said. Some dogs are brought into the lobby for a few hours each day to get used to people and activity.

Cats, which outnumber dogs in the shelter, are enjoying renovations, too.
Because both senators know and understand the burden placed on the grassroots-based campaigns by the 1994 Supreme Court decision doubling thresholds, one would logically think it might have been a priority to one or both petitioners. Yet, they too are becoming complicit by letting the offensive and rogue decision stand and closing a blind eye to the effects they both know have happened to their unknowing and often uncaring constituents voting rights.

Could Groene be concerned with the number of "progressive" petition campaigns in recent years? Maybe its the changing demographics that are holding him back? Maybe Morfeld doesnt appreciate how the ideas that came from coffee shops and town hall meetings have not been heard at the ballot box for 25 years. Im sure he was young in 1994, as was I.

Neither of these seasoned petitioners and soon to be term-limited state senators have much time to correct this injustice to our voting rights. It would take a constitutional amendment, voted on by the citizens to correct the 1994 decision. State and federal courts have referred the matter back to the citizens time and again as others and I have challenged it.
The neighbor and her husband heard five to seven shots that night.

They heard two that were louder and more clear, she said. She felt she heard three more shots. Her husband said he heard five more. Those shots were more muffled than the first two.

Fireworks are often discharged in the area. So theyre never quick to assume a sound is a gunshot.

Immediately, we heard screaming after that, she said.

The couple, who had their windows open, didnt hear an altercation before the gunfire. After the shots, they moved their son into a bedroom that wasnt facing the street.

And then as soon as we did that, I crept out onto our porch area, and I stayed low and tried to assess the situation to see what was going on over there, if I could see anything at all, she said.

She saw a male running in back of the nearby Harvest Time Church, and through the church parking lot.

She also saw another person kind of going across the fences, from a different direction.
On paper, and even in person, poke looks strange.

Pronounced poh-kay, it is a traditional Hawaiian food that might be described as sushi deconstructed, consisting of a bowl of cooked rice topped with uncooked cubed ahi tuna flavored with sauce and served with edible, marinated seaweed.

Guy Roeseler, owner of a Hawaiian deli and grocery store in Wauwatosa, explained that in its original form, poke consisted of fresh fish (poke meaning to slice or cut in Hawaiian) with ground kukui nut (like a cashew) combined with limu manauea (a very delicate grass seaweed traditionally harvested off the coast of Maui that tastes like the essence of the sea), salt and native peppers.

Before Western contact, locals could catch a fish, throw in some nuts, seaweed, salt and pepper and could eat it on the beach, said Roeseler, co-owner of Ono Kine Grindz, 7215 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa.

Although he isnt a native of the islands (Im German and Scottish, he said), Roeseler has become something of an authority on the cuisine. His partner in business and life, David Lau, is Cantonese, born in Hawaii. Together in 2010 they opened Ono Kine Grindz (which translates as delicious specialty foods), a deli and grocery store offering items from the Hawaiian islands.

Before moving forward, a word about the word poke. Many readers may have encountered the word spelled poke, the accent used to assist non-Hawaiian speakers with the aay sound that differentiates it from poke. However, it has been suggested by Hawaiian native speakers that adding the accent over the e is culturally insensitive. For this reason, the News chooses to use the word in its accentless form.

With or without the accent, poke is a cold-food trend that has heated up on the mainland in recent years.

Poke was introduced to the mainland U.S. first along the West Coast and from there to New York, Chicago and other large metropolitan areas. Poke is even becoming trendy in Hawaii, Roeseler said.

In the past two years, poke has also become a hot cold-food trend in Wisconsin. A current count of poke-dedicated eateries in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa numbers over 10. The dish is also offered in various forms in Asian restaurants as well.

Roeseler said Ono Kine Grindz keeps poke traditional while incorporating a few modern ingredient amenities. His marinade includes soy sauce, Kilauea Fire Hawaiian hot sauce, Sriracha, a lot of fresh lemon juice, salt and sesame oil.

To be authentic, Roeseler says he checked to be sure Hawaiians had and used hot peppers in their poke. We also elaborated a bit because they didnt originally use sesame or soy, he said.

Roeseler added that any meaty kind of fish will do for poke, including tuna, salmon, Chilean sea bass or crab.

This reporter first encountered poke last October at lunch on Milwaukees east side. There, a friend wanted to introduce me to FreshFin, one of his favorite poke restaurants, and was surprised to see a brand new poke eatery right across the street.

As a longtime fan of sushi and sashimi, particularly ahi tuna, poke was an easy sell. As expected, I enjoyed the non-fishy but flavorful taste of the tuna and the interesting marinade with which it had been combined.

So when this same friend, Tom Gill, also shared some of his homemade poke, I was extra intrigued. Not only was this a dish that could be procured at trending restaurants on Milwaukees east side, but apparently could be reproduced in the comfort of ones own kitchen.

A self-styled foodie and recent visitor to the Hawaiian islands, Gill said his dish consisted of ahi tuna, pickled ginger, chopped onion, wasabi, teriyaki, soy sauce and coconut aminos.

He procured the previously frozen tuna and thawed steaks from a local grocery store. The consistency of the tuna is the star, Gill said.

Recreating tuna poke in Kenosha is equally easy, providing, of course, you locate a safe fish source. Most diners are justifiably wary of raw fish, and experts agree that fresh-frozen is the only way to go.

The (safe food handling) regulation is to freeze fish for up to a year, notes Chotik Saykawlard, store manager of Fresh Thyme, 7100 Green Bay Road. Sushi-grade tuna is fish that has been frozen and then thawed; youre not going to get fresh fish from the ocean.

In the meat department at Fresh Thyme, frozen ahi tuna is thawed and combined with a house marinade and sold by the pound. The marinades come in both mild and spicy.

At the stores sushi counter, pre-made poke bowls are also available. These consist of cooked rice topped with small bits of fresh cubed salmon and ahi tuna, some veggies, a soy-based sauce and a spicy mayonnaise sauce.

Saykawlard said that when he makes his own at home, sometimes hell defrost a tuna steak and just combine it with fresh lemon juice and seaweed salad. Then I toss it on top of rice prepared with rice vinegar, he said.

Poke is a very healthy food, so Im glad to see its taking off, Roeseler said. I turned my mom on to poke and now she has poke parties.

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We recently challenged state lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers to work together to tackle the problem of increasing student debt.

Wisconsin ranks sixth, as we pointed out, with 64 percent of 2019 graduates of four-year colleges carrying student loan debt. Of these students, the average loan was nearly $30,000.

Partisan disagreements on how to deal with this  offering refinancing by a state authority or by private institutions  should be compromised in Madison.

At the same time, state lawmakers and the governor should pay attention to Wisconsins abysmal ranking in state funding for higher education, as seen in per-student spending.

Only Mississippi, West Virginia and Oklahoma have larger decreases in per-student spending from 2013 to 2018 than Wisconsin.

Take a look at this list again.

The analysis, released by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, reviewed higher education finances since the Great Recession. It found that educational appropriations fell by more than 24 percent nationwide, but they started rebounding in 2013.

Wisconsins funding has lagged behind, however. The report showed that state appropriations per student fell by 8 percent, from $7,002 to $6,435, between 2013 and 2018.

Oklahoma saw the biggest decline, 19.8 percent, over that period. By contrast, New Hampshire showed a 47 percent increase in state aid during that period.

In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, Sophia Laderman, senior policy analyst of SHEEO, said Wisconsin had historically followed closely with national higher education trends.

But all of the sudden that changed since 2013, Laderman said. When the rest of the country or most states in the country started to see increases in funding, Wisconsin started seeing declines.

Laderman said that Wisconsin spent about $1,500 less per student than the national average of $7,853 per student in 2018.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone told WPR that his campus has had to reduce costs significantly prior to the 2017-19 state budget, which included $35 million in new funding for the UW System while continuing a freeze on tuition increases.

Evers is calling for a $150 million increase for UW campuses in his proposed 2019-21 state budget, along with a $2.5 billion capital budget for new construction and renovations.

But his capital budget already has run into stiff opposition, as majority Republicans on the state Building Commission in March rejected every project included. That action makes you wonder about the recommended higher education funding boost, too.

Legislators should pay attention to the states low ranking in per-student spending, as outlined in this recent report, and ask whether Wisconsin should do better.

Should it stay ranked next to Mississippi, West Virginia and Oklahoma at the bottom? We think not.

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Its not just someone obsessed by Columbine. Last year, a seemingly normal teen was found dead from suicide in a Corona del Mar park. Just a few weeks ago, a young man walked into a local South County fast food joint, then into the restroom, where he was found hung. Another was found dead on the grounds of an Aliso Viejo school. A few days later, the school parent open house made almost no mention of the event. These are not isolated incidents. According to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, nine teens died from suicide so far in the first three months of 2019, already surpassing the total of seven suicides for all of 2018. But we shouldnt talk about it, or should we?

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article and a video about six students from the Herriman High School in Utah who died from suicide in less than a year. The anguish of the parents, the distraught of fellow students, the search for causes and answers, was graphically documented. A school board member admitted that initially discussions of the suicides were stifled, but now the community realized they had to face and discuss the reality. In 2013 and 2104, a similar rash of teen suicides in Palo Alto was memorialized in a movie.

The reality is that there is a shocking increase in suicides among teens and young people. A recent study published by the Journal of Abnormal Psychology of over 600,000 individuals, showed that the suicide rate has doubled in this age group, and in some communities tripled between 2010 and 2017. One in approximately seven young people suffered a major depressive episode in the year 2017. For every successful suicide, countless others are attempted.

Nor is this epidemic a U.S. phenomenon alone. A recent study in the British Medical Journal demonstrated similar increases in Great Britain, particularly self-harm among young women. Thus, it is not U.S. politics, nor our access to guns that is driving this phenomenon. It is interesting to note, and several of the authors of these studies speculate, that there may be a relationship to the rapid increase of video gaming, usage of social media and personal devices such as cell phones and portable tablets from 2010 forwards. In a paradoxical way, these devices can connect young people virtually, but at the same time isolate them from face to face communications, even deepen sensations of loneliness. Identities can be created, altered, and influenced with virtual interactions. These devices have some addictive properties: Indeed, studies are beginning to show that a similar release of neurotransmitters occurs with repetitive use of these devices as with use of addictive drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines. The near constant use of these devices is cyborg-like, their wearable extensions seemingly implanted onto our bodies, so commonly now young people use them from awakening, on through and into their beds where overuse can lead to sleeplessness. The blue rays from the devices can affect the neurotransmitter melatonin counteracting its beneficial effects conducive to sleep. Sleep deprivation causes mental disorders.

Although association is not causation, a strong argument for the correlation of rapidly proliferating social media and associated devices can be made to the suicide epidemic among youth. The human brain, particularly the still immature and developing teenage brain, was not wired for the level of constant stimulation now provided by the internet and related technology. Superimpose these factors on an adolescent brain still developing its wiring, the typical stressors of adolescent angst coupled with inordinate academic pressures, some drug experimentation, and things can go haywire.

Something is clearly changing. Some things need to change. Parents and their kids need to re-connect, and not by texting. Appropriately prioritizing personal interaction and device-free activities, asking the right questions, ensuring restful sleep, are obvious tactics. When struggling, available resources should be sought out. We created a wonderful resource  the after-school program for resiliency education (ASPIRE)  after their rash of suicides. This program is guided by licensed therapists, and brings groups of kids together to proactively teach them skills that deal with their unique pressures, fears, and mood disorders. Parents are included strategically. Insurance covers costs, and school credit towards high school graduation is available. It may be a small change going forward, but at least it is something.

Michael Brant-Zawadzki is senior physician executive, and endowed chair, Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute, Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach, CA.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Lets ask Ben Shapiro to come speak, the nurse practitioner said. Hes popular. Or we can mention the ten plagues, since Passover is coming up, offered a pediatrician. They were talking about countering anti-vaccine propaganda among ultra-Orthodox Jews, and they were brainstorming with a hint of desperation.

Trying not to obstruct women in strollers and men on the way from morning prayer, I had made it to this conference room in Borough Park, to collaborate with a group of clinicians discussing the health needs of Chasidim. They had been convened by the New York City Department of Health, who had a crisis on its hands. This crisis is now affecting Baltimore and Maryland.

More people have contracted measles in the past three and a half months than they had in all of 2018; this now constitutes the second-worst outbreak since 2000, when measles had been eliminated. A public health emergency was declared in New York this past Tuesday; more than 260 people have been infected in the Chasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg  the majority of nationwide cases in this spike. (Four measles cases have been confirmed to date in Baltimore, probably attributable to the New York outbreak.)

These facts were known to those in the room that April day. But no one had any perfect solution. So after our brainstorm, we followed the playbook that doctors and public health officials have always used. If they (the public) just knew more, they would make the right decisions. If they could be filled with proper facts and reliable information, they would vaccinate their children, for crying out loud. How could they not vaccinate their children?

There is something to this line of thought. Indeed, anti-vax propaganda has been spreading throughout Chasidic communities. Just a few months ago, a high-placed rebbetzin (rabbis wife) was recorded telling a rapt audience of hundreds how God didnt want people to vaccinate. Theres an anonymous group called PEACH circulating brightly colored, cheerily written poppycock which enrages every physician bone in my body. The natural reaction is to wag fingers. Even the statements coming out from the city have the tone of an irritated schoolmarm: do better, behave, and the disease wont spread. An editorial this week in the Satmar Chasidic organ Der Yid excoriated the anti-vax parents as senseless and heartless.

Its the same playbook used by the health establishment in relating to so many groups, with a consistent record of failure. Chasidim are held to be at fault for not vaccinating just as African Americans are blamed for crack cocaine, poor white people for opioid addiction, and women for chronic pain. It is always easier to blame the patient, or the affected population, than correct the underlying issues. Its easier to tell people what to do than understand why they wont do it or why they are suffering, alienated, and mistrustful.

Human behavior is inconveniently complicated. Providing knowledge is not enough to change action. Everyone has biases, scientists no less than others; knowing who to listen to and how to interpret advice is a core human activity, even for people different from us. We have to understand how people make decisions and whom they trust. We know whom many people dont trust: doctors, government, administrators.

When life is in danger, many argue, the government has the right to coerce compliance with health measures. This underlies measures taken by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio with his emergency this week, and similar measures taken by the New York State Health Commissioner. Other states, as well, are limiting ways in which parents can plead exemption from vaccination requirements for schoolchildren.

I am sympathetic to these measures, as a parent and a physician. Public health measures often are implemented top-down, not bottom-up. But, by the same token, they are only successful once they become part of the culture, natural, almost automatic, like brushing your teeth or wearing seat belts. As was pointed out this week by health law experts in Wired, government power only goes so far; its legitimacy is not unbounded. Government monopoly on force doesnt mean its force is always the best approach.

So, it turns out, what those doctors were doing in that Borough Park conference room might have been the right thing after all: empowering Chasidim themselves to right their own errors, making sure Chasidic leaders and activists make decisions for the lasting benefit of their own community. Where mistrust of the system leads to abandonment of good health practices, the system needs to earn back trust, by letting people find their way. Almost as long as there have been doctors, people have objected to their advice. Public health officials need to listen to these objections. There is no persuasion without understanding.

Zackary Berger is an internal medicine physician. He blogs at his self-titled site, Zackary Sholem Berger, and is the author of Talking to Your Doctor: A Patients Guide to Communication in the Exam Room and Beyond.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Dozens of caseworkers rallied at the Oregon Capitol demanding more funds to address staff shortages within the state's foster care system.

Caseworkers say they're often working two to three times the recommended amount in order to care for the state's 7,500 foster children. They say their caseload is so high that it's difficult to adequately meet the individual needs of their children leaving them vulnerable to abuse and neglect.

The Department of Human Services, which oversees the state foster care system, said it needs over a thousand new workers in order to bring caseloads down to reasonable levels. Last summer, Gov. Kate Brown directed an additional $14 million go toward creating 200 new caseworker jobs but DHS has been slow to fill those new vacancies.
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- A growing homeless population and incidents of trespassing and animal theft are causing neighbors near RiverBend to fear for their safety.

Pam Basilius lives next door to the hospital and said last week that homeless campers broke into her property and stole 10 chickens, along with tools and tarps. She said she later found the tarps with her name on them across the street in the lot PeaceHealth owns.

"At night when I go to check on my animals, I have wasp spray in one hand and a knife in another because I don't feel safe anymore, said Basilius.

Other residents in the neighborhood said vagrants are setting up camps along the McKenzie River behind the hospital. A nurse who works at PeaceHealth said many employees no longer feel safe walking around the property because of the trespassers and the needles they leave behind.

In a statement, PeaceHealth said they care deeply about the safety of the communities they serve and said they do patrol the area regularly. They said they also added no camping signs around the property.

John Stevens frequently visits family who live across the street from the hospital and said he feels like PeaceHealth is addressing the problem.

They don't own the river, and they've done extremely well posting their ground for no trespassing, camping, whatever. You can't control the river bank, Stevens said.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Federal legislation to improve sanitation and water supplies at fishing sites crucial to the heritage of several Pacific Northwest tribes has passed the U.S. House after three years of delays.

The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate, where similar legislation has also been introduced.

The House bill that passed Monday would provide $11 million for improvements at alternative fishing sites created by the U.S. government after flooding from dam construction on the Columbia River inundated tribal homes and fishing camps.

Housing near the fishing sites is limited and several hundred tribal members now live year-round at some of the camps, creating unsanitary conditions.

Charles Hudson, with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, says the commission has identified 18 sites that need attention in both Oregon and Washington.
EUGENE, Ore. -- Students and faculty at the University of Oregon said they are heartbroken after hearing about the shooting at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte campus on Monday afternoon.

The latest details from UNC Charlotte police are that the shooting has left two people dead and at least four others are injured.

RELATED: NORTH CAROLINA CAMPUS SHOOTING LEAVES 2 DEAD, 4 INJURED

Locally, UO student Franklin Smith said he was saddened when he heard about what happened and that something needs to be done.

"It's kind of scary to think about, that any student on a college campus isn't safe, and vulnerable to a mass shooting," Smith said. "Something like that, I feel like there should be some kind of safety precautions in place."

Tyan Taubner is an advisor at UO and said she works with students who have dealt with shootings like this in the past.

She said it has a personal impact on those students in particular, but also anyone, like other students and staff, who hear of shootings on school campuses.

"It uh, shakes our sense of security, and yeah. It's tragic," Taubner said.

Taubner and Smith both said action needs to be taken to prevent more tragedies like this in the future.

"Whether that be officers or some sort of arms and guns legislation on the capitol hill, the White House, I'm not sure," Smith said. "But, I think something should be done so students don't kind of have to fear for their lives."

"I also would like to see more support for mental health experiences for people who are feeling really desperate and take to complete these actions," Taubner said.

UNC Charlotte police said the suspect "is not somebody who was on our radar."

Officials said the suspect didn't say anything as he was taken into custody, and the FBI is assisting with the investigation.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  President Rodrigo Duterte lauded the country's workers in his Labor Day message, saying the "hard work, grit and perseverance" of the labor force gave the Philippines its strength.

"Every year, we set aside this day to celebrate their valuable contributions not only in the struggle to provide a better life for our people, but in building the foundations of a more promising future for succeeding generations of Filipinos," he said.

In the same message released Wednesday , Duterte said he is hopeful that an Order he signed on Labor Day last year will finally be passed by Congress.

"I remain optimistic that one year since I issued Executive Order No. 51 implementing existing constitutional and statuatory provisions against illegal contracting, my counterparts in Congress will consider providing much needed legislative measures that will fully protect our workers' rights, especially to security of tenure and self-organization," he said.

Executive Order No. 51 was signed on May 1, 2018 and it clamps down on "endo"  a practice used by employers where workers are let go after five months so they do not become regular employees. This arrangement will free up the employer from the cost of regular employee benefits. The Labor Code requires employers to regularize employees on the sixth month.

Security of tenure, meanwhile, refers to the right of employees not to be dismissed or removed without just and authorized cause. The executive order reiterates the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Order No. 174 issued in 2017, which prohibits the dismissal of employees without a valid reason from the employer.

A bill to end "endo "has been passed at the House of Representatives while the counterpart bill is still pending in the Senate.

The President also lamented the state of Filipino laborers, particularly those who have to leave their families for more promising prospects overseas.

That situation, Duterte said, was the reason why his administration worked to make sure all Filipino workers were protected wherever they may be.
NEW YORK, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against KushCo Holdings, Inc. (KushCo or the Company) (OTCMKTS: KSHB) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, for the Central District of California, and indexed under 19-cv-00798, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired KushCo securities between July 13, 2017 and April 9, 2019, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.



If you are a shareholder who purchased KushCo securities during the class period, you have until July 1, 2019, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here to join this class action]

KushCo primarily engages in the wholesale distribution of packaging supplies in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. KushCo offers pop-top bottles; child resistant exit, paper exit, and foil barrier bags; tubes; and polystyrene, silicone-lined polystyrene or glass containers. KushCo also provides vaporizer cartridges, heating technologies, batteries, and disposable units; and hydrocarbon gases, including isobutene, n-butane, propane, ethanol, pre-mixes, custom blends, and other solvents.

In the past several years, KushCo has expanded its services through the acquisition of several companies in the cannabis industry. For example, in May 2017, KushCo acquired CMP Wellness LLC (CMP Wellness), a privately-held manufacturer and distributor of Med-ePen brand vaporizer pens, cartridges, tanks, and accessories. Then, in May 2018, KushCo acquired Summit Innovations, LLC (Summit), a distributor of hydrocarbon products, such as propane and butane, to the legal cannabis industry. Finally, in July 2018, KushCo acquired The Hybrid Creative (Hybrid), a self-described premier creative agency for cannabis ventures, including branding, marketing, web, and strategy.

The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) KushCo made material accounting errors in connection with its acquisitions of CMP Wellness, Summit, and Hybrid; (ii) as a result, KushCos previously issued financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ended August 31, 2018 and August 31, 2017, included in the Companys Annual Reports on Form 10-K for such periods, and financial statements as of and for the quarterly periods ended May 31, 2017, November 30, 2017, February 28, 2018, May 31, 2018 and November 30, 2018, included in the Companys Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for such periods, could not be relied upon; (iii) KushCos net loss for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2018, was more than twice as high than previously reported; (iv) KushCo and its managements assurances that its financial statements for those fiscal years and periods were accurate and fairly reported could not be relied upon; and (v) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On April 9, 2019, KushCo issued a press release, attached as an exhibit to the Companys Current Report on Form 8-K (the April 2019 8-K), announcing the Companys decision to restate prior period financial statements for fiscal years 2017 and 2018 for non-cash items related to acquisitions of CMP Wellness, Summit, and Hybrid.

Specifically, the April 2019 8-K disclosed that KushCo had inaccurately accounted for certain shared-settled contingent consideration relating to its CMP Wellness, Summit, and Hybrid acquisitions, by recording their respective earnout arrangements as equity rather than as liabilities.

On this news, KushCos stock price fell $0.45 per share, or 7.76%, to close at $5.35 on April 10, 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
English Spanish

Solid performance of the commercial and financial businesses

translates into a 13% increase in consolidated revenues, to Ps.27,062 million

19% growth in consolidated deposits, to Ps.133,500 million,

generates firm prospects for the financial business

The consolidated gross portfolio increases 14%, to Ps.103,236 million

Consolidated delinquency rate is reduced from 4.8% to 3.4%

MEXICO CITY, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grupo Elektra, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ELEKTRA*; Latibex: XEKT), Latin Americas leading specialty retailer and financial services company, and the largest non-bank provider of cash advance services in the United States, today announced first quarter 2019 financial results.

Consolidated First Quarter Results

As of this quarter, in accordance with the accounting regulations applicable to public issuers in Mexico, Grupo Elektra adopted the new lease standard (IFRS 16), which implies recognizing in the balance sheet "Right of use asset" and "Leasing" in liabilities.

Meanwhile, in the income statement, the payment for leases, which was previously presented in "Sales, administration and promotion expenses" is now recognized through "Depreciation right of use asset", plus the expense for interest, both below EBITDA.

Under the new standard, applied to the figures for the first quarter of 2019, consolidated revenues were Ps.27,062 million in the period, 13% higher than Ps.24,007 million in the same quarter of the previous year. Costs and operating expenses were Ps.21,484 million, from Ps.19,610 million in the same period of 2018.

As a result, Grupo Elektra reported EBITDA of Ps.5,578 million, 27% higher than the Ps.4,397 million of the previous years quarter. EBITDA margin was 21% for the period, three percentage points above the previous year.

Operating profit was Ps.3,914 million this quarter, 5% above the Ps.3,720 million in the same period of 2018.

On a pro forma basis, without considering the application of the IFRS 16 standard in the first quarter of 2019, EBITDA for the period was Ps.4,747 million, 8% above the previous year. Meanwhile, pro forma operating income was Ps.3,781 million, 2% higher than the previous year.

The company reported net income of Ps.4,663 million, compared to net loss of Ps.1,291 million a year ago.

1Q 2018 1Q 2019

Change Ps. % Consolidated revenue $24,007 $27,062 $3,055 13 % EBITDA $4,397 $5,578 $1,181 27 % Operating profit $3,720 $3,914 $194 5 % Net result $(1,291 ) $4,663 $5,955 --- Net result per share $(5.67 ) $20.40 $26.07 ---

Figures in millions of pesos

EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization.

As of March 31, 2018, Elektra* outstanding shares were 227.7 million and as of March 31, 2019, were 228.6 million.

Revenue

Consolidated revenue increased 13%, as a result of growth of this magnitude in both financial income and commercial sales.

The increase in financial revenue to Ps.17,712 million, from Ps.15,698 million the previous year mainly reflects revenue growth of 19% at Banco Azteca Mexico, in the context of strong growth in the gross portfolio and a notable dynamism in deposits.

The increase in commercial division sales to Ps.9,350 million from Ps.8,310 million last year mainly results from the dynamic performance of Italika motorcycles sales in the quarter; with models that optimally meet the need for efficient and safe transportation for a growing number of users, as well as solid increase in telephone and computer lines that are marketed in the most competitive market conditions.

Recently, such strategies have gained additional momentum with the launch of a new store format with a larger exhibition space that includes an extensive merchandise and services selection to satisfy an increasing number of customers. Similarly, the Omnichannel operations, with the online store www.elektra.com.mx, which sells thousands of products at unparalleled prices from any device and at any time, further strengthens the performance of the division.

Costs and Expenses

Consolidated costs for the quarter were Ps.9,976 million, from Ps.8,936 million in the previous year, as a result of a 16% increase in financial costs which mainly reflects higher interest paid, in the context of solid growth in deposits and a 9% increase in commercial costs, congruent with growth in merchandise revenues.

Sales, administration, and promotion expenses increased 8% to Ps.11,508 million, as a result of increases in personnel expenses in the context of growing operations, both in the financial and commercial businesses and increases in both operating and fee expenses.

EBITDA and net result

The EBITDA of the company grew 27% to Ps.5,578 million this quarter. Operating income increased 5% to Ps.3,914 million, from Ps.3,720 million for the same quarter of 2018.

The most significant change below EBITDA was a positive variation of Ps.7,346 million in other financial results which reflects a 10% appreciation this quarter in the market value of underlying assets of financial instruments held by the company and does not imply cash flow compared to a 27% decrease a year ago.

Congruent with the positive variation of other financial results, an increase of Ps.2,057 million in the provision of taxes was registered during the period.

Grupo Elektra reported net income of Ps.4,663 million, compared to a net loss of Ps.1,291 million a year ago.

Unconsolidated Balance Sheet

A pro forma exercise of the balance sheet of Grupo Elektra is presented, to allow the visualization of the non-consolidated financial situation, excluding the net assets of the financial business, whose investment is valued under the equity method in this case.

This presentation shows the debt of the company, without considering the immediate and term deposits of Banco Azteca, which do not constitute debt with cost for Grupo Elektra. The pro forma balance sheet also does not include the bank's gross loan portfolio.

This provides greater clarity regarding the businesses that make up the company and allows financial market participants to make estimates of the value of the company, considering only the relevant debt for such calculations.

Corresponding with this, debt with cost was Ps.22,936 million as of March 31, 2019, compared to Ps.13,393 million from the previous year.

The growth in the debt balance is derived mainly from the issuance of Certificados Bursatiles for Ps.7,500 million in the second quarter of 2018 for capital investments related to the growth and improvement of the distribution infrastructure and the operations of the company. During the last twelve months, 62 new Elektra stores were opened, 55 existing stores were remodeled, a new Italika motorcycle distribution centre was opened, and investments were made in systems development to optimize the operation of Banco Azteca and Tiendas Elektra.

The balance of cash and cash equivalents was Ps.28,854 million, from Ps.14,795 million from previous year. As a result, the net cash balance excluding the amount of debt with cost as of March 31, 2019, was favorable at Ps.5,918 million, compared to a positive figure of Ps.1,402 million a year ago.

The company's equity increased 36% to Ps.88,555 million; while the ratio of stockholders' equity to total liabilities was 1.5 times at the close of the quarter.

As of March

As of March

Change 31, 2018 31, 2019 Ps. % Cash & marketable fin. instr. $14,795 $28,854 $14,059 95 % Inventories $9,760 $9,731 $(29) 0 % Other current assets $1,385 $4,118 $2,733 --- Financial instruments $16,558 $16,611 $54 0 % Accounts receivable $19,489 $36,557 $17,068 88 % Investment share $31,473 $35,114 $3,641 12 % Fixed assets $5,357 $7,485 $2,128 40 % Right of use asset --- $7,932 $7,932 --- Other assets $761 $1,386 $625 82 % Total assets $99,580 $147,789 $48,210 48 % Short-term debt $8,741 $4,182 $(4,559) -52 % Leasing --- $979 $979 --- Other short-term liabilities $16,590 $18,267 $1,677 10 % Long-term debt $4,652 $18,754 $14,102 --- Leasing --- $7,061 $7,061 --- Other long-term debt $4,616 $9,991 $5,375 --- Total liabilities $34,599 $59,234 $24,635 71 % Stakeholders equity $64,981 $88,555 $23,574 36 % Liabilities and equity $99,580 $147,789 $48,210 48 % Figures in millions of pesos.



Consolidated Balance Sheet

Loan Portfolio and Deposits

Banco Azteca Mexico, Advance America, and Banco Azteca Latin Americas consolidated gross portfolio as of March 31, 2019 grew 14% to Ps.103,236 million, from Ps.90,582 million for the previous year. The consolidated delinquency rate was 3.4% at the end of the period, compared to 4.8% in the previous year.

The gross portfolio of Banco Azteca Mexico grew 18% to Ps.88,063 million, from Ps.74,875 million a year ago.

The delinquency rate for the bank at the end of the quarter was 2.9%, down from 4.6% for the previous year. Despite the solid increase of the gross loan portfolio, the balance of the past due loans decreased to Ps.2,571 million, from Ps.3,457 million a year ago, as a result of firm strategies to further strengthen asset quality.

The past-due loan portfolio is reserved 2.7 times, which reflects a past-due portfolio of Ps.2,571 million, in comparison to allowance for credit risks of Ps.6,935 million in the balance sheet, as of March 31, 2019.

The average term of the credit portfolio for principal credit lines consumer, personal loans, and Tarjeta Azteca was 63 weeks at the end of the first quarter.

Grupo Elektra consolidated deposits were Ps.133,500 million, 19% higher than the Ps.112,658 million a year ago. Deposits of Banco Azteca Mexico were Ps.131,410 million, 19% higher than the Ps.110,397 million a year ago.

As of March 31, 2019, the capitalization index of Banco Azteca Mexico was 16.89%.

Infrastructure

Grupo Elektra currently has 7,256 storefronts, compared to 7,344 units a year ago.

During the last twelve months, 62 new Elektra stores were opened at strategic locations throughout Mexico, with greater exhibition area, which increases the offering of products and services, and maximizes customer shopping experiences.

The company has 4,642 storefronts in Mexico, 1,965 in the United States, and 649 in Central and South America. The extensive distribution network allows the company to maintain close contact with customers, granting superior market positioning in the countries where it operates.

Company Profile:

Grupo Elektra is Latin Americas leading financial services company and specialty retailer and the largest non-bank provider of cash advance services in the United States. The group operates more than 7,000 points of contact in Mexico, the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Panama and El Salvador.

Grupo Elektra is a Grupo Salinas company (www.gruposalinas.com), a group of dynamic, fast growing, and technologically advanced companies focused on creating economic value through market innovation and goods and services that improve standards of living; social value to improve community wellbeing; and environmental value by reducing the negative impact of its business activities. Created by Mexican entrepreneur Ricardo B. Salinas (www.ricardosalinas.com), Grupo Salinas operates as a management development and decision forum for the top leaders of member companies. These companies include: TV Azteca (www.TVazteca.com; www.irtvazteca.com), Grupo Elektra (www.grupoelektra.com.mx), Banco Azteca (www.bancoazteca.com.mx), Advance America (www.advanceamerica.net), Afore Azteca (www.aforeazteca.com.mx), Seguros Azteca (www.segurosazteca.com.mx), Punto Casa de Bolsa (www.puntocasadebolsa.mx), Totalplay (www.totalplay.com.mx) and Totalplay Empresarial (totalplayempresarial.com.mx). TV Azteca and Grupo Elektra trade shares on the Mexican Stock Market and in Spains' Latibex market. Each of the Grupo Salinas companies operates independently, with its own management, board of directors and shareholders. Grupo Salinas has no equity holdings. The group of companies shares a common vision, values and strategies for achieving rapid growth, superior results and world-class performance.

Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are concepts about the future that involve risks and uncertainty that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Other risks that may affect TV Azteca and its subsidiaries are presented in documents sent to the securities authorities.

Investor Relations:

Bruno Rangel

Grupo Salinas

Tel. +52 (55) 1720-9167

jrangelk@gruposalinas.com.mx



Rolando Villarreal

Grupo Elektra, S.A.B. de C.V.

Tel. +52 (55) 1720-9167

rvillarreal@gruposalinas.com.mx

Press Relations:

Luciano Pascoe

Tel. +52 (55) 1720 1313 ext. 36553

lpascoe@gruposalinas.com.mx

GRUPO ELEKTRA, S.A.B. DE C.V. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENTS MILLIONS OF MEXICAN PESOS 1Q18 1Q19 Change Financial income 15,698 65 % 17,712 65 % 2,014 13 % Commercial income 8,310 35 % 9,350 35 % 1,040 13 % Income 24,007 100 % 27,062 100 % 3,055 13 % Financial cost 3,473 14 % 4,015 15 % 542 16 % Commercial cost 5,463 23 % 5,961 22 % 498 9 % Costs 8,936 37 % 9,976 37 % 1,040 12 % Gross income 15,071 63 % 17,086 63 % 2,015 13 % Sales, administration and promotion expenses 10,674 44 % 11,508 43 % 834 8 % EBITDA 4,397 18 % 5,578 21 % 1,181 27 % Depreciation and amortization 667 3 % 962 4 % 295 44 % Depreciation right of use asset - 0 % 698 3 % 698 ---- Other expense, net 11 0 % 4 0 % (7 ) -64 % Operating income 3,720 15 % 3,914 14 % 194 5 % Comprehensive financial result: Interest income 128 1 % 308 1 % 180 141 % Interest expense (346 ) -1 % (838 ) -3 % (492 ) -100 % Foreign exchange loss, net (834 ) -3 % (108 ) 0 % 727 87 % Other financial results, net (4,357 ) -18 % 2,990 11 % 7,346 ---- (5,409 ) -23 % 2,351 9 % 7,760 ---- Participation in the net income of CASA and other associated companies (26 ) 0 % 26 0 % 52 ---- (Loss) income before income tax (1,716 ) -7 % 6,291 23 % 8,007 ---- Income tax 429 2 % (1,627 ) -6 % (2,057 ) ---- (Loss) income before discontinued operations (1,286 ) -5 % 4,664 17 % 5,950 ---- Result from discontinued operations (5 ) 0 % (1 ) 0 % 4 83 % Impairment of intangible assets - 0 % - 0 % - ---- Consolidated net (loss) income (1,291 ) -5 % 4,663 17 % 5,955 ----

GRUPO ELEKTRA, S.A.B. DE C.V. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

MILLIONS OF MEXICAN PESOS

Commercial

Business Financial

Business Grupo

Elektra Commercial

Business Financial

Business Grupo

Elektra Change At March 31, 2018 At March 31, 2019 Cash and cash equivalents 5,075 17,678 22,753 5,497 19,624 25,120 2,368 10 % Marketable financial instruments 9,720 52,291 62,012 23,357 64,595 87,952 25,940 42 % Performing loan portfolio - 58,428 58,428 - 69,411 69,411 10,983 19 % Total past-due loans - 4,097 4,097 - 3,284 3,284 (814 ) -20 % Gross loan portfolio - 62,526 62,526 - 72,694 72,694 10,169 16 % Allowance for credit risks - 8,235 8,235 - 7,551 7,551 (683 ) -8 % Loan portfolio, net - 54,291 54,291 - 65,143 65,143 10,852 20 % Inventories 9,802 - 9,802 9,731 - 9,731 (71 ) -1 % Other current assets 7,148 7,880 15,028 24,354 9,086 33,439 18,412 123 % Total current assets 31,745 132,139 163,884 62,938 158,447 221,385 57,501 35 % Financial instruments 16,558 295 16,852 16,611 261 16,872 20 0 % Performing loan portfolio - 27,790 27,790 - 30,293 30,293 2,503 9 % Total past-due loans - 266 266 - 248 248 (17 ) -6 % Gross loan portfolio - 28,056 28,056 - 30,542 30,542 2,486 9 % Allowance for credit risks - 757 757 - 1,019 1,019 262 35 % Loan portfolio - 27,299 27,299 - 29,523 29,523 2,224 8 % Other non-current assets 1,729 656 2,385 3,859 188 4,047 1,662 70 % Investment in shares 1,982 - 1,982 2,076 - 2,076 94 5 % Property, furniture, equipment and investment in stores, net 5,357 3,211 8,568 7,485 5,040 12,525 3,957 46 % Intangible assets 694 6,228 6,922 617 6,639 7,256 335 5 % Right of use asset - - - 7,932 2,245 10,177 10,177 ---- Other assets 761 283 1,044 1,386 455 1,841 797 76 % TOTAL ASSETS 58,826 170,111 228,937 102,905 202,799 305,704 76,766 34 % Demand and term deposits - 112,658 112,658 - 133,500 133,500 20,842 19 % Creditors from repurchase agreements - 6,319 6,319 - 10,410 10,410 4,091 65 % Short-term debt 8,741 58 8,799 4,182 143 4,325 (4,475 ) -51 % Leasing - - - 979 751 1,730 1,730 ---- Short-term liabilities with cost 8,741 119,035 127,776 5,160 144,803 149,964 22,188 17 % Suppliers and other short-term liabilities 14,477 9,529 24,006 15,886 10,626 26,512 2,506 10 % Short-term liabilities without cost 14,477 9,529 24,006 15,886 10,626 26,512 2,506 10 % Total short-term liabilities 23,218 128,564 151,782 21,046 155,429 176,475 24,693 16 % Long-term debt 4,065 945 5,010 16,615 2,504 19,119 14,110 282 % Leasing - - - 7,061 1,458 8,519 8,519 ---- Long-term liabilities with cost 4,065 945 5,010 23,676 3,962 27,638 22,629 452 % Long-term liabilities without cost 4,616 2,549 7,165 9,991 3,044 13,035 5,870 82 % Total long-term liabilities 8,681 3,494 12,175 33,667 7,006 40,673 28,499 234 % TOTAL LIABILITIES 31,899 132,058 163,956 54,714 162,435 217,149 53,192 32 % TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY 26,927 38,053 64,981 48,191 40,364 88,555 23,574 36 % LIABILITIES + EQUITY 58,826 170,111 228,937 102,905 202,799 305,704 76,766 34 %




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Kilkenny LEADER Partnership (KLP) is teaming up with rural communities across the county to help them prepare the planning groundwork needed to turn their broadband not spots into high-speed hot spots with a far more affordable broadband service.

A series of roadshows gets underway from May 14 targeting 20 rural Kilkenny communities identified as Blue Areas in the National Broadband Plan (NBP). The so-called Blue Town areas cover 57% of all premises across Kilkenny. The 27,200 plus homes and businesses there have what is described in the NBP as having adequate broadband. These will not be covered by the multi-billion NBP investment.

But many homes and businesses in Blue Towns in Kilkenny are dissatisfied with their service now as well as its capacity to deal with expanding needs and wants, as broadband becomes a features of almost every element of daily life, KLP research shows. Others in these areas believe that they are spending far too much, relative to the larger cities and towns, for the service - high or low speed - they do get.

The 20 Blue Town areas in Kilkenny are Urlingford, Johnstown, Freshford, Ballyragget, Clogh/Moneenroe, Tullaroan, Kilmanagh, Bennettsbridge, Gowran, Paulstown, Goresbridge, Inistioge, Tullagher, Knocktopher, Ballyhale, Mullinavat, Slieverue, Piltown, Kilmacow and Mooncoin.

Kilkenny LEADER Partnership has engaged the services of international expert and former Carlow resident, John Graves, to advise and support communities in their planning. Together they will offer the help communities need to develop their own technical and business plan to develop a community fibre broadband network for their own local Blue Town area.

John and his brother set up a firm in the UK which ultimately became Virgin Media- a major supplier of broadband in both the UK and Ireland. He was responsible for laying hundreds of thousands of miles of fibre cable right across the UK. He is now putting those years of experience and technical expertise to good use for the benefit of the identified Blue Town communities of Kilkenny.

KLP is inviting expressions of interest from Kilkenny communities and small businesses interested in setting up fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband networks. FTTP is the only accepted future proofed broadband option.

Information meetings on the Blue Town initiative will take place in Freshford Community Hall on Tuesday, May 14; in Mullinavat Community Hall on Wednesday, May 15, and in Kilkenny at The Pembroke Hotel Tuesday, May 21. MC for all three is the renowned broadcaster and journalist, Helen Carroll, and each meeting begins at 8pm sharp.

KLP CEO, Declan Rice, said: People living in cities have options when it comes to choosing a broadband provider. Even if you live in a rural community that has an acceptable level of broadband, you probably have only one source - two at most.

But if you live in a community that owns the network, then you have clout. Similar schemes have been undertaken across Europe - including our neighbours in the UK. Communities there have dug their own trenches, laid cable, hooked-up homes and businesses and are now managing their own high speed networks.

Declan concluded: To be clear, we cant dig the trenches for communities. But what we can do is offer them the technical and operational assistance they need to do the planning and to decide if they do want to establish their own fibre networks. We can advise on the operation and management of their own networks in the longer term.

John Graves said broadband charges in Ireland are high and in rural areas, many customers have no option but to pay a fixed charge of about 75 per month. A lot of people dont need to pay this much but they dont have a second option as there isnt a second provider. Fibre doesnt cost much more than cable for a clothes line. The costs lie in digging the trenches, making it secure in the ground. Communities can work together to do this. We want to engage with them, show them how they can provide their own solution to what is a growing problem for households and for businesses in our Blue Towns.
Following the approval by Government, at its special meeting on International Womens Day, 8 March, of practical measures to address the current imbalance between women and men in local government, John Paul Phelan, Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform, today announced funding of almost 200,000 for specific initiatives to achieve this objective.

In the 2014 local elections, only 21% of candidates elected were women, placing Ireland well behind the EU28 average of 32% for female representation in local politics. The low participation of women in local government is most acute in rural areas. We need to address this deficit in representation and, starting in this local election year, we need to begin the process immediately," he said.

In developing these initiatives, my Department has worked closely with key stakeholders, Women for Election, the National Womens Council of Ireland and Longford Womens Link. I am pleased to be able to provide funding support to these organisations as they work towards our shared goal of increasing the number of women in local government." he said.

The Minister has approved continued funding this year for Women for Election for their activities in training and capacity building of women candidates of all political persuasions, particularly in advance of the local elections on 24 May 2019. Women for Election will also receive funding for their special social media campaign to promote the participation of women in the 2019 local elections and in local government generally.

The National Womens Council of Ireland (NWCI) will receive funding to host a number of events to mark the 120th anniversary of local government in Ireland. The 1899 local elections were the first time that any women in Ireland had the right to vote and stand for election. These commemorative events will explore and celebrate the role and importance of women in local government, drawing lessons and experiences for today. NWCI will also receive funding to conduct substantive research involving women in elected office and the experiences of women running as candidates in this years local elections.

The funding announced today is distributed as follows:

 110,000 to Women for Election for their training and capacity building activities for 2019.

 28,000 to Women for Election for a social media video campaign to promote the participation of women in the 2019 local elections and the role of women in local government. The campaign begins this week on @women4election (#MoreWomen).

27,240 to Longford Womens Link/5050 North West for training courses and a promotional campaign for women specifically in rural areas.

 13,794 to National Womens Council of Ireland (NWCI) for promotional events surrounding the 120 anniversary of Local Government, including at a local level.

 15,015 to NWCI to conduct primary research into the experiences of women in local elections.

 Other measures, including the funding scheme to incentivise political parties to field more women candidates in the 2019 local elections and initiatives at Council level to support Councillors with family and caring responsibilities, are separately underway.
If you didnt already love Kilkenny and its musical offering, youre certainly going to see it in all its glory this week.

As well as the expected staples, the Smithwicks Kilkenny Roots Festival kicks into play, marking the start of the local season of festive fare. Some of the sessions are ticketed (many already sold out) but most are free to attend.

Best place to start today (Wednesday) is at the monthly Open Mic at Ryans Bar which is set to get you in the mood for whats to come. Special guest on the night is Vincent Van Reenlisted from Venlo in the Netherlands. 

Thursday sees rising Irish star Saoirse Casey play the Hole in the Wall from 9pm. Quite the talent herself, her first gig was supporting Declan ORourke at the INEC in Killarney, shes a daughter of Paddy Casey. 

At Billy Byrnes Bar The Sofa Sessions presents Two Divas & a Piano, also from 9pm. Swing by to enjoy the talents of vocalists Carmel McCreagh and Flo McSweeney with pianist Fiachra Trench.

CLICK HERE FOR THE GIG GUIDE

Friday boasts a tribute to Neil Young in the form of Harvest at Hacketts Bar. This eight-piece act was a huge hit here last Summer so make sure you get in early for their 9pm start.

The monthly First Friday session of traditional Irish music takes place at the Home Rule Club. Also on Friday the Smithwicks Kilkenny Roots Festival kicks off with 12 gigs on this opening night starting with Joey Landreth at Billy Byrnes Bar at 7.30pm and ending with TV Jones and The Tomahawks at Ryans Bar at 11pm. In between youll find The Accidentals at Ryans Bar from 9pm, Jezzebelle play Rafter Dempseys from 10pm, at the same time Bobbie Carey Trio take over the Marble City while Delta Dogs are at The Pumphouse.

Psychedelic Pill play Paris Texas and Backyard Band are at Langtons, Loudest Whisper can be found at Kilford Arms and theres a trad session at Bollards Bar, Skinny Elvis is at Left Bank from 10.30pm while at the same time John Cleeres Bar and Theatres sold out for William The Conqueror. 

Saturday sees the festival continue with no less than 34 gigs starting at 1pm with the sold-out River Whyless at John Cleeres Bar and Theatre and continuing right across the day in every nook and cranny. Elsewhere Liam McCormack plays the bar at the Home Rule Club.

While in the county theres new music from The Underdogs at Mick Doyles Pub in Graignamanagh from 10pm.

Sunday has 40 gigs as part of the Roots again running from lunchtime to after midnight including from Dori Freeman, The Delines and Patty Griffin. 

Other than that catch the Hot 4 Jazz Quartet at Left Bank from 5pm.  One Horse Pony are at Rafter Dempseys from 10pm.

The remaining eight Roots gigs fill up your Bank Holiday Monday, starting at 1pm at The Pumphouse with Dori Freeman until

The Sadies bring the curtain down on another year at Kytelers Inn from 9pm. In between catch The Savage Jim Breen at Rafter Dempseys, Loudest Whisper at the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel, I Draw Slow at Cleeres, Deep Down Detox and Barflies at Ryans.

Take time out on Tuesday to recuperate then get ready to go again next week! Check out the Kilkenny Gig Guide here.
TORONTO, April 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vogogo Inc. (Vogogo or the Company) (CSE:VGO) today announces its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018. Selected financial information of the Company for the three months and years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 is set forth below:



Three Months Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31, 2018 2017 2018 2017 Revenue $ 18,079,005 $  $ 18,079,005 $  Net loss and comprehensive loss (74,252,959 ) (1,677,489 ) (74,252,959 ) (1,677,489 ) Adjusted EBITDA 932,018 (190,469 ) 5,018,658 (992,207 ) Adjusted EBITDA margin 13 %  28 %  Total assets 17,973,697 12,836,319 17,973,697 12,836,319 Total liabilities 29,710,012 224,823 29,710,012 224,823 Basic and diluted net loss and

comprehensive loss per common share $ (2.31 ) $ (0.22 ) $ (12.98 ) $ (0.61 )

Vogogo achieved an Adjusted EBITDA1 of $0.9 million, resulting in an Adjusted EBITDA Margin1 of 13% for the three months ending December 31, 2018. The Companys cost of revenue, which includes electricity cost, contractors fees and general facility operating costs, but excludes non-cash depreciation of mining and infrastructure equipment, resulted in an average cost per Bitcoin mined of $4,686. For the year ended December 31, 2018, Vogogo achieved an Adjusted EBITDA1 of $5.0 million, resulting in an Adjusted EBITDA Margin1 of 28% and an average cost per Bitcoin mined of $4,543.



The Company reported a net loss of $74.3 million for the year on revenue of $18.1 million, compared to a loss of $1.7 million and revenue of nil in the prior year. Vogogo recorded a non-cash asset impairment charge of $65.5 million in 2018. As at December 31, 2018, the Company conducted a valuation of its mining assets, infrastructure and goodwill and determined that in order to carry the assets at their fair value, an impairment of $22.4 million was applicable to the carrying value of equipment, and an impairment of $43.1 million was charged against goodwill that was acquired in the acquisitions of Crypto

205 Inc. and 9376-9974 Quebec Inc. Refer to the consolidated financial statements for further information.

The Company also announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, 9376-9974 Quebec Inc., acquired 6,598 Antminer S9 cryptocurrency mining machines ("Miners) as a result of entering into an agreement (the Termination Agreement) to terminate the co-location agreement announced on July 5, 2018 (the Co- Location Agreement). Approximately 6,000 of the Miners are currently installed and fully operational at the Companys two facilities in Quebec, resulting in the Companys hashrate exceeding 290 Peta Hashes per second. As consideration for the early termination of the Co-Location Agreement, in addition to the Company receiving the Miners, the Company retained the security deposit it was paid pursuant to the Co- Location Agreement, and the Bitcoin mined by the Miners during the period the Termination Agreement was negotiated. The Termination Agreement represents settlement of all obligations under the Co-Location Agreement.

The financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018 and the related managements discussion and analysis (MD&A) are available on Vogogos SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.



____________

1 Refer to the Non-IFRS Measures section of this news release.

For information or interview please contact:

Jordan Greenberg

Chief Financial Officer

(647) 715-3707

About Vogogo Inc.

Vogogo currently operates its cryptocurrency mining activities in Quebec. This includes mining for cryptocurrencies for its own account and within mining pools. Vogogo continues to explore opportunities in all aspects of the cryptocurrency segment.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this press release, including statements with respect to the Companys position to enter other aspects of cryptocurrency mining, contain forward-looking information which can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "believes", "expects", "may", "desires", "will", "should", "projects", "estimates", "contemplates", "anticipates", "intends", or any negative such as "does not believe" or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. No assurance can be given that potential future results or circumstances described in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur. By their nature, these forward-looking statements necessarily involve risks and uncertainties, including the risk that costs will be higher than anticipated reducing margins, that expense reductions will not be realized, the risk that the price of power to the Company increases and other risks and uncertainties discussed herein, that could cause actual results to significantly differ from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the view of the Company with respect to future events, and are based on information currently available to the Company and on assumptions, which it considers reasonable. Management cautions readers that the assumptions relative to the future events, several of which are beyond management's control, could prove to be incorrect, given that they are subject to certain risk and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected. Other factors which could cause results or events to differ from current expectations include, among other things, the impact of general economic, industry and market conditions. Management disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

Non-IFRS Measures

Certain terms used in this press release, such as Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, are not measures defined under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as prescribed by the International Accounting Standards Board, do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS and should not be compared to or construed as alternatives to profit/loss or other measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin as computed by the Company may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company uses these measures to better assess the Companys underlying performance and provides these additional measures so that investors may do the same. Further details on non-IFRS measures are set out in the Companys MD&A, which is available on the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
English French



Marseille, France, May 1, 2019, 7:00 AM CEST

Innate Pharma (the Company - Euronext Paris: FR0010331421  IPH) will hold its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) on May 22, 2019, at 11:00 AM in its headquarters, 117 avenue de Luminy, F-13009 Marseille.

The Notice of Meeting of this Shareholders Meeting was published on April 15, 2019, in the French official legal bulletin (BALO). It includes the agenda, the proposed resolutions as well as instructions to participate and vote in this Meeting. It is also available on the Companys website.

All documentation regarding this AGM will be made available to shareholders in accordance with existing regulations and will be published on the Companys website as of today.

The 2018 Reference Document (in French) and Financial Report (included in the Reference Document) was released on April 30, 2019 under number D.19-0444, and is available on the website of the Company (http://www.innate-pharma.com) as well as on the website of the AMF, the French stock-market authorities ( www.amf-france.org ).

Hard copies are available upon request to the investor relations department of the Company.

An English translation of the 2018 Reference Document will be made available on Innate Pharmas website during the month of May 2019.

Precision regarding the AGM:

Only shareholders having registered their shares at least two business days prior to the date of the AGM, by midnight Paris time, will be able to attend.

Shareholders holding au porteur (bearer) shares will need to obtain an attestation de participation (certificate of shareholding) from their brokers. This attestation de participation must be attached to the proxy form or to the appropriate voting form if shareholders wish to designate a proxy or vote by post. The attestation de participation may replace the admission card for shareholders wishing to attend the AGM in person.

Written questions from shareholders must be received from the day of the publication of the official convocation to the AGM up until four business days prior to the AGM (by registered letter, addressed to the registered office, or by e-mail to investors@innate-pharma.com).

Shareholders may obtain the legal documentation in preparation of the AGM (as described in article R. 225-83 of the French Code de Commerce) by sending a request:

by regular mail to Innate Pharma, Shareholders Services, 117 avenue de Luminy, BP 30191, F-13009 Marseille, France or

by e-mail to investors@innate-pharma.com.





About Innate Pharma:

Innate Pharma S.A. is a fully integrated oncology-focused biotech company dedicated to improving treatment and clinical outcomes for patients through therapeutic antibodies that harness the immune system to fight cancer.

Innate Pharmas commercial-stage product, Lumoxiti, in-licensed from AstraZeneca, was approved by the FDA in September 2018. Lumoxiti is a first-in class specialty oncology product for hairy cell leukemia (HCL). Innate Pharmas broad pipeline of antibodies includes several first-in-class clinical and preclinical candidates in cancers with high unmet medical need.

Innate Pharma has pioneered the discovery and development of checkpoint inhibitors, with a unique expertise and understanding of Natural Killer cell biology. This innovative approach has resulted in major alliances with leaders in the biopharmaceutical industry including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi, and a landmark and multi-products partnership with AstraZeneca.

Based in Marseille, France, Innate Pharma is listed on Euronext Paris.

Learn more about Innate Pharma at www.innate-pharma.com.

Information about Innate Pharma shares:

ISIN code

Ticker code

LEI FR0010331421

IPH

9695002Y8420ZB8HJE29

Disclaimer:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Although the company believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors (Facteurs de Risque") section of the Document de Reference prospectus filed with the AMF, which is available on the AMF website www.amf-france.org or on Innate Pharmas website.

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe to shares in Innate Pharma in any country.





For additional information, please contact:

Investors







Innate Pharma



Dr. Markus Metzger / Danielle Spangler /

Jerome Marino



Tel.: +33 (0)4 30 30 30 30



investors@innate-pharma.com



International Media







Consilium Strategic Communications



Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson



Tel.: +44 (0)20 3709 5700



InnatePharma@consilium-comms.com

French Media







ATCG Partners



Solene Moulin



Tel.: +33 (0)9 81 87 46 72



presse@atcg-partners.com





Attachment
Over the past several years Ive written about the nightmares that timeshare owners lived through, both when first purchasing  often under physical and mental duress  and then when attempting to get themselves out of their contracts. I never said, Dont ever buy a timeshare! But no more. I now believe that because of the nature of timeshare contracts  and sales practices  they are the most dangerous purchase anyone can make. I urge federal action to nullify provisions in existing contracts that keep buyers on the hook for thousands of dollars in yearly fees glued to a contract they cant walk away from  even after years of paying for something they no longer use or are able to use. Great Vacation! Well All Come Back Here Every Year Picture yourself on vacation with your family in Florida, Las Vegas, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico or other tourist destinations, staying in a spacious condominium-type unit in a beautiful resort. It truly is lovely, you are all having the time of your lives, and are told, For a one-time payment (which we can finance) of $15,000, plus modest yearly maintenance fees, you will have the right to come back, with your family, year after year. It would be far cheaper to pay as you go, but you dont do the math, nor do you run this decision by your accountant or lawyer as you are convinced of how economical a decision it is.

Maybe for a few years your family uses the property, and then the kids grow up and there are no more family vacations. Or your wife gets cancer. But the yearly maintenance bills keep on coming, first hundreds, and then thousands of dollars out the window. As is the case with every person who has contacted this column, after asking to be let out of the contract, their request, Please, just take the thing back! is refused. The singular, diabolical feature of timeshare contracts is that they last in perpetuity. The contract permits no way out. And unless your heirs reject the inheritance, they will also be burdened with this monstrosity! It is the only such contract like this I have ever seen. And timeshares  because of maintenance fees  are almost impossible to sell. You will find them offered online for one dollar! We Have a Buyer for Your Mexican Timeshare Its no wonder that people get excited when someone offers to buy their timeshare from them. But be very careful, because that proposition can be fraught with danger as well. In 2017, Joe Corriveau of Lynchburg, Va., purchased a timeshare at the Villa del Palmar in Cancun, Mexico, for slightly over $14,000. In early March of this year, he received a $25,000 offer from an organization calling itself Travel Pirates Mexico to buy it, and a few days later he was contacted by the Eric H. Anderson Law Group. In reality, there was no buyer, only an appeal to greed, and sellers are required to wire thousands of dollars for various fees for what is a nonexistent purchase.

I researched the Eric H. Anderson Law Group based out of San Jose, Calif., Corriveau wrote me. Their website is very professional looking, but I could not find the actual Eric H. Anderson in San Jose, Calif. I only found him in Palo Alto, Calif., but could not locate a phone number. I came across your article online Beware of the Mexican timeshare resale scam and called you. His research led to the discovery of a new Mexican timeshare resale scam, which became obvious when, on a conference call with him, I tried to reach attorney Eric Anderson. Coming on the line, was a nasty sounding guy who claimed to be an attorney, yet he would provide no name or other identifying information and when learning that I am a journalist researching Mexican timeshare scams, he hung up! My calls to the Eric Anderson Law Group yielded 30 minutes on hold, and a refusal to connect me with anyone. Further research showed that Anderson was supposedly working for the Baker McKenzie law firm in Palo Alto, but they had never heard of him. The California State Bar shows such an attorney, but no telephone number is listed. U.S. Attorney Names Ripped Off According to Scott Morse, chief operating officer of Rockford, Ill.-based Resort Release, a BBB-accredited company that for years has helped to get people out of timeshares: This scam has been refined over many years. They rip off the name of a real U.S. attorney, and create a fake website. The average person would have no idea how to quickly spot the scam, so I applaud your readers intuition for sensing that something was just not right.

Morse is a great detective and discovered: The images on the firms website were stolen from a law firm in North Carolina. The website was set up on March 3, 2019, making it, literally, just a few days old. The footer of the website stated, "Anderson Law Group, Inc." yet it's a "PC" (Professional Corporation.) That's a small detail, but one a lawyer would never get wrong. Morse provides this advice to anyone contacted by these cons: These guys are the worst of the worst. Don't respond to them, don't call them, don't answer them. ... Block their number with your telephone provider. If you have provided them ANY banking information  change it immediately. Final Words to Anyone Tempted by Timeshare Vacation Deals If you are wondering if there is anything redeeming about timeshares, there is indeed. The big players in this industry woo potential buyers to their properties by offering a Vacation Package, which is usually a three-day/four-night stay at a huge discount. The catch is a requirement to sit through their 90-minute sales presentation, which typically feels more like 90 years! These high-pressure sales events are conducted by some of the slickest salespeople  I was about to say con artists, but that wouldnt be nice  youll ever encounter, so just pretend you are a 2-year-old and only say No! when pushed to buy. You are free to walk out of the sales room after going through the presentation, and do not hesitate if the pressure becomes too much. If couples are strong enough and can tolerate being in the company of morally bankrupt people who will tell you anything  who will lie with a lovely, sincere smile  then go for it and enjoy an inexpensive get-away, in some of the nicest vacation properties, all over North America. But if you cant say no, feel guilty when a long, sad face almost starts to cry when you refuse to sign this grotesque real estate contract, then stay away! I hope that the Federal Trade Commission or some U.S. senator will propose legislation that outlaws those sections of timeshare contracts that are simply unconscionable.
SEATTLE/WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Boeing Co on Wednesday named a new senior adviser to Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg and the board of directors as the worlds largest planemaker faces its biggest crisis in years after two deadly crashes of its 737 MAX.

Crashes in Ethiopia in March and Indonesia in October have triggered the grounding of Boeings fastest-selling plane, lawsuits, investigations and lingering concerns over the 737 MAXs safety.

The company named Michael Luttig, who has served as general counsel since joining the company in 2006, to the newly created position of counselor and senior adviser to Muilenburg and the Boeing board of directors.

Luttig, who is often listed among the highest paid general counsels of publicly traded companies, will anchor Boeings legal defense over the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.

Boeing also said Brett Gerry, who has been president of Boeing Japan since 2016, is succeeding Luttig as general counsel.

Both changes are effective immediately.

The two executives are expected to play a central role in Boeings campaign to restore the trust of customers, passengers and regulators following the crashes.

Muilenburg survived calls to break up his three-pronged job as chairman, president and CEO at an annual shareholders meeting on Monday.

Luttig was appointed at age 37 to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, after working as assistant counsel to former President Ronald Reagan and as a law clerk to Antonin Scalia before he joined the U.S. Supreme Court. He also served as a clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger.

Among those who served as clerk for Luttig were Ted Cruz, who is now a U.S. Senator from Texas, and Joel Kaplan, now Facebook Incs vice president of global public policy.

Gerry, who joined Boeing in 2008, formerly served as chief of staff to the attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, and in the White House as associate counsel to the president, Boeing said.

He also worked in private practice and as a law clerk at both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, the company said.
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday said that fractures within the Venezuelan army could lead to the collapse of Nicolas Maduros socialist government.

The information that we have is that there is a facture that is getting closer and closer to the leadership of the (Venezuelan) armed forces, Bolsonaro said in remarks broadcast by channel Globo News.

Bolsonaro, who assumed office in January, has helped lead the regional opposition to Maduros continued leadership in Venezuela. But he has stopped short of backing direct intervention in the neighboring country.

On Tuesday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom many nations recognize as the president of the South American nation, publicly called for the military to back him and oust Maduro from power, sparking protests and violence.

But on Wednesday Maduro remained in control as Guaido called for demonstrations throughout the country.

There is no defeat, Bolsonaro said of Guaido. I commend and recognize the patriotic and democratic spirit that he has to fight for freedom in his party.

Bolsonaro added that his government has had no contact with the United States regarding use of Brazilian territory as a base for potential military intervention in Venezuela. If he were contacted, Bolsonaro said, he would involve his defense council and Congress to make a decision.
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(Kitco News) - Coeur Mining, Inc. (NYSE: CDE) late Wednesday reported an adjusted net loss during the first quarter as gold and silver output fell from a year ago, along with prices received for the metals.

The company listed a January-March adjusted loss of $23 million, or 11 cents per share. There was a small adjusted profit of $0.3 million, or zero cents per share, in the same period of 2018.

The first-quarter net loss was $24.9 million, or 12 cents a share, compared to a small profit of $0.7 million, or zero cents, a year ago.

First-quarter silver output fell to 2.5 million ounces from 3.2 million a year ago, while gold output slipped to 78,336 ounces from 85,383. The biggest drop was at the Palmarejo mine in Mexico, where output slid by 735,000 ounces year-over-year. The company said this was due to lower grades and recoveries due to mine sequencing. Coeur also mines base metals.

However, the company reaffirmed full-year 2019 production guidance of 334,000 to 372,000 ounces of gold, 12.2 million to 14.7 million ounces of silver, 25 million to 40 million pounds of zinc and 20 million to 35 million pounds of lead. Officials said financial and operational results should be stronger in the second half of the year due to the anticipated impact of high-pressure grinding roll technology at the Rochester mine, higher recovery rates and production levels at Palmarejo, and improved plant performance and higher grades at Silvertip.

Silvertip went into commercial production in September, and the company conceded that the ramp-up of output has been slower than expected. However, March was the strongest month since the acquisition of the mine, Coeur said.

Although Silvertips ongoing ramp-up remains a near-term drag on our free cash flow and liquidity levels until it achieves steady-state, our balanced portfolio of operations are advancing several key initiatives that are expected to help us achieve our objective of returning to positive free cash flow in 2019, said Mitchell J. Krebs, president and chief executive officer.

Silvertip produced 239,000 silver ounces in the first quarter, but the pace is expected to pick up, as the company lists full-year guidance for the mine of 1.5 million to 2.5 million ounces of the metal. Silvertip also produces zinc and lead.

Coeur received an average of $1,251 per gold ounce during the first quarter, down from $1,268 in the year-ago period. The average silver price fell to $15.22 from $16.70.
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Equinox Gold Corp. (TSXV: EQX) reports a first-quarter loss and says construction of the Aurizona mine in Brazil is complete, with plant commissioning currently taking place. The first ore was processed through the SAG mill in last April, and the first gold pour is expected in early May. Meanwhile, the company, which acquired the Mesquite mine in California in October, reports a first-quarter net loss of $5.8 million, or a penny per share. Mesquite provided 25,310 ounces of gold.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Centerra Gold 1Q Profit Rises Along With Output

Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX: CG) reports first-quarter adjusted earnings of $50.4 million, or 17 cents per share, up from $13.4 million, or a nickel, in the first quarter of 2018. Net earnings were also $50.4 million, up from $9 million, or 3 cents, a year ago. Revenue jumped to $334 million from $235.4 million. The operations produced a total of 183,563 ounces of gold and 11.4 million pounds of copper in the quarter, says Scott Perry, president and chief executive officer. These tallies were up from 129,764 ounces of gold and 6.1 million pounds of copper in the same quarter of 2018. Kumtor had a very strong quarter, producing 150,308 ounces of gold, which was attributable to higher grades and recoveries, Perry says. Mount Milligan copper and gold output also rose due to higher mill throughput, the company says. Construction activity continued at the Oksut Project in Turkey and is now approximately 49% complete overall, Perry says. The project continues to be on time and on budget, and is on track for first gold pour in the first quarter of 2020.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Osisko Gold Royalties Reports First-Quarter Profit

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. (TSX, NYSE: OR) reports adjusted earnings of $5.8 million, or 4 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared to $8.9 million, or 6 cents, in the same quarter a year ago. The company lists 19,753 gold-equivalent ounces, compared to 20,036 in the year-ago period. Our Q1 results were in-line with our expectation and we anticipate to meet our guidance with stronger GEO deliveries from our asset base during the remainder of the year, says Sean Roosen, chair and chief executive officer.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Endeavour Mining Posts 1Q Loss, Sees Higher Output After CIL Commissioning

Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV) reports an adjusted net loss for the first quarter as production eased when the Ity heap leach operation ceased in 2018 ahead of the CIL commissioning, but the company looks for higher output now that the CIL project has been commissioned. The adjusted net loss was $5 million, or 4 cents a share, compared to a profit of $23 million, or 22 cents, in the same period a year ago. The net loss was $15 million, or 13 cents, compared to a $12 million (11-cent) profit a year ago. Gold production eased to 121,000 ounces from 152,000 in the year-ago period. Nevertheless, Endeavour says output was in line with its expectations and is well positioned to meet full-year 2019 production guidance of 615,000 to 695,000 ounces at all-in sustaining costs of $760 to 810 an ounce. First-quarter AISC came in at $877 an ounce. With commissioning at full nameplate capacity achieved at the beginning of the second quarter, we are poised for a significant increase in production over the remainder of the year as we also benefit from access to the higher grade Bouere deposit at Hounde, says Sebastien de Montessus, president and chief executive officer. The average realized gold price eased to $1,252 from $1,293 a year ago.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

McEwen Mining Reports 1Q Loss, Says Operating Challenges Resolved

McEwen Mining Inc. (NYSE, TSX: MUX) reports a net loss for the first quarter but says it has resolved operating challenges. The company lost $10.1 million, or 3 cents per share, compared to a loss of $5.2 million, or 2 cents, in the same quarter of 2018. Production fell to 36,315 gold-equivalent ounces from 44,344 a year ago. The operational challenges we experienced in the first two months of the quarter have largely been resolved. We made progress implementing better mining practices at the Black Fox mine and advanced towards commercial production at the Gold Bar mine. Nevertheless, the temporary production delays at Black Fox and a slower start-up at Gold Bar did lower our revenue in the first quarter, the company says. Officials say output rebounded in April to approximately 16,500 gold-equivalent ounces, putting the company back on track to meet 2019 guidance.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

Guyana Goldfields Posts 1Q Loss But Pays Off Debt

Guyana Goldfields Inc. (TSX: GUY) reports a first-quarter net loss of $2.3 million, or a penny per share, compared to a profit of $8.4 million, or 5 cents, in the same quarter a year ago. However, the company retired a balance of $35 million on its loan facility. Gold production of around 36,600 ounces was down from 38,800 in the year-ago period but on track to achieve 2019 range of 145,000 to 160,000 ounces. All-in sustaining costs rose to $1,378 from $934 a year ago, which the company blames on lower grades, a higher strip ratio and higher production costs. "Since the release of the updated mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, and life-of-mine plan in March, management now has an improved forecasting tool for production and cost forecasting, says Scott A. Caldwell, president and chief executive officer. In addition to this, the company has identified and is beginning to execute on various cost-reduction initiatives, which are expected to further improve upon these advancements.Furthermore, the company is now debt free and positioned for growth allowing for greater flexibility in exploring new financing alternatives and controlling its capital program.
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - Copper prices slid to their lowest in a month on Wednesday as computer-driven funds unleashed selling following an options expiry amid disquiet about demand in top metals consumer China.

Traders said there was no specific news that triggered a sharp reversal in the market around midday after prices had been slightly firmer in the morning.

"The market was spooked and we've seen quite a few stops hit in zinc and copper. It was more technical selling than anything in a thin market since most of the Chinese are out today," said a trader at a major broker.

Many markets were closed for the May 1 holiday, including China.

"A lot of the selling is from algos (algorithmic computer-driven funds) and we also had the options expiry this morning so a lot of people had to cover positions," the trader added.

Analysts said that while investors welcomed further signs of progress in U.S.-China trade talks, they were still concerned after data on Tuesday showed Chinese factory growth unexpectedly slowed in April. Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange traded down 0.5 percent at $6,383 per tonne in official open outcry activity, having lost 1 percent in April.

It hit a low of $6,331 in electronic trading, the weakest since March 28.

COPPER STOCKS: Inventories of copper in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell by 8,825 tonnes from the previous day to 173,575 tonnes.

SPREADS: This helped the premium of cash copper over the three-month contract climb to its highest in over a month at nearly $12 despite a recent surge in inventories.

ALUMINIUM INVENTORIES: On-warrant stocks of aluminium available jumped to their highest since January at 776,675 tonnes.

U.S. RATES: The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to leave borrowing costs unchanged later on Wednesday. DOLLAR: Against a basket of six currencies , the

dollar was down slightly after hitting a one-week low ahead of the Fed's decision, making dollar-priced commodities cheaper for holders of non-U.S. currencies.

TIN: Unionised workers at Peruvian miner Minsur's San Rafael tin mine, a major producer of the metal, started an indefinite strike on Tuesday to demand a bonus, the company said.

COLUMN: Industrial metal markets are taking a breather as they await tangible evidence that China's latest stimulus package is feeding through to a flagging manufacturing sector.

PRICES: Three-month aluminium on the LME traded down 0.4 percent at $1,791 a tonne in official rings, zinc shed 0.6 percent to $2,808, nickel shed 0.5 percent to $12,205, lead , untraded in official rings, was bid down 1.2 percent at $1,902 and tin was bid down 0.3 percent at $19,600.

(Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Dale Hudson, Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States and Russia traded warnings against interfering in Venezuela on Wednesday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Moscow of stopping President Nicolas Maduro from leaving the country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Pompeo by phone that further aggressive steps in Venezuela would be fraught with the gravest consequences, the Russian ministry said.

The Russian side underlined that interference by Washington in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and threats towards its leadership was a flagrant breach of international law, the ministry said.

The U.S. State Department said Pompeo urged Russia in the call to stop supporting Maduro. He also stressed that the intervention by Russia and Cuba is destabilizing for Venezuela and for the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship, it said.

On Tuesday, Pompeo accused Russia of intervening to persuade Maduro to abandon a plan to leave the country following a call by opposition leader Juan Guaido for Venezuelas military to help him oust Maduro.

Russia rejected that allegation on Wednesday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova calling it fake news.

The United States has criticized Russia and Cuba for working to prop up Maduro. Russia, which has supplied Venezuela with weapons and loans, says the United States is trying to encourage a coup in the Latin American country.

While Pompeo said earlier Wednesday that the United States was prepared to take military action if necessary, Pentagon officials told Congress they had not been given orders to prepare for war.

Military action is possible. If thats whats required, thats what the United States will do, Pompeo told Fox Business Network.

U.S. officials continue to stress that they prefer a peaceful transition in the country.

Marchers gathered on Wednesday for planned mass street protests against Maduro.

Asked if Washington was considering more sanctions against Russia because of the situation, National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters the National Security Council would meet to discuss Venezuela on Wednesday. Well be considering a lot of steps, he said.

Bolton would not elaborate on what the United States knew about its accusations that Russia was influencing Maduros plans, but he said Moscows interference was not welcome.

This is our hemisphere, Bolton said. Its not where the Russians ought to be interfering. This is a mistake on their part. Its not going to lead to an improvement of relations.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan canceled a planned trip to Europe on Wednesday to help him better coordinate with the Trump administration on Venezuela as well as on deployments to the U.S. border with Mexico, the Pentagon said.
By Andy Bruce and William Schomberg

LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - British factories lost some of the boost from pre-Brexit stockpiling last month while households slowed their borrowing ahead of the original deadline for the country's departure from the European Union, data showed on Wednesday.

The IHS Markit/CIPS manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to 53.1 in April from March's 13-month high of 55.1, broadly in line with the average forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

Exports fell at one of their fastest rates in the past five years, reflecting a slowdown in the global economy.

Uncertainty around the terms of Britain's exit from the EU, originally scheduled for March 29, had previously prompted factories to load up on parts and materials at the fastest rate in the 27-year history of the PMI surveys.

Bank of England data for March, also released on Wednesday, showed caution on the part of consumers whose spending has helped to offset weakness elsewhere in Britain's economy.

Lenders approved the fewest mortgages since December 2017 ahead of the expected Brexit date, and consumer credit growth slowed to its weakest in more than four years. However, there have been signs that the slowdown in Britain's housing market may have bottomed out. Nationwide Building Society said house price growth picked up to an annual 0.9 percent in April, its highest since November though much slower than growth of about 5 percent at the time of the 2016 Brexit referendum. With the deadline for Brexit now pushed back to Oct. 31, the pace of factory stockpiling eased in April, though it continued to boost British output amid a broader downturn in European manufacturing.

"The slowdown is less severe than we had expected," economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

One in five manufacturers reported that Brexit-related stock-building had continued to boost output in April.

The survey's gauge of export orders fell to its lowest since August 2018, and its second-lowest reading since October 2014. Although global demand for goods has slowed markedly over the last six months, IHS Markit said Brexit uncertainty was the main factor for British factories in April.

"There were also reports of overseas clients acting now to re-route their supply chains away from the UK in advance of Brexit," said Rob Dobson, a director at IHS Markit, the firm which compiles the data.

Last week a quarterly survey of manufacturers by the Confederation of British Industry showed the biggest fall in export orders since the depths of the financial crisis in 2009. Andrew Wishart of consultancy Capital Economics said he expected Britain's manufacturing PMI to fall further, coming closer into line with a weak euro zone manufacturing PMI.

"The upshot is that a hangover from Brexit preparations in the sector will weigh on GDP in Q2," he said.

Officials at the Bank of England preparing new economic forecasts for publication on Thursday are likely to note cooling producer price pressures shown in the latest PMI, echoing European Commission business surveys published on Monday.

Factories raised selling prices at the slowest pace since July 2016, and their material and energy costs increased at the second-slowest pace May 2016, the PMI showed.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Stuff reports:

Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon claims he has been shut out of conversations with the NZ Transport Agency but Transport Minister Phil Twyford says Falloon is playing politics.

Falloon says he has been trying to arrange meetings with the agency regarding several issues  including upcoming roading projects in the Mid-South Canterbury area  but his requests have been declined.  Falloon said previously organising meetings had been pretty informal and done via phone but he could understand, in some cases, why approval was required.

Under the previous National Government, authorisation was needed when MPs wanted to visit sensitive and hazardous sites like research organisations undertaking chemical testing. Even then they were approved.

This was a request for a meeting in an office, hardly anything that could be deemed hazardous. Instead Ive been sent a letter outlining some points quite irrelevant to the issues I wanted to raise.

Transport Minister Phil Twyford said Falloon was playing politics.

He received a full update from the Transport Agency including on the feedback they received from the local community.

No-one wants NZTA officials tied up in meetings when they have important work to get on with, Twyford said.



So this Government, which pledged to be the most open and transparent ever, has banned NZTA from meeting local MPs over local roading issues.

Twyford arrogantly proclaims meeting a local MP is an unimportant meeting of no value.

Just another reason why a Government of equal measures incompetence and arrogance should go.

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English Danish

Ambu realised organic growth of 14% in Q2 and an increase in earnings of 25%, resulting in an EBIT margin of 24.8%. Organic growth of 15% was posted for H1.



"Overall, this was Ambu's best-ever quarter. Growth of 21% in Danish kroner was realised, while earnings are 25% higher than for the prior-year quarter. At the end of March, we launched a new single-use endoscope for ENT procedures in Europe, and we expect to launch the products in the US market before the summer. Total sales of endoscopes are seeing continued growth and increased by 37,000 units in Q2, resulting in total sales of 182,000 units. We are confident that total sales of at least 750,000 endoscopes will be achieved by the end of the year. All in all, Q2 was a quarter of many successes, and we are up to speed on all important parameters before the start of H2," says President & CEO Lars Marcher.

Highlights

Revenue of DKK 785m (DKK 651 m) was posted for Q2 based on organic growth of 14% in local currencies and 21% in Danish kroner. Organic growth of 15%, or 20% in Danish kroner, was realised in H1 . The difference between organic growth and growth in Danish kroner is due to the strengthened USD/DKK exchange rate as well as the recognition of GPO fees in accordance with the accounting standard relative to the same quarter last year.

based on organic growth of 14% in local currencies and 21% in Danish kroner. . The difference between organic growth and growth in Danish kroner is due to the strengthened USD/DKK exchange rate as well as the recognition of GPO fees in accordance with the accounting standard relative to the same quarter last year. In Q2, Visualization contributed organic growth of 27%, Anaesthesia contributed 5%, and PMD (Patient Monitoring & Diagnostics) delivered growth of 10%. For H1, organic growth rates were 33% for Visualization, 6% for Anaesthesia and 6% for PMD.

For the quarter, organic growth of 16% was realised in North America, 9% in Europe and 24% in the Rest of the world. For H1, North America contributed 18%, Europe 10% and the Rest of the world also 18%.

Sales of endoscopes reached 182,000 units for the quarter and 331,000 units for H1 . Sales volumes were thus up 26% and 33%, respectively, compared to last year.

. Sales volumes were thus up 26% and 33%, respectively, compared to last year. Gross margin for the quarter was 60.1% (60.5%). The 0.4 percentage point reduction is attributable to the renegotiation of a GPO agreement concerning breathing circuits and facemasks in the USA, expected marginal price changes in the Anaesthesia and PMD business areas as well as costs incidental to the start-up of production of the new endoscopes. Within Visualization, we are still seeing very stable prices and no significant changes in pricing. The gross margin for the half-year was 60.0% (59.4%).

(60.5%). The 0.4 percentage point reduction is attributable to the renegotiation of a GPO agreement concerning breathing circuits and facemasks in the USA, expected marginal price changes in the Anaesthesia and PMD business areas as well as costs incidental to the start-up of production of the new endoscopes. Within Visualization, we are still seeing very stable prices and no significant changes in pricing. (59.4%). Capacity costs for the quarter totalled DKK 277m (DKK 238m), corresponding to a 16% increase. Capacity costs for the half-year were up 19%, reflecting investments made in the sales organisation in recent quarters as well as the recognition of GPO fees.

The rate of cost was 35% (37%) for the quarter and 39% (39%) for H1.

EBIT for the quarter was DKK 195m (DKK 156m) with an EBIT margin of 24.8% (24.0%), while the figures for the half-year were DKK 307m (DKK 247m) and 21.3% (20.5%).

(DKK 156m) with an EBIT margin of 24.8% (24.0%), while (DKK 247m) and 21.3% (20.5%). The working capital to revenue ratio is 25% (22%) based on rolling 12-month revenue due to increased investments in inventories as well as an increase in trade receivables.

Free cash flows before acquisitions of enterprises totalled DKK 11m (DKK 22m), and for the half-year DKK 56m (DKK 58m).

In Q2, Ambu reached an agreement in principle to settle a dispute with US authorities concerning compliance with laws and regulations governing sales to US government institutions. Provisions had already been made for the USD 3.3m settlement, and the settlement will thus not impact earnings for the year.

The outlook for the full year announced in the interim report for Q1 2018/19 on 31 January 2019 is maintained:

- Organic growth in local currencies of approx. 15-16%

- EBIT margin of approx. 22-24%

- Free cash flows of approx. DKK 400-475m.

A conference call is being held today, 1 May 2019, at 10.30 (CET). The conference is held in English and can be followed online at www.ambu.com/webcastQ22019. The presentation can be downloaded immediately before the conference call via the same link. In order to be able to ask questions during the conference call, please call 5 minutes before the start on tel. + 45 3544 5577 and enter the following access code: 33686748#.



Contact

Lars Marcher, President & CEO, tel. +45 5136 2490, email: lm@ambu.com

Ambu A/S

Baltorpbakken 13

DK-2750 Ballerup

Tel.: +45 7225 2000

CVR no.: 63 64 49 19

www.ambu.com
English Danish

Company Announcement No 07/2019

1 May 2019

Sydbanks Interim Report  Q1 2019

Q1 2019 was characterised by brisk activity in financial markets, strong credit quality and continued pressure on core income

On the back of the results achieved during the two most recent strategy periods, Sydbank has entered a new 3-year strategy period. The new strategy A stronger bank seeks to ensure that the positive trend since the beginning of 2014 continues.

CEO Karen Frsig comments on Sydbanks Q1 result:

We are pleased that despite significant pressure on the Banks core income we have recorded an increase in total income compared with Q4 2018 thanks to very high activity in Sydbank Markets. Moreover it is positive to note continued growth in core corporate lending also in Q1 2019 as well as the reversal of impairment charges for the 8th consecutive quarter.

On the transition to Sydbanks new 3-year strategy plan she comments:

Customers set great store by decency, accessibility, transparency and speed. In other words banks that can be trusted. We strive to honour this through Sydbanks strategy A stronger bank. A task taken on by everyone at Sydbank. Therefore it is highly satisfying to see a significant increase in employee engagement from an already high level and a continued positive development in customer satisfaction.

Q1 2019  highlights

Profit of DKK 205m equals a return on equity of 7.3% p.a. after tax.

Total income of DKK 996m is 5% higher than total income in Q4 2018.

Impairment charges for loans and advances represent an income of DKK 14m, on a par with the same period in 2018.

Total credit intermediation has increased by DKK 0.3bn, equal to 0.2% compared to year-end 2018.

A share buyback of DKK 250m will be commenced on 2 May 2019.

Predominantly due to the announced share buyback programme, the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio has declined by 0.4 percentage points compared to year-end 2018 and constitutes 16.9% excluding profit for the period. When including 50% of profit for the period, the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio stands at 17.1%.

Outlook for 2019

Limited growth is projected for the Danish economy in 2019.

Total income is expected to be lower than the income generated in 2018.

Costs (core earnings) are projected to rise slightly in 2019.

Impairment charges for 2019 are forecast to be at a low level.

Non-recurring costs are expected to represent around DKK 75m.

Profit after tax is expected to be in the range of DKK 800-1,100m.

The outlook is subject to uncertainty and depends among other things on financial market developments and macroeconomic factors.

Additional information

Jrn Adam Mller, CFO, tel +45 74 37 24 00

Louise Degn-Hansen, Head of Communications, tel +45 61 20 48 04

Karen Frsig, CEO, Bjarne Larsen, Deputy Group Chief Executive, and Jrn Adam Mller, CFO, will present the Interim Report today at 10.00 (CET) at a teleconference. The teleconference will be held in Danish and may be attended via www.sydbank.dk/omsydbank

Attendees are invited to call +45 35 44 55 77. Please quote the following code: 95646079#

Attachments
Dublin, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Mobile Wallets 2019" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Questions Answered in this Report

What is the number of mobile wallet users in 2019?

How do mobile wallet adoption rates differ by country?

What are the top global regions by mobile payment usage in-store?

What are the leading mobile wallets worldwide?

How large are Apple Pay's and Google Pay's shares of E-Commerce transactions in selected markets?

Executive Summary:



The number of mobile wallet users worldwide is expected to reach a ten-digit figure in 2019, with a double-digit growth rate on the previous years, according to statistics cited in the report. More than two-thirds of mobile wallet users live in Asia-Pacific, with China alone contributing close to 50%. Asia-Pacific mobile wallet users are not only the most numerous but also the most active users of mobile payment services and contribute the lion's share to global mobile wallet transaction value. The leading mobile wallet services in the region include Alipay, WeChat Pay, Paytm, PhonePe, LINE Pay, Rakuten Pay, GO-PAY and others.

Some of the global competitors in the mobile wallet space include Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. Each of the three increased the number of covered markets during the past year, in addition to expanding the variety of supported payment features. Apple Pay outpaced competition among the equipment manufacturer solutions in the USA, but remained behind PayPal's app for in-store payment usage, according to surveys cited in the report. Overall, the number of proximity mobile payment users in the USA continues to grow and mobile wallet services are also increasingly used to conduct peer-to-peer transfers.

In Europe, Apple Pay and Google Pay achieved a single-digit share of E-Commerce transactions in 2018, the report reveals. However, consumers are still hesitant to pay with mobile wallets in-store, resulting in a low adoption rate in countries such as Germany and France. Lack of trust in the security of mobile payments was also one of the major barriers in Latin America, but despite this, the numbers of mobile wallet users in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico are expected to grow.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Management Summary



2. Global Developments



3. Asia-Pacific

3.1. China

3.2. Hong Kong

3.3. Taiwan

3.4. Japan

3.5. South Korea

3.6. Australia

3.7. India

3.8. Indonesia

3.9. Singapore

3.10. Thailand

3.11. Malaysia



4. Europe

4.1. Regional

4.2. UK

4.3. Germany

4.4. France

4.5. Spain

4.6. Italy

4.7. Sweden

4.8. Norway

4.9. Denmark

4.10. Russia

4.11. Turkey

4.12. Portugal



5. North America

5.1. USA

5.2. Canada



6. Latin America

6.1. Regional

6.2. Brazil

6.3. Argentina

6.4. Mexico



7. Middle East and Africa

7.1. Regional

7.2. UAE

7.3. South Africa



8. Mobile Wallet Profiles



Companies Mentioned



Alipay

Alphabet Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

Ant Financial Services Group

Apple Inc.

GO-JEK Indonesia PT

GO-PAY

Google Pay

LINE Corp

LINE Pay

One97 communications Ltd.

PAYBACK GmbH

PayPal Inc.

Paytm

PhonePe Private Ltd.

Rakuten Pay

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Starbucks Corp.

Swish Inc.

Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Vipps AS

WeChat Pay



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gmz3m0

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Dublin, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Trocars Market by Product Type (Disposable, Reusable, Reposable), Type of Tip (Bladeless, Optical, Bladed, Blunt), Application (General Surgery, Gynecology, Urology, Bariatric Surgery), and End User (Hospitals and ASCs) - Global Forecast to 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Global trocars market is expected to reach $968.5 million by 2024, at a CAGR of 6.8% during the forecast period of 2019 to 2024.



his growth is mainly attributed to the rising preference for minimally invasive surgical procedures, increasing aging population and thereby growing prevalence of chronic diseases, increasing adoption of laparoscopic bariatric procedures, and technological advancements in the field of laparoscopy. However, factors such as side effects associated with the use of trocar and shortage of skilled healthcare professionals and surgeons to efficiently handle the trocars are expected to hinder the growth of this market to some extent.



The report gives an extensive outlook on hospitals (inpatient and outpatient hospital settings) and independent ambulatory surgery centres served by the trocars. These end user segments further briefly talks about the trends impacting the growth of these markets and the benefits involved with the use of trocars in these verticals to create the access port for passage of surgical instruments into the body.



An in-depth analysis of the geographical scenario of the industry provides detailed qualitative and quantitative insights aboutthe five major geographies (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa) along with the coverage of major countries in each region. The geographic analysis provides detailed insights on key trends of the industry in the listed regions & countries, identifying the demographic & economic impact, government & private investments, and regulatory scenario.



The report identifies North America to be the largest market followed by Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of World. The geographical analysis section also comments on the key market players shaping the growth of the industry in the respective countries. The report also includes the competitive landscape based on extensive assessment of the key strategic developments adopted by leading market participants in the industry over the past 4 years (2016-2019).



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction

1.1. Market Ecosystem

1.2. Currency and Limitations

1.3. Key Stakeholders



2. Research Methodology

2.1. Research Process



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Insights

4.1. Introduction

4.2. Drivers

4.2.1. Increasing Adoption of Minimal Invasive Surgery

4.2.2. Increasing Aging Population and Rising Incidence & Prevalence of Chronic Diseases

4.2.3. Increasing Obesity Ratio and Rising Adoption of Laparoscopic Bariatric Procedures

4.2.4. Technological Advancements in the Field of Laparoscopy

4.3. Restraints

4.3.1. Complications Associated With the Use of Trocars

4.3.2. Lack of Skilled Professionals

4.4. Opportunities

4.4.1. Emerging Economies: Latin America, Asia, and Africa

4.5. Challenges

4.5.1. Increasing Agreements with GPO and Rise in Product Bundling for Sales

4.6. Market Share Analysis



5. Trocars Market, by Product Type

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Disposable Trocars

5.3. Reusable Trocars

5.4. Reposable Trocars

5.5. Accessories



6. Trocar Market, by Type of Tip

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Bladeless Trocars

6.3. Blunt Trocars

6.4. Bladed Trocars

6.5. Optical Trocars



7. Trocar Market, by Application

7.1. Introduction

7.2. General Surgery

7.3. Gynaecological Surgery

7.4. Urological Surgery

7.5. Bariatric Surgery

7.6. Others



8. Trocar Market, by End Users

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Hospitals

8.3. Ambulatory Surgery Centers



9. Geographical Analysis

9.1. Introduction

9.2. North America

9.2.1. Introduction

9.2.2. U.S.

9.2.3. Canada

9.3. Europe

9.3.1. Germany

9.3.2. France

9.3.3. U.K.

9.3.4. Italy

9.3.5. Spain

9.3.6. Rest of Europe (RoE)

9.4. Asia-Pacific

9.4.1. Japan

9.4.2. China

9.4.3. India

9.4.4. Rest of Asia Pacific (RoAPAC)

9.5. Rest of World

9.5.1. Latin America

9.5.2. Middle East and Africa



10. Company Profiles (Includes Business Overview, Recent Financials, Product Portfolio, and Recent Developments)

10.1. Medtronic PLC

10.2. Applied Medical Resources Corporation

10.3. B. Braun Melsungen AG

10.4. Genicon, Inc.

10.5. Xion GmbH

10.6. Laprosurge Ltd.

10.7. Peters Surgical

10.8. Teleflex Incorporated

10.9. Conmed Corporation

10.10. Ethicon, Inc.

10.11. Purple Surgical

10.12. The Cooper Companies, Inc.

10.13. Alesi Surgical Limited

10.14. Victor Medical

10.15. Metromed Healthcare

10.16. Seemann Technologies

10.17. Sejong Medical Co., Ltd.

10.18. Sferamed

10.19. Ackermann Instrumente GmbH

10.20. Guangzhou T.K Medical Instrument Co., Ltd.

10.21. Hangzhou Optcla Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. (Mindray Company)

10.22. Specath (Foshan Special Medical Co., Ltd.)

10.23. Elmed Incorporated

10.24. Olympus Corporation



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/z6xb1v

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Dublin, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Poles for Street Lights & Parking Ed 2 2019" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



This report provides forecasts and analysis of an important segment of the pole market - Street Light and Parking Lot poles. They account for 20% of the 1.7 billion global population of poles. Light pole sales are growing fast, driven by the rise of the megacities in the developing world, ever-growing transport networks and Passive Safety regulations in the developed countries are changing materials and designs of poles.

Sales of street light poles in units and $ value are forecast from 2018 to 2025 by country and pole type (steel/aluminium, concrete, wood, composite), for new installations and replacements.

Replacements of concrete and wood poles with Passive Safety steel/aluminium poles are analysed.

Passive Safety is driving a switch from wood and concrete to steel, aluminium and composite poles in the street light segment of the market.

Passive Safety is a significant driver of the street light pole market. The concept appeared about thirty years ago and is now accepted as essential for road safety in advanced countries. This report explains what it is and how it works and its impact on the demand for poles.

Not all roads need Passive Safety devices. Passive Safety poles choices are based on road category, accident rates and speed limits. These categories determine the type of Passive Safety pole required.

Road segments and their requirement for Passive Safety are analysed.

Types of Passive Safety poles are described, with their applications.

The road networks - intercity, urban and rural continue to expand.

In the developing world, the exponential expansion of megacities is creating a continuous demand for more street lights. Some of the Middle Eastern countries are leading in Passive Safety regulation, with increased cost per unit.

The Smart City concept is well established and many cities are introducing smart measures. Street lighting is an important element of the Smart City, including a switch from HPS lamps to LEDs, and CMS. Passive safety is an important ingredient and poles are being modernised.

Parking is receiving increased attention. Demand is growing and it uses a disproportionate amount of space in today's cities. The parking situation varies enormously around the world, some countries prefer open lot parking and others choose multi-storey parking, but it is becoming a hot' market in some countries.

On-street parking is served with street lights, off-street parking consists of parking 'garages' which have wall-mounted light fittings and parking lots need light poles. The parking market is analysed together with the parking lot pole population and annual installations.

56 manufacturers of poles of all materials feature in this report including; Valmont, Europole, Induo Systemholztechnik, Sabre Industries, Union Metal, Shakespeare, Strongwell, RS Technologies, Powertrusion, Duratel, Koppers Inc, Scanpole, Sapa, Jerol, Petrofisa, Structa, and others.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Street and Parking Light Population

Road networks

The world population of street lights

Parking

2. Street and Parking Light Sales

Annual installations of street light poles

Sales of street light poles in value

3. The Smart City and Smart Street Lighting

The smart city concept

Smart street lighting

Light Emitting Diodes (LED)

Central management system (CMS)

The street lighting market in Smart Cities

Regional development of smart cities and public lighting

Smart street lighting manufacturers

4. Passive Safety

Passive safety pole types

Safe materials

Frangible pole types

Breakaway and slip-base poles

Impact-absorbing poles

High energy absorbing (HE):

Low Energy absorbing (LE)

Non-Energy absorbing (NE)

The origins of the passive safety concept

Passive Safety in the EU

EU National regulations

Norway

Finland

Sweden

Belgium

Netherlands

United Kingdom

Slovenia

United States

5. Parking

United States

Europe

China

Japan

Global parking revenues

Lighting poles in the parking sector

6. Pole Materials

Steel and Aluminium Poles

Concrete Poles

Composite Poles

Wooden Poles

Space allocation on joint use utility poles

Supply Space

Safety Zone Space

Communications Space

7. Annual Installations Of Light Poles

Regional installations of street light poles in units

Regional installations of street light poles in $million

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in Europe

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in North America

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in the CIS

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in the Middle East

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in North Africa

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in Sub-Saharan Africa

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in the Asia Pacific

Steel/aluminium street light poles in units in LAC

Wood street light poles in units in Europe

Wood street light poles in units in North America

Wood street light poles in units in the CIS

Wood street light poles in units in the Middle East

Wood street light poles in units in North Africa

Wood poles in units in Sub-Saharan Africa

Wood street light poles in units in the Asia Pacific

Wood street light poles in units in LAC

Concrete street light poles in units in Europe

Concrete street light poles in units in North America

Concrete street light poles in units in the CIS

Concrete street light poles in units in the Middle East

Concrete street light poles in units in North Africa

Concrete street light poles in units in Sub-Saharan Africa

Concrete street light poles in units in the Asia Pacific

Concrete street light poles in units in LAC

Composite street light poles in units in Europe

Composite light poles in units in North America

Composite street light poles in units in the CIS

Composite street light poles in units in the Middle East

Composite street light poles in units in North Africa

Composite street light poles in units in Sub-Saharan Africa

Composite street light poles in units in the Asia Pacific

Composite street light poles in units in LAC

8. Manufacturers of Lighting, Parking and Distribution Poles

North American manufacturers

United States

Cross arms

European manufacturers

Germany

Finland

Netherlands

Sweden

Italy

United Kingdom

South America

Brazil

Africa

South Africa

Kenya

Asia Pacific

China

India

Malaysia

Australia

Middle East

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Turkey

9. Glossary



Companies Mentioned



Duratel

Europole

Induo Systemholztechnik

Jerol

Koppers Inc

Petrofisa

Powertrusion

RS Technologies

Sabre Industries

Sapa

Scanpole

Shakespeare

Strongwell

Structa

Union Metal

Valmont

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/i8bhi7

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.






John Walker, chairman of Macquarie Korea, gesticulates during a recent interview with The Korea Times. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Oh Young-jin



The story about Macquarie's logo sounds like one about the egg of Columbus. The Italian explorer was the first westerner to discover the Americas, and how he made an egg stand is one of the best known stories about him.



Although not so well known, Macquarie's coin shares the same spirit of ingenuity  when short of coins, Macquarie, an early Australian leader, imported 40,000 coins and punched holes in them, making two coins out of one  the Holey and the Dump  to produce 80,000.



John Walker may have used much of that Macquarie spirit, when he came to Korea 21 years ago to set up the Korean operation of the world's largest infrastructure asset manager. Under Walker, the operation has grown, covering extensive portfolios ranging infrastructure to securities.



Now Walker's Macquarie may be looking at another big opportunity in North Korea, a nation with a great deal of natural resources at the crossroads of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia as well as of interest to the United States. What this totalitarian country needs is a lot of infrastructure to replace the existing one which has been in disrepair under decades of isolation.



How does he see it  an opportunity that is too good to pass or poisoned chalice?



He keeps his card close to his vest. So one could only follow his thought process on it, which comes down to "no hurry."



About a solution to the problem of fine dust in Korea, he talked about setting up a skyscraper as one huge purifier in the middle of the city. A cynic in me suggested (with immediate regret) that the people may make their own contributions by using their own portable purifier  their lungs. Again, his advice is that it is a long game and needs patience to resolve it.



"We're we're watching what's happening in North Korea. So it's really hard to tell," Walker started.





Macquarie's John Walker Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



His assessment reflected the fluidity of the situation in North Korea. Although it has come out to engage with the outside world under its young leader Kim Jong-un, the North has shown its unpredictability or more preciously the lack of ability to deal with the changing external environment.



Kim was caught off guard in February when U.S. President Donald Trump short-changed him in their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. Kim appears to be at a loss, not knowing whether to continue negotiations with the U.S.



Walker obviously captured the mixture of North Korean ambivalence and inexperience that combine to make it look untrustworthy in outsiders' eyes, when he said, "I am worried about things like sovereign risk."



"A lot of companies are looking at the South Korean government and asking it what support it will give," he said.



But Seoul has its hands tied.



President Moon Jae-in is trying to help the North open up but he has time and again found out how little he can do between the North and the U.S., the two old foes that demand the other make the first move: the U.S. wants the North to denuclearize first, while the North wants the U.S. to provide it with survival guarantees.



So far, the two have run parallel and will likely continue to do so for some time to come.



Moon has tried unsuccessfully to reopen the closed industrial complex in the North Korean city of Gaeseong and tourism to Mt. Geumgang to ease a chokehold on its cash flow in the face of U.S. opposition. Meanwhile, international sanctions have been tightened on the "Stalinist" state with some predicting if they are kept on, Kim may not last for long.



Then, Walker offered measured optimism.



"Developing economies are always difficult at first for foreign investors because they don't have developed systems, but over time with the support of multinationals and other governments eventually, that sort of development will happen."





Macquarie Korea Chairman John Walker Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera after holding a joint press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



Chilean President Sebastian Pinera promised to support South Korea's bid to obtain associate member status in the Pacific Alliance, an economic bloc of four Latin American nations, during a summit with President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday.



South Korea, which is currently an observer of the Pacific Alliance, wants to become an associate member to expand trade with the region.



At the summit, Moon told his Chilean counterpart about Seoul's keen interest in becoming an associate member of the Pacific Alliance. The Chilean leader positively responded to the request, saying his country will have thorough discussions over the matter with other members of the economic bloc, Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.



Chile will take the role of "rotating chair" of the trade alliance, which includes Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in the latter half of this year. In 2012, the four nations launched the bloc, which represents a market of 215 million people, 40 percent of Latin America's GDP and 52 percent of regional trade.



During a joint press conference after the summit, Moon said, "South Korea wants to build its free trade agreement network connecting the Asia-Pacific region to Latin America by obtaining member status within the Pacific Alliance."



In response to Moon's remarks, the Chilean leader said all bloc members are on track to expand commercial networks and said the Latin American country will move forward in setting "high-standard free trade."



Pinera arrived here, Sunday, for a two-day state visit after attending the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. He's the first leader of a Latin American country to visit South Korea since Moon took power in 2017.



The two countries also agreed to expand collaboration in emerging business areas such as those linked to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and advanced network technologies.



Cheong Wa Dae officials said follow-up working-level talks will focus primarily on addressing challenges on several fronts such as high logistics costs, relatively low mutual cultural awareness, different levels of institutionalization in each bloc, potentially competing national interests and inadequate infrastructure.



Separately, the Chilean leader remained supportive of President Moon's drive to bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula, the Cheong Wa Dae statement added.



The two countries signed an agreement on defense cooperation and three non-binding memoranda of understanding (MOUs). Moon said Seoul will support Chile's efforts to tackle climate-related issues. Chile plans to host a United Nations climate summit, better known as COP25, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in its capital, Santiago, later this year.


Visiongain has launched a new aviation report: Aerospace Adhesives and Sealants Market Report 2019-2029 Volume (KT) & Value ($m) Forecasts By Type (Epoxy, Silicone, Polyurethane, Others) By Technology (Water-borne, Solvent-borne, Other Technologies), By End-Use Applications (Non-Commercial, Commercial) By Region, Plus Analysis of Leading Companies.

For free sample pages on this report

Developments in aircraft procurement has led to a need for an increasing amount of aircraft for diverse purposes and for use in different capacities. Aerospace Adhesives and Sealants are a vital component of the Aerospace industry to ensure aircraft are fit to fly, as-well as prepared for the testing conditions the aircraft will be flown in. The advancement and sophistication of sealants and adhesives allows aircraft to withstand harsher conditions, such as extreme heat or extreme cold at a lower cost. This has many benefits including carrying out operations in increasingly uncertain and challenging environments with a higher chance of success and reduced likelihood of wear and tear for a more reliable aircraft. A prevalent example of this is the use of Silicon adhesives which allows metals to be bonded in extreme conditions which furthermore makes these adhesives popular for quick repairs in operations in harsh environments. This is appealing to a wide range of industries, due to these factors and others covered in this report, the Aerospace Adhesives Market is set to experience strong growth over the forecast period.

If you are interested in a more detailed overview of this report, please send an e-mail to sara.peerun@visiongain.com or call her on 0207 549 9987

The Visiongain report analyst commented: Rapid growth in both the Non-commercial applications for aerospace sealants combined with the needs of the commercial aerospace industries is the primary driver of the growth in the global Aerospace Adhesives and Sealants market. Growing demand for aircrafts that can withstand extreme conditions such as high-altitude operations and shuttle launches are increasingly in demand. The demand for epoxy and silicon adhesives is notably higher due to their ability to bond in these extreme conditions and furthermore is useful for repairs in harsh environments. Moreover, growing demand for light weight aircrafts for a variety of purposes is likely to augment the demand for polyurethane based adhesives over the period of 2019 to 2029.

Leading companies featured in the report who are developing military simulation technologies include 3M Company, Henkel AG & Co, Hexcel Corporation, Solvay SA (Subsidiary: Cytec Industries Inc.), Beacon Adhesives Inc, Royal Adhesive and Sealants LLC and PPG Industries.

Notes for Editors

If you are interested in a more detailed overview of this report, please send an e-mail to sara.peerun@visiongain.com or call her on 0207 549 9987.



More Aviation reports

Related reports:

About Visiongain



Visiongain is one of the fastest-growing and most innovative independent business intelligence providers in Europe. Based in London, UK, Visiongain publishes independent and insightful market reports across a wide range of industry verticals, including automotive, chemical, cyber, defence, energy, pharmaceutical, materials and many more sectors.

Visiongain publishes reports produced by its in-house analysts, who are qualified experts in their field. The company has firmly established itself as the first port-of-call for the business professional, who needs independent, high quality, original business intelligence to depend upon.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  Labor groups took to the streets Wednesday to call for the end of illegal contractualization or "endo" in commemoration of Labor Day.

At 6 a.m., protesters gathered at the Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City. Carrying flags and placards bearing their messages to the government, the groups hit the road going to Mendiola in Manila where they held a program and a symbolic burning of President Rodrigo Duterte's giant effigy.

The groups urged the government to protect the interest of Filipino workers. They called on Duterte to fulfill his campaign promise of ending "endo," a scheme wherein workers contracts are renewed every six months to circumvent giving benefits.

They also condemned the influx of Chinese workers in the country.

The feminist agenda also took centerstage this year. Protesters also brought with them purple pompoms and banners to celebrate the release of the implementing rules and regulations of the Expanded Maternity Leave Law today. Duterte, in February, signed the law granting a 105-day paid maternity leave for mothers working both in the government and private sector.

A total of 8,235 individuals joined Labor Day rallies held in Metro Manila (5,750) and different parts of the country such as Laguna (1,435), Pampanga (150), Camarines Sur (190), Cebu City, General Santos City (150), and Butuan City (560), according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Job fairs

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) held a nationwide job fair, offering more than 200,000 local and overseas jobs.

Of the job vacancies, more than 18,000 are in the government, including positions for officers and non-uniformed personnel of the PNP, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The government has also come up with stricter rules in issuing permits to foreign nationals opting to work in the country.

READ: Gov't drafts stricter rules for issuance of work permits to foreigners

Joint guidelines for the issuance of work and employment permits to foreigners were signed Tuesday by the DOLE, Bureau of Immigration, Justice department, and Bureau of Internal Revenue in San Fernando, Pampanga.

This comes amid concerns on the increasing number of foreigners working in the country, especially those from China.
English Danish

Sydbank A/S

Articles of Association

21 March 2019



Contents

1 Name, registered office and objects of the Bank

2 Capital and shares

3 Authorisation to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital

4 Undistributable reserve

5 Management of the Bank

6 General meetings

7 Extraordinary general meetings

8 Agenda for the annual general meeting

9 Chairman and the right to attend

10 Votes

11 Local shareholders meetings

12 Members of the Shareholders Committee

13 Shareholders Committee meetings

14 Duties of the Shareholders Committee

15 Advisory boards

16 Members of the Board of Directors

17 Duties of the Board of Directors

18 Group Executive Management

19 Provisions regulating the power to sign for the Bank

20 Annual report

21 Audit

22 Secondary names

Name, registered office and objects of the Bank

Article 1

(1)

The name of the Bank is Sydbank A/S.

(2)

The Bank also conducts business under the secondary names stated in Article 22.

(3)

The registered office of the Bank is situated in the municipality of Aabenraa.

(4)

The objects of the Bank are to conduct banking business as well as other ancillary activities permitted under Danish law.

Capital and shares

Article 2

(1)

The share capital of the Bank is DKK 617,540,000 divided into shares in denominations of DKK 10. The share capital is fully paid up.

(2)

The shares are negotiable instruments.

(3)

The shares are freely transferable. No shareholder is obliged to have his shares redeemed in full or in part.

(4)

The shares must be registered in the holders name in the Banks register of shareholders and registered with VP Securities (VP Securities A/S). The shares cannot be transferred to bearer.

(5)

The Banks register of shareholders is maintained by VP Investor Services A/S (VP Services A/S), Weidekampsgade 14, 2300 Copenhagen S, CVR No 30201183.

(6)

No share carries any special rights.

Article 3

(1)

Until 1 March 2021 the Board of Directors is authorised to increase the share capital by up to DKK 72,240,199 in one or more issues. Increases in share capital pursuant to such authorisation must take place by payment in cash and with pre-emption rights for existing shareholders.





(2)

Until 1 March 2021 the Board of Directors is authorised to increase the share capital by up to DKK 72,240,199 in one or more issues. Increases in share capital pursuant to such authorisation must take place at market price by payment in cash or by conversion of debt and without any pre-emption rights for existing shareholders.





(3)

Shares issued pursuant to the authorisation in Article 3 (1) and (2) are negotiable instruments, must be registered in the holders name and are in all other respects subject to the same provisions and rights as the existing shares. Increases in share capital pursuant to Article 3 (1) and (2) may not exceed a total of DKK 72,240,199.





Article 4

(1)

Pursuant to the Danish Financial Business Act etc, an undistributable reserve of DKK 322.8 million has been set up equal to the value as at 1 January 1990 of the assets contributed to Sparekassen Snderjylland A/S in 1989 less its debt at the time of the transfer. The undistributable reserve is subject to the provisions of the Danish Financial Business Act etc.

(2)

If the Bank is dissolved, this reserve will be used for non-profit or charitable purposes according to rules specified to that effect, cf the Danish Financial Business Act etc.

Management of the Bank

Article 5

The Bank is managed by:

the general meeting

the Shareholders Committee

the Board of Directors

the Group Executive Management.

General meetings

Article 6

(1)

General meetings are held in Aabenraa and are convened by the Board of Directors at a notice of not less than 3 weeks and not more than 5 weeks via the Banks website (sydbank.dk) as well as in writing to all shareholders registered in the register of shareholders who have requested to be notified in this manner.

(2)

For a period of 3 consecutive weeks beginning no later than 3 weeks before the general meeting, including the day of the general meeting, the following information must be made available to shareholders on the Banks website:

The notice convening the general meeting

The total number of shares and voting rights as at the date of the notice

The documents to be submitted to the general meeting

The agenda and the complete proposals

Any forms for the purpose of the general meeting, including forms to be used for voting by proxy and by letter.

In the case of the annual general meeting, the audited annual report must also be made available.

Article 7

(1)

Extraordinary general meetings must be held when requested by the general meeting, the Shareholders Committee, the Board of Directors or one of the Banks auditors appointed by the general meeting. Furthermore shareholders holding at least 5% of the share capital may request in writing that an extraordinary general meeting be held for the purpose of transacting specific business.

(2)

Extraordinary general meetings for the purpose of transacting specific business must be convened no later than 2 weeks after the decision or request has been made.

Article 8

(1)

The annual general meeting is held every year before the end of April.

(2)

The agenda for the annual general meeting must include the following:

1. Report of the Board of Directors on the Banks activities for the year ended.

2. Submission of the audited annual report including the auditors report for adoption.

3. Motion for the allocation of profit or cover of loss according to the adopted annual report.

4. Election of members to the Shareholders Committee.

5. Appointment of auditors.

6. Motions, if any, submitted by the Board of Directors or shareholders.

7. Any other business.

(3)

Any shareholder is entitled to have specific business transacted at the annual general meeting if a written request to that effect is submitted to the Board of Directors no later than 6 weeks before the general meeting is held.

Article 9

(1)

A chairman appointed by the Board of Directors presides over the general meeting and ensures that it is conducted in a proper and appropriate manner. The chairman has all the necessary powers, including the right to arrange discussions, prepare the issues to be voted on, decide when to close discussions, cut off speakers and, if necessary, remove attendees from the general meeting.

(2)

Any shareholder is entitled to attend the general meeting, state his views and vote in respect of his shares on the basis of the shares held by the shareholder on the date of registration.

(3)

The date of registration is 1 week before the date of the general meeting.

(4)

Notification of a shareholders participation in a general meeting must be given no later than 3 days before the general meeting is held.

(5)

Shareholders are entitled to attend the general meeting by proxy. The instrument of proxy must be in writing and dated.

(6)

Shareholders may also vote by postal vote.

Article 10

(1)

Each share of DKK 10 carries one vote at the general meeting, however no shareholder is entitled to cast more than 20,000 votes on his own behalf. No one acting as a proxy is entitled to cast more than 20,000 votes.

(2)

Shares which belong to different owners according to their registration in the Banks register of shareholders or for which notification has been given and documentation has been provided to the Bank are considered to belong to one shareholder, provided always that such special connection exists between the owners that the exercise of the voting right of the shares must be deemed to be determined by the same interest group, including such cases where the owners are associated by way of a shareholding or otherwise with a common group or other community of interest.

(3)

All matters are decided by a simple majority of votes unless otherwise provided by law or by the Articles of Association. In case of equality of votes, the motion will not be passed.

(4)

Resolutions to amend the Articles of Association, to dissolve the Bank and/or to merge the Bank with other companies will only be adopted if at least two-thirds of the voting share capital is represented at the general meeting.

The resolution must moreover be carried by at least two-thirds of the votes cast at the general meeting and by at least two-thirds of the share capital represented at the general meeting, but see Article 10 (5) below.

If at least two-thirds of the voting share capital is not represented at the general meeting but the resolution is carried by at least two-thirds of the votes cast at the general meeting and at least two-thirds of the share capital represented at the general meeting, the resolution can be adopted at a new general meeting by the majority of votes cast as prescribed above irrespective of the proportion of voting share capital represented. Such a new general meeting must be convened at the usual notice within 14 days after the first general meeting.

(5)

Resolutions submitted by the Shareholders Committee or the Board of Directors as mentioned in Article 10 (4) may however be finally adopted at a single general meeting by at least two-thirds of the votes cast at the general meeting and at least two-thirds of the share capital represented at the general meeting.

(6)

When calculating the voting share capital, shares which are not registered in the holders name are not included.

Local shareholders meetings

Article 11

Shareholders meetings can be held in towns within the Banks area of operation as determined by the Board of Directors. Motions cannot be submitted at shareholders meetings.

Shareholders Committee

Article 12

(1)

The Banks Shareholders Committee is elected by the general meeting.

(2)

The Shareholders Committee consists of not less than 60 and not more than 80 members. The composition of the Shareholders Committee must be geographically representative of the Banks regions and reflect the Banks historical roots. On the recommendation of the Board of Directors the general meeting determines the total number of Shareholders Committee members and their distribution by region.

(3)

Personal shareholders of the Bank who meet the statutory requirements regarding suitability and integrity of members of a banks board of directors are eligible for election to the Shareholders Committee. A candidate for the Shareholders Committee may offer himself as a candidate in a region where he resides or has business interests. A candidate may at the same general meeting only offer himself as a candidate for one region.

(4)

Shareholders Committee members are elected for a term of 3 years. Members are eligible for re-election.

(5)

If the number of Shareholders Committee members is reduced to less than 60 by vacancy, the Shareholders Committee may add to its number for the remainder of the election period. In cases other than vacancy, the Shareholders Committee may add to its number during a year if, on the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the Shareholders Committee deems it necessary. Where a Shareholders Committee member has been elected in one of these ways, such election must be approved at the next annual general meeting.

Article 13

(1)

Each year the Shareholders Committee elects from among its number a chairman and a vice-chairman.

(2)

The Shareholders Committee holds an ordinary meeting at least twice a year, and otherwise when the chairman or the Board of Directors deems it necessary or when requested by one-fourth of the members. The Shareholders Committee is convened by the chairman at a notice of not less than 8 days.

(3)

The Shareholders Committee forms a quorum when at least half of its members are present.

(4)

Business transacted is adopted by a simple majority of votes. In case of equality of votes, the chairman holds the casting vote.

(5)

The Banks Board of Directors and Group Executive Management are entitled to attend and address Shareholders Committee meetings.

Article 14

(1)

At ordinary Shareholders Committee meetings, the chairman of the Board of Directors submits a report on the Banks activities.

(2)

The Shareholders Committee is obliged to work for the prosperity of the Bank as well as to represent the Bank to the best of its ability and to assist the Board of Directors and the Group Executive Management.

(3)

The Shareholders Committee elects the members of the Board of Directors and determines their remuneration.

(4)

On the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the Shareholders Committee determines the remuneration of the members of the Shareholders Committee.

Advisory boards

Article 15

In consultation with the Shareholders Committee, the Banks Board of Directors may establish advisory boards without any decision-making powers. The rules of procedure regarding the activities of the advisory boards are determined by the Board of Directors. Advisory board members who are not members of the Shareholders Committee receive an annual remuneration as determined by the Board of Directors.

Board of Directors

Article 16

(1)

The Board of Directors consists of between 6 and 10 members to be elected by and from among Shareholders Committee members. In exceptional cases the Shareholders Committee may elect Board members from outside the Shareholders Committee, in particular with a view to ensuring specific competences within the Board of Directors. Board members elected from outside the Shareholders Committee must meet the statutory requirements regarding suitability and integrity of members of a banks board of directors. Furthermore the Board of Directors consists of any members as prescribed by law.

(2)

Employees of the Bank and its subsidiaries can only be elected to the Board of Directors in accordance with Part 8 of the Danish Companies Act on employee representation.

(3)

Board members elected by the Shareholders Committee are elected for a term of 1 year. Members are eligible for re-election.

(4)

No member may serve on the Board of Directors for more than 12 years.

(5)

No one holding an honorary office or position in a competing bank can be a member of the Banks Board of Directors. The same applies to persons who have been divested of the right of managing their own estate.

(6)

If the number of members of the Board of Directors is reduced to less than 6 by vacancy, the Shareholders Committee must as soon as possible add to the number of Board members to at least 6.

Article 17

(1)

The Board of Directors elects from its own number a chairman and a vice-chairman and establishes through rules of procedure detailed rules relating to the performance of its duties.

(2)

The Board of Directors must establish board committees as required by law and may moreover establish other board committees as deemed necessary by the Board of Directors.

(3)

Board meetings are held as often as it is deemed necessary by the chairman or when requested by a member of the Board of Directors or the Group Executive Management or by one of the Banks auditors.

(4)

The Board of Directors forms a quorum when more than half of its members are present. The business transacted is adopted by a simple majority of votes. In case of equality of votes, the chairman holds the casting vote.

(5)

Minutes must be kept of business transacted at Board meetings and signed by all Board members present at the meeting.

Group Executive Management

Article 18

(1)

The Group Executive Management consists of up to 5 members.

(2)

The Group Executive Management performs the day-to-day management of the Bank and must thus follow the guidelines and instructions given by the Board of Directors.

(3)

In accordance with the Danish Financial Business Act etc, the Board of Directors must stipulate written guidelines for the Banks most important areas of activity, determining the distribution of responsibility between the Board of Directors and the Group Executive Management and determining the extent to which the Group Executive Management may grant loans, credit facilities, guarantees and any other obligations without the prior involvement of the Board of Directors.

(4)

The Group Executive Management participates in Board meetings unless the Board of Directors decides otherwise in each individual case. The Group Executive Management has no voting right.

(5)

Sydbanks remuneration policy sets out overall guidelines for the Banks incentive-based remuneration of members of the Group Executive Management. The remuneration policy has been approved by the general meeting and has been published on the Banks website.

Provisions regulating the power to sign for the Bank

Article 19

(1)

The Bank is bound by

-the joint signatures of all members of the Board of Directors

-the joint signatures of one member of the Board of Directors and one member of the Group Executive Management, or

-the joint signatures of two members of the Group Executive Management.

(2)

The Board of Directors may grant joint power of procuration and special agency.

Annual report and audit

Article 20

The Banks financial year is the calendar year.

Article 21

The Banks annual report is audited in accordance with current legislation by one or more auditors to be appointed by the general meeting for one year at a time.

Article 22

The Bank also conducts business under the following secondary names:

Aktivbanken A/S (Sydbank A/S),

bankTrelleborg A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Brande Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Brdstrup Landbobank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Danske Sparekasse A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Den Nordslesvigske Folkebank Aktieselskab (Sydbank A/S),

Diba Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Egnsbank Fyn A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Esbjerg Bank Aktieselskab (Sydbank A/S),

Folkebanken for Als og Sundeved Aktieselskab (Sydbank A/S),

Fredericia Folkebank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Fyens Landmandsbank Aktieselskab (Sydbank A/S),

Fynske Bank af 1872 A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Global-Banken A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Graasten Bank Aktieselskab (Sydbank A/S),

Horsens Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Horsens Landbobank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Horsens Lokalbank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Juelsminde Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Kolding Folkebank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Bank-A/S Kolding Laane- og Diskontokasse (Sydbank A/S),

Kbmands- og Handvrkerbanken A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Lokalbanken i Odense af 1902 A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Nrre Snede Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sjllandske Sparekasse A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Slagelse Sparekasse A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sparbank Danmark A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sparbank Trelleborg A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sparebank Danmark A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sparebank Trelleborg A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sparekassen for Slagelse og Omegn A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sparekassen Sparst A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sparekassen Snderjylland A/S (Sydbank A/S),

SparTrelleborg Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

ST Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

STB Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Svendborg Bank, Aktieselskab (Sydbank A/S),

Sydbank Snderjylland A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sydfyns Discontobank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Sydleasing Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Team Banken Horsens A/S (Sydbank A/S),

TrelleborgBank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Tnder Landmandsbank Aktieselskab (Sydbank A/S),

Trring Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Aktieselskabet Varde Bank (Sydbank A/S),

Veile Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

Vejen Folkebank A/S (Sydbank A/S),

A/S Aarhus Discontobank (Sydbank A/S) and

Arhus Bank A/S (Sydbank A/S).

* * *

These Articles of Association were adopted by the annual general meeting on 21 March 2019 and upheld by the Board of Directors on 21 March 2019.

Aabenraa, 21 March 2019

The Board of Directors of Sydbank A/S

Torben H. Nielsen John Lesbo Lars Mikkelgaard-Jensen

Chairman Vice-Chairman

Janne Moltke-Leth Jacob Chr. Nielsen Jrgen Hholt

Frank Mller Nielsen Susanne Schou Carsten Andersen

Kim Holmer Jarl Oxlund Jrn Krogh Srensen

Attachment
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###

ABOUT OLEO:



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Attachment
Highlights

First quarter 2019 net earnings of $0.72 per common share

Adjusted net earnings 2 of $0.74 per common share, up from $0.70 in the same period last year

of $0.74 per common share, up from $0.70 in the same period last year Annual capital expenditure plan on track with $0.7 billion invested during the quarter

Completed sale of interest in Waneta Expansion Hydroelectric Project for approximately $1 billion

Completed the repurchase of US$400 million corporate debt

ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland and Labrador, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fortis Inc. ("Fortis" or the "Corporation") (TSX/NYSE:FTS), a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry, released its first quarter results today.

"Our businesses, now 99% regulated, delivered strong performance in the first quarter of 2019," said Barry Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer, Fortis. "We are executing our organic growth strategy well, including the redeployment of the proceeds from the sale of our interest in the Waneta Expansion Hydroelectric Project, which closed in April, to fund growth in our regulated utility businesses."

Net Earnings

The Corporation reported first quarter net earnings attributable to common equity shareholders of $311 million, or $0.72 per common share, compared to $323 million, or $0.77 per common share, for the same period in 2018.

The change in earnings reflects a one-time $30 million favourable tax remeasurement in the first quarter of last year. This one-time positive impact in 2018 offsets the earnings growth in the first quarter of this year. Earnings growth in 2019 was driven by strong performance at the regulated utilities due primarily to rate base growth, increased earnings at Central Hudson associated with its rate order effective July 1, 2018, higher electricity and gas sales at UNS Energy due largely to weather, and favourable foreign exchange. Growth was tempered by lower earnings from the non-regulated Energy Infrastructure segment, reduced rate of return on common equity ("ROE") incentive adder at ITC and, for earnings per common share, a higher weighted average number of common shares outstanding.

Adjusted Net Earnings2

Adjusted for the $30 million tax remeasurement and the mark-to-market of natural gas derivatives at the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility, first quarter adjusted net earnings attributable to common equity shareholders increased $19 million to $316 million, or $0.74 per common share, from $297 million, or $0.70 per common share, for the same period in 2018.

Executing on Capital Plan

The Corporation's $3.7 billion capital expenditure plan is on track with $0.7 billion invested during the first quarter of 2019.

In March 2019 Tucson Electric Power ("TEP") finalized its plans for the construction of the US$370 million Oso Grande Wind Project (also referred to as the New Mexico Wind Project). Once complete, this 247-megawatt wind farm will become TEP's largest renewable energy resource, enough to power nearly 100,000 homes annually.

__________________________

1 Financial information is presented in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified. 2 Non-US GAAP Measures - Fortis uses financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America ("US GAAP") and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. Fortis calculated the non-US GAAP measures by adjusting certain US GAAP measures for specific items that management excludes in its key decision-making processes and evaluation of operating results. Refer to the Non-US GAAP Reconciliation provided in this news release.

Also in March, FortisBC announced that the investment in its energy conservation and efficiency program will increase substantially to $368.5 million over the 2019 to 2022 period. The new program represents a doubling of expenditures in 2019 and a tripling of expenditures by 2022. The new program will lower energy use, emissions and customer bills.

In April 2019 Wataynikaneyap Power announced that the Ontario Energy Board approved its leave-to-construct application. The next significant milestones for this 1,800 kilometre transmission project include environmental assessment approvals, selection of engineering, procurement and construction contracts, and the finalization of financing.

"Fortis champions progress at its utilities and across the industry. We remain committed to integrating cleaner energy onto the grid, meeting the needs of our customers and the sustainable growth of our Corporation," said Mr. Perry.

Sale of Non-Regulated Asset and Debt Tender Offer

On April 16, 2019, the Corporation completed the sale of its 51% interest in the Waneta Expansion Hydroelectric Project ("Waneta Expansion") in British Columbia to Columbia Power Corporation and Columbia Basin Trust for approximately $1 billion. The purchasers, both wholly owned by the Government of British Columbia, now own 100% of Waneta Expansion. The sale is expected to result in a net after-tax gain of approximately $450 million.

On April 17, 2019, Fortis used a portion of the net proceeds from the sale to repay short-term borrowings and repurchase, via a tender offer, US$400 million of the Corporation's outstanding 3.055% Notes due in 2026.

Regulatory Proceedings

Fortis is focused on maintaining constructive regulatory relationships and outcomes across its North American utility group.

During the first quarter of 2019, FortisBC Energy and FortisBC Electric filed applications with the British Columbia Utilities Commission requesting approval of a multi-year rate plan and rate-setting methodology for 2020 through 2024.

In April 2019 TEP filed a general rate application with the Arizona Corporation Commission requesting an increase in non-fuel revenue of US$115 million effective May 1, 2020 with electricity rates based on a 2018 test year. The filing includes a request to increase TEP's allowed ROE to 10.35% from 9.75% and the equity component of its capital structure to 53% from 50% on a rate base of US$2.7 billion.

Decisions on both applications are expected in 2020.

Dividend Rate for Series K First Preference Shares

Fortis has declared and hereby gives notice of a corrected second quarter dividend of $0.2455625 per share on its Cumulative Redeemable Fixed Rate Reset First Preference Shares, Series K (the "Series K Shares"), payable on June 1, 2019 to the shareholders of record of the Series K Shares at the close of business on May 17, 2019. This notice replaces and supersedes the dividend of $0.2453125 declared on the Series K Shares and disclosed in a news release dated February 14, 2019, which was the first dividend declared following the January 30, 2019 reset of the fixed dividend rate pursuant to the terms of the Series K Shares.

The dividend on the Series K Shares has been designated by the Corporation as an eligible dividend for federal and provincial dividend tax credit purposes.

Outlook

Over the long term, Fortis is well positioned to enhance shareholder value through the execution of its capital expenditure plan, the balance and strength of its diversified portfolio of utility businesses, and growth opportunities within and proximate to its service territories.

The Corporation's $17.3 billion five-year capital plan is expected to increase rate base from $26.1 billion in 2018 to $32 billion in 2021 and $35.5 billion in 2023, translating into three- and five-year compound average growth rates of 7.1% and 6.3%, respectively. The five-year capital plan addresses system capacity and improves safety and reliability for the benefit of customers through investments that enhance resiliency and improve the performance of the electricity grid. The plan also addresses natural gas system capacity and gas line network integrity, increases cybersecurity protection and will enable the grid to deliver cleaner energy.



Fortis expects long-term sustainable growth in rate base to support continuing growth in earnings and dividends. Fortis is targeting average annual dividend growth of approximately 6% through 2023. This dividend guidance takes into account many factors, including the expectation of reasonable outcomes for regulatory proceedings at the Corporation's utilities, the successful execution of the five-year capital plan, and management's continued confidence in the strength of the Corporation's diversified portfolio of utilities and record of operational excellence.

Non-US GAAP Reconciliation

Quarter Ended March 31 (in millions, except earnings per share) 2019 2018 Variance Net Earnings Attributable to Common Equity Shareholders $ 311 $ 323 $ (12 ) Adjusting Items Unrealized loss on mark-to-market of derivatives (1) 5 4 1 Consolidated state income tax election (2)  (30 ) 30 Adjusted Net Earnings Attributable to Common Equity Shareholders $ 316 $ 297 $ 19 Adjusted Basic Earnings per Share $ 0.74 $ 0.70 $ 0.04 (1) Represents timing differences related to the accounting of natural gas derivatives at the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility, included in the Energy Infrastructure segment (2) Remeasurement of deferred income tax liabilities, included in the Corporate and Other segment

About Fortis

Fortis is a leader in the North American regulated electric and gas utility industry with 2018 revenue of $8.4 billion and total assets of approximately $53 billion as at March 31, 2019. The Corporation's 8,800 employees serve utility customers in five Canadian provinces, nine U.S. states and three Caribbean countries.

Teleconference to Discuss First Quarter 2019 Results



A teleconference and webcast will be held on May 1, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern). Barry Perry, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jocelyn Perry, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, will discuss the Corporation's first quarter 2019 results.



Analysts, members of the media and other interested parties in North America are invited to participate by calling 1.877.223.4471. International participants may participate by calling 647.788.4922. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. No pass code is required.



A live and archived audio webcast of the teleconference will be available on the Corporation's website, www.fortisinc.com.



A replay of the conference will be available two hours after the conclusion of the call until June 1, 2019. Please call 1.800.585.8367 or 416.621.4642 and enter pass code 7135897.

Forward-looking information

Fortis includes forward-looking information in this news 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 news release reflect 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 the negative of these terms and other similar terminology or expressions have been used to identify the forward-looking information, which includes, without limitation: forecast consolidated and segmented capital spending for the five-year period from 2019 through 2023; the nature, timing, benefits and expected costs of capital projects including the Oso Grande Wind Project and the Wataynikaneyap Power Project; expected expenditures and benefits related to the FortisBC energy conservation and efficiency projects; expected timing of filing of regulatory applications and outcome of regulatory decisions; forecast rate base for 2021 and 2023; the expectation that long-term sustainable growth in rate base will support continued growth in earnings and dividends; and targeted average annual dividend growth through 2023.

Forward-looking information involves significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain material factors or assumptions have been applied in drawing the conclusions contained in the forwardlooking 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. Such risk factors or assumptions include, but are not limited to: reasonable decisions by utility regulators and the expectation of regulatory stability; the implementation of the Corporation's five-year capital expenditure plan; no material capital project and financing cost overrun related to any of the Corporation's capital projects; sufficient human resources to deliver service and execute the capital plan; the realization of additional opportunities; the impact of fluctuations in foreign exchange; and the Board exercising its discretion to declare dividends, taking into account the business performance and financial condition of the Corporation. 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, reference should be made to the continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time by the Corporation with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking information herein is given as of the date of this news release. Fortis disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Additional Information

This news release should be read in conjunction with the Corporation's Management Discussion and Analysis and Consolidated Financial Statements. This and additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com , www.sedar.com , or www.sec.gov .

A .pdf version of this press release is available at : http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/9e447693-2878-4d1e-b4f4-dd1c3da8d16a

For more information, please contact:
AUSTIN, Texas, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced a partnership with Loopia AB , based in Sweden and one of the largest web and domain hosting providers in the Nordics, whereby the company has selected SolarWinds Pingdom as its exclusive web application performance monitoring (APM) solution. Loopia will include Pingdom in its custom package to over 500K business plans, giving Loopia customers the ability to monitor the uptime and availability of their websites and critical web pages.



Pingdom is a web application performance and availability monitoring solution that uses more than 100 global test servers to provide an outside-in user perspective of web experiences. With the Pingdom uptime checks provided by Loopia, users will be able to receive real-time alerts when issues arise, run tests to quickly resolve problems, and spot trends through easy-to-understand reports to proactively manage and avoid potential risks in the future.

As one of the largest and most popular web hosting companies in Sweden, Loopia recognizes the significance of maintaining website and application uptime for businessesbecause every minute down, is a dollar lost, said Denny LeCompte, general manager, application management, SolarWinds. Therefore, we are thrilled to be partnering with Loopia to make Pingdom available to their valuable customers and their businesses.

Loopia AB, which is part of Loopia Group, is one of the Nordics largest and fastest-growing web hosting companies with operations in Sweden, Norway, and Serbia. The company offers innovative solutions at a competitive price point for managing domain names, websites, and email services to both private individuals and companies.

When we set out to include a web APM tool as part of our custom business package, Pingdom was the obvious choice given its longstanding reputation for helping companies deliver the best possible customer experience by ensuring the performance and availability of business-critical websites and applications, said Jimmie Eriksson, managing director, Loopia. We look forward to working with SolarWinds and their Pingdom team as we continue to meet and exceed our customers needs for monitoring.

Pingdom is part of the SolarWinds web application performance monitoring (APM) portfolio consisting of AppOptics , Loggly , and Papertrail . These products can be used individually to help ensure the performance and availability of custom applications and websites, or used together to maintain full-stack visibility.

For more information or to inquire about becoming a SolarWinds partner, please contact partnership@solarwinds.com .

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About SolarWinds

SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI) is a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT infrastructure management software. Our products give organizations worldwide, regardless of type, size or IT infrastructure complexity, the power to monitor and manage the performance of their IT environments, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid models. We continuously engage with all types of technology professionalsIT operations professionals, DevOps professionals, and managed service providers (MSPs)to understand the challenges they face maintaining high-performing and highly available IT infrastructures. The insights we gain from engaging with them, in places like our THWACK online community, allow us to build products that solve well-understood IT management challenges in ways that technology professionals want them solved. This focus on the user and commitment to excellence in end-to-end hybrid IT performance management has established SolarWinds as a worldwide leader in network management software and MSP solutions. Learn more today at www.solarwinds.com .

The SolarWinds, SolarWinds & Design, Orion, and THWACK trademarks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC or its affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be common law marks or are registered or pending registration. All other trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and are trademarks of (and may be registered trademarks of) their respective companies.

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TORONTO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSXV: LABS) (OTCQB: MEDIF) (FSE: MLZ) (MediPharm Labs or the Company) a global leader in specialized, research-driven cannabis extraction, distillation, purification and cannabinoid isolation, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Paul Tam, MBBS, FRCP(C), FACP to its Board of Directors effective immediately, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals. In connection with the Companys goal of satisfying non-venture requirements for corporate governance and financial oversight, Dr. Tam will also replace Chris Hobbs on the Companys Audit Committee resulting in an Audit Committee fully comprised of independent directors in accordance with National Instrument 52-110  Audit Committees.

Dr. Paul Tam is a tremendous addition to our board and will be a valuable independent director and contributor as we continue to deepen our medical expertise through this next phase of growth, said Patrick McCutcheon, Chief Executive Officer, MediPharm Labs. Dr. Tam brings significant pedigree and experience in his field and from his tenure with leading pharmaceutical companies. We look forward to benefiting from his guidance as we focus on advancing initiatives for the commercial development of high quality, pharmaceutical-like cannabinoid-based products and active pharmaceutical ingredients for a rapidly growing medical and adult-use market.

With more than three decades of clinical research and medical practice experience, Dr. Paul Tam is a globally recognized expert in the field of nephrology and a pioneer in the development of continuous renal replacement therapy for acute kidney injury. In 1996, Dr. Tam founded the Scarborough Regional Nephrology Program where he is currently Medical Director of the largest community nephrology program in Canada. Dr. Tam oversees a team of thirteen nephrologists that provide renal care to over 900 dialysis patients and 4,000 chronic kidney disease patients and is also an active staff nephrologist at The Scarborough Hospital. Dr. Tam is also the Medical Quality Advisor for three major Independent Health Facilities that provide hemodialysis care.

Dr. Tam has extensive and highly specialized experience in pharmaceutical development having co-founded and acted as the Medical Director overseeing operations and clinical research for a contract research organization which was ultimately acquired by the Biovail Corporation. Dr. Tam served as a Director of Biovail Corporation after the acquisition and he also served as the Medical Director of Contract Research arm of Biovail Corporation. Dr. Tam continues to be active in clinical research and participate in multi-national trials, product commercialization and is a highly respected subject matter author.

Im grateful for the opportunity to join MediPharm Labs Board of Directors as the Company continues to lead the way in a brand-new industry that has shown incredible potential to improve peoples lives, said Dr. Paul Tam. I look forward to working with the Board and management team to help grow and shape the future of MediPharm Labs as it focuses on developing cannabis-based derivative products in a rapidly expanding global industry.

Dr. Tam also leads and serves on multiple professional and executive governance committees. He is an active member and past Section Chair representing the Nephrology Specialty of the Ontario Medical Association, and active member and past Chair of the Ontario Association of Nephrologists. In the past he has also served on the Boards of Directors for pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Tam received his medical degree from The University of Hong Kong and completed further specialization at the University of Toronto, Canada.

About MediPharm Labs Corp.

Founded in 2015, MediPharm Labs has the distinction of being the first company in Canada to become a licensed producer for cannabis oil production under the ACMPR without first receiving a cannabis cultivation licence. This expert focus on cannabis concentrates from being built to cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) and ISO standard-built clean rooms and critical environments laboratory, allows MediPharm Labs to produce purified, pharmaceutical-like cannabis oil and concentrates for advanced derivative products. MediPharm Labs has invested in an expert, research-driven team, state-of-the-art technology, downstream extraction methodologies and purpose-built facilities to deliver pure, safe and precisely-dosed cannabis products to patients and consumers. MediPharm Labs private label program is a high margin business for the Company, whereby it opportunistically procures dry cannabis flower and trim from its numerous product supply partners, to produce cannabis oil concentrate products for resale globally on a private label basis.

Through its subsidiary, MediPharm Labs Australia Pty. Ltd., MediPharm Labs has also completed its application process with the federal Office of Drug Control to extract and import medical cannabis products in Australia.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations & Communications

Telephone: 705-719-7425 ext 216

Email: investors@medipharmlabs.com

Website: www.medipharmlabs.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSXV) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as expects, or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate, plans, budget, scheduled, forecasts, estimates, believes or intends or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results may or could, would, might or will be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, statements regarding new product development and commercialization, expected growth and the establishment of operations in Australia. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the inability of MediPharm Labs to obtain adequate financing; the delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals: and other factors discussed in the Companys filings, available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, MediPharm Labs assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change.
ENDEAVOUR REPORTS Q1-2019 RESULTS

Well positioned to meet full year 2019 production and AISC guidance; Ity CIL project successfully commissioned 4-months ahead of schedule at full nameplate capacity

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OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL Highlights

(for continuing operations)

Q1-2019 performance in line with expectations with a production of 121koz, at an AISC of $877/oz; decreasing following a record Q4-2018 as the Ity heap leach operation ceased in 2018 ahead of the CIL commissioning

Well positioned to meet full year 2019 production guidance of 615-695koz and AISC of $760-810/oz, with strong growth starting in Q2-2019: Ity CIL project commissioned in early Q2-2019 and operating at full nameplate capacity Higher process grades expected across the group

Continued exploration success with already $15m spent in Q1-2019, over a third of the full-year budget

Operating Cash Flow before non-cash working capital amounted to $48m in Q1-2019, or $0.44/share, a decrease of only $5m compared to Q4-2018 despite 53koz fewer ounces produced, due to the planned reduction of stockpiles and a higher gold price

Adjusted Net Earnings of $(5)m or $(0.04)/share in Q1-2019

Net Debt of $635m at quarter-end, an expected increase from $536m at year-end 2018, mainly due to the construction spend for the Ity CIL project

At quarter-end, Endeavour's available sources of financing and liquidity remained strong at $144m, with minimal capital requirement outstanding as the Ity CIL project began commercial production in early Q2-2019

George Town, May 1, 2019 - Endeavour Mining (TSX:EDV) (OTCQX:EDVMF) is pleased to announce its financial and operating results for the first quarter of 2019, with highlights provided in the table below.

Table 1: Key Operational and Financial Highlights

For Continuing operations

(in US$ million unless stated otherwise) QUARTER ENDED Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, Var. Q1-19

vs. Q4-18 2019 2018 2018 PRODUCTION AND AISC HIGHLIGHTS Gold Production, koz 121 174 152 (31%) Realized Gold Price2, $/oz 1,252 1,198 1,293 4% All-in Sustaining Cost1, $/oz 877 707 685 24% All-in Sustaining Margin1,3, $/oz 375 491 601 (24%) CASH FLOW HIGHLIGHTS 1 All-in Sustaining Margin4, $m 45 85 92 (47%) All-in Margin5, $m 22 40 63 (44%) Operating Cash Flow Before Non-Cash Working Capital, $m 48 53 84 (9%) Cash Flow per Share, $/share 0.44 0.49 0.78 (10%) PROFITABILITY HIGHLIGHTS Revenues, $m 151 208 199 (27%) Adjusted EBITDA1, $m 41 56 90 (28%) Net Earnings Attr. to Shareholders1, $m (15) (32) 12 n.a. Net Earnings1, $/share (0.13) (0.29) 0.11 n.a. Adjusted Net Earnings Attr. to Shareholders1, $m (5) 16 23 n.a. Adjusted Net Earnings per Share1, $/share (0.04) 0.15 0.22 n.a. BALANCE SHEET HIGHLIGHTS1 Net Debt, $m 635 536 336 18%

1This is a non-GAAP measure. Refer to the non-GAAP measure section of the MD&A. 2Realized Gold Price inclusive of Karma stream; 3Realized Gold Price less AISC per ounce; 4Net revenue less All-in Sustaining Cost; 5Net revenue less All-in Sustaining Costs and Non-Sustaining capital.

Sebastien de Montessus, President & CEO, stated: "We have begun 2019 well with continued momentum across the business, as production and costs from all our mines track in line with our guidance for the year. We are particularly pleased to have achieved the significant milestone of first gold production from the Ity CIL project during the period. With commissioning at full nameplate capacity achieved at the beginning of the second quarter, we are poised for a significant increase in production over the remainder of the year as we also benefit from access to the higher grade Bouere deposit at Hounde. Endeavour is now entering a period in which we expect to generate strong free cash flow, with a continued focus on return on capital employed.

Looking ahead, we have a number upcoming catalysts including the publication of the maiden reserve for the Kari Pump discovery at Hounde, an increased resource for the La Plaque discovery at Ity, and the completion of the Ity CIL plant upgrade later this year."

2019 UPCOMING CATALYSTS

The notable expected catalysts for 2019 are summarized in the table below.

Table 2: Notable Upcoming Catalysts for 2019

ESTIMATED TIMING CATALYST Early-Q2 Ity CIL Benefit from the start of commercial production at Ity CIL Q2 Ity CIL Increased resource at the Le Plaque discovery Q2 Hounde Maiden reserve for the Kari Pump discovery Late-Q2 Hounde Commissioning of the high-grade Bouere deposit Mid-year Hounde Drill results for the ongoing exploration campaign at the Kari West and Kari Center discoveries Q3 Fetekro Resources increase at the Lafigue deposit Q4 Ity CIL Plant upsize to 5Mtpa complete Q4 Hounde Maiden resource for the Kari West and Kari Center discoveries Q4 Ity CIL Maiden reserve for the Le Plaque discovery

PRODUCTION AND AISC ON TRACK TO MEET FULL-YEAR GUIDANCE

In line with guided trends, Q1-2019 production from continuing operations decreased from Q4-2018 to 121koz, and AISC increased to $877/oz. Further information is provided in Table 5 below.

The group is well positioned to meet its full year 2019 production guidance of 615-695koz and AISC of $760-810/oz, with strong growth starting in Q2-2019, as described in Table 5 below.

Table 3: Group Production, koz

(All amounts in koz, on a 100% basis) THREE MONTHS ENDED Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, 2019

FULL-YEAR

GUIDANCE 2019 2018 2018 Agbaou 32 44 32 120 - 130 Ity Heap Leach CIL (ceased in Q4-2018) 3 21 18 160 - 200 Ity CIL (pre-commercial production) 9 - - Karma 22 33 28 105 - 115 Hounde 55 76 74 230 - 250 PRODUCTION FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS 121 174 152 615 - 695 Tabakoto (divested in December 2018) - 30 32 n.a. - n.a. TOTAL PRODUCTION 121 204 185 615 - 695

Table 4: Group All-In Sustaining Costs, US$/oz

(All amounts in US$/oz) THREE MONTHS ENDED Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, 2019

FULL-YEAR

GUIDANCE 2019 2018 2018 Agbaou 784 776 752 850 - 900 Ity Heap Leach (ceased in Q4-2018) 1,086 622 829 525 - 590 Ity CIL (commercial production began Q2-2019)* n.a. n.a. n.a. Karma 957 697 869 860 - 910 Hounde 781 588 433 720 - 790 Corporate G&A 50 46 49 35 - 35 Sustaining Exploration 0 0 15 5 - 5 GROUP AISC FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS 877 707 685 760 - 810 Tabakoto (divested in December 2018) - 1,470 1,208 n.a. - n.a. GROUP AISC 877 818 774 760 - 810

*No AISC available for pre-production ounces.

Table 5: Q1-2019 and Outlook Insights

Q1-2019 vs. Q4-2018 INSIGHTS OUTLOOK INSIGHTS Agbaou Production decreased in line with expectations as low-grade stockpiles temporarily supplemented plant feed Production expected to remain flat while AISC are expected to increase to the guidance range Ity Heap Leach Only 3koz of residual ounces recovered No production Ity CIL Pre-commercial production of 9koz Strong benefit from commercial production declared in early Q2 at full nameplate capacity Karma Production decreased and AISC increased in line with expectations due to low-grade stockpiles temporarily used to supplement stack feed and its associated lower recovery rate Stronger performance expected in H2-2019 due to the benefit of stacking oxide ore from the North Kao pit Hounde Production decreased and AISC increased in line with expectations as low-grade stockpiles temporarily supplemented plant feed Stronger performance expected in H2-2019 once the high-grade Bouere deposit is commissioned MAIN DRIVERS FOR THE GROUP Ity heap leach operation ceased

The group strategically fed approximately 30% of total mill feed from low-grade stockpiles, in line with the previously announced focus on reducing working capital Ity CIL project commissioned in early Q2-2019 and operating at full nameplate capacity

Higher process grades expected across the group

HOUNDE MINE

Q1-2019 vs Q4-2018 Insights

Production decreased in line with expectations as low-grade stockpiles temporarily supplemented plant feed. Mining focused on waste capitalisation activities, which are expected to provide access to higher-grade ore. Tonnes of ore mined decreased and the strip ratio increased due to a greater focus on waste capitalisation activities on both the Vindaloo deposit (based on the planned mine sequence and the carry-over of stripping delayed from 2018) and pre-stripping at the high-grade Bouere deposit, which is expected to be commissioned in late Q2-2019. Transitional and fresh ore from the Vindaloo Main deposit continued as the main ore type mined, supplemented by oxide ore from the Vindaloo North deposit where mining began in late Q1-2019. Tonnes milled remained flat. The average grade milled decreased due to low grade stockpiles supplementing the mine feed as mining activities focused on waste capitalisation activities and to reduce working capital. Recovery rates remained steady at 93%.

AISC increased mainly due to the anticipated lower processed grade, higher unit processing costs and sustaining capital expenditure which were partially offset by lower unit G&A costs. Mining unit costs increased slightly from $1.92 to $2.02 per tonne as fewer tonnes were mined. Processing unit costs increased from $11.84 to $12.31 per tonne due to a higher proportion of fresh ore milled. Sustaining capital increased from $1.1 million to $3.3 million (from $15/oz to $55/oz) due to increased stripping activity at the Vindaloo deposits.

Non-sustaining capital increased from $0.7 million to $6.1 million due to waste capitalisation activities at the high-grade Bouere deposit.

Q1-2019 vs Q1-2018 Insights

Production decreased and AISC increased as guided due to low-grade stockpiles supplementing the mill feed and a shift to mining harder ore, whereas Q1-2018 benefited from high-grade soft oxide ore.

Table 6: Hounde Quarterly Performance Indicators

For The Quarter Ended Q1-2019 Q4-2018 Q1-2018 Tonnes ore mined, kt 769 1,736 1,361 Strip ratio (incl. waste cap) 11.23 5.87 6.57 Tonnes milled, kt 1,034 1,062 898 Grade, g/t 1.80 2.38 2.59 Recovery rate, % 93% 93% 95% PRODUCTION, KOZ 55 76 74 Cash cost/oz 638 508 340 AISC/OZ 781 588 433

Outlook

Hounde is on track to meet its full-year 2019 production guidance of 230,000 - 250,000 ounces and its AISC guidance of $720-790 per ounce.

Hounde's production is expected to increase in H2-2019 as pre-stripping activities at the high-grade Bouere deposit are progressing as planned with commissioning expected to occur in late Q2-2019.

Reserves are expected to increase in mid-year as the Kari Pump resource is converted to reserves following the completion of the on-going metallurgical tests.

Exploration Activities

Hounde is Endeavour's largest exploration focus this year with a budget of $17 million and comprising approximately 195,000 meters of drilling with the aim to drill the entire Kari anomaly and delineate a maiden resource on the 2018 Kari West and Kari Center discoveries. Other targets, such as Vindaloo South and deep, Grand Espoir and Sia/Sianikoui, are also expected to be explored in H2-2019.

In Q1-2019, nearly 61,100 meters were drilled, with a focus mainly on the Kari West and Kari Center, and a possible extension defined southwest of Kari Center. Drill results are expected to be published in late Q2-2019 and maiden resources in Q4-2019.

AGBAOU MINE

Q1-2019 vs Q4-2018 Insights

Production decreased in line with expectations with low-grade stockpiles temporarily supplementing plant feed as mining focused on waste capitalisation activities. Tonnes of ore mined decreased due to a greater focus on waste capitalisation activities following the carry-over of stripping delayed from 2018, with mining temporarily constrained to low grade areas of North Pit and West Pit 3. Mill throughput increased slightly as the proportion of fresh ore fed to the plant decreased due to the blending of softer oxide ore stockpiles. Average processed grades decreased as low-grade stockpiles supplemented the mill feed and mining was constrained to low grade areas. Recovery rates decreased to 93% due to the ore characteristics of the lower grade material fed to the plant.

All-in sustaining costs increased slightly - although remain well-below the guided range - mainly due to the lower process grades and an increase in sustaining costs. Mining unit costs increased from $2.38 to $2.52 per tonne due to the reduced volumes mined and increases in load and haul costs as deeper elevations at North Pit and West Pit 3 were mined. Processing unit costs decreased from $7.66 to $7.34 per tonne due to an increased in tonnes milled. Sustaining capital costs increased from $5.8 million to $7.3 million (from $131/oz to $216/oz) primarily due to the increase in capitalised waste.

Non-sustaining capital decreased from $3.3 million to $2.5 million as pre-stripping in West Pit 5 was completed, which was slightly offset by the cost incurred on the final TSF raise.

Q1-2019 vs Q1-2018 Insights

Production remained steady while AISC increased mainly due to higher sustaining costs which were partially offset by lower unit mining and processing costs.

Table 7: Agbaou Quarterly Performance Indicators

For The Quarter Ended Q1-2019 Q4-2018 Q1-2018 Tonnes ore mined, kt 451 481 682 Strip ratio (incl. waste cap) 12.79 13.65 10.66 Tonnes milled, kt 720 708 726 Grade, g/t 1.42 2.21 1.43 Recovery rate, % 93% 95% 93% PRODUCTION, KOZ 32 44 32 Cash cost/oz 517 601 629 AISC/OZ 784 776 752

Outlook

Agbaou is on track to meet its full-year 2019 production guidance of 120,000 - 130,000 ounces and its AISC guidance of $850-$900 per ounce.

Waste capitalisation efforts are expected to progress throughout the year with lower-grade stockpiles continuing to supplement the mill feed.

Exploration Activities

An exploration program of up to $2 million, totaling approximately 10,000 meters, has been initially planned for 2019 with the aim of delineating oxide material in extensions of the North and West Pits and further investigating targets on parallel trends.

Due to higher priorities in Cote d'Ivoire, Agbaou exploration activities have been postponed until later in the year as the team focuses on the Greater Ity and Fetekro areas.

KARMA MINE

Q1-2019 vs Q4-2018 Insights

Production decreased in line with expectations due to the low-grade stockpiles temporarily used to supplement stack feed (to reduce working capital and advance pre-stripping activities) and the associated lower recovery rate. Tonnes of ore mined increased due to the lower strip ratio, with mining focused on the Kao pit which is expected to be mined out by mid-year. In addition, pre-stripping began at the North Kao pit and is expected to be completed in Q2-2019. Tonnes stacked increased due to improved stacker availability as the new front end continues to perform above its nameplate capacity. The stacked grade decreased as a result of low-grade material being fed from stockpiles. Recovery temporarily decreased due to the lower recovery rate of the low-grade stockpile ore stacked (stockpiles were mainly from the previously mined GG2 deposit which had a high copper content).

AISC increased as expected mainly due to decreased production and higher unit mining costs, which were partially offset by lower unit G&A costs and sustaining capital. Mining unit costs increased from $1.76 to $2.36 per tonne due to mining at deeper elevations in the Kao pit and more transitional material. Processing unit costs remained fairly constant. Sustaining capital costs decreased by $0.5 million to $0.7 million (from $35 to $29/oz) mainly due to a decrease in capital waste.

Non-sustaining capital spend decreased by $5.4 million to $2.8 million mainly due to reduced pre-stripping activity in the Kao deposit in 2018 and North Kao in 2019.

Q1 2019 vs Q1 2018 Insights

Production decreased and AISC increased, mainly due to the lower grades associated with supplemented ore stacked from stockpile.

Table 8: Karma Quarterly Performance Indicators

For The Quarter Ended Q1-2019 Q4-2018 Q1-2018 Tonnes ore mined, kt 834 788 1,536 Strip ratio (incl. waste cap) 4.73 5.54 1.48 Tonnes stacked, kt 1,095 1,037 1,241 Grade, g/t 0.69 0.98 0.88 Recovery rate, % 80% 88% 74% PRODUCTION, KOZ 22 33 28 Cash cost/oz 851 592 757 AISC/OZ 957 697 869

Outlook

Karma is on track to meet its full-year 2018 production guidance of 105,000 - 115,000 ounces and its AISC guidance of $860-910 per ounce.

As guided, Karma is expected to have a stronger performance in H2-2019 due to the benefit of stacking oxide ore from the North Kao pit, where pre-stripping is expected to be completed in Q2-2019.

Exploration Activities

An exploration program of up to $2 million totaling approximately 27,000 meters has been planned for 2019, with the aim of delineating near-mill oxide targets. It is mainly focused on testing the extension of the North Kao deposit and the along strike and northern plunge extension of the Yabonsgo deposit.

In Q1-2019, due to the priority of exploration at Hounde, exploration activity at Karma has been postponed to later in the year as the team focuses on the numerous Hounde exploration targets.

ITY MINE

Ownership

On January 11, 2019, Endeavour announced that it increased its ownership stake in the Ity mine from 80% to 85%. In exchange for the additional 5% interest in the Ity mine, Endeavour granted DYD International Holding Limited, a company owned by Didier Drogba, 1,072,305 common shares amounting to a total consideration of approximately $15.0 million (CAD$20.0 million) based on the signing reference share price of C$18.50.

Heap Leach Operation: Q1-2019 vs Q4-2018 Insights

As previously disclosed, mining and stacking activities for the heap leach operation ceased in mid-December 2018 as the focus shifted to commissioning and ramping up the CIL plant.

Production declined to 2,702 ounces, as the final ounces were recovered from the heap leach operation, with AISC amounting to $1,086 per ounce. There were no mining costs associated with the heap leach operation. Processing costs were mainly comprised of reagents used to leach remaining ounces on the heap. There were no sustaining capital costs in the quarter.

There was no non-sustaining capital spent in the quarter.

Q1 2019 vs Q1 2018 Insights

Production and AISC decreased as heap leach operations came to an end in Q1-2019.

Table 9: Ity HL Quarterly Performance Indicators

For The Quarter Ended Q1-2019 Q4-2018 Q1-2018 Tonnes ore mined, kt 0 200 370 Strip ratio (incl. waste cap) 0.00 1.47 3.25 Tonnes stacked, kt 0 316 357 Grade, g/t 0.00 2.37 2.17 Recovery rate, % 0% 87% 73% PRODUCTION, KOZ 3 21 18 Cash cost/oz 1,038 563 728 AISC/OZ 1,086 622 829

Ity CIL: Construction and Ramp-up Update

No Lost-Time-Injury occurred over the 8.5 million man-hours worked during the construction period.

The Ity CIL project began processing ore on February 20, 2019 and achieved its first gold pour on March 18, 2019, marking the successful completion of the Ity CIL project build in less than 18 months. Pre-commercial production in Q1-2019 amounted to 9koz.

Table 10: Ity CIL Quarterly Performance Indicators

For The Quarter Ended Q1-2019 Q4-2018 Q1-2018 Tonnes ore mined, kt 1,114 - - Strip ratio (incl. waste cap) 2.01 - - Tonnes milled, kt 258 - - Grade, g/t 2.04 - - Recovery rate, % 88% - - PRODUCTION, KOZ 9 - - Cash cost/oz n.a. - - AISC/OZ* n.a. - -

*No AISC available for pre-production ounces.

Commercial production was declared on April 8, 2019, at its full nameplate capacity following a quick ramp up phase.

The plant is performing well with all key metrics meeting their prescribed targets: processing rate is exceeding 11,100 tonnes per day, with an overall plant availability of 96%, and gold recovery rate of 94% at commercial production.

Following the performance tests conducted, Endeavour launched optimization and de-bottlenecking work, expected to increase the plant nameplate capacity by 1Mtpa to 5Mtpa at a minimal cost of $10-15 million. The volumetric upsize work mainly comprises of an upgrade in pipes and pumps and a second 50-tonne oxygen plant, with no additional mining fleet required. These plant upgrades are expected to be completed during scheduled plant maintenance shut-downs over the next six months.

The project was completed below the initial budget of $412 million. In addition to the initial scope, extra work was conducted, including the construction of a fuel farm, building exploration facilities, and an additional $7 million of crop and resettlement compensation in terms of prospective exploration grounds. Due to these additional works, and the $10-15 million required for the plant upgrade to 5Mtpa, the total project capex spend is expected to amount to approximately $420 million.

In addition to the initial scope, extra work was conducted, including the construction of a fuel farm, building exploration facilities, and an additional $7 million of crop and resettlement compensation in terms of prospective exploration grounds. Upsize work is already underway and as at March 31, 2019, the total project capital expenditure stood at $415 million, including approximately $341 million of cash outflow, $67 million of leased equipment and $6.8 million of non-cash working capital.

Outlook

The last ounces were recovered on the heaps as activities transitioned to the CIL operation.

Ity is expected to produce 160-200koz in 2019 at an AISC of $525-590/oz, with the bottom-end of the production guidance corresponding to the 4Mtpa nameplate capacity. The top-end already factors in upsides including an earlier start date, an expedited ramp-up and the plant producing above its nameplate capacity.

Exploration Activities

A $10 million exploration campaign has been planned in 2019 totaling approximately 71,000 meters, with the aim of extending and delineating the Le Plaque deposit, conducting regional exploration in its vicinity, and addressing other targets south of the Daapleu and Mount Ity deposits.

In Q1-2019, a total of 26,600 meters were drilled, with seven rigs active over the greater Ity area, with five of them active on and around Le Plaque area.

An update Le Plaque resource is expected to be announced in late Q2-2019.

KALANA PROJECT UPDATE

After the 2018 drilling campaign, the Kalana Main resource estimate was updated following a rebuild of the geological model, which used a more conservative approach to incorporate tighter geological controls, as published on March 5, 2019.

The updated 2019 Mineral Resource will be used as a basis for an updated feasibility study, expected to be prepared for Q4-2019. In parallel to working on the Kalana feasibility study and its exploration potential, Endeavour intends to review its other available internal growth opportunities. Based on Endeavour's capital allocation strategy, the Kalana project investment case will be reviewed against its other internal growth opportunities and uses of capital.

A $4 million exploration campaign totaling approximately 26,000 meters has been planned for 2019, beginning in the second quarter, with the aim of testing additional targets located within a 10km radius of the Kalana deposit and increasing the resources base available for the project.

Total growth capex of $9 million has been allocated for 2019 for the feasibility study, maintenance and standby costs, and CSR activities, of which $4 million was spent in Q1-2019.

EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES

Exploration continued to be a strong focus in Q1-2019 with a company-wide exploration spend of $15 million, comprising 115,203 meters drilled across the group. Details by asset are provided in the above mine sections.

The main areas of focus in Q1-2019 were: At Hounde, on the Kari West and Center discoveries made in 2018, with drill results planned to be announced in late Q2-2019 and maiden resources in Q4-2019; At Ity, on the Le Plaque discovery where an updated resource is expected to be published in late Q2-2019; At the greenfield Fetekro, a license for a $5 million exploration campaign totaling approximately 43,000 meters has been planned for 2019 with the aim of delineating additional indicated resource at the Lafigue deposit and testing other nearby targets. A total of 27,400 meters have been drilled over the Lafigue deposit in Q1-2019 and an updated resource is planned to be published in Q3-2019. Drilling at Kalana is expected to commence in Q2-2019, while exploration at both Agbaou and Karma has been delayed to later in the year to redeploy exploration staff at Ity and Hounde respectively, (which are of higher priority and where additional human resources were necessary).



Table 11: Exploration Expenditure, $m

(in $m) Q1-2019

EXPENDITURE 2019 BUDGET ALLOCATION Agbaou 0 2 4% Ity mine and trend 3 11 23% Karma 0 2 5% Kalana 0 4 8% Hounde 7 17 37% Fetekro 3 7 16% Other greenfield properties 1 4 8% TOTAL EXPLORATION EXPENDITURES* $15m $40-45m 100%

*Includes expensed, sustaining, and non-sustaining exploration expenditures.

CASH FLOW BASED ON ALL-IN MARGIN APPROACH

The table below presents the cash flow for the three months ended March 31st, based on the All-In Margin approach, with accompanying notes below.

Table 12: Simplified Cash Flow Statement

QUARTER ENDED Mar. 31, Mar. 31, (in US$ million) 2019 2018 GOLD SOLD FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS, koz (Note 1) 121 154 Gold Price, $/oz (Note 2) 1,252 1,293 REVENUE FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS 151 199 Total cash costs (80) (81) Royalties (Note 3) (9) (12) Corporate costs (6) (8) Sustaining capex (Note 4) (11) (4) Sustaining exploration 0 (2) ALL-IN SUSTAINING MARGIN FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS (Note 5) 45 92 Less: Non-sustaining capital (Note 6) (11) (14) Less: Non-sustaining exploration (Note 7) (12) (15) ALL-IN MARGIN FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS 22 63 Working capital (Note 8) (25) (37) Changes in long-term inventories (Note 9) 0 (3) Changes in long-term receivables (Note 10) (6) 0 Taxes paid (2) (2) Interest paid and financing fees (Note 11) (13) (7) Cash settlements on hedge programs and gold collar premiums (Note 12) (0) (1) NET FREE CASH FLOW FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS (23) 13 Growth project capital (Note 13) (66) (75) Greenfield exploration expense (4) (3) M&A activities (0) 0 Cash paid on settlement of share appreciation rights,

DSUs and PSUs (1) (3) Net equity proceeds 0 1 Restructuring costs 0 0 Other (foreign exchange gains/losses and other) (Note 14) (5) (6) Convertible senior bond (Note 15) 0 330 Proceeds (repayment) of long-term debt (Note 16) 60 (280) Cashflows used by discontinued operations (Note 17) 0 (6) CASH INFLOW (OUTFLOW) FOR THE PERIOD (40) (29)

Certain line items in the table above are NON-GAAP measures. For more information and notes, please consult the Company's MD&A.

NOTES:

Gold sales from continuing operations decreased mainly due to the Ity Heap Leach operation ceasing activities in Q4-2018, and declines across the other mines mainly due to use of low-grade stockpiles. The Q1-2019 realized gold price was $1,252/oz compared to $1,293/oz in 2018. Both these amounts include the impact of the Karma stream, amounting to 7,890 ounces sold in Q1-2019 and 5,735 in Q1-2018, at 20% of spot prices. Royalties paid decreased both due to lower gold sales and a lower realized gold price, representing approximately $74/oz sold for Q1-2019 compared to $78/oz for Q1-2018. Sustaining capital for continuing operations for Q1-2019 increased compared to the corresponding period in 2018 due to an increase at both Agbaou and Hounde, which were slightly offset by a decrease at Ity as illustrated in the below table. Further details by assets are provided in the above mine sections.

Table 13: Sustaining Capital for Continuing Operations

(All amounts in US$m) QUARTER ENDED Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, 2019 2018 2018 Agbaou 7 6 2 Ity 0 0 1 Karma 1 1 1 Hounde 3 1 0 Total 11 8 4

The All-In Sustaining Margin from continuing operations decreased compared to Q1-2018 due the decrease in revenue and an increase in operating costs and sustaining capital expenditure. Non-sustaining capital spend from continuing operations decreased by $3 million in Q1-2019 compared to Q1-2018 mainly due to a $5 million decrease at Agbaou, which experienced significant waste capitalization activities in Q1-2018, which was partially offset by an increase at Hounde due to waste capitalization activities for the high-grade Bouere deposit.

Table 14: Non-Sustaining Capital for Continuing Operations

(All amounts in US$m) QUARTER ENDED Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, 2019 2018 2018 Agbaou 3 3 8 Ity 0 0 0 Karma 3 8 3 Hounde 6 1 2 Non-mining 0 27 2 Total 11 39 14

Non-sustaining exploration capital decreased but remained at a high level in line with Endeavour's strategic objective of unlocking exploration value. The working capital cash outflow in Q1-2019 amounted to $25 million with the main components as follows: Receivables were an outflow of $4 million. This was mainly due to the increase in VAT receivable at Hounde, which was slightly offset by a decrease in gold sales receivables.

Inventories were an outflow of $4 million, due to of the delivery timing of spares parts consumables in anticipation for scheduled plant maintenance at Hounde. There have also been gold-in-circuit increases at Karma due to higher volumes stacked, which impacted cashflow by $2 million and is expected to be received in Q2-2019. Stockpile volumes have been reduced as low-grade material was fed to the plant to supplement production. These were offset by a decrease in finished goods.

Prepayments were a $1 million outflow due to prepayments made during the normal course of business.

Trade and other payables were a $16 million outflow, mainly due to a buildup of supplier payments at year-end at the operating mines, as well as a $7 million outflow at Corporate for salaries payable. There were no changes in long-term inventories in Q1-2019, as an emphasis was placed on processing stockpiles. Changes in long-term assets are in relation to the recognition of the long-term receivable for Baboto permit, as agreed in the sale of the Tabakoto mine. Interest paid, financing fees and lease repayments in Q1-2019 consisted of repayments of finance lease obligations of $0.2 million, interest paid of $9 million and payment of financing and other fees of $3 million. The increase from the comparative period is due to increased levels of group debt and leasing pertaining to a change in accounting standards. The revenue protection program, based on a collar with a floor at $1,300/oz and a ceiling of $1,500/oz, generated a cash outflow, net of the premium, of $0.1 million in Q1-2019. Growth projects for Q1-2019 were comprised mainly of:

o $62 million for the Ity CIL project

o $4 million on Kalana

A foreign exchange loss, mainly on the settlement of Euro denominated supplier payments, occurred because of a stronger U.S. dollar. $330 million was received in Q1-2019 from the convertible notes issuance. $280 million was repaid on the revolving credit facility ("RCF") in Q1-2018, while $60 million was drawn down on the RCF in Q1-2019. For 2018 the discontinued operation represents the Tabakoto mine.

NET CASHFLOW, NET DEBT AND LIQUIDITY SOURCES

At year-end, Endeavour's available sources of financing and liquidity remained strong at $144 million, including its $84 million cash position and $60 million undrawn on the RCF. In addition to these liquidity sources, Endeavour has strong cash flow generation potential (as the Ity CIL project was commissioned in early Q2-2019) and the remaining proceeds from the Tabakoto and Nzema sales.

The below table summarizes operating, investing, and financing activities, main balance sheet items and the resulting impact on the company's Net Debt position, with notes provided below.

Table 15: Cash Flow and Net Debt Position

QUARTER ENDED Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, (in US$ million unless stated otherwise) 2019 2018 2018 Net cash from (used in), as per cash flow statement: Operating activities (Note 18) 23 131 48 Investing activities (Note 19) (110) (87) (119) Financing activities (Note 20) 47 43 42 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash (0) (1) (0) INCREASE/(DECREASE) IN CASH (40) 86 (29) Cash position at beginning of period 124 38 123 CASH POSITION AT END OF PERIOD 84 124 94 Equipment financing (99) (100) (79) Convertible senior bond (Note 21) (330) (330) (330) Drawn portion of revolving credit facility (Note 22) (290) (230) (20) NET DEBT POSITION (Note 23) 635 536 336 Net Debt / Adjusted EBITDA (LTM) ratio 2.96 1.97 1.24

Net Debt and Adjusted EBITDA are NON-GAAP measures. For a discussion regarding the company's use of NON-GAAP Measures, please see "note regarding certain measures of performance" in the MD&A.









NOTES:

Net cash flow from operating activities during Q1-2019 was $23 million, down $25 million compared to Q1-2018, mainly due to a decrease in revenues related to fewer ounces sold at a lower gold price and higher operating costs. Net cash used in investing activities during Q1-2019 was $110 million, down $9 million compared to Q1-2018. Investing activities remained high due to the $66 million growth project capital spend (mainly for Ity CIL construction - reference Note 13 above) and an increase in sustaining capital spend (reference Notes 4 above) These were partially offset by a decrease in non-sustaining capital (reference Note 6 above). Net cash generated in financing activities during Q1-2019 was $47 million, mainly related to the $60 million drawdown on the RCF which was offset by $9 million in interest payments and a $3 million repayment of finance lease obligations. In Q1-2018, Endeavour issued a $330 million convertible note and subsequently downsized its $500 million revolving credit facility to $350 million. In Q1-2019, $60 million was drawn down on the RCF. As anticipated, net debt increased from $536 million to $635 million since December 31, 2018, mainly due to the growth capital spend for the Ity CIL project which was commissioned in early Q2-2019.

OPERATING CASH FLOW PER SHARE

The decrease in operating cash flows from continuing operations to $23 million in Q1-2019 from $46 million in the corresponding quarter of 2018 was due to fewer ounces sold, at a lower gold price and at higher operating costs. This resulted in operating cash flow before non-cash working capital decreasing by 43% from Q1-2018 to $48 million Q1-2019, representing $0.44/share.

Table 16: Operating Cash Flow Per Share

From continuing operations (in US$ million unless stated otherwise) QUARTER ENDED Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, 2019 2018 2018 CASH GENERATED FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES 23 131 46 Add back changes in non-cash working capital (25) 79 (37) OPERATING CASH FLOWS BEFORE NON-CASH WORKING CAPITAL 48 53 84 Divided by weighted average number of O/S shares, in millions 110 108 108 OPERATING CASH FLOW PER SHARE 0.44 0.49 0.78

Operating Cash Flow Per Share is a NON-GAAP measure. For a discussion regarding the company's use of NON-GAAP Measures, please see "note regarding certain measures of performance" in the MD&A.

ADJUSTED NET EARNINGS PER SHARE

Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations amounted to $(2) million for Q1-2019, a decrease of $40 million compared to Q1-2018, mainly due a lower operating margin and higher taxes which was partially offset by lower depreciation and lower finance costs.

In Q1-2019, total adjustments of $9 million were made related mainly to non-cash and other adjustments, deferred income tax recovery, stock-based expenses, and gains on financial instruments.

Table 17: Net Earnings and Adjusted Net Earnings

QUARTER ENDED (in US$ million unless stated otherwise) Mar. 31, Dec. 31, Mar. 31, 2019 2018 2018 TOTAL NET EARNINGS (11) (130) 28 Adjustments (see MD&A) 9 151 10 ADJUSTED NET EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS (2) 22 38 Less portion attributable to non-controlling interests 3 6 15 ATTRIBUTABLE TO SHAREHOLDERS (5) 16 23 Divided by weighted average number of O/S shares 110 108 108 ADJUSTED NET EARNINGS PER SHARE (BASIC) (0.04) 0.15 0.22 FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS

Adjusted Net Earnings is a NON-GAAP measure. For a discussion regarding the company's use of NON-GAAP Measures, please see "Note Regarding Certain Measures of Performance" in the MD&A.

CONFERENCE CALL AND LIVE WEBCAST

Management will host a conference call and live webcast today at 8:30am Toronto time (EST) to discuss the Company's financial results.

The conference call and live webcast are scheduled at:

5:30am in Vancouver

8:30am in Toronto and New York

1:30pm in London

8:30pm in Hong Kong and Perth

The live webcast can be accessed through the following link:

https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/bddd2jzx

Analysts and investors are also invited to participate and ask questions using the dial-in numbers below:

International: +1 631-510-7495

North American toll-free: 1866 992 6802

UK toll-free: 0800 376 7922

Confirmation code: 6675859

The conference call and webcast will be available for playback on Endeavour's website.



Click here to add the webcast reminder to Outlook Calendar

Access the live and On-Demand version of the webcast from mobile devices running iOS and Android:

QUALIFIED PERSONS

Gerard de Hert, EurGeol, Senior VP Exploration for Endeavour Mining, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release. Gerard de Hert has more than 20 years of mineral exploration and mining experience and is a "Qualified Person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

CONTACT INFORMATION

Martino De Ciccio



VP - Strategy & Investor Relations

+44 203 640 8665

mdeciccio@endeavourmining.com Brunswick Group LLP in London



Carole Cable, Partner

+44 7974 982 458

ccable@brunswickgroup.com

ABOUT ENDEAVOUR MINING CORPORATION

Endeavour Mining is a TSX listed intermediate African gold producer with a solid track record of operational excellence, project development and exploration in the highly prospective Birimian greenstone belt in West Africa. Endeavour is focused on offering both near-term and long-term growth opportunities with its project pipeline and its exploration strategy, while generating immediate cash flow from its operations.

Endeavour operates 4 mines across Cote d'Ivoire (Agbaou and Ity) and Burkina Faso (Hounde, Karma) which are expected to produce 615-695koz in 2019 at an AISC of $760-810/oz.

For more information, please visit www.endeavourmining.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" including but not limited to, statements with respect to Endeavour's plans and operating performance, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of future production, future capital expenditures, and the success of exploration activities. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts", and "anticipates". Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks related to general economic conditions and credit availability, actual results of current exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, increases in market prices of mining consumables, possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in countries in which Endeavour operates. Although Endeavour has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Please refer to Endeavour's most recent Annual Information Form filed under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting Endeavour and its business. AISC, all-in sustaining costs at the mine level, cash costs, operating EBITDA, all-in sustaining margin, free cash flow, net free cash flow, free cash flow per share, net debt, and adjusted earnings are non-GAAP financial performance measures with no standard meaning under IFRS, further discussed in the section Non-GAAP Measures in the most recently filed Management Discussion and Analysis.

Corporate Office: 5 Young St, Kensington, London W8 5EH, UK
SUNNYVALE, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (via Blockchain Wire) -- ThunderCore (www.thundercore.com), the Silicon Valley-based public blockchain platform, today announced digital currency exchange Huobi has launched Huobi Prime Lite, an ultra-fast version of Huobi Prime that delivers shorter listing cycles and more flexible trading allocations for users and has selected ThunderCore as the first project to coincide with the debut of its new service. Huobi promotes the development of high-quality projects like ThunderCore by providing an efficient listing process and innovative trading model. Projects on Huobi Prime Lite must adhere to the same rigorous standards as Huobis core services.





ThunderCore is a public blockchain platform that is fully Ethereum compatible and delivers platform-based developer services and integrated user acquisition capabilities that particularly benefit game developers to deploy and scale their decentralized applications (DApps). As a Proof-of-Stake project, ThunderCore offers full-node, open-source capabilities for transparency and security. Its staking pool service allows token holders to earn rewards and support cross-chain assets. While ThunderCores capabilities lend themselves to gaming, they are also key to enhancing the usability of applications in other verticals including financial payments, supply chain, and security.





ThunderCore is the brainchild of co-founders Chris Wang, who holds a doctorate in computer science, and Elaine Shi, who authored the first academic research paper on Bitcoin and smart contracts. Chris Wang launched the gaming company Playdom, which he scaled to 20 million active users, 500 million employees, and $100 million in annual revenue before selling to Disney for more than half a billion dollars in 2010. Elaine Shi is an associate professor of computer science at Cornell University and Chief Scientist at IC3.





Chris Wang and Elaine Shi will showcase ThunderCore at Consensus 2019 happening May 13-15 in New York City. Media and attendees are invited to visit booth #330 in the exhibits area to learn more about the project. Both founders are also speaking at Consensus. To learn more, please click here.





ThunderCore has raised $50 million from investors in the U.S. and Asia including Pantera, Huobi Capital, MetaStable, ZhenFund, Electric Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, FBG, Hashed, Kinetic, and SV Angel.





About ThunderCore

Developed by industry-leading experts, ThunderCore is its own blockchain platform with its own native cryptocurrency. It is Ethereum virtual machine compatible with throughputs of 1,200 plus transactions per second, sub-second confirmation times and low gas costs, making it quick and easy for decentralized apps to deploy and scale. To learn more about ThunderCore, please visit thundercore.com or follow the company on Medium, Telegram, and Twitter.








English Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Simplified)

FOSTER CITY, Calif. and HANGZHOU, China, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollomics, Inc. (the Company), an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of oncology combination therapies, today announced that Fabio M. Benedetti, M.D. has joined the senior leadership team as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), effective today. Dr. Benedetti will lead the Companys global clinical development programs including clinical strategy, clinical development, and regulatory affairs.



Fabios global development expertise and insights into the oncology treatment landscape are a tremendous addition to our team at Apollomics, said Guo-Liang Yu, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer. Fabio is a proven leader with extensive knowledge in clinical and regulatory strategy, portfolio management, and all aspects of clinical development. In collaboration with our partners, we now have over ten clinical trials ongoing, and we look forward to his guidance as we advance these programs and our global partnerships.

Fabio Benedetti, M.D., added, I am excited to join the Apollomics team and believe their combination therapy and focused biomarker-driven trials approach may offer significant benefits to patients with cancer. I hope to leverage my prior experience and responsibilities in global portfolio management and prioritization, as well as clinical development, to accelerate their clinical programs through all stages of development.

Dr. Benedetti has over 20 years industry experience in oncology clinical development and medical affairs. Prior to joining Apollomics, Dr. Benedetti was Global Chief Medical Officer at Taiho Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan where he ran a global portfolio management and prioritization strategy group including strategic, clinical and commercial evaluation of global internal portfolio assets and business development opportunities. Before his promotion to Global CMO, Dr. Benedetti was Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Taiho Oncology, Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was a member of the Executive Leadership Committee and was responsible for ex-Asian clinical development and operations of the companys oncology pipeline which included the development and US/EU approvals of LONSURF (trifluridine and tipiracil) tablets in refractory metastatic colorectal cancer. Previously, he held the positions of Senior Vice President, Clinical Oncology and Chief Medical Officer at Geron Corporation. Dr. Benedetti also has extensive experience in Medical Affairs having held Vice-President positions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Benedettis industry career also included Medical Director positions at Roche Laboratories as well as Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Dr. Benedetti is a trained medical oncologist who worked as an Attending Physician, Clinical Assistant, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY prior to entering industry. He completed his fellowship in Oncology/Hematology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and his residency in internal medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester. Dr. Benedetti earned both his Medical and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Brown University in Providence, RI.

About Apollomics, Inc.

Apollomics, Inc., incubated by OrbiMed Asia at inception, is an innovative biopharmaceutical company committed to bridging innovation from East and West to discover and develop oncology combination therapies that harness the immune system and target specific molecular pathways to defeat cancer globally. Apollomics existing pipeline consists of development-stage assets including novel, humanized monoclonal antibodies that restore the bodys immune system to recognize and kill cancer cells, and targeted therapies against uncontrolled growth signaling pathways. For more information, please visit www.apollomicsinc.com .
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari of desperation to cling to power at all costs.

According to the main opposition party, Buhari and his APC desperately want to continue to exploit Nigerians, protect the ruling partys corrupt leaders, cover their incompetence and conceal the humongous sleaze in the administration.

In a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, said this is why APC and the cabal at the Presidency resorted to violence, intimidation as well as manipulation and alteration of results at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rig the presidential election.

The PDP also accused certain APC chieftains and presidential aides of making desperate efforts to distract the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal and derail the course of justice by making and promoting baseless judicial interpretations and externalising proceedings of the court.

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Chilling new footage shows the final hours of one of the Sri Lanka bombers as he prepared to carry out a devastating terror attack on Easter Sunday.

CCTV footage shows Mohammed Nasar Mohammed Azar, 34, praying, chatting on the phone and scoping out his target before he blew himself up in the Zion church in Batticaloa.

Azars bomb killed 28 people in the church and more than 70 others were injured in the blast.

But harrowing new footage reveals he spent hours before the attack readying himself in a nearby mosque.



The security camera footage, obtained by Sky News, captures several hours of the terrorists intense build up to the bombing as he arrived in the east coast city at around 2am.

He is caught on camera pulling up outside the Jami Us-Salam mosque in Batticaloa, just minutes away from the Zion Church, carrying two bags.

For two hours starting at 3.13am Azar paces up and down outside the church and checks his phone.

At one point a police car drives near Azar, but he doesnt seem fazed and the car drives off.

Azar eventually entered the mosque at 5.42am when the building was opened and spent several hours in prayer before slipping off to change into an outfit used in the bombing.

Just after 9.30am when the first bombs have already been set off in Colombo, Azar is caught on camera striding out of the mosque and disappearing out of shot in the direction of the nearby church.

He appears to pull out his phone and send a message before walking around the corner to his death.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be sentenced Wednesday for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuadors London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.

The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador gave him up, could face a 12-month prison sentence when he appears at Southwark Crown Court at 10.30am local time (0930GMT).

Assange fled to the embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.



He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.

There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed.

However, the 47-year-old is facing a US extradition request, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest, when he was dragged shouting from the embassy by police.

Assange appeared in court within hours of his arrest, and a judge found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions.

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ATLANTA, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GIGA Data Centers , LLC (GIGA), a new breed of data center provider creating affordable, hyper-scale performing facilities with unprecedented energy efficiency, announced today that company CEO, Jake Ring, has been selected to address attendees of CAPREs second annual Carolinas Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure Summit. To be held on May 14th at the Omni Charlotte Hotel, Charlotte, NC, Mr. Ring will discuss how debt/equity return requirements have changed, why capital investments and flows are affecting valuations, the evolution of the Carolinas market and data center regional development and site selection.



CAPRE is the organizer of the longest-running regional data center conference series in North America. Titled, Carolinas Data Center Market 360: An Overview of Capital Raising, Regional Development and Site Selection Advantages, Mr. Ring will join a panel of industry executives from 9:20 to 10:20 a.m., as they highlight rents, revenues, margins and the need for cost reduction, among many important financial considerations within the Carolinas data center market.

According to Datacenters.com , there are currently 15 providers and 32 data centers in North Carolina. This includes 30 colocation facilities and 23 cloud nodes. South Carolina has 3 providers and 7 data centers. This includes 7 colocation facilities and 6 cloud nodes. By offering the flexibility to support up to 50kW per rack/cabinet yet still deliver a Power Use Efficiency (PUE) rating of 1.15, and a planned 60MW of capacity at below 5 per kWhr, GIGAs new Mooresville, NC data center stands as the ideal next-generation colocation data center within the region. View how data centers can be built quickly , without the need for a chilled water system, CRAC/CRAH units, or raised floor here: https://bit.ly/2HFYtwz .

The Carolinas region holds tremendous growth potential for new data center demand, Mr. Ring said. However, as this market continues to expand, we need to build more efficient facilities that offer a better value for colocation through better flexibility in server rack power density and greater efficiency. I am honored to be selected by CAPRE to address these important issues.

To speak with Jake Ring at the CAPRE event, please contact Betsey Rogers at betsey@bridgeviewmarketing.com . For more information on GIGA Data Centers, please visit the companys resource page at www.gigadatacenters.com/resources/ .

About GIGA Data Centers

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, GIGA Data Centers (GIGA) takes a modern approach to building & operating data centers with innovative, modular technology that is proven to be more efficient than the decades-old tradition of facilities with raised floors as well as over-provisioned cooling and power systems. GIGA is motivated by the belief that all companies seeking data center colocation should have access to greater efficiency and flexibility at a reasonable price. The result is a guaranteed PUE of 1.15, up to 50kW per rack-cabinet, and an immensely scalable design delivered at very competitive rates.
Despite voter support by a 3-to-1 margin, state lawmakers from Walworth County are not on board with a new effort to halt dark store property tax breaks for big-box retailers.

The tax breaks, currently permitted in Wisconsin, allow retail businesses to reduce their tax bills by lowering the assessed value of stores to the same level as stores that are vacant and unused.

Local officials in Lake Geneva and elsewhere say the practice unfairly contributes to higher property taxes for homeowners and others, by letting businesses pay less than their fair share.

Walworth County voters in November supported a referendum, with a majority of nearly 75 percent, that called on state lawmakers to pass legislation outlawing dark-store taxation methods. The county board responded by sending the referendum results to local representatives in Madison and demanding action.

Gov. Tony Evers has announced that he wants to do away with the tax breaks, and legislation has been introduced to carry out the newly elected governors wishes in the current legislative session.

None of Walworth Countys legislators, however, have added their names to support the legislation.

State Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, sent a letter to the county board recently announcing that he would oppose the dark-store tax reform measure, citing opposition from many business organizations, including the powerful pro-business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

Nass spokesman Mike Mikalsen said Walworth County voters were misinformed when they supported the November referendum seeking an end to dark-store taxation.

The question was slanted, Mikalsen said. That question was created to get a result.

State Reps. Amy Loudenbeck, R-Clinton, and Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, both are voicing indecision on the current legislative proposal, both calling into question how Walworth Countys referendum was conducted.

Loudenbeck said the referendum was poorly worded, while August said the referendum failed to capture the complexity of the issue.

Its more complicated than just a couple of sentences on a ballot, August said.

Walworth County Board members are expressing disappointment that the countys elected representatives in Madison are not taking action to stop dark-store tax breaks in accordance with local voters wishes.

County Board Chairwoman Nancy Russell said homeowners are paying higher property taxes needlessly because state leaders are allowing big-box retailers to take unfair advantage of the system.

There appears to be no political will at the state level to take this on, Russell said.

Referring to voters who cast ballots in November calling for state action on the issue, Supervisor Tim Brellenthin said: I think they should feel that theyre not being properly represented.

The referendum asked voters if the state should enact legislation to close dark store loopholes that allow retail properties to lower their property tax bills, either forcing local governments to reduce services or shifting the tax burden to homeowners and others.

In Walworth County, a total of 31,039 people voted yes and 10,620 voted no, for a margin of 3 to 1. The margin was higher in Lake Geneva, Williams Bay, Elkhorn and some other communities.

The county board then approved a resolution urging state legislators to heed the clear results of the referendum and halt dark-store tax breaks.

Similar referendums were passed in other counties throughout Wisconsin, in a coordinated effort to push lawmakers in Madison to take action.

Local government officials for years have been seeking action against the methods of big-box retailers such as Walmart, Home Depot and Target. Retailers have saved themselves millions of dollars in property taxes by successfully pushing to have their stores assessed for tax purposes at the same level as empty stores.

Businesses and their supporters argue that such tax strategies are fair, because prosperous stores should not be valued by tax assessors any differently than stores that are vacant and dormant.

In his letter to Walworth County officials, Nass wrote that forcing big-box stores to pay higher taxes could backfire and result in higher taxes for everybody, including homeowners.

Noting that Wisconsin taxes are high already, Nass wrote of the proposed dark-store reform: This proposal would over time make it worse.

Loudenbeck and August both said they are willing to consider proposals on the issue, but neither has gotten behind the governors measure.

Loudenbeck said other ideas are being discussed that she considers worthy of consideration. She called the issue incredibly complex, and said she is still reviewing it.

Im not saying I dont think theres an issue, because I think there is, she said. Its important to get to the right answer.

August said big-box retailers already pay income taxes on profitable stores, so denying them property tax breaks on those stores could constitute unfair double taxation.

But he said he agrees there have been some bad actors on the issue in the retail industry, and he is willing to consider legislation that would exert some new controls.

I just want to make sure we do it the right way, he said. Theres good arguments on both sides of the issue.

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GENOA CITY  A teacher who is an active member of the Brookwood Middle School faculty is being honored by the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation.

Matt Guth, a Brookwood faculty member for 13 years, is among 100 teachers statewide chosen as 2019 teacher fellows of the Kohl foundation.

The honor brings with it a $6,000 cash prize for Guth and a $6,000 cash prize for Brookwood.

Founded by Wisconsin business and political figure Herb Kohl, the foundation recognizes students, teachers and others in education every year.

At Brookwood Middle School, Guth created and has been leading Guths Games, a program that allows students to come into the building before school to participate in activities to get them physically active before classes.

Guth is also the leader of a Family Fun Night event and a community trash pickup.
Lake Geneva Mayor Tom Hartz says he is pleased with his first year in office, but he knows there is more work to be done.

I feel like I reached a rhythm now, Hartz said. So I see things that are ahead of me and how to proceed.

The local business and civic leader was elected April 3, 2018, to a two-year term, overcoming incumbent Alan Kupsik in a primary and then defeating Charlene Klein on election day.

Alderman John Halverson said the new mayor has done an admirable job in his first year, speaking out about important issues without overstepping his boundaries.

Hes very organized, Halverson said. Hes a visionary and a businessman, and I think, as mayor, you need both qualities.

Alderman Ken Howell agreed that Hartz has done a good job and that he has worked well with the city council during his first year.

You may not always agree with him, Howell said. But thats true with everybody.

Hartz said he feels one of the bigger accomplishments during the past year was bringing Ice Castles LLC to Lake Geneva to create a new winter tourist attraction that generated crowds for six weeks.

Hartz said the frozen outdoor funhouse drew thousands of visitors during a time of year when tourism historically has slowed down in the city.

We had people outdoors most of the winter because of the ice castle, he said. That was spectacular.

Another major accomplishment was hiring Dave Nord as the citys new administrator to replace Blaine Oborn, who resigned in July after three years on the job to take a similar position out of state.

Nord was hired in November, and Hartz said the new administrator has done a good job.

Hartz also feels good about gathering community input for renovation of the citys Riviera tourism landmark, as part of a planned repair and modernization job that could cost $5 million or more.

Weve been able to engage our residents in a more robust way, he said.

The mayor admits a little disappointment that construction of the Riviera project has not started by now.

Hartz said there are several issues he would like to tackle during the upcoming year, such as parking and attracting more residents to the downtown area. He said, besides finding more available parking, he would like the city to establish some type of transportation system to help make the downtown more accessible to people.

They see it as congested, he said. They see it as difficult to park, and they see it as being expensive and unavailable.

During Hartzs first year, city officials turned to consultant Roger Brooks to turn his critical eye on Lake Geneva and recommend ways to make the city more appealing to tourists and shoppers. Among many suggestions, Brooks recommended closing Wrigley Drive and converting it into a pedestrian plaza  an idea that Hartz wants to try this summer on a trial basis.

Brooks also proposed demolishing the Lake Geneva Public Library and redeveloping its prime lakefront site.

Hartz said while he would not support tearing down the library building, he would consider looking for a different location for the library in the downtown area. He said the current library building does not allow for future expansion.

Its in a wonderful location in that its by the lake, but its by the lake and there is no parking, he said. So, that inhibits people to get there.

Alderwoman Selena Proksa agrees that some of Brooks ideas should at least be considered.

Proksa said she also is pleased with the work that Hartz has done as mayor during his first year.

I think hes done a good job, especially with unifying people, Proksa said. He has an open-door policy.

Hartz said he is working with officials from Gateway Technical College about possibly establishing a campus in Lake Geneva, whether it be in a newly-constructed building or at an established location. Hartz said he feels having such a campus would help residents get training for better paying jobs.

The mayor said about 45 percent of children in Lake Geneva live in poverty, so providing more educational opportunities could help reduce that number.

I think for the parents of those kids, its not that theyre not working. Theyre working at jobs that dont pay enough to support a family, he said.

Hartz said his favorite part of the job is meeting with residents and discussing city issues.

Even when people are unhappy with something, we still end the conversation politely, he said. I respect their ideas, and they respect mine.

Hartz is chief executive of Simple Food Group, which operates a restaurant and bakery in Lake Geneva. Hartz said sometimes it can be difficult serving as a mayor and business owner, but both require similar skills.

Its what I call servant leadership, he said. Its up to me that I make sure I serve our employees here well, and that theyre serving the public.
Prosecutors have filed identity theft charges against a Lake Geneva woman accused of more than $10,000 in unauthorized credit card purchases and bank withdrawals.

Heather M. Faust, 42, could face a combined 66 years in prison if convicted on all 11 counts of felony identity theft-financial gain.

A criminal complaint issued April 24 by the Walworth County district attorney alleges that Faust victimized two people in their 70s with whom she was living, although details of the relationship have not been disclosed.

The couple, who lives on Lake Shore Drive in the town of Sharon, told police that Faust had permission to buy groceries and other personal items on their accounts. But they allege that she misused their accounts, including running up $10,000 in credit card charges.

According to the complaint, Faust also stole cash from the couple and made bank withdrawals totaling another $2,420.

The complaint lists unauthorized ATM withdrawals in January and February from banks and retail stores in Janesville, Elkhorn, Delavan, Lake Geneva and elsewhere.

Police allegedly obtained video of Faust conducting some fraudulent transactions.

The Walworth County Sheriffs Department investigated the case in the town of Sharon.

Court records show that Faust lived with the couple, but that she has since moved to Lake Geneva.

Contacted at her home on Tolman Street in Lake Geneva, Faust declined to comment.

She is free on bond and is scheduled to be back in court May 10 for a preliminary hearing on the charges.

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Editors Note: The Lake Geneva Regional News presents Party Lines, a monthly discussion of political issues featuring side-by-side guest columnists from the local Democratic and Republican parties. The column below represents one side of this months discussion. Click here for the other side.

We cant keep government free of corruption without legitimate investigations. However, when investigations are used for purely political purposes, we have a problem.

Here are some clues that an investigation is political: Is the subject from an opposition party or movement, especially during an election cycle? Does the investigation cause maximum media exposure and maximum stress and embarrassment to the subject? And most notably, how unusual is the investigation? Per case law, Is the crime commonly (investigated and) charged? 

The Trump-Russian collusion investigation certainly meets these criteria. It was started by the Obama administration and officially began on July 31, 2016 (in the thick of the campaign cycle).

It lasted over two years with a steady stream of leaks from various sources, dramatically presented by the media as a bombshell, tipping point, the end, etc. (Better media exposure is hard to imagine.)

The process was made maximally distressing for some subjects. For example, Trump associate, 66-year-old Roger Stone, could have been asked to turn himself in. Instead, there was a humiliating predawn raid by armed agents in riot gear, filmed by CNN, who claimed unusual activity at the grand jury one day prompted them to stake out Stones home the next day, at dawn, to film the event.

The political nature of the Russian collusion investigation was made further obvious by its unusual nature.

That Trump was some kind of Russian agent  taking orders from Vladimir Putin, who conspired with him to steal the 2016 election  no person in their right mind could believe that, wrote J. Kavanaugh in the leftist publication Counter-Point.

What other presidents were investigated for colluding with a foreign government to steal an election? When have FISA court surveillance warrants been obtained using unverified opposition research from unreliable sources?

We find the same political clues in Wisconsins John Doe investigations of Gov. Scott Walker. They were started by Democrat John Chisholm, Milwaukee County district attorney. The first investigation began before the 2010 governors election and ran through the recall; the second in the lead-up to the 2014 election.

Although John Doe investigations have a gag rule on all parties, tantalizing leaks from the prosecution were frequent. Citizens were subjected to maximally distressing procedures. Homes and businesses were raided, and thousands of citizens emails collected. Officers, sometimes in bullet proof-vests with battering rams, appeared in predawn raids; victims were denied lawyers and warned that telling anyone was a crime.

In a typical instance, a 16-year-old boy, home alone, opened the door to officers with their guns drawn. His requests to call his parents, grandparents or an attorney were denied. Events like this are bound to cause maximum emotional stress to the victims.

Lastly, the investigation was not for a commonly charged crime. The topic of the second investigation was not even a crime, even if it occurred. Coordination between candidates and independent groups over issues is legal.

The whole investigation was so inappropriate that Democrat David Halbrooks, chairing the bipartisan Wisconsin Ethics Commission, called for D.A. Chisholms removal from office, saying, raiding peoples homes at gunpoint for campaign finance  taking peoples emails ... without their knowledge. It is just wrong,

The investigations of Walker and Trump attempted to overturn democracy and manipulate those involved in politics through fear of publicity, embarrassment, prosecution. They wasted legislators time and multiple taxpayer dollars.

Democrats and the media lost on the Trump collusion issue, but they have already started a second obstruction pursuit. They should remember what happened with the second investigation of Gov. Walker; nothing was found, and he was re-elected.

Please face it: Donald Trump won the presidency, and he will not be taken out of office. Get some work done, prepare for the next election and let democracy take her course.

Pamela B. Wolfe of the town of Geneva is a member of the Republican Party of Walworth County.

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Editors Note: The Lake Geneva Regional News presents Party Lines, a monthly discussion of political issues featuring side-by-side guest columnists from the local Democratic and Republican parties. The column below represents one side of this months discussion. Click here for the other side.

Our political culture is now all about power.

Congress is broken in the sense that our lawmakers care more about winning power and keeping their power than investing in our country and our people.

A critical mass of elected officials no longer want to compete with and defeat the other side on a level democratic playing field. They want to destroy the opposition party.

This is why we see things like gerrymandering, voter suppression laws, and the blocking of Supreme Court nominations. They want to change the rules so they never lose.

Our founders gave the legislative branch of government oversight over the operations of our government so neither an individual nor a political coalition can remake our society in ways that are less communitarian, less equal and less democratic than they intended.

Our current president has shown contempt for governmental processes and for the democratic allocation of power. When members of Trumps campaign and his cabinet were found to have had contacts with our Russian adversary and were not forthcoming about this, an investigation ensued.

The special counsels investigation has exposed the intersection of presidential campaigns, campaign finance laws, and foreign lobbying. An international conspiracy was not found, but this should not obscure that crimes did occur, including campaign finance felonies, tax fraud, bank fraud, insurance fraud and money laundering.

The question of obstruction of justice remains open pending the publication of the Mueller report. The Mueller inquiry does not take the president down as some had hoped, nor does it exonerate him. Given what we know about the campaigns contacts with Russia, the details of the full report could still be very concerning.

It should cause us to get more serious, more engaged and more focused on any abuse of power anywhere in our government. There will be calls to turn the probe around and examine the genesis of the investigation.

It must be remembered that the Russians hacked Democratic emails and gave some Trump associates advanced word they would be released. The Russians also mounted a large-scale social media effort to boost Trump and damage Hillary Clinton. Those associated with Trump welcomed the help and did not notify federal authorities of a foreign adversarys interference.

Trump openly invited Russian hackers to attack the Clinton email server, which they did. Trump associates had 102 contacts with Russians, many of which were lied about.

An investigation of this behavior was appropriate. It is far better to conduct investigations such as these, which provide information hidden from public view, so that no one in government is allowed to operate above the law.

It appears that this investigation was not undertaken by a Deep State partisan warrior, as some have alleged. It was done by the book and conducted narrowly, not delving into Trumps assaults on decency and abandonment of presidential norms associated with his office.

Mueller accomplished what our founders intended in examining if political operatives had abused power to the extent that our republic was endangered.

Trump has warned that his supporters in the police, military, and biker groups might get tough if his political foes try to force him from office, adding that what would follow would be very bad, very bad.

The Mueller investigation has paid the American system of government and its citizens the compliment of trusting the people to solve the issue of assaults on our democracy, not partisan politics. Eighty-four percent of voters say the Mueller report should be released to the public.

Nothing in the special counsel regulations authorizes the attorney general to pass judgement. It is for Congress and the people to decide if those who have the power to keep our republic safe are doing so.

The ballot box provides the opportunity to give power only to those who will not abuse it for personal or political gain.

Jerry Hanson of Elkhorn is a member of the Walworth County Democratic Party.

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TORONTO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Camrova Resources Inc. (Camrova or the Company) (TSX-V: CAV; OTC: BAJFF; SSE:CAVCL.CAV US$ - Chile) is pleased to announce that the Company has finalized the terms of an asset purchase agreement (the "Asset Purchase Agreement") with Asesoria y Inversiones MAYG SpA ("MAYG") to acquire all of the rights and obligations arising from the Slag Agreement. The Company has also completed its third tranche of the Private Placement (as defined herein), raising total proceeds of $73,000. These funds will be used to pay the costs associated with the Asset Purchase Agreement as well as to support general corporate and working capital purposes.



MAYG Negotiations

On April 30, 2019 Camrova and MAYG executed a binding Asset Purchase Agreement whereby a wholly-owned subsidiary of Camrova will be assigned all of MAYG's rights and obligations arising pursuant to the Slag Agreement dated February 18, 2019 between MAYG and Anglo American Sur S.A. (the "Proposed Transaction"). The total consideration payable by Camrova to MAYG will be satisfied by a cash payment of US$500,000, and the issuance of 5,096,154 post-consolidated shares of Camrova. The Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions precedent, including that the Company receive the necessary approvals from its shareholders and the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"), that the Company complete a 4:1 consolidation of all of its issued and outstanding common shares, as well as the closing of a private placement comprising debt and/or equity to raise aggregate gross proceeds of up to CDN$9,000,000 (at a price of CDN$0.26 per post-consolidated share). Proceeds raised will be used to pay the costs associated with completing the Proposed Transaction, as well as for general corporate purposes. The Company will disseminate an additional press release upon completion of the Proposed Transaction.

Third Closing of Private Placement

Camrova is also pleased to announce that it has issued 120,000 common shares and 120,000 common share purchase warrants ("Warrants") in the third and final tranche of the previously announced private placement ("Private Placement") of units of the Company for proceeds of $7,200. This brings the total raised in the three tranches of the Private Placement to 1,216,667 common shares and 1,216,667 Warrants, for total combined proceeds of $73,000. The securities issued in connection with the Private Placement will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of issuance of such securities.

About Camrova Resources Inc.

Camrova is a Canadian mining company whose common shares are listed on the TSX-V. Camrova owns a 7.24% interest in the Boleo copper-cobalt-zinc mine located in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

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.

For further information contact:

Camrova Resources Inc.

Tom Ogryzlo

Interim Chief Executive Officer



Tel: 416-271-0879

Email: info@camrovaresources.com Kris Misir

Chief Financial Officer



Tel: 647-632-3444

Email: kris.misir@camrovaresources.com

Cautionary Statements

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 Camrovas current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the ability of the Company to complete the maximum amount of the Private Placement.

Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the ability of the Company to successfully complete the Proposed Transaction with MAYG to acquire the Slag Agreement. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to Camrova. Although such statements are based on managements reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the proposed transactions will occur, or that if the proposed transactions do occur, will be completed on the terms described above.

The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and Camrova is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

This announcement does not constitute an offer, invitation or recommendation to subscribe for or purchase any securities and neither this announcement nor anything contained in it shall form the basis of any contract or commitment. In particular, this announcement does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, securities in the United States, or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer would be illegal.

The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), or under the securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, within the United States, unless the securities have been registered under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act is available.

This document may not be distributed or released in the United States or through U.S. Newswire Services.
Faced with lawsuits over a plane crash half a world away, Boeing Co. is arguing it shouldnt have to defend itself in a courtroom a short walk from its Chicago corporate headquarters.

The worlds largest planemaker has indicated in court filings that its likely to request that cases on behalf of victims in the October crash of a 737 Max plane be moved from the federal courthouse in Chicago to Indonesia, where the plane went down and where most of the victims lived.

Plaintiffs lawyers say Boeing  if it can shift the U.S. cases 10,000 miles away  would skirt responsibility and lessen its financial liability because the Indonesian judicial system doesnt offer the same protections as the U.S. system, such as jury trials and punitive-damage awards.

They dont want them to have justice, said Steven Hart, a Chicago lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs from the Lion Air crash into the Java Sea on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people aboard.

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Boeing said theres precedent for such cases to be heard in the country where the incident took place.

The disputes relating to the Lion Air Flight JT 610 accident should be heard and resolved by the courts of the nation with the greatest interest in the matter, the company said when it disclosed its plan in a legal filing late last year. That means the Indonesian courts, just as other cases arising out of Indonesian aviation accidents have been resolved by the Indonesian courts.

One of the lawyers representing Boeing, Bates McIntyre Larson, said she could not comment on pending litigation.

Another lawyer involved in the cases, Brian Kabateck, said it makes no sense to move the litigation to Indonesia because the 737 Max was designed, manufactured and sold in the U.S. This is not like other airline crashes, Kabateck said. Ive never had a case in which everything related to the aircraft happened here. So why shouldnt Boeing be held accountable where they designed and sold the plane?

Our justice system is based on the free flow of information  depositions, pretrial discovery and due process on both sides, he added. All these issues either dont exist in Indonesia or are murky.

Lawyers for the Lion Air families said in an April 24 filing that Boeing should be forced as soon as possible to seek a formal request to move the cases so the litigation can proceed. Boeing lawyers made their intentions known about moving the cases in a filing that seeks to place the Chicago litigation on hold.

Victims lawyers said they have a strong argument to keep the cases in the U.S. because theres an indication the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration contributed to the accidents by giving Boeing the right to certify its own product.

The issue is particularly important given the second crash on March 10 that killed 157 people in Ethiopia. New evidence is emerging about the aircrafts flight worthiness, including information from whistle-blowers that problems were identified before the crashes, Kabateck said, and that Boeing failed to correct.

In the companys first-quarter earnings call last week, Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg didnt admit Boeing made any mistakes, but in effect acknowledged it hadnt done enough. Referring to efforts to address the problems raised by the two crashes, he said: We own it.
Google employees staged a sit-in Wednesday to protest what they call a culture of retaliation at the company  the latest in a series of demonstrations by tech industry workers.

Its unclear how many employees participated in the sit-in, but organizer Meredith Whittaker tweeted that hundreds of people protested at the New York office Wednesday morning.

The demonstration comes six months after thousands of workers at Google offices around the world walked out to protest how the company handled sexual misconduct claims.

The Google NYC anti-retaliation sit-in was POWERFUL. We're hearing similar reports from Cambridge, London, & Pittsburgh. More to come as we move across time zones and more employees act to say retaliation is #NotOkGoogle. https://t.co/uzNXjArddc  Google Walkout For Real Change (@GoogleWalkout) May 1, 2019

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Whittaker and Claire Stapleton, longtime Google employees and organizers of Novembers walkout, accused the company of retaliating against them for holding that protest in a message posted to internal Google mailing lists on April 22, Wired reported.

Whittaker wrote that she was informed that her role at the company would be changed dramatically, and that she would have to abandon her outside work on artificial intelligence ethics at AI Now Institute, an organization she co-founded.

Stapleton alleged in the internal Google message that she was told she would be demoted and one of her projects was nixed two months after the walkout. She said that after she took her concerns to the companys human resources department, her manager started ignoring her and her work was delegated to others. Her position was restored after she hired a lawyer who prompted management to investigate, Stapleton wrote in the message obtained by Wired.

Our stories arent the only ones. Google has a culture of retaliation, which too often works to silence women, people of color, and gender minorities, Whittaker and Stapleton wrote. Retaliation isnt always obvious. Its often confusing and drawn out, consisting of icy conversations, gaslighting, project cancellations, transition rejections, or demotions.

Since April 22, the employee activists have promoted a social media campaign, #NotOKGoogle, to gather other stories of alleged retaliation against Google workers.

The company denied allegations of retaliation last week. A Google spokesperson declined to comment but pointed to a previous statement from the company about retaliation.

We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy, the company said. To make sure that no complaint raised goes unheard at Google, we give employees multiple channels to report concerns, including anonymously, and investigate all allegations of retaliation.

On Thursday, Google said it had created a new site for employees to report concerns and publicly shared its policies on harassment and retaliation.

The protests at Google on Wednesday  which coincided with International Workers Day  appear to have taken many shapes. One Google software engineer tweeted that she was present at work but boycotting emails and meetings, and created an auto-response email explaining that she was unavailable because she was participating in the protest. Some employees, she tweeted, planned to take a sick day  riffing off an allegation that Stapleton was urged to go on medical leave by the company after organizing the walkout.

While I personally am at work today, today I'm boycotting emails and code reviews. I have an autoresponse set up letting people know why I'm unavailable.  jessie.js  (@jessiedotjs) May 1, 2019

 I can't recommend this thread enough!



I'm taking action today in solidarity with the brave women organizing at Google and with all workers around the world! 



When we organize - and fight the things that divide us, like racism and sexism - we win. https://t.co/XJVVk0dav8  Amr Gaber (@amrtgaber) May 1, 2019

It's been 6 months since the walkout, and sadly there's still a lot to stand up for. Today I stand with my colleagues who have experienced retaliation. https://t.co/pEEHT5u658  Jan Schneider (@janschne1der) May 1, 2019

Activism by employees of technology companies has grown more common across the industry in recent months.

Hundreds of video game developers are talking about unionizing. Amazon and Microsoft workers denounced their employers work on military and law enforcement technology. Googles workforce has previously petitioned the company to afford more rights to contracted workers, reform its AI ethics board and stop developing a censored search engine for China.

The protests have had some effect. Soon after the walkout, Google stopped requiring arbitration in sexual misconduct cases. The company also scrapped its AI ethics council after a backlash over controversial appointees and let go of a deal with the military to build object-recognition technology for drones.
Apple Inc.s sales are still shrinking amid weakening iPhone demand, despite the companys increasing emphasis on services designed to bring in a steady flow of money from the 1.4 billion of its devices still in use.

Revenue for the January-through-March quarter fell to $58 billion, down 5% from the same quarter last year, the company said in its earnings report Tuesday. That downturn followed a 5% drop in the previous quarter.

Its the first time in 2 years that Apple has suffered two consecutive quarterly revenue declines.

Apple still posted a profit of $11.6 billion during the quarter, though that was down 16% from the same quarter last year. That translated into $2.46 per share  down 10% year over year but above the $2.36-per-share forecast among analysts surveyed by FactSet.

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The Cupertino, Calif., company also announced a 5% increase in its quarterly dividend to 77 cents per share.

That news, plus a company forecast signaling that the revenue downturn may be ending in the current April-through-June quarter, seemed to please investors. Apples stock climbed about 5% in after-hours trading.

But even if the shares rise similarly during Wednesdays regular trading session, the stock will remain about 10% below the peak it reached nearly seven months ago.

Questions still loom over the stock. Apple is grappling with challenges it hasnt had to confront since iPhone debuted 12 years ago.

Until recently, Apple could count on people eagerly lining up to buy its latest iPhone models at ever loftier prices. Thats no longer the case, especially now that Apple is charging $1,000 and more for its top-of-the-line iPhones. Many consumers arent seeing enough compelling new features to persuade them to scrap their old devices and buy a new one.

Thats part of the reason iPhone sales in its latest quarter plunged 17% year over year to $31 billion. Much of the erosion is occurring in China, where Apple is facing stiffer competition from homegrown smartphone makers Huawei and Xiaomi.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook signaled that the worst may be over during a Tuesday conference call with analysts. We like the direction were headed with iPhone, and our goal now is to pick up the pace, Cook said.

Most analysts expect the iPhone malaise to persist at least through the fall, when Apple traditionally unveils its latest models. Apple remains the iPhone company, Chatham Road Partners analyst Colin Gillis reminded investors in a research note.

Around the same time, Apple also is expected to launch a new Netflix-style video streaming service.

Cook previewed the service during a celebrity-laden event last month without disclosing how much it would cost to subscribe. He touted it as an example of how Apple intends to continue to make money from the iPhones, iPads and Mac computers it has already sold.

Apple already has attracted more than 50 million subscribers to a music streaming service it started four years ago. Its now aiming to sign up tens of millions more to the video service, as well as others for video games and news.

The companys service revenue also includes sales of extended-warranty programs for its devices, hefty commissions from apps that sell subscriptions and other digital goods through its App Store and fees that Google pays to be the built-in search engine on iPhones and iPads.

All told, all those services generated $11.5 billion in revenue during the quarter, up 16% from the same quarter last year.
Qualcomm Inc. gave a lackluster sales forecast for the current quarter Wednesday, citing weaker demand for smartphones in China. The disappointing outlook overshadowed the benefits of settling a prolonged legal dispute with Apple Inc. and sent the shares down in extended trading.

Fiscal third-quarter revenue will be $9.2 billion to $10.2 billion, the San Diego company said Wednesday after the close of regular trading. Excluding a one-time payment from Apple, revenue in the current period will be $4.7 billion to $5.5 billion. At the midpoint, that fell short of analysts average estimate of $5.26 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Youre going to see Chinese weakness reflected in the next couple of quarters, Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf said in a telephone interview. Qualcomm wont disclose the terms of its settlement with Apple or what the iPhone maker will pay in licensing fees, but we ended up with a resolution thats consistent with our program, he said.

Qualcomm stock fell about 4% in extended trading following the quarterly results and forecast. The stock has surged more than 50% since the Apple deal was announced, closing Wednesday at $86.37.

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Mollenkopf had long insisted that the chipmakers legal troubles were just a commercial dispute that would be resolved when 5G services came along and focused the industrys attention back on growth, and the settlement with Apple validates his view.

Investors now want to see Qualcomm, in its projected fifth year of revenue declines, convert its claimed leadership in that fifth-generation wireless technology into growth again. Before that happens, the company, like the rest of the industry, is struggling with lackluster consumer demand for smartphones.

Qualcomm is unique because the majority of its revenue is generated by selling chips that connect handsets to cellular networks, but the bulk of its profit comes from licensing patents it says cover the fundamentals of all modern, high-speed data phone systems. The licensing rights were challenged by Apple, which argued in court and in submissions to regulators that Qualcomm was unfairly jacking up rates using its strength as a supplier of chips.

In the April 16 settlement of the litigation, Apple said it would make a one-time payment to Qualcomm, and the two reached a multiyear agreement in which Qualcomm will sell chips to Apple and collect royalty payments from the iPhone maker in exchange for licensing its technology. Qualcomm said the deal will be worth $2 a share in profit when shipments of chips ramp up.

Qualcomms fiscal third-quarter forecast includes revenue of $4.5 billion to $4.7 billion from the Apple payment and the release of our obligations to pay or refund the iPhone maker and its contractors as a result of the litigation, the company said.

The companys earnings and outlook also provide a window into demand for products made by some of the worlds biggest technology companies, such as Samsung Electronics Co. Like the rest of the industry, Qualcomm has struggled to grow as consumer excitement about smartphones has cooled. In the first quarter, global shipments fell 4% to 330 million, according to Strategy Analytics.

In response, Qualcomm is trying to push wireless technology into new areas such as automobiles, personal computers and connecting everyday devices to the internet.

Qualcomm reported that revenue declined 4.6% to $4.98 billion from $5.22 billion in the quarter that ended March 31. Profit was $663 million, or 55 cents a share, up from $330 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

Analysts on average expected earnings of 47 cents a share on sales of $4.8 billion.

Qualcomm isnt completely free of legal entanglements. A judge in California is still considering a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission accusing Qualcomm of acting like a monopoly. The company also is still in a dispute with Chinas Huawei Technologies Co. about licensing fees and is receiving only partial payment.

Huawei is making some payments on royalties while the two sides work toward an agreement, Qualcomm said.
Rick Schroder was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of domestic violence, the Los Angeles Times has confirmed. It is the second time the actor of NYPD Blue and Silver Spoons fame has been booked for the felony in 30 days.

The L.A. County Sheriffs Department received a call of domestic violence at about 12:43 a.m. When deputies arrived at the actors Topanga residence, they said there was evidence of a physical altercation between Schroder and a woman  allegedly his girlfriend. He is currently in custody, and his bail is set at $50,000.

A similar incident occurred between the 49-year-old actor and the same woman at the residence on April 2. That time, he was released on bond.

Schroder got his start in show business at an early age, appearing alongside Jon Voight in the 1979 film remake The Champ and in the 1980s on the sitcom Silver Spoons. His other notable credits include the miniseries Lonesome Dove and the shows Strong Medicine and 24. More recently, he wrote and directed the miniseries The Fighting Season and appeared in Dolly Partons Coat of Many Colors movies.

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Schroder and designer-entrepreneur Andrea Schroder filed for divorce in 2016 after more than 20 years of marriage.

ashley.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @cashleelee
The four members of Big Thief are a traveling family; as prolific, dedicated and free-spirited as the artists of Laurel Canyon in the 1970s. It makes sense then that today were in Topanga. Two of them  Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek  were married, but no longer.

Meek got a house up here six months ago. He fell in love with the woods after the four of them decamped to this area in 2018 to work on their third album, U.F.O.F., the follow-up to 2016s Masterpiece and 2017s Capacity. Lenker doesnt have roots, describing the van outside as her house.

The other two  Max Oleartchik (bass) and James Krivchenia (drums)  provide smiles and chuckles, contrasting the intensity that their counterparts inhabit. Oleartchik talks about magic and the intangible. Its apt considering the indie folk of Big Thief is as evocative as the horizon  familiar yet uncertain, and always comforting.

Its love that I feel in the core of all of it, Oleartchik says at one point. Meek and Lenker are always present but something in the air suggests theres a wolf they cant quite keep from their door.

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Meek looks distracted. Moments before, Lenker introduced her partner, Indigo Sparke, an artist who appears in her Instagram posts. Perhaps Meeks distance is merely hunger, as Lenkers own green eyes stare ravenously into a bowl of veggies. Im shaking, she says, savoring each morsel. Its hard to get a handle on them. In outside company theyre quiet, until you cant shut them up.

U.F.O.F., due Friday, is the first album theyll release to pregnant anticipation. After their 2016 debut, theyd amassed a dedicated following from relentless touring, all while their albums earned critical accolades and dotted many a best-of year-end list. Capacity even briefly cracked Billboards Americana/Folk albums chart.

Now signed to 4AD (they were previously with Saddle Creek), Big Thief and their alternately cosmic and naturalistic sound are facing growing expectations. The band will headline the Fonda on Thursday, and play a more intimate, sold-out show at the Bootleg on Friday.

The gentle self-exposition of Lenkers poetry has been a source of obsession for listeners. The songs on U.F.O.F., however, contain a fresh optimism.

U.F.O.F. is an acronym, the final F for Friend. Its this fascination with the intangible that bonded us together as friends, says Lenker. We all have a similar pull towards something that keeps us digging into our music, our inner lives. Were excavating and exploring, were all down for this journey.

Big Thief are, clockwise from top right, James Krivchenia, Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik and Buck Meek (Michael Buishas)

Touring has taken them from Brooklyn, where they formed, to everywhere and anywhere. By day 612, were just trying to stare at a candle for 20 minutes before we have to go onstage, says Oleartchik. Theres only so much as an organism that you can take in.

Lenker doesnt think they could do it without each other. It would be very lonely? she says. Shed know. Last year she toured solo in support of her own LP, Abysskiss. There was a point where I was like  Do I want to be Adrianne Lenker in the world, my own isolated artist? Or She looks to her bandmates. It wasnt even a question. No. I want to be a smaller part of a bigger thing, I want to be surrounded by friends who I trust.

Yet talk of the universe and unidentified flying objects is a decoy for dealing with matters that are too large to swallow. You wonder if Big Thief intend these songs to provoke their listeners to ask questions of themselves. We dont have an intention to get people to do anything, says Lenker. Id rather our music helped encourage people to focus on their own inner worlds than focus on an outer thing.

Unsurprisingly, this album is to date the most reflective of them as people. Weve slept, eaten, cried repeatedly for nine months out of each year and made this album. What we create together as friends is 10% music and the rest is just time.

As a result theyve had room to explore more. Contact, for instance, chimes with OK Computer-era Radiohead. Open Desert is serenely pop. Strange is a meditative psych jam. The most personal song for Lenker is From. Nobody can be my man, nobody can be my woman, she quotes from her lyrics.

Theres a gender fluidity there that Lenker relates to. I have a lot of that in myself. I think I am both man and woman, and neither. I listen to the heartbeat of the pulse of the source of the universe. I identify with that, so why am I ripping myself away from the deepest part of myself?

When asked what theyve learned most about one another, they shy away.

None of us anticipated the amount of group therapy we were headed for, says Krivchenia. At this, Lenker starts reeling off a list of emotions they cant hide from, as the other three laugh. Fear. Jealousy. Anxiety. Frustration. Insecurity. Hatred. Joy, she says. Nothing can be swept under. You can either walk away completely or dive in.

We smell each other, we feel each other, weve melted into each other, says Oleartchik, smiling.

Lenkers thoughts on the growing recognition are egoless. People worship their heroes, she says. If theres something that I admire in my heroes its not an obsession with them, its this appreciation for what their art does, which is to help me understand parts of myself.

Because of that they need to not focus on fan expectation. In a relationship, Lenker says, you have to care for yourself and then you have this foundation from which to give to the other person. If we focus on what we think they want from us, its a false structure  clumsy. The deepest foundation we can build is rooting down into ourselves even more, our art, what it means. And if people like it thats great, and if they dont theres millions of other things to listen to.

=====

Big Thief

Where: The Fonda, 6126 Hollywood Blvd.

When: 9 p.m., Thursday

Tickets: $25

Information: www.fondatheatre.com
After a day of collection appointments with stylists and fashion journalists, London-based Scottish designer Christopher Kane celebrated his visit to Los Angeles after a four-year absence by throwing a party on Monday night.

The designer, who wore a balloon-fetish-emblazoned shirt (featuring the word looner and a green balloon) under a black blazer, joined a few dozen guests gathered inside the nightclub at the Standard Hollywood hotel in West Hollywood for dancing and cocktails.

Barry Mulholland, left, and Christopher Kane. (Marc Patrick / BFA.com)

He wasnt at the nightclub as part of the promotion of a collection or collaboration. He was there to have a fun time with his friends, old and new.

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Songs such as Princes 1999 and Vanity 6s Nasty Girl were played as guests danced underneath a disco ball. Lining the ceiling were balloons donning some of the words and phrases that appear on pieces in Kanes collections such as looner, rubberist and more joy.

Kane, who flew to L.A. from Tulum, Mexico, on Sunday, said he plans to be in New York starting Thursday for next Mondays Met Gala and other events. For now, though, his focus is on L.A.

Liz Goldwyn, left, and Marisa Tomei. (Marc Patrick / BFA.com)

Im all about old-school Hollywood, said Kane, adding that he loves to explore Los Angeles on foot. Anything can happen in Hollywood. In L.A., it can be really fun. Then it can go really dark. Then it can be really fun again. Its just surreal as a place.

As guests danced into the wee hours of the night, a stream of notable names greeted Kane. Joining the school-night festivities were Marisa Tomei, Louise Roe, Liz Goldwyn, Sylvia Hoeks and Skai Jackson.

Kiersey Clemons (Marc Patrick / BFA.com)

Also in the mix were stylists Tara Swennen, Ade Samuel, Micah McDonald and Wayman Bannerman; model Shaun Ross; Real Housewives of Beverly Hills costar Erika Jayne (wearing a Christopher Kane red plastic lace trench coat); burlesque artist Dita Von Teese (in a Christopher Kane bodycon multi-tulle dress); and actress Kiersey Clemons (in a crystal V-neck knit and pleated skirt from the resort collection).

Sylvia Hoeks (Marc Patrick / BFA.com)

Kane, whose label is now independent from one-time majority stakeholder Kering, is known for featuring fetishes and sexual themes as well as making colorful statements in his collections. For example, his spring/summer 2019 collection, which is in stores and online, might be described as a feminine and playful look at sex and nature during the #MeToo and Times Up era.

Asked about his collections, he said his provocative and thought-provoking designs come from a place that is always very personal.

Its very emotive, said Kane, who founded his womenswear label in 2006. Ive always been obsessed with human behavior, biology, science and sex.  These are the constant DNAs of the brand. We always do sex differently. Its never in your face. Its always intelligent.

image@latimes.com

For fashion news, follow us at @latimesimage on Twitter.
Class has just begun on a recent Thursday at UCLA, and professor Amy Rowat and her students are watching as chef Vinh Nguyen sets up a table with a portable gas stove, a pot filled with water, a bowl of flour and a stack of chopsticks.

For the next hour, Nguyen demonstrates how to make wontons and scallion pancakes, discussing issues of temperature and texture, gluten and fat, while Rowat and her students ask questions. Nguyen rolls out dough, talks about lamination and hands out little bowls of just-cooked wontons.

This is not a cooking school demo, but the Science & Food class that Rowat, 43, a professor of integrative biology and physiology, has taught for the last eight years.

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If you think that baking pies and making dumplings isnt science, well, youve probably never baked a pie or cooked a dumpling  or read Harold McGees landmark book On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.

We cover similar topics in my upper-level undergraduate cell biophysics class as I do in the Science & Food class, says Rowat, smiling.

Every week, she brings in a guest to talk to her class  past visitors include baker Zoe Nathan of Huckleberry, farmer Barbara Spencer of Windrose Farms and Animal chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo  about topics such as emulsification and terroir. In-class experiments have included baking pies in toaster ovens. And every year theres a scientific bake-off, where the students present their independent projects.

Some students had never made a pie, says Rowat later in her crammed office. And then by the end of the class theyre baking pies. One student was delighted because he could bake pies for the frat parties.

Rowats path to her Westwood classroom began in Guelph, the small town near Toronto where she grew up. And yes, she liked to bake. She went to school at Mount Allison, a small Canadian university, and then got her PhD at the University of Southern Denmark, where her PhD supervisor collaborated with the Nordic Food Lab, the project set up on a Copenhagen boat by Noma chef Rene Redzepi. She did a post-doc (on emulsions) at Harvard, where she set up a series of science and food lectures (Ferran Adria and Jose Andres were among the lecturers) that were the precursors to the talks that accompany her UCLA class.

At the lab a few hours after the dumpling class, the students regroup to discuss emulsions, doing experiments with cups, syringes, oil, water, food coloring and lecithin (an emulsifier found in egg yolks, soy beans, chocolate and, yes, Nutella).

We started off doing just apple pies, but then we expanded in subsequent years to challenge the students to bake any kind of pie. So then there was the emergence of the cream pie, says Rowat, sounding as if shes considering a historical timeline. There are lots of great scientific concepts in a coconut cream pie, for example.

For instance, her students have used pie-baking to focus on how various fats affect crust flakiness, viscosity of fillings, the aeration of whipped cream and phase transition, which is why materials melt at certain temperatures.

This year shes having her students shift away from pies to more general baking.

Many of them live in dorms where they dont have a lot of space, so we thought maybe cookies would be good.

Another popular theme has been the effect of alcohol on the crust. Schnapps or Goldschlager or rum or bourbon. Thats been a common project. (Yes, this is a college course, but Rowats masters thesis was on the effects of alcohol on lipid membranes.)

Recipes for baking are like equations, says Rowat, which neatly sums up the idea behind her class  to use the structures of ordinary life to teach sometimes advanced scientific concepts.

Professor Amy Rowat with her Science & Food students at UCLA. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Learning to bake with Huckleberrys Zoe Nathan 

Rowats students, says Zoe Nathan, are learning how to cook and bake in a way that is empowering, because theyre learning the whys and hows instead of just a recipe. Nathan judged one of the annual scientific bake-offs, with fellow baker Christina Tosi of Milk Bar.

A few months ago, Rowats lab started research on generating cultured meat. Its animal-based right now, but we have ideas as to how it can be plant-based in the future.

There have been efforts to develop a high school curriculum based on the Science & Food classes, and the class has also spawned a student group that meets separately to dissect the science of common foods. Theyve done sessions on energy bars and kombucha, and then they make their own, Rowat says.

On May 7, as part of the annual Science & Food public event series and The Times monthlong Food Bowl festival, Rowat will host the Future of Food in Extreme Environments at UCLAs California NanoSystems Institute. The talk will address the issue of feeding people in outer space and in food deserts.

Food is such a great accessible tool to teach science, she says.

amy.scattergood@latimes.com

Instagram: @AScattergood
You might be familiar with green-glass bottles of soju from long nights out in Koreatown, or maybe youve ventured further afield and enjoyed some plastic bottles of fizzy white makgeolli at the same places.

But, despite their ubiquity, these modern incarnations of Korean rice brews are about as representative of Korean booze as wine coolers are of European viticulture: good cheap fun, but not nearly the whole story. Theres an old saying in Korea: To know the politics of a village, taste their alcohol. It harks back to an era when brewing was a resource-intensive luxury: If your village had good alcohol, it was a pretty good sign of peace and plenty.

A few weeks ago, I stood in chef Susan Yoons sunny Mount Washington kitchen, cutting cheesecloth for an enormous steamer, while my friend Yong Ha Jeong weighed out kilos of uncooked sticky rice next to me. Wed gathered a little group of Korean American friends to eat, drink and brew makgeolli, a yogurt-tart cloudy rice beer that Koreans have been drinking for centuries. The practice of making it at home was derailed in the last century, but a new generation of Koreans, both on the peninsula and in diaspora, are reclaiming old traditions.

A cup of makgeolli, the traditional Korean alcoholic beverage. (Silvia Razgova / For the Times)

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Makgeolli is one drink in a family of Korean rice brews that can all be made by roughly the same process: Steam rice, mix it with water and nuruk, a wheat cake fermentation starter, and let the microbes go to work. Makgeolli falls under the umbrella of takju, the cloudy rice beer you get when you first strain your mash; the results have a creamy, horchata-esque mouthfeel. Filter out those clouds and you get yakju, a golden-amber wine that can range from cloyingly sweet and dense to green apple-tart and fizzy. And when you distill yakju, you end up with the fiery-bright, clear liquid known as soju.

But for most of the last century, brewing Korean alcohol with rice was banned, in one form or another, a casualty of the peninsulas turbulent history. It started with the gradual takeover of the Joseon Dynasty by the Japanese Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. By 1934, home-brewing was banned outright. Brewing was moved to factories and taxed, becoming a source of revenue for the expanding empire.

By 1965, the Park Chung-hee dictatorship banned the use of rice in alcohol production because of war, hunger and rice shortages. But hard times never stopped people from drinking; the opposite is often truer. Instead, soju makers looked for the cheapest sources of starch they could find, distilling tapioca and sweet potatoes up to Everclear levels of alcohol content, then watering it down and adding sweeteners. This is pretty much how green-bottle soju is made today, and why its almost never made with rice.

Makgeolli, meanwhile, was brewed using wheat from American food aid. Makgeolli expert Jisung Chun points out that the U.S. had excess wheat going bad in warehouses, so its like, hey, kill two birds with one stone. Most cheap makgeolli today is still brewed using wheat, and its the sweeter, denser flavors of wheat makgeolli that evoke nostalgia in older Koreans.

Throughout all this, women still brewed in secret. Before colonization, brewing was womens work: Washing, soaking and steaming the rice, then shepherding it along to boozy completion was a duty they undertook along with the fermentation of soybean pastes, soy sauces, kimchi, and other pickled and preserved vegetables. And it remained so through the last century, though behind closed doors.

Friends cheer with their cups as they sample makgeolli. (Silvia Razgova / For the Times)

My mother remembers a neighbor woman in Gunsan, a West Coast port city, who doled out yakju in secret from her kitchen, bribing the police every so often to look the other way. Yong Ha said her grandmother also ran an informal brewpub on her farm in Chungcheong province, making black market makgeolli to supplement her income and feed the family. It wasnt until 1990 that the South Korean government lifted the ban on brewing with rice, and home-brewing was legalized just over 20 years ago. The Korean market is still dominated by beer and industrial soju, but small artisanal brewers and distillers are popping up, and home-brewing is gaining in popularity: Celebrities are getting their hands on some home brew on morning TV talk shows, and YouTube chef Maangchi has a recipe for makgeolli in her bestselling cookbook.

Part of the reason why home-brewing Korean alcohol is so accessible is because its so forgiving  no need for a sterile laboratory. The key is nuruk, the defining feature of Korean alcohol. Its a fermentation starter usually made of wheat, but sometimes also mung beans, barley and rice. Nuruk is the product of wild fermentation, collecting whatever yeasts and bacteria are local to where its being made. Once the right microbes get going, the nuruk is dried and stored. When its time to brew, nuruks bacteria and yeasts and molds work in tandem: Enzymes from the molds, often including aspergillus and rhizopus species, break down the rice starches into sugars, which the yeasts then turn into alcohol; the bacteria produce lip-smacking acids. Much like natural wines, the product is variable and funky.

The chance and improvisation aspect is so alluring, Yong Ha wrote to me recently. Korean alcohol doesnt aim to be precise and perfect; it seduces.

Yong Ha Jeong, left, a Los Angeles-based sool brewer, cheers with friends with a cap of makgeolli. (Silvia Razgova / For the Times)

Back at Susans kitchen, it struck me, looking around at the huge windows and the rice cooling in front of an open side door, that what we are doing would have been illegal in our grandmothers generation. The fact that so few of us know how to brew and what home-brewed Korean alcohol even tastes like, decades after the end of colonization, is a sign of how efficiently commercialization took that knowledge out of our hands and put it into the factories. I am reminded of what food writer Alicia Kennedy wrote: The commercialism of food removes us from our culture. She was talking about tortillas, but it resonated.

With our baby brews put to rest in jars and containers, it was finally time to feast. Yong Ha brought out chilled bottles of her homemade takju, I set a bottle of yakju from Korea on the table, and Susan piled crispy, hot kimchi and mungbean jeon  savory pancakes  onto a platter. Jeon and takju is a classic pairing, especially on rainy days, as the sizzle of jeon is said to mimic the patter of raindrops.

When drinking makgeolli in its watered-down form, closer to 5% or 6% alcohol by volume, we like to serve it in rice bowls, often metal, and drink it quickly. Takju or yakju thats closer to 10% or 12% ABV well pour into daintier vessels, shallow bowls that you sip from. Then Yong Ha pulls a homemade soju from her bag, and the afternoon stretches into early evening. By the time were comparing Asian glows, theres nothing dainty about the drinking.


By the time the negra fideua makes its appearance on your table at Otono, youll have already worked through a few plates of tapas  triangles of Manchego cheese smeared with Asturian honey, tiny bowls of paprika-dusted Marcona almonds, plates layered with lustrous, paper-thin slices of jamon iberico.

Maybe youve snacked on the crisp salt cod fritters called soldaditos de pavia, or sucked the juices out of the heads of the gambas a la plancha, enormous griddled blue prawns sweetly scented with garlic and brandy. Theres pan con tomate, the classic tomato- and garlic-rubbed toast of Catalonia, as crisp and exquisite as any you ever ate in Barcelona. If you chose to start your meal with a gin and tonic  extravagantly garnished with farmers market botanicals like fresh avocado leaves, honeysuckle and chamomile  you chose wisely.

The Gin Tonic Classico from Otono in Highland Park. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

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But nothing is quite as memorable as the negra fideua, which announces itself with all the subtlety of the power chords at the beginning of a Metallica song. It arrives in the oversize carbon-steel paella pan it is baked in, a sputtering and smoky midnight-colored cake of squid ink pasta bedecked with jewel-like scallops and glistening dollops of lemon cream. The short, thin pasta strands paint your mouth a deep shade of purple. The undignified lip stain is a small price for glory: the scallops are sweet and buoyant, capped with fatty rounds of chorizo that dovetail beautifully against the bright lemon cream. The pasta, cooked in dashi, is soupy and salty and wonderful.

Review: Ronan makes stellar pizzas and a whole lot more 

The fideua should be the culmination of any dinner at Otono, a modern Spanish restaurant that opened in a narrow Highland Park storefront last summer. It showcases chef Teresa Montanos facility with fusing Japanese technique and flavors into regional Spanish cooking. She splices Japanese elements into dishes like cerdo asado, thick slabs of miso-marinated pork shoulder, and vegetarian paella, made with a sweet-salty white miso-and-fennel broth.

Gambas a la Plantxa features griddled blue prawns, cherry tomato, garlic and brandy de jerez. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

Montano describes her penchant for mixing and matching Spanish and Japanese ideas as a distinctly Los Angeles impulse  a chef luxuriating in the incredibly wide cultural palette of the city. This is the sort of modern Spanish cooking that Montano became known for at Racion, the much-loved Basque-inspired restaurant in Old Town Pasadena that she operated for five years with former partner Loretta Peng. That restaurant closed in early 2018, leaving a notable gap in Greater Los Angeles short roster of Spanish dining gems.

Review: At Sonoratown, worship at the altar of flour tortillas and mesquite-grilled beef 

At Otono, Montano has expanded her focus beyond the pintxos of Basque country, diving deeper into the regional dishes of Catalonia and Valencia, adding more fideuas and paellas to the menu. The restaurants design was inspired by her recent travels through Valencia, a region she explored at length after leaving Racion. The enormous mural that spans the length of two walls near the front of the dining room is a swirling maelstrom of color and graffiti painted by the superstar Valencian street-art duo PichiAvo. Beyond the mural, the restaurant is outfitted with a grand bar framed by vintage tiles and a tiny, partially open kitchen where Montano and her team somehow work at a significantly higher volume than they did at Racion. The mood is lively; the service cheerful. If I have one complaint, its that the pace of service moves too quickly at times, with what feels like regimented spaces between courses. There is sometimes the sense of being rushed.

The conserva de pulpo features Spanish octopus, salsa galicia, New Mexico red chile and laurel oil. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

On the menu, youll note Montanos newfound obsession with conservas, the high-quality canned seafood that is a staple of Spanish and Portuguese bars. Otonos conservas selection includes hard-to-find, small-production seafood from Spains Atlantic coast: creamy slips of squid preserved in olive oil, salty baby sardines, unctuous hunks of tuna belly. Even better are the house-made conservas, especially the conserva de pulpo, Spanish octopus cured in a vibrant, lightly spicy New Mexico red chile sauce, a nod to Montanos native home state.

Youll find updated iterations of the croquetas that Montano perfected at Racion, including a crisp fritter filled with jamon serrano and a local milk thats been transmuted into a rich, gooey cream. The croqueta de setas y maiz is even more unforgettable: a wildly rich, pleasantly sweet croquette filled with mushrooms, corn and goats milk.

Very rarely, Montano will bring back one of Racions greatest hits  the lamb meatballs are the most frequently requested item. But on most days, youll have to settle for the familiar comforts of her crema Catalana, a slightly jiggly, creamy dessert custard topped with candied kumquats. It may not be precisely the same version you remember from Racion. But like much at Otono, its got the charm of something you want to enjoy for a long time to come.

Otono

Chef and owner of Otono, Teresa Montano. (Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

LOCATION

5715 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, (323) 474-6624, otonorestaurant.com

PRICES

Tapas $4-$20; conservas $10-$15; raciones $13-$35; arroz y fideua $32

DETAILS

Credit cards accepted. Full bar. Street parking. Dining room and restroom are wheelchair-accessible.

RECOMMENDED DISHES

Fideua; pan con tomate; gambas a la plancha; conservas; crema Catalana

patricia.escarcega@latimes.com

Twitter: @piescarcega
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  The country's top diplomat on Wednesday said Alert Level 4 has been raised in the Libyan capital of Tripoli and surrounding areas amid rising tensions in the country.

Level 4 is the highest alert level and this means the mandatory evacuation of Filipinos in the North African country is now in effect. Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin Jr. confirmed this development on social media Wednesday, but admitted they cannot force people to leave.

"Yesterday informed President that I raised the Alert Level to 4 in Tripoli + 100 kms around. More mortar fire, more Filipinos hurt. AL 4 is mandatory evacuation but we cannot compeland rightly so. What is mandatory is that DFA stays in Tripoli until last OFW goes& then it stays," he said in a tweet.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Charge d'Affaires Elmer Cato said the basis of raising the Alert Level was the incident involving13 Filipinos who got trapped in a building while a gun fight was going on.

Cato said the 13 Filipinos are now safe.

Cato also confirmed they cannot enforce mandatory evacuation.

"We really could not enforce that, hindi natin magagawa 'yun, even in previous conflicts in other parts of the world. Hindi talaga maenforce 'yung mandatory evacuation because meron pa rin sa ating mga kababayang hindi natin mapipilitan na lumikas despite all our efforts," he said.

[Translation: We really could not enforce that, we can't do that, even in previous conflicts in other parts of the world. We really can't enforce mandatory evacuation because there are some who we cannot be forced to leave despite your best efforts.]

Cato added that so far, only 40 Filipinos have asked to be repatriated.

This is a small percentage considering the more than 2,000 Filipinos in Libya. About 1,000 of that number reside in Tripoli.

In a separate statement Wednesday, the DFA said Locsin raised the alert level "upon the recommendation of the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli which said the current situation on the ground could no longer guarantee the safety and security of Filipinos who choose to remain despite repeated appeals for them to go home."

The DFA added fighting in the outskirts of the capital could soon make it difficult for the embassy to respond to distressed Filipinos asking for help.

On April 17, Charge d'Affaires Elmer Cato said one Filipino was wounded in Tripoli.

Earlier, Cato posted a video on social media of him meeting with six Filipinos who had approached the embassy for help in going back home.

According to the Philippine Embassy in Libya, it was the fourth batch of evacuees they have helped repatriate, bringing the total to 25.

"The Embassy also extended some assistance to 15 other Filipinos working for a carpet factory outside Tripoli who were also repatriated by their employer," they said.
Company Installed 76 New Kiosks at an Average Revenue of $40,000 Per Unit.



SAN DIEGO, CA, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE  Generation NEXT Franchise Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: VEND) announced its monthly results for April today showing the fourth month in a row of revenue growth. Aprils revenue was approximately $3.0 million on 76 deliveries of Reis & Irvys robots compared to $1.2 million on 31 robots in March.



Key highlights and metrics for April:

Recognized revenue of $3.0 million from 76 units at an average of $40,000 per robot.

Installed a record number of 67 robots in the United States for 54 franchisees.

Ended the month with 120 franchisees operating one or more Reis & Irvys kiosks in the United States.

Reached an agreement with American Minority Advisory Council (AMAC) to place Reis & Irvys and Print Mates kiosks in major airports across the United States.

Secured 44 new US locations for Reis & Irvys robots.

Installed two Print Mates photo printing kiosks in test locations for a major convenience chain.

19 Degrees Corporate Service (Fund) Started onboarding locations in April with four locations operating by the end of the month. Expecting 25 to 35 Fund locations operating by the end of May 2019 and approximately 60 by the end of June.

Hired 5WPR for media relations aimed at expanding awareness of the Generation Next, Reis & Irvys, and Print Mates brands through tier 1 print, online and television media.

Booked 18 new Reis & Irvys franchise commitments worth $1.0 million in deferred revenue (averaging $333,333 per franchise sale and $55,556 per robot sold).

I appreciate the consistent and quality production from our supply chain partners. They have helped us exceed our April projection by delivering 76 robots and we continue to build momentum each month in the key drivers of profitability and cash flow, said company CEO Nick Yates. We currently have a total of 262 robots delivered globally: 229 robots installed throughout the US, a further 23 have been delivered to Canada and 10 to Australia. We anticipate May revenue will range from $2.8 million to $3.6 million on deliveries of 70 to 90 Reis & Irvys robots.

For more information on Reis & Irvys visit: www.reisandirvys.com

For more information on Print Mates visit: www.printmates.com

For more information on Generation Next visit: 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
In 2015, Leopoldo Lopez, a prominent opposition leader in Venezuela, vanished from public life when he was convicted of inciting violence during deadly nationwide protests and sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.

On Tuesday, he reappeared. In a video posted on Twitter, he stood behind Juan Guaido, the countrys self-declared interim president, who urged the military to join his effort to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

Lopez told reporters that he had been liberated by members of the armed forces. His freedom was seen by some as a sign that Maduros hold on the military has been diminished and as a potential turning point in a three-month standoff over who leads Venezuela.

It really said something about the fact that there is a clear break in the military, said Dany Bahar, a Venezuelan economist at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.

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He said that without the loyalty of the military, Maduro would almost certainly be forced from power.

The reemergence of Lopez came amid massive protests in Caracas on Tuesday in which Guaido called on the armed forces to abandon their support of Maduro.

Chiles foreign minister tweeted Tuesday that Lopez and his family were staying as guests in the countrys diplomatic mission in Caracas, but later said they moved to the Spanish Embassy because other people were already staying in the Chilean quarters.

Lopez, who is 48 and has a degree from Harvards school of public policy, comes from an elite family with a long history in Venezuelan politics. He has been a key opponent of the leftist governments that have dominated the country since Hugo Chavez came to power in 1999.

A former mayor of Caracas Chacao borough, he helped found the Justice First party in 2000 to challenge Chavez, then started the Popular Will party to take on Maduro, who became president in 2013 after Chavez died.

Lopez paid for his activism. He survived several assassination attempts, including a 2006 shooting that killed one of his bodyguards, who was sitting in a passenger seat normally occupied by Lopez.

That same year, Lopez was charged with 26 criminal counts, including illegal campaign financing. He denied the allegations but was disqualified from running for public office until 2017.

His conviction in 2015 for inciting violence in protests the previous year was heavily criticized by foreign governments and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, which considered him a prisoner of conscience.

He was released from prison in 2017 but placed under house arrest.

Shannon K. ONeil, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the governments repeated attempts to silence him reflected the threat he posed to its rule.

His presence in the video, which by Tuesday afternoon had more than a million views on Twitter, was a striking image, she said.

He has become this crucial opposition leader, she said. Even after years of military imprisonment and house arrest, hes still central to the fight against Maduro.
Susie Crippen doesnt like anything to be too perfect. When she started making ceramics, she created a couple of pieces where she pulled too much or pushed too hard  technically mistakes, she says. So she just squished them then glazed and fired them anyway. Now she displays these favorite pieces on her dining room table in her home in upper Ojai, often filling them with olive branches from her yard.

Its kind of what she has done with all her creative projects; Crippens love of wabi-sabi, the Japanese term for creative imperfection, creeps into every aspect of her life. She renovated her hacienda-style house to be lived in by her and her dogs, importing French floors meant to take the dirt and leaving the landscape wild, not manicured. She created Crippen, her high-end clothing collection, to look better wrinkled than pressed. And in 2005, when she cofounded J Brand, the first American company to popularize the skinny jean, she dissembled the paradigm of jeans so that any woman could make that jean her own, she says  instead of the other way around.

Assorted tall glazed vases from makers that include Mitsuko and Shoshi, on sale at Cattywampus Crafts ($90-500). (Martha McCully)

Crippen has recently launched a line of dresses, called 4, based on the name of the womens collective in Uganda that is sewing them, Ride 4 a Woman, and her birthday, Jan. 4. These dresses are not about the perfection of the sewing, but instead the opportunity thats sewn into the dress. Crippen is about to move to Africa to turn 4 into a business that will help the local community.

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But before that move, she spent a day with us in Ojai, shopping for ceramics and giving us insight into what to look for  including the perfect ceramic coffee cup.

What drew you to Ojai?

Theres something about the light here, the way the ground felt, I knew I was supposed to be here. The second time I visited I had a feeling it would be good for me here; I bought my house a month later.

Why shop for ceramics here?

Ojai attracts really creative people. Some of them live here full time; some come for the weekend. Its a very nurturing place to tap into your creative self-expression.

Tell us about the ceramics in your home.

I have both my own ceramics and others. I collect them when I travel around the world. I love Japanese wabi-sabi ceramics. A lot of the stuff I buy when I travel instantly reminds me of wherever I was.

Some of Crippens ceramic mistakes on display at her home in Ojai. (Martha McCully)

When I look at those cups I got in Sweden, I remember that woman who sold them to me and how she wore her hair and where my friend and I had lunch that day. When I see that rice drying bowl from India, I remember the sounds and the traffic in the street and how my feet felt in my shoes, I remember being hungry and the way India smells. I bought some 18th century wine vessels in Spain. I went into a ceramics store in Seville, and I almost had a heart attack. I said to my guide, I cant be in this store with you. I have to be here alone.

Why should the rest of us buy ceramics?

They beautify your life; they heighten the experience of your morning coffee. Buying flowers at the farmers market and putting them in a beautiful ceramic vase instead of a glass tube puts you in the moment. Theres something about the handmade that is thrilling to me.

You keep mentioning coffee cups. What makes a good ceramic coffee cup?

To me, a good coffee cup has to be thick enough to not burn your hands when you hold it, because I always think about a good cup of coffee not only as the most perfect part of your day, but as a hand warmer. Its freeeeezing in Ojai! My toes have been cold for five months. And then theres the handle. I have to put all four of my fingers through the handle. How am I supposed to hold a giant coffee cup with only two fingers?

Do you have any advice for navigating Ojai on a day trip?

Veer off the beaten path. Theres so much to see off the main drag. Ojai is in such an interesting space of growth right now. People who really want to be here all the time are opening little shops. Theres a lot of meaning and intention behind them. Go see Meiners Oaks; go to the bookstore there.

Small pottery vases at deKor & Co. ($35 - $55). (Martha McCully)

If you love it so much here, why are you moving to Africa?

Im leaving for the exact same reason I came here. I went to a place I had never been before, and I was moved so deeply by it that I have to go back. The ultimate expression of wabi-sabi is to live a life true to you. As beautiful and wonderful as Ojai is, continually exploring who I am in this world is an intricate part of my experience. And thats why Im moving to Africa  because Im not finished, and I never will be.

THE SHOPPING LIST

Cattywampus Crafts

209 W. Ojai Ave.

Cattywampuscrafts.com

A community-based store and workshop where people can gather, get inspired and create things, like knitting and sewing. Cattywampus means slightly off-kilter or imperfect. The owners have a great eye, says Crippen.

deKor&Co.

105 S. Montgomery St.

Dekorandco.com

An eclectic mix of vintage and new furniture featuring pottery, beauty products, rugs, home accessories and international textiles. The owner is really good at mixing contemporary and modern furniture; you cant tell whats what, says Crippen.

Treasures of Ojai

110 North Signal Street

Treasuresofojai.com

This antique mart has numerous vendors with stalls packed with jewelry, furniture, and tabletop and vintage ceramics. The hunt is real. I love a flea market; I love an antique store, says Crippen. I just love looking at a ceramic pot and knowing it had a whole history and wondering how did it end up here?
Orange County officials warned Wednesday that a woman with measles may have exposed others in the region to the contagious disease.

The patient, the first to come down with measles this year in the county, lives in Placentia and contracted the illness when she traveled to a country with an outbreak, officials said. They did not say whether she had been vaccinated against measles.

This patient appears to have gone to work for a few days and seen a movie  likely the opening night midnight showing of Avengers: Endgame in Fullerton  before realizing she was sick.

The warning comes amid several major measles outbreaks nationwide and the highest number of measles cases across the nation in more than two decades. Officials in L.A. County declared an outbreak last week.

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Measles is a highly contagious and potentially severe disease that causes fever, rash, cough and red, watery eyes, said Orange County interim health officer Dr. Nichole Quick in a statement. The MMR vaccine is a simple, inexpensive and very effective measure to prevent the spread of this serious virus.

Measles spreads through coughing and sneezing, but the virus can linger in the air for two hours after the sick person leaves the room, still infectious.

People can spread measles for four days before they develop a rash.

Officials say people who were at the following locations should review their vaccination history and also monitor themselves for measles symptoms:

5 Hutton Centre Drive, Santa Ana, between 7:45 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. on April 23, 24 and 25.

AMC movie theater, 1001 S. Lemon St., Fullerton, from 11 p.m. April 25 to 4 a.m. April 26.

St. Jude Medical Center emergency department, 101 E. Valencia Mesa Drive, Fullerton, from 7 to 9 a.m. April 27.

Almost all cases of measles in the U.S. begin with people who traveled to countries where measles is prevalent.

The problems in L.A. County began when a resident visited Vietnam earlier this year and contracted measles, officials said. That person then spread measles to three other people in L.A. County.

In California, 14 of 38 people with measles this year became sick while visiting other countries, including India, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Ukraine, according to state health officials. Four of those people infected 22 other people in the state, most of whom werent vaccinated, they said.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla
The back-and-forth legal drama over an Impressionist masterpiece that hangs in a Spanish museum has seemingly come to the end of the road for a San Diego family, which is left with nothing to show for their decade-long battle to reclaim the artwork they say was seized from them by Nazis 80 years ago.

A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday ruled against the Cassirer family  who for years had tried to reclaim the painting taken from them during an escape from Germany during the Holocaust  saying the looted artwork belongs to the international museum.

The canvas has a storied past. In 1939, Nazi troops forced the Jewish family of Lilly Cassirer to trade a Camille Pissarro painting for her familys freedom while escaping from Germany before the start of World War II. The piece had been in her family for nearly four decades, after her father purchased it directly from Pissarros art dealer at the turn of the century.

The cityscape, titled Rue Saint-Honore, Apres-midi, Effet de Pluie (Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain), was considered a lost family heirloom when in 1958 the German government paid Cassirer $13,000 in reparations. But in 2000, a family friend discovered the canvas was hanging in Madrids Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. It has been there for more than 25 years.

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Lilly Cassirer died decades before the discovery and would never know about the fate of the painting, how it ended up in Spain, the ensuing fight for its possession or the recent ruling by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter in Los Angeles.

Pissarros Parisian street scene from 1897, valued at $30 million, has been at the center of a fight between the Spanish museum and Cassirers descendants for more than a decade. The grandson she raised, Claude Cassirer, filed a lawsuit in 2005, fighting to regain ownership of the art that had graced the wall of his grandmothers lavishly furnished parlor in Berlin in the early part of the 20th century.

Claude Cassirer as a young boy with his grandmother, Lilly Cassirer, who was forced by Nazis to surrender the painting in exchange for a visa to flee Germany. (Cassirer Family Trust)

My grandmother never knew what happened to the painting, he told The Times in a 2010 interview.

When he died several years later, the suit passed to his daughter. Since her death last year, its been in the hands of his son, David Cassirer.

After crisscrossing art dealers throughout the United States, the painting ended up in the hands of Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, a Swiss art collector and descendant of a German steel empire family, in 1976.

The judges ruling states that the baron was undoubtedly aware that there had been massive looting of art by the Nazis and it was generally known that the Barons family (although not the Baron specifically) had a history of purchasing art and other property that had been confiscated by the Nazis.

When the Spanish government purchased the barons art collection years later, Pissarros painting made its way to the museum in Madrid.

Prior to the purchase, the Kingdom of Spain assumed that the Baron acted in good faith, because we simply had no reason to believe otherwise,  Walter said. Had that not been the case, the ruling suggests that Spain should have accepted the original owner as the rightful heir.

We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments. Steve Zack, the attorney for Cassirer

Walter ruled that the court could not force the museum to comply with its moral commitments. Because the case was not based on moral ethics, the ruling favored the museum as the lawful owner of the Pissarro.

Following Cassirers suit to regain ownership of the painting, lawyers argued that the familys right to claim ownership over the painting had expired. But a judges initial ruling in favor of the museum was later overturned by an appeals court.

The case moved to Walter in Los Angeles, who first ruled in favor of the museum in 2016. That case was overturned once again and sent back for a retrial before Tuesdays ruling.

Thaddeus Stauber, the museums U.S. attorney, thinks the latest decision puts an end to the ongoing battle over the piece of art.

We are very pleased with the courts decision that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundations ownership of the Camille Pissarro painting stands, and that after a full trial on the merits, the Foundations ownership has been confirmed, he said.

As a lawyer who has been involved in this case for 14 years, Im pleased that the court did conduct a full trial. We now have a decision on the lawful owner, and that should put an end to it, he said.

Cassirers attorney, Steve Zack, however, doesnt agree with the ruling.

We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments, he said.

Several cases have been filed in recent years in U.S. courts by the American families of European Jews. Last year, an appeals court upheld Walters ruling from 2016 that the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena rightfully owned Renaissance paintings of Adam and Eve that Nazis took from a Dutch Jewish art dealer because the Dutch government was the technical owner when it sold the works.

Of the roughly 600,000 paintings thought to have been stolen by Nazis during the Holocaust, about 100,000 are still missing, said Stuart E. Eizenstat, a State Department advisor on Holocaust-era issues and a leading figure in the campaign to return looted art.

Times staff writer Joel Rubin contributed to this report.

colleen.shalby@latimes.com

@cshalby
The U.S. Army veteran charged with planning a terrorist attack in Southern California was kicked out of the service several years ago following a clash in Afghanistan, sources told The Times on Tuesday.

Mark Steven Domingo, a 26-year-old Reseda man who the FBI said Monday was plotting to detonate a pressure-cooker bomb at a rally in Long Beach, was discharged following the incident in 2013, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because information regarding a soldiers discharge status is not subject to public disclosure.

One official described the incident in Afghanistan as violent, saying it led to an accusation that Domingo violated the the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The former infantryman was demoted and eventually forced out of the Army before completing his enlistment contract, the official said. Its unclear whether Domingo clashed with a civilian or fellow soldier. Multiple sources have told The Times that Domingo did not receive an honorable discharge from the military.

Domingo served in Afghanistan from September 2012 to January 2013, and had previously been stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, according to court documents made public Monday. He joined the military in February 2011 and left the service a month after his return from Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

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Domingos military discharge was part of a broader portrait emerging Tuesday of a man described by federal investigators as consumed by hate and depicted in court documents as an erratic and violent person who sought to kill police officers and members of other religions in retribution for the killings of Muslims in other parts of the world.

Prosecutors said Domingo, a recent convert to Islam, specifically wanted payback for a mass shooting carried out by a white supremacist in New Zealand that left 50 Muslims dead on March 15.

Domingo has been charged with providing material support to terrorists and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. He has not entered a plea and remains in federal custody.

During several weeks of recorded conversations with an FBI informant, Domingo expressed desires to kill Jews, Christians and police officers in either shootings or bombings that could take place across Southern California, including at landmark targets like the Santa Monica Pier. Eventually, he settled on a rally organized by a far-right group, United Patriots National Front, set for Bluff Park in Long Beach on April 28, according to court documents.

According to the documents, Domingo purchased eight pounds of nails that he believed were long enough to penetrate the human body and puncture internal organs and planned to work alongside two others to create a pressure-cooker bomb similar to the device used during the 2013 Boston marathon attacks. But his co-conspirator was an FBI informant, and the purported bomb maker was an undercover law enforcement officer, prosecutors said.

Domingo was arrested April 26 after being supplied with an inert device that he believed to be an improvised explosive, according to court documents.

A woman who knows Domingo, however, said Tuesday that he had never expressed any outward fury toward other religions or people and described his recent conversion to Islam as a way to cope with personal tragedy.

This is not him, said the woman, who identified herself as Domingos ex-girlfriend during a brief interview near his Reseda home.

Through tears, the woman said Domingo had converted to Islam only two months ago, after she suffered a miscarriage.

It was something that he connected with. Not the ISIS side of it, but it was helping him cope, said the woman, who declined to give her name.

The woman said the pair had dated for about a year, and she described Domingo as a history buff who cared for a stray cat in his familys neighborhood. She said he was frustrated with his job working as a salesperson for a security service and was not happy with his time in the military but never expressed the homicidal fury described in court documents.

He was fun. We had normal dates, she said. We went to museums. We went to plays. We went to the beach.

The woman said Domingo had been attending prayers each Friday at a nearby mosque.

A gate outside the Reseda home where Domingo lived with his brother and grandmother was locked Tuesday morning. In a statement, his family said they were shocked by the allegations by federal prosecutors and asked reporters to leave them alone.

We do not know what is going on at this point, the statement read. We are surprised by all of these events in regard with Mark.

Law enforcement officials, however, said they had become increasingly concerned with Domingos erratic behavior. The 26-year-old owned three rifles, two of them semi-automatic, and showed up wearing camouflage and carrying a gun to at least one meeting with an FBI informant, according to court records. Two law enforcement officials told The Times that some investigators were worried Domingo might use the rifles to carry out an attack separate from the bombing.

Domingo remained under constant surveillance from the moment he was contacted by an FBI informant in mid-March, after he posted about wanting to commit killings in response to the March 14 New Zealand shootings. Deputy Chief Horace Frank, who oversees counterterrorism investigations for the Los Angeles Police Department, said the investigation required massive resources with dozens of officers monitoring Domingo.

You have got to be ready for the inevitable, an individual going rogue, and you have to be in a position and have the resources to counter that, he said.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
An Oxnard mother who tried to cover up the death of her abused 3-year-old daughter was sentenced Tuesday to 37 years to life in state prison.

A jury last year found Mayra Alejandra Chavez, 27, guilty of second-degree murder, torture and assault leading to the death of Kimberly Lopez in June 2015. Authorities say Chavez and Kimberlys father, Omar Lopez, disposed of the girls remains in Mexico. Her body was never recovered.

Lopez, 34, who also was originally charged with second-degree murder, made a deal with prosecutors and instead pleaded guilty to child endangerment and perjury and testified against Chavez.

He told jurors that Kimberly died after her head was slammed on the floor while her mother angrily changed her soiled diaper. The girl began having seizures and died in the middle of the night.

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The couple drove the childs body to Mexico and buried it in a blue plastic bag in a shallow grave, he said.

After returning to Oxnard, the two became fearful that the girls body would be found, so on July 25, 2015, they drove to Tijuana and exhumed her remains, said John Barrick, Ventura Countys senior deputy district attorney.

They broke apart her bones with pliers and tried to dissolve what remained of her body in a bucket with bleach and water, which they later poured down a sink in a house they were renting, the prosecutor said.

They literally poured their daughter down the drain, Barrick said, adding that the couple scattered the girls bones on various roads before returning to the United States.

The girls parents had kept her death secret and told authorities inquiring about her months later that she was staying with relatives in Mexico, Barrick said.

Authorities said Chavezs mother, Maria De Jesus Lopez, 45, helped the couple cover up the girls death, lent them her car to drive to Mexico and gave them money. She was sentenced last week to 180 days in jail after pleading guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to destroy and conceal evidence.

Investigators became suspicious in February 2016 when Ventura County Children and Family Services received a call requesting a welfare check on Chavezs older daughter. Chavez and Lopez told officials that Kimberly was living with relatives in Mexico, but the older daughter told them she didnt have a sister.

Social workers reported the girl missing to Oxnard police in September 2016. Authorities offered a $10,000 reward for information to help find Kimberly and searched for months before Chavez admitted to police that the girl was dead, Barrick said.

Kimberly was taken from Chavez immediately after she was born after the baby tested positive for both methamphetamine and marijuana. The child was placed in foster care for about nine months, then was returned to her mother after Chavez completed drug and parenting classes, according to prosecutors.

But Chavez began abusing the girl, authorities say, and Kimberly returned to foster care. Chavez again sought to regain custody and eventually was allowed supervised visits. Lopez testified that the abuse became more severe during that time.

He told jurors that Chavezs punishments for Kimberly included cold showers in which a beanie was pulled over the childs face and water was dumped on her head, and beatings that left her with bruises all over her body.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
A Los Angeles police sergeant was seriously injured in a motor vehicle crash Tuesday morning near USC involving Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr., law enforcement sources told The Times.

Butts was attempting to make a left turn onto the USC campus, possibly against a red light, when his vehicle was struck by another car, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the case with the media.

Butts vehicle then spun and collided with the sergeant, whose motorcycle was parked on the sidewalk. The force of the collision sent both the sergeant and his motorcycle into a nearby fountain, the law enforcement official said.

The crash is under investigation. No one has been cited in the incident at this time.

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Butts could not be reached for comment by phone, text message or email, and one of the mayors assistants declined to comment.

Officer Jeff Lee, an LAPD spokesman, said a sergeant from the departments Central Traffic Division was injured when he was struck by another vehicle near the intersection of Exposition Boulevard and Figueroa Street at 8:47 a.m.

The sergeants motorcycle was stationary at the time. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition, according to Lee, who said the other driver stayed at the scene. No one else was injured.

Lee declined to comment on Butts involvement and referred additional questions to Inglewood officials. LAPD Capt. Gisselle Espinoza, a department spokeswoman, confirmed the vehicle that struck the officer was registered to the city of Inglewood.

The accident occurred when a black sport utility vehicle made a left turn, and a gray Honda traveling west struck the SUV as the SUV was negotiating the turn. The impact caused the SUV to hit the motor officer who was stopped in front of the water fountain, Espinoza said.

Sources said the sergeant suffered several broken bones after being struck by the SUV.

David Carlisle, assistant chief of USCs Department of Public Safety, said the crash occurred near the Pardee Way entrance to campus and tied up traffic in the area all day. No students were involved in the incident, Carlisle said, adding the LAPD will solely handle the investigation.

A USC employee who asked to remain anonymous said she was walking from the bus stop to campus when she heard the screech of brakes and tires and a bang. She looked up and saw a gray sedan and a black SUV in the street.

The SUV then slammed into a stationary police motorcycle, pinning it against the fountain.

I see an officer in the fountain and people run up and try to help him, but they cant move him because hes really injured, the employee said.

If he hadnt had his helmet on, he would be dead, she added.

The USC employee said she ran to the female driver of the sedan, who was sitting on the curb with her young child, visibly shaken.

She said that she also saw a man in a suit who she thought had been driving the SUV, and that the airbag had deployed. She believed he was the only person in the car.

I didnt know who he was, she said. I asked Are you OK? And he said, Yeah, thank you, thank you.

The woman driving the sedan had only minor injuries. As she sat with the USC employee, she described how she had been driving west on Exposition Boulevard when the SUV made a left turn into her car onto the USC Pardee Way driveway.

She told me, I was driving to day care. I had the green light and this car cut in front of me and I couldnt brake fast enough, she said.

Times staff writers Richard Winton, Angel Jennings and Jaclyn Cosgrove contributed to this report.
A Los Angeles City Council member on Wednesday called for the citys road repair agency to do a better job of alerting residents when their streets are being turned into temporary no-parking zones.

Councilman David Ryu, who represents neighborhoods stretching from Silver Lake to Sherman Oaks, introduced a motion to have the Bureau of Street Services put up temporary no-parking signs at least 48 hours before street repairs begin  double the current amount  to reduce the likelihood that cars will be ticketed and towed.

With officials looking to fix hundreds of miles of streets, we need to make sure that the way we prepare and inform impacted residents is fair, Ryu said in a statement.

The cost of retrieving an impounded vehicle is simply too high for us to ignore a flawed sign posting process, he said.

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Ryus proposal came nearly a week after The Times reported on a Hollywood resident who spent almost two years battling the city over a parking citation, the towing fee and assorted legal costs after temporary no-parking signs were placed on her street.

Lisa Soremekun, an actress and filmmaker who lives in Ryus district, said city crews did not properly post the signs in her neighborhood before the second phase of street repairs, causing several cars on Van Ness Avenue to be ticketed and towed. Although Soremekun eventually got her money back  after two city hearings and nine trips to court  many of her neighbors did not.

Under the citys protocol, street repair crews are supposed to put up temporary no-parking signs  placards attached with wire to trees and existing signposts  at least 24 hours before resurfacing work begins.

Those signs go up before crews remove layers of deteriorating asphalt. After that first phase, the temporary no-parking signs are supposed to be turned away from the street, to let residents know its safe to park.

Days or weeks later, when the city is ready to resurface, workers are supposed to turn the signs back toward the street at least 24 hours in advance of construction, to give residents time to move their cars.

Soremekun said that didnt happen on Van Ness Avenue in April 2017, and she wound up fighting the city in court.

Hollywood resident Lisa Soremekun spent nearly two years fighting an L.A. city parking citation and towing fee. She won. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

The judge who ultimately overturned Soremekuns ticket voiced doubts about the temporary signs, pointing out that residents might not check on their cars for more than 24 hours. Ryu, for his part, said he worried that the signs could be easily tampered with, and he wants street repair officials to spell out their current procedure for notifying residents.

Officials with the Bureau of Street Services say they try to avoid towing cars that are left on the street during repairs, sometimes even coming back to do the work on a different day. If the temporary signs have been removed or turned away, a Notice of Street Work is reissued for another date, they said.

In the wake of Soremekuns ordeal, city workers take a photograph of the street on the day that construction begins, to show that the temporary signs are facing the proper direction. Adel Hagekhalil, who heads the bureau, said Ryus motion would allow his agency to improve its handling of temporary no-parking signs and find ways to strengthen our practices and look for new innovative smart technologies to inform constituents.

Soremekun said she was thrilled that Ryu was looking to change the citys handling of the no-parking signs.

That was the whole point of fighting for two years, she said. My initial goal was to get peoples money back. But if they could change their protocol, then ultimately it would save everybody in the long run.

Ryus proposal now heads to the councils public works committee for review. In his motion, he called for the citys chief legislative analyst to report on the citys options for providing refunds to residents whose cars have been towed as a result of an improperly issued parking ticket.

The councilman also said he wants city officials to explore allowing residents to sign up for a notification service about temporary no-parking areas through 311, the citys hotline for requesting graffiti removal, pothole repairs and other municipal services.

david.zahniser@latimes.com

Twitter: @DavidZahniser
Californias 2018 population growth was the slowest in state history, new demographic data show  underscoring shifting immigration patterns, declining birthrates and economic strains that are making it harder for some to afford living here.

The state added 186,807 residents last year, bringing the estimated total population to 39,927,315 as of Jan. 1, according to estimates released by the state Department of Finance on Wednesday. The overall growth rate slipped to 0.47% last year from 0.78% in 2017, the slowest since data collection started in 1900, department spokesman H.D. Palmer said.

Births in the state were down by more than 18,000 compared with the previous year.

Ethan Sharygin, a demographer with the state, said researchers had expected to find a decline in the birthrate but were surprised to see such a large change. One reason for the shift, he said, is the decline in immigrants from Mexico paired with an increase in Asian immigrants.

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The overall profile of immigrants to California is higher education, which correlates to lower fertility, he said. With native-born, we see a long-running trend throughout the U.S where fertility has been trending downward.

Perhaps the biggest force behind the change is higher education rates among women, Sharygin added. That broader trend historically has been masked by high immigration from Latin America, but that is no longer the case.

More education of women translates into later marriage, later childbirth and then fewer children, he said.

Dowell Myers, professor of demography and urban planning at USC, said the slow growth also was due to a lack of housing. A report this year by a public policy think tank found that Californias housing supply law hadnt triggered enough new home building to meet demand.

Myers said the housing crunch makes it harder for younger residents to lay down roots and have children. That is especially concerning as Californias senior population continues to grow at a fast pace. The state faces numerous budget and policy concerns as those older than 65 make up a larger and larger share of the population.

Costs will rise for programs like Medi-Cal, the state-subsidized healthcare system for the poor that provides long-term services and support, including in-home aides and skilled nursing facilities. Local governments and school districts also will have to cope with the rising number of retired workers drawing pensions.

Old people are holding in place, but we are losing the younger generation. We are losing potential parents, Myers said. It is a slow-moving train wreck here.

Growth in California has stalled out, he added. That is pretty amazing.

Officials noted last May that Californias population had grown by an average of 333,000 people a year since 2010.

Los Angeles County, still the largest in the state, saw population growth fall to 0% last year, state officials said this week. The number of residents dropped from 10,254,658 to 10,253,716 by the end of 2018. This is the first time since 2010 that the population dropped in the county, officials said.

High immigration rates also previously had masked another trend: Californians moving away.

About 5 million people moved here from other states from 2007 to 2016, while about 6 million left California, according to data from the American Community Survey.

In 2015, California saw a net gain of some 177,000 immigrants moving to the state and 105,000 residents leaving, according to data from the Finance Department. Between July 2017 and July 2018, however, out-migration surged to about 160,000 people.

We want to see who is moving  whether its the case that more families are moving out, whether its highly educated workers moving in, Sharygin said.

Part of the birthrate drop is also economically driven, said William Frey, author of Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America.

Because of the recession and post-recession, people are less apt to be having kids, Frey said.

Sacramento had the largest percentage gain in population among Californias 10 biggest cities, with 1.49% growth  or 7,400 new residents. Bakersfield grew by 1.1%, while Los Angeles grew by only 0.04%.

California added a net 77,000 completed housing units in 2018, compared with 85,297 units added in 2017 and 89,457 in 2016.

Total housing in the state reached 14.235 million units, a 0.6% increase, according to the Department of Finance. Los Angeles added the most housing units in 2018, with 16,525, while San Diego followed with 4,505 and Irvine came in third with 3,384. Santa Clarita and Sacramento rounded out the top five with 2,486 and 2,353 new units, respectively.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged that 3.5 million new homes will be built in California by 2025, but Myers noted the state is not on track to meet that goal.

It is impossible, he said.

A report from UCLAs Luskin School of Public Affairs this year said the state does not have enough land zoned to meet that goal.

A series of deadly wildfires last year also brought drastic demographic changes to some small cities in Northern California, according to the new population estimates.

RELATED: How Californias wildfires displaced low-income residents 

The Camp fire in Butte County, the most destructive in state history, displaced 83% of the population of Paradise and destroyed almost 90% of the housing stock in the town, a loss of 11,371 units.

Nearby cities of Chico and Oroville each saw their populations increase by about 20% after the fires. Chico added more than 19,000 residents and now has a population of 112,111, while Oroville added 3,682 for a total of 21,773 residents.

Californias fires destroyed 14,600 housing units in Butte County, 900 units in Shasta County, 700 in Ventura County and 300 in Lake County. In L.A. County, Malibu lost close to 500 housing units in the Woolsey fire.

Besides Chico, Californias fastest-growing cities with populations over 30,000 included Dublin in eastern Alameda County, Beaumont in Riverside County and Rocklin in Placer County.
Dr. Eric Scott Sills, a successful Orange County fertility specialist, told investigators he awoke early on a November morning in 2016 to find his wife dead at the bottom of the stairs of their $1-million San Clemente home.

Initially, it appeared that 45-year-old Susann Sills had fallen to her death, but prosecutors say an investigation that has spanned more than two years suggests more sinister circumstances.

Orange County prosecutors on Friday charged Eric Sills, 54, her husband and business partner, with murder in connection with her death. Authorities have not released how the woman died or how they connected her husband to her demise. He has not yet entered a plea.

Sills defense attorney declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday.

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Orange County sheriffs deputies began investigating Susann Sills death after they were called to the couples home on Via Cancion on Nov. 13, 2016. The Sheriffs Departments homicide unit was called in to investigate because of the unknown nature of the death, prosecutors said this week.

Based on the investigation and autopsy, authorities determined in 2017 that she had been killed. Over the next year, homicide detectives and the district attorneys office continued to investigate, and last month, authorities obtained an arrest warrant for the physician.

The warrant, filed in Orange County Superior Court, is sealed, which shields it from public view.

Eric Sills was arrested April 25 on his way to work. He was booked into the Orange County Jail and released four days later after posting $1-million bail, according to jail records.

Sills graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in 1992 and received a doctorate from the University of Westminster in London in 2013, according to his online resume.

The couple had been married for more than a decade and had two children. They also went into business together, according to public records.

Susann Sills, who earned an MBA from the University of Miami in 2000, was the co-founder of Center for Advanced Genetics, a fertility clinic in Carlsbad, according to an obituary published in the Los Angeles Times. Eric Sills serves as medical director at the clinic.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES.



TORONTO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nutritional High International Inc. ("Nutritional High" or the "Company") (CSE: EAT, OTCQB: SPLIF, FRANKFURT: 2NU) is pleased to announce that it has engaged Haywood Securities Inc (the Lead Agent) to act as lead agent and sole book runner, along with Foundation Markets Inc. (together with the Lead Agent, the Agents) to sell, by way of private placement, on a reasonable efforts agency basis (the Offering) up to 15,000,000 of units (the Units) of the Company at a price of $0.20 (the Issue Price) for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $3,000,000 (the Offering). Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (a Common Share) and one common share purchase warrant (a Warrant). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share (a Warrant Share) at a price of $0.30 for a period of 36 months from the date of closing of the Offering. The term of the Warrants is subject to an acceleration right, exercisable at any time at the option of the Company, in the event that the Common Shares trade at or above CAD $0.60 per Common Share for 20 consecutive trading days at any time after the date which is four months and one day from the Closing Date. The Company will provide Warrant holders with 30 days prior written notice of the accelerated Warrant expiry date.

The Company has agreed to grant the Agents an option (the Agents Option) to offer for sale up to an additional 15,000,000 Units (the Additional Units) at the Issue Price, by Haywood, on behalf of the Agents, providing notice to the Company at any time up to 48 hours prior to the Closing Date.

In connection with the Offering, the Agents will be paid a cash commission equal to 8% of the gross proceeds of the Offering (the Cash Fee). Upon closing, the Agents will also receive compensation options (each, a Compensation Option) in a number equal to 8% of the number of Units (the Compensation Units) sold under the Offering. Each Compensation Unit shall be comprised of one Common Share (a Compensation Unit Share, and one common share purchase warrant (each whole, a Compensation Unit Warrant). Each Compensation Unit Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common share (a Compensation Warrant Share) at a price equal to the Issue Price for a period of 36 months from the date of closing of the Offering.

The Offering is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four month and one day hold period, from the date of closing, in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

About Nutritional High International Inc.

Nutritional High is focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing products under recognized brands in the cannabis products industry, with a specific focus on edibles and oil extracts for medical and adult recreational use. The Company works exclusively with licensed facilities in jurisdictions where such activity is permitted and regulated by state law.

The Company follows a vertically integrated model with a fully developed strategy for acquisitions in extraction, production, sales, and distribution sectors of the cannabis industry. Nutritional High has brought its flagship FLI edibles and extracts product line from production to market through its wholly owned subsidiaries in California and Oregon, as well as Colorado where its FLI products are manufactured by a third-party licensed producer. In California, the Company distributes its products and products manufactured by other leading producers through its wholly owned distributor Calyx Brands Inc. and is entering the Nevada, Washington State and Canadian markets in the near future.

For updates on the Company's activities and highlights of the Company's press releases and other media coverage, please follow Nutritional High on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and Google+ or visit www.nutritionalhigh.com .

For further information, please contact:

David Posner

Co-Chairman of the Board

Nutritional High International Inc.

647-985-6727

Email: dposner@nutritionalhigh.com

Ethan Karayannopoulos

Director, Investor Relations

Nutritional High International Inc.

416-777-6175

Email: ethan@nutritionalhigh.com

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR OTC MARKETS GROUP INC., NOR THEIR REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDERS HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. The statements relate to potential market expansion and the use of the proceeds of the Offering. Risks that may have an impact on the ability for these events to be achieved include completion of due diligence, negotiation of definitive agreements and receipt of applicable approvals. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.

The Company's securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking information expressed in this press release include, but are not limited to: obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals including acquiring and renewing U.S. state, local or other licenses, the uncertainty of existing protection from U.S. federal or other prosecution, regulatory or political change such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including U.S. state-law legalization, market and general economic conditions of the cannabis sector or otherwise.
Online sales have taken over a growing percentage of the U.S. retail market, accounting for about $1 out of every $7 spent by consumers. But through much of that rise, online sellers had an unfair advantage over brick-and-mortar retailers: They werent compelled to collect sales taxes from consumers in states where they had no offices. Thats because the Supreme Court had exempted mail-order companies decades ago from collecting out-of-state sales taxes.

That all changed last year. In South Dakota vs. Wayfair, the justices reversed their position and held that states could indeed compel out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes from in-state buyers. The court wisely recognized that the older rulings were distorting the retail market, to the disadvantage of local shops and local governments that relied on sales taxes.

California responded with a new law last month (Assembly Bill 147) that requires retailers to collect sales taxes from buyers in California even if the companies have no physical presence in the state. And to help smaller out-of-state businesses that sell their goods on the platforms provided by Amazon and other big e-commerce companies, AB 147 requires the platform operators to collect taxes on behalf of third-party retailers.

As unfair as it may have been for out-of-state retailers to avoid the sales tax burden, they were playing by the rules of the day.

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Thats appropriate, given that many of these smaller online retailers are sellers in name only  they rely on the likes of Amazon to store, market, sell, ship and handle returns of their goods. And besides, its simple enough for Amazon and its ilk to collect the taxes  theyre already set up to do so wherever they have offices, which in Amazons case is practically every state in the union.

But state tax officials arent looking just to Amazon for more sales-tax revenue. Instead, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration has been seeking years of back taxes, with penalties and interest, from small out-of-state businesses that sold products through Amazons Fulfilled by Amazon program to shoppers in California. For example, a 12-person company in Michigan that sells comfort shoes and orthotic inserts online is facing a $200,000 bill for three years of back taxes, penalties and interest. A mom-and-pop kitchenware supplier is facing a bill for more than $100,000.

As unfair as it may have been for out-of-state retailers to avoid the sales tax burden, they were playing by the rules of the day. To demand back taxes now seems every bit as unfair.

In the years leading up to the Wayfair ruling, states across the country and Congress tried again and again to come up with a sales-tax regime for online retailers, to no avail. So out-of-state companies had reason to believe that they were under no obligation to collect taxes from California shoppers. In fact, the state enacted a law in 2011 exempting online retailers from having to collect sales taxes here unless they maintained warehouses or showrooms in the state.

Amazon started having to collect sales taxes on the products it sold to Californians when the company opened a fulfillment center in San Bernardino in 2012, its first warehouse in California. The company didnt automatically collect taxes on the goods it sold on behalf of third parties, however; it left that decision to those smaller retailers.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

But the Department of Tax and Fee Administration argues that under long-standing state law, merely having a product for sale in an Amazon warehouse in California was enough to trigger an obligation to collect sales taxes from California consumers  even if the item wasnt in fact sold from within the state. Nor does it matter to the department that Amazon unilaterally decides where to store goods from third-party sellers, and it can move products into California without the third-party sellers approval or advance knowledge.

This is a gotcha approach to tax collection, and given national debate and widespread uncertainty over the rules for sales taxes, its wholly inappropriate. The department says sellers can go back to their former customers and try to recover the sales taxes now due, but thats unrealistic to the point of absurdity.

State Treasurer Fiona Ma argues that the state shouldnt be going after small businesses that seized the opportunity that Amazon and other online platforms presented. Shes right. The obligations for Amazon and other out-of-state retailers are clear now, but they werent before AB 147. Gov. Gavin Newsom should order the Department of Tax and Fee Administration to stop pursuing back taxes and focus instead on strong enforcement going forward.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
President Trumps new executive order for managing the tens of thousands of asylum seekers crossing the U.S.-Mexico border each month contains a germ of sense, but for the most part, like his earlier efforts, it is too harsh and fails to address the underlying problems that propel migration.

The order Trump gave to the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security on Monday lacks specifics but sets certain general rules. He wants the system sped up so that asylum cases are resolved within 180 days. Thats a good idea, if he can really accomplish it while respecting due process and reaching fair decisions. But he also wants to charge asylum seekers an application fee not to exceed the costs of adjudicating the application and he wants to bar temporary work permits for those who entered the country illegally. Those are punitive and counterproductive ideas.

There is no doubt that the U.S. faces a pressing problem at the border. In March alone, agents apprehended more than 100,000 people, up significantly from the average of nearly 64,000 over the previous five months. And more and more of them are requesting asylum when they arrive. Many of the asylum seekers probably dont qualify for protection, which U.S. law and international agreements reserve for people facing persecution for their political or religious beliefs, their nationality or ethnicity, or because they belong to a particular social group targeted for repression. People fleeing street and gang crime generally fall outside the asylum criteria, as do those trying to escape poverty for a better standard of living.

Trumps proposal to make asylum seekers pay an application fee runs counter to the notion of offering sanctuary to the desperate.

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Under the current system, a migrant can cross into the United States legally or illegally and make an asylum request to a border agent. That leads to an interview with a trained immigration officer to determine whether the migrant has made a preliminary case for a credible fear of persecution. Those who do are referred to the immigration court system for hearings and decisions, a process that can take months or even years. During that time, most asylum seekers are not detained but are released into the country.

Of course the government should reach decisions as quickly as it can  thats to everybodys advantage. Fast decisions give resolution to the deserving rather than making them live in limbo, and also discourage long-shot requests by people whose requests are not merited.

But the immigration court system, which handles all immigration cases, has been overwhelmed for years. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, the current backlog stands at 869,000 cases; on average, those cases have been pending for 736 days. If the administration prioritizes asylum requests, by necessity non-asylum cases would be pushed back. Trump cant fix any of that with a wave of the pen and an order to speed things up. The system needs many more judges and support staff, and more help for those requesting asylum to navigate the arcane system. That takes money, and Trump needs to work with Congress to expand the systems capacity to meet the demand it faces. Above all, asylum seekers deserve due process and fair decisions.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

Trumps proposal to make asylum seekers pay an application fee runs counter to the notion of offering sanctuary to the desperate. Making people pay to exercise their right to seek help is cruel, and probably would lead to fewer applications by the poor, no matter how deserving they might be. Its not much of an asylum system if it helps only those with money. Trump also wants to charge migrants fees to process applications for work permits, which would disadvantage those most desperate for the work. And he wants to bar work permits for asylum seekers who cross the border without permission between ports of entry, even though federal law allows anyone to enter the country anywhere and apply for asylum.

The latter policy would divide asylum seekers into classes. A migrant who wades across the Rio Grande and seeks out a border agent wouldnt be entitled to a work permit; someone who enters on a tourist visa and applies for asylum would. That is fundamentally unfair. Its also bad policy. If we allow people to remain in the country (while the courts, most likely, continue to take years to render a decision), wouldnt we want those people to be able to support themselves in the meantime rather than becoming burdens on the state? Again, such a policy favors the wealthy over the poor.

The president is right when he says the immigration system is broken, but he has shown once again that hes incapable of, or perhaps uninterested in, fixing it.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook
A few hours after the Saturday attack on the synagogue in Poway, I was at a mimouna  the Moroccan Jewish party that celebrates the end of the eight-day Passover holiday. An older woman was busily rolling balls of dough into flat discs, roughly the size and circular shape of handmade flour tortillas. She laid them on a griddle until they were fragrant and golden brown, then piled them on a plate.

The host of the mimouna, a young TV and film producer, took these warm mufleta  the traditional Moroccan Jewish end-of-Passover treat  and smeared them with sweet butter and honey before passing them out to the ravenous crowd.

And what a crowd. This being a West Hollywood mimouna, the stylish home was packed with guests from the worlds of film, fashion and tech. Steps from a glowing blue pool, a DJ was blasting Middle Eastern and North African techno to a full dance floor and the wine was flowing. It was nothing but fun and release.

So what is the future of American Jewish life: horrific synagogue shootings and rampant anti-Semitism or joyous, carefree post-Passover celebrations?

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Its understandable we might not see this larger picture because in the aftermath of terror attacks, peddling good news feels gauche.

Based on the reactions to the Poway shooting, youd have to choose the bleaker options. Youd have to believe its three minutes to midnight for American Jewry, time to grab the luggage and go.

Given our shared Jewish history, its easy to understand the impulse. In the not-so-distant past, so many Jews refused to see the writing on the wall until the walls closed in. But if we view 2019 only through the lens of 1939, we are missing the central truth of these attacks: Its not just about Jews. Yes, we are vulnerable, but in our 3,000-year history, we have never been more accepted, powerful, even beloved. Yes, we are victimized, but we are not the only targets. Yes, we have enemies, but we have far more allies.

Its understandable we might not see this larger picture because in the aftermath of terror attacks, peddling good news feels gauche. In the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack that killed 11 congregants six month ago, and again after the Poway shooting, the media repeated the same shocking American Defamation League findings that in 2017 anti-Semitic acts rose by 57% from a year earlier.

Yet the ADL found the number of anti-Semitic assaults in 2017 actually fell by 50%  from 36 to 19  over the previous year in the United States, a country with over 600,000 violent assaults each year.

Meanwhile, another 2017 statistic has received less attention: A Pew poll found that more Americans feel warmly toward Jews than toward any other religious group.

The ADLs just-released 2018 survey shows some anti-Semitic acts increased, some declined, and overall numbers to be about what they were in 1991. But over the past five decades, the United States, according to a 2018 analysis by political scientist Jeffrey E. Cohen, has become a much more accepting nation toward Jews.

Thats why, when I think about Poway, I also think of the mimouna. Because any discussion of the threats to Jewish American life that doesnt mention its utter vibrancy is deceptive. Any warning about American anti-Semitism that doesnt speak of Americas embrace of Jewish life and culture is a flat-out lie. Commentaries about these rare but horrific attacks that are all oy and no joy risk masking the more complicated reality of American Jewish life and the forces that threaten it.

Difficult as it may be for American Jews to see, those forces arent just targeting Jews. They threaten all minorities. A small cohort of largely white Americans is striking out against a society they perceive as increasingly ethnically and religiously diverse.

The Poway shooter reportedly cited as inspiration the Christchurch mosque shooting in New Zealand that killed 50 Muslim worshipers. Police are investigating claims that a month before the synagogue attack, the Poway shooter set fire to a nearby mosque.

Anti-Semitism is fundamental to the worldview of these white nationalists, but it is welded to their hatred of immigrants, people of color, homosexuals and Muslims.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

They hate Jews, but they hate everyone else too. The white nationalist who killed nine black parishioners in South Carolina in 2015 had posted screeds against Jews and Muslims. The day before 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye died protecting the rabbi at Chabad of Poway, a driver in Sunnyvale, Calif., rammed his truck into a group of people he assumed were Muslim, police say, and left a 13-year-old girl of South Asian descent in a coma with severe brain trauma.

The white nationalist movement is a clear and present danger to the free exercise of religion in the United States. This is not a time for Jews to fear and panic, but a moment to join with formidable allies and fight back. Its a time to work to turn the full force of public opinion, regulation, law enforcement and private enterprise against the white nationalist movement.

A relative handful of white nationalists lash out, pathetic in their hate. Jews have the company of other minorities, the political establishment and the vast majority of a supportive, accepting America.

We have good reason not to fear. This time, we are not fighting alone.

Rob Eshman is the former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Jewish Journal.
For generations, American children found communists just as scary as the Wicked Witch of the West and Darth Vader. Socialism, as Friedrich Engels described Karl Marxs philosophy, never caught on here. To modern millennials, however, fear of socialism seems as ancient as a rotary phone. In March 2019, Axios released results from a Harris poll showing that nearly half  49.6%%  of millennial and Generation Z respondents said that they would prefer living in a socialist country. An August 2018 YouGov poll revealed that only 30% of 18-to-29-year-olds had good feelings toward capitalism, but 35% regarded socialism positively.

It was just 25 years ago that socialism in the Soviet Union collapsed; how could it have made such a comeback?

The likeliest answer: The Great Recession left millennials looking for alternatives to capitalism, without the Cold War ideological guideposts that positioned older generations. Apostles of free markets once could condemn bad economic ideas merely by branding them socialist because real-world Marxists did such a good job of showing how much evil could radiate from aggressive state control. But with those negative examples mostly vanquished, the task ahead is to convince young people that society requires liberty as well as compassion. The private ingenuity that generates new products and new jobs needs incentives as well as regulation.

However imperfect the free market is, the moral and economic track record of state-dominated economies is far worse.

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Recent economic travails have had a far greater impact on the young than anyone else. In 2010, the jobless rate for men 25 to 34 stood at 21.8%. Two years later, the rate had fallen only by a few points, to 19.8% . Even by 2018, joblessness among young men remained alarmingly high: 13.9%. At the same time, younger Americans could see wealthier, older people getting richer. Housing markets recovered; the stock market rose again and again from 2009 to 2018.

Faced with these realities, many younger Americans listened to left-wing critics of President Obama, who argued that the administration was too timid in its economic reforms, too friendly with Wall Street. In 2011, the Occupy Movement found converts by attacking capitalism and the need for any political compromise. Nevertheless, young Americans arent die-hard socialists. If the friends of freedom want a way into their hearts and minds, however, well have to update our message to speak to millennials hopes and fears.

We should recognize that millennials like entrepreneurship, the cornerstone of capitalism. A 2016 Gallup survey found that 90% of 18-to-29-year-olds viewed entrepreneurs  think Silicon Valley  positively, and 98% looked favorably on small businesses. In fact, the youngest respondents had the most enthusiasm for socialism and for small businesses and entrepreneurship. Millennials have not lost sight of the dynamism that comes from private enterprise.

The case for liberty must be about more than material gains, however. Too often, advocates of economic freedom make their case primarily by arguing that low taxes lead to immediate prosperity for individuals and to system-wide gains because strong economic incentives generate higher levels of output. But we rarely hear the moral argument that can counter the left wings castigation of capitalisms apparent injustices.

And yet the case can be made. Socialists ignore the side of man that is the spirit, said Ronald Reagan. They can provide you shelter, fill your belly with bacon and beans, treat you when youre ill, all the things guaranteed to a prisoner or a slave. They dont understand that we also dream.

Reagans argument remains a potent condemnation of leftist chimeras. For example, liberal enthusiasm for a universal basic income  a favorite idea among Silicon Valley elites, who see artificial intelligence and robotics as potentially obliterating millions of jobs. What kind of nation would the U.S. be if, say, 40% of adults subsisted on government handouts? The data on joblessness show the broken spirits of those lacking the sense of purpose and social connections that come with work. The make-work public employment guarantees advanced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and other politicians are soul-killing.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

Many millennials recognize that the economy often protects insiders at outsiders expense. But that can be an argument for liberty too  by undoing regulatory policies that entrench the old, we can encourage the young. For example, anti-tax absolutists in California could rethink aspects of Proposition 13, which, among other things, inordinately helps older homeowners and challenges first-time home buyers. Fairer regulation, and less of it, will be an entrepreneurial boon. If a Harvard undergrad wants to start an internet business in his dorm room, he may accumulate 1 billion users before government starts paying attention. If a Haitian immigrant wants to open a grocery in Harvard Square, he may be sunk by a dense thicket of regulations.

To succeed today, the case for capitalism and liberty also must acknowledge that the system can leave people unprotected from calamity. Social insurance policies compatible with the cause of freedom can make the safety net, like regulation, fairer. Means testing benefits would be a great start. And the right must stop equating social democracies like Sweden and Denmark with socialism. When they do that, millions of young people who like the way Swedes live start thinking they must be socialists.

Twentysomethings dont want the government to run pizzerias, but they do want more government control over some sectors of the economy. To keep the young from falling into real socialism, we must enhance their upward mobility and create a more equitable safety net by empowering entrepreneurship and making capitalisms case: However imperfect the free market is, the moral and economic track record of state-dominated economies is far worse.

Edward L. Glaeser is a professor of economics at Harvard University and a contributing editor to City Journal, from which this essay was adapted.

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To the editor: How egalitarian of these staff members and parents to vote to keep the late Michael Jacksons name on the Gardner Street Elementary School auditorium because he was never convicted of a crime.

I wonder if this same level of enlightenment applies to William McKinley, Christopher Columbus and Junipero Serra (just to name a few whose names also grace school buildings and public monuments), who have never been convicted of any crime and whose histories are no more complex in the mixture of good and bad outcomes than Jacksons.

How uniquely American is it that an entertainer, who made millions of dollars off his fans, can be excused any transgression because his music was great.

Mike Post, Winnetka

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To the editor: This article says that some in the Gardner community noted that Jackson was never convicted of wrongdoing and cannot defend himself.

A major reason Jackson didnt go to prison is because he had high-priced lawyers who defended him.

This is an embarrassment.

Stephen Baker, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
To the editor: Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper correctly describe our failings to counter anti-Semitism and racism without once pointing to the White House and President Trump as sources.

The presidents words and actions have fueled hatred and division, even earning praise and support from right-wing extremists.

Their op-ed article criticizes lawmakers for politicizing instead of effectively addressing the issues. One has to wonder if the rabbis are politicizing the issue by omitting the failure in moral leadership from the top.

Rabbi Marc Dworkin, Long Beach

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To the editor: Hier and Cooper are right in their plea for eradicating the hate that is taking away the American dream. Our leaders must set the tone, and quickly.

But we should also, again, be talking about the military-style weapons that are so readily available to us.

I grew up without any of the fears that my children and grandchildren have to face, and I am disheartened. Enough!

Esther Friedberg, Studio City

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To the editor: How sad that Hier and Cooper spoil their eloquent appeal for comity with a gratuitous and frankly hateful swipe at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). The person who allegedly attacked the synagogue in Poway, Calif., on Saturday is believed to be a white nationalist.

These people are emboldened to act on their irrational hatred by opportunistic support from the highest levels of our government. Rather than lecture Omar, perhaps the rabbis should caution White House advisor Stephen Miller about the friends he has chosen.

Charlie Dodson, Long Beach

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To the editor: How unusual it is to see contradictory and hypocritical statements in the same op-ed article.

In their first paragraph, Hier and Cooper state, European Jews, to try to protect themselves from Palestinians in the 1970s, and today from returning Islamic State fighters, have long accepted that the only way to pray in peace is to prepare for war.

But later in their piece they write, Media outlets dont seem to trust that Americans are mature enough to know that all Muslims arent responsible if an Islamist commits a hate attack, just as all of Christendom is not culpable when a white nationalist invokes Scripture to justify murder.

Why, then, did they say that protection was needed from all Palestinians?

Tony Haftel, Palm Desert

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Atty. Gen. William Barr pulled out of a scheduled House appearance hours after Democrats attacked his credibility during a contentious Senate hearing Wednesday and accused him of deliberately mischaracterizing special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs final report to protect President Trump.

The Justice Department said Barr would not show up for a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday because the Democratic-led panel had overruled Barrs objections and would allow staff lawyers to question him. A department spokeswoman called those conditions unprecedented and unnecessary.

Barrs boycott marked a new escalation in the raging political battle between the White House and House Democrats, who have stepped up their investigations of Trump since release of Muellers report two weeks ago.

The administration has refused to comply with a House Ways and Means Committee request for Trumps tax returns and refused to give the House Judiciary Committee an unredacted copy of Muellers final report.

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The president also has sued the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee to block a subpoena for information about his businesses and sued a bank and accounting firm to stop them from complying with subpoenas seeking his financial records.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Barr was trying to blackmail the committee to change its rules, and members would consider issuing a subpoena to get him to testify. Congress cannot permit the executive branch, the administration, to dictate to Congress how we operate, he said.

During his Senate testimony Wednesday, Barr repeatedly pushed back at his critics, calling the controversy over how he characterized Muellers work mind-bendingly bizarre because a lightly redacted version of the full 448-page report was subsequently made public.

He said he was absolutely confident in his judgment that the president did not try to unlawfully impede the investigation, and he was frankly surprised that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice.

I think that if he felt that he shouldnt go down the path of making a traditional prosecutorial decision, then he shouldnt have investigated, he said.

He also dismissed a letter of complaint from Mueller as a bit snitty, a hint of the growing friction between the attorney general appointed by Trump and the former FBI director who investigated the president.

Mueller wrote Barr on March 27, three days after the attorney general had provided Congress with what he described as a summary of Muellers conclusions. In his written response, the special counsel said Barr failed to fully capture the context, nature and substance of the investigation and contributed to public confusion about critical aspects of the results.

Despite that complaint, Barr contended that Mueller was not concerned with the accuracy of his summary but with how it was being reported by the media. And he argued that release of Muellers report rendered those objections moot.

I wasnt hiding the ball, Barr said.

A veteran lawyer, Barr appeared calm and occasionally folksy during the five-hour hearing, at one point saying that after Mueller handed in the report, it was my baby. But he parsed his answers carefully and gave little ground to his critics, including some Democrats who called for him to resign.

Democrats made clear they were not satisfied. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) accused the attorney general of masterful hair-splitting. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said, History will judge you harshly. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said Barr lied to Congress.

The hearing was the latest skirmish in the partisan warfare that has characterized the Russia investigation since it began in mid-2016. Democrats called for Barr to resign or at least recuse himself from investigations emerging from the Russia inquiry, while Republicans pounded the FBI and Justice Department for their conduct at the start of the probe.

This attorney general lacks all credibility and has, I think, compromised the American publics ability to believe that he is a purveyor of justice, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is running for president, said after the hearing.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, pressed Barr about his conclusion that Trump did not obstruct justice during the investigation.

Contrary to the declarations of the total and complete exoneration, the special counsels report contained substantial evidence of misconduct, she said.

Trump praised Barr in an interview with the Fox Business Network, saying that Democrats were ranting and raving like lunatics, frankly.

Its so ridiculous, the president said. Hes an outstanding man. Hes an outstanding legal mind. And I heard he performed incredibly well today.

Senate Republicans rallied around Barr, praising his handling of the Russia investigation and his willingness to look into what they alleged were glaring problems in how it was conducted.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the committee chairman, focused on whether the inquiry was tainted by political bias from the start, noting that an FBI agent and an FBI lawyer had traded private text messages disparaging Trump.

This committee is going to look long and hard at how all this started, Graham said.

Republicans repeatedly returned to the FBIs use of a dossier of unverified allegations compiled by a former British spy working for Democrats during the campaign. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked whether Barr could state with confidence that the dossier was not part of a Russian disinformation effort.

I cant state that with confidence, Barr said. He added that it was not entirely speculative that Russian operatives may have purposefully supplied false or misleading information to the former British spy, Christopher Steele.

Barr said he will review the court-approved surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide during the 2016 campaign, and he defended his description of the eavesdropping as spying, saying it was not meant as a pejorative term.

I think spying is a good English word, he said.

Barr said he could not fathom why the Obama administration didnt brief the Trump campaign about the Kremlins efforts to interfere in the election. Intelligence officials put out a public statement on Oct. 7, 2016, saying Moscow was behind hacks of Democratic Party emails, but they had tracked the Russian operation since the summer.

Barr, a longtime proponent of expansive presidential power, said Trump was justified in believing the Russia investigation was unfair because Mueller couldnt find evidence of a conspiracy between the campaign and Moscow. He said the president had authority under the Constitution to try to shut the inquiry down.

If it was groundless, based on false allegations, the president does not have to sit there constitutionally and allow it to run its course, Barr said. The president could terminate that proceeding and it would not be a corrupt intent because he was being falsely accused. He would be worried about the impact on his administration.

However, Barr appeared uncomfortable when Harris asked whether Trump or others at the White House had asked or suggested he open an investigation.

Barr stammered, then asked her to repeat the question. Im trying to grapple with the word suggest, he said. I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there. They have not asked me to open an investigation.

Perhaps theyve suggested? Harris responded.

I wouldnt say suggest, Barr said.

Hinted? Inferred? You dont know? Harris pressed. Barr didnt respond.

Trump has previously said the Justice Department should be investigating Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the 2016 election.

Mueller did not say in his report whether Trump had committed the crime of obstructing justice, saying it would be unfair to reach such a determination because a president cannot be indicted while in office.

Barr and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and supervised his work, concluded that Trump had not violated the law.

Democrats pressed Barr on whether Trumps behavior was appropriate, noting that Mueller documented the presidents attempts to fire the special counsel and otherwise impede the investigation.

At each turn, Barr provided an interpretation of the evidence most favorable to Trump.

When Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who is running for president, noted that Trump criticized potential witnesses for flipping and cooperating with prosecutors, Barr said Trump was only casting aspersions on people who lied to reduce their own prison sentences.

Barr also refused to pass judgment on Trumps actions. Hirono asked Barr whether it was OK for the president to ask Donald McGahn, his first White House counsel, to lie, one of the findings in the report.

Im willing to talk about whats criminal, Barr said.
Vincent Casalaina is quite captivated with Beto.

The 73-year-old Berkeley retiree spent a month last year in Texas working unsuccessfully to elect Beto  that would be Beto ORourke  to the United States Senate. He was on hand this weekend, clad in his Beto for Senate T-shirt, when the former El Paso congressman brought his much-hyped presidential bid to San Francisco.

Casalaina has been worried, though, about Beto, who has lost altitude  Oprah! Vanity Fair!  since his March launch. He needs to draw more attention, Casalaina said, suggesting ORourke follow President Trump around the country and draft on the gust of Democratic outrage that invariably follows.

But Jessica Freels, who recently crossed the bay from Walnut Creek to join hundreds of candidate-shoppers at San Franciscos United Irish Cultural Center, counseled the opposite. Dry matches and good batteries, said the 47-year-old photographer, a maxim she described as keeping your head down, maintaining a steady balance and focusing on the basics.

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Beto ORouke greets supporters as he arrives for a rally at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Whos running for president and whos not 

Supporters are not the only ones trying to figure out where ORourke goes from here. As he spent four days meandering through California, the White House hopeful seemed just as much in flux, searching for direction even more than votes in the states March 3 primary.

He toggled between policy and photo-ops, between big crowds and intimate settings. He took copious notes, filled his Instagram feed with luxuriant photos of Yosemite and spoke over and over about the strategy that propelled his Democratic Senate candidacy to a near-upset victory in deep-red Texas: Show up. Listen.

I may have picked up a total of two or three votes in Guthrie, Texas, ORourke told the San Francisco audience, referring to a town of fewer than 200 people that cast 96% of its votes for Trump. But it made me a better candidate, it made me a better public servant going forward. We have so much in common. And if we choose not to write each other off or take each other for granted, I think theres no stopping us.

The crowd responded with applause and chants of Beto! Beto!

Democratic presidential candidate Beto ORourke speaks to supporters during a campaign rally in Los Angeles. (MARK RALSTON / AFP/Getty Images)

Some observers, however, suggest ORourke and his fledgling campaign team have been too reliant on his experience as a Senate candidate, assuming a bid for the White House was a mere extension of his live-stream, skateboard-through-parking-lots, wait-for-the-next-viral-moment campaign.

Its one thing to run a largely uncontested Democratic Senate primary ... and then run against Ted Cruz, a Republican incumbent personally disliked by members of both parties, said Jim Henson, who teaches government studies at the University of Texas. Its a whole other thing to enter a crowded presidential field where, at the outset, there were a lot of people who were more heavy and had other assets to bring to the table.

The last few weeks have been a steep learning curve for ORourke, 46, who has worked to bulk up his campaign with more seasoned professionals and reined in some of his personal idiosyncrasies, like a penchant for jumping on countertops and other elevated platforms, that quickly lapsed into cliche.

Still, given the sprawling Democratic field and fleeting voter attention spans, even those adjustments havent kept ORourke from losing some of his early luster.

The Democrat of the moment, Pete Buttigieg, shares some of ORourkes attributes  relative youth, a fresh face  but his cool, articulate demeanor contrasts with the Texans edgier, more frenetic approach. To a greater extent than anyone, the South Bend, Ind., mayor has damped the blaze of Beto-mania  but how long his moment lasts is an open question.

For all the buildup, ORourke has proved a fairly commonplace candidate.

His stump speech, delivered in seamless English and Spanish, amounts to standard Democratic fare: gun control, paid family leave, universal healthcare, LGBTQ rights, a $15-per-hour minimum wage, campaign finance reform, a more humane immigration policy.

He places particular emphasis on voting rights, calling for same-day registration, automatic enrollment of 18-year-olds and an end to gerrymandering, which stifles competition in legislative races. Carving up the country based on voters race and ethnicity, he said, serves to diminish the power of their votes, to silence their voices.

On Monday, ORourke broke fresh ground when he unveiled a plan to fight climate change by spending trillions of dollars to wean the country off fossil fuels.

The announcement, coinciding with a tour of Yosemite National Park, reflected the candidates twin impulses, answering criticism his campaign lacks substance while shunning the familiar trappings  academic setting, speech from a lectern  of a major policy rollout.

As details circulated in the world outside, ORourke walked the Lower Yosemite Falls Trail along with a local climate change researcher and an environmental justice advocate from Tulare County. They discussed how global warming has affected the parks ancient sequoias and air quality in the nearby Central Valley.

The visit, with its stunning vistas, resulted in little interaction with any of Californias 14 million eligible Democratic primary voters but provided plenty of fodder for those following on social media. One jogger shimmied around ORourke and his entourage, which included a pack of reporters and staff members, without breaking stride.

Others he encountered reacted with polite curiosity.

Shingo Kumagai, a tourist from Japan, walked up to ORourke for a handshake and said, I have no idea what this is.

ORourke introduced himself and Kumagai asked whether he was president of the United States. Im running to be president, ORourke said.

So you will be president then? Kumagai asked.

I hope so, ORourke replied.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto ORourke, left, talks with Anne Kelly, center, Director of the Sierra Nevada Research Stations and environmental advocate Leslie Martinez in Yosemite National Park. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

Democratic candidates tune out voter anxieties over border security 

A handful of other tourists posed for selfies before the candidate got into a minivan and drove himself to Modesto Junior College for a roundtable session with farmers, scientists and community activists. ORourke mentioned his newly unveiled climate change initiative a few times, but mostly scribbled in a thin green notebook he otherwise kept tucked in his waistband.

Miguel Montejano and Stephen Ortiz, two 19-year-olds studying irrigation, attended a private lunch with the White House hopeful and fellow students. They said politics never came up and ORourke didnt explicitly solicit their votes. He was asking lots of questions, Montejano said, like he wants to know more.

Perhaps the best news for ORourke is that many months remain before the first 2020 votes are cast and, while former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders sit atop most preference polls, there appears to be no breakaway front-runner.

He seems to have hit a wall, Paul Maslin, a veteran Democratic strategist who is staying out of the Democratic primary, said of ORourke. But maybe all of them will hit walls and then, eventually, one breaks through. We just dont know when or who or how.

mark.barabak@latimes.com

@markzbarabak
A consistent theme animated Iowa voters as former Vice President Joe Biden brought his newly announced presidential campaign to the state  practicality, not passion.

Many said they held a place in their hearts for one or another of Bidens rivals, but, for now, had chosen to suppress those feelings, in part out of concern that the rest of the country wont share them.

I like Elizabeth Warrens policies, I just dont think she can get elected, Greg Reed, a 72-year-old retired high school principal, said as he waited for Biden to appear at a Cedar Rapids auditorium. I believe Biden can win. Thats what Im interested in. Beating Trump.

In conversation after conversation, voters made similar comments, talking of worries that the electorate is too sexist to elect a woman, too prejudiced to send another person of color to the White House, too cautious to embrace the sweeping economic plans of the partys star progressives.

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Im old enough to tell you what it was like when [Sen. George] McGovern ran, said Caroline Koppes, 71, of Dubuque. We thought we were so great when we helped him get the nomination.

McGovern won one state, she said, referring to the Democrats 1972 landslide loss to President Nixon.

Now, desperate to extract Trump, I will take the safest course, she said.

To her  as to many  thats Biden.

Iowa, which holds the first contest of the primary season, has twice before chewed up Biden in failed presidential bids that exposed his shortcomings as a campaigner, fundraiser and organizer. But that was water under the bridge for many voters who came out to see the former vice president, known fondly as Uncle Joe to many Iowans nostalgic for the Obama administration.

Several polls have shown Biden, who already led the pack, getting a significant boost after his announcement last week that he is, indeed, running. The poll numbers reflect a Democratic electorate that suspects he is uniquely positioned to defeat Trump.

The risk for Biden is that support rooted more in calculation than fervor could prove fleeting should he start to project anything other than a clear sense of electability.

Some voters leaning Bidens way said they hoped that should he win the nomination, he would choose as his running mate one of the candidates they would really like to vote for, but for the electability problem.

For Cindy and Stan Vander Linden, a couple in their 60s who caught Bidens speech at a cavernous indoor-outdoor brewpub in Iowa City, that would be California Sen. Kamala Harris.

At the moment, however, they are resigned to the idea of backing Biden and hoping he will chose her as his No. 2.

I like her a lot, but I dont think she could win, said Cindy Vander Linden, who added that she and her husband feel similarly about South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

There are too many narrow-minded people in this country who would not pick a gay. And I dont think people would pick a black woman either. And I feel bad about that.

Bidens hold on such voters may be tenuous. Keeping it could be contingent on engaging in policy fights he is seeking to avoid with more progressive candidates. His campaign approach of floating above the fray, enjoying the privileges of a front runner and proceeding as if his only competition is Trump may not fly with these voters, some Democrats warned.

Just before Biden spoke at his kickoff event in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, state Rep. Art Staed, a Democrat who represents much of the city, warned that Bidens focus on attacking Trump and promising in general terms to finish work started by the Obama administration could wear thin with voters, who may expect Biden to roll out policy plans as detailed as those of his rivals.

Everything is not about Trump, Staed said.

In his initial appearances here, Biden strained to show he is uniquely qualified to deliver. There was none of his signature off-topic meandering at the podium, none of his perilously freewheeling conversations with reporters, no infringement on anyones personal space. The candidate stayed uncharacteristically on script.

Not everything worked. A muted performance in Cedar Rapids hardly got the crowd raising the roof. The campaigns efforts to limit interactions with the media had the feel of Hillary Clintons overly cautious and controlling operation. At a planned stop at an ice cream shop to which only a handful of reporters were invited, Biden avoided addressing policy questions, even as the policy debate among the candidates has already been raging for months.

Biden has yet to publicly field a question from a voter since hitting the campaign trail Monday.

In Dubuque, however, one of those places that swung heavily from supporting Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016, the former vice president hit his stride.

Everybody knows who Donald Trump is, he said toward the end of a stump speech that excoriated the president for his defense of white supremacists, attacks on universal healthcare and tax policies that BIden warned are eviscerating the middle class. Weve got to know who we are.

Even as Biden benefits from nostalgia among many Iowa Democrats for the Obama days and their sense that he could restore that era, his campaign has a very different feel than Obamas did. It is focused less on highlighting diversity and expanding the political map for Democrats than on winning back white, working-class voters in the blue wall states in the industrial Midwest and mid-Atlantic.

The promise to bring back a quality of life from decades past has echoes of Trumps pitch to voters, but with a more optimistic tinge.

If we just get up and remember who in Gods name we are, and change this administration, I am optimistic we are better positioned than any country in the world to own the 21st century, he said.

Biden fed off the crowds enthusiasm. He ripped into the ballooning federal deficit that he warned will ultimately lead Republicans to try to cut Medicare and Social Security.

This is going to be the battle of our lives, he said. If I am president, it will not happen.

He talked about how the government could pay the tuition for every qualified person wanting to attend community college by closing corporate tax loopholes. And he went on at length, with affirmation from the crowd of many hundreds, chastising corporations for exploiting the working class. He called for a $15 minimum wage.

The locale and event were perfect for illustrating Bidens contention that he can win back some of the white, working-class voters who left the Democrats for Trump in the last election, some of whom were on hand.

He would be the only Democrat I would vote for; no one else is even close, said Tracy Steinhoff, a 46-year-old nurse at the Dubuque event who only days before had traveled three hours to Wisconsin to participate in a Trump rally.

Biden understands what people are going through.
A Justice Department official says special counsel Robert S. Mueller III expressed concern to Atty. Gen. William Barr about how the findings of his Russia investigation were being portrayed.

The frustration was communicated in a letter that Mueller sent the Justice Department days after Barr released a four-page letter summarizing the main conclusions of the investigation. The two also spoke by phone the next day.

The official was not authorized to discuss the private conversations and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the letter.

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The letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesdays Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr.
MCLEAN, Va., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today reported its first quarter 2019 financial results and filed its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The companys Form 10-Q and press release are available now on its website, www.FreddieMac.com/investors, along with the first quarter 2019 financial results supplement.



The company will hold a conference call at 9 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, to discuss its results with the media. The conference call will be concurrently webcast and the replay will be available on the companys website at http://www.FreddieMac.com/investors for approximately 30 days.

Freddie Mac makes home possible for millions of families and individuals by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Since our creation by Congress in 1970, weve made housing more accessible and affordable for homebuyers and renters in communities nationwide. We are building a better housing finance system for homebuyers, renters, lenders and taxpayers. Learn more at FreddieMac.com, Twitter @FreddieMac and Freddie Macs blog FreddieMac.com/blog.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Frederick Solomon

703-903-3861

Frederick_Solomon@FreddieMac.com

INVESTOR CONTACT:

Laurie Garthune

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Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III complained to Atty. Gen. William Barr that Barrs initial letter to Congress about the Russia investigation did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this offices work and conclusions, a Justice Department official said Tuesday.

Mueller also wrote that Barrs four-page letter on March 24, two days after Mueller had filed his final report, sowed public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal debate.

The special counsels protest, filed in a letter to Barr on March 27, reflects clear tension between the special counsel and the attorney general over Barrs handling of Muellers 448-page report into Russias interference in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice by President Trump.

RELATED: Read the letter Robert Mueller sent to Attorney General William Barr 

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The existence of Muellers letter was first reported by the Washington Post.

Barr is expected to be grilled Wednesday by Democrats at a hearing before the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee that will delve into his handling of Muellers report, as well as the attorney generals conclusion that President Trump did not obstruct justice.

Barr is also sure to be questioned about his comments at an April 18 news conference that put Trumps actions in a favorable light.

Read Atty. Gen. William Barrs prepared remarks ahead of Senate Judiciary Committee hearing 

When he received Muellers letter on March 27, Barr spoke to Mueller by phone, according to Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.

In a cordial and professional conversation, the special counsel emphasized that nothing in the attorney generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading, Kupec said in a statement. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the special counsels obstruction analysis.

Mueller sought to convince the attorney general to release portions of the report so the public could understand the special counsels reasoning. But Barr declined, saying it would be better to release the entire redacted report, not put it out in piecemeal fashion.

Full coverage: Robert Mueller finishes his investigation into President Trumps 2016 campaign 

In Barrs earlier letter to Congress, he said Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its efforts to stoke division over social media or to hack Democratic computers and release troves of internal documents and emails.

He also wrote that Muellers report did not conclude that the president had committed a crime related to obstructing federal investigators but it also hadnt exonerated him of those allegations.

However, Barr wrote, he had made a determination that the evidence developed during the special counsels investigation is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.

The letter did not disclose that Mueller had concluded that the Trump campaign expected to benefit from the emails stolen from Democrats. The special counsel also laid out substantial evidence of multiple instances when Trump acted with the intent of constraining or undermining the investigation then underway.

In his report, Mueller did not conclude whether Trump had committed the crime of obstructing justice, noting that Justice Department guidelines bar sitting presidents from facing charges. However, he wrote, the special counsel would not be precluded from saying Trump was innocent of such allegations.

If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state, he wrote. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.

At a news conference on April 18, about 90 minutes before he released the redacted report, Barr repeatedly said Mueller found no collusion between Trump associates and Moscow, repeating a favorite line of the president, even though Mueller expressly rejected using such language in his report.

The attorney general also sought to put the presidents conduct in context, saying, there is substantial evidence to show that the president was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency without proof of wrongdoing.

This evidence of non-corrupt motives weighs heavily against any allegation that the president had a corrupt intent to obstruct the investigation, Barr said.

While Democrats are sure to probe Barr on Wednesday over his characterizations of Muellers work, Republicans are expected to question Barr about the origins of the Russia investigation in 2016 and whether it was politically motivated from the start, as Trump and his supporters describe it.

Barr has said he will review the court-authorized surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide during the 2016 campaign, which Barr described as spying during a previous hearing. The Justice Departments inspector general is also reviewing the matter.

Barr also is scheduled to appear Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, which is controlled by Democrats. But he has resisted plans by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the panels chairman, to have lawyers for each party ask some of the questions.

If Barr refuses to show up voluntarily, Democrats could issue a subpoena or even hold him in contempt. The potential skirmish would escalate the growing battle between the White House and House Democrats pursuing an array of investigations on Capitol Hill.

Mueller has not spoken publicly since the 448-page redacted report was released, although Democrats have asked him to testify this month.

In a tweet Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer wrote that the misleading nature of Barrs testimony and news conference is even more glaring.

Barr must bring the letter with him when he testifies in the Senate, Schumer added. And its time for Mueller to testify publicly. Now.
President Trump doesnt like submitting to oversight from Congress.

His response to subpoenas and other requests from Democrats increasingly comes down to a single word: No.

The Justice Department has refused to give Congress an unredacted copy of the report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III on Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. Trump has refused to let his former White House counsel, Don McGahn, tell lawmakers about what he told Mueller, even though its already in the report.

The attorney general, William Barr, says he may refuse to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday if he has to answer questions from staff lawyers.

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The Treasury Department has failed to comply with a House Ways and Means Committee request for six years of Trumps tax returns, even though the tax code states that the Internal Revenue Service shall furnish any return requested by the committee.

Trump sued the chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), to block a subpoena for financial information about his businesses. On Monday, he also sued to stop Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp. from complying with congressional subpoenas targeting his bank records.

And he ordered a former aide to refuse to testify about whether Trump overruled intelligence officials and senior White House aides and ordered a top-secret security clearance for Jared Kushner, his son-in-law.

Were fighting all the subpoenas, Trump explained last week. Look, these arent like impartial people. The Democrats are trying to win 2020.

I have been the most transparent president and administration in the history of our country by far, he added, an odd assertion under the circumstances.

The president didnt say he would contest specific subpoenas that he considers excessive or unfair. He said he was fighting all of them, apparently because they came from the opposing party. Thats not how the balance of powers between the president and Congress is supposed to work.

The argument would be laughable if it werent so dangerous. Trump is pushing the country toward a constitutional crisis. This isnt transparency. If anything, its a war on transparency, a crusade against accountability.

Of course Democratic committee chairmen arent impartial. Nor were the Republican chairmen they replaced after the midterm election in November.

But thats how the Constitution works. The Supreme Court has long held that Congress holds the power of inquiry, no matter which party is in power.

Trumps argument is so flimsy that some lawyers think he merely wants to mire the Democrats in litigation until election day, 18 months away. Or, some suggest, perhaps he seeks to goad House Democrats into impeaching him, knowing the process would die in the Senate and arguably boost his chances next year.

But even if its only legal rope-a-dope, Trumps efforts to choke congressional oversight are part of a much broader effort by his administration to avoid independent scrutiny and accountability.

Related: Former White House Counsel Don McGahn subpoenaed in aftermath of Mueller report 

Trumps administration has methodically concealed information from Congress, the media and the public. There are fewer news briefings, fewer routine disclosures from government agencies, fewer releases under the Freedom of Information Act.

His White House removed its visitor logs from public view, so citizens cant find out when lobbyists are coming in the door. The chiefs of his regulatory agencies have been caught, over and over, hiding their meetings with corporate moguls.

Trump stopped the reporting of CIA drone strikes against suspected terrorists. The Pentagon stopped reporting how many nuclear weapons the United States maintains.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has held only two news briefings this year; they were once a daily ritual. The State and Defense Departments have all but given up regular briefings about foreign policy, military operations around the globe, and the spending of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars.

Reporters still seek information but their requests are often ignored. (Google the White House did not respond, and youll see what I mean.)

Trump talks directly with reporters more often than previous presidents, but usually in brief, impromptu sessions he can cut off at will. And he broadcasts his thoughts on Twitter, unrestrained by facts.

But logorrhea is not the same as transparency. Trumps comments to reporters are mostly a monologue, a convenient way for the president to vent  not an opportunity for extended questioning.

None of this is new. Trump began his 2016 campaign by falsely claiming he couldnt release his tax returns because he was under audit. No rule forbids him from releasing his returns, audit or no.

Before his inauguration, he said he was turning control of his business over to his sons, but refused to release the trust agreements governing the arrangement.

In his first two years in office, a compliant Congress, led by Republicans in both houses, did little to hold him accountable. Now that Democrats are trying to do just that, hes doing everything he can to shield himself  stonewalling, filing lawsuits and trying to rewrite the rules.

The most transparent president in history? Not even close.
Just before Robert ONeill stepped down as director of the California Lottery, his agency hired his twin sons and his stepdaughter during one 17-day period.

The daughter of Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) landed a job with the state Board of Equalization, where her mother also worked, after managers pressured personnel staff to hire her despite a low rating in an interview, according to a special investigation report by the California Personnel Board.

And more recently, the state auditor accused the head of the Department of Industrial Relations of misconduct for bypassing civil service rules to hire and promote her daughter  even though she lacked the required qualifications.

California agencies have a long history of nepotism, along with pledges to end such favoritism, but the practice continues. Workers in at least seven state agencies have alleged favoritism shown to family members and friends of administrators in the last decade.

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Getting a desirable job in California government too often depends on who you know, say watchdogs and employees who have raised red flags with the state.

Absolutely, nepotism is a problem that we have seen in more than one department now, and it really undermines the whole merit-based system of hiring and employment in California in that people should compete for positions in state service, said State Auditor Elaine Howle.

It remains to be seen if Gov. Gavin Newsom will be able to root out the culture of favoritism that has long festered in state agencies.

Last week, the Newsom administration announced it has expanded the probe of the Department of Industrial Relations to look at whether its director was helped by up to six subordinate managers in getting her daughter hired and promoted.

Yet the retired director at the center of that investigation, Christine Baker, remains on the state Fraud Assessment Commission after being appointed to the panel by outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown. A Newsom spokesman has questioned why she remains on the panel, but the governor has yet to formally request that she step down, saying it is not an at-will appointment.

The perception of a problem appears to be extensive in some agencies.

A 2017 investigation by the Personnel Board found that 835 employees of the Board of Equalization, or 17.5% of its workforce at the time, were related by blood, adoption, marriage or cohabitation.

State rules generally allow members of the same family to work for the same agency as long as they go through the competitive merit-based civil service process without interference and their posts dont create a conflict of interest, such as having one relative supervise another.

The Personnel Department probe found instances of improper interference in hiring and promotion that benefited family members and politically influential allies of employees.

In response to those and other issues, Brown stripped the elected Board of Equalization of most of its duties of collecting taxes, transferring the bulk of its employees to a new agency. An internal review by the head of the agency last May determined that 141 of 484 managers and supervisors  or 29%  had a familial or other close personal relationship with another employee. At least 17 required some action to eliminate conflicts, such as transferring employees out of a relatives chain of command, department Director Nicolas Maduros told the Personnel Board.

Overall, the response of state agencies to allegations of nepotism has been mixed, Howle said.

She made public the Department of Industrial Relations report on March 26 only after determining the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which oversees the department, had not taken sufficient action on the auditors recommendations.

We do not yet see evidence that the agency has acted with appropriate rigor to remediate the effects of the directors behavior, Howle wrote to Newsom and legislative leaders.

Officials noted that Baker, the director who allegedly intervened on her daughters behalf, retired a year ago. Baker, who was not identified by name in the report, has denied acting improperly.

The auditors report said the director pre-selected her daughter for a role in her own department, precluding consideration of and competition from other potential applicants, and that the daughter lacked the requisite qualifications for the job.

Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) felt the Legislatures role in holding the department accountable was limited by circumstances.

Nepotism has a pernicious impact on employment in any organization, said Lizelda Lopez, an Atkins spokeswoman. Given the non-public nature of the May report and changes occurring at the department, there wasnt a clear path for the Legislature to take in this situation involving someone elses employee.

Assembly Republican leader Marie Waldron of Escondido said she is not surprised by the auditors frustration with the lack of action in agencies including the Industrial Relations Department.

This is the sad but predictable result of Democrats complete refusal to provide oversight of state agencies, Waldron said.

Newsom appointed Julie Su as secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency in January; Su said she is taking the auditors allegations seriously, saying the report exposed a systemic breakdown.

In California, a spoils system long meant politicians handed out jobs to friends and supporters. But that changed in 1913, when reformist Gov. Hiram Johnson signed the Civil Service Act, requiring state jobs be filled based on the applicants knowledge and abilities for the specific position.

But many state employees say managers often act quietly to influence hiring decisions, making some offices look like a family enterprise.

A state audit of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board in 2008 concluded that nearly half of the employees surveyed believe that familial relationships or employee favoritism compromised hiring and promotion practices.

The agency has enacted changes recommended by the auditor, said Assistant Director Lori Kurosaka.

In 2011, another state audit concluded that [f]amilial relationships contribute to employees perceptions that the Commission on Teacher Credentialings hiring and promotion practices are compromised.

A survey of employees found 40% felt that familial relationships or employee favoritism compromised the commissions hiring and promotion practices, the audit said.

A spokesman for the credentialing panel said this week that the audit led to a leadership change at the commission as well as an overhaul of its hiring practices.

Similar complaints of favoritism in hiring were voiced at a public hearing in September by five veteran employees of the California Lottery, including Paulina Vasquez, a district sales director.

Vasquez, a union steward, complained of unfair hiring practices, cronyism, nepotism in her comments to the state Lottery Commission.

In a recent interview, Vasquez said she and other employees are cooperating with an ongoing investigation by the state Department of Justice into allegations of hiring irregularities and other misconduct in the agency.

Hirings that have been criticized by employees include some that occurred while ONeill was director for a year and a half ending in July 2013.

On the April 29 before he stepped down, ONeills agency hired one of his adult sons, Kelly ONeill, as a route sales representative. He currently has an annual salary of more than $50,000.

Seven days later, the lottery hired the directors stepdaughter, who now is a program analyst with a salary of $60,000.

Ten days later, the directors other twin son, Kerry ONeill, was hired by the agency, also as a sales representative.

Robert ONeill did not respond to requests for comment. His stepdaughter declined to comment when reached by phone.

The ONeill brothers say they went through the normal civil service hiring process and they are unaware of their father pulling any strings.

He told us that the lottery was hiring for the sales position at the time, Kelly ONeill said.

I did the regular process: Panel interviews and online exams for putting yourself on the proper list, he said, noting that other employees of the agency include married couples.

The relationship between Director ONeill and his relatives was disclosed at the time by a marketing manager, who instructed hiring officials not to give their applications special treatment, according to Russ Lopez, a spokesman for the agency.

Lopez said all three went through the normal hiring process and the director did not get involved.

Still, Vasquez was concerned about the hiring spree involving the directors relatives.

It doesnt appear to be fair, Vasquez said.

Lopez declined to comment on the complaints of favoritism lodged by employees at the board meeting. The [Department of Justice] investigation into personnel-related allegations you reference is still underway, so there is nothing we can comment on right now, Lopez said.

At the Board of Equalization, cases of nepotism include the employment of a woman after managers exerted pressure on the hiring staff following an interview panel decision to rate her below other candidates and a determination that she missed an application deadline, according to a Personnel Board investigation.

The new workers mother was a board employee at the time and her father is Assemblyman Cooper.

There was influence and involvement at the highest levels of the organization, including Board Member [Jerome] Horton, his chief of staff and another official, the Personnel Board report said.

The report found sufficient evidence upon which to find that the appointment was based on pre-selection, favoritism, and the improper use of positions of influence, rather than on merit and fitness.

Horton disputed the report, saying that the Board of Equalization staff had initially discriminated against the woman, and the agency later mishandled the hiring process with no illegalities or fault on the part of Ms. Cooper or myself. 

With a new governor shaking up the state bureaucracy, Howle is hopeful more attention will be given to the problem of nepotism.

How the state deals with nepotism in the future, she said, really depends on the tone at the top. If leadership sees it as a problem, it will be addressed.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Twitter: @mcgreevy99
Tapping a political ally, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday appointed Richard Miadich as chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces campaign finance and lobbying laws in California.

Miadich was coauthor of Proposition 64, the 2016 ballot initiative pushed by Newsom that legalized the sale and possession of cannabis for recreational purposes in the state.

The appointee takes over as head of the campaign watchdog panel from Alice Germond, who was appointed by former Gov. Jerry Brown but whose term as chair had ended.

Newsom declined to comment Tuesday on the appointment to the powerful commission. The chairperson is the only full-time commissioner and has a major role in the day-to-day operation of the agency as well as setting policy.

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Miadich, a 43-year-old Sacramento resident, has been managing partner since 2016 at the law firm Olson Hagel & Fishburn, which represents political clients with business before the commission, including politicians facing fines for violating campaign finance laws.

Miadich could not be reached for immediate comment.

He co-wrote Proposition 64, whose most high-profile supporter was Newsom, then the lieutenant governor. Newsom had created a blue ribbon panel that came up with recommendations used to write the initiative.

In a 2017 interview with The Times after the initiatives passage, Miadich predicted the comprehensive regulatory scheme in Proposition 64 would help persuade the federal government not to interfere with Californias new cannabis market.

Given the strict regulatory structure set forth in Proposition 64, that medical and adult-use regulations are being developed in concert, and that public opinion is squarely on the side of states rights on this issue, I think it is impractical for the federal government to reverse course now, Miadich said.

On Tuesday, the late-afternoon appointment announcement drew a muted response from groups that advocate for enforcement of campaign laws, including California Common Cause, which said they want time to review the appointment before commenting.

The Olsen Hagel law firm has long provided advice to the states leading politicians, boasting on its website: The firms attorneys participated in the drafting of Californias state campaign finance provisions and regularly advise candidates, committees and donors on its requirements.

Miadichs clients included the Burbank Hospitality Assn. when it agreed to pay a $5,000 fine last year to the Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to properly file a major donor campaign report after it contributed $50,000 to a local initiative.

The law firms clients over the years have included former state Treasurer Philip Angelides, former state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack OConnell, Planned Parenthood of Orange County and lobbyists including Frank Molina.

The firm represented former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) in a dispute that led to the commissions issuing a warning letter over Mendozas lack of reporting on income from a house.

In March, the firm represented the political committee called the California List as it agreed to a $700 fine for failing to properly disclose campaign activity.

Miadich, a Democrat, earned a juris doctor degree from the UC Davis School of Law.

The appointment, which comes with an annual salary of $158,572, does not require state Senate confirmation.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Twitter: @mcgreevy99
A Camarillo man who alleges he was sexually assaulted by a priest is pushing forward with his lawsuit against the states Catholic archdioceses and dioceces.

Attorneys with the law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates held a press conference at the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel on Monday, stating they can continue working on plaintiff Thomas Emens nuisance case against the California Catholic Conference and the Catholic archdioces and dioceses in the state after a ruling made by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams on April 17.

Emens filed his suit against Californias archbishops and bishops on Oct. 2, 2018, and is seeking that the Catholic church release information about sexual offenders within each diocese and how cases of sexual abuse were handled.

The judges ruling two weeks ago dismissed five of the eight claims made against California archdioceses and dioceses.

The California Catholic Conference issued a statement on the ruling.

Victim-survivors such as Mr. Emens are rightfully angry for the harm that was inflicted by members of the church in the past, according to the statement. That is why the Catholic church in California has taken responsibility not just in words but in action and will continue to take the necessary steps to support victim-survivors, cooperate with law enforcement and help make our parishes, schools and ministries safe places for all.

However, attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Reck said the remaining charges have given their firm a path to the pretrial discovery process or the gathering of evidence from the dioceses.

Church officials have lied for years, and we know they cannot be trusted to police themselves and self-regulate, Reck said. This ruling is a landmark that paves the way for more accountability, for more justice and for safer kids.

Emens, originally from Anaheim, claims he was assaulted by Msgr. Thomas Joseph Mohan when he was 10 years old.

While he considers the court ruling a victory for his case, Emens said the lawsuit is more about future generations in the church.

Its not just about me, its about all the other victims out there, its about the children out there that are at risk, Emens said. If youre a victim-survivor out there, this is a huge day for all of us.

Reck said it is unknown if or when the case will go to trial or if all dioceses will appeal the remaining charges. He said hes aware of one diocese that is planning to appeal the courts decision.

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The aim of an upcoming art exhibit at the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center in Burbank is to turn peoples perception of reality on its head.

From May 3 through 23, the Collage Artists of America will host an art exhibit at the local gallery titled Reality is Highly Overrated, in which mixed-media, assemblage and digital-collage artists will have their pieces on display.

Some of the artwork is highly abstract, a sentiment that rings true for Burbank artist Lois Ramirez, whose piece Second Thoughts is among the pieces chosen for the exhibit.

Ramirez, who mainly creates abstract art on canvas, created a collage of different pieces of torn sheer and opaque paper painted and stacked on top of one another.

She said she came up with the concept for her artwork after she tried to fix a piece of paper she had placed on a canvas because she didnt like its placement.

As a self-proclaimed artist who likes to solve problems, she decided to use another piece of sheer paper to cover it up. She ended up with what the late PBS artist Bob Ross called a happy little accident.

I just covered it up, and I liked what I saw, Ramirez said. It ended up working with the design.

Ramirez said she loved working within the parameters of the exhibit, adding that she is not much of a fan of realism artwork anymore after she started dabbling in abstract art.

Additionally, she said it was fun putting together the collage because it allowed her to use more organic and jagged shapes, which is different from her usual abstract paintings that have more structure.

Its like controlled chaos, Ramirez said about her collage.

Another Burbank artist, Marian Devney, will have four pieces  two collages and two assemblages  in the exhibit.

One of those pieces is called Under the Boardwalk, a collage created by using various materials that tell a story about a day at a boardwalk.

The art piece mainly has dark tones of red, black and tan, but the right side of the collage has a bright magenta statue of what appears to be a woman.

I like the viewer to look at my work and see what they come up with, Devney said. My aim is to engage people and amuse them. If they do look closely at my work, I hope they do become delighted, interested and intrigued.

The Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center is located at 1100 W. Clark Ave., Burbank. For hours and more information, call (818) 238-5397.

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An easily forgotten but important chapter of Costa Mesas past is now on display.

The Costa Mesa Historical Society is hosting Costa Mesa: The Hull Story, an exhibit that details the citys influential boatbuilding legacy that was largely centered in the Westside.

The exhibit, a first for the historical society, began Thursday and will run at least least six months in the societys headquarters at Lions Park, 1870 Anaheim Ave.

It was curated, researched and written by Nancy Pedersen, with graphics and design help from Art Goddard, lead volunteer for the historical society.

The bulk of Costa Mesas boatbuilding, design and related industries started after World War II and lasted through 2003, by which time most of the businesses had left town. Many boatbuilders left California because of the states strict environmental laws, which made modern manufacturing more difficult than in the post-war era.

Costa Mesa: The Hull Story is a new exhibit at the Costa Mesa Historical Society headquarters about Costa Mesas old boatbuilding industry. (Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer )

Goddard said Costa Mesa  whose official slogan was Hub of the Harbor Area before it was changed to City of the Arts in 1999  became a boatbuilding center because of its proximity to Newport Harbor. As the Newport Beach coastline became more developed, boatmaking shifted up the hill to Costa Mesa, which had plentiful land and was within easy transporting distance for vessels that, once complete, could be towed to the water.

It was a natural fit for Costa Mesa, Goddard said. It was willing to take on the industry.

Pedersen, who runs a Facebook page called Newport-Mesa Boat Building History, got interested in the topic partially because its in her family. Don Pedersen, her husbands uncle, was a master shipwright who developed the Viking sailboat.

Boats for Disneylands 1955 opening were built in Costa Mesa, as shown in the Costa Mesa Historical Societys new exhibit. (Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer )

For The Hull Story, she sifted through decades of phone books to find old businesses and talked to many people who were involved in the industry. By her count, Costa Mesa has had about 100 boatbuilders and associated businesses.

But youre gonna miss some, Pedersen said, because many builders worked unofficially in their backyards. Her research took three years.

Costa Mesa builders were particularly influential for their use of fiberglass. The first Duffy electric boats were built in Costa Mesa, as were boats built for the 1955 opening of Disneyland.

When asked whether she plans to compile her research into a book someday, Pedersen replied, Believe me, thats in my head.

Photographs, articles and a wooden model sailboat are part of a display in Costa Mesa: The Hull Story, a new Costa Mesa Historical Society exhibit about the citys boatbuilding history. (Kevin Chang / Staff Photographer )

BRADLEY ZINT is a contributor to Times Community News.
Authorities and family members have identified the three Las Vegas teenagers killed early Thursday when a car slammed into the back of their vehicle in Huntington Beach.

Orange County coroners officials identified Brooke Hawley, 17, and Dylan Mack, 18, as two of the victims. Family members last week identified the other victim as A.J. Rossi, 17. Coroners officials have not publicly identified him.

They and Alexis Vargas, a fourth teenager in the car, were visiting Southern California for spring break, authorities and family members said. Vargas survived the crash and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

A GoFundMe page set up to help fund Vargas recovery had raised about $900 as of Monday afternoon.

Alexis family are all extremely blessed and very thankful for Alexis being able to make it out of the car, according to the page. Based on medical reports, he suffered severe concussions and multiple burns on his hands and face.

Rossi and Mack were seniors preparing to graduate from Centennial High School in Las Vegas in June.

Rossis family set up a GoFundMe page to cover his funeral expenses. It had raised about $26,000 as of Monday.

The page described him as always being the center of attention, with a smile that lit up every single room that he walked into.

Bani Duarte, 27, of San Clemente was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, police said. She was released on bail Sunday. (Courtesy of Huntington Beach Police Department )

The driver of the other car, Bani Duarte of San Clemente, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

Duarte, 27, who is listed in jail records as a receptionist, was booked into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana with bail set at $100,000. She was released on bail Sunday morning, according to jail records.

The Orange County district attorneys office, which is reviewing the case, said Monday that she had not been charged.

Huntington Beach police received a report of the crash at 1:08 a.m. Thursday at Pacific Coast Highway and Magnolia Street. A Toyota was on fire when officers arrived, Officer Angela Bennett said.

Bennett said a Hyundai Sonata traveling north on PCH struck the Toyota, which was stopped at a red light at the intersection with Magnolia.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Huntington Beach police accident investigator Joshua Page at (714) 536-5670.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
A judge Tuesday lifted a temporary halt to proceedings in a womans civil lawsuit that seeks $22.2 million in damages against a Newport Beach doctor and his girlfriend who she alleges drugged and raped her in 2016.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Walter Schwarm ruled that an ongoing criminal case against Dr. Grant Robicheax and Cerissa Riley doesnt warrant a stay in the civil case. Schwarm had granted the temporary pause March 19 after the plaintiff requested that her case be put on hold until after the criminal proceedings conclude.

However, he ultimately decided the existence of the other case didnt, by itself, justify the stay, according to his tentative ruling. A stay is more often granted if requested by a defendant.

Civil cases brought against criminal defendants typically wait until after the criminal proceedings. However, the womans lawsuit was filed last year to beat a filing deadline under the statute of limitations.

Attorneys for Robicheaux and Riley contended last month that the plaintiffs motion to stay the case amounted to a ruse by her attorney to wait and see what evidence becomes public during the criminal proceeding.

In another decision Tuesday, Schwarm ruled the plaintiff and all other alleged victims and their relatives in the criminal case could be shielded from deposition in the civil matter under Marsys Law, which allows alleged victims in California to refuse defendants requests for interviews or pretrial testimony.

Robicheauxs attorney Thomas Ferlauto argued that Marsys Law, the California Victims Bill of Rights Act of 2008, doesnt apply in civil cases.

You have a lot of rights that get waived when you subject yourself to litigation, Ferlauto said. [The law is] certainly not meant to apply to a plaintiff suing for $22 million.

It was never intended to be a sword, it was supposed to be a shield, Ferlauto said of the law, arguing that it inhibits his client from mounting a defense.

The fact that I cant prepare my case for trial is patently unfair, Ferlauto said after the hearing.

But the plaintiffs attorney James Mitchell said, I dont think [the plaintiff] waives her rights as a crime victim because of a civil lawsuit.

The whole point is to protect crime victims. I think its just logic that Marsys Law should apply to this plaintiff, Mitchell said.

The womans lawsuit seeks damages against Robicheaux and Riley as well as a couple who partly own the Newport Beach home where the assault allegedly occurred.

The statement of damages includes $10 million for emotional distress and $10 million for pain, suffering and inconvenience, according to court documents.

The complaint says the plaintiff was introduced to Robicheaux and Riley at a Halloween party through a mutual acquaintance. Authorities allege the couple drugged the womans drink with GHB and raped her in the bedroom of the home.

Robicheaux and Riley were accused last year of drugging and sexually assaulting several women. They are charged with 17 felony counts, including five counts of rape.

They have denied all accusations of nonconsensual sex.

The civil case is scheduled back in court June 28. The criminal case is scheduled to return to court Friday.

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At a filled-to-capacity Laguna Hills community center recently, hundreds of Muslim women gathered for what has been billed as the countrys largest modest fashion event, a marketplace of long-sleeve floral print summer dresses, flowing full-length skirts, feather-accented scarves and other items that are both trendy and cover the whole body  a combination many Muslim women say can be difficult to find in mainstream stores.

The Perfect For Her convention, which boasted more than 500 attendees and 25 vendors on Aug. 13, featured a wide range of apparel, including maxi dresses, evening wear, swimsuits, scarves, Middle Eastern-style kaftans and abayas and a design your own hijab booth for customers to accent their head coverings with Swarovski crystals.

The idea behind the event, now in its fourth year, grew out of organizer Hassanah El-Yacoubis struggle to find trendy attire that also met her religious standards for modesty.

It was very difficult to find that one piece that was ready to go with a high neck, a to-the-floor hem and the long sleeve, she said of the fashion industry 10 years ago. So a lot of layering had to happen. A lot of just looking frumpy and feeling disenfranchised as a Muslim woman in terms of the mainstream markets.

So El-Yacoubi, 28, started a lifestyle blog and online boutique  also called PFH, Perfect For Her  that collected modest wear from a variety of existing brands. From there, she developed the PFH convention to bring together more apparel, and to give customers an in-person shopping experience.

Hundreds of Muslim women gathered at the Perfect For Her annual convention Aug. 13 to shop for clothing, home decor and accessories in Laguna Hills. (Courtesy of Julie Pheng and Jessica Brophy)

Her first event in 2014 was held at her friends home in Irvine and had just four vendors.

People were buying four or five dresses and the line was out the door, she said. I said, Were on to something, and decided to host it annually.

Since then, the PFH convention has only grown in size, and this year El-Yacoubi will be co-hosting PFH events in five other cities across the country.

According to El-Yacoubi, a doctoral student at UC Riversides Department of Religious Studies, PFH has flourished alongside an expansion in the modest fashion industry at large  which she sees as primarily the result of Muslim women creating their own clothing brands to fill the gaps in the market.

Zain Abdullah, founder of the San Francisco-based scarf company Framed People and one of the vendors at the PFH convention, said that she also became interested in the fashion industry after seeing the limited clothing options available to Muslim women.

I was seeing a lack of fashionable headscarves for Muslim women  something innovative, something unique and cool, but also something high quality, she said.

So Abdullah developed a line of scarves made from fair-trade fabrics that feature creative textures and accents such as feathers, velvet, chains and metallic piping.

I used to go overseas and buy my scarves there, she said. Now we have Muslim women-owned brands in America.

Scarves were on display at the Framed People shop at the Perfect For Her convention Aug. 13 in Laguna Hills. (Courtesy of Julie Pheng and Jessica Brophy)

But for El-Yacoubi, the PFH convention is about more than just clothing.

Theres always a sense of frivolity associated with fashion, she said.

And I want people to understand that these events arent just about fashion fashion is the medium through which were communicating a much larger and more powerful message, which is supporting female Muslim entrepreneurship.

A majority of the conventions vendors were Muslim women business owners from Orange County to Dubai. In addition to apparel, shops also sold jewelry, chocolates, home decor, photography services and skin care products.

Blogger Jessica Moore, left, and event organizer Hassanah El-Yacoubi wear dresses from the Perfect for Her convention held Aug. 13 in Laguna Hills. (Courtesy of Rohemah Muhamed)

These days its not the easiest to be a woman, not the easiest to be a Muslim or an entrepreneur, El-Yacoubi said. And against all the odds, these Muslim women are thriving and succeeding at putting themselves out there, taking the leap.

And its because of these Muslim women business owners, she said, that the broader fashion industry has taken notice, so that now mainstream brands such as DKNY, H&M, Dolce & Gabbana, American Eagle and Nike have designed clothing specifically targeted to Muslim women.

Its not that all of a sudden Muslim women have become fashionable, El-Yacoubi said. No, theyve always been fashionable.

But now its become this global force as a result of Muslim women coming together, taking matters into their own hands and starting companies that cater to the sartorial needs of Muslim women that global markets have taken note. I absolutely believe its because of the hard work of Muslim women on the ground.

CAITLIN YOSHIKO KANDIL is a contributor to Times Community News.
BEDMINSTER, N.J., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc. (NYSE AMER: MTNB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced that Theresa Matkovits, Ph.D., Chief Development Officer of the Company, was selected to present a corporate overview and host one-on-one meetings with leading industry executives at BioNJs Ninth Annual BioPartnering Conference on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 during the afternoon session being held 2:00 PM  3:00 PM ET.



As part of her presentation, Dr. Matkovits will provide a corporate update and will discuss the Companys differentiated LNC drug delivery platform. Matinas LNC platform technology offers an intracellular drug delivery solution with potential advantages for a range of therapeutics, including small molecules, nucleic acid polymers, proteins, peptides, vaccines, as well as the targeted delivery of gene editing technologies. Dr. Matkovits will also provide an overview of the Companys lead anti-infective pipeline candidate, MAT2203.

BioNJs Ninth Annual BioPartnering Conference, developed in partnership with J.P. Morgan Chase, will bring together nearly 400 public and private company investors, life sciences professionals and academic partners from the Northeast to Mid-Atlantic states. Pharmaceutical sponsors for the conference include The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Pfizer. Supporting partners for this years conference include BIO, Bio Connecticut, Choose NJ, Delaware Bio, New Jersey Economic Development Authority, the Licensing Executives Society, MassBio, New York Bio and the Precision Medicine Leadership Summit.

About Matinas BioPharma



Matinas BioPharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating value through the streamlined development of its lead product candidate, MAT9001, for the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic conditions and the application of its lipid nano-crystal (LNC) platform technology to solve complex challenges relating to the safe and effective delivery of small molecules, gene therapies, proteins, peptides and vaccines.

Forward Looking Statements: This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the Company's anticipated capital and liquidity needs, strategic focus and the future development of its product candidates, including MAT9001 and MAT2203, the anticipated timing of regulatory submissions, the anticipated timing of clinical studies, the anticipated timing of regulatory interactions, the Companys ability to identify and pursue development and partnership opportunities for its products or platform delivery technology on favorable terms, if at all, and the ability to obtain required regulatory approval and other statements that are predictive in nature, that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "could," "believes," "estimates" and similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital to meet our liquidity needs on acceptable terms, or at all, including the additional capital which will be necessary to complete the clinical trials of our product candidates; our ability to successfully complete research and further development and commercialization of our product candidates; the uncertainties inherent in clinical testing; the timing, cost and uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals; our ability to protect the Company's intellectual property; the loss of any executive officers or key personnel or consultants; competition; changes in the regulatory landscape or the imposition of regulations that affect the Company's products; and the other factors listed under "Risk Factors" in our filings with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. Except as may be required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Matinas BioPharma's product candidates are all in a development stage and are not available for sale or use.

Investor and Media Contact

Jenene Thomas

Jenene Thomas Communications, LLC

Phone: +1 (833) 475-8247

Email: mtnb@jtcir.com





Source: Matinas BioPharma Holdings, Inc.
When Cal State Fullerton student Miriam Tellez attended Tuesdays State of the Union address, she described it as a validation of her immigrant journey.

It was definitely like a fantasy, Tellez said. It was amazing being in a room where history is made.

Tellez, 22, received an invitation from Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Yorba Linda), who wanted to show support for recipients of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which granted protection from deportation to hundreds of thousands of undocumented people brought over as children. Tellez was one of these so-called Dreamers.

[Tellez] is a leader in her community at Cal State Fullerton as an advocate for supporting our Dreamers and [temporary protected status] holders who are seeking higher education degrees, Cisneros said in a news release. Dreamers are students, service members, neighbors and our friends.

President Trump moved to end DACA in 2017, but last month offered temporary protections for Dreamers in exchange for funding his long-promised border wall.

Above all, they are real people. And it is crass and inhumane for the president to try and leverage them, their families, and the DACA program he is responsible for ending to extract a senseless border wall, Cisneros said. Dreamers are so much more than bargaining chips; they are valued community members who want nothing more than to contribute to the country they love.

Trump, in January, called his proposal straightforward, fair, reasonable and common sense with lots of compromise.

Tellez, who came to America from Mexico with her family when she was 8, said much of the rhetoric in Trumps State of the Union Address stereotyped immigrants.

One particular line in the address that she disliked: Legal immigrants enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways.

Tellez called the presidents statement only partially true because it purposefully overlooked contributions to this country by undocumented immigrants.

Immigrants as a whole make the nation great, Tellez said.

Tellez was one of about 20 immigrants, some facing possible deportation, invited as guests to in the House chamber that night. She called meeting some of her political heroes, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi the most memorable part of the trip.

I personally think of politics as a different realm  one that affects me but seems so far away, Tellez said. Having that experience to meet the people who get to make policies that affect history was big for me.

Cal State Fullerton senior and DACA recipient Miriam Tellez is flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Gil Cisneros, who invited Tellez to attend Tuesdays State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of Cal State Fullerton)

Tellez believes her life is a testament to the potential of immigrants. Fueled, like so many others, by the promise of a world-class education she and her family left Mexico and settled in Pasadena. The four children were primarily raised by Tellezs mother; her father died about three years ago.

Tellez will graduate this year with a degree in sociology, a change from her original major: international business.

I chose it as a safety route because I knew I was undocumented, and I knew the possibility of being deported, Tellez said. I wanted to have something that would prepare me internationally.

Tellez was exposed to topics like social inequality and identity while working in Fullertons resource center for Dreamers. The work resonated with Tellez, leading her to sociology. She hopes to eventually get her doctorate in the subject.

It always revolved around education for my family, Tellez said. Now three of the children are in a university. Id say we are doing pretty well.
Its not hard to imagine a world where the rich and poor live desperately different lives, where the former drink coffee in gowns while the latter toil away for unlivable wages and cluster in underpasses for shelter. All you have to do is ride the No. 2 Metro bus from the Westside to downtown Los Angeles.

Observing similarities between today and the class and gender inequities laid bare in early feminist playwright Cicely Hamiltons Diana of Dobsons, a 1908 rom-com set in Edwardian England, director Casey Stangl saw an opportunity to revive the largely forgotten play, which runs through June 3 at the Antaeus Theatre in Glendale.

Stangl said she has been trying to find a place for the play since encountering it 25 years ago. Given the cultural moment were in  the #MeToo movement slash renewed thought about women and equality and womens options  it feels like the perfect time to reexamine this play, Stangl said of the work that was a hit the year it arrived on the London theater scene.

Antaeus artistic directors agreed and gave the green light to produce it.

Pairing social commentary with comedy, titular heroine Diana Massingberd, performed by Abigail Marks, is introduced as a plucky London shop girl working 14 hours a day for an era-appropriate pittance.

When she inherits a considerable sum from an unknown relative, she decides to spend it all on a truncated taste of the high life  dropping by Paris for dresses before heading to the Swiss Alps to take in the mountain views.

Assuming the identity of a wealthy widow, Dianas sharp wit wins the affections of two co-vacationing suitors: Victor Bretherton, played by John Bobek, a guileless former military man with a tendency to overspend, and Sir Jabez Grinley, played on a rotating basis by John Apicella and Tony Amendola, a man who made millions on the backs of low-paid employees like Diana.

But when the funds run out, so must Diana  away from what she deems the ornamental class and back to the useful class.

The play written by Hamilton, who was a friend of acclaimed playwright George Bernard Shaw, reads like an inverted version of Shaws Pygmalion, in which two mens efforts transform cockney-accented Eliza Doolittle into a better, or more acceptable, woman, Stangl said.

Meanwhile, Diana remains the same and all the trappings around her change, Stangl added.

Behind the shop counter, Dianas bold ways cost her jobs. In high society, they earn her praise.

At a recent production, Marks imbued Diana with a frenetic energy, and a half-cocked, wry smile always at the ready.

Its a delight and a fear being Diana, Marks said, referring to the challenges of embodying such a powerful female character.

Bobek countered Marks intensity with an unassuming affect  before riding a major character arc at Dianas verbal shoving.

Antaeus roles are typically double cast, but Marks and Bobek perform the two lead roles in both casts.

To better mentally contextualize the action, Stangl said she and her cast spent time unpacking the plays underlying social and political themes, including what rights women had  and the many they didnt  at the time.

The opening scene, of shop girls living in a dormitory together and discussing their prospects, belies the high stakes women like them faced, Stangl said. Those who didnt marry or come from a wealthy family often faced a bleak future, she said.

Historical information can deepen a performance, yet as an actor, once youve created all those layers and have that background info, all of that has to be thrown out in order to focus on the moment at hand, Marks said.

For tickets and more information, visit antaeus.org.

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A decades-long connection between Burbank resident Carla Walker and the Glendale Unified School District will soon enter a new phase.

The graduate of Balboa Elementary as well as Toll middle and Hoover high schools has spent 30 consecutive years working in the district, starting not too long after her stint as a student.

That familiarity, tranquility and consistency will change next month when Walker retires after seven years as principal at Marshall Elementary.

Its very bittersweet because I am so blessed to have job[s] that I loved for 30 years, said Walker, a San Diego Padres fan who plans to travel to a lot more games in her free time. I know that its rare, too.

Walker added, I think about the people and relationships, the parents, students and staff and, after all these years, Ive worked with so many people. Its shocking how fast 30 years goes by.

Except for the time Walker earned her bachelors degree in English and teaching credential from UC Riverside, shes almost exclusively been a student, teacher or administrator with Glendale Unified.

Ive never worked in another district, said Walker, who also earned a masters degree in educational administration from the University of La Verne. Thats huge, and I cant say enough about how wonderful the district is. I feel a lifelong connection to all my schools as a student, administrator and teacher.

One of those early connections took place in 1989 when Walkers former elementary school principal, Ken Henisey, offered the future educator her first teaching job at Muir Elementary.

Walker eventually spent 15 years as a teacher and 15 years as an administrator at the elementary level at Fremont, Horace Mann, Marshall, Monte Vista, Muir and Valley View schools.

She said shes still in contact with Henisey and credits him with helping her find another long association.

Marshall Elementary School principal Carla Walker is retiring at the end of the school year after 30 years of service with the district. Walker, who only worked for Glendale Unified, also attended district schools as a student and met her future husband on campus. (James Carbone)

It was when I was at John Muir that I met my husband, Bill, Walker said. He taught sixth grade, and I taught first grade, and thats another interesting connection Ive made thanks to Glendale Unified.

While Walker has certainly enjoyed the local school district, those shes worked with have tried to return the favor.

Marshall first-grade teacher Anita Jaeger has completed 30 years with the school and said she knew Walker fit right in when she arrived on campus.

She has been an amazing principal, and we are going to miss her so much, Jaeger said. She is a very caring, trusting, fair and organized principal. Most of our staff has been here for 20 or more years, so we have developed strong relationships with each other. We are a family.

Denise Barnard, a longtime administrative secretary at Marshall, has worked closely with Walker, but said she thinks the most accurate commentary comes from the schools students.

Carla is well-loved by all, Barnard said. Children are the best judges of character Ive ever met, and they all brighten up any time Carla is around them. They love and respect her.

Like Walker, Marshall Elementary teacher Elizabeth Tamez also attended elementary, middle and high school with Glendale Unified and has spent the past 15 years teaching special education in the district.

While Tamez lauds Walker for showing up at Halloween dressed in a different costume every year and is amazed by the principals wardrobe of more than 50 Christmas sweaters, she said its Walkers compassion and empathy that stand out most.

She supports us when we have issues, whether its work-related or something going on in our personal life, Tamez said. She always makes time for her staff and students. She makes us always feel appreciated and important.

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On Wednesday  nearly two years after closing escrow on the former Sport Chalet corporate headquarters  city employees opened for business in their new City Hall building at One Civic Center Drive in La Canadas Town Center.

Opening day followed a weekend move into the second-floor digs as staff emptied offices and bid farewell to their home of nearly four decades at 1327 Foothill Blvd. City Manager Mark Alexander confirmed Wednesday the transition was still a work in progress, as crews continued to build first-floor council chambers and a David A. Spence Memorial Community Room, named in honor of the late councilman.

The new location for the La Canada Flintridge City Hall at the La Canada Town Center on Foothill Boulevard. (James Carbone)

An official dedication and ribbon cutting is scheduled for the March 19 meeting of the La Canada Flintridge City Council, the first to be held in the new space. All regular and special council and commission meetings prior to that date will take place at La Canadas Lanterman Auditorium, 4491 Cornishon Ave.

sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine
Manager Brad Ausmus said Tuesday that Shohei Ohtani will not join the Angels this weekend in Monterrey, Mexico, ruling out Ohtani joining the lineup until May 7 at the earliest.

They want to progress it slowly, from a medical standpoint, to make sure hes not overloaded on his [surgically repaired right] elbow, Ausmus said.

The Angels planned for Ohtani to get 40 at-bats in simulated games. He reached the 25 mark after taking five at-bats against a left-handed pitcher Monday.

To this point, Ohtani has not experienced a setback in his rehabilitation. Hes hit on a regular basis since the beginning of February and has incorporated flat-ground throwing without reporting discomfort.

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But the Angels prefer to be cautious. They will continue his hitting program in Anaheim, likely beyond 40 at-bats, until they can be sure the stress of hitting major league pitching will not undo the progress hes made since undergoing ligament replacement surgery on his throwing arm in October.

The Angels begin a four-city, 11-game trip Saturday when they face the Houston Astros for two games at the Estadio de Beisbol in Monterrey. The Angels next homestand begins May 17.

Heaney making progress

Andrew Heaney threw his third bullpen session since receiving a cortisone shot in his inflamed left elbow Tuesday. The format emulated a game situation: He sat between two innings for eight minutes then continued throwing. He threw 35 pitches and made use of his entire arsenal.

The next step for Heaney, who has been sidelined since spring training, is to face live hitters. Ausmus wasnt sure when that would be.

I gotta get past the hurdles before we start planning anything further, Heaney said, and added, Today was a good day. Well see what tomorrow brings.

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Short hops

Rookie Luis Rengifo started his fifth straight game at second base since joining the roster last week. The Angels want to see Rengifo play as often as possible before Zack Cozart recovers from the neck strain that sent him to the 10-day injured list last week. As a result, infielder David Fletcher has received limited chances in the lineup. fellow  To make room for top pitching prospect Griffin Canning on the 25-man roster, the Angels designated for assignment right-hander John Curtiss . . . . Canning wore No. 47, which former Angels infielder Howie Kendrick wore from 2006 to 2014. Six Angels have used the number since Kendricks departure.

maria.torres@latimes.com

@maria_torres3
Kauais North Shore is getting its first scheduled airline service in 22 years, thanks to the little-known carrier called Makani Kai Air. Twice-daily flights began Wednesday between Honolulu and Princeville at a flat rate of $125 each way.

The 42-minute flight from Makani Kais terminal at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu lands at the tiny Princeville Airport, three miles east of Hanalei and close to North Shore resorts. By flying, visitors skip the 31-mile drive from Kauais main airport, which can become congested in the towns of Lihue and Kapaa.

The airfares flat fee wont fluctuate according to demand or day of the week, but additional charges apply. Passengers can take two carry-on bags of up to 15 pounds each for free. Checked bags up to 50 pounds cost $20 each; bags between 50 and 70 pounds and over-sized bags cost $30 each.

Makani Kai flies a twin-engine Piper Chieftain that can carry nine passengers, a number small enough not to require TSA screening. Flights from Honolulu take off from the airlines terminal at 100 Kaulele Place on the other side of the main airport. Travelers are advised to arrive 15 minutes before their departure time.

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A free airport shuttle is available for Makani Kai passengers who are making connections to and from Honolulus main terminal.

The airline also serves Kahului, Mauis main airport, and two communities on the island of Molokai.

Info: Makani Kai Air

travel@latimes.com

@latimestravel
British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson was summarily fired Wednesday after an investigation into leaks from a secret government meeting about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei.

In a letter to Williamson, Prime Minister Theresa May said she could no longer have full confidence in Williamson in the wake of the investigation.

In the letter released by Downing Street, May told Williamson there was compelling evidence suggesting his responsibility for the unauthorized disclosure from the National Security Council.

No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified, she said.

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There was no immediate comment from Williamson.

Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, has been appointed as Williamsons replacement. She becomes the first woman to hold the post.

An investigation was launched last week after newspapers reported that the security council, which meets in private, had agreed to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britains new 5G wireless communications network.

The government insists no decision has been made about Huawei.

The United States has been lobbying allies to exclude Huawei from all 5G networks, noting that the Chinese government can force the company to give it backdoor access to data on its networks.

The security council includes senior ministers, who receive briefings from top military and intelligence officials, and its meetings are considered highly sensitive.

The leak comes amid a Brexit-fueled breakdown in government discipline. With May weakened by her failure to take Britain out of the European Union, multiple ministers are positioning themselves to try to replace her, partly by cultivating positive press coverage.

The Daily Telegraph said last week it had obtained details of security council meetings about Huawei. It said several ministers, including Williamson, had opposed letting Huawei work on Britains 5G network.
A British judge sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012.

Judge Deborah Taylor said Wednesday that Assange merited near the maximum sentence of one year because of the seriousness of his offense.

She rejected his claim for leniency based on the nearly seven years he spent in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11 in London. (Jack Taylor / Getty Images)

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The white-haired Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery chanted Shame on you at the judge as Assange was led away.

Assange sought asylum in the South American countrys London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Earlier, his lawyers argued that he had jumped bail because he was a desperate man fearing extradition to the United States.
Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.

The tradition of May Day marches for workers' rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners.

Over the decades, the May Day protests also have become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands. Here's a look at Wednesday's protests :

Protest over high speed train in Italy

Riot police clash with protesters of the No Tav movement (against the TurinLyon high-speed TAV railway line) in Turin. (MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP / Getty Images) An injured man reacts on the ground next to Democratic Party activists and protesters of the No Tav movement (against the TurinLyon high-speed TAV railway line) in Turin. (MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP / Getty Images) Riot police clash with people protesting construction of a high-speed rail line between France and Italy. Two protesters, including the man pictured at right, and a police officer were injured. (Marco Bertorello / AFP/Getty Images)

Two protesters and a police officer were injured in the Italian city of Turin when police blocked a demonstration against the construction of a high-speed rail line between France and Italy, according to Italian news agency ANSA.

Among the protesters were members of the 5-Star Movement, a populist party that is in Italy's ruling coalition but is opposed to the tunnel. One member, Torino city councilor Damiano Carretto, said on Facebook he was hit in the head and on the hand by a police truncheon.

The about 36-mile-long Turin-Lyon High-Speed Train tunnel link, known in Italy as TAV, is a key part of an EU project linking southern Spain with Eastern Europe. But the 5-Star Movement has long opposed the project.

Russian workers march at Red Square

Russian Trade Unions' members holding balloons, flags and artificial flowers parade on Red Square during their May Day demonstration in Moscow . (YURI KADOBNOV / AFP / Getty Images) People celebrate Labor Day with flags, balloons, and dancing at Red Square during a rally in Moscow. (SERGEI ILNITSKY / EPA / Rex / Shutterstock) Riot police officers detain protesters marching through central St. Petersburg carrying placards saying "Putin is not immortal" in reference to President Vladimir Putin who has been at the helm of the country since 2000. (Dmitry Yermakov / Associated Press) At top, Kremlin-friendly trade unions march in Red Square. The Moscow demonstration included flags, balloons and dancing. At right, riot officers detain protesters marching through central St. Petersburg. (Yuri Kadobnov / AFP/Getty Images; Sergei Ilnitsky / EPA/Rex/Shutterstock; Dmitry Yermakov / AP)

Authorities in Russia said about 100,000 people took part in a May Day rally in central Moscow organized by Kremlin-friendly trade unions on Red Square. Opposition activists said more than 100 people were detained in several cities, including for participating in unsanctioned political protests.

In St. Petersburg, police arrested over 60 supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Some of them carried signs saying "Putin is not immortal," in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been at the helm since 2000.

Police manhandled dozens of protesters in Russia's second-largest city, including lawmaker Maxim Reznik, who was later released. Reznik told the Dozhd TV station that police detained almost everyone in his protest group but gave no reason for the arrests.

Violent May Day clashes in Paris
TORONTO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EEStor Corporation (TSXV:ESU) (EEStor, or the "Company") announces that Mr. Noel Cuesta and Dr. Robert M. Tocchio have been appointed to the Companys Board of Directors.



Eugenio Noel Cuesta holds dual M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Nuclear Engineering. Since 2014 Mr. Cuesta has been responsible for new product testing and implementation for Hydro-Quebecs Testing and Commissioning Group. He also worked as a physicist at Hydro-Quebecs Reactor Physics Group at the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Power Plant from 2006 to 2014. Additionally, Mr. Cuesta is a Technical Advisor for Renewable Energy with Global PoleTrusion Group Corp. (GPGC). Prior to his employment at Hydro-Quebec, Mr. Cuesta was a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela from 2003 to 2005.

Ian Clifford, Founder and CEO of the Company, commented: As the Company continues to pursue a number of crucial Joint Venture manufacturing and licensing opportunities in China, Europe and North America, the addition of Noel to the Board was a strategic choice. The level of expertise and quality control discipline required in all aspects of Noels career to date adds significant credibility to the Board and the Company as a whole, as we continue this intense Joint Venture process.

Dr. Robert M. Tocchio is one of EEStors longest supporters and is currently its largest single shareholder.

Dr. Tocchio operated a successful orthodontic practice for over 25 years and brings extensive entrepreneurial experience in a wide array of private and public start-up investments to EEStor. Dr. Tocchio has sat on various boards, most notably as a Founder and Board Member of Medisystem Technologies, which he and his team took public and later successfully sold to Shoppers Drug Mart.

Ian Clifford, Founder and CEO of the Company, commented: Rob has been one of our most significant and consistent supporters since we took the Company public in 2006. His passion for the technology has never wavered. The team and I are very excited to have the opportunity to work much more closely with Rob in the coming months. His experience with the growth and strategic development of dynamic technology companies, and his extensive network, will be a great asset to our Board and Shareholders.

The Company also announces that, effective April 30th, 2019, it has accepted the resignations of Mr. Kevin Spall, Mr. Michael Michalyshyn and Mr. Paul Mesburis. Mr. Kevin Spall has resigned as the Companys Chief Financial Officer, Director of the Company and its subsidiary, EEStor Inc. In addition, Mr. Michael Michalyshyn and Mr. Paul Mesburis have resigned as Directors and Co-Chairs of the Companys Board and of the Board of its subsidiary, EEStor Inc. The Company thanks Messrs. Spall, Michalyshyn and Mesburis for their services and wishes them all the best in their future endeavours. The Companys Board has appointed Mr. Ian Clifford as the Chief Financial Officer, in addition to his roles as a Director and CEO. In addition, the Board has appointed Mr. Cuesta and Dr. Tocchio to the Board of its subsidiary, EEStor Inc.

About EEStor Corporation

EEStor is a developer of high energy density solid-state capacitor technology utilizing the Companys patented Composition Modified Barium Titanate (CMBT) material. The Company is focused on licensing opportunities for its technology across a broad spectrum of industries and applications.

Risk Factors

The Companys success depends on the commercialization of its technology. There is no assurance that EEStor will be successful in the licensing of the technology.

EEStor is operating with limited financial resources and has continued to secure bridge financing. The Board continues to work on its review of strategic alternatives and a non-brokered private placement. As a pre-revenue Company, unless EEStor is successful in raising capital, there can be no assurance about the future operations of its business.

Readers are directed to the detailed Risk Factors disclosed in the Companys public filings.

For additional information please contact:

Ian Clifford

Chief Executive Officer

EEStor Corporation

Tel. 416-535-8395 ext. 3

ian.clifford@eestorcorp.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
- An anti-corruption group based in Rivers state has called for probe into the activities of the NDDC

- The group accused the commission of using public funds to support a candidate in the Rivers state governorship election

- The group's allegation was contained in a statement signed by its coordinator, Comrade Dagogo Johnson and made available to journalists

A Rivers state based group under the aegis of Niger-Delta Anti-Corruption Advocate has called for a probe of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in the last three months that Professor Nelson Brambaifa took over as the acting managing director.

The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to thoroughly investigate the activities of Professor Brambaifa.

According to the group, the cleansing of the NDDC become necessary because it has evidences that the current leadership has spent close to N80 billion within the last three months on frivolities.

The group's allegation was contained in a statement signed by its coordinator, Comrade Dagogo Johnson, and made available to journalists on Tuesday, April 30.

READ ALSO: Senate blows hot, orders minister, agency to return N14.3b to treasury

According to Dagogo, a large percentage of the said money was spent to prosecute the failed governorship primary election and later to support a governorship candidate in the Rivers state governorship election.

The group also called on the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) to investigate the activities of NDDC under Professor Brambiafa as the acting MD to ascertain the claims.

They further alleged that Professor Brambiafa's immediate family are the major beneficiaries of the NDDC.

Furthermore, the group alleged that it discovered that the current NDDC leadership is in the habit of collecting at least 10% from all the contractors with the commission, a move which it believes would affect quality of work done across the region.

While revealing a plan to submit a well-researched petition to all the anti-corruption agencies, the presidency and the national secretariat of the APC in a few days, the anti-corruption group warned the government and the APC leadership not to consider extending the tenure of Professor Brambiafa as the acting MD of NDDC beyond the three months.

We gathered reliably that Prof Brambiafa has been lobbying the stakeholders and daily visiting the presidency in order to secure a tenure elongation.

We hereby warn the APC government not to contemplate such move because the current leadership has lost the trust of all the state governments and other stakeholders in the Niger Delta, the group stated.

The group advised President Muhammadu Buhari to allow a thorough clean-up of the NDDC to serve the purpose of its creation, adding that the region does not lack competent hands.

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Meanwhile, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) has called for an independent inquiry into the conduct of 2019 general elections.

The group made the call at a press conference addressed by its convener, Mr. Clement Nwankwo on Sunday, March 10.

The group said the inquiry should address many issues that have bedeviled the conduct of the polls including procurement, logistics management, role of the military and abuse of process by INEC officials among others.

At the time of this report, the NDDC had not officially reacted to the allegations.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

Election not a do or die affair - Sanwoolu | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
TUSTIN, Calif., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 135 Promos is doing a Deal of the Week Spring Specials Sale with 10-15% off selected items from May 1st-June 16th while supplies last. Some 135 favorites included in the sale are the Magi Ballpoint Pen with a precision stylus and the Fresh Air Ballpoint Pen made from recycled paper. Custom packaging is available for both pens. Specific keyrings, bottle openers, car chargers and pedometers will also be included in the sale.



In addition, 135 Promos ramped up its product development this year with over 20 new products launched in the first quarter and over 30 more products are scheduled to launch before the end of the second quarter. Some items that just launched include the Two-Tone Feliz Sunglasses, the Hartford Tri-Tone Barrel Cooler Bag with a 12-can capacity, the Malibu Hand Sanitizer with a 1 ounce capacity and the Angus 3-Piece BBQ set that includes a stainless-steel spatula, a BBQ fork and tongs with wooden handles and leatherette straps.

The product development team at 135 Promos is proud to offer variety in each category. Several drinkware items will be launched in the second quarter including water bottles, tumblers, and wine tumblers. The Kai 24 oz. Tritan Water Bottle will be among one of the new drinkware items that will launch. This bottle has a translucent colored body and a screw top lid with an integrated handle. The Rio 16 oz. Stainless Steel & Polypropylene Tumbler and the Italia Wine Tumbler will be among the new products to be launched as well. The Rio has a modern look with a stainless-steel bottom and a colored polypropylene top, and the Italia has a sleek look with a clear AS lid to cover your drink.

The ability to create virtuals and a quick turnaround time of 5-7 days makes us unique and favored among clients, states Adam Gnesin, Director of Operations at 135 Promos. Our company brings great value to customers with extremely competitive pricing and quick processing of orders with an eCommerce solution.

To learn more about new product developments and sales at 135 Promos, please visit 135promos.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
- Interpol has provided the EFCC with an application that will help detect and interdict stolen and illicit funds by criminals

- The application will be managed by the ICT department of the anti-graft agency

- The United States is funding the project in four African countries, Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Libya

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has received an application that would enhance intelligence sharing in the tracking of organised crime including money laundering and terrorism-financing.

EFCC acting spokesman, Tony Orilade, who made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, April 30, said that the application was donated by the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), NAN reports.

Orilade said that the application comprised a database to be supervised by the National Central Bureau (NCB), which was an interface between Interpol and national law enforcement agencies of countries through a i24/7 Gemini Project global communications system.

READ ALSO: Details of how Saudi Arabia freed Zainabu Aliyu emerge

Within the commission, the application will be managed by its Information and Communications Technology department," he said.

EFCC boss Ibrahim Magu receiving the application from Interpols Project Officer Noha Amer. Photo credit: Vanguard

Source: UGC

He said that Noha Amer, Interpols project officer, who led the delegation of the global police to the commission, disclosed that the United States was funding the project in four African countries.

They are Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Libya in a move that aims to detect and interdict stolen and illicit funds by organised criminals, mainly in the area of terrorism-financing, as it happened in Libya.

He said Amer explained that the project would see to the training of the commissions operatives on programmes that included Interpol policing capabilities and standard operations.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

The training will commence after the installation of the NCB database, Orilade said.

L-R: Eleyatt an ACP with Interpol, Noha Amer, Interpols Project Officer, EFCC boss, Magu and Cristopher Makobyau, one of the INTERPOL officials. Photo Credit: Vanguard

Source: UGC

Legit.ng had reported earlier that the secretary general of Interpol, Jurgen Stock, recently paid a courtesy visit to the EFCC office. During the visit, Stock commended the zeal and efforts of the anti-graft agency in cleaning Nigeria of all forms of economic and financial crimes.

According to stock, there was need for partnership between international police and the anti-graft agency.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better.

The EFCC stage a walk against corruption | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- A minister of state at the presidency Rockson Bukari has resigned over bribery allegations levelled against him by a journalist

- A statement from the presidency on Monday, April 29, said Bukari has resigned and President Akufo-Addo has accepted his resignation

- The minister was allegedly heard trying to suppress the publication of a damning story against a mining firm and a judge in the Upper East Region

President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday, April 29, 2019 accepted the resignation letter of minister of state at the presidency Rockson Bukari.

Rockson Bukaris resignation follows a leaked audio tape in which he is heard allegedly trying to suppress the publication of a damning story against a mining firm and a judge in the Upper East Region.

A statement signed by the director of communications at the presidency, Eugene Arhin, indicated Mr. Bukari has resigned and president Akufo-Addo has accepted his resignation.

READ ALSO: Abuja-based lawyer files petition against alleged partisan tribunal judges

Bugari in his letter of resignation noted that he resigned as a matter of principle, having exercised judgment contrary to what I have known you to stand for and require of your servants in running this country.

The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Monday, 29th April, 2019, accepted the resignation from office of Hon. Rockson Bukari, Minister of State at the Office of the President.

This was after Hon. Rockson Bukari submitted his letter of resignation to the President on Monday, 29th April, because he had taken note of the tape circulating in the media, and had, therefore, taken the decision to resign in order not to allow the tape to disrupt the focus of government in delivering on its mandate, parts of the letter read.

Bukari in the leaked tape allegedly attempted to bribe Starr FM journalist, Edeti to kill a story against a judge and a Chinese mining firm when he was Upper East Regional Minister.

READ ALSO: Report banks rejecting dirty naira notes - CBN tells Nigerians

He denied the bribery allegation in a statement on Sunday, April 28, insisting he was only intervening.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Ministers approach by way of pleading with Edeti is typical with his peace-making intervention approach to situations, and in this case, sought to avoid what he was informed was a misjudgment sought to be projected to hurt the reputation of a retiring judge in the region he had superintended as minister, a statement from Rocksons office said.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Ghanas minister for railway development, Joe Ghartey, had commended the minister for transport in Nigeria, Rotimi Amaechi for his hard work.

Ghartey praised Amaechi after the duo went to inspect railway projects and facilities from Lagos to Ibadan.

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Ghartey, who was in Nigeria alongside some parliament members from his home country, said that even though he works hard, Nigerias Amaechi works even harder.

According to Ghartey Amachi effort in his job could be seen in the level of work that has been completed within a short period of time.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

Rotimi Amaechi gives a summary of the Buhari Administration | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- A damages suit brought against energy company Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of Ogoni activists would be heard a Dutch

- The court declared it has jurisdiction to hear the case

- Wives of the executed Ogoni activists are claiming that the company should have done more to prevent the death of their husbands

A Dutch court said on Wednesday, May 1, said it has jurisdiction to hear a damages suit brought against energy company Royal Dutch Shell by four widows of Ogoni activists executed by the Abacha government in 1995.

In a preliminary ruling, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, but cautioned that they did not agree with assertions by the widows that Shell should have done more to prevent their husbands deaths.

READ ALSO: Emulate Buhari in separating governance from personal interests - Ribadu tells governors-elect

The men executed were a group known as the Ogoni Nine, led by Ken Saro Wiwa  activists who had protested against Shells exploitation of the Niger Delta and who were executed after a trial widely seen as flawed.

Esther Kiobel , along with Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula, is seeking an apology and compensation from Shell. Their husbands were hanged in 1995 after a military tribunal convicted them for the murder of four political rivals.

In a preliminary decision, judges at the Hague District Court said they would allow the suit to go forward, a rare win in a decades-long legal fight, though the claimants must still prove their case.

The court considers itself capable of hearing the case, said presiding judge Larissa Alwin, reading the decision of a three-judge panel. This procedure will continue.

Dutch courts do not award large punitive damages claims, though the case has the potential to embarrass Shell and provide a measure of comfort for the activists families if it finds the company bears responsibility in their deaths.

The men executed were a group that became known as the Ogoni Nine  activists who included writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. They had protested against Shells exploitation of the Niger Delta until they were arrested and hanged after a trial widely seen as flawed.

Relatives have sought to hold the Anglo-Dutch energy company partially responsible in foreign courts, after exhausting legal possibilities in Nigeria.

Shell, headquartered in the Hague, paid $15.5 million (11.8 million) to victims families in the United States in a 2009 settlement in which it also denied any responsibility or wrongdoing. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected U.S. jurisdiction in 2013.

I am glad that the (Dutch) court has found it has jurisdiction, said lead plaintiff Esther Kiobel, whose husband Barinem Kiobel was among the executed activists.

My husband was killed like a criminal. I want him to be exonerated.

Judge Alwin cautioned that the three-judge panel did not agree with assertions by the widows that Shell should have done more to prevent their husbands executions.

But she ordered the company to turn over documents that could help the claimants case, including any evidence that Shell might have made payments to people who gave false information to Nigerian law-enforcement officials.

In a written statement, Shell denied involvement and said the company appealed in vain for clemency to Nigerias military rulers at the time

SPDC did not collude with the authorities to suppress community unrest, it in no way encouraged or advocated any act of violence in Nigeria, and it had no role in the arrest, trial and execution of these men, the statement said.

We believe that the evidence clearly shows that Shell was not responsible for these distressing events.

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We continue to deny all the allegations in the strongest possible terms, Shell representative Igo Weli said.

Shell was not responsible for what happened. Shell actually made an appeal for clemency, but sadly this was not heard.

Weli, who works for Shells Nigerian subsidiary, said the company would give the claimants access to internal documents as ordered.

No date has yet been set for a next hearing.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the minister of environment, Suleiman Hassan, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, March 20, revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the contract for remediation of five more lots for the Ogoni cleanup in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

EXCLUSIVE: Be patient with President Buhari, Femi Adesina tells Nigerians | Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Actress Victoria Inyama has shared her two cents on the news of teen actress Regina Daniels marrying a 59-year-old billionaire

- Inyama shared her opinion in response to Daddy Freeze's post, where he asked that Nigerians mind their business concerning Daniels' marriage

- Victoria stated that it is too late for that as the teenage actress called everyone into her business

For many weeks now, teen actress, Regina Daniels has been a major topic of discussion on social media following her alleged marriage to 59-year-old politician and billionaire, Ned Nwoko.

It became even more noticeable when the apparent Nigeria's sweetheart started displaying her luxury lifestyle on social media; flying private jets and what not. Many internet users wanted to know the source of her funds and when it was revealed that she was settling as 5th wife to Nwoko, many criticised.

Even some celebrities have weighed in on the matter. Some have supported Daniels and her choice of husband, while some have completely condemned it, saying that money which seems to be the driver of the marriage is not the answer to everything.

READ ALSO: Meet Regina Daniels alleged husband Ned Nwokos Moroccan wife (photos)

However, actress Victoria Inyama has shared another angle which many find interesting. In response to a post made by Daddy Freeze in which he stated that people should mind their business and leave Regina alone, Inyama said that Daniels is the originator of her misery.

In the post, Victoria stated that Daniels brought the trolling on herself when she started flaunting wealth and presents given to her by her husband.

Inyama also stated that Regina is not the first to marry an older billionaire and those who did it before her were wise not too show off and that prevented people from poke-nosing.

For Regina, as it is, she invited the trolls when she started flaunting private jet lifestyle and exotic cars on the gram.

Read her post below:

Victoria Inyama reacts to Regina's marriage to 59-year-old billionaire

Source: Instagram

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Meanwhile, Nigerian social media fans were once captivated by the love between Nollywood actors Regina Daniels and Somadina Adinma.

The duo was known to tease fans with loving displays as they reaffirmed their affection for each other at any given opportunity.

Some people on social media have expressed joy at Regina Daniels new relationship while others seem to use it as an opportunity to troll her ex-boyfriend, Somadina Adinma.

The young man recently lambasted trolls who made it their job to mock him for supposedly losing his babe to a rich man.

Did you know? NAIJ.com (naija.ng) is now-> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better.

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Nigeria Celebrities: How Much Do They Spend On Luxury Life? on Legit TV:

Source: Legit.ng
An armed woman and three others tried to break into a Bethlehem apartment Saturday evening, with the woman threatening to stab the victims, city police said.

Jessica Thomas, 28; Colin Rinehimer, 29; Jasmine Dowell, 19; and Chelsea Arnold, 18, who all live together in the 600 block of Aaron Street in Bethlehem, tried to break into an apartment in the 400 block of Wyandotte Street.

When the victims opened the front door, Thomas and Rinehimer tried push their way inside, but were unsuccessful, according to police.

Rinehimer repeatedly hit the victims door and Thomas brandished a closed knife and threatened to use it on the victim, police said.

I am going to stab you, she reportedly said.

Nothing was taken and no one was injured, police said.

Each of the quartet is charged with burglary and criminal trespass. Thomas is also charged with making terroristic threats and possession of an offensive weapon.

All four were sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of bail: $100,000 bail for Thomas, $50,000 bail for Rinehimer, $30,000 bail for Dowell, and $40,000 bail for Arnold.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Police are looking for a Bethlehem Township man accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman at a club at the Sands casino.

Traver Tilley, 30, of the 2100 block of Johnston Drive in the township, is wanted on a charge of indecent assault of an unconscious person.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call the city of Bethlehems non-emergency number 610-865-7187 or the local authorities.

The woman reported the sexual assault occurred in the early morning of March 18 in the womens restroom at Vision Nightclub. The club is located in the Sands Event Center, next to the casinos hotel and outlet stores.

After receiving DNA test results from Pennsylvania State Police linking Tilley to the alleged assault, police filed the charge against him on Monday.

The accuser reported she went to the club with friends around 11 p.m. March 17. The woman said she consumed three drinks, and went to use the bathroom about 1 a.m. March 18.

The woman told officers she remembers Tilley following her to the bathroom and, after she started not feeling well, escorting her inside the bathroom.

The womans next recollection was waking up at St. Lukes University Hospital with Bethlehem police there.

The woman said she passed out and could not remember what happened, police said, and submitted to a sexual assault test kit while at the hospital.

Tilley was questioned about the incident, and denied any wrongdoing, according to police. He allegedly told officers he helped the woman into the bathroom, and there was no sexual contact with her in any way.

Tilley agreed to submit to a DNA swabbing, and police said that DNA matched DNA found in the victims underwear.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Children will have a new reason to visit one of the last remaining Friendlys restaurants in the Lehigh Valley.

The Palmer Township restaurant, 3099 William Penn Highway, on Wednesday is unveiling a 1,000-square foot, fenced-in kids play park, called The Grove." The multi-feature play area includes a turbo slide, rock walls, climb-thru tunnel, fire pole, rope climb, a balance beam and interactive games.

Additionally, the custom-built play structure crafted by Pennsylvania Amish carpenters will be near a walk-up ice cream window serving the outdoor patio area with a full ice cream menu, childrens menu and senior citizens menu.

A Friendlys spokeswoman said special attention was provided to such details as rubber safety flooring, an outdoor sound system for music, and a separate seating area under the trees for those seeking a more relaxed environment.

Stephanie Smith, general manager at the Palmer Township location, said new owners are working to make the site popular and she expects the playground to become a favorite among families. The Palmer Township location, as well as the Friendlys location in Allentown, now are locally owned and were recently acquired by DDM Restaurant Group.

Since its inception, Friendlys has striven to be a heartwarming place for guests to create lasting memories while enjoying handcrafted ice cream and delicious food -- a true member of its community, said Bruce Stein, franchise owner and Allentown resident.

Stein also is the owner of the Tannersville, Monroe County location, which opened 22 years ago and was the first franchise to open in the United States. The Grove might be the draw needed to keep the business, which currently has 2 1/2 stars on Yelp, thriving.

This past December, Friendlys at the Phillipsburg Mall shut down at 1186 Route 22 at the border of Lopatcong and Pohatcong townships. Just days later, the location at 1491 MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township near the Lehigh Valley Mall closed. Alyssa Stevens, a spokeswoman for Friendlys, confirmed the closures at the time, but did not provide a reason.

Friendlys has had its share of financial woes in recent years.

In 2011, the Associated Press reported the parent company of Friendlys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, closing 63 of its stores. Each store employed about 20 people, so about 1,260 jobs were lost at the time. Friendlys had said the economic downturn coupled with higher costs and high rents drove it to file for bankruptcy protection. Friendly Ice Cream Corp. later announced it secured $70 million in financing and that its 424 remaining restaurants would stay open and pay its estimated 9,000 employee salaries and benefits as it reorganized under bankruptcy protection, according to the Associated Press report.

Aside from the Palmer Township location and the location at 1836 Catasauqua Road in Allentown, the other remaining Lehigh Valley location is at 6894 Hamilton Boulevard, Upper Macungie Township.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Dear Annie: My friend Jess and I recently moved into a three-bedroom apartment together. We each have one cat. We knew it would be challenging to integrate the cats at first, but we figured that it wouldnt be too difficult in such a spacious place. Boy were we wrong. Every night is fight night for these cats. I wake up several times a night to them body slamming each other, from the sound of it. I cant tell if theyre fighting or just roughhouse playing, but it doesnt sound good. I get out of bed to detach them; two hours later we repeat the whole scene. Jess and I have tried separating them at night, but our place is carpeted and when we shut the doors the cats start trying to dig trenches underneath. We dont want them destroying the carpet of our rental. Were locked into our lease for another nine months -- and moving is such a pain that Id hate to have to move again, even after our lease is up. Do you or your readers have any tips for making cats get along? The sleepless nights are starting to catch up with me. -- Tired of the Night Prowls

Dear Tired: A harmonious multicat household starts with preparation: keeping the cats in separate rooms and slowly introducing them to each other via scent by exchanging blankets that they sleep on, for instance. But theres no use mewing over spilled milk.

Id recommend using a feline pheromone diffuser, such as Feliway, to foster a more relaxed environment for the cats. Install several throughout the apartment for best results. Also, be sure there are ample feline facilities: Vets often recommend one litter box per cat plus one more, so you should have three. And, of course, play with them and be sure they get lots of exercise. Do everything you can during the day to tucker the little tigers out for the night. If I hear any ace tips from readers, Ill be sure to print them here.

Dear Annie: Every year when Easter comes around, many well-meaning people purchase adorable bunnies for their children.

I have two rabbits I adore. However a huge amount of work is required for these pets, and I wanted to share some of my tips and warnings.

1) Rabbits are constantly chewing on furniture, cutting wires, etc. A room that is "rabbit-proofed" is needed for everyone's safety.

2) A good-sized cage is needed, but also give the rabbit some free time to run around outside of the cage every day, too. I let mine run around free about five hours a day.

3) Most rabbits can be trained to use a litter box, but it is normal for them to leave "pellets" on the floor that are easy to clean up.

4) They need to eat hay all day so their intestinal systems run properly. I give my bunnies rabbit kibble twice a day and vegetables twice a day as well. Check the internet for the right vegetables to give them. They are not able to vomit so everything they eat must be carefully chosen.

5) Litter should be changed twice a day. They enjoy kicking litter and hay outside their cages, so keep the vacuum handy!

Rabbits are one of the most abandoned animals in our society. However, if you are ready to do the work, you will have an adorable companion for a long time to come! -- Mrs. Roberta F.

Dear Mrs. Roberta: These are all great and timely tips. Id like to add that anyone thinking of getting a rabbit should adopt, not shop. As you mentioned, rabbits are frequently abandoned, and as they can live up to 10 years, there are plenty of bunnies in shelters right now in need of fur-ever homes. Thanks 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 Bethlehem area abortion clinic says three protesters have threatened, harassed and insulted employees; blocked access for patients; and blocked escorts from accompanying patients into the clinic.

For those reasons, the Allentown Womens Center wants a judge to force three protesters to remain at least 25 feet away from the entrance driveway.

The lawsuit and injunction petition were filed April 11 in federal court on behalf of the clinic on South Commerce Way in Hanover Township, Northampton County.

It says John Dunkle, Anthony J. Sulpizio and Mark Michael Bogunovich failed to adhere to the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act several times in recent years.

Sulpizio allegedly used gay slurs against clinic staff and called them baby killers. He allegedly asked a clinic doctor in November 2018, You know youre going to hell, right? He allegedly compared the doctor to Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor who was convicted of murder. Hes also accused of asking the doctor, Are your children proud of their father for killing all those babies? the lawsuit says.

In January he told a patients escort, Your parents should have killed you.

Dunkle allegedly trespassed at the clinic 15 times on Feb. 23, 2019. Supizio is accused of holding a clipboard and posing as a clinic staffer in order to confront patients as they drove into the parking lot. The lawsuit says he has prevented escorts from greeting patients and accompanying them into the clinic.

It says he and Bogunovich blocked the clinic driveway to multiple visitors on Nov. 30, 2018.

The lawsuit says Sulpizios harassing, obstructive and hazardous conduct is escalating, and employees and patients fear he will harm them. An escort felt threatened by Bogunovich, the lawsuit says. Dunkles behavior is also described as escalating in the lawsuit.

The clinic has asked a federal judge to grant an injunction forcing the three men to stay at least 25 feet away from the driveway entrance.

None of the protesters has an address listed in the lawsuit. However summonses were served at the following addresses:

For Dunkle, at a home in the 200 block of Meadow Glen Lane in Cumuru Township, Berks County

For Sulpizio, at a home in the 2600 block of Parkside Drive in Moore Township.

For Bogunovich, at a home in the 1400 block of Briarwood Drive in Bethlehem Township.

Each was served with the lawsuit on April 22, court records say. There was no listed phone number for Sulpizio and Bogunovich. The number rang repeatedly at Dunkles home but no one answered.

The lawsuit was filed by Philadelphia attorneys David Samuel Cohen, Debra S. Friedman and Jason Cabrera along with Susan Frietsche, a Pittsburgh-based attorney with the Womens Law Project.

John Dunkle's photo is among the photos of protestors hung up inside the Allentown Women's Center in 2009.lehighvalleylive.com file photo

The lawsuit says Dunkle has been regularly engaging in obstructive, intimidating, hazardous, threatening and harassing activity at the clinic since the 1990s. Hes linked with the anti-abortion group the Army of God, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says Sulpizios activity at the local clinic dates back to at least 2011 and Bogunovichs dates back to 2016.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
Dear Annie: I had my 14th birthday two weeks before I gave birth to my son. The hardest thing I have ever done was to sign the paper for him to be adopted. The entire time I was pregnant, I tried to think of any way I would be able to keep and raise my son. At 14, I completed my first semester in ninth grade but had to drop out my second semester.

I cried and prayed each night for a way to keep my son, to be able to take care of him. For years, I would look into the faces of boys and then men to see if I recognized my son. I silently celebrated each birthday, and prayed he was OK and in a loving home. I didnt actively try to find my son as I didnt feel I had any right to look for him, to interrupt his life, or to have any claim to be a part of his life. I never gave up hope and never gave up praying that he was happy and healthy and that he would somehow know from all the talks and love that we shared while I was carrying him that he would somehow feel that love and not feel abandoned or unwanted.

The best day of my life came more than 45 years later when I received a phone call, and it was my son!

Many times a birth mother really has no choice or is unable, for whatever reason, to raise a child, and if a loving family is unable to have a child of their own but is able to give that baby a loving home, it is a truly great thing.

I still regret that I was unable to be the mother my son needed, and I am grateful that he had a great life with his adoptive parents who loved him, and that he does not hate me for my choices. -- A Loving and Thankful Mother

Dear Birth Mother: Your letter is extremely touching. You sound like a beautiful person and mother. May your letter help people who are wondering if their birth mothers wanted them.

Dear Annie: We know that schools and food manufacturers are cognizant of nut (or peanut) allergies, and we all can have empathy for those suffering from these allergies and the limitations it puts on their families and themselves, but we have a condition in our family and it is not being addressed in public places -- obesity. Some people have a genetic cause for obesity.

My granddaughter has Prader-Willi syndrome and has an insatiable appetite, which can cause obesity and early death. She is hungry 24/7 and will never, ever feel full even after eating. Her condition only makes me more aware of our society and the focus on food.

Every holiday is centered around food. We have learned to make those holidays about love and inedible gifts. Easter is coming and she will have a basket of toys and games instead of candy.

When visiting a school I am appalled with the overabundance of candy and treats everywhere. Gingerbread houses at Christmas decorated with marshmallows and candy -- a treat for children but a torment for my granddaughter.

I would love it if schools could take food out of classrooms and back in the cafeteria. It would help my granddaughter, but it would be a blessing for all children to place food as an option only in certain places rather than in the classroom. -- Empathetic Grandma

Dear Empathetic Grandma: I certainly empathize with your complaint and think that you raise a valid point. However, food has long been at the center of many traditions in our society. Rather than trying to do away with that altogether, we might try using more healthful foods in these activities, such as an Easter basket loaded with beautiful fruits or a gingerbread house made with no added sugar (there are recipes online). Id be curious to hear other readers ideas on this subject and will print any further food for thought here.

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
VANCOUVER, CANADA, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QUEST WATER GLOBAL, INC. (OTC Pink: QWTR) ("Quest" and/or the "Company"), an innovative water technology company and developer of the solar-powered AQUAtap water purification, desalination, and distribution technology and the WEPSTM WaterMaker Atmospheric Water Extraction and Purification System, announced today an update to the Companys press release dated September 20, 2018.



Financial Reporting Requirements and Continuous Disclosure Obligations

Further to the September 20 press release, and in order for Quest to achieve compliance with its financial reporting requirements and continuous disclosure obligations in both the U.S. and Canada, the Company is pleased to announce it has commenced the preparation of its financial statements for the years 2014  2019 after having provided payments to the Companys auditors and accountants. Upon the completion and filing of the audited financials and other outstanding continuous disclosure documents, the Company will apply for a full revocation of the Cease Trade Order (the CTO) issued against it in Canada on April 23, 2015 by the British Columbia Securities Commission (the BCSC).

Republic of Haiti

Also further to September 20 press release, the Company is pleased to advise that it has completed the registration of its new joint venture company in the Caribbean nation. The purpose of the new entity, known as the Haitian Water Network SA, is to supply, install, and operate 50 AQUAtapTM systems for the provision and vending of purified drinking water to 200,000 underserved people in rural communities within Haiti. The Haiti Water Network SA is currently in discussions with various NGOs and investment funds regarding project financing while also assessing locations for the initial installations.

WEPSTM WaterMaker

In March 2019, the Company launched its first home and office WEPSTM WaterMaker atmospheric water extraction and purification system branded the Magic as an addition to its vast array of existing commercial and industrial WEPSTM WaterMaker systems. The Company expects demand for this 25  30 liter per day system to be significant since its partners and distributors have received continuous requests for a practical solution for use in homes and offices.

About Quest Water Global, Inc.

Quest Water Global, Inc., through its wholly-owned operating subsidiary Quest Water Solutions Inc., is an innovative water technology company that provides sustainable and environmentally sound solutions to water scarce regions. We use proven technologies to create economically viable products that address the critical shortage of clean water in water-scarce regions and developing nations. Quests goal is to address the vital issue of water quality and water supply by providing an alternative, sustainable source of pure water at the smallest possible environmental cost, while becoming a leading provider of decentralized, turnkey solutions using alternative energy for the production, purification, desalination, and distribution of clean, potable water. For more information, visit our website at www.QuestWaterSolutions.com

Notice Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains projections and forward-looking statements, as that term is defined under applicable securities laws. Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks which may cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including: negative results from the Company's operations; the effects of government regulation on the Company's business; risks associated with the Company's ability to obtain and protect rights to its intellectual property; risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's ability to raise additional capital; loss of management; and other factors beyond the Company's control. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity or performance. Further, any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and, except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such factors and to assess in advance the impact of such factors on the Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Readers should also refer to the risk factor disclosures and other disclosures outlined in the Company's periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and with the British Columbia Securities Commission on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

John Balanko, President & CEO

Quest Water Global, Inc.

+1 888 897 5536

inquiries@questwatersolutions.com

www.questwatersolutions.com



Jacqueline McClure, Corporate Communications

Quest Water Global, Inc.

+1 604 565 1103

jmcclure@questwatersolutions.com



Source: Quest Water Global, Inc.
SWARTHMORE, Pa. (AP)  The only two fraternities at Swarthmore College have decided to disband amid outrage over documents containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault.

The decisions to disband Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi at the private liberal arts college in suburban Philadelphia were announced in social media postings the fraternities made late Tuesday night.

Dozens of student protesters at Swarthmore had occupied the on-campus Phi Psi house during a four-day sit-in, calling for both fraternities to be shut down and the buildings put to other uses. Swarthmore had suspended fraternity activity while it investigated. Its lone sorority wasn't affected.

Earlier this month, two campus publications, The Phoenix and Voices, released internal Phi Psi documents from 2012 to 2016 that they say were anonymously leaked.

The redacted documents included jokes about sexual assault; derogatory comments about women, minorities and the LGBT community; videos and photos of sexual encounters where all parties may not have known they were being recorded  and even referenced a rape attic.
After four years of traveling to Whitehall Township, North Whitehall Township and Lehighton to fill larger grocery shopping orders, Walnutport finally has its own supermarket.

GIANT Food Stores on May 17 is opening inside a 55,000-square-foot building at 300 S. Best Ave. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the first 200 customers in line will receive a free GIANT reusable shopping bag. There also will be other grand opening giveaways.

The site was previously housed by Pathmark, which was closed by Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc. amid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2015. Pathmarks closure had a huge impact on both Walnutport in Northampton County and Slatington, across the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, with municipal officials at the time saying a lot of the older-age community used the large grocery chain as their main shopping source.

The closure forced residents in those communities to travel to Weis Supermarket in North Whitehall and Whitehall townships; Country Harvest Family Market in Palmerton; and GIANT outside Lehighton for large orders. Smaller orders were picked up at Thomsons Meat Market in the borough, in which an employee who answered the phone Wednesday morning said carries all the staples.

Though not strictly supermarkets, others also trekked to Rite-Aid in the Walnut Plaza and Kmart in Lehigh Township for smaller goods.

The new GIANT, which expects to hire 200 full-time and part-time workers, will operate from 6 a.m. to midnight daily. The store has hired Steve Bowlby, a 27-year grocery veteran, as its store manager.

We have built an amazing team of friendly and enthusiastic associates who reflect the generous spirit of the Walnutport community, Bowlby said in a statement. "Our team is putting the finishing touches on what we hope is a special shopping experience designed with todays family in mind.

The store will include an expanded farm fresh produce department with more 350 quality items. A full-service deli will have Boars Head meats, an Asian hot bar, a variety of hot rotisserie chickens, a selection of grab and go meals, and seasonal fresh salads.

In the meat department, GIANT expects to carry burgers, steaks, spicy hot chicken and tangy ribs, as well as USDA prime cuts and Natures Promise organic meats and chicken. The seafood department will offer an assortment of shrimp, tuna, salmon, catfish, salmon fillets and just-caught clams.

There also will be a full-service bakery with skilled decorators, signature cakes, artisan breads, and doughnuts made fresh daily, as well as desserts packaged for single-serve convenience. The floral department will carry fresh-cut flowers and arrangements for special occasions.

There also will be a Beer & Wine Eatery, stocked with more than 300 varieties of beer and wine, curated with a focus on Pennsylvania craft beer and wine selections. The Beer & Wine Eatery especially will showcase hyper-local beers within the special mix-a-six case, in which customers can mix and match to find new favorites, said Ashley Flower, manager of external communications and community relations for GIANT.

Flower said patrons will be able to sit at Beer & Wine Eatery and enjoy fresh-made fare, including meal combos, sandwiches, wraps, subs, salads, sushi and hot-bar foods. The eatery sits 30 people and will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

The store also will offer full-service catering with a menu ranging from hand-crafted sandwiches and entrees to sides, wings, appetizers and salads to special-occasion cakes and other desserts. Outside the building will be a six-pump fueling station, in which patrons receive perks for every $100 spent on groceries using a BonusCard.

After spending $100 on groceries, patrons who fill their tanks at the GIANT station will receive 10 cents off per gallon, Flower said. Rewards earned in one month, however, must be redeemed by the end of the following month. Customers will be able to track rewards points at the bottom of their GIANT receipts. Diesel fuel is being offered, along with an air station.

Patrons, Flower said, will have the option to shop in-store or online with curbside pick-up through the GIANT DIRECT program powered by Peapod.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Patrick Quirke has been found guilty of the murder of Robert Ryan by a ten to two majority jury verdict at the Central Criminal Court.

Quirke had pleaded not guilty to the murder of 52-year-old Robert Ryan who disappeared after leaving his girlfriend Mary Lowry's home at about 6.30am on June 3, 2011. His body was found in an underground run-off tank on the farm owned by Ms Lowry and leased by Quirke at Fawnagown, Tipperary 22 months later in April 2013. The prosecution said Quirke murdered Mr Ryan so he could rekindle an affair with Ms Lowry (52).

Evidence in the trial, the longest murder trial in the history of the State, lasted for 13 weeks amid lengthy legal argument carried out in the absence of the jury. Barristers for the prosecution and defence took five days to complete their closing speeches to the jury who took 20 hours and 31 minutes to come to their decision.

Justice Eileen Creedon thanked the jury and exempted them from further service for life.

From the outset the prosecution said there was "no smoking gun" that would link Patrick Quirke to the murder of Bobby Ryan but Michael Bowman SC for the prosecution said that strands of circumstantial evidence would be woven together to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

During 13 weeks of evidence that was frequently interrupted by legal argument the jury learned that Mary Lowry was married to Martin Lowry, who was best man at Mr Quirke's wedding. Martin died in September 2007 leaving Mary widowed with three young boys. Quirke soon started farming Martin's land at Fawnagowan and helped Ms Lowry with her finances and farm issues.

In 2008 he took a seven-year lease on what was now her land at a cost of e12,600 per year. It later emerged that a Single Farm Payment from the EU of e11,000 meant that the net cost of the lease to Mr Quirke was e1.600 per year.

In early 2008 Mr Quirke and Ms Lowry began a sexual relationship, one that Ms Lowry described to the jury as "seedy" and "sordid" and something she regrets. She described Mr Quirke as overpowering and insisted she did not choose to have an affair but was led to have an affair. Defence counsel Bernard Condon SC described the relationship as consenting, between adults and suggested to the jury that Ms Lowry's description of it as sordid was based on hindsight and due to the fact she now regrets what she did.

In August 2010 Ms Lowry met Bobby Ryan at a dance. They kept in touch and he helped her to get tickets to the All Ireland hurling final and they started seeing each other more regularly. When Mr Quirke found out, he told gardai, he was angry and hurt. He took Ms Lowry's phone and texted Mr Ryan to tell him that he was in a relationship with Mary and she had not been honest. He then called Mr Ryan and told him: "I'm the man."

Ms Lowry had to plead with Mr Quirke to get her phone back. She spoke to Bobby about her affair with Mr Quirke and he accepted her explanation and offered to speak to Mr Quirke, to help him. Mr Ryan had suffered following the break-up of his own marriage and felt he could be of assistance. They met at Hayes's Hotel in Thurles, spoke for about an hour and shook hands. Ms Lowry said that following that meeting Mr Quirke told her that Bobby "smells". In garda interviews Mr Quirke said the meeting went well and he was glad to be able to let Mr Ryan know he wasn't a "monster".

Ms Lowry described Bobby as a "breath of fresh air". He was fun and funny, they shared a love for dancing and music and he loved her three boys who also loved him. She was happy that she didn't have to hide the relationship and lie to her family. When her late husband's family found out she was seeing someone they were happy for her and wished her well.

On June 2, 2011 Bobby Ryan called to Ms Lowry's home some time after 9pm. He stayed the night and Ms Lowry said he awoke at 6am or 6.15am. They made love before he left at about 6.30am. She waited to hear his van cross the cattle grid at the end of her drive and would later tell gardai that he took longer than usual to drive away. She got up some time later, brought her children to school and dropped her mother-in-law Rita Lowry into town, as was her routine every Friday.

The alarm was raised when Mr Ryan failed to show up at Killough Quarry where he worked as a truck driver. He was described by his employer Niall Quinn as a perfect employee and punctual. When Mr Ryan's daughter Michelle found out he hadn't turned up for work she was immediately concerned. Her brother Robert Jnr called to Ms Lowry's home, thinking his dad was planning to head to the beach with his girlfriend as it was a beautiful day.

Ms Lowry was by now also worried as Bobby had told her that following the break-up of his marriage he had suicidal thoughts. Robert said Ms Lowry was "shaking" when he saw her, and looked like a person who had just been in a car accident. Michelle went to a hospital looking for her dad and then to gardai to report him missing. Ms Lowry drove to Tipperary Town where she met Michelle and together they drove towards Fawnagowan after Mary suggested they go for a cup of tea. On the way Michelle said she wanted to go to an area known as Kilshane Wood or Bansha Wood because she had a feeling she would find her dad's van in a wood. She couldn't explain why she thought this.

When they arrived at the car park to the woods they immediately saw Bobby's van with the "Mr Moonlight" sticker across the top. His DJ equipment was inside but the doors were unlocked and Michelle noticed it was parked in gear and the seats were in an unfamiliar position. She told gardai her dad was not the last person to drive the van.

A search focusing on the woods began and within a few days gardai searched the land and farm buildings at Fawnagowan but found nothing. The defence was critical of gardai for not searching Ms Lowry's home, the last place he had been reported alive.

22 months later, On April 30, 2013, Mr Quirke's wife Imelda phoned Garda Tom Neville to say that her husband had discovered a body in a disused waste water tank on the land he was renting from Ms Lowry at Fawnagowan.

Mr Quirke was interviewed under caution that day and told gardai he was intending to spread slurry from a cow shed and needed water to agitate the slurry. He planned on drawing water from that tank as he knew it would be full after a leak from the mains had poured water into it for two days some weeks earlier. Part of the tank was covered by two movable slabs of concrete, each weighing about 25 stone (160 kilos). Over the rest of the tank was a larger piece of poured concrete not designed to be moved.

Mr Quirke told gardai he used a shovel to prise one of the slabs away just enough to allow him to place a pipe from his vacuum tanker in. As the vacuum tanker sucked, he said he noticed something in the tank that looked like a carpet or inflatable doll. He moved the second slab to get a better look and immediately knew it was a body and guessed it was Bobby Ryan's. He phoned his wife Imelda who came, confirmed what he had seen and phoned her friend Gda Neville.

Engineer Michael Reilly told the jury that the tank was porous and incapable of holding water. In his closing speech Mr Bowman said the discovery of the body was "staged", that there was no more than a few inches of sludgy water at the bottom of the tank and if Mr Quirke was looking for water he would have seen that and immediately closed up the tank to look elsewhere. Mr Quirke told gardai that the tank was half to two-thirds full and he watched as the water was sucked out.

The prosecution also relied on the evidence of Dr John Manlove, a forensic entomologist. Dr Manlove looked at fly larvae on the body and said they proved that the body had undergone a single infestation at least 11 days but more likely some weeks prior to the discovery on April 30. The prosecution suggested this was evidence that Mr Quirke opened the tamk. which was made airtight by muck and cow waste across its surface, to check on the body before April 30. The defence argued that the water leak reported by the accused could have broken the seal on the tank creating enough of a gap for flies to get through.

Mr Bowman pointed to Mr Quirke's desire to rekindle the relationship with Mary Lowry as his motive to kill Bobby Ryan. In interviews Mr Quirke repeatedly told gardai that he loved Mary Lowry and in a Dear Patricia letter to the Sunday Independent he described how he had made a "right mess of my life" after falling "deeply in love with" his friend's widow.

He complained that he was left broken-hearted and angry after this woman started seeing another man and everything seemed to be working out for her. He added: "She refuses to discuss our affair and says it is in the past. She has confessed it to her new lover, while I have no closure and am forced to carry this dark secret alone. I now feel a tremendous amount of grief, and shame, for a lost love -- and am possibly suffering postponed grief for a dead friend -- all in silence. "He said he loved his wife but was not "in love" with her and wished he could transfer his feelings for this other woman back to his wife.

In garda interviews Mr Quirke talked about his anger towards Mary Lowry, complaining that she had deceived and abandoned him. When Mr Quirke's son died in a tragic accident in August 2012 he said Mary did not support him. Mr Bowman also pointed out that he was caught on CCTV at Ms Lowry's home in December 2012. She had gone out that morning and Mr Quirke could be seen in her yard and shed. He peeked in her windows, took underwear from her line and looked into her post box. Then he used a key to open her door, triggering the house alarm. Ms Lowry had installed the CCTV due to her house alarm having been triggered multiple times in the previous months.

Her passport had gone missing in September 2012, taken from her home. She was planning a family holiday and realised the passport was missing when it was too late. After viewing the CCTV footage in December of that year Ms Lowry confronted Mr Quirke about the passport and he replied: "I sold it and made money off it." He would later tell gardai this was sarcasm and deny the theft.

Mr Quirke also reported Mary to Tusla, the child and family agency. Deirdre Caverley, who took the call, said Mr Quirke told her Ms Lowry's children were being left unsupervised for long periods of time mostly at weekends. He said she had "lost the run of herself" and become fixated on her new relationship. Tusla found nothing untoward going on in the Lowry home. This, according to Mr Bowman, was the accused man's second attempt to scupper the relationship between Mary and Bobby.

Mr Quirke's defence counsel Bernard Condon SC told the jury that evidence of motive, even if it were accepted, is not evidence of murder. He further pointed out that there was no independent evidence to support Ms Lowry's claim that Mr Quirke stole her passport or that he assaulted her during a discussion over whether she should compensate him after his cattle was infected by a disease from her late husband's herd.

Mr Quirke's financial dealings with Ms Lowry formed another aspect of the prosecution's case with Mr Bowman telling the jury that the accused relied on Ms Lowry financially and emotionally. Soon after Martin's death Mr Quirke used e80,000 of Ms Lowry's money to invest in Contracts for Difference. He made, he said, about 80,000 over 18 months on that investment and split the profits evenly with Ms Lowry. It also emerged that he had taken a 20,000 loan from her without drawing up a repayment agreement. He further told her that his herd had been infected with Bovine Venereal Diarrhoea by one of her late husband's cows and that she should compensate him. He would go on to claim that Ms Lowry agreed to let him keep the e20,000 as compensation, something Ms Lowry strongly denied. She said he harassed and intimidated her looking for the money and insisted they did not agree on compensation.

Following Bobby Ryan's disappearance Mr Quirke claimed his affair with Ms Lowry was "rekindled", something she strenuously denied in the witness box. She said she couldn't remember staying with Mr Quirke at the Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Co Waterford in September 2011 despite evidence of a payment from her bank account to the Cliff House for more than e400. She accepted that she spent a night with him in Fitzpatrick's Hotel in Killiney, south Dublin in January 2012. She didn't want to be there, she said, adding that she got drunk, woke up with a sore head and went home. She added: "We did not rekindle our relationship." Mr Quirke gave a different version to gardai. They had, he said, made love about three times, and although he noticed she was unhappy the following morning he put it down to guilt rather than drink.

On St Patrick's weekend 2012 Ms Lowry met Flor Cantillon and they started dating. A recording of a conversation between Ms Lowry and Mr Cantillon was found on a hard drive in Mr Quirke's home by gardai who searched the house in May 2013 following the discovery of the body. During that search gardai also seized a computer which they found had been used to search for "human body decomposition timeline" in December 2012, four months before the discovery. It had also been used to look at an article about the limitations of DNA evidence and several articles about body decomposition. When this was put to Mr Quirke in interview he told gardai that his son had died, adding: "That is all I'm saying." He also told gardai that if he had known where Bobby Ryan's body was and wanted to know its condition he could have just opened the tank to look.

Gardai put it to him that a search relating to decomposition was carried out before his son's death in August 2012. He said his explanation did not cover all the searches, but did explain the search in December 2012. He denied that this "blew out of the water" his explanation for why he was looking up information on body decomposition.

As part of their search gardai also found an A4 sheet which revealed a handwritten note with the words "what the guards will know". It contained references, Mr Bowman said, to what Mr Quirke had told gardai in interview following the discovery of the body including details about Mary Lowry and how it was strange that she couldn't say how long it took for Bobby Ryan's car to leave her drive that morning. Also written down were the words "murdered poss in house" and "dispose of clothes \ phone \ any other evidence."

Mr Bowman said this note was written before April 30 which would mean that Mr Quirke was preparing for his garda interviews before the discovery of the body. Defence counsel Bernard Condon SC said it was more likely the note was written after the interviews and suggested to the jury that his client had essentially been accused of murder by gardai and so it was normal for him to write down what had happened.

In his closing speech Mr Condon told the jury that the evidence against Mr Quirke was enough only to arouse suspicion and not enough to convict a man of murder. He pointed out that the searches contained no references specific to this case, such as decomposition in water or in a sealed tank. He questioned the evidence of Ms Lowry, who he said was a liar, a dangerous witness and that part of her evidence was "a piece of the most devious poison that has been delivered across the face of the Central Criminal Court for many a year."

He particularly noted that in 2011 she told gardai that she saw Mr Quirke at Fawnagowan at 8.30 on the morning Mr Ryan went missing and that it would be normal for him to be coming and going at all hours. She knew he was going away that weekend and probably wanted to get jobs done early. In 2013, she changed her position to say it was unusual for him to be there so early and she had noted he was "hot and sweaty and bothered looking". In the witness box she denied knowing that he was going away for the weekend.

Mr Condon told the jury that the computer searches raised nothing more than suspicion and that is not enough to convict a man of murder. The evidence of Ms Lowry, he said, was unreliable. The prosecution said the evidence of Mr Quirke's jealousy and his emotional and financial reliance on Ms Lowry formed the motive. He had the opportunity, he was the only person with full access to the tank and his explanation for why he opened the tank on April 30, 2013 did not hold water. Neither, Mr Bowman said, did his explanation for searching for information relating to the decomposition of bodies.

As the trial came towards its close there was heightened tension in court. On the third day of the jury's deliberations there was a scuffle at the front door as Mr Quirke felt photographers were blocking his entry to the building. His legal team raised concerns that members of the jury might have seen what happened and Justice Creedon ordered the media to give Quirke space.

Throughout the trial the heightened interest around the country was reflected by the number of people who showed up every day to listen and watch from the public seats. They travelled from all over the country, many pensioners using their free bus and rail passes. Some complained to gardai that they had been queuing since early morning while others expected to be seated despite arriving just as the day's proceedings were about to start.

It was a packed courtroom that finally heard that Quirke had been convicted, by a majority verdict, of the murder of Bobby Ryan.
Tipperary farmer Patrick Quirke found guilty of murdering part-time DJ Bobby Ryan travelled to a Portlaoise on the same day of the murder.

The timeline of events in the trial outlines that Patrick Quirke travelled to Portlaoise and stayed at the Heritage Hotel, now the Midlands Park Hotel, just hours after killing Bobby Ryan on June 3, 2011.

It has been reported that it was his wife Imeldas birthday that weekend and he had organised a trip to the Laois hotel.

June 3, 2011 Timeline of events:

6am/6.20am Mary Lowry says Bobby Ryan wakes up in her house at Fawnagowan. They make love before he dresses to go home and then work.

6.15am Pat Quirke says he wakes to milk his cows at his own farm in Breanshamore.

6.30am Mary Lowry says Bobby Ryan leaves her house.

8.10am Michelle Lovelock sees a silver van in Kilshane woods as she sets off to walk her dogs. She returns from her walk at 8.50am and the van is gone.

8.30am Mary Lowry says she sees Pat Quirke in her driveway looking "hot and bothered".

9.15am Pat Quirke says he leaves Fawnagowan

9.30am Breda ODwyer says she meets Pat in the milking parlour of his own farm. This is "not normal" she says, milking would normally be finished at this time.

9.30am Pat Quirke says he goes for breakfast in his house with Sean Dillon

10.19am Bobby Ryan's phone last pings off a mast at Crogue Motors on the Cashel Road, a few fields from Fawnagowan.

12.15 Pat Quirke arrives in the Heritage Hotel, Laois

Full timeline of events:

2007 Martin Lowry dies leaving Mary Lowry widowed with three young boys. Pat Quirke begins helping Mary Lowry with finances and running the farm. He takes over Martin's herd, sells what stock he can and starts using the farm for his own cattle.

Jan 2008 Quirke and Mary Lowry become physically intimate for the first time. Quirke takes up a seven-year lease on Lowry's 50+ acres at Fawnagowan.

August 2010 Lowry meets Bobby Ryan at a dance and they keep in touch. He helps her get tickets to the All-Ireland hurling final and they start seeing one another more regularly. Quirke finds out about Lowry's new relationship in late 2010 and they have a heated argument. He takes her phone and tells Bobby Ryan: "I'm the man."

Late 2010 Quirke meets Bobby Ryan at Hayes's Hotel to talk about the break-up of the relationship.

Feb 2011 Quirke sends a 'Dear Patricia' letter to the agony aunt in the Sunday Independent detailing the break-up of the affair with Lowry and how it has left him angry and broken-hearted.

Feb 4, 2011 Quirke reports Mary Lowry to Tusla alleging that she is neglecting her children due to her new relationship with Bobby Ryan.

June 2 Some time after 9pm Bobby Ryan calls to Mary Lowry's home. The last outgoing call from his phone is at 9pm to his son Robert.

August 2011 Quirke says the affair with Mary Lowry starts up again. She denies this.

September 6, 2011 Quirke claims he spends the night with Mary Lowry at the Cliff House Hotel in Ardmore, Co Waterford. She denied spending the night there.

January 2012 Mary Lowry and Patrick Quirke spend a night at Fitzpatrick's Hotel in Killiney, south Dublin. She told the trial she didn't want to be there, got drunk and left the following morning. "We did not rekindle our affair," she said.

December 3, 2012 CCTV at Mary Lowry's home shows Quirke peeking in her windows, taking underwear from her line, and looking through her post box.

On the same day at about 3.30pm a computer in Quirke's home is used to search for "human body decomposition timeline" and "rate of human decomposition". Various websites relating to decomposition are visited.

December 12, 2012 Mary Lowry's solicitor sends a letter to Patrick Quirke asking to terminate his lease at Fawnagowan. He agrees to leave in June.

April 30, 2013 Patrick Quirke calls his wife Imelda to say he has found a body in a disused waste tank at Fawnagowan. Imelda arrives shortly afterwards and calls Garda Tom Neville. Quirke gives a voluntary cautioned statement to gardai and denies any knowledge of how Ryan's body ended up in the tank.

January 20, 2014 Patrick Quirke is arrested on suspicion of harassment of Mary Lowry. He is questioned over financial dealings with Lowry, alleged passport theft, entering her home without permission among other things. Charges against him are subsequently dropped.

June 19, 2014 Quirke is arrested on suspicion of the murder of Bobby Ryan. When questioned about his internet searches for body decomposition he says: "My son had recently died. That's all I'm saying."

January 14 2019 Quirke is arraigned at the Central Criminal Court and pleads not guilty to murder. His trial begins.

May 1, 2019 Quirke is found guilty of murdering Bobby Ryan by a ten to two majority verdict.
Fines and driving disqualifications were issued at last weeks Portlaoise District Court against motorists who had been caught drink driving or in charge of a vehicle while under the influence.

First before the court was Guntars Brants, 37, of 35 Cosby Avenue, Fairgreen, Portlaoise, charged with drink driving, at Bridge Street, Portlaoise, on March 9 this year.

Inspector Stephen OSullivan said the accused was detected with a low reading of 23mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

The accused had previous convictions under the road traffic act, including previous driving disqualifications.

Judge Catherine Staines noted that the accused had been driving while disqualified. She asked the accused, who did not have legal representation, whether he wanted to say anything.

The accused replied in the negative with a shake of his head. The accused was convicted and fined 300 and disqualified from driving for four years, with recognisance fixed in the event of an appeal.

Judge Staines warned him if he drives again he will go to prison.

In a separate case, Jason Fennelly, 45, of 35 Thornberry, Abbeyleix, was charged with being in charge of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, at the Lidl car park, Portlaoise, on July 8 last year.

The accused had previous convictions.

Defence for the accused said that he had been in charge of the vehicle. The accuseds father was in hospital and his sister had been diagnosed with cancer, so he turned to drink.

On the day, he travelled from his home to visit his brother and took some cans, said defence. The accused was unemployed and was hoping to get seasonal work, so was asking the court to postpone the driving disqualification.

The accused was convicted and fined 300 and disqualified from driving for two years, with the disqualification postponed until October 24 next.

Judge Staines warned him that if he attempted to drink drive he would go to prison.
A young Laois woman has been awarded by An Garda Siochana for her strength, bravery and determination in overcoming obstacles and turning her life around.

Lauren Lawlor from Mountmellick is a student in Mountmellick Community School and was nominated for a Garda Youth Award by her teacher Helen Shortall.

Lauren won a Special Achievement Award

In Laurens first two years in Secondary School, her teachers described her as being a very angry, defiant young person, who engaged in anti-social behaviour and was on a self-destructive path.

Laurens home life at times was quite turbulent and challenging. She lived with her mother, whose health was increasingly deteriorating and who was hospitalised regularly.

In third year Lauren tragically lost her mother to suicide.

This had a devastating impact on Lauren and her extended family. Lauren was lucky enough to have a very supportive grandmother, aunt and uncle and a school community who rallied around her.

This tragedy broke Lauren down to a fragile young girl but with strength, bravery, determination and a lot of support she built herself back up.

Under these circumstances, it would have been understandable if Lauren's attitude and behaviour had deteriorated even more but she chose not to let it defy her.

Lauren engaged in Transition Year despite her friends and colleagues proceeding to 5th Year. This acceptance and willingness to change was the beginning of her transformation. Lauren entered into it wholeheartedly and embraced all new challenges that were offered, all while going through a grieving process.

Lauren is now in sixth year and is preparing for her leaving cert. Lauren is planning a career in Social Studies which will be a very suitable career for her as she has an incredibly caring and empathetic nature.

Her attitude has changed dramatically, she is a very different young person. She is now a positive influence on her peers and is seen as a role model.

She has overcome very difficult personal tragedies and emerged from these as a person of strength, ambition and vision.

Staff of Mountmellick Community School are incredibly proud of Lauren and all she has achieved. She has defied the odds, overcome difficult and devastating circumstances and deserves recognition for same.

Her nominator Helen Shortall said she has clearly defied the odds, has overcome a very difficult circumstance.

Chilean writer Isabel Allende spoke at the national awards held in Portlaoise on April 27.

"We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity, people do amazing things. The human capacity for survival and renewal is awesome," she said.
A Laois TD has hammered the Government's approach to regulating the building of wind turbines.

Fianna Fail TD for Laois and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Sean Fleming, has said that the Governments approach to the review of the National Wind Energy Guidelines proves the point that when it comes to tackling climate change, like everything else, Fine Gael is interested only in spin and PR.

The Government may talk about climate change and the need for sustainable renewable energy yet the one item under their direct control; i.e. the review of the Wind Energy Development Guidelines has been neglected, representing another example of incompetence by the Government since 2016.

The Programme for Government accepted the need for a review of the Wind Energy Development Guidelines as the existing 2006 guidelines were no longer fit for purpose. The 2006 guidelines were drawn up in an era when wind turbines were approximately 30 meters high, now most planning applications are for 180-meter-high wind turbines.

This change in technology has major implications for the environment, noise levels, set back distance from houses and buildings as these technologies were never envisaged by the outdated 2006 guidelines.

In 2016 the Department commenced the review and around that time the European Court of Justice made it clear that the Government was in breach of a 2001 E.C. Directive and could not complete the review without carrying out a National Strategic Environment Assessment on the issue before the review was to be finalised. I stated in March 2017 that this would delay the process indefinitely," he said.

Dep Fleming said that more recently the new World Health Organisation guidelines which deals with setback distance and noise have now to be incorporated in the draft guidelines has led to more time being taken to complete the process.

The Government will eventually publish draft guidelines followed by an eight week public consultation period. The outcome of this will then be reviewed and the Government cannot give a date as to when the process will be completed. It will be at least the end of 2019 or well into 2020 or possibly longer before we see the finalised guidelines.

The reality is that the guidelines currently in use by Local Authorities and An Bord Pleanala fly in the face of the European Court of Justice decision in relation to a EU Directive on environmental matters and the WHO guidelines on noise and setback distances.

The Government has lost confidence in the 2006 guidelines but their three year delay in finalising the new guidelines proves incompetence and a lack of a real commitment to tackling climate change by this Government.

We need these finalised immediately in the interest of the public, the planning process, wind farm operators and our national commitment to renewable energy. The granting of planning permission for such developments under guidelines which are not fit for purpose must not happen as to do so would have a negative impact on the environment, concluded Deputy Fleming.
Schools around Laois are being urged to draw up applications for funding to carry out upgrades to school facilities and buildings.

The multi-annual Summer Works Scheme enables school authorities to carry out small and medium scale works to improve and upgrade existing school buildings and facilities.

The categories of works that can be delivered under the Summer Works Scheme include life safety systems, roof upgrades, electrical and mechanical works, window upgrades, school fabric improvements etc.

Works is carried out over the summer months so the disruption to students, teachers and other school staff will be kept to a minimum.

The scheme has altered this year to include a requirement on energy use. applications can also be made online this year.



Laois TD and Minister For Justice & Equality, Charlie Flanagan said the scheme is backed by funding of more than 100 million as part of Project Ireland 2040.



I am pleased to see this year as part of the Governments Climate Action plan, the Department of Education has changed the Summer Works Scheme to include an obligation on schools to commit to report energy use.



I am confident that school authorities here in Laois will be able to achieve best value for money on prices for jobs, and I call on schools to ensure that they maximise the benefit to their schools of the works sanctioned.



The Action Plan for Education, which aims to make the Irish education and training service the best in Europe within a decade, puts a big priority on investment in school educational infrastructure," he said.



The Esinet platform that schools currently use to make payroll returns has been extended to facilitate online applications from schools for the Summer Works Scheme. The Esinet system opened for applications in mid-April 2019 and schools can submit applications up until 30 June 2019.


Laois Arthouse in Stradbally will host a number of creative events for the month of May for the Laois Bealtaine Festival.

These include the launch of Fiesta on Wednesday May 1. Fiesta is an exhibition by the Stradbally Active Retirement Group that will run for the month of May. Work on show will include a mix of paintings, still life and landscapes that the group have developed over the year.

Budding writers of an older age have the chance to take part in a series of creative writing workshops with writer Jean OBrien. Running on Wednesdays May 8, 15, 22 and 29 at 11am at the Arthouse.

Have you got something to say? We grow, we age and along the way we gather knowledge, information, things happen, life happens and our story grows we should celebrate and record its highs and lows. The series of workshops is a chance for you to explore your stories, in a lively and friendly atmosphere whether through, prose or poetry or a mixture of both. Share work by other writers, write our own pieces and share them on the last week.

Jean OBrien is an award winning poet who has published five collections of poetry and is a regular contributor on Sunday Miscellany.

She is a former writer in residence for County Laois and has many years experience in tutoring in places as diverse as the Irish Writers Centre, Prisons, Schools, Community groups and at degree level.

For anyone who would like to try pottery there is a lovely series of workshops called Reconnect running over three weeks, with resident ceramic artist Cathy Whelan. On Fridays, May 3, 10 and 17, from 11.30am-1pm, these workshops will explore the therapeutic nature of clay through simple techniques and mindful movements. Create a unique piece of work in a creative and relaxed environment. Suitable for all levels, no previous experience is necessary. Participants are advised to bring an apron.

Cathy Whelan is a ceramic artist and educator. A graduate of the National College of Art and Design. Cathys work has been exhibited as part of a group show in Gallery Zozimus, Dublin and as part of a collaborative exhibition in NCAD.

Booking is essential and Limited numbers and limited. Telephone 057 8664033/13 or email artsoff@laoiscoco.ie
English French

MONTREAL, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cogeco Communications Inc. (the "Corporation" or "Cogeco Communications") announces that the Toronto Stock Exchange (the "TSX") has accepted its notice of intention for a normal course issuer bid in respect of its Subordinate Voting Shares (the "Subordinate Shares"). Purchases pursuant to the normal course issuer bid will not commence prior to May 3, 2019 and will not continue beyond May 2, 2020.



The notice will enable Cogeco Communications to acquire up to 1,869,000 Subordinate Shares for cancellation representing 10% percent of the 18,694,022 shares constituting the public float of the Corporations issued and outstanding Subordinate Shares as at April 18, 2019. Cogeco Communications had 33,928,640 Subordinate Shares issued and outstanding as at April 18, 2019.

All purchases will be conducted through the facilities of the TSX or Canadian alternative trading systems, if eligible, and will conform to their regulations. Purchases under the normal course issuer bid will be made by means of open market transactions.

Under TSX rules, the Corporation will be allowed to purchase daily, through the facilities of the TSX, a maximum of 21,040 Subordinate Shares representing 25% of the average daily trading volume, as calculated per the TSX rules. In addition, the Corporation may make, once per week, a block purchase (as such term is defined in the TSX Company Manual) of Subordinate Shares not directly or indirectly owned by insiders of the Corporation, in accordance with TSX rules. The Subordinate Shares purchased pursuant to the normal course issuer bid will be cancelled.

The price to be paid by the Corporation for any Subordinate Share will be the market price at the time of acquisition, plus brokerage fees where applicable.

The Corporation has entered into an automatic share purchase plan with a designated broker to allow for the purchase of subordinate voting shares under the normal course issuer bid at times when the Corporation would ordinarily not be permitted to purchase shares due to regulatory restrictions or self-imposed blackout periods.

Cogeco Communications currently believes that the purchase of its Subordinate Shares under the normal course issuer bid is an appropriate and desirable use of available cash to increase shareholder value and that it provides additional investment returns to its shareholders.

Within the past 12 months, Cogeco Communications has not purchased any of its Subordinate Shares.

ABOUT COGECO COMMUNICATIONS



Cogeco Communications Inc. is a communications corporation. It is the 8th largest cable operator in North America, operating in Canada under the Cogeco Connexion name in Quebec and Ontario, and along the East Coast of the United States under the Atlantic Broadband brand (in 11 states from Maine to Florida). The Corporation provides residential and business customers with Internet, video and telephony services through its two-way broadband fibre networks. Cogeco Communications Inc.s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA).

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Forward-looking information may relate to Cogeco Communications Inc.s ("Cogeco Communications" or the "Corporation") future outlook and anticipated events, business, operations, financial performance, financial condition or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may"; "will"; "should"; "expect"; "plan"; "anticipate"; "believe"; "intend"; "estimate"; "predict"; "potential"; "continue"; "foresee", "ensure" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Particularly, statements regarding the Corporations financial guidelines, future operating results and economic performance, objectives and strategies are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including expected growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities, which Cogeco Communications believes are reasonable as of the current date. Refer in particular to the "Corporate Objectives and Strategies" section of the Corporation's 2018 annual MD&A and the "Fiscal 2019 Revised Financial Guidelines" section of the second quarter of fiscal 2019 MD&A for a discussion of certain key economic, market and operational assumptions we have made in preparing forward-looking statements. While Management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to the Corporation, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what Cogeco Communications currently expects. These factors include risks such as competitive risks, business risks, regulatory risks, technology risks, financial risks, economic conditions, human-caused and natural threats to our network, infrastructure and systems, community acceptance risks, ethical, behavior risks, ownership risks and litigation risks, many of which are beyond the Corporations control. For more exhaustive information on these risks and uncertainties, the reader should refer to the "Uncertainties and Main Risk Factors" section of the Corporation's 2018 annual MD&A and the second quarter of fiscal 2019 MD&A. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Cogeco Communications and future events and results may vary significantly from what Management currently foresees. The reader should not place undue importance on forward looking information contained in this press release which represent Cogeco Communications' expectations as of the date of this news release (or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made) and are subject to change after such date. While Management may elect to do so, the Corporation is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) and does not undertake to update or alter this information at any particular time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. All amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

SOURCE:

Cogeco Communications Inc.

Andree Pinard

Vice President and Treasurer

Tel: 514-764-4700

MEDIA:

Marie-Helene Labrie

Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications

Tel: 514-764-4700




Ireland's Fittest Family is back! Have you and your family got what it takes to win?

Apply for Ireland's Fittest Family by clicking here. Now in its seventh series, this year will see the competition fiercer than ever before!

Read also: Gardai target international crime gang in raids in Kildare and Dublin this morning

"We are searching the country to find the fittest, fastest, strongest families to enter Ireland's most extreme fitness competition.

Does your family have what it takes to win the 15,000 cash prize and be crowned Ireland's Fittest Family 2019? If so, apply now," said the programme makers.

The minimum age is 14 years old on 01 June 2019 and each family will be comprised of four immediate members such a grandparents, parents, children, and step-children.

The series will be shot from July to September 2019.

Click here for the online application form.

Anyone with any questions can email  fittestfamily@animotv.ie or call the production team on (01) 531 3933.
It was a magnificent weekend for the 7th Kildare Rathangan Scouts who sent a group of seven members including Chief Scout Award candidates Aine Brereton, Ciara Dunne, Roisin Behan and Tom Dunne to the sunny island of Malta.

Read also: Naas Shopping Centre set for June sale

The group were invited by the Qwara scout group, near St Pauls Bay in Malta to march in the annual St. Georges Day Scout Parade.

The team marched alongside 5,000 Maltese scouts through the streets of the stunning walled city of ancient Valletta. Wearing a specially commissioned scarf for the occasion, it was designed with an emblem representing the wings of freedom.

The group of seven, lead by 15-year-old scout, Tom Dunne carrying the Irish flag, saluted the Maltese President in the blazing sunshine surrounded by thousands of cheering onlookers.

This event was organised as their cultural activity towards their award. They also presented the Qwara troop with a delicious Guinness Irish stew, which went down a bomb at their intercultural after party held in the Qwara Scout Troop headquarters following the parade on Sunday April 28.

The candidate chief scouts are mentored by Rathangan Scout leader John Colreavy during their CSA award year and were accompanied on the trip by their three leaders: Imelda Brereton, Elizabeth Hanley-Dunne and section leader Padraig Dunne who summarized the trip and parade as a very emotive and proud moment, not only for the children and leaders present, but for the whole troop who are going from strength to strength over the past six years

"7th Kildare Rathangan scouts have established themselves as a strong group constantly pushing the goal posts for young members in their small community. Watch this space for more adventures from this troop. New members and leaders are welcome each year," added Mr Dunne.

Rathangan scouts taking part in the parade
Irish Water has said that it will be not be able to upgrade the sewage system in Allenwood until a land dispute issue that is preventing authorities from accessing a pump station is resolved.

At present Kildare County Council lorries are being forced to access the sewage pump station in Bluetown, Allenwood from a manhole outside the station because of a dispute with a landowner.

The landowner claims he is owed and was not paid 6,000 for the land, and, since November 29, 2017 authorities are denied access to the small piece of land.

The land is owned by a local man called Joseph McGrath and his daughter, Catherine Ward, said that the dispute had been ongoing since 2013 and relates to a payment of 6,000 which is outstanding.

The situation means that up to 10 lorries a week visit the small manhole to remove sewage and bring it to Osberstown waste treatment facility.

Read also: Allenwood choir celebrates 10 years with concert for Kildare public

Kildare County Council has said in the past that tankering will need to continue until a vacuum system modification is completed there, but it appears that unless the land dispute is resolved the tankering will continue.

This is of particular concern to local election candidate Brendan Wyse, who uncovered the issue through a Freedom of Information request to Irish Water.

He says fears the sewage system will be under pressure given the number of new houses being built.

In response to a query Kildare County Coucil has said the matter is for Irish Water.

In a statement issued this week Irish Water said it was aware that currently discussions are ongoing between representatives of both parties involved in this issue (the land dispute), that will hopefully allow this legacy matter be resolved.

Once this legacy matter has been resolved, Irish Water will then be in a position to progress the required upgrade works to the existing Allenwood Sewer networks - Vacuum System.

The proposed works will involve modifications to the existing pump station and buffer tank as currently located at Bluetown, Allenwood.
The family of a young Newbridge woman who died by suicide has given a cautious welcome to plans to develop a new mental health unit in Naas.

Maxine Maguire died in 2017 at the age of 25 and her family have repeatedly criticised the level of care available for people who present with mental health issues.

The unit is earmarked for the grounds of Naas General Hospital and Kildare South Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon said he has received confirmation that 300,000 has been allocated from the Health Service Executive mental health budget towards developing the new stand-alone facility.

The current 29 bed unit at Lakeview is not adequate for the needs of our growing population area, he said.

The project envisages a 50 bed standalone project on the hospital which will ultimately cost in the region of 15-20m. The money will be used to bring the project through design and planning phase. The new design team have been appointed and have already met with a view to driving the project forward.

Maxines mother Kathy said that while she would welcome anything that enhances services there just isnt enough resources available.

There are paretns in Colunty Kildare on suicide watch for teenage children while waiting for appoints for CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). Mental health is like the poor cousin within the health service. People withogther ailments are dealt with more speedily and there is a need for all staff to be first aid mental health trained, particularly those working in accident and emergency departments, said Ms Maguire, criticising delays that affected Maxine.

Fianna Fail TD Fiona OLoughlin has long campaigned for a separate accident and emergency entrance for mental health patients and pointed out that Lakeview Unit in Naas Hospital was built in the 1980s when the population of Kildare West Wicklow was 138,000.

It now serves a population of close to 242,000 and does not have the infrastructure to cater for that population size. Infrastructure needs to be improved and a standalone mental health unit is urgently needed, said Dep OLoughlin.

READ ALSO Gardai target international crime gang in raids in Kildare and Dublin this morning

READ ALSO Orphanage plaque proposal for Cock Bridge in Kildare
Addressing the IFA protest on Brexit losses outside the Cabinet meeting in Cork today, Wednesday, May 1, IFA President Joe Healy accused the Taoiseach and the Government of failing beef farmers who have suffered losses of 100m from Brexit.

Politicians have not delivered on their promises. Our message to the Taoiseach and his Cabinet here in Cork today is that farmers will judge politicians on their actions on this issue. Election Day is three weeks on Friday  May 24th, and May 25th will be judgment day, he said.

Farmers from all over the country travelled to Cork today for the protest seeking support for beef farmers who have suffered Brexit losses of over 100m.

Today we are sending a strong message to the Government that farmers are rebelling against inaction. The Minister for Agriculture has been standing idly by, adopting a wait and see approach. This is not good enough, he said.

Mr Healy said politicians have been promising big on Brexit losses, but it was now time to deliver.

"Farmers are angry with the inaction from the Government and the EU Commission. Farmers have already taken a huge hit from Brexit related losses. They need help now," he said.
With just 11 days to go until Darkness into Light on May 11, the event organisers, Pieta, proudly supported by Electric Ireland since 2013, are calling on as many people as possible to join them to raise much need funding and awareness for the prevention of suicide and self-harm and the promotion of positive mental health.

Over 200,000 people are expected to come together in the pre-dawn hours in 19 countries across 5 continents to take part in the global movement that seeks to remove the stigma around suicide and self-harm and spread the power of hope in Ireland and around the globe.

Last year, Darkness into Light walkers raised 6 million from the event, of which 800,000 was raised across our international venues. Worldwide close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year - one person every 40 seconds. In Ireland 392 people took their own lives in 2017. (Source: National Office for Suicide Prevention.)

2019 marks the 7th year Electric Ireland have walked alongside Pieta to bring hope to customers, staff and communities across Ireland that have been affected by suicide. To join the thousands of people around Ireland who are taking part in this years Darkness into Light 5K walk, go to www.darknessintolight.ie.

Carrick-on-Shannon 2019 DIL Details

Registration continues online at www.darknessintolight.ie

There is registration taking place in Glancys SuperValu on May 2, 3, 4 and 10 from 10am  6pm.

There is registration in The Magnet every day until the event.

Please note that the system is the same as last year re T-shirts. It is important to register by May 3 to ensure that you get your T-shirt for the event.

We hope that you will come walk with us on Saturday, May 11 at 4.15am. It is each one of you that makes this night so special and together we can share the light and create hope in our hearts.

In 2018 Carrick-on-Shannon Darkness Into Light event raised over 31,000 for Pieta House. Back Row L-R, Ron Hooper, Rosemary McDermott, Norma Duignan, Breda McGuire, Joe Burke, Pieta Tuam, Paul Byrne, Padraic Glancy, Supervalu, Bernadette Glancy, Donna Burke, Pieta Tuam, Michael Clancy and Geraldine Regan.

Front Row L-R, Blaithnaid McMorrow, Ryan Mulligan, Cora Nevin, Matilda Fallon, Fionnuala McMorrow and Katie Butler.

The funds raised from Darkness into Light help to keep Pieta centres open, offering free therapy, the 24 /7 Helpline line, education and bereavement counselling for people in need of support. In 2018, over 8,000 clients were supported with face to face therapy by Pieta experts.

Since 2006, over 40,000 people received support from our intervention and bereavement counselling services. By the end of this school year, Pieta will have reached out to over 7,500 students with a bespoke schools programme called the Resilience Academy a free programme for second year students in secondary schools designed to increase young peoples resilience, hope for the future, ability to cope with difficult feelings and connection to their school.
Dublin, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Digital Consumer Banks in the U.S.: Your Money or Your Wallet" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



Digital banking may have the image of bleeding-edge start-up companies, but the reality is quite different. This new research report "Digital Consumer Banks in the U.S.: Your Money or Your Wallet" identifies five different segments of digital consumer banks in the United States that all are competing for consumer deposits but are generating them in surprisingly different ways. At one competitive extreme, the transaction account is the focus with added budget management and personal financial management (PFM) capabilities, sometimes to the exclusion of other deposit or lending products. At the other extreme, premium-priced savings and time deposits generate the large deposit volumes required to fund their banks' lending. This new report takes a critical look at the evolving marketplace.



With over one-third of U.S. consumer households with financial institution relationships already doing business with online banks, the use of digital institutions is not a fringe activity. Online banks have established an enviable initial market position, one that improves consistently. Moreover, while they may not always be known for innovative apps or user experience, the dominant larger players offer impressive product menus, and consumers are quite willing to buy those products online. Defining digital banking as just fintech-associated firms misses today's real market movers, comments the author of the report.



Highlights of the research report include:

Total deposits held by digital banking organizations exceed an estimated $1 trillion as of year-end 2018. Fintechs and their partner banks represent the smallest deposit-gathering segment.

Full service checking accounts with associated debit cards are widely offered through digital banks, and consumers are widely accepting these online relationships for their transaction accounts.

The ongoing low-rate environment for deposits has drawn attention, and deposits, to online banks offering premium-priced savings and time deposit accounts. Institutions able to maintain competitive deposit rates are building stable deposit bases rather than hot money that will jump to competitors for higher rates.

The strategy of establishing digital bank brands within a legacy institution (e.g. Marcus/Goldman Sachs) appears to be having broad success, especially when combined with premium deposit pricing positioning.

While start-up fintech banks have shown innovation in their user interfaces and market positioning, they have often struggled with charter and other regulatory strategies. Those in operation typically work with a third-party bank providing a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) account platform and charter.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Introduction



3. Consumers Vote with a Touchscreen, Not with their Feet



4. Murky Data but Clearly a Large Competitive Force



5. Five Bank Segments, All Different but All Digital

Full-Service Online Banks

Lenders Gathering Premium Deposits Online

Brokerage and Insurance-Owned Online Banks

Online Divisions of Diversified Banks

Fintechs and the Bank Partners

6. Where Have All the Fintech Gone?

A Global Phenomenon

Being Realistic from the U.S. Perspective

Being a Bank is Not So Easy

7. Strategic Implications: Where Does the Story Go from Here?

Competition for Your Wallet

Competition for Your Money

Where is the Digital Bank's Value? Technology vs. Book of Business vs. Brand

Where is the Best Fit?

8. Appendix: Companies Included in the Segmentation Analysis



9. References

Companies Mentioned



Ally Bank

American Express Bank

Capital One

Charles Schwab Bank

Chime

Comenity Bank

Discover Bank

Douugh

FDIC

FFIEC

Marcus/Goldman Sachs

Moven

Synchrony Bank

USAA Bank

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dmo3s2

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
FINE Gael election candidate Olivia OSullivan has criticised the IDA for ignoring the development of an industrial estate on the northside, even though the agency doesnt have responsibility for it.

The job creation agency hit back at the accusation of neglect, saying it doesnt actually own the site in Clondrinagh, which is in fact controlled by Limerick City and County Council.

In a statement issued to the Limerick Leader, Ms OSullivan said: Over the years, we have seen the IDA encourage the development of both Raheen Industrial Estate and Castletroy Industrial Estate [the National Technology Park] while at the same time totally ignoring any proper industrial development on the northside.

Ms O'Sullivan says the industrial estate at Clondrinagh has been left to deteriorate down through the years, leaving the handful of businesses left there having to try and maintain it the best they can.

One of three Fine Gael candidates north of the river Shannon, Ms O'Sullivan said its not too late to do anything and hopefully those in power with the responsibility for promoting investment in industry in future will look north in future.

An IDA spokesperson said: Please note the Clondrinagh Industrial Estate is not owned by IDA Ireland, its owned by the council and therefore the upkeep of the estate is the responsibility of the local authority.
Over 21,174 volunteers collected 91 tonnes of litter during this years Team Limerick Clean-up 5.

This years clean-up saw more volunteers out and more areas covered than ever before

However, the total litter collected in 2019 is down significantly from previous years, which organisers says is due to Limerick being cleaner thanks to those previous efforts and an overall improvement in the culture.

In total, there were 285 individual litter collection points across the city and county, from which Mr Binman collected using eight trucks.

Crews from Mr Binman travelled over 1,500kms on Good Friday.

Using their routing technology to improve the efficiency of the collection routes, they reduced the carbon footprint of the litter collections this year by 25%.

A study is currently taking place taking place on the litter collected from TLC5 .

This will be done under the control of Limerick City and County Council which will help understand what are the main objects and items littering the city and county.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader, sponsor JP McManus spoke about his pride for Limerick city and county, as thousands turned out to play their part in cleaning up their communities.

I am proud, I always am. We are here today to celebrate our fifth year, and to acknowledge the 20,000 people who have come out today, including a lot of young people.

A lot of people have given up their Good Friday morning so we have a cleaner and healthier environment, said Mr McManus.

To think this time last year, we were out tidying, and Limerick hadnt won an All-Ireland since 1973.

You can really feel the extra energy and excitement about the place here today, particularly with the hurlers out in force, too.
ONE of the foremost experts on the 100-year-old Limerick Soviet has called on historians to reassess their attitude to the Labour movement.

Dr Liam Cahill brought the curtain down on the 100th anniversary celebrations which have been taking place in Limerick across the last month by launching a rewrite of his book at the City Library.

Dr Cahill says the Decade of Centenaries had seen a welcome reappraisal of the role of women in the war.

Now, however, he said the time is at hand to conduct a fuller and fairer review of Labours key role.

The special 100th anniversary edition of the book was launched by Sheila Nunan, the president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, who was joined by the president of the Limerick Trades Council Mike McNamara.

From 1916 to 1919, there was close collaboration frequently between organised workers and the Irish Volunteers and Sinn Fein, both nationally and locally. The highpoint of that co-operation was the defeat of conscription in April 1918. My research shows that the Limerick General Strike against British Militarism a year later  known as the Limerick Soviet - was the other significant event where that happened. For two weeks, the Limerick United Trades and Labour Council, workers took over the entire running of the city as part of a general strike, he told the gathering.

He added: Historians should stop writing off the Limerick Soviet as a kind of exotic aberration in the Confraternity city. It was spearheaded by workers and their representatives but with considerable logistical support in the background from the reinvigorated Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Volunteers.

The leadership of the First Dail, as well as national leaders of the IRB and the Volunteers, were in touch daily with Limerick and the Dail cabinet discussed the crisis three times. It was the cabinets decision  against IRB advice - not to support a national strike that forced the Soviet to end.

He said the real significance of the Soviet is that it was a spontaneous eruption of grassroots militancy and impatience with the slow pace of action against British rule.

Read also: Limerick businesses delighted at Soviet centenary celebrations

In that respect, it is comparable to the first shots of the War of Independence fired at Soloheadbeg, in Co Tipperary, only a few months earlier.

Dr Cahill urged Limericks third level institutions to engage more with the history of the Soviet, and its links to national historical developments.

He said: There is room for more collaborative community-linked projects, oral history projects, retrieval and conservation of memorabilia as well as a variety of artistic and cultural responses.

The Forgotten Revolution, Centenary Edition is available in local bookshops.
This illustration shows how the ancient footprint may have been made about 15,600 years ago in what is now Chile.

The earliest human footprint on record in the Americas wasn't found in Canada, the United States or even Mexico; it was found much farther south, in Chile, and it dates to an astonishing 15,600 years ago, a new study finds.

The finding sheds light on when humans first reached the Americas, likely by traveling across the Bering Strait land bridge in the midst of the last ice age.

This 10.2-inch-long (26 centimeters) print might even be evidence of pre-Clovis people in South America, the group that came before the Clovis, which are known for their distinctive spearheads, the researchers said. The find suggests that pre-Clovis people were in northern Patagonia (a region of South America) for some time, as the footprint is older than archaeological evidence from Chile's Monte Verde, a site about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south containing artifacts that are at least 14,500 years old. [10 Things We Learned About the First Americans in 2018]

Vertebrate paleontologist Leonora Salvadores discovered the footprint in December 2010, when she was an undergraduate student at the Austral University of Chile. At the time, Salvadores and her fellow students were investigating a well-known archaeological site known as Pilauco, which is about 500 miles (820 km) south of Santiago, Chile.

This footprint is about 15,600 years old. (Image credit: Laboratorio de Sitio Pilauco, Universidad Austral de Chile)

However, it took years for study lead researcher and paleontologist Karen Moreno and study lead investigator and geologist Mario Pino, both at the Austral University of Chile, to verify that the print was human, radiocarbon date it (they tested six different organic remnants found at that layer to be sure) and determine how it was made by a barefoot adult.

Part of these tests involved walking through similar sediment to see what kinds of tracks got left behind. These experiments revealed that the ancient human likely weighed about 155 lbs. (70 kilograms) and that the soil was quite wet and sticky when the print was made. It appears that a clump of this sticky dirt clung to the person's toes and then fell into the print when the foot was lifted, as the image below suggests.

This sequence shows how the footprint may have been made. (Image credit: Moreno, K. et al. PLOS One. 2019. )

The footprint is classified as a type called Hominipes modernus, a footprint usually made by Homo sapiens, the researchers said. (Just like species, trace fossils, such as footprints, receive scientific names.) Previous excavations at the site revealed other late Pleistocene fossils, including the bones of elephant relatives, llama relatives and ancient horses, as well as rocks that humans may have used as tools, the researchers said.

The study "adds to a growing body of fossil and archaeological evidence suggesting that humans dispersed throughout the Americas earlier than many people have previously thought," said Kevin Hatala, an assistant professor of biology at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was not involved with the study.

This find comes a mere year after the discovery of the oldest known human footprints in North America, which date to 13,000 years ago, Hatala noted.

It would be nice to have more data from the Chile site  "more footprints, more artifacts, more skeletal material and so on," Hatala told Live Science in an email. "But unfortunately, the fossil and archaeological records are never as generous as we'd like! With just a single human footprint to work with, the authors extracted as much information as they could. When we look at this evidence in the context of other data, it makes a strong case for the antiquity of [the] human presence in Patagonia."

The footprint is now preserved in a glass box and is housed at the recently established Pleistocene Museum in the city of Osorno, Chile. The study was published online April 24 in the journal PLOS One.

Originally published on Live Science.
Residents in Jakarta stay on the second floor of their house amid floodwaters due to heavy rainfall in on April 26, 2019.

The president of Indonesia wants to move the country's capital, Jakarta, to another location off the main island of Java, in part because the city of more than 10 million is sinking into the sea, according to news reports.

President Joko Widodo called the announcement an "important decision," according to the country's planning minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, BBC News reported.

The decision is in part due to research finding that parts of Jakarta will be completely submerged in just decades. [8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World]

"If we look at our models, by 2050 about 95% of North Jakarta will be submerged," Heri Andreas, a researcher at the Bandung Institute of Technology who studies Jakarta's land subsidence, told BBC News.

The surrounding Java Sea is also rising as a result of climate change, though thats not happening quite as quickly as the land is subsiding, The New York Times reported in 2017.

Overcrowding and related traffic congestion  which has meant government ministers needing police escorts to get to meetings on time  also played roles in the decision to relocate the capital.

Widodo presented a preliminary relocation study to the National Development Planning Agency, also called Bappenas, during a cabinet meeting Monday (April 29), according to The Jakarta Post.

As for when the capital would move and where are not known. Since Indonesia gained its independence from the Dutch in 1945, its leaders have tried several times to do this with no success, according to the BBC.

The Bappenas head provided three alternatives to the Jakarta location at the meeting, according to the Post.

One idea is to establish a special government hub around the Presidential Palace and the National Monument in Jakarta, to improve efficiency. Another alternative floated is to move the capital about 31 to 43 miles (50 to 70 kilometers) outside Jakarta. The third option, which is the one the president has chosen, would be to relocate the capital completely off the island of Java.

That move would address the sinking as well as overcrowding, and potentially help spread economic opportunities beyond the megacity.

"We want to have a capital that represents the nation's identity and improves the efficiency of the central government and establish a smart, green and beautiful city," Bappenas head Bambang Brodjonegoro said during a press conference, the Post reported. "The capital relocation must serve the strategic vision of our long-term development agenda."

The main candidate for this third option is Palangkaraya, which is located in central Kalimantan on Indonesia's part of Borneo, the Post reported.

Originally published on Live Science.
A pair of Italian scientists said they've discovered a hunk of hair that may have belonged to Leonardo da Vinci, and they want to use DNA testing to confirm whether it came from the famous Renaissance inventor and artist.

But other experts in all things Leonardo and DNA are skeptical. Leonardo's tomb was destroyed during the French Revolution, so there are no known bones to compare the hair against, nor are there living descendants whose genes are suitable for the task.

"The silly season for Leonardo never closes," said Martin Kemp, an emeritus professor of the history of art at the University of Oxford and an expert on Leonardo's life. [5 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Leonardo da Vinci]

A lock of hair

Leonardo died on May 2, 1519. Both his home country, Italy, and France, where he died, are hosting events to celebrate the artist and inventor on the 500th anniversary of his death. According to The Guardian, a new lock of hair purported to be from Leonardo will go on display May 2 at the Ideale Leonardo da Vinci museum in Vinci, Italy, the town where he was born, in 1452.

The hair was found in a private collection in the United States, according to Alessandro Vezzosi, the museum's director, and Agnese Sabato, the president of the Leonardo da Vinci Heritage Foundation, who announced plans to DNA test the hair this week. It is tagged, "les cheveux de Leonardo da Vinci." ("Les cheveux" is French for "the hair.")

But there is likely no reliable way to link the hair genetically to Leonardo, said Kevin Schurer, a historian and genealogist at the University of Leicester in England. Schurer worked on the project of reconstructing Richard III's family line and finding living descendants of the English monarch to compare genetically with the king's bones, which were found beneath a parking lot in 2013.

Firstly, Schurer told Live Science, extracting DNA from a sample of hair isn't necessarily straightforward. Depending on how the hair has been stored and handled, all of the original DNA may be degraded or contaminated beyond recognition. [Gallery: In Search of the Grave of Richard III]

Even if a usable sample is found, the researchers have nothing to compare it to for confirmation. Leonardo's tomb was ransacked during the French Revolution, Kemp said, so there are no bones clearly associated with the name.

And family ties likely won't do the job either, Schurer said. There are only two types of DNA that can be traced reliably over long periods, he said: mitochondrial DNA, which comes from the mother and is passed on only through an unbroken female line, and Y-chromosome DNA, which comes from the father and can pass only through an unbroken male line.

Fuzzy family tree

Leonardo was an illegitimate child, probably the son of a notary in Tuscany named Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci. The identity of Leonardo's mother is unknown, though some records suggest that her name was Caterina. Some historians believe she was a slave, while others think she was a local free woman. Based on tax documents and property records, Kemp has suggested that she was an orphan known to have lived with her grandmother near the town of Vinci. [Leonardo Da Vinci's 10 Best Ideas]

This sketchy genealogy puts scientists in a bad spot for tracing Leonardo's DNA. In 2016, Vezzosi and Sabato claimed to have identified 35 living relatives of Leonardo  including the film director Franco Zeffirelli  using historical documents. All of the relatives were linked to Leonardo's father via the artist's brother, since Leonardo did not marry or have children. And those relatives do not represent unbroken male or female lines.

For example, Schurer said, one of the men identified said his grandmother was proud of her Leonardo heritage. "He has no shared DNA with da Vinci at all," Schurer said. His grandmother obviously could not have passed along any Y-chromosome DNA to him, because she had no Y chromosome. And because the genealogical links were solely along Leonardo's paternal heritage, researchers would have had to rely on the Y chromosome.

Because families multiply and spread, Leonardo no doubt has millions of living relatives, Schurer said. But the vast majority are of no use to researchers, from a DNA perspective. To get a good identification on Leonardo's hair or bones, you'd need to have multiple people with unbroken male or female genealogies stretching back 600 years.

Just one person won't do, Schurer said. Historical documents aren't enough to prove someone was biologically related to their purported parent. Richard III provides a good example. To clinch the identification of the king's bones, Schurer and his team traced the lineage through Henry Somerset, the fifth duke of Beaufort, who lived between 1744 and 1803 and was connected to Edward III through 15 generations of male offspring. Edward III was Richard III's great-great-grandfather, also through an all-male line, so the researchers were able to use Y-chromosome DNA.

Of the five living male-line descendants the team tested, four were indeed linked to Richard III through DNA. One was not. At some point in the lineage, someone's dad was not really his dad. This shows the importance of multiple lineages for testing, Schurer said.

"Had we only taken that one sample, everything would have been wrong," he said.

In the case of Leonardo, the researchers simply don't have a clear lineage, Schurer said, noting that Vezzosi and Sabato haven't published their work on the genealogies. (Vezzosi and Sabato did not respond to a request for comment sent through the Leonardo museum.)

"Unless you have certainty somewhere," Schurer said, "you're always measuring uncertainty against uncertainty."

It's also unclear what a snippet of DNA from Leonardo would offer to historians, Kemp said. At most, real Leonardo DNA could kill the story that the artist's mother was a slave from North Africa or the Near East, Kemp said.

"But it's more about sensation than history," he said, "and tells us nothing about Leonardo's actual accomplishments."

Originally published on Live Science.
PITTSBURGH, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) today announced that John V. Faraci was elected to the company's Board of Directors at yesterday's Annual Meeting of Stockholders. His term as a Director became effective April 30, 2019.



Mr. Faraci served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of International Paper from 2003 to 2014. During his 40-year career at International Paper, Mr. Faraci served in a series of financial, planning and management positions, including President and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Faraci is also a member of the board of directors of ConocoPhillips, PPG Industries, Inc., and United Technologies Corporation. He also serves on the board of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Denison University, a member of the Royal Bank of Canada Advisory Board, a trustee of the American Enterprise Institute, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Faraci graduated from Denison University with a degree in history and economics. He received his Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigans Ross School of Business. Mr. Faraci is currently an Operating Partner with Advent International.

United States Steel Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., is a leading integrated steel producer and Fortune 250 company with major operations in the United States and Central Europe. For more information about U. S. Steel, please visit www.ussteel.com.
A former Oakland charter school director known for boosting student test scores through humiliation and harsh discipline has avoided jail time following a six-year federal investigation into allegations of fraud.

Ben Chavis, who ran the American Indian Model Schools, will spend one year on probation and pay a $100 fine in a plea deal with federal investigators, according to court documents.

Chavis had faced the prospect of decades in prison in connection with six felony charges of mail fraud and money laundering filed in 2017 following an IRS and FBI investigation into his financial dealings related to the schools.

Those charges were dropped and Chavis pleaded guilty to one count of submitting false information on federal documents.

Dr. Chavis conduct, while a violation of federal law, did not cause measurable financial losses to the United States or another identifiable victim, according to the federal sentencing memo. His agreement to use false information in Board documents was deceptive and likely did lasting harm to the reputation of the American Indian Model Schools, but the government submits that, under the circumstances, it is not conduct meriting a term of imprisonment.

Chavis, who lives in North Carolina caring for his parents, said none of the original charges stuck and he doesnt have hard feelings about the long process.

The neat thing about America, everybody eventually gets their chance in court, he said, adding he wouldnt change anything about the past.

Those kids who went to school under me are engineers, theyre scientists, he said.

The sentencing on April 22 in U.S. District Court in Oakland capped the six-year investigation and prosecution of Chavis, one of the Bay Areas most polarizing educational figures in recent memory.

A Lumbee Indian, Chavis took over the struggling American Indian charter school in 2000, instituting rigid rules and meting out harsh discipline.

He was known for his frequent belittling and humiliation of students and harsh language. His use of profanity and racial slurs was well documented.

In one case, Chavis cut the hair of a student accused of stealing. Another who called a classmate a derogatory name was required to wear a note that said, Im an (expletive).

At the end of the front hall, a sign quoted French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant: Theres never any talent without a little stain of madness.

Students had hours of homework every night and attended required summer school.

I tell the students, if you dont do your work, people are going to call you a lazy Mexican. Youre black, they expect you to be an idiot, Chavis told The Chronicle in 2005. I use it to motivate the kids.

Under Chavis, test scores surged, pushing the charter school to the top of state rankings. He opened two more campuses.

He was widely lauded and criticized for his methods. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Chavis results an education miracle. Critics considered his tactics physically and verbally abusive.

Society has created a system to make minorities stupid. Its not called prison; its called middle school, Chavis said in 2005. If you follow our model, youll be a winner. By the time these kids are in ninth grade, I dont have to call them idiots anymore.

While the first school initially opened to serve American Indian students, the schools later began serving a predominantly Asian student body.

In 2011, an audit by the Oakland Unified School District, which oversees the charter schools, found Chavis directed $3.8 million in school funds to businesses he and his wife owned. He resigned in 2012.

The Oakland school boards efforts to close the schools that year failed and the three charters continue to operate.

The federal charges followed a state investigation that found fiscal improprieties showing Chavis reportedly applied for and received more than $1 million in federal grant funding from 2006 to 2012 that he said would be used for the charter schools. The money was instead used for lease payments on properties Chavis owned, according to a grand jury indictment.

Chavis maintained his innocence after federal authorities in 2013 raided his home as well as American Indian charter school offices, filling vans with boxes of documents and other records. He continued to profess his innocence following his arrest in 2017.

Oakland district officials declined to comment on the sentencing.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: jilltucker
A man was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend and spitting on her.

Edgar Alonso Soto, 31, was arrested Thursday. He was served with warrants that charged him with assault, family violence and assault, family violence by impeding breath, circulation.
Evan Vucci / Associated Press

WASHINGTON  Democratic congressional leaders emerged from a meeting at the White House on Tuesday and announced that President Trump had agreed to pursue a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to upgrade the nations highways, railroads, bridges and broadband.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, said that there had been goodwill in the meeting and that it was different from some of the other meetings that weve had. Speaking alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, he said the group planned to meet again in three weeks, when Trump was expected to tell them how he planned to actually pay for the ambitious project.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  The government has turned over the repair works for the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) to a private service provider on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said the joint venture of Japan's Sumitomo Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and MHI's Philippine subsidiary TES Philippines (TESP) has taken over the rehabilitation and maintenance works on the train line effective May 1.

Sumitomo designed, built and maintained the MRT-3 for 12 years ending in 2012.

The takeover follows the signing of an 18.76-billion loan deal with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in November. This covers about 85 percent of the total project cost of 21.96 billion.

Japan is known for its efficient and punctual cross-country metro rail systems.

In 2017, DOTr ended its maintenance contract with South Korea's Busan Universal Rail, Inc. after a series of train breakdowns. The government initially took over MRT-3's services as it looked for a new private operator.

Before the JICA loan was secured, the Philippine government received a P20-billion unsolicited proposal from the group of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Ayala Group and Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) Pte. Ltd., which is the same consortium running the Light Rail Transit Line 1.

Under the agreement, Sumitomo-MHI-TESP will overhaul all 72 light rail vehicles of the MRT-3, replace all mainline tracks, rehabilitate power systems, and upgrade the signaling and communication lines of the train system.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the rehabilitation plan also includes the restoration of escalators and elevators in all 13 stations of the MRT-3.

The train line runs from North Avenue in Quezon City all the way to Taft Avenue in Pasay.

The projects spans 43 months or a little less than four years, with rehabilitation work set for the first 26 months to be followed by nearly two years of maintenance.

With the upgrades, authorities expect to raise the number of operating trains from 15 to 20, increase operating speeds from 30 to 60 kilometers per hour, and trim headway or waiting time to 3.5 minutes.

Train capacity will likewise double to 650,000 passengers daily, Tugade said, adding that negotiations are underway to onboard the Dalian trains acquired by the previous administration which were initially deemed incompatible to the existing railway.

At present, three of these China-made trains have been cleared for use in the daily operations of the MRT-3.
BEVERLY, Mass., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovation Pharmaceuticals (OTCQB:IPIX) (the Company), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, announced today it has received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) End-of-Phase 2 (EoP2) meeting minutes, helping to guide the Companys planned Phase 3 program for Brilacidin oral rinse to decrease the incidence of Severe Oral Mucositis (SOM) (WHO Grade 3) in Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) patients receiving chemoradiation. Brilacidin oral rinse is being developed under FDA Fast Track designation for Oral Mucositis (OM).



During the EoP2 meeting convened in December 2018, the Company and FDA agreed to an acceptable Brilacidin Phase 3 development pathway. The guidance from the FDA now also helps to frame ongoing discussions with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as part of the Scientific Advice process. The purpose of both of these interactions is to ensure that proposed plans meet regulatory requirements for New Drug Application (NDA)/Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) filings and, ultimately, to obtain approval of Brilacidin for SOM in HNC in both the United States and Europe.

Productive regulatory meetings for our Brilacidin SOM program with U.S. and European agencies are significant Company milestones, commented Arthur P. Bertolino, MD, PhD, MBA, President and Chief Medical Officer at Innovation Pharmaceuticals. Brilacidin oral rinse, to decrease the incidence of SOM, represents a potential future regimen for millions of head and neck cancer patients where no approved drug is available today. Furthermore, our hope is that Brilacidin will eventually emerge as a treatment for other indications where SOM also is a frequent side-effect of cancer therapies.

It is time that the current standard of care for SOM takes a leap forward and a new market emerges, added Leo Ehrlich, Chief Executive Officer at Innovation Pharmaceuticals. I am reminded of drugs for not only rare diseases that were overlooked by the market during development and then went on to become company makers, but also a drug such as Tagamet. Eventually, it became the first blockbuster drug ever by treating the common problem of acid reflux, a disease that was casually written off for decades as not having an effective treatment beyond antacids. Treatment-related SOM in cancer patients is a real problem worldwide, affecting millions of patients, with physical and financial ramifications that genuinely must be addressed beyond todays magic mouthwashes. And, we are currently the only company with an oral drug candidate being advanced into late-stage trials, positioned to fill this unmet need. I greatly look forward to initiating our planned Phase 3 program, adding further credibility and value to our Brilacidin Franchise.

About Brilacidin Phase 2 OM Trial/Comparison with Other OM Drugs in Development

The Companys Brilacidin oral rinse demonstrated a strong therapeutic benefit in patients receiving the aggressive chemotherapy regimen (cisplatin administered 80-100 mg/m2, every 21 days), which currently is in common use. In this patient population, incidence of Severe OM (WHO Grade  3) was reduced to 25.0 percent in the modified Intent-to-Treat (mITT) population, versus 71.4 percent of placebo patients. In the Per Protocol (PP) patient group, incidence of Severe OM dropped to 14.3 percent for patients receiving Brilacidin, compared to 72.7 percent among those receiving placebo.

The completed Phase 2 study ( see NCT02324335 ) met its primary endpoint, showing a reduction of Severe OM incidence versus placebo, as well as beneficial treatment effects in reducing the duration of Severe OM and in delaying the onset of Severe OM. Furthermore, Brilacidin showed a favorable safety profile and was well-tolerated.

Linked below is information, published in a blog on the Companys website, elaborating on how Brilacidin is positioned compared to other investigational Oral Mucositis drugs in clinical development.

http://www.ipharminc.com/new-blog/2018/9/24/brilacidin-for-oral-mucositis-at-a-glance-comparative-data-presentation-with-other-investigational-om-drugs

About Brilacidin and Severe Oral Mucositis

There currently are no FDA-approved drugs for the prevention of Severe OM (SOM) (WHO Grade  3) in HNC patients receiving chemoradiation. The additional expenses incurred by patients suffering from SOM are estimated to be as high as $18,000 to $25,000 per case in the U.S. when hospitalization is required. These factors contribute to SOM qualifying as an area of significant unmet medical need. According to published statistics, the number of new annual HNC cases in the U.S. is estimated to be 65,000, and worldwide, ~750,000 cases. Between 60 and 70 percent of these HNC patients typically will develop Severe OM, with the overall incidence of HNC patients developing some grade of OM (WHO Grades 1 to 4) approaching 100 percent. Because it cannot be predicted which patients will develop SOM, a preventative treatment, such as Brilacidin oral rinse, would begin in all patients as soon as starting chemoradiation and continue until its completion (typically a seven-week course). Given Brilacidin is administered as a convenient oral rinse, with plans to package it in an easily transportable sachet form, the Company believes it would be attractive both to doctors and patientslikely translating to widespread and rapid market adoption should Brilacidin oral rinse gain regulatory approval.

Alerts

Sign-up for Innovation Pharmaceuticals email alerts is available at:

http://www.ipharminc.com/email-alerts/

About Innovation Pharmaceuticals

Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc. (IPIX) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a world-class portfolio of innovative therapies addressing multiple areas of unmet medical need, including inflammatory diseases, cancer, infectious disease, and dermatologic diseases. Brilacidin, a versatile compound with broad therapeutic potential, is in a new chemical class called defensin-mimetics. A Phase 2 trial of Brilacidin as an oral rinse to decrease the incidence of Severe Oral Mucositis (SOM) in patients with Head and Neck Cancer, met its primary and secondary endpoints. The Company plans to advance Brilacidin oral rinse into Phase 3 development, subject to available financial resources. Positive results were also observed in a Phase 2 Proof-of-Concept trial treating patients locally with Brilacidin for Ulcerative Proctitis/Ulcerative Proctosigmoiditis. A Phase 2b trial of Brilacidin showed a single intravenous dose of the drug delivered comparable outcomes to a seven-day dosing regimen of the FDA-approved blockbuster daptomycin in treating Acute Bacterial Skin and Skin Structure Infections. Kevetrin is a novel anti-cancer drug shown to modulate p53, often referred to as the Guardian Angel Gene due to its crucial role in controlling cell mutations and has successfully completed a Phase 2 trial in ovarian cancer. More information is available on the Company website at www.IPharmInc.com .

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements concerning projected timelines for the initiation and completion of clinical trials, including planned Phase 3 trials of Brilacidin, receipt of the official meeting minutes from the FDA and the contents thereof, our future drug development plans, other statements regarding future product developments, and markets, including with respect to specific indications, and any other statements which are other than statements of historical fact. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause the Companys actual results and experience to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. The Company has in some cases identified forward-looking statements by using words such as anticipates, believes, hopes, estimates, looks, expects, plans, intends, goal, potential, may, suggest, and similar expressions. Among other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements are the Companys need for, and the availability of, substantial capital in the future to fund its operations and research and development; including the amount and timing of the sale of shares of common stock under securities purchase agreements; the fact that the Companys compounds may not successfully complete pre-clinical or clinical testing, or be granted regulatory approval to be sold and marketed in the United States or elsewhere. A more complete description of these risk factors is included in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revisions to any such forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by applicable law or regulation.




In back-to-back congressional hearings on April 9 and 10, Attorney General William Barr disclaimed knowledge of the thinking of special counsel Robert Mueller and members of his team of prosecutors investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"No, I don't," Barr said, when asked by Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., whether he knew what was behind reports that members of Mueller's team were frustrated by the attorney general's summary of their top-level conclusions.

"I don't know," he said the next day, when asked by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., whether Mueller supported his finding that there was not sufficient evidence to conclude that President Donald Trump had obstructed justice.

These statements resurfaced Tuesday following the revelation that Mueller had sent a letter to Barr two weeks earlier objecting to the attorney general's characterization of the probe.

Suggesting that Mueller's letter - only portions of which have been made public - belied the sworn testimony of the attorney general, Van Hollen recirculated a clip of his back-and-forth with Barr and declared, "He must resign."

In an interview with The Washington Post, the Maryland Democrat said he believed Barr's answer was "completely misleading because he was well aware of the fact that Bob Mueller had raised questions with the substance of the conclusions stated in the attorney general's letter."

The Justice Department didn't immediately return a request for comment on Van Hollen's accusation.

In the March 27 letter, Mueller protested that Barr's four-page memo "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his work, according to a copy reviewed by The Post. In a subsequent phone conversation between Mueller and Barr - longtime colleagues whose differences of opinion about the handling of the Russia probe are beginning to spill into the open - the special counsel expressed concern about public misunderstanding of the obstruction component of the investigation.

According to Justice Department officials, Mueller indicated in the conversation that he did not find fault with the accuracy of the memo but rather with conclusions drawn in media coverage.

Though he had not examined the entire letter, Van Hollen allowed, "Based on what I've seen, it's clear to me that what Attorney General Barr told me is totally inconsistent with what he knew at the time."

He said he hoped his colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who were preparing to question Barr on Wednesday, would press the attorney general on what he knew about the special counsel's frustrations, and how that knowledge squared with his sworn testimony in early April. Wednesday's hearing will be Barr's first appearance before lawmakers since Mueller's partially redacted report was released on April 18.

In a prepared statement for the committee, Barr defended his handling of the special counsel's investigation.

"As Attorney General, I serve as the chief law-enforcement officer of the United States, and it is my responsibility to ensure that the Department carries out its law-enforcement functions appropriately," he wrote. "The Special Counsel's investigation was no exception."

Democrats view his conduct differently. Central to their objections has been the news conference in which Barr previewed the report's release and echoed the president's defense, saying there was no collusion and no obstruction case that could be prosecuted.

The disclosure of Mueller's March letter provided fresh ammunition.

Van Hollen labeled Barr's profession of ignorance about the special counsel's position "the most recent example of the attorney general acting as the chief propagandist for the Trump administration instead of answering questions in a straightforward and objective manner."

"You now have a pattern of misleading conduct from the attorney general," Van Hollen added. "His bluntly misleading answer to my question is part of that."

Still, the lawmaker stopped short of concluding that Barr had lied to him, saying he needed to review the full letter. And, in a sign of broader reticence among some Democrats about embarking on an impeachment process, he said, "The House has so many questions before it. And they of course have to decide how to prioritize all of the issues facing them."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.,, who has authority over impeachment questions as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, also made a point Tuesday night of recalling the exchange between Barr and Van Hollen.

Beyond Capitol Hill, some of the president's critics were quick to conclude that the attorney general should be removed, with some suggesting that he had committed perjury.

At least one presidential candidate, Julian Castro, a former housing secretary for the Obama administration, said the attorney general should step down or face impeachment. A number of prominent figures reached the same verdict. They ranged from Democratic stalwarts, such as former Obama aide Dan Pfeiffer, to disaffected Republican operatives, such as John Weaver, a longtime campaign strategist, including for John Kasich, who was unsuccessful in his bid to deny Trump the Republican nomination in 2016.

Legal experts, however, were skeptical, noting that the uncertainty surrounding the precise objections raised by the special counsel make it difficult to assess Barr's candor. So, too, the ambiguity of the language employed by the attorney general, as well as by the lawmakers questioning him, would likely shield him from a perjury charge, said Jennifer Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Federal law makes it a criminal offense to speak falsely about a material matter while under oath, and to do so knowingly and willfully.

"He's tiptoeing, dancing and threading the needle all at once around perjury, but I don't think he ever actually steps into the land of perjury," Levinson said. "We're talking about a very skilled attorney who purposely used vague enough language."

Barr's answer to Crist came in a hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee. The Florida Democrat asked the attorney general about news reports that investigators working on the special counsel's probe were disturbed by his conduct.

"Reports have emerged recently, general, that members of the special counsel's team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24th letter, that it does not adequately or accurately necessarily portray the report's findings," he said. "Do you know what they're referencing with that?"

The attorney general said he could only speculate.

"No, I don't," Barr replied. "I think - I think - I suspect that they probably wanted more put out, but in my view, I was not interested in putting out summaries or trying to summarize, because I think any summary, regardless of who prepares it, not only runs the risk of, you know, being underinclusive or overinclusive, but also, you know, would trigger a lot of discussion and analysis that really should await everything coming out at once."

The following day, in a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Van Hollen asked Barr to explain his finding that there was insufficient evidence to bring obstruction charges against the president - a finding, the lawmaker said, that allowed Trump to claim exoneration.

"It was the conclusion of a number of people, including me and I obviously am the attorney general," Barr said. "It was also the conclusion of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein." Van Hollen said he understood, and, as Barr pledged to elaborate on his conclusion once the report was released, the senator asked, "Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?"

Barr was ambiguous, offering, "I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion."

Neither does the public. It remains unclear whether Mueller will testify before Congress, and on what terms.

But Van Hollen claims that Barr faced no such uncertainty. "When the attorney general answered that question, he had full knowledge of the letter from Mueller, in which Mueller expressly stated that he did not capture the substance of Mueller's conclusions," the first-term senator said.

Absent a clear legal infraction, the contest over Barr's handling of the special counsel's report will continue to unfold as a pitched partisan battle, said Levinson, the law professor.

The latest revelation, she said, gave Democrats a chance to claim politically popular ground. That would be an unfamiliar scenario, she added, as, "up to now, the attorney general has been very smart at controlling the narrative, dominating the new cycle at the most important moments."

- - -

The Washington Post's Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
Over a dozen news outlets, including Bloomberg News, BuzzFeed and the Washington Post, have joined a coalition that's raising awareness about press freedom worldwide.

Insider Inc., Quartz and Wired also are joining the One Free Press Coalition, which was created in March to cast a collective media spotlight on unresolved cases of injustice and violence against journalists. The Associated Press, Reuters and the Financial Times were already part of the advocacy group.
On Tuesday, the lid blew off the long-simmering political crisis in Venezuela. In the morning, opposition leader Juan Guaido issued a video that depicted him at a military base in the capital, Caracas, announcing the beginning of the "final phase" to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office. He suggested that significant factions within the country's security forces were on his side and urged his supporters to take to the streets in "nonviolent" protests to speed the collapse of the Maduro regime.

"People of Venezuela, the end of usurpation has arrived," Guaido declared.

He stood alongside his mentor and charismatic opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, whose presence itself, my Washington Post colleagues reported, "signified a defiant break from government authority." Lopez had apparently escaped house arrest with the help of the guards assigned to watch him; on Twitter, he urged his compatriots to "conquer" their freedom.

In the United States, Trump administration officials cheered the developments. "We are with you!," proclaimed Vice President Mike Pence in a tweet in which he deployed the Spanish hashtag #operacionlibertad, or "Operation Liberty," used to signal the uprising. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was "hopeful" that the rebellion would allow Guaido, whom the United States and some 60 other nations recognize as Venezuela's lawful interim president, to effectively restore constitutional order in the country.

While the Maduro regime and its foreign allies, including Russia, warned of a U.S.-inspired "coup" taking place, White House national security adviser John Bolton begged to differ: "Just as it's not a coup when the president of the United States gives an order to the department of defense," Bolton told reporters, referring to Washington's view of Guaido's legitimacy, "it's not a coup for Juan Guaido to try to take command of the Venezuelan military."

But as night fell in Caracas, it seemed Guaido's gambit had achieved little - let alone the conquest Lopez had urged in the morning. One person died and dozens were injured by rubber bullets, tear gas and live ammunition in melees in at least five states across the country, my colleagues reported. In one filmed incident, an armored vehicle ran into a group of Guaido supporters in the capital.

Maduro seemed to hold the line. He vowed "nerves of steel" on Twitter. He insisted that he maintained the "total loyalty" of the security forces, though rumors swirled of detentions of a handful of senior officers linked to the plot, as well as the defection of the chief of the country's secret police who now appears to be in hiding. Reports indicated that at least 25 soldiers from the Venezuelan army had defected and sought sanctuary in the Brazilian Embassy, but there was no widespread insurrection by the armed forces.

"If Guaido and Lopez fail to split the military and rally top brass to their cause, then a big question is what happens to them personally, and to the opposition cause more broadly," Shannon O'Neil, a Venezuela expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Washington Post on Tuesday afternoon. "They could end up tonight in jail or worse. They are taking a huge leap today."

After that huge leap, it seems, the duo stumbled. Reports circulated that certain senior military officials within the regime had tacitly agreed to join the uprising, but then, for reasons that remain unclear, backtracked.

There was no swift victory for the opposition. Instead, at risk of being seized again, Lopez took shelter in the Chilean Embassy in Caracas. Aides close to Guaido said he was safe, though they did not disclose his location out of security concerns. In an evening statement, he called for renewed protests on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Maduro supporters joined a large rally outside Miraflores, the presidential palace, while government leaders described the day's proceedings as a failed conspiracy carried out by a small group of military plotters.

By the evening, the Trump administration seemed to be lamenting what could have been. On CNN, Pompeo suggested that he knew Maduro had been preparing to leave the country for Havana, but was dissuaded by the Kremlin and encouraged to stay. Maduro denied this in an appearance on State TV late Tuesday, calling the day's events a "failed" coup instigated by the United States.

In tweets and a video released by the White House, Bolton identified leading Maduro regime officials, including Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, as figures who might have secretly negotiated with Guaido, but had reneged on their commitments to follow through with the uprising.

"There have been some interesting negotiations among Venezuelans inside the regime and outside the regime about returning to the constitution," Elliot Abrams, the U.S. envoy to Venezuela, told reporters at the State Department. "They negotiated for a long time the means of restoring democracy, but it seems that today they are not going forward."

Padrino appeared in a live telecast dressed in combat fatigues, standing by a portrait of Maduro. "Here, Venezuelans, you have your armed forces," he said. "We ask that you don't fall under the 'fake news' that is trying to confuse you. . . . We are protecting you."

President Donald Trump accused Cuban "troops and militia" of bolstering the Maduro regime and threatened a "full and complete embargo" of the island. Pompeo warned Maduro's regime and its allies of severe consequences should Guaido be detained. And Bolton reiterated the White House's perennial warning that "all options" - presumably including military ones - "are on the table."

The White House has taken a conspicuous line on Venezuela. In a lengthy profile on the national security adviser, the New Yorker's Dexter Filkins suggested that Latin America is "a place where his incentives align" with Trump's. The president is bent on securing the votes of an entrenched Cuban and Venezuelan diaspora in Florida, many of whom hope for the downfall of the leftist regimes in the countries they felt compelled to leave behind. Bolton, an ideologue who loathed the Obama administration's thaw with Cuba, is keen on both weakening Havana and chasing Moscow out of Venezuela.

Bolton spoke in April before a Miami gathering of veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion, the failed 1961 U.S.-backed attempt to unseat the recently installed communist government in Cuba. Bolton told the assembled crowd that the attack failed because it was not sufficiently supported by American air power. Under the Trump administration, allies in Latin America would not be so neglected, Bolton seemed to suggest.

"The Monroe Doctrine is alive and well," he declared, referring to the domineering 19th-century American policy. "It's our hemisphere." But, at least for now, the White House doesn't seem to be getting its way.
A former CIA case officer long suspected in the intelligence community of being a devastating mole for the Chinese government admitted Wednesday he conspired to commit espionage in that country. But no evidence was produced that Jerry Chun Shing Lee shared any information.

"Lee sold out his country, conspired to become a spy for a foreign government, and then repeatedly lied to investigators about his conduct," Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. "This prosecution should serve as a warning to others who would compromise our nation's secrets and betray our country's trust."

Lee, a 54-year-old Hong Kong native and U.S. Army veteran who served in the CIA for 13 years, faces up to life in prison. But because the guilty plea he entered in federal court in Alexandria describes the information involved as "secret" rather than "top secret," his recommended sentence will be significantly lower. He had been set to go to trial this week before Judge T.S. Ellis III.

Intelligence officials still suspect Lee is responsible for compromising CIA sources in China, some of whom were killed, according to former U.S. officials. But both intelligence and law enforcement officials have expressed doubt since his arrest last year that they would ever be able to prove Lee was behind the collapse of the CIA's network of assets in China. There are some who think there may be another explanation for how the CIA's covert communication system was breached.

With his plea, the case against Lee will remain shrouded in mystery. Over a dozen hearings over the last year were closed to the public. Most court records in the case are sealed.

The public case against Lee, who moved to Hawaii in high school and has lived in northern Virginia, has always been circumstantial. He was compiling and keeping information China wanted while at the same time receiving large sums of money, according to court papers. He lied about both his finances and his travel history in interviews with American authorities. Eventually he admitted he had received assignments from Chinese spies and compiled information they requested but maintained he had never given the documents to them.

"He got himself into a bad spot in China and he got out of it," defense attorney Ed MacMahon said outside the court. He said "there was never any claim that Mr. Lee was responsible for getting anyone killed."

A case officer tasked with engaging foreign officials, Lee left the CIA in 2007 and tried his luck in tobacco importation. But he was not successful. In 2010, according to court documents, two Chinese spies approached Lee at a dinner in Shenzhen and offered him $100,000 in cash in exchange for his cooperation. They added that they would take care of him for life.

Over the next year, Lee received assignments and gifts through a business associate, a former Hong Kong police officer with close ties to Chinese intelligence, according to court records. He began regularly depositing large sums of cash in his bank account.

In 2011, an FBI informant in China told his American handlers that everyone he knew who helped the U.S. government was either dead or now working for the Chinese, a former U.S. official with knowledge of the events previously told The Washington Post.

Suspicious, law enforcement lured Lee to the United States in 2012 with a fake offer to return to the CIA. Searching his hotel room in Honolulu, they found a thumb drive with a document describing CIA operational details. They also found two notebooks on CIA asset meetings and locations, numbers, names, and facilities in his luggage.

The information in the notebooks dated to before 2004, according to the statement of facts. Prosecutors would not say if Lee was working in China at that point. Defense attorney Nina Ginsberg emphasized after Lee's plea that there was no link made between the names in the notebook and any asset exposed to the Chinese.

In interviews with the CIA in 2012, Lee initially falsely claimed he had avoided China after he was first approached by that country's spies and never acknowledged the assignments they gave him, Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Hammerstrom said in court. The following year, Lee acknowledged to the FBI he had received tasks from the Chinese. He admitted drawing a sketch of a former CIA facility abroad but said he tore it up having never shown it to the Chinese. He said he thought about giving the document on the thumb drive to the spies but did not.

But he was not then charged with a crime, and he returned to Hong Kong a year later.

"Long time no see," the Chinese spies emailed Lee in 2013, authorities said in court papers, questioning why they hadn't seen his daughter's "grade book for a few months."

After his arrest in January 2018, according to his plea, Lee contradicted his previous admissions, denying that he kept the notebooks or that the document on the thumb drive was in response to the Chinese.

Lee is set to be sentenced Aug. 23.
TOKYO - Japan's Chrysanthemum Throne has a new occupant.

The former crown prince Naruhito formally took his place as emperor Wednesday in a short, silent and solemn ceremony in the Imperial Palace's Pine Chamber, a day after Naruhito's 85-year-old father abdicated to pass the role to a younger generation.

The 59-year-old Naruhito now takes on the challenge of carrying forward the legacy of his father, by seeking to modernize the imperial family within the tight bounds of tradition and maintain its relevance in contemporary Japan while respecting a strict prohibition on anything deemed political.

Dressed in a tailcoat, Naruhito stood in front of the throne. Imperial chamberlains presented him with two of Japan's sacred treasures - a sword representing valor and a jewel representing benevolence - as well as the Privy Seal and the Great Seal of Japan, the seals of the emperor and state, respectively.

Enclosed in cases, the sword and stone were then placed on stands made of Japanese cypress. A third treasure, a mirror - representing wisdom - is kept at Ise Grand Shrine, the holiest Shinto site in Japan. The treasures are only ever seen by the emperor and high priests, and no photographs or drawings of them exist: The ceremony to formally inherit the Imperial Regalia marks Naruhito's accession to the throne.

There was no sound apart from footsteps ringing out on the polished wooden floor, no gold, no marble or trumpets, just a simple ceremony in an austere room, with plenty of bowing.

Naruhito's accession marks the start of the Reiwa era in Japan, a term taken from ancient Japanese poetry and translated as "beautiful harmony." But his own family circumstance is a constant reminder of the gender inequality at the heart of the conservative imperial system.

Naruhito and his wife, now known as Empress Masako, had a daughter, Princess Aiko, in 2001. Under Japanese law, Aiko is not allowed to inherit the throne, and Masako is thought to have come under intense pressure from within the palace to produce a male heir.

Masako reluctantly gave up a potentially high-flying career in Japan's diplomatic service to become his bride in 1993. She later fell ill with what was diagnosed as stress-related "adjustment disorder," largely withdrawing from public life for a decade.

In a further sign of entrenched attitudes and traditions, female members of the imperial family were not invited to attend Wednesday's ceremony. They were set to be there later in the day when Naruhito was scheduled to make a brief speech. The lone woman attending the ceremony was the first in modern history - a government minister, Satsuki Katayama.

Naruhito's much-loved father, Akihito, now known as emperor emeritus, abdicated in a similar ceremony in the same room on Tuesday in the first such succession in Japan in two centuries.

Naruhito upset traditionalists - but impressed many others - by launching a passionate defense of his wife in 2004, explaining how she had given up a diplomatic career but since found it hard to get approval to travel abroad. She had "totally exhausted herself" trying to adjust to her new role, while some people were trying "to negate her career and her personality," he said.

After Naruhito, the imperial family has only one young male heir - his 12-year-old nephew, Hisahito - and the government says it will soon reconsider the question of whether to allow women to inherit the throne to save the succession. Naruhito has also spoken out in favor of fathers becoming more involved in their children's upbringing, something that is still relatively rare in conservative Japan.

His mother, Misako, would always walk a few steps behind her husband, Akihito. But Naruhito has been seen hiking in the mountains with his wife and his daughter at his side.

"He is clearly a man who is respectful of strong women and a family man who adores his daughter," said Shihoko Goto, a senior associate at the Wilson Center's Asia Program. "Yet one of the biggest challenges he will face as soon as he is enthroned will be the question of succession."

"His only child will not be able to succeed him precisely because she is a girl," she said. "As Japan looks to bolster the role the imperial family can play both at home and abroad, the question of gender equality will continue to be a thorn in its side."

After completing a history degree at Tokyo's Gakushuin University, Naruhito became the first member of Japan's royal family to study overseas, spending two years at Oxford University's Merton College, where his research focused on transportation along the River Thames.

He has since spoken on water management at global forums and is expected to bring not only an international outlook but also a focus on the environment and climate change to his new role.

"He needs to come out from under the very long shadow of Akihito. And I think he's going to make climate change his signature issue," said Jeff Kingston of Tokyo's Temple University. "He has indicated that the monarchy must shift with the changing times, with the changing wind. His view is the monarchy isn't just the state repository of tradition, but that it needs to remain relevant."

Akihito was a much-loved figure. With his wife, Michiko, he humanized the role of the emperor - once viewed here as a living god - by reaching out to vulnerable members of society and victims of natural disasters. In a break with long-held customs, he looked ordinary people in the eye when talking to them.

But Akihito's personable style did not please Japan's ultraconservatives, who felt he undermined imperial authority with ordinary gestures - such as kneeling to chat with evacuees after a volcano erupted in Nagasaki in 1991. Nor were they thrilled by his efforts to help Japan reconcile itself with its neighbors and its own wartime past. A more elaborate enthronement ceremony for Naruhito will take place Oct. 22 and will be attended by royalty and dignitaries from around the world.

- - -

The Washington Post's Akiko Kashiwagi contributed to this report.
Increasing prevalence of opioid overdose is the most significant factor estimated to stimulate market demand.



Market Size  USD 177.5 million in 2018, Market Growth - CAGR of 22.8%, Market Trends  FDA approval to Market Generic Nasal Spray for Opioid Overdoses

NEW YORK, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global Naloxone Spray Market is expected to reach USD 928.1 Million by 2026, according to a new report by Reports and Data. Naloxone Nasal Spray is used for treating an opioid emergency or a likely opioid overdose with symptoms such as breathing problems and severe sleepiness or inability to respond.

Naloxone Nasal Spray is used to reverse the effects of opioid medicines for a temporary period. The medicine in this nasal Spray does not affect people who are not exposed to opioid medications. It is necessary to provide emergency medical help to the patient after giving the first dose of the nasal spray. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 400,000 people died as a result of an opioid overdose in the period 1999 to 2017. Also, on average, over 130 people in America die every day owing to overdoses involving opioids, a class of drugs that comprise prescription medications like oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine, and hydrocodone, along with illegal drugs including heroin or drugs sold as heroin.

Request free sample of this research report at: https://www.reportsanddata.com/sample-enquiry-form/1362

Increase in launches and approval of new naloxone spray products is anticipated to be a significant driver boosting the growth of the market in the upcoming years. For instance, in April 2019, Pfizer, a major pharmaceutical company, launched a generic nasal spray of naloxone which is expected to significantly fuel market demand.

Additionally, with an increase in the prevalence of opioid overdoses, several efforts are being taken to make this emergency overdose reversal medication more readily available and accessible to the people who may require it. The FDA has also taken the unprecedented step of assisting manufacturers to pursue approval of an over-the-counter naloxone spray product and is exploring other ways to increase the availability of naloxone products intended for use in the community. As naloxone is a fairly new product, the high cost associated with this product coupled with the serious side-effects may create hindrances in the market growth.

Further key findings from the report suggest

On the basis of dosage, the 4 mg/actuation is expected to witness significant growth rate in the forecast period.





Hospitals dominated the market in 2018 and are estimated to grow at a rate of 22.5% in the forecast period.





In terms of geography, North America held the largest share in the global naloxone market owing to growing opioid crises in the region. The S. is the dominant market in North America with high incidences of opioid overdose and increasing prevalence of victims with dependency on opioid and morphine.





Key participants include Emergent BioSolutions, Pfizer, and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd.





In April 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday said it gave approval to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. to market generic naloxone nasal spray to treat opioid overdoses.

To identify the key trends in the industry, click on the link below:

https://www.reportsanddata.com/report-detail/naloxone-spray-market

Segments covered in the report:

For the purpose of this report, Reports and Data have segmented global Naloxone Spray market on the basis of dosage, distribution channel, and region:

Dosage Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026)

2 mg/actuation

4 mg/actuation

Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2016-2026)

Hospitals

Clinics

Retail Pharmacies

Online Pharmacies

Others

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Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Billion; 2018-2026)

North America

 U.S.

 U.S. Europe

 UK

 France

 UK  France Asia Pacific

 China

 India

 Japan

 China  India  Japan MEA

Latin America

 Brazil

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Some people told they have Alzheimers may instead have a newly identified mimic of the disease  and scientists say even though neither is yet curable, its critical to get better at telling different kinds of dementia apart.

Too often, the word dementia is used interchangeably with Alzheimers when there are multiple types of brain degeneration that can harm peoples memory and thinking skills.

Not everything that looks like Alzheimers disease is Alzheimers disease, said Dr. Julie Schneider, a neuropathologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. And among all the known dementias, this newly identified kind is the most striking mimic of Alzheimers, she added.

Its not clear how many people have this particular type, which an international team of scientists defined Tuesday in the journal Brain. But there could be a sizeable number, said Dr. Peter Nelson of the University of Kentucky, the papers lead author.

The dementia was dubbed LATE, an acronym chosen in part because the oldest seniors seem at greatest risk.

Heres a look at various dementias in the confusing Alzheimers-or-not mix:

.

STUMBLED ONTO

Alzheimers is the most common form of dementia, and autopsies have long found its telltale signs in the brain: sticky plaque from an abnormal buildup of amyloid protein, and tangles of another protein named tau. Only recently have scientists developed special, pricey scans that can measure that buildup in living brains.

Then studies with those scans found about a third of people with Alzheimers symptoms lack amyloid buildup  ruling out Alzheimers, said Schneider, senior author of Tuesdays paper. What else could cause their dementia?

.

TOXIC PROTEIN

It turns out another protein, named TDP-43, also can run amok in the brain. Scientists knew it plays a role in a completely different disorder, Lou Gehrigs disease. Then, they linked TDP-43 buildup to severe shrinking of the hippocampus, a brain region key for learning and memory.

Nelson said about a quarter of people over age 85 have enough abnormal TDP-43 to affect their memory or thinking abilities. For now, it takes an autopsy to spot  the symptoms seem like Alzheimers until a specialist can peer inside the brain.

What is now clear is that a lot of dementia is caused by gloppy proteins. We used to think it was just two gloppy proteins, amyloid and tau, Nelson said.

The next step: Finding better ways to measure abnormal TDP-43 and diagnose LATE. (It stands for an unwieldy scientific name  Limbic-predominant Age-related TDP-43 Encephalopathy.)

Our ultimate goal is to test people hopefully in a very noninvasive way, said National Institute on Aging dementia specialist Nina Silverberg. Thats key to eventually developing treatments.

.

OTHER CULPRITS

 Strokes, sometimes small silent ones, can trigger whats called vascular dementia, something scientists at the National Institutes of Health think might be prevented with better blood pressure control.

 Lewy body dementia, named for clumps of still another abnormal protein, can cause Alzheimers-like symptoms along with movement and other problems.

 Frontotemporal dementia often triggers changes in personality and tends to strike at a younger age than Alzheimers, yet can still be misdiagnosed.

Many older patients probably have mixed dementia, several brain changes that combine to cause trouble, Dr. Walter Koroshetz, head of NIHs National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told a recent meeting about non-Alzheimers dementias.

Tuesdays paper about TDP-43-caused disease adds to the complexity, said Alzheimers Association chief science officer Maria Carrillo, who wasnt involved with the new research.

We must learn more about each contributing cause of dementia so we can understand how these changes begin and interact and co-occur, and how to best diagnose, treat and prevent them, she said.

.

WHY ITS IMPORTANT

Current treatments for Alzheimers and other dementias temporarily ease symptoms. But there are other reasons for a precise diagnosis. A list of medications common for seniors can harm people with Lewy body dementia, for example. Knowing the specifics also can help people plan care, as some types of dementia worsen faster than others.

And its critical for developing better dementia treatments. Testing a treatment that targets, say, the tau tangles or amyloid plaques of Alzheimers wont stand a chance if patients who only have TDP-43 are allowed into the study.

If you have a dementia percolating in your brain, the only hope we have right now is to participate in a clinical trial to try to stop it, Nelson said.
Two award-winning teachers boycotted a White House ceremony Monday held to honor educators, an act of protest the teachers said was prompted by President Donald Trump's policies on immigration, education and other issues.

Jessica Duenas, the 2019 Kentucky State Teacher of the Year, and Kelly D. Holstine, the 2019 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, did not attend the ceremony, where Education Secretary Betsy DeVos presented an award to the National Teacher of the Year. The winner is Virginia's Rodney Robinson.

Presidents usually give the award to winners, but this year, DeVos did. Trump did, however, invite Robinson and the other state winners into the Oval Office after the ceremony, where the educators also met with Vice President Mike Pence.

Last year, Trump gave the 2018 national winner the award at a White House ceremony, where Mandy Manning of Washington state made clear her opposition to the president's policies. She handed the president letters from her refugee and immigrant students, and wore pins and buttons with political messages, including one in support of the LGBTQ community.

On Tuesday, Duenas and Holstine explained why they decided to boycott the 2019 event, saying they felt they could not attend in good faith. (See video below.)

"My frustrations with the current administration are the messages and actions and policies and words that are shared about the population of students that I work with," said Holstine, who teaches immigrant children.

"It impacts and it hurts them, and it hurts them both in their hearts and in the world because they then have to deal with the fallout of all of that discrimination," she said. "I cannot implicitly support people who hate my kids and who talk about them in the ways they talk about them."

She also said she opposed other Trump policies, including those regarding LGBTQ people.

Duenas said she opposed the administration's immigration policies and attitudes about the Latino community, and rejected its support of the privatization of public education. Her mother, she said, was once an undocumented immigrant. Duenas is a first-generation American.

"This administration's treatment of the Latino community has really broken my heart, and the way in which families have been separated at the border and there are students at the border right now who should be in our classrooms," she said.

She also said that in her state, teacher pensions are being diminished, and teachers are being threatened for exercising First Amendment rights to protest.

Duenas - a teacher in Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville. Kentucky - said DeVos recently traveled to Kentucky for talks with the Republican governor and held a roundtable discussion, but no public educators were invited to participate. She also said students wanted to attend and report on the event but were barred.

"So there was no way that in good faith that I could go to the ceremony at the White House, whether it was Donald Trump or Betsy DeVos or anyone else in this administration, because I felt it would be turning my back on the state of Kentucky, turning my back on my students and ultimately turning my back on my background and my family," she said.

Duenas said she and Holstine explained to the other winners why they would not attend and were supported in their decision.

Robinson was selected in the annual Teacher of the Year program, which is sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers. Every year, winners are selected from each state, the District of Columbia, all U.S. territories and the Department of Defense Education Activity, which operates schools. They come to the nation's capital in the spring for the annual Teachers of the Year week, where the national winner is named.

Robinson has been teaching for nearly 20 years. In 2015, he began working at the Virgie Binford Education Center, a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center. Now, he teaches social studies to young people incarcerated there.
There was an unexpected twist Tuesday evening as Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's attempted uprising against President Nicolas Maduro's government appeared to be sputtering out. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Maduro was set to flee Venezuela and that Russia had persuaded him to stay.

Russia denies the assertion, and, on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a phone call with Pompeo that Washington's "interference" was "a most grave violation of international law," according to Russia's Foreign Ministry. "It was indicated that continuing these aggressive steps would be fraught with the most serious consequences," a Foreign Ministry statement describing the call said. "Only the Venezuelan people have the right to determine their own fate, which is why a dialogue is necessary between all the political forces of the whole country, as its government has long been calling for."

The anecdote underscored the battle for influence being waged between the United States, which firmly backs Guaido, and Russia, a friend of the Maduro government, over Venezuela.

But why does the Kremlin care what happens in Caracas? Below, a primer on why Moscow, like Washington, has been open about what it wants to see happen next in Venezuela.

- - -

Is this about money?

Yes, but not only. As The Washington Post reported late last year, Russia owns substantial portions of Venezuelan oil fields, which it got in exchange for loans and bailouts over the past decade. And Venezuela signed over almost half of Citgo - its wholly owned company in the United States - as collateral to Rosneft, Russia's state-owned oil company, for what was reported to be $1.5 billion in cash.

And "with something in the neighborhood of twenty billion in Rosneft assets tied up in the country, the Russians have real concerns they could lose out as a result of a wholesale change in power - despite assurances from the opposition and the US that would not be the case," Matthew Rojansky, director of the Wilson Center's Russia-focused Kennan Institute, wrote in an email.

Prepaid oil deliveries to Russian clients were also used to buy Russian tanks and guns for Venezuela's defense force.

Some have argued that the loans, because they were not approved by the opposition-controlled National Assembly, "would not be legal under Venezuelan rule of law," as Moises Rendon, associate director and associate fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Americas Program, told The Post.

"They want to remain in Venezuela not only today but for a day after," said Rendon, a former legal analyst with Banco Occidental de Descuento, a prominent Venezuelan commercial bank, referring to Russian interests. "They want to be sure they get their money and their investments are protected."

- - -

So it's about money and energy and the military?

Well, and Cuba.

Cuba?

Part of the reason that the Trump administration and its supporters in Congress feel as strongly as they do about Venezuela is because of opposition to communist Cuba, which backs Venezuela.

But if U.S. opposition to Maduro is an extension of U.S. opposition to Cuba, then is it, in a way, history repeating itself? When the Trump administration reversed President Barack Obama's thawing of relations with Havana, Cuba went back to tightening ties with Cold War ally Russia. Among the economic and political clashes that defined the Cold War, perhaps the most famous was the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s, when the Soviet Union put nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba, a flex of force not far from U.S. shores. President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ultimately defused the crisis.

But such a reading of historical parallels to the Venezuela crisis is too neat and ignores that this is not the 1960s. As Rendon noted, Russia has not put nuclear-armed missiles in Venezuela. And the world is not divided between the United States and the Soviet Union. "Having a broader coalition is probably more effective," Rendon said, suggesting that the United States should call on Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Peru to effectively ask Russia to step back.

And there are other countries that are just as, if not more, relevant to Russia's involvement in Venezuela.

- - -

So what do Libya and Syria have to do with it?

"The Syrian and Libyan models are more important here than the 60 year old Cuban case," Rojansky wrote.

In 2011, a coalition led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization helped rebels oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed shortly thereafter. "The Libyan case represents exactly what Russia fears most - that if it does nothing, America will use military power to topple a Moscow-friendly regime," Rojansky wrote.

That fear is not just about what happened in Libya. "Official Moscow is utterly preoccupied with the notion that Washington uses its power to force favorable regime changes around the world, and that sooner or later Russia itself will be on the target list. The Russians therefore oppose any change in the Maduro regime both because America so strongly supports it, and because of the unacceptable precedent such change might set for Russia itself and for other states closer to home in Eurasia," he wrote.

The Libya case, the thinking goes, is part of why the Russian powers that be have been so supportive of Syria's President Bashar Assad. And just as Russia learned from Libya that the West could not be left to intervene in a country without its leader ending up dead, so, too, did Russia learn something from Syria.

"The Syrian model suggests that with a relatively small military commitment and some agile diplomacy, Moscow can not only prevent this outcome but secure enormous enduring leverage over the local government," Rojansky wrote.

Russia, in all likelihood, can't fight in Venezuela as it has in Syria. Venezuela is half a world away, and Russia is preoccupied elsewhere. "But at relatively low cost they can put down markers that will strengthen their negotiating position both with Washington and internally with the Venezuelan parties, like sending a high ranking general and a few plane loads of troops and supplies," Rojansky wrote.

- - -

So it's about money and energy and the military and kind of Cuba and Libya and Syria?

And Russia's own neighbors.

"Most immediately, getting involved in Venezuela gives (Russian President Vladimir) Putin the opportunity to poke the U.S. in the eye," wrote Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. "From Putin's perspective, inserting himself in Washington's backyard is payback for U.S. meddling near Russia's borders," an allusion to the expansion of NATO, Russian perception of U.S. support for revolutions in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine, and any number of other real and imagined instances of U.S. meddling.
English Danish

Company announcement



Announcement no. 20/2019





Major shareholder announcement  Sp/f Framherji

In accordance with section 29 of the Faroese Securities Trading Act, Banknordik discloses it has been notified today by Sp/f Framherji, that at 25 April 2019, Sp/f Framherji held 486,790 shares equal to 5.07 % of BankNordiks share capital.





Further information:

Arni Ellefsen, CEO, tel. (+298) 230 348









BankNordik has banking activities in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands and insurance activities in the Faroe Islands. Founded in the Faroe Islands more than a century ago, the Group has total assets of DKK 16.7bn and 385 employees. The Bank is subject to the supervision of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority and is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen.
HOUSTON AND CHICAGO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Commercial real estate firm Transwestern and Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) today announce a national partnership to support the philanthropic organizations mission to improve the health and well-being of children and their families.



Transwestern has committed to raise funds to support RMHC core programs, including the Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room, and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. Transwestern team members also will volunteer their time and talents at Ronald McDonald House programs across the country to help offset operational costs, allowing the Charity to direct more donations back to programs supporting children and their families.



In selecting a national philanthropic partner, we felt it was important that the organizations values closely match our own, and working alongside the highly regarded Ronald McDonald House Charities underscores the value both organizations place on families, said Larry P. Heard, Transwestern CEO. Supporting those in need has always been an important part of Transwesterns culture, and when in pursuit of a shared goal, our 2,100 team members do extraordinary things together.



Transwestern has a long history of giving back to the communities in which it serves. Team members are encouraged to take paid time off each year to serve a charitable cause of their choice, resulting in outreach to more than 350 nonprofit causes across the country. A national philanthropy partner was added in 2016 as a way to unite the entire company around a common objective.



The work we do on behalf of children and their families would not be possible without the tremendous support of our partners, said Sheila Musolino, President and CEO of RMHC. Transwesterns commitment to our mission helps RMHC provide a supportive environment so families can focus on the care of their child and give them what they need most  each other.



From 2016 to 2019, Transwestern partnered with Make-A-Wish to raise more than $550,000, granting 52 wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses. It hopes to capitalize on this momentum to deliver results for RMHC both financially and through in-person voluteerism.



Internal and external marketing campaigns and national fundraisers are among the activities planned, including the ever-popular Blue Friday, where team members can make a financial donation in exchange for a Friday afternoon off during the holidays. Other initiatives will include teams volunteering at local Ronald McDonald House programs, on-site activities at Transwestern-managed properties, and events with clients, partners and friends of the firm.



ABOUT THE TRANSWESTERN ENTERPRISEThe Transwestern enterprise comprises diversified real estate services, investment management and development companies. The privately held, fully integrated organization leverages competencies in office, industrial, retail, multifamily and healthcare to add value for investors, owners and occupiers of real estate. Experience Extraordinary at transwestern.com and @Transwestern.



ABOUT RONALD McDONALD HOUSE CHARITIESRonald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), is a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) corporation that creates, finds, and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and their families. Through its global network of over 275 Chapters in more than 64 countries and regions, and its three core programs: the Ronald McDonald House, the Ronald McDonald Family Room and the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, RMHC helps families with sick children stay together, and close to the medical care their child needs at leading hospitals worldwide. RMHC programs not only provide access to quality health care, they enable family-centered care ensuring families are fully supported and actively involved in their childrens care. For more information, visit rmhc.org. Follow RMHC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Attachment
SINGAPORE, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Universal Aviation Singapore celebrated the official inauguration of the new Seletar Business Aviation Centre (SBAC) and its new operations offices at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by clients, partners, airport, and local dignitaries.

The official grand opening of the new SBAC is a historic moment in the history of business aviation in Singapore and will elevate the experience of private operators to Seletar Airport (WSSL), said Greg Evans, Chairman, Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. This beautiful facility will raise the bar for airports in the region by offering an elevated level of privacy, efficiency, and luxury for business aviation operators and potentially positions Singapore as the most business aviation friendly country in the region!

SBAC operations are co-managed by a joint venture consortium, SATS Seletar Aviation Services Pte Ltd (SSAS), made up of Universal Aviation Singapore, SATS, Ltd., and Jet Aviation. Universal Aviation Singapores new operations centre is located on the first floor of the SBAC and features an integrated crew rest lounge.

Our clients asked for a better experience in Singapore, and were proud to have partnered with SATS and Jet Aviation to help deliver it, said Evans. None of this would be possible without Changi Airport Groups recognition of the unique needs and challenges of business aviation operators and their support for this facility.

The official opening of the SBAC and Universal Aviation Singapores new operations offices caps a busy 18 months at Seletar, said Yvonne Chan, Managing Director, Universal Aviation Singapore.

Weve made significant infrastructure and training investments at Seletar in order to continue to support our clients critical missions at this high-traffic and potentially high-stress airport, said Chan. In 2018, we earned accreditation under the International Standard for Business Aircraft Handling (IS-BAH) program and we just recently purchased a brand new tow-barless lektro tug capable of handling aircraft up to a B737 or A320 - the first of this model in Singapore.

For more information on Universal Aviation Singapore, visit www.universalaviation.aero/singapore.

About Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc.

You're counted on to make every trip a success, but you dont have to do it alone. Reduce your operating risk and stress by accessing a global community of resources dedicated to helping you prepare for unforeseen events, navigate the ever-changing regulatory environment, and manage your stakeholders expectations. Keep your organization moving and ensure mission success with complete and customized trip management services  coordinated through your dedicated trip support team, or online and on your Apple iPad via uvGO. For more information, contact worldwide sales at +1 (800) 231-5600 ext. 3300 (North America) or +1 (713) 944-1622 ext. 3300 (Worldwide).

Apple and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. is not endorsed, sponsored, affiliated with or otherwise authorized by Apple Inc.

Media Contact:

Louis Smyth

+1 (713) 306-3269

lsmyth@univ-wea.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3dc68059-ce37-4df4-88bb-7d34b9b01153
Do you know how many pallets it takes to carry 80,000 books?

We do, because for the past year, Northside AFT and North East AFT union leaders and volunteers have spent countless hours planning and working to qualify for more than 80,000 free books. Last month, we gave every single book to educators, school staff and students from our Title I schools, which serve a large percentage of students from low-income families.

Why? Because as educators, we know students cant learn if they cant read.

But its hard to become strong readers if students dont have access to books in their classrooms  books that interest and inspire them  or if they dont have books at home to help them develop the love and the habit of reading.

As you know, books dont grow on trees. The average cost of a childrens hardcover picture book is more than $16. For families struggling to pay rent, put food on the table and pay bills, there is often no room in the household budget for books. But as educators and union members, we see it as our job to make sure all students have access to a high-quality education and the resources they need to succeed in school.

Twenty-five states, including Texas, are spending less on public education now than before the Great Recession; our schools often struggle to provide even the basic educational resources. After a decade of neglect and austerity in schools nationwide, the American people have had enough  and want a reordering of the countrys priorities to focus on things that make their families lives better. And that starts with our children and sustainable investments in public schools, colleges, infrastructure and health care.

This is why we are so proud to work with the American Federation of Teachers and First Book, which formed a partnership more than seven years ago to help level the education playing field by providing books and other school supplies that are essential for all kids. The AFT and First Book have helped local affiliates like ours distribute more than 5 million books at events around the country.

To qualify for the free books, we registered nearly every school staff member working in a Title I school in the Northside and North East school districts with First Book. By registering, we have access to grant opportunities, as well as books, school supplies and basic-needs items at 50 to 90% percent lower than the retail costs, thus creating a pipeline of high-quality, cost-effective educational resources for our students in need.

Its that kind of commitment to providing all San Antonio students a world-class public education that brought our unions, the Northside and North East school districts, and hundreds of volunteers together to bring 80,000 free books to our community.

The days of the book distributions were so gratifying. We saw firsthand how much our parents and students value education and understand how a love of reading is key to students academic success. More than 7,000 educators, parents and students came to the book distribution at the Paul Taylor Field House, where cheerleaders, drum lines, mascots and mariachi bands entertained everyone as they waited to choose their books.

At the distribution in North East Independent School District warehouse, the high school student volunteers were so excited to help preschoolers, kindergartners and first-graders pick out books for their parents to read to them. The volunteers said it was one of the best things they had been involved in all school year and wanted to know if they could help us again. We hope to have another book distribution next year so we can keep giving the gift of reading.

This is the power of educators coming together for our community and our students. But this isnt the only way that we care, fight and show up for our students and schools. Hundreds of Texas AFT members showed up in Austin on March 11 demanding that our states lawmakers fund our future and invest in our students and public schools.

It is actions and partnerships like these that make us public school proud and proud of our fellow Northside AFT and North East AFT union members for supporting our community, our schools, our families and our students. We love our students and see it as our calling as educators to help them succeed.

And, just for the record, the answer is 80,000 books arrive on 52 pallets, each weighing more than 1,000 pounds!

Wanda Longoria and Patsy Esterline are presidents of Northside AFT and North East AFT, respectively.
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




Completes First Step in Process to Become SEC Reporting

New York, NY, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Alternus Energy Inc. (OTC: ALTN ) (the Company, Alternus Energy or Alternus), a global renewable energy company, today announced that its 2016 and 2017 annual financial audits have been completed. Marcum LLP issued an opinion on Alternus Energys audited financial statements, which have now been filed with the OTC Markets.

Marcum LLP is one of the largest independent public accounting and advisory services firms in the nation, with offices in major business markets throughout the U.S., as well as Grand Cayman, China, and Ireland.

The filings and disclosures are available here:

https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/ALTN/disclosure

Vincent Browne , Alternus Energys Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman, commented, This is another significant milestone in the development of Alternus as we strive to elevate the Companys capital markets position by up-listing to a US National Exchange at the earliest opportunity. Such a move will make the Company more accessible to a wider investor audience. Finalizing our 2016 and 2017 audits is a necessary first step towards that goal. Having an independent issued opinion on our results from Marcum LLP shows our commitment to taking the necessary steps to build investor confidence.

While we continue to grow our business by acquiring additional PV solar parks across Europe to further enhance our long term government counterparty income streams, it is just as important for us to advance our capital markets activities. Marcum LLP is currently auditing our 2018 annual financial statements, which we anticipate will complete before the end of Q2. Completion of this audit will allow us to file a Form 10 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to become a reporting entity, a further step in our capital markets evolution. We look forward to elevating our capital markets efforts in parallel to building our business, as we continue our mission to create long-term shareholder value at the lowest possible risk.

About Alternus Energy Inc.

Alternus Energy, Inc. is a global renewable energy company that owns and operates Utility Scale Solar parks internationally. Each solar park generates clean energy every day that is sold to national power grids under long term, government counterparty, fixed price contracts. The Company currently has operational solar parks in Germany, Italy and Romania with contracts in place to add additional solar parks in the Netherlands. For further information please go to: www.AlternusEnergy.com

Forward-looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as may, "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," potential and similar statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact in this press release are forward-looking statements and involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates, but involve a number of unknown risks and uncertainties. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that such expectations will turn out to be correct, and actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. You are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained herein and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements.

Contact:

p212-220-7434

investors@alternusenergy.com
The heartbroken parents of a Co Longford woman who died from a rare strain of meningitis have issued a heart-rending plea to Health Minister Simon Harris to provide state funding for a potentially life-saving vaccine in order to prevent other families from enduring similar heartache.

Twenty-four year old Aughnacliffe native Gemma McGee passed away on August 4, 2018, less than 36 hours after falling ill at an apartment she had recently moved into in Mullingar.

Described as a wonderful young woman and the light of our life the Trinity College graduate and geologist had been planning to take in a three day INDIE concert in Cork along with her two cousins before tragedy struck just hours later.

Gemma started getting sick at around 12 midday with symptoms of a stomach bug and by midnight Gemma lay unconscious on her apartment floor as her condition quickly deteriorated.

In a further revelation, her parents John and Rosaleen have outlined how for several months they have campaigned to the health department for increased awareness of the ACWY vaccine.

They also highlighted ambulance delays, as Gemma was living just seven minutes from Mullingars Midland Regional Hospital.

Unfortunately for Gemma it was a Bank Holiday Friday night and no ambulance was available at Mullingar Hospital, said Rosaleen, adding that an ambulance was dispatched from Tullamore.

Rosaleen and her husband managed to drive from their north Longford home and arrive at Mullingars Midland Regional Hospital approximately 15 minutes before their daughter was ushered in on a trolley.

When the paramedics arrived, she had sepsis but they couldnt treat her with the lifesaving antibiotics, added John. Sepsis needs immediate antibiotics treatment only advanced Paramedics or doctors can give.

We left our home in Aughnacliffe in Longford after the call at midnight. We headed for Mullingar hospital, a 40 minute drive away and managed to be there 15 minutes before Gemma arrived at 1:15am, said John.

As hospital medics desperately tried to stabilise Gemma, Rosaleen told of how her three brothers told their beloved sister to keep fighting while her husband asked for his daughter to be transferred to a Dublin based hospital.

At 7.30pm on Saturday evening Gemma was eventually transferred to the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

Less than three hours later, the McGees worst nightmare was realised with a doctor informing them that their precious Gemma had passed away.

She was a fit, healthy and very independent young woman who worked extremely hard to achieve all her goals, said Rosaleen.

She had recently moved into a new flat in Mullingar, bought her car and had a great job. It just didnt make sense something like this could happen.

In shock and overcome with grief, John and Rosaleen only discovered Gemma had contracted meningitis a staggering three days after her passing.

We were left stunned at what had just happened, said Rosaleen.

She continued, We didnt understand how she could have died from sepsis and there were no answers. For the days that followed Gemmas death we were in complete shock. The hospital staff both in the Mater and Mullingar Regional hospital tried desperately to save Gemma's life.

On the Tuesday, we received a phone call from public health informing us that Gemmas bloods had come back positive for meningitis.

Nobody in Mullingar hospital had even mentioned Gemma had meningitis before she died.

A public health team later arrived at the McGee family home to administer antibiotics while a vaccine called ACWY, something Rosaleen had never heard of before, was provided to prevent the spread of Meningitis W, the strain contracted by Gemma.

This vaccine, despite being freely available for children from 14-years-old and upwards in Northern Ireland since 2015, is not accessible to the public this side of the border.

In a bid to highlight the anomaly and due to the intervention of Longford County Councillor Peggy Nolan, the McGees held talks with Mr Harris during the Health Ministers recent visit to St Josephs Care Centre.

We have been working at this for months and months, said John.

We handed him (Health Minister) letters from Critical Care doctor and public health officials calling for the vaccine to be brought in the Republic.

Our main question to him was: How many people have to die before this vaccine is made available to us and why the health department has not made awareness.

The apparent lack of availability of an ambulance in Mullingar has also sparked calls for a review to be undertaken by the Health Minister.

Cllr Nolan said the Wicklow TD had been taken aback by the tragic circumstances surrounding Gemmas death and the sense of sincerity put forward by the McGee family in telling their story.

In my lifetime I have never met people with so much dignity in the face of such adversity, said Cllr Nolan, whose fellow local election candidate and party member Garry Murtagh has also been in close contact with the McGee family.

Cllr Nolan added, What that family had to go through was just outrageous. Secondly, the minister made a promise in Longford to the family that he would go back and engage with the HSE to make the vaccine available nationwide.

She also called for an awareness campaign to be rolled out nationwide with a view to informing parents about the vaccines importance and on the strain of a disease which is believed to have already claimed seven lives since Christmas.

Meningitis symptoms are varied from vomiting, headache, neck pain, temperature and rash but you may only notice some of these symptoms.

This strain of meningitis "W" is so deadly that only one in every four people who get it survive.

For the McGees, the sense of loss and anguish is one which goes on. Their only solace, according to Rosaleen, is to bring about the ACWY vaccines and expand awareness to stop other cases comparable to theirs from occurring in the future.

This vaccine is available privately and costs 50 plus cost of GP.

Read also: Flu or Meningitis.would you know the difference?
A two-week boil water notice in Ballymahon and surrounding areas has been lifted after two weeks, meaning affected families no longer have to count the cost of their struggle to source clean drinking water.

It's an added inconvenience but the cost is starting to hit home, said Ballymahon town resident Sean Clancy told the Longford Leader on Monday before the notice was lifted.

Sean and his wife Lisa have two children, Tomas (2) and Aoife (four months, pictured on front page), and have been boiling water for drinking and food preparation to keep their children safe and hydrated. But the family, like so many others in the area, was starting to feel the pinch as they waited for good news from Irish Water.

Between creche fees, mortgage and generic living costs, the few euro more a day it's costing to source clean water is adding up, said Mr Clancy.

We boil as much as we can for generic use but that's extra pressure too ahead of having to sterilise bottles and general baby paraphernalia.

We're lucky we're not dealing with any critical illnesses or compounding circumstances like some families are, I can't begin to imagine the strain those families must be under.

As an engineer, Sean understands the difficulty and high costs of producing clean drinking water.

But in this day and age, with the eyes of the world firmly fixed on Ballymahon ahead of Center Parcs opening, it doesn't give a good impression, he said.

The main concern, though, was the local community and the massive effect that the lack of clean water was having on the town as a whole.

Further delays are unacceptable. Too many people are beginning to strain under this added pressure, he said on Monday evening.

There are still no signs of resolution, no signs of alternative provisions for water being provided by Irish Water or Longford County Council; we've no clear answers or directions.

It's the lack of support and leadership from the public bodies that we're supposed to be trusting our communities to that's really concerning.

And the extra costs to businesses were having an astronomical effect on the local community, he added.

Good and operational infrastructure is the essential backbone of community life, and when it starts degrading and lacking in quality it's not individuals alone that suffer, it's every aspect of life within the community.

Read also: Good news for 8,247 south Longford people as boil water notice lifted after almost a fortnight
In Longford, 1,087 people walked in solidarity in Darkness into Light last year.

just 11 days to go until Darkness into Light on May 11, the event organisers, Pieta, proudly supported by Electric Ireland since 2013, are calling on as many people as possible to join them to raise much need funding and awareness for the prevention of suicide and self-harm and the promotion of positive mental health.

Over 200,000 people are expected to come together in the pre-dawn hours in 19 countries across 5 continents to take part in the global movement that seeks to remove the stigma around suicide and self-harm and spread the power of hope in Ireland and around the globe.

Last year, Darkness into Light walkers raised 6 million from the event, of which 800,000 was raised across our international venues. Worldwide close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year - one person every 40 seconds. In Ireland 392 people took their own lives in 2017.

2019 marks the 7th year Electric Ireland have walked alongside Pieta to bring hope to customers, staff and communities across Ireland that have been affected by suicide. The funds raised from Darkness into Light help to keep Pieta centers open, offering free therapy, the 24 /7 Helpline line, education and bereavement counselling for people in need of support. In 2018, over 8,000 clients were supported with face to face therapy by Pieta experts.

Since 2006, over 40,000 people received support from our intervention and bereavement counselling services. By the end of this school year, Pieta will have reached out to over 7,500 students with a bespoke schools programme called the Resilience Academy a free programme for second year students in secondary schools designed to increase young peoples resilience, hope for the future, ability to cope with difficult feelings and connection to their school.

Siobhan Leijen, Clinical Manager, Pieta Midlands said, Its difficult to describe the incredibly hopeful feelings created by Darkness Into Light. As a therapist and Clinical Manager we see firsthand the indisputable need for Pieta to be present in our communities. The walk is about far more than just the raising of fund. It brings people together from all over the world every year because the need for change is immense.

Leijen added Among those who walk are the people we have been so humbled to assist in their greatest time of need, their families, friends, neighbors and coworkers the list is relentless. Darkness Into Light is unity and true human compassion from one human being to another. It is Hope.

Also read: Celebrating Longford's older people: Be Our Guest at Bealtaine Festival 2019 this May

Irene Hehir, from Ennis, is one of the many thousands of people who have experienced challenging times and sought the help of Pieta.

She said, Almost 2 years ago during a time of deep crisis Pieta Midwest in Limerick took great care of me and helped me to find my way to a better life, one where I learned to believe in myself, to learn what a good person I was and to learn skills to help me get through day to day life without the thought of suicide.

Hehir added This year, I will rejoice in the life I now have and will relish the dawn when it breaks letting us all come from the Darkness into the light on Saturday May 11th and let that be a new dawn of fresh hope and love to all that need it the most.

Pieta operates a free 24-hour suicide helpline on 1800 247 247. Darkness Into Light is vital for fundraising, for raising awareness and for bringing people together in a spirit of solidarity and comfort in giving all hope.

People can register to take part in this years event or find the location closest to them at www.darknessintolight.ie
Jessica Thompson takes a sneak peek at what's to come ahead of this year's Longford Tain Festival

An Tain Bo Cuailnge or the Cattle Raid of Cooley is the most famous of Ireland's ancient sagas and is Europe's oldest recorded vernacular tale, said to date all the way back to the seventh century AD.

It tells the story of a great cattle-raid and invasion of Ulster by the armies of Queen Medbh of Connacht, seeking to take by force, the great brown bull of Cuailnge.

Every year, there is a celebration of this legendary tale as the Tain March makes its way across the country, following in the footsteps of Queen Medbh and her army.

Established in 2011 as a community walking festival, the Tain March celebrates and promotes the epic tale, while getting people involved in an enjoyable festival of community events.

This year's festivities will take place in Longford town on Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, and in Granard on Thursday and Friday, May 23 and 24.

The 2019 Tain March Festival in Longford is dedicated to the celebration of Ireland's warrior women, including not only Queen Medbh, but other powerful females in myth, legend and contemporary society.

It makes up part of the much larger cross-country walking and re-enactment festival which stretches from Rathcroghan in Co Roscommon to Cooley in Co Louth.

The Tain March, led by the Longford Queen Medbh, will arrive into Longford town at 2.30pm on Sunday, May 19.

Read also: Over 1,000 Longfordians show their support to Darkness into Light in 2018

Welcomed by her Longford warriors, Medbh will proceed through the town from Connolly Barracks to the Ceremonial Centre where her army will have a feast, hear music, take part in Celtic costume workshops, storytelling, facepainting and discussions on the unique history of the Tain.

The procession will be announced by the sound of Ceremonial Iron Age Trumpets bringing music archaeology to life and calling all the warriors of Longford to join Medbh on her quest.

The organisers of this year's Tain March in Longford are currently searching for a Queen Medbh to lead the army through the streets.

Organisers are also seeking two local musicians to sound the great Iron Age trumpets of Ireland Medbh leads the march through the town.

Anyone interested in becoming Queen Medbh or the players of the mighty trumpets, can contact antainlongford@gmail.com.

There will be a wide variety of events taking place over two days including a Celtic Costumes workshop on the Saturday led by local artist Phil Atkinson of Mide Street Theatre.

The workshop will allow participants to create costumes, swords and shields for use in the Tain March and for various costume competitions which will take place on Sunday.

This year's Queen Medbh will be selected on the Saturday and presented with her ceremonial shield and spear, created especially for the occasion by Longford Woodturners.

Following the ceremony, there will be a performance from Candlelit Tales of Women of the Woods.

Festivities really get going at 11am on Sunday morning when the Tain March is welcomed into Clondra by Queen Medbh and her gathering of warriors before they march onwards to Longford, arriving at approximately 2.30pm in Longford town.

All of the Tain events are free of charge and are open to everyone.

From crafts workshops, poetry and art exhibitions to traditional music and storytelling, there is something for all the family at this year's Tain March Festival.

A full list of events, workshops and celebrations can be found in the festival programme.

For more information, see @tainmarchlongford on Facebook.

Read also: Bookworms to descend on Delvin Book Festival in Westmeath on May 5
Do you think you and your family have what it takes to take the Irelands Fittest Family crown for 2019?

Ireland's Fittest Family is back for their seventh series and applications are now open for families who think they are the cream of the crop. Producers are urging Longford families to get involved this year, with the competition set to be fiercer than ever before!

The team behind the series are scouring the country to find the fittest, fastest and strongest families to enter Irelands most extreme fitness competition. With a 15,000 cash prize on offer for the champion family, have you and yours got what it takes?

The minimum age for entries is 14 years old and each participating family must be comprised of four intermediate members such as Grandparents, parents, children and step-children.

The series will be filmed from July to September 2019 and you can apply to take part at http://t1n.ie/2q3.

If you have any questions you can email  fittestfamily@animotv.ie or call the production team on (01) 531 3933

Also read: Longford's Tain March to celebrate Ireland's warrior women
Local News, Crime, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 01 2019

Four people entered a home on Ocean Road and stole various items, cops say.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers and Southampton Town Police detectives are seeking the publics help to identify and locate the people who burglarized a Bridgehampton home in December.

Four people entered a home on Ocean Road at approximately 5:15 p.m. on December 8 and stole various items, including a Breguet Marine 5071 watch. The victim is offering a reward of $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seatrade Cruise Global 2019 was a historic year, as the leading annual business-to-business event in cruise made its triumphant return to Miami Beach. With record-breaking numbers, the success of Seatrade 2019 serves as an undeniable representation of the cruise industry at large and its future growth.



By the numbers, Seatrade saw a 15% increase in registered attendees, a 19% growth in its conference program delegation and a 23% increase in registered cruise line representatives. This years event hosted more than 750 exhibitors, 190 of which were first-time exhibitors, showcasing products and services from around the world on the massive 150,000 square foot show floor, which was 19% larger than the 2018 floor in Fort Lauderdale.

The more than 13,000 registered attendees had access to over 60 experiential sessions and countless hours of networking and inspiration opportunities, including the highly anticipated State of the Global Cruise Industry keynote. With over 2,000 attendees, its largest audience to date, the keynote was moderated by BBC journalist Lucy Hockings and featured leaders from the worlds four largest cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises and MSC Cruises.

Another top highlight at Seatrade 2019 was the first-ever all-female keynote panel titled The Rise of Female Leadership in the Cruise Industry. The lineup included Christine Duffy, President, Carnival Cruise Line; Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises; and Jan Swartz, President, Princess Cruises and Carnival Australia. Also new for Seatrade 2019 were an increased number of Seatrade Talks featuring intimate conversations with industry leaders, including Orlando Ashford, President, Holland America Line; Josh Leibowitz, Senior Vice President, Cunard North America and Chief Strategy Officer, Carnival Corporation & PLC; Barbara Muckermann, Chief Marketing Officer, Silversea Cruises; Gianni Onorato, CEO, MSC Cruises; and Daniel Skjeldam, CEO, Hurtigruten.

Over 300 registered media were onsite at Seatrade 2019, a 37% increase from 2018, covering the diverse number of newsworthy announcements made throughout the week including MSC Cruises unveiling details of its new multi-ship terminal at PortMiami and Windstars $250 million Star ship renovations. Several panels were also moderated by editors from top outlets, including CNBC, Conde Nast Traveler and Skift, who covered a variety of topics facing the industry, from safety and sustainability to luxury cruising and technology.

The impact of Seatrades growth this year extended well beyond the walls of the Miami Beach Convention Center. Events throughout Seatrade helped raise more than $20,000 for Seatrade Cruise Globals nonprofit partners, Mercy Ships and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Charitable Foundation.

The entire Seatrade Cruise Global 2019 team could not have asked for a more impactful homecoming to the cruise capital of the world, Miami Beach, says Chiara Giorgi, Brand Director for Seatrade Cruise Global. Our success at this years event is a testament to the growth within the cruise industry at large. We cannot wait to continue to evolve and elevate the Seatrade experience and look forward to our 2020 event.

With the 2019 Seatrade marking the largest in the events 35-year history, Seatrade Cruise Global 2020 promises to be even bigger. Returning to the Miami Beach Convention Center, Seatrade 2020 will take place 20-23 April.

For more information, visit: https://seatradecruiseglobal.com

Images: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/mCExz9OIjB

About Seatrade Cruise Global

Seatrade Cruise Global 2020 is taking place 20-23 April 2020 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The exhibition is the leading annual global B2B event for the cruise industry. Bringing together buyers and suppliers for a four-day conference and three-day exhibition, the gathering draws more than 11,000 registered attendees, over 700 exhibiting companies from 113 countries and more than 300 international journalists to become the cruise industrys epicenter of ideas, products and services. A whos who of the industry participate in a comprehensive panel of discussions featuring experts, leaders and thought-makers including the State of the Global Cruise Industry Keynote with the chief executives of the worlds largest cruise companies. Seatrade 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 .
The loud sirens and flyovers residents living near Selfridge Air National Guard Base are experiencing is nothing to worry about.

Its just military exercises.

Throughout the week, Selfridge will be conducting military simulations that involve the use of sirens, loudspeakers, and simulated gunfire.

The Michigan Air National Guard conducts training exercises on a regular basis to ensure that local airmen are able to appropriately respond to a wide range of scenarios, according to SANG new release.

For those interested in following the latest news and information on activity at Selfridge, updates are provided via the 127th Wing public web page, 127wg.ang.af.mil, the 127th Wings Facebook page, or the wings new mobile app, which is available for free download via the Apple App Store or Google Play.

 Gina Joseph, The Macomb Daily
Amsterdam, The Netherlands  30 April 2019



Esperite N.V. announced on 22 February 2019 that the Company had signed an exclusive agreement regarding the potential acquisition (the Proposed Acquisition) of Cryo Saves family stem cell banking business by PBKM (Famicord Group).

The Proposed Acquisition is a key milestone with regard to the future and strategy of the Company and is subject to the outcome of a due diligence process which is a complex operation. As a consequence additional time is needed to publish the Annual Report 2018.

Esperite continues to strive to publish its Annual Report 2018 and Half Year Results 2018 as promptly as practicable.

About ESPERITE

ESPERITE group, listed at Euronext Amsterdam and Paris, is a leading international company in regenerative and precision medicine founded in 2000.

To learn more about the ESPERITE Group, or to book an interview with CEO Frederic Amar: +31 575 548 998 - ir@esperite.com or visit the websites at www.esperite.com , www.genoma.com and www.cryo-save.com .

***

This press release contains inside information as referred to in article 7 paragraph 1 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (Market Abuse Regulation).

Attachment
After the collective freak-out about Apples poor showing during its last financial quarter, this quarters results were refreshingly boring. Apple had $58 billion in revenue, more or less what they said theyd do three months ago. The company made $11.6 billion in profit, which is a really good kind of boring.

Still, there are always tidbits from Apples mandated disclosures, and the hourlong conference call with financial analysts that follows them, that can give us some hints about how Apples business is doing. Here are five of them.

Room for optimism on iPhone

Dan Masaoka/IDG

Phone sales were down 17 percent over the year-ago quarter, a second double-digit drop. Last quarters iPhone bellyflop eliminated all surprise and drama from these facts, so while its still painful to see, at least its not surprising. But Apple says that if you peek into the details, theres a lot of reason for optimism.

Cook and Maestri said that November and December were the worst months in terms of iPhone sales, suggesting that the early months of 2019 showed improvement. Cook said that March was the strongest month of the quarter for the iPhone and that the final weeks of March were stronger still.

In an exchange between Maestri and Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, Huberty pointed out that Apples third financial quarter generally declines about 15 percent from the second quarter, but that Apples guidance for next quarter was only an eight percent drop. Maestri said that the smaller shortfall was due to Apples confidence that iPhone sales are strengthening.

Specifically, Cook pointed out several times, the companys weakness in China is at the root of a lot of its lagging numbers, pointing out that Apple grew year over year in developed markets, with record [quarterly] results in a number of major markets including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

China, meanwhile, has lagged. But Cook and Maestri both said that stronger sales as the quarter went along, driven by fiscal stimulus moves by Chinas government and improved trade discussions between the U.S. and China, gave them hope that things were going to keep getting better. China is such an important market for Apple that failure there can swamp good news in other markets, and that seems to be the case right now. But it sounds like Apples status in China may be headed back in a positive direction.

Dont sleep on Wearables

Last quarter, Apple brought some of its marketing flair to the balance sheet, as it rebranded its Other Products category as Wearables, Home, and Accessories. The star products in this category are Apple Watch and AirPods, and while the Watch had its best non-holiday quarter of sales to date, Apple seemed to lean in to the success its having with AirPods.

Jason Snell Apples Wearables line keeps going up, too.

Cook said that demand for AirPods has been incredible and that the company is still working to catch up with customer demand, and called them a cultural phenomenon.

Overall, the new Wearable/Home/Accessories category amounted to 9 percent of Apples overall revenue for the quartermore than the iPad and just short of the Mac. It might have been easy to discount that dull old Other Products category, but this new category is comparable in size to the Mac and iPad. Thats remarkable.

iPad back on track?

The iPad, which went in a sales funk for more than four years, seems to have snapped out of it. Sales this quarter were up 22 percent year-over-year, and Apple ascribes most of that growth to continued strong sales of the iPad Pro models introduced in late 2018. (The new iPad Air and iPad mini launched late in the quarter, so will probably make a larger contribution to the bottom line in Apples third-quarter statements.)

Jason Snell iPad revenue grew by the largest amount in six years.

How good was this iPad quarter? Its the largest year-over-year growth the product has seen in six years, since this same quarter in 2013. Its also the second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for the iPad, which has grown six of the last eight quarters. The iPad seems to have stabilized, at least for now, as a $20 billion a year business.

Apple throws Intel under the bus

Look, we all suspect that theres some serious tension in the relationship between Apple and Intel. Intel apparently let Apple down when it came to designing 5G radios for the iPhone and iPad, leading to Apples legal and financial settlement with Qualcomm. Its also widely believed that Apple is planning on building its own processors for the Mac, as it does for its other devices, at some point in the near future. This is a relationship that may not be long for this world.

But I was still a little taken aback at how clear Apples shot at Intel was in its financial statements today. Heres how CFO Luca Maestri put it: Mac revenue was $5.5 billion, compared to $5.8 billion a year ago, with the decline driven primarily by processor constraints on certain popular models.

Its hard not to read that as Apple saying that the Mac wouldve grown if Intel had delivered enough processors to fulfill demand. And Im going to throw it on the pile of evidence that the Apple-Intel relationship is nearing an ugly break-up.

Services check-in: Yep, still huge

Apple has been talking up growth in its services business for several years, culminating in it devoting an entire event to new services in Cupertino back in March.

Jason Snell Apples Services line just keeps going up.

Services revenue continues to grow at a ridiculous pace for Apple, even before the addition of new revenue streams this summer and fall. Its got enormous profit marginsover 60 percent this quarter!and was 20 percent of Apples total revenue. Thats right, Apples services business is now the size of the Mac and iPad businesses combined.

This is why Apple talks about services all the time. It generated $11.5 billion in revenue last quarter, keeps growing at a rapid rate, and is by a wide margin the second largest part of Apples business behind iPhone. Apple as a services company? Looks like thats here to stay.
Soulja Boy's recent rise back to relevancy may be on shaky legs after TMZ reports that the "Kiss Me Thru The Phone" rapper has been sentenced to 240 days in jail for violating his probation. On top of this, he is mandated to serve 265 of community service.

Since his initial arrest earlier last month, Soulja's lawyer claims that the rapper experienced an "awakening." Despite this, it wasn't quite enough to help him avoid time behind bars.

Complex stated that "The judge initially intended to hit him with two years, but acknowledged the business opportunities Soulja has already missed and decided to be more lenient."

The whole saga began back in 2017, when Soulja was charged with an illegal possession of a firearm, culminating in the rapper's no contest plea. After cutting a deal, the rapper was then called for five years of probation, as well as 240 days of community service.
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Syracuse, IN, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Znergy, Inc. (OTC: ZNRG ) (the Company) a leading provider of new LED lighting and turnkey LED lighting conversions for businesses, is pleased to announce that a national retail chain has chosen Znergy to upgrade two test pilot store locations from legacy lighting to new energy saving LED.



The initial pilot conversion is already underway. Discussions are continuing for the conversion of all of the companys US retail locations. Reducing both energy consumption and lighting maintenance cost saves money and simultaneously reduces the national carbon footprint.

Znergy Chief Executive Officer, Dave Baker, commented, We worked closely with our technology partners to produce a custom LED lamp which would satisfy the specific requirements of this company. Our next goal is to be further awarded the cost reduction contract for all of the companys nationwide locations.

About Znergy, Inc.

Znergy, Inc. (OTC: ZNRG ) is a provider of energy efficient lighting products, lighting controls and energy management solutions. Management is executing a growth strategy through developing large regional and national accounts, rolling out sales and installation teams across the United States. Our solutions enable customers to reduce energy consumption, lower maintenance costs and realize environmental benefits. Znergy is headquartered in Syracuse, Indiana. For more information, see our web sites at www.znergyworld.com .

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to the Companys future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Companys control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Companys current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could impact the Company and the forward-looking statements contained herein are included in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Investor Relations Contact:

Corporate

Rick Mikles

(813) 486-1114

rick.mikles@znergyworld.com
After their house burned down, David Montague and his wife decided to rebuild a home tailored to their needs, where they could display their art, access their books and entertain up to 100 people. David gives us a tour of their modern home in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo: Rob Alcaraz/The Wall Street Journal
UPDATE: All lanes are open on Interstate 495 as of 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.

A major crash near the interchange of Interstate 495 and Interstate 95 in Foxborough and Mansfield is causing traffic delays south of Boston Wednesday morning.

Massachusetts State Police announced two lane closures on I-495 southbound in Foxborough, south of exit 14, due to a serious injury crash. A driver was transported to a hospital for treatment. A medical flight was ordered but canceled, according to reports from WBZ. A tow truck was also observed on the scene.

Closures to the left and middle travel lanes caused traffic to backup into Route 140 in Mansfield, where another crash was reported Wednesday morning.

Another crash at I-95 northbound, near exit 7 in Mansfield, also caused backups near the interchange Wednesday morning.

#MAtraffic Rte 495 N/B, south of x14 in #Foxboro, left and middle lanes closed due to serious injury crash. Operator and sole occupant transported for treatment.  Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) May 1, 2019
A former corrections officer pleaded guilty Wednesday that he smuggled Suboxone strips into the Massachusetts Correctional Institute facility in Norfolk.

Steven Frazer, 29, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute in a Boston federal court. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 16, 2019.

According to federal prosecutors, beginning in November of 2018, Frazer, a corrections officer at the time, arranged to smuggle Suboxone strips into MCI-Norfolk to sell to inmates. Suboxone is a Class III controlled substance used to treat heroin addiction.

In the middle of November of 2018, a cooperating witness met Frazer in a South Attleboro parking lot, prosecutors said, and provided him with 40 Suboxone strips, 24 pages of K2 (a synthetic cannabinoid, which is more powerful than marijuana), and $2,500 in cash. Frazer was arrested by police after the meeting, which was recorded by law enforcement.

The charge against Frazer provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000 and restitution.
Retired Trooper Daren DeJong gave information to investigators in the state attorney generals office as part of the Massachusetts State Police overtime abuse investigation, recently filed records in federal court said.

The trooper, one of 46 flagged in the overtime abuse scandal, was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in federal court on an embezzlement charge. He sentencing was delayed after a long hearing.

A sentencing memorandum filed before the sentencing by DeJongs lawyer said the federal government offered DeJong, a former 30-year veteran of the state police, an opportunity to cooperate in the investigation, but he declined.

DeJong, however, agreed to provide information to the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office in a parallel investigation in the overtime abuse case, the filing said.

The former trooper from Uxbridge was approached by members of the Public Corruption Unit for the state attorney generals office.

DeJong agreed to help the states investigation after he was told he was not a target in their investigation, defense lawyer Bradford Bailey wrote.

He also knew the federal government would not give him credit for assisting the state.

The court filing said on April 10, DeJong spoke with investigators from the state attorney generals office Public Corruption Unit and state police.

During the three hours of what is known in legal terms as a proffer, DeJong detailed how specialized overtime shifts had been abused by himself and other troopers, including shift commanders, inside the now-defunct Troop E.

DeJong, who had concerns that helping state prosecutors with the case would impact his son who is a trooper, agreed to give more information to the state attorney generals office, the court filing said.

DeJongs lawyer argued redactions in the sentencing memorandum were done to protect the states ongoing investigation. DeJong also initially sought to file the memorandum under seal, in part to prevent the disclosure of his proffer agreement with state prosecutors. But the federal judge in the case rejected that request, allowing the document to be made public.

DeJong gave investigators from the state names of troopers, described their practices and provided personal cell phone numbers of the troopers, his defense lawyer said.

DeJong described how troopers would skip shifts, destroy documents and conduct the ruse during AIRE (Accident and Injury Reduction Effort) patrols, which were four-hour overtime shifts created to reduce accidents, crashes and injuries on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

DeJong gave his entire life to his career and was otherwise a credit to the force, Bailey wrote. Nonetheless, he realized that, in agreeing to proffer to the Commonwealth, he was providing another type of repayment toward making amends for his wrongdoings that is of an entirely different nature than the restitution he will be required to pay in the instant case.

DeJong, 57, is also accused of abusing X-Team patrols, which were eight-hour overtime shifts focused on aggressive driving.

Although portions of the sentencing memorandum are redacted, it is clear DeJong gave information about the activities of some troopers. He is also the trooper who saw former Trooper Gregory Raftery destroy copies of citations.

He opined these were unused/unsubmitted fake tickets written by Raftery which he ultimately chose not to submit to support claimed stops during AIRE shifts, the defense lawyer wrote.

At total of 10 troopers have been charged in the overtime investigation.

Out of the 46 troopers flagged in the case, only eight troopers were charged in federal court on embezzlement charges in connection with the overtime investigation.

Three troopers, including Lt. David Wilson, also face state charges in the overtime scandal. Wilson faces state and federal charges.

In every federal case, prosecutors said troopers skipped or left early during overtime shifts and created bogus citations to make it appear they were on patrol during the specialized shifts in 2016 and 2015.

State police started an internal investigation in 2017 and, in early 2018, announced that more than 40 troopers were under investigation for alleged overtime abuse.

Former Trooper Eric Chin was already sentenced to one day in prison with one year of supervised release. Trooper Gregory Raftery was sentenced to three months in prison with one year of supervised release.

Federal investigators said troopers in the overtime case had ticket quotas for both AIRE and X-Team patrols. State police have said the agency does not endorse a quota system and there is no quota policy or procedure in existence.

Bailey wrote that DeJong knew troopers were admonished for failing to reach quotas. Part of the discussions about ticket quotas is redacted in the sentencing memorandum.

Federal prosecutors said troopers were expected to issue eight to 10 citations during AIRE patrols. The prosecutors added that troopers were supposed to issue 12 to 15 citations for each X-Team shift.

The federal government wants DeJong to serve six months in prison. His defense team wants DeJong to receive one year of probation with six months of home confinement and pay back $14,062 in restitution.

DeJong is receiving a $6,251 per month pension. Rafterys pension was suspended by the State Retirement Board after he was sentenced. Chins pension is also under review.

The sentencing memorandum filed by Bailey lists the several cases where DeJong showed strong police work. DeJong was one of the troopers who responded to the Massachusetts Turnpike in Charlton on March 16, 2016, when Trooper Thomas Clardy was killed. Clardy was conducting a traffic stop when another vehicle struck the troopers cruiser.
NEW YORK, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Halper Sadeh LLP, a global investor rights law firm, announces it is investigating whether the sale of MidSouth Bancorp, Inc. (MidSouth or the Company) (NYSE: MSL) to Hancock Whitney Corporation (Hancock) is fair to MidSouth shareholders.



If you are a MidSouth shareholder and would like to discuss your legal rights and options, please visit MidSouth (MSL) Merger Investigation or contact Daniel Sadeh or Zachary Halper at (212) 763-0060 or sadeh@halpersadeh.com or zhalper@halpersadeh.com .

The investigation concerns whether MidSouth and its Board of Directors violated the federal securities laws and/or their fiduciary duties to shareholders by failing to: (1) obtain the best possible price for MidSouth shareholders; (2) determine whether Hancock is underpaying for MidSouth; and (3) disclose all material information necessary for MidSouth shareholders to adequately assess and value the merger consideration.

On behalf of MidSouth shareholders, Halper Sadeh LLP may seek increased consideration for shareholders, additional disclosures and information concerning the proposed transaction, or other relief and benefits.

If you are a MidSouth shareholder and would like to discuss your legal rights and options, please visit https://halpersadeh.com/actions/midsouth-bancorp-inc-msl-merger-hancock-stock/ or contact Daniel Sadeh or Zachary Halper at (212) 763-0060 or sadeh@halpersadeh.com or zhalper@halpersadeh.com .

Halper Sadeh LLP represent investors all over the world who have fallen victim to securities fraud and corporate misconduct. Our attorneys have been instrumental in implementing corporate reforms and recovering millions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
Massachusetts State Police troopers accused of abusing overtime patrols agreed when not to write tickets and told one trooper during a patrol to go home and be with his family, according to a recently filed federal court document.

The claim is made in the sentencing memorandum filed by retired Trooper Daren DeJong, who is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in the state police overtime scandal. His sentencing was delayed in federal court after a long hearing.

The memorandum filed by DeJongs lawyer said the former trooper gave information to the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office in April.

For nearly three hours, the 57-year-old former trooper from Uxbridge, spoke with investigators from the state attorney generals office and state police.

He described the AIRE (Accident and Injury Reduction Effort) patrols, which were four-hour overtime shifts created to reduce accidents, crashes and injuries on the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the abuse by troopers and himself.

The abuse involved shift commanders, defense lawyer Bradford Bailey wrote. The abuse of overtime shifts to earn cash for partially working or entirely skipping shifts developed over the years, DeJong told state investigators.

Several names mentioned by DeJong are redacted in the sentencing memorandum. DeJong said one trooper always had overtime patrol shifts when it rained, noting state police had a policy for troopers not to engage in traffic enforcement during poor weather conditions.

The other trooper allegedly sent DeJong a text message one morning saying, they would not be writing citations that day and that he should go home and be with his family.

DeJong, according to his sentencing memorandum, received a phone call during another shift from a trooper who told him, weve all agreed not to write and it would be best if we were on the same page.

The trooper, whose name is redacted, allegedly told DeJong not to talk about the phone call and that DeJong should run silent, run deep. DeJong believed the trooper meant he should just go home.

According to DeJongs lawyer, troopers would tell DeJong to write citations early on some days because traffic was getting worse.

A notation in the sentencing memorandum adds that DeJong saw former Trooper Gregory Raftery destroy records. Raftery has already been sentenced in the federal overtime scandal. Former Trooper Eric Chin has also been sentenced.

DeJong was one of 46 troopers flagged in the overtime abuse scandal. He pleaded guilty to one federal embezzlement charge. He is accused of abusing AIRE and X-Team patrols.

The trooper met with members of the state attorney generals office Public Corruption Unit and gave information about troopers, federal records show.

Ten troopers were charged in either federal or state court in the investigation.

The troopers are accused of skipping or leaving early during the overtime shifts. They also created fake citations to make it appear they were on patrol, authorities said. The shifts took place in 2016 and 2015.

An internal investigation by state police began in 2017 and, in early 2018, announced that more than 40 troopers were under investigation for alleged overtime abuse.

DeJong declined to cooperate in the federal investigation but agreed to help with the state investigation, the federal filing by Bailey said. DeJong was concerned his cooperation would impact his son, a state trooper still on the job.

DeJong discussed a ticket quota during the patrols, a claim made by federal prosecutors in other court filings in the overtime case. State police said there are no ticket quotas.

The trooper told investigators that troopers would be admonished for not reaching ticket quotas during AIRE shifts, Bailey wrote.

DeJong told investigators it was dangerous to conduct traffic stops during rush hour and recalled how one trooper was killed.

Police work is fraught with unknowns, the defense lawyer wrote.

To exacerbate those unknowns by implementing what can only be described as, and is now acknowledged to be, a citation quota system, even during rush hour AIRE shifts, appears to lay the foundational mortar to the abuse at issue here, Bailey said. The psychological effect this may have on officers late in their careers, who like DeJong, knows first-hand the dangers of traffic enforcement during rush hour, ought not be understated.
Somerville authorities are warning residents to be on the lookout for anything out of place as the search continues for a bank robbery suspect who opened fire multiple times.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone said police had closed off a perimeter around the neighborhood at College Avenue after a man allegedly robbed a Davis Square bank, but said the suspect could have escaped the immediate area.

Law enforcement including local police departments, Massachusetts State Police, SWAT team members and numerous helicopters swarmed the popular Somerville neighborhood late Wednesday morning.

Curtatone said the suspect had no regard for life" after he allegedly opened fire in the bank and on a police officer when fleeing the scene. Somerville authorities say it is unclear whether the suspect fled on foot or in a getaway vehicle.

One person was taken into custody Wednesday morning, but was released when authorities realized he was not the right man. Authorities said they believe it is one person, but that they could not rule out the possibility of multiple suspects involved in the case.

Authorities are in possession of a firearm, which they said may be the gun used in the robbery, as well as a backpack. It is unclear where the backpack was retrieved or what it may have held.

This gentleman put peoples lives at risk in the city of Somerville, and the Somerville Police will not stop until this person is found. That I can guarantee you, Somerville Police Chief David Fallon said Wednesday morning.

Curtatone asked nearby residents to stay cautious and call police immediately if they notice anything out of place in their neighborhood and backyards.
An otherwise even first period went south at the end of the first period for the Bruins in Game 3 of their second round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.

Boston seemed to shake off the considerable energy in at Nationwide Arena and actually outshot their hosts, 12-11, in the period. But yet another strong period by Sergei Bobrovsky kept the Bruins off the board.

With 1:23 left in the period, Boone Jenner bulled his way through Connor Clifton, creating enough room to shoot. His wrist shot from the middle-edge of the left wing circle beat Tuukka Rask at the far side of the net to make it 1-0, igniting Columbus famous cannon and giving the home team momentum.

Just 27 seconds late Torey Krug took a tripping penalty will give the home team a power play to start the second period.
One of the most difficult decisions Massachusetts regulators faced in its investigation into Wynn Resorts was whether CEO Matt Maddox should be allowed to run Encore Boston Harbor after his response to sexual misconduct allegations against founder Steve Wynn, according to the company suitability report released Tuesday night.

The regulators didnt all agree on Maddoxs suitability and ended up fining him $500,000, in addition to the companys $35 million fine.

A majority of the commission finds that there is no substantial evidence to disturb the previous suitability determination and thus Mr. Maddox remains suitable," the Massachusetts Gaming Commissions suitability report states. "The commissions determination was not unanimous.

The report did not elaborate on who exactly disagreed with deeming Maddox suitable for the casino license. Elaine Driscoll, commission spokeswoman, said the agency would not comment beyond what the report states.

The commission reviewed whether the company and all of its executives remain suitable to retain the eastern Massachusetts casino license in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn. The commission didnt focus on the veracity of the allegations, but rather the companys response to complaints and settlements dating back to 2005.

In the report, commissioners raised several concerns about Maddoxs judgment and his concern for his employees as opposed to the bottom line. Most of the commission, however, decided that these shortcomings bear primarily on his competence, not his suitability.

Wynn Resorts spokesman Michael Weaver confirmed in a statement that the company received a copy of the report late Tuesday but did not comment further.

We are in the process of reviewing that decision and considering the full range of our next steps," he said. "We will not have further comment until we have thoroughly reviewed and considered the MGCs decision.

Maddox faced questions about how much he knew of the allegations against Wynn, what he kept from Massachusetts regulators and how he responded to the complaints overall. He initially believed sexual misconduct claims were part of a fierce litigation strategy launched by Wynns ex-wife, Elaine Wynn.

Even after the Wall Street Journal article detailed numerous allegations, Maddox stood by Steve Wynn and said as much in emails to employees, according to the report. In his testimony before regulators, Maddox said he was in denial about the allegations.

You firmly believe that they all lied, and thats what you stated to the IEB, that they all lied. Im just having trouble understanding that, commissioner Gayle Cameron told Maddox during the suitability hearings.

I would be, too, Maddox said at the time, but when crisis hits ... almost everybodys immediate reaction, unless you have the cold hard facts, is to deny all.

Cameron pressed the matter further, asking do you believe that all of these women lied because litigation?

I understand how ridiculous that looks, Maddox said.

The report mentioned numerous instances where Maddox failed to show sound leadership.

Among the examples mentioned was the incident where Maddox was told employees were uncomfortable because Wynn had asked for a sensual massage, according to the report. Maddox simply relayed the message that Wynn should knock it off.

Maddox also faces additional conditions to retain his license, including getting training on leadership, appropriate communication, implicit bias, diversity, sexual harassment and other topics.

The commission expressed disappointment in other candidates, such as Elaine Wynn, but deemed them suitable.
BOSTON - Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers.

The moon and the stars.

Peanut butter and jelly.

Some things just go perfectly together.

The same is true when it comes to pianist Daniil Trifonov and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Both Russian artists have a flair for the dramatic and ferocious talent, especially when it comes to the 28-year-old concert pianist.

During his brief but already astounding career, Trifonov has quickly established himself as one of the worlds greatest pianists. In one concert after another featuring a wide-ranging repertoire, Trifonov consistently delivers mind-blowing performances which display his deft touch and innovative interpretations of complex compositions.

The same was true Tuesday when he performed Rachmaninoffs passionate, precise Third Piano Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Tuesdays concert at Bostons Symphony Hall also featured another classic pairing - the BSO, conductor Andris Nelsons and composer Dmitri Shostakovich. In the past several years, the BSO has performed and recorded nearly every every Shostakovich symphony under Nelsons direction to international acclaim, including winning several Grammys for their recordings of Shostakovichs symphonies.

On Tuesday, the BSO performed Shostakovichs 15th and final symphony, a playful and profound piece of music.

Trifonov and the BSO kicked off Tuesdays concert with Rachmaninoffs spellbinding Third Piano Concerto. A show-stopping piece, Rachmaninoff wastes little time putting the soloist right in the spotlight. Like a snowball rolling down a snow-covered hillside, the solo piano music starts off simple. But as the piece progresses, the piano part becomes increasingly complicated from one note to the next. Then before you know it, its off to the races.

Rachmaninoffs Third Piano Concerto has long been a benchmark used to measure many of the great pianists ever since Rachmaninoff first performed his own concerto in 1909. Martha Argerich has given many spine-tingling performances of this piece. So has everyone from Vladimir Horowitz to Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuja Wang to Garrick Ohlsson and many others as well.

Trifonovs graceful approach to Rachmaninoffs music on Tuesday highlighted the stark contrasts in this wonderful piece of music. During the softer passages in the piece, Trifonovs hands barely seemed to touch the piano. Instead, his fingers seemed to breeze across the keyboard like a ballet dancer gliding across a stage.

Other times, Trifonov literally shot up off the piano bench as he brought the full force of his fingers down onto the piano. But unlike some pianists, who seem to bang away at the keys like theyre trying to hammer home the composers message, Trifonov never seemed out of control or overly aggressive on Tuesday.

When Trifonov was younger, he often used to look like a man possessed while he played, like some fiery demon ready to pounce onto the piano. But as Trifonov as aged, he has matured into a magnificent pianist without losing any of his edge.

On Tuesday, Trifonov often seemed less possessed and more trance like as he played certain passages. It was as if he was channeling Rachmaninoff as Trifonov stared off into the distance and played the piece from memory. The overall effect was spine tingling. In fact, several times during the concerto, I had goosebumps on my arms as I listened in awe to Trifonov. After several well-deserved standing ovations, Trifonov then played a brief encore featuring Trifonovs transcription of Rachmaninoffs Vocalise."

After a brief intermission, the BSO and Nelsons then performed Shostakovichs final symphony. Playful at times and haunting in others, Shostakovichs symphony often quotes other composers throughout the piece, from William Tells famous overture to passages from various Wagner operas.

But Shostakovich had his own unique style. And Nelsons and the BSO seem to have a knack for bringing out the best in this Russian composers often ethereal music. No wonder Nelsons has been so fascinated with Shostakovichs music for so many years. And thankfully, Nelsons can bring his vision for Shostakovichs music to life, thanks to the world-class musicians Nelsons works with in the BSO.

UPCOMING BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CONCERTS

Latvian violinist Baiba Skride joins her compatriot Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symhony Orchestra for the world premiere of Grawemeyer Award-winning composer Sebastian Curriers Aether for violin and orchestra, a work co-commissioned by the BSO and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig. The program also includes works by Strauss and Stravinsky.

- Thursday, May 2 at 8 p.m. in Bostons Symphony Hall

- Friday, May 3 at 1:30 p.m. in Bostons Symphony Hall

- Saturday, May 4 at 8 p.m. in Bostons Symphony Hall
HOLYOKE  The City Councils Ordinance Committee recommended a special permit for Life Essence Inc., a company that has proposed a marijuana manufacturing facility at 56 Canal St.

The committee continued a public hearing on the permit. The full City Council will vote on the special permit May 7.

Applicants must apply for a license through the Massachusetts Cannabis Commission, which oversees the Commonwealths medical and recreational marijuana industry.

Life Essence was acquired by Trulieve Cannabis Corp in 2018.

The Ordinance Committee, chaired by Ward 3 Councilor David Bartley, opened the public hearing last week, which included detailed plans from Life Essence and Trulieve officials.

Operations, including deliveries, are limited between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Bartley said the committee must approve an ordinance change to expand the hours of operations.

Life Essence must meet with the Planning Board next week about fencing for the facility.

Marcos Marrero, the director of Planning and Economic Development, said Life Essence provided all requested documents related to the special permit, including signoffs from the Holyoke Police and Fire Departments.

Marijuana facilities are required to submit and review security plans with police department officials.

Attorney Jesse Alderman, of Foley and Hoag, addressed an easement question. He said Life Essence needs a right of way along a small stretch of Hadley Mill Road.

Life Essence will grant a 20-foot buffer to Holyoke Gas and Electric crews.

Bartley said the council has broad authority to grant easements for businesses.

Councilor Rebecca Lisi said she would file an order tied to hours of operations for marijuana establishments.

Councilor Terence Murphy had concerns about parking spaces and room enough for fire trucks and emergency vehicles.

Rick Mason, a consultant with Burnett Consulting Group, said the HFD signed off on the turning radius for fire trucks and related matters.

Mason added that Life Essence has met with Holyoke Community College officials about specialized industry training. He said the company would certainly assist HCC with curriculum development.

Murphy wanted assurances that training subsidies would benefit Holyoke applicants. Alderman said most of the training happens on-the-job inside the facilities, with only a few positions that require specialized training.

Michael Moriarty, of OneHolyoke CDC, said he favored Life Essences plan. He said the increase in the propertys value and several hundred proposed jobs would positively impact the Flats neighborhood.

The applicant must adhere to the following conditions: Pay the commercial property tax rate, hire 30 percent of residents in nonsecurity jobs and grant retired Holyoke police officers and retired officers outside the city hiring preferences for security positions.
Barack and Michelle Obama unveiled several projects on Tuesday they are producing for Netflix, a year after the former president and first lady signed a multi-year deal with the streaming giant.

The Obamas production company, Higher Ground Productions, announced seven films and series that are in the works.

We created Higher Ground to harness the power of storytelling. Thats why we couldnt be more excited about these projects, Barack Obama said in a statement released by Netflix. Touching on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights, and much more, we believe each of these productions wont just entertain, but will educate, connect, and inspire us all.

Higher Grounds first release will be Steven Bognar and Julia Reicherts Sundance Film Festival documentary American Factory, about a Chinese-owned factory in Ohio. Netflix and Higher Ground also acquired Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnhams Crip Camp, a documentary about a summer camp for disabled teenagers.

The couples production company is producing a feature film on Frederick Douglass, adapted from David W. Blights Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. Also in the works is a documentary series that adapts Michael Lewis Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy, the Moneyball authors 2018 best-seller about government staffers working under political appointees in the Trump administration.

The Obamas are also developing Bloom, an upstairs-downstairs drama set in post-World War II New York City, and an adaptation of The New York Times Overlooked obituary column, about deaths unreported by the paper. A half-hour show for preschoolers titled Listen to Your Vegetables & Eat Your Parents will instruct kids about food.

We love this slate because it spans so many different interests and experiences, yet its all woven together with stories that are relevant to our daily lives, Michelle Obama said. We think theres something here for everyone  moms and dads, curious kids, and anyone simply looking for an engaging, uplifting watch at the end of a busy day.

The projects will be released over the next several years.
Elizabeth Dalton was working as a cardiac intensive care nurse at Brigham and Womens Hospital on April 10, 2015, when a patients father brandished a hunting knife.

Dalton said the man was threatening, irrational, and frightening. I thought my life was in danger, she said.

When the patients roommate yelled at the man to put the knife down, Dalton ran past him and escaped.

The man was allowed back into the hospital eight hours later with a reprimand.

Its time we stopped treating assaults on health care providers as just part of the job, Dalton told members of the Legislatures Judiciary Committee at a public hearing Tuesday.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Paul Tucker, D-Salem, and Sen. Michael Brady, D-Brockton, S.838/H.1578, would change assaults on health providers, emergency medical technicians or ambulance attendants from a misdemeanor to a felony offense, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Tucker said the legislation will set a tone that the assaults on these workers who are trying to do their job will not be tolerated.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association is pushing for the bill. The union is also pushing for a separate bill that would require health care employers to develop and implement programs to reduce workplace violence.

According to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, from 2002 to 2013, healthcare workers were four times more likely to experience serious workplace violence than the average private sector worker. Most injuries were caused by patients.

A 2014 survey of more than 3,700 nurses by the American Nurses Association, cited by OSHA, found that 21% of registered nurses and nursing students reported being physically assaulted in a 12-month period. A 2009-2011 survey of more than 7,100 emergency room nurses by their trade association found that 12% of emergency department nurses experienced physical violence during a seven-day period.

Erin Johnson, a nurse at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital who is involved with the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said health care workers account for nearly 70% of all non-fatal workplace assaults. She said more than 80% of emergency department nurses have been the victim of workplace violence. A Massachusetts survey found nearly three-quarters of nurses reported that violence was a serious or somewhat serious problem in their workplace.

As a nurse who has been the victim of, and witness to, violence in the workplace, I can tell you that these statistics are only part of the story, Johnson told the legislative committee. Behind each assault or act of violence, the physical and psychological trauma inflicted on us is often compounded when we are told either overtly or implicitly that violence is part of our job.

Johnson said because these assaults are classified as misdemeanors, a police officer will only arrest the alleged assailant if the officer witnesses the assault. Otherwise, a nurse has to appear before a clerk magistrate at a show cause hearing. Then, the magistrate will decide whether to file charges.

Johnson said nurses are often discouraged from filing charges because the assailant will only get a slap on the wrist. Why should a nurse who has already been the victim of violence and all that entails take his or her own personal time to pursue charges against an assailant who at the end of the day will face no real consequences for his or her actions? she said.
AMHERST  Keeping Hampshire Colleges faculty local  even if they are no longer full-time and working for Smith, Mount Holyoke or UMass  is key to Hampshires survival, according to faculty members.

A series of moves announced Tuesday does just that, with 26 faculty members from Hampshire taking leaves of absence and taking temporary jobs at the other four schools in the Five College Consortium.

The students that I know are interested in being here if their faculty will be in the Valley, at Hampshire or the other five colleges, said Christoph Cox, a professor of philosophy who will teach his 21st year at Hampshire next year.

Jennifer Hamilton, a professor of legal studies and anthropology with 12 years of service, helped negotiate the deal as head of the Hampshire College chapter of the American Association of University Professors. While keeping union faculty employed, the visiting professorships plan also keeps advisers at hand, a big plus for Hampshire students who follow project-based degree plans.

It is much easier to look them (students) in the eye with this plan, Hamilton said. I dont feel the faculty and the school is being gutted. I can tell them to stay.

Hamilton said the other four colleges are also getting experienced, local teachers in the bargain.

Cox, who is staying at Hampshire, said colleges hire visiting or temporary faculty every year.

Every year colleges have visiting faculty. They fill in if a person is on sabbatical, medical leave or for whatever reason, Cox said. This year, our partner institutions made those positions available to Hampshire faculty.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hampshire announced it was cutting 82 positions. That number includes 24 staff members who will be laid off. It also includes 58 faculty members who are retiring, taking reductions to half or three-quarters time or taking leaves of absence so they can take jobs at the other colleges.

The breakdown of voluntary departures is as follows:

Faculty taking leaves of absence from Hampshire including many remaining in the Five Colleges: 26

Faculty reducing their appointments from, for instance, full time to three-quarters time: 21

Faculty retiring: 8 immediate and 3 phased.

Hampshire College spokesman John Courtmanche said there will be 73 faculty available to students as teachers and advisers after the cuts. Thatll be down from 114, he said.

It was an outcome than was much better than wed expected, at least initially, Cox said.

Faculty had been told to brace for layoffs of 40% to 50%, Cox said. Professors were worried they would lose jobs at a time of year when colleges and universities are not hiring, thus leaving them shut out of getting other work.

Beset by budget problems and declining enrollment, Hampshire College announced this winter that it will take only 77 students in its freshman class for fall 2019.

Students and alumni were angered by a proposal for Hampshire to seek a partner, and college President Miriam Nelson and board members resigned amid the fallout.

Kenneth Rosenthal came in as interim president and announced his intention to keep Hampshire independent. But that will take fundraising. Rosenthal said the school needs to collect $100 million in donations over the next five or six years.

And there is the problem of that small freshman class. All 77 students had accepted admissions contracts before the situation blew up. Some had deferred admissions.

It will be strange next year. We are going to have fewer faculty and fewer students, Cox said.

But he said Rosenthal has told faculty and staff that he expects to start growing again in about a year as fundraising picks up and alumni get more engaged.

Thats important for Hamilton. Shes taking a two-year leave of absence for a two-year visiting position across town at Amherst College.

Under the arrangement, shell be paid by Amherst, have an office and teach there. But shell be able to advise Hampshire students on a part-time basis, and Hampshire students will be able to take her classes through the Five College Consortium.
The Boston City Council on Wednesday passed a resolution expressing support for building high-speed passenger rail between Boston and Springfield.

This is something that could be absolutely transformative for not only the cities of Boston and Springfield but for the commonwealth at large, said Boston City Councilor Matt OMalley, who introduced the resolution.

The resolution was passed unanimously by all 13 members of the City Council.

The resolution frames east-west rail as an ideal yet under-explored element of the solution to Bostons housing cost and congestion challenges. It says Boston and Springfield face opposite challenges  Boston struggles with high housing prices and traffic, while Springfield struggles with declining population, employment and housing demand. The median rent in Hampden County is $821, compared to $1,298 in Suffolk County.

Enhancing the rail system, it says, could address the problems in both regions by allowing people to live further from Boston and taking some commuters off Bostons roads.

The resolution concludes that council members "proclaim their support for high-speed East-West passenger rail between Boston and Springfield, and urge the positive resolution of the East-West Passenger Rail Study and further state action to improve regional transit between Boston and Western Massachusetts.

In an interview after the vote, OMalley said Boston officials are strong advocates for the MBTA. But he thinks Bostonians need to make a better case in terms of why a strong, thriving expansive train system makes sense not only for Boston, the capital, but each of the 351 cities or towns around the commonwealth.

OMalley said east-west rail could help address Bostons housing crunch and traffic congestion, while helping the job market in Gateway Cities and lowering carbon emissions by taking cars off the road.

The state Department of Transportation is conducting an in-depth study of the costs, benefits and feasibility of east-west rail. The city of Boston does not have any official role in the process.

Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, who has been spearheading the push for enhanced rail, called the Boston City Council vote an incredible sign of momentum that shows the true statewide support for this initiative.

What this really also shows is that rail to Springfield certainly will help Western Massachusetts, but it will also help eastern Massachusetts because it will help solve Bostons housing and traffic crisis, Lesser said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1)  The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has accepted the revised proposal from big businesses to repair and upgrade the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said the latest pitch of the NAIA Consortium is now acceptable, after its member companies finally agreed to one detailed proposal to rehabilitate the country's biggest airport.

"As of last night, pinarallel na namin 'yung offer. More or less, substantially pareho na nung sa Clark platform," Tugade told CNN Philippines.

The NAIA Consortium  composed of Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc.; AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp.; Alliance Global Group, Inc.; Asias Emerging Dragon Corp.; Filinvest Development Corp.; JG Summit Holdings, Inc.; and Metro Pacific Investments Corp.  submitted a revised proposal on April 26, days ahead of Tugade's April 30 deadline.

Before this, Tugade threatened to cancel the project as the group seemed to be taking too long with their final pitch to repair the country's premier gateway.

"Noon, magkaibang-magkaiba eh... Binabago namin yung plataporma kung saan 'yung mga negosyante, at a certain point, must have to bear some risks in doing projects with government," he said.

[Translation: "Before, it was so different... We are changing the platform where businesses, at a certain point, must have to bear some risks in doing projects with government."]

Tugade noted that there were some minor details removed from the new proposal, which he said is likely due to administrative oversight as the big businesses finalized their pitch.

READ: Duterte warns of military 'takeover' of NAIA

The consortium submitted an unsolicited proposal to take on the NAIA repairs in February 2018, with the original contract price set at 350 billion for a 35-year concession period. The group has since scaled it down to 102 billion for a 15-year deal.

The big firms also got Changi Airport International  the operator of Singapore's airport which is dubbed as among the world's best  for technical support.

With the plan finalized, Tugade said he is eyeing a tight three-month window to complete the remaining steps before awarding the contract to the NAIA Consortium.

"Madali na lang 'yan [That will be easy]," Tugade said.

The new proposal needs to be approved by the National Economic and Development Authority-Investment Coordination Committee before the DOTr can draft terms of reference. This will then be subjected to a Swiss challenge, where other firms are given a chance to submit a competitive proposal for the NAIA rehabilitation project. If there is none, then the contract will be formally awarded to the consortium.

"Siguro in the next 90 days thereabouts, ma-finalize 'yan. That is my target, and I set very difficult targets," Tugade said.

The DOTr chief said they are modeling the NAIA rehabilitation plan after the Clark International Airport, given that the two gateways need to maintain daily operations while repair works are underway.

Meanwhile, Tugade said that the Ormoc Airport in Leyte will be opened May 9, following reconstruction work on its runway and passenger terminal.
University Park, IL, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Systems (Applied) today announced that it has named Taylor Rhodes as the Companys next chief executive officer, effective June 3rd, 2019. Reid French, Applieds previous CEO, will continue to advise the company as a member of Applieds board of directors.

Mr. Rhodes joins Applied with more than two decades of technology and tech-enabled services leadership experience. Most recently, he served as chief executive officer of SMS Assist, the leading cloud-based software platform for multi-site property management. Previously, he was CEO of Rackspace, where he led the Companys growth from a cloud pioneer to an industry leader with more than two billion dollars in revenue. Under his leadership, Rackspace was consistently recognized as a technology and customer service leader in Gartners Magic Quadrant, the annual ranking of top cloud companies. Rackspace was also recognized as a great company culture, earning spots on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list multiple times, and named the #2 Best Midsize Employer by Forbes for 2017. Prior to Rackspace, he served as a leader in enterprise, financial and corporate strategy roles at Electronic Data Systems Corporation. Mr. Rhodes is a former United States Marine Corps infantry officer and holds a MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Im very excited to be joining Applied during this period of digital transformation for the insurance industry, said Rhodes. I look forward to working with Applieds outstanding executive team and talented employee base to extend and accelerate the companys product leadership.

I am honored to have led Applied through this period of dynamic growth over the past eight years, said French. However, I am most proud of Applieds people, and all that we have accomplished together on behalf of our customers. We have transformed the way agents, insurers, and customers do business in the cloud. Team Applied has never been better positioned for continued success.

"We are delighted to welcome Taylor as Applieds CEO as we enter the next chapter of Applieds success, said Sameer Narang, chairman of Applied and partner at Hellman & Friedman. His proven leadership ability, customer-centric approach, and strong technology background will help Applied expand upon its tradition of delivering market-leading, cloud-based solutions for the benefit of its growing customer base.

Reids outstanding leadership and strategic vision have driven tremendous innovation at Applied. The company has more than doubled in size during his tenure as CEO and its growth prospects have never been brighter as he hands the baton to Taylor, Narang continued. We are grateful for all of Reids many contributions and look forward to his continued service on the board of directors.

The Applied logos are trademarks of Applied Systems, Inc., registered in the U.S.

About Applied Systems

Applied Systems is the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance. Recognized as a pioneer in insurance automation and the innovation leader, Applied is the worlds largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applieds people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most.
The state owes money to 40,000 drug defendants whose convictions were overturned due to misconduct by state drug lab chemists.

But it will take several more months for those people to get reimbursed for any fees and fines they paid.

After a year of work, the process of identifying how much money people are owed has proven difficult and time-consuming, according to a status report filed with the Supreme Judicial Court Tuesday by Attorney General Maura Healeys office and attorneys for the drug defendants: Daniel Marx, William Fick and Luke Ryan.

The reimbursements arise out of lawsuits related to the falsification of test results by Hinton drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan and the stealing of drug samples by Amherst drug lab chemist Sonja Farak. Around 40,000 people had drug charges dismissed as a result of these two cases.

Under a 2017 U.S. Supreme Court case, defendants who are wrongly convicted are entitled to have their fees and fines returned.

The state is now in the process of figuring out exactly how that will happen.

The latest status report details the lack of clear record-keeping in the court system and the lack of a centralized database for recording these payments.

Part of the challenge is the payments were made over a 10-year period to multiple agencies.

Seven types of payments that must be reimbursed were collected by the Trial Court, such as probation fees, court costs, fines, GPS monitoring fees, and restitution. In addition, the State Police collect fees for DNA collection, the Massachusetts Parole Board collects supervision fees, and the Registry of Motor Vehicles collects drivers license reinstatement fees.

Litigation is ongoing over whether the state also has to reimburse monthly inmate account administration fees levied by the Department of Correction.

The Trial Court now has a central payment system called MassCourts. But different courts joined the payment system at different times. For the period before that, records are contained in four large electronic databases, electronic files maintained by individual court offices, and hard copy records. Some of this old information was entered into MassCourts; other information was not.

Payments made to other state agencies do not identify what criminal conviction the payment is tied to.

Because of this complexity, the state is paying an outside vendor, the Analysis Group, to audit the data and develop a way to determine what defendants are owed.

Marx said he hopes a framework for repayment can be established before the next status report is due Sept. 30.

I remain optimistic well be close to the finish line by the time we submit the next report, Marx said.

The state would then have to set up a repayment fund and hire an outside claims administrator to get the money into the hands of the former drug defendants.

The amount that must be returned has not yet been determined, although an assistant attorney general speculated during oral arguments in court in 2018 that it could be around $10 million.

Separately, anyone who does not want to wait for the settlement to be finalized can petition the court to have their costs repaid now.

So far, fewer than 15 petitions have been filed. But after notices went out telling defendants that they may be eligible for repayment, the Committee for Public Counsel Services has gotten 500 to 800 phone calls from people interested in getting repaid.

CPCS is creating a form that defendants can fill out to ask for the return of their money.

The number of people who file those forms is expected to be a small fraction of the total number of people who will be reimbursed under the final settlement.
BOSTON  A former corrections officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to smuggling opioids and a synthetic form of cannabis into prison for an inmate.

Steven J. Frazer, 29, of Cumberland, Rhode Island, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in writing.

Judge George A. OToole Jr. is scheduled to sentence him on Sept. 16. Frazer faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $50,000, Lelling said.

Frazer arranged with a cooperating witness to smuggle Suboxone strips into the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Norfolk to sell to inmates. On Nov. 18, the witness met Frazer in a South Attleboro parking lot and provided him with 40 Suboxone strips, 24 pages of K2, a synthetic and stronger form of cannabis and $2,500 in cash.

Frazer was arrested after the meeting, which was recorded, Lelling said.

Suboxone is a prescription drug used to treat opioid addiction, but it can be abused, he said.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.
HOLYOKE  From the opioid crisis to gun violence to criminal justice reform, state Attorney General Maura Healey covered a lot of ground in a forum with students at Holyoke Community College on Wednesday.

The forum brought together nursing, human services and criminal justice students. The question-and-answer session was moderated by Alex Sanchez, a criminal justice professor.

The attorney general also toured several campus facilities with HCC President Christina Royal and Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse.

Healey said the state needs to continue funding and growing institutions like HCC. She said Western Massachusetts has tremendous opportunities but still lags in job creation and economic development.

She said the issues at the top of her list are dealing with the opioid crisis and protecting consumers, particularly from social media sites sharing personal data with third parties.

Healey said her office filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, a major manufacturer and supplier of opioids. Her office also filed suits against six major pharmaceutical companies.

In 2007, Purdue paid an over $600 million fine for pushing OxyContin, a powerful prescription opioid. After the settlement, Healey said, the company increased sales visits to doctors. Purdue also sought ways to enter the drug treatment market, especially the treatment associated with opioid addiction, according to Healey.

Healey added the opioid crisis cost Massachusetts $16 billion in 2017. The attorney general promised a rigorous investigation into big pharma.

She said the state has increased access to Narcan, which reverses the effects of opioid overdoses, and has worked to lower overdose rates. The attorney generals office continues to work in partnership with state and federal law enforcement to crack down on fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has driven the jump in opioid-related deaths.

We need to stop addiction where it sets in, Healey said.

Royal spoke about HCCs health worker and emergency medical technician programs, which focus on chipping away at the bigger problem of opioid addiction. Sanchez said local law enforcement has joined with social service agencies to help addicts at street level.

Healey spoke about gun violence, particularly the thousands shooting victims and suicides. She supports the states strict gun laws. Her office sent out notices to all gun dealers about the states ban on selling assault-style weapons.

She wants more stringent background checks nationwide, which she said would stem the flow of illegal guns entering Massachusetts. The nation deals weekly with mass shootings, she said.

Royal said HCC continues to work toward providing a safer campus and recognizing the root causes of violence. She said HCC remains an open and welcoming campus.

Healey called for a fairer legal system. She recalled a young man who lost his license due to marijuana possession. Fresh off probation, the man could not get a job or drive.

She addressed high bails that keep low-income offenders in jail pending trial.

You should not be sitting in jail because youre poor, Healey said.

Healey reminded the audience that most prisoners are released back into the community, one where they need life and work skills to survive.

Mark Cody, the president of HCCs Democrats Club, asked Healey why few corporate executives are seldom prosecuted or imprisoned. Healey said her office pursues civil and criminal cases against people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, including executives.

Tracye Whitfield, who works at HCC and serves on the Springfield City Council, said the war on Drugs targeted the black and Latino communities, especially with marijuana arrests. Even with Massachusetts legalizing marijuana, Whitfield said black market sales still exist.

In states with legalized marijuana, Healey noted, black markets still flourish. Its going to be up to each police department and district attorneys offices to determine that, Healey said.

Healey added, I can tell you from where I sit, we got our hands full combating fentanyl. Its the dominant, devastating drug across communities.

Law enforcement will pursue large-scale marijuana traffickers, she said. Its very different from what legalization allows, she said.
State Sen. Eric Lessers attempt to crack down on patent trolls last year was a stroke of the pen away from becoming law.

But after Gov. Charlie Baker vetoed the provision, the Longmeadow Democrat is trying again this year.

Massachusetts doesnt have the best weather, we dont have oil in the ground, we dont have a lot of natural resources, but what we do have is the best people, and we have an innovation and hi-tech ecosystem here thats truly the envy of the world, Lesser said. Theres a lot of evidence that if you dont adequately protect the intellectual property of people and their new ideas, theyll move those ideas elsewhere.

The bill by Lesser and Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, H.229, had a hearing before the Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure on Monday.

Patent trolls, officially called non-practicing entities or patent assertion entities, buy rights to large numbers of patents, then send off numerous letters to companies alleging that the company is infringing on a patent and demanding money to avoid a lawsuit.

The demand letters may provide little information about who is demanding money, what patent is being infringed on and how. Yet it is often cheaper for small companies to pay a settlement than go to court.

A study by two professors at Boston University Law School estimated that in 2011, litigation by patent trolls cost defending firms $29 billion.

Lesser said since 2011-2012, there has been an explosion in demand letters. A 2013 study commissioned by the White House found that more than 100,000 of these lawsuits were brought the previous year. The percentage of patent infringement cases brought by patent trolls grew from 29 percent to 62 percent over two years.

Ehrlich said while fewer than 1% of defendants in these lawsuits are found to have infringed on a valid patent, more than 87% of them choose to settle because of the high cost of litigation.

Ehrlich said patent trolls hamper innovation in Massachusetts by filing spurious claims against entrepreneurs. The bill is filed to level the playing field a little bit, Ehrlich said.

More than 30 states, led by Vermont in 2013, have laws protecting businesses from patent trolls.

There have been some attempts to address the issue federally. A 2017 U.S. Supreme Court ruling required that patent lawsuits be filed in the jurisdiction where a defending company does business. The number of patent lawsuits filed in federal court in Massachusetts dropped between 2017 and 2018, after the federal court here made it easier to litigate patent cases.

The first Massachusetts bill was introduced by former Sen. Anthony Petruccelli, D-Boston, in 2015.

Lesser and Ehrlichs bill would prohibit anyone from making a bad faith patent assertion. The bill defines a bad faith assertion as one that does not include things like a patent number or specific claim, does not allow a reasonable time for response, relates to an invalid patent, or other similar characteristics.

A version of the bill was included in an economic development bill that passed the Legislature last year. But Baker vetoed the provision, saying it "creates a new cause of action against patent owners in a manner that is not narrowly tailored and is likely to have unintended consequences for Massachusetts residents, companies and educational institutions.

While Baker wrote that he was not opposed to the idea of cracking down on patent trolls, he wanted lawmakers to craft a more focused solution.

Lesser said this version of the bill is more narrowly tailored, with specific exemptions for research institutions, academic medical centers, manufacturers, and companies that invest in research and development.

Shirley Paley, a former patent litigator who has worked as an in-house attorney for Boston area technology companies, said she has had clients get sued by companies that bought the patents on the market. Even if the claim is unlikely to succeed, the companies must decide if it is worth the time and effort to fight.

They go after companies and basically hold them up for money and say even if your patent isnt good, its going to cost you so much money to litigate the patent that you should pay us hundreds of thousands of dollars, Paley said. A lot of companies settle with the troll and pay something to make the litigation go away.

The Massachusetts High Technology Council supports the bill. Mark Gallagher, vice president for policy and government relations, told the legislative committee that patent troll assertions drain valuable resources from Massachusetts businesses and divert employees from innovating and creating jobs.

These lawsuits misuse the court system by employing threats of wasteful litigation costs as leverage to pressure companies to settle and pay damages for frivolous claims, Gallagher said in his testimony.

Sarah King of the Boston cloud data protection and security company Carbonite said her company paid $5 million to fight a patent troll. Carbonite won the case  and the U.S. Patent Office later ruled that the patents were invalid. Imagine that, millions of dollars and huge company distraction, on patents that are not even valid, King said.

King said if a company pays a patent troll, they run the risk of being sued again by other entities.

The devil will be in the details as lawmakers craft a final version of the bill.

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council says it will support the bill as long as there are a number of exemptions  for research and education institutions, and for companies that invest in research and development, manufacturing or other services.

The Boston Patent Law Association, made up of patent attorneys, said the legislation as written is overbroad, potentially punishing legitimate assertions of good faith patent holders, and stifling innovation and investment in the Commonwealth. The association said there needs to be a clearer set of attributes that defines a bad faith assertion.

Patent law attorney David Boundy, of Cambridge Technology Law, said similarly that the proposed bill will directly harm the innovators and entrepreneurs it purports to help, by impairing enforceability of their patents. Boundy said the bill does not appropriately distinguish between trolls and bona fide patent assertions.

Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, said patent troll legislation is something that we will be looking at hopefully.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said although the Legislature passed the provision last year, Its a new bill, a new session, and it will have to go through the process.

This is one in an occasional series of stories about bills sponsored by Western Massachusetts lawmakers.
Total recreational marijuana sales in Massachusetts have topped $100 million, according to new sales data from the Cannabis Control Commission.

As of April 30, the industry reported selling $104 million worth of products since the first store opened for recreational sales in November 2018.

Helping to reach that milestone was April 20, a day typically associated with smoking marijuana. The week of April 17-23, marijuana shops sold $7.7 million worth of products, compared to $7.1 million the previous week and $6.2 million the next week.

Buds, the traditional marijuana flower, are the most popular product. They accounted for just over half of last weeks sales.

The influx of sales will also help state and local budgets. The state collects a 6.25% sales tax and 10.75% excise tax, while cities and towns can collect another 3% tax.

Through March 31, the state had collected $2.9 million in marijuana sales taxes and $5 million from the marijuana excise tax. That does not include the local taxes collected by cities and towns.

There are 15 stores now open and selling to the general adult market.
Update: The man has been released from custody after police determined he was not the bank robber.

Police have taken a person into custody after a suspect allegedly robbed a Somerville bank, shot at Somerville police and fled.

Massachusetts State Police have not confirmed the identity of the person or their role in the incident. The investigation is ongoing.

Somerville PD and MSP have one person in custody, no confirmation yet as to ID or role in incident. Investigation ongoing as to specifics and whether another suspect involved. Units remain in operation. https://t.co/hQ3vxUdfzu  Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) May 1, 2019

Somerville suspect is alleged to have shot at Somerville Police, Massachusetts State Police said on Twitter Wednesday morning. Residents in area are urged to use caution, stay indoors if possible, and report any suspicious persons or activity.

Multiple state police units have responded to the scene. K-9 units have also been deployed, according to scanner reports.

The Davis Square T station has been closed as the situation unfolds, the MBTA said.
ENFIELD -- Police stopped a car and then raided a self-storage unit, discovering more than 200 pounds of marijuana, three pounds of hallucinogenic mushrooms and other drug paraphernalia this week.

Joseph Courtney, 30, of Manchester, and Larry Sherman, 62, of Enfield, were arrested on a variety of narcotics charges on Monday. The two men were arraigned in Enfield Superior Court on Tuesday and bail was set at $100,000 for each, Connecticut State Police said.

Troopers initially pulled over the two men traveling in a U-Haul box at about 4:40 p.m., Monday, near Elm Street, police said.

Probable cause was established that the vehicle might contain contraband. The vehicle was subsequently searched, police said.

Troopers, with the assistance of the state police Narcotics Task Force and federal Homeland Security Investigations seized about 200 pounds of packaged materials, assorted vaping cartridges and $7,500 in cash from the truck, police said.

During the investigation, law enforcement also learned the two men had been using a self-storage unit at Public Storage, 115 Elm St. They searched the unit, after receiving a warrant, and found an additional 5 pounds of marijuana, THC vape cartridges and 3 pounds of Psilocybin mushrooms, police said.

The specific charges the two men were arrested were not available. The two are expected to face more charges in the future, police said.
UPDATE: Suspect remains at large following Somerville bank robbery and shooting

The Arlington police department has released a security image of the man who allegedly robbed a Somerville bank and shot at police, sparking a major law enforcement response and manhunt.

Numerous Massachusetts State Police troopers, including K-9 units, responded Wednesday morning to College Avenue in Somerville after a robbery at Middlesex Federal Savings in Davis Square.

The suspect allegedly shot at Somerville police after fleeing on foot.

Arlington police described the suspect as a 510 Hispanic man with a medium-heavy build. In the photo, he appears to be holding a handgun.

Police have taken one person into custody, though have not confirmed the identity of the person or if the person was involved. The scene remains active as police determine whether another suspect was involved, state police said.

The Davis Square T station has been closed as the investigation unfolds.
By Matt Murphy, State House News Service

BOSTON  After U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for the resignation of Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday, President Donald Trump accused Warren of defrauding the public with her claims of Native American ancestry and said she should resign.

Trump, calling in to a local conservative talk radio show, also suggested that Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan "don't mind crime" if they think immigration agents should be barred from courthouses.

Trump phoned into Boston Herald Radio's "Talk It Up" show hosted by Adriana Cohen and Herald editorial page editor Tom Shattuck, and spent about 20 minutes discussing the Mueller report, Barr's testimony to Congress and the 2020 race.

"I heard that the attorney general was really, really solid and did a great job today," Trump said.

The presidents support for his attorney general came after Barr appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the Mueller report. His testimony followed reports that special counsel Robert Mueller had written to the attorney general in March taking issue with how Barr had characterized the report in a four-page public memo.

AG Barr is a disgrace, and his alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that he's not a credible head of federal law enforcement. He should resignand based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President.  Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 1, 2019

AG Barr is a disgrace, and his alarming efforts to suppress the Mueller report show that hes not a credible head of federal law enforcement. He should resign  and based on the actual facts in the Mueller report, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the President, Warren said on Twitter.

Asked about Warren, Trump brought up allegations that Warren used false claims of Native American ancestry to advance her career. Her former bosses at Harvard University and elsewhere have disputed that narrative.

"I think it's ridiculous. Look, she defrauded the public for a long time and she should really be the one to resign, hence the name Pocahontas," Trump said.

"She has gone through colleges and gotten jobs and gotten in all because she supposedly had Indian blood and then it turned out that wasn't true. So she's defrauded the public, she's defrauded the college and I guess other places of work and she should be the last one to be talking," he continued.

Cohen also asked the president about the lawsuit filed this week by Rollins and Ryan against the federal government seeking to make it illegal for ICE agents to arrest people while they are coming to, attending, or returning from court.

The lawsuit was filed after U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, a Trump appointee, brought charges against a district court judge for allegedly helping an immigrant defendant evade immigration agents in her courthouse.

Trump was told by the show hosts that on the same day the lawsuit was filed two gang members in the country illegally had been arrested inside two different Suffolk County courthouses.

"I think it's a sad situation and very unfortunate for Massachusetts, a great place that I know very well, so many friends up there. These are people that probably don't mind crime. They don't mind what's going on," Trump said.

Trump said his administration has been working hard to arrest dangerous criminals entering the country illegally, many of them, he said, with ties to violent gangs. He called ICE agents "heroes."

"For her to be saying that, she's got to live with it. She's got to live with her own conscience," Trump said, seemingly referring to one of the two prosecutors who filed the lawsuit.

"It's hard to believe that a big community like you have, that we all know very well, would want these people living there, in some cases," he said.

Both Ryan and Rollins declined, through their spokeswomen, to comment on Trump's criticisms, but the district attorneys earlier this week said that the presence of ICE agents in courthouses was making it difficult for prosecutors to do their jobs because some defendants, witnesses and victims were afraid to appear in court.

While Trump said Warren's campaign was "not doing very well," he would not say whether he'd rather campaign against former Vice President Joe Biden or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who were the two leading Democrats in a Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll out this week measuring early support in the New Hampshire primary.

"Well, he's a sleepy man, but I just don't know," Trump said, referring to Biden. "Who knows really who can do the best. He's not as smart as Bernie. Not as quick."

Trump did note the attention that Biden's endorsement from the International Association of Fire Fighters had received, but dismissed union leaders as "dues sucking people." Ed Kelly, a Dorchester native, is the current secretary-treasurer of the IAFF.

"The firefighters are going to be voting for me," Trump said.

A number of firefighters wearing T-shirts urging Biden to run for president turned out two weeks ago when Biden came to Boston to support striking Stop & Shop workers.
SPRINGFIELD  A school resource officers rough handling of a student at M. Marcus Kiley Middle School last month was totally unacceptable, Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said Wednesday.

The mayors statement came hours after The Republican / MassLive published an account of the incident  which officials have described as a conflict and physical interaction"  based on sources who have seen the video.

The sources said school surveillance footage, which has no audio, shows the student sitting at a desk in a hallway. School staff are seen talking with the student before summoning the officer  a member of the police departments Quebec Unit assigned to the citys schools  who lifts the student and walks him down the hallway in a bear hug before shoving him. The student takes a hard fall to the floor, the sources said.

After further review of this incident, the Quebec Officers actions are totally unacceptable," Sarno said in a statement late Wednesday afternoon. I have directed Acting Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood to take swift and appropriate disciplinary action on this matter.

City officials, including Sarno, have not publicly named the officer. Sources have identified him as Lawrence Pietrucci Jr.

The incident came to light after the childs pediatrician saw a bruise on the child, asked him what happened, and reported it.

Pietrucci has been reassigned out of the schools. The Hampden district attorneys office and the state Department of Children and Families are investigating the incident.

This is another example of why I have pushed so hard for the use of body cameras, which will benefit our Police Department and the citizens of Springfield, Sarno said. "I repeat again, our officers are sworn to uphold the law, not break it. This behavior will not be tolerated.

Without naming Pietrucci, Clapprood described the officer this week as a 20-year veteran of the department and longtime school resource officer who hasnt been in trouble before.

This is out of character," she said.
San Francisco, CA, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Fundbox, a leading Fintech company dedicated to simplifying the way businesses pay and get paid, announced that the sales technology leader Brandwise and Fundbox have entered into an exclusive agreement whereas Fundbox will be Brandwises business-to-business (B2B) trade financing partner. Brandwise will leverage Fundboxs business capital platform to power financing terms within the Brandwise ecosystem of 250,000 retailers. One of the immediate benefits that Brandwise customers will experience is the ability to accelerate approved payments between suppliers, agencies and the retailers they serve.



Brandwise is an award-winning sales technology platform that enables suppliers and sales agencies to sell efficiently to retailers. Through the companys studio of sales technology, they offer tools to streamline digital presentations, automated order capture & order delivery, commission & invoice processing, sales & business intelligence, and an online B2B ordering site for retailers.

With Fundbox embedded in the Brandwise platform, suppliers will get paid as soon as the next business day after an order is captured, while approved retailers will get net-60 terms on all purchases up to their credit limit, from any registered supplier.

Agencies and suppliers will uncover more sales opportunities because retailers can avoid using credit cards, where functional limitations result in lost opportunities. As part of the Brandwise launch, Fundbox will enable sellers to authorize funds in a retailer's credit limit to ensure those funds are earmarked and cannot be used until the sale is captured.

By integrating with Fundbox, our goal is to provide Brandwise suppliers and agencies with a competitive edge by allowing them to qualify and then transact faster with their customers, said Todd Litzman, President and CEO of Brandwise. retailers will benefit through extended terms and additional access to working capital. We believe that Fundbox can be a true growth catalyst no matter if your company is a supplier, agency, or retailer.

Fundbox has been leading the way in using machine learning to analyze the transactional data of an applicants business and then compare the businesss financial composite against the millions of statistical insights gathered within the companys proprietary Small Business Graph. These insights then help to inform an approved or declined credit decision outcome.

Its an exciting time to be a financial services provider. The rise of cloud computing, APIs, and heightened competition is driving a new ecosystem-based business model. Creative combinations of product and distribution are yielding win-wins for both providers and their customers, Alenka Grealish, senior analyst, Celent.

With Fundbox, applying for business credit is fast, convenient and transparent. Those businesses seeking Fundbox Credit simply complete a short application form and then connect a business data source of their choice. Shortly thereafter, proprietary machine learning models help to quickly inform a credit decision outcome. For approved businesses, Fundbox provides access up to $100,000 in a revolving business line of credit. To date, Fundbox has facilitated over $1 billion in credit for growing small to medium businesses.

The process of providing or receiving terms in the world of B2B is slow, inefficient, and inhibits growth and, the ability to capture opportunities for businesses on both sides of the transaction, said Sebastian Rymarz, Chief Business Officer for Fundbox. There is a multi-trillion dollar economy locked up in terms which, if unlocked, will propel the B2B sector in ways that we cant even imagine. Brandwise is in a unique position to understand the magnitude of this opportunity given the billions of dollars in transactions that flow through the companys platform. As such, we felt that partnering with Brandwise made complete sense.

Fundbox has received numerous awards for Fintech innovation including the prestigious Forbes Fintech 50, Forbes Billion Dollar Startup To Watch, Fintech Breakthrough Awards for Best B2B Payments Platform and, the Atlas Award for Best Israeli Startup among others.

About Brandwise

Brandwise is an integrated solution providing powerful technology tools for suppliers and agencies. They help reps be more valuable to their retailers by arming them with engaging digital presentations, intuitive order capture tools, sales order management, and automated order delivery, B2B e-commerce websites, and robust data to guide purchase decisions. All solutions are backed with industry-leading support and over 20 years of leadership in the wholesale industry from Brandwise.

For more information about the Brandwise Studio integrated sales tools and services, visit www.Brandwise.com, email sales@brandwise.com, or call 877-435-3225.

About Fundbox

Fundbox is a leading technology platform focused on disrupting the $21 trillion B2B commerce market by building the worlds first B2B payment and credit network. With Fundbox, sellers (of all sizes) can quickly increase average order volumes (AOV) and improve close rates by offering more competitive net terms and payment plans to their SMB buyers. With heavy investments in machine learning and the ability to quickly analyze the transactional data of SMBs, Fundbox is reimagining B2B payments and credit products in new category-defining ways.

Since the companys founding in 2013, Fundbox has raised $150 million from a blue-chip group of investors led by Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Spark Growth Capital and Jeff Bezos, and is currently experiencing incredible growth momentum. Twitter: @fundbox.

For more information about Fundbox, please visit fundbox.com




The Springfield Police school resource officer caught on video shoving a Kiley Middle School student to the ground is Lawrence Pietrucci Jr., MassLive has learned.

Two sources familiar with the investigation confirmed the identity of Pietrucci, a 20-year veteran of the force whose actions are now being scrutinized by internal investigators, the Office of Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.

The Springfield Police Department has not officially named Pietrucci as the officer involved in the incident, citing the fact that the altercation involved a minor.

Without identifying Pietrucci by name, Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood said Tuesday that he is a longtime school resource officer with no record of getting in trouble and a history of volunteering with childrens programs.

This is out of character," Clapprood said.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, city and police officials said that they immediately launched an inquiry after becoming aware of the allegations, which surfaced after the students pediatrician noticed bruising and asked him what happened.

Officials said the incident was recorded on school security video, but declined to detail what that video showed on the advice of legal counsel. City Solicitor Ed Pikula described the incident as a conflict" and a personal interaction between the student and a member of the police departments Quebec school support unit.

But since then sources have given an account of the videos contents to The Republican, saying it depicts the officer shoving the student to the ground. One person who had seen the video said the student bounced on the ground, while another described the students motions as a barrel roll.

The video depicts the incident clearly but there is no audio, sources told The Republican.

Footage shows the officer being called to assist with a student who is refusing to move from his desk, sources told The Republican. After several minutes, the officer grabs the student, lifts him from the desk and restrains him in a standing position as the student remains passive, acting as a dead weight.

When the student refuses to walk down the hallway, the officer is seen giving him a forceful shove, sending him to the floor.

The video is in the possession of investigators and has not been released publicly. The Massachusetts State Police unit attached to the Hampden District Attorneys Office is leading the criminal investigation.
A suspect remains at large after a man allegedly robbed a Davis Square bank and shot at Somerville police Wednesday morning.

While one person was taken into custody earlier this morning, Massachusetts State Police could not immediately confirm his identity or his connection to the incident. And at a press conference shortly before noon, officials said that one suspect is still in the wind, according to media reports.

Somerville Police: suspect came into bank and fired a shot, then there was exchange of gunfire between suspect and police. Suspect on the loose now.  Blair Miller (@BlairMillerTV) May 1, 2019

Numerous state police units, local officers and FBI personnel responded to the scene. K-9 units have also been deployed, according to scanner reports.

The Davis Square T station has been closed as the situation unfolds.

Police have also released an security camera image of a suspect in the bank robbery. The photograph shows a 510 Hispanic man armed with a handgun at a teller window, according to Arlington police.
By Matt Murphy / STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 30, 2019....The labor community presented a unified front to lawmakers on Tuesday, hoping to convince House and Senate leaders to quickly pass a law to strengthen unions in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling last year that knocked down a unions right to charge fees to non-members.

AFL-CIO President Steve Tolman told legislators that action was "long overdue" as he sat at a table surrounded by more than three dozen labor leaders to testify in front of the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development.

The show of force was meant to demonstrate that the labor community had worked out its differences, and it was time for the Legislature to do the same.

"This is a very, very impressive show of unity," committee co-chair Rep. Paul Brodeur said.

The unions want the Legislature to pass a bill (S 1596) filed by Sen. Joseph Boncore, of Winthrop, that would allow them to charge non-members for representation in arbitration case grievances. The bill is a response to the court's decision last summer in Janus v. AFSCME that undercut a key source of funding for organized labor.

While the court said unions can't charge non-members agency fees, Boncore said the court laid out some steps states could take, including to permit unions to bill non-members for the direct cost of handling grievances and arbitration on their behalf.

"If you want to support working families in this commonwealth, support unions and support this legislation," Boncore told the committee.

The Senate last session passed a "mirror image" of Boncore's bill in the closing hours of formal sessions in July, but the bill stalled in the House despite Speaker Robert DeLeo's promise weeks earlier to take action.

The speaker's office at the time cited shifting positions and a lack of consensus in the labor community for his reluctance to call a vote on the bill. At the time, Teamsters Local 25 opposed the bill and wanted instead a bill passed to make clear that contracts negotiated by unions only apply to union members.

Teamsters Local 25 President Sean O'Brien did not attend Tuesday's hearing, but he sent James Donovan, the director of training and government affairs for the Local 25, in his place. Donovan said he could not speak on behalf of O'Brien, and a spokesman for the union did not respond to an email. But Tolman said he was happy to now have their support.

"I suppose the Branch decision clarified exclusive representation and they're with us. They support our position now," Tolman said after the hearing. "I'm just delighted to say the Teamsters are a very important part of our labor movement and that they're standing with us on this issue."

The court decision reference by Tolman was a ruling by the state's Supreme Judicial Court earlier this month upholding a union's exclusive right to represent all employees in a workplace.

Tolman said that Boncore's bill now has the support of every public sector union in Massachusetts. It has also been filed (H 1043) in the House by Rep. Tackey Chan, of Quincy.

"The Janus case changed public sector labor law. The initiative before you seeks only to amend our state labor statute to reflect the new reality and landscape of long-standing legal precedent on agency service fees that Janus eliminated. It's time to pass this critical legislation," Tolman said.

"Harassment and intimidation"

Opponents of the legislation and supporters of Janus, however, argued that the privacy of workers who choose not to participate in a union is at stake.

"The US Supreme Court, in their Janus decision, protects the employee over union bosses. It allows employees to make their own decisions. This bill, if passed, would reverse those freedoms and give union bosses more power over people who are not enrolled with their union," said Paul Craney, spokesman for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

Boncore's bill would also require public agencies to allow unions to meet with members on premises during lunch or other breaks and use the public email system for union business. Public employers would also have to provide unions with contact information for all new employees and allow a representative to meet with newly hired workers for at least 30 minutes within 10 days of hire.

Craney said this could open workers up to "harassment and intimidation" from unions.

Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, and John Kalb, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee, also submitted written testimony to the committee opposing the bill.

Norquist argued that the bills were an "attempt to preserve the power of unions at the expense of Massachusetts workers" by giving unions access to personal information of workers and government offices.

"If this bill passes, unions can charge nonmembers whether they represent these workers well or not," Norquist wrote.

Kalb said passage of one of the Janus bills would leave Massachusetts vulnerable to a class action lawsuit, similar to ones filed in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

"This is direct government support of union bosses, plain and simple," Kalb said. "No private organization should receive this sort of special treatment, and no worker should be incentivized to contribute to an organization he or she does not believe in."

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, a former union official who appeared before the committee to testify on separate legislation, also voiced support for Boncore's and Chan's bills.

I know at the end of the last session the bill was almost resolved, almost done, but I ask the committee to move this out favorably and get it to the floor, Walsh said.
A U.S. Appeals Court has upheld Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healeys interpretation of the states assault weapons ban.

Healey called it a defeat for the gun lobby and a victory for families across the nation. Once again, the courts have agreed that the people of Massachusetts have the right to protect themselves, their communities, and their schools by banning these deadly weapons, Healey said in a statement.

Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners Action League, one of the groups that brought the case, said the gun owners have not yet decided whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 29-page decision was written by First Circuit Appeals Court Judge Bruce Selya and released Friday.

The litigation stems from a 2016 decision by Healey to reinterpret the states assault weapons ban to ban additional guns that are copies of assault weapons. Massachusetts gun owners challenged the ban in court.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of Healey in April 2018.

The appeal was based on whether Healeys ruling infringes on the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. The court said that question hinges on whether assault weapons and large capacity magazines are commonly used for lawful purposes, like self-defense.

According to court filings, nearly 5 million Americans  or 1 percent of Americans - own a semiautomatic assault weapon.

Selya wrote that the record is sparse as to their use for self-defense, and concluded that Healeys ban does not heavily burden the core right of self-defense in the home.

Selya wrote that their use does implicate public safety, since these guns can shoot through walls, risking the lives of those in nearby apartments or on the street. Semiautomatic weapons can be used to fire multiple rounds quickly, hitting more victims in a shorter time. Large capacity magazines let a shooter shoot more rounds before stopping to reload. These types of guns cause also greater damage to victims.

The court wrote that semi-automatic assault weapons have been used in a number of recent mass shootings. Mass shooters have frequently bought their guns legally.

The court found that the states compelling interest in protecting public safety is enough to justify the ban.

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter sat on the three-judge Appeals Court panel that decided the case.
When representatives of a foreign government are looking to curry favor with our businessman-president, might they find it wise to book rooms in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., located on Pennsylvania Avenue, just five blocks from the White House?

They could well believe that the hotel is not only in a good location, but also that it wouldn't hurt their cause to make it known that they are aiding President Donald Trump's corporate interests even as they are looking to deal with him in his official capacity.

You know -- give a little, and maybe get a little in return. Like when dealing with a mob boss or something.

Though such an arrangement would surely benefit the Trump Corporation's bottom line, it could also run afoul of a constitutional provision that prohibits a president from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments.

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that congressional Democrats can proceed with their lawsuit charging Trump with violating what is known as the emoluments clause of our nations Constitution. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, in a 48-page ruling, not only said the case can go forward, but also defined the word emoluments expansively, giving credence to the rationale for the suit, brought by nearly 200 congressional Democrats.

Conservatives and originalists may wish to note that Sullivan cited definitions from dictionaries that were in use at the time of the writing of our Constitution, as well as the writings of historians. As such, those who like to argue that judges should strictly interpret the Constitution, always maintaining a laser-like focus on the language of the document, noting especially how words were used at the time of the constitutional convention of 1787, can have no legitimate complaint with Sullivan's reasoning.

Which doesn't in any way mean that the Trumpies won't whine mightily nonetheless.

No matter one's feelings about the right and proper ways for judges to consider our Constitution, it's important to remember that the framers were hoping to ensure, as much as was possible, that our nation's chief executive would be free from the influence of foreign governments. If an early president received gifts from, say, the king of Belgium, might he perhaps not have our nation's interests exclusively at the top of his mind when he was next dealing with Brussels? An easy way to keep such questions at bay: Prohibit all such gifts. Which pretty much explains the emoluments clause.

Ultimately, questions over the case may well end up before the Supreme Court. Should that happen, one hopes that both the conservative and liberal justices alike see that the case needs to proceed so that the people can better see what their businessman-president has been up to in his dealings with foreign governments.
Will this really be my choice, a redux of the 2016 hold-your-nose election for president? Is this the best a nation of 327 million people can do?

On the one hand, we have a president who would be a horrible neighbor, let alone Americas face and voice to the world. To Donald Trump, the rule of law is an inconvenience, but worse, so is basic human decency. Its not about policy but conduct, so abusive and erratic and childish that even millions who support him must cash in any expectations of adult behavior - not because they dont see it but because they live in fear that the alternative is full-blast socialism.

Free college. Free child care. Free whatever-you-need. And not incidentally, a complete obliteration of the difference between citizenship and non-citizenship. A new era by which individuals are not only not in control of their own destiny, but need not worry about trying.

Will that be my choice? And yours?

Quite possibly, yes. Elizabeth Warren is adroitly out-lefting Bernie Sanders, which may force Sanders even further left (if thats possible) to preserve his power base among angry young people who dont want their lives ruled by angry old people like Trump.

Most Democratic candidates not named Biden have decided that anything remotely associated with capitalism must go. Wealth is evil, personal success is worse. Never mind that some of those wealthy people actually earned it, regardless of the narrative that the whole rotten bunch are nothing but scoundrels, crooks and thieves who should be required to pay for the personal decisions of the rest of us.

This view has become popular partly because the poster child for such devious, self-serving, self-aggrandizing behavior is the President of the United States. A man whose own words about former a deceased Muslim-American military man and his Gold Star mother, former POW John McCain and any number of others would have had him kicked out of any dinner party of self-respecting people, but not the White House.

A man whose attitude toward women would make a Kennedy blush. A president who, to be charitable, is at least tone-deaf to why bigots take their cues from his words and allow hatred to ooze like poison into the mainstream.

A man who should be doing something about climate change besides sneering at it. A bully by day, a lapdog to the National Rifle Association by night. A 72-year-old man who treats his Twitter button as a 10-year-old would before the parents caught him.

We cannot expect our presidents to be saintly; none ever have been or will be. Only recently, however, have we discarded any expectation of behavior that shows any regard for the office or the responsibilities attached.

And yet, the relentless liberal predictions of Trump-induced Armegeddon continue to be wrong. Remember the universal predictions of politicians masquerading as expert economists that a stock market crash would follow a Trump win? That the tax reform would spell disaster? That wed be trading nuclear bombs with North Korea, or with somebody?

And I must say this for Trump: Im not for the wall, and Im not for shutting down Americas place as one where the dreams of foreigners can be pursued. But I do think citizenship should matter.

Listening to many Democrats, it does matter - in a negative way. From drivers licenses to the census to access to services, citizens are hearing the shame game from liberals offended at the notion of any difference between American citizenship and non-citizenship.

If I were a naturalized citizen who had gone through the long, arduous process of officially belonging to this country, and who valued American citizenship with great pride, I might be asking myself, Why did I bother? Is there no middle ground by which we discard Trumps heavy-handed tactics but still treat citizenship to this country as something to be cherished in meaningful ways and with real value, and not just as a non-essential bureaucratic detail?

Must I vote for a president whose ignorance of our own history would probably cause him to fail a high school civics test, but does not disqualify him from running the United States as if it were one of his personal businesses? Someone who regularly insults allies that have stood with us and often shed blood for our causes - while ruthless dictators get praised?

Or, must I vote for some Democrat who mocks values Ive treasured all my life? Not those that nourish exclusionism or profiling, but principles that give everyone a fair chance? Must I be ashamed of all capitalism? Must we instead give in to full-blown government socialism (far beyond the partial form we practice now) which removes any requirement that we manage our own lives and live by our own choices?

I have never missed an election vote at any level. Because my Cal Ripkenesque streak of 43 years is a source of pride, and because my Air Force dad defended the right, I will vote.

I will not vote for a third-party candidate or write-in because that is tantamount to throwing my vote away, though thats already true because we all know the Democratic nominee will win Massachusetts, regardless of how I vote or whether I show up at all.

Bill Weld is challenging Trump, but the president will swat him away like a mosquito at the beach. Will the Democratic answer be Bland Joe Biden, whose watching-paint-dry campaign style requires saying as little as possible? But Biden, at least, does not infuriate people on a daily basis, and suddenly theres an appeal to that.

Will anyone pay attention to, oh, Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, or any other lesser lights on the partys overpopulated stage? Or will it come down to a reprehensible human being or a complete sellout to socialism?

An amoral president. Or a government that controls the most important aspects of our lives. Will that be my choice? I hope no, but I fear yes.
BOSTON  A California man who pleaded guilty to shipping large quantities of methamphetamine to Massachusetts was sentenced to serve more than 11 years in jail.

Christopher Halfond, 37, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine in April 2018. Monday, Judge George A. O'Toole sentenced him to serve 140 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release, said Christina DiLorio-Sterling, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.

Halfond was one of 11 people from Massachusetts and California indicted in 2016 in a methamphetamine scheme that began in 2013 and had those indicted transporting sizable quantities of the drug from San Diego to Massachusetts. It was then sold in the greater Boston area, she said.

The money from the drug sales was then taken back to California where it was laundered through various methods.

The indictments came after a two-year investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement, she said.

During the investigation, agents learned Halfond sent a package of drugs to Boston. Agents received a search warrant and confiscated the package, which contained 434 grams of 95 percent pure heroin, she said.

Halfond, who was from Massachusetts, is the first of the 11 defendants to be sentenced. The others have also pleaded guilty to various charges, she said.

The case was investigated by Lellings office with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations in Boston, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Massachusetts State Police, Connecticut State Police, the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, the Norfolk and Suffolk Sheriff departments and police departments from Reading, Watertown, Quincy, Chelsea, Braintree, Peabody, Waltham, and Woburn.
BOSTON  The Red Sox returned Brock Holt from his injury rehab assignment Monday because of shoulder inflammation.

Holt, who the Red Sox initially placed on the injured list April 6 because of a scratched cornea, visited with doctors Tuesday. He has been diagnosed with a shoulder impingement.

The Red Sox have shut him down to receive treatment.

Its something he felt a little bit in spring training, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. It wasnt a big deal. He went through all the workouts here, getting ready for the rehab assignment. The last game he was playing catch and it felt weird. So we shut down him down. ... Its not a great scenario obviously because we want him to play. But he feels like hes not going to take that long. So hell get treatment and all that and hopefully he can get back sooner rather than later."

He appeared in one rehab game for Pawtucket on April 16, but the Red Sox returned him without activating him April 20. He played in one game (April 26) on his second rehab assignment before being returned again.
Customers hoping to stop by Worcesters first recreational marijuana dispensary will have to reserve an appointment in advance  at least for the first week.

Good Chemistry became the citys first dispensary to open for adult-use sales Wednesday morning, colocating its recreational operation with its existing medical dispensary on Harrison Street.

Im just incredibly proud, CEO Matthew Huron said of the milestone. Now, with adult use, there will be a lot more access.

Good Chemistry is accepting customers by appointment only to avoid long wait times for its first week of recreational sales. Huron said that will change in a week, and walk-ins will be accepted.

That was something we decided to do to have a smooth, steady and controlled rollout, he said.

Huron expects business to be steady throughout the day, but said the available slots are not fully booked.

The dispensary is accepting up to 45 adult-use customers per hour with the ability to serve about 360 people per day. Purchases will be limited at first to half an ounce of flower, one edible, one joint, one cartridge and one concentrate.

Huron said that will likely change, and customers can check Good Chemistrys website for updates. In Massachusetts, customers can legally purchase up to an ounce of marijuana.

On Wednesday, the dispensary had 20 flower strains available for adult-use customers, in addition to edibles, joints and other cannabis products. All sales are cash only.

Huron said medical patients do not need to make an appointment to buy cannabis and have a separate line on the sales floor to ensure rapid service. They are also able to utilize Good Chemistrys parking lot across the street, while recreational customers are asked to park in a lot on Washington Street.

The dispensary has 21 full-time employees and will be fully staffed for its first day of adult-use sales. The sales floor has eight point-of-sale stations, as well as an additional station for medical-only purchases.

Huron said he believes Good Chemistry, which first opened in August, exists well within the Canal District.

Were friendly with our neighbors and we have a lot of support, he said.

The dispensarys landlord, Dino Lorusso  who also owns nearby Crompton Place  said Good Chemistry has helped the street come alive.

I think this is whole new avenue of getting customers down here that other neighborhoods may not have, he said. I really feel theres a need for this.

Good Chemistry first opened for medical sales in August, becoming the citys first-ever dispensary. The Colorado-based company also has several locations out west.

Huron, who has been in the cannabis industry for 20 years, got into the business because of his father and his fathers partner, who both had HIV.

He started a small medical marijuana co-op in California in 2000, which provided medicine for many of his fathers friends who were also dying of complications from the virus.

Hurons father and his fathers partner both died in 2009 and Huron moved his business to Colorado, which he said had better regulations at the time.

The company began with 10 to 15 employees and has now grown to about 180.

When Huron was looking into opening a Massachusetts location, he chose Worcester because he has family ties to the area. Both his aunt and uncle and grandparents lived in the city, and his father graduated from the College of the Holy Cross.

"It was a natural fit," Huron said.

Good Chemistry grows its own products at an off-site facility, and Huron said excellent quality will always be its focus.

Were very proud to grow the finest cannabis we can, he said.
A Massachusetts native was one of the people injured when an armed man shot at students in a University of North Carolina at Charlotte classroom Tuesday.

Drew Pescaro, who listed as being from Rutland on his Facebook page, is in stable condition at a hospital, according to a post by the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. His Facebook page says he now lives in North Carolina.

We support the students and personnel at UNC-Charlotte affected by todays tragic shooting, the post read. "ATO brother Drew Pescaro was shot and is currently hospitalized in stable condition. We are keeping Drew, the chapter and the campus in our prayers.

We support the students and personnel at UNC-Charlotte affected by todays tragic shooting. ATO brother Drew Pescaro... Posted by Alpha Tau Omega National Fraternity on Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Authorities in North Carolina said two people were killed and four people were injured. Pescaro is one of the four injured.

The university said around 5:40 p.m. shots were fired on campus. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Campus police responded to the scene as the campus was placed on lockdown.

The suspected shooter is in custody, the university wrote in alerts.

15 Photos: Two people dead, four injuried following shooting at UNC Charlotte

NBC News reports police disarmed the suspect who was identified as 22-year-old Trystan Andrew Terrell. Charges will be filed against Terrell. WCNC reports Terrell was a former student who dropped out earlier in the semester.

Three of the injured people are in critical condition, NBC News reports.

Police cleared the campus while it was on lockdown.

The campus remains on lockdown while police clear each building. This could take several more hours. It is believed that there is no ongoing threat, but police are taking every precaution to ensure safety, the university said a few hours after the shooting.
BOSTON, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Block & Leviton LLP ( www.blockesq.com ), a national securities litigation firm, is investigating whether Mallinckrodt PLC (Mallinckrodt or the Company) (NYSE: MNK) and certain of its officers and directors violated federal securities laws.



On May 1, 2019, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, Government to File Complaint After Mallinckrodt Unit Is Accused of Bribery to Drive Drug Sales. The article asserts that Questcor, which Mallinckrodt acquired in 2014, defrauded government health-care plans by illegally marketing H.P. Acthar Gel. The article further states that the Company stands accused of paying doctors kickbacks through bribes, consulting agreements and speaking fees if they prescribed Acthar.

Following this news, Mallinckrodts share price dropped more than 16%.

We are investigating the possibility of filing a lawsuit against Mallinckrodt. If you have purchased or otherwise acquired Mallinckrodt securities and have questions about your legal rights, or possess information relevant to this investigation, you are encouraged to contact attorney Dan DeMaria at (888) 868-2385, by email at dan@blockesq.com , or by visiting http://shareholder.law/cases/?case=mnk .

Block & Leviton LLP was recently ranked 4th among securities litigation firms by ISS for recoveries in 2017. The firm represents many of the nation's largest institutional investors and numerous individual investors in securities litigation throughout the country. Indeed, its lawyers have recovered billions of dollars for its clients.

This notice may constitute attorney advertising.

CONTACT:

BLOCK & LEVITON LLP

Dan DeMaria

(617) 398-5660 phone

260 Franklin Street, Suite 1860

Boston, MA 02110

dan@blockesq.com

SOURCE Block & Leviton LLP
Although there has been no direct contact between the two, officials in Worcester want Hasbro to consider moving to the city. And theyll soon have a nice, new office building overlooking the planned Polar Park they think could be the perfect spot.

Emails obtained by Worcester Business Journal show the city wants to court the toy manufacturer. If successful, it would be the second high profile business the city will have lured away from Pawtucket.

Worcester successfully lured the Pawtucket Red Sox to the city last year, pitching a $240 million ballpark and mixed use development that will open in 2021.

In an April 23 email he sent to Lt. Gov. Karyn Politos office, Worcesters Chief Development Officer Michael Traynor asked for the states help bringing Hasbro to Worcester.

"We are very interested in bringing Hasbro to Worcester; both to the Left Field Office building you heard about and their manufacturing operations as well," he wrote in the email, according to the Worcester Business Journal. The Left Field Office is a 96,000-square-foot space that, once built, will overlook the ballpark.

Hasbro has said it is considering leaving Rhode Island, and in an interview on WPRO radio Gov. Gina Raimondo said Massachusetts has been aggressively courting the toy-maker.

The Massachusetts Office of Business development told the Journal that it is working to establish dialogue with the company.

In an April 19 email, Jacob Sanders, who handles intergovernmental and municipal initiatives for Worcester, told the city managers office, told Massachusetts Digital Games Institute Executive Director Timothy Loew that the city has already made "preliminary inroads" with Hasbro, according to the Journal.

In a statement released Tuesday the city said it is not formally pursuing Hasbro.

The extent of the citys solicitation was a communication from Assistant Chief Development Officer Peter Dunn to the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, in which he stated that should the commonwealth be engaging Hasbro in dialogue; the city of Worcester would be interested in participating. There have been no further conversations or developments on the matter, the city said in a statement.
Worcester police announced Wednesday the department is launching a pilot program for body cameras.

The program will run from May to November, police said.

Twenty officers will wear the cameras during regular duty, including 16 officers from the Operations Division, two from the Traffic Division and two from the Neighborhood Response Team.

Those officers volunteered to participate in the program, police said.

The officers who are participating in the pilot program have been thoroughly trained in the operation of the cameras and the departments policy about their proper use, police said.

Axon, the leading national provider of police body cameras, is the vendor for Worcesters pilot program. The value of the donation is $33,174, according to City Council documents.

The city is not paying Axon for any part of the pilot program, police said.

In addition to 20 cameras for the participating officers, the company will provide an extra 20 cameras in case of malfunction, police said.

The cameras record audio and video. Data is uploaded to the cloud when the officer places the camera in a docking bay at the end of a shift.

We hope to use our body cameras to increase transparency, resolve complaints, de-escalate volatile situations, and improve our training. Our officers do amazing work day in and day out, and we have confidence that this will be captured in the footage," Police Chief Steven Sargent said. "During the pilot, we will assess the effectiveness of the cameras and continue to study the most productive way to use them.

The city of Springfield and its police department last year agreed to a four-year contract that includes the use of body cameras

Worcester, the second-largest city in New England, joins the Massachusetts State Police and Boston Police in running pilot police camera programs.
Belleville, Illinois, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Disability Insurance Awareness Month in May highlights the importance of disability insurance as a financial and economic tool for American workers. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 42% of workers have access to short-term disability insurance and 34% have access to private long-term disability coverage. More than 155 million workers are insured for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits. Yet many workers still dont realize the implications for their financial and work futures, according to Allsup, the nations premier provider of Social Security Disability Insurance representation services.

According to one study, only 38% of Americans are knowledgeable about disability insurance. Considering one in five Americans report having some type of disability, closing the knowledge gap could lead to improved choices by workers and advantages for the greater economy.

The worst thing that can happen for some individuals is to totally miss out on the valuable advantages of disability insurance through a misunderstanding of its purpose and role for workers, especially following a disability, when their lives are already upended, said Steve Perrigo, Allsup vice president. Many people dont realize there is a dual purpose to disability insurance: income and then support with returning to work.

The most common serious health issues in the U.S. leading to work disruption include musculoskeletal disorders, cancer, pregnancy, mental health conditions and injuries like fractures and torn ligaments.

Perrigo answered some of the most common questions and misunderstandings about disability insurance, particularly Social Security Disability Insurance.

Why do I need disability insurance?

The data show that 1 in 4 workers, by the time they reach full retirement age, will experience a disability that prevents them from working. Disability insuranceboth public and privateis expressly designed to help workers avoid financial devastation with the lost income when this happens.

What are my options for disability insurance?

Workers can voluntarily choose private short-term disability and long-term disability insurance policies. All or a portion of these typically are paid for by an employer In addition, a majority of U.S. workers already pay for disability insurance through their FICA payroll taxes, with the SSDI program.

Does my income affect my eligibility for SSDI?

No, the SSDI program is a federal insurance plan that is funded through workers and employers FICA taxes through the same process as your Social Security retirement benefit. Many people make the mistake of thinking this is limited to those in poverty and a type of welfare, when it couldnt be further from the truth. Thats one of the biggest mistakes some workers make: Not applying for SSDI when they experience an acquired disability, and then losing their insured status because they waited until they were desperate.

What is the meaning of acquired disability?

An acquired disability is a condition that has developed during a persons lifetime as a result of a disease, illness or injury, rather than one with which a person was born.

Does my disability have to be permanent to receive SSDI benefits?

No. A long-term disability refers to the duration of the health condition that prevents work. It may last for one or two years, or 10 years, or be permanent, for example. To qualify for SSDI, a healthy condition must last at least 12 months or longer, or be terminal. Its possible for individuals to receive SSDI and experience medical improvement and return to work after a few years through the Ticket to Work program.

Does disability insurance replace my work income?

This is a good question and another area of misunderstanding. The purpose of disability insurance is to replace a portion of work-based earnings, not the full amount of earnings someone had prior to a disability. With private disability insurance, policies generally provide 60% replacement value of the persons earnings. The SSDI monthly payment is based on a calculation by the Social Security Administration (SSA) that includes someones history of work-related earnings. In addition, private LTD policies are designed to integrate with SSDI benefits, so that an individual doesnt end up earning more money than they did while working, which would be a disincentive to work.

Once someone applies for disability benefits, doesnt this mean they have to quit working for good?

No, not at all. Many private disability policies have provisions to assist someone with returning to work. In addition, once someone is approved for SSDI benefits, they become eligible for Social Securitys free Ticket to Work program. Ticket to Work includes important protections for SSDI benefits so that people can explore working again after they reach medical stability or experience improvement in their health condition. Hundreds of thousands of people have returned to the workforce and become financially independent again after experiencing a disabling health condition.

Can I protect my SSDI benefits if I try to work again?

As mentioned earlier, you have several protections for your SSDI benefits if you want to try to work. By using Ticket to Work and working with an SSA-certified Employment Network, you can protect your SSDI benefits over a span of several years. The program provides phases, including the first nine-month trial work period (over 60 months). Additional safeguards allow you to protect your access to SSDI benefits if you find that you are unable to maintain your working status.

Allsup has helped more than 300,000 people receive their SSDI benefits. The online tool empower by Allsup combines an SSDI assessment for eligibility and Social Security disability application support, along with return-to-work guidance for those who may medically recover. Allsup customers experience a greater than 50% success rate at the application level, compared to the national average of 35%.

Allsup also provides an infographic on, How Disability Insurance Relates to Your Work Future.

Find more information about how to apply for disability benefits or returning to work with a disability, visit TrueHelp.com.

ABOUT ALLSUP

Allsup and its subsidiaries provide nationwide Social Security disability, veterans disability appeal, return to work, exchange plan and Medicare services for individuals, their employers and insurance carriers. Allsup professionals deliver specialized services supporting people with disabilities and seniors so they may lead lives that are as financially secure and as healthy as possible. Founded in 1984, the company is based in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis. Learn more at TrueHelp.com and @Allsup or download a free PDF of Applying for Social Security Disability Insurance: Getting It Right The First Time.

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WASHINGTON, DC, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Up for Growth National Coalition unveiled its interactive Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator today during Up for Growth Actions first annual Washington, DC Policy Summit. The first version of the calculator focuses on Seattle, allowing users to examine how various policy choices impact both likelihood of housing getting built and the affordability of rent. The calculator also estimates the aggregate impact of policy choices across the city, in the form of the expected housing supply impacts.





The inputs for the calculator are based on changes in 13 policies unique to Seattle, grouped in four categories: Affordable Housing, Environmental Impact, Community Impact and Design, and Public Revenues. After adjusting these policy choices, users are provided a dollar amount for the change in rent for a one-bedroom apartment in either a mid-rise or high-rise apartment; the change in total units, development costs, and project feasibility for the building in questions; and the estimated changes in housing production, rent levels, cost burdening, and impact on the economy on a citywide scale.

The purpose of the Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator is simple: to provide policymakers with an easy-to-use tool to fully understand the tradeoffs for specific policy choices, said Mike Kingsella, Executive Director of Up for Growth National Coalition and one of the authors of the report. Seattle is an ideal test case because the city has been forced to make difficult policy choices in the face of a growing housing shortage and increasing rents. We will be bringing the calculator to cities across the country."

Rather than advocate for or against a specific set of policies, the calculator is a model designed to explore tradeoffs inherent to policy changes and the resulting impact in overall affordability. However, the white paper associated with the calculator finds:

Pro-housing policies reduce overall rents significantly but stop short of providing affordable rents for lower-income households, suggesting a need for increased public resources and the local, state, and federal levels.

Communities can generate significant affordability by leveraging tax policy and shortening the approval timeline.

The predevelopment timeline can have significant and outsized effects on required rent and feasibility.

Although each policy seems small in isolation, the cumulative impact of policies can be substantial.

The calculator was developed in partnership with HR&A and is the product of economic modeling, data analysis, and extensive surveys and interviews with affordable and market-rate builders and city officials to develop financial assumptions. Working with its members and partners in cities across the country, Up for Growth National Coalition intends to develop unique calculators in additional American cities. The calculator can be found on Up for Growth National Coalitions website, along with a white paper that goes into detail about the economic model and assumptions included in the calculator.

What others are saying about the Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator:

Up for Growths Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator will be an important tool to inform the conversation [on Americas housing affordability crisis], by quantifying the tradeoffs associated with local land use, building, zoning, and construction policies as measured by impacts on housing availability and affordability, said U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Indiana), who in 2018 introduced the bipartisan Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act.

This Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator serves two critical purposes for policy makers," said Congressman Denny Heck (D-Washington), who was one of the authors of the New Democrat Coalition's "Missing Millions of Homes" report. "It makes stark that housing  not health care or education  is the biggest pressure in typical family budgets. And it lets us see how we can relieve this pressure through better policy that allows more construction. I look forward to seeing the Calculator used in policy discussions in Washington, DC and state capitols around the country to enable us to start building the millions of homes we desperately need.

The Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator is an innovative tool that will drive better understanding of how public policy can either improve or undermine local housing affordability, said Christopher Ptomey, Executive Director of the Terwilliger Center for Housing at Urban Land Institute. Mayors and governors are increasingly focused on the nations housing challenges, and this tool will enable them and the residential development community to better understand, communicate, and advocate for reforms that will lower the cost of housing.

"We must increase affordable housing options so that more people in our region can live near where they work," said Marilyn Strickland, president and CEO of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. "The Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator makes it easy to understand which policies add more housing and which ideas, like impact fees, are actually counterproductive."

The Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator helps policymakers and the public see that housing costs are not out of our control, said Ethan Goodman, Executive Director of Seattle-based Tech 4 Housing and a member of Up for Growth National Coalition. They're driven by the policy tradeoffs that we collectively make. When we set policies that increase housing costs, it's not just people in new buildings that bear that burdencost increases mean fewer homes are built, exacerbating our housing shortage and pushing up costs for everyone.

"While we all know that time is money, the calculator quantifies the impact of predevelopment time on rent levels," said Cynthia Parker, President and CEO of nonprofit developer BRIDGE Housing and Board Chair of Up for Growth Action, an advocacy affiliate of UFGNC. "This is a powerful tool that can help communities produce the housing they need to serve all of their constituents.

When prosperous cities like ours fail to keep adding more homes of all shapes and sizes in all our neighborhoods, we build invisible walls that lock out those not privileged enough to own land, said Michael Andersen, senior researcher for housing and transportation at Sightline Institute. Up for Growth National Coalitions new calculator is a powerful tool to help policymakers and citizens look honestly at the tradeoffs involved in dozens of housing policy decisions, so we can find the right balance to build fair, integrated, sustainable, and happy cities.

The members of the Housing Development Consortium have been developing affordable housing for over thirty years, said Marty Kooistra and Leah Haberman of the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle-King County. They know well the struggle in trying to scale their work to meet the need for 156,000 affordable homes in King County right now. The Up for Growth Housing Policy and Affordability Calculator is a helpful tool to illuminate the policy and regulation decisions that might have the unintended consequence of impeding our overall capability to produce housing at unprecedented scale.

Up for Growth National Coalition is a coalition-driven 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, formed in 2018 to develop incisive research, educate, and elevate the conversation about the countrys housing affordability crisis. Up for Growth National Coalition represents a vibrant, diverse and growing coalition of stakeholders who believe that communities should grow for the benefit of every person. Our organization's mission is to improve the quality of life for working families and create communities that are accessible and affordable for all by promoting more housing close to jobs, efficient transportation, and in high opportunity neighborhoods.

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by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, May 1, 2019

As Alphabet's annual shareholders meeting approaches in June, the international consumer group SumOfUs has submitted a shareholder resolution on behalf of the company's shareholders calling for the breakup of Google's parent company, Alphabet.

The resolution proposes that Alphabet find alternatives to its current structure that would make the company more manageable, citing concerns of cobbling together hundreds of companies, and human rights abuses.

The agenda will include elections of directors, appointment of an independent public accounting firm, the approval and amendment of Alphabet's stock plan, and a shareholders proposal regarding strategic alternatives, among other topics.

"While we believe the board of directors of Google should evaluate whether a breakup is in the best interest of shareholders, there is no question that a breakup would be good for advertisers," wrote Lisa Lindsey, capital markets adviser at SumOfUs, in an email to Search Marketing Daily. "A year ago, Google and its affiliates had an 88% market share in search advertising, which is an effective monopoly. Googles market share is probably even higher now. When there is only one seller of a service such as search advertising, there is no effective competition to regulate prices and Google can charge whatever it wants to advertisers."

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The shareholders proposal regarding strategic alternatives requests that "the board of directors "begin an orderly process of retaining advisors to study strategic alternatives and empower a committee of independent directors to evaluate those alternatives in exercise of their fiduciary responsibilities to maximize shareholder value." -- in other words, the breakup of more than 200 businesses either created or cobbled together following acquisitions. These businesses include YouTube, Android, DoubleClick and Waze.

Anti-competitive practices, privacy violations, data leaks, and illegal location tracking from Alphabet, as well as billions of dollars in fines, are a few of the reasons cited by the group to call for a breakup of the company.

"It appears that Alphabet may be too large and complex to be managed effectively," according to the proposal. "Officials in the US & EU continue to be concerned about Alphabet's market power in view of restrictions on monopolies. We believe that shareholders could receive greater value from a voluntary strategic reduction in the size of the company than from asset sales compelled by regulators."

The proposal would like the board to consider as options the unification of Class A and Class B shares of stock, and the sale, encumbrance or disposition of all or substantially all of Alphabets assets. The companys still controlled by two of its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, although they do not own Class A shares -- which account for 86% of outstanding shares as of March 29, 2018, pre the document.

The group representing the shareholders also cites concerns over Alphabets and Google's alleged work with China on Project Dragonfly.

Jack Poulson, Founder of Tech Inquiry and former Google Research Scientists, stated: "Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, is on record in late 2018 publicly defending censoring 'less than one percent' of content for Beijing, but his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in December was meant to imply that the Project Dragonfly had halted. Not only has Google not corrected the record by explaining how censoring terms such as 'human rights' and 'student protest' violates both Article 19 of the UDHR and their own 'AI Principles,' the company has steadfastly avoided any clarification of credible reports."

Google also published a statement that the Board of Directors recommends stockholders vote AGAINST this proposal.
by Larissa Faw , May 1, 2019

Several brands and agencies are launching purpose-based advocacy campaigns this week as more companies supplement promotional advertising in bids to more effectively engage consumers.

FCB Mexico is teaming with Clorox's Ayudin to launch Casi un monumento (Almost a Monument) to call attention to the housework divide in Argentina (a country where the equity divide in this sector is particularly severe). The campaign's tagline is inspired by a common preconception among Argentinian men, who think that when they do a household chore they are "helping" their spouses, jokingly "deserving a monument for their help.

The campaign consisted of a four-day sculpture exhibition in Buenos Aires located at the Federal Republic of Brazil Square in Argentina, from April 10-14th that displayed the rooms of a small house, with a couple carrying out daily chores to illustrate how to change this imbalance in the future.

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McCann Health is encouraging teens to stay away from vaping as part of a two-year initiative funded by the Evelyn Lilly Lutz Foundation to prevent and stop at-risk teens from starting vaping in the township of Beverly, Massachusetts.

The Get the Vape off Your Back creative is designed to be shareable in long form and in the short form across social channels popular among teens, namely Instagram and YouTube, by showing relatable situations with off-beat and comedic twists. The campaign starts this month and will run for one year.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and agency Battery are launching a new ad campaign to promote RBC Future Launch, the financial institutions 10-year, $500-million commitment to help "empower" today's youth for future career success.

The "Dear Future" creative follows three young heroes as they take the viewer through three different scenes: a forest, a music studio and a cityscape along with a voiceover that states "I am full of potential. I am opportunity waiting to be unleashed. I am power waiting to be ignited. The spot ends by directing viewers to RBC.com/FutureLaunch to learn more.



The media buy targets both youth and mass audiences through the channels of conventional and specialty broadcast, digital and social.

MAC and agency RoAndCo are celebrating the makeup brand's 25 years of social advocacy connected with HIV and AIDS. The campaign, a year-long social series, will feature 18 change-makers from around the world such as Princess Nokia, Troye Sivan and Aquaria, who will be tasked with creating conversation on health, rights and self-expression and telling "serious stories in a positive light."

The global campaign will launch on Instagram, Instagram Stories and MacCosmetics.com.

Lastly, Publicis Conseil is developing a series of propaganda posters on behalf of LICRA, the Ligue Internationale Contre le Racisme et l'Antisemitisme, (International league against racism and antisemitism) to call out and condemn online racism.

The agency first used artificial intelligence to detect racist or anti-Semitic tweets, which then were paired with a tweaked version of a historical propaganda poster donated by the Museum of Jewish Art and History, National Library of France or the National Archives. The words from long ago are replaced by these tweets. People are then encouraged to support change in France's law to punish those who publish online racist statements by signing a petition at this site.
by Ray Schultz , May 1, 2019

At least a few victims whose data was exposed in a recent Microsoft breach have been robbed of bitcoin, raising the chance that this was the purpose of the attack, according to a report by Motherboard.

Microsoft alerted account holders in April that unauthorized parties accessed Outlook and Hotmail for almost three months, gaining access to email addresses, subject lines and email addresses that were communicated with by users.

But the attack may have been more damaging than it appeared at the time.

Microsoft user Jevon Ritmeester writes that he lost 1 bitcoin, or $5,000, due to the breach, Motherboard reports

The hackers had access to my inbox allowing them to password reset my Kraken.com account and withdrawal [sic] my Bitcoin, Ritmeester writes, according to the report.

Motherboard adds that anytime an email mentioned the term Kraken, his account would automatically forward it to a Gmail address presumably controlled by the hackers. Ritmeester lacked two-factor authentication for Kraken.

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Another victim, Reddit user shinratechlabs, lost 25,000 in crypto, although the currency is unclear, it continues. And another Reddit user writes, Same exact for me only a lot less funds stolen, sucks, adds Reddit user mickey_ficke.

These claims could not be independently verified at deadline.

Microsoft states, "Customers who believe they have been impacted beyond what was outlined in the companys notification should contact the Microsoft support team for assistance," according to a spokesperson.

Microsoft wrote in April: "Upon awareness of this issue, Microsoft immediately disabled the compromised credentials, prohibiting their use for any further unauthorized access."

The exposure took place between January 1 and March 28 of this year, and did not include content and attachments of emails, Microsoft claimed. Nor have login credentials been revealed, although users should change their passwords, it added.

However, Motherboard states that in addition to email metadata and email addresses the users communicate with, email content was also affected, and it adds that Microsoft has informed account users of that.
by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, May 1, 2019

Dennys new, multicultural campaign aims both to underscore its Americas Diner positioning by stressing inclusivity, and to invite consumers to come experience the improvements in its restaurants.

See You at Dennys  designed, in the brands words, to resonate with the modern American family  includes an anthem TV/digital spot as well as ads specifically targeted to African-American and Hispanic audiences (all embedded below). The Hispanic spot is mostly Spanish-language.

The anthem ad shows diverse groups of friends and families enjoying themselves at Dennys, with messaging, delivered by an African-American girl, that positions the restaurants as offering a comfortable, inclusive environment at a time of divisiveness in our country: If you look around, were not all so different. We all want a friend we can talk to; we all want somewhere where we can be ourselves. A place where its okay to be different. And sure, theres tension out there, but here, you leave that all at the door

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The messaging also mentions that Dennys has modernized its restaurants and introduced menu updates. Eighty percent of the chains locations have been remodeled, and most of its menu has been changed to address shifting consumer tastes, according to the brand. In addition, the chain has implemented new staff training.

More than an ad campaign, 'See You at Dennys' is a sign of our continued commitment across the organization to create a place where the modern American family can come together and connect over a delicious meal, stated Chief Brand Officer John Dillon.

The campaign, developed by agencies including EP+Co, Conill and Fluent 360, will air nationally on TV, on online platforms including Hulu, YouTube and Vevo, and on Facebook and Instagram.

Dennys is also promoting its record of supporting anti-hunger and minority advocacy initiatives.








Using simple, routine measures that are easy to obtain in a diabetes clinic, such as age at diagnosis and body mass index, can be an effective way to choose the best treatment for a person with type 2 diabetes.

Share on Pinterest New research points to a very simple method of personalizing treatment for type 2 diabetes.

This was the conclusion that researchers at the University of Exeter, in the United Kingdom, came to after they compared the simple approach to a subgroup model that researchers in Sweden and Finland had proposed in an earlier study.

They report their findings in a paper that now features in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.

Its recognized, says lead study author John M. Dennis, Ph.D., who is a research fellow in medical statistics at the University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health, that not everyone with type 2 diabetes should be treated the same, yet there is currently no way to tell which tablet is likely to be the best for a particular person.

The earlier study identified five replicable clusters of adults with diabetes. The five clusters differed by disease progression and risk of diabetic complications. The authors suggested that these could be a useful way to guide the treatment of diabetes.

However, the new study reveals that using very straightforward clinical features, such as age at diagnosis, sex, body mass index (BMI), and a measure of kidney function, is a more practical and effective method of choosing treatments and identifying which patients are most likely to experience complications such as kidney disease.

Crucially, this approach does not mean reclassifying people into discrete subtypes of diabetes, Dennis explains, adding that, in their study, they were able to use a persons exact characteristics to provide more precise information to guide treatment.
No matter what part of the world we are in, education is always given a ton of importance. In a way, it is projected as the only key to attaining wisdom, that would ultimately allow us to lead a life we are not only proud of, but one that also takes care of all our material needs throughout our lives.

(c) Vinod Chopra Films

Yet, what most people, especially in our society choose to overlook, is the fact that an education isn't the only key to getting there. A sharp mind, crafty skills and an inherent talent can also bring all that, and much more, to a person's life.

Recently, during an appearance on 'The Kapil Sharma Show', 'Student of The Year 2' actor Tiger Shroff was asked by host Kapil Sharma what was the difference between a real and reel college, to which Tiger said that he was not aware of the difference since he never attended college, to begin with. He added that immediately after school he joined the sets of his first film 'Heropanti'.

(c) Twitter

Yet, if we look at Tiger's career graph, we can easily say that not going to college, and not completing his studies hasn't made him any less successful in the line of work, he chose for himself. Why? Because he had other skills, and a passion for his craft to make up for the lack of higher education on his resume.

Just like Tiger Shroff, these following 5 actors also never attended college. Read about them here:

1. Aamir Khan

(c) Twitter

Aamir Khan was only 16-years-old when he acted in a silent film titled 'Paranoia'. His performance fetched him so much appreciation that he decided to ditch the idea of studying further and got into theatre instead. There was no looking back post that, and soon he became a full-time actor.

2. Alia Bhatt

(c) Twitter

Alia had just graduated from Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, when she had to start shooting for her debut film with Karan Johar in 2012. Alia has often expressed that she was never into academics and enjoyed extra-curricular more than studying. We suppose acting was her best bet after all. Look at all the performances she 'dhoptoed' the audience with recently!

3. Salman Khan

(c) Twitter

Bollywood's big brother went to school at St Stanislaus High School in Bandra, Mumbai. It is reported that he got himself enrolled in St Xavier's College but never attended because he wished to kick start his film career. Clearly, that was the best decision he made. Right?

4. Deepika Padukone

(c) Twitter

Deepika went to Sophia High School in Bangalore but could not complete her education because of the constant demands of her modelling career. She did get herself enrolled for a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from IGNOU, but quit eventually to focus on her modelling career full-time.

5. Arjun Kapoor

(c) Twitter

Arjun Kapoor's tryst with education hasn't been a very memorable one. Arjun attended Arya Vidya Mandir school in Mumbai, where he studied till 12th grade. However, he failed to clear his class 12th exams, and he quit his studies altogether.

These Bollywood A-listers with just their school education to back them, besides truck-loads of talent, prove that success does not restrict itself to people with good degrees on their resumes. It'll come to those who follow their passion, work hard to live their dreams and know how to utilise their skills and talents to make a name for themselves and live life king size.
This copy contains Massive, Major, Mega spoilers, so please walk away if you still have not seen 'Avengers: Endgame'.

Okay. So, I've seen 'Avengers: Endgame' three times already over the weekend? Can you blame me? You can't consume all that awesomeness in one sitting.

I mean, the first time I watched, pretty sure I blacked out at some point and could barely hear anything over the sound of my own screams. The second watch helped me process the movie a little better, and the third time, I was just sitting back and enjoying the reaction from the audience at all those moments where I had lost it during my first watch.

By the time I saw 'Endgame' a third time, a few quotes and one-liners had already stuck by me, and for a very good reason too. Given the kind of reaction these dialogues got from the audience, pretty sure they enjoyed it as much as I did.

So, here are 20 quotes, quips and one-liners from 'Endgame' that blew my mind, along with the rest of the audience's as well:

1. Before You Didn't Have Me.

 Marvel

Part of Carol Danvers' awesomeness comes from her insane confidence, which was on full display in this quote. We have the distressed Avengers discussing their next plan of action after Thanos wipes of 50 per cent of the planet, and Bruce Banner tries to reason with the team when they decide to go against Thanos one more time, saying how do we know it's going to end any differently than it did before?. To which Captain Marvel responds with this badass quote.

2. Let's Go Get This Sonofabitch.

 Marvel

Is there any better sound in this world than Captain America using profanities? When the Avengers decide to go kick Thanos' butt again, we have Steve Rogers saying this, and I couldn't help but yell LANGUAGE!

3. I Went For The Head.

 Marvel

I will not lie, I punched myself in the face here. I did not see it coming, man. Thor slicing the head off Thanos in one clean stroke, damn! Also, this quote is super significant given that Thanos had taunted Thor in 'Infinity War' when he struck the Titan in the chest, saying You should have gone for the head.

4. DAB!

Who would have imagined seeing the Hulk dab one day? Not me. Which is why watching 'Professor' Hulk dab along with a bunch of kids and taking selfies was such an unbelievable yet adorable thing. The best of Bruce Banner + the best of the Hulk = Professor Hulk.

5. I Just Want Peace.

 Marvel

When Tony Stark finally figures out Time Travel successfully and rushes to the Avengers Headquarters, you see him being greeted by Captain America, who looks a little taken aback given their previous encounter, where Tony had flatly refused from participating in any Time Travel-based missions. As a justification for changing his mind, Tony simply holds up a peace sign with his finger and says this sassy line.

6. What's Up Regular-Sized Man?

Man, I just love Scott Lang, ever since the first 'Ant-Man' movie. His comic timing is so on point that I can't even. However, this time, the tables turn when Rhodey lands in his War Machine suit right in front of Scott's face, and the poor guy almost gets a heart attack.

7. You Look Like Melted Ice-Cream.

 Marvel

I must say, watching overweight Thor walk around dejected and depressed with that jiggling beer belly damn near broke my heart. Sure, it was funny when Rocket made fun of him with this quote, but still, some sympathy would have been nice. But hey, who am I kidding? If I want sympathy, Rocket is the last racoon I'm gonna get it from.

8. You Want To Go To Space, Puppy? I'll Take You To Space!

Rocket really let Scott have it with this condescending quote, but can't really blame him. Scott was being rreeallly painfully slow here when the Avengers were discussing the locations of the Infinity stones across space. So, when Scott says, A planet? Like in outer space?, Rocket rips him a new one.

9. Hail Hydra.

 Marvel

Ohmygod! This was so cool. When these words left Captain America's mouth, I went partially deaf thanks to the screaming bloke next to me. It was bloody brilliant though. Cap playing along with the Hydra infiltrators instead of just kicking their ass like he did in 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier', was epic.

10. I Can Do This All Day.

Yeah, I Know!

 Marvel

When the Present Captain America faces Past Captain America, well, fireworks were expected. However, no one expected it to turn downright funny when Cap from the past shoots his infamous line at, what he thinks is Loki in disguise, to which the present, more jaded Cap replies less enthusiastically.

11. I Am Still Worthy!

This was super emotional for me, I must confess. After watching Thor being at his most dejected self, which has clearly taken a toll on him both mentally and physically, this moment when he finally redeems himself, was brilliant. Thor goes back in time to Asgard to retrieve the Reality Stone, when right before leaving for the present, he has a stroke of brilliance and summons Mjolnir (still intact as Hella has not arrived yet). You can see the joy he feels when he is reconnected with his old hammer which leads him to say these powerful words.

12. Let's Kill Him Properly This Time.

 Marvel

Thor reminds the Avengers that 'this time', while they are facing Thanos again, they will have no option but to take him out for good, unlike the last time in 'Infinity War' where Thor did not go for his head.

13. I KNEW IT!

Watching the audience losing it was nothing compared to Thor's reaction when Captain America wielded Mjolnir. I swear, it was the most badass moment in any Marvel movie I have ever seen. Electric Captain America. God, I was not ready for it.

14. Avengers, Assemble

Another orgasmic moment from the movie. You're lying if you're telling me you didn't clap, whistle or hoot like a maniac when Captain America said these words, as all the dusted superheroes came back after the snap was undone by Bruce. Thanos did not see this coming!

15. Don't Worry, She's Got Help.

What a girl power moment, am I right? With Thanos from the past, wreaking havoc in the present-day Earth, trying to get his hands on the new gauntlet made by the Avengers with all the Infinity Stones, we have Spider-Man looking bruised and battered, clutching the Gauntlet for dear life, and who swoops in to take over? Captain Marvel. Peter looks a little unsure about her plan looking at the battlefield and says, I don't know how you're going to get through all of that, to which the confident Okoye responds with this kickass dialogue. And then one by one, all the other female MCU characters appear and man, what a scene!

16. I Am Inevitable.

And I Am Iron Man.

I am confident I was not the only one whose heart was in their throats at this scene! After Thanos tosses Tony Stark to the side after a pretty intense grappling session, now armed with the Gauntlet, he says I am inevitable, and for a moment, all is lost as he snaps his fingers. But lo and behold! The gems are missing and then we see Tony revealing how he had stolen the Stones and planted them on his own armoured glove during their fight and delivers this incredible line. Raise your hands if you got goosebumps!

17. We Won Mr Stark. You Did It, Sir.

Remember, Mr StarkI don't feel so good?, how we were all left an emotional mess and felt we could never recover? Well, this was a million times worse. After Tony snaps his fingers and turns Thanos and his army to dust, we immediately see the life beginning to sap out of him as the Gauntlet had taken a toll on his mortal form. Peter runs to Tony and tries to console his hero, his mentor, who is taking his last breath and dying right before his eyes. SorrybrbI can't .

18. Tony, We'll Be Okay. You Can Rest Now.

 Marvel

Hands down, the most gut-wrenching scene from the movie. Tony is dying on the battlefield after defeating Thanos, and is surrounded by everyone he loves, and Pepper helps him go in peace as she holds him and assures him that he did his job and they were all going to be okay. You're made of stone if this scene didn't reduce to a blubbering mess!

19. I Love You 3000.

Watching Tony be a dad in the second half was one of the most fulfilling and beautiful scenes in the movie. Even though Thanos destroyed half the world, from that darkness, Tony managed to find a slice of happiness in the form of a family, which included his baby daughter Morgan. She tells him at one point, that she loves him three thousand, which he then gloats to Pepper, saying their daughter clearly loves him more than her. So, when the Avengers are at Iron Man's funeral, they play a video Tony had recorded for everyone right before they went against Thanos, just in case he died, and he repeats his daughter's line right back to her.

20. Your Dad Loved Cheeseburgers.

In one of the closing scenes, right after Iron Man's funeral, we see Happy sitting with Tony's daughter Morgan and asking her if she is hungry, to which she replies that she is indeed and that she would like to have a cheeseburger. A smiling Happy then delivers this simple yet powerful line and promises to get her all the cheeseburgers she wants.

This took me right back to the first 'Iron Man' movie, when Tony returns home after he escapes from his captors and says there are two things he wants, a press conference and.you guessed it right a cheeseburger! Clearly, this moment between Happy and Morgan was a nod to Tony making a complete turnabout in his life during that press conference where he announced to the world that he was not going to make weapons of mass destruction anymore, whilst having a cheeseburger. Oh God, the feels!!
There are so many weird things happening every day, but Kal Penn wanting to actually be in the cult classic show 'Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah' was not something anyone could've ever expected.

Yesterday, he shared a video of one of his characters, Ladies Bhai, an 'old, ridiculous Gujarati sketch character'. It's a pretty funny little sketch of him talking in Gujarati and explaining why he's called Ladies Bhai.

Meet Ladies Bhai: an old, ridiculous Gujarati sketch character with a great shirt. pic.twitter.com/3KxT9joqUq  Kal Penn (@kalpenn) April 29, 2019

It obviously got a bunch of funny replies with people coming up with a Gujarati twist on Kal Penn's name.

When you expected Kal Penn, but get Kalpen Bhai instead https://t.co/oiBJkiy8cc  Student Dr. Lal (@thisisnotharsh) April 29, 2019

Simple.

Ha ha top class https://t.co/Upr88EKmJc  Rohan Bopanna (@rohanbopanna) April 29, 2019

This person even changed their Twitter name to Ladies Bhai!

BIG summertime energy right here https://t.co/aU4ZzL6Dr9  Ladies Bhai (@govinbhai) April 30, 2019

But, then came the tweet we have all been thinking about.

@kalpenn needs to be on Tarak Mehta ka ooltah chashmah. https://t.co/AEIDrJlm7L  Imroze .  (@shmeerliveshere) April 30, 2019

Just imagine Ladies Bhai and Jethalal together in an episode, a lot of fans would love it. While it seemed like a joke at first, he made sure to tell everyone that he would actually love to be a part of that show.

You joke but this has legit been a goal. 

Cc: @TMKOC_NTF https://t.co/dKwQblLryG  Kal Penn (@kalpenn) April 30, 2019

Looks like it might just happen soon enough now.

Tarak Mehta team... Please get this done   Bhau (@rickythechamp) April 30, 2019

Actually, turns out the only thing Kal has to do now is say yes, since the creator of the show has already invited him to appear on the show.

Sir , please please come to our @TMKOC_NTF show. We will be happy to host you on your show and would love to work with you  Asit Kumarr Modi (@AsitKumarrModi) April 30, 2019

Great suggestion.
Earlier this year, the whole world was talking about a certain Rozi Khan from Pakistan. Why? Because he looks strikingly similar to actor Peter Dinklage aka Tyrion Lannister from 'Game Of Thrones'.

 HBO

On one hand, where people were losing their minds over 'Game Of Thrones' that has now entered its final season, Khan wasn't even aware of Dinklage or the show or the popularity that he was enjoying for being his doppelganger.

 AFP

However, things have now changed and how. From being someone who had never heard about the show to making his acting debut as Tyrion Lannister; Khan has come a long way in a really short time. You read it right!

 YouTube

Rozi Khan, who is a waiter by profession, just got a lead role in a food commercial in Pakistan. In the commercial, he is seen dressed as 'Tyrion Lannister' with people coming to him to click selfies and get autographs.

In fact, the makers of this advertisement sure knew how to cash in on his popularity and that of the show, as they included references from 'GOT'. The ad shows people walking up to him and saying things like 'Winter is coming', 'Please tell, what happens at the end?' and 'I heard, you always pay your debts'.

We wonder what the real Tyrion Lannister will say once he sees this commercial.
It's almost time for one of the biggest launches of the year and there's now a new leak which has nothing to do with the phone. Instead, we get to see everything that will be launching alongside the new OnePlus smartphones. The leaked images look more like the reviewer's box which includes everything from the smartphone to the accessories.

 Twitter_Ishan Agarwal

The leaked image gives us a glimpse of everything else OnePlus is planning to launch. At first glance, you see the OnePlus Wireless Bullets 2 which is rumoured to be a triple-driver Bluetooth earphone similar to what 1MORE makes. Apart from the wireless OnePlus bullets, the Chinese company is also looking to launch a Warp Charge 30 car charger.

 Twitter_Linus Tech Tips

The OnePlus 7 Pro also reveals that the in-car charger will be based on the Warp Charge 30 charger that was introduced with the McLaren edition of the OnePlus 6T. This also kind of confirms that the wall charger will be the same as the McLaren edition as well.

 Twitter_Ishan Agarwal

The leak of the images came from an accidental tweet by Linus Tech Tips and more were shared by Ishan Agarwal on Twitter. The images shared by Mr Agarwal show more details about the packaging; however, the actual device has not been pictured yet. The packaging has the 'Go Beyond Speed' tagline we've seen in previous rumours. However, the accessories in the box are what impressed us the most and we can't wait to check them out ourselves.
Detroit, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marygrove Colleges Institute for Detroit Studies (IDS) will welcome author and Oakland University Associate Professor Daniel J. Clark for its 44th Defining Detroit event on May 14 at 7 p.m. Clark will present Disruption in Detroit: Challenging the 1950s Prosperity Myth, continuing its nearly two-decade tradition of bringing internationally-renowned authors and scholars to campus.



This event, which takes place in Madame Cadillac Hall on the campus of Marygrove College, is free and open to the public. Professor Clark will sign copies of his latest book, Disruption in Detroit: Autoworkers and the Elusive Postwar Boom. Books will be available for purchase.





For Detroiters, the car and the automotive industry itself are sources of pride that often shape how we see ourselves and our city, said Marygrove College President Dr. Elizabeth Burns. But how did the industry impact postwar Detroiters, specifically those working on the factory line? Daniel J. Clark will answer that question and much more at this important event.

Daniel J. Clark is an associate professor of history at Oakland University. He is the author of Like Night and Day: Unionization in a Southern Mill Town as well as Disruption in Detroit. He teaches courses in U.S. Labor and Cold War America as well as undergraduate and graduate seminars.

For more information, please contact Shaun Nethercott, executive director of the Institute for Detroit Studies, (313) 927-1372 or snethercott@marygrove.edu.

###





ABOUT MARYGROVE COLLEGES DEFINING DETROIT SERIES

Defining Detroit is a series of Detroit-focused lectures, readings, exhibits, and performances established in 2000 by the Marygrove College Institute for Detroit Studies. Previous guests include Melba Joyce Boyd, Kevin Boyle, Jim Daniels, Toi Derricotte, Angela D. Dillard, Jeffrey Eugenides, Lolita Hernandez, Lawrence Joseph, Philip Levine, Naomi Long Madgett, Joyce Carol Oates, Thomas J. Sugrue, June Manning Thomas, Heather Ann Thompson and Desiree Cooper. A complete list is at: https://www.marygrove.edu/detroit-studies.

ABOUT MARYGROVE COLLEGE

Established in the city of Detroit in 1927, Marygrove College is an independent Catholic graduate college sponsored by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) and guided by the values of human dignity; community; social justice; ecological justice; excellence; innovation; and diversity. The campus is situated on 53 wooded acres at 8425 W. McNichols Rd., Detroit, MI 48221. Visit www.marygrove.edu.
Google's Pixel 3a and 3a XL have long been rumoured to launch and it seems like the search engine giant is all set to be unveiled at Google I/O on May 7th. Flipkart, on the other hand, posted artwork that basically said, Something big is coming to the Pixel universe on May 8th. It can now be confirmed that Google's new mid-budget Pixel device will launch in India on May 8th.

 Flipkart

Last month, Google accidentally revealed the launch date of its new device which said On May 7, meet a new hero, the same date Google's 2019 I/O event is set to take place. Previous leaks have shown us the rumoured smartphone with an additional purple variant alongside the classic black and white variant. An image of the said smartphone was leaked online by Twitter tipster Evan Blass.

 Twitter/EvLeaks

The Pixel 3a/3a XL is expected to offer similar camera performance as the more expensive flagship counterpart. The primary shooter is rumoured to be a 12.2-MP sensor, while the front-facing camera has an 8-MP sensor. In fact, this may just be Google's most successful device in India, thanks to its lower price. The camera is said to have some of the AI features similar to the Pixel 3.

 Twitter

The smartphone is rumoured to be powered by Qualcomm's 670 processor. In terms of RAM, the processor will be paired with 4G of RAM and have 32GB/64GB storage options. In terms of display, the Pixel 3a/ 3a XL is expected to have a 5.6-inches 1080p (FHD+) panel, however, it is not known whether it is an LCD or an AMOLED panel. In terms of battery, the Pixel 3a /3a XL is rumoured to have a 3,000 mAh battery capacity.

The Pixel 3a is expected to start at Rs. 33,590, however, we can only be sure once the smartphone is officially revealed in a few days.
PARSIPPANY, N.J., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acrow Bridge , a leading international bridge engineering and supply company, is pleased to announce the installation of the first of 44 bridges provided to the Government of Cameroon as part of Acrows financed Comprehensive Bridge Development Program delivered in 2018. In addition to the supply of the bridges, the program provides the extensive training of local engineers and technicians in the assembly, installation and maintenance of these critical infrastructure assets.



Designed to contribute to the repair and modernization of Cameroons rural infrastructure, the project will support the development of regional trade and provide better access to schools, medical clinics and other basic goods and services. The modular steel bridges, prefabricated in the United States, are single- and multi-span double-lane structures ranging from 12 meters to more than 120 meters in length, which will be installed throughout the country by the local workforce. Acrow will continue to provide technical advisory services on-site to select installations.

Since its founding in 1951, Acrow has delivered bridging solutions in over 80 countries, with more than 2000 structures having been installed in developing countries over the last decade. Over the past two decades, Acrow has been engaged in more than 20 countries in Africa in the delivery of well over a thousand bridges and the training of thousands of African engineers and contractors in bridge assembly, installation and maintenance.

Through its financed Comprehensive Bridge Development Program model, Acrow has worked on a number of large infrastructure development projects in Africa, including the supply of more than 150 bridges to the Government of Angola, 100 bridges to the Department of Feeder Roads in Ghana and recently, more than 130 bridges to the government of Zambia. Financing for the project in Cameroon was arranged by Acrow Bridge via a lending facility extended by Societe Generale Bank, a Paris-based international financial institution, and loan guarantees issued by the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank). In 2016, this project was awarded EXIM Banks Deal of the Year.

Acrows prefabricated steel bridges are well-suited for infrastructure development projects, as they offer a number of advantages over other types of bridges. Acrows modular design allows for the easy customization of each structure to meet specific site requirements, which often enables bridges to be erected in challenging, remote locations. Installations are typically completed in days or weeks, employing the local workforce and requiring minimal heavy equipment. Acrow bridges are durable and permanent infrastructure solutions designed to withstand even the most rugged of conditions with a service life of 75 years or more. Acrows modular components are fabricated in the U.S. from high-strength, high-quality U.S. steel and hot-dip zinc galvanized to protect against corrosion.

It is extremely gratifying to see this project come to fruition, with Acrow bridges now being installed across Cameroon and to the benefit of the Cameroonian people, said Paul Sullivan, Senior Vice President  International at Acrow Bridge. Acrow is privileged to have worked with the Government of Cameroon, EXIM Bank and other stakeholders on this important project, which required a collaborative, solution-oriented approach to successfully manage the complex set of technical, logistical and financial challenges.

Strong infrastructure is fundamental to competitiveness, stability and sustainable economic growth anywhere in the world, added Bill Killeen, CEO of Acrow. The relationships we have established with different African nations over the years have resulted in some of our most gratifying achievements as a company, as our bridges help connect people and communities in ways that support the expansion of prosperity for individuals, businesses and governments.

About Acrow Bridge

Acrow Bridge has been serving the transportation and construction industries for more than 60 years with a full line of modular steel bridging solutions for vehicle, rail, military and pedestrian use. Acrows extensive international presence includes its leadership in the development and implementation of bridge infrastructure projects in over 80 countries, covering Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.acrow.com.

Contact:

Tracy Van Buskirk

Marketcom PR

Main: (212) 537-5177, ext. 8

Mobile: (203) 246-6165

tvanbuskirk@marketcompr.com
TORONTO, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (TSX: LCS, LCS.PR.A) Brompton Lifeco Split Corp. (the Company) is pleased to announce that it has completed a private placement of preferred shares for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $12.8 million (the Private Placement). Pursuant to the Private Placement, 1,284,805 preferred shares were sold to investors at a price of $10.00 per preferred share.



The preferred shares were offered in order to maintain an equal number of class A shares and preferred shares outstanding following the April 29, 2019 special retraction. As a result of the successful completion of the Private Placement, a greater number of shares of the Company will remain outstanding, which will maintain more market liquidity for both holders of the preferred shares and class A shares of the Company and also help sustain a lower overall management expense ratio.

Over the last five years to March 31, 2019, the preferred shares have delivered a 5.9% per annum total return based on net asset value, outperforming the total return of the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index by 5.9% per annum with lower volatility. Since inception in April 2007, the preferred shares have provided a total return of 5.6% per annum.(1)

The Company invests in a portfolio of common shares of Canadas four largest publicly-listed life insurance companies, on an approximately equal weight basis: Great-West Lifeco Inc., Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc., Manulife Financial Corporation and Sun Life Financial Inc.

About Brompton Funds

Brompton Funds, a division of Brompton Group which was founded in 2000, is an experienced investment fund manager with over $2 billion in assets under management. Bromptons investment solutions include TSX traded funds and mutual funds. For further information, please contact your investment advisor, call Bromptons investor relations line at 416-642-6000 (toll-free at 1-866-642-6001), email info@bromptongroup.com or visit our website at www.bromptongroup.com .





(1)Annual Compound Returns* 1-Year 3-Year 5-Year 10-Year Since Inception

(April 18, 2007) Brompton Lifeco Split Corp.  Class A (14.5 %) 10.5 % 3.6 % 32.9 % (2.1 %) S&P/TSX Capped Financials Total Return Index 3.8 % 10.9 % 8.5 % 14.0 % 7.4 % S&P/TSX Composite Total Return Index 8.1 % 9.3 % 5.4 % 9.5 % 5.4 % Brompton Lifeco Split Corp.  Preferred 5.9 % 5.9 % 5.9 % 5.6 % 5.6 % S&P/TSX Preferred Share Total Return Index (6.8 %) 6.2 % 0.0 % 4.0 % 1.4 %

*Source: Brompton, Thomson Reuters. Returns are for the periods ended March 31, 2019. The table above shows the compound annual total returns of the Companys class A shares and, preferred shares for each period indicated, compared with the compound, annual total returns of the S&P/TSX Capped Financials Index (Financials Index), the S&P/TSX Preferred Share Index (Preferred Index) and the S&P/ TSX Composite Index (Composite Index). The Financials Index is derived from the Composite Index based on the financials sector of the Global Industry Classification Standard; the Composite Index tracks the performance, on a market-weight basis, of a broad index of large-capitalization issuers listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The Preferred Index is comprised of preferred shares listed and trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange that meet criteria relating to size, liquidity, and issuer rating. The Company passively invests on an equal-weight basis in a portfolio comprised of four Canadian life insurance companies which are in both the Financials Index and the Composite Index. Since the indices have more diversified portfolios, it is not expected that the companys performance will mirror that of the indices. Further, the indices are calculated without the impact of management fees and fund expenses, whereas the performance of the Company is calculated after deducting such fees and expenses.

You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell shares of the investment funds on the Toronto Stock Exchange or other alternative Canadian trading system (an exchange). If the shares are purchased or sold on an exchange, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying shares of the investment fund and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them.

There are ongoing fees and expenses associated with owning shares of an investment fund. An investment fund must prepare disclosure documents that contain key information about the fund. You can find more detailed information about the Company in the public filings available at www.sedar.com. The indicated rates of return are the historical annual compounded total returns including changes in share value and reinvestment of all distributions and do not take into account certain fees such as redemption costs or income taxes payable by any securityholder that would have reduced returns. Investment funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated.

Certain statements contained in this document constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to matters disclosed in this document and to other matters identified in public filings relating to the Company, to the future outlook of the Company and anticipated events or results and may include statements regarding the future financial performance of the Company. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by terms such as may, will, should, expect, plan, anticipate, believe, intend, estimate, predict, potential, continue or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Actual results may vary from such forward-looking information. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and we assume no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
DENVER, Colo., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

In support of the month of Mays focus on Lyme disease awareness, the LivLyme Foundation is encouraging the public to download the free TickTracker app, which is available at the Google Play and Apple app stores. Created by 14-year-old Olivia Goodreau to help combat tick-transmitted infections and diseases, the app uses a patent-pending algorithm to coordinate multiple tick-activity data sources into a simple and user-friendly map view. TickTracker continues to grow and has users in countries across the globe. It is Olivias hope that the app will become more of a key data resource for scientists and government agencies in the United States that are combating ticks and tick-borne disease expansion. The plan is to continue developing the app into multiple languages so that everyone can have access in their native tongue. Currently, the apps technology is available in English, French and Spanish with easy distribution in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

The federal government has rallied around the promotion of the free app to the public, selecting TickTracker as a part of the 2018 The Opportunity Projects (TOP) Sprint Program. After completing the 14-week program, TickTracker was a focal point in the Census Bureaus TOP Demo Day, which showcased 20+ new innovative tech tools to more than 15 governmental agencies searching for effective ways to solve some of the worlds most critical challenges. Olivias TickTracker app was also selected by the Department of Health and Human Services as one of the most impactful technological creations coming out of the TOP Health Sprint. This recognition garnered Olivia an invitation to present at the TOP Health Showcase on the White House grounds at the request of the Presidential Innovation Fellows and Department of Health and Human Services in early February 2019.

In addition to providing real-time and historic data on an interactive map using geolocation, users can report tick sightings and bites. The life-saving app also educates users, especially kids, about tick identification, prevention and safety through game-based learning. Olivia contracted Lyme disease during a family vacation while in the first grade, but she was not diagnosed with the illness until 18-months later after going through a battery of tests and seeing 51 doctors. This experience prompted her to devote countless hours to the cause by supporting research and organizing fundraising events through the LivLyme Foundation. However, her greatest contribution to date may be the creation of the life-saving TickTracker app.

Lyme is one of the fastest growing vector-borne diseases. Every year, more than 350,000 people contract the illness, while many of them never get a 'bullseye' rash or even know they were bitten. Lyme disease can be transmitted from mosquito bites, rodents, mother-to-child transmission, and many other ways. Based on current usage, TickTracker has a goal to develop the largest collection of tick sightings and tick reports in the world to further the global effort to eradicate tick-borne disease. TickTracker collects tick photos that are shared with Lyme labs and research facilities to help scientists better track tick populations and ultimately aid in their research for a cure to Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. With the discovery of the Asian Longhorn Tick in 2017, health officials are concerned about the case numbers increasing. This particular tick, which can also be found on pets, livestock, and wildlife, can reproduce without mating. Swarms of ticks can attack in numbers of 1,000 or more on one animal or person. Which is why it is vital that the public is aware of the free TickTracker app across the globe.



For the full press kit, visit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/504fale0wkg8ddd/AABGIlBpE9IPPS_1OFnZIYgJa?dl=0
ARCHAMPS, France, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Genkyotex (Euronext Paris & Brussels: FR0013399474  GKTX), a biopharmaceutical company and the leader in NOX therapies, will hold a conference call on May 2, 2019 at 1pm CEST (in French) and at 2pm CEST (in English). The call will be hosted by Elias Papatheodorou, CEO of Genkyotex; Philippe Wiesel, Chief Medical Officer of Genkyotex and Alexandre Grassin, VP Finance & Administration.



French Call at 1pm Paris time on 2 nd May:

Participants numbers for the call :

FR : +33 (0) 1 7037 7166

UK : +44 (0) 20 3003 2666

US : +1 212 999 6659

Webcast link : https://channel.royalcast.com/webcast/genkyotexfr/20190502_1/

English Call at 2pm Paris time on 2 nd May:

Participants numbers for the call :

FR : +33 (0) 1 7037 7166

UK : +44 (0) 20 3003 2666

US : +1 212 999 6659

Webcast link : https://channel.royalcast.com/webcast/genkyotexen/20190502_1/

Speaker number: +44 (0) 20 3023 4484

To ensure that the conference call starts on time, please dial in 5-10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

About Genkyotex

Genkyotex is the leading biopharmaceutical company in NOX therapies, listed on the Euronext Paris and Euronext Brussels markets. A leader in NOX therapies, its unique therapeutic approach is based on a selective inhibition of NOX enzymes that amplify multiple disease processes such as fibrosis, inflammation, pain processing, cancer development, and neurodegeneration.

Genkyotexs platform enables the identification of orally available small-molecules that selectively inhibit specific NOX enzymes. Genkyotex is developing a pipeline of first-in-class product candidates targeting one or multiple NOX enzymes. The lead product candidate, GKT831, a NOX1 and NOX4 inhibitor is evaluated in a phase 2 clinical trial in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC, a fibrotic orphan disease) and in an investigator-initiated Phase 2 clinical trial in Type 1 Diabetes and Kidney Disease (DKD). A grant from the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) of $8.9 million was awarded to Professor Victor Thannickal at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) to fund a multi-year research program evaluating the role of NOX enzymes in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic lung disease that results in fibrosis of the lungs, the core component of the program will be to conduct a Phase 2 trial with the GKT831 in patients with IPF. This product candidate may also be active in other fibrotic indications.

Genkyotex also has a versatile platform well-suited to the development of various immunotherapies (Vaxiclase). A partnership covering the use of Vaxiclase as an antigen per se (GTL003) has been established with Serum Institute of India Private Ltd (Serum Institute), the worlds largest producer of vaccine doses, for the development by Serum Institute of cellular multivalent combination vaccines against a variety of infectious diseases.

For further information, please go to www.genkyotex.com .

Disclaimer

This press release may contain forward-looking statements by the company with respect to its objectives. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs, estimates and expectations of Genkyotexs management and are subject to risks and uncertainties such as the company's ability to implement its chosen strategy, customer market trends, changes in technologies and in the company's competitive environment, changes in regulations, clinical or industrial risks and all risks linked to the company's growth. These factors as well as other risks and uncertainties may prevent the company from achieving the objectives outlined in the press release and actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, due to various factors. Without being exhaustive, such factors include uncertainties involved in the development of Genkyotexs products, which may not succeed, or in the delivery of Genkyotexs products marketing authorizations by the relevant regulatory authorities and, in general, any factor that could affects Genkyotexs capacity to commercialize the products it develops. No guarantee is given on forward-looking statements which are subject to a number of risks, notably those described in the registration document (document de reference) registered by the French Markets Authority (the AMF) on 26 April 2019 under number R.19-014, and those linked to changes in economic conditions, the financial markets, or the markets on which Genkyotex is present. Genkyotex products are currently used for clinical trials only and are not otherwise available for distribution or sale.
(CNN)  Venezuela's embattled President Nicolas Maduro has claimed his troops have defeated a "coup" attempt amid calls by opposition leader Juan Guaido for protestors to return to the streets Wednesday.

In a live televised address Tuesday night, his first since the apparent uprising began, Maduro rejected claims he has lost control of the military and accused "imperialist" forces of seeking "to attack and overthrow a legitimate government to enslave Venezuela."

"We have been facing various forms of coup d'etat, due to the obsessive efforts of the Venezuelan right, the Colombian oligarchy and the U.S. empire," Maduro explained, adding that the military air base Guaido had spoken from earlier in the morning was never under the control of the opposition.

The speech followed a dawn address from Guaido Tuesday, in which the young opposition leader, standing alongside a group of soldiers in the capital Caracas, announced an uprising to seize power from Maduro. It marked the most serious challenge to Maduro's leadership so far and unleashed a day of street protests and skirmishes.

In a follow-up video post, recorded from an unknown location and posted Tuesday evening, Guaido called for renewed action "over the expanse and length of Venezuela."

He urged "all of Venezuela" to protest on International Worker's Day, a globally celebrated holiday that falls on May 1.

Despite the government's claims that the Tuesday uprising had been quashed, Guaido, who is the head of Venezuela's National Assembly, said that "Operation Freedom" would continue.

In the video speech, Guaido said that Maduro no longer had the "support nor the respect of the armed forces."

He asked the military to help advance "Operation Freedom," which he described as a mission to rescue "our dignity, our country, our people, our family -- that is the challenge."

"May 1, we continue to be in the streets, in the selected places of gathering chosen and defined in all the national territory. Over the expanse and length of Venezuela, we will be in the streets. We will see you all in the streets. That is our territory," Guaido said.

Guaido: Army deserting Maduro

On Tuesday, protesters made their way to the city's La Carlota military airbase, sparking confrontations between Guaido's military supporters and Maduro regime loyalists under a cloud of tear gas as gunshots rang through the air.

More than 70 people were injured in the clashes and were taken to Salud Chacao Medical Center in Caracas, according to the hospital's president.

Of the injured, 42 were wounded with rubber bullets and two were treated for gunshot wounds. According to Venezuela Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino, a military colonel was also shot during clashes.

Opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez -- apparently freed from house arrest by defecting soldiers -- had taken refuge in the Chilean diplomatic mission residency, and by Tuesday night was being relocated, alongside his family, to the Spanish Embassy in Caracas.

U.S.: Maduro attempts to flee thwarted

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had claimed Tuesday that Maduro was on the cusp of fleeing to Cuba before being talked into staying by Moscow. Speaking at an event in Washington, DC, on Tuesday night, he said that the U.S. State Department, intelligence community and military were all "very focused on protecting the Venezuelan people, restoring their dignity, growing their economy."

Pompeo said that the US government was "committed to creating democracy here in the Western Hemisphere" and that Venezuela faced "the singularly worst humanitarian crisis, absent conflict, absent war, in the history of the world."

In his televised address Tuesday, Maduro denied Pompeo's claims that he was preparing to abscond, calling them "craziness" and "lies and manipulation."

"Please, Mr. Pompeo, you're not being serious," he said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also denied the US claims, telling CNN that "Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war."

When Guaido announced his alternative government the beginning of the year he was backed by the US and dozens of other nations. Since then, Venezuela -- which is mired in a deep political and humanitarian crisis -- has had two men claiming to be president.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Venezuela's Maduro claims to have defeated 'coup,' as rival Guaido urges more protests."
HAMILTON, Ontario, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (TSXV:RHT or OTCQB:RQHTF) (Reliq or the Company), a technology company that develops innovative mobile health (mHealth) and telemedicine solutions for the community-based healthcare market, today provided an update on the ongoing litigation the Company had previously announced in a news release on February 26, 2019.



As disclosed in the Companys February 26, 2019 news release, Reliq Health Technologies Inc. had previously commenced actions against Stephen Samson, Boby Deveros, Claudio Damaso, George Rayner, Shelby Neal, Accuhealth Technologies LLC, Evelyn Technologies LLC, and Evelyn Technologies Canada Inc. in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Superior Court of the State of Delaware and the US District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.

The Company is pleased to announce that Reliq and all of the defendants have agreed to settle all claims and causes of action between them, and are currently finalizing the documents necessary to implement the settlement. The settlement with Ms. Neal is subject to the satisfaction of certain agreed conditions.

The Company also announced today that as a result of a review by the TSX Venture Exchange, Reliq is providing the following clarification of a previous disclosure.

On October 16, 2018, the Company issued a press release stating it had decided to restate certain financial information reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2018. In that release, the Company further stated that it would issue restated Q3 interim financial statements upon the completion of the June 30, 2018 audit. The audited financial statements were filed on October 29, 2018. Following discussions with the Companys auditors which took place after the October 16, 2018 press release but before the audited financial statements were filed on October 29, 2018, it was determined that it would be more appropriate to reflect the impact of the collection issues by recognizing bad debt of $1,137,170 in Q4 FY2018 instead of restating revenues for Q3 FY2018. The bad debt was recorded in the annual audited financial statements filed on October 29, 2018 and was discussed in the accompanying annual MD&A. This position was taken for the revenue recognized from January 1, 2018 to March 31, 2018 because, at the time, some or all of the outstanding revenue was believed to be collectible.

The Companys news release issued on February 26, 2019 should not have referred to a restatement, but rather to the events that led to the October 16, 2018 announcement of a restatement. As described above, a restatement was ultimately determined not to be the appropriate treatment of the collection issues, which were recognized instead as bad debt as described below.

As disclosed in the Companys annual audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2018, the Company recognized revenue that is consistent with paragraph 20 of IAS 18  Revenue (IAS 18), that is (1) the amount of revenue can be reliably measured, (2) it is probable that economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the Company, (3) the stage of completion at the balance sheet date can be measured reliably, and (4) the costs incurred, or to be incurred, in respect of the transaction can be measured reliably. The Companys financial statements are prepared using managements estimates, judgments and assumptions as at the date of the reporting. Consistent with IAS 8  Accounting policies, changes in accounting estimates and errors (IAS 8), hindsight should not be used when applying a new accounting policy to, or correcting amounts for, a prior period, either in making assumptions about what managements intentions would have been in a prior period or estimating the amounts recognized, measured or disclosed in a prior period. The decision to recognize bad debt of $1,137,170 in Q4 FY2018 instead of restating revenues was made in accordance with IAS 8 as described above.

In addition, the Company wishes to clarify the reason behind the decrease in the reported number of patients onboarded from March 31, 2018 to March 1, 2019. As of March 31, 2018, the Company reported over 12,000 patients onboarded. As disclosed in the Companys press release on October 16, 2018, the Company had encountered unanticipated issues with patients eligibility and the manual claims submission process, and had ultimately determined that it would likely be unable to collect revenue for an - as of October 16, 2018 - still to be determined number of these patients. As disclosed in the Companys MD&A for the quarter ended December 31, 2018, the Companys focus for November and December 2018 was the screening of these patients for eligibility and the removal of any patients who were ineligible for reimbursement for Reliqs services from its platform. In early 2019 the Company determined that as of December 31, 2018 there were 2,713 patients of the original 12,000+ patient population who both still required Reliqs services and were eligible for reimbursement for telemonitoring services, and the Company therefore reported this number in the quarterly financial statements issued March 1, 2019 as the total number of patients onboarded and billable as of December 31, 2018. The Company has implemented several changes to ensure that issues with eligibility and claims submission do not affect Reliqs revenue collections going forward:

Reliq will no longer rely on customer screening for patient qualification and eligibility. Going forward the Company will screen patients using its own software tools and processes, which are now in place.



The Company has revised its standard client agreement to require payment for services rendered within 60 days of months end, irrespective of whether or not the client has received reimbursement from the payor in question.

The Company is therefore confident that going forward any revenue projected for onboarded patients will be collectible.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Dr. Lisa Crossley

CEO and Director

ABOUT RELIQ HEALTH

Reliq Health Technologies is a healthcare technology company that specializes in developing innovative software solutions for the Community Care market. Reliqs powerful iUGO Care platform supports care coordination and community-based healthcare. The iUGO Care platform integrates wearables, sensors, voice technology and intuitive mobile apps and desktop user interfaces for patients, clinicians and healthcare administrators. iUGO Care allows complex patients to receive high quality care at home, improving health outcomes, enhancing quality of life for patients and families and reducing the cost of care delivery. iUGO Care provides real-time access to remote patient monitoring data, allowing for timely interventions by the care team to prevent costly hospital readmissions and ER visits. Reliq Health Technologies trades on the TSX Venture under the symbol RHT and on the OTCQB as RQHTF.

For further information please contact:

Investor Relations at ir@reliqhealth.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements".

We caution you that such "forward-looking statements" involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual and future events to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to commercial operations, including technology development, anticipated revenues, projected size of market, and other information that is based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management.

Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (the "Company") does not intend and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties relating to, among other things, technology development and marketing activities, the Company's historical experience with technology development, uninsured risks. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Reliq Health Technologies Inc.
Hamilton, Bermuda, May 1, 2019 - Seadrill Limited ("Seadrill" or the "Company") refers to the announcement by Gulf International Services, which makes reference to Seadrill, made in connection with the award of 6 drilling contracts by Qatar Petroleum to Gulf Drilling International Ltd (GDI).

Seadrill has an existing Strategic Cooperation Agreement (SCA) with GDI under which one rig is currently operating in Qatar. The Company is working with GDI to finalize an agreement to provide up to 5 additional Jack-up rigs under the terms of the SCA.

The Company believes this is an attractive opportunity that will further strengthen the relationship between the parties. A further announcement will be made once the agreement has been finalized.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business, the markets in which it operates and its restructuring efforts. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 20-F (File No. 001-34667). The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward looking statement.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
NEW YORK, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC will host a webcast for the Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: INF) (the Fund) on Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at 4:30pm ET. Brookfield will provide an update on the Fund and on general market conditions.



There will be an opportunity to ask questions about the Fund during the call. Questions may also be submitted ahead of the call by sending an e-mail to publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com .

Registration and Webcast Link: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/2uf5ughr

A replay will be available via this link shortly following the webcast.

A transcript of the call will also be available by calling 855-777-8001 or emailing publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com.

Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (PSG) is an SEC-registered investment adviser that represents the Public Securities platform of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., providing global listed real assets strategies including real estate equities, infrastructure equities, energy infrastructure equities, multi-strategy real asset solutions and real asset debt. With nearly $19 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2019, PSG manages separate accounts, registered funds and opportunistic strategies for financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and individual investors. PSG is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., a leading global alternative asset manager with more than $350 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2018. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com.

The Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc. is managed by Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC. The Fund uses its website as a channel of distribution of material company information. Financial and other material information regarding the Fund is routinely posted on and accessible at www.brookfield.com.

COMPANY CONTACT

Brookfield Global Listed Infrastructure Income Fund Inc.
UPPER THUMB  Tractor Supply Company is calling for 4-H and FFA youth to demonstrate what it means to be a great neighbor during the retailers Mobile Fair Tour, a 10-stop journey across the United States.

The Great Neighbor Contest is an experiential component of the Mobile Fair Tour where local youth are encouraged to submit a photo with a 200-word description for participation.
To the editor:

Did you know in the state of Michigan, there are approximately 1 in 7 people who struggles with hunger? Did you know in Huron County, we have nearly 14% of our residents, our neighbors, our friends, living at the poverty level. That is over 4,400 residents locally.

Every year on the second Saturday in May, Letter Carriers locally and across the United States conduct a massively successful one-day food drive. This year's Stamp Out Hunger event will take place on Saturday, May 11.

We Letter Carriers receive tremendous support from organizations including USPS, National Rural Letter Carriers Association, United Way Worldwide/Huron County United Way, Rotary Club, Kellogg's, AFL-CIO and many others.

The single most important component for our Stamp Out Hunger food drive to be a success is support from our community. That is you. How can you help?

Consider the opportunity to volunteer. For details and information, call Debbie Polega at 989-315-1269.

Donate non-perishable food such as peanut butter, canned meat, canned fruit/veggies, cereals, baby food, personal care items, or grocery store gift cards.

Mark this on your calendar, set an alarm/reminder on your digital device, write it in your date-book, hang a note on your mirror!

Be prepared on May 11. Place your bag of non-perishable and non-glass container food items by your mailbox. Your Letter Carrier will gather it during regular mail delivery operations. All donations will be distributed to various Huron County food pantries.

Please help us in our fight to end hunger, as we celebrate our 27th anniversary year in America's great day of giving. Together, we can Stamp Out Hunger in our community.

Debra Polega

Bad Axe
CARO -- The Tuscola Intermediate School District, in collaboration with Mid Michigan College, is now offering a number of college courses to area high school students.

Students from the local school districts can get a significant start on earning a college degree while they're still in high school through this opportunity. Juniors and seniors can participate in dual enrollment at the TISD and earn both high school and college credits by successfully completing courses.

This is the first year of Mid's partnership with TISD to offer dual enrollment to students. Dual enrollment is designed to prepare students for success in college and start them on a path toward earning a degree/credential. Students are required to purchase their own textbooks, but the local school districts and high schools cover tuition costs for the courses students complete successfully.

"We are so excited about the launch of this partnership with Tuscola," said Scott Mertes, Vice President of Community Outreach & Advancement at Mid. "Both Mid and TISD share a commitment to student success and meeting community needs."

Parents who want to learn more about dual enrollment can attend a free informational meeting at the Tuscola ISD from 6 to 7 p.m., Monday, May 6. In just one hour, parents and students can learn how dual enrollment works, how students benefit and how to get started.

"We're thrilled to be launching college-level courses, academic programs, and short-term training opportunities with Mid," noted Gene Pierce, superintendent at Tuscola ISD. "We know there's a need for improved access to higher education in Tuscola, especially in fast-growing career fields with local employment openings."

The increased access to college courses has generated positive feedback, and a number of community members have already submitted applications to teach courses. However, qualified instructors are still needed, and must be screened and hired through Mid. Interested community members should contact Human Resources at 989-386-6621 or midmich.edu/jobs.

For more information about Mid offerings in Tuscola, visit midmich.edu/thumb or contact Scott Mertes at smertes@midmich.edu or 989-386-6614.
SPRINGDALE, Ark., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) will webcast its presentation at the BMO Capital Markets 14th Annual Farm to Market investor conference Wednesday, May 15, at 8:10 a.m. ET.



Representing Tyson Foods will be Noel White, president and CEO, and Stewart Glendinning, executive vice president and CFO.

The webcast will be available at the companys investor relations website http://ir.tyson.com or on the Tyson IR App. The webcast also may be access by direct link at https://cc.talkpoint.com/bmoc001/051519a_as/?entity=3_POJV0R8 .

To download Tyson Foods free investor relations app, which offers access to SEC filings, news releases, transcripts, webcasts and presentations, please visit the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android mobile devices.

About Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) is one of the worlds largest food companies and a recognized leader in protein. Founded in 1935 by John W. Tyson and grown under three generations of family leadership, the company has a broad portfolio of products and brands like Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells, ibp and State Fair. Tyson Foods innovates continually to make protein more sustainable, tailor food for everywhere its available and raise the worlds expectations for how much good food can do. Headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, the company had 121,000 team members at September 29, 2018. Through its Core Values, Tyson Foods strives to operate with integrity, create value for its shareholders, customers, communities and team members and serve as a steward of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it. Visit www.tysonfoods.com .

Category: IR

Media Contact: Gary Mickelson, 479-290-6111

Investor Contact: Jon Kathol, 479-290-4235
MIDDLETOWN  Oddfellows Playhouse Teen Repertory Company announces the premiere of Between You and Me, an original, ensemble-generated play with music. This unique exploration of contemporary teen life and issues will be presented at Oddfellows Playhouse, 128 Washington Street in Middletown, May 16 - 18 and May 24 -25. All performances are at 7:30 p.m.

The play was created over an extended series of workshops this winter by a group of local teenagers working with Playhouse Artistic Director Dic Wheeler and Connecticut State Troubadour Nekita Waller.

The participants identified issues that were of the greatest importance to them and used writing, movement, improvisation, interviewing and song writing to generate original performance material addressing these issues. The piece which developed from this process explores issues of identity, acceptance, anxiety and social justice and will be performed by a cast of nine young people ages 14 - 20 with a three-piece live band.

The piece continues to evolve throughout the rehearsal process, Wheeler said. Cast members bring in new visions, choreography evokes new ideas, and the band plays an active role in the unraveling of the story. Music, theater, movement and the live creation of visual art combine to create a piece of performance art that should take audiences of all ages on a moving emotional journey through contemporary teen life.

The Playhouse was supported by a grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts to bring Waller and Wheeler together for this project. Wheeler is directing the production, and Waller is the Musical Director.

The creative team includes band director Bryan Titus, assistant director Cecilia Kurachi-Ube, scenic designer Kate Ten Eyck, costume designer Christian Milik, lighting designer Jon-Paul LaRocco, and properties designer Pamela Lang. Band members include Mick Bolduc on Guitar, Phil Faraci on keyboard, and Tim Gaylord on drums and percussion.

The play addresses mature issues of teen life and is recommended for ages ten and up.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for kids and students. Thursday, May 16 is a Pay-what-you-Can Preview.

In addition to the CT Department of Economic and Community Development/Office of the Arts, this production is supported by the Middletown Commission on the Arts, Middletown Youth Services Bureau, State of CT Judicial Branch, the Fund for Greater Hartford, the Stare Family Fund, and the Community Development Block Grant Program. Oddfellows Playhouse is a non-profit youth theater, founded in 1975, which promotes the growth of young people - in skills, knowledge and self-confidence - through the performing arts. The Playhouse is Connecticuts oldest and largest theater program for young people, and maintains an ongoing commitment to making high-quality arts experiences available to all young people.

For tickets, or more information, contact Oddfellows Playhouse at 860-347-6143 or www.oddfellows.org.
TRUMBULL  Hospital officials and others testified Tuesday that the sale of St. Vincents Medical Center in Bridgeport to Hartford Healthcare would benefit both organizations.

The public hearing, which took place before the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy at the Trumbull Marriott, drew around 40 people, including leaders and employees from both hospitals and community members.

It was part of the states Certificate of Need program, which requires some health care providers to obtain state approval before making major changes such as mergers, acquisitions, changing access to services or discontinuing a medical service.

Our priority is the integrity and transparency of this process, said Michaela Mitchell, attorney for the Office of Health Strategy, before opening the hearing to testimony.

The proposed sale of St. Vincents by its current owner Ascension, the nations largest nonprofit health system, to Hartford Health was announced roughly a year ago. But St. Vincents had been looking for a partner for some time, said Dawn Rudolph, the hospitals president and chief executive officer, during her testimony.

Rudolph said the hospital has faced many challenges in recent years, including the loss of many primary care physicians to retirement and other factors. Fewer doctors meant the hospital had to serve fewer patients.

Despite our best efforts, we struggled to keep pace, she said.

Rudolph said Hartford Healthcare was specifically selected as a partner because it was the best equipped to, among other things, provide the hospital with more resources.

Meanwhile, Hartford Healthcare CEO Elliot Joseph testified that adding St. Vincents to its network would both strengthen St. Vincents and expand the reach of Hartford Health into Fairfield County, where St. Vincents would be the networks first hospital.

St. Vincents includes a licensed 473-bed community teaching hospital, a 76-bed inpatient psychiatric facility in Westport, a large multispecialty provider group and St. Vincents Special Needs Services.

Hartford HealthCare, meanwhile, has 19,000 employees, and includes six acute-care hospitals, an extensive behavioral health network, a large multispecialty physician group, a regional home care system, and an array of other services.

If the deal goes through, St. Vincents would be Hartfords second-largest hospital, after 867-bed Hartford Hospital.

After Joseph testified, members of the Office of Health Strategy asked him whether he saw limits to the networks expansion specifically if there was a number of hospitals that would, in his view, make the chain too large.

I dont think theres an easy answer to any of those questions, he said, adding that the ideal size for a network varies from market to market.

Joseph did say that, at this point, the network doesnt have plans to acquire more hospitals after St. Vincents.

Members of the public also testified at the hearing, including Dave Ingmanson, of Stratford, manager over supply chain at St. Vincents. Ingmanson said hes worked for St. Vincents for 35 years and any major change is usually met with some curiosity by most employees. But when news of the possible acquisition by Hartford hit, he said, there was another emotion that surfaced.

I can honestly say that my friends and colleagues are excited, about the potential change, he said.

Officials said people can continue to submit comments until the record closes in roughly a week. After that, the Office of Health Strategy has 60 days to render a decision.
BOCA RATON, Fla., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rejuvalan, LLC today announced its launch and its mission to bring readily available, scientifically validated anti-aging products to market. The initiative is driven by data which shows how Rejuvalans products can change cells from older people in such a way as to copy the biology of rare species that are resistant to aging. Beyond this, the data also showed that impaired capacity caused by aging was reversed in unique experimental systems, including measures of mental capacity, anxiety and movement. The data was presented at the worlds largest anti-aging conference, Undoing Aging 2019, and a patent has been filed.



This proof of concept was validated by conducting a study of VOLT03, a pharmaceutical-grade product made from complexed curcumin. This natural plant compound was studied in multiple ways to demonstrate a robust reversal of aging in tissue from aged humans and complex models of aging. VOLT03 is planned to be one component of Rejuvalans first novel anti-aging product.



Rejuvalans aim is to discover medicines that will help people live longer, healthier and more active lives, said Dr. Patricia Cogram, Rejuvalans CSO. Our study showed that curcumin, in the highly bioavailable form of VOLT03, has previously undemonstrated potential as an anti-aging product. For us, it has been a major breakthrough to show that a marketable product can change human tissue to show the biology of a species called the naked mole rat. Researchers have shown the naked mole rat is resistant to aging and cancer. Inducing this change led to a reversal of cellular deterioration in tissues from older humans and functional improvement in aged species during our experiments.



Aging is a part of life but one we will always study, as so much can be prevented to make our years the most enjoyable and to take care of those we love, said Aubrey de Grey, Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation. Whats particularly unique and exciting about this is that others have done curcumin studies on aging and failed. Theyve hypothesized that it could work, but no one had really done the work to prove it. Rejuvalans study on VOLT03 is the first to give us this promising data.



It is amazing to see the direction this is going and that these trials are bearing fruit, said Richard P. Becker Jr., CEO of Rejuvalan. Its rewarding. You start something because you want to help people, and it takes a life of its own. We knew we had a great product, but we chose very intentionally to start with science instead of flashy marketing. This is about science and delivering clinical benefit to patients.



About RejuvalanRejuvalan, LLC is a newly formed joint venture between GeN Ltd. and Nutent Therapeutics, Inc. The company was registered in Delaware with a primary focus on developing and commercializing Anti-aging compounds. Richard P. Becker Jr., CEO of Nutent Therapeutics, Inc., will be appointed the new CEO of Rejuvalan. The company is currently planning a Series A funding round to launch its products and has filed a patent for VOLT03 in Anti-aging. Rejuvalans first product will be a novel combination with VOLT03 and another Geroprotector currently under validation using the ventures screening platform.



About VOLT03The active ingredient in the turmeric plant (curcuma longa), curcumin is a natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant shown to improve brain function, among its many benefits. Though its absorption had been scientifically challenging leading to poor bioavailability in the bloodstream. Last year, VOLT03, the first highly purified and well-regulated pharmaceutical-grade curcumin became commercially available.



Curcumins absorption in VOLT03 is improved through the complexation with Pharmaceutical-grade gamma cyclodextrin, boosting solubility and ultimately bioavailability. It dissolves completely in water and reaches the bloodstream in high concentration (39 times more than common curcumin), therefore being more potent, less frequently dosed and available in smaller, easy-to-take capsules. VOLT03s pharmaceutical-grade quality makes it unique in the marketplace and in a published clinical trial, demonstrated greater bioavailability to both Meriva (4.5 fold) and BCM-95 two enhanced curcumins.



The data presented were gathered during administration of VOLT03 in vitro on fibroblasts from aged humans, and in vivo in aged mice and the Octodon degus. The Octodon degus is a long-lived rodent,which is a small diurnal rodent that spontaneously develops cognitive decline with concomitant phospho-tau, -amyloid pathology and neuroinflammation in brain. In addition, the Octodon degus can develop several other conditions like type 2 diabetes, cataracts, macular and retinal degeneration and atherosclerosis, conditions that are often associated with aging. Long-lived animals like the Naked Mole Rat and the Octodon degus are realistic models to study multifactorial and complex processes like aging. Rejuvalan uses human cell systems, transgenic and old mice, as well as like-men long-live animal models (Hurley, 2018).



Published data shows that the Octodon degus, a relative of the naked mole rat, is a particularly suitable model for human aging. Data from these experiments were compared to findings derived from a study of the naked mole rat, a species known for its cancer resistance and extreme longevity. VOLT03 induced statistically significant changes in the molecular biology of the naked mole rat, reversed cellular signs of aging in tissue and improved senescence induced changes in functionof the aged mouse and aged Octodon degus.VOLT03 showed statistically significant robust improvements in:

Increased expression of DNA protecting genes

Improved expression of DNA repair genes

Reduced age-related inflammatory genes

Ameliorating cognitive decline

Improved activity

Improved age-related behaviors like muscle strength, anxiety and dependent tests of daily living within the brains hippocampus

Attachment
There were 39 incidents of anti-Jewish harassment, vandalism and assault reported statewide in 2018, according to data released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League.

The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported across Connecticut reached a peak high in 2017 with 49 incidents, up from 38 in 2016, the ADL said.

While the number of incidents reported to our offices declined slightly in 2018, the level of reported anti-Semitic incidents over the last three years is the highest we have seen in over a decade, said a statement from ADL Connecticut Regional Director Steve Ginsburg. Here in Connecticut, we are redoubling our efforts to educate students, communities, law enforcement and leaders on this pernicious age-old hatred.

The ADLs report featured data from criminal and non-criminal acts of harassment and intimidation, including distribution of hate propaganda, threats and slurs. The data was compiled using information from victims, law enforcement and community leaders.

The full report can be found at adl.org/audit2018.

The ADL data found 19 cases of harassment and threats, 19 cases of vandalism and one assault in Connecticut in 2018.

This data was released Tuesday, just a few days after a shooting at a California synagogue left one dead and three wounded. Following the weekend shooting, Connecticut religious organizations called the incident one of many showing a disturbing trend of attacks on the Jewish community.

Nationwide, the Jewish community saw near-historic levels of anti-Semitic incidents in 2018, the ADL said. Most notably, the ADL said, was the deadly attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October. After the incident, the ADL called it the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the history of the U.S.

The ADL said there were 1,879 reported attacks against Jewish community members and institutions across the county in 2018  the third highest year on record since the ADL started to track this data in the 1970s.

While the overall number of incidents represents a 5 percent decline from the 1,986 incidents reported in 2017, the number of incidents last year remained at near-historic levels  48 percent higher than the total for 2016 and 99 percent higher than in 2015, the ADL said.

Jack McDevitt, director of the Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern University, said in a prepared statement that the data is a great resource that not only researchers can use, but policymakers should look at to make changes.

The audit identifies trends and emerging issues in hate crimes and analyzes these trends in ways that allow policymakers to address the issues in their jurisdiction, McDevitt said. The increased number of anti-Semitic incidents tied to extremist groups is deeply troubling and should be addressed immediately by police and prosecutors.

In response to this data, as the ADL released some policy suggestions.

In the aftermath of the deadliest anti-Semitic incident in American history, public officials and civic leaders should use their bully pulpits to speak out against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate and extremism, the ADL said.

The organization also said it wanted to see Congress hold additional hearings on the increase in hate crime and the rise of extremist groups.

The ADL also said it hopes to see school districts promoting anti-bias and bullying prevention programs in elementary and secondary schools.

Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, state legislators and mayors should increase funding to promote an inclusive school climate and for anti-bias education and hate crime prevention, the ADL said.

It is incumbent upon our leaders to continue fighting anti-Semitism at every opportunity, said ADL Senior Vice President of Programs George Selim, who was a former Department of Homeland Security official. We will continue to advocate for legislative and other remedies to ensure that there is no place for anti-Semitism in our society.
Although several towns and cities in Connecticut ranked in a report for best high schools, none of them cracked the top-100 nationwide.

The U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday released the 2019 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings, after reviewing more than 23,000 high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The rankings were developed by six major factors: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, math and reading proficiency, math and reading performance, underserved student performance, and graduation rates.

The highest-ranked schools were where students excelled on state tests and performed beyond expectations; participated in and passed a variety of college-level exams; and graduated in high proportions, the report said.

Looking at a state breakdown, Darien High School took the top spot on the list for best high schools in Connecticut.

The report said Darien High School has 1,354 students enrolled. The school scored 68.8 in college readiness and boasts a 98 percent graduation rate. The schools overall score, the report said, was 99.13 out of 100. On the national list, Darien High School comes in at 150.

Next up on Connecticuts top 10 list is Weston High School, with 814 students enrolled. The high school scored 71.8 in college readiness and tops Darien High School with a 100 percent graduation rate. The overall score was a 99.02 out of 100. Nationwide, Weston High School holds spot 169.

Achievement First Hartford Academy, with an overall score of 98.35 out of 100, is ranked third in Connecticut, with 152 students enrolled. The schools college readiness score was 75 and a 90 percent graduation rate. The school ranks at 285 on the national list.

The rest of the top-10 schools are: Ridgefield High School, Connecticut IB Academy in East Hartford, New Canaan High School, Staples High School in Westport, Simsbury High School, Wilton High School and Academy of Aerospace and Engineering in Windsor. Here is a list of how all of Connecticuts high schools ranked.

Nationally, the top spot is held by Academic Magnet High School in South Carolina. The school had a 100 percent graduation rate and earned a college readiness score of 100. The other schools rounding out the nations top-10 were in Maine, Arizona, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

Of those nationwide top-10 schools, most scored 100 on college readiness and at, or near, 100 percent for graduation rates.
Five nursing homes have been fined by the state, including a facility in Westport where money was taken from residents trust funds.

Westport Rehabilitation Complex was fined $8,120 following the discovery of the thefts and another incident in which a resident was injured. An investigation found that 20 residents had money missing from their resident trust funds and a facility business office manager was responsible, according to the Department of Public Health (DPH). In total, $3,161 was taken from the residents accounts.

According to the citation, the missing funds were discovered in November 2018 when an employee alerted the facilitys administrator of concerns regarding the facility-managed residents trust funds. Several withdrawal documents appeared to have been altered with Wite-Out. The business manager who misappropriated the funds was terminated on Nov. 29, but the administrator didnt report the incident to DPH until Dec. 6, the citation said.

Also at Westport, a resident suffered a right femur fracture after falling off a bed while receiving care on Oct. 1, 2018. A nurse aide knew the residents care plan called for two-staff assistance but tried to provide incontinence care alone when no other staff were available. The resident fell and was treated at an emergency department.

Officials at the facility didnt return a call seeking comment.

Glen Hill Center in Danbury was fined $6,960 after a resident was mistakenly given two doses of insulin on the same day. The resident was found in the early morning of Dec. 6, 2018, unresponsive, diaphoretic, cool to the touch, and with low blood sugar, according to DPH. The resident was given a dose of glucagon and orange juice and responded well.

An investigation found the resident was given a dose of long-acting insulin the morning of Dec. 5 and a physician subsequently ordered a new, different dose starting at night. A licensed practical nurse transcribed the order incorrectly.

Officials at the facility didnt return a call seeking comment.

Beechwood in New London was fined $6,120 after a resident fell from a wheelchair and suffered a head laceration. The resident, who had dementia and was at risk for falling, fell forward out of a wheelchair on Aug. 11, 2018, while being transported by a nurse aide, according to DPH.

The resident was taken to an emergency department and received two sutures.

The incident happened after a nurse aide transported a resident in a wheelchair but did not use leg rests as required. The facility didnt have a wheelchair policy that directed the use of leg rests on wheelchairs, DPH said.

Beechwood is proud of its family-owned and -operated history since 1955 and its repeated and current five-star ranking with Medicare. Our long record of excellence is not without isolated issues, such as this one, said Bill White, president and administrator. It was investigated, assessed, and corrected immediately and, as in all service recoveries, we are made wiser through learning and correction.

Carolton Chronic & Convalescent Hospital in Fairfield was fined $3,060 after a resident fell out of a chair while being improperly transported to a shower.

The resident fell and suffered a forehead laceration on Jan. 1, while being moved in a shower chair by a nurse aide, according to DPH. The resident required the assistance of two staff members to get to the shower room, but the nurse aide tried to transport the resident without help, according to the citation. The resident also should have been in a shower trolley, not a shower chair. A registered nurse told investigators that, while it wasnt noted in the clinical record, the resident received 10 sutures at a hospital to close the head laceration.

Officials at the facility didnt return a call seeking comment.

Touchpoints at Manchester was fined $1,530 after a resident required two toe amputations and a transfemoral (above-the-knee) amputation.

The resident, who suffered from diabetes and other diagnoses, was taken to a hospital on Aug. 22, 2017, with necrotic, black wounds on the right and left big toes, according to DPH. Following an MRI on Aug. 31, the resident underwent two great toe amputations on Sept. 1 and a right transfemoral amputation on Oct. 20.

The state said that facility staff made multiple errors in assessing the toe wounds the resident developed prior to hospitalization. Among them, according to the citation: documentation failed to show that an advanced practice nurse had conducted a physical examination of the bilateral toes on Aug. 10; staff reported inflammation near toenails on Aug. 15 but failed to identify that a podiatry consult was ordered or that open-toed shoes or other alternatives were implemented; in July and August, physicians records failed to include orders for diabetic foot monitoring; and skin audits conducted in June were unavailable.

Touchpoints at Manchester takes clinical care concerns very seriously, said David Skoczulek, vice president of business development for parent company iCare Health Network.

The Touchpoints at Manchester leadership team extensively reviewed this case with nursing leadership from the care center and developed a specific quality assurance and clinical documentation plan.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.
MIDDLETOWN  The Community Health Center is the recipient of $243,072 in AmeriCorps funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency responsible for AmeriCorps and other national service programs.

This award will leverage an additional $514,765 from the private sector, foundations, and other sources, in accordance with the unique AmeriCorps model, according to a press release.

The grant will support a multistate collaborative, including CHC and health centers in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New York, aiming to reduce and prevent prescription drug and opioid abuse. AmeriCorps members will serve in these six states, conducting outreach, patient engagement, community education and prevention services in high-need areas, the release said.

Prescription drug and opioid abuse touches every segment of society. We have lost too many lives and need to end this epidemic. In Connecticut, the AmeriCorps grant will allow us to implement measurable, evidence-based strategies addressing the crisis in under-resourced regions of the state, Margaret Flinter, senior vice president and clinical director, said in a prepared statement.

AmeriCorps members bring passion and diligence to their role, and will make a real difference in our communities, she added.

Building on our nations strong tradition of neighbor helping neighbor, AmeriCorps members will change lives, improve communities, and build a safer, stronger, and more united America, AmeriCorps Director Chester Spellman said in the release.

For 25 years, the AmeriCorps members who pledge to get things done have represented the best of America while demonstrating the great promise and ideals of our country. I salute all the AmeriCorps members who will join them, he said.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of AmeriCorps. Since the programs inception in 1994, more than 1 million Americans have served, providing more than 1.5 billion hours of service and earned more than $3.6 billion in education scholarships, more than $1 billion of which has been used to pay back student debt. To learn about joining AmeriCorps, visit AmeriCorps.gov/Join.

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that engages millions of Americans in service through its AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs and leads the nation's volunteering and service efforts. For information, visit NationalService.gov.
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!



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MIDDLETOWN >> For Barbara McAuliffe, who lives two streets east of the Dingwall-Horan Joint Firearms Training Facility, there is no escaping the loud gunshots coming from the range.

I could close all the windows in my house, go to the other side of my house, and still hear the firing range, McAuliffe said. Its gotten so bad that her 2-year-old grandson will ask, Whats happening? she said.

McAuliffe is just one of a number of residents whose daily lives are interrupted by the sounds emanating from the range, with many of them speaking many of whom spoke up at Mondays Common Council meeting.

According to Councilman Thomas Serra, this has been a problem for the past eight years. Ive lived right there and I understand, he said.

With the aim of reducing gunshot sounds at the Dingwall-Horan Joint Firearms Facility, the council held a public hearing Monday night to discuss the appropriation of $750,000 for improvements there.

The facility, at 260 Meriden Road on the Middletown/Middlefield line, is used by the members of the Middletown Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Portland police officers, who are all members of Middletowns SWAT team, Police Chief William McKenna said.

This past year, the department used the facility a total of 69 days, and FBI training was conducted 62 days out of the year, McKenna aid. The SWAT team trains every Friday, and snipers train once a month, he added.

However, complaints are not limited to the FBIs use of the range.

We had several complaints with just the Middletown Police Department using it. If its just our department that needs to use the range, we are going to still have complaints from the citizens there, Councilman Philip Pessina said.

Serra, who has lived nearby for 38 years, said its not the pistol sounds that have residents up in arms, rather its the sniper fire.

For Tom Goglia, who works at the New Image Greenhouses in Middlefield, the noise level has increased over the course of this past year.

Me being a Vietnam veteran, it sounds like you were actually in battle over there, Goglia said.

As previously reported by the Press, the city has hired acoustics expert Bennett Brooks to investigate the noise levels to determine how to provide residents with a better quality of life while still meeting the needs of the police officers.

McKenna said the current proposal aims to reduce the noise level by 15 decibels. But McKenna said the city is in need of a plan that eliminates the problem rather than muffles it.

The FBI has provided McKenna with a list of companies that construct and design its firearm facilities across the country that have successfully reduced gunshot noise by 40 decibels. Id rather go with something that is guaranteed to reduce the noise level for citizens because they deserve it, he said.

The Middletown Police Department is finished with night shooting until April, McKenna said. During this time, McKenna said he hopes to reach out to other police chiefs across the country who have had similar complaints regarding their firing ranges.

It has been a problem for a long time  rounds getting bigger and louder. The range is very important to us and I think if this council is willing to spend money to rectify the situation, lets see if another company can come in and give us another recommendation, McKenna said.

The council is expected to revisit the issue at its next meeting.

Sam Norton can be reached at 203-680-9906.
OTTAWA, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tetra Bio-Pharma Inc. ("Tetra" or the "Company"), a leader in cannabinoid-based drug discovery and development (TSX VENTURE: TBP) (OTCQB: TBPMF), is pleased to announce that it completed today the previously-announced acquisition (the "Acquisition") of Panag Pharma Inc. ("Panag") pursuant to a share purchase agreement (the "Agreement") dated January 30, 2019 between the Company and the shareholders of Panag (the "Vendors").



Pursuant to the Agreement, Tetra acquired 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Panag held by the Vendors in consideration for, in aggregate, (i) $3,000,000 in cash and (ii) the issuance of 16,304,348 class A common shares of Tetra ("Common Shares") at a price of $0.552 per Common Share. The Agreement also contemplates the payment by Tetra to the Vendors of an aggregate amount of up to $15,000,000 in cash in milestone payments upon the achievement of operational targets associated with marketing approvals and commercialization of both human and veterinary drug products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), all as more fully described in the management proxy and information circular of the Company dated March 20, 2019.

All Common Shares issued as part of the Acquisition were issued pursuant to exemptions from the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.

Dr. Guy Chamberland, CEO and CSO of Tetra stated, "We are very excited by the closing of the acquisition of Panag Pharma. As of today, Tetra is no longer a small biotechnology company focused on cannabinoid-based drugs delivered by inhalation. We are now a small biopharmaceutical company with a strong pipeline of drugs for the ophthalmic and chronic inflammation markets with a unique portfolio of products ready for commercialization. From Day 1 I believed in the people that made Panag a success story. Today I am extremely proud to count them as part of the Tetra family. As a result of this acquisition, we have added highly qualified experts in cannabinoid science and medicine as well as a wealth of drug discovery and early phase drug development expertise and experience. I am confident the Tetra-Panag family will help take the Corporation to the next level of success."

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Tetra Bio-Pharma:

Tetra Bio-Pharma (TSX-V: TBP) (OTCQB: TBPMF) is a biopharmaceutical leader in cannabinoid-based drug discovery and development with a Health Canada authorized, and FDA reviewed, clinical trials aimed at bringing novel prescription drugs and treatments to patients and their healthcare providers. The Company has several subsidiaries engaged in the development of an advanced and growing pipeline of Bio Pharmaceuticals, Natural Health and Veterinary Products containing cannabis and other medicinal plant-based elements. With patients at the core of what we do, Tetra Bio-Pharma is focused on providing rigorous scientific validation and safety data required for inclusion into the existing bio pharma industry by regulators, physicians and insurance companies.

For more information visit: www.tetrabiopharma.com

Source: Tetra Bio-Pharma

About Panag Pharma:

Panag Pharma Inc. is a Canadian based bio-tech company focused on the development of novel cannabinoid-based formulations for the treatment of pain and inflammation. Panag believes that pain relief should be safe, non-addictive and above all; effective. The Panag Pharma team of PhD scientists and medical doctors are among the worlds leading researchers and clinicians in pain treatment and management. They bring a combined experience of over 100 years in research and clinical care of people dealing with chronic pain and inflammatory conditions. Panags current pipeline of pain relief products include formulations for the topical application to the skin, the eye and other mucous membranes. Recently approved by Health Canada and currently undergoing clinical trials, Panag Pharmas Topical AOTC provides a new approach to the treatment of chronic pain and inflammation.

Forward-looking statements

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information. All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the inability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to execute the Company's business plan; competition; regulation and anticipated and unanticipated costs and delays, the success of the Company's research and development strategies, including the success of CAUMZ and its other drug candidates, the applicability of the discoveries made therein, the successful and timely completion and uncertainties related to the regulatory process including the applications for Orphan Drug Designation, the timing of clinical trials, the timing and outcomes of regulatory or intellectual property decisions and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results or events not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake an obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities legislation.

Tetra Bio-Pharma Contact:

Guy Chamberland, Ph.D.,

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer

514-220-9225

Investors@tetrabiopharma.com



Investor Contact:

Pierre Boucher, CPA, CMA

Partner, Executive Vice-President

514-731-000 ext. 237

Investors@tetrabiopharma.com



Media Contact:

energi PR

Carol Levine, APR, FCPRS

514-288-8500 ext. 226

Carol.levine@energipr.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GreenEarth Cleaning celebrated its 20th Earth Day as green as ever.



The worlds largest solution provider of environmentally non-toxic dry cleaning technology has been in business since 1999, and it seemed only natural to link the companys 20th anniversary with the planet-loving holiday. They accomplished that connection in the form of a clothes drive benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters as well as other regional nonprofits, which GreenEarth Cleaning President Tim Maxwell noted was well-suited to the brands mission.

Celebrating all that our planet provides us has been a fixture of GreenEarth Cleaning since the formation of our company 20 years ago, Maxwell said. With the growing issues surrounding the disposal of waste associated with fast fashion, we felt that collecting clothing for charities fit our Networks focus on sustainable garment care.

From Connecticut to Colorado to California, 140 affiliated retail locations opted in to the GreenEarth Cleaning 20th Anniversary Earth Day Clothes Drive for the month of April, racking up a combined donation amount of 20,000 pounds and countingan average of 150 pounds per store. At the GreenEarth home office in Kansas City, Missouri, the team partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City as well as local taproom Bier Station for a one-day clothes drive event of their own on April 20 to make up their contribution.

OXXO Care Cleaners, which boasts 45 franchises all exclusively using the GreenEarth Cleaning System, has been a GreenEarth Member since 2001. The two organizations parallel goals both when it comes to quality care and environmental consciousness made OXXOs involvement in the clothes drive an easy decision.

[GreenEarths] development of a clean and safe silicone-based solvent for clothing was a perfect match for us. Together we care for human beings and for the environment, CEO Salomon Mishaan said. Also similar to GreenEarth, OXXO is very active in the local communities in which we operate to help promote sustainability, so our participation in the recent clothing drive was logical.

Patricia Shaffer, owner of Shaffer Dry Cleaning & Laundry in Tucson, Arizona, works with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Arizona year-round already, so she didnt even think twice about holding a clothes drive at her stores.

Every day is Earth Day when you recycle your clothing at any of our nine locations, Shaffer said. Good for the Earth and good for the kidswhat could be better than that?

Jim Gilligan of Snedicors Cleaners in Howell and Brighton, Michigan, has the same philanthropic mentality as Shaffer. He collaborates with the LACASA Center every spring and fall to host Cinderellas Closet, which is set up as a boutique to offer low cost, gently worn gowns to high school girls, all proceeds benefiting the local nonprofits initiatives to protect and advocate for survivors of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault. Jumping on board the collective effort for the Earth Day Clothes Drive and supporting LACASA again he viewed as a no-brainer.

Participating in the GreenEarth Cleaning 20th Anniversary Earth Day Clothes Drive and collecting clothing for LACASA clients merged beautifully with our core values of helping the less fortunate in our community and caring for planet Earth, Gilligan said.

Clothes Drive Participants

Bridgestone Cleaners - Brooklyn, NY; Colonial Cleaners - Minneapolis, MN; Dry Cleaning Central - Winston-Salem, NC; Dry Cleaning Station - Owasso, OK; Dutch Girl Cleaners - Redlands, CA; Eagle Cleaners - Rochester, NY; El Dorado Cleaners - National City, CA; Fashion Cleaners - Omaha, NE; GreenEarth Cleaners - Castle Pines, CO; Greenest Cleaners 4U - San Jose, CA; Jones Cleaning Center - Fresno, CA; Lapels Dry Cleaning - AZ, CT, MA (42 locations); Martinizing Dry Cleaning - Royal Oak, MI; Martinizing Dry Cleaning - Santa Fe, NM; Martinizing Dry Cleaning - Wichita, KS; Oakwood Cleaners - Nashville and Hermitage, TN; OXXO Care Cleaners - CT, NJ, FL, TX (45 locations); Pratt Abbott Garment Care - Greater Portland, ME; Rays Custom Cleaners - Fort Worth, TX; Revolution Cleaners - Denver, CO; Shaffer Dry Cleaning & Laundry - Tucson, AZ; Snedicors Cleaners - Howell and Brighton, MI; Summit Cleaners - Briargate, CO; Swiss the Greener Dry Cleaners - Dallas, TX; Veribest Cleaners - San Diego, CA

About GreenEarth Cleaning

GreenEarth Cleaning is committed to doing business without doing harm, using pure liquid silicone as a safe and gentle alternative to petrochemical dry cleaning solvents. Fortune 500 companies General Electric and Procter & Gamble also are two of the company's founders in providing the industry solution. For more information, visit https://www.greenearthcleaning.com/ .

Contact: Aaron Newport, Marketing Manager

51 W 135th St.

Kansas City, MO 64145

Phone: (816) 926-0895, Ext. 216

Email: anewport@greenearthcleaning.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c06e6aee-5e55-4f59-ad6d-5c797fe7ffb7
The U.S. Air Force is unable to begin planned projects to rebuild hurricane-damaged Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, because the service has not received much-needed funding from Congress, according to the service's top civilian.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson on Tuesday said the service has been forced to postpone rebuilding efforts and awarding of new contracts, as it tries to repair the $4.7 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Michael when the Category 5 storm hit the base in October, destroying nearly 700 buildings and forcing 11,000 personnel to relocate.

"Homeowners and businesses purchase insurance to protect themselves from these kinds of disasters, but that's not an option for the military," Wilson said in a statement. "When unavoidable catastrophes strike our facilities, supplemental funding is our only recourse. If they don't step in, our communities, our readiness, and our security all pay the price."

Officials in March said they anticipated a stoppage in relief work if Congress didn't grant them the additional funding.

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The Air Force at the time deferred 61 projects in the U.S. and overseas worth a total of $272 million, planning to use that money for base repairs. It also outlined a plan in which it will reallocate other funding by cutting 18,000 flight training hours starting Sept. 1 if Congress doesn't provide the repair funds.

John Henderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and energy, told reporters Tuesday that Tyndall and Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska -- which was hit by massive floods in March, causing more than $400 million in damage -- are critical capital infrastructure bases the Defense Department and Congress must continue to support.

He said there are 121 new projects at Tyndall -- including cleanup, mold remediation, roof repairs, and demolition of old or damaged buildings -- that the Air Force will be forced to defer into fiscal 2020.

Airmen whose missions are still based at Tyndall were recently moved out of "tent cities" where they were temporarily housed into hardened structures. However, only three of the 11 dorms that sustained damage have been repaired, Henderson said Tuesday, adding that no family housing is livable at this time.

Similar repair projects will stop in June at Offutt, where dozens of buildings sustained water damage from the extensive flooding. Water levels rose to roughly 10 feet in some buildings, officials said at the time.

Wilson earlier this year said the service has already used up $410 million in operations and maintenance funds for Tyndall, "and we expect, by the end of this year, it's going to be about $750 million for recovery" used up from the service's fiscal 2019 budget.

Henderson said an additional $150 million in military construction funding from fiscal 2019 is needed to continue planning and design efforts at Tyndall.

Fully rebuilding Tyndall into a fifth-generation base that could one day host F-35 Joint Strike Fighters will cost "about $2.5 billion in military construction requirements and $900 million in [operations and maintenance] in FY20 and beyond," Henderson said. "Our intent is for it to continue to be a fighter base."

The service in December said it hopes to transform Tyndall -- which has 29,000 acres and training ranges over the water that don't exist elsewhere in the U.S. -- into a permanent F-35 base.

The Air Force has also proposed locating MQ-9 Reaper drone operations at Tyndall. The F-35 and Reaper moves could happen in 2023, Henderson said.

The base will be rebuilt with future natural disasters in mind, including hardened maintenance and hangar facilities and raised buildings to limit flood damage, he said.

"It's an absolutely essential base for us," Henderson said.

At Offutt, "our current projections [show] we'll need about $120 million for maintenance and repair from FY19 and then, at some point, another $300 million in military construction funds to reconstruct facilities that were destroyed," he said during an interview at the Pentagon.

Henderson said maintenance on some aircraft fleets will begin slowing in May, followed by a halt in flying operations.

In March, officials said these maintenance cuts would specifically affect the E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system, or AWACS, according to a news release. The service will also ground five bombers as early as September, the release said.

Stopping work at Tyndall and Offutt until new funding comes through is meant to preserve as much readiness across the force as possible, Henderson said. For example, the Air Force and Navy have been tasked with meeting an 80 percent mission capability (MC) rate in their fighter fleets and are rushing to meet that goal.

"We're trying to preserve that," he said, referring to the 80 percent MC rate. "This is the start of the waterfall of the things we have to do but, at some point, without supplemental funding, if we continue at this spend rate, I could see where we would have readiness impacts also."

The Air Force expects the repair delays to impact its new infrastructure strategy at some point, Henderson said.

The service earlier this year unveiled a plan to update bases with eroded infrastructure and those that haven't received modernization improvements in the last 20 years. Dubbed the Air Force Infrastructure Investment Strategy, or "I2S," the effort is set to be funded starting next fiscal year, if the 2020 budget request is approved by Congress.

By deferring upgrades to other bases to repair Offutt and Tyndall, the price of future improvements across the force "goes up," Henderson said.

"It would certainly impact the ability to get a good start on that," he added.

Wilson on Tuesday said the service has been robbed of funding even on "minimal recovery efforts because Congress hasn't yet moved forward with recovery funding."

The domino effect "is impacting all of our bases," she said. "We'll continue to face natural disasters, but we can't set the precedent of not rebuilding our bases following a storm like Hurricane Michael. A natural disaster shouldn't decide whether our communities keep their bases."

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
The U.S. Army's top officials said Tuesday that the service is considering redesigning its formations to build new fighting units for the complex battlefields of the future.

The Army's multi-domain task forces could be the size of divisions rather than the standard brigade combat team structure, Secretary of the Army Mark Esper told an audience at the Brookings Institution.

Part of those task forces will likely be made up of Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space (I2CEWS) battalions, experimental units stood up about a year ago, Esper said.

These specialized battalions are designed to enable U.S. forces to disrupt, deny and degrade enemy capabilities in combat, Army officials say.

"It's very exciting what they are doing; it's showing a lot of capability," Esper said, describing how the units have been conducting exercises in the Pacific.

As the Army finalizes its Multi-Domain Operations doctrine, Army Futures Command will spend the next year to 18 months "looking through all the scenarios of future warfare, what the environments might look like in 2030, what potential adversaries may field [and] how will they will field it," he said.

At the end of that wargaming exercise, "it is going to spit out a new war-fighting construct and what will inform us whether in the future we fight as BCTs at the division level. Maybe we fight at some new level of command that we just haven't thought of yet," Esper said. "It will also tell us how many companies and battalions in each."

If the Army's formations end up changing, the service may have to adjust how it approaches procurement as well, he said.

"For example, in the Army I grew up in, we had a much more robust nuclear, biological, chemical [NBC] capability; we had more robust artillery and we had more robust electronic warfare [EW]," said Esper, who served in the first Gulf War. "I do see those things going back into our formations. That is going to drive new thinking about how do we have robust EW, NBC, etc."

The same will be true for cyber capabilities, he said. The Army currently plans to have cyber units at the brigade, division and corps level.

"That may continue to flesh itself out as we continue to run these wargames. They may say, 'Well, battalions may need cyber,'" Esper said. "Then we need to change the force and bring in more soldiers to do cyber, so it is going to change a lot. This next 12-to-18 months as we flesh it out ... it will really inform where we go in terms of the formations of the Army."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
The head of Army Training and Doctrine Command has been confirmed by the Senate to take charge of U.S. Africa Command.

Gen. Stephen Townsend, who took over as TRADOC commander just over a year ago, was confirmed Monday in the Senate to take command of AFRICOM, one of six Defense Department geographic combatant commands, according to an April 30 Army news release.

Lt. Gen. Paul Funk II will assume command of TRADOC, the release states. Funk currently serves as the commanding general of III Armored Corps and Fort Hood, Texas, and previously commanded Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve under U.S. Central Command.

A date has not been set for a change-of-command ceremony at Fort Eustis, Virginia, where TRADOC is located.

Townsend arrived at TRADOC in March 2018, following an assignment as commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

While at TRADOC, he oversaw the Army Combined Arms Center, Army Recruiting Command, Army Cadet Command and the Army Center for Initial Military Training. TRADOC also oversees 10 Army centers of excellence that train more than 500,000 soldiers and service members each year, the release states.

As head of AFRICOM, Townsend will be responsible for the Pentagon's military relations with African nations, the African Union and African regional security organizations, according to the release.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Isaak Olson was two months from graduating in 2014 when he disclosed that his fiancee had given birth several months earlier...
A T-6 Texan II trainer from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, crashed Wednesday, base officials said.

The crash occurred shortly before 2 p.m. near Lake Waurika, Oklahoma, roughly 40 miles from the training base, according to an announcement posted on social media.

Air Force officials said initial findings suggest that both the pilot and co-pilot were able to eject from the trainer. Emergency crews are on their way to the scene.

The crash is under investigation, according to the announcement. A base spokeswoman told Military.com more information will be released as it becomes available.

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In September, leaders called for a "brief pause" following a crash involving a T-6 from Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. The trainer went down roughly 30 miles from the base Sept. 18. The crew ejected safely and sustained minor injuries, officials said at the time. The pause was lifted a few days later.

That crash occurred just hours after Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, commander of Air Education and Training Command, talked to reporters about a six-month Safety Investigation Board report that examined the On-Board Oxygen Generating System, or OBOGS, on the T-6.

Last year, the Air Force ordered an operational pause for the T-6 fleet after pilots suffered a series of unexplained physiological episodes, or UPEs.

As a result, AETC on Feb. 1 ordered an indefinite operational pause for all T-6 aircraft at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi; Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma; and Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. That pause was lifted Feb. 28.

A team of experts determined that the OBOGS' filter and drain valves failed at higher rates than expected. The discovery led to repairs and increased inspections, but pilots continued to suffer from UPEs.

"The deep work we have done ... to really find out what is the root cause of why we were having some issues with the oxygen delivery system for the T6 revealed a whole host of recommendations, and many of them are maintenance related," Kwast said in September, adding that the physical severity of the UPEs pilots suffered "is very, very low."

"But again, our responsibility is to really know what is going on in the physics here and making sure we are doing everything in our power to make sure we have safe and effective aircraft for our aircrew to train in," he said.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
The Army is working on a powerful new 100-kilowatt laser system to defend against enemy missiles, artillery and drone swarms but will eventually have to make it smaller and lighter to deploy.

"We're trying to get it small enough and efficient enough to put on a platform," Robert Snead, an engineer with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command based at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, said Thursday, referring to the High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL TVD), which the service described as being in the "pre-prototype" stage.

He said testing of the HEL TVD "will inform the Army's decision on how to use directed energy on the battlefield."

The system, currently mounted on a cumbersome six-wheeler truck, is not deployable, Snead said, adding that the design could change substantially to make it capable of being fielded on a tactical vehicle. He spoke at the annual "Lab Day" display of military technology in the Pentagon's courtyard.

The HEL TVD boasts a "Battle Management Communications, Command and Control" subsystem designed to "receive target assignments with appropriate target cues from radars, then point the laser beam to engage the targets."

The Army plans to conduct a demonstration of the HEL TVD against a range of targets in fiscal 2022. It is also working on a less powerful laser prototype in the 50-watt range called the Maneuver Short Range Air Defense (M-SHORAD), capable of being mounted on a Stryker combat vehicle.

For years, the service has been drawn to the possibilities of directed-energy laser weapons that have a "cost per engagement substantially lower than current systems," or about $30 per shot, by Army estimates.

"The high energy laser system requires only fuel to complete its mission," the service said in promotional material handed out at Lab Day. "There is no ordnance logistics burden as with conventional weapons."

With directed-energy systems, "the average cost per kill is approximately $30," Army officials said, "which shifts the engagement cost equation in favor of U.S. forces."

With the entire system on a single tactical vehicle, defensive strategies "can be quickly adjusted in response to a changing threat environment," it added.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 01, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Central 1 Credit Union (Central 1), on behalf of the Credit Union Foundation of BC, is pleased to congratulate Emmet McGrath, former board Director of Westminster Savings, and Jeremy Trigg, Director of Facility and Environmental Management at Vancity, as recipients of the 2019 Distinguished Service Awards. The bi-annual awards recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to credit unions in B.C.

Emmet McGrath has served on the Board of Directors of Westminster Savings Credit Union since 2004, and from 1987 to 1996. Emmet is a Chartered Professional Accountant with more than thirty years of experience in public accounting and private industry. A partner with KPMG LLP until retiring in 2002, he has served on various mining companies boards and is currently on UEX Corporation s board. He is also a past director of Central 1 and the Co-operators Group Ltd. Having contributed to Westminster Savings success for more than 25 years, Emmet brings deep insight and perspective to the governance role, and others view him as a role model for how to be a board member in a member-based organization where enhancing member value is the primary objective. Emmet is passionate about meeting the needs of Westminster Savings members and the health of the entire credit union system in Canada.

An employee of Vancity for 34 years, Jeremy Trigg truly fulfills the role this award recognizes, as an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the B.C. credit union system. Someone who abides by the philosophy of people helping people, Jeremys commitment to this has been demonstrated through his work on LEED certification, energy reduction, Living Wage advocacy and the creation of the FICANEX partnership. Jeremy is committed to the success of Vancity, its members and colleagues and the communities that credit unions serve.

The awards were presented at a ceremony on April 25, 2019.

About Distinguished Service Awards

The Distinguished Service award is bestowed to an individual in recognition of outstanding service in the BC Credit Union system and in many cases beyond. The award is not limited to credit union directors and employees but extends to all persons who have made exceptional contributions to the BC credit union system and the co-operative movement. The DSAs are presented bi-annually following a nomination and deliberation process which falls under the responsibility of the Foundation. Nomination papers are accepted and then reviewed by a join committee of both Foundation directors and a member of the Board of Central 1.

About Credit Union Foundation of BC

The Credit Union Foundation of BC was conceived by Farley Dickinson in 1957, who had an extensive career with credit unions. Early sources of funding came from volunteer contributions, raffle sales and donations to honour credit union leaders. Funding now comes mainly from BC credit unions who annually contribute 10 cents per member as well as contributions to trust funds and funding to support young credit union leaders. In 2018 the Foundation awarded $153,000 in individual bursaries in addition to $30,000 to various university and college funds as well as the BC Young Leaders. The Foundation remains a proud component of the BC credit union system and is managed by volunteers representing various credit unions from around the province.

For more information, please contact:

Credit Union Foundation of BC

Gus Hartl

President

info@cufoundation.org
The top enlisted leader on a Navy aircraft carrier is under fire for telling his troops to "clap like we're at a strip club" ahead of the vice president's stop aboard the ship Tuesday.

Command Master Chief Jonas Carter made the remark to sailors aboard the carrier Harry S. Truman, Lt. Cmdr. Laura Stegherr, a spokeswoman for the ship, confirmed to Military.com.

"This statement was inappropriate, and this issue is being addressed by Truman's leadership," she said.

CNN first reported the incident Tuesday.

Pence met with senior leaders and gave a speech aboard the Truman, which is pierside in Virginia. During his speech, he said President Donald Trump would save their carrier from early retirement, despite the commander-in-chief authorizing the move earlier this year in his 2020 budget proposal.

George Reed, a retired Army colonel who served as director of command and leadership studies at the Army War College, said while Carter's phrasing might not have been appropriate for a public audience, sailors likely understood his intent.

"Of course, you want sailors to give a good reception to the vice president, no matter your party preference," Reed said.

If the command master chief's comments were more partisan in nature, though, that's cause for concern.

"There was a time when the mere act of voting was considered by many officers to be too partisan," he said. "The shift to a period where military [leaders] feel comfortable sporting bumper stickers and yard signs favoring their party or favored candidate reflects cultural change that might not be in the best interest of the armed forces or the nation."

This isn't the first time a Trump administration event involving troops has made headlines.

Last March, when Trump pointed to reporters during a speech to Marines at a California air station and called them "fake news," the leathernecks cheered.

And in December, when Trump visited troops in Iraq, some had him sign their "Make America Great Again" caps. Since it's the commander in chief's political campaign slogan, some said it was inappropriate for them to ask for signatures while in uniform.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.
Raytheon Co. has successfully brought down multiple drones using its advanced high power microwave (HPM) and mobile high energy laser (HEL) weapons.

The directed-energy systems recently brought down DJI Phantom 4 quadcopters, as well as "a mix of other class 1 and 2 fixed-wing and quadcopter" drones during an Air Force demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Raytheon spokesman B.J. Boling told Military.com on Tuesday.

"After decades of research and investment, we believe these advanced directed-energy applications will soon be ready for the battlefield to help protect people, assets and infrastructure," Thomas Bussing, Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems vice president, said in a news release accompanying the announcement.

The release noted the HPM and HEL systems engaged and defeated "dozens of unmanned aerial system targets" during the exercise.

Related content:

When paired with Raytheon's Multi-spectral Targeting System, the HEL system uses invisible light beams to take down unmanned aerial vehicles, the release states.

Together, the systems can detect, identify, track and engage drones and can be mounted on a Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicle, officials said.

Raytheon's HPM system "uses microwave energy to disrupt drone guidance systems," the release said.

"High power microwave operators can focus the beam to target and instantly defeat drone swarms. With a consistent power supply, an HPM system can provide virtually unlimited protection," it said.

"Countering the drone threat requires diverse solutions," said Stefan Baur, Raytheon Electronic Warfare Systems vice president. "HEL and HPM give frontline operators options for protecting critical infrastructure, convoys and personnel."

HEL and HPM were the only directed-energy systems tested in the Air Force demo, the company said.

In 2017, Lockheed Martin Corp. tested similar technologies. The company said its Advanced Test High Energy Asset, or ATHENA, prototype weapon brought down five Outlaw drones, which have a wingspan of 10.8 feet.

Experts estimate that counter-drone technologies -- both for civil and military use -- are on the rise and will see an increase over the next decade.

Last week, the Air Force said it has been working on a Tactical High-power Microwave Operational Responder, known as THOR, to take out smaller drones at the speed of light.

The non-lethal THOR concept is currently in developmental testing.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was grilled by lawmakers Wednesday on the lengthy and costly effort to develop compatible electronic records systems between the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"I don't ever recall being as outraged about an issue than I am about the electronic health record program," Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, told Shanahan at a House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the DoD's proposed fiscal 2020 budget.

She said a hearing last month with DoD and VA health program managers on the progress of meshing the records "was terrible."

"I can't believe that these program managers think that it is acceptable to wait another four years for a program to be implemented when we've spent billions of dollars and worked on it for over a decade," Granger said.

"For 10 years we've heard the same assurances" that the electronic health records problem will be solved," Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky, said. "It's incredible that we can't get this fixed."

Veterans are suffering "because of bureaucratic crap," he said.

In response to Granger, Shanahan said, "First of all, I apologize for any lack of performance or the inability of the people that testified before you to characterize the work of the department in this very vital area."

He added that he personally spent "quite a bit of time on how do we merge together" with the VA on the records.

He said pilot programs to make the records compatible are underway in Washington state at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Naval Base Kitsap, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and Fairchild Air Force Base.

The "rollout and implementation" of the fix to the electronic health records has shown promise at those installations, Shanahan said, and the next step is to put the program in place at California installations this fall.

"I can give you the commitment that these corrective actions and the lessons learned will be carried forward," he said.

"There's a degree of inoperability" between the VA and DoD systems that has defied solution over the years, Shanahan said. "The real issue has been [the] passing on of the actual records. I can't explain to you the technical complexity of that.

"We owe you a better answer," he told the committee, "and four years is unacceptable" as a time frame for making the records compatible. He promised to help DoD "deliver" a fix.

Rogers recalled past promises from the VA and DoD and said he is skeptical that the latest attempt at solving the problem will be successful.

He cited the case of a service member from his district who was badly wounded in Iraq. He lost an eye, but military doctors in Germany saved his other eye, Rogers said.

The good eye later became infected. The service member went to the Lexington, Kentucky, VA Medical Center, but doctors there could not get access to his medical records in Germany.

"They could not operate because they didn't know what had been done before," Rogers said.

As a result, the service member lost sight in the good eye.

"Why can't we have the computers marry? Can you help me out here? Don't promise something you can't deliver," he told Shanahan. "I can't believe that we have not already solved this problem."

In the latest effort to mesh the records, then-Acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie in May 2018 awarded a $10 billion, 10-year contract to Cerner Corp. of Kansas City to develop an integrated electronic health record (EHR) system, but related costs over the course of the contract are estimated to put the total price at about $16 billion.

Previous attempts to mesh the EHR systems have either failed or been abandoned, most recently in 2013 when then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki dropped an integration plan after a four-year effort and the expenditure of about $1 billion.

-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
Army veteran Marjorie K. Eastman was exchanging war stories with her Operation Iraqi Freedom battle buddies and reminiscing about the deck of cards that infamously showcased "Iraqi Most Wanted" when she had an idea: Why not produce a new version?

But instead of terrorists in the deck, with Saddam on the ace of spades, how about a deck celebrating veterans and military family leaders for their groundbreaking work back home?

A year later, she cold-called Michael Slaughter, president of the United States Playing Card Company, maker of Bicycle playing cards, with the idea. He was immediately in.

The original deck of Iraqi Most Wanted, designed by the Defense Intelligence Agency, was famously distributed in 2003 to special operators in the field to help them identify and capture fugitive government officials.

Frontline Leaders, a new, limited-edition collectible deck of cards from Bicycle, features 52 veteran leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and forward-thinkers. The deck will be available only during 2019. Every branch of the military is represented, as well as Gold Star families and military spouses.

"When we think of the post-9/11 military and veteran community, the examples in this deck of cards are what I want people to think of," Eastman said.

The deck takes the Iraqi Most Wanted idea, but shuffles those featured from notorious to impactful. Bunker Labs, a nonprofit aimed at veteran entrepreneurs, replaces Saddam on the ace of spades. Uday Hussein, previously on the ace of hearts, is replaced by Team Red, White and Blue, which focuses on veteran and community connection.

"When I first heard about the project, I was on board right away," Slaughter said. "It's an honor to feature these veterans and help raise awareness for all the great service they do every day for this country."

Related: Search for Veteran Jobs

Eastman said the cards "represent a deeper narrative about the post 9/11 military community -- stories about grit, sacrifice, passion, compassion, innovation and leadership."

She said she hopes they will help bridge the gap between civilians and veterans and deepen understanding of the important role veterans play in our communities.

"I've always been looking for a way to pay it forward to the military and veteran communities," Eastman said. "And when I started this project, I began featuring veterans on playing cards and sharing out to the veteran and military communities. I never imagined it would become an actual deck and feature these exceptional veterans and military families."

Among those featured is lifestyle apparel company Grunt Style, which is represented as the king of spades, replacing Ali Hassan Majid, an Iraqi general whose use of chemical weapons on the Kurdish region of Iraq ultimately led to his execution.

"We're excited to be a part of this deck," said Grunt Style CEO Daniel Alarik, a former Army drill sergeant. "When I announced this to our employees, they were shocked.  We're just in awe of this project, and we hope it inspires others to celebrate and support veterans."

Eastman also hopes the effort will help break down veteran stereotypes and flip the narrative on the high number of tragic veteran suicides. The deck of cards includes 22 veteran charities, representative of the estimated 22 daily veteran suicides. (Recent estimates put the suicide rate at 20 per day.)

Not all of the charities featured are well-known. For example, Catch A Lift Fund, featured as the five of hearts, helps wounded warriors heal and recover through innovative adaptive physical fitness programs and support services.

"It is a privilege and an honor to have Catch A Lift Fund highlighted in the Frontline Leaders deck," Lynn Coffland, the fund's founder and president, said in an email. "Eastman served with my brother, Army Cpl. Christopher Coffland, on the deployment in which he was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2009, so the five of hearts, our card, has a very personal and special meaning for us."

According to Bicycle, a portion of the proceeds sold on its site will be donated to the 22 charities featured in the collectible deck. To find out more about the deck, visit Marjorie Eastman's Frontline Leaders site. The cards are also available from other retailers such as Amazon.

-- Sean Mclain Brown can be reached at sean.brown@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @seanmclainbrown.

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Comprehensive system required for religious seminaries: Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri

Addressing the senior students of COSIS, Chairman MQI Supreme Council Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri has said that religious seminaries have an important to play in the provision of education. He said that hundreds of thousands of students are getting education from Madaris, a reality which cannot be denied. He, however, underlined the need of placing them under a proper system so that no one is able to bring a bad name to Islam and Pakistan by exploiting Madaris. He said that the state does not afford to stay away from the system of education and the responsibility of designing the curriculum.

Mufti Abdul Qayyum Khan Hazarvi, Prof Dr Khan Muhammad Malik, Dr Mumtaz-ul-Hassan Barvi, Maulana Ilyas Azami, Noorullah Siddiqui, Jawad Hamid, Shahzad Rasool Qadri, the teachers of COSIS and the senior students attended the special ceremony.

Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri said that the core responsibility of the graduates of the educational institutions set up by MQI is to work for the promotion of peace, interfaith harmony, and love. He said that the students and the youth of Pakistan are also facing an ideological and intellectual challenge, adding that the enemies of Islam are poisoning the minds of the youth through misinterpretation of the Islamic teachings. He said that in this day and age of mischief, MQI under the leadership of Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri has taken up an onerous responsibility of protecting the Islamic teachings and projecting the peaceful message of Islam in the world.

MQI Supreme Council Chairman said that Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri blocked the path of Takfeeri thought by writing 600-page world acclaimed Fatwa against terrorism and designing peace curriculum. He said that the students of COSIS are ambassadors of Pakistan and Islam, stating that in their presence no one can succeed in the fulfillment of their nefarious designs.

Meanwhile, Dr Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri attended a reception hosted by Director Public Relations of MQI Shahzad Rasool, which was attended by the members of the traders and business community. Shahzad Rasool gave a briefing to Dr Hassan about the performance of the Public Relations Department.

Speaking on the occasion, MQI Supreme Council Chairman said that provision of resources for the poor and the needy is a favorite act in the eyes of Allah. He said that it is among the obligations of the rich and well-to-do sections of society to fulfill the needs of the destitute and the poor. He said that in addition to working for promotion of peace and interfaith harmony, MQI has also been engaged in welfare activities whereby its subsidiary, Minhaj Welfare Foundation has done tremendously well in the realm of welfare. He welcomed the representatives of the business community on their arrival at the central secretariat of the MQI.
KENT COUNTY, MICH. -- A program offered in southwest Michigan this summer is testing the waters for a new Michigan Master Naturalist" certification.

Given the response so far -- the program sold out within days of registration opening -- organizers are feeling pretty good about expanding the certification statewide over the next few years.

The Michigan Master Naturalist pilot program is being offered through Michigan State University Extension. Over the six-week course, students will spend time in a lab and out in the field learning about various aspects of Michigans environment: Everything from wetland ecology to native butterflies, invasive plants and insects, how climate change is affecting the states natural habitats, and more.

Beth Clawson, a natural resources educator through MSU Extension, is the program coordinator. She said the aim is to arm students with deeper knowledge about Michigans natural environment and conservation techniques, with the hope that those who become certified are better able to work on conservation efforts in their own communities.

This certification course offers the opportunity to make you more suited to be a better quality volunteer for, say for example, the local nature center or arboretum or land conservancy, Clawson said. All of those groups depend heavily on volunteers.

Clawson said the program was also approved by the state as counting toward continuing education credits for teachers, so educators can apply what they learn back in their classrooms.

Though the pilot is only being offered in southwest Michigan this summer, Clawson said eventually the Michigan Master Naturalist certification will be offered statewide with a regional focus based on where each class is taught. In keeping with that mission, this years certification will include a section on dune ecology; other future programs might include sections on inland lakes, for example.

The certification is for anyone already interested in Michigans environment, who wants to make an impact, Clawson said.

Michigans economy depends on tourism and a great deal of our tourism is based on our natural resources -- specifically our water, so its all connected, right? she said. As we help each other preserve our environment, were also helping the state of Michigan.

The pilot program kicks off May 11; though the course enrollment is full, interested prospective students can sign up for a waiting list. In the meantime, theres more about the program here.
This week, Michigans Best launches a new way to share your own experiences from across the state. The hashtag #ITriedMIBest is a fun new way to try it, snap it and share it with the rest of Michigan.

The Michigans Best team of John Gonzalez and Amy Sherman have taken you all over the state, tasting their way across Michigan. Finding hidden gems, traditional favorites, new finds, and generally, just incredible spots to enjoy the very best food and drink. This is your chance to share the Michigans Best spots that youve tried, and loved.

This new hashtag is a way for those who have been following our searches to get in on the tasty fun! Snap a photo of yourself or your family enjoying one of the great dishes from our Michigans Best Searches, and post it to your social feeds using #ITriedMIBest said Anne Drummond, director of creative advertising sales at MLive Media Group and Advance 360.

When you are out and about, and trying a Michigans Best pick, whether it is a current search, or a previous one, use the hashtag and share your experience. Its one more way our readers can be part of the movement of Michigans Best," said Drummond.

Heres how to find us on social media:

@mlivemibest on Twitter

@mlivemibest on Instagram

Also, be sure to follow our new MI Best Facebook Page, which you can check out here.

We look forward to seeing your pictures and comments about Michigans Best on social media.

Our readers are often looking in on a search through the eyes of Gonzo and Amy, who taste every dish along the way. But this new hashtag offers a chance to be in on the action, part of the search movement and the groundswell that happens for the winners," Drummond said.
South Sudan: Investigate Apparent 2017 Killing Of Activists

"The mens disappearance is widely viewed to be the result of collusion between South Sudan and Kenya, but both governments have consistently denied having custody of the two or knowledge of their whereabouts."

UN Experts Report Says Highly Probable Security Service Killed Dong, Aggrey



Spokespeople available for media interviews



South Sudanese authorities should promptly undertake an independent and effective investigation into the apparent extrajudicial execution of two outspoken critics of the government, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. Previously unidentified assailants snatched Dong Samuel Luak, a prominent South Sudanese lawyer and human rights activist, and Aggrey Ezbon Idri , a member of the political opposition, from the streets of Nairobi, Kenya in January 2017.

On April 30, 2019, the United Nations Panel of Experts on South Sudan issued a report finding that South Sudans National Security Service (NSS) kidnapped Dong and Aggrey in Nairobi on January 23 and 24, 2017 respectively. The UN experts said that the two men were flown to South Sudan on a commercial plane chartered with the help of South Sudans embassy in Nairobi on January 27. They were detained in the NSS headquarters at Jebel in the capital, Juba, then moved to the NSS training facility on President Salva Kiirs farm in Luri, near Juba. The panel of experts concluded that it is highly probable that the two were executed there on January 30, 2017.

The UN experts panels finding that Dong and Aggrey were most likely murdered days after their abduction while family and friends were stonewalled by Kenyan and South Sudanese authorities shows shocking cruelty, said Jehanne Henry, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch. South Sudanese authorities should stop blocking this case and grant independent investigators access to security facilities in Jebel and Luri.

South Sudanese authorities should also allow independent ceasefire monitors, the UN Panel of Experts, and the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan access to the alleged

detention site at Luri, the organizations said.

On January 17, 2019, a Kenyan High Court ended its 24-month oversight of the Kenyan police investigation initiated immediately after the disappearance of both men in Nairobi, stating that the police had acted prudently and within the law. The court said that it had to respect the police approach and timeline, and that the victims families should pursue alternative administrative remedies such as filing a complaint with the Internal Police Oversight Authority.

The mens disappearance is widely viewed to be the result of collusion between South Sudan and Kenya, but both governments have consistently denied having custody of the two or knowledge of their whereabouts.

However, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had received credible reports that the two men had been seen at the NSS headquarters in Juba on January 25 and 26, 2017, and were then removed from this facility on January 27.

The UN Panel of Experts report states that agents of the Internal Security Bureau of the National Security Service probably executed the two men. They apparently acted on the orders of the commander of the NSS training facility in Luri, the NSS commander of the Central Division, and ultimately, Lt. Gen. Akol Koor Kuc, the director general of the Internal Security Bureau of the National Security Service.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly documented the South Sudanese and detention of perceived opponents in official and unofficial NSS facilities across the country. In many cases, the authorities held people for long periods without charge or access to their families or legal representation and subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment , extrajudicial execution, and enforced disappearance. South Sudan should urgently reform the National Security Service in law and practice and ensure justice for those responsible for grave crimes, including as a matter of command responsibility. governments arbitrarily arrest

Kenya and South Sudan failed miserably in their duty of care toward Dong and Aggrey, said Seif Magango, Amnesty Internationals deputy director for East Africa, the Horn, and Great Lakes Region. Dong was registered as a refugee in Kenya and for him to be kidnapped in Kenya and taken to South Sudan to be executed, is appalling. Both governments must end the blanket denials now, tell the families and the world what exactly happened to the two men and bring those responsible to account.
A year-long saga of changing compliance deadlines for 50 medical marijuana shops allowed to operate unlicensed is over.

Court of Claims Judge Stephen Borrello ordered Tuesday that Michigan regulators cannot set any new compliance deadline for unlicensed pot shops.

In his 12-page opinion, Borrello chastised officials in the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs for being ill-equipped to handle the licensing process in a timely manner -- which has led to the current market of unlicensed businesses.

At the outset, the Court notes that LARAs entire method of handling license applications has been apt to sudden change, freakish, or whimsical, Borrello wrote.

Temporarily operating provisioning centers will be allowed to operate until their license applications are considered by the state -- and officials can only ask them to shut down 60 days after their license application has been denied, Borrello ordered in a ruling that affects eight consolidated cases.

Borrello has left the issue of whether caregiver marijuana can be used to supply the licensed market up to the state to decide.

The states new Marijuana Regulatory Agency is reviewing the court orders before issuing a statement, said David Harns, spokesman for the agency.

The state has been trying to hold unlicensed businesses to a licensing deadline since June 2018 but have been thwarted by court orders. Borrello has previously extended the deadline. The most recent attempt to enforce a deadline was brought forward by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who had proposed March 31 -- but another barrage of last-minute legal filings from medical marijuana businesses stopped that under a ruling from Borrello.

Borrello said the changing compliance deadline has been a bait-and-switch for unlicensed pot shops, and has been changed without any regard for the status of their license applications.

However, the state failed to provide any rationale for how the continuous setting of looming deadlines promotes a more regulated market. And to the extent that the state might continue with this variation on a theme, such deadlines, enacted under the misleading guise of proper regulation, will likely continue to be constitutionally infirm as well, Borrello wrote.

Michigans medical marijuana market is in turmoil.

Theres a major divide in the industry between licensed medical marijuana businesses and caregivers, who the state has allowed to supplement the stock on provisioning center shelves. The tension played out in full force in Borrellos courtroom, and with counter-protests on the steps of the capitol building last week in Lansing.

Tuesday, Borrello denied motions in a lawsuit filed by two corporate medical marijuana growers -- VB Chesaning (High Life Farms) and Green Peak Innovations. The mega growers sought to force the state to abide by the law and to cut out caregivers from the regulated supply chain.

-- Amy Biolchini is the marijuana beat reporter for MLive. Contact her with questions, tips or comments at abiolch1@mlive.com. Read more from MLive about medical marijuana.
LANSING, MI -- The House Families, Children and Seniors Committee on Wednesday approved a pair of bills that would criminalize doctors who perform a type of abortion pro-life advocates characterize as dismemberment abortion.

The medical procedure is a dilation and evacuation, or D&E, sometimes used in the second trimester of a pregnancy.

House Bills 4320 and 4321 would define the term dismemberment abortion in law and ban it, making it a two-year felony for a physician to perform one unless it was to save the life of the mother. They are similar to bills that stalled previously, and also similar to an Ohio ban that was partially blocked recently by a federal judge.

The committee voted along mostly partisan lines to approve the bill Wednesday morning. All four of the Democratic members voted against one bill, and on the other three Democratic members voted against it and one passed.

The committee took testimony on the bills last week. Pro-life groups supported the bills and pro-choice groups opposed them.

The bills head next to the House Judiciary Committee and then to the House Floor. The package would need to pass the House and Senate and be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer  who is pro-choice  to become law.
The following reflects the opinion of The Flint Journal Editorial Board.

A crisis usually has a way of bringing people together, be it a family, a city or a nation.

Thats what has happened in Flint during the water crisis.

It certainly brought MLive-The Flint Journal closer to the community we cover and serve. Weve been right there with the residents for the past five years, chronicling the pain and frustration.

Its a different story over at City Hall, where city police put in place to keep the peace were recently pulled from their posts.

We think the city is worse off for that absence and the department should return the officer.

At the height of the water crisis, the Flint Police Department assigned an officer to patrol the packed council meetings. In March, however, the department announced it would pull the officer, saying they were at the meetings to prevent any issues with the public, not to babysit the City Council.

But its clear this City Council needs some security on standby.

Take the behavior displayed by First Ward Councilman Eric Mays last Wednesday, just one day before the fifth anniversary of the water crisis.

At a budget hearing on Wednesday, April 24, Mays berated one of our reporters, Zahra Ahmad, calling her a nasty woman and a foreigner. An onlooker recorded the encounter and the video was shared widely on the internet.

Video taken by Quincy Murphy and used with his permission.

Mays behavior was deeply disturbing and unprofessional. And its not the first time his outbursts could have used a police presence. In their recent years at City Council meetings, officers have escorted only one person from the room, Councilman Mays.

The lack of police presence at the meeting allowed Mays outburst on April 24. It began when Mays got into a heated verbal exchange with fellow Councilmember Monica Galloway. She tried to put the meeting into recess, but Mays wanted more time to ask questions. At a certain point, Mays felt Galloway was acting inappropriately and called the police chief, hoping to get her kicked out of the budget meeting.

Mays had the police chief on speaker phone in front of everyone in the room. The chief said he could not send an officer unless there was a physical altercation. When Galloway asked for everyone in the room to nod if they understood the chief was on speaker phone, Zahra Ahmad nodded.

That was it. That one gesture is what set Mays off. For that, our reporter was called a nasty woman and told she didnt understand Flint  which Mays referred to as his turf.

Mays prides himself on his confrontational approach, but passion for your beliefs shouldnt be confused with outright hostility. Ahmad is a member of a free press. She should be able to perform the functions of her job without fear that an elected official is going to try to threaten and intimidate her.

We feel so strongly about this that we filed a police report on the incident on Monday.

We wont be intimidated. We are here in the community to do our jobs and thats just what well continue to do.

And neither should the public feel intimidated nor subject to similar hostile displays.

We arent alone in thinking this. On Tuesday, 4th Ward Councilwoman Kate Fields requested that the Michigan State Police station a trooper at city council meetings because of the Flint Police Departments refusal to return an officer to the meetings. We feel an officer from either force would be a welcome presence. While wed welcome a trooper at meetings, why not return a city officer? They are right next door to City Hall.

A police presence at council meetings, we hope, would return a sense of decorum to the proceedings. At the very least, present a greater sense of security when City Council convenes to do the publics business.

Then the council, like the community, can concentrate on coming together with a common, cogent vision.

Its the only way Flint can truly go from crisis to recovery.
AUGUSTA TOWNSHIP, MI - A man tried and failed to cross a water-covered stretch of roadway Wednesday as flooding spread across the Washtenaw County region.

Officials were called about 7:35 a.m. May 1 to a report of an incident on Whittaker Road south of the Liss Road bridge in Augusta Township, said Augusta Township Fire Chief Dave Music. The location is about six miles from Milan and south of Ann Arbor.

The waterway below - Sugar Creek as it flows into Stony Creek - had breached the bridge, but a man driving a Subaru Forester thought he could get through it, Music said.

The water was deeper than he thought, Music said. The SUV was swept into the ditch and floated.

"He's lucky it didn't roll," Music said.

The man was able to escape unscathed, but the SUV is likely totaled, Music said. A tow truck driver used the creek's current to help float the vehicle to the truck.

It was unknown how long the road would be closed. Barriers were placed to keep drivers from going through the area and Lincoln Consolidated Schools were alerted to the nearby flooding, Music said.

The district took alternative routes during the morning commute, said Superintendent Sean McNatt.

Heavy rainfall overnight into Wednesday morning caused flooding throughout southeast Michigan, with the worst reports thus far coming from flooded highways in metro Detroit. Multiple road closures were also reported in Washtenaw County.
FLINT, MI  A Davison High School teacher accused of taking video of a nude 14-year-old girl at a local tanning salon made one statement in court Tuesday afternoon.

When told to stay away from the alleged victim, 42-year-old Jacob Randolph Emmendorfer said, I dont even know who that person is."

Emmendorfers attorney Frank J. Manley then jumped in to advise him not to make any more comments during the video arraignment.

Emmendorfer was arraigned Tuesday afternoon in front of 67th District Court Judge Mark W. Latchana on two counts of using a computer to commit a crime and single counts of child sexually abusive material and capturing/distributing image of unclothed person.

The charges are connected to an alleged incident that took place around 3:30 p.m. Monday, April 29 at the Tropi Tan, 4180 W. Vienna Road, in Vienna Township.

Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell said at a press conference Tuesday morning that deputies responded after the mother of the girl called 911.

The girl told police she was in a tanning bed with her clothes on the floor.

She had all her clothes off, her clothes were lying on the floor, and she looked up and she saw what appeared to be an iPhone hanging over the cubicle wall, Pickell said. She could see that it had an orange back on it and the light was lit. She suspected that she was being (filmed). She jumped up, put on her clothes, and ran out and told her mother that was nearby.

Police allege Emmendorfer was standing on a tanning bed in the room next door and filming over the wall. He was located a short time later by deputies, arrested and transported to the Genesee County Jail.

A phone was confiscated from Emmendorfer with the same backing as described by the teen, as well as a desktop computer and laptops during a search of his home and vehicle.

Davison Township police also conducted a search of the high school where Emmendorfer worked, but nothing suspicious was uncovered, Pickell said.

I was shocked, very disappointed and right now I have a pretty big pit in my stomach, said Kevin Brown, Davison Community Schools superintendent, adding it sickens me that someone in Emmendorfers position would be anything as heinous as this.

A teacher at the high school since 2009, Emmendorfer has been placed on administrative leave by the district and is prohibited from being on any school grounds or events.

There were no red flags here, there was nothing that would have caused us to suspect any type of inappropriate behavior or conduct on his part prior to this event," Brown said.

Manley argued in court that Emmendorfer has dedicated 20 years of his life to education, never physically touched anyone, has a family and is no flight risk whatsoever when the judge was determining bond.

Latchana issued Emmendorfer a $50,000 cash/surety bond.

Manley said Emmendorfer is "devastated, but also noted that the case is high profile because of the teachers stature in the community.

The whole case is salacious in nature, said Manley. Its something people like to hear. What Im asking people is to just pause for a moment and actually wait until the facts come out and lets see where they fall.

What happens is people make up their mind and they make up what they think is the case and what they think are the facts, he added. Lets just wait. It may not be quite as bad as is out there.

The school district is conducting its own investigation, Brown said, and would take whatever action that we deem to be appropriate against the teacher.

That doesnt necessarily mean were going to have to wait for the legal investigation to conclude, he added. Well start moving forward on that as a school ourselves.

Emmendorfer is due back in court May 9 for a probable cause conference.
UPDATE:

FLINT, MI  A Flint councilwoman has asked the Michigan State Police to station a trooper at City Council meetings following a recent outburst by a fellow council member.

In a letter dated April 29, 4th Ward Councilwoman Kate Fields told MSP Colonel Joseph Gasper that 1st Ward Councilman Eric Mays verbally attacked a member of the Press." She requested a police presence at future council meetings based on the incident.

Fields is referring to outburst directed at MLive-The Flint Journal reporter Zahra Ahmad, who covers City Council. In a cell phone video that has since gone viral on social media, Mays is seen calling Ahmad a nasty woman and a foreigner. Ahmad was born in Iraq.

Zahra had done absolutely nothing to provoke this attack, Fields said in the letter.

Attempts to reach Michigan State Police officials for comment on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

A Flint police officer had been on hand during meetings in recent years until the practice ended in March.

Flint Police Detective Sgt. Tyrone Booth previously said the officer serving in the role was shifted to the new child protection task force.

Two officers from the departments Crime Area Target Team were also being moved onto the task force.

The department was examining how resources could best be utilized, Booth noted.

There was a need we found in putting together a task force to address crimes against children because of that escalation," he said.

Booth noted the officer was originally placed at the council meetings during the height of the water crisis and citizens were angry.

The policy of smart policing (informed us to) put an officer there to deter any crimes, he said.

Booth noted there were no encounters between police and residents while the officer was present. He said thered been a shift in the officers responsibilities to intervening between council members.

That officer is not there to protect council member from council membernot there to mediate," Booth said.

Mays has been removed from council meetings in the past by police.

If an incident were to arise at a council meeting where police were needed, Booth said the council member may call 911 and the situation would be handled appropriately.

In her letter, Fields said council members have appealed to Flint Police Chief Timothy Johnson to reinstate the officer at meetings, but that he continues to deny us that service. Fields also says that council members have called 911 on multiple occasions and were denied a police response.

Fields sent her letter to other officials in the hope they will step up to the plate and do what they can to support our request." She also sent her letter to MLive-The Flint Journal.
FLINT, MI  Genesee Circuit Judge Joseph J. Farah took a few moments to address those gathered in the crowd ahead of a juvenile sentencing hearing Wednesday morning for four of the five suspects in the fatal rock-throwing case.

Members of the suspects and victims families had gathered on each side of the courtroom for multiple proceedings in the case stemming from the October 18, 2017 death of 32-year-old Kenneth A. White. White was killed when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by a rock tossed over an overpass on southbound I-75.

You may or may not know this but there is a monitor in my office of whats going on in the courtroom, said Farah. I had the displeasure of seeing the exchange in heightened tones, in confrontational ways between this side of the courtroom and that side of the courtroom.

Multiple deputies in the court did not appear here by magic but were called in to quell the disturbance, he said.

Farah said he understood emotions are elevated in the case and it may be difficult to control them but the failure to do so in a way that this court believes is inappropriate will result in some of you folks going to jail.

If you think you can disrespect this courtroom and this process by getting into some tete-a-tete with each other, you may be right, but you will be wearing orange and being in the county jail.

Once the proceedings got underway, clinical psychologist Jack Haynes recommended 16-year-old Trevor Gray be sentenced as a juvenile following multiple interviews, a mental status examination and psychological testing.

Haynes testified the testing revealed the teenager does not suffer from any mental illness or cognitive dysfunction, but potentially deals with depression and is more of a follower, conforming, insecure.

He did not appear to be a hardened or callous child, Haynes testified during questioning by Jessica Mainprize-Hajek, Grays attorney, of the evaluation results.

In Snapchat messages between the suspects -- including Gray, 17-year-old Mark Sekelsky, 16-year-old Alexzander Miller, 17-year-old Mikadyn Payne, and 19-year-old Kyle Anger -- Mainprize-Hajek asked for Hayness take on the messages.

The messages included discussion of getting a tear-drop tattoo and how to handle the situation.

I did not feel he was making light of the situation, testified Haynes of Gray.  ... I would call it something like whistling in the dark, in other words apprehensive about what could happen, apprehensive about what appeared to be unfolding with police.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Karen Hanson argued the messages did not show remorse on Grays behalf.

I would say the issue of remorse was not his instantaneous reaction, he testified. His instantaneous reaction is what can he do about this circumstance.

Haynes also testified that Gray likely didnt think of the consequences of his actions.

He thought it was a big adventure, driving around, doing this kind of thing, which is really shockingly ignorant, but I believe thats where he was coming from, he testified.

When Hanson asked why Gray should be sentenced as a juvenile, Haynes said, He is not anti-social, he has no delinquency history and in speaking with adults he did not detect any callousness.

Russell Fowler, a probation agent with the Michigan Department of Corrections, testified Wednesday at Farahs request on the probation process if the teens be sentenced as adults.

Attorneys in the case said they have no additional witnesses. The court is calling the head of the youthful offender wing from the Thumb Correctional Facility to testify, Farah said.

Sentencing for Anger has been pushed to June 11, according to circuit court records.
GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- County voters could be asked to support a new property tax to support the Genesee County Agricultural Society and its annual county fair.

It might not happen until 2020 -- it might not happen at all -- but an official with the Agricultural Society has drafted a millage proposal that calls for a 0.04-mill tax and spoke to the county Board of Commissioners about it Wednesday, May 1.

If approved, the property tax would raise an estimated $383,000 annually -- about $2.67 per household, according to the one-page proposal, and would be levied for four years.

But its not clear when or whether commissioners are willing to put the measure on the ballot, and several said Wednesday they wont put it before voters unless another question is already causing a countywide election.

Costs are going up, and its getting to be a tight spot, said Chris Miller, executive director of the Agricultural Society, which puts on county fair. The fair is in its 170th year.

County fairs across Michigan lost state funding several years ago, said Miller, and costs for rented fixtures and equipment are on the rise. Some years the fair makes money and other years it doesnt.

Commissioners have considered millage requests in the past to support the fair and other work by the Agricultural Society, a nonprofit organization that listed net assets of $208,000 in its 2016 tax return.

More than a decade ago, Miller was discussing a potential millage with county officials to pay for the development of a county fairground on land the society still owns in Mt. Morris Township.

But officials never put the question on the ballot after voters rejected multiple millage requests in 2007.

Millers proposal doesnt yet break down how the Agricultural Society would spend a new millage but he said the group has a good relationship with the county Parks and Recreation Commission, which owns the land where the fair is currently held, on the grounds of the Everett A. Cummings Center in Genesee Township.

Miller and Commissioner Brenda Clack, D-Flint, both discussed creating a new program to increase Flint childrens access to agriculture programs Wednesday but each said more work will need to be done.

The deadline for putting a referendum on the August ballot is May 14, and there is no other countywide issue currently scheduled then.

I think we need to educate the community more on this ... To rush into this without a period of education is something I would not be in favor of, Clack said.

Board Chairman Ted Henry said he supports the county fair but not a millage if it requires a countywide election that otherwise wouldnt need to be held.

Henry, a Clayton Township Democrat, said if the question goes to voters, the Agricultural Society will have to overcome the perception that the county is over-run with millages.

Just last year, voters approved three countywide millages -- one to benefit arts education and cultural enrichment, another to support the Michigan State University Extension services, and another to fund the Mass Transportation Authority.

Other countywide millages support Genesee County park, Bishop Airport, Genesee Health plan, veterans services and senior services.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is calling for an outside investigation into the Grand Rapids Police Department regarding accusations of discriminatory practices.

The ACLU and Michigan Immigrant Rights Center filed complaints with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights after a police captain, accused of racial profiling, was exonerated at the conclusion of a pair of internal affairs investigations.

The Grand Rapids Police Department cannot police itself," said Miriam Aukerman, ACLU of Michigan senior staff attorney. There needs to be an independent, impartial investigation, not a white wash.

Capt. Curt VanderKooi, a 39-year police officer, came under fire after he contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in November 2018 to look up the status of a man arrested at a local hospital for allegedly starting a small fire in a stairwell and gaining access to the facilitys helipad.

The man -- Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a U.S. citizen and Marine veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder -- was detained for three days for potential deportation due to an ICE error.

The police department first found VanderKooi to be justified in contacting ICE due to a perceived threat of terrorism, but reprimanded him for unprofessional language when he used the term loco in an email with an ICE agent in reference to Ramos-Gomez.

A second, eight-week investigation began when the ACLU and local media groups requested communications between VanderKooi and ICE agents. The requests turned up 89 email threads between Jan. 1, 2017 and February 2019, and provided evidence, Aukerman said, that VanderKooi routinely provided ICE agents with names despite the police department denying such a practice outside severe circumstances.

The initial justification when this first came out, the Grand Rapids Police Department said the only reason Capt. VanderKooi checked on Jilmars status was because this was about federal airspace," Aukerman said. "That this was an unusual set of circumstances, thats why he did that.

But what we see in the docs, he checked on immigration status again and again. It completely blows that justification out of the water. It absolutely does not hold up and yet hes exonerated again.

Redacted copies of the email chains and IAU report were obtained and published by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Of the 87 email chains analyzed by investigators within the department, 26 were initiated by VanderKooi -- the police departments liaison with ICE.

Twenty-five of those were referrals to ICE for status checks on individuals. Of those 25, 23 were for individuals who committed crimes; one was an effort to identify two homicide victims; and one involved a suspect of domestic violence.

There is no evidence that Capt. VanderKooi randomly selected peoples names to send to ICE based solely on their name, race, or appearance," reads the Internal Affairs Unit report in part.

The IAU found each referral to be reasonable based on criteria including the severity of crimes committed, suspected gang affiliations, witness and suspect statements, threats of terrorism" made by the individual, and reasons to believe they are in the U.S. illegally, including types of identification provided to officers or a lack of drivers license or a lack of English proficiency.

It was also found ... that the far majority of the victims in these cases were people of color and many of the victims of these crimes were determined to be undocumented, or illegal aliens, themselves," the report reads in part.

"These individuals names were not referred to ICE, despite Capt. VanderKoois knowledge they were illegal aliens. They were not referred because they had not committed crimes and were not a danger to the public.

The police department said information pertaining to place of birth, country of origin, and lack of English proficiency can be appropriately considered as part of the totality of the circumstances in making a decision to contact immigration officials.

However, other traits associated with national origin, like race, religion, or treating an individual negatively because he/she is from a specific country or region would be an inappropriate use of traits associated with national origin," reads the IAU report, in part.

Thats where the ACLU and MIRC claim the department violates the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination. Their claim is at the basis of the complaints filed with the state.

Thats essentially the justification that the Grand Rapids Police Department has used, saying we will look at things like limited English proficiency and these other factors that we think are completely inappropriate to use as a proxy for national origin and possible immigration violations, said Hillary Scholten, a MIRC attorney.

Those are things that are completely inappropriate to rely on. You cant tell someones immigration status by looking at them or their level of English proficiency.

The Grand Rapids Police Department has no written policy to provide guidance about making referrals to ICE. VanderKooi was given no specific training about criteria to consider when contacting ICE, according to the IAU report.

In a May 2018 radio interview with the local station, La Mejor GR, Grand Rapids Police Capt. Geoffrey Collard said local police arent interested in immigration status when responding to calls. He said local officers do not seek out immigrants who are in the country illegally, and theyre not actively passing names along to federal agencies, though at times theyre obligated to assist ICE when asked.

The ACLU said emails between VanderKooi and ICE suggest otherwise.

Interim Police Chief David Kiddle said the department is developing a new policy that clearly defines expectation for how Grand Rapids police officers interact with federal authorities. The new policy is expected to be completed soon and shared with the community.

The ACLUs complaints to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights also include a March 11 incident in which a police officer stopped two males, ages 15 and 16, for walking in the street instead of the sidewalk.

When the teens didnt comply with orders to identify themselves, the officer attempted to arrest them and eventually pulled his gun out and ordered the unarmed teens to the ground.

One teen was arrested for resisting and obstructing a police officer. The police department found the officers actions to be justified, but some in the community questioned whether the law enforcement would have been different in a white neighborhood.

Whether the GRPD is calling ICE on a U.S. citizen or drawing a gun on a kid who is jaywalking, what both of these incidents show is that the GRPD treats people of color in ways white people do not have to endure, and then fails to hold itself accountable," Aukerman said.

"There must be an independent investigation.

The Grand Rapids Civilian Appeals Board will hear an appeal of the IAUs findings at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 15. If the board reaches a different conclusion than the police department, the case will go to the city manager for final review.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Over the next two weeks, lead, asbestos and silica sample testing will be conducted at North Park Montessori School, closed in February for potential asbestos exposure during a construction project.

On Tuesday, April 30, Grand Rapids Public Schools environmental experts, Ann Arbor-based Nova Environmental, began the lead sampling, according to the district.

All the other air samples are projected to occur the week of May 6, according to a letter from Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal to parents and staff. She said a meeting with staff and parents is being planned.

Montessori staff and the 364 first- through eighth-grade students were relocated Feb. 20 to GRPS University, 1400 Fuller Ave. NE. They will be there for the remainder of the school year.

Our work with a range of governmental agencies remains focused on ensuring that the facility is healthy and ready for use in the fall of 2019, said Neal, in her April 26 letter.

The district and the agencies involved share a commitment to acting with integrity, excellence and best practices in that ongoing work.

On Friday, Feb. 15, the district closed the school, located at 3375 Cheney Ave. NE and announced it learned from its construction management company, Christman Company, that plaster possibly containing asbestos was breached due to the cutting, drilling, and construction work.''

As the project designer, Nova Environmental is charged with determining the scope of potential contamination, cleaning and decontamination, and clearance air monitoring.

The Kent County Health Department has offered affected families free lead testing this spring. Parents began raising concerns about lead and silica early on, not just asbestos.

After all the air samples are completed next week, the tentative timeline for remaining work at the school, located at 3375 Cheney Ave. NE, is as follows:

A cleaning plan will be developed by Wednesday, May 8.

Contractor proposals will be returned by Wednesday, May 15.

A contractor will be selected, and cleaning started by Monday, May 20.

The school cleaning will be completed by Thursday, June 13.

Grand Rapids Public Schools, its expert asbestos consultants, and the other agencies continue to discuss any proposed conclusions about past asbestos exposure at North Park Montessori School, Neal said.

In a recent letter to the district, Nova Environmental shared its understanding of the background of the situation, its results of recent bulk testing, and sampling strategy for the lead, asbestos and silica.

It is Nova Environmental, Inc.s understanding that, over the course of several months, there was widespread disturbance of plaster walls and ceilings throughout the building by outside contractors, according to Vice President Lisa Whitton.

These materials have been further tested through bulk sampling and have been determined to be non-asbestos-containing material through Nova testing and analysis.

Whitton said the 1908 vintage plaster materials were found to contain less than 1 percent Chrysotile (a type of asbestos).

She noted there are also concerns that, as a result of the building component disturbances, lead-based paint and silica may have also been impacted.

The breach occurred during a project to replace the heating system and add air conditioning at North Park.

Nova said it considered two primary factors when developing its sampling strategy:

The collection of sufficient data in order to develop an inclusive, comprehensive decontamination and clean-up plan. The data will be obtained by using a combination of visual observations, air sample collection/analysis, bulk sample collection/analysis and dust sample collection/analysis throughout the building. The second is to conduct air sampling for asbestos, lead and silica while using aggressive methods. Aggressive methods are defined as using a combination of leaf blowers and box fans prior to and during the air sample collection.

Besides the health department, the district has been working with the Department of Health and Human Services, which has been in consultation with the EPA, as well as the Department of Environmental Quality, and Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs/Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
WYOMING, MI -- Police are investigating after shots were fired into a Wyoming home early Wednesday, May 1.

No one was struck by the shots.

Wyoming police responded about 2:45 a.m. to the 1500 block of Godfrey Avenue SW on a report of gunfire in the area.

Officers found a home that had been hit. The home was occupied but no one was injured.

Anyone with information about the incident can call police at 616-530-7300 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345.
JACKSON, MI - When Destiney Davis is having a bad day, she buys French cheese and a baguette.

It reminds her of the first time she visited France though the French-American Cultural Exchange Program in 2001. The three weeks she spent living with a host family there later inspired Davis to become a French teacher and director of the exchange program at the Middle School at Parkside, she said.

The program matches French and American schools that exchange students for two weeks. The Middle School arranged a host only exchange this year, in which 12 local families hosted French students from April 13 to April 27, Davis said. The French students met Mayor Derek Dobies, rock climbed in Ann Arbor and toured Ella Sharp Park.

Jackson Public Schools in 1979 was the first U.S. district to participate in the French-American Cultural Exchange Program, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, said Donna Thomas, administrative assistant for the program.

The partnership began at Frost Elementary School for fifth and sixth graders, before being moved to the Middle School in 2016, allowing more students the opportunity to participate, Thomas said.

Having the French students here makes you see Jackson through a different lens, Davis said. When you go to France, its all these historic places, but while here you have to dig to find what to (show the students). But once you do, you value the area more because you really see the community.

Davis joined the exchange program in fifth grade at Frost Elementary and hosted a French student that March. Two months later, Davis traveled to France to stay with the student and her family in Vert-Le-Grant, France.

She remains close with her host sister, Davis said. When she visited the woman in France last summer, she gifted her a bracelet with the Frost Elementary logo on it, Davis said.

French wouldnt be my language if I wasnt in the program, she said. It changed my life.

Davis continued to study French in middle and high school with a tutor. In college, she majored in French and Francophone Studies, later adding European history, she said.

When students ask me why they should join the program, I tell them it could change their life, too," Davis said.

Katy Velten joined the program as a sixth grader in 1989. She was paired with a French boy whose family hosted her in Saint-Lo, France for three weeks, she said.

She remembers a visit to the North Sea, where her host father pulled her and the other children from the water when rip currents became a threat.

"I had never experienced the tide, Velten said. Everything was new to me.

Her parents eventually met the host family at their weekend home on the Atlantic shore in France. There, they tried strong European coffee for the first time and found themselves bouncing off the walls for hours, she said.

Its those small moments that Ill never forget, she said. We still laugh about it as a family, 30 years later.

Velten said the program sparked her passion for travel and learning other cultures. She later traveled and lived in Germany through exchange programs in high school and college.

I wouldve never had the confidence to join those programs if it werent for my time in France, Velten said.
BLACKMAN TWP., MI  A masseur who worked at a Westwood Mall spa is accused of touching clients inappropriately.

Guanglu Xia, 58, is charged with two counts each of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, which is a high-court misdemeanor defined as unwanted sexual contact with another person, according to the Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety Department.

Police say anyone who received a massage at Relax Chinese Acupressure Spa at Westwood Mall and felt they may have been touched inappropriately should contact authorities.

The charges stem from an investigation into a complaint alleging the masseur was touching clients in a way that was not typical and unwanted, police said.

Xia was arraigned in April on the two charges and later waived his preliminary examination, sending his case to trial before Circuit Judge Susan Jordan.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Police are asking that anyone who may have been victimized, knows someone who may been victimized, or has any concerns regarding the treatment techniques at Relax Chinese Acupressure Spa contact Detective Joseph Merritt at 517-990-8241.

Fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct is punishable by up to two years in prison and or a fine of $500.
POTTERVILLE, MI  A Michigan police chief is facing three felonies for allegedly aiding his wife in filing a false police report accusing a sheriffs deputy of sexually assaulting her.

The Barry County Prosecutors Office has issued charges against Potterville Police Chief Shane Bartlett, of Charlotte, accusing him of lying to investigators and misconduct in office.

The Michigan Attorney Generals Office appointed the Barry County Prosecutors Office to handle the case after Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd recused his office to avoid a conflict of interest.

Bartlett was arraigned, May 1, in Charlotte District Court in Eaton County on one felony count each of common law misconduct in office, lying to a peace officer violent crime investigation and false report of a felony.

The charges stem from a lengthy Michigan State Police investigation that resulted after a complaint was made by Bartletts wife, Kellie Bartlett, against an Eaton County Sheriffs Office deputy she accused of sexually assaulting her in 2018, officials said.

Shane Bartlett was interviewed by a detective investigating the accusations. Suspicions arose from his statements early in the case, police said.

The case was turned over to Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt in September 2018 and Kellie Bartlett was charged with filing a false report of a felony and several other charges. Her case is pending in Eaton County circuit court, officials said.

Shane Bartlett is currently free on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. He is on paid administrative leave.

Misconduct in office is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and or a fine of $10,000.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Jacob Williams is tired of being last.

With a last name that starts with W, the seventh grader at Kalamazoo Christian Middle School is accustomed to being at the end of the line when his teacher is calling out names in class.

Williams, 14, aired his grievance in an essay published Sunday in The New York Times. It was aptly titled, A is for Annoying.

If you also have a last name that begins with a W, X, Y, or Z you understand my struggles, he wrote in the submission. After awhile you get accustomed to always being last.

Williams goes on to offer an example. He paints a picture of his sweaty palms as he awaits the results of a recent exam, growing ever impatient as the teacher calls out the As, the Bs and so on.

Whats unfair in schools you ask?" Williams writes, concluding his essay. "Alphabetical order is whats unfair in schools.

The local student wrote the essay in response to a writing prompt asking kids to tell the newspaper about an unfair aspect of school, said Christine Webb, an English teacher at Kalamazoo Christian Middle School.

The essay was ultimately chosen for publication in the Sunday, April 28, edition of the newspaper, Webb said.

Williams was one of 12 students selected for publication from a field of over 200 submissions, the student said in an interview with MLive Tuesday, April 30.

His friends, family and classmates are proud of him and excited about his writing, he said.

It feels good to do something well and people acknowledge it, Williams said. Its the helping hand that says, I can do this well and I should pursue that in life.

Williams was on spring break in Florida with his family when he received the email telling him his essay was among those selected, he said.

He wants to be a nonfiction writer when he grows up, he said. Nonfiction books are his favorite. The competition was an opportunity to do something he already loves to do, Williams said.

Webb said this was the first time a student was published in The New York Times.

I love to encourage my students, Webb said. It means a lot when that encouragement comes from outside the classroom too, she said.

Webb keeps a collection of student work on a bookshelf in her classroom, she said. Williams essay will join the others that have been published in local and regional competitions.
UPDATE: She has been found safe, police say.

UPDATE: Man was mistakenly linked to Galeburg girls disappearance, police say

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI  An Amber Alert has been issued for a missing 13-year-old Galesburg girl.

Calista Kay Rose was last seen in Galesburg around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 30.

State police asks anyone who sees her to call the Paw Paw post at 269-657-5551, Kalamazoo County Sheriffs Department at 269-383-8722 or 911.

She is white, with hazel eyes, black hair and was wearing a black T-shirt with a pink winter coat.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Parents urging the district to reconsider offering fewer third-grade classrooms at El Sol Elementary School next year brought the fight to the Kalamazoo Public Schools Board of Education last week.

Four parents of students at the districts unique, dual-language school asked the board at a meeting Thursday, April 25, to reconsider a proposed budget that would cut a third-grade classroom, combining three classrooms into two larger classes.

District spokesperson Alex Lee said in a statement to MLive that because one teacher from El Sol is taking a leave of absence, no teacher will be displaced from that school. Lee confirmed the district plans to have two third-grade classrooms at El Sol next fall. Currently, there are three classrooms.

Last year, the school faced the same potential reduction, parents said, but ended up with enough students to keep three classrooms. The schools enrollment numbers are down by a few students this year in the third grade, which could mean students would be divided into two classrooms instead of three, increasing total class sizes, parent Margaret Wilson said.

We are short by three students this year, so we are going to lose a teacher and have an overloaded class, Wilson said.

She said students in the dual language program require more attention and teacher support. Half of the students are native Spanish speakers and are learning English in the classroom, while the other half are learning Spanish while speaking English at home.

Small classes are necessary for students to succeed at overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers, Wilson said.

Amanda Miller, president of the teachers union, Kalamazoo Education Association, said teacher displacement because of enrollment changes is common each spring.

Individual schools receive enrollment projections and determine in early April how many teachers will be needed for the following fall, Miller said. It is common for about 12 teachers out of the 800 in the district to be displaced and find a job in another school in the district, she said.

The teachers contract with the district states classrooms of kindergartners will have a max of 26 students, while classrooms in first grade through fifth grade have a maximum of 29 students, Miller said.

Emily Greenman Wright, a parent of two El Sol students, said she and other parents recognize that funding is limited and unpredictable.

Greenman Wright said the elementary school is one of the oldest buildings in the district and has physically smaller classrooms than other elementary schools because it was originally designed for older students.

We will be cheek to jowl in those classrooms with 27, 28, 29 students, she said.

El Sol Elementary is home to more English as a Second Language students who perform better in smaller classes, she said.

"We want you to just please consider for a moment  we know you have so many needs  but consider the specific needs of our students and families, Greenman Wright said.

"Instability is hard on teachers, students and parents, Greenman Wright said in an interview with MLive after the meeting.

In all honesty, were kind of yanked around every year, she said, criticizing the district for marketing El Sol Elementary as a district asset while potentially changing staffing.

You cant have a shiny pamphlet and then not have a full staff, Greenman Wright said.

A third parent, Ingrid Ramirez, spoke to the board in Spanish while Greenman Wright translated. Ramirez was given additional time for her public comment because of her need for a translator.

Ramirez asked the board to reconsider the staffing plan for the elementary school.

She said unfortunately Spanish-speaking parents dont frequently speak at board meetings because they dont feel comfortable with the language barrier.

Im here because our families need support, Ramirez said through the translator. Not just our families, but our children, because they are the ones who are going to suffer as a result of the reduction of classrooms."

Board member Jason Morris responded to Ramirez in Spanish. His comment to her was not translated into English.

Other board members thanked Morris for his contribution and asked the translator to communicate to Ramirez that a language barrier should never prohibit a parent from participating in her childs education.

Abraham Bello Cortez, another parent of El Sol students, said he was born in Mexico and is the product of English as a second language programs like the one at El Sol. He said he could speak to the board in English now because of what he learned through that program. Its an important resource in the community, Bello Cortez said.

If we keep fewer students in class, quality is going to be higher, he said.

District spokesperson Alex Lee said the majority of school funding comes from the state. Schools are underfunded and have to be very careful about staffing, which makes up the majority of a schools budget, he said.

A proposed budget for the district will be presented to the board in June and approved later that month, Lee said.

Board Vice President Ken Greschak said during the meeting a presentation on school funding earlier in the meeting was directly related to issues like class size and funding teachers.

Class size is a derivative of funding, Greschak said. This underscores what we want, what we care about.

Board member TiAnna Harrison said parent concern given during public comment was the perfect example of the need for a resolution passed by the board Thursday to support adequate funding for schools.

The board voted to approve the resolution, which voiced concerns for state funding of public education and called on state government to adequately fund schools, increasing money for English-language learners, special education and underprivileged students.
MUSKEGON, MI - Muskegon Public Schools Board of Education intends to select an interim superintendent by Monday, June 3.

During a special meeting on Tuesday, April 30, the board gave itself just over a month to name an interim superintendent to fill the shoes of outgoing Superintendent Justin Jennings who intends to leave for a job in Ohio after July 31.

The job will be posted as soon as possible with an application deadline of Monday, May 13, according to a board consensus.

The goal to select an interim by June 3 could result in an up to two-month overlap between the interims start date and Jennings departure.

We are focused on this transition - its important, said board President Cindy Larson, during the meeting. Its big for this community and our school district."

The board came to a consensus to post the interim job internally and externally without a salary range and with a list of qualifications that includes bond campaign experience, administrative certification and three years of administrative experience with central office work preferred.

The board debated at length about whether central office experience should be preferred or required.

They voted 4-3 to use preferred in the job posting. Inclined to require central office experience were Secretary Lynnette Marks and trustees Zachary Anderson and Earl Bill OBrien.

Some trustees said that a candidate with only building-level experience would not have the skills needed to run the district, while others said using the word required might prematurely weed out good candidates.

There are potential candidates within the district who do not have central office experience who could be considered for the interim job, Jennings told the board during the meeting.

If an internal candidate is selected, the board would relieve them of other duties so they could focus on the superintendent job, trustees agreed after some debate.

Other attributes the board is looking for in the interim superintendent include experience with budget, curriculum and personnel management; contract negotiations; and bond campaigns.

The transition comes during the campaign for a 30-year continuation of a 7.36-mill bond that would raise $77 million to upgrade and realign the school district. It is expected to come before voters in May 2020. The current bond expires in 2021.

A consensus was reached among the trustees that the best time for the next permanent superintendent to start is at the beginning of a school year, which would be July 1, 2020. That means the interim would serve through the the bond campaign and May 2020 election.

We not only want to see MPS survive, we want to thrive, Larson said. We are now on a mission to be able to do that as well as to be able to continue the progress we are making.

Jennings informed board trustees of his intent to leave the district on Thursday, April 25, in favor of the CEO position at Youngstown City School District in Ohio. He is expected to start that job on Aug. 1.

He is in contract negotiations and plans to submit his resignation when its finalized, he told the board on Tuesday.

I totally support Justin, Larson told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle previously. I want him to be where he feels he is the most useful and happy - not that he wasnt here of course.  Selfishly, Im very, very sorry to see him go.

Jennings is a first-time superintendent. He was promoted from within the district during January 2017 after the retirement of former Superintendent Jon Felske. He previously was an assistant superintendent for the district.

The district came under fire repeatedly since Jennings took the job, especially for an increase in administrative salary spending that was revealed in fall 2017 and plans for school building realignment in spring 2018.

Since at least December 2017, the board has been split on whether he is right for the job. That month, the board discussed a $100,000 severance package for Jennings over text message.

Secretary Pro-tem Billie Bruce called for Jennings dismissal during a board meeting in January 2018.

He was rated minimally effective in February 2018, after months of evaluation meetings.

In May 2018, Secretary Lynnette Marks called for Jennings resignation in a failed motion that was supported by Bruce and Anderson.

In his second performance evaluation in December 2018, Jennings rating improved from minimally effective to effective.

Jennings departure leaves two open superintendent positions in Muskegon County. The other is at Ravenna Public Schools.
MUSKEGON, MI  Muskegon Public Schools will permanently close Moon Elementary School as part of its efforts to right-size the district.

The building will remain open for the remainder of the school 2018-19 year, but will not reopen for 2019-20, the district announced in a news release on Wednesday, May 1.

The building closure will be one of the final acts of outgoing Superintendent Justin Jennings who recently announced his intention to leave the district after July 31 for a job in Ohio.

Students who would have attended Moon next year will attend either Nelson Elementary School or Oakview Elementary School, according to the release. Most will go to Nelson, along with all the teachers who currently work at Moon.

We know this news may be sad for our Moon community, Jennings said in a written statement.

Next year, current Moon students will be bused to their school campuses from Moon each day, according to the release.

Moons closure is part of the districts effort to right-size its building footprint, which has been a large part of the discussion surrounding a $77 million bond proposal that is expected to come before voters in May 2020.

The bond would be a 30-year continuation of a current 30-year, 7.36-mill bond that expires in 2021. If the proposal is approved, there would be no tax increase; if its rejected, property taxes would decrease.

Closing Moon was part of all four potential bond plans introduced to the community at town hall meetings in March. The closure of the Hackley Administration Building is also part of all four plans. Those plans were derived at bond steering committee meetings.

During spring 2018, a list of building closures that include Moon was hotly contested by the community and eventually taken off the table, but the Muskegon Public Schools Board of Education warned at the time that schools could still close in the future. That proposal would have closed Moon, Muskegon Community Education Center (MCEC) and Muskegon Middle School at the end of the 2017-18 school year. The district did close MCEC.

Jennings told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle that he hasnt heard any complaints lately about plans to close Moon.

Moon Principal Okeelah McBride will be an administrator at Muskegon Middle School.

Her proven leadership will help as we transition our current middle school configuration to a true middle school model to include grades six through eight, Jennings said in a written statement.

Converting the middle school to a sixth- to eighth-grade building is also part of plans related to the bond proposal.

At the end of the 2017-18 school year, the district closed the MCEC, formerly known as Angell School. Jennings is now in negotiations to sell the vacant building to the Boys & Girls Club of the Muskegon Lakeshore.

The district has shuttered and sold several buildings in recent years, including those that housed Nims, Bluffton, McLaughlin, Phillips, Froebel and Craig schools. Those buildings were closed between 2004 and 2012.

Muskegon schools closed Craig in 2012. It was sold to the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District for $25,000 earlier this year.

Nims, vacant since 2012, recently was overhauled by a medical company, Avasure. The district sold the building to Avasure for $25,000 during May 2017.

In preparation for the development of The Docks housing development, Sand Products purchased the 7 acres that made up the Bluffton School property for $490,000 in 2014. The school, closed in 2012, had already been demolished.

McLaughlin, closed in 2012, was sold for $100,000 in 2014 to Covenant Academy, a charter school serving 16- to 22-year-olds.

The district sold Phillips and Froebel to Blue Creek Holdings in 2014. Phillips, 1442 E. Broadway Ave., sold for $500 after being vacant for a decade. Froebel, 417 Jackson Ave., was sold for $1,000. Both have since reverted to the Muskegon County Treasurers Office in tax foreclosure.
MUSKEGON, MI  Taste of Muskegon 2019 will host its largest group of food vendors yet.

With 35 vendors expected at the 13th annual festival at Hackley Park, Taste continues to grow with the areas culinary scene.

Muskegon has had so many food trucks and restaurants open this year," Taste of Muskegon Director Ann Meisch said in a prepared statement. "For foodies, it has been really exciting to see such innovative offerings along the lakeshore.

That led to a flood of vendor applications, she said.

"We had to re-measure the park and get creative with electricity because it was too hard to turn them away, Meisch said. Muskegons growth is our growth and it makes us so thrilled.

The ability to fit more vendors at the park means there are lots of returning favorites as well.

The event is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, June 15-16, at the downtown Muskegon park.

Here are the first-time vendors:

Aldea Coffee

BIG REDs BBQ

Dr. Rolfs Barbeque

Factory Bar and Grill

Hey Sugar Co.

The Only Cannoli

Papa Js Chili Dogs

Smokin on the Lakeshore

Here are the returning vendors:

Abeshi Ghanaian Cuisine (2018 Taste Plate Award winner)

Bone Ends (2018 Taste Plate Award winner)

Hamburger Mikey (2018 Taste Plate Award winner)

Rad Dads Taco & Tequila Bar (2018 Taste Plate Award winner)

A&E BBQ

Aloha Hawaiian Shaved Ice

The Boars Belly

Carlsons Almonds (formerly Almond Scentsations)

Chef Char with signature pies

Country Dairy

Curry Kitchen/Naan Pizza

Fatty Lumpkins Sandwich Shack

Franks Concession

Hennessys Irish Pub

Hobos Tavern/The Handsome Hobo

Ice Box Brand Ice Cream Bars

JPs Hotdogs

Just Klassics

Los Amigos Mexican Bar & Grill

Rebel Pies

Rolling Stone Wood Fired Pizza Co.

Rootdown Yoga, Juice, Greens

Ruth Anns Ice Cream

Summer Pops

Sutton Concession

Uncle Bills Taco Wagon

Yodels Frozen Yogurt

Taste of Muskegon is among a line up of downtown Muskegon festivals scheduled for 2019, which includes the inaugural Muskegon Summer Wine Up.

Other downtown Muskegon festivals include Muskegon RockStock Music Festival, Rebel Road, Muskegon Bike Time, Lakeshore Art Festival, Unity Christian Music Festival, Moose Fest, Shoreline Jazz Festival, Muskegon Polish Festival and Michigan Irish Music Festival.
MUSKEGON, MI  A woman charged for the second time with animal cruelty after three horses were found dead and two rescued from her Muskegon County property says shes the victim of owners dumping unwanted animals on her property.

I never ever meant to hurt anything, Bobbi Jo VanKoevering said through tears.

VanKoevering was charged on April 24 with felony animal cruelty involving at least four and less than 10 animals. The charge is punishable by up to two years in prison.

Its alleged that VanKoevering, 42, of Ravenna failed to provide proper medical care and food for the animals, which also included a very thin calf that was removed from her custody, said Muskegon County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Maat.

All the animals, dead and alive, were in various states of malnourishment, Maat said, adding that authorities were told she had been caring for the animals for about six months.

VanKoevering, then using the last name Harris, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor animal neglect in 2006 in a case that resulted in five horses being removed from her custody, according to court records.

VanKoevering said that in both cases, all the animals involved had been dumped on her property.

These were rescue horses that were sick, she said. We tried the best we could.

Pigs, chickens, dogs, rabbits  theyve all been abandoned or left on her property, VanKoevering said. Horses are left tied to posts, she said. Owners abandon animals with her because she had been a 4-H leader for several years, VanKoevering said.

People just assume If we dump them off there, shell find a home for them, VanKoevering said. Ive always been a person who advocates for animals."

She said she tried finding homes for the horses that died as well as the calf and horses that survived. But it was winter, hay was scarce and no one wanted them, she said.

She never called Muskegon County Animal Control for assistance, VanKoevering said.

Besides the animals that were removed, other animals  including many goats and pigs -- on VanKoeverings property had no signs of neglect, Maat said.

Authorities were tipped off by someone who had lived at VanKoeverings residence, Maat said. The dead animals, including a stallion and a colt, were found in a barn, he said.

VanKoevering said the tipster is someone who rented a room at her residence and abandoned chickens, rabbits and a pig on her property when he left.

In 2006, VanKoevering was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty. After pleading no contest, she was sentenced to $300 in fines and court costs by former Muskegon County District Judge Andrew Wierengo.

She had been charged with animal cruelty to 20 animals, according to court records. Those included horses, dogs, cats, goats and rabbits, according to charging papers. Many ended up being placed in foster care, court records show.

As a result of that case, a $34,000 bill was sent to the County of Muskegon for the care of three horses by the West Michigan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The SPCA boarded the horses for three years, leading to charges of $11,250 per horse, according to a letter the SPCA sent along with the invoice.

The letter and invoice are part of the court file for the 2006 case. The county did not pay the invoice, claiming it was not liable for the costs.

In the letter, James and Brenda Pearson of SPCA stated that VanKoevering  then Harris -- had relinquished ownership of the horses, which the Pearsons had assisted in removing in June 2006 as part of the cruelty case. The letter noted that about two months later, two additional horses were removed from VanKoeverings property. The SPCA did not charge for those two horses care, because they didnt belong to VanKoevering, the letter states.

VanKoevering entered her plea on Oct. 12, 2006, according to court records. About a week later, she contacted Muskegon County Vector Control, the predecessor to Muskegon County Animal Control, seeking return of her animals.

The prosecutors office responded with a request for the court to order her to forfeit the animals or pay the costs of their care because of the seriousness of this offense and the number of animals involved.

Theres no indication the court issued that order, though SPCA did continue caring for the horses, according to its letter.

VanKoevering said the animals from that 2006 case did not belong to her and also had been dumped on her property.

She is free on a $750 surety bond posted in the current case in which the animals were removed on March 16, according to court papers. Her preliminary examination is scheduled for 10 a.m. May 9 in front of Muskegon County District Judge Geoffrey Nolan.

I plan on fighting this because this is absolutely ridiculous, VanKoevering said. Theres no way in this whole world that I would purposely harm an animal.

.
SAGINAW, MI  A Bay City man is walking out of prison after more than a quarter-century he spent behind bars for murdering a U.S. Army soldier home on leave.

A parole board in mid April agreed to parole 46-year-old Clay D. Hayward, currently incarcerated at the Saginaw Correctional Facility in Freeland. Hayward was convicted in the shooting death of Essexville native and Army soldier Mark R. Schafer.

Lesley S. LeBrun, Schafers younger sister, attended the parole hearing and spoke against Hayward being released.

We brought another petition with 5,000 signatures and more of my brothers friends showed up to speak in opposition, LeBrun said. We did all we could and knowing that gives us peace.

LeBrun said she was not surprised by the parole boards decision and is glad the ordeal is over.

Despite the brutality of this crime and a life sentence, weve known for all these years what the prosecutors told us in 1993  wed be lucky to see 20 years, LeBrun wrote on the Facebook page Justice For Mark Schafer. Over those years, my mom and I have met scores of other families affected by horrific violence and, sadly, what weve learned is that so, so many victims and their families never receive any justice. So for the 27 years we did get, we are grateful.

As a lifer, Hayward will be on parole for a mandatory four years. He is being paroled May 21, with tentative plans for him to be placed in Illinois, as he has family there.

Parole placements are selected based with the intent of providing the best opportunity for a successful transition back into the community, said MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz.

Mark R. Schafer, an Essexville man shot and killed by Clay D. Hayward in 1992 when both men were 19.

According to testimony in Haywards trial, a then-19-year-old Schafer in the early morning of Jan. 25, 1992, went to Haywards home in the 600 block of South Wenona Street to pick up a woman who was there with Haywards girlfriend.

Witnesses testified that Hayward wanted Schafer and others to leave and began counting to three. Schafer counted with him and also made statements to Hayward, asking why he assaulted women and felt the need to be a tough guy, witnesses said. On the third count, Hayward pulled a 6.35 mm Browning pistol from his pocket and fatally shot Schafer point-blank in the forehead.

After Schafer fell to the ground, Hayward fired several more bullets into his body. Hayward also kicked Schafer and threw the gun at his body.

Police officers arrested Hayward at the scene, where they recovered six spent bullet casings.

A Bay County jury in December 1992 found Hayward guilty of second-degree murder and felony firearm in Schafers killing. The following April, a judge sentenced Hayward to life imprisonment, plus a consecutive two years on the firearm conviction.

As a lifer who committed his crime before Oct. 1, 1992, Hayward was entitled his first parole board review after he served 10 years, with subsequent reviews every five years thereafter. A 2014 review ended with the board voting to parole him, but a motion from the Bay County Prosecutors Office and public opposition to the decision led the board to reverse it.

Bay County Prosecutor Nancy E. Borushko in January wrote a letter to the board again opposing Haywards parole. Cindy A. Howell, victims rights coordinator for the prosecutors office, also attended the Feb. 11 hearing and spoke against Haywards release.

Howell said Wednesday, May 1 that the prosecutors office is not planning to appeal the boards decision.

LeBrun said she did not want her family to go through the parole process every five years anymore. Shes also supportive of Hayward being paroled to another state.

We are at peace with this outcome, LeBrun wrote. We feel a weight has been lifted knowing we will never again in our lives have to be subjected to another parole hearing.
SAGINAW, MI  Catholic Federal Credit Union is changing its name and brand identity to attract membership beyond the Catholic community.

Officials with the Saginaw-based credit union announced the organization plans to change its name to Jolt Credit Union in June.

Jolt captures the essence and commitment to giving our members and community all weve got, every day and everywhere," said Alan Watson, president/CEO at Catholic Federal. "These are the benefits of membership our members have come to know and expect from us and our dedication to serving our membership remains as strong as ever.

In addition to the name change, the credit union has converted to a state-chartered credit union from a federally-chartered credit union.

The conversion allows the credit union to serve people who live, worship, work or regularly conduct business in or attend school in Bay, Saginaw, Midland, Gratiot, Gladwin, Isabella, Clare, Arenac, Tuscola, Huron, Sanilac, Osceola, Wexford, Mecosta, Montcalm, Iosco, Ogemaw, Roscommon, and Missaukee counties, said Bridget Looby Staffileno, vice president of community affairs at CFCU.

This is an exciting evolution for our credit union, Staffileno said. Our vibrant new name and brand reflects who we are today and symbolizes our dynamic future of welcoming anyone to join.

The name change and re-branding comes after the credit union struggled with membership growth due to the decrease in the number of Catholics in the region, Staffileno said.

Catholic Federal, founded in 1956, has branch locations in Saginaw, Bay City, Essexville and Vassar. The organization has more than $340 million in assets.
BAY CITY, MI  Need some midweek stress relief? Head to Uptown Bay City Wednesday, May 1, and you can spend your lunch break cuddling puppies.

The Humane Society of Bay County is bringing several puppies to the Uptown Galleria, 130 Uptown Drive in Bay City. The puppies are scheduled to be there from 11 a.m. to noon.

The event is hosted by the Humane Society, Uptown Bay City and Live Oak Coffeehouse. Dog lovers are invited to snuggle a puppy, have a cup of coffee and explore Uptown.

In a Facebook post, a Humane Society official said the puppies arent available for adoption yet, but those who are interested in adoption may submit an application.

The Uptown Bay City development, located along the Saginaw River on Bay Citys East Side, is home to Stuarts Uptown Grill, Live Oak Coffeehouse, Michigan Sugar Co., Omoni Boutique, Infinity Bridal, Sushi Remix, Central Michigan University Research Corp., The Bay City Times-MLive and more. The pizzeria is to be located in the Uptown Place building, which also houses Costela Brazilian Steak House.
Ohio congressman and 2020 presidential hopeful Tim Ryan is scheduled to speak at a Kent County Democratic Party event this weekend.

Ryan will give a keynote speech at the annual Kent County Democratic Party fundraiser Saturday, May 4 at Grand Valley State Universitys L.V. Eberhard Center in Grand Rapids. Michigan will also host weekend campaign stops for Democratic candidates U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and businessman Andrew Yang.

Ryan said he entered the race after General Motors announced it would shut down its Lordstown Assembly plant in northeast Ohio. Since entering the race on April 4, Ryan focused his messaging on keeping manufacturing jobs in America.

Like so many in Americas heartland, I come from a long line of factory workers who helped build our nation into a powerhouse of innovation, Ryan says on his campaign website. But over the last 20 years, failed leadership and broken promises have destroyed the middle-class, forcing our economy into crisis and pushing the American Dream out of reach.

Ryan could find support in the Midwest states targeted by Democrats after President Donald Trump flipped several in 2016.

Trump turned Michigan red for the first time in decades, but the state swung for Democrats in 2018 midterm elections. The state is viewed by both parties as vital to taking the White House next year.

A parade of Democratic candidates scheduled early campaign events in Michigan. So far, Democrats have focused their time around metro Detroit.

Ryan will be the only Democrat to visit West Michigan, and the first candidate to visit Kent County since Trump held a high energy rally there in March.

Kyle Klondik, managing editor of Sabatos Crystal Ball, a political newsletter run by the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said Trump could be vulnerable in Kent County.

Trump performed worse than 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney in Kent County, which is expected to become more Democratic while the number of residents with college degrees grows. Klondik said Democratic gains in Kent County and suburbs around Detroit could be enough to flip the state back blue.

Ryan has served eight terms the U.S. House, holding office since 2003, after one term in the Ohio state Senate. He represents an area surrounding Youngstown in the north part of the state, including counties that voted for Trump in 2016 after supporting former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

He is also known for unsuccessfully challenging U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for House leadership in 2016.

Harris is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for the Detroit NAACP branch on Sunday, May 5. The next day, she will visit a Dearborn-area public school, and participate in an educators town hall with the American Federation of Teachers in Detroit.

Yang is speaking at the Detroit Shipping Company in Detroit on Friday, May 4.

Presidential hopefuls Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and former Texas U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke have also visited Michigan. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is scheduled to visit Detroit on May 18.
On the same day starting shortstop Jordy Mercer returned from the injured list, his double-play partner was placed on the 10-day IL.

Second baseman Josh Harrison missed Sundays series finale in Chicago after banging his shoulder while diving for a ball. The Tigers elected to place him on the injured list with a left shoulder contusion before Tuesdays game at Philadelphia.

The Tigers selected the contract of infielder Harold Castro from Triple-A Toledo to replace Harrison.

To create a 40-man roster spot for Castro, the Tigers transferred pitcher Matt Moore to the 60-day injured list.

Harrison, who signed with the Tigers as a free agent at the start of spring training, has struggled in his brief Tigers tenure. Hes hitting .156 with four doubles and a home run in 99 plate appearances. He has five walks and has struck out 19 times.

Castro, a left-handed hitting utility man, made his Major League debut last September when he was unexpectedly summoned from his home in Venezuela to the big-league club.

Hes hit well so far in Toledo, posting a .353 average with four doubles and three home runs in 76 plate appearances. The 25-year-old Castro has played regularly at every position except first base and catcher in his minor-league career. (He does have experience as a first baseman in Venezuela).
Heavy rain overnight has caused low areas and poor drainage areas around southern Michigan to flood. Some interstates and roads have been closed in the Detroit area.

Especially hard hit with flooding is the Dearborn area. The heaviest rainfall total found was 3.50 at Ypsilanti. The Dearborn area has several rain reports between 2.50 and 2.75.

MDOT reports the Southfield Freeway was closed in both directions at Outer Drive on Detroits west side early this morning.

Here is a way to keep updated with closed roadways.

Dearborn had severe flooding, with some neighborhoods completely under water.

The Dearborn Heights fire department had to rescue two women trapped in flooded vehicles.

Congratulations to the Dearborn Heights fire Department for an amazing rescue of two women who were trapped inside a flooded car!! @DearbornPolice @DearbornHts @WWJ950 @FOX2News pic.twitter.com/i7VUy5B2z1  Charlie Langton (@charlielangton) May 1, 2019

More rain is going to fall today across the flooded area. The good news is the rain should be much lighter with additional rain staying under one-half inch and probably even less than one-quarter inch.

Here is the radar forecast going forward from 11 a.m. to midnight. Notice just a few additional showers are expected this afternoon.

The radar forecast from 11 a.m. Wednesday to midnight Thursday shows just a few showers in the flooded part of southeast Lower Michigan.

If you have to travel in areas that typically have poor drainage, You should check to see if the routes are open. Since the flooding is likely caused by poor drainage, waiting a few hours could make a big difference in your travel situation. Flooded roads should improve through the late morning and early afternoon with a mostly dry time period.
News of Julian Assanges harsh sentencing for skipping bail has been met with condemnation and outrage online, with WikiLeaks slamming the punishment as being as shocking as it is vindictive.

The WikiLeaks founder was sentenced by the Southwark Crown Court to 50 weeks for violating bail conditions in 2012, when he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he feared being extradited to the US.

Also on rt.com Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for jumping bail in UK

Assange is also facing a court hearing on extradition to the US where he faces charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, over allegations he may have tried to help whistleblower Chelsea Manning who leaked documents that were published by WikiLeaks.

Supporters expressed outrage at the harsh sentencing, which is just two weeks shy of the maximum sentence that can be applied. WikiLeaks said it has grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.

Many voiced concerns that Assanges long prison sentence and the conditions he will be imprisoned under will make preparing for his extradition case difficult.

A letter Assange wrote was given to the judge in court, which said he apologized for the way he pursued his case, saying he faced difficult circumstances.

"It's difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offense," Judge Deborah Taylor said, accusing Assange of deliberately putting himself out of reach and of exploiting his privileged position to flout the law. Meanwhile, the US request to extradite Assange from the UK is due to be heard on Thursday.

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If fighting breaks out between Irans Revolutionary Guards and US CENTCOM forces in the Persian gulf, it is Washington who will be held responsible, says Iran's deputy foreign minister.

The two forces, which have been reciprocally designated as terrorist groups, may engage in clashes in the Persian Gulf or any other region, Seyed Abbas Araghchi warned during a speech in Turkeys capital Ankara on Tuesday.

And should the worst case scenario emerge between the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the US Navy Central Command (CENTCOM), there is no doubt that the US will be held accountable for such a situation, he continued.

Also on rt.com If US wants to enter Hormuz Strait, it must talk to Irans Revolutionary Guards  FM Zarif

Iran is concerned that US President Donald Trumps efforts to cut off their oil imports will lead Washington to try to take action in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial point of trade for Iran in the Persian Gulf. Just last month, Irans foreign minister warned the US to be prepared for the consequences if they attempt to disrupt oil trade through the Strait.

The deputy minister also added that strategies of diplomacy and negotiation had lost serious ground due to growing anger over US policy. He noted, in particular, the bullying behavior of the US toward the countries still adhering to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed off on a law which was recently approved by parliament declaring CENTCOM to be a terrorist organization.

Also on rt.com US Navy admits Iranian drone footage of aircraft carrier is genuine by saying its years old

Tehran's tough stance comes in response to Donald Trump's announcement last month that the Revolutionary Guards would be designated as a terrorist organization. This was the first time the US designated a part of another government as a Foreign Terrorist organization.

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Juventus and Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is rumored to have splashed out a staggering purchased the most expensive car in the world, a $12.5million Bugatti.

Bugatti's one-off 'La Voiture Noire' prototype model was produced by the French manufacturer for the Geneva Motor Show in March to commemorate Bugatti's 110th anniversary.

And it is believed that Ronaldo has now purchased the car for a cool $12.5million.

Ronaldo is known to be a fan of Bugatti's cars, and back in 2017 shared a video of him driving a Bugatti Chiron, calling it "The new animal in the building."

Ronaldo reportedly already owns a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, a Mercedes C Class Sport Coupe, an Ujn Ferrari 599 GTO, an Aston Martin DB9, a McLaren MP4 12C and a Bentley Continental GTC Speed.

And if the rumors are true, it seems CR7 has upgraded his collection to include most-exclusive, model ever built.

The Bugatti has a turbocharged eight-liter, 16-cylinder engine capable of producing speeds of up to 260 miles per hour.

But Ronaldo won't be able to get his hands on his expensive new ride until 2021, as the finishing touches are still being made to the exclusive, one-of-a-kind car.
A US government watchdog said it became even harder to gauge whether Washingtons mission in Afghanistan is successful or not after the military stopped measuring how much territory is controlled by Western-backed forces.

The US-led NATO mission Resolute Support stopped measuring how much of the nations territory is controlled by the Western-backed government in Kabul, accordingthe US special inspector general for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John Sopko wrote in a quarterly report.

The mission explained its decision to drop the metric by claiming that it was of limited decision-making value to its commander. The report further noted that no other product or forum through district-level control data is communicated to the command.

Also on rt.com Rules of engagement have been liberalized: Ex-Pentagon analyst to RT on US killings in Afghanistan

Sopko, whose job is to oversee the way the US spends money on its military presence in Afghanistan, told Reuters that the commands move is another blow to the already diminished transparency of Washingtons policies in the country.

This much is clear: Theres even less information for American taxpayers to gauge whether their investment in Afghanistan is a success, or something else.

According to SIGARs previous report, as of October, the government in Kabul controlled only 53.8 percent of the districts, while the rest was contested by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. This was a significant drop from late-2015 when Western-backed forces controlled 72 percent of the territory.

Also on rt.com After 17 years of war, top US commander in Afghanistan admits Taliban cannot be defeated

The situation on the ground remains difficult, as Afghanistan has experienced heightened insecurity in recent months, despite the US holding talks with the Taliban in Qatar, according to Tuesdays report.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro refuted the statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that hed almost escaped to Cuba, but that Russians had talked him out of it. Moscow called it fake news.

Mike Pompeo said that I, Maduro, had a plane ready to go to Cuba, to flee and that the Russians got him off the plane and forbade him to leave the country. Mr Pompeo, please, what lack of seriousness, Maduro said, during a nationwide address announcing the defeat of the failed coup attempt.

At the height of civil unrest on Tuesday, Pompeo appeared on CNN claiming Maduro had an airplane on the tarmac all set to leave for Cuba, before the Russians indicated he should stay.

Also on rt.com Fire up the plane! Pompeo tells Maduro to flee Venezuela via CNN

Both Russian and Venezuelan foreign ministries pilloried the American for peddling what they called fake news.

Making up fake news is a very sad way to accept that the coup you backed has failed... once again. Diplomacy has to be restored in the US Government, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza tweeted.

Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of an information war, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement to CNN.

In a Tuesday night appearance on national television, Maduro declared that the opposition had attempted to impose an illegitimate government with the support of the United States but failed because of the loyalty shown by the military and the people who stood firm on protecting Bolivarian revolutionary ideals.

Also on rt.com Maduro congratulates military for defeating coup attempt as Guaido calls for more protests

The violence in Caracas erupted on Tuesday morning, after US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, flanked by a few dozen men in military uniform, released a short video calling on the army to rise up and oust Maduro from power.

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The peak of globalization has actually already come and gone, according to David Roche, president and global strategist at London-based Independent Strategy.

He told CNBC that the actual reversal of globalization started over seven years ago, as countries worldwide initiated more protectionist policies.

Roche projected that even China will see most of its future growth come from domestic pursuits.

Also on rt.com US protectionism leading global trade into deep crisis  EU

Globalization is on a back foot, its not the trade deal with China, a trade deal agreement which would flip the switch and turn on the motor again  the damage has been done, he said. There is no way going forward that China is able to grow by using international trade. It is going to grow more domestically.

Roche noted that China is not the only country looking inward. He explained that for many years, countries like Italy have had populist governments adopting nationalist policies, prioritizing the short-term benefit of their citizens instead of embracing globalization and the interconnectivity it entails.

Protectionist measures were enacted many years ago, he said, adding: They echo back to those in Italy who lost their jobs because they dont have a functioning labor market and a completely inept government.

Also on rt.com Global economic growth may have reached peak due to trade tensions  OECD report

While denouncing protectionism, Roshe said: But of course, populism wants easy answers. It wants to blame immigration, race, it wants to blame the fact that somebody else stole our jobs.

These are mythological as the US manufacturing jobs would have been lost anyway... the reason they were lost is technology.

The strategist said that the solution to all of this is greater international connectivity, not less.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido failed to kick-start a military uprising on Tuesday. After this fizzle, his life may be in danger from his own CIA backers, the director of the Ron Paul Institute argued in a debate.

Daniel McAdams and Ron Paul, the former libertarian representative from Texas, discussed the repeated attempts by Guaido to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with the backing from the US government. Despite all the efforts, Maduro remains in power, supported by many Venezuelans and in control of its military and police forces.

Paul said he was concerned that the Latin American country may be plunged into large-scale violence by some provocation.

The big danger is a hard war breaking out. Id still bet it wont be too bad, with thousands of troops moving. But it could be a guerrilla war or something like that. If there is a false flag or some important official on either side gets killed, you cant tell what might happen, he said.

McAdams pointed out that Guaido himself, with his record of failing to mobilize the protest against the Maduro government, could be a target for such a provocation.

He has been a kind of a hapless figure so far. He calls for mass protests and no one shows up. I dont think he realizes right now that he is actually now worth more dead than alive not only to the CIA, but also to his own opposition people. A shot in the crowd or something like that to take Guaido out. It might shock you, Dr. Paul, but the CIA is pretty good at this kind of things.

He said Tuesdays events, when Guaido declared a military-backed coup to be underway in Caracas which as of now seems to have led to little consequence for Maduro, seemed like an act of desperation.

[Guaido] said: this is the final phase of [the] plan to overthrow the government. It sort of smacks of desperation because he declared himself [interim] president in January and nothing happened. He kept trying to do things to get the military to turn and he was unsuccessful, he said.

Also on rt.com Coup fizzles? Guaidos mentor takes refuge in Chilean embassy as 25 military seek asylum in Brazils

Paul blasted US officials rooting vigorously for Guaido and his efforts to seize power in Venezuela while denouncing with indignation things like the alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

How many places have we been involved in in the last 20-30-40-50 years? I mean  thats our business. Its solidifying our empire, he said. I think its pure hypocrisy for us to think that we are doing [the interference in Venezuela] and we are against government interference. We love it, except when we dont.

The devoted constitutionalist added people like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo or National Security Advisor John Bolton, who appealed to Venezuelan soldiers to protect their nations constitution by siding with Guaido, were a bunch of clowns.

They dont have the vaguest notion about what the constitutional law in our country would be like. And they are going to restore the constitutional law in other countries? Its just cliches and nonsense!

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that American intervention in Venezuelas political crisis amounts to a violation of international law.

Speaking over the phone, Lavrov added that further aggressive steps in the country could have grave consequences.

Pompeo on Tuesday accused Moscow of meddling in the country by continuing to support President Nicolas Maduro, while the Russian Foreign Ministry said the US is waging an information war on Venezuela.

Also on rt.com Fake news to cover failed coup! Venezuela, Russia respond to Pompeos claim Maduro almost fled

US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday attempted to launch an uprising, but the effort fizzled when the military refused to defect in large enough numbers. Both pro and anti-government demonstrators held rallies and street protests across Caracas, some of which led to clashes with security forces.

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A British court sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks for skipping bail. The activist also faces a court hearing on extradition to Washington where he is wanted for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

The Southwark Crown Court in London on Wednesday sentenced Assange to almost a year for violating bail conditions. Last month, he was formally convicted of skipping bail in the UK in 2012 when he was wanted over a rape allegation in Sweden (the case was later dropped).

Assange was arrested on April 11 after, resisting and yelling, he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He had claimed asylum there for several years out of fear that the British authorities would hand him over to Washington.

In the US, he is charged with conspiracy after working with Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower who obtained classified documents that were subsequently published through WikiLeaks.

Over the years, WikiLeaks published material on the conduct of US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well American diplomatic correspondence. This included a video from Baghdad showing US troops killing civilians.

Assanges supporters hail him for championing free speech and exposing what they call abuse of power by various governments. Bolivias president, Evo Morales, blasted Assanges arrest, commending the journalist for bringing to light human rights violations by the US.

Also on rt.com US unseals Assange affidavit, revealing probable cause for extradition & arrest for conspiracy

The executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Trevor Timm, called the charges levelled against the whistleblower in the US a serious press freedom threat that should be vigorously protested. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also weighed in, saying it was deeply concerned with the prosecution and warning that the conspiracy charges against Assange could set a dangerous precedent.

US officials, meanwhile, blasted Assange for revealing classified information. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called WikiLeaks a non-state hostile intelligence service in 2017 when he was the head of the CIA.

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A powerful tornado ripped up the Romanian countryside Tuesday, launching a packed passenger bus 30 feet off the road, overturning it and injuring seven people in the process.

The ferocious whirlwind menaced the area near the city of Calarasi, 51 miles due east of Bucharest, destroying around 10 houses and demolishing farm buildings. Awe-struck eyewitnesses managed to capture the terrifying power of the tornado from close up.

A bus carrying almost 40 people was overturned by the force of the storm winds. Four of the passengers were rushed to hospital in nearby Slobozia while another 12 were treated at the scene, according to local media reports.

Severe weather conditions are expected to continue to impact the region until Thursday, when the cold front which caused the tumult is expected to move on and dissipate.

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The EU Commission berated Poland for its approach to the union, accusing it of using the bloc as a money machine to improve its economy, while doing very little to contribute to the future of Europe.

The EU is not just a money machine, a cow that you can milk, European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen said Wednesday. We are expecting a more substantial contribution from Poland for the future of Europe.

EU membership has helped Poland greatly and its economic development has been remarkable, he added.

While the future of Europe part is rather vague, Katainens description of the bloc as Polands cash cow might not be that far-fetched. For example, the EU spent nearly 12 billion (US$13.49bn) on Poland in 2017, while Poland only contributed 3 billion to the EU. Since it became an EU member in 2004, Warsaw has received over 100 billion from the bloc.

Katainen also complained that the EUs pressure on Poland to change its behavior has been very ineffective and has yielded virtually nothing so far.

Late in 2017, the European Commission launched Article 7 procedures against Warsaw, accusing it of breaching common European values and the rule of law with its controversial judicial reforms. If the procedure succeeds, Poland might be stripped of its voting rights within the bloc until it fixes the alleged issues with the rule of law.

The current situation is not good because we have had Article 7 procedure in Poland but unfortunately nothing has happened, Katainen stated.

Also on rt.com Poland rejects EU army, wants US & NATO help instead

While the Article 7 procedure has already proven to be lengthy, its ultimate success is questionable as well. Just as the process was launched, Hungary blasted it as unprecedented and astounding, signaling it might veto the EU Commissions decision.

Aside from alleged issues with the rule of law, Poland has repeatedly had run-ins over its immigration policies. As the migrant crisis unfolded back in 2015, the bloc urged its members to redistribute asylum seekers among EU states. Poland, however, alongside Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, refused to take any and firmly rejected any compulsory quotas on migrant redistribution.

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The number of Japanese homes that are sitting vacant across the country hit a record-breaking 8.46 million last year, according to the latest housing statistics released by the government.

The survey, which is conducted twice a decade, revealed that 13.6 percent of houses in Japan are unoccupied nationwide as developers continue a massive building spree despite awfully sluggish demand.

The number of uninhabited homes reportedly increased by 260,000 since the previous survey was carried out in 2013.Some of the empty properties are intended for rental or sale, while 3.47 million others have been abandoned, representing a 9.1 percent increase since 2013, according to the Nikkei daily.

Despite stable population decline, Japanese construction firms started building 950,000 new homes in 2018, up 0.7 percent compared to the previous year.

According to the latest data, published by the countrys Ministry of Internal Affairs, the pace of population decline kept on accelerating in 2018, marking a drop of more than 430,000 people.

The highest vacancy rate of 21.3 percent was in Yamanashi Prefecture, according to the report. The rate of unoccupied residences in the prefecture of Wakayama, famous for its numerous Buddhist temples totaled 20.3 percent. Nagano Prefecture, a former Winter Olympics site, completed the top three at 19.5 percent.

In 2015, the Japanese government approved legislation obliging municipalities to urge owners to repair or demolish uninhabited properties. Local authorities were set to apply the new regulation in 708 cases by last October. Municipalities reportedly took action on behalf of non-compliant owners in 118 of these cases.

Area residents ask us to do something because empty houses are a hazard, but its costly and time-consuming, the head of a Hokkaido municipality told the media.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
A high-ranking Pakistani air force general warned that Pakistan would respond harshly in the event of renewed fighting with India.

In case of any misadventure by the adversary, PAFs [Pakistan Air Force] response would be even stronger than before, said Pakistani Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, referencing skirmishes between the two rivals that took place in February.

The previous clashes kicked off on February 26, when India launched airstrikes on an alleged terrorist training camp within Pakistani territory. Islamabad responded with strikes of its own the next day, eventually downing an Indian F-16 in a brief dogfight.

[The] PAF response on 27 February 2019 against the enemy aggression will be remembered in history as Operation Swift Retort, Khan told the 24th Air Staff in Islamabad Wednesday. He said every rank and file member of the air force deserved special appreciation for their performance that day.

Since the February encounter, the two sides have traded rhetoric, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April accusing Pakistan of allowing terrorists to attack India, and threatening to hit Pakistan with the the mother of all nuclear bombs.

Also on rt.com Indian Air Force claims tech failures hampered success in aerial battles with Pakistan  report

That prompted a hostile retort from Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor, who warned India do not test our resolve.

"In your [Indian] rhetoric, you keep using nuclear power as a threat, said Ghafoor. Nuclear powers are not a threat, they are a weapon of deterrence that should not be mentioned lightly.
Prime Cuts: Your Son, Thank You for This Day, It's a God Thing

Overall Grade: 5/5

Chris Golden brings us back to the golden age of country music in the 90s. Every track on "Grateful" not only has a strong melodic line but they are hummable within a couple of listens. Unlike many of today's songs which ride on well-worn cliches and fragmented thoughts, Golden relies on the marrow of country music: the use of well-spun narrative plots. These songs have a way of draw us into the unfolding of the song's stories. Within a matter of seconds, we find ourselves entangled in the narrative's web as if it were part of our own story. Yet, what makes "Grateful" even more endearing is that these songs speak of God and how the Gospel works its work within the happenstances of ordinary folks like you and me.

Golden is by no means a novice in music. He is son of Oak Ridge Boys' William Golden and he has done his share in touring with the Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, and Restless Heart. In the late 80s and 90s, he and his brother Rusty were part of the short lived duo The Goldens. Together, they placed three singles on the Billboard Country Singles chart. Golden was also brought up in an environment of spiritual significance. His grandmother, Rutha Mae Golden, is given acknowledgement for her authority in his growth as a Christian. Golden gave his heart to the Lord around age 13 at a revival in south Alabama. Though he strayed from God's path along his journey, Golden returned back to the fold in 1997.

"Grateful" is Golden's debut country Christian album and it features 10 heart warmers."Your Son" is the album's gem. A sublime ballad that strings together of stories of how we can erase hate by treating our enemies as our own sons. The song hits right at the heart with the crescendo when we are placed in God's shoes and how we have treated God's son by crucifying Jesus on the cross. If you listen intently to this song, it will leave you breathless in repentance. Everything on "Thank You Lord for this Day" works - the soft rock percussion, Golden's jubilant delivery, the Eagles-esque guitar riffs, and even the Gospel-ish backing vocals.

God's sovereignty is celebrated on the melodious country ballad "If Not for You," while Golden is at his emotional best on the heart-on-your-sleeve "Wash Away." In his heyday, George Strait would have coveted "It's a God Thing." A tear-jerker of a ballad of how God intervenes in cases where medical science has put roadblocks, this is faith-building stuff at its best. Perhaps autobiographical of his own journey is "Prodigals." For those of us who grown up in the Bible belt in the south will relate to how the religious trappings of such a milieu will not save us except for a personal encounter with Christ.

Golden colors outside the lines with the folkie pseudo-bluegrass romp "Let My Life be a Light." Then he gives us a slightly accelerated Gospel-ish rendition of the hymn "Just a Little Talk with Jesus" which features some gorgeous interaction between Golden and a passionate choir. If you think that music has lost its melody, this album will provide you wrong. Every song here is stellar and safe to say, this album will not make you want to press the skip button.

Tags : Chris Golden Grateful Album Review chris golden chris golden news the goldens chris golden new album chris golden interview
More Ukrainian citizens will be eligible to apply for Russian citizenship under a fast-track procedure starting Wednesday. Moscow and Kiev have been verbally sparring over the issue for a week now.

Last Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree, which allowed people living in rebel-held parts of eastern Ukraine to apply for Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure. The move was justified by humanitarian reasons, Moscow explained, but Kiev denounced it as an act of aggression. The situation even ignited a verbal duel through the media between Putin and Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Russian leader upped the ante by saying the same fast-track option may be offered to all Ukrainian citizens and now seems to have partially delivered on the promise by signing a new decree, which made more Ukrainian citizens eligible for the program.

Also on rt.com Not as good as Poles or Romanians? Putin defends offer of Russian passports to E. Ukrainians

The new decree applies to people, who were born or lived in Crimea before March 2014, when the former Ukrainian region rejoined Russia, regardless of them currently holding Ukrainian citizenship or no citizenship at all. The same goes for Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons, who used to live in the rebel-held parts of Ukraine but have since went to Russia to live there as refugees or temporary residents. Their immediate family members, including spouses, are covered as well.

The same offer was extended to victims of Joseph Stalins deportation of Crimean Tatars, direct descendants of those people and their family members. Citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria, who were born in Soviet Russia, as well as their family members, are now eligible too.

The fast-track procedure skips some restrictions that normally apply to people wishing to become Russian citizens, like the need to live in Russia for a certain time or prove they have a legitimate source of income. It requires processed applications to take no longer than three months. The decree however states that individuals with diseases that pose a threat to public health or those with known links to terrorist organizations may be rejected.

Also on rt.com Passport sparring: Putin welcomes idea of giving UKRAINIAN citizenship to Russians

Zelensky, who won last months presidential election in Ukraine in a landslide, was among the most vocal Ukrainian critics of Russias decision to make it easier for some Ukrainians to get Russian citizenship. He mocked the idea that a holder of the Ukrainian passport may be tempted to get a Russian one, branding Russia as a dictatorship harassing its own citizens. He said Ukraine will be instead giving its citizenship to Russians persecuted by the Kremlin.

Putin parried by implying that if both countries would be giving passports to the other partys citizens, it would end up with all Russian and Ukrainians having effectively the same citizenship. The Russian president approving this idea, said he always considered Russians and Ukrainians to be part of the same people.

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If there was a clickbait headline competition, Fox News has just produced one that could easily win it. The network said one of its guests believe Russia has nuclear missiles in Venezuela, and presumably no one but him noticed.

To be clear, there are no Russian nukes in Venezuela, as far as any open evidence or official statements go. But Representative Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, whose appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Tuesday sparked the flashy headline, doesnt appear to believe there are any either. But that doesnt stop a really determined traffic-hungry editor from insinuating the opposite.

Diaz-Balart and Carlson debated if the presence of what the Fox host called the worlds bad guys in Venezuela poses a national security threat to the United States. One of the bad guys in both mens view is, of course, Russia, which deployed a small contingent of military personnel to the Latin American country.

Carlson pressured Diaz-Balart about his insistence that failing to act against Russia in Venezuela posed a threat to America itself.

Its kind of hard to see what youre talking about. Are you suggesting they are going to invade? Carlson asked.

The United States the closest we ever came to nuclear war was because the Russians put missiles, right, nuclear missiles in Cuba, Diaz-Balart said, referring to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Are you saying the Russians will put nuclear missiles in Venezuela? Carlson asked.

What I am suggesting is that they are already there, Diaz-Balart said.

Also on rt.com Goebbels would be proud: Twitter users expose Jake Tappers misleading Maduro message

If Carlson thought that the they mentioned by his guest meant missiles and not Russians, he failed to react in a way that such an explosive claim merits. The interview went on with him and the congressman debating what was the biggest threat posed by the turmoil in Venezuela. Carlson believes that this is likely a mass exodus of people after US succeeds in toppling the countrys government. Diaz-Balart said it was emboldening Russia and China, should Venezuelas current leadership survive despite the US determination to oust it.

One could argue that Diaz-Balarts awkward wording justifies the inflammatory headline used by Fox News and whoever reprints the story, like the Sun. But really, does the age, in which news stories are boiled down to mere tweets, benefit from such bad faith trickery?

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WikiLeaks has slammed a UK courts sentencing of its co-founder Julian Assange as vindictive. It also raised major concerns about whether Assange will be treated fairly during an upcoming extradition hearing.

The sentence is as shocking as it is vindictive, WikiLeaks said on Twitter on Wednesday, shortly after Assange received almost a year in prison for violating bail conditions.

We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK.

Julian Assange skipped bail in 2012 while wanted in Sweden over rape allegations (the case was later dropped). The journalist then spent the next several years living under asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, out of fear Britain would hand him over to the US. He was forcibly dragged out of the building last month after the South American nation decided to evict him.

Also on rt.com Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for jumping bail in UK

The arrest drew the ire of activists, journalists, and politicians who slammed it as a major threat to freedom of the press.

In the US, Assange was charged with conspiracy while working with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who obtained classified data from a Pentagon computer, which was subsequently published by WikiLeaks. Among the leaked files was footage of US troops killing civilians in Baghdad.

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Is it only right and proper that Britain compensates descendants of Africans it enslaved during its colonial period? Or is it enough to educate people about the horrors of slavery and move on? RT guests debate the hot topic.

Social activist Lee Jasper insisted that all colonial artefacts Britain acquired as a direct result of colonial plunder now be returned to the countries of origin. UK radio host and journalist Jon Gaunt argued that that the idea of reparations is ludicrous, saying it wasnt his generation that committed such horrendous acts.

Also on rt.com Cambridge Uni investigates its ties to slavery, prompting both praise & disapproval on social media

It comes after Cambridge University revealed that it will conduct a two-year investigation into its links to the slave trade, and whether or not the word-renowned academic institution profited from it.

Jasper put forward the case that this issue is about 400 years of slavery which is unprecedented, adding that, while other countries like Ghana and Gambia have had reparation schemes for 25-30 years, Britain is really just catching up."

In a fiery debate, Gaunt accused Jasper of implying African slavery was better than British slavery, which is kind of stupid. He congratulated Cambridge on launching an inquiry, saying people needed to be educated, but who would receive the money? Africans living in this country, Africans in Africa?

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Nearly three years after the US Air Force declared F-35As fit for combat duty, two of the stealth jets have finally seen real action over the mountains of Iraq, bombing Islamic State targets, the military has announced.

The strikes in support of Operation Inherent Resolve were carried out by two US Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft over Wadi Ashai, Iraq on Tuesday.

The F-35As conducted the airstrike using a Joint Direct Attack Munition to strike an entrenched Daesh [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIS] tunnel network and weapons cache deep in the Hamrin Mountains, a location able to threaten friendly forces, the statement said.

This strike marked the F-35As first combat employment.

Fifteen years after Lockheed Martin won the contract to make the plane, the US Air Force declared F-35As ready for deployment in August 2016. It then took nearly three years to use the fifth-generation combat aircraft in warfare. Israel beat the US to it by becoming the first country in the world to carry out an operational attack using the stealth fighter last May.

Also on rt.com Japans crashed F-35 had navigation & cooling faults, whole fleet forced into 7 emergency landings

Despite the two confirmed combat missions, the flagship stealth jets continue to suffer technical problems.

In April, a Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-35A stealth fighter crashed off the coast of Japan. The ill-fated plane had issues with its cooling and navigation systems prior to the crash, Japans Ministry of Defense revealed, exposing other issues related to the fuel and hydraulics systems of its F35A fleet.

The F-35 series has been marred with controversies over its frequent delays in development, excessive costs, and multiple technical flaws. A 2018 report from the US Government Accountability Office found that the program had more than 960 open deficiencies that needed to be resolved. In February, a Pentagon report revealed even more issues with the plane, including problems with its gun and the fact that its operational lifespan turned out to be much lower than planned.

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The US has barred American pilots and low flying planes from going into Venezuela indefinitely following opposition leader Juan Guaidos failed coup, citing increasing political instability and tensions.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an international security notice barring all US pilots and US-registered aircraft from flying lower than 26,000ft (about 5 miles) over Venezuela, claiming the ongoing struggle between the US-backed opposition and President Nicolas Maduros government creates an inadvertent risk to flight operations. While its unclear how the situation in the air has changed, the order applies indefinitely going forward, until further advised.

American pilots and planes currently in Venezuela have been advised to get out within the next 48 hours and the order does not prohibit US aircraft from landing if they have authorization from another agency of the United States government.

American Airlines already suspended its flights to Venezuela in March due to the political situation, and no other US airlines currently offer flights to Caracas.

The FAA warned pilots traversing Venezuelan airspace to exercise caution in February, explaining that due to the heightened tensions, Venezuelan air defense systems might fall into the hands of potentially violent and unpredictable non-state actors even if the Venezuelan military was not about to shoot down civilian planes.

The Trump administration has blamed Cuba and Russia for Guaidos failure to wrest control of Venezuela from Maduro, and after Tuesdays failed coup attempt, Trump threatened to punish Cuba with further sanctions and an embargo, even though Cuba has been subject to a near-total US embargo since 1962.

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Bollywood actor Sunny Leone has added one more feather to her cap  she has come on board as an equity investor in Fork Media Groups women digital publication, Hauterfly.

Mumbai-based advertising technology firm Fork Media had launched Hauterfly.

Fork Media was founded by Samar Verma and Upen Rai in February 2013 and the company rolled out Hauterfly, a fashion and lifestyle website targeted specifically towards millennial women in India, in November 2013.

The website is a discovery and shopping platform for brands.

Sunny Leone reflects the brand values  fierce, unapologetic and opinionated. She is a force to be reckoned with. The association will augur well for both the brands, said Samar Verma, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Fork Group Media Group.

Leone took right steps as an entrepreneur to make it big in India. Be it bagging endorsements or moving to the television world or starting her own line of make-up or perfumes, the actor-turned-entrepreneur has her focus on building the brand Sunny Leone.

Under the brand expansion plan, Leone launched StarStruck by Sunny Leone and also has perfume line The Lust under her name.

Fork Media had raised around $4 million funding in July 2017 from Agnus Capital, the family office of promoters of pharma firm Strides Group.

Speaking about future plans, Verma said they are in talks for second round of funding.

We are open to capital. Capital coming in will act like a stimulant for taking it to the next level of growth , Verma said without revealing the volume of fund raise.

The firm is planning to utilize 40-50 percent of the capital raised for in organic opportunities and consolidating assets in the next 12-18 months.

Verma said Fork Media has received interest from strategic investors vs financial investors but he is skeptical whether strategics will augur well for their business as that could potentially self-limiting.

We are looking more at financial capital coming in vs more strategic capital coming in Verma said .
Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) decision of donating 10,000 courses of multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) medicine bedaquiline free of cost in India is under the scanner.

The US-based healthcare products major is already facing multiple regulatory investigations in the country over the safety of its products.

Bedaquiline that replaces older, more toxic TB treatments, was the first drug resistant-TB medicine to be developed in over 40 years.

The drug reportedly improves cure rates with fewer side-effects.

"If used in its entirety, this could help catalyse significant progress against MDR-TB in India," J&J said in a media statement.

Through its subsidiary Janssen, J&J had donated over 10,000 courses of bedaquiline in 2016 as part of a global donation programme, operated in partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The company said it supports the government's 'Make in India' programme and partnered with local manufacturers to produce bedaquiline for global use, including India.

The Government of India has set an ambitious goal of ending TB by 2025, five years ahead of the global Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 2030.

There are an estimated 135,000 cases of drug-resistant TB in India every year, and currently less than 30 percent of the patients are diagnosed and provided appropriate treatment.

Although the donation programme ended in March 2019, India-specific donations from J&J came at a time when two tuberculosis survivors had opposed a secondary patent application filed in India by Janssen, on grounds that it could block generic versions of bedaquiline until 2027.

The timing of J&J's-India specific donation, also coincides with multiple controversies that raised questions over the safety of the products sold by the company in India.

J&J has been in the news recently due to its faulty ASR hip implants and compensation to patients, allegation of its baby powder and shampoo contamination, selling USFDA banned surgical pelvic meshes, among others.

Timing of donation

Healthcare activists and NGOs have raised concerns over the timing and intent of J&J's donation of bedaquiline in India.

"Not only do these ad-hoc and piece-meal drug donations threaten the sustainability and predictability of the governments MDR-TB treatment programme, the timing of the announcement certainly raises serious concerns that the donations are aimed at undermining strict regulatory action by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) and extracting concessions or leniency from the government," the All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN), a network of healthcare groups working for affordability, said.

"The donations of bedaquiline to India not only create dependence on donations from a single supplier, but also stifle the Governments willingness to promote local production of the drug by generic manufacturers to ensure affordable, sustainable and predictable supply to the government programme," AIDAN added.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Paris-based non-profit organisation said that J&J's bedaquiline donation programme is another means by which the corporation has worked to retain decision-making power over who gets treated and where, rather than working collectively with global healthcare providers and the TB community that made the development of bedaquiline possible.

"J&J announced its drug donation programme in response to public pressure to lower the price of this drug, but global health experts and WHO recommend against donation initiatives, which can undermine long-term efforts to increase access to affordable medicines," MSF said.

J&J's response

J&J refuted the allegations.

"Johnson & Johnson did not solicit direct requests from governments as part of the bedaquiline donation program. The Indian government independently approached USAID, which administered the donation program, to request an additional 10,000 courses of bedaquiline, bringing the total requested and agreed to 20,000," the company said in a statement.

"Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson increased the number of courses of bedaquiline available through the donation program  ultimately committing to donate up to 105,000 courses of treatment, free of charge, to eligible countries. This helps countries, including India, prepare for the transition to a sustainable access model for bedaquiline, which is one of the last lines of defense against drug-resistant tuberculosis," the statement added.
Maharashtra Assembly Election Results 2019 LIVE updates, Haryana Assembly Polls: Check constituency-wise poll-results, candidates, winners, losers

Avinash M Tripathi

Democracy is often seen as an egalitarian system, not only formallyeach person gets a single vote irrespective of her class and wealthbut also substantively. The argument is that the frequency of elections and the need of political leaders to get elected incentivise redistributive politics. Parliamentary election currently underway in India is a testament to this wisdom. A number of distributive ideascash transfers, loan waivers, reservations in public employment to the economically weaker sectionshave been bandied about. Irrespective of the actual outcome, all parties seem committed to some form of redistribution, at least in rhetoric.

While the reduction in inequality is a good thing, the flip side of the emphasis on distributive politics is its adverse impact on growth and development. This view has been most clearly expressed by Arthur Okun in his book Equality and Efficiency: The big trade-off. Okuns logic is straightforward. Arguably, distributive transfers need to be financed by higher public taxation. Higher tax rates, in turn, reduce incentives for work and innovation and affects savings, investment and capital formation.

Even more problematic is the fact that electoral transfers are, in practice, not the most efficient way of reducing inequality. This is so because such transfers, though advertised as being targeted at the bottom of the income distribution, are in reality targeted at the politically dominant interest groups. As Aaron Director was the first economist to point this out, this empirical finding is often called Directors law.

In other words, good politics does not translate into good economics. There is a sharp conflict between increasing the size of the economic pie and ensuring a fair division thereof. Hence the title of Okuns book: The big tradeoff.

Okun and Directors view of the relationship between elections, inequality and growth is not without empirical basis. For example, it has been found that taxes as a proportion of GDP are much higher in democracies compared to non-democratic economies.

The trouble with their view, however, is that it overlooks the role of both the policy and political persuasion. The form of redistributionboth on the taxation and spending sidematters as much as its magnitude. Some taxesthink of a tax on entrepreneurship or entry taxesare more distortionary than others. Some forms of spendingthink of public spending on education and healthare more conducive to long-term growth and welfare than others.

Economist Roland Benabou has argued that financing education by a progressive income tax schedule does distort labour supply and saving decisions. However, it mitigates problems inherent in missing credit and insurance markets which limit investment in schooling and human capital.

Consequently, there is no trade-off between equality and growth. A tax-funded education financing programme can achieve both, at least up to a certain point.

This finding is particularly relevant for developing countries, such as India, which suffers enormously from such missing market problems. In short, redistribution by providing merit goods may alleviate the sharp conflict between growth and equality which bothered Okun.

Finally, it has been contented by economists of different ideological persuasions, such as Raghuram Rajan and Joseph Stiglitz, that high level of inequality makes the growth process unsustainable and volatile, possibly by spurring the demand for the wrong kind of redistribution. Rajan, for example, has argued that in the United States, the financial institutions were forced to lend to subprime borrowers as a kind of palliative for the structural inequality, which in turn, led to the global financial crisis.

Examples galore where the redistributive conflict generated by structural factors and wrong policy choices led a country into the middle-income trap. A research paper published by the International Monetary Fund found that the risk that the growth spell would end does depend on the degree of redistributive conflict in the economy.

In theory, it is the job of the politician to sell their voters the right kind of redistribution; at the same time, resisting the temptation for the wrong kind of redistribution. By articulating a case for right policies in the popular idioms, politicians are expected to act as a mediator between the policy wonks and the public at large.

However, as Oscar Wilde has said, it is easy to resist everything except temptation. If ideas which balance the needs of equality and growth do not attract the attention of politicians, it is not because they are impossible to find, but mostly because politicians are driven by the short term self-interest rather than the long term enlightened self-interest.
The liquidity crisis at non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), which has been brewing since June 2018, is now getting deeper now. Large institutional investors like insurance companies are facing pressures of investments getting downgraded.

While insurers are required to invest at least 95 percent of funds in above A+ rated instruments (for unit-linked plans it is AA+ and above), the recent downgrades of debt papers has tightened the noose around returns.

An Economic Times report said that a few insurers have sought regulatory forbearance on complying with investment norms.

This is after a few select instruments of Reliance Capital group companies were downgraded. If there is a breach in the 5 percent limit due to a downgrade, insurers are required to correct that within three days. However, insurers have expressed inability to correct it within such a short duration.

"We cannot write off all the exposure from our books. Provisions for doubtful instruments are already up 2X compared to last year and the bad news is not over," said the chief investment officer at a bank-promoted insurance firm.

The insurance regulator on the other hand wants companies to not just rely on credit ratings of their investments, but wants them to apply their own judgement.

Apart from Reliance Capital, other firms like DHFL and IL&FS had also faced liquidity crisis. In fact, it was IL&FS that triggered the debt crisis situation.

At the time of investment, IL&FS instruments were AAA rated. The infrastructure lender has been facing debt crisis since June 2018 after it defaulted on inter-corporate deposits and commercial papers (borrowings) worth Rs 450 crore. Over the next three months, rating agencies downgraded the company's long term ratings.

Post that, several group entities were downgraded and missed a series of debt payments. IL&FS has a cumulative debt of Rs 91,000 crore.

IRDAI Chairman Subhash Khuntia had said in March 2019 that considering policyholders' interest, insurers have been asked to not pull out of investments once there is a ratings change.

The regulator has also asked insurers to bring out a risk registry. Each insurer will list out the type of risks that they face and the possible solutions for those risks. Khuntia added that this is like a guidance being given to them.
Iraq has for the second year in a row become India's top crude oil supplier, meeting more than a fifth of the country's oil needs in 2018-19 fiscal year.

According to data sourced from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Iraq sold 46.61 million tonne of crude oil to India during April 2018 and March 2019, 2 percent more than 45.74 million tonne it had supplied in 2017-18 fiscal.

India provisionally imported 207.3 million tonne of crude oil in 2018-19, down from 220.4 million tonne in the previous financial year.

Saudi Arabia has traditionally been India's top oil source, but it was for the first time dethroned by Iraq in 2017-18 fiscal year.

In 2018-19, Saudi exported 40.33 million tonne of crude oil, up from 36.16 million tonne of oil sold in the previous year.

While India stopped importing crude oil from Iran following reimposition of economic sanctions this month by the US, the Persian Gulf nation was the third largest crude oil supplier to India.

It sold 23.9 million tonne of crude in 2018-19, up from 22.59 million tonne in the previous year, according to the data.

UAE topped Venezuela to become India's fourth-largest crude supplier. It sold 17.49 million tonne of crude oil to India, just a tad higher than 17.32 million tonne of oil coming from Venezuela.

In 2017-18, Venezuela had supplied 18.34 million tonne and UAE 14.29 million tonne.

Nigeria was the next biggest supplier with 16.83 million tonne of exports in 2018-19, down from 18.11 million tonne in the previous year. Kuwait supplied 10.78 million tonne of oil and Mexico another 10.28 million tonne.

The US, which began selling crude oil to India in 2017, is fast becoming a major source. Supplies from the US jumped more than four-fold to 6.4 million tonne in the 2018-19 fiscal year.

In 2017-18, the first year of imports from the US, the supplies were at 1.4 million tonne.

Iran was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11, but western sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in subsequent years.

In 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 million tonne and 10.95 million tonne, respectively, from it. Sourcing from Iran increased to 12.7 million tonne in 2015-16, giving it the sixth spot.

In the following year, Iranian supplies jumped to 27.2 million tonne to catapult it to the third spot.

India is 80 percent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs.

Easing of western sanctions in 2015 had led to the Indian refiners raising their purchase from Iran.

Kuwait, which was the third largest supplier in 2013-14, has steadily slipped, with supplies dropping by 16 percent in 2018-19. It had supplied 17.9 million tonne crude in 2014-15, which came down to 11 million tonne in 2015-16 and 9.8 million tonne in 2016-17. Supplies from Kuwait, however, rose to 12.85 million tonne in 2017-18.
We retain our target for Sensex at 44,000 by March 2020 (12 percent upside), and any kind of sell-off (around 5 percent or more) should be providing an interesting entry point into equities, Nitin Rao, CEO, Reliance Wealth Management, said in an interview with Moneycontrols Kshitij Anand.

Edited excerpts:

Q: As we close to the election result day volatility has touched a multi-year high. Do you see a sell-off or a knee-jerk reaction after elections results assuming Modi coming back?

A: As we see it, the market has partly priced in the return of current administration (rallied almost 10 percent from February 2019 lows), but still, there is room for improvement as election results are a month away.

If one goes by historical trends, markets rally before elections, then there is some amount of profit booking and thereafter post-election results, the market stabilises.

While there has been a certain amount of re-rating in the markets in the last month, we expect markets to take a breather before this uptrend continues.

We retain our target for Sensex at 44,000 by March 2020 (12 percent upside), and any kind of sell-off (around 5 percent or more) should be providing an interesting entry point into equities.

Apart from the noise around elections, the market will take cues from the evolving global market developments and upcoming earnings season.

We have been calling for an earnings recovery and estimate the growth of about 12 percent in FY19 and 20 percent in FY20 for Sensex.

Q: After the recent rally, valuations have gone up for Indian markets. With event risk in the hindsight, where is the pocket of opportunities?

A: After the steep correction seen over the last one year, there is valuation comfort in the small and the mid-cap space. We find value there. As broad-based profit growth was sparse, growth/quality at any price had worked very well for the last few years.

Given the run-up in the largecap stocks, they are now trading at the higher band of valuations. To that extent returns expectations from this segment of the market must be rationalized.

Cost-effective ways of investing in the largecaps via ETFs should be considered. We would continue to remain selective in a stock selection where earnings growth is clearly visible.

Most mutual funds seemed to be sitting on cash during the last two months and our sense is that they would be keen to allocate more towards the mid and the smallcap counters.

In fact, our interaction with fund managers indicates that most of them are now aggressively positioning their large and mid category funds to investors.

Q: What is pushing the markets higher?

A: We saw a significant foreign selling last year to the tune of $5-6 billion and from a very low base. They have begun to come back in CY19.

From a year-to-date (YTD) perspective, FPIs have added $8 billion of net equity flows into India, while most of the DIIs have stayed out of this rally.

In our opinion, FPIs are taking a long-term view on the Indian economy  structurally over the next five years India is expected to remain amongst the fastest growing world economies.

Most of the forecasts pegging Indias GDP growth closer to 7.5 percent, a burgeoning middle class with better spending capabilities, expected dovishness by the US Federal Reserve (providing comfortable liquidity) and green shoots seen in the capex cycle augur well for the equity markets over a 2-3 year time period.

While your point on crude needs to be further watched, we think there are global oil spare capacity and higher inventory levels which could offset any disruption in oil supply due to Iranian sanctions, etc.

Q) What are mistakes that one should avoid especially when benchmark indices are trading near record highs?

A: One needs to never forget that asset allocation remains the cornerstone of any healthy investment portfolio.

Trying not to chase returns or to get exceedingly risk averse is the key to ensuring that the investments made eventually help meet the financial goals they were set to achieve at the onset.

A regular review of the portfolio, weeding out laggards and even taking profits out from investment that has run ahead or delivered their expected returns much sooner, should help an investor stay in good stead.

Q: I read somewhere that 3Es  election, economy, and earnings  will decide the direction for markets in the near term. I would like to add rupee and crude as well to the list. What are your views?

A: Brent crude is up 47 percent YTD to $75 per barrel on the back of US sanctions on Iranian oil exports. Such sanctions bite, because the US can make life difficult for countries failing to comply, given the extent to which America controls flows of dollars around the world.

Iranian exports have halved to between one million to two million barrels a day going to China, India, South Korea, Japan, and Turkey.

Waivers allowing these exports were expected to be rolled over, which is why the market was surprised by the White Houses newly stated resolve to bring Irans oil exports to zero.

We believe the key OPEC nations who have been cutting down their oil production would gradually ramp it up to fill up the hole left by Iranian sanctions. This should help limit the upside to oil prices over the course of the year.

As for the Indian rupee, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signaled that it intends to keep liquidity at the neutral zone and would use both the bond and foreign exchange (FX) markets to augment rupee liquidity.

However, with rupee seeing strength on a REER basis, RBI can use FX route more than bonds, unless the bond curve steepens too far. The outlook for FY20 is far more favourable, given a relatively benign outlook for commodity prices, fading headwinds from the liquidity crunch and relatively stable portfolio inflows.

While the rupee could remain in the 68-71 range against the US dollar, mild depreciation over the medium term cant be ruled out given global growth uncertainty, volatile capital flows, revival in commodity prices, etc.

Q: What has been your portfolio strategy?

A: As broad-based profit growth was sparse, quality at any price had worked very well for the last few years. With a positive change in margin growth likely to become more dispersed, the trend is undergoing a change providing buying opportunities.

We would continue to select stocks where earnings growth is clearly visible. Over the last few months, we had called for advancing equity allocation prior to elections.

For those who missed allocating to equities, any market consolidation should be used to fill the allocation gap. After the steep correction seen over the last one year, there is valuation comfort in the small and midcaps. We find value there.

Given the run-up in large-cap stocks, they are trading at the higher band of valuations. To that extent returns expectations from this segment of the market must be rationalized. Also, cost-effective ways of investing in large caps via ETFs should be considered.

Q: Do you think FII momentum will continue if we see Modi coming back?

A: FIIs have added over $8 billion YTD, coming out of an unfavourable year. We believe the FIIs are betting on the long-term India growth story.

While we are not experts to predict elections, if there is a return of the current government, it would only act as a catalyst in front-loading some of these flows. Currently, most of the FII flows into India have been a part of the emerging market (EM) focused funds and not necessarily in India focused ETFs alone.

A stable administration at the Centre could see India focused ETFs also attract flows. Given our views on other macro factors that we discussed, we see FII flows sustaining in Indian equities.

Q: Global markets are also trading near highs. Does it make sense to invest in funds that have global exposure to diversify the portfolio?

A: Breaking the home bias should help the investor of today to build a portfolio that offers truly a better risk-adjusted portfolio.

Most of us would have seen the heat map on Indian asset classes that clearly corroborate the fact that 'winners rotate'. If we zoom out a bit and compare Indian markets to its global counterparts, the narrative doesnt change much.

Different asset classes, different economies perform at different points in time. Global markets offer exciting thematic options to choose from (agri focused, global commodities-focused, energy, gold, mining, country-specific, EM focused, etc).

Indian investor generally doesnt get the exposure to such a diverse range of themes in the domestic market. From this point of view too, within global allocation, investors can look to optimise the risk  returns profile of their portfolio. These themes could be short-lived and could involve active management.

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
NBCC, whose bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech got rejected by lenders last week on account of lack of approvals by the administrative authorities, has received the go-ahead from government departments for its revised offer to acquire debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech, sources told Moneycontrol.

They said NBCC has received approvals from the Department of Expenditure and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for its revised offer.

Meanwhile, financial creditors and home-buyers are presently voting on Suraksha Realty's bid. The voting process started on Wednesday and would conclude on May 3.

Voting opened at 9 am on Monday but the website did not respond. Homebuyers representative Kuldeep Verma sent out a message to all buyers on Monday that the service provider has communicated that due to system error, the voting portal www.jaypeeinfratechar.in is currently not responding. IRP team is working with the service provider to resolve this issue at the earliest The voting line shall be open till 1200 hours on May 3, 2019, the message read.

During the meeting on April 26, NBCC had sought some time to take all the necessary approvals but the lenders decided to put on vote on April 30 the offer of Suraksha Realty-led consortium and not NBCC's.

After the COC meeting, NBCC had also written a letter to the interim resolution professional (IRP) Anuj Jain expressing its interest in taking over the embattled firm and that its offer should be considered on merit.

In its meeting, the committee of creditors (CoC) decided not to consider NBCC's bid as it was subject to approval of various government authorities. NBCC had informed the lenders that day that the company was in process of seeking government approvals and it should be given some time before the voting could be carried out on its plan.

NBCC continues to be very interested in the resolution process and accord the interest of the homebuyers, utmost priority, the letter written by NBCC to the IRP said.

"It is to bring to your attention that during the CoC meeting on 26th April it was clarified by NBCC that these approvals have been applied as expected shortly and it was requested to consider some time frame for allowing NBCC to obtain the approvals before the actual voting on the plan.

This appeal was made on basis of the fact that the CoC meeting was being held on 26th April, just 2 days after the submission of plan on 24th, and there was not enough time to inform the CoC regarding the status of Govt approvals. We are confident that our proposal will safeguard the interest of the home buyers and the lenders. Therefore, we request the CoC to consider our proposal on merit," the letter written by NBCC to the IRP had said.

On Monday debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech's lead lender IDBI Monday approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking extension of insolvency proceedings beyond the May 6 deadline as the process is still underway to find a buyer for the Jaypee group's realty firm.

The bank has approached the Allahabad bench of the NCLT court to extend the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) as the deadline expires on May 6, sources said.

The NCLT has posted the matter on May 6 for the next hearing.

In its previous bid, NBCC had offered 1400 acres of land worth Rs 6000 crore and equity infusion of Rs 500 crore upfront. In the revised bid, it has offered 950 acres of land worth Rs 5001 crore and reduced the equity infusion from Rs 500 crore to Rs 200 crore, sources said.

For secured financial creditors, it has offered a payment of upfront amount of Rs 1500 crore, 100 percent in Yamuna Expressway SPV, 100 percent in land bank SPV. The land bank SPV is worth Rs 5001 crore and totals 950 acres

Suraksha had earlier offered about Rs 20 crore as upfront payment but in the revised bid, it has proposed an equity infusion of Rs 50 crore and a working capital loan of Rs 3000 crore against a requirement of Rs 2404 crore to complete construction work, sources said, adding their completion timelines are on an average one year less than NBCC.

Business conglomerate Adani Group had also entered the fray by putting in a bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech. Lenders will also have to decide on Friday whether the company would be allowed to enter the race at this stage.

A few day before, promoter of embattled real estate firm Jaypee Infratech Manoj Gaur had once again offered to complete the much-delayed real estate projects within a period of four year by pumping in Rs 1500 crore in an escrow account. Gaur during the meeting with homebuyers claimed that he was a victim of circumstances, made a presentation and proposed that Rs 1500 crore would be set aside in an escrow account for completion and construction of the projects that are proposed to be completed within four years.

As many as 22,000 homebuyers are stuck because of significant delay in delivery of flats by Jaypee group's debt-ridden firm Jaypee Infratech, which is undergoing insolvency proceedings.

In 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the application by an IDBI Bank-led consortium seeking resolution of Jaypee Infratech. In the first round of insolvency proceedings, the Rs 7,350 crore bid of Lakshdeep, part of Suraksha group, was rejected by lenders as it was found to be substantially lower than the company's net worth and assets.

In October 2018, the IRP started a fresh initiative to revive Jaypee Infratech on the NCLT's direction.

The realty firm has an outstanding debt of nearly Rs 9,800 crore, of which Rs 4,334 crore pertains to IDBI Bank. Other lenders are IIFCL, LIC, SBI, Corporation Bank, Syndicate Bank, Bank Of Maharashtra, ICICI Bank, Union Bank, IFCI, J&K Bank, Axis Bank and Srei Equipment Finance.

Jaypee Infratech is developing about 32,000 flats, of which it has delivered 9,500 units. JAL had deposited Rs 750 crore in the registry of the Supreme Court for refund to buyers. However, this amount was transferred to the NCLT as per an order of the apex court.

vandana.ramnani@nw18.com
May 1 marks the second anniversary of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (Rera) 2016 coming into effect. While it is still "work in progress", especially when it comes to implementation by states, experts suggest that it has definitely ensured that the "Wild West days of Indian real estate" are certainly over.

RERA came into effect from May 1, 2017 and Maharashtra was the first state to implement it by setting up MahaRera. The act ended the practice of real estate developers diverting funds collected from homebuyers to other projects or for land purchase. Moreover, as it is now mandatory for developers to park 70 percent of the amount collected in an escrow account, its introduction did coincide with the slowest growth in the real estate sector, according to experts.

So what has changed over the last two years? While the legislation and other reforms such as demonetisation and GST did send shock-waves in the real estate industry, RERA is gradually gaining acceptance. "The supply side has clearly begun learning the dynamics of this 'changed' environment, and has been redrawing its business models," said a real estate expert.

RERA and real estate prices

The period of negative growth in prices coincides with, and is closely linked to, demonetisation, temporary ban on construction in Mumbai, implementation of GST, and a little later, the liquidity crisis of 2018.

"All of these, along with RERA, contributed to the slowdown in the industry, leading to falling sales every successive half-year as well as negative price growth. GST implementation, the other structural change apart from RERA, can be said to have contributed significantly to the ways of doing business in residential real estate," said Gulam Zia, Executive Director - Valuation and Advisory, Retail and Hospitality at Knight Frank India.

It is evident that while prices declined between 2013 and 2016, the cycle turned negative in the period immediately following the implementation of RERA. Evidently, sales dipped and projects began to struggle to cope with the rigorous requirements of the now regulated industry, he stressed.

RERA still work in progress

Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have taken the lead in implementing the act, while Haryana and West Bengal have some catching up to do.

MahaRERA at the end of 2018 received as many as nearly 5,000 complaints and passed over 3,100 orders. Until end-2017, 79 percent rulings were in favour of homebuyers, according to data shared by Knight Frank India.

As it stands, 22 states and 6 Union Territories have already notified their RERA rules, from these, 19 states have active online portals. West Bengal too has an active portal for its own real estate laws.

However, there are cases wherein despite RERA notifications to defaulting builders who have been summoned to pay penalty to buyers, they are delaying payments or not attending hearings.

Moreover, developers now have more accountability and cannot get away with breaking RERA norms. In several instances, developers have been reprimanded by the concerned authorities and have had to pay penalties to homebuyers. While the redressal of complaints is not satisfactory for many, consumers are coming forward in large numbers to register complaints across states. The Wild West days of Indian real estate are definitely over, said Anuj Puri, Chairman  ANAROCK Property Consultants.

Registration numbers are on the rise

Project and real estate agent registrations have been on the rise across most states since November 2018. For instance, the numbers in Andhra Pradesh have gone up from mere 61 registrations in 2018 to 307 in April 2019.

Maharashtra is currently the most active state with 20,718 projects registered under MahaRERA and nearly 19,699 RERA-registered real estate agents. Project registrations in Karnataka currently stand at 2,530 and 1,342 RERA-registered real estate agents, according to data shared by ANAROCK.

Gujarat has 5,317 RERA-registered projects and 899 registered agents and agencies.

Rahul Grover, president, Sales and Operations at Sai Estate Consultants said that RERA accompanied by reduced GST rates have given a boost to the buyer segment, it has helped bringing back consumer confidence and trust which the industry lacked.

However, the government should expedite the single window clearance mechanism for the real estate sector. The clearance and approval process for residential real estate projects has been an impediment for a long time. Since the launch of RERA, it has become important to ensure that all clearances and approvals are seamless so that there are no execution delays due to procedural hindrances, said Amit Ruparel, Managing Director, Ruparel Realty.

More needs to be done

Homebuyers face major issues due to lack of confidence, hence execution of RERA orders by real estate developers and setting up of forums to address complaints need to be initiated.

Despite projects being RERA registered, consumers are not sure whether projects would be completed within the stipulated timeline and therefore are not coming forward to risk buying under construction properties.

One reason for this is that RERA authorities are not taking proactive steps to ensure all provisions are being complied by builders. Moreover, they are not monitoring the progress of projects, which if stalled could further dent consumer confidence. Authorities should ensure that projects are granted extensions only under exceptional circumstances, said Abhay Upadhyay, President of Fight for RERA, an umbrella body of homebuyers.

Most orders passed by authorities are not getting executed with most stating that they do not have the teeth or powers to execute them. It would be prudent for authorities to sit across the table with district collectors and state government officials to find a mechanism for execution of orders on priority basis, he added.

With multiple legal fora now available, buyers are confused whether they should file complaints under RERA, NCDRC or move the Supreme Court.

Last but not the least, none of the states till date have amended their diluted rules despite pressure from homebuyers, he pointed out.
Jabin T Jacob

National security, like other issues of national importance, is seldom determined by the actions of any one government administration alone. Both failures and successes trace their roots to strategies and policies developed and actions implemented over time by successive governments.

While national security deserves a place in the electoral discourse, in the current elections underway it has been reduced to simplistic binaries and an unhealthy focus on Pakistan. China has undoubtedly been a major beneficiary of this proclivity of Indian politicians and people to get carried away by emotion and prejudice.

So far it is only the Indian National Congress that has come out with a full-fledged Plan on National Security. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears to be winging it on the back of a few heavily publicised surgical strikes and the Balakot attack while ignoring responsibility for the intelligence and/or operational failures behind the Pulwama attack and the less-than-adequate reaction to Pakistani response to Balakot.

What does the manifesto of the Congress say about China in national security terms?

The Congress report drafted by Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd), former head of the Armys Northern Command, must be commended for stating plainly that [f]uture strategic rivalry between China and India is a certainty. Without this realisation across all arms of government and percolating down to the general public, India will not be able to develop the whole-of-the-system approach required to manage the relationship with China and to address current and future concerns. The Americans, too, came to this realisation, however, belatedly and perhaps it is their national security strategy document that has provided some inspiration for the Congress document.

General Hooda also highlights the failure of ongoing border talks to achieve any breakthrough but his suggestion that attention shift to a clarification of the LAC in the belief that it will go a long way in preventing the occurrence of flashpoints like Depsang, Chumar, and Dokalam is mistaken. While this might make sense for army commanders in charge of dealing with Chinese transgressions, it misses the larger point that the Chinese do not value treaty obligations the way India does.

A case in point is of how the Chinese have seemingly walked back from the clause in the 2005 India-China Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles on not disturbing settled populations and continue to claim Tawang as central to any boundary resolution. Consider also if Beijing has respected any of the lofty declarations it has made to ASEAN nations over the decades with respect to the South China Sea features China now illegally occupies as its own.

Specifically, in terms of border management, General Hooda calls for one border, one force with the focus being on the Army having operational control over the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) which works under the Ministry of Home Affairs, a situation he calls, not a recipe for success. The demand is a long-standing one of the Army but it is worth noting that it predates the present NDA regime and was never met during the Congress-led UPAs tenure.

In the naval dimension, General Hooda jumps straight to the issue of India and China concluding some sort of agreement on rules of naval engagement and de-escalation where necessary. However, even this will not be possible without India first urgently devoting more resources to expanding its naval capacity, including ship-building and diplomacy.

Under their Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Chinese are using a combination of economic engagement and military diplomacy to create more space for themselves in the Indian Ocean region and in a few years, if India fails to take the necessary steps to augment its military, economic and diplomatic capabilities, Beijing might not necessarily seek its co-operation.

It is also wrong to assume India and China have similar views on free trade and globalisation as the Congress document does. Far from it. Chinas apparently similar views are a pretence under which it seeks to expand opportunities for and develop its own State-controlled enterprises as global leaders in strategic sectors and cutting-edge technologies. Once again, global rules and norms about free trade are being used to Chinas advantage but the same rules do not apply to China itself as any number of foreign companies operating in that country can testify.

On cyber-security, while the Hooda report does not mention China by name in posing a severe challenge to the security of Indias digital infrastructure, it does argue the technological component of Indias digital sovereignty has to be a gradually planned adoption of software and hardware that is designed and manufactured by Indian private companies. Presently, much of this software and hardware are of American and Chinese origin respectively, leaving our systems compromised by both.

The Hooda report makes several exhortations for military restructuring and reforms, including indigenisation of defence production. However, the proposals put forward are not new and it is precisely the failures of two successive UPA regimes on this front that now makes whatever little the BJP has done so far look good by comparison.

Meanwhile, the gap with China shows no sign of being closed any time soon.

(This is the first in a two-part series looking at what the manifestos of the Congress and the BJP say about China and national security)

Jabin T Jacob is associate professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar University, and adjunct research fellow, National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi. Twitter: @jabinjacobt. Views are personal.

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Representative Image

Sumanth Raman

As General Elections 2019 trundles along one feature of the first three phases of the polling has been the reports of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) malfunctions. Across states there have been several instances where the EVM's have misbehaved, in some cases after some of the votes have been recorded in them, and in many cases even before polling started. In some places the mock voting numbers have been incorrectly recorded necessitating the EVM's replacement. The Opposition has petitioned the Supreme Court asking for counting a higher number of VVPAT's than at present. The court has partially obliged asking for VVPAT's from five EVM's per assembly constituency within a Lok Sabha seat to be counted instead of one per constituency as was the case earlier.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) maintains that the EVM's are foolproof and cannot be manipulated. They also insist that the percentage of EVM malfunctions is small and possibly within the acceptable limits though what is an acceptable number is not clear as even a handful of votes can potentially alter the result. The ECI further says that it provided an opportunity for political parties to try to hack into the EVM's but most did not even take up the offer. However, it must be mentioned that access to the EVM was never given and what was offered was a challenge to manipulate the EVM from the outside.

It is a fact that so far no one has conclusively proven that the EVM's used by the ECI in India can be manipulated from the outside. However, when serious questions are raised about the impartiality of the ECI itself, it is incumbent on the part of that constitutional body to establish to the public beyond any shadow of doubt that the machines used are indeed tamper-proof, whether from the outside or the inside.

The ECI must provide full access to the EVM's and allow those who say it can be hacked an opportunity to prove their case. The ECI says that disclosing the actual design of the EVM is a security risk. However, without undertaking such an exercise it is simply impossible to convince the public that the machines indeed cannot be manipulated. The key question that needs to be answered is that, if one was provided with access to the EVM, can the results be manipulated? Once the answer is known, the necessary safeguards to prevent such manipulation can be built into the system or the system of using EVM itself may need to be abandoned, as it has been done in so many countries.

As far as malfunctions go, the ECI has never really clarified why so many of these machines malfunction each time. Is there an issue with the balloting unit or the control unit or both? How can this be minimised? Are all votes recorded in an EVM recoverable after a malfunction? If not, is a repoll in that booth automatically ordered?

One partial solution would be to count all the VVPAT's at least for one election. The ECI told the apex court that it will take six days for this to be done and the results cannot be held up until then. Thats not a matter. The EVM result can be declared as the provisional result and the VVPAT's can then be counted. If there is any discrepancy between the two that changes the results, it becomes clear that the EVMs have issues. If there is no difference then the public can largely be convinced that EVMs are reasonably accurate.

By being stubborn in its refusal to subject the EVM to a fair test of its frailties, the ECI is allowing unnecessary speculation to build, among not just the political class but also the public. It is the Opposition that has raised serious doubts on the EVM but they are equally guilty of the charge that they raise the issue only when they lose the elections. So the BJP says there weren't such charges raised when the Congress won the assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Also ham-handed claims, such as the event in London (where Congress leader Kapil Sibal was present) when a US-based anonymous hacker claimed to have manipulated several elections without an iota of proof and without demonstrating how the EVM could be hacked, do more damage to the Oppositions cause.

While the BJP is today batting for EVMs it is worth remembering that it was the saffron party that first raised doubts about their susceptibility with party senior leader LK Advani leading the charge. A decade ago, BJPs Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao even wrote a book on the subject titled Democracy At Risk! Can We Trust Our Electronic Voting Machines?

It is in the interest of every citizen of India that doubts about EVMs are put to rest. The voting process is the heart of our democracy and there must not be any doubts at all about its fairness. Will the Election Commission act?
The Congress is not at all cutting into votes of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh as the party has fielded candidates either with prospects of victory or having potential to damage BJP's chances in the state, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on May 1.

Asked whether she was afraid of contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, Priyanka said she was not scared at all and that she joined politics "for good".

"If Priyanka Gandhi gets scared, she will sit at home and not do politics. I am in politics for good and will be there," she said.

The Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh also hit out at the BJP for what she called its "obsession" with the Gandhi family when the focus should be on solving people's problems.

On the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka said, "We have carefully chosen candidates so that either Congress wins or they cut into BJP's votes. Congress is not at all cutting into votes of the 'UP gathbandhan'."

Priyanka was talking to the media during her campaign trail in Amethi where her brother Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election.

Asked whether Rahul Gandhi will become the prime minister, Priyanka said, "My brother will prove to be a good prime minister. Whether he will become the prime minister or not, the public has to decide."

The Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) forged an alliance months before the Lok Sabha polls, but kept out the Congress as there was no agreement on seat-sharing.

According to political observers, the anti-BJP vote could get split between the Congress and the UP alliance, benefitting BJP.

"This is not a preparation for (assembly polls) in UP in 2022. This is about defeating BJP in 2019," she said, adding, "Congress party is weak in UP we need to strengthen it here. I am working towards it."

Priyanka said there was no leader like her brother Rahul Gandhi as he listens to people and tries to resolve their problems.

"BJP is obsessed with Gandhi family. When we come here we do not talk about our family. We talk about problems of people, but they target our family in half of their speeches," said Priyanka.

On the decision of her not being fielded from Varanasi, she said if she had contested from the temple town, she would have been confined to only one constituency.

"I am not dejected that I am not contesting from Varanasi. I wanted to campaign and strengthen Congress in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Had I contested from Varanasi I would have got confined to Varanasi alone and would not have been able to work for strengthening the party," she said.

"There is a lot of work to do in eastern Uttar Pradesh and we have to defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and strengthen the Congress," she said.

The Congress fielded Ajay Rai from Varanasi, ending weeks of speculations that the constituency may witness a blockbuster contest between Modi and Priyanka.

"I am not fighting elections or campaigning for myself...I have a lot of work to do here and every Congress candidate wants me to campaign for them," she said.

"I had said in the beginning that if the party wants me to contest (from Varanasi), then I am ready and would go by the party's decision," she added.

Training her guns on the BJP, Priyanka alleged that the government at the Centre has not given "nyay" (justice) to people.

"People are harassed. This government has lost the trust of the people who voted them on hopes which have been dashed," she added.

"You have to understand their niyat (intention) and neeti (policy). They have done nothing to solve the menace of stray cattle. Gaushalas are yet to be set up," she said.

Priyanka also took a swipe at government over the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, under which a farmer will get Rs 6,000 annually, saying it's "a kisan apman (insult) yojana".

The Congress general secretary attacked Union minister and BJP candidate from Amethi constituency Smriti Irani.

"By distributing shoes, she has insulted people of Amethi...They say that there is parivarwaad (dynastic politics), but this is the love of the people of Amethi, which our family is getting...When I was 12-year-old, I had seen barren land, and I remember my father seeking your support, and today there is greenery," she said and referred to various works done by her father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and by her brother Rahul Gandhi.

The Salon assembly segment in Rae Bareli district falls under the Amethi parliamentary constituency. Amethi and Rae Bareli will vote on May 6 in the fifth phase.

The BJP had won a whopping 71 seats out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
BJP president Amit Shah hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the UN designated terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist and asserted that this is why "India needs a strong and decisive leader".

"That is why India needs a strong & decisive leader. Grateful to PM Narendra Modi and his diplomatic efforts that led to the UN designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. It was long over due. This also reflects PM Modi's commitment towards Zero tolerance against terrorism," Shah tweeted.

BJP leaders have credited Modi's leadership for the development as they reacted to what is being seen as a big diplomatic victory for the country.

Senior party leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India stood vindicated with Azhar now declared a global terrorist.

"India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the Prime Minister's foreign policy," he said.

With the party making nationalism and the Modi government's actions against terrorism the central theme of its Lok Sabha election campaign, it is set to highlight the UN measure for political dividends in the election season.

Addressing his first election rally in Delhi's Vasant Kunj, Shah said Pakistan has been given befitting reply ever since Modi took over as prime minister.

"Since the BJP government has been formed, India has scored over Pakistan diplomatically. Earlier, there was a time when they used to spread terrorism and also level allegations against us in diplomacy.

"But, since the Modi government has been formed, Pakistan has been isolated in the entire world," Shah told the gathering.

He said that the entire world stands with India and accepted that Pakistan is giving shelters to terrorists.

"Today, the entire world has accepted that Pakistan gives shelters to terrorists. On behalf of the people of the country and the BJP, I want to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this success," he said.

He said it was the Modi government which is protecting the country and appealed to people to vote for the party not because of the work done by its MPs but for the security provided by Modi in the country.
Site of the Maoist attack in Gadchiroli (Image: ANI)

At least 15 security personnel and one driver have been killed in a Maoist attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, News18 reported.

The attack was carried out by using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on a police vehicle carrying the commandos.

According to reports, the police and Naxals were involved in an exchange of fire at the site of the attack.

Earlier in the day, Naxals had allegedly set ablaze 27 machines and vehicles near a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a tweet, condemned the attack.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has also condemned the attack.



Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals today.

My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs families.

Im in touch with DGP and Gadchiroli SP.#Gadchiroli May 1, 2019

As a mark of respect to the security personnel, Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao cancelled the reception and cultural programme organised at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai to mark the 59th Anniversary of Maharashtra Day.

On April 11, an IED blast had occurred near a polling station in Gadchiroli during the first phase of the general elections. No one was injured in the attack.
Site of the Maoist attack in Gadchiroli (Image: ANI)

Alleging that "fake chest thumping" characterises the BJP-led government's narrative towards national security, the Congress on Wednesday hit out at the Modi dispensation over the Naxal attack in Maharashtra and said that despite its "tall talk" no lessons from Pulwama have been learnt.

The party alleged that the BJP has sought to "deeply politicise" the blood and sacrifice of the country's jawans, but have become mute when such cowardly attack takes place.

At least 16 people, including 15 security personnel, were killed in an IED blast triggered by Naxals in Gadchiroli district.

The blast followed Naxals torching 25 vehicles belonging to a road construction contractor earlier in the day.

The Congress party strongly condemns this mindless and despicable act, and pays homage to their martyrdom and their sacrifice will not go in vain, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said in a statement.

"In the past five years, fake chest thumping, hyperbole, empty slogans and 'acronym building' have characterised Modi government's narrative towards our national and internal security," he said.

In the past five years, 1,086 Naxal attacks have taken place in which 391 jawans and 582 civilians were killed, Khera said at a press conference.

Will PM Modi take responsibility about the growing menace of Naxalism, he asked.

Last month, when a Naxal attack took place in Dantewada, Prime Minister Modi desperately sought to pin the blame on the newly formed government in Chhattisgarh, but the stark reality is that 1,000 CRPF personnel were killed in the last 10 years of BJP rule in Chhattisgarh, he said.

The complete laxity and inability of the BJP in Chhattisgarh in fighting Naxalism stood exposed, when well known security expert -- K P S Gill -- had stated that although Raman Singh and the then BJP Government had appointed him to head Anti-Naxal strategy in the state, but asked him not to do anything and just enjoy the perks of government.

Therefore, this ad-hocism in tackling the menace of Naxalism by Modi would not work now, he said.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said the country needs preventive action, accountability for this failure and not 'jumlas' (rhetoric) and lectures.

"We condemn the brutal terror attack on our jawans in Maharashtra. India stands firmly behind their families, well wishers & friends in this hour of grief," Patel tweeted.

"Once again terrorists have targeted the convoys of our jawans. Clearly despite their tall talk no lessons from Pulwama have been learnt. It is a wake-up call for state and central governments," he said, referring to the terror strike in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in February in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed by a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide attacker.

Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, in a tweet, said: "Strongly condemn the attack on C-60 Commandos in Gadchiroli. My condolences to their families. Their sacrifice would not go in vain."

Over 390 jawans have been killed in Naxal attacks in the past five years that expose hollow claims of securing India by the Modi government, he said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi expressed his deepest condolences with the families of those killed in the Naxal attack in Maharashtra.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also paid homage to those killed the attack.

"In this hour of grief, me and the Congress party stand with the families of the martyrs. The whole country is against the violence perpetrated by Maoists. We will defeat this violent ideology together," she said.

The state authorities had definite information and intelligence inputs, after the Naxals had already announced that they will carry out such an attack, Khera said.

"The Congress-led UPA launched the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) in 88 Naxalism-affected districts. The funds for this scheme was sanctioned directly by the then Planning Commission and was provided to the districts through the Union Home Ministry," he said.

But, the Modi government has completely abolished this scheme, Khera said and asked: "Why did the Modi government scrap such a scheme?"

Khera, in his remarks, said the party will continue to raise the 'chowkidar chor hai' jibe as Modi had failed to fulfil his promises on jobs and welfare of farmers.
File image

In a major diplomatic victory for India, Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar was on May 1 listed as a "designated" global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee.

JeM had claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack that had martyred 40 of India's security personnel.



Big,small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list Grateful to all for their support. #Zerotolerance4Terrorism

 Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) May 1, 2019

The listing comes after China lifted its technical hold, placed on March 13, on the move sponsored by the United States, United Kingdom and France.

It was the fourth time that China had blocked Azhar's listing as a global terrorist.

India had, at that time, called the move "disappointing" and stated that it will "continue to pursue all available avenues to ensure that terrorists involved in attacks on Indian citizens are brought to justice".

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

The US, the UK and France had, this time around, stepped up pressure on Beijing by taking the issue directly to the UNSC.

Though China can exercise its veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC, Beijing had staunchly opposed the issue to be taken to the apex UN body as it had to publically explain its stand on its reservations to list Azhar, whose group JeM has already been designated as terror outfit by UN, before exercising its veto.

China had accused the US of scuttling progress to resolve the issue by taking it to the UNSC and insisted that it should be resolved at the 1267 Committee whose proceedings are not publicised.

On April 30, China had said the issue will be "properly resolved" and that they see a "positive progress" but had not provided a timeline.

China's blocking of listing Azhar was one of the issues discussed by India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale during his visit to China on April 22.

The move is expected to provide a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign during the ongoing elections.
France on May 1 welcomed the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, saying the decision signalled the successful realisation of efforts to ban him. In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN designated Pakistan-based JeM chief Azhar as a 'global terrorist' after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

"For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Mr Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February," a spokesperson of France's Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said.

The official said, "This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts."

France also said it remained mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism.

In application of its Monetary and Financial Code, France had adopted national sanctions against Azhar on March 15.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US in the Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold" and asking for "more time to examine" the proposal.
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was designated as a global terrorist at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) committee on May 1, marking a significant diplomatic victory for India.

The move comes after China had on April 30 stated that "positive progress" had been made on the issue, and that it will be "properly resolved".

What it means for India

For India, this is a major diplomatic victory. India has been trying to list Azhar as a global terrorist for over a decade, with China having blocked the move four times before.

China had put a technical hold in March on a fresh proposal to impose a ban on Azhar, whose outfit claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack.

According to various reports, the move comes after sustained negotiations and dialogues between India and other stakeholder countries.

Moreover, according to a report by India Today, this is the first time that a terrorist is being listed by the UN after an attack in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the announcement is likely to provide a boost to his campaign in the middle of ongoing elections. PM Modi's campaign speeches have focused on the issue of national security, and reports note that Azhar being listed as a global terrorist would add fresh momentum to the narrative.

What it means for Masood Azhar

The JeM chief's listing means that, according to the sanction measures put out by the UNSC, it can freeze his assets, impose a travel ban and put an arms embargo.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transit by all states through their territories by designated individuals.

Under the arms embargo, all states are required to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities.

Timeline

In 2009, India had moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2016, India had again moved the proposal with the P3  the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again.

However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.
Now that Japan has a new emperor, Naruhito, its imperial family will be left with just three heirs to the throne - one of whom is 83 - a situation likely to renew debate on the monarchy's males-only succession.

Naruhito has one daughter, 17-year-old Princess Aiko. But she is not eligible to inherit the throne because of a males-only succession law that conservatives see as central to the imperial tradition but that many experts say threatens the very existence of the monarchy.

First in line after Naruhito is his younger brother, Akishino, 53, followed by Akishino's son, 12-year-old Hisahito.

After that comes 83-year-old Prince Hitachi, younger brother to Akihito, who abdicated as emperor on Tuesday.

Surveys show a majority of Japanese favour letting women take the throne, and then passing it on to their children, but conservatives disagree, and they are key to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's support.

In 2006, the then-prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, was close to proposing a revision of the males-only rule, but that was shelved with the birth of Prince Hisahito, ending a 41-year drought in male heirs.

Historically, Japan's imperial line was preserved by a combination of concubines and cadet royal families called "miyake", who could supply a male heir in a pinch.

Japan had several female emperors in the premodern period but that practice ended with the enactment of the Imperial House Law in 1889, which stipulated males-only succession.

Emperor Meiji, who died in 1912, was the last monarch to have concubines, and cadet families were stripped of royal status by the Allied Occupation after Japan's World War Two defeat.

When parliament in 2017 enacted a special law to allow Akihito to abdicate - itself a controversial move for conservatives - lawmakers also adopted a non-binding resolution asking the government to consider how to ensure stable succession.

One change could be to let female royals remain in the imperial family after marrying commoners, so they could at least share imperial duties. But conservatives are cautious about that too as they see it as a first step towards female succession.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced by a London court on May 1 to 50 weeks in jail for skipping bail.

Assange broke bail to enter the Ecuadorean embassy almost seven years ago. He was dragged out of the embassy last month and charged by the United States for one of the biggest ever leaks of classified information.

Judge Deborah Taylor said Assange had exploited his privileged position to flout the law and express his disdain for British justice.
A successful company relies heavily on the executives and employees who run the business.

This is particularly important for a new business.

A start-up needs a great idea to penetrate the market. It needs to build revenue by growing its share of the market. It helps when the target market is also growing.

Good business entrepreneurs succeed in these areas.

Bevan Slattery is no stranger to building a good business

After earning his accounting degree, Slattery began working as a clerk at the city council in his home town of Rockhampton, Queensland. The most enjoyable part of the job was helping with the councils IT Systems. He enrolled in a software course, believing the internet would be the next big thing.

Slattery paid $30,000 for his first business venture. He launched an ISP franchise from a shop front in Rockhampton. He quickly identified flaws in the business model and it went broke.

Download your free report and learn our three favourite small-cap stocks right now.

The next venture went better. Slattery and a school friend started a company that could provide searches that filtered out unwanted sites. By 1999, the pair sold out to a US firm for $500,000 and $6.5 million in shares. The dotcom crash reduced the value of the shares to $500,000 by the time they exited.

Then came an idea to lay cables to transport data. Slattery and another school friend started PIPE Networks with just $50,000. It nearly collapsed due to finance woes during the GFC but managed to hold on. In 2010, TPG Telecom bought Pipe for $373 million.

In the same year, Slattery identified the next opportunity as data centres. He founded a company from the idea and listed on the ASX as NEXTDC Ltd [ASX:NXT]. He also listed Asia Pacific Data Centre Group Ltd [ASX:AJD] in 2013 before selling out a year later.

During this time, Slattery identified another opportunity. The rapid take-up of cloud services and networks require connectivity.

Traditional Telcos provide connections in a fairly rigid manner. Theres a manual setup process that can take a week to several months. Pricing lacks flexibility and is locked in, with penalties for unwinding long-term contracts. Separate connections are often needed for different data centres and cloud service providers.

Slattery founded a new company in 2013 and listed it as Megaport Ltd [ASX:MP1] after raising $25 million in December 2015.

The company aims to be the global leader in providing elastic connection services. Its a first mover in using software defined networking. Think of it as a virtual router.

It offers flexible pricing on a consumption basis. The service can be set up in less than a minute with no long-term contract. Connectivity is flexible and bandwidth is scalable on demand.

Megaport now has more than 1,200 customers connecting to over 400 data centres. It has partnered with the worlds biggest cloud service providers. These include Google, Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and Salesforce.

Megaport is an example of an Aussie company leading the way

Lets take a look at the daily chart over the last 18 months or so:

Source: Optuma

[Click to open new window]

The share price more than doubled after September 2017. It was a strong move for a company thats yet to turn a profit.

The stock suffered during last Octobers sell-off but showed relative strength by making a higher low in December. This is an important piece of charting analysis.

Megaport held up at a higher level in December when the broader market sank to lower levels. Stocks that put in a pattern like this are often among the first ones to break out strongly to the upside.

In the first half of the 2019 financial year, revenue grew by 72% to $15.2 million. But revenue is yet to cover operating expenses. Megaport reported a net loss of $16.6 million for the period.

The company held a healthy cash balance of $38.1 million at the end of 2018. A couple of capital raisings certainly helped.

A placement raised $27.8 million in July 2017. This was supplemented by another placement and share purchase plan for a total of $60 million in March last year.

Megaport tapped the market again in March this year. It raised $50 million via a placement at $4.00 per share. A share purchase plan raised another $10 million from eligible shareholders under similar terms.

The funds will be used for capital expenditure on new locations and capacity upgrades as well as internal development of new technology. Any surplus will be applied to working capital and the funding of operating costs.

The company is seeking to expand its global reach. Out of 465 data centres directly connected to Megaport equipment, 77 are in the Asia Pacific region, 114 are in Europe and 274 are in North America.

The chart shows the value of watching for a break above old tops.

The share price first hit a high of $4.56 in June last year. It then backed away after hitting resistance near the same level in February and March this year. After finally breaking through, the ensuing move was rather explosive.

The pattern of relative strength via a higher low in December was a key indicator.

Megaport is an example of an Aussie company leading the way in its chosen field. Its enabling better connections for the increased global use of the cloud.

Good trading,

Terence Duffy,

Chartist, Phil Andersons Time Trader

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Buy now, pay later industry leader Afterpay Touch Group Ltd [ASX:APT] has rallied over 6% today, coming off news of the company  who already operates in the US, Australia and New Zealand  to launch in the UK.

Afterpay shares have been in a relatively stable uptrend since the beginning of 2019, with their one-year return currently sitting at 356.16%.

This most recent avenue of expansion seems to be a signal to investors that there is still a lot more potential for future growth for Afterpay. But is that the case?

A clear path into the UK market buoys Afterpay share price

According to the companys executive director, David Hancock, Afterpay plans to use existing brand ClearPay to get into the UK market. ClearPay was bought by Afterpay back in August 2018 through a $110 million equity raising.

Hancock says the ClearPay logo and tech will be used, as the quickest way for us to get into the market is actually use the ClearPay name.

While international expansion is no doubt full of lucrative potential, Hancock sees other advantages in entering the UK market, such as getting more specialised talent onto their team.

Because youre close to eastern Europe, theres a whole lot of security analysts and a number of other things that are essential over there, he said.

In addition, setting up shop in the UK may offset some of the challenges Afterpays US market is currently dealing with. While growth is evident, their focus on getting large-enterprise merchants on board means they come at a slightly lower margin, says Hancock.

And while more customers from these large enterprises ultimately means more money, the benefits may not transfer to investors. Last week, Afterpay revealed that theyve issued over 100 million shares in their US subsidiary, with 10% of that capital being allocated to staff options.

A buy now, pay later venture?

One minor sticking point about the UK endeavour is that the consumer debt will need to be funded initially by money raised in Australia.

What you need to do is you need to have experience and what I mean by experience is you need to have transactions because banks  want to actually see transactions says Hancock.

So because we havent actually started transacting in the UK, its not part of our capital management plan to have any funding in the UK at the moment. We will start to develop that once we actually start to go live.

While its hard to question the potential of a buy now, pay later method to take off in the UK, the fact that Afterpay has a launch partner  fashion retailer Urban Outfitters  for this expansion makes it unclear whether the Afterpay name really can solidify in Britain.

And with payments to merchants, suppliers and employees higher than receipts from customers, it may be that Afterpay is in fact buying up on size without considering the total costs.

Perhaps it is best to wait until the excitement around Afterpay settles before jumping into any investment action.

Regards,

Ryan Clarkson-Ledward

For Money Morning

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New Zealand based dairy and infant formula producer The A2 Milk Company Ltd [ASX:A2M] has seen its share price slump 2.91% this morning, shedding $0.46 to trade at $15.49.

A2M has made hefty gains since the beginning of the second half of the current financial year. In the four months to 30 April, the company was up approximately 53.5% from $10.40 at the beginning of 2019.

Related: find out whether A2 Milk is one of Aussie stock picker Sam Volkeringss top 4 stock picks in 2019.

Whats caused A2 Milks share price to drop?

A2M released its presentation to the market this morning ahead of its appearance at the Macquarie Group Ltd [ASX:MQG] conference. While the contents of the presentation reiterate some of the results stated in their February H1FY19 report, this mornings release has dampened investors outlook on end of financial year results.

For the first nine months of trading to 31 March 2019, A2M reported a group revenue of NZ$938 million, up 42% from the prior corresponding period. This is on the back of continued sales growth in nutritional products and liquid milk.

While revenue is ahead from last years final result of $922.7 million with still a full quarter to go, the company warned that the strong Q3 results are somewhat inflated due to volume phasing. In line with regulatory changes (likely in China, although they did not specify) A2M pulled forward orders, which will probably mean a softer result for Q4.

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Perhaps it was also the information not included that also spooked investors. While A2M gave updates and guidance on their ANZ, China and US markets, the company did not release an update for their UK market. The company also did not release any financial information pertaining to their partnerships with Synlait or Fonterra.

However, it is worth keeping in mind that in a market that constantly demands an upgrade with every results release, todays reiteration has definitely disappointed investors.

Whats next for A2M?

Beyond the negative sentiment that came from todays release, there are still plenty of positives for the company.

The company plans to capitalise on its rapid earnings growth by reinvesting into increased marketing activities. A2M intends to drive brand awareness in China and the US. Management also held firm with its EBITDA margin guidance. This is expected to be notably lower than the first half due to its increased investment in marketing activities, resulting in a full year EBITDA margin in the range 31% to 32%.

Regards,

Ryan Clarkson-Ledward,

For Money Morning

PS: If you manage your own money or simply want to learn the most effective strategies to both grow and protect your wealth, this free report is for you. Click here for details.
The Carolina Diner in Morganton will open its doors from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday for a free Christmas dinner for anyone who needs a place to go for the holiday:
So Don McGahn is in the presidents crosshairs. Whose side are you on?

I ask because this is perhaps the perfect test for a special subgroup of Donald Trump supporters. Call them the But Gorsuchers.

At the beginning of the Trump administration, when things got off to a rocky start, the go-to response from many Trump boosters was some version of Yes, but we got Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. As things got more chaotic, it became a joke to say, Yeah, but Gorsuch after every embarrassing revelation or disturbing tweet.

But from a conservative perspective that places a high priority on the court, this was an utterly defensible point of view. Many Republicans who were reluctant to vote for Trump only came around after he promised to pick judges exclusively from a list vetted by the conservative Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. This reassured the voters who took Trump seriously when he talked about putting his sister on the Supreme Court.

If the opportunity to put a conservative on the court  or deny Hillary Clinton a chance to do so  was why you ultimately voted for him, then But Gorsuch was a fair retort.

You dont hear But Gorsuch often these days, for two reasons. The first is entirely to Trumps credit  again from a certain Republican or conservative perspective. Brett Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court, too. Scores of excellent judges have been appointed to the lower courts. Weve seen tax cuts, deregulation, the partial dismantling of Obamacare and a number of other conservative accomplishments on Trumps watch. His supporters  reluctant and wholehearted alike  have every reason to count these things in the pro column.

Then theres the second reason, which is less favorable to Trump. Whether you call it the party line, right-wing political correctness or simply a desire to cater to the presidents fragile ego, its simply not acceptable to publicly criticize Trump on the right. Prominent religious leaders feel compelled to dismiss Trumps sordid sexual history. Passionate constitutionalists simply shrug or celebrate Trumps words and deeds, no matter how contrary they may be to constitutional principles. You have to gush about his genius when theres little discernible wisdom in what he does, and you must marvel at his courage when theres none to be seen. Credit for Trumps wins is all his; blame for his losses is all somebody elses.

The But Gorsuch argument is also known as the transactional case for Trump. You dont have to like or approve of what he does, but its worth putting up with because of the results. This is what you hear when you talk to Republican politicians and many prominent conservative activists and donors in private. But when was the last time you heard it on TV or talk radio?

Indeed, the demand that everyone see the emperors new clothes is so powerful that criticizing  or even being inconvenient to  the presidents preferred messaging is seen not only as a kind of treason but as proof that the critic isnt really a conservative at all.

Which brings me to McGahn, who until recently was considered a widely respected, unimpeachably conservative lawyer. I have no idea what the former White House counsels personal views on Trump are. But based on his actions, he was at minimum a conservative transactionalist. He didnt attack the president; he joined Trumps team. It was McGahns job to shepherd Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and other judges through the confirmation process. By the time McGahn left the White House last year, not only had he scored two Supreme Court victories for the president, hed been a Sherpa to 59 other federal judgeships.

Also, according to the Mueller report, McGahn may well have saved the Trump presidency by refusing to follow the presidents orders to derail the Mueller probe.

McGahn cooperated with special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. He didnt want to; he was told to by Trump and his legal team.

Now, Trump is calling McGahn a liar. The president denies he told McGahn to fire Mueller. Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, have insinuated that McGahns handwritten notes from his conversations with the president are somehow fraudulent.

Well see how things unfold, but it looks as if a lot of people, when forced to choose, will opt to throw McGahn under the bus, because loyalty to the president is now the definition of what it means to be a Republican or a conservative. And saying But Gorsuch wont help McGahn.

Jonah Goldbergs latest book, Suicide of the West, is now available wherever books are sold. You can write to him in care of this newspaper or by e-mail at goldbergcolumn@gmail.com, or via Twitter @JonahNRO.
A long-time markets observer and affordable housing advocate has attributed the phenomenon to a two-pronged battle that large numbers of B.C.s young women are struggling with: holding off from building families due to elevated costs, and facing the reality of their biological clocks.

This is the province where hard work pays off the least for younger people in their prime childbearing years, UBC professor and Generation Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw told CBC News.

Kershaw added that compared to approximately a quarter of a century ago, full-time incomes among B.C.s working professionals suffered the worst declines nationwide. This fall has coincided with a massive upsurge in housing prices, which was also the largest across Canada.

In its latest report, Zoocasa stated that an income of at least $205,475 is required to be able to purchase a Vancouver home at the benchmark price ($1,441,000), assuming a 20% down payment at a 3.75% mortgage rate on a 30-year term.

Even condos offer no respite, as incomes of at least $93,527 are needed to be able to buy a benchmark-cost unit ($656,900).
This will come amid plans to offer more than 100 new game development jobs in Montreal in 2019. The additions will complement the firms nearly 700 employees working in its two studios in Montreal, which is currently the largest Square Enix development unit working outside Japan.

For the last decade, the Square Enix group has massively invested in Quebec and is dedicated to continuing its investments in the coming years, the company stated in its news release earlier this week.

In recent years, office space has become the leading commercial asset class in Canadas largest markets, according to CBRE.

This can be largely attributed to steadily growing demand from the high-technology industry, which has especially benefited the Montreal and Toronto tech hubs.

The push for urban product is extremely strong, Royal Bank of Canadas Gary Morassutti said, as quoted by The Globe and Mail.
Midland again has the fourth-lowest unemployment rate in the nation, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Midlands 2.1 percent unemployment rate trailed only Ames, Iowa, 1.5 percent; Burlington, Vermont, 1.8 percent; and Iowa City, Iowa, 1.9 percent. Midland also ranked fourth in February  trailing the same three cities  with a 2.2 percent unemployment rate. In January, Midland was tied for third with a rate of 2.3 percent.
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Another Illinois governor has drawn the attention of the feds.

Four of the last 10 Illinois governors have gone to prison. But this latest probe is different, because it drives at the core of Gov. J.B. Pritzkers policy agenda: making Illinoisans pay what he thinks is fair.

WBEZ reported Wednesday that Pritzker, his wife and brother-in-law are under federal investigation for what the Cook County inspector general called a scheme to defraud taxpayers.

The inspector generals report found that now-Illinois first lady M.K. Pritzker ordered the removal of five toilets from one of the familys Chicago mansions shortly before an inspection, in order to declare the home uninhabitable. An email between contractors showed M.K. wanted to reinstall one of the toilets after the inspection to service J.B.s hangout/meeting area. This dance allowed the Pritzkers to reap more than $331,000 in property tax breaks.

That scandal broke in the final weeks leading up to the gubernatorial election last year, when the Cook County inspector generals report was leaked. What WBEZs latest reporting exposed is that the scandal is far from over. Pritzker and his wife are the subjects of a federal criminal investigation.

In suburban Chicago this week, Democratic state Rep. Terra Costa Howard held a packed town hall event about Pritzkers progressive income tax proposal, which he calls the fair tax. Ralph Martire of the union-backed Center for Tax and Budget Accountability held court.

Martire claims tax hikes do not change behavior  Pritzkers proposed $3.4 billion tax hike would not harm the states economy or drive wealth out of Illinois. Its a common claim among those backing the governors plan.

Maybe this federal investigation will change their minds. If high taxes dont affect behavior, how does one explain toilet-gate? The governors family took outlandish steps to hide their wealth and lower their tax burden.

The hypocrisy reveals reality: Illinois middle class will be tapped for future tax hikes when revenues dont come in as expected under Pritzkers plan. The governor has offered no compelling response to that concern.

In an interview on his first 100 days in office, Pritzker was asked by ABC 7s Craig Wall if he could guarantee Illinoisans making under $250,000 would not see further tax hikes.

As you know, we currently live in a system in which the taxes can be changed at any moment so theres certainly no guarantees, but what I will tell you is that I am fighting for the plan that I put forward, Pritzker said.

No guarantees.

As they return to Springfield, state lawmakers face serious pressure from the Pritzker administration to eliminate the most important taxpayer protection in the state: a constitutionally mandated flat income tax. In exchange, Pritzker is offering a political promise of fair taxation.

Lawmakers must keep this question in mind when deciding whether to put Pritzkers fair tax amendment on the ballot:

Why should Illinoisans trust an alleged tax cheat to judge the fairness of their tax bill?

Austin Berg is a writer for the Illinois Policy Institute. He wrote this column for the Illinois News Network. Berg can be reached at aberg@illinoispolicy.org.
H-E-B runs the best barbecue chain in Texas, according to Texas Monthly.

In an article Monday, the magazine gave high praise to in-store restaurant True Texas BBQ for its standout fare, including smoked meats and from-scratch sides and desserts.

The casual joint, designed like a stand-alone restaurant, offers all-natural meats by the pound, from brisket to turkey breast to St. Louis spare ribs. It's prepared by at least one trained, dedicated pitmaster at every location, Texas Monthly reported.

Houston scores big: Texas Monthly list of 25 Best New Barbecue Joints

Sandwiches, platters, stuffed potatoes, a barbecue Frito pie, rotating daily specials and banana pudding are also on the roster.

Of all the meats, sides, and desserts, the only item on the menu worth skipping, according to Texas Monthly, is the banh mi sandwich special.

H-E-B, which currently has 10 True Texas BBQ locations including two outposts in San Antonio, is expanding its True Texas BBQ concept, adding new locales from Magnolia to Midland, according to Texas Monthly.

The San Antonio-based grocery giant's plans also include a new location in the greater Houston area, set to launch in 2020, according to a representative for the company. The exact location and opening date have yet to be announced.

Marcy de Luna is a digital reporter. You can follow her on Twitter @MarcydeLuna and Facebook @MarcydeLuna. Read her stories on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. | Marcy.deLuna@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
Pete Marovich / Getty Images

WASHINGTON  Senate Democrats are stinging from a trio of high-profile failures to recruit candidates who could help reclaim the majority, including Stacey Abrams announcement that she would pass up a U.S. Senate run in Georgia.

That decision, announced Tuesday, was a blow to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. After Abrams gained fame from her ultimately unsuccessful effort to become Americas first black female governor last year, Schumer personally  and publicly  urged her to consider challenging GOP Sen. David Perdue. In a particularly notable move, he tapped her earlier this year to deliver the Democratic response to President Trumps State of the Union address.
Several Houston area school districts took some of the top spots on a new ranking of the best districts in Texas for 2019.

Online records website backgroundchecks.org analyzed data from 10,728 districts to compile its list of the top 25 school districts in the state. Student population, graduation rates, teacher quality, school funding, student to teacher ratios and standardized test results were weighted factors used to rank schools, according to the report's methodology.
A young girl is safe after a man allegedly tried to abduct her outside a Katy-area park Saturday, deputies say. Now they are searching for the suspect's car.

The 10-year-old girl was with her family in Katy Park in the 24900 block of Morton Road on Saturday morning when a man approached her, apparently telling her she had a bug on her shirt and wanted to help get it off, she told police.

The girl tried to avoid the man, but he reportedly persisted, and insisted that he wasn't going to hurt her, according to the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office.

The girl's father saw the man talking to his daughter, and ran over just as the man hopped into a red Toyota Highlander and drove away, deputies said. He repeatedly told the father that he didn't do anything wrong as he left the parking lot, authorities said.

The father was able to snap photos of the Highlander and hand them over to authorities. Deputies ran the plates and determined they did not belong to the vehicle, so they're having trouble tracking the suspect down, they said.

They're hoping the public can help identify the vehicle, which had a distinctive "Who Dat" sticker and a white bicycle sticker on the rear window. It also had a bike rack on the rear hitch, police said.

The suspect is described as a large white male, standing between 6 feet and 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighing between 220 and 240 pounds, deputies said. He has brown hair and a salt-and-pepper beard, wears glasses and was donning a blue-gray shirt that morning.

Anyone with information about the vehicle or its driver is urged to call Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office Investigator Chad Seidel at 281-463-6666.

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
It looked like Brenda Martin would have a pretty good haul that day. The ice chest in the cafeteria at Katy Elementary School was filled to the brim with more than a dozen cartons of milk and an equal number of packaged food items.

In just a few minutes, it would all be in the large, walk-in freezer at nearby Katy Christian Ministries.

Its amazing. Generally, its the only milk we have to offer our clients, said Holly Havlick, who runs the food bank for KCM. Its beautiful that people are literally feeding their next door neighbors.

Katy Elementary is one of only five schools  four elementary campuses and a junior high  within the Katy Independent School District that currently participate in a little-known program called Milk 4 Many that finds a second-life for certain food products that students dont want during that lunch period. Although only a handful of schools take part, it still provided 6.5 tons of milk, juice and food to the KCM food bank during the first quarter of 2019 alone, said Martin, a gregarious volunteer and occasional substitute teacher at Katy Elementary known to all there as Mamaw.

Its just the most incredible program. But, Im thinking a lot of schools dont even know they have this opportunity, she said.

Martin would like to see more Katy ISD schools take part in the program. She made an appeal to the Katy ISD Board of Trustees, some of whom seemed unaware of its existence.

Katy ISD Superintendent Ken Gregorski said his staff would be looking into the program.

Ill have to get with our child nutrition department and see what we can do, Gregorski said. If its something we can expand, well certainly look into it.

There are mandatory steps to follow before a carton ever gets placed inside the ice chest. It must be the childs decision not to drink the milk or eat that packaged item on their school lunch tray. Not only are the adults, both teachers and staff, barred from making that call, Katy Elementary principal Beth Grimet said they always encourage their students to finish their meal.

We tell them, Boys and girls, milk is good for you. Sweetie, you need to eat this, Grimet said. But, theyre just kids and maybe they only want to take two bites.

Without the Milk 4 Many program, anything not consumed by the students would simply end up in a landfill.

We cant take the food and repurpose it, Grimet said. It was all just being thrown away. You were just appalled at the food being wasted.

The Katy Elementary students enjoy having a role to play in the milk program.

They think its neat to go put it in the cooler. The Katy Elementary community is very giving, Grimet said. Theyre very altruistic and they want to help others.

Grimet is a firm backer of Milk 4 Many and said actual school involvement is relatively minimal. The only thing required at the volunteers willing to pick up the milk-filled ice chest on Mondays through Thursday. Katy Christian Ministries is closed on Friday.

The (school) staff really doesnt play a part, Grimet said.

Carrie Singletary is president of the campus parent teacher organization. Her children dont take part in the Milk 4 Many program because she packs their lunches every day. But, she still volunteers to help bring the donated milk and food to KCM.

As our community grows, the need is even greater, Singletary said. You take care of your world and you take care of each other.

Katy was among the communities hardest hit by the devastation from Hurricane Harvey. Havlick said they had people coming for help from all parts of the city.

Were really good at finding homes for food. If its more than we can take, we find a good home for it, she said. If its something we can store, we store it. Nothing goes to waste.

Whatever happens, milk from the handful of Katy ISD schools taking part in the program always seems to arrive when most needed, Havlick said.

Life is long and there are low points, she said. The Milk 4 Many just keeps coming. Its almost like its an engine that doesnt need a conductor.

mike.glenn@chron.com
Bun B called his wife Queenie the hero of the day when he shot an armed intruder in the couple's home April 23, as he explained during an appearance on The Breakfast Club, a nationally syndicated radio show.

The Houston rapper was joined by his wife Queenie Freeman and his attorney and friend Charles Adams as the three of them broke down the incident.

The incident ended with 20-year-old Demonte Jackson arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and one count of burglary with intent to commit a felony.

It all started when Queenie went to answer the door to their home when she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly peeked out the window, but didn't see anyone, so she thought someone had dropped off a package at the doorstep. When she opened the door, the intruder burst through the door and put the gun to Queenie's forehead.

The intruder tried to force Queenie upstairs, but she intentionally fell down to try to prevent him from going upstairs, because that's where Bun was, and she feared the intruder was there to cause harm to her husband.

She said she yelled for her husband, "Bun, don't come down here."

She said when the intruder heard the rapper's name, it startled him and he tried to take her up on her earlier offer of letting him take the car if he would just leave. She showed him the way to the garage and the couple's Audi, but the intruder had trouble figuring out how to start the car with the push button ignition.

Queenie shut the door to the house as Bun was coming downstairs with his gun. She told Bun not to go in the garage, because the intruder had a gun and he might shoot.

Bun said on The Breakfast Club he was thinking at the time: "I don't know if he's gonna shoot, but I'm definitely going to shoot."

Bun said he opened the door to the garage and saw the intruder in the car, and the intruder turned toward Bun. That's when the two exchanged gunfire.

Bun said the intruder eventually fell out of the car and threw the gun down and begged for his life, scurrying away and jumping a fence.

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Bun went back inside the house to get dressed and get another gun so he could find the person and try to identify him. Bun said he had no intention to harm the intruder any further once he was gone from the house.

"I just need to know who this dude is," Bun said. "But I told him, if you take this mask off, and I know you, I'm killing you."

It turned out to be a random burglary attempt and Bun let him go. Police told the couple that whoever it was would show up at the hospital at some point. Later that day, Jackson went to the Pearland Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and was arrested.

Although people quickly lauded the rapper for his instincts to protect his wife and his home, Bun said the credit should go to his wife.

"I'm so proud of her, not only how she handled herself, but her only thought was to protect me," Bun said. "In the moment, her assumption was this person was coming to get me. She doesn't know it's a random act at that time. So she thinks this person is coming to kill me. So her only thought was I need to hold this person here until Bun can get to the gun and even if he kills me, I know Bun's going to kill him. Usually, the two people who would die in this situation would be me and her, so her thing was like, 'I'll take that loss but I know Bun will avenge me and kill this dude.'"

Adams called the whole incident a testament to true love.

'It's easy for wives or husbands to say 'I'm your ride or die.' Yeah, OK," Adams said. "There are so many women who would have just gone upstairs. There's so many men who would have just let that cat drive off. That's why I said this is not a true crime story. This is a true love story. Period."

Bun said the couple is doing its best to continue living as normally as possible. The couple was in New York on Wednesday to promote his album TrillStatik with Statik Selektah.

Bun showed particular concern for Queenie, who said she was fine physically, but still was tormented by the memories of the invasion.

"You get robbed in a grocery store parking lot or whatever, it's away from home, it's a random threat," Bun said. "But when something happens in your home in your personal space that's a different kind of violation. Because it's home, it makes the place you're supposed to feel safe in, threatening to you. You walk in your home, you're supposed to feel relief, right? Not anxiety. So, there's gonna have to be some work done, but we're gonna get through it. She's the best."
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A baby was shot in a possible road rage incident Wednesday along the Southwest Freeway feeder road.

The boy, who is 18 months old, was in the backseat of his father's Toyota Camry when the father accidentally cutoff another driver around 1 p.m., he told witnesses. The driver of the car he allegedly cutoff then fired two shots into the Camry, striking the young boy in the upper-left portion of his back, according to Houston Police Department Asst. Chief James Jones.

The boy's father immediately pulled into a gas station at the intersection of the Southwest Freeway and Gessner Road and ran inside with his injured boy, witnesses told Chron.com.

TORTURE HOUSE KIDNAPPING: Third suspect arrested in connection with Cypress case

A nurse inside the gas station helped render aid to the boy as others called 911, convenience store manager Pursuram Sharma said.

"The guy comes in with his kid," Sharma said. "The kid was bleeding from behind. He handed over the phone to me so I could call 911."

The father was having trouble communicating with 911 operators because he was apparently hard of hearing and had trouble speaking, Sharma said. The baby boy appeared calm for most of his time in the convenience store, according to Steven Gamez, a distributor who works often in the store.

"(The bullet) missed the spine by about an inch," Gamez said. "It definitely did not go through, because there wasn't an open wound in the front.

"For being shot, I would think the baby would be hysterical," he said. "But the baby was calm."

Jones said the shooter's vehicle is believed to be a blue, late model Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Detectives had not developed a detailed description of the shooter as of 3 p.m.

Officers on scene told Chron.com that the boy was listed in stable condition. HPD's Homicide Division is investigating the shooting since the boy is so young, according to HPD. Lt. Alisa Smith.

Anyone with information about the shooter is urged to call the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Jay R. Jordan covers breaking news in the Houston area. Read him on our breaking news site, Chron.com, and our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com | Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan | Email him at jay.jordan@chron.com | Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message
A suspect accused of stabbing a 24-year-old man early Tuesday in the parking lot of a Walmart in New Braunfels was arrested hours later.

Nicholas Zachary Santellan, 22, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the New Braunfels Police Department.

The victim went to a Walmart in the 1200 block of Interstate 35 South at about 2 a.m. and was approached by the suspect.

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Police said Santellan and the victim knew each other. They got into an argument, which quickly escalated into a physical fight, during which the suspect stabbed the victim, according to police.

Paramedics took the victim to San Antonio Military Medical Center for treatment. He is listed in stable condition, officials said.

Police arrested Santellan at about 2 p.m. at his home in the 1800 block of West Bridge Street. He was then taken to Resolute Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries he sustained during the incident.

Authorities said Santellan will be booked into the Comal County Jail when he is released from the hospital with bail set at $200,000.

Jacob Beltran is a reporter covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA
A Bexar County constable deputy was arrested after his complaints against the office were allegedly "false in nature," but the Bexar County District Attorney's Office will not accept the charges, officials said Wednesday.

Leonicio Barrera Moreno, 43, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of aggravated perjury.

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Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said Wednesday, however, that he instructed his prosecutors to decline the case.

"I have already reviewed the affidavit," he said. "I've reviewed it several times and I do not believe it rises to the level of a crime. ... The facts don't fit the elements of the crime."

Moreno filed two complaints against Pct. 2 Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to his arrest affidavit.

Moreno alleged that he was being hazed and laughed at during his swearing-in ceremony.

Investigators, however, allegedly found a video that directly refutes Moreno's complaint.

Moreno and Vela have a contentious history with each other, and Moreno has previously accused Vela of sexual harassment.

ON EXPRESS-NEWS.COM: Constable Vela squeezed cash from Easter reveler at Bexar County park

In Moreno's affidavit, investigators wrote that the complaints "continue to bring a negative and harmful environment to this agency and its staff by way of threatening emails, letters, social media, telephonic and in-person encounters."

Reporter Brian Chasnoff contributed to this story.

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
Theres been another mass shooting in America. This one Tuesday at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Two students were killed and four other people injured. But nationally the tragedy has barely registered on the mass media Richter scale.

Its not just that people are still trying to digest the Chabad of Poway synagogue mass shooting in Southern California, which just three days earlier left a woman dead and three other people injured. Its also that mass shootings are occurring so frequently in this country and the responses to them are so tepid that too many people have started to accept them as an unfortunate fact of life  like bad traffic or hot weather.

We blame Congress and state legislatures for not doing more to reduce the carnage, but our representatives in government are just that  representatives. Their actions represent the will of the public. If that were not so, more incumbents would lose elections for their inaction. Without a more insistent directive from voters to pass better laws, politicians typically succumb to special interests bearing gifts in the form of campaign donations.

Special interests have stood in the way of change even when the country seemed hell bent on shaking things up. Consequently, little changed after a shooter killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University in 2007; after 20 children and six staff members were killed at a Newtown, Conn., school in 2012; after 49 people were killed at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub in 2016; after 58 were killed at a Las Vegas music festival in 2017, and also that year after 26 victims, including an unborn child, were killed at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

These mass murders had nothing do with any related criminal activity. The attacker in most cases had no relationship with his victims. The ties that bind these mass shootings and others: a gun was used to exact maximum carnage and the gunman appeared to be mentally unstable. Yet, Americas gun laws remain largely intact and large gaps in the nations mental health system still exist.

The National Rifle Association, whose leader since 1991, Wayne LaPierre, was reappointed Monday, has for decades beat back any attempt to significantly change gun laws at either the federal or state level by characterizing them as attacks on the Second Amendment. The NRAs clout may be weakened by an internal fight, which led to the ouster of Oliver North as its president after he tried to get rid of LaPierre, but its grip on lawmakers from Austin to Washington remains firm.

That wont change until enough voters let their representatives know they believe the Second Amendment would survive restrictions placed on the types of guns people can buy, how many they can buy at a time, or a requirement that lost and stolen guns must be reported, or that background checks should be mandatory with each gun purchase. Elected officials unwilling to act out of fear of the NRA are inviting more gun violence.

In that same vein, lawmakers shouldnt let a different interest group dissuade it from making the right move. Advocates for the mentally ill have justifiably complained that the NRA after each mass shooting tries to draw attention from weak gun laws by citing the shooters apparent mental state. The advocates point out the mentally ill are more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators. Thats true, but it doesnt mean mental health shouldnt be part of the discussion.

Both the shooter at UNC Charlotte and Chabad synagogue have been described as disaffected young men who were not suspected of having homicidal thoughts. Is it possible that earlier intervention could have prevented the deaths they secretly sought?

Schools across America are training teachers and other staff to recognize the signs of a student having a mental crisis and intervening hopefully before he has a chance to act out with a gun. Outside a school setting its not only more difficult to recognize who needs help, but also how to get it to him.

That problem goes beyond trying to prevent mass shootings. Its at the root of long-standing deficiencies in Americas mental health network that have allowed too many people to fall through the cracks. Mental health advocates are right to object to the NRAs trying to scapegoat the mentally ill after each mass shooting, but that shouldnt keep them from pushing Congress to make a bigger investment in mental health.

The adage that it takes a village to raise a child also applies to preventing mass shootings. The decision to kill is the shooters. But all of us  from voters to mental health advocates to gun owners  must try to do more to limit the carnage.
Searching for your perfect home can be fun and exciting, until you see the asking price.

Sometimes it can be hard to understand why homes are listed for the prices they are. Before

completely writing a house off take into consideration the factors that affect a home's price.

1. Real estate is local

The current real estate market plays a huge role in how a home is priced. During low

inventory times, often referred to as a "seller's market", homes may be priced very

aggressively and during a "buyer's market", when there is a surplus of homes available,

homes may be priced more modestly. It's important to remember that not all markets

are the same, what may be selling fast on one side of town doesn't mean the same rules

apply to where you're home searching.

2. Location of the home

Looking at homes in different areas can be disheartening, what may sell for much less in

one area may not be the same in your ideal area. That is why the exact location of a

home is a contributing factor to the home's asking price. If the home is located in a

desirable neighborhood, close to great schools, or if it is in a cul de sac could play a part

in that home's price.

3. What the home has to offer

Is the home brand new, does it have high end upgrades, does it have an impressive back

yard? All of these features influence what a home is worth. When looking at homes it's

crucial to remember that each feature that you love plays a part in why the home was

listed for its specific price.

4. The condition of the home

Remember that even if you are looking at an older home in a great area you can still

expect to see a large price tag. A home's location regardless of the age will factor into a

price. Additionally if a home has not been well taken care of it is common to see that

reflected on the price tag.

While finding your dream home may take some work it is crucial that you remember what

factors go into a home's list price. Working with a local REALTOR is your best resource when

searching for your next home. They are able to provide you with comparable prices for the

home you're interested in and help guide you through the process.

For more information on buying, selling, or leasing your home visit SABOR.com and use a San

Antonio area REALTOR.

Editor's Note: This content is made possible by SAN ANTONIO BOARD of REALTORS. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com.
POLICE in Bulawayo arrested 49 rowdy youths for criminal nuisance and public drinking on the closing day of the 60th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) on Saturday.

The 49 were aged between 15 and 25 years with minors released into the custody of their parents or guardians while adults were made to pay fines.

Police said some teenagers and youths were an eyesore in the citys Central Business District on the day due to their disorderly behaviour.

Some of them were drunk, blocking traffic while others were hanging out of windows of moving vehicles risking their lives.

Bulawayo acting police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said: This was a Trade Fair with a difference mainly because of the heavy deployment of police officers. On Sunday before ZITF kicked off, our Officer Commanding province Commissioner Bernard Dumbura briefed all the members who were deployed in targeted areas on the need to be alert. Most of the divisions were headed by a Chief Superintendent.

The heavy deployment of police officers led to the overall reduction of crime in the CBD during the ZITF period. The study on previous Trade Fair periods also led to the deployment of more uniformed and plain clothes police officers on the closing day of the fair. This resulted in the arrest of 49 youths between the ages of 15 and 25 years for criminal nuisance. Some of them were drunk and were even blocking traffic.

He said the cops also rescued 10 teenage girls aged between 13 and 17 years.

Insp Ncube said the alert cops observed that the girls were hanging out in places that made them vulnerable to abuse.

The rescued girls were only released to the custody of their parents. As police we are concerned about the behaviour of some of the teenagers and youths. We have made repeated calls, urging parents and guardians to closely monitor their childrens activities especially on the first Saturday after schools close for the term and the last Saturday of the holiday and any Saturday with prominent events like ZITF, he said.

However, we are concerned that parents dont seem to be heeding our calls. As police we can report their childrens activities to schools and that will have an impact on their future. We want children to return to schools as children not as drunkards, adults or drug addicts.

Insp Ncube said parents and guardians should ensure their children do not get out of control as they risk being abused or robbed.

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THE Nelson Chamisa-led MDC yesterday said the opposition party will not be cowed into silence by the State, while vowing its planned demonstrations will not be shelved despite threats of a clampdown by President Emmerson Mnangagwas government.

Instead, the opposition party challenged the government to stop being on the offensive against pro-democracy activists and attend to the pressing economic situation that has triggered an upward spiral of prices.

Home Affairs minister Cain Mathema on Monday issued a thinly-veiled attack on the opposition, claiming the State had gathered intelligence of planned civil unrest.

Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said demonstrations were constitutional and as a party they will not be deterred by such threats.

Mafume said the State is misleading itself with fake letters purportedly coming from the party reportedly implicating opposition leaders, Chamisa and Tendai Biti in the January violence.

We dont need greenlights for any demonstrations. They are a constitutional right and enshrined in section 59, to be (precise), Mafume said.

It is the person who has a problem with a demonstration who has to indicate what problem he has. To express ourselves is constitutionally enshrined and we dont need to seek anyones permission.

We will continue our peaceful demonstrations under the leadership of president Nelson Chamisa as and when it is necessary to do so together with aggrieved members of society.

Mafume said instead of issuing threats, the government must work out solutions in the face of the deteriorating economic situation.

Mafume also encouraged party members to attend the memorial service of their founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai at his rural home in Humanikwa village, Buhera, over the weekend.

He said the requirement by the family not to bring regalia, but that of Tsvangirai, has no effect because all MDC members are also the Tsvangirai family.

We will attend that in full force, we are going to be wearing whatever we want, whether it is party regalia or not. As you remember, Tsvangirai is the founder of MDC. We are the family of Tsvangirai, his family is the MDC.

They were beaten with him, they suffered with him, they died with him and some of us are carrying the scars of being part of Morgan Richard Tsvangirais family. The family has no demarcation, the whole of Zimbabwe, the MDC and everyone who died in his name, everyone who was tortured in the name of MDC is his family, he said.

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Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He is the chief editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He has written more than twenty books, including The Darker Nations: A Peoples History of the Third World (The New Press, 2007), The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (Verso, 2013),The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution(University of California Press, 2016) and Red Star Over the Third World(LeftWord, 2017). He writes regularly for Frontline, the Hindu, Newsclick, AlterNet and BirGun.This article was produced byGlobetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and published by the Independent Media Institute

For Jerry Yapari, killed on November 19, 2009.

Few people outside Papua New Guinea know about Porgera. Those who do know about it know that it is one of the centers of international gold mining, with a major company with an innocuous name  Porgera Joint Venture (PJV)  sucking out the enormous deposits of gold from its mountainous landscape. The Porgera mine is one of the worlds top 10 producers of gold, which makes it remarkably rich  although the people who live near the mine have not shared in the spoils. The proven gold reserves of the Porgera mine are worth over $10 billion in todays gold prices. This is only one of Papua New Guineas mines. There are hundreds more that run from one end of the country to another. The population of Papua New Guinea is only 8 million, which  given such wealth  would suggest that its people lived enriched lives. But this is not the case.

Behind the name PJV sits the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold and the Chinese mining company Zijin Mining. Both are making enormous profits from this mineand others. Barrick Gold, as a new briefing by the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Ten Canadian Mining Companies: Financial Details and Violations, shows, is worth billions of dollars and has mining operations across the world. It has been the primary owner of the mine from 2006 to 2015. Zijin Mining is one of Chinas largest gold producers, which has gradually left the Chinese shores to enter joint partnerships abroad.

Last November, lawyers  on behalf of the Justice Foundation for Porgera (landowners of the Special Mining Lease Area)  filed a suit worth $13 billion against the Government of Papua New Guinea. The contracts signed between the company and the government prevents any third party from suing the company for anything (this is called a privity of contract in legal terms). The Justice Foundation for Porgera could not directly sue Barrick Gold. This is why the lawyers -based in Australia  have filed their claim in accord with the rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. It has taken the lawyers and the plaintiffs seven years to prepare this important suit. This suit has brought some attention to the situation in Papua New Guinea.

Shooting Fields

The main human rights group in Porgera  the Akali Tange Association(ATA)  is not part of this lawsuit. They are pushing Barrick Gold to establish a grievance mechanism that responds to the claims of the people. The locals have complained about a range of human rights violations since 1989, just as the mine was being prepared to start production, but no one listened. In 2004, the ATA  newly formed  focused some attention on the mine and got various international groups to pay attention to the gross violations of their land and their bodies.

In 2005, ATA released its first major report -The Shooting Fields of Porgera Joint Venture. It documented the killing of 14 people as well as torture and arbitrary arrests of people by the PJV security guards. At that time, the mine was owned by the Canadian company Placer Dome. It caught the attention of Mining Watch Canada, a group formed in 1999 to monitor the activities of Canadian mining companies around the world. Placer Dome did not deny the shootings. But little came of the outcry, largely because Placer Dome sold the mine to Barrick Gold the next year.

Barrick, one of Canadas largest mining firms, did not provide respite to the population. Conversations with the activists of ATA and the voluminous files that they have archived show that the violence and the impoverishment continued. Shootings at miners and at activists started almost as soon as Barrick took over. The government of Papua New Guinea conducted an investigation in 2006, in which it heard from witnesses, but no report was issued.

On Deaf Ears

McDiyan Robert Yapari, who is one of the leaders of the ATA, worked for a janitorial company that had a contract with the Porgera Gold Mine. He became active in the ATA after his brother  Jerry Yapari  was murdered by the mines guards, who threw rocks on him and crushed him to death. Jerrys death a decade ago was terrible, McDiyan tells me. It inspires his work now to fight for justice in Porgera. The ATA, McDiyan says, currently has a total of 940 human rights allegations against the company. These have been filed with the companys own grievance mechanism. These allegations run from extrajudicial killings to gang rapes to chemical poisoning. Their calls, McDiyan says, have fallen on deaf ears. We have tried to reach for assistance to air our grievances for everyone to know what a Canadian mining company  the Barrick Gold Corporation  does to the indigenous communities here in Porgera, McDiyan tells me.

After The Shooting Fields of Porgera Joint Venture, the ATA produced two more reports: Porgera Gross Human Rights Violations (2017) and Cost of Gold (2018). Reading these texts is painful. The first text provided the basis for the U.S.-based NGO BSR (Business for Social Responsibility) to develop its own report, In Search of Justice. The Akali Tange Association is working closely with BSR to push Barrick to accept its 10  very basic  recommendations. Barrick responded with a media brush-off typical of multinationals, and it canceled a November 2018 meeting with the ATA. McDiyan says that Barrick has made no effort to dialogue with the ATA.

The second text  Cost of Gold  carries the correspondence between ATA and various government authorities. It is a one-sided correspondence. ATA writes into the void, asking for help but not getting much in the way of serious consideration. The descriptions of the violence are vivid and sincere. Women write of rape as an object to destroy their society, to humiliate the women and create social discord inside families. Routine violence is the order of things. On March 25, 2017, security guards linked to the mine and the police burned down 150 homes near the mine, attacked the community and raped at least eight women. McDiyan reported on this case of forced eviction. He was arrested under the cybercrimes law of Papua New Guinea and detained for over 30 hours. Released from bail, McDiyan  with community support  fought his case and prevailed. It is one of the few victories in Porgera.

The fight for compensation is an old one. The people  through ATAs recommendations  seek compensation not merely to heal their wounds but as a mechanism to assert their dignity. They have taken the toll of the mines and produced powerful demands, which press for a different kind of mining operation. They want to be taken seriously, to make sure that the miners and their families become partners in the production of the gold. They want to enforce environmental rules to prevent the dumping of harsh chemicals into the rivers. They want a hospital in the area to be tasked with dealing with mercury poisoning and the broad impact of the toxic soil produced by the mining techniques of Barrick Gold. Their demands are clear and reasonable. Neither Barrick/Zijin nor the government of Papua New Guinea has taken them seriously.

On May 12, 2019, the Special Mining Lease for the Porgera mine will need to be renewed in Papua New Guinea. Both the lawyers who filed the arbitration case against the government and the ATA, which pursues the reform of the grievance mechanism, are aware of this deadline. No one believes that the government of Papua New Guinea is going to drop Barrick. That is unlikely. In a position paper from last month, ATA suggests that Barrick is ignorant and negligent. It is both, surely, but also very rich. And its removal of gold has left the Porgerans very poor, and very angry.
In these regions, when winter comes, ready or not, creatures big and small endure the coldest and most unforgiving landscapes on the planet.

Thursdays from 8:30pm AEDT.
NATO was honoured by the Atlantic Council on Tuesday (30 April 2019) with a Distinguished Leadership Award, acknowledging the Alliances role in assuring peace, stability, and security in Europe and North America for the last seventy years. Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller accepted the award on behalf of NATO at a ceremony in Washington D.C.
(Natural News) A second drag queen whos been actively involved with readings of LGBT books to young children and infants at Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) public library events throughout the greater Houston area of Texas has been outed as a convicted sex offender and pedophile, as well as a transgender prostitute.

According to records uncovered by MassResistance, William Travis Dees, the drag queen in question, is a current member of the Space City Sisters drag queen group. Hes also repeatedly volunteered as a greeter for young children at various DQSH events, as well as assumed other roles at these events that allowed him close access to underage children.

As it turns out, Dees has a rap sheet of heinous sex crimes that he committed against children as young as four that dates back as far as 2004. It was that same year, in fact, that Dees was convicted and jailed for committing sex crimes against not just one but four different prepubescent children, ranging in age from four to eight.

Dees also reportedly used different aliases for his various drag characters and personas, constantly shifting and altering who he was like a chameleon. But since Dees was 16 years old at the time of his 2004 conviction, his records were sealed and never posted on government websites  though other sex-offender record sources did, in fact, publish this information publicly.

For more related news about how many members of the Cult of LGBT are deviant sex criminals, be sure to check out Gender.news.

Photos of Dees depict him and other drag queens holding symbols of pedophilia, mocking Catholicism

Its important to keep in mind that, despite Dees criminal records having been sealed, his sexual deviance and abhorrent behaviors and lifestyle habits have been in plain view for a long time  including in a very recent photo that he and several other drag queens took outside of the Houston Public Library for a social media photo-op promoting DQSH.

In the photo, Dees is seen wearing a bizarre outfit bearing the colors of light blue, pink, purple, and white, which are indicative of transgenderism. His friends are depicted in the photo dressed as Catholic nuns as a sign of mockery, with one holding a rubber chicken, which in LGBT symbolism stands for pedophilia.

According to information uncovered by MassResistance, the Space City Sisters drag group is known for cross-dressing events that specifically target the Catholic Church as acts of mockery. Drag queens that call themselves the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence parade around the streets in garish and hideous parodies of Catholic nuns for the purpose of mocking Catholicism, investigations reveal.

These sisters apparently participate in DQSH events as well, openly mocking the Christian faith in front of mere babies, whose deranged parents somehow see it as appropriate to expose their innocent children to some of the most deviant perversions known to mankind.

As for Dees, hes also a proud transgender whore, having written a graphic article under the alias of Elizabeth Davidson that talks about his many promiscuous sexual escapades, which involve things like bondage and sado-masochism.

Its something thats actually more common than it is the exception within the transgender and drag queen communities, as the mentally-deranged individuals who identify as such are generally disease-spreading perverts with severe mental derangement.

While this whole fiasco did prompt the Houston Public Library to shut down DQSH events, this decision appears to only be temporary until public outrage subsides. Worse is the fact that almost no local media picked up the story, meaning many mainstream media consumers dont even know the truth, and thus arent being afforded the chance to decide for themselves, based on actual facts, whether or not DQSH events are healthy and safe for impressionable young ones.

Be sure to check out Evil.news for more stories like this.

Sources for this article include:

LifeSiteNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) As Democrats and their sycophantic allies in the establishment media continue lying to Americans about how POTUS Donald Trumps supporters are violent members of a white nationalist movement, the FBI is probing a far-Left attempt to incite an armed rebellion in December.

As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, last year federal law enforcement agents began assembling information mostly on U.S. journalists, activists, and lawyers operating across the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana involved with a significant migrant caravan.

During that investigation, agents began focusing on an alleged scheme by a Mexican drug cartel to sell guns to activists and anti-Trump protesters, an FBI report noted.

An FBI document dated Dec. 18 that the paper managed to obtain provides details about a plan involving activists to buy guns from a Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander, or Ivan Reibeling.

Protesters sought to stage an armed rebellion at the border over the administrations crackdown on illegal immigration which involved heading off tens of thousands of migrants traveling in various caravans, the FBI informed scores of federal law enforcement officials in both countries.

The document was provided to the Union-Tribune with the understanding that not all of it would be reported and that the person providing it would be kept anonymous. An investigation is ongoing. (Related: Antifa tested no-go zones in Nashville as domestic terrorist group plans to ramp up violence against conservatives.)

Specifically, the FBI document warns about anti-fascist activists  Antifa  who planned to disrupt U.S. law enforcement and military security operations at the U.S./Mexican border.

This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence, the six-page report noted. Receiving agencies are requested not to take action based on this raw reporting without prior coordination with the FBI.

The bureau sent its report marked priority to the Department of Homeland Security and some of its agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the CIA, and the NSA, among others.

This plot is entirely feasible

Reibeling, along with another person named in the report, Evan Duke, said the accusations are not true and even questioned their validity.

Duke claimed to the paper that he never met with Reibeling and that hes not his sort of person anyway. And Reibeling said the claims made by the FBI dont make sense.

It doesnt make any sense that someone from the United States would purchase guns in Mexico. And the Hondurans certainly didnt bring money to buy guns. It doesnt make any sense; in fact, its extremely absurd to say the Hondurans wanted to attack the United States at the border, said Reibeling.

Nevertheless, the Union-Tribune noted further:

In March, it was discovered that Customs and Border Protection had compiled lists of people it wanted to stop for questioning at the border. Agents questioned or arrested at least 21 of them, according to documents obtained by NBC San Diego. On that list, Reibeling is described as an instigator, and Dukes name and picture are also included.

CBP officials said that names on the list are of people who were on the border when violence broke out near Tijuana in November and January, forcing agents to deploy tear gas. Officials added that people were questioned in order to find out more about how the altercations began.

The FBIs report noted that a group of activists based in Tijuana that were supporting the caravan were encouraged to bring personally owned weapons to the border and the group also intended to purchase weapons from a Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander, AKA the Mexican Rambo, and smuggle the weapons into the United States.

Plausible? Absolutely; Antifa members have a history of violence. And buying guns from Mexican cartels could be done without federal background checks and, thus, no way for Uncle Sam to trace the purchases.

Read more about Antifa violence and plots of civil war at AntifaWatch.news and CivilWar.news.

Sources include:

Infowars.com

SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The former founder of Rawesome Foods  which was raided at gunpoint several years ago by the food police of California for daring to offer raw milk to members  has launched a premium, imported organic olive oil line called Oliflix.

As his website explains, Flix is a municipality located in the southwest corner of Catalonia, Spain and is home to Oliflix, a uniquely artisan crafted, organic, extra virgin olive oil made from ancient orchards, using old-world techniques. Our oil is extracted exclusively from organically grown olives, free from chemical fertilizers, pesticides or environmental pollutants. This oil boasts a very high polyphenol content without the associated bitter taste.

Available now through the KeyElementals.com website, the Oliflix brand of certified organic, extra virgin olive oil is truly authentic and completely unlike the watered-down olive oil products sold at grocery stores. (Hint: Most so-called olive oil sold at retail in the USA isnt even close to being 100% olive oil. Its mostly cut with genetically modified canola oil, then fraudulently labeled olive oil to be sold at cut-rate prices that cant possible be genuine.)

James Stewart told Natural News that he traveled to Spain earlier this year to inspect the olive oil production facilities there and arrange for product testing and importation into the United States. He covers the full story in his blog post, explaining:

For 12 years, Ive wanted to go to Spain and meet Antonio Rey Sole and see his Oliflix olive oil operation. One of the first things we did was rent a car and drive a little over 100 miles, from Barcelona to the small town of Flix, which is located in the province of Tarragona in the southern region of Catalonia, Spain. When we arrived, we saw signs all over town that said Oliflix. I was overjoyed to see this. It was obvious that Oliflixs presence had really impacted the town.

The olives are picked daily and delivered to the mill where they are cleaned of miscellaneous leaves and stems before weighing. Conveyor belts transport the olive to the granite stone mills where the olives are crushed into paste. The paste is further mixed in a process that releases the oil called malaxing before being spread onto round woven hemp mats and stacked several feet tall. The stacks are maneuvered to giant hydraulic presses that slowly squeeze out the oils and juices which are collected in a trough and pumped to gravity separation tanks.

James just received a large, fresh shipment into the United States. He ships from California and offers this gourmet olive oil product in 750 ml bottles and 5 L bottles. Order at KeyElementals.com.

Potent taste with a bite that tells me its authentic olive oil

James sent a bottle to Natural News for review, and Ive been enjoying the rich oil ever since. It has a potent bite that you only get from authentic olive oil, and it adds an amazing aroma and unforgettable flavor to salads, dressings and sauces. I recently used it as the pan frying oil to make some homemade fajita veggies (with onions, red bell peppers and green bell peppers). It was incredibly delicious, as it added some real character to the overall flavor of the meal. (I like to also use raw purple cabbage in this recipe to add fresh, non-cooked veggies to the fajitas).

A few months ago, I spent several hundred dollars buying every brand of olive oil at the grocery store to run an interesting experiment. I wanted to see if any of them had the strong olive bite thats characteristic of genuine olive oil. I bought every brand and then tried a teaspoon of each one. To my astonishment, there wasnt a single store-bought olive oil that actually tasted like olive oil.

Not even the organic brands, it turns out.

In the same way that most store-bought honey is just corn syrup, most store-bought olive oil is really just corn oil or canola oil. Sad but true.

There are only two sources of olive oil that I use now. One is Oliflix, now that James has imported it from Spain and made it available to North American customers.

The other is a local Texas olive oil thats harvested from olive trees that grow in Central Texas. This oil is very difficult to get, and its only available seasonally. The shop that sells it is almost never open. Its like trying to find buried treasure at the end of a rainbow or something. If you can get it, its amazing olive oil, but getting it almost requires a fanatical commitment to sourcing gourmet food.

But Oliflix is readily available, thanks to James Stewart. You can pick up a supply right now at KeyElementals.com.

Note: Natural News is not compensated in any way when you purchase this premium olive oil. We were given a free sample for our review, but otherwise have no financial ties to the Oliflix brand or its sales.

Be warned that authentic, genuine olive oil cost a lot more than cheap, counterfeit olive oil like you buy at the grocery store. Youll pay over $30 for a 750 ml bottle, but the very first time you taste it, its totally worth it.

Key Elementals ships everywhere in North America. Im not sure if they ship outside the USA and Canada, but you can check on their website, which also lists a phone number and contact email address.

Heres a recent photo of James Stewart (on the right)  who is now 70 years old!  standing with the Oliflix founder Antonio Rey Sole:

Does James Stewart look 70? Not by a long shot. Hes healthy, vibrant and full of energy that would put people to shame at almost any age. He deserves your business, too, so if youre looking for authentic olive oil, give James a visit at KeyElementals.com.
(Natural News) In recent weeks, you may recall that Cook County states attorney Kim Foxx committed the outrage of the year, thus far: She refused to accept clear evidence from Chicago PD implicating Empire actor Jussie Smollett in his staged hate crime, thus declining to prosecute him.

Now, we learn, the Chicago Sun-Times is providing even more cover to Foxx through the use of questionable sources for a story that paints her, not city residents who were denied justice, as the real victim.

On Sunday the paper published a story attacking conservative male organization Proud Boys  which is typical for establishment news rags pretending to be objective media  and in doing so both protected Foxx despite her legal negligence while also perpetuating the Lefts new white nationalist narrative:

The Proud Boys has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center  a designation the right-wing group denies. The Anti-Defamation League calls the group overtly Islamophobic and misogynistic, noting that some members are anti-Semitic and racist.

The American Identity Movement, known as AIM, is considered by some experts to be a rebranded version of Identity Evropa, which the SPLC dubs a white nationalist group and the ADL considers white supremacist. Current leaders of AIM deny that and have distanced themselves from Identity Evropa.

If the Sun-Times wants to do some really useful investigative reporting, editors could assign a couple of reporters to dig deeper into the SPLCs moving hundreds of millions in cash to offshore accounts, and why the organization has been dubbed essentially a fraud by real journalists. (Related: Gavin McInnes files suit against Left-wing SPLC for labeling his former organization Proud Boys a hate group.)

But I digress. The real scandal is who the reporters for the Sun-Times chose to impugn and who they chose to use as sources.

As The Gateway Pundit reported:

They even printed an unverified quote from cop-hating alt-left political activist Tom Rainey, detailing a supposed encounter he had with a member of the Proud Boys. They did so describing Rainey as an anti-fascist activist who was allegedly swatted at by a member of the Proud Boys, yet fail to disclose Raineys history of assaulting police officers during a violent anti-cop demonstration in 2017. Mr. Rainey, like the Antifa linked Twitter account used for source material in the Chicago Sun-Times article, has been known to associate with dangerous alt-left groups in the Chicago-area.

Foxx is no victim and Smollett isnt out of the woods

The reporters, Tom Schuba and Matthew Hendrickson, also used other sources with ties to Antifa and other Alt-Left sources. Antifa, by the way, was once considered to be a domestic terrorist group by President Obamas DHS and FBI.

Who wasnt considered to be a terrorist group by the FBI? The Proud Boys, which is headed by an Afro-Cuban entrepreneur and populated with a large share of minorities in their ranks, The Gateway Pundit reported.

Meanwhile, members linked to Antifa have been identified by the FBI as allegedly being involved in a plot to buy guns from a Mexican cartel that would be used to attack U.S. troops, Border Patrol, and Customs and Border Protection agents on behalf of migrants assembled near the boundary. The goal: Foment a violent rebellion as part of being opposed to POTUS Trumps immigration enforcement efforts.

Enrique Tarrio, the Chairman of the Proud Boys, said of the Sun-Times hit piece, We do not stand for racism of any kind. We love the hell out of America and what it means to be an American. Defending western values is our top priority. Socially awkward soyboys like Shuba and Hendrickson have to hide behind their roles as journalists in an attempt to avoid responsibility for their lies.

As for Foxx, shes not the victim of anyone or anything except politicized judgment. And Smolletts not out of legal danger anyway; he may wind up facing federal charges of mail fraud and other civil liabilities.

Read more about how the fake news media propagandizes about the Alt-Left at Propaganda.news and AltLeft.news.

Sources include:

FoxNews.com

FreeBeacon.com

TheNationalSentinel.com

TheGatewayPundit.com
(Natural News) Not long ago, British soldiers claimed absolute power and imposed their will over the settlers who formed the thirteen American colonies. Lawlessly, the red coats would barge right in to homes and businesses, taking information without a warrant. The British Empire took up residence in colonists homes, breaking in and superseding the rights of individual property owners.

After the colonists fought back and won the Revolutionary War, the framers made it a priority to establish future protections against unlawful searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution was written to protect privacy and property and prevent warrant-less searches and seizures. The Amendment also requires that search warrants describe the item being searched and the people or property that may be seized.

Today, Google Inc. is gathering volumes of personal information, location data, unique photo pixel fingerprints and other forms of intelligence on every person who uses their products. Its deeply troubling that Google has become a data collection hub, but even more disturbing is that they are working with foreign governments and law enforcement agencies to circumvent the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Googles latest algorithm to scan images on peoples personal hard drives for law enforcement purposes

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is sounding the alarm that Google is helping U.S. intelligence agencies conduct warrant-less searches. If intelligence operatives want to investigate a persons home, they must have probable cause and ask a judge to sign a warrant describing the objects they seek. When it comes to the digital world, police do not abide by the same rules of conduct. Because no face-to-face meeting is required to access digital files, police feel they are free to peruse through a persons private information which has been conveniently collected by Google and stockpiled in one easy-to-access location. Police can easily conduct a warrant-less search of digital information because Google owns the information, not the private individual. This is how law enforcement can circumvent privacy laws and the fourth amendment.

Right now Google is working with law enforcement to track down missing children reported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In order to do this, Google scans billions of user images that are uploaded to the cloud. They then use facial recognition and algorithms to determine unique identifiable features to help match images and track people down. This sophisticated yet speedy system can help law enforcement find persons of interest by tracking their whereabouts on the web. A search warrant is not needed as the algorithms sort through personal pictures without the knowledge of the user.

When law enforcement has a person of interest, they can produce an image hash, which is a unique fingerprint of an image. Google algorithms analyze the image hashes and quickly hunt for identical hashes they have scanned across the web. The image hash is essentially a string of alphanumeric characters that describe the pixel content in the image. If Google locates a hash that matches the original hash of the person of interest, then law enforcement can work to track the person down following other location data clues.

Googles latest proprietary algorithm doesnt just match image hashes, but it goes a step further and scans a persons hard drive files to see if they can locate a precise image. In this way, Google is conducting massive warrant-less searches of peoples personal files to locate a face in the crowd. This technology can help law enforcement locate suspects, runaways, or kidnapped children, but the technology can also be abused or misused. Googles algorithm may produce a false positive image  an image that resembles the target, but is not the right match. Law enforcement wont care about any potential mistakes in the algorithms match. When they show up at a persons door looking for a suspect, they may perpetuate the warrant-less search into the physical home, and even worse  they may get the wrong person.

EPIC believes that the problems that will arise from this warrant-less procedure ultimately outweigh the advantages. If Google has the power to peek into every file on your hard drive to find specific photos, abuses will inevitably result. If Google can conceal this technology and keep it proprietary, then whats stopping them from learning more about peoples private lives? Google is already working on a search engine project in China and helping the Chinese government censor out sensitive material they dont want researched. In Project Dragonfly, Google is using algorithms to identify images, content, and language that is not welcome in the communist country.

EPIC believes strongly in algorithmic transparency for Big Tech companies such as Google, especially when they are working with foreign governments and law enforcement agencies.

For more on this issue, check out PrivacyWatch.News.

Sources include:

CPOMagazine.com

SearchandSeizure.org

TheIntercept.com
(Natural News) With the deceptive mainstream media now running measles hysteria 24/7, you might be shocked to learn that the MMR vaccine doesnt work as claimed. Even Reuters is now reporting that 10% of those infected with the measles were previously vaccinated against the measles.

This stunning admission is found in an April 29 article from Reuters entitled, U.S. measles outbreak raises questions about immunity in adults. The article states:

Up to 10 percent of the 695 confirmed measles cases in the current outbreak occurred in people who received one or two doses of the vaccine, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Merck FAKED vaccine efficacy data and committed widespread scientific fraud, say virologists

If youre wondering why so many people who were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella are now being infected with the measles, you have to remember that Merck faked its MMR vaccine efficacy data by spiking human blood samples with animal antibodies, according to two former Merck employees who say they were ordered by Merck management to carry out the massive science fraud.

The two Merck virologists, named Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, filed a False Claims Act document in 2010 that specifically called out Mercks fraudulent vaccine deception as running the risk of contributing the future outbreaks of infectious disease. Thats exactly what were seeing today, of course, with measles spreading across America, even among those who were previously vaccinated against measles. (Because the vaccine doesnt work, get it?)

Natural News originally covered this story in 2012, and we preserved the original False Claims Act document at the following link, making sure it wasnt memory-holed off the internet:

https://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/documents/Merck-False-Claims-Act.pdf

Read it yourself and youll learn the stunning truth about vaccine science fraud that the lying mainstream media dare not report.

Heres my original coverage of this from 2012:

Merck vaccine fraud exposed by two Merck virologists; company faked mumps vaccine efficacy results for over a decade, says lawsuit

According to two Merck scientists who filed a False Claims Act complaint in 2010  a complaint which has just now been unsealed  vaccine manufacturer Merck knowingly falsified its mumps vaccine test data, spiked blood samples with animal antibodies, sold a vaccine that actually promoted mumps and measles outbreaks, and ripped off governments and consumers who bought the vaccine thinking it was 95% effective.

See that False Claims Act document at:

https://www.naturalnews.com/gallery/documents/Merck-False-Claims-Act.pdf

According to Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, both former Merck virologists, the Merck company engaged in all the following behavior:

 Merck knowingly falsified its mumps vaccine test results to fabricate a 95% efficacy rate.

 In order to do this, Merck spiked the blood test with animal antibodies in order to artificially inflate the appearance of immune system antibodies. As reported in CourthouseNews.com:

Merck also added animal antibodies to blood samples to achieve more favorable test results, though it knew that the human immune system would never produce such antibodies, and that the antibodies created a laboratory testing scenario that did not in any way correspond to, correlate with, or represent real life  virus neutralization in vaccinated people, according to the complaint.(http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/478)

 Merck then used the falsified trial results to swindle the U.S. government out of hundreds of millions of dollars for a vaccine that does not provide adequate immunization.

 Mercks vaccine fraud has actually contributed to the continuation of mumps across America, causing more children to become infected with mumps. (Gee, really? This is what NaturalNews has been reporting for years vaccines are actually formulated to keep the outbreaks going because its great for repeat business!)

 Merck used its false claims of 95 percent effectiveness to monopolize the vaccine market and eliminate possible competitors.

 The Merck vaccine fraud has been going on since the late 1990s, say the Merck virologists.

 Testing of Mercks vaccine was never done against real-world mumps viruses in the wild. Instead, test results were simply falsified to achieve the desired outcome.

 This entire fraud took place with the knowledge, authority and approval of Mercks senior management.

 Merck scientists witnessed firsthand the improper testing and data falsification in which Merck engaged to artificially inflate the vaccines efficacy findings, according to court documents (see below).

US government chose to ignore the 2010 False Claims Act!

Rather than taking action on this false claims act, the U.S. government simply ignored it, thereby protecting Mercks market monopoly instead of properly serving justice. This demonstrates the conspiracy of fraud between the U.S. government, FDA regulators and the vaccine industry.

Chatom Primary Care sues Merck for Sherman Act monopolization, breach of warranty, violation of consumer protection laws

Following the unsealing of this 2010 False Claims Act, Chatom Primary Care, based in Alabama, smelled something rotten. Three days ago, Chatom filed a lawsuit against Merck. That lawsuit record is available here:

www.naturalnews.com/gallery/documents/Chatom

It alleges, among other shocking things:

[Merck engaged in] a decade-long scheme to falsify and misrepresent the true efficacy of its vaccine.

Merck fraudulently represented and continues to falsely represent in its labeling and elsewhere that its Mumps Vaccine has an efficacy rate of 95 percent of higher.

In reality, Merck knows and has taken affirmative steps to conceal  by using improper testing techniques and falsifying test data  that its Mumps Vaccine is, and has been since at least 1999, far less than 95 percent effective.

Merck designed a testing methodology that evaluated its vaccine against a less virulent strain of the mumps virus. After the results failed to yield Mercks desired efficacy, Merck abandoned the methodology and concealed the studys findings.

incorporating the use of animal antibodies to artificially inflate the results

destroying evidence of the falsified data and then lying to an FDA investigator

threatened a virologist in Mercks vaccine division with jail if he reported the fraud to the FDA

the ultimate victims here are the millions of children who every year are being injected with a mumps vaccine that is not providing them with an adequate level of protection. And while this is a disease that, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), was supposed to be eradicated by now, the failure in Mercks vaccine has allowed this disease to linger, with significant outbreaks continuing to occur.

Chatom Primary Care also alleges that the fraudulent Merck vaccine contributed to the 2006 mumps outbreak in the Midwest, and a 2009 outbreak elsewhere. It says, there has remained a significant risk of a resurgence of mumps outbreaks

This investigation is only beginning

NaturalNews has only begun to investigate this incredible breaking news about Merck and the vaccine industry. We are pouring through the court documents to identify additional information that may be relevant to this case, and we plan to bring you that information soon.

For the record, Merck denies all allegations. Is anyone surprised?

Sources for this article:

NaturalNews wishes to thank CourthouseNews.com for its coverage of this story. Original article at: http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/27/478

Chatom Lawsuit against Merck

www.naturalnews.com/gallery/documents/Chatom

2010 False Claims Act against Merck, by two Merck virologists

www.naturalnews.com/gallery/documents/Merck-

Announcement of the lawsuit in the media:

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/lawsuit-claims
A filmmaker who co-founded the Sundance Film Festival and produced an Oscar-winning movie in the mid-1980s pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual abuse of a child.

Sterling Van Wagenen, 71, entered the plea as part of an agreement that includes a sentence of six years to life. He plans to plead guilty to a second charge involving the same victim later this week, his attorney Steven Shapiro said.

His acceptance of the plea deal was a surprise since he had just been charged earlier this month and it came during his first court appearance. Shapiro said his client decided to waive his right to other hearings to resolve the case quickly and avoid further harm to his family.

Van Wagenen wanted to "acknowledge wrongful conduct," Shapiro said.

Prosecutors charged Van Wagenen with inappropriately touching a girl between the ages of 7 and 9 on two occasions between 2013 and 2015 in two northern Utah cities.

He is scheduled to be formally sentenced on July 2.

Van Wagenen co-founded a Utah film festival that came to be known as Sundance Film Festival with Robert Redford and was the Sundance Institute's founding executive director, but hasn't been with the organization for more than two decades.

He was a producer on the 1985 film "The Trip to Bountiful," a story of an elderly woman who longs to return to her home that earned the late actress Geraldine Page an Academy Award for her starring performance.

He has worked over the years as a film instructor at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University and as a director and producer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on a variety of projects, including temple videos.

Van Wagenen resigned from his part-time instructor position at the University of Utah's Film and Media Arts Department on Feb. 15 after being put on administrative leave on Feb. 5, university spokesman Chris Nelson said.

Van Wagenen's resignation came after a man came forward to accuse Van Wagenen of molesting him as a boy in 1993. No charges have been filed in that case, which was made public by a website that serves as a watchdog for The Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

He was the executive director of the 2018 historical tale "Jane and Emma" about a black woman's friendship with the wife of Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit has learned the San Francisco police department has a list of 133 officers and 10 civilians with disciplinary histories that the citys top prosecutor says can make them vulnerable to attack on the witness stand and in some cases, imperil convictions.

The police department now says those 143 officers and civilians are on whats called their Brady list, so named for the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brady v. Maryland. Under Brady, police and prosecutors must disclose anything in a witness past that could be used to challenge his or her credibility in a criminal case.

One officer with such a troubled past is Paolo Morgado, who was fired in 2011 but recently put back on the city payroll after an appeals court ruled the city denied his right to appeal his dismissal by the citys Police Commission.

Morgado was caught on video in 2008, shoving a man against a wall after exchanging words with him as the man was crossing the street. But in his arrest report on the incident, Morgado stated that Charles Haynes was intoxicated and acting in such an aggressive manner he had to push him away.

He lied, said Haynes attorney, Ben Nisenbaum, who said his client was a military veteran who was not only sober, but had just helped a woman cross the street before the videotaped confrontation.

He stressed Officer Morgado was the clear aggressor but yet falsely portrayed his client as the instigator in the official report.

He prepared a false police report that is a flat out lie, and there is not much more than you can say to it.

The city not only fired Morgado for lying, but paid Haynes a $50,000 settlement.

But just recently, an appellate court ruled the city had to pay Morgado for the years he was off the force and afford him a chance to appeal his termination. While he is waiting for an appeals process to be finalized, the city is paying him but not allowing him to return to duty.

Nisenbaum said the department may have bungled Morgados dismissal, but the public should not pay the price.

If you cant terminate this officer, he said, I dont know who could be terminated.

While Morgado is in paid limbo, District Attorney George Gascon warned city supervisors last week that Brady baggage on some officers poses a significant challenge for his office.

Weve made the department aware that, frankly, officers who are on the Brady list are a problem for us to take forward to a jury, Gascon said at a supervisors budget hearing, adding that Brady blowback played a role in the 40 percent drop in drug convictions his office attained over a five year period ending in 2017. Still, he couldnt tell supervisors how many Brady officers are on the street or how many cases had to be scuttled because of them.

That troubled Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who urged Gascon to cooperate with the police department on Brady damage control.

If there are a lot of officers that have these Brady violations, she said, thats something we all need to know. If they are unable to take a case successfully to court, thats something we all need to know.

For its part, the police department told NBC Bay Area in a statement that simply because an officer is on the Brady list is not necessarily an impediment to the successful prosecution of a case.

The department stressed that state law forbids using Brady status alone to block promotions or to justify reassigning officers to non-field duties. In fact, NBC Bay Area has learned the departments Brady roster includes several in supervisor ranks.

The attorney for the police officers union who is fighting to get Morgado and four other fired officers back on the street, Gregg Adam, did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

Nisenbaum, the attorney who sued Morgado and the city, said the department needs to make sure he never gets back out on the street.

This is not an officer, it seems to me, that you ought to let be out on the street, he said of Morgado, to be in a position where his word would ever become an issue. Where his truthfulness would come into play.

So if he testifies, Nisenbaum added, yes, he ought to be confronted by this every time.
Some odd blue-tinted jelly-like creatures that resemble tiny little sailboats have washed ashore on beaches up and down the California coast, piquing the interest of residents.

The sea cretaures, called "by the wind sailors" and not be confused with another interestingly-named sea creature called the Portuguese Man o' War, were spotted in San Pedro, Orange County and San Diego County.

The last time the Velella washed ashore, it was in the billions, all the way from Oregon to San Diego, KPCC reported in 2014.

Vikki Vargas

The by the wind sailor, appropriately named, will float along the surface of the water and occasionally be blown ashore.

But rest assured -- the creature cannot sting humans. But anyone who touches them should avoid rubbing their eyes or face, as reactions to the toxin they emit can vary, according to Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

Some say that many, many more could end up on shore en masse.

Captain Todd Mansur of Dana Wharf Sportfishing said he knows the conditions have to be just right, but in his 40 years of experience on the water, he's seen the creatures only a half a dozen times.

"We did see them by tens or hundreds of thousands," he said of one of those times, when he was sailing the 50-mile trip to San Clemente Island. "I went on a straight line from Dana point to San Clemente Island, and we went through miles of them."

He also says that seeing them means the ocean is healthy, and that a strong fishing season lies ahead.

And where there are "by the wind sailors," there are sunfish, which is their natural predator. Mansur said boaters could soon see sunfish feasting on the blue bobbing sea creatures like it's a buffet at sea.
Border Patrol agents were scheduled to visit the San Jose City College campus Tuesday to recruit students at a job fair, but due to protests from immigration activists, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiters have been disinvited.

The college west of downtown San Jose said its job fair organizing partner, Work2Future, asked CBP to not attend the event on campus following a request from the San Jose City College administration.

"With all that has happened nationally and locally around the immigration issue in recent years, it is the Administrations preference that the Border Patrol stay off campus," college spokesperson Ryan Brown told NBC Bay Area.

Elizabeth Pratt, the college's acting president, sent out a campus-wide email Monday, saying she is confident that the administration made the right choice by not including CBP.

"We serve a very diverse student population, a large percentage of whom have immigrated to the US from other nations and an even larger percentage of our students have family members who are immigrants. For many in this population, the presence of US Customs and Border Protection representatives on campusregardless of their intentions or reasons for being therecan cause undue distress and concern,"Pratt added.

In a statement, CBP said it wanted to share career opportunities with the campus but it respects the decision by the college and students.

Immigration activists rallied outside the college's gymnasium Tuesday morning to celebrate their victory and show support for immigrants. The activist group, Dump Trump San Jose, delivered their message Monday via flier and Facebook post.

"With the escalating violence, family separations, incarceration, and deportations leveled against migrants and immigrant communities by Border Patrol and ICE and the recent trumped up charges against 3 college students in Tucson, Arizona for disrupting a presentation by Border Patrol agents on their campus, we call on the student body and members of our community in the South Bay to send a clear message to Border Patrol: the agents of upholding racist borders are not welcome here," the message said.

The group had been encouraging followers for more than a week to call the office of the San Jose City College president to demand that the Border Patrol be banned from the job fair and future college events, NBC News reported.
Wednesday is May 1 and like every May Day, activist held rallies centered on worker rights all across the Bay Area, including at Google in Mountain View and Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Hundreds participated in marches and rallies, including nurses, teachers, flight attendants and port workers. Even some employees for one of the richest tech companies in the world were on board.

"From being told to go on sick leave when you're not sick, to having your reports taken away, we're sick of retaliation," the tweet from Google Walkout For Real Change read. "Six months ago, we walked out. This time, we're sitting in."

In November, many Google workers walked out to protest the companys treatment of woman.

Carrying signs that included a mocking use of the companys original Dont be evil motto, thousands of Google employees around the world briefly walked off the job Thursday to protest what they said was the tech giants mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against executives. Anoushah Rasta reports.

Last week, Wired Magazine reported that the two organizers of that action claimed retaliation for their part in organizing, however the company denied the allegation.

As with every May Day there were other rallies around the Bay Area. At Oaklands Frank Ogawa Plaza, activists rallied for immigration rights starting at 8:30 a.m.

In San Jose, community, labor and faith leaders gathered at the Mexican Heritage Plaza at 4 p.m. and at the same time in San Francisco, activists spoke out against workplace discrimination at Justin Herman Plaza.
A proposed home for teenage victims of sexual trafficking is drawing opposition in the East Bay.

People who live near the proposed home are worried that the people who trafficked these victims will come into their neighborhood to look for these young girls they abused and with that bring in guns, drugs and crime.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Catholic Charities of the East Bay, which is affiliated with the Catholic Diocese in Oakland, wants to establish the home in the Sequoyah neighborhood located in the Foothills.

Named after District Attorney Nancy OMalleys late mother, the home would be called Claires House and would house up to 12 girls ages 12 to 17 and provide schooling and mental health services.

The house wouldnt provide support for contraception or abortion which the Catholic Church is deeply against, The Chronicle reported, and advocates for victims of sex trafficking worry this could harm children whove become pregnant as a result of their abuse.

As for the concerns of the neighbors who live near Claires House, Catholic Charities of the East Bay told The Chronicle it screen victims to make sure they are far removed from their abusers and arent just coming off the streets.

The house wont begin operations until it receives a care license from the state of California.
Another landmark in San Francisco has closed its doors after nearly a century of being in business.

Luccaa Ravioli Company in the Mission District officially closed its doors Tuesday after 94 years, but not before customers stocked up on food from the Italian deli.

"They care about the food, they care about the neighborhood and they care about their customers," Evan Rosen said.

The closure comes after the Commonwealth Restaurant announced two weeks ago that increasing rent prices has forced it to close its doors. Michael A. Feno, the owner of Lucca's is selling the place and two adjoining buildings for $8.3 million.

"Everythings closing down nowadays," customer Donald Carmignani said. "Everyone in the city is just getting bought out or selling out and its a sad thing to see."

Before the deli closed, customers reminisced about the time they spent at the establishment.

"This is where I learned how to cook basically with my mom," customer Sandra Quijano said. "Its heart breaking for me."

Feno thanked customers in a statement saying our deepest appreciation to all the customers that walked through our door and allowed us to be of service to them.
What to Know CASH IS PAID WHEN CERTAIN FLIGHTS ARE LATE OR CANCELLED

AIRLINES DON'T EXACTLY ADVERTISE YOUR RIGHTS

ASK FOR EU 261 COMPENSATION

The Ott familys European vacation spanned two mesmerizing weeks. And one bad night in London Heathrow International Airport.

"We slept on the floor of the airport," said Pam Ott.

They were flying British Airways from Croatia to Morocco via London when a crew issue triggered a monster flight disruption.

It was a seven hour delay, she said.

The Otts missed their connecting flight as well as a prepaid tour the next day. They also wound up paying for the hotel room they couldnt get to. In all, they were out $601. When Ott got back home, she asked British Airways for reimbursement.

I waited a couple of weeks, Ott said. When they responded, they said, No. Sorry. We dont owe you anything.

So, she called NBC Bay Area Responds. We contacted British Airways. It offered $200 in vouchers. Better than what I got, Ott said, Which was nothing.

But we knew Ott was due about $1,600 more. Special rules cover European Union airlines -- even U.S. airlines when they leave the EU. The regulation, called EU 261, requires cash payments up to $700 per passenger when certain flights are delayed or canceled. The amount varies based on how long a delay lasts, what caused it, and flight distance. You could get nothing.

But using British Airways own website, we figured BA owed Otts family of four $458 each -- a total of $1,832. After our inquiry, thats exactly what British Airways paid Ott.

It was amazing, Ott said. You guys did an amazing job.

We asked British Airways why it didnt offer the Otts their full EU261 compensation from the start. It didnt reply.

The Otts were unaware of their EU 261 rights. And they are not alone. A recent passenger poll found just 8% were aware of their EU 261 compensation rights. The poll was commissioned by Airhelp.com, which helps passengers file claims, for a cut.

Because so few travelers are aware of their rights, Airhelps Johnny Quach says millions of people arrive late, incur expenses, and leave money on the table.

Every single year, airlines are really not paying out even close to the amount of people they should be paying out to, Quach said.

Airlines inform you of your EU 261 rights in the small type of your ticket contract. So, the onus is on you to know the rules and file a claim. If youre just now hearing about this, dont despair. Quach says you have three years after a flight to speak up. That means flights from 2016 are still eligible.

We recommend you look for an EU 261 page on your airline's website. There's also a universal form available from the UE government.

As for Ott, shes eyeing the next family adventure. Shes determined to forget that night at Heathrow and remember her EU 261 rights.

Its a good policy, I just didnt know it existed, she said.
The family of the Apple engineer who died in a crash on U.S. Highway 101 in Mountain View last year while driving his Tesla has sued the automaker, alleging wrongful death and negligence stemming from false advertising of what they claim is a defective Autopilot driver-assistance system.

The lawsuit claims that the Autopilot feature misread lane lines and failed to detect a concrete median and stop the car before it slammed into the median, leaving behind a fiery wreckage and killing the driver.

Mrs. Huang lost her husband, and two children lost their father because Tesla is beta testing its Autopilot software on live drivers, said B. Mark Fong, a partner at Minami Tamaki LLP, one of the law firms representing Huang's family. The Huang family wants to help prevent this tragedy from happening to other drivers using Tesla vehicles or any semi-autonomous vehicles.

Tesla has not commented on the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the family of 38-year-old Walter Huang told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that Huang was on his way to drop off his children at school on March 23, 2018 when he died from injuries he suffered when the Autopilot of his 2017 Tesla Model X drove his SUV into the unprotected edge of a concrete highway median that was missing its crash guard.

We want to ensure the technology behind semi-autonomous cars is safe before it is released on the roads, and its risks are not withheld or misrepresented to the public," the family's attorneys said.

The allegations against Tesla include product liability, defective product design, failure to warn, breach of warranty, intentional and negligent misrepresentation, and false advertising.

"He thought it was the safest car in the world," Huang's wife, Sevonne Huang, told reporters at the press conference that she gave him the Model X as a birthday gift. "He was a good man, we miss him a lot."

Huang leaves behind his wife, a 4-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter, and two elderly parents who depended on Huang for financial support.

The family is also suing the state of California for not maintaining the highway, claiming that "appropriate safety repairs were not undertaken and completed within the required amount of time" so as to avoid the dangerous condition which existed at the time of the crash.

The lawsuit claims Huangs Tesla impacted a concrete highway median that was missing its crash attenuator guard, as Caltrans failed to replace the guard after an earlier crash there, and accuses the state of California of creating "a death trap for motorists" traveling south on U.S. Highway 101.

The official complaint for damages include negligence, wrongful death, strict and dangerous condition of public property.

The lawsuit accuses Tesla of "false advertising," stating that based on the automaker's advertising and promotions, Huang believed the Model X technology "was safer than a human-operated technology."

According to the California Highway Patrol, the Tesla Model X was driving southbound on US-101 and state Highway 85 junction at freeway speeds when the driver lost control and ran into a median barrier causing the car to catch fire. The Tesla was then hit by a white Mazda as it landed on a lane and then hit by a gray Audi in the next lane. A total of three vehicles were involved.

An eyewitness who was riding his motorcycle down Highway 101, recalled that the Tesla wasnt just smoking after the crash, but "actively emitting full flames from the battery bank."

Huang was taken to Stanford University Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries. Tesla sent an employee over to investigate the crash and the subsequent fire. An exposed battery was visible inside the car right after the crash.

A Tesla Model X is a mid-sized, all-electric, luxury crossover SUV made by Tesla with falcon wing doors. It starts at $79,500.

Tesla blamed Caltrans for not replacing the barrier, stating on the company's website that the crash was "so severe" because a new attenuator had not been installed in place of the damaged one.

"We have never seen this level of damage to a Model X in any other crash," the car manufacturer said in a blog post last year.

Tesla acknowledged that Autopilot was engaged, and that the system's adaptive cruise control follow-distance was set to minimum.

"The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the drivers hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision," Tesla said in the post.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a statement saying investigators were "unhappy" when Tesla released those details and a few others about the crash without notifying them beforehand.

Tesla shares fell after the NTSB announced it was sending investigators to look into the fatal car crash.
Marking tires to enforce parking rules is like entering property without a search warrant, a federal court said Monday as it declared the practice unconstitutional in Michigan and three other states.

Alison Taylor had received more than a dozen $15 tickets for exceeding the two-hour parking limit in Saginaw. The city marks tires with chalk to keep track of how long a vehicle is parked. Her lawyer argued that a parking patrol officer violated the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court agreed.

The purpose of marking tires was to "raise revenue," not to protect the public against a safety risk, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

"The city does not demonstrate, in law or logic, that the need to deter drivers from exceeding the time permitted for parking  before they have even done so  is sufficient to justify a warrantless search under the community caretaker rationale," the court said.

The decision sets a new standard for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, the states covered by the 6th Circuit. The court overturned an opinion by U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington, who had called the legal theory "unorthodox" and dismissed the case in favor of Saginaw.

Saginaw's city manager didn't immediately reply to a message seeking comment.

Taylor's attorney, Philip Ellison, began researching the issue when another lawyer complained that his tire was marked while he sat in his car. It's apparently a common practice in downtown Saginaw, where there are no meters to enforce time limits.

"A good portion of my practice is representing the everyday person," Ellison said.

He argued that marking tires was similar to police secretly putting a GPS device on a vehicle without a proper warrant, which was the subject of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

"We don't think everyone deserves free parking," Ellison told The Associated Press. "But the process Saginaw selected is unconstitutional. ... I'm very glad the three judges who got this case took it seriously. It affects so many people."

The case will return to federal court in Bay City. Ellison wants Ludington to certify the lawsuit as a class-action, with refunds for people who got tickets. He said Saginaw has been collecting up to $200,000 a year with parking tickets from tire marking.
Dr. Leena V Khanzode is a board certified psychiatrist dedicated to providing quality, evidence based treatment to help individuals and families overcome difficulties and lead happier, more productive lives. Dr. Khanzode is multi-lingual and as an immigrant herself, she strives to serve immigrant and bicultural families through her work.

She was born and raised in India and the importance of helping others was instilled in Dr. Khanzode from a young age. Her parents, who are both in the medical field, volunteered at shelters and the center for the developmentally delayed children. This had a lasting impression on Dr. Khanzode and she has always desired to be able to give back to the community.

While she was in medical school, she volunteered at the slums nearby. Poverty, improper sanitation, lack of supply of clean water, and inadequate infrastructure were some of the reasons for high rates of diseases such as cholera, Tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid, polio, and child malnutrition. It was very clear that community outreach would help improve the situation in these areas.

After getting married, she moved to the US and was fortunate to get into a residency program at Stanford. During her residency, she had the opportunity to work under Drs. Paul Auerbach and Eric Weiss. They imbibed in her the love for wilderness medicine and she took several Wilderness Medicine CMEs to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and Montana. She has traveled to several remote areas of the world including the Amazon, Borneo, Africa, Nepal, and Galapagos to explore nature and at times she was the only doctor in the group. The challenges to practice medicine in the wilderness, rekindled her passion to practice medicine in rural and underserved areas.

For the next few years her time was divided into working as a fulltime adult psychiatrist at Kaiser Santa Clara, and raising two lovely daughters. She began volunteering at AACI in 2016 as an adult psychiatrist and provides help to the low income and diverse immigrant population that AACI serves which includes many refugees and survivors of torture. Dr. Khanzode commented, I was moved by the 'Survivors of Torture' and these survivors are unique in their resolve and resilience. As a physician I have learned to not only honor and respect their experience but they have taught me to be empathetic and kind. It continues to be a very fulfilling experience for me and I am very grateful for this opportunity.

Long term, Dr. Khanzode would like to continue to engage in meaningful service to the community and learn from her patients and colleagues here and abroad.

Leena V. Khanzode, MD - Psychiatrist - Kaiser Permanente

Dr. Khanzode is a board certified psychiatrist dedicated to providing quality, evidence based treatment to help individuals and families overcome difficulties and lead happier, more productive lives. Dr. Khanzode is multi-lingual and as an immigrant herself, she strives to serve immigrant and bicultural families through her work.

She was born and raised in India and the importance of helping others was instilled in Dr. Khanzode from a young age. Her parents, who are both in the medical field, volunteered at shelters and the center for the developmentally delayed children. This had a lasting impression on Dr. Khanzode and she has always desired to be able to give back to the community.

While she was in medical school, she volunteered at the slums nearby. Poverty, improper sanitation, lack of supply of clean water, and inadequate infrastructure were some of the reasons for high rates of diseases such as cholera, Tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid, polio, and child malnutrition. It was very clear that community outreach would help improve the situation in these areas.

After getting married, she moved to the US and was fortunate to get into a residency program at Stanford. During her residency, she had the opportunity to work under Drs. Paul Auerbach and Eric Weiss. They imbibed in her the love for wilderness medicine and she took several Wilderness Medicine CMEs to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and Montana. She has traveled to several remote areas of the world including the Amazon, Borneo, Africa, Nepal, and Galapagos to explore nature and at times she was the only doctor in the group. The challenges to practice medicine in the wilderness, rekindled her passion to practice medicine in rural and underserved areas.

For the next few years her time was divided into working as a fulltime adult psychiatrist at Kaiser Santa Clara, and raising two lovely daughters. She began volunteering at AACI in 2016 as an adult psychiatrist and provides help to the low income and diverse immigrant population that AACI serves which includes many refugees and survivors of torture. Dr. Khanzode commented, I was moved by the 'Survivors of Torture' and these survivors are unique in their resolve and resilience. As a physician I have learned to not only honor and respect their experience but they have taught me to be empathetic and kind. It continues to be a very fulfilling experience for me and I am very grateful for this opportunity.

Long term, Dr. Khanzode would like to continue to engage in meaningful service to the community and learn from her patients and colleagues here and abroad.

Dr. Leena V Khanzode will be honored at the NBC Bay Area & AACI Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Awards Ceremony.
Channary Bill is a testament of the human spirits ability to endure and not just survive, but to thrive. On April 13, 1975 Cambodia was filled with feelings of hope and new beginnings as it celebrated its New Year; however, four days later, a darkness fell throughout Cambodia as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country. Suddenly, sounds of rockets bombing the countryside were commonplace and Channary and her family were placed into labor camps. Four years later the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and she saw her opportunity to escape from the country that took away her hope and her freedom.

Escaping to Thailand and ultimately to the United States, Channarys story was emblematic of many other Cambodians who resettled in America. Here her spirit learned to thrive. She serves as the President of the Cambodian Womens Association where she seeks to empower women and families through providing community education workshops, while preserving Cambodia traditions. From mobilizing voter registrations, to issue forums around ballot measures, Channary works to grow her communitys voice.

Additionally, in her work as a Patient Navigator she helps the Cambodian community by to translating for Cambodian patients during medical visits, facilitating a weekly group therapy session for women, and connecting individuals to community resources. Channary transformed her personal traumas into a drive to serve the Cambodian community. She exudes a renewed sense of hope and freedom she empowers others to thrive as she does.

Channary Bill - President - Cambodian Womens Association

On April 13, 1975 Cambodia was filled with feelings of hope and new beginnings as it celebrated its New Year; however, four days later, a darkness fell throughout Cambodia as the Khmer Rouge took control of the country. Suddenly, sounds of rockets bombing the countryside were commonplace and Channary and her family were placed into labor camps. Four years later the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and she saw her opportunity to escape from the country that took away her hope and her freedom.

Escaping to Thailand and ultimately to the United States, Channarys story was emblematic of many other Cambodians who resettled in America. Here her spirit learned to thrive. She serves as the President of the Cambodian Womens Association where she seeks to empower women and families through providing community education workshops, while preserving Cambodia traditions. From mobilizing voter registrations, to issue forums around ballot measures, Channary works to grow her communitys voice.

Additionally, in her work as a Patient Navigator she helps the Cambodian community by translating for Cambodian patients during medical visits, facilitating a weekly group therapy session for women, and connecting individuals to community resources. Channary transformed her personal traumas into a drive to serve the Cambodian community. She exudes a renewed sense of hope and freedom she empowers others to thrive as she does.

Channary Bill will be honored at the NBC Bay Area & AACI Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Awards Ceremony.
June Tran escaped Vietnam with her family on April 30, 1975- the same day that Saigon fell to the communist regime. Her family boarded a U.S. Naval ship headed to Guam, where they stayed for a few months before relocating to Camp Pendleton in San Diego. It was then that her family was sponsored by a North Carolinian family in 1976. As the only Vietnamese family in this little town of North Carolina, June, the eldest of 6, took it upon herself to learn English to communicate with those around her. Two years later, her family once again relocated to California. They have been Bay Area residents since.

After graduating from San Jose State University in 1985 with a major in Audiology and a minor in Psychology, June began her 25-year career as a specialist for the mentally ill and became a leader in helping Asian American communities. Today, she is a business owner and coffee enthusiast. Her plight as a Vietnamese refugee and experience as a social worker were strong propellers in helping her to follow her dream. This dream was to create a space where people from all walks of life (students, families, community leaders, etc.) could come together and enjoy its ambiance and product. June and her husband, who is also an avid coffee enthusiast, did extensive research on the coffee making process and even learned how to roast and mix their own beans. The Crema Coffee Roasting Company was thus born in 2007.

Still itching for other ways to give back to her community, June became involved with local and federal elections. She has also supported numerous churches, schools, and community activities and events. Circling back to her degree in Audiology, June wanted to help those who are deaf or hard of hearing find a way to smoothly integrate themselves into the work force. She teamed up with the Santa Clara County Office of Educations post-secondary program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, giving students an opportunity to gain work experience by employing them at her two Crema locations. This enables students to find work after graduating, using Crema as a reference on their job applications. They also have the option to join the Crema Team as full-time staff. In fact, two recent graduates from the county program have joined the Crema team permanently.

June Tran - Owner - Crema Coffee & Pier 402 Restaurant

June Tran escaped Vietnam with her family on April 30, 1975- the same day that Saigon fell to the communist regime. Her family boarded a U.S. Naval ship headed to Guam, where they stayed for a few months before relocating to Camp Pendleton in San Diego. It was then that her family was sponsored by a North Carolinian family in 1976. As the only Vietnamese family in this little town of North Carolina, June, the eldest of 6, took it upon herself to learn English to communicate with those around her. Two years later, her family once again relocated to California. They have been Bay Area residents since.

After graduating from San Jose State University in 1985 with a major in Audiology and a minor in Psychology, June began her 25-year career as a specialist for the mentally ill and became a leader in helping Asian American communities. Today, she is a business owner and coffee enthusiast. Her plight as a Vietnamese refugee and experience as a social worker were strong propellers in helping her to follow her dream. This dream was to create a space where people from all walks of life (students, families, community leaders, etc.) could come together and enjoy its ambiance and product. June and her husband, who is also an avid coffee enthusiast, did extensive research on the coffee making process and even learned how to roast and mix their own beans. The Crema Coffee Roasting Company was thus born in 2007.

Still itching for other ways to give back to her community, June became involved with local and federal elections. She has also supported numerous churches, schools, and community activities and events. Circling back to her degree in Audiology, June wanted to help those who are deaf or hard of hearing find a way to smoothly integrate themselves into the work force. She teamed up with the Santa Clara County Office of Educations post-secondary program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, giving students an opportunity to gain work experience by employing them at her two Crema locations. This enables students to find work after graduating, using Crema as a reference on their job applications. They also have the option to join the Crema Team as full-time staff. In fact, two recent graduates from the county program have joined the Crema team permanently.

June Tran will be honored at the NBC Bay Area & AACI Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Awards Ceremony.
What to Know With examples, NBC10 Boston Investigators raised questions about whether the public employees got paid for being in two places at once.

Sylvester and Fernandes reported working a full shift in Hingham on the same day they also worked at least eight hours in Quincy.

"Its a crime if it can be proven, said a former Massachusetts Inspector General. These examples you are showing me are very serious."

Roger Fernandes stood in the street, donning an orange safety vest and helping direct traffic as oncoming vehicles navigated around the construction zone.

Nearby, Harry Sylvester wore an orange vest as he also observed the paving work.

That this duo would oversee a road project is nothing unusual. Fernandes has been Hinghams town engineer for 15 years, while Sylvester has worked for the public works department for more than three decades.

What was different about this project? It didnt happen in Hingham.

Instead, the road work actually took place along Washington Street a couple communities away in Quincy.

Even though this particular instance occurred on Columbus Day, a paid holiday, other examples uncovered by the NBC10 Boston Investigators raised questions about whether the public employees got paid for being in two places at once.

Tip Prompts Review of Payroll Records

The investigation started with a tip: Time-stamped photos provided to NBC10 Boston, depicting Fernandes and Sylvester working in Quincy on a variety of different days.

The work was part of a consulting contract awarded to Fernandes private company, BRL Construction.

After making a public records request, the NBC10 Boston Investigators obtained invoices from Quincy and payroll time sheets from Hingham, looking for overlapping dates.

Records show Fernandes billed the Quincy Department of Public Works for more than $61,000 of consulting work in 2018.

At the outset of the contract, much of the invoiced work was for short periods of time, like meetings at the DPW.

However, once road-paving work commenced in the summer, some of the consulting shifts surpassed nine hours or ten hours. On a number of occasions, Sylvester and Fernandes reported working a full shift in Hingham on the same day they also worked at least eight hours in Quincy.

Theres a term for that. Its called double-dipping. And its a crime, if it can be proven, said Greg Sullivan, a former Massachusetts Inspector General. These examples you are showing me are very serious in my view.

Take Sept. 14, 2018, as an example.

Photos show Fernandes and Sylvester at a project in Quincy. The daytime work corroborated by police documents for officers seen working paid details in the images. Quincy city leaders also later confirmed the time and date of the project to NBC10 Boston.

At $125 per hour, Fernandes billed Quincy for nine hours of consulting work that day, but also reported a full eight-hour shift on his Hingham time card.

At an hourly rate of $98, Sylvester also tallied nine hours of consulting work. However, in Hingham, he recorded a paid sick day.

Fernandes, the head of the engineering department and Sylvesters boss, signed off on the time sheet.

How could his boss approve his employees sick day when he was working with him for his private company on the same day in another community, Sullivan questioned.

Sullivan investigated and prosecuted cases of double-dipping during his tenure as Inspector General. He said a lack of oversight in public sector work can create vulnerabilities for potential abuse.

This can be very easy to get away with if no one is looking, Sullivan explained. Unfortunately, for the engineer and his assistant, someone has looked, which is NBC10 Boston.

Hingham Town Leader Promises to Investigate

After learning details of the NBC10 Boston investigation, Hingham Town Administrator Tom Mayo agreed to sit down for an interview.

He said town employees are allowed to have second jobs, as long as they dont conflict with their municipal responsibilities.

Alissa Eckert/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

As town engineer, Fernandes is a salaried employee making about $130,000 who is generally expected to be at the DPW building during normal business hours, according to Mayo. However, Mayo said he has a more flexible schedule because his responsibilities sometimes require night meetings at Town Hall.

On the other hand, Sylvester is an hourly employee who is eligible for overtime.

When asked if he knew about Fernandes private company and consulting work in Quincy, Mayo said he was not aware of it until the NBC10 Boston public records request last December, which required the station to pay several hundred dollars and took the town several months to complete.

I guess in a perfect world, when someone is working in a situation where it could be a conflict, it would would be nice to know about it, Mayo said.

The town administrator said he would reserve judgment until he had the opportunity to conduct an internal investigation related to the allegations. He did not react to specific instances like the Sept. 14 example, repeatedly telling NBC10 Boston he will take appropriate action.

This will be a fair process, Mayo said. If there is any impropriety. If someone is misusing sick leave, thats a problem. And we will address it. Im not going to assume it happened until I have all the facts.

Town Engineer Reacts to Allegations

After attempts to schedule a meeting with Fernandes through emails and phone calls, the NBC10 Boston Investigators approached Fernandes outside the DPW building as he arrived at work to ask him about some of the questionable shifts.

Thats incorrect. Im sorry, Fernandes responded. If that were the case, my current employer would have an issue with that and that did not happen.

The town engineer insisted all the private consulting work occurred on nights, weekends and holidays. He also said town officials were aware of his consulting work and had no problems with the arrangement.

Records show Fernandes did not disclose that the employee he supervises in Hingham, Sylvester, was also working for his private consulting company until after NBC10 Boston made the public records request.

In a document filed with the State Ethics Commission on Dec. 19, 2018, Fernandes wrote that he was providing facts about the relationship to dispel the appearance of a conflict of interest.

His work will not affect his current employment status with the Town of Hingham, Fernandes said in the disclosure. The arrangement would have been given to someone with the same knowledge and experience.

However, Fernandes had no explanation for the six different instances discovered by NBC10 Boston when Sylvester used paid sick time in Hingham on the same days he worked for his boss private company in Quincy.

There were also no answers about the four times Fernandes billed for at least eight hours of consulting work in Quincy, while also putting in for a full shift at his day job in Hingham.

We would never, ever double dip or hurt this community in any way. Never, Fernandes said.

Quincy Cancels Contract

As the internal investigation continues in Hingham, city leaders in Quincy have already seen enough.

After reviewing invoices and payroll documents, Quincy City Solicitor Jim Timmins said legal staffers in his office verified the same information as NBC10 Boston. As a result, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch instructed him to terminate the consulting contract.

We arent going to tolerate it, Timmins told NBC10 Boston. We are in a position where weve been contacted by you and learned that there were things going on that we did not think should be going on. Its very regrettable, but a very serious breach of public trust.

Ryan Kath can be reached at ryan.kath@nbcuni.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or connect with him Facebook.
The Senate has approved a graduated income-tax structure that charges a rate of 7.99 percent for the most affluent residents.

The plan by Olympia Fields Democratic Sen. Toi Hutchinson was approved 36-22. It would not take effect until 2021 and only if voters approve a constitutional amendment to replace the flat-rate income tax. The Senate approved asking the voters to decide on an amendment earlier Wednesday.

Mattoon Republican Sen. Dale Righter says have varying rates makes it easier to raise tax rates in the future. He cited examples in other states where lawmakers raised the highest rates on the richest filers in order to raise revenue. He says an increase under a flat-rate system is harder because it means raising rates on everyone.
NBC 5 Investigates has found that Rami Z. Matariyeh, of Homer Glen, was on probation for a felony drug conviction at the time of the fatal crash on I-55 on Sunday  a crash where Matariyeh is now charged with seven felony counts of DUI, failure to report an accident, and reckless homicide.

NBC 5 Investigates has also found that the 22-year-old Matariyeh has been cited at least nine times in the Chicago area for traffic violations in less than four and a half years  almost always for speeding.

The timeline of Matariyehs encounter with Chicago-area courts  mostly for traffic violations  shows a series of often-overlapping cases, resulting in at least five trips to traffic school; at least four six-month supervision periods; two stints of community service, and at least two required essays  all for traffic violations:

 11/8/2014: Matariyeh is 17 years old when Lockport police charge his with driving 21-25 miles per hour above the speed limit. His case goes to Will County Court.

 12/2014: A Will County judge orders Matariyeh to attend a traffic driver safety program and complete 25 hours of public service, on the Lockport speeding charges from the previous month.

 2/8/2015: Illinois State Police stop Matariyeh, now 18, in Grundy County, and charge him with speeding 26-34 miles per hour above the speed limit.

 2/17/2015: Matariyeh reports back to the judge in Will County that hes successfully completed the traffic driver safety program for the November, 2014 Lockport charges.

 2/22/2015: Five days later, Lockport police again stop Matariyeh, and open up second case against him in Will County Court  this time for driving 15-20 miles per hour above the speed limit.

 3/2/2015: Back in Grundy County Court, Matariyeh pleads guilty to a reduced charge of driving 15-20 miles per hour above the speed limit, from his arrest in early February. He is sentenced to six months supervision, driver education, and a fine of $200.

 3/13/2015: Eleven days after receiving the six months of supervision in Grundy County, Matariyeh is sentenced to six months of supervision in Will County, after pleading guilty to the speeding charge from his second arrest there on February 22nd. Hes also ordered to attend Driver Education School and pay a $120.00 fine.

 3/20/2015: Seven days later, Matariyeh returns to Will County Court (for his first Lockport speeding conviction), where he submits the essay he was required to write as part of his sentencing for that November, 2014 citation.

 4/27/2015: Back in Grundy County court, Matariyeh submits a certificate showing his completion of a defensive driving course from GOTOTRAFFICSCHOOL.COM.

 4/27/2015: That very same day, over in Will County Court, theres an entry in Matariyehs second case  the one where he pled guilty to speeding in February, 2015, saying traffic driver safety program successfully completed.

 6/14/2015: At this point -- according to court records -- Matariyeh is serving two separate terms of six months supervision, when he is stopped by Illinois State Police, and charged with driving 21-25 miles per hour above the speed limit. The case heads  once again  to Will County Court  his third one there.

 8/6/2015: Matariyeh  still apparently under supervision in two counties  pleads not guilty to the speeding charges from June.

 10/1/2015: Matariyeh (whose two supervisions in Grundy and Will Counties may be coming to an end) changes his plea to guilty, and agrees to 25 hours of community service work at the Warren Sharpe Community Center in Joliet, traffic school, and another essay.

 1/27/2016: Matariyeh, now 19, submits documents to Will County Court showing he has completed his community service work and traffic school, and so his third traffic case in Will County (in eight months) is dismissed.

 2/18/2016: Three weeks later, Hickory Hills police charge Matariyeh with speeding 21-25 miles per hour above the speed limit. The case goes to Cook County Traffic Court.

 6/7/2016: For the second time in four months, Matariyeh is stopped in Cook County  this time by Palos Park police, who charge him with speeding 15-20 miles per hour above the speed limit, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

 7/18/2016: According to Cook County Traffic Court records  which dont give much detail about traffic cases  Matariyehs Hickory Hills speeding charges are non-suited.

 8/11/2016: Matariyeh, still 19, is charged for the third time in Cook County  this time in Criminal Court -- with two misdemeanors: Consumption of liquor and obstructing identification.

 9/12/2016: According to court docket information, Matariyehs June speeding charges from Palos Park are non-suited in Cook County Traffic Court.

 9/19/2016: Seven days later, Matariyeh is cited  his fourth time in Will County and charged with one count of possession of 100-500 grams of cannabis, and one count of manufacture/delivery of 30-500 grams of cannabis. His bond is set at $25,000.00 and he is released by posting ten percent of that, or $2,500.00.

 11/14/2016: Both of the misdemeanor charges -- stemming from Matariyehs August alcohol arrest in Cook County -- are dropped.

 11/18/2016: Four days later, Illinois State Police again stop Matariyeh, who is now out on bond from his Will County cannabis arrest. This time hes cited in DuPage County and charged with speeding 21-25 miles per hour over the limit, and operating an uninsured motor vehicle  a charge thats quickly dismissed when Matariyeh provides proof of insurance.

 12/14/2016: Matariyeh  still out on bond for the Will County cannabis charges -- pleads guilty to the November speeding charge in DuPage County. Hes given supervision and is ordered to complete DIS, though the printed court record does not explain what DIS is.

 12/20/2016: In his pending Will County cannabis case, Matariyeh submits to a drug test and passes.

 6/7/2017: Matariyeh, now 20, appears in DuPage County Court to confirm completion of DIS from his November, 2016 speeding charge.

 6/20/2017: Still awaiting trial in his Will County cannabis case, Matariyeh submits to another drug test, and passes once again.

 8/18/2017: Matariyeh submits to yet another drug test in his Will County criminal cases. Once again, he passes.

 9/29/2017: In his Will County Criminal court case, Matariyeh pleads guilty to manufacturing/delivery of 30-500 grams of cannabis. The other charge (of possession) is dropped. He is sentenced to six days in jail (with credit for three days served); at least $1,684.00 in fines, and 24 months probation  which would mean that Matariyeh would be on probation until next September.

 4/17/2018: Will County Sheriffs police stop Matariyeh, now 21 and on probation, and charge him with driving 11-14 miles per hour over the limit. In 3-1/2 years, this is his fifth case in Will County Courts; his fourth in Will County for traffic charges, and his eighth stop for speeding in the greater Chicago area.

 5/7/2018: Matariyeh pleads guilty to the speeding charge from the previous month in Will County. Hes sentenced to six months supervision, $120.00 in fines, and driver education school.

 6/18/2018: Matariyeh heads back to Will County Court to report that his most recent traffic driver safety program is successfully completed.

 11/7/2018: A note appears in Matariyehs April, 2018 speeding case in Will County, saying simply Court Supervision, but there are no other details.

 11/30/2018: Chicago police charge Matariyeh  still on probation -- with driving the wrong way on a one-way street, in a 2019 Infiniti sedan  the same model of car that would later be involved in the fatal crash on I-55. The wrong-way driving case goes to Cook County Traffic Court.

 1/22/2019: Matariyeh, now 22, pays a $214.00 fine in the wrong-way driving charge in Chicago. Theres also a return date of 7/22/2019 listed on the Cook County court record, implying that Matariyeh is required to return to court this coming July  six months after the original disposition.

 4/28/2019: Matariyeh  still on probation from his cannabis conviction, and due back in court to follow up on a wrong-way driving charge  crashes into a Hyundai sedan on the Stevenson Expressway. Police say Matariyeh is drunk when he crashes and then flees the scene. He is later arrested at his home, and now faces seven felony charges in Cook County Court  including reckless homicide, failure to report and accident, and aggravated DUI.
Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and special counsel Robert Mueller's team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel's "snitty" complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investigation report.

Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller's report, Barr faced sharp questioning from Senate Democrats who accused him of making misleading comments and seeming at times to be President Donald Trump's protector as much as the country's top law enforcement official.

The rift fueled allegations that Barr has spun Mueller's findings in Trump's favor and understated the gravity of Trump's behavior. The dispute is certain to persist, as Democrats push to give Mueller a chance to answer Barr's testimony with his own later this month.

Barr separately informed the House Judiciary Committee that he would not appear for its scheduled hearing Thursday because of the panel's insistence that he be questioned by committee lawyers as well as lawmakers. That refusal sets the stage for Barr to possibly be held in contempt of Congress.

At Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee session, Barr spent hours defending his handling of Mueller's report against complaints from Democrats and the special counsel himself. He said, for instance, that he had been surprised that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, and that he had felt compelled to step in with his own judgment that the president committed no crime.

"I'm not really sure of his reasoning," Barr said of Mueller's obstruction analysis, which neither accused the president of a crime nor exonerated him. If Mueller wasn't prepared to make a decision on whether to bring charges, Barr added, "then he shouldn't have investigated. That was the time to pull up."

Barr was also perturbed by a private letter Mueller, a longtime friend, sent him complaining that the attorney general had not properly portrayed the special counsel's findings in a four-page memo summarizing the report's main conclusions. The attorney general called the note "a bit snitty."

"I said: 'Bob, what's with the letter? Just pick up the phone and call me if there is an issue,'" Barr said.

The airing of disagreements was all the more striking since the Justice Department leadership and Mueller's team had appeared unified in approach for most of the two-year investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. The revelation that Mueller, who'd been publicly silent for the entire investigation, was agitated enough to send a letter to Barr  which could, and did, become public  lent his words extra credibility with Democrats, who accused Barr of lying under oath last month when he said he was unaware Mueller's team was unhappy with how its work had been characterized.

Barr downplayed the special counsel's complaints, saying they were mostly about process, not substance, while raising a few objections of his own in the other direction. He said that Mueller did not, as requested, identify grand jury material in his report when he submitted it, slowing the public release of the report as the Justice Department worked to black out sensitive information.

He also insisted that once Mueller submitted his report, the special counsel's work was done and the document became "my baby."

"It was my decision how and when to make it public," Barr said. "Not Bob Mueller's."

Wednesday's contentious Senate hearing gave Barr his most extensive opportunity to date to defend recent Justice Department actions, including a press conference before the report's release and his decision to release a brief summary letter two days after getting the report.

But the hearing, which included three Democratic presidential candidates, also laid bare the partisan divide over the handling of Mueller's report.

Some Republicans, in addition to defending Trump, focused on the president's 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's email practices and what they argued has been a lack of investigation of them.

Televisions across the West Wing, including one just off the Oval Office used by the president, were tuned to cable coverage of Barr's testimony. Trump told advisers he was pleased with Barr's combative stance with Democratic senators, according to an administration official and a Republican close to the White House who were not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions.

Trump tweeted Wednesday that the probe was "The greatest con-job in the history of American Politics!" He has told those around him that, after being disappointed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he has found an attorney general loyal to him.

Democrats also moved to exploit the daylight between Barr and Mueller to impugn the attorney general's credibility. Some also called for Barr to resign, or to recuse himself from Justice Department investigations that have been spun off from Mueller's probe.

"I think the American public has seen quite well you are biased in this situation and not objective and that is the conflict of interest," said Sen. Kamala Harris of California, one of the Democratic contenders for president.

They pressed him on whether he had misled Congress last month when, at an unrelated congressional hearing, he professed ignorance about complaints from the special counsel's team. Barr suggested he had not lied because he was in touch with Mueller himself and not his team.

Unswayed, Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said, "Mr. Barr, I feel your answer was purposefully misleading, and I think others do too."

Neither side broke much new ground Wednesday on the specifics of Mueller's investigation, though Barr did articulate a robust defense of Trump as he made clear his firm conviction that there was no prosecutable case against the president for obstruction of justice.

The attorney general asserted that Trump was "falsely accused" during the investigation and that the president therefore lacked the criminal intent required to commit obstruction. Democrats seized on multiple instances in Mueller's report in which Trump was said to have asked aides to lie or sought to seize control of the probe, but in each instance, Barr said Trump's conduct wasn't a crime.

"I didn't exonerate. I said that we did not believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction offense which is the job of the Justice Department, and the job of the Justice Department is now over," Barr said.

He was asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee's top Democrat, about an episode recounted in Mueller's report in which Trump pressed White House Counsel Don McGahn to seek the removal of Mueller on conflict-of-interest grounds. Trump later asked McGahn to deny a press report that such a directive had been given.

Barr responded, "There's something very different firing a special counsel outright, which suggests ending an investigation, and having a special counsel removed for conflict  which suggests you're going to have another special counsel."

Barr entered the hearing on the defensive following reports hours earlier that Mueller had complained to him in a letter and over the phone about the way his findings were being portrayed.

Two days after receiving Mueller's report, Barr had released a four-page letter that summarized the main conclusions.

Mueller's letter, dated March 27, conveyed his unhappiness that Barr released what the attorney general saw as the bottom-line conclusions of the investigation and not the introductions and executive summaries that Mueller's team had prepared and believed conveyed more nuance and context than Barr's own letter. Mueller said he had communicated the same concern days earlier.

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller wrote in his letter to Barr. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

Barr appeared unmoved by the criticism. He said repeatedly that Mueller had assured him that Barr's letter of conclusions was not inaccurate but he simply wanted more information out. Barr said he didn't believe a piecemeal release of information would have been beneficial, and besides, it wasn't Mueller's call to make.

Barr also noted that Mueller concluded his investigation without any interference and that neither the attorney general nor any other Justice Department official overruled the special counsel on any action he wanted to take.
The National Weather Service issued a Flash Flood Watch Wednesday that remains in effect until 11 a.m. for Cook County and surrounding counties in Illinois and Indiana.

Another half inch of rain is expected to fall this morning, bringing the total rainfall in the last 24 hours between one and two inches, the weather service said. Poor drainage along rivers, streams, creeks and retention ponds may lead to lowland flooding.

The alert applies to Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, La Salle, Livingston and Will Counties in Illinois and Benton, Jasper, Lake, Newton and Porter Counties in Indiana, the weather service said.

A flood advisory is also in effect for the Des Plaines River at Riverside, or from Roosevelt Road in Forest Park downstream to Hodgkins, until late Thursday night, the weather service said. Sections of the river in Gurnee, Lincolnshire and River Forest may also flood.

In Chicago, the north branch of the Chicago River at Pulaski Road, or from Central Avenue down to its meeting with the North Shore Channel, is also under a flood advisory until late Wednesday, according to the weather service. A section of the Des Plaines River in Irving Park on the Northwest Side may also see some flooding.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to clear in the late morning hours, with a mostly cloudy and milder afternoon, according to NBC 5 Storm Team meteorologists. Temperatures are expected to reach the mid-60s during the day, even reaching the 70s south of I-80.

Temperatures drop as a cold front passes, with Wednesday evening looking damp and chilly with drizzle and areas of fog, a few spotty showers possible as well.

A few showers linger Thursday morning before clouds break for partial sun in the afternoon, though scattered showers and storms will be possible late.

By Friday, the NBC 5 Storm Team expects mostly sunny skies with temperature highs in the low to mid 60s inland, cooler by the lake.
What to Know State police said numerous units responded to the area of Davis Square in Somerville on Wednesday for a report of an active shooter.

The suspect is alleged to have shot at Somerville Police after robbing a bank. No officers were injured.

The suspect remains on the loose, and residents are urged to stay indoors as the search continues.

Police continue to search for a suspect who allegedly fired a gun at police after robbing a bank in Somerville, Massachusetts on Wednesday morning.

Massachusetts State Police said numerous units responded to the area of College Avenue in Davis Square at 10 a.m. for a report of an active shooter. The suspect was alleged to have robbed the Middlesex Federal Savings bank and was believed to be armed.

Hours after a man allegedly fired at a police officer after robbing a Somerville, Massachusetts bank, the search for the suspect continued Wednesday evening.

State police said the suspect allegedly shot at Somerville Police and police returned fire. No officers were injured.

Suspect Fires at Police After Robbing Bank in Somerville

"While entering the bank he fired off a round, attempted to rob the bank, an officer entered the bank through another door, the officer and the suspect exchanged gunfire," Somerville Police Chief David Fallon said. "Immediately after that there was a foot pursuit, and we continue to look for this gentleman."

Dave Powers, who was headed to work at the time, said he heard police yelling and stepped in, attempting to stop the fleeing suspect. The suspect escaped, but dropped a backpack that had a gun in it.

"I was in position to react and had enough time to do so, so I did, hoping to slow him down," Powers said.

As the search continued, authorities urged residents in the area to use caution, stay indoors if possible and report any suspicious persons or activity. Some area schools were even placed in lockdown as the search continued.

"We have a dangerous person still on the loose," Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said. "Report any information you may have to the Somerville Police Department and to the call lines or to the social media outlets we provide to you."

Cambridge Police also issued an alert on Twitter urging its residents to be aware of the police activity in Somerville's Davis Square.

Arlington Police tweeted out a photo of a suspect in the bank robbery around 11 a.m.

Arlington Police

Somerville Police tweeted out a second photo of the suspect shortly after noon, again urging residents in the area to use caution and stay indoors. They described the suspect as 5'9" tall, 175 pounds and between 20 and 35 years old. He was last seen wearing a black stocking hat, camouflage jacket, blue jeans and black sneakers.

The ordeal closed down streets and temporarily locked out visitors at three nearby schools.

"My teacher was like, 'you know what, we are just going to be transparent with you. We are on lockdown. There's a bank robbery,'" recalled John F. Kennedy student Lia Sokol.

ARMED BANK ROBBERY SUSPECT FLED ON FOOT, RESIDENTS IN THE AREA USE CAUTION, STAY INDOORS IF POSSIBLE. REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY TO SPD. pic.twitter.com/kTXaO0hUpr  SomervillePolice (@SomervillePD) May 1, 2019

Around 10:45 a.m., state police said Somerville and state police had one person in custody. Somerville Police described that person as a "person of interest" and said the person is cooperating.

"We had a person of interest, but we're confident now it was not the person," Somerville Police Capt. James Donovan said.

After searching for several hours, police said they believed the suspect was no longer in the area. They are now hoping that security and surveillance images from the bank and area businesses will help them locate the suspect.

Residents who watched police canvas the are looking for the suspect said the situation was extremely tense.

"Me and my daughter came out onto the porch and they were like, 'no, get back in the house, stay in the house, stay away from the windows,' and that was it," recalled Somerville resident Sandy Williams. "It was crazy. We couldn't do much, but look out the window and try to hear what was going on."

Carpenter James Colella was working on a nearby house when he said police went up to him with guns drawn.

"Two Somerville police officers came with their guns drawn and on me and thought I was the suspect cause I was making noise," said Colella. "Obviously I'm banging a hammer. I'm a carpenter."

Colella said he didn't see the suspect because he had his head down working.

"I come to find out an hour and a half later that they found clothing next door and I heard rustling around over there," he said.

Aerial video from the scene showed about half a dozen police vehicles in the area. One resident said on Twitter that they saw 10 or more police cruisers speeding by.

https://twitter.com/Codair1531/status/1123589315454537729

The MBTA said Davis Station was temporarily closed due to the police investigation. Passengers are encouraged to use the route 77 bus service to Porter in the meantime.

Davis Station closed due to police investigation. Passengers may board at Porter.  MBTA (@MBTA) May 1, 2019

Anyone with information is urged to call Somerville Police at 617-625-1600, ext. 7220 during business hours or ext. 7254 24/7.
The rodeo was in town this week, but not an ordinary one - instead of bulls, there were mechanical beasts.

The eighth annual Construction Pro Rodeo, coordinated by Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut, was held Tuesday and Wednesday in Wallingford. The two-day career expo brought together more than 1,000 Connecticut students to sample various trades.

The event showcased the construction industry, allowing high school juniors and seniors a truly hands-on experience.

Theyre allowed to get their hands dirty trying their hands at different trades and learn a little bit about construction, said event organizer Chris Fryxell, the president of the Associated Builders & Contractors Connecticut Chapter.

Forty-six schools participated, experiencing a wide variety of demonstrations and activities. Trades ranged from electrical to plumbing and included excavating and what is becoming an area of need, welding.

(Welding) is a skill set that is lacking right now, explained David Schill, vice president of Mohawk Construction.

Schill says there are many Connecticut companies offering opportunity to welders.

You have Electric Boat. You have the bridge industry, structural steel industry, fabricating industry, he said, A lot of different industries that really need this skill set and a lot of kids arent going into this.

For teachers involved with their students, this event offered experience not easily available in a school setting.

Something like this is invaluable to my students because they get out here, they actually use the equipment, said George Phelan, a tech education teacher at Wolcott High School. They see theyre producing something. It gains their interest and thats what were here for.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, the average age of construction workers is 42 years old. As workers age out, theres a growing void, and events such as this could help fill.

We have a massive shortage of skilled craftsman in this country right now, explained Fryxell. The average age of the construction worker is increasing and were not getting enough young people to fill in those holes that are being left.

The average age of students attending was approximately 17 to 18 years old.

For the students involved it was a valuable educational experience which was also fun, especially for those who learned to operate heavy equipment.

To be honest it felt like I was playing one of those big video games or something like that or one of those big claw games as well, said Wolcott High student Anthony Lawrence.

All students involved received hard hats and safety goggles, provided by numerous Connecticut construction companies sponsoring the event.

These companies also loaned many excavators and other heavy equipment, giving up the use of some valuable resources. All with the sole purpose of giving Connecticut high school students a viable alternative to consider upon graduation.
On Wednesday UH-60 Blackhawks flew above the West Branch River Reservoir in West Hartland as the Connecticut National Guard practiced aerial water bucket training. The training is bamidone to prepare aviation crews to assist local fire departments in controlling forest fires.

We do this to stay current on our ability to fight any sort of fires for the state, said Major Sean Cattanach of the Connecticut National Guard. We get in a couple pilots, some iterations here practicing so were always ready.

Pilots and the crew train to work together seamlessly. Pilots cannot see where the water bucket is located while they fly so they call on their crew in the back of the aircraft for assistance.

According to the U.S. Army National Guard, the weight of the bucket can often change the flying characteristics of the aircraft. The heavy bucket also oscillates as the helicopter flies, forcing the pilot to compensate.

We rely heavily on the crew members in the back they are kind of our eyes, said Cattanach. They will call out and tell us how to maneuver over the water since we cant see it in front. We take a lot of direction from them on whether to climb or descend or to fill the bucket.

The bucket used by the Connecticut National guard in training contains about 300-gallons of water. Buckets used during missions can hold over 2,000 gallons.

Were the ones in the back actually releasing the water, we have the button that releases the water so the pilots are going to kind of aim where they want it and were responsible for making the call of when to release the water, said Sgt. Michael Justo, Connecticut Army National Guard.

In 2015, the Connecticut National Guard was called upon to help fight forest fires in the mountains in Southern Kosovo.

Often times we get called upon by other states, out in the west primarily to go assist them, Cattanach explained. The aircrafts are almost identical and the equipment is almost identical so it really just enables us to go help out anywhere.

The National Guard conducts this type of training once a year. Though have not been called out of the state or country to assist in four years, sessions like this mean they would be able to in a moments notice.
Two people were arrested after state police pulled over a U-Haul truck and found hundreds of pounds of marijuana, according to state police. When they searched a storage unit the suspects were believed to be heading toward, they found even more drugs.

Troopers from Troop H-Hartford stopped the U-Haul around 4:40 p.m. Monday and had probable cause to believe there might be contraband in it, according to state police.

Members of the Connecticut State Police Statewide Narcotics Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the search and found around 200 pounds of packaged marijuana, vape cartridges and $7,500 in cash, according to police.

The driver, 30-year-old Joseph Courtney, Manchester, and the passenger, 62-year-old Maurice Sherman, were taken into custody and held on $100,000 bonds.

Investigators also obtained additional information that the two men might have been traveling to a self-storage unit in Enfield, so police obtained a search warrant for a storage unit at Public Storage at 115 Elm St. and seized $190 in cash, three pounds of Psilocybin mushrooms, 5 pounds of marijuana, THC vape cartridges, THC wax and packaging material.
The Connecticut Bankers Reward Association is offering a reward for information on a robbery in New Haven Wednesday.

New Haven Police said on Wednesday around 12:34 p.m., a male suspect robbed the Bank of America at 250 Sargent Drive. According to police, the robbery handed the teller a note, acted as thought he had a weapon, and left with an undisclosed amount of money.

The suspect drove off in a minivan that was late found on Rosette Street.

The suspect is described as a man in his 40s, 5-foot-8 with a stocky build and dark hair. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and grey sweater.

The Connecticut Bankers Reward Association is offering a $500 reward for information that leads to an arrest.

Anyone who recognizes the suspect pictured above or with information on this case should contact the New Haven Police Department Detective Bureau at 203-946-6304.
Immunization rates for the measles in Connecticut are some of the highest in the country, but the number of people requesting exemptions for their children have gone up, and in an effort to give parents the information they need to keep their children healthy, the state has plans to make information on immunization rates at schools available to the public.

The states immunization rate for the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination of kindergarteners is 96.5 percent, according to Public Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell.

However, Coleman-Mitchell acknowledges that the number of exemptions to getting the vaccine has gone up. In a letter sent to superintendents across the state on Tuesday, Coleman-Mitchell announced that the state will begin making information on immunization rates at the school-level public.

The state says its been collecting this data from school districts for decades, but has only made county and state rates public. By the end of this week, youll be able to look up your childs school to see the percentage of students who are unvaccinated. This information is especially important for parents with children who suffer from immune disorders that prevent them from being vaccinated.

I feel like people are entitled to the confidentiality but I also feel like people should also know the amount of kids that arent vaccinated. I think it helps parents make a better choice, said Alison LeClair, the parent of a 2- and 4-year-old in Southington.

I think its a great idea. One to be knowledgeable of what is in our school and if your children are at risk then that should be public knowledge, added Jill Petruzzi, a Southington parent whose two children attend parochial school.

The database will include information from all public and private schools with over 30 students. Information will not be limited to the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, but will include all childhood vaccines required to enter school.

Its become increasingly clear that there is a demand for this information, public health departments all around us have made this information available to their residents so parents can make informed decisions about schools in their communities, explained State Epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Carter.

Carter said the state has been trying since 2014 to make this data public, after a measles outbreak in California. In fact, the department tried to move legislation through the state to make it a requirement. The bill failed in 2017. Now, Coleman-Mitchell is using her power to make school immunization rates public and says she has the support of Connecticuts education commissioner.

The Department of Public Healths goal in releasing school-level information is to increase public awareness of immunization rates in local communities, which may lead to increased engagement and focus on increasing immunization rates to reduce the risk of vaccine-preventable disease, Coleman-Mitchell said in the letter.

Southingtons Derynoski Elementary School had a scare last year when an adult who worked in the building contracted measles. It was an eye-opening experience for school leaders.

Superintendent Timothy Connellan said any child or adult who hadnt been vaccinated was ordered to stay out of school for three weeks. While the district has a 98 percent vaccination rate, the real issue was the faculty, many of whom had no way of proving they had been vaccinated as children. Dozens of teachers and staff stayed home until the incubation period was over.

Honestly, we were on the verge of having to close the school, said Connellan.

Districtwide there are 130 students who are exempt from being vaccinated either for religious or medical reasons. However, he said theres no way of knowing how many faculty arent vaccinated.

Im convinced that we do need to have some state-level action, he said. I personally think that the adults who work with children in our public schools should be required to show documentation, he said.

Connellan said their health director is lobbying lawmakers to make that change and hopes it sparks a conversation in other school districts.

Measles is just not something that we have had to talk about, said Connellan pointed out.

The disease was considered eradicated in the year 2000, but has made a comeback. Officials point to vaccination exemptions and unfounded fears over autism as the cause.

While the health department hopes the information will encourage more vaccinations, parents we spoke to think it will add fuel to debate.

There will be people that Im pretty sure will be upset, said Petruzzi.

Yes, we need to protect our children from any current outbreaks but I feel like parents are also really considering what theyre putting into their kids bodies right now, added LeClair.

Connellan hopes making that information public will inject a new level awareness into the debate over vaccinations.

If theres a medical reason certainly you understand that. I understand theres a religious exemption and who are we to argue that point? I just want to be in a situation where our students are as safe as they can possibly be, he said.
A North Texas man has been convicted in the 2016 fatal shooting of a Dallas-area woman selling some of her jewelry to raise money to buy Christmas presents for her family.

Mario Hernan Lopez Gamez was convicted Monday of capital murder and received an automatic life prison term. Prosecutors in Fort Worth didn't seek the death penalty in the slaying of April Vancleave of Arlington.

Arlington police said Vancleave in December 2016 used a cellphone app to arrange a meeting with potential buyers at a store. They never showed up. She went home.

Police believe Vancleave was followed, attacked and robbed in the parking lot of her apartment complex.

Lopez was arrested in February 2017. A second suspect was arrested in mid-2017 and awaits trial on a capital murder charge.
NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, a division of NBCUniversal, announced Monday that it has recovered more than $30 million for consumers.

Launched in 2014 to help fill a void in the marketplace, the "NBC Responds / Telemundo Responde" consumer investigative units are charged with speaking up for those who may have been wronged. The NBC and Telemundo owned stations' consumer units are often the first resource that consumers turn to for help. Working with the units' Consumer Investigative Center team of producers -- who are tasked with answering every email and call that stem from NBC/Telemundo owned station markets -- the "NBC Responds / Telemundo Responde" units have answered more than 350,000 consumer tips across 18 markets.

"The NBC Responds / Telemundo Responde' units deploy a remarkable level of resources to assist consumers who feel they have been wronged in the marketplace, and have nowhere else to turn. The NBC and Telemundo stations' consumer teams answer every call and email they receive and see every consumer complaint and concern through to the end. Not only do the NBC Responds/Telemundo Responde' teams provide direct help, they deliver vital information to local and social/digital audiences through their units' associated consumer news reports about the issues it uncovers," added Ken McEldowney, Executive Director, Consumer Action.

Recent "NBC Responds / Telemundo Responde" stories include:

 In New Jersey, a consumer called NBC 4 New York's "Better Get Baquero" consumer unit after making numerous calls and visits to her local Social Security Administration office to find out the status of the refund she was owed from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). NBC 4 New York's consumer team reached out to CMS on behalf of the consumer, and as a result, CMS reviewed the consumer's records, processed the refund and the consumer received the money she was owed.

 In North Texas, a multi-year investigation by NBC 5 and Telemundo 39's consumer units into a contractor accused of scamming more than 100 homeowners out of thousands of dollars to fix their roofs and homes resulted in the contractor being sentenced to eight years in prison. The local authorities credited NBC 5 and Telemundo 39's investigation for encouraging families that had been victimized to come forward with their stories, thereby assisting authorities in establishing the pattern of criminal activity.

 In Southern California, a family who lost their home to the Woolsey Fire turned to NBC 4's "Randy Responds" consumer team after their cable company refused to stop billing them for services and threatened collections even though their home had been obliterated by the fire. After NBC4 reached out to the cable provider, the company refunded the family the funds they were owed.

$30 million is a huge milestone for our Responds teams, but we're just getting started.
Fort Worth police say they are looking for the man who attacked a woman on a trail near Marine Creek Reservoir Saturday morning.

The attack happened between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. Saturday on a trail at the 5200 block of Ten Mile Bridge Road, police said.

Police said the attacker approached the woman from behind and knocked her to the ground, striking her multiple times when she screamed.

Someone nearby heard the woman's screams and moved toward her, police said. When the suspect saw the third person, he ran away.

Police said the attacker they are looking for is a black man in his late teens or early 20s, who is about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. He was wearing a blue hooded shirt Saturday morning.

Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call 817-469-8477.
What to Know Along with a friend, they headed north on the trail from Big Cypress near Miami in January and finished April 1 at Fort Pickens.

A Florida man and his blind dog have completed a 1,100 mile hike across the Sunshine State.

Kyle Rohrig is an avid hiker and his Shiba Inu named Katana usually accompanies him. She's easily logged 30 miles a day on their past trails, but when the Japanese hunting dog lost both eyes to Glaucoma two months before the trek, he worried how she would fare on the trail.

Along with a friend, they headed north on the trail from Big Cypress near Miami in January and finished April 1 at Fort Pickens near Pensacola.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports Rohrig hoisted the 21-pound Katana onto his backpack when they approached deep swampy areas and treacherous spots. He estimates he carried her for more than 800 miles.
President Donald Trump has taken issue with a firefighter union's endorsement of former Vice President Joe Biden and on Wednesday quickly retweeted 59 replies to a conservative media personality who claimed the firefighters he knew didn't support Biden, NBC News reported.

"I've done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO!" Trump wrote before beginning the 20-minute retweeting binge.

One apparent supporter who was retweeted then changed their username to "F--- Donald Trump." Their tweet was not immediately deleted from Trump's feed.

Trump has tweeted about Biden multiple times since the former vice president launched his campaign for president with an attack about Trump's response to the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in 2017.
An engineer/paramedic employed with the City of San Diego Fire-Rescue Department was arrested Monday on allegations of a sex crime involving a minor, NBC 7 has learned.

Justin Curtis Price, 35, was booked into San Diego County Jail just after 4 p.m. Monday on three felony charges of oral copulation with a person under 18, sex with a minor and sex with a foreign object. The final charge involves a victim who is at the time incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, according to the criminal code on the booking information.

Price has worked for SDFD for 10 years, according to City of San Diego Media Services Manager Monica Munoz. She added that he was most recently assigned to emergency operations.

Price, who graduated from the academy in 2008, was hired by the department on February 21, 2009 according to records obtained by NBC 7 Investigates.

Munoz initially said Price was on administrative assignment with pay. Several hours later, NBC 7 learned he was on unpaid leave.

"As Fire Chief of the City of San Diego, I strongly condemn the alleged behavior and will not tolerate any actions that compromise the high standards required of all Fire Department employees," San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Colin Stowell said in a written statement. "These men and women will continue to uphold the paramount principles of safety and security for all San Diegans, and will do so with the integrity expected of all City of San Diego employees."

San Diego County District Attorney's Office spokesperson Barbara Medina said the case was under review.

Price was released on $100,000 bond, Medina said, and was given a return date of May 6.

Two sources have confirmed, the accused San Diego firefighter is the nephew of Mark Raymond Price, 56, a former Coronado firefighter sentenced to 10 years in prison last month for molesting a girl who thought of him as a grandfather.

The sentencing hearing was held in Kauai County, Hawaii. Mark Raymond Price faces similar charges in San Diego on accusations of prior assaults in 2013 and 2015 with the same victim at his home in La Mesa.

Check back with updates on this developing story.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed on Monday to spend $15 million for increased security at "soft targets" like the synagogue in Poway where a gunman opened fire Saturday, killing one worshiper.

Newsom said he will include the money in his $144 billion general fund budget proposal, which he intends to revise by the middle of May.

The California Legislative Jewish Caucus had requested it, calling for a 30-fold increase in a state program that last year spent $500,000 on grants to nonprofits organizations vulnerable to hate crimes.

"It was self-evident, the need to do more," Newsom told reporters. "That money pales in comparison to the need for mosques, for synagogues, for other institutions."

NBC 7s Joe Little spoke to local religious leaders about how they protect their congregation and how the governors fund could help their communities.

We would totally welcome an armed guard, and I think that most churches would, Pastor Troy Singleterry of City View Church said.

Singleterry said, in order to protect his hundreds of parishioners, he welcomes state funds to hire protection through Newsoms pledged funds.

The Islamic Center of San Diego already has an armed guard.

We are doing our best to protect ourselves and our community, said Imam Abdel Jalil Mezgouri of the Islamic Center of San Diego.

The suspect in the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting was also charged with setting fire to a mosque in Escondido.

It is alarming because I dont want to use the word scary, because this is the goal of these people: To spread fear, Mezgouri said. Unfortunately what is happening is very sad. It's very devastating.

Singleterry agreed with this idea.

When people walk into a church or to wherever they go, theyre not focused on fear but on faith, he told NBC 7. I think just creating that culture that, Hey, theres something thats here to protect you so that you feel like you dont have anything to worry about.

And while Mezgouri said $15 million spread across all the places of worship in California is not much, he said it was at least a beginning.

We are doing our best to protect ourselves and our community, Mezgouri said. We cannot jeopardize the lives of our community and our people.

NBC 7 reached out to the Catholic Diocese of San Diego, which said it recently hosted a security seminar for all of its churches and schools. The diocese also said it is looking to enhance its security following Saturdays attack.

California has spent $4.5 million since 2015 to augment a federal grant program created after the 2001 terrorist attacks, including $2 million in 2017. But lawmakers and previous Gov. Jerry Brown reduced the funding to $500,000 this year.

California's Jewish lawmakers want the state to spend much more on security guards, reinforced doors and gates, high-intensity lighting and alarms, and other security for vulnerable institutions. Those include Muslim, Sikh and other minority institutions, women's health groups and LGBTQ organizations.

"The unfortunate reality is that even in houses of worship, thoughts and prayers won't keep us safe," said Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Encino and vice chairman of the caucus. "We need more than thoughts and prayers. We need real security and we need the state to step up and play a role in that."

Gabriel's legislation would help pay for increasing physical security at nonprofit organizations at higher risk because of their ideology, beliefs or mission.

The issue took on new urgency after the weekend shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue and as the Legislature coincidently was commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day with tributes and an interactive exhibit remembering the World War II genocide.

"I think it is the most basic and fundamental obligation of government, to protect its citizens," Gabriel said. "And after what we saw in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life and after what we saw in New Zealand, we looked at that $500,000 and said, 'This is insufficient.'"

New York has a similar $25 million program, according to legislative analysts.

In the past four years $16 million was awarded to 210 nonprofits from the combined state and federal programs, well short of the $59 million that was requested, the Jewish Caucus said in a letter last month seeking the increase.

Hate crimes in California involving a religion increased 21 percent in 2017, the most recent year available, according to the state attorney general, from 171 in 2016 to 207 in 2017.

Anti-Jewish events increased nearly 27 percent, from 82 in 2016 to 104 in 2017, while those targeting Muslims rose from 37 in 2016 to 46 in 2017.
An allegedly knife-wielding man who attacked a woman at a Perris residence was fatally shot by sheriff's deputies, authorities said Wednesday.

The deputy-involved shooting happened about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at a house in the 1800 block of El Nido Avenue, near Sunset Avenue, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Lt. Chris Willison said patrol deputies were called to the location to investigate reports of an assault, which might have stemmed from a domestic confrontation, though that was unconfirmed.

Willison alleged that when deputies contacted the suspect, whose identity was not released, the man was armed with a knife and refused orders to drop it, culminating in one of the patrolmen opening fire on the man. The suspect was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where he died a short time later.

No deputies were injured.

Willison said the female victim, also not identified, was hospitalized with serious injuries, adding that she remains in critical condition. The deputy who fired the fatal shot has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, a routine practice under the sheriff's protocol.
California regulators announced an $8 million fine Tuesday against Southern California Gas Co., citing billing irregularities over a three-year period, and said thousands of customers will receive $100 credits on their bills as a result.

According to the California Public Utilities Commission, the fine is the result of an investigation into hundreds of billing-related complaints.

The investigation found that the utility failed to issue more than 13 million bills to customers between 2014-16 and extended billing periods for 140,000 customers in November and December 2015, resulting in higher bills, according to the commission. The company also failed to issue timely bills to about 47,000 customers in the winter of 2015-16 "because of delays in its bill-validation process," according to the CPUC.

Of the roughly $8 million fine, $4.7 million will fund one-time $100 bill credits for the 47,000 customers affected by the delayed bills in 2015-16, regulators said.

SoCalGas issued a statement saying it is reviewing the CPUC's ruling and deciding whether to file an appeal.

"The completion of our advanced meter project has all but eliminated estimated bills," according to SoCalGas.

In addition, SoCalGas customers now have access to real-time data about their natural gas use and bills.

"We maintain that our billing practices during the period in question were consistent with our CPUC approved tariffs," according to the company.
A man who says he was molested by his parish priest decades ago vows to proceed with a lawsuit targeting all Catholic bishops in California after a judge dismissed part of the suit.

The so-called "nuisance" lawsuit filed in October by Thomas Emens claims a civil conspiracy among church officials to cover up clergy assault and move offending priests to other parishes.

Last week a judge dismissed 5 of the lawsuit's causes of action, while upholding 3 others.

Emens' attorney, Jeff Anderson, said at a news conference Monday that the judge's decision will still allow him to examine church documents. Anderson says the lawsuit's goal is to force the church to reveal the names of all priests accused of molestation.

Steve Greene, a lawyer for the California Catholic Conference, says the fate of the 3 remaining causes of action remains uncertain and will be determined at a future hearing.
Two U.S. soldiers in a remote area of Texas were confronted by Mexican soldiers who thought the Americans had crossed into Mexico, U.S. officials said Tuesday. The Mexican troops reportedly removed a weapon from the American soldier who was armed.

U.S. Northern Command, which manages military support for Customs and Border Protection, said the Americans were in a CBP vehicle in a remote area in the vicinity of Clint, Texas.

The incident happened on April 13 and was first reported by Newsweek, which said one of the Mexican military members removed a service pistol from the hip of one of the Americans and threw it inside the U.S. government vehicle.

A Northern Command statement to The Associated Press on Tuesday said an inquiry by the Defense Department and CBP revealed that the Mexican military members believed they were on Mexican territory at the time they confronted the Americans. The incident happened on a slice of U.S. territory south of the border wall but north of the actual border.

"After a brief discussion between the soldiers from the two nations, the Mexican military members departed the area," Northern Command said. "The U.S. soldiers immediately contacted CBP, who responded quickly. Throughout the incident, the U.S. soldiers followed all established procedures and protocols." It said an inquiry is ongoing.

The U.S. troops are at the border as part of a Trump administration effort to reduce illegal crossings.
Philippine customs officials were astonished when they opened nicely gift-wrapped boxes of cookies and oatmeal flown in all the way from Poland and found a hair-raising contraband: hundreds of live tarantulas.

Bureau of Customs personnel seized the 757 tarantulas at a mail exchange center near Manila's international airport Monday and later arrested a Filipino man who tried to claim the long-legged and venomous spiders, which were declared as "collection items."

Many of the baby tarantulas were concealed in small plastic vials punctured with holes for air while bigger spiders were shipped in see-through plastic containers. Officials estimated the value of the unusual shipment at 310,000 pesos ($5,900).

Philippine wildlife laws prohibit the trading, collection and possession of such spiders, which are popular pets among arachnid enthusiasts, without permits.

Despite threats of hefty fines and imprisonment, a startling array of wildlife have been seized by the hundreds by airport customs inspectors in Manila since last year, including geckos, iguanas, chameleons and a popular reptile called bearded dragons.
The Trump administration took a first step Thursday toward extending protections for giraffes under the Endangered Species Act, following legal pressure from environmental groups.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that its initial review has determined there is "substantial information that listing may be warranted" for giraffes. The finding, to be published in the Federal Register, will begin a more in-depth review and public comment process that could lead to import restrictions on hunting trophies and body parts from giraffes, including hides and bones.

Biologists have warned for years that the world's tallest land mammal is at growing risk of extinction from habitat loss, civil unrest, poaching and other threats. The giraffe population in Africa has declined by about 40 percent in the past three decades, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The group, which designates endangered species , added giraffes to its "Red List" in 2016 . It determined that the species as a whole is "vulnerable" to extinction and classified two subspecies as "critically endangered." There are now only about 68,000 mature giraffes left in the wild, a number falling each year.

A coalition of environmental and conservation groups petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service in early 2017 to protect giraffes under the Endangered Species Act. After the administration took no action for nearly two years, the groups sued in December.

"The United States cannot stand idly by and allow thousands of U.S. imports of giraffe parts every year without any regulation while these animals are on a path to extinction," said Anna Frostic, managing wildlife attorney for the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International. "It is time that the United States stands tall for giraffes and gives this at-risk species the protection that it urgently needs."

A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Giraffes are often hunted for meat in the nearly two dozen African countries where they are still found. They increasingly are targeted by wealthy trophy hunters as other big-game animals have become scarcer. More than 21,400 bone carvings, 3,000 skin pieces and 3,700 hunting trophies were imported into the United States over the past decade.

President Donald Trump has decried big-game hunting as a "horror show," but his administration reversed Obama-era restrictions on the importation of elephant and lion trophies for personal use or display. The Associated Press reported last year that a 16-member wildlife protection board created by then-Secretary Ryan Zinke was stuffed with big game hunters, including the president of the Safari Club International.

Environmental groups lauded Thursday's announcement on giraffes as a positive development, but pledged to keep up the pressure on the administration to act.

"Giraffes capture our imaginations from childhood on, but many people don't realize how few are left in the wild," said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Instead of throwing these unique animals a lifeline under the Endangered Species Act, Trump officials are twiddling their thumbs. Trump will be to blame if future generations know giraffes only as toys and not the long-necked icons of Africa."
What to Know The agreement also calls for a nearly 2% increase in discretionary money that Florida's 67 school districts can use for various purposes.

Florida legislative negotiators struck a deal Tuesday night on a multibillion-dollar state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, including a significant increase in spending on public schools.

The House and Senate cannot cast final votes on the spending plan at the earliest until late Friday, the scheduled final day of the 60-day legislative session. State law requires a 72-hour "cooling off" period before a final vote so the document can be reviewed.

The exact total was not immediately available, but proposals from the Republican-led Legislature and GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis are all in the $90 billion range.

Public schools, which make up a large chunk of the spending, would see an overall increase of more than $782 million or about 3.7% in the main account compared with last year, according to budget documents. That translates to a little over $242 additionally per student for the coming school year.

The agreement also calls for a nearly 2% increase in discretionary money that Florida's 67 school districts can use for a variety of purposes, including raises for teachers and school staff.

"In a nutshell, we've been very good to schools this session," said Republican Rep. Travis Cummings of Fleming Island, chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

Democrats have criticized Republican measures to create more voucher programs for students to attend private and religious schools at taxpayer expense, including a bill sent to DeSantis earlier Tuesday. But Republicans have countered that their budget shows they are not abandoning public schools.

"This was a very big year for traditional public schools," said GOP Sen. Rob Bradley, the Senate Appropriations Committee chair who is also from Fleming Island.

The budget includes about $682 million for environmental needs such as Everglades restoration and protection of Florida's many freshwater springs. It would spend more than $280 million on education construction and maintenance work and tens of millions of dollars on a variety of programs to help the Florida Panhandle recover from Hurricane Michael, which struck the area in October as a powerful Category 5 storm.

The budget in many areas follows recommendations by DeSantis with some exceptions. DeSantis has line-item veto authority once legislators pass the budget, meaning he can eliminate specific areas even if legislators approved them.

The spending plan also contains dozens of last-minute projects sprinkled across the state ranging from $100,000 for rehabilitation of former President Harry S. Truman's Little White House in Key West to $200,000 for Elevate Lake, an economic development office in Lake County.

"We got a lot of work done in a timely manner," Bradley said.
What to Know Williams grabbed a firearm from her blue Camaro, placed it on the trunk and pointed it at one man saying "you'll get all 18" before leaving.

WNBA free agent guard and former Miami Hurricanes star Riquna Williams has been arrested after authorities say she attacked her ex-girlfriend at a Florida home.

According to an arrest report, Williams forced her way inside and repeatedly struck Alkeria Davis in the head and pulled her hair. Two men told Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies they spent 10 minutes trying to break up the fight in December.

When they finally separated the women, authorities say 28-year-old Williams grabbed a firearm from her blue Camaro, placed it on the trunk and pointed it at one man, saying "you'll get all 18" before speeding off.

Davis said she and Williams had been together on and off for five years and had broken up a month earlier. She told authorities she thought Williams was jealous they were no longer together. She said Williams had never been violent in the past.

Davis was treated by paramedics for a small lump on her head.

Authorities said before entering the home, that Williams hit Davis' car with a skateboard.

Williams was booked Monday for burglary and aggravated assault charges. A judge ordered that she remain jailed in lieu of a $20,000 bond.

After spending four seasons playing in Coral Gables for the 'Canes, was drafted in the second round of the 2012 WNBA Draft by the Tulsa Shock before being traded to the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016.

A spokeswoman for the WNBA says the league is aware of the situation and gathering more information.
A Michigan college student says pro-Trump agitators recruited him to falsely claim he was raped by Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, then published the smear without his permission.

Hunter Kelly, a 21-year-old gay Trump supporter, said conservative activists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman sought to use him for the "despicable scheme" they concocted to blunt Buttigieg's momentum and help the president's reelection bid. The incident may offer a glimpse into disinformation tactics, powered by fake social media accounts and partisan news sites, that could become a staple of the 2020 campaign.

Wohl denied Kelly's accusation, saying the student had reached out to him. Burkman said on Twitter he believes Kelly's initial account of the assault was "accurate and true."

Invoking the powerful #MeToo movement against a pioneering gay candidate, the allegation appeared Sunday in a post on the publishing platform Medium under Kelly's name. The post accused the 37-year-old South Bend, Indiana, mayor of sexually assaulting him in February without providing any details, saying Kelly would share his story to the nation in the coming weeks. It said that Kelly was having suicidal thoughts after making the difficult decision to come forward.

Right-leaning news sites published the claim as reporters from other outlets spent Monday investigating. But the allegation fell apart Monday night, when Kelly issued a statement saying that he was never assaulted and had been set up. He said Tuesday he wanted to help President Donald Trump but ended up "roped into a Jussie Smollett-esque situation" by Wohl and Burkman, who have spread conspiracies and unverified or false allegations against other public figures.

Notably, the two staged a news conference last year in which they claimed a woman would accuse special counsel Robert Mueller of sexual harassment. The woman never showed up and has said she was tricked by Wohl into participating in the plot, which has drawn scrutiny from the FBI. Wohl's website touts his expertise in "media manipulation" and notes he has been banned from Twitter for spreading false information.

The Daily Beast reported Monday that Wohl and Burkman recruited at least one other male Trump supporter for the anti-Buttigieg hoax.

In his statement, Kelly said that he began communicating with Wohl, 21, on Instagram a month ago about how he could help Trump get reelected. He said that Wohl asked him to take part in a "task force" set up by the Trump administration to derail Buttigieg, whose standing in the race has dramatically risen in recent weeks. Kelly said that Wohl and Burkman arranged for him to fly from Michigan to Baltimore on Sunday, and then took him to Burkman's apartment in Arlington, Virginia.

Kelly said he was under the impression he would spend a few days helping research Buttigieg's background and trying to find dirt that might trip him up. But after he arrived, Kelly said, Wohl showed him the Medium post under Kelly's name and claimed it was just a draft. Kelly said he was unsure whether he wanted to move forward before he went to bed.

At 4:30 a.m., he said that he sent Wohl a message on the encrypted messaging app Signal saying that he was incredibly uncomfortable and not on board with the plan. But by the time he got out of bed at 11 a.m., Kelly said, the post had been published and was spreading across the internet with the help of fake Twitter and Gmail accounts that Wohl had created under Kelly's name. Kelly said he later learned the post had been published Sunday without his permission.

Kelly said that he felt sick and didn't want to be involved, but that Wohl and Burkman told him it was too late to turn back. Instead, he said they pressured him to sign a statement detailing false allegations that Buttigieg raped him at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, which he was to deliver at a news conference.

Kelly said that he signed the statement after resisting for 45 minutes and being told that leaving Burkman's residence "was not an option." He said that he ultimately left the apartment Monday with the help of relatives who live in the area and picked him up. By then, Kelly said, he was getting messages from relatives and friends who had been inundated with inquiries from the news media about the allegation.

Kelly, a student at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, apologized Tuesday and indicated he was considering legal action against Wohl and Burkman.

"I will not stand around idly and get dragged through the mud for two people to continue committing heinous acts in the name of 'protecting our country,'" Kelly said. "They are the real danger to our country."

Wohl denied any wrongdoing Tuesday. He said that Kelly reached out to him and Burkman after they sought information about Buttigieg on social media and that Kelly was "very passionate about his claims." He said that Kelly wrote the Medium piece himself and was pressured into recanting after his family was inundated with questions from the media.

"It's not surprising. We understand this is very tough for a young person and we wish him the best," Wohl said in an interview.

Trump 2020 campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine said the organization had nothing to do with the incident, "and we condemn fake allegations, whether they are against candidates for president or nominees for the Supreme Court."

It's unclear whether any law enforcement agency will investigate whether the scheme was criminal. Spokespeople for the Michigan attorney general's office and Arlington police department said no complaint had been filed as of Tuesday.

Medium removed the post Monday night. After an appearance in New York hours earlier on Monday, Buttigieg shrugged off the situation.

"I'm sure it's not the first time somebody is going to make something up about me. It's not going to throw us," he said. "Politics can be ugly sometimes, but you have to face that when you're in presidential politics."

Associated Press writer Sara Burnett contributed to this report.
What to Know A Queens couple on vacation last week checked their Nest cameras and saw a disturbing sight: a pants-less man with a sheet on his head

He used the sheet to disable the living room camera, the couple's review of the feed history showed

Authorities say nothing was taken and no property damage was reported; the investigation is ongoing

Police are investigating a bizarre home invasion in Queens -- one in which a family on vacation checked their live security feed and saw a pants-less man with a sheet over his head, authorities say.



The Bayside couple was in Florida and figured they'd check their Nest cameras April 23. They were not expecting to find what they did. First, their living room camera appeared obstructed. Finding that strange, they started to review the history.



And there, before their eyes, was a masked man with no pants who pulled a sheet from his head and used it to cover the camera, authorities say.



It's not clear what happened after that. Authorities say nothing was taken from the home and no property damage was reported.



The investigation is ongoing.
What to Know Jeremiah Triplett was arrested and charged with corruption, endangerment and sexual contact with a minor.

Triplett was a teacher at Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor.

He's accused of having sex with a student and providing her and another student marijuana edibles.

A Main Line music teacher is accused of having sex with a student and providing her and another student with marijuana edibles.

Jeremiah Triplett, 30, of Dresher, Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged with institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and furnishing alcohol to a minor. He had no comment as he was walked past reporters in handcuffs ahead of a preliminary arraignment Wednesday morning.

On March 26, Radnor Police received a report from Children and Youth Services in regards to possible child abuse at Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor Township. Investigators determined Triplett, a teacher at the school, was having a sexual relationship with a student and giving her drug-infused food. They received another report claiming that Triplett made out with a second female student.

Police interviewed the girls who claimed they often had lunch with Triplett in his classroom even though this was frowned upon at the school, investigators said. Triplett also used vaping products with the girls and they would sometimes shotgun or blow the smoke into each others mouths before kissing each other, according to the criminal complaint.

The girls also told investigators Triplett gave them liquor, gummy candy laced with CBD oil, brownies as well as other treats laced with marijuana on multiple occasions, police said.

Triplett is also accused of having sex with one of the girls in his office on at least one occasion.

Archbishop Carroll placed Triplett on leave last month. Triplett was also the musical director at the local church St. Katharine of Siena but was placed on leave before Easter.

Marita Finley, a parent of students at Archbishop Carroll, told NBC10 she and her family spoke to Triplett on several occasions.

"It's heartbreaking for everybody involved," she said.

"All my kids have had contact. We've all had contact from the school and the parish and I never had any indication or any feeling whatsoever that anything wasn't right."

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia also released a statement on Triplett.

"Prior to beginning employment at Archbishop Carroll, Mr. Triplett obtained clear criminal record checks as well as child abuse clearances," the spokesperson wrote. "In addition, he completed mandatory safe environment training programs."

Triplett was arraigned and posted bail Wednesday, court records said.

Investigators are asking any other possible victims to call Radnor Police at 610-688-0503.
What to Know A man was found shot to death inside a gazebo at a New Jersey park, law enforcement sources say

The man was found inside a gazebo at Branch Brook Park in Newark on Tuesday

The Essex County Sheriffs Office is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest

A man was found shot to death inside a gazebo at a New Jersey park, law enforcement sources say.

The man, who appears to be in his 50s or 60s, was found inside a gazebo at Branch Brook Park in Newark on Tuesday, according to the sources.

The sources said the man had been shot. His death is being investigated as a homicide.

Park worker Alexis Trujillo told News 4 she heard gunshots early Tuesday morning but "thought nothing of it," thinking it was a fake gun used to scare away geese inside the park.

But when she saw investigators at the scene around lunchtime, Trujillo realized it might be more than just birds.

"Can't help but to question whether or not maybe he could have been saved if we didn't realize it was not the geese," she said.

No one had been arrested in connection with the mans death as of Tuesday afternoon, and an investigation is ongoing.

Trujillo said a shooting at the park  popular with tourists for its famed cherry blossoms  is "extremely unusual."

The Essex County Sheriffs Office is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
President Donald Trump, his family and the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an attempt to block congressional subpoenas seeking their banking and financial records.

The lawsuit by Trump, sons Donald Jr. and Eric and daughter Ivanka was filed Monday in federal court in New York. The Trump Organization and the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust are among the other plaintiffs.

Two House committees subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and several other financial institutions earlier this month as part of investigations into the Republican president's finances.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said at the time that the subpoenas were part of an investigation "into allegations of potential foreign influence on the U.S. political process." He 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.

The Trumps want a federal judge to declare the subpoenas unlawful and unenforceable. The lawsuit also seeks to block the financial institutions from disclosing information and complying with the subpoenas.

"The subpoenas were issued to harass President Donald J. Trump, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family, and to ferret about for any material that might be used to cause him political damage," the lawsuit said.

Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee, and fellow Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, who heads the House Financial Services Committee, issued a joint statement accusing the president of trying to "put off meaningful accountability as long as possible."

"The meritless lawsuit filed today by President Trump to block duly authorized subpoenas to non-governmental entities is another demonstration of the depths to which President Trump will go to obstruct Congress's constitutional oversight authority," they said late Monday.

Eric Trump, executive vice president of The Trump Organization, called Democrats "deranged" and the subpoenas a form of "presidential harassment."

"This is all these people do," he said Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends." ''They don't want to do their jobs. They want to harass Trump."

The lawsuit also charges that the committees "ignored the constitutional limits on Congress' power to investigate" and that the subpoenas "lack any legitimate legislative purpose."

When the subpoenas were issued April 15, Eric Trump called them "an unprecedented abuse of power and simply the latest attempt by House Democrats to attack the President and our family for political gain."

Schiff and Waters said Trump's "unprecedented stonewalling will not work, and the American people deserve better."

Deutsche Bank, a German asset management firm, has lent Trump's real estate organization millions of dollars over time.

"We remain committed to providing appropriate information to all authorized investigations and will abide by a court order regarding such investigations," Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Kerrie McHugh said in a statement Tuesday.

Capital One did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
What to Know An arrest has been made in a hit-and-run that killed a Philadelphia couple earlier this month.

Shekhroz Mamaatkulov, 25, of Warrington, Pennsylvania, was arrested Monday.

Carmen Ruiz, 48, and her husband, Juan Lopez Rivera, 50, were killed in the crash.

An arrest has been made in a hit-and-run, chain reaction crash that killed a husband and wife.

Shekhroz Mamaatkulov, 25, of Warrington, Pennsylvania, was arrested Monday. He's charged in a crash that killed Carmen Ruiz, 48, and her husband, Juan Lopez Rivera, 50.

Ruiz and Rivera were inside a 2005 Mitsubishi Endeavor traveling on Bustleton Avenue and Red Lion Road on April 20, shortly before midnight.

Police say Mamaatkulov was driving a 2019 Chevy Camaro down Bustleton Avenue at a high speed at the same time and crashed into a 2010 Lexus that was stopped at a red light. Mamaatkulov tried to speed away but then collided with the couples Endeavor, setting off a chain-reaction crash involving three more vehicles, police said.

Mamaatkulov then left his vehicle and was picked up by a white Lexus which fled the scene, according to investigators.

Ruiz and Rivera both died from their injuries. Five people in the other vehicles, including two children, had non-life-threatening injuries.

Police identified Mamaatkulov as the hit-and-run driver and located him at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was taken into custody. He's expected to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, and recklessly endangering another person.

Come and say, at least, Im sorry. I lost my parents, the couples daughter, Cynthia Lopez, said. They were my life.

Rivera worked as a handyman for a family business. Family members showed NBC10 video of Ruiz and Rivera dancing at a relatives birthday party hours before the deadly crash. They said they knew there was a problem when the couple didnt return their text messages.

They was the best, Ruizs sister, Veronica Navarro, told NBC10. They was wonderful people. Innocent.
What to Know A 13-year-old boy was shot twice at a Southwest Philadelphia corner store overnight.

The gunfire appeared to come from outside the store, police said.

Police identified a suspect as 19-year-old Rafiq Small of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.

Police have identified a teen suspect in a shooting that injured a 13-year-old boy inside a Southwest Philadelphia corner store.

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for Rafiq Small, 19, of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. He is wanted for attempted murder and other related offenses in connection to a shooting outside Island Super Market at Island and Woodland avenues in Philadelphia around 12:20 a.m. Wednesday.

A 13-year-old boy was inside the store when two bullets, possibly fired from a crowd gathered in the street outside the store, pierced the glass and struck him in the stomach, Philadelphia police said.

NBC10 obtained surveillance video showing the teen running inside the store during the shooting.

We just heard gunshots, store worker Jeffrey Salcedo said. I just ducked to the ground, I was just trying get him to a safe place, so I could call 911.

Some of the about 20 people inside the store tried to stop the bleeding, witnesses said. The boy was rushed to the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia in critical but stable condition.

The boy lives at a group home. NBC10 tried to speak to a man at the group home to find out why the boy was out late on a school night. The man left without responding.

The group of people quickly dispersed and fled from the scene. Some of the men may have left in a black BMW sedan that police in Philly and neighboring Delaware County were looking out for early Wednesday, according to investigators.

Surveillance video captured the incident in which about eight shots in total were fired. Investigators said they were trying to determine if the boy was targeted or an innocent bystander and if the gunfire came from the crowd or someplace else.

Police later identified Small as a suspect. He stands 5-foot, 4inches tall and weighs around 120 pounds. Police said he should be armed and dangerous. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact Philadelphia Police.
A 35-year-old woman died when she fell into an industrial-size meat grinder at a processing plant in Northern Pennsylvania.

Jill Greninger apparently fell or was pulled into the machine around 11:30 a.m. Monday, Lycoming County Coroner Charles Kiessling said. A coworker at the Economy Locker Storage Company in Muncy - about 170 miles from Philadelphia - heard strange noises coming from the meat grinder and found her mangled body.

It took firefighters and emergency medical personnel more than two hours to take apart the machine and pull out Greninger's body, Kiessling said.

Authorities say the woman may have been standing on a set of wheeled stairs prior to the fatal accident.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is currently investigating the case, an OSHA spokesperson said.

An employee who answered the phone at the Economy Locker Storage Company told NBC News she wasn't authorized to comment on the incident and that her bosses were unavailable.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
The Northern Ireland Police Service said Tuesday they have arrested a woman under the Terrorism Act in connection with the slaying of journalist Lyra McKee.

The arrest of the 57-year-old under the Terrorism Act came as an Irish Republican Army splinter group admitted that one of its "volunteers" killed journalist McKee, who was shot dead while reporting on rioting in Londonderry.

In a statement issued Tuesday to the Irish News, the New IRA offered "full and sincere" apologies to McKee's family and friends.

The group said the 29-year-old journalist was killed during Thursday night's unrest "while standing beside enemy forces"  a reference to the police.

The IRA and most other militant groups have disarmed since Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord. The New IRA has been formed from splinter groups opposed to the peace process.

Authorities believe one person pulled the trigger during the chaotic rioting that began Thursday night but had organizational support.

The use of a firearm apparently aimed at police marks a dangerous escalation in sporadic violence that continues to plague Northern Ireland 21 years after the Good Friday peace agreement was signed. The New IRA group rejects the peace agreement.

The riot followed a pattern familiar to those who lived through the worst years of violence in Northern Ireland. Police arrived in the city's Creggan neighborhood to search for weapons and dissidents. They were barraged with gasoline bombs and other flying objects before someone wearing a black mask appeared, fired some shots and fled.

No police were struck by the bullets, but McKee  who had been trying to film the riot on her phone  was hit. The journalist was rushed to a nearby hospital in a police car but died.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison for jumping British bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Judge Deborah Taylor said Wednesday that Assange merited near the maximum sentence of one year because of the seriousness of his offense.

She rejected his claim for leniency based on the nearly seven years he spent in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

The white-haired Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery chanted "Shame on you" at the judge as Assange was led away.

Assange sought asylum in the South American country's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Earlier, his lawyers argued that he had jumped bail because he was a "desperate man" fearing extradition to the United States. And Assange, who raised a fist defiantly as he arrived in a prison van at court, had apologized unreservedly.

He faces a separate court hearing Thursday on a U.S. extradition request. American authorities have charged Assange with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.
Special counsel Robert Mueller expressed frustration to Attorney General William Barr last month about how the findings of his Russia investigation were being portrayed, saying he worried that a letter summarizing the main conclusions of the probe lacked the necessary context and was creating public confusion about his team's work, a Justice Department official said Tuesday night.

Mueller communicated his agitation in a letter to the Justice Department just days after Barr issued a four-page document that summarized the special counsel's conclusions about whether President Donald Trump's campaign had conspired with Russia and whether the president had tried to illegally obstruct the probe. Mueller and Barr then had a phone call where the same concerns were addressed. The official was not authorized to discuss Mueller's letter by name.

The letter lays bare simmering tensions between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barr's summary adequately conveyed the gravity of Mueller's findings, particularly on the key question of obstruction. The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Barr of unduly protecting the president and of spinning Mueller's conclusions in Trump's favor. And it will almost certainly be a focus of Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which the attorney general will defend his handling of Mueller's report.

"After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Mueller's letter, he called him to discuss it," Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.

"In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel's obstruction analysis," she added.

Barr's letter, released just two days after the Justice Department received the special counsel's report, said Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence on both sides of the question. Justice Department officials were surprised Mueller had not made a determination, prompting Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to step in and decide on their own that the evidence was insufficient to support an obstruction charge.

Though Barr's letter did say that Mueller's team had not exonerated Trump on obstruction nor concluded that he had committed a crime, it did not detail the specific evidence Mueller's team accumulated or describe Mueller's legal analysis as he examined nearly a dozen episodes of potential obstruction, including the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

Barr has sought to downplay any disagreements with the special counsel, and has brushed aside allegations that he mischaracterized Mueller's findings.

Barr said Mueller answered "no" when he asked him whether he would have recommended indicting Trump but for a Justice Department legal opinion that says a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted. Mueller's report, however, makes clear that his thought process was shaped in part by that legal opinion, and that he believed it would be unfair to publicly accuse the president of a crime if he could not be prosecuted and have a trial to defend himself.

The attorney general also did not acknowledge any sort of potential disagreement with Mueller at a recent Justice Department appropriations hearing, telling a Democratic congressman, "I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion."

As Mueller shared his frustrations with Barr on the phone call, the men discussed whether additional context from the report could be released, Kupec said. But Justice Department officials said they decided it made more sense to release the bottom-line findings of Mueller's report rather than include the detailed legal analysis behind them. They also decided against releasing summaries that Mueller's team had prepared. Barr has said such summaries run the risk of being either over-inclusive or under-inclusive.

The letter is likely to be a central focus at Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Barr. According to prepared testimony released Tuesday night, Barr will tell the committee that Mueller's investigation concluded without any interference and that he never overruled the Justice Department on any proposed action.

The appearance is Barr's first on Capitol Hill since he released a redacted version of Mueller's report on April 18 and comes amid deepening Democratic skepticism about his impartiality. Those concerns were fueled in part by Barr's statements at a press conference announcing the release of the Mueller report, where he repeated multiple times that Mueller's investigation had not found any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia  even though the report notes that collusion is not a legal term.

The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the letter. The newspaper said Mueller complained that Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office's work and conclusions."

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," according to Mueller's letter. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

The Justice Department confirmed the authenticity of that language.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has been negotiating with Barr over a Thursday appearance, demanded that the Justice Department produce the letter by Wednesday morning.

"The Attorney General has expressed some reluctance to appear before the House Judiciary Committee this Thursday," Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "These reports make it that much more important for him to appear and answer our questions."

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said: "This is exactly why I said Mr. Barr should never have been confirmed in the first place. At this point he has lost all credibility, and the only way to clear this up is for Mr. Mueller to testify publicly."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., went further in his criticism, saying Barr lied to him in testimony about Mueller's report and should resign. In that hearing, Barr replied to Van Hollen that he didn't know if Mueller agreed with his conclusions about the report, including that there wasn't enough evidence in the report to support a charge of obstruction of justice.

In light of the Mueller letter, Van Hollen said Barr "totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign."
A surprise passenger hitched a ride on a Boston commuter trolley, frightening some people at first, but warming their hearts when it willingly snuggled in a human passenger's arms.

Commuters say a squirrel bounded onto an MBTA Red Line trolley Monday morning at an aboveground stop, prompting some passengers to hop onto their seats.

Passenger Rosanne Foley, the executive director of the Boston Landmarks Commission, posted a Twitter photo of the squirrel resting on another person's arm. She told boston.com someone even tried to feed the rodent a piece of granola bar.

The rodent rider was let off by passengers at another aboveground station.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokeswoman Lisa Battiston commended the kindness of passengers but warned against interacting with wild animals on a train.
YouTube videos and a Kanye West song held messages from God for the woman who walked into an Easter service with a gun and threatened the congregation, a San Diego police document suggests.

Anna Conkey, 31, was interviewed by investigators with the San Diego Police Department in the hours after she walked into the auditorium of the Mount Everest Academy, where the non-denominational Tsidkenu Church was having Easter service.

In the interview, the suspect described herself as a "seer" who was instructed by God to launch a YouTube channel in January and who often receives encouraging messages from God, specifically through the lyrics of a Kanye West song.

Conkey was arrested April 21 and charged with eight felonies including making a false report of a bomb threat through a 911 call she made moments before.

In the interview with police, the suspect said she was prepared to die that day but that she knew no one would be hurt.

The conversation was documented in the SDPD's request for a restraining order to prevent Conkey from owning a gun.

The handgun Conkey brought into the service was unloaded, police said. The suspect's father had bought the gun under her name several years ago, according to the document.

Prosecutors said the gun, which was registered to Conkey under her maiden name, was not loaded but ammunition was discovered by police at her home in Bonita.

Disneyland Resort

Anna Conkey, 31, was formally charged with eight felonies in a church gun threat and pleaded not guilty. NBC 7s Artie Ojeda has more.

Messages From God

Conkey was born in Japan and her father worked as a religion programs specialist in the U.S. Navy. He and her mother live in Florida.

She told police officers she was known in the church as a seer and hears very clearly from God. The ability to receive dreams and visions runs through her family, she told the officers.

In the interview, she told officers that God revealed more things to her beginning in October. She initially thought she was supposed to work miracles and spread good news but that in January, she was instructed to start a YouTube channel regarding her beliefs.

Conkey also told the police that she felt God was speaking through her in songs. One song she mentioned was Cant Tell Me Nothing by Kanye West. Conkey referenced the lyric, Act more stupidly, according to the police document.

She described the lyrics to this song described her whole situation, the document states.

She explained that God had a message for her with every video that she opened on YouTube, according to the police investigator.

The morning before the incident, she spoke via Facetime with her husband who is enrolled in the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island, according to the document. She told officers she did not discuss her visions with her husband. The couple have two children who are now with family.

She told police she used the gun to get the attention of the church and be taken seriously.

Other statements made in the interview indicate Conkey expected to be shot by the police.

A DVD found in the churchs mail in the storage room at the school had the words ARE YOU READY TO DiE on the outside of the sleeve in black sharpie, according to the document.

However, when asked about the DVD, Conkey eyes widened and she told the officer that she was not responsible for it, according to the document.

Disneyland Resort

'Everyone Is Going to Die'

There were about 100 people in the church when Conkey entered and told the congregation, "everyone is going to die," according to witnesses.

Tsidkenu Church head pastor Benjamin Wisan said Conkey was speaking random words which were confusing to him. Another witness described her comments as "delusional."

According to Wisan, Conkey had to be removed from a service a week earlier. She allegedly attempted to take over the service from the pastor, witnesses said.

At the suspect's initial court hearing, the judge issued a protective order saying Conkey could not interact with her children, the pastor of the church, and that she could not come near Mount Everest Academy.

Conkey was ordered held at the Las Colinas Detention Facility on $1 million bail. She faces more than 23 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Conkey, an SDSU graduate and former communications specialist in the U.S Navy, was a former intern and freelance digital producer for NBC 7.

Minutes before the incident, an email was sent to NBC 7 from an account with the name "Anna Conkey." The email was sent as a news tip.

"Theres a woman claiming to be the messiah, saying she was sent to blow up the foundation of the Churchshes got a gun and a child is involved. Address is 4350 Mount Everest Blvd San Diego, CA 92117. Theres about 70 people in the auditorium of the school where the church service is held," the message said.

Conkey told police she notified her former employer to let them know to send someone out to document what she expected to happen.

Conkey is scheduled to be back in court on May 3.

Witnesses say a woman carrying her baby boy pointed a gun at the congregation and her son. The threat happened Sunday at Mount Everest Academy in Clairemont. The suspect is Anna Conkey. NBC 7's Danica McAdam has more.
New details have emerged in the case of a U.S. Navy sailor who was gunned down on the shoulder of Interstate 15 after he pulled over to help who he believed was a stranded motorist.

Curtis Adams, 21, pulled over on the freeway at around 2:20 a.m. on Oct. 27 after he saw another car stopped on the northbound shoulder. As he approached the car, he was shot dead.

Adams girlfriend Deja Harris, 21, testified Tuesday and recounted how quickly Adams was gunned down.

She said the couple was on their way to Adams home in Coronado when they saw a white car with its hazard lights on. There was a man outside of the vehicle on the driver's side.

Harris remembered one of Adams last remarks before he exited his car.

"Im going to be a good Samaritan today, and he pulled over, she said. "He took two steps and I heard a gunshot."

A defense attorney asked Harris if she heard anything else other than a gunshot, to which she replied, No words were exchanged.

Harris said she climbed over to the drivers seat and saw Adams lying on the ground. He died later at the hospital.

Prosecutors say Edson Acuna, 24, is the man who pulled the trigger. Harris identified him Tuesday as the man who was standing outside of the car when she and Adams pulled over.

Acuna reportedly fled to Mexico after the shooting and was arrested by Mexican authorities in December. His brother, 21-year-old Brandon Acuna, was arrested hours after the shooting when a CHP officer spotted his vehicle and contacted SDPD.

Both brothers, as well as 24-year-old Harvey Liberato who was arrested in connection with the shooting in November, are facing murder charges to which they have pleaded not guilty.

The Acunas and Liberato were in court Wednesday as a judge tried to determine if there was enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

Susana Galvan, 38, was also in the car during the shooting and faces a charge of accessory after the fact. She changed her not guilty plea to guilty Tuesday.

SDPD said Brandon Acuna was also involved in another shooting 10 minutes before his brother allegedly shot Adams. That shooting took place near the 600 block of Boundary Street in Mount Hope.

According to police, he allegedly shot at a man who interrupted his attempt to break into the man's car.
The city of San Diego is taking its first steps toward running entirely on renewable energy.

The city passed a Community Choice Energy program, or CCE, in late February. CCEs are a city-run energy provider for residents. It is set to lower energy rates by five percent and help the city achieve its renewable energy goals, according to Mayor Kevin Faulconers office.

The CCE is the first piece of San Diegos Climate Action Plan, or CAP, to be implemented. The CAP is a program working to run San Diego on 100 percent carbon-free electricity by the year 2035, about 10 years sooner than the state requires.

The CAP has set goals for San Diego to accomplish in their attempt to run entirely on renewable energy. The city wants to both increase the number of zero emission city owned vehicles to 50 percent, as well as decrease total greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent by the year 2020, according to the CAP. By 2035, the CAP aims to create new jobs in the renewable energy industry, improve public health and air quality, conserve water, more efficiently use existing resources, increase clean energy production, according to the citys CAP website.

Prior to its implementation, San Diegans only had one energy provider, San Diego Gas and Electric, or SDG&E.

This will bring good old fashion competition and choice to the electricity businesses in San Diego, said Masada Disenhouse, executive director and co-founder of the environmental organization San Diego 350, which advocates for a county-wide CCE . And we know that we need it, right? Our rates are among the most expensive in the country.

However, the CCE does not remove SDG&E from the equation. Regardless of which energy provider consumers opt for, SDG&E will still deliver energy to residents and retain responsibility for customer billing, according to citys sustainability website.

We dont make money on the sale of electricity, said Joseph Britton, the communications manager for SDG&E. If the city or other jurisdictions choose to form a (CCE) we support that choice and well assist them in the transition process. We anticipate that anywhere from 70 to 80 percent of our customer load will probably be on a (CCE) in the coming years.

While city residents may now choose between energy providers, SDG&E still monopolizes the energy market in San Diego County, said Jim Desmond, the county supervisor for District 5, in a Feb. 26 board meeting about a county-wide CCE option.

San Diego County voted on a CCE one day after the city did. Their vote resulted in a 5-0 agreement to pursue community choice energy as an option for all 18 cities in San Diego County. The board of supervisors agreed to commission a business plan. It will be presented to the county in October, with updates occurring every two months.

I think I would rather see a county wide (CCE) than one done by the city of San Diego and one done by Solana Beach and all of the other cities that are pursuing this, said Greg Cox, county supervisor for District 1 during the board meeting. And at the same time, I think its important to make sure that theres no one agency thats going to be the proverbial 900-pound gorilla thats basically going to dominate whatevers going to happen.

While no decision regarding county-wide community choice energy will be made until late 2019, this did not stop dozens of county residents from voicing their support during the public meeting. The extra time means the county can more thoroughly examine the impacts of a county-run CCE program.

We can search far and wide for someone in opposition, there was no one here today, but probably we could find somebody if we dig around the bushes enough, said Nathan Fletcher, county supervisor for District 4 during the board meeting.

This report was a collaboration between NBC 7 and the SDSU School of Journalism and Media Studies.
The son of a woman found dead in a residence near the Ocean Beach Pier Wednesday has been named as a person of interest in his mothers killing, according to the San Diego Police Department.

Daniel Chase McKibben, 36, was reportedly seen running from the home by his brother, police said, prompting an hours-long search through Ocean Beach and SWAT officers to descend on two different homes Wednesday morning.

The SWAT team was first called to the multi-unit property near the intersection of Niagara Avenue and Bacon Street at about 4 a.m., San Diego Police Department Lt. Matt Dobbs said.

At about 8 a.m., the team descended on a home on Del Mar Avenue where McKibben was believed to be holed up inside. The residence was about a half-mile away from where the woman's body was found.

A crisis negotiator could be heard calling out to McKibben to call police and surrender but three hours later, no one had emerged from the building and SWAT officers were called off.

SDPD homicide detectives could be seen serving search warrants at one of the homes Wednesday afternoon.

San Diego police were first called at about 1 a.m. to the residence on Niagara Avenue by McKibbens brother concerned about the wellbeing of his mother, Dobbs said. Police were unable to get inside the home to determine if the mother was there.

Hours later, McKibbens brother arrived and forced his way into the residence, discovering his mothers body covered in the garage.

Moments before the discovery, the man spotted his brother, McKibben, running from the scene in a tan shirt, black shorts and a backpack; he has long brown hair and brown eyes.

The son contacted police after receiving a concerning phone call from his mother Tuesday night, Dobbs said. He tried to call her back and did not receive a response. The nature of the phone call was not disclosed.

Neither the sons' mother nor the sons lived at the residence on Niagara Avenue, though the mother was the property owner, according to Dobbs. The mother was believed to be checking on the property at the time.

Several residences in the multi-unit complex were evacuated as the tactical team surrounded the property. The police activity also closed several streets in the Ocean Beach area.

Several patrol cars lined the streets near popular restaurants that were closed at the time, including the OB Noodle House and Raglan Public House.

On Thursday, police shot McKibben after allegedly trespassing in a La Mesa home. He has since been hospitalized for injuries sustained to his hand and shoulder and has been detained.

Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.
Residents heard the sound of silence for the first time along a half-mile stretch of railway in Encinitas Wednesday as city officials established a 24-hour "quiet zone."

With the establishment of the quiet zone, trains using the 6.1-mile stretch of railway from Chesterfield Drive to Birmingham Drive will no longer be required to sound their horn.

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) rules require trains to sound their horn for about 20 seconds before entering all public crossings unless they have quiet zone approval.

The last train to sound its horn passed along the railway at 9:54 a.m.; minutes later, another train passed the intersection with no horn at all, though the sounding was symbolic as the quiet zone officially went into effect at midnight on Wednesday.

Train conductors will still be allowed to sound their horns in emergency situations.

The quiet zone was established as part of a $6.2 million safety improvement project that also widened sidewalks in the area and added new multi-use bike and pedestrian path, signals and warning signs for motorists and pedestrians.

In order to gain approvale from the FRA, the Encinitas railway needed to install two additional gates across traffic lanes and concrete medians in the street. The crossing was closed for three weeks as crews completed the requirements.

San Diego implemented two quiet zones -- in Little Italy and in downtown San Diego -- in 2012 thanks to a $20.6 million safety improvement project.

The project was funded by the city, the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the North County Transit District (NCTD), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Federal Railroad Administration, and the California Public Utilities Commission.
The leader of an armed group that has been detaining asylum-seeking families from Central America near the Mexican border said two years ago that he was training supporters to assassinate Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and billionaire Democratic supporter George Soros, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

The FBI declined to comment on why it waited to bring charges against Larry Hopkins following a search in 2017 but his arrest follows widespread criticism after videos surfaced of their members carrying firearms and detaining groups of immigrants crossing the border.

Members of the group the United Constitutional Patriots say they want to draw attention to immigration violations and assist federal law enforcement in patrolling the border.

Hopkins, 69, made an initial appearance in federal court on Monday, two days after the FBI arrested him on charges of possession of firearms by a felon. He was arrested in Sunland Park, New Mexico, a suburb of El Paso, Texas, where his group has been stopping migrants, alerting the Border Patrol and ordering them to wait until agents arrive.

He will plead not guilty at a hearing next week in Albuquerque, said Kelly O'Connell, his attorney. He is being held without bond.

Hopkins allegedly invited an FBI agent into his home in 2017 and showed him at least nine weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition. According to the complaint, he first told the agent that the weapons belonged to his live-in girlfriend, but then referred to one of the weapons as his.

Hopkins told members of the Patriots in 2017 that they "were training to assassinate George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, because of these individuals support of Antifa,"or anti-fascists, according to the complaint.

Members call Hopkins their "commander" online and in evidence presented to the federal court. A Patriots spokesman, Jim Benvie, dismissed the allegations as "fake news." He posted a video saying that that it may move its base from the Sunland Park to another location because of excessive media attention.

"It's a false narrative that we're a bunch of armed lunatics and we're holding kids at gunpoint," Benvie said.

Hopkins is barred from possessing weapons because of three felony convictions. According to the FBI he was first convicted of illegal weapons possession in Michigan in 1996, and then again in Klamath County, Oregon, in 2006, along with a charge of impersonating a peace officer.

According to a police report in the Oregon case, Hopkins showed two firearms to a group of juveniles and a badge that said "special agent."

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said last week that she was working with state and local police to address the armed groups. "Menacing or threatening migrant families and asylum-seekers is absolutely unacceptable and must cease," she wrote on Twitter.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico wrote Lujan Grisham and state Attorney General Hector Balderas on Thursday, urging them to investigate the incidents, including what it said was the detention of nearly 300 people on Tuesday near Sunland Park.

Armed civilian groups have been a fixture on the border for years, especially when large numbers of migrants come. But, unlike previous times, many of the migrants are children. In the Border Patrol's El Paso sector, 86% of arrests in March were people who came as families or unaccompanied children.

Associated Press writer Andrew Selsky contributed reporting from Salem, Oregon.
What to Know A woman who went to the midnight showing of "Avengers: Endgame" was diagnosed with highly-contagious measles.

Anyone who was possibly exposed should call HCA Health Referral Line at 1 (800)-564-8448 or their health provider.

Those infected with measles can spread it without showing symptoms.

A woman who went to the midnight showing of "Avengers: Endgame" at an Orange County movie theater last week was diagnosed with measles, and now health officials are warning others in the crowd that they may have been exposed.

The Placentia woman in her 20s, who had just returned from an international trip, was infected with measles when she went to see the midnight showing of the finale in the Avengers saga.

The Orange County Health Care agency said the woman visited the AMC Theater in Fullerton Thursday, April 25, and other moviegoers may have been exposed from 11 p.m. in the evening until 4 a.m.

Health officials were advising others who believe they may have been exposed to check their vaccination history, and notify their health providers, especially if they haven't had measles before.

Symptoms include inflamed eyes, runny nose, high fever, and an unexplained rash seven to 21 days after being exposed.

Theater employees said the news comes as a shock, especially after such a busy week with huge crowds eager to see "Avengers: Endgame."

"The last place I would ever expect it was at my job. I wasn't even expecting Orange County," AMC Fullerton employee Carlee Greer-McNeill said. "People, if you know you have the measles, please don't come to a movie theater, let alone a public place."

Another location where residents may have been exposed was in Fullerton is St. Jude Emergency Department between 7 and 9 a.m. April 27.

The woman who went to the theater was under quarantine after being diagnosed. She is considered infectious from April 23 to May 1.

This case is the fist reported in Orange County, on the heels of Los Angeles County announcing its sixth Tuesday.

The sixth case reported this week also occurred after a Southern California resident traveled to another country, and noticed symptoms after returning.

Health officials advise that if anyone believes he may have measles to contact his doctor by phone before coming in to the doctor's office.

Those with measles can also infect others before they are even aware that they have it. Measles is very contagious, and can stay in the air for up to 2 hours after the infected person has left the area.

Los Angeles County Exposure Spots

The following locations have been identified as potential measles exposures:

 LAX, Tom Bradley International Terminal, Gate 218 on April 23 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

 Fox Auto Parks LAX Shuttle on April 23 from 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

 Home Depot, 44226 20th St W, Lancaster, CA 93534, on April 26 from 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Orange County Exposure Locations

 5 Hutton Centre Dr., Santa Ana, CA 92707, on April 23  25 from 7:45 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. daily

 St. Jude Emergency Department, 101 E. Valencia Mesa Dr., Fullerton, CA 92835, on April 27 from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

 AMC Movie Theater, 1001 S. Lemon St., Fullerton, CA 92832, on April 25 from 11 p.m.  April 26 at 4 a.m.

The majority of those with measles were unvaccinated.
A man accused of fatally shooting a construction worker who was directing traffic in D.C. allegedly used a racial slur before shooting the man at point-blank range.

Terrance Barnes, 29, appeared in court Wednesday on a charge of first-degree murder while armed in the April death of 57-year-old Barry Holmes.

Holmes' family says he was directing traffic around a repaving project on Southern Avenue SE when he was shot.

Police spoke to nine witnesses and one of them who knows Barnes identified him as the shooter, according to an affadavit.

Court documents said Holmes told Barnes not to cross the street. Barnes then allegedly used a racial slur to describe Holmes and told a woman to run because he was going to end the construction worker's life.

When Holmes stood up, Barnes shot him at point-blank range in the chest, the witnesses said.

However, Barnes told an entirely different story in a statement to detectives. He said he pulled the gun because Holmes swung his sign at him, documents said. Barnes said there was a struggle over the gun and Holmes wound up pulling the trigger and shooting himself.

Court documents said Barnes told police he threw the gun in a river and burned his clothes.

The judge said Barnes had tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids, the Associated Press reports.

It's unclear if Barnes has a lawyer who can comment on his behalf.
A Maryland volunteer firefighter and Marine who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this month was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday.

Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher Slutman was killed by a roadside bomb while he was riding in a convoy in Afghanistan on April 8. He was one of three American service members killed in the bombing.

Slutman was a married father of three young daughters and a life member of the Kentland Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George's County. He served with the department for 19 years.

"Through this trying time, we will remember Chris for the father, husband, brother, son, and friend that he was, the moral character he displayed daily, and the courage and conviction to serve his fellow Americans, both at home and abroad," a previous news release from Kentland Volunteer Fire Chief Oleg Pelekhaty said.

Additionally, Slutman was a 15-year member of New York City Fire Department, serving in the Bronx. On Friday, mourners paid their respects to Slutman at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
D.C.'s oldest general hospital, Providence Hospital, officially shut down emergency services on Tuesday after 158 years of service.

The closure of Providence Hospital will mean a big gap for residents on the eastern half of the District. Last year, Providence Hospital had more than 5,500 ambulatory surgeries, 43,000 emergency room visits and 4,900 inpatient admissions.

Originally located on 2nd and D streets SE, the hospital was run by Catholic nuns. The goal was to treat everyone, especially the poor. The hospital's first patient was an Irish immigrant named O'Toole, who had typhoid fever during the Civil War.

Now located in the Brookland neighborhood near Catholic University, News4's Pat Collins said the closure of this hospital is personal. Collins was born in Providence Hospital.

"Providence Hospital died today," he said.

And it's in that same hospital where his mother died. Collins' mother had breast cancer and fell into a coma. He would visit her there every day.

His father worked at the hospital. Collins went to grade school nearby and often after school would visit his father at work. On St. Patrick's Day, his dad would dress him up as leprechaun and take him around to see his patients.

His father would later die of a heart attack at Providence Hospital when he was making rounds seeing patients.

Collins' connection to Providence Hospital spanned three generations. His three children  Patrick, Michael and Salley  were born at Providence Hospital.

"For me it was personal," Collins said.
Virginia is the state with the second most top performing high schools in the nation, under U.S. News & World Report's new ranking system.

One school in particular performed especially well. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria ranked as the No. 1 school in the state, and No. 4 nationally, moving up 10 places nationally since last year. The state-chartered magnet school also placed No. 3 out of all magnet schools in the U.S.

U.S. News & World Report creates a weighted score for each of the thousands of schools reviewed based on six main components.

College readiness makes up 30 percent of the score, followed by math and reading proficiency (20 percent) and performance based on the schools average scores on standardized state tests (20 percent). The remaining 30 percent of the score depends on the schools graduation rate, minority student performance and the participation of 12th graders in AP/IB exams.

Under this new ranking system, almost every public high school that was reviewed received a rank, according to U.S. News & World report. That is very different from previous years, wherein schools were ineligible for rankings if their graduation rates and state assessments were lower than the state median.

According to U.S. News & World Report, they reviewed more than 23,000 U.S. public high schools, and 323 Virginia schools made the rankings. Virginia follows only Massachusetts for having the most schools place in the top 25 percent of the overall list.

The No. 1 high school in the country went to Academic Magnet High School in Charleston, South Carolina. It was noted for having a 100 percent AP exam participation rate, reading proficiency rate and graduation rate among its students. It also topped the list for the best magnet school nationally.

In Maryland, the No. 1 high school was Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, which ranked 93rd nationally. The school recently came under fire for the online circulation of a photo that featured two of their students wearing blackface and using the a racial slur to describe the photo.

Benjamin Banneker Academic High School took the top spot for Washington, D.C., and placed 178th nationally.

Top Five Schools in Virginia

#1: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria

#2: Langley High School, McLean

#3: McLean High School, McLean

#4: Oakton High School, Vienna

#5: Open High School, Richmond

Top Five Schools in Maryland

#1: Walt Whitman High, Bethesda

#2: Thomas S. Wootton High, Rockville

#3: Eastern Technical High School, Baltimore

#4: River Hill High, Clarksville

#5: Bethesda-Chevy Chase High, Bethesda

Top Five Schools in Washington, D.C.

#1: Benjamin Banneker Academy High School

#2: School Without Walls High School

#3: BASIS DC

#4: McKinley Technology High School

#5: Ellington School of the Arts
What to Know NY court officials say a judge stoked outrage for sentencing a former school bus driver to probation in the rape of a 14-year-old

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky last week sentenced 26-year-old Shane Piche to 10 years of probation

Court officials say the judge has been getting "numerous vitriolic" phone calls

An upstate New York judge who stoked social media outrage for sentencing a former school bus driver to probation in the rape of a 14-year-old is getting "numerous vitriolic" phone calls, court officials said Tuesday.

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky last week sentenced Shane Piche to 10 years of probation, sparking an online wave of condemnation from people arguing that the punishment was too lenient. The 26-year-old was accused of raping the teenager at his residence in Watertown, New York, last summer. Piche, who was a bus driver in the victim's school district, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February.

Piche also was required to register as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest of three categories based on the risk of another offense. Three orders of protection were issued and Piche was ordered not to be left alone with anyone under the age of 17.

The sentencing drew national media attention and harsh criticism. Twitter users posted the phone number and address of McClusky's chambers in Watertown.

"The Judge's chambers have received numerous vitriolic calls regarding the case, the vast majority from out of State, by individuals who know nothing about the facts and circumstances of the case, thanks to social media," state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen wrote in an email.

Chalfen said the judge was "well within" the sentencing range for this type of negotiated plea conviction. The maximum state prison time he could have received would have been from 1 1/3 to 4 years, he said.

Jefferson County chief assistant district attorney Patricia Dziuba said all parties acted within the parameters set by law and that the prosecutor handling the case sought up to six months of jail time along with probation, supervision and treatment. She declined to criticize the judge's sentence.

Piche didn't make a statement during his sentencing.

Calls seeking comment were left Tuesday with McCluskey and Piche's attorney, Eric Swartz.

"He'll be a felon for the rest of his life. He's on the sex offender registry for a long time," Swartz told television station WWNY of Watertown.

The station said a victim impact statement given to them by the victim's mother read, "I wish Shane Piche would have received time in jail for the harm he caused to my child. He took something from my daughter she will never get back and has caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety."

Chelsea Miller, of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said based on the mother's statement, it's possible that the judge and court officials didn't understand the harm the survivor experienced.

"Unfortunately, this can discourage survivors who see jail or prison time as a form of accountability," Miller said.

Other judges also have faced public pressure over sex-crime sentences in recent years.

In a prominent example, California voters recalled Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky last year after he sentenced college swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail on a sexual assault conviction. Turner denied the accusation.

Persky cited a probation department recommendation, Turner's youth and his clean criminal record in departing from a minimum sentence of two years in prison. California's Commission on Judicial Performance ruled that the sentencing was done correctly, but critics said the punishment was too light.
Asylum seekers waiting to get into the U.S. sleep in small tents set up by the border, depending on volunteers and churches to bring them food and clothing. Some scrape together 25 cents to pay a toll to get on an international bridge where they can use a bathroom.

They've fled violence-ridden homelands, often arriving at the U.S. border deep in debt, paying $7,000 or more to smugglers. Under President Donald Trump's latest immigration proposal, they could face another demand on their meager resources: a fee to process their asylum applications. It's not known how much the fee might be, but any amount would likely be a burden.

"If we came from our country, it's because we didn't have the opportunity to work. We don't have money," said Suanny Gomez, a 24-year-old woman from Honduras who waited in a tent with her 5-year-old son, William.

The proposed application fee and other changes are the latest in a series of proposals from an administration struggling to cope with a surge of migrant families arriving at the southern border. The migrants have overwhelmed federal resources and complicated Trump's efforts to claim victory at the border as he runs for re-election next year.

The fee proposal was part of a memo Trump signed Monday directing his attorney general and acting homeland security secretary to take additional measures to overhaul the asylum system, which he insists is plagued by "rampant abuse." It said the application fee would not exceed the cost of processing applications, but officials did not immediately provide an estimate for what that might be.

Trump is giving Homeland Security Department officials 90 days to come up with new regulations to ensure that applications are adjudicated within 180 days of filing, except under exceptional circumstances. He called on officials to immediately revoke work authorizations when people are denied asylum and ordered removed from the country. He also wants to bar anyone who has entered or tried to enter the country illegally from receiving a provisional work permit.

Immigration advocates said the fees could push applicants further into poverty.

"Asylum seekers are fleeing persecution, and have left their families, communities, homes, jobs and possessions behind in order to save their lives," said Archi Pyati, policy chief at Tahirih Justice Center.

Democratic House Majority leader Steny Hoyer said Trump was undermining American ideals.

"This latest move will do nothing to address the humanitarian crisis on our border of the Trump Administration's own making," he said in a statement.

On Tuesday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan described that crisis, telling a House subcommittee the department was running out of money and out of resources for dealing with the mass of people coming to the border. He said the White House would send a supplemental request for funding, along with some legislative suggestions.

McAleenan, formerly the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said the system had cracked under the sheer volume of people coming to the U.S. In a single day, April 16, nearly 5,000 people crossed the border. Agents and officers don't have the resources to hold, process or properly care for them.

"Simply put, the system is full and we are well beyond our capacity," he said. "The status quo is not acceptable."

McAleenan has been in charge for about two weeks, following the resignation of Kirstjen Nielsen, who left amid a staff shake-up orchestrated by the White House.

Most Central Americans seeking asylum say they are fleeing violence and poverty, and many request admission to the U.S. under federal and international law. About 20 percent of those who claim asylum in the U.S. are granted it, but the rates vary by country of origin.

Also, not everyone who crossed the border claims asylum; during the 2018 fiscal year, 161,005 people claimed asylum, though migrants have a year to make a claim. There were more than 521,090 border apprehensions during fiscal year 2018.

The administration has tried to crack down on asylum seekers. Attorney General William Barr said this year that asylum seekers who have passed their initial screenings are no longer entitled to be released while their cases play out.

In Matamoros, Mexico, about a thousand people were waiting to cross the border to seek asylum. A man washed himself in the Rio Grande, the river that forms the international boundary, because there are no bathing facilities nearby.

Leonardo Arzuaga, 28, of Cuba, arrived in Mexico on April 1 and, with support from American friends, is staying at a low-priced hotel. He waits until he can cross the border and claim asylum. Thousands of Cubans seek to enter the United States, saying they are fleeing political persecution.

"I think it's a bit unjust," Arzuaga said of the recent proposals. "Because many people do not have the means to arrive, work, produce. For me it's something that isn't logical."

"Because one practically gets here with nothing."

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Amy Taxin contributed to this story.
A student with a pistol and no immediately apparent motive killed two people and wounded four others at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte before campus police disarmed and arrested him, authorities said. The campus police chief said the suspect had not appeared on their radar as a potential threat.

"I just went into a classroom and shot the guys," the suspect, Trystan Andrew Terrell, told reporters Tuesday as officers led him away in handcuffs.

People reacting to the sound of gunshots and a campus alert scrambled to find safe spaces and endured a lengthy lockdown as officers secured the campus on the last day of classes. Hundreds were later marched out of buildings with their hands in the air before officers determined that the suspect appeared to have acted alone.

A vigil was planned for Wednesday, and the governor vowed a hard look to see what can be done to prevent future attacks.

"A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses," Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, told reporters. "Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school. And I know that this violence has to stop. ... In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward."

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said authorities received a call in the late afternoon that someone with a pistol had shot several students. Officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman in the room where the shooting took place.

"Our officers' actions definitely saved lives," Baker said at a news conference.

Two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition late Tuesday. A fourth person wounded was identified as Drew Pescaro of Massachusetts, NBC Boston reported. Nine Times, the university's campus newspaper where Pescaro was a sports writer, said in a tweet that their staffer was out of surgery and in stable condition.

Students were among the victims, but officials would not say how many. The names of the victims have not been released.

Terrell, 22, was booked into the Mecklenburg County jail on two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, possessing and firing a weapon on educational property, and assault with a deadly weapon.

The suspect's grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, said Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died. Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language learning program his grandfather bought him and was attending UNC-Charlotte, Rold said. But Terrell never showed any interest in guns or other weapons, and the news he may have been involved in a mass shooting was stunning, said Rold, who had not heard about the Charlotte attack before being contacted by an Associated Press reporter.

"You're describing someone foreign to me," Rold said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. "This is not in his DNA."

Monifa Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots. She said she directed students fleeing the scene to take cover inside a parking deck.

"I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me," she said. "We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we're in the parking deck and there's a shooter and we don't know where he is, he won't have a clear shot."

She added: "My thought was, I've lived my life, I've had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that's what I was going to do."

The shooting prompted a lockdown and caused panic across campus. Aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

"Just loud bangs. A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind," said Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friend's art show.

The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas.

Spenser Gray, a junior, said she was watching another student's presentation in a nearby campus building when the alert about the shooting popped up on everyone's computer screens.

She said she panicked: "We had no idea where he was ... so we were just expecting them at any moment coming into the classroom."

Susan Harden, an UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner, left home when she heard of the shooting and went to a staging area to provide support.

Harden said she has taught inside the Kennedy building, where the shootings happened.

"It breaks my heart. We're torn up about what's happened," Harden said. "Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety."

___

Associated Press writers Martha Waggoner and Emery Dalesio in Raleigh contributed to this report.
A provocative billboard expressing concern over U.S. military policy around nuclear weapons has drawn criticism from a supporter of the Vermont Air National Guard.

"I was totally appalled," Lisa Wood of Fair Haven, Vermont, said of a billboard installed on Route 4 in Whitehall, New York  not far from the Vermont border.

From a distance, the billboard appears to be a welcome to the state, but on closer inspection, it becomes clear it is a harsh critique. It depicts a pilot from the Vermont Air National Guard dropping a nuclear weapon near a terrified family, leaving buildings in ruins and a field of gravestones.

"As a veteran, I don't believe that our nation should be employing nuclear weapons," said James Ehlers of the group Citizens Against Nuclear Bombers in Vermont.

The group opposes this fall's arrival of a fleet of F-35s at the Vermont Air Guard base in South Burlington.

Even though state and Guard leaders say the Vermont jets will not be nuclear-capable, the activists worry the military could, one day, retrofit them for a possible wartime mission.

"I think the idea of a nuclear bomber at the Burlington airport is pretty traumatic," Ehlers said.

Because billboards have long been banned under Vermont law, to protect its scenic views and rural reputation, the activists installed the large sign in New York state so they could reach drivers entering Vermont.

Responding to an inquiry from necn, a Vermont Guard spokesman refuted the claim made on the new billboard that Vermont is the "future home of USA's new nuclear bomber."

"The F-35s coming to Burlington will not have the hardware to be nuclear capable," Capt. Mikel Arcovitch wrote in an email. "The Vermont Air National Guard will not have a nuclear mission, nor are there any plans for Vermont to have a nuclear mission."

Lisa Wood, who lives on the Vermont side of the border near the billboard, is the mother of a member of the Vermont Air Guard. She recently saw the billboard for the first time, she noted.

In an interview with necn Tuesday, Wood said she considers the cartoon on the billboard to be a misleading smear.

"If I could have my own billboard, I think it would just say, 'We still support you. We support you and we're proud of you. You've worked hard and you've earned this. Bring on the F-35,'" she said

Ehlers said the group that put up the sign calls it a form of patriotism for Americans to have peaceful discourse with their government about policies they find objectionable or concerning for public safety.

However, Lisa Wood insisted displays like this do not speak for her  or for many Vermonters.
Clouds certainly win out over sunshine Wednesday, though breaks of sun may emerge from time to time all the way through the afternoon.

Widespread reports of ice pellets mixed with raindrops Wednesday morning tell of a cold sky, cold enough for snowflakes to mix in across the higher terrain of Northern New England. Meanwhile, daytime sprinkles and flurries will turn into overnight showers and rain.

Steady precipitation in northern New England will flip entirely to snow for some, with our accumulation map for Maine showing as much as 2-to-3-inches of snow in higher terrain like Rangeley.

All of this cool air will really be palpable Thursday, as a northeast wind couples with lots of clouds and patchy drizzle to hold temperatures in the 40s at the warmest time of the day for nearly everyone. Ironically, northern Maine will be left out since sunshine will bump temperatures into the 50s.

Friday doesnt look a lot better with morning sprinkles forecast to transition to renewed afternoon and evening showers. The disturbance triggering these showers will serve as a "kicker" for the atmosphere  stimulating faster motion of atmospheric disturbances and, if the timing lines up the way it looks like it will right now, affording sunshine and a period of dry weather on Saturday.

The sun angle is strong enough this time of the year that even a little sunshine will go a long way. So if the sun does break through, we should find temperatures rise into the 60s and even perhaps near 70 degrees. Again, contingent on the break lining up with the middle of the day.

[NATL] Extreme Weather Photos: Record Heat Threatens Europe

Part of the reason timing is so important is because we have yet another disturbance moving in soon after, delivering another period of showers Sunday.

At this point, it looks like weather systems become a bit more broken up with more space between them starting early next week, perhaps affording a day and a half or two days of drier weather to start the week.

Hopefully then, shorter stints of showers moving through, with more opportunity for temperatures to rise into the 60s owing to, and highly dependent upon, any breaks of sun.
Just days after the shooting in San Diego, police in Canton, Massachusetts held an active shooter drill at a local synagogue Wednesday.

The Canton fire and police departments worked together in a fast paced training scenario. It is a scenario they say they hope never comes to fruition, but they still have to stay prepared.

"Ten years ago we really didnt discuss very much, we had our job to doput out fires and take people to the hospital and chief Berkowitz and his folks had his job to do," said Canton Fire Chief Charles Doody. "But over the past ten years or so we have had more conversations on what if it happened here. What if a Columbine happened here? What are we going to do?"

Wednesdays training happened to be at a local synagogue, an eerie coincidence just days after the shooting in San Diego, but this training had been planned months in advance.

"Obviously the house of worship is an emerging threat and its here," said Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz.

Police and firefighters continually train throughout the year at different locations, whether it be a school, business, and now a place of worship. It helps them get to know different areas they might have to respond to.

"The injuries are the same, the treatment is the same, working together is the same, but they environments are different so it benefits us to train in as many as we can, said Doody.

The training helps them find holes where they need to improve so they can better prepare their men and women for the real thing. No matter how much they practice, there is one thing they will never be able to fully prepare for.

"I don't think you can ever really prepare emotionally to see your family and friends in a situation like that," said Doody. "I think tactically we will be prepared because we are training together, but emotionally that would be difficult to prepare for."
The record $35.5 million in fines Massachusetts imposed on Wynn Resorts and its CEO reflect the many violations uncovered but are also meant to serve as a deterrent as the nascent state casino industry takes shape, Massachusetts regulators said Wednesday.

The state's Gaming Commission on Tuesday levied a $35 million fine on Wynn Resorts and another $500,000 on new CEO Matthew Maddox for failing to disclose years of allegations of sexual misconduct against company founder Steve Wynn. But the five-member panel allowed the company to retain its state casino license and open its $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor resort as planned in June.

"We do feel like that fine reflects the scope and multitude of the violations," Commission Chairwoman Cathy Judd-Stein said as the panel met in Boston the morning after delivering its long-awaited decision. "We were very mindful that it should serve as punishment to really address the violations. We also thought it was necessary to provide a message of deterrence to ensure future compliance."

The commission was focused on how long company officials were aware of the allegations and how they responded, rather than the truth behind the claims. Steve Wynn, who resigned as CEO last year, has denied the allegations.

The fines are due within 30 days and will be allocated according to the same formula all state gambling proceeds are distributed, she said.

That formula outlines 12 spending priorities, the largest of which are aid to cities and towns (20%), transportation (15%), education (14%), the state's reserve fund (10%), and state debt and long-term liabilities (10%).

And while there is no commission process for appealing fines, the company can seek a state court review, Judd-Stein acknowledged. Wynn Resorts said Wednesday it is still reviewing the decision and considering its next steps.

"We are confident that we have struck the correct balance and met our legal and ethical burdens," Judd-Stein added.

The fine is the biggest imposed by any state casino regulatory agency, commission staff and industry experts said. The Nevada Gaming Commission in February levied a $20 million fine on Wynn Resorts that was the largest imposed at the time, they said.

The $35 million will certainly affect the company's bottom line this year, but it's a relatively small sacrifice, said Richard McGowan, a gambling expert at Boston College.

"Yes, the fine will hurt," McGowan said. "But the fact that the casino is a $2.6 billion project kind of dwarfs the fine."

Commission members Wednesday declined to elaborate on how they arrived at the specific dollar value for the fine.

But WBUR reports $35 million represents about a month's worth of projected gambling revenues at the soon-to-open casino, based on state budget estimates. It's also equivalent to what the company, which also owns casinos in Las Vegas and Macau, generates in revenues companywide in less than two days.

And while the fine on Maddox, the company CEO, is also significant, the ultimate decision about whether he should continue to lead the company is up to Wynn Resorts' board of directors, not regulators, said Kabrina Krebel Chang, a Boston University business professor.

"Is a $500,000 fine and a requirement that he develop more effective leadership and communication skills and participate in sensitivity and implicit bias training enough to change his leadership and understanding?" she said, referencing other requirements imposed by the commission. "Time will tell."
A massage therapist from Massachusetts was arrested Tuesday after he was accused of inappropriately touching two customers, according to Swansea police.

Officials said Frank Ferdinand Jr., 59, of Onset, is a self-employed massage therapist who rents space and works out of the Harmony Day Spa. Authorities received a report that the suspect had allegedly inappropriately touched a patron during a massage.

As the investigation developed, police learned of a second victim who also reported being inappropriately touched by Ferdinand during a massage.

Ferdinand was arrested and charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, according to authorities. Police said the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Board of Registration of Massage Therapy were alerted of Ferdinand's arrest.

He is expected to be arraigned Wednesday at the Fall River District Court. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
Searching for lost WWII-era uranium cubes from Germany

WASHINGTON, D.C. May 1, 2019 - Back in 2013, Timothy Koeth, an associate research professor at the University of Maryland, received a rather extraordinary birthday gift: a little cloth lunch pouch containing a small object wrapped in brown paper towels. As Koeth peeled back the layers, his eyes grew wide with astonishment. He immediately asked, "Where did you get that?"

Inside he found a heavy metal cube and a crumpled message, a provocative note wrapped around a stone that came crashing through the window of history. It read, "Taken from Germany, from the nuclear reactor Hitler tried to build. Gift of Ninninger."

Koeth's friend grinned, picked up the 5-pound block of uranium metal and handed it to him. Though modest in size, the cube was heavy, dense and steeped in lost history. Koeth accepted the cube and its note as an invitation to the adventure of a lifetime.

In the May 2019 issue of Physics Today, Koeth and Miriam Hiebert, a doctoral candidate working with him on this project at UMD's A. James Clark School of Engineering, describe what they've discovered while exploring the German quest and failure to build a working nuclear reactor during World War II.

Uranium is weakly radioactive, and this particular cube measures about 2 inches on each side. "It's surprisingly heavy, given its size, and it's always a lot of fun to watch people's reaction when they pick it up for the first time," said Hiebert.

A Chandelier of Nuclear Elements

This cube represents one of 664 uranium metal components that were strung together in a form reminiscent of a chandelier to comprise the core of a nuclear reactor experiment that a team of German scientists attempted to build toward the end of the World War II, including Werner Heisenberg -- a theoretical physicist and one of the key visionaries of quantum mechanics. The chandelier was submerged in heavy water to regulate the rate of fission.

The Germans' experimental lab was small and located underground in the town of Haigerloch -- it's now the Atomkeller Museum, which the public can visit. "This experiment was their final and closest attempt to create a self-sustaining nuclear reactor, but there wasn't enough uranium present in the core to achieve this goal," said Koeth.

One of the most surprising things Koeth and Hiebert have discovered so far is that while the 664 uranium cubes at Haigerloch weren't enough to build a self-sustaining reactor, an additional 400 cubes were located within Germany at the time.

"If the Germans had pooled their resources, rather than keeping them divided among separate, rival experiments, they may have been able to build a working nuclear reactor," said Hiebert. "This highlights perhaps the biggest difference between the German and American nuclear research programs. The German program was divided and competitive; whereas, under the leadership of General Leslie Groves, the American Manhattan Project was centralized and collaborative."

How Close Did the Germans Get?

How close did the Germans get to a working nuclear reactor? This is difficult to answer, but "it's been calculated that the reactor experiment in Haigerloch would have needed about 50% more uranium to run," said Koeth. "Even if the 400 additional cubes had been brought to Haigerloch to use within that reactor experiment, the German scientists would have still needed more heavy water to make the reactor work. Despite being the birthplace of nuclear physics and having nearly a two-year head start on American efforts, there was no imminent threat of a nuclear Germany by the end of the war."

Another important aspect of Koeth and Hiebert's work is an effort to track down the cubes recovered from Haigerloch that ended up being shipped to the U.S. "Cubes were distributed to various individuals around the country," Hiebert explained. "We don't know how many were handed out or what happened to the rest, but there are likely more cubes hiding in basements and offices around the country, and we'd like to find them!"

Many questions remain unanswered, and chief among them are: How many of these cubes still exist, and what has happened to them?

"We hope to speak to as many people as possible who've had contact with these cubes," said Hiebert. "As much as we've learned about our cube and others like it, we still don't have an answer about how exactly it ended up in Maryland 70 years after being captured by Allied forces in southern Germany."

Koeth and Hiebert are also trying to learn more about the fate of the other 400 cubes that ended up on the black market in Europe after the war.

Many questions remain unanswered, and chief among them are: How many of these cubes still exist, and what has happened to them? Physics Today helped track down a few; read more at https:/ / physicstoday. scitation. org/ do/ 10. 1063/ PT. 6. 4. 20190501a/ full/ .

###

The article, "Tracking the journey of a uranium cube," by Timothy Koeth and Miriam Hiebert, appears in the May 2019 issue of Physics Today. See https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1063/ PT. 3. 4202 .

ABOUT PHYSICS TODAY

Physics Today, the flagship publication of the American Institute of Physics, is the most influential and closely followed physics magazine in the world. See https:/ / physicstoday. scitation. org/ journal/ pto .

This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Polls shows Pete Buttigieg, relatively unknown until just a couple of months ago, tied with Bernie Sanders for second place in New Hampshire behind Joe Biden in the presidential race.

Massachusetts is another state that is showing Buttigieg a lot of support. At a grassroots fundraiser at the Somerville Theater Tuesday, the surprise guest was Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Pete.

Chasten Buttigieg took photos and shook hands with those waiting in the long line formed hours before the event began.

"At this point, I'm thinking I'm with him," one attendee said of Pete Buttigieg.

"I feel that he's got appeal and an understanding of some of the problems that exist in the industrial Midwest," said another.

The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, now one of the hottest 2020 candidates, had a full day in the Boston area  his third trip to Boston this month  including two other fundraisers, both organized by event planner Bryan Rafanelli, a friend to both the Clintons and Obamas. A luncheon in the Back Bay raised about $100,000.

Attendee Jack Wofford says Buttigieg has wide appeal to young and old as a Rhodes Scholar, a Navy intelligence officer and a mayor.

"I think his candidacy is fascinating and exciting, and has huge potential," Wofford said. "Being gay is just one aspect of himself, as it is for me."

"It's time for the next generation to take the lead in this country," said Senate Ways and Means Chair Mike Rodrigues at the luncheon.

Buttigieg had one last fundraiser in Boston, at a private home in the South End.
President Donald Trump made a live call to Boston Herald Radio Wednesday to criticize some potential 2020 opponents and Massachusetts prosecutors fighting to keep immigration officers from arresting people at courthouses.

Trump called into the Adriana Cohen Show, first answering questions about Democrats' response to the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. During the interview, Trump slammed Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden, both running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"I think that they are very devastated cause they looked at the report and there was absolutely no collusion, and there's no obstruction either, and they were hoping against hope, because that's the only way they could maybe get lucky," he said.

The president called the investigation an "embarrassment."

"This should never happen to another president. This should never happen to a country again. And when people look back in 50 years, in 100 years, I hope that they'll say, 'We're never going to do that. We're never going to do that.' No, what happened here is really disgraceful," Trump said. "It's an embarassment to our country. And a lot more is being learned and a lot more will be learned."

Cohen responded that "all of the collusion that took place was, you know, by Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and a bunch of Democrats and dirty cops at the FBI."

The host asked Trump his thoughts on Warren's calls for the resignation of Attorney General William Barr over his interpretation of the Mueller report.

"She defrauded the public for a long time, and you know, she should really be the one to resign, because she, hence the name 'Pocahontas,' I mean, she has, she has gone through colleges and gotten jobs and gotten in, and all because she supposedly had Indian blood, and then it turned out that wasn't true," Trump said. "That's a terrible thing to even suggest, because he is a very, very high quality person."

Cohen asked Trump if he saw Biden as the most difficult Democrat to beat in his re-election campaign.

"He's a sleepy man. But I just don't know. I mean, who knows, really, who can, you know, do the best. In many ways, I like him. He's not as smart as Bernie [Sanders], and he's not as quick, but he's got different views, a little bit, I guess," Trump said. "But they're all pretty heavy leaning left, including him. So I don't know."

The president went on to slam the International Association of Firefighters for supporting Biden. Trump spent part of Wednesday making dozens of retweets of users claiming firefighters supported him and not Biden.

"I know the unions, they're dues-sucking people. They just want their dues, and they couldn't care less," Trump said. "There was outrage by firefighters when a union, you know, one of the bigger unions, endorsed Sleepy Joe."

Cohen also asked Trump his stance on the controversy surrounding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement making arrests in courthouses. A Newton judge was recently indicted after allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade ICE agents, and two Democratic prosecutors  Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins and Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan  have announced a lawsuit against ICE.

"These are 'bad hombres,' and ICE needs to be able to do their job, and this one DA, Rachael Rollins, is really bravado, she's like, 'Oh, come get me, come and arrest me if you want,'" said Cohen. "How do you think the U.S. Attorney here in Massachusetts should handle this?"

"I think that it's a sad situation, and very unfortunate for Massachusetts, a great place that I know very well, so many friends up there," Trump said. "These are people that probably don't mind crime, they don't mind what's going on."

The host agreed with the president's assertion that MS-13 is the world's greatest force of evil.

"If you look at MS-13, they say in the world, there's nothing more evil. These are some very, very bad people," Trump said.

"That's right," Cohen responded.

NBC10 Boston reached out to the district attorneys. Neither had any comment about Trump's remarks.
A judge has delivered a guilty verdict against a Wiscasset woman in a 4-year-old girl's death that led to scrutiny of Maine's child welfare system.

Justice William Stokes on Tuesday announced that 44-year-old Shawna Gatto is guilty of depraved indifference murder in the fatal beating of Kendall Chick.

"Miss Gatto's assertion that Kendalls injuries were self-inflicted or the result of a series of accidents or both is inherently incredible," said Stokes.

Gatto asked for the emotionally charged testimony to be heard by the judge, not a jury.

"If you have a child or you're responsible for caring for a child you do not hit that child, you do not kill that child," said Assistant Attorney General, Donald Macomber. "If you kill that child, you're going to spend the rest of your life, a good portion of the rest of your life behind bars."

Witnesses testified the youngster's body was covered with bruises and one of her eyes was swollen shut when responders discovered her lifeless body in December 2017.

"Kendall's head was literally smashed into the wall of her bedroom with such force the drywall was broken," said Stokes. "Such conduct can only be described as torture."

Chick was placed in the care of Gatto and her fiance, who was Chick's grandfather, by Maine's child welfare agency. Changes were adopted by the agency after the high-profile deaths of Chick and a 10-year-old girl in Stockton Springs.

Phillip Cohen, Gatto's attorney, said they plan to look at their options.

"Obviously we're disappointed but we have to respect the court's decision and now we have to move on and look at all our appeal options," said Cohen.
What to Know Mathew Borges, 18, was indicted in the murder of his 16-year-old classmate, Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino, who was found decapitated.

Prosecutors said on Monday that Borges, who was 15 at the time of the murder, killed the victim out of an act of jealousy.

The defense argued there is no evidence that links the suspect to the murder.

Testimony continued Wednesday on Day 3 of the trial of a Massachusetts teen accused of beheading a classmate over jealousy, with witnesses saying

Mathew Borges, 18, is charged with the murder of 16-year-old Lawrence High School classmate Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino back in 2016. The victims headless body was discovered by someone walking their dog along the banks of the Merrimack River. His head was found nearby.

Prosecutors said surveillance video shows Borges walking toward the river with the victim on the night of his death. A short time later, four people were seen breaking into Viloria-Paulino's home. Prosecutors said those people are friends of Borges who later told investigators he had admitted to killing Viloria-Paulino.



On Wednesday, a witness testified that Borges told him he killed Viloria-Paulino and cut off his head. When asked if he told the witness why he beheaded the victim, the witness said the defendant told him he did it so he "wouldn't be caught."



Next, Angel Betancourt, one of the four who allegedly broke into the victim's home and stole items while prosecutors say the defendant was at the river, testified that "the plan was to go into Lee's house and take some stuff." He said the goal was simply to separate the victim from the house.



Betancourt also testified that after they completed the theft, the group got a call from Borges who told them "My hands are bloody. He came at me the wrong way so I had to do what I had to do."

Defense attorneys questioned both witnesses about why they originally lied to the police about their involvement and why they did not keep what they stole.



Later in the day, jurors heard a redacted audio recording of Borges' interview with Lawrence Police Officer John Heggarty.



On the recording, which is from two days before Viloria-Paulino's body was found, Borges said he went with him to the river to smoke on the day he went missing. He said he left before the victim did and that this was the last time he saw him.



Police say on the recording that Borges's story "doesn't make sense."



An hour into the recording, the trial stopped for the day. The jury wil hear the rest at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Tuesday was an emotional day of testimony for relatives of Viloria-Paulino, some grimacing as jurors listened to a state police trooper describing how he found the bag containing Viloria-Paulino's head floating in the Merrimack River.

State police Sgt. Brian O'Neill described how he saw a plastic Market Basket bag bobbing in the river and pulled it to shore using a stick. He opened the bag using sticks and found another bag with rocks inside.

"At that point I opened it up just enough where I could notice an ear," he said.

Jurors also saw gruesome pictures of the scene after hearing from the man who found the body while out walking his dog.

"As I approached I saw [the dog] sniffing at a particular area and when I looked I thought I saw a dead body but I wasn't sure because it was missing some limbs," Omar Medina of Lawrence said.

Jurors heard from the victim's uncle, Samuel Paulino, who said the family was frantically searching for Viloria-Paulino all weekend after he didn't come home.

Viloria-Paulino's grandmother, Ivelisse Cornelle, broke down when she talked about the last meal she made him and how he would always hug and kiss her and say, "Grandmother, I love you."

Prosecutors said during opening statements Monday that the murder of Viloria-Paulino was fueled by jealousy. They said Borges would get angry with his classmate when his then-girlfriend would speak to the victim.

Viloria-Paulino's headless body was discovered by a man walking his dog along the banks of the Merrimack River on Dec. 1, 2016. Prosecutors said the victim's hands had also been cut off and that his head was found nearby in a bag weighted down with rocks.

He was last seen alive on Nov. 18, 2016. The boys family said police never took the case seriously after they reported the victim missing two weeks before his decapitated body was found.

Prosecutors read Monday from a journal entry written by Borges that they said outlines the crime. "Go chill with him in his crib alone... bring duffel bag, wear bags on shoes, wear clothes you don't care about."

The defense, however, have argued that Borges is only guilty of being involved in the break-in and nothing more. They said there is no evidence he killed Viloria-Paulino.

The defense also said prosecutors are trying to escalate Borges' jealousy to murder. They also said he was in the early stages of dating a new girl.

Borges was 15 years old at the time of the killing, according to authorities. He is now being tried as an adult. He was ordered held without bail during a hearing on March 2017.






Vermont employers are turning to a growing applicant base to fill vacancies: people in recovery from substance use disorders.

The Burlington company Edlund, a manufacturer of professional-grade kitchen equipment like tongs, heavy-duty can openers, scales and slicers makes it a point to consider people in recovery for open positions.

"Im taking steps to better my life," said Hunter Stetson, an Edlund employee who added that he appreciates the second chance the company gave him.

Stetson is in recovery from alcohol use disorder, and used to dabble in some drugs, too, he said. When necn interviewed him the last week in April, he said he was nine months sober and living in a sober house.

"I had no joy or purpose or meaning in life, really, and I didnt feel good about myself," Stetson recalled, describing the time he spent abusing alcohol and drugs. "I knew I wasnt doing the right thing, but I just couldnt stop."

Stetson added that he does find joy and purpose in his life nowincluding through his job at Edlund.

Chuck Hafter is an employment counselor at the Turning Point Center of Chittenden County, a substance-free space supporting people through all stages of recovery.

"Theres been a big change in the past several years in Vermont," Hafter observed of the culture around hiring people in recovery.

Grants from the state labor and health departments have Hafter working with Turning Points guests to address possible gaps in their resumes and build interview skills.

Hafter sends people to mostly entry-level and just-above entry level positions, he said, and connected Stetson to Edlund.

"A lot of people go out and get jobs and they dont want to pay taxesthey hate it," Hafter said. "A lot of my people go out and get jobs and they say, 'I'm contributing to my community now!'"

Hafter acknowledged some work may simply not be the right fit for folks with certain criminal offenses from when they were using drugs.

However, the job counselor said many positionsincluding cooking and kitchen workare open to the full range of job-seekers.

Tammy Bushell, Edlund's head of human resources, said the low unemployment rate in the Burlington area means she would likely still have vacancies if she didnt embrace applicants from the recovery community, referred by Turning Point.

"This is a chance for them to start over," Bushell said of the handful of workers she recently hired from Hafters referrals, including Stetson.

When asked if some companies may still be uncomfortable with the idea of hiring people in recovery, Bushell agreed.

"I would say they're missing a great opportunity for some great people," the hiring manager countered.

Edlund even helped design a toolkit that soon will be made available to employers statewide, providing them with resources on hiring people in recovery.

Later this month, the Chittenden County Opioid Alliance plans to launch the toolkit, calling it "instrumental" for employers to learn about substance use disorders and how to hire and retain people who have them.

The CCOA also plans to give presentations about the toolkit and second-chance hiring practices at two business conferences in the Burlington area this month, the group said in a recent newsletter.

Jolinda LaClair, Gov. Phil Scotts director of drug prevention policy, predicted that toolkit, with information on accommodating workers and understanding specific health care needs, will be a boost for companies that have struggled to find and retain employees.

"We believe the contributions can be significant," LaClair said of the potential for people in recovery to join the states workforce in greater numbers. "Vermont has a workforce problem, and people in recovery need a job. This is a win-win for the state of Vermont."

As for Hunter Stetson, he said he hopes to move up the ranks at Edlund, adding that he is grateful for the faith his bosses placed in him.

"I know that, right now, Im on the right path, and Im glad they took a chance on me, for sure," Stetson said.
Kansas' highest court declared for the first time Friday that the state constitution protects abortion rights, a sweeping ruling that blocks a ban on a common second trimester method for ending pregnancies and endangers other restrictions as well.

The state Supreme Court's decision immediately roiled Kansas politics. Abortion opponents called for amending the state constitution but might wait to push for a change until next year, when all state lawmakers face voters.

The court's decision was a big victory for abortion rights supporters in a state with a Republican-controlled Legislature long hostile to their cause. It also comes with other, GOP-controlled states moving to ban most abortions in direct challenges to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortions across the nation.

"I'm beyond elated," said Julie Burkart, CEO and founder of the Trust Women Foundation, which operates a clinic providing abortions in Wichita. "This is what we were hoping for."

The decision prevents the state from enforcing what was a first-in-the-nation 2015 law that could have greatly limited second trimester abortions. But even worse for abortion opponents, the ruling clears the way for legal challenges to a string of abortion restrictions approved by state lawmakers under Republican governors before last year's election of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, an abortion rights supporter.

"It's very extreme," said Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, the state's most influential anti-abortion group. "It's as bad as we could have imagined it and has potential to overturn pro-life laws."

The court's majority said vague language protecting "equal and inalienable rights" in the first section of the Kansas Constitution's Bill of Rights grants a "natural right of personal autonomy" that includes the right to "control one's own body" and to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.

The 6-1 majority rejected the state's arguments that there is no protection for abortion rights because most abortions were illegal in Kansas Territory when the state constitution was written in 1859. The majority said at the time, women faced a "paternalistic attitude" and a lack of recognition that they had the same rights as men.

"True equality of opportunity in the full range of human endeavor is a Kansas constitutional value, and it cannot be met if the ability to seize and maximize opportunity is tethered to prejudices from two centuries ago," the unsigned majority opinion said.

The court also declared that restrictions on abortion will face strict scrutiny, so the state must show that a law is narrowly drawn to deal with a "compelling" interest. That's higher than the U.S. Supreme Court's standard that under the federal constitution, restrictions must avoid placing an undue burden on a woman's access to abortion.

The Kansas court's dissenter was Justice Caleb Stegall, the only appointee of a conservative Republican governor. The court's two most senior justices were appointed by a moderate Republican, and four by a Democrat. Conservative Republicans have long complained that the court is too liberal  and Kansans for Life tried in 2016 to oust four of the justices in Friday's majority when voters ultimately decided that they should stay on the bench for another six years.

Stegall declared that "an important right of self-government has been stolen away" from Kansans residents and derided the majority for suggesting that "luminaries of the western legal tradition" would support "nearly unfettered abortion access."

"In this imagined world, the Liberty Bell rings every time a baby in utero loses and arm," Stegall wrote.

Top Republican legislators also quickly condemned the decision, saying it was out of step with the state's values.

Legislators could pursue a constitutional amendment after they reconvene Wednesday following an annual spring break. However, GOP leaders had wanted to wrap up business within a week, and Culp said Kansans for Life wants to make sure it is "as organized and strategic and successful" as possible for a push to amend the constitution.

The decision Friday came two years after the Kansas court heard arguments from attorneys, an unusually long delay for a ruling. Iowa's Supreme Court issued a similar decision in 2018.

Kelly said she is pleased that the court has recognized a woman's right to "make her own medical decisions." Burkhart said Trust Women will be considering what other restrictions can be challenged.

In previous cases, Kansas' highest court avoided the question of whether the state constitution protects abortion rights, allowing U.S. Supreme Court decisions to determine what restrictions would be allowed.

But when two providers sued over the 2015 law, a state district court judge blocked its enforcement and declared that the Kansas Constitution protects abortion rights.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court for a trial on the lawsuit but kept the judge's injunction in place, saying the providers are likely to succeed in invalidating the law.

The law would bar physicians from using forceps or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces, using the non-medical term "dismemberment abortion" to describe the procedure. Such instruments are commonly used in dilation and evacuation procedure, which the Center for Reproductive Rights has described as the safest and most common abortion procedure in the U.S. in the second trimester.

The Kansas law was model legislation drafted by the National Right to Life Committee. The group says similar bans have been enacted in 10 other states  Oklahoma, West Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio and North Dakota.

Abortion providers reported performing 484 dilation and evacuation procedures in Kansas in 2018, according to state health department statistics. That was 6.9% of the state's total abortions; most pregnancies were terminated during the first trimester.

Associated Press Writer Roxana Hegeman contributed.
Youd almost think Id get tired of writing this story over and over and over but the ongoing growth of cloud computing is too big a trend to ignore.

Critically, the impressive growth numbers of the three leading cloud infrastructure providersAmazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platformdoesnt occur in a vacuum. Its not just about new workloads being run in the cloud; its also about more and more enterprises moving existing workloads to the cloud from on-premises data centers.

To put these trends in perspective, lets take a look at the results for all three vendors.

AWS keeps on trucking

AWS remains by far the dominant player in the cloud infrastructure market, with a massive $7.7 billion in quarterly sales (an annual run rate of a whopping $30.8 billion). Even more remarkable, somehow AWS continues to grow revenue by almost 42% year over year. Oh, and that kind of growth is not just unique this quarter; the unit has topped 40% revenue growth every quarter since the beginning of 2017. (To be fair, the first quarter of 2018 saw an amazing 49% revenue growth.)

And unlike many fast-growing tech companies, that incredible expansion isnt being fueled by equally impressive losses. AWS earned a healthy $2.2 billion operating profit in the quarter, up 59% from the same period last year. One reason? The company told analysts it made big data center investments in 2016 and 2017, so it hasnt had to do so more recently (it expects to boost spending on data centers later this year). The company reportedly described AWS revenue growth as lumpy, but it seems to me that the numbers merely vary between huge and even bigger.

Microsoft Azure grows even faster than AWS

Sure, 41% growth is good, but Microsofts quarterly Azure revenue almost doubled that, jumping 73% year over year (fairly consistent with the previousalso stellarquarter), helping the company exceed estimates for both sales and revenue and sparking a brief shining moment of a $1 billion valuation for the company. Microsoft doesnt break out Azures sales and revenue, but the commercial cloud business, which includes Azure as well as other cloud businesses, grew 41% in the quarter to $9.6 billion.

Its impossible to tell exactly how big Azure is, but it appears to be growing faster than AWS, though off a much smaller base. While some analysts reportedly say Azure is growing faster than AWS was at a similar stage in its development, that may not bear much significance because the addressable cloud market is now far larger than it used be.

According to the New York Times, like AWS, Microsoft is also now reaping the benefits of heavy investments in new data centers around the world. And the Times credits Microsoft with particular success in hybrid cloud installations, helping ease concerns among some slow-to-change enterprise about full-scale cloud adoption.

[ Also read: Why hybrid cloud will turn out to be a transition strategy ]

Can Google Cloud Platform keep up?

Even as the overall quarterly numbers for AlphabetGoogles parent companydidnt meet analysts revenue expectations (which sent the stock tumbling), Google Cloud Platform seems to have continued its strong growth. Alphabet doesnt break out its cloud unit, but sales in Alphabets Other Revenue categorywhich includes cloud computing along with hardwarejumped 25% compared to the same period last year, hitting $5.4 billion.

More telling, perhaps, Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat reportedly told analysts that "Google Cloud Platform remains one of the fastest growing businesses in Alphabet." Porat also mentioned that hiring in the cloud unit was so aggressive that it drove a 20% jump in Alphabets operating expenses!

Companies keep going cloud

But the raw numbers tell only part of the story. All that growth means existing customers are spending more, but also that ever-increasing numbers of enterprises are abandoning their hassle and expense of running their data centers in favor of buying what they need from the cloud.

[ Also read: Large enterprises abandon data centers for the cloud ]

The New York Times quotes Amy Hood, Microsofts chief financial officer, explaining that, You dont really get revenue growth unless you have a usage growth, so this is customers deploying and using Azure. And the Times notes that Microsoft has signed big deals with companies such as Walgreens Boots Alliance that combined Azure with other Microsoft cloud-based services.

This growth is true in existing markets, and also includes new markets. For example, AWS just opened new regions in Indonesia and Hong Kong.
Previous rating said school 'required improvement'

KINTBURY Pre-school has been rated as good by the education watchdog, Ofsted.

This is a one-step jump from its previous requires improvement rating in September 2018.

The new good rating follows an unannounced inspection in March.

The pre-school, based in the Preston Hall in Gainsborough Avenue, has places for 26 children aged between two and four.

Ofsted inspector Tracy Bartholomew said in a report that the new manager has made some very positive changes to the pre-school since the last inspection.

Ms Bartholomew added: For example, all childrens learning is now observed and tracked, and next steps in learning are effectively planned for, which supports good outcomes for children.

Staff set up and provide a welcoming environment for the children to learn and play.

Children are happy and settled at the pre-school and enjoy the vast range of activities which staff provide to support their ongoing learning and development.

Children are confident and have clearly built some positive relationships with staff and other children.

For instance, they take turns and enjoy comfort with staff when needed.

The report went on: Partnerships with parents are good.

For example, staff welcome parents at the door to gain valuable feedback about the childrens previous evening, to support continuity of care.

However, the inspection also identified areas for improvement.

Inspectors found that at times, some staff do not give children enough time to think and respond to questions to develop their own ideas: on occasions, some staff do not help children to understand why rules are in place, to help them learn and understand the reasoning for boundaries within the pre-school.

Also, the committee and manager do not reflect effectively to help them identify and target all areas for improvement.

Overall, the pre-school was rated good in effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare and outcomes for children.

The report stated that, in order to improve further, the pre-school needs to create more opportunities to challenge childrens thinking skills to encourage them to come up with their own ideas: build on childrens understanding about the reasons for rules to help them develop a greater understanding of why these are in place and develop reflection methods further to identify and address all areas of weakness, to improve the quality of the provision.
WASHINGTON  Sen. Chris Murphy has returned from a five-day trip to the Middle East with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney with the sense that Israels Muslim neighbors have low expectations for the Trump administrations peace plan for the region, which has yet to be unveiled.

But with low expectations comes opportunity, Murphy said.

Murphy and Romney, a former GOP presidential candidate, met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. They also spoke separately, by phone, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was reelected last month.

Murphy said it felt to be a very odd time in Israel since the Trump peace plan, called the deal of the century by the Israelis, is an unknown.

White House senior adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is in charge of the project, has said the peace plan will be unveiled sometime after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends June 5.

That plan, however, may not include the two-state solution that would give Palestinians full statehood. The two-state solution has been rejected by Netanyahu, who has pledged to begin annexing illegal Israeli Jewish settlements that stretch deep into the West Bank.

Theres anxiety in the region that [the two-state solution] is slipping away, Murphy said. Yet I dont know that theres a better answer.

Murphy criticized the Palestinian leadership for rejecting U.S. aid and for making payments to the widows and children of terrorists killed in action.

The senators also visited Iraq and Jordan.

Murphy said Iraq is actively looking for new business partners, especially to develop its rich oil and natural gas reserves. Both senators said they hoped Saudi Arabia would form business alliances with Iraq.

Murphy said the United States should prod Riyadh. I imagine there are some chits it can call in, he said.

Romney said a partnership between Saudi Arabia and Iraq should be like two magnets coming together.

During their visit to Jordan, Murphy said there is concern the Trump peace plan would cause unrest. Everybody is guessing whats in it, he said.
To the Editor:

The proposed Region 12 budget forecasts an education cost of $30,000 per student  the highest cost per pupil in Connecticut. Let us identify a few areas that should result in budget reductions.

Is it necessary to have both a middle school principal ($149,085 salary) for 157 students, plus a high school principal ($168,549) for 238 students?

Each principal has a secretary with a salary of $50,000.

In addition, the business office (total salaries of $291,559) has three clerical people and a full-time business manager.

The guidance office, with salaries totaling $354,264, consists of two certified educators and a clerk providing assistance for only 400 students.

This level of administrative overhead does not seem appropriate for our small school district.

In addition, we were sold on removing block scheduling to facilitate sharing of teaching staff between middle school and high school.

There has been no reduction in administrators for decades.

Five years ago, the clerical staff was forecast at 17.5, it is now expected to be 16.9.

In the past Region 12 has had difficulty distinguishing between wants and needs.

On May 7, a no vote gives the superintendent an opportunity to formulate a new budget by pruning overdue administrative overhead.

Ed Wainwright

Bridgewater
Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust, which serves the Greater New Milford area, will offer a variety of events in the coming days and weeks.

Offerings will include a Smyrski Farm bird walk with Angela Dimmitt May 4 and June 6 from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. each day at the farm, 238 Merryall Road; a program with Dr. Carole Cheah, an entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, about stressors, including the hemlock woolly adelgid, and their impacts on eastern hemlock health in the context of a rapidly changing climate May 14 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Gunn Memorial Library on Wykeham Road in Washington; a trail work day May 3 at Weantinoges Kahn Preserve and New Milfords Nostrand Preserve May 3 and at the Alice McAllister Memorial Sanctuary near Mud Pond May 18.
To the Editor:

One of the many positive aspects of living and working in a small town is the community support.

This was abundantly clear when the workers at Stop & Shop went on strike.

Support for the workers was overwhelming, whether it was loyal customers, or people that live in the town.

The many prizes, gallons of coffee, dozens of doughnuts and snacks, as well as the many bottles of water and multiple grinders that the community brought to the picket line was greatly appreciated by all.

The outpouring of community support, as well as the willingness of the customers to shop somewhere else, were the most important aspects to the success of the strike.

We all appreciate the sacrifices the community made on our behalf, and we are extremely grateful.

Phil Extance

Steward for UFCW Local 919

Stop & Shop New Milford
In the United States, the number of cases of vaccine-preventable viral disease measles is on a 25-year record high. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main reason behind this is inadequate vaccination of the general population. Spread of misinformation regarding vaccine safety is to be blamed for inadequate vaccination of the population says the agency.

15 months, held by her mother, being administered her first dose of mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Image Credit: UNICEF/UN0201055/Krepkih

The report from the CDC says that most of the cases of measles encountered are among children who have not been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine (that covers against measles, mumps and rubella or German measles infection). According to US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar this rise in number of cases was completely avoidable. Parents refusing to vaccinate their children with the MMR vaccine are termed as the anti-vaxxers and have been linked to over 390 cases of measles since October last year say the officials.

According to the latest report from the CDC, there have been 704 cases in the states since January this year (the number confirmed up until last Friday the 26th of April 2019). This makes 2019 the worst year for measles since 1994, they add. They speculate the numbers to be worse with eight more months to go this year. Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement, The suffering we are seeing today is completely avoidable. We know vaccines are safe because they're among some of the most studied medical products we have.

Dr Jonathan Fielding, former head of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health explained, Many parents are afraid. If you want to believe your kid doesn't need that many shots, there's plenty of places to find people who agree with you. He added, It's not so easy to discern what is real and what is not, explaining the connections made on social media by antivaxxers between measles vaccine and autism.

At present over 390 cases of measles have been seen in New York City since last October and this has been concentrated among children in Orthodox Jewish Communities in Brooklyn that refuse to vaccinate their children. New York City health commissioner Dr Oxiris Barbot in a statement said, This outbreak is being fuelled by a small group of anti-vaxxers in these neighbourhoods.

Measles infection is also brought into the country by travellers say the officials. People with fever, runny noses, rash and cough travelling to the country bring in the infection that affects unvaccinated populations, they explain. In 2018 over 82 people brought in the measles infection while travelling from other countries. The number has crossed 40 this year in just 4 months, the CDC warns. Most common countries from where infections have reached the US include Ukraine, Israel and the Philippines.

CDC Vaccine Director Dr. Nancy Messonnier in her statement said, Measles is imported when an unvaccinated traveller visits a country where there is widespread measles transmission, gets infected with measles and returns to the United States. That traveller then exposes people in their community who are not vaccinated. 44 cases so far this year were directly imported from other countries. Among the 44 internationally imported measles cases over 90% were in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. The recent outbreak started through what we call importation, she said.

Very few individuals with measles tend to develop complications such as pneumonias and other life threatening complications that require hospitalization. In the recent outbreaks of measles, there have been no deaths reported yet. However 3 percent of those infected have been hospitalized with pneumonia and a further 9 percent had to be hospitalized for other complications from measles explained the CDC director Robert Redfield. The CDC adds that at present around 10 percent of the patients in the present outbreak are adults who had received one or two doses of the vaccine. They explain that some adults may require a new dose especially when travelling to regions where outbreaks are taking place.

In a conversation Secretary Azar said, Todays the start of National Infant Immunization Week, an annual observance and opportunity for us to highlight the importance of protecting infants from vaccine-preventable diseases and to celebrate the achievements of immunization programs in promoting healthy communities throughout the United States. This year, were celebrating 25 years of national infant immunization week.

CDC director Robert Redfield added, There are no treatment and no cure for measles and no way to predict how bad a case of measles will be. Some children may have very mild symptoms. Others may face serious complications. He explained, The United States has high rates of vaccination coverage among kindergartners entering school in 2017 about 94% had the recommended two doses of measles, mumps and rubella or the MMR vaccine. That means the majority of parents are making sure their children get vaccinated according to CDCs recommended immunization schedule. Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles. One dose is about 93% effective.

On the issue of travel and importation of the infection Redfield said, ...normally we dont recommend the measles vaccine to begin in infants until 12 months of age. But because of the current situation globally, if infants were to travel, we recommend in their 6 months to 11 months before they would get their 12-month shot, we recommend those infants do get a dose of the MMR vaccine prior to travel.

US President Donald Trump, last week also urged Americans to get vaccinated to prevent the spread of measles. The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now, Trump said last Friday.

Measles in the news

In the UK last year there were 966 confirmed cases of measles. This is a fourfold rise since 2017. The numbers are at an all time high since the 1990s say officials. UNICEF research released last week shows that 2,5 million children in the U.S. did not receive MMR vaccine between 2010 and 2017, followed by France and the United Kingdom, with over 600,000 and 500,000 unvaccinated infants, respectively, during the same period.. The recommended vaccine coverage in the community is over 95 percent. Currently the vaccine coverage under the age of five in England is 88.6 per cent in 2014-15 and 87.2 per cent in 2017-18.

The CDC says that measles is a highly contagious disease. The recommendation is one dose at each of the following ages 

12 through 15 months

4 through 6 years

The recommendation states that before international travel:

Infants 611 months old need 1 dose of measles vaccine

Children 12 months and older need 2 doses separated by at least 28 days

Teenagers and adults who do not have evidence of immunity against measles should get 2 doses separated by at least 28 days

The recommendations also state that most health insurance plans cover the cost of vaccines.
Physicians have defined a new form of dementia that may be more common than Alzheimers disease. The findings were published in the latest issue of the journal Brain and involved researchers from around the world, including the United States, Australia, Austria, Sweden, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Semnic | Shutterstock

The researchers have named the new condition LATE, which stands for Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy. LATE is slower to progress than Alzheimers disease, but the two conditions show similar symptoms. There may, however, be further, undiscovered effects of LATE on the brain compared to Alzheimers disease.

The team explain that in some persons both conditions may coexist. In these individuals, there may be a faster and more marked decline in the cognitive abilities than when either of the conditions are present in isolation.

Overhauling the concept of dementia

The paper says that the newly defined condition is speculated to have an expanding but under-recognized impact on public health. The team hopes that this study would spur research looking into this disease that generally affects people aged 80 and above.

Lead author Dr. Peter Nelson, director of neuropathology at the University of Kentucky Medical Center said, We're really overhauling the concept of what dementia is.

The researchers explain that the disease and its diagnosis did not appear suddenly. Instead, evidence has been building up for many years. There were always cases and reports that described symptoms which did not fit into any of the known types of dementia, with experts saying that no single form of dementia could explain certain symptoms. While some people lost their language abilities first, others lost their memories and experienced personality changes instead.

LATE affects the limbic area of the brain, through a protein TDP-43. Protein misfolding is not uncommon in neurodegenerative diseases, as emphasized by the involvement of the proteins tau and amyloid in Alzheimers disease.

In LATE, TDP-43 is misfolded and modified. It is most commonly observed in regions where Alzheimer's-associated proteins are not found. Experts say that the protein itself, as well as its location, is what defines the condition as different to Alzheimers and other forms of dementia.

The whole elephant

TDP is known to be implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). This association has been established for a decade now.

Dr. Peter Nelson says that LATE is a disease that's 100 times more common than [ALS or FTLD), and nobody knows about it. The authors speculate that around 20 to 50 percent of the people aged over 80 years have significant brain changes that are associated with LATE, and the prevalence of this condition rises with age.

People have, in their own separate bailiwicks, found different parts of the elephant. But this is the first place where everybody gets together and says, 'This is the whole elephant.' Dr. Peter Nelson

Up until now, clinical trials for drugs against Alzheimers disease have shown little to no success. This could be because a sizable portion of the participants could be suffering from LATE rather than Alzheimers disease.

Recent research and clinical trials in Alzheimer's disease have taught us two things: First, not all of the people we thought had Alzheimer's have it; second, it is very important to understand the other contributors to dementia. Nina Silverberg from the National Institute on Aging

However, opinion on this matter is divided: I'm sure it plays some part, but maybe not as much as one might think at first, said Silverberg.

We could go back and screen all the people that had failed their Alzheimer's disease therapies. But what we really need to do is go forward and try to get these people out of the Alzheimer's clinical trials - and instead get them into their own clinical trials, said Nelson.

The new study could act as a roadmap in research in dementia, but this is not likely to happen soon: It's probably going to take years and research participants to help us understand all of that, said Silverberg.

Promoting awareness

Authors have identified five genes that increase the risk of LATE. These include, LATE-NC: GRN, TMEM106B, ABCC9, KCNMB2, and APOE. The pathogenetic mechanisms associated with LATE are similar to that of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimers disease.

It is now hoped that the study will pave the way for research into late, with the authors encouraging awareness: It is important to promote awareness in multiple scientific areas and to focus on translational and interdisciplinary approaches.

What is TDP-43?

TDP-43, also known as transactive response DNA binding protein of 43 kDa, is a protein that usually helps in regulation of gene expression in the brain and other tissues. Recent studies have revealed that misfolded forms of this protein can be found in as many as 25% of adults over 85 years of age. Misfolding of TDP-43 leads to alterations in memory and cognitive abilities, much like Alzheimers and dementia.

When looking at TDP-43 aggregates (clumps), the team noted that it was present either only at the amygdala region of the brain (Stage 1 LATE), in the amygdala and the hippocampus (Stage 2 of LATE) or in the amygdala, hippocampus and middle frontal gyrus (Stage 3 of LATE).

The hippocampus is the area of the brain responsible for memory and learning. Misfolded TDP-43 protein has been seen to cause sclerosis or hardening and cell death in the reason of the hippocampus. This is accompanied by hippocampal shrinking. This pathology is associated with AD.

Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) Summit 2019 will soon take place, where it is almost certain that LATE and TDP-43 will feature as an emerging topic of interest.
Researchers at the University of Sussex have discovered a new genetic defect which causes a form of intellectual disability; a finding that will improve screening programmes and help to end a 'diagnostic odyssey' for families across the globe.

'X-linked syndromal intellectual disability' (XLID) affects around 3% of the global population with the underlying genetic mutations being carried and passed on by unaffected females via their X-chromosome (human females possess two copies of the X chromosome, while males only have one).

These 'carrier' mothers have a 50% chance of passing on the mutated genes to their offspring but interestingly, for this form of XLID, symptoms are only observed in males. These can include behavioural issues, stunted growth, and smaller than average brains and testes.

Up until now, researchers had identified 141 genes thought to cause XLID but there are still many cases of unknown genetic cause.

In a paper published in the prestigious American Journal of Human Genetics, Professor Mark O'Driscoll from the Genome Damage and Stability Centre at the University of Sussex and Professor Hilde Van Esch from the Center for Human Genetics, University Hospitals Leuven and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium have identified a new gene defect, which will help clinicians around the world accurately diagnose further cases of XLID.

Professor of Human Molecular Genetics, Mark O'Driscoll said: "We worked with teams from England, Scotland, Belgium, Estonia, America and Australia to obtain blood cells from five unrelated families that had a strikingly similar form of syndromal XLID of unknown cause.

"By using a variety of sophisticated and state-of-the art DNA sequencing technologies, together we've been able to identify multiple distinct mutations in a single gene that causes the syndrome in each of these families.

"This is a completely new gene target which can now be incorporated into existing screening programmes worldwide to aid future diagnoses and accurate genetic counselling along with patient management."

The gene identified makes a fundamental component of the machinery our cells use to replicate their DNA during cell division, called "DNA Polymerase a-primase [alpha-primase]".

This was an unexpected finding as it was assumed that any impairment to this function would be incompatible with life.

Therefore, the researchers faced the challenge of proving that the mutations found in the affected individuals did impair DNA Polymerase a-primase function [alpha-primase] but without destroying it completely.

This was facilitated by analysing cells from the patients' blood using a recently developed complex technique called "DNA Fibre Combing".

Here, individual DNA strands are painstakingly isolated on specially formulated microscope slides, following staining with chemical markers, enabling the researchers to monitor different aspects of the DNA replication process at a minute level.

While they were surprised to find that the rate of cell division was unaffected, the highly sensitive analysis conducted by the Sussex team showed that several replication parameters of the DNA molecules from these cells were highly problematic.

Professor O'Driscoll said: "My colleague and initiator of this project Hilde Van Esch, has treated affected members of one of these families for over 20 years without knowing their precise genomic defect, which illustrates the scale of the 'diagnostic odyssey' families with these conditions often face.

"Our work not only provides this family with clarity, but it also means that other researchers and clinicians around the world can review their cases of genetically undiagnosed XLID and check for the existence of this specific gene defect."

Worldwide, there is an ongoing and significant effort to determine the underlying causes of all forms of genetic disease. In the United Kingdom this effort is spearheaded by NHS and Genomics England through the "100,000 Genomes project".

Thanks to this new discovery, screening programmes for XLID can now be expanded to include this newly discovered mutation helping solve undiagnosed cases.


The BJP's no-loan waiver policy for farmers will not have any political impact in Haryana in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, according to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who believes that such schemes only make hardworking people lethargic. Khattar, who is the first BJP chief minister of Haryana, also says that Congress's Nyay scheme has no shadow budget and can only be implemented if all other schemes are closed.



Aam Aadmi Party has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of horse trading. The party has claimed that BJP approached seven of their MLAs and offered money to leave Kejriwal-led party. Addressing a press conference, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai said, "Our seven MLAs have been contacted by BJP and they are being offered Rs 10 crores each to leave AAP. I urge BJP to fight election on issues rather than horse trading."



Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal blamed PM Modi for nomination cancellation of SP's Varanasi candidate Tej Bahadur Yadav. The CM said that first time in history a PM is scared of a young jawan. "Instead of competing with him, he took out technical errors and got the soldier's nomination cancancelled. Modi ji, you got very weak. The jawan has already won," he tweeted.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a poll rally in Ambedkarnagar constituency, claimed that there had been no terror incidents in the last five years, while the situation was similar to Sri Lanka before 2014 as he once again urged voters to elect a majboot government.



Priyanka Gandhi, meanwhile, today hinted at a tactical understanding between the Congress and the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh and said that her party has fielded candidates who will cut the BJP's vote share in seats where Congress is not that strong, and not that of the gathbandhan.



This is the first time since coming to power in 2014 that PM Modi is visiting the area. Though the rally spot is located close to the area between Ayodhya and Ambedkarnagar, Modi has no plans to visit the disputed site of 'Ram Janmabhoomi'.



PM Modi's rally was held in Maya Bazaar area, which is just 25 km from the disputed site. But for the national election, Maya Bazaar falls under the neighbouring Ambedkar Nagar parliamentary seat and not the Faizabad seat.



The Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati are also holding their joint rally at Ram Snehi Ghat, a location that is on the border of Barabanki and Ayodhya districts, 70 km from the temple town.



It is not clear if the location of the rally has been chosen deliberately or if it was a random choice, because the opposition does not want the mandir-masjid (temple-mosque) issue to dominate political discourse.



Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior BJP leaders are expected to accompany the Prime Minister during the rally.



BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told News18, Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Modi had addressed a rally along the Basti and Ayodhya border, but then too, he didnt visit the spot where Ram Lalla was born. This time, also, he would not pay a visit to the Ram Lalla, as wherever the PM goes, members of national and international media accompany him. And if a PM goes to a place where Lord Ram is living in a tent, it wont present a good picture in front of the international media. He will definitely pay a visit once a grand Ram Temple is constructed in Ayodhya.



The PMs rally aims to address voters of Ambedkarnagar, which goes to poll in the sixth phase on May 12, and Faizabad that will vote in the fifth phase on May 6. Ayodhya falls under Faizabad constituency. The rally is also likely to set the tone for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the other UP seats that will see voting on May 6.
The Hanover County production plant of Diannes Fine Desserts is closing, and all 97 employees are being laid off.

The company notified Virginia employment officials on April 26 of the pending closure of the plant at 10440 Leadbetter Road in Hanover Industrial Air Park.

According to the notice, hourly workers will be laid off on June 28, the last day of production. Salaried workers will be laid off by July 31.

Susan Sweeney, Diannes Fine Desserts human resources director, said employees were told of the plant closing last week.

It was a very difficult decision but we had come to this because our largest customer has chosen to discontinue purchasing several of our highest volume products. Without this business, we cant afford to keep the plant open, Sweeney said.

The decision has nothing to do with the quality of work or of the dedication of our employees. They are awesome. They have been actually exemplary, she said.

Eligible employees will receive a severance payment. Sweeney said she hopes to hold jobs fairs internally for the workers.

The Hanover plant made cheesecakes, bar cakes and individually portioned desserts that were sold to chain restaurants and regional food distributors.

The dessert-making enterprise has operated under several owners and iterations, and initially operated in 2000 as the Worlds Best Cheesecake.

In 2004, John Fernandez acquired the cheesecake business and merged it with the dessert-making company he had co-founded in 1998 in Long Island, N.Y. Fernandez relocated his operations from New York to Hanover.

Fernandezs Daystar Desserts business was acquired in 2015 by Massachusetts-based Diannes Fine Desserts.

Im sad to hear it, said Fernandez, who said he has not been involved with the dessert-making company. He said when he sold the business he stayed on for a year and then retired.

I owned it for 17, 18 years, built it out of my moms kitchen and built it up to a great little company. ... I love all the folks there. Its sad. It was my lifes work. Im really sorry to hear that.

He said he still owns the 41,000-square-foot production plant and 2.65 acres of land under the Daystar Holdings LLC name.

Sweeney said Diannes Fine Desserts will continue to operate production plants in suburbs of Boston and Minneapolis.

Employees losing jobs at the Hanover plant include a plant manager, a data analytics manager and managers or assistant managers of various departments, including inventory control, maintenance, procurement and production planning, research and development, warehouse and shift operations, according to the notice filed with the state.

E. Linwood Thomas, Hanovers economic development director, said county and state agencies are working with the company to help the soon-to-be displaced workers find new employment.

That is extremely important to us. We never like to see any industry go out of business. Some of these factors are out of our control, most of them are, Thomas said.

Thomas said the county industrial vacancy rate is below 0.6 percent. I am extremely encouraged that the building will not sit vacant very long, he said.
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The city-wide initiative, known as E.N.O.U.G.H.  Empowering Neighborhoods to Overcome Undesirable behavior Gives us Hope  will hold nine gatherings in city neighborhoods this spring and summer for an hour of community prayer.

Organizers hope the events will help foster cooperation between police and residents  a year after the city saw the largest number of homicides in more than a decade.

The more we can build trust, the more legitimacy we can have in the community, Ryan Zuidema, Lynchburgs police chief, said.

The first event is scheduled to take place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday evening at the Diamond Hill Recreation Center on Monroe Street. The remaining events will be:

 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., May 15, College Hill apartment complex

 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., May 27, Miller Park (Memorial Day celebration)

 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., June 12, Westminster Presbyterian Church

 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., June 26, The Meadows apartment complex

 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., July 10, Millwood apartment complex

 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 24, Birchwood apartment complex

 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Aug 6, Riverfront Park (National Night Out Against Crime)

 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Aug 10, Miller Park (Back to School celebration)

The E.N.O.U.G.H. program originally launched last spring amid a dramatic spike in fatal shootings. Over a four-month span in early 2018, four men were shot to death in two inner-city neighborhoods, matching the entire homicide total from a year earlier. Before the year was up the city would see another four homicides, making 2018 the deadliest year in Lynchburg in more than a decade.

The alarming rate of shootings propelled One Community, One Voice, a community support group made up of police officers and faith leaders, to look for ways to ease the suffering and to help build bridges between residents and law enforcement.

The evening gatherings held last year featured live music, free food and prayer for those living near the center of the violence. They also were frequently attended by city council members, firefighters, sheriffs deputies and officials from the Commonwealths Attorney office, among other community leaders.

Sgt. Jeff Rater, who leads the departments community policing team, said this summers program will offer residents another chance to meet those city leaders and to vocalize their concerns.

The people in these communities need to know who their city officials are, he said.

E.N.O.U.G.H. will also partner with local churches to help lead the pop-up prayer services, according to James Camm, a pastor and co-founder of One Community, One Voice.

We need to encourage the churches to know that getting outside of the four walls is the greatest evangelistic tool you can ever use, he said.

The return of E.N.O.U.G.H. comes as police officials weigh how to approach an increase in crime that generally accompanies the summer months.

Over the past two summers police have activated a special enforcement unit to target areas of the city that experience a pattern of serious crime. The future of the temporary unit, known as the Special Investigations Response Team or SIRT, is now unclear as the department struggles with an officer shortage, according to Zuidema.

As of April, the department is short about 30 officers, which may make fully staffing the six-man unit nearly impossible.

[SIRT is] certainly a need, Zuidema told city council members last month, but it's going to be challenging to do that and if it is done  which we haven't quite been able to come to a final decision on yet  It would certainly be at a much reduced frequency compared to last summer.

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Brace yourself, downtown Lynchburg.

The multi-block Main Street Renewal project is set to begin in earnest in September, with a projected end date of finishing before Thanksgiving 2021.

That was the timeline presented during a public meeting Tuesday evening that drew more than three dozen city officials and downtown stakeholders to the Holiday Inn on Main Street.

The estimated $17 million renewal blueprint is the second phase of the citys downtown water line replacement and streetscape project and will involve work on Main Street between 8th and 12th streets as well as on 10th Street between Church and Main streets.

Appalachian Power Company approached the city last June with an opportunity to partner on updates to underground electrical infrastructure, streetscape improvements and replacement of century-old water lines. APCo will conduct additional work on portions of 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th and 13th streets.

The project will kick off in earnest Sept. 16, according to Water Resources Engineer Jim Talian, who is serving as the citys project manager for the Main Street work. He said the estimated project duration is 24 to 27 months.

Construction will begin in the 800 block of Main Street with construction possible in multiple blocks at the same time over the duration of the project. Talian said he did not have the exact sequence of construction but the city will provide more information during a follow-up meeting in August.

During construction, Talian said the city hopes to never close more than one corridor at a time and will make every effort to maintain access to buildings and parking decks.

In each block, there are three corridors, he said. Theres a street for driving on and theres two sidewalks. Of those three corridors, we are setting a goal not to close more than one at a time. Thats something we did not do in phase one.

Water utility upgrades will include 2,000 feet of new waterline, 58 individual service lines and meters, 10 new fire hydrants, nine new sanitary manholes and 14 new stormwater structures.

Once the utility updates are complete, the city will install asphalt and sidewalks with decorative pavers and crosswalks as well as native trees and plantings to beautify the corridor.

Speaking from the citys perspective  virtually everything you see between the building faces on Main Street between 8th and 12th is going to change  all the curbs, all the sidewalks, all the streets, all the gutters, Talian said.

APCo representative Tom Woodford called the Main Street Renewal a unique project and said he couldnt remember partnering with another utility on such a large-scale venture.

The goal of the project, he said, it to improve electric service reliability in support of growth and to lessen the frequency and duration of outages.

Everyone wants to move down here and thats a good thing, Woodford said.  Everybody wants to come to dinner down here. So for our electrical system, that means a growing demand and its more difficult on the facilities we have so we have to upgrade our facilities to a new, much more modern system that can handle the growth that we have today and more importantly, the growth that we will have going into the future.

Electrical system upgrades include new wire, transformers, concrete vaults, manholes, grates and street lighting.

APCo currently is conducting work on side streets around Main Street to reduce the impact of construction when the main project gets underway in September. Woodford said this provides added flexibility to reduce or prevent power outages while performing Main Street upgrades.

We are very sensitive to your businesses, he told stakeholders Tuesday. We want to be very clear about that  So you will have access to your business  we will make sure of that.

If APCo has to cut power, Woodford said officials would communicate those outages in ad-Vance to all affected customers.

Supporting downtown businesses is a major goal during the project, according to city spokesperson Jes Gearing. Heather Kennedy, a public relations consultant from consulting firm Cella Molnar & Associates  which has offices in Florida and Lynchburg  will serve as a business project liaison for business owners in the affected area.

Additionally, Gearing said the city is partnering with the Downtown Lynchburg Association to creatively market businesses during construction and will have public art from local artists on construction fences.

Jannett Spearman owns Spearman Artistry in the Lynchburg Community Market and at 919 Main Street and said she appreciates the marketing campaign. She also understands the importance of the Main Street Renewal project and its future potential to increase property values as well as revitalize downtown.

I own a building, so for me its very important because this is going to really help the business owners update not only their electricity coming into the buildings but also all the water work that needs to be done, she said. That would have cost us thousands of dollars.
The company considering whether to buy the White Mill building has received multiple inquiries from casino companies about the property  at least one as recently as Monday, said an official with The Alexander Company in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dave Vos, the companys development project manager, said they are aware of the possibility of a casino coming to Danville if the state legalizes gambling in certain localities, including Danville. The Alexander Company renovates historic buildings throughout the country.

Thats something thats certainly on our radar, Vos said Monday. Wed welcome that as a use in the building.

He would not reveal which casino companies or how many have expressed interest in the property located along the downtown waterfront. But he said there has been more than one inquiry.

City officials are tight-lipped on whether there have been discussions with companies about possible locations for casino resorts in Danville.

Speculating on this  I dont think it helps the process, said City Manager Ken Larking.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of any communications among officials and company representatives regarding a possible location for a casino, Assistant City Attorney Alan Spencer said the city has 20 emails and two reports totaling nine pages discussing possible locations.

The actual documents, however, are exempt from FOIA requirements and were not provided to the Danville Register & Bee.

Larking would not provide details as to what is in the emails and reports. He said he has not spoken to officials from The Alexander Company about inquiries from casino companies.

They havent talked to me, Larking said.

Economic Development Director Telly Tucker said he could not comment on any discussions that may have taken place regarding a possible casino.

I cant comment on any speculative projects or unannounced projects, Tucker said. There are too many scenarios and unanswered questions for anybody to speculate at this point.

Mayor Alonzo Jones said he was not part of the email communications, but there has been a lot of interest from companies about a possible casino in Danville.

Theyre looking at the White Mill, Jones said, adding the old Dan River Inc. site at Schoolfield also has been mentioned.

Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation March 22 that could bring casinos to Virginia. The bill directs the Joint Legislative and Review Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of casino gaming regulations and submit a report by Dec. 1.

It also establishes the framework for the Lottery Board to oversee gaming and would allow three cities with economic challenges  Danville, Bristol and Portsmouth  to hold referenda on whether to have a casino.

Referenda on casinos also would be allowed in Richmond and Norfolk, which have been identified as possible sites for the Pamunkey Indian tribe to establish a casino.

It also stipulates a gaming license only be issued for projects with a minimum capital investment of $200 million in land, facilities, infrastructure, equipment and furnishings.

The legislation must be re-enacted by the General Assembly during its 2020 session, however, and, if it is, establish a series of deadlines.

The Alexander Company is conducting due diligence on the White Mill property, including a financial analysis and work to determine the feasibility of different types of businesses that could locate there.

In January, the Danville Industrial Development Authority, which is the citys land-buying arm, approved an agreement with The Alexander Company for an option to buy the building for $3 million. The company has redeveloped at least 100 historic buildings and has performed new construction in several states.

Under the agreement, the company has until the fall to determine whether to purchase the property and what it could be used for.

Danville officials had been marketing the property ever since the IDA bought it in 2017 from White Mill Development LLC, a subsidiary of Spartanburg, South Carolina-based Gibbs International.

The historic building once was part of the sprawling Dan River Inc. textile operation. The IDA purchased the property for $3 million, the same price The Alexander Company would pay if it agrees to buy it.

Were certainly exploring all options and uses for the building at this point, Vos said.

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Rep. Ben Cline is pitching Interstate 81 as a highway in crucial need of federal funding to enhance safety and maintain its vital role in the economy.

President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders met Tuesday and agreed to pursue a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to rebuild roads and bridges, provide clean water and expand broadband coverage. The following day, representatives jockeying for funding for projects in their home districts, including Cline, spoke before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Current conditions are not only a frustration, but a grave public safety concern, Cline, R-Rockbridge, said about I-81. People are dying on this road and the failure to keep Americas infrastructure up to par is costing lives.

Infrastructure has been one of Trumps favorite talking points, and Democratic leaders are hoping this is an opportune area for compromise. But a sticking point to advancing a major infrastructure bill will be how to pay for the projects.

The federal Highway Trust Fund distributes money to states for interstate projects, and that money mostly comes from the national gasoline tax. But the tax has remained at 18.3 cents a gallon since 1993; meanwhile, vehicles have become more energy-efficient and now include electric and hybrid vehicles. Consequently, the money generated has remained relatively flat.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that any increase in the gas tax should be tied to rolling back some of the 2017 tax code overhaul benefiting the wealthy and corporations.

So while there has been little movement at the federal level to increase funding for the interstate system, pressure has grown at the state level, where money is spread thin for a multitude of infrastructure needs.

While I believe that the states are best positioned to allocate resources for projects to repair and restore our roadways, we must ensure that they get the federal funding that is appropriate for these Federal Interstate highways, Cline said.

The state plan will generate $280 million annually, of which about $150 million will go toward I-81. The Virginia Department of Transportation has identified $2 billion in improvements for the highway stretching 325 miles through Western Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.

There are about 2,000 crashes each year on I-81, with about a quarter of them involving tractor-trailers. Nearly 12 million trucks travel I-81 each year, hauling freight valued at $312 billion. No other interstate in the commonwealth carries a heavier share of truck traffic.

While Virginia has made significant efforts to fund improvements, additional options to direct federal resources toward I-81 should be on the table, Cline said.

Cline, a former longtime member of the House of Delegates, has withheld his opinion on the states I-81 funding decision.

Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, who represents the district containing the southern section of I-81, praised the General Assembly for taking action and deferred to the legislature on what it viewed to be the best way to make progress at the state level.

The Federal Government has an obligation to help maintain and improve the Interstate system, Griffith said. I look forward to working with Congressman Cline and my colleagues in the House of Representatives on an infrastructure plan which provides some money for I-81, the Coalfields Expressway, and I-73.

State lawmakers have asked for federal dollars for I-81 for years. A common question among residents on I-81 has been: where is the federal government to help fix its interstate system?

Ive not heard anything about the federal highway department and how they can help fix I-81, Todd Dodson, a former Botetourt County supervisor, told Cline last week at a town hall. This is not just a Sixth District or state highway, its a national corridor the federal government has interest in maintaining the flow of goods through.

Hes cautiously optimistic that Congress and the president can advance an infrastructure bill.

Our highway system has been underfunded, Cline told Dodson. Its something I think we can have agreement on in Congress if we move away from the mentality of its my way or the highway. 
The MCU future of the Kingpin may be a mystery, but Marvel Comics has an answer

Marvel Comics has already provided the perfect way for Kingpin to keep going in the MCU
Work continues Monday at the new Williams Inn at the bottom of Spring Street in Williamstown. The bottom of Latham Street has been a construction site the past few weeks. Another view of the new inn taken two weeks ago. PreviousNext

New Williams Inn to Open Mid-August

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The new Williams Inn is set to open for business on Aug. 15, according to an announcement from the college to its community this week.

The opening will follow by two weeks the closure of the current inn on Field Park, which will shutter on July 31, the same announcement indicated.

In a follow-up email to iBerkshires.com , the college's associate vice president for finance and administration confirmed that the school still hopes to have Latham Street reopened in time for the town's Fourth of July parade, which traditionally goes from Southworth Street, up Main Street (Route 2) and down Spring Street, terminating near the public parking lot at the corner of Spring and Latham.

"The current plan is for all the road work and grounds improvement to be substantially complete in advance of the July 4th holiday and the roadway open for the festivities," Matt Sheehy wrote.

Spring Street south of the Walden Street intersection and Latham Street west of the Towne Field House parking lot have been closed to traffic since the beginning of the month. Road and construction work for the new inn has included the demolition of the former American Legion post at the bottom of Spring Street.

The new Williams Inn will open with 64 rooms and a 62-seat restaurant. The latter figure includes about 10 seats at the bar and two private dining spaces that will will hold 10 or 12 people each.

"In addition, during prime weather months, there will be additional outdoor seating," Sheehy wrote.

The inn will continue to be managed by the Waterford, Conn.,-based Waterford Hotel Group.

As for the two-week gap during which there will be no rooms at either the current 124-room inn or the new, smaller inn, Sheehy explained it is necessary to transition to the new property.

"There is a two-week gap, and this will allow for training, transition, etc. for the staff from the old inn to the new inn," Sheehy wrote.

The college believes that the town will have enough capacity to handle the height of the tourist season without either the old or new Williams Inn online -- particularly since the new Fairfield Inn by Marriott on Main Street (Route 2) should be open for business this summer.

"We have to have a transition period, and we feel that a two-week transition is manageable and appropriate," Sheehy wrote. "We feel comfortable with this approach since the new [Marriott] will be in full operation by this time based upon its current booking schedule.

"This will leave a minimal gap in the available rooms during this two-week time period of 20 to 30 rooms compared with last year at the same time. Once the new [Williams Inn] opens, the number of available room nights in town will increase compared to the current status quo.

"We also hope that this two-week gap results in business for other hotels/inns/motels in the region. We view this as a positive and not problematic."
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(Newser)  Freddy Krueger, the bird, has a face to match Freddy Krueger, the fictional serial killerwhich might've been its salvation. The Amazonian parrot sent to a Brazilian zoo four years ago after it was left blinded and burned by a bullet to the upper-beak in a police raid on a drug den was stolen on April 16, only to turn up beside its zoo cage in Cascavel two days later. It remains a mystery how the turquoise-fronted parrot escaped three armed thieves, who also made off with another parrot, still missing, and a canister of gas. But the zoo's vet, Ilair Dettoni, has suggested Freddy was freed because there's little demand for parrots with a mangled face.

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The Guardian, however, notes "drops of blood found near his former abode have fueled speculation" that the parrot fought for freedom. According to Dettoni, "he's a bit of a wild one." The parrot has certainly had a traumatic life. Days before it was stolen, Freddy lost quite a bit of blood when a non-venomous snake bit the parrot's leg. Freddy was recovering in a storeroom when the thieves broke in, forcing a zoo guard to lie on the floor as they stole the birds, reports Brazil's Gazetaweb.com. Pointing out the value of parrots for drug dealers, the Guardian notes another birdtrained to shout, "Mum, the police!"was seized from an alleged drug pen in Piaui state on Monday. (More on that here.)
(Newser)  The Trump administration quickly declared enthusiastic support Tuesday for the Venezuelan opposition's effort to spark a military uprising against embattled President Nicolas Maduro. Late in the day, President Trump threatened a "full and complete embargo" and sanctions on Cuba if its troops do not cease operations in Venezuela, the AP reports. National Security Adviser John Bolton alleged earlier that Cuban troops were keeping Maduro in power in Caracas. Trump and senior foreign policy figures cast the effort headed by opposition leaders Juan Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez as a move to restore democracy, not an attempted coup like the short-lived effort to oust then-President Hugo Chavez in 2002.

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"We are with you!" Vice President Mike Pence tweeted to the opposition. "America will stand with you until freedom & democracy are restored." Trump himself tweeted that he was monitoring the situation and "the United States stands with the people of Venezuela and their Freedom!" Lopez, the country's most prominent opposition activist, had been under house arrest, and his sudden appearance would seem to have required the cooperation of troops who guard him. However, late Tuesday, he sought refuge with his family in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas, a discouraging sign for supporters of the uprising. Bolton said it was a "very delicate moment" for Venezuela. "If this effort fails, they will sink into a dictatorship from which there are very few possible alternatives," he said at the White House. (Read more Venezuela stories.)
(Newser)  Police have identified the suspect in a fatal campus shooting as a 22-year-old man. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police issued a statement late Tuesday identifying the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell. They say he's in custody with charges pending. Authorities say he used a pistol to open fire on students in a classroom building at UNC-Charlotte, killing two and wounding four. His grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, says Terrell had moved to Charlotte two years ago with his father. Rold tells the AP that the actions don't sound like his grandson. He says: "This is not in his DNA." Authorities say two people were found dead at the scene, two others have life-threatening injuries and two others have less serious injuries.

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University of North Carolina-Charlotte Police Chief Jeff Baker says officers arrived within minutes to the room in a campus building where the shooting happened, disarming the gunman. He says a call came in at 4:40pm Tuesday that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper addressed reporters near the campus hours after the shooting. He vowed to take a hard look at how to keep guns away from universities and schools. He said students shouldn't fear for their lives, nor parents fear for their children's safety when they go off to school. He said: "This violence has to stop." (Read more University of North Carolina stories.)
(Newser)  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro addressed the nation Tuesday night to declare victory over what he called a "deranged" attempt at a military coup. Maduro claimed that "loyal and obedient" members of the armed forces had put down the attempted mutiny, leaving only a small group who had "handed their souls over to the coup-mongering far right," the Guardian reports. Maduro scoffed at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's claim that he had been on a plane ready to flee the country for Cuba until Russia told him to stay. "Senor Pompeo, please," he said. At least one person was killed and dozens were wounded in clashes Tuesday after opposition leader Juan Guaido, accompanied by a group of soldiers, called for the military to rise up against Maduro.

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Fellow opposition activist Leopoldo Lopez, freed from house arrest, joined calls for a military uprising, but now has fled to the Spanish embassy in Caracas along with his wife and daughter, the AP reports. Earlier reports said he had gone to the Chilean embassy, but the country's foreign minister says he went to Spain's because Chile "already had guests." Maduro said in his address Tuesday night that only 20 or so military personnel sided with the opposition. The Washington Post, however, notes that Gen. Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, chief of the country's secret police, is now in hiding after apparently defecting to the opposition. Guaido has urged supporters to return to the streets Wednesday, while Maduro has told supporters to join a "millions-strong march of the working class." (President Trump and other administration figures expressed strong support for the military uprising.)
(Newser)  Two fraternity chapters at Swarthmore College are no more after leaked documents revealed hazing; homophobic, racist and misogynistic language; and references to a "rape attic." Phi Psi, whose 117-page "Phi Psi Historical Archive" was leaked to student-run publications at the private Pennsylvania liberal arts college, and neighboring Delta Upsilon, mentioned as having a "rape attic" in meeting minutes prior to 2017, announced they would close their doors Tuesday as student protesters staged a sit-in at Phi Psi's house. "They made the right decision, even as the College refused to," the protesters said in a statement, per CNN. Sharing her "outrage," Swarthmore President Valerie Smith had suspended all fraternity activity while an investigation probed whether current students were involved in wrongdoing.

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"An external investigator will still analyze the documents to confirm whether this is the case," Smith said Wednesday. Per the Washington Post, a Tumblr blog titled "Why Swarthmore's Fraternities Must Go" describes alleged assaults at fraternity events between 2015 and 2019. Delta Upsilon said it was unaware past members used the terms "rape attic" and "rape tunnel," but current members "unanimously decided that disbanding our fraternity is in the best interest of the Swarthmore community." Phi Psi similarly said "the best course of action for all those involved is to disband the fraternity completely and give up the fraternity house." Members were "appalled and disgusted by the content of these minutes, which led us to question our affiliation with an organization whose former members could write such heinous statements," it said. (Read more fraternity stories.)
Israel Fast Becoming World Hub of Aging Industry

The Fellowship | May 1, 2019 elderly hands

Israel21c reports that a study by London-based Aging Analytics Agency says that Israel is a global leader on healthy aging research.

Citing Israels highly mature academic geroscience landscape, the report states: For a number of years, Israel has outputted high-volume, high-quality research into the fundamental biology of aging and potential healthspan extension interventions.

The report, one of a series of regional case studies of the longevity industry, points out that all seven Israeli universities have, or will soon have, labs or interdisciplinary centers dedicated to aging research.

This has happened nowhere else in the world and should be applauded, says Eric Kihlstrom, director of the Aging Analytics Agency.

Three of the most prominent Israeli researchers listed are Valery Krizhanovsky of the Weizmann Institute, whose lab studies how senescent (deteriorating) cells affect cancer, aging and age-related diseases; Haim Cohen, head of the Molecular Mechanism of Aging Lab at Bar-Ilan University; and Michal Schwartz, also of the Weizmann Institute, whose lab created the groundwork to develop immunotherapy for Alzheimers disease.
(Newser)  A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Tuesday that a Spanish museum that acquired a priceless, Nazi-looted painting in 1993 is the work's rightful owner, and not the survivors of the Jewish woman who surrendered it 80 years ago to escape the Holocaust. Per the AP, although US District Judge John Walter criticized Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, the German whose name now graces the Madrid museum where the Camille Pissarro painting hangs, for not doing due diligence when he acquired it in 1976, he found no evidence the museum knew it was looted art. Under Spanish law, he ruled, the painting is legally the museum's, though he criticized Spain, calling its decision to keep it "inconsistent" with international agreements that it signed "based upon the moral principle that art and cultural property confiscated by the Nazis from Holocaust (Shoah) victims should be returned to them or their heirs."

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The painting at issue, Pissarro's 1897 "Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie," was purchased directly from Pissarro's art dealer in 1900 by the father-in-law of Lilly Cassirer, who eventually inherited it and displayed it in her home for years. When she and her family fled the Holocaust in 1939, she traded it for passage out of the country. For years the family thought it was lost, and the German government paid her $13,000 in reparations in 1958. Then in 1999, a friend of her grandson, Claude, who'd seen photos of the painting, discovered it was in the Thyssen-Bornemisza. It'd been hanging there since shortly after a nonprofit funded by Spain bought the baron's entire collection for $350 million and named the museum for him. The painting had been sold and resold after Cassirer and her family fled Germany. The baron bought it from a US dealer for $300,000 in 1976. (Read more Holocaust stories.)
(Newser)  Gerardo Adan Cazarez Valenzuela knew the KeyBank branch in Anchorage, Alaska, well. He worked there as the bank's cash vault services manager and was aware of the security setupwhich didn't include armed guards. And so a plan was born: In July 2011, he enabled the ability for one person to access the bank's vault; on July 28, he took $30,000 from it to pay for a chartered plane that would take him to Seattle, where his girlfriend was waiting for him. The following day he worked late under the ruse of cleaning up after an ice-cream event he had planned for customers, reports KTVA. He entered the vault, stuffed three boxes with $4.3 million over the course of 20 minutes, rolled them on a cart to his car, and began his journey to Mexico. He would get thereand go directly to jail. How his wild heist fell apart:

Upon arriving in Washington, Cazarez bought a Ford Fusion and spent $4,000 on an AK-47 and a handgun. The DOJ says in a press release that he mailed cellphones belonging to him and his girlfriend to Florida and New York to throw investigators off their trail.

By the time investigators caught wind of what had happened, Cazarez planned to be in Mexico: He had set a timer on the bank vault that would prevent it from being opened for six days. But he was felled by a random search of his luggage when the bus he was on from Tijuana to Sonora was stopped at a checkpoint.

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Mexican authorities found $3.8 million in his luggage and charged him with "criminal offenses analogous to money laundering and illegal possession of firearms" for taking the cash and guns into Mexico, per the DOJ. He served a seven-year term and was then extradited to the US, where he was on Monday sentenced to a 10-year prison term, with no credit for time served in Mexico. The New York Times in 2018 reported he faced a sentence of up to 30 years.

The Washington Post reports that in asking the judge to go easy on him, the 34-year-old wrote, "I obviously suck at being a criminal and know that any illegal activity will land me back in prison." But Chief US District Judge Timothy Burgess took issue with what he perceived as Cazarez's less-than-forthcoming attitude when it came to $500,000 of stolen money that remains missing. The DOJ alleges there's evidence it was hidden in Washington as part of a "fail-safe plan." Cazarez says he gave the money to his father, who has since died, to pay for medical care, but that it was stolen from him.

As far as motive, Cazarez told the judge that he took the money to help his dad. Prosecutors alleged he was fearful his position was about to be cut and he would be out of a job, and hatched the robbery scheme as a result.

(Read more bank heist stories.)
(Newser)  At least one poll has Joe Biden as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, and he's starting to acquire some endorsements. One in particular appears to have riled President Trump, who fired off a predawn tweetstorm Monday addressing it. The International Association of Fire Fighters gave Biden its nod on Monday, the former vice president's first union endorsement, and Politico notes that with his appeal to middle-class voters, as well as Trump's history of rows with unions, Biden will likely be receiving more of the same. But it was this first backing from IAFF that especially riled Trump, and led to his first tweet Wednesday morning clocking in before 6am.

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"I've done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO!" the president tweeted, along with a RT from Fox News contributor Dan Bongino, who noted, "NONE of the Firemen I know are supporting Joe Biden for President." The Washington Post notes this was followed by Trump retweeting some 60 posts from people claiming to be upset with the IAFF endorsement for Biden. And the word "claiming" may be an important one: The Daily Beast reports that one user who earned a coveted retweet from the president boasted the username "F--- Donald Trump"; it's unclear if the name already appeared like that when Trump retweeted it or if the user changed it after it appeared in Trump's feed. That particular retweet was taken down sometime around 9am ET. (Read more President Trump stories.)
(Newser)  Amid a battlefield stalemate in Afghanistan, the US military has stopped releasing information often cited to measure progress in America's longest war, calling it of little value in fighting the Taliban insurgency, reports the AP. A government watchdog agency that monitors the US war effort, now in its 18th year, said in a report to Congress on Wednesday that the US military command in Kabul is no longer producing "district control data," which shows the number of Afghan districtsand the percentage of their populationcontrolled by the government compared to the Taliban. Last released in January, the information showed Afghan government control of districts had fallen nearly 2 percentage points to 53.8%, while the share of the population under Afghan government controllargely unchanged from May 2017 to July 2018 at about 65%had dropped in October 2018 to 63.5%.

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In 2017, a top US commander in Afghanistan said he wanted to see the population control figure reach 80%, with the Taliban holding only about 10% and the rest contested. "This, we believe, is the critical mass necessary to drive the enemy to irrelevance," Gen. John Nicholson said. His successor, Gen. Scott Miller, believes there already are enough such assessments available to the public. A spokesman references "a political settlement to safeguard our national interests." Discussing such disclosures in January, President Trump said, "I don't want it to happen anymore ... The enemy reads those reports." However, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction counters that "the Taliban obviously know which districts they control. Our military knows it. Everybody in Afghanistan knows it. The only people who don't know what's going on are the people who are paying for all of this, and that's the American taxpayer." (Read more Afghanistan stories.)
(Newser)  Kirsten Gillibrand wants to give you $600. Well, sort of. The Democratic senator and 2020 presidential contender unveiled her first major 2020 policy initiative Wednesday, telling NBC News in an interview that her "Clean Elections Plan" aims to make sure big money no longer plays as big of a role in US politics. Included in the plan is the ability for every eligible voter to register for vouchers, which can then be used to donate money to the political campaigns of their choice, up to a maximum of $600 per election cycle. Here's how the $600 would break down:

Voters would be able to donate up to $100 during the primary election for House candidates, then up to another $100 during the general election.

Voters would be able to donate up to $100 during the primary election for Senate candidates, then up to another $100 during the general election.

Voters would be able to donate up to $100 during the primary election for presidential candidates, then up to another $100 during the general election.

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Each $100 could be donated all at once or separated into $10 increments and donated to one or more candidates over time.

Voters would only be able to donate to candidates in their own state, but are not restricted to donating only to House candidates in their own district. As for candidates, in order to receive the so-called "Democracy Dollars," they would need to agree not to accept any contributions to their campaign that amount to more than $200 per donor. The current maximum is $2,800 per primary and the same amount per general election. Candidates who opted in would reach out to more voters, Gillibrand predicted: "They would campaign in all communities. They would be going to low-income communities, they would be going to rural communities, they would be asking people to support them not only with a vote, but with (financial) support for their campaign." Seattle has a similar program using a $25 voucher system for local elections. Gillibrand did not give an estimate of how much her plan would cost, but did say she planned to pay for it by limiting a corporate deduction for executive compensation to raise an estimated $60 billion over 10 years. Early reaction was mixed; a columnist at the Independent calls it "a truly terrible idea," while a California congressman praised it. (Read more Kirsten Gillibrand stories.)
(Newser)  Rick Schroder has gone from TV detective to alleged serial assaulter. The actor who formerly appeared on NYPD Blue and Silver Spoons was arrested on a charge of felony domestic violence early Wednesday after police responded to a call at his Los Angeles home, according to a report from TMZ, which notes Schroder was arrested on the same charge on April 2 after allegedly punching his girlfriend in the face. The girlfriend refused medical treatment at the scene shortly after midnight Wednesday.

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Schroder, who was released from custody last month after posting bail, remained in custody Wednesday morning with bail set at $50,000, per TMZ. Just two months ago, his 22-year-old daughter, Cambrie, opened up about a strained relationship with her father, describing "days and weeks" when she couldn't get out of bed as a child, per Yahoo. "From my experience, a lot of actors need a lot of attention, and so I felt like my emotional needs growing up were not fully understood or met," she said. (Read more arrest stories.)
(Newser)  They told investors they had discovered the wreck of a Russian Imperial Navy cruiser said to be teeming with gold. The only actual wreck is their future lives. South Korea on Wednesday sentenced three executives associated with the Shinil Group to prison after they reeled in $7.6 million from investors in what ended up being a scam. The ship itself is real: The Dmitrii Donskoi was rumored to have been carrying 200 tons of gold, worth roughly $132 billion today, when it sank in 1905.

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Yonhap reports the court found their claim to have located the ship "groundless." The sentences range from two to five years in length. The BBC reports the Dmitrii Donskoi's own crew sank their ship after losing a battle against the Japanese. The rumored gold was said to be earmarked to pay the salaries and docking fees associated with the country's Pacific fleet. But experts are skeptical that such an amount would be carried by one ship, and that a ship would have been used at all, as passage by railway would have been an option. (This treasure hunter changed his mind on returning gold.)
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Right at the Museum

The Fellowship | May 1, 2019

Willem Sandberg



(1897-1984)

When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands and began persecuting the countrys Jews, the man who curated Amsterdams Stedelijk Museum realized he had more historic tasks than simply tending to his historic displays. Willem Sandberg had been the museums curator since 1938, and had also helped organize the countrys artists to resist the Nazi occupation. But he realized that his artistic skills could be put to a very helpful use.

You see, in order to save Dutch Jews, false identity cards could be forged so that Jewish people could pass as Gentiles, thus saving their lives. Sandbergs skill at graphic design and his knowledge of printing were crucial to getting this enterprise of righteous forgery going.

With his artistic friends, Sandberg forged thousands of ID cards. Producing the cards in the museums basement and passing them out from his office, Sandberg supplied Jews like Dorothea Hertz-Loeb with the papers that would save their lives.

In the summer of 1942, the Nazis began deporting Jews to concentration camps. Sandberg and his movement of resisting artists decided that the Nazis Population Registration office  from which the deportations were carried out  had to be destroyed. The Nazi building was heavily guarded, but Sandberg helped plan the attack that would set fire to it and stored the explosives in his own home. After months of secret planning, the resistance successfully attacked the building on March 27, 1943.

Of course the Nazis were furious at the attack and began hunting down those responsible. Thirteen men were arrested and executed that July. Sandbergs own wife and son were arrested and jailed, but Willem was not home when the Nazis searched his house  he was at the sand dunes of the North Sea where his citys art treasures were being hidden from the pillaging Germans.

For the rest of the war, Sandberg hid in the countryside, using his own grandfathers identification as a ruse and spreading rumors that he had escaped to Switzerland to throw the Nazis off his trail. Even in hiding, he helped the effort against the Nazis, surveilling and communicating nearby Nazi troop movements to the Allies.

After the war, Sandberg worked as director of the museum until 1963, helping grow its acclaimed collection of contemporary art. That year, he was invited to Jerusalem where he worked as director of the new Israel Museum until 1968, the same year he was finally recognized as Righteous Among the Nations for all he had done to help the Jewish people.
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
New Delhi:

Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) on Wednesday reported that the company registered a comprehensive growth 23 per cent last month. In April 2019, Honda registered monthly domestic sales of 11,272 units as against 9,143 units in the same month last year.

Notably, Honda has seen a strong sales growth thanks to the new-gen Amaze as also the WR-V. The company even exported 220 units in April 2019.

HCIL Senior Vice President and Director, Sales and Marketing Rajesh Goel said, "HCIL's April sales growth is primarily due to lower base effect, as there was no Amaze in corresponding month last year during model runout.

Goel further said, The ongoing elections and overall subdued market sentiment continues to affect the sales momentum. Going forward, the industry is heading towards a tougher year impacting sales due to volatility in fuel prices, increase in car prices owing to new regulations and stricter inventory control for smooth switchover to BS6 regime by year end," he added.

Interestingly, Honda is planning to bring more cars to India in 2019. The company had already announced that there would be 6 new models in three years starting 2018. Honda has already launched 3 new models in the country in the form of the new-gen Amaze, CR-V and Civic. Now, lets wait and watch what Honda is going to offer next.

In the month of January this year, HCIL reported an increase of 23 per cent in its domestic sales at 18,261 units. The company had sold 14,838 units in January 2018. On the exports front, the HCIL dispatched a total of 200 units in January 2019.

During the ongoing financial year, HCIL has registered a cumulative growth of 5.7 per cent by selling 153,058 units during April18  January19, against 144,802 units in the corresponding period last year.
Stories of Awful Tragedy and Supreme Heroism

Stand for Israel | May 1, 2019 PM Netanyahu and Holocaust survivor torch-lighters, April 30, 2019

As Israel prepared to observe Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara met with the six elderly Holocaust survivors and listened as these precious men and women shared their stories:

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

Your stories are stories of awful tragedy and supreme heroism. You met with cold, suffering and tribulations and you overcame them. You triumphed. We triumphed. I will never forget this. My wifes family, her fathers entire family, was wiped out.

In recent years, I have been in Hungary, in Budapest, at the memorial in Paris and in Thessaloniki. When we go there, to all of these places, we go in your names and I will tell you how we know that we won; you know how they looked at us? As a mighty power. We were dust there  and we return, and they look at us as a major power. It starts with the spirit.

Sara Netanyahu:

We want to wish all of you good health, many years, much tranquility, and joy from all your children and grandchildren. The stories of your heroism are inspiring.

When I listened to your stories, as a child, it took me back to my aunts and uncles who were children at your ages, and none of them survived. My father survived because he was here in Zion. He came here before the war, and he learned that he had nobody left. His younger sister was ten when she perished so when you told about a sister, a brother, mother, I heard this about my father who did not manage to see anyone; in effect, this is the heroism. We thank you.

And our friends at Arutz Sheva share these stories of awful tragedy and supreme heroism as told by those who survived this dark chapter in the history of the Jewish people and the world:

Bela Eizenman was born in 1927 in Lodz, Poland, to Moshe and Hinda Federman. When the Germans occupied Poland in September 1939, the goods in her fathers shop were requisitioned. A year later, the family was imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto. Thirteen people were crowded into their ghetto home. In May 1942, Moshe was interrogated at the German police headquarters, across from their house. Bela could hear his screams. Moshe succumbed to his injuries a few days later, and was buried in a mass grave.

Bela was put to work sewing and crocheting  including uniforms for German soldiers  filling her mothers quota as well so that they could get more ration cards. In March 1943, German troops broke into Belas home and beat her eldest brother Chaim, who was lying down and visibly starving. When Bela and Hinda came back from work, they found him dying. Tomorrow is the first day of spring, but I wont live to see it, he said. He died the next day.

Despite their work sewing uniforms, in the summer of 1944, Bela and Hinda were deported to Auschwitz. While on the ramp, Hinda told Bela to wear her coat so that she would look older. Hinda was murdered in the gas chambers. Bela, the last surviving member of her family, became sick and was destined for the gas chambers too, but a train to Bergen-Belsen was missing a female prisoner and Bela was sent in her place.

After reaching Hanover, Bela was carried to Bergen-Belsen by several women. She worked in a factory in Rochlitz, and in March 1945, she was sent on a death march with other prisoners. The women survived on snow and frozen potatoes. One night, Bela and three of her friends hid in the hay in a barn. The Germans poked the hay with their bayonets, but did not discover them. When the column of the death march vanished, they fled to the forest, getting caught in a snowstorm. Bela ultimately reached a Czech village, where she was liberated by the US Army.

Bela joined a group of Jewish orphans who sought to immigrate to Eretz Israel with the help of the Youth Aliya movement  thus fulfilling her late brothers dream. During Belas journey to Eretz Israel she stayed in refugee camps in Italy, where she learned Hebrew. She also met Zvi Eizenman, also a Holocaust survivor, and they later married.

In August 1946, Bela and Zvi boarded the illegal immigrant ship Katriel Yaffe. The British seized the ship and took its passengers into custody in Cyprus and Atlit for six months. In Israel, Bela completed her schooling, studied nursing, and later joined the IDF as a registered nurse. She served as head nurse in a hospital and later in the public health service.

Menachem Haberman was born in 1927 in the city of Orlova, Czechoslovakia, but grew up in Munkacs. He was the second of eight children. His Hasidic parents Yehuda-Laib and Rachel Haberman owned a dairy factory, and during his childhood, he helped deliver products to their customers.

Towards the end of 1938, Yehuda-Laib was drafted into the Czechoslovakian army and Menachem dropped out of school to take his place in the factory. Following the Munich conference, Munkacs and its environs were annexed to Hungary. In the spring of 1940, Menachems father was taken into the Hungarian armys labor service, and sent to the eastern front. On the eve of Menachems bar mitzvah, Hungarian troops committed a pogrom near the synagogue, killing three worshippers.

In the spring of 1944, the Germans established a ghetto in Munkacs. Twenty-one family members were cramped into a two-room apartment, where they experienced scarcity and hunger. Menachem and his friends were pressed into forced labor.

In May 1944, the Jews in the Munkacs ghetto were deported to Auschwitz. During the selektion, Menachem was separated from his younger brother Benjamin, who was sent to the gas chambers with his mother and five of his siblings. His older sister later succumbed to illness, leaving Menachem as the last member of his family. He was put to work removing ashes from the crematoria, gathering excrement for fertilizer, and harvesting grains. Over time, he proved to be a skilled horse groomer, and he would carry equipment and horse feed around Auschwitz-Birkenau. Thanks to the food that he chanced upon along during his work, he managed to survive, although many times he was just a step away from death. He escaped the jaws of a dog that threatened to attack him; an SS officer nearly executed him after catching him with food in his bag; and he fell and nearly drowned in a pool of human ash from the crematoria.

In January 1945, Menachem was sent with the rest of the prisoners of Auschwitz on a death march, during which many of his friends died. The survivors were then put on open train cars and sent west. Airplanes bombed the convoy during the trip. Menachem was wounded and pulled a piece of shrapnel out of his own shoulder.

After a five-day journey, the train reached Buchenwald. Of the 150 prisoners who had been put in Menachems car, 20 were still alive. Menachem stayed in the childrens block in Buchenwald in dire conditions filled with disease and lice, overcrowding and hunger. When Buchenwald was evacuated early in April 1945, he hid in a sewage pipe. He was caught five days later and sent on a death march, but he ran away and returned to the camp. When the US Army liberated the camp the next day, Menachem weighed 34 kilograms (75 pounds).

After recuperating in Switzerland, Menachem founded a cooperative with his friends, buying equipment for a workshop for typewriters and adding machines. When he found out that his

father had survived and was living in the Soviet Union, Yehuda-Laib wrote him, If you go to Eretz Israel, there is a chance that we will meet. Menachem immigrated to Israel in 1950, bringing the equipment with him and opening a workshop in Jerusalem. Eventually, he managed to get his father out of the USSR to Israel.

Menachem married Rivka, a Holocaust survivor from the Netherlands. They have three children and five grandchildren
New Delhi:

A man was critically injured after he jumped before a metro train at Dwarka Sector 9 metro station today.

On April 16, a septuagenarian allegedly attempted suicide by jumping in front of a metro train in Dwarka.

According to Mohammed Ali, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Delhi Police Metro, the incident took place at around 10.50 am at Dwarka Sector 9 Metro Station.

The man was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. The man identified as Surrender, a retired Section Officer, suffered internal injuries and is unconscious. The reason of attempted suicide is not yet known, said the DCP.

Surender had left home on Monday morning telling his wife that he was going to Hanuman Mandir, said the DCP.

This is a breaking news story. More details will be added soon. Please refresh the page for the updated version.
New Delhi:

A 25-year-old woman doctor was found murdered at her flat in central Delhis Ranjit Nagar area on Wednesday. The victim has been identified as Dr Garima Mishra. Originally from Uttar Pradeshs Gorakhpur, Dr Mishra was staying in the Capital and preparing for upcoming MD exams. Initial reports suggest that Delhi Police is interrogating people living in the vicinity. Two neighbours including a doctor is missing since the murder came to light. Police are suspecting the absconding doctor for allegedly murdering Dr Mishra. The body has been sent to the Lady Hardinge Medical College. And the post-mortem will be conducted once the parents of the victim reach Delhi.

The incident is a stark reminder of high crime rate in the National Capital. A 2018 report had revealed that there was a 6% increase in the total number of crimes registered under the Indian Penal Code. The data released by Delhi Police said that as many as 2,36,476 IPC cases were registered last year, up from 2,23,077 in 2017. In percentage terms, the number of cases filed rose by 6.01%. However, the total number of crimes such as rape, attempt to murder and abduction, among others, have declined by 29.48%.

While total heinous crime in 2018 showed a 11.72% drop, cases of dacoity, attempt to murder, robbery, rape and riot have gone down by 36.11%, 16.26%, 20.15%, 0.78% and 54% respectively, as compared to the year before. Even incidents of snatching and burglary showed a declining trend.

However, there has been an increase in the number of murders, with 477 cases registered in 2018 as compared to 462 in 2017. Out of these, 86.16 per cent cases were solved. The incidents of murder, per lakh of population, showed a significant decline over the last 14 years, coming down to 2.60% last year from 3.29% in 2004.
New Delhi:

In yet another shocking incident of crime against children, an eleven-year-old girl has been allegedly molested by a man in the Nandigama area of Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district on Monday. The accused, identified as K Edukondalu, has been taken into the police custody. An investigation is also underway to find out how the incident happened.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Subhash Chandra Bose, the Nandigama DSP said, "The accused allegedly lured the girl and misbehaved with her when the girl was playing near her house". The incident came to the light after the girl narrated her ordeal to her parents who reached out to the police station and registered a complaint.

A case has been registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act (POCSO) and section 354A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the police official said, adding that further investigation in the incident is on.

Krishna District: 11-year-old girl allegedly molested by a man in Nandigama yesterday; accused taken into police custody. Investigation underway. #AndhraPradesh a ANI (@ANI) April 30, 2019

India has been experiencing an increasing trend of violence against women and children for the last few decades. Common forms of violence against women in India include rape, eve-teasing, molestation, domestic abuse, sexual assault, and murder.

According to the latest data shared by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crime against children in India has witnessed a steady upward trend with a significant increase of more than 500% over a period of the past one decade (1,06,958 in 2016 over 18,967 in 2006).

More than 50% of crimes against children have been recorded in just five states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi UT and West Bengal. While Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 15% of recorded crimes against children, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh closely follow with 14% and 13% respectively.

Kidnapping and Abduction of children continues to be the biggest crime against children, accounting for more than half of all crimes (48.9 per cent, number of crimes 52,253), as recorded in 2016. The next biggest category of crime against children is rape, amounting to more than 18 per cent of all crimes against children.

Uttar Pradesh recorded maximum number of crimes under the categories of aKidnapping & Abductiona and aPOCSO Acta; in both these categories Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh stand in the second and third slot respectively.

For all the Latest Crime News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The Delhi University has released the DU SOL 2019 Hall Ticket. The candidates can now download the School of Open Learning (SOL) admit card on the official website at sol.du.ac.in. The university has released the hall ticket for BA Programme. Moreover, for Part 2 & 3 (Male Students Only). The candidates must note that the admit card of rest of the courses will be available in coming days.



For the convenience of the students, we have mentioned the steps through which the candidates can download the DU SOL Hall Ticket 2019:

Visit the official website.

Therein, click on Download Examination Hall Ticket.

A window will open asking for the students login credentials.

Enter SOL Roll Number, Bar Code and click on Login.

The candidates must note that the candidates should have Adobe Reader in the computer system. In the absence of it, the students shall not be able to download the admit card. In case there is an issue, candidates must contact at 27008300 / 27008301 or admin@sol.du.ac.in.



In the presence of any incorrect details, students must contact the official authority or visit the examination office directly. In the case of any other query, send the request or visit at Assistant Registrar (Examination), School of Open Learning, University of Delhi, Delhi  110007.



The DU SOL hall ticket is one of the most important document that the candidates must carry during examination. No students will be allowed to appear in the examination without proper documentation. The DU SOL offers four undergraduate courses naming B.Com Hons., B.A Hons English & Political Science, B.Com, and BA Programme. The exam dates for each course are different and can be checked at the DU SOL official website. It contains the date & day of the exam, time of commencement of exam, semester, paper number, etc.



The BA Hons exam will conduct between May 11 and 29, 2019. Similarly, BA Exam will take place between April 07  June 12, 2019. Following that Bcom Hons and BCom will conduct between May 07  June 11, 2019, and May 25  June 10, 2019, respectively.
New Delhi:

The Election Commission of India has barred BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours. The ban would come into force from 6.00 am, May 2 (Thursday).

The poll panel has taken this decision for her controversial remarks against Babri Masjid and late Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

The panel "strongly condemned" her remarks" and "warned her "not to repeat the misconduct in future". The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted".

Earlier, the EC had directed the police to file an FIR against Pragya Thakur for her remark that she was "proud" of her participation in demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992.

The EC had issued a show-cause notice to Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast accused currently out on bail, over her remark made during an interview to a news channel.

During the interview, Thakur was quoted as saying "Ram Mandir hum banayenge aur bhavya banayenge, hum todne gaye the dhancha, maine chadhkar toda tha dhancha, iss par mujhe bhayankar garv hai. Mujhe Ishwar ne shakti di thi humne desh ka kalank mitaya hai (A grand Ram temple will be built. I had gone to demolish the structure and had climbed atop it to break it. I am tremendously proud of it. God gave me strength to wipe off a blot on this country)."

The EC notice had said Thakur's remark was a violation of chapter 4 of the model code of conduct, which pertains to maintenance of harmony between castes, communities, religious, linguistic groups.

The EC had also issued a show-cause notice to Thakur over her controversial remark about 26/11 martyr and Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

Thakur had claimed Karkare died during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as she "cursed" him for "torturing" her when he probed the blast case as chief of the Anti- Terrorism Squad (ATS).

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.

With PTI Inputs
New Delhi:

The Election Commission on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to first-time voters to dedicate their votes to Pulwama martyrs was not violative of its advisory on invoking armed forces.

Last month, the Congress had moved the poll panel alleging that PM Modi had "brazenly" violated the poll code by invoking armed forces repeatedly in his poll campaign and demanded that a campaign ban be imposed on him for some time.

Addressing a rally in Ausa of Latur in Maharashtra on April 9, PM Modi had urged young voters to cast ballots in the name of heroes of the Balakot air strike.

PM Modi had said, "Can your first vote be dedicated to those who carried out the air strike."

"I want to tell the first-time voters: can your first vote be dedicated to the veer jawans (valiant soldiers) who carried out the air strike in Pakistan. Can your first vote be dedicated to the veer shaheed (brave martyrs) of Pulwama (terror attack)," PM Modi had said.

The poll panel had sought reports on PM Modi in the context of its advisory issued last month asking parties to desist from indulging in political propaganda involving actions of the armed forces.

"...parties/candidates are advised that their campaigners/candidates should desist, as part of their election campaigning, from indulging in any political propaganda involving activities of defence forces," the commission said on March 19.

On Tuesday, the poll panel had given clean chit to PM Modi for his speech in Wardha in which he had slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad and had "indicated" that the Kerala constituency had more voters from the minority community.

The PM, while addressing a rally in Wardha on April 1, had reportedly said, the opposition party was "scared" to field its leaders from constituencies where the majority dominates.

He made the remark in reference to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's decision to contest from a second Lok Sabha seat Wayanad in Kerala. Rahul Gandhi is also contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi.
New Delhi:

The Election Commission on Wednesday announce that only central security forces, not state police, will be deployed at all polling booths in West Bengal for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections on May 6 next week. Total of 578 companies of central forces are being deployed for 5th phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2019. 100% polling stations will be covered by central forces as static postings, said Vivek Dubey, Special Police Observer for West Bengal. In addition, 142 Quick Response Teams, manned by central forces, also will be ready to reach any place of incident, Dubey added.

The step comes a day after the BJP urged the poll panel for security deployment in wake of the poll violence. Following reports of a clash between the ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP workers outside a booth in Asansol's Barabani, and vandalism of the vehicle of Union Minister and sitting MP Babul Supriyo, a BJP delegation met top officials of the poll panel in Delhi on Tuesday. The delegation included Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Vijay Goel, and the party's media in-charge Anil Baluni.

After meeting the poll panel officials, Naqvi told reporters, "The ruling Trinamool Congress workers have hijacked democracy in the state and are indulging in violence. They are being supported by the local machinery and we demand deployment of central forces in all polling booths in the state."

Bengal has witnessed several clashes during polling in last one month. The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections was also marred by multiple incidents of clashes and violence in West Bengal, where an estimated 76.66 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in eight parliamentary constituencies on Monday. An electorate of 1,34,56,491 cast ballot to decide the fate of 68 candidates in Baharampur, Krishnagar, Ranaghat (SC), Burdwan East (SC), Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur (SC) and Birbhum. Clashes broke out between supporters of rival parties in Nanoor, Rampurhat, Nalhati and Suri areas of Birbhum seat, leaving several people injured and disrupting the polling process for a quite some time.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday visited Ayodhya where he address an election rally in Maya Bazar area of Gosainganj, which falls under the Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat in Ayodhya district. During the rally, Modi urged people to vote for his party BJP in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, saying that pressing the lotus (BJPs election symbol) on EVM will awaken a unique sense of patriotism in them.

Referring to the recent attacks in Sri Lanka, the prime minister said that before 2014 when he took over the reins of the country, there used to be terrorist attack across the country very often, but this changed during his government.

We need to be vigilant. Terror hubs are present in our neighbouring countries. Its a business for them and we have taken strong action against them. But other parties let them go free because they for their vote bank, he said.

The prime minister asserted that terrorism was a threat to the religious practices. "We have started the Ramayan Circuit Project. We have also developed tourism in various places of worship. But the biggest threat to our religious practices & culture is terror," he said, asking people not to elect a weak government.

Modi said that the SP and the BSP had the same reality as they both misused the name of great leaders and thrived using their identity.

Be it SP, BSP or Congress, it is necessary to know their reality. Behen ji used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but she did everything which is just the opposite of his principles. SP used the name of Lohia ji but they destroyed the law & order situation in UP, he added.

During his 30-minute speech, the prime minister, however didn't talk about the Ram Temple even once and also skipped visiting the disputed site where the idol of Lord Rama is kept.
Amravati:

SPY Reddy, the sitting MP from Nandyal constituency in Andhra Pradesh, died after prolonged illness at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Tuesday night. He was 68. Reddy was hospitalised early this month.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nandyal in 2004 and 2009 as Congress candidate. In 2014, he won the seat as YSR Congress nominee, but jumped into the ruling Telugu Desam Party soon after the election.

As the TDP leadership denied him the Nandyal ticket this time, Reddy joined the Jana Sena Party and fought the April 11 election from the hospital bed.

Reddy, a mechanical engineer, began his career as a scientific officer in the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre before setting up his own plastics industry.

Telangana: People pay last tribute to Nandyal MP and Jana Sena Party candidate from the constituency, S.P.Y. Reddy, at his residence. He passed away at a hospital in Hyderabad last night. pic.twitter.com/PC676zQOhM a ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019

The industry grew into the Nandi Group over the years and he became popular as aNandi pipes Reddya.

He began his political career with the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the Nandyal Lok Sabha election in 1991.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in a statement, expressed grief over the MPas death.

As an industrialist and social worker, Reddy rendered yeoman service to Nandyal and Kurnool districts, he said.

Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan also expressed grief over Reddyas death and hailed him as a dignified leader.A
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narender Modi will address an election rally in Maya Bazar in Gosainganj, which is 27 kilometres from the main city of Ayodhya. The Gosainganj area falls under the Ayodhya district although it votes for the Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat which votes in the sixth phase - on May 12. This would be PM Modi's first visit to Ayodhya in the last five years. The holy town has been central to the BJP and its Hindutva affiliates' agitation for a Ram temple at what faithfuls believe to be the birth place of lord Ram.

Ahead of General Elections in 2014, PM Modi had addressed a rally in Faizabad, where an image of the proposed Ram Temple at the backdrop of his dais triggered a massive controversy with the Opposition parties including the Congress complaining of the violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by using religious symbols.

PM Modi's visit to the Ram Janmabhoomi is significant as many have accused the ruling BJP of not doing enough for the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site of Ayodhya. Right-wing groups also demanded that a special amendment be brought to facilitate the construction of a temple.

Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case, the decade-old socio-religious debate, started back on December 6, 1992, when a group of Hindu Karsevaks, during a political rally, destroyed the mosque claiming that a Ram temple was actually demolished to construct the same. The mosque was built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya back in 1528.

The BJP, however, in its 2019 election manifesto, has promised to "explore all possibilities within the framework of the constitution and all necessary efforts to facilitate the expeditious construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya".

12:22 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Kumbh mela has been celebrated for thousands of years. But it was during our tenure that the world started talking about it: PM Modi.

12:21 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In No chaiwala wants his child to become a chaiwala. The poor want to grow and thrive: PM Modi.

12:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In "We have started the Ramayan Circuit Project. We have also developed tourism in various places of worship. But the biggest thereat to our religious practices & culture is terror," the PM said.

12:17 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Responding to the 'chaiwala-pakorewala' jibe of Navjot Singh Sidhu, PM Modi said, "Congress has only mocked poor'.

12:20 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In I understand the pain and struggle of every labourer. I understand their illness. To fight this I have introduced the Ayushman Scheme, says PM Modi in Ayodhya.

12:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 'Ayodhya is the city of Maryada Purshottam Ram', says PM Modi.

12:05 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In PM Modi in Ayodhya: Be it SP, BSP or Congress, it is necessary to know their reality. Behen ji used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but she did everything which is just the opposite of his principles. SP used the name of Lohia ji but they destroyed the law & order situation in UP.

12:02 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Respect of the country has incresed over the past 5 years, says PM Modi in Ayodhya.

09:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Last year, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had changed the name of Faizabad district to Ayodhya, but the name of the Lok Sabha seat has not been changed.

09:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In This would be PM Modi's first visit to Ayodhya in the last five years. The holy town has been central to the BJP and its Hindutva affiliates' agitation for a Ram temple at what faithfuls believe to be the birth place of lord Ram.

09:08 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The Gosainganj area falls under the Ayodhya district although it votes for the Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat which votes in the sixth phase - on May 12.

09:07 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Maya Bazar in Gosainganj, where PM Modi will address a public rally, is 27 kilometres from the main city of Ayodhya.
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Story of Holocaust Victim Aims at a New Generation

Stand for Israel | May 1, 2019 Follow Eva Stories

When Anne Franks diary was discovered in her familys hiding place after World War II ended  and after the teenage girl had died in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp  her story has taught the world about the Holocaust for generations. Now, The Times of Israels Isaac Scharf and Audrey Horowitz tell us, a new generation is being reached as the true story of another Jewish girl murdered by the Nazis is being told through todays technology:

For seven decades, survivor testimony has been the centerpiece of Holocaust commemoration.

But with the worlds community of aging survivors rapidly shrinking and global understanding of the genocide that killed 6 million Jews declining, advocates of Holocaust remembrance are seeking new and creative ways to share witnesses stories with younger generations.

Much as Anne Franks diary gripped the older generations, an Instagram account based on a true 13-year-old Jewish victims journal, called Eva.Stories, is generating buzz among the young.

If we want to bring the memory of the Holocaust to the young generation, we have to bring it to where they are, said the project co-producer, Mati Kochavi, an Israeli high-tech billionaire who hails from a family of Holocaust victims, survivors and educators. And theyre on Instagram.

Kochavi and his daughter, Maya, have created a series of 70 Instagram stories that chronicle the downward spiral of Eva Heymans life in the fateful spring of 1944 when the Nazis conquered Hungary.

Heyman was one of approximately 430,000 Hungarian Jews who were deported to Nazi concentration camps between May 15 and July 9, 1944. Of the estimated 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, around 568,000 were Hungarian, according to Israels Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Heymans tale, produced as a Hollywood-style movie with a cast of foreign actors and multi-million dollar budget, will stream throughout Israels Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins at sundown Wednesday. The installments appear as if Heyman had owned a smartphone during World War II and was using Instagram to broadcast her life updates
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday visited Ayodhya where he addressed an election rally in Maya Bazar area of Gosainganj, which falls under the Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat in Ayodhya district. During the rally, Modi urged people to vote for his party BJP in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, saying that pressing the lotus (BJPs election symbol) on EVM will awaken a unique sense of patriotism in them. During his 30 minute speech, PM Modi spoke on various issues and achievements of his government but not even once mentiond the vexatious issue of Ram temple.

The prime minister also avoided a visit to Ram Lala Temple at the disputed site where he promised to build a grand Ram temple in 2014 and repeated the same in his party's 2019 manifesto. Interestingly, his party BJP has slammed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi when she skipped visiting the Ram Lalla temple during her visit to Ayodhya.

"Recently the Congress leadership had announced to go to Ayodhya. They go to Ayodhya, but they dont do pranam in the temple, they say if they do pranam to God their vote bank will go away from them," Union Minister Smriti Irani had said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had even accused the Congress leader of hurting the sentiments of Hindus by not visiting the makeshift Ram temple. "She was asked why she didnt visit the Ram Temple. She said that she didnt want to visit the disputed site. She has hurt the sentiments of Hindus," he said.

Earlier in March this year, Priyanka Gandhi had visited Ayodhya and offered prayers at the famous Hanuman Garhi Temple. She, however, skipped a visit to the disputed site in Ayodhya where the idol of Ram Lalla is kept, saying "the matter is sub judice".

In 2016, ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had also visited Ayodhya but like PM Modi and sister Priyanka, he too refrained from offering prayers at the disputed site.

The matter of Ayodhya title dispute is currently sub judice in the Supreme Court. The top court had recently appointed a panel of mediators headed by former top court judge Justice FMI Kalifulla for exploring the possibility of an amicable settlement to the vexatious land dispute.
New Delhi:

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has finally broken her silence on the high-voltage Varanasi poll battle. In a brief interaction with media, Priyanka said that she was not disappointed with partyas decision. She said that if she was given the Varanasi poll ticket, it would have restrained her to the temple city only. But she wanted to focus on the country. aI have so much work in eastern Uttar Pradesh. I am not disappointed. I have always said that I will go by whatever decision the party leadership takes.a

She also claimed that the BJP will not be able to repeat its 2014 performance. aMy strategy is very clear. Congress will win on the seats where our candidates are strong. Where our candidates are slightly lightweight, they will cut into BJPas vote share.a

Earlier, senior party leader Sam Pitroda had claimed that it was Priyankaas decision to not contest from Varanasi. aIt (not contesting from Varanasi) was Priyanka ji's decision, she has other responsibilities. She thought rather than concentrating on one seat she should focus on the job she has at hand. So, that decision was her and she decided it,a Pitroda was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on April 26.

Speculation on Priyanka Gandhi making her electoral debut from Varanasi had been rife for the past few weeks and was fuelled after Congress president Rahul Gandhi, to a question on whether he planned to field his sister against PM Modi, said last week, "I will leave you in suspense. Suspense is not always a bad thing."

Priyanka Gandhi herself had added to the buzz by saying that she would abide by her party's decision on the matter. But the Congress ended the speculation by fielding Ajay Rai from Varanasi. Meanwhile, the SP-BSP grand alliance has declared Shalini Yadav, who joined the Samajwadi Party on Monday evening, as their candidate from Varanasi.

After years of working in Congress backrooms, Priyanka Gandhi joined full-time politics in February as in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, hoping to change the party's fortunes in the ongoing Lok Sabha election.

Varanasi constituency will go to the polls in the last phase on May 19.A Prime Minister Modi has filed his nomination papers for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat today. BJP chief Amit Shah along with senior BJP and NDA leaders, including JD (U) president Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and other were present with him.

In 2014, Modi won the seat by a margin of over three lakh votes against Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal. While Modi got over 5,81,000 votes, Rai managed about 75,000 votes.
New Delhi:

Akshay Kumar on Monday received severe criticism from netizens for not casting his vote held for six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai. While prominent Bollywood celebs like Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan were all spotted at their respective polling stations, Akshay Kumar was not seen among them despite having a 'completely non-political' interview with PM Modi just a few days back.A

During a media interaction on the sidelines of Blank movie's special screening in Mumbai on Tuesday, Akshay was asked about how he would react to the criticism over his absence from the polling booth. To this the actor replied saying, ''Chaliye Beta'', before walking off.

Reaction of deshbhakt @akshaykumar when asked about Voting by a Journalist proves he is a Canadian. pic.twitter.com/nuzGlKyTMl a Bollywood Junction (@mAyUrStUdIoS) May 1, 2019

Akshayas reply drew flak from netizens on social media. Hereas what they tweeted:

Has anyone seen Deshbhakt @akshaykumar voting today ?#MumbaikarVoteKar a Prakul Sharda (@prakulsharda) April 29, 2019

When is the true blood real nationalist idol Akshay Kumar voting? a Siddharth Patni (@aageSeLeftLelo) April 29, 2019

Where is akshay Kumar's voting pic a Junaid (@Realjunaidd) April 29, 2019

Last month Modi had tagged Akshay in a tweet, asking him to encourage voting. "The power of a vote is immense and we all need to improve awareness on its importance. Thoda Dum Lagaiye aur Voting ko Ek Superhit Katha banaiye," the PM had said.

To which, Akshay had responded saying the "true hallmark of a democracy lies in peoples participation in the electoral process. Voting has to be a superhit prem katha between our nation and its voters."

The actor has established his image as Bollywood's posterboy of patriotism with films like Kesari, Toilet - Ek Prem Katha, Padman and Airlift.





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New Delhi:

Tara Sutaria is all set to make her Bollywood debut with Student Of The Year 2 alongside Tiger Shroff and Ananya Panday on May 10. However, you all must not be knowing that the gorgeous actress was supposed to make her debut with a Hollywood film. Shocked? Yes, its true as Tara was supposed to make her debut with Will Smith starrer Aladdin.

Notably, Tara herself revealed that she was going to play Princess Jasmine in the Guy Ritchie directed live-action remake of Aladdin.

The actress is currently busy promoting her upcoming film Student Of The Year 2. While talking to media, she said, I was actually supposed to do another film with Will Smith a year before we started Student of the Year 2 in London. I was working on this film Aladdin, which is, in fact, releasing a week after SOTY. So, I was meant to play Jasmine in that film. We would have worked together on that film and it is so ironic that I didnt end up doing that film, but I am doing this and he actually came here and we ended up working on this.

The debutant also went on to describe her experience of working with Will Smith quite fun. She further mentioned that he was a larger than life superstar and an even better human being. However, she did not reveal why she chose Student Of The Year instead.

Interestingly, Will Smith will be making a cameo in the song 'Radha Tera Chunari', which also features Ananya Panday and Tiger Shroff.

Recently, Tara was asked why she chose this film as her maiden project. Tara answered saying, I would not like my debut to be in any other way than launch with Dharma. This has been the best experience.

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New Delhi:

Tiger Shroff, who will be seen in the shoes of a college student in Karan Johars Student of the Year 2 reveals that he has never been to a real college in his life. The stars who became the punching-bag of criticisms for their outlandish outfits and unrealistic college life to which they had also earlier admitted that the movie need no thinking-caps in their make-belief college life reveals that Shroff, who plays a student reportedly has never been a college student in real life.

According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Tiger while appearing on The Kapil Sharma Show was aksed by the shows host Kapil Sharma on the difference between a real college and an onscreen college life shown in Student of Year series to which Tiger reveals that he has never been to one. He adds that he immediately took to acting after school appearing on his first film, Heropanti.

Tiger will take on the role of a kabbadi' player in SOTY2. Student of the year 2 which has created a lot of buzz since its first trailer release both good and bad will also be seeing Alia in a cameo for a song with Tiger. Speaking about shooting for it, he said, We had so much fun shooting the song. Personally, I have never done a dance number like thatworking with Alia was an amazing experience. Though she is such a big star, she was open and cooperative on set while shooting the song.

Student of the Year 2 which is the sequel to the 2012 Student of the Year and then saw freshies Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, and Sidharth Malhotra will also be seeing another two fresh faces in SOTY2 with Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday Directed by Punit Malhotra and produced by Karan Johar the movie releases this May 10.

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New Delhi:

In yet another tragic incident, five people of a family, including a six-month-old girl, were killed after a major fire engulfed their residence at the Mayawati Colony of Indiranagar area in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow. The two-storey house in Ram vihar Phase II colony was completely burned down afterA a stockpile of small cooking gas cylinders caught fire early Tuesday morning.

According to reports, the blaze started due to a short circuit and further spread to a gas-stove godown located at the place.A The incident occured at around 6 am on Tuesday, reducing the house to ashes within minutes.

"Lucknow: 5 members of a family died last night after a fire broke out at their residence due to short circuit and spread to a gas-stove godown built there, in Mayawati Colony of Indira Nagar," the news agency ANI reported.

Lucknow: 5 members of a family died last night after a fire broke out at their residence due to short circuit and spread to a gas-stove godown built there, in Mayawati Colony of Indira Nagar. pic.twitter.com/ln11xxj1Zz a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 1, 2019

The deceased have been identified as 60-year-old OP Singh, 40-year-old Sumit, 42-year-old Julie and her six-months-old daughter Baby. The police is yet to ascertain the identity of the remaining one.A According to Amit Kumar, SP (trans-Gomti), prima facie, the family appears to run an illegal workshop of cooking gas and cylinders inside the house.

Soon after the news of the fire broke out, panic gripped the residents of the locality who rushed to the colony to help douse the fire. Speaking to media, Ajay, a local, said that the fire tenders took time to reach the spot as the house is located in a narrow lane.

However,A CFO VK Singh, claimed thatA six fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot andA the fire was doused within an hour.

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New Delhi:

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday welcomed the al Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UNs move to designate Masood Azhar as a UN proscribed terrorist saying is a step in the right direction.

The 1267 Sanctions Committees decision to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Masood Azhar, as a UN proscribed terrorist is a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers. We welcome the decision, the MEA said in a release.

This is in accordance with Indias position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. India will continue with its efforts through international forums to ensure that terrorist organizations and their leaders who cause harm to our citizens are brought to justice, the release added.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Sanctions Committee on Wednesday designated Azhar as global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to ban him.

France, the UK and the US had moved a fresh proposal to declare Azhar as global terrorist by the UN in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack in February in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, China put a technical hold on the proposal, blocking it for fourth time to designate Azhar. The Chinese move was termed "disappointing" by India. On Wednesday, China lifted its hold from the proposal.

In 2009, India first moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar. In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

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New Delhi:

In what came as major diplomatic victory for India, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar was on Wednesday listed as a 'global terrorist' by the UN Security Council. The development comes after China, after blocking New Delhi's efforts four times, finally backed the latter's bid at the UN.

"Big, small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support," India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin tweeted. When asked whether China has lifted the hold, Akbaruddin said "yes, done."

China said that it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the revised materials.

Meanwhile, Pakistan media quoted Foreign Ministry saying that it will "immediately enforce UN sanctions" imposed on JeM chief Masood Azhar.

Lauding the government's efforts, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted: "India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the Prime Ministers foreign policy."

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

In recent days, there had been indications that China is likely to come around and will lift its hold on the Azhar proposal. Beijing had said on Tuesday that the vexed issue of designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN will be "properly resolved."



China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US in the Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the horrific terror attack against Indians security forces in Pulwama carried out by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish.

China had put a technical hold in March on a fresh proposal to impose a ban on the head of Pakistan-based JeM which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack. It was for the fourth time, China blocked Azhar's listing as a global terrorist by the UN.

The efforts to resolve Azhar's listing issue gathered momentum last week with the visit of Imran Khan to Beijing to attend China's 2nd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) which was held here from April 25-27. During the visit, Khan held talks with Xi, besides meeting Premier Li Keqiang and Vice President Wang Qishan during which India-Pakistan tension following the Pulwama terror attack as well as listing of Azhar reportedly figured.

China, which is one of the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council, blocked India's efforts in the past to list Azhar as a global terrorist, saying there is not enough evidence against him.

France welcomed UN's decision to desginate Azhar as 'global terrorist'. "French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February. France had adopted national sanctions against Masood Azhar on 15th March," said a statement by French government.

ANI quoted government sources saying that Azhar was put under house arrest at Markaz Subhan Allah in Bahawalpur, post Balakot attack and was recently shifted to a safe house in Islamabad.

Four previous attempts by India at UN

In 2009, India had moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar.

In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.



In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again.



However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad chief was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, terror motivator in several African countries and also known by many as the Pakistani cleric who brought jihad into the religious discourse at mosques in the UK, the official said



The influence of the 50-year-old overweight terrorist mastermind was so huge that, when he was released by India in exchange for freeing the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 on December 31, 1999 in Kandahar, Laden hosted a banquet for him the same night



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New Delhi:

Cyclone 'Fani' has intensified into an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and it will cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali by Friday afternoon, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday even as it issued a 'yellow warning' for Odisha coast predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places such as Boudh, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Deogarh, and Sundargarh."Heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places the districts of Boudh, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Sundargarh of Odisha," said the IMD.

The IMD has issued a formal cyclone alert for Odisha, West Bengal and parts of Andhra Pradesh, and suggested evacuation of coastal areas.

The Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said Cyclone 'Fani' (pronounced Foni) lays southwest and adjoining westcentral and southeast Bay of Bengal about 760 km south-southwest of Puri (Odisha) and 560 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and about 660 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka).

Puri district administration has advised tourists to leave the city by the evening of May 2. Non-essential travel may be cancelled, during 3- 4 May, to the likely affected district, the district administration said.

As per the disaster management division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Cyclone Fani is very likely to move northwestwards on till May 1 noon and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali. From there, it will move to the south of Puri around May 3 afternoon with maximum sustained wind of speed 175-185 kmph gusting to 205 kmph.

"It has intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm," Additional Director General of the IMD Mritunjay Mohapatra told PTI.

The wind speed of a cyclonic storm is 80-90 kmph gusting up to 100 kmph. In case of an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm', the wind speed goes up to 170-180 kmph and could gain the speed of 195-200 kmph.

An IMD bulletin in the evening said storm surge of about 1.5 metre above astronomical tide is likely to inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha at the time of possible landfall.

The sea conditions are very likely to be rough to very rough along and off Odisha Coast on May 2 and become high to phenomenal by May 4.Fishermen have been advised not to venture into deep sea areas of northwest and adjoining West-central Bay of Bengal along and off Odisha coast from May 2 to May 4. The expected damage due to Cyclone Fani includes -- extensive damage to all types of kutcha houses, extensive uprooting of communication and power poles, disruption of rail and road link at several places, extensive damage to standing crops, plantations, orchards, blowing down of Palm and coconut trees, uprooting of large bushy trees and large boats and ships may get torn from their moorings.

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New Delhi:

Cyclone 'Fani' has intensified into an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and it will cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali by Friday afternoon, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday even as it issued a 'yellow warning' for Odisha coast predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places such as Boudh, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Deogarh, and Sundargarh."Heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places the districts of Boudh, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Sundargarh of Odisha," said the IMD. Puri district administration has advised tourists to leave the city by the evening of May 2. Non-essential travel may be cancelled, during 3- 4 May, to the likely affected district, the district administration said. All leaves of doctors and health staff in Odisha have been cancelled up to 15 May. Those who are on leave have been asked to report back to respective headquarters by Wednesday evening.

Here are the LIVE updates:

21:57 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In 22 more trains have been cancelled by East Coast Railway; total 103 trains have been cancelled so far.

18:21 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In On 2 May, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in south coastal districts, also very heavy rains expected in Puri, Khurda, Koraput and Kandhamal districts. On 3 May, all coastal districts to receive very heavy rainfall: HR Biswas, Director, Met Dept, Bhubaneswar

17:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Naval aircraft are kept ready at Naval Air Stations, INS Dega and INS Rajali to undertake aerial survey of the most affected areas, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material, as required by the State Administration: Southern Command of Indian Army

17:30 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Ships at Visakhapatnam are standing-by with relief material for immediate deployment to most affected areas to undertake Humanitarian Aid Distress Relief operation. Diving and medical teams are kept ready augmenting rescue and relief efforts in Andhra and Odisha.

17:24 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In East Coast Railways has issued advisory to cancel or regulate trains which might get affected due to Fani Cyclone. The section between Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Puri-Visakhapatnam will be cleared so that there will be no train in the section during extreme situation.

17:04 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Naval aircraft are kept ready at Naval Air Stations, INS Dega and INS Rajali to undertake aerial survey of the most affected areas, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material, as required by the State Administration: Eastern Naval Command

17:03 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

Eastern Naval Command: Ships at Visakhapatnam are standing-by with relief material for immediate deployment to most affected areas to undertake Humanitarian Aid Distress Relief ops.Diving&medical teams are kept ready augmenting rescue&relief efforts in Andhra Pradesh&Odisha #Fani pic.twitter.com/c4f475pvHE

 ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019



14:39 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In According to the latest updates, Cyclone Fani is now around 680 km south-southwest of Puri and 430 km off the coast of Vishakhapatnam. The cyclone is moving towards Odisha at a speed of 10 kmph and is likely to move north-northwestwards till noon on Thursday, after which it will recurve north-northeastwards, Odisha TV reported.

13:55 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In All state universities and colleges coming under administrative control of Higher Education Dept & located in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khordha, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore & Mayurbhanj districts will remain closed from 2nd May to 4th May

13:45 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In EC approves proposal of lifting of provisions of Model Code of Conduct in districts of Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack&Jajpur to facilitate speedy rescue, relief&restoration activities to face cyclonic storm Fani.

13:41 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Congress has fielded some candidates to cut into BJP's vote share in UP says Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

13:37 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In

Teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force gear up to face cyclonic storm Fani. The teams left for Bhadrak at 12 pm today from state capital Bhubaneswar.





















13:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on #FaniCyclone : We are prepared for the cyclone. Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam is ready, all necessary measures have been taken. In coordination with state govt of Andhra Pradesh & Odisha, we are ready for the cyclone.



Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba on #FaniCyclone : We are prepared for the cyclone. Eastern Naval Command at Visakhapatnam is ready, all necessary measures have been taken. In coordination with state govt of Andhra Pradesh & Odisha, we are ready for the cyclone. pic.twitter.com/WM8psFs8Rv

 ANI (@ANI) May 1, 2019



13:34 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In According to local media, principal secretary Sanjeev Chopra will look after the relief and restoration work in Cuttack. In Jagatsinghpur, IAS officer Saswat Mishra will oversee preparations; Kisan Kumar in Khurda; Hemant Padhi in Kendrapada; and Premchandra Choudhary in Balasore.

13:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Puri district administration has advised tourists to leave the city by the evening of May 2. Non-essential travel may be cancelled, during 3- 4 May, to the likely affected district, the district administration said.

13:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In The India Meteorological Department issued a 'yellow warning' for Odisha coast predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places such as Boudh, Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Deogarh, and Sundargarh.

13:33 (IST) Facebook Twitter Whats app Linked In Cyclone 'Fani' has intensified into an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm' and it will cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali by Friday afternoon.

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New Delhi:

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him under the Security Council's Sanctions Committee.

China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US in the Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the horrific terror attack against Indians security forces in Pulwama carried out by Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish.

China had put a hold in March on a fresh proposal by the US, UK and France to impose a ban on the Azhar. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

Here is what the global terrorist designation by the UN Security Council means:

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transit by all states through their territories by designated individuals.

Under the arms embargo, all states are required to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad chief was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, terror motivator in several African countries and also known by many as the Pakistani cleric who brought jihad into the religious discourse at mosques in the UK, the official said

The influence of the 50-year-old overweight terrorist mastermind was so huge that, when he was released by India in exchange for freeing the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 on December 31, 1999 in Kandahar, Laden hosted a banquet for him the same night

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New Delhi:

The United Nation Security Councils decision to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist was welcomed not only India, but also by several other nations.

Here is how India and other nations responded to New Delhis huge diplomatic victory:

India

Big,small, all join together. Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list. Grateful to all for their support, tweeted India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin.

"The 1267 Sanctions Committees decision to designate the leader of JeM, Masood Azhar, as a UN proscribed terrorist is a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers. We welcome the decision," the MEA said in a statement.

"This is in accordance with Indias position & in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar & JeM," the statement added.

"India will continue with its efforts through international forums to ensure that terrorist organizations and their leaders who cause harm to our citizens are brought to justice," the MEA statement read.

The BJP credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the United Nations designating Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist", saying India is in safe hands under him.

"India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the prime minister's foreign policy," senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Calling it a "historic success" for India, the BJP used one of its Lok Sabha election slogans, 'Modi hai to mumkin hai' (It is possible if Modi is there), as it reacted to what is being seen as a major diplomatic win for the country.

France

France was the first to welcome Azhars listing as global terrorist, saying that the decision signalled the successful realisation of efforts to ban him.

"For many years now, French diplomacy has been relentlessly pleading for sanctioning Mr Azhar, head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February," a spokesperson of France's Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs said.

The official said, "This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts."

United States

The US welcomed the designation of JeM chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" by the UN and sought "sustained actions" from Pakistan against terrorism, consistent with its international obligations.

A spokesperson for the US Mission in UN told PTI, "The US welcomes the addition of Masood Azhar to the UN 1267 ISIL and al-Qaida Sanctions list, which requires all UN member states to implement an assets freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar."

"We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," the spokesperson said, noting that the Jaish-e Mohammed is a United Nations-designated terrorist group, and Azhar, as the founder and leader of JEM, clearly met the criteria for designation by the world body."



In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations Wednesday designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him.

China said that it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the revised materials.

United Kingdom

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the UN Security Council's designation of the head of the Pakistan-based terror group chief as a global terrorist was a positive development for the South Asian region.

The listing of Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group, is very welcome and long overdue," an FCO spokesperson said.

"The UK has consistently called for this action to be taken, and we worked closely with our international partners to ensure the right result. This is a positive development for the security and stability of the South Asia region," the spokesperson noted.

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New Delhi:

In a major diplomatic victory for India, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar was on Wednesday listed as a 'global terrorist' by the UN Security Council. The Jaish chief was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, terror motivator in several African countries and also known by many as the Pakistani cleric.

Laden had hosted a banquet party when 50-year-old overweight terrorist was released by India in exchange for freeing the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 on December 31, 1999 in Kandahar.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India.

Jaish announced its arrival in the Kashmir Valley in 2000 by carrying out a suicide car bombing attack at the gate of Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar, the headquarters of the Army's 15 Corps. Two armymen were killed in the attack.

Later, it was involved in the attack on Parliament in 2001, the Pathankot air force base, army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 personnel.

Following is the chronology of the major events leading to his designation:

2009: India moves a proposal by itself to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo. China blocks the move.

2016: India again moves the proposal with the backing of the P3 - the United States, the United Kingdom and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar.

2017: The P3 nations move a similar proposal again. China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocks the proposal from being adopted.

February 27, 2019: The US, the UK and France move a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

March 13, 2019: China puts the hold on the proposal scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

March 28, 2019: The US, supported by France and the UK, directly moves a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to blacklist the Pakistan-based terror group's chief.

April 3, 2019: China hits out at the US for threatening to use "all available resources" to designate the Pakistan-based JeM chief as a 'global terrorist', saying Washington's move is complicating the issue and not conducive to peace and stability in South Asia.

April 30, 2019: China says "some progress" has been achieved on designating Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN and hopes that the vexed issue will be "properly resolved".

May 1, 2019: The 1267 Sanctions Committee designates Azhar as a global terrorist after China lifts the hold on the proposal of the US, the UK and France.

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New Delhi:

Days after the deadly Easter Sunday blasts in neighbouring Sri Lanka, a news security threat has emerged for India. Though the intelligence inputs have time now and time again hinted at the ISIS footprints in the Indian Subcontinent, for the first time the dreaded group has issued a direct warning to carry out terror attacks in India. According to a report by Times of India, the ISIS has named a new Emir for Bengal. The report states that one Abu Muhammed al-Bengali has been appointed as new emir for ISIS in the region.

If you think you have silenced the soldiers of the Khilafa in Bengal and Hind and you are certain about that then listen we men are never to be silenced Thirst for revenge is never faded away (sic), the report quoted the ISIS poster as saying.

The development comes just two days after a new propaganda video of ISIS elusive chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi surfaced online. "The battle for Baghouz is over," he said, sitting cross-legged on a cushion and addressing three men whose faces have been blurred.

In the 18-minute video, titled "In the Hospitality of the Emir of the Believers," Baghdadi was seen sitting alongside three other ISIS members whose faces are blurred, next to a rifle and ammunition belt. He praised the recent terror attacks in Sri Lanka, which targeted churches and hotels and left more than 250 people dead, calling it "revenge" for Baghouz  the small Syrian village where Isis made its last stand.

The ISIS claimed the attacks, but the government has blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) for the attacks. Sri Lanka on Saturday banned the NTJ and a splinter group linked to the ISIS.

A total of 106 suspects, including a Tamil medium teacher and a school principal, have been arrested in connection with the Easter Sunday blasts.

According to Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry, the number of foreign nationals who have been identified as killed remained at 40, including 11 from India.

On March 22, President Donald Trump announced that all ISIS-held territory in Syria has been eliminated, though officials said sporadic fighting continued on the ground between coalition forces and the group's holdouts.

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New Delhi:

Labour Day, also known as May Day, corresponds to the International Workers' Day which is celebrated across the globe. This day is observed as a holiday in more than 80 countries including India. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement in the United States in the 19th century when the industrialists used to exploit the labour class and made them work up to 15 hours a day. The workers rose against this exploitation and demanded paid leaves, proper wages and breaks for the workforce. The eight-hour day labour movement advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

In India, the first Labour day or May Day was celebrated in the year 1923. It was the Labour Kisan Party who had organised the May Day celebrations in Chennai (then Madras).

10 facts about Labour Day/May Day:

During the rise of industrialisation, 19th century industrialists in the US exploited the labour class and made them work for up to 15 hours a day.

On May 1, 1886, workers took to the streets across the United States to reduce the workday to eight-hour shifts.

The eight-hour day labour movement advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

The number eight has often been spotted on many union buildings in Australia to symbolize an eight-hour working day. The Eight-Hour monument featuring a golden globe bearing the 888 symbol was built in Spring Street in Melbourne in 1903.

In Chicago, on May 4, 1886, a bomb blast killed seven police officers and four civilians. The blast was carried out as a response to the police who had killed peaceful demonstrators the day before.

Three years later, a French socialist party chose May 1 as the International Workers' Day to honour the labour movement and commemorate the Haymarket Massacre.





File picture of a Labour Day parade in Toronto, Canada. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)





In India, the first Labour day or May Day was celebrated in the year 1923. It was the Labour Kisan Party who had organised the May Day celebrations in Chennai (then Madras). One of these was organised at Triplicane Beach and the other one was arranged at the beach opposite Madras High Court. This was also the time when the Red Flag which symbolises Labour Day was first used in India.

May 1 is also marked as 'Maharashtra Day' and 'Gujarat Day' to mark the date in 1960 when the two western states attained statehood after the erstwhile Bombay state was divided on linguistic lines.

Labour Day is also known as 'Kamgar Din' or 'Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas' in Hindi, 'Kamgar Divas' in Marathi and 'Uzhaipalar Naal' in Tamil.

The theme of Labour Day 2019 is 'Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement'.

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New Delhi:

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its technical hold on a proposal to blacklist the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief.

The much-awaited ban on Azhar came a decade after New Delhi approached the world body for the first time on the issue.

The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as being associated with Al-Qaeda for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to", "recruiting for", "otherwise supporting acts or activities of", and "other acts or activities indicating association with" the JeM.

However, there was no mention of the deadly Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which was claimed by the Jaish.

Pakistan said it would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed by the UN on Azhar and agreed to his listing after all "political references", including attempts to link him to the Pulwama attack were removed from the proposal.

Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Pakistan would "immediately enforce the sanctions" imposed on Azhar.

"Formal action will be taken on three counts: assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. That is the requirement...Pakistan is a responsible state and we will take appropriate action," he said.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo. An asset freeze under the sanctions committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

However, ANI quoted sources saying that Azhar has been shifted to a safe house in Islamabad from his residence in Bahawalpur by Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

China said it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the revised materials.

China earlier removed its hold on the proposal moved by France, UK and the US in the UNSC's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack.

A veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a "technical hold". All decisions of the committee are taken through consensus.

In recent days, there had been indications that China is likely to come around and will lift its hold on the Azhar proposal.

Beijing put the hold on the proposal on March 13, scuttling yet another attempt to blacklist the JeM chief. The proposal was the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India moved a proposal by itself to designate Azhar.

In 2016 again India moved the proposal with the P3 - the US, the UK and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the sanctions committee.

Keeping up the international pressure to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, the US, supported by France and the UK, moved a draft resolution directly in the UN Security Council to blacklist him.

Beijing lifting its hold is a massive diplomatic win for India, which had relentlessly pursued the matter with its international allies.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad chief was a close associate of Osama bin Laden, terror motivator in several African countries and also known by many as the Pakistani cleric who brought jihad into the religious discourse at mosques in the UK, the official said.

The influence of the 50-year-old overweight terrorist mastermind was so huge that, when he was released by India in exchange for freeing the hijacked Indian Airlines aircraft IC-814 on December 31, 1999 in Kandahar, Laden hosted a banquet for him the same night

Global terrorist for Azhar a big success for India: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the UN decision to declare Azhar a global terrorist is a big success for India's efforts to root out terrorism and proved that the country's voice can no longer be ignored on the global stage.

"It is a matter of satisfaction that a consensus has developed in the world on designating Masood Azhar a global terrorist. Der aaye, durust aaye (Better late than never)," Modi said at an election rally here.

"It is a big success for India's efforts to root out terrorism," he said.

The PM said India's voice is being heard globally and its views can no longer be ignored. "This has been proved today."

He said under the previous "remote-controlled" government, even the voice of the prime minister was not heard, but now the voice of 130 crore Indians is making an impact at the United Nations.

"I want to say it loud and clear that this is just the beginning. Wait for what happens next," Modi said.

The prime minister said he was thankful to the world community for standing with India in its fight against terrorism.

Major powers welcome ban on Azhar

The international community led by the US welcomed the designation of Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN and sought "sustained actions" from Islamabad against terrorism emanating from the country.

The US noted that the JeM was a United Nations-designated terrorist group, and Azhar, as the founder and leader of JEM, clearly met the criteria for designation by the United Nations.

"The United States welcomes the addition of Masood Azhar to the UN 1267 ISIL and al-Qaida Sanctions list.

"This listing requires all UN member states to implement an assets freeze, a travel ban, and an arms embargo against Azhar. We expect all countries to uphold these obligations," a State Department spokesperson said.

While welcoming the publicly stated intentions of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the spokesperson said, "We are encouraged by initial steps taken by the Government of Pakistan..."

"We appreciate Pakistani Prime Minister Khan's stated commitment that Pakistan, for the sake of its own future, will not allow the operation of militant and terrorist groups from its territory.

"We look forward to further and sustained actions from Pakistan as outlined in its National Action Plan, and consistent with its international obligations," the State Department spokesperson emphasised.

France, which also backed the proposal to ban Azhar, welcomed the United Nations' move, saying it "signals the successful realisation" of its efforts.

"We welcome the designation today, by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, of Masood Azhar on the UN's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," according to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs of France.

In London, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the UN's designation of Azhar was a positive development for the South Asian region.

"The listing of Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group, is very welcome and long overdue, an FCO spokesperson said.

"The UK has consistently called for this action to be taken, and we worked closely with our international partners to ensure the right result. This is a positive development for the security and stability of the South Asia region, the spokesperson noted.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

Indias strong diplomacy since 2014 forced many countries to fall in line. The long-time pending bid of India in United Nations was finally supported by China and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar was declared as a 'global terrorist'. Masood Azhars Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is responsible in number of terrorist attacks in India including Pulwama attack in 2019 killing 40 soldiers, Uri attack in 2016 killing 19 soldiers, Pathankot attack in 2016 killing 7 soldiers and Parliament attack 2001 killing 9 people.

It is to be noted that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist organization was formed in March 2000 with a so-called aim of freeing Kashmir from India. Well, you can also say to terrorise India. Three months before JeM was formed, its chief Maulana Masood Azhar was released by India after the Kandahar hijacking episode.

On 24th December 1999, IC-814 was flying to Delhi from Kathmandu. Within half an hour of take-off, the plane was taken over by five Pakistani hijackers and forced pilot to fly to Lahore. However, Pakistan denied the plane permission to land.

India desperately requested Pakistan to allow the plane to land  low of fuel, it could crash any time  and to try and prevent its exit. Pakistan let the plane land and refuel  but no attempts were made to stop it.

The plane next landed in Dubai, where 27 passengers and the body of Rupen Katyal, whom the hijackers had stabbed, were off-loaded. At this point, India requested the UAE and even the US to help, asking them to hold the plane at the airport till a team of Indian commandos could reach there. Unfortunately, the two countries did not offer any help. The plane finally landed at Kandahar.

Afghanistan was then under the control of the Taliban. Taliban, in the name of protecting passengers surrounded the plane. But what they were doing was to make sure Indian commandos could not storm the flight.

According to the media reports, the hijackers wanted the release of 36 terrorists as well as a huge amount of cash. A team of negotiators flew to Kandahar. In the meantime, in India, pressure was mounting, with the relatives of the flight passengers staging protests.

After the negotiations with hijackers failed, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government agreed to their demands and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists including Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram' to Kandahar in Afghanistan in a special plane to ensure the release of passengers of the hijacked plane.

None of the five hijackers were caught. In the year 2017, three including Abdul Latif Adam Momin alias Abdul Rehman alias Patel, Yusuf Nepali and Dalip Bhujail, were convicted for arranging passports, tickets and arms for the hijackers. Nepali was later acquitted. The acquittal has been challenged. Momins appeal against his life imprisonment is in the Supreme Court. Azhar, meanwhile, is safe in Pakistan.

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New Delhi:

An Indian national and three persons of Indian-origin have been killed in Cincinnati in the US and the matter is being investigated by police there, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said Tuesday. However, Swaraj ruled out the possibility of a hate crime"Indian Ambassador in United States @IndianEmbassyUS has informed me about the killing of four persons in Cincinnati on Sunday evening. One of them was an Indian national on a visit to US while others were persons of Indian origin," she tweeted. The matter is under investigation by police, but it is not a hate crime, Swaraj said

"Our Consul General in New York is coordinating with the concerned authorities and will keep me informed me on this," she said.

Three women and a man belonging to Sikh community were found dead at an apartment complex in Ohio where multiple gunshots were fired, police said Monday. The president of a local Sikh temple said the family worshiped there and called the deaths a very great loss for our community. He added: Everybody is in shock. Cops were searching a nearby pond for anything that would help crack the case, said New York Post. No suspect has been identified. A man called 911 around 10 pm Sunday, saying he had arrived at the complex in a northern Cincinnati suburb to find four members of his family wounded, according to West Chester Township police. "They are on the ground and bleeding," said the caller, often choking up and out of breath as the dispatcher struggled to get details from him.

"They are all bleeding." At times, he can be heard on the 911 audio frantically yelling "Help!" apparently to neighbours at the Lakefront at West Chester complex.

Township Police Chief Joel Herzog said at a news conference Monday that it's too early in the investigation to suggest a motive. It will be up to the Butler County coroner to determine the cause of death and release the victims' identities, Herzog said.

Herzog had said that it didn't appear that anyone had shot back at the perpetrator or perpetrators, whom police were still working to identify.

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New Delhi:

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday said that Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar was designated as a global terrorist because of his continued association with a proscribed organisation.

The UN committee listed Azhar on May 1, 2019 as being associated with Al-Qaeda for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to", "recruiting for", "otherwise supporting acts or activities of", and "other acts or activities indicating association with" the JeM.

However, there was no mention of the deadly Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which was claimed by the JeM.

The United Nations said that Jaish-e-Mohammed had been listed as a banned outfit on October 17, 2001 for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating on behalf or in support of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban and for supplying them weaponry.

The Congress welcomed the designation of Azhar as a global terrorist, but expressed disappointment that the listing does not mention Pulwama and Jammu and Kashmir while recounting his role in terror activities.

The Congress said it expected the Modi government to act with a "greater speed" in pursuing the case with China as several precious lives in terror attacks like Pulwama could have been avoided.

The Modi government should now push for a declaration of bounty on Azhar's head as was ensured by the UPA in the case of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Congress said.

Azhar's "belated" declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step and India's fight against terrorism is resolute and the entire nation is one in fighting the menace, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement.

Designation as a global terrorist is just the first step and all his sources of funding need to be stopped, he said.

The entire property and terror fund need to be taken over by international agencies, Surjewala said.

"We are disappointed that UN listing doesn't mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhar's role in terrorist activities," he tweeted.

The Congress demanded that the Modi government should pursue a complete international ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad and also ensure that other terrorists of JeM are similarly blacklisted by the UN.

It also demanded that the Modi government should pursue the blacklisting of Pakistan as a terrorist state by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

Billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates wife Melinda Gates knows what it takes to keep the wheels to successful life spinning and a successful marriage going. Married for over 25 years, the Gates couple, despite having a plate full of things such as dedicating their lives to reducing poverty and improving education and health care singles out a trivial thing in a marriage which married couples thinks unimportant. Talking about the key to success of their marriage, Melinda in a recent interview with Business Insider revealed the keys to her long, successful marriage to the Microsoft co-founder: sharing household responsibilities.

So one night we stood up after dinner and people in the family started to melt away, like, off they go upstairs. So hand on my hips, Im, like, Nobody leaves the kitchen until I leave the kitchen! she said. What happens is that last 15 minutes gets divvied up really fast. And then five minutes later we all go upstairs. So I think we just have to sometimes name these extra invisible things that people dont even see that we do as women Melinda tells the daily.

In her new book, The Moment of Lift, Melinda Gates, among many other fascinating points, reminds us of the importance of a successful marriage as a foundation for success in so many other ways. She dives into what she and Bill have adopted as an important symbol of the strongest marriages besides also writing strongly about how so much of the unpaid household chores like cooking, folding laundry, organizing childcare, scheduling dentist appointments are designated as a womens task adding that all the unpaid labour adds up to seven years of work, something she or any other woman could use to go pursue a PhD.

She further posts a very important question about how much women can accomplish with the extra time if male partners stepped up more.

Melinda and Bill Gates met in 1987 when Melinda joined Microsoft as a product manager. They then went on to marry in 1994 in Hawaii and share three children together.
New Delhi:

Having education degree dont teach you rationality! In a country that records having an almost 104 rape cases per day, is the rape culture so deeply embedded in the society that it is now even as a term for a mere admonition? In yet another shocking cases, a video of a middle-aged woman who allegedly asked seven men at a restaurant to rape a group because of the length of their dresses is leaving the society and womanhood in particular, baffled.

Youre recording no? Hello guys. These ladies want to wear short to short dresses to encourage all to see them. All these ladies wear short dresses or get naked to [get] raped these are the words the middle-aged woman is reported to have told the young girls.

The video starts off with the group of groups of girls who claims that the middle aged-women told a girl that she should be raped because of her dress. We then see the girls following her in a home-furnishing store for an apology which she adamantly refused and instead told the girl filming the video to "go to hell".

Seeing the discussion in the store, a bystander who was visiting stood up in support of the girls and asked the woman to apologise. A mother herself, the woman middle-aged woman reiterated that women should not wear short dresses.

After about eight minutes of being followed, the woman spoke up. "Hello guys, these ladies want to wear short to short dress to encourage all to see them. Theek hai? Wow, very good. All the ladies wear the shorter dress or naked to (be) raped. Hi all, if you are the parents, please control the girls (sic)," she declares, looking into the mobile phone camera.

The video which was first posted on Instagram had gathered more than 1 million views on Instagram but was later taken down as it violated its community guidelines. The video which is however available on Facebook has over 556, 884 views with many netzines praised the young women for standing up to the women and later conducted a poll on Facebook asking people to support her statement.

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New Delhi:

Google recently released dark mode on Google Chrome with the latest update, Chrome 74. Dark mode is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, and Android users.

In a statement, Google stated that dark mode will be widely available soon but till then Android users can enable this feature on their devices through a workaround. Google further confirmed that the dark mode helps saves battery life on smartphones.

Importantly, the dark mode feature is available through Chrome flags, the experimental site for unreleased features. Google Chrome app should be updated to the latest version for this feature to work.

Steps to enable dark mode feature on Google Chrome:

Firstly, open Google Chrome and type chrome://flags in the search bar. As soon as the page opens, type Android Chrome in the text bar. Then set the option to enabled for Android Chrome UI dark mode. Once you change this, click on the option to relaunch Chrome. After this, go to the settings menu and select dark mode.

It is to be noted that you may not see dark mode in the first attempt. Make sure to kill the app and try enabling the feature few times. Once done, you will see a dark Chrome background with the text bar and icons highlighted by a grayish accent.

The search giant will soon launch system-wide dark mode with the upcoming Android Q. Apple is also expected to roll out dark mode for iPhones with iOS 13 which will be announced next month at WWDC 2019.

Interestingly, apps like Twitter, Messenger and YouTube already offer dark mode on their platforms. On the other hand, WhatsApp is also testing dark mode on its app.
New Delhi:

Samsung on Tuesday came forward to defend its new Galaxy S10 5G model after a South Korean smartphone owner posted pictures online of a charred handset claiming it had mysteriously burnt.

It is to be noted that earlier this week, a South Korean Galaxy S10 5G owner posted several photos of the smartphone scorched beyond recognition. The smartphone owner said that he hadnt done anything that would cause the S10 5G to combust, claiming it burnt without reason.

My phone was on the table when it started smelling burnt and smoke soon engulfed the phone, the owner of Galaxy S10 5G named Lee told AFP. I had to drop it to the ground when I touched it because it was so hot, he added. Lee further stated that everything inside the phone was burnt. Samsung refused to reimburse for the $1,200 phone, Lee concluded.

Issuing the clarification, Samsung told AFP that an external impact had caused the damage rather than an internal glitch. After retrieving the device from the customer, Samsung has closely inspected the device and concluded that the damage was caused by external impact," a company spokesperson said.

Samsung Galaxy S10 5G was launched on April 5 in South Korea. The electronics giant has touted its new Galaxy phones as the worlds first available smartphones with built-in 5G communications.

Last week, Samsung delayed the release of its $2,000 foldable phone - Galaxy Fold - over screen problems, saying it needs further improvements.

Importantly, Samsung is no stronger to battery controversy. Its Galaxy Note 7 phablet notably catching fire in 2016 led the company to recall millions of devices. This shattered Samsungs global image.
Colombo:

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday asked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to "leave my country alone" after the dreaded Islamic State leader claimed the massive suicide bombings in the island nation was a revenge attack for the fall of the Syrian town of Baghuz, the terror group's final bastion.

Sirisena also warned it may be possible Islamic State had launched a "new strategy" by targeting smaller countries, Sky News Wednesday quoted him as saying.

He said authorities were aware of a "small group" of Sri Lankans who had travelled abroad to receive training from Islamic State over the past decade.

In the Sky News interview, President Sirisena said he had a message for Islamic State: "Leave my country alone."

On Monday, Islamic State's media network published a video message purporting to come from its leader, Baghdadi.

The man in the IS propagada video, said to be Baghdadi referred to the deadly Easter Sunday attack in Sri Lanka and to the months-long fight for IS's final bastion Baghouz, which concluded in March.

"The battle for Baghouz is over," he said.

"God ordered us to wage 'jihad.' He did not order us to win," he said.

In a segment where Baghdadi is not seen, his voice referred to the April 21 attacks in Sri Lanka, which killed 253 people and wounded nearly 500, as "vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz".

The US-led Kurdish fighters took over the last pocket of land in Syria held by ISIS recently.

Baghdadi, who is now 47, appeared last time in public in Mosul Iraq, in 2014, where he declared an Islamic "caliphate" in the swathes of territory IS then held in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the whole world should be on alert following the threat by the eluvsive ISIS leader.

"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said his organisation is ready to attack any city in the world at any moment. This is a threat to the entire world. Therefore all countries in the world should see that their defence forces are on alert," Wickremesinghe said in a special statement on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister said investigations will be carried out on the statement made by ISIS leader that the attacks in Sri Lanka were in retaliation to the capture of the land which was held by them.

He said many arrests have been made and arms are being recovered due to the ability of the security forces and the intelligence units.

"We will arrest the rest who were involved in bomb attacks," he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.

Police suspect members of two previously little-known groups ? National Thawheed Jamaath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim ? of carrying out the attacks, Sri Lanka's worst that killed 253 people and injured nearly 500 others, it noted.

Sri Lankan authorities have said that they suspect the attackers had international links, although the precise nature of those connections are not known. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol, as well as other undisclosed foreign agencies, are helping Sri Lanka with the probe.

Wickremesinghe also assured that security of the people will be assured during the upcoming Buddhist festival, Vesak and said monks will also play a role in it.

The Prime Minister urged all political parties to join hands and every citizen of the country to support the security forces to ensure the safety of the nation.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan will immediately enforce the UN sanctions imposed on Masood Azhar after the Security Council designated the Jaish-e-Mohammed chief as 'global terrorist', Pakistan foreign office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said.

"Formal action will be taken on three counts: travel ban, arms embargo and travel restrictions. That is the requirement...Pakistan is a responsible state and we will take appropriate action," he said.

The spokesman said Islamabad rejected earlier proposals to list Azhar as terrorist as those efforts had a political agenda and aimed at maligning Pakistan.

"Pakistan maintains that terrorism is a menace to the world...The UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee listing is governed by clear rules and its decisions are taken through consensus...Pakistan has always advocated the need for respecting these technical rules and has opposed the politicisation of the committee," Faisal said.

"Earlier proposals to list Azhar failed to generate the requisite consensus in the Sanctions Committee as the information did not meet its technical criteria...These proposals were aimed at maligning Pakistan...And were thus rejected by Pakistan," he said, noting that "the current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama".

Faisal asserted that the UN decision "will not impact the struggle of Kashmiris and Pakistan would continue to support them".

Pakistan will continue to extend diplomatic, moral and political support to the Kashmiris, he said.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.



The travel ban entails preventing the entry into or transit by all states through their territories by designated individuals.



Under the arms embargo, all states are required to prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer from their territories or by their nationals outside their territories, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of arms and related materiel of all types, spare parts, and technical advice, assistance, or training related to military activities, to designated individuals and entities.

China, which lifted its technical hold on listing Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN, said that it took the decision after it found no objection to the listing proposal by the US, the UK and France following a careful study of the revised materials.

China removed its hold on the proposal, which was moved by France, UK and the US in the Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee in February just days after the deadly Pulwama terror attack carried out by the Pakistan-based terror outfit JeM.

A known fugitive, 50-year-old Azhar, who formed the JeM in 2000, was branded the brain behind various suicide strikes in India and known to have finetuned terror tactics which included survey of potential targets before carrying out the attack.

The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, UK and the US on February 27.

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Caracas:

Demonstrators clashed with police on the streets of the Venezuelan capital on Tuesday, spurred by Opposition leader Juan Guaido's call on the military to rise up against President Nicolas Maduro -- who said he had defeated an attempted coup.

An apparently carefully planned attempt by Guaido to demonstrate growing military support disintegrated into rioting as palls of black smoke rose over eastern Caracas.

Tuesday evening, Maduro declared victory over the uprising -- congratulating the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes." "This will not go unpunished," Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and the radio.

"(Prosecutors) will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace," he added.

Guaido had been immediately backed the United States, where President Donald Trump said in a tweet Washington was standing behind the Venezuelan people and their 'freedom'.

He rallied his supporters with an early morning video message that showed him -- for the first time -- with armed troops he said had heeded months of urging to join his campaign to oust Maduro.

The 35-year-old National Assembly leader was filmed outside the La Carlota air base, where he asked the armed forces inside to join him.

The video had the extra shock value of featuring key opposition figure Leopoldo Lopez at his side, saying soldiers had released him from years of house arrest.

Guaido claimed the move was the "beginning of the end" of Maduro's regime, and there was "no turning back." He later called for a fresh round of protests on Wednesday, in another video message.

Thousands of opposition supporters flocked onto a highway near the air base, many waving Venezuelan flags, but they were met with gunfire and tear-gas fired by soldiers at the compound's perimeter.

A

Lopez later entered the Chilean embassy with his wife and one of his children to claim asylum, before moving to the Spanish embassy, Chile's Foreign Minister Roberto Ampuero announced in Santiago.

Soldiers backing Guaido wore blue armbands to demonstrate their allegiance to the opposition leader -- recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries -- but there appeared to be few of them.

Brazil said later a number of Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy. Brazilian media put that number at 25.

Just as the case was with #Syria, Western news outlets refuse to cover the massive rallies launched by the people of #Venezuela today against the latest US-backed military coup attempt because it doesnat advance their pro-war, regime change agenda. #HandsOffVenezuela pic.twitter.com/TpEMGW1069 a Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) April 30, 2019

But Maduro had called on his forces to show "nerves of steel" and troops in riot gear, backed by armored vehicles and water tankers, lined up against the demonstrators.

Several vehicles plowed into the crowd, injuring some of the protesters. Rioters later blocked the highway with a bus and set it on fire.

A plume of black smoke rose from an area near a helicopter hangar on the base, where demonstrators who briefly managed to enter were pushed back.

Ayer #28Abr se expresA en las calles de mi hermosa Caracas, la voz de un pueblo valiente, digno y libre, que manifiesta su total respaldo a la decisiAn soberana de abandonar para siempre ese instrumento de dominaciAn imperial llamado #OEA. pic.twitter.com/ndYIcGgWFi a NicolAs Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) April 28, 2019

"Today is the day Maduro resigns. Today is the day all the country's drug dealers resign. Today we have a Venezuela. Today we have a nation," said one protester amid the confusion.

As United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to all sides to avoid violence, Venezuela's Army Chief and Defense Minister, General Vladimir Padrino issued a stark warning of possible "bloodshed" -- adding that he would hold the opposition responsible.

He later said an army colonel had received a bullet wound to the neck during the clashes in Caracas. Health officials said 69 people were injured, including two from bullet wounds.

The US, meanwhile, called on the military to protect the people and support "legitimate institutions" including the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN he believed Maduro was ready to flee the country to ally Cuba before he was dissuaded by Russia -- a claimed Maduro later refuted.

Moscow, Maduro's main backer and creditor alongside China, accused Guaido of "fueling conflict" in the oil-rich country.

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Charlotte:

Two people were killed and at least four wounded on Tuesday in a shooting at the University of North Carolinas Charlotte campus, local media reported. The universitys office of emergency management tweeted an alert warning that shots had been reported on campus shortly before 6 pm, on what was students last day of classes this academic year.

Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately, it said.

Local ABC affiliate WSOC-TV reported that two people had been killed, while another two sustained life-threatening injuries and two more were being treated for less serious wounds.

Police confirmed the shooter, identified by NBC Charlotte as a 22-year-old history student at the campus, was in custody.

A local Fox television affiliate meanwhile identified the dead as boys aged 17 and 18.

Scene secure. One in custody. No reason to believe anyone else involved, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted, adding that law enforcement and university staff were sweeping buildings to round up those still sheltering.

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said she was in shock after hearing of the rampage.

My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others, she wrote on Twitter.

The shooting comes just days after a teenage gunman opened fire on a synagogue in Poway, California, killing one person and injuring three others.

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The Islamic State group yesterday claimed a series of bombings that killed more than 320 people in Sri Lanka after the government blamed local Islamists for the blasts.

Those that carried out the attack that targeted members of the US-led coalition and Christians in Sri Lanka the day before yesterday is Islamic State group fighters, said a statement released by IS propaganda agency Amaq. Sundays bombings targeting churches and high-end hotels are among the deadliest such attacks worldwide since the 2001 strikes on the United States.

The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday blamed the Islamist National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) group for the blasts, saying they were carried out in retaliation for last months attacks on two mosques in New Zealand. The presidency said there was intelligence that international terror groups were backing Sri Lankan extremists.

Police sources said yesterday that two Muslim brothers -- sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader -- were among the perpetrators of the attacks. They blew themselves up as guests queued for breakfast at the Shangri-La and Cinnamon Grand hotels in the capital, the source said.
HARTFORD  A bill that would eliminate car taxes but make up for the loss of local revenue by increasing the property tax assessments on homes and businesses was panned Monday by the two municipal lobbies.

The bill calls for phasing out property taxes on motor vehicles over a five-year period, except on rental cars, and increases the property tax assessment rate from 70 percent to 100 percent to offset the municipal revenue loss. The bill was one of 15 that was up for a Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee public hearing.

Bills, including some that would impose a flat, statewide tax rate for all cars regardless of which town theyre registered in, have been raised in the past. A law passed several years ago sought to use a half percent of the sales tax to offset losses in towns that ended up losing money from lowering their motor vehicle tax mill rate. The theme is the same  that it is unfair that the same car is taxed at different rates depending on the municipality where it is registered.

During the recent gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Ned Lamont floated the idea of a single statewide rate for motor vehicle taxes as a fairer, more equitable way for all taxpayers.

Municipal leaders say thats a great idea in theory, but wonder where they are going to make up for the lost revenue.

Harwinton First Selectman Michael Criss, testifying on behalf of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns, said: shifting more than $850 million onto the backs of homeowners will overwhelm property taxpayers and devastate housing values throughout the state.

Eliminating this tax and increasing the uniform assessment rate, will shift hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional property taxes onto homeowners and businesses, Criss said.

Criss said municipal leaders from Connecticuts smaller communities are very concerned that residents are at a tipping point. Homeowners in our communities are frustrated about rising property tax levels.

Changes in federal law that capped the amount of state and local taxes residents can deduct from their income taxes have shined a spotlight on Connecticuts property tax burdens, Criss added.

Unfortunately, SB-1139 will make things worse by increasing the cost of homeownership and diminishing housing values. Not only will this impose a greater burden on already overburdened homeowners, it will undermine Connecticuts economy.

Chiming in was Randy Collins, advocacy manager for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM).

While Collins acknowledged that the assessment of property taxes on vehicles can vary widely for the identical car based on location, on the other hand, he said motor vehicle property taxes generate approximately $925 million annually for towns and cities.

If we proceed to eliminate this tax, it must be done through a carefully thought-out process that does not create a new class of winners and losers, Collins said.

Simply eliminating the tax on motor vehicles, even if done through a five-year phase out, and shifting that burden onto real property, will shift a significant burden onto businesses that do not own vehicles, urban homeowners that do not own cars and utilize public transportation, and to seniors, Collins said.

Collins offered that CCM would be willing to work with legislators on the concept of eliminating the car tax, but any plan that reduces $925 million in local revenue must provide for a means to replace it. To simply shift that revenue loss onto an already strained property tax base is problematic to say the least.

Eliminating the property tax on motor vehicles will cost the Town of Litchfield more than $1.5 million per year, First Selectman Leo Paul said. Without this revenue, our town will be left with a massive hole in its budget  a hole that will have to be plugged by increasing the mill rate on homeowners and businesses or cutting critical services.

Eric Gjede, vice president of government affairs for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, told the committee that the business community is concerned that this legislation ultimately results in a shifting of the property tax burden from residential properties on to commercial properties.

If enacted, it is conceivable that rather than lowering the mill rate to keep the tax flat for all taxpayers, municipalities may elect to keep the current mill rates in place and only provide relief via tax credit to residential property owners, Gjede said.

Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, and co-chairman of the committee, said if the bill did move forward it would include language to ensure that tax burden wouldnt be shifted from residential onto commercial property.
DANBURY  King Street Early Learning Center and the King Street United Church of Christ will host a day of family fun this Saturday.

The Family Fun Fest at 201 South King St. will include an interactive music program at 11:15 a.m., followed by storytime with Mayor Mark Boughton at noon.
Photo for The Washington Post by Jennifer Chase

Patrons of Washington businesses will soon no longer have the option of a plastic bag to carry their goods home.

The town of Washington has approved an ordinance banning the use of single-use plastic bags by all businesses.

The ban was approved by unanimous vote at a special town meeting held just days before Earth Day.

Its a gesture, a good gesture, said First Selectman Mark Lyon. Its a step in the right direction.

Diane Decker, co-president of the Washington Environmental Council, said the council is thrilled the ordinance passed.

This is probably one of the biggest things weve done since saying no to fracking, Decker said. This is huge.

Businesses will be allowed to use up their inventory of bags, but bags will then be phased out, with all bags expected to be gone within a few months.

The Board of Selectmen worked with the towns Sustainability Committee  an appointed subcommittee of the Planning Commission  the Washington Environmental Council and the Washington Business Association to craft the ordinance.

More News See where your town stands on a plastic bag ban

Council representatives visited the majority of businesses in town to explain the plan and offer alternative suggestions to those that asked.

Some business owners cited customers who use plastic bags for a variety of home uses, including lining small garbage cans.

Lisa Stein, manager at Washington Food Market and president of the Washington Business Alliance, said there are alternatives, including biodegradable bags available to purchase at the store.

Weve been supportive of (this ordinance) since the beginning, Stein said.

The store offers customers the opportunity to bring their own bags or buy reusable bags at the store.

In addition, the store is exploring the implementation of a bag program  similar to a free library  that would welcome donations of reusable bags for customers to use.

Its worth giving it a shot, Stein said.

A business found to be not in compliance with the ordinance will work with the first selectman and Sustainability Committee on a plan to meet the ordinance.

A business will be fined $150 for a second violation and $250 for each subsequent violation.

The ban is one of a number of ongoing efforts to create a sustainable community.
WEST HAVEN  A high school student recently feted for his appointment to a local committee that helps decide how to allocate federal grant funds has hit another milestone that makes him proud.

Roman Khondker, a senior at Sound School in New Haven who is a Muslim and a Republican, has been appointed to the state Commission on Equity and Opportunity.

I feel absolutely honored that Ive been picked for a statewide commission. I cant begin to express my feelings, Khondker said. Im truly honored that Gov. (Ned) Lamont and (state) Sen. Bob Duff for appointing me to this commission.

Khondker said he will fight for and propose bills that promote equity and opportunity in Connecticut, including in education, the work force and individual classrooms.

We need to promote equal opportunity for everyone no matter what the position of the individuals, said Khondker, 19.

As an immigrant, he knows all about the importance of equal opportunity and has seized it every chance he gets since coming to the United States at a young age after fleeing political persecution in Bangladesh.

Khondker recently was appointed by Mayor Nancy Rossi to the Community Development Administrations Citizen Advisory Committee. The nine-member committee helps consider grant applications and allocate Community Development Block Grant funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for programs that serve low- to moderate-income people.

I grew up watching so many terrible things, I dont want people to suffer, Khondker said at the time.

Khondker, an honor student who holds many leadership positions at his school, said hes so loyal about serving in this country because the U.S. has given me the freedom I never had. The freedom I never thought Id have. It allowed me to be myself.

Khondker has said hes a Republican because he likes small government, lower taxes, and more individual liberties and freedoms, but said hes also good at making friends across the aisle.

Khondker has also said hes hoping to create a gateway to get more Muslims and more younger people appointed.

Khondker spent his young years with his mother escaping Bangladesh through India, Nepal and Pakistan before coming to the United States, and became a citizen in 2017. As soon as he turned 18, he joined the West Haven Republican Town Committee and ran a primary for state representative in the 116th District. He lost to Republican Richard DePalma, but it was a close race.

He and his mother escaped in 2003 when he was about 3 , and lived in Pakistan, India and Nepal, with little food and resources, before coming to America when he was about 10.

Khondker said his mother was forced into marriage, decided to leave abuse and speak out against her husband, a government official whose own father was chief whip of Bangladesh, and in that role handled all the military functions of the country. That is why they escaped.

In addition to helping decide on the $700,000 in grant money, Khondker has asked in the local committee role to get involved helping in the daily lives of clients in organizations such as WHEAT, FISH and others that help the community.
This past November, Connecticut joined the national surge in voter participation, with 65 percent of registered voters forming a Blue Wave up and down the ticket. But just a few months later, five special elections in Democratic-held seats  three State Senate and two House yielded far more sobering results, with Republicans winning two of those seats amid an abysmal 14.5 percent voter turnout. The two districts Democrats lost (one Senate seat in New Britain and one House seat in East Haven) both have more registered Democrats and Unaffiliated voters than Republicans.

While there are many causes for poor voter turnout  lack of information, no early voting, and/or limited funds  it is clear that Democrats must do more to engage our base in municipal elections this year to keep the Blue Wave rolling. Because if the 2018 elections were a test for Republicans, 2020 is most certainly a test for Democrats, and we need to lay the groundwork for passing that test now.

Fortunately, a model for what we need to achieve can be found just across our western border in Westchester County, N.Y.

In April 2018, there was a special election for state senate in New Yorks 37th District in suburban Westchester County where Democratic Assembly member Shelley Mayer facing off against former Rye Deputy Mayor Julie Killian, a Republican. Mayer had spent her time since the 2016 elections building a coalition that brought together traditional party committees, labor, and the newer resistance groups such as Indivisible, and in her election she put that coalition to work. The result? A stunning 58 percent victory with more than 38 percent voter turnout, despite being heavily outspent. Her win was the first Democratic victory in the Blue Wave that swept New York State in 2018 to give Democrats 39 of the 63 seats and control in the state senate.

For Connecticuts Democrats, that means 2019 is the time we need to be building our movement by organizing on the ground.

Historically, odd years such as 2019 are viewed as off years, with low-turnout municipal races that garner little attention or volunteer activity. But these races define the political landscape and set the stage for next years state and federal races. The Democratic Party and individual campaigns must use this opportunity to build a stronger base by identifying, engaging, and turning people out to vote in municipal elections. And every voter who votes in a municipal or special election in an off-year is virtually guaranteed to turn out during even-numbered years for Connecticuts state and federal elections.

There are a number of key districts we can look to in order to achieve our goals. Last year Democrats gained five Senate seats and closed the vote-gap enough in five additional districts indicating that those seats are winnable in 2020. The successful Red-to-Blue areas, including Cheshire, Danbury, Wilton, Lyme, and Greenwich, have a major common element: they turned out voters in force. Sen. Will Haskell in Wilton had a host of new, young voters on his side, Sen. Julie Kushner in Danbury had activist groups and labor come out in force, and Sens. Norm Needleman, Mary Abrams, and Alexandra Bergstein in the other districts all had groundswells of support from local activists, labor, and mid-propensity voters disheartened by the 2016 election. Putting focus on these districts this year will help us lay the groundwork for the 2020 elections.

Voter turnout is always a challenge in local races, but the evidence is clear that the voters are ready to get engaged if campaigns are willing to make the effort to communicate. This years municipal elections are the opportunity Democrats need to re-enfranchise people who dont regularly vote in these races and get them involved now. For years, the Republicans and their deep-pocketed allies focused on local races to build their base and their bench; its beyond time for Democrats to catch up.

Francesca Capodilupo is the Connecticut state director at Red Horse Strategies, a political consulting firm. She splits her time between New York City and Ridgefield.
HARTFORD  After a calling off a May 1 strike, 200 unionized nursing home workers gathered at the Capitol Wednesday to give lawmakers an ultimatum: raise their wages or face a new strike of 3,100 workers.

The workers of SEIU 1199 New England will reconvene on May 8 to decide whether they will order a new strike.

A new strike would most likely include 25 nursing homes throughout Connecticut that pay their workers through the states Medicaid funding, said Rob Baril, president of SEIU 1199 New England. The previous strike was planned for 20 nursing homes, impacting about 3,000 patients.

Their demand is a 4-percent increase in Medicaid funding in both of the next two fiscal years, or about $40 million more each year, part of which would be shouldered by the federal government, Baril said. That change would result in a 4-percent wage increase for nursing home workers, who have seen one 2-percent wage increase since 2015.

People cannot live, cannot provide for their families, cannot put food on the table, cannot pay for the mortgage on raises where you are talking about a quarter to 30 cents over five years, said Baril.

Careene Reid has worked at Trinity Hill Care Center in Hartford for 10 years and earns $15.12 an hour, she said. Her last raise was 27 cents.

Workers like Reid called off their May 1 strike last week because they received a letter from Gov. Ned Lamont indicating he would work to increase their pay and state funding for nursing homes.

But the legislatures Appropriations Committee revealed their state spending plan Tuesday with no increase. That disappointed workers, who showed up force Wednesday and sat in on a meeting of the legislatures tax policy committee to pressure lawmakers.

Baril reminded the workers  mostly black and Latino  of their political power and how they can use it to keep pro-union lawmakers in office.

When we organize for elections in the fall, it matters, he said.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
MONTREAL, April 30, 2019 /CNW/ - Improving the energy efficiency of Canada's mines is critical to our transition to a low-carbon economy. Finding and advancing innovative solutions that reduce energy use for crushing and grinding mined rock will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve productivity and help our mining industry become more competitive.

Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, today announced the six finalists for Impact Canada's Crush it! Challenge at the 2019 Canadian Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum's Convention. Each finalist is eligible to receive up to $800,000 to build and test his or her cleantech solution before advancing to the next stage of the challenge.

The finalists are:

Gillian Holcroft from the Canada Mining Innovation Council for her Conjugate Anvil Hammer Mill

from the Canada Mining Innovation Council for her Conjugate Anvil Hammer Mill Claude Gagnon from COREM for his Optimization of High-Pressure Grinding Rolls

from COREM for his Optimization of High-Pressure Grinding Rolls Erin Bobicki from the University of Toronto for her Microwave Pre-treatment and Ore Sorting

from the for her Microwave Pre-treatment and Ore Sorting Tracy Holmes from Jenike & Johanson for her Microwave Treatment and Materials Handling

from Jenike & Johanson for her Microwave Treatment and Materials Handling Philippe Gagnon from COREM for his IntelliCrush

from COREM for his IntelliCrush Cliff Edwards from Envisioning Labs for his Transcritical CO 2 Pulverization

Launched in October 2018, Crush It! challenged Canadian innovators to deliver game-changing solutions for cleaner, more efficient rock processing. Of the 65 applications received, 12 semi-finalists pitched their ideas to a seven-member jury of cleantech and innovation leaders in the mining sector at a public showcase event held in conjunction with the #DisruptMining event in March. Eleven of the semi-finalists received $10,000 in micro-grants to develop their proposals.

In March 2021, a $5-million Grand Prize will be awarded to the innovator demonstrating the best energy breakthrough in crushing and grinding rocks.

Crush It! is one of five cleantech challenges launched by Natural Resources Canada as part of the Impact Canada Initiative. Challenges were co-developed with industry experts and stakeholders to attract a diverse range of problem solvers to generate breakthrough cleantech solutions to some of Canada's biggest unsolved challenges. The Impact Canada challenge platform is part of a Government of Canada-wide effort to introduce innovative programming approaches to deliver meaningful results for Canadians. NRCan will invest $75 million over four years in five challenges: Women in Cleantech Challenge, Power Forward Challenge, Crush It! Challenge, The Sky's the Limit Challenge and Indigenous Off-diesel Initiative.

Quotes

"Our mining industry has positioned Canada as a leading mining nation and a centre of global mining finance and expertise. Improving the energy efficiency of crushing and grinding rock will create good jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build a more sustainable mining sector. Congratulations to all the Challenge participants for helping modernize a foundational industry in Canada."

Amarjeet Sohi

Canada's Minister of Natural Resources



"This Challenge supports mining, an unsung hero of our country, by modernizing it to be part of our low-carbon economy. Through transformation, modernization and diversification, the mining sector continues to thrive and remains an important economic driver of Canada's economy."

Paul Lefebvre

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources

"The Crush It! Challenge is a great example of what is possible when we empower industry to find innovative solutions to the challenges we face as Canadians. As the Government of Canada's champion for Impact Canada, I am proud of the creative ideas and proposals put forward to develop new clean technology solutions for our mining industry."

Karina Gould

Minister of Democratic Institutions

Associated Links

Impact Canada

Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation

Goldcorp Inc.



Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan)

SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

For further information: Natural Resources Canada, Media Relations, 343-292-6100, [email protected]; Vanessa Adams, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Natural Resources, 343-543-7645, [email protected]

Related Links

www.nrcan.gc.ca


Venezuela might be in the regime change endgame and a new phase in the ongoing crisis.

The US has threatened Cuba with full and complete sanctions and has offered members of Venezuelas military the opportunity to get a deal if they switch sides.

In early 2018, Nextbigfuture predicted that Venezuelas economy would deteriorate so that less than 1 million barrels per day of oil would be exported and there would be a military coup or regime change. The prediction optimistically thought this would happen by the end of 2018. However, it has taken longer for the situation to develop and there is still uncertainty how events will play out.

At least 71 people were injured in Tuesdays clashes and taken to a hospital in Caracas, according to Magia Santi, president of Salud Chacao Medical Center.

Of those 71 people taken to the hospital:

43 were injured by rubber bullets

Two were treated for gunshot wounds

21 were treated for traumatic injuries

Three suffered respiratory injuries

One fainted

One suffered a hand injury

Juan Guaido, Venezuela's opposition leader, says he has launched the final phase of a plan to oust President Nicolas Maduro. There are reports of rebellions by groups of soldiers ahead of protests tomorrow. In February, our film explained how the world should help Venezuela pic.twitter.com/bBXJdVsaMa  The Economist (@TheEconomist) April 30, 2019

Venezuela: en nuestras manos tenemos el poder de lograr el cese definitivo de la usurpacion. Estamos en un proceso que es indetenible. Tenemos el respaldo firme de nuestra gente y del mundo para lograr el restablecimiento de nuestra democracia.#TodaVenezuelaALaCalle pic.twitter.com/Y8Z5yiVnhu  Juan Guaido (@jguaido) April 30, 2019

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

The US will consider sanctions off ramps for Venezuelan officials & military members who take concrete, measurable steps to support democracy & freedom in Venezuela. Maduros cronies should accept Interim President Guaidos offers of amnesty & work with us to secure their future.  John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) April 30, 2019

Venezuelans have made clear that the current path toward democracy is irreversible. Venezuelas military has a choice: embrace democracy, protect civilians and members of the democratically-elected National Assembly, or face more man-made suffering and isolation.  John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) April 30, 2019

SOURCES- Twitter, US Government, Venezuela Juan Guaido

Written By Brian Wang
Up until now it has been legal to trap and kill the animals, as well as damage their lodges and dams. But this week, ten years after the official beaver reintroductions to Scotland started, the animals have finally been given protected status by the Scottish government.

From now on, if a land owner or farmer wishes to remove a beaver deemed to be causing a significant impact on their land, they will have to apply for a licence.

While this will help in the management of their populations, there is a certain degree of reticence from both conservationists and farmers.

Some worry that it will become more difficult to deal effectively with problem animals causing damage. Others are concerned about how the licences will be granted, and whether on the ground there will actually be any significant changes to how beavers are dealt with.

Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish Environment Secretary, said in a statement, 'The Scottish Government believes in the highest standards of animal welfare - for both wild and domestic animals - and we felt it was high time that beavers enjoyed the same legal protection as other species like bats, dolphins, wildcats and otters.
Developers are hoping to turn the Showcase Cinemas in Black Rock into a trove of new apartments.

Bridgeports Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved a zone change for a site across the street from the theater on 286 Canfield Ave. which Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate and Eastpointe LLC of Fairfield want to turn into hundreds of apartments.

It really makes a lot of sense, said Frank Caico, Director of Development for Spinnaker. Were really excited about the possibilities.

Its still early in the process, but the zone changes laid the foundation for developers to move forward with drawing up their site plans, they said.

Developers wanted to match zoning of the site  which is a parking lot at 872 Brewster St.  with the theater ,which is designated as a Residential R-CC Zone.

The new designation allows a larger number of units to be built on the land, but adds several regulations, according to Fairfield land use attorney Ray Rizio, who represented Spinnaker and Eastpointe during the April planning and zoning meeting.

We understand the number of units that we can put there. Now we have to go from conceptual to an actual design, Rizio said, adding that the site could accommodate up to 300 units.

Rizio said developers are hoping to return with a site proposal in coming months.

Spinnaker and Eastpointe are in the process of acquiring the properties, Rizio said, adding developers would close and demolish the building but preserve the 500-space parking garage that serves the theater.

Neighborhood leaders have said they are in favor of the project and what it could mean for the propertys future.

The reality is that the movie theater industry is changing and the likelihood of that becoming vacant is pretty high, I would think, and it would be nice to have something productive go into there, said Scott Burns, president of the Black Rock NRZ.

The theater had originally been put up for sale in 2014. At the time, a spokesperson for the Showcases parent company National Amusements said there were too many theaters in that local market.

The company owns Fairfield Cinemas at Bullard Square around the block from Showcase on the Fairfield line. The theater has remained open since then, as operators waited for its sale, according to past reports.

The apartments would add to Spinnakers holdings in the Park City. The company already owns and manages the HSW Security Building in downtown Bridgeport, which features 70 units and 10,000 square feet of ground level retail space.

Spinnaker also has holdings in South Norwalk and Stamford.

The project would be Eastpointes first in Bridgeport. The developers own more than 200 condominiums between Shelton and Newtown.

Jordan.grice@Hearstmediact.com
A month before the latest International Festival of Arts & Ideas, it was announced Wednesday that Chad Herzog is leaving as director of programming and one of the festivals three co-directors this summer to take a job in Arizona.

Gordon Geballe, board chairman of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, announced Herzog will leave after the completion of this years festival to become the executive director of UA Presents, the performing arts presenting organization in residence at the University of Arizona.
Tacos, chips and salsa, Margaritas, Tequila, and guacamole will be center-stage on Sunday at home parties and at many restaurants providing the backdrop with music, decorations and Mexican-inspired fare. Why? It is the celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The day is a double celebration for me since it also is my birthday.

Many think it is the celebration of Mexicos independence, which it is not. It is the day in 1862 when the Mexican Army surprisingly defeated the French in the Battle of Puebla. What I find interesting is that Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in the United States than Mexico, although it is a big celebration in Puebla, where the day is celebrated with parades and reenactments of the 1862 battle.

Perusing the bookstore shelves, Salsas and Tacos by Susan Curtis and the Santa Fe School of Cooking (2019, Gibbs-Smith, $14.99) stood out; a hot little book with big taste to spice up your Cinco de Mayo. It was exciting to find this book because I met Susan many years ago when we were taking a train-the-trainer class in teambuilding using culinary arts in New York City. I have since taken a class at her school over a decade ago, and will see her soon in Santa Fe where she is an ambassador for the upcoming International Association of Culinary Professionals annual convention. I know I will be returning with products from her store and some recipes, too.

New Mexican cuisine is a melting pot of Mexican, Spanish, Native American and America Cowboy cooking techniques and flavors. The book provides bold recipes from the chefs from the Santa Fe School of Cooking. I found the heat rating for the salsa recipes and the techniques of roasting and toasting of chiles helpful. From the basic salsa fresca, roasted corn and Anasazi Bean salsa to grapefruit-orange salsa, to Jicama-Watermelon Salsa, and the recipes below for mango salsa and lemon-cucumber salsa, the vibrancy of the colors will enhance your tacos. The author writes, It wouldnt be fair to provide you with recipes for such amazing salsas and then leave you without any taco recipes. Hold on to your shoes because these taco fillings will knock your socks off!

Taco recipes included go beyond a taco filled with ground beef, lettuce, tomato and cheese. If you are planning a gathering on Sunday, an assortment of taco fillings and salsas and homemade tortillas will make your Cinco de Mayo party the hottest around. Adobo Pork Tacos with Grilled Pineapple; Potato, Poblano Chile, and Spinach Tacos with Cream; Steak and Mushroom Tacos with Green Chiles; and these recipes for Hot and Smoky Shrimp Tacos and Apple Pie Tacos are among the recipes you will find.

Mango Salsa

The headnote says, This is a wonderful garnish for grilled tuna or salmon, or any fish taco. It can also be used as a base for an excellent fish salad by mixing about 1 pound of grilled tuna or salmon into the salsa. Rating medium.

2 large ripe mangoes

1 medium hothouse cucumber* cut into quarter-inch dice

2 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and cut into quarter-inch dice

1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into quarter-inch dice

1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

2 to 3 serrano chiles, minced

Fresh lime juice, to taste

Salt, to taste

*Regular cucumbers may be substituted, but peel and remove the seeds.

Peel the mangoes with a small sharp knife. Cut the flesh away from the large flat pit in two pieces then cut it from the narrow edges of the pit. Cut these pieces into quarter-inch dice.

In a medium bowl, combine the diced mango, cucumber, bell peppers, red onion, cilantro, chiles, lime juice, and salt. Toss gently but thoroughly.

Let the salsa stand at room temperature for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled. Makes 3 cups.

Lemon Cucumber Salsa

The headnote says, Serve as an easy way to dress up a simple piece of fish or as a refreshing side salad. Rating medium.

2 cups lemon cucumber* unpeeled, cubed

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal

2 teaspoons crushed red chile (chile caribe)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (a combination of chives, mint, tarragon, and/ or cilantro is good)

Salt, to taste

Combine all the ingredients and stir. Let stand for 20 minutes, taste, and adjust seasoning. Makes about 2 cups.

*Tip: Lemon cucumbers are named for their shape and color, which resemble lemons. If you cannot find lemon cucumbers, peeled and seeded cucumbers may be substituted.

Hot and Smoky Shrimp Tacos

The headnote says, The flavor and the spiciness of chipotle chiles, which are smoked red jalapenos, make a perfect foil for the garlicky shrimp. This dish was meant to be hot, but you can vary the intensity of heat by reducing the quantity of chiles. If you like, the shrimp may also be prepared using an outdoor grill; make the sauce without the shrimp then brush some on the shrimp before grilling. Toss shrimp with the remaining sauce after they are cooked.

Taco Filling

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

8 cloves garlic, sliced

11/2 pounds medium shrimp (26-30 per pound), peeled and deveined

11/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1/8 to 1/4 cup pureed chipotle chiles in adobo

1/2 cup roasted tomato puree or canned tomato sauce

2 tablespoons cold water

Juice of 1/2 orange

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (about  large bunch)

Corn tortillas (store bought or use recipe on pg. 107 in the book which is found at https://bit.ly/2Prv3nI)

Preheat a heavy skillet or saute pan to medium hot (325 degrees); add olive oil and butter and continue heating until oil begins to smoke (400 degrees). Immediately add garlic, shrimp, and salt, stirring or tossing vigorously. Oil tends to splatter at this temperature, so be careful. When shrimp begin to turn opaque, stir in the chipotle chile puree and saute about 15 seconds to completely coat shrimp. Add tomato puree, water, and orange and lime juices. Reduce heat slightly and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Serve in corn tortillas, 2 or 3 shrimp per taco.

Serving suggestion: Garnish tacos with shredded romaine lettuce, Salsa Verde (recipe on page 24 in book), sliced avocados, radishes, lime wedges, and a dollop of sour cream. Serve with white rice and black beans.

Makes 20 to 25 tacos

Apple Pie Tacos

The headnote says, Dessert tacos arent a traditional Mexican dish; however, we wanted to include one of our favorite creations. We decided on the simple approach in keeping with the easygoing and casual nature of tacos. Easy to prepare, these look like tacos and have the universally satisfying flavor of Moms apple pie.

Taco Filling

4 tart apples, peeled, cored, and cut in quarter-inch-thick slices

Dash of salt

1/4cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons ground Mexican canela or cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 cup apple juice

1/8 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon ground Mexican canela or cinnamon

Preheat a heavy skillet or saucepan to medium (300 to 325 degrees). Toss sliced apples with salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar then with flour and cornstarch. Place butter in pan; when it sizzles, add apple slices. Cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until flour mixture combines with butter. Add canela and allspice then apple juice and remaining sugar. Bring to a slow boil and cook for 5 minutes, until apple slices are soft and sauce is smooth and thick. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Tacos

This recipe is from pg. 108 from the book:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

11/2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons vegetable shortening

3/4 cup hot water (145 degrees or more)

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cut in the shortening until mix is the consistency of course cornmeal. Add water and mix to form a soft but not too sticky dough. Knead about 15 times to form a smooth dough. Form into 8 to 10 equal-size balls. Cover and let stand for 20-30 minutes. Flatten dough, rolling away from you with a small wooden dowel or rolling pin, turning dough 1/8 turn after each roll. Tortillas should be about 5 inches in diameter and of a uniform thickness. Cook tortillas on a preheated 350-degree comal, griddle or skillet for 15-20 seconds on the first side; flip over, and cook 20 seconds more while pressing down with a spatula. Keep warm in a cloth towel until ready to serve.

To serve: Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the filling on each tortilla and fold in half. Melt some of the butter on a preheated comal, nonstick skillet, or griddle; place a filled tortilla in the butter. Cook about 11/2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Repeat for remaining tacos. Caution: If the temperature is too high, the tortillas will brown before filling is heated through. Dust tacos with powdered sugar and canela or cinnamon.

Note: These may be prepared ahead of time and reheated in a 325-degree oven.

Makes 8 tacos

Serving suggestion: Accompany tacos with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream, fruit sorbet, or whipped cream.

DESPERATELY SEEKING

Phil Goldstein of Bethany wrote, Is it possible to get the recipe for Lenders salmon chowder you wrote about in 2008?

I wrote back to Phil for some additional information. He wrote back, After I emailed you my wife found where she saved the page of your article that had the recipe. She grew up in New Haven and the Lenders chowder was a favorite childhood memory. Let us know if you want us to send the recipe to you. Now, if you have the Babkamans babka recipe, wed be ecstatic!

Phil, thanks for your request. When you wrote back that your wife found it, It made me think, I wonder how many of my columns from the past years are tucked away in kitchen draws. It is a special one, because it was one of the first columns I wrote! It is hard to believe this column began more than a decade ago. Lenders, bagel restaurant, closed years ago, was the spot where Greater New Haveners, including me, enjoyed fresh bagels and other comfort food such as the chowder. I will seek out the recipe from my archives so all can enjoy the famous Lenders chowder. I too, remember the babka, another favorite. Well see if that recipe can be sleuthed out. Stay tuned.

What chef would you like me to interview? Which restaurant recipes or other recipes would you like to have? Which food products do you have difficulty finding? Do you have cooking questions? Send them to me: Stephen Fries, professor and coordinator of the Hospitality Management Programs at Gateway Community College, at gw-stephen.fries@gwcc.commnet.edu or Dept. FC, Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., New Haven 06510. Include your full name, address and phone number. Due to volume, I might not be able to publish every request. For more, go to stephenfries.com.

CULINARY CALENDAR

Sip & Stir: May 1, 6:30-9 p.m., Chefs Emporium, 449 Boston Post Road, Orange, $65. Reservations 203-799-2665, If you regularly smother spaghetti with a store-bought product you pour out of a jar, its time for you to learn to cook homemade pasta sauce. You will learn how to make, basil pesto , carbonara , and bolognese sauces. Youll take some home to share with your friends and family. Feel free to bring your favorite bottle of wine or beverage to enjoy during this class. Tickets at https://bit.ly/2IcJZFE.

Bourbon Tasting, May 2, 5:30 p.m., Madison Beach Hotel, 94 West Wharf Road, Madison. 732-859-7844, $69, benefits Madison Ambulance Association; 12 bourbons will be featured. First 60 registrants will receive a Glencairn whiskey glass. Raffle for a 1-ounce pour of 23-year-old Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve Bourbon. The Madison Beach Hotel is offering at an additional cost a bourbon-inspired prix fixe dinner. Dinner reservations at 203-245-1404. Bourbon tasting tickets at https://bit.ly/2GGljTP.

Seafood Paella cooking class, May 2, 6:30 -9:00 p.m., Chefs Emporium, 449 Boston Post Road, Orange, $89. Reservations 203-799-2665. Youll learn to how to blend traditional Spanish flavors with fresh, seasonal ingredients to create this world-famous dish from Valencia, perfect for entertaining or everyday satisfying family meals. Please feel free to bring your favorite bottle of wine or beverage to enjoy. Tickets at https://bit.ly/2KLfEjv.

Passport to CT Farm Wineries begins its season May 3, Collect a minimum of 12 stamps from each of the 40 participating wineries and the Connecticut Wine Festival in Goshen in July, through Nov.3 to be eligible for one of more than 60 prizes, including a two-week trip for two to Malaga, Spain. Passports are available free of charge at each participating location, and through a new downloadable CT Farm Wine app. More details at passporttoctfarmwine.com.

Brewfest at the Beach, sponsored by the Rotary Club of New London. May 10, 6-9 p.m., Ocean Beach Park, 1225 Ocean Ave., New London, $25. Proceeds benefit Camp Rotary. Tastings of more than 150 beers, brew-friendly food, pizza, chili, wine tasting and live music. More info and tickets at https://bit.ly/2IVIcnV.
HAMDEN  A political up-and-comer is vying for the towns top position.

Councilwoman At Large Lauren Garrett, an outspoken member of the body, plans to challenge fellow Democrat Mayor Curt B. Leng this election season.

She officially announced her run on the steps of Memorial Town Hall Wednesday.

Garrett has sat on the council since first elected in 2017. As a council member, she is responsible for approving where the towns money is spent, enacting ordinances and resolutions and increasing or decreasing the budget, among other things.

My term on the Legislative Council has been an eye-opening experience, Garrett said Wednesday. I saw that our town was in deep financial trouble and I had the opportunity to listen to the issues raised by my neighbors from all over Hamden.

But Garrett said she wants to have a bigger say in how the town is run.

I want to shut the door on business as usual and open the door to innovations, she said. Business as usual has brought us a sea of debt, serious social issues and too many Hamdenites feeling left out of decisions, improvements and information.

Garrett said in an interview before her official announcement that she wants to make changes to stabilize the tax rate and present Hamden with a plan to start digging the town out of debt.

Garrett has been politically active since around 2006 when she campaigned for Gov. Ned Lamonts race against former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman. She became more involved as her three children got older and, after the 2016 presidential election, Garrett felt even more motivated to make a political difference, she said.

When (President Donald) Trump was elected it was a real catalyst for me, she said. I felt national politics were kind of hopeless, but I felt like I could do more in my own community.

Garrett has been critical of fiscal tactics the current administration and those before have practiced and said she wants to do things differently.

I really love Hamden, she said. I love community and diversity and the culture. I dont want to change the way Hamden looks, I just want to change how its run.

Hamdens critical issue is its financial plan and stability, she said, and in the past the town has never stuck to them, particularly the pension.

Leng said critics try to paint him as not caring about the importance of the towns pension fund, which couldnt be farther from the truth since hes been working to reform the pension plan for years.

Other issues Garrett is concerned about are named revenues in the budget and the controversy over police.

When it comes to budgeting I think were making huge mistakes by using revenues that are never going to be realized, Garrett said. Its costing us so much down the road. We need an honest budget and to set priorities.

Garrett said revenues from Quinnipiac University and car taxes arent realistic and when they dont come to fruition, the town ends up underfunded areas or going into more debt.

The budget process is really disheartening, she said. When the mayor presents it, we have to make all these changes and will get painted as the bad guys because we have to do whats responsible. We cant rely on rosy revenues and have to budget appropriately.

Garrett said the town needs to find more financially viable methods to fund town projects and programs, such as working with non-profits and workforce development initiatives. While they couldnt fund large construction that way, simple infrastructure projects could benefit, she said.

Our residents dont deserve the constant negativity, half-truths and scare tactics being put forward, Leng said in a written statement. Our hometown is stronger, both financially and overall, than we were yesterday and we will be even stronger tomorrow.

On the recent police shooting, Garrett said a town leader needs to be out in the community right away to explain procedure and the big picture. She said there have been situations in which police violated policies but got their jobs back because procedures werent followed.

The council is often criticized for approving too much spending, but Garrett said the change that needs to happen to reduce spending, needs to happen at a higher level.

We appropriate the funds  we dont set policy, she said. Its really on the mayor to have a vision of what to do. In order to save costs and change your policies, the mayor has to take some leadership there.

Its easy to sit behind a table and make statements about what you perceive to be wrong, without recommending viable alternatives, Leng said. The hard part comes with understanding and delivering solutions that improve our community.

Garrett said she would be rolling out a detailed platform and financial plans over the summer.

Im seeing all these things and I feel because Im willing to talk about them and Im willing to take a stand and I dont really see other people who are putting themselves out there, Garrett said. Im so desperate for change that Im willing to do it.

Garrett is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she received a bachelors of engineering degree in naval architecture and marine engineering.

Leng said its not appropriate to focus on campaigns and politics when Hamden needs to be addressing urgent public safety concerns and budgeting.

I look forward to discussing our very different visions for Hamden and our Towns future; from taxes, the mill rate, police and fire services, education, emergency & storm management, neighborhood investment, as well as our accomplishments, record and experience, Leng said.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
HAMDEN  The communitys demand has been heard.

The Legislative Council will vote Monday on a resolution to fund an independent investigation into the April 16 police shooting of Stephanie Washington.

Hamden residents, Yale students, New Haven officials, clergy and social justice activists crowded Memorial Town Hall on April 22 to speak against the officer-involved shooting and policing practices of people of color.

In addition to sharing personal testimony about their experiences with police, people asked the council to write a resolution that will fund an independent investigation into the April 16 shooting in New Haven by a Hamden officer and a Yale University officer.

A lot of that testimony was very moving. there were some personal stories that were difficult to hear but were important to hear, Council President Michael McGarry said. After that experience it was the will of the council to move forward with whatever we could do in our power to make sure the community felt the process was transparent, just and fair.

While the resolution is still being crafted, McGarry said it will include funding and appointing a person to review the disciplinary process of police.

This was a very serious occurrence and we want the process to be transparent and fair, he said to those in attendance during the Police Department budget hearing when he announced the resolution would be on Mondays council agenda.

The final resolution will be complete by the end of this week, he said.

This shows were serious about real accountability and structural change and that were being accountable to the community, said Councilman Justin Farmer, D-5, who was in the working group to draft the resolution. He said initially a member of the group didnt want the resolution to include having a public process for selecting a police chief, which concerned him.

Why wouldnt you want a transparent process to involve the community? he said.

An element of the draft McGarry said hes hopeful for is that the resolution will include the creation of a task force or commission charged with looking into issues of policing policies with the community to making recommendations for improving community relations and building trust.

It was very clear after our community forum that theres issues with trust and policing and various policies, he said. Theyll be charged with coming up with solutions for increasing transparency and building trust.

Organizers also asked for Hamden to create a civilian review board, which was recently established in New Haven, but McGarry said Hamden doesnt have the ability yet to create one on its own and would require a change in state statutes, which it has asked its state delegation to work on.

The resolution also will encourage the Hamden Police Commission to consider measures that have been promoted by former President Barack Obamas task force on 21st century policing and asks to develop a process for selecting a new police chief that is open to the public and includes public input.

Hamden police Officer Devin Eaton and Yale Officer Terrance Pollock fired multiple times into a Honda Civic on Argyle Street in New Haven early on the morning of April 16, wounding a passenger. The officers stopped the car, which matched the description of one used in an alleged armed robbery. No evidence of a gun was found in the car and the person who reported the alleged robbery later retracted the statement that he had seen a gun.

Mayor Curt B. Leng has said he had seen enough to recommend terminating the Hamden officer, but it was out of his control. Leng also has said he signed paperwork Monday to bring in an independent contractor to conduct the internal investigation on the policies potentially violated. Leng said he hopes the report will be delivered to the Hamden Board of Police Commissioners to act on within four weeks.

The Connecticut State Police investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

The council will vote on the resolution May 6 during its regular meeting at Memorial Town Hall at 7 p.m.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
Looking to find out about the newest restaurant and retail additions to Oakland? From a Chinese restaurant to a yoga studio, read on for a list of the newest hot spots to open for business around town.

Photo: snnn x./Yelp

China Taste is a dim sum spot, offering noodles and more, that's located at 369 12th St.

The menu ranges from traditional Chinese snacks like pork dim sum and egg rolls to soups and large plates, such as Mongolian beef and shrimp fried rice.

Check out the full menu here.

A Dose Of Ink

Photo: a dose of ink/Yelp

Head over to 4131-1/2 Piedmont Ave. and you'll find A Dose Of Ink, a new permanent makeup and eyebrow service spot.

The salon offers natural brow enhancements, like microblading and shading, along with permanent eyeliner, scalp micropigmentation, tattoo lightening and more.

Find all the salon's services here.

On its Facebook page, the business says the owner is a "certified medical and aesthetic permanent cosmetic technician. Certified in microblading, PMU, areola restoration, scalp(SMP) and saline tattoo removal."

Nest Yoga

Photo: nest yoga/Yelp

Now open at 3976 Piedmont Ave. is Nest Yoga. The studio offers classes in a variety of yoga disciplines  hatha, ashtanga and vinyasa flow  for everyone from beginners to experts.

Nest Yoga has six membership options, so clients can decide how often they want to attend class each month. New students get to test out an unlimited number of classes the first month for $49. The studio also offers rotating workshops for different skill levels as well as teacher training for new or advanced instructors.

Find the class schedule here.

This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.
Marijuana legalization across the United States is growing like a weed. Ten states have legalized recreational use of cannabis and 14 others have decriminalized it. Most of todays presidential candidates, including President Trump, support allowing the states, not the federal government, to decide whether or not marijuana should be legalized.

The U.S. cannabis market is booming. According to the National Institute for Cannabis Investors, the cannabis industry is currently worth $10.8 billion with experts projecting it could grow to $100 billion in the next five years. Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner (R-OH), once a staunch opponent of legal marijuana, has evolved into a legalization advocate, joining the board of Acreage Holdings, a publicly traded cannabis company based in New York.

Yet, while the future may look bright for marijuana smokers and distributors, the present remains dangerously complicated. U.S. federal law still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance. Possession, distribution or use are serious federal crimes, even in states where it is now legal. The conflict between federal and state marijuana laws has led to complications in the cannabis growing industry, especially for foreign nationals living in the United States -- green card holders and temporary workers alike.

Related: Canopy Growth Is Likely Just the First Big Player to Bet on US Ending Prohibition

Recently, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Department of Homeland Security bureau that decides applications for citizenship, announced its intent to deny applications for U.S. citizenship on moral character grounds for green card holders who have legally used or distributed marijuana in states where its medicinal and recreational use have been legalized. The only exception is for immigrants whose interaction with marijuana was limited to a one time possession of 30 grams or less.

USCIS warned immigrants that even though some states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to decriminalize medicinal and recreational marijuana, federal law still makes its manufacture, distribution and use a federal crime, resulting in dire immigration consequences. In other words, a green card holder who smokes marijuana in Colorado where its perfectly legal will be denied naturalization by USCIS because he or she lacks the necessary good moral character to become a U.S. citizen (no comment on the moral character of bureaucrats within the Department of Homeland Security who lock children in cages).

The immigration consequences of legal marijuana begin long before application for U.S. citizenship. A noncitizen who travels outside the U.S and upon return admits to U.S. immigration authorities that he or she has previously legally manufactured or distributed marijuana (that is to say, they were employed in the legal cannabis industry) or used state-legal marijuana can be denied admission and removed from this country.

For example, a lawful immigrant who travels abroad after using legal medicinal marijuana in Ohio under the care of a licensed physician treating her for chronic pain runs a high risk of being barred reentry to the United States when she tries to return home -- even though her use was legal under the laws of the state where she legally lives. If she admits to her medicinal marijuana use, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) will bar her reentry under a provision of the immigration law that prohibits the admission of any foreign national -- even a green card holder -- who admits having committed a violation of the Controlled Substances Act. CBP is brazenly violating the law in this scenario. The federal controlled substances statute clearly exempts marijuana use pursuant to a valid prescription or order, from a practitioner, while acting in the course of his professional practice

Related: How the Green Rush Is Accelerating the Revolution In Smart Farming Technologies

Heres where the immigration consequences of legal marijuana use get really weird. A foreign national who does not smoke or possess marijuana in the United States, but instead uses or distributes it in the Netherlands, Canada or any other foreign country where its legal, will have no problem getting back into the United States after foreign travel. Thats because the law barring admission of noncitizens who have used marijuana is limited to violations of state, federal or foreign law. If the noncitizen legally used or distributed marijuana in a foreign country, he or she is not barred from returning to the United States or qualifying for U.S. citizenship because he or she violated no federal law.

The state-federal marijuana conflict has real-life consequences. In November 2018, a Canadian investor in a Canadian cannabis company that has an operation in Nevada, was stopped by immigration officials at the airport in Las Vegas after CBP learned he was traveling for the purpose of attending a prominent cannabis conference. The Canadian investor was slapped with a lifetime ban from the United States based on controlled substance violations. Earlier in the year, another Canadian investor was stopped at the U.S. port of entry in northern Washington State and told that his investment in legal U.S. marijuana companies made him ineligible to enter the United States. He also received a lifetime ban.

Related: Border Officials Are Banning Canadians Who Admit They've Smoked Marijuana

So what does a foreign national do if, because of his or her lawful use of marijuana in the United States, he or she is denied reentry by CBP authorities? Foreign nationals who are temporarily working or visiting the United States may apply for a waiver of inadmissibility, which is essentially an application to the immigration authorities to admit the noncitizen into the United States even though his or her marijuana use has violated federal law. The U.S. immigration authorities have considerable discretion in determining whether to grant the waiver. The application can be made at a U.S. consulate abroad or, for Canadians, at a U.S. port of entry. However, the process for applying for such a waiver is cumbersome and can take up to a year. If granted, the waiver is valid for up to five years and can be renewed.

Strangely enough, green card holders may ultimately face a much more daunting hurdle to gain readmission into the United States. They will likely find themselves before an immigration judge who, if the green card holder qualifies, may cancel the removal or reissue the green card based upon the petition of a U.S. citizen or lawful resident spouse or child. However, these remedies are not available to all green card holders and do not take into account future legal use or manufacture of marijuana under state law. That means that even if a green card holder qualifies for a waiver, he or she may face immigration problems in the future after further use or distribution of cannabis products.

The takeaway is that, until the federal controlled substances statutes catch up with evolving state marijuana laws, foreign nationals who legally use marijuana or work in the cannabis industry in the United States run the risk of finding themselves at the wrong end of a citizenship denial or even a deportation order. Until marijuana use and distribution are no longer federal crimes, noncitizens are well advised to use extreme caution, or perhaps even forgo, the possession, use, or distribution of legal marijuana.

Related:

The Feds Decree There Is No Legal Marijuana Use for Immigrants

How Japanese Look At the Rising Trend of Automation

Race among Countries to Attract Investor Immigrants



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
NEW HAVEN  Yale police reiterated their commitment to community policing as they discussed the April 16 police shooting that involved one of its members and a Hamden officer who fired on an unarmed couple who had been stopped after a reported robbery.

Officer Martin Parker, one of the Yale Police Departments community engagement officers, told those gathered for a Yale University Community Breakfast Wednesday that he works to build a bridge between city residents and university police  and to help people, both in the department and in the city, see each other as acquaintances and friends instead of strangers, fostering familiarity, respect and rapport.

Yale Police Chief Ronnell Higgins created the position eight months ago, although similar efforts had gone on before that, Parker said.

Parker said the work is personal for him. Hes a native of the Newhallville neighborhood. Hes had family members shot; hes had to arrest family members. Hes experienced the relationship between police and the community  and the anger and pain of residents  from both sides of the equation.

I work for my hometown. I wear New Haven on my chest. I wear New Haven in my heart, said Parker, in response to a question about how he balanced his loyalty to Yale and to city residents. This is life for me.

In addition to the other forms of the work  from turkey drives to buying Thanksgiving dinner for a Bristol Street family to intervening when a 12-year-old boy was detained for kicking a police car  Parker said he wanted to talk with the community to improve policing and the relationship between officers and residents.

He asked those in attendance and beyond to be a part of that dialogue, both now, when the energy, pain and passion sparked by the shooting of Stephanie Washington, 22, is fresh, and in the future.

Community residents are still grappling with the police shooting, in which Hamden Officer Devin Eaton and Yale Office Terrance Pollock fired at Paul Witherspoon III, 21, leaving his girlfriend, Washington, wounded. There have been many protests and rallies calling for justice and for the officers to be fired; Yale students have been part of some of the events.

(The shooting) touched me  it hurts me on a lot of different levels. So yes, I understand the anger. I understand the pain. Right now, until the investigations over, we cant do anything about it, said Parker. But what can we do as a community to more forward, to better the relationships, to change what needs to be changed?

Be angry  be passionate  every day to create the change that you want. Come to the police department, call Martha (Ross, a fellow community engagement officer) and myself. Come to the community management teams meeting and express your anger every day, said Parker. Because I can tell you  we are listening to you.

I hate going home every night and realizing, damn, people hate my profession. It hurts. Honestly, yes, it does, said Parker. I tell people: I dont want to change the world. I have no passion, no want, no need to change the world ... but I will change New Haven. I will change my community; I will change Newhallville. I can start there ... Yale PD can start there, but again we need community participation. We need to come together, we need to talk, we need to build.

In response to a question about how Yale police were dealing with the continuing effects of racism and bias, Assistant Chief Steven Woznyk said the relationship between police and city residents had improved dramatically during his career. But trust was still being built  and, as happened with the tragic situation of the shooting, could be lost quickly.

It really isnt my quote  its the chiefs quote  but its spot on: Were gaining trust drop by drop. We gain it drop by drop, said Woznyk. When we lose it, we lose it bucket by bucket. And now were back to where we started at square one.

Woznyk also responded to the idea, raised by some protesters in the wake of the shooting as well as during Wednesdays breakfast, that Yale police officers should be disarmed.

He said he believed he and Higgins would be willing to discuss the idea, but noted that Yale officers had been armed since the department was founded in 1894, and incidents like the Argyle Street shooting were rare.

Not having a firearm may make it harder for police to do their job, he said, noting that the department could be called to respond to a shooting such as the one at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte Tuesday.

The Connecticut State Police investigation into the police shooting is ongoing. Hamden officials also have begun an investigation.

Surveillance footage published Tuesday appears to show the encounter between Witherspoon and a newspaper delivery driver at the Go On Gas station on Arch Street.

In the video, Witherspoon stops the delivery driver as he attempts to step up to the front of the store; the two speak momentarily. Witherspoon appears to touch the other man, who then hands off the papers, apparently in a slot in the stores door. Witherspoon then follows the driver back to his vehicle before turning away, seeming to tap on the rear bumper as he goes.

The clerk at the gas station called 911 afterward, telling dispatchers that Witherspoon had pulled a gun on the driver.

This set into motion an investigation into a reported armed robbery, which ended with Eaton and Pollock firing at Witherspoon as he stepped out of a Honda Civic on Argyle Street.

The clerk later told police he had not actually seen a gun in Witherspoons hand, according to an affidavit seeking a warrant to search the Civic.

Witherspoon told state police that he was involved in an altercation with a newspaper delivery man at the gas station but denied ever showing a gun, implying that he had a gun, or that he was in possession of a gun, according to the affidavit.

The delivery driver later told police that he was 100% sure that the black male (Witherspoon) was trying to rob him.

The clerk no longer works at the gas station, a staffer there said Wednesday.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
About the conference

AusIMM and the Australian Centre for Sustainable Mining Practices (ACSMP) at the University of NSW will jointly host the 9th International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Minerals Industry (SDIMI 2019).

The theme for SDIMI 2019 is Embedding Social Licence: Perspectives and Promises.

Call for papers are open and authors are invited to submit their abstracts on one of the listed conference themes.
Home Search ICH The Fanatic Running Trumps Foreign Policy By Daniel Larison April 30, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Dexter Filkins has written an extensive profile of John Bolton. The profile recounts many familiar stories from Boltons career, and it has a few interesting details I hadnt read about before. Among many other things, it covers his ties to the MEK and the payment he has received from them for promoting their cause: In Boltons financial disclosure, he listed a forty-thousand-dollar payment, for a speech that he gave, in 2016, to Mujahideen-e-Khalq, an Iranian exile group dedicated to overthrowing the government in Tehran. The M.E.K., which professes an eccentric variant of Islam, has been characterized by many experts as resembling a cult. From 1997 until 2012, the United States listed it as a terrorist group, owing to a campaign of bombings and assassinations that it led in Iran. Boltons association with the group apparently went back at least to that time. During the speech in 2016, he told the crowd, I just say again what I have been saying for ten years that Ive been coming to this rally: the regime in Tehran needs to be overthrown at the earliest opportunity! Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a frequent critic of the regime, said that Boltons relationship with the group should have disqualified him from senior government jobs. Anyone who pimps himself out to the M.E.K. fails the litmus test for integrity, he said. As I have said before, Boltons long-running involvement with the MEK is one of the clearest indications we have that the National Security Advisor holds dangerous views and has appalling judgment. He was one of the earliest and most consistent supporters of the MEK even before they were removed from the governments list of foreign terrorist organizations, and he remained one of their biggest American advocates right up until he joined the Trump administration. While Im sure they have paid him Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get our FREE Daily Newsletter handsomely for all of his tedious speeches in favor of regime change, his fanatical anti-Iranian views make him a perfect fit for the group. If we had a remotely sane Iran policy debate, Boltons MEK ties would discredit everything he has to say about Iran. The fact that he has a major role in making U.S. policy towards Iran when he was very recently getting paid by a cultish group that seeks regime change should alarm everyone regardless of their views on what U.S. policy should be. Another detail from the profile that is worth highlighting concerns Boltons pro-Israel hawkishness: He has deep connections to the Israeli national-security establishment and to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2018, he gave a well-compensated speech to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. John almost regards Israel as part of the United States, [bold mine-DL] the former official who worked with Bolton told me. He thinks our interests and their interest are identical. [bold mine-DL] That assessment of Boltons view of the U.S.-Israel relationship seems fair and consistent with everything he has said publicly, and it is a damning one. No two states ever have identical interests. It isnt possible for interests to overlap that completely, and the only people that would claim that they could are extreme ideologues. It is no accident that U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine has been been reduced to giving Israeli hard-liners everything on their wish list since Bolton joined the Trump administration. U.S. and Israeli interests are not identical, and in fact they are diverging from each other more and more all the time, so the ideologues solution is simply to treat the other states interests as if they are ours and do what their government wants. On top of all this is Boltons well-known poor performance in doing his actual job as National Security Advisor: Its chaos under Bolton, the former senior national-security official told me. The national-security adviser is supposed to facilitate the Presidents directives and coordinate national policy among the various government agencies. That process has completely broken down. The official added, Bolton hasnt set any priorities. No one knows what the policies arewhats important, whats less important. The head is not connected to the body. Principals meetingscrucial gatherings involving the President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of intelligence agencieshave become rare. Bolton isnt interested in having a well-run policy process because they would expose the president to views other than the ones he wants Trump to hear. The more chaotic and disorganized the process is, the more that Bolton can impose his own preferences and effectively dictate what the administrations policies will be. Trump is weak, poorly-informed, and easily distracted, and that makes it much easier for Bolton to get away with this. When we consider Boltons insane belief that an attack on North Korea is still a viable way to eliminate North Koreas nuclear weapons, that should make us very worried: But Bolton still believes that such a strike is possible, the source familiar with his thinking said: We can still do it. We know where most, if not all, of their weapons arewe could destroy their nuclear capability. There are ways to deal with their artillery. When I asked about potential casualties, he said that Bolton wishes we werent at this point. But the military option remains viable. In order to believe that the U.S. wont take military action against one or more countries at some point in the next two years, we would have to believe that Bolton wont get his way when there is disagreement inside the administration about what to do. To date, Bolton has prevailed every time. The profile presents Trump as an isolationist who doesnt want to intervene abroad, but that isnt true. If Trump really were an isolationist, he would never have appointed someone like Bolton, and he certainly wouldnt keep deferring to him on one issue after another. Bolton is able to get his way with Trump so often because he knows how to flatter the president and because Trump is a militarist who doesnt have a problem with Boltons bomb first and then keep bombing approach to foreign policy. Above all, Trumps desire to appear tough makes him receptive to brain-dead, hard-line arguments. Boltons critics were right to be alarmed when Trump appointed him, and I fear that many of us are not worried enough about where U.S. foreign policy is headed over the next two years. This article was originally published by " American Conservative " - 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.
New Jerseys sole public hospital, under scrutiny since last year for a deadly outbreak in its nursery for medically fragile newborns and a failing safety report card, will be led by state Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal.

The Board of Directors for University Hospital in Newark voted unanimously Wednesday to approve Elnahals appointment as president and CEO, which is expected to begin July 15.

Elnahal, a physician and Obama appointee to the Veterans Health Administration, joined Gov. Phil Murphys cabinet in January 2018. His 16-month tenure was dominated by expanding the medical marijuana program and responding to the deadly outbreaks at University Hospital and Wanaque Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Its been my greatest honor to serve in the Murphy administration, Elnahal said.

iIn a statement shortly after the boards vote, Elnahal cited a list of accomplishments that include expanding womens health clinics with 10,000 additional patients  many of them minorities  making progress on improving the states psychiatric hospitals, and helping to preserve the gains N.J. has made with the Affordable Care Act."

It is now my privilege to transition into serving the states only public hospital and its community, Elnahals statement said. University can be the pride of Newark. Its health care, community and academic missions can carry it forward into excellence.

Elnahal replaces John Kastanis, who resigned from the $900,000-a-year job after an outside monitor in December released a report critical of the hospitals management. The hospital has not set a salary for Elnahal, who makes $175,000 as health commissioner, but the amount will not exceed the average salary for this position based on regional and public hospital market surveys provided by (consultant) SullivanCotter, along with goals and metrics to measure performance, according to the boards resolution approving his hire.

The report by monitor and veteran hospital administrator Judy Persichilli concluded some of University Hospitals problems stem from a leadership void since the state dissolved its parent agency, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, seven years ago.

But the monitor also found Kastanis had alienated the community and the state Department of Health, and the hospital board had fallen short of its mission to hold management accountable.

At the Murphy administrations urging, the board appointed Persichilli as acting CEO, she is expected to leave the position some time after Elnahal arrives.

A committee of four board members, consisting of Chairwoman Tanya Freeman and Keith Green, Mary ODowd and Brian Strom, winnowed the original applicants from 50 to 11, who were interviewed, Freeman said. They narrowed to three: Elnahal, Milton Anderson, chief administration officer at RWJBarnabas Health, one of the states largest hospital chains, and Judith Lynn Bachman, chief operating officer for Fox Chase Cancer Center.

"We are confident that his strong leadership and creativity will be the driving force necessary to continue the momentum we have begun to develop over the last several months as we craft a Strategic Plan for the future, according to a statement Freeman released Wednesday night.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Kastanis critic who spoke to NJ Advance Media before the vote, said the next CEO must understand the history of the hospital, founded to help Newark recover from the 1967 riots, and how important it is to the citys residents.

Clearly they have to realize this is a hospital for the state of New Jersey, but also it sits in Newark and they have to have transparent discussions (with) the city, Baraka said. We usually find out things that happen through Trenton and not through the hospital itself.

Baraka said the CEO must also strengthen the hospital, which he described as just limping along.

It needs to be stood up on its own. Before anything is done, they need to repair the damage of neglect - to the ER, customer service, cleanliness, and making sure the medical school part of it is strong, the mayor said.

The Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria outbreak in the hospitals neonatal intensive care unit in September revealed the hospital practiced inconsistent infection control practices, such as proper hand-washing and sterilizing equipment, according to the state inspection report. An anonymous employee contacted the state health department to report the outbreak. Three infants died.

Gov. Phil Murphy called Elnahals departure bittersweet.

Over the past year and a half, Shereef has proven again and again that he was the perfect choice for our administrations first Commissioner of Health," Murphy said in a statement. Whether it was guiding the state through a troubling viral outbreak, working with the First Lady to tackle maternal health disparities, or ensuring that more patients than ever before will have access to medical marijuana, he has made us proud.

Elnahal said he will remain as commissioner until the next fiscal years budget is signed, which is usually on or before June 30.

Linda Schwimmer, president and CEO for the Health Care Quality Institute of New Jersey, a research and advocacy nonprofit, said the hospitals grades of F and D on the last two Leapfrog Safety report cards were very troubling.

"The fact that one of the teaching hospitals went from an F to a D in Leapfrog is problematic, when you are training the next generation of providers. You want them to be seeing the best in quality and safety procedures and the techniques and science around quality and safety now. "

Schwimmer praised the boards choice for CEO, calling Elnahal a strong and compassionate leader who will be a trusted partner for the Newark community.

About a dozen employees, union members and activists attended the meeting Wednesday afternoon, to thank Persichilli for putting the hospital back on track, and to express their regret the board had not hosted a forum that would have allowed the community to meet the candidates.

I am cheering for this new person. We want to give them an opportunity to do right, said Lavita Johnson second vice president for the Newark NAACP. You will continue to constantly see us and hear from us.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
We are very sad tonight in Wildwood, NJ to announce that our good friend Joe Mack, founder and owner of Mack's Pizza... Posted by Watch The Tramcar Please on Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Joe Mack, owner of famed Macks Pizza in Wildwood, died Tuesday morning. He was 91.

Macks has been serving up Neapolitan pizza on the boardwalk for 65 years, thanks to the help of three generations of family, according to its website.

Mack opened the Wildwood pizza place in 1953 with the help of his father, Anthony Mackrone, or Tony Mack, who had made tomato pie in Trenton.

As the familys success grew at the Jersey Shore, Tony Macks cousin, Frank Manco joined a few years later, launching the iconic Mack & Manco in Ocean City, according to Macks Pizza of Stone Harbor. (Mack & Manco eventually became Manco & Manco.)

Today, there are Macks locations at Wildwood and Roberts avenues.

News of Macks death was posted to the Wildwood-based Facebook page Watch The Tram Car Please.

We are very sad tonight in Wildwood, NJ to announce that our good friend Joe Mack, founder and owner of Macks Pizza passed away this morning," the post said. "Our condolences to the Mack Family, to all current and former employees and all Wildwoodians who for generations loved his famous Macks Pizza.

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Ramy Youssefs winning dramedy Ramy has been renewed for a second season, Hulu announced Wednesday.

Youssef, 28, stars as Ramy Hassan, the Egyptian American and Palestinian American son of immigrants navigating Arab Muslim identity and his lifestyle as a 20-something New Jerseyan who is just trying to be good.

Youssef, who grew up in Rutherford, created, wrote and is an executive producer for the series, which is set in northern New Jersey. Hulu released all 10 episodes of the first season of Ramy on April 12.

The show is rare in that it has an Arab Muslim lead and doesnt trade in tired tropes about Muslim characters. Youssef also wanted to make it clear that Hassan, who takes viewers inside his mosque and travels to Egypt at one point in the first season, embraces his cultural and religious background. Critics have praised the shows fresh perspective.

Part of my desire to make this show was a lack of seeing anything that felt like it, Youssef told NJ Advance Media ahead of the shows premiere. "I think that a lot of the stories I would see was kids who are first-generation immigrants, watching them try to rip themselves from their family and their faith and kind of erase. I hadnt really seen anything where someones trying to reconcile the two.

Other places subbed in for suburban New Jersey during the filming of the show, but Youssef said he was hopeful that if the series moved into a second season, that the production could film in the state. (You can read the rest of our interview with Youssef here).

Youssefs real-life friend Steve Way, a substitute teacher at Rutherford High School and fellow comedian, plays a friend to Hassan in the show. Way, 28, has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair. He says he was grateful for the opportunity to play himself.

It feels very special, Way said before the debut of the show. "Being in this society and in this industry where disability representation is very poor, being able to authentically tell my story, thats something that the disability community has been fighting for for decades.

Jerrod Carmichael (The Carmichael Show) also serves as an executive producer, and Ryan Welch and Ari Katcher are co-creators. Hulu says the second season of the show will also run for 10 episodes.

Youssef has another major debut to celebrate, too  his first HBO comedy special will premiere on June 29.

Hulu also announced that it had renewed another critically acclaimed show, PEN15." The coming-of-age series, starring Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine, is about two friends growing up in the early aughts.

Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

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Q. I didnt know about the veteran exemption when I filed my taxes last year. Can I modify my 2017 tax return to take this exemption?

 Veteran

A. You can absolutely turn back the clock to take advantage of this tax break for veterans.

The New Jersey Veteran Exemption was enacted beginning with the 2017 tax year. It provides eligible veterans with an additional annual $3,000 exemption for New Jersey gross income tax purposes, said Neil Becourtney, a certified public accountant and tax partner with CohnReznick in Eatontown.

To claim the exemption, the taxpayer must submit documentation to the New Jersey Division of Taxation showing that they were honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active duty, he said. The most common form of documentation is DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty.

He said the documentation can be submitted to the Division of Taxation in one of three ways  by mail, fax, or uploading it on the Division of Taxations website. The website provides information on all three methods of submission.

Becourtney said the documentation only needs to be submitted one time, and then it remains on file permanently.

You can file an amended 2017 New Jersey income tax return using Form NJ-1040X to claim the Veteran Exemption of $3,000 that you omitted, he said. In the exemptions section of the form, there is a check box for this new exemption.

If you have not already filed your 2018 Form NJ-1040, Becourtney said you can claim the Veteran Exemption but wait until you have submitted your discharge documentation to the state.

And if you have already filed your 2018 New Jersey income tax return, then you likewise can file an amended 2018 income tax return to claim the Veteran Exemption.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.
NJIT is joining a growing list of Newark institutions offering to pay their employees extra cash if they move to the city.

This month, the university launched its live local initiative, which will offer about 16 workers a one-time $3,000 housing stipend to rent in the citys downtown. Audible launched something similar two years ago, while Rutgers-Newark, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Prudential are also rolling out their own programs.

We think the community is moving in an upward trajectory and our futures are intertwined, said Matthew Golden, Chief Strategy Officer at NJIT.

It encourages employees of our university and other entities to live in downtown Newark. These are generally employees who are in very stable and solid jobs. You are bringing in people with purchasing power and people who provide an economic boost.

Only 18 percent of the citys residents work in Newark -- and thats something Mayor Ras Baraka is pushing hard to change. Baraka launched Hire. Buy. Live. in 2017, a three-pronged initiative to bring more jobs and money to city residents.

By 2020, Baraka wants 2,020 local residents hired by Newark-based companies. Aisha Glover, CEO of the Newark Alliance, said almost 1,000 Newarkers have been hired since the mayor charged companies to hire locally. Anchor institutions in Newark have also increased their spending on local vendors to 11 percent (about $70 million), the goal being 20 percent.

Glover says she expects 200 participants in the live local initiative by the end of the year.

We know that theres this gap between people who come into the city to work and then go home, she said. If people are living locally, that means they are shopping locally and mentoring locally ... it becomes a more tight-knit community.

The NJIT program began earlier in April and will pay full-time employees who rent in a designated downtown area stipends toward their housing costs.

Glover said by focusing the live local programs in downtown Newark, where the population density is low, it alleviates the risk of displacing residents.

Were trying to disrupt processes to the extent that a corporation understands hiring locally, incentivizing locally," Glover said. At the end of the day were trying to push for more jobs for Newarkers."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.

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A large overnight fire in Irvington damaged nine homes early Wednesday, but no injuries were reported.

The blaze broke out around 2 a.m. at a house on Franklin Terrace that was vacant because its undergoing renovations, according to abc7ny.com said. It spread to two others before being brought under control.

The fire was so intense that the heat melted the siding on several other homes and damaged some parked cars, the television station said.

The Red Cross is helping provide temporary housing as well as food and clothing to 10 people from two families, the relief organization said on Twitter.

A spokesman for the Irvington Fire Department couldnt immediately be reached for comment.

Irvington 3rd Alarm 24 Franklin Terrace Three 2.5 Wood frames involved well off. Main fire building collapsed. 4 houses opp fire also heavy fire damage. Extensive overhaul. Mutual Aid working. pic.twitter.com/fZKiJCZjrv  NorthJersey FireNews (@NJFires) May 1, 2019

The Associated Press contributed to this report Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman.

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A 29-year-old New Jersey man was arrested after swinging a machete at another motorists vehicle and shouting racial slurs during a road rage incident in Gloucester County on Tuesday, authorities said.

The confrontation began at about 5:40 p.m. when a man, identified by Washington Township police as Michael F. Roller, started tossing objects at the other drivers car near the intersection of Sewell Road and Delsea Drive.

Both Roller and the other driver then pulled into the parking lot of Heritages Dairy Store on Delsea Drive, according to police. Roller got out of his car and began hitting the other vehicle with a machete as he shouted racial slurts, police said.

Roller then ran into a rear yard on Hurffville Crosskeys Road, where he was taken into custody. The other driver, a man, was alone in his car, Capt. Ken Kennedy said.

Roller, a Washington Township resident, was charged with bias intimidation, criminal mischief, aggravated assault, terroristic threats and multiple weapons offenses. Police booked Roller and then sent him to the Gloucester County jail.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman.

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Historically speaking, did you know:

Much of Amtraks service operates over routes belonging to freight railroads, but it owns the Boston-Washington D.C. corridor. The New Jersey section of that corridor handles much of the highest volume of trains.

Amtrak services 500 destinations in 46 states, Washington D.C. and three Canadian provinces. During the 2018 fiscal year, Amtrak customers took 31.7 million trips or an average of 87,000 trips per day on more than 300 Amtrak trains.

The Appalachian Trail, a footpath extending more than 2,100 miles from Springer Mountain Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine, includes a 72-mile stretch through New Jersey.

New Jerseys first archaeological excavations occurred during the mid-19th century. For the most part, these early archaeologists studied the states aboriginal past.

The Ford Mansion in Morristown was Gen. George Washingtons headquarters from December 1779 through June 1780.

New Jersey boasts thousands of collections of records from the past, which provide valuable information to historians, scholars, genealogists and other researchers.

Feeling social and political turmoil in their homeland in the Caucasus and Eastern Anatolia, the earliest Armenian immigrants settled in New Jersey in the 1890s, finding factory jobs in West Hoboken, Paterson, and Camden.

Arthur Kill is a 15-mile-long tidal stretch that separates Staten Island from Northern New Jersey.

The Asbury Park Press, one of the largest newspapers in New Jersey, was founded as a weekly newspaper on July 10, 1879, by Dr. Hugh S. Kinmonth, above his pharmacy on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park.

Joseph Albrights column appears every week in The Jersey Journal
Why Australians Should Fight To Bring Assange Home

By Caitlin Johnstone

April 30, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Prominent Australian/British WikiLeaks activist Somerset Bean has launched a GoFundMe with the simple goal of circulating 1,000 giant posters throughout Australian cities in the lead-up to our May 18th elections calling for Julian Assange to be brought home. The posters urge Australians to contact their representatives and put political pressure on them to stand up for one of our nations best and brightest stars.

Bean writes the following:

The goal is to print and paste up a thousand of these #BringAssangeHome giant (A0 size) posters in prominent locations in Australian cities during May 2019. With every $500 raised, another 100 posters can go up. We need to get printing and distributing right away to capitalise on the pre-election weeks. Saving Julian Assange should be an election issue. Politicians need a push to wake up on this issue and #BringAssangeHome. Can you help use this opportunity to highlight Julians plight? Please share the Gofundme page with your networks on social media and by email and donate what you can. Use the hashtag #BringAssangeHome. Thanks for your support and please get in touch if you can help in any other way.

The GoFundMe, which has been endorsed by the Defend Assange Campaign on Twitter, is as of this writing more than halfway towards its goal of $5,000. Printing and posting is already well underway.

Help get these giant posters seen all across Australia: https://t.co/n3WOQf4iQq pic.twitter.com/k8yAYFTDv1  Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) April 29, 2019

Bringing Assange home would indeed be one of the best things that could possibly happen to Australia, because it would necessarily mean coming together in the name of national sovereignty and standing opposed to the US-centralised imperial blob that is constantly sucking us into stupid foreign wars and preventing us from functioning as a real nation. The path toward bringing Assange home also happens to be the path toward ceasing to have our fate as a nation defined by our existence as a giant US military/intelligence asset.

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A recent segment on 60 Minutes Australia interviewed attorney Greg Barns about his call for the Australian government to step in and stop Assanges entirely illegitimate extradition to the United States.

If he were for example detained in China for this period of time, and ill-treated, there would be a hue and cry, not only on the part of the government, but the Australian media, Barnes told 60 Minutes. Because its the United States, we seem to think theres some form of exception.

Assanges father John Shipton gave a spirited defence of his son throughout the segment, accusing the Ecuadorian government of handing the WikiLeaks founder over to the clutches of the US empire in exchange for an IMF bank loan and rightly dismissing the absurd list of accusations leveled against him as smears. The segment concluded with a wish from Shipton for Assange to be able to live freely in his home country and spend time with his family.

It would be really nice to sit there with the kids and the occasional person saying Good on ya, mate or Welcome home. That would be tops, Shipton said.

Do you think its going to happen? asked Tara Brown, whod maintained an oppositional and antagonistic posture throughout the segment.

I hope so, yes, replied Shipton.

Despite loading the segment with obnoxious fact-free smears about feces on embassy walls and calling Assange a self-proclaimed journalist, as well as giving plenty of screen time to Australian war whore Senator Jim Molan to explain to the audience why Assange is a villain, a 60 Minutes Australia Twitter poll released after the segment aired maintained overwhelming support for bringing Assange home. A total of 11,539 votes responded 85 percent Yes and 15 percent No to the question Julian Assanges father is urging Australian authorities to step in and stop Assanges extradition to the US, and ultimately, finally bring him home. But does he deserve our support? These numbers remained consistent from the very beginning of the poll, with the same percentages revealed when I screenshotted it just two hours after it went up with only 616 votes.

Julian Assanges father is urging Australian authorities to step in and stop Assanges extradition to the US, and ultimately, finally bring him home. But does he deserve our support? #60Mins  60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) April 28, 2019

A World Socialist Web Site article titled Growing popular support for Julian Assange in Australia describes some more reasons to feel hopeful that Australians are beginning to wake up to the importance of protecting Assange from the talons of the US war machine. My own conversations with Australians indicate that despite the virulent, war propaganda-like smear campaign that has been waged against Assanges reputation across the entire political spectrum throughout the western world, when they are asked to think about it it remains an obvious, commonsense perspective among most of my countrymen that he is one of our sons and ought to be protected from hostile outsiders who wish to punish him for publishing truth. This is good, because it means weve still got the kind of inner compass necessary for navigating ourselves out of our abusive relationship with empire and into a solid sense of who we are as a nation.

We Australians do not have a very clear sense of ourselves; if we did we would never have stood for Assanges persecution in the first place. We tend to form our national identity in terms of negatives, by the fact that we are not British and are not American, without any clear image about what we are. A bunch of white prisoners got thrown onto a gigantic island rich with ancient indigenous culture, we killed most of the continents inhabitants and degraded and exploited the survivors, and now were just kind of standing around drinking tea as the dust settles saying, Hmm well, were not stuck-up like the Brits, and were not entitled like the Yanks.

I went to a community theater with my family a while back to see Spring Awakening, an English-language musical set in Germany. For no apparent reason, the actors on the stage spoke in American accents. They were Australians playing Germans, not Americans; there was no reason whatsoever for that to happen. But that sort of thing is so commonplace here the only person who pointed it out was my American husband. It seemed perfectly normal to me.

But it isnt normal. It isnt normal for a nation of people to be so neurotic and ashamed of their own nationality that they put on a foreign accent rather than their own for no reason. It isnt normal that we have such a head-down, subservient society that most of our homegrown talent leaves Australia forever because weve got a weird slave-culture habit of cutting down the tall poppies whenever anyone is perceived to have risen above their station. It isnt normal that we feel so ashamed of standing tall and shining bright in the world.

Nowadays the closest non-Aboriginal thing you ever see to a display of Australian identity typically involves Southern Cross tattoos, thuggishness, Islamophobia, and a desire to continue the cruel warehousing of human beings on Manus Island. That is plainly gross, and the Aboriginal people now hold their culture secret and close to their chests for completely understandable reasons, so what else is there? What else could there be that could begin to unite us as a people so we can begin to develop a little collective pride and cease allowing ourselves to be used as a tool of sociopathic imperialists?

Well, theres Julian Assange. Hes something positive that we can all fight for, a clear force of good in the world that we can unify around as we begin a slow, sloppy, completely necessary divorce from the cancer of empire.

Every country has its flavor. In my country, we grew up valuing innovation. Most Australians my age can reel off a list of Australian inventions, from the Hills Hoist to the postage stamp to the bionic ear to wifi. I didnt even have to go and google that just now, thats how much a part of our national conversation and our education is our pride in our use of insight for practical problem-solving.

There are some fundamental values that myself and others of Assanges generation grew up with as seventies children in Australia. There was the value of do the right thing, the value of giving everyone a fair go, and the value of keeping the bastards honest. These were key and oft-repeated phrases in my childhood during the seventies and eighties. I was a baby when there was a CIA/MI6 coup in our country and my parents were implored by the ousted Prime Minister Gough Whitlam to maintain the rage at the unforgivable attack on our democratic sovereignty. Thats in my living memory. When Julian and I were small, anti-establishment sentiment was at its loudest in Australia.

We have an inbuilt distrust of authority and a deep hatred of empire which probably stems from our convict roots, and then from the ongoing waves of refugees who were running from famine, wars and despotism. Aside from the indigenous population, we are a country full of people who were forced by empire to come here in one way or another. So we dont like authority much and we instinctively cut people down before they get too powerful. This is why the unions are still relatively strong and social programs are such a natural fit for us. We like things to be fair. We like everyone to have a say.

Julian Assanges work is an embodiment of all those values. The initial innovative use of technology to create WikiLeaks, the belief in openness and transparency, the desire to democratise information for the good of the whole, and the joy in keeping the bastards honest  all of that is very Australian. Very me. Very us.

His work is extraordinary. Never has a single innovation shaken existing power structures in such a short amount of time. In an inverted totalitarian system where the ability to suck resources from the people is hidden under a veil of propaganda, the ability to rip through the veil of spin and government opacity is a powerful tool indeed. In just a little over a decade he managed to make himself the most wanted man alive by the most powerful people on earth. Thats how effective WikiLeaks has been in bringing truth to power.

Australians Bring Assange Home! Help the campaign to #BringAssangeHome with 1000 of these giant posters in prominent locations in Australian cities. Julian Assange is an Aussie hero in danger. Donate ($5 per poster printed & pasted): https://t.co/zlTJCjTtdr #auspol #60mins  Bean (@SomersetBean) April 28, 2019

Bringing Julian Assange home could be the first step to giving ourselves a bright, shining image of who we are and what we stand for. At the moment, Australia is a lifeless vassal state hooked up to the US power establishment with our every orifice and resource being used to feed the corporatist empire. Anesthetized to the eyeballs and in a state of total submission, the return of Julian might just be the little spark we need to get the old ticker pumping for itself again. Finally standing up for ourselves, for whats right, and for the things that Julian stands for might just be the very thing we need as a nation to discover who we really are.

And of course its not a simple task. Of course it will require pushing back against deeply institutionalised capitulations at the core of Australian international relations. Of course it will ultimately require changing how weve been operating as a nation in the world. Nobodys saying its a simple task. But it is whats right, and its also the exact direction we need to move in order to begin a transformation into a healthy, sovereign nation.

Bring him home. Its time.

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

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Peace and joy
Score one for commuters.

NJ Transit has added more bus service in North Hudson, a move aimed at ensuring rush hour commuters heading to New York will have a seat in the morning.

West New York Mayor Felix Roque said the changes come as a result of a meeting with NJ Transit officials Robert Bigg and John Del Colle, during which he expressed his concerns about bus service in the town.

We addressed overcrowding on several bus lines and how by the time buses arrive in West New York, they are often full of passengers that were picked up prior to arriving in our municipality, Roque said in a statement, adding that the problem is most severe at 60th street and Boulevard East.

But Nathan Rudy, a spokesman for NJ Transit, said the agency added five bus runs on Boulevard East back in January after adding four additional runs on River Road in 2018. Rudy named two politicians involved in that process, neither of whom were Roque.

"In each case, NJ Transit heard from Congressman (Albio) Sires and Weehawken Mayor (Richard) Turner about crowding on the bus lines and subsequently worked to better align service with demand.

He had zero to do it, Turner said of Roque, who is running for re-election on May 14.

Meanwhile, Roque said he is also working with authorized NJ Transit vendors to devise a plan to obtain larger bus shelters to accommodate those waiting for a bus, especially for the elderly.

I am proud to report that NJ Transit has agreed to supply express bus service from this location during the morning commute to insure that our residents will have a seat to sit on and the ability to commute into New York City on time," the mayor said.

Finally, the mayor said NJ Transit officials told him a shortage of bus drivers is curtailing bus service along the waterfront.

I am notifying all our residents with commercial drivers licenses that NJ Transit is hiring and paying signing bonuses, Roque said. It would be great for our town to find employment opportunities for our residents and improve our bus transportation service.
The Jersey City man charged with trying to attack a subway passenger with a hatchet snapped after his life took a turn for the worse, his mother told the New York Daily News.

Maria Evelyn Reyes said that her 46-year-old son went out of here in a frenzy Saturday, the Daily News reported. ... You have to go real far to piss him off. He will take a lot, a lot for him to get pissed off."

Reinaldo Reyes had been fired from his job as a paramedic because of his temper and he split from his wife, Maria Evelyn Reyes told the newspaper. On top of that, Reyes, an artist, was upset that $1,000 worth of art supplies recently had been stolen, according to his mother.

Reyes was arrested just before 11 p.m. Saturday after he attempted to hack another passenger with a hatchet on an uptown 1 train as the train approached 66th Street-Lincoln Center stop, police have said.

Two passengers jumped to the rescue and held Reyes until police arrived. After arresting Reyes, police found that he was carrying a bag that contained an ax, a knife, two metal pipes, and mace.

Reyes was charged with assault, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, unlawful possession of noxious material, and disorderly conduct.

His mother, who is battling cancer, said Reyes stormed out of the home at 11:30 a.m., against her wishes.

I was begging my son not to leave, Maria Evelyn Reyes said. I knew he was angry. I know his temper. He was agitated from the day before.
The city government in Trenton narrowly avoided a shutdown Tuesday, the same day three council members filed a lawsuit against the mayor and state officials in a political struggle that is leaving millions of dollars in state aid in limbo.

Trenton Council President Kathy McBride, Vice President Marge Caldwell-Wilson, and West Ward Councilwoman Robin Vaughn filed suit Tuesday, asking a judge to stop the implementation of a budget proposed by Mayor Reed Gusciora earlier this month. The mayor and council have clashed over the budget, which included a tax increase of 11 cents per every $100 of assessed property value (an about $200 increase for the average homeowner).

The council, members of which supported an alternative plan that reduced that increase to 5 cents, did not pass either budget by the state-mandated deadline earlier this month. Missing that deadline pushed the council to pass an emergency spending plan Tuesday, which will fund city operations through Sept. 30. The emergency budget, while not a finalized spending plan for the year, avoided the immediate threats of a municipal government shutdown, and the inability for the city to pay its bills and its more than 1,000 employees.

But, any relief felt by the passing of the temporary budget was short-lived.

Trentons budget, which is about $208 million, relies heavily on state aid -- about a third of the citys funding comes from state money, including about $16 million in transitional aid.

After the vote on the budget Tuesday, Gusciora attended a meeting with Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, where he was informed that the city would not receive any of its $16 million in transitional aid unless it passes his proposed budget, according to a statement from his office.

The 11-cent budget the mayor proposed has been approved by the state, he said. The city is being held to the states June 8 deadline to pass a full fiscal budget or it could face fines and state oversight.

If it loses the transitional aid, the city would be facing an 80% tax increase, which would raise the tax rate by 91 cents -- an amount the mayor said would be unsustainable for most Trenton residents.

The lawsuit filed by the council members accuses the mayor and state officials of overreaching their authority, and violating the state constitution and the Faulkner Act. It also names as defendants Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, the state Department of Community Affairs and Melanie Walter, the director of the Division of Local Government Service.

The mayor and state officials deliberately and intentionally suppressed the councils version of the budget, the lawsuit alleges, which led to the states approval of Guscioras budget.

When asked about the suit Tuesday, the mayor and a spokesperson for the DCA said they were not aware that a lawsuit had been filed. The Lt. Governors office did not respond to a request for comment.

The council meeting Tuesday, which was originally scheduled to take place in council chambers, was held in a small conference room and did not allow for the dozens of municipal employees that had flooded City Hall.

Only a handful of members of the public were able to squeeze into the conference room, while others were left outside, chanting for justice in the budget process.

The councils resolutions provide about $17.5 million to cover paying payroll, contracts, commitments and other obligations of the water, sewer and parking utilities, and $61.9 million for the citys remaining expenses. Both resolutions passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned without allowing time for public comment, despite the fact time for the public to speak was included on the meetings agenda.

It was done in a conference room to silence the people. It was done in the conference room because they did not want to hear what the people of Trenton had to say, said Councilman Jerell Blakeley, who stayed with Gusciora after the meeting to talk with residents.

We need to continue our relationship with the state and to play these games just undermines our ability to get state aid, Gusciora said.

The mayor said residents are disgusted with the councils actions and that he would like to work together with the council to resolve the issue.

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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A former middle school security guard was sentenced to jail Tuesday afternoon after admitting he sexually assaulted a minor, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced.

Elios Arias-Aguilar, 26, was sentenced to seven years in state prison for the sexual assault. He pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault in the second degree in January, officials said.

Arias-Aguilar, who was a security guard McGinnis Middle School in Perth Amboy, was accused of having sex with a minor at his home, authorities have said. Investigators also believe he sent nude photos to two minors he knew.

Authorities did not specify if the minors were students at the middle school, where he worked for two years. Hes since been terminated, officials said.

The Perth Amboy man will have to register as a sex offender under Megans Law and will be on parole supervision for the rest of his life, Superior Court Judge Michael A. Toto ruled. He was also ordered to have no contact with the victims.

Sophie Nieto-Munoz may be reached at snietomunoz@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her at @snietomunoz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Police in Howell are looking for a man who smashed a school bus window in a profanity-laced road rage tirade last month while elementary school students were on board.

The confrontation began after the school bus driver pulled onto Ramtown-Greenville Road from Moses Milch Drive around 3 p.m. on April 19 and the driver of a car traveling in the opposite direction jammed on his vehicles brakes, Howell police said.

A passenger got out of the car and began screaming and cursing when he exited the vehicle. He then punched and shattered the bus window near to the driver. The incident was partially captured on an internal school bus camera, though the car passengers face is not clearly visible.

The driver and passenger were described as in their late teens or early 20s. They fled in an older silver or white-colored sedan with faded paint, according to abc7ny.com.

The bus driver called police and another bus came to take the students home. Some of the children were upset, but no one was injured, the bus driver told the television station.

The students attend Greenville School, a kindergarten through grade 2 school.

Anyone with information is asked to call Howell police at 732-938-4111.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman.

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Chris Christie used to say only nice things on social media about Sammys Ye Old Cider Mill.

The former governor even brought his family to the Mendham Township restaurant in August of 2012 to celebrate his son Andrews 19th birthday, tweeting that he was "at one of NJs finest.

But on Saturday morning, when the former governor again directed his 911,000 followers toward Sammys, the spotlight was harsh. Christie warned people to think twice about spending money there, citing a link to a news story on a federal lawsuit settlement, reached Feb. 21, in which the owners of the restaurant - also known as Sammys Steakhouse - agreed to pay $190,000 to 26 workers who alleged they were underpaid.

At one of NJ's finest, Sammy's Ye Old Cider Mill in Mendham to celebrate our son Andrew's 19th birthday. Mary Pat & her son in the spirit!  Governor Christie (@GovChristie) August 25, 2012

It was not clear, though, whether Christies Twitter tirade would have any impact on Sammys, a nearly century-old institution in this wealthy municipality of 6,000 whose atmosphere was characterized in a New York Times review as upper class at play.

The restaurant has refused to talk about the former governor.

During our visit to Sammys just after it opened at 6 p.m. Tuesday, someone at the reception desk declined comment on behalf of the restaurants three owners, the grandchildren of founder Samuel Fornaro  Samuel, Philip and MaryAnn Fornaro. (Christie has also not responded to inquiries about his tweet.)

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on Tuesday - the third evening at the restaurant since Christies tweet, since Sammys closes on Mondays.

A man with a young boy were among the first to arrive, placing their order at a front desk in the dining area. Well-dressed staffers were milling about on a night in which Sammys was offering a promotion, half-price bottles of wine.

Kyle Schickner, who has dined at Sammys several times in the last decade, said the restaurant gives off a vibe of exclusivity."

Its almost like youre in the know,' that theres sort of this secret restaurant, that only the people who know about it, know about it," Schickner said when contacted by phone Wednesday.

Sammys is among the few businesses in Mendham Township, and so secure of its standing that it famously lacks identifying signage in front of the building.

The online menu - entrees range from a 30-32 ounce T-Bone Steak, to two whole Maine lobsters - does not show prices. Reservations are not accepted. And though Sammys, which began as a speakeasy serving alcohol during Prohibition during the 1920s, has a Facebook page, it does not appear to depend on social media word of mouth for business.

Customers who arrived on Tuesday were not immediately seated, even though there were plenty of open table in the dining area. Thats the way it works at Sammys, as described on their website.

The uniqueness of this roadside restaurant is that you place your order upon entering. You then proceed to the original Prohibition-era bar to relax while your dinner is prepared. When your meal is ready, you are called to the upstairs dining room where the first course awaits, it reads.

Celebrity visitors over the years have included Merv Griffin, the legendary TV host and media tycoon. Samuel Fornaro spoke with the Star-Ledger following Griffins death in 2007.

He came here to be himself and just enjoy dinner without too much hype," Fornaro said of Griffin.

Sammys continues to be a staple in the community. The Mendham Borough police held its annual family gathering at Sammys in March. And when asked about the focus sparked by Christies weekend tweet, several residents said they did not want to get in the middle of it.

While Christie is frequently combative on Twitter, and elsewhere, he generally steers clear of controversy in his hometown. (A famous exception was in November 2017, on his last election day as governor, where he argued outside his polling place with a resident.)

There is a curious connection between Christie and the restaurant -- the attorney representing its owners.

Margaret ORourke Wood works for a law firm whose lead partner is Jeffrey Chiesa - a Christie ally named state attorney general in 2011, and appointed to the U.S. Senate for four months in 2013 following the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Wood represented the restaurant owners in the lawsuit, and the settlement stipulated that they were denying any wrongdoing. She has not responded to requests for comment.

Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A person was struck and killed by an NJ Transit train Tuesday afternoon as it was pulling into the Newark Penn Station.

The person, who was not immediately identified, was hit by a Northeast Corridor train that was on its way from New Brunswick to Penn Station in New York City at 3:50 p.m., NJ Transit Spokeswoman Lisa Torbic said. The agency described the person as a trespasser.

It is unknown why the person was on the tracks when they were hit and if they were actually struck inside the station.

Torbic said the incident was still under investigation by the NJ Transit Police as of 4:45 p.m. and more information would be released at a later time.

Train service was operating with no delays and passengers aboard the train that struck the person were quickly moved to another train, she said.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A man armed with a pistol opened fire on students at a North Carolina university during the last day of classes Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four, police said. Officers who had gathered ahead of a campus concert raced over and disarmed the suspect.

The shooting prompted a lockdown at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and caused widespread panic across campus as students scrambled to take shelter.

"Just loud bangs. A couple loud bangs and then we just saw everyone run out of the building, like nervous, like a scared run like they were looking behind," said Antonio Rodriguez, 24, who was visiting campus for his friend's art show.

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said authorities received a call around 4:40 p.m. that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students. He said officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman in the room where the shooting took place.

"Our officers' actions definitely saved lives," Baker said at a news conference.

Police have identified the suspect in the fatal campus shooting as a 22-year-old man.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police issued a statement late Tuesday identifying the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell. They say hes in custody with charges pending.

Authorities have said he used a pistol to open fire on students in a classroom building at UNC-Charlotte, killing two and wounding four.

His grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, says Terrell had moved to Charlotte two years ago with his father.

Rold told The Associated Press that the actions dont sound like his grandson. He said: This is not in his DNA.

Baker said two people were killed, and three remained in critical condition late Tuesday. He said a fourth persons injuries were less serious. Students were among the victims, but officials would not say how many.

Monifa Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots. She said she directed students fleeing the scene to take cover inside a parking deck.

"I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me," she said. "We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we're in the parking deck and there's a shooter and we don't know where he is, he won't have a clear shot."

She added: "My thought was, I've lived my life, I've had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that's what I was going to do."

Shortly after UNC Charlotte issued a campus lockdown, aerial shots from local television news outlets showed police officers running toward a building, while another view showed students running on a campus sidewalk.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department later said that the campus had been secured and that officers were going through buildings to let people who were hiding know that it was safe to come out.

In a tweet, Gov. Roy Cooper praised the officers' quick response.

"This is a tragic day for Charlotte and this great university," he said. "We mourn the lives lost and we will all be here to support each other."

The university has more than 26,500 students and 3,000 faculty and staff. The campus is northeast of the city center and is surrounded by residential areas.

Spenser Gray, a junior, said she was watching another student's presentation in a nearby campus building when the alert about the shooting popped up on everyone's computer screens.

She said she panicked: "We had no idea where he was ... so we were just expecting them at any moment coming into the classroom."

Susan Harden, an UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner, was at home when she heard of the shooting. She went to a staging area, she said, to provide support.

Harden said she has taught inside the Kennedy building, where the shootings occurred.

"It breaks my heart. We're torn up about what's happened," Harden said. "Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety."

Cooper said at a briefing late Tuesday that a "hard look" was needed into how the shooting happened and how to keep guns off campus and out of schools.

A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses, the Democrat said. Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school. And I know that this violence has to stop. ... In the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward.
A former Army employee who admitted receiving bribes from two construction contractors was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Wednesday.

Kevin Leondi worked for the U.S. Army Contracting Command New Jersey, overseeing renovations at Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

From December 2010 through August 2015, he collected more than $150,000 in bribes and steered $48,000 in kickbacks to a colleague, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a news statement.

The bribe money came from George Grassie, a contractor who worked on the two bases. In exchange for the payments to Leondi, Grassie received orders and other favorable assistance. The payments were made in cash and also disguised in equipment transactions.

Leondi, 58, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, also had Grassie absorb the costs to another contractor who renovated a property Leondi owned.

James Conway, a project manager at Picatinny and the Joint Base, received at least $48,000 in kickbacks from Grassie as a reward for work. They pleaded guilty earlier in the case.

In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton sentenced Leondi to three years of supervised release.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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In a city that has paid out more than $7.8 million in excessive force lawsuits over the past decade, New Jersey Attorney Gurbir Grewal vowed to a group of residents that he is working to improve how police use of force is tracked and analyzed in order to improve community relations and identify problematic officers.

No Atlantic City residents were able to speak to the states top law enforcement official directly during the two-hour event but instead had to put their questions on blue notecards. A moderator then asked questions deemed appropriate.

At past events, there was anger, tears and passionate stories of alleged wrongdoing by police. This was a far quieter affair.

More than 50 people attended the event held at St. James A.M.E. Church in Atlantic City, where use-of-force rates were among the highest in the state in a department that often seemed indifferent to officers with violent tendencies.

It was part of Grewals statewide tour of listening sessions in response to NJ Advance Medias The Force Report, a 16-month investigation into police use of force.

There were questions read about what he would do about teen vaping, if police officers would be allowed to smoke marijuana if it is legalized and how he is combating the opioid crisis. There were also questions about diversity in Atlantic Citys police department and the large sums of money the city has paid in excessive force lawsuits.

But the meeting was devoid of any emotion, no bubbling anger boiled over and no troubling tales were told.

Atlantic City councilman and NAACP president Kaleem Shabazz, who was apart of a unanimous city council vote to support the police department in light of The Force Report, said after the event that his organization formatted the session that way so no one would grandstand.

This was a meeting to have people give input, not for them to express their particular agenda, Shabazz said.

Sharon Lauchaire, a spokeswoman for the attorney general, said Grewal holds community forums across the state in various types of formats and has continually made an effort to make himself available to the public. He spoke with some residents individually after the event Monday.

Any dialogue between our office and the community is beneficial to everyone, and no matter what the format is, you can still have that communication, she said.

In his opening statement and throughout the modified question-and-answer session, Grewal did speak about how his office is trying to make sure police use of force is tracked and analyzed properly, unlike in past years.

That was a wake-up call for law enforcement in this state, Grewal said when talking about The Force Report, which found a small group of officers accounted for a large number of uses of force and that a black person was more than three times more likely to face police force than someone who is white.

We dont want those outliers, he said. We dont want those horrific incidents. We want to stop them before they happen.

To do that, Grewal said, his office is in the process of creating an online portal system that will tentatively launch by the end of the year, where all law enforcement agencies will be required to submit their use-of-force reports, allowing the attorney generals office to analyze trends and flag problematic officers. They will also release some of the data publicly periodically and use it as an accountability tool.

Grewal and his staff are also analyzing the more than 70,000 use-of-force forms from 2012 to 2016 that they recently purchased from NJ Advance Media in order to see what went unchecked for years, he said.

We are going to use that data to hold folks accountable if they deviated and used force improperly, Grewal said. We are going to use that as a training tool.

Another new directive under Grewal is the requirement that every law enforcement agency has an early warning system in place. The system, he said, will have more than a dozen different categories and an officer will be flagged if they trip the system three times in a year before going through a remedial review process.

He said after the event that his office would have oversight over the systems to make sure departments were properly using them. Atlantic City has had an early warning system for years, yet an NJ Advance Media investigation found that multiple officers said under oath they werent notified when they triggered the system and not until years later did they learn they were flagged  repeatedly.

Officer Michael Oldroyd used force 50 times from 2012 to 2016. But he wasnt told about his high rate until February 2014, he said in a deposition. His command staff told him they did not give credence to internal affairs complaints against him and to continue policing how he was. Oldroyd tallied 91 internal affairs complaints  46 of which were for excessive force  in a 14-year stretch on the job.

An excessive force lawsuit against Oldroyd and a group of Atlantic City police officers recently settled for $700,000.

Grewal never commented on any specifics regarding Atlantic City police, but he continually pushed the theme of accountability, transparency and trust throughout the night as a way to bridge the divide between communities and law enforcement, saying that a departments internal affairs unit, a group of officers who investigate complaints against the department, must be functioning properly in order to do that.

While excessive force complaints are down in recent years, according to Chief Henry White, between 2007 and 2014, the Atlantic City police department faced 570 excessive force complaints and only two were sustained by department investigators. During that same period, the department logged around 150 complaints of unlawful searches and sustained none.

We will step in if the IA function is not being run in the proper manner, he said. We are vigilant about it. If you lose confidence in the IA function, forget about it. We cant rebuild that trust because that is supposed to be the check on local law enforcement.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow on Twitter @monavage. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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April 30, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Had the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq not gone so wrong, perhaps George W. Bush might have been able to contain the growing racism within his partys rank and file by channeling it into his Middle East crusade, the way Ronald Reagan broke up the most militant nativist vigilantes in the 1980s by focusing their attention on Central America. For nearly two centuries, from Andrew Jackson forward, the countrys political leaders enjoyed the benefit of being able to throw its restless and angry citizensof the kind who had begun mustering on the border in the year before 9/11outward, into campaigns against Mexicans, Native Americans, Filipinos, and Nicaraguans, among other enemies.

But the occupations did go wrong. Bush and his neoconservative advisers had launched what has now become the most costly war in the nations history, on the heels of pushing through one of the largest tax cuts in the nations history. They were following the precedent set by Reagan, who in the 1980s slashed taxes even as he increased the military budget until deficits went sky-high. Yet the news coming in from Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere began to suggest that Bush had created an epic disaster. Politicians and policy intellectuals began to debate what is and isnt torture and to insist that, whatever enhanced interrogation was, the United States had a right to do it. Photographs from Abu Ghraib prison showing US personnel cheerfully taunting and torturing Iraqis circulated widely, followed by reports of other forms of cruelty inflicted on prisoners by US troops. Many people were coming to realize that the war was not just illegal in its conception but deceptive in its justification, immoral in its execution, and corrupt in its administration.

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Every president from Reagan onward has raised the ethical stakes, insisting that what they called internationalismbe it murderous wars in impoverished Third World countries or corporate trade treatieswas a moral necessity. But the disillusionment generated by Bushs war on terrorism, the velocity with which events revealed the whole operation to be a sham, was extraordinaryas was the dissonance. The war, especially that portion of it allegedly intended to bring democracy to Iraq, was said to mark a new era of national purpose. And yet a coordinated campaign of deceit, carried out with the complicity of reporters working for the countrys most respected news sources, had to be waged to ensure public support. The toppling of Saddam Hussein was predicted to be a cakewalk, and US soldiers, according to Vice President Dick Cheney, would be greeted as liberators. But Cheney still insisted that he needed to put in place a global network of secret torture sites in order to win the War on Terror.

As thousands died and billions went missing, the vanities behind not just the war but the entire postCold War expansionist project came to a crashing end. And as the frontier closed, some turned back to the border. Sporadic violence gave way to organized paramilitary extremism.

War revanchism usually takes place after conflicts endthe Ku Klux Klan after World War I, for example, or the radicalization of white supremacism after Vietnam. Now, though, it took shape while the war was still going on. And border paramilitarism began to pull in not only soldiers who had returned from the war but the veterans of older conflicts. The Minuteman Project, which began patrolling the desert looking for undocumented migrants shortly after the Abu Ghraib story broke, was founded by a Vietnam vet. The project grew rapidly over the next three years, even as it splintered into different groups, with vigilante franchises starting to harass day laborers gathered on city street corners far from the border, in places like Long Islands East End, or targeting Latino families in Kansas City parks. By the end of 2006, according to one count, 140 Minuteman branches had been established in 34 states, claiming 12,000 members.

As Bush lost control of his occupations, he lost control of his party. Having gotten their tax cuts and their war, Republicans were struggling with the fallout from both. Many at the time thought that modern conservatism was on the wane, done in by its own ideological excess, a contradictory commitment to a militarized national-security state and libertarian economics, to its fetishizing of individual freedom and its stoking of the culture war, including racial grievances.

Bush won reelection in 2004, but the lesson that many party leaders took from the victoryas they looked at the changing demographics of states like Arizona, Texas, and Floridawas that Republicans, to stay viable on a national level, would have to win over Latino voters. To that end, the Bush White House hoped to replicate Reagans immigration gambit. It put forth legislation that would further militarize the border but also allow, for those undocumented residents who qualified, a one-time path to citizenship.

But the proposed reform electrified vigilantes, who mobilized successfully to kill the legislation. This mobilization, in turn, revived the flagging conservative movement. A blast of nativist fanaticism helped to stay an unraveling caused by the movements already existing fanaticism, providing new coherence, vitality, and a way forward that didnt include citizenship for millions of undocumented residents.

In the last months of the Bush presidency, with the grassroots rage that had assembled on the border spreading through the nation, and with the country bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, the housing and credit markets began to collapse. Banks failed. Mortgage foreclosures and evictions spiked. Inequality and personal debt deepened as social services were stretched thin. And still, no matter how many patrollers the government put at the border, no matter how many deportations Bush carried out, Mexicans and Central Americans kept arriving.

And then the country elected a black man to the presidency. Under Bush, the various border-vigilante groups expanded nationally and helped set federal policy. Under Barack Obama, they merged with other right-wing organizations into what became known as the Tea Party. Cross-fertilization occurred at every level, as anti-immigrant Republicans rebranded themselves as libertarians and anti-Latino organizations mobilized around fiscal responsibility. In places like Cochise County, Arizona, long a preserve of right-wing rancher vigilantism, the Minutemen and the Tea Party merged. Build a wall and start shooting, said one featured speaker at a 2010 rally in Phoenix. Line em up. Ill torture them myself. Cruelty, by this point, was a way of establishing symbolic dominance over foreigners. But it was also a badge of contempt for the political establishment and all its leaders and institutions.

Obamas election packed an emotional wallop, as the historian Daniel Rodgers put it, but his administration produced only a policy whimper, seeking to address the multiple calamities inherited from his predecessor not with radical solutions but on familiar terms. Even if the Republican Party had agreed to implement in full the agenda Obama laid out in any one of his eight State of the Union addresses, it would only have marginally improved the precarious conditions for the many millions who lived in poverty. Obama kept reaching for a center that no longer existed, a center that he seemed to think he would be able to reconstitute by the power of his rhetoric and the infiniteness of his patience. In the meantime, the nativist right continued to coalesce.

The wars went on, and the military, with its outsized budget, still served as the countrys most effective instrument of social mobility and provider of health care and education. But whereas Bush had framed militarism as an ideological struggle, Obama presented it as a matter of utility and competence. As he did so, the country lost its ability to channel extremism outward, and the kind of chaos the United States had released in the Persian Gulf was increasingly mirrored at home, in an escalating spiral of mass school shootings and white-supremacist and masculinist rampages.

With the country unable to imagine a future moving outward, fights over the people trying to move inward grew even more intense. Here, too, Obama tried to meet his opponents halfway. He signed an executive order, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which provided protection to some undocumented residents who had entered the country as minors. But he also increased the funding and staffing of the nations various border, customs, and immigration agencies.

The Obama White House made the same mistake that Bushs did, getting caught in the same enforcement-first trap that insists the border has to be sealedan impossible propositionbefore reforms can be passed. Obama hoped that stepping up border security would open a space for compromise. But the situation got away from him. A surge of Central American childrentens of thousands every year between 2009 and 2014began arriving at the border, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. In response, the White House diverted more resources to try to secure the border and stepped up deportations. By 2012, the United States was spending more on immigration enforcement than on all other federal criminal-law-enforcement agencies combined.

Still, as it had under Bush, immigration reform failed, even as the impunity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrolalong with the budget for border militarizationgrew. As Obama reached the end of his second term, right-wing grievances continued to spin in a circle: from migrants to health care; from taxes, war, and guns to Confederate flags, ISIS, Mexican cartels, and environmental regulations; from sharia law, energy policy, and gender pronouns to Central American gangs and Black Lives Matterand finally back to migrants, to DACA recipients and Central American children.

The backlashes to decades of disastrous policies piled up, one after the other, until the backlash of all backlashes came: Donald Trump. The nativism that had rallied at the border under George W. Bush, and that for eight years was expressed in an almost psychotropic hatred of Barack Obama, crystallized into what some have described as race realism: a rejection of the legitimizing premises of the liberal multilateral orderespecially the idea that all could sit at the table and enjoy the worlds abundance, that the global economy should be organized around lines as open as possible, and that diversity rather than, say, Anglo-Saxonism could serve as the foundation of political communities.

In the past, politicianseven during moments of acute crisiscould look beyond the settlement line and point to the possibilities. Now, one politician in particular said there was nothing out there but peril.

As a worldview, race realism is often expressed as instinct rather than a worked-out philosophy and has taken many forms in the United States, including a reflexive sympathy for law-enforcement agencies and racial resentment. But over the past few decades, the border has provided increasing coherence to the sentiment. In July 2014, for instance, residents of Murrieta, California, just north of San Diego, took to the streets for days, waving US and Gadsden flags and hurling racist slurs, trying to stop buses carrying Central American families to a nearby federal facility. We cant start taking care of others if we cant take care of our own, one protester said, offering a concise precis of what would soon be called Trumpism.

The buses were turned backthe families shunted to some other federal detention centerand two years later, Murrieta residents, by a large margin, voted for Donald Trump.

Greg Grandin, a

This article is adapted from Greg Grandins The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, published in March by Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company. Copyright  2019 by Greg Grandin. All rights reserved.

This article was originally published by " The Nation " -

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A Trenton man was arrested Tuesday and charged with stabbing a man who was found bleeding in his car following a crash in Hamilton, police said.

Rhadames Acosta, 31, was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and weapons offenses, according to a release from the Hamilton Police.

Officers were called to the intersection of South Broad and Joseph Street on Monday for a report of a crash and found the victim, whose name was not released, suffering from a stab wound to his chest area, officials said.

He was taken Capital Health Medical Center Fuld Campus for treatment. Police did not provide an update on the mans condition Tuesday night.

The unidentified man was apparently stabbed while in a parking lot on the 500 block of Lalor Street.

An investigation led to Tuesdays arrest of Acosta by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Hamilton Police Anti-Crime Unit on the 500 block of Greenwood Avenue in Trenton.

Jail records show Acosta has previously served time in prison, but police could not confirm details of his prior arrest Tuesday night.

The stabbing was under investigation by the Hamilton Police and anyone with information was asked to call Det. Christopher Pullen at 609-581-4080 or email at cpullen@hamiltonpd.org.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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There isnt an exact science to know when to list your home in order to sell it in a timely and valuable manner, but research says the best time to put your home on the market in the New York region is on a Saturday in the second half of May.

According to annual Zillow research, when a homeowner lists their home in the back half of May, the home sells on average for $3,100 more than other times in the New York metro area, which bleeds into parts of New Jersey.

In the Philadelphia metro region, which includes parts of South Jersey, the peak time to put a home on the market may already have passed. In the second half of April, homes sell on average for $2,400 more than usual.

But not all real estate agents abide to Zillows research, as they try to zig while everyone else zags in order to sell their clients home.

Michelle Pais, the broker for NJ Signature Realty, said because the market is typically flooded with homes as soon as the weather warms, she advises her clients to beat everyone to the madness by listing their home before the spring market ratchets up.

As the inventory on the market rises, the demand lessens, she said.

We have a small window, Pais said.  The warmer we get, the more homes pop on the market.

Joshua Baris, a North Jersey real estate agent, said it is hard to zero in on an optimal time as each property differs on a variety of factors, including price point and location. But for the luxury market, he has had the most success listing homes in the fall, primarily because there is less inventory and buyers looking during the offseason are often more serious.

However, since he is ultimately serving a client, Baris said, The right time to list is whenever the seller is ready.

And if the seller wants their home to get even more exposure, Zillow also takes an even more granular approach to the art of listing. Based on their data, Zillow was able to nail down the exact day those looking to sell should place their homes on the market. Nationally, homes listed on a Saturday on Zillow get the largest number of views within the first week, more than 20 percent higher than a home that was listed on a Tuesday.

Baris added that after an extremely slow last six months for the New Jersey market, he is seeing an interest from buyers and sellers that is positive heading into the spring real estate season.

It is a great time to list, he said. We are seeing a tremendous amount of activity right now in the market.

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A veteran Burlington County teacher who had a baby with a 16-year-old girl while he was a Catholic priest nearly 30 years ago should not lose his job because of his past, a state arbitrator told the school district.

Cinnaminson school officials brought up tenure charges against middle school teacher Joseph DeShan earlier this year after parents learned about his history as a priest in the diocese in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

DeShan left the priesthood in 1994, four years after he impregnated a teenage girl in a church youth group he had allegedly been sexually abusing since she was 14, according to news reports in Connecticut newspapers after the relationship was revealed in 2002.

By then, DeShan was already a popular teacher in Cinnaminson. School officials removed him from the classroom for three weeks in 2002 while they investigated. But he quickly returned to teaching after some parents and students rallied to his defense.

Earlier this year, the school district changed its mind and filed tenure charges against DeShan after the parents of current students learned about the former priests past and complained to the school board that a rapist was teaching their children at Cinnaminson Middle School.

DeShan is included on a list of current and former clergy members credibly accused of sexual abuse released by the Diocese of Bridgeport. DeShan said the sexual relationship with the teenager was consensual and he was never prosecuted in Connecticut due to the statute of limitations law on sexual abuse.

Cinnaminson school officials argued parental and societal views have changed in the last few years, according to tenure charges filed against the teacher in January. The district said DeShan should be removed from teaching for conduct unbecoming a staff member."

But an arbitrator for the state Department of Education disagreed. In a decision released April 2, arbitrator Walt De Treux said DeShans past sexual misconduct is not enough to remove him from the classroom.

The board of education did not prove that DeShan engaged in any inappropriate conduct while holding public employment, De Treux wrote in his decision.

DeShan did not immediately responded to requests to comment on the arbitrators decision.

Cinnaminson officials said they were not happy with the arbitrators ruling.

The district is disappointed with the decision and currently exploring options to resolve the matter. However, it is our district policy to refrain from comments regarding open personnel and legal matters. The well-being of our entire school community is always our highest priority, Stephen Cappello, Cinnaminsons superintendent of schools, said in a statement.

Cinnaminsons board of education can appeal the decision to the state Department of Education.

Cinnaminson school officials cited one recent complaint about DeShan. In that case, the teacher allegedly commented on a young female students eyes. According to the complaint, he said: Look at me. Let me see your pretty green eyes. You dont see them too much anymore.

The student reported the comment made her uncomfortable and the teacher spoke in a weird voice. But the arbitrator said the allegations -- along with complaints from parents who said they were concerned that their children are in a classroom with a teacher known for past sexual misconduct -- were hearsay and do not provide enough evidence to remove DeShan from the classroom.

The fact that some parents now demand his removal from the classroom does not give the board of education a second opportunity to revisit pre-employment conduct of which it has been long aware, De Treux wrote, dismissing the tenure charges.

SNAP, a survivors network for victims of sexual abuse, said the arbitrators decision defies common sense.

We beg New Jersey school and political officials to see what kind of administrative or legislative reforms must be made to prevent this kind of dangerous decision in the future, the group said in a statement.

DeShan earns $85,624 a year as a 6th grade reading teacher, according to state records.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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A 10-week-old puppy was found dead in a submerged and weighted cage in Passaic County pond on Tuesday and a $5,000 reward has been offered for tips as police investigate.

A rescue officer with The Last Resort, a non-profit, found the dog on Tuesday in Jennings Pond on Bonter Road. The group said the dog appeared to be a young Golden Retriever.

Authorities said late Wednesday the dog was a female retriever.

The puppy was dead and ice cold, soaked inside the crate, lakebed vegetation hanging on the crate, with a crystal vase (notice price tag), The Last Resort wrote in a Facebook post. The puppy also had pads stuck to the side of her head with a small amount of blood on them.

West Milford Police Chief Timothy Storbeck and Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said the incident is under investigation.

At this time there are no suspects or leads, Storbeck and Valdes said in a news release.

A veterinarian at Greenwood Lake Animal Hospital examined the dog on Tuesday, then tweeted the puppy would be transferred to New Jersey State Polices forensic lab for a complete autopsy.

The vet who examined the dog was not available for comment on Wednesday.

The Last Resort is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction of the person responsible.

Anyone with information can call investigators at 1-877-370-PCPO, 973-728-2801 or email tips@passaiccountynj.org.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed a bill creating a housing assistance program for low-income and disabled citizens in New Jersey  a measure that was nearly derailed in a high-profile political squabble between the governor and the top Democrat in the state Legislature.

The law dedicates a maximum of $20 million a year to expand housing aid for potentially thousands of chronically ill and disabled people in New Jersey who have maxed out under the rules of the the states Emergency Assistance program.

Murphy, a Democrat, vetoed the original bill (S1965) in January, saying the state could not afford the legislations potentially $100 million to $200 million price tag. The measure, championed by affordable housing and family advocates, won near-unanimous support in the Democratic-controlled state Legislature.

Incensed, the bills sponsor, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, called for an override of Murphys veto on February. It would have been the first veto override of Murphys year-old administration and would have ratcheted up the tensions between the dueling Democrats.

Sweeney later called off the override vote, and he and Murphy reached a compromise on a different bill (S3586) that set a $20 million cap on the programs spending and $5 million on case managers who help enrollees find stable housing.

Without this assistance, many would be at risk of homelessness. Not only does the program give residents the means to get through hard times, but it also guides them in finding employment and activities to help them become self-sufficient, said state Assemblyman Raj Mukerji, D-Hudson, who is also a sponsor.

The new law says the emergency assistance program for people on Social Security and welfare provides 12 months of rental assistance with the possibility of a six-to 12-month extension, depending on the severity of the persons circumstances. The program would not count any time the person spent in the program prior to seven years ago.

This assistance can be a lifeline for the most vulnerable members of our communities who are experiencing hard times that make it all but impossible for them to meet basic needs, including food and shelter," Sweeney said in a statement. "There are homeless veterans suffering from PTSD, abused mothers with young children, and recovering drug addicts and alcoholics who find themselves out on the street and in need of our help.

Murphy also signed a companion bill (S3585), sponsored by Sweeney and state Sen. Dawn Addiego, D-Burlington, that creates a new Office of Homelessness Prevention. It comes with a $3 million price tag.

With these new laws, we are acting on our commitment to build stronger communities and ensure that no one in New Jersey, especially the most vulnerable among us, spends a night without a place to call home," Murphy said in a statement. "I commend the Legislature for working with me to combat these critical issues of homelessness and housing insecurity.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker called on U.S. Attorney General William Barr to resign Wednesday, about an hour after he lambasted Barr during a hearing for normalizing President Donald Trumps behavior in the way he has painted the Mueller Report to the public.

Booker, a New Jersey Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate, took to Twitter to push for the resignation as Barr appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss his handling of Muellers report.

Booker tweeted that Barr has shown he lied to us and mishandled the Mueller report. The senator shared a petition calling for his resignation:

Attorney General Barr answers to the American peoplenot to President Trumpand over the past 24 hours its become clear that he lied to us and mishandled the Mueller Report. He needs to step down. Add your name if you agree: https://t.co/x7KkyROdi5  Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) May 1, 2019

Booker  who is frequently critical of Trump, a Republican  unleashed some of the most fiery comments and questions directed at Barr, the nations highest-ranking law enforcement official, during Wednesdays hearing at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

I fear you are adding normalcy to the point where we should be sounding alarms as opposed to saying that theres nothing to see here," Booker told the attorney general.

Booker called the Mueller report a very sobering moment in American history" and said he fears were descending int a new normal thats dangerous for our democracy.

He said it exposes a deep litany of lies and deceit and misconduct from Trump and his allies.

The report, released last month and overseen by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, found the Russian government tried to influence the 2016 presidential election to help Trump win, though it did not find enough evidence to conclude the president conspired with Russia.

Muellers team also laid out areas where Trump may have obstructed justice but did not come to a conclusion about whether the president did.

Barr said at a news conference the day the report was released that he and Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein found was not enough evidence to say Trump did not obstruct justice.

Wednesdays hearing came news surfaced that Mueller sent a letter to Barr in March complaining about a four-page memo Barr sent to Congress about the conclusions of the report.

Mueller wrote that Barrs words did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the report and that it threatened to undermine the publics confidence in the investigation.

Barr told the committee Wednesday that it was up to him at that point to reveal what he believed was right.

At that point, it was my baby, Barr said of the report.

Democrats on the committee took Barr to task, accusing him of defending Trump  who appointed him  when he should be more critical of the president. Though attorneys general are appointed by presidents, they traditionally are expected to act independently.

Booker zeroed in on a statement Barr made during his news conference last month, when the attorney general said the report finding Trump did not collude with Russians is something all Americans can and should be grateful to have confirmed.

Booker said he found Bars choice of words alarming and that it "calls into question your objectivity.

Should the American people really be grateful that a candidate for president sought to benefit from material and information that was stolen by a foreign power to influence an election? the senator asked Barr.

Barr replied: Im not sure what you mean by seek to benefit. Theres no indication that they engaged in either the conspiracy to hack or that they engaged in any action with respect to the dissemination that was criminal.

Cory Booker to Bill Barr: In your news conference, you suggested the American people should be grateful the Mueller investigation cleared him of collusion. Should the American people be grateful the Trump campaign had 215 contacts with Russian operatives and then lied about them? pic.twitter.com/WOOMedsYrv  Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) May 1, 2019

Barr also said foreign governments and citizens frequently make a lot of attempts to contact campaigns.

If we were right now, for example, to go and look at Hillary Clintons campaign during the same timeframe, he added, then youd see a lot of foreign governments trying to establish 

Booker cut him off and accused Barr of trying to brush over the new normal in the country.

Nobody should be grateful, the senator said.

You seem to not even be willing to be the least bit critical in your summarizations, Booker added.

Booker also drew attention later in the hearing, when one of his rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, took over questioning Barr.

Booker was seen trying not to laugh as Harris grilled the attorney general:

Oh man, watch @CoryBooker trying and failing not to laugh while @KamalaHarris quietly dismantles Barr. Look closely: pic.twitter.com/TiMR7OCWTr  (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) May 1, 2019

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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WASHINGTON  Former Vice President Joe Biden is the clear frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, according to two different polls that put U.S. Sen. Cory Booker far behind.

Bidens percentages was more than twice as much as the second-place competitor in both CNN and Quinnipiac University surveys released Tuesday. U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts took turns finishing second and third.

The Democratic primary race suddenly gets real with a fast start by former Vice President Joe Biden and a very clear indication from voters that he is the only candidate who can send President Trump packing 18 months from now, said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.

Both polls placed Booker, D-N.J., back in the pack, with 2 percent in each survey.

In a fundraising email on Tuesday, Booker acknowledged his position in the race.

Some folks are already looking for opportunities to count us out, he wrote. They see a field of 20 candidates and think only the frontrunners can win."

Still, he reported no gains in the polls since kicking off a two-week tour with a massive rally in his home city of Newark.

Booker campaign officials have responded to earlier polls by saying that they have been concentrating on building an organization to get out the vote next February, not to score high in surveys this spring.

The CNN survey of 411 Democratic voters and those who lean Democratic was conducted April 25-28 and had a margin of error of 5.9 percentage points. The Quinnipiac poll of 419 Democratic voters and those who lean Democratic was conducted April 26-29 with a margin of error of 5.6 percentage points.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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Passage Theatre, Trentons Barrymore Award-winning theatrical company, ends its current main stage season with a New Jersey premiere production, Morir Sonyando by Erlina Ortiz, running through May 19 at Passages home in Trentons historic Mill Hill Playhouse.

The three-character family play had its world premiere in Philadelphia by Power Street Theatre Company at Phillys 2014 FringeArts Festival and was restaged soon after by Power Street as a main stage attraction. At that time, playwright Ortiz explained that the title could be translated as die dreaming and that in the Dominican Republic, where the family in the play has its roots, there is a traditional drink with that name.

In describing the play at the time of its second staging, Ortiz said that its often like a dream, jumping through time and memories with very little linear connections. Most people agree the most peaceful way for one to die would be in your sleep, and that concept is considered in the play. About the subject matter of domestic violence and its long-lasting results, Ortiz added, Its a heavy topic. I think it is balanced with some good humor which is the nature of tragedy.

Passages artistic director, C. Ryanne Domingues, wholl be celebrating her second anniversary with the company in September, chose the play, and, since she hasnt directed with Passage yet, she decided to be the productions director, too.

This is a play that certainly speaks to our time since its about family and forgiveness, said Domingues who directed her first show 17 years ago and lists Long Days Journey into Night, and Mother Courage and Her Children as her standouts so far.

Since this is a relatively new play and presenting new plays is part of our mission, its really appropriate. Its primarily about healing, and, in our world today, theres so much trauma and so many people healing from trauma, that I think it will resonate with so many people," Domingues said.

She explained, The play is about a woman named Genesis whos now in her thirties. Her family suffered domestic violence when she was younger. Her mother, Paloma, in trying to protect her children, ended up in prison and has just been released. Three family members, including Genesis younger brother Felix, reunite and try to work out what future, if any, they will have as a family. Each of them has adjustments, differing adjustments, to make. Both children have vivid memories of the past events, but each remembers differently. Its kind of a family love story.

Domingues noted that after Sunday matinee performances, there will be audience talk-backs with cast and production staff. Womanspace Inc., a nonprofit Mercer County agency with programs devoted to counseling, emergency shelter, crisis intervention, court advocacy and housing services, will also have an information table in the Playhouse lobby.

Both Maria Peyramaure, who plays Genesis, and Daniel Colon, who plays Felix, are making their debuts with Passage, and both speak highly of the play, the theater company and their director.

Peyramaure, who lists herself in her program biography as a bilingual stage, voice-over, film and commercial actress, had her voice on the soundtrack of the 2017 Oscar-nominated animated film called Ferdinand, but she finds the complex role of Genesis far more challenging.

When I saw the audition notice for this play, said Peyramaure, I asked to be scheduled and requested a copy. I read it and thought it was strong and compelling, meaningful and important. The familys last name is not in the script, perhaps because its such a universal story that could happen to anybody. Its very real.

Genesis is a strong-willed survivor, said Peyramaure, but very much her mothers daughter. She goes through the memories she grew up with, and, since it is a memory play, the audience sees her as a 12-year-old, a 16-year-old, a 20-something and a 34-year old who goes through so many changes. She faces many challenges, but shes really a smart human being. The domestic violence started when she was young, but when her mother first goes to prison, Genesis remains in contact with her but then stops. I wont tell you why because I dont want to give too much away.

As her ages change, theres a difference in her speech, her language. As a teenager, a stressful time for anybody, she breaks ties with her mother and family and forgets about her own culture and speaking Spanish. She befriends people from other cultures, other backgrounds, and puts herself through college. She changes from who she was. Shes on her way to be a professor of psychology and womens studies. The only person she doesnt cut out of her life is Felix whom she had tried to shield and protect, and they have remained in contact, said Peyramaure.

Felix is a very interesting fella, said Daniel Colon, especially because Im not used to seeing Hispanic characters in the plays Ive done. And those Ive seen have been kind of stereotypical, rough or tough, but thats not Felix. He has a lot of heart and soul; hes sincere about hoping to repair the broken pieces of his family. Hes also a kind of comedic relief as well. Any time theres tension in the show, he tries to bring in fresh air to lighten things up.

Like director Domingues, Colons favorite moments in the play come in the interchanges between brother and sister, moments when they find humor they can share.

When Felix was about five or six, said Colon, he started noticing the tensions in his family, but his sister experiences more of the domestic abuse because shes older and tries to protect him from it. In my own case, my memories dont start until I was about ten or eleven, and things have been dark for the children for years before Felix reaches that age. Felix kind of stays with the family while Genesis drifts away, but the bond they share, which is often shown in some of the scripts lighter moments, is so heart-warming to play and, Im sure, for the audience, is appealing to watch.

IF YOU GO
When a proposed Hudson River rail tunnel project gets criticized by the President, is given a poor rating by regulators and seems to be stone-walled by agencies holding the purse strings, whats left for the people who support it to do?

Fight back like Rocky. At least thats the strategy of supporters of building a new Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River and a two-track Portal bridge replacement project over the Hackensack River in Kearny. Gateway development Corporation officials spoke to the Star-Ledger editorial board last week about how theyre countering a rash of setbacks.

We will pound at whatever issue is at fault. Lets discuss what needs strengthening. We will keep hammering and expose positions that are unreasonable, said Tony Coscia, Amtrak board chairman and Gateway Development Corporation vice chairman.

But theyre worried the clock is running out on the existing 109-year-old rail tunnels used by Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. Closing one tunnel would cut commuter capacity by 75 percent. Currently, 450 trains use the tunnels daily to and from Penn Station in New York. It would also put a crimp in the regional economy.

The subject is serious enough for the chairman of the House Transportation Committee to lead a congressional delegation to tour the century-old tunnels and hold a hearing later this week about the Gateway Project and how it could fit into legislation to reauthorize federal transportation funding.

We're bringing the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee to tour the Hudson River tunnel on Thursday, and to see first hand the urgency of building the Gateway Project. https://t.co/LbAzMPrOTr  Tom Malinowski (@Malinowski) April 29, 2019

Five years ago, Amtrak officials warned the tunnels could be closed in a decade to repair damage by flood waters driven by Hurricane Sandy. Theyre not going to collapse, but the guts of the steel tunnels, concrete walls, electric wiring, signals, track and support structure for the rails, were damaged by corrosive water.

It (the tunnel) should have been dead already, said Jerry Zaro, chairman of the Gateway Development Corporation, that oversees the two projects. Neither Amtrak nor NJ Transit will allow trains to go through the tunnels if theyre unsafe.

One problem is that Amtrak maintenance forces have become so good at patching and squeezing extra life out of elderly infrastructure thats its become expected, Coscia said. But officials said they have no idea how much time is left on the clock before a tunnel has to be shut down for rehabilitation.

Were burning time, Coscia said. Even if we got approval (to build a new tunnel) today, there would be a period of (construction) time and risk of a probable closure.

Officials also are investigating if an idea that saved L train riders from a total shutdown for tunnel work can be used. That plan uses a racking system to suspend new electric cables now located inside deteriorating concrete bench walls inside the tunnel.

But that solution wont fix all the problems resulting from flooding in the Hudson River tunnels, such as damage from salt and chemical-laden water.

Portal Bridge, which gets stuck in the open position when boats have to use the Hackensack River, has approved plans and all the necessary permits to start work on it. All thats needed is a federal grant to match the $600 million pledged by New Jersey and Amtraks share of the estimated $1.2 billion construction cost.

For a second time, the Federal Transit Administration lowered the ranking for the tunnel and Portal Bridge projects, which the FTA had previously ranked high under the Obama Administration. That means the two projects dont qualify for federal grants.

How did it drop to a mediumlow rating? Did the bridge get better?" Zaro asked.

Share your worst transit experience caused by issues with the Hudson tunnel or the Portal Bridge malfunction. The stories will be shared with the US House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. https://t.co/vLasgTFUAK. @build_gateway  RVL Mayors (@MayorsRvl) April 25, 2019

President Donald Trump has opposed the project. He threatened to veto a federal spending bill containing any Gateway funding last year. Gateway supporters still hope to appeal to the builder in him to see its benefits.

Personally, I think if (U.S. Senator and Democrat Chuck) Schumer said you can have your (U.S.-Mexico border) wall, we d have Gateway, Zaro said. Its a crying need that politics shouldnt interfere with.

Federal officials contend the bridge and tunnel are local projects, even though both are owned by the federal government. FTA officials were skeptical about Gov. Phil Murphys 2018 commitment of $600 million for the states share to build a new two-track Portal Bridge.

The unofficial $30 billion cost for the entire Gateway project also has prompted officials to question the need for it again. A $14 billion to $16 billion cost to build new tunnels and rehabilitate the old tubes were based on federal methodology, Zaro said. Recently-commissioned geotechnical boring in the Hudson River bed is supposed to reduce some of the cost uncertainty.

A new data room opened by Gateway Development Corporation for contractors also is intended to provide them with more information to reduce contingency costs in their construction bids, officials said.

The alternative, Zaro insisted, would be to wait for a tunnel to be shut down, crippling the Northeastern regional economy, and fix it with disaster relief funds.

We shouldnt be operating under a disaster scenario, he said.

U.S. Rep, Josh Gottheimer, D-NJ is one of the few officials addressing a plan B if a tunnel has to be closed. A bill he introduced requires the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to publish a report that details the Department of Transportations contingency plan in the case of a tunnel shutdown.

Twenty percent of the countrys GDP, $100 million, goes through those tunnels that are held together with scotch tape and gum every day, he said. "If a tunnel goes down, how will the economy work? How will people get into the city and back home? If this is such a low priority for the Administration, what is their contingency plan?

Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @commutinglarry. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

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In case you missed it

Clinton Foundation and ISIS were funded from the same source

By John Pilger and Julian Assange

- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stated that Hillary Clintons Clinton Foundation and the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS) are funded from the same sources.

He was speaking about the organisations latest release of Clinton emails, during an interview on the John Pilger Special show that is to be exclusively broadcast by RT, courtesy of Dartmouth Films. The interview took place in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Assange has been residing since August 2012. The footage was released on Thursday.

This article was originally published by " InvestmentWatchBlog " -

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We finally know what Hillary Clinton knew all along  US allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar are funding Isis

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A 23-year-old man has been booked on a murder charge in the death of a man who was killed under an Interstate 10 overpass in February, according to New Orleans police.

Waldale Stanley is accused in the death of 51-year-old Phillip Thomas on Feb. 10, two days after Stanley broke into vehicles inside a Warehouse District garage and stole a gun from one vehicle, police said.

Stanley was booked into Orleans Justice Center Sunday morning (April 28) on one count of second-degree murder related to Thomas death and two counts of simple burglary related to break-ins at the Fulton Place Garage.

Two owners reported their vehicles had been burglarized Feb. 8 while parked inside the Fulton Place Garage at 901 Convention Center Boulevard.

The rear window of a Toyota Sienna van was shattered and miscellaneous documents were taken from inside. A .38-caliber handgun and a Garmin GPS were stolen from a Ford Expedition with a window ajar. The garage manager retrieved video footage of two men entering the garage, checking for unlocked doors and ultimately burglarizing the Sienna and Expedition, according court documents.

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A NOPD detective investigating the crimes sent bulletin to the department asking officers and detectives to be on the lookout for the two men.

It is unbelievable: New Orleans mother mourns loss of second son to gun violence

Two days later, on Feb. 10, Thomas was found shot dead underneath the I-10 overpass at Claiborne Avenue and Canal Street around 7:30 a.m. NOPD Homicide Detective Sasha Tousant collected footage of the killing from cameras in the area and released photographs of the shooter to the general public.

A civilian identified the shooter as Malik Touray, an alias used by Waldale Stanley. Stanleys photo matched the appearance of both the shooter and one of the subjects in the parking garage burglaries. It was unclear if the gun stolen from the vehicle was used in the shooting.

In late February Stanley was named as a suspect in the shooting, and he was arrested Sunday morning.
Two days after a man was arrested by New Orleans police and jailed on a murder charge in connection with a fatal shooting in Algiers on Thursday (April 25), the murder charge was dropped, court records show. The action was taken after an NOPD review of video footage called into question" the accuracy of witness accounts to investigators, the department said Tuesday night.

According to authorities, Jeremy Straughter, 30, was fatally shot after 2 p.m. Thursday in the 2600 block of General DeGaulle Drive. About four-and-a-half hours after police responded to the scene outside an Algiers gas station, an NOPD homicide detective filled out an affidavit seeking a warrant in the homicide case for Darnell Celestin, 34, on a charge of second-degree murder, according to the affidavit.

Celestin was arrested later that day on Holiday Drive in Algiers and booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail on the murder charge, booking records show. On Friday morning, at Celestins first appearance hearing, Orleans Parish Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell reviewed the affidavit and found it contained enough evidence to support probable cause to hold Celestin, court records show. Cantrell set his bond at $450,000.

The following day, however, Celestin appeared again in court, this time in front of the on-duty weekend magistrate commissioner, Jonathan Friedman, who found no probable cause for the murder charge and issued Celestins release on that charge, according to court records.

The April 25 affidavit for Celestins arrest on the murder charge, a document sworn by NOPD Homicide Detective Sarah Cherny, cites a witness who said he or she took cover inside a church near the gas station when an argument between Straughter and Celestin grew very heated." People heard gunshots outside the church, near where the men were located, and police found spent shell casings near the church, the affidavit states.

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The affidavit also said that detectives obtained video from the Shell station captured before the fatal shooting, which showed Celestin at the gas station. However, the affidavit did not say what Celestin was shown to be doing in the video.

However, an NOPD spokesman said Tuesday night that a review of video footage called into question the accuracy of witness statements to investigators, prompting a request, made through the DAs office, that Celestin be released pending further investigation. A review of additional footage was not conclusive in confirming Celestin as the shooter, according to the statement.

At Saturdays hearing in Friedmans court, Orleans Parish Assistant District Attorney Abigail McDonald called Cherny to the stand to testify, before the commissioner ordered the no probable cause finding, court records show.

The investigation remains open and active, the NOPD said Tuesday night, as Celestin remained in jail on an unrelated charge.

NOPD did not immediately respond when asked what the associated charge was, or details of the allegations.
A 41-year-old New Orleans man is accused of fatally shooting another man who a witness said had vandalized his car. But at a preliminary hearing Tuesday (April 30), a testifying detective said the two men also had been romantically involved with the same woman.

Tyrone Cannon, 41, was arrested in February on suspicion of the February murder of 43-year-old Kenneth Jones. During Tuesdays preliminary hearing, NOPD Homicide Detective Tanisha Sykes disclosed that Cannon and Jones were romantically involved with the same woman in the months leading up the shooting, and a witness account from that woman was later used to secure an arrest warrant for Cannon on the murder charge.

A male witness was leaving his house with his daughter Feb. 9 when he observed someone cut off Jones with a blue car, exit his vehicle and begin arguing with Jones, according to court records. The man told police Jones punched at the male driver, who responded by pulling out a gun and shooting Jones. When Jones fell to the ground, the shooter then stood over him and shot him two more times before fleeing the scene by car.

Detectives learned that Jones and Cannon had been involved with the same woman. She told police that Cannon had been with her prior to the shooting and then returned afterward. The woman said, upon his return, Cannon admitted to chasing down and shooting Jones after discovering Jones had vandalized Cannons blue 1996 Mercury Grand Marquis.

After receiving identification from the woman, police then showed a photo of Cannon to the other witness, who confirmed he was the shooter he saw exit the blue car.

Man chased person he thought vandalized his car, stood over and shot him dead, witnesses tell NOPD

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James Brockway, the Orleans Parish public defender representing Cannon, found fault with the basis of Sykes warrant, suggesting that the woman was not a reliable witness given her romantic history with both men and that the other witness only corroborated the identification after being prompted with a photo of Cannon.

Its hard to imagine a more suggestive process to produce an identification, said Brockway.

He also questioned the lack of ballistic evidence in the case. No gun was found at Cannons home and forensic evidence from the scene remains pending. Surveillance video did capture a blue car cut off Jones, but a clear identification could not be surmised from the tape, according to Sykes.

Brockway also noted Cannon was infirm, gesturing to his client who sat in a wheelchair beside him. But Sykes said that neither the male witness, nor the arresting officer, reported seeing Cannon with a cane during the crime or Feb. 13, the day of his arrest on a charge of second-degree murder.

Despite Brockways objections, Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell found probable cause in the case. He also denied Brockways motion to reduce Cannons bond from $350,000 to $150,000 after Assistant District Attorney Abigail McDonald presented Cannons criminal history which includes burglary, drug and battery charges from the early 2000s.

Cannon has not been formally charged with murder. The District Attorneys Office has 120 days to secure an indictment.
One man died and another was wounded in a double shooting early Wednesday (May 1) in Algiers, New Orleans police said.

A washcloth, gray Nike hat and a red stuffed animal fish were placed in front of a home near the intersection of Wagner and Slidell streets about 9 a.m. Wednesday. A woman cried while she sat on the curb in front of the home where relatives of the men who were shot said the shooting happened hours earlier.

Thats my uncle, the woman said while rolling backward and lying down in the grass, referring to the man who was killed. I cant do it no more.

The shooting was reported to police about 1:15 a.m. near the intersection of Wagner and Slidell streets (map). NOPD said officers found both men, ages 58 and 38, outside, and EMS took them to a hospital. The 58-year-old died at the hospital. Authorities have not released his name.

The 38-year-old mans vital conditions were stable as of 4:45 a.m. Wednesday, but police didnt release any information about the severity of his injuries.

A preliminary NOPD report states the men were walking when two unknown males got out a gray, four-door Honda and opened fire, striking both.

Two houses down from where relatives said the shooting occurred, a man, who asked not to be named, said his brother was killed and son was wounded in the shooting that occurred close to his mothers home.

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Im just blessed it wasnt both of them, he said, referring to the death of his brother and survival of his son. Its hard enough just one of them. The man said he wasnt in the area when the shooting occurred but went to the hospital to see his son and brother before going to his mothers house Wednesday morning.

Thank God it wasnt both, he said.

No other details were immediately available about a possible motive in the shooting or a description of a potential suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call Homicide Detective Nicholas Davis at 504-658-5300 or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

Note: This story was updated Wednesday morning with additional information from NOPD.

Carlie Kollath Wells is a morning reporter at NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Have an early-bird tip? Send it to her: cwells@nola.com or Twitter @carlie_kollath.

Olivia Prentzel covers breaking news and criminal justice for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Reach her at oprentzel@nola.com or find her on Twitter @olivepretzel.
Two women were attacked and threatened by two armed strangers in the French Quarter early Tuesday (April 30), New Orleans police said.

The women, 43 and 35, were walking in the 900 block of Governor Nicholls Street around 12:50 a.m. when the two men approached them, police said. One of the men tried to grab the 43-year-old womans purse, but when she refused to let it go, he kicked her to the ground and dragged her on the ground for approximately one to three feet, police said in an initial report. The other man demanded both womens property while holding a gun and threatening to shoot the 35-year-old woman.

The second man tried to take the 35-year-olds purse and then kicked the 43-year-old in her head two times, police said. Then, both men fled with the 43-year-olds purse.

Police also reported the following crimes between Monday (April 29) and Wednesday (May 1):

Warrant issued for 29-year-old man accused of robbing woman in Uptown

A 29-year-old man arrived at a 34-year-old womans house in the 2200 block of Soniat Street and demanded money that he said she owed him around 12:45 p.m. Monday, according to an initial police report. Police said the woman felt intimidated and went to an ATM to withdraw cash. The man then took money from her and fled.

NOPD issued an arrest warrant for Cleo Williamson Jr. in connection with the simple robbery.

Six days earlier, police reported a domestic aggravated burglary in the same block. In a preliminary report, police reported that a man broke into a 34-year-old womans home and demanded money from her before they both went to a nearby ATM. It was not immediately clear if Williamson was wanted in connection to the April 23 robbery.

Man strikes 42-year-old woman before stealing cell phone in New Orleans East

Hugo Xitamul, 34, was berating a 42-year-old woman in the 13800 block of Chef Menteur Highway around 9:45 a.m. Monday before he grabbed her cell phone, struck her in the head and then fled, police said.

Xitmaul is wanted by NOPD in connection to the simple robbery.

3 men rob 20-year-old man in Gert Town

A 20-year-old man was sitting in his van in the 1000 block of Telemachus Street around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when three men opened the drivers door and placed a gun to his head, police said.

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They took the 20-year-olds belongings from the van and then ran away.

2 strangers rob 2 women at gunpoint in 7th Ward

Two armed men wearing all black clothing approached two women, 44 and 27, while they were walking in the 2200 block of Pauger Street around 2:45 p.m., police said. The men demanded the womens belongings and the women complied. Then the men fled.

Two 19-year-old men stab each other several times in Central City

A 19-year-old man started to fight another 19-year-old mans brother near the intersection of Simon Bolivar Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said.

The two 19-year-olds, both armed with knives, then started fighting and both were stabbed several times in the back, police said. Both were transported to the hospital.

31-year-old man arrested in connection to robbery on St. Charles Avenue

A 33-year-old woman was standing in the 2100 block of Saint Charles Avenue around 4:40 p.m. Tuesday with her wallet in her hand when a 31-year-old man snatched her wallet and ran down Josephine Street, police said.

Owen Williams was arrested and booked Wednesday (May 1) with two counts of purse snatching, jail records show.

Police also reported four shootings in three days.

A 17-year-old boy was shot in New Orleans East Monday evening.

Olivia Prentzel covers breaking news and criminal justice for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Reach her at oprentzel@nola.com or find her on Twitter @olivepretzel.
The University of Holy Cross has partnered with LCMC Health to launch a new Master of Science graduate degree for physician assistants.

The inaugural program will launch in Fall 2020 and will include on-the-job training for UHC students by doctors and other medical professionals at three of LCMC Healths five hospitals in and around New Orleans, according to a joint news release from the school and the healthcare provider. In a statement Tuesday (April 30), LCMC Health CEO Greg Feirn said partnering with the university will help educate the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Physician Assistants, also known as PAs, practice side-by side with physicians, surgeons and other healthcare experts. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the PA field will grow by 37% by 2026, which is faster than the average for all occupations. PA salaries are also estimated at more than $100,000 annually, the federal agency reported.

LCMC Health opens $30 million medical complex in Metairie

The American Academy of Physician Assistants reports there are more than 123,000 PAs in the country today. LCMC Health, one of Louisianas largest healthcare providers, reported 13 PAs currently work in the LCMC Health system.

PAs are a need in our organization and this is a great example of LCMC Health and Holy Cross working together to strengthen the talent pipeline in New Orleans, Feirn stated.

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UHCs PA program is a 28-month, 112-credit full-time program including two phases: didactic and clinical, according to the release. Graduate coursework includes clinical medicine, clinical laboratory, pharmacotherapy, anatomy, pathophysiology, and evidence-based practice, clinical skills, preventive medicine, and healthcare professional issues. The second phase of the PA program will include 2,000 hours or 12 months of hands-on hospital experience involving eight separate rotations at LCMC Health Hospitals and medical facilities.

The PA program at University of Holy Cross is at the forefront of the latest developments in medical careers, according to UHC President David Buck Landry in a released statement.

The UHC Physician Assistant Program has applied for provisional accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, according to the release. More information about the program is available on LCMC Healths website.

University of Holy Cross aims to make transfers easier for Delgado culinary students

Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles.
The New Silk Roads reach the next level



The Beijing leadership seems to be aware that transparency is key for the global success of BRI, which is now supported by over 120 states and territories





By Pepe Escobar

April 30, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The Belt and Road Forum in Beijing was a graphic demonstration of how tactical adjustments are essential to enhance the appeal of a complex overall strategy. Talk about a turbo-charged 4.0 version of the legendary Deng Xiaoping maxim crossing the river while feeling the stones.

For all the somewhat straitjacket approach of Chinese official pronouncements, President Xi Jinping stressed a sort of three musts for the advance of the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)  debt sustainability, protection of the environment (or green growth), and no tolerance for corruption.

Add to that a growing battle against trade protectionism, more bilateral free-trade deals, more financing or investments, cooperation on third-party markets, and even a plan to sell Silk Road bonds.

In his keynote speech, Xi stressed how multilateral cooperation on six corridors and six channels serving multiple countries and ports is all go. He was referring to BRIs six major connectivity corridors spanning Eurasia  and the fact that BRI is still in its planning stage; implementation actually starts in 2021.

The devil, of course, is in the details on multiple Chinese promises  further opening-up of the Chinese market to foreign investment; the possibility of majority equity in more industrial sectors; no more imposed technology transfers; more protection of intellectual property rights; and last but not least, no devaluation of the yuan.

And yet Beijing is learning fast. The final joint communique, emphasizing governance as much as economic development, was signed by Xi and 37 heads of state  from Italy, Greece and Portugal to Singapore and Thailand, not to mention new members such as Luxembourg, Peru, Cyprus and Yemen.

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BRI is now supported by no less than 126 states and territories, plus a host of international organizations. This is the new, truthful, realistic face of the international community  way bigger, diversified and more representative than the G20.

The Beijing leadership seems to be aware that transparency is key for the global success of BRI. On the opening day of the forum, Finance Minister Liu Kun presented a 15-page debt sustainability framework based on similar standards applied by the Bretton Woods system  the IMF and the World Bank.

And the governor of the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), Yi Gang, stressed how long-term debt sustainability should be evaluated in relation to better infrastructure, better productivity, raising standards of living and reducing poverty. The PBOC has financed as much as $440 billion in BRI projects so far.

Its all about Russia-China

Supported by vast infrastructure-building know-how and cutting-edge technology, Beijing is willing to renegotiate virtually everything BRI-related, from bank loans to overall project costs, from Malaysia and Thailand high-speed rail to the finer points of the flagship China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), from physical infrastructure to the Digital Silk Road.

So much for US media hysteria over toxic debt-trap diplomacy.

Moreover, the West, as usual, ignored what was the absolutely key takeaway of the BRI forum: the deepening, on all fronts, of the Russia-China strategic partnership. Its all here, in President Putins speech.

Putin emphasized harmonious and sustainable economic development and economic growth throughout the Eurasian space. He noted how BRI rhymes with Russias idea to establish a Greater Eurasian Partnership, a project designed to integrate integration frameworks, and therefore to promote a closer alignment of various bilateral and multilateral integration processes that are currently underway in Eurasia.

I have reported extensively on the crucial BRI-Greater Eurasia symbiosis. And this was exactly the focus of the discussion when Putin met Xi on the sidelines of the forum. The Chinese Foreign Ministry vigorously stressed how Xi asked Putin to merge Eurasian Economic Unions (EAEU) infrastructure projects with BRI.

What should be expected from the in-progress BRI-EAEU merger, which also includes the economic arm of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as well as ASEAN, is a massive, concerted Eurasian integration push.

Putin could not have been more specific. The Eurasian Unionhas already signed a free-trade agreement with Vietnam and a provisional agreement with Iran, paving the way to the creation of a free-trade area. The preparation of similar instruments with Singapore and Serbia is nearing completion, and talks are underway with Israel, Egypt and India. We cooperate actively with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

All the pieces fall into place

Addressing the forum, Putin added another enticing dimension, with the China-driven Maritime Silk Road possibly joining the Russia-driven Northern Sea Route, a global and competitive route connecting northeastern, eastern and southeastern Asia with Europe will emerge. Once again, Eurasia integration in practice.

And then there are the other key Eurasian hubs, Iran and Pakistan.

After Tehran and Islamabad clinched a deal for joint border patrol on both sides of Balochistan, the next logical step would be closer BRI-related integration from Southwest Asia to South Asia.

Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan was a key participant in the forum, explaining the expansion that will transform Gwadar from a tiny fishing village to a global port and CPEC terminal that will link the Pacific via the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Imran confirmed that Turkey had also been invited to be part of CPEC.

Many pieces are slowly falling into place across the immensely complex Eurasian integration chessboard. A key vector now depends on China being able to develop, refine and project soft power.

BRI, apart from its status of being the one and only 21st-century global development project, is also a global PR exercise. Compared to childish US geopolitical demonization, Beijings game is not that hard  just learn how to appropriately sell the ultimate geoeconomic paradigm shift to International Community 2.0.

Pepe Escobar is correspondent-at-large at Asia Times. His latest book is 2030. Follow him on Facebook.

This article was originally published by " Asia Times " -

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Peace and joy
The Obamas are staying busy. After announcing their surprising production deal with Netflix last spring, Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions released new details Tuesday (April 30) about its slate of programming with the streaming giant.

Specifically, they revealed that Higher Ground has seven projects coming down the pike for Netflix: four series, two documentaries and one feature film about abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

While the Obamas' programming shies from directly political angles, it no doubt touches on the issues they both raised while living at the White House. The Douglass documentary alone could be seen as the ultimate subtweet. (Remember when President Donald Trump famously implied Douglass was still alive during a Black History Month event in 2017?) But the other projects point directly to their passions.

The half-hour family series "Listen to Your Vegetables & Eat Your Parents" is aimed at preschoolers and in line with Michelle Obama's emphasis on healthy eating. The period drama series "Bloom," set in post-World War II New York, will explore issues of race, gender and class. The nonfiction series (read: reality show) "Fifth Risk" will chronicle the "unheralded work done by everyday heroes guiding our government and safeguarding our nation," according to Netflix.

On the set with TCM at the WWII Museum in New Orleans

"We love this slate because it spans so many different interests and experiences, yet it's all woven together with stories that are relevant to our daily lives," the former first lady said in the statement.

The former president added: "We created Higher Ground to harness the power of storytelling. Touching on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights, and much more, we believe each of these productions won't just entertain, but will educate, connect, and inspire us all."

Helena Andrews-Dyer wrote this story, (c) 2019 The Washington Post.
Louisiana legislators are considering whether chemical plants and other industrial facilities should be allowed to conduct voluntary pollution audits that would remain secret and to grant legal immunity for certain violations discovered by the audits.

A bill authorizing the audits advanced out of the House Natural Resource and Environment Committee on Wednesday (May 1) by a vote of 13 to 3. It now goes to the full House for debate.

House Bill 510 was backed by the chemical and oil industries and mirrors similar legislation recently enacted by more than 20 other states, including Texas and Mississippi. The bill was opposed by environmental groups and legal scholars who called it a vaguely-crafted piece of legislation that affords protections for wrong-doing.

Louisiana House to debate revising Edwards industrial tax break changes

Public health and environmental decisions need no secrecy, said Oliver Houck, a Tulane University law professor. To the contrary, they are very much assisted by full disclosure. Houck noted that rules requiring public records of toxic releases have helped to curb pollution and inform communities about health and safety risks.

Louisiana has nearly 500 large facilities regulated under the Clean Air Act. Many of them are concentrated in the Mississippi River communities between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where cancer risk is considered high by federal regulators.

Republican Rep. Stuart Bishop of Lafayette proposed HB 510 and defended it as a tool for industry to promote better business. By granting facilities a measure of legal immunity, the bill would allow more open communication with the state Department of Environmental Quality, the agency that regulates the chemical and oil industries, Bishop said.

It would also improve and encourage the business climate in Louisiana, said Tyler Gray, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association.

The DEQ declined to publicly back or oppose the bill.

Environmental news in your inbox Stay up-to-date on the latest on Louisiana's coast and the environment. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

The bill would grant facilities limited immunity from civil and administrative penalties for violations identified in audits reported to DEQ.

Facility owners would not have to disclose and could prevent anyone else, including DEQ, from disclosing information contained in an audit. DEQ would be prevented from using audit information to penalize a facility in civil or administrative cases. Criminal activity would not be protected by an audit, nor would information obtained through a DEQ inspection, air monitoring equipment and other pollution-detection methods not operated by the facility.

Bill targeting Louisiana repeat air polluters fails in House committee

Allowing industries to police themselves on some low-level offenses would free up the DEQ to go after the worst polluters, Gray said.

If youre a good actor, you can have more privileges with the department, and the department can then allocate resources to (investigating) a bad actor, he said.

Last week, the Natural Resources committee blocked a bill that would have required air monitoring systems for facilities that repeatedly violate air pollution rules. Rep. Robert Billiot, D-Westwego, who voted in favor of the monitoring systems and against the voluntary audits measure, said the committee is ceding too much to an industry with a poor environmental and public health track record.

Were giving away our power to regulate these industries, Billiot said.

Tristan Baurick covers Louisiana's coastal environment for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: tbaurick@nola.com  Twitter: @tristanbaurick  Facebook: Tristan Baurick and Louisiana Coastal Watch.
A law that might allow Louisiana patients to inhale medical marijuana was approved by a committee on Wednesday (May 1) and will move to the House floor.

The bill (HB 358) authored by Baton Rouge Rep. Ted James was voted on without any objection and addresses two major changes in Louisianas medical marijuana law.

The law would allow patients to use a device similar to an asthma inhaler, which would allow for a measurable dosage of medical cannabis that can be delivered through inhalation. The raw flower form would not be available for sale. Currently GB Sciences Louisiana and Ilera Holistic Healthcare, the companies contracted to grow and produce medical marijuana products in Louisiana, are only allowed to develop tinctures and topical creams.

The Monroe News Star reported that the measure met support from doctors and veterans who said being able to inhale marijuana provides quicker relief than taking the liquid tincture form. The Louisiana Sheriffs Association came out against the bill, which ultimately heads to the House floor after facing no opposition from committee members.

James bill also removes a restriction that says only doctors who live in Louisiana can recommend medical marijuana in the state. An amendment would allow doctors who live out of state but have a therapeutic medical marijuana license in Louisiana to work with patients who qualify under the states program.

So far, only 108 physicians have applied with the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners for a therapeutic marijuana license.

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Louisiana are ready to open

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To qualify for legal medical marijuana use, patients have to have one of the following debilitating medical conditions: cancer, glaucoma, Parkinsons disease, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, cachexia or wasting syndrome, seizure disorders, epilepsy, spasticity, severe muscle spasms, intractable pain, Crohns disease, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, post traumatic stress disorder, and certain symptoms associated with severe autism disorder.

John Davis, the president of GB Sciences Louisiana, one of two of the companies licensed to grow medical marijuana, said his company is aiming for May 27 to have medical marijuana products available for sale. The company continues to work with LDAF (Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry) to move closer to a product release, he said.

He added that the date is still tentative pending on the both sides doing their part.

A spokesperson for the LDAF said that the agency will provide an update on Friday (May 3) at a stakeholder meeting on when products will be available.

Correction: This article has been update to clarify that this proposal only expands the current law so that patients can also purchase inhalers that would have measurable dosages of cannabis.
As a scientist at LSU, Dr. Catherine O'Neal knew the COVID-19 vaccines had undergone rigorous safety testing before they were made available for children. But when the time came to sign her own kids up for the jab, the mother of three experienced 
Sacha Baron Cohen, CBS and Showtime appear to be one step closer to keeping the $95 million that former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is seeking from them.

The comedian and the production networks just proved victorious in the first round of legal battles against Moore, who filed a lawsuit in September claiming that an episode of Cohen's satirical expose series "Who Is America?" incorrectly portrayed him as a pedophile.

D.C. District Judge Thomas Hogan on Monday (April 29) upheld the validity of a consent agreement between the parties and ruled that a defamation case brought by Moore should be transferred to New York, a stipulation the defendants argued that Moore agreed to in the signed contract.

In the months before filming, Moore, now 72, faced accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior toward several women when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. He is seeking financial compensation from the TV entities, citing intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud.

Watch Sacha Baron Cohen dupe Roy Moore on 'Who Is America?'

The former politician argued that the agreement between the parties should be void because the premise of the show was misrepresented, according to the Hollywood Reporter, but the federal judge's decision to uphold the contract could hint at how the case could be handled in future proceedings.

Moore's lawyer, Larry Klayman, told the Hill that he intends to appeal the case's transfer. His statement said, in part, that "no matter where the case is ultimately heard, we are confident that Sacha Baron Cohen, Showtime and CBS will be held legally accountable by a jury for their low class, disgusting and malicious defamatory acts to harm a good man and his family."

Sarah Polus wrote this story, (c) 2019 The Washington Post.
This summer, the University of Iowa is partnering with 14 Iowa state parks to host Wildlife Camps for kids across the state.

Wildlife Camps have been a popular educational and recreational experience in the Iowa City area for more than 25 years and we are excited to share this program with kids across the state, said Jay Gorsh, program coordinator. Campers will spend a week exploring, learning and playing  in the wild.

The University of Iowa hosted Wildlife Camps in nine state parks last summer. The camps have been so successful, the university is expanding to 14 state parks in 2019.

Wildlife Camps are day camps for students entering third through sevenths grade and offer fun, exploratory activities focusing on the wildlife, natural habitats and unique features of each state park. Dates and locations of each camp are as follows:

 Lake Macbride (Solon)  June 10-14

 Mines of Spain (Dubuque)  June 10-14

 George Wyth (Waterloo)  June 17-21

 Springbrook (Guthrie Center)  June 17-21

 Volga River (Fayette)  June 17-21

 Lake Darling (Brighton)  June 24-28

 Maquoketa Caves (Maquoketa)  June 24-28

 Stone (Sioux City)  June 24-28

 Ledges (Madrid)  July 8-12

 Walnut Woods (West Des Moines)  July 8-12

 Big Creek (Polk City)  July 15-19

 Waubonsie (Hamburg)  July 15-19

 Prairie Rose (Harlan)  July 22-26

 Lake Manawa (Council Bluffs)  July 22-26

Registration is open and enrollment will be limited to 40 students per camp. Cost ranges from $100-$150 per week depending on the park. To register and learn more about individual camp activities go online to: recserv.uiowa.edu/WildlifeCampsStateParks.
The following editorial was published in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald on April 26:

If Iowans take issue with the performance of the state attorney general, there is a ready-made solution to address the problem: They can vote him out.

Thats the appropriate response when citizens are displeased with actions taken by an elected official. Changing the powers and duties of the office for political reasons would not be an appropriate response. Yet that is exactly what the Iowa Legislature is attempting to do.

On Tuesday, the Iowa House voted, 54-45, to strip Attorney General Tom Miller of his powers. Tucked into a budget bill was a provision that would effectively require Miller, a Democrat, to ask permission before joining out-of-state lawsuits.

Though a majority of Republicans supported the measure, Rep. Gary Worthan, of Storm Lake, was the only one to speak in favor of the change, noting: We have an attorney general who may have overstepped somewhat on some actions.

Fairly tepid criticism from a single lawmaker for such a sweeping change.

Joining in lawsuits when the citizens of the state have a stake in the outcome is some of the meat and potatoes of the attorney generals office. Iowa has joined consumer protection lawsuits  such as suing Big Tobacco  that have brought billions of dollars into the state.

The lawsuits that prompted this legislation though, are the suits against the Trump administration. Thats where the somewhat of an overstep may have occurred.

Why did Iowas attorney general feel the need to bring the state into those lawsuits? Because it was in the best interest of Iowans. One suit was challenging the repeal of net neutrality, which could have a devastating impact on internet access in rural areas  which is bad for Iowa.

Another was a lawsuit brought against the Department of Education for reversing a program to erase federal student loan debt for students defrauded by for-profit colleges  which was bad for young Iowans.

One more lawsuit was joining multiple other states in upholding the part of the Affordable Care Act that protects people with pre-existing conditions  also pretty important to Iowans.

Yet House Republicans suggest the Legislature would be better equipped to make decisions on when to join in a multi-state lawsuit.

Heres the thing about a citizen legislature: They are, for the most part, not lawyers. The State of Iowa has long been proud to have a mixture of farmers and teachers and doctors and business owners  people from all walks of life  serving in the Legislature. Therefore, citizen legislatures rely on the expertise of the state attorney generals office when it comes to matters of law. Legislators have their role to fill, but they should not expect to weigh in on matters of law when they are not qualified to make those decisions.

Miller, on the other hand, could not be more qualified. A Dubuque native, Miller was first elected Iowas attorney general when Jimmy Carter was president, and hes been reelected 10 times. Hes the longest serving attorney general in the country. Just last November, Republicans didnt even bother to put up a candidate to run against him.

Instead, Republican lawmakers have opted to eviscerate the office of the attorney general to render Miller ineffective. Were it to pass, Miller would become the only AG in the country faced with such limited power.

We understand how politics works, and that sometimes lawmakers might somewhat overstep in some cases, to borrow a phrase. But this slashing of the attorney generals authority is a complete power grab and must be halted. One doesnt have to be a lawyer to see this proposed law would be ill-conceived.
Watch for clearance

Today (April 24) another semi is stuck at the overpass just north of Loveland. Why cant the Iowa DOT have someone at Crescent and at I-29 Loveland, and stop these idiots who apparently cant read!

Martin Gillespie, Missouri Valley

On McKeans party switch

Regarding state Rep. Andy McKeans departure from the Republican Party, Id like to believe that he bailed out for noble reasons. Maybe Rep. McKean really has been experiencing buyers remorse because the no-longer Grand Old Party has invested all of its political capital in anti-democratic and autocratic Trumpism. He may well have experienced a genuinely come-to-your-patriotic-senses moment.

In which case, I sincerely commend his departure. Then, again, like any politician, he wants to get reelected. With the 2020 election approaching, McKean has to have been taking a reading of the publics increasingly hostile reaction to the ongoing depravity of the entire Trump administration and has found that the buy-in by Republicans to Trumpism has been a very stinky deal, especially for the prospects of Trumpites winning in 2020.

Representative McKean may well be hedging his bet that Democratic candidates at all levels of government in 2020 will sweep aside candidates from a party now so badly incapacitated by corruption and scandal that he has decided to get out of it while the getting out is still advantageous for his own reelection prospects. Whether for noble or for self-serving reasons, Rep. McKeans flight is an encouraging sign that others from his former party will follow suit.

Steven Pokorny

Urbandale

Democrats need to show up in Iowa

The Democrats strategy to win rural Iowa has to be showing up  everywhere  because Democrats are everywhere. From small towns like Neola, Holstein, and Jamaica to Churdan, Tabor, and Grant, Democrats actually do live outside the cities. Rural Iowa deserves a voice and our party needs to be there to listen and learn. If Democrats dont show up, whos gonna hear those rural voices? Thats why we must go where its tough, where the roads transition from asphalt to gravel to dirt, and where the local grocery store is a Caseys General Store 10 miles away.

The current administration has an if it aint broke  lets break it philosophy. Well, like a rancher, Democrats want to mend fences. Like a farmer, Democrats want to cultivate a brighter future by planting seeds of change in our common ground. Like a rural Iowan, Democrats want to work hard to build a strong foundation for the next generation of Americans. Lets discuss our plans that do just that.

A signature piece of every Democratic candidates policy portfolio should include a national infrastructure plan to invest in the construction of new roads, revitalized bridges, expanded rural broadband, and upgrades to utility networks, electrical grids, and power generation facilities. Now for healthcare. The prices for a doctors visit, a hospital stay, and for prescription drugs are exorbitant. We need universal healthcare and a significant investment in telehealth programs, community health centers, and rural mental health facilities. Now climate change. Democrats support reducing emissions, re-joining the Paris Climate Agreement, investing in clean energy projects, and researching negative emissions technologies. On agriculture, well need to redesign anti-trust legislation to address the concentration of power in agribusiness industries, invest in conservation programs, and expand bio-based manufacturing. We should also create a top-notch educational system that extends from Pre-K through a path to affordable college.

To do all of this, well need to work together, incorporating a strategy to end Citizens United and get dark money out of our politics. Donald Trump says he knows words and has the best words. Well, Democrats know words too. One of those words is compromise and another is bipartisanship. At the end of the day, America works best when we work together and thats what the future of the Democratic Party should be all about  progressive ideas and getting things done for the Midwest ... for Iowa ... for America.

Gregory Christensen, Omaha

Lawmakers going back on IPERS promises

During the 2018 campaign, local legislative candidates and gubernatorial candidate Kim Reynolds pledged to not touch IPERS (Iowa Public Employee Retirement System). Candidates implied that there was fear-mongering taking place related to IPERS. Unfortunately, actions taken by the Iowa House during the early morning hours of April 25th as it passed Senate File 634 did little to de-escalate concerns of public employees. Trust of the legislative process was first damaged by the gutting of the collective bargaining bill in 2017, and actions related to Senate File 634 did not help heal the wounds.

Perhaps in the days ahead it will become clear that Senate File 634 did little or nothing to impact the viability of the Iowa Public Employee Retirement System. Perhaps Senate File 634 mitigated the potential for damage to IPERS that had been proposed in previous bills during the legislative session. Perhaps in the days ahead, it will be revealed that the legislators had not studied the content of the bill and they trusted someones interpretation of the intent of the bill.

During the 2016 campaign and after election promises was made by elected officials that they would not touch collective bargaining. The promises were broken less than six weeks into the session. During the 2018 campaign promises were made to not touch IPERS.

The weeks ahead will disclose whether or not promises were broken again regarding IPERS causing a further betrayal of trust. If the trust of public employees has been betrayed a second time, there should be no question about the implications for the 2020 election cycle. Im hopeful that we will not experience another promise made and broken by the representatives elected to advocate for Iowa constituents and not for a larger national agenda funded by entities that are not Iowa employees and tax payers.

We all must remember that if a choice is to be made over trusting words or actions, actions must be trusted beyond the spoken word. Watch and trust the actions of a person, not what they say. Actions reveal intention.

Pat Shipley, Nodaway
Preservation in Action

State and Local Preservation

The HPF grants fund preservation programs at state offices and ensure support of local preservation with a required 10% pass through to Certified Local Governments via competitive subgrants. Examples of the diversity of work accomplished with this annual funding include:

In Maryland, Anne Arundel County recently completed construction of a new boat access facility at the historic Fort Smallwood Park, using U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds. Section 106 consultation among these federal, state and local government partners enabled the County to complete stabilization, mothballing, and design for reuse of the Parks historic 1932-concession stand that had been vacant for years and badly damaged by Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

In Kentucky, the City of Horse Cave (a Certified Local Government since 2003) developed presentations for fourth graders about the communitys history and how historic preservation helps to retain the towns identity. The education curriculum introduced students to the relationship between the natural and built environment, typical local architectural features, and balancing community needs with historic resources.

In December 2017, Tribal Historic Preservation Offices who work with the State Historic Preservation Office convened a summit at Graton Rancheria in Santa Rosa, California, to discuss responses to and recovery from disasters. Federal and state agencies were invited to make presentations and the summit ended with a session on registering properties for listing in the National Register as a means to identify them and make them potentially eligible for pre- and post-disaster federal funding.

Tribal Preservation

The HPF grants fund tribal preservation programs, assists Tribes in the preservation of their cultural heritage, and promotes the protection of historically significant sites. Examples of the diversity of work accomplished with this annual funding include:

The Wiyot Tribe worked with the California Highway Patrol provided outreach and education about Wiyot history and heritage in order to improve intercultural communication, sensitivity, and etiquette to officers.

Also in California, Elk Valley Rancheria organizes an Annual Cultural Day event attended by tribal members and their families. Demonstrations include basket weaving, sand bread preparation, and a traditional salmon bank. The THPO also assisted Redwood National Park in training seasonal employees by educating them about Tolowa culture.

For more information about the National Park Service historic preservation programs and grants, please visit nps.gov/stlpg/.
LINCOLN  Fourth graders from throughout Nebraska regularly visit the State Capitol, have lunch and learn about agriculture on the same day. Students from Washington Elementary School in North Platte participated in the program last week, and fourth graders from McDonald School participated last September.

The ninth year of the Nebraska Ag Sack Lunch program has been the biggest one yet, according to a press release from Karen Brokaw, marketing director for the program. By the end of May, nearly 5,250 fourth grade students from 108 schools will have participated.

The program provides free sack lunches to the students. While the students eat, they learn about agriculture in Nebraska from Ag Ambassadors, students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The Ag Ambassadors tell students that one in four jobs in Nebraska, besides farming and ranching, is connected to agriculture. They include equipment manufacturing and sales, building construction, transportation and supermarket retailing. The ambassadors explain that the state ranks first in the country for cattle on feed and sixth in pork production, and that over one-third of Nebraska-produced grain is fed to livestock within the state.
Alcohol Inspections conducted in Lincoln County

No Lincoln County businesses sold alcohol to a minor during inspections Friday evening by the Nebraska State Patrol.

In total, 15 businesses were inspected, according to a press release from the patrol. All of the businesses checked the minors ID. The businesses included liquor stores, convenience stores, restaurants and bars in North Platte, Hershey and Sutherland.

This project was supported in whole or part by grant #93.959 under the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Region II Human Services, and the Nebraska DHHS Division of Behavioral Health.

While conducting the inspections, investigators saw a vehicle with open alcohol containers inside, resulting in an arrest for driving under the influence and another citation for minor in possession.

16% of Nebraska corn crop planted

The return of wet, snowy weather may be keeping crop planting equipment in the yard for now. However, an estimated 16% of the Nebraska corn crop had been planted as of Sunday.
SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, will meet Monday for its Workers Summit at the Ramada Inn and Suites, 2102 S. Jeffers St.

The organization is one of North Americas most dynamic and diverse unions with 216,000 members, according to its website.

The history of the group began with the merger of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association and the United Transportation Union in 2008.

The summit is open to all union members and their spouses.

Terry Sigler of North Platte, a retired legislative representative of SMART TD Local 286 in North Platte, remains active in union matters, especially when it comes to safety. Among topics discussed at the inaugural meeting in April 2018 were the states two-person-crew bills and OSHA funding.

The purpose of the Workers Summit is to unite all the unions to better inform the membership of the issues that are important for their safety and welfare, Sigler said.

Jim Doc Moore, a retired associate professor of labor history at Cornell Universitys School for Industrial and Labor Relations, will moderate the meetings at 1 and 5 p.m.

Among scheduled presenters at the summit are Sue Martin, president of the Nebraska AFL-CIO; John Kretzschmar, director of the William Brennan Institute for Labor Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha; and SMART TD Nebraska State Legislative Director Bob Borgeson.
Voices

'Going out of my comfort zone to join more events and clubs was a challenge, but rewarding'
Carl Smith was arrested in September on two robbery charges alleging he struggled with a cashier at the Schererville Walmart and took $600 in mostly counterfeit bills from a manager.

A cashier refused to return the bills to a woman who attempted to conduct a wire transfer with them Sept. 20. The woman left, and Smith entered the store and made a second demand for the bills before struggling with employees, records say.

Smith was released from the Lake County Jail in October, after his bond was reduced to $40,000 surety or $4,000 cash. Under the conditions of his pretrial release, he was to wear and properly charge an ankle monitor while confined to his home in Country Club Hills.

ICU Monitoring filed an escape report with sheriff's police April 26 after discovering Smith had failed to recharge his monitor.

An ICU employee told sheriff's police the company had spoken with Smith's mother and aunt, who said they would try to contact him. Smith's mother subsequently called ICU to report her son had been arrested in Scottsboro, Alabama, late April 24, courts say.
HEBRON  Jeff Brooks thought he was headed to his school's gym to look at logos and discuss a marketing plan.

Instead, when he flipped on the lights recently, he was greeted with cheers from the entire Hebron Middle School student body, teachers and staff.

Brooks, the school's principal, was lauded during a brief convocation in recognition of being named the Indiana Association of School Principals Principal of the Year for District 1, which encompasses Northwest Indiana.

"I appreciate being here every day," Brooks told the crowd. "I really don't know what to say."

Brooks grew up in Hebron, graduating from the town's high school in 1991. He started teaching in Hebron, filling in for a teacher on maternity leave, then moved on, teaching or being an administrator in Hobart, Lake Central and Hanover districts. Six years ago he came back to Hebron.

"He is a role model for leadership," Nathan Kleefisch, superintendent of the MSD of Boone Township, said. "Any superintendent would be proud and lucky to have a principal like Mr. Brooks."

Kleefisch called Brooks "humble and trustworthy."
LOWELL  Michael Mears and Brandon Newcomb face off in the Republican primary for a chance to go up against 1st Ward Councilman Michael Gruszka, a Democrat, in November.

Mears, 38, is a former Lynwood, Illinois police chief and fire chief. He said he and his wife, Steffany, a Tri-Creek Schools librarian, chose Lowell as the town in which they want to raise their children. He has a vested interest, he said, in building upon the quality of life that drew them to Lowell.

"We want to raise well-rounded children in a well-rounded community," he said.

To do that, Mears said he wants to contribute his considerable leadership and management skills.

Mears is now the vice present of National Industrial Maintenance in East Chicago and is also president and owner of NWI Tattoo Removal & Aesthetics in Crown Point.

"I see areas where I can be of assistance," Mears said pointing to the historic downtown district as an example. He'd like to draw more businesses there and encourage building owners to take advantage of available grants to improve facades.
GARY  More than 800 degrees will be conferred in Indiana University Northwest's 53rd Annual Commencement at 4 p.m. May 9 at the Genesis Convention Center.

Doors open for the two-hour ceremony at 2 p.m. IUN is asking that guests be seated by 3:45 p.m. Tickets are not required to attend the commencement. Limited handicap accessible seating will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Free parking will be available off of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Carolina streets, as well as in the Centier Bank Garage.

Handicap accessible parking will be available in the Genesis Center Parking Garage and in the Fifth Avenue lot across the street for the Genesis Convention Center.

An IUN RedHawk Shuttle will also transport commencement guests to and from the Genesis Convention Center from the RailCats parking lot on Virginia Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.

The university will award 51 associate degrees, 670 bachelor's degrees and 109 master's degrees in the Class of 2019, according to an IUN news release, with the most popular bachelor's degree awarded being in psychology, followed by general studies.

The oldest student graduating from IUN this May is 68 years old, and the youngest is 20, with 40% of the Class of 2019 being first-generation college students.

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On April 23, a Lake County detective contacted Smith regarding the need to interview ICU employees in the course of the investigation and an appointment was scheduled for April 25 between the detective and company president. During the conversation, Martinez said Smith voiced no concerns about detectives speaking with ICU employees.

On April 24, Sanders arrived at the ICU office in Merrillville to interview employees. The detective was told that Smith allegedly instructed employees to not speak with him about the company or the incident with Johnson unless Smith and his attorney are present, Martinez said.

Later that day, Smith allegedly told a county commander that he and ICU employees would not be cooperating with the internal investigation, the letter said. The next day, Smith did not appear to the previously planned appointment with the county detective.

Smith referred calls for comment to his attorney. Smith previously confirmed he refused to speak with sheriff's officials about the Johnson case.

"I suggested that putting me in the interrogation room is not the proper format," he said previously. "There needs to be a conversation with me, the commissioners, the judges and the sheriff. That's the proper format.
From the Voices section of the Iowa State Daily, international students reflect on their 2018-2019 school year at Iowa State. Whether outgoing senior or upcoming seniors, the students talk about their highs including experimenting in their passions, to lows about concerns with finding jobs in the United States and finding friends.
ST. JOHN  A 18-year-old man was robbed of a gaming system Tuesday after making arrangements on social media to meet a purported buyer, police said.

St. John police were dispatched about 9:20 a.m. to the Midwest Ice Arena at 10600 White Oak Avenue, where they spoke with the 18-year-old, Police Chief James Kveton said.

The man told police he communicated with an individual on SnapChat and planned to meet in the parking lot of the arena to sell a gaming system.

The man arrived and met four black male subjects. He produced the gaming system and then the four took it from him during a struggle and left in a white SUV with Illinois license plates, police said.

Kveton encouraged residents to always use designated safe areas to make in-person transactions arranged online.

"Many police departments have locations designated for online transactions in their parking lots that are under 24 hours video surveillance," Kveton said. "Also, when you are meeting with a stranger, don't go alone, always bring someone with you."
HEBRON  Clerk-Treasurer Alan Kirkpatrick faces a primary challenge from fellow Democrat and former Clerk-Treasurer Jamie Uzelac.

Kirkpatrick, who is an architect born in 1961, said he was appointed to the seat in May 2017.

He is a member of Indiana League of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers.

Uzelac, who is 60, said she currently works for Porter County government.

She had served as Hebron's clerk-treasurer from 2004 to 2007. She said she also worked two years in the clerk's office and 10 years as the secretary in the town's public works department.

"My top goal is to get the finances in order and to straighten out the budget line items so departments know what they have and the Town knows where they stand with the budget," Uzelac said.

"If elected, my goal is to bring fiscal responsibility back to the Clerk's office," she said.

Kirkpatrick said his top goals include assisting the next administration "in making sound decisions for the future."

He also intends to continue upgrading town government technology, communications, programs, systems, and controls.
They want to be able to live, shop, eat here in St. John. When we spoke with the Kmart developer, he sees what is going to happen with Shops 96. He sees the vision and is on board with moving in that direction. If that is accomplished, that will be huge, she said.

Voters can learn more about Hejls campaign at stjohnrepublicanprofessionals.com.

Dawn Pelc

As the executive director of the Porter County Substance Abuse Council, Pelc is responsible for developing and managing a cohesive plan of action that gives the county a unified direction to move forward. She plans to do the same for St. John as a member of the Town Council.

I am trying to offer my experience, education and skills that I have from what I do working with the coalition to lead the Town Council with integrity and transparency and try to recreate the mechanisms that we had, Pelc said. "We have had two decades of personal agendas, and I feel now it is time to step up or step off. I want to do well for the community as a whole."
The weather caused a tree to fall in the 5400 block of Chase Street in Merrillville, knocking out power to about 12,000 NIPSCO customers in that area for about 2 hours Wednesday morning, spokeswoman Megan Henning said. Another outage affected about 220 customers in the LaPorte area.

By 8 p.m. Wednesday, only 13 customers in Northwest Indiana remained without power, according to NIPSCO.

The Little Calumet River at Munster and Thorn Creek at Thornton in Illinois, along with the Kankakee River at Shelby and other areas to the east, were under a flood warning, the weather service said.

Hammond was faring pretty well, City Engineer Dean Button said.

The only road closure was 177th Avenue west of Calumet Avenue due to water over the roadway. There was also standing water on 129th Street, west of Calumet, but the road was not closed.

There was some standing water in some areas of the city, but nothing like the last big rain in February 2018, Button said.

"The Little Calumet is up pretty far, but it looks like it has crested, Button said.
The Munster Police Department is looking for volunteers to form a different kind of K-9 patrol to fight crime in the town.

Called the Dog Walker Watch Program, it is designed after a national program run by the National Association of Town Watch, which sponsors the National Night Out Against Crime and other Neighborhood Watch activities. The idea is to have as many eyes and ears in the neighborhoods as possible to spot and report suspicious activities.

They encourage municipalities to start their own chapters, and we decided to put one together this year to build on our successful crime watch program and make it more beneficial to residents, said Munster Officer James Ghrist, the departments school resource officer and D.A.R.E. instructor. We are always trying to come up with new ideas.

The dogs role is simply to walk and do what dogs do while they're out. What the police department wants is for the person walking with the dog to be on the lookout for anything suspicious and notify it. The program kicks off with an orientation meeting at 6 p.m. May 1 at the town hall, 1005 Ridge Rd., for any interested dog walker.
Opponents like Prince argued it could be remedied by the city giving away derelict properties it holds to new homeowners. The mayor said such a program already is in place.

To the question of why Gary is a retail business desert, Tarver said city residents are too poor to afford splurging on consumer products. He said the city needs to create jobs and get rid of the bureaucratic red tape that only benefits career politicians and their buddy system.

While the incumbent mayor took the brunt of the criticism, Sparks-Wade, who has served on the City Council since 2015, also tossed barbs at fellow challenger Prince.

She chided him for not attending recent City Council meetings when many of these issues have been discussed and blamed him for a local income tax that she said supports improvements to the South Shore commuter train network, which Sparks-Wade said wasnt a benefit to the city.

Prince, who has 19 years in public service, as a city councilman and a county councilman representing Gary prior to being county assessor, called her attack nonsense.
"Our judges across the state are heartbroken to learn of this violent act against our colleagues," she said. "We send our prayers for a speedy recovery for both Judge Jacobs and Judge Adams and our love and support to their families and the Clark County community."

Clark County Circuit Court Judge Vicki Carmichael "is shocked to learn of the overnight violence involving her fellow judges," according to Dolan.

"Judge Carmichael has been assured that there is no reason to believe the judicial officers were targeted because of their positions with the Judicial Branch," Dolan said in a statement. "This appears to be a random act of violence."

Carmichael spoke with fellow judges who were with Adams and Jacobs "and she been advised certain reports circulating about the event are inaccurate," Dolan said.

Clark County courts are closed Wednesday, but will reopen Thursday.
Columnist Olivia Rasmussen believes it is more important than ever to raise awareness of what violence and discrimination the transgender community endures. Rasmussen notes that while there is still a lot of hatred, improvements in education and compassion are important factors in becoming an ally.
SAN FRANCISCO  Googles parent company, Alphabet, said Tuesday that Eric Schmidt, its former chief executive, planned to relinquish his position on the board of directors in June.

His departure will end an era for the internet giant, in a shake-up of one of the coziest and most stable corporate boards in Silicon Valley. Another member, Diane Greene, who gained her seat in 2012 and had been running Googles cloud computing business until this year, will also not seek re-election.

Mr. Schmidt, who was Googles chief executive for a decade until 2011 and then its executive chairman for seven years, oversaw the meteoric rise of Google from a useful search engine into an internet powerhouse.

He was brought into the company in 2001 to provide oversight for its young founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He helped take Google public and oversaw major acquisitions like YouTube and DoubleClick, which cemented Google as an industry giant.
I feel very fortunate, especially after watching so many people pass being on dialysis, she said. Im seeing a lot of people die and Im like, Its taking so long, it might not happen for me either.

Dialysis can be taxing on the body and does not cure kidney disease. Life expectancy for patients on dialysis varies greatly, but the average is five to 10 years, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Kidney transplants can improve life expectancy and quality of life, but many people who get one eventually need another.

The United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the American transplant system, says that although the need for organs still far exceeds supply, donations are at historic highs. From January to March of this year, 9,500 transplants were performed, from 4,500 donors.

But there are still about 75,000 people who are cleared to have surgery and are waiting for organ donations. Including those not currently eligible for surgery, more than 113,000 people are waiting for organs.

The shortage of organs has lethal consequences. In 2017, the agency said, more than 6,500 candidates died while on the wait list, or within 30 days of leaving the list for personal or medical reasons without receiving a transplant. That makes the notion of an organ becoming less healthy during transit all the more galling, Dr. Scalea said.

The drone used in this months test had backup propellers and motors, dual batteries and a parachute recovery system, to guard against catastrophe if one component encountered a problem 400 feet in the air. Two pilots on the ground monitored it using a wireless network, and were prepared to override the automated flight plan in case of emergency. The drone also had built-in devices to measure temperature, barometric pressure and vibrations, among other indicators.

Dr. Scalea called the flight proof of concept that this broken system can be innovated.

He added that current organ transport is data-blind, meaning doctors often cannot see an organs progress in transit. The drone allows timely updates on its progress, the way you might track an approaching taxi on your phone.
Federal health regulators announced on Tuesday that they would require manufacturers of sleeping pills such as Ambien and related drugs to post strongly worded warnings in boxes on labels and patient guides. The Food and Drug Administration, in what it called a safety announcement, noted that the drugs side effects included risky behaviors, such as sleepwalking and sleep driving, that can lead to injury and even death.

The F.D.A. singled out Ambien and two other popular sleep aids, Lunesta and Sonata, as well as three formulations of zolpidem, the generic name for Ambien. The boxed warnings  the most prominent form of warning required by the agency  must list side effects such as sleepwalking and sleep driving, in which people using the drugs take risks without being fully awake.

The agency said such reactions were rare but could lead to injuries or death; it advised doctors not to prescribe the drugs to people who have had such side effects in the past.

Patients, stop taking your insomnia medicine and contact your health care professional right away if you experience a complex sleep behavior where you engage in activities while you are not fully awake, the agencys safety alert said, or if you do not remember activities you have done while taking the medicine.
A founder of the Sundance Film Festival is expected to go to prison for at least six years after he pleaded guilty in a Utah courtroom on Tuesday to molesting a young girl. The case came to light after he was recorded apologizing to a man he admitted having groped more than 25 years ago.

Sterling Van Wagenen, a director who helped establish what became the countrys most prestigious annual film exhibition, pleaded guilty in Utah County to one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. His lawyer, Steven Shapiro, said Mr. Van Wagenen planned to plead guilty to an additional count, involving the same girl, in neighboring Salt Lake County on Thursday. As part of a deal with prosecutors, Mr. Shapiro said he is expected to receive two sentences of six years-to-life in prison that he will serve concurrently.

Mr. Van Wagenen, 71, was charged with molesting the girl on two occasions between 2013 and 2015, when she was between 7 and 9 years old. But this was not the first allegation against him.

Sean Escobar, who as a boy was friends with two of Mr. Van Wagenens sons, said that Mr. Van Wagenen had touched his genitals during a sleepover at the directors house in the early 1990s.
Our country is made up of people from all different countries, Ms. Hemp said. I dont know what the answer is to the bigger problems, but this is something I can do on a local level to make a difference.

Eastside Baptist Church, located in Union Springs, an old cotton town around 45 miles southeast of Montgomery, began reaching out to the towns immigrant community eight years ago, providing tutoring, mentoring and other assistance . Gene Bridgman, the pastor, told me that it all started when a woman in the congregation brought by 10 children whose families came from southern Mexico, part of a large influx of agricultural workers. She was already doing what she could to help them  and soon the rest of the church was, too.

What gives me hope is that this openness isnt just on the individual or congregational level; it is spreading across communities, as their faith overtakes their fear.

Earl Hinson, a former mayor of Union Springs and a member at Eastside, said that while the arrival of so many immigrants had taken some adjustment, the towns residents have come to accept them. Once people get to know them, their hearts change, he said. The perception that people have against them mostly comes from the news .

Bruce Smithhart, a retired prison guard and veteran, said: The Union Springs economy depends on immigrants. Immigrants are why Union Springs is as good as it is. Everyone I talked to from the church agreed.

Brad Williams, pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church in Albertville, northeast of Birmingham, says that the towns Latino immigrant population has gone from practically zero in the 1990s to nearly 40 percent today. At first, he said, residents reacted negatively, but the animosity has dissipated.

Were working it out, he said. What we do in our churches is to teach that Christ loves the sojourner. He loves the immigrant in our midst. We try to help them live here in peace as best they can. My hope for Albertville and my hope for other towns like ours is that we just learn that we are people made in the image of God and therefore have great value, eternal value.
This is also a period of rising criticism of Israel, much of it directed at the rightward drift of its own government and some of it even questioning Israels very foundation as a Jewish state. We have been and remain stalwart supporters of Israel, and believe that good-faith criticism should work to strengthen it over the long term by helping it stay true to its democratic values. But anti-Zionism can clearly serve as a cover for anti-Semitism  and some criticism of Israel, as the cartoon demonstrated, is couched openly in anti-Semitic terms.

The responsibility for acts of hatred rests on the shoulders of the proponents and perpetrators. But history teaches that the rise of extremism requires the acquiescence of broader society.

As anti-Semitism has surged from the internet into the streets, President Trump has done too little to rouse the national conscience against it. Though he condemned the cartoon in The Times, he has failed to speak out against anti-Semitic groups like the white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville , Va., in 2017 chanting, Jews will not replace us. He has practiced a politics of intolerance for diversity, and attacks on some minority groups threaten the safety of every minority group. The gunman who attacked the synagogue in San Diego claimed responsibility for setting a fire at a nearby mosque, and wrote that he was inspired by the deadly attack on mosques in New Zealand last month .

A particularly frightening, and also historically resonant, aspect of the rise of anti-Semitism in recent years is that it has come from both the right and left sides of the political spectrum. Both right-wing and left-wing politicians have traded in incendiary tropes, like the ideas that Jews secretly control the financial system or politicians.

The recent attacks on Jews in the United States have been carried out by men who identify as white supremacists, including the killing of 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue last year. But the A.D.L. reports that most anti-Semitic assaults, and incidents of harassment and the vandalism of Jewish community buildings and cemeteries, are not carried out by the members of extremist groups. Instead, the perpetrators are hate-filled individuals.
Passover has always been frightening. The very first Passover took place during the night of vigil before the Israelites fled Egypt when, we are taught, the Angel of Death struck down firstborn Egyptians and passed over the Israelites homes. Since then, Passover has always been a vigil: For centuries, it has also been a time of anti-Semitic attacks, from medieval blood libels to modern pogroms to the massacre of 30 people at a Passover Seder in Israel in 2002.

Yet there is something even scarier about Passover than the sheer vulnerability of people gathered at prayer. The Bibles famous call for freedom is Let my people go. But in the Bible, these words are nearly always followed by another phrase: so they may serve me. The only purpose of this freedom is to enable the people to voluntarily accept divine laws  laws about welcoming strangers, loving ones neighbors, and accepting responsibility for creating a civic society of mutual obligation. For a nation of former slaves, this was terrifying. Suddenly these people discovered that freedom requires hard work: building a community, supporting the vulnerable, respecting others, educating children.

Im enraged that I feel the need to apologize for this, but I do: Im so sorry to take up your time by writing  again  about a measly anti-Semitic attack where only one person was killed and "only one child now has a leg full of shrapnel. There are so few Jews in the world; even in the United States, we are barely 2 percent of the population, a minority among minorities. Who cares if my children have to grow up praying in a lockdown? Statistically speaking, nothing that happens to us should be of any consequence to you.

Except that it is.

Since ancient times, in every place they have ever lived, Jews have represented the frightening prospect of freedom. As long as Jews existed in any society, there was evidence that it in fact wasnt necessary to believe what everyone else believed, that those who disagreed with their neighbors could survive and even flourish against all odds. The Jews continued distinctiveness, despite overwhelming pressure to become like everyone else, demonstrated their enormous effort to cultivate that freedom: devotion to law and story, deep literacy, and an absolute obsessiveness about transmitting those values between generations. The existence of Jews in any society is a reminder that freedom is possible, but only with responsibility  and that freedom without responsibility is no freedom at all.

People who hate us know this. You dont need to read the latest screed by a hater to know that unhinged killers feel entitled to freedom without any obligations to others. The insane conspiracy theories that motivate people who commit anti-Semitic violence reflect a fear of real freedom: a fondness for tyrants, an aversion to ideas unlike their own and most of all, a casting-off of responsibility for complicated problems. None of this is a coincidence. Societies that accept Jews have flourished. Societies that reject us have withered, fading into historys night.
Now we are at another hugely plastic moment  a moment when the world is experiencing four climate changes at once: Theres a change in the climate of the climate  the hots are getting hotter, the wets wetter, the droughts drier, the forest fires fiercer. Theres been a change in the climate of globalization  we are going from an interconnected world to an interdependent one. Theres been a change in the climate of work  machines can think, reason and manipulate as fast, and increasingly better, than human beings.

And theres been a change in the climate of communications. Smartphones connected to the cloud are super-empowering good people to be reporters, photographers, filmmakers, innovators and entrepreneurs  with a global reach  and theyre super-empowering bad guys to be cybercriminals and breakers with a global reach.

These four climate changes are creating a whole new set of governing challenges. They are not the obvious challenges of communism and economic dislocation  as occurred after World War II  when building a NATO, a Marshall Plan and an E.U. were the obvious antidotes. And it is not the obvious challenge and opportunity of spreading democracy and free markets into the vacuum created by the end of communism in 1989. Its the less obvious challenge of stemming the erosion of the pillars of democracy and order built in the previous two eras  but without a single big, obvious bogeyman or falling wall to galvanize us.

Im talking about disorder that comes from nation states fracturing under the pressure of these climate changes and spilling out masses of refugees, triggering populist, nationalist backlashes all across the West. Im talking about disorder spread by a Russia that wants to keep the West in turmoil.
All of which lays the foundation for progress on a sorely neglected issue. But only if Mr. Trump gets serious enough to buck members of his own party in both Congress and the White House  many of whom favor the Republican tradition of paying lip service to the need for public works projects while refusing to pay for them.

As part of branding himself an economic populist, Mr. Trump campaigned in 2016 with a vow to spend $1 trillion to make Americas roads, airports and transit systems the envy of the world. He blew into office with grand visions of launching development projects across the nation. They say Eisenhower was the greatest infrastructure president. They named the highway system after him, he told one of his billionaire real estate friends during a meeting in early 2017, according to Axios. But were going to do double, triple, quadruple, what Eisenhower did.

In March of last year, in a speech promoting his administrations new $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, Mr. Trump boasted that building was in his blood.  Thats what I do, he declared. I build. I was always very good at building. It was always my best thing. I think better than being president, I was maybe good at building.

But, thus far, Mr. Trump has proved very bad at building. Highways, bridges, pipelines, water systems, even beautiful steel border walls  all have turned out to be more complicated than he anticipated. Infrastructure policy was repeatedly pushed to the side during his first year in office, turning the phrase Infrastructure Week into a sad joke. And his administrations 2018 plan fell flat. The $1.5 trillion package provided a paltry $200 billion in federal funding, relying heavily on public-private partnerships and state spending. No one in Congress was interested in championing it. Even the president publicly questioned its feasibility.

With Democrats now in charge of the House and the 2020 campaign well underway, Mr. Trump is looking to give it another try. But the odds for success remain long, and no one is looking to make this easy for him.
It was like there was a boogeyman out there, and he was snatching black children.

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, of Atlanta, recalling the fear in the citys black community four decades ago as 24 children, mostly African-American boys, were murdered in an unsolved killing spree.
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Columns are hyper-specific to opinion and are written by only columnists employed by the Iowa State Daily. Columnists are unique because they have a specific writing day and only publish on those writing days. Each column undergoes a thorough editing process ensuring the integrity of the writer, and their claim is maintained while remaining research-based and respectful. Columns may be submitted from community members. These are labelled as Guest Columns. These contain similar research-based content and need to be at least 400 words in length. The following requirements should be met: first and last name, email and relation or position to Iowa State. Emails must be tied to the submitted guest column or it will not be accepted or published. Pseudonyms are prohibited and the writer will be banned from submissions.

Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020
Joseph R. Biden Jr. said this week that he takes responsibility for the way Anita Hill was treated when she testified in the 1991 confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas, the latest attempt by Mr. Biden to quell Democratic resentment over his handling of the hearings and his refusal to directly apologize to Ms. Hill.

The remarks, which aired on ABCs Good Morning America on Tuesday, came just days after Mr. Biden opened his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.

As decades-old questions about his oversight of the hearings continue to swirl, fresh concerns have arisen about Mr. Bidens attempt to mitigate a political vulnerability by calling Ms. Hill shortly before his entrance into the race. His camp has said the former vice president sought to express his regret for what she endured, but in an interview with The New York Times last week, Ms. Hill said the call had left her feeling deeply unsatisfied.

Mr. Bidens comments on Tuesday were the latest in a recent series of incremental concessions, as he has seemed to move closer to unconditional contrition for the aggressive questioning Ms. Hill faced from an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee about claims that Justice Thomas had sexually harassed her.
A new national poll of Democratic primary voters helps illustrate why Mr. Sanders is so eager to pick a fight with Mr. Biden: The former vice president has gained ground since entering the race and enjoys the support of 39 percent of his partys voters while Mr. Sanders is in second place with 15 percent.

[Check out the Democratic field with our candidate tracker.]

There are other reasons that Mr. Sanders is trying to frame the race in one-on-one terms. The same poll showed that Mr. Biden, a mainstream progressive, also enjoys a wide lead right now with liberals, with 32 percent compared with Mr. Sanderss 19 percent. While the two men are seen by political insiders as hailing from starkly different wings of the party, here in Iowa, there is considerable overlap in their early bases of support.

A Des Moines Register-CNN survey last month of likely Iowa Democratic caucusgoers indicated that Mr. Biden had an overall advantage over Mr. Sanders within the margin of error, but more revealing is that their supporters named the other man as their preferred second choice.

Thats partly the result of their being the two best-known candidates at this early stage of the race. But the 2016 presidential primary, in both parties, demonstrated that assumptions about voters falling along expected ideological lines can be mistaken.

Longtime Iowa Democrats, however, note that there is another precedent that Mr. Sanders must be mindful of: The candidate who goes on the attack in the state is often not the one who reaps the benefit when the candidate being attacked drops in the polls.

Youve got to be careful because we dont like that, said Dave Nagle, a former Iowa Democratic chairman. He recalled how Richard A. Gephardts attacks on Howard Dean, the front-runner in the 2004 race, only helped John Kerry complete his stunning comeback. I dont think its helpful for the senator from Vermont to go after a combatant from the same army at this point, Mr. Nagle said, referring to Mr. Sanders.

As for Mr. Biden, the only Democrat he is eager to discuss at the moment is the one who made him vice president.
WASHINGTON  A federal district judge in Washington ruled on Tuesday that congressional Democrats could proceed with a lawsuit claiming that President Trump was violating the Constitution by continuing to profit from his businesses while president.

The decision by Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is at least a temporary victory for the presidents critics who assert that he is willfully flouting constitutional bans meant to restrict the ability of any federal official to accept financial benefits from foreign governments.

But the Justice Department is likely to quickly appeal the ruling on the so-called emoluments clauses. The departments lawyers have already appealed a similar decision by another federal judge in Maryland. A three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., is expected to rule on that appeal soon, probably in the presidents favor.

A second appeal of Tuesdays decision, this time to the less conservative Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, would place the same issue before two appellate panels. But the Justice Department has little choice but to appeal Judge Sullivans ruling because plaintiffs in that case will otherwise be able to begin gathering evidence about Mr. Trumps corporate finances.
WASHINGTON  President Trump on Tuesday accused Cuba of aiding the government of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, who the administration evidently hoped would be ousted by days end, warning that the United States would impose an embargo and additional sanctions on the country if Cuba did not end its support.

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba.

At the same time, the Trump administration reaffirmed its demand for the immediate installation of Juan Guaido, the opposition leader, as Mr. Maduros successor.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview with CNN that Mr. Maduro had planned to flee to Cuba on Tuesday morning, but was urged by the Russian government to stay. He was headed to Havana, Mr. Pompeo said, without elaborating on how the administration knew about Mr. Maduros destination or his communications with the Kremlin.
President Trump wants to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, an international Islamist movement, as a terrorist organization. The designation would impose sanctions on the group and those who do business with it.

Officials in the Pentagon and State Department have raised objections to the plan, saying that the Muslim Brotherhood does not meet the legal definition of a terrorist group and that its designation could have unintended consequences in allied countries where the Brotherhood fields prominent political parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood has frequently denounced terrorism and violence.

Heres a brief guide.

What is the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Muslim Brotherhood is a missionary movement founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, a schoolteacher working in the town of Ismailia, near the Suez Canal. He argued that an Islamic religious revival would enable the Muslim world to catch up to the West and shake off colonial rule.
She has a very refreshing movement vocabulary that isnt seen very often on the ballet stage, said Justin Peck, City Ballets resident choreographer and artistic adviser. One thing that really appealed to me about her is that she has a genuine curiosity toward working with ballet dancers and toward working with the point shoe.

In contemporary ballet, having a choreographer who wants to dig into the intricacies of point work is more rare than it sounds. Still, Ms. Tanowitz was rejected five times by the City Ballet-affiliated Choreographic Institute, which has led to commissions for many, including Mr. Peck and Alexei Ratmansky. She summed up her present situation: It really is a miracle.

When Jonathan Stafford, the artistic director of City Ballet, called to see if she could bump up her fall commission to the spring after another choreographer withdrew, she figured out a way to say yes. Her new Bartok Ballet, set to Bartoks String Quartet No. 5, is based on a sketch of a work she created in a workshop at American Ballet Theater two years ago. It will have its premiere at the spring gala on Thursday.

As choreographers go, she works fast. But she likes to experiment during the process. During one rehearsal with the City Ballet dancers, an assistant was anxious that she use her remaining time to run the ballet from beginning to end, but she wanted to tinker with a folk dance embedded in the ballet.

Lets just do a quick mazurka experiment: Dont worry about the counts, she told the dancers. Loosen it up  do it like youre remembering a mazurka from another time or from another dance.

Judging from the delight on her face it was worth it. When they dont count, that makes them look at each other, she said later. Im realizing that more and more is thats what I care about: people in a room.
MADRID  After a long legal battle, a federal court in California has ruled that a Spanish museum can keep an Impressionist painting, rejecting a claim by relatives of a German Jew who was forced to sell the painting before fleeing the Nazis.

The ruling, announced on Tuesday, is the latest in the longstanding ownership dispute over Rue Saint-Honore, Apres-midi, Effet de Pluie, an 1897 painting by Camille Pissarro.

The federal court held that ownership was governed by Spanish law, which allows buyers to retain works they purchased if they did not possess actual knowledge the works had been stolen, a position held by both the Madrid museum possessing the painting, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, and the prior owner.

But United States District Court Judge John Walter was critical of Spain, which owns the museum, noting that its position was inconsistent with an international agreement it had signed, the Washington Principles, that encourages governments to find just and fair solutions in cases where looted art is identified.
Its Frieze Week in New York, which means big-name dealers with top-notch art  and hefty entrance fees. But there are alternative displays opening across the city this week, with modestly priced works by established and emerging artists. (These fairs are easier on the pocket and a little less overwhelming for casual browsers, too.) Here is a guide to some of them.

Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center

The Abstract Expressionist Ad Reinhardt once quipped that sculpture is what you bump into when you back up to see a painting. He hadnt met tourists with cellphones in Rockefeller Center, though. The spring wave typically pauses for photos with Paul Manships gaudily golden Prometheus (1934). But this year the champion of humankind has plenty of competition: Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center, an offshoot of the Frieze New York art fair on Randalls Island, in partnership with Tishman Speyer, is offering 16 sculptures by 14 contemporary artists placed around the complex, ready for enshrinement on your smartphone.

At the complexs north end, Hank Willis Thomass two bright metal sculptures recreate talk bubbles in comic strips. (Visitors promptly adopted them as frames for photographing themselves.) Outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza , Paulo Nazareths tall cutout sculpture memorializes Tommie Smith raising his fist at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Its moving to see visitors posing in a similar gesture of solidarity.
There is joy in the political, added Charlie Porter, a journalist who is one of the judges, when asked if the selection was too serious.

The Turner Prize, founded in 1984, was once one of the art worlds most important awards, though lately it has lost some of its luster. Still, the prize gives a boost to the shortlisted artists careers. Past winners have included Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry and Steve McQueen, the director of the movies Widows and 12 Years a Slave. The winner gets 25,000 pounds, about $32,500, and all nominees receive 5,000.

The British news media has often used the prize as an annual opportunity to examine, or denounce, the state of contemporary art. Last years shortlist was heavily criticized in some newspapers for only featuring video art, and even its fans admitted it was a challenging selection. It was won by Charlotte Prodger for films made on her iPhone that explored her sexual identity.

At a time when museum sponsors are coming under increased scrutiny, gay rights campaigners in Britain ciriticized the Turner Prize on Wednesday for accepting sponsorship from Stagecoach, a bus company whose chairman, Brian Souter, campaigned in 2000 against teaching about homosexuality in schools.
In my dream world, there would be 15 to 20 of these columns  30 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet in diameter  that would coexist with the permanent structure and that people would move through like a corridor, Ms. Halsey said in a telephone interview. She used the Frieze commission as an opportunity to experiment with a new durable industrial plaster that was incredibly difficult to carve into but that forced her to learn new techniques. Im really happy with the results, she said, and now that I have the prototypes, I can share this with more fabricators around the country.

Ms. Halsey, who studied architecture at her local community college, first envisioned some kind of public project as an art student at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. I would take the bus down these main boulevards from my grandmothers home to Cal Arts and started thinking deeply about activating these vacant lots because there are so many, she said.
What is so powerful about walking and running?

Its something we share with almost everyone, so its very primal and very basic. We can experience something together, which can quickly bring us to another energy because we dont have to concentrate so much on this action.

Why is it important that theyre naked?

For me, the nudity serves almost as a projection screen. The viewer can create an association with schools of fish or bird or animal flocks in one moment; and there are the hard collective images or memories we have from the Second World War. When you zoom out, the multiplicity of naked bodes has this ability to almost become abstract  as if it just becomes lines or moving shapes.

And when you zoom in?

You see really unique details  our bodies are the most individual things we have, right? But when you zoom out, it all looks the same and I think thats really interesting: A mass unifies, but it still consists of these singular personalities. But having said that, its also very important that the context and communities come first.

How so?

In Bordeaux, we had a Kurdish womens activist group join us and that was more important than the idea of being naked. So we did it clothed. Its not about nakedness. Thats just one layer of it.

What does this piece come out of?

From 2010 to 2012, I was living in Tel Aviv and I was doing an M.A. in conflict resolution and mediation. That was exactly the time when Occupy Wall Street was here. The Arab Spring started and the so-called protest for social justice in Tel Aviv was happening so people moved out in the streets.
Explaining the groups modus operandi, Mr. Moye said in an interview recently, It was all based around the idea of expanding the standard instrumentation of piano, bass, horns, drums. Then he went a step further: Part of the commitment to multidisciplinary thinking was a commitment to independence.

The classic Art Ensemble featured just a few musicians playing a dizzying array of instruments; the current version is packed with people, but most of them stick to their primary axes. The diversity of texture and tone has expanded  particularly thanks to the addition of a string section  but the individual musicians dont have as much room to move around freely. The pieces on the live disc have a surprising resemblance to the versions on the studio album.

Image The bands new double album.

But all told, the record is a triumph, and if this isnt what the original Art Ensemble sounded like, it is certainly the kind of experimental work it was trying to carve out space for.

In the mid-1960s Mr. Mitchell became one of the earliest members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a seminal black musicians cooperative in Chicago that continues today. Even before it came together, he had been leading exploratory bands, drawing inspiration from the pianist Muhal Richard Abrams and his Experimental Band. Mr. Mitchells quartet would eventually become a collective, calling itself the Art Ensemble and then  after Lester Bowie pawned his furniture to fund a full-band move to France in 1969  the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Once there, the group upset the expectations of European audiences accustomed to mainstream American jazz. But it also found those audiences willing to adapt. It was a turning point for European views on African-American musical expression, because it was very different than the kinds of things that the musicians who had been going there before had done, said George Lewis, a composer, performer and musicologist who wrote A Power Stronger than Itself, the definitive history of the A.A.C.M. And it was a turning point for the musicians themselves, because they started to see how much their music could mean to the world.
Paul Nash, the British painter famous for his depictions of World War I, is not widely recognized outside the land of his birth. So its something of a surprise to see an all-Nash booth this year at Frieze New York.

The booth, from the Piano Nobile gallery, will be Nashs biggest-ever display in New York. It will show oil paintings, prints and photographs from key phases of Nashs career; the collection includes Atlantic Voyage, a photograph that he took while traveling to New York by ship in 1931.

The gallery is one of 33 in the Spotlight section, selected by the sections curatorial adviser, Laura Hoptman, executive director of the Drawing Center in New York.

Why Nash? Our tastes are cyclical, Ms. Hoptman said. Theres a renewed interest in historical artists of the 20th century, pre-World War II artists with a particular interest in Surrealism.
You know Trump has turned everything upside down when we all suddenly find ourselves on the side of the big banks.  JAMES CORDEN These are personal and business records that Congress issued subpoenas for. But you know the president. He treats subpoenas like theyre wedding vows  they mean nothing to him.  JIMMY KIMMEL Suing your banks to keep them from sending your records to Congress? Not a great look for the president of the United States. Its like suing the school to keep them from sending your parents your report card, which he definitely would have done if he thought of it back then.  JIMMY KIMMEL

The Punchiest Punchlines (Infrastructure Edition)

One of the biggest headlines on Tuesday was Trumps meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, which concluded with an agreement to pursue a $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

Today, Trump met with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, and they agreed to work on a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to build roads, bridges and highways. Or as Nancy Pelosi put it, Anything but a wall.  JIMMY FALLON Theyre going to meet again in three weeks to figure out how to pay for it, and you already know Trump is going to say Mexico.  JAMES CORDEN Thats right. They have an agreement with Trump, just like his contractors, the students at Trump University and his first two wives.  SETH MEYERS

The Bits Worth Watching

Seth Meyers shared home-video footage of his 1-year-old-son, Axel, throwing a cellphone at his face at very close range. I feel like I kept my cool pretty well there, Meyers said, laughing at his dramatic reaction to what he thought at the time was a broken nose.
Ms. Reisman is now importing Indigos approach to the United States. Last year, Indigo opened its first American outpost, at a luxury mall in Millburn, N.J., and she eventually plans to open a cluster of Indigos in the Northeast.

Indigos ascendance is all the more notable given the challenges that big bookstore chains have faced in the United States. Borders, which once had more than 650 locations, filed for bankruptcy in 2011. Barnes & Noble now operates 627 stores, down from 720 in 2010, and the company put itself up for sale last year. Lately, it has been opening smaller stores, including an 8,300-square-foot outlet in Fairfax County, Va.

Cross-merchandising is Retail 101, and its hard to do in a typical bookstore, said Peter Hildick-Smith, president of the Codex Group, which analyzes the book industry. Indigo found a way to create an extra aura around the book-buying experience, by creating a physical extension of what youre reading about.

During a tour of the New Jersey store, Ms. Reisman sounded less like a bookseller and more like a self-care guru or a wellness evangelist, touting the importance of adequate sleep and hydration, unprocessed foods, and time away from your phone.

We curate ideas  big ideas  that we think are going to work across the board, she said.
As the daughter of a Norwegian woman and a Norwegian-American man, I cannot remember when I discovered Munch because he was always there. Nearly every art book on the shelves in my childhood house was devoted to the work of one man: Edvard Munch. Rivaled only by Ibsen, and perhaps Hamsun, Munch exists in Norwegian culture as a sign of greatness, and it may be helpful for readers in English to understand this reality as a point of departure. Munch, Knausgaard writes, is a static entity, so great and autocratic that it is barely in contact with anything but itself. He also notes rightly that The Scream has been lost to viewers. He doesnt say that the canvas is so famous that people around the world may recognize it without knowing Munch painted it, but that is the truth. As with the Mona Lisa, whatever it may have meant to those who first saw it, the canvas has been buried under layer upon layer of cultural excrement.

Image

In So Much Longing in So Little Space (translated by Ingvild Burkey), Knausgaards ambition is to whittle away at the legend to arrive at insights about the genesis of the art itself, and not only Munchs art, but all art. The painters life appears in fragments. The reader is told about Munchs early losses  the death of his mother when he was 5, and of his beloved sister Sophie when he was 13, the early diagnosis of his sister Lauras mental illness, the subsequent deaths of his father and brother  but not much about the painters own mental collapse in 1908. The influence of Norwegian artists on Munch is included, but there is little about his life in France and Germany and its profound significance on his development. The urgency of Knausgaards project lies elsewhere.

To my mind, Knausgaard is best when he is narrating his own pleasures and doubts as a museum curator and in his conversations with others on his subject. His exchanges with Munch aficionados appear in the book as personal accounts or actual transcripts of what was said. The German artist Anselm Kiefer is tight-lipped and critical. The Munch scholar Stian Grogaard is learned and precise. His mordant language acts as a foil to Knausgaards more searching, languid prose. Grogaards scholarly certitudes about Munch are countered by the Norwegian artist Vanessa Baird, who declares a painting Grogaard praised highly embarrassing and demolishes one art piety after another with an invigorating demotic sharpness. Knausgaards response to the varying opinions of those he encounters is at once measured, insightful and tinged with comedy.

He has walked into the land of the experts and visual artists and is afraid of looking like an idiot when the exhibition is mounted. His analysis of his own feelings is bracing: The spineless fear which a couple of critical voices produced within me, can perhaps serve as an indicator of the power of social mechanisms, how they force everything into the channel of consensus, and what it must cost not just to oppose them, but to work within them  as an artist, what forces are present even before one picks up the brush. The channel of consensus forged by invisible social mechanisms, what the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu called habitus  gestures, perceptions and thoughts so deeply embodied in us they come to seem natural  is formidable.

And it is after this thought that Knausgaard moves into a poetic meditation on how art belongs to ordinary life, with potato peelings in the sink and cats running across a lawn and children shouting at one another somewhere in the house, which culminates in an eruption: And the breakdown which The Scream represents, he writes, is just terrible, terrible. I am convinced that the writing of this passage and the associative movements of memory made it possible for Knausgaard to see The Scream in its naked form  as terror. The writer enacts on the page exactly what he hopes to convey. Art can sometimes break through the blinding conventions that dictate our perceptions.
MIRACLE CREEK

By Angie Kim

In this thought-provoking journey of ideas disguised as a courtroom page-turner, Pak and Young Yoo, recently arrived from South Korea, want nothing more than a better education and future for their teenage daughter, Mary. Theyve landed in Miracle Creek, Va., where they open a family business in the barn on their property: a hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) center, which they nickname the Miracle Submarine. (The therapy requires patients to be sealed in a pressurized chamber containing 100 percent pure oxygen. Though practitioners claim that this treatment helps with everything from autism to infertility, the F.D.A. cautions that HBOT has few proven benefits.)

In the opening chapter, the Yoo familys HBOT capsule bursts into flames during a session, killing two people and gravely injuring four others. Miracle Creek, Angie Kims debut novel, veers from immigration narrative to legal thriller as Elizabeth Ward  the mother of an 8-year-old autistic boy who died in the fire  goes on trial for murder. In his opening statement, the prosecutor, Abraham Patterley, portrays her as the coolheaded killer of her burdensome son, and his first witness  Matt Thompson, an HBOT participant that day as well as a medical doctor  backs that up, deleting and shaping what he saw into an efficient narrative. Matt, convinced that Elizabeth is culpable, fixes his eyes on her and speaks slowly. Deliberately. Each syllable punctuated, coated with venom.

Image Credit...

But as the trial continues and testimony unspools, Elizabeths guilt looks less and less likely. It becomes clear that there are several people who have a reason to withhold the truth about the fire, including the Yoos, who are desperate to collect the insurance money. As people descend from hero to murderer in an hour, Miracle Creek becomes a fascinating study of the malleability of truth in the courtroom. For the reader, learning the killers identity matters less than parsing the moral compromises each character makes to guard his or her own version of truth.
Recent audiobooks:

SOUTHERN LADY CODE: Essays, by Helen Ellis, read by the author. (Random House Audio.) Bringing her Alabama roots to her new life as a Manhattan housewife, Ellis offers a hilarious manifesto of manners and marriage tips for the modern woman.

WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES, by Philip Gourevitch, read by the author. (Macmillan Audio.) The author completed an all-new recording of his 1998 book  compiling the testimonies of survivors of the Rwandan genocide  for the 25th anniversary of the atrocities this year.

HEADS WILL ROLL, by Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne, read by a full cast. (Audible.) This audio original comedy production, written by the Saturday Night Live star and her sister, features readings by luminaries like Meryl Streep, Tim Gunn and the Queer Eye Fab Five.

ORDINARY PEOPLE CHANGE THE WORLD, by Brad Meltzer, read by a full cast. (Listening Library.) For listeners ages 5 to 8, this audio collection of a popular picture-book biography series celebrates figures including Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Lucille Ball and Jackie Robinson.
As a white South African, Sydelle Willow Smith grew up keenly aware of her countrys tangled history of colonialism, race and privilege. Though she was raised in a liberal Jewish family active in the movement against apartheid, Ms. Smith still felt uneasy when she went to take photographs in townships. It was as if the countrys colonial eras exploitation of natural resources, which shaped the continent itself, was mirrored in the very act of making a photograph.

I was very interested in the history of colonialism in relation to photography, she said. I would go into a township space where the majority of the people live below the poverty line and you have your fancy camera, youre hired to tell a story and then you go home to your nice bed.

It did not sit well with me, that idea of working in a way where you dont have a deep connection to that place, Ms. Smith added. I felt I needed to do more work in my own backyard. I needed to turn the lens on myself and the people around me who were white, because I did not feel that was happening enough.
President Trumps anti-immigrant rants and policies are diametrically opposed to everything the Statue of Liberty stands for, said Dani Lever, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo. His attendance would be truly ironic, and the mere symbolism of it should be offensive to all Americans whose ancestors were guided into this country by her torch.

But some Republicans called the setting ideal for Mr. Trump to hold forth on immigration.

The president should be welcome to come and deliver a speech at the statue, to highlight the benefits of legal immigration that built this country from its foundations, said City Councilman Joseph Borelli, a Republican from Staten Island. I suppose his base would enjoy him delivering an immigration speech while Governor Cuomo and Murphy sit silent.

A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Some politicos made sport of the whole thing.

The president could speak near the statue as long as they cover her eyes, quipped Bob Liff, a Democratic political consultant, who added, Are they going to redact sections of Emma Lazaruss poem?

Bill OReilly  a Republican political consultant, not the former Fox commentator  said: This could be the greatest episode of Survivor ever  Chuck Schumer, Donald Trump and Jerry Nadler on an island together right in New York Harbor. Huge ratings.

Politics aside, the museum should be pretty nifty: a 26,000-square-foot space that will feature the original glowing torch, interactive galleries and an immersive theater.

Which L.G.B.T.Q. figures should get monuments?
Location data can be a contentious subject, especially when it comes to who has access to it. Where that data goes beyond, say, a wireless carrier, is important. And now the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is demanding more information regarding that data from the biggest wireless carriers in the U.S.

Motherboard has the report on Wednesday. According to the publication, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is now asking the heads of each of the four major wireless carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) if third-party data aggregators were able to save phone location data. Whats more, Rosenworcel wants to know what these carriers are doing to make sure that the phone location data sold to these companies is deleted.

Real-time location information is sensitive data deserving the highest level of privacy protection. But it is evident from press reports that this data may have been sold without the explicit consent of consumers and without appropriate safeguards in place. Accordingly, I appreciate your decision to end these location aggregation services by March of this year. To that end, I kindly request that you provide an update on your efforts and confirm by what date AT&T ended its arrangements to sell the location data of its customers. Please also confirm whether and by what date the company ended arrangements to sell assisted or augmented GPS data. Finally, the public still has very little detail about how much geolocation data is being saved and stored-including in ways that may be far too accessible to others. Even de-anonymized location data may be combined with other information in ways that could make it personally identifiable again. Accordingly, please explain whether AT&Ts agreements permitted aggregators or others to save and store location data they received from your company. If so, please confirm what steps your company is taking to ensure that these companies delete or destroy previously shared data and any derivative data. Alternatively, please explain what steps AT&T is taking to safeguard such data from use or onward sale that is inconsistent with consumers original content.

This is in connection to a report that was released back in January of this year. In that story, we learned that major wireless carriers sell phone location data to a variety of sources. The wireless carriers were handing the data over to companies like Zumigo and LocationSmart, who were then selling the data off. That put the customers phone location data out there in the wild, and easily accessible by bounty hunters looking to obtain the information.

At this point, all of the major wireless carriers have pledged to stop this practice. However, some carriers have been better at this promise than others, as some were still doling out customer phone location data in early February.

The wireless carriers are tasked with responding to the FCC Commissioners request for a statement by May 15 of this year.

[via Motherboard
It was called the Economic Opportunity Act, a measure intended to kick-start the sputtering post-recession economy in New Jersey, particularly in its struggling cities. The state would award lucrative tax breaks to businesses if they moved to New Jersey or remained in the state, creating and retaining jobs.

But before the bill was approved by the Legislature, a series of changes were made to its language in June 2013 that were intended to grant specific companies hundreds of millions of dollars in additional tax breaks, with no public disclosure, according to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times.

Many of the last-minute changes to drafts of the bill were made by a real estate lawyer, Kevin D. Sheehan, whose influential law firm has close ties to Democratic politicians and legislative leaders in New Jersey.

Mr. Sheehan was allowed by lawmakers to edit drafts of the bill in ways that opened up sizable tax breaks to his firms clients, according to a marked up copy of the legislation obtained by The Times, which identifies Mr. Sheehans changes.
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The familiar words etched on the Statue of Liberty read, Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

These days, the famous statue in New York Harbor mostly welcomes a torrent of tourists.

A proliferation of tour groups has set off pedestrian gridlock inside the statue and its sister site, the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, which together receive a combined 4.5 million visitors a year.

It has gotten so bad that the National Park Service, which runs both sites, is taking a dramatic step. Starting in mid-May, the agency is banning organized tours to the statues popular outdoor observation deck and to the Ellis Island museum.

A surge in commercial tours has resulted in the need to alleviate the mounting overcrowding and conflicts with National Park Service programming and operations in the interior spaces on both islands, said Jerry Willis, a spokesman for the agency. It has severely degraded the visitor experience in the park.
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First, the Syracuse man repeatedly called a senators office in Washington and said he planned to kill former President Barack Obama, using a racial slur in his threat, the authorities said.

A year later, the same man, Stephen J. Taubert, called the California office of Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat, and vowed to kill her and her staff members. Once again, he spouted violent rhetoric over the phone, using racist epithets .

On Tuesday, Mr. Taubert, 61, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for the phone calls.

His sentence was handed down in the Federal District Court in Syracuse. It came six weeks after a jury found Mr. Taubert guilty of threatening to kill a former United States president, transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and making a threat to influence, impede or retaliate against a federal official.

The jury also found that Mr. Taubert chose to make threats against Mr. Obama and Ms. Waters, two black Democratic Party leaders, because of their race, a distinction that allowed prosecutors to seek an enhanced sentence.
Robert Mueller is a stickler for the rules. The special counsel team he led was a leakproof box , his spokesman seldom spoke and his only public statements came in the form of indictments and court filings.

But on March 27, three days after Attorney General William Barr cleared President Trump of criminal wrongdoing in a misleading and incomplete summary of Mr. Muellers report on the Russia investigation, the special counsel felt compelled to protest. In a letter made public on Wednesday, just as Mr. Barr was preparing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the American public got its first glimpse of how the special counsel thinks and speaks about his work.

Mr. Muellers tone and tenor are remarkable  and a sharp rebuke to Mr. Barr.

The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Offices work and conclusions, Mr. Mueller wrote in a letter addressed to Mr. Barr , whose characterizations of Mr. Muellers investigation have also come under fire by members of the special counsels team.

The special counsel notes in his letter that just a day after Mr. Barrs effort to spin the findings of the investigation (which Mr. Trump crowed was a Complete and Total EXONERATION), Mr. Mueller raised concern about all the confusion and misreporting that the attorney general had caused.
I believed Anita Hill in 1991. I still do. At the time of the Clarence Thomas hearings, I spearheaded an effort by more than 120 female law professors to petition the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay its vote on Judge Thomass nomination in order to fully investigate Ms. Hills sexual harassment claims against him. I remain profoundly disappointed with the results of the hearings.

But I also support Joe Biden, who was the chairman of those hearings, and who today has become the focus of much of the frustration of those disappointed by them. That focus is, I believe, misplaced.

Ms. Hill was treated badly by the Judiciary Committee, and Mr. Biden, as he admits, could have done more to assure a better hearing. He also could have issued an earlier and more meaningful apology than the one he recently made as he prepared to announce his presidential campaign. But it was not Mr. Biden who made the hearings as abusive to Ms. Hill as they were.

It was Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, who declared the proceedings a war and characterized Ms. Hills testimony as flat-out perjury. It was Alan Simpson, Republican of Wyoming, who suggested that Ms. Hill might be suffering from a delusional disorder and stated that unnamed others had told him to watch out for this woman. It was Howell Heflin, Democrat of Alabama, who suggested in his questioning that Ms. Hill might be a scorned woman. It was John Danforth, Republican of Missouri, who referred to Ms. Hills testimony as a smear campaign. (He later conceded that he had shown no concern at all for fairness to Anita Hill.) And it was Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, who declared that anyone who could produce allegations so graphic and so crude and so outrageous as Ms. Hills was not a person but a psychopathic sex fiend or pervert.
People of a certain age may be thinking: Hold on. All-electric Gold Medallion Homes were a thing half a century ago, at a time when electricity prices were falling. Those homes were promoted heavily by the power industry and by Ronald Reagan, a pitchman for General Electric. But they became albatrosses for their owners when electricity prices eventually rose.

Why do all-electric homes make sense now? Because technology has come to the rescue, in the form of devices called heat pumps. They run on electricity, but far more efficiently than the electric appliances of our parents generation. So if we start installing them now, then as the electric grid gets greener, our buildings will be contributing less and less to climate change.

You might never have heard of heat pumps, but you already have one in your home. A heat pump is the core technology in your refrigerator. It is basically a loop involving a pump and a compressor that sucks heat out of the interior and blows it into the kitchen, and it can do this even when the interior of your refrigerator is colder than the air in the room.

A heat pump can replace both your furnace and your air conditioner. In the winter, it sucks heat in from the outside, even when the weather is cold, and blows it into your house. In the summer, a heat pump runs in reverse, cooling the house. Highly efficient heat-pump water heaters are also widely available.

Building a new all-electric home powered by heat pumps is already cheaper than building with gas because you avoid the costs of gas lines and ventilation. For older homes the economics vary; a Rocky Mountain Institute study found the cost of installing and operating a heat pump over its lifetime can be more expensive or less expensive  plus or minus 10 percent  than having a gas system. And as heat pumps become standard in new buildings, the market will scale and costs will fall for both new and old homes.

Stoves actually use very little energy, but until people are convinced there are superior alternatives to gas stoves, we will not be able to get rid of gas lines to buildings  and start saving large amounts of money by shutting down the gas distribution system.

Once again, technology has come to the rescue. Induction cooktops, running on electricity, are superior to gas stoves. These devices use magnetic waves to heat up pots, and cooks who have tried them quickly fall in love. The perceived advantage of gas stoves is pinpoint control of heat, but induction cooktops are more precise, and faster. For now, induction cooktops are generally more expensive than gas stoves. At retail, 30-inch gas cooktops generally run $500 to $1,000, while induction cooktops of that size run from $800 to $2,000.
VIENNA  In less than a month, Europeans will cast their ballots to elect the next European Parliament. If you read the Continents major newspapers and listen to political leaders, you will come to believe that the European electorate is radically polarized and voters are prepared to make a fateful choice. The elections this month, we often hear, will become a kind of referendum. The far right expects it to be a referendum on migration (or more accurately, on Brusselss failure to deal with it), while progressive pro-Europeans foresee it as a referendum on the very survival of the European Union. Far-right strategists hope that the election will resemble Donald Trumps 2016 victory, while pro-European progressives expect the elections to resemble the second round of the presidential vote in France in 2017, when Emmanuel Macron defeated Marine Le Pen. Both sides, we are told, agree on one thing: We face a tribal war between populist-nationalists and committed Europeanists.

Except none of that seems to be true.

An in-depth electoral survey of almost 50,000 people in 14 of the most populous European Union member states, conducted by the polling firm YouGov on behalf of the European Council on Foreign Relations, has found that there is a yawning gap between how the news media portrays Europes mood on the eve of the elections and the reality.

It is not that the situation is necessarily more hopeful; it is simply different. The notion of deeply polarized voters fits in Poland, where crossing the line that divides the populist nationalist government from the opposition is as unlikely as defecting to the enemy camp in wartime. But for the rest of the countries, the problem is not that voters cant be persuaded to change their minds; its that they cannot make them up.

As Ive watched the lead-up to the elections, Ive been thinking about a humorous line from a nonsense story that I recall from my childhood: Lord Ronald said nothing; he flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions.
How did this happen?

The last 30 years or so have seen a kind of war on the very idea of visionary politics. Where 60s rebels called for all power to the imagination, the consensus of the opinion makers who took over as those social movements sputtered has been precisely the opposite: The very idea of unleashing the human imagination on political life, we are consistently told, can lead only to economic misery, if not the gulag.

And as left and right both look to the past  the one toward midcentury welfare states and the other, darkly, toward xenophobia and nationalism  the collapsing center warns us to fear political passion of any sort. Its all so much irrational populism  a term now used to tar anyone who objects that all key decisions affecting their lives should be made by technocrats trained in neoclassical economic theory. Yet the technocrats have so far proved utterly incapable of addressing the climate crisis.

If real passion and vision are necessary, they will have to come from outside the system. The activists who assembled and debated in London recognized that the goal of zero emissions in six years would require huge social and economic dislocation. But the very daunting nature of the task seemed to call out creative solutions.

These took many forms, from new mass transport systems to four- or even three-day work weeks, green industrial revolutions, spiritual awakenings and the replacement of the discipline of economics and its exhortations toward endless growth with a new science based on principles that rise to the challenges of a changing climate. Many of these ideas might seem ridiculous. Some no doubt are. But with scientists warning us we may have precious little time before rates of planetary warming lead to irreversible consequences, the one thing that seems clear is that refusal to engage in this kind of imaginative exercise is the real danger.

Threatened with irrelevance, some politicians have started to respond. In Britain, the opposition Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn has now proposed that the first of Extinction Rebellions demands, a national state of climate emergency, be put to a vote in Parliament as early as Wednesday . Whether the motion is successful or not, it represents a previously difficult-to-imagine acknowledgment of the crisis.

Its just barely possible that Britain, the nation that ushered in the Industrial Revolution and its explosive carbon emissions, might also be the first to make a serious effort to undo the damage.

But if the government cant bring itself to do so, the people will have to. With any luck, theyll be just in time to save the planet.

David Graeber is an anthropologist, political activist and the author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years.

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Dancing bees also make group decisions about the future of the colony. When a new queen is born, the old queen leaves her hive with 10,000 bees to form a daughter colony. For a few hours  or days  they remain homeless, gathered in a swarm.

During this time the bees do an amazing thing: They hold a democratic debate on where to go next.

In the swarm phase, scouts head out in search of a new hive location, and they return to advertise the possibilities through their dance. Other bees go to check out these places, and if they concur, they will repeat the dance. Amazingly, in time the bees seem to come to a consensus on the best choice, not through blind repetition of anothers dance but by heading out and finding out the truth for themselves, and then weighing in  voting, I guess wed call it  by way of the dance.

Professor Seeley suggests that, the waggle notwithstanding, the process resembles a New England town meeting, decisions getting made as a result of conversation and consensus.

Human beings are not insects, and our country is not a beehive. But the democracy of bees contains plenty of good lessons in civics. Among the most important takeaways: that facts about the environment matter; that the colony most likely to survive is one in which all voices are listened to; and that the worst kind of leader is a vain, narcissistic being who values his or her own royalty above that of the community.

Even in the best of scenarios, the lives of bees are fragile, and now more than ever, with their habitat under constant threat. Four of Professor Snows hives died this winter because of wild variation in the climate. But with these new colonies, his work continues  work that investigates how honeybees respond to environmental stress at a cellular level.

As we left the roof of Barnard Hall, trailing the smell of wax and smoke, it was hard not to be impressed by the urgency of his research, science which may well help determine whether human life on Earth will endure.

I met Professor Snow on a beautiful spring day : trees in bloom, bees hovering over the newly opened flowers. It was a good day to consider what kind of colony we reside in  an intelligent swarm? Or the other kind?

It is, at long last, spring. But winter is coming.

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To the Editor:

Re Trump Imposes Fees and Other New Restrictions on Asylum Seekers (news article, April 30):

The unspeakable heartlessness of President Trump and his malign counselor, Stephen Miller, has never been clearer. They demand that terrorized migrants, many of whom have been bled dry by the human smugglers known as coyotes, somehow produce an application fee for the right to have their asylum cases considered.

In short, they propose to make America a second coyote, a mercenary that will give its attention to desperate people if the money is right.

Mark Steinberg

Los Angeles

To the Editor:

Is it any surprise that President Trump thinks that people should pay an application fee for a path to citizenship? If only these asylum seekers could scrape up at least $500,000 to buy permanent resident status under the EB-5 visa program like the Chinese investors reportedly sought by Kushner Cos. for a New Jersey real estate project .

Joan Kelly Bernard

New York
Another key member of Jony Ives industrial design team at Apple, Miklu Silvanto, will be leaving the company to join Airbnbs design studio Samara. Silvanto will be the fourth major team member of Ives design team to leave the group.

Silvanto had joined Apple back in 2011. He will now be leading the industrial and interaction design team at Backyard which is a part of Airbnbs design studio Samara.

Samara has a huge ambition that will be very difficult to carry out, but its exactly the kind of big, crazy gamble that these kinds of companies should be taking, he said. The nature of the work and the creative approach were taking make me optimistic for the future.

Led by Jony Ive, Apples design team has received a lot of praise for the beautiful design of the Cupertino company products. However, relatively newer product launches from Apple have not really pushed the boundary in terms of industrial design which can perhaps be the reason behind such experienced members leaving the design team.

Maybe with a fresh set of faces and new people, Ives design team will once again be able to churn out products with iconic product designs that they were once known for.

[Via Dezeen
To the Editor:

Re Barr Defends Handling of Mueller Report in Senate Testimony (nytimes.com, May 1):

Years from now the historians reconstructing the Trump assault on Americas rule of law will cite Attorney General William Barrs testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee as the nadir of this entire slimy era. After Watergate, I never imagined that one day I would see Americas top law enforcement official dissemble and obfuscate to Congress for the express purpose of misleading the American people about the Mueller report.

This is Watergate without the heroes, with Democrats stumbling across the parapet, thoroughly outmaneuvered. Today, for the first time, I was truly frightened for our nation.

Robert Smith

Santa Barbara, Calif.

To the Editor:

Just as William Barr wrote last years analysis of presidential authority as an audition to be attorney general, his twisted presentation of the Mueller report appears to be an application for nomination to the Supreme Court, should a vacancy arise during President Trumps tenure. If that should occur, the Constitution will be in even greater peril than it is today.

David Leinsdorf

Crested Butte, Colo.

To the Editor:

Re Mueller at Odds With Barrs View of Investigation (front page, May 1):

With the revelation that Robert Mueller wrote a letter expressing concerns about Attorney General William Barrs famous four-page summary of the special counsels exhaustive investigation of whether or not there was collusion and obstruction of justice by the Trump administration, it is clear that, at the very least, Mr. Barr misled Congress and the American people.
This article is part of David Leonhardts newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday.

Rod Rosenstein joined the Justice Department as a young lawyer in 1990, and he has worked there ever since. So he has had plenty of time to absorb the departments internal culture.

That culture, created in the aftermath of Watergate, calls for department officials to be less partisan and more independent than members of any other cabinet department. They are supposed to follow the letter and spirit of the law, even when doing so makes life uncomfortable for the president or his appointees. Theyre supposed to care, above all, about justice.

In Rosensteins tenure as the deputy attorney general, he failed to live up to the standard.

[Listen to The Argument podcast every Thursday morning, with Ross Douthat, Michelle Goldberg and David Leonhardt.]
Boy, was I a dope. Nearly a decade later, as Uber begins pitching its business to Wall Street in advance of an initial public offering that could value the company at $100 billion, Im sickened and saddened by my naivete.

In the years since, Uber skirted laws and cut corners to trample over regulators and competitors. It accelerated the start-up industrys misogynistic and reckless hustle culture. And it pushed a frightening new picture of labor  one in which everyone is a contractor, toiling without protection, our hours and our lives ruled by uncaring algorithms in the cloud.

Uber  and to a lesser extent, its competitor Lyft  has indeed turned out to be a poster child for Silicon Valleys messianic vision, but not in a way that should make anyone in this industry proud. Ubers is likely to be the biggest tech I.P.O. since Facebooks. It will turn a handful of people into millionaires and billionaires. But the gains for everyone else  for drivers, for the environment, for the world  remain in doubt. Theres a lesson here: If Uber is really the best that Silicon Valley can do, America desperately needs to find a better way to fund groundbreaking new ideas.

Todays Uber is more responsible than yesterdays: Travis Kalanick, Ubers onetime Night King, was ousted as chief executive in 2017, and Dara Khosrowshahi, its new chief, has led a thorough rehabilitation. Yet Ubers early insiders paid no real price for their sins. Mr. Kalanicks stake will be worth nearly $9 billion. Tech giants  including Apple, Google and Jeff Bezos, who all acquired significant stakes in Uber  will make a killing. Saudi Arabian petromonarchs will too.

Not Ubers drivers. Recent studies show that Uber drivers make poverty wages  about $10 an hour after their vehicle expenses are deducted from their pay. Drivers fortunes might only worsen after the company goes public. Uber lost nearly $2 billion in 2018, and the best long-term hope for Ubers business is that drivers disappear altogether, replaced by cars that drive themselves. In rushed pursuit of that profitable vision, one of Ubers self-driving cars killed a pedestrian last year.
Speaking rapid-fire with no spot for others to jump into the conversation, Mr. Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts, or delusions. I have felt it  this president building with his words a web of alternative reality and busily wrapping it around all of us in the room.

I must have agreed that he had the largest inauguration crowd in history because I didnt challenge that. Everyone must agree that he has been treated very unfairly. The web building never stops.

From the private circle of assent, it moves to public displays of personal fealty at places like cabinet meetings. While the entire world is watching, you do what everyone else around the table does  you talk about how amazing the leader is and what an honor it is to be associated with him.

Sure, you notice that Mr. Mattis never actually praises the president, always speaking instead of the honor of representing the men and women of our military. But hes a special case, right? Former Marine general and all. No way the rest of us could get away with that. So you praise, while the world watches, and the web gets tighter.

Next comes Mr. Trump attacking institutions and values you hold dear  things you have always said must be protected and which you criticized past leaders for not supporting strongly enough. Yet you are silent. Because, after all, what are you supposed to say? Hes the president of the United States.

You feel this happening. It bothers you, at least to some extent. But his outrageous conduct convinces you that you simply must stay, to preserve and protect the people and institutions and values you hold dear. Along with Republican members of Congress, you tell yourself you are too important for this nation to lose, especially now.

You cant say this out loud  maybe not even to your family  but in a time of emergency, with the nation led by a deeply unethical person, this will be your contribution, your personal sacrifice for America. You are smarter than Donald Trump, and you are playing a long game for your country, so you can pull it off where lesser leaders have failed and gotten fired by tweet.
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In the rural village in the southeast of South Korea where I grew up, there was an old man who did not know how to read or write. One day, I was at a bus stop in the nearby city of Ulsan when I saw him with a bundle of luggage waiting for the bus. I asked him how he could tell which bus to take.

Whenever a bus approaches, I look at the face of the driver, the old man said. I cant read the signs on the bus, but I can recognize the driver whose bus goes to our village.

So the story sounded both familiar and poignant to me when the Times photographer Chang W. Lee and I traveled to Gangjin, a rural South Korean town, and listened to an illiterate grandmother named Hwang Wol-geum who was going to school for the first time at the age of 70 to learn how to read and write.
Like the Taffera brothers, those other sought-after creators of the Brooklyn look, Ms. Roberts has renovated so many townhouses in the past decade (40 at last count) that she can make the process predictable for those who can afford it. Ms. Roberts would not disclose her fee, saying only that for residential projects it is usually a percentage of the total cost of reconstruction.

Shes proven she knows how to lay out a townhouse, how to transform them to modern living while still keeping the character, said Ms. Calderone, whose whose Greek Revival in Cobble Hill was renovated by Ms. Roberts and was featured in Architectural Digest last year. She definitely built a reputation for herself that she was going to deliver.

The master of the Brooklyn brownstone, it turns out, is a Californian: Ms. Roberts is from Marin County, north of San Francisco.

She moved to New York in 1994, to earn a graduate degree in historic preservation of architecture from Columbia. She returned to California after school, living and working in Los Angeles and San Francisco for a few years, but, she said, I was constantly looking for the New York-like corner of the city or the New York-like cafe. And finally, I just packed the U-Haul and came back for good.

Scott Z. Burns, a screenwriter, director and producer, met Ms. Roberts on the West Coast and hired her to warm up his modern home in the Venice section of Los Angeles. She designed a shelving system for his writing office, made over the bathrooms and helped with furniture purchases.
The Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei once recommended that his senior executives watch a TV series called Proof of Identity. In that 2009 series, a Communist spy who had infiltrated the Nationalist army during Chinas civil war struggles for years to prove his loyalty and identity after the Communists prevail.

Today, 32 years after he founded the telecom giant with $3,000 of borrowed money, Mr. Ren is struggling to prove that Huawei is a private enterprise and independent of the Chinese government.

The task is more urgent than ever. In recent months, the Trump administration has said China could use Huaweis equipment to spy on other countries, though it hasnt offered proof. Critics accuse the company of being controlled by the Chinese government. Huawei has repeatedly denied these allegations, saying it is owned by its employees and wouldnt spy on its customers.

Regardless of the issues of ownership and control, which have been subjects of heated debate, Huaweis struggle stems in part from its own internal conflict. The company has been deeply influenced by Western competitors. Huawei wants to help determine the worlds technological future, and Mr. Ren himself has said the company may need to adapt to get there.
I also recently activated Screen Time on my phone, so I now feel a nagging counter running in the back of my mind when Im using Twitter or Instagram for anything other than work. That has caused me to use those apps a lot less. Unfortunately, the Screen Time app defaults to count messages as social networking  but thats work for me!

I also am trying a personal challenge of not taking my phone out of my pocket in an elevator. Its harder than you would think.

What are the New York-specific apps that you love or hate?

I love the app for the local public radio station, which is easy to use and helpful for monitoring the mayor or governor when he jumps on to the radio station at a moments notice (something Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is particularly fond of doing).

For getting around town, the Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys app is indispensable. The subway system is bad now, but when I grew up in New York City, the subways were a total mystery; you never knew when the train was going to come. Now at least that small uncertainty is gone: You know its not going to be here for eight minutes, so maybe a Citi Bike is faster.
But as the C.B.O. report highlighted, the expansive approach Mr. Sanders and Ms. Jayapal have embraced is not the only way to devise a single-payer system. Congress could opt to provide all Americans with coverage more similar to what people 65 and older currently receive under Medicare, with more limited benefits and a requirement that they pay some deductibles and co-payments. A single-payer system could preserve some role for private insurance, either to cover certain benefits or to pay for private care outside the standard system. Such decisions could have a big effect on the overall cost.

When it came to particulars of those costs, however, the budget office said little. Government spending on health care would increase substantially, the paper noted at one point. But it never said by how much. The amount matters because it will influence how much tax revenue will be needed to pay for the program. Supporters of a single-payer plan note that, even though government spending would increase, there could be substantial reductions in the other ways individuals and employers pay for health care now through premiums, out-of-pocket spending and state taxes.

The budget office may still provide firm estimates for a proposal if one gets closer to a floor vote in the House or the Senate. The office is charged with developing estimates for legislation, and it produces them even when doing so involves a fair bit of speculation. In past years, for example, the budget office was asked to provide cost estimates for a federal terrorism reinsurance program, which required it to gauge the likelihood of terrorist attacks and the possible expense of their damages.

The cost of a single-payer system is not as unpredictable as that of terrorism insurance, but the reports many caveats and questions highlight how the effects of Medicare for all will depend on a multitude of legislative decisions  and then a larger set of management decisions by the government that runs the system.

Would government insurance cause shortages of doctors or waits for care? It depends on how well the system pays clinicians, how individuals respond to more generous health coverage, and how the Medicare system adapts over time.

If the number of providers was not sufficient to meet demand, patients might face increase wait times, the report noted. But it said such problems were not inevitable under a government-run system: In the longer run, the government could implement policies to increase the supply of providers.

Would the government eliminate the denials and other red tape that annoy Americans about the private health insurance system? Maybe, or maybe not. The paper notes that requiring patients to see a primary care doctor before a specialist; denying a treatment that is unusual; or requiring patients to try less expensive drugs before more expensive alternatives would all be possible under single-payer, and are limitations with such systems in other countries.
Wanted: the bee killer of Brazoria County.

In the predawn darkness on Saturday, a sheriffs deputy on patrol in a rural area of southeast Texas noticed flames shooting up from a patch of uninhabited county land.

It was nearly 2 a.m. The deputy pulled up to the fenced area, which he knew enclosed local beekeepers hives, and saw that they were on fire. He grabbed an extinguisher from his vehicle, scaled the chain-link fence and smothered the flames.

Then he surveyed the damage, according to an account on Wednesday by Lt. Varon Snelgrove, a spokesman for the county sheriffs office. Most of the 20 hives, once thriving with bees that had nurtured mature colonies, were incinerated, but some had been tossed into a pond or toppled over. About 600,000 bees were dead, according to the Brazoria County Beekeepers Association.

I was just in shock that somebody would actually do that, said Steven Brackman, the president of the organization, whose 300 beekeepers make up one of 50 such groups in the state. Thats what we dont understand. Three years they were there, and most neighbors know about it.
Under a 1904 state law that was amended in 1997 to apply to cities, local governments have the authority to authorize the building of war memorials, but they are forbidden from removing, damaging or defacing them. That power rests with the state government.

The City Council was sued in March 2017 by a group of citizens who said councilors had acted unlawfully when they voted a month earlier to move the Lee statue, even though the statues  which were briefly covered with plastic sheets  were never actually moved. (After the rally, the council voted to also remove the statue of Jackson; the lawsuit was then amended to include both statues.)

Bob Fenwick, a former council member who is named in the case, told a local CBS affiliate on Monday that he remained very comfortable with his votes to remove the statues.

Its based on a flawed law, so the law doesnt make much difference; it was a public process, it was a lawful process, so thats our case, he said.

The city argued in a court filing in January that the law did not apply to these statues because they were not really war memorials. It said the statues were instead symbols of white dominance erected during the Jim Crow era to promote a romantic vision of the antebellum South.

The statues were part of a regime of city-sanctioned segregation that denied African-Americans equal access to government and public spaces, attorneys for the city wrote. The fact that certain Charlottesville residents are unaware of the statues history does not change that history or the messages the statues send.

In his ruling, Judge Moore said the motive of the people who erected the statues does not change what they are.
CHICAGO  For weeks, residents of Davenport, Iowa, looked warily toward the flooded Mississippi River as it encroached on their downtown, the water kept at bay only by temporary barriers lining the street.

On Tuesday, those barriers broke, sending murky river water rushing into businesses and forcing residents to scramble to safety. About 30 people who did not make it out in time were rescued by firefighters.

The whole city had a very frantic feel about it, said Rebecca Nicke, a co-owner of Abernathys, a vintage store located about half a block from the barrier, who said she ran for her vehicle and drove toward a hill when she heard the water coming.
They also said he showed them where Corporal Collinss body had been found, but a transcript of a recording of the car ride does not indicate that he gave any directions.

Mr. Alleys lawyers were unable to get information from him about the crime, so he was turned over to psychiatrists. One wrote that he did not seem overtly delusional, except in his assessment of the police tactics and his belief that they would have beaten him if he had not confessed to the crime, said they could have gotten away with it because they were the police.

The physical evidence in the case, analyzed with the primitive tools available in 1985, was suggestive but far from conclusive. On the drivers door of the station wagon, authorities reported finding Type O blood, the same as the victims and Mr. Alleys. Paper napkins from Danvers, a regional restaurant chain, were on the floor of his car as well as near the body, the investigators said. Also in the car was proof that he had been in the vicinity of the crime: an air conditioner pump that had been installed earlier in the day at a house near where Corporal Collins had been running. Plainly, Mr. Alley had stolen it.

However, no traces of Corporal Collins  no fingerprints, hair or blood  were found inside his car or, for that matter, on Mr. Alley. No physical evidence showed he had been in a prolonged struggle with a 19-year-old Marine in excellent condition.

April Alley spoke to a reporter last month in Louisville, where she works in human resources for a hospital. As a teenager, she said, she was turned against her father by a hostile relative.

In her 20s, she reconnected with him at Riverbend Maximum Security prison. He was frank about his drug and alcohol use, she said, and told her that he had confessed under threat. She became inclined to believe him.
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I think theyll both have strengths in the African-American community, but to get the numbers that you need to get in a crowded field, theyll both need to have crossover appeal, said Stephen Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, S.C. Mr. Benjamin has engaged with both candidates, but is waiting until it gets closer to his states primary in February 2020 to make an endorsement.

So, yes, its a collision course between the two African-American candidates, but they must also carve out their own lane, he said.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has tried to position himself as the continuation of President Barack Obamas legacy since entering the race last week, and enjoys deep relationships with black leaders in the Democratic Party. In several national polls, which can provide an early reading of the electorate, Mr. Biden leads among all demographics, including black voters. Ms. Harris has slipped to single digits in recent weeks after a strong opening month, and Mr. Booker continues to languish.

For Ms. Harris and Mr. Booker, the path to the 2020 presidential race began more than a decade ago. At the Democratic National Convention in 2008, the two barrier-breaking black officials were featured during a luncheon for rising stars in a party that was already being reshaped in Mr. Obamas image. Ms. Harris at the time was the San Francisco district attorney; Mr. Booker was in his first term as mayor of Newark.

Ms. Harriss election to the Senate in 2016 raised her national profile and established her as a likely presidential contender. Mr. Booker won his Senate seat in 2013, cementing his national ascendence.
Since announcing his candidacy last week Mr. Biden has repeatedly invoked his decades-long bond with organized labor. In his first campaign speech on Monday, at a Teamsters building in Pittsburgh, Mr. Biden thanked a litany of unions, from teachers to steelworkers to carpenters, and declared, I make no apologies: I am a union man.

Mr. Trumps campaign indicated that they intend to hire an aide focused on union outreach, and the president himself has wooed some moderate national labor leaders. He has twice held events at local facilities of the International Union of Operating Engineers, and last month in Texas he made the case to Jim Callahan, the unions president, for why they should back his re-election, according to a Trump official briefed on the conversation.

But any slippage he suffers with this blue-collar constituency could prove politically fatal next year: He was elected by only the narrowest of margins in a handful of states in the industrial Midwest.

What worries the presidents aides about Mr. Biden, according to people familiar with their thinking, is that his moderate profile and deep ties to labor could win back many of the voters who twice backed President Barack Obama before spurning Hillary Clinton.

Start right here in Pennsylvania and work your way up through Ohio, Michigan  thats going to be the battleground and I think they come home, Harold Schaitberger, the head of the pro-Biden International Association of Fire Fighters, said earlier this week in Pittsburgh.
WASHINGTON  President Trump unleashed a barrage of retweets early Wednesday that appeared to counter a notion that Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph R. Biden Jr. has the backing of all the firefighters in the country. The sheer volume of retweets signaled the presidents anxiety about losing union support in the 2020 presidential election to Mr. Biden, who now leads the crowded Democratic pool of candidates.

The national firefighters union endorsed Mr. Biden, the former vice president, on Monday, just days after he announced his campaign to run for the Democratic nomination. During his first campaign speech the same day, Mr. Biden positioned himself as the best president for union workers, a group of voters who supported Mr. Trump more than expected in the 2016 election.

I make no apologies. I am a union man. Period, Mr. Biden said in his speech.

Mr. Trump presented about 60 retweets on Wednesday from Twitter users as evidence to the contrary.

Ive done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO! Mr. Trump wrote in one Twitter post between dozens of retweets.
Locking up people who pose no threat to the community for ever-longer periods of time is not a solution to the problems at the border, Ms. Lowey said in a statement, adding that the committee would review the request and work with the White House and the Senate where possible.

The new emergency request for border funds arrived on Capitol Hill before Congress has been able to reach an agreement on a much larger emergency package for people recovering from the onslaught of natural disasters last year. Democrats are reviewing the latest Republican offer, from Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, that includes additional money for Puerto Ricos recovery from hurricanes in 2017. (Mr. Trump told Democrats on Tuesday, Ill stay out of it; just get it done, according to a congressional official familiar with the meeting.)

Homeland security officials have said for months that their facilities and resources have been pushed beyond capacity because of a surge in Central American families seeking asylum at the border.

Next week, officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement will start conducting DNA tests on some migrants to determine if they are actually relatives, homeland security officials said on Wednesday. The pilot program, which would involve comparing DNA swabs of children and the adults they are traveling with, would be used to weed out fraudulent families. The testing is voluntary and requires the consent of the migrant.

Since April 18, more than 100 migrants have been suspected of fraud, officials said. Thousands of migrants are approaching the border a day.

Kevin McAleenan, the acting homeland security secretary, said on Tuesday that the processing facilities at the border were built for single adult males, but they now house more asylum-seeking families and unaccompanied children, who require a longer processing time.

On a call with reporters, senior administration officials underscored that the situation at the border was becoming more dire each day and noted that apprehensions were expected to surpass one million by the end of the year.
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The shooting at a Poway synagogue on Saturday has touched off a tragic but inevitable series of reactions, including confusion, horror, grief and resolve within a mourning community.

And then comes a discussion about how to prevent anything like this from happening again.

In the wake of past mass shootings, thats typically included calls for even tighter gun control in the state that already has among the strictest gun laws in the nation.

[Read about the gun control debate after the Thousand Oaks shooting.]

This time, that response has been more muted.
The two fraternities at Swarthmore College, the elite liberal arts school in Pennsylvania, announced Tuesday that they would voluntarily disband, following the release of more than 100 pages of internal documents in which members of Phi Psi discussed sexual misconduct and referenced a rape attic.

The release of the documents prompted dozens of Swarthmore students to storm the Phi Psi house in protest on Saturday. They had been camped in and around the house in the days since, demanding the dissolution of Phi Psi and the schools other fraternity, Delta Upsilon.

In a message, the schools president, Valerie Smith, said both fraternities had decided to disband and relinquish their houses.

The Swarthmore documents, published by The Phoenix and Voices, both student-run publications, read like a series of fraternity meeting minutes. In them, the authors discuss acquiring date-rape drugs and brag about sexual encounters with underage girls, among other topics. The release of the documents and the subsequent sit-in forced the small school to the center of a larger debate about sexual assault on campus.
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  In an alert that flashed across computer and phone screens all over campus, the instructions were spare but urgent: Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately.

But Riley Howell could neither run nor hide. The gunman was in his classroom. So, the authorities said, he charged at the gunman, who had already fired several rounds, and pinned him down until police officers arrived.

But for his work, the assailant may not have been disarmed, Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department said of Mr. Howell, who was shot in the process and among six victims of a mass shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process. But his sacrifice saved lives.

On Wednesday, students and teachers were still reeling from the attack that left two students, including Mr. Howell, dead and four others injured. Chief Putney said the death toll could have been far worse had Mr. Howell, a 21-year-old former high school soccer goalie, not intervened.
A day after the Venezuelan oppositions call for a military uprising failed, the countrys political crisis returned to a protracted standoff punctuated by violence on Wednesday, with the government and protesters seeking to project strength at rival May Day rallies.

Theres no turning back, Juan Guaido, the opposition leader, told supporters in Caracas, the capital, where tear gas fired by riot police officers shrouded some protest sites. Despite the repression, were still here.

There were reports late in the day that armed pro-government forces used live fire against some protesters in Altamira, part of a Caracas area where the opposition is strong. A 27-year-old woman died from a gunshot wound to the head while protesting there, according to local rights groups.

Thousands of Mr. Guaidos supporters in Caracas and elsewhere heeded his call to demonstrate, although not enough to meet his promise to stage the biggest march in history. Still, his ability to remain at large and to rally supporters  after his attempt to recruit the military to his side sputtered on Tuesday  underlined the weaknesses in the government of his opponent, President Nicolas Maduro.
Before dawn on Tuesday, Mr. Guaido posted a video statement calling for citizens to rise up against Mr. Maduros government as part of a final phase in the campaign against the socialist leader. Standing alongside national guardsmen as the sun rose over La Carlota air base in Caracas, Mr. Guaido said his nonviolent struggle was within the parameters of the countrys Constitution.

We count on the people of Venezuela  today the armed forces are clearly on the people's side, on the side of the Constitution, they are loyal to the Constitution, loyal to the people of Venezuela, to their families, to the future and to progress, he said. It has been years of sacrifice, persecution and even years of fear.

Leopoldo Lopez, a prominent opposition politician who had been under house arrest, stood alongside him after being released by soldiers who support the opposition. Mr. Lopez led widespread street protests against Mr. Maduro in 2014 and was sentenced to nearly 14 years of detention.

But just hours after Mr. Guaido spoke, the rebellion had taken on a different tone. The demonstrations in Caracas turned violent, as military and security officials loyal to Mr. Maduro clashed in the streets with opposition supporters.
TOKYO  It looked a little lonely up there.

During the short, solemn ceremony on Wednesday in which the new emperor of Japan, Naruhito, 59, accepted the sacred sword, jewels and seals that signify his right to sit on the throne, he was flanked by just two people. Standing ramrod straight to his right was his younger brother, Prince Akishino. To his left was his aging uncle, Prince Hitachi, who sat in a wheelchair.

It was striking visual evidence of the imperial familys looming existential crisis: It has precious few heirs left.

Like Japan itself, the imperial family has a demographic problem. Just as Japans population is shrinking and aging, so is the royal familys. The line of succession, which is limited to men, is only three people long.
The Taliban had agreed to a session for the two sides to get to know one another. They insisted that government officials attend only in their own personal capacity, but Mr. Ghanis government pushed to have them attend as government representatives.

Afghan officials say Mr. Ghani is troubled by being frozen out of the negotiations as important agreements are being structured. The talks come in the middle of a fierce presidential campaign, with some of Mr. Ghanis rivals proposing an interim government. The Afghan president has insisted on continuing with elections, which have been repeatedly delayed but are now scheduled for September.

Mr. Khalilzad has said that he hopes to reach a final peace agreement before the elections.

In the meantime, Mr. Ghani on Monday convened a traditional grand council assembly, known as a loya jirga, to discuss peace for Afghanistan. About 3,000 delegates from around the country, selected in a process dominated by Mr. Ghanis supporters, are meeting this week to reach a consensus on peace and a postwar Afghanistan. Their decisions are not legally binding.

One of the issues likely to be discussed in Doha this time is a fine-tuning of the Taliban pledge to prevent terrorist groups from staging attacks from Afghan territory. The State Department said in a statement on April 26 that the Taliban had committed to cut ties with Al Qaeda and to fight Islamic State loyalists in Afghanistan.
In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday added the leader of an outlawed Pakistani militant group to its sanctions blacklist after the group claimed responsibility for a February suicide attack in disputed Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.

Sanctions against Masood Azhar were confirmed by Pakistans Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal at a news conference in Islamabad. Mr. Azhars inclusion on the Security Councils Islamic State and Al Qaeda blacklist comes with a travel ban and a freeze on his assets.

Wednesdays development comes less than three months after Mr. Azhars group, Jaish-i-Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the Feb. 14 attack in Kashmir, which is split between the two countries and is claimed by both in its entirety. The clashes have brought the two nuclear rivals to the brink of war at times.
[For more Australia coverage with perspective, sign up for the Australia Letter.]

Mr. Cumaiyi, 31 and described as shy by relatives, was never prosecuted for domestic violence after his arrest. Nonetheless, nearly three years later, he is still in a Darwin prison after pleading guilty to other charges, including assaulting two officers and endangering the safety of an aircraft.

Now, Stewart Levitt, one of Australias most prominent lawyers, is demanding that Mr. Cumaiyis case be reconsidered. He lodged a complaint on Wednesday with the Australian Human Rights Commission, accusing the Australian government of human rights violations and negligence stemming from systemic racial discrimination.

Mr. Levitt said the evidence of a cover-up was clear: The official police account said nothing about the eyewitness reports that Mr. Cumaiyi was struck in the head with a flashlight and slammed onto the tarmac.

Instead, it suggests that he hurt himself the day after his arrest by jumping from a police van traveling at 50 miles, or about 80 kilometers, per hour  a claim that two medical experts dismissed as unlikely given his injuries, and that Mr. Levitt called implausible, counterintuitive and not witnessed by anyone.

The Northern Territory Police Force did not respond to requests for comment about the case.

Mr. Levitt, who won a large judgment last year for another Indigenous community confronting police mistreatment, said that there seems to have been a determined effort to deflect all attention away from the police assaults.

He added, This is an example of the racial discrimination thats so endemic.
LONDON  A British court sentenced Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, to 50 weeks in prison on Wednesday for jumping bail when he took refuge in Ecuadors Embassy in London seven years ago.

His complex legal travails are far from over: The United States is seeking Mr. Assanges extradition for prosecution there, and an initial hearing on that request is expected on Thursday. Officials in Sweden have left open the possibility that he could face criminal charges in that country, as well.

Mr. Assange faces a charge of conspiracy to hack into a Pentagon computer network; a federal indictment accuses him of helping an Army private to illegally download classified information in 2010, much of it about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which WikiLeaks then made public. He has denied the charge.

Mr. Assange, 47, was arrested on April 11 after the Ecuadorean government withdrew its protection of him and allowed the police to take him out of the embassy in London, where he had lived since 2012. The same day, he appeared in court and was convicted on the charge of skipping bail.
When Martin and Mart Helme were sworn in as lawmakers in the Estonian Parliament this week, they accompanied their broad grins with a gesture  making a circle with the thumb and index finger and holding the other three fingers outstretched.

To some, that would register as the fairly anodyne, universal signal for O.K.  understandable, given the celebratory mood.

But to others, the signs represented something much more sinister.

The Helmes  Mart is Martins father  are leading figures in the far-right Conservative Peoples Party, or EKRE, which mined anti-immigrant feeling during elections in March to win 19 seats in Parliament, more than doubling its representation and earning it a place in Estonias coalition government.

Given that context, the gesture was interpreted as showing allegiance to the doctrine of white power, and it shocked many commentators.
PARIS  The French police played cat-and-mouse with demonstrators and masked and hooded vandals at the traditional May Day rally in Paris on Wednesday, firing tear gas and charging protesters with truncheons raised, but the large law enforcement presence kept violence below levels feared before the march.

Some store windows were smashed along the parade route, which stretched across the Left Bank of the capital. Vandals threw rocks at a police station and unsuccessfully tried to enter it, and clouds of tear gas floated over the route. In Paris a media consortium counted about 40,000 demonstrators made up of union members, Yellow Vest protesters and vandals. The police said there were 28,000.

Some violence always accompanies the May Day rally, but this year the government had warned that the risk was higher since the demonstration would unite the violent elements of the Yellow Vest movement, labor militants and the so-called Black Blocs  a loose international group of anarchist and anticapitalist vandals dressed in black who smashed numerous shop windows last year.
LONDON  Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain on Wednesday abruptly fired her defense secretary, Gavin Williamson, blaming him for a leak that suggested she would give a role in designing a British telecommunications network to a Chinese company considered a security risk by the United States.

Mrs. Mays announcement was made after an investigation into a report in The Daily Telegraph about discussions in Britains National Security Council, of which Mr. Williamson was a member, and where secrecy is meant to be strictly observed.

The report suggested that Mrs. May had overruled objections from some senior council members, including Mr. Williamson, about allowing the Chinese company, Huawei, to build some elements of the next-generation cellular data network known as 5G.

The government later said no decision had yet been made.

But the leak provoked a negative reaction from the United States, which has been on a campaign to pressure other countries to bar Huawei from building 5G networks, saying its equipment is vulnerable to Chinese state espionage, an assertion the company denies.
COLCHESTER, England  Carla Hales, a Conservative candidate in Thursdays local elections in Britain, was out last week doing campaign work and says she never sensed the man creeping up behind her until she heard a shout and took three quick punches to her ribs.

Ms. Hales, who felt such a sharp pain when she took a breath that she feared, briefly, that she might have been stabbed, never got a clear look at her assailant. But from the insult he hurled, she knew his motive.

Politics.

It is no secret that Britains chaotic and stalled efforts to leave the European Union have poisoned the national political debate, polarizing opinion and causing further damage to the already-tarnished reputation of the countrys governing class.

But the toxin now seems to be seeping down to local elections, where about 8,400 seats are being contested. While Thursdays vote will have nothing to do with Brexit, the atmosphere has made campaigning an increasingly perilous undertaking for Ms. Hales and at least two other candidates for local councils who have been assaulted recently.
According to Wade, if the resident is insured, FEMAs financial assistance is evaluated by a crucial first step, filing a claim through an insurance provider with a list of personal belongings.

Insurance is a homeowner or renters first line of defense when it comes to any type of disaster, Wade said. The federal law forbids us from duplicating what you get from your insurance company.

"You have to go through that process because you are going to have to tell us if you have insurance or not, and until you settle with that insurance company, we may not be able to provide you a lot of assistance until you show us what they paid to repair.

Wade said insured residents may be eligible to receive financial assistance for uninsured losses, and uninsured survivors will be eligible for aid as well.

We do not pay deductibles, Wade said. We are there to pay for immediate repairs or provide them with some rental assistance for someplace to live on a temporary basis. Everything that FEMA does is on a temporary basis. We cannot provide you with rental assistance for the next 10 years. Its based on need, so if we're providing you assistance, we may come back in 60 days and ask, What have you done?
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Looking at the stitched patch tattoos of Eduardo Duda Lozano, its hard to believe that he only pioneered the new style three months ago. Photos of his amazing creations have been doing the rounds online ever since and hes already been invited to tattoo conventions all over the world.

The Sao Paolo-based artist has been doing tattoos since 2002, but he only recently got the idea for the stitched patch style, as a throwback to his days working as a logo designer for caps and embroidered shirts. Three months ago, he created a Garfield patch tattoo design as an experiment, and that very same day improved on the new style with a tattoo of Courage the Cowardly Dog. After posting the photos on his Instagram and receiving positive feedback from his fans and other tattoo artists, Lozano realized he was on to something special and decided to focus on stitched patch tattoos going forward. He is now recognized as the pioneer of the style.

Photo: Eduardo Duda Lozano/Instagram

Lozanos colorful creations really look like stitched patches on his clients skin. His past experience with actual patches allows him to recreate the thread lines to perfection, including the binding that keeps the edges from fraying, and the subtle shading creates a realistic three-dimensional effect. In fact, the Brazilian tattoo artist told Tattoo Life that highlighting and shading are key to creating this style of tattoos. Of course, tiny details like tiny loose threads help too.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Duda Lozano_ tattoo you (@dudalozanotattoo) on Apr 15, 2019 at 2:02pm PDT

Ever since his first stitched patch tattoos went viral, Duda Lozanos career took off in a massive way. He recently started tattooing at Tattoo You, the oldest and largest tattoo shop in Sao Paolo, and hes been invited to conventions in France, Germany Spain, Italy, Colombia, Mexico, among others.

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The Indian Army is being mocked after recently tweeting that one of its mountaineering teams spotted mysterious footprints of the mythical Yeti in an isolated mountainous area between Nepal and Tibet.

For the first time, an #IndianArmy Mountaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast Yeti measuring 3215 inches close to Makalu Base Camp on 09 April 2019, the official Twitter account of the Indian Army tweeted a couple of days ago. This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past. Humans have been searching for proof of Yetis existence for centuries, but so far its all been debunked by science. So why is the Indian Army tweeting about Yeti, and more importantly, why does its tweet imply that it actually exists?

Photo: scheuebergziege/Pixabay

Well, the first explanation that comes to mind is that the Indian Army was just joking, but so far theyve given no indication of that. In fact, the only reaction it had to being mocked on social media was to add that the evidence of Yetis existence had been photographed and handed over to subject matter experts. That didnt really go well with scientists.

For the first time, an #IndianArmy Moutaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast Yeti measuring 3215 inches close to Makalu Base Camp on 09 April 2019. This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past. pic.twitter.com/AMD4MYIgV7  ADG PI  INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) April 29, 2019

With all due respect, institutions such as yours should be more responsible and careful before going ahead and declaring the sighting of any footprints as Yetis! Kushal Prajapati tweeted to the Indian Army. Theres been lots of research done on Bigfoot/Yeti (including sighting/footprints) with none proving its existence.

And I spotted Bigfoots footprints in Singapore last Sunday. What a coincidence! pic.twitter.com/eMzC0rrOuh  Kanishk Samota (@KanishkSamota) April 29, 2019

After the controversial tweet went viral, Twitter was inundated with jokes and memes mocking the Indian Army, and the hashtag #Yeti became one of the trending topics on the popular social network.

Little known fact for all you doubters who say it was one-legged: yetis prefer to catwalk. #Yeti pic.twitter.com/TJ8kWGfR00  Dhruva Jaishankar (@d_jaishankar) April 29, 2019

To be fair, the photographic proof revealed by the Indian Army isnt exactly irrefutable. The pictures it posted simply show a single-file line of impressions in snow that appear to be partially-melted footprints. They dont seem to feature any claw or tow marks, so claiming that they were made by a Yeti may not have been the best idea.

Also sighted: a delighted Yeti after being tweeted by the Indian Army pic.twitter.com/YzKSWpLDbV  Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) April 30, 2019

Its not like these were the first large footprints spotted in the Himalayas, either. In 1937 Frank Smythe also alleged the footprints he had photographed belong to the mythical snow beast, but experts all agreed they belonged to a bear. I guess the Indian Army didnt take that possibility into consideration between sharing its proof of Yetis existence.


Khalifa Haftar

Mercury Public Affairs has inked a $1.8M one-year contract with Libyas Government of National Accord, which is under assault by a rebel group fronted by 75-year-old warlord Khalifa Haftar, a US citizen.

Though the United Nations and the US recognize the GNA as the legitimate ruler of Libya, president Trump made a phone call to Haftar on April 19 to discuss ongoing counterterrorism efforts and the need to achieve peace and stability in Libya, according to a White House statement.

Trump's phone chat followed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's demand that Haftar end his push into Libya's capital city of Tripoli and denounced him for "undermining prospects for a better future for all Libyans."

Mercury is providing strategic consulting, government relations, lobbying and media outreach for the office of Libyan prime minister Fayez al-Serraj.

The firm is looking for interest groups allied with the goals of the GNA and coordinatating their support. Mercury also is active on the international affairs front, according to its contract.

The Omnicom unit received a $500K upfront fee when it launched its effort for Libya on April 22.

Future monthly fees of $150K are payable in advance.


Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for jumping bail in 2012 and taking refuge in Ecuadors embassy in London, where he was until being arrested on April 11. The sentence is just two weeks short of the maximum allowed by British law.

It is difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offense, Judge Deborah Taylor was reported to have told Assange. By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the U.K.

Assange argued that he should not serve the term, since he was effectively imprisoned during his time at the Ecuadorian embassy.

Assange also faces US federal conspiracy charges related to leaks of government secrets. WikiLeaks collaborated with several media organizations in 2010 to release documents that presented a negative view of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. He was also accused of conspiring with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password that would have allowed her to break into a U.S. government computer system.

Manning is currently imprisoned on contempt of court charges for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating Assange.

Assange has also drawn the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller, who concluded that emails from Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign that WikiLeaks published were stolen by Moscow.



I apologize unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case, Assange said in a letter read in court by his attorney, Mark Summers. This is not what I wanted or intended.

Assange will be eligible for release after serving half his sentence, Judge Taylor said.
Local election hopeful in Edenderry, Fianna Fail's Christine Traynor, has called for an urgent evaluation of the provision of assessments for special educational needs in schools.

"Earlier in the year, the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN) issued the findings from an internal poll that found the vast majority of those principals (97%) believes further supports are needed to alleviate behavioural issues in the classroom and

worse, 87% say they have concerns around health and safety in their school," Christine explained.

Schools are under pressure and are doing their best to accommodate student individual need but more needs to be done. At the doorsteps, parents are telling me they are struggling to cope with the additional pressures when trying to secure assessments for their children and shocking wait times have been revealed and additionally the costs of private assessments are significant on families struggling financially, Christine explained.

We need a comprehensive focused Plan to ensure that the proper and safe provision for pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools is provided for."

Also anxious parents are asked to wait to find out if their child or children will be accepted into a local school, usually being put on a waiting list because there is not enough space. Some schools are required to carry out a lottery, where names are

chosen at random to secure places in units. This is not acceptable, she continued.

Parents are under pressure, and are worried that their children are not getting the support they need and interventions are crucial in helping children with learning disabilities to meet their full potential."

The Department of Education has pointed out that it has significantly increased investment in special education in recent years. However, Christine Traynor concluded that questions remain if there has been more funding, why are schools struggling to cope, why are waiting times for assessments excessive, in some cases one to two-years."

"The reality is that the Government has not managed this situation and are not prepared for the future need of vulnerable children," Christine concluded.
I think theres room in town for all of us to fulfill our mission and take care of more kids and families in a way that fits our organization, Kolb said. And we want to be a community resource.

Childrens, hospital officials said in a statement, will continue to offer a full range of pediatric surgical services, including operating the regions only Level II pediatric trauma center.

Kolb said Boys Town wants to grow the group and build programs with and around the surgeons.

That includes supporting a pediatric thyroid clinic and a weight management and obesity program, and developing a colorectal practice. For some, the hospital also will tap existing specialties, such as behavioral health and pediatric gastroenterology.

The hospital also plans to support the physicians commitment to educating surgeons, Kolb said. The group sponsors a well-regarded pediatric surgical fellowship in collaboration with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Kolb, a pediatrician and anesthesiologist, said Boys Town considers itself a physician-driven organization that takes seriously what doctors need to support their practices.
The group has pledged to not use paid petition circulators, which have been commonly utilized in recent, successful petition drives, such as those that placed the death penalty, an increase in the minimum wage and Medicaid expansion on the ballot.

Truemper, however, said a 2006 referendum to repeal a law concerning one-room schools successfully made it onto the ballot utilizing only volunteers.

The TRUE Nebraskans proposal calls for a 35% income tax refund for rural and urban landowners on the property taxes they pay. The group said the proposal would drastically reduce property taxes, which rank seventh-highest in the country.

Truemper and others at Wednesdays rally said the ballot initiative is a better alternative to Legislative Bill 289, advanced Tuesday by the Revenue Committee, because it gives tax relief directly to taxpayers, and because it will force state and local governments to cut spending.

The 35% solution is also simpler, he said, than LB 289, and could not be watered down by lawmakers because it would be placed in the State Constitution.
Instruction for young people about a proper attitude toward alcohol use starts in the home, of course. Parents and guardians need to model themselves responsibly. The state HHS cites several efforts it supports: Across Ages, an underage drinking program; Responsible Beverage Server Training; and Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol, which addresses underage drinking access.

Responses in the HHS survey showed increased awareness among young people about the dangers of binge drinking, with 78.3% so indicating, up from 71.1% in 2010.

Nebraskas colleges and universities are on the front lines in working to address the issue among their students. These institutions employ various programs in helping students understand the issue as well as specific campus policies and support services. Creighton University, for example, says in its literature on alcohol use: Creighton takes seriously the need to educate students about the importance of making good choices regarding alcohol. Our efforts are aimed at reducing high-risk drinking and encouraging students to abandon binge drinking behaviors. Creighton and the University of Nebraska at Omaha both inform freshmen that, according to surveys, the majority of students on their campuses either abstain from drinking or avoid binge drinking.
The brewing conflict between the House Judiciary Committee and Attorney General William Barr  over whether he will testify this week as scheduled, and under what ground rules  is a symptom of a much bigger emerging clash between Congress and the president. The most probable outcome is a stalemate: because the framers designed the Constitution that way.

We have entered a new phase of the constitutional stress test that began with President Donald Trumps election and shows no signs of winding down. In the first phases, Trump pushed the limits of executive power on immigration and went after the criminal justice system in the hopes of delegitimizing it.

This time, the initiative comes not from the president, but from a different branch of government.

The Democratic House intends to exercise its oversight and investigation powers to hound Trump right up until the 2020 presidential election. To do so, it must either get cooperation from executive branch witnesses or compel them to appear using the power of subpoena.

Trump is welcoming the challenge. Hes reportedly told dozens of current and former executive branch officials to refuse to testify before Congress, setting the stage for a battle royale with Congress.
On this there seems to be agreement: There is not enough revenue to cut taxes, so all roads lead to a shift in the tax burden. I urge lawmakers to reject any proposal that would increase the already high burden on low-income earners and working families.

Ricketts is right in rejecting any plan to take more from those who can least afford it. The only reasonable tax proposal would be one that would instead ask just a little more from those who never have to worry about where their next meal will come from.

Ben Perlman, Omaha

Omaha Public Schools board member

Venezuelas socialism not to blame

Venezuela is in ruins, but the countrys troubles should not be solely blamed on its socialist practices. While Im no expert, I understand that, as it is an underdeveloped country with a petrol-based economy, it is not directly comparable to the U.S.

Likewise, blatant political corruption, scheming and scandal have nullified any attempts at proper government management regardless of model, so even implying that the problems in Venezuela are products of socialism alone ignores the overarching problems afflicting the country.
Kelbey Heider and Nicole Huynhs friendship started at a library table and blossomed into a relationship one night over pizza and a movie. Eventually, Kelbey proposed on a hike in Portland, Oregon, with help from Nicoles best friend.

The two Creighton alums, who together have juggled grad school, bar and pharmacy board exams and new careers, brought some spontaneous fun to their engagement shoot with a snack-filled pillow fight at home.

Nicole pitched the idea. Kelbey, a self-proclaimed snack connoisseur, was all-in to get their snack game on and make a mess, Nicole says.

They hired Chelsea Archer of Chelsea Jo Photography for a three-part shoot on a bitterly cold March day. The wind chill and snow didnt stop Nicole and Kelbey from dressing to the nines and heading to Elmwood Park and Joslyn Art Museum for a series of outdoor photos.

The sweetest moment was getting to dance around in the snow, Nicole says. It definitely took a few hours to gain feeling and warmth back in our toes. But it was worth it.
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Haryana: Three selfie-crazy youths crushed by train

Chandigarh

pti-PTI

Chandigarh, May 1: Three youths were killed when they were clicking selfies on a railway track, about 2 km from Panipat railway station in Haryana, a senior Government Railway Police (GRP) official said on Wednesday. They were clicking selfies on the track between Panipat and Babarpur railway stations on the Delhi-Ambala route on Monday evening, he said.

The deceased were identified as Sunny, Chaman and Kishan, all relatives, in age group of 18-20 years, Station House Officer, GRP (Panipat), S M Dabas told PTI.

Sunny and Chaman were residents of a colony in Panipat while Kishan belonged to Uttar Pradesh, he said The three had gone to a park along with another relative Dinesh, who resides in Delhi, and had a miraculous escape. From the park, the four moved on to the railway track located behind it to click selfies, the GRP official said.

"All the four were sitting on a track and on seeing an approaching train they jumped towards the other track without realising that Delhi-Kalka passenger train was fast approaching on it," he said.

While three of them were crushed, however, Dinesh had a miraculous escape as he jumped on the other side of the track, the GRP official said, adding the body parts lay strewn 10-20 metres from the incident site. The mortal remains were handed over to the respective families of the deceased after the post mortem examinations on Tuesday.

From time to time the railway authorities keep issuing warnings asking everyone not to sit or walk on railway tracks, which is not only dangerous but an offence too, he said.

[Uttarakhand: Selfie costs youth his life, drowns in Ganga at Rishikesh]

A railway official said that sometimes youths are oblivious to dangers when they walk or cross the tracks with earphones plugged in. Notably, there have been several incidents in the past across the country when some youths have lost their lives or put their lives in danger while clicking selfies on railway tracks, atop railway bridges or dangerously hanging out from running trains.

"With majority of India's population being youth, several youths are driven by selfie craze, but some of them put their lives at risk posing for pictures completely ignoring the dangers involved," said Rohit Kumar, a 22-year-old university student here.

PTI
Amit Shah credits Modi for UN move on Azhar, Cong 'disappointed' at no mention of Pulwama

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, May 1: Top Bharatiya Janata Dal (BJP) leaders, including its president Amit Shah, credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the UN designating Masood Azhar a global terrorist on Wednesday, while the Congress noted its "disappointment" over no mention of the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief's role in the Pulwama terror attack in the decision.

Political parties cutting across ideological divide welcomed the development. Shah said Modi's diplomatic efforts led to the United Nation (UN)'s decision as he pitched for his "strong and decisive" leadership. "That is why India needs a strong & decisive leader. Grateful to PM Narendra Modi and his diplomatic efforts that led to the UN designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. It was long over due. This also reflects PM Modi's commitment towards zero tolerance against terrorism," Shah tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it was a welcome step but added that the opposition party was disappointed that the UN listing does not mention the Pulwama terror attack, which had killed 40 CRPF personnel, and has no reference to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Pakistan-based Masood Azhar's belated declaration as a global terrorist by UN is surely a welcome step. India's fight against terrorism is resolute. We are disappointed that UN listing doesn't mention Pulwama/J&K while listing Azhar's role in terrorist activities," he tweeted.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah alleged that the sacrifices of CRPF men were sold down the river for a symbolic win.

"No mention of terror in Kashmir & no mention of Pulwama. It's amazing how quickly the sacrifices of the CRPF men were sold down the river to get a symbolic win," he said.

BJP leaders asserted that the development shows that India is in safe hands. "India stands vindicated. Masood Azhar is now a global terrorist. India is in safe hands. This marks a high point for the Prime Minister's foreign policy," senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

Calling it a "historic success" for India, the BJP used one of its Lok Sabha election slogans, 'Modi hai toh mumkin hai' (It is possible if Modi is there), as it reacted to what is being seen as a major diplomatic win for the country. With the BJP making nationalism a key plank of its campaign, the party is set to highlight the development for political dividends in the election season.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav congratulated the Indian diplomatic corp for the tireless work that led to this "significant victory". "We demand Pakistan immediately arrest him, freeze his assets and shutdown all organisations linked to him," he said.

In a huge diplomatic win for India, the United Nations on Wednesday designated Azhar as a "global terrorist" after China lifted its hold on a proposal to blacklist him. Union minister Prakash Javadekar said it is a "big diplomatic victory" for India under Modi in the fight against terrorism and added that Pakistan now stands completely exposed.

The Congress said it expected the Modi government to act with a "greater speed" in pursuing the case with China as several precious lives in terror attacks such as the one in Pulwama could have been avoided. The Modi government should now push for a declaration of bounty on Azhar's head as was ensured by the UPA in the case of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, the Congress said.

Welcoming the move, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP said, "It is a great tribute to those killed in terror attacks in J&K and other parts of the country. This step will finish militancy in J&K."

PTI
Balakot strike not a political issue, but nothing wrong if its raised in campaign: Harsh Vardhan

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, May 1: Brushing aside the charge that BJP was politicising the IAF strike in Balakot in Pakistan, Union minister Harsh Vardhan has said it is neither a political issue nor the one which can be thought about in terms of votes.

In an interview to PTI, Vardhan, who is BJP's Chandni Chowk candidate, asserted that his campaign is centred around development issues and not the air strike as people were already hailing the valour of the defence forces.

"For us all, these issues which are related to the nationalistic sentiment of this country, to the valour of the army men, to the holistic and comprehensive nationalistic vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are not political issues and not the ones about which you think in terms of votes. I don't raise this issue (Balakot air strike) on my own. I have hundreds of other issues related to development done by me in my constituency and other issues where we have brought science and technology to higher pedestal internationally," Vardhan said when asked about whether he too will use the issue in his election campaign, like the prime minister did.

[Suffered no damage in Balakot air strike: Pak army]

Recently, at a poll rally in Patan, Gujarat, PM Modi told people that he had warned Pakistan of consequences if it had not returned Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman. The prime minister has been referring to national security and the recent strikes by India against terrorists in his poll campaigns across the country. Sixty-four-year-old Vardhan, who is the minister of science and technology, earth sciences and environment, forests and climate change, said he himself does not talk about the air strike and national security in campaigns but "there is nothing abnormal even if it is raised".

[Post Balakot, IAF speaks of better technological asymmetry]

Hailing the BJP-led central government and the prime minister, Vardhan said that the government has shown the world that India cannot be taken for granted. "There are thousands of other things to talk about. When I talk to people, I don't talk about Balakot. However, there is nothing abnormal if I raise it on my own. The government has shown not only to Pakistan but to the whole world that we really mean business, you cannot take us for granted. For us, it is not a political issue and it will never be. Even if you ask the most illiterate person in the country, he will praise the army men and the leadership of the PM," he said.

Vardhan, incumbent MP from Chandi Chowk and a four-time MLA from east Delhi's Krishna Nagar, refuted the allegations of the Opposition that BJP was "blatantly politicising" Balakot air strike and seeking votes in the name of martyrs, saying it showed the "sheer frustration" of opposition parties.

"This is just out of sheer frustration that they (opposition) are talking about all these illogical, irrelevant things. Any issue related to valour will be engrained in history. Balakot incident was done in such a meticulous manner, that it will be recorded as one of the most sophisticated air strikes carried out by any country that went to another country and destroyed terror camps. It's an achievement worth recognising internationally as well as nationally," he said.

He said issues cannot be manufactured in a cabinet meeting or at a political party's office but are those which are discussed by the people. "Issue is something which you cannot manufacture in a cabinet meeting or in a political party's office. Issues are those about which people of India think. I have strongly observed that today we don't have to talk about the valour of the PM before people. It is the people who talk about Balakot, Uri and these air strikes and accomplishments in space," he said.

The Indian Air Force had struck Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist training camps in Pakistan on February 26 in response to the February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

PTI
BSP to fight solo in UP, Uttarakhand, no tie-up with Owaisi's AIMIM, says Mayawati

'Should not be misled': Mayawati reaches out to Brahmins before UP polls

BJP banking on 'Jumlas', Congress insulted Ambedkar: Mayawati attacks both national parties

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, May 01: BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on both the BJP and the Congress, saying that while the saffron party banked on its 'jumlas' (false promises), the grand old party had insulted Dr BR Ambedkar.

Mayawati has been attacking both the national parties in her election rallies. The BSP chief yesterday said both the Congress and the BJP failed to fulfil promises made to the people. Last week, she accused both the BJP and the Congress of "corruption" in defence deals, and of misusing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to "drag" Opposition parties into false cases.

Today, the BSP chief said that the BJP would lose the Lok Sabha elections. "All their chowkidaars can come together but it is not going to work for them. All that has worked for them are their jumlas," she said.

Don't fall prey to 'allurements' of BJP, Congress: Mayawati

She accused the BJP of 'troubling the farmers of UP by not providing proper care for their cattle' . "Stray cattle is a big issue for our farmers but what has been done for them?," Mayawati asked.

On April 14, Mayawati asked the Congress why it did not implement its proposed 'NYAY' minimum income guarantee scheme in the party-ruled States, including Chhattisgarh ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

"They wanted to ensure that Ambedkar lost elections," Mayawati said today, accusing the Congress of misusing the government machinery against BR Ambedkar.

Mayawati said that the Congress did not do anything for the poor. "When Ambedkar realised that the Congress and Nehru did nothing for the Dalits, he quit his position as the law minister and decided to fight for us," Mayawati said, as per reports.

Why EC not cancelling BJP 'gem' Sadhvi Pragya's nomination: Mayawati

Mayawati also tweeted toray that she would reconsider her support to the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh which has a slim majority. Recently, the candidate of the Samajwadi Party-BSP alliance in Guna, Lokendra Singh Rajput, quit and came out in support of Congress candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia.

BSP president on Saturday accused the BJP and Congress of "offering allurements" at election time and asked people not to fall prey to them.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 16:55 [IST]
Heavy downpour in Kerala for next 2 days; rainfall activity likely to reduce in Uttarakhand

Odisha to start evacuating people as Cyclone Fani to make landfall; NDRF, Army on standby

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, May 01: Odisha has sounded a red alert warning for 17 districts after the Indian Meteorological Department said that the extremely severe cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall 10km north of Chandrabhaga in Puri district on Friday afternoon. Some reports suggest that Fani could be more intense than Cyclone Title which hit Odisha last year and left 60 dead.

Cyclone 'Fani' is very likely to move northwestwards during next 12 hours and cross Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chanbali, south of Puri around Friday afternoon, with maximum windspeed of 175-185 km/hr gusting up to 205 km/hr, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.

The armed forces and the NDRF are geared up to handle the situation once Fani hits the coast.

National Disaster Response Force said,''Total of 47 flood rescue&relief teams have been prepositioned in 25 vulnerable/coastal areas of West Bengal,Odisha,Andhra,Tamil Nadu & Kerala to meet any eventuality arising due to cyclone. In addition, 24 teams are on alert standby at NDRF bases.''

"Ships at Visakhapatnam are standing-by with relief material for immediate deployment to most affected areas to undertake Humanitarian Aid, Distress Relief operations. Diving and medical teams are kept ready augmenting rescue and relief efforts in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha," said Southern Command of Indian Army.

Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said about eight lakh people would be evacuated in view of "extremely severe" cyclonic storm Fani.

Chairing a high-level review meeting, he directed to ensure 100 per cent evacuation in the vulnerable areas as every life is precious, and set the goal to achieve zero-casualty. He said about eight lakh people would be evacuated to safer places by Thursday evening.

All state universities and colleges coming under administrative control of Higher Education Department and located in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khordha, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts will remain closed from May 2 to 4th, said reports.All teaching, non-teaching and administrative staff will, however, have attend to office.

The Election Commission has lifted the model code of conduct in the coastal districts of the state to ensure that the state is prepared to face Fani. The Navy, the National Disaster Response Force and the Coast Guard are on high alert.

Odisha government has asked tourists in Puri to leave the temple town as they requested for additional teams and helicopters to assist them in evacuating people who will be affected.

All leaves of doctors and health staff in Odisha have been cancelled upto 15th May. Those who are on leave have been asked to report back to respective Headquarters by today evening.

Earlier the IMD had issued a yellow warning for the Odisha coast. It has also predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at places such as Boudh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh and Kalahandi.

Severe cyclonic storm Fani to make landfall at Odisha coast on May 3

"It has intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm," Additional Director General of the IMD Mritunjay Mohapatra told PTI.

The IMD said, gale wind with speed 150 -160 kmph gusting to 170 is also likely over the districts of Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, 110-120 kmph gusting to 130 kmph is also likely over the districts of Gajapati, Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, 80-90 kmph over the districts of Nayagarh, Angul, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and squally wind speed 30-40 kmph gust to 50 kmph over the rest districts of Odisha by the evening of May 3.

The sea conditions are very likely to be rough to very rough along and off Odisha Coast on May 2 and become high to phenomenal by May 4. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into deep sea areas of northwest and adjoining West-central Bay of Bengal along and off Odisha coast from May 2 to May 4, according to a report in ANI.

The South Eastern Railway has cancelled 43 trains scheduled to run between Howrah and Puri, and other destinations in south India over the next two days. The SER has cancelled 17 trains bound for south India and Puri. It has also decided to cancel 26 trains originating from south India, an SER official said. It has also taken precautionary measures to keep their passengers safe by carrying out special patrolling. In addition, breakdown vans and relief trains have been kept ready to cater to areas likely to be affected by the cyclone in the two states, the official said.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has also evacuated 480 of its employees from rigs operating in the Bay of Bengal ahead of an impending cyclone that is expected to make landfall on Friday.
Dera chief Ram Rahim denied bail

India

oi-Deepika S

Panchkula, May 01: Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of the controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief, serving a 20-year jail term each in two rape cases.

Gurmeet had sought a month's reprieve on grounds that his foster daughter Guransh, originally an orphan, is getting married on May 10.

The 52-year old sect chief is serving a 20-year jail term for rape of two of his disciples within the sect premises in Sirsa in Haryana.

The CBI court in Panchkula had sentenced him to life imprisonment in January this year for the murder of the journalist that took place in 2002. The life term in jail for the sect chief will begin only after completion of his 20-years of jail term in the rape case.

Scribe murder case: Gurmeet Ram Rahim, 3 others get life imprisonment

However, the political wing of the dera is yet to make an announcement as to which party it would be support ing in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The polling will be held in Haryana on May 12 and in Punjab on May 19.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 11:52 [IST]
Lok Sabha elections: This is how leaders are campaigning

Thanks for barring her: Digvijaya on Sadhvi Pragya

Campaigning for sixth phase of LS polls ends today: Big guns to bring out their best

The first terrorist was a Hindu, his name was Nathuram Godse: Kamal Haasan

Digvijaya Singh ropes in 3,000 saints for campaigning

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, May 01: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has devised a strategy to counter Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Pragya Thakur from Bhopal.

The BJP is presenting Thakur, who is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon terrorist bombings, not only in Bhopal but every seat of Madhya Pradesh as a symbol of Hindutva and nationalism.

Thakur has been alleging that she was tortured during detention because of the Congress-led government wanted to prove its 'Hindu Terror' theory.

I am a big fan of Kanhaiya Kumar says Digvijaya Singh

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had defended her candidature, and said it was a symbolic answer to all those who falsely labelled the rich Hindu civilisation as "terrorist" and asserted that "this symbol will prove costly for the Congress".

Before Thakur was made the BJP candidate, Digvijaya Singh's campaign was centred on questioning development of Bhopal, which has been sending BJP candidates to the Lok Sabha from last three decades.

Singh, who is fighting the election that will decide his political future, soon realised that the development centric campaigning would not yield much results against BJP's aggressive Hindutva campaign.

Sources tell One India that Singh's political campaign managers advised him that he should send a message in Bhopal that he is not averse to Hinduism.

It's notable that Singh still receives flak on the social media for terming Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden as "Osama Ji" and 26/11 mastermind Hafeez Saeed as "Hafeez Saab."

Singh quickly changed his strategy and started visiting Hindu temples regularly.

He has told his supporters to change the general perspective that he is more close to Muslims than Hindus.

According to sources, around 3000 Hindu saints are likely to campaign for Digvijaya Singh and many of them have already started campaigning under the leadership of Namdeo Tyagi alias Computer Baba.

Self-proclaimed godman, 'Computer Baba', has been appointed as chairman of 'Ma Narmada, Ma Kshipra and Ma Mandaknini River Trust' in Madhya Pradesh by the Congress-led Kamal Nath government.

Earlier, he was given a status of "Minister of State status" in Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

Kanhaiya never raised anti-India slogans, says Digvijaya Singh

Sources also say that saints have been roped in for Singh's campaigning with the help of Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati. It is notable that Singh along with his wife had taken blessings of the Shankaracharya before filing his nomination.

Apart from it, the Congress leader has been ensuring that he is often seen visiting Hindu temples.

Sources also say that Singh has also assured around 1000 priests that they would be given control of the land adjoining their temples once he is elected.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 10:35 [IST]
EC bars Pragya Thakur from campaigning for 72 hours over Babri, Karkare remarks

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, May 01: The Election Commission (EC) has barred Bharatiya Janata Dal (BJP) Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur from campaigning for three days starting 6 am on 2 May for her remarks on ATS chief Hemant Karkare and the Babri mosque.

Thakur's remark that she is proud of Babri Masjid's demolition was found in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The EC said though Pragya had apologised for her statement against the slain IPS officer, it found the statement to be "unwarranted".

[BJP eyes benefit of Pragya Thakur on many seats, Congress concerned]

In her response to the show cause notice on Karkare, she had said that the idea was to tell people how she was tortured allegedly at the behest of the Congress-led UPA government. She said she holds the right to tell people what she had gone through. On Babri mosque, she said she had no intentions of creating divide between people and her statement only reflects her inner voice.

The EC found her statements to be "provocative" and having the potential to "spread hatred".

The Commission felt the statements were aimed at securing votes on "religious grounds".

BJP's Bhopal candidate Pragya Thakur spoke to news agency ANI said Karkare was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack because of her "curse" as he "tortured" her when he probed the Malegaon blast case as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). She also had said that she was "proud" of her participation in the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in 1992.

Bhopal will vote in phase 6 of Lok Sabha elections on May 12. Pragya is pitted against Congress leader Digvijay Singh.
EC notice to Rahul for saying Modi govt enacted law allowing tribals to be shot at

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, May 1: The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks that the Narendra Modi government has enacted a new law which allows tribal to be shot at.

Citing his speech made in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh on April 23, the commission pointed at a provision of the model code which bars "unverified" allegations to be levelled against political opponents.

[EC gives clean chit to Modi over 'dedicate votes to Balakot' remark]

Gandhi has been given 48 hours to respond to the notice, failing which it will take action without further reference to him. Two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers had approached the EC with the complaint, following which a report was sought from MP poll authorities.

According to a broad translation of the Hindi speech available on the internet, Gandhi had alleged: "Narendra Modi government has made a new law for tribals in which there is a line that says tribals can be shot at...They snatch your land, take away your jungle and water and then say that tribals can be shot at."

PTI
Has Modi changed India? Impact on regional geopolitics in last 5 years

India

oi-Vikas SV

New Delhi, May 01: Foreign policy and the way a country approaches international relations generally do not change radically with change in the political leadership. Even if the government of the day wants to bring about sweeping changes in it, there are doctrines, long term goals and guidelines that set certain limits.

Some opine that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has imposed himself on India's foreign policy and has tried to fundamentally change the way India approaches geopolitics. There is no clear cut answer to this as some things have definitely changed, but then how substantial are these changes.

Traditionally, India's approach in dealing with neighbouring countries has hinged on peace and risk aversion. Risk aversion in the sense that India has always avoided conflicts and projected that its massive armed forces are purely meant to defend borders and safe guard national interests. But, under PM Modi India, from being a cautious power, seemed ready to take on the risk of conflict, especially with Pakistan. Pulwama attack and the Balakot strikes that followed were testimony to this.

Positive progress made on Masood Azhar's blacklisting, says China

Modi's strong response to the terror strikes in Pulwama at the very end of his first term in office made one thing clear that despite his critics, he has managed to change the fundamentals of Indian foreign and security policy in his five years in office.

Has Modi changed India's approach towards Middle East:



India has asserted itself like never before in the the Middle East. PM Modi visited a number of Middle East countries and even managed to get so fugitives extradited from Dubai. India was even invited to the inaugural address of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for the first time in its 50-year history.

Many of these countries were viewed as overly supportive of Pakistan for religious reasons. With this in mind, Modi moved unexpectedly to engage Saudi Arabia and the UAE in ways that promise important political and economic benefits.

India avoided making statements or taking sides in intra-Gulf rivalries. Even in the Israel-Palestine matter, India's stance has been a neutral one. Benjamin Netanyahu's India visit and Modi's Israel visit were publicised, but an official statement always came that Palestine is equally important. India preserved good relations with Iran, despite being under pressure from the United States. After all, India needs Iranian oil.

About 200 US companies to move manufacturing from China to India

Modi tried to strengthen India's influence in Southeast Asia by banking on its civilisational ethos and values. From the very beginning the Modi led government made it ample clear that India would focus more and more on improving relations with ASEAN and other East Asian countries. In her visit to Hanoi, Vietnam Sushma Swaraj had stressed on the need for an "Act East Policy". She had said India is looking to play a more proactive role in this region. The launch of a SAARC satellite showed that India is indeed keen to forge stronger ties in South East Asia.

Modi's impact on ties with China:

Modi's handling of relations with China has drawn mixed reactions, but then any attempt made by any government in India should be gauged by considering that Beijing has its own agenda. Beijing not only wants regional dominance but global dominance. China is assertive, strong - both militarily and economically, and its closeness to Pakistan is for particular reason which does not forebode well for India.

There are a lot of grey areas in India China ties that cannot be fixed overnight. Modi stood up to China's alleged intrusion in Doklam. What talks Ajit Doval had with his Chinese counterparts during the Doklam stand-off is something for the veteran strategic matters experts to debate. Under Modi, India agreed to be part of the resurrected quadrilateral involving the United States, Japan, and Australia. This, needless to say, has left China irked.

First anniversary of Modi-Xi Wuhan summit celebrated with 'colours of India' week

India is now a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which is known to be a China backed bloc for military and energy cooperation. India held observer status from 2005 and publicly expressed its wish for a full membership. Chinese president Xi Jinping informed Modi during BRICS summit in Brazil that it is ready to welcome India together with Pakistan to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Modi has publicly expressed his willingness to enhance trade and economic cooperation with China.

Both the Indian Forces and the Chinese border forces have had some altercations in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, but both countries are willing to move beyond them keep the trade continue unhindered.
Hizbul terrorist killed RSS leader in J&K, probe shows

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, May 01: The Jammu and Kashmir police say that the Hizbul Mujahideen could have been behind the killing of RSS leader Chanderkant Sharma.

Investigations have found that four persons were involved in the plot to kill Sharma and his PSO Rajinder Kumar. While the police is on the trail of three persons, the fourth is yet to be identified.

He appears to be an outsider, the police said. Even after showing pictures of the man, eye-witnesses were unable to identify him. Police sources say that the Hizbul Mujahideen operatives had purchased the car a day before the attack for around Rs 80,000. They however abandoned the car after the incident. The attack was carried out to fan communal tensions in the state, the officer also added.

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls: EC to seek clarifications from MHA, take legal opinion

In April, the terrorists opened fire at the RSS leader in Kishtwar. The RSS leader, Chanderkant Sharma, and his PSO had gone to a hospital in Kishtwar. The terrorist were watching his movement. He opened fire on them, resulting in the death of the PSO and the leader.

This was the second incident of a terrorist attack in Kishtwar town during past six months period. On November 1, state secretary of BJP Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet were returning from their shop in Kishtwar, were gunned down in the firing by terrorists in a lane leading to their house in Kishtwar town.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 12:33 [IST]
TMC delegation to meet Election Commission in Delhi today; To request for early bypolls in Bengal

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls: EC to seek clarifications from MHA, take legal opinion

India

oi-Deepika S

Srinagar, May 01: The Election Commission has it will seek further clarification from the ministry of home affairs on certain aspects for the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

The 'full Commission', comprising Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and fellow commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, met here to discuss the stand of the Jammu and Kashmir administration which wants the election to be held sometime in November.

The Commission decided that it will also seek the opinion of "an eminent Legal Expert" on the ongoing President's rule in the state. The poll panel has held several deliberations on the matter till now.

Did Modi deserve a clean chit for 'majority is minority' comment

The governor's office and the MHA have recommended holding elections in September, while observers had said that the polls could be conducted once the Lok Sabha polls end.

Jammu and Kashmir has not an elected government since the PDP-BJP coalition government fell apart in June 2018.

The state was placed under Governor's Rule, as provided by the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, on June 19, 2018, after the BJP withdrew from its coalition with the PDP.

Maximum MCC violation cases registered against BJP in Delhi

As mandated by the Constitution, the state was brought under President's Rule on 19 December 2018, which will have to be extended for a period of six months on May 19, 2019, or till an elected government is put in place, whichever is earlier.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 10:21 [IST]
Bengaluru: Two workers from Bihar killed, three injured after boiler blast at food factory in Magadi road

Afghanistan: Child among two killed after Rocket hits near Kabul airport

J&K: Two sustain injuries after an object they stumbled upon explodes

India

oi-Vikas SV

Srinagar, May 01: Two persons were injured in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam on Wednesday when an object they were fiddling with exploded. Shahid and Ikhlaq have reportedly sustained minor injuries.

The object they were fiddling with contained explosive substance which exploded. The incident took place in Damhal area of Kulgam.

It is not yet clear how the explosive substance came to be there or whether the duo knew about its contents. It appears, however, that they stumbled upon it and began fiddling with it without knowing that it may cause injury.

J&K: Grenade diffused in outskirts of Srinagar

Reports suggest that the object was a littered shell.

"Both Shahid and Ikhlaq are stated to be stable and Ikhlaq was discharged after preliminary medical treatment while Shahid is undergoing treatment. Police has taken cognizance and is probing the circumstances of the blast," ANI quoted the Jammu and Kashmir Police as saying.

A report said that Shahid has received injuries in his hand while as Ikhlaq suffered wounds in his face.

J&K: IED blast leaves an Army officer dead in Rajouri

In December last year, Jammu and Kashmir Police had claimed to have arrested a person and recovered explosive substances from his possession in southern Pulwama district.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 12:38 [IST]
How do naxals procure sophisticated weapons: It was the LTTE which aided them

Naxals from Telangana were in the process of making grenade launchers, IEDs: NIA

Maharashtra: Naxals trigger IED blast in Gadchiroli, 15 jawans killed

India

oi-Deepika S

Mumbai, May 01: Fifteen security personnel and a driver were killed in an explosion set off by Maoists in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli. The Maoists triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) to target the police vehicle.

The incident took place on the Kurkheda-Korchi road in Gadchiroli when a team of the C-60 squad commandoes, an anti-Naxal unit, was patrolling the area.

Sudhir Mungantiwar, Maharashtra Minister on Gadchiroli naxal attack said, "We suspect that 15 police jawaans and a driver have lost their lives in this incident.

The attack is belived to be a retaliation by the Maoists after 40 extremists were gunned down by security forces on April 22 last year near Bhamragarh in the district.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack on Twitter and said the perpetrators will not be spared. "Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families," he wrote.

Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared.  Chowkidar Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 1, 2019

Home minister Rajnath Singh too condemned the attack. "Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri @Dev_Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration," he tweeted.

Spoke to Maharashtra CM Shri @Dev_Fadnavis regarding the tragic incident in Gadchiroli and expressed my grief at the loss of brave Police personnel. We are providing all assistance needed by the state government. MHA is in constant touch with the state administration. 2/2  Chowkidar Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 1, 2019

In similar incident earlier, naxals have allegedly set ablaze 27 machines and vehicles at a road construction site in Kurkheda of Gadchiroli district on Wednesday.

On April 11, an encounter broke out between CRPF personnel and Naxals in the Naxal affected district of Gadchiroli.

In January this year, Naxals set ablaze vehicles in the villages of Kurkheda, Korchi and Potegaon here.

Gadchiroli voted in the first phase of national election on April 11.

Last month, a BJP legislator and four others were killed when Maoists attacked their convoy in Chhattisgarh's Bastar. The incident happened on April 9, just two days before the region votes in the first phase of the 2019 general election.
NIA digs deep into political connection of suspected suicide bomber from Kerala

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, May 01: The National Investigation is looking into the political affiliations of Riyaz Aboobacker, the suspected Islamic State operative, who had allegedly planned on carrying out a suicide strike in Kerala.

Riyaz alias Abu Dujana was arrested by the National Investigation Agency and during his interrogation, he revealed that he had been in close touch with ISIS operatives and was conspiring on committing a major terrorist act.

NIA sources tell OneIndia that they are closely looking into his political affiliations to find out if he was acting on his own or was supported by a group or entity. When asked for a comment on if the agency was looking at any particular party, the official refused to comment. We have come across in past cases that some radical elements were supported by political entities. This was found to be true in the case of T Nasir, the man who had masterminded the Bangalore serial blasts, the officer also added.

The NIA said that during interrogation, he has disclosed that he has been in online contact with absconding accused Abdul Rashid Abdulla alias Abu Isa for a long time and has been following his audio clips including the clip which he had circulated on social media platform instigating others to carryout terror attacks in India.

ISIS operative plotted Sri Lanka styled bombings in Kerala

He revealed that he was also having online chat with Abdul Khayoom @ Abu Khalid (Accused in Valapattanam ISIS Case)who was believed to be in Syria. He has further disclosed that he has been following speeches/videos of Zahran Hashim of Sri Lanka for more than a year and has also followed the speeches of Zakir Naik. He admitted that he wanted to carry out a suicide attack in Kerala.

NIA had earlier received inputs that a group of four persons has been in contact with some of the accused like Abdul Rashid, Ashfaq Majeed, Abdul Khayoom etc who had already migrated to Afghanistan and Syria.
No place for Ram mandir in BJP's poll campaign?

India

oi-Deepika S

Ayodhya, May 01: The BJP has been promising to build a grand Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya since 1991 even before the mosque was razed.

Since the temple movement picked up pace, this is the first time that the Ayodhya issue has remained just a mention in the BJP manifesto and has no place in any political rally.

"Mandir wahi banayenge" slogans are no more heard.

From 'Kaun Banega Pradhan Mantri' to 'tearing clothes', choicest phrases used by Modi today

To add to it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who addressed a rally in Ayodhya invoked Lord Rama, once using the Sri Lanka attack as example, and another time to seek blessings in Ram's bhoomi. Chants of Jai Shri Ram also resonated throughout the rally.

However, Modi kept on the issue of building a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, an issue the BJP has pursued aggressively in the past.

Modi also did not visit the makeshift Ram temple and Mahant Paramhans Das said it was unfortunate that the Prime Minister failed to give any message to the people about the BJP's commitment towards its construction.

While PM's rally was supposed to set the tone for party candidates in adjoining seats including Bahraich, Gonda, Kaiserganj, Barabanki, Faizabad, Lucknow, set to vote on May 6, the saints and seers of Ayodhya have made a fervent appeal to the PM to have 'darshan' of Lord Ram at Janmabhoomi.

This is Modi's maiden visit to Ayodhya after he became the Prime Minister of the nation. Earlier, he had visited Ayodhya on May 5, 2014 to address a public meeting in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

When Modi visited Ayodhya in May 2014 for his rally, a model of the proposed Ram temple was also kept on the stage, juxtaposed with a large Lord Ram image in the background. In fact, back then Modi started and ended his speech while invoking Ram, although he did not comment on the issue of the construction of the Ram temple.

Maximum MCC violation cases registered against BJP in Delhi

In November 2018, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and BJP ally Shiv Sena organised separate conventions in Ayodhya to pressurise BJP to facilitate the construction of the temple.

On November 24, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, accompanied by his wife and son, had arrived on his maiden visit to Ayodhya. He had called upon prominent saints/seers and paid obeisance at the Ramlala temple, while pledging support to the government on the temple issue.

The BJP's narrative around Hindutva coupled with the movement for Ram temple in Ayodhya has laid the foundation of the rise of the saffron party to its present stature.

Ram Mandir has featured in every Lok Sabha manifesto released by the BJP since 1996, the first Lok Sabha polls since the Ram Janmabhoomi movement of 1992 which eventually led to the demolition of Babri Masjid and propelled the BJP to electoral success.

In UP, which sends 80 lawmakers to Lok Sabha, and where the Ram Mandir issue has the most traction, the BJP is facing a formidable caste-based alliance of the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, which count Dalit, Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Muslims among their supporters.
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North Indian leaders from Mumbai to campaign in UP

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Mumbai, May 01: With the four-phase Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra coming to an end Monday, politicians of all hues, especially those from Uttar Pradesh who are settled in Mumbai, are set to campaign in their home state.

Leaders of the BJP, the Congress, the SP and the BSP are expected to campaign for candidates of their respective parties in the northern state which votes in seven phases till May 19.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who topped the list of political leaders for holding maximum number of rallies in the state, will also hit the hustings in Uttar Pradesh.

When contacted, the CM told PTI Tuesday that he is awaiting his formal campaign schedule.

Sapna Chaudhary denies joining BJP, says campaigning for 'good friend' Manoj Tiwari

According to highly-placed sources in the BJP, Fadnavis is likely to address at least 12 rallies, mainly in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, including in Varanasi and Gorakhpur.

In the recently-concluded elections in Maharashtra, the chief minister addressed a total of 87 rallies for the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.

"Besides Fadnavis, state Education Minister Vinod Tawde, MLA Raj Purohit, MLC R N Singh and few other leaders are slated to campaign in several Lok Sabha seats like Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Machhali Shahar in Purvanchal region, and also in Western UP," party sources said.

Politically crucial Uttar Pradesh sends maximum 80 MPs to Lok Sabha.

"Given that Uttar Pradesh is politically most crucial state, we are going to make all out efforts to win it again.

The party office is chalking out a schedule for UP campaigners," a party leader said.

Confirming this, state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said several leaders from Maharashtra have either gone to Uttar Pradesh or will be going soon.

Bhandari also said North Indian politicians settled in Maharashtra are volunterring to campaign for BJP nominees in their home state.

Mumbai BJP general secretary Amarjeet Mishra said from Lucknow that more than 70 workers of the party from Maharashtra will be arriving in the UP capital to campaign for Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Mishra said many residents of Mumbai whose families live in Uttar Pradesh, will span across various districts in the northern state and spread word to vote for Modi.

BJP demands arrest of Bangladeshi actor who has been campaigning for TMC

Apart from the BJP, north Indian leaders of Congress in Mumbai like party MLA Naseem Khan and former legislator Kripashankar Singh to name a few, will also campaign in their home state.

Khan, who is already in UP, said he plans to address more than 24 rallies for Congress in the next eight days.

Senior Samajwadi Party leader and BMC corporator Rais Sheikh said Maharashtra chief of the party, Abu Asim Azmi is camping in UP.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 8:58 [IST]
Praveen Togadia has Z plus security, encounter not possible, says police

Major overhaul in security cover to VIPs: Here is the full list whose security has been downgraded

NSA Dovals son get Z category security cover

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, May 01: Shaurya Doval, son of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, has been accorded a top "Z" category level security in view of potential threats to him, officials informed.

10 BJP candidates, who are contesting elections from West Bengal, have also been accorded security by the Centre for a "limited period", the Home Ministry official added.

The officials told PTI that junior Doval has been "brought under the mobile security cover" of a central paramilitary force after a security perception report prepared by Central agencies claimed that he faced "threats from people inimical to his father and others".

Post this report, the Union home ministry has ordered deployment of CISF commandos to guard Shaurya Doval (43) under the "Z" category of VIP cover and AK-47 wielding commandos will be guarding him everytime he moves in any part of the country.

About 15-16 commands have been "detailed" for the security of Shaurya Doval, they said.

Shaurya Doval heads the think-tank "India Foundation".

India fully capable to act against terror: Ajit Doval

NSA Doval enjoys the topmost category of "Z+" provided by the Central Industrial Security Force. Ajit Doval was brought under this security umbrella about four years ago.

In a similar move, the government has accorded a "limited period" VIP security cover to a number of BJP candidates contesting the general elections in West Bengal.

BJP candidates Aupam Hazra, contesting Lok Sabha polls from Jadavpur and Arjun Singh, who joined the party after deserting the TMC and is contesting from Barrackpore, have been given a "Y+" cover of central armed paramilitary commandos.

Similarly, minister of state in the Union Cabinet and candidate from Durgapur, S S Ahluwalia, Cooch Behar candidate Nishit Pramanik, former IPS officer and Ghatal seat candidate Bharti Ghosh have been accorded the "Y+" cover that entails about 5-6 armed commandos. BJP leader Siddharth Shekhar Das has also been given the security.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 5:59 [IST]
PM recalls 1954 Kumbh stampede, contrasts it with this year's mela

India

pti-PTI

Kaushambi (UP), May 1: Lauding the arrangements by the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for this year's Kumbh Mela, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday recalled the 1954 stampede at the religious gathering in Allahabad when Jawaharlal Nehru was PM.

"When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister, thousands of people were killed in the Kumbh stampede in Allahabad," Modi said at an election meeting here. News reports from the time had, however, put the toll in the hundreds, with some saying that about 800 people were killed.

[Kejriwal blames Modi for rejection of ex-BSF jawan's nomination]

The prime minister alleged that for saving the image of the then government, the media, too, had suppressed the news. "The stampede victims' families names were never mentioned and not a single rupee was given to them (as compensation). It was insensitivity and this sin was committed by the country's first prime minister," Modi said.

Praising the efforts of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in successfully organising Kumbh in Prayagraj, he said, "Earlier there used to be allegations of corruption and commission in Kumbh against ministers, officers and contractors but this time there was no such allegation and the event was successful." Continuing his attack over the 1954 stampede, the prime minister said, "There was Congress government in UP and at the Centre.

From Panchayat to Parliament, there was only Congress. Some parties even did not exist at that time. You will be astonished to know that there was a stampede in which thousands were killed. "This time no stampede happened. The arrangements changed with change in government." The prime minister said he was privileged to attend several Kumbh melas in the past.

"I came here towards the end of the Kumbh mela in Prayagraj so that pilgrims did not get affected. Those entrusted with the cleanliness work have changed the image of the country with their works. I got privilege to wash the feet of some during my visit," he said.

Lashing out at the SP-BSP-RLD 'gathbandhan (alliance)' in Uttar Pradesh, Modi said during the last elections, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were on opposite sides, but they have joined hands this time. "Last elections the SP and the BSP were political foes, today they have become friends," he said, ridiculing the alliance.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the SP and the BSP had contested against each other. Modi said names of prospective prime ministers are popping up from every "gali-mohalla" (nook and corner). He said just like the Congress, the SP-BSP would also not be able to check terrorism. Modi said his government had given the forces freedom to act.

"We did a surgical strike and now an air strike," he said, referring to a retaliatory attack in Pakistan after the blast in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. "Pakistan had deployed forces and tanks on the border anticipating that Modi will take the land route. They did not know, this is Modi. This time 'wah upar sey gaye' (the forces attacked via air). Bajrang Bali ki jai. We replied to 'goli' (bullet) with 'gola' (bombshell)," he said.

"To stop harvest of terrorism, the line from where they get supply of 'dana-pani' (fodder) should be snapped," he told the gathering. Firing a salvo at the opposition, Modi said, "They are those who are either in jail or on bail. They promote casteism and nepotism. Have I done anything due to which you have to hang your head in shame? The SP and the BSP governments made lives of rivals hell during their respective regime by cutting power and water connections to their premises.

"For me, all people are my family irrespective of their caste and religion. Whatever I do, I do for all. What could not be done in 55 years was done by us in 55 months. We ensured power supply to 90 per cent people and rest will be covered soon," he said. He asked when the opposition cannot control 'gaon ke gundey' (village ruffians), how can they deal with terrorists? "Earlier blasts took place in Ayodhya, Kashi, Mumbai, Rampur. It has stopped in past five years. It's not because of Modi but due to power of your votes, which made this 'chowkidar' strong," he said.

PTI
Now, Congress leader Raj Babbar bats for Ram Temple, says even Muslims want it

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Raj Babbar questions Modis use of martyrs in elections

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, May 01: Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly indulging in politics over martyrs, saying his predecessors never did that for electoral gains. Addressing an election meeting here, Babbar said, "The children of farmers laid down their lives defending the country's borders while the people occupying the seats of power were playing politics over their martyrdom."

"Former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives for the country but never used the names of martyrs to derive political mileage," he added.

On the Congress's proposed minimum income guarantee scheme NYAY, Babbar said his party always fulfils promises made to people.

Don't trouble Hanuman too much or your Lanka will be on fire, Raj Babbar warns BJP

Balrampur, under Shravasti parliamentary constituency, will go to polls on 12 May in the sixth phase of the ongoing general elections.

Babbar is contesting the general election from Fatehpur Sikri constituency.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 6:19 [IST]
Sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadurs nomination from Varanasi rejected by EC

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Varanasi, May 01: The nomination of sacked BSF jawan, Tej Bahadur Yadav from the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency has been rejected. He was nominated by the SP-BSP from the seat to fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The returning officer in Varanasi had issued a notice to Yadav seeking an explanation over the discrepancies in the nomination papers he had filed. The officer had said that he had not taken permission from the ECI regarding contesting the elections. This is mandatory for an official who has been removed or suspected and wants to contest the elections.

SP fields sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Singh against Modi in Varanasi

Reacting to the development, Yadav said that he would challenge this order in the Supreme Court. My nomination has been rejected wrongly. I was asked to produce evidence at 6.15 am yesterday, which I did. Despite this my nomination was rejected, he added saying that he would knock on the doors of the Supreme Court.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 16:12 [IST]
Sanjay Raut on chopper tragedy: We claim to have modernised armed forces, how could this happen?

Sri Lanka attacks: Shiv Sena wants PM Modi to ban burqa in India

India

oi-Deepika S

Mumbai, May 01: The Shiv Sena has demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ban burqa across the country on the lines of Sri Lanka to prevent terror attacks.

In an editorial in Saamna, Shiv Sena's mouthpiece, a call has been made to ban burqa in the interest of national security.

Referring to the ban on burqa announced by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and also highlighting similar moves in countries like France following terror attacks there, the editorial asks why India is not considering this option in the interest of national security.

"It has happened in Raavan's Lanka. When will it happen in Ram's Ayodhya? We ask this question to the PM as he is scheduled to visit Ayodhya on Wednesday," read the editorial.

It further states that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to take a big step in this direction and that banning the burqa will require as much courage as the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

However, the proposal was rejected by another NDA ally, union minister Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India, who said that burqa should not be banned.

"It is not right to say that all burqa wearing Muslims are terrorists, but there are people who misuse the burqa and they should be punished. There should be no such ban on burqa in India or Maharashtra. It's a part of their (Muslims) tradition," he was quoted saying by ANI.

Easter bombings: Sri Lanka bans all types of face covers including burqa

Praising Sri Lanka's courage to put national security first, the editorial also says that it is impossible to ascertain intentions of everyone who chooses to cover their faces.

A week after coordinated blasts hit three churches and three luxury hotels, killing over 250 people and inuring more than 500 others in Sri Lanka, President Maithripala Sirisena made it illegal for Muslim women in the country to wear any form of face veils in public.
'This is just beginning, wait for what happens next': PM Modi on Masood Azhar

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, May 01: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that the United Nations' decision to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist is a big victory in the fight against terrorism.

"The UN Security Council has banned Masood Azhar, chief of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. It is a matter of satisfaction that the UN has finally agreed to list Azhar as a global terrorist," Modi said while addressing a gathring in Rajasthan's Jaipur.

He also said,"This is just the beginning, wait and watch what happens next."

[Masood Azhar declared terrorist by UN: Big diplomatic victory for India]

India's voice is being heard globally and its views can no longer be ignored. This has been proved today, the PM said. He said under the previous "remote-controlled" government, even the voice of the prime minister was not heard, but now, the voice of 130 crore Indians is making an impact at the United Nations.

"I want to say it loud and clear that this is just the beginning. Wait for happens next," Modi said. The prime minister said he was thankful to the world community for standing with India in its fight against terrorism.

He said that a small section in Pakistan which wants a bright future for their country has started openly speaking out against terrorism. The PM referred to the surgical strike and the air strike in Balakot and said that with today's development, the nation is witnessing India's diplomatic victory.

Targeting Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, "When we were working towards this, the 'naamdar' (dynast) was expressing his happiness through his tweets. One section was very happy and they were mocking Modi. I want to tell them today that this is not just Modi's success, it is the success of the whole country and its 130 crore people. "I hope they will celebrate today also. For every Indian, no matter their ideology, it is a day of pride," he added.

(with PTI inputs)
Weather forecast: Cyclone Fani likely to bring heavy rains near Andhra coast, Bengaluru

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New Delhi, Apr 30: Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani has been brewing in Bay Bengal for quite long now. The journey started on April 25, when a low pressure had developed in Southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining Equatorial Indian Ocean. Now, the Extremely Severe Cyclone Fani is gradually coming closer to the coast and is all set to make landfall over Odisha coast. Meanwhile, let us have a look at the weather forecast for Bengaluru, Delhi, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on May 1.

Bengaluru:

Bengaluru rains have made a comeback, all thanks to the Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani over southwest and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal. The city received moderate to heavy rainfall over a short period of time on Tuesday evening due to the impact of Cyclone Fani over Bay of Bengal. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall with thunderstorm activity for the next two days for the city and south interior Karnataka. As per Skymet weather, in the next 24 hours, there might be cloudy sky but chances of rains after 24 hours would decrease. Warm afternoons would also make a comeback.

Delhi:

Delhiites might get some relief from the sweltering heat on Wednesday as the weatherman has forecast thunderstorm and dust storm in the national capital. It was a warm Wednesday morning with the minimum temperature settling at 24.4 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the year. Humidity was recorded at 49 per cent. The weatherman has forecast mostly sunny skies on May 2. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 39 degrees Celsius.

Mumbai:

Pre-Monsoon rains and thundershowers in Mumbai and Konkan region are most likely to make a comeback soon. According to Skymet Weather, a cyclonic circulation is likely to form over Northeast Arabian Sea off Konkan region. With this, conditions would become favourable for some rain and thundershowers over the coastal areas like Mumbai, Thane, Dahanu, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. Since these would be pre-Monsoon activities, it would not have much impact on the day maximums. Unlike rest of the country, Mumbai and adjoining areas do not see much of pre-Monsoon activities. Pre-Monsoon rains in Mumbai only pick up pace around the onset of Southwest Monsoon that normally happens somewhere around June 10.

Andhra Pradesh:

During the last 24 hours, the southern parts of Andhra Pradesh such as Kurnool and Anantapur, witnessed good spell of rain and thundershower activities accompanied with strong gusty winds in the wake of the approaching Extremely Severe Cyclone Fani. Now as the Extremely Severe Cyclone Fani over west-central and adjoining the southwest Bay of Bengal is nearing the Andhra Pradesh Coast gradually, rain intensity and spread will also increase. In fact, the coastal stations of Andhra Pradesh are expected to witness widespread rain and thundershowers during the next 24 hours. Interiors of the state may also observe spell of rains. Thereafter, by May 2, as cyclone Fani will reach further north and start re-curving towards north/northeast, it will be closest to North Andhra Pradesh Coast. Thus, tomorrow we expect heavy to extremely heavy rains to lash the north-coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh such as Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Tuni and Amalapuram.

Jammu and Kashir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh

Scattered light to moderate rainfall activity occurred over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand during the last 24 hours. Jammu and Kashmir also observed few isolated spells of rain. As per Skymet weather, on and off rain and thundershowers is expected with isolated snowfall to continue over Jammu Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand till May 3. Rains are now going to increase over the hills of North India. However, the intensity will remain mainly light with one or two moderate spells in the higher reaches.

Odisha:

The Extremely Severe Cyclone Fani is gradually coming closer to the coast and is all set to make landfall over Odisha coast. Cyclone Fani is expected to cross Odisha coast near Satpada and Balukhand area in Puri district around afternoon of May 3. State and national authorities have already put Odisha on alert against inclement weather conditions. All three forces Army, Air Force and Navy on stand by for joint operations across to be affected states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. As per Skymet weather, places in South Coastal Odisha like Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Rayagada, Kandhamal and Koraput would start receiving heavy to very heavy rains. Eventually, the spread of rains would increase and cover parts of North Coastal Odisha. Most of the coastal stations such as Puri, Bhubaneswar, Kendrapara, Balasore and Bhadrak would start receiving heavy rains.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 17:38 [IST]
Telangana: Gay couple enter into wedlock, say it has sent out a message

Well of Horrors: Telangana village tense after 3 girls raped, killed, dumped in well

India

oi-Deepika S

Hyderabad, May 01: A little know Hazipur village in Telangana is on a rampage over a shocking discovery that three of its young girls were raped and murdered.

Skeletal remains of the three girls, aged between 11 and 17, have been found inside the abandoned wells in the last few days. The girls had been sexually assaulted, killed and buried in the wells.

The three chilling incidents have opened up what investigators fear is a series of similar cases.

Six-year-old girl strangled, corpse raped by security guard in Uttarakhand

On Friday last, the body of a 14-year-old girl was found in the well after police launched a search on a missing complaint by her father.

According to the postmortem report, the girl had been sexually assaulted before being killed.

As part of investigation, a police team visited the crime scene and after a thorough search unearthed the skeletal remains buried along with a bag which contained an ID card of a girl aged 18.

It was later found she belonged to same village and had gone missing around one-and-half month ago.

The remains were exhumed and sent for forensic examination, police said.

In the backdrop of the recoveries, family members of a 11-year old girl who has been missing since 2015 urged the police to take up further searches fearing she could have also met with similar fate.

Gujarat: Man sentenced to life for raping deaf-mute girl

Police said the accused admitted that he had sexually assaulted the 11-year old girl too, tied her body in a gunny bag and put it in a well next to his, in the same village. Police found her remains late on Tuesday -and recognized the deceased based on her dress.

In this case too, the victim was walking back home from school.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 9:13 [IST]
Will China release its hold on Masood Azhar?

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, May 01: China has indicated that the issue relating to Maulana Masood Azhar will be properly resolved. The issue relating to the listing of Azhar the chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad at the UN has been a contentious one with China being the stumbling block.

China put a technical hold in March on a fresh proposal to impose a ban on the head of Pakistan-based JeM which claimed responsibility for the deadly Pulwama terror attack. It was for the fourth time, China blocked Azhar's listing as a global terrorist by the UN.

Although there has been no time-line given, if China does lift the technical hold, it would be a major diplomatic victory for India. China has on four occasions stood in the way of Azhar being listed.

In the aftermath of the attacks at Pathankot, Uri, Pulwama, India has rallied several nations to get Azhar listed. China being a veto wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council has however blocked India's move.

Positive progress made on Masood Azhar's blacklisting, says China

This time, there has been a lot of pressure on China internationally and India is hopeful that its diplomatic moves on this issue would see a change in stand.

This issue has been debated several times in the past. The issue relating to Azhar is not just bi-lateral between China and Pakistan.

China has called Pakistan an all weather friend, while Azhar the man himself has called China the almighty. Apart from these aspects and the fact that Azhar guards China's assets in Pakistan it is also to ensure that India does not become supreme in the region.

Moreover China does not want India having its say in the UN. China has also been instrumental in blocking India's NSG bid several times. It is a case of being supreme and throwing its clout around says an informed officer in New Delhi. The officer says that although all nations say it openly that the war against terror is important, the fact of the matter is that all are divided in their approach. There are different equations at play.

The stakes in Afghanistan are very high. Russian President Vladimir Putin in fact changed the country's long standing policy against the US in Afghanistan. US was able to take over Afghanistan after Putin allowed the US set up base in Central Asia. China too has a major stake in Afghanistan and the recent statement by the Taliban in which it said it would not target infrastructure projects in Afghanistan is also significant. China has high stakes in Afghanistan and would not want that to be disturbed.

Any move in the UN on Azhar is likely to change China's equation with the Taliban which is considered to be close to the Jaish-e-Mohammad boss. More control in the UN for India would also tilt the balance against China. Officials explain that the reason for the block goes beyond the all weather friend or Azhar playing bouncer for Chinese investments in Pakistan. It is all about supremacy in the region, the officer also explains.

While this has been the equation all these years, it is to be seen what China would do at the UNSC. "I can only say that I believe that this will be properly resolved," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a media briefing.

"Regarding the listing issue in the 1267 Committee, we have expressed our position many times and I just want to stress two points," Geng said answering a number of questions on Azhar's issue.

"First, we support the listing issue being settled within the 1267 committee through dialogue and consultation and I believe this is the consensus of most members. Second, the relevant consultations are going on within the committee and has achieved some progress. Third, I believe, with the joint efforts of all parties, this issue can be properly resolved," he said.

UK optimistic of Masood Azhar's listing as global terrorist by UN

On reports that China would lift its technical hold on May 1, he said, "on the listing issue, China is still working with the relevant parties and we are in contact with all relevant parties within the 1267 Committee and I believe with the joint efforts of all parties, this will be properly resolved."

Asked about the recent visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale to Beijing during which he held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as well as New Delhi shared the technical evidence of JeM's involvement in the Pulwama terror attack, Geng reiterated that China is still working with the relevant parties.

"I believe with the joint efforts of all parties, this will be properly resolved," he said.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 14:21 [IST]
Sitaram Yechury lashes out at EC over clean chit to PM Modi

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, May 01: Lashing out at the Election Commission over the clean chit given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury Wednesday said the poll body's dealing with such cases was "emboldening perpetrators."

In a letter to the poll body, he said, "Across the country, there is a growing concern about the manner in which the Election Commission of India is dealing with complaints regarding gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct by Narendra Modi".

The Election Commission Tuesday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Modi for his speech in Wardha in which he had slammed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for contesting from Wayanad and had "indicated" that the Kerala constituency had more voters from the minority community.

EC gives clean chit to PM Modi, says he did not violate model code of conduct in Wardha

Citing news reports, Yechury highlighted how the government infrastructure and machinery has been allegedly used by the Prime Minister's Office for securing information from various ministries, as well as, state and district administrations to provide inputs for preparing his election speeches.

"We would like to pose the same question that we have done in the past. In dealing with violations of Model Code of Conduct, the ECI appears to be not only halting, but carrying on at a pace which is emboldening perpetrators and exemplifies the notion of 'delayed justice' amounting to its actual 'denial'!

"Therefore the question is, is Narendra Modi, a BJP candidate from Varanasi constituency in Uttar Pradesh and a star campaigner for the BJP, is needed to be treated differently from enforcement of MCC for the simple reason that he happens to be the incumbent Prime Minister?," he said.

PTI
Ahead of Xi-Biden summit, China asks the US to stop supporting 'Taiwan independence'

My old friend, we must work closely: President Xi tells Biden

China-US should respect, coexist peace with each other: Xi tells Biden at virtual summit

After being left out of democracy summit, Putin-Xi to meet

Love us and the Communist Party, says Xi

International

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Beijing, May 01: President Xi Jinping urged China's youth on to be loyal to the Communist Party as he sought to whip up patriotic sentiment in a nationalist speech marking the centennial of a student protest.

Xi delivered his hour-long plea at the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the May Fourth Movement, a landmark protest against colonialism and imperialism that rocked China in 1919.

The speech came as the party faces a slowing economy and a series of politically sensitive anniversaries, including 30 years since the June 4, 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters.

First anniversary of Modi-Xi Wuhan summit celebrated with 'colours of India' week

"It's very shameful if a person isn't patriotic or even deceives or betrays the motherland. There is no place for such a person to stand anywhere," Xi told rows of young people, workers, soldiers and Communist Party cadres, many writing notes as he spoke.

"In contemporary China, the essence of patriotism is to combine one's love for the country with love for the party and socialism," he said.

"Chinese youth in the new era shall listen to the words of the party and follow the steps of the party." The May 4, 1919 protest was a nationalist movement that began when some 3,000 Beijing University students marched to Tiananmen Square in anger at the handing of German concessions in China to Japan at the end of World War I.

The protests mushroomed into calls for a cultural and political awakening to modernise China.

While Xi has repeatedly extolled the teachings of Marx and the Communist Party, authorities have cracked down on Marxist students who backed labour movements in recent months.

'New substantial progress' made to end US-China trade war, says Xi Jinping

"In the face of external temptations, we must maintain our strength, strictly abide by the rules, create a better life with hard work and honest labour," Xi said.

"Youth should not be opportunistic and reject shortcuts.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 9:21 [IST]
Mark Zuckerberg to explain how Facebook gets 'privacy focused'

International

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San Francisco, Apr 30: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will kick off the company's annual F8 developer conference Tuesday with what are expected to be more details about his new "privacy-focused" vision for the social network  part of his strategy for batting away Facebook's growing array of critics, emboldened regulators and competitors.

Zuckerberg and his lieutenant, Sheryl Sandberg, have apologised repeatedly over the past year for Facebook's ever-expanding list of mishaps over privacy, data misuse and security problems. Last week, the company said it is setting aside USD 3 billion to cover a possible fine from the Federal Trade Commission over privacy violations. Facebook has suffered hacks, allowed hate speech and live-streamed mass-shooting horror.

['Being a mom is hard': Mark Zuckerberg builds glowing 'sleep box' to help wife sleep better]

Amid all that, Zuckerberg is likely to focus on Facebook's future by emphasising private messaging, Facebook's role in "communities," and harnessing artificial intelligence to improve discourse. Conference attendees  by and large software developers who make a livelihood working with Facebook and its family of apps  will have a variety of sessions to choose from. They can, for instance, sit in on "Facebook Stories School," where they'll learn about "tips and tricks" for making the best of this disappearing video feature.

Or they can take in "Applying AI to Keep the Platform Safe," where they can discover how Facebook uses artificial intelligence to "detect and remove bad content." Zuckerberg said last week that Facebook's focus on private communications will be built out over the next five years or more. The model for this, he said, will be WhatsApp, a Facebook service that already offers end-to-end encrypted messaging  messages that can be opened by only the sender and the recipient and not by Facebook itself. But that approach comes with its own sets of problems.

In India, for instance, misinformation spread on WhatsApp has led to real-life violence and even killings. "A few years ago, we probably would've rolled this out and tried to deal with issues as they came up," Zuckerberg said during Facebook's earnings call on April 24.

"But now part of our new approach of trying to be more proactive about social issues is trying to build in from the ground up, getting this right up front." Last year's F8 conference took place weeks after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which tens of millions of Facebook users had their personal data accessed by a political data-mining firm without their consent.

Zuckerberg had also just testified before Congress about that and other privacy mishaps, but at F8 was already trying to put those troubles behind him.

PTI
Hillary Clinton says Julian Assange must 'answer for what he has done'

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to US

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange cannot be extradited to US, rules UK court

WikiLeaks' Julian Assange jailed over bail breach

International

oi-Deepika S

London, May 01: Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.

On Wednesday the WikiLeaks founder appeared in the Southwark Crown Court in south London before judge Deborah Taylor, facing up to a year's jail for breach of his bail conditions seven years ago.

"You had a choice and the course of action you chose was to commit an offense," the judge said.

"You've not surrendered willingly, you would not have come voluntarily before the court," she added, before handing down an "imprisonment of 50 weeks."

The Australian secret-spiller sought asylum in the South American country's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assange fled to Ecuador's embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.

He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over the release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.

He faces a separate legal fight against a US extradition request. American authorities have charged him with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

Assange was arrested last month after Ecuador revoked his political asylum.
XAT 2022 admit card to be released today: Check website and steps to download

Delhi doctor found murdered at her residence, two neighbours missing

New Delhi

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, May 01: A 25-year-old doctor was found brutally stabbed to death at her residence in Central Delhi on Wednesday.

A resident of Ranjit Nagar, 25-year-old Dr Gariam Mishra was reportedly preparing for her MD exams, news agency ANI said.

"The woman was found dead by her cousin when he came to meet her last night," DCP Central Mandeep Singh Randhawa said.

Mishra and the suspect, who lived in an adjacent room with his roommate, were friends and both were preparing for MD, police said.

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Story first published: Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 13:53 [IST]
Opalesque Industry Update - The Preqin Investor Outlook: Alternative Assets H1 2019 finds that the prospects for private equity in 2019 are positive. Nine out of 10 investors are satisfied with the performance of the asset class, and 31% intend to invest more in private equity in 2019 than in 2018. This comes despite concerns that headwinds may put pressure on future returns: asset valuations have been rated as the biggest challenge in the next 12 months by over 70% of investors, and many think that pricing is higher compared to last year. Moreover, the majority of investors believe that assets are overvalued and see a correction approaching - including 39% that expect it to come in 2019. In consequence, almost a third of investors expect their private equity portfolios to perform worse in the coming year than in 2018, but the majority are still confident that the asset class can meet their targets. Christopher Elvin, Head of Private Equity: "This is a crucial time for the industry: a market correction seems increasingly anticipated and coupled with ongoing pricing challenges investors are proceeding with caution. However, private equity weathered the Global Financial Crisis well and in a low-return environment the asset class's proven track record of delivering superior returns to investors over the longer term will maintain private equity's appeal to investors looking to meet their return objectives." Key Private Equity Investor Outlook Facts: The majority (51%) of investors invest in private equity due to its high absolute returns. Forty-seven percent of investors target returns of 14% or more for the asset class, a proportion 34 percentage points higher than in any other asset class.

Almost a third (31%) of investors will invest more in private equity in 2019 than they did in 2018, while only 12% will look to invest less.

The largest proportion (72%) think asset valuations pose a challenge in the next 12 months. Six out of 10 investors think that pricing is higher now than it was 12 months ago.

While 7% believe assets remain undervalued and a third think they are fairly valued, 60% think a pricing correction is due, 12% of which think it is imminent.

Similarly, 61% of investors believe we are at an equity market peak, and 39% expect a downturn in the next 12 months.

Nine out of 10 investors are satisfied with the performance of their private equity portfolios in the past 12 months, although 30% expect them to perform worse in 2019. ____________________________________________________
New Managers

LAUNCHES

1. London and Zurich-based Private Investment company J. Stern & Co. has launched World Stars Global Equity strategy in a Luxembourg Ucits fund. World Stars Global Equity fund has been launched following investor demand for a more accessible way of investing in the World Stars Global Equity strategy. It has been made available in a Luxembourg Ucist IV format, using the Alpha Ucits Sicav, the leading Luxembourg Ucits platform.

2. Mirae Asset Global Investments has launched an open ended equity fund investing in India. The Mirae Asset Focused fund will invest in equity and equity related instruments include convertible debentures, equity warrants, convertible preference shares and equity derivatives.

3. Gerald Banks, who has structured derivatives for Merrill Lynch & Co. and managed part of a Russian oligarch's sprawling empire, is now turning his hand to cryptocurrencies. Banks, who previously changed his name from Guerman Aliev, is the chief investment officer of a new hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut, that's focused on digital assets such as Bitcoin. Cipher Technologies Management LP is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and primarily trades crypto options and futures contracts, Banks said in an interview.

4. Man Group's discretionary investment management business Man GLG has launched Credit Multi-Strategy Alternative, a new Ucits fund. Man GLG Credit Multi-Strategy Alternative is a global multi-strategy long-short credit fund providing investors access to Man GLG's longrunning alternative credit strategy established more than 20 years ago.

5. Nomura Asset Management (NAM) has launched an ethical global equity fund for portfolio manager Alex Rowe and head of equities Tom Wildgoose. In addition to the Global Sustainable Equity fund, Wildgoose currently manages the Nomura Global High Conviction fund. The new mandate will follow a similarly concentrated appro......................

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New Managers

SEEDERS & PLATFORMS: Melanion Capital, Lyxor Americas launches alternative investment co-investment programme for institutional investors

Paris-based hedge fund manager opens seeding programme for niche strategies

Melanion Capital, an independent investment manager based in Paris, is launching a seeding programme that can house two to three early-stage managers who run a hedge fund or a managed account. The programme will run for two years, with tickets of up to $10m.

The managers at Melanion know what new managers go through from their own experience seven years ago, when they first launched their dividend futures fund, and from a first seeding experience they had two years ago.

"Because we focused on a niche strategy, we encountered a lot of barriers to entry to the market," Jad Comair, founder and CEO of Melanion, tells Opalesque . "The first barrier was institutional investors who wanted a track record, established AuM, etc., which we did not have at the time. The second barrier was, our product was niche so it did not fit within the plain vanilla category that asset allocators were looking for. The third was, because we were a niche trading product and we were limited in terms of possible expansion, we weren't scalable for investors who had millions to invest and we did not interest seeders who were looking to back managers and get an equity stake."

All these closed doors were closed for the wrong reasons, he believes. So the firm had to stretch a lot of financial resources to cope with the hurdles and get results. And since then, the hurdles have exacerbated, he notes. Melanion's seeding programme will welcome managers who are focused, as they are, on niche strategies that are non-scalable or not plain-vanilla. "We will be seeding them by trading their own dedicated fund and allowing them to build a track record for two years," he explains. "Then, we will open their funds to our client base, market the funds and raise assets. We will appeal to high-networth individuals' risk pockets. We appealed to such investors when lo......................

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New Managers

PROFILES: Kelonia Capital Management, Uranium Program

Former UN analyst and research consultant launch market noise CTA

An former UN analyst in Geneva and a former research consultant in Luxembourg launched a CTA program built around the notion of market noise and the fractional Brownian motion theory.

Michele Cocchiglia, co-founder of Kelonia Capital Management, has a background in economics, statistics and financial mathematics, and worked most of his career as a risk management expert with the United Nations. "My responsibilities at the UN included modelling the risks and exposure of various countries to natural disasters (from floods to earthquakes and tsunamis) and providing technical assistance to national governments," he tells Opalesque. "I worked with the UN for about 12 years, including four years in Bangkok, where I was the regional coordinator of a disaster risk assessment initiative in Asia and the Pacific."

At the same time, he was also involved in the managed futures space since 2010, allocating to different CTAs through his family's structure.

In 2016, he started working with Stefan Martinek, the other founder and now the head of research at Kelonia, and asked him to review and validate some of Kelonia's original models and ideas. Martinek has more than 15 years of experience working as an independent research consultant for systematic funds and CTAs. In 2017, they decided to form a partnership and to start trading the models they employ today. "To be fair, the strategies we use at Kelonia today are largely the outcome of Stefan's proprietary research and originate from his work," he notes. "Stefan and I share similar views on what we believe are some of the greatest challenges faced by a number of managers in the CTA space. In putting this program together, our goal was to develop a product that offered some of the tail-risk hedge characteristics of conventional CTAs, but without the full expense that the strategy can sometim......................

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Automotive Blockchain Market Analysis by Top Regional Industry Players- IBM, Microsoft, Accenture, Tech Mahindra and SHIFTMobility Inc

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The global automotive blockchain market is projected to grow at a considerable rate during the forecast period. This can be mainly attributed to the benefits offered by the blockchain technology in the automotive industry, such as real-time monitoring, auditability, and scalability of information. The application of blockchain in various automotive functional areas is on the rise, as automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) continue to invest in the technology to uncover its potential in the industry.On the basis of application, the automotive blockchain market has been categorized into manufacturing, supply chain logistics, retail finance and leasing, mobility solutions, and others. Of these, the market for mobility solutions is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years on account of the rapidly growing shared mobility industry, rise in the consumer demand for advanced mobility services, and inclusion of blockchain in automotive business models.Request to Get the Sample Report@Based on the type of blockchain used, the automotive blockchain market has been categorized into public, private, and consortium. Of these, the public and private blockchains are the most preferred types, with their applications varying based on the business model adopted. During the forecast period, the market for private blockchain is expected to grow at a considerable rate, as the adoption rate of the technology is higher in the private domain as compared to other domains. Also, public blockchain has low scalability and involves high transaction costs, which make the private blockchain the preferred category in the automotive blockchain industry.The major growth drivers for the automotive blockchain market are the benefits offered by the blockchain technology, such as real-time monitoring, auditability, and scalability of information. Also, with growing digitization, the technology has become an integral part of information technology (IT) budgets in the automotive industry. Blockchain in the automotive industry is useful in various areas such as mobility solutions, connected cars, supply chain logistics, retailing and leasing, autonomous driving, and IoT applications. The financial divisions of OEMs are now exploring the technology for financial applications. In the coming years, OEMs are expected to employ the technology in other automotive applications.Explore Full Report Description At@The growth of the automotive blockchain market is primarily hindered by the lack of proper legislations regarding blockchain technology applications and data protection. For instance, in European countries, the deployment of the blockchain technology-based applications is restricted by the rights granted to the public/private entities under the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The blockchain technology and its applications come with several potential technical and economic risks. It is due to this that the governments across the world are concerned about the potential threats that the technology poses to the data protection rights and privacy of individuals.Some of the key players operating in the automotive blockchain market are IBM Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Accenture PLC, carVertical, Helbiz Mobility System PTE Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., ShiftMobility Inc., BigchainDB GmbH, ConsenSys, Context Labs BV, Ethereum, Factom Inc., Mesosphere Inc., Oaken Innovations, Productive Edge LLC, Project Provenance Ltd., Ripple Labs Inc., and XAIN AG.About P&S IntelligenceP&S Intelligence is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness.Contact:P&S IntelligenceToll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)International: +1-347-960-6455Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Ultrasound Device Market Growth Analysis by Demand, Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application- P&S Intelligence

ultrasound device

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The global ultrasound device market is growing at a significant rate, due to increasing healthcare expenditure, technological advancement of ultrasound, increasing demand for minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, and growing geriatric population. The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and improving healthcare infrastructure in developing countries are also driving the growth of the global ultrasound device market.Explore Report with Detailed TOC at:Ultrasound is a sound with frequencies higher than about 20 kHz. It moves in a wavelike manner through which it travels. The waves travel with different speed in different medium. The medical ultrasound system operates at higher frequencies, typically 1-10 MHz.Download Report Sample at:Ultrasound imaging is a medical imaging technique which uses high frequency sound waves and their echoes. It exposes body parts to high frequency sound waves in order to create images of the internal organs of the body. It does not use ionizing radiation. It provides a real time structure and movement of bodys internal organs and blood flowing through blood vessels. It helps in evaluation of symptoms such as swelling, pain, infection and hematuria. In addition, it is also used for guide procedures such as needle biopsies, guide biopsy of breast and diagnosis of various heart conditions. However, it cannot penetrate mature bones and substantial gas layers.Make Enquiry Before Buying the Report:Some of the key companies operating in the global ultrasound device market include Siemens AG, Koninklijke Philips N.V., General Electric Company, Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corporation, Analogic Corporation, FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Mindray Medical International Ltd., and Esaote SpA,About P&S IntelligenceP&S Intelligence is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness.Contact:P&S IntelligenceToll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)International: +1-347-960-6455Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Platelet Rich Plasma and Stem Cell Alopecia Treatment Market: NGOs and Government Organizations Amplify Investment on Research; Asia Emerges as Favorite Investment Destination

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Over the years, adult human hair follicle neogenesis has been of an essential aspect in regenerative medicine. Stem cells have been able to differentiate into specialized cells which can witness mitosis to produce more stem cells. Accordingly, platelet-rich plasma has come up as a potential therapeutic treatment for hair loss-related disorders. The efficacy and safety of repeated intradermal injections of platelet rich plasma (PRP) has been instrumental in promoting hair growth in a range of randomized clinical trials. Meanwhile, the main function of platelet-derived growth factor is to stimulate cell replication of healing capable stem cells. These insights draw resemblance from the intelligence report titled, Platelet Rich Plasma and Stem Cell Alopecia Treatment MarketGlobal Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018-2026, which has been recently added to Market Research Hubs (MRH) ever-expanding repository.Get Sample Copy of this Report@The research on alopecia treatment and stem cell has escalated in the recent past underpinned by governmental and non-governmental organizations. 64 percent of the people in the U.S. support federal funding of research on the treatment of chronic diseases with the assistance of stem cells taken from human embryos, states Change.org Inc. When it comes to stem cell research, Asia has emerged as one of the most favorable investment destinations. With lower research and development cost, countries such as India has become undeniably lucrative destination for novel drug delivery system programs and new drug discovery research. Biopharmaceutical companies are heavily depending upon contract research organizations (CRO). As such, various government-funded medical and pharmaceutical institutions are using state-of-the-art facilities for multi-centered clinical trials.Request TOC of the Report @Platelet Rich Plasma and Stem Cell Alopecia Treatment Market: Report ContentThe report provides a robust analysis on the Platelet rich plasma and stem cell alopecia treatment market for the assessment period 2018-2026. The report focuses on the segmentation of the market to offer a holistic approach of the market. Additionally, the report sheds light on the dynamics of the market that have considerable influence on the growth of the Platelet rich plasma and stem cell alopecia treatment market, namely, drivers, restraints, trends and opportunities.The report encompasses executive summary and overview section that provide an actionable insights on the Platelet rich plasma and stem cell alopecia treatment market. Besides, the report in the market overview section throws light on key players and market indicators. The overview section in the report elucidates Porters Five Force analysis that aids in revealing the competitive scenario with regards to Platelet rich plasma and stem cell alopecia treatment market. The report further focuses on the market outlook section which delves into reimbursement scenario of the region and sheds light on technological development.The robust analysis of competitive scenario of the Platelet rich plasma and stem cell alopecia treatment market is backed up by the Porters Five Force Analysis. Subsequently, the Porters Five Force Analysis delves into coherent strategies used by pertinent companies in the Platelet rich plasma and stem cell alopecia treatment market. In addition, the report is propelled by the inclusion of company profile, SWOT analysis, recent development, company profile, annual revenue and strategic overview.Platelet Rich Plasma and Stem Cell Alopecia Treatment Market: Research MethodologyPrimary research and secondary research provides a coherent analysis on Platelet rich plasma and stem cell alopecia treatment market. As such, the secondary research sheds light on Factiva, trade journals, EC filing, and resourceful database. Meanwhile, the report also encompasses absolute dollar opportunity analysis and Y-o-Y projections. The report is further propelled by primary research that prioritizes telephonic interview, veracious review from experts, unbiased and honest views from surveys and seasoned analyst.About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports of different sector like Pharmaceuticals market research and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of industry reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.com
Ventilator Market Growth Analysis by Demand, Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application- P&S Intelligence

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The growth of the global market is largely driven by increasing level of air pollution across the globe and growing geriatric population. Some of the other factors driving the growth of the global market include increasing prevalence of respiratory diseases, changing lifestyle, rapid urbanization, increasing healthcare expenditure, and high prevalence of tobacco smoking. Growing demand for home care therapeutic devices and high growth in developing countries are expected to create ample opportunities for the manufacturers of ventilators.Explore Report with Detailed TOC at:Ventilator assists patients to breath, or takeover the breathing function completely, depending upon the needs of the patient. It does not treat a disease but is used as life support. It is indicated in respiratory failure conditions cardiac insufficiency and neurological dysfunction conditions.North America accounted for the largest share in the global market in 2015, owing to the growing geriatric population, and increasing prevalence of respiratory diseases in the region. The U.S. contributed largest revenue to the North American as well as global ventilator market. The country is expected to remain the largest market for ventilator devices globally. The increasing prevalence of respiratory disease and high prevalence of tobacco smoking are the key driving factor of the U.S. ventilator.Request to Get the Sample Pages at:The information and data in the publication Global Ventilator Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2022, represents the research and analysis of data from various primary and secondary sources. An amalgamation of bottom-up and top-down has been used to calculate the market size. P&S Intelligence analysts and consultants interacted with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every value of data presented in the report. The company bases its primary research on discussions with prominent professionals and analysts in the industry, which is followed by informed and detailed, online and offline research.Make Enquiry Before Buying the Report:Some of the players operating in the global ventilator market include ResMed, Inc, General Electric Company, Hamilton Medical AG, Koninklijke Philips N.V, Becton, Dickinson and Company, and Medtronic plc.About P&S IntelligenceP&S Intelligence is a provider of market research and consulting services catering to the market information needs of burgeoning industries across the world. Providing the plinth of market intelligence, P&S as an enterprising research and consulting company, believes in providing thorough landscape analyses on the ever-changing market scenario, to empower companies to make informed decisions and base their business strategies with astuteness.Contact:P&S IntelligenceToll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)International: +1-347-960-6455Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Global 2-Ethylhexanol Market Analysis, Growth Rate, Type, Key Players-BASF, Dow Chemical, KH Chemicals, Mitsubishi, Formosa Plastic, Sinopec and Forecast Period during 2019- 2025

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The global market status for 2-Ethylhexanol is precisely examined through a smart research report added to the broad database managed by Market Research Hub (MRH). This study is titled Global 2-Ethylhexanol Market Insights, Forecast to 2025, which tends to deliver in-depth knowledge associated to the 2-Ethylhexanol market for the present and forecasted period until 2025. Furthermore, the report examines the target market based on market size, revenue and geography; making it quite useful for the readers.Request for sample copy of this report2-Ethylhexanol (2-EH) is a branched, eight-carbon chiral alcohol. It is a colorless liquid that is poorly soluble in water but soluble in most organic solvents.2-Ethylhexanol (2-EH) is used in manufacture of chemical intermediaries and solvents, coatings and paints, agrochemicals, metallurgy. The chemical intermediaries and solvents segment is estimated to be the largest with a high market valuation. This segment is expected to grow at a value CAGR of 6.1% during the forecast period. The coatings and paints segment is projected to grow at a significant rate to push the growth of the global market in the years to followGlobal 2-Ethylhexanol market size will increase to xx Million US$ by 2025, from xx Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for 2-Ethylhexanol.This report researches the worldwide 2-Ethylhexanol market size (value, capacity, production and consumption) in key regions like United States, Europe, Asia Pacific (China, Japan) and other regions.This study categorizes the global 2-Ethylhexanol breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porter's Five Forces Analysis.The following manufacturers are covered in this report:BASFDow ChemicalLG ChemIneosKH ChemicalsBiesterfeldSABICChina National PetroleumArkemaEastmanGrupa AzotyBannerMitsubishiSinopecFormosa PlasticElekeirozZakFred HolmbergChengdu XiYa ChemicalTianjin Zhongxin Chemtech2-Ethylhexanol Breakdown Data by TypeLower than 99% Purity99%-99.5% PurityHigher than 99.5% Purity2-Ethylhexanol Breakdown Data by ApplicationCoatings and PaintsChemical Intermediaries and SolventsAgrochemicalsMetallurgy2-Ethylhexanol Production Breakdown Data by RegionUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanOther Regions2-Ethylhexanol Consumption Breakdown Data by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalyRussiaRest of EuropeCentral & South AmericaBrazilRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyEgyptSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaBrowse Full Report with TOCTable of ContentsGlobal 2-Ethylhexanol Market Research Report 2019-2025, by Manufacturers, Regions, Types and Applications1 Study Coverage1.1 2-Ethylhexanol Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global 2-Ethylhexanol Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Lower than 99% Purity1.4.3 99%-99.5% Purity1.4.4 Higher than 99.5% Purity1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global 2-Ethylhexanol Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Coatings and Paints1.5.3 Chemical Intermediaries and Solvents1.5.4 Agrochemicals1.5.5 Metallurgy1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global 2-Ethylhexanol Production2.1.1 Global 2-Ethylhexanol Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global 2-Ethylhexanol Production 2014-20252.1.3 Global 2-Ethylhexanol Capacity 2014-20252.1.4 Global 2-Ethylhexanol Marketing Pricing and Trends2.2 2-Ethylhexanol Growth Rate (CAGR) 2019-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key 2-Ethylhexanol Manufacturers2.4 Market Drivers, Trends and Issues2.5 Macroscopic Indicator2.5.1 GDP for Major Regions2.5.2 Price of Raw Materials in Dollars: EvolutionTo be continue@@About Market Research HubMarket Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports of different sector like chemicals market research and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of industry reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.Contact Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email: press@marketresearchhub.com
Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide Market Status & Revenue Forecast Recorded during Forecast Period| Key players Alkaloid Skopje, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Linnea SA, and Alchem International

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The latest report on the Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market published by Fact.MR provides in-depth analysis along with the valuable and actionable insights on the market. It also offers details on all the important factors influencing the Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market growth. The report also provides the historical data and forecast on the Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market. Major factors including micro and macro-economic factors impacting growth of the Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market along with the qualitative and quantitative data has also been included in the report.To Get Sample Copy of Current Report, Visit here @Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide Market- Key InsightsWorldwide sales of Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide recorded a steady growth by registering 4.0% CAGR between 2013 and 2017. However, the market is likely to witness significant growth in the coming years owing to its wide application in treating various conditions and acting as muscle relaxant.The Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market was valued at over US$ 50 million in 2018 and is projected to register Y-O-Y growth of 4.3% in 2019.Europe is expected to be the largest region in the Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market during the forecast period and account for an estimated 34.6% share by 2019 end.APEJ is likely to emerge as the fastest growing region in Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market, owing to the rise in gastrointestinal problems leading to spasms and increasing use of anti-spasmodic drugs.What is Driving Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide Market?Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide continues to witness significant demand owing to rise in abdominal pain and cramping as frequent problem in the adult population, especially in Western countries. According to the International Association for the Study of Pain, by 2050, proportion of people over 65 years of age will increase from 17.5% to 36.3% in the developed countries. Moreover, in recent years around 20% of adults have been suffering from chronic pain. The problem in many elderly people is still under treated and there is a need for increased research.Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide does not penetrate the blood-brain barrier making it beneficial for use in the treatment of abdominal pain caused by cramping, especially during painful menstruation.Increasing prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is resulting in the growing demand for antispasmodic, thereby, resulting in substantial growth in Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market. According to the International Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders, there are around 2.4 to 3.5 million annual visits to physician for IBS in the US alone.With rise in colorectal cancer worldwide, colonoscopy is finding wide application in detection and surveillance. Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide is widely used by colonoscopists to reduce bowel spasms during colonoscopy.Browse Complete Market Report with TOC Here @What are the Key Challenges in Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide Market?Medicines with Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide as an active ingredient has been considered unsuitable for patients with megacolon, myasthenia gravis, and glaucoma. Moreover, these medicines are also not suitable for people with hypersensitivity to Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide and other components in the medicine.The injection of Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide can cause adverse effects such as anaphylaxis and tachycardia hypotension. While the risk associated with adverse effects is high in people with cardiac diseases. Moreover, patients death after receiving injection of Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide has been reported internationally. In most of the cases cardiac arrest or acute myocardial infarction was seen as the adverse effect.Oral Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide to Find Increasing DemandHyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide used to treat abdominal pain and spasms is available in both oral and injectable form. However, with increasing sales of Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide under the brandname Buscopan which is an oral medication, the application of Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide in oral form is gaining traction. Moreover, with a range of benefits on oral administration of Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide, it is being used on a large scale. Upon oral administration, it binds and blocks muscarinic receptors, thereby, providing anti-spasmodic effect in the uterine, gastrointestinal, and urinary tracts.Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide Market: Assessment of Competitive LandscapeSome of the leading players in the Hyoscine-N-Butyl Bromide market are Alkaloid Skopje, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Linnea SA, and Alchem International.For any query get easily connect with an Analyst @About Fact.MRFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market insights reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:
Isopropyl Acetate Market Report Examines Latest Trends and Key Drivers Supporting Growth through 2018-2026 // Kane International Corporation, SONTARA ORGANO INDUSTRIES, Zhejiang Jianye Chemical Co., Ltd

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Isopropyl acetate is found in alcoholic beverages. It is isolated from ripening melons, apples, bananas, blackcurrants, other fruits and grape oil. The component is also present in cheddar cheese, soybean, beer ,red wine, white wine and plum brandy. Isopropyl Acetate Market flavoring ingredient Isopropyl acetate is a solvent with a wide variety of manufacturing uses that is miscible with most other organic solvents, and moderately soluble in water.Request TOC of this Report-Isopropyl acetate is an ester, an organic compound which is the product of condensation of acetic acid and isopropanol. It is a component of some printing inks and perfumes. It is a clear, colorless liquid with a characteristic fruity fragrance. Isopropyl acetate liquid and vapor are flammable. The product is stable at recommended temperature and pressure. Isopropyl acetate is incompatible with alkali metal hydroxides, such as sodium hydroxide, as well as nitric acid and strong oxidizers.The paints and coatings industry is witnessing a surge in use of advanced materials. This could be a factor that could significantly restrain the growth of the global isopropyl acetate market in the forthcoming years. This could be ascribed to the fact that the use of the chemical in paints results in the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. However, the growing acceptance of isopropyl acetate as a fragrance carrier and in the automotive industry as a coating agent is expected to supersede the market restraints and aid growth.Isopropyl acetate is found in alcoholic beverages. It is isolated from ripening melons, apples, bananas, blackcurrants, other fruits and grape oil. The component is also present in cheddar cheese, soybean, beer ,red wine, white wine and plum brandy. Isopropyl acetate is a flavoring ingredient Isopropyl acetate is a solvent with a wide variety of manufacturing uses that is miscible with most other organic solvents, and moderately soluble in water.Isopropyl acetate is an ester, an organic compound which is the product of condensation of acetic acid and isopropanol. It is a component of some printing inks and perfumes. It is a clear, colorless liquid with a characteristic fruity fragrance. Isopropyl acetate liquid and vapor are flammable. The product is stable at recommended temperature and pressure. Isopropyl acetate is incompatible with alkali metal hydroxides, such as sodium hydroxide, as well as nitric acid and strong oxidizers.Isopropyl Acetate is a colorless solvent with low flash point, aromatic fruity odor, and moderate solubility in water. Isopropyl acetate is increasingly being used as a solvent for rotogravure inks and flexographic printing inks. It is an active solvent for many types of synthetic resins such as cellulose acetate butyrate, nitrocellulose, vinyl copolymers, polyesters, polyamides, acrylics, and alkyds. Isopropyl acetate is an ester, manufactured by reacting acetic acid with isopropanol in the presence of a catalyst. Isopropyl acetate has excellent solubility for nitrocellulose, resin gums, plastics, paints, lacquers, inks, organic synthesis and perfumes. Significant demand for isopropyl acetate is projected to come from the advanced coatings industry for automotive and transportation segment.Browse Full Report with TOC:With the significant rise in demand for rotogravure inks i.e for magazines, books, newspapers, inserts and catalogues also packaging printing on metal and plastic film the global demand for isopropyl acetate is projected to grow. Moreover, isopropyl acetate is also being used for for flexographic printing inks i.e. for paper, cardboard etc. amongst others especially in Asia Pacific region, thus creating traction in the global market.The rising demand for coatings in automotive industry is projected to create significant traction in the market. With the rise in vehicle production and demand for highly advanced coating material, the overall isopropyl acetate market is projected to grow significantly over the forecast period.Isopropyl acetate is an excellent resin solvent with solubility with a number of organic solvents.Another factor supporting the growth of isopropyl acetate is it is a no-HAP (hazardous air pollutant). The product also complies with the reach regulations thus it is preferably used over a number of specified applications.The global major impeding the growth of isopropyl acetate is the use of water based paints and coatings. With advancement in technology, the paints and coatings industry is developing high quality water based paints that have excellent durability, quick drying time and emit less odor. Additionally, after drying, solvent based paints form a film and the hydrocarbon solvents are evaporated; thus, releasing harmful volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere. The water based paints market is foreseen to grow at a healthy CAGR, owing to environmental and other benefits. The legislation is also in support of this trend. As a result, it affects the isopropyl acetate market.One of the major challenge faced by the global isopropyl acetate market is the use of other solvents which have better solubility and are made from renewable feedstock. Thus affecting the market growthConventionally, the use of isopropyl acetate was limited to printing inks and coatings industry. However, over the past few years, there has been an increase in use as fragrance carrier. Moreover, the manufacturers are focusing on developing green processes for the manufacture of isopropyl acetate in order to sustain the market competition.Global Isopropyl Acetate Market ParticipantsSome of the market participants identified across the value chain of the global Isopropyl Acetate market are The Dow Chemical Company, Eastman Chemical Company, Sigma Aldrich, Monument Chemical, Sisco Research Laboratories Pvt. Ltd, INEOS Oxide, Pidilite Industries Ltd. Kane International Corporation, SONTARA ORGANO INDUSTRIES, Zhejiang Jianye Chemical Co., Ltd.Request Brochure of this Report-About FactMRFactMR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market insights reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Read Industry News at -
Composite Simulation Software Market in the advanced material industry is Likely to Reach US$ 80.7 million in 2024

Stratview Research

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Launching announcement of a new research report on Simulation Software Market in the Composites Industry which is projected to reach US$ 80.7 million by 2024 - forecasted by Stratview Research. The study provides an in-depth by Software Type (Computer-Aided Design, Computer-Aided Engineering, and Computer-Aided Manufacturing), by End-Use Industry Type (Aerospace & Defense, Transportation, Building & Construction, Wind Energy, Marine, and Others), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2019-2024Click here to read the detailed description and TOC:Simulation Software Market in the Composites Industry: HighlightsThe next five years for the composite simulation software market are going to be vigorous with attractive growth opportunities in the entire ecosystem of the market. The global composite simulation software market is subjected to grow at an impressive rate over the next five years to reach an estimated value of US$ 80.7 million in 2024. Increasing penetration of composites in various end-use industries including aerospace & defense and automotive; higher demand for automation and faster production process; and increasing demand for simulation software from design to production are the major growth drivers of the market.The composites industry currently accounts for a minuscule share of the total simulation software market but is likely to be one of the fastest-growing applications in the foreseen future. All the major players are keenly showing interest to participate in the market to capture a large pie of the market in the foreseen future.Composite materials are far more complex and variable than metals due to the presence of many raw materials, intermediates, and manufacturing processes. It is not easy to produce a final part by developing the right combination of different materials and processes for the first time. Also, there is a big push on the manufacturing side to streamline automation and produce high-quality composite parts faster. Machine throughput is extremely critical to maintain the growth momentum of composites in the mass volume industries like transportation. Simulation software helps composite stakeholders in the designing, development, and production of composite parts more efficiently. It stimulates digitally and minimizes the risk of the expensive proposition of producing the physical parts. Over the past few years, theres been a big push to add or expand composite-focused simulation tools to existing software suites.Request sample here-The global composite simulation software market is segmented into end-use industry type as Aerospace & Defense, Transportation, Building & Construction, Wind Energy, Marine, and Others. The aerospace & defense industry is expected to remain the largest market for simulation software in the composites industry in the foreseen future. Composites are gaining ground on the major next-generation aircraft, such as B787, A350XWB, and A220. All the major aerospace and defense OEMs are searching out the possibility of using composites in most of the structural applications of their upcoming aircraft. This is driving the demand for efficient simulation software to minimize the risk of expensive product development.Transportation is expected to experience the highest growth in simulation software demand for composites over the next five years. Increasing the use of composites in the structural applications of electric vehicles and premium vehicles is driving the demand for simulation software. All the major simulation software providers for the composites industry are heavily targeting the transportation industry to tap the growing market potential.There are broadly three types of simulation software used in the composites industry: Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM). CAD and CAE software are the most widely used simulation software in the global composites industry and are expected to remain the major ones during the forecast period as well.In terms of region, North America is expected to remain the largest market for composite simulation software over the next five years. The region is the worlds capital in terms of aerospace composites manufacturing with the presence of several aerospace OEMs and tier players. However, Asia-Pacific is likely to experience the highest growth in the demand for composite simulation software because of high growth of composites and a gradual shift of composites manufacturing from North America and Europe to the Asia-Pacific region.The supply chain of this market comprises software developers, designers, part molders, distributors, OEMs, and end users. The global composite simulation software market is highly consolidated with about a dozen players populated worldwide. The key composite simulation software providers are Siemens AG, Autodesk Inc, Dassault Systemes, and Altair Engineering. New product development and execution of merger & acquisitions are the key strategies adopted by the key players to gain a competitive edge in the market.Report FeaturesThis report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights into the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis Market trend and forecast analysis Market segment trend and forecast Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities Emerging trends Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players Key success factorsABOUT USStratview Research is a global market intelligence firm offering a wide range of services including syndicated market reports, consulting, sourcing intelligence, and customer research.We have a strong, experienced team of industry veterans and research analysts with a perfect blend of wisdom, knowledge and attitude. We have been serving multiple clients across a wide array of industries.Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries including Energy, Chemicals, Advanced Materials, Automotive, and Aerospace. We provide research services at the global, regional as well as country level; key regions include Europe, APAC, NA, MEA, RoW.We are a trusted brand in the research industry with the capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with a high level of accuracy. At Stratview, we believe in building long-term relations with our clients.To browse through our range of reports in the Automotive industry, refer to the following link:Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm offering a wide range of services including syndicated market reports, consulting, sourcing intelligence, and customer research. We are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy.Stratview Research400 Renaissance Center,Suite 2600,Detroit, Michigan, MI 48243United States of AmericaPhone No. +1-313-307-4176sales@stratviewresearch.com
High-Temperature Composite Resins Market in the advanced material industry is Likely to Reach US$ 168.3 million in 2023

Stratview Research

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Launching announcement of a new research report on High-Temperature Composite Resins Market which is projected to reach US$ 168.3 million by 2023 - forecasted by Stratview Research. The study provides an in-depth by Resin Type (BMI, Cyanate Ester, Polyimide, Thermoplastics, and Others), by End-Use Industry Type (Aerospace & Defense, Transportation, and Others), by Manufacturing Process Type (Prepreg Layup, RTM, and Others), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023Click here to read the detailed description and TOC:The High-Temperature Composite Resins Market: HighlightsResins used for composite applications, which can withstand extreme heat and temperature environments, are considered as high-temperature composite resins. High-temperature resins have a long history in the composites industry with usage in military and commercial aircraft engines. Nowadays, composite stakeholders are betting on these resin technologies in other applications including airframe and other hot sections.The global high-temperature composite resins market is projected to grow at a healthy rate over the next five years to reach US$ 168.3 million in 2023. Increasing penetration of composites in aerospace and automotive industries coupled with a greater demand for high-temperature composites, increasing production rates of high-temperature composite rich F-35 aircraft, and superior performance benefits of high-temperature resins are the key factors proliferating the growth of the market.Request sample here-High-temperature resin excels the performance of composite parts and enhances parts ability to withstand extreme heat and harsh environmental conditions. Also, the resin performs better under fatigue compared to more brittle ceramics and are lighter than metals; therefore, manufacturers have started adopting high-temperature resins instead of using ceramics and exotic metals. The aircraft engine is one of the biggest application areas of high-temperature composite resins as it is prone to extreme temperature and heat environments.Newer jet engines and 5th generation fighter aircraft have pushed service temperature into the range of 600F to 1000F (316C to 538C), along with an increasing demand for composite materials in order to achieve excellent strength-to-weight ratio. Lockheed Martins F-35 is among the best-selling fifth-generation aircraft, which has incorporated high-temperature composite resins. About 35% of the aircraft is made of composites and approximately 50% of which is high-temperature composites.Based on the resin type, the high-temperature composite resins market is segmented as BMI, Cyanate Ester, Polyimide, Thermoplastics, and Others. BMI resin is likely to remain the most dominant high-temperature resin type in terms of volume over the next five years. It is preferably used in military aircraft engines as well as airframe applications, nacelles of business jet engines, tooling prepreg, and hot-air ducts. However, polyimide resin is likely to remain the largest resin type in terms of value during the forecast period. Polyimide composite parts can withstand continuous use up to 315C (600F) and intermittent use up to 480C (900F) and exhibit extremely high dimensional stability at elevated temperatures.The global high-temperature composite resins market is segmented based on the end-use industry type as Aerospace & Defense, Transportation, and Others. Aerospace & defense is likely to remain the most dominant segment during the forecast period. Increasing production rate of high-temperature composite rich fighter aircraft F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter) is likely to give an impetus to the demand for high-temperature composites in the industry. Lockheed Martin announced it has increased the deliveries of F-35 by 40% in 2017 than the previous year. The company is likely to further increase its annual deliveries from 66 aircraft in 2017 to an expected delivery of 160 aircraft in 2023. Another key application area of high-temperature composite resin is tooling prepreg, where BMI resin is gaining traction.Based on the manufacturing process type, the high-temperature composite resins market is segmented as Prepreg Layup, RTM, and Others. Prepreg layup is expected to remain the most dominant process for manufacturing composite parts made using high-temperature resins. It is the most widely preferred process for manufacturing of critical parts in the aerospace & defense industry, where high-temperature resin systems are used. Prepreg layup offers various advantages, such as consistent material properties, high fiber volume, flexibility in fiber orientation, low-void content, and easy to operate on complicated shapes.Based on regions, North America is projected to remain the largest market during the forecast period, driven by the worlds leading aircraft OEMs, aeroengine manufacturers, tier players, and material suppliers. The USA is the growth engine of the regions market. Lockheed Martin has opened a new manufacturing facility to produce its high-temperature composite resin rich F-35 aircraft in Pinellas Park, Florida, the USA, to raise the existing production rate. There is a total un-filled order of more than 2,691 F-35 aircraft from 12 countries out of which the USAs inventory objective is 2,456 F-35 aircraft.Europe is projected to remain the second largest market for high-temperature composite resins during the forecast period. Dassault Aviation, BAE Systems, and Airbus Group are some of the key OEMs, which are driving the demand for high-temperature composite resins in the European market.The supply chain of this market comprises raw material suppliers, high-temperature resin manufacturers, prepreggers & compounders, tier players, OEMs, and airliners. The key high-temperature composite resin manufacturers include Solvay S.A., TenCate Advanced Composites, Lonza Group, Hexcel Corporation, and Renegade Materials Corporation. The development of low-cost high-temperature composite resins with an ease of manufacturing processes; reduced operational cost; and formation of strategic alliances are the key strategies adopted by the players to gain a competitive edge in the market.Report FeaturesThis report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights into the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report: Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porters five forces analysis, SWOT analysis Market trend and forecast analysis Market segment trend and forecast Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, Product portfolio, New product launches, etc. Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities Emerging trends Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players Key success factorsABOUT USStratview Research is a global market intelligence firm offering a wide range of services including syndicated market reports, consulting, sourcing intelligence, and customer research.We have a strong, experienced team of industry veterans and research analysts with a perfect blend of wisdom, knowledge and attitude. We have been serving multiple clients across a wide array of industries.Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries including Energy, Chemicals, Advanced Materials, Automotive, and Aerospace. We provide research services at the global, regional as well as country level; key regions include Europe, APAC, NA, MEA, RoW.We are a trusted brand in the research industry with the capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with a high level of accuracy. At Stratview, we believe in building long-term relations with our clients.To browse through our range of reports in the Automotive industry, refer to the following link:Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm offering a wide range of services including syndicated market reports, consulting, sourcing intelligence, and customer research. We are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy.Stratview Research400 Renaissance Center,Suite 2600,Detroit, Michigan, MI 48243United States of AmericaPhone No. +1-313-307-4176sales@stratviewresearch.com
Leading Industry and Military to discuss how Multi-Domain Operations Enhance Air-Land Operations at Close Air Support 2019

Close Air Support

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SMi Reports: International military and industry experts to provide updates on multi-domain operations at Close Air Support next month in London.The 5th annual Close Air Support conference () will be taking place in just over a month on 5th - 6th June in London.The evolution of military operations is critical in order for nations to stay ahead of their enemies and be able to face emerging challenges. The current operational environment and new challenges make it difficult for nations such as the US, to maintain an operational advantage across all domains.Therefore, multi-domain operations is a vital warfare concept to be applied, of Army-Air Force collaboration that combines air-ground combat attack strategy, for example close air support, to fight enemies more effectively, as well as strengthen defence across multiple domains.In light of this, SMis Close Air Support conference, taking place next month, will explore the concept of multi-domain operations, how nations are employing it in their own military operations, and how it can enhance and maximise the success of air-land operations.Attendees of this years event will hear exclusive updates from the US Army and NATO on their collaborative war strategies. Lieutenant Colonel Nick Sargent, Division Chief, US Army Multi-Domain Targeting Center, is set to present on Enhancing Air-Land Co-operation through Multi-Domain Operations, focusing on building and forming mutual trust through exercises, training and successful doctrine, establishing the continued importance of effectively trained JTACs for effective CAS operations, as well as outlining the relationship between joint targeting and joint fire support.Colonel (ret'd) George Riebling, Deputy General Manager, NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Programme Management Agency, will also speak on NATO E-3A Modernisation: An eye toward Multi-Domain Command and Control, where he will explore upgrades to NATOs fleet of 14 E-3A AWACS, NATOs first integrated, multinational flying unit that provides quick deployment, airborne surveillance and communication for the alliances operations, and developing a multi-domain cultural approach in order to promote joint force integration.The two-day conference will host military officials, agencies, and industry expert speakers, presenting on the vital importance of Close Air Support capabilities and allied interoperability.Attendees will hear about the latest technological developments in the close air support domain, as well as recent advancements made in the field that aim to enhance combat effectiveness whilst increasing connectivity.For those interested in attending there is a 100 Early Bird discount on bookings expiring on 31st May 2019. Places can be reserved at:Close Air Support 20195th-6th JuneLondon, UKAbout SMi Group: Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worlds most forward-thinking opinionSMi Group Ltd, India House, 45 Curlew Street, London, SE1 2NDMaria Mandicmmandic@smi-online.co.uk
Single Screw Food Extruder Market 2019 | Worldwide Market Outlook 2025 | Major Manufacturers  Baker Perkins, Coperion, Buhler, AKRON TOOL & DIE, Etc.

Single Screw Food Extruder Market 2019

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Single Screw Food Extruder Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period.Get Exclusive FREE Sample Copy Of this Report @UpMarketResearch offers a latest published report on Global Single Screw Food Extruder Market Analysis and Forecast 2019 - 2025 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 118 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Single Screw Food Extruder Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2019  2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.For More Information On This Report, Please VisitThe generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Single Screw Food Extruder Market analysis & forecast 2019 - 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)The Major players reported in the market include: Baker Perkins (UK) Coperion (Germany) Buhler (Switzerland) AKRON TOOL & DIE (US) Groupe Legris Industries (Belgium) Pavan SpA (Italy) Flexicon (US) Triott Group (Netherlands) The Bonnot Company (US) AMERICAN EXTRUSION INTERNATIONAL (US)Product Segment Analysis: Cold extrusion Hot extrusionApplication Segment Analysis: Savory Snacks Breakfast Cereals Bread Flours and Starches Textured Protein Functional Ingredients OthersMajor Topics Covered in this Report: Chapter 1 Study Coverage Chapter 2 Executive Summary Chapter 3 Market Size by Manufacturers Chapter 4 Production by Regions Chapter 5 Consumption by Regions Chapter 6 Market Size by Type Chapter 7 Market Size by Application Chapter 8 Manufacturers Profiles Chapter 9 Production Forecasts Chapter 10 Consumption Forecast Chapter 11 Upstream, Industry Chain and Downstream Customers Analysis Chapter 12 Opportunities & Challenges, Threat and Affecting Factors Chapter 13 Key Findings Chapter 14 AppendixGet Exclusive FREE Sample Copy Of this Report @Single Screw Food Extruder Market Analysis and Forecast 2019 - 2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Global Single Screw Food Extruder Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size are as follows: History Year: 2013-2018 Base Year: 2018 Estimated Year: 2019 Forecast Year 2019 to 2025Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Global Single Screw Food Extruder Market Analysis and Forecast 2019 - 2025 and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Single Screw Food Extruder Market analysis and forecast 2019 - 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:UpMarketResearch provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.You can also ask for region wise Single Screw Food Extruder Market research report, as below: Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013 - 2025 Top 20 Countries Data North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025 South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025 Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025 EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025 Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025 China Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025 India Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025 United States Market Status and Trend Report 2013 - 2025About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well- defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Contact Info:Name: Alex MathewsEmail: Alex@upmarketresearch.comOrganization: UpMarketResearchAddress: 500 East E Street, Ontario, CA 91764, United States.
Nothing about Ruse Brewing is an illusion.

The sun-streaked taproom? Real.

The live, up-close music? Real.

The focus on art and community? Real.

And the beer? Oh man, the beer is real. As in real good.

The Southeast Portland brewery is where founders Shaun Kalis and Devin Benware turned dream into tapestry last summer. Here in the old Iron Fireman Collective building, art blends with science, the Rose Citys past blends with its future, and strangers blend with recently established regulars.

The two brewers create beers across styles but focus on farmhouses and IPAs, especially West Coast and hazy styles. They also regularly churn out sours, lagers and stouts, and in short time theyve developed an impressive barrel-aging program.

Benware and Kalis hail from different geographies  Benware is a Vermont native and Kalis grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan  but they have similar beer backgrounds. They both got their start in the industry at Southwest Portlands Old Market Pub, where they were hired by Tomas Sluiter, the eventual founder of Culmination Brewing. They eventually joined him there as well.

At Culmination, the idea to start Kalis and Benwares own brewery came together, but it was a partnership that almost didnt happen.

We just started chatting about ideas for a brewery, and at that point Devin said he might have wanted to go back to his home state of Vermont and open this farmhouse brewery that does like big, super hop-expressive IPAs, and I was like, I want to do that, too -- can we just do this together? Kalis said. So, we partnered up, and its been great.

They quickly got going on their plan, and more than a year before opening their own place the duo began brewing small batches of Ruse beers on Culminations line.

Today, Ruses brewhouse is at full speed, cranking out superior mixed-culture varieties, including fruited barrel-aged beers, IPAs and its flagship pilsner, along with other lagers. A 20-barrel foeder holds a blend of saisons that Ruse uses as a base for its various creations.

The creativity of the brewers recipes is matched by their hands-on precision in production, and as a result Ruse and its beers have had quick impact. Papyrus Iris won the hazy IPA category in the 2018 Oregon Beer Awards, and in 2019 Ruse was named Oregons Best New Brewery and Small Brewery of the Year, as well.

Also this year, Ruse and Seattles Cloudburst Brewing are part of Fort George Brewerys annual collaboration on its 3-Way IPA, a heralded release every year featuring two guests breweries (2019s 3-Way Portland launch party will be June 1 at Ruse).

Ruses geometric visuals -- Egyptian hieroglyphics meet M.C. Escher -- match its beers in intrigue and elegance. From walls to logos to labels to merchandise, clean and modern art design intermingles with history.

That focus on the aesthetic is evident in the taproom as well. Kalis and Benware have thoughtfully turned their space in the 1920s-era building into a picturesque showcase. Old-growth spans and beams and long-painted brick walls meld with the clean, steal lines throughout.

Handmade tables and chairs crafted from staves and blond-paneled walls contrast with dark accents. Local art adorns the walls. And sitting at the bar, quaffers are afforded an unfettered view -- past the taps, foeder and barrel stacks -- into the airy, state-of-the-art 10-barrel brewhouse. Tip a pint, watch your future beer come together.

Supporting the community and other small businesses is also an integral part of Ruses mission, Benware and Kalis say. The brewery works with artists and musicians to design beers paired with their art, then uses the resulting creation for concept events and beer releases. The brewery is routinely home to music played in the taproom, from bands to DJs.

Its a vibe they say has caught on in the neighborhood, a claim verified by the consistently full taproom.

Everyones been so awesome, Kalis said. People around here are some of the nicest in the city. Very welcoming, just a lot of friendly faces, a lot of smiles.

Portland Breweries Series: Ruse Brewing Posted by The Oregonian on Friday, April 19, 2019

Ruse Brewing sampler

Why go: Some of the best hazy IPAs and blended farmhouse beers youll find. Taphouse that elegantly combines historical elements with modern touches.

What to drink: Papyrus Iris IPA, a tropically fruity hazy that finishes with a slight bitterness and won the 2018 Oregon Beer Awards hazy IPA category; the pilsner, a Czech style thats crisp with a slight malt sweetness; anything coming out of their barrels. Twelve taps, all dedicated to Ruse beers. Some packaged cider, wine and non-alcoholic beverages available.

What to eat: No food service, but food trucks on-site Friday through Sunday.

Details: 4784 S.E. 17th Ave.; 503-662-8325; rusebrewing.com; open all days, hours vary, check website; minors welcome until 7 p.m. or in the foyer until food trucks leave. Check Instagram and Facebook for schedule of music and other events.

Check out my reviews of Ruse Brewings beers on Untappd and more content on Instagram.

-- Andre Meunier

More beer coverage:
Michael Beschloss, a nationally recognized authority on American presidents, provides in Presidents of War: The Epic Story, From 1807 to Modern Times a first-rate examination of White House leadership and American wars.

As the author notes, the U. S. Constitution stipulates that Congress has the power to declare war, but through two centuries of our history, presidents have often assumed that ascendency  and often with unfortunate results. In this invitingly written account, the author traces presidential assumption of war-making powers.

Beschloss, who will give a May 7 talk about Presidents of War (Crown, 739 pages, $35) in Portland as part of the Oregon Historical Societys Mark O. Hatfield Lecture Series, follows a uniform format throughout his lengthy volume. To each president, he devotes two chapters. The first half of the book deals with James Madison and the War of 1812, James K. Polk and the Mexican-American War, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, and William McKinley and the Spanish-American War. The second half treats Woodrow Wilson and World War I, Franklin D. Roosevelt and World War II, Harry Truman and the Korean War, and Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War.

The two sections treating each president open with an illuminative moment  e.g., Fort Sumter for Lincoln, the blowing up of the USS Maine for McKinley, and Pearl Harbor for Roosevelt. Then follow the two chapters, the first introducing the backgrounds and beginnings of a war, the second detailing the president's handling of the war. Brief evaluations of each president's actions close the two-chapter format.

From the opening pages depicting the fiery destruction of Washington, D. C., in the War of 1812 and throughout his valuable book, Beschloss writes with the flavor and flurry of a historical novelist. The author's descriptive powers and verbal magic will please thousands of readers. Each of the presidential vignettes includes the personal, family, religious and political details of a chief executive's life. We learn about devoted, supportive spouses like Dolly Madison, Edith Galt Wilson and Lady Bird Johnson; the political wheeling and dealing of all presidents; and the secret agreements and bargains often unknown to Congress and the American people. Each chapter contains a good deal of background and contextual information helping to explain presidential actions in wars.

Beschloss' account reveals several surprises. Madison, though a constitutional thinker of the first order, failed as a wartime leader. Lincoln, at first stumbling as a commander-in-chief, learned much and became a superb military chief during the Civil War. Although the destruction of the Maine was blamed on the Spanish and helped lead to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, it probably blew up on its own. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, so influential in launching the Vietnam War, probably was based on false information, on an attack the North Vietnamese never made.

Like Beschloss' other well-known works of American history, this volume exhibits clear evidence of the author's diligent research. His notes and bibliography extend to more than 100 pages. His thorough use of newspapers is particularly evident, as is his research in presidential letters, speeches, memoirs and manuscripts. General readers will be especially attracted to the author's skillful use of presidential conversations and personal writings.

Some readers may quibble with a few of Beschloss' conclusions. For example, Madison is depicted as little more than a "man of straw," Polk as a liar who got us into war to defeat Mexico and gain California and New Mexico, Wilson as arrogant and decidedly partisan, and Truman as weakened by large mistakes. The book's longest chapter, "I Do Not Have a Parachute," describes Johnson as an unbalanced, uncertain and negative leader in wrestling unsuccessfully with Vietnam.

Importantly, though, Beschloss furnishes dual lessons for all Americans. First, he notes and criticizes the misguided actions of presidents and identifies the failures of Congresses in dealing with conflicts by not following constitutional guidelines on war. Second, he suggests clear avenues for future White House residents when confronted with war-like clashes.

"President wars," Beschloss argues, must not be launched to satisfy political ambitions, based on false information, and must be worked out with more conversations and much closer agreements between a Congress and a chief executive.

These dual contributions  clarifying and critiquing the past and providing a thoughtful, cautionary blueprint for the future  make this a particularly useful book for all Americans.

Michael Beschloss, Oregon Historical Societys Mark O. Hatfield Lecture Series.

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7.

Where: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

Tickets: $30-$85, ohs.org or 800-273-1530.
When the Oregon College of Art and Craft descended into financial chaos earlier this year, developers hungrily eyed the Southwest Portland schools 9 acres on busy Southwest Barnes Road just east of the sprawling Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

The smart money was that a private-sector developer would level the art school and build an assisted living complex or multifamily housing on the site.

Instead, OCAC sold out to its neighbor of 40 years, the venerable Catlin Gabel private school. Catlin Gabel bested as many as eight other bidders agreeing to pay $6.5 million. For that, Catlin gets 14 buildings and approximately 60,000 square feet of facilities.

That price was significantly less than the appraised value of $7.8 million. Zoning issues may have kept the price down. It is currently zoned institutional, which makes a school an allowable use.

Its bittersweet and tragic that OCAC closed, said Jordan Schnitzer, local real estate developer and patron of the local arts scene. But at least now, it will remain a school.

Catlin Gabel is also located on Southwest Barnes Road, barely 200 yards away from the Oregon College of Art and Craft campus.

The sale was first reported by The Business Journal of Portland.

What exactly Catlin intends to do with the place remains unclear. Bart Eberwein, chairman of Catlins board of directors, said the school wants to add some students, for which it will need additional facilities. The pre-school-12 school current boast enrollment of about 770.

Well use it for educational purposes, Eberwein said. Well carry on to some extent the maker culture, the arts education, the hands-on learning that Catlin is known for.

According to information sent out by Catlin to parents, the school will rely on donors to provide the funds needed to close the deal. It said the school will try to minimize the impact on tuition, which currently ranges from $27,190 for preschool and kindergarten to $34,100 for high school.

Some of the biggest names in the Portland areas history have been involved with the two schools. The Vollum family, whose patriarch Howard Vollum founded Tektronix, donated two buildings to Catlin Gabel.

The Vollum family also granted to Oregon College of Art and Craft the former filbert orchard that became its campus.

OCAC said the sale proceeds will cover its expenses through the end of the academic year.

The art school will temporarily lease back the property from Catlin Gabel, which will allow current students to complete the May term and allow what the school called an orderly closure.

Schnitzer and others in the arts community had tried to save the art school. They first pushed a merger between the Oregon College of Art and Craft and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Later, Schnitzer encouraged Portland State University to explore a deal.

OCACs financial situation was too dire and neither deal happened.

Schnitzer was furious with OCACs leadership when he finally got a look at the numbers and realized the schools financial situation was much worse than officials had let on.

The problems were too deep, he said. OCAC needed $3 million just to remain open through this academic year. The reality of this was very depressing for me.

By late February, it had become an open secret that Catlin was among the suitors for the property. OCAC boosters called upon Catlin to buy the OCAC campus and work out a deal to keep it in business.

Allow OCAC to get back on its feet with new leadership and a great plan, said Stuart Emmons, a Portland architect who fumed at the decision to shut the school down.

But it wasnt to be.

The arts schools final commencement is scheduled for May 19. Afterwards, it will cease all operations.
Portland-based Cura Cannabis sold Wednesday for more than $1 billion in an all-stock transaction, the largest deal ever among American companies operating in the legalized marijuana business.

Cura sells its cannabis oils on the wholesale and retail market under the Select brand and operates in California, Arizona and Nevada.

The buyer is a Massachusetts company called Curaleaf Holdings, whose shares trades on the Canadian market.

The companies valued the transaction at $949 million based on Curaleafs closing stock price Tuesday. But the Massachusetts companys shares jumped 12 percent Wednesday on word of the transaction, inflating the deals value to nearly $1.1 billion, on paper at least.

The deal marries Curaleafs focus on the eastern United States with Curas markets in the West. The size of the transaction underscores the enormous potential investors see in the market for legalized marijuana and the rapidly evolving commercial landscape within the cannabis sector.

The transformational acquisition of Cura and the Select brand is another step in our journey to create the most accessible cannabis brands in the U.S., Joseph Lusardi, Curaleafs chief executive, said in a written statement.

Cura says it has 500 employees and had revenue of $117 million last year, triple its revenue from 2017. Its actually larger than Curaleaf, which reported $87.8 million in revenue last year.

The combined company will operate in 15 states where marijuana is legal.

The Portland companys chief executive, Cameron Forni, will become Curaleafs president. He said The leading companies in the industry on the West Coast and the East Coast are now joining forces to progress the legalization and mainstream acceptance of cannabis across the country.

Cura has been dogged by controversies over its former chief executive, Nitin Khanna, who faced rape allegations in 2014. Cura is suing a California rival for allegedly highlighting those accusations.

Cura sells wholesale cannabis oil used in vaping cartridges to retailers under the brand name Select Oils.

Vaping has surged in popularity and Cura became the supplier for many of the best-known cannabis brands. Cura sells oils under its own Select name for vaping. It also sells Select brand cannabidiol, CBD, which doesnt include THC, the agent that produces the high associated with smoking pot.

In Portland, you can pick up Select CBD on the health aisle at New Seasons in flavors including lavender, lemon-ginger and peppermint for up to $60. Or you can buy a Select muscle rub derived from hemp, or cannabidiols for pets in chicken, bacon or salmon flavors.

Other marijuana businesses use Curas oils in their products -- including talk show host Montel Williams line of CBD.

Cura boasts of soaring sales and claims to be the largest cannabis oil company in Oregon and California.

Curaleaf said it will acquire Cura in exchange for 95.6 million shares, giving Curas investors a 16 percent stake in the Massachusetts company.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
Matt McCally has seen all manner of bad driving from his office window facing Southeast Division Street: a car blowing out all four tires; another bursting into flames after plowing into a raised median; and countless examples of motorists failing to yield to pedestrians.

He wasnt there to witness the latest example of vehicular crime on Monday evening, when a 6-year-old girl was struck and injured by a hit-and-run driver while she walked with her mother across Division Street at 107th Avenue under a protected flashing beacon.

The hit-and-run occurred on a stretch of one of Portland -- and the states -- most dangerous roads. Southeast Division Street is ground zero for much of what the city hopes to accomplish as it tries to eliminate all traffic fatalities by 2025 through its Vision Zero campaign.

According to police, the girl was walking with her mother at a signaled pedestrian crossing with a flashing beacon, a lone refuge for pedestrians for about five blocks in either direction of the urban highway in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, when she was hit.

The mother and her 6-year-old daughter had activated the pedestrian crossing beacon and two lanes of cars stopped to allow them to cross. But police said preliminary investigation indicates the driver of a white sedan passed two lanes of cars on the right side and plowed through the bike lane and hit the child. The woman was not injured.

The car kept going, and the driver remains wanted by police.

Lt. Kristina Jones, a Portland Police Bureaus spokeswoman, said she didnt know whether the girl remained in the hospital, but said she was treated and was expected to be released with non-life-threatening injuries. Jones said language barriers were one reason she couldnt provide more information on Tuesday.

Portland has already lowered the speed limit on this five-lane stretch of Division to 30 miles per hour. It also has installed safety cameras to ticket speeders on a swath 40 blocks east of there, and plans an additional $7 million redesign of the street to build a raised median for dozens of blocks, add protected bike lanes and speed up transit through the corridor.

McCally said those changes wouldnt mean much without more traffic enforcement.

Ive never once seen anyone get pulled over on my stretch of Division for speeding, drunk driving, anything like that, he said from the office of his Parents for Alternate Support Solutions, a community center for adults with disabilities. You can put all the crosswalks in you want. If theres going to be no enforcement of the law, whats going to prevent people?

Just last week, Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who oversees the transportation bureau, weighed in on a brutal, heartbreaking month on Portland streets as 9 people were killed in traffic incidents in less than two weeks.

Infrastructure improvements will help reduce these tragedies, she wrote on Facebook. But we cannot prevent all crashes, injuries, and deaths on our streets if drivers choose not to obey traffic laws and pay attention to the road.

The police bureau remains decimated by an estimated 120 officer vacancies and the inability to recruit or hire new cadets for those positions.

John Brady, Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman, said in an email that the city didnt formally keep track of hit-and-run incidents, but was aware of three fatal crashes in 2019, all killing pedestrians.

Portlands latest hit-and-run occurred at an intersection that should be a safe place amid a torrent of traffic.

On Tuesday, this reporter used the crossing beacon twice, and multiple vehicles failed to stop after the lights were illuminated and an audio message in English and Spanish instructed pedestrians that it was safe to cross.

Marshall Runkel, Eudalys chief of staff, said in an email that the driver must be apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Theres much more we can do to make our streets more safe, and we also need to ramp up enforcement so that people know that there will be severe consequences for illegal, dangerous driving, he said.

Division is consistently marked as one of the most dangerous roads in Portland for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. At least 19 people have died and 129 seriously injured on Division in the last decade, city records show.

According to city transportation officials, a marked crosswalk, pedestrian beacon and pedestrian island were installed in 2016.

McCally, who has called outer Southeast Portland neighborhoods his home for his entire life, said this stretch of Division Street has been a disaster from the beginning.

In addition to the extreme example like the car fire, McCally said hes seen frequent cars slamming into the traffic island and knocking down signs that alert drivers to watch for pedestrians.

In 2017, the city extended the pedestrian island and added more street lighting. It also extended the curb between a protected bike lane and the vehicle traffic on the north side of the intersection.

McCally said those changes only came after frequent griping for changes by himself and others.

Westbound travelers were continually cutting into oncoming eastbound traffic to make left turns onto 107th Avenue, he said.

I kept bothering the city over and over and over again until they finally put these cones out here, he said, pointing to plastic wands spaced out for several feet on the edge of the raised median.

Those wands were finally largely successful in preventing drivers from heading into oncoming traffic to cut through the neighborhood.

Brady said the city plans to add two more rapid crossing beacons in the next two months on Division  at 115th and 133rd Avenues. The city will also fill in sidewalks as needed and fix curb ramps to make them wheelchair accessible between 102nd and 157th Avenues. Design on the larger project to add a center median and buffered bike lanes are still in the design phase, and construction is expected to begin in 2020.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
The Portland Aerial Trams decorative metal panels, which give the Swiss-made cabins their unique teardrop shape, were attached to the vehicles with inadequate hardware since the day the tram opened in 2006, according to a new report.

A system of latches and tethers intended as a failsafe system to prevent the panel from falling off the tram vehicles failed Dec. 4, causing a 35-square-foot panel to plunge an estimated 130 feet to a pedestrian bridge below. The panel struck a Portland State University student in the head, causing minor injuries.

According to an independent engineering report of that incident provided to The Oregonian/Oregonlive, the carabiner and tether system that was supposed to prevent a panel from falling was likely poorly designed from the outset.

Temporary measures installed by tram maintenance crews in the wake of the December incident that were fabricated from rock climbing hardware were far superior to that of the failed tether, the report stated.

The Portland Aerial Tram has logged more than a half-a-million rides in its history and ferries 10,000 passengers per day between Oregon Health & Science Universitys South Waterfront campus and the Marquam Hill medical hub.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation said it had already taken steps to address the concerns.

Many of the recommended safety and operational updates and policies have already been implemented to ensure Tram safety and normal operations, spokesman John Brady said in a statement. In Summer 2019, additional design enhancements, including a robust customized latch and tether system will be installed.

The carabiner and tether system that failed on the Portland Aerial Tram (top) versus the temporary replacement (bottom) installed in the wake of a Dec. 4 incident where a panel plunged from the sky.

The 50-page report from Colorado-based consultancy Ridgeline Engineering Company said it was impossible to conclusively determine why the panel came off the cabin that day, but the likely cause was due to equipment failure, not maintenance workers.

The size of the hardware used in the system indicates that the tether was likely designed to prevent the panel from falling to the ground if a technician were to accidentally drop it during maintenance, the report said, citing the carabiners. The design of the hardware was inadequate to restrain the wind forces on the panel during the incident.

Ridgeline handles the trams annual and unscheduled maintenance checks, but those inspections didnt historically include examining the decorative panel or its latch system. According to Ridgelines report, the Swiss manufacturer Gangloff did not provide the city with any maintenance procedures or inspection criteria for the tram cabins.

But maintenance workers remove the panels twice a month. The city said the design failure caused the panels to be too flexible, a potential factor when a gust of wind travels over the panel and creates an upward force.

Each panel is secured by multiple spring latches and two tethers, so a panel wouldnt dislodge from the vehicle unless both spring and latches, or carabiners, failed at the same time.

The December incident, the most high-profile safety blemish in the trams 13-year history, wasnt the first time the panels latch and tether system had failed. Twice previously, most recently in 2014, a panel came off, but was prevented by falling by a tether.

After each of those previous failures, the report says, the tram operators revised the latching system in hopes of preventing another incident. In the wake of the January 2014 failure, the city installed larger carabiners and a second tethering system to each panel, the report said.

It didnt work.

The decorative panel that fell from the Portland Aerial Tram in December 2018

The December incident was a complete failure of the latch and tether system.

It occurred on a day where wind gusts reached 38 miles per hour. The report states the lack of stiffness of the panels also may have played a role in the incident.

The consultant recommended the decorative panels be bolted to the cabin to restrain movement in all directions rather than in a single direction like the spring latches in the current design. It also recommended a new permanent tether system be installed.

The city said it would follow those recommendations.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
The Oregon Court of Appeals this week overturned the conviction and death penalty sentence of a 54-year-old inmate accused in the 1998 fatal stabbing of another inmate in a prison recreation yard.

The ruling found that David Lee Cox, who was sentenced to death in 2000, received ineffective counsel.

In its ruling, the court said one trial witness testified that the killing was part of a murder-for-hire conspiracy involving a prison group called the Lakota Club. The court said Coxs lawyer should have investigated that theory and called witnesses who could have refuted it.

Cox was convicted of stabbing inmate Mark Dean Davis, 31, in the back. He claimed he didnt mean to kill Davis. At the time, Cox was serving time for robbery, attempted murder, kidnapping, attempted assault and burglary convictions.

Cox was convicted in 1994 of robbing a convenience store in Milwaukie and stealing a Milwaukie police car, which he later crashed.

The Oregon Attorney Generals Office on Wednesday said it was still reviewing the ruling and hasnt yet decided whether to appeal.

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184

@noellecrombie

ncrombie@oregonian.com

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A man who led the distribution of more than 30,000 oxycodone pills in the Portland metro area and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars from the drug sales was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez called Shawn Terrell Crane, who sold the drugs while on federal supervision, a broken man who needed to be warehoused to stop his crimes.

The case resulted from a three-month investigation by the FBI and Portland police, which included wiretapping cellphones, surveillance of defendants and examining their social media posts.

The pills were shipped by mail to Portland or carried by car from Fresno, California.

Crane ran the Portland operation and described himself as a general of a Portland street gang, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Sax. He used the money to party in high-end nightclubs, buy luxury watches and designer clothes, Sax said.

Crane would flash stacks of cash in photos and videos that he circulated on social media, the prosecutor said.

What particularly disturbed the judge was a video Crane took of himself assaulting a drug customer who had given Crane money to buy pills. Crane positioned his phone in the center console of the car to record the attack in the front passenger seat and then bragged about it, prosecutors said.

Beat yo (expletive)  that what I do, solo, Crane is heard saying in the video, according to the government.

Crane also had a gun in the video, though he was prohibited from carrying firearms as a convicted felon. He distributed the video on social media to tell the world who Mr. Crane is, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad.

In a plea deal, Crane pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. The government dismissed the charge of using a firearm in the furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime, which could have brought a sentence of life in prison. Crane has three prior federal felony gun convictions.

The pill trafficking occurred from March 2015 through January 2017. Crane was one of nine defendants charged. The more than $482,000 in proceeds from the pill sales were deposited into 11 different bank accounts that belonged to Fresno-based members of the conspiracy, according to prosecutors.

Cranes Fresno-based supplier, Adrian Luis Lamadrid, was sentenced last week to seven years and three months in federal prison.

Bolstad sought the 14-year sentence for Crane.

Cranes lawyer urged a nine year and two-month sentence, saying Crane suffered from a drug addiction and should receive a lower sentence for accepting responsibility.

Crane didnt grow up with his parents, who were in prison most of his life, and didnt learn any morals, said his defense lawyer Murdoch Walker II. He faced abuse, suffered the loss of his best friend who was killed and has been shot himself. He had ties to the Blood gang in Portland, according to law enforcement.

Im accepting full responsibility for my actions, a tearful Crane said, standing at the defense table. I never received parental guidance from anybody. I had to learn everything on my own.  Im tired of the street life. I put my kids through the same things me and my siblings went through.  I never got help. I always got punishment. The system always punished me.

The judge said he recognized Crane suffered a difficult life.

But his decisions to be violent and dangerous are his own, Hernandez said.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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The president of a Eugene-based company that sold emergency medical supplies imported from China was sentenced to federal prison Wednesday for understating the value of the equipment bought overseas to avoid paying more than a hundred thousand dollars in U.S Customs duties and fees.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown sentenced Michael Modrich, 57, of Med-Tech resource, LLC., to a year and a half in prison, finding he deliberately engaged in a repetitive scheme to defraud the government.

The company also has agreed to pay the government $144,686.34 to cover the losses in a civil settlement, according to court testimony.

The prosecution for customs fraud is rare. The judge, prosecutors and defense couldnt cite a similar recent case in Oregon.

Med-Tech specialized in the sale of emergency medical supplies, safety gear and rescue equipment and imported a substantial volume of its inventory from a trading company in China.

Between January 2013 and March 2015, the company submitted false invoices for merchandise imported from China that understated by half their value to U.S. Customs.

In a second scheme, the company falsely advertised on its website that it had a U.S. General Services Administration-approved contract as a woman-owned business that allowed government agencies to buy goods straight from the company without going through a procurement process, according to prosecutors.

Modrich had pleaded guilty in November to two counts of wire fraud.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Clemon D. Ashley urged a harsher sentence of two years and three months.

He lied and cheated, all at taxpayers expense, Ashley said.

Modrichs lawyer, Per Ramjford, urged a lower sentence of a year and a day in prison. Modrich admitted his misguided attempts to understate the value of goods imported, but he did it to support his company, not to pad his own pockets, his lawyer said.

Im extremely sorry for what Ive done, Modrich told the judge. I did this to try to keep my company alive.

The judge said Modrich deserved a prison sentence, partially to deter others. She said she expected a 57-year-old man who has a clean record up until now will be impressed by'' any amount of prison time in a federal facility.

Its necessary there not be a perception that one can buy their way out, Brown said.

Modrich was ordered to surrender to prison July 17.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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ONesha Cochran, an ex-convict tapped to run a new transitional home for African American women on probation or coming out of prison, was fired Monday just three weeks after Multnomah County officials and her employer hailed her unique abilities to lead the program.

Cochran said she refused to sign her termination letter. It cited an ongoing pattern of failure to demonstrate effective leadership and professionalism, an inability to respond to community partner concerns or collaborate, a lack of accountability and an overall need to improve performance.

Cochran said she believes her employer, the nonprofit Bridges to Change, retaliated against her for her outspokenness in pressing for promised Afro-centric mentorship and support programs for residents at Diane Wade House.

I put my heart and soul into this program, Cochran said, wiping away tears hours after she learned of her firing. I believe they wanted a Stepin Fetchit black person who would say, Yes sir, no sir. Whatever you say. Whatever you need me to do  and thats not who I am.

Monta Knudson, executive director of Bridges to Change, said he couldnt discuss a personnel matter. The peer-run agency believes in second chances, he said, and works hard to provide training and support to its staff, all who have prior experiences in the criminal justice system or have overcome addictions.

Jessica Morkert-Shibley, a county spokeswoman, also said she couldnt discuss a personnel matter, but added, The county is absolutely committed to the women in the home and will provide continued support for the program.

The county contracted with Bridges to Change to run the 38-bed home through a $2 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Cochran has worked for Bridges to Change since last May.

She was promoted in December from a supervisor to program manager for the Diane Wade House program with little experience in a managerial job.

11 Diane Wade House opens in Gresham

Cochran said things started falling apart when her immediate mentor and boss, Shelly Mead, left Bridges to Change.

After that, Cochran said she didnt feel supported and kept asking when the residents of the Diane Wade House would receive training on ethnic pride and African American cultural history or get visits from a sex trafficking victims advocate and the Black Panthers as shed requested. Cochran also would point out the lack of African Americans in leadership positions at Bridges to Change, she said.

We had no guidance and every time we reached out to them, they would always be defensive, Cochran said. My voice, my refusal to back down. I think I made them uncomfortable one on one.

Cochran, 42, said she had been placed on a six-week performance improvement plan. She said she had differences with Bridges to Change staff on how to handle a resident who tested positive for marijuana.

Cochran said she also was told to remove certain posts on her personal Facebook page that contained the n-word. She said she never posted anything derogatory toward African Americans.

I wrote poems about black womens trauma. They felt it was inappropriate because I used the n-word, Cochran said. I believe Bridges to Change tokenized me. They never had a real desire to have that program run by African American women.

Knudson said Bridges to Change has a social media policy that employees are expected to follow. While he acknowledged the agency doesnt have African Americans in its senior leadership positions, he said its board of directors is one-third African American and its chair is an African American woman.

Were committed as an organization to making decisions through a racial equity lens, he said. Foremost in importance are the care and consideration of its clients served by the Diane Wade House, he said.

In mid-April, Cochran took a 10-day vacation and shortly after she returned was called in and fired from her $47,840-a-year job.

According to her employee record that she provided, her former boss, Mead, praised Cochran last September for doing an amazing job in community outreach, for her strong leadership skills and for being goal-oriented. Cochran was encouraged, though, to improve communication with others while maintaining your authentic self and to work on stronger emotional control.

Cochrans sudden departure from the Diane Wade House left her handpicked staff devastated.

ONesha was very passionate. As a team leader, she encouraged me to go to school and she was very loving to our clients, said staff member Sonja Freeman. I feel victimized.

Knudson said he met Tuesday afternoon with all the staff of Diane Wade House and assured them the program would remain dedicated to serving African American women.

Though the interim program manager is an Asian woman, the agency is accepting applications for Cochrans successor, he said. Staff of the house will be able to interview and assess candidates, and the goal is to hire another African American program manager, Knudson said.

Cochran and her supporters plan to speak out against her firing at a Multnomah County Board of Commissioners meeting on May 9.

In her application for the job, Cochran bluntly answered a question about barriers faced by black women.

Black women are often considered aggressive, hostile, intimidating or unapproachable. Culturally, we can be very expressive, loud and passionate and we are also loving caretakers, hardworking, honest, creative, innovative and resilient. And when professionals take the opportunity to align themselves culturally with our community on an organic level they are able to learn this for themselves, she wrote. Unfortunately to(o) few non-black providers will ever take the time to do this, and that is the biggest barrier to me, too few providers with no diverse cultural experience.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
Oregon lawmakers would raise state school funding to $9 billion in the coming two-year budget if they approve plans unveiled Tuesday. That would be $657 million more than the state gave schools in the past two years.

Even so, legislative analysts say that would barely be enough to maintain current service levels in Oregon schools.

School funding is the largest single portion of the state budget, accounting for nearly 39 percent of the Oregons general and lottery fund budget during the last budget cycle. But per-student, Oregon school funding is relatively low compared to other states and Oregon lawmakers are moving toward a $2 billion tax hike on businesses to improve school performance.

Even if the tax increase passes the Legislature, and withstands a possible initiative challenge, very little of the new money would be available right away. So rather than a windfall, the 9.7 percent increase in school funding proposed Tuesday would be smaller than the last increase two years ago.

Teachers across the state are planning a one-day walkout on May 8 to call for higher funding. Schools will close in Beaverton, Portland, North Clackamas, Lake Oswego, Gresham, West Linn and Wilsonville.

The Legislative Fiscal Office estimates maintaining current services would cost at last $8.7 billion for the 2019-21 budget cycle. Thats up from the $8.2 billion Oregon allocated for schools two years ago, reflecting soaring pension and health costs, rising student enrollment and other factors.

To help pay for the coming increase, lawmakers are proposing taking $200 million from the pending tax increase to help cover the increase. If the tax hike doesnt take effect lawmakers would have to settle for flat service levels over the next two years or find the money somewhere else.

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly said the school funding bill allocated $100 million more than Gov. Kate Brown had proposed.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
The Portland school board will seat at least three new members come July, as only one of the four board members whose term ends this year is running for re-election.

The 2019 campaign comes at a time when questions of fiscal responsibility swirl around decision-makers at the states largest school district.

In mid-April, an outside auditor discovered that top officials in the districts bond office intentionally low-balled estimates for a 2017 modernization bond to the tune of $100 million, and cost overruns have nearly ballooned to $250 million.

And earlier this year, an audit by the state Secretary of States office also found students of color are systemically short-changed in Portland schools. Auditors advised the district to rein in what they deemed spending with inadequate accountability and oversight.

The school board must also decide whether to put two different property tax measures on the ballot over the next 18 months.

A five-year local option levy passed by Portland voters in 2014 provided $97.4 million for the district this year, or about 14 percent of the general fund. It expires this year, which means the district will likely ask voters to renew it in November, a decision that will fall to the school board for final approval.

The board also will need to decide whether to ask voters to approve another construction bond in 2020, as the current board is aiming. The size and timing of that proposal to voters will fall to the next school board as well.

The Oregonian/OregonLive sent a survey to every candidate who will be on Mays ballot. Here are Amy Kohnstamms answers, edited for length.

Name: Amy Kohnstamm

Seat youre running for: Portland Public School Board of Directors, Zone 3

Occupation: Stay at home mom, previously community relations (Mercy Corps, Tri-Met)

Education: Portland Public Schools K-12, B.A., Macalester College

Do you have children who attend or attended Portland Public Schools? If so, please provide details

My three children have attended PPS. My eldest is about to graduate from UCLA, and we have two sons at Lincoln High School. I live in Northwest Portland and our children have all been in Dual Language Immersion and are bilingual in Spanish.

What inspired you to run for the board?

I was inspired to run for the board because it became evident to me that the education my children were receiving in affluent, majority white Westside neighborhood schools was not the education available to all children in PPS, and that, to me, is not the promise of public education. I believe we cannot be a thriving city without a strong and equitable public school system, with equal opportunity at all neighborhood schools.

Did you have any previous involvement in PPS, either as a volunteer or member of an advisory council or committee? If so, what were your duties?

Since my oldest son entered PPS in 2002, I have been a parent activist, advocate for funding, classroom volunteer, Local School Foundation board member, Chair of the Portland Schools Foundation (and chair of the Equity Grants distribution committee) and member of the Parents Coalition (which restored high school instructional hours).

I served on the Superintendents Bond Advisory Committee that developed the 2012 bond, then served as finance chair for the 2012 bond campaign, helped lead the 2017 bond campaign and have served on the PPS Board of Directors since 2015.

How much time do you envision yourself setting aside for board duties every week?

I am working to restore best practices for school board governance, which includes focusing the board on policy and governance that advances student achievement and maintaining a board schedule that respects it is a volunteer role held by people with jobs, families and other community commitments.

Board requirements and preparation should not be more than 10 hours a week, but there are many events, school visits, celebrations, and meetings with constituents that I attend as time allows. It is important for board members to stay connected to the perspectives of students, parents and educators and staff throughout the district.

Define how you would view your role as a board member.

Board members are the representatives of the community. We are elected to bring community values to policy-making and hold the district accountable for achieving strategic goals and creating a budget in service to our students and accountable to taxpayers.

Individual board members play different roles in bringing forward multiple perspectives to our policymaking, but we only have power to act collectively. This is why it is critically important to have collegial collaboration among board members, in service to our kids. Another honor and responsibility of board service is publically representing the district and the board in the community.

Define how you view the role of the school board as a whole.

The board defines the strategic vision for the district and creates a framework for holding the superintendent responsible for enacting the goals. The PPS board just completed a deep visioning process with the community that we will distill into a strategic plan to serve as the boards template for action over the next 3-5 years.

The boards commitment is to focus on actions that directly impact student achievement, and to responsibly steward public funds. Since all board work is done in public, it is always important to model professional, constructive conduct for our students, and be fully transparent about decision-making.

How will you handle disagreements with fellow board members?

Policymaking can be messy and I firmly believe we arrive at better decisions when we openly and respectfully work through different perspectives and beliefs. Disagreements are to be expected, but it is always important to recognize that all board members come to the work with a profound commitment to our students.

As board members, our responsibility is to speak our minds, to listen to our board colleagues, and after the board has taken formal action on matters, to respect the direction of the majority vote.

What kind of relationship do you envision having with Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero and how will you develop this?

Helping lead the superintendent recruitment process and working with board colleagues to hire Superintendent Guerrero has been the pivotal action in initiating the transformation of PPS. I have worked to help define the different roles of the board, superintendent and staff and keep the board in the policy and governance lane while respecting the superintendents authority to manage the district.

Superintendent Guerrero and I have a close and collegial working relationship and he knows I support him and the educational leaders in the district to determine the strategies that will lead to the improvement were all committed to for PPS.

How will you hold the superintendent accountable?

The PPS board is developing new concrete metrics to evaluate the superintendent and hold him accountable for the boards strategic priorities. In the next several years, I am committed to enacting a change in the focus of the boards work, and our meetings will be more clearly tied to evaluating progress on strategic goals.

Our responsibility is to have clear goals and milestones for the superintendent - that reflect the board and communitys priorities - so there is no ambiguity about performance or progress toward goals. This is the mechanism for holding the superintendent accountable for the district transformation our students deserve.

How will you engage with the community?

Volunteer board service is an opportunity for ordinary citizens to bring the communitys interests to the policymaking and governance of public institutions. With every issue the board faces, I ask myself - who does this action most impact? What do I need to know about their experiences to inform my decision-making?

Ive developed deep ties with students, parents, educators, and community organizations, and have earned trust through listening. Ive worked hard to bring student voice into PPS decision-making, and will continue to make a particular effort to connect with communities whose PPS experience has been dramatically different than my own familys.

What is the single most pressing issue facing Portland Public Schools and why?

PPS greatest challenge is the academic achievement gap between white students and students of color, and the opportunity gap of inequitable offerings and environments between neighborhood schools.

Im running because the district is finally developing the capacity to address this. If we stay the course and budget to support the right strategies, we can see significant gains in the next 4 years. PPS also needs to bring the larger community in to support our students success, by working with the State, City, County and other institutions to consider our students when addressing impacts of poverty, homelessness, gentrification and systemic racism.

The Oregon Secretary of States office released a report earlier this year concluding that Portland Public Schools systemically fails students of color. Do you agree or disagree with the report? If so, what policy changes or reforms will you push for that address the issues put forth by state auditors?

As the audit noted, this gap has persisted for years and PPS has not had systemic strategies to boost achievement of students of color, English language learners or students with disabilities.

This past year PPS has developed a standards-based curriculum to be implemented across all schools, has improved principal leadership and raised expectations for classroom instructional practices, and is building supports for educators to meet the diverse learning needs of every child. With this continued focus from the board and leadership team, I believe we will better serve our students of color.

How will you balance the interests of students and teachers as represented by their union, should those interests be at odds?

During my board tenure PPS has improved its working relationship with the teachers union and is jointly pursuing strategies to raise achievement and address barriers to student success. As a parent and longtime advocate for students, my focus is on what our students need, and what our educators need to serve our students well.

I have helped craft and push PPS legislative strategy to address student safety concerns, and will help lead the districts work to make needed changes to the PAT contract that address student safety and carry out the recommendations made to the board in the Whitehurst investigation.

Portland Public Schools has faced a series of communication crises over the last couple of years, which have prompted formal apologies signed by both administrators and board members. How will you work to communicate with parents, teachers and students in the zone you represent and in the broader community?

With all issues facing PPS, the first step should be to listen to the experiences of our students and families before making decisions that impact them. This has been a repeated misstep in recent years - administrative decisions made without the necessary engagement, listening and learning.

I will reach out and remain open and available to all constituents across the district, as well as reform systemic district practices for public engagement. PPS has a history of only hearing - and being influenced by - some of our school communities. We need to engage a much broader and representative chorus of voices.

What metrics will you be watching as a board member?

I am committed to transforming our board governance so we are much more focussed on monitoring student achievement and holding the district accountable for employing strategies that get results for kids. Some specific important metrics are:

Third grade reading proficiency of all student subgroups

Rate of progression toward English language proficiency for English language learners

Metrics of college and career readiness, beyond just high school graduation

Increase in high school graduation rate for all subgroups

School climate surveys - what are our students and families telling us about their school communities? What do they think needs to change?

What strengths would you bring to the board? Why, essentially, is it crucial the voters choose you?

PPS is at a critical moment of transformation, and its essential to have capable board leadership to guide this change. I bring knowledge and diligence to the work, an ability to collaborate and a fundamental belief that all students can succeed and have amazing gifts to be nurtured.

It is deeply important for the community to have board members they trust and respect, and Ive been honored to earn this trust and represent their needs. I bring an abiding sense of responsibility to the stewardship of public funds, which is especially important as we prioritize funding to rebuild this district.
The Portland school board will seat at least three new members come July, as only one of the four board members whose term ends this year is running for re-election.

The 2019 campaign comes at a time when questions of fiscal responsibility swirl around decision-makers at the states largest school district.

In mid-April, an outside auditor discovered that top officials in the districts bond office intentionally low-balled estimates for a 2017 modernization bond to the tune of $100 million, and cost overruns have nearly ballooned to $250 million.

And earlier this year, an audit by the state Secretary of States office also found students of color are systemically short-changed in Portland schools. Auditors advised the district to rein in what they deemed spending with inadequate accountability and oversight.

The school board must also decide whether to put two different property tax measures on the ballot over the next 18 months.

A five-year local option levy passed by Portland voters in 2014 provided $97.4 million for the district this year, or about 14 percent of the general fund. It expires this year, which means the district will likely ask voters to renew it in November, a decision that will fall to the school board for final approval.

The board also will need to decide whether to ask voters to approve another construction bond in 2020, as the current board is aiming. The size and timing of that proposal to voters will fall to the next school board as well.

The Oregonian/OregonLive sent a survey to every candidate who will be on Mays ballot. Here are Deb Mayers answers, edited for length.

Name: Deb Mayer

Seat youre running for: Portland Public School Board Director, Zone 3

Occupation: Retired educator, volunteer education advocate

Education: Indiana University BS, MS, Education Administration

Do you have children who attend or attended Portland Public Schools? If so, please provide details.

No.

What inspired you to run for the board?

You might say I m doing this because of the money. Four years ago, this race cost over $300,000. Thats ridiculous!

This year no one stepped up. So, I did. Nearly $200 million has disappeared from the bond budget. An audit revealed that we dont know how this happened. Was there malfeasance? Its a fair question.

Im calling for an investigation. Another money problem involves more budget cuts for student services. How is that money being spent? I call for transparency and oversight of that funding before contracts are signed. We should know who is profiting off our children.

Did you have any previous involvement in PPS, either as a volunteer or member of an advisory council or committee? If so, what were your duties?

My work with PPS has been tangential through working with nonprofit organizations. I worked as a reading tutor coordinator with OASIS to provide reading tutors to North Portland schools. With Great Schools for America and Girls Lead, I developed a summer math camp for girls struggling in math, and I have worked on restorative justice projects with Portland Parent Union and Resolutions Northwest.

My work roles included organizing, grant writing, and working directly with kids and families. Also, I advocate for students by writing legislation and testifying to the PPS board and in Salem.

How much time do you envision yourself setting aside for board duties every week?

I currently spend 20  30 hours a week doing similar work, so it will be nice to have a vote. For the past ten years I have been involved in education advocacy.

I co-founded Oregon Save Our Schools. Im on the board of Parent Across America, Portland Parent Union, and Great Schools for America. Im a member of Network for Public Education, Oregon Public Education Network, Oregon BATS, Teacher Brigade, Oregon Retired Educators Association, Wireless Education Action, and Childrens Screen Time Action Network -- all volunteer organizations.

I blog at Parents Across America Oregon.

Define how you would view your role as a board member.

I come to the board with knowledge, expertise, and experience in education  and a spine. I intend to act as an equal. PPS has a corporate lobbyist who wields considerable influence over the board.

She practically hand-picked our current superintendent and seems to have played a role in firing the one person with a clear overview of PPS finance. Conflicts of interest did not preclude her from volunteering for a position that will affect the PPS board. Also, Stand for Children spawns much negative philanthropic influence. The board has options. I know what they are.

Define how you view the role of the school board as a whole.

Although expectations and protocols for the PPS board, superintendent, and staff are specified in this concisely constructed document, its simpler than that. Pursuant to law, district school boards have control of the district schools and are responsible for educating children residing in the district.

I take a broad view of educating. For example, providing children with a healthy school environment is priority one for me. Whether it be safe drinking water, Wifi safety, care not cops, a ban on high stakes testing, data privacy, or nutritional food, the board assures kids can learn and thrive in safe spaces.

How will you handle disagreements with fellow board members?

Decisions should include information sessions, solid evidence based on sound research, conversation, and debate when warranted. I prefer common sense solutions that follow a logical train of thought.

When a disagreement occurs, conflict resolution strategies are useful. Ultimately, I defer to those on or off the board with expertise on the matter at hand. My preferred method of decision-making occurs through collegial cooperation, collaboration, and consensus building. My guiding principle is based on whether a chosen solution works best in educating kids.

What kind of relationship do you envision having with Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero and how will you develop this?

Too soon to tell. Respectful and possibly, at times, contentious. Im concerned that he will turn to social impact investing or Pay for Success schemes to fund the new PPS vision.

How will you hold the superintendent accountable?

PPS is in need of an operational structure that works. The current bond budget fiasco is a good example. Much finger pointing, but no real accountability process exists to get to the bottom of what happened to all those millions.

Preparing a cost estimate is not rocket science. With a proper framework in place, an auditor would be able to backtrack, find out who is involved, who is ultimately responsible, and how to remedy the situation so it cant happen again. The superintendent is accountable to the structure and process in all areas of management.

How will you engage with the community?

I will visit schools and be visible in school communities. I will be available to parents and educators. I will observe, listen, and enjoin community members to find solutions that work for them. I have local, state, and national networks of others doing this same work. We help each other.

What is the single most pressing issue facing Portland Public Schools and why?

The threat of privatization and outside influences that affect the boards autonomy to do its job is the most pressing issue. Two short videos The Ledger and Datapalooza illustrate the future corporate reformers envision for our children. Edtech is real. PPS has signed on to Project Unicorn, an interoperability system that shares student data across platforms.

It is instrumental in storing and sharing student behavioral data according to Oregon education leaders. Should parents have knowledge and give consent for data collection? Will the PPS board be able to opt-out of harmful influences?

The Oregon Secretary of States office released a report earlier this year concluding that Portland Public Schools systemically fails students of color. Do you agree or disagree with the report? If so, what policy changes or reforms will you push for that address the issues put forth by state auditors?

Even though the report is not comprehensive and seems to be politically motivated, I agree with many of its findings. Its no surprise to anyone that PPS is failing students of color, least of all to families of color. If youve read this far, by now you know Im all about budgeting and spending on the most effective solutions to promote student achievement. Also, I have experience in finding ways of sustainably employing more people of color. Those two actions would be a good starting point that would make a noticeable difference right away.

How will you balance the interests of students and teachers as represented by their union, should those interests be at odds?

Interests of teachers and their students is rarely at odds because often unions bargain for the learning conditions of their students. Lately, safety has become an issue though. Teachers, as well as students, must be safe at school. The bizarre behaviors being documented in classrooms across the city demand that we look more deeply for causes to the problem. Could overexposure to wireless networks and devices be a cause? Whatever the situation, I rarely see a union v. student scenario as the problem.

Portland Public Schools has faced a series of communication crises over the last couple of years, which have prompted formal apologies signed by both administrators and board members. How will you work to communicate with parents, teachers and students in the zone you represent and in the broader community?

We must begin as board members to insist on transparency about what we are doing. No secrets. There are too many things flying beneath the radar at PPS. I will not be a part of that. I have said this in board meetings before: it is the duty of the board to inform the community of potential and real threats. When a mistake or incident occurs, it is up to me to be accountable and address the problem personally and professionally. Mistakes are likely going to occur. Hopefully, small manageable ones.

What metrics will you be watching as a board member?

These are the questions I would ask using more qualitative measures.

Are students happy to be at school? Are students intrinsically motivated to learn? What opportunities are we offering students? Are more students of color taking advantage of those opportunities? Are we budgeting wisely and making good fiscal decisions? Are we giving students the education they deserve?

What strengths would you bring to the board? Why, essentially, is it crucial the voters choose you?

As an educator for over 40 years, Ive have participated in some extraordinary projects like Key Learning Community, the original multiple intellingences school. Ive taught most every level from kindergarten through grad school.

Ive taught in public, private, and charter schools and know the value of each. I know what works. I believe that strong public schools are the foundation of our democracy, and I will work tirelessly to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen public schools for PPS students. (Not sure all board members believe in that.)
The Portland school board will seat at least three new members come July, as only one of the four board members whose term ends this year is running for re-election.

The 2019 campaign comes at a time when questions of fiscal responsibility swirl around decision-makers at the states largest school district.

In mid-April, an outside auditor discovered that top officials in the districts bond office intentionally low-balled estimates for a 2017 modernization bond to the tune of $100 million, and cost overruns have nearly ballooned to $250 million.

And earlier this year, an audit by the state Secretary of States office also found students of color are systemically short-changed in Portland schools. Auditors advised the district to rein in what they deemed spending with inadequate accountability and oversight.

The school board must also decide whether to put two different property tax measures on the ballot over the next 18 months.

A five-year local option levy passed by Portland voters in 2014 provided $97.4 million for the district this year, or about 14 percent of the general fund. It expires this year, which means the district will likely ask voters to renew it in November, a decision that will fall to the school board for final approval.

The board also will need to decide whether to ask voters to approve another construction bond in 2020, as the current board is aiming. The size and timing of that proposal to voters will fall to the next school board as well.

The Oregonian/OregonLive sent a survey to every candidate who will be on Mays ballot. Here are Shanice Clarkes answers, edited for length.

Name Shanice Brittany Clarke

Seat youre running for Zone 2

Occupation Educator/Education Administrator, Portland State University

Education M.A. in Educational Leadership & Student Affairs & B.A. in Human Services, University of Northern Colorado

Do you have children who attend or attended Portland Public Schools? If so, please provide details

Not yet, but having a disrupted high school experience directed me to professionally advocating for student success. As a frequent Portland Public Schools partner, I support students who are current PPS students or PPS alum through leadership development, crisis intervention, and programming.

Ive facilitated workshops and attended youth summits open to PPS students, families, and educators for identity and professional skills development. Many communities come from Benson, Madison, Buckman, Jefferson, and beyond. Also, my partner is currently stationed at Lincoln High School teaching creative writing classes.

What inspired you to run for the board?

Weve been waiting a long time to improve the quality of education in PPS. After actively organizing with PPS Black educators, supporting retention efforts for PPS students, and engaging with leaders across the state to identify solutions for the achievement gap  I was recruited to run for the Portland Public School Board, Zone 2, because the PPS Board needs better representation from immigrant, youth, and Black communities.

I was also recruited because I have the relevant skills to implement educational policy that supports student retention, and I bring a community-centered approach to management and governance.

Did you have any previous involvement in PPS, either as a volunteer or member of an advisory council or committee? If so, what were your duties?

This winter, I participated in an annual summit at Roosevelt HS that celebrated students and recognized those who are affected by disparities in education, health, and economics.

For MLK Day, I co-created a summit to reveal classroom experiences with racial identity and belonging with parents, educators, and students.

Education lobbying with my union to encourage legislators to increase educational funding usually occurs alongside PPS educators and students. This allowed me to understand issues with class size, work-load, lack of professional development, and other basic resources that are not reflected in PPS.

How much time do you envision yourself setting aside for board duties every week?

As a working educator, I would utilize my professional development hours, lunch breaks, and time before and after work to set aside for board duties every week. Board duties would be my primary commitment outside of my current employment.

I plan to set aside time for meetings, communications, backwards planning, reading policy, reviewing meeting minutes, and updating stakeholders with our ongoing work. When consulting with current and previous board members with similar work commitments, I learn methods that will help me perform weekly board duties.

Define how you would view your role as a board member.

My role as a board member is to be informed of the state of educational operations in PPS, and to help present the needs of the educational system to the community. I will co-create a budget dependent on our high priority needs using a racial equity lens.

Part of my job as a board member would be to study reports and updates on district performance from the superintendent, and then disseminate these updates to members of the community. In addition, I would bring transparent and accountable leadership when supporting needs from parents, students, employees, or community members.

Define how you view the role of the school board as a whole.

The board should establish a set of shared principles with a racial equity lens that informs policy creation. We should create a culture of transparency and collaborative leadership. Policies co-created with community should inform the conduct and operation of schools and indicate needs for curricula. The board establishes policies governing student eligibility and student safety. The board supervises the superintendent, and publicly deliberates and adopts an annual budget in compliance with budget laws and statutes to ensure the legal expenditure of funds.

How will you handle disagreements with fellow board members?

I would listen carefully to the perspectives of fellow board members, and center back to the districts mission, core values, and strategic objectives. In addition, a shared set of principles created by the board paired with a racial equity lens can be used as a tool to navigate disagreements. I would respectfully listen to the perspectives of board members, but center back on weighing the impact of our decisions for youth.

What kind of relationship do you envision having with Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero and how will you develop this?

I would give consideration to the superintendents recommendations on matters pertaining to education and the administration of PPS. I would support the board to evaluate Superintendent Guerrero and his performance in accordance with the district's adopted mission, core values, and strategic objectives.

I plan to develop timely, consistent, and respectful communication with Superintendent Guerrero. Roles of the board and superintendent should be clearly defined, and indicate that Superintendent Guerrero holds the roles of Chief Administrative Officer, Chief School Administrator, Chief Executive Administrator, Education Leader for the Portland Public Schools, and Custodian of school funds.

How will you hold the superintendent accountable?

The superintendent would be held accountable according to a set of goals determined by the board, and state and federal law. Accountability measures would target specific areas of the superintendents responsibilities, and utilize an equity lens to evaluate job performance. Information systems with data on student learning and compliance are tools I plan to use to measure accountability.

How will you engage with the community?

Collaboration with city, county, and PPS board members are crucial in times of budget scarcity. And as a PPS board member, my actions would be dependent on input from our main stakeholders: advocates and community members. I will seek to understand the priorities of community organizations and school advocates, and show up to events, listen to issues, and visit schools. An important part of the role is keeping people informed on the state of district operations, performance, and changes. Id hold virtual and in-person opportunities to provide feedback from phone-banking, hosting town halls, and advocating for advisory councils.

What is the single most pressing issue facing Portland Public Schools and why?

Teacher retention is a big issue, with employees experiencing almost twice as much turnover at Title I PPS schools. Our budget crisis is connected to this issue, because we leave teachers and staff without the basic resources needed to do their jobs, make teacher layoffs due to budget cuts, and provide less than adequate training for paraprofessionals and educators. I would work to address teacher retention by advocating for on-boarding protocols, training initiatives for curriculum and classroom management, and resource groups PPS educators.

The Oregon Secretary of States office released a report earlier this year concluding that Portland Public Schools systemically fails students of color. Do you agree or disagree with the report? If so, what policy changes or reforms will you push for that address the issues put forth by state auditors?

I agree. The data shows what we already know - our systems are inequitable and students of color are underserved. Employee turnover is also connected to our inability to support marginalized students. Title I schools have less experienced teachers, and about 60% students of color. There are only 19% of Black students who are at reading level in the third grade. Policy that encourages investment in early literacy initiatives like Head Start, relief nurseries, and longer school days can address how we prepare students of color for success. I would also push for policy to strengthen retention through on-boarding, decreasing class size, and management training.

How will you balance the interests of students and teachers as represented by their union, should those interests be at odds?

I would seek to listen and understand the concerns, and its impact on both students and teachers. Prior to issues surfacing - student representatives, teachers union members, and other community members need to form an organization that serves as a coalition for unions and stakeholders. My priority during moments when students and teachers union members are at odds, would be to create a collective effort to determine their shared values and communicate how the interests of a given group impact the PPS ecosystem as a whole. Legal compliance, and student and staff safety are values I would uphold within the process.

Portland Public Schools has faced a series of communication crises over the last couple of years, which have prompted formal apologies signed by both administrators and board members. How will you work to communicate with parents, teachers and students in the zone you represent and in the broader community?

As a school district, we should develop a communications plan and facilitate recurring reports on items the board will propose or engage with. Each department should have communication initiatives that build awareness on their basic functions, and how parents can access their services. I will keep organized record of board work, and hold staff accountable to their responsibility to communicate updates with internal and external stakeholders.

What metrics will you be watching as a board member?

I will use assessments, measures indicated from MAPS testing, and data separated by race, income, learning ability, and first-language. This data would include teacher evaluations, suspension rates, intake date for socio-emotional supports, career and college readiness indicators, and audits on financials and facilities.

What strengths would you bring to the board? Why, essentially, is it crucial the voters choose you?

My disrupted journey in public schools led me to become a Portland educator, I understand the relationship between student experience and instructional needs within board-level policy. My policy experience has impacted teacher retention, student retention, and compliance for Title IX.

I believe that for far too long our public schools lacked a leader who can harness this collective expertise from theory into practicea leader who can advocate for diverse students and their families, for the conditions necessary to succeed in school and in life.
When the the popular History channel show American Pickers" last came to Oregon, hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz found what the show described in 2017 as their most expensive pick so far. In the episode, which first aired in April 2017, Wolfe and Fritz decided to spend more than $90,000 for antique motorcycles and more items purchased from a Salem-area man and his mother. The episode also included a visit to an Eastern Oregon ranch, where Wolfe and Fritz checked out a variety of heirlooms.

According to a publicist for the show, Wolfe and Fritz recently came back to Oregon to film for two days in April, one day in Coos Bay, and another day in Oregon City.

What did they find? All we know so far is that the American Pickers experts met with two different homeowners to, as the publicist puts it, discuss their extensive collections.

Does this mean Wolfe and Fritz found more record-setting treasures in garages, basements, outbuildings or other storage areas? Well have to wait to find out. New episodes begin on May 20, but at this point, we dont know when the Oregon episode will air.

To help with the suspense until then, heres some background: American Pickers started airing on the History channel in 2010, and has won a loyal following of viewers who tune in to watch Wolfe and Fritz use their knowledge of collectibles, history and rarities to travel the country in search of antiques, vintage vehicles, and other items that turn out to be more valuable than youd think.

Any guesses on what Wolfe and Fritz found during this most recent Oregon trip?

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
By MARINA VILLENEUVE Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Maine  Maine has become the first state to ban single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed the bill, which takes effect in 2021, into law Tuesday.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine said that Maine's the first state to enact such a ban.

Oregons House of Representatives has also approved a ban on polystyrene take-out containers but House Bill 2883 has yet to come up for a vote in the Senate.

Similar legislation passed Marylands legislature in April, but its unclear whether that states Republican governor, Larry Hogan, will sign it.

Vermont and Connecticut are also considering banning such food containers statewide, and dozens of communities including Portland, Berkeley, Minneapolis and New York City have already passed their own bans, some of which date back to the late 1980s.

Environmental groups have sought bans amid rising public awareness of throwaway plastic that accumulates in the oceans without decomposing.

Companies such as Dunkin' and McDonald's have pledged to or have already eliminated foam cups, while communities around the globe are also considering bans of their own. In December, European Union officials agreed to ban some single-use plastics, such as polystyrene food and beverage containers, in an effort to curb marine pollution.

"With the threats posed by plastic pollution becoming more apparent, costly, and even deadly to wildlife, we need to be doing everything possible to limit our use and better manage our single-use plastics  starting with eliminating the use of unnecessary forms like plastic foam," said Sarah Lakeman, Sustainable Maine director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Mills called it an "important step forward in protecting our environment." The governor said it creates consistency for businesses while providing time to adjust.

Maines law will prohibit covered establishments like restaurants and grocery stores from using polystyrene containers. Hospitals, seafood shippers and state-funded meals-on-wheels programs will be exempt. Oregons proposed law would allow groceries to use polystrene to package raw foods but not ready-to-eat prepared food.

Maine had banned foam food containers at state facilities and functions since 1993 . Some communities in the state had already banned polystyrene.

The legislation faced strong opposition from the plastic industry, food service container manufacturers and Maine business and tourism groups, which argued polystyrene is economical and a better way to keep food from spoiling.

Such industry groups asserted that the bill doesn't mean consumers will stop littering. The groups said they're taking voluntary steps to make plastic package reusable, recyclable or recoverable by 2030. The plastic industry in January committed to spending $1.5 billion over five years to end plastic waste through a new nonprofit, The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, according to American Chemistry Council lobbyist Margaret Gorman.

"All packaging leaves an environmental footprint regardless of the material type," Gorman told Maine lawmakers in written testimony.

Maine State Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Ben Gilman said the bill would raise costs for small businesses in particular while sending a "chilling message" to companies in the state that manufacture food service containers.

These types of issues are better dealt with on a regional or national basis due to unbalanced cost impact it will have on Maine businesses, he said in written testimony to lawmakers.
When President Trump threatened to close the border with Mexico in early April, grocery shoppers immediately felt the squeeze when avocado prices went through the roof.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Hass avocados coming into Texas from Mexicos Michoacan growing region were selling for $60 per 25-pound box in early April. That was up from $42 in late March, and $38 during the same time in 2018. The 34% bump was the single biggest increase in prices for avocados from Mexico in a decade.

At some Portland-area grocery stores, the price for large, conventionally grown Hass avocados went from $1 each to $2.50 overnight, turning a batch of homemade guacamole from an affordable treat into a luxurious splurge.

Avocado prices have eased up slightly since then  you can thank Cinco de Mayo sales for bringing them under $2 apiece right now. But consumers can expect continued volatility as talk of trade wars with Mexico continue. If Trump makes good on threats to close the border, prices could quickly go back up.

According to the Hass Avocado Board, Mexico accounts for as much as 80 percent of the avocados consumed in the United States. And demand for avocados from Mexico may continue to grow, thanks to a heat wave last summer that delayed the harvest from California.

Avocados arent the only Mexican produce item that could surge in price. Shoppers could see a sharp increase in tomato prices if the United States pulls out of a trade agreement thats been in place since the mid-1990s.

On May 7, the U.S. Department of Commerce is expected to pull out of the 1996 U.S.-Mexico Tomato Suspension Agreement that established a price floor for imported tomatoes. Ending the agreement would allow the U.S. to reintroduce tariffs, and could send tomato prices up as much as 80 percent, according to a study by economists at Arizona State University. The U.S. has threatened a variety tariffs against Mexico over trade issues and political tensions over immigration.

According to the Arizona study, tomato imports in 2016 were valued at $1.9 billion and contributed an estimated $4.8 billion to the U.S. economy, both in direct sales to consumers and in sales to restaurants and food manufacturers.

Some U.S. tomato growers like the idea of ending the trade agreement  they claim Mexico has been dumping low-cost tomatoes into the U.S. market, making it difficult to compete.

But consumers could see higher tomato prices ripple through the marketplace, increasing the price of canned tomatoes, jarred pasta sauces and salsa, ketchup and pizza, the Arizona study says.

According to the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, ending the trade agreement could cost 33,000 U.S. jobs. And if Mexican tomato imports decrease by a conservative 5%, consumers could pay up to 25 cents more per pound at the grocery store, or up to $790 million more a year for tomatoes.

Related stories:

Avocados 101: How to pick, store and keep them from turning brown.

How to keep avocados from turning brown: We put 5 popular methods to the test.

Want the most avocado for your money? Shape -- not size -- is what matters most.

-- Grant Butler

gbutler@oregonian.com

503-221-8566; @grantbutler

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
By Robert Harris

Harris is a Hillsboro attorney and executive director of the Washington County indigent defense consortium, some of whose members contract with the state to provide representation in juvenile dependency cases.

It was a bombshell to many. Oregon is being sued for an inadequate foster care system that endangers children. In response, the governor formed a commission tasked with addressing the problem.

The first thing the task force should do is demand the Legislature expand an existing program called the Parent Child Representation Program.

This program, launched in 2014 and now operating in four counties, is piloting a new way of providing legal representation for children and parents in juvenile dependency proceedings that has yielded better results for families.

Oregon doesnt have government employed attorneys to represent children in the foster-care system. It relies on private attorneys who contract with the state to provide services at court-appointed rates. The problem is that these attorneys are paid a flat fee per case and these fees havent kept up with rising costs. Consequently, the attorneys take more cases every year to break even but end up with caseloads that are simply too high to devote the time that each case needs.

The Parent Child Representation Program simply modified how these lawyers were paid. The state pays a flat monthly fee that adequately covers costs and imposes caps on how many cases a lawyer can have at any one time. The program also provides private case managers to assist attorneys and their clients in creating a plan for success, such as substance-abuse treatment, housing or education. This team approach has helped parents regain custody of their children.

A 2018 report showed that the four counties operating under the Parent Child Representation Program saw substantial improvements that other counties did not. From 2014 to 2017, foster care placements in pilot-program counties decreased by 8.7 percent per year while the statewide rate increased 1.7 percent per year, the report found. Compared to the state average, pilot-program counties also reunited families two months earlier, found permanent placements for neglected kids more quickly and saw a reduction in the number of times families came back into the system.

In 2017, the Oregon Office of Public Defense requested almost $20 million dollars in additional funding to expand the program to the entire state, but the Legislature said no. How much is $20 million? Is it worth it? For comparison, fully funding the program throughout Oregon would be about 0.17% of the states Human Services budget.

Putting aside the clear benefits to kids and parents, from a bottom-line budget standpoint, its likely that the Parent Child Representation Program has actually saved money by reducing the need for out-of-home placements and decreasing caseloads for government social workers as kids are reunited with families sooner.

If you, like me, worry about expanding the scope of government unnecessarily, you really should like this program. An expansion wouldnt create one additional government position. Attorneys who contract with the state are typically your local small-town lawyers. Many also practice family law or criminal defense. As they are not part of the government, they are not only navigators for their clients, they also act as independent auditors. With reasonable caseloads and compensation and the help of private social workers, attorneys can make sure that the Department of Human Services offers proper and prompt services to its clients.

The Parent Child Representation Program needs to be swiftly expanded to the entire state. Its a program that is proven, effective and immediately available for a fraction of the cost the state will be spending defending the current system in court. But more importantly, children and parents involved in our juvenile dependency system deserve well trained private attorneys and social workers, who are not overworked and wont excuse a system that is mismanaged or inattentive to their needs.
A recent letter was unbelievable, telling a tourist to go elsewhere because he objected to homelessness in Portland (Portland bothers you? Go elsewhere, April 26).

I lived in Portland for many years and was always so proud of our city, but not anymore. We travel often, talking with residents of other cities, asking what has happened to Portland. It is not comfortable to visit our once-favorite city. I hate going downtown, stepping over people sleeping on the street and by business entrances, smelling urine, seeing needles everywhere, and frequent panhandling  who wants to endure such things?

Yes, this can be changed with the right program handled by the right personnel  come and visit Gresham! We dont see tents on our streets or camps along our Springwater Trail, as in previous times. With the backing of Mayor Shane Bemis and the City Council, Gresham hired Kevin Dahlgren as community health services advisor. He instituted a tough-love approach to homelessness. There is zero tolerance for camping in the city, so campsites are removed by cleanup crews after 24 hours.

Campers are offered instant housing with no waiting lists through coordination with nonprofits and churches. Rehabilitation services, including job opportunities through local employers, are provided to those who legitimately need a hand up. Those who refuse help or are uncooperative are given clear messages that they are unwelcome to hang out in Gresham.

Mayor Wheeler, talk to Kevin Dahlgren about a City of Roses Tough Love program so we can return to what we remember and loved.

Beverly Russell, Gresham
SALEM  Oregon Democrats plan to raise billions of dollars in new business taxes to spend on improvements to early childhood programs and public schools was the first item scheduled for a vote when the House convened at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

However thanks to Republican delay tactics, the vote will not happen until later this afternoon. Republicans are the minority party in both chambers of the Legislature but they still have the power to slow the pace of business, which they are doing today to signal their dissatisfaction with Democrats tax plan House Bill 3427A.

Since Republicans did not waive a requirement to read bills in their entirety, a House reading clerk is currently reading aloud every line of the 45-page bill. The bill reading kicked off at 11:20 a.m. and as of 12:20 p.m., the reading clerk was on page 20.

All lawmakers must remain on the House floor during the reading and subsequent debate and after some wandered away, there was a break in the reading as Republicans requested a roll call.

Frankly, much of the time taken by the reading clerk today should be used by members of the legislature to read the bill themselves, Republican Leader Rep. Carl Wilson, R-Grants Pass, said in a press release.

Under the bill, businesses with at least $1 million in sales inside Oregon would pay a tax of 0.57 percent on their sales. However, the first $1 million in sales would be exempt from the tax and businesses could subtract 35 percent of either their labor or capital costs from their total sales. Groceries, gas, hospitals and long-term care businesses would be exempt from the tax.

The tax plan has taken shape over the last month, as a joint legislative committee first identified the type of tax  a hybrid gross receipts tax  that it would likely pursue, and then worked through a couple drafts of the specific bill language during the last two weeks. On Monday, Democrats passed the current version out of committee on a party line vote after a last-minute deal with the states largest business association which agreed to remain neutral on the plan.

However, some businesses remain opposed to the plan and if it passes, might refer it to voters.

Passing the business tax and education spending plan is legislative Democrats top priority this session, and they have delayed other priorities in order to focus on it. If the House passes the bill today, it must still go to the Senate for a vote.

 Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud
Portland police arrested a man suspected of stabbing another man just before 9 p.m. Tuesday in Northwest Portland.

Police were called to the 200 block of Northwest Couch Street at 8:53 p.m. They found a man who had suffered what is believed to be a non-life-threatening stab wound. He was brought to a Portland hospital.

Witnesses in the area provided updates on a possible suspect seen leaving the area on foot. Police apprehended the suspect at Southwest Park Avenue and Southwest Ankeny Street. Officers are investigating both what led up to the stabbing and the identity of the suspect.

Police closed Northwest Couch Street from Northwest 2nd and 3rd avenues while officers and criminalists process the evidence at the crime scene. The closure was estimated to be for one to two hours.
Updated 6:28 p.m.: The event is over. Heres our story:

Updated 6:13 p.m.:

The rally at Holladay Park appears to be winding down. Organizers told the crowd to stay organized, keep advocating for workers rights, come back next year. #maydaypdx pic.twitter.com/Jr85iSEkNR  Everton Bailey Jr. (@EvertonBailey) May 2, 2019

Updated 5:45 p.m.:

Fowzia Ibrahim, a senior at Madison HS, spoke to the crowd of what its like growing up as a black Muslim woman in todays world. She urged the crowd to keep advocating for each other. #maydaypdx pic.twitter.com/Cqk6KcPQdt  Everton Bailey Jr. (@EvertonBailey) May 2, 2019

Updated 5:24 p.m.: A crowd of at least 200 people gathered at Holladay Park on Wednesday afternoon. Speeches were being given at a stage, several activist groups had tables set up and there was a child care tent. At least another dozen people with American flags protested nearby on the I-84 overpass.

Several people drew in chalk on the ground in the middle of the park. One wrote, Immigrants, refugees and migrants make us stronger. Another said, Seeking asylum is a legal human right.

There are people drawing in chalk on the ground in the middle of the park. One says immigrants, refugees and migrants make us stronger. And the other says Seeking asylum is a legal human right. pic.twitter.com/rfNadC7CoP  Everton Bailey Jr. (@EvertonBailey) May 2, 2019

Speakers & musicians address crowd of at least 200 in Holladay Park on #MayDayPDX. Information booths, a childcare tent and a tamale table are all part of the gathering. @EvertonBailey, @enjus, @JRamakrishnanOR & @markwgraves also covering this + nearby South Sound Alliance rally pic.twitter.com/baop8hsqnc  Dave Killen (@killendave) May 2, 2019

Update 4:30 p.m.: As the protest at ICE downtown wrapped up, a scattered crowd of a couple hundred gathered at Holladay park for the main event, May Day is for Everyone: A Festival of Resistance. A couple of park rangers kept an eye on the crowd, but there was no other visible police presence.

Watch a live feed of the event at Holladay Park here:

Its a scattered crowd of a couple hundred here at #MayDayPDX in NE Portlands Holladay Park. Updates from protests and gatherings across the city are here: https://t.co/G36PIAyPoB pic.twitter.com/GvbMmRmxgc  Elliot Njus  (@enjus) May 1, 2019

Update 3:36 p.m.: The protest at the ICE facility in Southwest Portland ended around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, organizers said. Many participants planned to head to the next rally at 4 p.m. in Holladay Park in Northeast Portland.

Update 2:42 p.m.: Leader of the conservative group Patriot Prayer, Joey Gibson, traded taunts with marchers protesting ICE in Southwest Portland Wednesday. Police on a loudspeaker told a protester to get his white suburban out of the road. Protesters responded by telling cops to get their white suburban out of the road.

Cops on loud speaker telling protester to get his white suburban out of the road. Protesters telling cops to get their white suburban out of the road. pic.twitter.com/9xA6i49NXa  Kale Williams (@sfkale) May 1, 2019

#MayDayPdx protesters at Portlands #ICE headquarters are taking turns at mic now, w police warning them to consequences for blocking the road pic.twitter.com/oRSWua83lL  Beth Nakamura (@bethnakamura) May 1, 2019

Update 2:26 p.m.: Marchers arrived at the ICE facility Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by cops telling protesters to get on the sidewalks or be arrested.

March arrives at ICE facility greeted by cops telling protesters to get on the sidewalks or be arrested. pic.twitter.com/G8fXoxj1nb  Kale Williams (@sfkale) May 1, 2019

Update 1:40 p.m.: About 100 people have gathered at Elizabeth Caruthers Park in Southwest Portland for the first of several planned events across the city. Speakers are addressing the crowd, and police are watching from a distance. Joey Gibson the leader of the conservative group Patriot Prayer is in attendance. A speaker reminding protesters that they want a peaceful rally. Dont give them any YouTube content, someone yelled. Organizers said their main focus is President Donald Trumps proposal for a wall along the Mexican border and child separation policies. They say they tentatively plan to march to a nearby Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility after the speakers finish.

Maybe 100 or so folks gathered at Elizabeth Caruthers Park in SW Portland for the first of several #MayDay2019 protests around town. Speakers speaking, cops watching from a distance. pic.twitter.com/9eBcyv1er7  Kale Williams (@sfkale) May 1, 2019

* * *

Original story is below.

May Day, also known as International Workers Day, is a day of protest in support of worker rights in many places around the world, and Portland has a history of taking part.

In 2017, 25 people were arrested after a peaceful, permitted protest erupted into a riot. In 2018, the primary May Day action was a family-friendly picnic at Lents Park.

This year, several events are planned throughout the day in Portland, though Portland Police have issued no permits for May Day protests on Wednesday.

An Occupy ICE protest was planned for 1 p.m. at Elizabeth Caruthers Park in Southwest Portland.

May Day is for Everyone: A Festival of Resistance starts at 4 p.m. at Holladay Park in Northeast Portland.

This festival will attempt to show that it is not the fascist that have the power, or the imperialists, or the capitalists, or the colonizers, or the ruling class, or the bosses," the invite reads. It is us.

The Portland Police put out a video featuring Police Chief Danielle Outlaw and Mayor Ted Wheeler and others asking protesters to obey the law.

-- The Oregonian staff
When workers at an Ace Hardware in Hillsboro reported that a woman had walked out of the store with an $11.99 tank of welding gas that she hadnt paid for in her tote bag, an elaborate high-tech crime-fighting operation sprang into action.

A Washington County sheriff's detective, working with the agency's Special Investigations Unit, ran the store's surveillance footage through an internal facial-recognition program built by Amazon, revealing a possible match.

That woman's license plate was flagged and, three months later, a narcotics officer in an unmarked SUV saw it and radioed other patrol deputies to stop her. A deputy clapped a pair of handcuffs around her wrists, an arrest report states. She said she'd needed the gas to fix her car.

Deputies used to track down criminals the old-fashioned way, faxing caught-on-camera images of a suspect around the office in hope that someone might recognize the face.

Then, in late 2017, the Washington County Sheriff's Office became the first law enforcement agency in the country known to use Amazon's artificial-intelligence tool Rekognition, transforming this thicket of forests and suburbs into a public testing ground for a new wave of experimental police surveillance techniques.

Almost overnight, deputies saw their investigative powers supercharged, allowing them to scan for matches of a suspect's face across more than 300,000 mug shots taken at the county jail since 2001. A grainy picture of someone's face - captured by a security camera, a social media account or a deputy's smartphone - can quickly become a link to their identity, including their name, family and address. More than 1,000 facial-recognition searches were logged last year, said deputies, who sometimes used the results to find a suspect's Facebook page or visit their home.

But Washington County also became ground zero for a high-stakes battle over the unregulated growth of policing by algorithm. Defense attorneys, artificial-intelligence researchers and civil rights experts argue that the technology could lead to the wrongful arrest of innocent people who bear only a resemblance to a video image. Rekognition's accuracy is also hotly disputed, and some experts worry that a case of mistaken identity by armed deputies could have dangerous implications, threatening privacy and people's lives.

Some police agencies have in recent years run facial-recognition searches against state or FBI databases using systems built by contractors such as Cognitec, IDEMIA and NEC. But the rollout by Amazon has marked perhaps the biggest step in making the controversial face-scanning technology mainstream. Rekognition is easy to activate, requires no major technical infrastructure and is offered to virtually anyone at bargain-barrel prices. Washington County spent about $700 to upload its first big haul of photos, and now, for all its searches, it pays about $7 a month.

It's impossible to tell, though, just how accurate or effective the technology has been during its first 18 months of real-world tests. Deputies don't have to note in arrest reports when a facial-recognition search was used, and the exact number of times it has resulted in an arrest is unclear. Sheriff's officials said the software has led to dozens of arrests for theft, violence or other crimes, but a public-records request turned up nine case reports in which facial recognition was mentioned.

"Just like any of our investigative techniques, we don't tell people how we catch them," said Robert Rookhuyzen, a detective on the agency's major crimes team who said he has run "several dozen" searches and found it helpful about 75% of the time. "We want them to keep guessing."

Sheriffs officials say face scans dont always mark the end of the investigation: Deputies must still establish probable cause or find evidence before charging a suspect with a crime. But the sheriffs office sets its own rules for facial-recognition use and allows deputies to use the tool to identify bodies, unconscious suspects and people who refused to give their name.

The search tool's imperfect results raise the risk of an innocent person being flagged and arrested, especially in cases of the scanned images being blurred, low-quality or partially concealed. Deputies are also allowed to run artist sketches through the search, an unusual use that AI experts said could more often lead to a false match.

Amazon's guidelines for law enforcement say officials should use Rekognition's results only when the system is 99% confident in a match. But deputies here are not shown that search-confidence measurement when they use the tool. Instead, they are given five possible matches for every search, even if the system's certainty in a match is far lower.

After fielding questions from The Washington Post, Amazon added language to those guidelines, stating that officers should manually review all matches before detaining a suspect and that the search "shouldn't be used as the sole determinant for taking action."

The relationship between Amazon and Oregons third-largest law enforcement agency is mutually beneficial: The sheriffs office is helping to refine the system, which Amazon hopes to sell across the country. But Amazons push into law-enforcement sales has alarmed some legal advocates who say the system poses too many risks to civil liberties. (Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)

"The government is incredibly powerful, and they bring a lot to bear against an individual citizen in a case," said Mary Bruington, the director of the Washington County Public Defender's Office, which represents defendants who can't afford an attorney. "You couple that with Amazon? That's a powerful partnership."

Matt Wood, the general manager of artificial intelligence for the company's cloud-computing division, Amazon Web Services, said in a statement that Rekognition is just "another input among many other leads for a 100 percent human-driven investigation."

Still, the company faces criticism on many fronts: Top AI researchers, members of Congress and civil rights groups - as well as some of Amazon's own investors and employees - have urged the company to stop providing the technology to law enforcement, pointing to studies that have found that the system is less accurate with dark-skinned faces. Amazon has disputed that research.

Some of Amazon's rivals have spurned similar contracts. Microsoft President Brad Smith said in April that the company had recently declined to provide its facial-recognition software to a California law enforcement agency that wanted to run a face scan anytime its officers pulled someone over, but that it had approved a deal putting the technology in a U.S. prison. Microsoft declined to provide details.

Amazon investors will vote in May on a proposal, backed by a group of activist shareholders, that would prevent the company from selling Rekognition to government agencies unless the company's board determines that it doesn't pose a risk to human rights.

The sheriffs office allowed Post journalists to spend two days in March in its squad cars, detectives offices and county jail, observing how deputies have folded the technology into their daily caseload. Most of those interviewed said the software had saved them time, boosted their arrest numbers and helped them process the growing glut of visual evidence. To date, no legal challenge has been made to an arrest on the grounds that the photo match was mistaken, both deputies and public defenders said.

But lawyers in Oregon said the technology should not be, as many see it, an imminent step forward for the future of policing, and they frame the system not as a technical milestone but a moral one: Is it OK to nab more bad guys if more good guys might get arrested, too?

"People love to always say, 'Hey, if it's catching bad people, great, who cares,' " said Joshua Crowther, a chief deputy defender in Oregon, "until they're on the other end."

Indistinguishable from magic

When Amazon revealed Rekognition in 2016, the company called it a breakthrough for a potent style of deep-learning artificial intelligence that showed results "indistinguishable from magic." In a blog post illustrated with a photo of an executive's dog, the company offered some general ideas for how people could begin using it, including for security checkpoints or billboards wired to gather data from a viewer's face.

The unveiling caught the eye of Chris Adzima, a former eBay programmer who had been hired at the Washington County Sheriff's Office to work on an iPhone app that deputies use to track inmates' behavior. His agency had hundreds of thousands of facial photos already online and no real way to analyze them. Using Amazon's AI, he got a system up and running in less than three weeks.

"They didn't really have a firm idea of any type of use cases in the real world, but they knew that they had a powerful tool that they created," said Adzima, a senior information systems analyst who works in a small cubicle at the sheriff's headquarters. "So, you know, I just started using it."

Deputies immediately began folding facial searches into their daily beat policing, and Adzima built a bare-bones internal website that let them search from their patrol cars. He dropped the search-confidence percentages and designed the system to return five results, every time: When the system returned zero results, he said, deputies wondered whether they'd messed something up. To spice it up, he also added an unnecessary purple "scanning" animation whenever a deputy uploaded a photo - a touch he said was inspired by cop shows like "CSI."

As he started flooding Amazon's servers with image data, account executives there took notice, he said, and some voiced their surprise and excitement that he was using it for police work. In one 2017 email first revealed last year as part of an American Civil Liberties Union public-records request, an Amazon account executive asked to introduce Adzima to an executive at a police-body-camera company who wanted to understand how he "overcame stakeholder resistance." "You're AWS-famous now," the executive wrote, with an emoji of a smiley face.

Deputies say the system is a huge hit. Chris Lee, who has used the search in five cases of burglary and theft, said many of his colleagues have become prolific users, eager to find a simple resolution to an otherwise-difficult hunt. Youre always like: Is it going to show us something? he said.

For training, deputies are emailed only a printout of the office's facial-recognition policy and a short PowerPoint presentation cautioning them to be careful with the results. One slide shows how the system responded to an uploaded mug shot of O.J. Simpson: by returning a photo of a white man with a beard. "As you can see," the slide reads, the system "still requires human interpretation."

The agency's four-page policy requires staffers to use the system only in cases of a "criminal nexus" and prohibits its use in "mass surveillance" or to monitor people based on their religion, political activities or race. But it also offers several exceptions, including allowing facial searches in cases of "significant threat to life" or when deputies believe a felony suspect will be at a certain place at a specific time.

The search has helped deputies devise unconventional techniques. In one case, an inmate was talking to his girlfriend on a jailhouse phone when she said there was a warrant out for her arrest. Deputies went to the inmate's Facebook page, found an old video with her singing and ran a facial-recognition search to get her name; she was arrested within days.

Deputies can also run black-and-white police sketches through the system looking for results; in one test case, they said, it pointed to a man they'd already flagged as their suspect. Amazon said that running sketches through Rekognition does not violate its rules but that it expects human reviewers to "pay close attention to the confidence of any matches produced this way."

Bruington, from the county public defender's office, said Rekognition's low price and ease of use could tempt police agencies into experimenting with a system they may not fully understand. She also worried that the system's dependence on mug shots meant that anyone previously brought in by police would be that much more likely to resurface in a criminal search.

"Innocent people go through the criminal justice system every day," she said.

Look at the bird

Facial-recognition technology had for decades been a police agency's dream: a simple, stealthy way to identify anyone from afar, without their knowledge or consent. But only in recent years - thanks to improvements in imaging and computer power, and plunging data-storage costs - has the technology become affordable and widespread, used in tagging Facebook photos and unlocking iPhones.

Today's systems break down people's facial photos into long strands of code, called "feature vectors" or "faceprints," that can be rapidly compared with other portraits across a vast database. But while "computer-vision" algorithms are adept at pattern recognition, they match pixels, not clues, and can miss inconsistencies that would seem staggeringly obvious to the human eye.

Still, the promise of cheap and easy identification has proved too compelling for many companies to ignore. The federal agency that assesses facial-recognition algorithms, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, recently said it had tested 127 systems from 44 companies on their "scalability to large populations" and accuracy in identifying "noncooperative subjects" photographed "in the wild." The top-ranking algorithms, from Microsoft and the Chinese start-up Yitu Technology, could match a face photo across a database of millions of images with 99% accuracy.

Amazon has previously declined to submit Rekognition for this assessment, saying the test, which studies an isolated version of the core search algorithm, wouldn't work on its complicated cloud-based search. But an NIST official said that fact has not impeded other companies with similar searches. An Amazon official said the company had launched a "substantive" effort to "redesign critical components" of the system so it could participate.

The FBI said it ran more than 52,000 facial-recognition searches in the past fiscal year, and in 2016, researchers from the Georgetown University law school found at least 52 state or local agencies that had at some point relied on a facial-search system built by federal contractors or surveillance firms. But Amazon has made it simple for any new police force to get started, charging a cut-rate fee based partially on the number of "faces stored."

No federal laws govern the use of facial recognition. But a bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in March and a proposed bill in Amazon's home state of Washington could impose new rules that would, for instance, require companies to notify passersby that their faces are being scanned. San Francisco leaders are expected to vote next week on a proposal, opposed by police, that would make the tech capital the first city in America to ban local agencies from using facial-recognition software.

Amazon executives say they support national facial-recognition legislation, but they have also argued that "new technology should not be banned or condemned because of its potential misuse." FBI agents and Orlando, Florida, police say they have tested the system, and Amazon has pitched it to government agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lawyers in Washington County said theyre just starting to see the technique show up in arrest reports, and some are preparing for the day when they may have to litigate the systems admissibility in court. Marc Brown, a chief deputy defender working with Oregons Office of Public Defense Services, said he worried the systems hidden decision-making could improperly tilt the balance of power: Human eyewitnesses can be questioned in court, but not this magic black box, and we as defense attorneys cannot question, you know, how did this process work.

The system's results, Brown added, could pose a huge confirmation-bias problem by steering how deputies react. "You've already been told that this is the one, so when you investigate, that's going to be in your mind," he said. "The question is no longer who committed the crime, but where's the evidence to support the computer's analysis?"

Amazon's software is rapidly becoming more advanced. The company last month announced a Rekognition update that would, among other things, improve the accuracy of the system's "emotion detection" feature, which automatically speculates on how someone is feeling based on how they look on camera. It includes "7 supported emotions: 'Happy,' 'Sad,' 'Angry,' 'Surprised,' 'Disgusted,' 'Calm' and 'Confused.' "

Amazon also owns Ring, the maker of a popular doorbell camera, which applied last year for a facial-recognition patent that could flag "suspicious" people at a user's doorstep. A Ring spokeswoman said the company's patent applications are intended to "explore the full possibilities of new technology."

The Washington County Sheriff's Office's face database, meanwhile, is always growing, by roughly 19,000 jail bookings a year. When people are arrested, they're brought to a bustling intake room where they get their picture taken by a webcam topped with a red Beanie Babies cardinal. "Look at the bird," they're told.

Those photos become the inmates' identities throughout the county's penal system, and an internal jail website and iPhone app displays the images in a large grid so deputies can quickly track their food intake, behavior and suicide risk.

Rekognition isnt used once an inmate is in lockup, but it has nevertheless left a subtle impact behind bars. Standing in the guardhouse nerve center of Pod 3, the maximum-security wing that inmates call the hole, deputy Brian van Kleef put it this way: This is where we gather our database.

-- The Washington Post
The Michigan Department of Treasury is hosting a series of public information sessions -- including an event May 1 in Saginaw -- to provide more details about its MiABLE savings program for people with disabilities.

MiABLE Program Director Scott de Varona will lead the presentation from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, at the Saginaw County Community Mental Health Authority's A&W Professional Development & Business Center, 1 Germania Platz in Saginaw.
Though the chilly weather forced the celebration inside, representatives from the Midland Downtown Development Authority and the City of Midland were still able to celebrate Tuesday the modernization of downtown Midland.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of the downtown Midland streetscape renovation project took place inside The H Hotel.

The main streetscape project of widening and replacing sidewalks downtown was completed at the end of November 2017. Specialty seating, outdoor fireplaces and decorative pergola structures have since been added.

"The finished product today is the culmination of two years of planning, community engagement and outside-the-box thinking, and even some trial-and-error along the way," said David Kell, Midland Downtown Development Authority chair. "Not only did this project set the stage for an exciting next chapter in the future of downtown Midland, it also perfectly displayed the generous, community-minded spirit that makes Midland such a special place to live."

Kell gave special thanks to the Midland philanthropic community, from which donations covered costs so the renovation was funded with no extra debt or tax burden to the downtown community.

"That is not something that happens in many communities," Kell said. "We are incredibly fortunate to have a strong support system here in Midland."

Bobbie Arnold, president and CEO of the Charles J. Strosacker Foundation, recalled something former city manager Jon Lynch had told her about the downtown area of a city being the community's "front porch." Mayor Maureen Donker agreed with Lynch's assessment.

"The downtown is a community's front porch -- it's were we gather to have conversations, its where we create memories (and) its where we experience that incredible sense of belonging," Donker said.

Other speakers at the ceremony included Selina Tisdale, City of Midland Community Affairs director and DDA executive director; Midland Business Alliance president and CEO Tony Stamas; Bill Schuette, Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation vice president and former Michigan attorney general; and Lisa Gerstacker of the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation.

Mike Whiting Jr., president of the Herbert H. & Grace A. Dow Foundation, also spoke about his organization's involvement with the project, and performed the ribbon-cutting with the ceremonial scissors.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriff's Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka.

Monday, April 29

9:04 p.m. -- Officers responded to a larceny in the 3700 block of Isabella Road.

8:57 p.m. -- A deputy responded to a car-deer crash in Mount Haley Township.

7:27 p.m. -- Officers responded to a larceny in the 1800 block of Eastlawn Drive.

6:03 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to a residence in Warren Township and made contact with a 40-year-old man and his 15-year-old daughter. He said a 66-year-old man from Clare County came to his residence, accused him of stealing a friend's property, and then assaulted him and yelled obscene language at his daughter. The 40-year-old did not want to press assault charges. The deputy suggested that the 40-year-old try and obtain a personal protection order.

5:03 p.m. -- Officers responded to a crash in the area of Waldo Road and East Patrick Road.

4:56 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a two-vehicle property damage incident in Midland Township.

2:38 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash in Ingersoll Township.

1 p.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident in the 1500 block of Joe Mann Boulevard.

12:27 p.m. -- Animal Control sent a bat to the Michigan State Health Department to be tested after a dog in the City of Midland was exposed to it.

10:10 a.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to the area of westbound US-10 near North West River Road in Jerome Township for a report of a single-vehicle traffic crash. A UD-10 was completed and the at-fault driver was issued a citation for careless driving.

12:15 a.m. -- Deputies were informed of an active warrant out of Bay County for an individual residing in Edenville Township. Deputies made contact with a 59-year-old Edenville Township man who identified himself as the individual with the warrant. Deputies arrested him and transported him to a Bay County location, from which he was handed over to a Bay County deputy.

Sunday, April 28

11:05 p.m. -- Officers responded to a verbal argument and trespassing complaint in the 2800 block of Ashman Street.

9:26 p.m. -- A 34-year-old man said that his 30-year-old ex-wife dropped off his property at his Jerome Township residence without his permission. He had a "No trespassing" sign posted at his driveway. He did not want to prosecute, he just wanted the incident documented.

9:14 p.m. -- Officers responded to a car-deer crash in the area of US-10 and Stark Road.

8:38 p.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident in the area of westbound US-10 and the Jefferson Avenue overpass.

7:43 p.m. -- Officers responded to crash on private property in the 3900 block of Saginaw Road.

7:25 p.m. -- Officers responded to a property damage accident in the area of eastbound US-10 and the Waldo Avenue overpass.

5:34 p.m. -- A deputy responded to a crash between a car and bicycle causing minor injuries in Larkin Township.

2:32 p.m. -- Deputies responded to a single-vehicle traffic crash in Lee Township.

2:28 p.m. -- A deputy responded to a car-deer crash in Lincoln Township. The driver was cited for no proof of insurance.

2:08 p.m. -- Officers responded to a retail fraud in the 900 block of Joe Mann Boulevard.

1:52 p.m. -- A 29-year-old Sanford man told deputies he gave his Social Security number to an unknown person after receiving a phone call from what he believed to be the IRS. He was informed there was a problem with his Social Security number and he was asked what the number was.

1:49 p.m. -- Officers responded to a car-deer crash in the area of Dublin Road and Warbles Way Drive.

10:08 a.m. -- Deputies responded to a car-deer crash in Warren Township.

9:11 a.m. -- Deputies responded to single-vehicle property damage accident in Jerome Township.

2:59 a.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Porter Township residence in reference to a report of a suspicious person.
Biden paid his dues, but may come up short
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Some 96 illegal migrants were intercepted on Tuesday by a patrol of the Libyan Central Coast Guard on a boat before rescuing them, a Libyan naval source said
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - Tunisia, like all other countries of the world, Wednesday celebrated International Labour Day but without the festivities that go with the occasion
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Burkinabe lawyers Monday organized a march here to condemn the dysfunctions of the country's judicial system, following the blocking of cases of 808 defendants awaiting trial, PANA observed here
Bamako, Mali (PANA) - In a message making Labour Day on Wednesday, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has said he believes that the country's workers and representative organisations as social partners have always played a key role in the process of economic, political and social development
Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Employees of the National Industrial and Mining Company (SNIM) of Mauritania marked the International Labor Day, on May 1, 2019, with a 24-hour strike observed since Wednesday, PANA learned from union sources
Conakry, Guinea (PANA) - The Guinean government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on "Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Capital", PANA reported here
Paris, France (PANA)  Ms Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Managing Director, will undertake a 48-hour visit to Ethiopia, on the occasion of the international conference of the world press freedom day, official sources told PANA on Wednesday
LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Amtrak will pull the plug at the end of June on its Hoosier State passenger line between Indianapolis and Chicago with the loss of funding in Indiana's new state budget.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says the four-days-a-week train won't run after June 30, which is when its $3 million annual state subsidy ends.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb didn't seek a continuation of that funding, with administration officials saying the subsidy of about $100 per passenger was too high and ridership numbers too low.

Amtrak stopped in April taking reservations beyond June for the Hoosier State's trips on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Another Amtrak route, the Cardinal, runs between Indianapolis and Chicago on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays as part of a Chicago-to-New York City route.

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NORMAL  Shoppers at Target in Normal will soon be able to get their Starbucks fix without leaving the store.

The coffee chain will set up shop inside Target at 301 N. Veterans Parkway, in the Shoppes at College Hills, as part of sweeping renovations this summer.

"Target has increased our investment to re-imagine more than 1,000 stores by the end of 2020," said spokesperson Liz Hancock. "(They) will feature Targets most ambitious store redesign to date, featuring modern design elements and bringing more technology and digital experiences to our stores to make shopping in store and online even easier and more inspiring for our guests."

In Normal, that includes Starbucks; a new space for nursing mothers; "updated order pickup and guest service counter to ensure an even easier and faster experience for guests picking up online orders"; and updated decor and fixtures, including more mannequins and specialty lighting.

"(We're adding) dynamic, engaging merchandise displays throughout the store  including in home, apparel and beauty  to provide guests with inspiration and style and help them visualize how to pair products together," said Hancock.

Novak Construction of Chicago received a town building permit earlier in April for a $1.9 million remodel at the store. Hancock said "the average investment for a typical remodel is between $4-10 million."

"We'll have electrical, plumbing and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) with some of this work, so they'll be pulling those permits as well," said Scot Williams, the town's assistant director of inspections.

Williams said work is expected to also include more accessible restrooms; new paint, flooring and lighting; improved dressing rooms; remodeling of offices in the store's upstairs mezzanine; and sidewalk improvements.

As part of the work, Target has shut down its in-store cafe and filled much of its parking lot with storage containers.

Starbucks currently operates seven stores in Bloomington-Normal, including one also located in the Shoppes at College Hills. The company did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

"Starbucks at The Shoppes at College Hills is an incredibly popular and busy destination," said Darcy Rutzen, vice president of retail property management and marketing for Shoppes owner M&J Wilkow, "so we expect the Target location to be very complementary, as weve seen at many other shopping centers around the country."

Bloomington-Normal business openings and closings

Contact Derek Beigh at (309) 820-3234. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_beigh

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NORMAL  Reminisces about growing up in the country. A short play about a seance. A poem about fireworks and the Fourth of July. A short story about an abandoned farmhouse on the DeWitt-Piatt county line.

All are part of an anthology of stories, poetry and observations from the Word Weavers, a group of writers in their mid-60s and beyond who get together once a month to share their work as they critique and inspire each other.

The group, which formed in 2012, meets at Luther Oaks, where several members are residents.

In addition to discussion of what we're working on, we have interesting discussions on other topics," said Ruthie Cobb of Bloomington, one of the original members of the group. It's also, quite frankly, therapy.

Twice a year, the Word Weavers do readings for the general public. The Coalescence Theatre Project, a multicultural theater company, helps sponsor the public readings, said Irene Taylor, Word Weavers director.

At 7 p.m. Wednesday there will be a book launch in the Williams Hall Annex at Illinois State University to celebrate the release of Tapestries: A Word Weavers Anthology.

Refreshments will be served and several of the authors will each do a five-minute reading of their work. The event is free and open to the public. The book will be available for purchase for $10.

Juli Thorpe, another original member, said, When we first started, we had a little basket and you could draw a little slip from the basket and get a topic to write about. ... Now, we mostly just all go on our own.

Her husband of nearly 52 years, Jim Thorpe, said working together on their writing has made our marriage stronger.

The former amateur boxer's first novel, To Carry the Gold: A Warrior's Journey, is available as an eBook on Amazon.

Thorpe said his inspiration for writing came from an aunt who often visited from Kentucky when he was young.

She was a great storyteller. That kind of gave me the bug, he said. Everybody has a story to tell.

Cobb said, We sometimes get emotional in this group.  It's a powerful thing.

But Jim Thorpe added, It makes you a better writer if you're not afraid to share your emotions.

Cobb called storytelling a human tradition that predated the internet.

We're carrying on the tradition of telling stories around the campfire, said Cobb.

The group is open to people age 55 and up. The size of the group has varied over the years. Currently, Word Weavers has nine members, ranging in age from the mid-60s to 90, with a variety of backgrounds, including a retired physician, a former County Board member, a circus buff and a publicist for nonprofit groups.

There's a very interesting mix of styles, said Cobb.

Taylor said, I look at the people in this group  and see a lot of hidden talent out there.

She said, Now that they're retired, they can do things that they didn't have time to do before.

Anyone interested in joining the group can contact Taylor by email at mitaylor53@yahoo.com.

The book is an intergenerational project that connected the writing group with ISU students in the English 254 class, Introduction to Professional Publishing.

The students were involved in the entire production process, including copy editing, design, marketing and hosting the book launch reading, under the direction of Holms Troelstrup, assistant director of the ISU English department's Publications Unit.

Contact Lenore Sobota at (309) 820-3240. Follow her on Twitter: @Pg_Sobota

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BLOOMINGTON  After a monthlong trial, closing arguments will be offered Thursday in the Kirk Zimmerman murder trial.

Zimmerman is charged with murder in the November 2014 shooting death of Pam Zimmerman, his wife of 20 years before the two divorced in 2012.

Each side has been given 2 hours to make their final arguments to the jury, starting at 10 a.m. A limited number of tickets are available for seating in the fifth-floor courtroom at the McLean County Law and Justice Center, Bloomington.

The defense ended its case Wednesday without testimony from Zimmerman.

Before the defense rested, the judge ruled the jury would not be allowed to see a video of a Bloomington detective conducting a gunshot residue test. The reenactment of his Nov. 6, 2014, test of surfaces in Zimmermans car was videotaped Tuesday night and given to defense lawyer John Rogers over the lunch break Wednesday.

Rogers argued the video was a late disclosure of proposed evidence and should be barred. The depiction also was prejudicial in its emphasis on how police reached into the car without touching surfaces in a way that could have contaminated the test results, said Rogers.

Assistant States Attorney Mary Koll said the video was intended as an exhibit to help the jury understand the officers testimony.

In denying the jury access to the videos, Judge Scott Drazewski disagreed with the state's position, saying the video would not assist the jury and would be a repeat of the detective's initial testimony.

The last of 17 defense witnesses was retired FBI Agent John Kilty, who disputed a finding that gunshot residue was found in Zimmermans car.

Kilty said an opinion from an Illinois State Police forensic scientist was rather astounding. Kilty was hired to review an ISP report showing 10 particles of gunshot residue on the gearshift of Zimmermans car.

I was very, very surprised to find that concentration of particles based on the activities of this gearshift, said Kilty, referring to the trips Zimmerman made to several places after his former wife was shot Nov. 3, 2014.

In response to questions from the state about a study of gunshot residue as a method of collecting evidence, Kilty described the technique as "one of the most problematic areas of forensic science."

The potential for contamination of evidence through the transfer of gunshot residue from a police officer's weapon, clothing or hands is a point of concern for scientists, said Kilty.

Koll asked Kilty about a 2005 report compiled after a conference of experts on the gunshot residue issue. Kilty acknowledged the report included a conclusion that police officers are an unlikely source of contamination and would be likely to transfer one or two particles of residue on an item.

Kilty told jurors his experience working in the FBI forensic laboratory in Washington, D.C., supports his position that state crime lab staff should seek additional information from police when an usually high level of gunshot residue is detected.

In Zimmerman's case, the ISP lab should have asked Bloomington police about the history of the defendant's car after test results were returned, said Kilty.

The jury heard from a total of 60 witnesses during the five-week trial.

Photos: Defense begins its case in Zimmerman murder trial

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BLOOMINGTON  A Massachusetts man embroiled in a child custody battle over his son surrendered Tuesday to begin serving a six-month sentence in the McLean County jail for failure to attend court hearings in McLean County.

The case filed in 2014 by Cadena seeking to remove custody of his son from the boys mother, Amber Buck, lit up the internet last year after Cadenas supporters began posting on social media allegations of child abuse involving the child and details of the court case.

Cadena moved out of state with the boy in March 2017 and claimed his refusal to return to Illinois with the boy as ordered by Hill was based on fears that the child could be harmed by his mother, an accusation Buck has denied.

Cadena served 14 days in a Massachusetts jail last year in connection with an arrest warrant issued by Hill for direct criminal contempt of court. He was released after Buck went to Massachusetts in October and brought her son back to Illinois.

Judge Charles Feeney denied a request from Cadenas lawyer Adele Saaf on Tuesday to vacate the jail term. Cadena will receive day-for-day credit on his six months and credit for the time he served in the Massachusetts jail.

According to court records, Cadena returned to Illinois last week and was allowed two visits with his son. Prior to his return, Cadena had reconnected with his son through phone and video visits arranged through a court-appointed guardian for the child.

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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BLOOMINGTON  Two of Kirk Zimmerman's children and a pair of women who heard suspected gunfire were among the witnesses called as the defense opened its case Tuesday in his murder trial.

Zimmerman is charged with killing his former wife, Pam Zimmerman, Nov. 3, 2014, in her Bloomington office. She was shot four times.

Heidi and David Zimmerman, two of Zimmerman's three children, who were teenagers at the time, offered testimony about their father's demeanor in the days leading up to their mother's death.

Heidi Zimmerman described her father as "his normal self" when she stayed with him Oct. 28 and 30 as part of the couple's routine visitation schedule for the children.

The Zimmerman children were concerned when their mother didn't come home to start dinner around 5 p.m. Nov. 3, said Heidi Zimmerman. She said her multiple texts and phone calls to her mother drew no response.

The following day, a Bloomington police officer came to Normal Community High School to tell the Zimmerman children their mother was dead.

Zimmerman's daughter told jurors about comments made by her mother's fiance, Scott Baldwin, two days after the homicide. Baldwin told the Zimmerman children, "I want you to know I had nothing to do with this," referring to the death, said the witness.

David Zimmerman told the jury his father was not emotional or upset in the days before his mother's death. Both children denied knowing anything about a dispute between their parents over money.

The roster of 14 defense witnesses Tuesday included Merrie Seip, who testified she heard what she thought was gunfire on Nov. 3 as she sat with a client in her counseling office near Pam Zimmerman's office at 2103 E. Washington St.

The three gunshots were "sharp and startling," said Seip. She said she reported the sounds to police within two weeks of hearing them.

Assistant State's Attorney Brad Rigdon asked Seip about her professional and personal relationship with Zimmerman's former girlfriend, Kate Arthur. Seip admitted she spoke with Arthur about the gunshots she may have heard around 5:40 p.m. but denied the two talked about the police investigation.

A second woman described a separate incident involving suspected gunfire at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 as she traveled as a passenger in a vehicle near the intersection of Mercer Avenue and and East Washington Street. She said she told police about what she had heard the following day after hearing about Zimmerman's death several blocks from the intersection.

Other defense witnesses included dentists and their staff members who worked in or near the victim's office building and a member of a cleaning crew. Two witnesses recalled seeing the same suspicious thing in the victim's parking lot after working hours: a van that has now been identified as Pam Zimmerman's.

Jason Crosier did not hear gunshots as he cleaned an eye care business one floor below the victim's office starting at 6:15 p.m. Nov. 3, according to his testimony.

"I didn't hear anything," said Crosier, adding that a vacuum cleaner was being used during the hourlong cleaning detail.

The trial is entering its final stages, Judge Scott Drazewski told jurors.

Rogers is expected to call two expert witnesses on Wednesday to rebut state evidence on cell tower tracking and gunshot residue.

Depending upon what, if any, rebuttal testimony the state presents, closing arguments could be delivered Thursday. The judge told jurors to expect to report Friday, a deviation from the four-day court schedule in place since the trial started April 1.

Drazewski denied a defense motion Tuesday morning for a directed verdict that, if granted, would have ended the trial in Zimmerman's favor.

Rogers argued that police did not seriously investigate the victim's fiance or her last client of the day, Eldon Whitlow.

"There's never really been three suspect in this case," said Rogers.

Zimmerman was met by four police officers at his State Farm office on Nov. 4, 2014, and taken to the Bloomington police station under false pretenses that he would see his children, said Rogers.

The defense lawyer called gunshot residue tests performed by Bloomington police on Zimmerman's hands and his car "flawed" because the police officers conducting them were wearing weapons, a possible source of contamination for the tests.

Prosecutors tried to "fool and manufacture evidence" related to Zimmerman's alleged financial difficulties, said Rogers. The defendant was earning about $100,000 and had $30,000 in savings at the time of his former wife's death, said Rogers.

Rigdon countered that Zimmerman was evasive in his interview with police on Nov. 4, 2014. The interview "shows so very much in the answers he gave to police and the answers he didn't give," said Rigdon.

Zimmerman's request that he be allowed to "recharge his batteries" before answering specific questions about his whereabouts shows "it's obvious he's looking to hide something," said Rigdon.

On the issue of money, Rigdon said Zimmerman spent a $50,000 loan from his investment account within a year and was "outspending his monthly income by $2,000."

In denying the motion for a directed verdict, the judge acknowledged that gunshot residue allegedly found on the gearshift of Zimmerman's car is the only physical evidence introduced by the state. But, said the judge, "the absence of evidence can be a double-edged sword" if the absence is used to show planning and preparation on the part of a suspect.

Photos: Defense begins its case in Zimmerman murder trial

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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BLOOMINGTON  A free press plays a vital role in ensuring an open and educated democracy, a Springfield media attorney told guests at Tuesdays McLean County Bar Association luncheon.

The news media serve as the watchdog of government, often making elected officials uncomfortable with questions about how the publics business is being conducted, Don Craven told guests attending the event at Illinois State Universitys Prairie Room in Normal.

The history of the news medias challenge to those who would withhold information from the public  including the well-known Pentagon Papers and Watergate examples  is paved with a flow of information that served the public, said Craven.

The attorney who has represented news media interests for several decades said the current hostile climate between the news media and some government leaders is counter to what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they put free speech and press provisions in the First Amendment.

We the press have gone from being one of the great assets of our democracy to being the enemy of the people," Craven said. "Our current president, as a consistent practice, works to intimidate journalists who would provide any scrutiny of his administration by having the attorney general subpoena reporters and threatening to rewrite libel laws making it easier for him to sue the media.

The news media also suffer from ills of their own making, said Craven, as large corporations swallow up newspapers and loosen the bonds that tie them to the community. Changes in technology and the manner in which people receive their news have made it harder for news media to compete and resulted in the deaths of many media organizations, said Craven.

The annual Law Day luncheon included the presentation of two awards for outstanding efforts in the community.

The Lincoln Award of Excellence was presented by 4th District Appellate Justice James Knecht to retired Judge Ron Dozier.

The award recognizes a lawyer who goes above and beyond whats expected by their peers in the profession.

Doziers service as lead prosecutor and circuit judge and his volunteer work helping ex-offenders were cited in the presentation.

Dozier was an early advocate for men and women who needed a second chance, said Knecht.

The McLean County YWCA received the bar associations Community Service Award for its Stepping Stones sexual assault program.

Judge Rebecca Foley noted the programs counseling and advocacy for victims of sexual assault in making the presentation.

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

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BLOOMINGTON  For any Central Illinois residents planning to celebrate May Day activities outside, taking an umbrella would be a good idea.

A flash flood watch is in effect until 7 p.m. Wednesday, and forecasters with the National Weather Service in Lincoln say it could be extended into Thursday if the expected rains continue.

Flooding in the Colfax area forced the closing of Ridgeview schools on Wednesday.

Showers and thunderstorms pounded much of Illinois on Tuesday because of a stationary front that is expected to hold through Wednesday evening.

The majority of high school sporting events were canceled Tuesday afternoon and evening, and farmers, who had fewer than two days suitable for field work last week, will have to wait until next week to get into the fields.

Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms over already-saturated ground will result in a heightened risk of flash flooding for the next few days.

Thursday looks to be the tail end of this system, but we might have to extend the flash flood status into Thursday, said Ernie Goetsch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln. We want to have a little more certainty before we extend and that is why we have it set to expire Wednesday night. But the fact remains that the water that falls has no place to go because the ground is already saturated.

McLean, Woodford, Tazewell, Logan, DeWitt and Macon counties are included in the flash flood watch area. A flash flood watch means that conditions can develop that lead to flash flooding. The watch is in effect until 7 p.m. Wednesday.

If you encounter flooded roadways, turn around, dont drown, NWS forecasters warn in their advisory.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency released a statement Tuesday afternoon about the potential for flooding.

Much of our state is under a flash flood watch because of current and predicted rainfall, said acting IEMA Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau. Heavy rains carry significant risks to families and their homes.

"Do not let your guard down when it comes to spring flooding," she said. "Be aware of the flood risks in your neighborhood and know the steps to take to keep your family safe in the event of an emergency.

Streams, rivers and creeks also may experience flooding through the end of the week, NWS forecasters add.

There is a marginal risk that some of the storms could become strong to severe on Wednesday, when the high temperature is expected to be about 73 degrees.

There also is a chance of showers on Thursday with a high near 68 degrees. Sunshine returns on Friday with a high near 65 degrees. The weekend appears to be clear at this time, with high temperatures around 70 degrees.

We may get a few days to dry out over the weekend, Goetsch said. Hopefully, everyone who needs to get outside to do work will have time then, but the ground is really, really wet right now.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture as of Monday, the topsoil moisture throughout Illinois was rated as 45 percent adequate and 53 percent surplus. Only 9 percent of the corn and 3 percent of the soybeans have been planted as of Monday.

Contact Kevin Barlow at (309) 820-3238. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_barlow

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BLOOMINGTON  The American Red Cross that serves Central and southern Illinois is merging with the Chicago and northern Illinois Red Cross, but no changes are expected in regional services and staff.

"There will be no change (in services)," said Maria Henneberry, regional communication director for the Red Cross Central and Southern Illinois Region. "Everyone (staff) will continue to do what they have done" though job titles may change.

Lyn Hruska, Red Cross regional CEO for Central and Southern Illinois, "will continue to be in senior leadership for the region," Henneberry added.

"Lyn has been with Red Cross for 21 fantastic years in her various roles building relationships with donors, supporting volunteers and championing our Red Cross mission," Henneberry said. "That will not change."

The CEO for the newly formed region that will cover nearly all of Illinois, will be Celena Roldan, the Chicago and Northern Illinois Region CEO, Hruska said in a letter to Red Cross volunteers.

The merger will take place over the next year. Hruska, of rural Normal, said in the letter, "Celena and I will work together to foster a smooth transition."

"Please know our Red Cross mission is not changing," Hruska wrote to volunteers.

The work of volunteers in Central and southern Illinois will not change, Henneberry said. Red Cross services include disaster response, preparedness training, support for military families and collection of blood and blood products.

The American Red Cross Bloomington Blood Donation Center, at 1 Westport Court, Bloomington, also will not be impacted by the merger, Henneberry said. The building, formerly the Red Cross chapter house, was converted last year into a fixed-site blood donation center in a $1 million renovation.

The merger is part of a Red Cross effort to continue services while remaining efficient and being good stewards of donor dollars, Henneberry said.

"It's an equitable combining of our regions to better align the boundaries between bio-med and humanitarian services so we are as effective and efficient as possible," she said. "It's part of the ongoing plan that's been going on for several years to achieve our One Red Cross vision and this is one more indication that effort is working."

Patrick Gavin, who had been Red Cross regional chief development officer, has moved on but his leaving the Red Cross was a personal decision not related to the merger, Henneberry said.

Contact Paul Swiech at (309) 820-3275. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_swiech

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BLOOMINGTON  A flash flood warning is in effect until 7 p.m. Thursday for all of Central Illinois as the rain keeps falling, sparking new warnings about the dangers of driving on roads that could become flooded.

Counties under the warning include McLean, Woodford, Tazewell, Logan, DeWitt, Champaign, Macon and Piatt in The Pantagraph area.

Periods of rain will continue into Thursday evening and may be heavy at times, said the National Weather Service.

A flash flood warning means conditions can develop that lead to flash flooding.

"With the amount of rain that has fallen over the last few days, runoff will occur quickly, and may lead to renewed flooding," said the NWS.

As of late Wednesday, between 2 and 4 inches of rain had fallen in the area since Tuesday.

We can expect about another half of an inch in the Bloomington-Normal area Thursday, said meteorologist Scott Baker.

As of Wednesday afternoon, NWS reported Bloomington-Normal had received 2 inches of rain, Downs, 3.7 inches and Minonk in Woodford County, 4 inches.

Officials are telling residents to pay attention on roadways, especially near rivers and streams.

One Tazewell County sheriff's deputy learned first-hand how dangerous water on a roadway can be.

At 5:15 a.m. Wednesday, Deputy Nathan Hasting was dispatched to check on standing water in the area of Springtown Road, west of Minier. As he traveled east, he crested a hill, then drove into a flooded roadway, according to the Tazewell County Sheriffs Department.

He came to a stop immediately and tried to back out of the water when the front end of the squad car was lifted from the pavement, said Sheriff Jeffrey Lower. The squad car immediately began to float off the roadway into a drainage ditch with the fast-moving water. Deputy Hasting was able to climb out the drivers side window before the squad car was swept away from the water current.

Hasting was not hurt, Lower said, and was able to get to safety. The squad car drifted more than 500 feet, stopping in a field drainage ditch.

The rainfall caused localized flooding in nearly every community, especially in rural areas.

The Ridgeview School District canceled classes Wednesday because of flooded roadways and because the Colfax sewer system was running near capacity.

In Clinton, flooding issues were reported throughout the town late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Tenmile Creek on the citys northwestern side overflowed its banks, flooding Moore Park and several streets on that side of town.

"We had a long night," said Public Works Director Steve Lobb, adding there were several areas around town that experienced temporary, localized flooding, but the Moore Park area was hit the hardest.

That is the area of our most concern right now and we will have to watch it for a few days, he said.

Officials in Pontiac are also closely watching the Vermilion River. A flood warning is in effect for those living near the river in Pontiac, downstream to Streator through Friday evening.

On Wednesday morning, the river crested at 13.2 feet; the flood stage is 14 feet and officials expect the river to crest to 16.5 feet by Thursday morning, meaning there is likely to be moderate flooding near the river. The river is expected to fall below flood stage by Friday afternoon.

On the plus side, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday appear to be rain-free, with highs near 70 degrees.

Photos: Rain taking toll on highways and fields

Contact Kevin Barlow at (309) 820-3238. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_barlow

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CHICAGO  The head of the Chicago police union doubled down on his criticism of Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx during a speech Tuesday, once again showcasing the frayed relationship between some police officers and the top prosecutor's office.

Several weeks after calling for Foxx's resignation over the Jussie Smollett scandal, Kevin Graham, president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, renewed his complaints during an address at an event held by the City Club of Chicago.

"I do recognize that the FOP has been outspoken in our criticisms of the state's attorney's office," Graham said. "I do believe that those are justified. We asked for an investigation. We did so because we felt there were some improprieties going on, and we did that long before charges were dropped against the actor in that well-known case."

In early April, Graham joined some 30 suburban police leaders from across Cook County in giving Foxx a vote of no confidence. The union held a news conference at its headquarters to announce that development and members also rallied outside the Cook County Administration Building downtown.

As part of his remarks Tuesday, Graham also railed against Foxx for failing to take enough cases to court. He specifically mentioned that in shoplifting cases, "it's almost impossible to get convicted" after Foxx enhanced the criteria for bringing felony charges. In one of her first policy changes after taking office in 2016, Foxx told prosecutors that retail theft should remain a misdemeanor in most cases unless the value of stolen goods exceeds $1,000.

"What we've asked from Kim Foxx and her office is to prosecute," Graham said. "I hope that she suddenly realizes that this is what her job is, and she needs to do it. If she can't, she needs to step down and let someone else do it. She's not the defense attorney. She's not here to make social change."

A spokeswoman for Foxx's office disputed that characterization, saying the office has charged the overwhelming majority of the felony cases brought by local law enforcement.

"From day one our focus is and always has been to ensure that the most violent offenders are off the streets and brought to justice so we can create safer, stronger communities across Cook County," Tandra Simonton said.

Graham's wide-ranging talk also touched on other hot-button issues, including the union's relationship with incoming Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot, a federal police reform consent decree and the Police Department's use of a controversial gang database.

On the mayor-elect: Graham said the union is trying to schedule a meeting with Lightfoot, but those efforts have not been successful yet. A meeting that was previously on the books fell through and has not been rescheduled, Graham said. He noted that Lightfoot assembled a public safety committee during her transition but did not include the union on it, which Graham said the FOP "does not think is the best way to go forward."

He added: "Taking over as mayor of the city of Chicago is a big job, and I'm sure she has a lot of things coming at her, but we do believe that in order to make lasting changes in this city ... it's important that the FOP is being consulted."

A spokeswoman for Lightfoot's transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On the consent decree: Graham continued to push back against a federal consent decree for police reform and oversight that was approved earlier this year. The plan stemmed from a lawsuit that former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed against the city after a scathing Department of Justice report into the Police Department. Of the legally binding agreement, Graham said, "We don't need additional police oversight. What we need is to have collaborative efforts ... simply checking off boxes in a consent decree does not make the community safer. It does not make police officers safer."

On the gang database: Despite a recent inspector general's report faulting a gang database used by police as unreliable, Graham defended the use of the measure, calling it a helpful tool. The Police Department has pledged to create a new and more accurate gang database that is regularly audited, which Graham said he supports. He also said the database serves an important purpose for officer safety, providing more information about who they are pulling over.

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CHICAGO  Hillside teenager Adel Daoud first met with the purported terrorist in a park in the western suburb of Villa Park in July 2012.

Speaking rapidly and in a high-pitched tone, Daoud espoused his desire to wage violent jihad, peppering his conversation with typical teenage words like "dude" and "man" as he explained the "hypocrisy" of America and listed the "nonbelievers" he felt it was fair game to kill.

"Our blood is so cheap you know?" Daoud told the man, who was actually an undercover FBI agent posing as a jihadi fighter. "Their blood is very valuable. But our blood is cheap."

Near the end of the meeting, the agent asked Daoud to "write down" his ideas for an attack in Chicago. Two months later, Daoud, 18, was arrested in a Loop alley after pressing the detonator on what he thought was a 1,000-pound car bomb he'd parked outside a crowded Loop bar.

The muffled recording of the two-hour meeting was played for the first time Tuesday in a federal courtroom without any spectators or reporters present as Daoud's unusual sentencing hearing on terrorism and other charges entered a second day.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ordered deputy U.S. marshals to clear her 14th floor courtroom Tuesday in advance of the agent's testimony -- a rare move that brought objections by Daoud's attorneys as well as lawyers for the Chicago Tribune.

Coleman said the safety of the agent, who still works undercover, trumped the public's right to access. She also said she has been more than accommodating to the news media, setting up an overflow courtroom that has audio for reporters to hear the agent's testimony, although the video is aimed away from the witness stand.

The agent's undercover work was the linchpin of the case and included constructing the inert bomb for Daoud using bags of fertilizer and containers of gasoline packed into a Jeep and rigged to a detonator. After Daoud was arrested, he was captured in conversations with a jailhouse snitch attempting to arrange the agent's murder.

"That alone causes the court concern about his safety," the judge said Tuesday.

In objecting to booting the public from the courtroom, Daoud's attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin, said the public had a right to a full airing of the government's investigation of Daoud, who Durkin has argued was a naive and "misguided" teen entrapped as part of the overzealous war on terror.

"It's just wrong," Durkin said. "It's just becoming a default now in terrorism cases to grant the government whatever they want."

The lawyer representing the Tribune, Samuel Fifer, noted that witnesses in sensitive cases in the past have testified at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse from behind a screen. He said any security measures should be as least restrictive as possible.

Prosecutors had earlier proposed having the agent testify in disguise. But on Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas said they couldn't find a makeup artist at the last minute to help disguise the agent's features.

Coleman also remarked that Daoud had a right to confront the witness as he looked at the time of his interactions with him, not "in some fancy clown suit."

When the agent's long-anticipated testimony finally began, prosecutors referred to him not by his real name, but by "Mudafer," the name he used when dealing with Daoud.

Testifying in a gruff voice, the agent said he was introduced to Daoud in July 2012 as the cousin of a man who had been talking to Daoud online about jihad. The agent told Daoud he belonged to a terrorist cell with loyalties to al-Qaeda.

In their first meeting near a mosque in Villa Park, Daoud did "90 percent" of the talking, the agent said. Portions of the audio-recorded conversation played in court captured Daoud speaking excitedly as he identified himself as a "good terrorist."

In often-rambling monologues, Daoud brought up the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the killing of Jewish men, women and children. He laughed at seemingly odd times, particularly when talking about the timidness of some in the Islamic community about fighting against oppression.

"Like, woooow man! Hellooo! Are you serious right now?" Daoud exclaimed at one point on the recording.

Near the end of the conversation, the agent told Daoud that his group was interested in doing "something in Chicago" because of fewer security risks than in New York.

Daoud expressed interest but also seemed to have little grasp or understanding of how such an attack could be orchestrated. At one point, Daoud brought up the idea of using "flying cars" to bomb a location, saying he was sure they existed and were "less expensive than a plane."

"You could get 20 of those. It would be much cheaper than getting, like, five airplanes," Daoud said.

The agent threw cold water on the idea, saying that it would be "a thing that would take years and years to plan" and cost a lot of money.

The conversation ended with the agent suggesting Daoud write his ideas on targets and methods down in a notepad and give them to him at their next meeting.

Asked why he suggested that to Daoud, the agent testified it was important that Daoud had time to "cool off" and potentially walk away from the idea of an attack. The FBI also wanted any specific plan for an attack to be Daoud's idea, the agent said.

"He would be doing it away from me with no pressure from me," the agent testified. "He would actually contemplate his ideas, think about them, write them down."

At their next meeting on Aug. 12, 2012, Daoud brought his list scribbled on lined notebook paper. The potential targets on the list -- displayed in court -- included Navy Pier, the Music Box theater in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood and Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. Also on the list were several suburban masonic halls, U.S. military and other Chicago-area government offices, as well as a busy movie theater in Streeterville.

Daoud, now 25, pleaded guilty under unusual circumstances to terrorism charges stemming from the plot to bomb the Cactus Bar & Grill in September 2012 when he was a teen. He also pleaded guilty to separate indictments accusing him of soliciting the murder of the FBI agent and attacking a fellow inmate with a jailhouse shank.

Testimony on Monday focused on Daoud's increasingly radical and anti-American statements in the months before the bomb plot about his desire to wage jihad. In chatrooms, emails, YouTube comments and other online forums, Daoud discussed everything from bomb-making techniques to whether it was considered halal -- or proper under Islamic law -- to kill women and children in a jihadist attack, FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Parsons testified.

But Daoud also lamented his perceived shortcomings in the communications, including his "terrible case of procrastination and laziness" and questionable physical abilities that might make it difficult to be an effective terrorist.

"I cannot run to save my life," Daoud wrote to an undercover FBI analyst in a June 2012 email that was shown in court. "I got asthma and flat feet on top of not being fit. ... Like, I ain't fat but I still cannot run. I need to learn how to shoot, too."

The sentencing hearing punctuates what has been one of the strangest and longest-running terrorism cases in Chicago history.

Since Daoud was allowed to enter his guilty plea without actually admitting he did anything wrong -- an unusual arrangement known in federal court as an Alford plea -- the sentencing hearing before Coleman is playing out more like a mini-trial.

Both prosecutors and Daoud's defense attorneys will argue over evidence that originally was expected to be aired before a jury.

The stakes couldn't be higher for Daoud. Prosecutors are seeking a 40-year prison sentence followed by a lifetime of court supervision.

Daoud's attorneys, meanwhile, want the Hillside native, who has been incarcerated since his arrest more than 6 1/2 years ago, to be released in time to enroll in college in the fall of 2021.

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Family members of a 5-year-old boy from Crystal Lake who authorities said was beaten to death by his parents issued a statement Tuesday describing Andrew "AJ" Freund's "happy, fun-loving life" before their contact with him was "abruptly" cut off by the parents.

And they said AJ's "ultimate sacrifice" helped save his younger brother and an unborn sibling.

The statement was made by AJ's former foster family and his grandmother, according to their attorney and spokesman Peter Flowers. They declined to give their names.

But Flowers said the message was not sent on behalf of AJ's biological parents, Andrew Freund and JoAnn Cunningham. They are charged with murder and other crimes in the boy's death.

The parents initially reported AJ was missing on April 18, but police said their investigation found that the parents had beaten the boy to death, then buried him in a shallow grave in a remote area of Woodstock.

Police said that after they confronted the parents with cellphone evidence, the parents shared information that led them to the boy's body. The parents are being held in jail on $5 million bail, and are awaiting trial.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services placed AJ with a foster family for about about a year and a half, beginning shortly after his birth because he was born with narcotics in his system, but then a judge ruled that he should return to his mother.

The family's statement reads:

"We, the family that lovingly cared for Andrew (AJ) during the first 18 months of his life and were then allowed to be in his life for another 26 months until the parents abruptly prevented us from having any further contact with him, want everyone to know that AJ was loved by us with all our hearts.

"While we had him in our lives, he had a happy, fun-loving life. This smart little boy loved having books read to him, doing puzzles, his Thomas the Train, playing with his firetrucks, bulldozers, cement mixer and Ninja Turtles. He was very curious and always wanted to learn about everything.

"He was, and will always be, our loving and caring little boy. With his brave short life, AJ made the ultimate sacrifice to save his younger brother and unborn sibling. His life shall not be in vain. AJ will always be our little superhero.

"We want to thank the Crystal Lake Police and surrounding police departments, the FBI, all other first responders, and our community at large. We appreciate all of the kindness, prayers, love, and compassion shown by all."

Flowers explained that AJ indirectly saved his brother's life because after AJ was reported missing, his brother was taken into emergency protective custody by DCFS. Cunningham is about seven months pregnant, and DCFS said it will be coordinating a plan for custody once her baby is born.

Flowers added that the family has been touched by the outpouring of support from the public.

"This is one of the most tragic things you could ever imagine happening," Flowers said. "You lose faith in humanity. Then you see the good part of humanity come out in people who don't know you at all, reaching out and trying to help."

He said the family hopes that attention to the case and others like it will help ensure that nothing similar happens to any other child.

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Illinois Senate Democrats on Tuesday proposed tweaks to the graduated-rate income tax plan that is the cornerstone of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's ambitious agenda for the spring legislative session, increasing the top rate for the wealthiest taxpayers while dangling a potential freeze on school district property taxes.

In closed-door negotiations, some Democratic lawmakers have criticized Pritzker's plan for not doing more to address soaring property taxes. The proposal from Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat, would freeze local school districts' property tax rates if the state lives up to its education funding obligations.

"The concept here is to put a credible proposal on the table to do what I think we all want to do, which is turn off the spigot of property taxes and make the state budget the predominant source of how we fund public schools," Manar said.

In another effort to broaden support for an income tax overhaul, and to counter arguments that the state's tax structure drives residents to leave, Senate President John Cullerton introduced a second companion measure that would eliminate the state's estate tax -- a levy affecting family farms that Republicans have long decried as a death tax.

The measure would "send the message to the folks that are going to be paying more in Illinois income tax that we are at least willing to eliminate the estate tax because we're told that's one of the reasons why some people actually do leave" the state, the Chicago Democrat said.

Pritzker, who campaigned on shifting the state from its current flat-rate income tax to one in which higher earners pay higher rates, proposed a plan in March that he said would generate $3.4 billion in new revenue by raising tax rates on those earning more than $250,000 and giving a modest break to the other 97 percent of taxpayers. The governor's plan would raise most of its revenue -- an estimated $2.7 billion -- by taxing those who earn more than $1 million a year at 7.95 percent of their total income.

The Senate proposal on the income tax, filed by Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, would set the top rate at 7.99 percent. That rate would apply to the entire income of single filers earning more than $750,000 annually or joint filers earning more than $1 million. Hutchinson's plan would generate an estimated $3.3 billion annually. The current rate is 4.95 percent for all filers.

The Senate Executive Committee voted Tuesday to send all three measures to the full chamber.

The Democratic governor described his original proposal as the opening bid in negotiations. Even if the full Senate passes the measures introduced Tuesday as written, the package could undergo substantive changes in the House, where prospects for a graduated tax are murkier.

Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh said the governor "has made clear that he prioritizes negotiations with the General Assembly on the fair income tax."

"Today represents another important step in the negotiations, and we look forward to continuing those conversations with stakeholders in the House as well," Abudayyeh said in an emailed statement. "Governor Pritzker's focus on making our system more fair means that 97 percent of Illinois taxpayers will pay the same or less in income taxes, while only those making more than $250,000 will pay more."

During the committee hearing Tuesday afternoon, Hutchinson said her proposal "retains that underlying principle."

"In the absence of this, we have a noted and pretty much agreed upon $3.2 billion ... structural (budget) deficit," Hutchinson said. "And if we don't do this, then we can raise taxes on everybody, or we can cut 15 percent across the board, or we can argue that the status quo and the lack of investment that we're making in all the things that we all care about and all agree on should stay as broken as it is today."

Hutchinson said the lower income threshold for single filers was meant to address criticisms of the so-called marriage penalty that Pritzker's proposal would have created.

Three-fifths majorities in the House and Senate must pass a measure seeking voter approval to eliminate the Illinois Constitution's flat tax requirement. The Senate could vote on the proposed amendment as soon as Wednesday, but it can't go before voters until November 2020 at the earliest. The three components of the Senate package would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, only if voters approve the constitutional amendment.

While the property tax and the estate tax proposals may blunt criticisms from some Democrats and some pro-business groups, changing the rates from Pritzker's original plan will offer ammunition to opponents. Already, Republican lawmakers and other opponents are arguing that the Democrats who control the General Assembly will eventually try to apply higher tax rates to lower incomes if voters approve constitutional amendment.

"They're already creeping down ... which is something we've been warning members of the General Assembly and the public about," Illinois Manufacturers' Association President and CEO Mark Denzler said Tuesday.

Under the Senate bill, single and joint filers would be taxed at 4.75 percent on the first $10,000 of income, 4.9 percent on income between $10,000 and $100,000 and 4.95 percent on income between $100,000 and $250,000. After that, there are slight differences from Pritzker's plan.

For single filers, the rates would be 7.75 percent on income between $250,000 and $350,000, and 7.85 percent on income between $350,000 and $750,000. For those earning more than $750,000, their total income would be taxed at 7.99 percent.

Joint filers would be taxed at 7.75 percent on income between $250,000 and $500,000, and 7.85 percent on income between $500,000 and $1 million. The rate would be 7.99 percent on total income for those earning more than $1 million.

The corporate tax rate would increase to 7.99 percent from the current 7 percent. Pritzker proposed raising it to 7.95 percent.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP)  Gov. J.B. Pritzker's graduated income tax plan has received preliminary Senate approval.

The Senate Executive Committee voted 13-6 Wednesday to replace the state's 4.95 percent flat tax. It's likely to get a Senate floor vote Wednesday.

Pritzker says wealthier taxpayers would pay more and most would pay the same as they do now or less.

The highest rate has been increased from Pritzker's original 7.95 percent on income of $1 million or more.

Now the top rate is 7.99 percent for individual filers earning $750,000 or more. Democratic Sen. Toi Hutchinson of Olympia Fields says $1 million remains the threshold for joint filers because of the so-called marriage penalty.

If the Legislature approves, voters would have endorse the idea as a constitutional amendment in fall 2020.

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FLOSSMOOR, Ill. (AP)  Social media-posts reportedly showing students of a suburban Chicago high school in blackface and disparaging blacks prompted a walkout by their fellow classmates.

Hundreds of students chanting "no place for blackface" on Tuesday walked out of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, located south of Chicago. Police at the scene during the walkout reported the protest was peaceful.

Some students, including 18-year-old senior Claudia Bowen, said those who used blackface should be expelled from the school. Several said they know the kids who used blackface and were surprised by what they'd done.

The protest of the images that surfaced over the weekend had the support of the administration. Principal Jerry Lee Anderson said administrators will work to ensure all students are respected.

The walkout lasted about an hour before they returned to class.

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Unless your name is Glenn Greenwald, Michael Tracey or Aaron Mate, you are probably not shocked by the revelation that a man involved in the Iran-Contra cover-up is now involved in a cover-up for his newest employer: President Donald J. Trump. If you are someone like the aforementioned three journalists who have spent a career telling everyone not to trust the Feds, only to turn around and scream the Feds said I was right!!! after Trumps Attorney General, William Barr, wrote an (inaccurate) four page summary of the Mueller Report, hopefully this episode has taught you a lesson. At the very least, it has taught young journalists something: dont staple your own credibility to members of the Trump Administration.

Given the secretive nature of the Department of Justice and the special counsel, the fact that this letter even exists is extraordinary. Per Special Counsel Robert Mueller to Attorney General William Barr on March 27th (emphasis mine):

Dear Attorney General Barr,

I previously sent you a letter dated March 25, 2019, that enclosed the introduction and executive summary for each volume of the Special Counsels report marked with redaction to remove any information that potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e); that concerned declination decisions; or that related to a charged case. We also had marked an additional two sentences for review and have now confirmed that these sentences can be released publicly.

Accordingly, the enclosed documents are in a form that can be released to the public consistent with legal requirements and Department policies. I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time.

As we stated in our meeting of March 5 and reiterated to the Department early in the afternoon of March 24, the introductions and executive summaries of our two-volume report accurately summarize this Offices work and conclusions. The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Offices work and conclusions. We communicated that concern to the Department on the morning of March 25. There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations. See Department of Justice, Press Release (May 17, 2017).

While we understand that the Department is reviewing the full report to determine what is appropriate for public releasea process that our Office is working with you to completethat process need not delay the release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation. It would also accord with the standard for public release of notifications to Congress cited in your letter. See 28 CFR  609 (the Attorney General may determine that public release of congressional notifications would be in the public interest).

The dates are key here, because it sure looks like the United States Attorney General lied under oath to Congress.

On April 20th, I asked Barr, Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion? His answer was, I dont know whether Mueller supported my conclusion.



We now know Mueller stated his concerns on March 27th, and that Barr totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign. pic.twitter.com/rod404BbYo  Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) May 1, 2019

In today's testimony, Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asked the Attorney General about this conflict in his story, and here was Barr's bumbling response that painstakingly went out of its way to avoid answering the question he was posed.

LEAHY: Why did you testify on April 9 that you didn't know about the concerns of Mueller's team, when he had directly informed you of them?



BARR: [dissembles]



L: Please answer



B: [dissembles]



L: Stop filibustering



B: I answered a question. pic.twitter.com/CYx4jWqpHz  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2019

The DOJ preaches not writing sensitive information down, and they encourage parties to hash out a dispute like this in private. By putting pen to paper, Robert Mueller must have known that word of what he said could spread. Given that we have indeed arrived at a moment where we can read Muellers complaints about Barrs summary of his work, its hard to see how Mueller did not at least accept the serious possibility that this letter would be leaked, and his grievances would be made public. Perhaps that was the goal all along. This letter simply would not exist unless Robert Mueller believed that Bill Barr dramatically mischaracterized the Mueller Report.

Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.
Patna: Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in Bihta will become fully functional from July 7, said Central Labor and Employment Minister Santosh Gangwar at a press conference in Patna on Tuesday.

"The work on the hospital is almost complete and what is left will be completed by July 7 when I will personally come to Patna to inaugurate it," Gangwar said.

The minister inspected the hospital in Bihta on Tuesday and also held a meeting with the hospital officials to get up to speed on the work completed so far.

Later, at a press conference at the BJP office in Patna, the minister provided more details of the medical facility in Bihta saying the hospital will open with 100 beds on July 7 but another 100 beds would be added within next year or so.

"The final goal is to have 300 beds in the hospital and once that has been achieved, the plan is to move to the next phase of adding a medical college within the hospital," Gangwar said.

Also, on July 7, the minister will inaugurate construction work on another hospital in Phulwari Sharif.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Central Rural Development Minister Ram Kripal Yadav said that the foundation stone of the proposed hospital in Phulwari Sharif was laid down late last year but work on it could not be started due to some technical issues.

"All these issues have been resolved and the work on this new hospital would begin on July 7," Yadav said.
Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is serving time in a Jharkhand jail for his involvement in the multi-crore rupees fodder scam, was granted a limited 5-day parole so he could attend the wedding of his older son Tej Pratap Yadav.

The wedding is to take place in Patna on May 12.

The former Bihar Health Minister got engaged to Aishwarya Rai, the grand-daughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Daroga Rai and the elder daughter of RJD leader Chandrika Rai, on April 18.

As reported, the Jharkhand Advocate General and the Superintendent of Police (SP) gave a 'no-objection' certificate to the former Chief Minister of Bihar so he could attend the wedding of his son. Even his doctors gave him a clean chit to attend the function in Patna.

Party sources said Yadav was to fly to Patna on Wednesday evening and was expected to remain in the state capital until May 14 after which he would be flown back to Ranchi.

Though deemed fit to attend the wedding of his son, the likelihood of him actually spending time behind bars, however, is expected to be limited as his doctors maintain his health condition requires constant monitoring and therefore needs to remain in the hospital under constant care of his physicians.

Soon after it was announced Yadav would be able to attend his son's wedding, a wave of jubilation spread within the Lalu-Rabri household along with among the well-wishers who said this would make the holy event of matrimony even more special.

"We are looking forward to see our leader without whom the wedding of Tej Pratap Yadav would not be the same as it would be in his presence," said party leader Ram Chandra Purvey.
Although AMD is readying its new Navi GPU architecture for launch later this year, AMD executives revealed a surprise: The company plans to price it below the upcoming Radeon VII GPU.

AMD executives revealed their decision during AMDs first-quarter earnings call. The company missed profit estimates, but surpassed analysts revenue forecasts. AMD reported net income of $16 million, down 80 percent year-over-year, on revenue of $1.27 billion, down 23 percent.

What this means: Weve already seen how Intel has weathered a rocky quarter, and how unconfirmed roadmap leaks may signal a rough road ahead, too. The perception was that AMDs own outlook was relatively rosy, and straightforward. We didnt expect to hear this positioning, however, and we hope AMD has a chance to explain itself a bit more fully going forward on what its strategy is.

AMD AMDs earnings indicate that its Ryzen CPU is succeeding.

AMDs graphics business is struggling

What makes AMDs decision even more surprising is the fact that PC graphics is currently AMDs Achilles heel. Revenue declined 23 percent because of lower revenue in AMDs Computing and Graphics segment, and that business declined 26 percent primarily due to lower sales of graphics cards based on AMDs GPUs. Part of thats due to the cryptocurrency markets decline. (Demand is rising, however, for AMDs GPUs in the datacenter, helping to raise prices even as volumes fall.)

The implication, then, is that demand for AMDs current graphics architecture, Vega, apparently has declined. But thats what makes AMDs decision slightly puzzling: AMD said in January that the Radeon VII is simply the consumer version of the 7nm variant of Vega. The chip contains 60 compute units, putting it between the Radeon Vega 56 and Vega 64, with 25 percent more performance at the same power.

But when asked how the next-gen Navi architecture would be positioned, AMD chief executive Lisa Su has this to say: It is 7nm Navi, but it will be positioned below [where] our Radeon VII is positioned today from a price-point standpoint.

Navi will launch during the third quarter, Su said. She declined to comment when asked if Navi would include ray-tracing capabilities like Nvidias own RTX chips.

AMD Do Sus statements imply that we should be waiting for the generation beyond Navi, instead?

AMDs strategy would appear to upend the way in which new chips are launched. Normally, a chip company ships a new processor or GPU as a premium product, with a high price tag to boot. This helps the manufacturer recoup its investment, and paves the way for cheaper revisions as the product ages out. After a time, the chip company launches a new high-end product, and the cycle repeats.

Its not clear whether AMD sees its Navi positioning as a case where its unwilling to bet heavily on a new architecture designed into a relatively new process technology, or whether its giving its existing investment in the Radeon VII, also known as the 7nm Vega technology, a chance to breathe. It could also use the opportunity to refine its 7nm process, bringing a higher-performance version of Navi off the bench, so to speak, as part of a future generation. There has been talk of both big and little Navi implementations, for various applications. But we just dont know at the moment.

AMD

Intels CPU business is strong, at least on desktop

Su also confirmed what rival Intel had intimated a few days before: There are CPU shortages, but theyve largely alleviated. We see a little bit of that, she said of the shortages, describing them as pockets at the lower end of the market.

Su said that she expects more than a dozen notebooks to be launched this quarter with mobile Ryzen chips inside, from Asus, HP, Lenovo, and more. On the desktop, AMDs preparing for the third generation of Ryzen chips to launch later this year. Still, CPU prices fell because of a decrease in mobile processor prices, AMD said.

IDG Consoles can be a steady source of revenue.

AMD also said that its Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment revenue was $441 million, down 17 percent year over year. Though AMD said that its revenue was partially bolstered by increased sales of its Epyc server processors, revenue fell due to declining sales in its semi-custom business. In the jargon of AMDs financial statements, semi-custom essentially means the console business: Sonys PlayStation 4, Microsofts Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch. Because console sales have declined, so has revenue from the semi-custom business.

That will change in 2020, Su believes. AMD captured the contract for Sonys PlayStation 5, and Su saidwithout naming any specific consoles that she believes semi-custom will return to a growth business then.
A DUI driver who hit a cab and was fleeing only to slam into another car at 86 mph, killing that driver, now knows how long hell spend in prison.

According to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, the driver, 31-year-old Andrew Timothy Lannon of Pittsburgh, has been handed a prison sentence of three to six years, to be followed by four years of probation.

This, after Lannon pleaded guilty Monday in Allegheny County Court to homicide by vehicle while DUI, homicide by vehicle, and DUI. Additional charges were withdrawn in exchange for the plea.

The charges stem from a Sept. 1, 2018 in Baldwin Borough.

Details from KDKA:

According to the criminal complaint, Lannon was traveling outbound on East Carson Street when he struck the back of a zTrip cab, causing minor damage.

Lannon then sped off, crossed the center line and crashed into a Toyota Prius.

The driver of the Prius, Sageen Khan, was pronounced dead at the scene.

(Story continues below)

Pittsburgh Man Sentenced To Prison For Causing Fatal Crash While DUI -- https://t.co/Q91CfFHguW  KDKA (@KDKA) April 30, 2019

Lannon told a detective he had a couple of drinks shortly before the crash, but the criminal complaint says Lannons blood alcohol was found to be .287.

Additionally, a mechanical inspection of Lannons Jeep showed he was doing 86 mph two seconds before the crash and the accelerator pedal was at 100%.
May 1st is a busy day for holidays. The first of the month is a triple threat, functioning as May Day, Loyalty Day and International Workers Day.

Heres a brief look at each of the holidays. Well start things off with...

May Day

Also known as Beltane, May Day is a celebration of spring. It is believed to have originated from Floralia, the festival for Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, drinking and dancing. Another origination for May Day is Beltane, which was a pre-Christian Celtic holiday. Beltane is a significant day in the Celtic Calendar, according to Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, and has been adopted by modern day Wiccans and pagans.

Theres a wide variety of celebrations for May Day, although most include a maypole dance. There are also often bonfires on May Day and many people collect flowers on the day. May Day is also, according to legend, a day where fairies are likely to be found.

Maypoles and maypole dancing symbolize pagan fertility rites. Medieval Celts danced around a pole to have a fruitful planting season, according to the New York Times. Around the 19th century, however, the maypole became a celebration of virtue and maidenhood.

In the dance, the wooden pole is decorated with colored ribbons through a folk dance in which dancers weave in and out of each other. The result is a beautiful pattern on the pole, or a mangled mess - depending on how well the dance was done.

International Workers Day

Also known as Labor Day outside the United States (our Labor Day is Sept. 2 in 2019), it celebrates labor unions. It is held on May 1 in honor of the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, in which a labor rally turned into a bloodbath when a bomb was thrown and police fired into the crowd.

Loyalty Day

Loyalty Day is a holiday that promotes patriotism. It is a day to reaffirm allegiance to the United States of America. It began in 1921 as Americanization Day, according to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Back then it was foil to the communist celebration of the Russian Revolution, which was also celebrated on May 1. In 1949 it became Loyalty Day and in 1958 Loyalty Day became law and an official part of the American calendar.

"Freedom is worth celebrating any day of the year," said then-Pennsylvania VFW state commander Russell Canevari in 2014. "But on May 1st the VFW leads nationwide 'Loyalty Day' events to rally Americans behind democracy and all the blessings of living in a free nation.

Too many people take their freedom for granted, and many forget that there are still enemies of the United States, he continued. World events today remind free people that their freedom has been fought for and that there is a strong need to continue defending freedom.

VFWs across the country host Loyalty Day celebrations and every year the President of the United States of American issues a proclamation regarding the holiday.

This story is a combination of multiple posts from 2014, including this one about May Day and this one about Loyalty Day.
Its been more than fifty years, but the musical Hair is still drawing controversy.

In March, students at the Capital Area School for the Arts in Harrisburg strayed from the typical high school musical, choosing instead to channel their inner hippies and perform the psychedelic 1960s rock musical.

Hair depicts a group of young flower children living in the East Village of New York City circa 1967 as they celebrate the budding counterculture movement. The anti-Vietnam War musical contains profanity, illegal drugs, sexuality  including a nude scene - and mistreatment of the American flag.

The show is not a typical high school show; however, we are not a typical high school, said Tim Wendling, CASAs chief executive officer and principal.

So, when some of the judges for the Apollo Awards  modeled after Broadways Tony Awards  said CASAs production wasnt appropriate for a high school performance, those associated with the production expressed disappointment.

To deem it inappropriate is missing the message of the show as a whole, said Carolyn Chronister, a senior who played Sheila in the performance.

Chronister, 18, said what confused the cast the most about the remark was the fact the show depicts love and peace and a general message you dont have to stand for things when they are unfair.

Apollo Award nominations were announced last week. Eighteen awards will be presented during the show at 7 p.m. May 19 at the Hershey Theatre. The awards are designed to recognize outstanding achievements by local high school students in musical and play productions.

CASA was not entirely shut out of the Apollos. Hair captured an honorable mention for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical for student Eli Wearys portrayal of Claude. The school also garnered nominations for its fall play The Crucible, including supporting actress, lead actor and outstanding play.

Cal Weary, the musicals director and owner of Weary Arts Group in York, said he stands by the musical. Judging by the work on stage he said he is surprised the school didnt win more awards. (His son is Eli Weary.)

Weary said the cast is unhappy about the comment but taking the issue in stride.

Performing Hair with high school students could be considered risky by some standards. To maintain the musicals authenticity, CASA didnt cut profanity. There was no nudity. Instead, students wore leotards and were positioned behind an American flag with lighting.

While the school continues to support the Apollo Awards, Weary said he would like changes to the way judges are selected, something he said he expressed to the organizers.

Its important the people coming out come with open hearts and open minds. You have kids, the arts is their only thing, especially at our school. For some of them, they got away from places where they werent treated right. Now coming from their own arts community, its a kick in the gut, he said.

Don Papson, executive director of the M.S. Hershey Foundation, said a total of 60 judges evaluate high school musicals using a rubric which evaluates acting, singing and stage presence among other criteria.

Judges are picked through an application process. According to the Apollo Award website, seven judges are sent to each schools production.

In the case of CASAs production of Hair, Papson said he thinks the school and director know they pushed the envelope and probably didnt realize it would receive an honest reaction from the judges.

One hundred percent that didnt have anything to do with the outcome of the awards, he said.

In their feedback, judges had plenty of praise to share about the production. They called it "truly an ensemble show and said the cast brought enthusiasm and energy to the show.

One line, however, does state, I heard about the content and language from a judge or two. They felt it was not appropriate for a high school group to perform this show.

This summer the Apollo Awards staff will meet with school play directors as they do every year for feedback, said Jill Manley, senior director of communications for the Hershey Foundation.

We want their feedback. We want to continue to improve the program, and the only way to do that is through their feedback, she said.

Wendling said CASA wanted to pick a musical that would resonate with the students and push them artistically and emotionally. The students relate to issues presented in the production such as the environment and politics, he added.

In the end, Wendling acknowledged while it would have been nice to receive recognition, the students are proud of their school.

They realize not everyone is going to support your art. They know they were amazing. They know how they made the audience feel and thats what they really care about it, he said.
Police said they zeroed in on a suspect in the kidnapping of a 4-year-old in Franklin County after a woman told investigators shed heard a childs cries coming from a bedroom where a relative had been staying.

Thomas Andrew Dewald, 20, is accused of kidnapping the 4-year-old girl from her Washington Township home, then burglarizing another home in the same area days later with intent to take children from that home, documents show.

Charges of kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, criminal trespass, indecent assault, corruption of minors, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and burglary were all filed against Dewald overnight, according to online court documents.

State police trooper Erica Polcha documented the allegations against Dewald in court documents, including not only the abduction of the 4-year-old but what police say was an attempt to abduct other children from another home on Sunday.

A missing child

The 4-year-old girls family reported her missing around 3:25 a.m. April 25, after her father woke up to use the restroom at 3 a.m. and noticed her bedroom door and the front door of the house were both open, according to court documents. She had been put to bed around 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. on April 24, and both parents were awake for some hours after that, with the mother staying up until around 2 a.m.

The father searched the home before calling state police, documents show.

Police released information that led to a search for the girl lasting several hours. She was found about two and a half miles from her home just before 10 a.m. on April 25.

Relative heard crying

While canvassing the area where the girl was found in the days following the abduction, police talked to a woman who said a relative, Dewald, had been staying with them for the past four to five weeks, according to court documents.

That the home was about 50 yards from where the girl was found, Lt. Mark Magyar said during a news conference Monday night.

The woman said she checked Dewalds room every day to make sure he made his bed, and while doing so she thought she heard a baby crying, according to court documents.

The woman tried searching the room, and believed the crying to be coming from a wall with an air conditioning unit, according to court documents. The woman went to look for Dewald, but he had already left for work.

The woman tried searching the room again, but could not figure out where the crying was coming from, according to court documents.

When troopers looked in the room, they saw a large wooden chest under the air conditioning unit, according to court documents. After getting a search warrant, investigators searched the chest and found several hairs that matched the girl next to the wooden chest.

There were also large strips of black tape in the bedroom, including black tape with shoe print impressions and dirt and grass stuck to it, according to court documents.

Police also found a strip of black tape that contained strands of hair, according to court documents.

Dewald returned to the home as investigators searched the home, police said, and admitted to the child abduction and a burglary that occurred nearby the day before, according to court documents.

The abduction

Once in police custody, Dewald agreed to an interview in which he said he searched the neighborhood for children playing in their yards mostly unsupervised, and for houses with no video surveillance nearby, according to court documents.

Dewald told investigators that he saw children at two residences that he believed lived in deplorable conditions and that did not have video surveillance nearby, according to court documents.

Dewald said he entered a home through an unlocked front door in the 12000 block of Pen Mar Road, Washington Township, then was inside looking at the children for about an hour before he went into the 4-year-olds room and took her, according to court documents.

Dewald said he believed the older sibling would be too heavy to take, according to court documents.

Back in his room, Dewald said he bound the girl with tape and put her in the wooden chest in her bedroom, telling her hed return around noon that day, according to court documents.

When he returned later, he saw that the girl was no longer inside the chest or in the home, and said he didnt know how she had escaped, according to court documents.

The second burglary

Police questioned Dewald about the burglary in the 14000 block of Lower Edgemont Road, Washington Township, which he also admitted committing, according to court documents.

Dewald said he used tape so that he didnt leave shoe prints in the home, and went in through a window, according to court documents.

Dewald said he went upstairs to the bedroom and saw three children sleeping in their beds, according to court documents. He told police he felt they were living in acceptable conditions, and decided not take any of them.

Once he started to leave the residence, a dog began barking so he fled through the kitchen door, according to court documents.

Dewald was arraigned Tuesday morning, and denied bail because there were no bail conditions available to ensure the safety of the community.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 14.
LEWISBURG  A change of mind by the victim has resulted in charges being filed in connection with an alleged rape in a Bucknell University fraternity house more than a decade ago.

Joseph John McClain III, 34, of Brooklyn, N.Y., has been charged with rape, sexual assault and aggravated indecent sexual assault stemming from the incident that occurred in the Tau Kappa Epsilon house about midnight on Oct. 26, 2008.

The victim, a Bucknell student at the time, was so impacted by the alleged sexual assault she chose not to go forward with charges at the time, Union County District Attorney D. Peter Johnson said Tuesday.

She has changed her mind and, due to a 12-year statute of limitations in such cases, prosecution can proceed, Johnson said.

Its definitely going to be interesting, he said about prosecuting a 10-year-old case. Collecting witnesses will be more difficult than if the crime just occurred.

The universitys public safety department has kept from 2008 both the DNA evidence and results of the victims sexual assault examination at Evangelical Community Hospital, he said.

Also maintained were the results of state police lab tests on clothing and fingernail scrapings from McClain, who was visiting his brother at the TKE house.

According to the arrest affidavit, McClain met the victim at a fraternity party and about midnight he took her to his brothers room, locked the door and gave her alcoholic beverages.

She accuses him of making finger penetration while using his legs to pin her on a red futon. She told police she resisted and he let her go only after she faked an orgasm.

The lead investigator, Jeffrey Ettinger, states in the affidavit when he later went to the room that McClain was sleeping on a red futon.

When interviewed, McClain admitted he had a girl in his brothers room but claimed they kissed and they left, the affidavit states.

Ettinger said he was forced to obtain a search warrant to collect fingernail scrapings because McClain refused to give them voluntarily.

McClain has agreed to surrender for a May 16 arraignment, Johnson said.

Bucknell referred questions about the case to Johnson, but spokesman Mike Ferlazzo said TKE no longer is recognized by university.

The recognition was pulled earlier this year due to a number of violations of the universitys Code of Conduct unrelated to the 2008 incident, he said. He did not detail the violations.

The national Tau Kappa Epsilon organization lists the Bucknell chapter as inactive.
A Pittsburgh-area man was diagnosed with measles earlier this week, and Allegheny County health officials have confirmed that its the first measles case in the county this year.

The man may have been contagious when he visited two Pittsburgh grocery stores, according to a Tuesday news release from officials at the Allegheny County Health Department.

The health department warned of potential exposures at a Giant Eagle Market District at 5550 Centre Ave. on Friday and Sunday and an Aldi at 5631 Baum Blvd. on Friday.

Officials said symptoms likely would begin showing before May 20.

Anyone who visited those locations and is susceptible to measles or is showing symptoms of measles should immediately contact their primary care provider, health officials said.

Symptoms include rash, high fever, cough and red, watery eyes.

Do not go directly to the office, urgent care center or emergency room, as this may expose other persons, Health Department Director Dr. Karen Hacker said in a statement.

Most importantly, get your measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine as soon as possible if you havent already done so, she said. "Vaccines not only protect you and your loved ones, they protect those whose immune systems are compromised, which includes infants and the elderly.

Health officials said the person with measles in Allegheny County had not been vaccinated and had recently traveled internationally.

This case is not linked to any ongoing measles outbreak in the U.S., officials said.

That person was treated at the UPMC Shadyside emergency room Monday and is now recovering at home, officials said, adding that patients and staff in the hospital at the time have been notified about possible exposure.

Health officials described measles as highly contagious." It can be spread through coughing, sneezing or other contact with the mucus or saliva of an infected person, according to the release.
Update: Officials confirm a woman died in the house fire.

An official with the York County Coroners Office has been dispatched to a reported fire with entrapment.

Emergency personnel were dispatched at 12:25 p.m. Wednesday to the 2200 block of West Philadelphia Street in West Manchester Township, York County, according to YDR.com.

Station 50 and neighboring departments are currently operating on box 50-53, a working structure fire with confirmed entrapment. Fire showing from front of residence. Posted by West Manchester Township Fire Department on Wednesday, May 1, 2019

No other details about the fire were immediately available.

On the scene of a structure fire, 2200 block of W. Philadelphia St. In W. Manchester Township. @YorkDispatch pic.twitter.com/bZV62bkpYl  John A. Pavoncello (@Jpavoncello) May 1, 2019
New charges have been filed against a Lancaster COunty doctor already facing allegations of sexual assault.

Court dockets indicate that William Vollmar faces charges of sexual contact with a student in a school, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, and indecent assault stemming from an incident on Jan. 1, 2019.

Vollmar also faces charges of sexual assault, corruption of minors, and indecent assault stemming from an incident on Aug. 1, 2015, according to court documents.

Vollmar, 55, has already been charged with indecent assault after an adult patient accused the doctor of molesting him during an after-hours appointment, where the patient was receiving a massage and chiropractic work while being treated for an ankle injury.

A lawsuit filed in April on behalf of a different man also contends Vollmar sexually abused him.

Vollmar had served as a physician for the Middletown Area School District, but was removed from that position when he was charged last month. Court records provide no details about which districts the students involved attended.

The mens names are not being released. PennLive policy is not to name people who say they are victims of sexual assault.

According to a news release from Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Vollmar was a practicing physician at Diamantoni and Associates Family Practice in Lancaster County from July 1992 until April 2019.

He specialized in sports medicine and had contracts with several school districts, including Middletown Area School District, Lampeter-Strasburg School District, Pequea Valley School District, Lancaster Country Day School, Conestoga Valley School District, Octorara Area School District and Solanco School District.

Vollmar also had a contract with Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster County.

Vollmar was also a medical support member for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association district and state athletic competitions for 19 years. He was also a member of the PIAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, according to the release.

This story has been updated with details about Vollmars employment.
A North Carolina man accused of raping a 10-year-old girl was arrested in Mechanicsburg Wednesday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Juan Catalan, also known as Juan Serafin, 39, is wanted by the Lenoir County Sheriffs Office in connection with a sexual assault that occurred in the area, according to the Marshals. The warrant was obtained on April 15, on allegations that Catalan engaged in a sex act with the girl.

Catalan was charged with statutory rape of a child by an adult.

Catalan, who previously lived in Pink Hill, NC, was not found in the state and the fugitive task force was brought in to assist when they learned he might be in central Pennsylvania, the Marshals said.

Wednesday afternoon, the fugitive task force went to a job site in the first block of Oakwood Avenue in Upper Allen Township, where Catalan was arrested without incident, the Marshals said.

The U.S. Marshals Service recognizes the importance of bringing those charged with serious sex crimes to justice as quickly as possible," U.S. Marshal Martin Pane said in a release, "We give these type cases our utmost attention. It is my hope that the young victim and family members will find comfort knowing the alleged attacker is now in custody.

The task force included Pa. Board of Probation and Parole, Harrisburg Bureau of Police, the Dauphin County Adult Probation Office and Swatara Township Police Department. The Upper Allen Township Police Department, Steelton Police Department and East Pennsboro Township Police Department also assisted.
A central Pennsylvania judge was justified in jailing the owner of a starved dog that was so hungry it tried to eat the wood off its dog box in a vain attempt to stay alive, a state Superior Court panel has ruled.

The state judges made that call in rejecting an appeal by Gary Solomon, who claimed the 3-month to 2-year prison sentence he received for allowing the dog to die from starvation and hypothermia is too severe.

Senior Judge John L. Musmanno noted in the Superior Court opinion that Humane Society police Officer Shawn McMonigle, acting on an anonymous tip, went to Solomons Lycoming County home in March 2017.

The officer found the deceased and frozen body of a terrier-mix dog, lying in an outdoor chain link kennel with insufficient shelter, Musmanno wrote. The animal was extremely emaciated and no food was found in its kennel.

McMonigle later testified that Solomon, 50, told him he was waiting for the ground to thaw so he could bury the animal. A necropsy determined the dog died from starvation and exposure to the cold, Musmanno noted.

Solomon pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges in May 2018 but had no sentencing agreement. The jail term was imposed by county Judge Dudley N. Anderson two months later.

In denying Solomons appeal, Musmanno rejected his claim that Anderson didnt adequately explain how he weighed the factors in the case in determining the punishment. Musmanno noted Anderson voiced particular concern with the severity of the dogs mistreatment and Solomons lack of remorse.

We agree with (Andersons) analysis, Musmanno wrote. The state judge also cited McMonigles testimony that this was one of the worst animal cruelty cases he had ever seen.

Officer McMonigle stated that the dogs stomach and intestines were void of any food or waste, and the dogs body had no fat reserves remaining, Musmanno wrote. Pieces of wood were found between the dogs teeth and gums, evidencing the dogs attempt to consume the doghouse to stay alive.
Former Penn State President Graham Spaniers child endangerment case is not over.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Wednesday he does intend to appeal a U.S. Magistrate Judges ruling that overturned Spaniers 2017 conviction on child endangerment charges stemming from the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Shapiros prosecutors will seek a review of the decision by the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Shapiro, who has made the war against child sex abuse a signature issue through the last year, made clear that he is not about to let an institutional leader who he believes failed to act against a perpetrator walk free without a fight.

Graham Spanier, as President of Penn State University, was personally advised that children were being sexually abused on school property, Shapiro said in a statement released by his office.

Evidence proved he chose not to help the childrenbut instead to cover up the abuse, despite being well aware of his responsibility as a supervisor.

In a last-minute and highly unusual decision yesterday evening, a federal magistrate set Spanier free just before he was finally about to begin serving his deserved sentence. Federal courts have very limited power to act in state criminal proceedings, and this ruling plainly exceeded that power.

As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has made crystal clear, Spaniers conduct was illegal. The Office of Attorney General will quickly appeal this ruling to hold him accountable for his conduct covering up child sexual abuse. No one is above the law.

Spaniers attorneys could not be reached before publication of this report.

The charges against Spanier stem from top Penn State administrators decision to handle a 2001 sexual abuse allegation about football program fixture Sandusky internally, rather than take it to police or child welfare officials.

Spanier was convicted after a March 2017 trial in Dauphin County court.

Mehalchicks ruling spared Spanier from having to start serving a two-month sentence in the Centre County Correctional Facility starting today. The decision was cheered by his friends and supporters who have always maintained Spanier was guilty of nothing more than a bad decision on a tough issue.

But Shapiros pledge to fight on was similarly cheered by advocates for child sex abuse victims Wednesday.

He (Spanier) is the only person in this case who still has not been held accountable. Its just an affront to justice, in my opinion, said Jennifer Storm, the director of the states Office of Victim Advocate, who said she spoke to Shapiro about Spaniers case earlier Wednesday.

The Jerry Sandusky case is the single-most, highest-profile child sex abuse case in the country, and I dont know how you could walk away from this without a fight.

Shapiros office had three options after Mehalchicks decision:

Appeal her ruling.

Seek to re-try Spanier on the child endangerment count in Dauphin County.

Or concede defeat.

Legal and political observers had quickly come to believe that the last option, conceding, was unlikely for Shapiro, in part because stepping away from the Spanier case would look so incongruent with his recent crusade for expanded avenues of justice for clergy sex abuse victims.

But there are some practical considerations, too.

First of all, taking a direct appeal to the U.S. Third Circuit is an easier lift for Shapiros staff than going through a trial.

Its perfectly reasonable for a person who thought this was a legitimate conviction to try to have it reinstated, said Wesley Oliver, a professor at Duquesne University School of Law. Its a whole different question to devote the resources to a new trial.

At the same time, however, the direct appeal preserves that option for Shapiro down the road. In other words, if Mehalchicks ruling is affirmed by the higher court, the attorney general would still have his 90-day window to decide to re-try the case.
An organization that advocates for the disabled claims in a federal lawsuit that staff at Pennsylvanias youth development centers routinely physically abuse and intimidate their juvenile charges who have mental health and developmental issues.

Disability Rights Pennsylvania contends in the 125-page complaint that staffers are violating state Department of Human Services regulations by placing children in physical restraints without just cause.

Also, the nonprofit Philadelphia-based group accuses youth center staffers of impeding their investigation of the alleged abuses, and pressuring the young people housed in the facilities not to cooperate with the Disability Rights probe.

We are currently reviewing the complaint and are unable to comment further at this time, Department of Human Services spokeswoman Ali Fogarty said when contacted about the suit Wednesday.

The Disability Rights case, filed in U.S. Middle District Court in Harrisburg, targets that state agency and the Loysville Youth Development Center in Perry County, the North Central Secure Treatment Unit in Danville, and the South Mountain Secure Treatment Unit in Franklin County.

Residents of those centers range in age from 12 to 21 and are committed to the facilities by the courts after being adjudicated for crimes. Most of the children sent to the centers have developmental issues, Disability Rights contends.

It claims it has determined staff at the centers assault, provoke, terrify and humiliate youth with disabilities, stripping them of their right to rehabilitation.

This abuse occurs under the guise of necessary restraints, but in reality, as video footage of the incidents reveals, is physical and emotional abuse of these children, the suit states, Disability Rights contends staff provoke residents into misbehavior, then slap them in physical restraints, even though restraints are to be used only in extreme cases where the youths pose a danger to themselves or others.

Youths with disabilitieshave been injured by these actions, including cuts, bruises, sprains, black eyes, and for one child a punch so hard it fractured the orbital bone around his left eye, the suit states.

This hostile environment is particularly harmful to youth with disabilities, many of whom have diagnoses whose symptoms are exacerbated by it, Disability Rights claims. The suit outlines cases of 11 children, male and female, the agency insists have be subjected to abuse, both physical and verbal.

Also, Disability Rights accuses center staffers of interfering with its probe by intimidating and coercing several of the female youth with disabilities to decline to cooperate with the investigation.

Disability Rights is asking Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner to order a halt to the alleged violations.
Dogs and cats happily survive on three legs. Not horses. Their hooves play a role in circulation, complicating effects of leg injuries. Their top-heavy bodies need support from four sturdy legs.

Horses develop sores if they lie down for too long. And thoroughbreds are born to move and run. They cant be persuaded to take it easy to let a major leg injury heal.

Peak-form thoroughbreds weigh 1,100 pounds and can run 40 mph. Breakdowns often follow what jockeys call a bad step. When it happens at full speed, the resulting disruption of stride and shifting of weight often causes additional damage. One broken leg sometimes becomes two.

Kate Papp, a Dauphin County horse veterinarian and national voice on safe treatment of racehorses, has made decisions to euthanize injured horses. Breaks of certain bones, or compound fractures where bone tears through skin, cant be repaired. There is no choice but to end the horses suffering, she explains.

Still, horses capable of recovery are commonly put to death, she says. It usually boils down to economics, according to Papp, with the owner unwilling to bear the expense of surgery and continued cost of boarding.

Papp knows of horses that have recovered from breaks and even raced again, sometimes with screws in their bodies. But she also had a horse that received $25,000 worth of surgery but re-broke the leg during recovery and had to be killed.

She argues anyone who owns a race horse should be willing to spend what it costs to save a horse that can recover. Papp, in fact, founded an organization that cares for and finds new homes for horses that can no longer race. Bus some, including the influential Jockey Club, say the thoroughbred industry should contribute more toward after care of horses.

A dramatic but ultimately unsuccessful effort to save a horse involved Barbaro, which won the Kentucky Derby in 2006. Two weeks later, on national television, Barbaro broke three bones in his hind legs. The effort to save him involved suspending him in water. But after eight months, Barbaro was euthanized.

In 2008, a horse called Eight Belles broke both her ankles just after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby. Literally lacking a leg to stand on, Eight Belles was euthanized on the track.

In this May 3, 2008, file photo, track personnel try to hold down Eight Belles after the 134th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Eight Belles was euthanized after breaking both front ankles following a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/Brian Bohannon, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Those high-profile breakdowns threw a spotlight on fatalities. A period of debate and criticism followed -- similar to what has followed the Santa Anita breakdowns. The industry has long dreaded another death during a marquee event such as this weekends Kentucky Derby. Given the uproar over the Santa Anita deaths, that fear is surely stronger, and the stakes likely greater.

Maybe it would be a final nail in the coffin of a sport that has long been in decline due to assorted factors, including greater public concern for the well-being of animals. Or maybe it would provide the final push needed to get everyone behind a batch of proposed reforms.

The horse racing industry has always relied on the public forgetting about it after a while, says Kathy Guillermo, a senior vice president for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Pennsylvania State Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Dist. 12) is either climate illiterate or knowingly promoting dangerous lies about climate science.

On March 27, climate-change denialist Gregory Wrightstone, a paid consultant for the oil and gas industry and author of the pseudo-scientific, non-peer reviewed, self-published book, Inconvenient Facts: The Science Al Gore Doesnt Want You to Know (2017) testified before the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee at the invitation of Chair Metcalfe.

I first met Mr. Wrightstone in December 2017 when he gave a public lecture in downtown Lebanon. I was so taken aback by his absurd assertions about climate science and the purported benefits of pumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that I decided to use his 60 inconvenient facts as the basis for my students research papers in my First Year Experience (FYE) course at Lebanon Valley College.

The course is called People & the Planet. Some FYEs focus on polar explorers, others on race in the 21st century. Mine focuses on climate change. For all FYEs, the subject matter is secondary. The primary purpose of the course is to help students develop their fundamental intellectual skills  especially critical thinking, critical reading, effective written and oral expression, and information literacy

Outlandish, yes, but the books list of 60 inconvenient facts also seemed tailor-made for an exercise in information literacy.

In spring 2018, despite my express misgivings and at my students request, I invited Mr. Wrightstone to visit our class. After a lengthy email exchange, he declined. (In his written statement to Rep. Metcalfes committee, Wrightstone referenced a college professor who refused to let him speak to his class; if he was referring to me, he lied, as the archived email exchange shows.)

For two years running Ive used Wrightstones list of 60 inconvenient facts as the basis of students capstone 2,000-word (8-page) research papers in the second semester of my two-semester FYE. The main goal of the assignment is to sharpen students fundamental intellectual skills identified above, especially information literacy  a core goal of the FYE sequence. Information literacy refers to the capacity to critically evaluate information and assess its reliability  a vitally important skill in todays society.

For their research papers, students critically evaluate one or more of Wrightstones facts. They are not instructed to disprove his facts. Instead, their job is to critically evaluate his representation of those facts by considering the totality of what he says and does not say about them, and by comparing his findings to those of sources deemed reliable, i.e., peer-reviewed scientific studies in reputable journals and sources.

Last spring and again this spring, every student concluded his facts were inaccurate, distorted, misleading, biased, and/or lacking necessary context. Thats 32 serious research papers by 32 hardworking students.

His facts make for an excellent teaching tool, helping students see how propaganda and misrepresentation work in practice  the cherry-picking of evidence to conform to a preconceived, pre-packaged narrative in lieu of a genuine search for truth.

If first-year college students can learn to distinguish fact from fiction, real science from pseudo-science, youd think our state legislators could, too. Shame on Mr. Metcalfe. Theres too much at stake to take this kind of junk science seriously  like a habitable planet and the health and safety of all Pennsylvanians.

Metcalfes invitation means one of two things: a lack of basic skills in information literacy, or a way to spread lies about climate change on purpose, for crass political ends. The laws of physics dont care either way, but the citizens of Pennsylvania should.

Michael Schroeder is Associate Professor of History at Lebanon Valley College
Pushing the self-destruct button is the ultimate measure of last resort.

But thats how several Pennsylvania lawmakers are suggesting we fix the dysfunctional Harrisburg School Board.

An election that could oust most of the very school directors responsible for the districts troubles is less than a month away. ButDemocratic Representative Patty Kim, Republican Senator John DiSanto and Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse all say we shouldnt wait  The state should takeover the Harrisburg School District immediately.

This would effectively destroy all democratic government in a district located in the state capital.

While senators and representatives from all over the Commonwealth work to enact the will of their constituents from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, residents at city schools a few miles away would be robbed of their own voices.

Under state law, if the district were put into receivership, a court-appointed receiver would assume all the functions of a locally elected school board, except the power to raise and levy taxes. This appointee would effectively take charge of the districts personnel and finances.

Oversight and public input essentially would be repealed. The receiver could do whatever he or she liked and theres little anyone could do about it.

Its a bad idea anywhere, though one can understand why state lawmakers have suggested it here.

Harrisburg Schools are a mess, and its largely because of the inept leadership of Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney and five of the nine-member school board who consistently support her every move.

Declining academic performance, high teacher turnover rates, and poor fiscal management  all are hallmarks of the way Harrisburg schools have been run.

But the districts problems begin before the school board even enters into the picture.

Like nearly every urban district in the Commonwealth, Harrisburg has a history of being neglected and underfunded. One estimate puts the Harrisburg shortfall between $35 million and $38 million a year.

Thats why the district is already under a state-mandated recovery plan. It serves a poor community whose tax base simply cannot support the needs of its own children. Like other impoverished schools, the administration and board are required to work with a recovery officer.

This recovery plan has not miraculously fixed the districts problems. Its magical thinking to suppose that a court-appointed receiver would do any better.

If the state wants to help, it should provide equitable and sustainable funding. However, it is completely reasonable that state lawmakers wait until responsible adults have taken back the school board first.

A citizen-led school reform group called CATCH (Concerned About the Children of Harrisburg) has been pushing to oust the incumbents who have consistently supported the administrations disastrous decisions, most of whom are up for re-election.

There are nine board members. Five invariably vote with the administration: Danielle Robinson, Ellis Roy, Lola Lawson, Patricia Whitehead-Myers, and Lionel Gonzalez.

Three unfailingly vote against the administration: Brian Carter, Judd Pittman and Carrie Fowler. There is one wild card: Joseph Brown, who was just appointed to take a vacant seat on the board this month and has mostly abstained from voting.

Of these, Brown and all of those supporting the administration but Robinson are up for re-election.

To flip these seats on the board CATCH is pushing for Gerald Welch, Doug Thomson-Leader, Steven Williams, and Jayne Buchwach. The local teachers union, the Harrisburg Education Association (HEA), and the local chapter of The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) endorsed all of them and an additional one  James Thompson.

If even two of the newcomers are elected, that will shift the balance of power away from those who have enabled administration.

All of the reform candidates are Democrats so the matter could be settled by the May 21 primary.

It would be beyond absurd for the state to step in and deny the public the right to correct its own ship.

Yes, even if new candidates were elected, they couldnt be sworn in until December. So city schools would remain under the dysfunctional board for the foreseeable future.

Thats not good. However, the alternative of receivership is worse.

Once you take away a school districts right to govern itself, its hard to get it back again. Plus there is no guarantee that appointed bureaucrats will do a better job. In fact, they rarely do.

Education Secretary Pedro Rivera has remained silent on the issue of receivership.

Heres hoping that democracy is allowed to flourish in the capital of Pennsylvania.
Quiet for Pigeon, Loud for Boar, Shoulder-High for Rabbit

Story by Beebe Bahrami, Photos by Bahrami and Sarah Hoskin Clymer

In which the author discovers the perils, humor, and rewards of walking the Chemin de Saint-Jacques (Way of Saint James) in the French Pyrenees during hunting season.

My friend Sarah and I pushed open the heavy carved wooden door of our pilgrim lodging in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, returning from a festive dinner in the heart of the medieval riverside town to celebrate the start of our three-week pilgrimage through the Pyrenees and hills of southwestern France. The innkeeper appeared suddenly in the vestibule and pushed a phone into my hands.

"You speak Spanish, don't you?"

I took it hesitantly and placed the receiver to my ear. "Si?"

At the other end, a sigh of relief. It was a taxi driver. He was bringing two American pilgrims up from Pamplona and needed directions to the inn. It was on a circuitous path for a car but the natural place to arrive on foot. It was exactly where the Chemin de Saint-Jacquesthe Way of Saint Jamesentered this medieval town from starting points deeper in France, and continued from there to cross the Pyrenees into Spain. There, the trail became known as the Camino de Santiago. We stood on the threshold of shifting names and people, but Saint-Jean stood steady, welcoming them all for over a thousand years.

I did my best and luckily within a few minutes we heard the motor. The enthusiastic driver jumped out of the car to shake my hand nearly off its hinges as two very tired-looking men, a father and son, slipped out from the back seat. The two, we soon learned, were walking the Camino together, inspired by the movie, The Way, starring Martin Sheen.

"It was too weird not to," said the father. "My name is Tom, and my son's name is Daniel." I felt a twinge of weirdness creep along my spine. Those were the names of the characters in the movie, Tom and Daniel, father and son. But in the movie, the son was already deceased when the father took up walking this pilgrimage from here. I wasn't sure I wanted to know how this movie ended. I simply nodded.

"Are you two also walking The Way?" Tom asked me.

"We are," I said, "but we're walking the other way." He looked baffled. "We're walking the opposite direction," I clarified, "along one of the French pilgrim routes. We're taking a bridging route east through the Pyrenees from here and connecting to another pilgrim town, Oloron-Sainte-Marie. From there, we'll pick up the French route known as the Voie d'Arles, and head northeast toward Toulouse." Both Sarah and I had walked the Camino de Santiago many times and had wanted to try something different, heading into more remote territory.

The innkeeper had been listening to our exchange. "Pigeon hunting season has begun a bit early this year," he said. "Be careful."

Pigeon hunting? Sarah and I gave little thought to this. How could it affect our pilgrimage? But from Tom and Daniel's faces, it was clear that they also didn't want to know how our movie ended. We said goodnight.

Onto the Route of the Pilgrims

Early the next morning, Sarah and I slipped out onto the ancient path right outside the heavy wooden door and stepped into the mists that hung low in the valley, the smell of wood smoke and decaying autumn leaves lacing the air. We walked east and deeper into the Pyrenees and France as Tom and Daniel stepped south and over the mountains into Spain. Theirs would be one steep ascent and one murderous descent. Ours would be murderous ascents and descents all day, plus false turns, retraced steps, lost trails, walks into farmsteads, and careful stepping along narrow goat paths that formed skirt hem patterns along the sides of nearly vertical slopes above timberline. We saw no humans all day but on the mountaintops and slopes encountered self-herding sheep, horses, and goats, who looked at us as if we were lost or mad.

By late afternoon, deep in the folds of mountains and narrow hidden valleys, we stumbled half dead into the village where we planned to stay the night, fantasizing about the reward to come in a regionally celebrated rural inn that we had researched. It was known for its three-course meals with local wine and large roaring walk-in fireplace in the dining room, with warm and cozy rooms and beds to retire to on the floor above.

Having discovered inns like this along the trail in the planning stage, we had decided to leave our tent and sleeping mats at home and to enjoy these local delights offered to pilgrims wending their way through France. We stopped briefly in the ancient village church with a small stone vestibule and then in great anticipation made for the inn, our inn, next door.

The door was locked, its curtains drawn. Someone had taped a hastily written note to the glass. Fermee  chasse de palombe. Closed  pigeon hunt.

Merde.

Competing With Migrating Pigeons

The blood drained from my tired limbs. The sun disappeared behind the mountain. A chill set in. We considered our options. The next village with lodging and food was a day's walk away. We had apples, cheese, and half a baguette. This would get us through the night. We were now grateful that we'd kept our sleeping bags when we'd jettisoned the tent and mats. We settled on the stone church vestibule as our best bet for lodging and it was only then that it dawned on me that the innkeeper in Saint-Jean had intended to warn us about this scenario. Pigeons had unexpectedly begun migrating earlier than usual this year. A succulent bird coveted for delicious roasts, all bets were off, and owners of cafes, inns, restaurants, and pilgrim lodgings shut their businesses and disappeared into the woods. To think that I'd thought the danger was getting shot, not starving or freezing.

I soon learned that nearly two million pigeons made an annual passage over this part of the Pyrenees every autumn, heading for Morocco, the Canary Islands, or less ambitiously, over the mountains into southern Spain. I also soon learned that the pigeon hunt was a far older tradition than the 1,200-year-old pilgrimage route on which we walked. On top of all that, this was once an important male coming-of-age rite in the Atlantic Pyrenees, in addition to being an annual men's club: six to eight weeks of socially condoned bliss to run off into the woods and live in tree houses and drink and eat with only the good company of other men.

Apparently it was also a nice break for womenfolk, for they too disappeared.

Though hunting pigeons in the Pyrenees went back millennia, the method hunters used today was devised in the Middle Ages by monks in Roncesvalles, the Pyrenean pilgrim town par excellence in Spain on the other side of the mountains from us and where I imagined Tom and Daniel were snugly lodged and well fed after their hard day. The monks had observed that pigeons flying high overhead would suddenly make a fast vertical drop to the ground and fly low when pursued by a sparrow hawk, so they built watchtowers in the treetops. As soon as a sentinel up there saw the pigeons approaching, he would launch a clay disk to mimic a hawk, causing the birds to drop low into the forest. There, other monks lay in wait with nets spread on the forest floor that they pulled up to capture the birds.

Today's hunters communicated between treetop and ground with whistled signals and flags, and otherwise remained silent. The most experienced hunters were in the treetops, while the others waited with flags and nets on the ground. After each capture, they transferred the live birds to little thatch huts, re-set the nets, and returned to stillness and quiet.

So far, we had seen none of thisor been oblivious to what to look forbut pigeon hunting was making itself eminently known to us now. Resigned to our fate, we turned toward the church. As we did, we felt eyes upon us. We looked left and there a small woman in her eighties had appeared in her doorway, dressed from head to toe in blackshoes, socks, skirt, sweater, and shawl. She smiled kindly and gestured for us to approach.

"I've been expecting you," she said.

"You have?"

"Of course. It's the pigeon hunt and everyone is gone. I keep an eye out for pilgrims. I can offer you a place to sleep and eat."

Continue to Page 2
One year later, more than 129,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in region
Lance Bachmann, CEO of 1SEO.com, has built a $15 million company that had many doubters when the former AT&T executive started it 10 years ago. Read more

Lance Bachmann founded 1SEO.com 10 years ago to help businesses embrace digital marketing, then a little understood art of reaching customers over the internet.

Ironically, this digital guy who built a business around the complex process of internet search engine optimization has been employing an old-fashioned method to spread the word about his company: billboards. If you are an I-95 regular, youve seen Bachmanns face.

That may seem odd, but the 45-year-old Ivyland father of four has a good enough reason for doing it.

So many people bet against me," Bachmann told The Inquirer in an interview.

Evidently, the former AT&T vice president and founder of Yellowpages.com was on to something.

1SEO.com now has more than $10 million in revenue  plus $5 million more from an IT business it bought in 2017 that operates as 1SEO Tech. Together, the companies employ 130 people, 15 of whom are in the companys West Coast office in Salt Lake City. Its headquarters is 25,000 square feet of riverfront property in Bristol.

Today, Bachmann said, 1SEOs billboards are intended as a reminder that were local, as well as a thank you for the regions support.

But theyre about to change. A new name is planned  but has not yet been decided on  to reflect the evolution necessary in an industry that is far different than it was when Bachmann launched from 800 square feet in Southampton.

What is 1SEO today?

1SEO has become a full technology and advertising company, branding company. I wouldnt even consider us an SEO company anymore.

How has the digital marketing space changed in the last 10 years?

There are so many other platforms out there competing. At the core of SEO, links are still the No. 1 way of ranking being relevant for Google. But PPC [pay-per-click] has gotten way more advanced, Facebooks gotten way more advanced, Instagram. Targeting audiences has gotten way more granular. Cross-channel  people starting on mobile and finishing on desktop. Following the human behavior. Its just changed.

Whats a big growth oversight by companies?

They dont invest money to drive business to the front door.

Why is that?

I know people dont understand digital marketing. Ive been in a room with a lot of great, intelligent, successful business people that have built big companies and they dont understand it at all. To learn this complex space, they dont want to.

What are the common misconceptions about digital marketing?

No. 1, anyone with a laptop can be a digital marketer. My niece just graduated college from marketing and shes going to handle my multimillion dollar social media.

When youre on your phone, Facebooks free and Googles free to use. But that doesnt mean for you as a business owner that eyeballs to your business on those platforms is free.

I dont think a lot of people look at return on investment. They dont track things. You have all these ways to consume information now and how do you track all that if you dont have an expert showing you where to spend your money and what audiences to hit?

What are the most important digital marketing data to consider when assessing effectiveness?

Conversions and leads. Or people buying your product if youre in e-commerce. Thats the only thing that matters. Its great that your traffic increases, your audience increases, but if youre not getting leads, chats, people walking into your location if you have a retail location, emails, phone calls, and people buying your product on e-commerce, your digital marketing company is letting you down.

What is a reasonable ROI expectation for digital marketing?

For every dollar I invest, I want $10 back.

Whats the most important form of digital marketing to use?

It depends on what the clients needs are. Not that many people are going to look on YouTube to find a personal injury attorney.

What are the biggest mistakes companies make with digital marketing?

People dont have true mobile-friendly sites. Peoples sites are very slow still. People dont have their site architecture set up. People dont have reviews. Reviews are huge. Video is getting bigger and bigger. People dont do attribution modeling. Voice search [Siri, Alexa] is going to continue to grow. Most people are not set up for voice search yet.

And they dont use the data they have. Its all mathematics.

What is the most important thing a company should know about digital marketing?

It works  100 percent it works, if done correctly. Its going to be your best ROI besides a referral.
Thomas Jefferson University took a $125,000 donation for the Lambert Center for the Study of Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp from an aspiring marijuana grower. Read more

Australian philanthropist Barry Lambert and his wife Joy made a $3 million gift three years ago to establish the Lambert Center for the Study of Medicinal Cannabis and Hemp at Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

This week, the Lamberts donated an additional $2 million to Jefferson to develop medical uses for industrial hemp and its derivatives. The contribution will create the Lambert Innovation Fund within Jeffersons Innovation Pillar.

According to the university, the Innovation Pillar acts like a startup, encouraging the development of entrepreneurial ideas with the goal of converting them into commercial products and services.

Lambert, 73, founded Count Financial, Australias largest network of accounting-based advisory firms, which he sold in 2011 for more than $300 million. He now serves as CEO of Ecofibre, which grows thousands of acres of hemp in Kentucky.

The company also produces a line of CBD nutraceuticals under the Ananda brand, and is seeking to become one of the first producers of high-performance hemp-based textiles under its Hemp Black subsidiary, which has a partnership with Jeffersons East Falls campus.

For more cannabis and medical marijuana news visit Philly.com/cannabis.
Diana (left) and Maylia Widjojo of Hardena in South Philadelphia prep vegetables for the James Beard Awards dinner in New York. Read more

NEW YORK  Angelina Branca, who cooks for up to 50 people at a time at Sate Kampar, her Malaysian restaurant in South Philadelphia, walked into a banquet room at Pier 60 on the Hudson River on Friday afternoon.

Her eyes grew wide. Stretched out on rows of tables were 600 white rectangular plates.

Empty plates.

Each required a stick of chicken satay; a small portion of achat (a seasoned salad of carrots, cucumbers, and peanuts); and a square of otak-otak (a grilled fish cake). Letting out a mild whistle, she and a few helpers began plating.

The $500-a-plate dinner, a hundred miles from East Passyunk Avenue, was out of the ordinary for several reasons, aside from its sheer size. This was the James Beard Foundations annual Media Awards, and the guest list included hundreds of journalists, TV, radio, and web producers and personalities, and food and travel influencers from around the country. It also was part of a bold sponsorship move by Visit Philadelphia, the tourism-marketing agency.

Visit Philly had bought itself a place at the table, literally, in a first for a city tourism agency.

Where else can we get as many editors and [influential] people in one place? asked Jeff Guaracino, Visit Philly president and chief executive. The strategy: Expose Philadelphia restaurants to the national media, which will in turn visit Philadelphia and generate publicity.

We wanted to make a statement, Guaracino said, adding that he was not contractually able to disclose the finances, only to say, It is worth it. He said it was much less expensive than piggybacking onto the bigger events, such as the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, whose direct and indirect costs can hit six figures.

Guaracino also had a chance to share the stage for a few minutes with event host Tyra Banks and to pitch the attendees himself.

The Beard Foundation, a national nonprofit focused on advancing the culinary arts, has had Philadelphia on its radar for several years. Last year, it traveled from Manhattan to Philadelphia to announce the finalists for its vaunted restaurant awards  considered the Oscars of the food world. The year before, Philadelphians had scored a rare hat trick: Stephen Starr won for restaurateur of the year, Michael Solomonov for chef of the year, and Greg Vernick for best chef in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The Beards 2019 restaurant awards will be presented Monday in Chicago. Philadelphia is represented by Marc Vetri, who is up for outstanding chef; Zahav, up for outstanding restaurant; Ellen Yin (Fork, High Street on Market, and High Street on Hudson) for outstanding restaurateur; Jesse Ito (Royal Izakaya) for rising-star chef of the year; and Rich Landau (Vedge) and Cristina Martinez (South Philly Barbacoa) for best chef/Mid-Atlantic.

Besides Branca at Sate Kampar, Visit Philly enlisted several previous Beard semifinalists. The Widjojo family, who own Hardena, an Indonesian restaurant in South Philadelphia, and Yin and Roberto Sella at High Street on Market in Old City were drafted to cook the dinner. Tova Du Plessis of Essen Bakery in South Philadelphia, Kate Jacoby of Vedge in Center City, and Robert Toland of Terrain Cafe in Glen Mills and Devon were recruited for the dessert reception. Pier 60s staff was responsible for the hors doeuvres.

Visit Philly paid for the Philadelphians ingredients and the rental of a refrigerated truck that picked up the prepped food in the Philadelphia kitchens and brought everything to Manhattan.

The New York dinner kept the chefs in their home kitchens for nearly a week as they prepped. Branca grilled 100 pounds of chicken over her signature grill, which burns coconut shells to impart a unique taste. We all felt so proud, Branca said later, after Guaracino led the chefs up to the stage to accept applause.

The afternoon in Pier 60s vast kitchen had a social aspect. Diana and Maylia Widjojo, who run the day to day at Hardena, brought along their sister Stephanie and their parents, Harry and Ena. All worked together to create udang balado, a single grilled shrimp with a sweet-and-savory red pepper sauce, coconut milk rice, and spiced coconut salad.

A few feet away, Toland was finishing a chocolate terrarium with chef Ryan Bloome while chef Eli Kulp was consulting with High Street on Market chef Andrew Farley about the lamb riblettes, which were served with pickles, horseradish, rye, and mustard alongside a pretzel bread that said, Philly. Farley brought along chef Eli Collins to help. The High Street crew is accustomed to larger events. We do these maybe once a year, Collins said. You get ready, you get set up [in an unfamiliar kitchen], and you try to cook your way out of it.
Grilled branzino at Savona, one of the restaurants that participated in restaurant week. Read more

King of Prussia restaurants and stores raised more than $54,000 for the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia during the districts restaurant and retail week in March, organizers said this week  more than twice the amount collected last year.

The event, held annually since 2014, was organized to support CHOPs King of Prussia Specialty Care & Surgery Center. It is hosted by the King of Prussia District.

From March 11 to 17, 44 KOP restaurants including the Bonefish Grill, Revolution Chop House and Founding Farmers offered prix fixe menus and donated a portion of proceeds to CHOPs KOP location. Twenty-nine local shops also donated a portion of their proceeds. The week included special events at participating restaurants and retailers, like a fashion pop-up and a talk on how runners can prevent injuries.

Local officials and CHOP representatives will celebrate at a check presentation ceremony to be held at 2 p.m. May 7 at the Savor Food Court in the King of Prussia Mall.

Their generous contributions throughout the past five years have allowed us to continue providing exceptional care to the children of this community, and we look forward to our partnership in the years to come, Claire Bowers, site manager for CHOPs KOP location, said in a statement.
Elenilza Souza, right, with her husband, Taylor Tritten, left, who, because she is pregnant, was unable to have surgery to fix a faulty mitral valve in her heart. Instead, doctors at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center inserted a new valve with a catheter. Read more

Physicians performed open-heart surgery on Elenilza Souza in her native Brazil when she was just 18 years old, replacing a faulty valve that had left her gasping for breath after the slightest exertion.

The fix worked for a while, but at age 25, by then living in Mount Laurel, she felt the dreaded symptoms again. One time, when she went to the gym with husband Taylor Tritten, she had to quit after just a few leg lifts.

Specialists at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden told her they could replace the faulty valve yet again. But given her young age and recent marriage, they asked a key question: Was she pregnant?

Unbeknownst to Souza, she was.

What followed, according to her physicians, was a medical first.

The valve that needed replacing was Souzas mitral valve, a vital gateway that directs oxygenated blood into the left ventricle before it is pumped out to the body. Lourdes physicians told her they could replace it with a newer technique that avoided the rigors of surgery, using a catheter to insert the new valve.

But when Souza called two to three weeks later with the news that she was nine weeks along, the question of timing became crucial.

The valve procedure, though not surgery, still would mean exposure to anesthesia and radiation. The team needed to wait until the fetal organs had developed.

Yet the doctors could not wait too long, as Souzas body would be producing more blood with every month to cope with the growing demands of pregnancy. Without a new valve to handle the increased flow, the lives of the fetus and mother would be at risk, said Arthur Martella, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Lourdes.

By the time you get to that third trimester, she would be in heart failure, he said.

After consulting specialists in maternal and fetal medicine, Martella and colleague Ibrahim Moussa told Souza that the best window for her procedure was the 16th week of pregnancy.

No other pregnant woman had undergone the procedure, as far as they knew after consulting the medical literature and the company that made the valve. But the device, approved less than two years ago for use in the mitral opening, had worked well in most other patients who were ineligible for surgery. It seemed like her best option.

On April 16, the team inserted a catheter into a vein in Souzas groin, snaking the slender instrument up into her heart. To reach the opening where the new valve would be placed, they first needed to poke a hole through the atrial septum, a wall between two chambers of the heart.

Then came another twist. Because of Souzas open-heart surgery seven years earlier, her septum was tough and scarred.

Try as they might, they could not get through.

Untreated infection

At first, it felt like a bad sore throat.

Souza was 9 years old, growing up on a farm outside Sao Paulo, and her parents gave her lots of soothing hot tea.

But after a week or two, her illness got worse. She started to feel pain in her joints, and eventually, her hands began to twitch.

Untreated with antibiotics, her strep-like infection had developed into rheumatic fever. The disease is rare in the United States because strep infections tend to be diagnosed and treated promptly, but it remains common in some developing nations. She went to one hospital, then another, finally getting the right diagnosis and treatment with penicillin  but the damage to her heart was done.

Doctors told her she would likely need valve-replacement surgery someday, and, sure enough, that happened when she turned 18.

The surgery helped, and in 2017 Souza moved to the United States to work as an au pair, taking care of a young couples children. She started going to the gym.

I worked out so I could be in good shape, to keep moving with the kids, she said, often exercising with Tritten.

But by the time the two were married last December, she felt increasingly fatigued. Her replacement mitral valve, which was expected to last at least a decade, had started to fail.

Ordinarily, when the leaflets in the mitral valve fold open to allow the flow of blood with each heartbeat, the opening is the size of a silver dollar, said Moussa, medical director of the structural heart program at Lourdes. In Souzas case, the leaflets in her replacement valve had become calcified and stuck together. The opening had shrunk to the size of a dime.

The new valve that they planned to insert, made by Edwards Lifesciences of Irvine, Calif., was designed to replace a different structure in the heart called the aortic valve.

Still, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows the similar-sized aortic device to be used in the mitral opening so long as two conditions are met. First, the patient must previously have undergone a surgical valve replacement, providing a sort of anchor so that physicians can wedge the new valve easily inside the old one. Second, the patient must be at high risk for undergoing a second valve replacement through traditional surgery.

Souza fit both descriptions. Inserting a new valve with a catheter, her physicians agreed, was the way to go.

There was pushback at first from Souzas health insurance, which she gets through her husband, who serves in the Air Force. But once Lourdes physicians called to explain that she had no other good options, the insurer gave the go-ahead.

Through the rib cage

On the day of the procedure, when the physicians were unable to poke through her septum to deliver the new valve, it was not entirely a surprise. Having looked at her heart in advance with a type of ultrasound, doctors could tell that the wall between the chambers might be scarred.

So they were prepared for Option B: cutting through her rib cage to implant the valve in her heart from the other direction. And if for some reason that didnt work, there was still the option of open-heart surgery, though that would endanger the fetus.

Moussa and Martella met multiple times in advance with colleagues who had expertise in pharmacy, anesthesia, maternal fetal medicine, and cardiology.

I wanted everybody to think about the worst-case scenario," Moussa said. "We had her ready for Plan A and Plan B and Plan C in case things didnt work out.
Bela Shehu, owner and creative designer of NINObrand, poses with her fashions at Private School: a retail event that Shehu launched on April 25, 2019. The month long pop up in Spring Arts will feature over eighty artists. (RACHEL WISNIEWSKI / For the Inquirer) Read more

Weve heard it all before: Brick and mortar is dying. Wed rather shop at Amazon while we watch Netflix.

But the truth is, it really isnt.

Standalone stores may be losing some of their permanence, but theyre trading on a new form of malleability.

Enter Bela Shehu, owner and founder of the airy yet edgy mostly womens wear company NINOBrand. She is also arguably the coolest woman in Philadelphia. Last week, Shehu launched Private School 101, a unique marketplace on the eastern edge of the Fairmount section of the city that brings Philly fashion, entrepreneurs, artists, and chefs under one eclectic and cavernous roof. It will run through May 23.

Some of the entrepreneurs Shehu has recruited  like BusStop Boutique  have actual specialty stores, but a lot of the makers  like Jovan OConnor  are young business owners whose customer bases mostly follow them on Instagram. In this space, which Shehu based on the original Dover Street Market in London, the citys burgeoning fashion industry has a chance to mingle together and see customers in real life.

Private School is a cultural event, Shehu said hours before the kickoff party last week. Shes calling it a retail experiment. Its not just a marketplace. Its an energetic space for makers and curators. This is where the curious mind can go and discover [whats new] in food, product design, and music.

The appeal of a place like Dover Street is that it offers uber-high-end fashion brands that still have an indie flavor, such as Vetements, Sacai, and Thom Browne. Though Private School has the potential to be that kind of place, the price points are more reasonable and the actual designers and vendors are often on hand to chat with you while you shop and possibly even make a deal with you.

Private School isnt the only indication that brick-and-mortar retail is evolving into something new and less permanent. A combination of rising real estate costs and our lack of shopping is making retailers big and small rethink how they present their merchandise. After more than 50 years with a downtown location, Knit Wit owner Ann Gitter has all but abandoned setting up shop in a permanent Center City location and now hosts quarterly pop-ups in in Rittenhouse Square. The next is scheduled for September.

Its not just small business owners: Last month, Macys introduced Story to its department stores across the country, including in Center City. Story, founded in 2011 by brand consultant turned entrepreneur Rachel Shechtman, invited shoppers to an always-changing installation that feels more like a museum than racks on a sales floor. In that way, Shechtman introduced new brands, too. People came back because they werent getting just new products, but a new experience. She sold the concept to Macys last year. This month for Macys first Story exhibit, which will be the same in every participating store, it teamed with the color experts at brands we know like MAC cosmetics and Crayola to sell brands we dont know as well, like Julie Mollos rock-and-roll vinyl clutches and supercharged soaps from Barr-co. (When a unique experience is in every Macys, can we still call it unique?)

These kinds of shopping experiences, said NPD industry analyst Beth Goldstein, are popping up in smaller cities all over as a solution to the brick-and-mortar dilemma.

Its about elevating the experience for shoppers who, because of customer service and the glut of the same stuff, arent really enjoying shopping anymore, Goldstein said. These kinds of retail experiences are trying to bring people back to what they loved about shopping  the customization, the personal service.

Theres an added benefit for vendors, too. Shehu said she also wanted to give young makers a chance to connect to customers in person with whom they ordinarily engage only through social media.

These kids have a market, they have a following, and they make a good product, Shehu says. Private School helps them expand.

By marrying the entitled highbrow vibe of a prep school with the inherent coolness that comes with being connected to underground music, fashion, and art, Shehu says she hopes the more than 60 brands shes assembled  from established jeweler John Wind to newer ones like Forge + Finish  will form relationships that could evolve into business and personal liaisons. Think post-prep school graduation friendships.

Private School is a well-thought out concept, right down to the bleachers at the center of the 6,000-plus-square-foot space. Visitors are urged to make appointments if they want to visit the space during daytime hours. In the evenings, however, there will be ticketed events, including a fashion presentation Thursday night with specialty cocktails and hors doeuvres from local chefs.

Shehu also plans to host events with private school themes like a Too Cool for School picture day scheduled for Sunday, May 5. A high tea organized for Private School patrons will be held Tuesday, May 7. If Shehu is able to host additional Private School marketplaces throughout the year, she might just publish a yearbook at the end of 2019.

Everything is on the table, Shehu said with an uncharacteristic giddiness. Perhaps we will even have a prom.

Private School, at 448 N. 10th St., will run through May 23. Daytime hours are by appointment only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets for evening events can be purchased in advance on the Instagram page www.instagram.com/privateschoolexperiment/ For more information, go to privateschool.club/
David Goldstein, Harriet Go, and Simon Bonenfant feel the hieroglyphics etched into a sarcophagus at Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Read more

Harriet Gos small, delicate fingers touched the ancient statue and traced the symbols carved into it. Simon Bonenfants teenage hand did likewise. And while his wife, Elizabeth, held his cane, David Goldstein followed suit.

The three members of the National Federation of the Blind were at the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on a recent Saturday afternoon, letting their fingers see the artifacts housed in the Egyptian Gallery.

After sanitizing their hands, they were allowed to do something most museum visitors would be reprimanded for: They ran them over the enormous feet of a 3,300-year-old statue of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. Then they were handed a much smaller replica of the 8-foot-tall statue, to feel its head and body.

The visit was coordinated by Philly Touch Tours, which provides guided tours of museums and cultural attractions for people who are blind or have visual impairments. Since it was launched in 2014, the Old City-based outfit has led hundreds of adults and children on tours of beloved area attractions: the tangle of vendors and pedestrians in the Italian Market; the brightly colored blooms of the Philadelphia Flower Show; the topsy-turvy curves of Malverns Wharton Esherick Museum; and the rolling woods of Wissahickon and Cobbs Creek nature centers.

Touch is the mother of our senses, said Trish Maunder, creative director of Philly Touch Tours. An art educator, Maunder developed ways to help her own blind daughter, Katie, now 33, experience art and culture. When Penn Museum officials learned of her expertise in 2012, they asked for her input in helping those with sight disabilities take tours of the museum.

That led her to start Philly Touch Tours, which has ventured outside the Delaware Valley  leading tours in New York, New Jersey, and Hershey. In the five years since its founding, the small operation has expanded its work to training educators and curators, even giving demonstrations to visiting students from China.

When people sign up for a Touch Tour, they are asked: How do you see? What is your field of vision? And  in phrasing as polite as possible  would you like a guide? (As Go, president of the Federation of the Blinds Keystone Chapter, is quick to note, Independence is one of the skills we pride ourselves on.)

Tour groups can include people with a wide variety of disabilities, from those who are totally blind to those with low vision who may need higher-contrast lighting to accommodate their needs.

Adapting a standard tour to a Touch Tour requires flexibility on the part of the host. In the Italian Market, the groups smell and taste cheeses at Di Bruno Brothers and sample products at Cardenas Oil & Vinegar Taproom; they taste and feel various fruits and vegetables and learn how different pastas are made. But some experiences are less tactile than others. In those cases, informational texts are provided in Braille or large-font type, or docents describe artwork and the choices involved in creating them.

As at the Penn Museum, special access is often part of the deal. The Mutter Museum has also allowed Touch Tour visitors to handle some of its artifacts, such as old medical instruments and a Civil War-era prosthetic leg. And when an object is off-limits, the Mutter has instead made replicas.

For each tour, the Touch Tours team works with curators or managers to figure out how best to adapt their attractions for those who cannot see them clearly.

Program director Katherine Allen has a visual impairment herself. While working as an art director in New York, she suddenly developed a type of macular degeneration. I was hiding it. Afraid Id lose my job, she said. I wouldnt ask people for help. I would trip a lot.

During a visit to Philadelphia, Allen met up with a social group for those with visual impairments and learned about Touch Tours. Now she works as the organizations logistical coordinator, bringing insight from her own vision loss.

Maunder also checks out the logistics of the tours, with a careful eye toward safety. On the recent visit to the Penn Museum  which hosts up to 10 Touch Tours a year  the three participants all navigated with canes. Maunder told them how to maneuver through hallways, past potted plants and a water fountain, to the cavernous Egyptian Gallery; they could immediately sense it was a much larger, taller space using their sense of echo location, said Ron Bonenfant, who accompanied his son Simon on the tour.

Touch Tour-trained docents Carl Adamczyk and Gene Magee showed the visitors how to trace the hieroglyphics on the Ramses II statue. As Adamczyk explained their meaning, Magee said he, too, enjoys when the visually impaired come for a visit  giving him a chance to touch the statues, as well.

I love it, Magee said. You really learn about the object more thoroughly with your touch.

Go could sense the differences in the stones used to make the artifacts. It doesnt feel as cold, she said, touching a second statue. Then she recognized some of the same hieroglyphics on one statue as on another. Im reading Egyptian! she exclaimed.

Goldstein felt a depiction of the goddess Nut, arms upraised, on the inside of a sarcophagus lid. Shes doing yoga, he joked.

As Go guided Simons hand to a particular hieroglyphic, Maunder pointed out that those with visual problems develop very lovely  closer communication because they need to use their sense of touch so much.

When the tour wrapped up at the Penn Museum, Goldstein said he appreciated the opportunity to touch the artifacts that were thousands of years old. I really enjoyed it, he said. Having someone describe what it is is not the same.

To book a Philly Touch Tour, call 609-760-8223 or visit phillytouchtours.com.
Pennsylvania native Arlene D. Mama Arlene Brown with some of the children housed and schooled at UrukundoVillage, an independent home for children about an hour outside Kigali, Rwanda, created and funded through Williamsport, Pa.-based nonprofit Hope Made Real and founded by Brown. (Diane Mastrull / Staff) Read more

Feisty and 88, Arlene Brown doesnt let herself get bossed around. But when the Rwandan government started closing orphanages, even she  whose Urukundo Village had become one of the most celebrated homes for children in the East African country since Brown opened it in 2006  had to oblige.

And refocus.

So, four years after The Inquirer first told the story of this age-defying Pennsylvania native unwilling to sit back and rot" in retirement, Brown is doubling down to remain relevant and impactful.

Until the Lord calls me home, there is no end," she said recently, back in the United States to see family and fund-raise. "And Im not in any hurry for that because Ive got a lot of work yet to do.

Brown abides the Lord, the force that first drew her to Africa, in 1996. Then 65, she had prayed in her Williamsport home for something more purposeful than the traveling she had been doing since retiring from GTE Sylvania after 20 years as a supervisor of circuit board production. The next morning, she read about a mission trip to Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo, to work in a refugee camp not far from the Rwanda border. Volunteers were needed to help with children who had lost parents in the horrifying 1994 genocide that claimed about 800,000 lives.

Brown, a former nurse who had done some of her training at St. Christophers Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, joined the mission and was deeply moved by the experience. She would make two more mission trips to Rwanda before deciding to sell her home and most of her belongings to relocate more than 7,000 miles away to care for that countrys orphans. She bought a house and nearly 10 acres on a mountainside about an hours ride from the Rwandan capital of Kigali, taking in the first children in 2006  when she was 75.

She named her village Urukundo, which means love in the native language of Kinyarwanda. The children affectionately dubbed her Mama Arlene.

When I visited Urukundo in 2015, it was home to 54 children, ages 8 months to 21 years, and included classrooms for preschool through third grade; a library; an arts center; a farm; a dental clinic; and a sewing center, to teach a trade. At the time, the government had started pushing for closure of orphanages, preferring to place children in private homes, hopefully with relatives.

For five years we have been fighting to keep our kids, and this past year the government reached us, Mama Arlene said last month during a trip back to Pennsylvania, where she gave several public talks (including one at The Inquirer) about her extraordinary work.

As orphanages have emptied across Rwanda (just nine children now live at Urukundo), Brown has regrouped by expanding Urukundos school, adding classrooms through grade 6 to serve more of the surrounding impoverished community of Muhanga. Current enrollment is 875.

Pennsylvanians have had a big hand in that growth through Hope Made Real, a nonprofit based in Williamsport (and chaired by Browns son Jerry) that accepts donations. These days, Browns priority is raising $300,000 for more classrooms. Her dream is to one day build a secondary school, which is currently an educational option for only the fraction of Rwandans who can afford boarding school.

Urukundo employs nearly 90 local residents and has started to generate income through farming, the dental clinic, the school, and by renting out its facilities for weddings.

Through love and a great education, she is raising the next generation of Rwandan leaders who will carry their country forward in new, exciting ways, said daughter Patricia Brown, a hospice bereavement manager in Pittsburgh and one of Mama Arlenes five children. (She also has 17 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.) Of course we miss her. But I now think of her more as an older sister who is off on her own adventure.

Uwonkunda Divine is among the many who have benefited. She was 11 when Mama Arlene took her in. At 23, she is a university graduate, her schooling funded by donations to Hope Made Real (to which I have contributed). Divine aspires to attend flight school to become a pilot.

Mama Arlene saved my life, she said in an email from Kigali. She gave me an incredible home, a purpose and an amazing future to look forward to. She is my hero!

To help, go to https://hopemadereal.org
In this July 31, 2005 file photo, Boy Scouts salute as they recite the Pledge of Allegiance during the Boy Scout Jamboree in Bowling Green, Va. ( Read more

A South Jersey man who alleges that he was molested by a former Boy Scout leader has filed a lawsuit seeking to force the organization to release its perversion file of volunteers banned because of suspected sexual abuse of young boys.

During an emotional news conference Tuesday at a law office in Newark, N.J., with a team of lawyers, Richard Halvorson, 47, a former Atlantic City police officer, said he was 11 when he was sexually abused in 1982 by his troop leader, Angelo Dellomo. Halvorson said he was forced to perform sexually explicit acts to earn a physical fitness badge.

Halvorson said he never talked about the abuse until 2013, when he told his mother. Halvorson said he consulted a lawyer and authorities the following year but was told charges could not be filed because the statute of limitations had expired.

I stayed silent about it for a long time, Halvorson said. No more, no more. Everybody is going to hear it.

The Inquirer is releasing Dellomos name because he was named in the lawsuit and Boy Scout records confirm the allegations. Paul Ernst, director of registration services for the Scouts, said in papers included Dellomo was confronted about the allegations in the late 80s and never challenged our suspicion.

A lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court in Atlantic County seeks to force the Boy Scouts of America to release every name on its perversion files, said lawyer Jeff Anderson. It accuses the organization and the local scout chapter of conspiracy and nuisance.

Nuisance sounds like it is minor, Anderson said. But it really is a major cover-up of the perversion files, the Ineligible Volunteer files that the Boy Scouts of America have kept and a concealment of the practices that they have employed in the past.

The 22-page lawsuit doesnt seek any damages, but rather a court order to require the Boy Scouts to come clean about that past and release all the perversion files and the identities of the offenders in New Jersey and across the country, Anderson said.

In a statement Tuesday, the Boy Scouts of America apologized to Halvorson and said it was notified about an abuse allegation against Dellomo in late 1986 and suspended him indefinitely. The allegation was reported to authorities and Dellomo was never reinstated in scouting, the organization said.

We care deeply about all victims of abuse and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. Nothing is more important than the safety and protection of children in Scouting, and we are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to abuse innocent children, the statement said.

Anderson also disclosed Tuesday that Dellomo may have worked for another youth group, the Boy Pioneers of America in Atlantic City. Dellomo also was a teacher in Egg Harbor Township and retired in 2009 with a pension of $76,880, records show. There was no response to a message left at the district office.

Dellomo could not be reached for comment. According to Boy Scout records released by Anderson, Dellomo is 58 and lived in Mays Landing when he was a troop leader.

Dellomo was among 52 former New Jersey scout leaders who allegedly sexually abused young boys and were included in the organizations nationwide list of thousands of those identified in the Ineligible Volunteer Files, Anderson said. The files include the names of 7,819 people who the Boy Scouts believe were involved in sexually abusing a child, he said.

Anderson last week disclosed the names of the former New Jersey leaders and 130 from New York. Because of the lack of details surrounding the cases, The Inquirer is not disclosing the other names. It was unclear whether authorities had investigated or prosecuted any or all of those identified.

The Irving, Texas-based Boy Scouts has acknowledged keeping a list of thousands of leaders who were suspected of preying on young boys and were kicked out of scouting for nearly a century, but has said it would not release their names.

Scout officials say they have developed a safety and protection system that includes the Ineligible Volunteers Files list, which has kept leaders removed because of suspected child abuse from returning to scouting.

Anderson contends that the scouts have not disclosed the scope of the allegations beyond those on the list and that there are more cases than have been made public. His law firm used publicly available documents, such as lawsuits and legal settlements, to compile the list he released.

It is believed that there are more than 12,000 victims nationwide, according to a child sex abuse expert hired by the Boy Scouts to review its files from 1944 to 2016. It is not known how many victims are from New Jersey.

According to Anderson, scout officials placed Dellomo in the file in 1987 but failed to report to authorities similar allegations by two other parents who said their sons were sexually abused. There was also a reference to a third incident in the files, he said. Dellomo was a leader in Troop 6 in Atlantic City.

How many Richards are there out there? If there are 52 credibly accused individuals throughout the state who have abused within the Boy Scouts, then there are hundreds, if not thousands, of young boys who were sexually abused within this great state, said Greg Gianforcaro, another lawyer involved in the case.

Halvorson read the file Tuesday on his former scout leader, whom he called Mr. D. According to a 1987 Boy Scouts record released by Anderson, Dellomo was suspended or denied registration as a scout leader for scouts performing unusual (nude) physical fitness exercises for skill award."

It got me mad, he said.

In a 1986 letter in Dellomos file, several parents expressed concern that he required boys completing the Tenderfoot rank to go into a mirrored bathroom one at a time, undress, put on blindfolds, spread their legs and twist from side to side. Later, once clothed, two of the boys held down a third child while Dellomo gave a beard rub on the stomach and feet, the letter said.

Halvorson could have filed his lawsuit as a John Doe, often used in sexual abuse cases, but he said he wanted to encourage other victims and anyone who has information about other incidents to come forward. He said he also came forward because he is expecting a son in six weeks and wants to make sure nothing similar happens to him when he gets older.

The secrets out. Everybody needs to know, Halvorson said. This is going to help past victims to come forward. You can do it. Youre strong enough.

Halvorson, a former police sergeant who joined the force in 1994, is the stepson of former Atlantic City Mayor and state Sen. James Whelan, who died in 2017. In 2013, Halvorson pleaded guilty to using cocaine on duty and left the force. He was sentenced to probation and barred from future public employment.

Anderson also identified more than a dozen former South Jersey Scout troop leaders from Atlantic City, Berlin, Cherry Hill, Collingswood, Egg Harbor, Hammonton, McGuire Air Force Base, Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, Rancocas Woods, Runnemede, West Berlin, and Woodlynne who were named on the perversion list.

It was unclear whether authorities in those areas had investigated any of the alleged perpetrators.

Staff writer Robert Moran contributed to this article.
Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they will not retry former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah on bribery charges in the wake of an appeals court ruling last year that overturned some of the convictions in his case.

But the governments decision doesnt mean the former Democratic congressman will be getting out of prison any sooner.

Fattah, 62, is serving multiple decade-long sentences for additional crimes that include stealing federal grant funds, charitable donations, and campaign cash to pay off his personal and political debts.

The government believes that, under these circumstances, where defendant Fattah is already serving multiple concurrent 10-year prison terms  it is in the interests of justice to dismiss [the bribery counts] of the indictment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric L. Gibson wrote in a motion filed Wednesday in federal court in Philadelphia.

Fattah faces resentencing in July as a result of the 2018 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, but it is likely to be a formality.

His sentence was one of the longest imposed on a member of Congress for corruption-related federal crimes. And in crafting it in 2016, U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III gave the congressman 17 decade-long sentences  each tied to a specific charge on which he had been convicted and all set to run concurrently.

Although the appellate court threw out the four bribery convictions last year, the remaining 13  and their punishments  still stand.

At the same time, the Third Circuit judges reinstated convictions on two counts that Bartle himself had previously tossed  both tied to the congressmans efforts to hide an alleged $18,000 bribe by forging documents and disguising it as proceeds from the fake sale of a Porsche convertible belonging to his wife, former NBC10 anchor Renee Chenault Fattah.

In their ruling, the appellate judges described the evidence that Fattah had accepted bribes as overwhelming, but ruled the instructions Bartle gave the jury on how to decide the case did not comply with new standards the U.S. Supreme Court set just days after the verdict in the congressmans case.

Prosecutors had alleged that Fattah had accepted a string of gifts from wealthy benefactor Herbert Vederman, including cash payments to the congressmans children, college tuition for his South African au pair, and $18,000 to help with the purchase of a Poconos vacation home.

In exchange, Fattah gave Vedermans girlfriend a job in his district office and lobbied other government officials  including then-President Barack Obama and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.)  in a failed attempt to land Vederman a job as a foreign ambassador.

The appeals court also threw out Vedermans bribery convictions last year. The government has signaled its intent to retry him at proceedings scheduled to begin in September.

Fattah was first elected in 1994 to represent a district that encompassed parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County. In his 21 years in Congress, he held several high-level positions, including a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

He lost a primary reelection bid to his successor, then-State Rep. Dwight Evans, just before the start of his trial and resigned his seat under pressure from House colleagues shortly after his 2016 conviction.

He is set to be released from the McKean County, Pa., federal detention center in 2025.
State Rep Elizabeth Fiedler announces her "Fair Workweek" scheduling for retail and fast-food workers, which she plans to introduce this week. Read more

Five months after Philadelphia passed a Fair Workweek law regulating how employers schedule fast-food, hotel, and retail workers, State Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler wants to make it happen statewide.

Championed by labor groups and progressive politicians around the country as a way to fight poverty, the fair workweek laws aim to provide more predictability in work hours and paychecks for low-wage workers. They generally require large employers to provide schedules two weeks in advance and pay workers predictability pay if they change schedules after the fact.

Municipal Fair Workweek laws have passed in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, and Washington, D.C., with Los Angeles and Chicago considering one right now. Oregon is the only state to pass the legislation statewide. Maine is also considering a version of the law.

Large employers, industry associations, and chambers of commerce have generally opposed the regulations, saying a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for business. Some say they dont engage in unfair scheduling practices and shouldnt be penalized for companies that do. Others say that these regulations  on top of other worker-protection laws, such as paid sick leave and minimum wage  will force employers to cut jobs.

Fiedlers chief of staff, Katie Longo, said the first-term legislator intends to introduce the measure this week in Harrisburg.

Education and enforcement of the law would be the next step in the battle if the measure passes: Local advocates are currently lobbying City Council and Mayor Kenney to strengthen the citys enforcement office, especially as more worker-protection laws are considered.

The text of Fiedlers bill was not immediately available. Its not clear how many workers the bill would affect.

In Philadelphia, after a year of campaigning by labor group One Pennsylvania and a coalition of other worker organizations, including unions, its fair workweek law passed 14-3  all under a specter of Harrisburg debating a preemption bill that would bar the city from implementing workplace laws. That bill is under consideration of the Labor Committee.

The bill has 48 co-sponsors, Longo said. Yet it will likely face opposition in Harrisburg with a GOP-led legislature.

>> READ MORE: The left-wing uprising that led to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs victory in N.Y.? It happened first in Pa.

At the news conference Fiedler (D.-Phila.) held Tuesday morning, which featured politicians and labor leaders but no workers who would be affected by the bill, she said that Fair Workweek legislation was part of a broader progressive agenda in which she planned to advocate, including progressive taxation, a higher minimum wage, and schools that are fully and fairly funded.

Asked about the likelihood of the bill passing, Fiedler, a former WHYY journalist who ran as a Democratic Socialist, said it was important even just to raise issues such as scheduling for low-wage workers.

If were not talking about it ... then were most certainly never going to pass it, she said.
Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Esack, shown with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, heads up the office's investigations into housing theft, an endemic problem in the city. Read more

After allegedly stealing nearly two dozen properties in Philadelphia, three foreign nationals appear to have fled the country with their profits, the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office says.

Prosecutors Tuesday made public arrests warrants naming the men  Demitri Premislov, 71, an Israeli, and Sergiejus Kolomyjcevas, 53, and Algirdas Tamulionis, 58, both Lithuanians  who face more than 200 counts of forgery, theft, and records-tampering. They are charged with stealing 21 properties in neighborhoods across the city, from West Philadelphia to North Philadelphia and Germantown.

Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Esack said the three men stole the houses with forged deeds between April 2017 and June 2018.

Esack, a top official in the offices economic and cyber crime unit, said the suspects were in the United States on temporary visas and are believed to have left the country. She said he hoped the pending warrants would deter them from returning or lead to their arrest if they do.

The men used ploys that have become routine in housing thefts, a growing problem in Philadelphia. They scouted targets in gentrifying neighborhoods and then forged and filed bogus deeds transferring the properties to themselves. In all but a few of the thefts, the actual owners were dead at the time of the alleged sales.

As a check on fraud, signatures on deeds must be verified by notaries. But prosecutors said that the notary signature and stamps were also forged.

In such crimes, thieves typically try to flip the properties as quickly as possible, to cash out before heirs discover their losses. Of the 21 properties, 13 were resold for a total of at least $470,000, city real estate records show.

Its difficult to know how much of this was real profit. Prosecutors are looking into the buyers in some of the resales to see if the sales were merely another round of paperwork to bury the original theft and fool title companies.

For the price of blank deed forms, housing fraudsters will sometime file multiple fake deeds to create a trail of false transactions before they sell the property to an unsuspecting buyer.

They want to flip, flip, flip down the road, Esack said. The title companies are only going to go back so far.

The arrest warrants date to April 15, Feb. 11, and last August; prosecutors held back from making them public until all three had been filed. Investigation is continuing, Esack said.

Some of the resales may have been wrapped up after the men fled. Premislov used a notary working at the U.S. Embassy in Israel to verify his signature on one resale, deed records show.

The deed was filed electronically. This spared Premislov from having his identity checked and photograph taken, as would have happened if he had gone in person to the deed room in City Hall. That procedure is a check to deter fraud.

In a typical sale among the 21 at issue, prosecutors said Kolomyjcevas filed a deed with the city on April 18, 2017, to buy a property in the 400 block of Winton Street in South Philadelphia. The deed said he bought it from Susanne Walton, who had been dead for 48 years.

Three months later, he sold the property to a firm headed by Mikhail Albegov in an electronically filed deed in which Albegovs signature was notarized in Germany. Prosecutors said they have been able to learn little about Albegov, who also did business with the other two men sought in the warrants.

Last fall, Albegov sold the Winton Street property for $113,000. In the arrest warrant, prosecutors said the 2018 buyer told them he had no idea the house was stolen and had already spent $220,000 to rehab it.

Esack unraveled the complex cases together with Police Officer Mathew Raudenbush and Detective Sgt. Gerald Rocks, both with the economic crimes unit. They began their inquiry after the grandson of a Queen Village man called the District Attorneys Office when he discovered that his grandfathers house had been stolen by Kolomyjcevas with a forged signature.

The grandfather had died in 1954, and the thief apparently settled upon his house as a target after consulting public records that showed the family owed taxes on it. This, too, is a common way thieves identify property for theft, Esack said.
Michael Wilson of Philadelphia speaks in front of the Frank Rizzo statue during the "End ICE Contracts" May Day solidarity rally in Philadelphia. Wilson is part of the Workers World Party and serves on the steering committee for the Real Justice Coalition. Read more

A hundred flag-waving demonstrators marched through Center City on Wednesday, protesting against big-tech companies whose products and services can help the government find and deport undocumented immigrants.

The targets included corporate giants, such as Amazon, whose wealth and reach make them a familiar presence in American homes. The protest came as pressure from the public, and even from employees, is increasing on firms to act ethically, particularly in their dealings with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.

Its really important for people to recognize that the companies we use on a day-to-day basis" are getting funds from ICE and other agencies, said Miguel Andrade, communications manager for Juntos, the Latino advocacy group.

The End ICE Contracts rally, organized by Abolish ICE Philadelphia, Shut Down Berks, Make the Road Pennsylvania, and Juntos, and timed to International Workers Day, May 1, began mid-afternoon at the Octavius V. Catto monument outside Philadelphias City Hall. The crowd of protesters moved through the surrounding streets, temporarily blocking traffic to the north and east, stopping along the way for speeches and chants.

We are not going to tolerate for these businesses to profit off the trauma of black and brown children, said Katia Perez, an organizer with Make the Road Pennsylvania. We have to shun Amazon for the work that theyre doing.

March leaders also sought to highlight what they called corporate collaborators that provide food and telecommunications services to ICE and to detention centers operated by the agency. Those contracts represent a huge insult to the undocumented communities here in Philadelphia who are terrorized by ICE every day, said Deborah Rose of Abolish ICE.

Rose accused Comcast of earning $100,000 from a contract with ICE; a company spokesperson said a response would be forthcoming.

Demonstrators criticized Aramark for allegedly providing food services at detention centers. Said Karen Cutler, company vice president of communications and public affairs, We do not have any food service contracts with ICE detention centers."

However, a government website that tracks federal spending shows that, since 2005, Aramark has had 108 contracts with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees multiple immigration agencies. Some of those contracts can represent partial payments of larger agreements.

The company had multiple agreements with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which supervises legal immigration, but only a few, for small amounts, with ICE or with Customs and Border Patrol, another enforcement agency.

Comcast has had 218 contracts with DHS since 2004, according to the federal website USASpending.gov, including with USCIS and CBP. It had about seven agreements with ICE, worth less than $32,000 in total, the records show.

The debate over the use of technology in immigration enforcement carries particular weight in Philadelphia, a sanctuary city that hosts one of the nations most aggressive ICE offices, and where legal battles swirl around a for-profit companys plan to house 60 undocumented immigrant children in its Logan neighborhood center.

Tech is transforming immigration enforcement, concluded Whos Behind Ice?, a study released last year by the Immigrant Defense Project, National Immigration Project, and Latino-advocate Mijente. The immigration and criminal-justice systems have powerful allies in Silicon Valley and Congress, with technology companies playing an increasingly central role in facilitating the expansion and acceleration of arrests, detentions and deportations.

Amazon Web Services, the study said, has provided cloud infrastructure for programs used by ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. And NEC Corp. contracts with ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol to provide mobile biometric devices and facial-recognition technology.

Amazon has faced criticism for licensing its Rekognition facial-recognition technology to law-enforcement agencies, and for pitching the product to ICE officials last year.

The company would not comment on the Philadelphia protest. It pointed to a recent blog post by Michael Punke, Amazon Web Services vice president of global public policy, who wrote that facial-recognition technology helps law enforcement and government agencies catch criminals, prevent crime, and find missing people. It also can prevent human trafficking and reunite missing children with their parents.

Our communities are safer and better equipped to help in emergencies when we have the latest technology, including facial recognition technology, Punke wrote. In the two-plus years we've been offering Amazon Rekognition, we have not received a single report of misuse by law enforcement.

Its important that use of the technology complies with all laws  including the laws that protect civil rights, he wrote.

Many people believe that police and immigration agencies should deploy all available tools to catch and deport people who are in the country without permission  and that theres nothing wrong with firms building and selling technology that could go to that purpose.

Most tech and data companies would claim this is strictly business, on the grounds that they merely provide information, and its up to the other party to decide what to do with it, said Benjamin Mitchell, who studies data ethics as an assistant professor in the Villanova University Computing Sciences Department. The moral and ethical proposition, however, is considerably more complex.

The powerful inference capabilities of big-data sets, once largely aimed at generating advertising revenue, can be used for all sorts of manipulation and targeting, as demonstrated by Russia's targeting of U.S. elections, Mitchell said. Giving U.S. law-enforcement remit to target people using these tools is problematic.

The Whos Behind Ice? study said Thompson Reuters Corp. in Canada holds large ICE contracts, and Dev Technology in Maryland is building biometric tracking programs for agency use in Mexico.

Palantir designed what is called the Investigative Case Management system, critical to ICE because it integrates many kinds of public and private data. That data, helpful in building profiles of people, are moving to Amazon Web Services, with Palantir paying Amazon for the use of its servers, MIT Technology Review reported.

Its not illegal, but that doesnt mean its right, said Sundrop Carter, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition. We know throughout history that once this technology is being used in one place, it is inevitably going to expand outward. Its important to have a public conversation about what levels of surveillance do we want, what are we comfortable with, as a society?
Incumbent Lisa Marie Deeley speaks during an April debate for Democratic city commissioner candidates hosted by Penn Democrats and the League of Women Voters of Philadelphia. Read more

City Commissioners Chairwoman Lisa Marie Deeley, who is facing election in the May primary, quietly lost her notary license last year for failing to check the identification of a woman whose signature she notarized.

In doing so, Deeley approved documents that fraudulently deprived a woman of her right to her husbands death benefits. The husband was an acquaintance of Deeleys and in the midst of a contentious divorce.

Asked about the lifetime loss of her license, Deeley initially denied that she had been sanctioned by the state.

I didnt do anything wrong. I just surrendered my notary, she said last week. My notary was not relinquished because of any disciplinary action.

Told that The Inquirer had reviewed the consent agreement, in which she agreed she had violated notary rules, Deeley acknowledged that her license was revoked but claimed she was a victim of a couple going through a nasty divorce. She then challenged many of the facts listed in the agreement she signed with the Pennsylvania Department of State last year.

Later, Deeleys attorney, James C. Crumlish III, confirmed those facts while describing his client as a good person who made a mistake by taking the word of an acquaintance when she should have demanded identification.

It was a couple of people who lied about their identity, said Crumlish, a former city commissioner who is a candidate to become a Common Pleas Court judge.

Deeley, 52, is a longtime fixture in city government. The daughter of former Sheriff Barbara Deeley, she worked for years as an aide to current mayoral candidate Alan Butkovitz when he was a state representative and later city controller.

A Democrat, she was elected in 2015 to be a city commissioner, part of a bipartisan board that oversees the integrity of elections in Philadelphia. She was voted chairperson in 2017. As chair, she is paid $140,000 a year. She is among 13 Democrats seeking her partys nomination to one of two commission positions on the general election ballot in November.

She had been a notary for 24 years until her license was revoked last August. On average, the State Department has revoked about 20 notary licenses a year since 2014, records show, out of 74,000 in Pennsylvania. Her notary licence was unrelated to her position as a city commissioner and is not necessary for her to serve in that office.

According to the consent agreement Deeley signed, in April 2010 and January 2011 she notarized documents brought to her by Charles J. Costello, 50, of Ambler, and a woman who presented herself as Costellos wife, Lynda. Deeley did not check the womans identification before notarizing her signature on waivers that renounced her claim to death benefits afforded to Costellos wife through his job.

The woman was an impostor.

In her defense, Deeley argued that she knew Charles Costello personally and that he had said the woman was his wife, whom she had never met. She said she believed that was enough confirmation for her to notarize the signature of the impostor, according to the consent agreement.

The Department of State disagreed and revoked her license for life. The department noted that beyond failing to check the womans identification, Deeley also did not log the action in her notary records as required.

Despite having agreed to those facts in surrendering her notary license, Deeley recently insisted to a reporter that the woman who appeared before her was Costellos wife and not an impostor.

She was personally known to me, Deeley said. The woman absolutely was present.

And she contended that Lynda Costello was lying to get back at her then-husband.

I am a victim of that quarrel, Deeley said.

Deeley said she knew Charles Costello because he was an employee of a close friend.

The real Lynda Costello  who has legally changed her name to Lynda Bowman  said in an interview that she was stunned by Deeleys contention that they knew one another and that she signed the waivers.

Bowman, 47, of Northeast Philadelphia, said she has never met Deeley. She said that on the dates the documents were notarized, she and Charles Costello were not on speaking terms. Their divorce was finalized in 2013, she said.

Bowman said she first learned of the falsified documents when she called her husbands union to ask how benefits might be affected when her divorce was finalized, and a union representative mentioned that she had signed the spousal waivers. She said she promptly contacted police and later the Department of State.

Bowman said she was interviewed by a Department of State investigator in 2015 but had not seen the consent agreement until a reporter gave her a copy.

And the Deeley case still is not fully resolved.

As a condition of allowing Deeley to settle, the Department of State required her to turn over copies of her notary book to the citys Department of Records within 30 days of the agreement.

City spokesperson Mike Dunn last week said that Deeley had not submitted those records.
A teacher at Archbishop Carroll High School was charged with having sexual contact with a student. Read more

A Main Line Catholic high school teacher has been charged with having sexual contact with a student and with providing her and her friend with pot brownies and alcohol.

Jeremiah Triplett, 30, of Dresher, who has been placed on administrative leave as a teacher at Archbishop Carroll High School in Radnor Township, surrendered Wednesday to face charges that include institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Bail was set at 10 percent of $200,000 at a hearing before District Judge Leon Hunter III in Newtown Square.

Radnor police said they started the investigation in late March after receiving reports from child welfare officials regarding allegations that Triplett, a music teacher, had provided students with THC-laced edibles and had sexual contact with at least one student.

According to the police criminal complaint, Triplett, the student, and the students friend would often lunch with him in his classroom. They would vape nicotine products and sometimes  shotgun the smoke into each others mouths. The teacher also gave them THC-laced edibles, including pot brownies, as well as mini liquor bottles, the complaint said.

The student told investigators that she and Triplett kissed on several occasions and that he also grabbed her buttocks above her uniform.

Her friend told investigators that the girl had said she and Triplett had hooked up and that it occurred in his office.

Another witness, who was not identified, said the girl told her that she had seen the teachers penis and that Triplett told the girl he could not wait until she was 18, according to the complaint.

When Witness asked if she thought Triplett was a sexual predator, Victim 1 stated she was 18 now, the complaint said.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said in a statement that Triplett had passed criminal background checks before being hired and had completed mandatory safe environment training programs."

Radnor police said any other possible victims, or individuals with additional information, can contact them at 610-688-0503.
One of the new voting machines that features touchscreens with paper confirmations is shown on April 30, 2019. Read more

Philadelphia City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart says she will not approve payment for new voting machines that will cost the city tens of millions of dollars.

Im deeply concerned about the legality of this process, she said in a statement Tuesday night, and as city controller, I will not release $1 of payment while these questions go unanswered.

Until her office completes an investigation of the voting-machine selection process, including accusations that it was biased to favor electronic voting machines over paper ones that voters fill out manually, Rhynhart said she wont sign off on payment. Her approval is one of several that are required along the way when the city purchases new equipment or services.

We need a pause to say, What is going on here?  Rhynhart said in an interview Wednesday morning. And Im not going to be releasing any payment until its very clear that all procurement rules and city processes were followed in this procurement, because right now I have doubts.

Its unclear what would happen if Rhynhart refuses the payment after machines are delivered and implementation begins. Dozens have already arrived.

Alan Butkovitz, former city controller and current mayoral candidate, said the city solicitor would step in if the controller refuses to approve payment, citing times when he threatened to block funding but was told he had to sign off.

Former City Controller Jonathan Saidel said the controller can stop city payments to vendors only in certain situations, including if there is suspicion of fraud or if an agency has overspent its budget.

The controller is not supposed to unilaterally stop a payment if they dont like the vendor or dont like the issue, he said. "You cant just willy-nilly stop payments because youre politically against something the mayor did or some agency did.

Rhynhart said her position was proper because it falls squarely within her responsibilities: She is concerned about the legality of the process, and cant sign off on payment until she ascertains that the entire contract and selection process are aboveboard.

The investigation needs to run its course, and we need to get to the bottom of whats going on here, Rhynhart said. Theres too much smoke not to investigate this.

For months, Rhynhart has criticized and questioned the city commissioners decision to purchase touchscreen voting machines, the ExpressVote XL system from the vendor ES&S. Along with state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and a group of advocates for hand-marked paper ballots, Rhynhart has criticized the voting-system selection process as too rushed; opaque; and biased toward electronic machines instead of alternatives, specifically paper ballots that voters manually fill out.

Advocates and many security experts say that hand-marked paper ballots are cheaper, more secure, and less prone to problems than electronic machines and that they instill trust in the public. Disability-rights advocates disagree, saying electronic machines are more accessible.

New voting machines were selected Feb. 20 by two of the three current commissioners, Lisa Deeley and Al Schmidt, after a fast-tracked and secret selection process in which a committee of unnamed city employees evaluated proposals from vendors and made recommendations to the commissioners. Deeley has defended that process as intentionally rushed to meet Gov. Tom Wolfs directive to purchase new machines by next year and intentionally secretive to protect it from outside influence, in accordance with city rules.

Last month, Rhynhart subpoenaed the office for documents related to that process. She persuaded the third commissioner, who is retiring, to oppose the new voting machines. (Two judges, who have replaced the other commissioners while they run for reelection, say they will not overturn the decision.)

Nick Custodio, deputy city commissioner under Deeley, said Rhynharts threat would not stop the office from proceeding.

The Controllers Office has not been in contact with our office about any decision, he wrote in an email Wednesday morning. Regardless, we are not going to allow ourselves to be distracted from preparing for the May Primary and the transition to the new voting system in November. (The new machines wont be used in the May 21 primary. )

The commissioners received 83 of the new systems Monday, Custodio said, so that we have a supply for our public outreach efforts and for hands-on training programs for our staff and poll workers starting early this summer.

The machines have not been paid for because a contract has not been finalized, said mayoral spokesperson Mike Dunn.

Staff writers Chris Brennan and Claudia Vargas contributed to this article.
A Warrington man has been charged with causing a six-vehicle crash in Northeast Philadelphia that left two people dead, police said Tuesday.

Shekhroz Mamaatkulov, 25, was charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle and related offenses for the April 21 chain-reaction accident at Bustleton Avenue and Red Lion Road that killed Carmen Montalvo Ruiz, 48, and Juan A. Lopez Rivera, 50, both of the 5100 block of Whitaker Avenue.

Police said Mamaatkulov was driving a 2019 Chevrolet Camaro on Bustleton just before midnight when the vehicle hit a Lexus that was stopped at a red light at Red Lion Road. The Camaro continued moving into the intersection and struck a Mitsubishi Endeavor, which flipped over and crashed into a Toyota Sienna. The Sienna then hit a sixth car.

Mamaatkulov allegedly got out of the Camaro and fled in another vehicle. Five other people were taken to the hospital with injuries.
Students sing songs inside the main hall of the Phi Psi fraternity at Swarthmore College on Tuesday. The sit-in was organized by activists who wanted the school to permanently ban two fraternity organizations from operating on campus. Read more

Swarthmore Colleges two remaining fraternities announced late Tuesday that they will disband amid outrage over leaked internal documents from one of the groups that suggested members made offensive comments about women and minorities, and joked about sexual assault.

The move was cheered by campus activists, although they say thats not enough. They say they will continue to occupy the Phi Psi fraternity as part of a sit-in that started Saturday until Swarthmore officials commit to reallocating the houses to groups representing marginalized communities targeted in the fraternitys meeting minutes.

The first to announce it was disbanding was Delta Upsilon, which was alleged in the leaked documents  supposedly written by a former Phi Psi member who has not been identified  to have a rape tunnel and a rape attic. The Inquirer has not been able to independently verify the authenticity of the documents, redacted versions of which were published by two campus publications.

The fraternity posted on Facebook at 9 p.m. Tuesday that it unanimously decided that disbanding our fraternity is in the best interest of the Swarthmore community.

We hope that our former house will provide a space that is inclusive, safe, and promotes healing, the post read.

An hour later, Swarthmores chapter of Phi Psi, which is not nationally affiliated, posted a message to Facebook with similar language, saying the brothers unanimously voted to dissolve Phi Psi fraternity on Swarthmores campus following a week of deliberation.

We cannot in good conscience, they wrote, be members of an organization with such a painful history.

Swarthmore is a most-selective liberal arts school with about 1,600 students and a Quaker history of decision by consensus. It also has a decades-long history of on-campus student activism thats led to a handful of concessions by school leaders.

About two weeks ago, the Phoenix, the independent campus newspaper, and Voices, a left-leaning alternative publication with an activist bent, released a trove of redacted, internal fraternity documents from 2012 to 2016 that they say were anonymously leaked. The meeting minutes chronicled Phi Psi parties, made jokes about date rape drugs and other illegal drug use, and included photos of women in the fraternity house.

The Phi Psi house served as more of a clubhouse than a residence  just one student lived in the building. Swarthmore Borough police were present at the sit-in, but no arrests were made.

In a message to the campus community Wednesday, college president Valerie Smith wrote that while the documents provide a vivid account of deeply disturbing, unacceptable behaviors and practices, the school has no evidence that any current student participated in the behaviors documented in those materials.

She wrote that an external investigator will examine the documents to ensure that is the case and said the work of a task force convened to examine Greek life on campus will continue. That panel is expected to issue recommendations to Smith on Friday.

Still, the community has much healing to do, she wrote, condemning unsubstantiated attacks and social media posts by members of our community that target individual students or make gross generalizations about student groups.

Amal Haddad, a freshman and an organizer of the sit-in, said Smiths message was insulting and not enough. She said the group is deciding how to bring its continued concerns to the administration.

Tuesday nights announcements punctuate years of simmering tensions between Greek life and the Swarthmore student body as a whole.

The same group that organized this years protest, Organizing for Survivors, staged a nine-day sit-in at Swarthmores administration building last year, demanding new sexual-assault reporting procedures and that the fraternities be banned from campus.

The group ended the protest after meeting with school leaders and, a week later, the dean of students announced her resignation.
THE PARENT: Elizabeth Catanese, 34, of Fairmount

THE CHILDREN: Dylan Joseph and Escher Paul, born October 31, 2018

THEIR NAMES: I wanted an artist-baby and a writer-baby, Elizabeth says  one named for Dylan Thomas, the other for M.C. Escher. Their middle names are nods to family members.

One healthy baby. That was Elizabeths mantra for months  each time she paid $900 for a vial of sperm from the California Cryobank, each time she went to the fertility clinic for an intrauterine insemination, each time she injected herself with hormones to amp up her egg production.

And then there was the day  it was after the fifth attempt  when a nurse looked at the sonogram and said, Oh, a two-for-one special!

I was laughing, Elizabeth recalls. For all my not wanting to have two, it was kind of funny that this had happened. I was going to figure it out and enjoy it.

Elizabeth always knew she wanted to be a writer. But she wasnt set on parenthood until her early 30s, when she watched her best friend go through the process of selecting a sperm donor and having a baby with her partner.

At the time, I wasnt in a relationship. I thought, What would it look like if I had kids on my own? That felt a little bit scary, but there wasnt a huge reason to wait.

She envisioned a chosen family with someone she knew as the donor, a man who would be a kind of uncle figure in the childs life. But the two friends she asked said no, so she began poring over lists from the California Cryobank.

Its like online dating, in a way, she laughs. There were a bunch of donors who sounded a little bit full of themselves, like they were excited to be donors because they were so awesome. I wanted someone who seemed real and authentic. With the help of friends, she chose a donor whose ethnic background matches her own Italian German heritage, a man who composes music and studied biology in college.

Hes also an open-identity donor, meaning he is willing to be in touch with any offspring, at their request, once they turn 18.

Some acquaintances cautioned Elizabeth about the burdens of single parenthood, tickling her own self-doubts: Would she be able to swing it financially? Would she be able to find good child care? Did she have enough experience with babies?

But her parents and close friends were supportive. At one point, I was walking on the beach with my dad. My dishwasher had broken, and he said, I want to buy you a new dishwasher. I said, Thank you, but could you help me buy sperm instead?

The first insemination felt auspicious, even playful; a good friend came along, and afterward Elizabeth went to Target and bought a dress on impulse. But it turned out to be a chemical pregnancy, with no viable fetus. It was so early, but it felt like a loss, for sure, she says.

The second try didnt work, either. Nor the third. Elizabeth tried boosting her luck with an Indian tradition that says tigers are a fertility symbol; to each insemination, she took a childrens book called Hold Your Temper, Tiger. She wore a necklace with a charm of a hippopotamus, a fertility animal in Egyptian culture.

And she thought about her grandfather, who had died several years before. The two often took walks by the ocean, and as Elizabeth lay on the doctors table, she would picture her grandfather watching over two children.

He was holding on to them until they were ready to come. I would look up at the fluorescent lights and think about the ocean and about him and say, Whenever youre ready.

The fifth time, on Presidents Day, was the charm. But the pregnancy itself was difficult: constant vomiting, spacey behavior (she would turn off the light in her classroom at Community College of Philadelphia when she meant to turn on the projector) and, by the end, a belly so expansive that elevator doors sometimes refused to close unless she backed up and stood sideways.

In the meantime, Elizabeth converted her art studio to a room for the twins, and friends used a spreadsheet to sign up for meals and to provide company after the birth. Because the twins were breech at first, then constantly shifting position, she opted for a scheduled C-section. By the end, it felt like two small dolphins that were swimming along under my skin, she says.

She remembers feeling dizzy in the operating room at Pennsylvania Hospital after the first drips of anesthesia. She remembers someone saying, Now it will feel like an elephant is standing on your chest. She remembers her best friend holding her hand, her tears at the first glimpse of Dylan, and her laughter when just-born Escher peed on her.

She also recalls the emotional maelstrom of those early days. I was not very mobile, and their swaddles kept coming undone. I thought: This is a metaphor for how I cant be a good mother. It got easier: Her parents helped, friends visited every day for the first six weeks, and her confidence gradually grew.

I remember thinking, Ill always have screaming babies and Ill never sleep again and Ill always be changing diapers. But it was joyful, really exciting, with so much adrenaline and awe at these little creatures who were suddenly here.

There was also a new, unexpected village: eight other families who had used the same donor, in touch with one another through the cryobank registry. They created a Facebook chat, share photos each Friday, and talk about the ways, even as babies, that their childrens traits chime.

I wanted the boys and myself to have a larger sense of family and connecting with other people, Elizabeth says. And its turned out that single parenthood has its upside. I get to make the decisions. When I make a mistake, I cant blame anybody; theres some power in that. This was probably one of the most empowered things Ive allowed myself to do  to know what my needs were and do this thing Ive so deeply wanted.
Eugenics is a long-discredited pseudo-science aimed at improving the race, even if it means killing people deemed inadequate. The Nazis were strong proponents, but the concept had American adherents too. Read more

At the turn of the 20th century, U.S. scientists proposed the control of reproduction to advance society based on the idea that genes determine individuals socially relevant traits. In 1910, prominent biologist Charles Davenport defined this project, known as eugenics, as the science of human improvement by better breeding. The false claim that scientists can isolate, test for, and quantify inherited characteristics that determine success in an unequal society was essential to eugenicists theory that social inequality comes from biology.

Eugenicists ideas found fertile ground in America, where they provided a scientific framework to justify the efforts of U.S. elites to preserve the unjust social order they had violently erected in prior centuries. That legacy has spanned decades into the present day.

One of the most widespread and devastating eugenicist weapons has been state-imposed sterilization to rid society of socially inadequate members. In March 1924, Virginia lawmakers passed a law that authorized the forced sterilization of people confined to government asylums because they were deemed feebleminded. In the 1927 case Buck v. Bell, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes upheld the laws constitutionality, infamously declaring that three generations of imbeciles are enough.

 READ MORE: Genetics in the Madhouse: The dark origins of genetics, and of clinical psychology

In the following years, the number of states with forced sterilization laws grew to 30. Virginias Racial Integrity Act, not struck down until 1967, prohibited anyone who wasnt white from marrying a white person, to discourage perceived contamination of the white race. Influenced by eugenics lobbyists, Congress passed the National Origins Act of 1924, imposing quotas that effectively cut off immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, regions deemed to have genetically inferior races.

The condemnation of the eugenics-inspired Nazi Holocaust put an end to mainstream support for explicitly eugenicist science, now seen as empirically and ethically flawed. But eugenics ideological underpinning  the belief that social inequalities stem from biological differences  has survived.

Claims of innate race and class differences provided scientific backing for a white backlash against the Civil Rights Movements gains. In the 1970s, Berkeley psychologist Arthur Jensen argued that black children were innately incapable of greater academic achievement. The 1994 controversial bestseller The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, by Harvard psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray, rehashed the claim that race and class disparities stem from differences in inherited cognitive ability, which could not be eliminated through social interventions.

Even today, it would be a mistake to believe this dangerous idea has been relegated to the ranting of white supremacist extremists.

 READ MORE: Forced sterilization targeted Americans of color, leaving lasting impact

Researchers continue to look for genetic determinants of racial gaps in health, income, education, and incarceration, even though forms of structural racism provide well-established explanations. Just two examples: One 2007 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology tested the hypothesis that the black race independent of other factors increases the risk of extreme preterm birth. Despite failing to control for important social and environmental factors and presenting no genetic data, the authors concluded that their findings suggest a probable genetic component that may underlie [this] public health problem. In 2017, a Molecular Psychiatry study claimed its findings marked a turning point because they make it possible to predict educational achievement for individuals directly from their DNA.

Eugenicist science also continued to drive damaging social policies and rhetoric. In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals  disproportionately black, Puerto Rican, Mexican immigrant, and Native American women  were coercively sterilized under federally funded programs. A 1990 Philadelphia Inquirer editorial proposed Norplant, a long-acting chemical contraceptive, as the answer to the staggering rates of black child poverty. Radical changes in welfare law, fueled by negative images of black Welfare Queens, denied benefits to mothers receiving public assistance, aimed at deterring them from having more children. President Trump attributes his success to having the winning gene, which he inherited from his German ancestors. And assertions of innate white superiority circulate in the media more freely now than in recent decades.

The myth that social inequalities are caused by biological differences blames those marginalized by structural injustices for their own disadvantages  justifying policies that intervene in their bodies rather than calling for social change. At a time when social disparities are widening and government authoritarianism is intensifying, this false idea is as dangerous today as it was in the eugenics era. We cant think of racial determinism as a relic of the past, or else we run the risk of replicating the injustices it has produced.

Dorothy Roberts is the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law & Sociology at University of Pennsylvania and author of the books Fatal Invention, and Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. She will be among the panelists participating in the History of Eugenics in America program at the National Constitution Center on May 2. Visit constitutioncenter.org/debate for tickets.
A For Sale sign at the Germantown Avenue entrance April 18, 2019, after Germantown High School closed in 2013. In 2017, a developer bought the property for about 6 percent of its assessed value, but now thousands of unpaid property taxes later, it's up for sale again. Read more

It was two weeks ago that Paris revered Notre Dame Cathedral, a symbol of religious and architectural wonder that had stood for centuries, succumbed to fire. Its remaining shell, still standing defiant, will encase a rebuilding process.

That thought returned to me, as I read about the latest chapter in the neglect of Philadelphias own Germantown High School.

I had just driven past that abandoned property a few Fridays ago, taking the opportunity of a holiday arrival by my out-of-town son and 4-year-old granddaughter to view the building where I matriculated during the mid-'60s. What we saw was sad and shameful.

No, it could not be compared with the devastation of the 850-year-old Parisian shrine. But the decay was omnipresent.

The schools formerly stately campus  once lush with mature trees and green lawns  was now surrounded by a cyclone fence. With that foreboding presence, erosion of the building itself was quite apparent.

A structure that was erected in 1914  with a 99-year history of knowledge exchange and a looming presence in a historic neighborhood  was now sitting like a hulking corpse. Its brick and stone body, so prominent in its day, looked battered.

Its hard to believe that six years have passed since the city decided to desert the property, rather than restore and repurpose it. In a town of so many historic and lovely structures, it stands as a testimony to the lack of attention too often given.

Germantown was one of 23 schools that the budget-minded and now-defunct School Reform Commission decided to close. It is scheduled for a tax sale on May 15.

When I first entered the building, as a 10th grader in 1964, I was struck by the enormity and feeling of permanence that the structure evoked, its marble lobby floors casting the look of a time-cherished existence. The first time I moved onto a bench that was part of a stationary desk, attached to the wooden floor, I became part of another generation whose bodies would occupy that space.

Those classrooms had seen an evolution. In its early days, the school was home to many students from old blue-blood families who would later move to the Main Line. They were followed by sons and daughters from adjacent Irish, Italian, Jewish, and African American communities.

It was made all the more special as it was in the midst of one of Americas most historic areas, made famous by the 1777 Battle of Germantown. Thus, the influx of new students to the timeless surroundings every year acted as a kind of replenishment.

Sure, when I graduated in 1967 there was well over the official capacity of 2,200 students in the school. By the time it closed in 2013, the count was approximately 650.

But if the demand for such space ebbs, there is no sense in not utilizing the supply that is the building for other demands. If not a new charter school, then why not a condo or apartment building that still manages to preserve the buildings character?

The history of Germantown can certainly serve as a lure for such development. It would parallel the attraction present in many restored city neighborhoods.

In predominantly Catholic France, less than 5 percent of Catholics reportedly attend mass on a regular basis. At the very least, the symbolic existence of Notre Dame has demanded its restoration.

While Germantown High certainly carries nowhere near that level of prominence, it is important in its own right. It too is a piece of a fabric that binds Germantown as a community and Philadelphia overall.

Lets hope the city finds the wisdom to keep this iconic structure standing and allow it to function on some level. Maybe, just maybe, that will serve to stave off the flames of neglect that engulf much of Philadelphia.

Jeff Hurvitz is a freelance writer and Germantown High alumnus. jrhurvitz@aol.com
BILBAO, Spain  The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a masterpiece of American architecture, a swirl of curved configurations crafted out of sheets of titanium by Frank Gehry. But step inside the stunning structure, and the celebration of America is over.

Most of the second floor is dedicated to the works of American artist Jenny Holzer, who seems to be filled with loathing for the land of her birth. As you enter one gallery, you are greeted with an exhibit called the Inflammatory Essays, a series of posters printed on colored paper and containing the artists various manifestos. They were originally pasted throughout the public spaces of New York City, and now plaster the walls of the gallery in a rainbow of geometric designs. The presentation is beautiful, but the sentiments are anything but.

The first one I see, right by the door, is titled THE END OF THE U.S.A. It reads: ALL YOU RICH F -- - SEE THE BEGINNING OF THE END AND TAKE WHAT YOU CAN WHILE YOU CAN. YOU IMAGINE THAT YOU WILL GET AWAY, BUT YOUVE S -- IN YOUR OWN BED AND NOW YOURE THE ONE TO SLEEP IN IT. WHY SHOULD EVERYONE ELSE STAY BEHIND AND SMELL YOUR STINKING COWARDICE? HERES A MESSAGE TO YOU -- SPACE TRAVEL IS UNCERTAIN AND ANY REFUGE OF YOURS CAN BE BLOWN OFF THE MAP. THERES NO OTHER PLACE FOR YOU TO GO. KNOW THAT YOUR FUTURE IS WITH US SO DONT GIVE US MORE REASONS TO HATE YOU.

Charming. The posters are helpfully translated into Basque, Spanish, French, and German, so that visitors from many lands can take in Holzers sentiments and, according to the Guggenheim, consider the necessity of social change, propagandas potential to manipulate the public, and the conditions that attend revolution.

 READ MORE: Comcast opens lobby in new tower to public, featuring Jenny Holzer art

In another gallery, Holzer has created paintings out of redacted U.S. government documents relating to interrogation of terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some canvasses show intelligence documents with the black redaction lines in gold and silver leaf, while others are blowups of handwritten statements by detainees alleging all kinds of horrific abuses at the hands of Americans.

Nowhere is it noted that terrorists were trained to lie about abuses in custody, that multiple government investigations found that no torture took place at Guantanamo Bay, or that when abuses did take place, as they did in Abu Ghraib, abusers were investigated and punished. The vast majority of U.S. personnel responsible for detaining and questioning terrorists served with honor to prevent another attack such as the one we suffered on September 11, 2001. But if you came through the exhibit, you would think that the American military was the modern-day equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition.

Not all her works are so offensive. In one exhibit, a four-sided vertical LED sign swings from the ceiling with scrolling first-person accounts from those detained and tortured by the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. But even here, the juxtaposition of this exhibit with the redacted military documents seems designed to send a subtle message that there is really no moral distinction between Assad and America  both are torture regimes.

In fact, it was the U.S. armed forces that struck Assads regime to stop his use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians and drove the Islamic State from its murderous caliphate. The men and women of the U.S. military risk their lives every day to protect us from evil men bent on our destruction. Their courageous service gives Holzer the freedom to produce her art.

Its no surprise that the art world is left wing. But the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao  an institution owned by an American foundation, in the heart of Spain  has turned itself into something worse: an instrument of anti-American propaganda. The museum is spreading calumnies against the men and women of the U.S. military and fueling hatred of America in a foreign land.

Among the redacted documents in the gallery, one of her most recent works is displayed  a massive rendering of a page from special counsel Robert Muellers indictment of Paul Manafort. Missing from the exhibit was the page from the actual Mueller report that declared there was no conspiracy with Russia. She has yet to turn that redacted document into art. Im sure shes working on it.

Marc Thiessen writes a twice-weekly column for the Washington Post on foreign and domestic policy. He is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. @marcthiessen
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we asked black activists and advocates around the city: How does Dr. Kings legacy inspire your work today?

King the anti-gun-violence advocate

As an anti-gun-violence advocate, I think often of this quote from Dr. King: By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, by allowing our movie and television screens to teach our children that the hero is one who masters the art of shooting and the technique of killing, by allowing all these developments, we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes.

It is tragic and ironic that Dr. King  who spoke so eloquently against Americas glorification of guns  was struck down by a firearm, as were Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, and other great civil rights leaders.

In Philadelphia, 80 percent of gun victims are young African American men  its the leading cause of death in their age group. Well never know how many potential civil rights leaders were lost in the prime of their lives. We hemorrhage human potential with each bullet fired.

My work is motivated not just by Dr. Kings conviction that none of us should have to worry about dying by a gun but by his example of loving fearlessly  so that we never find ourselves on either side of a gun.  Scott Charles, anti-gun-violence advocate and trauma outreach coordinator, Temple University Hospital

King the radical

When I was growing up, my dad would play a record of Martin Luther King Jr.s most famous speeches to mark the holiday. As an adult I continue my dads tradition, playing Dr. Kings speeches throughout the week of the holiday. I find so much inspiration in the radical King, the King who fearlessly named the three evils of American society: capitalism, militarism, and racism. The King who was seen as such a threat to the state and the status quo that he was assassinated.

In my day-to-day organizing work with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, I draw strength from Kings exhortation to be tireless and persistent in his speech The Other America. I use a quote from the speech as my regular email signature so that I read it several times a day every day.

In my heart, I am an abolitionist who would like to see a world where we abolish prisons and create new systems that heal and restore our community. Taking on the prison industrial complex is such a gargantuan task. In 2018, 2.3 million people were jailed in local, state, and federal prisons including the growing numbers held in immigrant detention. But I know there is work I can do by working to end cash bail in Philadelphia.  Candace McKinley, core organizer at Philadelphia Community Bail Fund

King the futurist

Martin Luther King is most often remembered as a visionary Civil Rights leader, but rarely recognized as a futurist. As a housing attorney and sci-fi writer who merges those two worlds, I admire how he used the language and imagery of dreams and prophecies, apocalypses and utopias to show futurist visions to oppressed black communities.

One of his most powerful, yet underquoted criticisms of America in the 1960s was about the race to place man on the moon, one of the ultimate milestones of progress of Western society and a symbol of humankinds arrival into the future. In a 1966 speech he said: There is a striking absurdity in committing billions to reach the moon where no people live  while the densely populated slums are allocated minuscule appropriations.

MLK could not see progress where black people had not yet achieved racial justice and social equity. More than 50 years later, we still cannot claim true progress in these areas. His uncompromising refusal to concede a future where black communities are still marginalized, oppressed, and disproportionately denied equitable access to safe, healthy, and happy lives is a view that inspires my work.  Rasheedah Phillips, managing attorney, Landlord-Tenant Housing Unit, Community Legal Services, and cocreator, The Afrofuturist Affair and Black Quantum Futurism

King the liberator

I am part of an incredible network of people who are committed to advancing equity, collaboration, and creative solutions to make this city, and world, better for everyone. Through this work I have come to understand that health is influenced by many things  none of which operate in isolation from each other. King understood then, just as it is now, that the struggles people faced were tied to the triple evils of poverty, racism and militarism. And, because he dreamed with such a disruptive and revolutionary spirit, at the time of his death, most Americans did not have a favorable opinion of him.

King said: There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right. Given Kings legacy, I would dare not compare my efforts to his. But at the root of it, I believe we share a deep love for people, a vision for a better world, and a desire to disrupt harmful systems so everyone is truly able to live their best lives. I simply want to use my position, whatever that may be, to benefit people and their liberation.  Dwayne Wharton, director of external affairs for the Food Trust and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health leader

King the labor advocate

Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream speech tends to be admired across race and class lines. What King knew then  and what is still relevant now  is that America has only been great for those not marginalized by centuries of oppression.

In my work with the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative, I feel inspired by a speech King gave in Memphis on Feb. 12, 1968. In his address in support of striking sanitation workers, King said: You are demanding that this city respects the dignity of labor. To me, this highlights a powerful counternarrative to the oft-remembered kumbaya King, who said, I have a dream. In Memphis, he delivered a searing critique about economic oppression.

How might Kings demand that all labor has dignity extend to our communities that engage in sex work? What would that mean for our city in terms of decriminalization and seeing the humanity in an often overlooked form of labor?

This MLK Day, I dream of a Philadelphia and a nation that doesnt perform unity but that actually takes a bold stand for ALL labor.  Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad, cofounder and core organizer of the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative

King the servant leader

Martin Luther King Jr. is by far one of the major inspirations for my activism and service, as he was the embodiment of a servant leader, working to put the needs of all others above his own.

Kings commitment to economic justice is something that has had lasting impact on me. He recognized the need to shift the movement from racial justice to human rights, and advocate for jobs, unemployment insurance, a fair minimum wage, and education for poor adults was revolutionary for his time.

As an advocate in the city of Philadelphia, I understand the need to have economic justice as part of my work, as the citys poverty rate is 26 percent, and nearly half of the citys 400,000 poor residents are living in deep poverty.

When looking at cycles of violence in Philadelphia, a common factor is always economic opportunity. The communities I often advocate for are negatively positioned by society at birth based on their income and/or zip code. I often reflect on Dr. Kings quote from his Nobel Peace Prize address: There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it. I am reminded daily that there is still work to be done.  Lauren Footman, community activist and organizer

King the policy crusader

Dr. Kings last book published before his death, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, was a real game changer for me. I read it at 25 and was stunned to experience a MLK foreign to every conception of him I had encountered since grade school  a man who was more of an agitator than a pure pacifist.

Every year around his holiday, I ground myself in passages of that book and Dr. Kings final speech in Tennessee. They are ready reminders that he was not assassinated for marches and voting rights; he was murdered for linking the plights of poor people across the country, highlighting the choke holds that marginalized black, brown, and migrant workers and their families. MLK challenged the economic violence supported through policy and cultural practices: the exclusion of black Americans from ownership or protection of assets (think redlining, barring services to certain neighborhoods), failing schools, over-policing, mass incarceration, underemployment, and infrastructural decay that still plagues too many neighborhoods. The maps published over the last few years that highlight life expectancy discrepancies based on zip codes overlay closely with maps of redlining. The question we must raise, in honor of MLK, is whether this pattern is coincidental or planned.

We must undo the mechanisms that create harmful social infrastructure  while still making the time for joy. It is the resilience of the neighborhoods and families impacted by these issues that allows us the opportunity to right whats wrong, honor whats working, and design new paths. That is worth celebrating.  Michael OBryan, director of Youth and Young Adult Programs and Innovation Fellow, Drexels Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation
Assistant District Attorney Colleen Osborne had made a list of all the people who had failed Ethan Okula.

Its a long list. The 10-year-old foster child, a ward of our city, died a wholly preventable death in 2016:

The city Department of Human Services let Ethan  who had developmental disabilities, hearing problems, and a debilitating stomach condition  fall through the cracks.

The agencies contracting with DHS falsified a record and mishandled his medical care.

The nurse at Julia de Burgos Elementary School failed to realize that Ethans stomach condition had put him in mortal peril on the day he writhed in pain in her office.

And Denise Alston, his foster mother whose license had lapsed, and her wife, Carol Fletcher, were the last to fail the bespectacled Philadelphia boy.

Ethan lay dying on their couch until it was too late.

Now in court Wednesday, preparing to accept a plea from Alston and Fletcher  who were charged with involuntary manslaughter but accepted a deal for lesser charges  Osborne wondered if she should add one more name to that list of people who failed this boy: her own.

Osborne, who served in the DAs family violence unit for years and has a 1-year-old at home, felt as if she had been crying all week over the case. Again and again she and her bosses had weighed the merits of the plea.

She kept coming back to the sad fact thats always defined this case: So many people failed Ethan that it is hard to decipher who bore legal responsibility. The risk was real that a jury trying Alston and Fletcher might not hold anyone accountable.

Some change has come  borne, like so many child welfare reforms in this city, on the back of a dead child. Firings and promises of reform. A donated tombstone for Ethans unmarked grave.

But it was clear, as Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright grilled Alston and Fletcher, that the plea probably was the best shot at any courtroom justice.

Why isnt the school nurse here? Bright demanded to know. Prosecutors had considered charging her, but medical records showed that she left for the day before Ethans condition deteriorated.

Why didnt Alston and Fletcher immediately take him to the hospital? Alston said she was never told the extent of his stomach condition.

But Bright wasnt ready to excuse the two. As Osborne read the facts of the plea deal, new horrors emerged.

How hours passed before Fletcher finally came to get Ethan. As he weakened, school officials wheeled him to the cafeteria to distract him. The dying boy spent his last hours watching other children eat and laugh.

How Fletcher balked when she arrived at the school to pick up Ethan  who was so sick by then he could not bear his own weight. He isnt getting his sy ass in my Mercedes, she said. When a school guard asked him if she was taking him to the hospital, she said: Im bringing him the f home, and hes going straight the f to his room.

And how no one rode in the ambulance with Ethan when Alston finally called 911.

Osborne read all these facts in the near-empty courtroom. There were no spectators. Legally, Ethan had no family: His biological familys parental rights had been terminated. The office had no contact information.

Ive been doing this a long time," Bright said. "Ive heard all sorts of tragic cases. But this is just so sad. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Youre going to have to live with this in your hearts regardless of what I do here today.

The city of Philadelphia failed Ethan, the prosecutor told Bright, and so did the two women.

From a legal sense, Osborne said, this was a just result. Morally? We havent even scratched the surface.

Fletcher, who pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, was sentenced to eight months of time served and probation. Alston, who pleaded guilty to tampering with public documents, got three years probation. Shes now suing two DHS-contracted agencies for the trauma she has incurred.

In the hallway, Fletcher denied cursing to Ethan, or that she was responsible for his death. I asked Alston the same thing.

Thats the question, she said, letting the silence hang.

Do you think you can answer that? I asked.

I dont want to answer it, she said.

Osborne trudged out of the courtroom with stacks of documents detailing all who had failed Ethan Okula. So heavy she had to drag them behind her. Justice had been served. And the prosecutor still felt like crying.
A woman leaves flowers on a growing memorial across the street from the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Poway, Calif., on Monday,, April 29, 2019. A 19-year-old gunman opened fire on Saturday as about 100 people were worshipping exactly six months after a mass shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing one and injuring more. Read more

How many synagogue shootings will it take to force the Trump administration to confront the rising tide of white supremacist terrorism at home - and abroad?

This is an urgent question in the wake of the latest synagogue attack last week in Poway, Calif., that left one brave congregant dead as she tried to defend her rabbi and three wounded.

A raft of statistics demonstrates the shocking increase in violent extremism by white supremacists over the past three years. That includes near-historic levels of anti-Semitic acts in 2018 and the single deadliest attack against the Jewish community in American history, which killed 11 at Pittsburghs Tree of Life Synagogue six months ago.

Yet rather than denounce radical white nationalism, the president deliberately downplays it, or even excuses it. His pro-forma denunciation of anti-Semitism hours after the Poway killing came one day after he once again defended the torch-bearing white nationalist marchers in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017.

And rather than organize a counterterrorism strategy, the Trump administration has gutted the very federal programs that were set up to deal with this insidious threat.

A number of these programs were run by George Selim, who held senior posts in countering terrorism and confronting domestic extremism under Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump. He recalled having a budget of more than $21 million under President Obama and 16 employees to develop local strategies to combat and prevent such violence. Now the budget is $3 million and the staff cut by half.

Now a senior vice president for programs of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which closely monitors extremist groups, Selim says the incoming Trump administration was not interested in prioritizing this issue: We certainly saw an emboldening under Trump. At no point in recent memory have we seen a march like Charlottesville with white nationalists from 30 states carrying tiki torches and chanting Jews will not replace us.'

The statistics reveal how much has changed for the worse since Trump. ADLs annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents recorded a total of 1,879 attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions across the USA in 2018, the third-highest year on record since ADL started tracking such data in the 1970s. That includes white nationalist banners hung over highway bridges, and flyers distributed on campuses.

ADLs audit also identified 59 people who were victims of anti-Semitic assaults in 2018, up from 21 in 2017. That includes the record 11 murders at the Tree of Life synagogue, where the killer shouted All Jews must die.

ADL Senior Vice President Eileen Hershenov told a congressional hearing: White supremacists in the United States have experienced a resurgence in the past three years, driven in large part by the rise of the alt-right. There is also a clear corollary  to the rise in polarizing and hateful rhetoric on the part of candidates and elected leaders.

Another grim statistic: White supremacists, Hershenov noted, were responsible in 2018 for 78 percent of all extremist-related murders.

In the Trump era, radical white nationalists have taken full advantage of social media. Racist and anti-Semitic white nationalist rhetoric and manifestos, filled with particular catch phrases and memes, spread across borders via the internet and hate-filled internet chat rooms, such as 8chan or Gab. For example, the Poway shooter cited as his inspiration the manifesto of the New Zealand killer who shot dead 50 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch.

The language these white nationalists use often conflates fear of replacement  whites being replaced by minorities, especially Muslims  with claims that international Jewry is facilitating such replacement. Example: the Tree of Life killer claimed, falsely, that American Jewish financier George Soros was funding the migrant caravans on Americas southern border. Thus, this mad murderer justified killing Jews.

When President Trump whips up hysteria over migrant caravans on Americas southern border, when he refuses to denounce the torch-bearers at Charlottesville, he is viewed by white supremacists as signaling his approval.

When Trump hinted last fall that the caravans were funded by George Soros, he only confirmed the conspiracy theories of the alt-right. The New Zealand killer wrote that he saw Trump as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.

Unfair? If Trumps unremitting winks and nods at white nationalists are not meant as approval, he can easily prove it. He need only denounce white supremacists violence publicly.

He needs to devise an overarching policy to deal with these issues, says Selim. Trumps actions dont match his strong words about condemning anti-Semitism.

There is plenty he can do. The ADL has a list that includes revitalizing agencies working against hate crimes and strengthening laws against perpetrators of online hate.

Most important, Id add, is for the president to stop yellow lighting white supremacists who support him and who blame Jews, Muslims, blacks, and immigrants for all their problems.

How many synagogue shootings will it take to force the Trump administration to confront the rising tide of white supremacist terrorism at home  and abroad?
Left to right: Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania; John Anderson Fry, president of Drexel University; Mark C. Reed, president of Saint Joseph's University; Richard M. Englert, president of Temple University; and Mayor Jim Kenney attend an event to announce the Schuylkill River Dredge Project. Read more

The Schuylkill at last will be dredged thanks to millions of dollars in donations from universities and individual donors, ending a threat of regattas leaving the iconic racecourse because of silt build-up, Philadelphia officials said Wednesday.

Flanked by the presidents of four of the citys major universities, Mayor Jim Kenney and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell announced that with the public-private effort to raise $4.5 million to dredge the river, the project will begin in late summer.

Decades of silt build-up have made racing lanes on the famed course uneven, which threatens fair competition. City officials and the nonprofit Schuylkill Navy River Restoration Committee began discussing the need to dredge five years ago, but its only been over the last year that the effort gained real traction.

The presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel, Temple, and St. Josephs Universities appeared at Wednesdays announcement on behalf of collegiate crew teams that depend on the river. Crew members from Villanova University and local high schools also attended the announcement behind Lloyd Hall at the start of Boathouse Row.

Kelly Byrne of Blue Bell, a 16-year-old junior at Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School, said she rowed on the Schuylkill for the first time last fall and saw the need for the dredge project.

I just feel like its so important historically to the city, Byrne said. Honestly, when you get down on the water with the skyline behind you, its so beautiful.

Mayor Kenney shared similar sentiments.

Rowing for both recreational and professional purposes has been a hallmark for the Schuylkill for the past century, Kenney said. He called regattas such as the Stotesbury Cup and Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta beloved traditions and economic drivers for the city, adding, "The Schuylkill must be properly maintained.

It has been 20 years since the area in front of Boathouse Row has been dredged and 50 years for the racecourse, which is farther north on the river. Racers want even depths of lanes for fairness. And rowers need to be able to safely launch from docks along Boathouse Row, where the water is a foot or less deep in some places. Students have gotten stuck as recently as last year.

Meanwhile, Camden Countys Cooper River rowing venue not only has been dredged, but also has had its facilities improved, attracting ever more regattas.

A single regatta can bring hundreds, if not thousands, of crew members and their families to a location where they stay at hotels and dine nearby. So the loss of regattas can impact the local economy, officials said.

The Schuylkill Navy launched the fundraising effort in 2014. It wasnt until publicity of their plight last year that the effort really picked up steam.

The rowers first turned to Kenneys office, Parks and Recreation, and the Managing Directors Office for funding. However, officials did not have all the funding. The rowers then turned to the universities that use the river. As of early April, the rowers were still hundreds of thousands of dollars short, so they began accepting donations from individuals.

In all, the public and private collaboration grew to 25 partners, including the city, state, seven universities, the Schuylkill Navy, rowing clubs, and regatta and paddling organizations, as well as individual donors. The Schuylkill Navy also set up up a way for people to donate online through boathouserow.org/dredge.

The following is a breakdown of the donations:

Individual donors: $1,075,000

University of Pennsylvania: $750,000

Drexel University: $500,000

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: $500,000

Temple University: $500,000

City of Philadelphia: $400,000 to $500,000

St. Josephs University: $50,000

LaSalle University: $50,000

Villanova University: $25,000

Thomas Jefferson University: $25,000

On Wednesday, officials singled out individual donors Bill McNabb, former CEO of Vanguard; Tony Schneider, founder of the Philadelphia City Rowing Club for public high school students; and Edith Dixon, a philanthropist.

Now with funding in place, the Army Corps of Engineers will hire a contractor to dredge 60,000 cubic yards of material and pump it over Fairmount Dam and onto barges. The barges will dispose of the material at an Army Corps site near Fort Mifflin. The dredge spoils are not contaminated, according to the corps.

The dredging will last into fall and continue between several planned regattas.
More than 500 people showed up for a meet and greet with reindeer on a Berks farm, and, of course, Santa Claus was on hand.
Two of our favourite surprises of 2018 was the release of the Royal Enfield Twins and the emergence of South East Asia as a hotbed of custom bike craftsmanship. So it comes as no surprise to us here at Pipeburn HQ that the two have been combined to produce this stunning creation. With the 2019 Bangkok International Motor Show fast approaching, Royal Enfield approached Thailands Zeus Customs to build them a crowd pleaser on an insanely tight deadline. Head honcho Mooyong answered the call and delivered this stunning 2018 RE Interceptor 650 to award winning success!

Its not every day that you receive a phone call from one of the worlds most prolific motorcycle manufacturers asking you to build them a custom bike. But with little trepidation Mooyong saw it as an acknowledgement of how far his company had come, that word of his builds had reached England. Excited about working with the new 650 twin cylinder model he was asked to come up with some sketches and then wait for approval to come back from the top brass at RE.

When he got the green light there was now only 45 days until the bike had to be delivered to the biggest show in Thailand, but with confidence in his team they relished the chance to do what they know best; build wicked custom machines! After taking delivery of the brand new ceptor in the factory Orange Crush colour scheme, it was quickly on the lift and ready to be torn apart for the fast paced build.

This would be the first chance for the Zeus team to see the chassis up close and personal and really know for sure if their sketched design would work with the real thing. What Royal Enfield had loved most about Mooyongs design was his desire to take the factory fuel tank and integrate it into the tail section as one smooth flowing piece. But this is easier said than done; first each individual metal piece was hand crafted, before being offered up to the frame and then slowly narrowing the gaps.

With the fit spot on, they commenced work and created the ultra smooth transition between the custom metal work and the OE tank. The finished uni-body is a sight to behold, with no obvious changeover point it flows across the frame like liquid metal. Just as has been done for decades at Enfield the gloss black paint is contrasted perfectly with a single unbroken pinstripe hand laid in gold. While the silver Zeus logo is done in a raised finish to give a texture when touched and the RE example placed across the rear.

The bike was now looking a million dollars but the stock stance would have to go and Zeus loves nothing more than to drop a bike to the deck. The front forks were used as a base line, stripped down and rebuilt with lowered springs before being re-painted in black. To ensure the bodywork ran perfectly parallel to the ground the rear shocks were custom ordered and the 340mm units get the look just right. Fully blacked out wheels help improve the new aggressive look and a set of Firestone rubber ensures the old school feel.

This nod to Royal Enfields rich history is expanded upon in the details that the team added to the bike to complete the aesthetic appeal. Starting at the front a small bates headlight has the shell blacked out before being fitted with a brass coloured bezel. With the same treatment given to the Motogadget mst vintage speedo that begins the simplified electronics package. Clip-ons keep the lines low and are fitted up with all the best goodies from the big M for functionality.

But you cant go past that beautiful parallel twin cylinder engine that Royal Enfield spent so long developing to ensure this new model is a blast to ride. Cleaning up the appearance, Zeus removed the factory airbox to leave plenty of negative space under the seat and adapted pod filters to fit. The tiny battery is now well hidden and the lower half of the barrels finished in black to match the build. However its not just the visual senses that are given a treat, the new handcrafted twin pipes with brass end caps ensure that engine plays a merry sound.

With the show date fast approaching it was time to apply the finishing touches, with a small taillight grafted into the rear and tiny indicators to match. The custom made rearsets add more of that old school mechanical feel, while the whole thing is topped off with a two layer, hand stitched, leather seat. The Interceptor 650 that the team have named The Prime was roared into the giant halls of the IMPACT Exhibition Center and despite only having seven weeks to complete the build, Zeus Customs was rightly greeted with rapturous applause!
Giuseppe Caridi Takes Down the 330 EPT Cup for 24,641

April 30, 2019 Milko van Winden

Italys Giuseppe Caridi has taken down the 330 EPT Cup at the 2019 PokerStars and Monte-CarloCasino European Poker Tour (EPT) for 24,641. Day 1b chip leader Vasyl Zabrodskyy ended as runner-up taking 20,000 after a heads up deal. The bronze and 12,400 went to Samvel Grigoryan.

330 EPT Cup Final Table Results

Place Player County Prize in  Prize in $ 1 Giuseppe Caridi Italy 24,641 $27,608 2 Vasyl Zabrodskyy Ukraine 20,000 $22,433 3 Samvel Grigoryan Russia 12,400 $13,908 4 Alexander Orlov Russia 10,110 $11,340 5 Vamshi Vandanapu UKraine 8,060 $9,040 6 Belgacem Aouri France 6,190 $6,943 7 Vardan Zakaryan Armenia 4,510 $5,059 8 Alexandre Moreau France 3,270 $3,668 9 Cedric Boussetta France 2,700 $3,028

330 EPT Cup Day 2 Action

The day started with 26 out of 27 players in their seats. Eventual champion Caridi showed up half an hour late to the tournament.

It only took an hour and 45 minutes for the tournament to go down from 27 players to the unofficial final table of nine. A couple of the players that missed out on the final table included Jia Tang (20th - 1,450), Vittorio Ferrigno (17th - 1,630), and Andrea Schettino (14th  1,810).

Filip Krstic busted the unofficial final table bubble when he put his last ten big blinds in the middle with king-six and got called by eventual third-place finisher Grigoryan with ace-jack. Krstic hit a pair of kings on the turn but Grigoryan rivered a straight and Krstic was eliminated from the tournament in tenth place (2,290.)



Article continues under this promo

It only took another ten minutes for the official final table to be reached. Cedric Boussetta had the dubious honor of finishing in ninth place after he couldnt win a flip with ace-nine against the pocket fours of Alexander Orlov. He cashed for 2,700, and the official final table was reached.

It took a while but the field size reduced to six when Day 1a chip leader Alexandre Moreau (8th - 3,270) and Vardan Zakaryan (7th - 4,510) busted right after each other. Moreau lost a massive pot against the eventual champion Caridi. Moreau called off a big river all-in with trip sevens, but Caridi hit a full house on the river. Both had precisely the same stack, and Caridi didnt look back from that moment on.

Grigoryan busted Belgacem Aouri in sixth for 6,190 and Caridi took down Vamshi Vandanapu in fifth for 8,060.

All of the other players were guaranteed 10,110 from that moment forward, and it was Orlov who took fourth for that amount busting to Caridi. Orlov finished on top in Event #5 550 Pot-Limit Omaha earlier this week for 10,420 and added another five-figure score by finishing fourth in the 330 EPT Cup.

The Italian chip leader had about seventy percent of the chips in play when three-handed play started.

The bronze went to Grigoryan after they played three-handed for just ten minutes. Grigoryan lost with ace-seven against the queen-six of Caridi. Grigoryan hit a seven on the flop, but the Italian had a gut-shot straight draw and could still hit a queen. He hit his straight on the turn, and the river was dealt only as a courtesy. Grigoryan had to settle for third place and 12,400.

Samvel Grigoryan, third for 12,400 ($13,908)

The remaining two players then went on a small five-minute break, and they agreed on a deal when they came back. Zabrodskyy would take 20,000 and Caridi took 24,641 for the victory. No more hands were played; Caridi took the trophy and posed for the winner photo, and that was it.

PokerNews will be in Monte-Carlo to report on the PokerStars EPT until the festival is over. Stay tuned for more EPT Monte Carlo live updates from beautiful Monaco.
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Twelve Democratic Senators on Tuesday urged an investigation into Attorney General William Barrs handling of the Mueller report.

In their letter, a copy of which was sent to PoliticusUSA, they cited  among many ethical and legal issues  Barrs decision not to recuse himself, whether his non-summary summary was misleading, whether his conduct with respect to the report complied with DOJ practices, and whether he has demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue overseeing the 14 criminal matters referred to other components of the DOJ and FBI.

Senators Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CN), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) asked the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Director of the Department of Justices Office of Professional Responsibility Corey Amundson to investigate.

Their letter highlighted the following concerns:

 Whether Attorney General Barrs decision not to recuse himself from overseeing the Special Counsels investigation was proper and consistent with ethical rules and practices within the Department of Justice;

 Whether Attorney General Barrs four-page letter dated March 24, 2019, regarding Special Counsel Muellers report was misleading and whether it was consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

 Whether Attorney General Barrs actions in permitting President Trumps private attorneys to review the entire Special Counsels report at length before sharing the report with Congress, other individuals named in the report, and the public, was appropriate and consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

 Whether Attorney General Barrs press conference on April 18, 2019, regarding Special Counsel Muellers report, which took place well before he released a redacted version of the report, was misleading and consistent with Department of Justice policies and practices;

 Whether Attorney General Barr has demonstrated sufficient impartiality to continue overseeing the ongoing matters related to the Special Counsels investigation referenced in Appendix D of the Special Counsels report;

 Whether Attorney General Barr took any steps related to the transfers and referrals listed in Appendix D of the report that were contrary to the advice of career prosecutors at the Justice Department or the Departments policies; and

 Whether any of Attorney General Barrs other actions or statements call into question his impartiality such that they warrant his recusal from particular matters or are relevant to the Senate Judiciary Committees oversight into the Department of Justice.

William Barr was handpicked by President Donald Trump precisely due to his audition letter in which he laid bare his contempt for Muellers report.

Trump roundly fired then Attorney General Jeff Sessions for no real reason, and replaced him with Barr, whose ethics and conduct have long signaled a willingness to cover for a president.

Barr then proceeded to issue a summary of the Mueller report that was misleading at best, and later when busted on this fact, Barr claimed that his summary wasnt actually meant as a summary at all.

What point was there to his summary then? Barrs non-summary summary was meant to give the president the headlines he needed to convince his base and those Americans who dont play close attention to the news that he had been exonerated of collusion and that Mueller had left it to Barr to determine if there were enough evidence of obstruction, and Barr concluded there was not.

In fact, even the redacted Mueller report does not exonerate Trump of collusion and it outlines a possible case for obstruction of justice against the President of the United States.

The redacted Mueller report actually presents a strong evidence that Trump campaign collusion with the Russians occurred.

That evidence may or may not rise to the level of being able to be prosecuted, which is common in conspiracy cases, because the President used intermediaries, his campaign deleted evidence, and he and others refused to cooperate and lied to prosecutors.

That is the opposite of being exonerated.

William Barr is supposed to serve the people of the United States. That is his job. Instead, he has served as a cover-up artist for Donald Trump.

William Barr should be impeached, and an investigation into his shameful conduct is beyond necessary.

Where are the Republican Senators, you might ask. They are in full cover-up mode for Donald Trump, spitting on their country and their oath to their country and her citizens.
By Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON (Reuters)  The University of Cambridge will conduct a two-year academic study of how much it benefited from the Atlantic slave trade and whether its scholarship reinforced race-based thinking during Britains colonial era.

In the biggest deportation in known history, weapons and gunpowder from Europe were swapped for millions of African slaves who were then shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas. Ships returned to Europe with sugar, cotton and tobacco.

Around 17 million African men, women and children were torn from their homes and shackled into one of the worlds most brutal globalized trades between the 15th and 19th centuries. Many died in merciless conditions.

Those who survived endured a life of subjugation on sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations. Britain abolished the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 1807 although the full abolition of slavery did not follow for another generation.

Martin Millett, the chairman of the eight-member advisory group overseeing the Cambridge study, said it was unclear what the investigation might turn up but that it was reasonable to assume that Cambridge had benefited from the slave trade.

It is reasonable to assume that, like many large British institutions during the colonial era, the University will have benefited directly or indirectly from, and contributed to, the practices of the time, said Millett, a professor of archaeology who specializes in Roman Britain.

The benefits may have been financial or through other gifts. But the panel is just as interested in the way scholars at the University helped shape public and political opinion, supporting, reinforcing and sometimes contesting racial attitudes which are repugnant in the 21st Century.

The inquiry will be conducted by two full-time post-doctoral researchers based in the Center of African Studies. The research will examine specific gifts, bequests and historical connections with the slave trade.

It is unclear what action Cambridge will take if it does find that it benefited from slavery or validated it.

We cannot change the past, but nor should we seek to hide from it, said Stephen Toope, vice chancellor of Cambridge.

SINS FROM THE PAST?

Some of Europe and Americas top seats of learning have been grappling with their pasts and the provenance of some of their wealth, sometimes uncovering links to slave traders or to empire builders who were feted in a different age.

Joanna Burch-Brown, a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Bristol, said it was fantastic that Cambridge was delving into its past and looking at its intellectual contribution to slavery.

We cant understand where we are today unless we understand this history, said Burch-Brown, who works on issues of contested heritage and public memory of slavery and colonialism. Equally important is for the university to follow up with concrete measures.

Reparative measures should address root causes of contemporary inequalities, and shouldnt only benefit the most well-off, she said.

An American who did her PhD at Cambridge, Burch-Brown said voices from African heritage communities should be central in the debate. The University of Bristol estimates about 85 percent of the wealth used to found it depended on the labor of slaves.

In the United States, southern campuses have been rocked by arguments over the confederate flag.

Yale in 2017 renamed its Calhoun College after protesters said the Ivy League school should drop the honor it gave to an alumnus who was a prominent advocate of U.S. slavery. It is now called Grace Hopper College after the computer scientist.

In Britain, Oxford has been ensnared in a debate over whether to remove a statue of 19th century colonialist Cecil Rhodes from one of the universitys colleges.

Last year, Glasgow University said it would launch a program of reparative justice after discovering it gained up to 200 million pounds ($260 million) in todays money from historical slavery.

But opponents say such inquiries are driven by a modern fashion for picking over historical injustices, often lack nuance and, if applied broadly, would place under question almost every aspect of the early history of such ancient institutions.

Gill Evans, emeritus professor of medieval theology and intellectual history at Cambridge University, said that given the current climate of anti-colonialism, examining historic links with colonialism is one of the things every university now feels they have to do.

Culpability isnt transferable from age to age without some nuancing, Evans told the Daily Telegraph.

Cambridge, one of the worlds oldest universities, traces its history through more than 800 years of history to 1209 when scholars from Oxford, which traces its history back to 1096, took refuge in the city.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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By Mica Rosenberg

(Reuters)  Grappling with a ballooning number of mostly Central American families seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump has suggested increasingly bold steps to limit protections for this group and stem their entry into the United States.

Yet many of his administrations ideas have been hindered by legal, practical and political obstacles.

Increasingly frustrated, Trump on Monday issued a presidential memorandum directing officials to make it harder for asylum seekers to apply for work permits and to charge them application fees  drawing immediate fire from the United Nations.

The proposals face a potentially lengthy regulatory review and once rules are issued they may be subject to legal challenges. Many asylum protections are codified in U.S. and international law.

Meanwhile, the flow of migrants continues to swell. In March, the monthly number of people apprehended and deemed inadmissable at the U.S.-Mexico border surged to more than 100,000, the highest level in more than a decade.

Migration is largely driven by poverty, corruption, crime and other factors in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador where the bulk of people are coming from.

Some examples of administration proposals or policies that have run or may run into trouble:

INCREASE BARRIERS FOR ASYLUM APPLICATIONS

Mondays presidential memorandum directed the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to introduce new regulations tightening asylum policy within 90 days.

In addition to setting a fee for asylum applications, which are currently free to file, the memo ordered officials to issue rules to ensure claims are adjudicated in immigration court within six months. That provision already exists in U.S. law but has been hampered because of a crushing backlog of more than 800,000 immigration court cases.

The president of the immigration judges union said the goal is not feasible without a significant increase in resources for the courts.

DETAIN ASYLUM SEEKERS INDEFINITELY

U.S. Attorney General William Barr recently issued a ruling that allows asylum seekers who cross the border illegally to be held without bond as they challenge their deportation  a decision affecting perhaps tens of thousands of migrants.. It was the latest move by top justice officials seeking to reshape legal precedent in the countrys U.S. immigration courts.

Rights groups have already threatened to sue over the measure  which goes into effect in 90 days  and as a practical matter, additional detention space would be needed, requiring funding from Congress. Until that happens, many migrants are likely to continue to be released with an order to appear in court.

BAR GANG AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS

Before leaving office, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions intervened in an immigration case to overturn asylum protections for a domestic abuse survivor. His opinion sought to narrow protections for migrants fleeing sexual and gang violence perpetrated by private actors.

In December, however, a Washington D.C. District court judge struck down the policy change and ordered the government to bring back six deported asylum seekers who sued the administration seeking reconsideration.

PREVENT ASYLUM BETWEEN PORTS OF ENTRY

In November, Trump issued an order that would prevent migrants who cross between official U.S. ports of entry from applying for asylum. The administration has implemented a policy of metering how many applications can be processed at legal border crossings. Advocates say that has pushed more large groups into the hands of smugglers who drop them off at illegal entry points with instructions to turn themselves into border agents.

Migrant rights groups rushed to court to block the policy and a San Francisco-based federal judge temporarily halted it the same month it was issued. [L2N1XU14R] The U.S. Supreme Court declined to immediately overturn that ruling.

MAKE ASYLUM SEEKERS WAIT IN MEXICO

One of the boldest proposals by the Trump administration has been to tap a little-used clause in immigration law to send hundreds of asylum seekers back to often dangerous border towns in Mexico to wait months  or potentially years  for their cases to be resolved in U.S. courts.

Local Mexican officials say their towns already are overwhelmed with migrants who have nowhere to live and few job prospects, while immigration advocates say those who are stuck in Mexico often have trouble finding lawyers and receiving proper notice for their U.S. hearings.

A federal judge ordered a halt to the policy but an appellate court said it could continue while the administration appeals. Since the policy went into effect in late January through April 22, nearly 2,000 Central Americans have been returned to Mexico to await their hearings, according to Mexican immigration officials. Many remain there with their status in limbo.

(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York; Additional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Yeganeh Torbati in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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Democratic. Rep. Maxine Waters, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee, said on Tuesday that attorney general William Barr should resign or get ready to face impeachment.

The congresswomans comments come after it was revealed that special counsel Robert Mueller complained to Barr last month about his misleading portrayal of the Russia report.

I think that Barr should resign, Waters said. And if he does not resign, he should be facing impeachment proceedings.

Video:

Rep. Waters said:

I think that Barr should resign. And if he does not resign, he should be facing impeachment proceedings also. He has abdicated on his responsibility. He has lied. He has used the very words coming right out of the presidents mouth: no collusion, no collusion, no collusion, and made a decision that despite what the special counsel put into that report about obstruction of justice, he said he made the decision that he had not obstructed justice. It is outrageous, and he needs to go.

Bill Barr has put a stain on the Justice Department

Muellers letter to Barr confirms what most of us have known for over a month: The attorney general isnt concerned about the rule of law. He only cares about acting as a political shield for Donald Trump.

The fact that this letter from Mueller was leaked publicly the day before Barrs testimony before the Senate speaks volumes about how frustrated the special counsel was and likely still is about the attorney general intentionally lying to the American public for weeks about the Russia report.

Bill Barr has forever tarnished his own reputation and put a stain on the Department of Justice. If he doesnt resign, Democrats in Congress should move to impeach him.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters)  Special Counsel Robert Mueller complained in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that his four-page summary of Muellers Russia report did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of the investigations conclusions, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The Post said it reviewed a copy of Muellers letter, which was written in late March after Barr released a summary on March 24 that said Mueller did not establish that members of President Donald Trumps campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election.

Barr also said in the summary that Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had found the evidence insufficient to support such a charge.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, in a statement, confirmed that Mueller wrote to Barr after the summary was released to express frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage, particularly about Muellers conclusions on obstruction of justice.

Democrats have accused Barr of trying to spin the reports conclusions to protect Trump.

In a statement in response to the Post report, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Barr should not have taken it upon himself to describe the Special Counsels findings in a light more favorable to the President. The Democratic lawmaker demanded the Justice Department release a copy of Muellers letter by Wednesday morning.

Barrs four-page summary was released more than three weeks before a redacted version of Muellers 448-page report was released to the public on April 18.

The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions, Mueller wrote, according to the Post.

There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations, the Post quoted Mueller as writing.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment to Reuters.

Mueller asked Barr to release the reports introductions and executive summaries quickly, without waiting for the full report to go through the redaction process.

Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation, Mueller wrote, according to the Post.

Kupec said after receiving Muellers letter, Barr called the special counsel and they had a cordial and professional conversation.

Kupec said the Special Counsel emphasized nothing in the Attorney Generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading.

She said Barr declined Muellers request to release part of the report early, deciding it would not be productive to release the report in piecemeal fashion.

Muellers letter is likely to be brought up when Barr testifies on Wednesday about the Russia investigation before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will be the attorney generals first appearance on Capitol Hill since the reports release.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Karen Freifeld; Editing by David Alexander and Peter Cooney)
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Following the release of attorney general William Barrs four-page memo last month, special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly wrote a letter to the attorney general saying the summary didnt accurately capture the substance of the special counsel report.

According to The Washington Post, not only did Mueller express his concerns in a letter, but he followed it up with a phone call to Barr in which he told the attorney general to release the summaries his team had prepared specifically for public view.

Muellers letter to the attorney general reportedly shocked senior Justice Department officials.

More from the bombshell report:

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III wrote a letter in late March complaining to Attorney General William P. Barr that a four-page memo to Congress describing the principal conclusions of the investigation into President Trump did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of Muellers work, according to a copy of the letter reviewed Tuesday by The Washington Post.  Days after Barrs announcement, Mueller wrote a previously unknown private letter to the Justice Department, which revealed a degree of dissatisfaction with the public discussion of Muellers work that shocked senior Justice Department officials, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Washington Post reporter Robert Costa explained more on MSNBCs Hardball on Tuesday:

Following the release of William Barrs four-page summary, Robert Mueller wrote the AG a letter saying he failed to accurately capture the substance of the two-year investigation. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/KiBdUh6ubg  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 30, 2019

Costa reported:

My colleagues at The Washington Post, our team that covers the Department of Justice, are reporting tonight that in that period between when the attorney general released his summary of Mr. Muellers findings and the release of the full report by the attorney general, the special counsel Robert Mueller sent a letter to the attorney general expressing his dissatisfaction with the way the Justice Department, and in particular the AG, handled his own report.

Muellers letter confirms the cover-up

The fact that Mueller immediately reached out to William Barr confirms that the attorney general was working on behalf of Donald Trump to cover up the true contents of the special counsel report.

The reporting also clarifies why Barr is so reluctant to testify before Congress again: He has been caught red-handed putting Trump over the rule of law. He knowingly misled the public on the report in order to shield his boss from political damage.

The attorney general may have given Trump four weeks to get in front of the Mueller report  which turned out to be a damning document  but the cover-up has officially been exposed.

8:24 PM Edit: This article was edited to correct Robert Costas name from Jim Acosta.

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Actress and activist Patricia Arquette argued for the ERA on Tuesday during a House hearing, saying women do not have equal protection under the law and laying bare with chilling examples how women today are often treated as sub-humans in America and do not have the same value as men.

So lets look at the treatment of women in America today. These are present day truths, these are not antiquated horrors we have to search for in history books, Arquette said, before presenting facts that should shame the so-called land of the free.

Watch here:

#ERANow #ERAHearing #DropTheDeadline Wife and I are watching @PattyArquette's need for the #ERA opening satement in front of Congress again, because it's just that good As for me, I believe real men don't fear equality, they demand itpic.twitter.com/w8JSGcYvod  Shawn In Az  (@ShawnInArizona) April 30, 2019

Patricia Arquette argued for the ERA on Tuesday, saying: Women have waited 232 years to be enshrined as full and equal citizens. Why, because in 1787, women were left out of the Constitution intentionally.

I am here to appeal to you to remove the 1982 deadline placed on Congress for the ratification of the ERA.

The ERA was approved in 1972, but was not ratified by the 38 states necessary. Women are not specifically guaranteed equal rights under the Constitution.

Theres a groundswell in this country, women are being elected in record numbers, women are rising up by the millions and saying they will not be sexually assaulted, they will not be paid less, they will not be treated as sub-human, and they will have their voices heard.

Arquette made the point that people use the 14th amendment to suggest women already have Constitutional protections, but recent (now passed) Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia interpreted the Constitution thusly, Certainly the Constitution doesnt require discrimination on the basis of sex. The question is whether it prohibits it. It doesnt.

This is how a recent Supreme Court Justice interpreted womens rights in the Constitution Womens protection cannot be left to interpretation alone, Arquette argued passionately.

Then, she laid it down.

So lets look at the treatment of women in America today. These are present day truths, these are not antiquated horrors we have to search for in history books.

In America, in 2019, there are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of untested, evidentiary rape kits across the nation. Only half our states mandate the timely testing of evidence contained in these rape kits.

Many victims are being billed for the collection of their own forensic evidence Even though its estimated that one quarter of all women in America will be raped in their lifetime.

In some states in America today, women can be forced to co-parent with their convicted rapist.

We have the only rising mortality rate in the developed world, American women, esp African American, Latina and Native American women, are dying of pregnancy related complications here in the wealthiest country on earth.

Four million women over 65 are living in poverty.

These are just a few examples of how systemic bias against women is expressed in America.

Why? Because women dont have the same value as men in America.

We are lucky to have such devoted activists as Arquette and Alyssa Milano, both of whom jeopardize their own careers and reputation every time they speak out.

An average of three women a day die in this country due to intimate partner violence. Do we think a mostly male system would allow women to run around killing men at this rate whenever they became impassioned? Obviously not, since even women who are defending themselves from systemic violence often serve more time in jail than their abusers:

Overall, a white female defendant who killed a white person could expect an average sentence of 10-30 years; however, if the woman was a victim of domestic violence her predicted sentence was life.

Let that sink in. We punish women for defending their own lives, and this is while the NRA/GOP legislators tells women to get a gun to defend themselves.

According to this above linked reference to a study conducted by the Michigan Womens Justice & Clemency Project (see Hastings Womens Law Journal, 2007), These domestic violence victims had higher conviction rates (78%) and longer sentences than all others charged with homicide, including those with previous violent criminal records (62%). African-American women were convicted at a higher rate (80%) than all others (62%) of all others.

Estimates range between 40-80% of women convicted of murder acted in self-defense against their abusers. Male aggression is evident in almost all homicides, even when women are the ultimate offenders. Unlike men, most women who kill do not have criminal histories. Women serving time for Murder I or II or Voluntary Manslaughter comprise about 10-15% of women in prison. One-third of murdered women are killed by male partners; only 4% of men are murdered by female partners.

Thats not equality under the law by any stretch of the imagination.

Representative Steve Cohen added some Trump shade to Tuesdays ERA hearing, Just to channel the President: Justice Ginsburg, if youre listening, get us the ERA.

The #NotoriousRBG once said that if she could add any amendment to the Constitution it would be the ERA. She said, I would like my granddaughters, when they pick up the Constitution, to see that notion  that women and men are persons of equal stature" #ERANow #ERAHearing pic.twitter.com/1QAOqTAFwH  Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) April 30, 2019

Yes, please. Get us the ERA. Its an emergency.
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Rachel Maddow tore into William Barr on Tuesday following the bombshell news that he essentially ignored Robert Muellers concerns about his misleading four-page summary of the Russia report.

According to the MSNBC host, Muellers letter  which was sent to Barr around March 27  is essentially proof that the attorney general lied under oath on April 10 when he testified that he didnt know how Mueller felt about his summary of the special counsels findings.

If Mueller called Barr and wrote Barr a letter right after Barr put out his supposed summary of what Mueller found  why is it that a few weeks later, April 10th, Barr testified under oath in the U.S. Senate that he had no idea whether or not Mueller  had any objections whatsoever with how Barr had handled his findings? Maddow asked.

Video:

Rachel Maddow says Muellers letter shows that Barr wasnt being honest in his testimony to Congress. #ctl #p2 #maddow pic.twitter.com/Rrbtv0b5UZ  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) May 1, 2019

Maddow said:

If this is, in fact, what happened, if Mueller called Barr and wrote Barr a letter right after Barr put out his supposed summary of what Mueller found and said, hey, you are getting it wrong, that is not what we found at all. If we cant trust you to accurately summarize our materials, then put out our own materials. Heres the summary. Theyre redacted for public view. Send these out. If that conversation happened, both in writing and then on the phone between Mueller and Barr, on or about the 27th of March, why is it that a few weeks later, April 10th, Barr testified under oath in the U.S. Senate that he had no idea whether or not Mueller had any problem whatsoever, whether he had any objections whatsoever with how Barr had handled his findings?

Muellers letter shows Bill Barr committed perjury

There is no other way to put this: William Barr lied under oath when he testified that he didnt know how Mueller felt about his handling of the Russia report. He committed perjury.

Here is Barr saying on April 10 that he had no idea whether special counsel Bob Mueller supported his conclusions laid out in his four-page summary, even though Mueller had clearly voiced his disapproval two weeks earlier.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen: Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion? Attorney General William Barr: I dont know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion https://t.co/iGzcVqdti6 pic.twitter.com/trHEkabenA  CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) April 10, 2019

As historian Michael Beschloss pointed out on Tuesday, Richard Nixons attorney general, John Mitchell, was convicted and went to prison for perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Its time for William Barr to face the consequences for his disturbingly similar behavior.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters)  The Trump administration does not have any active plans to provide more aid to farmers at the moment but can consider the option if the trade negotiations and weak commodity prices linger, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said on Tuesday.

We have been very clear to the agriculture community that we did not anticipate nor should they anticipate a 2019 Market Facilitation Program, Perdue told reporters, referring to nearly $12 billion in aid the administration rolled out to farmers last year to compensate for their losses from U.S. trade conflicts with other countries.

On Monday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the administration was ready to provide more aid if necessary. But Perdue said he was not aware of any such plans at the moment.

As these trade negotiations go longer and prices remain low, we will look at that as we go forward, he said. But we dont want to raise expectations that anythings under consideration at this point, he added.

A constituency that helped carry Republican President Donald Trump to victory in 2016, U.S. farmers have been among the hardest hit from his trade policies that led to tariffs with key trading partners such as China, Canada and Mexico.

While farmers have largely remained supportive of Trump, many have called for an imminent end to trade disputes, which helped propel farm debt to the highest levels in decades and worsened credit conditions for the rural economy.

Beijing imposed tariffs last year on imports of U.S. agricultural goods, including soybeans, grain sorghum and pork as retribution for U.S. levies. Soybean exports to China have plummeted over 90 percent and sales of U.S. soybeans elsewhere failed to make up for the loss.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had previously ruled out a new round of aid for 2019. As of March, more than $8 billion was paid out as part of last years program. On Monday, the department said it had extended the deadline to apply to May 17.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Tom Brown)
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Trump responded to the violence and crisis in Venezuela by threatening Cuba with a US embargo that already exists.

Trump calls for an embargo against Cuba

Trump tweeted, even though Venezuela has no Internet:

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

.embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba. Hopefully, all Cuban soldiers will promptly and peacefully return to their island!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

The US embargo of Cuba has been in place since 1958

The US has had an embargo in place against Cuba since March of 1958. A self-described student of history like Donald Trump should already know this. A president cant make policy when they dont know what policies already exist. Trump has no clue what the policies that he is supposed to be running are.

Im sure that the Cubans will be scared out of their wits to know that that Trump is going to put in place an embargo that has existed for more than sixty years. Trump

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

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By Greg Lacour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters)  Two people were killed and four others wounded, three critically, in a shooting on Tuesday at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, officials said.

Police said one suspect, who some local media reported was a student at the school, was taken into custody following the rampage on the last day of classes for the academic year. Final exams were scheduled for next week.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department spokeswoman Sandy DElosua said the individual who was arrested was believed to have acted alone.

Television station WBTV in Charlotte reported that gunfire erupted about 5:45 p.m. (2145 GMT) near the universitys Kennedy Hall administrative building, and that one person had been arrested.

We are in shock to learn of an active shooter situation on the campus of UNC Charlotte. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said on Twitter.

Susan Harden, a professor of education on campus since 2011 who also serves on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, expressed disbelief at the gun violence.

This is a day at the end of the semester, when students are doing performances, presentations  this is just the worst thing, said Harden said at the police staging area. Our campus is so safe. So safe. Ive never felt unsafe on our campus. Im heartbroken.

She added, Ive got a student whos barricaded in her dorm right now.

Mecklenburg Emergency Management Services, an independent agency that handles emergency services for the county, confirmed on Twitter that two people were dead on the scene and that four others were taken to a hospital, two of them with life-threatening injuries.

A spokesman, Lester Oliva, also confirmed the casualty toll.

Absolutely heartbroken to learn of the two deaths at UNC-Charlotte. Details still unfolding, but prayers with those receiving medical care right now, U.S. Representative Mark Walker, a Republican from North Carolina, said on Twitter.

WSOC-TV reported that the shooter was a student at the university.

The suspect was not immediately identified by police, who set up a media staging area near the school.

Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately, the university said on Twitter shortly before 6 p.m. The school said later on its website the campus was on lockdown and that students and staff should remain in a safe location.

Video footage aired on local television and posted to social media showed scenes  increasingly familiar with the rise of school gun violence in the United States  of students evacuating campus buildings with their hands raised as police officers ran past them toward the scene of the shooting.

A spokeswoman for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department confirmed there had been an active shooter at the university but declined to give any further information.

According to its website, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte enrolls more than 26,500 students and employees 3,000 faculty and staff.

The deadliest mass shooting on a campus of higher education in the United States took place at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, on April 16, 2007, when a South Korean student killed 32 people in a shooting rampage, before killing himself.

(Reporting by Greg Lacour; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish, Peter Cooney and Cynthia Osterman)
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As Republican and hand-picked to handle the Mueller report Attorney General Bill Barr testifies Wednesday and Thursday (if he even shows up to the Democratic-led hearing on Thursday) about his mishandling of the Mueller report, including deceptive claims about its conclusions and lies to the Senate about his knowledge of Muellers thoughts on his misleading summary, remember that Barr claimed there was no evidence of collusion and not enough evidence for obstruction of justice.

And yet, the Trump team had a total of 251 contacts with Russia-linked operatives and at least 37 meetings, none of which were reported to the authorities, according to a new exhaustive report by the Moscow Project.

36 of these contacts, including 3 meetings, were with individuals alleged to have links to Russian intelligence, they pointed out.

The Moscow Project included Skype calls as meetings.

Additionally and exceptionally troubling is that 88 of those contacts, including 13 meetings, were held after Trump received his first intelligence briefing as a presidential candidate on August 17, 2016, when he was specifically warned about Russian attempts to infiltrate his campaign.

The Moscow Project has complied those meetings from various sources. 251 unreported contacts is not an accident. See the full list here or at the link above:

The Moscow Project is an initiative of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

The redacted Mueller report detailed in unflattering detail how President Donald Trump tried to impede the probe, raising questions about whether he committed the crime of obstruction of justice.

The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the Presidents corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law, the Mueller report stated.

The redacted Mueller report revealed numerous links between the Russian government and Trumps campaign and wrote that Trumps campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.

Indeed, Ryan Goodman, an expert, studied Part I of the report and concluded that it actually identifies strong evidence of collusion between Trump and Russians.

This is the truth that Barr lied to cover up, and todays Republican led-hearing will no doubt barely touch on this national security emergency. If it goes like any of their other hearings on this matter, they will pivot to preening outrage over leakers and call for an investigation into the investigators instead of allowing the public to realize that their president is very clearly compromised at the very least, and is not a legitimately elected president.

To admit that Donald Trump got into office by accepting help from a hostile foreign power, which he did, and was actively involved over numerous contacts with that power, would be to admit that also there are down-ticket elections of Republicans that were assisted by Putin.

That is to say, there are Republicans in the Senate and House who might not be there were it not for Russias help of Donald Trump. So naturally they arent interested in pulling the curtain back on the little man behind the ridiculous, clearly unfit person occupying the White House.

The Republican-led cover-up has permeated the entire party, turning a once patriotic party that stood for national security into the biggest national security threat facing this nation.
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By Sharon Bernstein

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)  Democratic presidential hopeful John Hickenlooper, a two-time former governor of Colorado, called on Friday for beefing up U.S. anti-trust laws, part of a business-friendly yet progressive agenda he hopes will set him apart among 20 candidates seeking the partys presidential nomination.

His plan, first reported by Reuters, could challenge the dominance of such companies as Amazon.com and Google.

Capitalism is based upon competition, Hickenlooper, who made his fortune as a small-business owner, said in a wide-ranging interview. I think we should be aggressively looking at everything we can do to make sure we have more competitive landscapes.

Citing the dominance not only of the big tech companies but of hardware store chains and heavy-handed franchisers, Hickenlooper in his first detailed economic policy proposal said as president he would push for laws limiting such practices as non-compete agreements for employees, and would increase enforcement of laws meant to rein in monopolistic practices.

He called for better data on corporate dominance, and said his administration would more closely examine proposed mergers, possibly unwinding mergers that had already taken place.

Hickenlooper is not the first Democratic candidate to make the dominance of the big tech companies a campaign issue. Senator Elizabeth Warren last month vowed to break up Amazon, Google and Facebook if she is elected president.

Hickenlooper announced his proposal amid a sweep of fundraisers and speeches in Western states, as he seeks to survive in a field dominated by better-known candidates including former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders.

On Friday, he attended a fundraising breakfast in Silicon Valley before driving to nearby San Francisco for an appearance before a lunchtime crowd at the citys Commonwealth Club.

NO CALL FOR IMPEACHMENT

Hickenlooper blasted the Trump campaigns interactions with Russian operatives during the 2016 campaign, but stopped short of calling for Democrats, who hold a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, to impeach him.

On healthcare, Hickenlooper called for universal coverage and a so-called public option, under which Americans could opt to receive care from a government program or maintain private coverage, rather than moving immediately to the Medicare-for-All system that many progressives, including Sanders, have embraced. Medicare-for-All would shift all Americans into a Medicare-based, single-payer healthcare plan.

Eventually, Hickenlooper said, consumers might all move to Medicare, but a plan would be more likely to pass in Congress offering the more incremental step first.

A former entrepreneur who reinvented himself as a bar and restaurant owner after a job layoff, Hickenlooper styles himself as an outsider to Washington politics who brought environmentalists and oil company executives to the table to craft energy policy, and presided over his states pioneering but complicated transition to legalized marijuana.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday, Hickenlooper was among several Democratic hopefuls who fell near the bottom of the pack in terms of name recognition. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who had not yet declared his run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination when the poll was conducted, led all other candidates.
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California Senator Dianne Feinstein, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, set herself apart from her clownish, if not traitorous Republican colleagues on Wednesday, when she demanded a direct hearing with Special Counsel Robert Mueller to clear up discrepancies between Attorney General William Barrs letter to Congress and the redacted Mueller report.

Republican Lindsey Graham led the proceedings, which were supposed to be about William Barrs mishandling of the Mueller report and anything else related to the Trump Russia probe, like oh, gee, that Barr completely misled the American people and Congress and indeed Russia helped Trump win and Trump was open to the help, by tapping to the deflection dance in Republican razzle dazzle style.

This involved Graham whining about an FBI agent who wrote disparaging things in his private text messages about then candidate Trump and Hillary Clintons emails (no, literally) and lied 19 times in 12 minutes in a desperate effort to defend the person Russia helped take over the Oval Office.

MSNBC had to cut away from Graham speaking due to his valiant efforts to surpass the presidents pace when it comes to lying.

Republicans cant stop Democratic Senators from talking (yet), and so Feinstein set about putting on the record her demand to hear from the source himself, Robert Mueller. Feinstein laid out the timeline of Barrs deception to make her case for the need to hear from Mueller directly (we should be hearing from Mueller directly anyway, but Republicans have, in deed if not actually, sold their souls to the Russian devil).

Watch here:

On March 24, you sent a letter to Chairman Graham and the ranking member of this committee providing your summary of the principal conclusions set out in Special Counsel Muellers report. This letter was widely reported as a win for the president and was characterized as confirming there was no collusion.

Following this letter, the White House put out a statement declaring, the special counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction and that the report was a total and complete exoneration of the president.

However, last night, the Washington Post reported that Special Counsel Mueller sent you a letter in late March where he said your letter to Congress failed to fully capture the context, nature, and substance of [his] offices work and conclusions and that he spoke with you about the concern that the letter threatened to undermine the public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

Then, on April 18, you held a press conference where you announced repeatedly that the Mueller report found no collusion and no evidence of a crime.

An hour later, a redacted copy of the Mueller report was provided to the public and the Congress, and we saw why Mueller was concerned. Contrary to the declarations of the total and complete exoneration, the special counsels report contains substantial evidence of misconduct.

First, Special Counsel Muellers report confirms that the Russian government implemented a social media campaign to mislead millions of Americans and that Russian intelligence services hacked into the DNC and DCCC computers, stole emails and memos, and systematically released them to impact the presidential election.

Your March letter stated that there was no evidence that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia. However the report outlined substantial evidence that the Trump campaign welcomed, encouraged and expected to benefit electorally from Russias interference in the election.

The Mueller report also details how, time and time again, the Trump campaign took steps to gain advantage from Russias unlawful interference. For example, President Trumps campaign manager, Paul Manafort, passed internal campaign polling data, messaging and strategy updates to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national with ties to Russian intelligence.

The Mueller report explains how Paul Manafort briefed Kiliminik in early August 2016 on the state of the Trump Campaign and Manaforts plan to win the election, including the campaigns focus on the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.

Next, the Mueller report documents the Trump campaigns communications regarding Secretary Clintons and the DNCs stolen emails. Specifically, the report states within approximately five hours of President Trump calling on Russia to find Secretary Clintons emails, Russian intelligence agency (GRU) officers targeted for the first time Clintons personal office.

The Mueller report also reveals that President Trump repeatedly asked individuals affiliated with his campaign, including Michael Flynn, to find the deleted Clinton emails. These efforts included suggestions to contact foreign intelligence services, Russian hackers and individuals on the dark web.

The report confirms that Trump knew of WikiLeaks releases of the stolen emails and received status updates about upcoming releases while his campaign promoted coverage of the leaks. Donald Trump Jr. communicated directly with WikiLeaks and, at its request, publicly tweeted a link to emails stolen from Clintons campaign manager.

Second, in your March letter to Congress you concluded that the evidence  is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.

However, Special Counsel Mueller methodically outlines 10 episodes  some containing multiple actions  by the president to mislead the American people and interfere with the investigations into Russian interference and obstruction.

In one example, the president repeatedly called White House Counsel Don McGahn at home and directed him to fire Mueller, saying Mueller has to go and call me back when you do it. Then later the president repeatedly ordered McGahn to release a press statement and write a letter saying the president did not order Mueller fired.

The Mueller report also outlines efforts by President Trump to influence witness testimony and deter cooperation with law enforcement. For example, the presidents team communicated to witnesses that pardons would be available if they stayed on message and remained on the team.

In one case, the president sent messages through his personal lawyers to Paul Manafort that he would be taken care of and just sit tight. The president then publicly affirmed this communication by stating that Manafort was a brave man for refusing to break.

Similarly, the Mueller report stated the president used inducements in the form of positive messages in an effort to get [Michael] Cohen not to cooperate, and then turned to attacks and intimidation to deter the provision of information or undermine Cohens credibility.

Finally, while the March letter to Congress and the April press conference left the impression there were no remaining questions to examine, this report notes several limitations Mueller faced while gathering the facts that Congress needed to examine.

More than once, the report documents that legal conclusions were not drawn because witnesses refused to answer questions or failed to recall the events.

In addition, numerous witnesses  including but not limited to Jared Kushner, Sarah Sanders, Rudolph Guiliani, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon and John Kelly  all stated they could not recall events. The president himself said more than 30 times that he could not recall or remember enough to be able to answer written questions from the special counsel.

The special counsel also recounted that some associated with the Trump campaign deleted relevant communications or communicated during the relevant period using applications that featured encryption or do not provide for long-term retention of data.

Based on these gaps, the Mueller report concluded, the office cannot rule out the possibility that the unavailable information would shed additional light on (or cast in a new light) the events described in the report.

And contrary to the conclusion that the special counsels report did not find evidence of communication or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, the Mueller report explicitly states, A statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts. Volume two, page two.

Let me conclude with this: Congress has both the constitutional duty and the authority to investigate the serious findings contained in the Mueller report.

I strongly believe that this committee needs to hear directly from Special Counsel Mueller about his views on the report and his March letter.

I also believe senators should have the opportunity to ask him about these subjects in questions directly. I have requested this to our chairman, to authorize a hearing with Special Counsel Mueller, and I hope that will happen soon.

Mueller will already be testifying directly in the House, which he agreed to today, because of course Democrats control the House and they seem to have an affinity for the United States over Russia, unlike their colleagues on the other side of the aisle  a fact even Republican James Comey called out today.

These hearings are necessary because Barr must be impeached. But of course, Republicans lead the Senate and they are not prone to stand with their country, not even on the line. Theyre firmly planted in traitor territory, defending Donald Trump over their own country.
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In late March, Special Counsel Robert Mueller pushed newly handpicked Attorney General William Barr *twice* to release the summaries his investigative team prepared for the public, both before and after Barr misled the public about the teams conclusions, according to a letter released Wednesday.

Not once, but twice.

On March 27, Mueller warned Barr that the summaries that were already prepared to be released shouldnt have been delayed and the release of them as requested would be in accordance with the standard for public release of notifications to Congress (emphasis mine), While we understand that the Department is reviewing the full report to determine what is appropriate for public release  a process that our Office is working with you to complete  that process need not delay release of the enclosed materials. Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation. It would also accord with the standard for public release of notifications to Congress cited in your letter.

On March 25th, Mueller wrote to Barr, I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time.

The summaries were not released.

In fact, Barr told the public that Mueller had left it him to decide. That is a flat out lie.

Mueller also asked the DOJ to include their summaries *before* Barr released his own non-summary summary:

As we stated in our meeting of March 5 and reiterated to the Department early in the afternoon of March 24, the introductions and executive summaries of our two-volume report accurately summarize this Offices work and conclusions, Mueller wrote in the March 27th letter.

It continues, The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Offices work and conclusions. We communicated that concern to the Department on the morning of March 25.

I previously sent you a letter dated March 25, 2019, that enclosed the introduction and executive summary for each volume of the Special Counsels report marked with redactions to remove any information that potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e); that concerned declination decisions; or that related to a charged case. We also had marked an additional two sentences for review and have now confirmed that these sentences can be released publicly.

Accordingly, the enclosed documents are in a form that can be released to the public consistent with legal requirements and Department policies. I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time.

So William Barr, who was chosen for the job after President Trump inexplicably fired then Attorney General Jeff Sessions, not only refused to do as Mueller asked, but then lied to the Senate about whether or not Mueller supported his conclusion.

Flashback: April 10. VAN HOLLEN: Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion? BARR: I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion. pic.twitter.com/vmwkmw3bcj  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 1, 2019

The timeline:

March 5th: Mueller team meets with Barr, tells Barr about the summaries that are prepared for public release.

March 24th: Mueller reiterates instructions to Barr. Barr ignores instructions, makes misleading announcement.

March 25th: Mueller communicated his concern regarding Barrs false summary of Muellers work, sent letter with instructions to release the summaries that were redacted and already prepared for public viewing.

March 27th: The Mueller letter was sent to the DOJ expressing dissatisfaction/disagreement with Barrs conclusion.

March 28: Letter is marked received.

April 10th: Barr claimed during Senate testimony he didnt know if Mueller supported his conclusion.

Much to the horror of Bill Barr, Robert Mueller on Wednesday has agreed to testify on the Trump Russia probe for the House, at some point to be determined in May.

Barr needs to be impeached for obstruction of justice, lying to Congress, purposefully misleading the American people, and failing to uphold the law.
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Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
A large crowd came out to the S.C. Aquarium's first public sea turtle release of the season last May at Isle of Palms County Park. The first release this year will be held May 1 at Folly Beach. File/Andrew J. Whitaker/ Staff
Incoming and outgoing calls and texts for many Verizon customers in Charleston were reportedly not working for several hours. Verizon Wireless confirmed a service outage in the region, and said at about 3 p.m. the problem was fixed.

It was a fiber-related issue, the company confirmed late in the day.

In the morning, the company said "a connectivity issue is causing a service interruption in the Charleston area."

Engineers were working to "resolve this issue quickly," she added.

Outages began mid-morning on Wednesday, ultimately lasting about four hours.

The network problem affected many City of Charleston employees, a spokeswoman for the city said in an email at about 11:30 a.m. Ninety-eight percent of city employees use Verizon.

Others said on social media the interruption began earlier in the day for them.

Jack Handegan III, owner of the local pre-owned car dealership Handsome Motors, said he had to stop conducting business when his cell phone lost service. Handegan doesn't have a landline. He said he lost service at about 11 a.m.

The small business owner said he couldn't even set his voicemail to alert customers he wouldn't be able to take their calls Wednesday.

Few answers ever came to light when a similarly lengthy outage for AT&T customers happened about two years ago. State agencies don't typically track cell phone outages, The Post and Courier reported, and while companies are required to report such problems to the Federal Communications Commission, the agency tends not to release information about major outages.
Jerrel Floyd is an Alabama raised reporter who covers Summerville and Dorchester County for The Post and Courier.
COLUMBIA  Some 10,000 teachers and supporters assembled on a school day Wednesday in South Carolina's state capital to protest, march and speak for improved working conditions.

The turnout matched one of the largest Statehouse crowds in recent memory. About 10,000 also turned out in 2015 to watch the Confederate flag being removed from the grounds.

If there was one slogan that summed up the frustrations and aspirations of the day it was a chant that teachers repeated again and again, thundering at the base of the Statehouse steps:

"We teach. We vote."

The teachers, organized by the teacher advocacy group SC for Ed under the social media hashtag #AllOutMay1, have been asking the Republican-controlled state Legislature for higher wages, smaller classroom sizes, more mental health counselors in schools and full funding of the state's promises to students.

With just a week-and-a-half notice, the protest movement swelled in numbers, forcing seven school districts to cancel classes due to a lack of substitute teachers.

"It is powerful to feel positive about education again," said Dottie Adams, a teacher at Hand Middle School in Columbia and an SC for Ed board member. "We have been beaten down, and today felt like a shot in the arm. Were in this together. This is the beginning."

On the march

Teachers used personal leave days to go to Columbia for a single day, unlike the teacher strikes and walkouts that shut down schools for weeks at a time last year in other states, including West Virginia and Oklahoma.

The seven school districts and single charter school that closed serve a combined 123,000 students, or about one of every six public school students in the state. Some of the students from those districts took the day to protest with their teachers, including several teacher-cadets from Ashley Ridge High in Summerville and Spring Hill High in Chapin.

+6 'Minimally adequate': SCs persistent failures in education leave students unprepared The project, Minimally Adequate, is the result of an eight-month investigation into South Carolina's troubled education system, which ranks among the nation's worst.

"We're future educators too, so this affects us," Kyle Fersner, a senior at Ashley Ridge, said.

Sage Wright, an eighth-grader at Palmetto Scholars Academy in North Charleston, traveled to Columbia with his father, teacher Junius Wright. He carried a cardboard protest sign that read, "My dad is a teacher and I qualify for Medicaid."

The protest spanned generations, including some participants who remembered a time when South Carolina's workforce was less docile.

Louise Brown, one of the invited speakers on the Statehouse steps, participated in the Charleston hospital strike of 1969, when black nurses fought for better pay and working conditions as well as collective bargaining rights. That strike marked one of South Carolina's tensest moments in the civil rights era.

"I'm seeing the same thing today: overworked and underpaid. ... I think they have a right to be out here," she said as she walked into the crowd.

Messages from the top

The protest began with participants gathering at the S.C. Department of Education office, two blocks from the Statehouse in downtown Columbia. State Superintendent Molly Spearman, who has condemned the protest, was not present. She said she would be substituting at a Midlands school for the day.

Spearman's name came up often in speeches and protest signs. The Republican superintendent, who is a former teacher, rankled teachers statewide Monday morning when she joined a chorus of top Republican leaders criticizing the planned protest, saying, "I cannot support teachers walking out on their obligations."

During a speech, state Sen. Mike Fanning, D-Fairfield, accused Spearman of bullying teachers.

At 9:45 a.m., protesters marched the two blocks to the Statehouse. The Soda City Brass Band brought up the rear, providing a jazzy accompaniment as the crowd surged onto the manicured Statehouse lawn.

At a booth near the center of the action, protesters were given contact information for their state legislators. "Feel free to contact them, daily," a volunteer said.

Speakers took turns giving speeches on the Statehouse steps, including CNN political analyst and former state Rep. Bakari Sellers, several teachers and students, and Sariah McCall, a former Charleston County teacher whose resignation letter was widely circulated after being published in The Washington Post.

In a speech rich with biblical allusions, Sen. Fanning compared the teachers' protest to the Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Fanning, one of the few state legislators who joined the teachers, was highly critical of the Republican-led effort to overhaul the state education system this year.

"Were going to march around the Statehouse just like Joshua led the battle of Jericho," he said. "I want you to yell so loud those Statehouse walls come tumbling down."

The teacher action drew the attention of at least eight candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020. Sen. Kamala Harris of California held a roundtable event with teachers Tuesday in West Columbia, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts spoke with SC for Ed organizers via a conference call at noon.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Beto ORourke of Texas, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Julian Castro of Texas, and former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted messages of support for the teacher rally. "This cant wait any longer," O'Rourke wrote.

Said Biden: "Teachers around the country and in South Carolina deserve to earn a living wage and have smaller class sizes so that America can continue to out-educate and lead the world."

Quiet in the House

There was far less activity inside the Statehouse. Some lawmakers came to the doors at the top of the steps to gawk. A few went outside to listen for a few minutes before coming back in.

House Speaker Jay Lucas, a Republican from Hartsville, said in an interview he was frustrated that the legislative process had ground to a halt. A massive education overhaul bill stalled out in the Senate last week, meaning that any major changes to the education system or its funding formula will likely have to wait until 2020.

Lucas said he wants to continue hearing teachers' input, but he worries their rally will backfire.

"What I worry about with the rally itself is that support in the House will begin to erode for education reform, something none of us wants to see," Lucas said. "We are desperate for input from anybody who can help us with these issues ... A lot of energy outside could be better directed."

The state budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year will likely include a raise of 4 to 10 percent for all teachers, with newer teachers receiving the larger raises. None of the funding inequities that were highlighted in a landmark 2014 S.C. Supreme Court decision, Abbeville v. South Carolina, have been addressed.

Like Spearman, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster invoked the scorn of teachers this week when he said in a statement that teachers leaving their classrooms sends the wrong message to students.

While McMaster said he wanted teachers to stay in school, he said the rally would be helpful in demonstrating the energy around the issue to state lawmakers.

Im frustrated, theyre frustrated, parents are frustrated, everybodys frustrated, McMaster told The Post and Courier in his Statehouse office while the roars of the rally could be heard outside. I think everybody knows we have to fix our weak spots in education or we risk losing a lot.

McMaster reiterated his calls for the Senate to pass a bill as soon as possible so that lawmakers could work out any differences between that and the House proposal this year.

It was not immediately clear what portion of the crowd consisted of teachers. Teacher organizer Nicole Walker said the protest had 6,672 RSVPs on Eventbrite as of Wednesday morning, a figure that included both teachers and supporters. The state Department of Public Safety's estimate at 11 a.m. placed the total number of participants at 10,000.

"We will absolutely be planning a follow-up rally for the fall," Walker said, "and we hope the Legislature will understand that the tardy bell has rung."

Seanna Adcox, Jamie Lovegrove, Andy Shain and Mikaela Porter contributed to this report.
People from the community, many of them of various faiths, join members of the Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church in a candlelight vigil for the Chabad of Poway synagogue shooting victims at the Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church in the Rancho Bernardo neighborhood of San Diego, Calif., Saturday, April 27, 2019. (Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.
The Post and Courier provides a forum for our readers to share their opinions, and to hold up a mirror to our community. Publication does not imply endorsement by the newspaper; the editorial staff attempts to select a representative sample of letters because we believe its important to let our readers see the range of opinions their neighbors submit for publication.
Assistant Columbia bureau chief

Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill.
CHATFIELD  For most people who showed up Tuesday night at Chatfields City Hall, the questions centered on concerns about access during the upcoming U.S. Highway 52 project.

The $8.6 million project, which begins Monday, will stretch from just south of the Highway 52/Interstate 90 interchange north of Marion on Highway 52 for 12.4 miles to South Eighth Street on the far side of Chatfield.

Mike Dougherty, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said most people are concerned they cant get to their home or business. "But we have to maintain access," he said.

Nick Manahan, who co-owns a machine shop near Marion, said she was concerned that a sign saying "Road Closed" at I-90 would scare away customers.

"Weve got to get people from Plainview, Elgin, Eyota, all around," she said. "Thats what makes me nervous."

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Manahan said she planned to get information up on her website, but needed to make sure that, as detours changed, shed get advance notice so she could update her website in a timely manner.

Chuck Rathbun, who lives near Marion, said he was more concerned that the construction wouldnt ruin the end of his driveway.

"Our main question is last time they did this, they didnt finish the ends of the (driveways)," he said. "We wanted to make sure they do it this time."

Also, Rathbun and his wife, Audrey, said they were concerned about traffic flow near the box culverts being replaced near their home.

While theyre both glad the road is being resurfaced, Chuck Rathbun said he wished MnDOT would spend the money to straighten out some of the curves in the road that lead to poor sight lines and short passing zones.

"What Id really like them to do is a reconfiguration," Chuck Rathbun said. "Its a crooked piece of road."

Dougherty said there would be some realignment near Olmsted County Road 16 near Marion to straighten the road and fix sight lines. Other reconstruction would take place in Chatfield, where the sidewalks would be widened and ADA access added. The goal was to finish the work in Chatfield around July 20, about two weeks before Western Days.

Outside of Chatfield, the project would focus on replacing three culverts  south of Olmsted County Road 16, south of 75th Street Southeast at Kinney Creek and south of Olmsted County Road 7  and the mill and overlay, which will start outside of Chatfield and move north through the course of the project.

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The culvert replacement will begin June 6.

MnDOTs official detour would take traffic from Olmsted County Road 10 to Interstate 90 at the Dover exit, Dougherty said. Other detours will likely include people driving on Minnesota Highway 30 toward either Olmsted County Road 1 or Stewartville.

Highway 52 would be open to traffic, though down to one lane, by early August, he said. Sections being worked on would have flaggers and pilot cars with some delays.
Former Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Romain Dallemand reported to prison this week to begin serving an eight-month sentence for tax evasion.

Dallemand, 50, was superintendent in Rochester for five years from 2007 to 2011 before departing to become superintendent of Bibb County schools in Georgia. The crime for which he pleaded guilty took place while he was head of Bibb County. He was ordered to report to prison on Monday.

Prosecutors says Dallemand accepted roughly $460,000 in bribe money to support an initiative called the Macon Promise Neighborhood being pushed by business interests. The two men accused of bribing Dallemand  and against whom Dallemand testified as part of his plea agreement  were acquitted at trial last year.

Dallemand pleaded guilty not to bribery but to tax evasion, failing to report his ill-gotten gains on his tax returns. Dallemand reportedly was receiving a compensation package of $300,000 when he agreed to accept the bribes. His tenure at Bibb County lasted 26 months and ended in 2013.

Dallemand sought to be an education innovator, pushing ideas that would close the achievement gap in Rochester. In Macon, his advocacy for teaching Mandarin in schools was met with skepticism, and his brusque manner was ill-suited to the job of winning over skeptics.

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Dallemands punishment includes paying nearly $300,000 in restitution.

A Federal Prison locator website says Dallemand is imprisoned at the Pensacola Federal Prison Campus, a northern Florida minimum security facility that houses 573 inmates.

Such prisons have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio and limited or no perimeter fencing. The institutions are work- and program-oriented, a federal prison website says.
Results of a rate structure survey indicate Rochester Public Utility customers may be open to being charged for electricity based on when its used.

The city-owned utility currently charges for the amount of energy consumed, based on a flat rate.

A "time-of-use" rate would charge more during peak hours and less when demand drops off.

"Most people dont realize the standard rate is probably costing them more money," said Michael Vigeant, the CEO of Great Blue Research, which conducted the survey for RPU.

The survey conducted in late February and early March found 89 percent of the 1,250 participants preferred being charged a flat rate. At the same time, approximately 65 percent cited interest in the time-of-use approach.

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Tiered rates, based on amounts of energy used, saw less interest.

Vigeant told members of Rochesters Public Utility Board that the findings indicate the potential for offering customers options between at least two rate structures.

However, an overall 87.7 percent approval rating for current operations, which matches findings from a similar 2015 survey, shows RPU has time to make changes and educate its customers.

Vigeant said that will be key.

"Everywhere where weve seen a time-of-use rate be successful, there were two key components," he said. "The first was education; letting folks know what it meant."

The second component was letting customers see the potential for savings. The potential could be demonstrated by running bills through the alternate rate structure, which could provide savings for running dishwashers and other appliances later in the day.

While the option is being discussed, the utility is not currently equipped to charge fluctuating rates based on the time of day. New meters would need to be installed in homes to make the system work.

Mark Kotschevar, RPUs general manager, said that will be a question for the utility board to consider in the future.

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Part of that discussion will be making sure the potential savings is seen on both sides of the customers bill.

"We cant give them savings without an associated savings to RPU, because we have an overall annual revenue requirement we have to meet," he said, citing the desire to translate a change in customer practices to a reduction in the wholesale cost of energy.

The city is operating under a contract with Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency through 2030, which dictates the cost of electricity and limits the potential benefits for offering a time-of-use rate, but Public Utility Board members suggested discussions should start before the contract runs out.

"We want to be a good way toward a solution in 2030," said Michael Wojcik, the Rochester City Council member assigned to serve on the utility board.

Kotschevar suggested increasing use of electrical vehicles could also spur benefits for some customers and RPU, noting they will be purchasing electricity that goes beyond the RPUs current contract.

"Well start seeing that before 2030," utility board member Melissa Graner Johnson noted.

The Great Blue survey results indicated nearly a third of RPUs customers are considering the eventual purchase of an electric vehicle, with 19.3 percent of customers between the ages of 25 and 34 thinking about that purchase in the next five years.

The survey came with an approximate 2.7 percent margin of error.

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Utility Board President Brian Morgan suggested it all works to make it a good time for thinking about the next steps.

"If you consider a wide-scale implementation of smart meters, which are necessary to go to time-of-use rate industrywide, you are probably on a two- to three-year track, if we decided today to do it," he said. "Were getting there. Its not as far off as it looks."
Russias meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election was an attack on our sovereignty and cant be ignored. But we shouldnt allow it to distract us from the larger threat Russian President Vladimir Putin poses to both the United States and the world.

To understand that threat, we have to examine Putins motivations. His policies are dictated by deeply held convictions and ambitions rooted less in Russian patriotism than in Soviet patriotism. In his mind, the end of the Soviet Union was a profound historical injustice, visited upon his country by plotters from without and traitors from within.

His self-imposed mission is to avenge this "tragic," man-made disaster by recovering for Russia some of the economic, political and geopolitical assets it lost when the Soviet Union collapsed. For Putin, as his policies have made clear again and again, the most important of these is to reoccupy the Soviet Unions place as an existential alternative  military and moral  to the United States. In the most popular trope of state propaganda, he is "raising Russia off its knees" to make America pay dearly for the humiliation it dealt the Soviet Union.

For Putin, Russias greatest geopolitical success in recent years was the occupation and annexation of Crimea. And the operations success, he emphasized, was largely because of his hands-on approach. "Do you know what our advantage was?" he said during an interview. "The fact that I personally dealt with (the operation)!"

Putins aggression in Crimea paid off handsomely politically: His support among Russians skyrocketed from a record low of 61 percent at the end of 2013 to a record high of 86 percent in October 2014.

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Russias president is never happier or more animated than when he describes Russias nuclear hardware, aimed at the United States  and invulnerable to U.S. missile defense, as he emphasizes again and again. No Soviet leader ever bragged of his countrys nuclear might the way Putin does. In his two most recent annual State of Russia addresses to the Federal Assembly, he concluded with triumphant tributes to Russias nuclear arsenal, modernized under his loving care and home to the worlds heaviest, fastest and longest-range missiles. He has also touted a new cache of futuristic weapons: underwater nuclear drones, a hypersonic "meteorite," a mighty "ball of fire," which Russian wits have called the "flying Chernobyl."

The biggest threat posed by Putins militarism, however, is to his nearest neighbors. He has resurrected the Western Military District, established in the Soviet era and abolished by Boris Yeltsin, making it the largest and best-armed of Russias military districts. NATO members Latvia and Estonia today face between 350,000 and 400,000 troops just across the border in Russia, a tank army, more than 100 fighter jets, four squadrons of long-range bombers, and Russias most modern surface-to-air missiles. And they are worried about a Crimea-style annexation of parts of their territories.

Praising the Soviet Union for the way it nurtured patriotism in the young, Putin has created programs that mimic Soviet-era ones that had responsibility for propaganda and ideological control. As of last year, 380,000 children under the draft age of 18 were reportedly enrolled in the Yunarmiya (Young Army), created in 2016 to "instill patriotism" and "positive motivation toward military service."

The timing of Putins war preparations could hardly be worse. Economic growth is projected to be anemic for years to come, personal incomes are down for a fifth consecutive year and 80 percent of Russian families have a monthly income that leaves them unable to buy a "minimal assortment" of goods. For example, 35 percent cannot afford to buy two pairs of shoes for each family member.

Putins approval ratings have fallen to 64 percent. While that may sound high to those living in a democracy, it is a troubling number for a politician who operates unchallenged within his country.

The Russian constitution bars Putin from running again in 2024. But if Putin, who clearly would like to rule Russia for life, wants support from Russians in doing so, he will need to boost his popularity before then.

How? Putin has recast himself as a wartime president defending the motherland, and he is determined to restore his country to a victorious superpower status. What better way to accomplish all his goals than to fight and win another military conflict.
There continues to be, despite all weve learned about mental illness, a stigma about the condition.

Thats why were glad U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) in speaking about the issue, has revealed her own struggle with mental health.

In an op-ed written by Smith and published last Thursday in the Post Bulletin, Smith revealed that she at one time suffered from depression. It wasnt until she was convinced by a therapist that she had depression and could overcome the condition that Smith began her recovery.

It was a rare admission from an elected official. In politics, it is usually considered dangerous to ones electoral future to reveal a weakness of any kind, let alone a mental health issue.

We remember when Missouri Sen. Thomas Eagleton was forced from the Democratic ticket as vice president in 1972 when it became known he had suffered from mental health issues.

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In a meeting with the Post Bulletins editorial board, Smith said she was aware of that history. However, in pushing for more funding for mental health counseling in school  she is sponsor of a bill that provides $200 million in funding for mental health counselors in schools  Smith said she believed her experiences could be instructive.

"I resisted putting it out there," she said. But after hearing from school officials, as well as from stressed farm families, she was looking for a way to make a positive difference.

"If we say it and it helps one person  " Smith said.

Smith is armed with statistics indicating that roughly 20 percent of people ages 13 to 18 are experiencing mental health issues.

Unfortunately, many of those teenagers face barriers to getting an appropriate diagnosis that resolves the issue. It can take up to eight or 10 years, Smith said.

Thats due in part to a shortage of health care professionals available to treat mental health among young people, and to other factors, such as insurance coverage, geographic location and reluctance to seek help for fear of being stigmatized.

Smith hopes the funding in her bill will help resolve some of the financial issues, and that the revelation of her own struggle with depression will chip away at the stigma.

Shes also concerned about the pressure and stress heaped on farm families struggling with a difficult ag economy. "I hear it over and over again in farm country," she said.

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Smith is carrying on the work of former Minnesota Sens. Paul Wellstone and Al Franken to improve mental health care for all who need it.

But to allow young people to see that a U.S. Senator has overcome the same struggle they face, and has gone on to achieve success at very high levels of state and national government, is perhaps Smiths most valuable contribution.
The Guam Department of Education, in conjunction with the Pacific Resources for Educational Learning's Pacific Regional Comprehensive Center, will be hosting a one-day Habits of a Systems Thinker Seminar for early childhood education stakeholders.

The training session will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday in the second-floor conference room of the GDOE Tiyan Headquarters Building B.

The seminar will describe the foundations of systems thinking, which involves encouraging individuals to look at the big picture rather than focusing on individual parts, and which encompasses problem-solving, decision-making and communication within groups that are made up of diverse perspectives, GDOE stated in a press release.

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The training is intended to increase the knowledge and skills of early childhood educators who shape childrens developmental stages of learning during the first eight years of life. The seminar will increase participants understanding of the components of the intellectual, social, emotional and physical development of young children.

The training will focus on a birth- through third-grade continuum with participation from early childhood education specialists, Gifted and Talented Education, Pre-GATE, Head Start, Guam Early Learning Council, and the Department of Public Health and Social Services Bureau of Social Services Administration, GDOE stated.

The training will be facilitated by Kim Guieb, with the Hawaii Department of Education, and Tracy Benson, president and CEO of Waters Center for Systems Thinking in Tucson, Arizona.
As many Guam residents run around the island today, doing last-minute shopping for groceries and gifts, there will be people ringing up purcha Read more
ROYERSFORD  The Spring-Ford Area School District was recently selected by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to receive $386,192 through the School Safety and Security Grant Program.

Spring-Ford is one of only 234 applicants to receive a portion of the $40 million available through the program.

The grant was awarded by the School Safety and Security Committee as part of the Act 44 School Safety and Security Grant Program, which was created in 2018. Act 44 was created for the purposes of providing funding to school districts for school safety and security concerns and addressing community violence.

Chief Dave Boyer, Spring-Fords coordinator of safety, security and emergency preparedness, identified a need to upgrade the current district-wide emergency communication system, which will be fully funded by the grant.

Eligible uses for the grants included, but were not limited to, purchasing security-related technology, completing safety and security assessments, implementing violence prevention curricula, and more.

I am quite pleased that this grant will allow us to continue moving forward with our district-wide safety and security plan. In any emergency situation, from a traffic incident to a school-wide issue, being able to communicate directly with all stakeholders is key. With these funds, well be able to upgrade our current system so that it is inter-operable with all emergency management offices in the county. This enhancement is another step in the right direction to ensure student and staff safety, said Boyer.

In October 2018, the Spring-Ford Area School District received a $25,000 grant from the School Safety and Security program which was used to improve current safety initiatives.

The Spring-Ford Area School District School Police Department is a law enforcement agency with an emphasis on protecting our students, staff, and visitors within the Spring-Ford Area School District.

The School Police Department is composed of four sworn School Police Officers and one Public Safety Officer. Members of the School Police Department remain On Call 24/7 for all school related incidents or emergencies and work closely with all school administrative staff and leadership to provide high quality service at all times.

Another area school district also received a school safety and security grant.

State Rep. Melissa Shusterman, D-Chester/Montgomery, said the Phoenixville Area School District will receive $194,480.

School safety is among my top priorities, Shusterman said. Im happy to work with the school districts to secure these state funds to ensure our students have the safest learning environments possible.
UNION TWP.  The weather may have been on the gloomy side but participants in the annual Special Olympics at Daniel Boone Area High School were anything but that.

On a recent Wednesday, Daniel Boone Area High School held its annual Special Olympics games on the grounds of the high school. The day was full of fun outdoor events for 55 area participants and over 100 volunteers.

We have athletes from all of our buildings, our primary center, intermediate center, middle school and high school, said Shelley Mieczkowski, director of special education for Daniel Boone School District.

During the opening ceremony, students from the Daniel Boone Area High School Select Choir sang the national anthem. The song was followed by the release of balloons in lieu of lighting an Olympic torch.

Once the opening ceremonies concluded, participants were led from the bleachers to the field where they processed around the track and ran through specially made banners for the event.

The importance of this is the inclusive community that weve built at Daniel Boone. We designed this, we own this and we have community members, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends from other buildings who all come. Some of our employees take personal days to come here because their class isnt coming, said Mieczkowski.

Its just an opportunity for the school district, the athletes and the kids to participate. The focus is the special needs kids but this is important to everybody in the district. I think its everybodys favorite day of the year, added Erica Parker, a teacher at the school as well as the schools Key Club adviser.

Among the events featured in Wednesdays games were the long jump, tug-of-war, parachute games, kickball and races.

The event has been run by the Daniel Boone Key Club for the past four years.
Joe Bidens recent presidential announcement surprised few, but it will surprise more than a few if Biden actually wins the Democratic presidential nomination. At age 76 today, he would be the oldest president ever inaugurated by more than seven years. He also brings several other liabilities not shared with other front runners into the race.

His record in public office spans five decades back to the 1970s, a period in which huge cultural shifts have occurred  most particularly on racial and gender issues. Many of Bidens positions over the years such as his strong support for mass incarceration policies, with its now well understood racial consequences.

Add to that his demeanor during the Anita Hill hearings that will be politically damaging for him. The recent controversy that erupted over his alleged improper touching  of women illustrate the challenges that will confront him as he struggles to present himself as a moderate, senior statesman who still gets it. Moreover, Biden, as a lifelong centrist will be swimming upstream in a Democratic party turning sharply to the left.

Against these disadvantages, however, Biden brings some impressive strengths into the race. He was the vice president in a popular Democratic administration and the remaining glow from the Obama years still envelops him. Moreover, his long tenure in public office gives him by far the deepest roots in the Democratic party of any other candidate (Sanders has been an Independent most of his career). If there is an establishment candidate in the Democratic primary race, Biden is it.

He is also a gifted politician, effective on the stump, experienced in national campaigns, personally likeable, and the nearest thing to an incumbent Democrats have. Additionally, Biden touts unrivaled foreign policy credentials and leads the Democratic field of the 20 announced candidates in the early polls.

But, perhaps, his greatest strength among a Democratic electorate seeking an electable nominee is his unique opportunity to dismantle Trumps Electoral College strategy  a strategy that relies heavily on Trumps ability to win again in 2020 the states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

These four states delivered the presidency to Trump in 2016. With Biden as the 2020 nominee, however, all four of these must states become problematic for Trump  who probably needs all of them to win re-election.

Of the four, Pennsylvania presents perhaps the greatest threat to Trump if Biden is the nominee. Thats because Biden, born in Scranton, enjoys almost native son popularity in the state, as well as strong support among working class voters.

Trumps 44,000-vote victory statewide in Pennsylvania in 2016 was largely due to working class voter support in the southwestern and northeastern regions of the state. Biden is popular in both regions which could enable him as the nominee to win Pennsylvania in a contest with Trump.

Taking the Keystone State out of the Trump coalition would compel Trump to replace the 6th largest states 20 crucial electoral votes  a task that may not be possible given the dwindling number of potential 2020 swing states. If Biden does become the nominee in 2020, Trump will be challenged to keep his 2016 Electoral College coalition together.

Moreover, Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 and could well lose the popular vote again, meaning he would need to repeat his Electoral College performance. So, Democrats in 2020 may face a painful dilemma. Biden remains the face of the past within a party seeking a brave new future. Yet, he simultaneously looks like the Democrats most likely winner in the Electoral College.

Ultimately, it may come down to how bad Democratic voters want to win in 2020. Biden may have the best opportunity to defeat Trump in the Electoral College  but at least three and maybe more already announced Democratic candidates pose major threats to Biden in the battle for the partys nomination.

For Democrats it will become a choice of purity or pragmatism. Historically, Republicans do a better job employing pragmatism to select a nominee, but Democrats may be ready to learn from their GOP counterparts.

Hence, 2020 looks like it may be a presidential election fought out between two nominees selected for their electability over other more traditional factors. Some Republicans may not prefer Trump but its clear that he will be the nominee. While they may lose with him, they would surely lose without him.

On the other hand, Democrats may prefer a nominee other than Biden but may chose him anyway because he seems most likely to beat Trump where it counts  and that is in the Electoral College.

The voters will work this all out as they always do. In the meantime, the stage is being set for one of the most hotly contested, drama-infused, and significant elections in modern American history.

Winning a presidential election is always important  but winning in 2020 may be as important as any election since 1932 in setting the future trajectories of both major parties and the role government plays in the lives of Americans.
Scott and Andy McCarthy make short work of Robert Muellers leaked letter of complaint to William Barr. The key thing, as McCarthy says, is that Barrs memo on the Mueller report is 100 percent accurate.

According to the Washington Post, when Barr and Mueller spoke, Barr challenged Mueller to identify inaccuracies. Mueller acknowledged that there are none.

The essence of Muellers moan is that the summary letter the [DOJ] sent to Congress and released to the public. . .did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions. But the letter did not purport to do so.

As Barr reportedly explained to Mueller, he did not undertake, in his four page memo, to summarize the voluminous report, Instead, he intended only to provide an account of its bottom line conclusions on the two issues Mueller explored  was there collusion with Russia and was there obstruction of justice. Again, Barrs account of Muellers two conclusions is entirely accurate.

Mueller reportedly responded that media coverage of the obstruction investigation is misguided and has created public misunderstandings. To the extent that the media portrayed Barrs memo as more than just an account of the special counsels bottom line conclusions, Mueller has a right to be unhappy. But his grievance is with the media, not the Attorney General.

Of course, Mueller didnt write a letter to Barr to complain about the media. He wrote it to complain about Barr. But when Barr pressed him during the phone conversation, he reportedly backed down and fell back on a complaint about the media.

Its hard to avoid the suspicion that Muellers moan was driven by members of his team of Democratic partisans and Trump haters. They must have been disappointed that Mueller did not conclude that President Trump committed obstruction of justice, and dismayed when Barr and Rod Rosenstein concluded that Trump did not commit this offense.

Media coverage of Barrs memo rubbed salt in the wound. One imagines that members of Muellers team pushed him to write a letter of complaint to Barr  a letter that, reportedly, he couldnt defend when the two men talked by phone.

Im speculating here, of course. However, it requires little speculation to say that someone on Muellers team leaked the letter to the press.

What we have, then, is a rearguard action by Team Mueller to wage war on Trump and Barr. Muellers legitimate work ended with the submission of his report, but Team Mueller isnt done.
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CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / April 30, 2019 / Asia Cannabis Corp.('ACC' or the 'Company') (CSE:ASIA), announced today that, after receiving the resignation of Johannes Kingma as President and CEO of the Company, David Pinkman has been appointed to fill those roles on an interim basis.In commenting on this development, Mr.Pinkman stated: 'I, and the members of the Board of ACC, wish Mr.Johannes Kingma well as he deals with a private medical issue, and we look forward to his rejoining the management team in the near future.In the meantime, we are confident that solid foundations the Company is building in Cambodia will continue to be expanded as we, and InPlanta Technologies Inc., work to introduce state of the art hemp research and development programs to that country.The recent visit by Cambodian officials to InPlanta facilities and other agricultural technology centres in Canada organized by ACC was very successful, and we look forward to continuing our discussions in the near future.'In addition to the foregoing, the Company announced that it had completed the filing of its audited financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2018 and that they are available for viewing on SEDAR.About ACC:ACC is an early stage international agri-technology company which has begun the process of creating a business focused on the development, evaluation, testing, application and, ultimately, supply to the market of proprietary organic hybridization technology and certain products derived from that technology.The core approach of the business will be centred on the planting, growth and harvesting of new and valuable strains of hemp and related crops in commercial quantities under the terms of the InPlanta License Agreement.In conjunction with InPlanta, the Corporation plans to develop varieties of hemp with superior growth and production characteristics in the various environments found in the licensed territories With the data and associated knowledge gained from these activities, the Corporation intends to leverage the technology to develop a portfolio of strategic hemp investments to take advantage of both the changing social climate relative to hemp use and the historic acceptance of the use of these products and their derivatives in certain of the jurisdictions granted under the License Agreement.For further information, contact:David PinkmanChief Executive Officer(403) 612-5655Neither 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.SOURCE: Asia Cannabis Corp.
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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / Glenbriar Technologies Inc. (CSE: GTI.X) (the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of the first tranche of $429,700 consisting of 8,594,000 equity units. The placement consists of units priced at $0.05 each, with each unit consisting of one share and one warrant exercisable for 2 years from closing at an exercise price of $0.10 in the first year and $0.15 in the second year. After this issue, the Company will have 139,015,510 shares issued and outstanding. Proceeds will be used for working capital. Securities issued on this closing shall be subject to resale restrictions to August 31, 2019. No finder's fees were paid on this tranche.For further information, please contact:Doug Taylor, CEOInvestor RelationsTelephone: 1 (604) 343-2977E-mail: irglenbriartech@ gmail.com Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.Certain statements contained in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" or forwardlooking information" (collectively "forward-looking information") as those terms are used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and similar Canadian laws. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated", "anticipates" 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. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company, financing and certain corporate changes. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.SOURCE: Glenbriar Technologies Inc.
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LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / Gabriel Resources Ltd. ("Gabriel" or the "Company") announces that it has granted an aggregate of 105,375 incentive stock options and 97,239 deferred share units to certain directors of the Company as non-cash directors' fees for Q1 2019 (the "Director Grant"). All incentive stock options issued under the Director Grant are exercisable for a period of ten years at $0.44 per share and vest immediately from the date of grant.As of the date hereof, a total of 28,255,501 common shares of the Company are reserved for issuance under the Company's incentive stock plan, representing 5.75% of the issued and outstanding share capital. 2,941,553 common shares of the Company are reserved for issuance under the Company's deferred share unit plan.For information on this press release, please contact:Dragos TanasePresident & CEOPhone: +4021 223 1351dt@ gabrielresources.com Richard BrownChief Commercial OfficerMobile: +44 7748 760276Neither 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.Further InformationAbout GabrielGabriel is a Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's principal focus has been the exploration and development of the Rosia Montana gold and silver project in Romania ("Rosia Montana Project"). The Rosia Montana Project, one of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in Europe, is situated in the South Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania, Romania, an historic and prolific mining district that since pre-Roman times has been mined intermittently for over 2,000 years. The exploitation license ("License") for the Rosia Montana Project is held by Rosia Montana Gold Corporation S.A., a Romanian company in which Gabriel owns an 80.69% equity interest, with the 19.31% balance held by Minvest Rosia Montana S.A., a Romanian state-owned mining company. It is anticipated that the Rosia Montana Project would bring over US$24 billion (at US$1,200/oz gold) to Romania as potential direct and indirect contribution to GDP and generate thousands of employment opportunities.Upon obtaining the License in June 1999, the Group (as defined below) focused substantially all of their management and financial resources on the exploration, feasibility and subsequent development of the Rosia Montana Project. Despite the Company's fulfilment of its legal obligations and its development of the Rosia Montana Project as a high-quality, sustainable and environmentally-responsible mining project, using best available techniques, Romania has blocked and prevented implementation of the Rosia Montana Project without due process and without compensation. Accordingly, the Company's current core focus is the ICSID Arbitration. For more information please visit the Company's website at www.gabrielresources.com Forward-looking StatementsThis press release contains "forward-looking information" (also referred to as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of the Company's operating environment. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements.In this press release, forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies that may cause the Company's actual financial results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied herein. Some of the material factors or assumptions used to develop forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the uncertainties associated with: the ICSID Arbitration, actions by the Romanian Government, conditions or events impacting the Company's ability to fund its operations (including but not limited to the completion of further funding noted above) or service its debt, exploration, development and operation of mining properties and the overall impact of misjudgments made in good faith in the course of preparing forward-looking information.Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors including those set out below, that may never materialize, prove incorrect or materialize other than as currently contemplated which could cause the Company's results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "is of the view", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives", "potential", "possible" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events, conditions or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of fact and may be forward- looking statements.Numerous factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:delay or extension to the duration of the ICSID Arbitration;required disclosure, costs, process and outcome of the ICSID Arbitration against Romania;changes in the liquidity and capital resources of Gabriel, and the group of companies of which it is directly or indirectly parent ("Group");access to funding to support the Group's continued ICSID Arbitration and/or operating activities in the future;equity dilution resulting from the conversion or exercise of new or existing securities in part or in whole to Common Shares;the ability of the Company to maintain a continued listing on the TSX Venture Exchange
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With new partnership agreement and philanthropic support, National Brain Tumor Society and StacheStrong make an additional investment into innovative GBM AGILE clinical trialBOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS), the largest nonprofit dedicated to the brain tumor community in the United States, today announced a second round of funding for the GBM AGILE clinical trial. Together with the nonprofit glioblastoma (GBM) advocacy group, StacheStrong, and additional major gift support, NBTS is investing $500,000 to assist in the operationalization and launch of GBM AGILE (Glioblastoma Adaptive Global Innovative Learning Environment), the world's first global ''adaptive'' clinical trial for brain cancer.Following a previous investment of $750,000 in GBM AGILE announced in January, NBTS's total support for this novel approach to GBM clinical trials and drug development now totals $1.25 million.''We strongly believe that new approaches are desperately needed to advance more, safe and effective treatments for glioblastoma patients,'' said David Arons, Chief Executive Officer, National Brain Tumor Society. ''Glioblastoma is one of the most stubborn and challenging cancers there is and, to date, efforts to improve patient survival have largely been unsuccessful. It is our hope that GBM AGILE will be a critical vehicle for transforming the clinical realities of this devastating disease, and that with our support and that of committed and energetic new partners like our friends at StacheStrong, we will soon begin to realize its many benefits to the brain cancer field.'' Brothers Colin and GJ Gerner formed StacheStrong in 2018 to raise funds and awareness for brain cancer research following GJ's glioblastoma diagnosis in 2017. Growing mustaches and living ''StacheStrong'' became the Gerner brother's motto and rallying cry to celebrate GJ's tenacity and strength.''Being in a position to not only provide hope for families and patients diagnosed with GBM, but also be a catalyst for change by collaborating with NBTS to help launch GBM AGILE is something I'm truly passionate about,'' said Colin Gerner, President and Founder of StacheStrong. ''I dream of a day where someone diagnosed with GBM doesn't have to go through what I've seen my brother, GJ, endure.'' GBM AGILE is sponsored by the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research (GCAR), a nonprofit organization comprised of some of the world's foremost clinical, translational, and basic science investigators. National Brain Tumor Society, National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR), and now Stachestrong are working together with GCAR as GBM AGILE prepares to begin enrolling patients.''We are determined, as partners, to launch GBM AGILE and make a difference for brain tumor patients,'' said Faramarz Yousefzadeh, Chairman of the GCAR Board of Directors, who lost his wife to brain cancer and has provided his own personal financial support for the GBM AGILE trial. ''We welcome StacheStrong to an ever-growing list of supporters for GBM AGILE and thank the Gerners and NBTS for the encouragement and critical resources they are providing to prepare for the opening this historic trial. With the best minds in glioblastoma research and treatment, as well as the passion of the patient advocacy community behind us, we can maximize the potential of GBM AGILE to deliver improved outcomes for those diagnosed with glioblastoma." GBM AGILE was first conceived in 2015 by an international group of more than 130 clinicians, researchers, biostatisticians, imagers, pathologists, patient advocates, and leaders from government and industry. The trial is designed as a learning system to more efficiently and rapidly identify effective therapies for GBM patients. GBM AGILE's innovative model enables multiple drugs (and combinations of drugs) to be screened simultaneously and over time. Drugs that show initial evidence of benefit to patients will seamlessly transition to a confirmatory stage designed to support registration approval. Drugs that are underperforming are dropped. The intent is to lower the cost, time, and number of patients required to evaluate potential new effective therapies for patients with GBM.In late 2018, GCAR announced a partnership with Bayer Oncology to use the company's drug regorafenib as the first therapy arm entering the GBM AGILE platform, which will begin during the first half of 2019. Ultimately, the trial will include multiple arms at clinical sites starting in the United States and Canada, and expanding into Europe, Asia, and Australia in the near future.Visit http://www.gcaresearch.org/gbm-agile for more about GBM AGILE.About National Brain Tumor SocietyNational Brain Tumor Society invests in, mobilizes, and unites the brain tumor community to discover a cure, deliver effective treatments, and advocate for patients and care partners. We are the largest patient advocacy non-profit solely dedicated to the brain tumor community and a leading thought leader in the neuro-oncology field. Headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, our organization raises funds to invest in accelerating brain tumor treatments, prepare the community to navigate their unique brain tumor experience, and convene stakeholders while changing public policy to improve the lives and survival of brain tumor patients. Visit us at https://braintumor.org About StacheStrongStacheStrong is a 501(c)3 Not-for-Profit Charity focused on raising funds and awareness for brain cancer research. StacheStrong has raised nearly $100,000 in their first year and has become a beacon of hope for countless families facing this currently incurable disease. All proceeds that StacheStrong raises will be going directly to brain cancer research. Find StacheStrong at www.stachestrong.org and on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @StacheStrong.Media Contacts:Tom Halkin617-393-2849 (office) thalkin@ braintumor.org Michael Antonellis617-393-2841 (office) mantonellis@ braintumor.org SOURCE: National Brain Tumor Society
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ZURICH / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / Thunderbird Resorts, Inc. ("Thunderbird") (Euronext: TBIRD) is pleased to announce that its 2018 Annual Report and Audited Consolidated Financial Statements have been filed with the Euronext ("Euronext Amsterdam") and the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets ("AFM"). As a Designated Foreign Issuer with respect to Canadian securities regulations, the Annual Report is intended to comply with the rules and regulations set forth by the AFM and the Euronext Amsterdam.Copies of the Annual Report in the English language will be available at no cost at the Group's website at www.thunderbirdresorts.com . Copies in the English language are available at no cost at the Group's operational office in Panama and at the offices of our local paying agent ING Commercial Banking, Paying Agency Services, Location Code TRC 01.013, Foppingadreef 7, 1102 BD Amsterdam, the Netherlands (tel: +31 20 563 6619, fax: +31 20 563 6959, email: iss.pas@ing.nl) . Copies are also available on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com Below are certain material excerpts from the full 2018 Annual Report, the entirety of which can be found on our website at www.thunderbirdresorts.com Dear Shareholders and Investors:The below summarizes the Group's performance through December 31, 2018. Because of the sale of the Group's Peru gaming operations in April 2018, we report only continuing operations so that the reader might compare continuing business with the results of the same businesses through December 31, 2018.1. PERFORMANCE UNDER our previously stated goalsA. Increase in our EBITDA1: Peru property EBITDA improved by $192 thousand through December 31, 2018, as compared to the same period in 2017. During the same period, Nicaragua property EBITDA declined by $821 thousand as discussed on page 11. Corporate Expense was reduced by $95 thousand in 2018 as compared to 2017. After also netting out some expenses from our proportional ownership of shares in a Costa Rican real estate holding company, Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $534 thousand in 2018 as compared to 2017.B. Corporate Expense: We wish to flag Corporate Expense for 2018 and ongoing in 2019. Of the $2.1 million in Corporate Expense through December 2018, approximately $749 thousand is non-cash and $1.3 million is cash. Specifically, the $749 thousand relates to management compensation that is being voluntarily deferred by Management until such time as cash flow permits and/or there are cash events. As of 2019, given the reduction in the size of the business, Management has proposed (and the Board of Directors has accepted) that: i) Ongoing salaries by Management be reduced by a collective $325 thousand annually effective as of January 1, 2019; and ii) Each of the officers will receive an ongoing salary of $180,000.C. Improve our Profit/(Loss): Based on Continuing Operations, our Loss improved by $572 thousand for the period as compared to 2017. The improvement was due to: i) Materially reduced Interest and Finance Costs, Net due to significant pay down (see below) of Group debt from the sale of Peru gaming assets in April 2018; and ii) Improvement in Foreign Exchange gains due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar as compared to our local currencies.D. Decrease our Net Debt: Net debt decreased by $17.3 million as compared to year-end December 31, 2017. The Group refinanced approximately $4.5 million of its Peru senior debt, and deployed that debt in part to reduce costs at the Peru level, which has been reflected in the increased Peru property EBITDA. We also refinanced and added working capital debt at the Corporate level.1. PERFORMANCE ON ASSET SALESWe continue to pursue decisions that will support the best interest of shareholders according to the shareholder mandate set forth in the September 21, 2016, Special Resolutions, the status of which is summarized below on the Group's key remaining assets:A. Peru Gaming Assets: As of April 11, 2018, the Group completed the sale of its Peru gaming assets for a sale price of approximately $26 million. The Peruvian gaming operations sold included the Group's local flagship Fiesta Casino consisting of approximately 680 gaming positions and three other gaming operations in Peru, with approximately 560 gaming positions. The sale also included approximately 7,000 m2 of gaming real estate and 150 parking spaces.B. Peru Real Estate Assets: As of the publication of this 2018 Annual Report, the Group continued to operate and wholly own a mixed-use tower containing a 66-suite hotel, approximately 6,703 m2 of rentable-sellable office space, and 158 underground parking spaces. The Group continues to evaluate the best means of optimizing shareholder value from these assets, and more is expected to be announced in this regard in the near future.C. Nicaragua Gaming and Real Estate Assets: As of the publication date of this 2018 Annual Report, the Group continued to own a 56% interest in a Nicaraguan holding company that owns the following assets: i) Gaming: Five full casinos and two slot parlors with a combined approximately 858 gaming positions; and ii) Real Estate: Approximately 4,562 m2 of land divided among five parcels, and some with tenant improvements as more fully detailed on page 13. Since March 2018, the Nicaraguan market has been disrupted by civil protests. At this time, the Group believes that it is in the best interest of shareholders to continue to operate these assets for the foreseeable future given that any serious interest and recognition of value can only be achieved once there is more clarity as to the market conditions.D. Costa Rica Real Estate Asset: As of the publication of this 2018 Annual Report, the Group continues to own a 50% interest in a Costa Rican entity that owns the 11.6-hectare real estate property known as "Tres Rios." Tres Rios, with its own, dedicated off-ramp, is located close to the country's second-largest mall on the highway between the capital city of San Jose and the commuter city of Cartago. Due to the controversies described in Note 22, section c, to the attached Financial Statements, it is improbable that the Tres Rios property will be developed and/or sold in the near future.We will continue to pursue decisions that will support the best interest of shareholders according to the shareholder mandate set forth in the September 21, 2016, Special Resolutions.1. "EBITDA" is not an accounting term under IFRS, and refers to earnings before net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, equity in
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HALIFAX, NS / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2019 / ViveRE Communities Inc. (TSX-V: VCOM) ("ViveRE" or the "Company") announces that the 2018 annual meeting of shareholders has been scheduled for May 31, 2018 at 2:00 pm AST. Shareholders as of the record date, close of business on April 30, 2019, will be entitled to vote at the meeting. This will be ViveRE's first annual meeting of shareholders following the completion of its change of business transaction in August 2018 whereby the Company became a real estate issuer on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange").The Company also announces that it intends to settle $31,750 in debt owed for services by the issuance of 158,750 common shares of the Company at a deemed price per share of $0.20. This debt was incurred in connection with its recent acquisition of Village View No. 2 Limited Partnership, a limited partnership formed under the laws of the Province of New Brunswick whose sole asset is a multifamily rental property located at 50 Noel Ave., Saint John, N.B. (see ViveRE press release dated April 11, 2019). As $25,000 of this debt is owed to a non-arms length party, the Company will seek disinterested shareholder approval for the issuance of 125,000 of the Common Shares at its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders on May 31, 2019. The issuance of the shares is subject to receipt of final Exchange approval.Further to ViveRE's press release dated January 21, 2019, ViveRE is issuing an aggregate of 550,000 common shares of the Company to a number of officers, directors and consultants for ongoing services pursuant to consulting agreements between the Company and each of Trimaven Capital Advisors, Dr. Brian Ramjattan, THLA Services Ltd and Aconi Financial Corp Ltd (the "Consultants") in the amount of $110,000 for the three months ended February 28, 2019 in accordance with the provisions of Exchange Policy 4.3 - Shares for Services. The deemed price of these common shares is $0.20. As all of the Consultants are non-arm's length parties, the Company will seek disinterested shareholder approval for the issuance of 550,000 of the Common Shares at its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders on May 31, 2019. The issuance of the shares is subject to receipt of final Exchange approval.In accordance with the terms of ViveRE's outstanding 12% Convertible Debentures, the Company intends to settle $38,769.40 of interest payable for the six month period ending April 30, 2019, with the issuance of 280,524 common shares. The issuance of the common shares is subject to receipt of final Exchange approval.About ViveRE Communities Inc.ViveRE is a real estate acquisition and ownership company, focused on recently built or recently refurbished, highly leased multi-residential properties in secondary markets across Canada. The Company aims to satisfy the needs of the newly emerging 55+ resident. This demographic is changing the way residential rental apartments cater to their requirements. Their desire for community, along with services and convenience amenities, has led to the emergence of the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community or "NORC". Apartments are the next "home", after years of owning they look to the carefree lifestyle provided through renting in a community of their peers. ViveRE intends to consolidate this emerging market niche across the country.Forward-looking statementsThis news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the future operations of ViveRE and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "aims", "intends", "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Acquisition, the Offering, the receipt of requested TSXV and securities regulatory approvals, and the future plans and objectives of ViveRE Communities Inc, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and are necessarily based on a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from ViveRE Communities Inc.'s expectations include other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by ViveRE Communities Inc. with securities regulators.The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of ViveRE Communities Inc. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and ViveRE Communities Inc. will only update or revise publicly the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities law.Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.For further information, please contact:Michael AnakaChief Executive Officer902-440-7579SOURCE: ViveRE Communities Inc.
Nollywood star, Tonto Dikeh, on Wednesday, vowed to continue to fight dirty with her ex-husband and father of her son, Olakunle Churchill, because she has no shame.

The mother-of-one said this in an explosive interview with media personality, Daddy Freeze, on Wednesday.

The actress made several allegations against her ex-husband in the interview, recorded at Daddy Freezes Lagos home.

She was accompanied by her best friend, popular cross-dresser, Bobrisky.

She accused Churchill of being a Yahoo boy adding that she once caught him wearing a red pant with red candles and a laptop in a room at night.

On why she made all the revelations in the interview, Tonto Dike said she is doing the video for her son, so he can grow up to see the fight she put up for him.

The mother of one said,  First of all, Im a mother. Not just a mother, but a mother who is dangerously in love with her son and I want my son to grow up and watch or listen to my own side of the story that I told him through my channel because really, this is for my son, not really for the public.

Secondly, Im doing this because my sons father has constantly been pricking and pushing me to do a lot of irrational things online that is not me, because of the things that hes doing behind the scenes.

Ill like to clear up all the lies, all the allegations, and everything once and for all.

I feel terrible, I feel used. I am the biggest scam that Churchill Olakunle Oladunni has ever played in his life.

Tonto also came under fire on social media after she revealed that her estranged husband could not last in bed for more than 40 seconds.

At the beginning of the relationship, I never suspected him for cheating because he has a sexual problem, a disease, its called premature ejaculation. He cant stay inside a woman for more than 40 seconds, she said.

Tonto also told media houses to stop calling her for interviews because she had created a new YouTube page. She added that she would publish her ex-husbands secrets on the platform because she hopes to make money off it. She also promised to break her colleague, Funke Adesiyans nose whenever she sees her. This was after the latter criticised her on Instagram.

Here are five other shocking details Tonto revealed in the interview:

1-She said Nollywood actresses marry Yahoo boys (Internet fraudsters) in a desperate search for love only to realise their mistakes afterward. She added that actresses get so lonely and when they need somebody to hold onto, they fall into the wrong hands. Tonto said that many Nollywood actresses have married Yahoo boys.

2- She said she footed the entire bill of her 2015 wedding.

3- She said one of her male friends paid for the hotel rooms booked for her wedding.

4-She said she paid her sons school fees and therefore had the right to change his name.

5- She said, contrary to reports, her former husband did not buy her a house but we all lived in a rented apartment.
For the past three weeks, this writer and 19 other journalists from around the world have been in the United States, touring the vast country. We are participating in the Edward Murrow Program, an aspect of the US government-funded International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP). This springs Murrow fellowship is focusing on Research and Investigative Journalism. True to its theme, the programme has a coterie of journalists making waves in investigative and out of the usual journalism in their respective countries.

Aside from sharing information among ourselves, we have had meetings with dozens of Americans  journalists, scholars, researchers and other enthusiasts  in what was designed to expose the participants to this brand of journalism as practised here.

The experience so far is revealing common trends and challenges around the world, from the testimonies of the participants to the interactions we have had with American practitioners since our arrival. As the world is pretty universalising, journalism practice is showing the same pattern with little peculiarities from one country to another.

The role of journalists and journalism in the society, the adversarial lines, the changing patterns in news consumption and the challenges, if not threats, to the practice of the trade, are showing uniformity.

The Newseum in Washington DC curates history of the media from earliest times. This shirt worn by Nigerian journalist Babafemi Ojudu while in prison is one of the items on display.

Free press and its discontents

There is the endless hide and seek between journalists as agents of progress and probity, and those on the other side  governments, crooked businesses and criminal gangs around the world. Journalists continue to battle the odds in service to truth and the good of society, from America to Palestine. This much is revealed by the annual ranking of press freedom released by the Reporters Without Borders last week.

America is famed for freedoms. The U.S. media is adequately protected and press freedom entrenched both by extant laws and long-settled tradition. However, journalists in the U.S. still complain about continuous efforts to undermine those provisions.

The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution enshrined press freedom, among other fundamental rights, and moved on to bar even the Congress from tampering with that right.

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; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances, part of that important amendment reads.

However, almost every journalist I have met in these past days touring the U.S. have expressed apprehension about the threat to that culture now, like never before. It is obvious, from the most passive outside observer, that President Donald Trump and most of the American media are in a war of attrition. And none of them pretends about it. The Washington Post, for example, has recruited tens of journalists since Mr Trump emerged president. Researchers at Duke University are working on cutting-edge fact-checking tools to burst fake news and misleading claims with Trump worst hit.

Joseph Pulitzer founded the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in 1912 raise future journalists.

What is dubbed as the sunshine laws  laws guaranteeing rights around access to information and a general transparency in government business  are in effect at the federal and the states. In places like New Mexico, there are additional provisions for open meetings. This means that it is illegal to have a council meeting behind closed doors. Such a meeting has to be publicly announced with the full agenda ahead of time and the outcome must also be made public.

But government being government everywhere, there are concerns around the U.S. of officials trying to avoid responding to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests in some instances. It is for this that nonprofits like New Mexico Foundation for Open Government are fighting back through lawsuits to ensure respect for such laws. Through donations by public-spirited individuals and pro bono services offered by a small team of lawyers, the association routinely institutes suits to challenge the denial of information. Nonprofits like New Mexico FOG come together under the National Coalition for Freedom of Information to push for the same cause.

Another worry around threats to free speech is what an expert called resurgence in libel suits being experienced in the past few years. For this, the North Carolina Press Foundation devotes a fortune in supporting its members involved in such lawsuits. To prepare for such days, publications like the nonprofit North Carolina Policy Watch, which is a strong new voice of investigative journalism, has enrolled in libel insurance.

Economic crisis hitting hard

From the experiences shared and briefings, one gets the feeling of journalism as an endangered profession. No. The business of news sourcing and dissemination is not being phased out.

But journalism as traditionally known is undergoing grave challenges which are as grim in the US as they are in Nigeria. The impact is most felt by the print media. Newspapers are fast laying off and print run is shrinking.

The best story that illustrates this is that of the bustling city of Philadelphia. Of about 10 major papers in the city, eight are gone and the two from the original ten are now under one roof. The Inquirer, a once coveted high-end morning paper, has gone through a series of upheavals since the beginning of its decline in the 1990s from its glorious era of serial Pulitzer winning. At present, its staff are murmuring over the stagnation of salary for the last 10 years. The more robust papers publishing out of New York are not in anywhere insulated. Most American media organisations have folded up their bureaus, with attendant consequences of reduced content on places outside of their operational bases.

This grim situation did not just occur. It has enablers in the Internet invasion which affected media in two waysnews is now on the go, uncensored as it may be, and consumers have grown impatient of waiting for the editors. There is also the information glut, with so many things competing for attention making only the most attractive and the important win. The second issue is the revenue crisis which is hastened by the subversion of the middleman the media has played for hundreds of years, between advertisers and the public. Through opportunities provided by the Internet, advertisers can now reach their audience directly, making owners of interactive Internet platforms, rather than the media, richer.

At the end of a panel discussion facilitated by American veteran journalist Dave Marash

At least two persons we met with have lamented what they see as a predatory incursion of big tech companies, notably Google and Facebook, into the media space. These platforms serve as conveyors of news sharing, or even aggregators, yet they do not credit the media financially with gains they make from media contents. The Internet has killed us. Internet is also stealing from us, a top editor in a North Carolina paper told us while explaining the unease.

Civic consequences

The decline of formal journalism has consequences beyond the job cuts and bankruptcy that afflicted papers like The Inquirer.

Aside from the financial crisis caused by the Internet revolution, another major concern consequent from this is the heightened phenomenon of fake news. Rumours and lies are as old as the human race, but the internet has given the banalest of such stuff wings to fly.

With a click, fake news goes out and makes it difficult for consumers to know the truth even when it eventually comes. It is, therefore, a constant race between journalists, whose job it is to correctly inform, and purveyors of fake information through blogs and social media platforms. There are a number of academic researchers and nonprofit organisations working to stem the tide in the U.S. But there are also concerns that technology may still make this task harder with advancements in artificial intelligence.

In addition, there are concerns expressed by experts here of the risk of having a dumber citizens. If sources of information increasingly become social media pages and unprofessional blogs and quasi-news sites, it then means that informed decisions by citizens are affected in the negative.

Investigation as the new oxygen

All that has happened is largely out there. The next available person with a smartphone has already twitted about it. As we have seen with the mass shooting at the New Zealand mosque, the newsmaker could have actually streamed it. What then is there to report to your audience? This is where the challenge lies especially for the newspapering happening in Nigeria today.

News organisations have to, therefore, change the approach to news if the trade is to survive. No one is going to buy a morning paper with information that was all over the internet the previous afternoon.

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American media organisations have shifted to that. Stories are, therefore, treated beyond the surface, with follow-ups on breaking news to get to what is not publicly known.

Investigations are not necessarily long term high-costing projects. It starts from the simple questions of why and how, into the big stories using datasets and travels.

Luckily, there are now available tools and support for journalists to pursue this line. They range from how-to resources to actual data and even synthesising tools. The trend is also collaborative investigation, which was most wonderfully exemplified by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The success of ICIJs Panama Papers investigation, which PREMIUM TIMES was part of, is now taught at Ivy league journalism schools like Columbia, as an example of the impact collaborative journalism can have.

Locals are loyal

Localisation is another rising journalism trend in the U.S. Despite the difficult times, it appears papers with narrow focus find it easier than the bigger ones. This is perhaps in tandem with the longstanding journalistic quality of proximity.

People like to read about what affects them, or what is happening in the communities next to them. It is largely for this focus, that the Santa Fe New Mexican is still standing. The paper is focused and circulated only in parts of the southwestern state.

Elsewhere, other local media outlets are also not doing badly. Outlets like the WUNC Radio in Durham and the creative four-member online platform, the Billy Penn, are focused on their immediate communities.

We have your back

The beauty of American journalism is the security it has for its journalists. Free speech is absolutely guaranteed and there are a thousand and one organisations who literally tell you; we have your back. There is a preponderance of organisations working to make the environment even better and ensure journalists are not harassed or targeted for what they do.

Training and training opportunities also abound, with a very good synergy between scholars and practitioners. The schooling received by students often makes them ready-made for the industry, as they are taught by a faculty of teachers who are themselves journalists. At Columbia, for example, about 90 per cent of the academic staff are former or active journalists, and students learn by doing. It is similar at the University of Pennsylvania where award-winning journalists train future reporters.

Organisations and researchers are also working hard to figure out financial models for journalism at a time like this. It was the focus of a 2018 book by Magda Koniecza entitled Journalism Without Profit. Prof Koniecza, who has herself worked in a German newspaper which has closed shop, explored the expanding world of nonprofit newsrooms to see if that would be journalisms next option.

Other aspects of the trade, like digital security for journalists, in the age of server attacks, are receiving adequate attention.

In sum, the industry and lovers of a free society are in a very concerted war to save journalism as an essential ingredient of free and democratic societies. The thoughts of a decline in journalism and its audience are giving many sleepless nights, and they are doing something about it.
The police in Plateau have confirmed the killing of three persons and 319 cattle in separate attacks on some villages in Bassa Local Government Area.

According to the state police spokesperson, Tyopev Terna, the killing of the cattle occurred in Billi and Ariri Districts.

He said the cattle were killed a day after three persons were killed and one other was injured in different attacks in Maiyanga and Rotsu villages in the same local government.

Mr Terna confirmed the incident in a statement sent PREMIUM TIMES late Tuesday.

He said two cattle rearers were equally missing in the attack.

His statement reads thus:

The Plateau State Police Command, Jos, received information on 29/04 /2019 at about 0800hrs to the effect that unknown gunmen attacked Maiyanga area of Miango District. As a result, one Jummai Jah f 25yrs and Emmanuel Ishaya m 37yrs were killed. A 7 months old girl, Tabitha, survived with a neck injury and is receiving treatment at Enos Hospital at Miango. The information also emphasised that Monday Audu of Rotsu village also in Miango District was shot and matched (macheted) to death.

While the investigation into these crimes were ongoing, the Command on 30/04 /2019 at about 0730hrs received information that about 319 cattle were attacked and killed, 12 cattle were maimed while 11 cattle were rustled. Two cattle rearers: one Mubarak Yakubu and one Shehu Saidu, both males of different addresses, were missing. All these allegedly took place in Billi and Ariri in Miango District.

He said the police have mobilised a search and rescue team to rescue the missing rearers while efforts are on the way to track and arrest the perpetrators of the crimes.

He said the police have mobilised officials to the affected areas to maintain law and order.

Irate Herders

Earlier on Tuesday, before the police issued the statement, the state chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Nura Abdullahi, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES, accused the Irigwe of being responsible for the crimes.

According to the leader of the umbrella body of herders, the attack took place in Kuru area of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, as well as in Kwal area of Bassa Local Government Area.

He said his members lost over 300 cattle and three rearers were missing.

The MACBAN chairman also confirmed that he spoke with the commander of a joint security team, Operation Save Haven, Augustine Agundu, on the incident and he asked him to calm down as measures were being taken to check further occurrence of such incidents.

Also, the National Secretary of MACBAN, Baba Othman, pleaded with cattle breeders in Plateau State not to engage in retaliatory attacks.

Mr Othman said MACBAN officials and security personnel had conducted an assessment of the area in the aftermath of the attack.

He cautioned against any form of reprisal, but called on Plateau authorities to take adequate measures to prevent any breakdown of order.

Not True

When contacted, a leader of the Irigwe people, David Chinge, denied the allegations that his tribesmen were responsible for the killings.

I was not aware of the 300 cattle killed. All I know (is that) we were called today by the commander sector 6, Col. Hassan, that 11 cattle were killed on Monday.

Apart from that one, I am not aware of the 300 cattle killed. We, as a people, condemn the act and call on both Fulani and Irigwe to live in peace. I also call on Fulani to keep off from the restricted areas where grazing is banned, Mr Chinge added.

Unending Bloodshed

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Fulani herders and some Plateau communities have been at loggerheads over the last few years. The youth of both tribes have engaged in bloody confrontations that have led to the loss of human lives and cattle.

The clashes have mainly been over grazing rights and resistance to encroachment over lands.

Attempts by the federal and state governments to end the clashes have not been successful.
A Dutch court on Wednesday ruled in favour of four Nigerian women who sued oil giant Shell.

The women, including Esther Kiobel, sued Shell for its alleged role in the unlawful arrest, detention and execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military.

The killings occurred in 1995 during the regime of the late military dictator, Sani Abacha.

Shell, which was extracting oil from Ogoni, had argued that the District Court of The Hague lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

The court ruled otherwise.

Details of the ruling were provided by Amnesty International in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

Read the full statement by Amnesty International, which is assisting the women and following the case closely, below.

Nigeria/Netherlands: Shell ruling a vital step towards justice

The District Court of The Hague today issued an interim ruling in the case brought by Esther Kiobel and three other women with regard to Shells involvement in the unlawful arrest, detention and execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military. It ruled in favour of the plaintiffs, that the court does have jurisdiction of the case and that this should not be time barred.

Shell Head Office

The court also ruled that Shell should hand over some confidential internal documents to the plaintiffs lawyers, and that they would have the opportunity to examine witnesses.

Mark Dummett, Amnesty Internationals Head of Business and Human Rights, said:

This decision marks a vital step towards justice for Esther and the other plaintiffs. It also sets an important precedent for other victims around the world who are seeking to hold powerful corporations to account, and who struggle to access justice.

We salute Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula. Its only because of their courage and persistence that weve got this far.

The women believe their husbands would still be alive today were it not for Shells relentless pursuit of profit, which encouraged the Nigerian governments bloody crackdown on protesters even when it knew the deadly human cost. Shell might now face questioning in a court of law about what they knew and how they contributed to this horrifying event in Nigerian history.

Todays ruling will have great significance for people everywhere who have been harmed by the greed and recklessness of global corporations.

Amnesty International welcomed the courts decision to order Shell to release some internal documents, but is disappointed that it did not order the release of all of those that Esthers lawyers called for.

Background

Shell has been accused of instigating a raft of horrifying human rights violations committed by the Nigerian government against the Ogoni people in the 1990s.

Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula are suing Shell over what they say is its role in the unlawful arrest, detention and execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military, following a brutal crackdown on Ogoni protests against Shells devastating pollution of the region.

Esther Kiobel first filed a case against Shell in New York in 2002, but in 2013 the US Supreme Court ruled that the US did not have jurisdiction to hear the case  meaning the US courts never got to examine the substance of the allegations against Shell.

The Ogoni Nine

Amnesty International has independently documented Shells role in killings, rape and torture carried out by the Nigerian government in its effort to crush protests.

Barinem Kiobel, Baribor Bera, Nordu Eawo and Paul Levula were hanged in 1995 after a blatantly unfair trial. Their widows are now demanding compensation and a public apology from Shell for the role the company played in these events. Five other men, including protest leader and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed alongside them. They have become collectively known as the Ogoni Nine.

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The four plaintiffs accuse Shell of being instrumental in the unlawful arrest and detention of their husbands; the violation of their husbands physical integrity; the violation of their right to a fair trial and to life, and their own right to a family life. Amnesty International supported Esther Kiobelto bring the case to the Netherlands in 2017, and detailed Shells role in the arrests and executions in a briefing, In The Dock. The plaintiffs are also calling for the court to order Shell to hand over internal documents marked as confidential by the company during the US proceedings between 2002 and 2013, which are crucial to the case.
The kidnappers of 16 villagers in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, on Wednesday demanded additional N5 million as a ransom for the release of the abducted persons.

The unidentified leader of the criminals called one of the victims family to make the demand, four months after the victims were abducted.

In a phone conversation recorded by the family member of the victim, the kidnapper said the initial N3.5 million payment by the family was a bonus. He said another N5 million has to be paid.

Residents said the victims were seized on January 29. They said the abductors have denied them freedom, even after a N3.5 million ransom was paid.

The source named the 16 people in captivity as Saadatu Usman, Rafia Falalu, Abdulsamiu Ashafa, Abdullahi Marafa, Rufai Danwaya, Hadiza Auwalu, and Safiya Sharif.

The others are Amina Sabiu, Lami Sidi, Marwa Sidi, Fatima Sidi, Hadiza Sidi, Bilyaminu Sarkin-Noma and his wife, and Maryam Aliyu and her two-year-old son.

He said all the victims are residents of Zurmi Local Government Area where they were abducted since January.

The residents urged the government to intervene and secure the release of their people.

We have sold all our belongings to raise the previous amount, were now left with nothing to add, one of the residents told PREMIUM TIMES.
Musa Umar, the district head of Daura, has been kidnapped by four unidentified gunmen.

Daura in Katsina State is the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Buhari is in London on a private visit for an undisclosed reason.

Kidnappings across Nigeria have been rife in recent months despite the efforts of security agencies.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the kidnappers stormed Mr Umars Daura residence at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and sporadically shot into the air, scaring the hell out of bystanders, who scampered for safety.

Mr Umar had just returned from the mosque where he took part in the evening prayer when the incident happened.

He was sitting in front of his house with some people when the armed men came.

A witness told the News Agency of Nigeria that the kidnappers came in a Peugeot 406 saloon car.

After the gunmen left, the Daura council chairman, Abba Mato, and hundreds of sympathisers came to Mr Umars residence, to discuss the bewildering incident.

Mr Umars kidnap occurred days after the chairman of a government agency, UBEC, and his daughter was kidnapped. Both of them were freed a day later.
To curb terrorism financing, Nigeria must beam its searchlight on the activities of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Ibrahim Magu, Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said.

The EFCC boss spoke Tuesday at a retreat for newly elected governors organised by the Nigerian Governors Forum in Abuja. He made a lead presentation on the fight against corruption.

Mr Magu urged Nigerian governors to focus attention on NGOs, because they are the arm that strengthens these bandits.

In its report last year, the UN said the number of doctrinally based NGOs sending funds to local terrorist groups was growing.

The report also identified extortion, charitable donations, smuggling, remittances and kidnapping as parts of ways Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the Lake Chad Basin region are funded.

Mr Magu noted that some NGOs are the major source of fund for terrorist organisations.

He said the anti-graft agency intercepted about N45 million from an NGO two weeks ago.

We discovered that there is a lot of corruption and illicit financial flow in their operations, he said.

After a bill to regulate NGOs failed in the National Assembly, PREMIUM TIMES reported last April how the government was planning to profile NGOs.

The profiling, the federal government said, was to ensure compliance with regulations against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Money laundering

Mr Magu, who holds the rank of a police commissioner, also spoke on ways of monitoring the trend of terrorism financing, especially through the banking services. He said checking money laundering through banking systems will help cut down funding for terror organizations.

He said Nigeria has a robust anti-money laundering and terrorism financing framework but the problem is that some of these transactions do not follow the official channels.

Subject to the provision anti-money laundering act (2011) is that no person makes a single N5 million transaction without going through the money laundering checks. The essence of this is to ensure that such transactions are captured in the banking system.

The question is why it is that even with this framework and necessary checks on the banking systems, the terrorist organisations still have access to funds.

The only explanation is that such transactions do not follow official channels. This means that all transactions that pass through financial institutions are not captured.

Illicit Financial Flow

Mr Magu described illicit financial flow as a major problem not just in Nigeria but in the whole of Africa.

Africa is estimated to be losing over $80 billion annually through illicit financial flows.

The official accused some Nigerian leaders of using government money to fund their lavish lifestyles in foreign climes.

He said properties and monies stashed away overseas by Nigerian officials are, most times, lost.

The EFCC chairman urged state governors to partner with anti-corruption agencies in the fight against corruption.
The governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje; the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria; and members of the civil society have commended the federal government for securing the release of Zainab Aliyu.

Ms Aliyu, a student of the Maitama Sule University, Kano, was arrested and detained on arrival late December by the Saudi Arabian authorities for being in possession of an illegal drug believed to be Tramadol.

A petition filed by Ms Aliyus family led to the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) discovery of a drug cartel at the Mallam Amino Kano International Airport (MAKIA), where Ms Aliyu had travelled through.

This cartel specialises in setting illegal drugs in travellers luggage.

Reactions

The governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, through a statement released by the state commissioner of information, Mohammed Garba, commended the release of Aliyu.

The governor also welcomed confirmation by the Nigerian Mission in the Kingdom that the second Nigerian involved in a similar case would be released to the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

He, however, stressed the need for vigilance at the various airports in the country in order to protect Nigerians from falling prey to such cartels.

Also, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), through its spokesperson, Fatima Usara, commended the federal government.

Ms Usara said the commission appreciates the unwavering drive by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs towards securing the pilgrims release from prison.

Equally, NAHCON hails all the efforts by our various missions in Saudi Arabia towards achieving the same objective.

Also commendable is the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for honouring the investigations carried out to prove the victims innocence.

She also warned that travellers should be vigilant over their luggage as the peak of Ramadan Umrah is approaching.

The head of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani, decried the lack of modern technology at the airports.

According to him, the government can spare the travellers from being embarrassed on arrival by Customs by simply getting a modest screening machine that would search luggage.

He also emphasised the need for travellers to be conscious of their luggage.

Tope Fasua, a political reformer, while commending the government registered his displeasure with Nigerians being taken for granted while travelling outside the country.

According to him, a lot of Nigerians have been unjustly convicted and are suffering in different jails in the world.

We are actually becoming perhaps the most notorious country for that phenomenon in the world and that makes me unhappy.

Reactions from Nigerians online

Several Nigerians also went on social media to commend the government for their action.

Transmission or no transmission. Private visit or no private visit. President @MBuhari recorded his biggest Diplomatic Victory this week by securing Zainab Aliyu from Saudi Arabias hangman noose or chopping board#ZainabFreed #ZainabAliyu  MaskUpNigeria (@iameneji) May 1, 2019

Relieving News! #ZainabAliyu has been released.

Praise be to Allah!

Thank U President Buhari.

Thank U Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Conscience has won!

Its very fair if we extradite the 7 criminals who exposed Zainab to danger, & almost made Saudi commit a regrettable execution.  Idris Obadaki (@Icedris) April 30, 2019
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in Oyo State on Wednesday appealed to the management of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) to reverse the No School Fees No Exam policy it recently adopted.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NANS made the appeal in Ibadan on Wednesday in a statement signed by its chairman, Olujuwon Asubiojo.

Mr Asubiojo urged the management of the university to show compassion and accommodate students who were yet to pay their school fees ahead of the first-semester examination commencing on Monday.

He said the policy would affect at least 9,000 students of the institution.

Over 2,000 of these 9,000 students are final year students who have overstayed in school already due to the incessant industrial actions of staff unions that left the institution shut for over 13 months in the past.

In a similar vein and considering the economic realities of the country, it will be unsafe to apply such measures.

Therefore, preventing these final year students will sadly secure them an automatic extra year and of course other students, an undue overstay on campus, he said.

He appealed to the Vice Chancellor, Michael Ologunde, to show compassion for the sake of indigent and final year students. (NAN)
The pioneer chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, has advised incoming Nigerian governors to emulate President Muhammadu Buharis style of separating governance from personal interests.

You are lucky you have someone to learn from. Please, emulate President Muhammadu Buhari. He has no business partners, nobody sits with him to make deals, Mr Ribadu told the newly elected governors on Tuesday.

He spoke as a guest of honour at the induction ceremony organised by the Nigerian Governors Forum in Abuja for the incoming governors.

Mr Ribadu said Mr Buhari does not have any new properties since his return to office.

We dont have overnight billionaires again. He (Buhari) is a good leader to emulate.

Background

Tagged Mr Integrity, Mr Buhari was presented, in the wake of the 2015 elections, as a no-nonsense anti-corruption fighter. He cut the picture of a stern leader who had no lush homes in Nigeria and abroad.

He eventually won that years general election over incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, on this ground and on his pledge to stamp out corruption.

Mr Buhari had narrated how he took a bank loan to pay for his partys nomination forms, which then sold for N27 million.

Over the last four years, the president ruled the country with a painted image of a leader who detests the acquisition of wealth through illicit public funds.

But many Nigerians have become weary of this posture because there have been reports of pervasive corruption.

Days ago, PREMIUM TIMES reported how the presidents refusal to assent to a crucial audit bill  aimed at penalising government agencies and officials who refuse to submit their financial statement for audit  passed by the legislature several months ago is jeopardising the fight against corruption.

In 2015, Mr Buhari who had promised to declare his assets immediately after taking office failed to do so after more than three months in power.

Mr Buhari later provided information on his assets in September 2015, bowing to growing public pressure for the then new government to do so within its first 100 days.

However, over two years after that declaration, majority of respondents in a poll by PREMIUM TIMES and Buharimeter believe that what the president declared was insufficient to be considered the presidents public assets declaration.
Human right activists have condemned the recent raid, alleged assault, and sexual harassment meted on over 100 women in some Abuja clubs by agents of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Joint Task Team.

The condemnation was highlighted in a statement signed by 36 civil society groups, non-governmental organisations, media organisations, and gender activists, including Amnesty International Nigeria, the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Nigeria, and Girl Child Africa.

They also threatened to take legal actions to challenge the legality of the raid.

About two weeks ago, PREMIUM TIMES reported how some officials of the FCTA, raided a popular night club, Caramelo, and arrested 34 female nude dancers.

Another 70 were arrested in different night clubs on Wednesday and Friday respectively.

The women were taken to Utako police station, Abuja and detained.

Some of the women were reportedly released after they were profiled, while others were charged for prostitution. A few others were allegedly sexually assaulted.

Although prostitution is illegal in the Nigerian capital, law enforcement officials have used it as an excuse to assault and harass innocent women who go out at night in the city.

When the officials raid night clubs, they usually molest women they believe are scantily dressed and accuse them of prostitution.

Such women are sometimes sexually abused by the security officials. No culpable operative has been brought to justice.

Angry Activists

The activists condemned the latest assault, expressing disgust in their joint statement.

It appears that the FCTA joint task team had unilaterally, and without respect for the rule of law, chosen to contain any environmental nuisance the night club allegedly was causing.

It targeted and violated young women in the club, particularly dancers and strippers. No attempts were made to question the club proprietors or arrest the male guests.

Several female guests in or around the night club were also arrested and harassed. Mostly, young women were brutally dragged out by male officers who beat them, and some women were stripped naked.

The violence inflicted on these women was vicious and targeted. They suffered this treatment because they were women and these officers were confident that they could get away with it.

The group urged the federal authorities to investigate all the allegations of abuse, ill-treatment and violence, including rape and other forms of sexual assaults against these women.

It also called for immediate persecution of agents found culpable.

It called for the immediate release of the women arrested from the proposed forced three months arbitrary rehabilitation at the FCT rehabilitation centre in Lugbe.

It urged the government to provide psychosocial support and compensation for the victims.

Nigerians react on Twitter

Meanwhile, some Nigerians have gone on Twitter to express their dissatisfaction.

A twitter user @fribone said: If youre going to arrest a woman for prostitution, why the man let go free? Why focus on supply rather than the demand? If we are concerned about morality, then we should ask ourselves why people go to prostitutes in the first place? #AbujaPoliceRaidonWomen.

Another user @monakjnr said: I imagine that a lady had planned to link up with a male friend for a few drinks; the guy is late by few minutes and by the time he shows up, police has picked up his friend and taken her to an unknown location. #AbujaPoliceRaidonWomen.

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Abayomi Shogunle, an assistant commissioner of police and the head of the police complaints unit, however, defended the arrests of the alleged prostitutes.

https://twitter.com/YomiShogunle/status/1123138507445239808

He wrote on his Twitter page @YomiShogunle:  Those making noise on the clampdown on prostitutes in #Abuja; Prostitution is a crime under the law P is a sin under the 2 main religions of FCT residents Medicine says P is spreading HIV & STD, P is lifeline of violent criminals, P doesnt pay tax, Nigeria culture frowns at P.
The Zamfara State governor, AbdulAziz Yari, has called on Nigeria to consider ways of diversification of the economy and to move away from carbon fuel to biofuel and electric vehicles.

He also said the diversification could only be achieved by improving power supply in the country.

Mr Yari spoke on Tuesday at the three-day induction of newly elected governors organised by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) in Abuja.

He said the change would enable Nigeria to move from its over-reliance on export of commodities, especially crude oil.

The event had in attendance Senate President Bukola Saraki and many state governors.

Also at the event were two former American state governors, Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Martin OMalley of Maryland State.

Mr Yari, who is the chairman of the NGF, explained why Nigeria needs to move away from carbon energy.

He said by the year 2030, most advanced countries would have vehicles that are powered by electricity which are environmentally friendly.

A Nigerian senator, Ben Murray-Bruce, had on April 11 proposed a bill to promote use of electric cars in Nigeria.

The Senate, however, considered the bill irrelevant, disapproving it at the second reading.

Distinguished participants, there is no better time for us to pay more serious attention to the issue of diversification than now when the world is moving away from carbon fuel to biofuel and electric vehicles. Mr Yari said.

It is expected that by the year 2030 most vehicles in the advanced countries would be powered by electricity, which is green-friendly, with low carbon emission. W hen this happens, it will spell doom for our economy if we have not diversified.

A full diversification of the economy will entail shifting away from reliance on export of commodity, be it oil, gold or any agricultural produce. this development could only be achieved on the basis of industrialisation and improved power supply.

Need to Improve IGR

Mr Yari also charged the governors to work on their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) so as to make their states less dependent on the monthly allocations from the Federation Account.

There is still the need for states to work harder to boost their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to enable them to execute more projects and reduce over-dependence on the Federation Account as the means of promoting the social wellbeing of their people.
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark Labour Day on Wednesday, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has condemned alleged disrespect for the court by the Nigerian government.

It said the governments failure to reinstate about 2,000 sacked workers of various universities staff schools across the country is a reflection of the lack of respect for the workers and the judiciary by the executive arm.

The National Industrial Court ordered the reinstatement of the workers on December 5, 2016.

In a statement signed by its National Public Relations Officer, Abdussobur Salaam, SSANU described the plight of the sacked staff as unfortunate. It said their neglect by the government is irresponsible.

The union urged Nigerians to persuade the government to respect the rule of its own court and reinstate the sacked workers and restore their rights and privileges.

SSANU congratulates all workers on yet another Workers Day. This years Workers Day coincides with the centennial anniversary of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and as such has been themed- 100 years of struggle for Jobs, Dignity and Social Justice.

The above theme captures the totality of the dilemma of the Nigerian workers as we trudge on in our quest for better jobs, the dignity of labour and social justice. Perhaps no sector carries the brunt of this theme more than the university sector, where a cross-section of the workforce have been denied their jobs, their rights to dignity and their entitlement of social justice.

Some of us may recall that in 2014, an obnoxious circular emanated from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, directing vice-chancellors to remove university staff school workers from the payroll of the government. With this circular began a series of agitations by SSANU and other stakeholders in the sector. The agitations culminated in a legal action at the National Industrial Court, where it was ruled on December 5, 2016, that based on the SSANU/FGN 2009 Agreement and in line with the terms and conditions of employment of university staff school teachers, they are an integral part of the university system and the obnoxious circular cannot be applied in their respect.

SSANU said it was worried that without any reason, the government has since 2016 refused to reinstate them to the payroll and as such, they have been left on the hanger out to dry!

The question in line with the theme of todays Workers Day Celebrations now arises- Where are their jobs? For more than three years now, many of the university staff school workers, numbering over two thousand nationwide, have been wallowing without jobs and left to languish in pain. Their dignities have been diminished and they have been reduced to beggars and destitute who live on handouts from families and friends. Where is the social justice in a union embarking on legal means and respecting the rule of law and yet being denied the outcome of the court process? It is indeed painful and shameful that this disrespect for a court ruling would occur under not only a democratic dispensation but one in which the number two man is a legal luminary of repute, the statement added.

SSANU urged President Muhammadu Buhari and his team to take a second look into the matter, saying apart from denying them their jobs, they have also been deprived of their dignities and withheld justice.

The university staff schools are protected by the Acts establishing the universities and in many cases, they are as old as the universities themselves. The university staff school system has produced many eminent and productive Nigerians including Mrs Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Chimamanda Adichie, Hadiza Bala Usman of the Nigeria Ports Authority, among numerous others. Not a few staff in these schools have worked for upwards of three decades and just a few years to retirement, are laid off without any iota of respect and appreciation and without any entitlements. We call on all stakeholders and friends of the university system to prevail on government to respect the National Industrial Court Judgement and ensure the reinstatement of university staff school workers so as to guarantee their jobs, dignity and social justice as this years Workers Day theme connotes, the union said.
Two technology companies, from Nigeria and UK, have signed a 56 million agreement to provide card technology, which would allow commuters to travel with public transport without cash or a paper ticket.

The UK Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said this during the signing of the agreement between Nigerias Interswitch and UKs Becoz in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr Hunt said the technology will be similar to Londons Oyster card system, a form of electronic ticket used on public transport.

I am delighted that the UKs Becoz and Nigerias Interswitch are going to be signing a 56 million contract to provide transport payment technology, similar to the Oyster Card of transport in London, and it is a sign of how UK technology can drive growth of some of Nigerias most innovative companies.

We are establishing a major research hub in Lagos this year in order to bring together entrepreneurs and innovators; these are long term initiatives with benefits to both Nigeria and the UK.

The foreign secretary also said that the UK sought to enhance its partnership with African countries beyond aid and engage more with industries and transform African economies.

He also said that it was important for Britain to re-evaluate its relationship with countries globally with its near exit from the European Union.

The British Government wants to reset relationship with Africa to move away from the primary motive of our engagement being aid to one where we engage more with industries of the future.

I want people in African countries to know that the UK is closely identified with the extraordinary transformation that is happening in Africa at the moment,

Africa is a continent, which would represent a quarter of the worlds population before too long, and we want to be part of the great African success story that is happening.

Furthermore, he added that the implementation of the project would be done by Nigerian tech entrepreneurs.

Also speaking with journalists, Akeem Lawal, Divisional Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch, explained that the card technology system would be built on existing technologies built over the years by the company.

We have taken all of those technology pieces and we have put it on the infrastructure Interswitch has built over the last 17 years.

We combine the payment technology with those unique technologies that we have done in partnership with a UK company and we create a solution that will work on Danfo buses, blue buses, in ferries and in trains.

It will be all across the country; we will start our proof of concept with some of our selected partners in Lagos and Abuja and we will extend to the rest of the country when we are done, he said.

Mr Lawal said the project was a long-term strategic project which had sorted out major challenges that would hamper its functionality.

From the beginning, we wanted to design a system that does not depend on power, so the system we have built works 100 per cent on solar, he said.

The second problem that we solved with the system is the cost; what we have built will cost less than $100 and the third is to recognise that because communication is a challenge we need to build a system that can operate very seamlessly offline, he added.

(NAN)
The police in Abuja have invited a woman for questioning after she accused officers of raping suspected commercial sex workers with sachet water nylons.

Dorothy Njemanze, an Abuja-based womens rights activist, raised the allegation on social media on Tuesday. It came as police and social development authorities intensified their crackdown on alleged sex workers across the federal capital.

Abuja police commissioner Bala Ciroma told PREMIUM TIMES the activist was only asked to turn up at the FCT police headquarters to assist detectives with information about officers responsible for the gruesome abuses.

The allegations are too grievous for our institution to ignore, the police chief said. We hope the woman will have useful information that will aid our investigation.

Mrs Njemanze said she learnt from some of the women arrested and profiled as prostitutes that officers traded the womens release for sex.

We learnt that some of the women were raped with sachet water nylons because there were no condoms left, Mrs Njemanze told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday evening.

The police invited her because she had put out a video and wrote posts on her social media handles alleging the incident earlier this week.

I will be honouring the commissioners invitation on Thursday morning, she told PREMIUM TIMES. We are partners in progress.

Mr Ciroma said he looked forward to receiving Mrs Njemanze on Thursday, and she will not be detained no matter how the invitation turned out.

Out on a limb

Dozens of women have been arrested at night clubs in major parts of the city within the last two weeks. They were accused of offences ranging from prostitution to indecent dressing, despite social media outrage that some of the women might have been hanging out with male acquaintances or even alone.

At least 70 women were arrested in a joint raid by the police and Abuja social workers between April 27 and 29. The arrests were in addition to dozens of women who were taken into custody at Caramelo, a famous gentlemans club in the posh Utako neighbourhood.

The Nigerian Constitution is silent on commercial sex activities, but there are subsidiary legislation in some local jurisdictions that prohibit such acts. After the purported invasion of Abuja by young women repeatedly made headlines in 2011, there were rumours that Ike Ekweremadu was sponsoring a bill to legalise the commercial sex work in the country. The Enugu senator, who became the deputy senate president in 2015, however, denied the reports at the time.

The police summarily arraigned some of the women at an improvised courtroom, but many were reportedly freed amidst unclear circumstances. Some of those convicted received up to six months imprisonment, while a few others were slammed with fines.

Even though the clubs were filled with both sexes, only women were arrested. This has elicited allegations of gender-based violence against women, which could render them even more vulnerable than they had been.

No vagina is safe in Abuja

Mrs Njemanze said she had been gathering evidence about the alleged rape of women with sachet water nylons, but her personal experience sufficed to conclude that officers were capable of committing such acts.

When I was arrested in 2012, my breast and buttocks were terribly fondled by some of the officers, Mrs Njemanze said.

She made headlines that year after being arrested for alleged prostitution. She sued the Nigerian government at Ecowas Court and won. The court determined that her rights were violated because she was arrested only because she was out at night.

In most cases of prostitution, you will have a man and a woman, Mrs Njemanze said. If you arrest only the woman and profile her as a prostitute, then it becomes gender-based violence.

She said only 10 of about 70 women who were arrested last week were arraigned before a mobile court near the Federal Secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday.

Police officers freed most of the women after they were given sex and money, Mrs Njemanze said.

She said she will demand a review of the circumstances under which the most of the women were released without charges  including an interview of all the officers that took part in the arrests and some of the freed detainees.

Just plead guilty

Mrs Njemanze said one of the major concerns she would raise with Mr Ciroma will be about officers unethical practice of ensnaring suspected prostitutes into admitting their guilt.

Whenever they arrest women at night clubs, be they strippers or commercial sex workers or whatever, they usually ask them to just plead guilty in their kangaroo court so they could be fined for a small amount rather than sent to jail, she said.

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The officers use the tactics to avoid the responsibility of proving that the women were actually prostitutes as required in criminal proceedings. Only a few of victims of discriminatory police arrests know their fundamental rights as Nigerian citizens, she added.

I respect the commissioner because he has been proactive against sexual and gender-based violence, Mrs Njemanze said. But the officers have failed to emulate his professionalism.
Nigeria is not the poverty capital of the world, Abiodun Adedipe, an economist and member of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, has said.

Mr Adedipe, a management and financial consultant, said this at the annual forum of The Platform on Wednesday in Lagos.

The News agency of Nigeria reports that the programme was themed: The Drivers, Enablers and Obstacles to our Growth.

Mr Adedipe was reacting to a report by the World Poverty Clock, published in June 2018, which indicated that Nigeria had overtaken India as the country with the largest extreme poverty population in the world.

As a Nigerian, economist and someone who deals with data, I challenge them because none of those who made such claims has been able to prove it.

When you talk about poverty, you also talk about how you measure it.

If you say you conducted a survey, then I want to know where it was conducted, how you drew your sample from the population, your response rate and the usual measures of confidence in statistical analysis.

I havent seen any of such and unfortunately, they reel out these data and we begin to amplify it.

Take, for example, someone who is on N30,000 pay per month, he transports himself to work daily, he provides feeding, he pays rent and pays other bills.

When you add all of these up, they are by far greater than that N30,000.

But if you look at his income, youll say this man must be poor but when you look at his expenses, the picture will completely change.

And what I have observed is that there is a whole lot going on in Nigeria in the informal sector, which these foreign analysts ignore, he said.

Mr Adedipe described Nigerians as incredibly hardworking people who think out opportunities in every situation and excel.

Nigerians are incredibly hardworking people with solid spirits and we do not need to look far to see the evidence. At 5 a.m., the majority are out there working and hustling.

Just as many are complaining about the Lagos traffic, some see opportunity in that situation as slightly above N2 billion worth of plantain chips, is being sold monthly in Lagos traffic, he said.

Mr Adedipe urged Nigerians to believe in themselves, be creative and innovative to develop the country.

Changing the Nigerian narrative is simple  our leaders must walk the talk. We must stop talking ill of Nigeria and then act accordingly.

Even the foreigners seem to see more opportunities in Nigeria than we Nigerians do, and also have more confidence in us than we have in ourselves, Mr Adedipe said.

Also speaking, Ndubuisi Ekekwe, a professor and Founder, African Institute of Technology, said that Nigerias economy would progress if entrepreneurial capitalism was adopted.

It is sad to note that Nigeria is still an inventive society. We will only begin to grow our economy when we start focusing on innovations and commercialisation.

The finest moment for any nation is when entrepreneurs rise by creating the enabling environment and funds.

We need to think as a people because the world is not waiting for us,  he said.

In her remarks, Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria, called for a national conversation to restrategise interventions that could address the economic challenges of the country.

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Mrs Awosika urged Nigerians to stop complaining about the situation of the country but come up with innovative ideas that could boost the nations economy.

NAN reports that The Platform is a non-profit initiative of the Covenant Christian Centre, established in 2007.

Its primary aim is to facilitate growth in the areas of personal capacity and productivity as well as foster national development within Nigeria. (NAN)
The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has alleged that some state governors use insecurity as an excuse to steal public funds.

Mr Magu said this while making a presentation on corruption, on Tuesday, at the induction ceremony organised by the Nigerian Governors Forum in Abuja for newly-elected governors.

He said the climate of insecurity and terrorism promotes corruption in Nigeria and some state governors are cashing in on the development.

We also have evidence of theft by some state governors cashing in on the insecurity in their states. In fact, there are speculations in some quotas that some governors conversely promote insecurity in their state to inflate their security votes, the EFCC boss said.

I am not going to enter deeply into the debate on security votes. What is important is that what is expected of governors as chief security officers of the state is to be cautious and transparent in utilising public funds.

Security votes are state funds governors use to tackle security challenges in their states. It has been criticised as fuelling corruption since the amounts are never made public and not accounted for.

However, Nigerias 36 state governors have also in the past asked for a raise in the controversial security votes drawn from their state budgets.

They cited the escalating violence by terrorist groups and internal crisis in making the demands.

Nuhu Ribadu, a former head of the EFCC, advised the governors to avoid cash transaction, including with security votes, saying public funds should not be spent recklessly.

He spoke immediately after Mr Magu during Tuesdays induction.

Insecurity, Right Oxygen for Corruption

Mr Magu said insecurity has offered the right oxygen for corruption to thrive. He said this is evident in the Nigerian arms deal scandal.

There is a nugget between corruption and terrorism financing. Corruption promotes insecurity.

He said the insurgency in the North-east is a byproduct of corruption. He also said the problem of militancy in the Niger Delta is caused by corruption.

The official revealed how billions of naira were lost through the Niger Delta commission.

Former governor of Ogun state chairing the Strategic Communications and Press/Public Relations section. The Discussants are Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman publisher of This Day; Yemi Ogunbiyi of DailyTimes Nigeria.

After reeling out figures of looted funds that have been recovered from corrupt officials, Mr Magu said several convictions have been recorded.

He, however, said it may be difficult to put a figure on how much was lost to corrupt officials.
Governor Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa State on Wednesday announced that the state government would implement N30, 000 minimum wage which had become law in the country.

Mr Bindow made the declaration at the 2019 Workers Day celebration in Yola.

He said implementing the new wage was a demonstration of his commitment to improving the welfare of workers in the state.

He recalled that during electioneering in February, he promised workers in the state that he would implement any new minimum wage approval by the federal government.

The governor maintained that workers welfare remained his priority.

He reminded the people that on assumption of office, he inherited back log of salaries to workers, but stated that now the government is not owing any civil servant in the state.

He debunked rumours that he borrowed funds to execute capital projects, explaining that he only borrowed to augment the shortfall in allocation to the state from the Federation Account to pay the inherited salary arrears.

Mr Bindow challenged the rumour mongers to verify from Zenith Bank, where the state operated an account, the real position on the issue.

He decried the behaviour of mischief makers, saying that he judiciously utilised available resources to execute projects.

He urged the incoming administration to continue with the provision of infrastructure, adding that the 370 roads constructed by his administration were visible and impactful.

Earlier, Emmanuel Fashe, newly-elected Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, commended the governor for being workers-friendly and for being up to date in payment of salaries to workers.

(NAN)
Bauchi State Government says it will set up a committee for the implementation of the N30, 000 minimum wage for its workers.

Governor Muhammed Abubakar said this on Wednesday in a speech read at the celebration of Workers Day in Bauchi.

Mr Abubakar, represented by the Acting States Head of Service, Adamu Gakaru, said the committee would work out the implementation of the minimum wage recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He urged workers in the state to discharge their responsibilities in line with the rules and regulations governing the service.

Mr Abubakar called on workers to sustain the industrial harmony existing between the government and labour towards achieving development.

He urged them to support the government in its fight against corruption and other vices that were bedevilling the state.

The governor asserted that the day was set aside to enable workers reflect on their past and to rejuvenate their services to the state.

He warned against sycophancy and other vices being experienced in some government establishment.

The chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state, Mohammed Usman, had earlier commended the government for regular payment of salaries to its workers.

Mr Usman urged the government to sustain the tempo to enable workers enjoy the gesture.

He further called on the state government to resuscitate the leave and transport grants to its workers that were suspended due some reasons.

The TUC chairman also called on the state government to hasten the implementation of the minimum wage to enable the workers in the state benefit from it.

(NAN)
The main labour union in Kogi on Wednesday said workers would determine the next governor of the state come November 2.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Onu Edoka, stated this at the 2019 Workers Day (May Day) celebration at Confluence Stadium, Lokoja.

According to him, if only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would make their votes count, workers would decide the next governor of the state on Nov. 2.

Workers have the power to determine the next governor of the state and would prove it in the state governorship election slated for November 2, if only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would make our votes count.

He, therefore, urged Governor Yahaya Bello to clear up the arrears of salaries owed workers in the state within the shortest possible time.

If you pay our salaries, leave bonuses and implement our promotions, we assure you that we shall stand by you, he said.

Mr Edoka maintained his stance that the state government owed its workers between seven and 30 months salaries.

He urged the government to stop the propaganda and face reality to ascertain the actual indebtedness of the state to its workers.

The labour leader, however, urged the government to clear up the arrears of salary and implement the new National Minimum Wage, adding that government should do everything possible to prevent workers from taking to the streets.

He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to release N30.8 billion, being the balance of the bailout to Kogi. He said, outside of the N50.8 billion former Governor Idris Wada applied for, N20 billion was released to Governor Bello.

Mr Edoka said Mr Bello paid four months arrears with the release and urged President Buhari to release the balance of N30.8 billion for government to settle more arrears.

In his response, Mr Bello said that the state government would not pretend there were no unresolved issues, but utmost on his agenda presently was how to finally settle unpaid salaries to genuine workers.

Mr Bello, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Folashade Ayoade-Arike, however, contended that the state government owed its workers only five months salaries.

He maintained that the last salary paid was that of November 2018.

He said that genuine workers had earlier been cleared, while those in other categories and possibly being owed were those cleared later by the screening committee, adding that it all depended on when they were cleared.

On the N30,000 new National Minimum Wage, the governor said that the government would meet with labour leaders and decide on modalities to adopt for its implementation.

He noted that payment of teachers salaries was now on first line charge.

We are going to key into the new National Minimum Wage. The leadership of the Organised Labour in the state have been consistent in partnering with us, and we will always be straight forward with them, he said. (NAN)
The police have secured the release of three people kidnapped in Kajuru Castle, a recreational resort in troubled Kajuru Local Government area of Kaduna State, an official has said.

The release was announced in a statement by Yakubu Sabo, the Public Relations Officer of the Kaduna Police Command late Tuesday.

The statement noted that the release was possible after an intensive pressure mounted on the kidnappers by the police.

On April 19, the three were abducted at the Kajuru Castle when gunmen attacked the resort.

The attack left a Briton, Faye Mooney, a communications and learning specialist for an international non-governmental organisation, Mercy Corps, and Matthew Oguche, a Nigerian training assistant with the International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO), dead.

Even though the police reacted by promising the prompt release of the victims, this could not be achieved until after 12 days in captivity.

The three victims kidnapped at Kajuru Castle recently during the unfortunate incident that claimed the lives of Ms Mooney and one other have also been released today due to intensive pressure mounted on the surrounding areas by the Police, the statement reads.

The names of the three were not given. The statement was also silent on whether ransom was paid to secure the release.

The attack drew the ire of the Nigerian Senate. After observing a minute silence in honour of Ms Mooney, the lawmakers summoned the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to plenary to provide an update on efforts at combating the crime.

Mr Adamu will appear before the plenary on May 7, Senate President Bukola Saraki announced on Tuesday.

Suspect in UBEC chair abduction arrested

Similarly, the police said they arrested one Audu Ahmadu, a suspect in the abduction of the chairman of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Muhammed Mahmood, and his daughter.

Mr Mahmood and his daughter were kidnapped along the Kaduna-Abuja Highway Monday afternoon on their way from Kaduna to Abuja.

The attack which left the chairmans driver dead was reported by PREMIUM TIMES. This newspaper also reported his release on Tuesday.

The police confirmed the release of the duo and announced the arrest of a suspect linked to the abduction.

Mr Sabo also said Mr Adamu visited the family of the kidnapped victims.

He said the police has improved the security along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.
The Katsina State Government says it has so far spent about N25 billion on the payment of gratuities and pensions of retirees in the state since 2015 to date.

Governor Aminu Masari disclosed this on Wednesday in Katsina at the National Workers Day celebration for 2019.

Mr Masari, represented by the state Head of Service, Idris Usman, said it was part of the administrations determination to enhance human-capital development in recognition of the services they rendered to the state.

He further said government pays workers salaries promptly to boost their morale for effective service delivery.

Katsina is a civil service state, so, when you pay salaries in good time, everybody will be happy and empowered, he said.

Mr Masari said the government also spent N300 million on training and retraining of workers in the state during the period under review.

A worker is like a vehicle engine, if you serviced it, it will function well, likewise, if the government train workers they will do more in actualising its policies and programmes, he said.

On the new National Minimum Wage, the governor assured workers that the government would follow due process before the implementation.

Earlier, the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Hussaini Hamisu, assured workers that the union would engage with the government to actualize the implementation of the new minimum wage immediately the processes were completed.

I request our workers to remain calm and be more committed and productive in their duties for the development of our dare state, he said.

Mr Hamisu also urged the government to continue to do more on the rehabilitation of schools, employment of qualified teachers and retraining of the teachers to improve the standard of education.

He also urged the government to employ more health personnel to enhance healthcare delivery.

The chairman called on the government to implement promotion of workers to enhance their capability.

(NAN)
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has begun enumeration for the distribution of seedlings to farmers affected by the 2018 flood in Bayelsa State.

Eric Ebhodaghe, the agencys team leader in the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Wednesday that the federal government targeted over 3,000 farmers across the eight local government areas in the state.

Mr Ebhodaghe, also the supervisor of the National Food Security Council (NFSC) for the Agency in South-South, said the intervention, in three phases, includes verification/enumeration, distribution, and cultivation.

Mr President, Muhammadu Buhari, has ordered for intervention for farmers that were affected by the 2018 flood disaster across 14 states in the country, including Bayelsa.

The intervention is also part of the Federal Governments efforts to cushion the effect of food insecurity in the country.

This exercise is coming in form of agro-inputs to the farmers. The inputs are mainly seedlings, agrochemical, and fertilizers that are quite peculiar to this region. Some of the seedlings are maize, plantain and rice.

It will cut across the identified local government areas in the state. Presently, we have gone about five out of the eight local government of Baylesa. The targeted farmers are being enlisted from these areas.

The intervention is a Federal Government programme but we are working with the state government and other stakeholders and experts from the federal and state ministry of agriculture.

It is basically for crop farmers. We believe that this planting season is the right period for the distribution, he explained.

(NAN)
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State said on Wednesday there was no rift between him and his predecessor in office, Adams Oshiomhole, current National Chairman, All Progressive Congress (APC).

Mr Obaseki made the clarification at the Benin Airport upon his arrival in the state following a one-month vacation.

The governor described as fake news, the reported rift with Mr Oshiomhole over his second term ambition.

Mr Obaseki said the people of the state should be engaging themselves with how the government could provide good governance to them and not petty issues.

He said that Edo people should expect more wake and see as he had returned refreshed, feeling good, and ready to continue to deliver good governance to the people of the state.

Mr Obaseki, who was accompanied by his wife, Betsy, arrived the Benin airport at exactly 11.30am.

Combined security operatives from the 4th brigade, DSS, and the Police had a hectic time controlling the mammoth crowd that thronged the airport to welcome the governor.

Deputy Governor Phillip Shaibu; Secretary to the state government, Osarodion Ogie; Edo State House of Assembly Speaker, Kabiru Adjoto; and Chief of staff to the governor, Taiwo Akerele, and some APC leader were among officials who received the governor.

All the 18 local government Council Chairmen, ward and party leaders were on ground to also receive the governor.

(NAN)
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has urged workers to pray for financial windfall to enable his administration implement the new national wage.

Mr Ugwuanyi made the call on Wednesday in Enugu during the 2019 May Day celebration held in the state.

The governor said his administration was committed to the welfare of workers and had prioritised payment of salary and pension.

He said his administration would do everything to ensure continuous harmonious working relationship between government and workers.

Mr Ugwuanyi said he had noted the new national minimum wage approved by President Muhammadu Buhari effective from April 2019.

We will ensure that these issues are comprehensively and satisfactorily addressed in concert with other relevant government agencies and departments, he said.

Mr Ugwuanyi therefore charged workers in the state to pray for financial breakthrough while remaining true to their obligations.

Earlier in an address, the Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state, Chukwuma Igbokwe, said the good relationship between government and workers had translated to improved workers welfare.

Mr Igbokwe commended the state government for setting aside N100 million monthly for the payment of backlog of gratuities.

He noted that the latest release would pay up to September 2010 gratuities.

The chairman, however, said it had become imperative to increase the money to N200 million as there were a lot of outstanding gratuities.

Mr Igbokwe also said pensioners in government parastatals were owed up to 32 months.

He appealed to the state government to centralise the system of salary payment to enable workers in government parastatals get salaries same time with their peers in the ministries.

Also speaking, the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Virginus Nwobodo, said the governor had within his first tenure given workers hope.

Mr Nwobodo said the state government had paid over six years of gratuities in batches.

He therefore appealed for increase of the monthly release to N300 million to enable prompt payment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highlight of the celebration was march-past by the various trade unions.

(NAN)
It was a cold dark night of April 23, 2019, in Igbodigho community in Okitipupa Local Government Area of Ondo State.

A night which will not be forgotten by the Sanumi family, as they, in one night, lost five persons to an inferno ignited by an enraged lover whose antecedent has been closely related to violent crimes.

Three other persons lost their lives afterwards as a result of the inferno. The fire was set while they all slept.

Those killed painfully included children and women.

The villain is one Deji Adenuga, a 45-year-old jailbird, whose reasons for killing eight persons in one arson attack was because he was jilted and cheated by his ex-lover.

Mr Adenuga fled the scene as soon as his evil deed was manifested. He was, however, arrested and paraded on Tuesday by the Ondo State Police Command.

He confessed to the crime.

A palm wine tapper, also known as Davar Oluodo, Mr Adenuga had once been arrested for murdering his first wife in 2012. While awaiting trial at the Olokuta Prison in Akure, he escaped during the 2013 jailbreak at the prison.

Although he was caught and returned to prison shortly after the jailbreak, he got a prerogative of mercy and was set free in 2015.

The police said he was on Monday, nabbed in Ijebu Ode in Ogun State, where he was hiding after the April 23 attack.

While eight persons have been confirmed dead as a result of the attack, his girlfriend, Titi Sanumi, who was also caught in the fire, managed to survive and is receiving medical attention in an undisclosed hospital.

Speaking to journalists in Akure on Tuesday, Mr Adenuga admitted he committed the crime, but gave reasons for his actions.

He said his ex-lover, Titi, and her elder sister, Jumoke, extorted him during the affair and eventually, his lover dumped him. He said he was angered by the action of the two women and he decided to pay them back by killing them in the middle of the night.

My girlfriend (Titi) went to abort the four months old pregnancy she had for me after I advised her not to. She also ran away with my N55,000. Ive been the one taking care of Titi and her aunts family, Mr Adenuga said.

Titis aunt (Jumoke) always made sure Titi and I had quarrel which she used in extorting money from me. She will advise her sister to leave, and when I go pleading, she will use the avenue to collect money and food items from me.

She did it again this time and threatened that I cannot do anything as an ex-convict. It was her threat that made me carry out my action.

I had wanted to kill only Titi and her sister, Jumoke. I never knew other members of the family were in the room.

The commissioner of Police for Ondo State, Undie Adie, described the incident as unfortunate. He said the suspect would face the full wrath of the law.

Recall that on 23/04/2019, at about 0200hrs, one Deji Adenuga A.k.A Oluodo, allegedly set a house ablaze where a family of nine was asleep. His grouse was that one of the family members Titi Sanumi, his former girlfriend jilted him after investing so much on her, Mr Adie said while parading the suspect at the command headquarters.

Eight of the victims of the arson who were mostly children were later confirmed dead, while the only remaining victim who happens to be the girlfriend of the suspect is still in a critical condition in the Hospital.

However, after an intense manhunt, the suspect was arrested on 28/04/2019 in Ijebu Ode where he absconded to after committing the offence.

It is unfortunate to note that the same suspect is notorious for committing heinous crime especially murder, as he had earlier killed his former wife named Abiye, sometime in the year 2012, which led to his being remanded in Olokuta Prison.

He, however, escaped with other inmates during a jailbreak in 2013. The earlier murder case is also going to be looked into with a view to having him face the full weight of the law.

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Another two-story building under construction Tuesday collapsed in Ibadan, the Oyo States capital.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that at least eight people sustained various degrees of injuries when the building located on Eleyele-Jericho Road Road at about 4.00 pm.

Last March, at least three persons sustained injuries when a two-storey building collapsed in the Sogoye area of the city.

It was, however, gathered that eight people sustained injuries in the latest building collapse.

A witness added that the injured were the workers close to the collapsed portion.

One of the site workers who spoke with journalists, Kazeem Adebayo, said concrete casting on a portion of the building had started when the building collapsed.

Mr Adebayo said a portion of the building began to give way at about 3.30 p.m. and the attention of the site engineer was drawn to it.

He, however, insisted that it was the engineer who ordered them to continue working, only for the building to collapse shortly afterward.

Mr Adebayo said those who were injured had been taken to the nearby Jericho Specialist Hospital for treatment.

The secretary of the Oyo State Emergency Management Agency, Akin Makinde, who confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday said the case has not been reported to the agency.

Mr Makinde, who said the agency would soon visit the scene, also said they are embarking on public enlightenment to tell the people that they need to report the incidents before the agency can move there.

He told PREMIUM TIMES during a telephone conversation that, I just heard about it today. I heard that eight people were injured and there is no loss of life.

That is why we are embarking on public enlightenment. No one has called us. They should call us. If we are not called, how do we know?

I told you I just heard it about an hour ago. This is the more reason we are embarking on campaign. If an incident occurs, it should be reported. I learnt it occurred yesterday. They should call us and tell us what happened.

In fact, somebody called us that there was a fire incident yesterday. Myself and NEMA and the fire service, we were roaming about to know the place until 7 pm yesterday, not knowing that it was the last fire incident that occurred at old Ife Road that they were calling us for.

If we are not called, how do we know? We were around yesterday looking for where the fire incident occurred before we discovered that it was the last fire incident that they called us for.

I just heard it over the radio. We will visit the place and know what happened, he said.
The immediate past Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Segun Oni, has been suspended indefinitely from the party.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Oni, who is also a former governor of Ekiti State, was suspended over alleged anti-party activities.

In a letter dated May 1, 2019 and addressed to Mr Oni by the partys executives in his (Oni) Ifaki Ward II, Ekiti, the party said it took the action over the failure of the party chieftain to appear before them to clear the allegations against them.

The letter was signed by the Chairman and Secretary of Ifaki Ward II, Shina Akinloye and Ogunyemi Taiwo respectively as well as 24 other executive members in the ward.

The APC executive in Ido /Osi Local Government through its Assistant Financial Secretary and Assistant Organising Secretary, A. Suleiman and Olanrewaju Olamope, respectively also signed.

Apart from being a former governor, Mr Oni also served as the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the party under the tenure of John Oyegun.

The letter entitled, Suspension from All Progressives Congress Ward II, Ifaki Ekiti read:

Subject to Article 21 Subsections I, II and X of the APC constitution 2014 as amended.

We the undersigned executive members of the APC hereby suspend you indefinitely from our great party, based on your refusal to honour our invitation for investigation and fact finding into the allegation of anti-party activities leveled against your person by the members of our party.

We are by the copy of this letter informing both the local government and state working committee of the party for necessary information and action, it stated in part.

NAN recalls that the party had in a letter dated 24th April 2019 and signed by the ward executives invited Mr Oni to appear before a panel.

The letter read: We the executive members of the APC in Ifaki Ward II, hereby request your presence at the Ilero town hall, Ilogbe, Ifaki Ekiti to clear the allegations by members of the APC in your ward.

Kindly indicate by informing the APC chairman the convenient time and date to appear before members within the next seven days of reception of this letter, it stated.

The letter of invitation was received on Mr Onis behalf by one Segun Adetunji on 25th April, 2019.

NAN recalls that Mr Oni s problem with the party began last year when he dragged Governor Kayode Fayemi and the party to court after the May 26, 2018 APC governorship primary.

He had challenged Mr Fayemis emergence as candidate and his eligibility to participate in the election.

The former governor had insisted that, going by the constitution of the party, Mr Fayemi, being a minister in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, ought to have resigned his post 30 days to the primary.

He had also claimed that Fayemi was not qualified to contest, alleging that he had been found guilty of certain offences by a Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by former Governor Ayo Fayose and which also banned him from holding public office for 20 years.

Mr Fayoses 10 year ban was, however, upturned by an Abuja High Court as well as the Appeal Court.

He later won the July 14 governorship election by defeating the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Kolapo Olusola.

The Supreme Court also dismissed Onis suit for lack of merit, saying Mr Fayemi did not breach the law by resigning after the primary.

(NAN)
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun says he has approved N20.2 billion for payment of 18 months outstanding deductions from workers salaries in the state.

Mr Amosun disclosed this during his speech at the 2019 May Day rally held at the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta, on Wednesday.

The governor, who expressed dissatisfaction at the manner the workers handled the issue, gave the assurance that the deductions would be cleared by Thursday.

By tomorrow (Thursday), I would have paid all the outstanding deductions which you vilified me for, Mr Amosun said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that non-payment of the deductions caused a rift between the state government and the organised labour in the state.

Mr Amosun attributed the delay in the payment to his administrations commitment to infrastructure development among other commitments.

According to him, the Federal Government is to reimburse Ogun Government the sum of N90 billion expended by the state in repairing federal roads and other infrastructure within Ogun.

On the N30,000 minimum wage, he said his administration had already laid the foundation that would enable the incoming government to implement it.

So, on Thursday, the accounts of all our workers in Ogun State would be credited with their outstanding deductions.

We must realise that in spite of all successes achieved in the last eight years of our administration, our dear Ogun State is still a work in progress.

In whatever position we find ourselves, either as civil servants or as political office holders, we should realise that we hold such offices in trust and we need to join hands together to ensure that we bring development to our dear state.

Let me assure you that our administration will not abandon any of our ongoing projects, especially those that have something to do with the development of the workforce, Mr Amosun said.

Earlier, the state Chairmen of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, Messrs Emmanuel Bankole and Fajobi Adebayo, respectively, demanded implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage by the state government.

(NAN)
The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has promised to pay the N30,000 minimum wage as provided by law.

He gave the assurance while addressing workers on Tuesday in commemoration of the Workers Day held in Arcade, Akure.

But the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state has vowed to resist any form of increases in taxes or the prices of petroleum products as a result of the new minimum wage.

This government will pay the Minimum Wage as approved by law. We, however, admonish our colleagues in service to reciprocate all the good gestures of the government, and the sacrifices made by those who are not employed by the State, to rededicate themselves and embrace the best practices for progress, Mr Akeredolu said.

We promised during our campaigns that we would not allow any worker suffer under our watch. We have kept this promise. We will remain focused in the interest of our people. We shall not allow any extraneous interests to undermine the development of the state. We will resist any person or groups of persons who may wish to short-change the people of the state under any guise.

On salaries, the governor said his administration had made good its promises not to owe workers.

This Administration has not reneged on any of its promises since inception. We will continue to treat the welfare of civil servants as a priority, he said.

We have paid salaries of workers till date. We acknowledge the outstanding one month salary from the seven months arrears inherited from the previous government. We are obliged to offset this entitlement and other legitimate earnings as soon as the financial situation improves. We crave your patience and understanding in this regard.

The governor also said the government had opened the state for economic development through production of goods and services and the improvement in internally generated revenues.

The Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Ondo State Council, Sunday Adeleye, commended the state government for its commitment to regular payment of salaries and conduct of promotion exercise.

He, however, said the organised labour would constructively criticise the state government when necessary.

Mr Adeleye also stated that the organised labour would resist any form of hike in prices, particularly of fuel or taxes.

Also, the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress in the state, Helen Odofin, assured that the workers would reciprocate the good gesture of employers through loyalty and commitment to quality service delivery.

Ms Odofin also lauded the state governor for promising to comply with the implementation of the new minimum wage.

In the same vein, the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Ondo State, Adetona Aderoboye, expressed satisfaction with Mr Akeredolus decision to implement the N30,000 Minimum wage.

In a May Day message, the NUJ chairman called on the government to commence the immediate implementation of the new wage for the state workers.

Mr Aderoboye also stressed the need for media owners to give top priority to the welfare of journalists working in their organisations.
On Monday afternoon, the doors were locked and little more than a wall of brochures and a rack of T-shirts were visible inside. The neon waves behind the desk were still illuminated. And Tuesday morning, before learning it was closed, a driver approached hoping to purchase an E-ZPass. The Center is closed Monday and Tuesdays.

In 1998, as the building was being built, a report on the forthcoming center said the city hoped, under Siegs management, that they could lengthen the average stay of visitors through brochure distribution, promoting the resorts many amenities.

Now, those hopes are being abandoned as the city looks to modernize the process of getting resort information to visitors. CRDA will, in turn, increase hours of operation and available services at the Boardwalk Information Center, where the two full-time employees will be relocated.

The one part-time employee will be used on an on-call basis.

That, plus a more robust social and digital marketing presence should sufficiently meet the needs of Atlantic City visitors here in the Tourism District, Sieg said.
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Walt Disney Co., facing potentially record crowds when its new Star Wars attractions open in coming months, is tightening its theme-park rules.

Starting May 1, the company is banning strollers larger than 31 inches wide. Wagons of any kind will no longer be allowed. And loose ice or dry ice will be prohibited: Disney argues that it streamlines the bag-check and entry process if people aren't carrying those items. (Sorry, Elsa.)

Disney also said it was eliminating the smoking areas in its theme parks and other attractions in Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California. Areas for smokers -- and e-cigarette users -- will still be available outside the parks and its hotels.

"As we expand our offerings, we will continue to take steps to enhance the guest experience and make it more enjoyable for everyone who visits," Liz Jaeger, a Disney spokeswoman, said in a statement.

For visitors adjusting to the new rules, Disney suggests renting a stroller and going to a concession stand for a free cup of ice.
It was a critical plane in fighting against the Japanese Zeros in the Philippines, said Anne Salvatore, president of NASW. It was the premier fighter during the war.

This Hellcat was serving with Fighting Squadron 21 at North Island, California, when it was ditched at sea on Jan. 12, 1945. It was recovered from a depth of 1,800 feet just 12 miles of the coast of San Diego in 1971 with many of its original parts in tact, including its .50-caliber Browning machine guns.

The plane has been restored to its original aesthetics, including the tri-color blue camouflage the Hellcat adorned when Hawkins flew off the deck of the USS Cabot. As part of its loan agreement with the national museum, NASW will continue with the restoration of the Hellcat, which includes the reattachment of the starboard wing.

Joseph Salvatore said obtaining the Hellcat form the national museum in Florida was not difficult  despite the artifacts rarity  because of a continuing working relationship between the two institutions.

Several of the NASWs aircraft on display came from Pensacola, including the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Blue Angel and F-A5.
Some have rightly wondered whether sensors or cameras might eliminate the need for observers manning the tower. The answer is, not yet. This latest cutting of the trees, not native to these pinelands anyway, perhaps will keep the area safe long enough for such technologies to sufficiently develop and demonstrate their reliability and safety. When that happens, the fire service is sure to consider their use.

The Pinelands Commission also approved an agreement with the South Jersey Transportation Authority to quit maintaining protected habitat for two rare birds at its Atlantic City International Airport.

Since 2004, SJTA has maintained 290 acres of tall grass at the airport for use by very small numbers of endangered upland sandpipers and threatened grasshopper sparrows. That has been a mixed blessing for the birds, which increasingly have been hit by airplanes. It also impairs some of the airports potential to better serve the region.

Under the agreement, SJTA will replace the airport plot with at least 62 acres of appropriate bird habitat near enough for the birds to use it, and will pay the Pinelands Commission $3 million to use for land preservation and acquisition. This looks like a win for everyone.
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.




LEAMINGTON, ON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Aphria Inc. ("Aphria" or the "Company") (TSX: APHA and NYSE: APHA) today announced management will present at the Canaccord Genuity Cannabis Conference on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. ET in New York, NY.

There will be a simultaneous, live webcast available on the Investors section of Aphria's website. The webcast will be archived for 30 days.

We Have A Good Thing Growing

About Aphria Inc.

Aphria Inc. is a leading global cannabis company driven by an unrelenting commitment to our people, the planet, product quality and innovation. Headquartered in Leamington, Ontario  the greenhouse capital of Canada  Aphria Inc. has been setting the standard for the low-cost production of high-quality cannabis at scale, grown in the most natural conditions possible. Focusing on untapped opportunities and backed by the latest technologies, Aphria Inc. is committed to bringing breakthrough innovation to the global cannabis market. The Company's portfolio of brands is grounded in expertly-researched consumer insights designed to meet the needs of every consumer segment. Rooted in our founders' multi-generational expertise in commercial agriculture, Aphria Inc. drives sustainable long-term shareholder value through a diversified approach to innovation, strategic partnerships and global expansion, with a presence in more than 10 countries across 5 continents.

For more information, visit: aphria.ca

SOURCE Aphria Inc.

Related Links

http://aphria.com/


NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The apps & social platforms industry ranked 10th out of the 15 studied in MBLM's Brand Intimacy 2019 Study, which is the largest study of brands based on emotions, rising two spots since 2018. Pinterest topped the industry, followed by Spotify and Pandora. The remaining brands in the Top 10 for the apps & social platforms industry were: Instagram, Apple Music, Facebook, Snapchat, Uber, Airbnb and Venmo. Brand Intimacy is defined as the emotional science that measures the bonds we form with the brands we use and love.

U.S. Top 10 Most Intimate Apps & Social Platforms Brands 2019

Top intimate brand outperformed the top brands in the Fortune 500 and S&P indices in both revenue and profit over the past 10 years, according to the Brand Intimacy 2019 Study. The average revenue growth from 2008-2017 was 8.68 percent for the top 10 most intimate brands, compared to 3.66 percent for Fortune 500 top brands and 4.75 percent for top S&P companies. In dollar value, this translates on average to the top 10 intimate brands having $37 billion more in total revenue over a 10-year period compared to the Fortune 500. This has significant implications for apps & social media brands, many of whom have volatile profitability and growth histories, including Spotify, which turned a profit for the first time in Q1 2019 and Facebook, which lost $100 billion in value last year.1

"Although a ubiquitous part of our daily routine, apps & social platform brands continued to underperform in our 2019 study," stated Mario Natarelli, managing partner, MBLM. "These brands are perceived as free utilities. They rank lowest in the smartphone ecosystem and now trust is emerging as a key challenge as these brands try to mature. However, strong performers such as Pinterest are creating powerful bonds  especially with women."

Other significant apps & social platforms industry findings include:

The category increased its average Brand Intimacy Quotient from 18.0 in last year's study to 25.4 in 2019

Pinterest doubled its score of 22.0 in 2018 to 44.9 this year

Last year's leader, Apple Music, fell to the #5 position

Pinterest was the #1 brand for women

Spotify was the #1 brand for men

Pinterest was also the #1 brand for millennials, users over 35, users with incomes under $75,000 , and those with higher incomes

MBLM also published an article decoding the success of Pinterest, "Pin It to Win It." The piece analyzes Pinterest's swift rise from the fourth spot in the apps & social platforms industry in MBLM's 2018 study to the top spot this year. The brand is loved by women and is starting to see increased interest from men, who made up 50 percent of new sign-ups in 2018. Pinterest also builds deeper connections than any other social media brand and inspires some of the strongest associations in the category and in the overall study. Consumers' feelings about brands in the industry can change quickly since there are few barriers to adoption, switching or abandonment. Brands like Pinterest have a unique advantage since they already have created strong emotional attachments with consumers.

The Brand Intimacy 2019 Study contains the most comprehensive rankings of brands based on emotion, analyzing the responses of 6,200 consumers and 56,000 brand evaluations across 15 industries in the U.S., Mexico and UAE. MBLM's reports and Data Dashboard, which features a brand ranking tool, showcase the performance of almost 400 brands, revealing the characteristics and intensity of the consumer bonds.

To view apps & social platforms industry findings, please click here. MBLM also hosted a webinar on the industry, a recording of it can be found here. To download the full Brand Intimacy 2019 Study or explore the Data Dashboard click here.

Methodology

During 2018, MBLM with Praxis Research Partners conducted an online quantitative survey among 6,200 consumers in the U.S. (3,000), Mexico (2,000), and the United Arab Emirates (1,200). Participants were respondents who were screened for age (18 to 64 years of age) and annual household income ($35,000 or more) in the U.S. and socioeconomic levels in Mexico and the UAE (A, B and C socioeconomic levels). Quotas were established to ensure that the sample mirrored census data for age, gender, income/socioeconomic level, and region. The survey was designed primarily to understand the extent to which consumers have relationships with brands and the strength of those relationships from fairly detached to highly intimate. It is important to note that this research provides more than a mere ranking of brand performance and was specifically designed to provide prescriptive guidance to marketers. We modeled data from over 6,200 interviews and approximately 56,000 brand evaluations to quantify the mechanisms that drive intimacy. Through factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other sophisticated analytic techniques, the research allows marketers to better understand which levers need to be pulled to build intimacy between their brand and consumers. Thus, marketers will understand not only where their brand falls in the hierarchy of performance but also how to strengthen performance in the future.

To read a more detailed description of MBLM's approach, visit its Methodology page.

About MBLM: MBLM has invented a new marketing paradigm, Brand Intimacy, delivering expertise and offerings across three areas of focus: Agency, Lab and Platform. With offices in seven countries, our multidisciplinary teams help clients build stronger bonds and deliver optimized marketing outcomes and returns for the long term. To learn more about how we can help you create and sustain ultimate brand relationships, visit mblm.com.

1 https://globalnews.ca/news/4108493/facebook-money-problems/

RUBENSTEIN PUBLIC RELATIONS

CONTACT: KATI BERGOU, 212-805-3014

[email protected]

SOURCE MBLM

Related Links

http://www.mblm.com


CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- After a woman was carjacked at gunpoint at an uptown Charlotte gas station, staff at a local dealership who sold her the car went to great lengths to help track down her stolen car, which was nearly 100 miles away.

The victim, a Kiplin Auto Customer, told the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department she ran into a Mobil on West Trade Street just before midnight Sunday. She left her car running because a friend was inside. A man reportedly forced her friend out at gunpoint and stole the vehicle.

"I turned on WSOC and I just saw a small blip about a carjacking, and they said it was a Malibu. We sell a ton of those cars and I was praying it was not one of our customers," said James Charles, general manager at Kiplin Auto.

The woman who owns the vehicle called the dealership Monday afternoon to ask if staff could help track down the vehicle with GPS technology.

"She said she'd been carjacked, and I thought, 'Oh my gosh, that's what I saw this morning on WSOC News,'" Charles said.

Staff at the dealership on Brookshire Boulevard quickly logged into the tracking system and saw the car was in Columbia, South Carolina, which was 92 miles from where it was stolen.

At the request of the customer staff immediately called CMPD.

"They just said, 'We can't help you. You have to call Columbia,'" Charles said.

They then called police in Columbia.

"The officers asked how to describe the car and we told them, 'Just look for the Kiplin sticker,'" Charles said.

Columbia police spotted the Kiplin Auto Sticker on the car and said the driver led them on a chase before crashing into a brick mailbox at a senior citizen's home.

Police say the 17-year old driver, James Oxendine Jr., tried to run, but officers caught him and found a gun. He is now facing multiple serious charges.

"It was absolutely surprising," Charles said. "We were just happy to help a KIPLIN customer. At Kiplin we are all about family and I new that this customer needed her car back ASAP."

The woman who owns the car did not want to be interviewed but told Eyewitness News anchor Liz Foster on the phone she's thankful she and her friend were not hurt & she is a Kiplin customer for Life.

Staff at the dealership told Channel 9 some lenders require a GPS tracker as an anti-theft device, as well as asset protection for the lender. They said customers who buy a car with it, sign paperwork stating they know it's there.

Kiplin Auto is a used car dealer in Charlotte NC. They provide quality cars starting at $1000 down. Customers are required to provide 2 pay stubs, proof of residence in the form of mail or a utility bill, a copy of the drivers license or state ID, and fill out the online application here for approval.

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Kiplin Auto

Related Links

https://www.kiplinauto.com


GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cherry Creek Mortgage Company announced that it has expanded its national footprint with new locations in Wyoming and Montana. This coverage allows Cherry Creek Mortgage to serve Wyoming and Montana home buyers and home owners looking to reach their mortgage financing goals.

"Over the last 32 years, we've experienced tremendous growth, and we are proud to continue expanding throughout the United States," said Jeff May, Cherry Creek Mortgage President and Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward to supporting home buyers in Wyoming and Montana with a personalized home financing experience that's tailored to their unique needs."

Throughout the company's history, Cherry Creek Mortgage has helped tens of thousands of buyers finance a home. With a foundation built on responsible advice, respect for the transaction, and personal relationships, Cherry Creek Mortgage is dedicated to helping home buyers find the right loan for their situation.

Cherry Creek Mortgage fulfills this mission by offering a wide variety of loan program options and working with a large number of investors and agencies. The company is focused on growth and continues to identify opportunities to expand its national presence and support more home buyers.

About Cherry Creek Mortgage Company

Cherry Creek Mortgage Company has a 32-year tradition of serving the needs of home buyers across the country. With a reputation built on a passion for responsible lending and dedication to personal relationships, Cherry Creek Mortgage has helped thousands of customers realize their goal of home ownership. Cherry Creek Mortgage's specialized internal processes and proprietary technology deliver a digital mortgage experience with a personal touch. The company is headquartered in Colorado and is licensed in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Learn more at cherrycreekmortgage.com.

Media Contact:

Megan Duggan

[email protected]

SOURCE Cherry Creek Mortgage Company

Related Links

http://cherrycreekmortgage.com


WEST ALLIS, Wis., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The new OTP is part of a statewide strategy to utilize the 21st Century Act, which provides federal funding for innovative ways to address the opioid epidemic plaguing the nation. It will be the first OTP in the State to open its doors 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and will provide all 3 FDA-approved medications for opioid addiction treatment.

Community Medical Services CEO Nick Stavros hopes this clinic will expand access to treatment to those who are currently not getting the care they need.

"We understand that when those suffering from an opioid-use disorder make a decision to seek treatment, time is of the essence," Stavros said. "They might change their mind within a matter of hours, so it is absolutely imperative that we give them access to treatment at any given time. We are proud to participate in this opportunity to give new treatment options to people who may badly need it."

The center opened on April 17th and is located at 2814 S. 108th Street. The clinic is owned and operated by Arizona-based Community Medical Services. CMS operates substance-use disorder and behavioral health clinics in Arizona as well as in Wisconsin, Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana.

OTPs provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) in the forms of methadone, Suboxone, and Vivitrol in conjunction with psycho-social counseling and medical support for individuals diagnosed with Opioid-Use Disorder (OUD). There are currently 21 OTPs in the State and approximately 1,800 throughout the country, though OTPs typically operate during early business hours to give patients the opportunity to access the clinic prior to starting work.

The clinic will operate a full-time staff of nurses, medical providers, counselors, and around the clock. The clinic will also conduct outreach to local hospitals, syringe access programs, justice system, and correctional health entities, and crisis system partners to help navigate people into treatment.

"Right now, there are approximately 23 million Americans suffering from a substance use disorder," Stavros said. "And only 4.5%1 of them acknowledge that they need treatment. Couple that with the fact that only 20% of those in treatment get MAT, which is the first-line treatment option for OUD, and you see that we have a huge gap in treatment in our country that needs to be addressed."

SAMHSA2, along with the Centers for Disease Control3 and numerous other medical and behavioral health agencies such as American Society of Addiction Medicine4 have said that opioid-agonist treatment (buprenorphine and methadone), is the gold standard of treatment for those suffering from OUD. Additionally, the World Health Organization and the US Department of Justice recommend methadone and buprenorphine as the standard of care for incarcerated individuals suffering from OUD5. Injectable Naltrexone, a newer medication being used in combating the epidemic, has shown promising results in studies involving justice-system involved individuals as well. Research has shown that MAT, particularly methadone treatment, decreases overdose mortality risk by up to 75%6. While there is a stigma in some parts of the country against MAT due to the fact that methadone and Suboxone are synthetic opioids themselves, there are actually greater similarities between methadone and the brain's natural endorphins than to illicit opiates. An opioid user's brain takes, on average, 2 years to stabilize and for their brain chemistry to return to normal after stopping opioid use. Methadone and Suboxone can help the stabilization process and can allow opioid-dependent individuals to quit using illicit opiates without suffering from withdrawal symptoms and cravings and without getting a high, thus allowing them to continue living their lives without the need to rely on illicit substances to maintain brain chemistry stability. During a patient's time in MAT they are given psycho-social counseling support in conjunction with life-skills, family, and employment support services.

After a patient enrolls with the clinic to receive treatment, they will work with their counselor to develop a plan for their treatment which includes counseling, medications, and may include referrals to housing or employment services that they need in order to support their recovery. According to Amanda Rodriguez, the Center's Manager, "The 24/7 component of treatment will allow us to provide services to individuals when they need it most. Through the assessment process, we will work with each patient to identify the best combination of medication and psycho-social therapies. Combining the two as well as an array of interventions that best suit their needs is vital to their recovery. Our agency takes pride in our ability to offer an array of treatment options to move individuals into recovery."

"Emergency departments are currently bearing the brunt of after-hours interventions for those suffering from OUD and emergency rooms are not always equipped to navigate people into treatment for substance-use disorder," CMS' Director of Medical Operations Jenn Mason said. "Not to mention many of these patients are uninsured, so EDs are expending high costs as a result of the lack of treatment options during off-peak hours. This center will hopefully offset many of these costs to EDs and will ultimately help save the Wisconsin health care system from unnecessary expenditures." The cost savings of MAT have also been greatly substantiated, showing that every $1 spent on MAT results in $4-$7 in societal savings due to decreased crime rates and justice system costs and up to $12 in societal costs when health care costs are included in the equation7.

1 https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014/NSDUH-SR200-RecoveryMonth-2014.htm

2 http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content/SMA14-4443/SMA14-4443.pdf

3 https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/pdf/2015-07-vitalsigns.pdf

4 http://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/public-policy-statements/1obot-treatment-7-04.pdf?sfvrsn=0

5 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3372322/

6 https://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/mat-talking-points-final.pdf?sfvrsn=0

7 https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/frequently-asked-questions/drug-addiction-treatment-worth-its-cost

SOURCE Community Medical Services
Brings together two of the most well-known, fastest growing cannabis brands on the East Coast and West Coast

Combines the largest retail operator and the highest revenue generating wholesaler in the U.S., achieving significant operational synergies

Accelerates growth, diversifies product range and expands customer reach and accessibility

WAKEFIELD, Mass., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf"), a leading vertically integrated cannabis operator in the United States, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the state-regulated cannabis business of Cura Partners, Inc. ("Cura"), owners of the Select brand, in an all-stock transaction valued at C$1.27 billion or US$948.8 million. The acquisition includes Select's manufacturing, processing, distribution, marketing and retailing operations and all adult-use cannabis products marketed under the Select brand name, including all intellectual property. Based in Portland, Oregon, Select is the most well-known cannabis wholesale brand in the country. With its THC products sold in more than 900 retailers, it is the leading cannabis brand in key Western states, including California, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada.

The highly complementary acquisition brings together two of the strongest cannabis brands, Curaleaf and Select, to offer a full-range of products across the U.S. The combination will provide immediate geographic diversification with Curaleaf's footprint on the East Coast and Select's brand strength on the West Coast.

The proposed transaction combines Curaleaf's retail locations, vertical integration, wellness brand and strong East Coast market presence with Select's wholesale model, lifestyle brand and leading West Coast market presence. Significant cost synergies are expected to be realized through operational efficiencies, greater economies of scale, supply chain efficiencies and increased vertical integration.

"The transformational acquisition of Cura and the Select brand is another step in our journey to create the most accessible cannabis brands in the U.S.," said Joseph Lusardi, CEO of Curaleaf. "The combination of Curaleaf and Select is a perfect fit. With our industry leading capacity, expansive retail distribution network and Select's impressive sales and marketing capabilities, we intend to meaningfully accelerate our topline growth trajectory with the addition of the Select Oil product range. In addition, we intend to create significant operational synergies from the integration of Select's wholesale business with our vertically-integrated cultivating, processing and retail platform. We look forward to welcoming the talented Select team who will bring superior brand marketing expertise and a culture of innovation in technology and product development."

"I could not be more excited about this transaction with Curaleaf and what it means for the Select brand and for our industry. The leading companies in the industry on the West Coast and the East Coast are now joining forces to progress the legalization and mainstream acceptance of cannabis across the country," added Cameron Forni, CEO of Cura and founder of Select. "Cura and the Select brand would not have the exceptional platform for growth that we have today without the incredible team that has built our foundation  from our production staff, to our sales and marketing teams, and our executive leadership. In partnership with Curaleaf, we will continue to uphold our standards across people, product and business innovation."

Cura is recognized as having one of the best employee cultures in the industry. In 2018, Cura was named as one of the "Top 100 Companies to Work For" in Oregon by Oregon Business Magazine and placed No. 12 in the Large Companies category. In 2019, Cura won the award again demonstrating Cura's ability to focus on its culture while growing its headcount by 400%.

Transaction Terms and Approvals

At closing, Curaleaf will acquire all outstanding equity securities of Cura through the issuance of approximately 95.6 million subordinated voting shares (subject to certain adjustments), which based on Curaleaf's closing price of C$13.30 on April 30, 2019, the last trading day prior to announcement of the transaction, represents a total purchase price of C$1.27 billion or US$948.8 million. Post-transaction, Cura will have approximately 16% pro forma ownership of Curaleaf on a fully-diluted basis.

The all-stock transaction structure will enable Curaleaf to preserve financial flexibility to pursue additional M&A and other strategic opportunities.

Additionally, Cura equity holders will be eligible to receive an earn-out of up to US$200 million (the "Earn-Out Payment") from the issuance of additional subordinated voting shares (the "Earn-Out Shares"), contingent upon Curaleaf exceeding certain 2020 revenue targets for its combined wholesale extracts business and Select-branded retail extract sales. For the purposes of paying the Earn-Out Payment, the Earn-Out Shares shall be valued according to a formula based on market value at the time they are issued.

The transaction is expected to close in 2019, subject to customary closing conditions, regulatory approvals, Cura stockholder approval, and the receipt of an agreement from the holders of Cura's convertible debentures with respect to the conversion of such debentures into equity. The transaction has been unanimously approved by independent special committees of the Boards of Directors at both companies.

The proposed transaction constitutes a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") as a result of Mr. Boris Jordan, the Chairman and control person of Curaleaf, having an interest in the proposed transaction. Curaleaf has relied upon the exemptions provided under Sections 5.5(a) of MI 61-101  Issuer Not Listed on Specified Markets and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101  Fair Market Value Not More the 25% of Market Capitalization from the requirements that Curaleaf obtain a formal valuation of the proposed transaction and that the proposed transaction receive the approval of the minority shareholders of Curaleaf.

The terms of the proposed transaction were negotiated by management and advisors under guidance of, and unanimously recommended for approval by, a committee composed of members of the Board of Directors of Curaleaf free from any conflict of interest with respect to the proposed transaction (the "Special Committee"), two of which are independent members of the Board of Directors within the meaning of National Instrument 52-110  Audit Committees. The Special Committee has received a fairness opinion from Beacon Securities Limited ("Beacon") to the effect that, in its opinion, and based upon and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications set forth therein, the consideration to be paid by Curaleaf as part of the proposed transaction is fair from a financial point of view, to Curaleaf. The fee paid to Beacon in connection with the delivery of its fairness opinion is not contingent on the successful implementation of the proposed transaction.

Management and Board

The acquisition strengthens Curaleaf's experienced management team and adds enhanced sales and marketing functions to the combined company.

Immediately upon close, Cameron Forni will join Curaleaf as President of Select, which he created in 2015 having had prior VC-backed exits in consumer goods. Additionally, Mr. Forni will join the Curaleaf Board of Directors, expanding the board to six members. The founder of the Select brand, with innovation at its forefront, Mr. Forni is recognized as the leading authority on vaporizer cartridges around the world. Mr. Forni was honored as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Cannabis by High Times Magazine in 2018 and 2019, and as one of the 40 Under 40 to Watch by Marijuana Venture Magazine in 2018. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the LA Cannabis Task Force. Mr. Forni has played an instrumental role in building Select's award-winning culture and is proud to have led the company to achieve a place on Oregon Business Magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work for in Oregon in both 2018 and 2019.

Additionally, Select's Chief Marketing Officer Jason White will be joining the Curaleaf team in the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. White is an experienced branding professional who has built a career around developing and spearheading culture-shaping ideas. Prior to Select, Mr. White was the Global Head of Marketing for Beats by Dr. Dre, the headphone and speaker maker that was acquired by Apple in 2014. Mr. White's 20 years of experience in business management and marketing position him well to build industry and culture-leading brands at the combined company. Mr. White was inducted into American Advertising Federation's Hall of Achievement in 2017, was recognized on the Ebony Power 100 in 2017, and was awarded with seven Cannes Lions in 2016.

Advisors

GMP Securities L.P. and Eight Capital acted as co-financial advisors to Curaleaf and its board of directors and Beacon Securities Limited acted as financial advisors to the Special Committee. GMP Securities L.P. and Beacon Securities Limited have provided fairness opinions stating that in their respective opinion, and based upon and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications set forth in their respective fairness opinions, the consideration to be paid by Curaleaf as part of the proposed transaction is fair from a financial point of view, to Curaleaf. Loeb & Loeb LLP and Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as legal advisors to Curaleaf. Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as legal advisors to the Special Committee. Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Bayline Capital Partners acted as financial advisors to Cura. Canaccord Genuity Corp. provided a fairness opinion to Cura and Dentons US LLP and Goodmans LLP acted as legal advisors to Cura.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Curaleaf will host a conference call on Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the transaction. The dial-in numbers for the conference call are +1-855-327-6837 (U.S. Toll-Free) or +1-631-891-4304 (International). Please dial-in 10 to 15 minutes prior to the start time of the conference call and an operator will register your name and organization.

The conference call, which will be webcast live, and an accompanying slide presentation can be accessed through the Investor Relations section of Curaleaf's website, https://ir.curaleaf.com/ir-calendar.

For interested individuals unable to join the conference call, a dial-in replay of the call will be available until May 15, 2019 at 11:59 pm ET and can be accessed by dialing +1-844-512-2921 (U.S. Toll Free) or +1-412-317-6671 (International) and entering replay pin number: 10006779. The online archive of the webcast will be available on https://ir.curaleaf.com/ir-calendar for 30 days following the call.

About Curaleaf Holdings

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) ("Curaleaf") is the leading vertically integrated multi-state cannabis operator in the United States. It is a high-growth cannabis company with a national brand known for quality, trust and reliability. The company is positioned in highly populated, limited license states, and currently operates in 12 states with 44 dispensaries, 12 cultivation sites and 11 processing sites. Curaleaf has the executive expertise and research and development capabilities to provide leading service, selection, and accessibility across the medical and adult-use markets, as well as the CBD category through its Curaleaf Hemp brand.

About Cura Partners

Cura Partners is one of the largest cannabis companies in the world, on a mission to be the leading provider of cannabis oil in legal U.S. and international markets. The company's goal is to provide people with the cleanest high-quality cannabis and hemp oils, with the safest delivery methods available. Makers of the Select Oil and Select CBD brands, Cura was established in Portland, Oregon in 2015 under the name Cura Cannabis Solutions. In 2018 and 2019 the company was named as one of the Top 100 Companies to Work For in Oregon by Oregon Business Magazine. Cura placed no. 45 on the Inc. 5000 list and was listed by Portland Business Journal as one of the fastest-growing companies in Portland's history in 2018. In addition to the company's home state of Oregon, Cura has a large presence in Nevada, California, Arizona and soon additional states and locations across North America and around the world. Learn more at: www.curacan.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included here in are forward looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budgets", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. This forward-looking information reflects the current beliefs of Curaleaf and is based on information currently available to Curaleaf and on assumptions that Curaleaf believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the ability of Curaleaf to complete the transaction described above and the anticipated benefits to Curaleaf of the transaction described above. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Curaleaf to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; general capital market conditions and market prices for securities; the failure of Curaleaf to complete de transaction described above; the ability of Curaleaf to successfully integrate the business of Select and their respective corporate cultures; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; the actual results of future operations; competition; changes in legislation affecting Curaleaf; the timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; and lack of qualified, skilled labor or loss of key individuals and the other factors identified in Curaleaf's Listing Statement and its other public filings with the Canadian Securities Exchange. Although Curaleaf has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of Curaleaf as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. However, Curaleaf expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities law.

Company Contact:

Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.

Neil Davidson, CFO

[email protected]

Investor Contact:

Brian Waldman, SVP

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Megan Bishop, SVP

[email protected]

SOURCE Curaleaf Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

https://curacan.com


Katz's door-to-door initiative in New Hampshire, called "House Calls to Heal America", has convinced him that this country is much like the trauma patients he has cared for throughout his career.

"America is in its 'golden hour'," he said. "In the last few years our political system has been traumatized and like a trauma team in the emergency room, we must take decisive measures to heal it. And we have very little time - we must act now to restore a spirit of compromise and consensus."

Five core principles, five transformative ideas

Unlike other candidates, Katz has spent virtually all his time in New Hampshire listening to voters. He believes the five priority issues America must address are interrelated: achieving the promise of civil rights for all, universal healthcare, transforming our educational system, modernizing our workforce, and getting in front of climate change. He would enter the presidency with a transformational 100-day plan to lay the groundwork for addressing each of these critical issues.

Strong, decisive leadership

Dr. Mike Katz is a healer with decades of experience making life-and-death decisions. He believes that experience can help him heal the bitter divisions that are keeping America from moving forward. He has taken care of more than 100,000 people in his career as a physician. He also served in the Delaware State Senate, where he rooted out corruption and challenged special interests.

"Of course I understand that as an outsider in this campaign, I have limited name recognition," he said. "But I believe Americans want something better than the broken political system that fails every day to address our country's problems. I think they deserve it. And I will deliver it."

Multi-partisanship

Voters across the political spectrum have told Katz they want to see a civil and respectful presidential campaign focused on solutions. While he will be running for the Democratic nomination, he has gained support from many Republicans and independents who are concerned about President Trump's lack of leadership. Katz is well known for creating an environment of multi-partisanship.

"Our polarized party system has become an obstacle to consultation, compromise and consensus. We can overcome that, but we need to lose the labels and embrace a multi-partisan approach to our political life. We must listen to each other - genuinely listen - and learn how to work together again."

About Dr. Mike Katz

Katz graduated from Bates College with a degree in economics. He earned his medical degree and M.B.A. in International Business at Georgetown University and worked for eighteen years as a pediatric anesthesiologist in Wilmington, Delaware.

In 2008, Katz won a seat in Delaware's State Senate, where he worked to root out corruption and innovate government practices. He led the passage of legislation to toughen oversight of the state's medical practitioners, resulting in Delaware ranking first in the nation for comprehensive legal protections for patients.

Katz and his wife Trish have raised three children.

www.katz2020.com

@drmikekatz

SOURCE Katz 2020

Related Links

http://www.katz2020.com


BOISE, Idaho, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- "Idaho's model education legislation is an outstanding step in the right direction," according to Don Nielsen, former Seattle School Board President and author of Every School: One Citizen's Guide To Transforming Education.

He was referring to the legislature's work with the Governor to eliminate the cap on the 20 schools that can enter the state's pilot program for "mastery-based education."

"Next up Idaho should move forward in creating 'Institutes for Educational Leadership,'" explained Nielsen, and added that, "These institutes would have extraordinarily high admission standards, and would be populated with instructors from business, education, and public policy schools as well as leaders from business, the military, and current school systems."

Nielsen went on, "I support charter schools, but I also support the notion of allowing innovation to occur in the existing public system, both at the school level and at the district level."

Nielsen's book, Every School was originally published in 2014 by Discovery Institute, where Nielsen is a senior fellow at the Institute's American Center for Transforming Education.

"I have revised Every School and updated it with a chapter dealing with a 'Game Plan' for a state," said Nielsen. "The earlier edition dealt with the major issues, but not a plan and now this new edition does both."

SOURCE Discovery Institute
SAN RAMON, Calif., April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Behring Capital, a national leader in EB-5 immigration-enhanced real estate investments, with over $600 million in projects in progress, announced its Legacy Fund, a first-of-its-kind dynamic EB-5 fund that enables the EB-5 investor to customize their own EB-5 risk and return profile with the ultimate goal of creating generational wealth for its investors by building a portfolio of high value multifamily apartments in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. "EB-5 Investors have become far more sophisticated and we designed a fund that served their needs," says Colin Behring, the CEO at Behring Companies, a California-based real estate development and private equity fund manager and USCIS approved EB-5 regional center. "We took the same high-quality residential apartment buildings, designed better protections and added customizable investment options that gave back some control of their future. Other EB-5 groups lump all their investors together, treat every country the same, and force-feed them a one-size-fits-all offering. They sell it by pretending that the low returns equates to low risk when it truly might not be. We do things differently."

The Legacy Fund is a Top Solution: Retrogression, Liquidity, Redeployment are Solved

The Legacy Fund naturally solves EB-5's basic needs by investing in high quality residential apartments and creating jobs through construction backed by completion guarantees. The fund goes further to solve EB-5 investors biggest concerns with the program: retrogression (backlogs), liquidity (will I ever see my money again?) and redeployment (where is my money going next?). Most EB-5 investors come from China, India, Vietnam, and South Korea. Investors from these countries supplied over 73% of the I-526 petitions filed last year. Now these investors must wait years before they obtain their green cards: 15+ years for China, 7+ years for Vietnam, and 5+ years for India. And what is their alternative? Immigrant workers on H-1B, particularly Indian nationals, face 150-year wait times to get a green card through the EB-2 and EB-3 categories. No longer are investors willing to invest their hard-earned funds to projects with paltry returns and uncertainty about how their funds are deployed. The Legacy Fund utilizes an open-ended fund structure that allows multiple share classes, provides liquidity through EB-5 qualified redemption plans and enables redeployment to naturally take place in the fund's own apartment buildings.

Behring's Legacy Fund enables investors choice while targeting healthy returns and still having the security and stability of long-term multi-family apartment investments in San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley real estate.

The Legacy Fund meets the needs of the following EB-5 Investors:

Investors facing backlogs - EB-5 Investors born in retrogressed countries such as India , China , and Vietnam ;

Investors facing backlogs - EB-5 Investors born in retrogressed countries such as , , and ; H-1B Visa holders looking to convert from H1-B to the EB-5 visa category while remaining in the United States ;

H-1B Visa holders looking to convert from H1-B to the EB-5 visa category while remaining in ; Investors seeking general appreciation of their investment;

Investors seeking general appreciation of their investment; Investors who can't invest $500,000 upfront and need to invest in installments ;

Investors who can't invest upfront and need to invest in Investors who want more liquidity options or a secondary market;

Investors who want more liquidity options or a secondary market; Developers seeking joint venture partners to bring capital;

Developers seeking joint venture partners to bring capital; Institutional funds or development partners seeking co-invest opportunities;

Institutional funds or development partners seeking co-invest opportunities; Other EB-5 Funds looking for a safe and dependable redeployment strategy;

The Legacy Fund Offers Three Basic EB-5 Investment Profile Options:

Max Protection  A loan-style investment with a low risk, limited return profile that prioritizes protections and predictability over outsized returns.

A loan-style investment with a low risk, limited return profile that prioritizes protections and predictability over outsized returns. Basic Income  A preferred equity option that balances income and protection. Preferred equity operates like a loan but earns a higher return on investment with mid-single digit preferred returns (currently at 5%). Preferred equity has stronger protections than and priority over common equity.

A preferred equity option that balances income and protection. Preferred equity operates like a loan but earns a higher return on investment with mid-single digit preferred returns (currently at 5%). Preferred equity has stronger protections than and priority over common equity. Wealth Builder  A common equity investment option targeting private equity level returns. EB-5 investors can benefit from the long-term ownership of high-quality residential apartment assets. Management targets 15% IRRs after fees for investors.

The Fund's First Warehoused Project: 1900 Broadway, Oakland, California

1900 Broadway is the Legacy Fund's first warehoused project. Sitting on top of the 19th Street BART Station, the project will bring 39-Stories with 452-unit apartment building with club-style amenities while designating 2 floors toward "elevator to work" co-working space and the lower 6 floors designated to ultra-affordable co-living style units. The project will result in the creation of over 3,000 jobs through development, construction, and operations.

The Legacy Fund was developed by Behring's expert team of securities and immigration attorneys who have worked on more than 250 EB-5 projects, served over 3,000 EB-5 investors and by leveraging Behring's digital platform that served over 4,000 unique investors in 2018 alone.

About Behring Companies

Behring Companies is a vertically integrated real estate private equity fund manager, developer and EB-5 regional center serving the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley region. Behring is specialized in transit-oriented residential and mixed-use developments. Behring owns and operates the Behring Regional Center, a USCIS accredited EB-5 regional center with 100% investor approval history that has been operating since 2013. All investment opportunities are limited to accredited investors only.

For more information, visit www.behringcompanies.com

CONTACT: Colin Behring, Behring Capital, +1(925)997-9032, [email protected]

SOURCE Behring Companies

Related Links

https://www.behringcompanies.com


AUSTIN, Texas, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The CFP Board Center for Financial Planning and Envestnet announced a new scholarship to support individuals looking to become CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER professionals.

The Envestnet Scholarship provides up to $5,000 in financial assistance to individuals from underrepresented populations seeking to complete requirements for CFP certification. The scholarship was announced today at the Envestnet Advisor Summit in Austin, Texas. The first round of scholarships were recently awarded to 11 individuals.

The scholarship is a collaboration between the Center and Envestnet as part of the Envestnet Institute On Campus program, which aims to provide the asset and wealth management industry with a talented, diverse pool of workforce-ready interns and entry-level employees.

"Offering a scholarship to those pursuing CFP certification is a natural extension of our efforts to support diversity in our industry," said James Seuffert, Director of Envestnet Institute On Campus. "What's especially rewarding is the impact this will have on the individual recipient."

The Envestnet Scholarship requires applicants to be eligible to become a CFP professional as outlined in the CFP Board Fitness Standards. They also must be enrolled in a CFP Board-Registered Certificate Program, or plan to enroll within six months of being awarded the scholarship.

Individuals eligible for the scholarship will have demonstrated financial need and are a part of an underrepresented population within the financial planning profession in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, disability and/or sexual orientation.

"Strengthening the talent pipeline is crucial to the future of the financial planning profession  especially with regard to gender and racial and ethnic diversity," said Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis, Executive Director of the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning. "The Envestnet Scholarship will advance the next generation of diverse, competent and ethical financial planners. Providing financial assistance to those who might not otherwise afford to meet the educational requirements for CFP certification is also a direct and effective way to address a key barrier to entry into profession."

The education requirement for attaining CFP certification includes completing college or university-level coursework through a program registered with CFP Board, in addition to holding a regionally accredited college or university bachelor's degree or higher. The coursework requirement must be completed before sitting for the CFP certification examination.

The next application window for the Envestnet Scholarships will open this fall, with the next awards expected to be made in 2020. For more information, visit centerforfinancialplanning.org/scholarships.

Envestnet also supports the broader work of the CFP Board Center for Financial Planning as a Founding Sponsor.

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 84,000 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.



ABOUT ENVESTNET

Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE:ENV) is a leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness. Envestnet's unified technology empowers enterprises and advisors to more fully understand their clients and deliver actionable intelligence that drives better outcomes and improves lives.

Envestnet Wealth enables enterprises and advisors to better manage client outcomes and strengthen their practices through its leading Wealth Management Operating System and advanced portfolio solutions. Envestnet | Tamarac provides portfolio management, reporting, trading, rebalancing and client portal solutions for registered independent advisors (RIAs). Envestnet Data & Analytics provides intelligent solutions that enable dynamic innovation through its Envestnet | Yodlee platform.

More than 3,500 enterprises and over 96,000 advisors including 16 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, 43 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, over 500 of the largest Registered Investment Advisors, and hundreds of Internet services companies leverage Envestnet technology and services.

For more information on Envestnet, please visit www.envestnet.com and follow @ENVintel.

SOURCE CFP Board

Related Links

http://www.cfp.net


DHAKA, Bangladesh, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Summit LNG has begun operations at Summit LNG Terminal located offshore Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal. The FSRU successfully completed commissioning of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, owned by Summit LNG Terminal Co Ltd (Summit), on April 29, 2019. The terminal has a send-out capacity of 500 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) of natural gas.

In August 2017, Summit entered into a 15-year charter agreement with Excelerate for the FSRU Summit LNG. In addition to providing the FSRU, Excelerate acted as the Owner's Engineer for Summit in regards to the fixed infrastructure components of the terminal, which included a subsea plug, mooring system, and subsea pipeline.

"The successful completion of the Summit LNG Terminal represents a significant positive change to Bangladesh's energy supply  helping bolster local industry while benefitting the citizens of the country," stated Excelerate's Managing Director Steven Kobos. "We are pleased to have partnered with Summit on this very important project and are confident our experience and expertise in FSRUs will ensure an efficient and reliable service for Bangladesh for the years to come."

Founder Chairman of Summit Group Muhammed Aziz Khan remarked, "Summit is most pleased to receive the opportunity to provide much needed RLNG (regasified liquified natural gas) to Bangladesh's national gas grid. Excelerate's in-depth understanding and leadership in the FSRU market has contributed immensely to the implementation of this project. With this additional 500 MMscf/d to current 3,200 MMscf/d, Bangladesh will be able to provide necessary primary energy to Bangladesh. This natural gas will provide huge impetus to growth and development of Bangladesh. Summit will continue its endeavor to provide low cost environmentally friendly energy solutions to Bangladesh."

In August 2018, Excelerate commissioned its Moheshkhali Floating LNG (MLNG) terminal  Bangladesh's first LNG import facility. Since beginning operations, MLNG has successfully imported 27 cargoes of LNG and delivered in excess of 70 million MMBtus of natural gas into the Bangladeshi market, which represents an increase in gas supply of over 10% during this period.

About Excelerate Energy L.P.

Excelerate Energy L.P. is a US-based LNG company located in The Woodlands, Texas. It is part of a privately held US energy group that also includes Kaiser Francis Oil Co, an E&P company with production in the US and Canada along with significant midstream assets, and Cactus Drilling Co, the largest private drilling company in the US. Excelerate is the pioneer and market leader in innovative floating LNG solutions, providing integrated services along the entire LNG value chain with an objective of delivering rapid-to-market and reliable LNG solutions to customers. Excelerate offers a full range of floating regasification services from FSRU to infrastructure development to LNG supply. Excelerate has offices in Abu Dhabi, Buenos Aires, Chittagong, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Rio de Janeiro, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.excelerateenergy.com.

SOURCE Excelerate Energy L.P.

Related Links

http://www.excelerateenergy.com


PHILADELPHIA, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Temple University's Fox School of Business is adding a new academic program for students interested in banking that will create scholarship opportunities, a case study competition and new research opportunities following an endowment by John Shain, BBA '73, chair of the school's board of visitors.

The Fischer-Shain Center for Financial Services opened Monday, April 29, in Alter Hall at the University's Main Campus with a formal ribbon cutting involving members of the finance department, Shain and his wife, Melanie, and Janice Fischer, widow of Gerald Fischer, a long-time finance professor at the business school. Alyson Fischer-Amsterdam, Janice and Gerald Fischer's daughter, and other family members were also in attendance at the event.

The center will fund a concentration on financial services for finance majors, engage speakers and conference participants from the industry and establish a regional and national network in the financial service market. About half of all Fox School undergraduate students majoring in finance work in the financial services industry. The center will empower them to enter the market with class work, programs and events centered on the financial services sector.

"My hope is that we can create academic programming across the whole Philadelphia region for the banking industry," says John Shain. "This will get our students prepared so they can start their careers with certification, training and with experienced skills to enter the financial services marketplace."

"The center will benefit our students as they look to further their careers in financial services, but it will do much more than that," says Jonathan Scott, chair of the Fox School's Department of Finance. "The center will provide an opportunity for faculty at the Fox School to conduct innovative, thoughtful research that will inform the financial services industry and the business world."

In addition to research, the endowment funds a financial services advisory board to serve as an interface between industry professionals and students and alumni, and help to evolve the curriculum to match the changes in the industry. The program will also partner with the Conference of State Banking Supervisors to create a community banking case study that gives students an experiential learning component and a networking opportunity.

"Gerald Fischer was really important to me as both a teacher and mentor," says Shain. "He taught me about banking and introduced me to computers and financial analysis and put me in a position to imagine what might be possible with new technology continuously changing industry."

Shain was a research assistant for Gerald Fischer, a long-time finance professor at the Fox School in the 1970s as Fischer examined the possibilities for computer use in the financial sector. Fischer passed away in 2006.

"Professor Fischer was an important person in the history of our finance program," says Ronald Anderson, interim dean of the Fox School of Business and the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management. "He was involved in one of the earliest incarnations of advanced computer research at the school. John Shain and Gerald Fischer were at the forefront of what is now a global industry, and now their names are the foundation for the next generation of students entering the financial services market."

About the Fox School of Business

Temple University's Fox School of Business is the largest, most comprehensive business school in the Philadelphia region and among the largest in the world, with more than 9,000 students, 220 full-time faculty and 60,000 alumni around the globe. The Fox School has a proud tradition of delivering innovative, entrepreneurial programs for the past 100 years. With facilities that provide access to market-leading technologies, the school fosters a collaborative and creative learning environment. Coupled with its leading student services, the Fox School ensures that its graduates are fully prepared to enter the real-world job market.

Learn more at fox.temple.edu . Follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram and LinkedIn .

Matthew Coughlin

Associate Director of Communications

Fox School of Business

[email protected]

215-204-6083

SOURCE Fox School of Business

Related Links

https://www.fox.temple.edu


DUBLIN, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Two-wheeler Tire Market 2019-2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The two-wheeler tire market will register a CAGR of almost 10% by 2023.

The growing demand for two-wheelers across the globe will drive the market growth during the forecast period. Various emerging economies have witnessed considerable rise in the sales of two-wheelers, in turn, positively impacting the two-wheeler tire market growth during the forecast period.

Furthermore, widening pool of aging two-wheelers in mature markets including the US and Japan will further contribute to the growing demand for replacement tires. As a result, the growing adoption of two-wheelers will further proliferate the growth of two-wheeler tire market in the long run.



Market Overview



Prominent tire brands leveraging strong two-wheeler tire demand in emerging economies



One of the growth drivers of the global two-wheeler tire market is the prominent tire brands leveraging strong two-wheeler tire demand in emerging economies. The increasing focus of global tire manufacturers on two-wheeler-dominant emerging economies will drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.



Global two-wheeler tire market facing blowback from the US-China trade war



One of the challenges in the growth of the global two-wheeler tire market is the global two-wheeler tire market facing blowback from the US-China trade war. Automotive tires and synthetic rubber have been dragged into this US-China trade war, and this will affect the prospects of the market.



Competitive Landscape



The market appears to be fragmented with the presence of several market players. Most vendors engaged in tire manufacturing have started using advanced tire manufacturing techniques and processes for lowering carbon emissions. This market research report will help clients identify new growth opportunities and design unique growth strategies by providing a comprehensive analysis of the market's competitive landscape and offering information on the products offered by companies.



Key Topics Covered:



PART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



PART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORT



PART 03: MARKET LANDSCAPE

Market ecosystem

Market characteristics

Market segmentation analysis

PART 04: MARKET SIZING

Market definition

Market sizing 2018

Market size and forecast 2018-2023

PART 05: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

PART 06: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY APPLICATION

Market segmentation by application

Comparison by application

Motorcycles - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Scooters - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

Market opportunity by application

PART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPE



PART 08: GEOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

APAC - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

South America - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

- Market size and forecast 2018-2023 North America - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

- Market size and forecast 2018-2023 Europe - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

- Market size and forecast 2018-2023 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2018-2023

and - Market size and forecast 2018-2023 Key leading countries

Market opportunity

PART 09: DECISION FRAMEWORK



PART 10: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES

Market drivers

Market challenges

PART 11: MARKET TRENDS

Use of RFID technology in two-wheeler tires

Growing demand for high-performance tires

Adoption of environment-friendly tire manufacturing processes

PART 12: VENDOR LANDSCAPE

Overview

Landscape disruption

Competitive scenario

PART 13: VENDOR ANALYSIS

Vendors covered

Vendor classification

Market positioning of vendors

Bridgestone Corporation

Continental Ag

JK Tyre & Industries Ltd

MRF

TVS Srichakra Limited

ZC-Rubber



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/q2ptv0



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


NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In observance of Yom HaShoah, Day of Holocaust Remembrance, AJC CEO David Harris issued the following statement:

WE REMEMBER

In the Jewish tradition, we are commanded to remember (zachor) and not to forget (lo tishkach). This week we commemorate Yom HaShoah, the Day of Holocaust Remembrance. On this solemn occasion, 74 years after the end of World War II:



We remember the six million Jewish martyrs, including 1.5 million children, who were exterminated in the Holocaust.

We remember not only their tragic deaths but also their vibrant livesas shopkeepers and craftsmen, scientists and authors, teachers and students, parents and children, husbands and wives.

We remember the richly hued and ancient Jewish civilizations that were destroyedfrom Salonika, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania.

We remember the slippery slope that began with the rantings of an obscure Austrian-born anti-Semite named Adolf Hitler and led, in the course of less than 15 years, to his absolute control over Germany.

We remember the fertile soil of European anti-Semitismcultivated over centuries by cultural, political, and religious voicesthat created an all-too-receptive climate for the Nazi objective of eliminating the Jewish people.

We remember the courage of Denmark, as well as Albania, Bulgaria, and Finland, for their extraordinary efforts to protect their own Jewish communities.

We remember the example of thousands of Righteous Persons who risked their own lives that others might live.

We remember the millions of non-JewsPoles and Russians, Roma and the disabled, political opponents and homosexualsmurdered under the relentless Nazi onslaught.

We remember the valiant soldiers of the Allied nations who, at such great human cost, vanquished the Third Reich.

We remember the survivors of the death camps, who endured such unimaginable suffering and who have inspired us all with their indomitable courage, spirit, and will to live.

We remember the absence of an Israel in those wartime years, an Israel which, had it existed, would have provided a haven when so shamefully few countries were willing to accept Jewish refugees.

We shall never forget those who saved even a single life. As it is written in the Talmud: "He who saves one life has saved the world."

We shall never forget the importance of speaking out against intolerance, whenever and wherever it occurs, all the more so as anti-Semitism in Europe is again on the rise, and deadly attacks against Christians, Jewish, and Muslim houses of worship, both in the United States and abroad, that have seared our souls.

We shall never forget the inextricable link among democracy, the rule of law, and protection of human rights.

We shall never forget the age-old prophetic vision of a world of justice, harmony, and peace.

And we shall never forget that each of us, in ways large and small, can help bring us closer to the realization of that prophetic vision.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee

Related Links

http://www.ajc.org


DOBBS FERRY, N.Y., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A New York-based company, Just 'a Drop, believes it has the answer to America's Bathroom odor issue. Eliminate personal bathroom odors before odors have a chance to enter the air.

There are approximately 350 million toilets in the USA, according to Natalie Wolchover at LifeScience.com. Every day, a tremendous amount of bathroom odor is being produced. Unfortunately for the people who enter the bathroom immediately afterward  that is terrible news.

Over 300 uses per bottle. Fits in purse or pocket

The solution is to trap odors in the toilet before they enter the air. Simply put 1-2 drops of Just 'a Drop into the toilet before use and the Eco-friendly formula creates a seal on the water's surface, trapping odors from escaping until they are flushed away. All that is left is a fresh, clean scent.

"It's 2019 and its time to make all bathrooms across the USA odor free," says Randy Hecht, President of Just 'a Drop USA. With over seven million bottles sold, Just 'a Drop, composed of natural oils, has been featured on the "Dr. Oz" show and "The Doctors" and is packaged in a convenient travel size bottle.

Just 'a Drop comes with a 30-day unconditional money back guarantee and is available for purchase directly at JustaDrop.net.

About Just 'a Drop

Just 'a Drop's bathroom odor eliminator effectively traps and eliminates 98% of odors before they escape into the air. Made from highly concentrated plant extract, it is biodegradable and safe to use in any toilet. For more information, please visit our website at JustaDrop.net.

TESTIMONIALS

"I will never leave home without Just 'a Drop again," said 45-year-old Sarah of Orlando, Florida. "I carry it in my handbag at all times like I do my lipstick, keys and mirror. I spent too many years afraid to use a public bathroom. Now I have the freedom of being just like everyone else. Just 'a Drop has totally emancipated me."

Leeann, age 35, said, "While this subject was taboo for most of my life, I believe Just 'a Drop will change all that. People will demand that others use Just 'a Drop for every visit to the bathroom. Now that there is a cure for this unpleasant odor, friends will give it to friends, lovers to lovers, and likewise with family members. It's a way of saying that you care for the person's reputation and image."

Amy Houston, TX, age 26, commented, "This product is freakin' amazing. I just used it for the first time tonight, and (although I did squeeze out a bit more than one drop because I was nervous) it lived up to the claims and performed well beyond my expectations. Tonight was my best friend's wedding and I was all freaked out about using the one bathroom available with all these people around; I'm super modest and concerned about any type of odor. It's like someone is looking out for me. Thank you, thank you for this wonderful product."

Contact: RANDY HECHT

RC Productions

(914) 329-9240

[email protected]

www.justadrop.net

Related Images

daily-use-bottle.jpg

Daily Use Bottle

Over 300 uses per bottle. Fits in purse or pocket

family-size-bottle.jpg

Family Size Bottle

8 oz. Over 4,000 uses per bottle. Perfect for family use and office use.

Related Links

http://www.justadrop.net

SOURCE Just 'a Drop

Related Links

http://www.justadrop.net


PHOENIX, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dogtopia, the nation's fastest-growing provider of dog daycare today announced that Jamie Weeks, the leading Orangetheory Fitness operator has joined Dogtopia with plans to develop Metro Portland with 15 locations. This news follows a successful end to Q1 with comparable same-store sales in excess of 22 percent and the sale of 74 new dog daycare centers.

"We are thrilled that Jamie has joined the Dogtopia family. His decision to become part of Dogtopia's success story lends great credibility and showcases the level of support and sophistication that the team and Dogtopia network deliver," Dogtopia CEO Neil Gill said. "I feel we've reached a tipping point by attracting a growing number of experienced multi-unit operators who are aligned with our vision  to enhance the joy of pet parenthood and enable dogs to positively change our world."

Weeks is CEO and Founder of Legacy Franchise Partners, a family office that specializes in investing, developing and consulting with franchises around the world. He is also the CEO of Honors Holdings LLC, which owns and operates Orangetheory Fitness studios globally. Honors Holdings LLC currently owns more than 60 studios in the U.S. and U.K. Weeks will remain an operator with Orangetheory, while adding the award-winning dog daycare company to his portfolio.

"When doing our due diligence across dozens of brands for Legacy Franchise Partners' first investment, Dogtopia was clearly the perfect fit for us and we found there was no other brand in the pet industry who could compare. Between the momentum of the sector and the support that is provided by the Dogtopia family, this is a partnership that we are very excited about," Weeks said. "We are very thankful that Dogtopia chose us to open and operate 15+ daycares in Metro Portland. As a part-time resident of Portland and an investor in the Portland community, I can't think of a better area in the country for us to build this brand, or a better community to do it in."

The Dogtopia family is composed of both single-unit and multi-unit operators, including husband and wife teams, father and daughter/son duos, siblings and many different types of business owners. Whether it's to own one or several locations, Dogtopia's successful business model provides recurring revenue channels for daycare, boarding and spa services wrapped around a flexible and fun lifestyle. While the U.S. pet industry expenditures top $70 billion, the demand for professional pet care services continues to increase and Dogtopia plans to open at least 50 stores in 2019. At Dogtopia, dogs enjoy an open-play environment with protective rubber flooring while promoting safe socialization, exercise and education. Dogtopia's fees are all-inclusive with meals prepared according to each pet parent's request at no additional charge, or pet parents can bring their own food. Dogtopia's webcams also provide pet parents with peace of mind and the ability to check in on their pups when they are away.

For more information on Dogtopia's franchising opportunities, visit www.dogtopia.com/franchising.

About Dogtopia

Founded in 2002, Dogtopia is an early pioneer and innovator in the pet services industry, offering an experience focused on quality of care, safety and transparency in the market. With an emphasis on education, exercise and socialization for dogs, pet parents have the assurance of leaving their beloved furry family members in the hands of trained professionals in an environment created with the safety of dogs in mind. With nearly 100 locations across North America, the brand is the fastest-growing provider of specialty daycare in the United States and Canada. For more information, visit www.dogtopia.com.

Media Contact: Natalie Levy, Fishman Public Relations, 847-945-1300, [email protected]

SOURCE Dogtopia

Related Links

http://www.dogtopia.com


ATLANTA, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Loeb , president and CEO of Loeb Enterprises, the New York City-based venture collective, recently announced that the company has established Loeb.ATL, a new venture collective created to invest in and scale Atlanta-based startups into dominant market leaders. Loeb.atl is currently meeting with early-stage, Atlanta-area companies to evaluate potential opportunities.

Michael Loeb, president and CEO of Loeb Enterprises Rich Vogel, CFO and COO of Loeb Enterprises

"Atlanta has long been one of America's foremost business cities, and it's evident that the town is full of great minds and ripe with innovation," said Michael Loeb, a veteran entrepreneur who has built and funded more than 50 companies. "We're excited to partner with a selection of area startups and to build Loeb.atl into a community that allows companies to grow while positively impacting the world around them."

Like its counterpart in New York, Loeb.atl will offer its startups a "tool shed" of shared services that provides access to skilled resources in a variety of disciplines including operations, sales and marketing, data analytics, technology and legal. Loeb.atl startups will operate out of offices in downtown Atlanta. The space will be situated alongside Steady, a fast-growing fintech startup that is also part of the Loeb portfolio.

Rich Vogel, co-founder, COO and CFO of Loeb Enterprises, said: "Steady really opened our eyes to the startup scene in Atlanta, a city that's home to many early-stage companies with high-growth potential. To date, our company has invested significant capital in seed and follow-on rounds to support the growth of dozens of startups and we're excited to replicate this success in the Atlanta market given its access to talent and its abundance of entrepreneurs."

Loeb.ATL will help build Atlanta-based startups from the inside, providing them the support  financial, technical, and go-to market strategy  that they need to grow into successful companies. Loeb.atl's community approach is underscored by its effort to embrace other stakeholders in the Atlanta business world. The company is committed to working closely with the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, educational institutions and other organizations in the early-stage ecosystem.

"The Loeb.atl team recognizes just how robust the startup scene is here in Atlanta, and it is clear they value the communal approach our city takes to fostering businesses," said Grant Wainscott, Senior Director of Ecosystem Expansion at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. "I am confident our city is home to a number of early-stage companies that will be a great fit for Loeb.atl, and we look forward to welcoming them more formally at their launch in June."

About Loeb.ATL

A venture of Loeb Enterprises, Loeb.ATL is a startup lab and investor in early-stage companies that is built on the belief that aligning the right people with the right ideas creates successful businesses. A "venture collective," Loeb.atl will be comprised of early-stage companies of varied focus including digital platforms, direct-to-consumer products, and enterprise solutions. Interested startups can apply to Loeb.ATL at www.LoebAtlanta.com.

About Michael Loeb

Michael Loeb is a New York-based veteran entrepreneur who has backed, built, or funded over fifty successful companies. Chief among his successes are Priceline.com--known for its travel deals and travel search engine, and Synapse (acquired by Time, Inc.). Loeb now leads Loeb.nyc and Loeb Enterprises, a startup laboratory and private investment platform, respectively, based in New York City. A leading New York philanthropist, Loeb donates to a variety of charities , and he's donated the location fees related to his Hampton's home being used as a set for the Showtime television series Billions. A graduate of Amherst College, Loeb established the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning located at the college.

About Rich Vogel

Rich Vogel is a seasoned marketing executive and startup advisor who co-founded both Loeb Enterprises and Loeb.nyc. In his role as CFO and COO, Vogel directs all operations while overseeing the finances of both entities. A celebrated marketer, he has spent a career forming businesses and is known for advancing concepts from the idea stage to marketplace success and rewarding exit. Prior to forming Loeb Enterprises with Michael Loeb, Vogel was the president of MDSC Corp where he established partnerships with leading credit card issuers, major publishers, international airlines and e-commerce companies. As a partner and contributor, he is actively involved with The Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Connecticut. Vogel also directs Loeb.nyc's participation in PeacePlayers International, an organization devoted to using the power of sport to unite and inspire youth around the world. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and earned his MBA at the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Press Contact:

Richard Shea

212-627-5766

[email protected]

SOURCE Loeb.ATL

Related Links

http://www.loebatlanta.com


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. and BERWYN, Pa., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Bolstering its advisory capabilities for high net worth clients, MML Investors Services, the registered investment advisor and broker-dealer arm of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), today announced a partnership with Brinker Capital, a privately-held investment management company, wherein MML Investors Services now offers Brinker Capital Wealth Advisory (Wealth Advisory) on its Wealth Management Services (WMS) platform to address the complex needs of the $100 trillion high net worth market.

Wealth Advisory offers a tailored investment solution for high net worth and institutional investors with at least $1 million of investable assets. Featuring a full suite of services and solutions for clients, Wealth Advisory includes access to a dedicated portfolio management team, tax management and transition solutions, robust reporting, and access to third-party partners specializing in alternative investments, banking and lending, ESG solutions, and trust services.

"The true winners of this partnership with Brinker Capital are our clients," said Bebe Wilkinson, MML Investors Services' head of Wealth Management Product, adding that, historically, MML Investors Services has met the vast majority of its high net worth clients' needs through referral manager programs. "Being able to offer the Wealth Advisory solution on the WMS platform enables MML Investors Services to be the broker-of-record, and that provides our clients tremendous peace-of-mind, knowing that they can tap into Brinker Capital's knowledge and experience in the high net worth space."

The new partnership enables MML Investors Services' investment advisor representatives to access a high net worth solution directly on the WMS platform. Wealth Advisory on MML Investors Services' WMS provides the investment advisor representatives with the technology, ease of use, and service support to offer a comprehensive and customized solution to meet the complex needs of high net worth clients.

"Brinker Capital has been working with MML Investors Services for over 20 years, and we've been serving high net worth clients for more than 30 years," said Noreen D. Beaman, chief executive officer at Brinker Capital. "We're excited about the evolution of our relationship with MML Investors Services and the addition of Wealth Advisory to the WMS platform as it provides MML Investors Services investment advisor representatives with a better opportunity to use our services more effectively and, ultimately, to deliver better outcomes to their clients."

About MassMutual

MassMutual is a leading mutual life insurance company that is run for the benefit of its members and participating policyowners. MassMutual offers a wide range of financial products and services, including life insurance, disability income insurance, long term care insurance, annuities, retirement plans and other employee benefits. For more information, visit www.massmutual.com.

About MML Investors Services

MML Investors Services is a leading independent broker-dealer and registered investment advisor offering investment and wealth management solutions tailored to help people achieve their individual financial goals. For more information, visit www.massmutual.com/investment/mmlinvestors.

About Brinker Capital

Brinker Capital is a privately-held investment management company with $22.7 billion in assets under management (as of March 31, 2019). For over 30 years, Brinker Capital's purpose has been to deliver an institutional multi-asset class investment experience to individual clients. Brinker Capital's highly strategic, disciplined approach has provided investors the potential to achieve their long-term goals. With a focus on wealth creation and management, Brinker Capital serves financial advisors and their clients by providing high-quality investment manager due diligence, asset allocation, portfolio construction, and client communication services. Brinker Capital, Inc. is a registered investment advisor.

Learn more at BrinkerCapital.com and twitter.com/BrinkerCapital.

Brinker Capital, Inc. is not an affiliate of MML Investors Services or MassMutual.

CRN202104-247222

CONTACTS:

Michele Steinmetz (Brinker Capital)

610-407-8358

[email protected]

Michael McNamara (MassMutual)

413-744-3917

[email protected]

SOURCE Brinker Capital

Related Links

http://www.brinkercapital.com


Custom milling operations at the Camflo mill contribute strongly to revenues





Production at the Beaufor mine declines due to a lower production rate





The Wasamac gold project continues to draw considerable interest from potential partners





The Corporation completed a positive feasibility study on its Wasamac deposit during the second quarter (see feasibility study), with the following results:

Forecast average production: 142,000 ounces of gold over 11 years



Pre-tax NPV: $522 million



Pre-tax IRR: 23.6%



Cash cost: US $550 per ounce

MONTREAL, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - MONARCH GOLD CORPORATION ("Monarch" or the "Corporation") (TSX: MQR) (OTCMKTS: MRQRF) (FRANKFURT: MR7) is pleased to report its production and corporate highlights for the third quarter ended March 31, 2019. Amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Production highlights

Monarch produced 1,328 ounces of gold in the third quarter, down 70% from the second quarter and 73% from 4,932 ounces produced last year. The decrease was attributable to a cut in the production rate and number of employees at the Beaufor mine in January 2019 .





. The Corporation recorded revenues of $5.2 million in the third quarter from the sale of 1,427 ounces of gold at an average price of $1,737 per ounce (US $1,307 ) plus custom milling revenue, which was down 6.2% from the second quarter due to a planned shutdown at the Camflo mill for maintenance work, but up 35.5% year over year.

"Our custom milling operations at the Camflo mill continue to perform well despite the lower tonnage from the Beaufor mine," said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarch. "The Beaufor mine is currently operating at a reduced average rate of 7,000 tonnes per month with about 50 employees, and we are reassessing the mine's operations on a monthly basis."

"Our promising projects are unquestionably the Wasamac, Croinor Gold and McKenzie Break advanced gold projects. The Wasamac project continues to draw considerable interest from the mining and financial community, as evidenced by the increased virtual room traffic. We have also had preliminary discussions with a number of parties and will continue to work with them in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Croinor Gold and McKenzie Break generated excellent drill results in 2018, which increased the gold potential of these projects."

Production statistics



Three months ended March 31, 2019 Three months ended March 31, 2018 Nine months ended March 31, 2019 Nine months ended March 31, 2018 Beaufor mine







Ore processed (tonnes) 13,110 32,866 68,564 67,871 Gold recovery (%) 97.78 98.91 98.15 98.78 Ounces produced 1,328 4,932 9,653 10,376 Ounces sold 1,427 4,823 9,868 10,267

Corporate highlights

On February 4, 2019 , the Corporation reported the last assay results from the 2018 diamond drill program at its wholly owned Croinor Gold project, which notably returned 17.26 g/t Au over 1.95 metres, including 50.10 g/t Au over 0.6 metres (see press release).





, the Corporation reported the last assay results from the 2018 diamond drill program at its wholly owned Croinor Gold project, which notably returned 17.26 g/t Au over 1.95 metres, including 50.10 g/t Au over 0.6 metres (see press release). On February 7, 2019 , the Corporation announced the appointment of Mathieu Seguin as Vice President, Corporate Development (see press release).





, the Corporation announced the appointment of Mathieu Seguin as Vice President, Corporate Development (see press release). On February 28, 2019 , the Corporation reported the first assay results from the 2018 diamond drilling program at its wholly owned McKenzie Break gold project, which notably returned 61.20 g/t Au over 2.6 metres, including 265.00 g/t Au over 0.6 metres (see press release).





, the Corporation reported the first assay results from the 2018 diamond drilling program at its wholly owned McKenzie Break gold project, which notably returned 61.20 g/t Au over 2.6 metres, including 265.00 g/t Au over 0.6 metres (see press release). On March 13, 2019 , the Corporation reported the second set of assay results from the 2018 diamond drilling program at its wholly owned McKenzie Break gold project, which notably returned 24.40 g/t Au over 2.0 metres, including 93.80 g/t Au over 0.5 metres (see press release).





, the Corporation reported the second set of assay results from the 2018 diamond drilling program at its wholly owned McKenzie Break gold project, which notably returned 24.40 g/t Au over 2.0 metres, including 93.80 g/t Au over 0.5 metres (see press release). On March 20, 2019 , the Corporation reported the third and last set of assay results from the 2018 diamond drilling program at its wholly owned McKenzie Break gold project, which notably returned 12.60 g/t Au over 1.35 metres, including 55.90 g/t Au over 0.3 metres (see press release).





, the Corporation reported the third and last set of assay results from the 2018 diamond drilling program at its wholly owned McKenzie Break gold project, which notably returned 12.60 g/t Au over 1.35 metres, including 55.90 g/t Au over 0.3 metres (see press release). On March 29, 2019 , the Corporation reported that it had sold its Pandora royalty to Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, thus reducing its payments for the McKenzie Break and Swanson properties by $800,000 (see press release).





, the Corporation reported that it had sold its Pandora royalty to Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, thus reducing its payments for the McKenzie Break and properties by (see press release). On April 26, 2019 , the Corporation announced the closing of a $2,000,000 private placement (see press release).

The Corporation has also received the assay results for the 1,750-metre drilling program carried out in February 2019 on the Croinor Gold property. The program included seven exploration holes drilled more than one kilometre away from the Croinor Gold deposit. While the holes did not return any significant intersections, they did yield important geological data. The Corporation still believes that Croinor Gold holds excellent exploration potential along strike and at depth, as these holes targeted only a small portion of the 151 km2 property. In fact, the Corporation plans to continue additional exploration work on Croinor Gold to locate additional drilling targets. On the MacKenzie Break property, the Corporation is currently planning its next drilling program on high potential targets.

Finally, the recommissioning of the Beacon plant has been delayed, mainly because the Corporation has not yet received the operating permits or obtained the financing needed to put the Croinor Gold deposit back into production.

The technical and scientific content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Marc-Andre Lavergne, P.Eng., the Corporation's qualified person under National Instrument 43101.

ABOUT MONARCH GOLD CORPORATION

Monarch Gold Corporation (TSX: MQR) is an emerging gold mining company focused on pursuing growth through its large portfolio of high-quality projects in the Abitibi mining camp in Quebec, Canada. The Corporation currently owns close to 300 km of gold properties (see map), including the Wasamac deposit (measured and indicated resource of 2.6 million ounces of gold), the Beaufor Mine, the Croinor Gold (see video), McKenzie Break and Swanson advanced projects and the Camflo and Beacon mills, as well as other promising exploration projects. It also offers custom milling services out of its 1,600 tonne-per-day Camflo mill.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements in this press release involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Monarch's actual results, performance and achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied therein. Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

SOURCE Monarch Gold Corporation

Related Links

http://www.monarquesgold.com/en/


She will oversee and guide the strategy, development, staffing and training at Motus One, with a core focus on customer satisfaction attained through service excellence. With 35 years in communications, Julie helped build global brands while cultivating talent and key relationships around the world.

In addition to her chairman role at Motus One, Julie holds a senior advisor position at Hawksbill Group, a global business and communications consulting firm, and is a consulting partner to Finsbury, a global leader in strategic communications.

In the automotive category, Julie was the global chief communications officer and managing officer with Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan. Prior to her Tokyo appointment, she was the chief communications officer of Toyota North America.

Before Toyota, she held various communications positions within General Motors (GM) helping to lead their brands in North America, as well as holding roles as GM VP for the Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Europe regions.

Julie also has experience outside the automotive industry as global chief communications officer and head of consumer relations at PepsiCo, reporting to the CEO.

President and CEO of Motus One, Mike Jackson, said that Julie brings tremendous credentials to the post as well as experience that is vital for today's changing mobility marketplace. "Motus One is proud to announce that one of the leading automotive public relations and communications professionals has joined our team to assist us in the ongoing transformation of our company," said Mike. "I'm confident that Julie's style, experiences and passion for the automotive industry will enhance our focus and help us always exceed the expectations of our clients and the automotive media community."

Julie furthered Mike's sentiment, "I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to working once again with my long-time friend, Mike Jackson," she said. "I love the automotive industry and am excited to be a part of it during a time when we are seeing the most significant transformations the industry has experienced since its inception."

Fritz Henderson, Hawksbill Group principal and former CEO of General Motors and SunCoke Energy, said, "The Motus One Board of Directors made an excellent choice in selecting Julie for this role. I'm confident she will advance their relationships with OEM's and the automotive media given her extensive relationship history with people in these positions of influence."

Julie holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan and her post-graduate studies include participation in the GM-Harvard Business School's Executive Development Program with an emphasis on Asian studies. She is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and a member of the Arthur W. Page Society.

Nancie Stoddard - vice president of finance, is another ideal candidate for the ambitious and technologically-driven objectives of Motus One and for Mike's drive to diversify the talent within the company.

"Nancie is a dynamic and multifaceted financial executive," said Mike, "as her expertise comes from a history of strategic, functional and operational experience with rapidly growing technology companies. Nancie has deep experience in fleet management, including guiding a team responsible for managing a fleet of 1,200 vehicles. This combination of tech savvy and automotive know-how is critical for the success of Motus One."

Nancie graduated with degrees from both University of Michigan and Michigan State University. "A champion of customer satisfaction, business innovation and continuous improvement, Nancie is a unifier and creates added-value through intellectual prowess, consistency, quality results and dedication," said Mike.

Nancie also serves as an officer of Financial Executives International, Detroit Chapter and is the founder of Accounting and Finance Women's Alliance, Detroit-West.

About Motus One

Since its inception in 1998, Motus One, previously known as Events Solutions International (ESI), has been a leader in the fleet management industry through a focus on the care, custody and control of valued client assets.

Motus One currently serves more than 1500 automotive journalists representing 72 percent of the U.S. and covers 100 percent of the luxury brand "TOP 50" automotive and lifestyle media.

Recently, through a $2 million investment in proprietary technology solutions that streamline 90 percent of current processes, the company evolved from ESI into Motus One. This investment evolved the company from a dated approach into an industry-leading approach, driven by people, process and technology, that delivers transparency and value to OEM clients and to the automotive press community.

SOURCE Motus One
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PhotoniCare Inc., a medical device company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, announces successful initiation of a multi-site registered clinical study to evaluate the imaging capabilities and image analysis performance of the PhotoniCare TOMi Scope.

Children's National Health System (Washington, D.C.) is the first initiated of two clinical sites involved in this registered multi-site clinical study, along with Carle Foundation Hospital (Urbana, Illinois). The study is led by Dr. Diego Preciado, Children's National, and Dr. Ryan Porter, Carle Hospital, along with a team of recognized otitis media experts at both clinical sites. This multi-center study plans to enroll a total of 300 pediatric subjects (up to 17 years old) undergoing tympanostomy tube surgery for chronic otitis media.

PhotoniCare's TOMi Scope uses an advanced light-based technology to see through the eardrum. For the first time, physicians can view a high-resolution depth image on-screen to directly visualize the middle ear contents. Current diagnostic tools can only provide a view of the surface of the eardrum, while the disease resides in the middle ear, behind the eardrum. Physicians are left to make a diagnosis with very limited information, or employ invasive surgical procedures to diagnose middle ear pathologies. PhotoniCare's noninvasive solution eliminates the guesswork, providing users with objective data upon which to base their decisions.

"We are truly grateful for the opportunity to continue our strong collaborative history with Children's National and Carle hospitals," said Ryan Nolan, PhotoniCare's co-founder and VP of clinical operations. "We're excited to start this pivotal study and anticipate that this work will continue to expand the body of evidence showing the TOMi Scope's ability to noninvasively provide advanced diagnostic information, empowering physicians to more accurately assess, diagnose and treat middle ear infections. As a parent and patient myself, my personal passion at PhotoniCare is to improve the care provided to patients suffering from this all too common disease."

In 2015, PhotoniCare won an award from the FDA-funded National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI), a collaboration of Children's National Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation and University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering.

"We are excited to work with PhotoniCare to study the accuracy and validity of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging in the diagnosis of middle ear diseases," said Dr. Preciado, vice chief of pediatric otolaryngology at Children's National. "If successful, this technology could dramatically alter the way children with ear problems are evaluated, enhancing our diagnostic power and ability to inform optimal treatments."

"At Carle, putting patients' needs first more and more often involves new technology to help our teams provide world-class care," said Dr. Ryan Porter, otolaryngologist, surgeon and associate medical director for Carle Outpatient Surgery Centers. "Carle has been involved with the development of the OCT otoscope from its beginnings at the University of Illinois, and this has been a wonderful example of translational research taking an idea from the laboratory to a dramatic improvement in patient care. It's exciting to work with PhotoniCare to expand our clinical abilities in innovative ways to serve our patients and their families."

About PhotoniCare

PhotoniCare is a medical device company developing a handheld, low-cost imaging platform for the front lines of medicine. The TOMi Scope, the first product on the platform, provides physicians with a clear view of middle ear infections, one of the most common diseases in the world. Founded out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and grown in partnership with some of the best incubators and accelerators in the health industry, PhotoniCare is focused on bringing better decision-making power to the front lines of medicine. The PhotoniCare team believes that decisions made at the front lines of care can have the largest impact on improving long-term patient outcomes and reducing unnecessary healthcare costs. For more information about PhotoniCare, visit www.photoni.care or connect with PhotoniCare on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The registered clinical study in this publication is supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) under Award Number R44DC014599. More information about the study is available on ClinicalTrials.gov using identifier NCT03890107. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Media Contact:

Ryan Nolan

Co-Founder and VP of Clinical Operations

PhotoniCare Inc.

[email protected]

+1 (866) 411-EARS (3277) ext. 1

Related Images

photonicare-logo.jpg

PhotoniCare Logo

SOURCE PhotoniCare Inc.

Related Links

http://photonicareinc.com


CHICAGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Residential Energy Storage Market by Power Rating (36 kW & 610 kW), Connectivity (On-Grid & Off-Grid), Technology (LeadAcid & Lithium-Ion), Ownership (Customer, Utility, & Third-Party), Operation (Standalone & Solar), Region - Global Forecast to 2024", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Residential Energy Storage Market is projected to reach USD 17.5 billion by 2024 from an estimated USD 6.3 billion in 2019, at a CAGR of 22.88% during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to the declining cost of lithium-ion batteries and the need for energy self-sufficiency from consumers.

Power rating, during the forecast period.

The 36 kW segment is projected to be the largest market during the forecast period. This is mainly because of the increase in the need for power backup during natural disasters. Furthermore, consumers and governments install small storage solutions that can be utilized in times of need to avoid a major electricity crisis, which is also contributing to the growth of the market.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Residential Energy Storage Market"

71  Tables

42  Figures

135  Pages

Ask for PDF Brochure:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=153284325

The customer owned segment is expected to be the fastest growing Residential Energy Storage Market, by ownership type, during the forecast period.

The customer owned segment is expected to account for the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the increasing need for energy self-sufficiency and rising demand for power backup. This is expected to increase the demand for the Residential Energy Storage Market during the forecast period. In addition to this, there is a rising demand for modular energy storage infrastructure in residential areas in developed countries such as the US, the UK, Germany, Norway, and China, which is driving the growth of the residential storage market.

Asia Pacific: The leading Residential Energy Storage Market.

In this report, the Residential Energy Storage Market has been analyzed with respect to 5 regions, namely, North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. Asia Pacific dominated the global Residential Energy Storage Market in 2018, owing to the installation of storage solutions for residential end-users. Over the past few years, this region has witnessed rapid economic development as well as the growth of renewables and demand for energy self-sufficiency, which has resulted in an increase in the demand for energy storage options. Countries such as Australia and some parts of India and China are also providing subsidies and financial incentives to residential consumers. This movement toward solar and storage is resulting in grid stabilization and greener countries with lower carbon emissions, thereby driving the Residential Energy Storage Market.

Speak to Analyst:

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=153284325

To enable an in-depth understanding of the competitive landscape, the report includes the profiles of some of the top players in the Residential Energy Storage Market. Some of the key players are Huawei (China), Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. (South Korea), Tesla (US), LG Chem (South Korea), and SMA Solar Technology (Germany). The leading players are adopting various strategies to increase their share in the Residential Energy Storage Market.

Browse Adjacent Markets: Energy and Power 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: [email protected]

Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/residential-energy-storage-market.asp

Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com

SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
"In 2017, we lost 756 Oklahoma residents to suicide. These numbers are staggering! Even more urgent, it remains the 2nd leading cause of death for Oklahoman's ages 15-34, and the 4th leading cause of death for ages 35-44, leaving Oklahoma with the 13 th highest rate of suicide in the nation. The AFSP-Oklahoma Chapter Board is passionate and persistent in our efforts and belief that suicide IS preventable. With support, education, and reform, we can reduce the suicide rate across our communities and great state," said Bee Smith, AFSP Oklahoma Chapter Board Member.

Advocates will be asking legislators to support suicide prevention initiatives for Oklahoma's youth including, SB 266 requiring school districts to provide suicide awareness and prevention education for students in grades 7-12 and training for school staff and to adopt related policies, and HB 2456 prohibiting the practice of conversion therapy with minors.

The Oklahoma State Capitol Day is a special day for all who have a connection with or a personal story around the topic of suicide. Volunteers will meet with their state legislators and share their stories about why they participate in this advocacy effort, giving a human face to this important public health problem. Advocates hope that by sharing their stories, they will help legislators understand that state investments in mental health and suicide prevention can save lives.

AFSP Oklahoma advocates are part of a larger national movement of AFSP volunteer advocates who will be visiting over 40 state capitols across the United States in 2019 to bring best practices in suicide prevention to state legislators and their staff. To learn more about AFSP's advocacy efforts, visit here: https://afsp.org/our-work/advocacy/.

On average, 129 Americans died by suicide each day in 2017, and upwards of 90% of those individuals had a diagnosable mental health condition at the time of their death. AFSP volunteers will urge state lawmakers to be the voice for the thousands of Oklahoma residents affected by suicide each year.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, with a Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C. AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report, and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Related Links

http://www.afsp.org


"The results of this survey are encouraging, and a signal that APA's and others' work over the years to promote mental health care is paying off," said APA CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD. "They indicate a willingness to be more open about mental illness, as well as a strong belief among older respondents that having a mental disorder is nothing to be ashamed of."

Despite this welcome news, some stigma still persists. A third of respondents (33%) agreed with the statement, "people with mental health disorders scare me," and 39% said they would view someone differently if they knew that person had a mental health disorder.

In the case of mental health disorders, familiarity seemed to breed comfort: 42% percent of people who had never had a mental health diagnosis or known someone who did said that people with mental health disorders scared them. Of people who had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder or knew someone who had, only 27% and 28%, respectively, said the same. Most respondents  59%  know someone with a mental health disorder. This personal experience is a step toward destigmatizing mental illness, Evans said.

The survey found that 81% percent of people said they would be very or somewhat comfortable being friends with someone with a mental health disorder, and 79% would be very or somewhat comfortable interacting with a person with a mental health disorder. Those numbers dropped, though, for more intimate involvement: The proportion of people comfortable dating someone with a mental health disorder was 51%, and only 35% said they would be comfortable letting someone with a mental health disorder care for a child.

Notably, significant minorities of Americans do not consider the most common mental health disorders to be disorders. A third (33%) said they did not consider anxiety to be a mental illness, and 22% said the same about depression.

The survey also delved into attitudes about suicide. Large majorities of Americans agree that people who are suicidal can be treated and go on to live successful lives (91%) and that suicide can often be prevented (87%). Most also supported openness around suicide, with 87% agreeing that people should talk about suicide more openly, and 84% agreeing that people should not be ashamed to say a loved one died by suicide. Nearly 4 out of 5 (79%) agreed that less stigma and shame around mental health disorders would lower suicide rates.

However, 30% of people said that they would keep quiet about the cause of death if their own loved one died by suicide, and 63% agreed with the notion that suicide is a selfish act.

Young adults between 18 to 34 reported the poorest mental health of those surveyed, as well as the most shame around mental health disorders. Twenty-seven percent of this age group reported poor or fair mental health, compared with 20% of 35 to 64-year-olds and 4% of those 65 and older. While 92% of those 65 and older and 89% of those between 35 and 64 agreed that having a mental health disorder was not something to be ashamed of, only 78% of the youngest adults said the same. Young adults were also more likely than older age groups to believe that most mental health disorders do not require treatment (35% of 18 to 34-year-olds, 17% of 35 to 64-year-olds and 9% of those 65 and older), to say that they would keep quiet about the cause of death if a loved one died by suicide (40% of 18 to 34-year-olds, 30% 35 to 64-year-olds, 18% of those 65 and older), and to disagree that people with mental health disorders can live normal lives (23%, 14%, and 10%, respectively).

"More young adults reported feeling shame and stigma surrounding mental health issues than their older peers," Evans said. "This points to the need for psychology to continue to educate the public so that more people understand that there is no shame associated with being mentally ill."

The survey of 1,006 U.S. adults was conducted by The Harris Poll between Nov. 20-29, 2018. Respondents took a 15-minute online survey about their attitudes toward mental health disorders and mental health treatment. The results were weighted by education, age, gender, race, ethnicity, geography, household income, household size and marital status to represent the U.S. population.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 118,400 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to promote the advancement, communication and application of psychological science and knowledge to benefit society and improve lives.

SOURCE American Psychological Association
SYLMAR, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vallarta Supermarkets, a Southern California-based, independently-owned supermarket chain announced Wednesday that it will donate $130,000 to various non-profit organizations. Donations will support youth education in the communities Vallarta stores serve.

The donations will be made through Vallarta Supermarket's Gonzalez Family Foundation to educational institutions, scholarship foundations and grassroots organizations working to benefit communities across Vallarta's 50-store footprint in Southern California, the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast. The Foundation has a history of investing in the promise of tomorrow's leaders, and their gifts will enable these organizations to continue their support of California's diverse youth.

Vallarta Supermarkets was founded in 1985, and with hard work, perseverance, and a loyal customer base, the company has grown into one of the largest and most successful independent supermarket chains in the country. The Founders' immigrant roots are a source of inspiration to many immigrants from all over the world who strive to contribute to their adopted country.

The gifts totaling $130,000 will go to the following organizations in California:

California State University, Northridge Alumni Association

Alumni Association Southeast Fresno Economic Development Foundation

El Concilio, Oxnard

Youth Leaders Education Foundation, Bakersfield

Allan Hancock Community College, Santa Maria

Southwestern Community College , National City

, Antelope Valley College , Lancaster

, Victor Valley College , Victorville

, TELACU Education Foundation, Los Angeles

MAOF Delano Child Care Center

Education and Leadership Foundation, Fresno

College of the Canyons , Santa Clarita

, Pierce College , San Fernando Valley

, San Fernando Valley Los Angeles Mission College , Sylmar

, Whittier College , Whittier

About Vallarta Supermarkets: Since 1985, Vallarta Supermarkets has grown to a total of 50 stores throughout different counties in California (Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Kern, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Orange and Fresno). The Gonzalez family has adhered to their strong work ethic and has made it part of their company culture ensuring that all their team members; more than 8,000, strive for excellence in customer service.

Media Contact:

Viramontes Marketing Communications for Vallarta Supermarkets

Carlos Viramontes

[email protected]

562-862-7777

SOURCE Vallarta Supermarkets
Despite America's apparent obsession with weddings, marriage rates are actually forecasted to decline by 2021. This decline is influenced by younger generations feeling less pressure to tie the knot -- partly because increased societal acceptance of cohabitation has given couples more freedom to postpone their nuptials.

Still, over 2 million weddings take place in America each year, with $72 billion spent annually on the occasion, and $19 billion worth of gifts purchased each year through wedding registries.

After analyzing data from our stores across the country, we uncovered some surprising insights.

We found that these are the top 12 locations people are choosing to get married:

With the rise of e-commerce, consumer behavior around wedding spend has shifted. Because businesses can reach potential customers at a lower cost, it's easier for them to offer discounts and for brides to price shop. It's also become easier for brides to discover the exact product she needs online to achieve her unique wedding vision. This evolving retail landscape has changed brides' preferences for where to shop: for custom wedding items, less than 1% of brides prefer a solely in-store shopping experience, 84% prefer strictly online, and 16% prefer an omni-channel mix. Additionally, social networking has shifted vendor marketing strategies.

While this increased access to data and price comparison might suggest a decline in average wedding spend, economic recovery and rising disposable income levels have actually boosted wedding budgets overall and facilitated industry growth despite declining marriage rates. In fact, the amount that brides spend on weddings has grown at about 5% annually over the past few years.

As one might expect, overall wedding budgets vary significantly by geography. The highest expenditure markets include Manhattan , whose average wedding expenditure is 252% higher than the national average; Chicago , whose is 188% higher than the national average, and Los Angeles , whose is 121% higher than the national average. In Manhattan, the average wedding spend is $82,299; in Chicago, it's $61,265. The lowest expenditure markets are Alaska (53% spend vs. national average), South Dakota (58% vs. national average) and West Texas (59% vs. national average).

Where brides spend the most:

New York Illinois California

Where brides spend the least:

Alaska South Dakota West Texas

While a bride's budget has dozens of items on it, a growing portion of their spend is on the printed materials brides purchase for their big day. The overall custom print product industry is declining (think Christmas cards, birth announcements) due to changing social habits and the rise of digital-only options, but total market sales for wedding related printed materials have increased over the past three years -- with the average cost of 100 wedding invitations now coming in between $5,000 and $8,000. The categories of ceremony programs and guest books are also growing, now industries of $120 million and $52 million respectively. When you add the cost of thank you cards, place cards, and envelopes, brides spent $1.7 billion on printed materials last year.

For more Paper Source wedding resources, visit www.papersource.com/weddings .

ABOUT PAPER SOURCE

Founded in 1983, Paper Source is a premier paper and gift store offering a curated selection of fine and artisanal papers, invitations, gifts, gift wrap, greeting cards and an exclusive collection of envelopes and cards. Paper Source is committed to cultivating a community for their customers as they celebrate all of life's moments, both big and small. With the company's goal of "Do Something Creative Every Day", Paper Source offers a creative aesthetic with a unique color palette and proprietary designs that are hand-illustrated by an in-house Art and Design team. As of August 2018, Paper Source operates stores in 29 states, the District of Columbia, plus an ecommerce store and wholesale division. For more information, please visit www.papersource.com.

SOURCE Paper Source

Related Links

http://www.papersource.com


Survey question: Does your domestic health insurance cover any doctor or hospital visits while traveling outside the US?

Survey results:

Yes: 17.1%

No: 24.2%

Not Sure: 58.7%

Understanding Coverage

Travelers unclear on whether they have coverage should contact their health insurance company on whether emergency medical coverage will extend outside the US. Depending on your specific plan and area of travel, medical coverage can vary widely.

Policyholders may discover they have either "in-network" coverage, limited coverage, or no coverage at all. Travelers should also be aware of the following:

Deductibles: the amount a patient must pay for covered services before insurance kicks in

Co-insurance: the amount a patient is responsible for a covered health care service

Co-payments: a set amount owed for a covered health care service

A Word About Medicare

Original Medicare does not cover emergency medical care for travelers outside the US. There are supplemental plans such as Medicare Advantage and Medigap that can provide limited additional coverage, for more details visit Medicare.gov.

Emergency Medical Evacuations

According to the US State Department, very few domestic health insurance companies will pay for a medical evacuation back to the United States, which can easily cost up to $100,000, or even more, depending on the condition and location of the patient.

Travel Insurance Options

Travelers should know about any limitations of domestic health insurance policies while out of the country. In most cases, there are gaps in coverage. Some gaps are significant. Travel insurance is recommended because it can act as supplemental or primary coverage.

Most travel insurance providers offer one or two different types of insurance plans that provide emergency medical coverage outside the US:

Comprehensive travel insurance --- offers the most protection for travelers. It provides a variety of benefits including trip cancellation, trip interruption, emergency medical coverage, emergency medical evacuation, 24/7 emergency assistance, and baggage protection.

Example: For a $5,000 two week vacation to Aruba, a comprehensive travel insurance plan will cost a couple in their 50s around $200. This includes a $50,000 emergency medical limit, $250,000 for emergency medical evacuation in addition to trip cancellation coverage and other benefits.

Travel medical insurance --- provides emergency medical coverage, emergency medical evacuation coverage, and 24/7 emergency assistance. Trip cancellation is typically not included.

Example: For the same trip to Aruba, a travel medical insurance plan will cost a couple in their 50s around $80. This includes a $50,000 medical limit with a $250 deductible and $500,000 medical evacuation.

How it helps

Both comprehensive and travel medical insurance plans are a valued supplement while traveling overseas, offsetting possible coverage gaps evident in some domestic health insurance plans including:

Emergency medical care: when a traveler requires a doctor or hospital visit when traveling abroad.

Emergency evacuation: when the attending physician requests that the traveler be transported to a more adequate medical facility or back home for further care.

24/7 emergency assistance: when a traveler needs help with a medical issues, needs to find a doctor or hospital or requires translation services.

Some travel insurance policies may also cover pre-existing medical conditions. To learn more about eligibility requirements, visit the learn section on InsureMyTrip.com.

Travel smart

In addition to seeking proper medical protection, travelers can also reduce health risks by learning about destination-specific medical concerns, including required vaccinations. The US State Department is a helpful resource.

Contact [email protected] for more information.

InsureMyTrip

It's simple. InsureMyTrip finds you the right travel insurance plan, every time.

InsureMyTrip is the authority on travel insurance. We are committed to empowering travelers to make the best possible insurance decisions by leveraging our technology, data intelligence, and expertise.

Methodology

The survey was sent to those identified as Americans, male or female (18+), who use websites in the Google Surveys Publisher Network. The survey was conducted from April 25, 2019 - April 27, 2019, and generated 1,516 completed responses.

SOURCE InsureMyTrip

Related Links

http://www.insuremytrip.com


Through a partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) and input from the teen members, Aaron's associates and Club officials worked throughout the week decorating and furnishing the Club's multipurpose space. Local Aaron's associates and Club officials revealed the new space, which is now equipped with new technology, sectionals, tables and chairs, sound systems and fresh paint. Teens chose the special Sherwin-Williams paint colors for the room: Humorous Green, Dignity Blue, Marigold, Evening Shadow and Something Blue. The teens can enjoy the redesigned areas dedicated to leadership development, study, lounging and games.

"With this contribution, Aaron's hopes to inspire the members of the Southern Highlands Boys & Girls Club to reach higher and achieve their dreams while becoming community leaders," said John Robinson, CEO of Aaron's, Inc. "Our partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America allows us to continue our commitment to giving back to communities across the country."

In September 2018, the Aaron's Foundation renewed its national partnership with the BGCA. The continued partnership supports the Keystone Club, BGCA's premier national teen leadership and character program, for an additional three years with a $5 million commitment. This follows the 2015 Aaron's Foundation's three-year national partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America's Keystone Program, helping underserved teens ages 14-18 develop their character and leadership skills in hopes of helping them reach their potential and creating positive change in the community.

"This refresh will provide an indispensable boost for our deserving teen members who work hard to give back to the local community," said Andy Bischel, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada. "We're grateful for Aaron's continued support of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and their commitment to help young people learn to grow and succeed."

Over the past five years, Aaron's has performed 36 makeovers at Teen Centers in cities such as Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Baltimore, Memphis and San Antonio. The Southern Highlands Unit makeover was made possible by Aaron's in-kind donation of furniture, electronics and appliances valued at $24,000, and the hard work of the company's associates.

"Keystone has helped me to focus my attention on my goals and become a better person and leader." Alex C., 14

"The Boys & Girls Club has shown me a positive path. The Keystone Club has given me the opportunity to become a meaningful leader and work with an amazing team of people. Jordan J., 17

"Keystone provides a way for me to express myself and give back to the people in our community." Payton G., 15

"Being a part of Keystone has taught me that if we put aside our differences and come together as a group we can make a change at our Club and in our community." McKenna T., 16

"Being in Keystone for three years has helped grow my potential as a leader." Noel C., 17

"Keystone is the first step towards opportunities that will impact my future." Raezene D., 14

Aaron's partnership with BGCA's Keystone Program inspires teens to "Own It" by taking ownership of their choices to build the lives they deserve. The Aaron's and Keystone Club "Own Your Future" campaign supports three principles:

Own Your Path : No matter where you come from, the future is yours to decide.

: No matter where you come from, the future is yours to decide. Own Your Decisions : Making good choices opens more doors for your future.

: Making good choices opens more doors for your future. Own Your Community: Use your talents to make an impact in your community.

To see photos of the Keystone Club remodel at the Boys & Girls Club of Southern Nevada, Southern Highlands Unit, visit Aaron's on Facebook (www.facebook.com/aaronsinc), and Twitter (www.twitter.com/AaronsInc).

About Aaron's, Inc.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE: AAN), is a leading omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions. Aaron's Business engages in the sales and lease ownership and specialty retailing of furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories through its approximately 1,600 company-operated and franchised stores in 47 states and Canada as well as its e-commerce platform, Aarons.com. In addition, Progressive Leasing, a virtual lease-to-own company, provides lease-purchase solutions through over 20,000 retail locations in 46 states. Dent-A-Med, Inc., d/b/a the HELPcard, provides a variety of second-look credit products that are originated through federally insured banks. For more information, visit Aarons.com, ProgLeasing.com, and HELPcard.com.

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, 4,400 Clubs serve 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 Aaron's, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.aarons.com


BOSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Acuity Link, a comprehensive non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) communications and logistics management platform provider, today announced that John Shermyen has been appointed to the company's board of directors. He joins existing board members, Alex Theoharidis, Demos Kouvaris, Richard A. Spencer, and Charles T. Lelon, all whom are actively involved in shaping and supporting the company's strategy to replace today's outdated and inefficient non-emergency medical transportation systems. This includes enabling seamless automated transportation scheduling for all levels of care and modes of transport while providing valuable and actionable insights into patient movement to drive efficiencies, cost savings, and improved patient experience.

Shermyen has over 25 years of experience in the ambulance and NEMT industry, and was involved in the first wave of public company ambulance acquisitions and mergers in the early 1990's. He began his career in the space leading the development of a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system for the private ambulance industry with EMTrack, followed by the launch of a business process outsourcing (BPO) business specific to managing ambulance and NEMT/ADA providers. In 1986, Shermyen founded LogistiCare, Inc., a provider of specialized transportation network management where he was president and CEO for over a decade and credited with helping to develop the NEMT broker model. Most recently, he served as a senior vice president of health care innovations at Almost Family, Inc., a provider of home health nursing, rehabilitation and personal care services.

"I'm excited to be joining forces with Alex and the executive team at such a pivotal time for the organization and the NEMT industry in general, which is growing at such a significant pace," said Shermyen. "While at first glance it looks like the marketplace is crowded with different offerings, I've been in the medical transportation space for some time and truly believe Acuity Link is unique in its ability to meet patients' comprehensive medical transportation needs while empowering healthcare organizations to make more informed operational and clinical decisions."

Acuity Link was launched to address the mounting need for a comprehensive communications and logistics management platform that could link healthcare systems with emergency and non-emergency medical transportation providers and ambulance crew members for all levels of care and modes of transport. As a result of using Acuity Link's technology, hospitals today benefit from instant access to the closest available and most suitable transportation resources, and a reduction in bottlenecks that impact patient flow, leading to shorter discharge times, and in turn, improved care and experience. The company's software goes beyond the standard transport request procedures, allowing for streamlined interactions, more efficient and effective data collection and operational performance evaluation which can be used to make more informed decisions to drive patient flow through the healthcare ecosystem.

"On behalf of the entire Acuity Link team, I would like to welcome John to our company's board of directors," said Alex Theoharidis, CEO of Acuity Link. "His breadth of experience in entrepreneurship and leading businesses, and in particular, his extensive knowledge of the emergency and non-emergency medical transportation space, make John a strategic addition to our team. I look forward to working closely with him as we continue to scale the reach and impact of the company and enhance our platform to fully maximize the true potential of NEMT, ensuring that patients get the care and convenience they require throughout the entire transport process."

About Acuity Link

Acuity Link is a comprehensive communications and logistics management platform that links healthcare systems with non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) providers and ambulance crew members for all levels of care and modes of transportation. With Acuity Link's technology, organizations benefit from instant access to the closest available and most suitable transportation resources, reducing bottlenecks that impact patient flow, leading to shorter discharge times, and in turn, enhanced patient care and experience. The company's HIPAA-compliant, customizable, easy-to-use Software-as-a-Service solution can be implemented into any healthcare setting to streamline NEMT and patient flow processes which provides a new level of data critical to enhancing efficiencies within the healthcare ecosystem. This previously unavailable intelligence generates accurate, actionable insights needed to make more informed operational and clinical decisions. For more information about Acuity Link, please visit https://www.acuity-link.net/.

Media Contacts

Jessy Green or Sarah Larrow

SVM Public Relations

[email protected]

401.490.9700

SOURCE Acuity Link

Related Links

https://www.acuity-link.net


CHICAGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Easterseals is pleased to announce the election of Glenda Oakley to its National Board of Directors. Ms. Oakley currently serves as Executive Director, Regional Chief Financial Officer at Aetna Medicaid based in Illinois.

"Glenda brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the Easterseals National Board of Directors which will help ensure our mission continues into the next 100 years," Easterseals President and CEO Angela F. Williams said. "I know I speak for every member of the Board when I say that she is a welcome addition. We look forward to the ideas and perspective she will no doubt contribute."

Ms. Oakley has more than 25 years of experience in public accounting, external/internal audit, corporate finance and consulting. In her current role at Aetna Medicaid, she is responsible for leading and driving financial best practices. In this position, she oversees financial teams for three Medicare Medicaid Plans (MMPs) in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, ensuring effective support of financial planning and forecasting, driving quality and integrity of financial reports. Ms. Oakley received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Arizona State University. She maintains current licensure as a certified public accountant in the State of Arizona.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Ms. Oakley is dedicated to giving back to her community through service. While a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, Ms. Oakley volunteered with the St. Mary's Food Bank, where she delivered non-perishable food items to populations experiencing food insecurity. Through Assistance for Independent Living, Ms. Oakley accompanied an elderly woman with a disability during trips to the grocery store.

Ms. Oakley has a personal connection to the Easterseals mission of ensuring high-quality support and services for veterans, as her husband is a retired United States Marine who served the country for 30 years. While he was active duty, Ms. Oakley served in the Key Spouse Program, where she assisted spouses and families through deployment readiness. Their eldest son is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and their middle son will soon retire from the U.S. Marine Corps.

"Joining the Easterseals National Board is a chance for me to give back to an organization that serves some of our most vulnerable populations," Ms. Oakley said. "I hope my finance background and experience in the Medicaid/Medicare arena puts me in a position to service the Board in a way that promotes the organization and furthers its mission."

About Easterseals

For 100 years, Easterseals has served as an indispensable resource for individuals with disabilities, veterans, seniors and their families. Together, our 70 affiliates in communities nationwide serve 1.5 million people annually through high-quality programs including autism services, early intervention, workforce development, adult day care and more. In schools, workplaces and communities, we're fostering environments where everyone is included and valued  with a real and positive impact on us all. Join us in ensuring that everyone  regardless of age or ability  is 100% included and 100% empowered. Learn more at www.easterseals.com.

SOURCE Easterseals

Related Links

http://www.easterseals.com


WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Market Solutions (AMS) is celebrating its two-year anniversary. Founded by conservative leaders, the organization is addressing two of America's most pressing challenges: the need to reduce airborne carbon pollution and grow the economy.

AMS supports a pro-growth policy that would eliminate harmful regulations and replace them with a revenue-neutral carbon tax that enables markets, instead of government, to allocate resources, stimulate innovation and capital investment, support clean energy, and effectively reduce carbon pollution.

"Given the latest science, addressing climate change is imperative," said AMS Chairman Jeffrey Williams. "A durable, market-based solution is necessary, not only to reduce airborne carbon pollution but to ensure the United States' economy is vibrant and strong to promote growth and opportunity for every American."

Since its inception, AMS has engaged directly with Republican policymakers and influential conservatives to cultivate support for pro-growth policies to address climate change. The organization also built a robust library of resourcesincluding research papers/reports commissioned by prominent economists and academic institutions and its first publication, Carbon Tax Policy: A Conservative Dialogue on Pro-Growth Opportunitiesthat demonstrate the efficiency of a carbon tax.

"When we started, almost no Republicans acknowledged climate change, and none were discussing a carbon tax," explained Alex Flint, the executive director of AMS. "Today, a large part of the Republican caucus has acknowledged climate change, and a carbon tax is part of the debate on how to address it. We have a long way to go but have come a long way in 24 months."

Learn more about AMS at amsresearch.org and follow the organization on Twitter.

The Alliance for Market Solutions (AMS) is an organization of conservative leaders addressing two of America's most pressing challenges: the need to reduce carbon pollution and grow the economy.

We respect climate change science and support replacing regulations with a revenue-neutral carbon taxa policy that would efficiently protect the environment and deregulate and grow the economy.

AMS engages directly with influential conservatives, including policymakers, to cultivate support for a revenue-neutral carbon tax. We also conduct research on key aspects of carbon tax policies to provide policymakers insights into issues including the impact of a revenue-neutral carbon tax on economic growth, income, and innovation.

SOURCE Alliance for Market Solutions

Related Links

https://amsresearch.org/


ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. today announced the acquisition of Australian insurance broker AgriRisk Services Pty Limited. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered in North Sydney, New South Wales with offices in Tamworth, NSW and Toowoomba, Queensland, AgriRisk Services offers rural and farm insurance products and services to higher-value rural enterprises and large corporate agribusiness operations throughout Australia. John van der Vegt and his associates offer a range of crop risk management solutions to complement Gallagher's existing strengths in farm insurance. Their North Sydney and Toowoomba teams will relocate to Gallagher's existing offices in those cities, and the Tamworth team will remain in its current location, reporting to Paul Harvey, Managing Director-Specialisms for Gallagher in Australia.

"AgriRisk Services is a strong cultural fit with Gallagher and the team significantly expands our farm and agribusiness capabilities across Australia," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. "I am delighted to welcome John and his associates to Gallagher."

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The company has operations in 35 countries and offers client service capabilities in more than 150 countries around the world through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Investors: Ray Iardella Media: Linda J. Collins VP  Investor Relations VP  Corporate Communications 630-285-3661/ [email protected] 630-285-4009/ [email protected]

SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Related Links

http://www.ajg.com


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Every May, the Administration for Community Living leads our nation's observance of Older Americans Month, recognizing our growing population of older Americans and their contributions to our communities.

Assisted Living Locators, a leading senior care placement firm, will mark the event by celebrating its senior care advisors' volunteerism in communities nationwide. In honor of this year's Older Americans Month's theme, "Connect, Create and Contribute," the company is sharing inspiring ways their advisors support older adults.

Connecting with A Single Rose

Shannon Avazian, an Assisted Living Locators Santa Clarita senior care advisor, has a special place in her heart for each senior she meets, knowing they need extra care and compassion. Shannon brought a single rose to her very first senior she helped find long term care and it brought tears to both her and the senior's eyes. She still continues this special service today as her way to give back to seniors in her community.

Creating Art to Raise Awareness

A long-time committee member for the Alzheimer's Association Art Canvas Drive, Assisted Living Locators Omaha senior care advisor Nikki Wulff reaches out to her local care partners to donate canvases painted by their residents with Alzheimer's or Dementia. Nikki collects the art canvases from dozens of communities for the Dementia Care Conference silent auction, raising funds and promoting awareness of Alzheimer's and Dementia in her community.

Contributing in Small Ways Can Make A Big Difference

BJ Bounds, an Assisted Living Locators Southeast Dallas senior care advisor, started her own volunteer organization in 2004 to teach adults and children how to prepare for disasters and now helps local first responders assist older adults in times of disasters. Her volunteer group also provides and installs window air conditioning units to seniors in need. BJ provides an annual safety/ID theft class to senior citizens and teaches classes on how to pay for senior living.

For five years, Assisted Living Locators North Georgia senior care advisor Greg Santini has worked with his church's homebound ministry. Once a month, he visits a group of seniors that can't make it to Sunday mass. Greg brings them communion, listens to their stories, or sometimes just lets them tell him how bad they feel. Recently, he became involved with Meals on Wheels, a volunteer program that delivers food to seniors that have no transportation to buy groceries. Greg enjoys working in his community to support his seniors in any way he can.

"Assisted Living Locators has an outstanding community culture," said Angela Olea, Assisted Living Locators CEO RN. "Our senior care advisors go 'above and beyond' to serve seniors and their families. Their compassion and problem-solving skills are the biggest asset of our company. We're dedicated to providing no cost help to seniors and their families to find the right care options."

About Assisted Living Locators

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Assisted Living Locators offers a no cost, nationwide senior placement service for in-home care, independent retirement options, assisted living communities and memory care. A top performing franchise organization, Assisted Living Locators is ranked in Entrepreneur's 2019 Franchise 500, Franchise Business Review's 2019 Top Franchises Report and Franchise Dictionary's Top 100 Game Changer Franchises. To learn more, visit www.assistedlivinglocators.com.

SOURCE Assisted Living Locators

Related Links

http://www.assistedlivinglocators.com


LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) (" Avon ") announced today that it has granted to its newly appointed Chief Financial Officer, Gustavo Arnal, inducement equity awards in connection with Mr. Arnal's commencement of employment with Avon. Such inducement equity awards will be made outside the terms of Avon's 2016 Omnibus Incentive Plan, in reliance on the exemption under NYSE Listed Company Manual Rule 303A.08.

As an inducement for Mr. Arnal to join Avon, Avon has granted to Mr. Arnal long-term incentive program awards with target amounts that consist of (x) 242,340 premium-priced stock options (" Options ") to acquire shares of Avon's common stock at a per share exercise price equal to 125% of the per share closing sales price on the date of grant, which will vest in equal annual installments over three years, (y) 221,936 performance-based restricted stock units (" PRSUs "), of which 96,936 PRSUs will vest based on service and the attainment of performance conditions over a three-year period and 125,000 PRSUs will vest based on service over a three-year period and the attainment of performance conditions over a one-year period and (z) 96,936 service-based restricted stock units (" RSUs "), which will vest based on service over a three-year period.

Upon certain qualifying terminations of Mr. Arnal's employment, (i) a prorated portion of the RSUs will vest, (ii) a prorated portion of the PRSUs will vest (subject to satisfaction of performance measures) and (iii) any vested Options will remain exercisable for 90 days.

About Avon Products Inc.

For 130 years Avon has stood for women: providing innovative, quality beauty products which are primarily sold to women, through women. Millions of independent sales Representatives across the world sell iconic Avon brands such as Avon Color and ANEW through their social networks, building their own beauty businesses on a full- or part-time basis. Avon supports women's empowerment, entrepreneurship and well-being and has donated over $1 billion to women's causes through Avon and the Avon Foundation. Learn more about Avon and its products at www.avonworldwide.com. #Stand4Her

SOURCE Avon Products, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.avon.com


TSX Venture Exchange: BSK

Frankfurt Stock Exchange: MAL2

OTCQB Venture Market (OTC): BKUCF

VANCOUVER, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Blue Sky Uranium Corp. (TSX-V: BSK, FSE: MAL2; OTC: BKUCF), "Blue Sky" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has retained Zoppa Media Group to act as an investor relations consultant to the Company, to assist with corporate finance and investor relations programs. Zoppa Media Group has been engaged for a term of one year at a monthly fee of $4,000. Except for the investor relations services agreement, Zoppa Media does not have any interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its securities. Zoppa Media's appointment as an investor relations consultant to the Company is subject to regulatory acceptance of applicable filings with the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Blue Sky Uranium Corp.

Blue Sky Uranium Corp. is a leader in uranium discovery in Argentina. The Company's objective is to deliver exceptional returns to shareholders by rapidly advancing a portfolio of surficial uranium deposits into low-cost producers. Blue Sky holds has the exclusive right to of properties in two provinces in Argentina. The Company's flagship Amarillo Grande Project was an in-house discovery of a new district that has the potential to be both a leading domestic supplier of uranium to the growing Argentine market and a new international market supplier. The Company is a member of the Grosso Group, a resource management group that has pioneered exploration in Argentina since 1993.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Nikolaos Cacos"

______________________________________

Nikolaos Cacos, President, CEO and Director

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's public disclosure documents for a more detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected future results. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties.

SOURCE Blue Sky Uranium Corp.

Related Links

www.blueskyuranium.com


Originally designed by prolific architect Philip Johnson in the Classical Revival Style, The Notary Hotel occupies a landmark in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia boasting sophisticated, 1920s-inspired decor and furnishings. The 15-story building dates to 1926 and is ideally located at 21 North Juniper Street, across from City Hall as well as one block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center and from Reading Terminal Market.

Building on the unique history of the property, formerly City Hall Annex, the new name, The Notary Hotel, puts a figurative stamp on a new kind of civil service and is a place where history meets the modern. The redesign was led by Premier Project Management and uses a combination of original finishes and stylish upgrades including marble floors, chandeliers, coffered plaster ceilings, and decorative bronze molding. The lobby will also unite elements of local history and culture by prominently featuring a historical collection of antique typewriters and a distinctive collection of pedestaled bronze art sculptures of vintage hats.

The Notary Hotel will feature 499 guest rooms. Additionally, with over 10,000 square feet of conference space throughout 12 event rooms, the hotel offers substantial meeting and banquet space. Further, with the introduction of the 3,000-square foot Junipers Ballroom, the landmark hotel is positioned to become a signature Philadelphia wedding and business location.



The new on-site tapas restaurant, Sabroso, featuring a multi-course menu highlighting tapas dishes, a variety of craft beer, cocktails and wines along with free standing seating arrangements, creates the perfect space for local foodies, hotel guests and visitors. Working with local brewer La Colombe, the on-site Sorbo coffee house will serve both signature classic blends and single-origin coffees as well as teas. The space for Sabroso and Sorbo occupies the first floor of The Notary Hotel, located at the North-East edge of Penn Square, the central heart of the city and a very high-profile, heavily-foot-trafficked street frontage.

The Notary Hotel also prides itself on providing guests with unique local aspects sprinkled throughout the property, including a signature lobby soundtrack drawing from Philadelphia's rich music history. A mix of Philly Soul, Hard Bop Jazz, and family friendly hip hop is in tune with the creative legacy and spirit of the city. Collaborating with local businesses, the in-room offerings will also prominently feature local brands while the public spaces will utilize local florists for events and personal orders.

Operating as the Courtyard by Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, the hotel achieved an Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR of 77.5%, $185, and $144, respectively, for the twelve months ended March 31, 2019.

"With its prime location across from City Hall, historical building designation and distinct amenities, the conversion of the hotel to an Autograph Collection property fills a desirable niche in the attractive downtown Philadelphia market," said Richard J. Stockton, Braemar's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward to realizing enhanced financial performance from this property as a result of our significant investment."

For more information, or to make reservations, please visit The Notary Hotel website at https://www.thenotaryhotel.com or contact 215-496-3200 to speak with one of the hotel's team members.

Braemar Hotels & Resorts is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on investing in luxury hotels and resorts.

Ashford has created an Ashford App for the hospitality REIT investor community. The Ashford App is available for free download at Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store by searching "Ashford."

Certain statements and assumptions in this press release contain or are based upon "forward-looking" information and are being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities regulations. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, among others, statements about the implied share price for the Company's common stock. When we use the words "will likely result," "may," "anticipate," "estimate," "should," "expect," "believe," "intend," or similar expressions, we intend to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside Braemar's control.

These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation: general conditions of the capital markets and the market price of our common stock; changes in our business or investment strategy; availability, terms and deployment of capital; availability of qualified personnel; changes in our industry and the market in which we operate, interest rates or the general economy; our ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions, and manage our planned growth, and the degree and nature of our competition. These and other risk factors are more fully discussed in Braemar's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The forward-looking statements included in this press release are only made as of the date of this press release. The Company can give no assurance that these forward-looking statements will be attained or that any deviation will not occur. We are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, changes in expectations or otherwise.

SOURCE Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global brewer's yeast market size is expected to reach USD 5.22 billion by 2025 at an 8.0% CAGR during the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Growing demand for by-products in animal feed is likely to augment market size.

Key suggestions from the report:

By type, the dry yeast segment is anticipated to reach a market volume of 667 kilo tons by 2025, at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2018 to 2025

On the basis of application, the feed supplement segment dominated the global brewer's yeast market in 2017, with a revenue share of nearly 60.0%

U.S. has been one of the largest importers of brewer's yeast, globally; in 2013, the country imported over 38.9 kilo tons of brewer's yeast, which has increased to a valuation of 144.2 kilo tons as of 2017

Countries in Asia Pacific , most notably India , Indonesia , and China , are expected to observe commendable growth over the forecast period. In terms of revenue, the India brewer's yeast market is anticipated to reach USD 164.8 million by 2025

The global industry is characterized by capacity expansions, mergers and acquisitions, and substantial investments to improve the market share of manufacturers.

Some of the prominent companies in the industry are Nutreco N.V.; Cargill Inc.; Lesaffre Group; Archer Daniels Midland Company; and Associated British Food Plc.

Read 113 page research report with TOC on "Brewer's Yeast Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type (Dry, Liquid), By Application (Food Supplements, Feed Supplements), Competitive Landscape, And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/brewers-yeast-market

Demand for feed supplements is anticipated to exhibit high growth over the coming years, on account of increasing awareness regarding proper animal nutrition and feed supplements. Use of natural additives and ingredients is becoming more widespread in animal feed, which will also aid in market growth. In addition, health benefits associated with brewer's yeast, such as increasing animal well-being, production abilities, and enhancing intestinal flora, are driving product consumption in animal feed formulations. Animal feed brewer's yeast is expected to support farmers in meeting this increased demand among consumers, thereby elevating the scope of the market. Research and development activities carried out by market players to provide consumers with efficient products are also expected to boost market growth.

Leading market players are channelizing their efforts for the development of new products and technologies with the help of advanced methods to effectively and efficiently manufacture yeast strains. On account of this, yeast and specialty yeast products are gaining importance among market players across the world. These companies are adopting and implementing various strategic plans to manufacture yeast and specialty yeast products.

Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing market for brewer's yeast globally. The region is one of the largest animal feed producers in the world, which is expected to play a key role in boosting the utilization of brewer's yeast-based animal feed in this region. China, India, and Japan are the major animal feed producers in Asia Pacific. Moreover, rising production of swine feed in emerging economies such as Indonesia and Vietnam is expected to have a positive impact on the market over the forecast year.

Grand View Research has segmented the global brewer's yeast market report on the basis of type, application, and region:

Brewer's Yeast Type Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2025)

Dry



Liquid

Brewer's Yeast Application Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2025)

Feed Supplements



Food Supplements

Brewer's Yeast Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2025)

North America



U.S.



Europe



Germany



Asia Pacific



Japan





China





India



Central & South America



Brazil



MEA

Find more research reports on Animal Feed and Feed Additives Industry, by Grand View Research:

Nutritional Ingredients in Animal Feed Market  Demand from global food industry is expected to be a key driver for the Nutritional Ingredients in Animal Feed Market's growth.

Demand from global food industry is expected to be a key driver for the Nutritional Ingredients in Animal Feed Market's growth. Poultry Feed Market  Increasing animal protein demand is expected to remain a key driving factor for poultry feed market growth over the next six years.

Increasing animal protein demand is expected to remain a key driving factor for poultry feed market growth over the next six years. Feed Pigment Market  Strong meat demand is projected to positively influence the global feed pigment market over the forecast period.

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About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

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Grand View Research, Inc.

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SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- First 5 commissions representing counties throughout California gathered at the State Capitol today to celebrate Dia de los Ninos/Dia de los Libros, a celebration of literacy for children of all backgrounds. Since 1997, young children have been honored and their literacy  including language, culture and books  has been promoted and celebrated on this day. For two decades, First 5 has advocated for early learning as a key component of young children's healthy development.

Representatives of these commissions spent the morning and afternoon visiting lawmakers to remind them of the importance of supporting policies to improve early childhood development systems for young children and their families.

During a break between meetings with lawmakers, First Partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, hosted a bilingual story time of Pat Mora's "Book Fiesta" at the North Capital Lawn. The State librarian continued the celebration with music and art interaction, kids' yoga, karaoke and more.

The First Partner received the "Champions for Children" Award for her commitment to lifting up California's children by prioritizing early childhood education, health and family supports across the state.

"I'm excited to join First 5 on Dia de los Ninos to celebrate children and promote multicultural literacy," said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who hosted a bilingual story time during the event. "We will only achieve the governor's vision of a California for All when we truly put children and families first. This first budget of the Newsom Administration makes bold strides to uplift young children and families by making significant investments in their well-being and success."

"We're delighted to join with fellow First 5 counties from across the state to encourage our lawmakers to support the early childhood elements of the budget," said Kim Belshe, executive director of First 5 LA. "By building upon the past work of the State Legislature to advance a comprehensive approach to early childhood development, this budget will help us achieve long-lasting results for children and families."

About First 5 LA

First 5 LA is an independent County agency in Los Angeles with a goal that by 2028, all children in L.A. County will enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school and life Knowing 90 percent of a child's brain is developed by age 5, First 5 LA partners with other county agencies, parents and organizations to help elected officials prioritize funding for early childhood education, health care and other programs that young children and their parents need. Please visit www.first5la.org for more information.

About First 5

California voters passed Proposition 10 in 1998, creating First 5 commissions in all 58 counties and a state commission to support the healthy development of children from birth to age five. Together, First 5 touches the lives of more than one million kids, families, and caregivers each year, and strengthens our state by giving kids the best start in life. Learn more: www.first5association.org.

SOURCE First 5 LA

Related Links

http://www.first5la.org


SAN RAMON, Costa Rica, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Raymond Comeau, the author of a soon-to-be-released book titled "What Bad We Do" is holding a contest with monetary prizes to be awarded to each of 16 winners chosen to write 16 chapter forwards for his new work.

The catch? The entrants must be ex  offenders.

"Through the ages, society has tended to not want to know or to simply ignorethe irresponsible actions committed by others and a damage resulting to loved ones, family, friends and total strangers, as witnessed by the growing population in our correctional facilities around the globe," said author Raymond Comeau. "The purpose of this book is to provide commandments for the 21st century."

Comeau is challenging ex  offenders to share their stories and the positive directions their lives have taken.

As part of the book and contest promotion, he`s traveling to Hollywood, Ca, on April 15  17 to be interviewed by Jack Canfield, co  author of "Chicken Soup for the Soul." He will discuss the new book and its upcoming website, OurSoulsDirection.com. The interview will be shown on numerous TV stations and social media channels.

National Director Pastor Willie Simpson of the Black Wall Street Reentry and Recovery Dept has asked his 30.000 ex  offenders membership to actively participate in the contest. Anyone feeling they need assistance may contact [email protected].

The 16 winning entrants will each receive $100, to be paid immediately after the book is published. To qualify, the contestants must be a U.S citizen and have committed a felony in the U.S. The contestant is required to write 300  400 words on one of the topics that represent the book chapters, telling his or her story and the positive life direction they have taken today. All chosen contest winners will be vetted. All submissions will be kept in strict confidence.

Submit entries no later than May 25 to [email protected].

Below is a list of the chapters within the release:

Bullying

Abandonment of a Child

Stealing

Lying

Coercion

Gambling

Cyber/Bullying

Sexual Harassment/Rape

Pornography

Child Abuse

Road Rage

Murder

Driving DUI/DWI

Manslaughter

Selling Drugs

Human Trafficking

Media Contact:

Raymond Comeau

[email protected]

908-448-0972

SOURCE Raymond Comeau
IRVING, Texas, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Caris Life Sciences, a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, today announced that it has acquired Pharmatech, Inc., a pioneer of the original Just-In-Time research system with the largest research-ready oncology network. With this strategic acquisition, Caris is changing the paradigm from the traditional physician outreach model to a real-time approach where patient identification is completed at the lab and the physician is informed so that the patient can be enrolled days earlier, and remain in the local physician's care, without having to travel to a large central trial site.

The acquisition promises to fundamentally redefine how pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies identify and rapidly enroll patients in precision oncology trials by combining Caris' highest quality industry leading large-scale molecular profiling services with Pharmatech's on-demand site activation and patient enrollment system. In addition to accelerating study recruitment, this complementary pairing will expand the enrollment opportunities for industry-leading clinical trials beyond the handful of academic medical centers that are typically tapped. With Pharmatech's research-ready oncology network, Caris can now connect physicians and patients at hundreds of cancer research centers nationwide, including universities, hospitals, and advanced community-based sites.

"This acquisition allows Caris to facilitate interactions between drug developers who are seeking patients with specific cancer profiles and physicians who are seeking new treatment options for their patients," said David D. Halbert, Chairman and CEO of Caris. "In addition, we have developed a new technology that allows us to identify twice as many fusions as with any other technology, assuring that every patient that is a candidate for a trial gets enrolled."

Caris Molecular Intelligence assesses DNA, RNA and proteins to reveal a molecular profile that can guide more precise and individualized treatment decisions for patients. This platform is used by oncologists to inform the treatment of tens of thousands of cancer patients every year. With the addition of Pharmatech's research-ready oncology trial network and Just-In-Time model, Caris will have the ability to further serve the physician and patient by bringing them clinical trial options with the patient identification and enrollment completed in as little as 10 days.

"Every cancer patient should receive the best treatments available, including appropriate clinical trials," said Matthew Wiener, PharmD, President and Founder of Pharmatech. "Together, Caris and Pharmatech are uniquely positioned to make clinical trial enrollment much more efficient and patient-centric. This acquisition brings a more integrated service offering to the industry that will significantly improve patient care by quickly identifying patients who can benefit from clinical trials."

The landscape for oncology drug development has rapidly shifted toward more effective precision therapies. However, many of these therapies require the identification of patients with specific biomarkers who have the highest probability of receiving benefit. When patients are identified, connecting them to trials for new therapies can be challenging because there is a lack of integration between drug developers, oncologists, central laboratories, and trial management companies.

"Innovations in novel targeted cancer therapies in clinical development are transformative for patients with increasingly dramatic response rates," said W. Michael Korn, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of Caris Life Sciences. "Unfortunately, access to clinical trials for these therapies is not broadly available, and we are seeing low participation rates among cancer patients primarily due to lack of access to and awareness of both broad molecular profiling and open clinical trials. This precludes patients from benefiting from cutting edge treatment opportunities and hampers efficient and expeditious drug development. Caris' acquisition of Pharmatech will change this, helping to ensure that patients with rare mutations and other biomarkers can readily be identified and connected with emerging therapies that can positively impact their lives."

About Caris Life Sciences

Caris Life Sciences is a leading innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine through quality and innovation. The company's suite of market-leading molecular profiling offerings assess DNA, RNA and proteins to reveal a molecular blueprint that helps physicians and cancer patients make more precise and personalized treatment decisions. Caris is also advancing precision medicine with Next Generation Profiling that combines its innovative service offerings, Caris Molecular Intelligence and ADAPT Biotargeting System, with its proprietary artificial intelligence analytics engine, DEAN, to analyze the whole exome, whole transcriptome and complete cancer proteome. This information, coupled with mature clinical outcomes on thousands of patients, provides unmatched molecular solutions for patients, physicians, payers and biopharmaceutical organizations. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, Caris Life Sciences offers services throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and other international markets. To learn more, please visit www.CarisLifeSciences.com or follow us on Twitter (@CarisLS).

Company Contact & Media:

Srikant Ramaswami

Vice President, Chief Communications Officer

[email protected]

+1-214-769-5510

SOURCE Caris Life Sciences

Related Links

http://www.carislifesciences.com


KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 1, 2019 The Chamber of Commerce & Industry France Malaysia (CCIFM), gathered the Malaysian French business community on the 29th April 2019 at the Four Seasons hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Chamber's Gala Night is an annual event that brings together its members showcasing the dynamism of the French companies in Malaysia, their contribution and commitment towards the development of Malaysia.

Over 400 guests were welcomed by Mr. Gilles Waeldin, President of CCIFM, in the presence of H.E. Frederic Laplanche, French Ambassador in Malaysia and the Guest of Honour, YBhg. Dato' Sri Norazman Ayob, Deputy Secretary General (Trade), Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) in the absence of the MITI Minister, Y.B. Datuk Ignatius Darell Leiking due to an oversea trip.

Among those guests, major French companies such as Peugeot, Airbus, Vinci, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Decathlon Malaysia, ST Microelectronics, Axa, Rafale International, Bureau Veritas, Engie Services, Sofia Engineering, Thales, Lyreco, Total, Veolia, Cetim were partners of this Gala while taking the opportunity to honour their valuable Malaysian customers and friends with a prestigious evening with french fine dining cuisine.

With 500 French companies in Malaysia, comprising over 300 subsidiaries of French companies and some 150 French entrepreneurs who have chosen Malaysia as their main business platform, employing nearly 30,000 people with a total turnover of USD5 billion. Their contributions to Malaysia are not only on the capital investment side but more importantly on the expertise and know-how transfer to the Malaysian local industry thanks to the business-friendly environment that Malaysia offers to international investors. CCIFM strongly believes Malaysia is a favourable and competitive place, acting as a regional hub for companies to develop their regional business development in Asia-Pacific.

Their close bilateral relationship with the various Malaysian government institutions has played a key role in this successful business relationship. Meanwhile, Alliance Francaise, Lycee Francais de Kuala Lumpur, the French Embassy and its Economic & Commercial Department and the French Trade Advisors, Malaysian Trade agencies such as MIDA, MATRADE, INVEST KL, TALENTCORP and MDEC who have been working together with CCIFM as a winning team were all present for this event.

During the Gala, several selected companies such as BNP Paribas, Decathlon Malaysia, Airbus, Lyreco and Metarom received an award of excellence for their performance, achievement and contribution.

Know more about us on www.mfcci.com

CCIFM is a non-profit organization created in 1991 headquartered in Kuala Lumpur representing over 300 member companies from all industries and service sectors, forming a dynamic and powerful business network and is affiliated to CCI France International, a worldwide network of 123 French Chambers in 92 countries.

CCIFM's main purpose is to develop the business relationship between its members and the Malaysian business environment and encourage, facilitate and support trade and investments.

Located in the heart of the business and transportation hub of Kuala Lumpur, with 3 business centers comprising of fully-equipped private offices and coworking spaces totalling around 10,000 sqft that are dedicated to French entrepreneurs, SME's and multinationals companies willing to develop their business in Malaysia and Asia-Pacific benefiting from the Kuala Lumpur Business Hub and the business services provided by CCIFM: business center services, company set-up and registration, immigration and visa assistance, accounting, payroll and commercial services such as organisation of prospective missions, partners search and various market researches.

Follow CCIFM on:

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Instagram

This press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.

SOURCE Chamber of Commerce & Industry France Malaysia

Related Links

http://www.mfcci.com


CEDARVILLE, Ohio, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Toxic shock syndrome, harmful chemicals and environmental waste are major risks of women's hygiene products. Senior Industrial and Innovative Design (IID) major Rebekah Jerschina from Cloverdale, Oregon, is researching the global wellness market to help solve these problems.

After taking an emergency medical technician (EMT) course at Cedarville in 2017, Jerschina discovered an interest in the medical field. This new passion, combined with her IID studies, sparked the idea for a capstone project on women's health and, specifically, hygiene products.

Jerschina began her research by talking with industry professionals and performing consumer research. She found that many current hygiene products are hazardous to women's health. They could lead to toxic shock syndrome, a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection, or other health complications from hazardous chemicals in the products. Additionally, current hygiene products impact the environment with large amounts of waste.

Before exploring new product designs, Jerschina researched women's experiences and opinions. She created a social media campaign for women to voice their frustrations with current products, including pads, tampons and menstrual cups. After reviewing responses from 300 women of all ages and geographic backgrounds, Jerschina discovered that women's top priority was a product that "doesn't inhibit them from leading active lives."

Jerschina started designing a prototype for a new product by focusing on a simple design that would prevent leakage and eliminate environmental waste. She built her prototype using a flexible silicone material that seals liquid-tight and adjusts in size.

"I got the idea from a heart stent or a Chinese finger trap," Jerschina said. "You could squish it up so small that it would fit inside of an applicator; you would then insert it and it would expand inside the body. I wanted to create something that is as easy to apply as a tampon but has the reusability and length of use as a menstrual cup."

Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Christ-centered, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,193 undergraduate, graduate, and online students in more than 150 areas of study. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu .

SOURCE Cedarville University

Related Links

http://www.cedarville.edu


MIAMI, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- National Small Business Week, May 5 to 11, 2019, is a special occasion for Office Edge and its sister company, Legal Edge Services, who have served as business incubators for start-ups and small businesses and law practices in South Florida for almost 20 years.

There are nearly 5.3 million small businesses in the U.S. with 1-20 employees, according to the Small Business Administration, and this economic engine is humming as more than 625,000 open each year. What these start-ups have in commonbesides vision and gritis a need for business services such as office space, professional answering services, mail services, bookkeeping, and administrative support.

"For almost 20 years, we've helped entrepreneurs grow their businesses by providing productive office space with no distractions," said Robert Ramsden, President of Office Edge and Legal Edge Services. "And we've enabled attorneys to start their own practices and never miss a beat by providing bilingual paralegal, deposition, mediation and court reporting services."

Office Edge and Legal Edge Services offer boutique office solutions for business owners, attorneys and entrepreneurs who demand a professional work environment with access to a full complement of support services, available bundled or a la carte. In addition, fully-equipped meeting rooms, videoconferencing and coworking space are available along with complete kitchen facilities, catering services and client networking opportunities.

Office Edge executive suites and legal offices are available at prestigious business addresses in Coral Gables, Miami Brickell, downtown Fort Lauderdale, Sunrise Sawgrass, and Boca Raton. All are centrally located with ready access to area amenities including restaurants, hotels, shops and transportation.

Office Edge was recently featured in VoyageMIA, a local magazine that shares inspiring stories of South Florida's entrepreneurs and trend-setters.

About Office Edge

Office Edge is the premier boutique provider of quality custom executive suites, day office space, conference rooms, and prestigious business addresses for the South Florida business and legal community. Locally owned and operated since 2000, Office Edge enables clients to manage and grow their businesses by trusting us to provide complete bilingual reception, mail, bookkeeping, paralegal, legal support and administrative services tailored to their needs. Office Edge delivers a unique level of service to clients in a range of industries. Learn more at www.OfficeEdge.com and www.LegalEdgeServices.com.

SOURCE Office Edge

Related Links

http://www.officeedge.com


Stock Market Symbols

GIB.A (TSX)

GIB (NYSE)

cgi.com/newsroom

Q2-F2019 results and year-over-year highlights

Revenue of $3.1 billion , up 4.0% year-over-year or 4.7% in constant currency;

, up 4.0% year-over-year or 4.7% in constant currency; Adjusted EBIT of $454.1 million , or 14.8% of revenue, up 40 basis points;

, or 14.8% of revenue, up 40 basis points; Net earnings of $318.3 million , or 10.4% of revenue, up 110 basis points;

, or 10.4% of revenue, up 110 basis points; Net earnings excluding specific items* of $324.5 million , or 10.6% of revenue, up 30 basis points;

, or 10.6% of revenue, up 30 basis points; Diluted EPS of $1.14 , or $1.17 excluding specific items*, up 21.3% and 12.5% respectively;

, or excluding specific items*, up 21.3% and 12.5% respectively; Cash provided by operating activities of $462.0 million or 15.1% of revenue, up $36.4 million ;

or 15.1% of revenue, up ; Bookings of $3.3 billion in Q2, and $13.3 billion over the last twelve months, up $1.2 billion ;

in Q2, and over the last twelve months, up ; Book-to-bill of 106.1% in the quarter and 112.9% over the last twelve months; and,

Backlog of $22.9 billion , up $897.9 million .

*Specific items in Q2-F2019 include: $6.2 million in acquisition-related and integration costs net of tax; Specific items in Q2-F2018 include: $8.7 million in acquisition-related and integration costs and $20.1 million in restructuring costs both net of tax

Note: All figures in Canadian dollars. Q2-F2019 MD&A, interim condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes can be found at cgi.com/investors and have been filed with both SEDAR in Canada and EDGAR in the U.S.

To access the financial statements  click here (PDF)

To access the MD&A  click here (PDF)

MONTREAL, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB) reported Fiscal 2019 second quarter revenue growth of 4.0%, to $3.1 billion. On a constant currency basis, revenue was up 4.7% as foreign exchange fluctuations impacted revenue downward by $20.7 million.

Adjusted EBIT was $454.1 million, an increase of $29.8 million from Q2-F2018, representing a margin of 14.8%, an improvement of 40 basis points compared to the same period last year.

Net earnings were $318.3 million in Q2-F2019, up $43.9 million from the year ago period. Earnings per diluted share were $1.14, up 21.3% from 94 cents last year.

Net earnings excluding specific items were $324.5 million, an increase of $21.2 million from Q2-F2018, representing a margin of 10.6%. EPS on the same basis expanded by 12.5% to $1.17 per diluted share, up from $1.04 from the year ago period.

"I am pleased with the positive momentum our team has generated in the first half of fiscal 2019, as demonstrated by the growth in each of our operating segments worldwide, as well as a growing pipeline of future opportunities," said George D. Schindler, President and Chief Executive Officer. "These results reflect the strength of our build and buy strategy, underscoring our position as our clients' end-to-end enterprise partner of choice."

Bookings were $3.3 billion in Q2-F2019 and $13.3 billion over the last twelve months, representing 106.1% and 112.9% of revenue, respectively. At the end of March 2019, the Company's backlog stood at $22.9 billion, up $897.9 million compared to same period last year.

Cash generated from operating activities increased to $462.0 million or 15.1% of revenue, up $36.4 million compared with the same period last year. Over the last twelve months, the Company generated $1.5 billion, or $5.34 in cash from operating activities per diluted share1, compared to $5.01 from the year ago period.







In millions of Canadian dollars except earnings per share

and where noted





Q2-F2019 Q2-F2018 Revenue 3,068.3 2,950.3 Growth 4.0% 8.3% Growth at constant currency 4.7% 4.9% Adjusted EBIT 454.1 424.4 Margin 14.8% 14.4% Net earnings 318.3 274.4 Margin 10.4% 9.3% Net earnings excluding specific items* 324.5 303.2 Margin 10.6% 10.3% Earnings per share (diluted) 1.14 0.94 Earnings per share (diluted) excluding specific items* 1.17 1.04 Weighted average number of outstanding shares (diluted) 278.1 291.0 Net finance costs 18.8 17.3 Net debt 1,597.3 1,525.9 Net debt to capitalization ratio 17.4% 17.5% Cash provided by operating activities 462.0 425.7 Days sales outstanding (DSO) 49 46 Return on invested capital (ROIC) 14.9% 13.5% Return on equity (ROE) 17.7% 16.0% Bookings 3,255.3 3,513.0 Backlog 22,946.9 22,049.1



*Specific items in Q2-F2019 include: $6.2 million in acquisition-related and integration costs net of tax; Specific items in Q2-F2018 include: $8.7 million in acquisition-related and integration costs and $20.1 million in restructuring costs both net of tax

At the end of March 2019, the Company had approximately $2.1 billion in available cash and unused credit facilities. Net debt to capitalization stood at 17.4%, essentially stable with Q2-F2018.

Subsequent event

On April 16, 2019, CGI completed the acquisition of Acando AB, a leading IT management and consulting services firm in Northern Europe and Germany. Acando brings over 2,100 highly skilled consultants to CGI from five countries across Europe, notably in the major metro markets of Stockholm, Sweden; Oslo, Norway; and Hamburg, Germany. With significant strategic consulting, systems integration and customer-centric digital innovation capabilities, Acando will complement CGI's global footprint and expertise across key sectors, including manufacturing, retail and government.

Q2-F2019 results conference call

Management will host a conference call this morning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time to discuss results. Participants may access the call by dialling 1-800-377-0758 or via cgi.com/investors . For those unable to participate on the live call, a podcast and copy of the slides will be archived for download at cgi.com/investors.

About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With approximately 77,000 consultants and professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from IT and business consulting to systems integration, outsourcing services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. With Fiscal 2018 reported revenue of C$11.5 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com.

Non-GAAP financial metrics used in this press release: Constant currency growth, adjusted EBIT, net debt, net debt to capitalization ratio, bookings, book-to-bill ratio, backlog, DSO, ROIC, ROE and net earnings and diluted EPS excluding specific items.

CGI reports its financial results in accordance with IFRS. However, management believes that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors regarding the Company's financial condition and results of operations as they provide additional measures of its performance. Additional details for these non-GAAP measures can be found on pages 3 and 4 of our MD&A which is posted on CGI's website, and filed with SEDAR and EDGAR.

Forward-looking information and statements

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable United States safe harbours. All such forward-looking information and statements are made and disclosed in reliance upon the safe harbour provisions of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. Forward-looking information and statements include all information and statements regarding CGI's intentions, plans, expectations, beliefs, objectives, future performance, and strategy, as well as any other information or statements that relate to future events or circumstances and which do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts. Forward-looking information and statements often but not always use words such as "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "foresee", "plan", "predict", "project", "aim", "seek", "strive", "potential", "continue", "target", "may", "might", "could", "should", and similar expressions and variations thereof. These information and statements are based on our perception of historic trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other assumptions, both general and specific, that we believe are appropriate in the circumstances. Such information and statements are, however, by their very nature, subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, of which many are beyond the control of CGI, and which give rise to the possibility that actual results could differ materially from our expectations expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not restricted to: risks related to the market such as the level of business activity of our clients, which is affected by economic and political conditions, and our ability to negotiate new contracts; risks related to our industry such as competition and our ability to attract and retain qualified employees, to develop and expand our services, to penetrate new markets, and to protect our intellectual property rights; risks related to our business such as risks associated with our growth strategy, including the integration of new operations, financial and operational risks inherent in worldwide operations, foreign exchange risks, income tax laws, our ability to negotiate favorable contractual terms, to deliver our services and to collect receivables, and the reputational and financial risks attendant to cybersecurity breaches and other incidents; as well as other risks identified or incorporated by reference in this press release, in CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A and in other documents that we make public, including our filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators (on SEDAR at www.sedar.com) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (on EDGAR at www.sec.gov). Unless otherwise stated, the forward-looking information and statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and CGI disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. While we believe that our assumptions on which these forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are based were reasonable as at the date of this press release, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking information or statements. Furthermore, readers are reminded that forward-looking information and statements are presented for the sole purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding our objectives, strategic priorities and business outlook as well as our anticipated operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Further information on the risks that could cause our actual results to differ significantly from our current expectations may be found in the section titled "Risk Environment" of CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A, which is incorporated by reference in this cautionary statement. We also caution readers that the above-mentioned risks and the risks disclosed in CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A and other documents and filings are not the only ones that could affect us. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial could also have a material adverse effect on our financial position, financial performance, cash flows, business or reputation.

1 Cash from operating activities per diluted share (non-GAAP) is a measure of our cash provided by operating activities on a per share basis, assuming all dilutive elements are exercised. Management believes this measure is useful to investors.

SOURCE CGI Inc.

Related Links

www.cgi.com


NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CheapOair, an online travel agency and leading provider of cheap flights, today announced the top ten domestic and international destinations that travelers are heading to for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.

Orlando tops this year's list of most-booked domestic Memorial Day weekend destinations, followed by New York City and Las Vegas. CheapOair's data also revealed that Atlanta is the most affordable of the top booked destinations this year, with an average roundtrip price of $268. Some popular hotspots that also showed an influx of travelers include Los Angeles, Denver, and Miami.

CheapOair's Top U.S. Domestic Destinations for Memorial Day 20191

Destination Average Roundtrip Airfare2 Orlando, FL $293 New York, NY $310 Las Vegas, NA $368 Los Angeles, CA $342 Denver, CO $312 Chicago, IL $325 Atlanta, GA $268 Miami, FL $398 Houston, TX $308 Seattle, WA $356

For 2019, CheapOair's booking data shows a significant increase in international destinations for the holiday weekend. London remains the most popular destination with an average airfare of $573, followed by Cancun and Mexico City. Travelers are also taking advantage of affordable airfare to European destinations including roundtrip to Paris for $569 or Madrid for $524.

CheapOair's Top International Destinations for Memorial Day 20191

Destination Average Roundtrip Airfare2 London, England $573 Cancun, Mexico $568 Mexico City, Mexico $393 Paris, France $569 Rome, Italy $830 Barcelona, Spain $883 Montego Bay, Jamaica $695 Lima, Peru $666 Madrid, Spain $524 Dublin, Ireland $767

"Memorial Day weekend is always a very busy travel time due to some great last-minute deals to popular destinations," said Tom Spagnola, Senior Vice President of Supplier Relations at CheapOair. "Average airfares, both international and domestic, are at a lower price point this time of year ahead of the peak summer travel season when prices are expected to increase significantly."

By consistently monitoring travel trends, CheapOair's mission is to educate and aid consumers and travel professionals in both planning their travel accommodations and staying current on the most popular destinations.

For more information, please visit www.CheapOair.com, www.cheapoair.com/mobile, or our social media pages, www.Facebook.com/CheapOair and https://twitter.com/cheapoair.

About CheapOair

CheapOair is an online travel agency that specializes in providing cheap flights and great last-minute flight deals for travelers worldwide. Consumers can book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone (1-800-566-2345) or live chat. Part of Fareportal's family of travel brands, CheapOair bridges the gap between an online travel agency and a traditional agency with certified travel agents available 24/7 to help find discount flight tickets to global destinations on over 450 airlines, a million hotels, and 100s of car rental companies. Follow CheapOair on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram , and Pinterest to learn how to travel the world for less.

1 Based on passenger numbers for departing from US gateways 05/23/19  05/25/19 and returning 05/26/19  06/01/19.

2 Based on average roundtrip airfare for tickets departing from US gateways 05/23/19  05/26/19 and returning 05/26/19  06/01/19. Average airfare rounded up to the nearest dollar.

SOURCE CheapOair

Related Links

http://www.cheapoair.com


DUBLIN, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "China Neodymium Iron Boron Magnet Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2019-2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

China NdFeB magnet market reached a volume of 86,502 Tons in 2018, representing the world's largest market. Neodymium - Iron - Boron (NdFeB) are the strongest types of permanent magnets commercially available. These magnets have the highest energy product for their mass compared to other permanent magnets and create the strongest magnetic field.

This strong magnetic strength allows for significant product miniaturisation, improved product performance, super strong adhesive force and reduced manufacturing costs. NdFeB magnets are available in a wide range of shapes, sizes and grades and can be found in a variety of applications such as high-performance motors, brushless DC motors, magnetic separation, magnetic resonance imaging, sensors and loudspeakers.



The market for NdFeB magnets in China is strongly driven by the abundant availability of raw materials required for their production. China has the largest reserve of rare-earth minerals and holds a monopoly over the raw materials. However, since the regulations for exporting the raw materials have become stringent over the past few years, the industries that are dependent on these magnets have set up their plants in China in order to reduce their production costs. Some of the industries where the demand for these magnets is growing include electronics, medical devices, automobiles, wind industry, etc.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the China neodymium-iron-boron magnet market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

neodymium-iron-boron magnet market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years? What are the key regional markets in the China neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry?

neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry? What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

What is the breakup of the market based on the domestic consumption and exports?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the China neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry?

neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry? What are the key driving factors and challenges in the China neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry?

neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry? What is the structure of the China neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry and who are the key players?

neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry and who are the key players? What is the degree of competition in the China neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry?

neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry? What are the profit margins in the China neodymium-iron-boron magnet industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology

2.1 Objectives of the Study

2.2 Stakeholders

2.3 Data Sources

2.4 Market Estimation

2.5 Forecasting Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 China Neodymium-Iron-Boron Magnet Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Market Breakup by Application

5.4 Market Breakup by Domestic Consumption and Exports

5.5 Market Breakup by Region

5.6 Market Forecast

5.7 SWOT Analysis

5.8 Value Chain Analysis

5.9 Porters Five Forces Analysis

5.10 PESTEL Analysis

5.11 Price Analysis

5.11.1 Price Indicators

5.11.2 Price Structure

5.11.3 Margin Analysis



6 Market Breakup by Application

6.1 Automobile

6.2 Electronics

6.3 Power Generators

6.4 Medical Industry

6.5 Wind Power

6.6 Others



7 Market Breakup by Domestic Consumption and Exports

7.1 Domestic Consumption

7.2 Exports



8 Market Breakup by Region

8.1 Guangdong

8.2 Jiangsu

8.3 Shandong

8.4 Zhejiang

8.5 Henan

8.6 Others



9 Government Regulations



10 Strategic Recommendations



11 Competitive Landscape

11.1 Market Structure

11.2 Key Players

11.3 Profiles of Key Players



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/d5kyr0

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

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Total Revenue Grows 18% Compared to Q1 2018

VANCOUVER, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - CRH Medical Corporation (TSX: CRH) (NYSE MKT: CRHM) ("CRH" or the "Company"), today announced its financial and operating results for the three months ended March 31, 2019.

Selected First Quarter 2019 Financial Results (expressed in USD):

First Quarter Highlights:

Total revenue: $29.1 million

Operating income: $3.8 million , 13% operating income margin

, 13% operating income margin Adjusted operating EBITDA: $13.1 million , 45% adjusted operating EBITDA margin

, 45% adjusted operating EBITDA margin Net and comprehensive loss  Shareholder: $(0.1) million

Adjusted operating EBITDA - Shareholder: $8.8 million

Net cash provided by operating activities: $12.4 million

Anesthesia patient cases: 77,501

Dr. Tushar Ramani, Chief Executive Officer of CRH commented, "We are very pleased with our 2019 Q1 results. Steady double digit revenue growth coupled with shareholder adjusted operating EBITDA of $8.8 million for the quarter show that our model continues to deliver on its potential and validate our acquisition and operational strategies." Dr. Ramani continued, "CRH is well positioned to grow its current model, expand its offerings, and continue to deliver strong financial results."

Conference Call

CRH will host a conference call to discuss its results on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 11:00 am EST (08:00 am PST). To participate in the conference, please dial 1-800-319-4610, or 1-604-638-5340. An audio replay will be available shortly after the call by dialing 1-800-319-6413 or (604) 638-9010 and entering access code 3086. The replay will be available for two weeks after the call.



About CRH Medical Corporation

CRH Medical Corporation is a North American company focused on providing gastroenterologists throughout the United States with innovative services and products for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. In 2014, CRH became a full-service gastroenterology anesthesia company that provides anesthesia services for patients undergoing endoscopic procedures in ambulatory surgical centers. To date, CRH has completed 21 anesthesia acquisitions. CRH now serves 47 ambulatory surgical centers in eleven states and performs approximately 320,000 procedures annually. In addition, CRH owns the CRH O'Regan System, a single-use, disposable, hemorrhoid banding technology that is safe and highly effective in treating all grades of hemorrhoids. CRH distributes the O'Regan System, treatment protocols, operational and marketing expertise as a complete, turnkey package directly to gastroenterology practices, creating meaningful relationships with the gastroenterologists it serves. CRH's O'Regan System is currently used in all 48 lower US states.

Non-GAAP Measures

This press release makes reference to certain non-GAAP financial measures including adjusted operating EBITDA (in total and broken down as attributable to non-controlling interest and shareholders of the Company) and adjusted operating EBITDA margin as supplemental indicators of its financial and operating performance. Adjusted operating EBITDA is defined as operating income before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock based compensation, acquisition related expenses and asset impairment charges. Adjusted operating EBITDA margin is defined as operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock based compensation, acquisition related expenses and asset impairment charges as a percentage of revenue. These non-GAAP measures are not recognized measures under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("US GAAP") and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by US GAAP and thus the Company's definition may be different from and unlikely to be comparable to non-GAAP measures presented by other companies. These measures are provided as additional information to complement US GAAP measures by providing further understanding of the Company's results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, they should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analyses of the Company's financial information reported under US GAAP. Management uses non-GAAP measures such as adjusted operating EBITDA and adjusted operating EBITDA margin to provide investors with a supplemental measure of the Company's operating performance and thus highlight trends in the Company's core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on US GAAP financial measures. Management also believes that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-GAAP measures in the evaluation of issuers. In addition, management uses these non-GAAP measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, prepare annual operating budgets, and to assess its ability to meet future debt service, capital expenditure, and working capital requirements. A quantitative reconciliation of adjusted operating EBITDA, and operating EBITDA margin to the most directly comparable measures under US GAAP is presented below.



ADJUSTED OPERATING EBITDA





2019 2018 (USD in thousands) Q1 '19 Q1 '18 Net and comprehensive income 1,391 3,157 Net finance (income) expense 2,392 612 Income tax expense (recovery) 167 669 Operating income 3,825 4,439 Amortization expense 8,641 7,196 Depreciation and related expense 27 23 Stock based compensation 564 738 Acquisition expenses1 20 18 Total adjusted operating EBITDA 13,077 12,414 Adjusted operating EBITDA attributable to:



Shareholders of the Company 8,766 8,232 Non-controlling interest 4,311 4,182

ADJUSTED OPERATING EBITDA MARGIN 2019 2018





(USD in thousands) Q1 '19 Q1 '18 Revenue 29,119 24,666 Operating income 3,825 4,439 Operating margin 13.1% 18.0% Amortization expense 29.7% 29.2% Depreciation and related expense 0.1% 0.1% Stock based compensation 1.9% 3.0% Acquisition expenses1 0.1% 0.1% Total adjusted operating EBITDA margin 44.9% 50.3%

______________________________ 1 Acquisition expenses relating to incomplete acquisitions.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements

Information included or incorporated by reference in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. This information may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, which involve assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies, and expectations, are generally identifiable by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "plan," "intend" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Certain risks underlying our assumptions are highlighted below; if risks materialize, or if assumptions prove otherwise to be untrue, our results will differ from those suggested by our forward looking statements and our results and operations may be negatively affected. Forward looking statements in this press release include statements regarding the Company's future growth. Actual events or results may differ materially from those discussed in forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements currently contained in this report will in fact occur. The Company bases its forward-looking statements on information currently available to it. The Company disclaims any intent or obligations to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, estimates or options, future events or results or otherwise, unless required to do so by law.

Forward-looking information reflects current expectations of management regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this document. Such information involves significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in forward-looking information, including, without limitation: our ability to identify and complete corporate transactions on favorable terms or achieve anticipated synergies relating to any acquisitions or alliances; our ability to manage growth and achieve our expansion strategy; changes to payment rates or methods of third-party payors, including United States government healthcare programs, changes to the United States laws and regulations that regulate payments for medical services, the failure of payment rates to increase as our costs increase, or changes to our payor mix; decreases in our revenue and profit margin under our fee for service contracts and arrangements, where we bear the risk of changes in volume, payor mix, Radiology, Anesthesiology and Pathology benefits, and third-party reimbursement rates; Ambulatory Surgical Centers or other customers may terminate or choose not to renew their agreements with us; our need to raise additional capital to fund future operations; the effect of various restrictive covenants and events of default under the Credit Facilities; we may still be able to incur substantially more debt, which could further exacerbate the risks associated with increased leverage; significant price and volume fluctuation of our share prices; the risk that we may write-off intangible assets; the operating margins and profitability of our anesthesia segment could be adversely affected if we are unable to maintain or increase anesthesia procedure volumes at our existing Ambulatory Surgical Centers; we may not be able to successfully recruit and retain qualified anesthesiologists or other independent contractors; adverse events related to our product or our services may subject us to risks associated with product liability, medical malpractice or other legal claims, insurance claims, product recalls and other liabilities, which may adversely affect our operations; our industry's health and safety risks; Affordable Care Act reform in the United States may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and the trading price of our securities, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows and the trading price of our securities; failure to manage third-party service providers may adversely affect our ability to maintain the quality of service that we provide; income tax audits and changes in our effective income tax rate could affect our results of operations; our dependence on suppliers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations; unfavorable economic conditions could have an adverse effect on our business; we may be subject to a variety of regulatory investigations, claims, lawsuits, and other proceedings; if we are unable to adequately protect or enforce our intellectual property, our competitive position could be impaired; we may not be successful in marketing our products and services; our employees and third-party contractors may not appropriately record or document services that they provide; failure to timely or accurately bill for services could have a negative impact on our net revenue, bad debt expense and cash flow; we may be unable to enforce the non-competition and other restrictive covenants in our agreements; our senior management has been key to our growth, and we may be adversely affected if we lose any member of our senior management; our industry is already competitive and could become more competitive; if there is a change in federal or state laws, rules, regulations, or in interpretations of such federal or state laws, rules or regulations, we may be required to redeem our physician partners' ownership interests in anesthesia companies under the savings clause in our joint venture operating agreements; changes in the United States federal Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law and/or similar state laws, rules, and regulations could result in criminal offences and potential sanctions; our employees and business partners may not appropriately secure and protect confidential information in their possession; we are dependent on complex information systems; we may be subject to criminal or civil sanctions if we fail to comply with privacy regulations regarding the protection, use and disclosure of patient information; we have a legal responsibility to the minority owners of the entities through which we own our anesthesia services business, which may conflict with our interests and prevent us from acting solely in our own best interests; a significant number of our affiliated physicians could leave our affiliated Ambulatory Surgical Centers; if regulations or regulatory interpretations change, we may be obligated to re-negotiate agreements of our anesthesiologists or other contractors; the continuing development of our products and provision of our services depends upon us maintaining strong relationships with physicians; we operate in an industry that is subject to extensive federal, state, and local regulation, and changes in law and regulatory interpretations; unfavorable changes or conditions could occur in the states where our operations are concentrated; government authorities or other parties may assert that our business practices violate antitrust laws; significant shareholders of the Company could influence our business operations, and sales of our shares by such significant shareholders could influence our share price; anti-takeover provisions could discourage a third party from making a takeover offer that could be beneficial to our shareholders; changes in the medical industry and the economy may affect the Company's business; our industry is the subject of numerous governmental investigations into marketing and other business practices which could result in the commencement of civil and/or criminal proceedings, substantial fines, penalties, and/or administrative remedies, divert the attention of our management, and have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations; evolving regulation of corporate governance and public disclosure may result in additional expenses and continuing uncertainty; we may face exposure to adverse movements in foreign currency exchange rates.

For a complete discussion of the Company's business including the assumptions and risks set out above, see the Company's Form 10-K Annual Report which is available on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml or on the Company's website at www.crhmedcorp.com.

SOURCE CRH Medical Corporation

Related Links

www.crhmedcorp.com


TORONTO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Denison Mines Corp. ("Denison" or the "Company") (DML: TSX, DNN: NYSE MKT) today filed its Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion & Analysis ("MD&A") for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Both documents can be found on the Company's website at www.denisonmines.com or on SEDAR (at www.sedar.com) and EDGAR (at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). The highlights provided below are derived from these documents and should be read in conjunction with them. All amounts in this release are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

View PDF version

David Cates, President and CEO of Denison commented, "Following the Company's decision, in late 2018, to advance the planned Phoenix ISR operation through the regulatory approvals and feasibility study processes, our focus during the first quarter of 2019 has turned to execution of our project plans for 2019 and the coming years. Accordingly, during Q1'2019, important work has been initiated on both the regulatory side (with the submission of a Project Description and Technical Proposal to the applicable federal and provincial regulators), and the feasibility study side (with advancement of our detailed planning for an ISR field test planned for the summer of 2019).

On the exploration side, our Saskatoon based technical team continues to identify highly prospective areas for further drill testing / follow-up  including the recent discovery of unconformity-hosted uranium mineralization along the southern portion of the K West trend on the Wheeler River property, and the intersection of uranium mineralization in multiple drill holes at the GB Zone on the Waterbury Lake property.

With ongoing exploration at high-priority properties, and Denison's ambitious plans for the advancement of the planned Phoenix ISR operation, investors should be encouraged by the combination of exploration discovery and important Phoenix ISR de-risking catalysts that are on the horizon in 2019 and beyond."

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

Execution of activities to advance the Wheeler River Project



During the first quarter of 2019, the Company executed on its decision to advance the Wheeler River Project ('Wheeler River') following the release of the project's Pre-Feasibility Study ('PFS') in 2018. Activities in the quarter include the submission of the Project Description ('PD') to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission ('CNSC') and a Technical Proposal to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment  acceptance of which are required to officially initiate the Environmental Assessment ('EA') process. In addition, engineering activities continue in regards to the proposed Phoenix In-Situ Recovery ('ISR') project  including the advancement of the ISR field test planned for the summer of 2019, as well as certain other studies designed to support the future Feasibility Study ('FS').





During the first quarter of 2019, the Company executed on its decision to advance the Wheeler River Project ('Wheeler River') following the release of the project's Pre-Feasibility Study ('PFS') in 2018. Activities in the quarter include the submission of the Project Description ('PD') to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission ('CNSC') and a Technical Proposal to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment  acceptance of which are required to officially initiate the Environmental Assessment ('EA') process. In addition, engineering activities continue in regards to the proposed Phoenix In-Situ Recovery ('ISR') project  including the advancement of the ISR field test planned for the summer of 2019, as well as certain other studies designed to support the future Feasibility Study ('FS'). Successful completion of winter exploration drilling programs



At Wheeler River, the Company discovered unconformity-hosted uranium mineralization along the southern portion of the K West trend, including 0.08% eU 3 O 8 over 1.3 metres in drill hole WR-756, accompanied by strong sulphide mineralization and other geological features commonly associated with unconformity-related uranium deposits. Follow up of the result in drill hole WR-756 is warranted, particularly given the wide spacing of reconnaissance drill holes completed on this portion of the K West trend  roughly 600 metre spacing of drill holes along strike.



At Waterbury Lake, follow-up drilling completed at the GB Zone intersected basement-hosted mineralization in multiple drill holes, including 0.15% U 3 O 8 over 6.0 metres in drill hole WAT19-480, and 0.25% U 3 O 8 over 2.0 metres and 0.22% U 3 O 8 over 1.5 metres in drill hole WAT19-486.





At Wheeler River, the Company discovered unconformity-hosted uranium mineralization along the southern portion of the K West trend, including 0.08% eU O over 1.3 metres in drill hole WR-756, accompanied by strong sulphide mineralization and other geological features commonly associated with unconformity-related uranium deposits. Follow up of the result in drill hole WR-756 is warranted, particularly given the wide spacing of reconnaissance drill holes completed on this portion of the K West trend  roughly 600 metre spacing of drill holes along strike. At Waterbury Lake, follow-up drilling completed at the GB Zone intersected basement-hosted mineralization in multiple drill holes, including 0.15% U O over 6.0 metres in drill hole WAT19-480, and 0.25% U O over 2.0 metres and 0.22% U O over 1.5 metres in drill hole WAT19-486. Renewal of Management Services Agreement with Uranium Participation Corp.



The Company, through its subsidiary, Denison Mines Inc., has entered into a new five year agreement to provide management services to Uranium Participation Corp. ('UPC'). The Company's 2019 Outlook includes $1,920,000 in estimated management fees from UPC, based on a uranium price of US$28.75 per pound U 3 O 8 , and excludes any additional fees that may become payable to Denison as a result of future uranium purchases or sales. Based on the fees estimated for 2019, the new agreement has the potential to generate over $9,000,000 in management fees to Denison over the five year term.

Technical Disclosure and Qualified Person

The Company reports preliminary radiometric equivalent grades ('eU 3 O 8 '), derived from a calibrated down-hole total gamma probe, during or upon completion of its exploration programs and subsequently reports definitive U 3 O 8 assay grades following sampling and chemical analysis of the mineralized drill core. Uranium assays are performed on split core samples by the Saskatchewan Research Council ('SRC') Geoanalytical Laboratories using an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited method for the determination of U 3 O 8 weight %. True thicknesses of the mineralization at the GB Zone are expected to be approximately 75% of the intersection lengths, and the true thickness of the mineralization at K West is not yet determined. All data are subject to verification procedures by qualified persons employed by Denison prior to disclosure. For further details on Denison's sampling, analysis, quality assurance program and quality control measures and data verification procedures please see Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 12, 2019 available on the Company's website and filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and in its Form 40-F available on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

The disclosure of scientific and technical information regarding Denison's properties in this news release was prepared or reviewed by Dale Verran, MSc, P.Geo., Pr.Sci.Nat., the Company's Vice President, Exploration, a Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain information contained in this news release constitutes 'forward-looking information', within the meaning of the applicable United States and Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Denison.

Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'plans', 'expects', 'budget', 'scheduled', 'estimates', 'forecasts', 'intends', 'anticipates', or 'believes', or the negatives and/or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results 'may', 'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will be taken', 'occur', 'be achieved' or 'has the potential to'.

In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: the benefits to be derived from corporate transactions; exploration, development and expansion plans and objectives, including the results of the PFS and plans for the regulatory and feasibility study processes for Wheeler River; Statements regarding anticipated budgets, fees and expenditures; expectations regarding Denison's joint venture ownership interests and the continuity of its agreements with its partners; expectations regarding adding to its mineral reserves and resources through exploration; expectations regarding the terms and continuity of, and revenues from, the UPC management contract. Statements relating to 'mineral reserves' or 'mineral resources' are deemed to be forward-looking information, as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions that the mineral reserves and mineral resources described can be profitably produced in the future.

Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Denison to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Denison believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be accurate and results may differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking events, please refer to the factors discussed in Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 12, 2019 under the heading 'Risk Factors'. These factors are not, and should not be construed as being exhaustive.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Any forward-looking information and the assumptions made with respect thereto speaks only as of the date of this news release. Denison does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this news release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in Denison's expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources and Probable Mineral Reserves: This news release may use the terms 'measured', 'indicated' and 'inferred' mineral resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms have been prepared in accordance with the definition standards on mineral reserves of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum referred to in Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Mineral Disclosure Standards ("NI 43-101") and are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") does not recognize them. 'Inferred mineral resources' have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable. References to estimates of mineral reserves in this news release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The definition of probable mineral reserves used in NI 43-101 differs from the definition used by the SEC in the SEC's Industry Guide 7. Under the requirements of the SEC, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made, pursuant to a "final" feasibility study that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. Denison has not prepared a feasibility study for the purposes of NI 43-101 or the requirements of the SEC. Accordingly, Denison's probable mineral reserves disclosure may not be comparable to information from U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC.

SOURCE Denison Mines Corp.

Related Links

http://denisonmines.com/s/Home.asp


"I wanted to be an army dentist, and give my daughter a better future," Laura recalled to Brad Bernstein.

While training in Germany, she was raped by a fellow soldier. She did not report the assault, fearing retaliation from the soldier or other officers. Almost immediately after, she was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was involved in a mass casualty incident, witnessing a great loss of lives taken by the blasts of several bomb attacks.

When Laura returned home to the U.S., she was diagnosed with military sexual trauma and post traumatic stress disorder.

"They [VA hospital] gave us [veterans] psychiatric meds. It wasn't really therapy. I just think it was kind of like, here, get drugged up with prescription, psychiatric medication, and forget everything," Laura told Brad Bernstein. "I slept most of the day. I felt like a walking zombie."

Living with the memories of her traumas, Laura began self medicating through drugs and alcohol. This culminated in Laura pleading guilty to robbery and possession of marijuana. After serving two years in prison and one year in ICE detention, she was deported to Costa Rica in 2009; thousands of miles from the daughter she strove to provide for.

Hoping to come back to the U.S. to be reunited with her daughter and to receive proper medical treatment, her faith and patriotism still remain strong.

"I have faith and hope that I may go back; that's my country," she told Brad Bernstein. "And I will always love it, no matter if I do or don't go back."

Check out the full interview, and watch Brad Show Live with host Brad Bernstein Monday through Friday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. EST on Facebook & YouTube.

https://www.facebook.com/SparBernstein/

https://www.youtube.com/user/sparandbernstein/featured

CONTACT: Jill Gould, [email protected]

SOURCE Brad Show Live
BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Diane Walder Dermatology by Riverchase, a state-of-the-art medical and cosmetic dermatology practice in Bay Harbor Islands, to be recognized by Candela Corporation as a Candela Center of Excellence.

As Board-Certified Dermatologists with many years of experience in cutting-edge energy-based treatments, Drs. Diane Walder, Stacy Chimento, and Lucy Chen are renowned for their advanced treatment techniques and outstanding patient results. With this recognition, Diane Walder Dermatology by Riverchase joins an exclusive group of practices entrusted to teach advanced aesthetic techniques using Candela technology to medical practitioners from around the world. Dr. Walder, a renowned cosmetic dermatologist says she is "thrilled about the exclusive opportunity to partner with Candela Corporation. It is truly an honor to be selected as a Center of Excellence where we will be able share our passion for healthy and beautiful skin with others in our industry."

Dr. Chimento, a sought-after physician trainer and speaker for the company says, "Candela is a company that delivers what today's practitioners value mostscience, results, and trust."

Dr. Diane Walder and her team of experts have earned this prestigious designation through their high standard for knowledge, expertise and quality. "It is a privilege to have been entrusted as a National Candela Center of Excellence," says Dr. Chen, "We are honored to continue to make an impact in our dermatologic medical and aesthetic community."

Diane Walder Dermatology by Riverchase has extensive experience with Candela's energy-based devices, including eMatrix, PicoWay, Profound, Vbeam, UltraShape, VelaShape and CO2RE. Dr. Diane Walder and her team offer the latest cutting-edge technology in medical, cosmetic, and surgical dermatology in an upscale state-of-the-art facility. "We are able to offer something for everyone. Whether it's for facial rejuvenation, body contouring, tattoo removal, and laser resurfacing," says Dr. Chimento, "our devices can do it all, safely and on all skin types." Services include treatment of medical skin conditions, Mohs surgery, cosmetic injectables, non-surgical body contouring, energy-based treatments, facials, and leading procedures for skin rejuvenation.

A celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on Wednesday, May 8th. Some of the guests in attendance will be Riverchase Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery Executive team, Candela Corporation Regional Team, and staff members of the practice.

Please visit www.dianewaldermd.com or call 305-866-2177 for more information on Diane Walder Dermatology by Riverchase.

About Diane Walder Dermatology by Riverchase

Diane Walder Dermatology is one of the leading cosmetic dermatology practices in the United States, renowned for its cutting edge and innovative treatments. As board-certified dermatologists with many years of experience, Dr. Walder and her team's reputation as experts in the field of dermatology has grown alongside a distinguished clientele that includes heads of state, industry leaders, entertainers, and athletes. Dr. Walder and her team are often consulted as expert resources for national publications and broadcast media outlets, quoted on a regular basis in magazines that include Vogue, Allure, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour.

About Riverchase Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery

Riverchase Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery is one of Florida's largest and most comprehensive skin centers. Founded in Naples, Florida in 2000 by Andrew T. Jaffe, MD, FAAD, Riverchase has maintained its initial vision of providing the most comprehensive skin cancer, dermatology and cosmetic surgery services for over two decades. The caring and skilled providers at Riverchase use the latest techniques and equipment to diagnose and treat a wide range of skin disorders and cosmetic concerns. Riverchase has many convenient locations throughout Florida. For more information, visit www.RiverchaseDermatology.com.

About Candela Corporation

Candela is a leading global aesthetic device company with a comprehensive product portfolio and a global distribution footprint. The company's technology enables physicians to provide advanced solutions for a broad range of medical-aesthetic applications, including body contouring, hair removal, wrinkle reduction, tattoo removal, women's intimate wellness treatments, improvement of the skin's appearance through treatment of superficial benign vascular and pigmented lesions, and treatment of acne, leg veins, and cellulite. The Company has a wide portfolio of trusted, leading products, including UltraShape, VelaShape, GentleLase, Vbeam, PicoWay, CO2RE, CO2RE Intima, ProfoundTM and elos PlusTM.

CONTACT

Monica Canino

Sr. Marketing and Business Development Manager

[email protected]

516-305-7539

SOURCE Riverchase Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery

Related Links

https://www.riverchasedermatology.com


SOLON, Ohio, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Recruiters, Inc. (DRI), Ohio-based global provider of customized recruiting and retention solutions across over 25 vertical industries and functional areas has announced an integration with its sister company Direct Consulting Associates. The integration is designed to provide project-based, professional staffing and consulting support to Direct Recruiters' client base.

Direct Consulting Associates currently is a national leader in the Hospital IT and General IT search and staffing space. They also were honored by Forbes as one of America's Best Professional Recruiting Firms in both 2018 and 2019.

Moving forward, the companies will be known as Direct Recruiters Inc.

Dan Charney, President of Direct Recruiters said, "In order to truly provide our clients with customized solutions we must offer flexible contract staffing in addition to executive and professional search. Our sister company has been a leader in this space for close to ten years. Also, because of Direct Consulting Associates' track record in supporting leading hospitals in the USA from an IT perspective, there are many synergies with our current Healthcare IT search practice that we will now be positioned to further capitalize on."

The two companies combine to employ over sixty recruiters and support professionals. The integration adds additional resources that will focus on meeting the needs of today's challenging employment market for highly skilled talent.

Since 1983, Direct Recruiters, Inc. has been recognized as the relationship-focused search firm that assists top-tier organizations with recruiting, acquiring, and retaining high-impact talent for mission-critical positions.

To learn more about Direct Recruiters, Inc.:



www.directrecruiters.com



@DRI_Inc



www.linkedin.com/company/direct-recruiters



SOURCE Direct Recruiters, Inc.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Disney's Hollywood Studios celebrated its 30th anniversary in a grand style befitting the glamorous Walt Disney World Resort theme park. The day began with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse leading a cavalcade of Disney characters down Hollywood Boulevard, followed by the introduction of a new logo for the park, and then will conclude tonight with the debut of a new projection show on the iconic Chinese Theatre.

In addition, the park unveiled a collection of merchandise, food and drinks commemorating the occasion, and guests at Disney's Hollywood Studios on Wednesday receive a special 30th anniversary button, map and poster (while supplies last).

The park's past, present and exciting future are recurring themes on this special day. It was May 1, 1989, when Hollywood celebrities walked the grand-opening red carpet. The park has evolved since those early days, when it was a fully functioning television and movie production studio providing a peek behind the scenes at moviemaking magic. Disney's Hollywood Studios today brings more stories to life in new ways, inviting guests to let their own adventures begin in immersive new worlds.

A bevy of new and upcoming experiences anchor a park undergoing a historic transformation, including the recently opened Toy Story Land, Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy, An Incredible Celebration on Pixar Place, and Disney Junior Dance Party! On Aug. 29, 2019, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge will allow guests to live their own Star Wars adventures in a new, 14-acre immersive land, followed in spring 2020 by the planned opening of Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, the first ride-through attraction in Disney Parks history to feature Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

For the park's 30th anniversary celebration, Disney lifted the curtain on an array of special experiences, merchandise, culinary delights and more:

In a special ceremony Wednesday morning, "A 30 th Anniversary Star-Studded Celebration" rolled down Hollywood Boulevard, fittingly led by Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse . In addition to those true originals, the parade featured beloved characters found throughout the park, including Indiana Jones, Belle and the Beast, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, and more.

Anniversary Star-Studded Celebration" rolled down Hollywood Boulevard, fittingly led by and . In addition to those true originals, the parade featured beloved characters found throughout the park, including Indiana Jones, Belle and the Beast, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, and more. The star-studded cavalcade closed with a ceremony revealing the park's new logo, which emphasizes the transformation Disney's Hollywood Studios is undertaking.

The evening of May 1 heralds the premiere of "Wonderful World of Animation," a new show projected onto the Chinese Theatre. This journey through 90-plus years of Disney and Pixar animated films will include blasts from the past and rarely seen characters, as well as new favorites and classic stories. Each night, this delightful new show will lead into the popular " Star Wars : A Galactic Spectacular."

heralds the premiere of "Wonderful World of Animation," a new show projected onto the Chinese Theatre. This journey through 90-plus years of Disney and Pixar animated films will include blasts from the past and rarely seen characters, as well as new favorites and classic stories. Each night, this delightful new show will lead into the popular " : A Galactic Spectacular." Milestone-minded guests can stock up on commemorative merchandise including trading pins, tumblers, apparel, ornaments and MagicBands (available while supplies last).

In honor of the park's 30 th anniversary, guests for a limited time can indulge in specially themed cocktails as well as sweets including Incredibles Macarons, Kylo Ren Cupcakes and Lightsaber Churros.

anniversary, guests for a limited time can indulge in specially themed cocktails as well as sweets including Incredibles Macarons, Kylo Ren Cupcakes and Lightsaber Churros. The park also announced enhancements coming to Toy Story Land. A new table-service restaurant, Roundup Rodeo BBQ, will make guests feel like honorary toys in a Western-themed play set created from a colorful mash-up of fun, oversized toys and cardboard boxes. And in celebration of the June debut of Disney and Pixar's "Toy Story 4," a pop-up merchandise location will be opening soon at the exit of Toy Story Mania!, featuring a variety of products commemorating the new film.

SOURCE Walt Disney World
NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Val Kleyman, Esq., a New York divorce lawyer with the The Kleyman Law Firm, issues a warning to divorce lawyers: be careful not to cross over into the role of personal therapist for clients. This is a common problem that does not get enough attention.

Val Kleyman, Esq. Divorce stress

The divorce process can be very stressful and take a serious emotional and psychological toll on spouses and their children, in addition to the long-term stress of having lived in a failing marriage. Divorce lawyers are often the first professionals that divorcing spouses encounter, and are thus often the first person the spouse has the opportunity to talk to about the situation. "Most people seeking divorce walk into my office and start telling me what hurts them. They are angry and sad. They want someone to help them and make them feel better. Naturally, I want to help, but this is not what I was trained to do," Kleyman said.

Divorce attorneys are trained to deal with the legal side of dissolution of marriages - such as division of property, custody arrangements, and litigation of family matters in court. Divorce lawyers are not trained to help people deal with their personal feelings and emotions stemming from failed relationships. This is a job that is performed by therapists and it's important not to blur the lines when divorce lawyers counsel clients.

"Divorce lawyers are the love undertakers. Unlike marriage counselors and therapists whose job it is to save relationships and help people heal, our job is to bury dead marriages quickly and efficiently before their toxicity spreads any further," says Kleyman.

"Helping someone deal with their emotions, feelings and mental health is a very serious undertaking and must only be done by professionals who are trained and experienced doing this," he continued. "The wrong approach and advice can have detrimental consequences to clients. Family lawyers must recognize the boundaries of their training and expertise and be sure to guide their clients to seek counseling from qualified professionals."

At the same time, divorce lawyers must remain sensitive and understanding of the emotional issues in divorce to properly represent their clients. Kleyman stated: "Divorce law is highly intertwined with psychology. As divorce attorneys, we must listen carefully, recognize potential issues and help clients by crafting legal strategy that is cognizant of their emotional well-being during and after divorce." It is a fine and difficult line to walk.

About:

Val Kleyman is the founder of The Kleyman Law Firm, a matrimonial law firm in New York and is rated as one of the top divorce attorneys in New York City. Mr. Kleyman and his firm work with many complex, contested, and high conflict divorces. The Kleyman Law Firm is located at 120 Broadway, 18th Floor, New York, NY. For more info go to www.NYC-DivorceLawyer.com, email: [email protected] or call 212-401-1977.

SOURCE Val Kleyman, Esq.

Related Links

https://nyc-divorcelawyer.com


MIAMI, April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- eMerge Americas, a platform which fosters innovation and serves as a catalyst for transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas, aired an exclusive interview with Interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido to discuss his vision and the role the international community can play in rebuilding Venezuela. The never-before-seen footage, which was recorded on Thursday, April 25, 2019, aired for the first time at the eMerge Americas 2019 conference.

To access the interview, please click here.

About eMerge Americas

eMerge Americas is the premier technology event connecting the Americas held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center. By connecting global industry leaders and investors with top business executives, technology decision-makers, and entrepreneurs, eMerge Americas is transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas. In 2018, eMerge Americas attracted over 15,000 attendees and more than 400 participating companies from over 40 countries. eMerge Americas serves as a catalyst in order to foster innovation and investment in South Florida and Latin America. The eMerge Americas founding partners include: Medina Capital, A Rod Corporation, Greenberg Traurig, Knight Foundation, Miami-Dade County, and the Miami Herald. For more information about eMerge Americas, please visit: www.emergeamericas.com.

SOURCE eMerge Americas

Related Links

https://www.emergeamericas.com


LAS VEGAS, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) announced the winners of the 2019 Star Awards at the Visa President's Dinner and Star Awards Gala at TRANSACT, the premier payments technology event. The Star Awards recognize individuals and companies that have made a significant difference in the payments industry through innovation, business practices, or contributions to the association.

"The ETA Star Awards are the payments technology industry's top honor," said Amy Zirkle, interim CEO of ETA. "The President's Dinner and Star Awards Gala is an opportunity to celebrate those who help our industry grow. Congratulations to the winners who have dedicated themselves to the success of the industry."

The ETA Awards and Recognition Committee, a panel of industry executives, narrowed down nominations to a group of finalists, ultimately voting on a winner in each category. Winners were named in the following categories at the Star Awards Gala: Distinguished Payments Professional, Business Partner of the Year, Committee Volunteer of the Year, ISO of the Year, FinTech Innovation in Payments, Pay it Forward, and Technology Innovation.

2019 ETA Star Award Winners

Distinguished Payments Professional, O.B. Rawls

O.B. Rawls has been an integral part of the payments landscape for over 30 years. Landmarks in his prestigious career include turning the acquiring division of Bank of America into a profitable business, developing pioneering joint ventures between First Data and Lloyds Bank, and expanding POS hardware company Hypercom in emerging markets as diverse as Brazil, Russia and east Asia. More recently, his leadership of iPayment led to the company's strong growth and its acquisition by Paysafe, creating a top-5 non-bank acquirer in the US. Following the acquisition, he was appointed to his current role  Paysafe's President of Payment Processing in North America.

ISO Organization of the Year, Payroc

Payroc has a leadership team with deep experience that has worked with and for an impressive list of industry titans and companies. The company has a full in-house support team of over 150 people that enables them to meet their customer's needs. They provide top-notch and personable support to their clients. ETA's Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring are a key part of the training curriculum for new hires and 45 members of the sales team are ETA Certified Payments Professionals. Their values, along with hard-work, technology innovation, and determination have led to double digit growth.

FinTech Innovation in Payments, Square

The launch of Square drastically altered the payments landscape with a simple philosophy: allow anyone with a mobile device to accept credit card payments anywhere, anytime. Focusing on the "ease of acceptance" allowed this company to not only take share of small merchants from more traditional players, but more importantly, turn non-card-accepting merchants into card-acceptors.

Since their early days, this company has introduced many new features and products, which in turn supports the merchant's ability to expand and grow. This includes multiple proprietary POS systems, merchant funding products, loyalty products, as well as software applications for merchants.

As they have subsequently moved upstream, this company and these products have now changed the way the payments landscape looks. Founded 10 years ago, this company has a market cap of $30 billion, and provides card acceptance to millions of merchants.

Pay It Forward, Pamela Joseph

Pamela Joseph exemplifies the spirit of this award. Pam helped found the Women Leaders in Action (WLA) to improve the lives of women in Africa through a focus on education.

Since 2012, WLA has impacted the lives of over 12,000 students through directly funding their school fees, uniforms and scholarships, as well as providing leadership training. The organization provided funding for the construction and furnishing of a pre-school, kindergarten and primary school at Project Canaan in Swaziland. Additionally, they furnished a dorm for 64 girls in a Masaai Village in the Rift Valley of Kenya. Their support also extends into improving the student's learning environment by providing books, desks, solar lamps, mosquito nets and water filters.

Under Pam's leadership, and using their own funds and time, the women that make up WLA have made 8 trips to the continent of Africa to visit the facilities and students benefiting from the funds.

Technology Innovation, PayVus  by Aliaswire, Inc.

For ISO's and Acquirers, interchange is a cost. However, for Issuers, interchange is a revenue source. This company has developed an innovative approach that enables ISO's and Acquirers to tap into issuer interchange revenue. It uniquely combines merchant acquiring and credit card issuing. The card comes with a traditional revolving line of credit and is also funded by the merchant's card processing receivables. This combination provides merchants with the credit they need for everyday business expenses. It also provides a significant revenue share to ISOs and Acquirers for all the spending activity. This new approach to merchant acquiring provides ISOs and Acquirers with the opportunity to yield significant revenue increases while delivering unmatched value and savings to merchants.

Business Partner of the Year, Worldpay

Worldpay has provided extraordinary service and support to ETA over the last year. Their partnership to identify and support new entrants through the startup zone is responsible for bringing some of the most exciting companies in payments tech to the show floor, and their contributions to thought leadership across multiple ETA committees makes the recipient and their employees an invaluable asset to ETA and the payments community.

Committee Volunteer of the Year, Jared Poulson, Payroc

This year's recipient has served as the vice chair and chair of the Technology Committee. Jared Poulson has been a vital, hardworking member of the committee for many years. Under his leadership, the committee has flourished and become home for some of the most forward-thinking discussions in the payments industry. Additionally, the committee has created important resources for ETA members and the industry.

For media inquiries, contact Laura Hubbard at 202.677.7406 or [email protected].

About ETA

The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) is the global trade association representing more than 500 payments and technology companies. ETA members make commerce possible by processing more than $6 trillion in purchases in the U.S. and deploying payments innovation to merchants and consumers.

SOURCE ETA

Related Links

http://www.electran.org


The EVgo EACH program will provide a total of 28 fast chargers in seven communities most impacted by air pollution across the State of California  including: Anaheim, Compton, Inglewood, Oakland, Richmond (with two locations), and San Leandro. The urgency to act is clear: today, more than 95% of Californians live in areas that fail to meet federal or state air quality standards i , with more than 50% of California's total smog pollution and 38% greenhouse gas pollution caused by motor vehicles. Californians drive 825 million miles every day  producing 5.4 million tons of smog forming pollutants and more than 350,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions daily. As the largest public fast charging network in California and across the country, EVgo is poised to help ensure the state achieves its ambitious goal of deploying 1.5 million EVs on the road by 2025 and 5 million EVs by 2030, and the construction of 250,000 public chargers and 10,000 fast chargers statewide.

"Anaheim is excited to offer EVgo fast charging stations to our residents and visitors who own electric vehicles or are considering the purchase of one," said Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu. "These four stations add to the roughly 200 charging stations throughout Anaheim and further support our sustainability efforts."

"Electric vehicles are the future and EVgo is delivering on our commitment to help accelerate EV adoption in communities most impacted by air pollution through the launch of our Equal Access Charging Hub program," said EVgo CEO Cathy Zoi. "EVgo is proud to partner with the City of Anaheim, Anaheim Public Utilities and Green for All to bring reliable, convenient and affordable fast charging to EV drivers in Anaheim at our first EACH station at the Brookhurst Community Center."

"The EACH program is unique for putting advanced EV charging infrastructure within reach of underserved communities while also supporting the mobility options that improve access for those without cars," said Brian Holland, California Program Director, Shared Use Mobility Center (SUMC). "Shared and electric mobility can and should reinforce one another, and EACH is a great example of how this can work in practice."

"The green economy should benefit all communities, not only some," said Michelle Romero, National Director from Green For All. "That's why we're proud to partner with EVgo in their efforts to help make clean transportation available, affordable, and accessible to all, including communities of color."

The Brookhurst Community Center is the first EVgo EACH site to open publicly and includes a total of four (4) 50 kW DC fast-chargers capable of delivering up to 90 miles of range in 30 minutes. EVgo recently joined with officials from the City of Compton to celebrate a groundbreaking ceremony at the Soledad Center in Compton, which is another EACH program site.

Designed with stakeholder consultation and support from the Shared Use Mobility Center (SUMC), and in alignment with the state's transportation electrification goals, these new fast charging stations will increase access to electric vehicles in communities designated as disadvantaged by CalEPA, pursuant to Senate Bill 535 (De Leon). The stations will not only increase access to public fast charging for EV owners in these neighborhoods, but also support EV carsharing and ridesharing services in the area. The EACH program will be supported by a community outreach and education program called Communities Charging for Change, led by Citizen Group.

The full list of EVgo EACH fast charging stations follows below and spans communities across California; all locations will be complete in 2019. Locations include:

Anaheim : Brookhurst Community Center

: Brookhurst Community Center Compton : Soledad Center

: Soledad Center Inglewood : Inglewood City Hall

: City Hall Oakland: City of Oakland

Richmond : Two stations  Civic Center and 41 st Street

: Two stations  Civic Center and 41 Street San Leandro : Lucky San Leandro

About EVgo

EVgo is America's Largest Public Fast Charging Network. EVgo's fast chargers deliver convenient, fast charges to EV drivers on the go, delivering up to 90 miles of range in 30 minutes. EVgo's fast chargers are compatible with all EV models currently on the market that accept DC Fast Charging. With more than 1,100 fast chargers and more than 1,000 Level 2 chargers in 66 metropolitan markets, EVgo's network in 34 U.S. states allows EV drivers to travel further while providing exemplary service by maintaining and operating its charging stations. EVgo offers a variety of flexible pricing options for drivers including Pay As You Go and low-cost Membership options.

To find out more, or to join the EVgo network, download our app, visit EVgo.com, and follow EVgo on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

EVgo Contact:

Michael Blenner, Berlin Rosen

[email protected]

347.439.2158

City of Anaheim:

Erin Ryan

[email protected]

(714) 240-6291

i https://www.driveclean.ca.gov/pev/Environmental_Benefits.php

SOURCE EVgo

Related Links

https://www.evgo.com


WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) today reported its first quarter 2019 results and filed its first quarter 2019 Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing provides condensed consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2019. The following documents are now available on Fannie Mae's web site at www. fanniemae .com .

Fannie Mae helps make the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and affordable rental housing possible for millions of Americans. We partner with lenders to create housing opportunities for families across the country. We are driving positive changes in housing finance to make the home buying process easier, while reducing costs and risk. To learn more, visit fanniemae .com and follow us on twitter.com/fanniemae.

SOURCE Fannie Mae

Related Links

http://www.fanniemae.com


CARMEL, Ind. and BERLIN, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- FAST BioMedical has enrolled 20 patients in a clinical trial at Charite  Universitatsmedizin Berlin. The trial is investigating the impact of FAST's technology in patients with Acute Heart Failure and Cardiorenal Syndrome. This observational study will be a significant step towards understanding how repeated measurements of blood volume and kidney function can change clinical decision making and ultimately improve management of heart failure patients.

An estimated 26 million people have heart failure worldwide, and for patients with acute decompensated heart failure, abnormal blood volume levels are directly linked to kidney failure, worsening outcomes, and increased mortality.

The trial is named EMPAKT CHF which stands for Estimating versus Measuring Plasma Volume and Kidney Function in Acute Decompensated Congestive Heart Failure.

As the first technology capable of directly measuring blood volume, changes in blood volume and kidney function, FAST BioMedical's metrics could be a significant advancement for managing volume and volume-related kidney injury patients with acute decompensated heart failure.

"The EMPAKT CHF study will allow us to reexamine how we evaluate patients with acute decompensated heart failure. It will help us to assess the potential of guiding treatment with quantitative metrics as opposed to subjective evaluation," said Professor Kai Schmidt-Ott, the study's principal investigator at the Berlin-based university hospital Charite.

"This new technology could enable us to quantify and follow blood volume and kidney function in complex heart failure patients, including those patients at risk of developing cardiorenal syndrome," said Dr. W, Frank Peacock, MD, FACEP, FACC, FESC and Associate Chief of Emergency Medicine Research at Baylor College of Medicine. "Being able to monitor real time blood volume and mGFR could allow us to optimize volume management to the individual patient and allow better treatment in this volatile population."

The trial intends to enroll 50 patients total and to conclude in 2019.

About FAST BioMedical

FAST BioMedical is a privately held, late clinical-stage medical technology company based in Carmel, Indiana. The company's globally-patented, first-in-class technology directly measures blood volume and kidney function in a clinically-actionable way. This has impact potential for heart failure, cardio-renal, major surgery, sepsis, critical care, and kidney disease patients. The FDA has determined the company's technology met the requirements for an Expedited Review. These products are investigational and not yet approved for human use.

For more information visit www.FASTBioMedical.com .

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE FAST BioMedical

Related Links

http://www.FASTBioMedical.com


LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fenergo, a leading provider of digital Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions for financial institutions, today announces that it will be working with Bahrain's Electronic Network for Financial Transactions (BENEFIT) in designing and implementing the world's first national Know Your Customer (KYC) utility that incorporates blockchain technology. The utility platform will support sectors including retail and corporate banking, asset management as well as insurance and telecommunications in the future. Fenergo deployed the first phase of the eKYC implementation project in just four weeks.

Financial institutions that subscribe to BENEFIT can instantly complete KYC and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance procedures when onboarding new individual and corporate customers through the Fenergo-powered eKYC hub and rules engine utilising blockchain. The centralisation of customer data removes the need for duplicate requests for information, enabling financial institutions to onboard new customers and products swiftly and seamlessly. The elimination of manual processes reduces costs and improves operational efficiencies, ultimately optimising customer experiences.

The Fenergo API-first solution enables financial institutions to verify customer identity via biometric identity and verification (ID&V) technology which links to Bahrain national identity card data before instantly connecting to the eKYC hub. This will prompt Fenergo's rules engine to determine the required KYC and AML data and documentation for customer due diligence (CDD) as subscribed by Central Bank of Bahrain. Once the customer is quickly and successfully onboarded, Fenergo will write data attestations to the blockchain for reuse by other financial institutions within the Bahrain ecosystem.

On this occasion, BENEFIT's Chief Executive Officer Abdulwahed AlJanahi said, "BENEFIT is committed to supporting financial institutions on their journey to digital transformation. By partnering with disruptive technology companies like Fenergo, we can deliver on our promise to help financial firms streamline and simplify the collection and management of customer data, improving customer experiences and minimising fraud."

Marc Murphy, CEO, Fenergo: "Regulatory mandated KYC utilities represent a massive opportunity to enable significant efficiency, improve customer experience and help drive regulatory certainty. In a digital economy, where open banking and customer choice are at the forefront, making the KYC process digital is a huge enabler for any digital transformation initiative. At Fenergo, we are honoured to partner with BENEFIT and the Bahrain regulator to deliver the KYC technology of the future."

Fenergo is developing the cloud-based utility as part of an initiative mandated by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to enable financial institutions to seamlessly perform CDD checks for enhanced customer experiences and regulatory certainty. The initiative is part of a wider Government scheme, Economic Vision 2030, to improve the Kingdom's economy.

About Fenergo

Fenergo is the digital enabler of client and regulatory technology for financial services. It provides Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) software solutions for Financial Institutions including; Corporate & Institutional Banking, Commercial & Retail Banking, Asset Management, Private Banking & Wealth Management. Counting 70 global Financial Institutions as clients, its award-winning CLM suite digitally transforms how Financial Institutions manage clients; from initial onboarding to KYC/AML and regulatory compliance, to data management and ongoing lifecycle KYC reviews and refreshes. Fenergo CLM empowers financial institutions to deliver a faster, compliant and digital customer experience while achieving a single client view across channels, products, business lines and jurisdictions.

Fenergo's community-based approach to product development allows clients to collaborate on solution design on a global scale. Its rules-driven solution ensures compliance with multiple global and local regulatory frameworks including AML, KYC, Tax (CRS, FATCA, 871M), OTC Derivatives (EMIR, Dodd-Frank, MiFID II, Margin Requirements) and data privacy rules (GDPR). It supports the collection, centralization and sharing of client and counterparty data and documentation across the institution and deploys an API-first approach to advanced integration with a host of external KYC, AML and entity data providers, KYC and industry utilities. The solution is underpinned by next generation Artificial Intelligence, Robotics Process Automation and Machine Learning technologies, using advanced OCR and NLP capabilities to extract information, expedite compliance and improve operational efficiencies.

About BENEFIT

The BENEFIT Company celebrates over two decades of value added services that have played a critical role in shaping Bahrain's business friendly credentials and as an acknowledged economic powerhouse. It was formed with strong values that have enabled the organization to support not just the banking and financial services sector but also the governmental, corporate and the general public in delivering reliable fintech products and services. BENEFIT remains committed towards providing ease, convenience and speed to both business processes and financial transactions. This will enable Bahrain's financial sector to seamlessly connect with customers spread across diverse geographical base, enriching business relationships and boosting interactions with member banks and other stakeholders. As provider of one of the most sophisticated tools for all electronic financial transactions throughout the kingdom, BENEFIT's road to success has been paved by a combination of skilled workforce, cutting edge technology, focused strategic planning and initiatives, and a determination to provide the most advanced financial service for those residing in Kingdom of Bahrain. BENEFIT was established in November 1997 by 17 commercial banks as the National ATM and Point of Sale switch of Bahrain. It was initially licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to be 'the provider of ancillary services for the financial sector,' and soon expanded to cover markets outside Bahrain. The company's mandate was very simple  to improve, to enhance and to enable the local and regional financial industry to thrive on a global scale. BENEFIT remains committed to strengthen Bahrain's position as the financial hub of the region. Hence, the company continues to provide robust infrastructural support for the financial industry  enabling the financial and banking community to remain true to their vision and develop an environment that helps customers in achieving their goals.

At the heart of BENEFIT's success story is the quality of its workforce that have enabled the company to be at the leading edge of all fintech initiatives in the Kingdom of Bahrain and beyond. BENEFIT recognizes the importance of investing in its employees and helping them to be professional achievers.

SOURCE Fenergo
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The first Clarion Pointe hotel opened today in Sulphur Springs, Texas, less than eight months after Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) launched the Clarion brand extension. The new select-service hotel combines the premium elements guests desire with an affordable travel experience and builds on the company's eight decades of expertise in the midscale segment.

The 72-room Clarion Pointe Sulphur Springs features custom murals showcasing popular Sulphur Springs attractions in each room, a brand hallmark that brings the hotel's location to life for every guest. Located at 411 East Industrial Drive, the new hotel is near Interstate 30 and well-known local attractions, including Hopkins County Veterans Memorial, Coleman Park, Main Street Theatre, and The Hopkins County Museum and Heritage Park.



"Clarion Pointe came to life faster than any brand in the company's history, and the first hotel in Sulphur Springs is proof of this powerful select-service conversion concept," said Anne Smith, vice president, brand management, design and compliance, Choice Hotels. "Choice continues to lead and shape the midscale space to meet the needs of franchisees and guests alike. Since unveiling our Clarion Pointe extension in September of last year, the brand has been in high demand."

Nearly 30 Clarion Pointe hotels are expected to open and 10 are planned for this year, including in Medford, Ore.; North Charleston, S.C.; Oklahoma City; and Rochester, N.Y. Influenced by the Clarion brand promise of creating environments for people to connect and socialize, Clarion Pointe allows guests to maximize their travel experience with "focal pointes," including:

Contemporary design touches, including signature murals in guest rooms and the lobby that reflect local points of interest.

Curated food and beverage, like free premium coffee and tea from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf , as well as free breakfast with fresh and nutritious items. Craft beer and select wines, juices and smoothies, and small bites are available for purchase in the hotel's marketplace.

, as well as free breakfast with fresh and nutritious items. Craft beer and select wines, juices and smoothies, and small bites are available for purchase in the hotel's marketplace. On-demand connectivity that lets guests stream content from their mobile devices onto 49-inch TVs with casting capabilities and free streaming-strength Wi-Fi.

Modern fitness space featuring cardio equipment and a strength-training station.

"The interest in Clarion Pointe gives us a solid foundation for growth in the years ahead," said Tom Nee, vice president, franchise development, Choice Hotels. "Clarion Pointe is ideal for owners who want a hotel concept that resonates with today's travelers, from a company that's proven successful in the midscale segment. Owners gain access to Choice's extensive resources, from in-market support and help with the conversion process, to tools that assist with improving ongoing daily operations."

The new Clarion Pointe Sulphur Springs was developed by Helm Hotels Group, a family-owned company with over 35 years of experience in Texas.

"Our years of hospitality experience coupled with Choice's invaluable resources and established brands makes us excited to be at the forefront of the new Clarion Pointe brand," Charles Helm, Owner, Helm Hotels Group. "We know guests will love the brand, which offers a premium local experience, and all of the amenities to make for a great and memorable trip."



For more information on development opportunities, visit choicehotelsdevelopment.com/clarion-pointe.

About Clarion Pointe

The Clarion Pointe brand offers sensible explorers more options to get to the Pointe. Hotels offer guests a convenient and affordable experience with premium elements in just the right places, including contemporary design touches, curated food and beverages options, and on-demand connectivity. In addition to comfortable rooms with signature murals, Clarion Pointe properties offer modern fitness essentials and community rooms, plus free Wi-Fi and complimentary breakfast. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com/clarion-pointe.

About Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world. With more than 7,000 hotels, representing nearly 570,000 rooms, in over 40 countries and territories as of December 31, 2018, the Choice family of hotel brands provides business and leisure travelers with a range of high-quality lodging options from limited service to full-service hotels in the upscale, midscale, extended-stay and economy segments. The award-winning Choice Privileges loyalty program offers members benefits ranging from everyday rewards to exceptional experiences. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com.

About Helm Hotels Group

Clarion Pointe of Sulphur Springs is owned and operated by Helm Hotels Group, family owned and operated for over 35 years and currently has been in the Helm family for 3 generations. Helm Hotels Group also owns two other hotels in Denton and Lufkin, Texas. More information about Helm Hotels Group can be found at helmhotelsgroup.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

This communication includes "forward-looking statements" about future events, including anticipated development and hotel openings. Such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including construction delays, availability and cost of financing and the other "Risk Factors" described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could cause actual results to be materially different from our expectations.

Addendum

This is not an offering. No offer or sale of a franchise will be made except by a Franchise Disclosure Document first filed and registered with applicable state authorities. A copy of the Franchise Disclosure Document can be obtained through contacting Choice Hotels International at 1 Choice Hotels Circle, Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20850, [email protected].

 2019 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.choicehotels.com


TWO MEN AND A TRUCK CEO Jon Nobis's first tip to find a legitimate moving company is to look beyond face value when researching online reviews.

"The number of Google reviews a brand has makes a significant impact on the customer's decision-making process, but what most customers don't know is that some moving companies pay or falsify their online reviews, which is against Google policy," said Nobis. "This lack of authenticity in online reviews makes the process of hiring a trustworthy, reliable mover even more difficult for consumers."

Nobis notes that TWO MEN AND A TRUCK differentiates itself in the industry by hiring a third-party company, Bazaarvoice, which verifies that every review on our local websites is valid and authentic. Unfortunately, there is no way to verify the integrity of reviews across the internet, including those on Google or Yelp.

"As a brand, we are laser-focused on transparency and building trust, ensuring that our customer experience is world class," said Nobis. "Because moving scams are on the rise, we've taken these measures up a notch and are committed to further developing our customer service initiatives with the launch of new technology-focused solutions that make booking a move easier for our customers."

And reviews aren't the only online issue that negatively impacts consumers. People searching for a moving company will see many advertisements from lead or data aggregators that want the user to think they are a moving company. Usually, these websites are hard to differentiate from legitimate professional moving companies because they often come up first when searching online. There are many websites that exist solely to collect information from moving customers and then resell the personal details.

"It's important to make sure that you are requesting an online moving quote directly from a moving company that you are intending to work with," Nobis said. "It can become very frustrating for a customer who believes they are submitting a moving request for a specific company and then three or four moving companies follow up with phone calls and emails. Customers need to be careful during their research phase to ensure they're only providing their personal information to companies they're interested in moving with."

Nobis's other tips include:

Review Credentials: Is the company licensed and insured? Does it have a physical location in addition to its online presence? What rights do you have if something goes wrong on the move? Have friends and family had experience with the moving company?

Is the company licensed and insured? Does it have a physical location in addition to its online presence? What rights do you have if something goes wrong on the move? Have friends and family had experience with the moving company? Get a Full Breakdown of Fees : What extra fees exist? Is a deposit required? Is it refundable? Does the company do free quotes?

: What extra fees exist? Is a deposit required? Is it refundable? Does the company do free quotes? Ask About the Moving Crew : Are employees hired and paid directly by the moving company? Or are day-laborers used? What is the training process?

: Are employees hired and paid directly by the moving company? Or are day-laborers used? What is the training process? Communication Process: Do they have a customer service representative available for phone calls? What hours do they operate?

"It is important for consumers to do their research when hiring a professional mover," said Scott Michael, President & CEO of the American Moving & Storage Association. "Not all websites are accurate, so you need to protect yourself and your possessions by investigating the companies you are considering entrusting with your move."

ABOUT TWO MEN AND A TRUCK

Headquartered in Michigan, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is the largest franchised moving company in North America. Currently, there are more than 375 locations and 2,900 trucks operating in 44 U.S. states in addition to Canada, Ireland, and the UK. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has performed more than 7 million moves since its inception in 1985 and has seen consistent growth dating back to December 2009. In 2018, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked TWO MEN AND A TRUCK as one of the top 500 franchises in the U.S for the 24th consecutive year and ranked the company No. 1 in the moving/junk removal category for the third year in a row. In 2017, the company also made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America for the fourth time. Each location is independently owned and operated. For franchising opportunities, visit franchise.twomenandatruck.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lauren Kaminski

No Limit Agency

312.526.3996

[email protected]



SOURCE TWO MEN AND A TRUCK

Related Links

http://www.twomenandatruck.com


SAN DIEGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder Rights Law Firm Johnson Fistel, LLP with the assistance of former California Deputy Attorney General and Special Counsel, Tiffany Johnson, Esq., is investigating potential claims against Ford Motor Company ("Ford") (NYSE: F) for violations of federal securities laws.

On April 26, 2019, Ford disclosed that the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the Company's emissions certification process. Ford made known that it had launched an investigation into its own emissions testing practices after employees raised concerns over potential consistency problems. The employees discovered Ford may have been miscalculating "road load," which is a measurement of the forces like aerodynamic drag or tire resistance, both factors altering fuel economy and emissions.

If you have information that could assist in this investigation, including past employees and others, or if you are a long term Ford shareholder and are interested in learning more about the investigation or your legal rights and remedies, please contact Jim Baker ([email protected]) by email or phone at 619-814-4471. If emailing, please include a phone number.

If you are a long term shareholder , you can [click here to join this action]. There is no cost or obligation to you.

About Johnson Fistel, LLP:

Johnson Fistel, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York, and Georgia. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://www.johnsonfistel.com . Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Contact:

Johnson Fistel, LLP

Jim Baker, 619-814-4471

[email protected]

[click here to join this action].

SOURCE Johnson Fistel, LLP

Related Links

http://www.johnsonfistel.com


HUDSON, N.Y., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Design Hudson Weekend Festival celebrates a wide range of local design talent showcased within the city's unique architectural gems, including private historic homes and the spectacular Dr. Oliver Bronson House.

See images from last year's event: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Hudson%20Media%20Photos/DesignHudson18_credit_Jenn%20Morse

The weekend includes Designer Home Tours https://visithudsonny.com/design-hudson/ and talks exploring the 21st century view of the palette and landscape that defined the 19th century Hudson River School painters, Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, in the theme, The New Hudson River School.

THE BRONSON HOUSE, https://www.historichudson.org/bronsonhouse

Friday, May 24 - Sunday, May 26

The seldom-open national historic landmark, with exquisite Federal Style 19th Century architectural elements, will be imbued with contemporary decor, antiques, paintings and creativity from Hudson antique dealers, galleries, home furnishing stores and artisans.

HUDSON HOME TOURS, Saturday, May 25 - Sunday, May 26

Designer Showcase Home Tours feature design installations in architecturally-significant properties by Alan Barlis of BarlisWedlick, Geoff Howell, Amy Row and Sherry Jo Williams of culture+commerce project.

Tickets are available online, and at 442 Warren Street starting Friday May 24.

https://visithudsonny.com/events/design-hudson-2019/

PANEL DISCUSSION, HUDSON HALL, Saturday, May 25

Join us for a discussion of The New Hudson River School's influences of color, landscape and time period from Hudson's great painters, Church and Cole, to contemporary artists, as illustrated in its concurrent exhibition Hudson Athens Lights. In collaboration with Olana State Historic Site of Frederic Church and Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

HUDSON SHOPPING DISTRICT

Shops along Warren Street and beyond, including 50 antique stores, 30 art galleries, 25 home furnishing stores, 25 clothing and jewelry stores offer patrons unique selections of products and services from proprietor owned and run businesses. The festival continues into Saturday evening with stores and venues hosting events highlighting the creativity and design resources in Hudson.

HUDSON NY

Hudson is located on the Hudson River, 110 miles north of New York City. Hudson was settled in 1785 by Quaker whalers and merchants from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard attracted to the deep water port. The "finest dictionary of American architecture in New York State," with hundreds of properties listed or eligible to be listed in the State and National registers of historic places. Hudson's thriving residential population of 6,713, expands to 20,000 on many weekends.

Design Hudson is produced by the Hudson Business Coalition.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Media/Sponsorship: Alison Curry

[email protected]

917.699.6149

SOURCE Hudson Business Coalition

Related Links

https://hbc.visithudsonny.org/


PITTSBURGH, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PNC Bank will host "How a Makeup Artist Built an Empire," a free educational webcast for business owners and executives, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. (ET) Thursday, May 16, featuring Bobbi Brown, a trendsetting entrepreneur in the health and beauty industry and best-selling author. Brown will provide advice on handling the challenges of running a business, networking for success, building a brand and mastering time management, along with sharing her own journey to success. PNC offers this event as part of its ninth annual Small Business Month and annual Women in Business Week recognition.

"Each May, we celebrate our business customers to thank them for their enormous contributions to our economy and the communities they serve," said Matthew Steenson, head of PNC Business Banking. "This free informative webcast is one way that we can be helpful in addressing both the opportunities and challenges they face as business owners."

Every individual who registers for the event will be entered for a chance to win $25,000. Registration and internet access are required to participate in this webcast. Register at pnc.com/sbmonth.

PNC Business Banking offers products, services and insight to help small business owners and executives optimize their cash flow, including an array of small business loans, business credit cards and merchant services. In addition, PNC makes banking easy with online and mobile banking tools for small businesses.

PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR TRANSACTION WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. Internet access and a valid email address are required. Open to legal U.S. residents of the 50 states US/DC who at time of entry are (a) 18 years of age or older; and (b) registered for a free PNC Bank Small Business Month Webcast. Completion of webcast is not required for entry. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Starts 12:00:01 am ET on 4/1/19 and ends 11:59:59 pm ET on 5/16/19. Limit 1 entry per person. Grand Prize (1): $25,000. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. For complete official rules, including how to enter, prize details and other terms, visit www.pnc.com/sbmonth. Sponsor: The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

CONTACT:

Amy Vargo

(412) 762-1535

[email protected]

SOURCE PNC Bank

Related Links

http://www.pnc.com


NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Specialty Food Association (SFA) members around the world watched with anticipation this morning as the winners of the coveted 2019 sofi Awards were announced. In all, the 2019 sofi Awards honored 148 specialty food products with gold, silver, bronze, and best new product trophies. For a full list of winners and to hear winners' acceptance speeches visit: Videos.specialtyfood.com

SFA has been presenting sofi Awards since 1972, celebrating culinary excellence and creativity worldwide. The 2019 winners are chosen in 39 categories: from baked goods to vinegars to everything in between. Winners were chosen from nearly 2,000 entries in a blind tasting by a national panel of industry experts.

"For 47 years, the sofi Awards have identified the best of the best within the specialty food industry. This year, we're incredibly proud to recognize so many fantastic products across so much of our membership," said Phil Kafarakis, president of the Specialty Food Association. "Our 2019 winners are passionate industry leaders creating exceptional, innovative specialty foods. They're what's driving excitement among retailers, foodservice, and consumers, and fueling our industry's growth. It's a delicious time for us all!"

Over 12 days in March and April of 2019, a diverse panel of expert judges participated in a series of blind tastings to select the sofi winners. In all, 58 judges from across the food industry, including chefs, culinary instructors, recipe developers, food journalists, and specialty food buyers, participated in the selection process. For the list of judges, click here .

The sofi Award Product of the Year, given to the product that received the highest cumulative score in judging, will be announced during the SFA's Summer Fancy Food Show. Held at the Javits Center in New York, June 23-25, 2019, the show is the largest marketplace for specialty food and beverages in North America, featuring over 200,000 products from around the world.

Registration for the Fancy Food Show is at fancyfoodshows.com. The show is a trade-only event. Journalists who cover the specialty food industry may apply for press credentials. Click here to apply .

About the Specialty Food Association

the Specialty Food Association is a thriving community of food artisans, importers, and entrepreneurs. Established in 1952 in New York, the not-for-profit trade association provides its 3,800 members in the U.S. and abroad with resources, knowledge and connections to champion and nurture their companies in an always-evolving marketplace. The Association owns and produces the Winter and Summer Fancy Food Shows , and presents the sofi Awards honoring excellence in specialty food. Learn more at specialtyfood.com .











SOURCE Specialty Food Association

Related Links

http://www.specialtyfood.com


DENVER, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Gates Industrial Corporation plc (NYSE:GTES), a global manufacturer of innovative, highly engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions, today announced that the Company will participate in the Goldman Sachs Industrials & Materials Conference in New York, NY, on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. David Naemura, Chief Financial Officer, will present at 1:45 p.m. eastern time.

To listen to a live webcast of this presentation, please visit the Events & Presentations section of the Gates Investor Relations website at investors.gates.com, and click on the event webcast link.

About Gates Industrial Corporation plc

Gates is a global manufacturer of innovative, highly engineered power transmission and fluid power solutions. Gates offers a broad portfolio of products to diverse replacement channel customers, and to original equipment ("first-fit") manufacturers as specified components. Gates participates in many sectors of the industrial and consumer markets. Our products play essential roles in a diverse range of applications across a wide variety of end markets ranging from harsh and hazardous industries such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing and energy, to everyday consumer applications such as printers, power washers, automatic doors and vacuum cleaners and virtually every form of transportation. Our products are sold in 128 countries across our four commercial regions: the Americas; Europe, Middle East & Africa; Greater China; and East Asia & India.

Contact

Bill Waelke

(303) 744-4887

[email protected]

SOURCE Gates Industrial Corporation plc
DUBLIN, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Virtual Fitting Room Market by Component (Hardware (Prefabricated & Customized), Software and Services), End-User (Physical Store & Virtual Store), Use Cases (Apparel, Eye Wear, Jewelry & Watches, Beauty & Cosmetics) Region - Global Forecast to 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The virtual fitting market size to grow from USD 2.9 billion in 2019 to USD 7.6 billion by 2024, at a CAGR of 20.9% during 2019-2024

The major growth factor for the market is the increase in the adoption of advanced technologies such as AR and VR. Complexities between the virtual computerized world and the real physical world of the virtual fitting room market may restrain the market growth.



"By Component, software to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period"



The virtual fitting market by component is segmented into hardware, software, and services. Among these, software is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period, owing to the increasing e-commerce. The software is further segmented into software tools and platforms. Whereas, hardware is further segmented into prefabricated and customized. Services include integration, support, and consulting. Among these, support services are expected to grow at the fastest rate, as virtual fitting room solutions and services are more effectively being used in the retail and eCommerce vertical to deliver a personalized experience to users.



"Apparel use cases to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period"



The virtual fitting room market by use cases is segmented into apparel, accessories, eyewear, jewelry and watches, beauty and cosmetics, and others. Among these, apparel is expected to grow at the highest rate, as virtual fitting room platform and solutions are effectively being used in the eCommerce to deliver enhanced customer buying journey, with reduced return rates.



"Among regions, APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period"



The virtual fitting room market by region is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC, MEA, and Latin America. Among these region, APAC is expected to grow at a higher CAGR due to the increasing adoption of advanced technologies such as AR and VR among retailers. The major APAC countries that are expected to record high growth rates include China, Japan, and India.



However, this region demands skilled retailers to close the skill gaps and adopt effective infrastructure services, new digital technologies for enhanced customer experience, and better business operations. The growth in this region is expected to be driven by the presence of half of the world's mobile users, the highest online shoppers, and increasing internet connection and speed.



Whereas, North America is expected to contribute maximum in terms of market size during the forecast period. There are various factors that are contributing to the growth of the market in North America, that include the growing use of smartphones and the adoption of AR and VR. Furthermore, the time people spent on mobile applications and shopping online is also growing at a considerable rate. This is further expected to boost the demand for virtual fitting room solutions across the region.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Introduction



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Market Opportunities in the Market

4.2 Market: Top 3 Use Cases

4.3 Market: By Region

4.4 Market in North America, By End User and Region



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Increasing Adoption of Advanced Technologies, Such as AR and VR, to Offer Better Shopping Experience to Customers

5.2.1.2 Increasing Focus on R&D Activities

5.2.1.3 Trend of Online Shopping Increasing the Demand for Virtual Fitting Room Technologies in Retail and eCommerce

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Complexities in Real-Time Control

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Increasing Number of Partnerships

5.2.3.2 Growing Number of Startups to Raise Funds in the Virtual Fitting Room Market

5.2.4 Challenges

5.2.4.1 Developing User-Friendly Virtual Fitting Room Solutions

5.3 Key Acquisitions in the Last Few Years

5.4 Regulatory Implications

5.4.1 General Data Protection Regulation

5.4.2 Simulation Interoperability Standards Organisation

5.5 Use Cases



6 Market, By Component

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Hardware

6.2.1 Prefabricated

6.2.1.1 Virtual Mirrors to Be Major Hardware Segment in the Market

6.2.2 Customized

6.2.2.1 Adoption of Customized Virtual Mirrors Based on the AR Technology By Major Retailers to Drive the Market

6.3 Software

6.3.1 Software Tools

6.3.1.1 Plugins Continue to Be Widely Used Software Components in the Market

6.3.2 Platforms

6.3.2.1 3D Body and Face Scanning to Boost the Adoption of Virtual Fitting Room Software

6.4 Services

6.4.1 Consulting

6.4.1.1 Technicalities Involved in Implementing Virtual Fitting Room Solutions and Platform to Boost the Growth of Consulting Services

6.4.2 Integration Services

6.4.2.1 Integration and Installation Services to Gain Traction in Coming Years

6.4.3 Support Services

6.4.3.1 Growing Deployment of Edge and AI Solutions to Drive Support and Maintenance Services



7 Market, By End User

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Physical Store

7.3 Virtual Store



8 Virtual Fitting Room Market, By Use Case

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Apparel

8.2.1 Online Shopping to Play Key Role in the Adoption of Virtual Fitting Room Solutions

8.3 Accessories

8.3.1 Low Time Utilization to Boost Growth of Virtual Fitting Room Solution in Accessories

8.4 Eyewear

8.4.1 Demand for Personalization to Play A Significant Role in Eyewear Use Cases

8.5 Jewelry and Watches

8.5.1 Virtual Fitting Room to Provide Better Targeting Capabilities to Jewellers

8.6 Beauty and Cosmetics

8.6.1 Virtual Fitting Room to Help Travel and Luxury Enterprises Increase the Visibility of Offers

8.7 Others



9 Geographic Analysis



10 Competitive Landscape

10.1 Start-Up Micro Quadrant

10.2 Strength of Product Portfolio

10.3 Business Strategy Excellence



11 Company Profiles

11.1 Metail

11.2 Zugara

11.3 True Fit

11.4 Total Immersion

11.5 3D-A-Porter

11.6 Magic Mirror

11.7 AstraFit

11.8 Fit Analytics

11.9 Visualook

11.10 ELSE Corp

11.11 FXGear

11.12 Sizebay

11.13 Trimirror

11.14 Memomi

11.15 Sensemi

11.16 Fision Technologies

11.17 Coitor IT Tech



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/56rfk8



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




By Park Jin-hai





Kim Woo-hyung, the cinematographer for the BBC television miniseries "The Little Drummer Girl," won an award at the BAFTA TV Craft Awards 2019 for his camera work, according to movie streaming service Watch Play, Tuesday.







Kim, best known for his work on the films "Assassination" (2015) and "The Front Line" (2011), received the photography and lighting award in the fiction category for the spy thriller, directed by one of Korea's most celebrated directors, Park Chan-wook.







"Each time I looked through the viewfinder I was only grateful, thanks to the great director and talented actors and beautiful artwork. I was so happy when I was shooting the series," Kim said in a statement.







The adaptation of John le Carre's 1983 best-selling novel of the same name, set in the late 1970s, is a spy thriller revolving around a young, idealistic actress Charlie, played by Florence Pugh.







She is recruited by the mysterious Gadi Becker, an Israeli intelligence officer, whom she is drawn to, and takes on a dangerous mission devised by spy mastermind Kurtz as a double agent who infiltrates a Palestinian terrorist group. Charlie is caught in a love triangle as she falls in love with both Becker and Kurtz.







The series has been nominated in a total of five categories at the British TV awards.







"The Little Drummer Girl," following its world premiere in October last year on BBC, was unveiled March 29 for Korean drama fans through Watcha Play.


BOSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Goldman Sachs has successfully completed roughly 77% of the $1.8 billion in consumer-relief it is obligated to provide under its two mortgage-backed-securities settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and three states, according to the May 1 report by the Independent Monitor of the settlements, Professor Eric D. Green, his eleventh report since the April 11, 2016 settlement. In addition, the report finds that Goldman Sachs has now surpassed the minimum amount of consumer relief in each of the three settling states of California, Illinois, and New York.

Since Professor Green's last report on March 1, 2019, Goldman Sachs forgave the balances due on 819 first-lien mortgages, for total principal forgiveness of $85,054,938, an average of $103,852 per borrower. Goldman Sachs also forgave amounts due and previously deferred on 30 first-lien mortgages, for total forgiveness of $4,231,614, an average of $141,054 per borrower. Goldman Sachs also received credit related to an agreement that allowed the lender to defer until a later date, the repayment of the principal due on 58 mortgage loans. The total in principal repayment deferred on these loans was $4,055,933, with an average deferral of $69,930. Taken together, these items resulted in a total reportable credit of $92,523,444 after the application of crediting calculations and multipliers specified in the settlement agreements.

"A little more than three years after the Settlement Agreements were signed, Goldman Sachs appears to be approximately 77% toward completing its Consumer Relief obligations," Professor Green said in the report. "While Goldman Sachs has not yet provided a submission specifically claiming that it has met any of the credit minimums under the Global Settlement Agreement, the data suggest that Goldman Sachs has now exceeded the minimum amount of credit that must be earned in each of the three settling states of California, Illinois, and New York."

The modified first-lien mortgages are spread across 45 states and the District of Columbia, with 33% of the credit located in the settling states, and with 47% of the credit located in Hardest Hit Areas, or census tracts identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as containing large concentrations of distressed properties and foreclosure activities.

Goldman Sachs' two settlement agreements resolved potential claims regarding the marketing, structuring, arrangement, underwriting, issuance and sale of mortgage-based securities. Besides the Department of Justice, California, Illinois, and New York, Goldman Sachs reached settlements with the National Credit Union Administration Board and the Federal Home Loan Banks of Chicago and Des Moines. Under the settlements, Goldman Sachs agreed to provide a total of $5.06 billion, including consumer-relief valued at $1.8 billion to be distributed by the end of January 2021.

Professor Green, a professional mediator and retired Boston University law professor, was named by the settling parties as independent Monitor with responsibility for determining whether Goldman Sachs fulfills its consumer-relief obligations. He has assembled a team of finance, accounting and legal professionals to assist in the task.

The report is available at the Monitor's website at: http://goldmansachs.mortgagesettlementmonitor.com . The website provides further details about the settlement, plus contact information for Goldman Sachs, the Department of Justice, the Attorneys General of California, Illinois and New York, and agencies that provide legal or tax advice to consumers.

The Monitor's mailing address is: Monitor of the Goldman Sachs Mortgage Settlement, P.O. Box 10310, Dublin, OH 43017-5910, and the e-mail address is [email protected] .

SOURCE Monitor Eric D. Green
MIAMI, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) announced today a record-breaking 16.5 million overnight visitors in 2018, up +3.5% compared to 2017, along with 6.8 million Day Trippers for a total visitor number of 23.3 million. The record-breaking visitor volume led to an economic impact of nearly $18 billion, fueled mostly by international visitors who contributed an estimated +54% of the total economic impact. In 2018, the travel and hospitality sector employed a record 142,100 people while Greater Miami's hotel market ranked in the top 10 among the top 25 hotel markets in the U.S. according to STR. Greater Miami and the Beaches broke another record by selling a record 15.6 million hotel room nights in 2018, representing an increase of +1.5% compared to 2017. This speaks to the strong demand for the destination.

The International overnight visitor market experienced the highest rate of growth, +4.1% in 2018 compared to 2017 and contributed to the record-breaking overnight visitors. International visitors comprised 35% of the overnight market, with 5.8 million visitors, and contributed about 54% of the total visitor expenditure because of longer stays in the destination. Latin America remained a key feeder market in 2018, generating the top three countries of origin for overnight international visitors into Greater Miami: Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. Combined, these three countries delivered more than 20% of the international overnight visitors. Similarly, Latin America as a region represented 45% of the total overnight visitor. Domestic overnight visitors (not including Florida Residents) in 2018 represented 38% of the total overnight visitor market, with 6.2 million traveling to the Greater Miami area and representing 34% of visitor expenditures. New York City remained the largest domestic overnight market, contributing more than 1.2 million visitors or 20% of the total domestic overnight market.

This year, the GMCVB evolved its research methodology to include a more comprehensive analysis of the Florida Resident customer as well as the Day Tripper visitor. As a result, the 2018 Visitor and Industry Overview provides deeper and richer insights into Greater Miami's travel and tourism industry than ever before. Research shows the Florida Resident is a unique customer, with 90% of this group driving into the destination in contrast to the International and Domestic customer. Because of the uniqueness of the Florida Resident, the GMCVB classified this group as its own segment  not to be included in the Domestic Customer profile. In segmenting Greater Miami's visitor profile into three categories: International, Domestic and Florida Resident, the GMCVB is able to better evaluate the nuances of each market and create more laser-focused strategic sales and marketing programs to attract visitors to Greater Miami and Beaches. In 2018, the Florida Resident overnight visitor totaled 4.5 million or 27% of the overnight visitor segment and contributed $2 billion to the total tourism economic impact.

Also new to the GMCVB's 2018 Visitor Profile is an analysis of the Day Tripper customer. This customer does not stay overnight in the destination, but delivers positive economic impact to the local community by shopping, dining or enjoying local museums and attractions in the area. In 2018, there were 6.8 million Day Trippers to Greater Miami. Florida Residents contributed the largest portion of Day Trippers, representing 2.8 million of the segment. Domestic and International Visitors can also be classified as Day Trippers when they fly in to other markets and drive into the Greater Miami area for the day. In 2018, the Domestic and International Day Tripper segments were of a similar size, 2.1 million from the domestic market and 1.9 million from international sources.

"International continues to be a priority market for Greater Miami while we see Greater Miami evolve as a preferred destination for Florida Residents and Day Trippers," said William D. Talbert III, CDME, President and CEO of the GMCVB. "We are proud to offer our local industry partners the latest and most evolved standards for travel industry insights and research. This expanded methodology and approach provides our partners and the GMCVB with richer insights to create more targeted sales and marketing programs."

Cruise travel as a reason to visit Greater Miami continues to grow, with more than one in 10 visitors traveling to the destination for a cruise. The increased interest in cruise travel supports the +12.5% increase in PortMiami passengers resulting in a record-breaking 6 million cruise passengers in 2018. The GMCVB partners with PortMiami to create programs promoting the Cruise Capital of the World as well as pre and post cruising excursions throughout the destination. The GMCVB also continued strong partnerships with Miami International Airport (MIA) in 2018, welcoming new service from around the world including from Santa Marta, Colombia with VivaAir Colombia; Brasilia and Fortaleza, Brazil with GOL Lineas Aereas; and eight new American Airlines routes, among others. More than 22 million passengers arrived at MIA in 2018 resulting in a record-breaking year for MIA arrivals, a +2% increase over 2017. In 2018, nearly two-thirds of overnight visitors to Greater Miami arrived by air  solidifying the importance of MIA to the local tourism eco-system.

In 2018, the GMCVB continued its "Hotels First" initiative, positioning hotels front and center in global branding and marketing efforts  increasing the desirability and demand for Greater Miami's hotel market. In 2018, Greater Miami and the Beaches had the highest rate of growth in ADR (average daily rate) among Top 25 U.S. Hotel markets. The +6.1% increase over 2017 yielded an average ADR of $199.35 in 2018. The destination ended the year with an average Hotel Occupancy rate of 76.7%, an increase of +0.3% over 2017. The changes in Occupancy and ADR resulted in RevPAR (revenue per available room) of $152.81, netting an overall increase of +6.3% for Greater Miami and the Beaches. Similar to ADR, RevPAR grew substantially and ranked #2 in rate of growth for the year among all Top 25 U.S. Hotel Markets.

The demand for the Miami and Beaches brand remained strong in 2018 with a +4.2% increase in hotel inventory, reaching a total of 57,415 rooms in 2018. Greater Miami and the Beaches broke another record in 2018 by selling 15.6 million hotel room nights in 2018, representing an increase of +1.5% compared to the previous year. In 2018, Greater Miami and the Beaches ranked among the top 10 in all three major categories (Occupancy, ADR and RevPAR) when compared against the Top 25 U.S. Hotel Markets by STR.

The hotel and travel industry's success is directly linked to destination marketing programs that help drive demand and increase the number of visitors to Greater Miami and the Beaches. In 2018, the GMCVB continued its marketing and branding campaign "Found in Miami", a comprehensive domestic and international advertising and destination campaign that speaks to the destination's authentic travel experiences. The campaign calls on travelers to go deeper into the destination and discover the cultural riches of Greater Miami's neighborhoods. The campaign encourages visitors to stay longer and explore Miami's diverse neighborhoods to discover authentic experiences.

"Our neighborhood marketing strategy encourages visitors to stay longer in Greater Miami, further spreading the wealth of tourism," said Bruce Orosz, GMCVB Board Chair. "Whether it's a Day Tripper who comes into the destination to experience a neighborhood for a few hours, or an international visitor staying for several days  Greater Miami's authenticity is a strong tourism driver and attracts visitors from all over the world."

Looking ahead, with the recent opening of the newly reimagined $625 million Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC) and approval for the construction of a new convention headquarter hotel, the GMCVB is once again booking convention business and driving strong local economic impact generated by the meetings industry. The GMCVB will continue strategic marketing campaigns aimed at the meetings industry to include sales, public relations, advertising and digital programs to attract citywide conventions to the destination.

The meetings industry, along with the leisure side of Greater Miami's tourism business, is currently undergoing close evaluation during the GMCVB's strategic plan process entitled DestinationMiami. The GMCVB's strategic plan process is an action-oriented and forward-thinking plan designed to address critical issues for Greater Miami's travel and tourism industry. The DestinationMiami strategic plan will closely evaluate Greater Miami's assets and challenges in order to develop a roadmap to drive the travel and tourism industry forward over the next five years. The process will analyze Greater Miami's tourism industry trends and create a plan to keep the destination's position as a highly desired, top global brand in an ever-shifting competitive marketplace.

For more information about the GMCVB's Strategic Plan initiative, visit www.DestinationMiami.org.

About the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau

The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) is an accredited not-for-profit sales and marketing organization whose mission is to attract visitors to Greater Miami and the Beaches for leisure, business and conventions. For a vacation guide, visit our website at www.MiamiandBeaches.com or call 1.888.76.Miami (U.S./Canada only) or 305.447.7777. To reach the GMCVB offices dial 305.539.3000. Meeting planners may call 1.800.933.8448 (U.S./Canada only) or 305.539.3071, or visit www.MiamiMeetings.com. To get further engaged with Miami and the Beaches, join the conversation by following us on our social media channels at Facebook.com/visitmiami, Twitter.com/miamiandbeaches, Instagram.com/miamiandbeaches, Youtube.com/miamiandbeaches and Pinterest.com/miamiandbeaches.

NOTE: Interviews, digital images and b-roll available upon request.

Contact: Communications, Suzie Sponder 305-539-3084/800-955-3646(U.S./Canada)

SOURCE Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau

Related Links

http://www.miamiandbeaches.com


CENTER CITY, Minn., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the nation's leading nonprofit addiction treatment provider, today celebrates 70 years of saving lives, restoring families, and spreading hope about the promise and possibility of recovery.

Hazelden, as it was then known, launched on May 1, 1949, with just a single "lay" counselor and single patientopening on the banks of South Center Lake in Minnesota as a refuge for "the convalescent alcoholic." It was a place of nature strolls, easy chairs, long conversations over coffee and a holistic approach to healing the body, mind and spirit.

Today, Hazelden Betty Ford's professionals in 17 locations across the country serve more than 20,000 patients a year and many thousands more through the organization's graduate school and its publishing, prevention and professional education arms, as well as through its Patient Care Network and other collaborations.

"Our patients, students and employees have gone on to open and work in countless addiction-related organizations around the world. It's always gratifying to see and discover the many different ways that our training, products, services and advocacyand our peoplehave helped shape the fields of addiction prevention, treatment and recovery," said President and CEO Mark Mishek.

While the idea of creating a humane, therapeutic environment for people with addiction doesn't seem a remarkable concept today, it was almost unheard of when Hazelden was established.

"Our founders helped launch both a field of health care and a social reform movement," Mishek said. "They recognized addiction was a disease neglected by the rest of health care, and they humbly went about humanizing the people who have it, developing innovate ideas, measuring and sharing what works, and serving more and more peopleyear after year. Today, we take very seriously our responsibility to continue learning, growing, and carrying on that mission of hope, healing, leadership and advocacy."

Throughout its seven decades, Hazelden Betty Ford's spirit of innovation and leadershipthe courage to do things differentlyhas led to many breakthroughs, such as:

Establishing one of the nation's first addiction treatment centers for women;

"Professionalizing" addiction counseling with specialized counselor training (the precursor to its fully accredited graduate school);

Pioneering a program of support for families and children hurt by addiction; and

Developingin this most recent decadea model new, evidence-based treatment framework for opioid use disorder.

The organization's reach and impact can also be traced to its enduring commitment to sharing what works.

"Our earliest leaders believed too many people suffer with addiction for us to keep our knowledge and experience to ourselves," Mishek said. "That's why our doors are open to other treatment providers and aspiring counselors to come and learn with us, and why published resources, research initiatives and advocacy efforts are a big part of our story."

The organization is marking its platinum anniversary with two notable events, among others, in 2019:

The grand opening and ribbon cutting on May 2 for its newest treatment center: Hazelden Betty Ford in Bellevue, Wash .; and

for its newest treatment center: Hazelden Betty Ford in .; and Its signature, one-of-a-kind outdoor sober music festival, hazelfest, to be held Aug. 3 on the grounds where the organization was founded in Center City, Minn.

The Bellevue open house on May 2 will be held from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., with speakers and recognitions beginning at 4 p.m. followed by a ribbon-cutting photo-op at approximately 4:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited and registration is required online at HazeldenBettyFord.org/OpenHouse.

Presented by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and sponsored by 89.3 The Current, hazelfest brings together people affected by addiction and the general public to celebrate recovery, spread hope, and smash the stigma associated with substance use disorders and mental illness. Tickets are $20 in advance and available now at www.HazelFest.com.

"With each new day, we embrace the challenge of helping more people reclaim their lives from addiction," Mishek said. "We are committed to the vision that no one need suffer or die from a disease that can be treated, managed and overcome."

For more reflections on Hazelden Betty Ford's 70th anniversary, read the new edition of its Together magazine.

About the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is a force of healing and hope for individuals, families and communities affected by addiction to alcohol and other drugs. As the nation's leading nonprofit provider of comprehensive inpatient and outpatient treatment for adults and youth, the Foundation has 17 locations nationwide and collaborates with an expansive network throughout health care. With a legacy that began in 1949 and includes the 1982 founding of the Betty Ford Center, the Foundation today also encompasses a graduate school of addiction studies, a publishing division, an addiction research center, recovery advocacy and thought leadership, professional and medical education programs, school-based prevention resources and a specialized program for children who grow up in families with addiction. Learn more at www.HazeldenBettyFord.org and on Twitter @hazldnbettyford.

SOURCE Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Related Links

http://www.hazeldenbettyford.org


BOSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- National architecture and engineering firm HED is pleased to announce its hiring of six senior level healthcare staff members in its Boston office. These talented designers and healthcare professionals join the firm from Steffian Bradley Architects and its affiliated Sterling Planning Alliance partnership, bringing to HED over 185 years of combined healthcare project experience.

The new hires include:

These new team members include (From L to R): Bobbe Young, Lt Col (Ret), MHA; Alberto Salvatore, AIA, NCARB, EDAC; Jacqueline Royer, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP; Lynn Drover, NCIDQ, AAHID; Donald Luoni; and Erin Pleasants.

Bobbe Young , Lt Col (Ret), MHA  Healthcare Studio Leader

, Lt Col (Ret), MHA  Healthcare Studio Leader Alberto Salvatore , AIA, NCARB, EDAC  National Healthcare Design Leader

, AIA, NCARB, EDAC  National Healthcare Design Leader Lynn Drover, NCIDQ, AAHID  National Healthcare Leader Interior Architecture

Donald Luoni - Construction Administration & Business Development

- Construction Administration & Business Development Jacqueline Royer , AIA, NCARB, LEED AP  Healthcare Planning

, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP  Healthcare Planning Erin Pleasants  Healthcare Data Analyst

Spanning a range of architectural and design perspectives, this group of senior level talent will build on HED's existing skills in design, project management, medical planning, healthcare administration, data analysis, construction administration, and more.

According to Peter Devereaux, FAIA, Chairman of HED, this is an important strategic growth opportunity for the firm. "With our existing Boston office, paired with these focused talented additions in the healthcare sector, we are excited to continue building on our growing design portfolio in New England."

Alberto Salvatore, joining the HED team as the firm's National Healthcare Design Leader, has a long history of healthcare leadership and as a champion for design excellence. "I know HED as a strong competitive firm. The opportunity to join them today, helping to lead the growth of their healthcare presence here on the East coast, is an exciting step for me and each of my colleagues. This company has an incredibly collaborative, forward-thinking healthcare practice and I am thrilled to have the chance to join forces as a part of this inspiring team."

HED leadership has identified healthcare as an important, fast-growing sector throughout the U.S. and beyond and has worked to build its team, resources, and technology to continue to create cutting-edge design solutions for this industry. The firm has long-held healthcare leadership in its Midwest and West Coast offices and is building additional strength in the sector around the country. As Devereaux points out, "Many of our clients in healthcare are growing at an incredibly fast pace. It is important that we keep up with them, in talent and capacity, to help apply our significant knowledge in the design of their unique facilities across the country."

"Healthcare facilities today are in constant need of strategic planning and careful, ongoing improvements. Between technology's rapid changes, shifting demographics, and population geographies in constant flux, healthcare operators need to remain two steps ahead of their future patient populations. Both of our teams have been leading this kind of strategic facility planning and design thinking for clients around the country, so this couldn't be a better fit for us individually and for HED," said Bobbe Young, a new Healthcare Studio Leader with the firm.

The new team members joined HED effective April 24th.

ABOUT HED HED seeks creative solutions that have a positive impact for its clients, the community, and the world. Since its founding in 1908, HED has earned a reputation for excellence in all facets of the designed and built environment, including architecture, consulting, engineering, and planning services. The firm of 400+ people serves clients in a broad range of market sectors from eight U.S. offices (Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Sacramento). See how HED advances your world at www.hed.design .

Media Contact: Nicole Marshall

[email protected] / (504) 644-7335

SOURCE HED

Related Links

http://www.hed.design


The seven-member boy band BTS, who are Hyundai Global Brand Ambassadors, commenced their visit to the U.S. by riding in a Palisade after arriving at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport on April 29 (Pacific Time). BTS will participate and perform at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards ceremony at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 1, where the band is nominated for two awards in the Top Duo/Group and Top Social Artist categories.

Following the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, BTS will kick off its U.S. tour on May 4 in Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl Stadium.

With BTS gaining explosive global attention for its music and related videos, the group's promotional ambassadorship is expected to give a major boost to Palisade's worldwide advertising campaign. Teaming up with BTS has given Hyundai a global platform to highlight Palisade's bold, cutting-edge design and functions, including the masculine, ironclad-looking exterior and spacious, classy interior.

"These days, the way people consume media contents is rapidly changing, and the way companies communicate their brands is becoming more advanced," said Wonhong Cho, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Hyundai Motor. "To successfully respond to these changes, communicating with young generations through most iconic figures has taken a paramount importance in branding."

Hyundai Motor has provided the eight-passenger vehicle to BTS since the members became Hyundai Global Brand Ambassadors in November last year. The K-pop superstars were shown with a Palisade in a special promotional video at the Los Angeles Auto Show in the same month for the first time.

The Palisade was also revealed during the group's attendance at the 61st Grammy Awards in February this year. Hyundai Motor further expanded the partnership with BTS by unveiling a teaser video of the band's latest global campaign on digital billboards at Piccadilly Circus in London.

Important Notice

BTS, the Hyundai Global Brand Ambassadors, will use the Palisade as well as other vehicles on their journey in the U.S.

About Hyundai Motor

Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is committed to becoming a lifetime partner in automobiles and beyond with its range of world-class vehicles and mobility services available in more than 200 countries. Employing more than 110,000 employees worldwide, Hyundai has sold more than 4.5 million vehicles globally. Hyundai Motor continues to enhance its product line-up with vehicles that are helping to build solutions for a more sustainable future, such as NEXO, the world's first dedicated hydrogen-powered SUV.

More information about Hyundai Motor and its products can be found at:

http://worldwide.hyundai.com or http://globalpr.hyundai.com

Disclaimer: Hyundai Motor Company believes the information contained herein to be accurate at the time of release. However, the company may upload new or updated information if required and assumes that it is not liable for the accuracy of any information interpreted and used by the reader.

SOURCE Hyundai Motor
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2012, community groups across the country host town hall meetings, health fairs, fun runs, social media campaigns, and more as part of National Prevention Week (NPW). Each year, people around the U.S. share creative and innovative ways to highlight substance abuse prevention and positive mental health initiatives. These NPW events and activities inspire other communities to get involved and champion prevention on a local level. This year's observance will take place May 12 to 18, here's how you can get involved.

Whether it's your first time participating in NPW or you've joined from the beginning, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's (SAMHSA) NPW website has everything you need to put your plan into action, including resources available in Spanish! Some of the tools available to help you include:

National Prevention Week 2019 Planning Guide and Resource Calendar : The calendar notes health observances such as National Alcohol Awareness Month (April) and World Suicide Prevention Day ( September 10 ), and provides information on NPW's federal partners and resources. It also guides you through quarterly planning checklists and prevention tips and offers an Augmented Reality (AR) feature that makes the calendar come alive! Learn more and request your free copy or download an electronic copy from the SAMHSA Store .

: The calendar notes health observances such as National Alcohol Awareness Month (April) and ( ), and provides information on NPW's federal partners and resources. It also guides you through quarterly planning checklists and prevention tips and offers an Augmented Reality (AR) feature that makes the calendar come alive! Learn more and request your free copy or download an electronic copy from the . NPW Webinar Series : Want to hear from prevention experts? This series covers issues at the forefront of prevention efforts today, including opioids , suicide, vaping, and how teens can become involved in substance use prevention. Visit the NPW Webinar Series website to watch archived recordings of previous webinars.

: Want to hear from prevention experts? This series covers issues at the forefront of prevention efforts today, including , suicide, vaping, and how can become involved in substance use prevention. Visit the to watch archived recordings of previous webinars. Prevention Challenge : This year's Prevention Challenge shines a light on the individuals, organizations, and programs that inspire people to take steps to live healthier lives. Follow #PreventionChampion on social media and add your Champion to the digital mosaic.

: This year's shines a light on the individuals, organizations, and programs that inspire people to take steps to live healthier lives. Follow #PreventionChampion on social media and add your Champion to the digital mosaic. NPW 2019 Video: Every year, SAMHSA's NPW video demonstrates how individuals can champion prevention in their community. This year's video incorporates both the NPW 2019 theme  "Inspiring Action. Changing Lives."  and the Prevention Challenge. You'll hear from individuals across the U.S. talking about the impact of their work locally. Share the video with your own community to inspire even more action to change lives!

Whether you plan an NPW activity in May or participate in other events throughout the year, be sure to share your prevention efforts with SAMHSA directly on the NPW website so others can see the impact of prevention efforts across the country. Share the unique ways you are inspiring action and changing lives by getting involved!

Find mental health services, including resources and information on treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, and other resources by visiting USA.gov .

SOURCE USAGov
DALLAS, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jacobs (NYSE:JEC) was awarded a fifteen-month direct award bridge contract to perform field range testing and laboratory support services for the West Desert Test Center at Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) in Utah. Continuing the work Jacobs has performed at the major test site for the past 15 years, the West Desert Test Center estimates the contract value at $27 million.

Jacobs' support includes conducting field range testing, and chamber and laboratory tests for chemical and biological simulants and pollutants. Jacobs will evaluate the functionality of detection, dissemination and decontamination systems, as well as individual protective equipment. Technical support also includes evaluation of equipment and procedures and facilitation of field exercises and training at customer sites. Additionally, Jacobs will continue providing onsite chemical and biological incident training for civilian first responders and members of every branch of the military, as well as foreign partners, which includes classroom instruction, practical laboratory exercises and field training.

"Our work at Dugway Proving Ground sustains Jacobs' position as a leading provider of range and test and evaluation services to the Army and Department of Defense," said Jacobs Aerospace, Technology and Nuclear Senior Vice President Jennifer Richmond. "This direct award bridge contract enables us to continue our longstanding partnership providing leading-edge, solutions-driven innovation in the increasingly important area of chemical and biological defense."

DPG serves as the nation's leading chemical and biological defense proving ground. West Desert Test Center is the testing area for DPG and is designated as the U.S. Army's Major Range and Test Facility Base for chemical and biological defense testing.

Jacobs leads the global professional services sector delivering solutions for a more connected, sustainable world. With more than $12 billion in revenue and a talent force of more than 50,000, 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 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


MINNEAPOLIS, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Braun Intertec, an engineering, consulting and testing firm with offices throughout the United States, is pleased to announce John A. Focht III, PE, has joined the firm as a senior geotechnical engineer in northern Texas. Focht brings nearly 38 years of leadership, project management experience and technical expertise serving clients within the public and private sectors on geotechnical engineering, environmental consulting, and construction materials testing projects across Texas. He also has significant geotechnical engineering experience in Mexico and construction experience in Saudi Arabia. As a senior geotechnical engineer at Braun Intertec, Focht will focus on the development and training of up-and-coming engineers in addition to client project management.

"We are thrilled to welcome John to our team of employee-owners at Braun Intertec," said Jon Carlson, Braun Intertec CEO. "His dedication to technical excellence and range of experience in a variety of industries will add significant value as we continue to grow in northern Texas and beyond."

Throughout his career, Focht has held a variety of leadership positions and developed significant experience working on complex projects, including both new highway construction and highway remediation, high-rise buildings, levees and dams, primary and secondary educational facilities, industrial and petrochemical facilities, airfields and port and harbor facilities. His technical expertise includes immediate and long-term settlement, deep excavations, global stability, expansive soils, karst, dispersive soils and collapsible soils.

Focht has also served as a consulting expert for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Air Force and as a testifying expert for the U.S. Department of Justice. He also co-authored three peer-reviewed technical papers dealing with foundation movement, excavation retention performance and deep foundations on Texas barrier islands.

About Braun Intertec

Based in Minneapolis, employee-owned Braun Intertec (www.braunintertec.com) is a premier engineering, environmental consulting and testing firm with more than 1,000 employees located in Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. Braun Intertec subsidiaries include Agile Frameworks, LLC, based in Minneapolis, as well as W&M Environmental Group, a division of Braun Intertec based in Plano, Texas.

SOURCE Braun Intertec

Related Links

http://www.braunintertec.com


CORK, Ireland, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Johnson Controls International plc (NYSE: JCI) today reported fiscal second quarter 2019 GAAP earnings per share ("EPS") from continuing operations, including special items, of $0.26. Excluding these items, adjusted EPS from continuing operations was $0.32, up 23% versus the prior year period (see attached footnotes for non-GAAP reconciliation).

Sales of $5.8 billion increased 3% compared to the prior year. Excluding the impacts of M&A and foreign currency, sales grew 6% organically.

GAAP earnings before interest and taxes ("EBIT") was $419 million and EBIT margin was 7.3%. Adjusted EBIT was $469 million and adjusted EBIT margin was 8.1%, up 60 basis points over the prior year. Excluding the impact of M&A and foreign currency, the underlying adjusted EBIT margin increased 70 basis points.

On April 30, 2019, the Company closed the previously announced sale of the Power Solutions business to Brookfield Business Partners for net cash proceeds of approximately $11.6 billion. As previously stated, net cash proceeds are expected to be used to reduce $3.4 billion in existing debt, and fund the repurchase of up to $8.2 billion in ordinary shares.

Separately, in connection with the closing of the transaction, the Company announced today that it plans to launch a "modified Dutch auction" tender offer in the coming days for up to $4.0 billion of its ordinary shares with a price range between $36.00 and $40.00 per share. The Company also announced that it has commenced a cash tender offer to purchase up to $1.5 billion in aggregate principal amount of certain of its outstanding notes. For additional information regarding the debt tender, please refer to the debt tender offer press release issued by the Company concurrently with this release.

"Johnson Controls delivered another strong quarter, demonstrating continued organic top-line momentum and our commitment to operational execution," said George Oliver, chairman and CEO. "Given the strength of our backlog, visibility into our order pipeline, and strategic initiatives to improve profitability, I am confident in our outlook for the second half. Additionally, we closed the Power Solutions transaction ahead of schedule, which enables us to accelerate our efforts to return capital to shareholders."

Income and EPS amounts attributable to Johnson Controls ordinary shareholders

($ millions, except per-share amounts)

The financial highlights presented in the tables below are in accordance with GAAP, unless otherwise indicated. All comparisons are to the fiscal second quarter of 2018. The results of Power Solutions are reported as discontinued operations in all periods presented.

Organic sales growth, organic EBITA growth, adjusted segment EBITA, adjusted EBIT, adjusted EPS from continuing operations and adjusted free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures. For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures and detail of the special items, refer to the attached footnotes. A slide presentation to accompany the results can be found in the Investor Relations section of Johnson Controls' website at http://investors.johnsoncontrols.com.



GAAP GAAP

Adjusted Adjusted



Q2 2018 Q2 2019

Q2 2018 Q2 2019 Change Sales $5,630 $5,779

$5,630 $5,779 +3% Segment EBITA 615 664

630 671 +7% EBIT 361 419

425 469 +10% Net income from continuing operations 184 240

246 287 +17% Diluted EPS from continuing operations $0.20 $0.26

$0.26 $0.32 +23%

BUSINESS RESULTS

Building Solutions North America



GAAP GAAP

Adjusted Adjusted



Q2 2018 Q2 2019

Q2 2018 Q2 2019 Change Sales $2,097 $2,187

$2,097 $2,187 4% Segment EBITA $239 $257

$244 $259 6% Segment EBITA margin % 11.4% 11.8%

11.6% 11.8% 20bps

Sales in the quarter of $2.2 billion increased 4% versus the prior year. Excluding M&A and foreign currency, organic sales increased 5% versus the prior year driven by solid growth across HVAC & Controls and Fire & Security.

Orders in the quarter, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency, increased 2% year-over-year. Backlog at the end of the quarter of $5.6 billion increased 5% year-over-year, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency.

Adjusted segment EBITA was $259 million, up 6% versus the prior year. Adjusted segment EBITA margin of 11.8% expanded 20 basis points versus the prior year as favorable volume leverage as well as cost synergies and productivity savings, were partially offset by unfavorable mix and run-rate salesforce additions.

Building Solutions EMEA/LA (Europe, Middle East, Africa/Latin America)



GAAP GAAP

Adjusted Adjusted



Q2 2018 Q2 2019

Q2 2018 Q2 2019 Change Sales $907 $878

$907 $878 (3%) Segment EBITA $77 $80

$78 $81 4% Segment EBITA margin % 8.5% 9.1%

8.6% 9.2% 60bps

Sales in the quarter of $878 million declined 3% versus the prior year. Excluding M&A and foreign currency, organic sales grew 4% versus the prior year driven by strong growth in service and project installation. Growth was positive across most regions, led by strength in Fire & Security and Industrial Refrigeration in Europe and Latin America.

Orders in the quarter, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency, increased 3% year-over-year. Backlog at the end of the quarter of $1.7 billion increased 9% year-over-year, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency.

Adjusted segment EBITA was $81 million, up 4% versus the prior year. Adjusted segment EBITA margin of 9.2% expanded 60 basis points over the prior year, including a 40 basis point headwind related to foreign currency. Adjusting for foreign currency, the underlying margin improved 100 basis points driven by favorable volume, as well as the benefit from cost synergies and productivity savings, partially offset by run-rate salesforce additions.

Building Solutions Asia Pacific



GAAP GAAP

Adjusted Adjusted



Q2 2018 Q2 2019

Q2 2018 Q2 2019 Change Sales $586 $628

$586 $628 7% Segment EBITA $71 $76

$71 $76 7% Segment EBITA margin % 12.1% 12.1%

12.1% 12.1% Flat

Sales in the quarter of $628 million increased 7% versus the prior year. Excluding M&A and foreign currency, organic sales increased 12% versus the prior year driven primarily by double digit growth in project installations.

Orders in the quarter, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency, increased 1% year-over-year. Backlog at the end of the quarter of $1.6 billion increased 8% year-over-year, excluding M&A and adjusted for foreign currency.

Adjusted segment EBITA was $76 million, up 7% versus the prior year. Adjusted segment EBITA margin of 12.1% was unchanged versus the prior year as favorable volume was more than offset by unfavorable mix, run-rate salesforce additions and expected underlying margin pressure.

Global Products



GAAP GAAP

Adjusted Adjusted



Q2 2018 Q2 2019

Q2 2018 Q2 2019 Change Sales $2,040 $2,086

$2,040 $2,086 2% Segment EBITA $228 $251

$237 $255 8% Segment EBITA margin % 11.2% 12.0%

11.6% 12.2% 60bps

Sales in the quarter of $2.1 billion increased 2% versus the prior year. Excluding M&A and foreign currency, organic sales increased 7% versus the prior year with low-double digit growth in Building Management Systems, mid-single digit growth in HVAC & Refrigeration Equipment, and low-double digit growth in Specialty Products.

Adjusted segment EBITA was $255 million, up 8% versus the prior year. Adjusted segment EBITA margin of 12.2% expanded 60 basis points over the prior year. This increase was driven by favorable volume and mix, positive price/cost as well as the benefit of cost synergies and productivity savings, slightly offset by ongoing product investments.

Corporate



GAAP GAAP

Adjusted Adjusted



Q2 2018 Q2 2019

Q2 2018 Q2 2019 Change Corporate expense ($162) ($167)

($113) ($104) (8%)

Adjusted Corporate expense was $104 million in the quarter, a decrease of 8% compared to the prior year, driven primarily by continued cost synergies and productivity savings.

OTHER ITEMS

For the quarter, cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations was $0.2 billion and capital expenditures were $0.1 billion , resulting in free cash flow from continuing operations of $0.1 billion . Adjusted free cash flow was $0.2 billion , which excludes net cash outflows of $0.1 billion primarily related to integration costs.

and capital expenditures were , resulting in free cash flow from continuing operations of . Adjusted free cash flow was , which excludes net cash outflows of primarily related to integration costs. Year-to-date, cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations was $0.1 billion and capital expenditures were $0.3 billion , resulting in a free cash outflow from continuing operations of $0.2 billion . Adjusted free cash flow was neutral, which excludes net cash outflows of $0.2 billion primarily related to restructuring and integration costs.

and capital expenditures were , resulting in a free cash outflow from continuing operations of . Adjusted free cash flow was neutral, which excludes net cash outflows of primarily related to restructuring and integration costs. During the quarter, the Company repurchased approximately 16 million shares for $533 million . Year-to-date, the Company repurchased approximately 30 million shares for $1 billion .

. Year-to-date, the Company repurchased approximately 30 million shares for . The Company is increasing its outlook for fiscal 2019 adjusted EPS before special items from continuing operations to a range of $1.85 to $1.95 , representing a year-over-year increase of 16% to 23%. The updated outlook reflects the incremental use of Power Solutions sale proceeds, which are now expected to result in an approximate $0.15 benefit versus a $0.05 benefit previously expected.

About Johnson Controls:

Johnson Controls is a global leader creating a safe, comfortable and sustainable world. Our 105,000 employees create intelligent buildings, efficient energy solutions and integrated infrastructure that work seamlessly together to deliver on the promise of smart cities and communities in 150 countries. Our commitment to sustainability dates back to our roots in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat. We are committed to helping our customers win everywhere, every day and creating greater value for all of our stakeholders through our strategic focus on buildings. For additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.

Johnson Controls International plc Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Johnson Controls International plc has made statements in this communication that are forward-looking and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements in this document other than statements of historical fact are, or could be, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this communication, statements regarding Johnson Controls' future financial position, sales, costs, earnings, cash flows, other measures of results of operations, synergies and integration opportunities, capital expenditures and debt levels are forward-looking statements. Words such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "should," "forecast," "project" or "plan" and terms of similar meaning are also generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Johnson Controls cautions that these statements are subject to numerous important risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond Johnson Controls' control, that could cause Johnson Controls' actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks related to: any delay or inability of Johnson Controls to realize the expected benefits and synergies of recent portfolio transactions such as the merger with Tyco and the spin-off of Adient, changes in tax laws (including but not limited to the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act), regulations, rates, policies or interpretations, the loss of key senior management, the tax treatment of recent portfolio transactions, significant transaction costs and/or unknown liabilities associated with such transactions, the outcome of actual or potential litigation relating to such transactions, the risk that disruptions from recent transactions will harm Johnson Controls' business, the strength of the U.S. or other economies, changes to laws or policies governing foreign trade, including increased tariffs or trade restrictions, automotive vehicle production levels, mix and schedules, energy and commodity prices, the availability of raw materials and component products, currency rates and cancellation of or changes to commercial arrangements, and with respect to the disposition of the Power Solutions business, whether the strategic benefits of the Power Solutions transaction can be achieved. A detailed discussion of risks related to Johnson Controls' business is included in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Johnson Controls' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 2018 fiscal year filed with the SEC on November 20, 2018, which is available at www.sec.gov and www.johnsoncontrols.com under the "Investors" tab. Shareholders, potential investors and others should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements and should not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements included in this communication are made only as of the date of this document, unless otherwise specified, and, except as required by law, Johnson Controls assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this communication.

Non-GAAP Financial Information

The Company's press release contains financial information regarding adjusted earnings per share, which is a non-GAAP performance measure. The adjusting items include net mark-to-market adjustments, transaction/integration costs, restructuring and impairment costs, Scott Safety gain on sale, the impact of ceasing the depreciation/amortization expense for the Power Solutions business as the business is held for sale and discrete tax items. Financial information regarding organic sales, adjusted segment EBITA, adjusted organic segment EBITA, adjusted segment EBITA margin, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow conversion are also presented, which are non-GAAP performance measures. Adjusted segment EBITA excludes special items such as transaction/integration costs and Scott Safety gain on sale because these costs are not considered to be directly related to the underlying operating performance of its business units. Management believes that, when considered together with unadjusted amounts, these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors in understanding period-over-period operating results and business trends of the Company. Management may also use these metrics as guides in forecasting, budgeting and long-term planning processes and for compensation purposes. These metrics should be considered in addition to, and not as replacements for, the most comparable GAAP measure.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

This news release is for informational purposes only, is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities of Johnson Controls, and does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation to sell any securities of Johnson Controls.

The equity tender offer has not yet commenced, and there can be no assurances that Johnson Controls will commence the equity tender offer on the terms described in this new release or at all. On the commencement date of the equity tender offer, Johnson Controls will file a tender offer statement on Schedule TO, including an offer to purchase, letter of transmittal and related materials, with the SEC. The equity tender offer will be made only pursuant to the offer to purchase, the related letter of transmittal and other related materials filed as part of the Schedule TO with the SEC upon commencement of the equity tender offer. When available, shareholders should read carefully the offer to purchase, letter of transmittal and related materials because they will contain important information, including the various terms of, and conditions to, the equity tender offer. Once the equity tender offer is commenced, shareholders will be able to obtain a free copy of the tender offer statement on Schedule TO, the offer to purchase, letter of transmittal and other documents that Johnson Controls will be filing with the SEC at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or from Johnson Control's information agent in connection with the equity tender offer.

Additionally, the debt tender offer described in this news release is being made solely on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the offering materials relating to the debt tender and the information in this press release is qualified by reference to such offering materials.

CONTACT: Investors: Antonella Franzen (609) 720-4665





Ryan Edelman (609) 720-4545





Media: Fraser Engerman (414) 524-2733

JOHNSON CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL PLC











CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (in millions, except per share data; unaudited)



























Three Months Ended March 31,



2019



2018











Net sales $ 5,779



$ 5,630 Cost of sales 3,935



3,806

Gross profit 1,844



1,824











Selling, general and administrative expenses (1,458)



(1,490) Net financing charges (98)



(107) Equity income 33



27











Income from continuing operations before income taxes 321



254











Income tax provision 47



36











Income from continuing operations 274



218











Income from discontinued operations, net of tax 284



265











Net income 558



483











Less: Income from continuing operations attributable to noncontrolling interests 34



34











Less: Income from discontinued operations attributable to noncontrolling interests 9



11











Net income attributable to JCI $ 515



$ 438











Income from continuing operations $ 240



$ 184 Income from discontinued operations 275



254











Net income attributable to JCI $ 515



$ 438











Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations $ 0.26



$ 0.20 Diluted earnings per share from discontinued operations 0.30



0.27 Diluted earnings per share * $ 0.57



$ 0.47











Diluted weighted average shares 905.9



932.5 Shares outstanding at period end 898.1



926.2











* May not sum due to rounding.









JOHNSON CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL PLC











CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (in millions, except per share data; unaudited)



























Six Months Ended March 31,



2019



2018











Net sales $ 11,243



$ 10,935 Cost of sales 7,674



7,413

Gross profit 3,569



3,522











Selling, general and administrative expenses (2,896)



(2,809) Restructuring and impairment costs -



(154) Net financing charges (183)



(209) Equity income 75



74











Income from continuing operations before income taxes 565



424











Income tax provision 155



253











Income from continuing operations 410



171











Income from discontinued operations, net of tax 547



583











Net income 957



754











Less: Income from continuing operations attributable to noncontrolling interests 63



62











Less: Income from discontinued operations attributable to noncontrolling interests 24



24























Net income attributable to JCI $ 870



$ 668











Income from continuing operations $ 347



$ 109 Income from discontinued operations 523



559











Net income attributable to JCI $ 870



$ 668











Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations $ 0.38



$ 0.12 Diluted earnings per share from discontinued operations 0.57



0.60 Diluted earnings per share $ 0.95



$ 0.72











Diluted weighted average shares 915.6



932.9 Shares outstanding at period end 898.1



926.2

JOHNSON CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL PLC













CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION

(in millions; unaudited)





























March 31,

September 30,





2019

2018

ASSETS







Cash and cash equivalents $ 239

$ 185

Accounts receivable - net 5,707

5,622

Inventories 2,124

1,819

Assets held for sale 2,999

3,015

Other current assets 1,767

1,182



Current assets 12,836

11,823













Property, plant and equipment - net 3,332

3,300

Goodwill

18,311

18,381

Other intangible assets - net 6,015

6,187

Investments in partially-owned affiliates 937

848

Noncurrent assets held for sale 5,229

5,188

Other noncurrent assets 1,829

3,070



Total assets $ 48,489

$ 48,797













LIABILITIES AND EQUITY







Short-term debt and current portion of long-term debt $ 3,968

$ 1,307

Accounts payable and accrued expenses 4,214

4,428

Liabilities held for sale 1,558

1,791

Other current liabilities 3,701

3,724



Current liabilities 13,441

11,250













Long-term debt 8,418

9,623

Other noncurrent liabilities 5,144

5,259

Noncurrent liabilities held for sale 185

207

Shareholders' equity attributable to JCI 20,036

21,164

Noncontrolling interests 1,265

1,294



Total liabilities and equity $ 48,489

$ 48,797

JOHNSON CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL PLC



















CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (in millions; unaudited)



















































Three Months Ended March 31,











2019



2018 Operating Activities







Net income attributable to JCI from continuing operations $ 240



$ 184 Income from continuing operations attributable to noncontrolling interests 34



34



















Net income from continuing operations 274



218



















Adjustments to reconcile net income from continuing operations to cash provided by operating activities:











Depreciation and amortization 211



212



Pension and postretirement benefit income (28)



(36)



Pension and postretirement contributions (16)



(13)



Equity in earnings of partially-owned affiliates, net of dividends received (31)



(26)



Deferred income taxes 460



1



Other - net 5



11



Changes in assets and liabilities, excluding acquisitions and divestitures:















Accounts receivable (285)



(97)







Inventories (99)



(13)







Other assets 34



(37)







Restructuring reserves (34)



(102)







Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 209



206







Accrued income taxes (518)



(51)









Cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations 182



273



















Investing Activities







Capital expenditures (125)



(166) Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired -



(15) Business divestitures, net of cash divested -



103 Other - net 2



9









Cash used by investing activities from continuing operations (123)



(69)



















Financing Activities







Increase (decrease) in short and long-term debt - net 530



(488) Stock repurchases (533)



(49) Payment of cash dividends (239)



(241) Proceeds from the exercise of stock options 38



20 Dividends paid to noncontrolling interests (89)



(43) Employee equity-based compensation withholdings (2)



(12)









Cash used by financing activities from continuing operations (295)



(813)



















Discontinued Operations







Net cash provided by operating activities 309



391 Net cash used by investing activities (87)



(107) Net cash used by financing activities (17)



(1)









Net cash flows provided by discontinued operations 205



283



















Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 5



44 Changes in cash held for sale (28)



(5) Decrease in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ (54)



$(287)

JOHNSON CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL PLC



















CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (in millions; unaudited)



















































Six Months Ended March 31,











2019



2018 Operating Activities







Net income attributable to JCI from continuing operations $ 347



$ 109 Income from continuing operations attributable to noncontrolling interests 63



62



















Net income from continuing operations 410



171



















Adjustments to reconcile net income from continuing operations to cash provided by operating activities:











Depreciation and amortization 422



422



Pension and postretirement benefit income (57)



(72)



Pension and postretirement contributions (37)



(36)



Equity in earnings of partially-owned affiliates, net of dividends received (67)



(59)



Deferred income taxes 503



(79)



Non-cash restructuring and impairment costs -



28



Gain on Scott Safety business divestiture -



(114)



Other - net 33



38



Changes in assets and liabilities, excluding acquisitions and divestitures:















Accounts receivable (139)



(107)







Inventories (321)



(209)







Other assets (29)



(174)







Restructuring reserves (59)



(6)







Accounts payable and accrued liabilities (17)



(53)







Accrued income taxes (539)



390









Cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations 103



140



















Investing Activities







Capital expenditures (278)



(280) Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired (13)



(15) Business divestitures, net of cash divested 6



2,114 Other - net 26



(8)









Cash provided (used) by investing activities from continuing operations (259)



1,811



















Financing Activities







Increase (decrease) in short and long-term debt - net 1,544



(1,544) Stock repurchases (1,000)



(199) Payment of cash dividends (479)



(473) Dividends paid to noncontrolling interests (132)



(43) Proceeds from the exercise of stock options 51



36 Employee equity-based compensation withholdings (23)



(36) Other - net -



(4)









Cash used by financing activities from continuing operations (39)



(2,263)



















Discontinued Operations







Net cash provided by operating activities 502



397 Net cash used by investing activities (153)



(228) Net cash provided (used) by financing activities (28)



9









Net cash flows provided by discontinued operations 321



178



















Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (38)



61 Changes in cash held for sale (30)



5 Increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash $ 58



$ (68)

FOOTNOTES 1. Financial Summary



























































































































The Company evaluates the performance of its business units primarily on segment earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA), which represents income from continuing operations before income taxes and noncontrolling interests, excluding general corporate expenses, intangible asset amortization, net financing charges, restructuring and impairment costs, and the net mark-to-market adjustments related to restricted asbestos investments and pension and postretirement plans. In the first quarter of fiscal 2019, the Company began reporting the Power Solutions business as a discontinued operation, which required retrospective application to previously reported financial information. As a result, the financial results shown below are for continuing operations and exclude the Power Solutions business.





































































(in millions; unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31,

Six Months Ended March 31,



































2019

2018

2019

2018



































Actual

Adjusted Non-GAAP

Actual

Adjusted Non-GAAP

Actual

Adjusted Non-GAAP

Actual

Adjusted Non-GAAP





























Net sales































































Building Solutions North America



$ 2,187

$ 2,187

$ 2,097

$ 2,097

$ 4,303

$ 4,303

$ 4,109

$ 4,109





























Building Solutions EMEA/LA



878

878

907

907

1,785

1,785

1,822

1,822





























Building Solutions Asia Pacific



628

628

586

586

1,241

1,241

1,183

1,183





























Global Products



2,086

2,086

2,040

2,040

3,914

3,914

3,821

3,821





























Net sales



$ 5,779

$ 5,779

$ 5,630

$ 5,630

$ 11,243

$ 11,243

$ 10,935

$ 10,935































































































Segment EBITA (1)































































Building Solutions North America



$ 257

$ 259

$ 239

$ 244

$ 507

$ 512

$ 466

$ 480





























Building Solutions EMEA/LA



80

81

77

78

157

158

146

149





























Building Solutions Asia Pacific



76

76

71

71

142

142

145

145





























Global Products



251

255

228

237

441

449

514

415





























Segment EBITA



664

671

615

630

1,247

1,261

1,271

1,189





























Corporate expenses (2)



(167)

(104)

(162)

(113)

(303)

(197)

(300)

(218)





























Amortization of intangible assets



(98)

(98)

(92)

(92)

(195)

(195)

(184)

(184)





























Net mark-to-market adjustments (3)



20

-

-

-

(1)

-

-

-





























Restructuring and impairment costs (4)



-

-

-

-

-

-

(154)

-





























EBIT (5)



419

469

361

425

748

869

633

787





























EBIT margin



7.3%

8.1%

6.4%

7.5%

6.7%

7.7%

5.8%

7.2%





























Net financing charges



(98)

(98)

(107)

(107)

(183)

(183)

(209)

(209)





























Income from continuing operations before income taxes

321

371

254

318

565

686

424

578





























Income tax provision (6)



(47)

(50)

(36)

(38)

(155)

(93)

(253)

(70)





























Income from continuing operations



274

321

218

280

410

593

171

508





























Income from continuing operations attributable to































































noncontrolling interests



(34)

(34)

(34)

(34)

(63)

(63)

(62)

(62)





























Net income from continuing operations attributable to JCI

$ 240

$ 287

$ 184

$ 246

$ 347

$ 530

$ 109

$ 446































































































(1) The Company's press release contains financial information regarding adjusted segment EBITA and adjusted segment EBITA margins, which are non-GAAP performance measures. The Company's definition of adjusted segment EBITA excludes special items because these costs are not considered to be directly related to the underlying operating performance of its businesses. Management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors in understanding the ongoing operations and business trends of the Company.



































































The following is the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 reconciliation of segment EBITA and segment EBITA margin as reported to adjusted segment EBITA and adjusted segment EBITA margin (unaudited):



































































(in millions) Building Solutions

North America

Building Solutions

EMEA/LA

Building Solutions

Asia Pacific

Global Products

Consolidated

JCI plc



















2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

























Segment EBITA as reported $ 257

$ 239

$ 80

$ 77

$ 76

$ 71

$ 251

$ 228

$ 664

$ 615

























Segment EBITA margin as reported 11.8%

11.4%

9.1%

8.5%

12.1%

12.1%

12.0%

11.2%

11.5%

10.9%



























































































Adjusting items:































































Integration costs 2

5

1

1

-

-

4

9

7

15



























































































Adjusted segment EBITA $ 259

$ 244

$ 81

$ 78

$ 76

$ 71

$ 255

$ 237

$ 671

$ 630

























Adjusted segment EBITA margin 11.8%

11.6%

9.2%

8.6%

12.1%

12.1%

12.2%

11.6%

11.6%

11.2%



























































































The following is the six months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 reconciliation of segment EBITA and segment EBITA margin as reported to adjusted segment EBITA and adjusted segment EBITA margin (unaudited):



































































(in millions) Building Solutions

North America

Building Solutions

EMEA/LA

Building Solutions

Asia Pacific

Global Products

Consolidated

JCI plc



























2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

























Segment EBITA as reported $ 507

$ 466

$ 157

$ 146

$ 142

$ 145

$ 441

$ 514

$ 1,247

$ 1,271

























Segment EBITA margin as reported 11.8%

11.3%

8.8%

8.0%

11.4%

12.3%

11.3%

13.5%

11.1%

11.6%



























































































Adjusting items:































































Integration costs 5

14

1

3

-

-

8

15

14

32

























Scott Safety gain on sale -

-

-

-

-

-

-

(114)

-

(114)



























































































Adjusted segment EBITA $ 512

$ 480

$ 158

$ 149

$ 142

$ 145

$ 449

$ 415

$ 1,261

$ 1,189

























Adjusted segment EBITA margin 11.9%

11.7%

8.9%

8.2%

11.4%

12.3%

11.5%

10.9%

11.2%

10.9%



























































































(2) Adjusted Corporate expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2019 excludes $61 million of integration costs and $2 million of transaction costs. Adjusted Corporate expenses for the six months ended March 31, 2019 excludes $102 million of integration costs and $4 million of transaction costs. Adjusted Corporate expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2018 excludes $46 million of integration costs and $3 million of transaction costs. Adjusted Corporate expenses for the six months ended March 31, 2018 excludes $74 million of integration costs and $8 million of transaction costs.



































































(3) On October 1, 2018, the Company adopted Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-01, "Financial Instruments - Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities." ASU No. 2016-01 amends certain aspects of recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of financial instruments, including marketable securities. The new standard requires the mark-to-market of marketable securities investments previously recorded within accumulated other comprehensive income on the statement of financial position be recorded in the statement of income on a prospective basis beginning as of the adoption date. The three months ended March 31, 2019 exclude the net mark-to-market adjustments on restricted investments of $20 million. The six months ended March 31. 2018 exclude the net mark-to-market adjustments on restricted investments of $1 million. As these restricted investments do not relate to the underlying operating performance of its businesses, the Company's definition of adjusted segment EBITA and adjusted EBIT excludes the mark-to-market adjustments effective October 1, 2018.



































































(4) Restructuring and impairment costs for the six months ended March 31, 2018 of $154 million are excluded from the adjusted non-GAAP results. The restructuring actions and impairment costs related primarily to workforce reductions, plant closures and asset impairments in the Building Technologies & Solutions business and at Corporate.



































































(5) Management defines earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) as income from continuing operations before net financing charges, income taxes and noncontrolling interests.



































































(6) Adjusted income tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2019 excludes the tax benefits of integration costs of $7 million and transaction costs of $1 million, partially offset by the tax provision for net mark-to-market adjustments of $5 million. Adjusted income tax provision for the six months ended March 31, 2019 excludes the tax provision for valuation allowance adjustments of $76 million as a result of changes in U.S. tax law, partially offset by the tax benefits for integration costs of $13 million and transactions costs of $1 million. Adjusted income tax provision for the three months ended March 31, 2018 excludes the tax benefit for integration costs of $9 million, partially offset by the impact of the third quarter fiscal 2018 effective tax rate change of $7 million. Adjusted income tax provision for the six months ended March 31, 2018 excludes the net tax provision related to the U.S. Tax Reform legislation of $204 million, Scott Safety gain on sale of $30 million and the impact of the third quarter fiscal 2018 effective tax rate change of $13 million, partially offset by tax audit settlements of $25 million, restructuring and impairment costs of $23 million, integration costs of $15 million and transaction costs of $1 million.

































































2. Diluted Earnings Per Share Reconciliation























































































































The Company's press release contains financial information regarding adjusted earnings per share, which is a non-GAAP performance measure. The adjusting items include transaction/integration costs, gain on sale of the Scott Safety business, net mark-to-market adjustments, restructuring and impairment costs, impact of ceasing the depreciation / amortization expense for the Power Solutions business as the business is held for sale, and discrete tax items. The Company excludes these items because they are not considered to be directly related to the underlying operating performance of the Company. Management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors in understanding the ongoing operations and business trends of the Company.



































































A reconciliation of diluted earnings per share as reported to adjusted diluted earnings per share for the respective periods is shown below (unaudited):

































































































Net Income Attributable to JCI plc

Net Income Attributable to JCI plc from Continuing Operations

Net Income Attributable to JCI plc

Net Income Attributable to JCI plc from Continuing Operations



































Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

Six Months Ended

Six Months Ended



































March 31,

March 31,

March 31,

March 31,



































2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018

2019

2018



































































































Earnings per share as reported for JCI plc $ 0.57

$ 0.47

$ 0.26

$ 0.20

$ 0.95

$ 0.72

$ 0.38

$ 0.12



































































































Adjusting items:































































Transaction costs 0.02

-

-

-

0.05

0.01

-

0.01

































Related tax impact -

-

-

-

(0.01)

-

-

-

































Integration costs 0.08

0.07

0.08

0.07

0.13

0.11

0.13

0.11

































Related tax impact (0.01)

(0.01)

(0.01)

(0.01)

(0.01)

(0.02)

(0.01)

(0.02)

































Scott Safety gain on sale -

-

-

-

-

(0.12)

-

(0.12)

































Related tax impact -

-

-

-

-

0.03

-

0.03

































Net mark-to-market adjustments (0.02)

-

(0.02)

-

-

-

-

-

































Related tax impact 0.01

-

0.01

-

-

-

-

-

































Restructuring and impairment costs -

-

-

-

-

0.17

-

0.17

































Related tax impact -

-

-

-

-

(0.03)

-

(0.02)

































Cease of Power Solutions depreciation / amortization expense (0.07)

-

-

-

(0.10)

-

-

-

































Related tax impact 0.02

-

-

-

0.03

-

-

-

































Discrete tax items -

0.01

-

0.01

0.16

0.21

0.08

0.21



































































































Adjusted earnings per share for JCI plc* $ 0.59

$ 0.54

$ 0.32

$ 0.26

$ 1.20

$ 1.08

$ 0.58

$ 0.48



































































































* May not sum due to rounding.

































































































































The following table reconciles the denominators used to calculate basic and diluted earnings per share for JCI plc (in millions; unaudited):









































































































Three Months Ended

Six Months Ended



















































March 31,

March 31,



















































2019

2018

2019

2018

















































Weighted average shares outstanding for JCI plc































































Basic weighted average shares outstanding 902.5

926.2

912.1

926.2

















































Effect of dilutive securities:































































Stock options, unvested restricted stock and unvested performance share awards 3.4

6.3

3.5

6.7

















































Diluted weighted average shares outstanding 905.9

932.5

915.6

932.9



















































































































The Company has presented forward-looking statements regarding adjusted EPS from continuing operations, organic net sales growth, organic adjusted EBITA growth, organic adjusted EBIT growth, adjusted segment EBITA margin, adjusted EBIT margin and adjusted free cash flow conversion for the full fiscal year of 2019, which are non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are derived by excluding certain amounts, expenses, income or cash flows from the corresponding financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The determination of the amounts that are excluded from these non-GAAP financial measures are a matter of management judgment and depends upon, among other factors, the nature of the underlying expense or income amounts recognized in a given period, including but not limited to the high variability of the net mark-to-market adjustments and the effect of foreign currency exchange fluctuations. Our fiscal 2019 outlook for organic net sales and adjusted EBITA and EBIT growth also excludes the effect of acquisitions, divestitures and foreign currency. We are unable to present a quantitative reconciliation of the aforementioned forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP financial measures because such information is not available and management cannot reliably predict all of the necessary components of such GAAP measures without unreasonable effort or expense. The unavailable information could have a significant impact on the Company's full year 2019 GAAP financial results.

































































3. Organic Growth Reconciliation

































































































































The components of the changes in net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2019 versus the three months ended March 31, 2018, including organic growth, is shown below (unaudited):











































































(in millions) Net Sales for the Three Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Base Year Adjustments -

Acquisitions and

Divestitures

Adjusted Base Net

Sales for the Three

Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Foreign Currency

Organic Growth

Net Sales for the

Three Months Ended

March 31, 2019













Building Solutions North America $ 2,097

$ -

-

$ 2,097

$ (10)

-

$ 100

5%

$ 2,187

4%

















Building Solutions EMEA/LA 907

-

-

907

(69)

-8%

40

4%

878

-3%

















Building Solutions Asia Pacific 586

-

-

586

(26)

-4%

68

12%

628

7%

















Total field 3,590

-

-

3,590

(105)

-3%

208

6%

3,693

3%

















Global Products 2,040

(38)

-2%

2,002

(60)

-3%

144

7%

2,086

4%

















Total net sales $ 5,630

$ (38)

-1%

$ 5,592

$ (165)

-3%

$ 352

6%

$ 5,779

3%



















































































The components of the changes in net sales for the six months ended March 31, 2019 versus the six months ended March 31, 2018, including organic growth, is shown below (unaudited):











































































(in millions) Net Sales for the Six

Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Base Year Adjustments -

Acquisitions and

Divestitures

Adjusted Base Net

Sales for the

Six

Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Foreign Currency

Organic Growth

Net Sales for the

Six Months Ended

March 31, 2019













Building Solutions North America $ 4,109

$ -

-

$ 4,109

$ (18)

-

$ 212

5%

$ 4,303

5%

















Building Solutions EMEA/LA 1,822

2

-

1,824

(112)

-6%

73

4%

1,785

-2%

















Building Solutions Asia Pacific 1,183

-

-

1,183

(44)

-4%

102

9%

1,241

5%

















Total field 7,114

2

-

7,116

(174)

-2%

387

5%

7,329

3%

















Global Products 3,821

(87)

-2%

3,734

(91)

-2%

271

7%

3,914

5%

















Total net sales $ 10,935

$ (85)

-1%

$ 10,850

$ (265)

-2%

$ 658

6%

$11,243

4%



















































































The components of the changes in segment EBITA and EBIT for the three months ended March 31, 2019 versus the three months ended March 31, 2018, including organic growth, is shown below (unaudited):











































































(in millions) Adjusted Segment

EBITA / EBIT for the

Three Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Base Year Adjustments -

Acquisitions and

Divestitures

Adjusted Base Segment

EBITA / EBIT for the Three Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Foreign Currency

Organic Growth

Adjusted Segment

EBITA / EBIT for

the Three

Months Ended

March 31, 2019

















Building Solutions North America $ 244

$ -

-

$ 244

$ (1)

-

$ 16

7%

$ 259

6%

















Building Solutions EMEA/LA 78

-

-

78

(10)

-13%

13

17%

81

4%

















Building Solutions Asia Pacific 71

-

-

71

(3)

-4%

8

11%

76

7%

















Total field 393

-

-

393

(14)

-4%

37

9%

416

6%

















Global Products 237

(6)

-3%

231

(7)

-3%

31

13%

255

10%

















Total adjusted segment EBITA 630

$ (6)

-1%

624

$ (21)

-3%

$ 68

11%

671

8%



















































































Corporate expenses (113)

-





(113)

















(104)

8%

















Amortization of intangible assets (92)

2





(90)

















(98)

-9%

















Total adjusted EBIT $ 425

$ (4)





$ 421

















$ 469

11%



















































































The components of the changes in segment EBITA and EBIT for the six months ended March 31, 2019 versus the six months ended March 31, 2018, including organic growth, is shown below (unaudited):











































































(in millions) Adjusted Segment

EBITA / EBIT for the

Six Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Base Year Adjustments -

Acquisitions and

Divestitures

Adjusted Base Segment

EBITA / EBIT for the Six Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Foreign Currency

Organic Growth

Adjusted Segment

EBITA / EBIT for

the Six

Months Ended

March 31, 2019

















Building Solutions North America $ 480

$ -

-

$ 480

$ (2)

-

$ 34

7%

$ 512

7%

















Building Solutions EMEA/LA 149

1

1%

150

(17)

-11%

25

17%

158

5%

















Building Solutions Asia Pacific 145

-

-

145

(4)

-3%

1

1%

142

-2%

















Total field 774

1

-

775

(23)

-3%

60

8%

812

5%

















Global Products 415

(12)

-3%

403

(10)

-2%

56

14%

449

11%

















Total adjusted segment EBITA 1,189

$ (11)

-1%

1,178

$ (33)

-3%

$ 116

10%

1,261

7%



















































































Corporate expenses (218)

-





(218)

















(197)

10%

















Amortization of intangible assets (184)

2





(182)

















(195)

-7%

















Total adjusted EBIT $ 787

$ (9)





$ 778

















$ 869

12%

















































































4. Adjusted Free Cash Flow Reconciliation





































































































































The Company's press release contains financial information regarding free cash flow, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow conversion, which are non-GAAP performance measures. Free cash flow is defined as cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures. Adjusted free cash flow excludes special items, as included in the table below, because these cash flows are not considered to be directly related to its underlying businesses. Adjusted free cash flow conversion is defined as adjusted free cash flow divided by adjusted net income. Management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors in understanding the strength of the Company and its ability to generate cash.



































































The following is the three months and six months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 reconciliation of free cash flow, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow conversion for continuing operations (unaudited):



































































(in billions) Three Months Ended

March 31, 2019

Three Months Ended

March 31, 2018

Six Months Ended

March 31, 2019

Six Months Ended

March 31, 2018

































Cash provided by operating activities from continuing

operations $ 0.2

$ 0.3

$ 0.1

$ 0.1

































Capital expenditures (0.1)

(0.2)

(0.3)

(0.3)

































Reported free cash flow * 0.1

0.1

(0.2)

(0.1)



















































































Adjusting items:































































Transaction/integration costs 0.1

0.1

0.1

0.1

































Restructuring payments -

0.1

0.1

0.1

































Nonrecurring tax payments, net of refunds -

-

-

(0.1)

































Total adjusting items * 0.1

0.2

0.2

0.2

































Adjusted free cash flow * $ 0.2

$ 0.3

$ -

$ -



































































































Adjusted net income from continuing operations































































attributable to JCI $ 0.3

$ 0.2

$ 0.5

$ 0.4

































Adjusted free cash flow conversion



67%





150%





0%





0%



































































































* May not sum due to rounding































































































































5. Net Debt to Capitalization

































































































































The Company provides financial information regarding net debt as a percentage of total capitalization, which is a non-GAAP performance measure. The Company believes the percentage of total net debt to total capitalization is useful to understanding the Company's financial condition as it provides a review of the extent to which the Company relies on external debt financing for its funding and is a measure of risk to its shareholders. The following is the March 31, 2019 and September 30, 2018 calculation of net debt as a percentage of total capitalization (unaudited):



































































(in millions) March 31, 2019

September 30, 2018

















































Short-term debt and current portion of long-term debt $ 3,968

$ 1,307

















































Long-term debt 8,418

9,623

















































Total debt 12,386

10,930

















































Less: cash and cash equivalents 239

185

















































Total net debt 12,147

10,745

















































Shareholders' equity attributable to JCI 20,036

21,164

















































Total capitalization $ 32,183

$ 31,909



















































































































Total net debt as a % of total capitalization 37.7%

33.7%

















































































































6. Divestitures

































































































































On November 13, 2018, the Company entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Power Solutions business to BCP Acquisitions LLC for approximately $13.2 billion. BCP Acquisitions LLC is a newly-formed entity controlled by investment funds managed by Brookfield Capital Partners LLC. The transaction closed on April 30, 2019 with net cash proceeds of $11.6 billion after tax and transaction-related expenses.



































































On March 16, 2017, the Company announced that it signed a definitive agreement to sell its Scott Safety business to 3M for approximately $2.0 billion. The transaction closed on October 4, 2017. Net cash proceeds from the transaction approximated $1.9 billion and the Company recorded a net gain of $114 million ($84 million after tax). Scott Safety is a leader in the design, manufacture and sale of high performance respiratory protection, gas and flame detection, thermal imaging and other critical products for fire services, law enforcement, industrial, oil and gas, chemical, armed forces, and homeland defense end markets.

































































7. Income Taxes

































































































































The Company's effective tax rate from continuing operations before consideration of transaction/integration costs, gain on sale of the Scott Safety business, net mark-to-market adjustments, restructuring and impairment costs, and discrete tax items for the three and six months ending March 31, 2019 is 13.5% and 13.6%, respectively, and for the three and six months ending March 31, 2018 is approximately 11.9% and 12.1%, respectively.

































































8. Restructuring

































































































































The six months ended March 31, 2018 include restructuring and impairment costs of $154 million related primarily to workforce reductions, plant closures and asset impairments in the Building Technologies & Solutions business and at Corporate.



































































SOURCE Johnson Controls

Related Links

http://www.johnsoncontrols.com


WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Parents who fear traveling with car seats when calling a taxi from the airport now have a safe, convenient, no-hassles answer with the Kidmoto app, a startup car transportation service that is expanding services today to Washington D.C. They will provide child car seat service throughout Washington, D.C, Virginia and Maryland. Kidmoto has operated in New York City since 2016. It also operates in Philadelphia and has plans to expand to other airports on the Eastern seaboard in 2019.

"Travelling with children can be a nightmare. Kids can be tired, cranky, and irritable. The last thing parents need is to worry about traveling with a 25-pound car seat  or wondering if the taxi driver has car seats that are the right size for their child, or children," said Nelson Nigel, founder of Kidmoto which offers rides via website or app from airports or throughout the greater Washington D.C. area. "Kidmoto removes the stress parents feel when traveling with children by providing airport car transportation with installed child car seats."

Fox 5 in New York City exposed the problem of transporting your "most precious cargo" -- your children  when traveling. See the 2:16 minute video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-eyxAmUUk

To interview Nelson Nigel and find out the five things parents must do to protect their children when using a taxi, call 516-584-5391.

Kidmoto uses Federally approved car seats and trains all their drivers on the proper use and installation.

"When I first started as a yellow taxi driver in New York City in 2008-2009, I didn't know the different car seat options, like front facing, rear facing or booster seats," Nigel said. "Now I'm an expert and trained all our drivers so they know which seat to use so children are safe and secure. We are a kid-friendly service."

All car seats comply with state and city laws.

"Your children need to be safe when traveling to and from the airports. Car seats are important for their maximum safety. Other major car transportation providers don't provide installed car seats. They ignore the safety -- and convenience -- concerns of parents with young children."

Kidmoto solves problems for parents seeking airport car transportation. Major car services do not provide pre-harnessed and pre-installed car seats for child passengers, leaving children vulnerable to injuries, in case of an accident. Kidmoto offers a safe and convenient alternative.

"Parents generally do not travel with small children because of the inconvenience of traveling with car seats and others worry about getting transportation. Many parents can now travel into or out of Washington D.C. with their small children because they now have an option for safe and convenient family travel with Kidmoto. All other transportation providers have not realized that children need safe transportation." said Nigel.

In addition, Kidmoto is a reservation based service, parents schedule their vacations in advance to make sure they have a car at the airport to transport them and their kids.

Kidmoto drivers provide pre-harnessed and pre-installed convertible car seats for infants, toddlers, small and large children. This transportation service is not offered by any of the major providers in the Washington DC marketplace.

Kidmoto provides transportation in 3 different vehicle classes- sedans, minivans, and large SUVs. These vehicles can be equipped with 1 to 4 car seats.

Kidmoto's driver recruitment process promotes a safe environment for both the driver and the passengers. Drivers undergo rigorous employment screening which includes local and national criminal, terrorist, and sex offender registry searches.

"You can have confidence with our drivers," Nigel said.

For information or to book a ride, go to https://kidmoto.taxi/washington-dc/ https://kidmoto.taxi/philadelphia/or download the Kidmoto app.

TESTIMONIALS

Mommy Poppins listed Kidmoto as a "staff favorite" and said finding a car service that can offer child seats "it's probably one of the most frequent questions we get asked by tourists and locals alike."

We had a wonderful experience with Kidmoto when traveling to NYC with our toddler. The driver was on time (even early and waiting on us for the pick-up/return!), the car seat was installed, the vehicle was clean - just a wonderful experience all around!" said Jenny Sullivan of Excelsior, Minn.

"When I was organizing our trip to NYC, I found Kidmoto's website and I couldn't be happier. The driver was looking after us (and the baby, playing with him) all the time in both our rides (from and at the airport). He takes great care of us," said Chantal Blanco of Barcelona.

About Kidmoto

Founded in 2016, Kidmoto operates in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Plans are underway to operate in several other cities along the Eastern seaboard. The company goal is to be recognized as the leading ground transportation provider for families with young children.

Media Contact:

Nelson Nigel

516-584-5391

[email protected]

SOURCE Kidmoto




KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin, second row sixth from left, makes a finger heart gesture with members of the customer review panel and bank officials at the bank's headquarters on Yeouido in Seoul, April 30. Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank
SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL-D) treatment market size is likely to reach USD 954 million by 2025, as per a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., exhibiting a 10.8% CAGR during the forecast period. High unmet needs, rising prevalence, and increasing uptake of enzyme replacement therapy are some of the primary factors driving the market.

Key suggestions from the report:

CESD manifests later in life and is more prevalent among Caucasians and Hispanic populations, affecting approximately 1 in 300,000 individuals

Germany is at the forefront of the Europe market and is driven by high disease prevalence and availability of drugs in the ERT class

Approval of Kanuma in ERT class highlight a fundamental shift in treatment approach to LAL-D deficiency

The ERT segment is estimated to be the fastest growing during the forecast period, owing to Kanuma's first-mover advantage as the only long-term treatment in untapped LAL-D patient population pool

Statins are anticipated to lose market share due to rising competition from generics within the class and increasing uptake of Alexion's Kanuma

Rising eligible patient population and limited therapeutic intervention for LAL deficiency offer strong commercial opportunity to players to invest in developing novel treatments in this market

Lack of awareness in disease diagnosis and delayed access to medications due to poor prognosis may restrain the growth of the market.

Read 65 page research report with TOC on "Lysosomal Acid Lipase (LAL) Deficiency Treatment Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Treatment, By Indication (Wolman Disease, Cholesteryl Ester Storage Disease), And Segment Forecasts, 2018 - 2025" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/lysosomal-acid-lipase-deficiency-lal-d-treatment-market

LAL deficiency (LAL-D) is a rare type of lysosomal storage disorder in which patients are unable to breakdown cholesteryl esters and triglycerides due to a mutation in the LAL gene. As a result, there is an accumulation of lipids in the liver, spleen, and walls of blood vessels. LAL deficiency is a progressive disease with multi-systemic clinical manifestations, significant medical complications, and early mortality due to liver failure, especially among infants.

Until 2015, the global LAL deficiency treatment market witnessed modest growth due to lack of approved treatments for the disease. Medical care was limited to supportive care, with surgery and lipid-modifying drugs such as statins remained the mainstay for treatment. In 2015, approval of Alexion Pharma's Kanuma (sebelipase alfa) marked entry of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) in the LAL-D space. Kanuma is a hydrolytic lysosomal cholesterol ester and triacylglycerol specific enzyme, administered intravenously in patients with LAL deficiency. Currently, Kanuma is the only drug approved for both Wolman disease (WD) and Cholesteryl Ester Storage Disease (CESD) in the key markets.

Based on treatment, supportive care was the leading revenue contributor in the market in 2017. However, the ERT segment is expected to register the fastest growth during the forecast period, supported by continued uptake of Kanuma. Disease prognosis remains poor, as a majority of patients are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Thus, there remains a strong need for extensive research to understand disease biology and develop effective therapeutic options with goal to overcome resistance and minimize toxicity.

Grand View Research has segmented the global lysosomal acid lipase deficiency treatment market based on indication, treatment, and country:

Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency Indication Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2025)

Wolman Disease (WD)



Cholesteryl Ester Storage Disease (CESD)

Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency Treatment Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2025)

Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT)



Lipid-Modifying Agents (Statins)



Surgery



Stem Cell Transplantation



Supportive Care

Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency Country Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2025)

U.S.



U.K.



France



Germany



Italy



Spain



Japan

Find more research reports on Pharmaceuticals Industry, by Grand View Research:

Gonorrhea Diagnostic Market  Global gonorrhea diagnostic market is expected to witness a significant growth during the forecast period owing to the growing prevalence of the disease worldwide and unmet need in the faster diagnosis tools.

Global gonorrhea diagnostic market is expected to witness a significant growth during the forecast period owing to the growing prevalence of the disease worldwide and unmet need in the faster diagnosis tools. Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Treatment Market  Global glioblastoma multiforme treatment market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period owing to the rising incidence of oncology diseases and rising geriatric population base.

Global glioblastoma multiforme treatment market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period owing to the rising incidence of oncology diseases and rising geriatric population base. Dyslipidemia Drugs Market  Global dyslipidemia drugs market is expected to witness lucrative growth over the forecast period owing to growing prevalence of lipid associated disorders and cholesterol abnormalities.

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About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc.

Phone: +1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

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SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Lancer Skincare announces its partnership with philanthropic, luxury e-commerce site, Olivela. Lancer Skincare is the latest prestige beauty brand to partner with Olivela in their mission to empower young women and give back.

Olivela is the go-to destination for buying luxury goods for philanthropists at heart. Twenty-percent of every purchase is donated to one of Olivela's charity partners, supporting efforts to secure education for at-risk girls around the world, with no additional cost to the buyer. Customers are able to see the direct impact of their purchases, measured in tangible metrics like the number of days of school your purchase will provide.

Lancer Skincare is a Los Angeles-based international skincare brand founded by Board Certified Dermatologist, Dr. Harold Lancer. Dr. Lancer completed his undergraduate pre-medical studies at Brandeis University in Boston, Massachusetts and went on to receive his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Lancer completed his residency at Harvard Medical School, a plastic surgery training program at the Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv and on-going graduate experience in London at St. John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin. He returned to Southern California where he received his board certification in Dermatology in 1983 and began his Beverly Hills practice, Lancer Dermatology. Today, Dr. Lancer keeps an active global patient base of over 30,000 people, including some of the world's most beautiful and recognizable faces.

Through his extensive studies and training, Dr. Lancer personally knows the value of a good education. Dr. Lancer believes everyone deserves the opportunity for education, which is why the brand was so drawn to this partnership. The father of two daughters, Dr. Lancer is particularly passionate about empowering women through education.

"We fervently believe in Olivela's brand mission of providing equal opportunities to education and empowering future female generations," says Lancer Skincare CEO, Tracey Sameyah. "Each Lancer product purchased provides between one and six days of school for a young girl, which is powerful. Our partnership with Olivela allows Lancer customers to not only achieve great skin, but simultaneously do good by giving back."

Olivela works in partnership with charities including Too Young To Wed, an organization with a mission to protect girls' rights and end child marriage; CARE, a global organization that's dedicated to poverty alleviation and social justice, and Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that fights for girls' education all organizations that work toward girls' education.

"Dr. Lancer's three-step "Lancer Method" for glowing skin has such a devoted following amongst the clientele of his Beverly Hills dermatology practice that we knew we wanted to bring it to Olivela's shoppers who don't live close enough for an office visit," says Olivela Founder and CEO, Stacey Boyd. "Now our discerning shoppers have access to his highly sought-after and very effective product line and by buying it at Olivela, twenty-percent of the proceeds of every purchase they make supports educating girls worldwide."

The partnership became official in April 2019. Lancer Skincare will sell 14 of the brand's best-selling products including Dr. Lancer's coveted three-Step Method, advanced treatments, masks and peels.

About Lancer Skincare

With three decades of dermatological practice and daily interaction with his patients at his Beverly Hills practice, Dr. Harold Lancer is the authority on radiant, youthful-looking skin. Through his expertise, cutting edge technology and efficacious skincare line, Dr. Lancer has become one of the most sought out dermatology professionals in the world. In Lancer Skincare's true practice-to-product approach, Olivela's beauty consumers will be introduced to dermatologist-developed products, created in Beverly Hills and curated for their specific skin needs. For more information visit www.lancerskincare.com and Instagram @DrLancerRx.

About Olivela

Olivela is the only luxury shopping destination where every purchase is empowered. Founded in 2017 by educator and entrepreneur Stacey Boyd, Olivela's mission is twofold: inspire luxury consumers to use their purchasing power for good, and improve the lives of at risk girls throughout the world by providing access to education. Contributions to philanthropy partners are seamlessly woven into every purchase, alleviating any logistics and additional costs for customers. When shopping with Olivela, those who can give uplift those with the most to gain. For more information visit www.olivela.com and Instagram @Olivela.

SOURCE Lancer Skincare

Related Links

http://www.lancerskincare.com


DENVER, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Offen Petroleum, one of the largest fuel distributors in the Western US, announced today that it has agreed to acquire the business assets of Allied Energy, an Arizona based fuel distributor. Going forward, the business will operate as Offen Petroleum. Offen Petroleum is a portfolio company of Lariat Partners ("Lariat"), a Denver-based private equity firm, Offen is a provider of motor fuel, lubricants, and petroleum logistics services headquartered in Colorado and operating in 12 surrounding states. The combination expands Offen's presence in Nevada and creates new opportunities in the Arizona market.

The transaction is expected to be completed in May 2019.

Based in Phoenix, Arizona and owned and operated by Gabe McLure, Allied Energy is an independent fuel distributor that operates in Arizona and Nevada. In recent years, Allied has focused its growth by marketing unbranded fuel to fuel distributors and convenience retailers. In addition to these business relationships, like Offen, Allied markets wholesale gasoline and diesel to national retail chains and commercial customers. Allied was represented by Meridian Associates in the transaction.

"We are delighted to welcome Gabe McLure and his Allied team to Offen. Gabe shares many of Offen's core values including drive, accountability and a culture of execution excellence for customers. Allied's strength in Arizona and Nevada provide Offen with opportunities in the Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas markets and will further enhance Offen's ability to sell and deliver motor fuels for our valued customers. Offen will continue to pursue acquisition opportunities that would allow us to serve a broader customer base and provide density in our core areas while exploring adjacent geographies."

About Offen Petroleum

Offen traces its roots to the 1930s and was acquired by Bill Gallagher and Gwen Stukey in 1997. With Allied, the company will distribute 1 billion gallons of motor fuel annually and will serve as both a branded and unbranded wholesale motor fuel distributor in 13 states. In addition to motor fuels, Offen also sells lubricant products and solutions for the commercial, industrial, and passenger car segments, as well as diesel exhaust fluids used in emission controls. More information on Offen can be found at www.offenpetro.com.

About Lariat Partners

Denver-based Lariat Partners is a private equity firm focused on redefining the private equity experience in the lower-middle market. With its People First, Strategy Second relationship philosophy and its CORE investment strategy targeting Consolidations, Consumables and Recurring Revenue businesses, Lariat offers a differentiated approach to partnering with entrepreneurs and growing their middle market businesses. The firm targets companies across a number of industries, including Specialty Distribution, Energy & Environmental Services, Food & Agribusiness, Consumer Products and Maritime Services. For more information, visit www.lariatpartners.net

Contact: Chris Tofalli

Chris Tofalli Public Relations, LLC

914-834-4334

SOURCE Lariat Partners

Related Links

http://lariatpartners.net


MCLEAN, Va., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), the largest private funder of food allergy research in the world, today announced an oral immunotherapy (OIT) summit that will convene leading allergists, researchers and food allergy advocates. The summit intends to address the risks and benefits of OIT, OIT implementation in practice and the gaps in knowledge about OIT to enable physicians to have a better understanding of this therapy and to help patients make fully-informed choices about treatment options. The summit will also examine future therapies that could provide safer and more effective options for families considering treatment.

OIT involves introducing increasing amounts of an allergen, such as peanuts, to allergic individuals with the goal of increasing the threshold triggering a reaction. An increasing number of allergists are offering OIT in private practices around the U.S. At the same time, the FDA is currently reviewing AR101, a peanut oral immunotherapy product, and an application for Viaskin Peanut, an epicutaneous immunotherapy, is being resubmitted.

"There are 32 million Americans living with food allergies, a disease that carries the daily burden of 24-hour vigilance to prevent life-threatening reactions," said FARE CEO Lisa Gable. "The current standard of care  avoidance or treatment of serious reactions with epinephrine and a trip to the emergency room can be costly and negatively impact quality of life. FARE is organizing the 'Food OIT in Practice' summit to bring together the country's top experts to discuss treatment options, including in-office oral immunotherapy, which may offer the possibility of living a life with less anxiety and fear of acute allergic reactions caused by accidental exposure."

FARE was pleased to announce plans for the invitation-only summit at its recently held Research Retreat, attended by top research scientists in the field. Invitees include representatives from government agencies and professional allergy associations as well as other key experts in the field, and importantly, representatives of the patient community.

To better serve patients with food allergies, FARE believes it is essential to bring food allergy stakeholders together to work toward standardizing diagnostic criteria, discuss OIT regimens and address potential outcome assessments necessary to better identify the risks and benefits of this treatment. A new review article on peanut oral immunotherapy published last week by The Lancet has drawn attention to the rigors and risks of OIT compared with avoidance while calling for more data on long-term quality of life effect of therapy.

"OIT is well-supported by medical research, however, there is still work to be done to ensure immunotherapies are as safe and effective as they can possibly be," said Dr. Thomas B. Casale, FARE's Chief Medical Advisor for Operations. "What The Lancet review does not fully explore is the long-term impact, benefits and protection that can be achieved through this therapy in relation to the risks involved with OIT. We know that oral immunotherapy has had a positive life-changing impact on patients' lives, but we don't yet fully understand which patients are the best candidates for this therapy. We need more research not only on who will best respond to this treatment, but about the long-term benefits OIT provides in protecting against accidental exposures and improvements in quality of life. We are committed to advancing research efforts into new therapies and their safety and efficacy  all with the goal of improving the quality of life and health of individuals with food allergies and providing hope through the promise of new treatments."

FARE's "Food OIT in Practice" summit will be held in Houston prior to the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in November.

About FARE

Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) works on behalf of the 32 million Americans with food allergies, including all those at risk for life-threatening anaphylaxis. This potentially deadly disease affects 1 in every 13 children in the U.S.  or roughly two in every classroom. FARE's mission is to improve the quality of life and the health of individuals with food allergies, and to provide them hope through the promise of new treatments. Our work is organized around three core tenets: LIFE  support the ability of individuals with food allergies to live safe, productive lives with the respect of others through our education and advocacy initiatives; HEALTH  enhance the healthcare access of individuals with food allergies to state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment; and HOPE  encourage and fund research in both industry and academia that promises new therapies to improve the allergic condition. For more information, please visit www.foodallergy.org and find us on Twitter @FoodAllergy, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.

SOURCE Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE)

Related Links

http://www.foodallergy.org


SOMERSET, N.J., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hearing Center, a New Jersey-based, full-service independent audiology practice, is announcing the opening of its fourth and largest location in Somerset.

"Patients don't necessarily want to go to a hospital-based setting for routine and follow-up care," said Eric Sandler, Sc.D., Director of Audiological Services at The Hearing Center. "We felt that the Somerset area is underserved."

The Hearing Center's Somerset, NJ waiting room. (PRNewsfoto/The Hearing Center)

Sandler said that the new office is paying special attention to patient comfort, noting that The Hearing Center tapped into an experienced interior design team to build a comfortable and welcoming office setting.

"It feels more like a living room than a doctor's office," Sandler said of the new location, adding that the practice has also renovated its Clark office in a similar fashion. "Since this office is our largest space, it provided the opportunity to arrange the space more like a living room than a sterile doctor's office."

The Hearing Center offers a full suite of audiology services for pediatrics and adults, including audiometric evaluations, hearing aid consultations and fittings, tinnitus evaluations and other advanced diagnostic testing, custom ear plugs and ear molds, auditory processing testing, and assistive listening devices. The practice also offers community education seminars so patients and their families can learn to compensate for and overcome the challenge of hearing loss.

Notably, The Hearing Center offers cochlear implant evaluations, activations and mapping. Sandler said that this specialty is rarely addressed outside a hospital setting, making The Hearing Center one of the few independent and private audiology practices in New Jersey to integrate cochlear implants into its everyday services.

"There are no other clinics like ours out there," Sandler said. "Opening our fourth office is testament to the breadth of services and the high level of patient care that we provide."

The Somerset office joins practice locations in Highland Park, Clark, and Manalapan. The new location at 15 Clyde Road, Suite 101, is now accepting patients. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, one Saturday per month, and by appointment. For more information or to make an appointment, visit www.THCaudiology.com.

ABOUT THE HEARING CENTER

The Hearing Center is an advanced full-service audiology practice for children and adults. The state-of-the-art facilities are the first in New Jersey to offer all audiological services outside a hospital setting, including cochlear implants; auditory processing evaluations; hearing aid fittings and verification; tinnitus evaluations; noise protection; and specialized earplugs for musicians. The director of audiology, Eric Sandler, Sc.D., is a sought-after speaker who delivers seminars on cochlear implants at conferences around the U.S. The practice, which has eight audiologists on staff, has been serving patients for more than 30 years. For more information, visit www.thcaudiology.com.

SOURCE The Hearing Center

Related Links

http://www.thcaudiology.com


DALLAS, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- National law firm LeClairRyan expanded its footprint in Texas today with the opening of a Dallas office.

The office will focus on aviation and labor and employment matters, in addition to offering a hub for clients to connect to the firm's nationwide presence and breadth of practice areas.

Thomas Regan Jason Medley

"Part of LeClairRyan's Law Firm 2.0 model means adapting to the needs of the marketplace and our valued existing clients," said Thomas C. Regan, leader of the firm's Litigation Department. "We are eager and ready to harness the opportunity for growth that this new office offers."

The roster of attorneys includes aviation partner Christa Hinckley, employment litigation partner Billy Hammel, business litigation counsel Helen Mosothoane, and patent prosecution associate Todd A. Martin. The Dallas attorneys will work closely with the firm's Houston office, where banking industry attorney Jason M. Medley serves as office leader.

"As LeClairRyan continues to evolve, our proximity to clients in the great state of Texas has become increasingly important," Medley said. "Our coordinated efforts will ensure we are nurturing relationships between our attorneys and providing improved services."

The office is located at 3333 Lee Parkway, Suite 600, Dallas, Texas 75219.

About LeClairRyan

As a trusted advisor, LeClairRyan provides business counsel and client representation in corporate law and litigation. In this role, the firm applies its knowledge, insight and skill to help clients achieve their business objectives while managing and minimizing their legal risks, difficulties and expenses. With offices from coast to coast, the firm represents a wide variety of clients nationwide. For more information about LeClairRyan, visit www.leclairryan.com.

Media Contact:

Christina Llames

(804) 783-7518

[email protected]

SOURCE LeClairRyan

Related Links

http://www.leclairryan.com


As a national provider of state-of-the-art coworking spaces, MakeOffices was looking for a way to standardize access and security across their portfolio. They sought a consistent, scalable solution that could facilitate easier training, and centralize onboarding and offboarding of staff and tenants.

"MakeOffices has created a coworking environment with the perfect combination of flexibility, location, price, and amenities. We leverage the latest in security and advanced technologies to create work spaces that are inviting and differentiated. Kastle's cloud-based access control platform is the ideal solution because it scales as we grow and provides an easy way for our staff to manage access across multiple locations," said Reid Fetters, Chief Real Estate Development Officer, MakeOffices.

Based on four decades of success securing commercial office buildings and tenants, Kastle Systems has developed an access control platform with remarkable configurability across identities, credential types, and readersideal for meeting the needs of this emerging coworking market where users expect a fluid workday experience. Coworking spaces are innovative environments that change the dynamics of traditional access control requirements in order to accommodate higher temporary staff and visitor traffic, greater use of shared amenity spaces, and increased demand for mobile, digital credentials that enable access to multiple locations.

Building on a legacy of technology innovation, Kastle's access control approach enables staff in coworking environments to control and administer access through a single platform and seamless user interface. This simplifies training, increases operational efficiency, and reduces the number of systems that staff must manage. The platform also features open standard application programming interfaces (API's) so it can easily integrate with future MakeOffices' facilities or other 3rd party software applications such as coworking management, reservation planning, and identity directories.

"Kastle is committed to improving the tenant and staff experience in coworking settings, with an intuitive security management platform at the core of our innovations," said Kastle's Director of Customer Engagement, Andrew Kovacs. "Our platform delivers the first entirely integrated access solution designed to make coworking spaces safer, smarter, and more convenient for tenants and staff - in effect, enabling the Workplace of the Future."

For more information about Kastle's security platforms for coworking spaces, or any of the other innovations from Kastle, contact Kyle McAdams at [email protected]. Visit www.kastle.com, follow Kastle on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/kastle-systems, or call 1-855-527-8531 to learn more about all of Kastle's security solutions.

About Kastle Systems

Kastle Systems has been leading the security industry since 1972 with advanced managed security solutions and services, protecting the who's who of commercial real estate, distinguished global retail brands, leading global enterprises, educational institutions, and critical government facilities. Named the Systems Integrator of the Year for outstanding innovation and customer experience by SDM, the industry's leading trade publication, Kastle protects more than 2 million people across 10,000+ locations globally. Kastle's state-of-the-art security solutions include access control, video surveillance, visitor management and identity management, as well as a suite of mobile security applications, all integrated on an open, standards-based platform and supported by a team of experts 24x7x365. Headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, Kastle is consistently ranked the #1 Security Provider in DC by the Washington Business Journal and is on CIOReview's 2018 List of Top 10 Physical Security Providers. Kastle also has offices in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Sydney, Australia. The Kastle Systems International family of security brands includes Kastle Systems, Mutual Security Services, Stat Land Security Services, CheckVideo and Urban Alarm.

About MakeOffices

MakeOffices provides a platform to grow businesses through productive, collaborative workspaces and networking communities. Home to amazing small businesses, entrepreneurs, freelancers & Fortune 500s, our communities are designed for those looking for flexible, affordable, and simple workplace solutions. MakeOffices delivers turnkey, move-in ready workspaces with flexible, month-to-month lease options that satisfy company needs without the burden and capital commitment of a long-term lease. Members are part of a vibrant community that regularly interact through hosted events and organic networking opportunities. By providing the office infrastructure and all-inclusive amenities, including fast Wi-Fi, 24/7 access, locally-roasted coffee, and craft beer, for one, low monthly rate, members can spend more of their time and money growing their businesses. MakeOffices operates 12 locations across Chicago, Philadelphia, and the Washington, DC metro area with 2 more under construction. For additional information, visit www.makeoffices.com.

Media Inquiries

Kyle McAdams

703-314-5007

[email protected]

SOURCE Kastle Systems

Related Links

http://www.kastle.com


"Amy Bach works in a world where the arc of the universe is long but doesn't always bend toward justice," noted the Honorable Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada, speaking on behalf of the Prize's judges. "It is a world Amy is trying to fix, one county at a time."

The Charles Bronfman Prize is an annual award of $100,000 presented to a humanitarian under the age of fifty whose innovative work, informed by Jewish values, has significantly improved the world. The Prize was founded by Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Stephen Bronfman, together with their spouses Andrew Hauptman and Claudine Blondin Bronfman.

"We started this prize more than 15 years ago as a gift to our dad on his birthday," Stephen Bronfman said. "There was no better way to honor the work he has done to create a more just world and to encourage the next generation to do the same."

Ambassador Samantha Power, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who was part of Bach's nominating team, lauded her friend Amy for focusing on that which is "deemed too small to see and too chronic to fix." and making the invisible in the criminal justice system visible.

After receiving The Prize from Charles Bronfman, Bach, who founded Measures for Justice in 2011 to create tools for change envisioned in her award-winning book Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court, predicted, "People will be able to look up a county, say 'There's a pattern, and if you don't fix it, we'll elect someone who will.'"

"Amy's innovative approach and commitment to others brings sorely needed transparency to our criminal justice system," Charles Bronfman declared. "She personifies the Prize's purpose."

Sarah Koenig, host and co-creator of the Peabody-award winning podcast Serial, engaged Bach in a conversation, telling her, "You invented a whole new [measurement] system!"

"[Amy] refuses to get desensitized to injustice," Power concluded, referencing the trend toward "falsehoods masquerading as facts." She added, "We must not get used to this."

Media Contact ; Martin Irom, [email protected], 212-362-5260, 516-567-4348

SOURCE The Charles Bronfman Prize
IRVINE, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported total April sales of 19,702 vehicles, a decrease of 14.5 percent compared to April 2018. Year-to-date sales through April saw a decrease of 15.4 percent, with 90,535 vehicles sold. With 25 selling days in April, compared to 24 the year prior, the company posted a decrease of 18 percent on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis.

CPO sales totaled 5,195 vehicles in April, an increase of 27 percent compared to April 2018. Year-to-date CPO sales through April increased 20 percent, with 19,052 vehicles sold.

Mazda Motor de Mexico (MMdM) reported its best ever April with monthly sales of 4,295 vehicles, an increase of 2 percent compared to April last year. Year-to-date sales through April increased 18 percent, with 20,484 vehicles sold.

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom.

Follow MNAO's social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaUSA and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaUSA.

































Month-To-Date

Year-To-Date

































April April YOY % % MTD

April April YOY % % MTD



2019 2018 Change DSR

2019 2018 Change DSR































Mazda3 4,351 4,725 (7.9) % (11.6) %

19,566 24,380 (19.7) % (19.7) %

Mazda6 2,340 2,909 (19.6) % (22.8) %

9,261 10,441 (11.3) % (11.3) %

MX-5 Miata 782 837 (6.6) % (10.3) %

2,312 2,803 (17.5) % (17.5) %

CX-3 1,019 1,135 (10.2) % (13.8) %

4,272 5,472 (21.9) % (21.9) %

CX-5 9,592 11,312 (15.2) % (18.6) %

47,088 54,129 (13.0) % (13.0) %

CX-9 1,618 2,138 (24.3) % (27.3) %

8,036 9,826 (18.2) % (18.2) %





























































CARS 7,473 8,471 (11.8) % (15.3) %

31,139 37,624 (17.2) % (17.2) %

TRUCKS 12,229 14,585 (16.2) % (19.5) %

59,396 69,427 (14.4) % (14.4) %































TOTAL 19,702 23,056 (14.5) % (18.0) %

90,535 107,051 (15.4) % (15.4) %





























































*Selling Days 25 24









101 101









































SOURCE Mazda North American Operations

Related Links

http://www.mazdausa.com


TORONTO and HOUSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. ("Medicenna" or the "Company") (TSX: MDNA;OTCQB: MDNAF), a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, announced today that it has received US$757,940 (approximately, CD$1.02M) from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas ("CPRIT"). The payment is part of a total non-dilutive grant of up to US$14.1 million which is repayable out of potential future revenues associated with commercial sale of products developed with the grant proceeds.

The funds received represent a partial reimbursement for eligible expenditures incurred by Medicenna related to the MDNA55 Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma, the most common and uniformly fatal form of brain cancer.

About Medicenna

Medicenna is a clinical stage immunotherapy company focused on oncology and the development and commercialization of novel, highly selective versions of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-13 Superkines and first in class Empowered Cytokines (ECs) for the treatment of a broad range of cancers. Medicenna's wholly owned subsidiary, Houston-based Medicenna BioPharma, is specifically targeting the Interleukin-4 Receptor (IL4R), which is over-expressed by at least 20 different types of cancer affecting more than one million new cancer patients every year. Supported by a non-dilutive grant of up to US$14.1M from CPRIT, Medicenna's lead IL4-EC, MDNA55 has completed enrolling patients in a Phase 2b clinical trial for recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM), the most common and uniformly fatal form of brain cancer, at top-ranked brain cancer centres in the US. MDNA55 has been used in five clinical trials in 132 patients, including 112 adults with rGBM, demonstrated compelling efficacy and obtained Fast-Track and Orphan Drug status from the FDA and FDA/EMA respectively. For more information, please visit www.medicenna.com .

SOURCE Medicenna Therapeutics Corp.

Related Links

http://www.medicenna.com/Home/default.aspx






South Korea's air passenger traffic reached a record high in the first quarter of the year, helped by the rising number of Chinese tourists and increasing budget airliner operations, government data showed Tuesday.







The number of air passengers came to 30.5 million in the January-March period, up 6.4 percent on-year, marking a new quarterly record, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.







Low-cost carriers accounted for 32 percent of the figure in the first three months of the year, a sharp rise from the 13 percent tallied in 2015.







International air passenger traffic rose 7 percent on-year to reach 23 million in the first quarter, with domestic travelers rising 4.4 percent over the cited period to reach 7.5 million, according to the ministry.







Passenger traffic on Chinese routes came to 4.14 million in the period, up 14 percent on-year. The figure still falls behind 2016, before South Korea was embroiled in diplomatic tensions with Beijing that resulted in a sharp decrease in the number of tourists from China.







Japanese routes accounted for 5.85 million in passenger traffic, with those to and from Southeast Asian countries taking up 9.4 million, the data also showed.







The increasing demand by foreigners for routes connecting to the country's southern resort island of Jeju resulted in the increase in domestic passengers, the ministry said.







Air cargo traffic shed 3.4 percent on-year to 1 million tons in the first quarter due to lower shipments to Japan, China and European countries amid the slowing global economy. (Yonhap)


BOSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mendix, a Siemens business and the global leader in low-code for the enterprise, today announced that more than 100 universities across the U.S., UK, Netherlands, and nine other countries have incorporated the Mendix University Program into their curricula. To date, over 9,000 students have signed up for the Mendix platform and have created 22,000 innovative, working applications. In 2018 alone, 500 students became "Mendix Rapid Developer" certified through the Mendix University Program.

The Mendix University Program equips students to successfully build applications for their future employers without coding, whether their studies followed a technical track or a more general business program. Armed with a level of mastery of the Mendix platform, graduates can promote collaboration between business and IT teams, facilitate solutions that more precisely and efficiently address the business need, and rapidly build and deploy applications that deliver business impact.

Penn State University is the 100th university to join the Mendix University Program. Professor Alan Peslak of the Information Sciences and Technology department at Penn State Scranton has incorporated Mendix technology into the syllabus for his "Fundamentals of Enterprise and Systems Integration" course.

"I am thrilled to implement Mendix in my curriculum this semester and am proud of the students who have been rapidly progressing through the Rapid Developer Learning Path and are also building independent project applications within Mendix," Peslak said. "Mendix provides an ideal environment for developing a start-to-finish web project with systems analysis and design and agile principles, but without undue emphasis on coding and syntax. I'm confident that future employers will value the knowledge and experiences the students will bring to the workforce thanks to their experiences with Mendix in the classroom."

Mendix is the only low-code platform that offers open courseware, online training videos, certification exams, sample syllabi, real-world business use cases, and technology licenses to university and college professors, completely free with no costs incurred.

"We are thrilled to celebrate the 100 universities and more than 9,000 students around the world who have leveraged the Mendix University Program within the classroom," said Derek Roos, CEO at Mendix. "We created the Mendix University Program to address the staggering disparity between the skill sets that employers expect from entry-level employees and the knowledge that those individuals actually possess. We are consistently impressed with the creative applications that students develop with Mendix, and we are looking forward to seeing what they make in 2019 and beyond."

For more information about the Mendix University Program, please visit www.mendix.com/university-program.

Connect with Mendix

Follow @Mendix on Twitter

Connect with Mendix on LinkedIn

About Mendix

Mendix, a Siemens business and the global leader in low-code for the enterprise, is transforming the world of legacy software and application development by bringing business and IT teams together to rapidly and collaboratively build robust and modern applications for the enterprise. The Mendix application development platform directly addresses the tremendous worldwide software developer talent gap, and involves business and IT at the very start and throughout the entire application building and deployment process. Recognized as a "Leader" by top analysts, including Gartner and Forrester, Mendix helps customers digitally transform their organizations and industries by building, managing, and improving apps at unprecedented speed and scale. More than 4,000 forward-thinking enterprises use the Mendix platform to build business applications that delight customers and improve operational efficiency. Join the Mendix community on LinkedIn and Twitter. Start building apps for free at signup.mendix.com.

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


ANN ARBOR, Mich., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This Mother's Day, Molly Maid, a Neighborly company and the nation's leading residential cleaning franchise, is giving hard-working moms the gift they truly deserve  the gift of time. For five years and counting, the franchise is offering the chance to win Molly Maid gift certificates. The "Maid for Moms" sweepstakes will award winners with gift certificates that can be used to give mom some time off as someone else cleans her home.

Molly Maid is awarding one grand prize winner with a Roomba and a $250 Molly Maid gift certificate to be used on their moms this Mother's Day. Three runners up winners will each receive a $250 Molly Maid gift certificate. To learn more about the "Maid for Moms" sweepstakes, visit www.facebook.com/MollyMaid. Participants can enter the contest at https://contest.app.do/mother-s-day-giveaway-2518937. Entries are now being accepted through Sunday, May 12, 2019 at 11:59 p.m.

"Mother's Day is a time to give back to all of the moms out there who spend their days working for others," said Molly Maid President Mary Kay Liston. "At Molly Maid, we want moms to be able to enjoy a clean home without sacrificing time to do what she loves. We are excited for this year's "Maid for Moms" sweepstakes and the opportunity to surprise moms with the gift of time and a clean home.

To provide mom with the some time off and a spotless home any time of the year, Molly Maid gift certificates are available for purchase at www.mollymaid.com/gift-certificates/. Visit the Molly Maid website to review this year's contest rules.

About Molly Maid

Molly Maid LLC, a Neighborly company, is a residential cleaning franchisor whose independently owned and operated franchisees clean more than 1.7 million U.S. homes annually. Franchising since 1984, there are more than 480 independently owned and operated Molly Maid units operating in the United States. Acquired by Neighborly in 2015, Molly Maid is part of a community of home service experts, leveraging Neighborly's nearly 3,500 professional home service experts across 14 brands in the U.S. and Canada with a unique direct service function that provides consumers assistance with nearly all aspects of their home care needs. Neighborly brands include: Aire Serv, Five Star Painting, Glass Doctor, Portland Glass, Molly Maid, Mr. Appliance, Mr. Electric, Mr. Handyman, Mr. Rooter, Protect Painters, Rainbow International, Window Genie, Mosquito Joe and The Grounds Guys. Additional information about Neighborly can be found at www.GetNeighborly.com. For more information about Molly Maid, visit www.mollymaid.com and to learn about franchising opportunities with Molly Maid, visit https://franchise.mollymaid.com.

Media Contact: Lindsey Harrison, Fishman PR, 847-945-1300 or [email protected]

SOURCE Molly Maid

Related Links

http://www.mollymaid.com


PHOENIX, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- May 1st turns the page for millions of high school graduates who have selected the college or university where they are confident they will complete their degree. With slightly more than half of students who start college completing their degree in six-years, college families are smart to ask these questions regarding their investment in higher education and take steps to prepare to overcome risks that could disrupt their education.

College Refund Policy Fires within College Student Housing

Paying for college is often the second largest investment college families make, as a result John Fees, co-founder of GradGuard, an authority on college risks that works closely with more than 300 colleges and universities, recommends the following smart tips:

What is Your College Refund Policy? If your student has to withdraw from college due to a serious illness, injury or accident, it is unlikely that you will receive a 100% refund. Only 16% of schools surveyed provide 100% refunds of tuition, and virtually no schools will refund the cost of academic fees, room and board. Tuition insurance can provide a refund, however, when schools do not. If you cannot afford the cost of an extra college semester, then it is essential to purchase tuition insurance coverage prior to the start of classes. Coverage must be purchased prior to the start of classes and begins at $33.75 for $2,500 of coverage per term.

Will Your Health Insurance Coverage Work? Many colleges offer health insurance plans to students and require them to purchase or opt out by showing proof of alternative insurance. According to American College Health Association, about 10 percent of students get their health insurance through their school. A college health insurance plan may make sense for some students. But if you have family health insurance, your college student can remain on a parents' plan until the age of 26. Be sure to confirm the requirements to use your student campus health clinic and be sure not to pay twice for coverage.

What are Risks of Living on Campus? For many of the nearly three-million students who live in student housing, this is the first time they are living independently. With an average of 2,000 fires reported annually within on-campus housing by Clery Act safety reports and 69,502 property crimes reported in FBI Uniform Crime Reports, the risks are real. Though some parents may have coverage through homeowners insurance, it may not be practical due to coverage limits, high deductibles and increase cost of your insurance if you file a claim. For about $.50 cents a day, GradGuard's college renters insurance contains an exclusive student endorsement that provides a low-deductible and coverage designed for college life making it a must have consideration for college families.

Fees continued, "College families are smart to protect their investment from the risks of college life. To make it easier to find the insurance programs that are right for your college student or recommended by your institution, families are smart to start with GradGuard's college insurance search tool at GradGuard.com."

About: GradGuard is an authority in protecting the investment in higher education. By protecting students and their families from the risks from college life, GradGuard helps reduce the cost of college and promote greater student success. GradGuard's modern tuition and renters insurance programs are valuable student benefits available through a network of more than 300 colleges and universities. Since 2009, GradGuard's insurance programs have protected more than 650,000 students and families. For more insights on #collegelife follow @GradGuard.

Media contact:

Morgan Thompson

[email protected]

602-954-6306

SOURCE GradGuard

Related Links

https://www.gradguard.com


LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Technology and digital media news magazine TechTrends said on May 1 2019, it is looking for smart, hard-working contributors who are interested in exploring topics related to artificial intelligence, the mobile internet, and the digital home to write 900 word news stories and features for publication on its website.

TechTrends will officially launch around the world on May 1 2019, focusing on emerging trends in AI-based consumer electronics, digital media, and the gaming industry.

Image by szfphy from Pixabay

The magazine's stated mission is to explore these interactive technology trends, and to provide audiences around the world with insightful information regarding current markets and the opportunities that exist in other markets.

Earlier this year, TechTrends hired UK media editor Naomi Smith, an experienced journalist and photographer with experience as a beat reporter covering aviation and pharmaceuticals law, regulation, and politics.

She received her master's degree in investigative journalism from Birkbeck College, University of London, and has contributed to a number of other digital publication on a variety of topics, including politics, gaming culture, and film.

TechTrends' research activities will investigate critical market issues, such as competition, new technology applications, and consumer demand for a broad range of products and services.

Among other topics, it will focus on blockchain-based industry, video-on-demand, e-commerce, mobile advertising, broadband multimedia application, interactive gaming, digital set-top boxes, smart phones, handheld PCs, personalized information services, networking, and smart appliances.

"TechTrends is a great opportunity to grow a brand from scratch, and do some interesting deep dives on hot button topics and issues that are increasingly relevant in society, media, and business right now," UK media editor Naomi Smith said. "I look forward to working with our fantastic new contributors to make TechTrends a useful and relevant source of information worldwide."

Notes for editors:

TechTrends is a UK-based technology and digital media magazine founded by digital agency InterAd, Inc. It was officially launched in May 2019, and publishes news and market research focused on AI-based consumer electronics, digital media, and the gaming industry.

https://techtrends.com/

For media enquiries, please contact Naomi Smith, media editor, at [email protected]

Media Contact:

Naomi Smith

(741) 276-2864

[email protected]

SOURCE TechTrends

Related Links

https://techtrends.com


WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthQuaker Devices has been named 2019 Small Business Exporter of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The Akron, Ohio-based company will be officially recognized during National Small Business Week, an annual event honoring the accomplishments and contributions of the best small businesses in the nation.

The award will be presented to EarthQuaker Devices' Founder/President Jamie Stillman and CEO Julie Robbins on May 6, during a luncheon held at the U.S. Institute of Peace, in Washington, D.C.

"EarthQuaker Devices is a great example of how a small business can flourish by entering the international market. We are thrilled that the SBA was able to assist them as they grew into a global company," said David Glaccum, Associate Administrator for the Office of International Trade.

Stillman and Robbins remain committed to maintaining sustainable growth through innovation and global expansion. EarthQuaker Devices has a worldwide reputation for producing a top-shelf product which is CE certified to guarantee compliance with international regulations.

EarthQuaker Devices' increased sales afforded them the opportunity to grew from its humble beginnings as a basement-based business, to a renovated two-story 15,000 sq. ft. building where they build and distribute their products to 47 countries worldwide. The company continues its production in the U.S., proudly marking their devices as "Made in Akron, Ohio," and employ more than 57 people.

EarthQuaker Devices participated in several government trade promotion and financing programs to include the Ohio International Market Access Grant for Exporters (IMAGE) program, funded through the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP). In 2018, they were awarded and used the full $25,000 grant to develop marketing pieces. Another key to their success is the counseling they received from the Ohio Small Business Development Center's Export Assistance Network.

U.S. exports are important to the nation's economy, and 98 percent of all exporters are small businesses. During fiscal year 2018, the SBA guaranteed 476 export finance loans for nearly $735 million, supporting over 10,900 jobs and $2.6 billion in reported export sales.

National Small Business Week is the SBA's annual celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation. This year, National Small Business Week will be recognized May 5-11, with events planned in Washington, D.C. and around the country.



This year's award ceremonies will be livestreamed on the SBA's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sbagov at 12:30 p.m. (EDT). For more information on the national events, 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. 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 programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Contact: [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter , Facebook , Blogs & Instagram

Release Number: 19-24

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

Related Links

http://www.sba.gov


NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Optima Partners today announced that it furthered its position as a leading global financial regulatory compliance firm with the appointment of top private equity and hedge fund advisor David Gold as Chief Operating Officer.

"Hiring David represents a significant investment in Optima's growth," said Optima Partners CEO Jonathan Saxton. "His role will ensure the consistent delivery of the high level of advice and service to all of our clients, as well as the continued robust growth of our firm."

Mr. Gold commented: "I am looking forward to working with our global colleagues to help Optima broaden its market leadership and drive successful outcomes for its clients, employees and other stakeholders."

In his new role, Mr. Gold will have significant responsibilities in helping shape the firm-wide culture and future business growth and development of the firm.

With nearly 20 years of alternative investments experience, Mr. Gold has displayed tremendous capabilities in advising private equity and hedge funds on best practices, conducting operational, investment due diligence and other related activities.

Most recently, Mr. Gold served as a senior member of Morgan Stanley's prime brokerage consulting team, providing in-depth advisory and consulting services to start-up and established hedge funds. Earlier, he worked at Willis Towers Watson, BlackRock, Mitsui & Co., and CIBC Oppenheimer.

Mr. Gold is a frequent speaker at various conferences and has received major media coverage on his commentary focusing on a wide range of industry topics.

David can be contacted at [email protected] or at 646-205-6402.

About Optima Partners

Optima Partners is a leading global regulatory compliance and risk management advisory firm providing streamlined and cost-effective services tailored to clients' individual needs. The firm provides a truly global service locally, achieved by ensuring that its industry recognized experts work closely with a diverse group of clients, ranging from hedge funds, private equity firms and investment banks. Optima Partners' unrivalled expertise in the global regulatory landscape, strong relationships with regulators, and a deep commitment to provide clear and practical counsel gives clients the services they need to meet the demands of a complex and dynamic financial regulatory environment. The firm currently advises more than 600 clients across its global offices in New York, San Francisco, London and Hong Kong. For more information on Optima Partners, go to the firm's website at www.optima-partners.com

Media Contact

Marc Weinstein

Ascent Communications

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: (908) 967-9958

SOURCE Optima Consulting Partners

Related Links

http://www.optima-partners.com


PORTLAND, Ore., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ORM Fertility, formerly Oregon Reproductive Medicine, a world-class fertility center that is passionately committed to helping people grow their families, has officially opened its newest clinic in Bellevue, Wash. This clinic is the first ORM Fertility location in the state of Washingtonwhere compensated surrogacy became legal as of January 1, 2019. This expansion further establishes ORM Fertility and the Pacific Northwest as a premier destination for people seeking fertility treatment, including in vitro fertilization, advanced genetic screening, egg donors and safe surrogacy.

Dr. Jamie Massie

ORM Fertility, formerly Oregon Reproductive Medicine, was founded in 1989. Since then, the clinic has expanded from one doctor to eight doctors and from one clinic to seven locations. For over 30 years, ORM Fertility has helped welcome more than 9,000 babies into the world through its treatments for patients on their journey to parenthood. In 2016, ORM Fertility facilitated 15.5 percent of all donor egg and surrogacy frozen embryo transfer cycles in the United States.

ORM Fertility acquired Washington Center for Reproductive Medicine (WCRM) to expand into the Seattle metropolitan area. The clinic, located at 1370 116th Ave. NE, Suite 100, provides a convenient option for people in the greater Seattle area as well as international patients traveling to seek fertility care. Jamie Massie, MD, is the board-certified OB/GYN and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Specialist at ORM Fertility's Bellevue clinic and is currently accepting new patients.

Dr. Massie began her training as an OB/GYN at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi and completed her residency and fellowship at Stanford University. She enjoys being part of the journey of people growing their families and believes that for patients to be successful, they need a strong relationship with their medical team as much as they need strong science. "This is an incredibly exciting time in fertility care in the state of Washington," she said. "While I enjoyed treating military families over the past seven years of my Air Force career, I'm greatly looking forward to helping patients on their path to parenthood at the Bellevue location."

ORM Fertility offers individuals and couples a wide variety of treatment options, including the most cutting-edge IVF technology available, advanced genetic screenings, a robust egg donor program and safe surrogacy, as well as partnerships with agencies like Northwest Surrogacy Center LLC, offering patients access to an unparalleled group of experts.

"Northwest Surrogacy Center LLC has partnered with ORM Fertility for over a decade, successfully assisting our shared clients in growing their families. We are excited to see ORM Fertility bring their expertise, high-quality medicine, and commitment to personalized care to the Bellevue/Seattle area. We look forward to continuing our shared mission of providing exceptional service to families from the Pacific Northwest and around the world," says John Chally, Northwest Surrogacy Center LLC Co-Founder.

The new clinic in Bellevue joins the family of other ORM Fertility centers:

Portland, Ore.

Downtown  808 SW 15th Ave., 97205



Westside  9555 SW Barnes Road, Suite 390, 97205



Southside  12115 SW 70th Ave., Suite 101, 97223

San Francisco, Calif.

Testing & Monitoring Location  55 Francisco St., Suite 300, 94133

Shanghai, China

Unit 601, No. 3 Fenyang Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai

Tel Aviv, Israel

28 Nahalat Yitzhak St., Tel Aviv

About ORM Fertility

ORM Fertility offers world-class fertility services delivered by providers passionately committed to helping people grow their families. ORM Fertility provides fertility-related services and treatments to individuals and couples specific to their needs. ORM Fertility is committed to achieving the highest success rates and provides a customized, compassionate patient experience. Unrivaled expertise, outstanding results and personalized care make ORM Fertility one of the most sought-after fertility providers in the world. Visit www.ormfertility.com to learn more about locations and services.

CONTACT

Maggie Palmer

[email protected]

(503) 419-7677

SOURCE ORM Fertility

Related Links

http://www.ormfertility.com


NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Canntab Therapeutics Ltd (CSE: PILL;OTCQX: CTABF), a Canadian cannabis oral dosage formulation company engaged in the research and development of advanced pharmaceutical grade formulations of cannabinoids, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Canntab Therapeutics upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market.

Canntab Therapeutics begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "CTBAF." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

"Canntab Therapeutics joins the OTCQX Best Market, trading alongside over 45 other cannabis companies that are innovators in the industry," said Jason Paltrowitz, EVP of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "Cross-trading on OTCQX provides Canntab Therapeutics' U.S. investors with greater access to the company's financials, news and research reports. We look forward to supporting Canntab Therapeutics as it expands its footprint in the U.S."

"Historically, it's been difficult for U.S. investors to take ownership of our company, that changes with our upgrade to the OTCQX Best Market. This move also coincides with Canntab reaching a major milestone in April which has opened the door for Canadian and international sales and white labeling," says Richard Goldstein, Chief Financial Officer of Canntab. Jeff Renwick, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Canntab, further explains that "ultimately, this is another move along our strategic process with the goal of becoming the global leader of research in, production of and education about our advanced cannabinoid formulations that utilize our patent pending proprietary process."

About Canntab Therapeutics Ltd.

Canntab Therapeutics Ltd. is a Canadian company engaged in the research and development of advanced, pharmaceutical-grade formulations of cannabinoids in a variety of timed-release dosages, including extended release, immediate release and flash melt. In doing so, Canntab has developed a suite of precision oral dose products that are unavailable elsewhere in the marketplace. Our proprietary hard pill cannabinoid formulations will provide doctors, patients and the general consumer with a medical grade solution with all the features you would expect from any prescription or over the counter medication. Canntab trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol PILL, on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol CTABF, and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol TBF1.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN are SEC regulated ATSs, operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.

Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected]

SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.otcmarkets.com


NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Sessions and speakers include:

LGBT+ in the Corner Office: CEOs Taking Action, hosted by Ogilvy

Lou Aversano , CEO , Ogilvy USA

, Ogilvy Bill Campbell , Executive Director and Business Tax Global Compliance and Reporting Leader , EY

, EY Sharice Davids , US Representative , Kansas (Video Address)

, , David Djaha , Managing Partner - Elect , Ropes & Gray

, , Ropes & Gray Beth Ford , CEO , Land O' Lakes

, , Land O' Lakes Jim Fitterling , CEO , The Dow Chemical Company

, , The Dow Chemical Company Laura Kelly , Governor , Kansas

, , Gus Kenworthy , Olympic Silver Medalist

, Sarah McBride , National Press Secretary, HRC

HRC John Richards , Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig

Greenberg Traurig Todd Sears , Founder and Principal, Out Leadership

Out Leadership Kathleen Sebelius , 21 st U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services

, Pam Stewart , SVP National Retail Sales, Coca-Cola North America

, Coca-Cola North America Sally Susman , EVP, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Pfizer

, Pfizer Allison VanKuiken , Executive Director, TransCanWork

Global Insights: Business Innovation Driving Change, hosted by Ropes & Gray

Beth Brooke-Marciniak , Global Vice Chair , EY

, , EY Chris Crespo , Director of Inclusion , EY

, EY Robert Edwards , Director of Attorney Development & Diversity , Ropes & Gray

, Ropes & Gray Jaimi Goodfriend , Head of Investment Professional Development, Point72

, Point72 Joan McPhee , Partner, Co-Chair Diversity Committee, Ropes & Gray

, Ropes & Gray Michael McRaith , MD Insurance Solutions , Blackstone

, , Blackstone Charles Myers , Chairman & Founde r, Signum Global Advisors

, r, Signum Global Advisors Amanda Persaud , Partner, Ropes & Gray

VIP Reception: Pride Business Kickoff (closed to press)

Chasten Buttigieg

Herb Engert , NY Managing Partner , EY

, EY Jake Resnicow , Executive Producer, Pride Festival 2019

, Pride Festival 2019 Peter Erichsen , Partner, Ropes & Gray

More than 200 senior executives will gather for Out Leadership's 9th annual U.S. Senior Leader Summit in New York, sponsored by EY, Ogilvy and Ropes & Gray.

The summit includes conversations with the most senior out LGBT+ business leaders in the world, and the launch of an array of new insights from Out Leadership:

Out Leadership's State LGBT+ Business Climate Index, a groundbreaking new system for assessing states' performance on 20 carefully selected distinct measures of LGBT+ inclusion

a groundbreaking new system for assessing states' performance on 20 carefully selected distinct measures of LGBT+ inclusion Visibility Counts, a white paper co-written by Ropes & Gray examining how and why companies have created global systems for collecting sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) demographic data from employees, and identifying best practices for doing so.

Panel discussions will focus on the research findings and their implications for LGBT+ equality globally, and how business can continue to drive progress.

"Whether it's advocating on Capitol Hill for US legislation to enforce workplace protections for LGBT+ Americans or recently announcing the launch of the Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality to help companies implement the UN Standards of Conduct around LGBTI inclusion, EY is an active champion and supporter of LGBT+ rights within government, business and the community," said Rich Jeanneret, Vice Chair and East Region Managing Partner, EY Americas. "EY is consistently ranked among the best places for workplace diversity, especially with our recent induction into DiversityInc's Top 50 Hall of Fame. Thanks to EY leadership, we are able to foster conversations and push the LGBT+ agenda to actively advance inclusion within the business world and beyond."

"At Ogilvy, diversity has always been and will always be a critical part of our DNA," said Lou Aversano, CEO, Ogilvy USA. "Our founder, David Ogilvy, was an early advocate for diversity in the workplace and, as Chairman of the United Negro College Fund, in 1968 he set the agenda for the agency's pursuit of inclusion in the workplace. I am proud this legacy lives on through initiatives and policies that have earned us the designation of being among the Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign for the fifth consecutive year. For us, having diverse viewpoints, perspectives, and backgrounds at the table is central to our ability to make brands matter for our clients in this fragmented, unpredictable, even chaotic world.

"Advocating for the rights of people of all backgrounds, genders, races, ethnicities and sexual orientations is an important part of Ropes & Gray's identity," said Brad Malt, Chair, Ropes & Gray, whose lawyers successfully argued the landmark marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ropes & Gray also has developed legal and regulatory reviews of LGBT policies and practices in 23 countries for Out Leadership's CEO Business Briefs and is supporting the project's expansion to cover all 50 U.S. states; and the firm partnered with Out Leadership to conduct a groundbreaking research study of 38 global companies' practices regarding LGBT+ self-identification. "We're proud of our partnership with Out Leadership, of all of the work our lawyers have done to advocate on behalf of the LGBT+ community, and of the efforts we have made at the firm to build a diverse and inclusive workplace."

"Creating cultures where LGBT+ people are safe, supported, and able to rise to their highest potential is powerfully transformative," said Todd Sears, Founder and Principal, Out Leadership. "The tools we're adding to our extensive collection of insights, including Visibility Counts, our white paper about LGBT+ self-ID; the LGBT+ Business Climate Index, and our CEO Business Briefs for the 50 U.S. States, are intended to help stakeholders properly weigh the economic impact of policies that are often thought of as primarily social or cultural  to see how harmful discrimination is to businesses and to talent, and how beneficial inclusive policies can be. We're grateful to Out Leadership's 68 member companies for partnering with us every day to help us create Return on Equality."

About Out Leadership

Out Leadership is the global LGBT+ business network CEOs and multinational companies trust to generate Return on Equality.

We create global executive events and insights that help leaders realize the economic growth and talent dividend derived from inclusive business, and convene groundbreaking talent accelerators: OutNEXT, the first global leadership development program for the next generation of LGBT+ talent; Quorum, which seeks to advance LGBT+ diversity in corporate governance; and OutWOMEN, which convenes and celebrates LGBT+ women in business.

Out Leadership is a certified B Corp. For more information, please visit www.outleadership.com

SOURCE Out Leadership
ALAMEDA, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Penumbra, Inc. (NYSE: PEN) today announced that its management team is scheduled to present at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2019 Health Care Conference in Las Vegas, NV on Wednesday, May 15, 2019.

Event: Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2019 Health Care Conference Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2019 Time: 4:00pm ET / 1:00pm PT

A webcast of the presentation will be available by visiting the investors section of the company's website at www.penumbrainc.com. The webcast will be available on the company's website for at least two weeks following the event.

About Penumbra

Penumbra, Inc., headquartered in Alameda, California, is a global healthcare company focused on innovative therapies. Penumbra designs, develops, manufactures and markets medical devices and has a broad portfolio of products that addresses challenging medical conditions and significant clinical needs. Penumbra sells its products to hospitals primarily through its direct sales organization in the United States, most of Europe, Canada and Australia, and through distributors in select international markets. The Penumbra logo is a trademark of Penumbra, Inc. For more information, visit www.penumbrainc.com.

Investor Relations

Penumbra, Inc.

510-995-2461

[email protected]

SOURCE Penumbra, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.penumbrainc.com


Seoul Arts Center CEO Yoo In-taek. Yonhap



By Anna J. Park



Seoul Arts Center CEO Yoo In-taek vowed on Tuesday to make efforts to increase government funding for the institution.



"After I became the CEO, I was shocked to learn the government funding for the arts center was only about 25 percent of its annual budget," Yoo said during a news conference.



Yoo, 63, who has led the center since March, explained that only a quarter of last year's annual budget of $38 million came from the government. Yoo said he aims to increase the ratio of government funding to about 50 percent of its annual budget.



The new CEO stressed that other major arts centers in London and in Paris, like the Barbican Center and the Opera National de Paris, receive nearly half of their annual budgets from the government. He added the strengthened government funding is necessary, as relying too much on the arts center's own revenue had resulted in more commercial programming and hikes in admission tickets, hurting the public nature of the arts complex.



Seoul Arts Center is home to the nation's fine arts and performances, ranging from classical music, opera, ballet and theater to art exhibitions.



The arts complex located in Seoul's southern Seocho-gu also houses several national arts companies, including the Korea National Ballet, the Korea National Opera and the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company.



The 31-year-old arts center attracts 3 million visitors a year, meaning on average, the arts complex sees around 10,000 people per day. In an effort to bring more people to the cultural venue, the CEO vowed to strengthen the paid member system. Yoo also said he will expand cooperation with other major national arts centers in the Asia-Pacific region.


LOS ANGELES, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Phonexa, a B2B Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions provider, enthusiastically took to the streets this Saturday, April 27th, for the 2019 March for Babies Walk.

In the United States, 1 out of 10 babies is born prematurely (before 37 weeks of pregnancy). Premature birth and its complications are the leading cause of death of infants in the United States. Premature babies can also suffer from long-term health problems such as intellectual disabilities, chronic lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness, and hearing loss.

Phonexa team member participates in March for Babies.

There has been a rise in preterm birth rates in recent years. Supported by March of Dimes, the March for Babies exists to raise funds to bring comfort and information to families with a baby born in newborn intensive care, while also aiding research to find the causes of premature birth and ways to prevent it.

Phonexa CaresPhonexa's community outreach programset a fundraising goal to inspire and activate team members to become spirited advocates for the cause. Employees solicited donations in anticipation for the walk, and the company also contributed on behalf of the team, drawing the total of funds raised to $2,576. The efforts culminated with Phonexa Cares team members participating in the walk, which snaked its way through 3 miles of streets in downtown Los Angeles this past Saturday, April 27th.

Phonexa President David Gasparyan couldn't be happier about the Phonexa Cares initiative with March of Dimes: "Giving mothers and babies the care they need to live happy and healthy lives is one of the greatest causes we as an organization could champion. I'm very proud that our team is engaged in the community to bring awareness and resources to this honorable cause."

Participation of Phonexa Cares is handled by Marina Moskalenko. Those with questions or requests are encouraged to contact her at [email protected] or 844-746-6392.

For more information and to donate, please visit: https://marchforbabies.org/team/Phonexa

About Phonexa

Phonexa is an all-in-one marketing platform that offers business solutions for call tracking, lead distribution, email marketing, and integrated accounting. Phonexa's customizable tools and features maximize workflow efficiency for publishers, affiliate networks, and direct advertisers. For more information, please visit www.Phonexa.com.

Media Contact

Marina Moskalenko

[email protected]

844-746-6392

SOURCE Phonexa

Related Links

http://www.phonexa.com


"It's always been a goal to partner on a national level with a foundation close to my heart," states Poo~Pourri founder and CEO Suzy Batiz. "We are a longtime supporter of the Foundation and consistently receive inspiring testimonials from patients who use our product. As a company committed to breaking stigmas, it's important we continue to enable all of our customers to feel confident doing something we all do."

From May 16-May 19, Poo~Pourri will host a World IBD Day donation campaign in which 100% of proceeds from sales (up to $25,000) on PooPourri.com will be donated to help raise awareness of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and support the Foundation's mission-critical research, education, support, and advocacy initiatives.

"The Foundation works to find cures for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life for the estimated 3 million Americans living with these debilitating digestive diseases," said Michele Zellers, Vice President, Take Steps for the Foundation. "One way we do this is through raising awareness. We are appreciative of Poo~Pourri's commitment to helping advance our mission, and look forward to working with them in this new partnership."

Join us: Team Poo~Pourri at Take Steps Dallas on Sunday, May 5, 2019

Take Steps is the Foundation's largest nationwide fundraising event where patients, loved ones, friends, and supporters empower and inspire each other to continue the fight against Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Join our team and hundreds of other North Texans at The Star in Frisco and help raise $100,000 this year in Dallas to support cures. Register today here.

We give a crap and you should too. Visit www.PooPourri.com/IBD to shop and help find cures for Crohn's and ulcerative colitis!

About Poo~Pourri:



Founded by serial creator Suzy Batiz in 2007, Poo~Pourri, the original Before-You-Go Toilet Spray, stops bathroom odor before it begins. With 350 million combined video views and over 60 million bottles sold, Poo~Pourri has become an internationally-known, category inventor and start-up success. Poo~Pourri is now sold in 10,000 independent stores and mass retailers including Target, CVS, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ulta, Amazon.com (with 20,000 five-star reviews!). Poo~Pourri earned the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval in 2013 and an Edison award in 2014. The company has been ranked on Inc.'s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies since 2015 and is certified as a Women Owned Business (WBENC). To learn more, visit www.PooPourri.com.

About the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation

The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation is the leading non-profit organization focused on both research and patient support for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The Foundation's mission is to cure Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life for the estimated 3 million Americans living with IBD. For over 50 years, we have been inspiring and engaging patients and caregivers in the country's largest IBD community, and helping to dramatically accelerate the pace of research by breaking down traditional barriers to patients, data, funding, and collaborations. We also provide extensive educational resources for patients and their families, medical professionals, and the public. For more information, visit www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org, call 888-694-8872, or email [email protected].

PR Contact:

Rachel Champlin

Poo~Pourri

[email protected]

SOURCE Poo~Pourri

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PEMBROKE PINES, Fla., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Power Financial Credit Union (PFCU) has solidified its commitment to affordable housing by becoming the first and only credit union in the country to invest in the Community Development Fund (ticker CDCDX), announced CEO Allan Prindle. According to Prindle, although credit unions are not covered by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) a law which banks are required to adhere, this initiative represents its support of a growing economic crisis in South Florida.

"Power Financial Credit Union is committed to affordable housing through our mission to give back to the communities we serve," he said. "This is an opportunity to truly help support a critical local community development initiative."

The Community Development Fund is a market-rate bond fund that invests in high-credit-quality, fixed-income securities whose proceeds are designed to positively impact community development throughout the U.S.

"This is a progressive move for Power Financial Credit Union," said Kenneth H. Thomas, president of the Community Development Fund Advisors and leading expert on the CRA. Thomas refers to South Florida as "ground zero" for affordable housing and credits Prindle for the credit union's investment to help tackle the issue.

As an institution investing in the fund, PFCU is responsible for designating its targeted Assessment Area(s). CRA qualified-community development investments are then purchased and earmarked in those targeted areas, dollar for dollar, to the investing institution. To date, the Community Development Fund has successfully garnered over $50 million in support of single-family and multifamily affordable housing.

About Power Financial Credit Union

Power Financial Credit Union is a community-based, member-owned financial institution that has been providing high-quality, family-based financial services to the South Florida community for more than 65 years. We Hear You. Respect You. And Treat You Like Family. Power Financial Credit Union, which has been awarded a 5-Star Rating from BauerFinancial, Inc., the nation's top bank rating service, was named "2018 Nonprofit/Institutional Business Award" by South Florida Business Journal, "Top Workplace" by South Florida's Sun Sentinel newspaper in 2017 and 2016, and, for a fifth consecutive year in 2018, one of Credit Union Journal's "Best Credit Unions to Work For." Power Financial Credit Union also was recognized in 2016 for its Leadership and Service by South Florida Business Journal and ranked as Florida's Top Performing Credit Union by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Power Financial Credit Union serves more than 32,000 members with combined total assets approaching $650 million and six branches and eight ATMs throughout South Florida, along with an ATM in Alpharetta, GA. The institution offers all the advanced products, services and tools of large banks, but with a unique, personalized, family friendly, community-centered focus. It also provides extensive electronic services to members, with 90% of all transactions conducted outside its branches. Additional information is available at www.powerfi.org or by calling 800.548.5465.

SOURCE Power Financial Credit Union

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CHICAGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Redgrave LLP, the premier law firm focusing exclusively on eDiscovery and information law, is proud to announce today that Christine Payne has joined the Firm as a Partner in Chicago. Ms. Payne most recently led Kirkland & Ellis LLP's eDiscovery efforts as Co-Chair of the Firmwide Electronic Discovery Committee.

"Christine's impressive experience is a tremendous addition to our Firm and we are excited about her contributions to our strategic planning and growth," said Managing Partner Jonathan Redgrave. "Christine joins us with an established track record of helping high-value clients overcome litigation and eDiscovery challenges. Her arrival coincides with the significant expansion of our team, which is being driven by the fact that our clients, more than ever, need top-of-the-line counsel to advise on eDiscovery as well as emerging issues related to new technologies, data privacy and information law."

Ms. Payne's arrival at Redgrave continues an strategic plan to increase the depth of the Firm's bench nationally, following the addition of new partners Adam Cohen, who joined in April, and Karin Jenson, who joined in February.

"When it comes to eDiscovery, there is simply no better firm than Redgrave. I'm extremely excited to be joining this team. I plan to hit the ground running, focusing on innovation for our clients," said Ms. Payne.

Ms. Payne's experience includes handling complex commercial litigation, including bet-the-company cases, as well as restructuring-related litigation, products liability litigation, antitrust matters, and ongoing and pending investigations. She has also counseled clients on litigation readiness, developing eDiscovery strategy, and recovering from data loss. Ms. Payne also teaches, speaks, and writes frequently about eDiscovery strategy and advocacy. She currently is an adjunct professor of electronic discovery law and problem solving at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Ms. Payne received her J.D. (with honors) from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

ABOUT REDGRAVE LLP

Redgrave LLP focuses exclusively in information law, providing global and Fortune 500 companies and law firms with legal, technical and business advice and strategy to support requirements related to eDiscovery, privacy and data security, and information governance. The Firm's attorneys and business and technical advisors are at the forefront of the ever-evolving challenges that arise at the intersection of the law and technology. Redgrave LLP has professionals based in New York, Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

SOURCE Redgrave LLP

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OKLAHOMA CITY, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Rural Sourcing (RSI), the leading provider of US-based IT outsourcing services, opened a new development center in Oklahoma City. This marks the fifth development center for the company. As it continues its mission to bring technology jobs onshore and to middle America, RSI is providing opportunities for thousands of Americans to build careers in technology.

RSI, along with Governor Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City leaders cut the ribbon on the new development center in the heart of Oklahoma City. When fully staffed, the center will house 150 professionals, who will bring world-class IT development and support to Fortune 1000 companies across the U.S. In the first year alone, this facility represents a $7 million investment in the community.

"We are at a critical junction in the economic health of our country," said Monty Hamilton, CEO of Rural Sourcing. "We cannot continue to push our technology jobs overseas or just large coastal cities. By bringing these high-paying positions to the heart of our country, we are creating a workforce that is prepared for the future and can compete globally. Oklahoma City and the talented workforce are an important part of our strategy to bring jobs onshore."

The development center will be located in the Rock Island Plow building. RSI chose this location for its strategic, downtown location and historical significance. The building was constructed in 1909 by the Rock Island Railroad Corporation of Chicago and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. In keeping with Rural Sourcing tradition and the vision of its CEO, Rural Sourcing chooses revitalized locations over brand new buildings in its efforts to reuse existing space to mesh American history with the future of technology.

"Oklahoma City was chosen over nearly 50 other cities -- what a testament to the pro-business policies that Oklahoma has to offer," said Gov. Kevin Stitt. "It is exciting to see so many new technology jobs be created in our state, helping us to diversify our economy. I look forward to working with Rural Sourcing to ensure their success in our state."

The Oklahoma City development center is an important step forward for RSI's long-term growth strategy. In March, Bain Capital Double Impact, the impact investing business of Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in RSI, allowing the company to further scale its national footprint and digital service offerings while creating high-quality jobs and new technology corridors across the country. With the support of Bain Capital, RSI will continue to create new development centers and bring technology jobs back to the U.S.

About Rural Sourcing Inc.

Rural Sourcing Inc. (RSI) is the leading IT outsourcing provider with a cost effective, agile approach to software development, support and maintenance of critical business and cloud applications. By providing an alternative to offshore outsourcing, RSI eliminates the obstacles of time zones, distance, language, and geopolitical risks. With development centers strategically located throughout the United States, RSI leverages untapped, highly skilled IT resources in mid-size metro cities to provide world-class solutions for Fortune 1000 clients across various industries including consumer & retail goods, financial services, healthcare, hi-tech, insurance, and pharmaceutical. For more information, visit www.ruralsourcing.com.

Media Contact:

Tyler Pearson

(404) 772-2222

[email protected]

SOURCE Rural Sourcing Inc.

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NOTRE DAME, Ind., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- After receiving a record number of applicants, Saint Mary's College officially welcomes its Class of 2023 on National College Acceptance Day.

Applications to Saint Mary's College, the Catholic, women's, liberal arts college in Notre Dame, Ind., were up 9.5% this year, an increase of 11% from 2017. Applicants represented 47 states and 19 countries from the continents of Asia, South America and Africa.

"We are challenging the norms about what small colleges can offer students and continue to tailor our programs, partnerships and classes to meet the needs of today's women," said Interim President Nancy Nekvasil. "We are also blessed to have an extremely active alumnae network and donors who created a healthy $200 million endowment to support our mission of small, professor-taught classes and strong academics."

Nekvasil pointed to the College's recently-inked partnership with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), expanded STEM programs, study abroad options, Five Year Dual Degree Engineering Program and continued emphasis on small class sizes as some of the reasons more young women are selecting Saint Mary's College. The College has been named among the top 100 institutions on the annual U.S. News & World Report's Best National Liberal Arts Colleges list for more than a decade.

About Saint Mary's College: Celebrating 175 years of empowering women to make a difference in the world, Saint Mary's College is recognized as a pioneer in the education of women. A Catholic, liberal arts institution in Notre Dame, Indiana, the College offers more than 50 academic programs and also offers co-educational master's degrees in data science, speech language pathology, autism studies, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

SOURCE Saint Mary's College

Related Links

http://www.saintmarys.edu


BOSTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sappi North America, Inc., a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper and packaging products, today announced the call for entries for its 2019 Ideas that Matter grant program, inviting designers to show the world how print can play an important role in changing lives for the better. This year, the company celebrates the 20th anniversary of the program, which Sappi established to support designers who apply their creative talents to benefit causes that address significant issues facing our society.

Over the course of the program, Sappi has continuously illustrated how the creative and integrated work of designers can change society. Sappi remains committed to the belief that good ideas inspire people to take action, and great ideas change the world. Though many media choices are available to designers, print is at the heart of influential and effective messaging and a perfect complement to promote positive social causes.

"For 20 years, Sappi has been a leader in supporting design for social good. The passion for the causes are displayed through the caliber and quality of the submissions we receive each year. We're proud that this program has supported more than 500 charitable programs designed to better our lives, our communities and our planet," said Patti Groh, Director of Marketing Communications, Sappi North America. "To us, Ideas that Matter is more than just a grant program. From national nonprofits to local community initiatives, the breadth, quality and impact of projects we've supported have made a meaningful difference in people's lives across the globe."

This year's panel of judges includes:

Sam Aquillano , Founder and Executive Director, Design Museum Foundation

, Founder and Executive Director, Design Museum Foundation George Aye , Co-Founder and Director of Innovation, Greater Good Studio

, Co-Founder and Director of Innovation, Greater Good Studio Ashleigh Axios , Creative Director, Obama White House and Executive Board Member, AIGA

, Creative Director, Obama White House and Executive Board Member, AIGA Antionette Carroll , M.A., President and CEO, Founder, Creative Reaction Lab

, M.A., President and CEO, Founder, Creative Reaction Lab Christine Taylor , Licensing Creative Manager, Hallmark Cards and Creative Director, PopMinded by Hallmark

Ideas that Matter Come to Life

Ideas that Matter is the only grant program of its kind in the paper industry and is a key part of Sappi's corporate social responsibility efforts. Since 1999for 20 yearsthe program has provided more than $13 million to support causes that change lives, communities, and ultimately, the planet.

The 2018 winners included Altitude for Social Good Fund; Designmatters for Friends of Matenwa; The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP); Design Museum Foundation; TODA for Parent-Child Home Program; AIGA Design for Good Task Force for AIGA; The New School; Peace Over Violence; and Principle for Brighter Bites.

Information on previous winners can be viewed on Sappi's Ideas that Matter website.

Selection Criteria and How to Enter

Ideas that Matter proposals are evaluated on creativity, potential effectiveness and practicality by an annually selected, independent panel of judges who are influential in the design community.

The call for Ideas that Matter submissions is open to individual designers, design firms, agencies, in-house corporate design departments, design instructors, individual design students and design student groups. Only applicants in North America may apply. Grant awards range from $5,000 to $50,000 USD per project. Each application must include an IRS 501 (c) 3 letter or Canadian equivalent of the applicant's nonprofit organization.

Applications for the 2019 program must be submitted and postmarked no later than July 19, 2019. Judging will take place in August. Grant recipients for the 2019 program will be announced in September, with grants awarded in October.

For the program's 20th Anniversary, Sappi is offering a chance for the design community to vote for their favorite projects with the People's Voice Award. After the winners are announced, the grant that receives the most Instagram "Likes" on @SappiNorthAmerica will receive a $5,000 bonus grant to escalate the reach, impact and influence of their project.

To obtain an entry form and more information on the Ideas that Matter grant, please click here or call 800-882-4332.

About Sappi North America, Inc.

Sappi North America, Inc., headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. The success of our four diversified businesses  high-quality Coated Printing Papers, Dissolving Wood Pulp, Packaging and Specialty Papers and Casting and Release Papers  is driven by strong customer relationships, best-in-class people and advantaged assets, products and services. Our high-quality Coated Printing Papers, including McCoy, Opus, Somerset, and Flo, are the key platform for premium magazines, catalogs, books, direct mail and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Dissolving Wood Pulp with our Verve brand, a sustainable fiber, which is used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods. We deliver sustainable Packaging and Specialty Papers for luxury packaging and folding carton applications with our single-ply packaging brands, Spectro and Proto, and for the food and label industries with our specialty papers, LusterPrint and LusterCote. We are also one of the world's leading suppliers of Casting and Release Papers with our Ultracast, PolyEx and Classics lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Customers rely on Sappi for high technical, operational and market expertise; products and services delivered with consistently high quality and reliability; and, state-of-the-art and cost-competitive assets and innovative spirit.

Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 150 countries.

SOURCE Sappi North America, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sappi.com


WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced the 2019 National Small Business Week Phoenix Award winners for their resilience in the aftermath of a disaster.

Since 1998, the SBA has presented Phoenix Awards to business owners, public officials and volunteers who displayed selflessness, ingenuity and tenacity in the aftermath of a disaster, while contributing to the rebuilding of their communities.

This year's recipients include a Florida business owner who rebounded after massive inventory and equipment losses from Hurricane Irma; a California County Supervisor whose coordination efforts helped displaced residents after the Woolsey wildfire; and two Puerto Rico volunteers who organized a community kitchen for fellow Hurricane Maria survivors.

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 p.m. (EDT).

The SBA congratulates the following 2019 National Small Business Week Phoenix Award winners:

Phoenix Award for Outstanding Small Business Disaster Recovery

Stephanie Vitori, President

Cheeseburger Baby

Miami Beach, Fla.

In September 2017, Hurricane Irma nearly ended the success of Cheeseburger Baby (CBB). Stephanie Vitori had built a thriving eatery that grew to 20 employees, two food trucks, and annual revenues of $800,000. That all changed in the wake of the mega-storm, Hurricane Irma, that destroyed CBB's marquee sign, air conditioning units, freezers, cooking equipment, and damaged the roof of a food truck. Lost sales and property damages caused an economic hit of $150,000.

Thinking on her feet, Stephanie used a generator from one of the food trucks to power the restaurant and begin the recovery process. The CBB team cooked food for local officials and volunteers helping with the post-hurricane clean-up. Stephanie received an SBA disaster loan for $197,000 to cover working capital needs and repair costs. The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Florida International University helped restructure CBB's financial operations and develop a business continuity plan. The SBA assistance powered CBB to get the staff and revenue back to pre-disaster levels.

Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery by a Public Official

Linda Parks

Ventura County Supervisor, District 2

Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The quiet of Thousand Oaks was devastated Thursday, November 8, 2018, when the Woolsey Fire erupted in Ventura County. By Saturday, the fire had expanded to 70,000 acres, with no end in sight. By the time the fire was contained, nearly 97,000 acres had been scorched, three people lost their lives, and more than 295,000 residents, including Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, were evacuated from 105,000 homes.

Parks cleared out her office and loaned it to county officials for their use as a Victims Assistance Center. She coordinated several fire recovery town hall meetings for displaced residents. In addition to attending fire briefings with the California Governor's office, the Department of the Interior and FEMA, Parks held numerous press conferences urging residents to follow evacuation and safety orders.

Parks worked to authorize a California Office of Emergency Services debris removal program, and supported firefighters by helping water agencies craft messages urging residents to reduce water use. In the months that followed, she, along with five mayors from nearby cities, co-authored a fire preparedness Op-Ed that called for the future use of underground utility lines, since many fires are caused by sparks from overhead power cables.

Phoenix Award for Outstanding Contributions to Disaster Recovery by a Volunteer

Christine Nieves Rodriguez and Luis Rodriguez Sanchez

Volunteers/Co-Founders

Proyecto de Apoyo Mutuo Mariana (PAM) (Mariana Mutual Support Project)

Humacao, Puerto Rico

In early 2017, Christine Nieves Rodriguez returned to her childhood home in Mariana, a mountainous area of Humacao, with her husband Luis. On September 20, 2017, the couple found themselves huddled in a tiny bathroom for three hours, with windows and doors exploding, as Hurricane Maria tore through the island with winds of 155 mph.

The damage to their home, they felt, paled in comparison to the destruction of Puerto Rico's infrastructure. The lack of power, communications, food and water accelerated the physical and emotional decline of the hurricane survivors. Christine and Luis shook themselves out of their own exhaustion and grief and decided to help the Mariana community recover.

Christine and Luis found a large space to set up a community kitchen, recruited volunteers to cook and serve meals, accepted food donations, and found a neighbor with a working pickup truck to load large containers of water from a nearby oasis. Their initiative, the Proyecto de Apoyo Mutuo Mariana (PAM), ultimately fed more than 5,000 people.

Christine and Luis expanded PAM's operations and recruited more volunteers. They used their local contacts, social media and news coverage from media outlets around the world to get free Wi-Fi for Mariana residents. The couple was also able to secure the largest solar generator on the island, three water towers, several health clinics, and meal deliveries for the sick. Christine and Luis' resourcefulness, courage, and determination made it possible for the people of Mariana to challenge their circumstances and emerge as victors, prepared to support the rebirth of Puerto Rico.

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) 401-0035

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & Instagram

Release Number: 19-23

SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

Related Links

http://www.sba.gov


MM&M has shared their honor roll of visionaries, gurus, self-starters, operators, and executives who are bravely working to revolutionize the nation's $3 trillion healthcare industry. The 2019 Healthcare Transformers Class is among the most distinguished, with inductees who hold key posts in the health industry giants such as Pfizer, Glaxo Smith Kline, Bayer, and Sanofi. This class also features impressive leaders from Amazon, Uber Health, and the FDA to round out the list of those driving innovation in healthcare via technology.

"To be recognized by MM&M in the Top 40 Healthcare Transformer Class and to be among those who are leading the transformation of the $3T healthcare industry is an incredible honor for the entire Seqster team and me," states Seqster CEO, Ardy Arianpour. "By placing the person at the center of their health Seqster has created a unique technology that breaks down the data silos enabling organizations to deliver cost-effective healthcare via comprehensive medical records, individual genomic profiles, and personal health device data. This award cements Seqster's position as the leader in health data interoperability with a superior technology that connects all of the dots in healthcare."

"This year's class of Transformers reflects the tremendous growth we're seeing in MedTech, as well as a more holistic approach to health in general," said Stephen Madden, MM&M's editor-in-chief. "And as always, it's pretty amazing to see how many very smart and creative people are working to help communities manage and improve their health."

The MM&M Top 40 Healthcare Transformers Awards are judged with the utmost independence and authority, using an esteemed panel of leaders and thinkers representing a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds within the healthcare marketing community. Inductees will be celebrated at an awards reception in New York City on May 7th.

About Seqster

Seqster is a SaaS healthcare platform that enables organizations to drive efficient healthcare via comprehensive medical records (EHR), individual genomic profiles (DNA), and personal health device data. For the first time, users create their own matched, longitudinal health data profile across all of their US-based healthcare data sources through person-centric interoperability.

Seqster helps healthcare providers and payers onboard their members in an efficient and accurate way by seamlessly integrating into any payer, provider, or clinical research enterprise. The platform currently connects users to more than 3,000 healthcare providers comprised of more than 45,000 hospitals and clinics nationwide.

Seqster is privately held and headquartered in San Diego. For more information on Seqster and how we can bring health to your members, employees or patients, please visit www.seqster.com or follow @Seqster.

SOURCE Seqster

Related Links

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Bomsori Kim. Courtesy of Harold Hoffman
ALTOONA, Pa., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Sheetz For the Kidz ,TM an employee-driven charity helping children in need, is proud to announce a donation of $601,000 to local Feeding America member food banks to provide hunger relief to children struggling with hunger throughout the states in which Sheetz operates: Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland.

In America, one in six children may not know where they will get their next meal. Millions of children throughout the country receive free or reduced-price lunches and breakfasts during the school year. During the summer months, most children lose access to these meals. Funds from Sheetz For the Kidz will be distributed to Feeding America member food banks within the Sheetz footprint, where they can make a difference for some of these children. The $601,000 donation will help provide 6 million meals* for children and is part of a new annual commitment to Feeding America.

"Sheetz and Sheetz For the Kidz have always been passionate about helping youth that live in the communities we serve," said Sheetz For the Kidz Executive Director Sarah Piper. "For more than 27 years, our employees have helped underprivileged children have a brighter holiday season through Sheetz For the Kidz. This new program takes the community support of our stores to the next level as we are very excited to start our partnership with Feeding America. Thanks to the fundraising efforts led by our employees and the generous support of our customers and business partners, we have the ability to broaden our connection with the communities we serve."

As a regional convenience store, Sheetz is committed to helping to fight childhood hunger in the communities it resides in. Through its program "Made-to-Share," Sheetz is rescuing food from their 588 stores and donating it to Feeding America member food banks located in their six-state footprint.

"The number of children who struggle with hunger concerns our company greatly and we cannot sit back while children in our communities have difficulty obtaining their next meal," said Sheetz President/COO Travis Sheetz. "Without adequate food and nutrition, children are unable to reach their full potential. We are deeply committed to helping children facing hunger and are proud that this donation from our corporate charity will go directly toward helping them fight, and win, this battle."

"Proper nutrition is critical to a child's health, growth and development. Yet, one in six children face hunger in America," said Nancy Curby, senior vice president, corporate partnerships at Feeding America. "Feeding America is thankful to Sheetz for the Kidz for its generous support and commitment to helping children who need it most during the summer months."

Feeding America is the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief organization. To learn more about Feeding America visit www.feedingamerica.org .



*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks.

About Sheetz, Inc.

Established in 1952 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Sheetz, Inc. is one of America's fastest-growing family-owned and operated convenience store chains with more than 19,000 employees. The company operates over 585 store locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and North Carolina. Sheetz provides an award-winning menu of MTO sandwiches and salads, which are ordered through unique touch-screen order point terminals. All Sheetz convenience stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Recognized by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For , Sheetz is committed to offering employees sustainable careers built on an inspiring culture and community engagement. For more information, visit www.sheetz.com or follow us on Twitter (@sheetz), Facebook (www.facebook.com/sheetz) and Instagram (www.instagram.com/sheetz).



About Sheetz For the Kidz

Sheetz For the Kidz is a non-profit organization, designated as a 501(c) (3) charity, independent of the Sheetz Corporation. The organization was created in 1992 by local store employees wanting to help local children. The mission of the charity is to provide support, hope, joy and happiness to children in need within the communities in which Sheetz operates. To date, the charity has impacted more than 119,500 children living in the communities Sheetz serves!



About Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 46 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Together we can solve hunger. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

SOURCE Sheetz, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.sheetz.com


BERKELEY, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The 16th annual Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit and Business Plan Competition will return to the Claremont Club and Spa June 5th and 6th. The theme "Design, Innovation and Investment in the Longevity Marketplace," is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA). The Summit is the longest running event for entrepreneurs and investors in the $7.6 trillion longevity market. This year's Summit is executive produced by Mary Furlong and co-produced by Lori Bitter, President/Senior Strategist for The Business of Aging, and Julia Rasooly, CEO and Founder of PuraCath Medical Inc.

The 2019 Summit features two pitch events. The Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit Business Plan Competition is for emerging companies to pitch their ideas to a diverse panel of judges for feedback, funding and for one, a $10,000 prize. The deadline to submit plans is May 10 at 5 p.m. ET. The judges include angel investors, early stage and growth stage firms, and distribution partners all focused on investment in the longevity economy. This includes: John Hopper, Chief Investment Officer for LinkAge Longevity Fund, LP; Jake Nice, a Senior Associate at Nationwide Ventures; Scott Smith, Founder and Managing Partner of Viant Group; Katy Fike, founding partner of Generator Ventures and co-founder of Aging 2.0; and Dr. Allison Sekuler, Managing Director of the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI). Past winners and finalists include Embodied Labs, Vynca, Noctrix Health and PetPlan. Details on the Competition are HERE.

"The Summit has opened the door to a number of investment opportunities for us," said John Hopper, Chief Investment Officer of the Ziegler LinkAge Funds. "The investment portfolio of our Ziegler LinkAge Funds includes a combined six companies whose leadership teams we met or enhanced our relationships with at the Summit. This is a great conference for innovative companies and it is a "must attend" event for us."

For the second year, the Boomer Venture Summit will host the Silicon Valley Innovation Competition sponsored by AARP Innovation Labs. Companies focused on promoting financial empowerment and resilience through solutions that leverage social connections are invited to apply to pitch. The winner will be chosen by AARP members and Summit attendees. The winning team will go on to the final AARP Innovation Hatchery Pitch Event in Washington DC in the fall of 2019. Find the details and apply HERE . The 2018 winner, Carrie Shaw of Embodied Labs, went on to win the national competition in Washington this past fall.

"I launched the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit to give entrepreneurs and start-up companies access to capital and other needed resources, and I am delighted to host the Silicon Valley Innovation Competition sponsored by AARP Innovation Labs for the second time," said Mary Furlong, MFA President and the Summit's Executive Producer. "Our competition winners have an impressive track record of success and we are proud to be a part of their launch into the longevity marketplace."

Event sponsors include:

Platinum Sponsors: United Healthcare, AARP, The Business of Aging

Gold Sponsors: GreatCall, Sodexo, CDW, Lacuna Health, CareLinx, Centre For Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI)

Silver Sponsors: Embodied Labs, LinkAge, Posit Science, TripleTree, It's Never 2 Late, Nationwide Ventures, WAHVE (Work At Home Vintage Experts), LifePod

Media Partners Include: GreytSites.com, The Business of Aging, Aging in Place Technology Watch.

For more information or to register, visit BoomerVentureSummit.com . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook , #SVBoomer.

About Mary Furlong & Associates/Mary Furlong

Founded in 2003, Mary Furlong & Associates is a strategy, business development, marketing and public relations/strategic communications firm headquartered in San Francisco. Prior to forming MFA, Mary Furlong founded SeniorNet in 1986 and ThirdAge Media in 1996. She received the American Society on Aging Leadership Award, among other honors and recognitions, and authored "Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace."

For the past 16 years, Mary has produced the industry-leading What's Next Boomer Business Summit and the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit. She has appeared on NBC, CBS and NPR, and is an advisor to the Ziegler LinkAge Longevity Fund, LP.

For further information, contact:

Lori Bitter

[email protected]

415.652.9884

SOURCE Mary Furlong & Associates
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 18, 2019, the South Florida Manufacturers Association (SFMA), along with Dyplast Products in Opa Locka, Florida, hosted U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. Secretary Ross met with manufacturing industry leaders to discuss the important contributions of the manufacturing industry to the U.S. economy.

During his visit, Secretary Ross spoke with industry leaders about policies and recent congressional and administrative actions spurring industry growth. The discussion also focused on ways in which apprenticeships and on-the-job training can be designed to be more skill focused and provide hire-ready individuals with relevant skills needed to be employed in manufacturing. South Florida is home to approximately 5,000 manufacturing companies and workforce readiness is at the top of their priority list. "Thank you to the South Florida Manufacturers Association for hosting me and for representing so many great manufacturing companies located in South Florida," said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. "As we all know, manufacturing is the backbone of the American economy, and its continued health is the focus of everything we are doing in Washington, D.C."

During his visit Secretary Ross, Ted Berglund, President & CEO of Dyplast Products, and Matthew Rocco, President of the South Florida Manufacturers Association held a roundtable where local manufacturers were able to share their input on what needs to happen for apprenticeships and skills upgrade training in the manufacturing industry. There was also a dialogue on how to attract talent to the industry, especially with the youth in South Florida, and what resources were needed to keep Florida's manufacturing industry strong.

About the South Florida Manufacturers Association (SFMA): The SFMA has held the distinction of being the dedicated resource for manufacturers in South Florida since 1961 saving its members time and money through advocacy, networking and resources. SFMA prides itself on being member driven  creating new products and services as members' needs change. The mission of the SFMA has remained constant though out its history: To Serve Manufacturers. The SFMA advocates for manufacturers across the South Florida Region covering 8 counties that include: Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Martin, Okeechobee, and Indian River. This territory serves 6,000 manufacturers. For more information, please visit www.sfma.org.

SFMA Contact: Matthew R. Rocco, President, [email protected]

Department of Commerce Contact: Ari Schaffer, [email protected]

SOURCE South Florida Manufacturers Association

Related Links

https://www.sfma.org


The partnership unites each brand's distinct point-of-view, combined with their joint years of expertise. Southern Tide, known by fans as an experiential coastal brand dressing men, women and youth for all their aquatic adventures by, on and into water, brings their classic coastal aesthetic; while Reyn Spooner's refined use of prints are a hallmark of the collection. Appealing to the adventuresome spirit, Southern Tide carefully utilized some of Reyn Spooner's notable prints, while adding their own colors, top-selling fabrics, and renowned fits.

The Southern Tide x Reyn Spooner collection was a long time in the making. "The first time I met Reyn McCullough over 30 years ago, I was taken with his warm inviting manner and inspired by his products and story. Today CEO Lynne Koplin and Creative Director Doug Burkman have taken the brand's legacy and continue to evolve the Aloha shirt and the brand's offerings." says Southern Tide CEO, Christopher Heyn. He goes on to say, "Southern Tide's roots may be southern, but we will go anywhere, like the Hawaiian coast, to experience new adventures and meet new people. The South is a state of mind not a destination."

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Southern Tide. Southern Tide has a youthful vibe and adventurous spirit. I am excited to combine our iconic prints with their performance technology to embrace a new generation of customers from coast-to-coast," shared Reyn Spooner CEO, Lynne Koplin.

As the popularity of activewear and outdoor performance apparel has steadily increased in recent years, so have both brands' footprint in the space. Southern Tide's Intercoastal collection  which boasts quick-dry technology and UV protection, is now a staple of the brand's DNA.

The Southern Tide x Reyn Spooner collection, which will include sport shirts, polos, tees, swimwear and youth will be available in the beginning of May at Southern Tide Signature Stores, wholesale partners and on SouthernTide.com.

About Southern Tide

Founded in 2006, Greenville, S.C.-based Southern Tide is a coastal lifestyle apparel brand that embodies a Southern state of mind and adventurous spirit. Southern Tide is best known for its Skipjack Polo, deemed by many to be the most comfortable premium polo shirt. Innovative, yet timeless in its youthful style, Southern Tide offers an array of apparel and accessory products for men, women, and kids that deliver their authentic lifestyle through quality, experience, and service. Southern Tide is available for purchase in Southern Tide Signature Stores, more than 850 specialty retailers and premium department stores in more than 45 states across the United States, as well as online at www.southerntide.com. Southern Tide is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Industries (NYSE: OXM).

About Reyn Spooner

Founded in 1956, Reyn Spooner is a Hawaiian heritage brand that transcends the islands. The brand became known for its signature take on the now-legendary Aloha shirt. Reyn Spooner reimagined the Hawaiian shirt by combining the brand's innovative reverse print construction technique with classic tailoring and refined prints to provide a more subtle, sophisticated take on the Aloha shirt.

Reyn Spooner appointed Lynne Koplin as CEO in January 2017. In September 2017, Koplin returned Reyn Spooner to its Southern California roots by relocating the corporate and design teams to a 6,000 square foot office in downtown Los Angeles. Koplin brought on Doug Burkman as creative director in November 2017. Koplin and Burkman are focused on evolving the brand while maintaining the Aloha spirit. The archive, art studio and in-house artists remain in Hawaii along with seven retail stores.

SOURCE Southern Tide

Related Links

http://www.southerntide.com


CHICAGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- For brands in today's digital space, finding an authentic voice consumers can trust can be challenging. Brands are recognizing the pivotal shift from social media being a fun addition to their marketing plan to a key determinant when securing buyers, building partnerships, and growing customer base.

SRW, an independent, full-service marketing agency with a penchant for growing natural health and wellness brands, has teamed up with Social Media Week NY to dispel myths and propel marketers in driving massive awareness.

The Natural Food Revolution: Help Build Digital Communities That Convert

"Spoiler alert: the key to building communities is authenticity," says Kate Weidner, founder of SRW. "Brands have to talk like people, and think more about what their audiences are interested in than what sales message matters to a bunch of marketers."

SRW will lead a panel taking place Wednesday, May 1st at 2:05PM on Main Stage 3, where Weidner will drive conversation alongside three natural food heavy hitters, including an innovator in the fresh produce space, a global snacking magnate, and one of the fastest growing bars in North America. This expert panel will analyze current trends, key strategies and learnings that can be applied to win in any category.

"We're privileged to have clients that walk the walk, and honored to host a panel where they can share their deep experience on how to build social communities that convert to online and in-store consumers," said Weidner.

Event Details

The Natural Food Revolution: Help Build Digital Communities That Convert

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

2:05 PM - 2:30 PM

Sheraton Times Square. Stage 3

Panelists:

Katharine Ashworth , VP Digital & US Marketing, Love Good Fats

Paul Laubscher , Director of Marketing, Calbee North America

Nadine Williams , Director of Marketing, Shenandoah Growers

If you can't make the panel, you can watch live here: https://bit.ly/2DCrtm6

Social Media Week was a natural fit for natural foods agency SRW, who has been building communities of vocal advocates for brands like Simple Mills and Kite Hill for the past three years. According to Weidner, success on social comes down to three things: goals, audience and content.

"While our business has grown significantly over the past three years, building social communities that convert to consumers is still the core of what we do best. In working with so many rising natural foods brands, we've gathered a lot of expertise worth sharing," she said.

Panel Discussion Topics

Facebook is not dead, massive opportunity to efficiently drive awareness and sales (moms)

Finding the essence, truth of your brand and amplify it

Conflict in social channels comments is good. Turn it to your advantage

The three things you should do immediately to drive sales on social media

"The rumors of Facebook's demise are greatly exaggerated - especially when you're marketing to moms," said Weidner. "We're excited to share our learnings from the ever-growing natural foods world."

About SRW

With broad experience in business strategy, film, journalism and digital content, the SRW founders' paths merged in the ad world. Now, they are creating a new world that meets clients' evolving needs and fulfills their passions as storytellers. An independent, full-service marketing agency with a penchant for growing natural health and wellness brands, SRW specializes in creating and converting communities through content. Learn more at srw.agency.

About SMW

Social Media Week (SMW) is one of the world's premier conferences and industry news platforms for professionals in media, marketing and technology. https://socialmediaweek.org/

Media Contact:

Ashley Thomas

[email protected]

224-234-5232

SOURCE SRW Agency
WASHINGTON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

English: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2019/Starbucks-Recalls-Bodum-Recycled-Coffee-Presses-Due-to-Laceration-Hazard

Spanish: https://www.cpsc.gov/es/Noticias/2019/Starbucks-retira-del-mercado-cafeteras-de-embolo-recicladas-Bodum-debido-a-riesgo-de-laceracion



Recall Summary

Name of Product: Bodum + Starbucks Recycled Coffee Presses

Hazard: The coffee press' plunger knob can break and expose the metal rod, posing a laceration hazard.

Remedy: Refund

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled coffee presses and contact Starbucks for instructions on how to return the coffee press to receive a full refund in the form of a store credit. Returns will not be accepted in stores.

Consumer Contact:

Starbucks toll-free at 888-843-0245 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or online at www.starbucks.com and click on Customer Service at the bottom of the page and then select "Starbucks" under Recall Information for more information.

Recall Details

Units: About 230,000 (in addition, about 33,200 units were sold in Canada)

Description:

This recall involves Bodum + Starbucks co-branded coffee presses partially made from recycled materials. The 8-cup French coffee press' cylindrical glass beaker, screen and plunger are held in place by a plastic dark gray frame with locking lid and a light gray handle and knob. The coffee presses measure about 9 inches high by about 4 inches in diameter. SKU number 011063549 is printed on a white label on the bottom of the base. Bodum and Made in Portugal are embossed on the bottom of the dark gray plastic base.

Incidents/Injuries: Starbucks has received eight reports of the plunger's knob breaking in the U.S. and one report of the plunger's knob breaking in Canada, resulting in lacerations or puncture injuries.

Sold At: Starbucks stores nationwide and online at Starbucks.com from November 2016 through January 2019 for about $20.

Importer: Starbucks Corporation, of Seattle, Wash.

Manufactured in: Portugal

In Conjunction With: Canada

Health Canada's press release is available at: https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2019/69702r-eng.php

Footer

This recall was conducted voluntarily by the company under CPSC's Fast Track Recall process. Fast Track recalls are initiated by firms, who commit to work with CPSC to quickly announce the recall and remedy to protect consumers.

About U.S. CPSC:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals  contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

For more lifesaving information, follow us on Facebook, Instagram @USCPSC and Twitter @USCPSC or sign up to receive our e-mail alerts. To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at 301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired.

CPSC Consumer Information Hotline

Contact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:

800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)

Times: 8 a.m.  5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime

Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.

Media Contact

Please use the phone numbers below for all media requests.

Phone: 301-504-7908

Spanish: 301-504-7800

Recall Number: 19-114

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Related Links

http://www.cpsc.gov


ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- National PTA is pleased to announce the winners of its 2018-2019 Reflections student art awards program. The awards honor creative interpretations of the theme "Heroes Around Me" in the areas of special artist, dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts.

"Over 300,000 students from across the country and in U.S. schools overseas created original works of art as part of the 2018-2019 Reflections program," said Jim Accomando, president of National PTA. "We applaud all of the students who participated in the program this school year, and we are thrilled to recognize the winners for their talents and creativity."

Seven students from across the country have been honored with the Outstanding Interpretation Award, and nearly 200 students have been recognized with Awards of Excellence and Merit. Following are the students who have been recognized with the Outstanding Interpretation Award:

Riley Franklin

Kingwood Middle School PTA, Texas

Special Artist: "The Teacher Who Changed My Life"

Kelsi Fears

Dekalb School of the Arts PTSA, Ga.

Dance Choreography: "The Hero in the Frame"

Karley Kopacz

Panther Run Elementary PTA, Fla.

Film Production: "Heroes for Change"

Anna Chung

Thomas Jefferson High School PTSA, Va.

Literature: "The Helper"

Jeremiah Nouel

James L. McGuire PTA, RI.

Music Composition: "HERO"

Ally Burrow

Cave Spring Elementary School PTA, Va.

Photography: "My Tiny Champion"

Grey Mobley

Parmalee Elementary PTA, Colo.

Visual Arts: "Helping Paws"

These students will receive an $800 scholarship to further their artistic talents, and their local PTA will be awarded $200 to support arts and culture in their community. Award of Excellence recipients will receive a $200 scholarship. All national award recipients receive a medallion and certificate and will be honored at the 2019 National PTA Convention & Expo, Saturday, June 22 during an awards celebration. All national award recipients also will be honored in a student showcase in January 2020 in Washington, DC.

Each year, the National PTA Reflections program encourages students of all ages to create and submit original works of art in the medium of their choice that reflect on the annual theme. Submissions are reviewed by visual, literary and performing arts experts, and students are recognized for their artistic ingenuity in bringing the theme to life.

"For 50 years, the National PTA Reflections program has helped millions of students explore their thoughts, feelings and ideas; develop artistic literacy; increase their confidence and find a love for learning that helps them succeed in school and in life," said Nathan R. Monell, CAE, National PTA executive director. "National PTA remains committed to the importance of the arts. It is a top priority of our association to ensure all children have access to arts programs and classes."

About National PTA

National PTA comprises millions of families, students, teachers, administrators, and business and community leaders devoted to the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools. PTA is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit association that prides itself on being a powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for public education. Membership in PTA is open to anyone who wants to be involved and make a difference for the education, health, and welfare of children and youth. For more information, visit PTA.org.

SOURCE National PTA

Related Links

http://www.pta.org


The analysis finds that children nationwide are more likely to face hunger than the rest of the population, with the percentage of children estimated to struggle with hunger at the state level ranging from 10% in North Dakota to 24% in New Mexico. However, rural and Southern communities are disproportionately impacted. Eight of the top ten states with the highest percentage of child food insecurity are located in the South. Additionally, 84% of the counties with high child food insecurity rates are rural. East Carroll Parish in Louisiana has the highest rate of child food insecurity at nearly 40%. Jefferson County, Mississippi has the highest county food insecurity rate and the fourth highest child food insecurity rate. Both counties are rural and in the South.

The report not only provides data on child food insecurity nationwide, it also highlights the urgency of addressing the problem of hunger by emphasizing its profound consequences and costs. Children struggling with hunger may be at a greater risk for health, social and behavioral challenges including stunted development, anxiety and poor academic performance. These issues are exacerbated when the National School Lunch Program closes for summer. Many kids rely on the program for mealsmeaning they may go without lunch altogether when school is out. As we head into discussions about the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization, this research demonstrates the importance of expanding summer feeding options to ensure our children are able to succeed.

"There isn't a single state or county in America free from child hunger, and it is within our collective power to change that and ensure that today's children are tomorrow's leaders," said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, chief executive officer of Feeding America. "The Feeding America nationwide network of food banks is investing in our nation's future by helping to provide over 146 million meals to children every year. Still Map the Meal Gap highlights that more must be done. Together food banks, corporations, policymakers, donors, volunteers and advocates can solve hunger."

"I encourage everyone to visit the website, map.feedingamerica.org to find out what hunger looks like in their community and get involved to be part of the solution," Babineaux-Fontenot continued. "One way is to tell Congress to invest in kids during Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation and increase access to food for kids during the summer. Your voice matters and we can make a difference."

The report also sheds light on urban counties with large numbers of children facing hunger despite relatively low rates of child food insecurity. The counties encompassing Los Angeles and New York City have child food insecurity rates that are close to the national county average, yet a significant number of children in these areas lack access to the meals they need. Nearly 414,000 food-insecure children live in Los Angeles County and more than 335,000 food-insecure children live in the counties encompassing the five boroughs of New York City.

The Map the Meal Gap 2019 findings underscore the extent of need that remains in communities across the U.S., despite national measures from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that indicate overall improvement. Food insecurity is a measure defined by the USDA as lack of access, at times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.

Other key findings of Map the Meal Gap 2019 include:

There are people in every county in the nation who are estimated to be food insecure, from a high of 36% in Jefferson County, Mississippi , to a low of 3% percent in Steele County, North Dakota .

, to a low of 3% percent in . Virtually every county (99%) is home to people who are food insecure and likely ineligible for federal nutrition assistance. The estimated share of food-insecure individuals who earn too much to qualify for most federal nutrition programs reaches as high as 80% in Daggett County, Utah .

. Counties with the highest rates of food insecurity tend to be geographically concentrated. Rural counties  those outside of major metropolitan areas  make up 63% of all U.S counties, but 78% of counties with food-insecurity rates in the top 10%. The South contains 45% of all counties, but 87% of counties with the highest food insecurity.

Map the Meal Gap 2019 uses data from USDA, the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and food price data and analysis provided by Nielsen, a global measurement and data analytics company. The study is supported by The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Conagra Brands Foundation and Nielsen.

"Conagra Brands Foundation is committed to raising awareness of food insecurity, an issue that exists in every community across the country. We strongly believe the work of Feeding America with Map the Meal Gap will drive vital conversations about the prevalence of hunger in America and foster solutions that can directly impact the lives of millions of children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens," said Robert J. Rizzo, Senior Director, Community Investment, Conagra Brands and Conagra Brands Foundation.

In addition to food-insecurity estimates, Map the Meal Gap 2019 reports on food price variation across counties. Using data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), the study finds that, on average, food-secure individuals report spending $3.02 per person, per meal. This is a slight increase in nominal terms from the national average of $3.00 as reported in Map the Meal Gap 2018.

Using data from Nielsen, Map the Meal Gap 2019 estimates that county meal costs range from 68% to more than 205% of the national average. This means that people in places like Willacy County, Texas, where the cost per meal is $2.07, are able to purchase more than twice the amount of food as someone in New York County, where the average meal cost is $5.85.

"I'm so proud to be part of Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap by delivering local food pricing data pro bono through our Data for Good program," said Ana Milena Salamanca, SVP Data Science for Nielsen U.S. Connect. "Our experts volunteer their time and insights to this relationship year after year because food insecurity is such a critical issue affecting all our communities, and we believe in Feeding America's work to make the vision of a hunger-free America a reality."

Dr. Craig Gundersen, Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, Executive Director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory and a member of Feeding America's Technical Advisory Group is the lead researcher of Map the Meal Gap 2019.

Map the Meal Gap 2019 provides the following data online through an interactive map:

The estimated percentage of the population and number of individuals who are food insecure in every U.S. state, county and congressional district, as well as the service area of each Feeding America food bank.

The percentage of the food-insecure population who likely qualifies for SNAP and other federal nutrition programs.

The percentage of the food-insecure population who likely does not qualify for federal nutrition programs and thus must rely even more on charitable food assistance. These percentages reflect individuals in households with earnings that are higher than the state gross income limits for federal nutrition programs.

The average meal cost in every state and county.

The food budget shortfall in every state and county.

In addition to the study, Feeding America has developed interactive data visualizations to better see and understand the issue of hunger and food insecurity. One data visualization contextualizes study data by including photographs of local scenery and a narrative about the lived experience of food insecurity of ten communities chosen to capture every geographic region and census division in the country.

The Map the Meal Gap 2019 interactive map allows policymakers, state agencies, corporate partners, food banks and advocates to develop integrated strategies to fight hunger on a community level.

Along with the interactive map and visualizations, Feeding America has published an executive summary and full report as well as a series of report briefs on the topics of child food insecurity, food prices, and health.

Join the conversation about Map the Meal Gap 2019 on Twitter using #MealGap.

About Feeding America

Feeding America is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.



Contact

Zuani Villarreal, Feeding America

(312) 641-6532

SOURCE Feeding America

Related Links

http://www.feedingamerica.org


ENGIE Services U.S. installed 1.58 megawatts (MW) of solar power on parking structures and rooftops at Sutter Amador Hospital. The solar power system will generate 2.4 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean, renewable power per year, reducing the Hospital's carbon footprint while positively impacting Sutter's core mission to provide excellence in patient care.

As a result of the new solar installations, Sutter Amador Hospital is expected to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 1,762 metric tons annually, the equivalent of removing 374 cars from the road or reducing the use of more than 190,000 gallons of gasoline each year. The 2.4 million kWh of clean energy produced is the equivalent of powering 211 homes for a year.

"Sutter Health and Sutter Amador Hospital have been looking for ways to continue our mission of superior health services to the community while at the same time contributing to a healthier environment," said Stephen Lockhart, M.D., Sutter Health Chief Medical Officer and executive sponsor of Sutter Health's environmental stewardship program. "The main reason for bringing this sustainable energy source to the Sutter Amador Hospital campus and other locations is to reduce our carbon footprint in the communities that we serve. Now it will be Earth Day every day here at Sutter Amador Hospital."

The Sutter Amador Hospital solar project is the second of six Sutter Health locations throughout Northern California that are part of a pilot program in the network's ongoing efforts to reduce its use of fossil fuels for power generation.

"Sutter Amador Hospital is proud to be a model hospital by generating more than half of its electricity by using this renewable, clean energy source," said Sutter Amador Hospital CEO Tom Dickson. "With our new solar program, Sutter Amador Hospital has accomplished using energy generated by the sun  a renewable source  while at the same time reducing harmful emissions and improving on-site energy resiliency and independence. It's a win-win for everyone."

The energy savings created from the solar installations will be redirected to resources that directly impact patient care and other mission-critical needs at Sutter Amador Hospital, Dr. Lockhart says. Sutter Health has also locked in a favorable rate for 20 years, hedging against the risk of fluctuating energy prices in the future, assisting in Sutter's mission to provide quality healthcare at affordable prices.

In addition, the new parking canopy systems that provide clean energy to Sutter Health's vital healthcare operations will also provide shaded parking for hospital vehicles, staff vehicles and the general public. This will save in maintenance costs for facility transportation and reduce the use of automobile air conditioning.

Sutter Amador Hospital Chief Nursing Executive Melody Montgomery shared during the "Flip the Switch" event Friday that as she watched the solar system being constructed and started paying attention to solar arrays at other facilities, "It was easy to see the positive impact happening as our system was built  I thought, these structures are going up well here. They are strong, and they represent the courage of making a decision like this to provide clean energy with lasting impacts for the community across Sutter Amador Hospital  from patients to staff and visitors," she said.

Montgomery said the solar generating system has added to the hospital's attractiveness. "It really has enhanced it," she said, "and it has really brought to light Sutter Health's focus on the community and the environment."

ENGIE completed construction on the solar arrays on parking structures and rooftops in just six months. The firm's ongoing commitment includes operations and maintenance services, ensuring the solar systems are always operating at peak performance. Over the life of the system, ENGIE will provide routine panel washing, as well as monitoring and resolving any production issues that would ever impede the system from achieving maximum performance.

"Our ongoing relationship with Sutter Health allows ENGIE to bring best-in-class energy technology innovations that set the bar for meaningful sustainability initiatives within the healthcare sector, with Sutter leading the charge in this arena," said ENGIE Chief Operating Officer John Rohde. "The positive environmental outcomes and savings goals met through our work with Sutter will have a direct, positive impact on hospital operations and patient services."

Sutter Amador Hospital serves a population of 40,000 with 52 licensed beds, providing 24-hour emergency care, critical care, a family birth center, surgery and laboratory services in Amador, Calaveras and neighboring counties. In partnership with ENGIE, Sutter Amador Hospital is one of the first locations in the Sutter Health network to install solar through a power purchase agreement (PPA) financing structure.

About Sutter Health: Sutter Health is more than 60,000 people strong thanks to its integrated network of physicians, employees and volunteers. Rooted in Sutter Health's not-for-profit mission, these team members partner to deliver exceptional care that feels personal. From physician offices to hospitals to outpatient care centers and home services, they proudly support the more than 3 million people in their carenearly 1 percent of the U.S. population, in one of the most diverse and innovative regions in the world. Sutter team members adopt new technologies, make novel discoveries and embrace creative thinking to help patients and communities achieve their best health. From its street nurse program that provides check-ups for homeless people, to telemedicine-aided specialist consultations, to walk-in care clinics, to smart glass technology, the Sutter Health team goes beyond traditional models to make care more convenient and to nurture and empower people throughout their medical journey.

For more information about the Sutter Health network visit: sutterhealth.org | facebook.com/sutterhealth | youtube.com/sutterhealth | twitter.com/sutterhealth.

About ENGIE Services U.S.: ENGIE Services U.S., a division of ENGIE, the #1 energy services provider in the world, is a national energy infrastructure and building services company that helps education, government, commercial and industrial customers become more efficient, productive and sustainable. Over the past 40 years, we have partnered with thousands of customers to generate more than $2.7 billion in savings, while also improving facility performance. For more information, please visit https://engieservices.us or contact Lani Wild, Communications Manager, at 415-735-9080.

SOURCE ENGIE Services U.S.

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Secretary of State John Kerry, left, and State Department special envoy Robert King, center, listen as North Korean human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk delivers remarks during an event on human rights in North Korea at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2014 in New York. AP-Yonhap



A former U.S. envoy on Tuesday slammed North Korea as a "corrupt mafia state" after it emerged that the regime billed the U.S. $2 million dollars for the hospital care of an American detainee in 2017.



Ambassador Robert King, who served as the State Department's special envoy for North Korean human rights issues from 2009 to 2017, issued a blistering attack on the North in the wake of last week's report by The Washington Post on the bill, which has since been confirmed by former and current U.S. officials.



"Why does North Korea detain U.S. citizens?" King wrote in a commentary for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Why does it engage in the petty thuggery of arresting and detaining U.S. citizens and charging some Americans huge hospital bills for medical treatment that was required because of how they were treated while they were imprisoned?"



The bill concerned the hospitalization of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who fell into a coma shortly after he was detained in Pyongyang in early 2016. He was released and flown back to the U.S. in June 2017, but he died shortly thereafter.











In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, Robert King and U.S. citizen Eddie Jun, right, prepare to leave Pyongyang, North Korea, on Saturday May 28, 2011. The American held by North Korea for a half year reportedly for proselytizing is returning to the United States, brought out by the U.S. envoy who negotiated his release. AP-Yonhap
BOULDER, Colo., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Terma Software is thrilled to be returning to ASAP University 2019 next week as a sponsor and subject matter expert. This is Terma's third year presenting on analytics for Workload Automation at ASAP's annual conference for the IBM Workload Scheduler (IWS) community. This year, the five day user-driven training and education event will take place in Dallas, Texas, from May 5th through May 9th.

On Tuesday, May 7th, Terma Software CEO Shane Hade and Stan Gildea from State Street Corporation will be leading two sessions (B403 and B803) titled "Leveraging AI/ML Predictive Analytics for Managing Complex IWSz Environments." During these sessions, Hade and Gildea will detail the specific ways Terma Software's analytics-driven platform empowered State Street Corporation to achieve greater reliability and efficiency from its combined IWS and AutoSys environment.

Also on Tuesday, May 7th, Hade will be featured as a lunch speaker for an informal discussion about Terma Software and its customers. He will be sharing " Stories from the Front Line " of complex workload management and providing several examples of customers who have benefited from Terma's approach to managing mission critical workloads. "The powerful optimization capabilities of TermaANALYTICS have helped enterprises of all sizes reduce costs and increase workload visibility," says Hade. "We're excited to share these stories and hopefully inspire other companies to see how analytics could play a role in achieving their goals."

On Wednesday, May 8th, Hade will be joined by Terma Software CTO Jennifer Chisik to present a session (C603) titled "Addressing Workload DevOps Challenges Leveraging Advanced AI/ML Analytics." This session will focus on how organizations can achieve higher quality change management along with better aligned test and production environments using TermaUNIFY and Terma's Simulation & Modeling solution for Workload Automation.

About Terma Software

Terma Software has developed the industry's most comprehensive AIOps platform for workload intelligence, including the ability to leverage workload data to provide measurable predictive analytics. Terma's products TermaVISION , TermaUNIFY , and TermaINSIGHT enable optimization of workload processing to help realize more value from Workload Automation tools by providing SLA management, forecasting, predictive analytics, prescriptive actions and reporting through analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). The products ensure that companies can lower their costs and improve the reliability and performance of mission-critical workload processes.

Terma supports any job scheduler, including IBM Workload Scheduler (IWS), CA AutoSys, CA7, and Tidal Workload Automation. Terma is the only supplier of management solutions in cross-vendor and cross-platform scheduling environments providing a single perspective (aka single-pane-of-glass) into the environment. The products are available on-premise or as Software as a Service (SaaS). For more information or to arrange an overview of the solution, contact Jim Anderson, Vice President at Terma Software at [email protected] . To learn more, visit www.termasoftware.com.

SOURCE Terma Software

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WILSONVILLE, Ore., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Avamere Family of Companies, a leading senior living and healthcare company, is pleased to welcome an assisted living and memory care community in Phoenix, Arizona as of May 1, 2019.

Previously named The Stratford, the community will now be called Avamere at The Stratford.

The Avamere Family of Companies, a leading senior living and healthcare company, is pleased to welcome an assisted living and memory care community in Phoenix, Arizona. Previously named The Stratford, the community will now be called Avamere at The Stratford.

Avamere at The Stratford is one of 18 other community-based care buildings that have joined the Avamere Family of Companies in the last year. This is Avamere's first community in Arizona, aligning with their strategic growth priority to expand to key markets.

"We are looking forward to integrating Avamere into the Phoenix market and providing care to those we have the opportunity to serve," said Matt Hilty, Executive Vice President of Avamere Living. "We are excited about our new beginning at the Avamere at The Stratford."

Avamere at The Stratford offers 24-hour staff for resident safety, visits from experienced geriatric healthcare providers, and several on-site health services, including occupational, physical, and speech therapy.

Avamere at The Stratford accommodates 164 residents who can enjoy their own movie theater, fitness center, billiards room, beauty/barber shop, libraries, and so much more. The covered porch overlooking a water fountain offers nice scenery as residents visit with friends and family.

The Avamere Family of Companies is proud to welcome all current residents and employees at Avamere at The Stratford.

Please contact Avamere at The Stratford to schedule a tour.

About the Avamere Family of Companies

Founded in 1995 and based in Wilsonville, Oregon, the Avamere Family of Companies provides independent living, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing, home care, hospice, rehab, and more. Today Avamere operates 65 communities with over 8,700 employees. For more information, please visit avamere.com.

Avamere Family of Companies

25115 SW Parkway Ave, Suite B

Wilsonville, OR 97070

For press inquiries, please email [email protected].

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Avamere at The Stratford

The Avamere Family of Companies, a leading senior living and healthcare company, is pleased to welcome an assisted living and memory care community in Phoenix, Arizona. Previously named The Stratford, the community will now be called Avamere at The Stratford.

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SOURCE Avamere Health Services

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NEW YORK, April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Growing urbanization and vehicle ownership ratio worldwide is estimated to drive the integrated traffic systems market.







Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05773290/?utm_source=PRN







The global integrated traffic systems market is projected to grow from USD 22.7 billion in 2019 to USD 37.5 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 8.7%. Rising income levels have increased the demand for personal mobility and led to a rise in road traffic in major cities across the globe, which has increased the demand for advanced traffic systems such as integrated traffic systems. The increasing demand for reduction in average traffic speed will fuel the growth of the integrated traffic systems market. However, initial investments in existing road infrastructure and its capital-intensive nature are inhibiting the growth of the market.



Intelligent traffic lightings market to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period.

Intelligent traffic lightings segment is estimated to be the fastest growing segment of the integrated traffic systems market during the forecast period.The demand for reduction in waiting time at the traffic junction is high in developed countries such as the US, the UK, Germany, and Japan.



As intelligent traffic lightings are adaptive in nature, they change the waiting time for each junction by understanding the pattern of the traffic and reduces the average waiting time and subsequently reduces the journey time of commuter.Intelligent traffic lightings have reduced the average travel time by 20% which also led to decreasing emission level by vehicle.



These types of benefits have driven the increasing demand for intelligent traffic lightings systems.



Surveillance camera is estimated to be the largest market, by 2025.

The surveillance camera is estimated to hold the largest market share.The surveillance camera is a standard component in traffic management systems such as integrated traffic systems, as it detects and monitors the current traffic condition and sends information to control rooms.



Several countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East have introduced various traffic management projects to enable rapid traffic movement in urban areas predominately using surveillance cameras.The market for surveillance cameras is expected to grow in line with the increased demand for integrated traffic systems.



Moreover, advancement in software and data analytics will make surveillance cameras smarter, fueling the demand in the coming future.



Europe to be the largest integrated traffic system market

The European integrated systems market is estimated to be the largest in 2019.The significant increase in the volume of vehicular traffic over the last couple of decades and the inability of existing transport infrastructure to support the same is estimated to drive the demand for integrated traffic systems market.



Additinally, developed countries such the UK and Germany with stringent focus on road safety will further drive the market.

The study contains insights from various industry experts, ranging from component suppliers to tier I companies and OEMs. The break-up of the primaries is as follows:

 By Company Type: Tier I: 40%, Tier II: 30%, OEM: 30%

 By Designation: C level: 40%, D level: 40%, Others: 20%

 By Region: North America: 20%, Europe: 30%, Asia Pacific: 40%, Rest of the World: 10%



Major players profiled in the report are:

 Sumitomo (Japan)

 Cisco (US)

 Swarco (Austria)

 Siemens (Germany)

 Kapsch TrafficCom (Austria)

 LG CNS (Korea)

 Cubic (US)

 Iteris (US)

 Jenoptik (Germany)

 Flir (US)



Research Coverage:

The report segments the integrated traffic systems market, by value, on the basis of region (Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World), functions (traffic monitoring, traffic control and information provision), hardware type (display boards, surveillance cameras, radars, sensors, integrated boards, and others), and sensors. The report contains various levels of analysis, including industry analysis, industry trends, and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the emerging and high-growth segments high-growth regions and countries, government initiatives, and market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges.



Reasons to Buy the Report:

The report enables new entrants and smaller firms as well as established firms to understand the market better to help them acquire a larger market share. Firms purchasing the report could use any one or a combination of the 4 strategies (market development, product development/innovation, market diversification, and competitive assessment) mentioned below to strengthen their position in the market.



The report provides insights into the following points:

 Market Penetration: The report offers comprehensive information about the integrated traffic systems market and the top players in the market.

 Product Development/Innovation: The report provides detailed insights into upcoming technologies, R&D activities, and new product launches in the integrated traffic systems market.

 Market Development: The report offers comprehensive information about the integrated traffic systems market. The report analyzes the integrated traffic systems market across regions and provides comprehensive information about lucrative emerging markets.

 Market Diversification: The report provides exhaustive information about new products, untapped regional markets, recent developments, and investments in the integrated traffic systems market.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05773290/?utm_source=PRN



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

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NEW YORK, April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --



About this market



The continuously increasing aging population is one of the key factors expected to trigger the market's growth in the forthcoming years. The aging population is vulnerable to several infectious diseases and has a high risk of health complications, thus, driving the immunohistochemistry market growth. Furthermore, the rising aging population has also contributed to increased expenditure on healthcare for disease diagnosis, health check-ups, and treatment. As a result, the demand for IHC test increases as they help the doctors in deciding on appropriate treatment options. Analysts have predicted that the immunohistochemistry market will register a CAGR of close to 8% by 2023.





Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05772566/?utm_source=PRN







Market Overview



Increasing involvement of stakeholders



One of the growth drivers of the global immunohistochemistry market is the increasing involvement of stakeholders such as consumers, vendors, government bodies, academicians, regulatory organizations, associations and raw material suppliers.



Product recalls



One of the challenges in the growth of the global immunohistochemistry market is product recalls. Product recalls affecting the reputation of the company, resulting in significant financial losses, loss in market share, and serious damage to brand integrity, which will hinder the growth of the market.



For the detailed list of factors that will drive and challenge the growth of the immunohistochemistry market during 2019-2023, view our report.



Competitive Landscape



The market appears to be moderately concentrated with the presence of a few market players. Vendors in the market are increasingly focusing on offering products with improved features and specific manufacturing standards to sustain in the market. This market research report will help clients identify new growth opportunities and design unique growth strategies by providing a comprehensive analysis of the market's competitive landscape and offering information on the products offered by companies.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05772566/?utm_source=PRN



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

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Held under the theme, "Designing Intelligence, Shaping Work," the 2019 WSIE staged a fusion fest of unexpected collisions and unrehearsed conversations among 400 leaders to shape tomorrow's Intelligence. Featuring an impressive blend of prodigies, designers, scientists, chief executives and innovation captains from Uber, 3M, Mastercard, IBM, Nu Skin, Nokia, Verizon, NASA, DARPA, BASF, Gensler, GE, Sidewalk Labs and SAP.

"At FIT, we believe that the creative industries should lead the way forward technologically, ethically and socially, so it was with pleasure that we hosted this year's World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This landmark gathering of designers, scientists and innovators, with its focus on problem-solving in the age of 'intelligence,' was rich with ideas that will enhance the lives of all who listen," said Dr. Joyce F. Brown, President of the Fashion Institute of Technology, the host of the 2019 WSIE.

The key announcement that emerged from the Annual Meeting is the official launch of two initiatives of the World Innovation Organization (WIO)  the World Intelligence Festival and the World Intelligence Lab. Two brilliantly ambitious initiatives focused on designing and spreading Intelligent Innovations (X) that are more Ethical, Experiential, Explainable and Exponential (4E).

To that end, Gensler was designated as the launch partner of the WIO. Selected speakers and Fellows of the 2019 WSIE and the WIO converged at Gensler to discuss the mandate of the WIO. "Gensler was pleased to host such a diverse group and share our experiences, research, and projects at the nexus of a unique innovation initiative that shapes how we work and live," said Joseph Brancato, Regional Managing Principal of Gensler.

In this context, the WSIE has secured the pledge of more than 100 Fellows to advance the promise of the WIO. Fellows are game-changers from Dassault Systems, 3M, ABB, Purdue University, IBM, MIT Media Lab, Moderna Therapeutics, RoboTerra, Boston University, Guinness World Records, Nickelodeon, NIST, SAP, University of California, Nokia, Gensler, Mastercard, Checkpoint Software, Avery Dennison, Nu Skin, Verizon, Imagineactive, to name a few.

"Our work, lifestyles and cities are facing daunting challenges. The WIO is all about the creative intersections to build a better world through concrete actions. It is established to inspire, design and spread intelligent human/machine innovations that will affect virtually all of life's activities," concluded Sam Hamdan, Founder of the WSIE and WIO Executive Chairman: "The Fellows of the WIO are aware of the most pressing challenges facing business and society and they have committed to do what they can to advance the Open Intelligence Framework (X4E) of the WIO to design and produce smarter innovations for people, products, places and peace."

More information on the 2019 WSIE can be viewed at: http://thewsie.com

Or you may contact:

Michele Wallace

Mega Media Worldwide

[email protected]

917-741-5147

About the World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship

The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship (WSIE) was born in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), African Union, International Chamber Commerce and several multinationals including PepsiCo, Microsoft, Cisco. The WSIE was subsequently announced in the United Nations in 2006 to advance the future state of entrepreneurship and innovation as the catalyst for prosperity and peace. The 10th Anniversary of the WSIE was held at the United Nations General Assembly.

About Gensler

Gensler is a global architecture, design, and planning firm with 48 locations and more than 6,000 professionals networked across Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and the Americas. Founded in 1965, the firm serves more than 3,500 active clients in virtually every industry. Gensler designers strive to make the places people live, work, and play more inspiring, more resilient, and more impactful.

SOURCE The World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship

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CHICAGO, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Are patients being adequately protected when they are involved in studies of new medical therapies and devices?

That question is at the heart of a story published Sunday in the Wall Street Journal, as well as an upcoming hearing (May 2) in a Chicago courtroom.

What should the rules and protocols be for medical studies and reviews? Should patients have to give their consent? Should doctors and other experts who question the safety of studies be freely allowed to voice their concerns?

The Federal Laws in the United States and globally are clear for human experimentation, full informed consent and oversight to avoid harm during drug and device testing.

The Thursday hearing involves a cardiac surgeon who implanted a non-FDA-approved heart valve ring he invented into hundreds of patients. At issue is whether he was simply recording outcomes after standard procedures or conducting a human research study and/or implanting investigational devices without patients' consent.

Dr. Nalini Rajamannan, a cardiologist who initially was involved in those studies, realized the patients had not given consent and provided years' worth of documents related to the Model 5100 testing to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

The Wall Street Journal exposes similar patient protection issues in a separate clinical trial regarding new approaches to treating sepsis. In an article published on April 28, 2019, Tom Burton writes of the internal conflicts over patients' protections in the National Institutes of Health-funded Clinical Trial CLOVERS (NCT03434028).

HHS leaders, Dr. Lawrence Tabak and Dr. Francis Collins have prohibited NIH expert scientists from being interviewed by the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP), a federal agency mandated with assuring American patients aren't harmed in clinical research.

Dr. Michael Carome of the nonpartisan consumer group Public Citizen recommends ceasing the CLOVERS TRIAL until the issues are resolved. The day after the original WSJ story, a follow up reported that Public Citizen and the HHS Inspector General were already seeking answers to the questions raised by scientists regarding the CLOVERS TRIAL.

In the heart valve case, several patients interviewed by the Chicago Tribune regarding the clinical trial testing heart devices said they had never given consent prior to their surgeries.

For years, HHS officials have failed to inform the patients, despite head of the device branch, Dr. Shuren, confirming to the Chicago Tribune that the model 5100 was experimental during the clinical testing.

Dr. Rajamannan contacted the NIH/FDA/OHRP leaders from 2008-2019, to report to HHS that the patients did not receive informed consent. The agencies all failed to inform the patients of the terminated federal clinical trial what had happened, as is revealed in the recently published The Myxo Report .

The FDA released a preliminary report on their investigation to Senator Grassley(IA) and the late Senator Richard Lugar,(IN) but failed to report all of the adverse events and the heart attack suffered by patient Maureen Obermeier, who is at the center of Thursday's hearing.

US Senate Finance and Judiciary Investigation and records discovered by Iowa Senator Charles Grassley and reported by the Daily Northwestern , revealed possible issues with the angle of the device. It may not have been obvious to the surgeons which side was front or back when they placed the device in patients' hearts. This discovery led to major modifications of the device after the initial testing was completed, including a green mark to indicate the front from the back.

"He was putting it into patients, seeing how it worked, and not telling them," Obermeier's attorney Adrwin Boyer said during opening statements, according to Fox 32 in Chicago.

Model 5100 has been recalled and now is off the market around the world, but HHS leaders and Northwestern University still have not informed the patients of the clinical testing of these details regarding the experimental heart valve. Sen. Ron Johnson from Wisconsin contacted the HHS inspector general regarding this issue and is awaiting a response, and Congressman Glenn Grothman(WI) contacted the FDA regarding this issue and is awaiting a response also.

Patient rights are at issue in both the sepsis case outlined by WSJ and the heart valve case being heard Thursday in a Chicago courtroom.

Documents recently released under a Freedom of Information Act request prompted heart valve patient Maureen Obermeier to seek a new trial. A hearing will take place on May 2, 2019, in Cook County Circuit Court regarding the case, 08-L-012426 Obermeier versus Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The hearing in Judge James McGing's courtroom 2505, Daley Center at 9:30 am, will discuss the status of Petition 2-1401, involving fraudulent concealment of information as related to the failure to inform patients of the experimental nature of the device and the termination of the study by Northwestern University.

Link to FDA FOIA Documents:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/foia-documents-cardiac-surgeon-implanted-experimental-devices-without-consent-300836043.html

Dr. Nalini Rajamannan is a heart valve expert in the field of cardiovascular medicine. She has been researching heart valve disease for 31 years. She earned her undergraduate science pre-professional degree from the University of Notre Dame, her Medical Doctorate from Mayo Medical School and her post-graduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Mayo Clinic. She also worked at the Mayo Clinic as a staff consultant in Internal Medicine. Currently, she practices consultative medicine specializing in Cardiac Valvular Heart Disease at Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Cardiology and Valvular Institute, WI.

SOURCE Dr. Nalini Rajamannan
IRVING, Texas, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TXU Energy today announced that it has recognized three South Texas companies as winners in the second annual TXU Energy Leadership Awards Program. The awards, which were announced in conjunction with the TXU Energy Summit held today in Houston, recognize corporate and non-profit organizations that demonstrate leadership in the areas of energy management, innovation, and community.

"We are committed to working with our customers across Texas to help them accomplish their sustainability goals and maintain their environmental commitments," said Gabe Castro, TXU Energy vice president of business markets. "We are thrilled to recognize these three outstanding organizations whose initiatives enhance their standards for energy conservation, improve efficiency, and represent community stewardship. These companies have seen tremendous results in pursuit of their energy and sustainability goals, and we hope their success will influence other organizations to strive for the same."

The three South Texas-area winners include:

Leadership in Innovation  Plains All American Pipeline

Plains All American Pipeline has set new standards for operational excellence, inspiring others in their industry to follow their lead. They installed pump variable frequency drives that helped them recognize a savings of 14,290,000 kWh annually. Not only have they elected to participate in the 4 Coincident Peak (4CP) program by curbing usage during ERCOT's peak demand to reduce strain on the grid, but their active and intentional management of usage during those periods has resulted in a savings of more than 20% in transmission and distribution utility charges, while still maintaining optimal operations.





Plains All American Pipeline has set new standards for operational excellence, inspiring others in their industry to follow their lead. They installed pump variable frequency drives that helped them recognize a savings of 14,290,000 kWh annually. Not only have they elected to participate in the 4 Coincident Peak (4CP) program by curbing usage during ERCOT's peak demand to reduce strain on the grid, but their active and intentional management of usage during those periods has resulted in a savings of more than 20% in transmission and distribution utility charges, while still maintaining optimal operations. Leadership in Energy Management  Magnolia ISD

Magnolia Independent School District has demonstrated excellence in managing electricity consumption and spend while minimizing the district's impact on the environment. Magnolia ISD has upgraded to more energy-efficient equipment and integrated computer-controlled cooling and heating systems. This helped the district recognize an estimated savings of 785 kW and 2,203,000 kWh annually. Leveraging power market insights, energy efficiency best practices, and TXU Greenback rebates, Magnolia ISD has reduced expenditures by over 25%, providing savings that can be reinvested in the classroom for their students and faculty.





Magnolia Independent School District has demonstrated excellence in managing electricity consumption and spend while minimizing the district's impact on the environment. Magnolia ISD has upgraded to more energy-efficient equipment and integrated computer-controlled cooling and heating systems. This helped the district recognize an estimated savings of 785 kW and 2,203,000 kWh annually. Leveraging power market insights, energy efficiency best practices, and TXU Greenback rebates, Magnolia ISD has reduced expenditures by over 25%, providing savings that can be reinvested in the classroom for their students and faculty. Leadership in Community  Star of Hope

Star of Hope is a non-profit organization that serves and exists to make a difference in the lives of Houston's homeless men, women, and children. A TXU Energy customer for the last four years, the organization provides a variety of programs supporting education, employment, and life management skills to encourage positive life changes. Star of Hope's various services deliver a comprehensive approach to addressing a large range of issues that are faced by Houston's homeless such as mental and physical illness, and lack of education and resources to be successful. By providing a haven where homeless individuals feel supported, Star of Hope has backed its community for more than 100 years.

TXU Energy is proud to share the accomplishments of the recipients of its awards program and will present additional Energy Leadership Awards this fall at its Dallas/Fort Worth-area summit. Learn more about what TXU Energy can do to help your business or organization achieve its energy and sustainability goals by visiting us on LinkedIn.

About TXU Energy

More Texans trust TXU Energy to power their homes and businesses than any other electricity provider. We're passionate about creating experiences and solutions tailored to fit the needs of our customers, including electricity plans, online tools to help save, renewable energy options and more. Consecutively ranked as one of the Top Places to Work by The Dallas Morning News, TXU Energy is also committed to creating a dynamic and fun workplace where all our people can succeed. Visit txu.com for more. TXU Energy is a subsidiary of Vistra Energy (NYSE: VST). REP #10004

Media

214-875-8004

[email protected]

SOURCE TXU Energy

Related Links

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Genesco Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Robert J. Dennis said, "Mimi has been a key contributor in the growth and expansion of the Company, and more recently her leadership as CFO was invaluable as we sold the Lids division. Moving forward as a footwear-focused company, Mimi's vision, strategic insight and financial acumen in combination with her deep understanding of all Genesco's businesses and of the markets in which they operate, will serve the Company well. With our active CFO search narrowing in on a few great candidates, I look forward to working with Mimi in her new role, along with the entire Genesco management team, as we work together to sustain and enhance the Company's positive momentum."

Vaughn, a 15-year veteran of the Company, joined Genesco as vice president  strategy and business development in 2003, was promoted to senior vice president  strategy and business development in 2006, and was named senior vice president  strategy and shared services in 2009. In this role, she was responsible for strategy development for the Company and for growth initiatives and acquisitions. She also led shared services, including information technology, corporate logistics and human resources. She assumed the CFO position in February 2015, and leads all finance-related activities, including financial planning, reporting and analysis, accounting, treasury and tax functions.

Prior to joining the Company, Vaughn was executive vice president of business development and marketing and acting chief financial officer for Link2Gov Corporation in Nashville. From 1993 to 1999, she was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, based in Atlanta. During her tenure at McKinsey, Vaughn advised senior executives and board members, specializing in the consumer and retail sectors. Before joining McKinsey, Vaughn held corporate finance positions at Goldman Sachs & Co., Wasserstein Perella & Co., and Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Vaughn received a bachelor of science degree in foreign service and international economics from Georgetown University magna cum laude and earned a master of business administration degree from Harvard Business School where she graduated with distinction.

About Genesco Inc.

Genesco Inc., a Nashville-based footwear specialty retailer and branded company, sells footwear and accessories in more than 1,500 retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Germany, principally under the names Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Shi by Journeys, Schuh, Schuh Kids, Little Burgundy, Johnston & Murphy, and on internet websites www.journeys.com, www.journeyskidz.com, www.journeys.ca, www.shibyjourneys.com, www.schuh.co.uk, www.littleburgundyshoes.com, www.johnstonmurphy.com, www.trask.com, and www.dockersshoes.com. Genesco also sells wholesale footwear under its Johnston & Murphy brand, the Trask brand, the licensed Dockers brand, and other brands. For more information on Genesco and its operating divisions, please visit www.genesco.com.

SOURCE Genesco Inc.

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"Egypt has inspired explorers for generations, and it remains a top destination for many of our guests," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "For more than two decades, we have led the river cruise industry with our fleet development and experiences that bring travelers closer to the cultures of the world. We remain committed to Egypt, and we look forward to introducing the historic treasures of the region to even more Viking guests."

Viking Osiris

Hosting 82 guests in 41 staterooms, Viking Osiris will be a state-of-the art ship with the clean, elegant Scandinavian design for which Viking is known  and will join the company's other ship on the Nile, Viking Ra, which launched in 2018. Viking is the first and only Western company to build, own and operate ships on the Nile.

New Pre-Cruise Extensions

Building on the success of the Oxford & Highclere Castle program  Viking's highest-rated Pre/Post Extension that visits "The Real Downton Abbey"  the company has applied the same degree of Privileged Access to two new curated Pre-Cruise Extensions that allows guests to retrace the steps of the world's most famous Egyptologist, Howard Carter, and his benefactor, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Guests on the five-day British Collections of Ancient Egypt extension will meet their Viking Tour Director, an expert Egyptologist, in London and experience Privileged Access to two museums: first a private, early morning visit to the Egyptian Collection at the British Museum before it opens to the general public  and then a visit to the home and personal museum of world-renowned architect, Sir John Soane, where the tour will be illuminated by candlelight, a re-enactment of how Soane entertained guests and showcased his exquisite collection of Egyptian antiquities, including a 3,000-year-old Egyptian sarcophagus. Guests will also visit London's Petrie Museum, which houses more than 80,000 artifacts from ancient Egypt and Sudan. In Oxford, guests will visit the Ashmolean Museum, one of the oldest in the world, and home to a varied collection of Egyptian mummies and art  and go behind the scenes at Oxford University's Griffith Institute, where they will enjoy a Privileged Access visit to see Carter's archives, which detail the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. Lastly, guests will have an opportunity to visit Highclere Castle  the country seat of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon  and enjoy an exciting opportunity to view the earl's magnificent private collection of Egyptian artifacts. Guests traveling through April 2020 may opt for the new five-day King Tut & the UK's Egyptian Collections extension, which also includes an opportunity to visit Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh, a special exhibition at London's Saatchi Gallery that is presented by Viking.

Pharaohs & Pyramids

During the 12-day Pharaohs & Pyramids itinerary, guests experience Egypt's cultural treasures in seven destinations. The cruisetour begins with a three-night stay at a first-class hotel in Cairo, where guests can visit iconic sites such as the Great Pyramids of Giza, the necropolis of Sakkara and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. Guests will then fly to Luxor, where they will visit the Temples of Luxor and Karnak before boarding a Viking river ship for an eight-day roundtrip cruise on the Nile River, featuring Privileged Access to the tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens, and excursions to the Temple of Khnum in Esna, the Dendera Temple complex in Qena, the temples at Abu Simbel and the High Dam in Aswan, and a visit to a colorful Nubian village, where guests can experience a traditional elementary school. Finally, the journey concludes with a flight back to Cairo for a final night in the ancient city.

The Viking Difference

Designed for discerning travelers with interests in history, art, music and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests "the thinking person's cruise" as an alternative to mainstream cruises. Ships are small to get guests closer to their destination, with more time in port and more overnights. On board, guests find serene Scandinavian spaces, where every room is both beautiful and functional, quiet and filled with light. With the most al fresco dining opportunities whether on the rivers or at sea, featuring regional cuisine and always-available American classics, Viking's guests can truly dine in their destination. A focus on cultural enrichment brings immersive experiences on shore and on board. And only The Viking Way of exploration provides guests with itineraries that feature Local Life, Working World and Privileged Access experiences. Local Life excursions shine a light on everyday activities and include experiences such as Viking Chef-hosted trips to local farmers markets, tea at home with local residents and visits with local schoolchildren. Working World excursions feature behind-the-scenes "making of" experiences, illuminating destinations through their most famous exports, such as factory and farm visits. Privileged Access excursions include experiences such as a behind-the-scenes tour of Lobkowicz Palace in Prague, an experience developed with Prince William Lobkowicz and Princess Alexandra Lobkowicz; a special concert with the Vienna Boys' Choir at Schonbrunn Palace; a private tour and wine tasting at Schloss Lowenstein in Lower Franconia; a private Cognac Blending experience at Camus near Bordeaux; and an exclusive dinner in the Churchill War Rooms in London.

In addition, Viking offers a compelling value compared to other cruise lines. Every cruise fare includes an outside stateroom, a complimentary shore excursion in each port of call, all onboard meals, and all port charges and government taxes. Guests also enjoy many complimentary amenities as part of their fare, including beer and wine with lunch and dinner service; Wi-Fi; and cultural performances as part of the Viking's Cultural Curriculum onboard programming.

Booking Details

From now through May 31, 2019, U.S. residents can take advantage of Viking's special Explorers' Sale, featuring up-to-free airfare, a new 2-for-1 deposit, and additional bonus savings on all 2020 river cruises.

Media Assets

For more information, images and b-roll for Viking Cruises, contact [email protected].

About Viking Cruises

Viking was founded in 1997 with the purchase of four ships in Russia. Designed for discerning travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers guests "the thinking person's cruise" as an alternative to mainstream cruises. In its first three years of operation, Viking has been rated the #1 ocean cruise line in Travel + Leisure's 2016, 2017 and 2018 "World's Best" Awards. Viking currently operates a fleet of 78 vessels, offering scenic cruising on rivers and oceans around the world. In addition to the Travel + Leisure honors, Viking has also been honored multiple times on Conde Nast Traveler's "Gold List" as well as recognized by Cruise Critic as "Best Overall" Small-Mid size ship in the 2018 Cruisers' Choice Awards, "Best River Cruise Line" and "Best River Itineraries," with the entire Viking Longships fleet being named "Best New River Ships" in the website's Editors' Picks Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-855-8-VIKING (1-855-884-5464) or visit www.vikingcruises.com.

SOURCE Viking

Related Links

http://www.vikingcruises.com


According to a recent study from IPED Consulting, 44 percent of managed service providers (MSPs) report that recruiting and retaining technical staff is a critical or significant barrier to growth. MSPs also say sales and technical training are two of the most important elements provided by strategic vendor channel programs. This is one of the reasons why WatchGuard continues to expand its focus on targeted education and training as the mechanism to gain partnership status and benefits within the WatchGuardONE program.

"Partners don't want to jump through hoops to reach lofty revenue thresholds or achieve vendor portfolio adoption criteria that doesn't fit their customers' needs  they just want to run their business efficiently," said Michelle Welch, senior vice president of marketing at WatchGuard. "Whether they're focused purely on network security, secure Wi-Fi or MFA, partners that invest the time can easily capitalize on the same financial incentives and support as our largest partners, regardless of their size, business model or revenue capabilities. We pride ourselves on continuing to make WatchGuardONE accessible to every partner, which in turn allows us to deliver the enterprise-grade security products and services that small and midsize customers need so desperately today."

Achieving WatchGuardONE Status with Specializations

WatchGuardONE has always been a value-based program, rewarding partners for investing their time into earning knowledge-based requirements. As the company's product offerings have expanded rapidly, from purely network security solutions to new segments like secure Wi-Fi and MFA over the past few years, these specializations are a natural evolution of the WatchGuardONE program. In the expanded program, partners can earn WatchGuardONE status by specializing in just one of the available product families, and achieve increasingly higher status and benefits by completing specializations in multiple product lines. Financial incentives increase proportional to the number of specializations partners earn. For further details about the expanded program, visit here.

A Continuation of WatchGuard's Unique Partner-First Approach

Designed entirely to further enable and support partners' businesses, these new WatchGuardONE specializations are just the latest example of WatchGuard's enduring partner-first mentality.

The program expansion comes on the heels of the launch of the WatchGuard Cloud platform, which reduces infrastructure costs, accelerates customer acquisition and minimizes time spent on administrative tasks by centralizing partners' security management and reporting within a single cloud-based interface.

Additionally, WatchGuard takes pride in its extensive integrations with industry-leading remote monitoring and management (RMM) and professional services automation (PSA) solutions like ConnectWise, Autotask, Tigerpaw and SolarWinds. These integrations enable partners to better manage their businesses with streamlined access to automated reporting, inventory management, help desk tasks, invoicing, ticket management and more.

"WatchGuard's continued portfolio expansion and technology innovation has helped us grow and expand our business opportunity by providing a comprehensive security solution to our customers," said Lesleigh Watson, COO of BlackPoint IT Services. "Now, with the new WatchGuardONE Specializations, we have flexibility in how our staff learns about WatchGuard's entire cyber security platform through sales and technical training. Also, the specializations come with newly added incentives that drive profitability and business growth. This program expansion is a major step forward in our partnership with WatchGuard."

Partners can access free training to achieve WatchGuardONE specializations in Network Security, Secure Wi-Fi and Multi-factor Authentication today. For more information and to begin the process, visit www.watchguard.com/join.

Additional Resources:

About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in network security, secure Wi-Fi, multi-factor authentication, and network intelligence. The company's award-winning products and services are trusted around the world by nearly 10,000 security resellers and service providers to protect more than 80,000 customers. WatchGuard's mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for distributed enterprises and SMBs. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com.

For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter, @WatchGuard on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org.

Media Contacts:

Chris Warfield

WatchGuard Technologies

206.876.8380

[email protected]

Anthony Cogswell

Voxus PR

253.444.5980

[email protected]

SOURCE WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.watchguard.com


By Yi Whan-woo



The U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will go over North Korea's human rights situation starting May 6, according to diplomatic sources, Wednesday.



The examination will take place as part of the 33rd session of the working group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). It will take place from May 6 to 17 at the council's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.



The UPR is held every five years. All U.N. member countries are subject to review and are given an opportunity to address their human rights situation and how they can develop it.



The council conducted previous reviews on North Korea in 2009 and 2014.



The 2019 review will be based partly on inquiries submitted online by other U.N. members, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Sweden, on the North's human rights record.



Before finalizing its review, the council will also consider a self-evaluation report submitted by North Korea as well as opinions of other relevant U.N. bodies and independent human rights organizations.



The sources said the inquiries submitted so far on North Korea focus on torture and mistreatment of women and children, on top of other human rights violations.



South Korea has not submitted inquiries, they added.



The U.S referred to international reports that torture and other forms of cruel, inhumane and humiliating treatment have been witnessed at political prison camps, although such acts are banned by the North's criminal law.



The U.S. asks whether the North's regime is willing to accept the U.N. Convention against Torture to ensure the country's criminal law can be put into practice.



The U.S. additionally asks for stats, including the number of people detained or who died in North Korean prisons, whether their family members are informed about where they are and whether the North is willing to join the International Labor Organization (ILO) and receive support on issues of forced labor and child labor.



The U.K. asks what measures the North has taken to ensure religious freedom and right to education as stipulated in its Constitution, how the country can end exploitation of child laborers and how it can reform its military and punishment system to protect women from sexual violence and abuse.



Canada asks the North to address its efforts to implement and ensure freedom of assembly and association, after accepting Canada's call to do so during the 2014 review.



Sweden asks for any improvements on torture, forced labor and suspension of meals for prisoners, in line with its call in 2014.



The North has reacted with hostility about the international community's criticism of its dire human rights record.


IRVINE, Calif., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- When Ernie Herrera, president, the Herrera Group, El Paso, Texas first joined First Financial Resources, LLC (FFR) in 2008, he described it as "going from the minor league to the majors". Little did he know that he would become board chairman in 2019. Besides Herrera, FFR tapped industry veteran, Jim Chapel, CEO of FMC Financial Group, Newport Beach, California as its newest board member. All board members are FFR members. We asked both Herrera and Chapel about FFR membership, business lessons and challenges.

Why You Joined. What Keeps You?

Ernie Herrera, president of the Herrera Group, El Paso, Texas and 2019 board chairman for First Financial Resources, Irvine, California. Jim Chapel, CEO of FMC Financial Group, Newport Beach, California and newest board member for First Financial Resources, Irvine, California

Ernie Herrera (EH): At first, I didn't know anything about FFR. Initially, it was direct access to the carriers and high compensation. When I joined, some more experienced members really took me under their wing. They shared ideas that worked and things they did in their practice. I was surrounded by some of the most intelligent and creative minds in the business. This business can be a lonely one. But with FFR, I am not alone. The comradery and support are great. The group really energizes me. It is not just about business. It is a positive push for family, business, a better practice and financial stewardship.

Jim Chapel (JC): Initially, the higher compensation attracted me to the organization. But I stay because there is so much more  the study groups, the members willingness to share and support each other, and the management team in Irvine. I come away from an FFR meeting or study group with inspiration and energy.

A Recent Business Take-Away

E.H.: Our business constantly faces challenges  regulatory, tax, legal. You can become business paralyzed or you re-focus and keep moving. FFR and its members really help me see opportunities, not obstacles. After all, we take care of families. That is special. Having a go-to habit of "seeing the opportunities" means we can overcome any challenge. That gives us strength not to steer away from what is important. We've integrated change as just part of our practice.

2019 Challenge or Focus

E.H: Clients still face a certain amount of economic uncertainty. It potentially causes them to defer decisions and be a little paralyzed. Having an election next year adds to it. Who will be the next president and how will that change things? As I said before, there will always be challenges. So, our job is to help our clients see the opportunities and focus on what is important to them.

J.C.: We all get a lot out of our membership with FFR. How do we keep that momentum going in the future? As small business owners, each firm needs a business succession plan. Many of our clients need the same. Do we want our business or our clients' businesses to experience "no planning" or a "succession plan"? May be there is a reason that "success" is part of the word.

First Financial Resources (FFR) is a producer group founded in 1987, solely-owned by its member advisors and based in Irvine, California. FFR provides its member advisors with access to insurance-based products, tools and resources for the high net worth and/or business client. To learn more about FFR, visit www.ffrmembers.com.

For Press Inquiries, contact Susan Hart, (949)223-2169 or [email protected]

SOURCE First Financial Resources

Related Links

http://www.ffrmembers.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain, is ready to celebrate the very sandwich it pioneered 98 years ago when the first Original Slider was served. In recognition of National Hamburger Month, the restaurant chain will be offering multiple opportunities throughout May for Cravers to receive free sliders and other steamy menu items. To kick off the month-long Craver-bration, White Castle is also launching the Capture the Crave Instagram contest, encouraging fans to share their best White Castle photo on Instagram for the chance to win a year's supply of free sliders.

White Castle Capture The Crave Instagram contest launches May 1, offering one lucky Craver the chance to win free sliders for a year. Photo credit: @greivy.nyc

Beginning May 1, White Castle is calling for fans far and wide to capture their crave by sharing their best photo on Instagram. One lucky grand prize winner will slide his or her way into free sliders for a year and 15 more will receive prizes ranging from Visa gift cards and White Castle coupons to bluetooth speakers, mobile phone camera lenses and more. Submissions must include #CaptureTheCrave, #Contest and @WhiteCastle to be considered and posts will be judged based on magnitude of the Crave, originality and quality of photography. Terms and conditions can be found at www.capturethecrave.com.

Also beginning May 1, White Castle encourages Cravers from all walks of life to sport their western apparel at the Castle every Wednesday to enjoy two free BBQ Original Sliders with any purchase. The new BBQ Original Sliders join a limited-time barbecue lineup that also includes the BBQ Brisket Slider and BBQ Impossible Slider. On May 15, Castles will also be giving away thousands of sliders and beverages in recognition of National Slider Day. Customers will have their choice of one free slider and one small Coca-Cola Freestyle soft drink with a coupon available at www.whitecastle.com.

"At White Castle, we appreciate the hamburger today just as our predecessors did 98 years ago, for the enjoyment and memorable moments it provides for Cravers and taste buds everywhere," said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. "National Hamburger Month and National Slider Day are both very special to us, and we're proud to share the burgers that we've come to know and love with our fans every year."

White Castle is also calling for entries into the 2019 class of its esteemed Cravers Hall of Fame beginning May 1. Fast-food's most exclusive hall of fame was created in 2001 to recognize the most bold and loyal Cravers, and in 2002, the Craver in Extremis category was added to recognize celebrity Cravers like Alice Cooper, John Cho and Kal Penn and award-winning fashion designer Telfar Clemens. Learn how to register or view current hall of fame members at www.whitecastle.com/craver-nation/craver-hall-of-fame.

"The Cravers Hall of Fame was created as an ode to the most passionate Cravers who have shared some of life's most memorable moments and experiences with our brand and team members," said Richardson. "Each year, we receive hundreds of heartwarming, hilarious and unforgettable stories and we're excited for another chance to recognize our loyal customers."

Also in time for the National Hamburger Month festivities, America's two foremost slider experts are kicking off the White Castle USA Luge Slider Search, a grassroots off-season recruitment program developed in 1985 to discover future generations of USA Luge athletes, commonly referred to as "sliders." The series of free clinics will kick off in White Castle's hometown of Columbus on May 4 and 5 before taking off on a nationwide tour to introduce youth to the sport of luge.

To learn more about White Castle, visit www.whitecastle.com

About White Castle

White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain based in Columbus, Ohio, has been making Bold Moves as a family-owned business for more than 98 years. Cravers on-the-go can access sweet deals and place a pick-up order any time in the official White Castle app (iTunes App Store or Google Play) or in the frozen aisle at a grocery store near you. www.whitecastle.com

SOURCE White Castle

Related Links

http://www.whitecastle.com


LONDON, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Windward, a world leader in maritime risk analytics, today announced the launch of its new compliance product to help energy traders, banks and bunkering service providers protect themselves against the consequences of inadvertently facilitating evasion of UN and U.S. sanctions.

The announcement comes a day before U.S. waivers for importing Iranian oil expire, making all imports by any country problematic under U.S. sanctions. At the same time, it exposes any maritime actor who facilitates such transfers vulnerable to aggressive enforcement action by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Ami Daniel, Co-Founder and CEO of Windward, said: "Iranian oil might now be considered radioactive. Any country, individual, energy trader, financial institution, vessel, port authority, or bunkering provider that touches it is now at risk. The critical challenge for the maritime industry now is knowing which vessels and fleets one can safely do business with."

Existing screening methods are no longer fit for purpose. First, because they don't detect increasingly sophisticated sanctions evasion tactics; and second, because there's too much data to sift through to make accurate and timely decisions.

Windward Compliance is a SaaS technology platform that uses artificial intelligence to screen vessels and help recommend which ones are safe to trade with. In this way, energy traders, banks and bunkering service providers can go about their business, safe in the knowledge that they're protected from the risk of breaching U.S. sanctions.

For more information, please visit www.wnwd.com/compliance

Media Assets can be found here.

About Windward

Windward partners with organizations to help improve their understanding of maritime risk, enabling them to take better actions to manage it. The company's unbiased, data-driven risk insights are based on deep contextual analysis of actual ship operations using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. They're available on-demand, helping customers make the best decisions. Clients include Frontex, the DEA and the UN Security Council, which uses Windward technology to discover vessels helping North Korea evading sanctions. http://www.wnwd.com

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Windward
NEW YORK, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. has announced that registration is open for two new webinars for retirement service professionals. As part of Wolters Kluwer's ongoing ftwilliam.com educational webinar series, the sessions will provide insight on relevant and upcoming industry changes and expert advice on service provider communication best practices ahead of the Form 5500 filing season.

"Wolters Kluwer is the industry leading provider of resources for pension and employee benefit professionals," said Dom Cervi, Vice President of the Corporate Compliance Group at Wolters Kluwer. "The ftwilliam.com webinars are part of our effort to partner with well-known industry experts and provide our customers with the information they need to best advise their clients."

The first webinar, titled "Form 5500 Industry Update," will feature industry experts and co-authors of the 5500 Preparer's Manual Linda T. Fisher, Founder of Linda T. Fisher 5500 Consulting, LLC and Mary B. Andersen, President and Founder of ERISAdiagnostics, Inc. The session will review the 5500 Preparer's Manual new chapter that presents common triggers of a government audit and discusses several Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service initiatives. This will assist plan recordkeepers, plan service providers, and plan sponsors to ensure their plans are in compliance.

The session will also cover the 2018 Form 5500 changes including new questions, administrative penalty updates, revised codes and new EFAST2 FAQs, as well as the current status of the proposed Form 5500 changes originally effective for the 2019 plan year.

Form 5500 Industry Update

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Featured Speakers: Linda T. Fisher, Founder of Linda T. Fisher 5500 Consulting, LLC & Mary B. Andersen, President and Founder of ERISAdiagnostics, Inc.

Cost: $59 per person

Attendees of the live webinar will be eligible for 1 CE credit (ASPPA, NIPA, and ERPA).

The next webinar, titled "Service Provider Communication Best Practices," will feature Sarah Simoneaux, President of Simoneaux Consulting Services and Jane Nickalls, Senior Product Support Specialist for ftwilliam.com. They will examine service provider communication best practices  including how to "speak ERISA" to advisors, plan sponsors and participants  using actual retirement services case studies to illustrate these concepts:

First impressions and the importance of conversion communication

Customer service skills for relationship managers and administrators

Communication in the digital age

What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate: Service Provider Communication Best Practices

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Featured Speakers: Sarah Simoneaux, President of Simoneaux Consulting Services & Jane Nickalls, Senior Product Support Specialist, ftwilliam.com

Cost: $39 per person

Attendees of the live webinar will be eligible for 1.5 CE credits (ASPPA and NIPA) or 1 CE credit (ERPA).

ftwilliam.com, a product suite of Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S., offers employee benefit professionals modern and cloud-based plan document (retirement, welfare and non-qualified), government forms (5500, 1099 and 5300), compliance testing and reporting, and distribution tracking software. Easy-to-use, integrated, and world-class customer support make ftwilliam.com the perfect solution for employee benefits professionals. TAG (Technical Answer Group) provides comprehensive answers to retirement plan questions. The TAG service also provides a fully-searchable database of over 4,000 previously asked questions, quick reference tools and charts, and daily news. For more information about ftwilliam.com and TAG, visit www.ftwilliam.com.

About Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S.

Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the healthcare; tax and accounting; governance, risk and compliance; and legal and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2018 annual revenues of 4.3 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

Wolters Kluwer shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY).

For more information about Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S., visit www.WoltersKluwerLR.com , follow us on Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn .

Media

Linda Gharib

Director, Communications

Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S.

Tel: +1 (646) 887-7962

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S.

Related Links

https://lrus.wolterskluwer.com


JERUSALEM, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yissum, the technology transfer company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is hosting a first-of-its kind conference to drive academic-industry collaboration across multiple cannabis-related research and development areas. Hebrew University is the leading academic institution world-wide in cannabis related patents. Its trailblazing Multidisciplinary Center for Cannabinoid Research supports over 30 labs dedicated to cannabis-tech, covering related agricultural technologies, formulation and manufacturing methods, novel therapeutics and combination treatments.

The one-day conference will bring Hebrew University researchers and industry professionals together to focus on furthering cannabis research for future commercialization. By some estimates, the global cannabis market is thought to be worth USD$150 billion today with predicted growth reaching USD$272 billion by 2028 and legal worldwide spending hitting $70 billion.

"With the explosive growth in the cannabis industry comes a need for creating sustainable, differentiated value propositions for leading corporations," said Dr. Yaron Daniely, CEO and President of Yissum. "Hebrew University continues to be the leading academic institution worldwide that is producing high level and truly groundbreaking research that both meets and drives these demands."

Just this March, Weed Inc. announced a multi-million dollar licensing agreement with Yissum based on the research results of Hebrew University's Prof. Elka Touitou.

During the event on May 1, Yissum will also honor Hebrew University Professor Raphael Mechoulam for his achievements in advancing collaboration between academia and the medical cannabis industry. Professor Mechoulam's instrumental discoveries over the last five decades paved the way for much of today's research in the field.

Itzik Ozer, Director of Business Development, Jerusalem Development Authority said, "The Jerusalem Development Authority, which works to promote the biotech sector in the city through Jnext and Bio Jerusalem, sees cannabis as an industry with huge potential for creating jobs and attracting Israeli and international companies to the city. As part of our program, biotech companies and new cannabis companies arriving in Jerusalem will be entitled to entry grants of NIS 100,000 for each employee and up to NIS 4 million to the company. Hebrew University is a major partner in the development of the city's cannabis market, furthering the development of new technologies and strengthening the biotech and cannabis ecosystem in Jerusalem."

"Industry Meets Innovation: Cannabis Research and Development" is organized by Yissum, and sponsored by the Jerusalem Development Authority, Geyra Gassner Kesten IP Law and Bona Vida, an American veterinary company that has partnered with Yissum to identify new research projects at Hebrew University involving veterinary CBD use.

About Yissum

Yissum is the technology transfer company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Founded in 1964, it is the third company of its kind to be established and serves as a bridge between cutting-edge academic research and a global community of entrepreneurs, investors, and industry. Yissum's mission is to benefit society by converting extraordinary innovations and transformational technologies into commercial solutions that address our most urgent global challenges. Yissum has registered over 10,000 patents covering 2,800 inventions; licensed over 900 technologies and has spun out more than 176 companies. Yissum's business partners span the globe and include companies such as Boston Scientific, Google, ICL, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Microsoft, Novartis and many more. For further information please visit www.yissum.co.il

Contact:

Estee Yaari

Media Relations

Yissum

[email protected]





SOURCE Yissum
New Delhi, April 30 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Congress President Rahul Gandhi's counsel even after he verbally apologised for incorrectly attributing to the top court his "chowkidar chor hai" remark. The apex court allowed the counsel to file a new affidavit by Monday.

The counsel told the court that his client would apologise for attributing the remark to the top court. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that it was extending a third opportunity to the Congress President.

Gandhi's counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi offered the apology on behalf of his client a day after the Congress President filed a reply to the apex court's notice on the issue, in which he had only expressed regret for the remark. In his affidavit, Gandhi said he had made the remark in the "heat of campaigning" and that his comment was not meant to scandalise the court in any manner.

The CJI queried the Gandhi's counsel: "What is the meaning of expressing regret within brackets...and you take 22-page affidavit to express regret..."

During the hearing, Gandhi's counsel made several attempts to defend the affidavit, and informed the ongress President filed a reply to the apex court's notice on the issue, in which he had only expressed regret for the remark. In his affidavit, Gandhi said he had made the remark in the "heat of campaigning" and that his comment was not meant to scandalise the court in any manner.

The CJI queried the Gandhi's counsel: "What is the meaning of expressing regret within brackets...and you take 22-page affidavit to express regret..."

During the hearing, Gandhi's counsel made several attempts to defend the affidavit, and informed the court he would file a fresh affidavit. "Have you given up convincing us?" asked the court.

Advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who filed the contempt plea against Gandhi, said: "This is gross contempt...he (Gandhi) while campaigning made these derogatory remarks, and it was similar to putting words in SC"s mouth." Rohtagi also said that Gandhi in the garb of apex court judgement sought to portray as if "Supreme Court has said that PM is a thief, and people should believe it, as the top court has said it."

The top court had last week issued a notice to Rahul Gandhi asking him to explain his comment. Singhvi told the apex bench: "There were three errors on my part and I sincerely apologise. I say sorry for attributing the 'chowkidar' comment to the Supreme Court."The court said: "Where have you said all this in your affidavit?"

The court observed that the content of the affidavit filed by the Congress President was contradictory on separate pages in the affidavit.

The court said: "You have contradicted yourself in the affidavit. At one place, you admit, but on the other, you deny saying it. If you start arguing on the basis of this affidavit, we won't give you another opportunity to file a better affidavit."

The court said that it is finding it difficult to comprehend the arguments made by the Gandhi's counsel. "We are having difficulty in understanding what you are saying," said the court.

To which, Singhvi said: "I've checked the dictionary. 'Regret' means an 'apology'." Rohatgi said: "He claims to be a literate person. But in the affidavit he said: 'I didn't read or analyse the order when I made this comment'. Three hours later, he repeats it at a different rally. What kind of regret is he talking about?"

Giving Gandhi the third chance, the bench said it should not, however, be viewed as an acknowledgement of past affidavits. "I will make a better affidavit from now and place it before the court on Monday," said Singhvi.

The court on May 6, will consider the admissibility of the new affidavit.
Queensland, May 1 : Director Baz Luhrmann's Elvis film, starring Tom Hanks, is set to shoot significant portions here in Australia, it was confirmed on Wednesday.

The yet-untitled film, will explore the life and music of Elvis Presley, including his rise to fame, his unprecedented stardom, and his impact on the world. It will also delve into his complicated relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, reports variety.com.

It was unveiled that Hanks will play Parker. This information was confirmed Wednesday by Annastacia Palaszczuk, Premier and Minister for Trade of the Australian state of Queensland.

The state's location attraction body, Screen Queensland said: "(Luhrmann) is casting a wide net for the actor to play Elvis."

Palaszczuk said she was looking forward to welcoming the Warner Bros. production to Queensland's world-class facilities, Village Roadshow Studios, on the Gold Coast.

She said that an agreement to shoot in Queensland had been made after a recent meeting with Luhrmann, who is known for films like "Romeo + Juliet", "The Great Gatsby" and "Moulin Rouge", in London.

No schedule for a start of production was announced.

Other Hollywood films that have recently shot in Queensland, include "Aquaman", "Thor: Ragnarok". So too did the upcoming "Dora the Explorer" and the 2020 release "Godzilla vs Kong."

"Australia continues to be one of the great filmmaking locations in the world, where we've created everything from Paris cabarets to the Jazz Age in New York," Luhrmann said in a statement.

He added that he is committed to not only making the film, but also developing Queensland's creative culture and supporting filmmakers, storytellers and artists of all kinds.
San Francisco, May 1 : Six months after they staged a walkout against workplace harassment, Google employees are staging sit-in protest at the IT major's offices across the world on Wednesday.

The group "Google Walkout For Real Change" announced the sit-in protest on Twitter.

"From being told to go on sick leave when you're not sick, to having your reports taken away, we're sick of retaliation. Six months ago, we walked out. This time, we're sitting in. 11 a.m. tomorrow," the group tweeted on Tuesday.

Since May 1 is Labour Day and several Google offices would remain closed, the group further tweeted: "We encourage offices to participate during their next business day!"

In November, nearly 20,000 Google employees across the world walked out following the company's mishandling of sexual harassment allegations.

Those who organised the walkout reportedly faced action. Last week, two employees accused Google of retaliating against them for organising the walkout, reports Wired.

A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch: "We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy."

"To make sure that no complaint raised goes unheard at Google, we give employees multiple channels to report concerns, including anonymously, and investigate all allegations of retaliation."
Shimla, May 1 : A visibly jittery BJP government in Himachal Pradesh has gone back on its statement on legalising cannabis cultivation, a major election issue in the hill state.

Within hours of issuing an official statement on Tuesday that, like Uttarakhand, a proposal on cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes can be examined by Himachal Pradesh, the government took a step back by withdrawing it.

The subsequent note did not find any mention of cannabis cultivation.

The statement quoting Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal said "the Israel Embassy is already pursuing a proposal with the government of Uttarakhand on development of cannabis for medicinal and hemp purposes".

"A similar proposal can be examined by Himachal Pradesh for controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes and cultivation of low psychotropic content cannabis for hemp production," it said.

The note mentioned that a meeting of senior government functionaries led by Agarwal was held with the Ambassador of Israel Ron Malka in New Delhi to discuss issues related to state's Global Investors Meet to be held in Dharamsala in September.

A section of growers, mainly in Shimla and Mandi parliamentary constituencies, for long have been asking the main political parties -- the Congress and the BJP -- that cannabis and poppy cultivation need to be legalised and promoted to supplement their income.

They say their main apple crop is declining owing to various reasons, including variable climatic conditions.

"Since most of the apple plantation needs rejuvenation and this is a costly proposition, selective poppy cultivation is the best option for the growers to compensate their losses," Karan Khimta, an apple grower in Shimla's prominent apple belt of Jubbal, , told IANS.

Joining the issue, another grower Suresh Thakur said allowing poppy growing would also help check its illegal cultivation in the region.

The apple growers blame the outgoing BJP MP Virender Kashyap for his failure to deliver on one of his major poll promises of legalising poppy cultivation.

Experts say there is a huge demand for opium, an extract of the poppy, in the pharmaceutical industry. Also, the climatic condition in the state is congenial for its cultivation.

They argue that states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have allowed selective cultivation of poppy which greatly helped to strengthen the rural economy.

Two-time MP Kashyap, who was denied re-nomination by the party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, said he had raised the issue of legalising the poppy cultivation in Parliament several times.

"Due to some legal issues, it couldn't find favour," he added.

During his campaign in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Kashyap had said poppy cultivation was not banned before Independence and its cultivation was a common practice in the state.

Even three-time BJP MP Maheshwar Singh in November last wrote a letter to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, asking to legalise cannabis and poppy cultivation as they would not only generate employment but would also stop the illegal trade in its contraband by- products.

Experts say the selective cultivation of cannabis and poppy could annually generate a revenue of Rs 800 crore-Rs 900 crore.

Former superintendent of the Narcotics Control Bureau, O.P. Sharma, who was leading the state's first drive to eradicate mass-scale cannabis cultivation in 2003, told IANS that "alternative farming is the only way of controlling poppy and cannabis cultivation."

"Even if the government goes for the selective farming of cannabis, it will have to set up a separate enforcement directorate to check its pilferage and also an exclusive directorate to regulate its cultivation and production," Sharma said.

According to the police, cannabis and poppy are grown illegally in vast tracts of Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Chamba districts, causing a serious problem of drug cultivation, trafficking and addiction.

The lure of drugs and quick bucks attract foreigners too to the higher reaches and largely unexplored areas of the state, where they have become part of the opium and cannabis growing and smuggling industry.

The volume of this murky trade can be gauged from a government reply in the Assembly recently that 455.792 kg charas, 7.416 kg opium, 21.253 kg ganja and 0.315 gm smack have seized in the state in the past one year.

In the last one year 1,724 people, including 10 foreigners, were arrested on charges of drug peddling and 1,342 cases were registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls for its four parliamentary seats - Shimla, Kangra, Hamirpur and Mandi - on May 19.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
New Delhi, May 1 : A Delhi court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar's son Aditya in a case related to irregular seat-sharing on Air India's profitable routes.

The court also took cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Special Judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj also issued production warrant against Deepak Talwar, who is lodged in Tihar Jail.

The court has listed the matter for further hearing on May 9.

Talwar has been accused by the ED of acting as a middleman in negotiations to favour foreign private airlines in the matter of seat-sharing on Air India's profitable routes.

The ED is also probing various other cases related to money laundering against Talwar, who was deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on January 30.
Member of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions celebrate May Day at Seoul Plaza in central Seoul, Wednesday. The umbrella union urged the government to ratify some key conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to guarantee wider freedom of assembly. Another umbrella union, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, held a separate event to celebrate the day. / Yonhap
Lucknow, May 1 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the fire incident that killed five members of a family here earlier in the day.

He asked the Lucknow Commissioner to probe into the allegations of negligence on the part of the police and the fire department in the case.

Five members of a family, including a six-month-old baby, were killed in the fire that broke out, apparently due to a short circuit, in a gas stove warehouse at Mayawati Colony in Indira Nagar here.

The neighbours informed the police about the situation but the fire brigade arrived on the site after an hour. Till then, the local people tried to douse the flames.

When the fire brigade arrived, it just had a driver and one helper, who were not even wearing the required uniforms. The fire brigade had a broken pipe and ran out of water.

The victims were still breathing when they were rescued from the building but there was no ambulance. They were finally shifted to the hospital in a police van, where they later died while undergoing treatment.
New Delhi, May 1 : One of India's most-read authors, Ruskin Bond has said that he tries to strike a positive note when writing for children and feels a certain responsibility as an author.

The Landour-based writer, when asked what he felt about his vast readership, said that since he writes so much for young readers, he tries to strike a positive chord.

"For adults, it doesn't matter, you can strike a negative note, because by the time they've grown up, they lose their innocence," the 84-year-old Padma Bhushan recipient told IANS during one of his weekly visits to a bookstore in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.

Sharing nuggets from his own childhood, the author of "The Blue Umbrella" (also cinematically adapted by the same name), said that he shares a deep connection with the hills.

"I belong to the hills. Surroundings change, the place changes a bit, but my relationship remains more or less the same, my feelings for the hills and for the people of the hills.

"It goes back 50 years or more. I don't like to see too much change, in the sense that I don't like too much building, but it's inevitable," he said, while patiently signing books for the long queue of his fans, mostly children.

Now, in an upcoming compilation of 14 holiday stories for children -- "The Puffin Book Of Holiday Stories" -- Bond's young readers will be treated to one of his another literary gems.

His latest children's story is published in the just-launched fun anthology of adventure, humour, ghosts, mysteries, friends, mangoes, family dramas and little boys and girls.

The book is published by Puffin, the children's imprint of publishing house Penguin Books. It is priced at Rs 250.

If the list of authors is nothing short of illustrious -- Rabindranath Tagore, Sudha Murty, Paro Anand, Khyrunnisa A, Subhadra Sen Gupta, Nandini Nayar, Prashant Pinge, Himanjali Sankar, Nayanika Mahtani, Shabnam Minwalla, Jane De Suza, Lubaina Bandukwala, Manjula Padmanbhan -- the children's book comes with an introduction by Bond.

"In India, not enough importance is given to writing for children. And what could be more important than the enrichment of young minds with great literature?

"This is when we discover ourselves, our own potential, and, more often than not, we'll do it through what we read and write," reads his short introduction to the paperback.

Advising his young friends to take a bag full of books wherever they go, Bond said: "Holidays can become tedious without something to read."

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)
Mumbai, May 1 : Actor Akshay Kumar chose to evade a question about not voting in the Lok Sabha elections here, and walked away.

Akshay, who recently grabbed headlines for his "non-political" interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been widely trolled for not casting his vote on Monday.

Trolls ask 'Where is Akshay Kumar?' after Twinkle Khanna casts her vote

"Chaliye, chaliye (let's go, let's go)" is how Akshay responded when at a special screening of the film "Blank" on Tuesday, a mediaperson asked him about giving voting a miss.

He then walked away.

The actor has established his image as Bollywood's posterboy of patriotism with films like "Kesari", "Baby", "Holiday - A Soldier Is Never Off Duty" and "Airlift".

The fact that he missed voting gave trolls a field day with jokes and memes.

Akshay was one of the prominent Bollywood celebrities whom Modi had tagged in a tweet, asking him to encourage voting. And the actor had duly complied.

"The true hallmark of a democracy lies in people's participation in the electoral process. Voting has to be a superhit 'prem katha' between our nation and its voters," Akshay had tweeted.
New Delhi, May 1 : Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for former Kolkata Commissioner of Police (CP) Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha scam case submitted before the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the whole episode of the CBI insisting on Kumar's arrest is a political game to keep the pot boiling and paint people black.

During the second consecutive hearing in the case, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi asked the CBI to produce the case diary. After observing the papers, the court said the case diary is in the form of loose sheets of paper which are vulnerable to tampering, and, instead, should be properly bound as mandatorily required.

"Should not CBI follow the mandate of the law with regards to the case diary.....in fact case diary should have been uploaded " the court said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said there is prima facie evidence regarding the destruction of evidence in the scam and, therefore, custodial interrogation of Kumar is required.

The court observed: "Many countries in the world do not allow custodial interrogation.."

Kumar had earlier filed an affidavit directly accusing the CBI of acting at the behest of two BJP leaders - Mukul Roy and Kailash Vijayavargiya - while targeting him in the Sharadha and Rose Valley scams.

Singhvi contended before the court that the CBI had never filed an FIR regarding the destruction of evidence in the scam, but the agency was now demanding Kumar's arrest. The investigation in the scam was handed over to the CBI in May 2014.

Singhvi told the court that five years after the handing over of the case, the CBI is suddenly seeking Kumar's arrest.

He said that all the electronic evidence in the case had been handed over.

"Kumar had thrice appeared before the CBI regarding the investigations into the scam....but the demand for his arrest was propped up after the incident, in February, " he added.

The court pointed out that the investigating officer in the case has recorded a statement under Section 161 before a Magistrate, and sought a response on it from Kumar's counsel .

Singhvi said that they had already filed an affidavit, but the court demanded a response on the statement recorded before a judge.

Senior advocate Indira Jaisingh intervened and sought the court's attention, to which the CJI asked her as to who she represented. Jaisingh said she is representing Kumar in his personal capacity, while Singhvi is representing the former Commissioner of Police.

The apex court will continue to hear the matter on Thursday.
Panaji, May 1 : Under fire from the opposition for going on a state Tourism Ministry-funded jaunt to the UAE, Goa Deputy Chief Minister and Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar on Wednesday said that the overseas tour was undertaken after seeking government permission.

Ajgaonkar, who has been accused of promoting Goa as a destination for cheap alcohol and casinos at the Arabian Tourism Mart held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also said that efforts were on to make Goa an attarctive tourist destinations based purely on its indigenous identity.

"All my official foreign tours are undertaken only after obtaining prior approvals and permissions from all concerned authorities. I always insist on maintaining total transperancy in my departments," Ajgaonkar said.

"My family members have individually taken care of their tour expenditure, and the government has not spent anything on their expenses. Those who seek any clarifications can file RTI and get all information," he said.

Ajgaonkar also slammed tourism industry stakeholders for criticising his foreign trip in interviews to the media, and urged them to "refrain from criticism and work hard to bring discipline in the tourism business in Goa and make Goa a tourist-friendly destination".

"I am working hard for making Goa the world's number one tourist destination and my vision is to promote Goa with its Goan identity."

On Tuesday, state Congress president Girish Chodankar had accused Ajgaonkar of squandering public money for overseas jaunts for himself and his family in the name of tourism promotion.

The controversy comes at a time when Goa is witnessing a dip in tourism arrivals, which has been cited as a cause for concern by travel and tourism industry stakeholders, who have also accused the Ministry of splurging on marketing and promotion without thought.

Last year too, a trip to the US by Ajgaonkar and his family had stirred controversy.
Lucknow, May 1 : Former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday attacked Home Minister Rajnath Singh and said he is not capable of winning the Lucknow parliamentary seat.

He made the remarks in an interaction with the media while campaigning for 'gathbandhan' candidate Poonam Sinha here.

Yashwant Sinha said: "I have a good personal relation with Rajnath Singh. While he has been BJP's chief twice and has been Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Union Minister earlier but today he is the Home Minister and yet he is not strong. I don't think he is capable of winning from Lucknow."

Accusing the Modi government of presenting wrong figures, the former Minister said that today a lot of vital issues like demonetisation are not being discussed.

He also called the Election Commission of India as "Election Commission of Modi".
Gadchiroli : , May 1 (IANS) Maoists struck in a big way on Wednesday, killing 15 commandos and a civilian by triggering a landmine blast targeting a security vehicle in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.

The attack on the security vehicles came hours after the suspected Maoists torched at least 36 road construction vehicles and two site offices of a road building contractor in Gadchiroli's Dadarpur village.

Significantly, the Maoists carried out the attack in Khurkheda tehsil when the state was celebrating its Foundation Day.

According to official sources, the commandos of elite C-60 force of the Maharashtra police were proceeding to a place where Maoist activities were reported and were confronted with fallen trees blocking an isolated road in a forest area.

When they alighted to clear the road of the trees, the blast took place, killing the commandos instantly, the sources said.

Director General of Maharashtra Police Subodh Jaiswal said a security vehicle, carrying 15 personnel, was hit by a landmine blast and a civilian vehicle also got caught in it.

"The saddest part is that we have lost 15 of our men... Whatever is to be done, will be done," he told a press conference in Mumbai.

C-60 is a quick reaction force.

The state police chief asserted that the attack will not deter the forces from continuing their operations against the naxals and vowed to give a "befitting reply".

"We will revisit the entire thing and see whatever is to be done... Our operations will continue with full force. We have the capacity to give a befitting reply,"

"We have the capacity to handle this," Jaiswal said, adding "Our effort is to ensure nothing of this sort happens in the future."

He said it won't be right to say that the incident happened because of intelligence failure but investigations will be conducted to see how it occurred.

"Whatever needs to be done, will be done," the DGP said.

Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told the media that it is "a massive tragedy" coming on the day when the entire state is celebrating Maharashtra Day.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed shock and anguish over the attack and discussed the security situation with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel got martyred in a cowardly attack by Maoists today. My thoughts and prayers are with their families. I am in touch with the (police) DGP and Gadchiroli SP," Fadnavis said.

Mungantiwar said that the Maoists are "angered by the highest turnout in Gadchiroli-Chimur Lok Sabha constituency" in the recent 2019 parliamentary elections which has prompted these violent reactions.

All parties, including ruling ally Shiv Sena and the Opposition condemned the attack on the security forces.
New Delhi, May 1 : The Congress on Wednesday petitioned the Election Commission (EC) seeking its direction against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election rally to be held in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, on May 6.

According to the Congress memorandum, on the same day (May 6), the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections will take place in the Damoh parliamentary constituency, which is just 10 km from the venue of the Prime Minister's rally. This could affect the polling, the Congress said.

"We would like to point out that on May 6 polling would be underway in the town/village of Dhana, Sagar (where the airstrip for Sagar is located), not even 10 km from the site of the PM's rally. The peculiar problem is that three Tehsils and Vidhan Sabha constituencies of Sagar district like Banda, Rehli and Deori form part of the Damoh parliamentary constituency," said the Congress memorandum.

"The PM will be conducting his election rally seeking votes for the Bharatiya Janata Party at Kajlivan Ground in Sagar between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on May 6 during the entire duration of the voting taking place merely 10 km away from the site of the rally.

"The rally has a very high potential of materially affecting the results of the elections being organised on the same day at a neighbouring constituency in the same district," the Congress said.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress unit has already brought the matter to the notice of the Chief Election Commissioner of the state on April 30, the Congress said.

The party further said that the Prime Minister being an SPG protectee would also require the deployment of a large number of administrative personnel, including the police force, and this may affect the polling.
Islamabad, May 1 : The US on Wednesday said it does not have the "evidence" that suggests that India is using Afghan soil to perpetrate terrorism in Pakistan.

"I don't have the evidence what you're referring to, but our policy is clear that no country should support non-state actors," said Alice Wells, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, in response to a question while interacting with a group of journalists at the US Embassy here.

Wells was asked about Pakistan's longstanding allegations against India of sponsoring terrorism from Afghanistan. Her statement appears to suggest that the US is far from convinced with Pakistan's narrative on India.

She was in Islamabad as part of a delegation headed by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, the Express Tribune reported.

The US diplomat, nevertheless, said that Washington would never condone or support any use of "terrorist proxies against another country".

"We have been working very actively with Pakistan to combat whether it's Al Qaeda or Tehreek-e-Taliban. Any terrorist attacking Pakistan is enemy of ours and we share very strong counter-terrorism objectives in defeating extremist forces," Wells said.

She also said that the US welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan's public statements affirming his resolve not to allow Pakistan's soil to be used against any other country.

"I would positively note that many comments the Prime Minister has made in public underscoring his government's commitment to moving away from non-state actors to ensuring that the national action plan that Pakistan has forged is implemented."

She said the steps the government had taken so far to implement the national action plan were "positive".

About the prospects of a resumption of dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi, Wells linked the progress to Pakistan's commitment to not allowing its territory to be used for attacks on India.

She said Pakistan needed to demonstrate its commitment to ensure that "the militant groups can't take advantage of Pakistani soil."

When asked to specify the US concerns regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Wells said while Washington did not object to infrastructure investment by China, the question remains whether such projects meet international standards.

She argued that such investments should be transparent, sustainable and should produce benefits for the country.

"This is an issue that is not Pakistan specific. We have expressed this concern about Belt and Road Initiative more broadly."
San Francisco, May 1 : Amazon installed bulletproof panels at the Seattle office of its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos -- designed to withstand multiple shots from a military assault rifle, the media reported.

According to a report in The Daily Beast on Tuesday, the bulletproof project to safeguard Bezos, who has a net worth of $120 billion, cost Amazon $180,000.

Although the cost is less, "it demonstrates the lengths Bezos is willing to go to guard against real or perceived threats as his public profile grows," the report said.

Amazon spends $1.6 million a year to protect its boss from external threats, the report added.

Apple spent about $310,000 on personal security services for CEO Tim Cook last year while Oracle spent over $1.6 million to protect CEO Larry Ellison.

Facebook, however, spent $20 million on its CEO Mark Zuckerberg's personal security last year -- four times more than what he received for security in 2016, owing to the growing privacy scandals the social networking giant is facing globally.

Gavin de Becker, a veteran security consultant at Amazon, wrote a first-person account in The Daily Beast last month, claiming that Saudi Arabia hacked Bezos' smartphone and allegedly shared personal information about his extramarital affair with a media outlet.

The monarchy was "intent on harming Jeff Bezos" over The Washington Post (owned by Bezos) coverage of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, wrote de Becker.

"Our investigators and several experts concluded with high confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone, and gained private information," de Becker said.

The private phone messages of Bezos sent to his lover, former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez, were published in The National Enquirer in October.

Saudi journalist Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Turkey's Istanbul in October 2018.

Saudi Arabia has denied involvement in the Bezos affair.
A forest in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, burns down in this April 7 photo. A wildfire devastated over 2,000 hectares of mountainous terrain in five regions of the province, raising concerns over possible flooding and landslides in the upcoming summer rainy season. /Korea Times file



By Kim Jae-heun



Experts are warning about possible floods and landslides during the rainy season in Gangwon Province, where a massive blaze burned over 1,757 hectares of mountainous terrain in early April.



"Without a doubt, the province will see another natural disaster such as a flood because all the trees in the affected mountainous region were burned down," Han Moo-young, a professor of the Department of Civil & Environment Engineering at Seoul National University, said during an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.



"Trees play the role of a natural dam by preserving rainwater during the monsoon. If there are areas that do not suffer a flood after a wildfire, that is because it didn't rain at all or didn't rain much."



Han is a water expert who has been researching rainwater management for 30 years. He is currently a fellow at the International Water Association where he is chairman of Rainwater Harvesting and Management Special Group.



According to Han the ratio of total rainfall that goes unabsorbed in a forest records a level of 0.3 in normal conditions. However, the level can increase to nearly 0.8 after a wildfire and the amount of rainwater reaching flatlands from mountains can double as a result.



"It takes almost 30 years for a forest to be restored to its original condition when a huge fire damages the area. Until then, the area is exposed to disasters such as flooding, landslides and soil runoff," the professor said.



Han strongly recommends building retention structures on the mountains to minimize possible flood damage if heavy rain falls in the region this year.



"It doesn't cost much to build retention structures as they have a big reservoir area which is very effective in storing water and preventing floods. In a recent experiment at Hongje Stream in Seoul, I witnessed retention structures reduce the chance of runoff by 72 percent," he said.



"We cannot expect the same results with the system in any place at any time. But it is a cost-effective and efficient measure. Plus, the structures can also help prevent the spread of another wildfire."



Last week, the Korean Geotechnical Society also urged the government to take measures to prevent possible landslides on damaged mountains in Gangwon Province as wildfires and resultant damage may have weakened ground stability.



The government estimates that the forest fire from April 4 to 6 burned down more than 2,000 hectares of land, mostly in mountainous regions in Goseong, Inje, Donghae, Sokcho and Gangneung, as well as damaging houses and facilities, and leaving 959 people homeless.



On Wednesday, the government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea dedicated 185.3 billion won for recovery work and support for people in the affected region.


New Delhi, May 1 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission to file an affidavit indicating its powers to ensure implementation or enforcement of its guidelines regarding disclosure of expenditure by political parties.

A division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said that if poll panel fails to file its reply, then the court will take a call as the the matter has been pending for the last five years It listed the matter for further hearing on July 16.

The court had in February directed the Election Commission to file the affidavit, which has not been complied with so far. It had then observed that the poll panel seems helpless in implementing the guidelines on 'Transparency and Accountability in Party Funds and Election Expenditure'.

The court was hearing a petition filed by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) requesting for a process of regular submission of election expenditure statements by political parties.

The ADR, in its petition, has recommended the implementation of the recommendations made in the Law Commission's Report on Electoral Reforms, to introduce a ceiling on expenditure by parties.
New Delhi, May 1 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday strongly condemned the dastardly Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra in which 15 police commandos were killed, saying those responsible will not be spared even as the Congress party slammed the Centre for "failing to secure the country".

"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel. Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," the PM tweeted.

"Once again terrorists have targeted the convoys of our jawans. Clearly despite their tall talk, no lessons from Pulwama have been learnt It is a wake-up call for state and Central government, country needs preventive action, accountability for this failure and not jumlas and lectures," AICC Treasurer Ahmed Patel tweeted.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted: "Strongly condemn the attack on C-60 Commandos in Gadchiroli. My condolences to their families. Their sacrifice would not go in vain. 390 jawans have been martyred in Naxal attacks in the past five years that expose hollow claims by Modi government of securing India."

However, both Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra refrained from targeting the government over the incident and expressed their grief over the death of security personnel.

"I have been saddened by the death of security personnel. My condolences with the families of those killed," tweeted Rahul.

"My tributes to the jawans killed in the Naxal violence. I and the Congress party are with the family of the martyrs. The entire country is against such Naxal violence. We will fight the menace together," Priyanka tweeted.
New Delhi, May 1 : State-run construction giant NBCC has received all the required approvals from ministries and government departments to bid for and acquire the debt-laden Jaypee Infratech, sources told IANS on Wednesday.

Last week, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of the insolvent realty firm had rejected the National Buildings Construction Corporation's (NBCC) revised bid on the ground of lack of approvals, which had left Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty as the only approved bidder.

Sources said that the Finance Ministry cleared the bid on Tuesday, April 30, while the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and the Ministry of Urban Affairs gave NBCC the go-ahead on Wednesday.

NBCC would now ask the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) to consider its bid and put up the approved bids, including NBCC's, before the deadline of May 6, the sources added.

(Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)
New Delhi, May 1 : Indo International Premier Kabaddi League (IPKL), promoted by New Kabaddi Federation (NKF) on Wednesday roped in BookMyShow as its official ticketing partners for the inaugural season. The Indo International Premier Kabaddi League in its first edition will see eight teams vie for the top honors from May 13 till June across three locations Pune, Mysore and Bengaluru.

The winning team of the league will walk away with a winner's cheque of Rs 1.25 crore while the runners-up would be richer by Rs 75 lakhs. The third placed team would earn a total of Rs 50 lakhs while the fourth placed would get a sum of Rs 25 lakhs.

The league, in its inaugural season, will see a total of 44 matches being played between eight franchisees Bangalore Rhinos, Chennai Challengers, Diler Delhi, Telugu Bulls, Pune Pride, Haryana Heroes, Mumbai CheRaje and Pondicherry Predators.
Tokyo, May 1 : Japan on Wednesday welcomed its new Emperor Naruhito who pledged to fulfil his role as a "symbol of the state and unity" and said he would follow the course charted by his father at a ceremony to formally recognise his accession to the throne.

The 59-year-old was speaking as he officially began his reign on Wednesday in a short but symbolic ceremony at the Imperial Palace. He was joined on the dais by his wife, Empress Masako.

Naruhito succeeds his father, 85-year-old Akihito, who abdicated citing his age and failing health. According to semi-mythological tradition, Naruhito is the 126th consecutive Japanese Emperor.

In his speech, Emperor Naruhito paid tribute to his father while pledging to show the same devotion to his people, the BBC reported.

"(Akihito) showed profound compassion through his own bearing. I swear that I will reflect deeply on the course followed by the Emperor Emeritus and fulfil my responsibility as the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people of Japan."

He technically became the Emperor at the stroke of midnight when his father's reign came to an end -- marking the start of the new Reiwa era, which roughly translates to "beautiful harmony".

Earlier in the day, he symbolically took possession of the sacred imperial regalia -- a sword and a gem -- that have been passed down through the generations. No female members of the imperial family were permitted to attend the ceremony after the government controversially decided to honour precedents set by previous accession rites.

The Minister for Regional Revitalisation, Satsuki Katayama, was the only woman present on the occasion.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later welcomed the new Emperor on behalf of the nation. "We are determined to create a bright future for a proud Japan filled with peace and hope at a time when the international situation is changing dramatically," he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was among several world leaders to send their congratulations. Kyodo news agency quoted Xi as saying Japan and China had "a long history of friendly exchanges".

"The two sides should work together to promote peaceful development and create a bright future for bilateral relations," he said.

Japan's monarchy is considered to be the longest-lived continuous hereditary royal dynasty in the world.
Patna, May 1 : Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, contesting from the Patna Sahib constituency as a Congress nominee, has emerged as the richest candidate with Rs 112 crore assets.

His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opponent from the seat, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad owns Rs 22.09 crore assets, comprising Rs 18.35 crore movable and Rs 3.74 crore immovable assets. Prasad also owns a Toyota Fortuner, a Honda Accord and a Scorpio SUV.

According to his affidavit, Sinha has movable assets valued at Rs 8.60 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 103.61 crore. He has gold, silver and precious stones valued at Rs 1.03 crore and Rs 4,58,232 in cash. His investments include Rs 2.74 crore fixed deposits and shares worth Rs 29.10 lakh.

Sinha also owes Rs 10.59 crore to his daughter actor Sonakshi Sinha, while his wife owes her Rs 16.18 crore.

Patna-born Sinha, 73, also the senior-most candidate from the Patna Sahib seat, owns seven vehicles, including one Ambassador, two Camrys, a Fortuner, an Innova, a Maruti Ciaz and a Scorpio.

Interestingly, the declared annual income of the incumbent MP, who quit the BJP to join the Congress on April 6, has reduced from Rs 1,28,38,400 in 2015-16 to Rs 63,87,233 in 2018-19.
London, May 1 : A British court on Wednesday sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for violating bail conditions in 2012 to avoid a Swedish extradition request.

Assange appeared at the Southwark Crown Court in London where he was sentenced to serve the prison term. He was already declared guilty of the offence on April 11, the day he was arrested after spending seven years holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

He took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.

In a letter read to the court, Assange said he had found himself "struggling with difficult circumstances", according to the BBC. He apologised to those who "consider I've disrespected them", a packed Southwark Crown Court heard.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said.

In sentencing him, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of the offence. "By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK," she said.

In mitigation, Mark Summers QC had said his client was "gripped" by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with whistleblowing website Wikileaks. "As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything," he said.

As Assange was taken to the cell, he raised a fist in defiance to his supporters in the public gallery behind him. They raised their fists in solidarity and directed shouts of "shame on you" towards the court.

The WikiLeaks founder is also facing a Thursday extradition hearing over a criminal charge in the US. He has been charged with helping former army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning obtain access to the US Defence Department computers in 2010 to reveal secret government documents.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the US in response to the allegations. He faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted.

Wikileaks had published thousands of classified documents, covering everything from the film industry to national security and war.
Mumbai, May 1 : Actor Divyenndu, known for his work in films "Pyaar Ka Punchnama" and "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha", plays a "very righteous person" who supports Patralekhaa's character in the web movie "Badnam Gali".

"I'm playing a character named Randeep Singh Sodhi. People call him Rano. He is from Punjab who comes from a well-to-do family and he is really confused about his life. He is quite irritated with a few things. He is a very righteous person," Divyenndu said in a statement.

"There are a few things about him which I really liked. Because of difference in opinion with his family, he decides to go to Delhi and start something of his own," he added.

On the movie's story, the actor shared: "The story is about how my character comes to this 'badnaam gali' where he meets Patralekhaa's character who is playing a surrogate mother.

"It revolves around how people have different opinions about her and don't understand surrogacy. He supports her throughout."
New Delhi, May 1 : State-run construction giant NBCC has received all the required approvals from ministries and government departments to bid for and acquire the debt-laden Jaypee Infratech, sources told IANS on Wednesday.

Last week, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of the insolvent realty firm had rejected the National Buildings Construction Corporation's (NBCC) revised bid on the ground of lack of approvals, which had left Mumbai-based Suraksha Realty as the only approved bidder.

Sources said the Finance Ministry cleared the bid on Tuesday, April 30, while the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and the Ministry of Urban Affairs gave NBCC the go-ahead on Wednesday.

Now, NBCC would now ask the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) to consider its bid and put up the approved bids, to vote, including NBCC's, at the earliest before the deadline of May 6, sources added. The 270-day deadline to complete the resolution of insolvency case ends on May 6.

IDBI Bank, the lead lender to JIL had on Monday approached the Allahabad-bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking extension of the 270-day deadline. NCLT has scheduled the hearing over the extension plea on May 6.

Home buyers too want an extension of the period. Sanjeev Sahani, a member of a home buyer association said that if Suraksha does not get the required votes and the IRP proposes for liquidation, then the lenders along with the home buyers would seek an extension of the period, which would give NBCC the time to submit its bid.

Meanwhile, the e-voting procedure over the bids for Jaypee Infratech is on and would go on till May 3, with Suraksha Realty being the only contender in the fray.

"If NBCC's bid is approved, then it is most likely that the lenders and homebuyers would go in favour of NBCC," Sahani said.

(Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)
New York, May 1 : In a major victory for India, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar was on Wednesday declared as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

"Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist in @UN Sanctions list," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

A proposal to declare Azhar as an international terrorist was taken by the UNSC Sanctions Committee 1267, nearly three months after the JeM carried out a ghastly terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama district of Kashmir.

Earlier, the proposal was being blocked by China, which lifted its "technical hold" on Wednesday.
By Yi Whan-woo





Australian Rear Adm. Stuart Mayer has been named the new deputy commander of the United Nations Command (UNC) in Korea, according to the Australian Embassy in Korea and the UNC.







They said the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Gen. Joseph Dunford, has confirmed Mayer's appointment.







This is the first time an Australian will serve as the UNC deputy commander.







This also will be the second time in the command's 69-year history that this post has been offered to a non-American officer, following outgoing UNC deputy commander, Lt. Gen. Wayne Eyre of Canada.







No date for the change of command was given.







Mayer will be promoted to the rank of vice admiral before taking up the appointment.







"The appointment of Rear Admiral Mayer is a great opportunity for Australia to work with the Republic of Korea, the U.S. and regional partners to further contribute to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula," the embassy said in a press release, Tuesday.







Chief of the Australian Defense Force, Gen. Angus Campbell, said the confirmation of Mayer's appointment "enables Australia to pursue our shared values and mutual security interests, and further contribute to regional peace and stability."







Mayer has been serving as head of the Force Design Division since April 2018.







He has held key command, strategic and operational appointments, including commander of the Australian Fleet, chief of staff for the Navy Strategic Command and commander of the multinational International Stabilization Force in East Timor.







During his service as commander of the Australian Fleet, he was recognized in January 2017 for his distinguished service to the Royal Australian Navy and became an Officer of the Order of Australia.







He joined the Royal Australian Navy in 1984.


Ahmedabad, May 1 : A court here on Wednesday issued summons to Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a suit filed by a BJP member accusing him of making defamatory statements against the party President Amit Shah at a poll rally in Madhya Pradesh last month.

The case was filed by Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt, a BJP corporator from the city's Khadia ward, who contending that the Congress chief's terming Amit Shah a "murder accused" at the rally was defamatory as well as false "because Amit Shah had been discharged honourably by the CBI court in January 2015" in the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in an allegedly staged gunfight.

Issuing the summons, Metropolitan Magistrate D.S. Dabhi fixed the next hearing on July 9.

Brahmbhatt's lawyer had argued that an Ahmedabad court could have jurisdiction though Gandhi made the remarks in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur since the speech was televised nationally while city newspapers also reported it.
Kolkata, May 1 : Polling agents of opposition parties' candidates and party workers were attacked and houses set ablaze as poll-related violence singed West Bengal, officials said on Wednesday.

While political leaders complained of post-poll violence in Asansol and Birbhum, which went to the hustings on Tuesday, there were disturbances in Medinipur parliamentary constituency where elections are scheduled to be held on May 12.

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker was attacked in Goaltore area of West Midnapore district.

"Sukumar Ruidas, 25, was attacked by bike-borne miscreants on Tuesday evening. He told us he is a BJP worker but could not identify any of the attackers," a police official said, adding that no written complaint has yet been received.

Birbhum's Ilambazar witnessed post-poll violence where Communist Party of India-Marxist polling agent Khilafat Ali's house was allegedly torched by members of the Trinamool Congress. Later, a Trinamool leader's house was set on fire by BJP workers.

"There is a report of two houses being set on fire. I do not know if there was any political motivation as we are yet to receive any formal complaint," a senior officer of Birbhum district told IANS.

Sharing the picture of an injured BJP worker, Asansol Lok Sabha constituency candidate Babul Supriyo tweeted: Mamata Banerjee's goons brutally beat up Ramlal Kisku, BJP's polling agent in Khairabad village of Asansol. "Both his hands are broken beyond repair and with 35 stitches on his head, he is fighting for life. Please join me in condemning this."

When asked about reports of post-poll violence in Asansol, a senior officer of the Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate said "there are minor incidents but we haven't received any formal complaint".

In Bhatpara area in Barrackpur constituency, some vehicles were set on fire during clashes between BJP and Trinamool workers.

Polling in this area will be held in the next phase on May 6.
Mumbai, May 1 : Actress Flora Saini, who has featured in web series like "Gandi Baat", "XXX Uncensored" and "Maid In India", says filmmakers and viewers should stop tagging her as a 'bold actress.

She also wants the media to be more responsible while posing questions to female actors.

"I just hope that people and media grow up enough to see me as an actress who is capable enough to explore a different style of acting and can be a part of a different genre of stories, instead of just calling me 'bold actress'," Flora told IANS here.

"Do they really call an actor 'bold'... an actor who is also there in the lovemaking scenes that I am part of? There is clear discrimination and stereotyping for female actors who have no inhibitions to perform any intimate scenes on-screen.

"Though I am proud of all the work that I have done, I expect more opportunity where I can showcase my acting skills that goes beyond 'bold scenes'. Such problems do not happen to male actors."

Flora recounted how during a media interaction for her latest short film "Seasoned With Love", she was asked, "How does it feel to act in bold scenes".

"But they didn't ask the same to my co-actor... I so wish they change those questions now, if we are aiming to grow as a society and celebrating gender equality."

Apart from acting in several regional films, Flora played an important character in the commercially successful film "Stree" featuring Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor.

Flora is facing a typecast in the film and show offers coming her way. She is expecting a chance to break that once her upcoming shows get released.

"I have worked with Nagesh Kukunoor after a long time for the show 'City Of Dreams' where I am playing an interesting mysterious woman. I am also playing a character in the Amazon Prime Video show 'Inside Edge 2'. I hope people offer me more interesting roles once they release," said the actress.
Beijing, May 1 : Moments after it okayed the resolution to blacklist Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar at the UN sanctions panel, China defended Pakistan, saying the country had made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism.

Beijing also said it firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism and extremist forces.

"I would like to stress that Pakistan has made enormous contributions to fighting terrorism, which deserves the full recognition of the international community. China will continue to firmly support Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorist and extremist forces," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said here.
New Delhi, May 1 : The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to Congress leader and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu over his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The EC notice was based on a complaint by Neeraj, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker in Gujarat, who alleged that Sidhu described the Prime Minister as a 'thief' while addressing a poll rally in Ahmedabad on April 17.

As per the EC notice, dated April 30, Sidhu has to submit his reply by 6 p.m. on May 2. If he fails to do so, the panel would take a decision without further reference to him.

The poll body also told Sidhu the model code of conduct bars candidates and leaders from making personal remarks against rivals during campaigning.
New Delhi, May 1 : France, which has been vigorously pushing for listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, welcomed on Wednesday the decision of the UN Security Councils 1267 Sanctions Committee to sanction him, saying it signals the "successful realization" of its efforts.

"France welcomes the designation today, by the UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee, of Mr Masood Azhar on the UN's ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," said a statement issued by the spokesperson of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs soon after the action by the world body was announced.

The statement said for many years now, French diplomacy has been "relentlessly pleading" for sanctioning Azhar, "head of the terrorist group responsible, notably, for the Pulwama attack last February".

"This decision taken at the United Nations Security Council signals the successful realisation of our efforts," the spokesperson said.

"In application of its Monetary and Financial Code, France had adopted national sanctions against Masood Azhar on 15th March," the spokesperson said.

"France remains mobilised at all levels and all fora to take effective measures against terrorism," the statement added.

Azhar, a Pakistani national, founded the JeM with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI in January 2000, soon after his release from an Indian jail in exchange for 166 hostages of an Indian Airlines plane which was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan during a flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi.

Since then, the outfit has carried out umpteen terror attacks in India, including the one on Parliament on December 13, 2001.

The latest outrageous action by the outfit was in Pulwama on February 14, when a suicide bomber of the JeM rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway, killing 40 security personnel.
New Delhi, May 1 : The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the state government to file response on a plea seeking formulation of welfare schemes for the unorganised workers in the national capital.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anup J. Bhambhani issued the directive while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by economist Abhijit Mishra.

Mishra's counsel Payal Bahl told the court that the state government has not formulated any welfare schemes for the unorganised workers as provided for in the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act.

The petitioner has requested the court to direct the government to issue notification to set up the Office of the Delhi State Social Security Board in line with the law for the welfare of unorganised sector workers.

The petitioner has also sought to issue registration cards scheme for the unorganised workers.
New Delhi, May 1 : In line with its aim to become a global market leader, India's largest hotel chain OYO will acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group for $415 million.

OYO on Wednesday said it would acquire @Leisure from Axel Springer, a media and technology company.

@Leisure is a leading vacation rental company in Europe and manages holiday homes, holiday parks and holiday apartments.

"With @Leisure Group, its team and capabilities, we see OYO further its mission of creating quality living experiences for everyday travellers," Maninder Gulati, OYO's Global Chief Strategy Officer, said in a statement.

@Leisure Group, through its Belvilla, DanCenter, and Danland brands, offers more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe and through its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand, offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries.

OYO said the the acquisition will help it move a step closer in realising its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry.

"Through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be immediately unlocked for OYO's Homes business. Today, more than 2.8 mn holidaymakers from over 118 countries book their holiday every year with @Leisure Group. The combined strength of both brands can scale the opportunity multifold," Gulati said.

"Tobias Wann, CEO, @Leisure Group, will join OYO's leadership group as CEO, Vacation Homes, OYO Global, and will work with me to turn OYO's home business into a global by-word for vacation and urban home rentals," Gulati added.
Shimla, May 1 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday said corruption was at its peak during the Congress regimes and due to this most of its leaders were on bail.

He was addressing an election meeting at Kharsi in Naina Devi Assembly constituency in Bilaspur district.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said that Congress leaders misused their power and worked for furthering their own interests by ignoring the welfare of the common man.

"Now at the time of the elections they are talking about development and making tall claims to befool the voters. In a state of desperation, Congress President Rahul Gandhi is resorting to indecent statements against the Prime Minister for which he had to apologise to the Supreme Court," he said.

Thakur said the Congress should be given a befitting reply in the Lok Sabha elections.

"The country needs a strong leadership which can be given by the BJP as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has successfully taken the nation ahead on the path of development and prosperity," he added.
Chennai, May 1 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday wondered why Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M.K. Stalin gets worked up when disciplinary action is sought to be taken against ruling party legislators.

Speaking to reporters in Coimbatore, Palaniswami said it was not known why DMK was interfering in the ruling party's disciplinary action against its own legislators.

On April 26, All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief whip S. Rajendran had submitted a petition to Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal to take action against three legislators for their anti-party activities.

Rajendran said the party had proof of their prejudicial activities and hence the petition was submitted to the Speaker. Photographs of the legislators with the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) General Secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran had also been submitted, he added.

On April 30, Dhanapal issued show cause notices to three AIADMK legislators -- A. Prabhu representing the Kallakuruchi constituency, Rathinasabapathy (Aranthangi) and V.T. Kalaiselvan (Virudhachalam) -- seeking explanations for their anti-party activities.

Stalin on April 30 sent a letter to the Tamil Nadu Assembly secretary proposing a no-confidence motion against the Speaker and also submitted the one-line no-trust motion against Dhanapal.

Palaniswami said Stalin's anger showed the closeness between the DMK and the AMMK.


By Kim Jae-heun







Asian Friends, a non-governmental organization, will host a three-day life planning camp for children from multi-racial families.







The camp, sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and The Korea Times, will take place at Dobong Forestville in Seoul from July 22 to 24. The participants will stay together for two nights there.







The program is for children with a multiracial background in Seoul and surrounding metropolitan areas, and about 40 people can join the camp. Middle and high school students will have the priority to be selected.







At the camp, certified labor attorney Koo Kyen-seo will help children figure out what they may want to do in the future and give guidance on how to achieve it.







"We've learned that children from multicultural families suffer identity crisis and many have a hard time adapting to school. Through this program, we want to help children find what they want to do in the future and give practical advice on how to achieve it," Asian Friends Chairwoman Lee Nam-sook said.







"It is our first camp and the purpose of the program is to keep reminding children of their dreams."







Applications for the camp are available through May 15 at naver.me/Fp0JwMfq. The participation fee is 20,000 won.


Mumbai, May 1 : Hours after its party mouthpieces called for a ban on the use of 'burqas' like what Sri Lanka is considering, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday evening officially dissociated itself from the demand, following a massive furore on the issue just five days before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins.

Referring to the strong editorial in Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana calling for the ban like the measure being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives, party spokesperson Neelam Gorhe stressed that every policy decision is discussed in a meeting of top leaders or announced by party President Uddhav Thackeray.

"Today's editorial has neither been discussed nor been announced by Uddhavji and thus it may be a personal opinion of the editor on the current affairs in Sri Lanka, but is not endorsed by the party President or the party," Gorhe said in a categorical statement, signalling a dramatic turnaround on the issue.

State political circles indicated the sudden decision to backtrack may have been prompted by the massive potential political fallout of the Sena's demand on the Bharatiya Janata Party and allies which are facing the upcoming three phases of elections in this month, barely on the eve of the holiest month in the Islamic calendar.

With the demand, addressed directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, political circles are abuzz with speculation whether BJP leadership and other allies have conveyed their "displeasure" to the Sena, but Gorhe declined to comment on this when asked by IANS.

Another ally, the Republican Party of India-A strongly came out against the Sena on the issue "Not all women who wear burqa are terrorists, it is their custom and their right, too. There should not be such a ban on burqa in India," its President and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owais attacked the Sena for its ignorance by seeking a ban on burqa and sought Election Commission's action in the matter.

"The Supreme Court judgement on privacy clearly lays down that choice is now a Fundamental Right. Besides, it is a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, aimed at creating polarization before the elections," he said.

The editorial said that the ban - something similar which the party has proposed in the past -- "has already come in Ravana's (Sri) Lanka, when will it be implemented in Ram's Ayodhya -- this is our question to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi."

"This restriction has been recommended as an emergency measure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties in identifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat to national security," it said.

"If such religious practices or traditions interfere with national security, then it must be ended immediately, and "Modi will have to do it now".

"This work will require as much daring as a 'surgical strike.' The Sri Lankan President had done it by overnight banning burqa or veils or face-covers of any types in all public places. This is a work of great courage and restraint exhibited by (Sri Lanka) President Maithripala Sirisena," it lauded.

It accused that many Muslims have not understood the true meaning of their religion (Islam) and they have confused it with traditions and customs like burqa, polygamy, triple talaq and resistance to family planning, the edit added.

"When any voice is raised against these practices, immediately there are cries of 'Islam is in danger', and it seems religion takes precedence over nationalism among Muslims. Muslim women have been sporting burqas/veils under the wrong impression that it is a Quranic tenet," the editorial said.
New Delhi, May 1 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, including banks, for being "hand in gloves" with the beleaguered real estate major Amrapali Group and for abdicating their responsibility in monitoring the housing projects thereby leaving lakhs of home buyers in the lurch.

"It is your own doing. You have not done anything. If you had done anything, this would not have happened. If it is not hand in gloves then what it is," Justice Arun Mishra told the Noida, Greater Noida authorities and the banks.

Pointing to the diversion of Rs 3,500 crore by the Amrapali Group as estimated by the forensic auditors, Justice Mishra said, "Rs 3,500 crore have gone away. Due to your inaction, cheating has taken place. The banks' inaction has contributed to it. Had you taken action timely, this would not have happened."

Referring to the 15 lakh people who have suffered in different housing projects of varied builders in Noida, Greater Noida and elsewhere, Mishra said, "Such large scale things happen only in India. Everybody is in the lurch." He also pointed at the lack of stringent punishment which was there for other offences.

The court's observations came in the course of the submissions by senior counsels M.L. Lahoty and Krishnan Venugopal pointing at the abdication of responsibilities by the Noida, Greater Noida authorities and the banks in the monitoring of the progress of the residential projects.

"We know what is happening. Don't tell us," Justice Mishra said as the counsel for the Noida and Greater Noida authorities sought to offer an explanation in response to Venugopal's submission that there was lack of "policing" of the projects by the authorities.

Directing the banks who financed Amrapali's projects to place before it all the records related to the financing of the projects, the court said, "Every financial institution has to ensure that the money advanced is used for the intended project and there is no diversion from one company to another company."

The court said that no project should escape the provisions of RERA.

The forensic auditors' reports pointed to instances where money moved from one company to another company of the Amrapali Group.

Counting Noida, Greater Noida and banks for their inaction in the face of violations by the Amrapali Group, senior counsel Lahoty pointed to the forensic auditors' report which has "very strongly condemned the banks" for being responsible for the prevailing mess.

He pointed to the forensic auditors' report saying that "without the active support of the banks this kind of large scale money laundering could not have happened."
New Delhi, May 1 : The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday barred Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, the BJP candidate from Bhopal, from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6 a.m on Thursday, for seeking votes on religious lines thereby violating the model code of conduct (MCC).

In its order issued on Wednesday, the poll panel "strongly condemned" her remarks and warned her not to repeat "such misconduct" in future.

The Commission barred her from holding public meetings, processions, rallies, road shows and giving interviews, and making public utterances in the media in connection with the ongoing elections for three days.

Thakur was issued two notices by the EC -- one for her remarks during a TV interview and another for making remarks against former ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

In an interview to a television channel over the weekend, Thakur had said that she was among the people who demolished the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 and that she was "proud" of it.

"We removed a blot from the country. We went to demolish the structure. I feel extremely proud that God gave me this opportunity and I could do that. We will make sure a Ram temple is constructed at that site," Thakur told the channel.

The first notice against Thakur was issued after she said that former ATS chief Karkare died at the hands of terrorists during the 26/11 attack in Mumbai because she "cursed" him.

Following a backlash, Thakur apologised admitting that Karkare was a "martyr". The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had distanced itself from her remarks.

The 49-year-old is an accused in the Malegaon blasts case in which six people died and around 100 were injured in 2006. She is currently out on bail and her candidature has been challenged in the court by the father of one of the those dying in Malegaon.
Islamabad, May 1 : An embarrassed Pakistan on Wednesday said the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist had been agreed upon after "all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with the terror attack in Pulwama and maligning the struggle of the Kashmiris".

The United Nations Security Council's 1267 Sanctions Committee made the declaration after China, which had blocked the proposal four times earlier, lifted its "technical hold" amidst intense pressure from the UNSC's other permanent members like the US, the UK and France.

"The current listing proposal has been agreed after all political references, including removal of attempts to link it with Pulwama and maligning the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris for realisation of the right to self-determination," said Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal.

The action, a huge diplomatic victory for India, will mean that Pakistan-based JeM chief's assets will be frozen by the UN member countries and his travel will be barred in these nations.

The spokesperson said his country "has always advocated the need for respecting these (UNSC) technical rules and regulations and has opposed politicisation of the Sanctions Committee. However, the earlier proposals to list Masood Azhar failed to generate the requisite consensus in the Sanctions Committee as the information did not meet its technical criteria".

He said, Pakistan maintained that "terrorism is a menace to the world".

The Indian media's attempts "to build a narrative claiming it (the listing) as a 'victory' for India and validation of its stance are absolutely false and baseless," Faisal said.

"Our position is in line with the statements of Prime Minister Imran Khan who clearly stated that there is no space for any proscribed organisation or its affiliates to operate from the Pakistani territory, our resolve for countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and our National Action Plan," he said.
New Delhi, May 1 : India on Wednesday welcomed the decision of the UN Security Councils 1267 Sanctions Committee to declare Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying it was a "step in the right direction to demonstrate the international communitys resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers".

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the action is "in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities" of Azhar and the JeM.

"The 1267 Sanctions Committee's decision to designate the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad, Masood Azhar, as a UN-proscribed terrorist is a step in the right direction to demonstrate the international community's resolve to fight against terrorism and its enablers," Kumar said.

"We welcome the decision. This is in accordance with India's position and in line with the information that India has shared with the members of the Sanctions Committee regarding terrorist activities of Masood Azhar and the Jaish-e-Mohammad," he said.

The spokesperson said India will continue with its efforts through international forums "to ensure that terrorist organizations and their leaders who cause harm to our citizens are brought to justice."

China had been blocking Azhar's listing despite a strong push by the US, UK and France. It had put a "technical hold" on the proposal four times, the latest being in March.

"It (defending Azhar) was increasingly becoming untenable for the Chinese," said an Indian government official on condition of anonymity.

The Committee said Azhar was sanctioned pursuant to him being "associated with Al-Qaida for 'participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of, supplying, selling or transferring arms and related material to, recruiting for, otherwise supporting acts or activities of, and other acts or activities indicating association with Jaish-e-Mohammed."

It noted that Azhar had founded Jaish-e-Mohammed upon his release from prison in India in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Azhar has also financially supported JeM since its founding, the committee said while giving reasoning for the action.

It also pointed out that the UN Security Council had listed JeM on October 17, 2001, as being associated with Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban for "participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of", "supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to" or "otherwise supporting acts or activities of" Al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

Azhar is also "a former leader of the terrorist group Harakat ul-Mujahidin /HuM, aka Harakat ul-Ansar; most of these groups' members subsequently joined JeM under Azhar's leadership," it said.

"In 2008, JeM recruitment posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against Western forces," the statement said.

The action will mean that Azhar's assets will be frozen by the UN member countries and his travel will be barred in these nations.
New Delhi, May 1 : Cyclonic storm 'Fani' is expected to make landfall in Odisha on May 3 afternoon with wind speeds ranging up to 180 km per hour causing heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday.

Fani is expected to hit the Odisha coast south of Puri and is likely to impact coastal districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore, it said.

In West Bengal, districts of East and West Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogly, Jhargram and Kolkata alongwith Srikakulam, Vijayanagram and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh are likely to be affected, the IMD added.

The IMD also warned of storm surge of about 1.5 metres height which may inundate low- lying coastal areas of Odisha's Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts at the time of landfall.

Cabinet Secretary P. K. Sinha held a National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting again on Wednesday and reviewed the preparedness of states and Central ministries and agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of the extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Fani', a Home Ministry statement said.

He directed that all necessary measures be taken to complete evacuation of people from areas in the cyclone's path and maintain adequate quantities of essential supplies such as food, drinking water and medicines.

Odisha informed that around 900 cyclone shelters have been made ready to house the evacuees and requested two helicopters to be stationed in the state for emergency food distribution.

The Cabinet Secretary directed the Ministry of Defence to meet the requirements of Odisha government, and once again advised all concerned to make adequate preparations to ensure maintenance of essential services such as power and telecommunications in the event of damages caused to them.

"Railways, Civil Aviation and Shipping Ministries were advised to review their preparedness well in time and ensure quick resumption of their services in the event of any disruption," an official statement said.

The Indian Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations.

"Army and Air Force units have also been put on standby in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 12 teams in Andhra Pradesh, 28 teams in Odisha and six teams in West Bengal. Additionally 32 teams have been kept on standby. The teams are equipped with boats, tree cutters, telecom equipment," the statement said.

States have issued advisories and are ensuring that fishermen do not venture into the sea, said the statement, adding the IMD has been issuing three hourly bulletins with latest forecast to all the states concerned and the Ministry of Home Affairs is also in continuous touch with the state governments and the Central agencies concerned.

Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal participated in the NCMC meeting through video conference. Senior Officers from the Ministries of Home Affairs, Shipping, Civil Aviation, Railways, Fisheries, Power, Telecommunications, Defence, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Food Processing, Health, the IMD, the NDMA and the NDRF also attended the meeting.

The NCMC will meet again on Thursday to take stock of the emerging situation, the statement added.
New Delhi, May 1 : Union Minister Vijay Goel on Wednesday said Congress leader and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who praised Pakistan, has been stumped as dreaded terrorist Masood Azhar living in that country has been declared as global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

Addressing a public meeting in South Delhi's Vasant Kunj area here for the party candidate Ramesh Bidhuri and New Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Meenakshi Lekhi, Goel said, "Sidhu has been stumped today. You know why -- because Sidhu, who praised Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who hugged Pakistan's Army Chief has to go silent today... because China has backed Masood Azhar to be declared as a global terrorist," he said.

He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, "Today Azhar has been declared as a global terrorist because of Modi ji's policies."

His remarks came soon after the United Nation's Security Council declared terrorist Azhar as a global terrorost.

China, which earlier blocked moves to blacklist Azhar as a global terrorist finally dropped its objections.

The elections on all the seven seats are scheduled on May 12 in the sixth phase.

The BJP had won all the seats from Delhi in 2014.
New Delhi, May 1 : Congress' star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has of late been hopping between Amethi and Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituencies of party chief Rahul Gandhi and former party president Sonia Gandhi in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.

In the past, Priyanka had been managing only these two constituencies but has taken up an active party role as AICC general secretary in charge of UP East only this time. Both Amethi and Rae Bareli will go to the polls on May 6.

Since March 18, when she launched her campaign by taking a boat ride from Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) to Varanasi in eastern UP, Priyanka has done road shows and public meetings across the state in Faizabad-Ayodhya, Fatehpur and Barabanki seats besides Kanpur, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Baghpat and Ghaziabad in central and western parts of the state.

In between, she also made it a point to visit Amethi and Rae Bareli areas around half-a-dozen times seeking votes in favour of her brother and mother.

On Wednesday, Priyanka campaigned in various parts Amethi talking to party workers and commoners alike and urged them to vote for Rahul. On Thursday and Friday she will spend time traveling across Rae Bareli seeking support for Sonia Gandhi.

Amethi and Rae Bareli were the only two parliamentary seats the Congress could win of the total 80 in UP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The battle for Amethi has become intense in 2019 as the BJP has again fielded Union minister Smriti Irani against Rahul. In 2014, though Rahul defeated her, Irani was able to secure 3 lakh votes, which, in effect, reduced Rahul's victory margin significantly from 3.7 lakh in the 2009 polls to over a lakh votes in 2014.

Sources said under Priyanka's watch they had deployed a special micro-level plan to increase Rahul's victory margin from the 2014 levels as he is contesting the 2019 polls as party chief and is being projected as the prime ministerial candidate. For that party workers have been administered a pledge to make the victory margin 5 lakh votes but it remains to be seen how the Congress election machinery is able to contain the Irani juggernaut.
New Delhi, May 1 : BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday said that Masood Azhar being declared as a global terrorist by the UN is a diplomatic victory for the Narendra Modi government and Pakistan has been now left isolated in the global arena.

Addressing a public meeting in the Vasant Kunj area, he said: "Today Pakistan, which has been exporting terror to India and has been the hot bed of terrorist training camps, has been isolated as Masood Azhar has been declared as global terrorist by the United Nation Security Council."

"It is the Modi government's diplomatic victory, isolating Pakistan globally," he said at a public meeting for the party's New Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Meenakshi Lekhi and South Delhi candidate Ramesh Bidhuri here.

Attacking the Congress over its poll promise of repealing the sedition law, he said: "The Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi talk about repealing the sedition law, while we say we want to remove Articles 370 and 35A from Jammu and Kashmir."

Hitting out at previous Congress-led UPA government, Shah said: "They remained silent when Pakistan attacked our territory and on the death of our soldiers."

"When we attacked Pakistan, the Congress and AAP questioned the attack carried out by the Indian Air Force and demanded evidence," he said.

Shah also said that till the time "Modi government is there at the Centre, India will always give befitting reply to Pakistan".

"We will never compromise on national security," he said.

Slamming National Conference leader Omar Abdullah for his demands for a separate Prime Minister, Shah said: "Till the time even one BJP worker is alive, Jammu and Kashmir will remain an integral part of India."

He also reiterated that the infiltrators will be sent back as the BJP government will bring National Registrar of Citizens across the country.
New Delhi, May 1 : Reacting to the April's GST collection the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi was wrong in saying that GST was not in the interest of traders.

However, CAIT said that traders are still facing trouble complying with GST and the association will approach the new government after polls.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection rose 10.05 per cent to Rs 1,13,865 crore in April from a year-ago period, recording the highest ever monthly revenue mop-up since the new indirect tax system was rolled out on July 1, 2017.

CAIT said that the "upsurge in GST revenue collection for the month of April 2019 has strongly demolished the argument of Congress President Rahul Gandhi that it is Gabbar Singh Tax and not in the interest of traders. "

"On the contrary, the highest collection from GST in the month of April since its implementation in the Country establishes the fact that traders across the country have utter faith and trust in current GST taxation system ..."

Khandelwal said that not only the revenue but also the number of taxpayers under GST in comparison to earlier VAT regime has doubled reflecting acceptance among the trader's community.
By Kang Seung-woo



Lee Suk-chae, a former chairman of KT, was arrested Tuesday night over allegations that he was involved in the company's illegal hiring of conglomerate scions and relatives of high-profile figures during his tenure.





Former KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae arrives at the Seoul Southern District Court, Tuesday, for a court review on whether to issue an arrest warrant for him over his suspected involvement in the company's hiring scandal. The warrant was issued later in the day. / Yonhap
United Nations, May 1 : United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres hopes that all countries will abide by the sanctions imposed on Wednesday on Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar by a Security Council committee, according to Guterres's spokesperson Stephane Guterres.

"It is first of all good when all the members of the Security Council agree on something," he told reporters. "Of course we hope that the member states abide by those decisions."

The Security Council's sanctions committee on the Al Qaeda, Islamic State and associated organisations and individuals placed Azhar on the list of international terrorists, freezing his assets and putting restrictions on his travel after China withdrew its decade-long veto-bearing objection under interntional pressure.

"This is the work of a well-established mechanism, the sanctions committee of the Security Council", Dujarric said. "It is a big part of the United Nations work in the fight against terrorism".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
Srinagar, May 1 : A policeman was critically injured when militants shot him in his house here on Wednesday, police sources said.

According to the sources, militants barged into the house of a selection grade police constable, Muhammad Illiyas in Kaw Mohalla locality in Khanyar area in the old city and fired at him.

"The constable sustained serious injuries in this attack. He has been shifted to hospital for treatment. The area has been surrounded for searches," a source said.
New Delhi, May 1 : The Election Commission on Wednesday said that no violation of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) had been done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his speech at Maharashtra's Latur last month in which he asked first-time voters to dedicate their votes to the men who carried out the air strike in Pakistan's Balakot.

The poll panel said it had received a detailed report on the matter from the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer.

"The matter has been examined in detail in accordance with the extant advisories, provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and after examination of complete transcript of speech of 11 pages... the Commission is of the considered view that in this matter no such violation of the extant advisories/provisions is attracted," it said.

Modi, during a rally in Maharashtra's Latur, appealed to first-time voters to dedicate their first vote to the "brave men who carried out the airstrike in Pakistan's Balakot".

The Election Commission had in May asked all political parties not to use defence forces or their achievements as part of their election campaigning.
Jaipur, May 1 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that it was a proud day for India after the United Nations (UN) declared Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist.

In a huge diplomatic victory for India, the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday declared Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist, a move that was being blocked by China for nearly 10 years.

"This is the result of the joint efforts of 130 crore Indians," Modi said while addressing an election rally here.

"The international community stood beside India in its fight against terror. Hence I thank the international community on behalf of 130 crore Indians," Modi said.

The decision of the UNSC's 1267 Sanctions Committee came about two-and-a-half months after the JeM carried out the ghastly terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama which killed 40 CRPF personnel.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister said, "It seems I share a strong bond with Rajasthan, the land of warriors. Today I have come here with a good news. Right now I received a report from New York that the UN has declared Jem chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist."

The Prime Minister added that the diplomatic victory for India was being watched by the entire world. "When we were trying to get Masood Azhar branded as a global terrorist, the "Namdaars" were making a mockery of our efforts. Today I want to tell them that this is not Modi's success, but it is the success of 130 crore indians," Modi said.

Modi also said that India was trying to completely uproot terrorism from the country. "There was a time when India had a remote control government. In those days, even the Prime Minister's voice was not heard by the government. But today the country is witnessing how the voice of 130 crore people is roaring across the world.

"The entire world now listens to what India says. This has been proven today, and I want to say that this is just the beginning. Wait and see what comes next," Modi said, adding that India's policy was clear now, which was, "if they shoot, we shoot."

"This country trusts its 'chowkidar'. Today I have come to the land of brave soldiers and I would like to tell everyone that this is new India. We will eneter the terrorists' homes and eliminate them if the country faces threat from them. This is called a "damdaaar sarkar" (strong government)," Modi said.

IANS

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New Delhi, May 1 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that no major blasts had taken place in the country since 2014, saying there had been as many as 942 major bombings over the past five years.

"The PM says since 2014 the sounds of blasts can't be heard in India. Pulwama...

Pathankot..Uri...Gadchiroli...and 942 other major bombings since 2014," Rahul tweeted.

"The PM needs to open his ears and listen," he said.

The comments came in the wake of the Maoist attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Wednesday in which 15 police commandos and a civilian were killed.
New Delhi, May 1 : A man working as a Sanitary Inspector with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi committed suicide on Wednesday by jumping in front of a Metro train in Dwarka, said the police.

The police said the incident occurred at 10.18 a.m. when the victim, later identified as Anil Kumar, jumped on the tracks at platform number 1 at the Dwarka Sector-9 Metro Station.

"A resident of Palam Village, Anil Kumar was admitted with critical injuries in a nearby hospital where he is succumbed to his injuries in the evening ", the Delhi Police Additional PRO Anil Mittal told reporters.

Kumar was in depression for the last few days, he added.
New Delhi/Chennai, May 1 : High interest and fuel cost along with liquidity constraints continued to subdue passenger car major -- Maruti and Hyundai's -- domestic sales in April.

On Wednesday, automobile major Maruti Suzuki India said overall sales, including exports for April declined by 17.2 per cent to 143,245 units from 172,986 units' off-take recorded during the corresponding period of the last year.

The company's domestic sales decreased 18.7 per cent on an year-on-year basis to 134,068 units in April.

Although the domestic passenger vehicle sales was lower by 19.6 per cent to 131,385 units on a YoY basis, the company's sales of light commercial vehicles in the country rose 50.2 per cent to 2,319 units.

The automobile major's exports zoomed by 14.6 per cent in April to 9,177 units from 8,008 units which were shipped out during the corresponding month of last fiscal.

On its part, Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) reported a marginal decline of 1.6 per cent in its overall sales including exports for April 2019.

The company's overall sales during the month under review declined to 58,805 from 59,744 units sold during April 2018.

Additionally, domestic sales during the month under review edged-lower by 10.1 per cent to 42,005 units from 46,735 units sold during the corresponding period of 2018.

However, the company's exports went up by 29.1 per cent to 16,800 units from 13,009 units shipped abroad in April 2018.

According to Sridhar V., Partner with Grant Thornton India: "Dip in the sales of Maruti and Hyundai off a higher base indicates lack of pickup in domestic sales at the beginning of this FY for the passenger car segment."

"One of the primary cause could be increase in price effected on April 1 and volatility in fuel price. While the sentiments are still down there is active interest in new models and a slight uptick in UVs."
Kolkata, May 1 : Seeking stringent measures in West Bengal's Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, the state's ruling Trinamool Congress on Wednesday urged the Election Commission to keep the BJP's candidate Arjun Singh, who switched to the saffron outfit recently from the state's ruling party, under "surveillance".

Trinamool's outgoing MP Dinesh Trivedi is seeking re-election from the Barrackpore constituency which will go to hustings during the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls to be held on May 6.

"Trinamool MP Dinesh Trivedi re-contesting from the seat and the party requested surveillance for BJP leader Arjun Singh," sources in the Election Commission said.

Meeting state Chief Electoral Officer Aariz Aftab, senior Trinamool leader Tapas Roy said there was a "disturbance in Barrackpore yesterday".

"Bombs were hurled and the movement of goons have increased. Our party and candidate have complained to the commission and the police observer," he said.

In Bhatpara Assembly segment, under the constituency, some vehicles were set on fire, during clashes between BJP and Trinamool workers.

Asked if they had appealed for surveillance on Arjun Singh, Roy said: "In these cases, if the EC feels the requirement of any specific step against a candidate, a party or any other person, they will take it."

"We have submitted the copy of our specific complaints to the CEO," he added.
New Delhi, May 1 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that no major blasts had taken place in the country since 2014, saying there had been as many as 942 major bombings over the past five years.

"The PM says since 2014 the sounds of blasts can't be heard in India. Pulwama...Pathankot..Uri...Gadchiroli...and 942 other major bombings since 2014," Rahul tweeted.

"The PM needs to open his ears and listen," he said.

The comment came in the wake of the Maoist attack in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district on Wednesday in which 15 police commandos and a civilian were killed.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera also slammed the Modi government alleging that "fake chest thumping" characterises the BJP-led government's narrative towards national security.

He hit out at the Modi government over the Maoist attack and said that despite its "tall talk" no lessons from Pulwama are learnt.

"The Congress strongly condemns this mindless and despicable act, and pays homage to their martyrdom and their sacrifice will not go in vain," Khera said addressing a press conference here.

"In the past five years, fake chest thumping, hyperbole, empty slogans and acronym building have characterised Modi government's narrative towards our national and internal security," he said.

Giving the figures of the attack on the security forces across the country by the Maoists, Khera said in the last five years, 1,086 Maoist attacks have taken place in which 391 jawans and 582 civilians have been killed.

"Will Prime MInister Modi take responsibility about the growing menace of Maoism?" he asked.

Last month, when a Maoist attack took place in Dantewada, the Prime Minister desperately sought to pin the blame on the newly formed government in Chhattisgarh. "But the stark reality is that 1,000 CRPF personnel were killed in the last 10 years of BJP rule in Chhattisgarh," he said.
New Delhi, May 1 : Home Minister Rajnath Singh while paying tributes to 15 Maharashtra policemen killed by Maoists in Gadchiroli today lashed out at the opposition for politicizing the incident and demanding resignation of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Addressing an election rally at Shastri Park here for BJP candidates Manoj Tiwari and Gautam Gambhir, Rajnath Singh said that it is sad that the opposition has politicised the gruesome incident and demanded resignation of the Chief Minister.

He said during the last five years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's watch, killing of security forces had come down and several districts were free from Maoist stronghold.

He also slammed the opposition for demanding proof of terrorists killed during the Balakot strike.

He said, "After the strikes, should our soldiers have stopped there and counted the bodies. Warriors don't count bodies only vultures do," Rajnath added.

He said the operation by Air Force was carried out with credible information and termed it as the biggest attack on terrorists.

The Home Minister also praised the prime minister's economic policy and said that India was growing as the fastest economy of the world.

By 2030-31, India will be among the top three economies of the world, he said.

The Minister also lashed out at the Congress for saying that it will do away with the Sedition law if it came to power.
Seen above is the iconic Foot Bridge where President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un strolled during their first summit last year. Yonhap



Tours to iconic Foot Bridge available to citizens



By Lee Min-hyung



Tours to the south side of the Joint Security Area (JSA) resumed, Wednesday, allowing civilians to visit symbolic places in the inter-Korean border area on foot.



The Ministry of National Defense said the decision came as part of efforts to revive dialogue with North Korea in commemoration of the first anniversary of the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration.



The tours had been suspended since last October due to "disarmament" activities at the JSA.



The resumption of the tours enables visitors to see the iconic Foot Bridge where President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un strolled during their first summit in April last year.



The two leaders had a one-on-one private conversation on the blue-painted bridge. The symbolic moment gained attention here and abroad, raising hopes for inter-Korean reconciliation.



Visitors to the JSA will also be able to tour the site where the two leaders planted a pine tree to celebrate the summit.



"Starting from May 1, tours to the JSA have resumed but we only accept 82 people a day," a government official said.



The defense ministry offers a total of four organized trips a day, held at two times in the morning. It also plans to increase the number of those eligible for the tours in the future.



The ministry said the two Koreas and the United Nations Command (UNC) will continue negotiations to make it possible for visitors to freely visit the south and north sides of the JSA.



It added such efforts will help renew the now-stalled dialogue between the two Koreas.



Last year, Seoul and Pyongyang expressed a bilateral willingness for peace. Starting with the historic summit in Panmunjeom, Moon and Kim held two more summits last year to discuss denuclearization of the North.



In particular, the two Koreas reached an agreement to disarm the JSA.



To speed up the momentum for peace, both sides finished halted the carrying of firearms in the JSA in October. The UNC, which holds jurisdiction over the south side of the JSA, also finished verifying the disarmament.



But the rare atmosphere for reconciliation has come to an abrupt stop, with the North remaining silent on pushing ahead with other planned peace-building steps. These include the joint repatriation of 1950-53 Korean War remains from along the border between the South's Gangwon Province and the North's Kangwon Province.



The sudden attitude shift came in the wake of the breakdown of the Hanoi summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump last February.



With both sides failing to reach any deal on denuclearization, the North expressed strong discontent.



The North has since stepped up criticism of the South for following U.S. "guidelines."



In an apparent show of anger, the North suddenly withdrew its staff from an inter-Korean liaison office in Gaeseong without any notice in March, before returning them three days later.



Given the suspended dialogue, it will take some time before South Korean citizens can visit the north side of the JSA.






United Nations, May 1 : India's decade-long persistent "subterranean" efforts to get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar declared an international terrorist have finally paid off, India's Permanent Representative Syed Akbaruddin said on Wednesday.

"We have been persistent, diligent and in a subterranean manner, making all our efforts towards this goal," he said in a video statement. "Today that goal stands achieved."

"This is, for us, a significant outcome because we have been at it for several years," he added.

China, which had blocked the Security Council Sanctions Committee on al-Qaeda, Islamic State and associated groups and individuals four times from designating Azhar as an international terrorist, finally wilted under international pressure on Wednesday and rescinded its opposition.

Akbaruddin thanked Dian Triansyah Djani, the Permanent Representative of Indonesia who heads the Sanctions Committee, saying that he "was instrumental in ensuring that the process went smoothly and in accordance with our agreed understandings".

Djani also assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council on Wednesday.

Akbaruddin said that Djani "has informed us that Masood Azhar stands designated as an individual who has been promoting terrorism globally".

He said that he was grateful to the United States, Britain and France, which were the "designating states", as well as "several others within the Council and outside the Council who came forward without any restraints and supported this Indian effort at not tolerating a terrorist".

To pressure Beijing, the US, joined by France and Britain, had circulated a draft resolution for the Security Council itself to impose sanctions on him. That would have required China to publicly veto the sanctions and defend its backing for Azhar.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
New Delhi, May 1 : The Congress on Wednesday welcomed blacklisting of Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist and said the government should push for announcement of bounty on his head as was done by the UPA government against LeT chief Hafiz Saeed.

In a statement, Congress Communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said that designation of Azhar as a global terrorist was only the first step and that Pakistan must be forced to dismantle the entire terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

Azhar heads Jaish-e-Mohammed which had claimed responsibility for Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

"All wanted terrorists like Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim, Haji Mohammad Yahya Mujahid, Abdul Salaam and Zafar Iqbal thriving on Pakistani soil and involved in heinous terror attacks in India must be forthwith deported to India and brought to justice," he said.

He demanded that Modi government should pursue blacklisting of Pakistan as a terrorist state by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

"Modi government should now push for declaration of bounty on the head Masood Azhar as was ensured by the UPA government in case of Hafiz Saeed," he said.

The party said Modi government should have acted with greater speed in getting Masood Azhar proscribed and alleged that it did not push the case with China in 2018 following Modi govenrment's "agenda-less" visit to China.

It said that loss of precious lives in terror attacks like in Pulwama could have been avoided if government had pushed the international community, including China, to agree to declaring Azhar as an international terrorist.

"History is replete with BJP's compromises of national security in tackling terrorism, which is reflected in actions like the release of Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh in Kandahar, Afghanistan, by then BJP-led government."

Surjewala said that following 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, UPA-Congress government's response was to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub, besides rallying the international community for a decisive action against terrorists.

"Within 14 days of the Mumbai attack, we got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN. The UPA ensured that a $10 m bounty was placed on the head of the Mumbai attack perpetrator by America.

"Another mastermind David Headley was held guilty and sentenced to 35 years of prison during the UPA government in 2013," he said.
Hoshangabad : , May 2 (IANS) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that there will be fresh investigation into the scam involving Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, commonly known as Vyapam (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal).

Addressing an election rally in Hoshangabad-Narsinghpur parliamentary constituency, Gandhi said: "There will be fresh probe into Vyapam scam, in which BJP leaders have stolen money from the pocket of unemployed youth."

Pointing towards state's Chief Minister Kamal Nath, the Congress leader asked him to get the scam probed afresh.

The Vyapam scam had been probed by Special task Force (STF), Special Investigation Team (SIT) and finally by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and state government officers were jailed in this connection. However, currently most of them are out on bail.

Gandhi said: "After May 23, the law of the land will change and no farmer will be jailed for their inability to repay loans. Big businessmen and industrialists default on loans and flee abroad...they are not jailed but poor farmers are sent behind bars for similar default. The Congress party has stated this in its election manifesto."

He said that a special for farmers would precede the tabling of general budget every year, which would talk about minimum support price (MSP) for their crops and various facilities to be provided to them through the year.

Gandhi said: "The (Congress) government at the Centre will give 33 per cent reservation to women in jobs in Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state assemblies. If any youth wants to start his business, no clearance will be required from any government department. After three years, when his business starts running smoothly, then only he would need the mandatory clearances."

Reminding the people of BJP's promise of providing Rs 15 lakh to every individual, the Congress President said this promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was never met.

"That's why, the slogan of 'chowkidar chor hai' has become a slogan of not just Congress party but that of the poor, farmers, labourers, youth and women," he said.

Talking about demonetisation, Gandhi said that initiatives like note ban and Goods and Services Tax (GST) destroyed the Indian economy.

"But the Congress has decided that soon after coming to power, we will implement our 'Nyay' scheme (minimum income scheme), so that poorest of the poor are provided Rs 6,000 every month and Rs 72,000 annually. This amount will be provided till the time family's income touches Rs 12,000 per month."

The fund to run this scheme would not be squeezed out of the middle class' pockets, he said, adding that people like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya would be made to pay for this scheme.
Veriu CEO Zed Sanjana has announced that the first Veriu-branded Melbourne property will open adjacent to the citys iconic Queen Victoria Market.

The new-build hotel is slated to open in late 2022 as part of Melbourne-based developer PDG Corporations major renewal of the Queen Victoria Market.

Along with the hotel, the project includes the City of Melbournes largest community hub  facilities such as childcare, family services and an underground car-park, complemented by retail and a limited number of residences.

The new retail space will benefit from 140 years of on-site trading history, integrating market legacy with modern laneways that provide new entry points to one of Melbournes most well-travelled precincts.

The Queen Victoria Market hotel is the second new hotel announcement since former Quest CEO Sanjana became CEO of the Veriu Group in September 2018.

Veriu also revealing word of a new 95-key neighbourhood hotel in Collingwood this week, with more details to follow in the coming months.

The brands push into the Melbourne market began in 2018 with the purchase of the Punthill Apartment Group.

Since this acquisition, Veriu have announced two new Punthill-branded properties; Ivanhoe in partnership with Cayden, and Alphington in partnership with Alpha Partners.

Back in its home state of New South Wales, Veriu will open a 144-key apartment hotel in Green Square this July.

This property is a joint venture with Charter Hall.

Veriu is set to divest its Sydney Central property, one of four Sydney properties.

The sale will be handled by Colliers, and the new owners will have the opportunity to lease the hotel back to Veriu on a long-term basis.

Verius sale of Veriu Central will enable us to free up capital to invest in our national expansion plans for both Punthill and Veriu over the course of the next five years," Sanjana said.

"It will also enable Veriu to focus on delivering its two development sites at 323 George St Sydney and 822 George St, Chippendale.

Veriu has a further two hotel sites in addition to Collingwood and Queen Victoria Market in the Melbourne pipeline with a further five to six locations within inner suburban areas.

The group plan to add 500-plus keys to the Victorian market over the next five years within unique neighbourhood locations like Carlton, Prahran, Richmond, Windsor, South Yarra, South Melbourne as well as CBD Melbourne.

Nationally, there are a further 10 sites in the pipeline across Sydney, Perth and Adelaide.

We are currently targeting to open between 20-30 hotels under the Veriu brand over the next 10 years with a focus on interesting neighbourhoods that meet our brands criteria says Sanjana.

Verius current Sydney portfolio includes Veriu Broadway, currently ranked third in Sydney on TripAdvisor, and Camperdown that is ranked in the top 20 hotels in Sydney.
A three bedroom St Albans, Victoria home has recently been sold for $485,000.

There was $410,000 to $450,000 pice guidance on the home last offered to market in 1992 at $32,000.

Thomas (Thinh) Nguyen and Alex (Chau) Tran of Barry Plant St Albans held the listing.

Set on a 454sqm allotment, the house at 7 Magnolia Street comprises three bedrooms, central bathroom, kitchen/meals area, floorboards and a carport.

It is within close proximity to schools, public transport, Ginifer Station, Sunshine Hospital and shops.

The median price for a house in St Albans sits on $615,000, according to CoreLogic, which calculate its annual change in median price over the past 10 years as eight percent.
For the first time in eight months, Hobart saw its house prices decline, according to CoreLogic's Home Value Index for April.

It was a sharp turn as well.

The Tasmanian capital's house prices dropped -1.2 percent over the month of April, the biggest decline across all capitals.

The dwelling value decline was offset by the performance of the apartment market, which saw a 0.3 percent increase.

Hobart's last house price decline was over August last year when they saw a modest -0.2% decline.

Dwelling values across the eight capitals combined dropped a further 0.5% to be down -7.2% over the last 12 months and -7.9% lower since peaking in September 2017.

The biggest loser was Darwin, whose -1.2% decline in dwelling values was driven by houses which dropped -2.3% over April.

Canberra was the only capital with dwelling values up in April.

Click here to enlarge.

It was a softer April for Melbourne, who saw their house prices decline -0.7%.

The housing market had taken a sharper downturn that Sydney and had seen declines over more than 1% for the last five months before April. Over the last six months, Melbourne's houses have dropped xxx%, compared to Sydney's xx%.

Sydney performed worse than Melbourne across its housing and unit markets over the month.

Sydney houses declined a further -0.8%.

Click here to enlarge.

Sydney's median house price is now $880,396, around $200,000 down from its $1.079 million median peak in August 2017 before prices started declining. Melbourne's median house price sits at $712,920, $120,000 down from its $832,735 peak in January 2018.

CoreLogic's head of research Tim Lawless says the decline in housing market conditions is easing.
Lower investor demand is being reflected in a shrinking apartment pipeline, according to a new report from JLL.

According to JLLs latest 1Q 2019 Apartment Market Reports, the number of apartments under construction in Australias six major capital cities has fallen by around 10% over the past year.

The number of apartments being marketed has fallen by a massive 48% over the same period.

Melbournes construction numbers held strong with 18,540 apartments under construction, up 15% from a year ago.

However, the number of apartments being marketed in Melbourne fell by 51% over the past year (1Q 2018  1Q 2019).

Sydney has seen a 24% fall in construction over the past year and a massive 77% reduction in apartments marketed, while Brisbane experienced a 36% reduction in construction and 59% reduction in apartments marketed.

These trends are a result of several factors influencing local market conditions, said Leigh Warner, JLLs Head of Residential Research - Australia.

The decline in the supply pipeline that has been happening for some time now very clearly illustrates how the pre-sales requirements put on developers by financiers in Australia makes our supply pipeline very responsive to prevailing demand conditions, said Warner.

Weve seen quite a few projects that weve been tracking for some time be redesigned for other land uses including office, hotels and student accommodation by existing or new owners.

This has particularly been the case in Melbourne.

The medium-term danger now is clearly that it will take some time for the supply pipeline to get going again and, with still very strong levels of national population growth, we could quite easily move into supply shortages over the next few years at the national level.

This could result in real pressure on renters in some parts of the country in particular and move us from a housing price affordability crisis into a rental affordability crisis if we are not careful.

With the exception of first home buyers, most buyer groups have been very inactive over the past few years, the JLL report said.

APRAs macro prudential measures have been the major cause of slow investor credit growth, said Warner.

The fall in overseas demand cannot really be attributed to any one thing, said Warner.

State and Federal imposts on foreign investors and credit constraints definitively contributed to the decline, but changes to Chinese capital restrictions likely had a much larger impact.

And the late stage of the cycle and better opportunities elsewhere also likely played a role.

With investors largely sitting out, developers are changing schemes to better target owner occupiers, the report found.

In 1Q19 there was an increase in planning submissions lodged, reflecting both lapsed approvals being resubmitted and developers changing schemes to better suit current demand trends and more specifically target owner occupiers with smaller projects, larger apartments and higher quality finishes, said Warner.

JLL expects conditions to remain tough in the short-term, with many parts of the country to see further downward pressure on prices and rents before starting to stabilise in late-2019.

The combination of still tight credit, the Federal election and buyers holding off to see where prices will settle in some markets will all remain headwinds in the short-term, said Warner.

However, we think the medium-term outlook is very different.

We have not significant over-built in aggregate and very low completions over the next few years, along with continued strong population growth, will see us quickly move into an under-provision of space and see rental markets tighten once more.

The timing of this recovery will differ across the country, but it is likely to be the resource markets of Brisbane and Perth that lead the next cycle as economic and population growth continue to improve in these markets.

The excesses of the booms in Sydney and Melbourne mean these markets will take longer for price growth to return, but lower investor activity could mean the turnaround in the rental market in these cities could be much quicker.
Academic Partnerships (AP), a global leader in assisting universities expand access to their degree programs through online delivery of instruction, today announced that it is piloting its first US-based Student Service Center (SSC) for one of its partner universities.

Student Service Centers are a retail space that supports local online students and advises prospective on-campus students on their higher education options. The centers are similar to storefronts for online retailers in high-traffic locations that provide name recognition, customer service, and build brand loyalty. An AP sister organization operates 614 SSCs across Latin America with more than 250 in Argentina alone, serving a total of 80,000 students annually across the region.

In addition to providing expanded services to remote pockets of online students, SSCs will allow AP partner universities extend their presence beyond their immediate service area. Each center, which will link prospective and current students to support services at the main campus, will be staffed with student advisors, retention specialists and local field representatives who work with area employers to establish affiliations.

We hope Student Service Centers will raise service levels for current and prospective online students and continue to improve their online experience, said Rob Ganji, APs chief executive officer and vice chairman.
Accruits newly assembled technology advisory board held its inaugural meeting last month at the companys Denver headquarters. The board is comprised of technical subject matter experts from inside and outside the organization. The purpose of the board is to provide strategic guidance on evolving technologies and developing new solutions that continually improve the client experience and grow Accruits service offering.

President and Chief Operating Officer Karen Kemerling is the creator of the board and Sean Stevens, Accruits software development manager, will serve as the boards lead internal advisor. External advisors, each chosen for their expertise in emerging technologies, security, software processes and technology and Agile methodology, are Shawn Beeson, director of software engineering at MPEG LA, LLC, Jason Collins, vice president of engineering at Its Covered Insurance, and Paul Guerrero, vice president of software engineering at Mortgage Cadence.

"It is an honor to work alongside the talented people at Accruit," said Paul Guerrero. "I'm excited for the opportunity to bring my technical leadership background to guide and grow the organization."

Accruit is the only qualified intermediary with proprietary software designed specifically to handle the complexities of 1031 exchange transactions. Leveraging the Accruit Exchange ManagerSM, Accruit enables investors and their advisors to efficiently and securely manage 1031 exchange transactions that provide capital gains tax deferral and increased cash flow. Architected with progressive and proven technology from Fortune 100 companies, Exchange Manager is hosted in redundant and fault-tolerant cloud data center, ensuring 24/7/365 availability. Data is encrypted and continuously backed up, and access to the application is secured behind a robust web application firewall.

The company recently launched a managed service offering that combines Exchange Manager with the company's team of exchange professionals to facilitate back-office processing, administration, reporting, tracking and funds management of exchanges for independent consultants wishing to provide 1031 services to the marketplace. The newly-formed technology advisory board will be responsible for ongoing consideration and presentation of ideas that similarly apply technological advancement to market opportunities.

The technology advisory board is a tremendous asset for Accruit, said Sean Stevens. The range of expertise and knowledge that our external advisors bring is incredible, and my team and I are thrilled to partner with them on technology decisions and software development strategy."
XAG P30 Granule Spreading with JetSeed 70% of the rangelands across China are in urgent need of revegetation, and many countries are also facing the difficulty to spread grass seeds for grassland restoration.

Chinas leading agri-tech company XAG has just launched a patented granule spreading system JetSeed at its Special Event held in Ruoergai Grassland, Aba, Sichuan.

JetSeed Granule Spreading System is designed to dispense granules such as seeds, fertilisers and pesticides precisely and effectively to any environment through high-speed airflows. It helps to combat grassland degradation, one of the worlds biggest environmental challenges, using AI prescription map and high-accuracy drone spreading solution.

At the launch event, XAG introduced this cutting-edge technology to Ruoergai Grassland, one of Chinas most primitive nature reserves, by spreading grass seeds on 670 hectares of degraded land with a fleet of P30 Plant Protection UASs configured with JetSeed Granule Spreading System. This is the first time that drones, AI and airflow seeding technologies were harnessed to restore the grassland biomes at plateau area.

AI-driven Drone Spreading Solution, to Save Plateau Grassland Biomes on 3600m Altitude

As a relatively fragile ecosystem, Grassland has been subjected to severe degradation with only 10 percent being conserved. Despite the continuous efforts taken by governments and NGOs, grassland restoration remains a worldwide challenge.

As XAG s co-founder Justin Gong said, "70% of the rangelands across China are in urgent need of revegetation, and many countries are also facing the difficulty to spread grass seeds for grassland restoration."

One of the biggest difficulties is to restore a healthy vegetation through selective seeding, even in rugged terrains. Grass seeds should only be broadcasted on specific land patches to avoid damaging the original native plant species while enhancing the abundance of the entire grassland biome.

At present, most restoration work, however, still rely on manual labour or no-till drills and tractors, finding it difficult and time-consuming to identify degradation levels and distinguish broken patches in detail. Manual spreading is undoubtedly the least efficient, and the ground-based machines are not adaptable to complex terrains while struggling to achieve selective vegetation control.

XAGs precision spreading solution empowered by artificial intelligence can exactly address this global problem. Specifically, through learning and analysing grassland data such as plant species and vegetation distribution captured by the surveying UAS, XAG Agriculture Intelligence (XAI) can generate AI prescription maps to guide a Variable-Rate Application (VRA) seeding operation.

Coordinated with XAG P30 Plant Protection UAS, a fully autonomous drone with SUPERX3 Pro flight control system and centimetre-level RTK navigation, JetSeed can then dynamically control its output volume and spread the seed mix precisely to the broken land patches indicated in the prescription map. The seeding efficiency can reach up to 43 hectares of lands per day (when working for 8 hours), a task formerly requiring 64 labours to complete.

Cutting-edge Granule Spreading Technology, for Multi-Environment Operations

According to XAG's CEO Peng Bin (as in the photo), most granule spreading machines currently available in the market do not have an optimised design to guarantee spreading accuracy and are easily affected by external factors such as environmental winds and terrains.

XAG JetSeed becomes the first to re-engineer the spreading mechanism and pushes both efficiency and precision to an unprecedented level.

With an adjustable built-in rolling feeder, it can compensate the output volume to the changing flight speed and therefore ensure a demanded dosage.Two powerful mixers are set to avoid seed cluster.Moreover, harnessing the Bernoulli Principle, 8 embedded Electronic Ducted Fans (EDF) produce high-speed, focused airflows for precisely spreading granules to the target area without drifting.

Apart from restoring the degraded grasslands, XAG JetSeed can also apply to many different scenarios including precision farming, ecological restoration, scale fishery, disaster prevention, etc. For instance, XAG JetSeed can conduct rice field direct-seeding without disturbing the soil at up to 5 ha per hour, 150 times faster than manual seeding and 5 times faster than the high-speed transplanter. It can also precisely spread solid form fertilisers and pesticides to curb invasive species or boost crop growth.

As a Chinese agri-tech company, XAG has been leading the agriculture drone market with nearly 30,000 drones operated in over 19 countries, and it has successfully provided precision spraying services on over 5 million hectares of lands in China.

With its JetSeed Granule Spreading System rolling out, XAG now goes even further as it introduces smart agriculture solution into the world of seeding, fertilisation and ecosystem preservation. As it taps into the increasingly burgeoning drone spreading market, XAG is to shape the future of smart farming while embarking on a new mission to provide efficient, practical solutions to restore Earths ecosystem.
Asiana Airlines headquarters in western Seoul. Korea Times file



By Kim Hyun-bin



Asiana Airlines is receiving applications for voluntary retirement and unpaid leave from its employees, as the airline focuses on cutting costs.



The measures come two weeks after Kumho Asiana Group, the parent group of the country's second largest carrier, decided to sell the debt-ridden airline to avert a liquidity crisis. This could also be the start of large-scale restructuring at the company.



According to Asiana officials, Wednesday, the airline has begun accepting voluntary resignations from senior employees.



"On Tuesday night, Asiana announced it would receive applications for voluntary retirement from employees with over 15 years at the company. Workers eligible include office employees and those in the sales and airport service departments," an official said.



In addition, the airline is encouraging employees to go on unpaid leave to help the company save costs. The leave targets office workers mainly, excluding personnel related directly to safety and aircraft operations, such as pilots, flight attendants and mechanics.



Employees can take leave of between 15 days to three years.



"We are expanding the application scope for unpaid leave, which we have already been carrying out in line with efforts to cut costs," the official said.



The voluntary retirement and unpaid leave are part of measures announced by company CEO Han Chang-soo to regain market confidence and garner support from creditors. In early April he pledged to sell assets to secure liquidity, reduce flights on unprofitable routes, reduce the fleet size and realign business organizations.



Toward that end, the airline conducted minor restructuring recently by integrating teams for greater efficiency  from 224 teams in 38 divisions to 221.



Last week, the airline also announced it would halt operations to three unprofitable destinations  Khabarovsk and Sakhalin in Russia by September, and Chicago by late October.



Sakhalin had the lowest seat occupancy rate of 56.8 percent followed by Khabarovsk with 63.9 percent, compared to Asiana's 84.8 percent overall average occupancy.



Since late 2015, the carrier, hit with a financial crisis, has suspended other unprofitable routes  it reassigned routes to Hiroshima, Takamatsu and Shizuoka to its budget unit, Air Seoul, and halted flights to Vladivostok, Bali and Yangon.



Some aviation experts also predict Asiana may reduce the use of large planes such as the A380, which will reduce the number of flight personnel needed.



In mid-April, Kumho Group decided to surrender its 33.47 percent stake in Asiana in exchange for a creditors' rescue package worth 1.6 trillion won. Asiana's sales account for nearly 60 percent of Kumho Group's total.



SK, Hanwha, CJ and some other conglomerates have been mentioned as potential buyers for the carrier. Market watchers say the airline may be valued at between 1.5 trillion won and 2 trillion won.




Ashkan Rajaee, CEO of TopDevz, joins Forbes Technology Council It is with great excitement that I join the Forbes Technology Council. I am looking forward to sharing my experience and vantage point with the community to help further strengthen the ever fast-evolving tech community.

Ashkan Rajaee, CEO of TopDevz, LLC, an exclusively US-based custom software development company has been accepted into the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives.

Ashkan Rajaee was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

We are honored to welcome Ashkan into the Forbes community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.

Ashkan will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

It is with great excitement that I join the Forbes Technology Council, said Ashkan Rajaee, CEO of TopDevz, I am looking forward to sharing my experience and vantage point with the community to help further strengthen the ever fast-evolving tech community.

About Forbes Councils

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

About TopDevz

TopDevz provides project-based and staff augmentation software development services with industry-specific experts located throughout the USA & Canada rating in the top 1% in their skillset as ranked by TopDevz. TopDevz has delivered some of the nation's most complicated software development projects ranging from hot startups to Fortune 100 companies. The company has developed a proprietary software platform that tracks almost every aspect of the custom software development lifecycle, including the staffing, performance and historical aspect of the resources it deploys.
Audrey is a rock starsimply put, said Kent Newsome, Chair of the firms Texas Real Estate Practice and Co-Managing Shareholder of the Houston office. This recognition is a testament to her exceptional talent as a lawyer, and we congratulate Audrey on this well-deserved honor.

Audrey Chang, an of counsel in the Houston office of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, has been selected to Houston Business Journals 2019 list of 40 Under 40 young professionals. Chang is one of just two lawyers named to this years list of the best and brightest in Houston business.

Audrey is a rock starsimply put, said Kent Newsome, Chair of the firms Texas Real Estate Practice and Co-Managing Shareholder of the Houston office. This recognition is a testament to her exceptional talent as a lawyer, and we congratulate Audrey on this well-deserved honor.

Chang is a member of Greenberg Traurigs Finance Practice and Energy & Natural Resources Practice. She has regularly earned recognition from Super Lawyers magazine on its Texas Rising Stars list. Earlier this year, she also received The Asian Pacific Interest Section (APIS) Champion of Diversity award for her work in serving the needs of all communities in the Greater Houston Area. Audreys other community involvement includes sitting on the Executive Committee of the Chinese Community Center, serving as a selected member of Leadership Houston Class XXXIII, and chairing the Asian Leadership Council for the Houston Symphony.

Nominees for the Houston Business Journals 40 Under 40 were evaluated by a panel of judges in areas such as leadership, overcoming challenges, and community involvement. This year, journal leadership said it received more than 500 nominations.

The 2019 awards recipients will be honored at a June 13 event at Chapman & Kirby in East Downtown Houston, as well as in a special issue of the June 14 Houston Business Journal. To view a complete list of this years honorees, visit: http://bit.ly/2Dse7IR.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP  Texas: Texas is important to Greenberg Traurig, LLP and part of its history. With more than 125 Texas lawyers in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Greenberg Traurig, LLP has deep roots in the Texas business, legal, and governmental communities. Greenberg Traurig Texas works with clients to address their interdisciplinary legal needs across the state utilizing the firms global platform. The Texas attorneys are experienced in industries key to the states future, including: aviation, chemicals, construction, education, energy and natural resources, financial institutions, health care, hedge funds, hospitality, infrastructure, insurance, media, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, real estate, retail, sports, technology and software, telecommunications, transportation, and video games and esports.

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.
Auto Aves Auto Brokers We have always been a concierge dealer meaning we are by the consumers side from start to finish.

Also known as Auto Aves, Automotive Avenues has been selling and leasing vehicles almost exclusively from its Lakewood facility since its inception in 1987. The dealership has won multiple DealerRater Dealer of the Year awards and has recently been given DealerRaters coveted Consumer Satisfaction award for 2019.

Auto Aves is well known for its relationship with many of Colorados premier credit unions through exclusive partnerships and direct referral agreements. With access to all forms of automotive financing including loans, leases, balloons, as well as new car manufacturer incentive programs, Auto Aves strives to offer the widest range of financing options available.

This just seemed like the perfect time to expand our reach to help consumers with their auto purchase and leasing needs, said David Lindsey, Auto Aves President and General Manager.

There are so many big box dealerships in Denver now, it is often hard to know who to trust and where to go. We have always been a concierge dealer meaning we are by the consumers side from start to finish. Through our partner dealer relationships, we have access to inventory across the Denver market and are able to offer great pricing on all new or used makes and models, Lindsey said. And our extensive credit union network insures that we can provide some of the most competitive loan and leasing opportunities in the market.

Auto Aves has hired industry veteran, Will Routon, to run the new auto broker location. Mr. Routon has been specializing in automotive brokering and leasing for more that 20 years and recently ran a successful auto broker business out of Highlands Ranch.

I couldnt be more excited to join Automotive Avenues in leading this new initiative. Auto Aves has had such a strong brand and loyal following in the Lakewood area - I am very proud to be able to help bring this experience to south Denver, said Routon referring to the new brokerage facility in Lone Tree.

Automotive Avenues new Lone Tree store opened March 1st, 2019 and is located at 8250 Park Meadows Drive, Suite 130 right across from Furniture Row. Routon said the store will hire up to 10 additional auto brokers and will provide auto buying and leasing services to customers all across the south Denver metro area. Automotive Avenues other broker location in Lakewood also carries hundreds of pre-owned vehicles and has a large retail Automotive Service Center.

For more information, please contact Will Routon at (303) 805-0010 or will.routon(at)autoaves.com. Or visit them online at http://www.AutoAves.com.

Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/automotiveaves
Race With the Rizzos We are so thrilled that Anthony Rizzo is supporting the lifesaving work of Komen Chicago, and that he and his mom will be joining us at Race for the Cure, our most important fundraiser of the year.

Susan G. Komen Chicago has announced that Chicago Cubs superstar and beloved fan favorite Anthony Rizzo will be honorary chair of the 22nd Mothers Day Race for the Cure, which be held Sunday, May 12, at Montrose Harbor. Rizzo will attend the Race with his mom, Laurie Rizzo, and will lead the Survivors Parade, providing inspiration for survivors, thrivers and their loved ones.

Rizzo is committed to raising money for cancer research and helping families who are fighting the disease, through his Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, which he and his family founded after his own cancer battle and after his grandmother died of breast cancer. Anthony Rizzo has been a hero and an inspiration to so many people who have been affected by breast cancer and other cancers, says Komen Chicago executive director Tiosha Bailey. We are so thrilled that he is supporting the lifesaving work of Komen Chicago, and that he and his mom will be joining us at Race for the Cure, our most important fundraiser of the year.

Thousands of survivors, thrivers and supporters come together at the lakefront each Mothers Day to be part of the iconic Race for the Cure, which enables Komen Chicago to meet critical needs in local communities and invest in breakthrough research to end breast cancer forever. Individual participants and teams are encouraged to register now to RACE WITH RIZZO. Go to http://www.KomenChicago.org to sign up and start fundraising.

Our generous Race participants and donors help us in our work to change the reality that more than 1,000 Chicago-area women die each year from breast cancer, Bailey says, adding that theres a large disparity in the city, with the mortality rate of African-American women being 40 percent higher than Caucasian women. Race for the Cure helps us provide grants that ensure access to lifesaving screenings and/or treatments in underserved areas. That means quality care no matter where you live, and thats something we should all be fighting for. In addition, the Race funds research that is helping doctors understand, prevent and treat metastatic breast cancer, as well as research that is leading to new treatments and technologies to improve outcomes for all patients.

Komen Chicago is proud to have support from the following sponsors: Jewel-Osco, FT Cares Foundation, JOANN, Titos Vodka, IL Ford Dealerships, Amgen, Entercom, Partida, Rivers Casino, Sparkling Ice, City Winery, Killerspin and Gone Rogue. Packet pickup will be held at the Riverfront Plaza JOANN store from May 9 to May 11. Please visit http://www.komenchicago.org for more details.

Rizzo, who has been the Chicago Cubs first baseman since 2012 and helped the team win the 2016 World Series, is known for his charity work and support for people fighting cancer, particularly children. He believes an individual does not fight cancer alone, but rather the whole family fights together. His grandmother is one of his inspirations. She was undergoing breast cancer treatment while he was in chemotherapy for Hodgkins Lymphoma at age 18.

Race for the Cure will be held at Montrose Harbor, 601 W. Montrose Ave. in Chicago. Day-of registration begins at 7:30 a.m., the Survivor Parade is at 8:30, and the 5K Fun Walk/Run steps off at 9. Theres a Finish Fest Celebration from 9:30 to noon, with awards and Charizma on stage getting everyone pumped throughout the morning. Registration fees for those who register prior to Race Day are: $35 for adults, $30 for survivors or those living with metastatic breast cancer and $20 for youth under 18. Virtual registration for those who cant attend in person is $43. Fees increase slightly on Race Day.

About Komen Chicago: Susan G. Komens promise is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer. Komen Chicago donates 75 percent of net funds raised to community grants and dedicates 25 percent to global research. Komen Chicagos priorities include making sure everyone has access to quality healthcare options, fighting to ensure fewer people die from metastatic breast cancer and shining a light on the importance of early detection.
BRM Model V644GTOLA BRM DNA is motorsport and the One Lap Of America is a perfect fit for our brand

The Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports magazine is pleased to announce that B.R.M will once again provide trophies for the top 10 finishers in this years event as well as two B.R.M timepieces for the overall winning team. The trophies and timepieces have become coveted items among the competitors over the past eight years.

BRM DNA is motorsport and the One Lap Of America is a perfect fit for our brand." Said Frederic Gasser, President of BRM Americas. "Im very happy to be part of it for the past eight years, hopefully at some point I will participate. In the meantime, we are happy to pay tribute to our collaboration."

For 2019 BRM has produced a limited, special edition watch (pictured). The timepiece features automatic movement, a stainless steel case, lugs made separately applied and screwed into the case, a screw down crown, a crystal sapphire front and back, a personalized racing number engraved in the crown, is water resistant up to 100 meters, and all parts are made from single bloc of stainless steel.

"The beautiful trophies and watches B.R.M provides the overall winning team are a great reminder of the precision, flair and attention to detail it takes to win the One Lap." said Brock Yates Jr. Coordinator of the Tire Rack One Lap of America. "For B.R.M to return for a eighth year as a sponsor really shows their commitment to motorsports at all levels. From the One Lap to Formula One, B.R.M's commitment to motorsport is clear."

The One Lap family welcomes BRM watches back for another year.



* * * * * *

ABOUT THE ONE LAP OF AMERICA:

The Tire Rack One Lap of America Presented by Grassroots Motorsports Magazine is the modern day version of the Cannonball Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash of 1970. Created by Brock Yates and popularized by the movie Cannonball Run, todays One Lap of America challenges its participants to endure long transit drives of over 400 miles daily and to compete on 12 of Americas most challenging racetracks in 8 days. This years One Lap begins on May 4th, 2019 and runs through May 11th, 2019. The current event is headed by Brock Yates, Jr. and will be celebrating the 36th running of the event. The full schedule is available online at http://www.onelapofamerica.com and on Facebook.

Media Contact:

Solomon A. Rosenthal

Media Director

215.703.7621

ABOUT B.R.M:

Inspired by motorsports, driven by craftsmanship and engineered for exclusivity, B.R.Ms made-to-measure timepieces are defined by pure racing spirit. Founder Bernard Richards launched the labels inaugural collection in 2003, turning his mechanical expertise into an iconic company thats gone the distance as the only remaining watchmaking manufacture in France. Fully customizable, BRMs bespoke products are built for authenticity and performance, and the brands limited-edition collections have garnered elite global partnerships including Gulf Oil, Corvette Racing, the Pirelli World Challenge and many more. Website

ABOUT TIRE RACK

Tire Rack, family-owned and headquartered in South Bend, Indiana, is Americas largest independent tire tester and consumer-direct source for tires, wheels and performance accessories. Their team of over 100 test drivers (their sales team) tests tires from every major tire manufacturer on the companys state-of-the-art, 11.7-acre test facility. The findings are then posted on the companys website, http://www.tirerack.com, where consumers can make an educated decision on a tire, wheel or performance accessory purchase.

Tire Rack has also collected results from nearly 150,000 consumer surveys representing over 2.5 billion miles of real-world tire data, the largest known cache of such information anywhere. In addition, various testing and informational videos are available online in their Video Center at http://www.tirerack.com/videos. Since 1979, Tire Rack has grown from a single-point retail store in Indianapolis to encompass over 2.5 million square feet of space in nine distribution centers across the country. A diverse and broad in-stock inventory from 24 major tire and 63 wheel brands can be delivered anywhere in the country, most in one business day. A national network of over 7,500 independent Recommended Installers is available to assist customers with installation of their purchases.

ABOUT THE BROCK YATES MEMORIAL FUND:

The official charity of the Tire Rack One Lap of America. The Brock Yates Memorial Fund, was created in 2013 through the Alzheimer's Association, a 501(c)3 non-profit, to raise money and awareness about Alzheimers. Having suffered from this disease, legendary automotive and racing veteran journalist Brock Yates Sr. dedicated his life to all the car enthusiasts around the country. The Memorial Fund honors his legacy and all that he has given to the world of the automobile.
View of Junior Lodge We want to extend our invitation to the community and let them know we welcome all types of groups here at Pilgrim Pines Camp.

Pilgrim Pines Camp & Retreat Center located in Oak Glen, California hosts groups of 10-262 people on its 152 acre campus. The site is home to many groups who rent lodging and enjoy meal service in a beautiful outdoor setting.

Pilgrim Pines Camp & Retreat Center is managed by United Camps, Conferences & Retreats (UCCR), a property management organization that promotes acceptance and diversity at all of the 12 sites they manage across the USA. The rules for acceptance and participation are the same for everyone who makes a reservation for an event or retreat. We honor diversity and welcome guests without regard to age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or national origin, says Tina Heck, Director of UCCR Reservations and Communications.

We want to extend our invitation to the community and let them know we welcome all types of groups here at Pilgrim Pines Camp, says Site Director Connie Clark. As a full-service camp and retreat facility, Pilgrim Pines has multiple lodging options from lodges to cabins to apartments. The dining hall seats 225 guests and there are plenty of indoor and outdoor meeting spaces for groups to meet. Occasionally the facility offers special discounts, Clark recommends staying tuned for upcoming announcements for fall and winter specials in 2020.

With miles of hiking trails and plenty of recreational opportunities, this site is a serene setting ideal for youth, adult and family camps. Look for fall/winter specials.
Taylor Re Lynn, Red Carpet Film at Lincoln Center Gala The passionate love of film was truly evident in the work on screen.

On April 29, Film Producer Taylor Re Lynn was spotted celebrating Film at Lincoln Centers 50th Birthday Anniversary Gala in Alice Tully Hall. Among the attendees were celebrities Darren Aronofsky, Pedro Almodovar, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zoe Kazan, Michael Moore, Dee Rees, Martin Scorsese, Tilda Swinton, and John Waters. The 50th Gala was one the most important fundraising events at the Lincoln Film Center and all proceeds benefited the organization to support the art and craft of cinema.

Taylor Lynn was on hand to network with industry heavyweights as they paid tribute to Film at Lincoln Center, which has been a "sanctuary of cinema" for the last half a century. The focus this year was to honor the institutions history rather than a specific talent. Taylor witnessed speeches from movie buffs across multiple generations, from Paul Dano to John Waters.

The passionate love of film was truly evident in the work on screen tonight, said Lynn. Attendees were treated to special archival footage, photographs, and film clips that reflect upon the film centers role in New York City film culture.

About Taylor Re Lynn

Film producer Taylor Re Lynns productions include Tribeca Film Festival 2018 opening night film 'Love Gilda' (documentary on Saturday Night Live comedian Gilda Radner and premiered on CNN January 2019); Little Wing (Toronto Film Festival 2016); and Golden Globe nominated film 'The Fencer'. She is also known for 'The Shepherd' is a historical drama, dedicated to forgotten heroes who rescued Jews during WWII. 'The Shepherd' carries an important social message that is very relevant to present day.

For more information, visit: http://www.TaylorReLynn.com and https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7524285/.

About Lincoln Film Center

For 50 years, the Film Society of Lincoln Center has been dedicated to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film culture. It has exemplified a commitment to adventurous, stimulating programming and to helping foster the next generation of film artists, writers, and industry minds, through the curation of series, retrospectives, new releases, and festivals, including the prestigious New York Film Festival; the publication of Film Comment; the presentation of podcasts, talks, and special events; and the implementation of Artist Initiatives and Film in Education curriculum and screenings. For more information, visit: https://www.filmlinc.org/50th-anniversary/.
Chapman University's 20th Holocaust remembrance. We are lighting 6 candles in remembrance of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and a 7th candle in memory those targeted for their beliefs or their identities as they worshipped, said Dr. Marilyn Harran. We remember their courage and humanity as we stand up and speak out against hate.

WHAT: The Chapman community will gather for the 20th year for a Holocaust Remembrance at the Fish Interfaith Center as well as honor Lori Gilbert Kaye, the courageous woman who stepped in front of the bullets meant for her rabbi, and the young man, visiting from Israel, whose only goal was to bring his children out of danger.

WHEN: Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m. PDT

WHERE: Chapman University Wallace All Faiths Chapel, Fish Interfaith Center Orange, CA 92866

WHO: Dr. Marilyn Harran, Director, Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education

Rabbi Corie Yutkin, Director of Jewish Life and Chaplain

Dr. David Crowe, Presidential Fellow, Chapman University

A recording of Holocaust survivor and witness Cantor Leopold Szneer singing the "El Maleh Rachamim"

RSVP: Lara Wyss; lwyss(at)chapman(dot)edu; (714) 289-3143

About Chapman University

Chapman University is Californias third largest private university and ranks fifth in the U.S. News & World Report listing of Best Regional Universities in the West. Chapman is categorized by the Carnegie Classification as an R2 high research activity institution and offers personalized education to more than 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Chapman strives for diversity and inclusion by recruiting and supporting students representing a variety of backgrounds, experiences, learning styles and unique talents. The campus has produced a Rhodes Scholar, been named a top producer of Fulbright Scholars and hosts a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the nations oldest and most prestigious honor society. Founded in 1861 and based in the City of Orange, California, Chapman also includes the Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science Campus, 21 miles south in the Irvine Spectrum, Orange Countys technology hub. In 2020, the university will open its 11th college, the Fowler School of Engineering in its newest facility, Keck Center for Science and Engineering.
Inheriting the CCA Visiting Nurse Program is perfectly in line with our mission. We are grateful to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society for allowing us to adopt this program, said Karen Guenther, Semper Fi Fund President.

The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) is pleased to announce that, effective July 1, the Societys Combat Casualty Assistance (CCA) Visiting Nurse Program will transfer to the Semper Fi Fund. When NMCRS launched the CCA Visiting Nurse Program in 2006, it was the first program offering free, in-home visitations to Americas combat-injured Sailors and Marines.

For nearly 100 years, weve provided registered nurses to make in-home visitations at no charge to active duty and retired Sailors, Marines, and their families. In 2006, realizing the need for specialized support, we were the first to launch a program for our Nations combat-served Sailors and Marines returning home with physical, psychological, and emotional injuries. In the years that followed, others joined the call to care, said Admiral Steve Abbot, President and CEO, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. Today, we are proud to transfer this important Program to the Semper Fi Fund, so this important work will grow beyond Americas Navy and Marine Corps service members to begin providing visiting nurse support to Americas entire military family, including those who serve in the Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

With the CCA Visiting Nurse Program in the capable hands of the Semper Fi Fund, the Society will refocus its resources to meet our core mission of providing need-based financial assistance, budget counseling and personal financial management education to Americas active duty and retired Sailors, Marines, and their families. We will also continue to provide free, in-home visiting nurse services to young Navy and Marine Corps families, chronically ill service members, their dependents, widows, and retirees in need of support, Abbot continued.

Moving the CCA Visiting Nurse Program to the Semper Fi Fund ensures continuity of client care and allows visitation by registered nurses to any service member who meets the Semper Fi Funds criteria. Currently, a vast majority of the Societys CCA clients already receive mental health care, financial assistance, and other support from the Semper Fi Fund.

The Semper Fi Fund provides lifetime support to combat wounded, critically ill and

catastrophically injured members of all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Inheriting the CCA Visiting Nurse Program is perfectly in line with our mission. We are grateful to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society for allowing us to adopt this program, said Karen Guenther, Semper Fi Fund President, We will invest in growing the CCA Visiting Nurse Program and expanding our service to care for more of Americas military and their families.

In 2018, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society provided more than $43.4 million in emergency financial assistance to 51,000 active duty and retired Marines and Sailors in need. Staffed by less than 200 employees and more than 4,300 volunteers, the Society operates 51 full service offices located on major USN and USMC installations, and more than 200 emergency service offices on ships and bases around the globe.

About Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society

Since 1904, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (EIN 53-0204618) has provided financial assistance and education to active duty and retired members of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, their eligible family members and survivors  when in need. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the Society is a non-profit, charitable organization that is staffed by nearly 4,300 volunteers, and a small cadre of employees, in offices around the world  ashore and aboard ships.

About The Semper Fi Fund

The Semper Fi Fund provides urgently needed resources and lifetime support for combat wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Case Managers from the Semper Fi Fund work one-on-one with service members and veterans to understand and support their individual needs right now and throughout their lifetimes. The Fund delivers the resources they need during recovery and transition back to their communities, working to ensure no one is left behind.
One of the biggest parts of the car buying process is figuring out how to pay for everything. It takes a lot planning and careful work to make sure a customer has everything they need. Trying to plan for an RV or a boat can be especially tricky to handle. Its no small task to finance a car, but the bigger the vehicle is, the bigger the demand on your finances.

Desert Autoplex offers an easy-to-use system on their website to help customers settle their finances. The online credit approval tool gives customers a simple solution to figuring out what they can afford. It helps customers get a concrete idea of what they can afford. Customers can simply fill out the form online and find out if they are approved for a loan or not.

Customers can find this form online on Desert Autoplexs website and fill it out. They can also be contacted via their website or over the phone if a customer has any questions or concerns. Desert Autoplex can be contacted over the phone at 480-964-2277. They also have a physical location at 2260 E Main St, Mesa, AZ 85213.


By Walter Ochieng





NAIROBI  In early April, Gambia became the 22nd country to ratify the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).



The agreement is expected to enter into force soon, once 22 countries have deposited their ratification documents with the African Union (19 have so far).



By removing trade barriers and allowing the free movement of goods, services, and people across Africa, the AfCFTA could help to increase combined consumer and business spending on the continent to $6.7 trillion by 2030.



But the new trade bloc's possible impact on the health of over one billion Africans has barely been discussed. That is an alarming oversight.



The African Union views the AfCFTA as an important step toward integrating the continent and promoting regional trade.



Given the experience of other free-trade blocs, however, the pact raises concerns about the weakening of government-funded public-health systems, increasingly unequal access to care, a medical brain drain, higher drug prices, increased consumption of unhealthy products, and the spread of diseases.



African governments should act immediately to assess these threats and counter the AfCFTA's potential negative health implications.



As is true of other trade pacts, the AfCFTA free-movement rules will allow people to access government-funded health services in any member country. This will increase the number of foreign patients seeking treatment in countries with relatively strong health-care systems, such as Kenya and Uganda.



But citizens of these destination countries will feel the pinch as underfinanced medical services are stretched even further. And because no country wants to subsidize its neighbors' health systems, political tensions could rise, too.



The new free-trade area is also expected to drive growth in private health care, including medical tourism. For example, as demand for cancer treatment soars, visa-free travel will enable people in the 15 African countries without radiotherapy services to seek care elsewhere.



But there is a downside to this growth. Private health services and medical tourism induce clinicians to migrate from poorer to richer countries, and from public to private health care. This results in weaker, understaffed public-health systems, especially in poorer countries.



Moreover, influxes of foreign clinicians will irk local medical professionals by increasing competition for jobs.



There are also worries that big pharmaceutical companies will push for restrictions on imports of generic drugs into the AfCFTA, as happened in Guatemala after the Central America Free Trade Agreement took effect. Such restrictions push up the cost of these drugs and hurt the poor the most.



Free movement of people also increases the risk that diseases will spread across borders, especially given weak disease-surveillance systems and the instability of some African countries.



The continuing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a pressing concern. Other dangerous infectious diseases, such as cholera, may also spread farther and faster.



Rates of chronic disease could increase, too. Epidemiologists have noted increases in obesity, diabetes, and heart disease following other trade deals. In several Pacific island countries, for example, consumption of processed foods and sugared beverages rose after import taxes on those products were removed.



Similarly, tobacco and alcohol consumption could increase if large multinational companies use existing rules to compel countries to lift advertising restrictions on these goods.



African governments should learn from the experience of other trading blocs, and act now to protect the poor from the unintended health consequences of open trade policies.



AfCFTA countries should also seek legal exemptions that uphold legitimate government policies protecting public welfare, such as those designed to reduce tobacco use.



To alleviate the strain that foreign patients put on countries' public-health budgets, governments should consider introducing an African health insurance card similar to the one used in the European Union. Such a system would compensate host countries for the government-provided health services used by foreigners.



Furthermore, African countries should develop policies on medical tourism that cover long-term medical visas and enable cross-border use of health insurance.



And rather than increasing entry barriers, professional groups should lobby for standardized medical exams across the continent to weed out quacks and improve the quality of care.



Finally, extra investments are needed in border health services and emergency-response centers to protect against the spread of diseases.



African countries should lobby for these measures now, before the AfCFTA enters into effect, because renegotiating trade deals once they are implemented is difficult. Moreover, trade blocs are vulnerable to collapse if governments don't address important issues beforehand.



The AfCFTA could yield enormous economic benefits for Africa. But its possible negative impact on Africans' health should not be ignored.





Walter Ochieng, a doctor and health economist, is an Aspen New Voices fellow who has worked in government, humanitarian, and nonprofit health services in several African countries. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org).




Debra L. McCurdy, Ph.D, a celebrated leader in higher education with more than 30 years of experience as an administrator, takes the reins at Baltimore City Community College. The celebrated Community college leader looks to bring experience and vision to BCCC.

Dr. Debra L. McCurdy became the 14th president for Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) today bringing with her a new vision for the college.

Dr. McCurdy was the clear choice to lead BCCC in a new direction. Her proven leadership and experience will rejuvenate the college and set it on a path to sustained growth and success, Kurt Schmoke, chair of the BCCC board of trustees, said.

McCurdy replaces James H. Johnson Jr. Ph.D., who has served as interim president for the last 10 months following the retirement last July of Gordon May. May served a four-year tenure as president.

BCCC has been an asset for Baltimore City for over 70 years. I am confident that with the executive leadership and under my direction Baltimore City Community College will continue to transform the lives of its students. As we work to provide students with the best possible preparation to meet their goals  whether through an associate degree, certificate program or job training - I know the entire college community will be inspired and set their sights on a new level of excellence, McCurdy said.

McCurdy is a celebrated leader in higher education with more than 30 years of experience as an administrator. As president of Rhodes State College in Lima, Ohio, where she served as president for 11 years, she oversaw the transformation of the institution as it expanded its programs to include an associate of arts and associate of science degrees and successfully lead the College through its last two reaccreditation site visits.

The entire faculty welcomes Dr. McCurdy to BCCC. The College still has work to do so that we can best serve our students and the community. The Faculty Senate is ready to work with Dr. McCurdy and her administration to increase our student enrollment, improve graduation rates and enhance institutional assessment, said Dr. Chima Ugah, President of the Faculty Senate. The College is looking forward to a fresh start, working in a more collaborative and cooperative environment to help shape the future direction of the College and improve transparency and accountability in the governance process. The Faculty Senate appreciates that Dr. McCurdy has chosen to bring her governance expertise and skills to serve the College.

McCurdy also has extensive experience in realigning technical programs and expanding workforce development. BCCC has tremendous potential for growth in both its academic and workforce offerings. We will continue to develop and promote quality programs the lead to transfer to four-year institutions or directly into high-demand, good-paying jobs, McCurdy said.

Dr. McCurdy previously served for nine years as provost and chief operating officer for the Dunwoody Campus at Georgia Perimeter College, and for seven years as an assistant and associate provost at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia. Earlier positions included serving as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and vice president for academic affairs at Paul Quinn College in Texas and as assistant dean of academic affairs at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

Dr. McCurdy earned a bachelor of science, master of education and doctoral degrees from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. She has been a part of several national initiatives and has given her time to many community organizations and boards. She has also received numerous awards in recognition of her leadership.
Many businesses think of management when they hear the words consulting firm, but the reality is that consulting companies can help in a variety of areas, says DesignRush Founder and CEO Gabriel Shaoolian.

The management consulting industry is worth $250 billion, helping businesses refine their operations, hone marketing, improve HR, and more. This external support empowers businesses to expand more efficiently, leading to better brand growth and longevity.

DesignRush.com, a B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies, determined the 24 best business and management consulting companies that can provide personalized assistance to brands in order to help them succeed  even beyond traditional confines that people place around management consulting.

Many businesses think of management when they hear the words consulting firm, but the reality is that consulting companies can help in a variety of areas, says DesignRush Founder and CEO Gabriel Shaoolian. From HR to accounting to business development to marketing and beyond, consulting companies can create personalized strategies aimed at strengthening businesses from the inside out.

DesignRushs Agency Listing section features the top local and global business consulting companies. The top consulting firms from around the world include:

1. Bixa

Bixa offers customer research and audience insights that bring clarity to your company's most critical business decisions. Find out exactly what you need to know, from the people who matter mostyour audience. We specialize in qualitative research that includes fast, nimble studies, generation Z research, mobile diary studies, in-home ethnography, and usability testing.

http://bixaresearch.com/

2. CIENCE Technologies

CIENCE Technologies provides a combination of machine learning and human intelligence in our approach to high-quality prospecting. Our services start with analyzing our client's needs, where we mutually develop an Ideal Customer Profile to target. We then execute multi-channel sales outreach campaigns to book highly targeted appointments for our customer's sales team. We have developed an ideal system for training teams professionally, solving problems quickly, and providing effective results for our clients.

https://cience.com/

3. Coffee + Dunn

Coffee+Dunn is a marketing consulting company that helps our clients transform their marketing organization to be more successful in the new digital era. Through a combination of advisory services and thought leadership (best practices), marketing automation and related technology implementation, and managed marketing execution services, we ensure clients have the optimal organization structure, business processes, and technology capabilities to fulfill the company's business goals and customer interaction strategies. Our unique approach leverages over 14 years in the marketing operations and technology space, deploying proven methodologies and industry expertise with our clients. Coffee+Dunn consulting services empower our clients to understand their current situation, identify capabilities needed to thrive in the new world, develop an action plan to transform their organization, and implement the process and technology solutions critical to help them succeed. Coffee+Dunn is Microsoft certified provider of Dynamics 365 for Marketing and Sales services, and winner of Microsoft's Visionary Award for Marketing Excellence (2015).

https://coffee-dunn.com/

4. ComputerSupport

ComputerSupport.com's mission is to harness the power of technology and help business leaders get the most out of their technology investment, on-premise and in the cloud. The company's ITAnyWhere Support, ITAnyWhere WorkSpace, ITAnyWhere ServiceDesk and ITAnyWhere Pro products and services have helped hundreds of businesses stay competitive with innovative use of technology.

https://www.computersupport.com/

5. Creative Filament

With overwhelming admirers from all over the globe, Creative Filament is not just any website design, development, and digital marketing company. During a long period of our existence in this service arena, we have amassed a great experience that simply puts us ahead of the best companies all around. The solitary ambition of all of us here at Creative Filament is to put your business on top, with respect to everything that determines the leadership qualities.

https://www.creativefilament.com/

6. Digital Ant

We work for startups and companies that want to improve, innovate and create something new. We help them transform their ambitions into reality through marketing and design. We are fast, open and we think broadly.

https://www.digital-ant.com/

7. Empower Marketing Ltd

Empower Marketing Ltd is an exciting marketing agency with a proven track record of developing and implementing sales and marketing strategy, projects and campaigns. Our management team each have over 18 years of experience of helping to grow business start-ups and large organizations across a range of sectors. We do not lock businesses into long contracts or tie them into unnecessary costs. Even though this could reduce our scope for longer-term business, we actually enjoy keeping a company's marketing budget as low as possible as this means bigger profit margins for you and therefore maximizing our client's success. We promise to provide honest advice, creative ideas, business acumen, and strong value-for-money.

https://www.empowermarketing.co.uk/

8. Energy Creative

Whether youre a large business looking for a multichannel campaign or a small business looking for a single page website to showcase your services, were at the forefront of digital advances and marketing best practice, adding value and boosting brand visibility. We work with companies of all sizes, from small family businesses to larger SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). Our clients range from start-ups to established businesses, who offer services locally, nationally and globally. We create bespoke campaigns and strategies that fit with your business to drive them forward. Our services can be taken as stand-alone or combined. Whether you need a simple brochure or an overarching digital strategy, our team excel at creating unique, exciting and engaging campaigns which put your brand firmly at the center of the stage.

https://www.energycreative.co.uk/

9. Franchise Beacon

Franchise Beacon is a franchise sales, funding, development, and management company. We can help you turn your successful business into a national franchise. With extensive success in the franchise world, years of experience in financing, experience at training franchisors at some of the leading organizations in the country, every member of the Beacon team is a leader in the industry. There is no competition, theres no question, Franchise Beacon is your clear choice.

https://www.franchisebeacon.com/

10. Gary Johnson Design

My name is Gary Johnson. Im a Christian, husband, father of four, US Army Combat Veteran, and your honest & ethical local business launcher. I am not here to sell you a website, social media management, review management, Google and Facebook advertising, or any other Internet marketing service. I am here to help you better serve and attract your customers using the Internet. Overall, I am looking to partner with other small and local business owners who provide top-notch products and services and see the value in Internet marketing but cannot wear that hat any longer because it is just not cost/time efficient. At Gary Johnson Design, we follow a customer-focused, consistency over time approach to marketing your business online.

https://garyjohnsondesign.com/

11. Monday

MONDAY is a Business Design Consulting with 13 years. MONDAY is an award-winning consulting company. We are a curious and Business design oriented consultancy. We are passionate about helping companies throughout Experience design and Business design. We believe that design is a facilitator and a bridge between people and businesses. Working together with our clients as a co-creation is for us a drive for change. Our passion is helping others connect and create a meaningful and delightful experience for their users and communities. Touched by this willingness to transforms throughout design we empower our team in a collaborative setting so they can grow themselves has our clients.

https://monday.pt/

12. MOPA

A boutique agency does mar-com (digital, PR, social), celebrity, makeup and blockchain projects. Worked with the government bureau, art institute, luxury brand, auto, top 500 corporates, and blockchain team, weve met the demands of cross-industry clients who need mar-com, celebrities, product replacements content, media, and blockchain related campaigns. Our talents are not only from multiple industries and the business cycles, but also from the strong relations with media, celebrities, and professionals. Theres a nickname for us which is the router for business, since we can catch the opportunities for the clients with the current market trend, to have a project done with higher efficiency and quick responding.

http://www.mopa1.com/

13. NiuMedia

We are a Digital Marketing agency with more than 6 years of experience, strategically located in the center of the country, in the city of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Our team is made up of designers, comunicologos, marketers, systems engineers and graduates in computer science. At NiuMedia we know that strategic alliances are a fundamental part of success. That is why we are certified by Google and we work together with Hubspot, leaders in digital marketing vanguards.

https://niumedia.mx/

14. OnTrack CMO

OnTrack CMO provides proven senior marketing leadership to software developers and professional services firms for a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). For nearly two decades, weve worked exclusively with some of the most successful Microsoft VARS, ISVs, Software Developers and Systems Integrators in the US and Europe to help them increase sales, improve positioning and increase their return on marketing investments. Our clients tell us they value OnTrack CMO because were proven, cost-effective and able to hit the ground running with a full suite of marketing services tailored to their specific needs. We believe in spending the time and effort necessary to create the right model for each client and guiding their marketing team through the engagement from start to finish. You can get started with a strategic marketing workshop or secure your own Fractional CMO to drive measurable, positive results over the long haul.

https://www.ontrackcmo.com/

15. Preston Benson Videography

Preston Benson is a Colorado-based producer with over 10 years of experience in production. He has taken his passion for compelling visual story-telling and put it to use in everything from documentary and television programming to marketing and advertising. He operates a full-service production company offering pre-production services such as marketing consultation and writing, production capacities including certified drone operation and 4K production, as well as all aspects of post-production from including motion graphic design and professional voiceover. Prior to opening his own production company in 2015, he has worked as senior producer for FASTFORWARD Media. Additionally, he has worked extensively with the Four Corners Film Office, served as an adjunct instructor for video production at Fort Lewis College, and acted as station manager for Durango Community Access TV.

http://prestonbenson.com/

16. Shane Barker Consulting

Shane Barker Consulting is a Sacramento-based digital marketing agency. It was founded by digital marketing consultant and strategist Shane Barker. He specializes in developing and executing effective digital marketing, influencer marketing, SEO, and social media campaigns. He is also a contributing author for reputable publications like Forbes and is an instructor at UCLA. The agency offers a full range of digital marketing and consulting services.

https://shanebarker.com/

17. Stoltenberg Consulting

Founded in 1995, Pittsburgh-based Stoltenberg Consulting, Inc., leads the health IT industry with innovative 2018 Best in KLAS Flexsourcing and legacy support programs that improve patient engagement, decrease physician burnout, enhance EHR end-user adoption and trim IT support costs. Delivering a holistic approach to healthcare organizations, Stoltenberg provides information technology and business consulting services spanning EHR system selection, project management, implementation and optimization support with measurable results for value-based care. Averaging 15 years of experience, Stoltenberg consultants are skilled in both financial and clinical systems with best practice expertise for Cerner Millennium, Cerner Soarian, Epic, MEDITECH, NextGen, Allscripts, and McKesson customers.

https://www.stoltenberg.com/

18. The Observer Effect

Through a proven method - that fuses consultative ways of working (centered around collaboration, pace, and rigor), with agency flare - we inspire teams to stretch, shape and build their brands. We bring people and ideas together. From our various points of view, be that agency, consultancy or corporation, we are united in the belief, that brand (for better or worse) should be doing more to help business with the challenges they face  short and long term. We change perceptions to change reality. Consciousness creates beliefs, beliefs create thoughts, thoughts create frequency and frequency creates reality. We can help you to understand and explore the perception of those creating your reality so that you are empowered to help shape it.

https://observereffect.io/

19. The Source Approach

The Source Approach is a top-rated Amazon Consultant and eCommerce Consultant with over 10 years of experience in helping companies thrive at eCommerce quicker and easier. You can expect to work 1 on 1 personally with me and not a random agent in a call center with little to no experience. As a fellow business owner, I have significant experience managing projects, people & budgets to get results. My experience comes from owning, partnering & running businesses, not working as an employee at an agency.

https://www.sourceapproach.com/

20. Think PR

Think PR is a creative PR, SoMe and communications agency in Copenhagen, Denmark, working across Europe with a strong digital reputation. We are a dedicated workforce that through a close and trusting relationship with our customers, provide efficient, focused and competent advice. Think is social creativity combined with market insight and skilled knowledge.

http://www.thinkpr.dk/

21. TopRight

TopRight helps you transform your marketing by working through the right combination of story, strategy, and systems to tell your story better, execute your go-to-market strategy more effectively and deliver a remarkable customer experience flawlessly. TopRight is the transformational marketing consulting firm focused on serving the strategic growth objectives of C-Suite executives, their direct reports, and their organizations. Having served in leadership roles both client and agency side, we have lived and breathed the responsibility of driving business results. We understand the cost of success or failure of specific strategies, initiatives, and results. That means our true north is organic growth through transformation. And we partner with our clients to create profitable customer experiences based on the right Story, the right Strategy, and the right Systemsall measured through the lens of Simplicity, Clarity, and Alignment.

https://www.toprightpartners.com/

22. VP Legacies

We are creating a world where people arent afraid to personally connect. This philosophy has allowed us to grow our business values and processes. And in the same way, what started for our founders at the University of Denver as a strong friendship, the business has grown, and with ita personal connect movement, giving you the tools to share your unique story. Stories matter. You matter. By creating trust, sharing story details and embracing emotion, we will help you develop a true personal connection with your employees and customers. Our clients say that we create raving fans about their businesses through emotional storytelling strategies. By auditing personal connection internally (employee facing) and externally (customer facing), we have helped our clients increase productivity and efficiency by discovering and implementing emotional storytelling strategies respective to our clients pains. We utilize consulting, capturing, editing and educating services to achieve your employee and customer engagement, education, and experience goals.

https://www.vplegacies.com/

23. Wild Orange Media Ltd

We provide a blend of training, speaking and consulting support to a diverse range of clients, large and small, to help them evolve efficiently in the digital age. Based in Godstone, Surrey in the UK, we specialize in providing in-house training and support to help organizations improve their marketing results by embracing new possibilities that emerge from technological progress. Whether it's content marketing, social media or good old-fashioned advertising, we help companies work smarter, better and more efficiently.

https://allister.live/

24. ZG Worldwide Consultants

In today's business environment, companies want less full-time staff and more on-demand experts. For these businesses, ZG Worldwide provides a single source for solutions in technology, business, marketing, communications, and healthcare. This great choice of services makes forming a multidisciplinary team less difficult. Hundreds of businesses across the US and globally have connected with our broad range of associates. We provide short to long-term interim staffing, managed IT services and marketing/communications as well as permanent placement. Former Fortune 500 C-suite IT executives comprise our elite group of the world's foremost technology leaders.

http://www.zgworldwide.com/

Brands can view the best consulting firms by rates, expertise, experience, case studies, reviews and more on DesignRush. Users can easily filter to compare consulting companies and find the best consulting firms that can assist their business and help it grow effectively.

About DesignRush: DesignRush.com is a B2B marketplace connecting brands with agencies.

DesignRush features the top agencies around the world, including the best Business Consulting Companies, Digital Agencies, Logo Design, Digital Marketing, Website Design, eCommerce Web Design Companies, and more.
Encore has drilled and completed its first horizontal well in Lawrence County, the JDH #4A, and the #4A is currently in its early stage of flow back production. Encore has also drilled the vertical Strat test well sections for the JDH #NB-1 and WFC #H1 in preparation for horizontal well operations at both locations. The final three (3) drill-site selections shall be largely predicated by the results at JDH #NB-1 and WFC #H1, said Steve Stengell, Encores President CEO.

Horizontal Berea oil wells in this area have reportedly averaged in the range of ~100 - 150 BOPD over the initial 90 days of production where the well development costs are significantly lower, as compared to other plays across the US. Berea oil production from Lawrence County, Kentucky reportedly represents nearly 25% of the states total annual oil production.

Oil and gas investments involve a high degree of risk and are suitable only for SEC defined accredited investors. Qualified SEC defined accredited investors can deduct 100% of their intangible and tangible drilling costs against all forms of income with years of potential income from production. These tax savings mitigate a good amount of risk associated with oil and gas drilling and production.

For more information, please contact Joseph Hooper at (270) 842-1242, ext. 224.

Assumptions, Disclaimer and Cautionary Statement: The information herein may contain forward-looking statements, and actual results may vary. Words such as "estimate", "will," "intend," "continue," "target," "expect," "achieve," "strategy," "future," "may," "goal," or other comparable words or phrases or the negative of those words, and other words of similar meaning indicate forward-looking statements and important factors which could affect actual results. Forward-looking statements are made based upon Management's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects upon Encore Energy, Inc. Oil and gas investments involve a high degree of risk, uncertainty and are only suitable for qualified Accredited (SEC Definition) investors who are sophisticated in making business decisions and can bear the financial loss of their entire investment, while delivering a turnkey profit to the Company for proving the prospect development, lease acquisition, drilling, completion, engineering and ongoing production operations. The Company does not provide tax advice and investors should seek the advice of their tax professional. Any tax and/or other information herein is provided for illustration purposes only and may include estimates that are uncertain and subject to change. It is impossible to accurately forecast profitability, production, reserves, income, expenses and timelines for any project. No assurances can be made as it relates to reserves, production, income, profit, prices, timelines and/or other estimates. Actual production and results are beyond the control of management. In the event that commercial production is achieved, it may take many years for the investor to recoup his or her investment. The Company's lease acreage position under is subject to change and includes acreage under lease, Farmout agreement, verbal agreement, renewals, expired terms and any other prospective acreage in which the Company has communicated and/or negotiated with the landowner the leasing of oil and gas rights, now or in the future, and the lease / mineral owner has leased or communicated their intent to lease there mineral lease rights to the Company. It is important for qualified investors to acknowledge the fact that the US government provides them with tax savings (100% IDC tax deduction) to mitigate or at least off-set some of the financial risk associated with domestic oil and gas investments. This is not an offer to sell or buy a security. An offer shall only be made pursuant to SEC Regulation D, Rule 506(c) by a private placement offering memorandum, and this is not a private placement offering memorandum.
In many cases, first-generation students struggle to transition into college because they are unaware of the support systems and resources available to them prior to enrolling at an institution.

BestColleges, a leading provider of college planning resources and higher education research, welcomed a panel of education experts to discuss first-generation students, how they add value and diversity to higher education, and what institutions can do to better support them in their transition to college. These discussions are part of BestColleges latest perspectives publication, which blends proprietary research, op-ed content, and expert panels to tackle complex issues in higher education.

First-generation students make up roughly one-third of all college students and contribute to a diverse learning environment. They represent wide ranges in age, backgrounds, socio-economic levels, ethnicities, and interests. With a focus on career outcomes, these students have immense pressure to succeed and are often more determined than their student peers to reach their goals.

Yet, many of these first-generation students are overcoming what is often a late start to the college preparation process compared to their legacy counterparts. Since they typically don't have the same parental and family support systems as others do, these students tend to be less prepared academically, psychologically, and socially for the rigors of higher education. At the same time, they are often overlooked and under-supported by school administrators because they dont fit the mold of a typical degree seeker. This is why BestColleges and the expert panel explored the challenges of becoming a first-generation college graduate without the insight that comes from parents and guardians who have gone through the process.

In many cases, first-generation students struggle to transition into college because they are unaware of the support systems and resources available to them prior to enrolling at an institution. Legacy students may already anticipate resources such as having an academic advisor, having access to a writing center, and opportunities to join student clubs while first-generation students may need an introduction to all that the institution has to offer, says Stephanie Snider, Director of BestColleges. However, as many on our panel pointed out, first-generation students are often ambitious, determined, and brave individuals who are navigating a degree path on their own. Making sure resources and support locations are in place and accessible is an important step in these students success.

The publication also addresses how first-generation students can use various resources and support systems to facilitate their transition into college.

To view the complete publication, please visit: https://www.bestcolleges.com/perspectives/first-generation-students/.

Meet the Panel:



Dr. Michele Scott Taylor, Chief Program Officer, College Now Greater Cleveland

First-generation students provide perspectives and insight that can produce deeper learning and knowledge. The cross-section of first-gen students offers diverse, new points of view not found in more homogenous groups of students.



Lorna Contreras-Townsend, Advisor and Director of Student Programs, Students Rising Above

College gives first-generation students the opportunity to create a balanced life, one with more stability, but also one with concrete life skills that will help them find solutions as they face additional challenges along their college-to-career journey.



Constance Carmona, Program Coordinator, Breakthrough Central Texas

To me, first-generation student means tenacity, triumph, and opportunity. A first-generation student beats the odds and rewrites the ending of an otherwise perpetual cycle many students dont believe they can get out of.



Benjamin Serrano, Alumni Support Manager, High Jump

Faced with more questions and few answers from previous generations that did not complete that level of education, first-generation students are tasked with navigating a new academic world. And they do so often alone. Because of all these differences, first-generation students are more resilient and diligent in their approach to education, because to them, the stakes are too high.



Nancy Lee Sanchez, Executive Director, Kaplan Educational Foundation

The presence of a first-generation student, for example, helps add a different kind of viewpoint that helps classes and study groups consider issues from new perspectives. Just because you are the first person in your family to get an education doesnt mean that your experiences and family background cant contribute to your chosen career field, solve problems, manage healthcare resources, make public policy, and more.



Ron Oliver, Director of First-Generation Student Success, Florida Atlantic University

The unknown is what creates the insecurity and leads to a lack of confidence. First-generation students need mentoring from other first-generation students or professionals that can help them see that they too can be successful.



Mike Woodward, Executive Director, College Track New Orleans

There is a tremendous benefit in bringing together diverse populations and viewpoints, as well as people with a multitude of lived experiences. These enrich the learning environment for all. For many of us, our neighborhoods and schools are determined based on ones access, or lack thereof, to resources.



Shelby Brown, First-Generation Student

As first-generation students, my sisters and I were the first in our family to pursue a college degree. With this came a sense of pride that I was representing an advancement for myself that nobody in my family had yet accomplished.

About BestColleges

BestColleges empowers students to make smarter educational decisions and find schools that best fit their needs through proprietary research, user-friendly guides, and hundreds of unique college rankings. As a trusted education advisor, they also provide a wide array of college planning, financial aid, and career resources to help students realize life goals and overcome educational challenges as they prepare for careers after college.
Founder & CEO - McKenna Capital Im so excited to join the Forbes Real Estate Council and humbled by the opportunity to be a contributor to this incredible community. As investors become more aware of the many benefits to real estate syndication, we couldnt be happier to have a platform like Forbes to share our thought leadership

Ryan McKenna, Founder & CEO of McKenna Capital, a leading real estate private equity firm in Chicago, has been accepted into Forbes Real Estate Council, an invitation-only community for executives in the real estate industry.

Ryan McKenna was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

We are honored to welcome Ryan McKenna into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Real Estate Business Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.

As an accepted member of the Council, Ryan has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum. Ryan will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com, and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

Im so excited to join the Forbes Real Estate Council and humbled by the opportunity to be a contributor to this incredible community, said Ryan. As investors become more aware of the great benefits to investing in real estate syndications, we couldnt be happier to have a platform like Forbes to share our thought leadership.

ABOUT MCKENNA CAPITAL

McKenna Capital is a Real Estate Private Equity firm that provides opportunities for investors to become passive equity partners in institutional quality, recession-resilient, real estate. Our direct access allows investors to invest alongside experienced operating partners who have a proven track record of delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns.

Our goal is to help investors build long-term wealth and passive income streams through a diversified offering of value-add multifamily, self-storage and manufactured home park investments located in growing markets across the U.S. The deals we fund provide opportunities for investors to preserve capital investments, generate tax-efficient income, and build equity through future capital appreciation of the assets.

For more information about McKenna Capital, visit McKennaCapital.com

ABOUT FORBES COUNCILS

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

For more information about Forbes Real Estate Business Council, visit forbesrealestatecouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.
For this years event, it announced 58 nominations in 11 categories for the 6th Annual Totem Pole Playhouse Awards.

Franklin County Visitors Bureau is pleased to announce the Totem Pole Playhouse Awards on May 19, at 5 PM. Yearly, Totem Pole Playhouse recognizes outstanding achievement in musical theatre production and performance by high school students in the counties surrounding the Playhouse. For this years event, it announced 58 nominations in 11 categories for the 6th Annual Totem Pole Playhouse Awards.

Shippensburg Area Senior High School in Franklin County, led all schools with a nomination in each of the 10 categories for their production of Legally Blonde. Three area high schools tied with 9 nominations each, two from Adams County, Gettysburg Area High Schools production of Mamma Mia! and Biglerville High Schools staging of Stephen Sondheims, Sunday in the Park with George and James Buchanan High School in Franklin County for She Loves Me.

The remaining 13 nominations were shared between St. Maria Goretti High School in Hagerstown, MD, Forbes Road Junior/Senior High School in Fulton County, McConnellsburg High School and Waynesboro Area Senior High School in Franklin County.

All schools participating in the awards are also eligible for the best musical award named after Totem Pole Playhouses long-serving Producing Artistic Director, Carl Schurr.

The awards ceremony will be held on the stage of the Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville, PA. Totem Poles Producing Artistic Director, Rowan Joseph, will host the awards ceremony, Sunday, May 19th at 5 PM. The event includes a the presentation of a number from each of the participating high schools as well as performances from the nominated female and male soloists.

Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students 18 and younger. Seating is very limited and on a first-come, first-serve basis. Tickets may be purchased on-line here or by calling the Totem Pole Playhouse at (717) 352-2164.

The Franklin County Visitors Bureau invites all to explore Franklin County PA and enjoy the great art, history recreation, natural beauty, fresh foods and 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. Discover more. Plan your visit at ExploreFranklinCountyPA.com, by contacting 866.646.8060, or by visiting the Franklin County 11/30 Visitors Center on the square in Chambersburg.
Cold-calling a contractor or glorified handymen to gut and remodel a house is like asking urgent care to perform delicate brain surgery. Fortunately, no reputable urgent care facility would take such a request, but not all contractors and handymen share the same ethical standards. This approach is a huge gamble, considering that American homeowners spend more than $300 billion a year on home remodeling, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Author Grace Mase, founder and CEO of BEYREP, a personalized online home improvement management tool, helps homeowners avoid the pitfalls and take control of their home improvement project with peace of mind in her new book Revivify Your Home (published by Archway Publishing).

Mase is an experienced former UC Berkeley Campus Architect with numerous successful renovation projects under her professional belt. She is determined to reduce homeowner frustration with home improvement projects, which has consistently ranked as one of the top consumer complaints nationwide for over 20 years, according to the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and the Consumer Federation of America.

Recently featured as an Icon of Beverly Hills and Entrepreneur, Mase is like a fairy godmother for home improvements, helping homeowners take control of their projects with confidence and peace of mind. She provides a roadmap and shares her proven process that resulted in the creation of her patented BEYREP service to help homeowners manage their own project effectively, with trust and transparency. Revivify Your Home makes the process entertaining as well as educational. To purchase and to find out more, interested parties may visit https://www.archwaypublishing.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001204581.

Mase is passionate about helping people to achieve a better life through a better home and believes that a home can change a persons life profoundly. Through her volunteer work with the YWCA Women Shelters and Midnight Mission shelter service program, Mase is donating a portion of the proceeds from this book to both organizations.

Revivify Your Home: Take Control of Your Home Improvement with Peace of Mind and Level Up Your Life

By Grace Tsao Mase

Hardcover | 5.5x8.5 in | 228 pages | ISBN 9781480874060

Softcover | 5.5x8.5 in | 228 pages | ISBN 9781480874084

E-Book | 228 pages | ISBN 9781480874077

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Grace Mase is the founder and CEO of BEYREP, a personalized online home improvement tool for busy people to take control of their remodeling projects. Her mission is to empower people to own their potential and stand in their greatness so that they can celebrate their present joyfully and upgrade their future. She earned her architecture degrees from UC Berkeley and Yale University. In 2018, she was named a Power Player by Angeleno and an Icon of Beverly Hills by Modern Luxury of Beverly Hills. She is married to a rocket scientist and they have two kids. Revivify Your Home: Take Control of Your Home Improvement with Peace of Mind and Level Up Your Life is her first book.

Simon & Schuster, a company with nearly ninety years of publishing experience, has teamed up with Author Solutions, LLC, the leading self-publishing company worldwide, to create Archway Publishing. With unique resources to support books of all kind, Archway Publishing offers a specialized approach to help every author reach his or her desired audience. For more information, visit archwaypublishing.com or call 888-242-5904.
HALO Recognition "National Nurses Week is an excellent opportunity for healthcare employers to do something special for the nations largest and most in-demand healthcare profession."

HALO Recognition, the leading provider of employee recognition, rewards, and incentives, today offered an eBook, 5 Nurses Week Celebration Ideas, to help healthcare employers show appreciation for nurses during National Nurses Week, which begins on National Nursing Day, May 6th, and ends on Florence Nightingales birthday, May 12th.

As the nations largest and most in-demand healthcare profession, its critical that we recognize nurses during National Nurses Week, said Jeffrey Fina, Chief Customer Officer, HALO Recognition. It's an excellent opportunity for healthcare employers to do something special and meaningful on top of daily engagement efforts.

The eBook contains five celebratory and stress-relief ideas for nurses on National Nurses Week. Suggestions for daily themes and expert tips to make the week more enjoyable and memorable include:

1) Swag Bags  Give a mix of food and goodies along with practical items like water bottles, pens and other logoed items to demonstrate your appreciation and reinforce your brand.

2) Extra Recognition  Add an employee recognition program lift such as doubling nursing related-award values or raffling off bigger gifts throughout the week.

3) Food & Drink  Free food is proven to be a boost to employee satisfaction, so provide coffee in the morning, hire a local food truck or cater a special meal to give nurses some nourishment and a break.

4) Massage/Spa Services  Whether handing out gift certificates to local spas or setting up express services on-site during downtime, massages and other spa-services are a welcome stress reliever.

5) Therapy Animals  If your hospital has therapy animals, ensure they are scheduled for Nurses Week to visit nurses and bring some instant relief. Dont forget to post on Instagram.

For more information or to download HALO Recognitions 5 Nurses Week Celebration Ideas, please visit https://bit.ly/2vxQXfK.

About HALO Recognition

HALO Recognition, based in Long Island City, New York, is the most comprehensive employee recognition provider in the market. Today, HALO Recognition helps global companies of all sizes reward, recognize and inspire their employees to do great things with scalable recognition and incentive programs designed for modern workforces. For more, visit http://www.halorecognition.com.
Winning the award is very satisfying because it proves we have responded to our customers comments accordingly and deliver exceptional service

For the 4th year in a row, Highland Commercial Roofing, a roofing specialist with over 25 years expertise in the trade, announces that they have been awarded the GuildQuality GuildMaster Award for 2019.

The GuildMaster Awards are offered each year to construction companies who demonstrate excellence in customer care and specialist services. GuildQuality has recognized Highland Commercial Roofing for their continuing commitment to exceptional service and standards. Adam Herring, Senior Project Manager of the firm, is honored that the company has been awarded for its impeccable standards.

Winning the award is very satisfying because it proves we have responded to our customers comments accordingly and deliver exceptional service, Adam explains.

GuildQuality is a public service which advises visitor on firm ratings and feedback. Therefore, potential clients can learn what to expect from individual contractors, and how they handle customer queries. It is a public forum where firms such as Highland Commercial Roofing can be reviewed and surveyed.

Adam further emphasizes that GuildQuality is an asset to both the company's running and the satisfaction of their customers. GuildQuality is an indispensable tool that allows us to create the all-important feedback loop from our customers. Our customers comments give us the advice necessary to improve continually.

It is important to Highland Commercial Roofing that their customers queries are handled with care and efficiency.

Winning 2019s GuildMaster Award will offer potential new clients further confidence in the firm. So, too, will it help customers in making confident choices in an industry which can be hard to navigate.

"The roofing industry is very intricate, with many unscrupulous roofing contractors and pitfalls to avoid," Adam confirms.

"Working with a company that has achieved the GuildMaster Award gives the customer confidence.

Having previously been recognized as industry leaders and having won several service awards, the 2019 GuildMaster mark of approval is the latest achievement Highland Commercial Roofing can be proud to display.

Highland Commercial Roofing's team are industry-leading roofing specialists. You can learn more about their award-winning work by visiting http://www.highlandroof.com.

About Highland Commercial Roofing

Highland Commercial Roofing is a professional roofing design and installation firm, founded in 1991. Catering to commercial and industrial roofing needs across California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington State, the company is proud to maintain solid roots in the local and national industries. Their satisfied client portfolio, too, continues to expand as time goes by.

The company's goals in building lasting customer relationships have always been part of their design. Having received industry awards recognizing their commitment to exceptional customer service, the brand continues to delight new clients across the southwest.

Highland Commercial Roofing is an industry leader not just in customer care, but also in value and expertise. Having installed over 100 million square feet of commercial roofing since 1991, the firm has never lost sight of its service goals and growth potential. For more information, visit https://www.highlandroof.com
The first ever CoSM Women's Visionary Film Symposium will be a celebration of life, personal growth, social responsibility, healthy living, and creative expression.

Famed visionary artists Alex and Allyson Grey of the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors (CoSM), in conjunction with LA-based filmmaker Lindsay Kent, are hosting the first-ever womens festival that links female empowerment in the film industry with spiritual and consciousness-focused seminars and messaging.

Titled the Womens Visionary Film Symposium (WVFS), this inaugural event will be held at the CoSM visionary art and event space in Wappingers Falls, New York from May 30 to June 2, 2019. Tickets are on sale now and availability is limited. Get yours here: https://www.cosm.org/events/womens-visionary-film-symposium/

Notable guests include VICE Group Creative Director Donna Lamar, Sci-fi filmmaker Cidney. Hue, Emmy-winning immersive storyteller Michaela Holland, Christina Raia (Head of Education at Seed&Spark), NYC-based CBD outfit COME BACK DAILY, works by well-known feminist artist Penny Slinger, and music by DJ Journey Weaver.

The first ever 4-day program at CoSM, this event will include student films, shorts, and feature-length films from around the world, focusing on topics such as conservation, plant medicine, health and wellness, the rise of the divine feminine, LGBTQI rights and more. More than 200 global filmmakers, industry leaders, actors, producers, and visionary artists are expected to attend.

Esteemed jury awards will be given in the following categories:

 Narrative Feature

 Documentary Feature

 Narrative Short

 Documentary Short

 Student Film

 Animated Film

Panels and workshops will include:

 The future of conscious media funding and distribution

 The newest VR/AR technologies

 Women in Cinematography

 Animation and mixed media

 Women in Science Fiction

 Directors Panel

 Your Creative ID: Maintaining Authenticity

Tickets include daily yoga, guided meditations, Reiki demonstrations, SheCircle mate rituals, a divine feminine new moon ceremony, live painting, interactive art installations, fire spinners, special guest DJs, and more.

Sponsorship packages are available; contact the festival directors for more information.

Follow us:

https://www.facebook.com/SacredMirrors/

https://www.instagram.com/chapelofsacredmirrors/

The CoSM Womens Visionary Film Symposium was founded to honor and empower female filmmakers and fans. Our mission is to create a new forum for visionary creators, so that their workswith the power to heal, transform and transcendmay reach wider audiences, and make the impact they were destined for.

WVFS is a four-day showcase of new and established female artists making an impact in filmmaking worldwide. From groundbreaking industry panels to workshops, premiers of feature-length films to shorts, we will explore what it means to be a woman today through powerful and thought-provoking discussions and works of art. The Symposium will focus on our collective wisdom, our families, communities, and our future.

CONTACT:

Lindsay Kent

Event Director

512.789.3125

cosmwvfs@gmail.com




Last Thursday, the Washington Post reported North Korea's temerity to bill the United States $2 million for American student Otto Warmbier's "medical care" he supposedly received while in Pyongyang's custody.







Only after a U.S. envoy signed the invoice  apparently at the direction of President Trump  did Pyongyang actually release the deteriorating Warmbier.







Recall that, for the supposedly "hostile act against the state" of pulling down a propaganda sign in a Pyongyang hotel Jan. 1, 2016, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor. Shortly thereafter he fell into a coma, apparently after being tortured. He died a week following his June 2017 release.







Not surprisingly, at the subsequent summit, Trump downplayed the notion that Kim Jong-un had any knowledge of Warmbier's torture.







Also nor surprisingly, the Trump White House went all cagey when asked whether the bill was actually paid. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders declared, "We do not comment on hostage negotiations, which is why they have been so successful during this administration." In normal circumstances, that would be a pretty big "tell" that, yes, of course, a payoff occurred. Public outrage would be understandable.







We caution over such an overreaction.







Remember, this is Donald Trump. When was the last time he was known to fulfill his promises and, well, actually pay a bill?







So maybe having in the Oval Office a notorious cheapskate and chiseler who weasels out of his contracts and obligations will come in handy for once.









The above editorial appeared in New York Daily News. It was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.






As the industry becomes increasingly aware of costs, technology innovation and changing consumer expectations, advisors benefit from new digital tools to remain pre-eminent in their clients lives and able to continue to add their value.

InvestmentPOD for Advisors, the industrys first digital advice platform to offer multi-strategies, announced their partnership today with Invesco, a leading investment manager with over $ 954.8 billion in assets under management. InvestmentPOD will soon launch the Invesco POD, a multi-strategy digital platform using a combination of Invescos ETFs, such as low volatility equity and equal weighted sector ETFs, to create Passive, Opportunistic, and Defensive multi-strategies. Through the platform, advisors can mix and match Invesco ETF strategies to create a portfolio that can potentially help investors achieve a better investment experience through asset and strategy diversification.

Investment POD is the first multi-strategy, automated investing platform offering advisors white-labeled digital automation with high net worth sophisticated asset and strategy diversification. Advisors are able to automate their trading and rebalancing process and deliver multiple solutions, beyond just buy and hold, which has been the typical offering of the current crop of robo advisors.

We are excited to be working with Invesco to help advisors using their ETFs automate the process for constructing sophisticated investment portfolios, said Jacqueline Ko Matthews, CEO and co-founder of InvestmentPOD. As the industry becomes increasingly aware of costs, technology innovation and changing consumer expectations, advisors benefit from new digital tools to remain pre-eminent in their clients lives and able to continue to add their value  key attributes that InvestmentPOD brings to Invesco and the advisors they work with.

The new partnership with InvestmentPOD will provide advisors:



A fully white labeled, integrated, customized 3-tiered digital wealth management platform

11 POD strategies: Passive, Opportunistic, Defensive Risk Management, and Fixed Income

Invesco POD Personal Pension platform to create goals and manage assets through the 3 phases of life: accumulation, protection and decumulation.

This unique combination of technology and investment strategies in the personalized pension product was developed to be well suited to investors with a range of AUM at any stage of life, such as Baby Boomers, and Millennials allowing them to create their own personal pension plans.

Additionally, the personal pension provides a differentiated niche combining the best of both worlds: potential downside protection but with the liquidity, transparency, full control and access to money of an asset management product.

When our clients face a world that is increasingly fragmented and complex to navigate, at Invesco, we see greater possibilities if navigated together. said Clint Harris, Head of Wealth Management Platforms for Invesco. We look forward to working with InvestmentPOD so Invesco funds, models and unique capabilities are available to their advisors and clients.

InvestmentPODs momentum in the industry in 2019 has been growing after a highly accomplished 2018. It was named the Best Robo of the Year by wealthmanagement.com and select as a winner in the ScratchWorks fintech accelerator, sponsored by five of the largest RIAs in the country, Barrons and Fidelity.

To learn more about InvestmentPOD, please log onto http://www.InvestmentPOD.com.

About InvestmentPOD:

InvestmentPOD was founded by illustrious Wall Street pioneers who identified the need for advisors to be able to deliver both traditional and alternative strategies via advanced technologies. With a highly credentialed staff of PhDs, CFPs, researchers, developers and engineers, InvestmentPOD is designed to be a comprehensive, white-labeled platform advisors can leverage to provide sophisticated investing strategies to their clients, while benefitting from the power of automation and operational efficiencies. InvestmentPOD is a graduate of the SixThirty FinTech Accelerator. InvestmentPOD is the 2018 winner of Wealth Mangement.coms prestigious Industry Award for Best Robo Advisor of the Year, a winner of the Barrons 2018 inaugural ScratchWorks Fintech Accelerator sponsored by Fidelity, a graduate of the Prosper Womens accelerator. InvestmentPOD has won multiple industry awards and its CEO and co-founder, Jacqueline Ko Matthews was recently recognized by BBVA as one of the 12 Women Leading the Way in the FinTech World and is also a columnist for Forbes.com and 2019 member of the Forbes Finance Council. To learn more, log onto http://www.InvestmentPOD.com or contact InvestmentPOD at 703-773-7006.

About Invesco Ltd.:

Invesco is an independent investment management firm dedicated to delivering an investment experience that helps people get more out of life; http://www.invesco.com.
We focus on getting people prepared for cyber defense. There are a lot of people we bring to the table for that first week of training. The International Society of Automation (ISA) provides ICS/SCADA network training.Col. Teri Williams, Commander, Cyber Shield 19

The International Society of Automation (ISA) in April provided operational technology (OT) training in support of the US Army National Guards national cyber-operations exercise, Cyber Shield.

Cyber Shield 19held 5-18 April 2019 at Camp Atterbury, Indianabrought together approximately 800 Army and Air National Guard network defenders and world-class cybersecurity professionals, industry network owners, an Army Reserve assessment team, and federal and state agencies to train the next generation of cyber warriors in the ever-changing, dynamic world of information systems and networks.

The training that Soldiers and Airmen obtained through Cyber Shield 19 and the National Guard adds to their ability to conduct their civilian jobs and, vice versa, the training and experience they receive in their civilian positions strengthen the militarys cyber capabilities. They become very valuable assets in protecting critical infrastructure, said George Battistelli, the Army National Guard Cybersecurity Program Manager, Information Technology Strategy Division Chief and the Cyber Shield 19 Exercise Director.

Cyber Shield includes a critical training component that offers industry-leading courses and seminars that are organized into tracks based on the roles of the participating cyber team members.

We focus on getting people prepared for cyber defense, said Col. Teri Williams, Commander, Cyber Shield 19. There are a lot of people we bring to the table for that first week of training. Microsoft, CISCO and SANS are on hand for some of the cyber defensive training. The International Society of Automation (ISA) provides ICS/SCADA network training. We also focus on the offensive side. Our belief is that the better that you are trained on the offensive side the stronger a defender you will be.

ISA was selected by the National Guard because of its leadership and experience in developing the worlds only consensus-based series of industrial cybersecurity standards, ISA/IEC 62443. These standards, which also serve as the basis for ISA cybersecurity training, protect the industrial automation and control systems (IACS) and networks that operate OT machinery and associated devices within critical infrastructure. Without these defenses in place, industrial cyberattack can result in plant shutdown, operational and equipment impairment, severe economic and environmental damage, and public endangerment.

Given their protective capabilities, the ISA/IEC 62443 series of standards are key components of the US Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (dated April 2018), a how-to guide developed through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to help strengthen Americas cyber defenses.

During the first week of Cyber Shield 2019, ISAs subject-matter experts taught three ISA courses: ISA Cybersecurity courses included: Introduction to Industrial Automation Security and the ISA/IEC 62443 Standards (IC32C); IACS Cybersecurity Design & Implementation (IC34), and IACS Cybersecurity Operations & Maintenance (IC37) courses. Click here to view photos of ISA personnel providing IACS security training during the training component of the exercise.

To access additional images, visit the Cyber Shield 2019 photo page on the Defense Visual Distribution Service website.

More about ISA99/IEC 62443

Developed by leading international cybersecurity experts from industry, government and academia, ISA/IEC 62443 is a flexible framework for preventing and limiting cyber damage to IACS and networks.

Because most IACS are not designed to ensure resilience against cyber warfare, an IACS cyberattack can impair and disable safe operations of industrial facilities. The consequenceswhich can include plant shutdowns, widespread power blackouts, explosions, chemical leaks, and morecan place national and economic security as well as lives, personal safety and the environment at risk.

ISA/IEC 62443 enables owners and operators of critical infrastructure to achieve and maintain IACS security improvements through a lifecycle that integrates design, implementation, monitoring and continuous improvement.

For more information

To learn more about IEC 62443, ISAs IACS Security Lifecycle Training Program, and ISAs wide range of industrial cybersecurity resources, click here or contact Heidi Cooke, Sr. Workforce Development Consultant, at +1 -919-990-9405 or via email at hcooke@isa.org.

About ISA

The International Society of Automation is a nonprofit professional association founded in 1945 to create a better world through automation. ISA advances technical competence by connecting the automation community to achieve operational excellence. The organization develops widely used global standards; certifies industry professionals; provides education and training; publishes books and technical articles; hosts conferences and exhibits; and provides networking and career development programs for its 40,000 members and 400,000 customers around the world.

ISA owns Automation.com, a leading online publisher of automation-related content, and is the founding sponsor of The Automation Federation, an association of non-profit organizations serving as The Voice of Automation. Through a wholly owned subsidiary, ISA bridges the gap between standards and their implementation with the ISA Security Compliance Institute and the ISA Wireless Compliance Institute.
Incentive Areas Parcel Search "The new Lee County Opportunity Zones website is a power house tool that brings together all the key data points for investors, developers and business owners who want to understand the incredible opportunity in Lee Countys economic and business climate,

Lee County Economic Development has launched the areas first Opportunity Zones website at http://www.leecobiz.com.

Opportunity Zones are designed to spur economic development in economically-distressed communities where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. The Opportunity Zones incentive investment tool was established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. The country now has more than 8,700 Opportunity Zones in every state and territory.

This interactive, multi-layered site is a new orientation by our office to use business intelligence and technology to provide the best information about Lee County to create a business environment focusing on current, existing businesses, said John Talmage, director of the Lee County Economic Development Office. Now areas like North Fort Myers have the ability to attract investors from around the country who can breathe new life into our community by putting their capital to work financing new projects and enterprises in exchange for certain federal capital gains tax advantages.

In 2018, 15 census tracts throughout Lee County were designated as Opportunity Zones. These low-income census tracts are nominated by governors and certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

For example, real estate tracts in North Fort Myers along both sides of Bayshore Road that make up the corridor connecting the area to I-75, as well as State Road 82 leading to Immokalee represent commercial opportunity zones for investors.

"The new Lee County Opportunity Zones website is a power house tool that brings together all the key data points for investors, developers and business owners who want to understand the incredible opportunity in Lee Countys economic and business climate, said Josh Burdine, broker associate with Rockstar Realty and Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association president. This is the future of integrated data we have been waiting for.

The website includes an overview with information about Opportunity Zones but more importantly lays out Lee Countys zone profiles with in-depth information for Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Fort Myers, North Fort Myers and San Carlos. The site also has menus that dig into zone profiles with socioeconomic and demographic composition, education, income and age generations for each zone. Additional menus contain detailed information on growth and new business predictions, personal and property crime indexes, transportation including roads, railroads, airports, ports, traffic and an incentive area parcel search that will allow site selectors visitors to view a list of potential economic and regulatory incentives available at each location. The Commercial Real Estate Search menu will let anyone search for available office and industrial property that is for sale or lease.

The website gives someone who has never been to Lee County all the information they need to know online to make an informed decision if theyd like to learn more about the Opportunity Zone benefits here, said Bev Larson, CCIM of Lahaina Realty and North Fort Myers Commercial Corridor Revitalization Task Force member. North Fort Myers has been a diamond in the rough for years and just like Estero before it, its prime for growth/revitalization and has everything one is looking for  waterfront, direct access to the interstate and plenty of land for residential development, office, retail, medical and more and the availability for residents to work and play where they live.

Investors in Opportunity Zones can defer tax on any prior gains invested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF). If the investor holds the investment in the Opportunity Fund for at least 10 years, the investor is eligible for an increase in basis of the QOF investment equal to its fair market value on the date that the QOF investment is sold or exchanged.

Our nations investors currently hold trillions of dollars in unrealized capital gains, said Talmage. Stocks and mutual funds alone are a significant untapped resource for economic development. These funds can even enable a broad array of investors to pool their resources in Opportunity Zones, increasing the scale of investments going to underserved areas. Its a win-win for both the investor and the county and what better place to invest that Southwest Florida.

There are other sites and resources that people can use to find Opportunity Zones information, but we think we have the first interactive site where investors, brokers and real estate professionals can go to find a site in Lee County, identify the incentives and entitlements, conduct market research and look for available sites, said Talmage. And we are really proud and excited what this will do for our county.

The Lee County Economic Development Office provides business assistance to retain existing businesses, encourage entrepreneurship and attract new business so that Lee County has a strong economy, thriving communities and broadly shared prosperity.

For more information, contact the Lee County Economic Development Office, (239) 338-6800 or email edo(at)leegov.com.

North Fort Myers Mixed Use Overlay video:

https://leecountybusiness.com/initiatives/develop-north-fort-myers/nfm-incentives

Contacts: Melinda Isley, APR, m.creativepr, 239-274-7736, cell: 239-565-1630, melinda(at)mcreativepr.com

Betsy Clayton, APR, CPRC, Communications Director Lee County Government

(239) 533-2221 or bclayton(at)leegov.com
One of the challenges plaintiffs attorneys will have is determining damages since the claimants in this litigation are so much younger than those in typical hearing loss cases.

When the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) met on March 28, 2019, to consider consolidation of the claims in the 3M Combat Arms Earplugs (CAEv2) lawsuits, the prevailing thought among attorneys and other legal experts was that the JPML would establish a multidistrict litigation for the increasing number of cases nationwide against Minnesota-based 3M Company.; however, the question of where the cases would be sent was an open question. The Panel recently announced the cases will be sent to the Northern District of Florida before Judge M. Casey Rodgers.

Its not surprising that the JPML consolidated these cases. Its a complex case with thousands of potential claimants, exactly the situation where coordination makes sense, said Deb Zonies, VP of Mass Tort Services and GC at Verus LLC, a litigation support service firm.

3Ms Combat Arms Earplugs (CAEv2) were issued to military service members from 2003 to 2015 for use both domestically and during deployment, including to combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. CAEv2 were the only dual-sided earplugs in use by the military, with one side said to allow low-level sounds such as commands to be heard and the other side intended to offer more complete hearing protection. To date, thousands of veterans have filed lawsuits against 3M claiming the earplugs were defective and led to their noise-induced hearing loss and/or tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

Lawyers estimate that there may actually be hundreds of thousands of veterans with CAEv2 claims. The cases filed to date may just be the tip of a very large iceberg, noted Zonies.

According to the Veterans Administration, hearing loss is one of the most prevalent disabilities among veterans. Further, allegations made in a qui tam suit brought in 2016 by a 3M competitor, Moldex, and that was joined by the U.S. government under the False Claims Act, are also likely to impact the latest lawsuits. In the Moldex case, documents allege that 3M employees knew about the earplug defects as early as 2000.

The qui tam suit (United States ex rel. Moldex-Metric v. 3M Company, Case No. 3:16-cv-1533-MBS (D.S.C.) was settled in July 2018, with 3M agreeing to pay $9.1 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly sold its earplugs to the military without disclosing defects that decreased hearing protection.

3M and Moldex have a history of litigation between them: 3M had filed patent litigation in 2012 to block Moldex from selling its earplugs to the military (3M Co. v. Moldex-Metric, Inc., Civil No. 12-611 (D. Minn, 2012); Moldex then filed an antitrust suit in 2015 (Moldex Metric, Inc. v. 3M Company et al, No. 0:2014cv01821 - Document 62 (D. Minn. 2015) which 3M settled. Moldex then brought the qui tam suit.

What was disclosed and what transpired during these prior litigations will be of great interest in the current matter, noted Zonies.

The primary defense currently being discussed by legal experts is government contractor immunity, based on Boyle v. United Technologies Corp., 1988, she said. This would require 3M to demonstrate that its earplugs met all three parts of an intensely factual test, generally proving that 1) the U.S. government approved reasonably precise specifications; 2) the equipment provided conformed to said specifications, and 3) the manufacturer gave adequate warning about any issues.

Verus Offers Guidance to Law Firms Working on CAEv2 Cases

As a litigation support service firm, Verus offers the following guidance to attorneys working on CAEv2 cases:

Speak with each veteran to understand the details of their military service and, importantly, the impact the hearing loss and/or tinnitus is having on their lives. As you move forward, ask your clients:



If they still have their CAEv2, and if so, act to preserve them

For photos showing them wearing the CAEv2

What base(s) they served on when they were using the CAEv2

For detailed information about any IED or ERP exposure

For a copy of their DD Form 214

One of the challenges plaintiffs attorneys will have is determining damages since the claimants in this litigation are so much younger than those in typical hearing loss cases. The lifetime impact of hearing loss and/or tinnitus is obviously much more significant for someone in their 30s than it is for the typical hearing loss plaintiff who may be in his 70s, Zonies said.

About Verus, LLC

Headquartered in Princeton, NJ, Verus LLC is a litigation support service firm that provides a full suite of services, including Case Management & Medical Review Services, Settlement Administration, Business & Advisory Services, Analytics and Document Management Services, to mass tort lawyers. Before founding Verus in 2003, the firms principals helped design some of the first-ever mass tort settlements and in the process, administered more than 450,000 asbestos personal injury claims and disbursed more than $6 billion in settlement funds and expenses. Since 2003, Verus has administered over five million personal injury claims and disbursed billions more in settlement funds. Today, Verus is fully engaged in providing litigation support services to law firms working on mass torts. The experts who work at Verus have years of experience in handling cases involving defective medical devices including IVC filters, hernia mesh and transvaginal mesh, and dangerous drugs, including Invokana, Taxotere, PPIs, Xarelto, Benicar and Zofran.

Verus employs almost 100 U.S.-based attorneys, nurses, accountants, statisticians and claims adjusters, operations experts, and hardware and software engineers to help mass tort attorneys improve operating results and maximize recoveries for their clients. For more information, visit http://www.verusllc.com or contact them at info@verusllc.com.

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Tipton Health is pleased to congratulate Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas, on earning Magnet Recognition designation for the fourth time from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Just 8% of hospitals nationwide have received Magnet recognition, and DeBakey VA is the first VA in the country to attain Magnet recognition four times.

Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Centers nursing staff truly deserves this designation for their unwavering commitment to their patients, said Dan Tipton, president and CEO of Tipton Health. We were honored to be able to support their nursing staff through the Magnet designation process.

Magnet recognition is the gold standard for nursing excellence and the highest international recognition for quality patient care. To earn Magnet recognition, organizations must provide the ANCC with both qualitative and quantitative evidence of patient care strategies and outcomes. It is a lengthy process that requires a concerted team effort. To help complete this journey and attain similar certifications, more than 150 hospitals and health systems nationwide have partnered with Tipton Health.

Included in Tiptons array of Magnet consulting services are readiness assessments (Gap Analysis), nursing excellence consulting (closing the gaps and nurse leader mentoring), workshops, Magnet document review, mock site visits, and communications and marketing support.

To find out how Tipton can help your hospital get the recognition it deserves, visit http://www.tiptonhealth.com.

About Tipton Health

Tipton Health supports clients nationwide with award-winning marketing communications services, including employee communications, human resources communications, public relations, marketing communications, intranet and Internet design, graphic design, and strategic communications. Tipton is one of the fastest-growing providers of Magnet, Pathway to Excellence and Practice Transition Accreditation Program consulting support to the nations hospital and healthcare systems. For more information, please visit http://www.tiptonhealth.com.

Tipton Communications products and services are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the ANCC. ANCC Magnet Recognition, ANCC National Magnet Conference, Institute for Credentialing Innovation, Magnet, Magnet Recognition Program, The Magnet Prize and Pathway to Excellence Program are registered trademarks of the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Journey to Magnet Excellence and Pathway to Excellence in Long Term Care are trademarks of the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Taps wont go dry: The Skolkovo Innovation Centers concrete water system was treated with PENETRON ADMIX, an integral crystalline  and completely non-toxic  admixture for a waterproof structure. Because the Penetron System had been successfully used for the basement structures of Skolkovo Technopark, we were asked once again to come up with a solution.

The upgrade of the water supply system at the Skolkovo Innovation Center, a high technology business area in Moscow, Russia, was completed April 2019. PENETRON, a topical crystalline material provided a durable waterproofing solution for the systems large, reinforced concrete water storage tank.

Historically, Russia has been successful in the sciences and technology. But the countrys lag in fostering an entrepreneur spirit in the past has led to new initiatives, such as Skolkovo, to cultivate a business and cultural hothouse that helps leverage the skills and know-how of the domestic workforce, explains Igor Chernogolov, President of Penetron Russia.

First announced by the Russian government in 2009, the new Skolkovo Innovation Center currently under construction in Moscow, Russia, includes five "clusters" specializing in different areas. These include IT, Energy, Nuclear Technologies, Biomedicine and Space Technologies. Corporations and individuals can become "residents" of Skolkovo City when their project proposals and ideas are approved, which entitles them to financial start-up assistance from the government. Numerous individual clusters have already been completed and activities continue to expand.

Construction of the main transportation hub in Skolkovo recently began, and the local Penetron team was asked to provide a waterproofing solution for the water supply system that is integrated into the hub, adds Igor Chernogolov. Because the Penetron System had been successfully used for the basement structures of Skolkovo Technopark, we were asked once again to come up with a solution.

The construction project for the hubs water supply system include upgrading the water intake network and a large water storage tank that supplies drinking water to the growing population of Skolkovo residents and facilities. PENETRON was specified as a waterproofing solution for the reinforced concrete drinking water tank.

An integral crystalline waterproofing material, PENETRON is applied by brush or spray to either the positive or negative side of the concrete. The moisture in the concrete starts a chemical reaction that creates an insoluble crystalline formation. These crystals self-heal and seal the microcracks, pores and capillaries in the concrete, penetrating deeply into the structure. The crystalline formation prevents water and water-borne chemicals from entering, even under high hydrostatic pressure.

The waterproofing benefits of the PENETRON application are permanent. Cracks that develop during the lifetime of the concrete are resealed by a self-healing capability in the presence of water. The material is NSF -61 certified for potable water applications like Skolkovo; the company has had wide-ranging success with water storage systems around the world.

This phase of construction at Skolkovo is now complete, says Igor Chernogolov. The impermeability and durability of the reinforced concrete tank was confirmed by numerous hydraulic tests.

The Penetron Group is a leading manufacturer of specialty construction products for concrete waterproofing, concrete repairs and floor preparation systems. The Group operates through a global network, offering support to the design and construction community through its regional offices, representatives and distribution channels.

For more information on Penetron waterproofing solutions, please visit penetron(dot)com or Facebook(dot)com/ThePenetronGroup, email CRDept(at)penetron(dot)com or contact the Corporate Relations Department at 631-941-9700.
Ms. Rosa Woodard prior to the sexual assault. The law acknowledges that nursing home residents have the right to live free of sexual abuse. Ms. Woodards family brought suit to hold Willowbrook accountable for allegedly violating Ms. Woodards rights, said the familys nursing home abuse attorney Charles Brown.

Brown, Christie & Green, a Houston medical malpractice law firm, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the heirs of Ms. Rosa Woodard. The Original Petition was filed in the District Court of Harris County, Texas, Cause No. 2018-90891. The plaintiffs are Byron K. Woodard and Rondia Crenshaw. The defendants are Willowbrook SNF and Willowbrook Residence and Rehabilitation Center.

The lawsuit was filed in response to an alleged sexual assault that occurred while Ms. Woodard was a resident at Willowbrook Residence and Rehabilitation Center in March 2018. According to the plaintiffs, Ms. Woodard was allegedly sexually assaulted by a male resident. The lawsuit alleges that a male resident was found in Ms. Woodards room undressed from the waist down. The male resident was allegedly forcefully engaging in oral sex with Ms. Woodard.

The plaintiffs allege that Willowbrook was negligent in protecting residents, which resulted in the alleged sexual assault of Ms. Woodard. Records indicate that due to her having Stage IV Parkinsons Disease and Dementia, that Ms. Woodard was not capable of consenting to sexual activity.

The law acknowledges that nursing home residents have the right to live free of sexual abuse. Ms. Woodards family brought suit to hold Willowbrook accountable for allegedly violating Ms. Woodards rights, said the familys nursing home abuse attorney Charles Brown.

In addition to the alleged sexual assault, the plaintiffs claim that Willowbrook leadership and staff made a series of errors in how they managed the alleged assault. It is alleged that Willowbrook staff did not take appropriate measures to contact authorities, get medical treatment for Ms. Woodard, preserve evidence, or notify her family. The Department of Health and Human Services has conducted a thorough investigation into these claims, and it is their opinion that some errors were made.

Willowbrook has responded to the Original Petition by denying that they violated the standards of care. The defendants Affirmative Defense states that the alleged injuries sustained by 65-year-old Ms. Woodard, if any, were the result of her own acts or omissions.

The alleged assailant is not named in the lawsuit, but is facing criminal charges. He is due to appear in court on July 26, 2019.

Plaintiffs Family Hopes for Justice

Ms. Woodards son and daughter are now looking to the District Court to review the allegations made against Willowbrook. If the court finds that the standards of care were, in fact, violated, the plaintiffs hope that the court will hold Willowbrook accountable for any such failures and the harm that their mother allegedly endured.

Ms. Woodards daughter stated, I placed my mother in Willowbrook believing that she would get the utmost care, attention, and safety. Instead, my mother suffered. I will not rest until the facility is held accountable.

About Charles Brown - Brown, Christie & Green

Attorney Charles Brown is the Managing Partner at Brown, Christie & Green law firm located in Houston, Texas. Brown, Christie & Green is the largest plaintiffs medical malpractice firm in Texas. Charles is a top-rated trial lawyer, and has consistently been honored and awarded for his work advocating for his clients. Brown, Christie & Green focuses on medical malpractice and nursing home abuse cases. The primary office is located at 712 Main St., Suite 800, Houston, TX 77002. For more information, please visit https://www.medmalfirm.com, or call (800) 600-4210.
Underlying our work is a deep-seated belief that all students, regardless of their background or experience, deserve access to the network and support necessary to find opportunities and ultimately achieve their goals -- professionally and beyond, said PeopleGrove CEO Adam Saven.

PeopleGrove, an online platform that connects students with alumni and mentors before, during, and after university, has closed a $4.7 million Series A round of financing led by Reach Capital, with participation from Bisk Ventures, Collaborative Fund, GSV Acceleration, Launch Capital, Riverpark Ventures, and University Ventures.

At a time when universities need to serve an increasingly diverse range of students and demonstrate value, PeopleGrove provides the tangible support systems necessary for students to get the most from their educational experience and investment. With the PeopleGrove platform, universities can now enable meaningful connections between students, alumni, staff, peers, mentors, instructors, and more.

Underlying our work is a deep-seated belief that all students, regardless of their background or experience, deserve access to the network and support necessary to find opportunities and ultimately achieve their goals -- professionally and beyond, said PeopleGrove CEO Adam Saven. Our goal is to take the invisible yet powerful social capital networks that are often available to only a select few, and make them open and accessible to all students.

The PeopleGrove platform launched in 2015 with the support of Stanford University as a close development partner. Today, PeopleGrove is proud to be partnering with over 180 client institutions, ranging from large public universities like Kansas State University, Clemson University, and the University of Michigan, to smaller private institutions and liberal arts colleges like Cornell University, Wellesley College, and Williams College, to online universities such as UMUC. And today, PeopleGrove mentors have volunteered well over 50,000 hours of their time in support of students.

PeopleGrove will use the capital to increase its investment in product and engineering, driving further development of its offerings across the entire student lifecycle, including Enrollment, Academic, Career, and Alumni success. In addition, PeopleGrove will selectively expand its leadership team to support the accelerated growth of its business.

The PeopleGrove platform is powerful because it taps into the deep affinity that both current students and alumni share for their University, said Jennifer Carolan, General Partner at Reach Capital. The relationships that unfold on the platform between students and alumni have myriad benefits, from personal mentorship to career opportunities.

Its vital for students to feel a sense of connection with Wellesley starting with the admissions process, across their entire academic experience, and beyond as they join our alumni ranks. PeopleGrove is our platform for creating community in all phases of a students journey, which ultimately helps drive their academic, personal, and professional success, commented Jennifer Pollard, Director of Operations and Analytics, Wellesley College.

To learn more about how PeopleGrove is working to ensure all students and professionals have access to the community and connections needed to succeed, visit PeopleGrove.com.

About PeopleGrove

Founded in 2015, PeopleGrove is on a mission to connect every student and professional with the mentors, advisers and network needed to realize their full potential and find a fulfilling career. PeopleGroves Success Team platform has been successfully launched at the worlds leading institutions, including Stanford, University of Michigan, Wellesley College, University of Maryland University College and many more. Additional information is available at PeopleGrove.com.

About Reach Capital

Reach Capital supports the most promising entrepreneurs developing technology solutions for challenges in early childhood, K-12, higher education and lifelong learning. Reach invests in early-stage tech tools, applications, content, and services to improve educational opportunities for all students. The Fund also acts as a catalyst, inspiring and enabling traditional and non-traditional investors to provide capital to the fast-growing ed tech market.
With May marking the start of National Water Safety Month, a campaign created by the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals to raise awareness about water safety, Pool Scouts is working to provide education to swimmers around the country.

This year, the Virginia Beach-based pool cleaning and maintenance company is focused on its continued commitment to the safety of its customers and the communities it serves. The brand is taking the time to properly educate pool owners about how to keep their family and pets safe. Throughout the month, the company will be offering customer tips, promoting safe swimming rules and hosting giveaways to help raise awareness for an important cause.

To increase efforts around the promotion of safety, Pool Scouts kicked off 2019 by announcing a new corporate charitable partnership with the USA Swimming Foundation, the philanthropic arm of USA Swimming. The announcement was made via video conference during the annual Pool Scouts convention with Olympic silver medalist and USA Swimming Foundation Ambassador, Elizabeth Beisel. Established in 2004, the USA Swimming Foundation works to strengthen the sport by saving lives and building champions - in the pool and in life.

Our concept continues to grow, with 43 territories sold in our first two years, said Michael Wagner, President of Pool Scouts. As we continue to enter new markets nationwide, its very important for us to ensure that our staff and franchisees are properly trained on pool cleaning and maintenance as they work locally to protect the communities we serve. This also includes sharing best practices and educating each of our customers. National Water Safety Month is a reminder of the importance around water safety education, but something we continue to highlight year-round.

For one week during National Water Safety Month, Pool Scouts plans to dedicate five percent of sales across participating locations to the USA Swimming Foundation, in an effort to help fund swim lessons for children who may not have access to them currently.

USA Swimming Foundation Executive Director Debbie Hesse shared her appreciation: We are thrilled to team up with Pool Scouts, which shares our vision and dedication to providing water safety education to swimmers across the country. Having these additional supporters out in the community, spreading information and gathering funds, is critical to making a lasting difference.

Pool Scouts franchisees will be making a splash in their communities by providing education to local residents, including husband and wife duo Jake and Kinsey McCutchen of Pool Scouts Memphis.

As parents of three young boys, in addition to being pool owners ourselves, water safety is incredibly important to us, said Kinsey McCutchen. The USA Swimming Foundation is planning to host events in Memphis in late May and we plan to work closely with them surrounding these initiatives. In addition, we are working in conjunction with a local child water safety instructor to develop educational videos and tips for parents and swimmers.

Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1-4, and the second-leading cause for children under 14. Its important for kids and parents to learn to be safer in and around the water, and to understand the dangers as well. To provide additional education to both new and existing customers, Pool Scouts will be posting safety tips on their social media pages, as well as offering step-by-step tutorials through emails, pamphlets and conversations in person and over the phone.

As a brand, we always prioritize safety when it comes to pools, and we are continually finding new ways to spread the safety message during the pool season, said Gwen Marsh, Pool Scouts Director of Marketing. Partnering with the USA Swimming Foundation will allow for us to reach more people than ever when it comes to water safety education and we look forward to seeing where our charitable partnership leads.

To prepare for the warm summer months, pool owners, parents and swimmers of all backgrounds can visit https://poolscouts.com/water-safety/, https://www.usaswimmingfoundation.org/ or http://www.nationalwatersafetymonth.org/ to learn more on water safety.

ABOUT POOL SCOUTS

Virginia Beach, VA-based Pool Scouts is a premier pool service franchise focused on delivering a quality, consistent brand experience while providing pool cleaning, maintenance and minor repair services at residential properties. Technicians are trained in testing, monitoring, treating and servicing pools and can provide ongoing service as well as help at the beginning and end of the summer season. With nearly 20 territories nationwide, Pool Scouts offers a great opportunity as a low-cost franchise in the pool services industry with available territories across the United States. For more information or franchising opportunities, visit http://poolscoutsfranchise.com.


Featuring all-new styling, upgraded standard and available technology and the industry's best bumper-to-bumper warranty, the VW Passat is sure to be a huge hit in Topeka and beyond.

The first part of the year is typically an exciting time for the automotive world. The presence of flagship automotive shows in Detroit, Chicago and New York combined with the volume of new models and updates to existing models that are announced make the period of the year especially exciting for those in the market for a new vehicle.

Thanks to the brands focus on value, sophisticated design and doing things just a little bit differently, one of the most sought-after brands by such shoppers is Volkswagen. Among the entire Volkswagen lineup, the Passat is considered by drivers, industry authorities and reputable third-party review organizations alike as one of the best midsize sedans available.

The staff at Volkswagen of Topeka  a new and used Volkswagen sales and service center in Topeka  are excited to let drivers, considering a midsize sedan, know about the all-new 2019 Volkswagen Passat. Publishing a page to the dealerships website, which details the upgrades and shows off the luxury-styled model, the staff at Volkswagen of Topeka are excited to share the opportunity to preorder the upcoming model.

Among the changes drivers will see with the 2020 Volkswagen Passat over the 2019 Volkswagen Passat are a new powertrain with upgraded torque, available active safety features which mitigate road hazards and a striking new design that looks more at home in the luxury ranks than the mass-market ones.

Volkswagen of Topeka staff know that the 2020 Volkswagen Passat will be a hot model when it arrives this summer and want interested shoppers to have the first opportunity to experience its robust combination of grace and power. By simply filling out a form on the Volkswagen of Topeka website, those shoppers can ensure a spot in line to test-drive, lease or purchase the new model upon its arrival.

Those seeking further information on the 2020 Volkswagen Passat are encouraged to contact the sales staff at Volkswagen of Topeka by calling 785-727-2122. Volkswagen of Topeka is located at 3030 S. Kansas Ave. In Topeka.




By Andrew Hammond





Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe topped off a busy diplomatic week last Saturday, after two days with Donald Trump in the United States. Earlier, he and top European leaders also met in Brussels for the EU-Japan summit which not only deepened their bilateral strategic partnership, but also set the agenda for June's G20 summit in Osaka.







Thursday's discussions were broad-ranging on issues from climate change to connectivity. However, one topic stood out above all else: the future of international trade and the rules-based economic order.







Japan, which remains the world's third-largest economy after the United States and China, and Europe's second-largest export market in Asia, has recently stepped up its leadership of this international trade agenda. And with it having the G20 presidency this year, this issue will be a key one at the Osaka summit in June which could cause tensions with the Trump administration given its protectionist leanings.







This same issue was a source of contention at last year's G20 in Argentina, and also in 2018 in Germany which saw a clash between Trump and Chancellor Angela Merkel. The latter pushed for a strong G20 reaffirmation of international trade, as will Abe in June, while the U.S. president secured a partial victory in inserting language in the end-of-summit communique that countries can protect their markets with "legitimate trade-defense instruments".







The reason why trade was so central to the Brussels summit was the coming into effect in January of the EU-Japan free trade agreement. Both sides on April 25 took stock of implementation of this mammoth deal that covers around a third of global GDP and almost 650 million people.







The accord took years to agree with the headlines captured by the scrapping of duties on 97 percent and 99 percent of Japanese and European imports, respectively. This could be a particular boon for key EU exports to Japan such as dairy and food products, while Japan's automakers may be big winners too.







Beyond the numbers, however, the co-host of the summit  European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker  has stressed that the EU-Japan trade treaty is also so important because it rests on "values and principles." In part, this relates to the fact that the agreement is the first to be struck by Brussels which includes language upholding the Paris climate agreement.







Specifically, there is a commitment to support the Paris treaty by making a "positive contribution" to reducing climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. This follows a move by the European Commission to try to ensure, going forward, that all EU trade bargains include reference to the key climate deal.







Yet, it is not just on the European front that Japan is making waves on international trade. In March last year, Tokyo was at the vanguard of 11 Asia-Pacific and Americas nations which signed the so-called Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).







And, in this context, the United States (after reversing course under Trump and deciding not to join CPTPP) began earlier this month negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement with Japan, a topic that was a central theme of Abe's discussion with Trump last Friday and Saturday.







The Washington-Tokyo negotiations come in a context in which, despite political tensions over the bilateral economic relationship, U.S.-Japan trade topped $300 billion last year, with Japanese firms having invested nearly $500 billion in the U.S. market.







This underlines that one of the ironies of the timing of Japan renewing its international credentials on trade issues is that it comes in a context when the United States is widely perceived to be rolling back its global leadership of this agenda. Washington, for instance, has not just pulled out from entering into CPTTP, but has also been slapping tariffs on several key nations, including China.







Yet, it is not just the United States, but also another long-standing Japanese ally, the United Kingdom, which is also perplexing Tokyo right now on the economic front. U.K. ministers are on damage limitation exercises with their Japanese counterparts after reportedly angering Tokyo with their tactics over securing a new post-Brexit trade treaty.







And this comes after Japan had already decided against replicating in any post-Brexit U.K. trade treaty the terms of the agreement Tokyo reached with the EU. Japan is instead reportedly seeking a tougher stance amid the alarm of many firms headquartered in the country, who employ some 140,000 U.K.-based employees, over the prospect of a no-deal Brexit withdrawal in 2019 or beyond.







This underlines the apparent hollow prospectus of many Brexiteers who, while wishing to see a "global Britain," will through their commitment to London leaving the EU, exclude the nation from the benefits of the EU-Japan deal. This agreement has created exactly the type of free trade area "beyond Europe" that is one of the key ambitions of multiple leading Brexiteers.







Taken overall, last week's Brussels summit yet again burnished Japan's international trade leadership credentials. And in the growing context of uncertainty over the future of the multilateral trade system, rules-based economic order and liberal democracy itself, Tokyo will leverage this dialogue at June's G20 to help promote an agenda around commitment to multilateralism over bilateral deals, and internationalism over nationalism at a time of growing populism.







) is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics.











Andrew Hammond ( andrewkorea@outlook.com
Organizers of the Sales 3.0 Conference today announced the theme for its Chicago event will be Frictionless Selling: Accelerate Sales and Customer Success. The Sales 3.0 Conference will take place in Chicago on June 18 and 19 at the Drake Hotel.

Speakers will focus on how sales leaders can achieve higher sales productivity and improved sales performance. More details about the agenda can be found at https://www.sales30conf.com/chicago2019/agenda.html.

In addition, the National Association of Women Sales Professionals (NAWSP, https://nawsp.org/) is a media sponsor of the Sales 3.0 Conference and, in Chicago, will host a presentation called Beyond Lip Service: Attracting Women in Sales with Policies That (Really) Support Their Success. This presentation will explore the following issues:



Do your workplace policies actually support women sales professionals? Many companies are operating under outdated policies and procedures that might not include any support for gender-equality practices.

Women in sales want to work for companies with clear positions on the fair and equitable treatment of men and women. For companies to attract and retain the best women sales professionals in both entry-level and leadership positions, they should examine how their policies reflect issues related to gender equality.

Find out which policies can help your business create a climate that is conducive to gender equality so that, all things being equal, women will be more willing to work for you.

The agenda for the Sales 3.0 Conference also addresses such topics as sales process, sales leadership, the customer experience, sales performance, sales productivity, accelerating revenue, sales culture, sales technology, and sales enablement.

Great sales leaders today are obsessed with the concept of frictionless selling, says Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder of Selling Power. They all want to create great revenue engines for their sales teams. The question is, how can they do it? Which tools will be the best ones? What processes do you need in place to align with the buyers journey? And how can you set up systems to attract and retain the best sales candidates so you can remain competitive? These are all questions our expert speakers will explore and answer in detail at the Sales 3.0 Conference in Chicago this June.

Gschwandtner will also deliver a keynote presentation at the event: Creating a Level Four Mindset for Winning in Sales.

Alice Heiman, founder of Alice Heiman, LLC, will act as emcee and chief networking officer at the Sales 3.0 Conference.

Standard registration rates begin on May 14; register before that date to receive early reservation pricing. Register for the Sales 3.0 Conference at https://sales30conference.swoogo.com/chicago2019.

For hotel accommodations, please call the Drake Hotel directly at 1-800-55-DRAKE (800-553-7253), and mention the Sales 3.0 Conference to get the group rate.
Whether through innovative technologies, crowdsourcing or online marketplaces like Scientist.com, our industry needs to look in new directions if it hopes to continue finding cures for the worlds diseases.Dan Kagan, PhD, Scientist.coms COO

Scientist.com, the online marketplace for outsourced scientific services, today announced the successful completion of its first-ever company-hosted conference, the Faster Science Summit: Innovations and Disruptions. The event took place on April 16, 2019 in downtown Boston and featured keynote speaker Bernard Munos, a panel of industry experts, content-specific workshops, a supplier awards ceremony and a new product launch.

Much hard work went into bringing together thought leaders in the life science research community to discuss ways of disrupting traditional R&D, said Dan Kagan, PhD, Scientist.coms COO. Whether through innovative technologies, crowdsourcing or online marketplaces like Scientist.com, our industry needs to look in new directions if it hopes to continue finding cures for the worlds diseases.

Bernard Munos, noted speaker and author, delivered a keynote speech that addressed the need for big pharma to expand capacity and use new approaches such as crowdsourcing to create a more cost-effective approach to medical research. This was followed by a panel discussion entitled, Making Innovation Part of the Pipeline that included representatives from top 25 pharma as well as several well-known contract research organizations (LifeCanvas Technologies, GVK BIO and Mimetas). In recognition of its outstanding customer service, All Cells, LLC was named Supplier of the Year, and IQ Proteomics received the honor of Small Business Supplier of the Year.

A Scientist.com Original Service, Trial Insights, was also unveiled at the conference. Exclusively available through Scientist.com, Trial Insights curates publicly-available clinical trials data from at least seven different sources, including ClinicalTrials.gov, and presents useful metrics in an easy-to-navigate, customizable online dashboard. Updated nightly, Trial Insights is used by researchers, pharma consultants, venture capitalists, non-profits, patients and more, to guide key pre-clinical and clinical decision-making.

About Scientist.com

Scientist.com is the world's leading marketplace for outsourced R&D. The marketplace simplifies R&D sourcing, saving time and money, reducing risk and providing access to the latest innovative tools and technologies. Scientist.com operates private enterprise marketplaces for most of the worlds major pharmaceutical companies, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Since its founding in 2007, Scientist.com has raised $32 million from 5AM Ventures, Leerink Transformation Partners and Heritage Provider Network among others. Visit scientist.com to learn more.

Join Scientist.com on social media: YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and - Instagram.

Media Contacts:

Sean Preci

Director of Communications

+1 858 455-1300 ext. 401
BG Holmberg with Brad Campbell, Campbell Custom Development, at 4211 W. Swann Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33609, celebrating Holmbergs 900th property sale Bob Glaser, President & CEO, Smith & Associates said, As Smith celebrates our 50th year in business, we toast our associates that reach new milestones of success. This pinnacle achievement for BG is the result of hard work and a career of being useful to others.

Smith & Associates Real Estate agent, BG Holmberg, celebrated his 900th property sale today with the closing of a home in Beach Park. During his illustrious career, Holmberg has been consistently recognized as a top realtor and won many accolades. Selling his 900th property marks a major milestone helping buyers and sellers throughout the Tampa Bay area achieve their real estate goals.

Since 1997, and with a 95% repeat or referral client network rate, Holmbergs focus has always been offering his clients exceptional customer service. Because of his stellar reputation, he has developed trusted relationships with local custom builders and has been involved in over 160 new homes being designed, built, marketed and sold since 2009, in addition to traditional resales. Holmberg has been a part of a real estate market that has experienced tremendous change in those twenty-two years. His first closing was in 1997 at 3007 Napoleon Ave. The home sold for $40,000.

The average real estate agent sells about a dozen homes a year, so this achievement puts Holmberg into an exclusive club. I am honored to have been able to bring my real estate market expertise to so many homebuyers and sellers in Tampa Bay, said Holmberg, whose sales volume in 2018 was over $40 million. It means that my business plan is working with great continuity. Its an honor to effectively help my clients with their real estate needs, and they trust me to repeatedly handle often the most expensive investment they make during their lifetime.

Holmbergs 900th sale was at 4211 W. Swann Avenue. The Beach Park home was built by Campbell Custom Development and was listed at $2,200,000. With 5,828 square foot, 5 Bedrooms,5 1/2 Baths, a four-car garage, pool and spa, this home is exquisite. Holmberg said partnering with this homebuilder always brings an impeccable new construction offering to the market.

Bob Glaser, President & CEO, Smith & Associates said that Holmberg sets the bar high for innovation, creativity and offering his clients the highest level of service. As Smith celebrates our 50th year in business, we toast our associates that reach new milestones of success. This pinnacle achievement for BG is the result of hard work and a career of being useful to others.

Holmberg provides a full spectrum of real estate services to both buyers and sellers, which includes single-family residential, new construction homes, waterfront, luxury homes, and land acquisitions.
More than 3,200 Salt Lake Community College students will be awarded degrees and certificates at the schools upcoming Commencement event, scheduled for Friday, May 3, at 9:30 a.m. at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.

During the event, the college will also honor several community leaders, faculty members and students who have been selected as SLCC Graduates of Excellence. Honorees are as follows:

Distinguished Alumni Awards  The Distinguished Alumni Award honors SLCC graduates and former students for contributions to their communities and in their chosen professional fields.

Natalie Kaddas  Kaddas is the CEO of Kaddas Enterprises, a Utah-based plastics manufacturing company. Since 1992, she has taken many classes at SLCC to develop skills to grow her business. Kaddas is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, which is offered at the colleges Miller Campus.

Mark Ellis  Ellis is a senior construction manager with Kroger Company and a lieutenant colonel for the U.S. Air Force Reserves. He received an associates degree from SLCC before earning a bachelors degree in electrical engineering, an MBA and a masters degree in Military Operational Art and Science.

Officer David Romrell -- South Salt Lake Police Officer David Romrell, who died last year in the line of duty, will be honored posthumously. He was a criminal justice student at SLCC and served several tours of duty with the United States Marine Corps.

Legislative Champion  The SLCC Legislative Champion Award honors Utah legislators who demonstrate a commitment to advance and improve higher education in the state.

Utah House Rep. Derrin R. Owens  During the most recent Utah legislative session, Rep. Owens successfully sponsored a bill establishing the Access Utah Promise Scholarship program, which will provide millions in need-based aid to students attending any public higher education institution or technical college in the state.

Teaching Excellence Awards and Distinguished Faculty Lecturer -- The Teaching Excellence Award is given by the SLCC Foundation Board to recognize excellence in professional education. The Distinguished Faculty Lecturer recognizes quality work by one of SLCCs full-time faculty and the charge to develop that work into a public presentation.

Pook Carson  Carson is a business professor who has worked to improve her classes using student feedback and free online educational resources. She has taught at New York University, the University of Utah, Westminster College and Brigham Young University.

J. Chad Erekson  Erekson teaches animation at SLCC and encourages his students to work as a group to develop solutions for complex issues. He is an alumnus of SLCC and holds a bachelors of fine arts from Brigham Young University.

Linda Jemmett  Jemmett is an adjunct biology professor. She has taught at the college for 20 years and worked as a medical technologist before coming to SLCC.

Jane Drexler  Drexler has been named as the schools Distinguished Faculty Lecturer. She is a philosophy professor and won SLCCs Teaching Excellence Award in 2016.

Graduates of Excellence

Seven students will be recognized as SLCC Graduates of Excellence. The award is given to one student from each school at the college and general studies. This is a prestigious distinction that recognizes hard work, commitment and selflessness.

Darrell Godfrey  Diesel Systems Technologies Major, School of Applied Technologies and Technical Specialties

Sheresa Jensen  Mortuary Science Major, School of Health Sciences

Lisa Nord  Graphic Design Major, School of Arts, Communication and Media

Phuc To  Pre-pharmacy Major, School of Science, Mathematics & Engineering

Whitney Van Alfen  Psychology Major, School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Matthew Watts  General Studies

Cody Wilkerson  Business Major, School of Business

SLCCs Commencement ceremony will also include presenting honorary doctorate degrees to Jay K. Francis from the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies and Patricia R. Richards from SelectHealth. Luke Williams, an innovation expert and New York University professor, will be the events keynote speaker.

Salt Lake Community College is Utahs largest two-year institution and educates and trains students at 11 campuses and sites as well as online. The college is Salt Lake Countys principal supplier of applied technology courses and a top 10 college nationally for the number of associates degrees awarded. SLCC is also Utahs leading provider of workforce development programs.
Our insurance experts will explain you the best ways to save money on car insurance, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Compare-autoinsurance.org has released a new blog post presents 10 efficient ways to get lower car insurance prices.

For more info and free quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/10-ways-in-which-a-driver-can-save-for-car-insurance/

Insurance expenses can rise to several thousand dollars per year. It all depends on several factors, including the model of the vehicle, driving experience and history, coverage limits, annual mileage and so on. Drivers can get better rates if they:



Get multiple insurance services from the same company. A person can easily bundle car insurance with homeowners/renters/condo insurance and earn a valuable discount. When completing online questionnaires, the user is asked if he owns the home/apartment where he/she lives. If the user owns it, he will be provided with a bundle option. In some cases, a person can save as much as 20% simply by bundling coverage.

Use multi-vehicle plans. Covering multiple vehicles under the same insurer will also be financially rewarding. Multi-vehicle plans also provide a discount. The value of the discount is directly proportional with the number of insured vehicles.

Get higher deductibles. It is up to the policyholder to set deductibles. The usually recommended value is $500, for both comprehensive and collision coverage. However, the policyholder can choose higher values and lower the overall premiums.

Drop full-coverage on older cars. If the car is older than 10 years, keeping full coverage is likely to make the owner overpay. Since a cars value diminishes over time, keeping full coverage for cars older than 5-6 years can lead to unnecessary costs.

Avoid committing traffic violations and accidents. Whenever a person tries to obtain online quotes, he will be asked for claims and traffic violations in the recent 3-5 years. Traffic violations and accidents will not only increase premiums but can also determine a carrier to consider a client high-risk driver and eventually, drop him.

Drive a safe car. Consider a cars safety rating before buying it. Look for annual crash-test ratings and NHTSA safety rankings. A safe car is cheaper and easier to insure.

Install extra safety and anti-theft devices. Investing in a cars safety will be greatly appreciated by insurance companies. Drivers can qualify for several discounts. Furthermore, installing car recovery systems will lower the comprehensive component of the premium.

Graduate a defensive driving course. The client will improve his driving skills and will get a discount. Many online questionnaires ask drivers (especially the young ones) if they have participated in courses provided by the local DMV or they are willing to participate in defensive driving classes.

Compare online car insurance quotes every six months. It is recommended to get car insurance quotes at least once every 6 months and check the average premiums costs. Being permanently aware of the average costs will help drivers decide if they stay with the same carrier upon renewal or not.

Pay-in-full. Paying for the whole coverage period will help drivers save around 10% on their insurance. Use online quotes and see how much it can be saved by paying for everything in advance.

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.

For more information and money-saving tips, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/.
Join us at the Predictive Business Analytics, Forecasting, & Planning Conference in New Orleans from May 6-8 hosted by IBF.

Vanguard Software is proud, once again, to be a sponsor of the Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning. This conference is a comprehensive program covering everything about predicting the future using new sources of data, methods, tools, talent management approaches, and more so supply chain professionals can become more confident in decision making and business plans.

From last years conference, This event was very informative and there were great ideas presented that I will be using to improve our forecasting process. -Barbara Thomas, Demand Planning Manager, Ecolab, Inc.

Our representatives will be available to answer anything about Vanguard Predictive Plannings forecasting and planning capabilities, or demonstrate capabilities in any of the following topics:



Sales Forecasting

Demand Planning

Inventory Optimization

S&OP

IBP, and more

Cant wait until then? Schedule a demo now by clicking here.

About IBF

The Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning  IBF is a membership organization recognized worldwide as the premier full-service provider of demand planning, forecasting, business analytics, S&OP (Sales & Operations Planning)/IBP (Integrated Business Planning) education, benchmarking research, corporate training, e-Learning, professional certification, world-class conferences, and advisory services. Since 1981, IBF has been helping businesses improve their forecasting and planning performance in an effort to enhance growth, optimize supply chains, and improve their bottom line. It has been said that no other organization on the globe has as much depth in its educational content for S&OP, demand planning, and forecasting as IBF. IBF is known for two levels of certification: Certified Professional Forecaster (CPF) and Advanced Certified Professional Forecaster (ACPF).

About Vanguard Software

Vanguard Software introduced its first product for decision support analysis in 1995. Today, companies across every major industry and more than 60 countries rely on Vanguard Softwares Integrated Business Planning (IBP), forecasting, and advanced analytic cloud platform. Vanguard Software is based in Cary, North Carolina.
Vaughn College is excited to have Scott Donnelly deliver the commencement address to our graduating students, said Vaughn College President Dr. Sharon B. DeVivo.

Vaughn College will celebrate its 87th Commencement on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at 10 a.m. in the William R. DeCota Hangar. Scott C. Donnelly, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Textron, Inc. will deliver the commencement address to nearly 200 graduates and their families. He will also be awarded an honorary degree by President Dr. Sharon B. DeVivo at the ceremony.

Textron is one of the worlds best-known multi-industry companies, recognized for its powerful brands such as Bell, Cessna, Beechcraft, E-Z-GO, Arctic Cat and many more. The company leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative products and services.

Donnelly joined Textron in July 2008 as executive vice president and chief operating officer and was promoted to president and chief operating officer in January 2009. He became CEO in December 2009 and was elected chairman of the board effective September 1, 2010.

Vaughn College is excited to have Scott Donnelly deliver the commencement address to our graduating students, said DeVivo. Mr. Donnelly has been a driving force in advancing the fields of aviation and technology, and sharing his insight and experience will be an inspiration to the future leaders of the industries we serve.

Donnelly was president and CEO for General Electric (GE) Aviation, the worlds leading producer of large and small jet engines for commercial and military aircraft and a major provider of flight management, actuation and power management systems, and served as senior vice president and director of GE Global Research, the worlds largest and most diversified industrial research organization.

Donnelly joined GE in 1989 as manager of Electronics Design Engineering for GEs Ocean Systems Division in Syracuse, NY. He went on to serve in a variety of leadership roles for the company, and in 1995 he moved to GEs Industrial Control Systems business, where he held various management positions. Donnelly was named a vice president of GE in 1997, responsible for Global Technology Operations at GE Healthcare.

Donnelly received a bachelors degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is on the Board of Directors for Medtronic plc and the National Air and Space Museum and the Board of Trustees for Bryant University.

About Vaughn

Founded in 1932, Vaughn College is a private, nonprofit, four-year college that enrolls more than 1,500 students in masters, bachelors and associate degree programs in engineering, technology, management and aviation on its main campus in New York City and online. The student-faculty ratio of 15 to 1 ensures a highly personalized learning environment. Ninety-six percent of Vaughn College graduates are placed in professional positions, 80 percent in their field of study, or choose to continue their education within one year of graduation. They work in 20 countries and all 50 states. The institution serves many first-generation college students and is recognized by the US Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. For more information, visit http://www.vaughn.edu.
Conceived and produced as part a national effort to retell the painful history of Canadas indigenous people, This Place: 150 Years Retold, is an anthology of 10 graphic stories created by many of the countrys acclaimed indigenous writers and comics artists. The graphic book will be published this month by Highwater Press.

Managing editor Laura McKay said the book is one of 200 projects chosen to be funded by the Canada Council for the Arts to mark the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation.

The Highwater Press imprint publishes 4-6 titles a year and has a backlist of about 45 titles, of which about half are graphic novels. An imprint of Portage & Main Press, Highwater exclusively publishes worksnonfiction, novels, graphic novels, and childrens booksabout Canadas indigenous population.

PW spoke with members of the creative teams for four of the stories. They include Tara Audibert, illustrator for the stories, Migwitetmeg: We Remember It (written by Barndon Mitchell), and Kitaskinaw 2350 (written by Chelsea Vowell), Richard Van Camp, who wrote the story Like A Razor Slash (drawn by Scott B. Henderson) and David Robertson, writer for Peggy (drawn by Natasha Donovan).

A forthcoming episode of More to Come, PW's weekly podcast on graphic novels, will feature extended interviews with these and other creators included in This Place. (Click here for Part 1 of the interviews and here for Part 2)

Tara, what can you tell us about Migwitetmeg: We Remember It," which is about a dispute over fishing rights, and about Kitaskinaw 2350 which is essentially indigenous science fiction?

"We Remember It" is the story of a disagreement over fishing rights and the lengths the government went to prevent this one small community in the territory of Restigouche from fishing. Theres even a documentary film by Alana Obomsawin [Incident at Restigouche] about it that covers everything that happened and the comics are based on the story. The government brought in military helicopters--it was insane. This isnt something that happened way in the past [it happened in the 1980s]; its so recent and so insane. A beautiful part of this story is that the indigenous community said no, get out of here, and just pushed the government back. Its empowering to other indigenous communities to learn that we have the right to say no.

"Kitaskinaw 2350" is indigenous science fiction. I think the idea of an indigenous-led future, by having an ideal, is one way we get things to change. The writer, Chelsea Vowel, has an indigenous character that travels to the past, because the people of the future with all their crazy indigenous technology and a culture of peace, just dont know about the horrible experiences of the indigenous past.

Can you help us with the pronunciation of the native titles?

I cant pronounce the name of it either [laughing]. Im Wolastoqiyik, or Maliseet, and Brandon is Mikmag [indigenous nations that extend across New Brunswick into Maine]. Across Canada there are indigenous people and some are similar but we all have different cultures and different languages. Wolastoqiyik and Mikmag are very closely connected but I cant pronounce the name of the story!

Richard Van Camp (a member of the Tilcho Nation, a Dene First Nation people) wrote the story Like A Razor Slash. Can you tell us about the story and its key characters, Chief Frank TSeleie and his government counterpart, justice Thomas Berger.

I use comic books to celebrate indigenous history, our traditional laws, and the legacy of our heroes from the Northwest Territories. I was honored to work with Frank TSeleie and honor him in the story. The title comes from someone who said at the time, to put an oil pipeline through the Northwest Territories was like a razor slash across the Mona Lisa. When I was four years old [in 1975] Justice Berger went to every Dene community in the Northwest Territories [the Dene people inhabit the arctic regions of Canada] to collect testimony about oil companies that wanted to put a pipeline through the territories.

Frank TSeleies speech at that inquiry [which is online] is just as powerful as Martin Luther Kings I Have A Dream speech. You can see those oil executives sinking into their seats as you watch 28 year-old Chief TSeleie speak powerfully and eloquently about his love for the land. I think comic books are a really gentle way to welcome a reader into your life and your culture. My biggest honor was being able to call Mr. Frank TSeleie. He guided me, answered questions and was very patient. [Indigenous people] owe a lot to Frank TSeleie and to his family.

David Robertson (a member of the Cree nation) tell us about Peggy, your story about the life of Francis Peggy Pegahmagabow.

I wanted to write about Pegahmagabow, one of the most decorated soldiers in Canadian history, because in his story we see the exploits and passion of one indigenous person and the incredible things he did for his people and his country. But also, we see a microcosm of how the government of Canada has treated indigenous people historically. During his time fighting for his country in WWI he was not viewed as a true human in his country. He put his life on the line anyway. He was one of the most effective snipers in world history [credited with killing nearly 400 Germans and capturing another 300] and when he came back after the war the government wouldnt even let him buy livestock [for his farm]; the government denied him loans.

Despite that and suffering from PTSD, he became a great leader of his people and for indigenous people throughout the country. He was an enormous trailblazer for this country. There are many parallels between how black people were treated in the U.S. and how indigenous people have been treated in North America and Canada. One of the powers of storytelling is how it can create connections between people and create commonalities. I want people to read this book and think about it and seek out and learn more about him.
An autonomous kart is on the track for a Test and Tune event on April 6 at CERAland track in Columbus, Indiana. Karts from Purdue and Anderson universities attended the test.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  In less than a month, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and last years champ, Will Power, will look to add to their Borg-Warner trophy cases by winning the Indianapolis 500.

But one of the winners at events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this May wont be a person. It will be an autonomous car.

Purdue University Motorsports on May 14-15 will again showcase its evGrand Prix for high school and college divisions. And for the second year, autonomous karts will take to the makeshift track inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway grounds for the Student Karting World Finals presented by Hoosier Racing Tire.

This is one of many events celebrating Purdues Sesquicentennial, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. This yearlong celebration is highlighting Purdues remarkable history of giant leaps, while focusing on what giant leaps Purdue can take to address the worlds problems. One of the four themes is Artificial Intelligence, Algorithms and Automation: Balancing Humanity and Technology.

Were excited to have the Autonomous Division again join the evGrand Prixs existing set of high school and collegiate competitions. This brings a new level of engineering design to the program, requiring more in-depth knowledge of sensors, software and even artificial intelligence, said E.J. Williams, EV expert and support staff for evGrand Prix.

On May 14, the college-series race will feature 20 lithium-powered karts from colleges across the country, starting at 4 p.m.

Collegiate autonomous karts will practice both days, with the race starting at 2 p.m. on May 15.

In the high school division, racing teams from 24 high schools and technical career training centers will compete in manned karts at 4 p.m. May 15.

Both days will start at 8 a.m. with tech inspection, team meetings, numerous practices and qualifications scheduled throughout the day prior to the races.

The races are included as part of the daily gate admission at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. IndyCar will be having practice sessions on the track on May 14-15.

These are not just races for the high school and college students, said Danny White, manager of Purdue Motorsports and K-12 Schools Partnerships. These projects have a large economic development and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) component, especially as the auto and racing industry both have deep ties to Indiana.

With many countries looking to limit or ban production on internal combustion engines, electric autonomous transportation will be the future, White said.

This upcoming transition will be the largest disruptive technology shift we have ever seen, larger than when we went to mechanized transportation, he said. We need to make sure that we are teaching the students relevant engineering and technology for their future and what will also be relevant and continue to produce the types and caliber of students that will attract manufacturers to relocate to Indiana or find our students a new refreshing and up-to-speed resource they are so desperately seeking.

Purdues M-STEM3  or Motorsports STEM for Manufacturing and Medicine  is working with high school and collegiate racing teams and industry representatives to expand racing as well as improve safety and speed.

For the series, Purdue Motorsports and evGrand Prix have partnered with Top Kart USA to provide kart chassis kits for both high school and college teams. College teams build their own powertrain and kart. Both use electric batteries in place of gasoline or ethanol as a fuel source. While specifications are used in many instances of racing, teams also are allowed to experiment with certain aspects of the car.

Electric racing is great because it brings us back to the origins of the sport. We are doing what engineers were doing a half-century ago with combustion engines: deciding what's fast, efficient and reliable. These electric powertrains and lithium batteries are so new that no one knows what the best system is. We race to decide that, Williams said.

Purdue has also worked with the Indiana Department of Education to make this STEM curriculum count toward class and graduation credits in Indiana school systems. Several schools participating have made that addition to the course options.

This is the 10th year for a collegiate, fourth year for the high school series and second year for the autonomous series.

The student participants over the years have gone on to great EV and high-tech careers at companies, including SpaceX, Tesla and more, White said.

For the autonomous karts, teams implement a variety of computer systems and sensors to navigate the track. The leading manufacturer of Lidar sensors, Velodyne, donated a $5,000 sensor to each autonomous team this year. High school and collegiate teams are encouraged to go out in their communities to find local sponsors for their kart as well.

Autonomous is so new that fans dont know how to feel without a driver to cheer on, Williams said. Its a new adjustment to this sport.

Before the start of the famed Month of May in Indianapolis, Purdue Motorsports and the evGrand Prix group sponsored a Test and Tune practice on April 27 at Whiteland Raceway Park in Whiteland. The racing park is owned by former IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher. The track was opened in 1958 and was recently purchased by Fisher and her family.

In addition to support from Purdue, Hoosier Racing Tire, Top Kart USA, Velodyne, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indiana Department of Education, the group has received sponsorship from the U.S. Department of Energy, Interstate Battery, General Motors Foundation, Jiffy Lube MultiCare and Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center.

Indiana high schools tentatively scheduled to participate are Ben Davis, Carroll, Castle, Clarksville, Clinton Central, Clinton Prairie, Decatur Central, Greenwood, Heritage Christian, Hobart, Fort Wayne Homestead, Indiana Math and Science Academy of Indianapolis, Jennings County, Lafayette Jefferson, Lowell, New Castle Career Center, North Lawrence Career Center, Paoli, Rensselaer Central, Rochester Community, Speedway, Plano (Texas), Hughes STEM of Cincinnati, and Maine 207 CTE of Park Ridge, Ill.

Participating colleges are Purdue West Lafayette, Purdue Northwest, Anderson University, Kettering University, Kennesaw State University, Bowling Green University, Virginia Tech, Ivy Tech and Northwest Missouri State University.

Writer: Matthew Oates, 765-496-2571, oatesw@purdue.edu; @mo_oates

Sources: Evan EJ Williams Jr., 317-417-4007, evanwilliamsjr@gmail.com

Danny White, white66@purdue.edu
Rival parties should meet half way



The National Assembly is again locked in an ugly brawl over some key reform bills. Over the weekend, the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) staged a massive rally at Gwanghwamun square in central Seoul and called for public support to fight what it called the "authoritarian rule" of the Moon Jae-in administration.



LKP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn led the rally in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. Hwang, who served as justice minister and prime minister under the previous Park Geun-hye administration, has continued to label the Moon administration as a "leftist government." Last week, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and other minor parties agreed to fast-track some reform bills. The LKP has been adamantly against the move, calling it an attempt by the Moon administration to lengthen "leftist rule."



The DPK, the Justice Party, the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) and the Bareunmirae Party (BMP) reached a tentative agreement last week to push for the passage of bills to reform the Election Law, including an adjustment in the number of proportional representation seats at the National Assembly, and to establish an agency to investigate corruption and other wrongdoings by high-ranking government officials.



The parties are seeking to put the bills on a fast-track system adopted in 2012 to allow a swift passage of controversial bills regardless of prolonged conflict among parties. The main opposition LKP is against fast-tracking the bills and took to the streets near Cheong Wa Dae at the weekend to make their case.



The ruling party has behaved somewhat inadequately in the process of seeking to speed the passage of the bills because it has done so without proper consultation with the opposition. But many people are unhappy with the overly hostile behavior of the LKP lawmakers, who have been staging sit-ins at the National Assembly since last week.



Many people also do not sympathize with the anti-government slogans used by the LKP chairman and his colleagues to protest against the Moon administration  the slogans were often used at the height of authoritarian rule in the 1970s and 80s. The Moon administration has many shortcomings, but it is wrong to label the administration as "leftist" and "authoritarian."



The main opposition needs to keep in mind that it is the people's demand to raise transparency among high-ranking government officials. This was a key objective of the Moon administration, and many people support his anti-corruption drive, particularly after the disastrous presidency of his predecessor Park, who was impeached amid a massive corruption scandal. Therefore, the LKP's fervent resistance to the reform bills can be seen as a refusal to respond to the people's timely demands.



The people will no longer tolerate the continued violent behavior from the LKP. As the biggest parties, the DPK and the LKP should behave sensibly and meet half way. The LKP should stop its boycott of Assembly and its violent rallies and negotiate with the ruling party to end the parliamentary clash swiftly.


WWE 205 LIVE REPORT: NESE VERSUS GULAK, LUCHA HOUSE PARTY, AND MORE

Tony Nese says he has been fighting to build 205 Live since the first match on the first show. Things won't change since he is the Cruiserweight Champion. He does not have to wait for his title match against Ariya Daivari. If Drew Gulak wants to face him tonight, he better be ready because he will not be facing a friend, but the champion.

Drew Gulak says things have not gone as planned to make a Better 205 Live, but things can fall into place if he beats Tony Nese tonight. That one time he did not succeed against Tony, it was an outlier. Tonight, you will tap out.

We are in Columbus, Ohio and your announcers are Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, David Otunga, and Aiden English.

Samir and Sunil Singh have something to say before they make their way to the ring. They have been traveling the world for two years facing the likes of Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, and AJ Styles, but they are the only undefeated team on 205 Live and they are here to take 205 Live into the future.

Match Number One: Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado versus Sunil Singh and Samir Singh

Samir and Dorado start things off and Samir backs Dorado into the corner and applies a side head lock. Samir with a shoulder tackle and he dances. Dorado with a drop kick and kick to the leg. Metalik tags in and he goes up top for a double sledge. Metalik iwth a wrist lock and Dorado tags in and he hits a double sledge. Aunil tags in and Dorado with a forearm to Samir and a boot to Sunil Dorado with a cross body onto both Singhs. Dorado wit a chop and he tags in Metalik. Metalik with a chop and Dorado tags in. Metalik with a clothesline and then Dorado with a bulldog for a near fall.

Dorado with a rear chin lock on Sunil. Dorado gets another near fall. Dorado with an arm bar and a clothesline to Samir when he tries to interfere. Sunil hits Dorado from behind and Samir tags in. Samir punches Dorado. Samir with a suplex and he gets a near fall. Sunil tags in and gets a near fall. Sunil with elbow drops and then he does a dance. Samir tags in and he goes to the turnbuckles for a forearm off the turnbuckles for a near fall. Samir with a snap mare and reverse chin lock. Samir pulls Dorado back to the mat by the mask when Dorado goes for a tag.

Samir with an elbow and he tags in Sunil. Sunil kicks Dorado and applies a reverse chin lock. Sunil with a spinning heel kick to Dorado. Lince gets his boot up for Sunil but Sunil kicks Dorado. Dorado with an uppercut to Sunil and Samir stops Dorado from making the tag. Dorado with an Irish whip that sends Samir sternum first into the turnbuckles. Metalik is pulled off the apron by Sunil before Dorado can make the tag. Dorado with a handspring cutter. Sunil tags in and Dorado kicks him away. Metalik tags in and he hits a springboard cross body and then he hits a tilt-a-whirl back breaker. Metalik with a springboard drop kick to Sunil for a near fall.

Metalik with a spinning bulldog for a near fall. Dorado makes the tag and Sunil clotheslines Metalik. Dorado runs into a double super kick and Sunil gets a near fall when Metalik breaks up the cover. Dorado with a rollup for a near fall and Metalik tags in and Sunil misses a splash into the corner. Metalik with a kick and Dorado makes the tag. Metalik with a springboard elbow drop followed by a Shooting Star Press for the three count.

Winners: Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik

Humberto Carrillo is in Drake Maverick's office and he tells Humberto to steer clear of Drew Gulak. Humberto says he wants to prove to Drew that he belongs. Jack Gallagher stops by and tells Drake to keep him in mind. Jack says he brings no ill will to Humberto. He congratulates Humberto on beating Drew. He says they have some unfinished business.

We go to commercial.

We are back and Mike Kanellis attacks Brian Kendrick as Kendrick makes his way to the ring. Tozawa attacks Kanellis and Kanellis is sent into the ringside barrier. Tozawa with punches and Drake Maverick pulls Tozawa off Kanellis.

Ariya Daivari says things are going according to plan. He is still undefeated in 2019. He has beaten Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander, and Oney Lorcan. That puts him in line for a title match. Tony Nese will get ripped limb from limb by Drew Gulak. If you don't think this ends with him being Cruiserweight Champion, you aren't paying close enough attention.

We go to commercial.

We are back and next week Akira Tozawa will face Mike Kanellis in a No Disqualification Match.

Match Number Two: Drew Gulak versus Tony Nese in a Non Title Match

They lock up and Drew with a wrist lock. Nese tries for a reversal but Gulak holds on. Nese kicks the arm and takes Gulak down with an arm drag into an arm bar. Gulak with a head scissors and Nese escapes.

We see Ariya Daivari watching from an orange room on a monitor.

Gulak gets a near fall but Nese gets a near fall of his own. They lock up and Gulak with a chop on the break. Gulak with an Irish whip but Nese with a back elbow and he goes for a moonsault but Nese lands on his feet. Nese with kicks and Gulak goes to the floor. Nese with a slingshot and he lands on the apron when Gulak moves. Nese with a cartwheel on the apron and he connects with a knee. Nese with a Fosbury Flop onto Gulak.

Nese with a near fall. Nese with a chop that sends Gulak to the floor. Nese with a chop and Gulak tries to go into the crowd and Gulak with a punch and he sends Nese chest first into the apron. Drew with a short arm scissors. Nese with kicks to try to escape the hold. Nese escapes a back drop and Nese avoids the rolling cover. Nese with a knee for a near fall. Drew goes to the apron to avoid the running knee. Nese with a forearm and he sets for a suplex on the apron but Drew with a head butt. Nese with a kick. Drew slams Nese on the apron.

They return to the ring and Drew gets a near fall. Drew with a reverse chin lock. Drew gets Nese on his shoulders and Drew with a gutbuster for a near fall. Drew with a hammer lock and he uses Nese's other arm for a chin lock. Drew with a front face lock but Nese puts Drew on the turnbuckles. Drew kicks Nese away and Nese with a rolling palm strike followed by a jumping Frankensteiner. Nese holds his knee after hitting the move. Nese with punches as he avoids punches from Gulak.

Nese with a face buster and running knee followed by a spinning heel kick. Nese with a running back elbow. Drew sends Nese to the apron. Nese with a forearm followed by a double jump moonsault for a near fall. Drew avoids a suplex and he goes for a reverse suplex that sends Nese to the apron. Both men fall to the floor. Drew gets back into the ring but Nese pulls Drew back to the floor and chops him. Nese sends Drew into the apron and ring steps. Nese sends Drew into the ringside barrier. Nese with a suplex on the floor. They return to the ring and Nese gets a near fall. Nese is sent into the turnbuckles and Drew gets a near fall.

Drew sets for the GuLock but Nese escapes. Nese with a leap frog and Gulak catches Nese for a sunset flip and a near fall. Gulak with a chop and Nese goes for the pump handle driver and hits it for a near fall. Nese pulls Drew into position and he goes up top. Nese sees Drew coming and connects with a forearm. Nese pulls Drew to the turnbuckles and Gulak with an elbow. Gulak gets Nese on his shoulders and Gulak with a super gutbuster for a fireman's carry for a near fall.

Drew with a slap to Nese. Drew with another slap to Nese. Drew with a third slap. Nese blocks a slap and Nese with a forearm and punches. Drew with a head butt and Nese with a forearm. Nese misses the 450 splash when Gulak moves. Gulak with the GuLock but Nese floats over and gets a near fall. Nese with a German suplex into the turnbuckles. Gulak with a clothesline for a near fall. Nese escapes a power bomb and hits a super kick. Gulak with a sunset flip for a near fall. Nese with another German suplex into the turnbuckles. Nese with the running knee for the three count.

Winner: Tony Nese

We go to credits.

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We want to help smallholders boost productivity and income, whatever their circumstances, says Albert Boogaard, Rabo Foundations Head of Innovation. Heres how even the most marginalized, unconnected farmers are benefitting from digital innovation.

Some Rabo Foundation innovation programs target smallholder farmers who are already doing relatively well  they have access to mobile phones, speak English, and have some agricultural knowledge. But other farmers are more marginalized. They only speak the local language, havent been to school, and dont have access to (mobile) phones or the internet. All this severely limits their means to gain up-to-date knowledge on topics ranging from farming best practices and market prices to financial literacy. Perhaps surprisingly, tech solutions can play a key role for them too.

A country of 1.3 billion

In 2018 Rabo Foundation launched a tech-led educational program targeting marginalized farmers in India in partnership with Syngenta Foundation. Its scope is ambitious: the partners are testing the concept across India (population 1.3 billion) to see how it performs in the countrys many different cultures and economic conditions.

The first question was how to reach these smallholders who usually farm just one or two hectares each. Not only are they offline, they tend to live in far-flung, isolated villages, making it prohibitively expensive to visit them. However, the program partners noted that produce buyers, farm input salesmen, and bank reps  usually young local people with a qualification in agriculture  were already traveling to many of the villages in their area.

The team decided to recruit these young professionals to deliver the educational program in addition to the services they were already providing. This helps keep program costs down while providing useful extra income for the young professionals, known as agricultural entrepreneurs (AEs). What makes this program so interesting to us is creating a network of AEs in rural areas, says Arindom Datta, Head of Sustainability Banking at Rabobank Asia. It blends entrepreneurship with cooperative values, so it can respond to market trends.

The program blends entrepreneurship with cooperative values - Arindom Datta, Rabobank Asia Twitter Linkedin Mail

The value of a good education

It quickly became apparent that AE rapport with the smallholder communities is crucial to farmers being receptive to the tools. Thats why the team carefully selects AEs on their people skills and professionalism. Successful candidates are trained to use the tools designed to teach farmers growing methods, basic financial literacy, and how to get a fair price for their produce.

The tools are video-based, and the partners make sure the videos take each regions cultural mores into account. Voice-overs are recorded in local languages, of which there are dozens spoken in the Indian subcontinent.

Agricultural Entrepreneurs carry 15 tablets with them to facilitate group lessons.



Rabo Foundation finances the toolkits and the educational materials for the farmers, while Syngenta Foundation trains the AEs. Syngenta Foundation is a good fit for us, says Albert Boogaard. Like Rabo Foundation, it uses its mother companys deep knowledge of the agricultural supply chain to help farmers. It is focused on results and has a long-term commitment to this program, so that we can measure how much impact it can really have.

Stimulating on-farm investment

As well as passing on knowledge, the AEs gather data which is used to segment farmers and predict who might be insurable and creditworthy. The data is also used to see how to improve access to banking services for these smallholders so that they can invest in their farms. A pilot scheme, with Rabo Foundation facilitating crop insurance and small loans, is in the works. It is expected to be a stepping stone to local banks providing this service.

The partnership with Rabo Foundation has helped us move to the next level, says Baskar Reddy, Executive Director of Syngenta Foundation in India. Apart from financial support to rural youth for procuring the digital toolkits, it is helping us in the design of credit scoring tools. The knowledge it brings in terms of segmentation of farmers and assessing credit worthiness is invaluable.

Farmers do not need to read or write to participate in the program.



It is too early for meaningful results, but the programs novel, tech-led approach has been well received by both the young professionals and the farmers. In its first year, 100 AEs were trained and they reached nearly 50,000 farmers. The partners are now planning to bring the program to Indonesia and Kenya, with more countries to follow.

This article is part of a series about Rabo Foundation Innovation projects that are bringing the latest digital and data-driven technologies to rural smallholder farmers around the world.
From a black-tie ceremony with sweeping ocean views to an intimate gathering amongst native bushland, youll find an RACV wedding venue to suit every couple. With nine picturesque venues and dedicated wedding planners, we have everything to ensure your celebration is a true expression of your unique love story.



Celebrate with a destination wedding or a local affair at our ideally positioned wedding venues throughout Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania. From the sunny shores of Noosa to the bustling city of Hobart and stunning regions in between, RACV has a venue for your special day.
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Social engagement platform specialist Never.nos Real-Time Social Graphics solution has seen use delivering visualisations and social content for MTVs unveil of Madonnas live and exclusive: Medellin video world premiere.





Broadcast live Wednesday 24 April from five studios  Milan, Sao Paulo, Miami, New York City  and hosted in London, the Queen of Pop showcased her latest track to a live audience as it was broadcast across MTVs worldwide TV channels and digital platforms to nearly 180 countries.Producers of the show used Never.nos HTML5 based Real-Time Social Graphics solution to embed lower-third graphics pulled from the cloud and delivered in real-time to enhance engagement of the show. The solution enables content producers to moderate and display UGC graphics outputs from a web browser.Its a very proud moment for us to see our expertise and experience of producing online, broadcast and advertising formats, in developing a solution that has supported a global broadcaster delivering dynamic and encapsulating content for one of the biggest music stars in history, said Scott Davies, CEO at Never.no.We aim to make our Real-Time Social Graphics the go-to graphics solution for any broadcasters, as this is just one of many International projects in the pipeline that demonstrates how our platforms enable seamless end-to-end delivery integration of advanced broadcast quality graphics and engaging real-time content with ease.In addition to the platforms ability to work with traditional broadcast graphics engines, Never.nos HTML5 graphics solution is designed to provide an extra layer of flexibility to traditional TV broadcasters, as well as enabling those who use streaming services such as Facebook Live, Twitch or YouTube to benefit from the Never.no STORY platform, which integrates live engagement from their audience into broadcasts.The Never.no STORY social moderation tool, in conjunction with their Real-Time Social Graphics solution allowed us to deploy social messaging in our live show with speed and ease, noted Alec Hendry, senior director, technology convergence of MTV parent Viacom. We were able to make quick changes to the creative right up until broadcast, and allowed our moderator to select and drive the graphics on-air within a single workflow.
The Trump Administration recently launched a game plan to protect the country from one of its greatest and least appreciated catastrophic risks: electromagnetic pulse (EMP) disturbances. These bursts of electromagnetic energy, whether naturally occurring or through malicious human action (i.e., from terrorists or other enemies), can cripple large sections of the electric grid by frying and ruining critical equipment.

EMP risks have been known and scientifically well documented for decades. They have been extensively addressed at military installations. Yet, at the civilian level, next to nothing has been done, even as we have become increasingly dependent on electricity and electronic devices.

In Senate testimony on February 27, Dr. George Baker, a leader who has spent decades helping protect defense installations from EMP, emphasized the overdue need for civilian action.

Government and industry laboratory tests of hundreds of items have revealed EMP vulnerability of grid distribution transformers, grid control electronics, computers, and communication networkswe have become more vulnerable to EMP due to technology advances and the foundational role of electricity and electronics in our everyday life, said Dr. Baker.

EMP events can be triggered by the following:

A space weather event, such as a solar flare

Detonation of a nuclear bomb at high altitude

An on-the-ground attack using conventional weaponry at key nodes in the electric system

Presidential Executive Order

On March 26, President Trump issued an executive order to coordinate the activities of the highest levels of the U.S. government to identify and take key near-term actions to protect the American grid, while also laying the foundation for longer-term, sustainable measures.

The Secretary of Defense is to, provide timely operational observations, analyses, forecasts and other products for naturally occurring EMPs. The Director of National Intelligence is to double down on collecting and analyzing EMP threat assessments.

Perhaps most important, by late June the Homeland Security Department is to list the national critical functions and associated priority critical infrastructure systems, networks, and assets, including space-based assets, that, if disrupted, could reasonably result in catastrophic national or regional effects on public health or safety, economic security or national security.

Also, pivotally important, the Secretary of State is to coordinate with allies and international partners regarding enhancing resilience to the effects of EMPs.

Ending Apathy

Nuclear atmospheric testing and prior solar events show that the effects of EMP can be quite disruptive. Yet, there seems to be a natural human tendency to become complacent and ignore these rare but potentially catastrophic events. As business sage Arnold Glasgow observed, One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

EMP threats are rising for several reasons. North Korea and other rogue nations have or are developing nuclear weapons. On-the-ground terrorists have assessed ways to disable power grids and wreak havoc. And, as time passes, the odds of a naturally occurring solar event rise.

NASA has warned that a major EMP solar storm like the 1859 Carrington Event, which would cause widespread electric system disruption, has a 12 percent chance of occurring each decade. The National Academy of Sciences has estimated the damage could exceed $2 trillion, 20 times the cost of Hurricane Katrina.

Next Steps

The countrys exposure to EMP disruptions did not occur overnight nor will it be solved quickly. Widespread changes will have to be made to the electric grid. Dr. Baker estimates it will cost $50 billion to take priority protection actions for the civilian electric grid.

Many cost synergies can be realized though as much of the grid is old and needs modernization. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration major utilities are already spending $50 billion a year on overall grid improvements.

EMP issues can only be addressed at the national level and by working with allies and electric utilities. By following the cost effective and necessary approaches that have worked at defense installations, the United States will do much needed catch up work to reduce its risks to EMP.

We should eagerly and diligently approach this work. It is not a time to panic, though complacency must end.

Paul Steidler is a Senior Fellow with the Lexington Institute, a public policy think tank based in Arlington, Virginia.
Above, a banner in London last year protesting a visit by President Trump.



By Mark Hemingway, RealClearInvestigations

May 1, 2019

Last year, Amnesty International published an extensive eight-part report, Toxic Twitter  A Toxic Place for Women. According to the report, female journalists and politicians are sent 1.1 million problematic or abusive tweets every year, which works out to an influential woman receiving an insulting tweet every 30 seconds.

If you saw anything in the news about Amnesty International last year, theres a good chance it was related to its Toxic Twitter report. It received extensive coverage, with articles in New York magazine, ABC News, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Reuters, Wired, NPR, and many others. Rep. Diana Degette, D-Colo., even cited the report when grilling Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during his testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last fall.

A YouTube screen shot of a video accompanying Amnesty International's report.

Certainly, Amnestys report provides several vulgar and alarming examples of online rhetoric. But in crucial respects, the kind of issues highlighted in Toxic Twitter appear to be at odds with Amnesty Internationals founding purpose and ultimately present troubling questions about the organizations priorities.

More than anything, the report seems to highlight a growing trend with human rights organizations: Theyre increasingly abandoning their core mission to chase issues that scratch a political itch and generate splashy news coverage. The issue perhaps most negatively impacted by this trend is free speech. Amnesty International is not unique in this respect  a number of the organizations previously identified with free speech causes, including the ACLU and PEN America, are backing away from the issue.

Amnestys stature in the human rights community means its politically correct turn could be a bellwether.

The political NGO [nongovernmental organization] community, human rights, democracy building, all of those things began largely in the 60s. Amnesty International was the first one, says Gerald Steinberg, founder of NGO Monitor, one of the few organizations dedicated to watching the watchdogs. It was very much a volunteer, low-intensity operation. There was not a lot of money involved. It was very focused, and they only dealt with one thing and that was doing activities  writing postcards, letters and gradually doing some demonstrations  on behalf of political prisoners.

Ostensibly, Amnesty Internationals mission hasnt changed, even if it portrays its role in a more sweeping way. We bring torturers to justice, its website proclaims. Change oppressive laws. And free people jailed just for voicing their opinion. These causes are far more urgent, and even at odds with policing social media.

To Amnesty Internationals credit, it still does work more in keeping with its foundational purpose, such as pressuring the U.S. military recently to admit that airstrikes in Somalia had resulted in two civilian deaths. But the coverage of that was paltry compared that generated by the Toxic Twitter report.

Even within social media, sexist insults and abuse arent even close to the foremost global human rights concern. Chinese citizens have been thrown into labor camps for expressing anti-government thoughts on Weibo, the microblogging service thats the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. In Amnesty Internationals home of Great Britain, new hate speech laws mean that police can now arrest you for arguing online about controversial topics. Graham Linehan, creator of the popular British sitcom The IT Crowd, found himself visited by police after a Twitter spat over the countrys Gender Recognition Act. And in April of last year, a 19-year-old from Liverpool posted the lyrics to a Snoop Dogg song on Instagram. Clearly, she meant no offense, as the posting was done in tribute to a friend who had died in a car crash. But because she forgot to excise the N-word from the original lyrics, she was convicted of a hate crime.

Even as this is happening, Amnesty International maintains that the top three causes the organization spends money on are protecting refugees and migrants, fighting abuses of legal systems and promoting free speech.

However, its hard to imagine that the "Toxic Twitter" report isnt making the case for censorship. Throughout Amnestys report, it prominently and deliberately refers to all forms of written insults  not just tangible threats  as online violence. Jailing dissenters from the political orthodoxy becomes much easier when you falsely recast mean tweets as a threat to someones physical safety. Amnesty International also now declares that Governments have an obligation to prohibit hate speech, even though the act of defining what that term means has spurred a lot of well-founded accusations that hate speech laws are ultimately a tool for censorship.

Asked for comment, Amnesty International spokesperson Ruby Stockham replied circumspectly: All categories of violence and abuse online require state and company responses but not all forms require takedown measures or criminal remedies. It should be noted that the right to freedom of expression protects expression which may be offensive or disturbing. States and companies should not to impose restrictions which violate this right.

The NRA of the Left

Theres a simple, and perhaps charitable, explanation for whats going on here. From the vantage point of Amnesty International and other human rights groups, chasing after issues that generate attention is invaluable from a fundraising perspective. Amnesty International is no longer a volunteer organization  far from it. According to Amnesty Internationals latest financial report, the group raised about $330 million in 2017. If highlighting a comparatively trivial issue like insults on Twitter keeps the organization in the news, that helps pay for the more important work the organization does, such as highlighting civilian deaths in military conflicts.

Rethinking its commitment to free speech, and thriving.

Yet, the exigency of fundraising doesnt fully explain why protecting free expression has become a devalued and discarded issue by so many organizations once dedicated to upholding it. In the United States, the ACLU, the group most associated with the defense of free speech, is thriving. Last year, the organization reported that in the 18 months since Donald Trump took office, it had raised $120 million and dues paying membership had more than quadrupled, from 400,000 to over 1.8 million.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the ACLU also began to reevaluate its commitment to free speech last year. The organization circulated a memo saying the cases it takes up may be determined by the extent to which the speech may assist in advancing the goals of white supremacists or others whose views are contrary to our values; and the structural and power inequalities in the community in which the speech will occur.

Although this might sound benign, it is a seismic change in policy for the ACLU that has the potential to redefine its historic purpose, as free speech is a much more clear-cut and absolute value than the sorting out who might be harmed in a morass of competing structural and power inequalities debated by the left.

Yet, the turn away from speech is very much in step with the political priorities of the current crop of progressive activists  many of whom now work at the ACLU. Where before the organization had become famous for being so principled on free speech they defended neo-Nazis First Amendment right to march down American streets, ACLU employees and the ACLUs membership were upset that the ACLU played a role in securing permits for the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville that ended in violence, and that they blamed Donald Trump for enabling.

Karlie Kloss, wearing the ACLU ribbon at the Oscars, 2017. The group seeks to become more progressive, "the NRA of the left."

The ACLU appears to be leaning into its new overtly political identity, even as it calls its foundational commitment to civil liberties into question. In a lengthy political profile in the New York Times magazine last July, the organization explicitly asserted that it was trying to become the NRA of the left. The ACLUs national political director later told BuzzFeed, We talk about the NRA often here. Not because we agree with them, but because they have effectively created an organizational model around the single issue they care deeply about.  They make their members and volunteers feel like they have a duty to vote.

The question is, if the ACLU abandons civil liberties, whats going to be the single issue its members care deeply about? Major human rights organizations "really are the equivalent of corporations with these kinds of budgets, observes Steinberg. And without the oversight, without checks and balances, they will migrate towards where the organizations see the greatest amount of influence, power and growth. So the old issues that they began with are much less important.

For some time now, Wendy Kaminer, who was on the board of the ACLU from 1999 to 2006, has been sounding the alarm about the organizations drift away from free speech. (The ACLU did not respond to requests for comment from RealClearInvestigations, but it has been vocal in rebutting Kaminer.) Shes been critical for so long that she cautions against seeing the current trend as being related to short-term concerns about cash flow or who occupies the White House. Fundraising probably plays a role, but I think ideology is more important, she said. I think it's an ideological shift.

That shift did not start recently. The ACLU has also been changing  not just the last year or the last two years, but really over the last 15 years it's becoming more of a progressive organization, Kaminer added. There's always been a healthy tension between its civil rights and civil liberties agenda. And I think in recent years the civil rights agenda has begun overwhelming the civil liberties agenda. And you see that most clearly in the retreat from free speech.

Kaminer notes that those changing beliefs are hardly unique to the ACLU, and in fact one way of looking at the timing of the change in attitudes regarding free speech, is that its largely a generational divide. She observes that in America, at least since the early 90s, students on college campuses have been educated under speech code regimes and this has produced different attitudes toward free speech than those in their 40s who experienced a very different educational climate. From a more international perspective, younger people who came of age after the Cold War have no sense of the powerful and oppressive censorship that was happening behind the Iron Curtain as recently as the 1980s.

As such, the younger leaders and members of organizations once concerned with free speech are defining the issue much more narrowly. Like the ACLU, the PEN America literary organization --whose mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible -- is now embracing progressive politics in ways that directly undercut its historic mission.

A protester in Paris backed victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack, but members of PEN America were more ambiguous.

When PEN America tried to give an award to Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical publication that was the victim of a terror attack that killed 12 and injured 11 others, the organization found it facing an open revolt from dozens of members and prominent literary figures. They signed a letter arguing that Charlie Hebdo should not be honored, because cartoons of Muhammad marginalized, embattled, and victimized, a population that is shaped by the legacy of Frances various colonial enterprises. PEN America also put out a lengthy report last year that, according to Inside Higher Ed, disputes lawmakers' characterization that free expression on college campuses has reached disaster level, even as several universities erupted in violence in response to the appearances of mainstream conservative speakers.

Since many major organizations specifically dedicated to preserving free speech have traditionally been left of center, the abandonment of the issue undercuts their credibility when fighting free speech threats from the right, especially since they have been very critical of Trumps attacks on the press and threats to reexamine libel laws. Even before Trump arrived on the scene, the lack of healthy tension between civil liberties and civil rights was proving to be a source of tension within progressive organizations.

Hypocrisy and Southern Poverty

In March the Southern Poverty Law Center, the civil rights organization long celebrated for its work combating the Ku Klux Klan and American white supremacist movements, imploded after the organizations founder, Morris Dees, and its president, Richard Cohen, stepped down. A raft of accusations surfaced involving financial mismanagement and the mistreatment and sexual harassment of minority employees, even though corruption at the SPLC had been openly reported on for decades.

Was its corruption ignored because its speech-suppressing "hate group" designations were useful to the left?

The question isnt what went wrong at the SPLC; it is why it took so long for the rest of the country to learn what local reporters already knew, Jim Tharpe, the former editor of the Montgomery Advertiser, wrote in a recent column in the Washington Post. Under Tharpes supervision, the Advertiser had published a lengthy expose highlighting longstanding problems with the SPLC over 25 years ago. The reporting was even nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Yet, the SPLC made no meaningful changes and continued to operate in an irresponsible fashion.

Although the exposure of the SPLCs internal corruption was long overdue, the organization had long been corrupted in a more fundamental way: It had been a partisan organization that sought to silence critics and tarnish conservatives in ugly and dishonest ways. The SPLC once reserved its powerful hate group label to undeniably bad actors such as neo-Nazis, but in recent years it had begun applying the label to mainstream conservative and religious organizations in an obvious attempt to delegitimize their viewpoints. The double standard became impossible to ignore.

After Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot by a deranged gunman in 2011, many partisans seized on the fact that former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had put out a map with cross hairs over Giffords district as part of a list of Democratic House seats targeted for defeat. But Giffords shooter, Jared Loughner, had serious mental problems. There is no evidence whatsoever Loughner saw this map or that political rhetoric was a cause of the Giffords shooting. Nonetheless, the SPLC published a blog post headlined, Expert: Political Rhetoric Likely a Factor in Arizona Shooting, that further argued Palins map could have provided a facilitating context for the shooting.

In 2012, a security guard at the Family Research Council building in Washington, D.C., was shot after a disgruntled gay activist with a gun and a backpack full of Chick-fil-A sandwiches entered the building intending to shoot as many people as possible. He had located the FRC offices on a hate map on the SPLCs website. The SPLC refused to take down the map after the shooting, which, according to its own arguments, made the group complicit.

Although the mainstream media routinely treat the SPLC as a legitimate clearinghouse on extremism, the organizations obvious bias and dubious conclusions have long made it a farce. Perhaps this is best shown by its decision to name Ayaan Hirsi Ali an anti-Muslim extremist, even though she was internationally famous for the threats on her life as the result of making a film about how Muslim radicals threaten womens rights. (Terrorists did succeed in killing her collaborator on the film, Theo van Gogh.)

As the Southern Poverty Law Center tries to rebuild itself back into a credible civil rights organization, its worth asking why the organizations internal corruption was ignored for so long. Was it because its allies on the left  even those that claim to focus on free speech issues  were happy to let the organization use its powerful hate group designation to help scare away donors and ultimately silence common political enemies on the right?

Going forward, one of the biggest dangers to free speech is the growing number of institutions that have surrendered the credibility necessary to speak to both sides of a given political debate.

We're getting to a place where the people on the right will defend the speech rights of their allies and the people on the left will defend the speech rights of their allies, Wendy Kaminer says. There aren't a lot of neutral arbiters anymore.
Life has not changed much under Moon administration



President Moon Jae-in posted some remarks on social media on the occasion of May Day, which fell Wednesday.



On Facebook, he underlined that he has tried to respect the labor sector, saying that improving the quality of life for workers was among the most crucial policy goals of his administration. For this, he said his government has pushed various policy initiatives, such as increasing the minimum wage, transitioning irregular workers to regular positions and introducing the 52-hour workweek.



It is undeniable that Moon has shown more sympathy toward the struggles faced by the working classes compared to his recent predecessors, and has tried to reflect their voices in his polices. From the very beginning of his administration, he has shown special attention to the issues faced by irregular workers and vowed to open "an era of zero irregular workers." Such a bold declaration right after Moon took office in May 2017 raised the hopes of numerous irregular workers in various sectors of society, but things have changed little for them. Ironically, the pro-labor policies have only aggravated the discontent of the labor sector and many workplaces and workers are complaining of the mounting side effects. Small business owners have complained of the burden of the increase in the minimum wage. And many companies and workplaces have been reluctant about the transition to regular positions because of the expected increase in costs, leading to hiring cuts and layoffs.



The increasing complaints show that Moon's labor policies are not entirely effective despite the good intentions behind them. The sad reality is that Korea is still a very tough place for workers. It has some of the longest work hours in the world. And many people who are employed are stuck in irregular positions, and not represented by unions. Korea has one of the highest rates of irregular workers, with one out of three in the entire workforce holding such jobs.



The irregular workers face disadvantages in various aspects of their jobs, including pay and other benefits. And in Korea, they are often forced to work in very dangerous conditions, leading often to serious workplace injuries and deaths. One of the latest such cases was the death of a worker in his early 20s who became stuck on a coal conveyor belt at the Taean Thermal Power Plant operated by Korean Western Power (KOWEPO) in South Chungcheong Province. It is urgent to carry out measures to protect irregular workers from industrial accidents and punish employers who do not adhere strictly to safety rules.



The massive rallies in Seoul on May Day clearly show the mounting frustration of irregular workers due to their ceaseless plight. The Moon administration should pay more attention to their voices and come up with realistic measures to provide more protection and security for them.




One of the last things Omar al-Bashir did before he was ousted on 11 April was to oversee South Sudan's latest peace deal. The then Sudanese president stepped in where most in the region and international community had given up and, in September 2018, shepherded in the Revitalised Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan.

With the support of allies such as China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, al-Bashir used resources and his influence on various armed and opposition groups in South Sudan to broker a deal. Although the resulting agreement is acknowledged to be replete with flaws, it is a deal nonetheless, and there has been relative stability since its signing.
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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/30/2019



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

: Happily Ever After? star Nicole Nafziger is apparently far from pleased with the TLC franchise and didn't enjoy filming Season 4 of the spinoff.Nicole revealed during a Q&A session with her followers Sunday night on Instagram that she doesn't even watch anymore and didn't bother watching : Happily Ever After?'s fourth-season premiere."I didn't even watch it lol. I'm just curious. Pillow Talk looks [entertaining though]. Maybe I'll watch that. See what my fellow cast members really think of me," Nicole wrote.Nicole and her fiance, Moroccan resident Azan Tefou , are currently starring on Season 4 of : Happily Ever After?, which debuted on Sunday night.The engaged couple, who have pushed back their wedding multiple times due to time and financial constraints , previously appeared on Season 3 of the spinoff as well as two separate seasons of the original series -- Seasons 4 and 5.Nicole, however, admitted she hasn't watched the TLC show in a long time."Lol I don't even know what happened. I haven't [watched] my seasons since our second season," Nicole confessed.When asked why she continues to film the show if she's so tired of it, Nicole replied, "We decided to do this season like a year ago," referring to Season 4 of : Happily Ever After?."Then we did it and again, it sucked. Idk why I ever think it can be a good season. It doesn't happen," Nicole continued.A concern fan then asked Nicole if she worries Azan will no longer want to be with her if they stop filming the TLC reality series."Lol this is a silly question," noted the Florida native.Azan has been accused of dating Nicole just to eventually obtain a green card and be able to live in the United States. Fans have questioned for years if Azan truly loves Nicole and her young daughter, May, or has been using her for fame or money "I'm the one who convinced him to do another season because I'm so sure we can show the real us," Nicole insisted of Azan. "But it never comes out that way."One fan accused Nicole of pretending not to care about the way her relationship is portrayed on all the while being very "defensive.""I don't care what y'all think. But I do care what y'all say about Azan because he is an amazing person and no one wants their love to be talked badly about," Nicole explained."We have worked so hard in our 3 1/2 year relationship to become more trusting and open and strong together. These are the things you'll never see on TV. But I have to say I am regretful about how I lashed out on Azan in those particular scenes."Nicole was shown lashing out at Azan for not engaging in public displays of affection in Morocco. She also flipped out on him when voice recordings surfaced of him allegedly telling another woman he'd like to kiss her."TV makes unnecessary problems and I couldn't handle them at the time," Nicole added.Nicole said had it not been for her perseverance, "could have ruined" her relationship with Azan and there haven't been many benefits of doing the show."We as a couple decided to take what we go through and just get stronger from it. I've grown personally since Season 1. We both have personally and as a couple," Nicole shared.Nicole concluded with saying how she believes is toxic for its stars and their romances."Yes [it's toxic]. I personally think that, but there is also the couples who really know [how] to work reality shows like this. Power to them!" Nicole wrote to her fans.Nicole was 21 and from Bradenton, FL, when she met Azan, who was 23 years old and from Agadir, Morocco, through a mobile dating app.On Season 3 of : Happily Ever After?, Nicole was shown traveling to Morocco in 2018 after Azan's K-1 visa was denied in the hope they'd tie the knot overseas and then obtain a spousal visa for Azan so he could eventually move to the United States.However, the pair canceled their wedding and Nicole's time in Morocco ran out, so she returned to Florida and anticipated it would take two more years for Azan to be able to move to America.Nicole is reportedly planning to marry Azan in Summer 2019, and their story is expected to play out on the currently-airing season of : Happily Ever After?.
Fuji Xerox Korea President Takashi Otani poses during an interview with The Korea Times at the firm's headquarters in Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk



Fuji Xerox Korea transforming into document management consulting firm



By Baek Byung-yeul



With more companies going paperless and digital to save time and money, printers are losing their place in the office equipment market. However, the Fuji Xerox Korea president said printers won't disappear and they will continue to evolve, adopting new technologies.



"Communication using paper documents is still prevalent but it is true that paper use is decreasing and industry data show the shipment of printers is also declining," Fuji Xerox President Takashi Otani told The Korea Times at the firm's headquarters in Seoul, Monday.



"However, manufacturers are evolving their printers by adopting information and communication technologies such as cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). I am sure that printers will keep evolving to stay abreast of the technology changes."



At a time when more companies are moving toward digital transformation, Fuji Xerox Korea is also witnessing a decrease in demand for printers. This being the case, Otani said the company has been focusing more on transforming itself into a consulting firm, specialized in document management services since the mid-2000s.



"Though Fuji Xerox is famously known as a printer manufacturer, the firm has been diversifying its business portfolio by offering document management, security services and cloud computing," Otani said.



He added the firm is now aiming to help its customers use less paper with its document management services, and provide ways to digitize their paper documents, not sell more printers.



"Many people are suggesting that Fuji Xerox may face hardship, but our business is to make customers use less paper, improve security when printing paper and accelerate the digitization of paper documents," he said.



Thanks to this, Fuji Xerox Korea now has a 50/50 sales split between its hardware and services divisions. "Even in the distant future when multifunction printers continue to disappear, we will keep providing services that can enhance in-company communications to our customer companies," he said.



Giving an example of how effective its document management system is, the president pointed to Mirae Asset Life Insurance.



"Mirae Asset Life Insurance has been operating a document management center since December 2018. There, the insurance firm can manage all sorts of documents ranging from promotional brochures to business proposals. By providing an analysis of the workflow of documents that its employees use in their work, the firm can also improve the work process," he said.



With this management service, Otani expects the firm can save about 19.8 percent of its annual expenditure on printing documents.



The president said the country's adoption of a 52-hour workweek has also helped the firm meet more customer companies that want to streamline their working procedures.



"Our customer companies need to adopt a more efficient working environments with their employees to comply with the 52-hour workweek policy. As our business is to take the workload off our customer companies by providing efficient document management services, the 52-hour workweek can be an opportunity for us," he said.



"To adapt to the change, Fuji Xerox Korea is also trying to reduce the time our employees spend on document writing. For instance, employees are encouraged to write their reports on a single A4."



Otani also shared his thoughts on business practices in Korea. Though the country is neighbored by Japan to the east, he said there are differences in the two countries' approaches to problems.



The president thought the strength of Korean companies stems from their agile response to the rapidly-changing business environment. But, he also pointed out Korean employees incline to solve imminent problems not try to address the root of the problem.



"Korean companies make business decisions quickly and they are dynamic in response to new trends. The latest example can be the country's early adoption of fifth-generation (5G) networks. This is in contrast to Japanese companies that invest a lot of time in collecting information and analyzing it before making a decision," he said.



"However, it seems Korean companies are weak at analyzing and understanding the fundamental problems of an issue. When facing problems, they tend to move ahead to the next step even before addressing the problem," he said.



"I have also seen this in our company. When something pops up, Korean employees tend to solve problems caused by the issue and not try to understand the underlying issue. Therefore, I am training them to diagnose the problem correctly and solve it. If they are capable of doing that, I think their problem solving ability will be strengthened."



Fuji Xerox Korea has led the country's office industry market since 1974, selling copiers, fax machines, scanners and printers. Currently the firm has about 1,000 employees. As of 2018, the Korean unit accounted for the largest share in the color multifunction printer market edging out its competitor Sindoh.



Otani, who became the president of Fuji Xerox Korea in June 2018, joined Fujifilm Corporation in 1988 and has served in various posts including sales, marketing and human resource management.



To improve communications with employees, Otani said he is trying to listen to what they are concerned about because he thinks the voice of employees is as important as that of the firm's customers. He said he has regularly visited regional offices to talk to employees.



"I am trying to have open communication with my employees working in different kinds of departments. It is significant to listen to customers, but listening to the employees is also important because they are directly working with clients. By communicating with employees, I can catch a lot of things. Though I am not good at speaking Korean, I am trying to learn the language to have smoother conversations with them," he said.



When asked about his goal as a chief of the Korean unit, Otani said he wants to make the company the best partner for its customers.



"Becoming the best partner for companies here is my goal. Fuji Xerox Korea has been selected as the country's best multifunction printer provider for 18 consecutive years in the Korean Customer Satisfaction Index. By offering the best document management systems, we are aiming to be the best office support provider as well," he said.


Porterville, CA (93257)

Today

Periods of rain. Low near 50F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low near 50F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall near a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Only a couple of months after opening her first CBD store near Athens Square Mall, Jacklin Parker is opening up another Your CBD Store in East Athens

In January of 2019 Parker and her husband opened up a franchise location of Your CBD Store in west Athens. Parker said this franchise is unique in the CBD market because it isnt tied to marijuana or smoking at all, and instead sells products with the emphasis on medical applications of CBD, or Cannabidiol.
The 22 projects equate to approximately $127.5 million and would incur a $784,400 increase in annual operating costs. Included in the rejected projects which didnt make the cut were an arena for the Classic Center, in the amount of $58.9 million, and a renovation to the Bear Hollow Wildlife Trail, in the amount of $13.6 million.
An unknown suspect drove a stolen Jeep with four other suspects through the front door of the Athens Gun Club at around 4:30 a.m. on April 28. The five suspects entered the building and stole multiple guns, according to an ACCPD press release.
Even as the polity find ways and means to address the genuine concerns and fears of the society, the Sri Lankan State apparatus would have to unravel these mystery-questions with convincing answers, and a road-map to the future, says N Sathiya Moorthy.

IMAGE: Sri Lankan officials inspect St Sebastian's Church in Negombo, north of Colombo, after multiple explosions targeted churches and hotels across Sri Lanka on April 21. The blasts took place at churches in Colombo city as well as neighbouring towns and hotels, including the Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand, during the worst violence in Sri Lanka since the civil war ended a decade ago. Photograph: Stringer/Getty Images

Going by the precedent set by the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Sri Lankas Easter Sunday carnage should have triggered not only concern but also interest in the nations to which the victims belonged. On the very day of the blasts, meeting newsmen in capital Colombo, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that his government would seek assistance from foreign nations, if required, to untie mysterious knots.

Sri Lanka has had a history of terrorism, yes, dating back to the pre-26/11 and even pre-9/11 days, respectively a regional and global benchmark. Before the LTTE became a household name for terrorism across South Asia and in many nations across Asia and Europe, Australia and the Americas, not to leave out parts of South Africa, the nation had faced two centre-left Sinhala insurgencies of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or Peoples Liberation Movement, respectively, in 1971 and 1987.

Global nations had helped Sri Lanka in ending LTTE terrorism especially, though India helped militarily in neutralising the First JVP insurgency, when post-Independence Sri Lankan armed forces were still in their ceremonial infancy. To the LTTEs ruthlessness, cunning, planning and training should the nations armed forces, too, owe their subsequent upgrade and successes, until the very neutralisation of the terror-group so very completely in May 2009 -- a full decade back.

As is readily acknowledged prima facie that the diabolical nature of the Easter Day serial blasts, the precision and the success all point to a more organised effort. Until proved otherwise, the Sri Lankan government seemed to stick to the investigators preliminary findings that it was the coordinated job of a local radical Islamist group, National Tawheed Jamaat. A week and more into the investigations and raids, there is nothing to prove otherwise.

Sri Lankan government officials have been consistently pointing out that all those arrested thus far are Sri Lankan nationals -- as were the suicide-bombers. Yet, they are not unlikely to proceed on that sole assumption. If there are leads pointing elsewhere, they are not going to give up. It is here that they may seek help from other nations, if and when required.

On the face of it, Sri Lanka, if required, will seek foreign assistance in following up on specific leads, where found, a statement on the day of the blasts, said. If it pointed to a particular direction, it is bound to seek the extradition of Sri Lankans and/foreign nationals required back home for further investigation and interrogation, trial and punishment.

IMAGE: Sri Lankan Navy personnel work to repair St Anthony's Shrine following last week's attack in Colombo. Based on reports, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks as the hunt for accomplices goes on in eastern Sri Lanka. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Considering that President Maithripala Sirisena is enthusiastic about reviving the execution of court-ordered death penalties in the case of drugs-related offences, terrorism is not going to be exempted, either. In a way, even the current global voice against reviving death penalty in Sri Lanka for drug-offences in Sri Lanka may have to take a back-seat.

If nothing else, there would be much fewer sympathetic voices to support such demands for leniency than before the Easter Sunday blasts. Specifically, there could also be vague demands for proceeding against LTTE cadres, either inside the country, or whose extradition Sri Lanka may be forced to demand under domestic pressure, to stand trial for terror-killings from the past, and face the music. It is thus not unlikely that the peace glove of the post-war decade may be off.

Sri Lanka got its share of global sympathy and support in fighting LTTE terrorism squarely only after 9/11 aroused the global conscience. Once it was all over, the international community (read: West) reverted to issues of human rights violations and war-crimes probe, before the post-war United Nations Human Rights Council campaign in Geneva was revived -- not once but twice.

The first one, Sri Lanka got defeated through the joint efforts of Asian neighbours, India, Pakistan and China, just 10 days after the end of the war, but the second one, it is facing through and through -- to varying degrees of seriousness and not, depending on who is in power in Colombo.

Or, so it seems. For many Sri Lankans, the consistency with which UNHRC seems to be following up on the co-sponsored 2015 resolution on war-crimes probe has become a bit of a joke, after main sponsor in the US, quit the very organisation, alleging bias of all things.

Yet, the government is not jumping to conclusions -- or, so it seems. The Sri Lankan agencies entrusted with security and investigations seem to be doing a thorough job of both, yet, there is visible lack of coordination. They are also not sharing information, either with the nations population or with foreign governments.

The Sri Lankan government, including President Maithripala Sirisena and PM Wickremesinghe, have readily conceded that a foreign intelligence agency had sent out a series of alerts about the impeding blasts, naming the day and the possible targets. The president sacked Defence Secretary Hemsiri Fernando and replaced him with Lt-Gen Shantha Kottegoda, who had headed Military Intelligence during 2004-05.

According to some local media reports, Kottegoda was also the army chief before the war commenced and later-day Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka took over. Now, PM Wickremesinghe is said to be pressuring President Sirisena to make Fonseka, a party parliamentarian, as minister in charge of law and order.

Such reports come up as a crude reminder, not of the war days when Fonseka was the chief, but to the more recent Sirisena-Wickremesinghe political and personal clashes, leading up to the sacking of the PM and replacement with former President Rajapaksa. Typical of the man, Fonseka, then a sacked cabinet minister, wanted the president tested in a mental hospital, with the result when the Supreme Court restored the job to Wickremesinghe, Sirisena refused to swear in Fonseka to any post. The United National Party, headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, did not protest, then.

IMAGE: Police Special Task Force officers patrol outside Dawatagaha Jumma Masjid in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Security has been heightened in the country ever since the blasts, which killed over 250 people. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

It may be too early to conclude that the worse may be over for Sri Lanka, but the defusing of a few more explosives and the seizure of a large number of detonators, may point to the possibility that the perpetrators may have concluded that it had to be a one-off affair -- and that they might not get a second chance, if the nations intelligence agencies and security forces, with their vast and varied experience, dusted their boots and racked their brains, all over again. It need not be wholly true as the subsequent gunfire showed a couple of days later.

The high number of arrests, and seizure of explosive material, including large quantities of twin-use of chemicals and also detonators, may have led to the investigators to conclude if it was only a local job as officially claimed, or there may have been a foreign angle, after all -- and if so, who and how much. If nothing else, the investigators seem to have ruled out an LTTE hand, most definitely in the blasts -- and possibly also on the supply side. Tamil National Alliance veteran leader R Sampanthan said as much in a overseas telecast interview -- and rightly so, it would seem.

Until the investigators unravel all ends of the mystery, questions will remain: Who trained them in bomb-making, where and how, who psyched the suicide-bombers from among them to do the act a full decade after LTTE alone had seemed to be so very successful in the act? What were all the motivating factors -- was it the Islamic State' brand of radicalisation (for reasons known and unknown), or local alienation caused by a series of episodes involving two other major ethnicities, namely, the Sinhala-Buddhist majority and the Sri Lankan Tamils, or both?

Even as the polity and the society, starting with the political administrators and community leaders, find ways and means to address the genuine concerns and fears of the Muslim community, the Sri Lankan State apparatus would have to be busy unravelling these mystery-questions with convincing answers, and a road-map to the future.

All this may be too much of thinking, yes, but not possibly for the terrorism-hardened Sri Lankan investigators, who no doubt have seemingly slackened over the past decade -- whatever the reason and justification, but cannot afford to do so from now on.

Independent of all the political tangles that have demoralised and disinterested the security forces and the intelligence agencies, it is a fact that they had got used to smelling and feeling the LTTE long before either of them targeted the other. It is not an insurmountable problem, yes, but the intervening hiccups would show up for what they are worth -- just in the way the Sri Lankan security forces had learnt to tackle the JVP and the LTTE in their respective times.

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and political analyst, is Director, Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter.
Visitors to LG Uplus' 5G service pop-up store which opened near Gangnam Station in Seoul on April 1 experience gadgets based on 5G technologies. Courtesy of LG Uplus



South Koreans who have subscribed to the 5G service hit 260,000, with the country fast moving to better meet consumer demands, the government said Wednesday.



Asia's fourth-largest economy was the first country in the world to launch full-fledged 5G services on April 3.



The new communication system provides super-fast connection speeds, low latency and the ability to connect many more devices without the network being bogged down.



But consumers' complaints have risen over the coverage and the speed of the next generation wireless communication system.











LG Uplus workers inspect a 5G base station in Jungheung-dong in Gwangju's Buk-gu district to optimize the station's capacity, April 21. Courtesy of LG Uplus
Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was on Wednesday sentenced to 50 weeks in jail by a United Kingdom court for breaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old had been found guilty of breaching the UK's Bail Act by Westminster Magistrates' Court in London last month after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he had sought refuge in 2012 following his bail over sexual assault allegations related to Sweden.

At a sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange it was difficult to envisage a more serious example of breach of bail conditions.

"By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK," she said.

"This was in terms of culpability a deliberate attempt to evade or delay justice... Firstly, by entering the Embassy, you deliberately put yourself out of reach, whilst remaining in the UK. You remained there for nearly seven years, exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country," the judge noted, in her strongly-worded sentencing remarks.

In a letter read to the court, Assange said he had found himself "struggling with difficult circumstances" and apologised to those who feel he had "disrespected" in any way.

"I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended," his letter read.

"I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done  which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears," he added.

His barrister Mark Summers, who read out the letter, later said his client was "gripped" by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

"As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything," Summers said.

However, the judge dismissed the mitigating factors put forward and ruled that she was inclined to sentence Assange to the near maximum provided in UK sentencing guidelines for such cases.

"I reject the suggestion that your voluntary residence in the Embassy should reduce any sentence. You were not living under prison conditions, and you could have left at any time to face due process with the rights and protections which the legal system in this country provides," Judge Taylor said, adding that she had also taken medical evidence provided regarding his mental and physical condition.

Assange will be eligible for parole after serving half his sentence under licence conditions, conditional on any other legal proceedings against him.

As the WikiLeaks co-founder was taken away from the court to the holding cells, he raised a fist in his characteristic style to his supporters in the public gallery and they responded with raised fists and shouts of "shame on you" towards the court.

His case dates back to February 2011, when Westminster Magistrates Court in London ordered his extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual offending, including an allegation of rape. He was granted bail on conditions throughout your appeals against this order, which culminated in June 2012, when he entered the Ecuadorean Embassy seeking asylum.

A warrant for his arrest was issued by the same court after he failed to surrender before the court.

The Australian national now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest leaks of government secrets.

The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the US in response to allegations that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

He faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted.
Four members of a Sikh family, including three women, have been fatally shot in their home in the United States, authorities said.

Image used for representational purposes only.

The victims who died of gunshot wounds in their home in a suburban Ohio community were found by another relative who called the police, West Chester Police chief Joel Herzog said.

"My wife and three other family members were on the ground and bleeding... they're bleeding from the head," a man said on the 911 call that was released by the police.

"No one's talking, no one's talking," he shouted.

A local religious leader on Monday identified the deceased to Cincinnati Enquirer as Hakikat Singh Panag, 59, his wife, Paramjit Kaur, 62, their daughter, Shalinder Kaur, 39, and his sister-in-law, Amarjit Kaur, 58.

The were all shot to death around 9:50 p.m (local time) on Sunday, the report said.

However, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj ruled out the possibility of a hate crime.

"Indian Ambassador in United States @IndianEmbassyUS has informed me about the killing of four persons in Cincinnati on Sunday evening. One of them was an Indian national on a visit to US while others were persons of Indian origin," she tweeted.

The matter is under investigation by police, but it is not a hate crime, Swaraj said.

"Our Consul General in New York is coordinating with the concerned authorities and will keep me informed me on this," she said.

The Indian consulate in New York on its official Twitter account said the officials were in "constant touch" with the West Chester Township Police and the family.

"We are confident about the culprit being brought to book," the Indian consulate assured in one of the tweets.
For two decades after his release in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, Azhar has since been the darling of Pakistan's external snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence.

Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, is a blue-eyed boy of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence, which masterminded several audacious attacks on India including the 2001 Parliament strike and the recent Pulwama carnage in February that pushed the two countries to the brink of war.

A known fugitive, 50-year-old Azhar, who formed the JeM in 2000, was branded the brain behind various suicide strikes in India and known to have finetuned terror tactics which included survey of potential targets before carrying out the attack.

The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, the United Kingdom and the United States on February 27.

The proposal was the fourth attempt at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

A UNSC designation will subject Azhar to an assets freeze, travel ban and an arms embargo.

An assets freeze under the Sanctions Committee requires that all states freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

Azhar's terror academy in Balakot faced a blitzkrieg from Indian Air Force jets early hours of February 26 after the Pulwama attack on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.

For two decades after his release in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999, Azhar has since been the darling of Pakistan's external snooping agency Inter-Services Intelligence.

After the release of Azhar by India on December 31, 1999, his newly acquired stature in jehadi circles in Pakistan came in handy for the ISI who convinced clerics at the Binori mosque in Karachi to accept Azhar's leadership and thus, on January 31, 2000, the JeM was born.

But despite earning a reputation of being a "manufacturer of suicide attackers", Azhar was not a hard nut to crack when he was in the custody of Indian forces, according to officials.

A former police officer, who interrogated Azhar after his arrest in 1994, said he got shaken up on the first "slap" from an army jawan, prompting him to blurt out details of not only his movements but also of other terror groups operating from Pakistan.

Azhar was arrested in Anantnag in South Kashmir in February 1994 after he had entered into India on a Portuguese passport through Bangladesh.

It was a chance arrest.

He along with Sajjad Afghani were travelling in an auto when it was stopped by armymen at Khanabal.

"Both ran from the autorickshaw prompting the army men to nab them. Armymen were happy to find Sajjad Afghani and had a little knowledge about the other," former Director General of Sikkim Police Avinash Mohananey, who interrogated Azhar many times during his two-decade tenure in the Intelligence Bureau, said.

The son of a retired school headmaster from Bhawalpur in Pakistan, Azhar always felt his custody in India was going to be short-lived and that attempts would be made for his release.

Attempts were indeed made -- the first one within 10 months of his arrest when some foreigners were kidnapped from Delhi and the captors demanded his release. The plot failed when the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi Police managed to get the hostages freed from captivity in Sahranpur.

During that raid on Saharanpur raid, police arrested another militant, Omar Sheikh, who would eventually be released along with Azhar in exchange for the passengers of the 1999 hijacked flight IC814.

Sheikh late became well known after he beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

Another attempt to release him was made by a shadow group of Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Faran, which demanded his release in exchange of five foreigners kidnapped in Kashmir in July 1995.

A tunnel was dug in Kot Balwal jail in 1999 for his escape but Azhar could not move out because of his unusual body structure -- he was overweight and had large belly that was too big to be squeezed through the tunnel.

However, in the process, Sajjad Afghani was killed.

Finally, he was released by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government in 1999, along with Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar alias 'Latram', in exchange of the passengers of the hijacked flight IC-814.

The Kathmandu-New Delhi plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan by Azhar's men.

After the negotiations with hijackers failed, the government succumbed to their demands and the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh took the three terrorists to Kandahar in a special plane to ensure the safe release of passengers of the hijacked plane.

Thus began a new chapter of terror in Jammu and Kashmir as well as rest of India.

After his release in 1999, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed and scripted many audacious terror strikes in India.

JeM announced its arrival in the Kashmir Valley in 2000 by carrying out a suicide car bombing attack at the gate of Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar, the headquarters of the Army's 15 Corps.

Two armymen were killed in the attack.

Later, it was involved in the attack on Parliament, the Pathankot air force base, army camps in Jammu and Uri, and the latest suicide attack on CRPF in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 personnel.
5 1 of 5 Jo Ann Jaacks / For Hearst Media CT Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Jo Ann Jaacks / For Hearst Media CT Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Jo Ann Jaacks / For Hearst Media CT Show More Show Less 5 of 5









LITCHFIELD  Christine Harding, who is co-owner with Mark Abbott of the new coffeehouse in Litchfield with the quirky name Toast & Co., recently shared her personal journey during a very brief lull in business behind the counter.
First hominins on the Tibetan Plateau were Denisovans

Denisovans - an extinct sister group of Neandertals - were discovered in 2010, when a research team led by Svante Paabo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) sequenced the genome of a fossil finger bone found at Denisova Cave in Russia and showed that it belonged to a hominin group that was genetically distinct from Neandertals. "Traces of Denisovan DNA are found in present-day Asian, Australian and Melanesian populations, suggesting that these ancient hominins may have once been widespread," says Jean-Jacques Hublin, director of the Department of Human Evolution at the MPI-EVA. "Yet so far the only fossils representing this ancient hominin group were identified at Denisova Cave."

Mandible from Baishiya Karst Cave

In their new study, the researchers now describe a hominin lower mandible that was found on the Tibetan Plateau in Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, China. The fossil was originally discovered in 1980 by a local monk who donated it to the 6th Gung-Thang Living Buddha who then passed it on to Lanzhou University. Since 2010, researchers Fahu Chen and Dongju Zhang from Lanzhou University have been studying the area of the discovery and the cave site from where the mandible originated. In 2016, they initiated a collaboration with the Department of Human Evolution at the MPI-EVA and have since been jointly analysing the fossil.

While the researchers could not find any traces of DNA preserved in this fossil, they managed to extract proteins from one of the molars, which they then analysed applying ancient protein analysis. "The ancient proteins in the mandible are highly degraded and clearly distinguishable from modern proteins that may contaminate a sample," says Frido Welker of the MPI-EVA and the University of Copenhagen. "Our protein analysis shows that the Xiahe mandible belonged to a hominin population that was closely related to the Denisovans from Denisova Cave."

Primitive shape and large molars

The researchers found the mandible to be well-preserved. Its robust primitive shape and the very large molars still attached to it suggest that this mandible once belonged to a Middle Pleistocene hominin sharing anatomical features with Neandertals and specimens from the Denisova Cave. Attached to the mandible was a heavy carbonate crust, and by applying U-series dating to the crust the researchers found that the Xiahe mandible is at least 160,000 years old. Chuan-Chou Shen from the Department of Geosciences at National Taiwan University, who conducted the dating, says: "This minimum age equals that of the oldest specimens from the Denisova Cave".

"The Xiahe mandible likely represents the earliest hominin fossil on the Tibetan Plateau," says Fahu Chen, director of the Institute of Tibetan Research, CAS. These people had already adapted to living in this high-altitude low-oxygen environment long before Homo sapiens even arrived in the region. Previous genetic studies found present-day Himalayan populations to carry the EPAS1 allele in their genome, passed on to them by Denisovans, which helps them to adapt to their specific environment.

"Archaic hominins occupied the Tibetan Plateau in the Middle Pleistocene and successfully adapted to high-altitude low-oxygen environments long before the regional arrival of modern Homo sapiens," says Dongju Zhang. According to Hublin, similarities with other Chinese specimens confirm the presence of Denisovans among the current Asian fossil record. "Our analyses pave the way towards a better understanding of the evolutionary history of Middle Pleistocene hominins in East Asia."

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This story has been published on: 2019-05-01. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.


By Jun Ji-hye



Yonsei and Korea Universities along with other schools here are rushing to open new departments in cooperation with Samsung Electronics or SK hynix to groom future engineers in the field of system semiconductors.



The move comes amid a serious unemployment crisis in tandem with a feared brain drain in the industry.



It is also in line with the government's plan to nurture 3,400 professional personnel in the sector through four-year undergraduate programs by the end of 2030, amid a growing need for chipmakers to expand their presence in the non-memory chip market.



"A system chip engineering department will be created at Yonsei University and Korea University starting with the class of 2021," said an official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.



Yonsei University has partnered with Samsung Electronics, while Korea University has joined hands with SK hynix.



Seoul National University (SNU) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology are also discussing opening their own departments, according to industry sources.



The new departments are drawing attention amid a job crisis as their graduates will have higher chances of being employed by chipmakers after graduation.



Fifty students who major in system chips at Yonsei University will be hired by Samsung Electronics, while 30 who study at Korea University will be recruited by SK hynix.



The chipmakers will also award scholarships to students of the new departments.



Universities will receive financial support from chipmakers that will cover the operating expenses for the departments.



Sungkyunkwan University has already operated a similar course in cooperation with Samsung Electronics since 2006, enjoying great popularity among students and parents. During the 2019 rolling admission at the university, 1,387 students applied to the department that will select just 55 students.



The trade ministry said the launch of four-year degree programs specializing in system chips can be expanded to other universities once agreements are reached between universities and chipmakers.



SNU has been reviewing plans for teaming up with chipmakers and setting up a department, but this has yet to be finalized due to school regulations.



"It will take some time before the launch of the new department as its method of operation collides with school regulations," an official from SNU said.



Under university regulations, a department that guarantees employment cannot be created. To launch the new department, the university needs to change these.


LITCHFIELD  Proponents of using the old Bantam annex building for a new town hall had their say this week at a town meeting, and are now hoping the Board of Selectmen will revisit the idea.

The town meeting was held at the Litchfield Firehouse, drawing supporters of a plan that would renovate the old school building off Doyle Road in the Bantam borough and use it for a new town hall  a plan that has been considered in the past, but deemed too costly for Litchfield. Officials also want any town hall structure to be more centrally located on or near West Street in the Litchfield borough. About 75 people attended Tuesday.

In December, voters rejected a proposal to use the old Litchfield County Courthouse as a town hall and another proposal to sell the old Bantam annex building and its accompanying 10.5 acres to the Litchfield Affordable Housing Trust.

This meeting was a group effort, said Bantam resident Anne Haas, who is part of the group that wants to use the old school. It went well for us, I think ... people got their point across. Theres support for it.

The idea of using the annex for a new town hall isnt a new one. In 2006, a town hall review committee studied using it, along with renovating and expanding the existing town hall on West Street or building a completely new facility, which would bring all municipal offices under one roof. The committee also considered the building in 2012 and again in 2016.

The annex building, which is home to Litchfields parks and recreation and planning and zoning offices, as well as the fire marshal, also has a gym that is used for recreation programs. A U.S. Post Office has been in Bantam for decades.

The rest of the old school was, until 2017, part of the state courthouse facilities along with the West Street courthouse. The states new courthouse opened in 2018 in Torrington.

The building has fallen into disrepair; it needs its furnaces replaced, roof repairs, paint and other infrastructure improvements.

Resident Gary Gilman said recently that Paul just wants a new town hall.

His goal is a new town hall, he said The worse he makes the Bantam (annex) and the existing town hall look, the more he can get people to support a new one.

The Board of Selectmen is expected to reconvene the town hall review committee in the future. Members said Tuesday that they would consider revisiting the Bantam school idea, according to Haas.

The fights not over, she said. Leo said he might look at (Bantam) again. Were trying to get them to change their minds and listen to what the people want. I want transparency, I want accountability, I want democracy. Its important to get people to communicate.
TORRINGTON  A request for a 6.9 percent increase in the Torrington Board of Education budget was met Tuesday night with concern and questions from the City Council and Board of Finance.

We need to discuss the capital budget, said Mayor Elinor Carbone. This is specifically about the impact on the mill rate.

The capital budget request is $1.42 million with an additional $864,325 for technology funding. Added to the operating budget of $77 million , it brought the total funding request to $79.2 million .

The percentage increase that was initially provided to the council by the school board, which its members said included the capital budget request, was 4.7 percent.

But Carbone later noted that the requested amount listed on the school boards documents did not include the capital budget costs and was in fact 2.2 percent higher than what was calculated by the school board.

I hope this is not the final budget. The increase is pretty substantial, said finance board member Christopher Beyus.

Come tour our building. The more we dont invest, the more it costs us, replied school board Chairwoman Fiona Cappabianca.

We need to get an idea of what is most important in your minds, said finance board member Christopher Anderson.

He asked the school board to calculate how the school district would apply the funding if the increase were at 4, 5, and 6 percent.

We need supervisors who can be leaders, Superintendent of Schools Susan M. Lubomski said, in order to respond to changes required by the state for special education students.

All of our teachers are trained to support academic, emotional and social skills, Lubomski said. Students who have support are not in a fight or flight mode.

The districts budget proposal for student services, which the school board said answers the districts increased need for mental health support, requests a 19 percent increase for a total of $2.5 million.

The district plans to add a new position of a full-time behaviorist who would work district wide to provide mental health support.

The school board was asked to provide a short summary of the budget request to prepare for another joint meeting with the city council and the board of finance at a date to be determined.
Costco Korea website



By Nam Hyun-woo



Costco Wholesale Korea is under fire for snubbing the government's recommendation that it suspend the opening of its new outlet in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province, ignoring a 50 million won ($42,800) fine scheduled to be imposed on the membership wholesaler, according to government and industry officials, Wednesday.



According to the Ministry of Small- and Midsized- Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups, it will issue an order against Costco Hanam to suspend its operation and will impose the fine if the outlet does not follow the order.



This came after the company ignored the government's April 25 recommendation that Costco postpone the opening of its Hanam outlet by opening the store on Tuesday.



On April 25, the government advised Costco Korea to halt the opening of the store until the company can reach an agreement with nearby small shop owners who are opposing the store  or until the government can arbitrate in the event the two parties fail to find an amicable solution.



According to the ministry, six small shop owners' federations near the Hanam outlet filed for an arbitration between them and Costco Korea to the Korea Federation of SMEs (K-Biz) and demanded the company halt the opening, saying their businesses would be jeopardized.



The Act on Cooperation between Large Enterprises and SMEs allows small shop owners to request a negotiation with large enterprises opening a supermarket or a massive discount store in a region, in a bid to prevent small shop owners from sustaining excessive damage.



After K-Biz's review on the issue, the ministry advised Costco Korea to postpone the opening and continue arbitration. However, the membership wholesaler did not follow the recommendation, apparently because there are no effective penalties or regulations available from the state after imposing a fine that is a relatively small amount compared to the company's revenue in Korea.



If the arbitration between the small shop owners and Costco Korea fails, the government can issue additional recommendations, such as postponing the store's opening for up to three years, restricting some products' sales or downsizing the store. If the company ignores the government's suggestion again, it will become a binding order and its violation can be punished with up to two years in prison for company officials.



However, industry officials expect this will not likely happen given the firm's previous case in Songdo, Incheon.





A Costco store in Incheon / Courtesy of Incheon Free Economic Zone
Authorities in northwestern Cambodias Battambang province summoned 12 members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party to court this week to answer charges they were still active in the opposition group dissolved by court order almost two years ago.



Seven of the activists received their summons on May 1, with the others summoned the day before, Thong Saroeuna member of the banned party in Battambangs Koas Krala districttold RFAs Khmer Service on Wednesday.



I will not be intimidated, and I will be happy to appear before the court to answer their questions, Thong Saroeun said, adding, I havent committed any crimes. I am a [Cambodian] citizen, and I have a right to be involved in politics.



Also speaking to RFA, CNRP activist Sim Lao said he was surprised to receive the summons to appear in court, as he had committed no crime, and vowed to continue his support for the banned opposition group.



In Sept. 2017, Cambodian authorities arrested CNRP President Kem Sokha on charges of treason, and the Supreme Court dissolved the opposition group two months later, paving the way for Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodia Peoples Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in the countrys July 2018 general election.



The CNRP has since reorganized outside the country, with opposition leader Sam Rainsy serving as acting president, and many members remain active at the grassroots level, voicing their political views on social media and in social gatherings.



Sam Rainsy, who left Cambodia in November 2015, was appointed acting head of the CNRP in January while Kem Sokha remains in pre-trial detention under house arrest, and has vowed to return to Cambodia this year to lead the partys supporters in ousting Hun Sen.



I regard Sam Rainsy as my father, and I support him, Sim Lao said, speaking to RFA. If my father returns, I will welcome him and accompany him home.



Also speaking to RFA on May 1, Ying MenglyBattambang provincial coordinator for the Cambodian rights group Adhoccalled the summons of the local CNRP members politically motivated, adding that Hun Sen and Cambodias ruling party are concerned that the opposition group may now regroup at home.



Their intention is to destroy the [local] CNRP structures so that the partys members cant reorganize, he said.



Death in custody



Meanwhile, Am Sam Atha senior investigator in the Cambodian rights group Licadhocalled on authorities in Kampong Cham province to investigate the death in custody of the son of a CNRP commune chief in the provinces Stung Treng district.



Tith Ron, 26 and the son of CNRP member Eam Tith, died on April 17 in what police described as a fall in a jail restroom, though his body bore multiple bruises, raising fears he had been killed by jail guards.



Even though the prosecutor claims this was not a case of torture, the public has no faith in him, and there must be an investigation to examine the facts of this case, he said.



Kampong Cham provincial governor Kuoch Chamroeun meanwhile denied that Tith Ron had been killed in detention, claiming the young man had died in an accident while drunk.



Our authorities are looking into this, but the other prisoners said that he simply fell down and died, he said.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Human rights lawyer Tang Jingling returned to his hometown in Jingzhou, Hubei province on Monday evening after he was released from jail. Photo from South China Morning Post



By Mimi Lau





Lawyer Tang Jingling, who was released from jail on Monday after serving a five-year term for inciting subversion, has vowed to continue his fight for human rights and democracy in China through non-violent civil disobedience.



In an interview with the South China Morning Post on Tuesday, Tang said he stood by his beliefs about advancing democracy in the country.



"My imprisonment has confirmed my beliefs that [building] a democratic society that values human rights is the only way to prevent tragedies, such as what happened to me, from happening again to other people," Tang said. "I believe [democracy] is still the way to go [for China]  where every citizen can stand up for their rights.



"For people who advocate for democracy, they should come forward and help others in every possible way they can, especially [for those] who desperately need help," he added.



Tang, 48, returned to his hometown in Jingzhou, Hubei province on Monday evening after he was freed from Sihui Prison in Zhaoqing, Guangdong in the morning. He was sentenced to five years' jail for inciting subversion of state power by a Guangzhou court in 2016.





Villagers face off with riot police in Taishi during a dispute over illegal land seizures in 2005. Tang Jingling lost his lawyer's licence after representing villagers in the case. Photo from South China Morning Post



A prominent human rights lawyer, Tang has spent more than two decades advocating non-violent civil disobedience to push for democracy in China. He lost his lawyer's licence in 2006 after representing villagers in Taishi of Panyu district, Guangdong in their fight against illegal land seizures.



Another lawyer in the case, Guo Feixiong, is serving a six-year jail term for disturbing public order, "picking quarrels and provoking trouble".



Before he was arrested, Tang had been active in defending victims of human rights abuses including people who had been given faulty vaccines. In 2012, he gave legal advice to relatives of Li Wangyang, a dissident and labour rights activist in Hunan province who was found dead in his hospital room after he gave a television interview calling for vindication of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.



Tang was arrested in May 2014 along with activists Yuan Chaoyang, also known as Yuan Xinting, and Wang Qingying, after distributing books and printed materials on grass-roots pro-democracy activism.



Yuan and Wang were jailed for 3 years and 2 years, respectively. But Tang was given a longer sentence which he did not appeal, calling the court an "illegitimate justice body".





Tang Jingling's wife, Wang Yanfang, left China for San Francisco in 2016. Photo from South China Morning Post
Rights activists and politicians in Taiwan have called on authorities in China to allow jailed rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang visits from his family and his lawyer, warning that his case should act as a "big red flag" to the people of Taiwan.



Wang's wife Li Wenzu, speaking in a video statement played at a press conference on the democratic island, said her husband has been incommunicado for years, amid fears of torture and other mistreatment at the hands of Chinese authorities.



"It has been more than two years since Wang Quanzhang's case went to court, and yet the people in charge of the case daren't even let me visit him," Li said. "We can't even locate the people in charge of his case."



"We have no idea what situation or state Wang Quanzhang is in," she said. "There has been no news of him at all."



"I am extremely worried about what has become of Wang Quanzhang," she said. "The things I worry most about are whether he is alive, whether he is in good health."



Rights groups say there are concerns that Wang may have been subjected to torture or other mistreatment in detention, as he was detained incommunicado for such a long period of time, and that this may be the reason behind officials' insistence on secrecy.



During that time, the authorities failed to provide a proper account of Wangs prolonged detention to the public, including Wangs family and family-appointed defense lawyers, they say.



Wang was handed a four-and-a-half year jail term on Jan. 28 by the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, which found him guilty of "subversion of state power."



The verdict and sentence followed repeated delays, resulting in Wang being held in pretrial detention for more than three years with no access to a lawyer or family visits.



Later, activists said they were later told that the case been erased from the computer system of a higher court ahead of his appeal at the Tianjin Higher People's Court.



Huge blow to public interest law

The trial was held on Dec. 26 behind closed doors, with officials claiming that state secrets were involved in the case.



The overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network has cited reports that Wang was tortured with electric shocks during interrogations.



I-Min Hsiao, executive secretary of Taiwan's Judicial Reform Foundation, said that the Chinese government crackdown on the country's human rights lawyers begun in was a huge blow to public interest law.



"This attack has laid waste to all those young, public interest lawyers who put all that effort into their training because they wanted to give something back to society," Hsiao said. "[The case of Wang Quanzhang] is emblematic of those lawyers who refuse to cave in to the Chinese regime."



"He has insisted all along on his innocence."



Eeling Chiu, head of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, said Wang had committed no crime under Chinese law.



"Wang was practising law according to Chinese law, acting as defense attorney for others," Chiu said. "Such actions don't constitute 'subversion of state power.'"



"We have a lot of respect and admiration for Li Wenzu ... who has persevered on her husband's behalf, fighting for his rights and defending human rights," she said.



Yu Mei-nu, a lawmaker for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said Taiwanese people should take heed of the way China treats its lawyers.



"The biggest difference between China and Taiwan is that Taiwan has a way of life that includes freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights," Yu said. "If Taiwan wants to hold onto that way of life, cases such as Wang Quanzhang's should serve as a huge red flag."



'One country, two systems' unpopular



Thousands of people took to the streets of Taiwan last month in protest at China's proposal to govern the democratic island under the "one country, two systems" framework applied to Hong Kong.



In a Jan. 2 speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping insisted that Taiwan must be "unified" with China, and refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island.



Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen replied at the time that Taiwan's 23 million people have no wish to give up their sovereignty, and that China should first move towards a democratic system.



DPP lawmaker Tuan Yi-kang agreed, citing China's growing influence and political control in the former colonies of Hong Kong and Macau.



He said that plans to amend Hong Kong's extradition law to allow renditions to China on a case-by-case basis would affect anyone who traveled to the city who is regarded as a dissident by Beijing.



"Do the people of Taiwan realize that, if Hong Kong passes the amendments to the extradition laws, any Taiwan person who travels to Hong Kong could be arrested and handed over to the Chinese authorities to face trial in China ... for any reason, not just political, but also maybe for tax issues or trivial reasons, even without knowing the charges against them," Tuan said.



A recent opinion poll found that more than 80 percent of Taiwanese would reject Xi's offer to rule the island via the "one country, two systems" model used for the former colonies of Hong Kong and Macau.



Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony in the 50 years prior to the end of World War II, but was handed back to the 1911 Republic of China under the Kuomintang (KMT) government as part of Tokyo's post-war reparation deal.



The island began a transition to democracy following the death of Chiang Kai-shek's son, President Chiang Ching-kuo, in , starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996.



But many fear that Taiwan could see the loss of its existing freedoms, should it fail to curb Beijing's growing influence on the island, often wielded via close business ties across the Taiwan Strait.



Reported by Hwang Chun-mei for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Chung Kuang-cheng for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
A court in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has sentenced a Canadian national to death drug smuggling, drawing protests from Ottawa, while handing a suspended death sentence to a U.S. citizen.



Fan Wei was handed the sentence along with 10 others by the Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court, which found him guilty of drug trafficking as part of an international narcotics syndicate that sold and produced methamphetamine and dimethylamylamine in Guangdong's Taishan city between July and November 2012.



Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland said the Canadian government was "very concerned" about the sentencing.



"Canada stands firmly opposed to the use of the death penalty, everywhere around the world," Freeland said. "We think that this is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which should not be used in any country. We are ... particularly concerned when it is applied to Canadians."



The Canadian foreign ministry has called for clemency.



The court said in a statement that the number of drugs sold and manufactured "was extremely large and the crimes were extremely serious."



The court also sentenced U.S. citizen Mark Swidan to death, suspended for two years, in the same case.



All of those convicted have 10 days to lodge an appeal. The sentences followed a trial in 2013, but the Jiangmen court has repeatedly applied for extensions to the three-month time limit to pass sentence.



The Supreme People's Court approved more than 20 such extensions, with no explanation provided to the families, according to U.S.-based rights group the Duihua Foundation.



No evidence produced



The group said that no forensic evidence has was produced, with no drugs in his system, no DNA on the packages, no fingerprints on the packages, or drug paraphernalia, tying Swidan to the drugs.



No emails, letters, or phone calls were cited, linking him to any transaction, and Swidan had no previous history of criminal behavior, it said.



"The Swidan family was never told why the judgment was repeatedly extended, a violation of a basic norm of transparency," Duihua's executive director John Kamm said in a recent statement.



"Mr. Swidans rights to a fair trial and due process have been seriously abused," Kamm said.



Fan is the second Canadian national to be sentenced to death this year.



At least 13 Canadians were detained after Chinese officials vowed to retaliate for the arrest in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China's flagship telecoms company Huawei.



While at least eight have since been released, a court in the northeastern city of Dalian on Dec. 29 handed down the death penalty to Canadian national Robert Schellenberg, who had originally been sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug smuggling.



Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and consultant Michael Spavor remain in detention on suspicion of "endangering national security."



Kovrig is a diplomat on leave who was working for the International Crisis Group think tank at the time of his detention, while Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un.



Reported by Liu Fei for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Thirty years after the bloody suppression of the 1989 democracy movement around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, president Xi Jinping has lauded the spirit of a 100-year-old student-led movement in a bid to boost loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.



In a keynote speech at a ceremony marking the centenary of the May Fourth Movement at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 30, Xi linked the movement to his theme of "national rejuvenation."



"The movement gave birth to the great spirit centered on patriotism, progress, democracy and science, with patriotism at the core," state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying of the 1919 movement, which was sparked by popular anger at the Treaty of Versailles and the concession of a huge tract of Chinese territory to Japan.



Macau University lecturer Choi Chi U said Xi's speech, in emphasizing patriotism, distorted the original intentions of the movement, which campaigned to reform China through democracy and science, however.



"The May Fourth movement was definitely patriotic in spirit, but the more important issue for the scholars of Peking University was the question of how China should go forward, using science and democracy," Choi said.



"There was nothing about obedience to the party and socialism; it was never mentioned," he said. "This is is purely about the Communist Party controlling the May Fourth movement [narrative], and it runs counter to history and deviates from reality."



Chinese constitutional scholar and historian Zhang Lifan agreed.



"The May Fourth movement came against a background of the campaign for a new kind of culture," Zhang said. "It was a time of ideological awakening and liberation, based on science and democracy."



"Now they want to strip that out and replace it with patriotism and the love of the party," he said. "This is actually a distortion of the spirit of May Fourth."



"It is also binding patriotism and love of the party together, meaning that if you love your country, you must also love the party and love socialism," Zhang said. "This is still really all about maintaining the Chinese Communist Party's position of power."



'Chinese dream'

Xi also called on the Communist Youth League to mobilize the country's young people to pursue the "Chinese dream."



"We should educate and guide young people to view the world properly, to understand the national conditions comprehensively, and to grasp the trend of the era," he told delegates.



But Guizhou University professor Yang Shaozheng, who was fired outright after he made comments critical of the Communist Party in an online article, said Xi should be encouraging young people to cultivate independent thought, rather than blind obedience to party and state.



"They should be encouraging young people to cultivate critical thinking and judgement," Yang said.



He added: "Patriotism and love for the party are two different things ... and patriotism doesn't just mean praising the motherland ... it also means to uncover the mistakes and issues faced by this country."



"Finding solutions to these problems is the real kind of patriotism," Yang said. "Loving the party doesn't just mean paying tribute to it; it should also mean finding ways to discover its problems and mistakes."



Xi said the party should listen to young people's views on social issues, as well as their opinions and advice on the work of the government.



"Even if they express harsh or partial criticism, we should correct our mistakes when we have made any and guard against them when we have not," said Xi.



Hong Kong current affairs commentator Poon Siu-to said Xi's nod to the potential for criticism from young people wasn't being put into practice on the ground, however.



"Xi Jinping [talked about] harsh or extreme criticism from young people, but the reality is the opposite," Poon said. "How many young people have been jailed, or at least put in administrative detention, just over few words they posted on the internet?"



"It's pretty ironic. They are saying one thing and doing another," he said.



Xi's ever-widening crackdown

Since he came to power in 2012, Xi has presided over an ever-widening crackdown on public expression, particularly on social media platforms, targeting anyone who mocks him personally for particularly harsh punishment.



In , Shandong activist Wang Jiangfeng was sentenced by the Zhaoyuan People's Court after being found guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble."



He was accused of referring to the President as "Steamed Bun Xi" in a group message to the social media platforms WeChat and QQ. His defense attorney Zhu Shengwu was later stripped of his license to practice.



"Steamed Bun Xi" has been a banned phrase on China's tightly controlled internet since the president ordered the buns during a visit to a Beijing restaurant in , prompting petitioners to gather outside toting a placard that read "President Xi, I'd like to eat steamed buns too" in a bid to get their grievances against the government heard.



The incident sparked an online meme in which Xi was referred to jokingly as Steamed Bun Xi, in a pun on the name of a legendary Song dynasty official who fought corruption. Censors later banned the meme, deleting social media posts that contained references to it.



The 1989 protests, which took over Tiananmen Square for several weeks, were sparked by a spontaneous outpouring of public mourning following the funeral of ousted liberal premier Hu Yaobang on that year.



The government styled the 1989 student-led democracy protests a "counterrevolutionary rebellion," and the families of victims and pro-democracy campaigners have since focused their efforts on a re-evaluation of that verdict, as well as demanding compensation and the apportioning of blame and responsibility for the massacre.



Three decades later, public memorials and discussions of the events of are still banned in mainland China, with activists who seek to commemorate the bloodshed often detained, with veteran dissidents placed under police surveillance or detention during each anniversary.



Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Gao Feng for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Activists at a rally urge the Chinese government not to repatriate North Korean refugees in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul in May 2018.

Protestors held a rally in front of Chinas embassy in Seoul Tuesday to plead with the Chinese government not to repatriate seven North Korean defectors who were arrested last week in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, and now face forcible repatriation.

The protest group included family members of the seven, and they delivered a letter to the embassy requesting an emergency rescue of the defectors.

Among the defectors are a nine-year-old girl surnamed Choi and her 32-year-old uncle, surnamed Kang.

At the rally, Chois mother said in an interview with RFAs Korean Service that she had recent contact with her daughter prior to the groups arrest.

I spoke to my daughter just a day before the arrest and promised to meet her soon, she said. At the rally, she hoped to appeal to the public to help her see her daughter again.

If I had imagined this would happen, I would have told her that I love her. I didnt even get to say that. I never thought that something like this would happen to me, she said.

Even if the defectors are criminals in the eyes of North Korea, South Korea has a legal responsibility to help defectors to the fullest extent it can.

Since the seven defectors are citizens of South Korea under the Constitution, the South Korean government should make all possible efforts to prevent their forced repatriation and rescue them, said Kim Tae-Hoon, a representative of the Seoul-based Lawyers for Human Rights and Unification of Korea.

Also at the rally was Thae Yong-ho, the former deputy ambassador of North Korea to the United Kingdom who famously defected with his family to South Korea in 2016.

As I know how parents feel, Im here to join them in front of the Chinese Embassy and fight together, said Thae, who in the past has said that the future of his children was a factor in his familys decision to defect.

A miracle can happen when we all join our hearts together with one voice, he said.

More than 30,000 North Koreans have made their way to South Korea in recent decades, including several high-ranking officials.

Reported by Seungwook Hong for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 24, 2019.

Myanmars State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi returned this week from a visit to China with a grant of 1 billion yuan (U.S. $148 million) for development projects, while her spokesman said a controversial Chinese dam project on the Irrawaddy River was not on the agenda.

The grant, which was agreed when she attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation last week in Beijing, would be used for projects to improve peoples livelihoods, studies for major projects and humanitarian assistance for people displaced by civil war in northern Myanmar, Myanmar's Foreign Ministry said.

The two countries signed Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation; a Memorandum of Understanding on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) Cooperation Plan; and a MoU on a Five-year Development Program for Economic and Trade Cooperation, the ministry said.

Myanmar media quoted Aung San Suu Kyi as saying BRI projects selected in line with Myanmars national plan and priorities will contribute to its endeavors for the improvement of much needed infrastructure that will not merely enhance domestic connectivity but also improve cross-border connectivity.

BRI stands for the Belt and Road Initiative, also known as the One Belt, One Road Initiative, Chinese President Xi Jinpings signature infrastructure project. The a trillion- dollar development program aims to link China with dozens of countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Zaw Htay, spokesman for the state counselors office, said there was no discussion during Aung San Suu Kyis six-day stay in China of the controversial Myitsone Dam project.

Construction of the Chinese-backed U.S. $3.6 billion hydropower project on the Irrawaddy River in Kachin state, begun in 2009, has stalled since 2011 because of concerns over potential flooding and other environmental impacts and anger that 90 percent of its electricity would be exported to China.

Suspension of the project has dismayed China, which has been pushing Aung San Suu Kyis ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) government to allow the hydropower project to resume, arguing that Chinese companies have already invested heavily in it.



Aung San Suu Kyi has been tight-lipped on the fate of the project, but said in mid-March that it is important for her government to uphold investment projects approved by previous administrations or risk being perceived by investors as unreliable. Others have raised concerns that Myanmar would have to pay large compensation to China if the project is scrapped.

Religious groups across Myanmar, as well as residents of Kachin state, where the dam project is located, issued demands and staged protests ahead of Aung San Suu Kyis China trip, calling for the dam to be scrapped outright.

Resolving the Rakhine issue

Political observers in Myanmar said they expect that China, eager to push through projects with Myanmar, will take a keen interest in resolving ethnic conflicts in border regions, including Rakhine state, where the central government is in conflict with both Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines.

I think they are going to push the matter of peace and cease-fire on one hand, and on the other hand they are going to work on trade routes, said Maung Maung Soe, a writer and observer of military and political affairs.

There are six arms-bearing groups along the [routes], and then there are petroleum and gas pipelines and a commercial road that [combined] bring in about U.S. $5 billion a year when open, he said.

In the long run, if there is no peace, I think we will have to be talking the whole time about solving these problems, said the analyst.

One analyst expressed concern that too close of a Chinese embrace of Myanmar would lead to excessive Beijing influence in local politics, as it has in Cambodia.

China is trying to join with all of the 10 ASEAN countries to develop a big market. Among these 10 countries, this plan hinges mostly on Cambodia and Myanmar, said Hla Kyaw Zaw, an observer of Chinese affairs.

[At the forum] Hun Sen was on Xi Jinpings left, and on the right was Aung San Suu Kyi, he noted, referring to Cambodias strongman, who has ruled his country for 33 years and has relied on Beijing for financial support as his autocratic rule has alienated Western partners.

China has been helping Hun Sen all along to win elections in Cambodia, and it seems it is likely that it will help Aung San Suu Kyi in the same way, he said.

Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Than Than Win. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Three people walk along a road during a government-organized visit for journalists in Buthidaung township close to a surge in fighting between the Arakan Army and government troops in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, Jan. 25, 2019.

Myanmars military has rounded up several hundred people in several villages in Rakhine state for questioning about their ties to the Arakan Army (AA), holding 275 men after releasing women, children, and the elderly, local sources told RFAs Myanmar Service on Wednesday.

Beginning on Tuesday, government troops swept into Kyauktan village and detained villagers to interrogate them about the AA, which has been engaged in hostilities with the army for much of 2019.

A man who looks like a military officer arrived. He asked if the villagers had any connection to the AA. He also asked us not to associate with AA troops and to live in peace, a villager in Kyauktan village told RFA.

Afterwards, the villager said, the military released all males younger than 15 and older than 50, closed the village gate, and detained the rest of the male residents for interrogation.

The detentions and interrogations were followed by an announcement by the military commanders office that troops had captured an AA temporary training camp near Phong Nyo Leik village in Buthidaung township.

The troops have been interrogating the villagers from Kyauktan village since they got information that AA members retreating from the captured training camp were sheltering in disguise in Kyauktan and Zeydi Taung villages, the announcement said.

The announcement also said that military checks of the family registration records of 477 families in the two villages turned up 275 males aged between 15 and 50, and that the military proceeded to interrogate the men.

We are currently still conducting interrogations of these people. This is not an arrest. We are just interrogating the particular individuals, Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun of the military information committee told RFA.

Concern about Rakhine offensive

A male teacher who asked to remain anonymous said more than 10 teachers were among the detainees.

They were released around 12 midnight yesterday but arrested again early this morning today. They are teachers from this village and other villages. They are mostly residents in this village, the teacher told RFA on Wednesday.

The military has never informed us about interrogations. We informed state officials about the issue, and they requested the list of staff being interrogated, said Kyaw Mya, a Rathedaung township education official.

Asked about the teachers, Zaw Min Tun told RFA: After the interrogations, when we can confirm they are real academic staff and are found to have no connection with the AA, they will be released.

For its part, the AA denied that any camp had been captured in the area.

There is no such incident of an AA camp getting captured. We never use civilians as cover, said AA spokesman Khine Thukha.

The Burmese military now holds the attitude that all Rakhines must be supporters of the insurgency, so they are part of insurgent forces, too. They are doing the interrogations because they view all Rakhine peoples as AA supporters, he said.

Tin Maung Win, who represents Rathedaung township in the Rakhine state parliament, told RFA that he visited Kyauktan village Wednesday morning to check on the villagers being interrogated, but he was stopped at the entrance of the village by government troops.

Kyauktan village has experienced army searches twice since the conflict flared up in early January, but has never seen the army conduct mass detentions.

The interrogations in Rakhine came as the government military announced it had extended by another two months its unilateral Dec. 21-April 30 cease-fire in Kachin and Shan states.

The cease-fire now holds until June 30, but excludes Rakhine state.

Khine Thukha, the AA spokesman, said the exclusion of Rakhine could mean that they will launch offensives exclusively in Rakhine state for two months. I think it will lead to more negative consequences.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
A British court has sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old Australian was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act last month following his arrest at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London.

Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012, when he skipped bail to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sexual-assault and rape allegations, which he has denied. The case was dropped last year.

He now faces U.S. federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest leaks of government secrets.

Britain is to decide whether to extradite Assange to the United States in response to accusations that he conspired with former U.S. intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 to download classified information.

He faces up to five years if convicted of the charges.

Based on reporting by AP, AFP, and the BBC
Maria Butina, who pleaded guilty to not registering as an agent for the Russian government while in the United States, has blasted the U.S. judicial system, calling her 18-month prison sentence "absolutely absurd" and a "disgrace."

Speaking from a U.S. jail by phone to Russian reporters, Butina on April 30 said she "didn't expect such a severe punishment."

"This is absolutely absurd. This is a huge disgrace for the U.S. justice system," she added.

Butina said the trial had brought her family a debt of some 40 million rubles ($618,000) and that she needed assistance in paying it back.

"We need money very much," she said.

Butina complained that the sentence she received would have been the same if she had been convicted of selling secrets to China.

In sentencing Butina in a Washington, D.C., federal court on April 26, a U.S. judge accepted what prosecutors had requested in presentencing filings.

The judge also ordered Butina, 30, to be deported to Russia immediately after she finishes her prison sentence, which is expected in January 2020 after receiving credit for the time she has spent in U.S. custody.

Prosecutors say that before and during her studies at American University in Washington, she sought to build relationships with U.S. conservative political groups, including the influential National Rifle Association, on behalf of at least one powerful Kremlin-connected lawmaker.

Butina pleaded guilty in December and agreed to cooperate with investigators. She has been held in custody since her arrest.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Police have detained scores of people across Russia as opposition activists, communists, and union members marked May Day with holiday rallies and antigovernment protests.

In St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, riot police broke up an opposition rally and detained 69 people on May 1 after participants chanted slogans critical of President Vladimir Putin, according to OVD-Info, an activist group that tracks police arrests.

Some of the participants chanted slogans such as "Putin is a thief" and "This is our city," while others carried placards reading "Putin is not immortal."

Protest organizers said demonstrations were being held in s many as 30 cities across Russia. In the city of Tula, south of Moscow, city administrators told the Interfax news agency that nearly 33,000 people had turned out for the May Day event.

WATCH: Moscow police estimated 100,000 people marched in the Russian capital to mark May Day and celebrate workers' rights.

Popular discontent has been building in Russia over recent years amid controversial pension reforms and falling living standards.

Putin, who was reelected as president in March 2018, has seen his popularity decline and opinion surveys show his approval ratings sinking noticeably.

Supporters of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny were among some 2,000 marchers in St. Petersburg.

"Tremendous. They dispersed a sanctioned march for no good reason," Navalny said on Twitter.

Local lawmaker Maksim Reznik, who was among those detained, posted a picture showing police officers in riot gear dragging him along the ground. He was later released.

Several thousand members of the ruling United Russia party, the Communist Party, and other activists also turned out in the center of St. Petersburg.

Thousands of people also demonstrated in the capital, Moscow, and other cities, waving red flags.

In all, 126 people were detained in 10 cities across Russia. including 16 people in the Pacific coast city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 10 in the Siberian city of Tomsk, and 18 others in Kursk, Makhachkala, and Novosibirsk.



The May Day theme has been partially supplanted by a new generation of activists who have used the day to organize more off-beat marches, highlighting what they say is the absurdity of Russia's political system.



The "Monstration" rallies, which were staged in several of the cities, included people marching in outlandish costumes with absurdist and sometimes nonsensical signs.



In one, held in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, a man in a dinosaur costume held a sign that read, "We died out because the state didnt ask us to give birth."

With reporting by AFP and AP
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Police in Kazakhstan beat protesters with clubs in the capital, Nur-Sultan, as antigovernment demonstrations across the country on May 1 called for a boycott of the upcoming Kazakh presidential election.
Canadian teacher Robert Scott Johnson leaves Kowloon City Court. Photo from South China Morning Post



By Jasmine Siu





A Canadian teacher has a case to answer over allegations he molested two six-year-old girls at a Hong Kong kindergarten, a court has ruled.



Magistrate Amy Chan Wai-mun on Tuesday said Robert Scott Johnson, 56, had to answer to two counts of indecent assault, which he denied, after two K3 pupils, identified in court only as X and Y, accused him of touching them in a classroom during afternoon nap on July 13, 2018.



One of their teachers supported their allegations, testifying that she had seen Johnson touching X's blanket and withdrawing his hand instantly when she looked over.



"What happened?" the magistrate asked.



"Found " the teacher began, adding after a long pause: "Found Scott touching the kids."



The teacher testified that X later gestured to her upper body and pointed down below her waist, when she asked what Johnson was doing.



"He touched me," X reportedly said. "Here."



Kowloon City Court heard the teacher immediately alerted her colleagues and a social worker, which led the Social Welfare Department to report the case to police.



In his defence, Johnson said he was waiting to have lunch when he walked into X and Y's classroom, where the children were getting ready for their nap on low folding beds placed on the floor.





The trial was held at Kowloon City Court. Photo from South China Morning Post
Dozens of protesters were detained in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, during protests demanding the release of all political prisoners and a boycott of the upcoming presidential election. The June 9 vote follows the resignation of authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who had led the country since the Soviet era. Other protests were held on May 1 in Almaty, Qaraghandy, and other cities.
The U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan has stopped releasing data showing the number of Afghan districts -- and the percentage of their population -- controlled by the Kabul government compared to the Taliban.

NATO's military command in Kabul said that "they no longer saw decision-making value in these data," a U.S. government watchdog agency that monitors the war effort in Afghanistan, now in its 18th year, said in a report to Congress on April 30.

In its report, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) quoted the U.S. military as saying in January there was "uncertainty" in the way the data were produced and that "the assessments that underlie them are to a degree subjective."

SIGAR head John Sopko criticized what he called a trend toward less openness by the military authorities who are advising, training, and assisting Afghan security forces.

"This much is clear: There's even less information for American taxpayers to gauge whether their investment in Afghanistan is a success, or something else," Sopko told Reuters.

The Western-backed government in Kabul has been struggling to counter attacks from the Taliban and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO combat troops in 2014.

A January report put districts under government control or influence at 53.8 percent, covering 63.5 percent of the population, with the rest of the country controlled or contested by the Taliban.

Over the past years, the U.S. military and Resolute Support,a NATO-led mission that provides training and assistance to security forces in Afghanistan, have restricted data on the Afghan war being shared with the public, including the size of the security forces, casualty numbers, and the attrition rate for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a new measure that aims to expand government control over the Internet.

Critics have warned that the new law, signed by Putin on May 1 and published on the Kremlin website, will lead to censorship over wide parts of the Internet.

Among other things, the new measure requires Internet providers to install equipment to route Russian web traffic through servers in the country.

Internet advocates have said that will allow for greater surveillance by Russian intelligence agencies, and the ability of state authorities to control information.

However, the Kremlin, and its allies in parliament, have defended the legislation as a defensive move in case the United States were to cut Russia off from the global Internet.

If that were to happen, Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, would essentially seize control of Russia's Internet and would then be able to filter all Internet traffic.

Roskomnadzor's chief, Aleksandr Zharov, said last month that the measures would also target Telegram, a popular messaging app that is widely used by Russians.
Tajikistan has repatriated 84 minors from Iraq, where their Tajik mothers have been imprisoned under charges of belonging to the extremist group Islamic state (IS) or are awaiting trial.

A Fly Erbil flight carrying the 84 children and teenagers landed at Dushanbe airport late on April 30.

The kids were set to undergo medical checkups before being given to relatives.

The Tajik government thanked the Kuwaiti and Iraqi foreign ministries as well as the UNICEF office in Baghdad for helping with the repatriation.

Hundreds of Tajik citizens went to Iraq and Syria to join the IS group, according to the authorities, and Dushanbe has repeatedly said it doesn't intend to leave any Tajik children behind in the two war-torn Middle Eastern countries, fearing that they might pose security threats in the long run.

Tajikistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement there were 43 Tajik women in Iraqi prisons, with 95 children between them.

The country's ambassador to Iraq and Kuwait, Zubaidullo Zubaidzoda, told RFE/RL earlier this year that a number of Tajik children would remain for now in Iraqi prisons because their mothers did not grant their permission for them to be repatriated.
U.S. and Taliban representatives are due to meet in Qatar to resume talks aimed at ending the 17-year war in Afghanistan, the militant group says.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the sixth round of direct meetings between the Taliban and the United States since October 2018 will start in Doha on May 1.

Washington has said that Zalmay Khalilzad, the head of U.S. efforts to force a peace deal with the Taliban, will visit the Qatari capital this month to meet Taliban negotiators.

The group has so far refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, calling it a puppet of the West, and has insisted on the withdrawal of foreign forces before talks with Kabul can begin.

During a visit to the Afghan capital on April 28, Khalilzad, who was born in Afghanistan, said that the Taliban must change its ways and agree to a cease-fire if peace is to come to the country.

"If the Taliban insist on going back to the system they used to have, in my personal opinion it means the continuation of war not peace," the U.S. envoy told the private TV station Tolo News in Kabul.

On April 29-30, Khalilzad visited Islamabad to discuss "developments in the Afghan peace process" with the Pakistani leadership, according to a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.

The U.S. envoy "requested and received support for the need to accelerate intra-Afghan dialogue and negotiations as well as a reduction in violence, concrete steps necessary for a comprehensive settlement," the statement said.

Last week, the United States, Russia, and China said in a joint statement that they have agreed on the goal of withdrawing foreign forces from Afghanistan and to seek an "inclusive Afghan-led" peace process.

The United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of Resolute Support, a NATO-led mission that provides training and assistance to security forces in Afghanistan as they battle Taliban fighters and other extremist groups, including the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.

On April 29 in Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opened a four-day Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, with more than 3,200 delegates seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban.

Ghanis special envoy, Omar Daudzai, has said that the Loya Jirga bringing together politicians, tribal elders, and other prominent figures will provide the ground for "intra-Afghan talks" with the Taliban.

But the gathering was overshadowed by no-shows by several high-ranking officials, including Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani's partner in a unity government.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
Sweden has granted political asylum to members of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot.

Lusine Djanyan and Aleksei Knedlyakovsky and their two children were granted asylum on April 30 after appealing an initial decision by Sweden's Immigration Office that rejected their 2017 asylum request.

The couple cited harassment and death threats in Russia based on their protest actions and antigovernment songs at concerts.

"I am very happy that my children will be able to grow up in security, in particular in view of what has been going on [in Russia]," Djanyan told the SVT television station after the decision to give them asylum.

Knedlyakovsky was jailed in Russia for 15 days in 2016 after hanging a cross on a statue depicting the chief of the Russian FSB security service.

Pussy Riot rose to fame in August 2012 when three of its members were sentenced to two years in prison for "hooliganism and religious hatred" after performing a song critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin in a central Moscow church.

The group has had numerous members take part in its protests over the years, many of them anonymously.

Based on reporting by AFP and Aftenposten
The U.S. Embassy in Russia has told Russia to "stop playing games" in regard to the situation surrounding detained former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, urging Russian officials to provide proof of his alleged espionage.

Embassy spokeswoman Andrea Kalan asked on social media on April 30 "why haven't Russian officials provided proof?" of Whelan's alleged spying and added that there was a "complete lack of evidence" in his case.

Kalan's comments came after Whelan was visited in Moscow's Lefortovo prison by U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman.

Whelan, 49, was detained at a Moscow hotel on December 28 and accused of espionage, a charge he denies.

Whelan -- who holds U.S., British, Canadian, and Irish passports -- could receive up to a 20-year sentence if he is found guilty.

Kalan added that Huntsman's visit was a "joke" because the prison's rules prevented the ambassador from reading letters to him from his family that he had not been allowed to receive and that he was banned from "talking about anything that actually matters."

"Complete lack of evidence + Paul's isolation = greater likelihood officials will try to get a forced false 'confession,'" Kalan wrote.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested Whelan, who was in Moscow for a friend's wedding, after a friend handed him a flash drive that allegedly contained classified information. Whelan said the drive was supposed to contain holiday photos.

His lawyer said Whelan believed it was a set up.

Whelan is due to be held in pretrial detention until May 28 while his case is investigated.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
From left, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Xi's wife Peng Liyuan line up for a photograph at a welcoming banquet for the Belt and Road Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday. EPA





President Xi Jinping called for more countries to join China's sprawling infrastructure-building initiative Saturday in the face of U.S. opposition to a project Washington worries is building Beijing's strategic influence.



Speaking at a gathering of leaders from three dozen governments to celebrate his signature project, Xi tried to dispel complaints the Belt and Road Initiative does too little for developing African and Asian countries that have built ports, railways and other facilities with Chinese loans. Xi said his government wants to "deliver benefits to all."



The upbeat tone of the two-day forum, at which leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the Belt and Road, was a setback for the U.S., which is trying to discourage other governments from participating.



On Friday, Xi promised to improve financial and environmental standards in response to complaints about debt and potential corruption and environmental problems. He pledged to work more closely with multinational institutions and to open projects dominated by Chinese state-owned companies wider to private and foreign contractors.



"We need to encourage the full participation of more countries and companies," Xi said at the event at a conference center outside Beijing.



Developing countries welcome the initiative launched in 2013, but some governments are struggling to repay Chinese loans. That has fueled complaints about a possible "debt trap." Critics also complain too little work goes to local companies, too little financing and other information is disclosed, and the Belt and Road might lead to corruption or environmental damage.



The United States, Russia, Japan and India worry Beijing is eroding their strategic influence by building a political and trade network centered on China, the world's second-largest economy.



Despite that, Putin said Friday that the Belt and Road fits with Moscow's initiative to develop a common market with three of its neighbors.



Beijing says the number of governments that have signed agreements to support the project has risen to 115 from 65. China scored a diplomatic coup in March when Italy, a member of the Group of Seven major economies, signed on.



The Chinese president repeated his promise to adopt global standards for project development, purchasing and operations.



"We welcome the participation of multilateral and international financial institutions in Belt and Road investment and financing, and we encourage third market cooperation," said Xi. "With the involvement of multiple stake holders we can surely deliver benefits to all." (AP)


The money will enable Roundtrip to enhance its software capabilities and add to its staff in sales, engineering and account management, the company said.

Roundtrip employs 26 people at its offices in Philadelphia and in Richmond, where it has space in the Startup Virginia business incubator in Shockoe Bottom. In the Richmond region, the company has developed partnerships with VCU Health, Bon Secours Health System and GRTC.

We are hiring pretty quickly, Mathur said. We are looking for talent across the board, whether it is in marketing, user experience design, sales, software engineering, product management  all of the above.

The raise really allows us to scale our organization and make an even larger impact, Mathur said. Impact means not only serving more health systems and more health plans across the country, but making a greater impact on the lives of patients.

In fall 2017, RoundTrip participated in Lighthouse Labs, a nonprofit business accelerator in Richmond that offers mentoring for startup firms. It won the top award, receiving a $5,000 grant.
Richmond International Airport saw passenger traffic soar 12.9 percent in March.

It was the 18th consecutive month for an increase in the number of passengers using the airport, the Capital Region Airport Commission reported Tuesday.

The airport had 366,592 passengers in March compared to 324,714 in the same month a year ago.

Passenger traffic is up 13.2 percent since the beginning of the airports fiscal year on July 1.

Delta Air Lines saw an increase to its dominant market share with 33.04 percent of the passengers using the airport, up from 30.85 percent in February.

American Airlines, ranked second in market share, saw its numbers decline to 27.8 percent in March from 30.32 percent in February.

United Airlines was next with 13.55 percent market share, followed by JetBlue Airways (12.66 percent), Southwest Airlines (5.56 percent) and Spirit Airlines (5.08 percent).

In year-over-year growth in March, Spirit saw a 127.99 percent jump. JetBlue had a 16.19 percent gain, followed by a 12.9 percent increase at United and a 5.99 percent jump at Delta. Southwest had a 6.68 percent decline.
Richmond police detectives are investigating shootings that occurred Tuesday night that left three men injured, two of them critically.

Police gave no indication that any of the shootings were related.

* About 7:20 p.m., police responded to a report of a shooting in the 2200 block of T Street in the city's East End, near North 22nd Street.

At the scene, officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.

* Just before 8:30 p.m., officers responded after a man walked into a local hospital with a gunshot wound. As of late Wednesday, the man was in critical condition.

Detectives were trying to determine where the shooting occurred. Police did not provide the name of the hospital.

* About 10:15 p.m., officers responded to a report of a South Side shooting in the 2200 block of Chateau Drive, about a mile east of the intersection of Chippenham Parkway and Hull Street Road.

Upon arrival, police found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
On Monday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos presented the National Teacher of the Year award to Richmonds Rodney Robinson, who teaches middle school at Virgie Binford Education Center at the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center. For reasons the White House declined to divulge, President Trump did not attend the ceremony, something that presidents have done almost every year since the award program began in 1952. Nancy Rodriguez, the spokeswoman for the Council of Chief State School Officers, which oversees the National Teacher of the Year Program, says there have been nine other times that the award was presented by someone other than the president.

However, following the ceremony, the president did invite Robinson and the other top teachers who attended the event to a meeting in the Oval Office to chat with him, Vice President Mike Pence and DeVos. Robinson described the meeting as a really pleasant experience.
Cancun mayor says city National Guard priority because its a tourist destination

Cancun, Q.R.  The municipality of Benito Juarez was recently short-listed by President Lopez Obrador calling Cancun a priority city for the new National Guard.

The National Guard, which is still being put together, will be implemented around the country including four regions of Quintana Roo, with Cancun being considered a security priority.

However, its mayor, Mara Lezama Espinosa says that Cancun was chosen as a priority city because it is a tourist destination.

In an interview, the mayor said Because of what Cancun means at the national level, for what we generate as a resource, we are a priority. We are in contact with the Secretariado and the Secretaria and we hope they will tell us when they will arrive. We hope it will be soon.

She says that it will be this week when they travel to Mexico City to move forward with the federal security authorities. There is still no date or known number of elements that will be assigned to the Cancun region.

Earlier this week, governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez announced the National Guard will operate in four regions in the state as well as occupy space at the Isla Mujeres military base.
Lopez Obrador green-lights work on new international airport at Santa Lucia

Mexico City, Mexico  The President of Mexico has given the green light to begin work on the future International Airport General Felipe Angeles, in the Military Air Base of Santa Lucia.

Lopez Obrador said that this will be an example of how a rational, austere policy can be carried out within the framework of honesty and will mean a savings of 100 billion peso, which he says, will be invested in other places.

We were going to spend the next three years building the new airport, he said, explaining that this project will be more efficient than the Lake Texcoco (NAIM) airport project whose cost was estimated at 300 billion peso with an estimated completion date of 2024.

Once finished, Lopez Obradors airport project at the Military Air Base of Santa Lucia will be a mixed military-civil airport, replacing the canceled international airport project of former president, Enrique Pena Nieto.

It is projected to be operational for 2021.
Man from Monterrey shot to death in Cancun Hotel Zone

Cancun, Q.R.  A man has been shot and killed by gunfire in the Cancun Hotel Zone after being shot at while inside his vehicle.

The shooting took place at 1:50 a.m. when 31-year-old Rogelio E.G. from Monterrey was hit several times while inside his Jeep Wrangler. The events were recorded outside a hotel at Kilometer 21 on Boulevard Kukulcan in the Cancun Hotel Zone.

The lifeless body was discovered in the drivers seat of the State of Mexico-plated Jeep. The shooting is not considered random with some witnesses saying the four shooters were waiting for Rogelio outside the hotel.

Rogelio was visiting Cancun with three friends all reported to be from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

The body was found by Cancun Hotel Zone Tourist Police. Experts from the State Prosecutor Generals Office found six large caliber casings at the scene as well bullet holes in the left rear door window.

So far, there have been no arrests. The Attorney General continues to investigate.
The cutely titled outer-space drama High Life offers three things that the 72-year-old French filmmaker Claire Denis has never embraced before: (1) a spaceship setting; (2) English-language dialogue; and (3) a Hollywood star (Robert Pattinson). But even ardent Pattinson fandom wont be enough to convert mainstream American audiences to the art-house directors dark outlook and elliptical style.

Solitude is a frequent Denis theme, so followers of her work wont be surprised that this intriguing yet frustrating movie opens with Monte, played by a committed and compelling Pattinson, alone on a junky spacecraft. Well, almost alone. Baby talk heard over the intercom clues us in that somewhere else on the ship is a toddler (Scarlett Lindsey). Shes named Willow, perhaps in homage to the forest briefly glimpsed in flashbacks.

Eventually and fragmentarily, the story will rewind to explain how Monte and Willow came to be where they are  and where everyone else went. (Yes, there were others.) After several minutes, the movies title appears over a stunning tableau thats almost worth the price of admission. The scene, like much of the rest of the movie, is both beautiful and grim.

Monte, we will come to learn, is no brilliant scientist or intergalactic hero. Rather, hes an ex-con, as were the other people who used to share the boxy craft with him. They were dispatched to space under the pretext of finding a way to generate energy for Earth from black holes. In actuality, the astronauts are the subjects of experiments in zero-gravity fertility, overseen by the demanding Dibs (Juliette Binoche, star of Denis previous film Let the Sunshine In).

Dibs collects semen from all the men except Monte, who refuses. (These human guinea pigs are played by Lars Eidinger, Ewan Mitchell and Outkasts Andre Benjamin). She then attempts to impregnate the women (Mia Goth, Agata Buzek, Claire Tran and Gloria Obianyo), some of whom are more cooperative than others. Unsurprisingly, the surliest one turns out to be Willows mom.

In addition to the aforementioned bodily fluid, blood, urine and breast milk also flow in High Times, each liquid meant to represent the messiness of human life amid the sterility of space. The contrast of such images is powerful but not profound. Denis is making casual observations, not a coherent argument.

In an epilogue, were shown a teenage Willow (Jessie Ross) as she and her father encounter another example of human cruelty. The culmination of their journey, however, is simply a second opportunity to look at a bleakly lovely vista.

Denis has acknowledged several influences: Stanley Kubrick  both Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey  as well as Andrei Tarkovskys Solaris and Stalker. Some viewers may also be reminded of Jean-Luc Godards Alphaville, which evoked the future with even fewer special effects than High Life, or Never Let Me Go, another tale of attractive young people subjugated by a distant medical bureaucracy. As the director has noted, this stratospheric drama has the grimy intimacy of a prison flick.

Even in English, two things in High Life dont translate: Screenwriters Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau, who delivered the original script in French, have left us with lines that are too stilted or flowery to be convincing when translated into a blunter language. The movies other flaw is its Gallic grandiosity about sex. The spaceship even includes a masturbation chamber that recalls the slapstick Orgasmatron of Woody Allens Sleeper  although its use here is much more explicit.

Denis most memorable films, which include Beau Travail and 35 Shots of Rum, navigate solitude and loss on their path to moments of joy. That does not happen in High Life, whose most amazing moments are never amazing enough to jar it out of its static orbit.

There is one bonus for Pattinson fans: The brooding score  written by Tindersticks frontman Stuart A. Staples, a longtime Denis collaborator  includes an end-credits tune sung by the Twilight star.
Dr. Oz: False celebrity endorsements are stealing money and health from consumers, and it has to stop. I recently came across an online pitch for Dr. Ozs Diabetes Breakthrough. It is not legit. But its just one more scam in a 13-years-long battle Ive been fighting against fake celebrity endorsements. It started when I was on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Were now sending out around 3,000 cease and desist letters every year.

To sound the alarm about these scams, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Kai Falkenberg, a media lawyer and lecturer at Columbia Law School, penned an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on April 14, 2019. In December 2018, the Better Business Bureau published a study, Subscription Traps and Deceptive Free Trials Scam Millions with Misleading Ads and Fake Celebrity Endorsements. It notes that, dozens of celebrity names are used by these frauds without their knowledge or permission. Folks like Dr. Oz, as well as Oprah Winfrey, Chrissy Teigen, Ellen DeGeneres, Mike Rowe, Sally Field, Christie Brinkley and more have been exploited.

Dr. Mike reports that he gets asked about Dr. Ozs endorsements all the time: How can he do it? folks demand. Dr. Mike replies, He doesnt. Theyre fake ads. The scammers also have targeted Dr. Mike, and hes had to defend himself to his Cleveland Clinic colleagues.

Many of these scams take the form of free trial offers and are pitched as a miracle and a medical breakthrough  a sure sign they are neither. Because of these promises of better health and free trial offers, consumers spend (and lose) millions of dollars annually.

Sometimes, though, theres a reckoning. The Federal Trade Commission did go after one company that appropriated Dr. Oz and others, and cheated thousands of customers. In February of this year, they mailed 27,995 checks totaling more than $6 million to consumers who purchased products from Tarr Inc.  tarred and feathered!

The damage is not merely financial; these companies can threaten the health of the people who buy their products. The outlandish claims make people believe they can forgo their prescribed medications (no more insulin!) and the product can cause bodily harm. Christie Brinkley was sued for damage that a scammers phony skin care product (marketed using her stolen name) caused to a womans face.

The solution? It takes tech companies intervention to block false ads on their platforms, federal regulations that can keep the global network of scammers in check, and consumer education. In Europe, Facebook and other platforms are responsible for false and deceptive advertising that they post and profit from. But here, there are no laws that protect influencers and victims. According to Falkenberg: The U.S. lets web platforms off the hook for content they host, even if the content is clearly deceptive or misleading. It all stems from the 1996 Communications Decency Act, written at the dawn of the internet, before anyone imagined that Instagram, Facebook or Twitter would ever exist.

To combat Russian and other trolls, platforms like Facebook now require anyone placing political ads to verify their identity. Congress should require those same measures for health-related ads. In addition, new criminal statues are needed. Says the BBB: The FTC and BBB ... do not have the ability to bring criminal charges. Only criminal prosecutions are likely to deter this type of fraud.

Consumer action: Be skeptical. If you think celebrities are endorsing health-related products, go to their website. If theyre not advocating that product there, DONT BUY IT!

If youve purchased any of these deceptively endorsed products, the BBB recommends that you contact your credit card company, then report the fraud to www.bbb.org/scamtracker or to the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov or by calling 877-FTC-Help. Raise your voice: Dont let the money hogs ruin the internet. Ask your congressional representatives to pass laws to make health ads online meet the same standards as political ones.

The You Docs column runs in Wednesdays Extra.
Authorities have discontinued the prosecution of five former officials of a defunct Roanoke outpatient services company for the mentally ill, say attorneys for the accused.

East Mental Health Services was accused last year in Roanoke federal court of conspiring to cheat the government out of as much as $45 million during a 10-year conspiracy. Last summer, prosecutors voluntarily dropped the case for what they called procedural reasons, but have not filed a new federal indictment. Defense lawyers said they were recently told there wont be one. Prosecutors said they had no comment.

Lead defendant and company founder Christopher Dean East expressed relief but argued hes been punished nonetheless. He said he lost the 80-employee company, his dream, suffered ill health and filed bankruptcy.

Its been an absolute nightmare, East, 49, said Wednesday from the porch of his parents Roanoke County home, where he now lives. I feel blessed to have the situation seemingly resolve itself.

East Mental Health provided publicly funded life-skills training designed to enable people with serious mental illnesses to live independently.

A limited liability company formed in 2006, it fell under government scrutiny after employees who were upset by billing issues that they said they witnessed at work filed suit and contacted police in late 2013, court filings said.

Government agents filed a sealed search warrant affidavit about a year later describing East Mental Health as the second-highest-paid provider of mental health support services in Virginia, from its inception in 2007 to late 2014. The leading provider in the same time frame belonged to Easts wife, Carrie East. A separate company, her organization wasnt federally investigated, a company attorney has said. It is still in business.

Raids on the offices of East Mental Health on Brandon Avenue and in Rocky Mount took place in early 2015 as agents began to amass 3.5 million pages of company records and other documents. The Virginia Medicaid program, which is federally funded, stopped payment because of the investigation, and East Mental Health folded in fall 2017.

A grand jury handed up a 73-count indictment in mid-2018 alleging conspiracy and fraud including the use of inflated billings and falsified records. Authorities called out East Mental Health for a practice in which it allegedly billed Medicaid for group client activities at the higher rate reserved for individual client sessions. The company was, in the words of the government, substituting large social and recreational outings for face-to-face training that was supposed to focus on developing such skills as eating nutritious food, getting exercise, following medical advice, traveling safely and accessing community resources. The alleged wrongdoing had been going on for almost the companys entire existence, the indictment said.

All five defendants pleaded not guilty. An attorney for East said the company had checks and balances in place to ensure the integrity of its billings.

Shortly after the indictment, the U.S. attorneys office took blame for what it called an unacceptable delay in handing over evidence to the defendants so they could prepare for trial. Citing a need to safeguard defendants rights, prosecutors asked to dismiss all charges late last summer. A judge said prosecutors could start over with new indictments as long as it was done without delay. Nearly six months have passed since the judge ruled.

Rob Hagan, who represented East and his company, said this week he was told by a representative of the U.S. attorneys office that they will not indict.

Neil Horn, an attorney for Joann Kathleen Patterson, East Mental Healths former executive director, said this week that the defense does not expect a new indictment.

Hagan said he confirmed that the same information was provided to counsel for Alfred Lloyd Robrecht, the former clinical director; William Barclay Allison, the former administrative director, and Ryan Thomas Greene, a team leader.

We are expecting this to end it, said Patrick Kenney, attorney for Allison.

The government spent 11,000 hours on the investigation and legal work, court papers said.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bubar did not respond to an emailed request sent Tuesday seeking comment. Bubar is handling the matter for U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen, who was recused from the case when he took office. Cullen had been Carrie Easts attorney before his federal appointment.

Bubar has no comment, said Brian McGinn, spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office.

Former East Mental Health employee and clinician Julia Switzer of Roanoke County is pressing a civil action against the defunct company, according to federal court records.

She is one of the employees who sued in 2013; her case continues as a whistleblower action alleging that the company overbilled the government. In addition, it outlines a number of employment-related claims including retaliation. Her case is scheduled for trial Aug. 7.

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Roanoke continued its embrace of civil rights legal titan Oliver Hill on Wednesday with the formal renaming of the citys courthouse after the attorney.

Better than 100 people, many from Richmond, gathered in what shade they could find outside the doors of the newly christened Oliver W. Hill Justice Center.

Roanoke is proud to claim Oliver Hill as one of its own, Mayor Sherman Lea said of Hill, who was not born here but spent his formative years in the city and later practiced law here before settling in for a long career in Richmond. The impact hes made on the history of our country sets an example for all of us here in Roanoke to follow.

The dedication follows the unveiling of a state historical marker in front of Hills childhood home last year. Plans are also underway to construct a plaza named for Hill near where his law office once stood in the Gainsboro area, state Sen. John Edwards said Wednesday.

The crowd gathered in front of the courthouse  on both the national Law Day and the 112th anniversary of Hills birth  included his son, Oliver Hill Jr., and his one-time protege and legal partner, former state Sen. Henry Marsh. Hill died in 2007 at age 100.

Hill Jr. said his father, were he alive, would accept the honor humbly and on behalf of the other civil rights legal giants who stood with him.

Hill, best known for his work on a Prince Edward County case that became part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, case that ended school segregation, was hailed by speakers as a transformational figure.

William Broadhurst, chief judge of the 23rd Judicial Circuit, called Hill a forceful change agent at the epicenter of a cultural earthquake that led to a legal tsunami that washed over a country that frankly had gotten content with pretending it was an example of being fair and just and equal.

His legacy and the gifts hes given us allow us to stand here together today, said Ramona Taylor, president of the Oliver White Hill Foundation, which owns his former home at 401 Gilmer Ave. N.W. and operates a youth mentoring program there.

Hill was born in Richmond, but came to live on Gilmer Avenue at age 6 while his mother and stepfather lived and worked in other places. For 10 years, Hill was raised by Bradford Pentecost, a chef with the Norfolk and Western Railway, and his wife Lelia.

He felt like Roanoke shaped him, Hill Jr. said of his father, including the dignified bearing of the Pentecosts.

Hill himself called the couple two of the most influential people in his life and credited them with instilling both self-esteem and respect for the dignity of others regardless of their economic or social status, according to author Margaret Edds, author of a recent book about Hill and his legal partner Spottswood Robinson called We Face the Dawn.

Hill graduated from Howard University Law School  one of the few places a black person could get a law degree in the 1930s  finishing second in his class. He was just behind his friend, fellow civil rights warrior and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Robinson, a little younger than Hill and Marshall, also earned a law degree from Howard and later became a federal judge as well.

Hill returned to Roanoke to begin his law practice in the late 1930s. It proved to be a struggle, Edds documents. Hill couldnt make a living and was forced to return to Washington, D.C., to wait tables. He did do enough in Roanoke, however, to gain the attention of the NAACP, through which he would later take on numerous key civil rights cases.

The most famous involved black students in Farmville who walked out of the Robert Russa Moton High School to protest poor conditions there. On their behalf, he filed the lawsuit Davis, et al. v. School Board of Prince Edward County, which became one of the five cases that were part of the 1954 Brown decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

As part of Mondays ceremony, Taylor and artist Elaine Bankston unveiled Bankstons portrait of Hill, a gift from the foundation to hang in the courthouse.

It speaks to how far we have come through the decades, Roanoke NAACP President Brenda Hale said before the ceremony. She added that the work isnt finished, but the recognition shows the work thats been done.

That was a theme of the day.

In his remarks, Broadhurst recalled that he first questioned whether naming the courthouse for Hill was a good idea.

He cited a quote from an Arthur Miller play: You should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

One way to interpret it, Broadhurst said, is that you put on your best clothes when you no longer feel the need to go out and fight for freedom and truth, as Hill did.

In naming the courthouse for Hill, he said, We might be tempted to say, Look at how enlightened we are  were entitled now to put on our best trousers, and we need do no more. If that is what we do as a community, then we do not honor his [Hills] legacy. We insult it.

He added hes proud to be part of a community willing to continue the fight.

Taylor called the day a beginning, and a time to do as Hill did: Recognize what is wrong, resolve to make it right, and move forward without fear.
Rep. Ben Cline is pitching Interstate 81 as a highway in crucial need of federal funding to enhance safety and maintain its vital role in the economy.

President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders met Tuesday and agreed to pursue a $2 trillion infrastructure plan to rebuild roads and bridges, provide clean water and expand broadband coverage. The following day, representatives jockeying for funding for projects in their home districts, including Cline, spoke before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Current conditions are not only a frustration, but a grave public safety concern, Cline, R-Rockbridge, said about I-81. People are dying on this road and the failure to keep Americas infrastructure up to par is costing lives.

Infrastructure has been one of Trumps favorite talking points, and Democratic leaders are hoping this is an opportune area for compromise. But a sticking point to advancing a major infrastructure bill will be how to pay for the projects.

The federal Highway Trust Fund distributes money to states for interstate projects, and that money mostly comes from the national gasoline tax. But the tax has remained at 18.3 cents a gallon since 1993; meanwhile, vehicles have become more energy-efficient and now include electric and hybrid vehicles. Consequently, the money generated has remained relatively flat.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that any increase in the gas tax should be tied to rolling back some of the 2017 tax code overhaul benefiting the wealthy and corporations.

So while there has been little movement at the federal level to increase funding for the interstate system, pressure has grown at the state level, where money is spread thin for a multitude of infrastructure needs.

While I believe that the states are best positioned to allocate resources for projects to repair and restore our roadways, we must ensure that they get the federal funding that is appropriate for these Federal Interstate highways, Cline said.

The state plan will generate $280 million annually, of which about $150 million will go toward I-81. The Virginia Department of Transportation has identified $2 billion in improvements for the highway stretching 325 miles through Western Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.

There are about 2,000 crashes each year on I-81, with about a quarter of them involving tractor-trailers. Nearly 12 million trucks travel I-81 each year, hauling freight valued at $312 billion. No other interstate in the commonwealth carries a heavier share of truck traffic.

While Virginia has made significant efforts to fund improvements, additional options to direct federal resources toward I-81 should be on the table, Cline said.

Cline, a former longtime member of the House of Delegates, has withheld his opinion on the states I-81 funding decision.

Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, who represents the district containing the southern section of I-81, praised the General Assembly for taking action and deferred to the legislature on what it viewed to be the best way to make progress at the state level.

The Federal Government has an obligation to help maintain and improve the Interstate system, Griffith said. I look forward to working with Congressman Cline and my colleagues in the House of Representatives on an infrastructure plan which provides some money for I-81, the Coalfields Expressway, and I-73.

State lawmakers have asked for federal dollars for I-81 for years. A common question among residents on I-81 has been: where is the federal government to help fix its interstate system?

Ive not heard anything about the federal highway department and how they can help fix I-81, Todd Dodson, a former Botetourt County supervisor, told Cline last week at a town hall. This is not just a Sixth District or state highway, its a national corridor the federal government has interest in maintaining the flow of goods through.

Hes cautiously optimistic that Congress and the president can advance an infrastructure bill.

Our highway system has been underfunded, Cline told Dodson. Its something I think we can have agreement on in Congress if we move away from the mentality of its my way or the highway. 

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A photographer lurking outside the gates of the General Atomics campus on the Torrey Pines Mesa is not something the armed guard in the yellow vest can let go uninvestigated for even a minute. He dashes over and asks what the camera is for. When told, he unfurrows his brow only slightly and relays the information to whomever is on the other end of his walkie-talkie.

Behind these gates, in a building at the north end of the campus, a secret think-tank of about 60 elite scientists called JASON (interchangeably, the Jasons) has convened every summer since 1986. Meeting in a windowless, locked, guarded and electromagnetically shielded room  in six-to-eight week stretches often lasting into the wee hours  these university professors and Nobel-prize winners mull over scientific questions posed to them by the president and Congress, producing about a dozen reports a session.

In 1996, when President Bill Clinton signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty prohibiting all nuclear testing, he based his decision in part on a JASON report concluding that nuclear tests were not necessary to prove warhead capability.

And the Jasons  chaired since 2014 by physicist Russell Hemley  have weighed in on important non-military questions as well, producing the first studies on global warming, acid rain and renewable energy.

Walter Munk was a member of JASON from 1960 until his death this February. LIGHT FILE

The end of an era?

All this appeared to end in March, when the U.S. Department of Defense decided to terminate its JASON contract, which was run through the Mitre Corporation and provided its budget of several million dollars per year.

On April 16, Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN), tweeted that the abrupt, unilateral decision to not renew the long-standing JASON contract damages our national security by depriving not only the Pentagon, but also other national security agencies of sober and sound advice in confronting some of the nation's most complex threats.

Nine days later, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration announced its intention to fund the entire JASON contract  at least until January 2020.

I think its fantastic, said Mary Coakley-Munk, whose husband, famed Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher Walter Munk, was a Jason from 1960 until his death on Feb. 8. It was very disappointing and kind of shocking that it was even a consideration to defund the Jasons.

Outsiders dont know for sure why JASON was defunded, though many speculate that the group was just too blunt and didnt cheerlead U.S. military plans to the governments satisfaction.



A lot of other science advisory groups are in business with the Pentagon or the White House, said Ann Finkbeiner, author of the 2006 book, The Jasons: The Secret History of Sciences Postwar Elite. So, because they have to stay in business, they cant be too explicit when they think their clients are doing something stupid.



Jasons are really unusual in being able to say, Thats a dumb idea, Finkbeiner said. And they do.

Once, Finkbeiner said, the Jasons answered what they considered a silly question about detecting neutrinos from enemy nuclear subs with a basic primer explaining that zillions of the subatomic particles are zinging everywhere at once and hardly interact at all with regular matter.

So how would you know if a neutrino came from a submarine and not from the sun? Finkbeiner explained, noting that the primer was written a little like a Dr. Seuss book.

Keith Brueckner, who lived until 2014, founded the physics department at UCSD and co-founded the Jasons. COURTESY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS & ARCHIVES, UC SAN DIEGO

History

JASON was co-founded in 1959 by physicists Keith Brueckner (who also founded the UC San Diego physics department), UCSD physics professor Ken Watson, Princeton University physics professor Marvin Murph Goldberger, and Charles Townes, who went on to win the 1964 Nobel Prize for his role in developing the laser.

People were scared to death after the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite, Watson told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2014. Keith, Murph and I decided to start a defense consulting company. There was a lot of money available then. We werent very altruistic. (Eventually, the scientists settled on a consultancy that answered questions posed by the federal government, or important questions they thought of themselves.)

Goldberger, who worked on the Manhattan Project, was named the first chairman. And his wife, Finkbeiner said, named the group. (Project Sunrise, the moniker conferred by the Department of Defense, bored Mildred Goldberger, so she suggested changing it to honor Jason, leader of the Argonauts from Greek mythology, and his heroic quest.)

The first JASON summer session was held in 1960 in Berkeley, California. (Maine and Massachusetts also hosted sessions before the Torrey Pines Mesa was settled upon in 1964, and there are always brief fall and spring meetings in Washington.) Other early recruits included John Wheeler (who coined the terms black hole and wormhole), 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Murray Gell-Mann, Dyson sphere namesake Freeman Dyson, and Munk.

Walter thoroughly enjoyed the comradery and companionship, Coakley-Munk said, noting that every summer for the last 30 years, the couple held a Fourth of July party at their La Jolla house for the Jasons and their families.

Author Ann Finkbeiner interviewed 36 Jasons for her book, "The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite." COURTESY

Walter would always select someone to read the Declaration of Independence  the whole entire thing, she said.



What JASON found



The half of the Jasons work that isnt stamped classified also included reports on whether the U.S. would have won the Vietnam War by using nuclear bombs (the Cliff Notes: no), extremely long-wave radio communication and, more recently, better ways to distribute peoples private health data.

One question frequently posed to the Jasons was whether Americas nuclear stockpile was aging out and needed replacing.

There are always pushes in every administration for the Department of Energy to start building new bombs, Finkbeiner said. And every single time, the Jasons say, Dont worry about it, theyre not getting old, theyre good for another 100 years.

Nobody on the outside had the slightest idea any of this was happening until 1971, when the New York Times published The Pentagon Papers, a classified history of the countrys Vietnam activity that blew the Jasons coveted secrecy. But being outed only steeled their resolve never to talk about their work. (The Light left messages seeking comment from several current and previous JASON members, none of which were returned.)



I never knew what Walter was working on, nor did I ever ask, Coakley-Munk said. I just knew that if they came to some good conclusions or made some discoveries, he would be in a really good mood.

Finkbeiner said the first thing she was told by the group when she approached them about her book was: Were not going to be talking to you and we wish you all the luck in your future career.

So I had a breakdown, she said.
Virginias economy is strong, and Gov. Northam is working every day to grow and diversify our economy in ways that will make it even stronger. One of this administrations top goals is making sure that every region, every community, and every household can participate in the Commonwealths economic progress. And we are delivering on that goal.

Over the first sixteen months of this administration, we have announced $15.8 billion in new capital investment in businesses in every region of the Commonwealth. This is more than double the level of investment that any one of the previous six administrations secured during their first sixteen months in office.

This level of investment is unprecedented. Its also entirely necessary.

The Commonwealth has dealt with historic over-reliance on federal spending, which has left our economy vulnerable in the face of recession, sequestration, and government-shut-downs. By expanding capital investment from private businesses, we are working to diversify our economy so Virginia will be more resilient to future economic downturns, whatever the cause.

I am incredibly proud that our existing businesses are continuing to grow and invest in their communities and that new businesses are moving into our great state. It is a testament to the many advantages that Virginia enjoys, including a world-class education system, a robust workforce, prudent fiscal stewardship, and a stable and competitive business climate.

It is also the result of a tremendous amount of work from state, regional, and local leaders and the business community working collaboratively on economic development projects. These partnerships are a driving force behind our success, and they help us to attract and retain the world-class businesses that are investing in our Commonwealth.

This new investment is benefiting our communities by bringing significant job growth, including creating more than 48,000 new jobs. Coupled with our low unemployment rate of 2.9%, the commonwealths labor force continues to expand and has reached a new record high with nine consecutive months of expansion.

As Virginias labor market continues to grow, our economic success also must be viewed through the lens of shared growth. It is not enough for one region to prosper while growth in other areas of the state is sporadic or non-existent. That is why it is so important that the $15.8 billion in capital investment and the 48,000 new jobs are located across broad geographic areas. In fact, more than $2 billion in capital investment has occurred in distressed areas of Virginia in the last sixteen months, creating more than 7,500 new jobs.

We cannot let up now, and we have much more work to do. We need to continue to invest in the education and skills of our people so that we have the workforce to meet the jobs of the 21st century. We must work to enable growth within existing industries while attracting high-growth, high-impact industries. We have to continue to facilitate access to economic opportunity for every single household, including addressing the historic inequity facing minority communities and women. And we must remain committed to running a smart, efficient, and responsive government.

The first sixteen months are behind us, and we have much to celebrate. Looking ahead, we have a number of exciting projects that are currently under development, and I have high hopes for the continued growth of our economy.

As this administration has done from the start, we will remain focused on bringing economic prosperity to every corner of Virginia, one community and one project at a time.
This musing explores nepotism and networking as well as the potential overlap between the two.

Nepotism is a word that has long been on my radar. As a teenager, I fiercely condemned it and everybody who made use of it. As a young adult, applying for job after job, I started deploring my own lack of connections, and now, Im a bit on the fence about it. Finding a job can be difficult, especially for those leaving education, due to the amount of people applying for the same roles and having similar qualifications. It can be tricky to make yourself stand out in a sea of applications. This leads to the question: do you use the connections you have to make it easier?

From the offset, nepotism seems to be a conflicting subject based on your own individual situation. If you do have those connections, you could possibly think that it might be worth using nepotism as a means to further your own career trajectory. On the other hand, if you dont have those connections, then youre far more likely to condemn the practice. It definitely seems like an issue based on self-gain and the morality of the practice more broadly.

As a brief reminder, Oxford English Dictionary defines nepotism as :"The practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs."

Luxembourg - especially prone to nepotism?

From my personal experience, I think Luxembourg is a particular breeding ground for nepotism. Perhaps because of its general affluence, its small size, and almost circular nature of socialising. I have long maintained that simply by going into Luxembourg City, you are likely to run into someone you know. I think that expands out to the working world and people might be prone to recommending those they know for jobs rather than going through traditional means of recruitment.

My main experience of nepotism in Luxembourg - and completely contrasted to the experience of friends I later met who grew up elsewhere - was as a teenager, looking for a summer job. I started out with the aim that I wanted to gain experience which would complement my schooling. I searched, researched, and tried to see where I could find good work experience, preferably in an office setting.

As my search continued, I realised my options were limited (on another note, I think the summer job landscape has improved slightly since I was a teenager). For one, there didnt seem to be many institutions offering jobs to students, especially secondary school ones (there is the caveat that some student jobs were simply designed for those in the process of getting degrees in that field).

I managed to get a job as a cashier at Cactus. I have nothing against working in retail - on the contrary, I think it can help build character and make you a decent person, as well as teach you to work hard. I also enjoyed the work to a certain extent. But then I found out a lot of my classmates had worked at banks over the summer and to put it bluntly, basically just scrolled Facebook for those weeks. So how did they get those jobs? Because their parents worked at the banks in question. As a teenager, I did find myself actively resenting those classmates who would have easy rides over the summer, earning money but not necessarily working hard. The issue is that, while morally dubious, nepotism is not exactly illegal and some banks would simply pool potential student workers from the children of their employees. This was innately nepotistic to the extent that anybody whose parents didnt work for the bank in question would not be considered.

Unfortunately, this opinion piece is not very stats-driven, because nepotism can occur to varying degrees and fall under the radar, especially if businesses allow applications from others, but just dont consider them. In relation to summer jobs, as seen above, businesses wont necessarily proclaim that they exclusively hire their employees children. Instead, they wont publish any summer job postings. By contrast, the European Investment Banks summer job programme, whilst targeted at final year students or university students, highlights that it draws lots to ensure fairness. There are certainly a number of frustrations to be had around that concept, but at least it doesnt systematically exclude those whose parents dont work within the institution.

Nepotism and networking

But does nepotism intersect at all with networking, defined as "interact[ing] with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts"?

I think the line can blur quite easily between the two concepts. In an ideal world, we would all be judged on our merits, but that isnt the case. Does that mean we should accept nepotism as simply another means of networking? And, is networking inherently nepotistic? If you dont have that circle of potential connections surrounding you, you are automatically excluded from the possibilities that networking with others could give you.

I think that networking does seem to an involve an aspect of privilege, given that these connections you forge come from your social circle. If your immediate social circle appears to be more affluent, it stands that you may make connections that you can benefit from later in life. This means that those people who may not have that much privilege, or even may be more socially withdrawn, wont have those same opportunities.

More generally, I believe networking incorporates an element of nepotism. By having connections, you will hear of better opportunities and have the chance to submit a CV. Granted, it may not be the same level as having a parent arrange for you to begin working at their firm, for example, but it seems to be a lesser degree of nepotism. The difference is, I suppose, that you still get judged alongside other applicants, but it certainly becomes problematic if all applicants are sought from a pool of individuals recommended due to who they know. Having begun my own work by an acquaintance telling me about the opportunity, I sometimes question whether that in itself is nepotistic. I did still apply and had the necessary skills, but it does make me wonder about how networking practices can supersede standard application processes and marginalise those who don't happen to know the right person.

Nepotism, however, remains the main issue at hand. I can't comment on whether nepotism continues beyond summer jobs, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does. My understanding of Luxembourg is that being on the outside of a particular institution can make it feel difficult to actually get inside without the required connections, which include nepotistic practices. And this ultimately leads to the recurring issue of marginalising those, who may be better qualified, for those you know.

Nathalie Lodhi is an editor and translator for RTL Today and can usually be found reading/discussing music, history, and pop culture.
The cost of building a 119-mile section of the California bullet train in the Central Valley is projected to increase by $1.8 billion, taking the total to $12.4 billion, according an internal draft report by the state rail authoritys staff.

The estimate was made in preparation for a project update that the rail authority is scheduled to release to the Legislature on Wednesday, detailing a plan by Gov. Gavin Newsom to build a partial high-speed system running from Bakersfield to Merced.

The draft report projects that the cost of building that partial operating system, including the 119-mile section now under construction, would be $20.4 billion.

The report projects that the rail authority would complete it between 2026 and 2030. The contents of the draft report were described by an official close to the project, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss it.

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The rail authority staff had prepared the report for its board meeting on April 18, though the estimates were not discussed. Since they are contained in a draft document, they could be revised when the project update is released on Wednesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called for building the Bakersfield to Merced system earlier this year, saying the full $77-billion project to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco with 220-mph trains had no funding or realistic plan for completion.

But the slimmed down Central Valley project raises critical questions, such as its construction cost, schedule, ridership and operating costs versus revenues. The staff report and a parallel one by Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting, which is advising the state under its role as the early train operator, outlined some of the challenges to Newsoms plan.

Newsom told the Times earlier this month that he wants to curtail the role of consultants, criticizing their performance, though the report does not address any of those plans.

The construction of a Bakersfield to Merced operating segment depends, the report says, on no further cost increases, an appropriation by the Legislature of all remaining funds from a 2008 bond and the retention of federal grants that the Trump Administration wants to terminate.

The $1.8-billion cost increase covers bridges, viaducts, trenches and roadbed from Madera to Wasco, a distance of 119 miles. That includes $477 million for actual cost increases, $362 million for increases in scope of the project and nearly $1 billion for additional contingencies to manage risk.

Central Valley costs have been growing for years. Originally, the rail authority had planned to build about 130 miles of track from Madera to Bakersfield for about $6 billion. Now the construction ends north of Bakersfield near Wasco. The cost of land acquisition, utility relocations and environmental assessments, among other items, have grown sharply.

The $20.4-billion cost to build the Bakersfield to Merced line would take almost all of the rail authoritys funding through 2030. It includes all the bonds that taxpayers approved in 2008, all the federal grants provided by the Obama Administration and all of the 25% share of greenhouse-gas fees that the state collects in quarterly auctions. It is unclear how the rail authority would complete the partial operating segment by 2026 on funding that does not arrive fully until 2030.

Once it begins operating, the bullet train would carry 1.7 million riders, the report projects. It is not clear whether that prediction would be included in the project update on Wednesday. It would connect with the existing San Joaquin diesel-powered rail service operated by Amtrak and the Altamont Corridor Express, or ACE, that would run from Merced to San Jose. That would create a link, though a slow one, from Silicon Valley to the Central Valley.

The analysis projects ridership would double on those rail lines as a result of the bullet train.The combined services of all three lines would lose $63 million, though that would be less of a loss than ACE and San Joaquin would sustain without the high-speed rail.

Whether the Newsom plan will fly or not will depend partly on how much support it gets from Bay Area and Southern California political leaders.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had considered this month adopting a resolution to ask the rail authority for a fresh assessment of spending more money in the Central Valley and to prioritize investments in Southern California. The resolution was pulled off the April agenda at the last minute.

Ara Najarian, a MTA board member and a Glendale councilman, said he grew immediately worried after Newsom announced cutbacks in the program at his state of the state speech.

Najarian and others want funding to improve the existing commuter rail service operated by Metrolink to Palmdale, allowing it to eventually serve as the connection to the bullet train system.

We are concerned that the money for this will be grabbed by Northern California, he said. We expect money to improve our system.

Some Bay Area leaders are also growing more concerned, because the Newsom plan failed to find funding to build a high-speed rail line from San Jose through Gilroy to the Central Valley.

But the rail authority has not backed off on any of its commitments to Southern California, said rail authority spokeswoman Annie Parker. She cited a lengthy list of state-funded projects, including new tracks at Union Station, that will speed movements in and out of passenger platforms.

Separately, Michelle Boehm, Southern California regional director of the high-speed rail project, is leaving the program, it was learned. Parker confirmed she has accepted another position.

ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @rvartabedian
The back-and-forth legal drama over an Impressionist masterpiece that hangs in a Spanish museum has seemingly come to the end of the road for a San Diego family, which is left with nothing to show for their decade-long battle to reclaim the artwork they say was seized from them by Nazis 80 years ago.

A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday ruled against the Cassirer family  who for years had tried to reclaim the painting taken from them during an escape from Germany during the Holocaust  saying the looted artwork belongs to the international museum.

The canvas has a storied past. In 1939, Nazi troops forced the Jewish family of Lilly Cassirer to trade a Camille Pissarro painting for her familys freedom while escaping from Germany before the start of World War II. The piece had been in her family for nearly four decades, after her father purchased it directly from Pissarros art dealer at the turn of the century.

The cityscape, titled Rue Saint-Honore, Apres-midi, Effet de Pluie (Rue Saint-Honore in the Afternoon. Effect of Rain), was considered a lost family heirloom when in 1958 the German government paid Cassirer $13,000 in reparations. But in 2000, a family friend discovered the canvas was hanging in Madrids Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. It has been there for more than 25 years.

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Lilly Cassirer died decades before the discovery and would never know about the fate of the painting, how it ended up in Spain, the ensuing fight for its possession or the recent ruling by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter in Los Angeles.

Pissarros Parisian street scene from 1897, valued at $30 million, has been at the center of a fight between the Spanish museum and Cassirers descendants for more than a decade. The grandson she raised, Claude Cassirer, filed a lawsuit in 2005, fighting to regain ownership of the art that had graced the wall of his grandmothers lavishly furnished parlor in Berlin in the early part of the 20th century.

Claude Cassirer as a young boy with his grandmother, Lilly Cassirer, who was forced by Nazis to surrender the painting in exchange for a visa to flee German. (Cassirer Family Trust)

My grandmother never knew what happened to the painting, he told The Times in a 2010 interview.

When he died several years later, the suit passed to his daughter. Since her death last year, its been in the hands of his son, David Cassirer.

After crisscrossing art dealers throughout the United States, the painting ended up in the hands of Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, a Swiss art collector and descendant of a German steel empire family, in 1976.

The judges ruling states that the baron was undoubtedly aware that there had been massive looting of art by the Nazis and it was generally known that the Barons family (although not the Baron specifically) had a history of purchasing art and other property that had been confiscated by the Nazis.

When the Spanish government purchased the barons art collection years later, Pissarros painting made its way to the museum in Madrid.

Prior to the purchase, the Kingdom of Spain assumed that the Baron acted in good faith, because we simply had no reason to believe otherwise,  Walter said. Had that not been the case, the ruling suggests that Spain should have accepted the original owner as the rightful heir.

We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments. Steve Zack, the attorney for Cassirer

Walter ruled that the court could not force the museum to comply with its moral commitments. Because the case was not based on moral ethics, the ruling favored the museum as the lawful owner of the Pissarro.

Following Cassirers suit to regain ownership of the painting, lawyers argued that the familys right to claim ownership over the painting had expired. But a judges initial ruling in favor of the museum was later overturned by an appeals court.

The case moved to Walter in Los Angeles, who first ruled in favor of the museum in 2016. That case was overturned once again and sent back for a retrial before Tuesdays ruling.

Thaddeus Stauber, the museums U.S. attorney, thinks the latest decision puts an end to the ongoing battle over the piece of art.

We are very pleased with the courts decision that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundations ownership of the Camille Pissarro painting stands, and that after a full trial on the merits, the Foundations ownership has been confirmed, he said.

As a lawyer who has been involved in this case for 14 years, Im pleased that the court did conduct a full trial. We now have a decision on the lawful owner, and that should put an end to it, he said.

Cassirers attorney, Steve Zack, however, doesnt agree with the ruling.

We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments, he said.

Several cases have been filed in recent years in U.S. courts by the American families of European Jews. Last year, an appeals court upheld Walters ruling from 2016 that the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena rightfully owned Renaissance paintings of Adam and Eve that Nazis took from a Dutch Jewish art dealer because the Dutch government was the technical owner when it sold the works.

Of the roughly 600,000 paintings thought to have been stolen by Nazis during the Holocaust, about 100,000 are still missing, said Stuart E. Eizenstat, a State Department advisor on Holocaust-era issues and a leading figure in the campaign to return looted art.

Times staff writer Joel Rubin contributed to this report.

colleen.shalby@latimes.com

@cshalby
The Los Angeles City Council approved a measure Tuesday that gives civilians a greater role in how police officers are disciplined for serious misconduct.

Officers facing discipline will soon have the option of having their cases heard by an all-civilian panel, one of the most significant expansions of civilian oversight in decades. Voters approved such a plan in 2017 with the passage of Charter Amendment C.

The three-person Board of Rights panels currently include two officers and a civilian member, added in 1992 in the wake of reform demands after the beating of Rodney King and the riots that followed. Back then, many officers opposed the idea of civilians judging whether they should be suspended or terminated. Police watchdogs assumed civilians would hold cops more accountable.

But the prospect of all-civilian panels has been controversial from the outset and has reshaped the political dynamic. It was backed by the powerful Los Angeles Police Protective League, which contends that officer-led panelscomposed of top cops seeking to climb the ranks are less likely to buck a chiefs recommendation of severe punishment.

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Meanwhile, the change has been opposed by police reformers, who argue that civilians assigned to the panels dont represent the diversity of the city. They also point to a city report that found that civilians tend to be more lenient in discipline matters than sworn officers.

The union, which represents about 9,800 rank-and-file officers, contends that additional civilians on the panels provides fairness and transparency to the process for officers.

Los Angeles police officers want a fair and impartial panel to hear discipline cases, the leagues board of directors said in a statement. Civilians oversee the operations of the Police Department, so we believe its appropriate for them to also have a role in ensuring fair discipline.

Council President Herb Wesson and Mayor Eric Garcetti helped champion the measure.

Thirty days after Garcetti signs the ordinance, officers facing discipline will have the option of picking an all-civilian panel or using the status quo of one civilian and two LAPD command staff members ranked captain or above.

Critics consider the changes a City Hall giveaway to a politically connected union that sets back reform efforts.

Im not surprised City Council adopted these suggestions, said Melanie Ochoa, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. It was clearly outcome driven. They wanted to satisfy the police-union special interests.

Police accountability groups have fought to keep retired officers off the panels and to allow the departments inspector general to annually audit the proceedings. Both sides reached compromises on those stumbling blocks.

No former police officer can serve on a panel until two years after the ordinance takes effect. Once that moratorium ends, former officers must be separated from a police agency for five years before serving.

Actions of the panels will be audited, and the LAPD will submit a report to the City Council in two years evaluating the changes.

Under the current system, civilian members of the Boards of Rights are required to have seven years of experience in the areas of arbitration, mediation or similar work.

To expand the pool of panelists, the changes allow civilians to serve if they have at least two years of experience in human resources, personnel or labor relations, or another position that administers or adjudicates employee discipline.

Prospective panel members cannot have any sustained allegation for misconduct related to employment.

Complaints of misconduct filed prior to the effective date of the legislation will not be eligible to be heard by all-civilian panels.

Critics continue to call for greater representation.

At a crowded ad hoc committee meeting earlier this month in South L.A., Richard Tefank, the executive director of the Police Commission, vowed to conduct an aggressive outreach campaign to recruit and train potential members from all pockets of the city.

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
A small film set, thought to be part of Little House on the Prairie, burned late Sunday after a lightning strike started a fire in the foothills around Simi Valley.

The Ventura County Fire Department said on Twitter that their firefighters and a light rain extinguished the half-acre fire.

The grasses are starting to cure and will soon be receptive to fire, the departments public information officer noted.

Little House on the Prairie, based on Laura Ingalls Wilders series of books, was filmed for almost a decade at Big Sky Movie Ranch in the hills north of Simi Valley.
The killer preyed on attractive young women who were outgoing and lived nearby.

Once he decided on a target, hed lurk around her home, gathering information until he spotted a perfect opportunity. Then hed strike  always at night, always at their homes.

Prosecutors have called Michael Gargiulo a serial sexual-thrill killer who derived pleasure from slaughtering beautiful women. They will seek the death penalty in a trial thats set to start this week. Gargiulo faces two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for attacks in the Los Angeles area between 2001 and 2008.

Opening statements are scheduled for Thursday, beginning what prosecutors expect will be a six-month trial. Nearly 250 people  including actor Ashton Kutcher, who dated one of the victims  are on their list of potential witnesses.

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In court filings, prosecutors laid out a chronology of Gargiulos alleged series of attacks, which began in the Chicago area in 1993.

One night in August of that year, Tricia Pacaccio, 18, was celebrating her high school graduation with friends before they each headed off to college. She was bound for Purdue University, where shed earned an engineering scholarship. She dropped a peer off about 1 a.m. before heading home. She walked up to her door carrying her house key, but never made it inside.

Her father found her on the doorstep later that morning with numerous stab wounds to her chest, shoulder and neck.

Just 17 at the time, Gargiulo was a friend of Pacaccios younger brother. It wasnt until a decade later that investigators discovered that the DNA collected from her fingernails was his.

By then, prosecutors say, Gargiulo had moved to the Los Angeles area and killed Ashley Ellerin.

Gargiulo first met Ellerin, a 22-year-old fashion student who dated Kutcher, when he walked up and offered to help her change a flat tire. Later, he offered to help fix a problem with her heater, and from then on hed show up uninvited and unannounced to her apartment.

Some reported seeing him park in front of her home at all hours, staring at her residence for long periods of time. Her roommate thought he was a stalker.

Prosecutors allege he entered Ellerins Hollywood home one night in February 2001 and stabbed her 47 times, slashing her throat so severely that he almost decapitated her.

Kutcher went to pick up Ellerin for a post-Grammy Awards party, the actor told Los Angeles police detectives at the time, but she did not answer the door.

Gargiulo later moved to the El Monte area, into the same apartment complex as Maria Bruno, 32.

In 2005, prosecutors allege, Gargiulo attacked her as she slept and quite literally butchered her, slashing her throat and slicing off her breasts, which he staged for police to find.

Soon after investigators found her body, they spotted a blue surgical bootie outside her apartment door with three drops of Brunos blood. Gargiulos DNA matched the profile that was found along the elastic band. The same type of booties, which he wore for work as an air conditioner repairman, were found by detectives hidden in his attic.

Before the killing, Gargiulo had been seen trying to open Brunos door and peeping through her window in El Monte.

His last alleged attack, in April 2008, was unlike the others. Michelle Murphy survived.

Gargiulo and Murphy, who was 27 at the time, lived across from each other, sharing an alley in Santa Monica. In the months leading up to the attack, Gargiulo would greet her outside her apartment.

One night, prosecutors say, she woke up to him stabbing her arms and chest. She kicked him off, causing him to cut his wrist and flee. Investigators found his blood on her bedspread and in the alley.

After his arrest less than two months later in connection with the Santa Monica attack, detectives linked him to the killings of Ellerin and Bruno. Gargiulo wasnt charged in Illinois with Pacaccios slaying until 2011. He is to be extradited after the Los Angeles trial concludes.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek
Californias population growth in 2018 was the slowest in state history, a new study shows, as births declined, student enrollment fell and the death rate continued to climb as baby boomers aged.

The state added 186,807 residents last year, bringing Californias estimated total population to 39,927,315 people as of Jan. 1, according to new population estimates released by the state Department of Finance on Wednesday.

The overall growth rate slipped to .47% last year from .78% in 2017, the slowest since data collection started in 1900, department spokesman H.D. Palmer said. Births in the state were down by more than 18,000 compared with the previous year.

Growth in California has stalled out, said Dowell Myers, a professor of demography and urban planning at USC. That is pretty amazing 

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Officials noted last May that Californias population had grown by an average of 333,000 people a year since 2010.

Los Angeles County, still the largest county in the state, saw population growth fall to 0%, according to state officials. The number of residents dropped from 10,254,658 to 10,253,716 by the end of 2018. This is the first time since 2010 the population dropped in the county, according to state officials.

In contrast, San Diego County, Californias second largest county, saw a healthy 0.6% increase in population  18,658 more people bringing the total population to 3,351,786.

Myers said the states slow growth was largely due to a lack of housing. A report earlier this year by a public policy think tank found that Californias housing supply law hadnt triggered enough new home building to meet demand.

Myers said the housing crunch made it harder for younger residents to lay down roots. That is especially concerning as Californias senior population continues to grow at a fast pace, affecting state budgeting and policy.

Old people are holding in place, but we are losing the younger generation. We are losing potential parents, he said. It is a slow-moving train wreck here.

Among all cities in the state, San Diego saw the third largest numeric gain in population  6,199  trailing behind Sacramento and Chico. As of Jan. 1, its total population stood at 1,420,572, which translates to a 0.4% growth rate in 2018.

But that was significantly down from 2017 when the city saw a growth spurt of nearly 1.3%, owing largely to more robust housing production that year, according to the states Demographics Research Unit. In San Diego, 4,505 more housing units were added last year, compared to nearly 6,000 a year earlier.

Countywide, however, housing production increased in 2018, from 8,621 in 2017 to 9,322 last year. That is still far from an earlier peak in 2004 when 17,306 housing units were built in a year.

Within San Diego County, the cities experiencing the fastest growth were San Marcos, Santee and Chula Vista, posting growth rates of 2.1%, 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively.

Among Californias 10 biggest cities, Sacramento had the largest percentage gain in population , with 1.49% growth  or 7,400 new residents. Bakersfield grew by 1.1%, while Los Angeles grew only .04%.

California added a net of 77,000 completed housing units in 2018. Total housing in the state reached 14.235 million units, a 0.6% increase, according to the Department of Finance. Los Angeles added the most housing units in 2018, with 16,525, while San Diego followed with 4,505.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also has pledged that 3.5 million new homes will be built in California by 2025.

A series of deadly wildfires last year also brought drastic demographic changes to some small cities in Northern California, according to the report.

The Camp fire in Butte County, the most destructive in state history, displaced 83% of the population of Paradise and destroyed almost 90% of the housing stock in the town, a loss of 11,371 units.

Nearby cities of Chico and Oroville each saw their populations increase by about 20% after the fires. Chico added more than19,000 residents and now has a population of 112,111, while Oroville added 3,682 for a total of 21,773 residents.

Californias fires destroyed 14,600 housing units in Butte County, 900 units in Shasta County, 700 in Ventura County and 300 in Lake County.

Union-Tribune staff writer Lori Weisberg contributed to this report.

javier.panzar@latimes.com

@jpanzar


The last time Californians voted in a presidential primary, Bernie Sanders campaign was so overextended and seat-of-the-pants that staff members nearly fumbled a solid-gold marketing opportunity.

Grass-roots Bern, Baby, Bern parties were raging in San Francisco  using a likeness of the Vermont senator superimposed on a Saturday Night Fever poster, a la John Travolta, to lure hundreds of fresh donors with the promise of disco dancing.

Organizers raised nearly $40,000 for the campaign, but were frustrated when they tried to transfer the Bernie-disco enthusiasm to the Bernie get-out-the-vote movement.

We had to make and crank out our own campaign literature and figure out how to send canvassers out by ourselves, said Ben Becker, 34, who organized the disco parties in the citys Mission District with his wife, Claire Lau, 30.

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If and when the campaign staff did arrive, there were things they just did not get right, said Lau, like failing to print campaign material in the native languages of key immigrant communities.

Now?

Its much different, Becker said.

The Sanders campaign has evolved from an unruly movement four years ago into a highly disciplined, highly structured, proactive machine that is the envy of the Washington establishment. An operation spawned from antipathy toward corporate America now functions with the precision, focus and outsized bank account of, well, corporate America.

They are much better able to harness all the organic energy this time, said Ro Khanna, the Silicon Valley congressman who co-chairs the campaign. There is an infrastructure that wasnt there before. There are department heads watching every dollar, coordinating messaging, targeting effectively.

It is an operation, he said, that functions very much like the one political strategist and former Uber executive David Plouffe set up when he managed Barack Obamas 2008 campaign.

The February day Sanders launched his 2020 bid, the campaign was prepared when some 4,000 volunteers immediately emerged. Aides put them to work. They sent 1.3 million texts to other potential donors and volunteers. The campaign that limped into California the last time now may be better equipped there than anyone. There was no Iowa team in place at this point in the 2016 race; Sanders now has among the largest of all the Democratic presidential contenders.

Last time around, his campaign was so poorly managed that a frat-house culture of sexual harassment went unnoticed and uncorrected  only to burst into view as the senator prepared to launch his 2020 bid. The current challenge is not keeping track of an ever-growing army of grass-roots volunteers, but keeping them invested and feeling the movement is theirs as an apparatus of paid staffers nudges them to deploy in concert.

The scale and organization of what Sanders and his aides have built was on display over the weekend as the campaign mustered its resources to pull off a project none of its rivals would be able to match: Activists coming together at 4,700 house parties, with gatherings in every state and 30 countries.

House parties are standard campaign fare  but not 4,700 at once.

More than 800 took place in California alone, another signal that the democratic socialist is well positioned to compete not just in his proven battlegrounds of New Hampshire and Iowa, but also in the Golden State, where a big showing could put him on a path toward the nomination.

The star of the parties  other than Sanders himself  was a new mobile app called Bern. Its intended to empower Sanders enthusiasts to find, catalog and mobilize every other potential supporter who drifts into their orbit, down to the guy at the bus stop who might compliment their Bern, Baby, Bern T-shirt. It goes well beyond engagement apps that previous campaigns have used.

Our people power is a unique advantage, said campaign manager Faiz Shakir. We already have more than 1 million people involved.  This app gives them a way to input information so critical at the end of the day to how we build the concrete numbers in state after state.

The technology, like so much else the campaign invests in now, is designed to overcome a hurdle it hit in the last race  when the campaign infrastructure couldnt keep pace with voter enthusiasm, and eager volunteers were idled awaiting direction.

The 2016 operation grew like a small online business that opened up one day, and all of a sudden orders started flooding in faster than we could supply them, said Larry Cohen, a Sanders confidant and former head of the Communications Workers of America.

The new Bernie Inc. is like a relaunch after years spent in the lab, honing strategy, recalibrating and steadfastly developing a workforce. Through the affiliate organization Our Revolution, which Cohen chairs, activists nurtured the movement after 2016, fielding slates of candidates, seeding key Democratic Party committees with Sanders loyalists, and aggressively recruiting new activists.

Sanders helped keep supporters engaged in the political off-season through efforts like his homegrown Bernie TV operation, which attracted millions of viewers.

Many political pros expected Bernie 2.0 would go the same way as other lackluster campaign sequels: Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Dennis Kucinich come to mind. That swiftly proved wrong. Instead, Sanders appears to have hardened the loyalty of his voters.

Bernie Sanders invented the grass-roots campaign to scale, said Matthew Donovan, a 32-year-old digital strategist for businesses who was among the dozen Sanders enthusiasts who showed up at a house party Saturday in L.A.s Filipinotown. They huddled around the TV in a pink living room, consuming Rolling Rock beer and the motivational words of Sanders and Shakir, whose video messages beamed over the screen.

Here is the bottom line: We need to put together the biggest grass-roots movement in the history of American politics, Sanders said on the screen. And were off to a good start.

Sanders gravelly Brooklyn voice also crackled over house-party organizer Tony Rzeteljskis cellphone, after he made an impromptu call to welcome his supporters. Rzeteljski remained in awe hours later.

I need to get this embossed, he said, staring at his phone.

Even as the operation now reflects a more traditional approach with a large staff of paid operatives and a headquarters in Washington, Sanders is doing just enough, taking the actions that show hes not going to be like the establishment Democrats with this campaign, said Adriel Hampton, a political strategist in San Francisco who advises progressives.

Some Sanders loyalists felt dismayed, for example, when he called on surrogates to tone down their rhetoric and resist bullying and online harassment of opponents. That feeling dissipated when he threw them red meat with a recent attack on the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank with close ties to the liberal Democratic establishment.

There were more cheers than hisses when Sanders recently hired as his chief of research a former high-level operative for Hillary Clinton, who had helped head efforts in the last campaign to dig up dirt on him. Sanders supporters saw the move as crafty and subversive, a page stolen from the playbook of the ruthless establishment.

It was great that the campaign initially caught fire without being professionalized, said Hampton. But it is even better that Sanders now has the resources and infrastructure to actually win, he said: It is inspiring to see the kind of people they are hiring.

Halper reported from Washington and Ormseth from Los Angeles.
Condemned prison inmates in Texas for years could write final statements knowing officials would release their words to the public after they were executed.

Some inmates sounded remorseful in their statements, others unrepentant.

But the statement released last week on behalf of inmate John William Bill King after he was executed for the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, while simple, disturbed state Sen. John Whitmire.

Byrd, 49, was black. His three killers were white. One was sentenced to life without parole, the other two were executed. Neither expressed remorse at the executions, attended by several members of Byrds family.

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Kings final statement read: Capital punishment: Them without the capital get the punishment.

Whitmire, elected in 1983 and now the Texas Senates longest-serving member, described the statement in an interview this week as flippant and offensive.

Once and for all the Byrd family was going to have closure, with Kings death, he said, but the state kept his legacy alive.

On Monday, Whitmire wrote to Texas corrections officials demanding they stop issuing such final statements. And on Tuesday, Texas corrections officials agreed to halt the practice ahead of the next scheduled execution Thursday.

Should the offender choose to write a statement, it will be inventoried with their belongings and given to their pre-determined designee after the execution, Bryan Collier, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, wrote in a letter to Whitmire. The agency will only relay to the public the last verbal statement given in the execution chamber.

Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, said he did not oppose allowing condemned inmates a few last words, an opportunity to show remorse, apology, I love you to loved ones. But thats different than a final statement, he said, especially from someone like King, 44, an avowed racist.

He certainly didnt give James Byrd any opportunity for some last words, said Whitmire, chairman of the Texas Senates criminal justice committee. The prison system accommodates the worst of the worst by reading the statement. Why would we accommodate him at all?

It was Kings co-defendants execution that lead Whitmire to complain about Texas satisfying condemned inmates elaborate last-meal requests, ending the practice eight years ago.

Lawrence Russell Brewer, 44, had requested an epic last meal before his 2011 execution: two chicken-fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions; a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger; a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapenos; a bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas; a meat-lovers pizza; one pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream; a slab of peanut-butter fudge with crushed peanuts; and three root beers.

He didnt eat any of it, Whitmire said.

Whitmire complained the next day, and Texas restricted final meals to the prison menu. He said he felt the same way about final statements: Why let these convicted capital murderers manipulate the system right up to their last breath?

Some inmates last words have proved incendiary, others bizarre or remorseful.

I did not kill anyone. Yall are killing an innocent man, Jonathan Green said before Texas executed him in 2012 for killing a 12-year-old girl a decade before.

Yosvanis Valle apologized before his 2009 Texas execution in connection with a gang killing, adding, I understand why I am paying this price.

States have great discretion in setting such death penalty procedures, according to Robert Dunham, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, which researches and tracks executions.

Dunham said eliminating inmates final statements, like any other change to execution protocol, could become grounds for appeal.

On March 28, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped Texas from executing Patrick Murphy after his Buddhist spiritual advisor was denied access to the death chamber because he wasnt on prison staff like other chaplains. Texas corrections officials changed their policy, barring all spiritual advisors from executions, and Murphy is awaiting a new execution date.

Nationwide, 37 executions are scheduled this year, including half a dozen next month in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Two are scheduled Thursday, both for double murders: Scotty Morrow in Georgia and Dexter Johnson in Texas.
Emperor Naruhito inherited the sacred sword and jewel that signaled his succession and pledged in his first public address Wednesday to follow his fathers example by devoting himself to peace and sharing the peoples joys and sorrows.

Naruhito, the first modern emperor to have studied abroad and the first born after Japans defeat in World War II, formally acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne at midnight after his father Akihito abdicated Tuesday.

When I think about the important responsibility I have assumed, I am filled with a sense of solemnity, Naruhito said in his address.

While noting his fathers devotion to praying for peace, Naruhito said hell reflect deeply on the path trodden by Akihito and past emperors. He promised to abide by the constitution that stripped emperors of political power, and to fulfill his responsibility as a national symbol while always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them.

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I sincerely pray for the happiness of the people and the further development of the nation as well as the peace of the world, he said.

Naruhito is considered a new breed of royal, his outlook forged by the tradition-defying choices of his parents. Emperor Emeritus Akihito devoted his three-decade career to making amends for a war fought in his fathers name while bringing the aloof monarchy closer to the people.

Naruhitos mother, Michiko, was born a commoner and was Catholic educated. Together, they reached out to the people, especially those who faced disability, discrimination and natural disasters.

Naruhito was presented with the imperial sword and jewel, each in a box and wrapped in cloth, at a morning ceremony that marked his first official duty.

His wife and daughter, Empress Masako and 17-year-old Princess Aiko, were barred from the ceremony, which only adult male royals  his brother, now Crown Prince Fumihito, and his uncle Prince Hitachi  were allowed to witness. Their guests included a female Cabinet minister, however, as the Imperial House Law has no provision on the gender of commoners in attendance.

The banning of female royals at the ceremony underscored the uncertain future of a paternalistic imperial family that now has just two heirs.

Nevertheless, Japan festively celebrated an imperial succession prompted by retirement rather than death. Many people stood outside the palace Tuesday to reminisce about Akihitos era; others joined midnight events when the transition occurred, and more came to celebrate the beginning of Naruhitos reign.

Dozens of couples lined up at government offices to submit marriage documents to mark the first day of Naruhitos era, known as Reiwa, or beautiful harmony.

Natsumi Nishimura, a 27-year-old saleswoman, and Keigo Mori, a 32- year-old government worker, were at a Tokyo office on Wednesday, saying they decided to tie the knot at the start of a new era to mark their new life together.

Opportunities like this dont come by often so we thought it would be a day we wont forget, Nishimura said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe congratulated Naruhito on his ascension, pledging to create a bright future during the new era that is peaceful and full of hope.

Naruhito also received congratulations from abroad. President Donald Trumps message said America and Japan will renew the bonds of friendship in the new era. Chinese President Xi Jinping was quoted by state media as saying China and Japan should work together to promote peace and development and bilateral ties.

From a car window on his way to and from the palace, Naruhito smiled and waved at people cheering on the sidewalk. He and his family will continue living at his Togu Palace until they switch places with his parents after refurbishments.

Naruhito, 59, is the nations 126th emperor, according to a palace count that historians say likely included mythical figures until around the 5th century.

The emperor under Japans Constitution is a symbol without political power. Wartime militarist governments worshipped the emperor as a living god until Naruhitos grandfather renounced that status after the countrys 1945 war defeat.

Akihito during his three-decade reign embraced an identity as peacemaker and often made reconciliatory missions and carefully scripted expressions of regret on the war. His immersion in that role leaves Naruhito largely free of the burden of the wartime legacy, allowing him to carve his own path.

Palace watchers say he might focus on global issues, including disaster prevention, water conservation and climate change, which could appeal to younger Japanese, while also emulating his fathers focus on peace.

Thats what many Japanese hope Naruhito will pursue.

I hope the new emperor will be like the Heisei emperor (Akihito), who cherishes peace, said Takayori Kobayakawa, a 71-year-old retiree from Shizuoka, central Japan. I have high hopes for him.

Naruhito also faces uncertainties in the imperial household. Crown Prince Fumihito, 53, and Fumihitos 12-year-old son, Prince Hisahito, can currently succeed him. The Imperial House Law confines the succession to male heirs, leaving Naruhitos daughter out of the running.

Naruhitos wife, Empress Masako, is a Harvard-educated former diplomat who may prove an adept partner in his overseas travels and activities. But much will depend on her health, since she has been recovering from what the palace describes as stress-induced depression for about 15 years. He recently said he hopes Masako might slowly expand her role.

Masako has largely limited her public appearances since late 2003, after giving birth to their daughter and facing pressure to produce a son. Naruhito criticized palace officials in 2004, though subtly, for denying Masakos personality and career and pushing her into a corner.

People saw a human side of a man defending his wife and I think people admired him a great deal for that, said Jeff Kingston, Asian studies director at Temple Universitys Japan campus. He said Naruhito has also demonstrated that he is an independent thinker and is cosmopolitan. I think that we are going to see an interesting emperor, and I have high hopes for him, he said.

___

AP journalists Kaori Hitomi, Haruka Nuga and Richard Colombo contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Russian gun rights activist convicted in the U.S. of conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent has lashed out at the American justice system.

Maria Butina told reporters in Moscow in a conference call Tuesday from a U.S. jail that I didnt expect such a severe punishment. They were her first public remarks since she was detained in Washington in July.

Butina complained that she received the same sentence one would receive for selling secret information to China, rather than failing to register for an otherwise legal activity.

She said it is a great shame on the American justice system.

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Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison by last week. The nine months already spent in detention count toward her eventual release and deportation to Russia.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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KEESEVILLE, N.Y.  A North Country brewery plans to install a 500-gallon storage tank for its solar hot water system, to reduce dependence on propane fuel.

A hay producer will purchase a GPS system for its tractors to minimize trips across fields, while a farm-based agritourism venture is going to buy a 300-watt solar energy kit to passively power a new chicken coop that will also function as a brooding facility and greenhouse.

These are among the 18 farms and small businesses that have obtained Adirondack Council environmental grants, of $1,000 to $3,000, for projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions, which contributes to climate change.

We installed a solar hot water system five years ago, but it really isnt that efficient, said Dylan Badger, who co-owns and runs Ausable Brewing Company in Keeseville with his brother, Dan. At present we only have 80 gallons of storage so were maxing out way too fast on brew days. With a bigger storage tank, well already have hot water instead of having to heat with propane.

So we should be more profitable, which is good because were expanding right now and hope to hire a couple more people, he said.

The brewery is located in 1880s-era barn that was once part of an active, family-run farm.

Now in its fourth year, the grant program has provided more than $91,000 for 72 projects. Applicants may be located anywhere in the 6-million acre Adirondack Park, which includes portions of northern Saratoga and Warren counties.

Each year, we fund a number of new farms looking to implement climate-smart projects that span the conventional to modern spectrum of the community, said Jackie Bowen, a climate expert on the Councils conservation team. Whether it be the ease of access to funds or the desire to be more environmentally friendly, a lot of farmers have chosen to implement climate-smart or low-carbon projects.

The hope is that this will plant the seed for people to implement other sustainable projects on their farms.

Clayton Wrisley, of Adirondack Hay & Grains, in Essex, said his new GPS tractor system will also strengthen his farms organic certification by reducing fuel usage. Plans call for conducting a case study to assess emissions/fuel reductions resulting from GPS technology.

DaCy Meadow Farm, in Westport, consists of lodging, a restaurant, catering, an art gallery, hiking trails and event hosting built around a farm that raises heritage livestock, maple syrup and forestry products. Owner Dave Johnston said the chicken coop solar project hes installing will enhance his business financially and educate its many visitors, including school children, about the importance of carbon reduction.

Eggs are an important product that not only provide income, but bring many customers to our farm stand who buy other products and subsequently attend farm-to-table meals, he said. DaCy Meadow Farm has 500 to 1,000 different visitors, customers and guests over the span of a year. We are intentionally locating this chicken coop and pasture in one of the most visible areas of our farm.

This adds a multiplier effect to the funds awarded, he added. People will see a sustainable, green energy healthy and human permaculture operation and have an opportunity to see alternatives to industrial agricultural activities with a high-carbon footprint. It is our expectation that this knowledge and experience will encourage our visitors to act on this in their daily lives and be advocates for climate control measures.

In addition to environmental protection, grant funding boosts the regions rural economy by helping each individual farm and small business.

For example, in 2017, Rehoboth Homestead, in Peru, N.Y., was able to leverage our grant in addition to New York State Electric & Gas Corporation incentives and a U.S. Department of Agriculture energy efficiency grant to install a 11.4 kilowatt solar system that now supplies 100 percent of the farmsteads electricity needs, Bowen said.

Also in 2017, the Adirondack Hotel, in Long Lake, received a grant to put in insulation and LED lighting. The business used this to install 400 LED light bulbs, which decreased their NYSEG electric bill by $800 to $1,000 per month.

Following is a brief description of other 2019 grant recipients and their projects.

Farms

* Christian Brothers Farm (Willsboro): $1,200 to purchase or build a double rake hitch to eliminate the use of a second tractor for haying.

* Craigardan (Keene): $3,000 for the 2019 Food Justice Summit.

* Green Street Family Farm & Sawmill (Keeseville): $1,500 to purchase a backup battery and pressurized system with frost protection for solar water pump.

* Essex Farm (Essex): $1,400 to purchase 400lbs of legume seed cover crop (clover family) to seed 50 acres of farmland for carbon sequestration and soil health.

* Juniper Hill Farm (Westport): $1,500 to host a sustainable home building, hands-on workshop featuring sessions on: geothermal installation, heat pumps, radiant heating and straw bale home construction.

* Moonstone Farm (Saranac Lake): $1,500 to purchase a CoolBot Pro with Wi-Fi and a 15k BTU AC unit for a new 8-foot by 6-foot CoolBot Cooler.

* North Country Creamery (Keeseville): $1,500 to replace propane heaters with solar energy-sourced electric heat pumps for on-farm cafe and farm store.

* Open Gate Farmstead (Keeseville): $1,500 to build a boundary fence, construct a living fence using berry bushes, and purchase fruit and nut seeds to be planted as food sources for livestock and to help address soil erosion.

* Reber Rock Farm (Essex): $1,500 to complete the installation of a frost free watering unit, including excavation and extension of a water line, and a concrete pad on which the watering unit will sit.

* Sugar House Creamery (Upper Jay): $1,000 to purchase a ripper attachment for the front-end loader of a tractor to aerate winter bedding in cow house.

* Twin Hills Farm (Vermontville): $1,400 to convert a greenhouse heating system to use waste oil, and to set up educational stations for school groups.

* Oregano Flats (Saranac): $1,500 to replace greenhouse plastic with SolaWrap, a high tunnel plastic film that has a lifespan of 25-plus years.

Small Businesses

* Hub on the Hill (Essex): $1,500 to install solar panels to help power a refrigeration system within a new delivery truck.

* Indian Bay Marina (Willsboro): $1,500 to add spray foam insulation to the underside of restaurant building.

* Northern Feast Catering (Keeseville): $1,500 to purchase and install a new oven (Vulcan Series SX36-6BN oven) to replace current oven that leaks propane.

The Klipper Fund is a founding funder of the Adirondack Councils micro-grants program.

Healthy farms are already playing an important role in limiting climate disruption in the Adirondack Park, Nathaniel Klipper said. They absorb and sequester carbon dioxide, reduce the impacts of storm-driven flooding and help us to avoid burning fossil fuels to get the food and farm products we need.

Courtney Klipper said, We believe that a few dollars invested wisely now can bring benefits for many generations to come, and set an example for others to follow.
Surprisingly complex movements in an important neurotransmitter receptor may help explain the brain's unpredictable response to drugs, according to a new study. New research from an international team, published this week in the journal Neuron, has revealed that the resting state of signaling proteins are much more dynamic than previously thought.

In the brain, most drug targets consist of signaling proteins that go awry in central nervous system diseases, for example with autism in childhood, schizophrenia in adolescence, or Alzheimer's disease in old age. The aim of drug treatment is to correct the inappropriate behavior of these proteins and restore normal brain function.

Correctly identifying drug targets is a major challenge for modern medicine. Although a lot of time, effort and money has been dedicated to the development of drugs for neurological disease over the years, the failure rate has been significant. "One of the main reasons for failure is due to the lack of drug efficacy and off-target effects," explains Dr. Derek Bowie, Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine, and one of the paper's senior authors. "These outcomes, in particular, have put into question the validity of strategies used by pharmacologists to identify and target signaling proteins. An understated concern is that the basic tenets of drug targeting may be flawed."

An exciting but unexpected discovery

Through a collaborative effort consisting of scientists from McGill, the University of Cambridge, the University of Copenhagen and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, the researchers uncovered an important property of the ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) protein, which they believe will have important ramifications for biomedical research as well as for future drug development.

Though traditionally drug developers have targeted proteins in an active state, the researchers found that iGluRs in a resting state are highly mobile and dynamic, which profoundly affects how they respond to drugs. "Importantly, this behaviour is regulated by our genes which act as a master-switch to turn the effect of the drug on or to switch it off completely," says Prof. Bowie.

A major drug target for decades, despite their importance, few drugs targeting iGluRs have reached the clinic for the treatment of neurological disease. "Our recent findings introduce a new complexity into our understanding of iGluRs, which may explain previous disappointments while also shedding light on how to best move forward," adds Bowie.

A series of fortunate events

The discovery came about serendipitously, spawning from an unplanned discussion between Bowie and Dr. Jette Sandholm Kastrup in Copenhagen in 2013. "Our collaboration was initiated at a Benzon Symposium in Copenhagen when Dr. Bowie and I discussed the idea that AMPA receptors -- the most common type of receptors found in the nervous system -- might be modulated by anions," says Dr. Kastrup, Professor at the University of Copenhagen and one of the study's senior authors. "At that time we did not imagine that this collaboration would extend to combine efforts of four universities. Our work, using X-ray crystallography, allowed us to locate the anion binding site in the atomic structure of the AMPA receptor."

Dr. Kastrup thought that this new crystallized AMPA-type ionotropic glutamate receptor her lab had developed could help shed light on an observation Dr. Bowie had made in 2002. Upon his return to McGill, Dr. Bowie's lab used the crystallized structure to help identify that a single amino acid was responsible for determining whether different genetic isoforms of the same AMPA receptor could be either fully regulated or not regulated at all.

The next important breakthrough then came, again by chance, when Dr. Bowie visited Cambridge in 2015 and met with Dr. Mike Edwardson, who had been working with Dr. Nelson Barrera from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile to use atomic force microscopy to study protein movement in real time. Dr. Bowie shared some of the unpublished data and Dr. Edwardson agreed to run a few experiments. "To our surprise, we found that the key amino acid that conferred different properties on the same AMPA receptor was due to changes in the (nanoscale) mobility or movement of the protein's resting or apo state," explains Dr. Edwardson, the Sheild Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge and senior author on the paper.

The impact of the findings have broad appeal to many other signaling proteins inside and outside of the brain. Consequently, the study uncovers an important aspect of biology that may need to be considered when developing drugs in the future. "I cannot stress how unexpected this finding was to us since most of the field had overlooked that the resting protein can have complex dynamics," notes Dr. Bowie. "This oversight can also be extended to almost all biomedical research on signaling proteins where the underlying assumption has been that only the active form of the protein is worthwhile studying and not the resting or apo state. Our recent study shows that assumption needs to be revised, which opens up an entirely new area of study that could have impact on other areas of investigation such as in cancer, heart disease in addition to our findings on an important brain neurotransmitter receptor. "
A "sleeping giant" hidden in permafrost soils in Canada and other northern regions worldwide will have important consequences for global warming, says a new report led by University of Guelph scientist Merritt Turetsky.

Scientists have long studied how gradual permafrost thaw occurring over decades in centimetres of surface soils will influence carbon release to the atmosphere. But Turetsky and an international team of researchers are looking at something very different: rapid collapse of permafrost that can transform the landscape in mere months through subsidence, flooding and landslides.

"We are watching this sleeping giant wake up right in front of our eyes," said Turetsky, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology.

The team discusses the importance of abrupt thaw for carbon release estimates, northern ways of living and climate policy in a commentary in the May 2 issue of Nature. The researchers put together results from abrupt thaw studies from a range of environments across the permafrost zone to estimate the overall effect.

Permafrost affects about one-quarter of land in the northern hemisphere. These frozen soils lock up carbon in biomass from dead plants, animals and microbes over millennia, preventing its breakdown and keeping it out of the atmosphere. As a result, permafrost region soils now hold twice as much carbon -- about 1.6 trillion tonnes -- as is contained in the atmosphere.

"We work in areas where permafrost contains a lot of ice, and our field sites are being destroyed by abrupt collapse of this ice, not gradually over decades, but very quickly over months to years," said Turetsky.

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Co-author Miriam Jones, a United States Geological Survey research geologist, said: "This abrupt thaw is changing forested ecosystems to thaw lakes and wetlands, resulting in a wholesale transformation of the landscape that not only impacts carbon feedbacks to climate but is also altering wildlife habitat and damaging infrastructure."

Describing the formation of thaw lakes and landslides triggering mass movement of soil and sediment into rivers and streams, Turetsky adds: "It's happening faster than anyone predicted. We show that abrupt permafrost thawing affects less than 20 per cent of the permafrost region, but carbon emissions from this relatively small region have the potential to double the climate feedback associated with permafrost thawing."

Unlike gradual thaw that affects mostly the surface and penetrates the ground slowly, abrupt permafrost thawing disrupts deeper carbon stockpiles more rapidly. In addition, abrupt thaw releases more methane -- a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide -- than does gradual thaw.

In their paper, the team calls for more measurement and monitoring of Arctic permafrost, as well as improved modelling and reporting of effects of thaw on climate.

University of Alaska Fairbanks emeritus professor Dave McGuire said, "There is an urgent need to make substantive progress on representing the effects of abrupt thaw on the carbon cycle in Earth system models. This will inform policy-makers about how the release of carbon from abrupt thaw may affect the implementation of carbon management strategies to control the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."

The researchers say rapid permafrost collapse will have local, national and international effects, from altering traditional travel and hunting patterns in the North, to causing costly infrastructure damage to roads and rail lines, to making it even more difficult to meet emission targets intended to limit global warming.

Despite threats to northern permafrost and climate, Turetsky remains optimistic.

"If we can limit human emissions, we can still curb the most dangerous consequences of climate warming. Our window for action is getting narrow, but we still have it and can make changes to save the Arctic as we know it, and the Earth's climate along with it."

Ted Schuur, professor at Northern Arizona University, said, "Synthesis science designed to bring ideas and people together to create new knowledge is critical for understanding abrupt thaw impacts across the permafrost region at the scale where it affects climate."
An inter-religious service to pay tribute, to honour the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka, and to invoke blessings for the family members of the victims, for speedy recovery of the injured as well as for all Sri Lankans was held on Sunday, 28 April 2019 in Bern, the Capital city of Switzerland. The solemn event was organized by the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Geneva together with House of Religions, Bern and the Sri Lankan community in Switzerland.

A two minutes' silence was observed by those present at the commencement of the event. Demonstrating unity and solidarity and the strength of multi-ethnic, multi-religious fabric of the Sri Lankan society, leaders representing Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic religions participated in the event. Praying for the eternal peace for the departed souls, the religious leaders invoked blessings on the victims and their family members. All religious leaders called for understanding and tolerance among all communities to stand as one nation and prayed for peace and calm to prevail in the motherland.

Speaking at the event, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva and Consul General of Sri Lanka in Switzerland Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, expressed deepest condolences to the families of the victims while wishing speedy recovery for those injured in the attacks. "Terrorism will never be able to defeat Sri Lanka and its people" stressed Ambassdor Azeez, recalling that during these most horrendous attacks, Sri Lankans have risen above differences, as a community of purpose, united by the values of humanity, and "that was the antithesis of which the terrorists had sought to achieve on the Easter Sunday."

The event concluded with a candle light vigil by the participants praying for the victims, families and all Sri Lankans.

Among the guests who were present were Ambassadors of India and US to Switzerland, Permanent Representative of Bhutan to the United Nations in Geneva, Diplomatic Representatives of the Embassies of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in Bern as well as Diplomatic Representatives of the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations in Geneva.

Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Switzerland

Geneva

30 April 2019
Researchers at the University of Sydney have discovered an antidote to the deadly sting delivered by the most venomous creature on earth -- the Australian box jellyfish.

The Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) has about 60 tentacles that can grow up to three metres long. Each tentacle has millions of microscopic hooks filled with venom.

Each box jellyfish carries enough venom to kill more than 60 humans.

A single sting to a human will cause necrosis of the skin, excruciating pain and, if the dose of venom is large enough, cardiac arrest and death within minutes.

Associate Professor Greg Neely and Dr Raymond (Man-Tat) Lau and their team of pain researchers at the Charles Perkins Centre at University of Sydney were studying how the box jellyfish venom works when they made the discovery.

They uncovered a medicine that blocks the symptoms of a box jellyfish sting if administered to the skin within 15 minutes after contact.

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The antidote was shown to work on human cells outside the body and then tested effectively on live mice.

Researchers now hope to develop a topical application for humans.

"We were looking at how the venom works, to try to better understand how it causes pain. Using new CRISPR genome editing techniques we could quickly identify how this venom kills human cells. Luckily, there was already a drug that could act on the pathway the venom uses to kill cells, and when we tried this drug as a venom antidote on mice, we found it could block the tissue scarring and pain related to jellyfish stings," said Associate Professor Neely. "It is super exciting."

Published in the journal Nature Communications today, the study used CRISPR whole genome editing to identify how the venom works. Genome editing is a technology that allows scientists to add, remove or alter genetic material in an organism's DNA.

In the study, the researchers took a vat of millions of human cells and knocked out a different human gene in each one. Then they added the box jellyfish venom -- which kills cells at high doses -- and looked for cells that survived. From the whole genome screening, the researchers identified human factors that are required for the venom to work.

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"The jellyfish venom pathway we identified in this study requires cholesterol, and since there are lots of drugs available that target cholesterol, we could try to block this pathway to see how this impacted venom activity. We took one of those drugs, which we know is safe for human use, and we used it against the venom, and it worked," said Dr Lau, who is the lead author on the paper. "It's a molecular antidote."

"It's the first molecular dissection of how this type of venom works, and possible how any venom works," Dr Lau said. "I haven't seen a study like this for any other venom."

"We know the drug will stop the necrosis, skin scarring and the pain completely when applied to the skin," said Associate Professor Neely, who is the senior author on the paper. "We don't know yet if it will stop a heart attack. That will need more research and we are applying for funding to continue this work."

Found in coastal waters in northern Australia and into the waters around the Philippines, the box jellyfish is extremely dangerous. They don't just float, they can actively swim, gaining speed of 7.5 kilometres an hour when they are hunting. They feed in shallow waters, mainly small fish and prawns.

There are two types of box jellyfish, the Irukandji, which is tiny, and the Chironex fleckeri, which is about three metres long. "We studied the biggest, most venomous and scary one," said Associate Professor Neely. "Our drug works on the big beast. We don't know yet if it works on other jellyfish, but we know it works on the most-deadly one."

The venom used in the study was collected from a box jellyfish off the waters of Cairns by Associate Professor Jamie Seymour at James Cook University.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the only current treatment for a sting is dousing the area with vinegar for 30 seconds or running very hot water over the affected area for 20 minutes. If it's a major sting, continuous CPR is needed to keep the heart beating.

"Our antidote is a medicine that blocks the venom," said Associate Professor Neely. "You need to get it onto the site within 15 minutes. In our study, we injected it. But the plan would be a spray or a topical cream. The argument against a cream is when you are stung it leaves lots of little stingers in you so if you rub the cream on it might be squeezing more venom into you. But if you spray, it could neutralise what's left outside of your body."

Associate Professor Neely and his team are now looking for potential partners to work on making the medicine available to the public.

Associate Professor Neely's team work in functional genomics and study chronic pain at the Charles Perkins Centre and he heads the Sydney Genome Editing Initiative at the University of Sydney. They are studying a range of deadly Australian creatures -- the box jellyfish, and a wide variety of other venomous animals -- in order to understand what causes pain.

In 2018, pain and chronic pain cost $139 billion to the Australian economy and is heading towards $215 billion by 2050, according to Pain Australia.

"Most of our work is directed at developing non-addictive pain killers for humans," said Associate Professor Neely. "One way we do this is to figure out how painful venoms from Australian creatures work using brand new CRISPR technology. It is super cool."
De-escalation approaches in the treatment of women with HER2 positive breast cancer need to be personalised, according to Dr Carmen Criscitiello, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy. Her comments come on the occasion of the presentation of updated research results at the inaugural ESMO Breast Cancer Congress 2019, 2-4 May, in Berlin, Germany.

"The introduction of anti-HER2 therapies has brought a huge survival benefit in early and advanced HER2 positive breast cancer, thus there is now a need for reducing the intensity and side effects of the treatment administered," said Criscitiello. "However, the priority is to identify which patients might be spared some toxic therapies without worsening the survival benefit."

A de-escalation strategy omitting chemotherapy in the first line treatment of HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer was attempted in the PERNETTA trial. As previously reported, the strategy does not worsen two-year overall survival but significantly shortens progression-free survival.

The phase II trial randomly allocated 210 patients to trastuzumab plus pertuzumab alone versus trastuzumab plus pertuzumab combined with chemotherapy until progression. After progression, both groups received T-DM1 as second line therapy. The primary endpoint of overall survival at two years was reached by 77% of patients receiving antibodies alone and 76% of those who also had chemotherapy. Progression-free survival after first line therapy was 8.4 months with antibodies alone and 23.3 months with antibodies plus chemotherapy group.

New findings revealed today at the ESMO Breast Cancer Congress 2019 show that the results were similar regardless of hormone receptor status, and overall quality of life was also similar between groups during first line treatment. But according to analyses of adverse events and patient reported symptoms, those receiving antibodies alone had less hair loss, mouth sores, nausea, and fatigue.

The difference in progression-free survival between groups has prompted the investigators to look for predictive factors to identify patients who could receive targeted therapy alone with little or no detriment in progression-free survival. They are using the PAM50 test to profile tumours of all patients in the trial.

First author Prof. Jens Huober, of the University Hospital Ulm, Germany, said: "Trials of HER2 positive breast cancer in the neoadjuvant setting have shown that the HER2 enriched subtype is the most sensitive to anti-HER2 therapy. Our hypothesis is that this also applies to the metastatic setting. If the progression-free survival difference is smaller in this subtype, then omitting chemotherapy in the first line may be a good option for these patients."

Huober noted that the trial was conducted to discover if it is safe to omit chemotherapy from first line treatment of patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer who receive dual anti-HER2 therapy followed by T-DM1. "We looked at two-year overall survival because physicians are afraid they will lose patients early if they don't give the maximum treatment. Progression-free survival was shorter but did not seem to affect overall survival in the long run. Omitting chemotherapy in the first line could be discussed as an option with patients who have a low to intermediate tumour burden. However, a phase III trial is needed for definitive proof that patients are not at risk of early death if they start with antibodies alone."

ESMO spokesperson Criscitiello emphasised that it is important for studies in this field to select a specific population in which to attempt treatment intensity optimisation and agreed that using the PAM50 test to select patients with the HER2 enrichment subtype may be an effective approach. "There was no biological selection of patients in the PERNETTA trial," noted Criscitiello, who also highlighted the choice of primary endpoint. "Here we have a progression-free survival that is almost two times less than that achieved with chemotherapy. The short overall survival endpoint did not capture if denying a treatment which is demonstrated to be meaningfully most effective impacts on long-term survival. In addition, the sample size is very small to detect a difference in overall survival. Avoiding chemotherapy in HER2 positive disease is appealing for patients and investigators, but it has to be done safely."

Academic trials are now crucial in breast cancer, added Criscitiello. "The prognosis of patients with breast cancer has dramatically improved thanks to several new available treatments; we might see a reduced interest from industry to further invest in this disease, especially in trials designed with de-escalation attempts. Independent academic supported trials are very important to investigate research questions which are relevant for patients and doctors, like de-escalation to less toxic and demanding treatments and the identification of patients who may benefit the most from such an approach."
A UBC researcher is using her latest study to question whether soil additives are worth their salt.

Miranda Hart, who teaches biology at UBC's Okanagan campus, says despite a decades-long practice, there could be environmental consequences of adding bio-fertilizers into soil. It's common practice for farmers to use bio-fertilizers as a method to improve crop production. These added microorganisms will live in the soil, creating a natural and healthy growing environment.

However, after a multi-year study on four different crop fields, Hart says the inoculants may not be doing much for the soil. The study, which involved researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was published recently in Science of The Total Environment.

"There are so many companies producing microbes and they are lobbying farmers to be part of a green revolution," says Hart. "These products are considered more environmentally friendly than fertilizers and pesticides, but there is no evidence they are working or that they are even able to establish, or grow, in the soil."

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi live in and around plant roots, helping the plants take up nutrients. Hart explains that many farmers will use commercially produced AM fungi to improve soil quality and increase yields. However, after the study, she says there is still little evidence that the inoculants work.

"It's very hard to determine if the microbes established in the soil," she says. "What we showed is that they often didn't establish. And even when they did, there was no difference in crop performance."

Hart's research team studied four fields during the course of two growing seasons in Saskatchewan and Alberta. For their study, a common commercial AM fungal inoculant was introduced into the fields.

The results showed extreme variation, she says. There were areas where the inoculant failed to establish in some fields, while it grew prolifically in others. In one site, it became invasive and took over the resident fungal community in less than a year.

"Bio-fertilizers have been sold for decades and it's an industry worth millions of dollars," says Hart. "An important take away from this study is that there seemed to be no effect on the crops. If the farmer invested thousands on the inoculate, it may have been a waste of money."

Hart's second takeaway is the general lack of knowledge of what these inoculates are actually doing to the land.

"I'm particularly concerned because there is no evidence that these inoculates are helping the environment," she adds. "What we're doing is releasing invasive species into the environment and we don't know the long-term effect of what's happening to the soil."
Hydrogen is a critical component in the manufacture of thousands of common products from plastic to fertilizers, but producing pure hydrogen is expensive and energy intensive. Now, a research team at Princeton University has harnessed sunlight to isolate hydrogen from industrial wastewater.

In a paper published Feb. 19 in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, the researchers reported that their process doubled the currently accepted rate for scalable technologies that produce hydrogen by splitting water.

The technique uses a specially designed chamber with a "Swiss-cheese" black silicon interface to split water and isolate hydrogen gas. The process is aided by bacteria that generate electrical current when consuming organic matter in the wastewater; the current, in turn, aids the water splitting process.

The team, led by Zhiyong Jason Ren, professor of civil and environmental engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, chose wastewater from breweries for the test. They ran the wastewater through the chamber, used a lamp to simulate sunlight, and watched the organic compounds breakdown and the hydrogen bubble up.

The process "allows us to treat wastewater and simultaneously generate fuels," said Jing Gu, a co-researcher and assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at San Diego State University.

The researchers said the technology could appeal to refineries and chemical plants, which typically produce their own hydrogen from fossil fuels, and face high costs for cleaning wastewater.

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Historically, hydrogen production has relied on oil, gas or coal, and an energy-intensive method that involves processing the hydrocarbon stock with steam. Chemical manufacturers then combine the hydrogen gas with carbon or nitrogen to create high-value chemicals, such as methanol and ammonia. The two are ingredients in synthetic fibers, fertilizer, plastics and cleaning products, among other everyday goods.

Although hydrogen can be used as a vehicle fuel, the chemical industry is currently the largest producer and consumer of hydrogen. Producing chemicals in highly industrialized countries requires more energy than producing iron, steel, metals and food, according to a 2016 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The report estimates that producing basic chemicals will continue to be the top industrial consumer of energy over the next two decades.

"It's a win-win situation for chemical and other industries," said Lu Lu, the first author on the study and an associate research scholar at the Andlinger Center. "They can save on wastewater treatment and save on their energy use through this hydrogen-creation process."

According to the researchers, this is the first time actual wastewater, not lab-made solutions, has been used to produce hydrogen using photocatalysis. The team produced the gas continuously over four days until the wastewater ran out, which is significant, the researchers said, because comparable systems that produce chemicals from water have historically failed after a couple hours of use. The researchers measured the hydrogen production by monitoring the amount of electrons produced by the bacteria, which directly correlates to the amount of hydrogen produced. The measurement was at the high end for similar lab experiments and, Ren said, twice as high as technologies with the potential to scale for industrial use.

Ren said he sees this technology as scalable because the chamber used to isolate the hydrogen is modular, and several can be stacked to process more wastewater and produce more hydrogen.

Though a lifecycle analysis has not yet been done, the researchers said the process will at least be energy neutral, if not energy positive, and eliminates the need for fossil fuels to create hydrogen.

The researchers said they will likely experiment with producing larger amounts of hydrogen and other gases in the future, and look forward to moving this technology to industry.
Eight out of 10 marijuana users in states where cannabis is legal say they partake in the drug shortly before or after exercise, and most report that it motivates them to work out, helps them enjoy exercise more and improves their recovery, according to surprising new University of Colorado Boulder research.

The paper, published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, is among the first to explore the complicated intersection between cannabis use and physical activity.

While many assume the former impedes the later, the data suggest otherwise.

"There is a stereotype that cannabis use leads people to be lazy and couch-locked and not physically active, but these data suggest that this is not the case," said senior author Angela Bryan, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Institute for Cognitive Science.

She stresses that she is in no way recommending using cannabis as an adjunct to exercise.

"The evidence is not there yet," she said. "But I am also not convinced it is harmful."

Marijuana is now legal for recreational use in 10 states and medicinal use in dozens more. Yet, little is known about how rising acceptance could impact public health measures like physical activity and obesity.

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Some have speculated that increased use could worsen the obesity epidemic by fueling a sedentary lifestyle. On the other hand, the authors note, the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibits cannabis use in sporting competitions due to its potential to improve performance.

Anecdotally, ultrarunners sometimes use marijuana to battle nausea and boredom on long runs. And epidemiological studies show cannabis-users tend to be leaner, less prone to diabetes and have healthier blood sugar levels.

"There are a lot of interesting data points and hypotheses out there but not a lot of them have been tested," says Bryan.

In a first step toward filling the research gap, she and her colleagues surveyed 600 adult marijuana users in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, asking -- among other questions -- if they ever used cannabis within one hour before or four hours after exercise.

Eighty-two percent said 'yes.'

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"We were stunned it was that high," says Bryan.

A follow-up question of 345 "co-users" (people who use cannabis with exercise) found they were more likely to use it after than before. But 67% said they did both.

Among those who co-used, 70% said it increased enjoyment of exercise, 78% said it boosted recovery, and 52% said it heightened motivation.

"Given that these are all recognized barriers to exercise, it is possible that cannabis might actually serve as a benefit to exercise engagement," the authors write.

Only 38% said it boosted performance, and in fact some small previous studies have suggested it may harm it.

Notably, those who co-used also got about 43 minutes more exercise per week than those who didn't.

How might cannabis, physiologically, impact physical activity?

"There is evidence to suggest that certain cannabinoids dampen pain perception, and we also know that the receptors cannabis binds to in the brain are very similar to the receptors that are activated naturally during the runners high," said co-author Arielle Gillman, a former PhD student in Bryan's lab who recently published a review paper on the subject. "Theoretically, you could imagine that if it could dampen pain and induce an artificial 'runner's high,' it could keep people motivated."

Cannabis is also anti-inflammatory, which could aid recovery.

The study did not look at which kind of cannabis (edibles, smoked flower, etc.) people use alongside exercise.

The authors note that the survey has limitations, in that it looked only at people who use cannabis regularly and focused on states which have already legalized it.

But more research is already in the works at CU Boulder, comparing the activity levels of older adults who use cannabis with those who do not.

Preliminary results of that separate study show that after embarking on a 16-week exercise program, the cannabis users exercised more than the non-users.

"As we get older, exercise starts to hurt, and that is one reason older adults don't exercise as much," Bryan said. "If cannabis could ease pain and inflammation, helping older adults to be more active that could be another benefit."

Graduate students Sophie York Williams (first author), Charleen Gust and Raeghan Mueller, Assistant Professor Cinnamon Bidwell and Professor Kent Hutchison contributed to this study.
Human-generated greenhouse gases and atmospheric particles were affecting global drought risk as far back as the early 20th century, according to a study from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City.

The study, published in the journal Nature, compared predicted and real-world soil moisture data to look for human influences on global drought patterns in the 20th century. Climate models predict that a human "fingerprint" -- a global pattern of regional drying and wetting characteristic of the climate response to greenhouse gases -- should be visible early in the 1900's and increase over time as emissions increased. Using observational data such as precipitation and historical data reconstructed from tree rings, the researchers found that the real-world data began to align with the fingerprint within the first half of the 20th century.

The team said the study is the first to provide historical evidence connecting human-generated emissions and drought at near-global scales, lending credibility to forward-looking models that predict such a connection. According to the new research, the fingerprint is likely to grow stronger over the next few decades, potentially leading to severe human consequences.

Searching for human fingerprints

The study's key drought indicator was the Palmer Drought Severity Index, or PDSI. The PDSI averages soil moisture over the summer months using data such as precipitation, air temperature and runoff. While today NASA measures soil moisture from space, these measurements only date back to 1980. The PDSI provides researchers with average soil moisture over long periods of time, making it especially useful for research on climate change in the past.

The team also used drought atlases: Maps of where and when droughts happened throughout history, calculated from tree rings. Tree rings' thickness indicates wet and dry years across their lifespan, providing an ancient record to supplement written and recorded data.

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"These records go back centuries," said lead author Kate Marvel, an associate research scientist at GISS and Columbia University. "We have a comprehensive picture of global drought conditions that stretch back way into history, and they are amazingly high quality."

Taken together, modern soil moisture measurements and tree ring-based records of the past create a data set that the team compared to the models. They also calibrated their data against climate models run with atmospheric conditions similar to those in 1850, before the Industrial Revolution brought increases in greenhouse gases and air pollution.

"We were pretty surprised that you can see this human fingerprint, this human climate change signal, emerge in the first half of the 20th century," said Ben Cook, climate scientist at GISS and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York City. Cook co-led the study with Marvel.

The story changed briefly between 1950 and 1975, as the atmosphere became cooler and wetter. The team believes this was due to aerosols, or particles in the atmosphere. Before the passage of air quality legislation, industry expelled vast quantities of smoke, soot, sulfur dioxide and other particles that researchers believe blocked sunlight and counteracted greenhouse gases' warming effects during this period. Aerosols are harder to model than greenhouse gases, however, so while they are the most likely culprit, the team cautioned that further research is necessary to establish a definite link.

After 1975, as pollution declined, global drought patterns began to trend back toward the fingerprint. It does not yet match closely enough for the team to say statistically that the signal has reappeared, but they agree that the data trends in that direction.

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Reaching a verdict

What made this study innovative was seeing the big picture of global drought, Marvel said. Individual regions can have significant natural variability year to year, making it difficult to tell whether a drying trend is due to human activity. Combining many regions into a global drought atlas meant there was a stronger signal if droughts happened in several places simultaneously.

"If you look at the fingerprint, you can say, 'Is it getting dry in the areas it should be getting drier? Is it getting wetter in the areas it should be getting wetter?'" she said. "It's climate detective work, like an actual fingerprint at a crime scene is a unique pattern."

Previous assessments from national and international climate organizations have not directly linked trends in global-scale drought patterns to human activities, Cook said, mainly due to lack of data supporting that link. He suggests that, by demonstrating a human fingerprint on droughts in the past, this study provides evidence that human activities could continue to influence droughts in the future.

"Part of our motivation was to ask, with all these advances in our understanding of natural versus human caused climate changes, climate modeling and paleoclimate, have we advanced the science to where we can start to detect human impact on droughts?" Cook said. His answer: "Yes."

Models predict that droughts will become more frequent and severe as temperatures rise, potentially causing food and water shortages, human health impacts, destructive wildfires and conflicts between peoples competing for resources.

"Climate change is not just a future problem," said Cook. "This shows it's already affecting global patterns of drought, hydroclimate, trends, variability -- it's happening now. And we expect these trends to continue, as long as we keep warming the world."
The excrements of hippos play an important role in the ecosystem of African lakes and rivers. Because there are fewer and fewer hippos, this ecosystem is in danger. In the long term, this could lead to food shortages at Lake Victoria, for example. These are some of the results of a new study by an international team of researchers published in the journal Science Advances. Patrick Frings from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ is part of the research team behind it.

Wild hippos have a unique lifestyle: at night they eat dozens of kilograms of fresh grass in the savannahs. Most of their days they spend relaxing together in rivers or lakes, far away from enemies and protected from the burning sun. While chilling in the water, however, their digestion becomes active. Thus, enormous quantities of hippo poo enter the water.

"Hippos differ from other large grazing animals in the savannah," explains biologist Jonas Schoelynck from the University of Antwerp, the first author of the study. "The nutrients in the excrements of most grazers largely end up back in the savannah again, where they are reabsorbed by the plants. This is not the case with hippos: they act as a kind of nutrient pump from the land to rivers and lakes." In the study now published, researchers around Schoelynck and Frings show that this pumping function can be crucial for life in water. The results come from an expedition to the nearly four hundred kilometre long Mara River in the Masaai Mara Nature Reserve in Kenya.

Hippo excrements examined in the lab

"The grass that hippos eat contains silicon," explains Jonas Schoelynck. "The grass absorbs this silicon from the groundwater. It gives it the strength it needs, protects it from disease and, to a limited extent, from grazing by small animals." Patrick Frings from the Geochemistry of the Earth's Surface Section of the GFZ analysed the isotopic composition of silicon in samples of plants, water and hippo excrements in the laboratory. This type of analysis provides a kind of chemical fingerprint of a sample substance. "The isotope analysis enabled us to reconstruct the transport path of the silicon," explains Frings.

The researchers showed that a large part of the silicon in the Mara River was transported there via hippos. In the investigated area in southwest Kenya, the grazing animals absorbed a total of 800 kilograms of silicon per day through the plants they ate. 400 kilograms per day ended up in the water via excretion of hippo faeces. Through various ecological mechanisms, the hippos' silicon contribution influences over 76 percent of the total silicon transported along the Mara River, according to calculations by the researchers. Hippos are therefore a key factor in the biogeochemical silicon cycle of certain areas.

"Our results are completely new," says Patrick Frings of the GFZ. "So far, it has not been assumed that grazing wild animals could have such an influence on the transport of silicon from land to lakes. This process is crucial for the entire land-water ecosystem. In the past, however, it has simply been overlooked."

A world without hippos

According to the researchers, silicon is vital for certain organisms such as diatoms. These unicellular algae live in the water, produce oxygen and form the basis of the food chain in many water ecosystems. If a lack of silicon occurs, the diatomaceous algae population can collapse, with harmful consequences for the entire food web in the lake or river concerned, the researchers say.

The number of hippos in Africa has been drastically reduced in recent years due to hunting and loss of habitats and their function as animal silicon pumps has thus been partially lost, say the researchers. In recent decades, up to ninety percent of hippos in Africa have become extinct. "Lake Victoria, into which the Mara River flows, can survive for several decades with its current silicon supply," says Jonas Schoelynck. "But in the long run there is probably going to be a problem. If the diatoms do not get enough silicon, they are replaced by pest algae, which have all sorts of unpleasant consequences, such as a lack of oxygen and the associated death of fish. And fishing is an important source of food for the people of Lake Victoria.
I will say that we are not announcing the Starbucks deal just yet, as these items still must be resolved before a formal announcement can happen, Sherrod said. Typically, Starbucks will make an announcement, but once the lease is executed, they likely will install a coming soon sign.

It was not immediately clear when construction might start. We would like to begin as soon as possible, Sherrod said.

The lease is in the final stages and the approval last night was important to get some of these final pieces worked out, he said. Once the lease is signed and the architect and engineer can finish the construction drawings for the city of Hartsville to review and they can issue permits, we hope to start immediately upon getting those permits.

Sherrod said that once construction begins it should take about six months to complete.
We want our teachers to be a part of writing IEPs, but not actually writing them, OMalley said. So this will be the beginning of our compliance of the IEP writing.

Under the new approach, IEPs will be fully written in 15 days. OMalley said to ensure IEPs meet standards, the district will also hire compliance monitors.

To ensure that related services are available for students, the district will hire a related-services coordinator who will work with the occupational and speech therapists.

One thing we have not done well in this district is related services actually delivering upon related programs and services, OMalley said. That is the second part of our goals is to ensure that our programs and all of our supports are done.

Lastly, the district will address the disproportionality in the special education department. According to OMalley African-American males represent 70% of students who are in the special-education prgram and on the nondiploma track.

We are not going to hide these things, and I think we are going to bring this out as our third goal to reduce the disproportionality in our special-ed department. O'Malley said.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  Harvest Hope Food Bank, a non-profit organization serving people in 20 counties across the Midlands, Pee Dee and Greater Greenville regions, announced Wednesday that veteran non-profit leader Wendy Broderick will join the organization as CEO.

We are thrilled to have such an experienced and caring leader join our organization, Erinn Rowe, Harvest Hopes Board Chair. Wendy brings 20 years of non-profit experience to our organization. She believes in our mission and has been our advocate for some time, so we are excited for Wendy to lead our organization.

Broderick has a strong record working with the YMCA of Columbia, most recently serving as the organizations Chief Development and Marketing Officer. Among other accomplishments, Broderick designed and executed the YMCAs first comprehensive fundraising plan, which saw eleven-fold growth in annual support under her leadership. Prior to her role in development, Broderick led the YMCA of Columbia through the start-up of the Jeep Rogers Family YMCA in Northeast Columbia--the organizations largest facility. A Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), Broderick has demonstrated a talent for building relationships in the community and unifying support bases.
I cant hold people all of my life and their life because theyre ignorant of the fact that God made all of us different. And not only that, we have different cultures. You cant do anything about that, Lunn said. As far as me right now, Im happy clappy. As I said, Im still alive. And that day, I thought it was going to be the ending of my life. I can end it all by saying this, they may have meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

Lunn, Bacote and Brunson reunited Tuesday afternoon at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, 49 years after the attack happened. They were recognized on the Senate floor and met with Governor Henry McMaster. State Sen. Gerald Malloy, a Democrat from Darlington, presented a resolution to recognize the group for their role in the fight for desegregation and for their outstanding resiliency in the face of trauma. He told members of the Senate what happened to the six students on the bus in 1970.

At some point in time, you have to let go. And I think that these folks, they did let go in some regard many years ago, Malloy said. It is evident by the lives that they have led and what they have done to go on and raise their families and try to do good work.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Rebecca Flannagan, chair of the Francis Marion University Department of English, was named FMUs J. Lorin Mason Distinguished Professor for the 2018-19 academic year at the schools faculty awards dinner on April 18.

The annual award, named in honor of a former chairman of the FMU Board of Trustees, is the highest honor bestowed upon an FMU faculty member.

It also means that Flannagan will be the FMU nominee for the South Carolina Governors Professor of the Year Award competition.

The award will be formally presented at FMUs spring commencement ceremony Saturday.

The Mason Distinguished Professor award is based upon a faculty members ongoing contributions to teaching, professional service and scholarly activities.

Flannagan, the 44th recipient of the Mason award, said she was grateful for the recognition.

She told the assembled faculty Francis Marion University, its faculty, staff and students, have played a familial role over the past 24 years.
SC for Ed is the organization calling for a walkout today of teachers from work to protest in Columbia the shortcomings of the S.C. House and Senate school reform bills. SC for Ed is an activist group advocating for school reform, which includes higher pay for teachers  more than has been proposed by state legislators  reduction in workload, like smaller classroom sizes as state law requires, more social workers and counselors and things like discontinuing the over-testing of students.

Frontline classroom teachers around South Carolina have given state legislators firsthand information into the problems of public schooling, pointing out where crucial corrections are needed to improve the system to enhance student learning.

Its not a good idea for legislators to minimize teachers' input. Apparently, teachers feel no real partnership with state legislators about classroom concerns. Thus, the rising of conflict and the call for teachers to walk out and protest their dissatisfaction with school reform. Remember, its not reform that must accommodate the budget. Its the budget that must accommodate reform.

LAKARR COOPER

Kingstree
This is Montana

When the Corps of Discovery returned to St. Louis in September 1806, fur trappers already were on their way to the new country. In North Dakota, after meeting a group of trappers heading upriver, the Corps' John Colter left the expedition and returned to the country he fondly recalled. In 1808, Colter and John Potts were trapping at the three forks when they encountered Blackfeet hunters and warriors. Potts was killed, and Colter was given a chance to escape. The Blackfeet took his clothes and allowed him to run for his life. Grabbing a spear from his closest pursuer, Colter was able to make a kill and create a diversion. Upon reaching the Madison River, he hid among driftwood. The Indians gave up the search, and Colter began a seven-day "walk," minus clothes or footwear, to a trading post 200 miles away at the confluence of the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers east of modern-day Billings.

Despite this incident, Colter returned several times to the forks. In 1810, he was part of a group that established a trading post here. When Indians attacked the post and killed several traders, Colter left and vowed never to return.

In the early 1860s, Frank Dunbar built the first home in the Gallatin Valley at the headwaters. By 1863, settlers were arriving in the valley and Gallatin City came alive on the land between the point where the Jefferson and Madison already are joined at the Gallatin's entrance. The goal was to make this a river "port," but the founders didn't consider, or know about, the five "great falls" well to the north that blocked steamboat traffic. When the pioneers realized their town had no future, they abandoned it. Then in 1865, Gallatin City II was established. A ferry crossing accessed the mining camps to the west. The town served as an agricultural center until 1883, when the railroad, coming through the Gallatin Valley, passed it two miles to the south. Even before that, Bozeman's growing presence spelled the end to Gallatin City's second try. For a while, it was the seat of Gallatin County and boasted a flourmill, stores, a stage stop and a hotel. Only the skeleton of the hotel remains.

During Gallatin City's final years, a couple of miles to the south, Three Forks' predecessor, called "an English Nobility Colony" in "Montana Place Names"  essentially a small group of cabins  sputtered, along with a toll bridge that spanned the area's wetlands and the Madison and Jefferson rivers. In 1882, the present town of Three Forks gained a hold. When the rails reached it, the town's future was secured.

The landscape at the headwaters has much the same appearance as when the Corps of Discovery and the fur trappers spent time here. One of Montana's historical staging areas, those periods still permeate the atmosphere of this place. And there is nothing shy about it. The Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson come in with plenty of water and power to give the Missouri an enviable starting surge  no trickles, springs or snowmelt to kick it off. At the exact place where the big Missouri goes forth, there is no mistaking it for a stream  it is clearly a major river from the get go.

Where the Madison and Jefferson unite, just prior to the Gallatin merging in, is the point the U.S. Geological Survey considers to be the start of the Missouri. In their terms, the Gallatin is just another river entering the Missouri. History and contemporary feelings are that the waterway isn't the Missouri until the Gallatin makes its contribution.

Today's Missouri Headwaters State Park, which takes in the area surrounding the forks, was the idea of Clark Maudlin. While visiting the place with his family in 1928, he recognized its historical importance and set out to purchase the land. He then donated it to the state of Montana. The park opened in 1951.
Justin Edmonds / Getty Images

BOSTON - After throwing live batting practice Tuesday, As reliever Lou Trivino said he should be ready to go in the series finale at Fenway Park on Wednesday.

Trivino threw just 12 pitches, with Matt Olson and bullpen catcher Phil Pohl standing in, but he threw all his pitches and he said that everything was good.
BOSTON  Matt Olsons locker at Fenway Park was empty Tuesday  a good thing, in this case. The As first baseman is heading off to Reno on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Las Vegas.

Olson had surgery March 22 to remove a broken hamate bone from his right hand, and Tuesday, he took early batting practice before he left and also stood in when reliever Lou Trivino threw live batting practice.

Theres no way to know how long hell need at Las Vegas. The results wont matter entirely  if Olson is feeling good at the plate, he might come off the injured list even if hes not hitting up a storm, but certainly after more than a month off, hell need more than a handful of at-bats.

I just want him to be comfortable and see the ball well, manager Bob Melvin said. Well have to resist the urge to bring him back as quickly as we can because hes been out for a while. With a hamate injury, sometimes it takes a while for the strength to come back.

Melvin said hell probably talk to Olson every day over the next four or five days to see how his hand is responding and then well where were at at the end of this road trip.

Olson is a Gold Glove first baseman, so even if his power takes a while to return, as can be the case after hamate injuries, hell be a welcome addition if hes in the field and also just getting on base. Kendrys Morales, acquired from Toronto after Olsons injury, is batting .171 and while he is not a liability at first base, Morales is not the superior defender that Olson is. Morales is more than likely to be designated for assignment when Olson returns.

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser
Tech billionaire Marc Benioff is once again tossing millions of dollars at homelessness  this time, a $30 million donation to start a new research institute at UC San Francisco called the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.

Its the biggest private donation ever given in the United States for research on homelessness.

The goal is to study homelessness and come up with ways to be more effective in creating housing and services for homeless people. Another objective will be to compile a digital library of local and national research, so that policy leaders and the public may better understand why people wind up on the street and how to turn that tragedy around.

UCSF Professor Dr. Margot Kushel, one of the nations foremost researchers into street life, will lead the organization. Work will begin in July, and the donation  officially from Benioff and his wife, Lynne  will fund it for five years.

When it comes to homelessness, there are philosophers who think they know whats best, and the scientists who actually do, Benioff told The Chronicle. This is about helping the scientists. This initiative can fuel our best minds, which is what UCSF is known for. Benioff is co-CEO of cloud computing company Salesforce, the citys largest private employer.

He said one aim in creating the institute is to help the city determine how to spend the $300 million in annual homelessness funding generated by 2018s Proposition C. That may not happen soon as Prop. C is facing legal challenges.

We need a North Star for this research initiative, and I believe UCSF will be that light, Benioff said.

Kushel said her goal is to find ways to eliminate wasted effort. Such as, when does government spend too much on supportive housing for lightly troubled homeless people when rent vouchers would do just fine? Or, when do programs simply warehouse people with too little on-site counseling, when the right attention could enable them to live on their own eventually? Or, how can organizations help poor families keep their loved ones inside, particularly elderly people?

This is such an incredible opportunity, said Kushel, a longtime San Francisco physician who led a groundbreaking study released this year showing a growing crisis of people over 50 becoming homeless.

She also views the creation of an easily searchable library as crucial.

There is already a lot of research that gets done, and research people read it and know what it means, but the message doesnt get out to policy leaders and others who really need to understand it, she said. We want to make it come alive and be accurate, expert and understandable so someone can build programs on it.

Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle

The institute will be part of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, which Kushel also leads.

Her assistant director will be UCSF Associate Professor Dr. Josh Bamberger, who has long led homeless treatment and housing efforts at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Under former President Barack Obama, he conceived the largely successful national effort to house chronically homeless veterans.

Bamberger said he wants the initiative to disseminate success all over the country.

He also wants to engage in what he calls myth busting, dispelling concepts such as that homeless programs attract more homeless people. He and Benioff both pointed out that Kushels research in recent years refuted that idea  it showed that most homeless people stay in a limited area for many reasons, including the relative safety of familiarity.

Nan Roman, head of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, called the new initiative very significant ... awesome.

I know San Francisco has been building up its muscles around data and research, but this is very much what is needed to move it to the next level, said Roman, whose Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit is one of the leading organizations studying the problem and proposing solutions. When you have such a serious problem and the resources are scarce, you cant waste those resources on things that dont work or by not targeting them properly.

You need data and analysis  and Margot is amazing at that, she said.

That Benioff is tossing so much money at the initiative, she said, sets a national example of what the private sector can do. Its really tremendous leadership.

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.

Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

Jeff Kositsky, director of San Franciscos Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said the institute is a welcome addition to the citys massive efforts to pull people off the streets.

Since taking over his newly created department in 2016, Kositsky has made a top priority of generating research and data programs to trim waste and better target the $300 million-plus spent every year in San Francisco on housing and treating the homeless.

Mark and Lynne Benioff have been philanthropic leaders in the homeless space for over 10 years and had a major impact in supporting our successful interventions already. And now theyre taking it another level, he said. I think this thing is good. We need all the tools we can get.

Over the past three years, Benioff, his wife and the company he founded have donated millions of dollars toward addressing homelessness.

In 2016, the Benioffs gave $10 million to the citys Heading Home Campaign to end family homelessness, contributing another $1.5 million two years later to the Hamilton Families homelessness nonprofit with the same aim.

In 2018, Benioff and Salesforce donated $2 million to support Prop. C, the business tax approved that November by 61% of voters to raise about $300 million a year for San Francisco homeless programs. And later that year, the Benioffs gave $6.1 million to turn the vacant, run-down Bristol Hotel in the Tenderloin into housing for formerly homeless people.

You just have to drive through downtown San Francisco to care, Benioff said, explaining why he donates so much money to the cause. You cant ignore this any longer. You have to make this homelessness crisis a priority. And its a complex problem  so we need prioritization for how to really address it.

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron
Despite a record-breaking $72.5 million spent this fiscal year on street cleaning, reports of excrement  from both man and beast  on San Franciscos sidewalks continue to rise.

Poop is poop, and we clean it up as fast as we can, San Francisco Public Works spokeswoman Rachel Gordon said.

But not fast enough.

For while calls reporting tent camps dropped by nearly 10 percent in the first three months of the year, and calls about discarded needles remained pretty much the same  a drop of 0.7 percent  the poop problem just keeps growing.

The citys 311 call center clocked 5,874 calls reporting waste on the streets and sidewalks in the first three months of the year  about 65 calls a day  a 7% increase over the same time period last year.

Its not from lack of trying that things are getting worse. Just look at the work going into the Tenderloin.

Every morning at 4:30 a.m., Public Works crews hit the streets, their first focus to clean up tent camps.

At 5 a.m.  seven days a week  41 blocks of sidewalks and 12 alleys are manually swept by Hunters Point Family, a nonprofit cleanup program that contracts with the city.

At 6 a.m., mechanical sweepers start cleaning the Tenderloin.

From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., the Public Works Poop Patrol steam-cleans alleyways along lower Polk Street.

From 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Civic, another nonprofit under contract with Public Works, manually sweeps 41 blocks in the Tenderloin.

Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

Street garbage cans in the Tenderloin are emptied three times a day  more often if needed based on service requests  and staffed Pit Stop public toilets are available at 25 locations in 12 neighborhoods, daily until 8 p.m. There are five Pit Stops in the Tenderloin.

The dawn-to-dusk work represents a $32 million increase in street-cleaning spending since fiscal 2013-2014, an increase of over $6 million a year.

And the city expects to spend at least $72 million next year.

Supervisor Matt Haney, whose district includes some of the dirtiest areas, wants to spend even more.

Everyone deserves safe and healthy sidewalks, Haney said.

Haney wants 200 more Big Belly trash cans for his district, 10 more Pit Stop restrooms  five open around the clock  all-day street sweepers to clean 20 micro-neighborhoods in the Tenderloin and South of Market, and city-funded deep cleaning of sidewalks multiple times a week.

Under city law, property owners are responsible for cleaning their sidewalks, but some businesses and property owners band together as community benefit districts and tax themselves to pay for the extra cleaning services.

Preliminary estimates by Public Works put the cost of Haneys wish list at about another $12 million a year.

Some of these things can be done by the community benefit districts, and some of them can be done by spending our more money effectively and efficiently, Haney said.

Street cleaners, however, will tell you that the problem isnt cleaning the streets, but keeping them clean.

Its not just about the money anymore, its about also needing to deal with the people who are creating the problems, Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru said. Cleaning the same area three, four, five times a day is not the best use of our money, but it is necessary until the behavior changes.

Mayor London Breed, who has made cleaning the streets a top priority, agrees.

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.

Ultimately, we need people to change their behavior if we want to see a difference on our streets, Breed said. Everyone needs to be held accountable for taking care of our city.

Police handed out 423 citations for urination and defecation in the last year, but its unknown how many resulted in fines or how many were dismissed, something that happens often with low-level quality-of-life crimes.

Its not the residents of the Tenderloin who are pissing in the streets. They have bathrooms, said Tenderloin Housing Clinic Executive Director Randy Shaw. Its the drug dealers who dont care about the Pit Stops  they dont care about the neighborhood.

Haney said bar patrons who flood into the city at night are also using alleys as toilets. Street people with drug and alcohol problems openly urinate and defecate in broad daylight  with no consequences.

Most people who are defecating on the streets have mental problems or are sick  Im not sure the best way to prevent them from doing that is to arrest them, Haney said. Im for accountability, but I havent seen any plan for how to do it. The city should be accountable as well.

Until then, the city will keep cleaning and keep spending.

Pass the wipes.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phillip Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier
1st May 2019

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Colin Hutchinson, CEO of Ascent Resources spoke to London South East and outlined the plans and expectations for 2019 and beyond. Colin answers many questions posed by the shareholders and this is a 'must watch' for those invested in the company.

In Slovenia that means putting compression equipment in for wells PG10 and 11 at a cost of around half a million Euros. This will increase production and extend the life of the well. The equipment will be purchased 'within a few weeks'.

Colin remains hopeful that the well stimulation permit applied for will be granted, and is keeping the potential for a legal challenge going in the background.

"Getting the IPPC permit has given us renewed confidence that the system works and once we get fair hearing and the facts are understood by all parties we will get the permit. There has been gas production using stimulation in Slovenia since 1956 and in over 50 wells since, so we are not looking to try anything new."
Bird is back

While San Francisco allows only Skip and Scoot to operate electric scooter rentals, Bird is using its business permit to introduce monthly rentals, TechCrunch reported. The program offers unlimited rides for $25 a month. Once customers place an order for the scooter, someone from Bird will arrange the delivery of the scooter, charger and lock. After the month is up, Bird will pick up everything. Bird is able to do this because the law in San Francisco pertains to companies that park the scooters on sidewalks and in other public spaces, TechCrunch said. Bird also plans to bring the monthly rentals to Barcelona, another market where scooter rentals are highly regulated.

Jobs are fleeing

Lending Club said Wednesday that it plans to move 350 jobs from San Francisco to a new office in Utah by the end of the year to reduce the space it leases in the city. The San Francisco Business Times reported that the online lender will move its customer support division to Lehi, Utah. The company will maintain its Market Street headquarters, where it employs more than 1,700 people, but it will continue to shrink the area that it occupies, citing skyrocketing rents. A spokesman told the Business Times that by the end of the year, Lending Club will have reduced its San Francisco office space by 41 percent.

Bankruptcy for Anka

More Information Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. For more items and links, subscribe to the Tech Chronicle newsletter at www.sfchronicle.com/newsletters/tech-chronicle. Twitter: @techchronicle See More Collapse

Anka Behavioral Health, an East Bay nonprofit that provides residential treatment and mental health services at 29 centers in California, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will wind down services at all its locations. Anka, which last week notified the state that it plans to discontinue its programs for people with disabilities, has assets between $1 million and $10 million, and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million, according to the bankruptcy filing. Anka plans to transfer its patients to new providers in the next four to six weeks.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Zendesk slips

Shares of San Franciscos Zendesk were down nearly 3.5% Wednesday on the heels of its Tuesday earnings report that reflected a $44.7 million loss in its first quarter. The customer-service software makers stock had been up 50% this year.
Welcome back to Tech Chronicle. Care to get more insights like this? Dont put a pin in it, just subscribe already!

Searching for the next big thing

I remember the first pitch I got for Pinterest, back in the days when it was a tiny startup, seen as a crafty curiosity whose founders had a flair for web design.

John Sebastian Russo / Special to The Chronicle 2011

Back then, Pinterest at its core worked much as it does today: Users pinned images and web links they found interesting, and shared them with friends and strangers with similar interests. It was heavy on recipes, apparel and cute dogs. (Yes, Ramona the Love Terrier has a pinboard.)

Ignore all that, a company insider told me. Pinterest was really a search engine  just one powered by groupings of images instead of words and hyperlinks. And Google had proven the power of search as a business. If you know peoples intent through their searches, you can build an incredibly lucrative advertising business.

Richard Drew / Associated Press

That was revealed two weeks ago, when Pinterest went public and saw its stock price gallop upward. Even though shares dove 10 percent Tuesday, giving up some of their recent gains, the company is worth nearly $17 billion. That valuation appears to be driven by Pinterests healthy growth: The company had $756 million in revenue in 2018, up 59 percent from the year before.

There were many skeptics along the way. Eyebrows arched in 2011 when Pinterest raised $27 million from Andreessen Horowitz, a deal held up at the time as evidence that the venture capital firm was aggressive in paying high prices for stakes in startups.

John Sebastian Russo / Special to The Chronicle 2011

The 2-year-old companys value then was reported at around $200 million, a number taken as a sign that investors had lost their mind, given Pinterests tiny audience (the service was still invitation-only at the time).

Just months later, Business Insiders Henry Blodget suggested that Google should pay $2 billion for Pinterest  ten times its recent private valuation. The speculation continued as Pinterests valuation rose: A Seeking Alpha columnist argued in 2015 that Google should pay an absurd price  more than Pinterests $11 billion valuation  and secure another search-driven growth engine.

As far as I can tell, Pinterest and Google never commented on this marketplace matchmaking, and its not clear that it was anything more than M&A fan fiction. (For this piece, Pinterest declined to comment and Google did not respond to a request for comment.)

Richard Drew / Associated Press

But I do know that Pinterest has long seen itself as a better way to search, and a better way to advertise alongside those searches. And that should scare Google.

Google investors were the ones getting scared this week, as they slashed nearly $100 off the share price of its parent company, Alphabet. Ad revenue growth slowed sharply, in part because of changes the company has made at YouTube to fight hate speech and conspiracy theories it has let proliferate on the video site.

Pinterest is not immune to the problems plaguing other social networks, but on balance it has taken a more thoughtful approach to combatting unwelcome behavior. Take, for example, its fight against unscientific and dangerous misinformation spread by the anti-vaccine movement.

IwamotoScott Architecture

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann has been criticized for moving too slowly and deliberately. The companys misadventure with e-commerce  trying to make pinned items immediately buyable, rather than forcing users to follow links off of Pinterest to other e-commerce sites  is an example of a missed opportunity. The company abandoned such buyable pins in October.

But its fascinating to play what if: What if Google had paid that absurd price for Pinterest way back when, and put Silbermann  who worked at Google from 2006 to 2008  in charge of its product development? Would his sense of design have saved Google Plus? Would his caution have made YouTube healthier? Would Googles backing have boosted Pinterests growth the way Facebook believes it turbocharged Instagram?

Those hypotheticals are in the past. Now Pinterest has to manage investors expectations and fend off Google, which it mentioned several times as a threat in its IPO prospectus.

Pinterest doesnt have to sell: A dual-class share structure means the CEO, co-founder Evan Sharp and other insiders have a controlling stake. But if Google makes Pinterest a truly absurd offer  and with its parent Alphabet worth almost 20 times what Pinterest is, it can afford to  Silbermann will have a soul-searching moment.

 Owen Thomas (othomas@sfchronicle.com)

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Quote of the week

I cant buy time, I cant buy love but I can do anything else with money, pretty much. And why do I get up every day and jump out of bed and Im excited at 88? Its because I love what I do and love the people I do it with.  Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, on why hes still running Berkshire Hathaway at 88

Coming up

Earnings season continues, with Square reporting results Wednesday. Lyft, which went public last month, will report earnings for the first time next week.

Sign Up for the Newsletter Want to get the latest on Silicon Valley in your inbox? Subscribe to Tech Chronicle. See More Collapse

What Im reading

Kurt Wagner looks at how Facebook nearly missed the mobile revolution  and why todays distractions may mean it could miss the next shift in technology. (Vox)

Sarah McBride and Gerry Smith look into Lauren Powell Jobs Emerson Collective, a media and tech investment vehicle. (Bloomberg)

Melia Russell goes looking for Amazons real second headquarters, and finds its right here in the Bay Area. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Tech Chronicle is a thrice-weekly newsletter from Owen Thomas, The Chronicles business editor, and the rest of the tech team. Follow along on Twitter: @techchronicle and Instagram: @techchronicle
A state appeals court has rejected a challenge to a new California law prohibiting the prosecution of 14- and 15-year-olds in adult court, where they could be sentenced to as long as life in prison.

The law, SB1391, refers youths ages 14 and 15 to juvenile court, where the maximum confinement ends at age 25. The law, passed last year, repealed statutes that had been in effect since 1995 allowing those youths to be charged as adults.

The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco upheld the law Tuesday, rejecting arguments by Solano County prosecutors that it violated a 2016 ballot measure that allowed juvenile-court judges to transfer youths cases to adult criminal court. It was the first appellate ruling on the issue, but similar cases are pending in other counties, and the issue could be headed to the state Supreme Court within the next year.

The 2016 initiative, Proposition 57, repealed a 2000 ballot measure that allowed district attorneys, on their own, to charge 14-year-olds in adult court for serious crimes. Prop. 57 required prosecutors to seek a transfer from a juvenile court judge, who would consider the youths history, potential for rehabilitation and the nature of the charges. SB1391 barred all such transfers for anyone under 16.

Tuesdays case involved Alexander Cervantes, who was 14 when he broke into a Vallejo home in December 2010, stabbed a 13-year-old girl and her baby brother and sexually assaulted the girl. He was tried as an adult, convicted of sexual assault and attempted murder, and sentenced to 61 years to life in prison.

His appeals were still pending when Prop. 57 passed, prompting Solano County prosecutors to ask a juvenile court judge to approve the previous adult-court prosecution. That request had not been resolved when SB1391 took effect Jan. 1, barring adult prosecutions in such cases.

The district attorneys office argued that Prop. 57 authorized prosecution of youths like Cervantes in adult court and could not be overridden by the Legislature without a new vote of the people.

The 2016 initiative left in place mechanisms to protect the public from violent offenders who preyed on the innocent, took advantage of the vulnerable, and acted with violence, prosecutors said in a court filing.

But the appeals court said the new law does not conflict with Prop. 57 and actually promotes the intent of the ballot measure.

Prop. 57 sought to promote juvenile rehabilitation by channeling more minors into the juvenile system, which is supposed to emphasize education and training rather than punishment, Justice Alison Tucher said in the 3-0 ruling. She said SB1391 is consistent with and furthers Proposition 57s goal of emphasizing rehabilitation.

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.

Tucher also said the sponsors of Prop. 57 had argued that increasing the number of youths in the juvenile court system would make the public safer, because minors who remain under juvenile court supervision are less likely to commit new crimes.

The ruling would end Cervantes detention at age 25, although a juvenile court judge could then order a safety hold requiring placement in a medical center or other facility.

Peter Obstler, Cervantes lawyer, said the new California law recognized overwhelming scientific evidence that children who are 14 years old have a fundamentally different brain functioning and level of culpability. Not like an adult criminal.

Representatives of the district attorneys office were not immediately available for comment. The office could appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@BobEgelko
In the moments before the Ghost Ship warehouse burst into flames, a witness heard strange sounds coming from the building, and then saw seven people leave from a side door, defense attorney Tony Serra told jurors Wednesday.

Serras opening statements on the second day of the jury trial mirrored co-counsel Curtis Briggs contention from Tuesday: The Dec. 2, 2016, blaze that killed 36 people was intentionally set.

Serra, who represents defendant Derick Almena, expanded on the theory Wednesday, describing what a warehouse neighbor said were sounds of popping and glass breaking  like Molotov cocktails.

They lit them, and threw them and left, Serra said.

The defense team seized on the fact that investigators never determined an official cause of the fire.

If arson caused the fire, defense attorneys said, then Almena, 49, and co-defendant Max Harris, 29, shouldnt be held criminally responsible. Both Almena and Harris, who is represented by Briggs, are charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutor Casey Bates offered a far different story in his opening statements Tuesday. Almena and Harris recklessly built a firetrap, illegally allowed people to live in it, lied to authorities about it and invited outsiders to shows there  even though the warehouse was not a permitted venue, let alone residence.

Of the 36 people who died, 35 were partygoers, Bates said. The lone resident who died had a broken ankle and was unable to make it out. Bates said people died because they had no notice, no time and no exits.

Briggs, in his opening statement, downplayed Harris rank at Ghost Ship, describing him as a servant and likening him to Cinderella.

Briggs and Serra suggested that the fire could have been started by someone who wanted to harm Almena. They each cited a prolonged conflict between Almena and a man who owned an auto body shop next door to the warehouse.

Contrary to prosecutors accusations, Serra said, Almena made several safety updates to the warehouse, including the addition of fire extinguishers, taking screens off windows and prohibiting candles, incense or smoking in the space.

Code violations have nothing to do with an arson fire, Serra said. This was a superseding cause.  You cant blame my client for it.

On Tuesday, Briggs said a woman witnessed seven to 10 Latino men exiting Ghost Ship right after the fire ignited. One of the men allegedly told the others, The way we put that wood there, theyre never getting out, Briggs said.

Both Almena and Harris are expected to testify, according to their attorneys. The two men stood and faced the jurors as they filed into the courtroom Wednesday morning.

Almena was wearing a dark green jacket and appeared solemn, while Harris wore a charcoal suit and orange shirt, and smiled as the jury walked by.

Though the defense attorneys have mostly joined strategies throughout pretrial proceedings, the opening statements Tuesday and Wednesday provided a few instances when the co-defendants subtly pointed blame at each other.

Serra pointed out that Almena wasnt at Ghost Ship the evening it burned. Almena lived in the warehouse with his wife and three young children, but the five stayed at a hotel room the night of the fire to escape the loud music, Serra said.

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.

Briggs noted that Harris wasnt living at Ghost Ship when Almena started allowing people to live there illegally.

Serra described his client as 100 percent artist before the fire, a man whose vision in life was to create a beautiful environment where artists could create a community. Almena welcomed people off the street, and the collectives only edict was to be awesome, make art, Serra said.

Serra also stressed that public safety officials, including police, fire officials and child protective service employees, had visited the warehouse multiple times before the blaze, and no one flagged it for danger.

There was no edict, pressure that this has to change, Serra said. What (Almena) saw was beauty.

Serra also pushed back on one specific piece of evidence Bates presented Tuesday, when he showed police body-camera footage of both Almena and Harris telling police that no one lived in the warehouse. The men could be heard telling police that it was a 24-hour artist collective.

Serra said that Almena wasnt lying to police. He said Almena was changing living quarters at that time.

Witness testimony was delayed until Monday after Judge Trina Thompson was called for jury duty Thursday, attorneys said.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
MINNEAPOLIS  After three weeks of testimony, a jury needed little more than a day to convict a black Minneapolis police officer of murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed white woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime, delivering a guilty verdict that immediately sparked questions about whether race played a role.

Mohamed Noor was also convicted Tuesday of manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia whose death bewildered and angered people in both countries.

Noor, 33, testified that he and his partner heard a loud bang on their squad car that startled them, and that he fired to stop the threat after he saw a woman appear at his partners window raising her arm. Prosecutors questioned whether the bang happened and attacked Noor for not seeing a weapon or Damonds hands before he fired.

Its rare for police officers to be convicted after asserting they fired in a life-or-death situation, but some Minnesota community members said they saw it coming for Noor because he is Somali American.

Officer Noor was going to jail no matter what because hes a black man who shot a white woman in the state of Minnesota, said John Thompson, an activist and friend of Philando Castile, a black man who was killed in 2016 by a Latino suburban police officer who was acquitted.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar  who like Noor is Somali American  tweeted Wednesday that the verdict was an important step towards justice and a victory for all who oppose police brutality.

But she added: It cannot be lost, however, that it comes in the wake of acquittals for officers who took the lives of people of color, both in Minnesota and nationwide. We must have the same level of accountability and justice in all officer-involved killings and address violence-based training for police officers.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman dismissed the idea that race played a role in the case.

That simply is not true, he said. Race has never been a factor in any of my decisions and never will be. ... We look at each case based on the facts and the evidence and the law thats in front of us. And I will stand by what we have done.

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.

When asked how Noors case was different, Freeman, who has chosen not to charge some white officers in the past, said: The evidence showed that the officer acted unreasonably.

Noor, a two-year police veteran, was acquitted of the most serious charge of intentional second-degree murder.

He faces up to 15 years on the third-degree murder conviction and nearly five years on the manslaughter conviction.

Amy Forliti is an Associated Press writer.
San Francisco police report using force in 30% fewer cases three years after launching a sweeping reform effort following controversial killings that inflamed tension between officers and some communities they serve, officials said.

The last police shooting in San Francisco came June 9, marking the start of the longest span without an officer-involved shooting in nearly two decades, Chief Bill Scott said. He credits the dip to a new and stricter use-of-force policy and training that emphasizes de-escalating tense situations, as well as broader crisis intervention training that all officers have received.

Scott, though, acknowledged the department has more work to do. Of 272 reforms recommended by the U.S. Department of Justice after a top-to-bottom review in 2016, less than one-quarter have been deemed accomplished, he said.

Scotts comments came in an interview as Hillard Heintze, an independent law enforcement consulting agency brought in to oversee the improvements, prepared to update the San Francisco Police Commission on Wednesday on the departments progress. A detailed report on the reform initiative is expected in the coming weeks.

What Im trying to illustrate is, with the training and all the things the men and women in the department are doing to get better, we are seeing some positive outcomes, Scott said. We have a lot of work to do, but were pleased with the outcomes and it shows our commitment to this work.

Officials from Hillard Heintze have not discussed the changes publicly since being hired by the state attorney generals office, which took over a review of San Francisco police in February 2018 after the Trump administration ceased the Justice Departments collaborative reform program.

Former Police Chief Greg Suhr asked for the review in April 2016 as he faced pressure over fatal police shootings, including the video-recorded 2015 killing of Mario Woods. Five officers shot Woods, a 26-year-old black man, as he shuffled along a sidewalk in the Bayview. Woods was suspected in an earlier stabbing and was holding a knife. City prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against the officers.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

San Francisco was among 14 police departments around the country in the midst of reforms when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions canceled his offices national community policing program in September 2017. Scott, hired after Suhr resigned following another controversial shooting, called in the state attorney generals office.

When the state stepped in, Scott said the department had moved forward with almost half of the original recommendations. But the chief said this week he has submitted 63 of the 272 recommended tasks, or 23%, for approval. The attorney generals office, he said, has a different compliance standard, forcing the department to reassess steps it took.

Were really in a good place now, Scott said. We have a defined compliance standard. It did cause us to go back and reassess each of these recommendations, and in some cases we found additional work based on the new standard.

Some reform advocates are skeptical about whether the moves reflect long-term shifts that will improve policing in the city and win back the trust of communities.

What were talking about is significant cultural change in the department, said John Crew, a retired lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. In the long term, its not just whether there is a shooting, its whether there is accountability.

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.

Crew pointed to the fatal police shooting of Luis Gongora Pat in April 2016 in the Mission District. Gongora Pats family sued; the city and the family have a tentative $140,000 settlement pending to avoid taking the case to a civil trial. The Police Department has not said whether the officers in the shooting were disciplined.

The district attorneys office, which cleared the officers of potential criminal charges, spoke to witnesses who said Gongora Pat, who was homeless, charged three officers with a knife before they opened fire. But surveillance video showed that the officers exited their patrol vehicles and closed quickly on Gongora Pat, shooting him within 30 seconds despite a then-new department policy emphasizing de-escalation.

The question is what happens when there is a shooting that is outside of policy? Crew said. Do they learn from their mistakes? There has been no public discipline.

Police Commission President Robert Hirsch called for the public presentation from Hillard Heintze so the panel could question the reviewers and better understand the process before a report is issued.

By calling on the attorney generals office to take over the review, he said, San Francisco established itself as a model for other cities in California. He added, The vast majority of the work is in front of us, but were making significant headway. This is not short-term. This is permanent.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky
In the Rockridge district of North Oakland, Edward Guthmann spotted the handmade warning sign in front of a neighbors house. It features a familiar-looking half-pie divided into five slices, with a needle pointing at any one of them: Low, moderate, high, very high, extreme.

The words on top: Trump Danger Today.

Backward glancing:

 Reporters Note Book: A San Francisco Chronicle journalists diary of the shocking seventies, Duffy Jennings account of working at The Chronicle, to be published by Grizzly Peak Press in June, includes mention of a threatening Halloween card sent to reporter Paul Avery by the Zodiac Killer. Newsroom jokers had I am not Avery buttons made up, and reporters, including Avery, wore them on their lapels. (Impossible nowadays, when Chronicle staffers, like employees of almost every firm, wear ID tags to walk from one part of the building to the other. No more hiding.)

Jennings is eagerly scheduling appearances for the book, despite what seems to have been an authors curse at the press. On his 90th birthday, writer Ernie Beyl, whose Grizzly Peak-published book was Stops Along the Royal Road, celebrated with a party at the Original Joes in North Beach. He went home afterward, says Jennings, went to sleep and never woke up.

Then, Grizzly Peak was deep into publication preparations for Jeff Adachis book, The

Case of Public Defender Frank Egan: Murder, Scandal and Corruption in 1930s San Francisco, when Adachi died. Daniel David, head of the press, says that with the permission of Adachis widow, that book will be published, with Jennings preparing a foreword.

I fully intend to break the curse, says the undaunted author.

 Bay Area-raised Gregory Cumming, a staff historian at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, is co-author (with the late Stephen Sayles) of The Symbionese Liberation Army and Patricia Hearst, Queen of the Revolution. Its most sensational allegation  buried in densely packed text on page 130  is the deathbed statement of SLA sympathizer Jack Scott, who told the FBI that Hearst had admitted to him that she had planned her own kidnapping. The reason was said to be that she wanted to break up with her boyfriend, Steven Weed, and didnt want to admit to her mother shed made a mistake about him.

In Jeffrey Toobin s 2017 American Heiress, this theory is mentioned and dismissed. Cumming says he was well into his work on the book when Toobin, who followed behind my research, started writing. Toobin said by phone last week that theres absolutely no evidence and abundant evidence to the contrary that Hearst had any role in planning her kidnapping. (The authors book promotion includes a Los Angeles date on May 17, the 45th anniversary of the shootout in which six members of the SLA were killed.)

 Former lawyer Charles Bushs new novel, Houseboat Wars, adds some dramatic touches (a murder, for example) to a real-life setting: the 1977 battle between developers and the ragtag community of houseboat dwellers whose homes were moored at Waldo Point in Richardson Bay.

The plot twists, of course, are imaginary, but the descriptions of place are realistic, as well as  for those who havent been at these sites  informative. Of the Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright : All courtrooms are round ... Wrights theory was that since courtrooms and their surroundings are places of conflict and strife, their architecture should strive to reduce tensions. Thats true, the author says, but his written description of a judges chambers in which bookcases were curved, the judges desk was round, and round guest chairs were arranged in a semi-circle is fanciful. I guess they issue poetic license in that civic center.

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.

Dont strike up the band for Happy Trails quite yet, but with this note, Im whispering that Im getting ready to ride off the Fifth and Mission ranch. Forty-seven years after I stopped by at The Chronicle, Ill be emerita after June 21. Ive got a big silly grin on my face contemplating the sheet cake. Waxing poetic about opening days and opening nights can wait, but really, the best part of it has always been knowing that you are out there reading.

(Im thinking chocolate, iced with the message Bon Voyage, Miltie!, a tribute to the dada cake a mentor once ordered up for a long-ago office party that had nothing to do with a trip or anyone named Miltie.)

PUBLIC EAVESDROPPING

My plan now is to make some money off my shamanism.

Woman in flowing garments and Birkenstocks, waiting for bus from Delphi to Athens, overheard by Elizabeth Stumpf

Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, 415-777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik
California prison officials violated a voter-approved initiative when they made more than 4,400 inmates serving time for nonviolent crimes ineligible for early parole, a state appeals court has ruled.

Although many of those inmates would probably be denied parole because of their behavior behind bars, Proposition 57 allows them to appear before a parole board and seek release, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Monday.

The court rejected a power grab by the Department of Corrections, said L. Richard Braucher, lawyer for a prisoner from Oakland who challenged rules that prevented him from seeking parole.

Prop. 57, approved by 64 percent of the voters in November 2016, allowed prisoners sentenced for nonviolent crimes to seek parole after serving the time for those crimes, before spending additional years in prison for prior convictions added to their terms.

Prosecutors groups protested the measures definition of nonviolent crimes  which included some types of domestic violence and arson offenses  but legal disputes since the measures passage have centered on prison officials efforts to restrict parole eligibility.

Then-Gov. Jerry Brown was the chief sponsor of Prop. 57, but his administrations Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation adopted regulations that disqualified some categories of inmates from early parole.

One restriction, which would have barred inmates serving potential life terms for nonviolent three strikes convictions from early parole, was struck down by a state appeals court last year. In January, the same appellate court overturned a regulation that would have excluded inmates who were sentenced for a nonviolent crime but had a previous sex-crime conviction.

The latest ruling involved department regulations barring early parole because of an inmates conduct in prison  for example, committing a serious violation of prison rules within the past five years. The department said those restrictions applied to 4,450 of the 10,900 inmates who otherwise would have been eligible for parole consideration in the year that ended last June.

The court case involved Tijue Adolphus McGhee of Oakland, who pleaded guilty to burglary in 2012 and was sentenced to nine years in prison, four for the burglary and five for a previous felony. Prop. 57 would have allowed him to seek parole after four years, but the prison system said he was ineligible because he was caught with a weapon in 2015.

In Mondays decision, the appeals court said the prison departments attempt to exclude thousands of inmates from parole consideration based on their prison conduct is at odds with the clear language of Prop. 57.

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.

Although the departments standards are related to an inmates suitability for parole, that ultimate determination is to be made by the (parole) board, not the department, Presiding Justice Stuart Pollak said in the 3-0 ruling.

Pollak acknowledged that inmates with recent serious prison violations are unlikely to be found suitable for parole by the state Board of Parole Hearings, composed mainly of law enforcement officials. But even a denial of release might benefit an inmate, he said, because the board can recommend actions that would increase the prospects of future parole.

Braucher, McGhees lawyer, said he has seen inmates win parole despite disciplinary violations in prison. In any event, he said, jailers should not make that determination.

Corrections Department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said officials were evaluating the ruling to determine whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@BobEgelko
A former Oakland charter school director known for boosting student test scores through humiliation and harsh discipline has avoided jail time following a six-year federal investigation into allegations of fraud.

Ben Chavis, who ran the American Indian Model Schools, will spend one year on probation and pay a $100 fine in a plea deal with federal investigators, according to court documents.

Chavis had faced the prospect of decades in prison in connection with six felony charges of mail fraud and money laundering filed in 2017 following an IRS and FBI investigation into his financial dealings related to the schools.

Those charges were dropped and Chavis pleaded guilty to one count of submitting false information on federal documents.

Dr. Chavis conduct, while a violation of federal law, did not cause measurable financial losses to the United States or another identifiable victim, according to the federal sentencing memo. His agreement to use false information in Board documents was deceptive and likely did lasting harm to the reputation of the American Indian Model Schools, but the government submits that, under the circumstances, it is not conduct meriting a term of imprisonment.

Chavis, who lives in North Carolina caring for his parents, said none of the original charges stuck and he doesnt have hard feelings about the long process.

The neat thing about America, everybody eventually gets their chance in court, he said, adding he wouldnt change anything about the past.

Those kids who went to school under me are engineers, theyre scientists, he said.

The sentencing on April 22 in U.S. District Court in Oakland capped the six-year investigation and prosecution of Chavis, one of the Bay Areas most polarizing educational figures in recent memory.

A Lumbee Indian, Chavis took over the struggling American Indian charter school in 2000, instituting rigid rules and meting out harsh discipline.

He was known for his frequent belittling and humiliation of students and harsh language. His use of profanity and racial slurs was well documented.

In one case, Chavis cut the hair of a student accused of stealing. Another who called a classmate a derogatory name was required to wear a note that said, Im an (expletive).

At the end of the front hall, a sign quoted French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant: Theres never any talent without a little stain of madness.

Students had hours of homework every night and attended required summer school.

I tell the students, if you dont do your work, people are going to call you a lazy Mexican. Youre black, they expect you to be an idiot, Chavis told The Chronicle in 2005. I use it to motivate the kids.

Under Chavis, test scores surged, pushing the charter school to the top of state rankings. He opened two more campuses.

He was widely lauded and criticized for his methods. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Chavis results an education miracle. Critics considered his tactics physically and verbally abusive.

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.

Society has created a system to make minorities stupid. Its not called prison; its called middle school, Chavis said in 2005. If you follow our model, youll be a winner. By the time these kids are in ninth grade, I dont have to call them idiots anymore.

While the first school initially opened to serve American Indian students, the schools later began serving a predominantly Asian student body.

In 2011, an audit by the Oakland Unified School District, which oversees the charter schools, found Chavis directed $3.8 million in school funds to businesses he and his wife owned. He resigned in 2012.

The Oakland school boards efforts to close the schools that year failed and the three charters continue to operate.

The federal charges followed a state investigation that found fiscal improprieties showing Chavis reportedly applied for and received more than $1 million in federal grant funding from 2006 to 2012 that he said would be used for the charter schools. The money was instead used for lease payments on properties Chavis owned, according to a grand jury indictment.

Chavis maintained his innocence after federal authorities in 2013 raided his home as well as American Indian charter school offices, filling vans with boxes of documents and other records. He continued to profess his innocence following his arrest in 2017.

Oakland district officials declined to comment on the sentencing.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: jilltucker
Attorney General William Barr has responded to the extensive evidence that President Trump obstructed a Justice Department investigation with a campaign of continued obstructionism. His servile defense of Trump has done a grave disservice to his office and the public he is supposed to represent.

The delayed release of Special Counsel Robert Muellers report confirmed that Barrs March summary misled Congress and the public as to its conclusions. Underscoring the point, Mueller himself objected to Barr in a newly revealed letter, and the attorney general went on to dissemble about that, too.

Three days after Barr issued his four-page summary of the special counsels 448-page report, Mueller wrote to the attorney general that he had failed to fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this offices work and conclusions. Mueller also repeatedly urged Barr to release the reports summaries, which were designed to be made public without extensive redactions.

Barrs answer to these revelations has been slippery in the extreme. He has denied that his letter was a summary, persisted in misconstruing the report, and suggested under oath that he was unaware of Muellers complaints.

Before his nomination, Barr famously wrote an unsolicited 19-page memo  sometimes called his job application  criticizing the then-unfinished Mueller probe and asserting that a president cannot obstruct justice. His service has been sadly faithful to the indication that he would represent Trump rather than the American people.

We have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon, Barr insisted before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. But its Barr who embodies the politicization of law enforcement.

At times in his testimony, the attorney general seemed to dismiss Mueller, the special counsel and longtime FBI director, as an undistinguished subordinate, calling his letter snitty. But Barrs position is all he has over Mueller, who has conducted himself with the integrity his reputation suggested. Barr, by contrast, has proved himself unfit for the office he holds.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
The ongoing debate at City Hall among supervisors, civil liberties advocates and crime-watch organizers over how to legislate video surveillance can feel theoretical and academic. Meanwhile, residents in the real world must deal with the fact that San Francisco has the highest rate of property crime among the nations largest cities.

Homeowners and businesses have adapted to this new normal by relying on private security cameras. After a break-in or robbery, they voluntarily give the video to the police.

A clear screen grab of a burglars face in the act can help lead to an arrest, search warrant, conviction and return of stolen property.

This practical and effective act of sharing video between private entities and the police works well. Yet the arrangement feels in jeopardy as the Board of Supervisors finalizes the language of its Stop Secret Surveillance ordinance. The law would ban the use of city-operated facial recognition technology (a first in the nation) and require city departments to submit a policy for board approval before being able to purchase or use other types of surveillance devices.

The first draft appeared to severely curtail the use of traditional video by burying the San Francisco Police Department in a bureaucratic approval process. It was also unclear whether police would be allowed to use video footage from private parties not subject to the laws policies.

Stop Crime SF, a group of more than 500 residents working to reduce and prevent San Franciscos epidemic of property crime, offered 13 specific amendments.

We appreciated Supervisor Aaron Peskins response to our letter-writing campaign.

I intend to amend this ordinance in order to make it even easier for law enforcement agencies to comply with its terms, he told us.

But amending legislation is a messy process where words are horse-traded. And one of the amendments is still missing a vital word.

Were glad language was added that allows the Police Department to receive video footage from private entities. But it doesnt explicitly say police can use the video.

While some would argue the intent of receiving is usage, wed feel better with crystal-clear words. Its the only way to stop future supervisors from interpreting a big loophole in the law.

Were also worried about what looks like a big caveat at the end of the amendment. It says the police can receive private video as long as no other part of the law is violated. But the law contains many requirements meant for city departments that would be onerous for private citizens and businesses.

Paul Kuroda / Special to The Chronicle 2018

Perhaps more troubling is language that says the Police Department must get full board approval before working with a private entity that regularly provides video. This could jeopardize long-standing relationships with private businesses and merchant associations from Union Square to West Portal that work closely with police.

Speak up If you want the "Stop Secret Surveillance" law to clearly say the police should be able to both receive and use private video, please email Board.of.Supervisors@sfgov.org or make a public comment at 10 a.m. Monday , May 6, at Room 263 in San Francisco City Hall. See More Collapse

Overall, the legislation is well-meaning. If the city owns and operates video cameras, there should be a policy that holds City Hall accountable. Concerns about Big Brother and Big Tech violating our privacy are real. A recent audit of the FBIs facial recognition technology found a 14 percent failure rate.

But instead of an outright ban on City Hall using facial recognition cameras, wouldnt it be more reasonable to issue a moratorium until the technology improves? This would give companies an incentive to fix the problems and create a tool for public safety that might be helpful when used responsibly.

As for traditional video, its never been more popular for fighting crime. Ironically, theres a lot of support at City Hall for private security video.

Supervisor Gordon Mar is considering a program to give residents a rebate on home security cameras. He represents the Sunset District, which has been hit hard by burglaries.

Stop Crime SF recently won $25,000 from City Hall to install video security cameras on Westside homes and businesses.

Supervisor Norman Yee ran a contest to spend a portion of the citys budget improving District Seven. Residents submitted many proposals and Stop Crime SFs video project won the most votes.

We arent popping any Champagne corks just yet. Were worried the video surveillance legislation working its way through the Board of Supervisors could undermine the very cameras City Hall awarded us.

If you want the Stop Secret Surveillance law to clearly say the police should be able to both receive and use private video to solve crimes in the real world, please contact your supervisor.

Joel P. Engardio is vice president of Stop Crime SF and the Court Watch program, a coalition of San Francisco residents and neighborhoods focused on crime prevention and criminal justice accountability.
San Francisco officials are working to bolster the citys ability to seize guns from people considered a threat to themselves or others, but who may not qualify for an involuntary psychiatric hold.

Supervisor Catherine Stefani said Tuesday that she has asked the city attorneys office to immediately craft and expedite legislation to create a local framework for using Californias gun violence restraining order policy. The state law, enacted in 2014, allows immediate family members, current roommates and law enforcement officers to petition a court to take away a persons guns for up to a year.

San Francisco has secured two gun violence restraining orders this year, according to the city attorneys office. Other cities have much higher seizure rates, such as San Diego, which secured 57 yearlong holds in 2018 alone, and San Bernardino, with 16 in the same year, according to the latest California Department of Justice data.

Stefani said San Francisco has a low seizure rate because the city has no clear framework for how local agencies should carry out the state policy. While the supervisor has no independent power to dictate how law enforcement agencies implement the law, she hopes her request to the city attorney will increase the use and public awareness about the program.

San Franciscans need to know about this program, because it does save lives, Stefani said at Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting. The gun violence restraining order is another tool  civil, not criminal  to prevent a tragedy before it occurs.

Family members or police officers may seek a restraining order when someone with a legal firearm seems to be a threat to him or herself or others, but does not qualify for an involuntary psychiatric hold, known by the state legal code 5150. That hold allows involuntarily hospitalization for up to 72 hours. A person who continues to be a risk may be held longer.

If a judge approves the request, the subject must surrender the firearms and is prohibited from owning, buying or possessing firearms for 21 days. If the subject refuses to give up the weapons, they may be seized forcibly.

A hearing is held within 21 days, when the city may petition the court to hold the firearms for a year. After a year, the city can petition to renew the restraining order.

San Francisco Police Department spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak said the department has been working for at least a year to implement the program. He said it is a cumbersome process that includes working with the city attorney and local courts to ensure that there are enough resources  such as budget and personnel  to carry out such requests.

Stefani said she has been pushing the various law enforcement agencies to bolster the program for months. But a recent Chronicle story about a man who possessed firearms legally and said voices in his head urged him to carry out a mass shooting persuaded her to ask the city attorney to move more quickly.

When police learned that Igor Perlov had guns  including a rifle with a scope they found next to a window in his residence that overlooked a school  officers quickly placed the 31-year-old man on a psychiatric hold.

Now, eight months later, hes out of the hospital and in jail awaiting trial on one charge of unlawful possession of ammunition.

Officials such as Stefani say Perlovs case showcases the difficulty of dealing with a person authorities believe presents a risk of hurting others, but who hasnt committed a serious crime.

A gun violence restraining order was not sought in Perlovs case because he qualified for a psychiatric hold.

But officials say there are other cases where people may not qualify for a psychiatric hold, yet still pose a threat to themselves or others. In those cases, a gun violence restraining order could be used instead.

It is another tool that municipalities could be using to enhance our collective safety, said Max Szabo, spokesperson for the district attorneys office. Is it going to be extremely effective? Im not sure. But we wont know until we try it.

Gun violence restraining orders have angered gun advocates, who say the law violates due process when a gun owner has to surrender a weapon while awaiting a hearing.

Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said such restraining orders are an insincere way of addressing gun violence, as it lets the person who is deemed a threat remain free  just without firearms.

In these cases, he said, the state should continue to use 5150 holds, as they have rehabilitative elements, unlike the restraining order.

The fact of the matter is that anyone can go anywhere and find guns or knives or manufacture explosives to do whatever evil thing they can do, he said. By telling them to go out and be free, youre not really addressing anything.

California passed the gun violence restraining order law in 2014 following the killings of six people in Isla Vista, near UC Santa Barbara.

The killer had posted threatening videos online, prompting his parents to ask authorities to check on him. Officials found themselves with little they could do to seize his weapons, because he was not considered mentally ill.

Five other states have similar laws  Florida, Oregon, Washington, Indiana and Connecticut.

City Attorney Dennis Herreras office expressed enthusiasm for helping create the framework to implement the policy in San Francisco.

Were happy to be part of a policy approach that is effective at reducing gun violence while also protecting civil rights and due process, said John Cote, a spokesman for the city attorney.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA)  The Sacramento City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to revamp the Old Sacramento waterfront.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg said council members approved using $42 million in hotel taxes to fund the revitalization of the area.

"A study by consulting firm Keyser Marston Associates commissioned by the city estimated that tax revenues from Old Sacramento could jump from $700,000 to $4.2 million annually if the proposed improvements are made and the city also succeeds in attracting private development to nearby vacant parcels," Steinberg's office of civic engagement said in a blog post.

Plans to update the area include a waterfront park, a festival lawn, an interactive fountain, a playground for kids and adults, and much more.

"Successful historic districts are successful because they attract people by the millions," Waterfront Manager Richard Rich said in the blog post.

The city recently hosted a design competition in which they asked professional and amateur designers to share their visions for the area along the Sacramento River. Then, Sacramento residents voted on their favorite designs.

Design group Perkins Eastman won the $5,000 prize for the People's Choice Award with their "Sacto H2O" concept. The plan included public plazas, markets, a pier extending off K Street and a pedestrian bridge south of the Tower Bridge.

City staff considered the ideas submitted by contest entrants and then made recommendations to the city council members about what would be best to revamp the Old Sacramento waterfront.

Steinberg announced his plans to fund the revitalization on Thursday and presented it at the council meeting on Tuesday.

Follow this story to get instant e-mail alerts from KCRA on the latest developments and related topics.

This story originally appeared on KCRA.
3 1 of 3 Bertrand Guay / AFP / Getty Images 2017 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 DAMIEN MALONEY;Damien Maloney / New York Times Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Googles parent company, Alphabet, said this week that Eric Schmidt, its former CEO, plans to relinquish his position on the board of directors in June.

His departure will end an era for the internet giant, in a shakeup of one of the coziest and most stable corporate boards in Silicon Valley. Another member, Diane Greene, who gained her seat in 2012 and had been running Googles cloud computing business until this year, will also not seek re-election.
MINNEAPOLIS  After three weeks of testimony, a jury needed little more than a day to convict a black Minneapolis police officer of murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed white woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime, delivering a guilty verdict that immediately sparked questions about whether race played a role.

Mohamed Noor was also convicted Tuesday of manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia whose death bewildered and angered people in both countries.

Noor, 33, testified that he and his partner heard a loud bang on their squad car that startled them, and that he fired to stop the threat after he saw a woman appear at his partners window raising her arm. Prosecutors questioned whether the bang happened and attacked Noor for not seeing a weapon or Damonds hands before he fired.

Its rare for police officers to be convicted after asserting they fired in a life-or-death situation, but some Minnesota community members said they saw it coming for Noor because he is Somali American.

Officer Noor was going to jail no matter what because hes a black man who shot a white woman in the state of Minnesota, said John Thompson, an activist and friend of Philando Castile, a black man who was killed in 2016 by a Latino suburban police officer who was acquitted.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar  who like Noor is Somali American  tweeted Wednesday that the verdict was an important step towards justice and a victory for all who oppose police brutality.

But she added: It cannot be lost, however, that it comes in the wake of acquittals for officers who took the lives of people of color, both in Minnesota and nationwide. We must have the same level of accountability and justice in all officer-involved killings and address violence-based training for police officers.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman dismissed the idea that race played a role in the case.

That simply is not true, he said. Race has never been a factor in any of my decisions and never will be. ... We look at each case based on the facts and the evidence and the law thats in front of us. And I will stand by what we have done.

When asked how Noors case was different, Freeman, who has chosen not to charge some white officers in the past, said: The evidence showed that the officer acted unreasonably.

Noor, a two-year police veteran, was acquitted of the most serious charge of intentional second-degree murder.

He faces up to 15 years on the third-degree murder conviction and nearly five years on the manslaughter conviction.

Amy Forliti is an Associated Press writer.
The Alameda County district attorneys office Tuesday charged a woman with attempted murder of a police officer after she admitted to stabbing him, officials said.

Margaret Elizabeth-Mary Goodliffe, 41, is accused of stabbing Officer Danny Chor with a knife last week after he confronted her for trespassing inside an Oakland police parking lot. She also faces charges for vandalizing two patrol cars.

On Thursday evening, Chor had just wrapped up his shift and was walking to his car when he saw Goodliffe inside the parking lot on Jefferson Street near Sixth Street, authorities said. She used a knife to stab Chor three times: once to the left side of his face and neck and another two times to his left shoulder, according to a police affidavit.

Chor, who was not in uniform, drew an off-duty firearm and ordered Goodliffe to the ground. She complied, and officers detained her. Once in custody, she confessed to stabbing the officer, the affidavit said.

Goodliffe was put on a mental health hold and transported to John George Psychiatric Hospital in San Leandro. Chor was still recovering Tuesday, said Officer Johnna Watson, a police spokeswoman.

Prosecutors filed charges against Goodliffe for attempted murder of a peace officer and two counts of vandalism for graffitiing the police vehicles. She faces additional allegations for causing great bodily injury and committing a crime while on felony probation, according to court records. Last year, Goodliffe was convicted of assault in Alameda County.

The serious charges filed in this case will hopefully not only ensure justice is served but send a clear message to any would-be attacker that assaulting police officers will not be tolerated and has harsh consequences, said Sgt. Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association. We wish our injured member a speedy recovery.

In March 2017, Chor was driving a police SUV in downtown Oakland when he crashed into motorcyclist Elliott Van Fleet, then 33, two weeks before Van Fleets wedding. The collision fractured Van Fleets pelvis and spine and required his lower leg to be amputated.

Oakland officials settled a lawsuit from Van Fleet for $12 million last year  one of the largest in city history.

Chor had apparently run a red light and, after the crash, chided Van Fleet, according to records obtained by the East Bay Express.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Of the 33 people indicted in the massive college admissions scandal, actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli are among 19 parents maintaining their not guilty pleas and fighting to clear their names.

At least 14 parents are preparing to plead guilty, but Loughlin and Giannulli reportedly have no plans to do so, according to the Washington Post.

A source close to the couple told People Magazine that Loughlin and Giannulli actually want to stand trial, since they view it as "their best chance for redemption."

"Lori feels like so much damage has been done publicly that the only way for her to counter it is to fight this case in court," People reported this source as saying. "She feels like once all the evidence is presented, that people will understand how things happened."

RELATED: Lori Loughlin's husband Mossimo Giannulli says he lied about his own college education to get money

However, standing trial may increase the likelihood that Loughlin and Giannulli face jail time.

"I'd say it's certainly a possibility," Columbia University law professor and former federal prosecutor Daniel Richman told the Washington Post. "Most people will tell you that trials do increase punishment."

Actress Felicity Huffman is one of the 14 parents who is preparing to plead guilty, and her plea deal reportedly includes months in prison.

Loughlin understands that a plea deal would likely involve jail time, which is one of the reasons she wants to stand trial, according to People.

"She doesn't want to spend time in jail," the source told the magazine, "but she knows that any sort of plea or conviction at this point will include jail time. Her only chance of avoiding jail is to go to court and be found not guilty."

ALSO: Lori Loughlin reportedly thought prosecutor was 'bluffing,' just now realizing 'how serious this is'

Loughlin and Giannulli, are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their children accepted into the University of Southern California by falsely claiming they were recruited by school's crew team.

After the couple decided not to take a plea deal, they were hit with a second indictment for conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering. They now face a maximum prison sentence of 40 years.

SFGATE staff writer Michelle Robertson contributed to this report.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eric.ting@sfgate.com and follow him on Twitter

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On Friday, a former Sunnyvale resident decided to do the right thing by the local public library and return a book he'd checked out.

That wouldn't be out of the ordinary, except for the small fact that the book was due back 45 years ago.

ALSO: Santa Clara library evacuated due to report of a suspicious device

The title itself was also somewhat unusual and, at first glance, not politically correct by the standards of the year in which he was returning the book: "Midget Motoring and Karting," by Kenton McFarland and James C. Sparks.

The title was once highlighted on the blog "Awful Library Books," which is maintained by two librarians in Michigan and rounds up titles of questionable relevance, in this case because it is full of photos of children go-karting without helmets and obsolete price estimates for building cars.

The delinquent Sunnyvale borrower, Robert, checked out the book because he was interested in building a kart of his own, a library employee posted on Facebook last week.

It would seem the task took longer than he anticipated.

"He told us that he checked it out before he was able to drive because he wanted to build his own car. (It didn't happen.)," the employee wrote.

MORE: Beautiful Bay Area libraries you need to visit

It was a different time in the Bay Area when Robert first checked out "Midget Motoring and Karting." Muni only cost 25 cents, "The Streets of San Francisco" was still airing on TV, the Blue Angels flew at Moffett Field, and you could still pet Charlie O the mule at an A's game.

RELATED: The mysterious case of an SF library book returned 47 years late

He moved away before he got a chance to give the book back, according to the library. In the years since, several Bay Area libraries have made the move to abolish late fees altogether. The Sunnyvale Public Library has a $10 maximum late fee, which Robert dutifully paid.

He also sportingly posed in profile for a mock-mugshot with the long-overdue book.

"My profile for when they called the cops!" he wrote on Facebook.

It would seem the roughly five-decade mark is the charm for Bay Area book scofflaws. Last May, a mysterious patron mailed back to the San Francisco Public Library a copy of Eldridge Cleaver's "Soul on Ice" that had been overdue for 47 years.

"It's never too late to return an overdue library book," the Sunnyvale Public Library wants you to know.
Attorney General William Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he did not misrepresent the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, despite Muellers complaint that the attorney generals initial public letter describing the investigations findings did not capture its full context.

In a letter from the special counsel to the attorney general, released Wednesday, Mueller wrote that Barrs summary of his offices work failed to capture the context, nature and substance of his report and had left the public confused about critical aspects of the results.

Democrats pressed Barr on why he had not publicly acknowledged concerns about his original summary when asked about them and why he asserted that President Trump had cooperated fully with the investigation when he tried to thwart it. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, accused him of being an advocate for the president.

Republicans focused their questions not on Trump or Muellers report but on Hillary Clintons emails and the former FBI officials who opened the Russia investigation.

The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to allow staff lawyers to question Barr at a hearing scheduled for Thursday. Barr has said he will not appear under that format.

Barr told senators that he decided to release his initial four-page March 24 letter characterizing Muellers bottom-line conclusions because of intense public interest, pushing back against criticism that he distorted the broader findings of the special counsel investigation.

The body politic was in a high state of agitation, Barr said, explaining why he decided to release the letter. Some analysts, he said, were suggesting that any delay in releasing Muellers report would indicate that the president faced legal jeopardy. I didnt feel that it was in the public interest to allow this to go on for several weeks, Barr said.

The attorney general acknowledged that Mueller was not happy about the impression left by Barrs original letter. After receiving a letter from the special counsel urging the release of the executive summaries, Barr said he called Mueller to discuss the matter.

He said that this concern focused on his explanation of why he did not reach a conclusion on obstruction and he wanted more put out on that issue, Barr said. But the attorney general added that Mueller was not complaining about the letter itself, only how it was being read. He was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report, Barr said.

Barr took on one of the most sensational elements of the special counsels report, arguing that the president was not actually trying to eliminate the investigation against him by seeking to remove Mueller.

Peter Baker is a New York Times writer.
WASHINGTON  Robert Mueller, the special counsel, wrote a letter in late March to Attorney General William Barr objecting to his early description of the Russia investigations conclusions that appeared to clear President Trump on possible obstruction of justice, according to the Justice Department and three people with direct knowledge of the communication between the two men.

The letter adds to the growing evidence of a rift between them and is another sign of the anger among the special counsels investigators about Barrs characterization of their findings.

It was unclear what specific objections Mueller raised in his letter, though a Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday evening that he expressed a frustration over the lack of context in Barrs presentation of his findings on obstruction of justice. Barr defended his descriptions of the investigations conclusions in conversations with Mueller over the days after he sent the letter, according to two people with knowledge of their discussions.

Barr, who was scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the investigation, has said publicly that he disagrees with some of the legal reasoning in the Mueller report. Senior Democratic lawmakers have invited Mueller to testify in the coming weeks but have been unable to secure a date for his testimony.

A central issue in the dispute is how the publics understanding of the Mueller report has been shaped since the special counsel ended his investigation and delivered his 448-page report March 22 to the attorney general. The four-page letter Barr sent to Congress two days later gave little detail about the special counsels findings and created the impression that Muellers team found no wrongdoing, allowing Trump to declare he had been exonerated.

But when Muellers report was released April 18, it showed Mueller believed that significant evidence existed that Trump obstructed justice.

The special counsel emphasized that nothing in the attorney generals March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading, a Justice Department spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, said Tuesday.

The Justice Department received the letter four days after Barr sent his conclusions to Congress. In response, the attorney general and the special counsel spoke on the phone, and Mueller laid out his concerns about the initial descriptions of the report.

At the time, the Justice Department had begun redacting the report, and Mueller raised the question about whether more of the report could be released.

Mark Mazzetti and Michael S. Schmidt are New York Times writers.
WASHINGTON  The Trump family lawsuit to block oversight of its finances has House Democrats scrambling to confront what many see as the gravest threat to congressional independence since the Nixon era, reviving internal debate over the ultimate weapon in the Democrats arsenal: impeachment.

For nearly two weeks, Democrats have debated how to respond to Robert Muellers findings that President Donald Trump might have obstructed justice, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her fractious rank-and-file to avoid a broad, open-ended impeachment inquiry she believed could backfire disastrously in 2020.

But Democrats see Trumps latest string of provocations  starting with his blanket declaration last week that he would defy all subpoenas requested by Democratic committees and culminating in this weeks legal action  as a dangerous abuse of executive authority that they must address forcefully.

Allies of Pelosi are publicly floating possible countermeasures, including even pursuing a narrow path to impeachment based on Trumps refusal to respect the oversight authority of Congress, a move modeled on the third article of impeachment drafted against President Richard Nixon in 1974.

There are all these streams and creeks of offenses that seem to be converging into a bigger river  impeachment, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a former constitutional law professor who serves on the Judiciary Committee.

There is nothing to explain how the executive branch can defy, categorically, every lawful request for information from the Congress of the United States, added Raskin, who said he is open to the idea of a limited impeachment inquiry. President Trumps defiance of Congress is far more comprehensive and sweeping than anything Congress experienced during the Watergate period.

Several Democrats close to Pelosi said that impeachment still remained unlikely, cautioning that Trumps threats alone were not enough to spur such action. And her leadership team is keenly aware that Trump is goading us into making a political mistake, according to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

Pelosi cautioned Democrats against getting too carried away with impeachment talk.

While we may have our difficulties in other areas, we cannot, we cannot, we cannot ignore the needs of the American people as we go forward, Pelosi said after meeting with the president about kick-starting a long-dormant infrastructure funding bill.

But sentiment appears to have shifted significantly over the past week.

I am not there yet, but I have to say that the presidents obstruction of Congress now following his obstruction of the Justice Department is certainly adding new heft to the idea that he has to be held accountable, said Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, chairman of the Intelligence Committee.

He suggested another possible way of striking back at Trump, using the Houses power of the purse. Were looking at other ways to fence money allocated to the agencies in a way that forces them to comply, said Schiff, a close ally of Pelosi.

Still, the rage toward Trump is spreading from the left wing of the House to Pelosis more moderate allies in Democratic leadership and committee chairmanships. Pelosis office Tuesday compiled a three-page set of talking points entitled, Trump Administration Obstruction: Unprecedented, Unwarranted, Unconstitutional.

President Trumps stonewalling has metastasized from refusing to release his tax returns or divest his assets to the Trump Administration now refusing to cooperate on every level of government, from the sabotaging Americans health care to protecting our elections, the document reads.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, fumed, If you let them get away with this, then what do you have?

If a president can get away with blocking any information or anybody from testifying before the Congress, what road are we going down? Just ask the question. Thats the question. I dont think we have any choice but to do every single thing in our power to get him in, said Cummings, who has been sued by the president over a subpoena issued by the committee for Trumps financial records.

Democrats have other options, none of them particularly palatable or effective, ranging from votes to hold administration officials in contempt of Congress to civil lawsuits to pry free documents that the president is fighting to withhold.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., joked that he would find a nice jail cell for administration officials slapped with contempt citations by the House. He called the battle between the branches the most important constitutional confrontation in decades.

Some of my colleagues arent taking this seriously enough  we already have prima facie evidence of contempt of Congress  and that is pushing Democrats like me in the direction of an impeachment inquiry, he added.

Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus have continued to push for a broad impeachment effort. Rep. Al Green, D- Texas, said on the House floor that he would try to force a vote on the matter.

A White House spokesman declined to comment. But the presidents lawyers have argued that Trumps actions differ from Nixons refusal to hand over documents and recordings in 1974  because the underlying inquiry into Trumps actions by the House now is not actually an impeachment inquiry. And, they said, the president is merely trying to defend himself from what they called invasive and illegitimate Democratic inquiries.

Do they have any lawyers in Congress? said Rudy Giuliani, Trumps personal lawyer, who has cast Democrats actions as an attempt to damage the presidents re-election prospects. Since when cant you contest the legitimacy of a subpoena?

Pelosi and her team have tried to stave off such actions, saying instead that the House needs to investigate the issues raised in Muellers report.

In a separate action Tuesday, Schiff sent the Justice Department a criminal referral to investigate whether Erik Prince, a private security contractor who figured in Muellers investigation, had knowingly lied to his committee in 2017 about meetings he had with foreigners. Schiff identified six potentially false statements, though a transcript of the committees interview with Prince has been public for more than a year.

Trumps actions are intended to thwart that effort, leaving Democrats with the prospect of holding witness-less, document-free hearings or exploring other means of punishment.

Over the past few days, Democratic aides and some lawmakers have discussed the possibility of opening an impeachment inquiry independent of, if not unrelated to, the findings in Muellers report. A narrower inquiry would put the focus on Trumps defiance of Congress and could move the battle from the muddy conclusions of Muellers report to a loftier debate over separation of powers.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, whose Judiciary Committee is facing the brunt of the administrations intransigence, appears to be losing patience. While Nadler views impeachment as a last-ditch alterative, he has been less categorical in his rejection of impeachment than Pelosi, according to several leadership aides with knowledge of his thinking.

The administration appears as if it will not comply with the Wednesday deadline for a subpoena demanding the full, unredacted Mueller report and underlying evidence. It has signaled that it will try to block another subpoena for documents and testimony from Donald F. McGahn II, the former White House counsel who was crucial to Muellers work. Meanwhile, Nadler is threatening to issue another subpoena for Attorney General William Barr if he refuses to appear voluntarily at a hearing on the Mueller report scheduled for Thursday because of a dispute over procedure.

It certainly builds the case that the administration is engaged in a wholesale obstruction of Congress, Nadler told reporters Monday. He continued, Its absolutely unacceptable, and well take whatever action we have to do to deal with it.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Will Platinum Be the Precious Metal Leader?

Platinum, after making what appears to be a wash-out low in August 2018, now looks poised to be a precious metal leader, writes fund manager John Newell at Fieldhouse Capital Management.

What is Platinum:

Platinum is a precious transition metal that has the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78 on the periodic table. Platinum is grayish white in color and is often mistaken for silver. Platinum is derived from the Spanish word, platina, which translates to "small silver." Once considered a nuisance mineral, it was often discarded by early miners. Platinum is thirty times rarer than gold, with annual production of 6 million ounces per year, compared to ~100 million p/a ounces of gold, and 850 million ounces p/a of silver.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Platinum Mine Supply:

There are less than 10 million ounces of aboveground platinum supply in the world; this compares to 165,000 tons of above-ground supply in gold. Currently platinum trades at ~70% of an equivalent ounce of gold, which is historically very inexpensive.

Platinum supply occurs naturally in South Africa (72%), Russia's Ural Mountains (11%), Zimbabwe (8%), the Western United States (6%), Colombia, China and Finland (combined 3%). It is often found in the presence of other metals from the platinum metals group such as palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, iridium and osmium. It can also be found near gold, silver, nickel and copper. In South Africa and Zimbabwe, platinum is mined as a primary metal, whereas it is produced predominantly as a byproduct of nickel in Russia. In North America, platinum is largely a byproduct of palladium mines.

Palladium's price premium to Platinum reflects the tight supply and current deficit supply deficit and highlights the potential for substitution, such as what happened from 1999 to 2002.

With palladium reaching new all-time, never-been-higher highs, due to the headline-grabbing announcements of deficits in 2018 that are likely to grow in 2019 to greater than 1 million ounces, suggests that palladium's growing demand and depleted inventories will keeping prices historically high in the short term.

In the past, as shown on the charts below, when palladium enters a deficit that is long lasting, with sustained higher prices, the market experiences substantial demand substitution. We have highlighted this price action, as cheaper palladium was substituted for more expense platinum in the late 1980s and reversed in 19992002 period (see chart below), as palladium was replaced by the less expensive platinum. However, as was the case in the same two time periods, rebalancing among industrial users takes time.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Platinum appears to be breaking a long downtrend line and breaking out, that could be signaling and closing of the large gap between the two similar metals.

We believe that platinum could be in the same technical position we saw in palladium before it moved dramatically, hitting two of three projected targets, leaving the potential third target outstanding.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP:JSE) gave investors a clue that platinum could be turning here as shares in producing companies tend to move before the physical metals, as speculators want the leverage that comes with owning the company shares.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Platinum appears to be cheap, trading at ~70% of the price of gold, building a series of recent higher lows and higher highs, after a washout low in August 2018 that traded a slightly higher low than the 2008 financial crisis low.

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com.

Demand for Platinum:

Platinum is a rare metal with distinctive qualities that make it highly valued across several diverse demand segments. Platinum's unique physical and catalytic properties have established its value in industrial applications. There is growing demand for platinum in industrial uses, jewelry and as an investment. Platinum is an essential industrial commodity and is used worldwide to manufacture about 20% of all consumer goods. We believe this demand will continue, as new uses for platinum are being discovered all the time, due to the metal's resistance to corrosion, high melting point, electrical conductivity and durability.

The primary demand comes from the automotive industry, and with continuing tightening of emission standards worldwide, this trend will continue. Platinum is also used to catalyze the electricity-producing conversion of hydrogen and oxygen into water in hydrogen-based fuel cells, with water and heat the only emissions.

Platinum is particularly well suited as a fuel cell catalyst as it allows the hydrogen and oxygen reactions to take place at an optimal rate, while being stable enough to withstand the high electrical current density and the complex chemical reaction that take place in a fuel cell, performing efficiently over the long term.

Platinum-based hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles are expected to see rapid growth, as both Japan and China have stated that it is an important part of their current plans for adoption of fuel cell vehicles for long-distance trucking, public transportation, as well as fuel cell cars. China's fuel cell adoption plans alone could require more than 300,000 ounces of platinum per year. Japan, with its commitment to delivering the greenest Summer Olympics in 2020, is also making large investments in in platinum-based hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to transport athletes and spectators. In addition, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to invest in 100,000 hydrogen cars, 100 hydrogen buses and build 80 hydrogen refueling stations by 2025.

Platinum is also used broadly in manufacturing of high-performance glass, which accounts for ~15% of demand, and this industrial use appears to be increasing. Demand from the glass sector has averaged ~200,000 ounces per year over the past five years. This durable and versatile metal helps in the process to make everything from smartphone screens to the high-quality fiberglass to make wind turbines and reduce vehicle weight, making them reach fuel economy targets.

Platinum, although still not as popular as gold and silver investing, has seen investment demand increasing as exchange traded funds, pension funds, mutual funds, and private investors are realizing how rare and collectable this durable metal really is.

How to invest in platinum:

Probably the safest way to invest in platinum is to physically own the metal. Although there are fewer platinum products available than gold or silver, there are still numerous ways you can invest in the metal. Platinum bars are a common investment, and these bars typically sell in smaller gram sizes. Coins are another common type of bullion, and a government mint such as the United States Mint or the Royal Canadian Mint both make these coins. Some examples of platinum bullion coins include Platinum American Eagles, Platinum Canadian Maple Leafs, Australian Koala Coins and Platinum Chinese Pandas.

There are pure-play platinum ETFs, platinum and palladium ETFs, and others that have weighting in the Platinum Group Metals.

Investors can purchase shares in platinum mining companies, both producing and exploration companies, that carry different risks such as nationalism, performance of management and employees, environmental risk, and the ability to find and produce the metal profitably.

Conclusion:

Platinum has been in an overall downtrend since 2008, with some brilliant roman-candle like moves in 2009 and 2016, only to burn out quickly and fall back to earth. However, we see this changing technically as platinum is breaking the downtrend that has been in for now more than 10 years. The biggest fundamental reason this may happen now is the palladium shortage, which may cause the substitution of palladium by platinum.

We feel that industrial and investment demand will continue drive platinum prices to higher levels over the next 9 to 18 months.

John Newell is a portfolio manager at Fieldhouse Capital Management. He has 38 years of experience in the investment industry acting as an officer, director, portfolio manager and investment advisor with some of the largest investment firms in Canada. Newell is a specialist in precious metal equities and related commodities and is a registered portfolio manager in Canada (advising representative).

Disclosures: 1) John Newell: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company currently has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. Additional disclosures/disclaimer below. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy. 4) 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.

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The Golden Gate Bridge is a thing of beauty. I know it, the Bay Area knows it, and the 23,208 tourists who gave it a perfect five-star "Excellent" rating on TripAdvisor know it, too.

It's so incredible, voters on the travel site ranked it as the second most popular landmark in the United States for 2018 (first place went to Alcatraz, so San Francisco was two-for-two).

And yet, some people just don't get the Golden Gate's unparalleled beauty. While most describe it as "absolutely stunning" or "breathtaking," some hapless dilettantes just don't have the eye for the art deco masterpiece.

RELATED: Golden Gate Bridge hike approved. Get ready for $9 tolls.

The most common complaints seemed to be related to two things. First, many say that their view of the bridge was hindered by fog  that other thing that San Francisco is famous for. Sorry vacationers! That's just life here. At least we make vodka out of our weather patterns.

Second, some people were annoyed that they had to pre-pay a toll with a credit card to get over the bridge, or that they couldn't figure out how to pay the toll online at all.

RELATED: 11 things to know about commuting across the Golden Gate Bridge

That's understandably frustrating  particularly for those surprised by a ticket in the mail  but ultimately, the Golden Gate Bridge wasn't built as a tourist attraction. It was constructed as a commuter bridge, and it's cashless to help save those drivers who take most of the 40 million annual trips across it save time stuck in traffic.

Also, it's pretty.

More for you 17 fun facts about the Golden Gate Bridge on its 79th birthday

Luckily, most people recognize a modern wonder of the world when they see it, and to those people, we say: let's enjoy these haters' hilariously bad reviews of our own gorgeous Golden Gate.

Alyssa Pereira is a staff writer for SFGATE. Follow her here on Twitter.
As millions of workers and youth take to the streets world-wide to celebrate May Day as a day of international working class solidarity, we need to reassess our common objectives in the light of a growing world crisis of capitalism. Originally written in 2001.

For over 100 years, tens of millions have expressed their determination again and again to rid the world of oppression, war and poverty. The victory of the Russian working class in October 1917 marked an enormous advance in the struggle for the socialist transformation of society. It represented a beacon to the workers internationally.

Today, internationalism has never been so relevant. With the collapse of Stalinism and the wholesale conversion of the Russian bureaucracy to capitalism, US imperialism has become the dominant reactionary force on the planet. However, this colossus has dynamite built into its foundations, as it is forced to intervene repeatedly against the oppressed peoples of the world.

As global capitalism extends its fields of exploitation, so workers are forced to organise to defend themselves from the Philippines to South Africa, from South Korea to Argentina. In Britain, following the avalanche of job cuts over the last few months, the closure of the Motorola plant in Bathgate, West Lothian, with the loss of over 3,000 jobs, is the latest attack on workers by international capital. But this is the thin edge of the wedge. Already 100,000 jobs have been lost in the telecommunications sector as profits plunge and investment grinds to a halt. The gyrations on the world's stock markets are a reflection of the crisis affecting world capitalism.

Increasingly, as the crisis develops, workers need to arm themselves with a programme that can answer their needs and aspirations. In doing so they need to reclaim May Day's tradition of struggle. May Day itself was born out of struggle. The fight for the 8-hour working day in the United States in the 1880s was the issue that gave birth to May Day as International Labour Day. In 1884 the Convention of the Federation of Organised Trades raised a resolution that was to act as a beacon to the whole working class: 'that 8 hours shall constitute a legal days labour from and after 1st May 1886.' This call was taken up by the Labour movement with the creation of Eight Hour Leagues, which rung significant concessions out of the bosses, and witnessed the doubling of trade union membership.

Following a 25,000 1st May rally in Chicago, the bosses were determined to crush the militant movement. Police shot and killed for workers on a picket line two days later. However, a bomb thrown by an agent provocateur killed seven police, who responded by shooting several workers and injuring hundreds more. In the following weeks, the police carried out systematic raids on strikers and trade unionists, breaking up meetings with violence. Workers' leaders were framed and sentenced to death, but was later commuted to life imprisonment.

May Day demonstration in Greece 2008 Starting with the Chicago tragedy of May 1886, which became known thereafter as international workers day, workers representatives set up the Second International in 1889, under the banner of workers' internationalism. A key resolution of the Congress was that on every May Day workers in every country would strike and demonstrate for the 8-hour day.

On 1st May 1890 workers struck all over Europe, with 100,000 demonstrating in Barcelona, 120,000 in Stockholm, 8,000 in Warsaw, while thousands stayed at home in Austria and Hungary where demonstrations were banned. Strikes spread throughout Italy and France. Ten workers were shot dead in Northern France. In the words of the Austrian social democratic leader, Adler, "Entire layers of the working class with which we would otherwise have made no contact, have been shaken out of their lethargy."

In Britain and Germany, huge demonstrations were held on the Sunday following. Despite a failure to demonstrate on May Day, their importance was not lost on Frederick Engels, who had witnessed the political lull amongst the British Labour movement since the great Chartists days of the 1840s: "more than 100,000 in a column, on 4th May 1890, the English working class joined up in the great international army, its long winter sleep broken at last. The grandchildren of the old Chartists are entering the line of battle."

Since this time, many workers have died whilst demonstrating for an 8-hour day. Many years of working class struggle and resistance have followed and we proudly celebrate them on this date. But this is not enough!

Unfortunately for our class, we still bound by the chains of world capitalism. The workers have attempted repeatedly to change society, but have been held back by their leaders. That is why today, as socialists, we do not just celebrate class resistance but also acknowledge the scandalous role played by the trade union and Labour leadership. They have become 'the labour lieutenants of capital', only interested in 'sweet heart' deals and agreements with the bosses, to the detriment of the workers they supposed to represent.

May Day demonstration in Sadiq Abad, Pakistan, 2007 In Britain, May Day has been largely ignored by the leadership of the official movement, in its search for respectability and class collaboration. At best, only lip service is paid to solidarity or internationalism. As a result, today's unions are failing to fight back effectively for our class.

The fight to regenerate the Labour and trade union movement is linked to the struggle for socialist policies. The Labour Party was created a century ago to represent the interests of the working class in parliament. Unfortunately, it has been taken over by the Blairites who want to turn it into a capitalist party. It is up to the rank and file, especially of the unions, to clear out the right wing and take back the party.

However, a clear alternative to capitalist policies must be put forward within side the workers' movement. No to class collaboration! No to Tory polices! For a Labour government on a socialist programme!

Only by taking over the "commanding heights" of the economy, the monopolies, banks and insurance companies, under democratic workers' control and management, can society be run, not in the interests of the millionaires profits, but for the needs of working people who create the wealth of society.

The future of today's Labour movement lies in the hands of its rank and file membership. We must begin to reclaim May Day's hidden past in an effort to create a real fighting alternative. Whether you are working, studying, or on the dole, May Day is OUR day! In the words of the Communist Manifesto: 'Workers of the World Unite!'

Rob Sewell,

May 1st, 2001
A 68-year-old Alameda man was killed in a crash near King City on Tuesday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.



He was driving a 2004 Toyota Tacoma north on U.S. Highway 101 north of Wildhorse Road when he made an "unsafe turning movement" into the center median, according to the CHP.



He continued driving north in the center median and turned back into the northbound lanes, then drifted east across the northbound lanes onto the eastern shoulder of the highway. CHP officials don't know at what speed the man was driving at this point.



The vehicle flipped multiple times and came to rest on its roof on the shoulder of northbound lanes. The man died at the scene from blunt force, according to the CHP.



Officers do not believe alcohol or drugs were a factor in the fatal crash. The Monterey County coroner's office will identify the man once his family is notified.





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A bicyclist was seriously injured in a traffic collision Wednesday morning in Berkeley, according to police.



The Police Department issued an advisory at 8:15 a.m. asking people to avoid the area of Ninth and Cedar streets in northwest Berkeley because of the collision.



No other information about the crash or the bicyclist was immediately available.





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The California Highway Patrol is investigating a report of a possible shooting with no injuries Tuesday afternoon on the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge in Solano County.



CHP Officer David Harvey said the shooting was reported around 3:35 p.m.



The CHP issued a Sig-alert at 3:10 p.m. on westbound Interstate Highway 80 at the bridge. All lanes were blocked, the CHP said.



The Sig-alert was canceled at 3:30 p.m.





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SANTA ROSA (BCN)



The Santa Rosa City Council voted Tuesday to approve the release of police records -- dating before Jan. 1 -- in accordance with the passage of the police transparency law Senate Bill 1421, according to city officials.



The department had started working in fall 2018 to determine how to respond to the bill, and how to get the records out if it passed. City officials said the first set of records will be available within seven days.



"The council concluded that public interest in transparency is paramount ... and therefore disclosable," Mayor Tom Schwedhelm said in a statement.



Police said they have responded with some initial information to eight requests since Jan. 1, and plan to make more information available as the records are appropriately compiled, redacted and reviewed.





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SANTA CRUZ (BCN)



A judge in federal court in San Jose shot down a request Tuesday that would have protected nearly 200 individuals from being swept out of their homeless encampment by the city of Santa Cruz.



The Gateway Encampment, also called Ross Camp, is located behind a Ross store and the Gateway Plaza shopping center at 470 River St. It became the subject of city scrutiny this year after it grew in size and complaints began about theft, property damage, mounting garbage, discarded needles and excrement.



The city considered relocating several residents to the city-managed 1220 River St. encampment and a separate parking lot, but the move was abandoned after pushback from city residents. Ross Camp residents filed a lawsuit against the city on April 9, alleging a lack of safe alternative housing and inhumane treatment under the Eighth Amendment, which bars "cruel and unusual punishments."



The court denied the plaintiffs' request for a continued temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Tuesday, saying the homeless residents failed to establish that the closure of the camp would cause them "irreparable harm." The request had previously been granted last week, but was dissolved.



"The closure of the Encampment will undoubtedly cause the residents disruption and severe inconvenience as they will need to pack up their belongings and potentially end friendships they have developed throughout their time at the Encampment," Judge Edward Davila wrote. "However, this harm does not rise to the level of irreparable harm that this element requires."



Though female homeless individuals shared stories of being vulnerable to sexual assault and predatory behavior while camping on their own, Davila said the city has made sufficient efforts to provide motel vouchers and additional resources to former Ross Camp residents.



He also cited four deaths at the encampment and city Fire Chief Jason Hajduk's testimony that the encampment was a "recipe for a mass casualty event."



The city additionally filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying a Ross Camp liaison, Alicia Kuhl, is not licensed to practice law. Homeless advocate Kuhl said she is not the group's official attorney and that the city's claim is only intended "to throw the case off." Kuhl said the plaintiffs are representing themselves but the group has advisement from a licensed attorney.



She said the city posted closure notices at the camp Tuesday but did not include any mention of alternative shelter. The bulk of the Ross Camp plans to relocate to a private new location by Friday.



"That's been our thing all along, that it's not okay to displace this camp with no alternative available shelter," she said. "That's exactly what they're doing right now."



Santa Cruz has been struggling to find housing for its homeless population and declared a shelter crisis in January 2018. There are currently over 2,200 homeless individuals in Santa Cruz, according to its most recent homeless count.





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San Jose police released a video showing two people they are looking for because the two are homicide suspects, police said Tuesday.



A transient named Mark Jones, 49, was shot and killed by one of the suspects after a brief altercation at around 1 a.m. Dec. 5 at East Virginia and South Third streets.



Police said officers are still investigating the motive and circumstances surrounding the shooting.





One suspect is described as a white or Hispanic man with a medium to heavy build wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, dark sneakers with white soles and a light-colored jacket.



The other suspect is described as a white or Hispanic man with a medium build wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and a dark-colored jacket.



Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call Detective Sgt. John Cary or Detective Elizabeth Ramirez of the Police Department's homicide unit at (408) 277-5283.



People who want to remain anonymous can call the Crime Stoppers tip line at (408) 947-7867 or submit a tip at http://svcrimestoppers.org/.



A person who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction of suspect may be eligible for a cash reward.




A wind surfer is in distress Tuesday evening off Alcatraz Island and San Francisco firefighters have responded, fire officials said.



A rescue was underway as of 7:45 p.m. The U.S. Coast Guard also is responding, according to fire officials.





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Just before dawn on 30 April, the Venezuelan opposition launched yet another attempt at a military coup. By the end of the day, the botched coup attempt seemed to have failed, with one of its leaders seeking refuge in the Spanish embassy, 25 of the soldiers involved requesting asylum at the Brazilian embassy and Juan Guaido in hiding or on the run.

The coup started at 5.46 am with a video message by Guaido, who proclaimed himself president in charge on 24 January at a street rally, but who has not moved an inch closer to Miraflores Palace since. In the video, he appeared outside La Carlota military airbase in the east of Caracas, together with a small group of army soldiers. Also present was Leopoldo Lopez, the opposition leader under house arrest for his role in the deadly guarimba riots of 2014. Apparently, he had been released by the SEBIN intelligence officers in charge of guarding him.

Guaidos message was clear: I am with the main military units of our Armed Forces starting the final phase of Operation Freedom. This was the final battle against usurpation. The presence of Lopez was a powerful prop. However, as was to become clear in the following hours, his claims to have the support of the main military units was a lie. He did not have control of any military units or bases, no commanding officers were on his side. In fact, despite claims to the contrary he was not inside La Carlota base, but outside. He had not taken control of any TV or radio stations.

Guaido called on the people to come out on the streets nationally. Some joined him in the east of Caracas and clashed with the National Guard protecting the air base. At one point, the hundreds of rioters, which included a few soldiers, managed to breach the outside perimeter, but were repelled with tear gas volleys. Not what you would expect from a proper military coup.

Meanwhile, at the other end of Caracas, thousands had gathered outside the Miraflores Palace after an appeal made by Maduro on Twitter just after 10am, where he also said that he had contacted the chiefs of all military units and that they were all loyal to his government. A few high-ranking Bolivarian officials spoke, particularly Diosdado Cabello, but other than that the stage was given to representatives of the chavista left and rank-and-file organisations, which never feature in the official demonstrations. The mood was one of determination, there was a spirit of resistance.

Imperialist support

Of course, the US rushed to support the coup in Venezuela with tweets and statements by Trump, Pompeo, Elliot Abrams, Marco Rubio et al. They were followed by the presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Chile and even the European Parliament. Organisation of American States secretary general, Almagro also joined the chorus.

During the day, Pompeo and Bolton made all sorts of statements and insinuations in an attempt to bolster Guaidos effort. Pompeo hinted that high-ranking officials in Venezuela had agreed in talks with the US to remove Maduro. Bolton specifically mentioned Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino, military counter-intelligence (DGCIM) and Presidential Guard chief Ivan Hernandez, and Supreme Court of Justice Maikel Moreno. "Key figures in the regime had been talking to the opposition over these last three months, he said and appealed to them to make good on their commitments to achieve the peaceful transfer of power from the Maduro clique. Later on, Bolton declared that Maduro had had a plane ready to leave for Cuba but had been dissuaded by the Russians. Despite all this boasting and psychological pressure, Padrino came out in a televised address expressing, once again, his loyalty to the government.

Things on the ground in Venezuela were not going well. Some of Guaidos soldiers took the first opportunity to defect, claiming they had been tricked. One of them explained how officers had given them weapons at the Helicoide, the SEBIN headquarters, and told they were going to put down a mass jailbreak.

After being repelled at La Carlota, and when it became clear that the coup was fizzling out, Guaido still tried another trick. He led a few thousand of his supporters, including some of the soldiers he had in his video in the morning, westwards towards Miraflores Palace. This was an attempt to repeat the script of the 2002 coup, when the opposition leaders marched their supporters to the presidential palace, where they would be attacked by snipers hired to create a justification for a military coup. As Marx once said, history repeats itself, first as a tragedy and then as a farce.

Guaido did not have the hundreds of thousands the opposition commanded on April 2002, and his triumphant march was swiftly blocked by the National Guard. He quickly retreated to Altamira in the east.

A pitiful defeat

As dawn approached in Caracas, Leopoldo Lopez and his family had hidden in the Chilean embassy and 25 soldiers were asking for asylum at the Brazilian embassy. There was an announcement that Guaido was going to address the nation at 6pm, but the time came and went and nothing happened. The coup seemed to have completely fizzled out. Later on, Lopez and his family moved to the Spanish embassy.

Trump was so frustrated that he issued even more threats against Cuba:

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba.

Guaido is on the run, Lopez is hiding in the Chilean embassy, and 25 defector soldiers are seeking asylum in the Brazilian embassy. This shambolic coup has gone down to defeat / Image: fair use

This is completely preposterous. The reason why the attempts at regime change by the US in Venezuela have so far failed is not because of operations by Cuban Troops to cause destruction to the Constitution, but rather a combination of the stupidity and miscalculations of the Venezuelan opposition and its masters in Washington, the resilience and anti-imperialist spirit of a large section of the Venezuelan people, and the support that Russia and China are providing the government. In fact, US sanctions, its seizure of Venezuelan assets and other imperialist measures are certainly causing death and destruction!

It is clear that Trump thinks that, by exerting pressure on the Cuban Revolution, he will be able to break the back of the Maduro government. The US has already toughened up sanctions against Cuba, including implementing, for the first time, a clause in the Helms-Burton act that allows US citizens to sue companies in third countries using property in Cuba that was expropriated during the revolution. This is a scandalous act of imperialist aggression, which can have a very negative impact on the already fragile Cuban economy.

Finally, at 8.24pm, Guaido came out with a delirious video message on Twitter. Rather than admitting the failure of his attempt, he announced tomorrow [May 1] we will continue the implementation of Operation Freedom, he thanked the Armed Forces for their support while insisting that Maduro does not have control of the Armed Forces.

The problem for Guaido and Trump is that they have built the momentum to a day of reckoning twice already, on January 24 and February 23, and failed on both occasions. Very soon, if the situation does not turn in Guaidos favour today, we will start to see the fracturing of the opposition amongst mutual recriminations and backstabbing. The opposition ranks, mainly drawn from middle-and-middle-upper class layers, will feel disappointed and betrayed by their own leaders, once again, as was the case with the 2014 and 2017 guarimbas.

Why did the coup fail?

The failed coup yesterday raises a number of questions. This was a completely botched attempt: the coup did not control any military bases nor units, had no support from any commanding officers, no TV or radio stations were taken and it was dispersed with tear gas, so, why did they launch it?

Did they expect support which did not materialise? Did they believe their own lies about mass support amongst the population and an amy that was ready to crack and all that was needed was a spark in the form of action? Was it pure desperation at their lack of success? Why did they not wait until 1 May, when they had announced mass demonstrations? Did they fear the turn out was not going to be massive?

The government, for its part, seems to have acted in a very indecisive manner. No TV statements by Maduro for 15 hours, no use of the army to crush the coup, no high-ranking government officers at the rally in Miraflores. Was it an attempt to prevent bloodshed in an open military clash, as Maduro argued in his TV address last night? Was the government unaware of how far the conspiracy went? Was it not sure that it could count on military units to use them against the coup?

Some are saying the coup had high-ranking support from SEBIN, DGCIM and other units, but it was launched prematurely, and that it had been planned for 2 May, after the intended opposition rallies on 1 May. This would go some way to explaining today's somewhat bizarre events, and it would be a worrying sign for the future, as it would mean military commanders were involved, but recoiled at the last minute. From what we know, there were elements in SEBIN involved in the coup. Some of the soldiers taking part declared that they had been given weapons at the SEBIN headquarters. Apparently, SEBIN director Manuel Christopher Figuera was removed from his position and arrested.

All along, we have said that the fight against the coup cannot be left to the army generals. They have their own interests and that is what they will defend. As long as they think these are best defended by the Maduro government, they will remain loyal. If they think this government is going down and is no longer able to protect their interests, they will seek to intervene in order to guarantee them in the short, medium and long term.

1) To all intents and purposes the botched coup today in Venezuela has collapsed. Leopoldo Lopez is in the Chilean embassy. 25 coup soldiers are in the Brazilian embassy. Guaido is on the run.



Thousands came out to defend the Miraflores Palace. pic.twitter.com/AYlEgydtZH  Jorge Martin (@marxistJorge) April 30, 2019

The continuation of the economic crisis, aggravated by sanctions, together with international pressure, might, at a certain stage push key players within the Armed Forces to want to save their own skins by removing Maduro.

Even now, the situation is not completely under control. Guaido has led an actual coup attempt, with troops, and has not yet been arrested. Lopez has not been arrested either and remains free to hop from one embassy to another.

The IMT and the Venezuelan comrades from Lucha de Clases in Venezuela have argued since January that Guaido should be arrested, the National Assembly disbanded and strong measures taken against coup plotters, including arming and developing the militia and expropriating the coup plotters and imperialism. Furthermore, we argued against moving Leopoldo Lopez from jail to house arrest. Events yesterday are a further demonstration that we were right.

Today is May Day, and there will be opposition and chavista demonstrations in Caracas and across Venezuela. The fact that Washingtons coup attempts have been so far unsuccessful does not mean they are going to abandon their aims. Yesterday, Yahoo News published a report about the proposal by private mercenary company, Blackwater to create a 5,000 strong mercenary army to intervene in Venezuela. US sanctions and seizing of Venezuelan assets are having a crippling impact on an economy already weakened by five years of recession.

Our duty is to oppose this imperialist aggression, as we have consistently done since this latest attempt began on 24 January. At the same time, we must point out the only methods that can guarantee victory over the counter-revolution. The Venezuelan comrades of Lucha de Clases were outside Miraflores Palace yesterday. In a statement, they put forward the following slogans: Jail Guaido, disband the coup-plotting National Assembly, strengthen and spread the Bolivarian militias, respond to the seizing of assets by expropriating imperialist multinationals, expropriate the coup-plotting bourgeoisie, workers control of production, down with bureaucracy, complete the revolution with rank-and-file organisation.
San Francisco fire officials said a rescue was underway Tuesday evening of two kite surfers near Alcatraz Island.



A rescue was underway as of 7:45 p.m. and the U.S. Coast Guard also was responding.



Fire officials initially said a wind surfer was in distress.





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SANTA CLARA (BCN)



Central Park Library in Santa Clara will remain closed for the rest of Tuesday after police cleared a suspicious object there.



An employee located the suspicious device around 1 p.m. and police partially evacuated the library at 2635 Homestead Road out of an abundance of caution, according to Lt. Todd Cummins.



The Santa Clara County sheriff's bomb squad responded to the scene and determined the object to be fake with no explosive material, according to police. The scene was cleared by 5:10 p.m.



The library usually closes at 9 p.m., but will be closed for the remainder of the day.





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The ribbon will be cut on newly constructed San Francisco Fire Station No. 5 on Wednesday morning, according to city officials.



Mayor London Breed, other elected officials and community members will gather at 11 a.m. at 1301 Turk St. for the ribbon-cutting.



Fire Station No. 5 was completely reconstructed to be a seismically safe building following the demolition of the station that was built in 1956.







The long-awaited trial of two men for the fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland in 2016 that killed 36 people began dramatically on Tuesday with the judge threatening to close her courtroom and a defense lawyer claiming that the blaze was arson.



Ghost Ship warehouse master tenant Derick Almena, 49, and creative director Max Harris, 29, are charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the fire during a music party at the warehouse at 1309 31st Ave. on the night of Dec. 2, 2016.



Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Casey Bates told jurors in his opening statement that Almena and Harris are criminally liable for the fire because there was no time and no way for the people at the party to escape since the warehouse didn't have sufficient safeguards such as fire extinguishers, smoke alarms and exit signs.



Bates also said Almena and Harris violated the terms of the warehouse's lease by turning it into a living space and hosting underground music parties there.



The prosecutor said the lease with building owner Eva Ng that Almena signed on Nov. 10, 2013, made clear that the 10,000-square-foot space was only to be used as a warehouse for an artists' collective and for building theatrical sets.







San Jose police are looking for two men who they believe are homicide suspects, and released a video of the pair to the public on Tuesday in the hopes it could help locate them.



The two are suspects in the homicide of transient Mark Jones, 49, who was allegedly shot and killed by one of the suspects after a brief altercation at around 1 a.m. Dec. 5 at East Virginia and South Third streets. Police said officers are still investigating the motive and circumstances surrounding the shooting.



One suspect is described as a white or Hispanic man with a medium to heavy build wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, dark sneakers with white soles and a light-colored jacket.



The other suspect is described as a white or Hispanic man with a medium build wearing a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and a dark-colored jacket.



Anyone with information about the suspects is asked to call Detective Sgt. John Cary or Detective Elizabeth Ramirez of the Police Department's homicide unit at (408) 277-5283.







A kite surfer was rescued Tuesday evening from San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island, according to fire officials.



As of 8:06 p.m. the kite surfer had been rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and was uninjured. Coast Guard Lt. Emily Rowan said the kite surfer was returned safely to St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.



Rowan pointed out that the kite surfer was wearing a life jacket.



"That definitely helps in situations like this," she said.







An off-leash dog attacked and killed a seal pup last week at Point Reyes National Seashore, according to National Park Service investigators.



The young Guadalupe fur seal, a federally-listed endangered species, was attacked on April 22 in the North Beach area, investigators with the park service said in a post on the agency's Facebook page.



The dog and the dog's owner left the scene after the attack. The Marine Mammal Center attempted to rescue the seal, but it died when they arrived. A necropsy by the center confirmed the cause of death was a dog attack, the park service said.



The attack took place in a Snowy Plover nesting area, where a temporary dog closure is in effect to help protect the threatened birds.







Pinole Police Chief Neil Gang has announced plans to provide the Cordico Wellness App, which provides mental health resources via smartphone and can be used to find a therapist, available to his officers.



The app is specifically tailored to first responders who may be suffering from PTSD or in need of counseling. Specific resources include access to a chaplain or peer support, self-care checklists, wellness self-evaluation tools and suicide prevention tips.



According to Cordico's website, the app offers helpful information about psychological first aid, stress management, relationship health and financial fitness. There's also a "teletherapy portal" available as an option.



For more information about the app, go to https://www.cordico.com/officer-wellness-app/.



"First responders face enormous stressors, pressures, and demands over the course of their careers," department officials said in a statement issued Tuesday. "Our community relies on them to repeatedly respond to traumatic events that impact their mental health."







Wednesday will be partly cloudy in the morning, then becoming sunny. Highs will be in the 50s to upper 60s. Southwest winds will be around 5 mph, increasing to west winds at 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon.



Wednesday night will be partly cloudy. Lows will be near 50. West winds will be 10 to 20 mph.



Thursday will be partly cloudy. Highs will be in the 50s to upper 60s. West winds will be 5 to 10 mph, increasing to 10 to 20 mph in the afternoon.





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Shortly after losing a long-shot bid for clemency, Houston-area death row prisoner Dexter Johnson won a stay some 48 hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection in the Huntsville execution chamber.

For more than a decade, the condemned killer lodged appeal after appeal based on allegations of brain damage and intellectual disability, but in the end it was the possibility of a conflicted attorney and ineffective lawyering that prompted a federal district judge to side with him.

The high school dropout with schizophrenia was originally sentenced to die for a 2006 carjacking that left 23-year-old Maria Aparece and 17-year-old Huy Ngo dead. That June, Johnson and four accomplices came across the young couple sitting in Aparece's Toyota, as they chatted outside Ngo's home. Johnson and two others threatened them with a pistol and a shotgun, according to testimony at trial.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Texas prisons change policy after lawmaker's request to end final written statements

Then, three of the attackers drove the pair around Houston in Aparece's car, stealing her cash and credit cards and trying to get money from her bank accounts. Behind them, two other accomplices followed in their own car.

Eventually, the violent crew pulled over and, according to trial testimony, Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat. Her boyfriend was forced to listen to it all on his knees as the other attackers taunted him.

Then, Johnson shot Ngo in the head before killing Aparece. At trial, Johnson's defense team argued that it was someone else who walked the couple into the woods and fired the fatal shot.

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According to prosecutors, the double-slaying was just one of many crimes that Johnson pulled off during a month-long spree of violence that spring and summer. Johnson has long maintained his innocence, but still a Harris County jury sentenced him to death. In December, a local judge gave the green light to the May 2 execution.

Shortly afterward, Johnson wrote to the federal court complaining about his attorney, Patrick McCann. Since McCann had been on the case for years, the court did not kick him off but instead appointed a second legal team, headed by federal defender Jeremy Schepers.

1991 SLAYING: Harris County DA to seek death penalty on resentencing of convicted cop killer

The North Texas attorney was tasked with figuring out whether McCann's earlier work was up to par. While McCann continued to work on Johnson's case, filing appeals based on claims of intellectual disability, Schepers investigated McCann's work and alleged that the Houston attorney "violated ethical and professional duties throughout his representation," according to court records.

In sealed federal filings, McCann disputed that characterization but the claims were enough for the the federal judge to grant Johnson a stay to allow Schepers more time to investigate and litigate his concerns. As of now, McCann is still on the case; the judge asked for a hearing to determine whether he should be removed.

Even after the last-minute win for the condemned man, the stay could have been overturned by a federal appeals court - but the Office of the Attorney General told defense counsel they have no plans to contest the order.

Neither Schepers nor McCann opted to weigh in on the record. Meanwhile, McCann's co-counsel - Houston-area attorney Mandy Miller - defended him Tuesday in an emailed statement.

"While we dispute the attack on Mr. McCann's prior representation, we are grateful for a stay  no matter why it was granted," she wrote. "We will continue to litigate the claim of intellectual disability that will prevent Mr. Johnson's execution, in the event the stay is lifted. Once our duty to Mr. Johnson is fulfilled, Mr. McCann will gladly answer to the federal court for any questions regarding the work he has put into this case for nearly a decade."

Though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals recently turned down the condemned man's intellectual disability claims, Miller and McCann on Tuesday filed a motion asking the court to reconsider, and are also working on an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office remained confident Johnson would get another execution date.

"His day of reckoning is inevitable," First Assistant District Attorney Tom Berg said. "The issue at hand has nothing to do with the district attorney's office and we anticipate a new execution date will be set shortly."

With Johnson's date likely called off, there just two others - including a Montgomery County man convicted of killing a college student - scheduled in Texas for the remainder of the year.

keri.blakinger@chron.com
For regular viewers of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Kamala Harris' lines of questioning have become some of the most anticipated parts of such proceedings. Wednesday's testimony by Attorney General William Barr was no exception.

When asked by Harris, D-Calif., if anyone at the White House had ever suggested he open an investigation into anyone, Barr first stammered a reply.

"Uh, I wouldn't, I wouldn't "

"Yes or no?" prompted Harris.

MORE: Mueller frustrated with Barr over portrayal of findings in report

Barr asked her to repeat the question, then decided to mince words, in a move vaguely reminiscent of Bill Clinton's famous 1998 redirection, "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

"I'm trying to grapple with the word 'suggest,'" Barr finally answered Harris. "I mean, there have been discussions of matters out there, they have not asked me to open an investigation."

"Perhaps they've suggested?" said Harris.

"I wouldn't say suggest," said Barr.

"Hinted? Inferred?"

"I don't know," said Barr.

In another much-buzzed-about portion of the questioning, Harris said that the Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report had relied on a great deal of evidence, including emails, testimony and documents, which were summarized in the final report.

ALSO: Mueller, Barr trade barbs as Russia rift goes public

"My question is, in reaching your conclusion, did you personally review all of the underlying evidence?" Harris asked of Barr's decision not to charge President Trump with obstruction of justice.

"No," answered Barr.

"Did Mr Rosenstein?"

"No," replied Barr, "We accepted the statements in the report as factually accurate."

"So you accepted the report as the evidence?"

"Yes," said Barr.

"You did not question or look at the underlying evidence that supports the conclusions in the report?" asked Harris.

"No," repeated Barr, later confirming that no one in his executive office reviewed the underlying evidence either.

Barr tried to make the argument that accepting a summary like Mueller's at face value was standard practice, but was cut off by Harris.

"I think you've made it clear, sir, that you've not looked at the evidence. We can move on," she said.

A C-SPAN clip of the exchange has since been viewed more than 50,000 times.

As usual, critics of the president were vocal in praising Harris's questioning.

"You ever watch one of them nature documentaries where a lioness takes down a two ton water buffalo?" wrote Cyrus McQueen on Twitter. "Yeah, that's pretty much what just happened when Kamala Harris questioned Barr..."

"When Kamala Harris questions you and you are desperately looking for an exit door because you can't handle the heat," Jerome Coleman tweeted, alongside a photo of Barr looking over his shoulder as Harris asked a question. "That was the most I'd seen Barr move all day when he realized he was truly in the hot seat and she was ready."

Harris wasn't impressed with Barr's preparedness, either: Shortly after noon, she took to Twitter to call on him to resign.

"What I just saw from the Attorney General is unacceptable," she wrote. "Barr must resign now."
An ultra-modern home constructed of concrete, glass and steel in the Bay Area's exclusive town of Atherton sold in April for $8.8 million less than the original asking price.

Designed by San Francisco architect Stanley Saitowitz, 96 Ridge View Dr. was originally listed for $29.8 million in April 2018. After multiple price drops, the property sold for $21 million.

Perched on 1.63 acres with sweeping Bay Area views, the so-called Oz House is comprised of two enormous "L"-shaped concrete boxes that sit on top of one another, with the stem of one "L" crossing over the other's foot, forming a courtyard and two dramatically cantilevered rooms.

The master suite and living room jut out from the home's facade as massive overhangs, with floor-to-ceiling walls of glass looking across a landscape of California oaks and imported 100-year-old olive trees. The views seem to go on forever, extending over the Peninsula and to San Francisco Bay.

With 16,000 square feet spread across three levels, the home is massive. It features six bedrooms and four full bathrooms and three half-baths. The interior is sleek and monochromatic with a mix of concrete and white painted walls. Hardwood floors throughout feature radiant heating.

Outside, you'll find landscaped grounds, a barbecue area, fire pit, bocce ball court, pool, spa, a pool house with 1.5 baths and a kitchen, and a studio with bath and kitchen.

ALSO: A rare slice of bucolic California coastline, an hour south of SF, gets a $6 million price cut

Saitowitz of Natoma Architects is a prolific local architect who has designed many of the buildings in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. San Francisco Chronicle architecture critic John King has described his work as "machinelike and monochromatic, spare but sharp."

A town of only 7,300 residents, Atherton frequently sits at the top of lists ranking the nation's most expensive zip codes. The median home value currently hovers around $6.5 million, according to Zillow. Prices have declined roughly 4 percent year-over-year.

Tech titans such as Google's Eric Schmidt and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg call Atherton home, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman have both lived here.
Nearly two years after Best Buy vacated its large storefront at City Center, in the Anza Vista area of the Western Addition in San Francisco, the plaza has two new confirmed tenants.

Whole Foods has had its sights on the space at City Center for quite a while, as SocketSite had reported two years ago, but those initial plans are now finally coming to fruition.

The deal wasn't a straightforward one. Target, which has long operated as the complex's anchor tenant, was initially ruffled by the prospective presence of a neighboring retailer owned by Amazon. It's not clear what agreement was made between the companies to green light the grocery chain, but earlier reports posited that Whole Foods would likely need to sacrifice the addition of Amazon lockers at the store to assuage Target's concerns around competition.

RELATED: Whole Foods said they cut prices. We checked to see if they did.

Chris Conlon, the executive vice president to Acadia Realty Trust, the organization managing the revamp of the property, told the San Francisco Business Times that there is "no friction around (Whole Foods and Target's) operations at City Center."

Altogether, Whole Foods will fit into 56,000 square feet of retail space estimated to open before the year ends. Currently, Whole Foods runs seven stores in the city, with three more  including this one  on the way. (Other planned locations are at Stonestown Galleria and in the Mid-Market area.)

RELATED: North Beach residents want a Whole Foods, according to a small neighborhood survey

The addition of Whole Foods to City Center is just part of a revitalization effort for the complex. Construction is now wrapping up on a brand new, two-level structure on the eastern section of the two-level parking lot which will become home to a PetSmart, as plans on Acadia's website indicate. (Banfield Pet Hospital confirms to SFGate that it will not share the space with PetSmart, as it does at other retail locations.)

Bright Horizons, a daycare center, is also headed to the complex.

Additional spaces, left vacant by the departures of a Starbucks and a Panera Bread, will be filled over the next few months.

SFGate has reached out to Whole Foods and PetSmart for comment.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


BERLIN  Higher salaries, better working conditions, maternity leave, minimum wage and an end to discrimination against temporary or foreign workers: These were among the concerns as hundreds of thousands of union members and labor activists rallied around the world to mark May Day.

The tradition of May Day marches for workers rights began in the United States in the 1880s. It quickly spread to other countries at a time when industrialization pitted poorly paid employees who had few protections and little power against increasingly dominant factory employers and landowners.

Over the decades, the May Day protests have also become an opportunity to air general economic grievances or political demands but often result in violence.

In Italy, two protesters and a police officer were injured in Turin when police blocked a demonstration against the construction of a high-speed rail line between France and Italy, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

In France, police clashed with stone-throwing protesters who set fires and smashed up vehicles as thousands of people gathered for rallies under tight security. About 165 arrests were made.

Police repeatedly used tear gas to try to control the crowd gathering near Paris Montparnasse train station for the main protest. Some protesters were injured. Associated Press reporters saw groups of hooded, black-clad people shouting anti-police slogans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or waving union flags.

Authorities in Russia said about 100,000 people took part in a May Day rally in central Moscow organized by Kremlin-friendly trade unions on Red Square. Opposition activists said more than 100 people were detained in several cities, including for participating in unsanctioned political protests.

In Germany, the countrys biggest trade union urged voters to participate in this months European Parliament election and reject nationalism and right-wing populism.

Protesters wearing headbands and swinging their fists in South Koreas capital of Seoul rallied near City Hall, marching under banners denouncing deteriorating working conditions and demanding equal treatment and pay for temporary workers.

In Bangladesh, hundreds of garment workers and members of labor organizations rallied in Dhaka, the capital, to demand better working conditions and higher wages.

In the Philippines, thousands of workers and labor activists marched near the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila to demand that President Rodrigo Dutertes government address labor issues including a minimum wage increase and the lack of contracts for many workers.

Frank Jordans and Kim Tong-Hyung are Associated Press writers.
KABUL  U.S. and Taliban negotiators began a new round of peace talks Wednesday in Doha, Qatar, aimed at securing a lasting peace agreement that would include Taliban guarantees regarding terrorism and a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Twitter early Wednesday that the talks  the sixth round between U.S. and Taliban officials  had begun in Doha, the Qatari capital.
LONDON  A British judge sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London.

Judge Deborah Taylor appeared unimpressed by Assanges written apology and his lawyers argument that he sought refuge in the embassy because of overwhelming fear of being taken from Sweden, where he faced sexual misconduct allegations, to the U.S. to face separate charges related to his WikiLeaks activity.

It is essential to the rule of law that nobody is above or beyond the reach of the law, Taylor said. Orders of the court are to be obeyed.

The judge said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offense as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody. She pointed out that he had not surrendered willingly and was only facing the court because the government of Ecuador withdrew its protection last month.

The Australian secret-spiller had lived in the South American countrys London embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women.

He was arrested by British police April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nations foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

Assange faces a separate court hearing Thursday on a U.S. extradition request. American authorities have charged Assange with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.

Taylor said Assanges seven years in the embassy had cost British taxpayers $21 million, and said he sought asylum as a deliberate attempt to delay justice.

Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court cheered for him as he left and chanted Shame on you at the judge as Assange was led away.

Gregory Katz is an Associated Press writer.
Page Content

updated on May 10, 2019

A study published in the April Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) stirred fresh debate over the return on investment (ROI) from workplace wellness programs: It found little evidence of short-term improvements in employees' health at worksites offering these programs.

Wellness program proponents argue that these initiatives have long-term benefits and say wellness can help organizations in ways beyond lowering health care costs.

In the study, Effect of a Workplace Wellness Program on Employee Health and Economic Outcomes, researchers focused on middle- and lower-income employees of BJ's Wholesale Club, a large, national retail warehouse company. They tracked about 4,000 employees at 20 worksites with wellness programs focused on nutrition, physical activity, stress reduction and related topics, and nearly 29,000 employees from 40 other worksites that had no wellness programs.

After 18 months, employees at worksites where wellness programs were offered self-reported higher rates of regular exercise and weight management, but there were no significant differences in other health outcomes, such as clinical measures of cholesterol, blood pressure and body mass index. In addition, no improvements were found in health care spending and use, nor in employment outcomes such as absenteeism, job tenure and performance.

Researchers Zirui Song, M.D., of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Katherine Baicker, Ph.D., of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, concluded that while workplace wellness programs are popular, "these findings may temper expectations about the financial return on investment that wellness programs can deliver in the short term."

The results, they noted, are similar to those from a study by the University of Illinois that found a lack of health improvement among wellness program participants after one year.

Song and Baicker acknowledged some potential criticisms of their approach, such as:

BJ's Wholesale Club's low-wage workers tend to have short job tenure, making it difficult to promote healthier behaviors.



Because the study lasted only 18 months, it's possible improved health or lower health care costs would be found over a longer period of time.

[SHRM members-only toolkit: Designing and Managing Wellness Programs]

Improving Workplace Culture

Considering the amounts employers spend on wellness programs, "it's important that they become more effective," wrote Jeff Levin-Scherz, a senior consultant and co-leader of North American health management practice at Willis Towers Watson.

"While traditional wellness programs don't appear to move the dial, employers have alternative means to improve the health and health behavior of their employees," he noted. "For example, employers can make their workplace as conducive to healthy behaviors as possible (better nutrition, more exercise, clean air, decreased stress)."

Employers can also realize beneficial results for their organizations by integrating programs to address employees' physical, emotional, financial and social well-being.

"Even if these programs do not directly lower medical claims costs, employers will gain a competitive edge by creating healthier and happier employees," Levin-Scherz contended.



'Employers will gain a competitive edge by creating healthier and happier employees.'



Wellness program vendors responded to the study by arguing that the benefits of their offerings are real if not always easy to quantify. Many argued that providing total well-being benefits for employees enhances corporate cultures and makes organizations more appealing to employees and job seekers.

"It has never been about wellness only or quick wins," said Scott Rotermund, co-founder and chief growth officer for Welltok, a provider of well-being program software and resources. Health-promoting initiatives are not meant to be measured in a short time frame of just a year and a half, which was the scope of the JAMA study, he noted. Over time, the programs are more likely to result in healthier behaviors and lead to long-term health improvements and cost savings, "not to mention, it's the right thing to do and your employees expect it," he said.



All wellness offerings are not equally effective, Rotermund added. Those that are personalized to address participants' specific needs"driving the most valuable actions for each individual employee"are more likely to yield results, he said.



"Unless we have every detail of all medical expenses, loss-of-productivity costs, increased home or childcare costs, and costs due to permanent lifestyle changes, we can't possibly know exactly how much has been saved," Danna Korn wrote in response to the JAMA study. Korn is the co-founder and CEO of Sonic Boom Wellness, a software company specializing in corporate wellness.

"That said, no wellness program should shirk its duty to demonstrate value," she wrote, Traditional ROI, however, may not capture the real value of employers' wellness investments. While year-over-year risk reduction and improvement is an ideal long-term goal for any wellness program, "the actual value of wellness programs can be determined through a number of other methods," such as surveying employees to measure improved morale, teamwork and camaraderie.

"Even if based on self-reported information, these metrics are good indicators of employee satisfaction and engagement," Korn said. If a wellness program can have a positive effect on employee morale, she added, it will be reflected in better retention, engagement and productivity.

Don't 'Silo' Wellness

"Every few years, we see studies disputing the impact of traditional wellness programs," said Henry Albrecht, CEO of Limeade, an employee engagement platform. Companies with good intentions may be taking the wrong approach, he noted, adding that "health costs are worth tracking, but they are so small compared to the true ROI of lower burnout and turnover, higher engagement and ultimately the sales, customer and financial metrics CFOs report on their earnings calls."



"Wellness in a silo will never live up to its potential," Albrecht believes. "It needs to connect across silos to create a unified employee experience focused on engagement, inclusion, resilience, communication and strategic alignment. No one needs just another program."



He advised that employers "measure an ROI that gets your companies not just on the cover of JAMA for higher employee health and well-being, but also on the cover of Forbes for being a great place to work."





Related SHRM Articles:

Does a New Study Underestimate Wellness Programs?, SHRM Online, February 2018

Metrics Beyond ROI Can Capture Wellness Outcomes, SHRM Online, March 2015
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The sister of a Staten Island man who fatally overdosed three years ago says shes relieved that the doctor convicted of illegally peddling her brother opioids will spend the rest of his remaining years in prison, but no punishment will erase the damage hes inflicted on her family.

Hes a pill pushing animal, said Krystal Benedetto, following the hearing Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court. He was supposed to take an oath to save lives and do better for human beings and he neglected that when it came to my brother.

Former Manhattan doctor Martin Tesher, 83, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for prescribing a combination of highly-addictive opioids that led to the fatal overdose of 27-year-old Nicholas Benedetto, who at the time of his death was living with Krystal Benedetto and her children.

When the judge asked if Tesher had anything to say, he didnt issue any apologies. He spoke about his lifes work as a doctor, and how he always was on call for his patients.

A living nightmare

On the day Nicholas was pronounced dead, Krystal Benedetto was awakened by her young son who shared a room with him in their apartment.

He said Mommy, Daddy, come look at how uncle is sleeping,'" said Krystal. My brothers head was facing the pillow and his butt was in the the air.

At first they thought it was funny, until they realized his face was purple. So they dialed 911, attempted CPR and ultimately sat with the body for nine hours until it was removed by the citys Medical Examiners Office.

He was the only male (family member) in my life," said Krystal. I miss taking care of each other...I miss the smell of his cologne.

You cant run anymore

The sentencing handed down Tuesday was bittersweet for the Benedetto family.

On one hand, Tesher will likely spend the rest of his remaining years on earth in a prison. But the court also has allowed the former Upper East Side practitioner until August before hell have to head to prison.

The only thing that bothered me is that he still has time in the free world, said Krystal Benedetto. And even in prison, he can call his wife. I cant call my brother.

From 2012 to 2017, Tesher allegedly wrote more than 14,000 oxycodone prescriptions totaling over 2,247,000 pills. According to family, Nicholas Benedetto was charged more than $200 out-of-pocket each time he visited the office. He wasnt the only patient from Staten Island.

After this all came out in the media, friends of Nicholas messaged me and said Tesher ruined their lives," said Krystal Benedetto.

Nicholas appointments with Tesher began after he suffered a leg injury on the job at Loews and was referred by a friend on Staten Island to the family practitioner, who did not specialize in pain management. According to Krystal Benedetto, the friend who referred her brother to Tesher has since died of complications related to drug use.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An NYPD officer has been charged with assault after a report of a violent altercation with a deliveryman early Wednesday morning in Brooklyn, according to a New York Daily News report.

Officer Chon Huang, 32, was exiting a Vietnamese restaurant at about 1:10 a.m. in Borough Park with his wife and two children when a deliveryman riding an e-bike almost clipped them on the sidewalk, according to the report.

Police said Huang punched the man in the head, sending the victim to a nearby hospital in stable condition. Huang was charged with assault and issued a summons for a future court appearance.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- 7-Eleven has announced a beer delivery service at select locations across the country, and its coming to New York City -- just not to Staten Island.

The convenience chain rolled out 7NOW, an app via the Apple Store, Google Play or Delivery.7-eleven.com, allowing customers to have alcoholic beverages and other items delivered right to their home.

While Staten Islanders wait for the service to expand to the borough, there are other ways for them to get a six-pack and groceries delivered to their door pending proper identification.

For instance, Dicks Deli of West Brighton -- 857 Castleton Ave., West Brighton; 718-442-4587, DicksDelicatessen.com -- can shuttle brews like Staten Islands own Flagship, Guinness in the can, Modelo Especial, Victoria Corona, Corona Light, Coors, Bud and Mikes Hard Lemonade. The deli delivers to most of the North Shore.

Craft beer mecca Holiday Beverage -- 4569 Amboy Rd., Eltingville; 718-356-0100, HolidayBev.com -- will deliver a minimum of five cases (as in 24-packs) Monday through Thursday. Beverage Island -- 1784 Richmond Terr., West Brighton; 929-369-0100, BeverageIslandNYC.com -- charges $10 a delivery with no minimum.

Meanwhile, the boroughs only beer truck operated by Flagship Brewing Co. of Tompkinsville is parked at Historic Richmond Town for the warm weather months.

And one further food FYI: The only things the Rossville Delivery service wont truck around the borough are liquor and cigarettes. Jordan Berber, who owns the company with wife Paige, sticks with speedy service from South Shore-centric restaurants and grocers. And their clients, many of them elderly or disabled, arent looking for booze -- just a helping hand.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Richmond Road Merchants Association members have a new banner to describe how they feel about the borough.

Courtesy of the Staten Island Economic Development Corp., the I Love Staten Island banner -- located outside The G.O.A.T. Bar & Grill at 1674 Richmond Road in Dongan Hills -- is intended to embody the support Staten Islanders have for their community and local businesses.

Im a lifelong Staten Islander and have been so excited for the opportunity to open a business here and become an asset to the Staten Island community," said Chris Shaleesh, the bars owner. "Placing a banner like this on The G.O.A.T. is a perfect opportunity to give back to my hometown for many years to come.

Funding for the banner was allotted by Councilman Steven Matteo and Borough President James Oddo.

I believe this new banner will also compel others to think about why they love this borough -- whether its the vibrant communities, the beautiful open spaces, the great places to shop, eat and spend time with family -- and to act on that love by taking advantage of Staten Islands many great amenities," said Matteo (R-Mid-Island).

"I am extremely pleased the Richmond Road Merchants group, which I helped create for this very purpose, is embarking on this new branding campaign, he added.

RAINBOW BENCH

The Rainbow Bench, a piece of artwork from the SIEDC, has also found its way to Richmond Road. First seen in front of Williams Eyeworks in Castleton Corners, it can now be found outside Casale Jewelers at 1639 Richmond Road.

Im so thankful that the SIEDC is helping to clean up and brand our neighborhood," said Cory Schifter, owner of Casale Jewelers and president of the Richmond Road Merchants Association.

This bench will continue to move throughout Staten Island in front of local businesses with the goal of beautifying the landscape of the merchant areas in which SIEDC operates.

FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK and TWITTER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The NYPD announced a push Tuesday to increase awareness about phone scams.

Scammers often impersonate government agencies and ask people to send them money, according to a media release from the NYPD.

Sophisticated phone scams use the trust victims have in their own governmental and law enforcement agencies against them,'' NYPD Chief of Community Affairs Nilda Hofmann said in a statement. "Victims of this type of phone scam are not limited to senior citizens -- these criminals are targeting every strata of society and every demographic is vulnerable.

New Yorkers receive a phone call and the person identifies himself or herself as an agent of the Social Security Administration, or some law enforcement agency, often intimidating their victim into compliance.

The scammers have technology that can manipulate caller IDs to display the number of the Social Security Administration or other official agencies, including NYPD precincts. Theyve even been found to impersonate officers assigned to those precincts, according to the NYPD.

Government agencies will never contact people to ask them to submit money or information over the phone, but a sure thing to look out for is a request for funds in the forms of prepaid gift cards, cryptocurrency or bank wire transfers, according to the media release.

To combat the crime, cops are working to increase awareness among the public, and businesses that might be used in these fraudulent transactions.

The NYPD is committed to working closely with our partners in the financial industries and will not rest until we bring those responsible for these crimes accountable, Hoffman said. If you even suspect a call to be fraudulent, dont take a chance, just hang up.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A program for elementary-aged students with disabilities could be expanded to Staten Island, according to state Assemblyman Michael Reilly.

Reilly said he is working with the city Department of Education (DOE) to expand the Academics, Career and Essential Skills (ACES) program to public elementary schools in the borough.

The ACES program provides students with intellectual or multiple disabilities with an opportunity to learn in their local school. Teachers and support staff are trained in specialized instructional strategies and assessments that support students in learning and applying work and independent living skills at home, in school and in the community, according to the DOEs website.

Currently, the ACES program is only offered in intermediate and high schools on Staten Island. Parents who wish to enroll their child in an elementary school that offers the program must travel to another borough.

It is ridiculous to expect the parent of a child with an intellectual or developmental disability to travel from the borough with the longest commute time in the nation, over a bridge with the highest toll in the nation, to another borough so that they can attend school in a community they arent even part of, said Reilly. We should be making it easier for these parents and students, not harder."

The announcement was made after Reilly wrote to city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza earlier this month, expressing frustration that the program was not offered in elementary schools. He asked for Carranza to reconsider expanding the program in time for the 2019-2020 school year.

According to Reilly, Carranzas office expressed interest in expanding the ACES program on Staten Island. However, as part of the expansion process, the DOE must identify sites for the program, which is typically based on need.

Were committed to serving our students with disabilities, and we thank Assembly Member Reilly for his advocacy," said Danielle Filson, spokeswoman for the DOE. "We are evaluating the need for an ACES elementary school program on the Island and encourage families to share their interest.

Reilly is asking parents interested in enrolling their child in the ACES program to call his office at 718-967-5194 or email him at reillym@nyassembly.gov to obtain a copy of the application.

I spent almost a decade on the Community Education Council and developed a strong passion for improving the accessibility and accountability of our public schools, Reilly said. After hearing from several parents who were upset that their child could not participate in this program, I knew something had to be done."

He continued: I am grateful to Chancellor Richard Carranza and his staff for their consideration on this matter, and for giving us a chance to show that there is, in fact, a need for this program on the elementary school level on Staten Island.

FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
CITY HALL -- A New York State Supreme Court judge denied Daniel Pantaleos defense teams request Tuesday to issue a temporary restraining order against the officers upcoming excessive force trial in the 2014 death of Eric Garner.

But the judge did agree to hold a hearing on May 9 to consider arguments that the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) has no jurisdiction to bring the case forward.

Pantaleos attorney Stuart London says that the NYPD should handle the case, rather than having it prosecuted by the CCRB. The trial is scheduled to begin May 13.

Weve waited five years, I dont see any danger in moving that day [May 13 trial] so that this issue can be properly litigated on, I would hate to try the case and then find out down the road that I was right that the CCRB does not have any jurisdiction, and then the whole case would have to be redone again, London argued.

Garners mother, Gwen Carr, said she was appalled that nearly five years after her sons death the defense was trying to delay the trial from moving forward at the last minute.

He is trying to get this case thrown out, he wants it to go away, but its not going away because were not going away, were going to be here every time there is a hearing, Carr said.

London made a similar argument against the CCRB in April, but Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado said then that the CCRB has jurisdiction to bring the charges forward.

Respondents counsel is once again making a baseless attempt to delay Officer Pantaleos prosecution, said CCRB Chair Fred Davie after the hearing in a prepared statement.

We are confident that on May 9 Judge Madden also will deny the application for a preliminary injunction," the statement went on. "With closure for the Garner family hanging in the balance, the trial for Officer Pantaleo must proceed as scheduled and not be further delayed by these meritless maneuvers.

Londons arguments ignited intense emotions from supporters of Eric Garner present at the hearing Tuesday.

After the hearing ended, protesters tried to prevent reporters from speaking to the defense, holding signs in their faces and loudly chanting Pantaleo has got to go!

Protesters tried to prevent reporters from speaking to Pantaleos defense Attorney Stu London in and out of the courthouse after the hearing as they chanted Pantaleo has got to go! pic.twitter.com/sR2C1xhmlF  Sydney Kashiwagi (@SydneyKashiwagi) April 30, 2019

NEARLY FIVE YEARS SINCE GARNERS DEATH

Over the summer, the NYPD said departmental charges would proceed against Pantaleo that could result in his termination.

The NYPDs decision came a day after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) informed the NYPD it had no objection with it moving forward.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has so far raised no objections to the NYPDs decision.

Earlier this year, Lawrence Byrne, the former head of the NYPD Legal Bureau, said he believes the Department of Justice (DOJ) has reached a conclusion in its investigation of Eric Garners death.

Carr said Tuesday she had yet to hear from the DOJ or the NYPD.

Garner, 43, died when cops attempted to arrest him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes in Tompkinsville on July 17, 2014.

Video taken by witness Ramsey Orta showed Pantaleo wrestle Garner to the ground while Garner could be heard repeatedly shouting I cant breathe.

Medical examiners ruled Garners death a homicide in 2014.

At a hearing at One Police Plaza in April, London revealed that the New York City Police Departments top surgeon said Pantaleo did not use a chokehold during his fatal encounter with Garner.

FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER.
CITY HALL -- After plans for a homeless shelter on Manhattans Billionaires Row were put on hold following a group of residents suit to stop the 150-homeless mens shelter from opening, a Manhattan judge gave the city the green light to open the shelter Monday.

State Supreme Court Justice Alexander Tisch rejected the arguments of the West 58th Street Coalition and others that the former Park Savoy Hotel did not meet current safety standards and would be unsafe in case of fire, the New York Post reported.

He also ruled that claims the neighborhood already had more than its fair share of shelters were without merit, the paper reported.

The Park Savoy sits at 158 W. 58th St. up against the citys One57 skyscraper apartment building home to a $100 million condo, which was the citys most expensive when Dell founder Michael Dell purchased it in 2014.

The judges greenlight of the Billionaires row shelter comes as the Islands Downtown Alliance also plans to sue the city at the request of the North Shores Community Board 1 to try to stop the de Blasio administration from building a 200-family homeless shelter at 44 Victory Blvd.

The group said it plans to file an injunction against the city within in the coming weeks and is still figuring out the basis of its suit.

When CB1 voted earlier this year to sue the city to stop the 44 Victory Blvd. shelter, similar to the Billionaires Row group that sued to stop the Manhattan shelter, they made the argument against bringing the proposed site saying the area already has its fair share of social services compared to the rest of the Island.

After the Manhattan judges ruling, members of the West 58th Street Coalition vowed to appeal his decision and blasted their local councilman for not taking a stand in the controversy, the Post reported.

The areas Councilman Keith Powers (D-Manhattan) said he was satisfied by the city assurances that the building goes beyond what is required in terms of fire safety  but added that he neither favored nor opposed the planned shelter, the Post reported.

On Staten Island, North Shore Councilwoman Debi Rose, a Democrat, has openly rejected the site and called for the city to move the 200-family shelter to another location.

But asked if she planned to support the Downtown Alliances efforts to sue the city, she said she was not sure.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Department of Homeless Services had said they would be willing to work with Staten Island elected officials on considering other alternative sites for the 200-family shelter.

But after the Department of Homeless Services and the nonprofit WIN, which will provide social services at the site, met with Island elected officials at Borough Hall last weel, the agency told the Advance shortly after the meeting that it could no longer wait on the other sites panning out and would move forward with the 44 Victory Blvd. site.

Leading up to that meeting, Borough President James Oddo and Rep. Max Rose were in active discussions with the Salvation Army about getting the organization to give a portion of the Bayley Seton Hospital campus to the city as an alternative site for the 200-family shelter.

Oddo, Rose, State Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore) and Assemblyman Charles Fall (D-North Shore) and Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore) asked the city in a joint statement to stop the planning for the 44 Victory Blvd. altogether so they could continue discussions with the Salvation Army.

But asked whether it would honor the Island elected officials request, DHS said it would not comment.

The city plans to build the 200 mostly women and children shelter on the North Shore by next winter, in addition to a 22-bed all-female shelter at Mount Loretto on a site owned by Catholic Charities.

Additionally, in documents obtained by the Advance, the city also indicated it plans to look for additional sites for 300 more beds over the course of our plan, specifically in the Mid-Island and South Shore areas.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- People in New York Citys custody will no longer need to cover the cost of their phone calls.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday that the city will provide free phone calls for both pre-trial and sentenced individuals in custody.

For too long have people in custody faced barriers to basic aspects of everyday life that can help create more humane jails, he said in a statement.

With free phone calls, were eliminating one of those barriers and ensuring that people in custody have the opportunity to remain connected to their lawyers, families and support networks that are so crucial to re-entry into ones community.

The mayors announcement enacted a City Council bill that was passed with near-unanimous support in August. The councils three Republican members, Joseph Borelli (South Shore), Steven Matteo (Mid-Island), and Eric Ulrich (Queens), were the only three to vote against it.

In a statement Wednesday, Matteo said he doesnt think taxpayers should be footing the bill for inmates personal phone calls.

Prior to the new policy, those in custody would pay 50 cents for the first minute of a call and five cents for each additional minute.

Now, the city will cover a 21-minute call every three hours for people in general population, and a 15-minute call once a day for those in punitive segregation, according to a media release from the mayors office.

The New York City Department of Correction was already providing three free phone calls a week to detainees, and two for sentenced individuals. Calls to 311, Legal Aid and confidential informant lines were also free.

DOC is installing additional lines to deal with the expected increase in calls,. according to the media release.

DOC Commissioner Cynthia Brann said keeping detainees in contact with family and friends helps to reduce recidivism.

The more the lines of communication remain open, the better it is for those in our custody, she said in a statement.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A female patient assaulted a woman doctor who was treating her at Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, authorities allege.

Eluise Perez, 27, of Carlton Avenue, Brooklyn, is accused in the incident, which occurred at about 1:20 p.m. on Saturday inside the hospital at 355 Bard Ave.

A shelter is located at the home address supplied by police for Perez.

Perez allegedly punched a 48-year-old female doctor multiple times in the face and neck, according to the criminal complaint and police. Injuries included bleeding from the nose, redness and pain.

The beating occurred while the doctor was providing direct patient medical care to defendant and was performing lawful duty in the course of informants employment, according to the complaint.

Perez was taken into custody a short time later at the hospital, according to police and public records.

A police spokesman was unable to provide information about what led to the attack.

The suspect has been charged with felony and misdemeanor assault and harassment.

Perez, who stands 52 tall and weighs about 189 pounds, is being held at Rikers Island in lieu of bond set at $2,500/$1,500 cash.

She is due back in Criminal Court in St. George on Friday.

An attorney for the suspect could not immediately be reached for comment.

Staten Island has seen several instances of violence at hospitals and medical centers in recent years.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- NASA scientists are preparing now for an asteroid to fly by the Earth in 10 years.

According to NASA, a 1,115-foot-wide asteroid called 99942 Apophis will streak across the sky on Friday, April 13, 2029, about 19,000 miles above the Earths surface -- the same distance some spacecraft orbit the planet. (For comparisons sake, the moon is 238,900 miles from Earth.)

Smaller asteroids, about 16 to 32 feet wide, have flown by Earth at a similar distance, but NASA said it is rare for an asteroid as large as Apophis to do so. That said, NASA added that the asteroid will cruise harmlessly by Earth.

Apophis will appear in the sky as a moving star-like point of light, first becoming visible to the naked eye in the night sky over the southern hemisphere.

At its closest approach, just before 6 p.m., it will be over the Atlantic Ocean, moving so fast it will cross the Atlantic Ocean in just an hour. By 7 p.m., the asteroid will cross over the United States, NASA said.

At one point, it will travel more than the width of the full moon within a minute and it will get as bright as the stars in the Little Dipper, NASA said.

Scientists gathered Tuesday at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in Maryland discussed observation plans and science opportunities for the celestial event.

The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science, said Marina Brozovic, a radar scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who works on radar observations of near-Earth objects. Well observe the asteroid with both optical and radar telescopes. With radar observations, we might be able to see surface details that are only a few meters in size.

Last year, a potentially hazardous intermediate-sized asteroid, Asteroid 2002 AJ129, made a close approach to Earth on Feb. 4 at 4:30 p.m.

While the asteroid was considered hazardous, it flew safely by the Earth.

NASA scientists are also studying an asteroid named Bennu, which is the size of the Empire State Building, that could possibly slam into Earth in September 2135 -- destroying living things in the process.

The agency said it was researching two plans if Bennu were to come close to Earth. The first would involve using a spacecraft to deflect or push the asteroid out of Earths orbit. The other could involve setting off a nuclear weapon.

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CITY HALL -- Asseblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/South Brooklyn) will host a free breast cancer screening event next week on Island.

The event will be held on Saturday, May 11 at South Fin Grill, 300 Father Capodanno Blvd., from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Screenings will include a mammogram and a clinical breast exam and an appointment is required. Any women who have not received a mammogram in the past year and are between the ages of 40 to 79 and live in New York City are eligible to attend.

I am pleased to host such an important event for women. With an average of one in eight women being diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during their lifetime, the best form of prevention is early detection to improve the chances of surviving this deadly disease. I encourage all women who are eligible to schedule a breast cancer screening. It could save your life, said Malliotakis.

No co-pays are required and deductibles will be waived, but insured women must provide their insurance card at the screening. This is a free event. Uninsured patients can also attend.

To schedule an appointment call 718-987-0197 or 1-877-628-9090. Medical services will be provided by Multi-Diagnostic Services.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As New York City continues to offer free all-day Pre-K to 4-year-old children across the five boroughs, teachers and elected officials are calling for pay parity among educators in community-based organizations (CBOs) and Department of Education (DOE) sites.

Earlier this month, the Citizens Committee for Children of New York (CCC) -- an independent, nonpartisan, privately-supported child advocacy organization -- released a report highlighting the pay disparity among teachers in CBOs and those who work at DOE pre-K sites, like public schools and pre-K centers.

According to the DOEs website, pre-K centers only offer grades before kindergarten and are run by DOE staff. CBOs offer pre-K seats that are contracted with the DOE or the Administration of Childrens Services (ACS) to provide free pre-K services.

The CCC study found that pre-K teachers in CBOs make 60 percent less than teachers who work at DOE pre-K sites, despite having the same level of education.

According to the study, a masters degree certified teacher in a CBO earns 32% less than a teacher that works at a DOE site. At a CBO, the teacher earns $47,858 in the first year of employment, while a DOE teacher makes $65,026.

The more experience a teacher has, the more disparity exists. After eight years of employment, CBO teachers earn 66% less, making $49,858. Their DOE peers make $85,143.

The graphic below was created by the CCC.

This graphic shows the different in master's certified pre-K teacher salaries between community-based organization teachers in the DC 1707 union and DOE teachers. (Courtesy of the Citizens' Committee for Children of New York)

Educators that work in CBOs provide year-round services to students, work longer hours, summers and holidays, the CCC noted in its report.

This disparity in salary is made more problematic as CBO educators offer extended-day services during the school year and provide year-round services through summer and holidays  meaning they work more days a year than their DOE peers, the CCC said in its report.

CBOs make up the majority of the citys free pre-K sites and seats, with at least 55% of four-year-old children enrolled in Pre-K for All are in CBO classrooms, according to the report.

In an effort to achieve pay parity, CBO teachers, including Staten Islanders, in the District Council (DC) 1707 union will strike outside of City Hall on Thursday -- citing the year-round services it provides to students citywide.

Pre-K teacher Marilyn Perez, who works at Staten Island Mental Health Society Head Start Program in Stapleton, said teachers in Head Start programs in the Local 95 chapter of the union -- which offer free early education services to families with little to no income -- will strike for pay parity.

Employees from all CBO Head Starts are looking to better ourselves financially, said Perez. Our salaries are based on 35-hour work weeks all year round. We are asking for pay parity because we at Head Start do the same, if not more work, than teachers in the DOE. We have to work all year round: No summer breaks, no winter recess, no mid-winter break, no spring break. We service children starting 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. every day."

Earlier this month, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) held a rally at Our Saviours Lutheran School in Brooklyn to alert Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza of the pay disparity issues between the DOE and CBO pre-K site programs.

During the rally, Malliotakis said that community-based organizations are at risk of closing because CBOs accept lower reimbursement costs than DOE sites, and teachers are leaving CBOs to work for the DOE because of pay disparity.

On average, teachers at community-based organizations that contract with the city to provide Pre-K earn $44,000 but those with the same qualifications that teach at department of education centers start at $59,000," said Malliotakis. "This makes it very difficult for community organizations to be able to retain teachers. The city needs to rectify this disparity.

Rallied w/ community based pre-school providers to bring attention to the millions @NYCMayor has spent to add unneeded @NYCSchools pre-K seats in #Brooklyn that have led to low enrollment at community schools that now threaten their existence. Watch here: https://t.co/LG3e8g52Ia pic.twitter.com/8QhqtJWinu  Nicole Malliotakis (@NMalliotakis) April 5, 2019

While CBOs receive funding from the city to provide free pre-K services, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza recently told Chalkbeat that the DC 1707 union is negotiating with the CBOs because the city does not directly employ the union teachers.

The mayors office and the DOE didnt respond to requests for comment on the pay disparity and the strike.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An estimated 32,000 cyclists are expected to take to the streets of New York City from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 5, for the 42nd annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour, the nations largest charitable bike ride.

For one day, the roads are yours, the bridges are yours, the city is yours  theres no better way to experience the Big Apple, said event organizers Bike New York.

The 40-mile tour spans the citys five boroughs, beginning in Lower Manhattan, traveling north into the Bronx, before heading to Queens, Brooklyn and, ultimately, crossing the iconic Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge before concluding at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island.

All proceeds from the TD Five Boro Bike Tour go toward Bike New Yorks free bike education programs, which provided services to over 28,000 adults and children in 2018.

When you ride with Bike New York, youre helping us in our mission to empower more New Yorkers with the skills to ride safely and confidently on city streets, organizers said.

The city Department of Transportation has announced that the following Staten Island streets will be closed Sunday, May 5, from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the discretion of the NYPD:

Bay Street between New York Avenue and Hylan Boulevard

Hylan Boulevard between Bay Street and Edgewater Street

Edgewater Street / Front Street between Hylan Boulevard and Hannah Street

Hannah Street between Front Street and Bay Street

Bay Street between Hannah Street and Richmond Terrace

Additionally, the Staten Island-bound lower level of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge will be closed to traffic, serving as the home stretch for cyclists rapidly approaching the Finish Festival at Fort Wadsworth.

Click here for a look at all the street closures throughout the five boroughs.
CITY HALL -- The new Statue of Liberty Museum is set to open later this month after three years of construction, but it is still unclear if President Donald Trump will attend the May 16 grand opening event, the New York Times reported.

Trump has reportedly yet to confirm his attendance and some anti-Trump Democrats say the president should not be welcomed to the event because of his tough stance on immigration.

President Trumps anti-immigrant rants and policies are diametrically opposed to everything the Statue of Liberty stands for, the Times quoted Dani Lever, a spokeswoman for Cuomo, as saying. His attendance would be truly ironic, and the mere symbolism of it should be offensive to all Americans whose ancestors were guided into this country by her torch.

The events guest list includes Gov. Cuomo, Gov. Philip Murphy of New Jersey, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Representative Jerrold Nadler and Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), a Trump surrogate, welcomed the presidents attendance.

The president should be welcome to come and deliver a speech at the statue, to highlight the benefits of legal immigration that built this country from its foundations, Borelli was quoted as saying. I suppose his base would enjoy him delivering an immigration speech while Gov. Cuomo and Murphy sit silent.

A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment to the Times.

The president could speak near the statue as long as they cover her eyes, the Times quoted Bob Liff, a Democratic political consultant, as saying.

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The value of Australian wine exports rose by 5 per cent in the year ending March 2019, to $2.78 billion, with the value of exports to seven of the top 10 markets all climbing.

Exports to Australias number one wine market, China, rose 7 per cent to $1.11 billion, while exports to the growing Asian markets of Japan (up 16 per cent) and Singapore (up 10 per cent) both recorded double-digit growth.

Pipers Brook Vineyard in Tasmania. Credit:Tasmania Tourism

The overall volume of wine exports for the year to the end of March actually fell slightly, by 3 per cent to 814 million litres, but this fall was more than compensated for by higher average prices for Australian wine sold overseas.

The figures, released by Wine Australia, showed that the average value of bottled wine jumped 9 per cent to $6.24 per litre, which was described by Wine Australia as a "near-record".
A car rental company has attracted dozens of complaints from consumers for failing to return security bonds in a timely manner.

Atlas Car and Truck Rentals blamed a banking system change on the delays, and said it had switched back to the old system of processing bond returns.

NSW Fair Trading received 42 complaints about Atlas Car and Truck Rentals in March. Credit:Facebook

"The bond issue we have has caused us and our customers a great deal of strain which we are working though alongside our internal and external accountants," Atlas chief operating officer Scott Atkins said.

Atlas Car and Truck Rentals, which has locations around Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, the Gold Coast and Cairns, appeared on the NSW Fair Trading complaints register for the first time in March, with 42 complaints.
The elevation to the main stage is a step up for Lane as choreographer, though she has plenty of experience there as a dancer. She was nominated for both Green Room and Helpmann awards for her performance in Lucy Guerin Inc's Split. She was pipped for the individual honour in both cases by her co-star Lilian Steiner, but together they won the Green Room award for best dance ensemble. Lane has performed the show 50 times now since its Melbourne premiere in 2017, from the Sydney Opera House and Adelaide and Darwin festivals, to shows in Tokyo, Indonesia, the US and Europe. It heads to Germany in July. Born in Sydney and raised in Canberra, the dancing bug hit Lane early. As a child, she studied ballet and got that buzz and wanted to do more. Lane studied at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts before moving to Berlin, a great city to make anything happen. After 15 years there, she returned to Australia and settled in Melbourne.

Lane says that as she has grown older, she has become more curious about making her own work. "I do still love performing and I think I will continue to do that," she says. "I often perform in my own work, so Ill be continuing to do that. But I also am getting on. As I get older, my interests shift more into making, so eventually I will start to make more than I perform. Her creations over the past five years have centred on learning from other peoples physical histories. Contemporary dance can give voice to alternative experiences that we are unfamiliar with," she says. Her interests have taken her to Indonesia, where she recently finished an Asialink artists residency in Bandung, West Java, researching traditional mask dances.

The tradition is really strong [there] and connecting again with my cultural heritage and learning from that has been really exciting," she says. Her Australian-born father lives in the region, a political activist, writer and translator who has dedicated his life to giving voice to others. Lane gets her determination, she says, from her parents. Her mother has lived with polio since the age of two, migrating from Indonesia to Australia in her 20s. She still lives in Canberra. It certainly reinforces what a privilege it is for me to work with the body, says Lane. Shes the one who encouraged me to work in dance. Now her British husband is in the mix too, an electronic musician who has collaborated with Lane on 10 projects. She describes herself as very physical and visual, while Clark looks at the whole structure of a work to determine how a composition develops over time.
A prime example is Britains much-loved cartoon pig Peppa, who has been leading a rich, full life since her birth on television in 2004.

Maybe its a result of the research being done on animal intelligence, but childrens film and television producers know few inhibitions when it comes to portraying the furred and feathered as people like us.

Criticisms of Disney for its anthropomorphic approach to the animal world seem to have eased lately.

She and her rather genteel family, who live in a suburban bungalow and speak English with crisply sounded consonants and rounded vowels, have fans in more than 180 countries, including China. Click on YouTube and youll find a clip of the Hong Kong garrison of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army finishing their new year greeting in this year of the pig by forming an outline of Peppas head in profile.

Peppa and her family celebrate Grandpa's birthday.

In her earlier feature films, she has travelled to Australia and China, and in her latest, which marks her 15th anniversary, she takes a trip to a childrens festival, goes to a movie and visits a restaurant for Grandpa Pigs birthday.

Whats missing is a theme. Her creators, the London animation company Astley Baker Davies, have spliced together 10 five-minute episodes that have not yet been broadcast, and interspersed them with a live-action chorus of kids singing, dancing and playing games.

Its a much simpler format than Sesame Street, the program that entranced an earlier generation, as well as being distinctively British. A Canadian woman recently reported wonderingly that her pre-schooler had begun adopting an English accent thanks to Peppa and her compatriots.
Sometimes, in the chilly early hours of an autumnal Sydney morning, even a Tony Award nomination isn't enough to get you out of bed.

"I went to wake him up but he was asleep," laughs Carmen Pavlovic, producer of Broadway behemoth King Kong, about the Tony nod her partner Peter England scored for his design work on the musical.

"My 10-year-old daughter who never sleeps was awake in her bed so I went and told her, 'Daddy got a nomination.' She was excited."

The Broadway musical, produced by Pavlovic's Global Creatures, earned three Tony nominations on Wednesday morning, when the prestigious theatre awards were announced in the US.
When Jon Faine announced his retirement from ABC Melbourne  hell step down as mornings host at the end of this year  his audience grew worried.

Would management replace him with an FM-style chatterbox? Would the program lose its hard-news focus?

"Im afraid you've got attack dog Virginia Trioli," says the woman confirmed as Faine's replacement on Wednesday.

"It is an agenda-setting news program and that's never going to change. So for all of those people who are concerned: stand down, all will be well."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is facing an explosive political row over his climate change policy as industry warns of rising costs and a new economic study predicts 167,000 fewer jobs by 2030 under the Labor plan.

Business groups backed the ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but said they deserved more detail given they would pay for the scheme, in a rebuke to Labor's claim it was "impossible" to model the cost of its policy on employers and the economy.

The dire new warning from economist Brian Fisher, which is hotly disputed by Labor and countered by other experts, marks a dramatic escalation in the political fight over the cost of taking action on climate change compared to the cost of inaction.

Dr Fisher concludes the Labor emissions target would subtract at least $264 billion from gross national product by 2030 and as much as $542 billion depending on the rules for big companies to buy international carbon permits to meet their targets.
Labor's coal miner candidate in the key seat of Capricornia says he is open to working with the Greens to get climate policy through the Senate  just as Opposition Leader Bill Shorten ruled out any deal with the left-wing minor party.

The divergence highlights the key difficulty for a potential Shorten Labor government in how to pass legislation on the political Achilles heel of climate change policy.

Labor's candidate in Capricornia, Russell Robertson, remained open to a climate deal with the Greens or LNP. Credit:Dominc Lorrimer

Russell Robertson  a third-generation coal miner who is taking on the Coalition's Michelle Landry in her north Queensland seat  said it was "a flip of a coin" whether Labor could work better with the Liberals or the Greens on climate.

"Whatever the make up [of the Senate] is, we will have to deal with that," he said. "We will have to talk to everyone. I don't think you can exclusively talk to one party."
Up to one in 10 surgery patients who get hooked on opioids had never used the drugs before they were prescribed the medication after their operation, world-leading pain experts say.

They warned the potent painkillers themselves can switch on pain pathways in some patients, locking them in a vicious cycle: the more opioids they take, the worse they feel.

Monash University Professor Paul Myles, lead researcher of the Lancet series. Credit:Monash University.

As the political and public focus on the opioid epidemic focuses on banning over-the-counter codeine and real-time prescription monitoring, pain and anaesthesia specialists are looking upstream to the poisoned chalice of the first opioid prescription.

A landmark Lancet series published earlier this month confirmed poorly managed post-surgery pain is a major contributor to the global opioid crisis.
Tokyo riots

Three days after all occupation controls ended, at least 300,000 Japanese communists ran riot in Tokyo today in a violent anti-foreign May Day demonstration. First reports said that nine Americans had been clubbed or stoned. Later reports said that scores of Americans were attacked and suffered minor injuries. They included eight correspondents. Rioters also hurled two American sailors and a number of Japanese police into the Emperors Palace moat.

Rush hour pig swill

The description of rush hours in hotels as a pig swill was propaganda, Francis Wilson, former research secretary of the Temperance Alliance, told the Royal Commission on Liquor yesterday. He said crowding in milk bars during rush hours was as bad as in hotels, but no one made statements about them. Since the first propaganda of crowded hotels in 1939, he had kept a check and found the alleged overcrowding was not as bad as had been made out.

Takes the plate
In a recent report, the Climate Council found that over the last five years the Coalition government had slashed climate science funding, including cutting jobs in CSIRO, and had rejected advice from climate scientists. In the meantime, Australia has just suffered what the Climate Council calls its "angriest summer" ever. The Coalition should worry not about the cost of climate action, but the cost of climate inaction. - Douglas Mackenzie, Deakin, ACT It's a bit rich for Scott Morrison to be running down the burrow of how much Labor's climate change policy will cost. Morrison was a member of Malcolm Turnbull's cabinet which approved the NEG  the same scheme Labor is proposing.

Wouldn't good economic management mean they would have done some costings? Perhaps he can dust off the file and give it to Bill Shorten. - John Rome, Mt Lawley During this election campaign, climate change has featured in the debate, and as is to be expected there has been much too-ing and fro-ing between the big two as who is going to do what. But neither of them have acknowledged why, per head of population, Australia is one of the worst greenhouse gas emitters in the world. One big reason is the excessive use of road transport and in particular, private motor cars. When I joined the railways in the late '70s, I well remember the number of country passenger trains and mixed freight trains that used to run along the north coast and northern lines. Over the years they disappeared as road transport took over. The result has been congestion on our roads and more greenhouse gas emissions. What do either of the big two parties intend to do; bearing in mind that rail transport is three to nine times more fuel efficient than road? Who will make transport more efficient? - Peter Sansom, Kahibah

Warringah can do Abbott  and country  a favour I would go a step further than Thomas Keneally and suggest Tony Abbott needs to be out of our Parliament for his own sake as well as for the sake of everybody else ("Respect Citizen Abbott but vote the MP out", May1). Abbott has put his own need for power and revenge above what is good for his own party. He has not been a team player. He has contributed in no small way to this government becoming unelectable by reason of its divisiveness and inability to deal with the issues of our time. He has given Bill Shorten an easy ride to the Lodge. Democracy cannot function without at least two strong sides.- Mark Porter, New Lambton

Well said Thomas Keneally. It should also be pointed out that Abbott in 2013, as Prime Minister, abolished the science portfolio for the first time since 1931. Science was to be included under the Industry portfolio, which shows where Abbott's priorities lie in regard to taking any action to address climate change. The same lack of logic and commitment has seen the LNP separate energy and the environment, leading to years of uncertainty and inaction in both areas. - Alan Marel, North Curl Curl I agree with Keneally that we should respect Abbott for his volunteer work and for being a former prime minister, but I would respect him more if he wasn't running such a negative, nasty campaign against Zali Steggall. - Andrew Macintosh, Cromer In an attempt to appear balanced in his assessment of Abbott, Keneally has described him as "an altruistic being", "unpretentious and engaged".

Then he lists his rejection of climate change, debasing universities, wrecking the NBN, weakening Medibank and under-funding the ABC as evidence of Abbott the politician being "yesterday's man". However, in his effort to be overly fair, Keneally has failed to tunnel into what is revealed by Abbott so aggressively pursuing these policies. It isn't just Abbott the politician speaking for us in Parliament but Abbott the religious warrior. As such he is incapable of reflecting the secular views of his constituents. And the affable, onion-eating, public persona that he presents outside Parliament is simply an affectation to distract from his sectarian views on Australian politics. - Bert Candy, Glenvale I hope the Labor Party campaign machine read and understood Keneally's very valid points why Abbott should not be re-elected in Warringah.

These points are just as important for the rest of the nation to consider, not only Warringah. - Michael Kruger-Davis, Gillenbah Our three-year terms are laughably short Australians love voting early, but pre-poll voting is not the problem ("Time to put a brake on early voting", May 1). There are far more fundamental flaws in our version of democracy as a result of so-called "maximum" terms of only three years for federal house of reps. The term itself is laughably short, but weakened further by the discretion of the government to call an early election.

Accordingly, we vote every 30 months. If US citizens can vote on Melbourne Cup day every four years, surely we can too, or better still, why not declare February 29 as a public holiday when it turns up and make that the day for a democracy sausage? - John Penton, Rose Bay Judging by the number of voters who are pre-polling or postal voting, will there be an oversupply of snaggers on May 18. - Carolyn Wills, Cremorne When power is bought That Clive Palmer has outspent both the Labor and Liberal parties by more than fivefold  $36 million to date  in electioneering is a warning that a future president of an Australian Republic must not be elected by a popular vote ("Are you paying attention? If not, you'll get a TV ad", May 1). Just imagine a Palmer buying their way into the Prime Minister's office. - Kerry Peadon, Artarmon

The true Damond culprits The real crime was not committed by the unfortunate policeman who made a terrible misjudgment ("Police officer found guilty of Justine Damond's murder", smh.com.au, May 1). It was committed by the National Rifle Association, politicians and the US gun industry whose actions place law-enforcement officials at the front of an unnecessary arms race. Not now nor ever should we listen to the Australian pro-gun advocates who wish to copy the worst of US society. - Peter Hull, Hat Head Money for schools Ross Gittins is only partially right. Pouring money where it is not getting results is a waste ("Start at the bottom and work up", May 1). What is needed is looking at where it is spent. Providing hot-doggedy drama theatres and sporting facilities is not the answer.

Money has to be spent getting more support into classrooms for students who need some help to keep them up with their basic learning. More money needs to be spent supporting special needs students in the mainstream and therefore supporting the teacher and other students. There are numerous other examples that I could list. Importantly, we must have more specialists in mental health and behaviour management in our schools as there appear to be increasing issues. Most importantly, the money has to be spent on ensuring our students have access to the best teachers available, which includes their knowledge of subjects taught, their aptitude and proven ability to teach. - Augusta Monro, Dural Air rights beyond bizarre Why shouldn't cultural institutions and heritage assets be properly funded and not have to rely on a fictitious market in "air rights" to avoid destitution ("Record $20m sale of air rights above CBD heritage site", May 1)? - Alex Mattea, Sydney

I checked today's date, but it is not April 1 as I supposed from the article on selling air space above Hyde Park Barracks. The concept of selling something that does not exist such as "air space" that cannot be developed sounds Orwellian with a nod to Alice in Wonderland. But if that is the case I am willing to sell the air above our house in Kiama as long as nothing is actually built on it. A win-win for a farsighted developer. - Nola Tucker, Kiama It is beyond bizarre that something that doesn't exist can be sold so developers can overshadow someone else. - Graeme Finn, St Peters With the air rights over the Hyde Park Barracks getting such a hot price, how much more would they get for the property just past the Mint building and Sydney Hospital, which must boast an inexhaustible supply of hot air. - Doug Walker, Baulkham Hills Have I got a deal for you! Would you like to buy the air over Sydney Harbour Bridge? - Alan Wyburn, Mosman

Hanson gets this one right I commend Pauline Hanson for her swift and unambiguous words and actions about a member of her party (Letters, May 1). I applaud her crystal-clear statement: "I am both a mother of three boys ... I wouldn't tolerate my own children behaving this way towards women". And I congratulate her as "the only female leader of a political party in this country" for accepting the resignation of the offending party member. One need not be labelled "feminist" or "progressive" to demand appropriate treatment of women. One need not be "popular" to set a positive example. I concur with Hanson's immediate, unequivocal response to a party member's inappropriate behaviours. This may be our only point of agreement, but I give kudos to her for her stance. - Judy Bamberger, O'Connor ACT

Murray's treasures Comments about Les Murray have focused, rightly, on his place as our prominent poet (Letters, May 1). Less well known is that for decades as an editor Les provided encouragement to new voices. He did not care whether you were a "name"; if Les thought a poem was good, he would publish it. - David Atkinson, Beecroft I, too, am the recipient of a much treasured letter from Les Murray. Despite much well-deserved adulation, Les was a most a generous and simple man. I was privileged to hear him speak to a gathering in Parramatta Library in 1999. Deeply affected by his talk, I felt compelled to write a poem and send it to him with a covering letter. To my shock (after all, I'm a nobody) I received a hand-written letter from him. It's a beautiful, personal letter, at the end of which he wrote: "Here, as a present to you, is a new poem." A poem for me! Of course, I treasure poem and letter.

Vale dear Les. - Kathleen Hollins, Northmead I won't stop thinking about him, reading him and telling others about him. He has taught me The Meaning of Existence. - Pam Connor, Mollymook Beach Clues reveal too much Having wrestled with DA's Wednesday crossword and won I found the highlighted squares running diagonally across the grid spelt "starkers" like Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase (clever), but my first thought was that David Astle must be doing his performance piece naked at the Art After Hours at the AGNSW, a thought that put me right off my porridge (Puzzles, May 1). - John Grinter, Katoomba Horror: my whole week has been turned upside down. A DA crossword on a Wednesday.

Come on, fair's fair. The brain isn't fully into gear yet. It needs time to prepare for this weekly torment. Please put him back to Fridays - but not this week. - Michael Morton-Evans, Mosman Burning issue Nice idea, Gabrielle, but sadly, a "controlled" goat is an oxymoron (Letters, May 1). I think we should stay with controlled hazard reduction, with appropriate warnings for those at risk, rather than opt for untimely back-burning to control a wildfire. Our First People had been using fire for their benefit for thousands of years before destructive goats, and more controllable cloven-hooved beasts, arrived in Australia. - Felicite Ross, Vaucluse
A 31-year-old mother had recently escaped from a mental health facility when she allegedly stabbed a primary school teacher with a pair of scissors at a school in Byron Bay on Tuesday, a court has heard.

Karina Sbaraini was arrested on Tuesday morning after she allegedly used a pair of scissors to stab 28-year-old teacher Zane Vockler at Byron Bay Public School around 7.20am.

Primary school teacher Zane Vockler, 28, was allegedly stabbed by the mother of a student at Byron Bay Public School. Credit:Facebook

Following the attack on Mr Vockler the NSW Primary Principals Association urged the state government to introduce tougher penalties such as fines or imprisonment for threatening, aggressive and violent behaviour towards school staff.

At present, all schools could do was ban dangerous people from coming onto school property under the Enclosed Lands Act. A new charter outlining respectful behaviour "isn't very strong," said NSW PPA president Phil Seymour.
Animal rights activists who co-ordinate farm invasions face 10 years in prison, under an LNP proposal to change the law.

Last month, the government introduced on-the-spot fines of more than $600  a faster penalty than pursuing trespass charges  for protesters deemed a "biosecurity threat".

The activists at Carey Bros. Abattoir in Yangan, southern Queensland. Credit:Facebook

LNP Burdekin MP Dale Last said protesters were treating current laws with disdain and were willing to risk fines, and claimed Labors increase on fines were "laughable" and would do nothing to stop trespassers.

On Wednesday, Mr Last introduced a private member's bill to ramp up fines and prison time for militant extremists who protested on farms.
A notorious roundabout in Brisbane's south is part of a $226 million Coalition cash splash in south-east Queensland on roads and infrastructure.

Federal Cities and Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge pledged $14 million for the upgrade of the Rochedale Road roundabout at the Priestdale Road intersection on Wednesday, as part of the "congestion-busting" package.

Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner, Bonner MP Ross Vasta and Cities Minister Alan Tudge pledge $226 million for a "congestion-busting" package on Brisbane roads. Credit:Lucy Stone/Brisbane Times

"[When] you have five schools in the local area as well as a large childcare centre, so the traffic really converges on this intersection, its dangerous, theres been accidents there," Mr Tudge said.

"So were putting aside $14 million to fix up this dangerous intersection."
The man who during his murder trial sensationally dropped his claim that his ex-partner had died as part of a suicide pact and admitted he'd killed her later tried to change his plea back to not guilty, a court has heard.

Murat Davsonoglu claimed for months he killed 34-year-old Ozlem "Ozzie" Karakoc as part of a suicide pact.

Murat Davsanoglu arrives at the Supreme Court for an earlier hearing. Credit:Luis Ascui

But in December, weeks into his murder trial at the Supreme Court, 43-year-old Davsanoglu paused, took a breath and admitted he'd "snapped" and killed the woman he'd been in an on-and-off relationship with for about 15 years.

He was unwilling to commit and she'd moved on. Friends said the period before her July 2017 murder was the happiest she'd ever been.
Gangland barrister Nicola Gobbo had a bond with drug boss Tony Mokbel that went beyond the normal lawyer-client relationship, a senior policeman told the Lawyer X royal commission.

Inspector Marty Allison was investigating Mokbel as part of a drug squad investigation, Operation Kayak, in the early 2000s.

Inspector Allison told the inquiry on Wednesday he heard rumours from other police officers about Ms Gobbo.

Nicola Gobbo with Tony Mokbel in 2002 after he was released on bail. Credit:Vince Caligiuri

Ms Gobbo seemed to have a relationship that was outside the normal lawyer-client relationship, Inspector Allison said.
The Victorian government is pushing to increase the number of international students allowed to study in its schools following an unexpected freeze on enrolments.

Earlier this week, The Age revealed that Victorian principals had been told to halt overseas enrolments after receiving a record number of applications that risked breaching a statewide cap.

Vietnamese international student An Hoang (left) and Chinese student Jian Kun Zheng say Auburn High School has given them plenty of opportunities Credit:Eddie Jim

Education Minister James Merlino said he's seeking urgent advice to boost the number of international students studying at Victorian state schools.

We want to see more schools offering international student places, he said.
Tony Mokbel blackmailed Nicola Gobbo over sex tapes, according to her police handlers, as a public inquiry heard she had a bond with the drug boss that was beyond the normal lawyer-client relationship.

Ms Gobbo, a gangland barrister turned high-level informer, told her police handlers that Mokbel had tried to blackmail her over the sex videos in 2008, according to notes made by the police officers released by the Supreme Court last month.

Nicola Gobbo with Tony Mokbel in 2002 after he was released on bail. Credit:Vince Caligiuri

At the time, Mokbel had been arrested in Greece after he fled drug trafficking charges in Australia in which Ms Gobbo had acted as his lawyer.

Ms Gobbo was also informing on him and relaying to police the conversations she was having with him while he was imprisoned in Greece.
Former CEO of Lynch, Jones & Ryan brokerage now works to improve the business district of Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Abdullah Chaarani admits twice firebombing a Melbourne Shiite mosque in what he claims was an act of protest but prosecutors say the terrorism motivation is clear.

"It's written on the wall," Nicholas Robinson, QC, told the jury during closing arguments for Chaarani's Supreme Court terror trial on Wednesday, referring to graffiti which read: "Islamic State".

Police investigate the mosque fire. Credit:Justin McManus

Chaarani is accused alongside Ahmed Mohamed of attempting to engage in a terrorist act against the Imam Ali Islamic Centre at Fawkner in November 2016.

They and another co-accused, Hatim Moukhaiber, are charged with engaging in a terror act by burning the same building the following month.
The father of a 19-year-old man has spoken after his son's jaw was broken in three places when he was allegedly assaulted by a bouncer at a Northbridge bar on the weekend.

Mitchell Clarke Credit:Facebook

As first reported by Nine News Perth the 48-year-old crowd controller allegedly put Mitchell Clark in a headlock as he was leaving the Coconut Grove bar in Northbridge about 1am on Sunday.

A talented sportsman, Mitchell Clark is the brother of Geelong Cats player Jordan Clark.

The 19-year-old was taken to Royal Perth Hospital after the incident.
A veteran teacher who was forcibly retired and stripped of his sick leave after he was diagnosed with PSTD has won his unfair dismissal case.

Bill Kilner had been employed as a teacher for 36 years and had worked at Busselton Senior High School for 28 years when he experienced an altercation with a student in 2017.

Busselton SHS. Credit:Busselton Dunsborough Mail

Its understood Mr Kilner was forced to physically restrain a student who threatened to hurt him after he confiscated the student's hat.

He also experienced other abuse from students, and consequently took stress leave.
Australia's air force is working on a cutting-edge nanotechnology "combat cloud" in which large numbers of tiny sensors placed on all kinds of planes and equipment will be able to see, hear and even smell everything around them.

The huge volumes of data from all these sensors will be fused by artificially intelligent computers into an overall picture of an air battle space that will be fast and easy for human military commanders to understand.

The project will draw on an unprecedented collaboration that was launched on Wednesday by the RAAF and the University of Sydneys Nano Institute - signalling a growing trend of military-civilian co-operation that is common in some countries such as the United States but relatively underdeveloped in Australia.

An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in flight.

Researchers involved have badged the plan an "internet of Defence things" - a variant of the civilian term referring to connected devices, appliances, vehicles and buildings that are increasingly creating so-called "smart cities".
In a bid to tackle gun crime, Queensland police would gain the right to search suspects without a warrant, an LNP bill proposes.

Opposition police spokesman Trevor Watts private member's bill would give the police commissioner discretion to impose an order on a person, meaning that person, and their car, could be searched at any time.

Some of the firearms seized in Queensland last year as part of Operation Quebec Camouflage. Credit:AAP Image/ Glenn Hunt

The Firearms Prohibition Orders would ban high-risk Queenslanders from buying, shooting or possessing a firearm under the LNP's proposal for gun reform.

Those with an order against them could be searched at any time without a warrant.
Killers who show a reckless indifference to human life will face life in jail under Queensland laws sparked by community outrage about inadequate sentences for people who kill children.

The changes will increase the maximum penalty for failing to supply the necessaries of life from three to seven years' jail, and expand the definition of murder to include cases where the perpetrator showed a reckless indifference to human life, including adult and child victims.

Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath said the changes would strengthen the justice system by being more responsive to the expectations of bereaved family members while holding perpetrators to account. Credit:AAP Image/ Dan Peled

Reckless indifference would cover cases such as where a victim had died as a result of neglect or starvation, or a person who acted callously knowing that death was probable.

Labor's laws, passed in the Queensland Parliament on Wednesday night with the support of the opposition, also introduced an aggravating factor for manslaughter of a child aged under 12, designed to increase the length of sentences.
London: Julian Assanges legal team has already moved on from what WikiLeaks called an outrageous and vindictive sentence for skipping bail, saying the big fight is against his extradition to the US.

Court artist sketch depicting Julian Assange at Southwark Crown Court in London. Credit:Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP

That process is due to begin in a London court on Thursday, UK time, though the initial hearing is likely to be just procedural as the US has, it is understood, not yet sent a full, detailed extradition request for consideration by the British government and courts.

It has about another month to do so.

The US has sent a provisional request to extradite Assange to face a charge of computer hacking, which carries a maximum five-year sentence, for his work in 2010 with US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Washington: Special counsel Robert Mueller pushed Attorney-General William Barr twice to release more of his investigative findings in late March after Barr outlined the inquiry's main conclusions in a letter to Congress, citing a gap between Barr's interpretation and Mueller's report, according to a letter released on Wednesday.

The letter from Mueller revealed deep concern about how Barr handled the initial release of the special counsel's findings.

Mueller sought to have Barr release more details from his report than Barr originally did. Credit:AP

Mueller's office first informed the Justice Department of their concerns March 25, a day after Barr released his letter clearing Trump but declined to release the special counsel's findings themselves.

"We communicated that concern to the department on the morning of March 25," Mueller said in a second letter to Barr two days later. "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation."
And "with something in the neighbourhood of $US20 billion in Rosneft assets tied up in the country, the Russians have real concerns they could lose out as a result of a wholesale change in power - despite assurances from the opposition and the US that would not be the case," Matthew Rojansky, director of the Wilson Centre's Russia-focused Kennan Institute, wrote in an email. Prepaid oil deliveries to Russian clients were also used to buy Russian tanks and guns for Venezuela's defence force. Some have argued that the loans, because they were not approved by the opposition-controlled National Assembly, "would not be legal under Venezuelan rule of law," as Moises Rendon, associate director and associate fellow of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Americas Program, said. "They want to remain in Venezuela not only today but for a day after," said Rendon, a former legal analyst with Banco Occidental de Descuento, a prominent Venezuelan commercial bank, referring to Russian interests. "They want to be sure they get their money and their investments are protected." So it's about money and energy and the military?

Loading Well, and Cuba. Cuba? Part of the reason that the Trump administration and its supporters in Congress feel as strongly as they do about Venezuela is because of opposition to communist Cuba, which backs Venezuela. But if US opposition to Maduro is an extension of US opposition to Cuba, then is it, in a way, history repeating itself? When the Trump administration reversed former president Barack Obama's thawing of relations with Havana, Cuba went back to tightening ties with Cold War ally Russia. Among the economic and political clashes that defined the Cold War, perhaps the most famous was the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s, when the Soviet Union put nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba, a flex of force not far from US shores. Then president John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ultimately defused the crisis. But such a reading of historical parallels to the Venezuela crisis is too neat and ignores that this is not the 1960s. As Rendon noted, Russia has not put nuclear-armed missiles in Venezuela. And the world is not divided between the United States and the Soviet Union. "Having a broader coalition is probably more effective," Rendon said, suggesting that the United States should call on Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Peru to effectively ask Russia to step back.

And there are other countries that are just as, if not more, relevant to Russia's involvement in Venezuela. So what do Libya and Syria have to do with it? Loading "The Syrian and Libyan models are more important here than the 60 year old Cuban case," Rojansky wrote. In 2011, a coalition led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation helped rebels oust Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, who was killed shortly thereafter. "The Libyan case represents exactly what Russia fears most - that if it does nothing, America will use military power to topple a Moscow-friendly regime," Rojansky wrote.

That fear is not just about what happened in Libya. "Official Moscow is utterly preoccupied with the notion that Washington uses its power to force favourable regime changes around the world, and that sooner or later Russia itself will be on the target list. The Russians therefore oppose any change in the Maduro regime both because America so strongly supports it, and because of the unacceptable precedent such change might set for Russia itself and for other states closer to home in Eurasia," he wrote. The Libya case, the thinking goes, is part of why the Russian powers that be have been so supportive of Syria's President Bashar Assad. And just as Russia learnt from Libya that the West could not be left to intervene in a country without its leader ending up dead, so, too, did Russia learn something from Syria. "The Syrian model suggests that with a relatively small military commitment and some agile diplomacy, Moscow can not only prevent this outcome but secure enormous enduring leverage over the local government," Rojansky wrote. Russia, in all likelihood, can't fight in Venezuela as it has in Syria. Venezuela is half a world away, and Russia is preoccupied elsewhere. "But at relatively low cost they can put down markers that will strengthen their negotiating position both with Washington and internally with the Venezuelan parties, like sending a high ranking general and a few plane loads of troops and supplies," Rojansky wrote. So it's about money and energy and the military and kind of Cuba and Libya and Syria?
French Quarter:--- A great team of 45 volunteers came together on Sunday to host the Endemic Animal Festival. The event is a showcase for the animals that live only on St. Martin. This year, the festival used the theme Survivors to celebrate many different aspects of local heritage and culture.

In six years of hosting this event, this was our most amazing team of volunteers yet, said Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. People of all ages and backgrounds worked together to share the things that make this island so special. Thanks to this team, we were able to offer more fun activities and interact more with the kids and families that came out to the festival.

The Endemic Animal Discovery Station has been a feature of the event since the beginning. Guests learn about the critters that live here and nowhere else, and why St. Martins nature is so special and unique. Art and craft activities are also a mainstay of the event. This year, guests enjoyed painting bird feeders made from upcycled plastic bottles.

Many exhibits and activities used the Suvivors theme to share other parts of local heritage. At the Story Survival station, guests recorded oral histories about life on St. Martin. A special exhibit of poems, from the recent Lasana M. Sekou book Hurricane Protocol, explored trauma, loss and survival. At the Plantilles Station, guests received seedlings of native trees that can boost survival of native animals. They also took home plants used in bush medicine, which is the islands oldest healing tradition.

The festival weaves local nature and culture together in new ways each year, explained Les Fruits de Mer co-founder Mark Yokoyama. This island is beautiful and fascinating. It is a joy to share that wonder with young St. Martiners. Its also a chance for us to learn new things from the guests who come. Listening, recording and sharing are all part of the magic.

The Endemic Animal Festival was created by the Les Fruits de Mer association. This years event was held at Amuseum Naturalis in French Quarter. The Hurricane Protocol and 5,000 Years of Eco exhibits are still on display during museum hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to noon. The 2019 festival was made possible by the support of Gold Sponsor Delta Petroleum and sponsors 97150, BirdsCaribbean, Buzz, IZI Light, LAuberge Gourmande, Lagoonies Bistro and Bar, LEsperance Hotel, St. Martins Sweetness and Tri-Sport.
Based on an article written by Bart de Koning from Volkskrant the VVD remains the party with the most serious integrity affairs, according to the sixth Political Integrity Index, the overview of all political scandals of the past year. The PVV and local parties also had many affairs. Misconduct in leisure time, such as intoxication, fraud and false tweets, remains the biggest stumbling block in Dutch politics.

The VVD has been coming out six years in a row since the start of the PI index as the "winner" with the most affairs. Also in 2018, with a total of twelve, the party again caused the most and the most serious scandals. The party lost Minister Halbe Zijlstra after a lie, MP Han ten Broeke for "an unequal relationship" and the mayors Stefan Huisman and Fons Hertog for misconduct.

In 2015, Loek Hermans (VVD) had to resign due to his role in the bankruptcy of Meavita. Last year, party-colleague Anne-Wil Duthler (VVD) came to the house because her own consulting firm had advised about legislation that she had voted on as the first MP. On the list of ancillary functions (which only came after European pressure), Duthler had not reported this conflicting interest.

The VVD has since the first PII (Integrity Index), in 2013, every year the most affairs. The year 2018 was no exception with twelve affairs. In addition, it was also heavy matters, which were often extended in the news. The VVD lost a minister after lying (Halbe Zijlstra), two mayors by misconduct (Fons Hertog because of ' cross-border behaviour ' against officials and Stefan Huisman because of excessive alcohol consumption on a drink, while he had picket service) and a MP by an ' unequal relationship ' (Han ten Broeke). And then there was still sitting MP Wybren van Haga, which has been in disagreement since last year because he is violating rental rules as a landlord.

Also over the entire term of the PII, from 1980 to 2018, the VVD is at the top of 131 affairs, far above the numbers of the other large parties.

In 2017, Annemarie Jorritsma still waved the revelations of Follow the Money on the business deals of party president Henry Keizer. Emperor was ' integer ' and FTM had ' a superficial investigation '

In the meantime emperor has resigned, the FIOD has begun an investigation and the emperor has already received an after-tax of 12 million euros for the deal with a funeral company the optional.

It is difficult to deny that the VVD really causes more affairs, that they are often also more serious than other parties and that it is a persistent problem. Since 2008, no less than 29 VVD'ers have come into contact with criminal law, including three in 2018. Mitchell van der Coolen, candidate councilor in Almere, is suspected of hacking computers and distributing pornography. Anita Dikken, the candidate in Deventer, received 60 hours of work punishment for abuse. Both have withdrawn. Paul Hannink, Councillor for municipality interests/VVD in Tubbergen, issued for manure fraud.

That the VVD has a serious problem, starts to penetrate internally as well. The most recent issue of liberal Reflections, the magazine of the think-tank of the VVD, gives extensive attention to integrity. There is a ' wide displeasure ' among many VVD directors, the Liberal Koen, mayor of Den Helder, wrote in an opinion piece in NRC in the middle of January: ' Let me try to formulate the thread in the broad criticism. It starts with shame for the many integrity issues. That they were possible and were not filtered out even in the selection of current MPs is incomprehensible. One incident can. But this series is a blind spot and a lack of moral awareness among people who have been able to reach the top of the party.

An analysis of the problem can be found at Frank de Grave prominent member VVD. This party prominently devotes in Big Boy  the book in which he, together with journalist Jan Tromp, looks back on his political career  a whole chapter, under the telling headline: ' How does the VVD in the field of integrity so often lose track '

The Grave gives explanations. When the CDA was the biggest party, there were also the most scandals. Now that is the VVD. ' Where power and throbbing self-confidence come together, things go wrong ', says De Grave.

This argument is more often used as a statement, but the image that the VVD is the biggest party is only for the Hague politicians, so MPs and ministers. The CDA has more mayors, Aldermans and councilors than the VVD  and considerably less scandals.

The Grave has the core of many integrity affairs to address in his party. Often, it is real estate and corruption (think of Jos van Rey, Ton Hamed, the of Hagar of Haga, Henry Keizer) and often strong personalities get too little internal contradiction.
A view of the shuttle Challenger's maiden STS-6 launch on April 4, 1983. In this view, Challenger is just clearing the launch pad in a cloud of smoke.

During its 10th launch, on Jan. 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing the seven crewmembers and changing NASA's space program forever.

Challenger was the second shuttle to reach space, in April 1983. It successfully completed nine milestone missions during nearly three years of service. In total, the spacecraft spent 62 days, 7 hours, 56 minutes and 22 seconds in space, according to CBS . Challenger hosted the first spacewalk of the space shuttle program on April 7, 1983, and carried the first American female and first black astronauts.

More: Remembering Challenger: NASA's 1st Shuttle Tragedy in Photos

From test vehicle to space vehicle

NASA originally intended Challenger to be a test vehicle, according to the Kennedy Space Center . Rockwell International, an aerospace manufacturing company, began building the shuttle in November 1975 and then sent it to Lockheed Martin, another aerospace technology company, for structural testing starting on April 2, 1978. According to NASA, computer models at the time were not sophisticated enough to calculate the stresses on the shuttle during different phases of flight.

The shuttle, then known as STA-099, went through 11 months of vibration testing in a specially formulated rig, NASA said . This custom-designed machine could bring the shuttle through a simulation of all phases of flight, from liftoff to landing. Three hydraulic cylinders, each with 1 million lbs. of force, were used as substitute space shuttle main engines.

In 1979, NASA awarded Rockwell International a supplemental contract to convert the test vehicle to a spacecraft. This would expand the shuttle fleet to two spacecraft, with Columbia being the first.

It took two more years for Rockwell to perform the conversion. Among other things, workers had to strengthen the wings, put in a real crew cabin instead of a simulated one and install heads-up displays for the astronauts working inside. Work was completed on Oct. 23, 1981.

The space shuttle Challenger is rolled out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The orbiter cuts through the thick fog as it makes its way to the pad, in preparation for its maiden flight  the STS-6 mission. Challenger launched on its STS-6 flight on April 4, 1983. (Image credit: NASA)

Delays for the first flight

Challenger was expected to go into space on Jan. 20, 1983, to release the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), which later became part of a series of satellites that astronauts used to stay in touch with controllers back home. But several technical malfunctions pushed the launch back.

First, NASA discovered a hydrogen leak in the No. 1 main engine aft compartment during a flight readiness test in December. In a second test on Jan. 25, 1983, NASA discovered cracks in the engine that were causing the leak.

The agency then took several months to remove the engines and test them. While engines No. 2 and No. 3 were deemed healthy, NASA replaced engine No. 1.

After another delay due to a problem with the TDRS, Challenger launched successfully on April 4, 1983, on mission STS-6. Crewmembers set the satellite free. Astronauts Story Musgrave and Donald Peterson executed the first spacewalk of the shuttle program.

Cultural and technical firsts

In addition to milestones in space technology, Challenger was also host to several cultural firsts in the space shuttle program. The first American female astronaut, Sally Ride, rode up on Challenger on STS-7 in June 1983. The first black astronaut, Guion Bluford, reached space on STS-8.

On STS-41G in 1984, two women  Ride and Kathryn Sullivan  flew on one mission for the first time  as well as the first Canadian, Marc Garneau.

Challenger reached other milestones, too, including the first night launch and landing (STS-8) and the first operational Spacelab flight (STS-51B). Spacelab was a European space laboratory that fit into a shuttle's cargo bay and included several experiments designed for tests in microgravity. It flew on Columbia on STS-9 for the first time, but Challenger's mission is considered the first working one.

This full view of Challenger in space was taken by a satellite. A heavily cloud-covered portion of the Earth forms the backdrop for this scene of Challenger in orbit. This image was taken during Challenger's STS-7 mission, which launched on June 18, 1983. (Image credit: NASA)

The flying repairman

Some of Challenger's most memorable moments took place in April 1984, on STS-41C. That mission featured the very first astronaut repair of a satellite.

To get at the nonfunctional Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) satellite, astronaut George Nelson strapped himself into the Manned Maneuvering Unit, which was a jet-powered backpack designed for astronauts to fly in space. It had been tested on only one mission before this one.

The crew maneuvered Challenger until it was only 200 feet from the satellite . Then, Nelson carefully left the safety of the shuttle and flew over to the satellite. A fixture on the front of his backpack let Nelson dock with the satellite, which was slowly tumbling in space.

Next, he fired the jets on his backpack to stop the satellite's spin. Crewmembers on Challenger then reached out with the shuttle's Canadarm robotic arm and plucked the satellite out of empty space and into the payload bay.

Nelson and crewmate James "Ox" Van Hoften repaired the satellite, then the crew lofted the satellite back into space. SMM continued functioning for several years, then burned up in the atmosphere in December 1989.

On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA faced its first shuttle disaster, the loss of the Challenger orbiter and its seven-astronaut crew. Here, Challenger's last crew  members of the STS-51L mission  stand in the White Room at Pad 39B following the end of a launch dress rehearsal. They are (L to R) Teacher in Space Participant, Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, Payload Specialist, Gregory Jarvis, Mission Specialist, Judy Resnik, Commander Dick Scobee. Mission Specialist, Ronald McNair, Pilot, Michael Smith and Mission Specialist, Ellison Onizuka. (Image credit: NASA)

Challenger disaster

It was a cold morning on Jan. 28, 1986, when Challenger was scheduled to fly its 10th mission. Temperatures dipped below freezing and some of the shuttle's engineers were concerned about the integrity of the seals on the solid rocket boosters in such low temperatures.

Nonetheless, Challenger launched at 11:38 a.m. Eastern time in front of more media attention than usual, since it was carrying the first teacher to go into space. Christa McAuliffe was planning to give lessons while in orbit.

But McAuliffe and the rest of the crew never made it. In full view of the television cameras, Challenger broke up 73 seconds after launch.

"Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction," the NASA launch commentator said, as pieces of the shuttle fell from the sky into the Atlantic.

Salvage crews spent several weeks recovering pieces of the shuttle and carefully bringing up the remains of the seven astronauts. Remains that could be identified were turned over to the families, while the rest were buried in a monument to the Challenger crew at Arlington National Cemetery on May 20, 1986.

At 78 seconds after liftoff, this image shows Challenger's left wing, main engines (still burning residual propellant) and the forward fuselage (crew cabin). (Image credit: NASA)

Culture of work and technical problems at NASA

A presidential commission was convened to look into the incident, chaired by former Attorney General and Secretary of State William P. Rogers. It included participation from Neil Armstrong (the first man on the moon) and NASA astronaut Sally Ride, among others.

The commission report talked about the technical causes of the accident. The entire failure could be traced to an O-ring, a rubber seal on the solid rocket boosters that degraded in the cold weather of the launch.

Read more: The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: What Happened? (Infographic)

But the O-ring would not have been a problem had NASA not chosen to launch on so cold a day -- the coldest launch yet, according to an NPR interview with one of the shuttle engineers. While the engineer blames himself for not convincing NASA and high-level managers of the danger the cold presented, a US House of Representatives report from the Committee on Science and Technology concluded that it was a long-standing failure in safety protocols, combined with an unsustainable launch rate that led to the disaster.

In the wake of what happened with Challenger, NASA made technical changes to the shuttle and also worked to change the safety and accountability culture of its workforce. The shuttle program resumed flights in 1988.

After the Challenger wreckage was examined, most of the pieces were buried and sealed in abandoned Minuteman missile silos at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where they remain today.

Challenger's explosion changed the space shuttle program in several ways. Plans to fly civilians in space (such as teachers or journalists) were shelved for the next 22 years, until Barbara Morgan, who was McAuliffe's backup, flew aboard Endeavour in 2007. Satellite launches were shifted from the shuttle to reusable rockets. Additionally, astronauts were pulled off duties such as repairing satellites, and the Manned Maneuvering Unit was not flown again, to better preserve astronaut safety.

Every January, NASA pauses to remember the last crew of Challenger and the other crews lost in pursuing space, on a NASA Day of Remembrance.

Challenger has also left an educational legacy: Members of the crews' families founded the Challenger Center for Space Science Education program, which brings students on simulated space missions.

Visitors to the Kennedy Space Center can view debris from Challenger's last mission (as well as Columbia) at an exhibit called "Forever Remembered," which opened in 2015. The debris is on display at the visitor's center.

Additional resources:

This article was updated on Jan. 26, 2021 by Space.com Reference Editor Vicky Stein.
The band that filmed a video in microgravity has launched a contest for students to come up with their own experiments, which will be bound for suborbital space.

The band OK Go is well-known for making complex visuals to accompany their music. This includes one particularly daring music video shot in microgravity as the band flew on about two dozen parabolic flights aboard a Russian aircraft. Last month, OK Go launched the Art in Space contest via its educational nonprofit organization, OK Go Sandbox, inviting students to "dream up your own cool experiments to send into suborbital space onboard the New Shepard spacecraft,'' a reusable Blue Origin rocket-capsule duo that flew on Jan. 23 for its 10th-ever test flight.

Students ages 11 to 18 still have a week to submit their ideas: The deadline is May 6, 2019 , at 11:59 p.m. CDT (12:59 a.m. EDT). Those who enter the contest will be notified in June if their concept has been selected. OK Go Sandbox is a collaboration between the band and the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Related: The Rock Band OK Go Wants to Launch Student Art Projects Into Space

Space.com: So, what was the seed for the idea of the Art in Space project?

Kulash: I think [the earnest] spirit [of OK Go music videos] has meant a lot to teachers for a long time, because getting kids to drop their cynicism and enjoy something or see that it's okay to be bad at something and still enjoy it [is] how you learn. You're not born a great anything.As our videos became more elaborate and complicated in more technical, logistical ways, we got more correspondence from teachers.

We were playing with [the band] Weezer, and I remember watching them from the side of the stage and someone from another band that had played that day or something asked me, "Oh! You guys are from OK Go! My 8-year-old loves your video from"  I don't remember which video  but there's something connecting people [to us] that the rock and roll industry is not built for. That we have the same group of 35-year-old fans that most bands do, but there's also this other group of 8-year-olds, and even 68-year-olds, who are finding us online and getting something different out of it.

We found the right collaborator to do an educational project  and that was AnnMarie Thomas, who runs the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas. And we put together a survey for teachers  and we got a lot of responses.

Related: OK Go Releases First Zero-G Music Video

OK Go musician Damian Kulash (center) performs a scene from the band's music video ''Upside Down & Inside Out,'' in which tightly choreographed segments were filmed over the course of 21 parabolic flights that produced microgravity in the plane's cabin. (Image credit: OK Go)

Space.com: So, this project is a way of encouraging kids to see the full breadth of creativity?

Kulash: What we are trying to do with this is encourage students: to nourish their imagination, their creativity and their curiosity. Science is not separate from art in that respect. Because of the way we need to learn the tools for science or math, it's easy to get the misconception that math is a closed system where 1 plus 1 equals 2, and there's nothing creative about that. Math is a set of tools, just the way that playing guitar is just a set of tools, you know? Like, there's lots of ways to make sound, lots of ways to make interactions happen physically, but there are very few things in life that are actually convergent problems with only one answer. And all of our videos are about finding some kind of small arena in which we are going to go for the most exciting, most expressive, joyful set of solutions that we can. And there's no right answer.

We're not saying, "Hey, kids! You get to do a science experiment in space where you can prove what your teacher taught you in class,'' or, ''Show the band how high your level of education is.'' We're saying, ''Do something that piques your curiosity, that piques your creativity, that piques your imagination.''

Because, when we did our "Upside Down and Inside Out" video, there was a whole range of ... physicists, mathematicians, engineers, astrophysicists, aeronautics people, all of whom could tell you exactly what would happen if we performed X, Y or Z in [micro]gravity, right? The experiments we were doing were not cutting new scientific ground in that respect, but they were still valid experiments, because we were pushing the edge of what we knew and what we could communicate  and we're trying to be, sort of, cheerleaders for that way of thinking among students  we want them to have the same thrill and joy that we have had playing with these concepts.

We would love for people to destabilize their notions of what art, what science, what math is, and have a healthier respect for curiosity and imagination. And this is what makes it so special to be a human, and be alive.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station snapped a photo of an eerie orange-colored airglow on Oct. 7, 2018. This luminescence is caused by chemical reactions high in Earth's atmosphere, according to NASA. (Image credit: NASA)

Space.com: Could you expand on this idea of science's relationship to creativity?

Kulash: We think that science means ... if you want to cut new ground, you will spend, you know, decades of your life getting more and more specific about one particular thing that no one else knows about. And yes, the world needs that type of study. But it also needs generalists and curious people, because, for real progress to be made, a lot of times it takes someone who happens to be studying the supply chain for the grocery stores to realize they have just figured out a way to revolutionize the solar industry. Every great idea is a creative idea: The fact that you're using paint or you're using guitar strings or you're using equations, they're not really very different things.

And so getting that spirit into the education process ... being curious about the world, that is a gift we would love to share.

Space.com: You grew up on punk rock music, right?

Kulash: I grew up in D.C., where Dischord Records  kind of reigned supreme. Their punk rock was a very DIY thing. It was just like, look, we have our own society, we make our own music, we do our own thing, we don't play by your rules. And I remember, there was a record label called Simple Machines that put out a guide to making your own record .

It was, like, if you want to do something, just do it yourself, and I think that that's certainly where our videos came from  that it just didn't occur to us that, if we had a cool idea, not to try it. And then those cool ideas just get a little bit more elaborate and difficult each time, just because we've already tried one before. It's funny to talk about, to feel like punk rock and the space program and education are all under the same [roof], but that's how it feels to me.

Related: Orbits of Jupiter Moons Transformed into Mind-Bending Optical Illusions and Music

Space.com: Was it the punk rocker in you that helped you to continuously perform throughout the 21 microgravity flights for the ''Upside Down and Inside Out" video? How many times, if any, did you vomit?

Kulash: I was on an anti-nausea drug called scopolamine  we were invited to take this because our advisers at NASA said that's what training astronauts do. And so, we did. And I did not puke because of it!

It does make you act crazy after a few weeks if you take it continuously for three weeks, like I did.

We shot that [video] in Russia ... but our crewmembers couldn't get [scopolamine]. So our crewmembers puked quite a lot. Quite a lot!

For our video, the most important, the whole thing that keeps us in sync, was that every parabola [or, reduced-gravity descent] was 28 and some seconds long, and we needed to have the weightlessness perfectly coincide with those 28 seconds. So we had chopped up the song into distinct sections, and our sound guy had a little MP3 player, and right when we were about to go weightless  that was 2 seconds before the "zero-g" hit  he had to hit play.

He puked twice per flight [but] he never screwed up, not even once. He is the true hero of that video.

Space.com: Did Blue Origin company officials become aware of your project and then contact you, or did the band reach out to Blue Origin to partner with them for Art in Space?

Kulash: OK Go Sandbox is our educational nonprofit that is putting on this contest. [That organization is] where we reached out to all the teachers.

Before Sandbox even existed, Blue Origin had reached out to OK Go, or rather I should say, people at Blue Origin who are fans of OK Go reached out.

[Because of] the parameters of the Blue Origin spacecraft, we can't do hundreds of trials with the Blue Origin spacecraft  it actually seems more fun and better to bring this opportunity along to students rather than use it ourselves, [because] it doesn't have to come out the other end perfect, and you don't need to release a video when this is done. You just need to have a great idea that makes us all inspired to try or to see what happens.

I mean, that to me feels a lot like the Simple Machines pamphlet. When I got that Simple Machines pamphlet, I started a record label. And I put out six or seven records for my friends in the band.  But it was that gesture of them going like, look, if you want to do this, here's how ... and it's that type of thing that we're sort of trying to pass along.

Space.com: Has your definition of creativity changed as you've grown older? In your opinion, how can adults reactivate a sense of childlike awe or creativity for themselves?

Kulash: I still very much love sitting down with a guitar and writing a song, or spending hours and hours in the studio getting it just right, or being on stage and having that thrill of connecting with another human being.

Creativity does not live in one vertical, or really one domain. Everybody who's great at their project is creative. Like, you're always looking for the solution and the connections that don't automatically flow after one another.

The advice for adults wanting that childlike awe  I think that, in myself at least, destabilizing things [helps]. ... Sometimes I have felt my least creative when working on things that other people would see as creative, like, a song or a video, realizing that I have painted myself into a corner where all I can do is follow the rules.

I think it's pretty easy to have your surroundings become the base level and normative and not moving. So you start reaching for extremes, thinking that that's where creativity is. But I think it's more of, sort of, if you can get yourself to realize that our planet is floating in the middle of nothingness, this kind of feeling, you know, like if you can give yourself the perspective that this is all extremely unlikely and extremely beautiful and that just your ability to breathe and to think are so complex and amazing, that that alone should keep your curiosity going for the rest of your life. Like that's the type of thing where I feel like, that's where creativity kind of comes from  knowing that it's so magnificent.

This interview has been edited for length.
A meteorite smashed into the moon's surface at 38,000 miles per hour (61,000 kilometers per hour) while our lunar neighbor was in total eclipse in January, a new report reveals.

Observers saw a flash during the Jan. 20 to 21 eclipse , when the object collided with the moon and carved out a crater about 10 to 15 meters (33 to 50 feet) in diameter. It was traveling fast enough to have been able to cross the United States in just a few minutes, but, luckily for Earth, it slammed into the moon instead.

Astronomers measured a 0.28-second flash from the impact, the first ever filmed during a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses happen when the moon passes into the Earth's shadow during its normal orbit around our planet. The moon turns a reddish or orange color, because only sunlight around the edges of Earth's shadow can reach the moon's surface.

Related: Record Meteorite Crash on Moon Is Brightest Lunar Explosion Ever

"Something inside of me told me that this time would be the time," Jose Maria Madiedo, an astrophysicist at the University of Huelva in Spain and lead author on the new study, said in a statement . Madiedo and fellow astrophysicist Jose Ortiz, of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, caught the flash on video using the Moon Impacts Detection and Analysis System (MIDAS). MIDAS is a network of eight telescopes in southern Spain that monitors the moon's surface.

MIDAS monitored the flash in different wavelengths, revealing more information about the space rock that hit the moon. Scientists estimated the rock was about 45 kg (100 lbs.) in mass and roughly 30 to 60 centimeters (1 foot to 2 feet) across.

After the impactor crashed into the surface, the debris it generated had an estimated peak temperature that was about as hot as the surface of the sun  about 9,750 degrees Fahrenheit (5,400 degrees Celsius).

Related: Amazing Photos of the 2019 Super Blood Wolf Moon!

A meteorite hit the moon during a total lunar eclipse in January 2019, seen here as a bright flash. (Image credit: J. M. Madiedo/MIDAS)

Researchers said in the statement that the moon is hit by small rocks more often than Earth because it has only a tenuous atmosphere, while Earth's is thick enough for many space rocks to burn up before they can reach the surface.

The scientists added that observing the flash was especially valuable because they cannot duplicate it on our own planet.

"It would be impossible to reproduce these high-speed collisions in a lab on Earth. Observing flashes is a great way to test our ideas on exactly what happens when a meteorite collides with the moon," Madiedo said.

The scientists added that knowing the rate of lunar collisions will be especially important in the protection of the safety of astronauts, who may venture back to the surface of the moon as soon as 2024 .

The new research was detailed April 27 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
An internal memo to some workers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is warning that employees could be fired for sharing images after a video of SpaceX's Crew Dragon explosion leaked online last week, according to a report from the Orlando Sentinel .

The memo, which was sent to NASA contractors under specific contract, also confirms that SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule did explode  something SpaceX and NASA have not publicly confirmed  during an April 20 abort system test, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

On April 20, the company tested the capsule's SuperDraco escape engines, which are designed to get astronauts out of harm's way in the event of a launch emergency, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A video of the failed engine test was leaked on Twitter, and suggests that the capsule exploded; other coverage showed large plumes of smoke in the skies above the Florida coast.

(THREAD) In an email sent to workers on @NASA's TOSC contract, it confirms that the video of @SpaceX's Crew Dragon accident floating online was legitimate. "..video of the failed test  which was not released by SpaceX or NASA  appeared on the internet.https://t.co/XV5ZpLJVrGApril 30, 2019 See more

In the memo, the incident is identified as an "anomaly." While the communique confirms that the leaked video is legitimate and that the Dragon capsule did explode, neither SpaceX nor NASA have publically released details about the event.

"As most of you are aware, SpaceX conducted a test fire of their crew capsule abort engines at [Cape Canaveral Air Force Station], and they experienced an anomaly," the email obtained by the Orlando Sentinel reads. "Subsequently, video of the failed test  which was not released by SpaceX or NASA  appeared on the internet."

In the memo, employees were warned that they could be fired if they publicly share photos and videos from the space center, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

"It is up to NASA and other companies onsite to make the determination about what information related to their activities is released to the public," the memo stated.

Investigations are underway to determine what happened during the testing incident. Currently, it is unclear what impact the event will have on the commercial crew program.

For more details, visit the Orlando Sentinel .
New York, April 28, 2019 (SPS) -The Security Council has postponed the vote on the resolution extending MINURSO mandate to be able to review the reservations made by some members on the text presented by the United States.



The adoption of this resolution extending, by six months, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara was initially scheduled for Monday.



Some members of the Security Council said that the first draft was written in a confusing making the text unbalanced, the source told APS.



The amendments suggested by theses members are being reviewed by the American delegation who wants to reach a resolution adopted by consensus.



The draft resolution does not consider the observations included on the Secretary Generals report, particularly those referring to human rights and violations of the ceasefire by Morocco.



Contrary to the Secretary Generals report, the text does not mention Morocco as the party that committed the violations and imposed restrictions on the freedom of movement of MINURSO and Envoy Horst Kohler.



The draft resolution expressed concern over the violations of the ceasefire agreements, calling on the parties in conflict to implement their commitment towards the UN Special Envoy and to refrain from any action that could compromise the negotiations facilitated by the United Nations. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
STAMFORD  Purdue Pharma announced this week it would leave a partnership with Japanese pharmaceutical firm Eisai that focused on developing a drug to treat sleep-wake disorders, including insomnia.

In move that comes nearly two months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration accepted a new drug application for the Lemborexant treatment, Eisai will make an unspecified one-time payment to buy out Purdues rights to the project. Purdue will no longer participate or fund the development and commercialization of Lemborexant, and Eisai will take full responsibility for those activities worldwide.

Stamford-based Purdue and Eisai had shared the costs tied to Lemborexants global clinical studies and commercialization, according to their original agreement, which was established in August 2015.

As a result of the ongoing diversification of our research product portfolio, Purdues business priorities have shifted since this collaboration was initiated, Purdue CEO and President Craig Landau said in a statement. This mutual decision enables us to dedicate our resources to our oncology, non-opioid pain, and other (central nervous system) programs. Purdue appreciates the opportunity to collaborate with Eisai, and we wish them continued success with the advancement of Lemborexant.

Purdue had pursued the development of Lemborexant, as it grapples with more than 1,000 lawsuits tied to the allegedly fraudulent marketing of OxyContin, its top-selling drug. Last week, Connecticut filed an expanded lawsuit against the company.

Meanwhile, Purdue is moving forward with the development of a number of other non-opioid drugs.

A new Purdue subsidiary gained FDA approval in March for a drug called Adhansia XR, to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Also in March, Purdue announced an FDA fast-track designation for a nalmefene hydrochloride injection to treat known or suspected opioid overdoses.

In the past three months, another new Purdue subsidiary has secured the FDAs orphan drug designation for expedited reviews of drugs to, respectively, treat rare bile-duct cancer and an extremely rare type of leukemia. The company said it will not profit from the latter medication.

Last January, Purdue announced it will partner with eyecare-pharmaceutical firm Ocular Therapeutix on research aiming to develop non-opioid pain treatments.

In another non-opioid initiative, Purdue announced last October an exclusive option to acquire Plymouth, Minn.-based SpineThera, which is developing an injectable steroid treatment for back pain.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott
STAMFORD  Technology firm Pitney Bowes reported Wednesday slightly decreasing revenues and a loss for the first quarter, as it dealt with unexpected hardware-servicing charges, postponement of a federal contract and labor-productivity challenges.

Quarterly returns totaled about $868 million, down 3 percent year-over-year. The loss of $2.7 million reflected about $9 million incurred for a tablet-replacement program to respond to battery-longevity issues in its SendPro C shipping-and-mailing product.

In response, company shares plunged 24 percent, closing Wednesday at $5.37.

Were not pleased with the first-quarter performance, CEO and President Marc Lautenbach said on a call with investment analysts. The first quarter was disappointing, it was a bump in the road. That being said, it doesnt change my view, one iota, of the long-term prospects of this company.

Meanwhile, the company incurred unexpectedly high shipping rates resulting from the delayed approval of a now-confirmed service agreement with the U.S. Postal Service.

At the same time, executives said they were looking to improve workforce productivity.

One of the pieces of the work with our consultant is to go through things like scheduling, labor productivity, time studies, etc., that will help us gain productivity overall, said Chief Financial Officer Stanley Sutula III. But weve also invested heavily in automation.

Among key divisions, commerce services divisions revenues rose 5 percent, to $401 million, driven by the 2017 acquisition of parcel-logistics specialist Newgistics.

Small- and medium-business solutions returns dropped 10 percent, to $394 million, affected by lower equipment sales and recurring revenue sources.

Software solutions revenues decreased 4 percent, to $73 million, as the division collected lower licensing revenues.

Among other recent moves, the company last month announced the launch of a new business, Wheeler Financial, which would help small and medium-size businesses purchase new equipment and services through loans, leases and other financial arrangements.

Before an upswing in results last year, Pitney had struggled in the previous few years with falling and stagnating earnings, as it sought to diversify its operations.

Pitney officials had considered selling the company, but rising returns persuaded them last year to keep the firm independent.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans on Tuesday proposed giving Puerto Rico easier access to hurricane relief funds as part of a new offer to Democrats aimed at breaking a standoff over a massive disaster aid bill.

The GOP offer does not contain new expenditures for Puerto Rico, expenditures President Donald Trump has opposed. But it does aim to free up access to hundreds of millions of dollars Congress has appropriated, money that Puerto Rico has had trouble getting the administration to release.

The offer also includes new oversight and restrictions on the use of the money, something that the White House has pushed for as officials search for a deal that Trump would find acceptable despite his oft-stated reluctance to send additional disaster funds to Puerto Rico.

The president's stance on Puerto Rico has stalled a $13 billion-plus disaster assistance bill for months, even as states from the West to the Midwest to the South plead for relief in the wake of natural disasters.

"We've made another offer, a pretty good one," Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters late Tuesday.

Shelby said the offer does not contain new money for Puerto Rico "in totality, but we hope it would facilitate their access to money that's available."

An earlier Senate GOP disaster aid bill included $600 million for Puerto Rico's food stamp program, which has been forced to slash assistance to residents because of funding shortfalls. However, Democrats insisted much more money was needed to help Puerto Rico's slow recovery from Hurricane Maria, which left thousands dead and devastated infrastructure on the island in 2017.

Shelby met Tuesday evening with Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, to discuss the offer. A Leahy spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, and it was far from clear whether the offer would prove acceptable to Democrats.

It was also uncertain whether Trump would embrace Shelby's offer. An administration official said that the White House has not seen the language or endorsed it, but that it appears to track with discussions they have been having with Hill Republicans. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.

Shelby declined to reveal details of his offer. But in the past, officials have discussed provisions that could speed access to more than $10 billion in Community Development Block Grants for Puerto Rico and mainland states, among other things.

The disaster aid bill was also discussed in passing at a White House meeting Tuesday, when Trump and Democrats talked about infrastructure, according to lawmakers in attendance. One person familiar with the discussion said Trump told Democrats: "I'll stay out of it, just get it done."

A different official said that Trump had asked for Democrats' help in getting the disaster bill done but that they demurred, saying they were there to talk about infrastructure. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private encounter.

Also on Tuesday, in a reflection of the urgency felt by a number of Senate Republicans to break the logjam around the bill, GOP senators from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina - along with one Democrat, Doug Jones of Alabama - held a news conference to push for swift action on the legislation. They described devastation to farms and military installations in their states after punishing hurricanes and tornadoes.

"The disaster is Congress' inability to pass a disaster aid bill," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said he hoped Congress will have passed the legislation and will have gotten funds flowing by the time Trump holds a rally next week in Panama City, Florida, an area of the Panhandle that was hit hard by Hurricane Michael and is still rebuilding.

House Democrats plan to pass their own new version of the disaster legislation next week, which at $17.2 billion has a higher price tag than the Senate GOP bill and hundreds of millions of dollars more for Puerto Rico.
Young South Africans are turning their backs on elective politics at the fastest pace in at least two decades, a trend that may hurt the ruling party in next week's vote.

The number of South Africans under 20 who have registered to participate in the May 8 general election has dropped to the lowest level since at least 1999, data from the Independent Electoral Commission show. It didn't have details for the first non-racial elections in 1994. Among citizens aged 18 to 29 - the biggest segment of the voting population - registrations are at the lowest in at least a decade.

The move may damage the governing African National Congress, whose leaders have been named in a string of corruption scandals and have presided over a jobless rate that has persisted at a 15-year high of 27 percent. This could also limit the benefits for the Economic Freedom Fighters, formed by expelled ANC youth leader Julius Malema, which is counting on support from young black South Africans with populist policies such as expropriating land without payment.

"There is an element of voter apathy and not political apathy - in universities, you see robust and noisy politics which is usually powerful enough to effect change," said Mpumelelo Mkhabela, an independent political analyst. "The EFF has helped to energize young people. A lot of people on campuses vote for the EFF. The ANC Youth League has been disorganized."

Protests have worked well for students. Sometimes-violent demonstrations in 2015 and 2016 forced the government to promise free tertiary education for children from poor families, straining an already tight national budget. The protests caused millions of rand of damages to campus property, according to Universities of South Africa. A new round this year over student accommodation, food, registration fees and problems with financial-aid administration saw campuses closed nationwide in February and March.

More than half of South Africans aged 15 to 24 seeking work are unemployed, with the rate vying with Bosnia and Herzegovina and neighboring Eswatini's to be the world's worst, World Bank data show.

While President Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged reforms to boost a sluggish economy, the government - led by the ANC since 1994 - has fallen short in addressing disgruntlement in many poor communities over a lack of electricity, water, houses and jobs. South Africa remains one of the most world's unequal nations and the economy hasn't expanded by more than 2 percent a year since 2013.

For Lindelwa Nhlebela, 21, a third-year engineering student at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg who hasn't registered to vote, parties tailor their manifestos to entice voters, but don't deliver on them.

"Politics doesn't directly affect me and I can't directly affect it because it's a game," she said.

Ramaphosa replaced Jacob Zuma as ANC president in December 2017, narrowly winning the contest with Zuma's ex-wife. He has pledged to end corruption, but among the ruling party's parliamentary candidates are people accused of graft.

"Exposure of corruption has become detrimental towards parties because youngsters start to think 'What is the use in voting if they're going to be given a mandate and just go with it'," said Dirk Kotze, a political-science professor at the University of South Africa.

The ANC, which polls suggest will keep its majority in the May ballot, is promising youth internships and removing work experience as a requirement for employment of young people in the public sector.

The EFF plans to make it compulsory for women and youth to control half the board and management of companies with insurance licenses, according to its manifesto. Black people enrolled in doctoral-study programs will receive 1 million rand each, it said.

The Democratic Alliance, currently the biggest opposition party, would provide access to a national civilian-service program that would give young school leavers an opportunity to receive industry training in the fields of their choice.

Martin Coetzee, 19, a dramatic-arts student at the University of the Witwatersrand, didn't get around to registering.

"I am not" signed up to vote, he said. "It's purely based on time. I haven't had time."
NEW CANAAN  Registers indicated no sales during the course of an entire school day, and cash was inadvertently found loose in desk drawers, according to the arrest warrant for the former director of Food Services for New Canaan Public Schools

Bruce Gluck, 61, of Middletown Springs, Vt., was charged Monday, April 29, with first-degree larceny, conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny larceny and tampering with physical evidence in a case that authorities say saw nearly a half million dollars taken from school cafeterias.

Gluck was held in lieu of a $50,000 until his arraignment, then released on a $25,000 surety bond.

Through spokesman Michael Horyczun, Supt. of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi had no comment on Glucks arrest.

New Canaan Police said the arrest of Gluck is part of the ongoing investigation that led to the arrests of Joanne Pascarelli and Marie Wilson. Wilson was arrested on Aug. 11, 2018, and Pascarelli was arrested on Aug. 12, 2018, both charged with first-degree larceny by defrauding the public. Both have pleaded not guilty, with Wilson next due at state Superior Court in Stamford on June 17, Pascarelli on June 19.

Wilson was assistant director of Food Services while Gluck was director, until he left the school system. Pascarelli, Wilsons sister, ran the cafeteria at Saxe Middle School.

Wilson told police during one interview that Gluck would take $100 from each days receipts, starting in 2006.

For the five-year period from 2012 to 2017, about $478,588 in cash was misappropriated, according to investigators. While the theft of funds may have occurred prior to 2012, the investigation did not focus on the years prior to 2012 due to direction by the states attorneys office because of statutes of limitation.

During one interview, Wilson told police that Gluck said he was going to need $100 per day as far back as 2006.

One witness who was interviewed worked at Waveny Care Center during its renovations in the year 2000, when the medical facility shared the NCHS kitchen. That witness told police of inadvertently finding loose cash in drawers in Wilsons at that time.

Among other findings, police said banking records showed that Gluck made large cash deposits during the theft time frame. The overwhelming majority of these deposits were made during the school year and tapered off markedly when school was not in session.

Police said that when Gluck left the school system, when systems were changed, and when Pascarelli and Wilson left their school jobs, the amount of money brought in by the cafeterias increased.

Continuing the established pattern, upon Glucks retirement, daily money intake totals increased dramatically, police said in a statement. The investigation showed that Gluck conspired with Pascarelli and Wilson to steal Town monies.

On April 18, 2018, The Board of Education filed an additional complaint against Gluck alleging theft of an iPad, iPhone and building keys that were not returned. The evidence tampering charge stems from Gluck returning an iPad  which police said was traced by pinging to Glucks residence at the time in New Milford  after he had erased data on it.

Pascarelli and Wilson both retired from New Canaan Public Schools in December 2017.

As noted, immediately upon the retirement of suspects Wilson and Pascarelli, cash intake began soaring and registering substantially higher amounts, the warrant reads.
STAMFORD  State and local officials were in East Stamford on Monday to tout the replacement of a structurally deficient bridge over Interstate 95, even though the construction promises terrible delays for highway drivers.

The Route 1 bridge, which crosses over the highway between Courtland and Seaside avenues, will be replaced over two weekends  May 31-June 2 and June 8-9  forcing I-95 motorists onto on- and off-ramps to skirt the construction site. The speed limit on the ramps will drop to 20 miles per hour.

Even with an expected traffic headache on the horizon, officials said the accelerated timeline of the project will create the least amount of strain on drivers.

How this project is going to be done without massive disruption to I-95 for many, many months, is a miracle of modern construction, said Stamford Mayor David Martin.

That miracle is known as accelerated bridge construction, or ABC. The technology allows bridges to be prefabricated and then moved into place over a short time span.

When all the prep work is done in late May, we will demolish the old bridge and we will slide the new bridges into places, all on two weekends, said Anna Barry, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation. If we replaced this bridge using traditional construction methods, the project would have taken two years with two years of traffic impacts at a critical location in this bustling city.

Barry said the message for drivers during the construction weekends is simple: stay away.

We ask people to start planning now to avoid this area, if at all possible, on those weekends, she said. There will be delays. We will do everything we can to minimize them, but there will be some delays, so plan now.

During the two weekends of construction, Route 1 will be closed between Courtland Avenue and Seaside Avenue, and traffic will be detoured from Route 1 to Courtland Avenue and Hamilton Avenue. Exit 9 off of I-95 in Stamford will also be closed.

To allow for the removal and replacement of the bridges, traffic on I-95 will be detoured onto the Exit 9 ramps to allow I-95 to remain open during construction. The detours will be in operation from 9 p.m. on Friday until by 5 a.m. on Monday morning.

The $15 million project is being led by O&G Industries, a business based out of Torrington.

Governor Ned Lamont was at the brief press conference on Monday to highlight the bridge replacement project, and to illustrate the need for infrastructure upgrades across the state.

A big part of his plan to fund such improvements in the future is to install a tolling system that would add 53 toll gantries across Interstates 84, 91, and 95, and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways, for which construction could begin in 2022 at the earliest and cost $213 million.

Lamont has said he does not support raising the state gasoline tax, which he believes is too high, or the use of priority bonding that would borrow to pay for transportation projects and add to the states debt, even though Republican lawmakers have favored such an approach and are opposed to tolls.

What theyre saying is lets just continue to borrow. Borrow, borrow, borrow. Thats just what got this state into the problems we have right now, Lamont said.

His toll plan would raise $800 million a year in revenue, according to figures from his office.

Stamford is one a few municipalities in the state that has passed an anti-toll resolution, calling on state lawmakers to oppose the measure.

Nonetheless, Martin said he disagreed with the majority of city representatives that helped pass the resolution.

I was disappointed, he said. I thought that was premature ... I think that too often in our world of extremism and populism, people get reacting to what they see right in front of them, rather than thinking about their longer term responsibilities.

Lamont agreed.

It was an easy vote and it was the wrong vote, he said.

Lamonts appearance Monday came hours before the Sacred Heart University Institute for Public Polling released results of a statewide survey of 1,004 state residents that indicates nearly 35 percent support for highway tolls; another 36.2 percent would support tolls if the revenue were guaranteed for road infrastructure; and another 15 percent favor tolls whether or not the money were reinvested in roads. The telephone survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.01 percent.

Overall, 55 percent admitted that they would alter driving habits if electronic tolls were instituted. Nearly 40 percent said that an estimated $1 billion in annual revenue would be worth an investment of $100 million, while 36.2 percent said theyd be more likely to support tolls if it were guaranteed that revenue would go to fixing bridges, roads and highways.

Colleen Flanagan Johnson, Gov. Ned Lamonts senior adviser, said the poll is more evidence that state residents know that tolls are needed.

The majority of Connecticut residents  over 50 percent  likely support tolling when they learn that the funds generated will be subject to protections, such as the state transportation lockbox, as approved by Connecticut voters, as well as federal law that mandates use on transportation infrastructure only, Johnson said in a statement. This poll confirms what we already know: Gov. Lamonts plan has broad support from residents, labor, business, and elected officials, and our states residents categorically reject the Republican plan, which calls for more borrowing paid for entirely by Connecticuts future generations.

For more information on the Route 1 bridge replacement, visit www.i95exit9.com or email info@i95exit9.com.

ignacio.laguarda@hearstmediact.com
STAMFORD  A custodian at Turn of the River Middle School was escorted off school premises Tuesday after school officials received complaints about the mans social media posts.

The same day, the custodian, Jeffrey Wilson, posted a photo on his Instagram of five guns with the caption: Pick one......

Many of the posts on Wilsons account are sexual and racist in nature, including one of two cartoon apes fighting with the headline, When the black kids start fighting at school.

After police escorted Wilson off the Turn of River campus, a letter was hand-delivered to his Stamford home notifying Wilson that he had been placed on administrative leave with full salary and benefits effective immediately while the district conducts an investigation.

You are not to report to Turn of River Middle School at any time during this leave, reads the April 30 letter, signed by Stephen V. Falcone, executive director of Human Resources for the public schools.

School administrators contacted police Monday after Wilsons social media posts were brought to their attention, schools Public Affairs Officer Sharon Beadle said Wednesday.

A police representative on Wednesday morning said Wilson had been determined not to be a concrete threat, but Assistant Police Chief Jim Matheny later in the day said the Stamford department is, very much on top of the entire situation.

Police activity was elevated at the school Tuesday. On Monday night, Turn of River Principal Brendan Fox wrote an email to the schools parents saying, We became aware of a message on social media that could be viewed as threatening in nature and notified the Stamford Police Department, as well as Central Office.

Foxs message did not explain the nature of the message to parents, or say where it came from.

Nicole Holley, a Turn of the River parent, said her daughter called her from the bathroom Wednesday morning saying she was scared.

Theyre carrying on at the school as if nothing happened, Holley said.

Some parents expressed frustration, saying rumors were circulating about a threat at the school and administrators were not forthcoming with detailed information about what had occurred.

An effort to reach Wilson for comment was unsuccessful.

svaughan@hearstmediact.com; 203-964-2258; @SophieCVaughan1
Weve all been tempted to swear off the scale more than once. However, research shows that people who weigh themselves often are more likely to lose weight than those who weigh themselves rarely or not at all.

More importantly, keeping track of your weight dips or spikes can help you identify more serious health issues, such as thyroid problems or diabetes.

But even the weight-conscious should beware: If youre guilty of making the following most-common scale mistakes, you could be sending yourself into an unnecessary What is going on here?! spiral.

1.Youre weighing yourself after you shower.

Your weight fluctuates throughout the day depending on your level of activity and what you eat. So while you probably already know that it's best to weigh yourself first thing in the morning  before you've eaten or used the bathroom  you should also add one more parameter to the list: before showering.

Your skin is the largest organ in the body and absorbs fluid easily, says Dr. Keith Kantor, a leading nutritionist and CEO of the Nutritional Addiction Mitigation Eating and Drinking program. After a swim or a shower, your body can absorb 1 to 3 cups of water, increasing your true weight by a few pounds.

2. Youre not looking at your weekly average.

It might help with anxiety surrounding the scale, but weighing yourself only once a month or even once a week isn't ideal. Instead, Dr. Spencer Nadolsky, a board-certified family and obesity physician with RP Health, encourages patients to look at weekly averages to stave off weight-related anxiety.

If for some reason you have an upward weight fluctuation and missed the other daily weights, that could lower the average weekly weight, Nadolsky says.

3. Youre using a scale that isn't calculating all the relevant stats.

Just like finding the right partner, you can find a scale nowadays that's tailored to your specific lifestyle.

Are you super active? Theres a scale for that: The WW by Conair glass body fat scale has a fitness mode that lets you select whether you're moderately or highly active, which helps the scale fine-tune your body analysis readings.

Plus, you can see five different measurements  weight, body fat percentage, body water percentage, bone mass density and BMI  at once, then carry on with your day.

4. Your scale is on the wrong surface.

It might be called the bathroom scale, however, most bathrooms have a floor thats made of tile, which is a problem.

If a scale is on carpet, uneven tile or wood it can also appear to be calibrated poorly, says Kantor. A flat, hard surface is ideal for proper readouts.

5. Youre eating loads of sodium before stepping on.

Consuming excess sodium can cause you to retain more fluid then normal, which can result in higher-than-usual numbers if you ate a salty meal before bed, says Kantor.

This is especially true for fast foods, soups, fried foods, processed meats like bacon, sausage or cold cuts, he says. Chinese, Japanese or Thai foods will also cause you to bloat due the high sodium content of the sauces used in those foods.

Cut back on the chow mein for a better weigh-in.

6. Your display is too hard to read.

Gone are the days of small dials spanning a range of numbers that are so hard to interpret, you end up walking away feeling defeated when you shouldn't be.

Make sure you get yourself a scale that has clear, concise number read-outs.

7. You're not keeping your menstrual cycle in mind.

If it's that time of the month when you see a sudden spike in the scale, don't freak out.

Women retain more fluid right before their menstrual cycle starts, says Kantor. There is a lot of fluid retention that can influence weight gain by up to 7 to 8 pounds.
Few American foreign-policy challenges are more vexing or divisive than relations with Saudi Arabia today. U.S. interests would seem to dictate close ties, but American values argue otherwise. For President Donald Trump, who is all about transactions, it is a no-brainer to focus on arms sales and oil, and little else matters. For Congress, there must be a price for the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as conduct of the war in Yemen. Congressional attempts to punish the Saudis, including ending all U.S. military support for the Yemen conflict, have been blocked by the White House.

Historically, presidents - Democrats and Republicans alike - have turned a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's repressive domestic policies, in return for guarantees of a stable oil market. Two things are different today. First, in Congress there is a broad consensus that the Saudis crossed the line and that the administration's protecting them is simply wrong. Second, the U.S. is increasingly energy-independent and buys little Saudi oil - making many on Capitol Hill believe our stakes in the Saudis are far lower than before.

Leaving aside the reality that there is one pool of energy worldwide, and that a major disruption of oil because of threats or instability in Saudi Arabia would result in the price skyrocketing for Americans and everyone else, there is another countervailing factor in the interests-values continuum with the kingdom that needs to be considered. Saudi Arabia is in the midst of a fundamental transformation of its society and of the sources of the regime's legitimacy. True, the monarchy retains all political power, but nationalism and modernization are replacing Wahhabism, a rigid, intolerant interpretation of Islam that fueled al-Qaida, the Islamic State and the recent Sri Lanka church bombings. It is the doctrine that the U.S. and its allies have been fighting around the globe.

The driver of change is Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. He is conducting a revolution from above that is discrediting radical Islamist ideology, including the removal of several thousand clerics and dozens of judges deemed to be sympathetic to Qaeda.

The social changes emerging in Saudi Arabia are visible to any visitor - go into any restaurant and see men and women mixing; visit businesses or governmental offices and women are prominent; cinemas are opening; music, forbidden in the strict Wahhabi code, is now played not just privately but in concerts drawing thousands. Even the royal palaces now have women's restrooms. None of this was thinkable in the past.

Unfortunately, the authoritarianism, the public beheadings, the crackdown on dissent - including the arrests and possibly torture of women activists - also offend our values. Many thoughtful American critics of Saudi policy argue that we must shun the crown prince and reject as a fanciful notion the idea that he is a modernizing dictator.

Having just returned from Saudi Arabia, I am struck by what feels like two totally different universes. The enthusiasm for the crown prince continues to be real, especially among young people who now can talk openly about their ability to shape their destinies and the destiny of the country. Yet the Saudis I talked to - young and old - deeply resent the congressional criticism of the crown prince and feel that if Saudi Arabia is shunned by the U.S., the kingdom will shun the U.S. in return. With nationalism now a pillar of regime support, we should not be surprised by such a backlash.

They may mean it, but is it realistic? Saudi weapons, military infrastructure and training are all dependent on U.S. military support. The kingdom's investment holdings in the U.S. exceed $800 billion. The vast majority of the 190,000 students and family members sent abroad are in the U.S., and return with instinctive attachments to America. And, case in point, most the kingdom's 30-plus cabinet ministers graduated from American universities. They may be angry about the criticism, but their natural affinity is to the U.S.

By the same token, how easy would it be for the U.S. to truly shun Saudi Arabia? Even if Americans were to downplay the security implications, which they should not, are they ready to have the Saudis stop insisting that all transactions in oil be done in dollars? How long would 70 percent of all global trade be done in dollars if that were to change?

With neither side having a national interest in shunning the other, the issue is how each will now manage the relationship. The Trump administration needs to be honest with Congress and the Saudis: We will remain committed to Saudi security and to investing in the kingdom's effort to transform the country, even as we make clear we will criticize what we believe is wrong. Killing dissidents and defying global norms has consequences. Disallowing domestic criticism will undermine the aims of building a knowledge-based economy and a risk-taking, entrepreneurial society. Countering Iranian and Sunni Islamist radicals is essential, but needs to be coordinated to avoid ill-considered, reckless policies.

Washington will need help from the Saudis, with the crown prince repeating his words that the Khashoggi murder was a "heinous crime," and explaining the lessons learned and structural changes made because of it. The Saudis should also seek a quiet discussion with congressional leaders to hear their criticisms, respond to them and voice their own.

The Las Vegas rules don't apply to the Middle East: What happens there does not stay there. And, like it or not, policies of the Saudis will have a huge effect on what takes shape in the Middle East. America can't write them off.

- - - Ross is counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and served in senior national security positions for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
STAMFORD  Sometimes when it comes to moving fast on your feet, you lose things.

Sometimes when you lose things, you appreciate getting them back; other times, maybe not so much.

On Tuesday, 58-year-old Carlton Whitehorn was arrested on a larceny charge because he lost his cellphone.

Police found it at the scene of a burglary last December after a Selleck Street plumber reported about $2,000 worth of tools had been burglarized in a company truck the night before.

Police looked around and right next to the back door of the truck that was burglarized, a cellphone was found lying on the ground, Property Crimes Sgt. Sean Scanlon said.

Thinking it may have belonged to the burglar, police obtained a search warrant for the phone and determined that it belonged to Whitehorn, Scanlon said.

Police called in Whitehorn three times for interviews and each time he denied breaking into the work truck. But, Scanlon said, with each meeting the investigators were able to break down more and more of his story and finally he admitted to taking the tools and selling them for cash.

Scanlon said Whitehorn, who has three burglary convictions on his record, would not admit to breaking into the truck.

Whitehorn was charged with fourth-degree larceny and released after promising to appear in court.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
A mid the shareholder unrest in the current AGM season, one spat has received too little attention: the row between miner Anglo American and Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal.

Agarwal, a streetfighting minerals entrepreneur, has built up a 19% interest in old establishment Anglo, where operations are dictated from genteel Carlton House Terrace.

It is among several big personal bets hes made on South African mining. He views its geology and geography as perfect to feed the fast-growing Indian economy.

Which is why he takes issue with Anglo for  as he sees it  shifting the focus of the firm away from its South African roots. Anglo is investing billions of dollars in Peru.

This week, he voted against Anglos appointment to the board of a South American, Marcelo Bastos, saying it should have hired a South African.

You can see his point. Sort of. The eight-strong non-executive board consists of only one South African yet has two Brits, an American and two Aussies. But attacking the hire of a Brazilian seems unreasonable, given the continents importance to Anglos operations.

One suspects the answer lies in his wider efforts to curry favour in South Africa, where he has other big operations requiring political support. Opposing Bastos was a loud protest vote for the ears of SA president Cyril Ramaphosa.

As so often with Agarwal, all that is conjecture. We still dont know why he built his Anglo interest, which he did with a complex loan rather than buying shares. Does he want it to get first dibs on future disposals? Does he want to launch a bid? Is he in Anglo for the long term? Who knows.
S ensible people, I believe, instinctively know good spoiler etiquette  Jane Austen being one of them. Take the bit in Northanger Abbey when Isabella Thorpe and Catherine Morland share their love of Gothic novels:

I am got to the black veil.

Are you, indeed? How delightful! Oh! I would not tell you what is behind the black veil for the world! Are not you wild to know?

Oh! Yes, quite; what can it be? But do not tell meI would not be told upon any account. I know it must be a skeleton.

Like Isabella, most people understand that much enjoyment comes from anticipation and it would be rotten to take that away from someone.

Yet in these Twittery times one can never be sure what ruinous trolls lurk online, ready to stomp on everyones fun. So even though Ive never seen an episode of Line of Duty or Game of Thrones and I take no interest in Marvels latest Avengers outing, I do have sympathy for fans of those franchises who have to tiptoe on social media like its a minefield until they can catch up with the latest twists and turns.

While its poor form for trolls to actually seek to spoil, it has to be said that there are those on the side of the spoiler police who look for any excuse to jump down someones throat if they so much as glance in the direction of a minor plot detail. This can get very nasty. This week Donald Clarke, chief film critic for the Irish Times, was bombarded with online rage for recounting not much more than the basic set-up of Avengers: Endgame.

We shouldnt give bullying a free pass just because it wears the veil of spoiler-anguish. In the most extreme example, a man was reportedly beaten up outside a cinema in Hong Kong after loudly revealing the Avengers plot to fans in the queue who hadnt yet seen it.

Were beyond spoilerphobia now. Its spoilergeddon.

Kubrick preferred the great indoors

It's a joke thats floated around for years: Stanley Kubrick was hired by Nasa to fake the Moon landing, but his legendary perfectionism made them film it on location.

I hate to say it, but the joke doesnt quite work. As the Design Museums incredibly thorough Kubrick exhibition shows, he disliked location shoots and avoided them where possible, opting instead for the concentration and meticulous control he could achieve in a studio.

One things for sure, if Kubrick had faked the Moon landing he wouldnt have let Neil Armstrong get away with swallowing the a in one small step for a man.

Will 007 Die Another Octopussy?

Rami Malek / Getty Images for TIME

Filming began on the next Bond adventure on Sunday. Last weeks much-hyped announcement confirmed a lot: Rami Malek will play the supervillain, Bonds love interest from the last one, played by Lea Seydoux, is returning and Phoebe Waller-Bridge will help with the script. Fine, fine, but what about the title?

The Bond films have now used the title of every Ian Fleming novel and nearly every short story (and the few of those left  The Property of a Lady, The Hildebrand Rarity  arent up to scratch). So the writers will need to tread carefully to get the tone right. There are rumours that it is going to be Eclipse, but thats a bit flat, isnt it?

We know an authentically Bondish title when we hear it, but its hard to define and even harder to come up with one. I asked some of my friends and colleagues for their alternatives. A few plausible ones included The Sun Never Sets and Who Dares Dies. Less plausible: Millipussy and Bondy McBondface. The producers are welcome to any of these.

Sorry, your holiness but I need to gossip

Have you heard? Pope Francis hates gossip. He has compared it before to terrorism and this week he warned a group of hairdressers to avoid falling into the temptation of gossip that is easily associated with your work. I wonder what His Holiness would have said to us journalists, whose work so often relies upon a juicy slice of gossip to lead to a proper story.
L abours big Brexit showdown (part 39) was a disappointment but no surprise to most of those who support a Peoples Vote. We should all know the drill by now. Some sham consultation with members via bogus policy forums. A National Executive Committee meeting so long that members have to take an aspirin and wear flight socks to avoid deep vein thrombosis. And then the leadership gets what they want.

Dont you just love the new politics? Three years after the EU referendum, two missed deadlines and a good 10 days into the European elections campaign, Labour has another policy on Brexit and, to coin a phrase, nothing has changed. The position is still a muddle. Labour is the Vicky Pollard of Brexit. Yeah, but no, but yeah.

Labour will kind of support a Peoples Vote but only under certain circumstances. This is an attempt to be all things to all people. It meant Wes Streeting, the MP for Ilford North, could tweet that Labour was a Remain party backing a public vote while Gloria de Piero, who represents a Leave seat in Nottinghamshire, could says its manifesto will not contain a pledge to hold a second referendum. Its a good thing we dont live in some fast-paced, digital age where people can see what other people are saying across the country...

I concede, this fudge worked for Labour in the 2017 election and Jeremy Corbyn rode two horses with some skill. Remainers knew there were many in the party who were on their side. And Leavers knew with certainty there was an absolute Brexiteer at the helm. But in that election, Brexit was not in the top three issues that came up on the doorstep  they were cuts to school budgets, the NHS and austerity.

That isnt the case now. Brexit is a massive concern because its been so botched (however you voted) and its coming up as parties canvas for not just the Euro elections but tomorrows local ones. One frazzled council candidate told me it was a nightmare because voters werent at all clear which way Labour leaned and nor were they.

"Labour arrogantly presumes it has unwavering loyalty from its Remainer base, which is dangerous"

This is not ideal. I do sympathise with how hard all this is. Understandably, Labour doesnt want to give up on those heartland Labour voters who voted Leave, but having knocked on their doors, I suspect that many have already left  ironically because of Corbyns strong Left-wing personal views, especially on foreign policy and security. Labour arrogantly presumes unwavering loyalty from its Remainer base, which is dangerous. Corbyns head of communications Seumas Milne and other senior figures are banking on the fact that we will always come home. But thats a risk, because once youve voted for another party you can get a taste for it.

Just remember what happened to all those safe seats for Labour in Scotland which disappeared so dramatically in 2015. You should never take people for granted  either in life and certainly not in politics.

A good life with my Felicity Kendal FitBit

I have a new obsession, which is both a blessing and a curse. I am a Fitbit bore. I once scoffed at the owners of these pieces of wrist technology until I succumbed  and theres nothing like the zeal of the convert. Now Im obsessed with hitting my 10,000 steps and am constantly checking my heart rate, which shoots up to cardiac arrest level during Line of Duty.

I am also tracking my food in an attempt to tackle the squeezed middle (Brexit has been a cruel mistress) using an app called My Fitness Pal, which I can assure you is no friend. When Im not dashing up the stairs on Tube escalators panting Excuse me, could I get past? to poor tourists, Im hysterically logging my food intake like Rain Man and rhetorically exclaiming: Ooh  do you know how many calories are in a mini Crunchie? to absolutely no one  all my friends have deserted me. And I can barely get to sleep as Im so excited to see what my nocturnal activity will reveal.

So here we are all willingly giving away our most intimate data for free. Its not healthy.

My Fitbit ran out of charge and I havent panicked like that since my Tamagotchi carked it.

Ive even named her  Felicity. After Felicity Kendal, because someone once said there was a passing resemblance. He was very drunk but Im still clinging on to it.

Talented Isatas rise is music to our ears

Isata Kanneh-Mason / PA

As we await the royal baby with bated breath (Im practically having contractions with excitement), the sister of Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the brilliant young cellist who played at Harry and Meghans wedding, has been signed by Decca Classics. Isata Kanneh-Mason, a talented pianist who has been playing since the age of five, will release debut album Romance this summer, featuring pieces by composer Clara Schumann to mark the 200th anniversary of her birth.
M uch of what MI5 does is necessarily shrouded in secrecy. At the same time, it is important to communicate about what we do. I want to take this opportunity to let Londoners know how MI5 is adapting to stay ahead of the terrorist threats facing the UK and the extraordinary things our people are doing to keep the country safe today, while innovating for tomorrow.

Londoners know all too well the devastating impact of terrorism. And recent events have demonstrated with brutal clarity the diversity of the terrorist threat we are contending with.

Racist ideology is more visible and increasingly adopting violent terrorist tactics, as we saw in the horrific Right-wing terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. In the UK, the number of police investigations into Right-wing terrorism has been steadily rising over the past three years, leading MI5 to join the police in combating this threat last autumn.

Dissident Republican groups still cling to terrorist methods to disrupt the Northern Ireland peace process, with no regard for the loss of innocent life. The horrific murder of journalist Lyra McKee followed the reckless bombing of a courthouse in London-derry in January this year, showing once again that these terrorists are stuck in a timewarp, refusing to accept the modern-day reality in Northern Ireland.

But of the multiple terrorist threats facing the UK, Islamist terrorism remains the most acute. The abhorrent events in Sri Lanka are a stark and tragic reminder of terrorists determination and ongoing ability to perpetuate misery through launching large-scale attacks. There is no doubt that the fall of the so-called caliphate in Syria marked a significant military defeat and a hugely symbolic loss for Islamic State, but we must not be complacent.

Although the collapse deprived IS of physical space, it has shown that an ideology does not require territory to survive. In the UK there remain individuals who are inspired by IS propaganda, despite having shown no interest in travelling to Syria.

The pull of this propaganda is startling: of the plots thwarted by police and MI5 and our Western allies in 2018, 80 per cent were conducted by people inspired by the ideology of IS but who had never actually been in contact with it in Syria or Iraq. We also know that, despite their losses, ISs remaining members are intent on directing terrorist attacks around the world, including on European soil. And this ambition is shared by al Qaeda, whose desire and capability to attack the West hasnt diminished while IS has been in the spotlight.

We are always asked about the UK angle to any overseas terrorist attack. In an increasingly interconnected world more and more people are leaving trails of data that touch numerous countries, including the UK. As Londoners, you understand the opportunities of living in a vibrant, global city with quick and easy access to new tech. But so do those who wish to do us harm.

Ten years ago we communicated through phone calls, SMS messages and email. Today we all generate vast amounts of data from our smartphones. Around 90 per cent of the information online was created in just the past three years. But increasingly, that data is not easily accessible by MI5. Numerous applications now encrypt our communications.

This undoubtedly has benefits for our individual privacy. But it also has benefits for terrorists using the same technology, using it to radicalise, spread hate and plot murder. It also means that simply being on our radar, or being under surveillance, is not always going to enable us to see that critical bit of intelligence which reveals a terrorists intent. The haystack is bigger and the needle smaller.

"It is vital that you understand and support the work we do and that you tell us when something doesnt seem right"

MI5 is responding to the diversity of terrorist threats by embracing a diversity of partnerships. Increasingly, the vital piece of information that might stop an attack is unlikely to be held by MI5 but buried somewhere else in the mountain of data scattered across the world. So to assemble the vital clues, we must continue to strengthen our relationships with UK and international partners.

In the UK we work every day with the police, other public bodies and private companies. With them, we are developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies to analyse the intelligence picture. But as we tackle a growing volume of data it is of course incumbent on us to manage it in the right way. We work closely with oversight bodies to ensure that our approach is the best possible and leaves us able to carry out our responsibilities in a way that is fit for the modern world.

We also rely on our strong international relationships. Our close US partnership has saved numerous lives on both sides of the Atlantic. Our partnerships in Europe are strong and deepening. We share more intelligence and data with European countries today than at any time in our history and both sides are committed to working together, whatever the UKs future relationship is with the EU.

Finally, we rely on  and never take for granted  our partnership with the public. It is vital that you understand and support the work we do and tell us when something doesnt seem right. I would encourage you to report any concerning activity to the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321. Only with your help can we keep the country safe.

Our partnerships make MI5 stronger and the UK safer. They complement the work done by our brilliant, talented officers, who work selflessly in the national interest. We often cant talk about our successes but I am proud to say that, with partners, we continue to thwart plots and save lives. That is our mission.
H istorical comparisons are often trite. Those involving Brexit and the Second World War invariably so. But in this new age of political trouble it is perhaps worth remembering a similar time, just over 80 ago, when popular opinion turned out to be wrong and the heretics were proved right.

When Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich on 30 September 1938, he was given a heros reception. Cheering well-wishers lined the route from Heston aerodrome and the king invited the prime minister on to the balcony of Buckingham Palace to acknowledge the acclamation of the throng. In the days following the Munich Agreement  which ceded to Hitler that portion of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland and supposedly ensured peace for our time  Chamberlains popularity soared and 90,000 people collected coupons for a commemorative plate embossed with a photograph of the prime minister.

When some 30 Tory MPs (out of 386) broke ranks and voted against the agreement there was uproar. I should like to crush his head to a jelly, declared Lady Willingdon, referring to Duff Cooper, the only Cabinet minister to have resigned over the agreement. Those traitors  Winston Churchill  and his like should be shot, declared a Chamberlain supporter at a dinner party.

In the weeks following attempts were made to pass votes of no-confidence and even deselect the rebellious MPs. Duff Cooper was placed on probation by his association while Churchill was only able to avoid a vote to deselect him as MP for Epping by making it known he would trigger a by-election and run as an independent if such a motion were passed.

When the Conservative Association of Kinross and Western Perthshire succeeded in deselecting the Duchess of Atholl, the Red Duchess, as she was known, did just that. In the ensuing by-election  which was positively 18th-century in the way that dirty tricks and low-level bribery were deployed  the full weight of the Tory party was brought to bear against the duchess, who was defeated by 1,300 votes.

Shortly afterwards the National Liberal secretary of state for war, Leslie Hore-Belisha, remarked that the Conservative party machine is even stronger than the Nazi party machine. It may have a different aim, but it is similarly callous and ruthless.

Three months later, in March 1939, Hitler tore up the Munich Agreement and invaded Czechoslovakia. The anti-appeasers were vindicated, while the reputations of their opponents never recovered. A year later, Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as prime minister. It hardly bears thinking that history might not have taken this course if the Epping Conservative Association, following the great mass of popular opinion, had succeeded in removing him from the Commons.
W hen your editorial on smartphones in court on April 29 states Should victims have their private social media histories scrutinised too? The answer is yes, you are very wrong.

I am a former detective chief inspector in the Met and I investigated many rape allegations. There is no justification for the defence to be fishing around in what may be several years of private material in the vast majority of cases.

Whatever next? Should police search victims houses in case there are some letters? Or follow them around and interrogate all their friends in case they mentioned something?

What about the privacy of third parties too? There will be sensitive pictures, videos, contacts and other material relating to them too.

If the defence claims there is a prior relationship, let it be disclosed in a meaningful defence statement, so that it can be investigated (with focused examination of relevant social media if necessary).

Police arent allowed to go fishing around in the lives of suspects without due cause. Why on earth should victims be treated in that way?

Of course we need to have fair trials but riding roughshod over the privacy of victims and others is most definitely not the way to achieve that.

Peter Kirkham

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Peter

You are right, of course, that defence lawyers should not be able to go fishing around in the personal messages of rape complainants in the hope of uncovering something. Nor should police or prosecutors.

But thats not what the Director of Public Prosecutions, Max Hill QC, is proposing. As Mr Hill has sensibly made clear, his aim is not to allow an indiscriminate trawl of a complainants social media and other data but instead to ensure that such phone evidence is available for all sides to assess, only if it is judged likely to contain material directly relevant to the alleged crime under investigation.

It is regrettable if any victim is deterred from coming forward. But the alternative of leaving defendants to go on trial when potentially exonerating material had been concealed from them would be a worse injustice, at odds with the basic principle of a right to a fair trial.

Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor

Leave and Remain agree on openness

I was struck by your columnist Stephen Kings piece outlining a potentially cataclysmic situation in which first this Tory Government, and then a subsequent Corybn-led one, undermine the UKs trading relationships with the EU and the US respectively [Sadly for Britain, theres no 007 around to impose its will on the world, April 29].

We must do everything we can to avoid that fate, of course, but I would urge King to take solace in this fact: one of the few things on which both Leave and Remain voters tend to agree is that the UKs future should rely on openness, trade and a strong international role for the UK.

They might disagree on the means of getting there, and on the countries we should be trading with, but the vision tends to be shared  and lord knows this country could do with coming together behind a common vision right now.

Nick King

We need leadership to stave off decline

THERE are two groups whose actions will ensure our standard of living declines in the near future. Your Tuesday article on the resignation of the fracking tsar points to one of them. Unthinking commitment to environmental standards will rob us of a benefit long enjoyed  cheap energy: first coal, then North Sea oil and gas. North Sea oil production is in decline and it could be replaced by shale gas but for a lack of understanding from a weak Government.

The other group hell-bent on lowering living standards are clear for all to see  the hardline Brexiteers who believe the migration of industry and jobs to continental Europe will make no difference to this once-favoured land.
On Wednesday morning Kate Middleton officially opened the new Anna Freud National Centre, the headquarters of a children's mental health charity in North London.

The outing came just two days after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary, at which time Kate was also appointed Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order for her services to the sovereign by Her Majesty The Queen.

The 37-year-old exuded her usual elegance in a custom made A-line emerald dress featuring a square neckline by New Zealand-born, London-based designer Emilia Wickstead. The flattering silhouette is a favourite of the young the Duchess, who wore a similar lilac number to the Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit in October 2018.

Adding an additional pop of colour, Kate accessorised with green amethyst and diamond oval drop earrings (2,600), by Kiki McDonough, as well as a matching necklace.

The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the Anna Freud Centre of Excellence / PA

Sporting her signature nude pumps by Gianvito Rossi, Kate also carried a complementary beige clutch bag by Mulberry.

The Duchess of Cambridge at the Anna Freud Centre / PA Wire/PA Images
F ew make films with such painstaking precision and poise as Wes Anderson, and none with such an obsession with symmetry.

From his 1996 debut Bottle Rocket to most recent movie Isle of Dogs, via the typically visually expressive short Hotel Chevalier, Anderson has enchanted film fans with his work for more than 20 years.

There are dozens of idiosyncrasies to which he returns time and again  most of which were brilliantly parodied by Honest Trailers last year  but one of the most recognisable is his passion for vibrant cinematography. No other director lavishly splashes swathes of pastel colour onto the screen like he does, bringing his scenes to life with vibrant yellows, blues and pinks.

While his hugely stylised approach has developed over the years, the talent was there to see from the very earliest days. Bill Murray  who's notoriously picky with his projects  was one of the first people to put his faith in Anderson in the late 90s. So convinced by the young directors talents, he wrote him a cheque for $25,000 to cover production costs on his second film Rushmore, which Anderson never cashed.

Pretty in pink: Tony Revolori and Saoirse Ronan in the Grand Budapest Hotel

As well as being hugely visually expressive, the director still shows incredible restrain and precision in his approach. While hes been accused of being fey by some, his films are never mawkishness or superficial  even stripping away the stunning cinematography and idiosyncratic aesthetics, they are movies that speak directly to the heart.
Review at a glance









M y friend Joe calls it The New Seriousness. It can be easily identified, he says, by bread with wacky butter served as a separate course. Most often cropping up in east London, Casa Fofo, led by chef Adolfo de Cecco (previously at Pidgin in Dalston), is adding another venue to the movement, this time in Clapton.

Small, as is customary, the premises can be described, I discover, as a sleeve space. Having only recently processed the word sleeve as the description of a heavily tattooed arm, I now have to think of it architecturally as a deep, narrow, room with, in this instance, a wide-open kitchen at the end. Keep up, Fay.

Sparse business hours, with lunches only at weekends and dinners from Wednesdays, give the team  I counted five in the kitchen working to serve 16  time to create a seven-course menu at a reasonable 39.

Two Saturday dinners a week apart give me the opportunity to discern a warp and weft, a pattern, the predilections, passions, fears, apparent affection for the Thermomix turbo setting (10,700 rotations per minute) and the dehydrator, enthusiasm for foraging and for mystifying. Do you know what hoshigaki is or vivid choi?

On both occasions I am with a chum with whom I want to talk quite intently. Being interrupted by chefs delivering dishes with explanations  the Noma style of service  begins to pall after a while. The New Seriousness makes you start to realise food is not just nourishment but a stranger at your table.

Hoshigaki are dried persimmons. As one curtain-raiser they are paired with duck liver and carrots to diverting effect. The opening salvo on the second visit is a log of fried potato topped with blossoms of lardo from Middle White pork and a slice of translucent pickled cucumber to introduce sharpness among the riches. The influence of Joo Won, Korean head chef at Galvin at Windows, for whom de Cecco has worked, seems agreeably apparent. He has also done time at Tetsuyas in Sydney.

'Sleeve space': The interior of Casa Fofo in Clapton / Daniel Hambury/@stellapicsltd

Along comes the bread, rectangles of focaccia, the only obvious pointer to the head chef being Italian. By the way, the restaurant is named in honour of his grandfather. The accompanying pale green (seaweed?) whipped butter topped with crunch is obligingly piquant.

Almond, crab, monks beard is item number three on both occasions, with the dark green strands of the vegetable winning out over the foam the second time. Crab being a fugitive presence is true of both assemblies. Oyster mushrooms are a favoured starting point for a creation. I read afterwards that they were first cultivated in Germany as a subsistence measure during the First World War. Something of that history seems attached to their meeting with turnip ribbons and mandarin orange. The variation with lapsang souchong and apple is better but still a bit spooky.

A meal like this doesnt have a main course but if it did it would be the Middle White pork loin with Tokyo turnip and purple wave mustard greens the first time, and Black Galloway beef with Jerusalem artichoke and dwarf pak choi the second. Both meats are impeccably bought and respectfully cooked.But fermenting Jerusalem artichokes and then whirling them into a non-specific brown sauce points to maybe chefs with too much time on their hands and not enough comprehension of the potential for fun in eating out.

Similarly, the account of the strawberries dehydrated then rehydrated for a dessert flavoured with pine has us flummoxed. The pal, a television producer, wonders if it could be the basis for Flatliners 2: This Time Its Strawberries.

Wines, you have probably guessed, are low- intervention and reasonably priced, with nothing over 39 a bottle and interesting grape varieties such as Rhoditis and Malagousia in the Paranga Kir-Yianni from North Macedonia at 5/29. My proselytising for the progress in Greek winemaking falls a bit flat with the first sip of Agiortiko from Athanasiou in Nemea at 5.5/33. Etre a lOuest, an un-oaked Chardonnay from Limoux at 5.5/33, can be translated as Away with the Fairies We didnt do it but the wine pairing at 28 is almost certainly a good idea.

A young Frenchwoman runs the floor with great charm. The audience for The New Seriousness are suitably grown-up and earnest. Joe guesses they are probably discussing flight-shaming and how their next holiday will be by train.
US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the breakout star of new Netflix documentary, Knock Down the House.

Directed by Rachel Lears, the film follows Ms Ocasio-Cortez and three other female Democrats during last years midterm election races.

The film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and Netflix later paid a record $10 million (7.7m) to secure the rights.

As Knock Down the House prepares to drop on Netflix this week, here's what you need to know about film.

Who is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks during a news conference at the East Front of the U.S. Capitol February 7, 2019 in Washington, DC / Getty

28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew national recognition when she won the Democratic Partys primary election for New Yorks congressional district in the 2018 midterm elections.

Her historic win against 10-term congressman Joe Crowley made her the youngest person in Congress.

Throughout her political career so far, she has demonstrated a progressive agenda, including the abolition of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

She has also openly criticised President Trumps immigration policies.

No one should feel unsafe in the United States of America, and that includes our amazing and beautiful and productive immigrant country, she said in an interview following the Presidents televised address, which focused on the issue of immigration.

He has systematically engaged in the violation of human rights on our border, she added.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez is known for having a strong social media presence, posting everything from political campaigns to hanging out in her home borough of the Bronx on her Instagram page, which boasts 3.3 million followers.

What is the AOC Netflix documentary about?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reveals what motivated her to run for House of Representatives in Knock Down the House. (Netflix ) / Netflix

The 90-minute film tracks the efforts of four female candidates, including Ms Ocasio-Cortez, as they embark on the campaign trail.

In the films trailer, Ms Ocasio-Cortez describes how she felt facing Mr Crowley and what motivated her to run.

If I was a rational person I would have dropped out of this race a long time ago, she admits.

Hes gonna tell me Im small, that Im young, that Im inexperienced.

Americans arent asking for a lot. Theyre asking for politicians to help them get by.

She adds: I just dont want to let them down.

Which other female candidates running for US office are featured?

Democratic candidate Cori Bush also stars in Knock Down the House / Netflix

Also featured in the film alongside Ms Ocasio-Cortez are fellow candidates Amy Vilela, a single mother from Las Vegas, Cori Bush, an African American woman from the same district in Missouri where unarmed teenager Michael Brown was killed and Paula Jean Swearengin, a woman whose West Virginia community has suffered dramatically as a result of fracking.

All four candidates were selected by the groups Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress as part of a push for diversity in political representation. Only Ms Ocasio-Cortez was successful in her midterm bid.

Is there a trailer?

Yes - Netflix dropped the trailer for Knock Down the House earlier this month, which you can watch below:

When is Knock Down the House released on Netflix?
T he most delicious  and easiest  way to enjoy spring lamb is with a crust of aromatic garlic, fennel seeds and lemon. I love serving these crispy-skinned cutlets with caponata, a Sicilian mix of aubergines, celery, olives, with raisins that get plump and juicy from tomatoes and salty from capers. Its a versatile recipe, just as good with roast chicken or hake, or wrapped through a pasta.

One for your diaries next week is the visit of Parisian patissier Yann Couvreur, who will take over Claridges pastry kitchen from Tuesday until Sunday, May 12. He brings with him a new Elevenses menu featuring his Instagram-famous creations, including the Paris-Brest as well as his celebrated chocolate tonka bean eclair.

Claridges, incidentally, is where this week I ate the best dish Ive had all year, a sweet, creamy, juicy lobster Wellington. I was there to celebrate the hotels magazine, which has just published a special food edition. The night started with a dirty martini in the discreet art deco bar, the Fumoir, before we tucked into that beautiful lobster. If youre going to treat yourself to fine dining, do it here.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

4 whole garlic cloves, sliced

1 tbsp fennel seeds, crushed

Juice of 1 lemon

8 lamb cutlets

For the caponata

4 tbsp olive oil

2 aubergines, diced

2 shallots, diced

3 large plum tomatoes

2 sticks of celery, diced

10g capers

20 pitted black olives

50g raisins

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. To make the caponata, pour three tablespoons of oil into a large heavy based saucepan or casserole dish, place over a medium heat and add the aubergines. Cook for 15 minutes until soft. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, followed by the shallots and cook for a further five minutes. Then stir in the tomatoes and cook slowly, so they break down and turn to a mush. Next stir in the capers, raisins, olives, celery, dried oregano, vinegar, tomato puree, season and cover with a lid. Cook over a low heat for 20 minutes until all the vegetables are soft. Stir gently so it doesnt break up too much.

2. While the caponata is cooking, make the marinade for the lamb cutlets. Mix the olive oil, fennel seeds, garlic and lemon juice in a bowl and season. Then place the lamb cutlets in the bowl and rub the mixture into the meat. Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate.

3. Place a griddle or frying pan over a medium/high heat. Cook the cutlets on each side for four minutes.
A defendant has been left critically injured after dousing himself with acid in a London court.

Marc Marshall was in the dock at Inner London Crown Court on Monday when he poured the noxious substance over himself.

The 54-year-old is reported to have just been sentenced for fraud offences when the incident happened.

A female dock officer was also injured but did not need hospital treatment.

Marshall was carrying a metal water bottle but CCTV footage is said to have shown him sipping from it as he went through security, the BBC reported.

A HM Courts and Tribunals Service spokesman told the broadcaster it would be "urgently investigating" the circumstances surrounding the incident.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police were called to Court 10, Inner London Crown Court, at 12.01pm on Monday, 29 April, following reports of a serious assault.

"Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance attended and a male aged in his fifties was found to have doused himself with a noxious substance.

"He has been taken to hospital for treatment of his injuries. His condition is critical.
A teenager has been knifed to death in a double stabbing in north-east London.

The victim, a 15-year-old schoolboy, was found in Somerford Grove, Hackney, suffering stab wounds on Wednesday night.

He was given first aid by police officers before paramedics arrived but he was pronounced dead shortly before 9.50pm.

His next of kin have been informed.

Teenager stabbed to death in east London

A second teenager, thought to be 16, was found with stab injuries in Shacklewell Road and rushed to hospital.

His injuries have been assessed as not life-threatening.

The road was taped off by police following the fatal stabbing / @999London

All of Hackney was placed under a section 60 stop-and-search order following the fatal knife attack.

No arrests have been made.

Police secure the scene following the fatal stabbing in Hackney / Nigel Howard

Police were called to reports of a stabbing just before 9pm.

In statement, Scotland Yard said: "The Homicide and Major Crime Command have been informed.

"As a result of this incident a section 60 has been put in place for the whole of Hackney."

The teenager was knifed to death in the attack in Hackney / @999London
A man suspected of raping three women may have been wrongly released from prison, it has emerged.

Joseph McCann, 34, is being hunted by police following the abduction of two women aged in their 20s who were separately snatched off the streets of north London last Thursday.

He is also suspected of snatching a 21-year-old woman at knifepoint in Watford in the early hours of April 21 and raping her.

An urgent review has now been launched over fears he may have been released from prison too early.

Suspect: Joseph McCann is being hunted by police

It is understood he was released on life-long licence from prison in February 2017 after serving 10 years of a now-scrapped indeterminate sentence for an aggravated burglary.

He was jailed again the same year for theft and burglary but is believed to have been mistakenly released automatically half-way through his three-year sentence.

It should have been up to the parole board to decide whether he was released or stayed behind bars because he was still subject to licence.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We have commissioned an urgent review into what happened in this case."

McCann may have been released early from prison, it has emerged / PA

Scotland Yard has offered a reward of up to 20,000 for information leading to his arrest and prosecution.

Police have warned McCann is "extremely dangerous", known to use false names and may be using a disguise.

He is described as being muscular, about 5ft 10in and having a "distinctive" tattoo of the name "bobbie" on his stomach.

He is said to have blue eyes, a bald head or shaved blond hair with a light-coloured beard and a "slight" Irish accent.

Officers said he had recently gone by the name of Joel and has links to Watford, north-west London, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire and Ipswich in Suffolk.

The women abducted in London were raped after being snatched by a man in a silver or grey Ford S-Max people carrier with false registration plates.

The first woman was abducted at about 12.30am on Thursday from a street in Chingford, before the second was seized around 12 hours later at 12.15pm from a street in Edgware.

One of the women may have been pregnant, The Times reported.

They were driven to a hotel where the man attempted to book a room at around 1pm. They left when this was unavailable.

The women managed to escape in Osborne Road, Watford, at about 2.30pm.
W ikiLeaks founder Julian Assange held up a fist in an apparent gesture of defiance as he arrived at court today where he is facing up to a year in jail for breaching his bail.

The Australian 47-year-old arrived for sentencing at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday morning.

He was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court earlier this month after being arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Assange was accused of sexual offences in Sweden in 2010, and after exhausting his legal options against an extradition order, went to the Ecuadorian Embassy on June 19 2012.

Julian Assange - In pictures 1 /30 Julian Assange - In pictures 2019 Julian Assange on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11 Jack Taylor/Getty Images 2019 Julian Assange made a defiant gesture with his fist as he arrived at court AFP/Getty Images 2017 Julian Assange puts his fist in the air as he steps out to speak to the media from the balcony of the Embassy Of Ecuador Getty Images 2012 Protesters gather outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks is staying Getty Images 2012 Masked supporters of Julian Assange outside the Embassy of Ecuador in Knightsbridge Dominic Lipinski/PA 2010 Photographers hold cameras to the windows of a Serco prison van believed to be carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Reuters 2016 ulian Assange's cat, is adorned with a tie and collar inside the window of the Ecuadorian Embassy PA 2016 Pamela Anderson delivers lunch to Julian Assange at Embassy of Ecuador Getty Images 2010 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is pictured through the heavily tinted windows of a police vehicle as he arrives at Westminster magistrates court in London AFP/Getty Images 2010 Jemima Kahn leaves the City of Westminster Magistrates Court after offering to stand as surety for Julian Assange Getty Images 2010 Julian Assange of the WikiLeaks website speaks to reporters in front of a Don McCullin Vietnam war photograph at The Front Line Club in London Getty Images 2010 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gestures inside a prison van with red windows as he arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice Getty Images 2011 WikiLeaks website founder Julian Assange arrives at The High Court Getty Images 2011 Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, shakes the hand of a supporter as he leaves Trafalgar Square after addressing the crowd during the 'Antiwar Mass Assembly' organised by the Stop the War Coalition Getty Images 2011 Journalist John Pilger and Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, chat before addressing the crowd during the 'Antiwar Mass Assembly' organised by the Stop the War Coalition at Trafalgar Square Getty Images 2012 Placards are left by supporters of Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website, outside the Ecuadorian Embassy Getty Images 2015 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with Reverend Jesse Jackson outside the Embassy of Ecuador in London PA 2016 People attend a video conference of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the International Center for Advanced Communication Studies for Latin America (CIESPAL) auditorium in Quito AFP/Getty Images 2016 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds up his new kitten at the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London WikiLeaks 2017 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a press conference from inside the Ecuadorian embassy AP 2018 Supporters of Julian Assange outside Westminster Magistrates Court, London where a court decision is due on whether a UK arrest warrant against the WikiLeaks founder is still valid PA 2018 British hacker Lauri Love and his girlfriend Sylvia Mann are surrounded by media after visiting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on 6th February 2018 AFP/Getty Images 2018 A cat named 'James' wearing a collar and tie yawns by the window of the Ecuadorian Embassy where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been for over five years on 6th February 2018 AFP/Getty Images

A warrant for his arrest was issued 10 days later.

At the hearing on April 11 District Judge Michael Snow remanded Assange in custody and branded him a "narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests".

Assange is facing up to a year in jail after being found guilty of breaching the Bail Act / AFP/Getty Images

Julian Assange arrives at court / AFP/Getty Images

The judge said: "This is a case which merits the maximum sentence, which is 12 months in the Crown Court."
J ulian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail by entering the Ecuadorian embassy.

The WikiLeaks founder spent nearly seven years living in the embassy, where he sought political asylum, until last month when he was dramatically dragged out by police.

Sentencing at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Deborah Taylor said the 47-year-old merited near the maximum sentence of one year because of the seriousness of his offence.

Rejecting his claim for leniency, she told Assange: "It's difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offence.

"By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK."

Assange is driven away after the sentencing / AFP/Getty Images

She told Assange that by doing so he had "exploited your privileged position to flout the law".

As Assange was taken away from court, he defiantly raised his fist to the supporters in the public gallery behind him.

Assange is facing up to a year in jail after being found guilty of breaching the Bail Act / AFP/Getty Images

They raised their fists back at him in solidarity and shouted "shame on you" towards the court.

Before being jailed for breaching the Bail Act, his lawyer, Mark Summers QC, read a letter written by Assange in which he apologised "unreservedly".

Julian Assange appearing at Southwark Crown Court / PA

Assange wrote: "I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I pursued my case. I found myself struggling with difficult circumstances.

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done. I regret the course that that has taken."

Julian Assange - In pictures 1 /30 Julian Assange - In pictures 2019 Julian Assange on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11 Jack Taylor/Getty Images 2019 Julian Assange made a defiant gesture with his fist as he arrived at court AFP/Getty Images 2017 Julian Assange puts his fist in the air as he steps out to speak to the media from the balcony of the Embassy Of Ecuador Getty Images 2012 Protesters gather outside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks is staying Getty Images 2012 Masked supporters of Julian Assange outside the Embassy of Ecuador in Knightsbridge Dominic Lipinski/PA 2010 Photographers hold cameras to the windows of a Serco prison van believed to be carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Reuters 2016 ulian Assange's cat, is adorned with a tie and collar inside the window of the Ecuadorian Embassy PA 2016 Pamela Anderson delivers lunch to Julian Assange at Embassy of Ecuador Getty Images 2010 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is pictured through the heavily tinted windows of a police vehicle as he arrives at Westminster magistrates court in London AFP/Getty Images 2010 Jemima Kahn leaves the City of Westminster Magistrates Court after offering to stand as surety for Julian Assange Getty Images 2010 Julian Assange of the WikiLeaks website speaks to reporters in front of a Don McCullin Vietnam war photograph at The Front Line Club in London Getty Images 2010 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gestures inside a prison van with red windows as he arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice Getty Images 2011 WikiLeaks website founder Julian Assange arrives at The High Court Getty Images 2011 Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, shakes the hand of a supporter as he leaves Trafalgar Square after addressing the crowd during the 'Antiwar Mass Assembly' organised by the Stop the War Coalition Getty Images 2011 Journalist John Pilger and Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, chat before addressing the crowd during the 'Antiwar Mass Assembly' organised by the Stop the War Coalition at Trafalgar Square Getty Images 2012 Placards are left by supporters of Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website, outside the Ecuadorian Embassy Getty Images 2015 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with Reverend Jesse Jackson outside the Embassy of Ecuador in London PA 2016 People attend a video conference of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the International Center for Advanced Communication Studies for Latin America (CIESPAL) auditorium in Quito AFP/Getty Images 2016 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holds up his new kitten at the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London WikiLeaks 2017 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during a press conference from inside the Ecuadorian embassy AP 2018 Supporters of Julian Assange outside Westminster Magistrates Court, London where a court decision is due on whether a UK arrest warrant against the WikiLeaks founder is still valid PA 2018 British hacker Lauri Love and his girlfriend Sylvia Mann are surrounded by media after visiting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on 6th February 2018 AFP/Getty Images 2018 A cat named 'James' wearing a collar and tie yawns by the window of the Ecuadorian Embassy where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been for over five years on 6th February 2018 AFP/Getty Images

Assange entered the embassy on June 2012 while under intense scrutiny over leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables on his whistleblowing website.

The drastic move came after he exhausted all legal options in fighting extradition to Sweden over two separate allegations, one of rape and one of molestation.

Assange, claiming he was the subject of an American "witch hunt", said he was at risk of being further taken to the US if he was sent to the Scandinavian nation.

Julian Assange had been living inside the Embassy of Ecuador for nearly seven years / AFP/Getty Images

On Thursday, he will face a hearing about his potential extradition to the US over the allegation he conspired with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate Pentagon computers.

Prosecutors in Sweden are also mulling whether to reopen the sexual assault case against Assange, which was dropped in May 2017. Assange denies the allegations.

His eviction from the embassy on April 11 came after a souring of relations, with Ecuador's president Lenin Moreno claiming the Australian had tried to use the Knightsbridge site for spying.

Hours later he was taken to Westminster Magistrates' Court, where he was found guilty of the bail breach, which came when he failed to surrender to police on June 29 2012.

On Wednesday, the streets leading up to the Southwark court were lined with barriers, with security anticipating groups of demonstrators.
A driver was attacked with a hammer on a night bus in London after he tried to wake a passenger who fell asleep on board.

The driver was attacked on the N9 night bus near Aldwych on Monday night, police said.

He received treatment at the scene before being taken to hospital. Police said the driver's injuries were not life threatening.

A source told the Standard the driver had tried to wake a passenger who had fallen asleep on the bus before the brutal attack.

Officers said the attack happened on Monday evening / @BusSafetyRep

Pictures posted online show the window of the driver's cab shattered following the attack on board.

Police and the London Ambulance Service were called to scene at 11.20pm on Monday where they found the driver suffering from his injuries.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said the driver was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital.

The spokeswoman said: His injuries have been assessed as non life-threatening.
P olice are investigating an alleged rape in a north London park in the early hours of this morning.

A crime scene remains in place in Clissold Park, in Hackney, after a woman alleged she had been raped, Scotland Yard said.

Officers were called at around 3.10am on Wednesday.

Pictures from the scene show a cordon in place in Clissold Park as police continue to investigate.

Police are investigating an alleged rape in Clissold Park / @999London

A police spokeswoman said: Police are investigating an allegation of rape that was reported to officers at around 3.10am on Wednesday. A woman alleged she had been raped by a man in Clissold Park.

Hackney Police added: There is currently a crime scene within a small part of Clissold Park.

Park users can continue to enjoy most of the park at this time but please respect the cordons in place.
A Romanian teenager who moved to Britain less than two years ago for a better education has been offered the chance to study at Cambridge University.

Aspiring rocket scientist Bogdan Vicol, 18, arrived in Britain in May 2017, almost a year to the day after the country voted to leave the EU.

He moved after learning students were winning places at top universities after studying at Newham Collegiate Sixth Form. For two years running, 95 per cent of students at the selective academy were offered places at Russell Group universities.

Bogdan said he had his doubts about leaving his home country in the wake of the Brexit vote, but knew it was his best shot at getting a top-class education.

Bogdan has already gained an A* in A-level maths and will be sitting exams in further maths, physics and chemistry in the summer. If he gets the required grades, he will be studying engineering, specialising in aerospace and aerothermal engineering, at Gonville and Caius, Cambridge, from September.

He said: Brexit was definitely a concern at first. I didnt know if I would be able to stay in the UK or if I would be eligible for any university funding.

But my parents and I knew that to get a top-class education, and the best chances in life, I had to come to the UK.

Bogdan was taken in by a family friend who lives in Ilford. Its been lonely at times ... But when I got that letter saying I had been accepted to Cambridge, I knew it was all worth it, he said.

Bogdan is from Bacau, a city in north-east Romania, where his parents run a furniture distribution business.

He added: To one day be able to say hello, Im a rocket scientist will be quite something.
T he Duchess of Cambridge was today moved by a boy who rapped a poem about how he rebelled after his mother died the he was just nine.

Leo, 13, revealed he was left angry and lonely at the sudden loss of mum Sharon at just 33, in a freak incident when she was bitten by a horsefly.

He rapped how he was "was always robbing and stealing, Because I didnt care about my feelings, I wasnt able to move on, Because I was still healing."

Leo could not live with his father and moved to be with his grandmother, Sue, in Westminster, but struggled with his behaviour at school.

At the risk of being expelled he was given a place at the Pears Family School in Kings Cross, which Kate formally opened today.

Part of The Anna Freud Centre of Excellence, of which she is patron, it specialises in children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, which often cause them to play up in class.

The Duchess of Cambridge at the Anna Freud Centre - In pictures 1 /17 The Duchess of Cambridge at the Anna Freud Centre - In pictures The Duchess of Cambridge visits the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families in London Reuters The Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London where she opened their new building, The Kantor Centre of Excellence PA The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the Anna Freud National Centre Reuters Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge arrives to officially open the new Centre of Excellence at Anna Freud Centr Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the Anna Freud Centre of Excellence PA PA The Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London where she opened their new building, The Kantor Centre of Excellence PA PA The Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London where she opened their new building, The Kantor Centre of Excellence PA The Duchess of Cambridge during a visit to the Anna Freud Centre in London where she opened their new building, The Kantor Centre of Excellence PA PA The Duchess of Cambridge leaves the Anna Freud Centre in London where she opened their new building, The Kantor Centre of Excellence PA

Families are asked to witness their childs troublesome behaviour and are coached on how they can deal with it at home.

Thanks to the schools work, Leo is about to returning to mainstream schooling after a year and says he has been taught to cope with his anger and emotions.

Looking smart in a shirt and tie, Leo told the duchess: "I was 9 when my mum died, And I wasnt doing fine, I felt angry and alone, And felt I had nowhere to go, Now I am 13 and Im living fine, trying to get back to school so I can live my life, Ive had good and bad times at TFS [The Family School], Ive put some stuff to the test, thank god my anger has now gone to rest, Cause now I can really do my best.

"Awesome," the duchess told him. Honestly, Im really, really impressed.

Duchess of Cambridge wore a dress by Emilia Wickstead. / REUTERS

"Whos your favourite musician"

Eminem, Leo told her.

"Well here comes the next Eminem!" Kate said.

Kate was returning to public duties following the Easter beak as she joined parents going back to school at the project for children who have been excluded from mainstream education, which requires all parents to sit in on classes in order to learn how to help their children.

She has made "early years" intervention one of the cornerstones of her public work after seeing how so many problems faced by adults she had met  including those suffering with mental health issues, addiction and social exclusion  stem from their childhood.

The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at the Anna Freud Centre of Excellence. / PA

She has set up a task force of experts to investigate the issue, with a view to announcing a series of findings and recommendations later this year.

The Pears school, which has already been running as a pilot on a temporary site, is set to take 48 children aged five to 13.

All of those attending will have been excluded from school for bad behaviour caused by conduct disorders and emotional problems.

Kate will open the new Kantor Centre of Excellence. / PA

In the first four years of the pilot, 60 per cent of the children were able to return to mainstream schooling after four terms  and 95 per cent of those children remained there.

It has been so successful that the charity is now working with several local authorities across the country to replicate the model elsewhere.

School leaders say the intervention is vital to stop children becoming stuck in permanent exclusion  which can make youngsters vulnerable to grooming by criminal gangs later on.

The duchess spent more than 30 minutes chatting donors, supporters, architects and staff from the charity. / PA

New research from the Anna Freud Centre shows excluded children are more likely to experience behavioural and attention difficulties, emotional problems, difficulties with peers, and perceived stress.

Stephen Taylor, founding head teacher of the school, said: As part of the deal, the parent has to agree to be part of the school.

Having parents there is key to making a change.
A south London mother who had four miscarriages is in a desperate bid to raise 500,000 to save her only child, who has leukaemia.

Rebecca Handley, 38, and her husband Will, from West Norwood, are appealing for help to fund treatment for their two-year-old daughter Esme, who was diagnosed with high risk acute myeloid leukaemia last year.

Mr Handley told the Standard they have "no guarantees" that their daughter will see her third birthday, unless she is given a life-saving transplant.

Following six months of recovery, in April the couple were given the news that the leukaemia has returned to Esme's bone marrow.

The couple are now trying to raise the huge sum for treatment.

Rebecca Handley, Esme Handley and Will Handey last July

The toddler was diagnosed when she was just 22-months-old after developing a large bruise from a fall on a family holiday to Greece.

Following a stem cell transplant in September 2018 and three rounds of intense chemotherapy the two-year-old made a strong recovery, but after only six months of being in good health her leukaemia returned.

The family are no longer eligible for a second transplant on the NHS and now must raise a staggering half a million pounds to fund urgent treatment.

Speaking to the Standard, Esme's father, Will Handley, 43, said he couldnt eat or sleep after he was told Esmes cancer had returned.

Mr Handley said Esme is "obsessed with lions"

He said: Its devastating, its feels the same as hearing the first diagnosis, but different, it feels worse. When youre told the first time, you have hope to go through it all.

And then to be told its come back is the worst thing. You cant eat, you cant sleep, you cant function.

Esme is the couple's only child after Mrs Handley suffered four miscarriages and three operations to have their daughter.

Mr Handley explained the couple first found out Esme was ill during a family holiday to Greece, in June 2018.

Esme was first diagnosed when she was one-year-old

He said: The day before we flew, Esme had taken a tumble and we were becoming alarmed at the disproportionate size of the bruising that followed.

In hindsight this followed a pattern of easy bruising and on our first night, instead of relaxing over a bottle of wine, we began a Google search that ended in a cold sweat for the both of us.

On our second day in Greece we booked a doctor-on-demand Skype call and found ourselves falling through a series of trap doors from the resort doctors to blood tests at a regional hospital and the irreversible moment in time we were taken into the office of a Paediatric Consultant and heard the word leukaemia.

We spent our second night in tears and in a Greek hospital with Esme on a drip next to us. On what should have been our third day on holiday we took emergency flights back to London.

The family have raised more than 100k so far

In my hand luggage I carried a hypodermic needle, an adrenaline shot and an oxygen mask kit given to me in case Esme showed any further reaction to the platelets transfusion shed been given that morning to be fit to fly.

On Esmes return to the UK, she spent five months as an in-patient at the Royal Marsden Hospital, receiving chemotherapy.

Mr Handley said Esme has been a trooper through all the treatment, adding the toddler has been hard as nails.

After seeking the advice of several leading, global consultants that specialise in high risk AML, Mr and Mrs Handley have now been told that Esme's best chance of cure is a second stem cell transplant, as soon as possible.

The family on holiday in Greece

The family must now try to raise cash in order to fund the treatment, though. Mr Handley said: Sadly the reality is now without help, we have no guarantees she will she her third birthday.
L abour members are cutting up and shredding their membership cards in protest at the partys failure to offer another referendum in its European Election manifesto.

Yesterday saw a long drawn-out Labour National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting decide that the manifesto would offer a second referendum fully in line with Labours policy, which is to offer a referendum only after trying to secure the partys own alternative plan for Brexit or a general election. There had been an attempt by Tom Watson, the deputy leader, to strengthen that policy and make a confirmatory vote a priority. But with Jeremy Corbyn, pictured, said to be implacably opposed, Watsons move failed, prompting a furious backlash among members.

Pictures of membership cards cut into pieces, or being fed into shredding machines, flooded social media last night and this morning. Im not voting Labour until there is a peoples vote, wrote one member.

Another who posted a video featuring his shredder wrote simply, Bye Jeremy, adding that Labour were fools. One Scottish member accused the party of chantyrastling over Brexit and wondered whether he might now join the Scottish National Party. A chanty rastler is Glaswegian slang for someone who wrestles with a chamber pot.

But not all pro-referendum backers saw the wisdom of this move. Mike Buckley, head of Labour for a Public Vote, told The Londoner this morning: Labour members who are cutting up their cards and leaving the party over the NECs decision to back a public vote are failing to see the wood for the trees. Labour backs a public vote unless we get a general election or the Tories agree to our demands  both highly unlikely.

Though 72 per cent of Labour members back another vote, the Labour leadership has refused to budge from the formulation agreed upon at Labour conference last year.

Pariah's Red Salute

Chris Williamson continues to enjoy a welcome in some Labour quarters. Official social media for the Bristol East Labour Party shared a snap of its chairman James Griffiths with his arm round the suspended MP over the weekend, captioned red salute.

Williamson lost the whip in February over remarks about the partys handling of anti-Semitism. The show of solidarity prompted Joe Glasman, head of political and government investigations at Campaign Against Antisemitism, to accuse Labour of tacitly endorsing Williamsons behaviour. A party spokesperson said it wasnt a disciplinary matter. The photo has now been deleted.

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Liz Truss MP says if Oliver Cromwell was around today hed be banning the internet, adding: Weve got neo-Croms like Sadiq Khan. Speaking at a Freer event at the Institute of Economic Affairs last night, she criticised the Mayors ban on junk-food ads on TfL, adding: I came into politics because I didnt like being told what to do. Truss told The Londoner her favourite snack is Walkers prawn cocktail crisps.

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Mark Ronson says Lady Gaga is a joy to work with, despite being perpetually late. Shed call and be like, Sorry, Im marinading the chicken. Gaga was a top chef, Ronson tells Jessie Wares podcast: Shes Italian. Shes got that... mother vibe.

Claudia takes a strict line at GQ's Food and Drink Awards

British GQ threw a bash for its annual Food and Drink Awards at Nobu Shoreditch last night.

Compere Claudia Winkleman kept a rowdy crowd in check and awards were presented by chef Gizzi Erskine and artist Tracey Emin, who handed out the penultimate prize of the night.

Luckily, for Emin it was a swift ceremony. When I heard I was giving the 12th award, I was worried  I thought it would be a late night, the reformed hellraiser told the audience.

Jamie Oliver was presented with a lifetime achievement award. I feel too young, he told the crowds.

Across town, the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in Park Lane marked its 90th anniversary.

TV Presenters Caroline Flack and Laura Whitmore were in attendance, as was actor Alice Eve.

SW1A

Sajid Javid has been celebrating his first year in office as Home Secretary with cupcakes emblazoned with an image of himself, legs astride. Paul Griffiths, the chair of the Police Superintendents Association, who was presented with one, said it showed Javids good sense of humour.

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A Labour source tells The Londoner that Rebecca Long-Bailey is in the room for all the Brexit talks, adding they dont know why shes there as shes fairly junior. Long-Bailey, an MP since 2015, is a potential successor to Jeremy Corbyn, but Labour staffers are still livid.

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Labour MP Jess Phillips is playing fantasy politics. She tells ITV News Acting Prime Minister podcast who shed choose as her dream Chancellor. Id have Alison McGovern living next to me, because she could sneak over in her slippers and watch Strictly with me, but also knows loads about the economy.

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Bad call, Sir Bobby

FOOTBALL manager Sir Bobby Robson was well-loved but perhaps not the sharpest tool in the box. Gary Lineker recalls the time Robson lost his phone in a TV studio, prompting a frantic, all-hands-on-deck search. "I said, 'Why don't I call it? What's your number?'" Lineker tells his podcast. "I call the phone and immediately we hear it ring." It was in Robson's jacket pocket. "He answers and goes, 'Hello?' I went 'Hello Bobby, it's me.' And he went, 'Do you mind if I call you back later? I'm just looking for my phone.'"

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T heresa May has no option but to tear up her red lines on a customs union if she wants to pass her Brexit deal, one of Jeremy Corbyns closest allies said today.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey spoke out as both Cabinet and Labour sources confirmed cross-party talks have moved significantly in recent days, pointing to a potential deal within a fortnight.

Both sides agree there has been a change of tone this week, and that any deal is likely to be built around the principle that any future Tory or Labour government with a clear Commons majority would be free to negotiate changes. Ms Long-Bailey made clear, however, that Mrs May will have to make a decisive shift towards Labours policy for a customs union. I think, pragmatically, that they potentially may have no option in order to be able to push this deal through, she told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

A Tory source said the key question was whether Mr Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell are willing to dip their hands in the blood of Brexit and risk a split with pro-EU colleagues such as shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Tom Watson.

Rebecca Long-Bailey said Theresa May has no option but to tear up her red lines on a customs union / PA Archive/PA Images

With her own party divided, Mrs May desperately needs Labour support to get the withdrawal agreement through the Commons in time to avert the toxic political image of newly elected Brexit Party MEPs taking their seats.

In yesterdays Cabinet, two senior members spoke in favour of making compromises for the sake of a deal with Mr Corbyn. Environment Secretary Michael Gove, one of the leading Brexiteers in 2016, said an unpalatable outcome was better than a disastrous one in which the UK never leaves the EU. Chief Whip Julian Smith reportedly warned the Government could be sunk without Labour support.

Mrs Mays red line that the UK must be able to strike independent trade deals is a key sticking point, as Labour argues it would open the NHS to US corporations. With trade in goods regulated through the backstop by the EU, Labour says only services would be left for free trade deals, raising the prospect of the Tories opening public bodies and procurement to competition and deregulation.

But Labour accepts any lock would be temporary, allowing a future Tory government with a clear majority to pursue more ambitious trade talks. Labour would similarly be barred from bending EU rules on state aid in the short term but could seek new rules if elected with an overall majority.
T heresa May has sacked Gavin Williamson as defence secretary following an investigation over leaked information about Chinese mobile giant Huawei from a confidential meeting.

Downing Street said Mrs May asked Mr Williamson to leave the Government this evening having "lost confidence in his ability to serve".

The decision had been "informed by his conduct" during an investigation into the leak, a statement added.

The PM told Mr Williamson in a letter confirming his dismissal there was "compelling evidence" he was responsible for leaking details from a National Security Council (NSC) meeting to a newspaper.

In a letter to Mrs May, the 42-year-old "strenuously" denied this. Speaking to Sky News correspondent Alistair Bunkall, he swore on his "children's lives" he was not behind the unauthorised disclosure.

Mr Williamson was immediately replaced in his role by International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

She will be the UK's first female defence secretary and retains the job of minister for women and equalities.

Gavin Williamson has been sacked from government / Getty Images

An inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill was launched after information from secret discussions about Huawei's involvement in the development of the UK's 5G mobile network was printed in the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Williamson was listed in the Telegraph as being among a small group of ministers whose warnings about the telecom's firm involvement were overruled by the Prime Minister.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet.

"The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

"The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed."

Penny Mordaunt in profile

Mr Williamson has been defence secretary since 2017 when he replaced Sir Michael Fallon following his resignation.

The Prime Minister confronted him in a meeting on Wednesday evening. "No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified," she told him in a letter.

She said the leak from the April 23 meeting was "an extremely serious matter and a deeply disappointing one".

While leaks from cabinet meetings are relatively frequent, it is unprecedented for private conversations from a forum where the most senior ministers are briefed by heads of the security and intelligence agencies to reach the public.

Mrs May said it was "vital for the operation of good government and for the UK's national interest" for NSC members to be able to have "frank and detailed discussions in full confidence that the advice and analysis provided is not discussed or divulged beyond that trusted environment".

Informing Mr Williamson of his dismissal, she said she was "concerned" at the manner in which he had engaged with Sir Mark's inquiry.

"It has been conducted fairly, with the full co-operation of other NSC attendees," she wrote.

"They have all answered questions, engaged properly, provided as much information as possible to assist with the investigation, and encouraged their staff to do the same. Your conduct has not been of the same standard as others'."

Last week Mr Williamson denied being responsible for the leak, issuing a statement to say: "Neither I nor any of my team have divulged information from the National Security Council."

It is understood that Sir Mark interviewed members of the NSC as well as asking them to hand over their mobile phones so they could be checked for any trace of contacts with journalists.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said: "If he has leaked from the National Security Council, Gavin Williamson should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. And he should forgo his ministerial severance pay."

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: "This story cannot begin and end with dismissal from office.

"What is at stake is the capacity of our security services to give advice at the highest level.

"This must now be referred to the Metropolitan Police for a thorough criminal investigation."

And Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation.

Asked about the possibility of a prosecution, Mrs May's official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: "It is not for the Government to determine prosecutions, but the Prime Minister has said, from her point of view, that she considers the matter to be closed."

Scotland Yard said in a statement: "We're aware of the media reports in relation to the leak and that is a matter for the National Security Council and the Cabinet Office to look at.

"At this time, we're not carrying out an investigation. Clearly if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that."

South Staffordshire MP Mr Williamson was a surprise appointment as defence secretary in November 2017, after a meteoric rise which saw him enter the Cabinet without ever having served in a junior ministerial role.

He was one of Mrs May's closest allies after she made him chief whip on entering Downing Street in 2016.
M Ps are calling for former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson to be investigated by police after he allegedly leaked information about Chinese mobile giant Huawei from a confidential meeting.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable were among those demanding a criminal investigation after the shock sacking on Wednesday, before former Attorney General Dominic Grieve waded into the row on Thursday morning and added it could be a matter for police.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick calling for a criminal investigation.

She wrote: I am writing to ask you to open a criminal investigation to ascertain whether the actions of Mr Williamson constitute a breach of the Official Secrets Act, given that the leak originated from the National Security Council and related to highly-sensitive information.

Scotland Yard said in a statement on Wednesday: "We're aware of the media reports in relation to the leak and that is a matter for the National Security Council and the Cabinet Office to look at.

"At this time, we're not carrying out an investigation. Clearly if at any stage we receive any information that would suggest criminal offences have been committed, then we will look into that."

File photo: Mr Williamson was sacked on Wednesday evening / PA

Asked about the possibility of a prosecution, the Prime Minister's official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: "It is not for the Government to determine prosecutions, but the Prime Minister has said, from her point of view, that she considers the matter to be closed."

Mrs May told Mr Williamson in a letter confirming his dismissal there was "compelling evidence" he was responsible for leaking details from the National Security Council meeting to a newspaper. In a letter to the PM, Mr Williamson "strenuously" denied the leak.

Mr Grieve, the chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, said he believed there was an argument for the alleged leak to be referred to police.

Mr Grieve said this morning: "Meetings of the National Security Council must not be leaked.

"It's a place where ministers meet together with officials in confidence to discuss highly classified material and come to conclusions as to how national security can best be protected and furthered.

"If people leak the content of such a meeting, even if it's just about a policy disagreement not some specific secret item, it ruthlessly undermines the ability of the the NSC to do its work and it's totally unfair on colleagues and indeed unfair on anybody that attends.

"The fact there has been a leak has precipitated this crisis."

Labour deputy leader Mr Watson said: "If he has leaked from the National Security Council, Gavin Williamson should be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act. And he should forgo his ministerial severance pay."

Labour shadow defence secretary Nia Griffiths also called for a police investigation, saying: The Tories are in chaos and incapable of sorting out their own crisis.

Conservative infighting has undermined the basic functioning of government, and has now potentially put security at risk. The police must urgently investigate.

Lid Dem leader Sir Vince said: "This story cannot begin and end with dismissal from office.

"What is at stake is the capacity of our security services to give advice at the highest level.

"This must now be referred to the Metropolitan Police for a thorough criminal investigation into breaches of the Official Secrets Act."

Change UK's defence spokesman Mike Gapes said: "This is an extraordinary development following an unprecedented leak from the National Security Council and I would now expect a criminal investigation to follow.

"This is yet another sign of a dysfunctional chaotic Conservative government. Our politics is broken, it's time for a change."

Mr Williamson was immediately replaced in his role by International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

She will be the UK's first female defence secretary and retains the job of minister for women and equalities.

An inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill was launched after information from secret discussions about Huawei's involvement in the development of the UK's 5G mobile network was printed in the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Williamson was listed in the Telegraph as being among a small group of ministers whose warnings about the telecom's firm involvement were overruled by the Prime Minister.

He has been defence secretary since 2017 when he replaced Sir Michael Fallon following his resignation.

Last week Mr Williamson denied being responsible for the leak, issuing a statement to say: "Neither I nor any of my team have divulged information from the National Security Council."

It is understood that Sir Mark interviewed members of the NSC as well as asking them to hand over their mobile phones so they could be checked for any trace of contacts with journalists.

South Staffordshire MP Mr Williamson was a surprise appointment as defence secretary in November 2017, after a meteoric rise which saw him enter the Cabinet without ever having served in a junior ministerial role.

He was one of Mrs May's closest allies after she made him chief whip on entering Downing Street in 2016.
T heresa May has sacked Gavin Williamson as Defence Secretary over "compelling evidence" he was responsible for leaking details from a National Security Council meeting to a newspaper.

The Prime Minister wrote to the MP for South Staffordshire on Wednesday evening informing him of her decision.

Mrs May said she was concerned about Mr Williamsons response to the investigation into the leak and said no other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.

File photo: Gavin Williamson was sacked as Defence Secretary on Wednesday / REUTERS

The Prime Ministers letter in full:

"Dear Gavin,

"Thank you for your time this evening. We discussed the investigation into the unauthorised disclosure of information from the National Security Council meeting on 23 April.

"This is an extremely serious matter, and a deeply disappointing one. It is vital for the operation of good government and for the UKs national interest in some of the most sensitive and important areas that the members of the NSC  from our Armed Forces, our Security and Intelligence Agencies, and the "most senior level of Government  are able to have frank and detailed discussions in full confidence that the advice and analysis provided is not discussed or divulged beyond that trusted environment.

"That is why I commissioned the Cabinet Secretary to establish an investigation into the unprecedented leak from the NSC meeting last week, and why I expected everyone connected to it  Ministers and officials alike to comply with it fully. You undertook to do so.

"I am therefore concerned by the manner in which you have engaged with this investigation. It has been conducted fairly, with the full co-operation of other NSC attendees. They have all answered questions, engaged properly, provided as much information as possible to assist with the investigation, and encouraged their staff to do the same. Your conduct has not been of the same standard as others.

"In our meeting this evening, I put to you the latest information from the investigation, which provides compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure. No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.

"It is vital that I have full confidence in the members of my Cabinet and of the National Security Council. The gravity of this issue alone, and its ramifications for the operation of the NSC and the UKs national interest, warrants the serious steps we have taken, and an equally serious response.

"It is therefore with great sadness that I have concluded that I can no longer have full confidence in you as Secretary of State for Defence and a Minister in my Cabinet and asked you to leave Her Majestys Government.

"As you do so, I would like to thank you for the wider contribution you have made to it over the last three years, and for your unquestionable personal commitment to the men and women of our Armed Forces.

"Yours Sincerely,
D efence secretary Gavin Williamson was tonight fired following an investigation into leaked information from a National Security Council meeting.

The investigation into the sharing of private information from the meeting came after details of Chinese company Huaweis involvement in the UKs 5G network were published in the Daily Telegraph.

A statement from Downing Street, after Mr Williamson was fired, said: "The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

Below, the Standard looks into the scandal which led to Mr Williamsons abrupt departure from the Cabinet and the background of the now former Minister.

Former defence secretary Gavin WIlliamson / AFP/Getty Images

What was leaked?

Ministers had been discussing the UKs 5G mobile network and whether Chinese company Huawei should be involved.

According to the Daily Telegraph, it was decided Huawei could provide services to build non-core parts of the network.

Theresa May asked Mr Williamson to leave his role on Wednesday / PA

The details of Huaweis involvement was the crux of the leak, though it has not been officially confirmed that the company will work on the network.

Theresa May chaired the meeting of the National Security Council on April 23, made up of an inner-circle of senior ministers.

These meetings are supposed to be highly confidential, given the nature of the discussions and the profiles of those involved.

Why was it contentious?

The private nature of the meeting meant that any leak of information was instantly seen as a serious breach.

Ministers swiftly called for an investigation into who shared the details simply on that basis.

There were calls for the enquiry to be considered criminal and fears that information being divulged could lower trust in the UK from other countries.

The controversy surrounding Huaweis involvement made the issue worse.

The United States has urged its allies to exclude Huawei from all 5G networks, noting that the Chinese government could force the company to give it backdoor access to data on its networks.

The US even threatened that it could withhold security information from the UK should it use Huawei.

There have been warnings that the company could pose a security threat for years and Mr Williamson was reportedly opposed to letting it work on Britain's 5G network.

The Government insists no decision has been made on Huawei having involvement.

Who is Gavin Williamson?

Gavin Williamson is the MP for South Staffordshire and has held a number of roles in his tenure as a politician.

The 42-year-old was also given a CBE for his political and public service in 2016.

Penny Mordaunt appointed defense secretary

He previously served as chief whip and had been the defence secretary since November 2017.

After his sacking, he said: "It has been a great privilege to serve as Defence Secretary and Chief Whip in your Government. Every day I have seen the extraordinary work of the men and women of our armed forces, who go to incredible lengths to defend our country.

"I am sorry that you feel recent leaks from the National Security Council originated in my department. I emphatically believe this was not the case. I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position.

"I have always trusted my civil servants, military advisers and staff. I believe the assurances they have given me.

"I appreciate you offering me the option to resign, but to resign would have been to accept that I, my civil servants, my military advisers or my staff were responsible: this was not the case.

"Restoring public confidence in the NSC is an ambition we both share. With that in mind I hope that your decision achieves this aim rather than being seen as a temporary distraction.

"As I said there has been no greater privilege than working with our armed forces and I will continue to stand up for our service personnel and the superb work they do."
G avin Williamson this evening "strenuously" denied involvement in the Huawei leak which led to his sacking as defence secretary.

Sky News reported that the former minister swore on his childrens lives he was not responsible, while he also told The Sun: "I did not leak this, and to my dying day I will keep insisting that."

Mr Williamson was kicked out of Theresa May's cabinet after being linked to the disclosure of information from a National Security Council (NSC) meeting.

Downing Street said Mrs May asked Mr Williamson to leave the Government this evening having "lost confidence in his ability to serve".

Gavin Williamson has denied involvement in the leak / REUTERS

The statement said this decision had been "informed by his conduct" during an investigation into the leak.

Theresa May wrote to Mr Williamson on Wednesday / REUTERS

The PM told Mr Williamson, in a letter confirming his dismissal, there was "compelling evidence" he was responsible for leaking details from the meeting to a newspaper.

The information which leaked regarded the potential for Huawei to help create infrastructure for the UK's 5G network, which the Government denies has been confirmed.

The letter written by Theresa May to Gavin Williamson / PA

In rebuttal to his dismissal, Mr Williamson wrote: "It has been a great privilege to serve as Defence Secretary and Chief Whip in your Government. Every day I have seen the extraordinary work of the men and women of our armed forces, who go to incredible lengths to defend our country.

"I am sorry that you feel recent leaks from the National Security Council originated in my department. I emphatically believe this was not the case. I strenuously deny that I was in any way involved in this leak and I am confident that a thorough and formal inquiry would have vindicated my position.

"I have always trusted my civil servants, military advisers and staff. I believe the assurances they have given me.

"I appreciate you offering me the option to resign, but to resign would have been to accept that I, my civil servants, my military advisers or my staff were responsible: this was not the case.

"Restoring public confidence in the NSC is an ambition we both share. With that in mind I hope that your decision achieves this aim rather than being seen as a temporary distraction.
P enny Mordaunt has been appointed as defence secretary after Theresa May dramatically sacked Gavin Williamson today.

Mr Williamson was fired by Theresa May on Wednesday after an investigation into the leak of information from a National Security Council meeting.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister asked Mr Williamson to leave the Government having "lost confidence in his ability to serve".

Mr Williamson was immediately replaced in his role at the head of the Ministry of Defence by International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.

She will be the UK's first female Defence Secretary and retains the job of minister for women and equalities.

Penny Mordaunt in profile

Meanwhile Rory Stewart enters the Cabinet as new International Development Secretary.

File photo: Rory Stewart has been made International Development Secretary / AFP/Getty Images

Mr Stewart, MP for Penrith and The Border, was previously a Prisons Minister at the Ministry of Justice.

He recently gave an interview claiming he would be a good Prime Minister, and said: "One of the reasons why I would be tempted towards this job is that we desperately need to rebuild ourselves internationally after Brexit. I am one of the only people in Parliament who is a genuine specialist."

An inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill was launched after information from secret discussions about Chinese telecoms firm Huawei's involvement in the development of the UK's 5G mobile network was printed in the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Williamson was listed in the Telegraph as being among a small group of ministers whose warnings about Huawei's involvement were overruled by the Prime Minister.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has this evening asked Gavin Williamson to leave the Government, having lost confidence in his ability to serve in the role of Defence Secretary and as a member of her Cabinet.

"The Prime Minister's decision has been informed by his conduct surrounding an investigation into the circumstances of the unauthorised disclosure of information from a meeting of the National Security Council.

"The Prime Minister thanks all members of the National Security Council for their full cooperation and candour during the investigation and considers the matter closed."
L abour has launched an internal investigation into alleged irregularities after moves by Left-wingers to try to oust one of just two black female London Assembly Members.

Florence Eshalomi, who represents Lambeth and Southwark, faces a fight to avoid deselection after a controversial trigger ballot organised by Momentum supporters.

Critics say the ballot paper did not use the unbiased wording issued by party HQ for such votes, and that people at the meeting were not asked to show they were members.

In addition, rules were relaxed to allow new members of just three months standing to vote, rather than the more usual six months, boosting the sway of an influx of Momentum members. The Standard has been told that there were attempts to raise the concerns at a meeting of the London region party board on Monday night. Vice-chair Seema Chandwani, a Momentum-backed Left-winger and a cabinet member at Left-run Haringey council, refused to allow a debate but told the board there would be an investigation.

The London Labour Party said: London Labours regional director will be investigating the allegations made about Streatham CLPs handling of the trigger ballot process. The trigger ballot procedures are clearly set out by the NEC and it is essential all CLPs follow this thoroughly.

Ilford North MP Wes Streeting tweeted: I am concerned by allegations of rule-breaking, which must be urgently and thoroughly investigated.

Ex-Streatham Labour chairman Joel Bodmer tweeted: The process was a complete stitch-up. Wrong question asked on ballot. Freeze date ignored. Sec told meeting [that] following the process was only advisory.

The ballot paper at the centre of the dispute read: Do you wish to automatically reselect the sitting Member of the London Assembly instead of having an open selection? Yes/No.

The official party wording reads: In regard to your sitting London Assembly Member Florence Eshalomi  Members would then have put an X in one of two boxes, one stating she should be reselected without seeking further nominations and the other calling for a full selection process where candidates other than the sitting assembly member can be nominated.

The row has fuelled fears among Labour modernisers that Left-wingers are attempting a purge of centrists in London local government.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell attended part of the meeting and is said to have remarked that it was good to see democracy in action. A party source said Mr McDonnell played no part in the vote.

Under Mr Corbyns leadership, party membership has soared in Lambeth and Southwark from 2,500 to 12,400.
W ith 19 candidates already jostling for the right to run against Donald Trump next year, the Democratic Party scarcely needed a 20th. But Joe Biden was perhaps the most inevitable of all. The 76-year-old former vice-president announced last Thursday that he is running for the third time in his long political career.

To older Democrats, Biden is a cherished warhorse, a glad-hander and bipartisan deal-maker, the perfect balm for a fractured political age, a real human being in the increasingly artificial and airbrushed political realm. Thanks to strong support among Democratic traditionalists, he is already well ahead of his rivals in the polls.

But for younger Democrats Biden is the ultimate political buzzkill, the cheesy old uncle sashaying on to the dancefloor. He is a creature of the Washington swamp, down to his hair plugs, year-round tan and improbably white teeth  the vehicle of the Clinton-Obama restoration which lurks around Washington waiting to be returned to power.

Younger voters would much rather the fierce, socialist ravings of Bernie Sanders, who is older than Biden, or someone with more future than past, like Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has shot into early contention. Either seems better equipped to combat Trumps ferocity or address the economic, social and political challenges facing any American under 50. Biden will likely raise a lot of money from traditional party sources, corporations and wealthy, older individuals. But he is struggling to hire a decent campaign staff. Anyone ambitious is going elsewhere.

He held his first campaign event on Monday in a union hall in Pennsylvania, a traditionally Democratic state which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, as working-class white voters tipped the election to Trump.

Jill Biden at a campaign rally for her husband in Pittsburgh / Getty Images

If Im going to beat Donald Trump in 2020, its going to happen here, Biden said. He promised to revive the power of the unions, which have been scorned by Trump, and to raise the minimum wage. He said America was suffering from a broken political system thats deliberately being undermined by our President to continue to abuse the power of the office.

Trump tweeted back that his challenger and Obama didnt do the job and now you have Trump, who is getting it done  big time.

Biden is pitching himself as a sensible centrist, but he risks being rhetorically outflanked on both the Right and the Left. If Trump had been in the same room with the same audience as Biden on Monday, he would have spoken directly to his audiences deepest economic and social anxieties, their fears of irrelevance as technology, immigrants and foreign rivals gobble up their livelihoods.

If Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren had been there, they would have spoken of raising taxes on the rich to pay for more expansive healthcare and to cut the cost of higher education. Had Beto ORourke, the 46-year-old social media sensation, been there, he would have spoken of this new $5 trillion plan to address climate change. Pete Buttigieg would have talked of the urgent need for root-and-branch electoral and democratic reforms to ensure the political system can function. The Democratic Party is fizzing with ideas these days, many from the Left, but Biden doesnt seem to be registering them.

"Other candidates are blank slates  Biden has decades of actions by which he can be judged"

In fact, his long track record in public life may be hurting him. While other candidates are virtual blank slates, Biden has decades of actions and decisions, good and bad, by which people can judge him. His experience may qualify him for office, but it is also a weight on his candidacy.

He was first elected to the Senate from Delaware in 1972, when he was just 29. Barely a month later, his first wife Neilia and 13-month-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car accident. He married his second wife, Jill, in 1977.

Over the years he has taken positions which, out of context, look wildly contradictory. He opposed the forced racial integration of public high schools, yet ended up serving as vice-president to Americas first black president. He is a Catholic who wears a rosary on his wrist yet has backed abortion rights and pre-empted his own party in his support for gay marriage.

He first ran for the presidency in 1988 but had to withdraw when he was caught plagiarising his speeches from, among others, former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock. He waited 20 years before trying again, but his second campaign was derailed on its first day when he was asked his opinion of his rival Barack Obama. You got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, Biden said. His comment was immediately decried as patronising and borderline racist, and Biden was soon out of the contest.

Obama, though, was more forgiving. He said he had no problem with Joe Biden and picked him as his running mate. Biden would act as the ultimate Washington insider on Obamas insurgent campaign and in his administration.

Initially, they seemed a political odd couple. When Obama arrived in the Senate in 2005 he was assigned to its foreign relations committee, on which Biden was the senior Democrat. Obama quickly tired of his colleagues interminable speeches. During one hearing, as Biden spoke, he passed a note to an aide: Shoot. Me. Now. But after winning the presidency in 2008 they developed a curious friendship: the fastidious, cerebral Obama, and the garrulous, emotional Biden.

Obama respected his vice-presidents request to be the last person in the room on every major decision, the last person to make his case before the president. Biden eagerly took on the tasks Obama didnt want, from selling unpopular policies to Congress and the public to attending state funerals around the world.

"He was accused by female politicians of smelling their hair, kissing them"

While many on the presidents staff wanted to replace Biden with Hillary Clinton in 2012, Obama refused. When the vice-presidents son Beau died of a brain tumour in 2015, Obama offered to pay off the mortgage on the Bidens house so they could afford to help Beaus family. Biden had hoped to run for the presidency in 2016, but Obama felt he was too emotionally distracted by the death of his son, and the Democratic Party congealed behind Hillary Clinton before Biden could muster the machinery of a campaign.

Predictably, his entry into this presidential race has been anything but smooth. Before he announced his candidacy, he was accused by several women politicians of inappropriate touching, of sidling up behind them, smelling their hair and kissing them. He responded with a video in which he said he would be more mindful and respectful of peoples personal space. He added: I worked my whole life to empower women  so the idea that I cant adjust to the fact that personal space is important, more important than its ever been, is just not thinkable. I will. I will.

Support buttons for Joe Biden / AFP/Getty Images

He was also confronted with the lowest point of his political career  his chairmanship of the Senate judiciary committee when it considered the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court in 1991. Anita Hill, a young, African-American law professor who had worked for Thomas, accused him of crude, lecherous behaviour. Yet the all-white, all-male judiciary committee, led by Biden, treated her with scorn.

One senator accused her of deriving sexual fantasies from The Exorcist. Another drafted a forensic psychologist to accuse her of erotomania. Several other women were ready to make similar charges to Hills, but Biden refused to allow them to appear before the committee.

Before announcing his candidacy, Biden called Hill (now a professor at Brandeis University in Massachusetts) but she was underwhelmed by his half-apology. I cannot be satisfied by you simply saying: Im sorry for what happened to you, she said. I will be satisfied when I know that there is real change and real accountability and real purpose.

The line among Bidens supporters is that hes the only human in a field of robots. He enjoys cutting deals more than accumulating likes. He was never as machinating as the Clintons nor as data-driven as Obama, and he is certainly nicer than Trump.
D isgraced MP Fiona Onasanya has been forced out in her Peterborough constituency following a recall petition.

A spokeswoman for Peterborough City Council said that 19,261 people signed the recall petition, amounting to 27.64 per cent of those eligible to sign.

"This means that the petition is successful and the Peterborough parliamentary seat is now vacant," said the council in a statement.

Ms Onasanya, 35, who was elected as a Labour MP, served just 28 days of a three-month prison sentence for lying about who was driving her car when it was caught speeding in July 2017.

File photo: Fiona Onasanya, right, arrives at the Old Bailey, London for sentencing / PA

The trained solicitor was released from prison in February and has continued to receive her 77,379 salary.

The petition secured the signatures of more than 10 per cent of registered voters in Ms Onasanya's Peterborough constituency, forcing a by-election in which the former MP may stand.

It opened on March 19 and her constituents have had six weeks to sign it before it closed at 5pm today.

Commons Speaker John Bercow also confirmed the recall petition had been successful.

He told MPs: "I must advise the House that I have received notification from the petition officer for the constituency of Peterborough, in respect of the recall petition for Fiona Onasanya.

Fiona Onasanya's brother Festus was jailed for 10 months / PA

"The recall petition process for the constituency of Peterborough, established under the Recall of MPs Act 2015, closed today at 5pm.

"As more than 10 per cent of those eligible signed the petition have done so, I advise the House that the petition was successful.

"Fiona Onasanya is no longer the member for Peterborough and the seat is accordingly vacant.

"She can therefore no longer participate in any parliamentary proceedings as a Member of Parliament."

Nigel Farage said his new Brexit Party would contest the by-election.

File photo: The MP was expelled from the Labour Party after her conviction (Joe Giddens/PA ) / Joe Giddens/PA

He tweeted: "I can confirm that @brexitparty-uk will fight the Peterborough by-election. We will give it our best shot."

Ms Onasanya was elected for Labour in the Cambridgeshire city in 2017 by just 607 votes, but was expelled from Labour after her conviction.

Labour chairman Ian Lavery said: "Labour campaigned hard for a victory in this recall petition.

"The people of Peterborough clearly agree that Fiona Onasanya is not fit to be their MP and we're delighted they will now have the chance to vote for a Labour MP in our excellent candidate, Lisa Forbes.

"Labour will move the writ tomorrow. Labour will vigorously fight the by-election here in Peterborough."

File photo: Fiona Onasanya challenged her conviction but her appeal was rejected / PA

Conservative parliamentary candidate for Peterborough Paul Bristow said: "The people of Peterborough deserve a better MP who will vote in Parliament to deliver Brexit.

"I'm delighted this result gives local people the chance to make their voices heard and vote for a better MP - and it will be a choice between Jeremy Corbyn's Labour candidate and me. We have had a Labour MP who hasn't improved the prospects of the local community and has consistently voted against delivering the referendum result to leave the EU."

She resisted calls to stand down from Parliament, sitting as an independent as she spent one month of a three-month sentence behind bars at Bronzefield prison near Ashford, Surrey.

She was not subject to automatic removal as an MP as her sentence was less than 12 months.

Ms Onasanya was convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey in December and had the Court of Appeal reject a challenge against her conviction.

She was convicted after a retrial when jurors heard her car was clocked speeding at 41mph in a 30mph zone in the village of Thorney, near Peterborough, in July 2017, but a man who was in Russia at the time of the offence was put down as the driver on the notice of intended prosecution sent back to police.
A fourth person has been arrested in connection with a series of alleged anti-Semitic offences by members of the Labour Party.

The 44-year-old man is in police custody after being arrested at an address in the London borough of Newham on Wednesday.

Three others were perviously arrested in March on suspicion of publishing or distributing material likely to stir up racial hatred.

It follows the launch of an investigation into alleged anti-Semitism among party members in November after a dossier of evidence was handed to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick.

Metropolitan Police Commisioner Cressida Dick was handed a dossier of evidence in November / PA

A Met Police spokesman said: "We can confirm police have arrested a fourth man, aged 44, on Wednesday, 1 May, on suspicion of an offence contrary to Section 19 Public Order Act 1986 - publishing or distributing material likely to stir up racial hatred.

"A warrant was executed at an address in Newham. The man is currently in police custody."

The three who have already been arrested include a man in his 50s, arrested in Birmingham on 7 March, and anotherd man in his 50s held in Tunbridge Wells on 14 March 14.

A woman in her 70s was also arrested in Wandsworth south London, on 21 March and all three have been released pending further inquiries.

The investigation was prompted by an internal Labour dossier detailing anti-Semitic messages on social media allegedly posted by Labour Party members, which was obtained by LBC radio.

Reports at the time suggested the documents included details of 45 cases, including one which allegedly read: "We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all."

It is understood that disciplinary action was taken by Labour against the three individuals believed to be under investigation, and they are no longer party members.

A party spokesman said Labour was committed to challenging anti-Semitism.

He said: "We welcome the police investigating these individuals' alleged crimes.

"Anti-Semitism has no place in our society and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms."
L abour leader Jeremy Corbyn has come under fire after it emerged that he wrote a foreword to a century-old book which argued that banks and newspapers were controlled by Jews.

The Jewish Labour Movement said Corbyn should consider his position for writing the foreword for JA Hobsons Imperialism: A Study, a book that was originally published in 1902.

In a 2011 edition of economist JA Hobson's Imperialism: A Study, published, the then backbench MP described the work as "brilliant, and very controversial at the time" and "a great tome".

Labour has denied that his comments amounted to an endorsement of sections of the book which are widely regarded as anti-Semitic.

The Jewish Labour Movement told the BBC: Once again, Labour members find that their leader has endorsed anti-Semitic propaganda.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn / PA

In the book, Hobson suggested that finance in Europe was controlled "by men of a singular and peculiar race who have behind them many centuries of financial experience" and "are in a unique position to control the policy of nations".

Mr Corbyn wrote in his foreword: "Hobson's railing against the commercial interests that fuel the role of the popular press with tales of imperial might, that then lead on to racist caricatures of African and Asian peoples, was both correct and prescient."

Former Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the party earlier this year in protest at Mr Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitism allegations, said: "Jeremy Corbyn endorsed a book that peddles racist stereotypes of Jewish financiers and imperialism as 'brilliant' and a 'great tome' ... He is completely unfit to lead the Labour Party."

The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Marie van der Zyl, called on the Labour leader to explain how he came to write his foreword, saying the book contained an "obvious anti-Semitic message"

In an open letter to Mr Corbyn, she said of the book: "This is pure and unequivocal racism and there can be no apology for it."

But historian Tristram Hunt, who quit Labour in 2017 to take up the post of director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, said it was "reductive" to see Hobson purely as an anti-Semitic figure, arguing that he was "an important figure, worthy of study, within the 20th century liberal tradition".

A Labour Party spokesman said: "Jeremy praised the Liberal Hobson's century-old classic study of imperialism in Africa and Asia.

"Similarly to other books of its era, Hobson's work contains outdated and offensive references and observations, and Jeremy completely rejects the anti-Semitic elements of his analysis."

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey told Sky News that she had not read Hobson's book, but added: "The guy in question was a political thinker of his time, whether you agree with his opinions or not.

"Numerous Labour and Conservative colleagues have commented on him, whether that's negatively or positively, taking certain parts of his thinking into consideration.

"But in no way would the Labour Party or Jeremy Corbyn condone any anti-Semitic comments in any way."
H ome-grown extremists inspired by the startling pull of Islamic State propaganda online were behind four out of five terror plots in Britain and the West last year and continue to be the most potent threat the country faces, the head of MI5 warned today.

In his first solo article for a newspaper Andrew Parker said in the Standard that the danger from IS had not diminished despite its military defeat and the collapse of its so-called caliphate in Syria. This was because its extremist ideology did not require territory to survive, giving the terror group a continuing ability to perpetuate misery through launching large-scale attacks.

Eighty per cent of Western plots last year, including most in this country, involved extremists who had been inspired by IS without having any contact with its members in Syria or Iraq.

Mr Parker said the danger had also been illustrated by the murderous Easter suicide bombings in Sri Lanka and was being heightened because vital evidence needed to foil attacks was often buried online overseas.

As well as the Islamist threat, other challenges for MI5 highlighted today by Mr Parker included rising far-Right activity and that posed by Irish republican dissidents stuck in a time warp.

Mr Parker said MI5 and Britains other intelligence agencies were trying to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to help them respond to the IS threat. But he warned that critical information needed to protect the public might stay out of reach because the haystack of online data worldwide was getting larger and harder to penetrate.

He added: Increasingly, the vital piece of information that might stop an attack is unlikely to be held by MI5 but buried somewhere else in the mountain of data generated each day, often scattered across the world.

Mr Parkers warnings follow the recent attention given to the threat posed by British foreign fighters overseas who might be returned to this country following the territorial defeat of IS in Syria.

More than 60 Britons, including dual nationals, are currently understood to be held in detention camps run by Kurdish forces awaiting decisions on where to send them.

They comprise around 30 women and a similar number of men, and include many regarded as battle-hardened and potentially highly dangerous. But in an attempt to shift the focus back onto the domestic Islamist threat, Mr Parker today made clear that the biggest danger was posed by home-grown extremists who have been inspired by IS propaganda, rather than directed from abroad.

Warning that Islamist terrorism remains the most acute of the multiple terrorist threats facing the UK, Mr Parker said the fall of the so-called caliphate had been a hugely symbolic loss for IS  which he referred to as Daesh  but did not mean its menace had ended.

We must not be complacent. Although the collapse deprived them of the oxygen of physical space, Daesh has shown that an ideology does not require territory to survive, he said.

In the UK, there remain individuals who are inspired by Daesh propaganda despite having shown no interest in travelling to Syria. The pull of this propaganda is startling: of the plots thwarted by police and MI5 and our Western allies in 2018, 80 per cent were conducted by people inspired by the ideology of Daesh, but who had never actually been in contact with Daesh figures in Syria or Iraq.

IS 'leader' al-Baghdadi appears in first video in five years

We also know that, despite their losses, the intent of Daeshs remaining members to direct terrorist attacks around the world, including on European soil, has not diminished. And this desire is shared by al-Qaeda, who still have the intent and capability to attack the West and have been patiently waiting while Daesh has been in the spotlight.

Mr Parker said that his staff were doing extraordinary things to keep the country safe in the face of such dangers, thwarting plots and saving lives. But he cautioned that the increasingly vast amounts of material on smartphones and the scale of social media output meant that more data than ever was being created at the same time as encryption was making it harder for MI5 to access it.

He said this was making it easier for those who wish to do us harm and that terrorists were exploiting these trends to radicalise  spread hate and fear and  plot murder.

This meant that simply being on our radar, or being under surveillance was not always going to be enough to allow his officers to see the critical intelligence about potential terrorists. The haystack is getting bigger and the needle smaller, he added.

Mr Parker, who has been MI5s director general since 2013, said that his spies were working with private firms, police and other public bodies to develop AI and machine learning technologies that could help to uncover key evidence more easily.

It was also deepening its ties with European intelligence agencies, with all sides committed to continuing this co-operation regardless of Brexit.

But he emphasised that public help remained vital too and appealed to anyone concerned about a potential threat to contact the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321.
T axpayers will fork out an eye-watering 50 million over ferries that were never used, it was revealed today.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is cutting short contracts for emergency freight-carrying which were awarded in case of a no-deal Brexit.

The sting in the tail for taxpayers is that the cost of cancellation fees to just two companies will be 50 million  which is more than half the price for a full service. On top of that, the public purse is facing a 33 million bill for compensation to cross-Channel rail service Eurotunnel, which complained it was not given a fair chance to bid for the lucrative contracts awarded to its seagoing rivals.

This week P&O announced another legal case, complaining the payout to Eurotunnel was too generous and would give the company an unfair advantage. It means the total amount spent on services that were not needed could top a jaw-dropping 80 million.

The fiasco follows a rush in Whitehall to put in place emergency transport services to allay fears of shortages of medicines and food in the event of Britain crashing out of the European Union without a legal deal. A Whitehall source defended the spending, saying: It was an insurance policy.

But MP Meg Hillier, who chairs Parliaments powerful Public Accounts Committee, said: First there was the ferry company with no ferries. Now despite assurances that taxpayers wouldnt be out of pocket theres 50 million spent which could have been spent elsewhere  and another court case as P&O sue the Government over the whole sorry mess. Its worse than an episode of Yes Minister.

John OConnell, of the TaxPayers Alliance, said: What a kick in the teeth for hard-pressed taxpayers. Tens of millions of pounds down the drain because the Government couldnt negotiate a better exit clause or plan ahead effectively.

"There has to be more strategic thinking about the future when it comes to procurement, especially with such large contracts and millions of pounds at stake.

Mr Grayling awarded contracts worth more than 100 million to three firms  Brittany Ferries, DFDS and Seaborne Freight / Getty Images

Mr Grayling was branded the man with the reverse Midas touch by Labour MP Virendra Sharma.

But an ally of Mr Grayling pointed out that no-deal preparations across Whitehall would cost 4 billion, so the ferry bills amount to under two per cent.

He awarded contracts to three firms  Brittany Ferries, DFDS and Seaborne Freight  to run extra services from ports including Plymouth, Poole and Portsmouth.

But Seabornes contract was scrapped in February when an Irish company meant to be supplying it with vessels pulled out. A Government spokesperson said it had taken todays decision now as it represents the best value for money for taxpayers.

Meanwhile, Theresa May has no option but to tear up her red lines on a customs union if she wants to pass her Brexit deal, one of Jeremy Corbyns closest allies said today.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey spoke out as both Cabinet and Labour sources confirmed cross-party talks have moved significantly in recent days, with a potential deal within a fortnight.

Both sides agree there has been a change of tone this week, and any deal is likely to be built around the principle that any future Tory or Labour government with a clear Commons majority would be free to negotiate changes. Ms Long-Bailey made clear, however, that Mrs May will have to make a decisive shift towards Labours policy for a customs union. I think, pragmatically, that they potentially may have no option, she said.

A Tory source said the key question was whether Mr Corbyn is willing to dip hands in the blood of Brexit and risk a split with pro-EU colleagues such as shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Tom Watson.
A Long March 4B carrier rocket, with two Tianhui II-01 satellites, lifts off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, April 30, 2019. China successfully sent two Tianhui II-01 satellites into orbit at 6:52 a.m. Beijing Time Tuesday (1052 GMT Monday) from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The satellites will be used for scientific experiments, land resource survey, geographic survey and mapping. (Xinhua/Liu Qiaoming)

TAIYUAN, April 30 (Xinhua) -- China successfully sent two Tianhui II-01 satellites into orbit at 6:52 a.m., Beijing Time, Tuesday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province.

The satellites were launched by a Long March 4B carrier rocket, which was the 303rd mission of the Long March series carrier rockets.

The satellites will be used for scientific experiments, land resource survey, geographic survey and mapping.

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B BC presenter Chris Packham has shared a letter he says he received which contains the warning: "We want you dead."

The TV wildlife expert said he has received abuse over his support of a campaign to save the lives of wild birds which have been deemed pests by farmers.

Mr Packham was part of an action which resulted in Natural England revoking three general licences which allowed the shooting of 16 species of bird, including crows, magpies, Canada geese and feral and wood pigeons.

He appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday to reveal he and his family had received "threats of a very serious nature" and shared a letter with the Daily Mirror which arrived at his home on Monday.

Chris Packham reveals he has been sent death threats over campaign to save birds

In block capitals, it says: "We know where you live Packham and we will get you some way or another. We want you dead and we will succeed. R.T.A? Poison there are numerous ways... as long as you f****** die thats (sic) all what matters".

The Springwatch presenter told GMB police had spent a "considerable amount of time" at his house over the last few days and he had been sent a package containing human excrement.

Mr Packham said it is not just he and his family being targeted, but also businesses he works with.

"I'm very resistant to this sort of thing," he said, but added: "What worries me is that the charities that I'm affiliated with, the small businesses that I work for, these people aren't set up to take this sort of abuse, and yet they've had to close their websites, their TripAdvisor accounts have had to be shut down, because they've been bombarded by these bullies who want to take aim at me.

Chris Packham told GMB he had received threats "of a very serious nature" / ITV

"My message is clear. Please, take aim at me, but leave all of the charities, all of the other businesses that I work with, leave them out of it. They're not necessarily sharing my views.

"They're not a fair target."

Natural England's decision catapulted to national attention after the bodies of two dead crows were hung from Mr Packham's gate two days after the ruling. 

British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) condemned the attack on the presenter's home but said the new licensing rules are causing havoc at one of the busiest times of the farming calendar.

Mr Packham said he can understand the argument from farmers because they have been "misinformed".

Bodies including the BASC, Countryside Alliance, and the National Gamekeepers Organisation have written an open letter to Environment Secretary Michael Gove calling on him to launch an investigation into Natural England's decision.

They complained that the revocation of the licences which previously allowed them to freely shoot birds such as carrion crows, wood pigeons, magpies and Canada geese had left them in chaos.

Natural England, the body advising the Government on managing the natural environment, took the decision after it was threatened with legal action by environmentalists.

Wild Justice - whose directors include Mr Packham - sought a judicial review of the licences, which Natural England ultimately decided not to fight, believing it would lose.

As a result, three general licences for controlling wild birds were revoked on April 23, to be replaced by individual licences.
F rench police today clashed with stone-throwing protestors who set fires and smashed up vehicles during May Day rallies.

Officers repeatedly deployed tear gas to control the crowd, which gathered for the main union's protest near Montparnasse train station in Paris on Wednesday.

One bandaged-up man with a head wound was helped away from the scene by paramedics, but it wasn't immediately clear how many people were injured.

Groups of hooded, black-clad people were reportedly shouting anti-police slogans, mixing with other protesters wearing yellow vests or waving union flags.

Tear gas thrown at May Day rally in Paris

Some threw rocks and other objects at police officers, attacked a parked van in a nearby street, kicking the vehicle and breaking its windows.

Paris police said officers carried out more than 9,000 "preventive searches" of bags and arrested 165 people before the march.

Meanwhile, some peaceful protesters were waiting for the march to start. They were planning to head towards Place d'Italie in southern Paris.

More than 7,400 police and security forces have been deployed in the city. / Getty Images

French authorities have warned "radical activists" may join the Paris demonstration and renew scenes of violence that marked previous yellow vest protests and May Day demonstrations in the past two years.

More than 7,400 police are deployed in the French capital.

French police ordered the closure of more than 580 shops, restaurants and cafes on the Paris protest route and numerous subway stations were shut.

Authorities are particularly wary of the black-clad, masked and hooded extremists who joined recent protests with the express goal of attacking police and damaging property.

They often target symbols of capitalism or globalization, and turned out in the hundreds at last year's May Day protest.

French police apprehend protesters during the traditional May Day labour union march. / REUTERS

Yellow vests joined the traditional May Day union march to show their common rejection of French President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

President Macron last week tried to quell the yellow vest movement by announcing tax cuts for middle-class workers and an increase in pensions, amid other measures.

Many yellow vests consider the government's plans insufficient, and want to keep alive the movement that started in November to oppose a fuel tax and quickly expanded into broader public rejections of Macron's economic policies.

Additional reporting by AP.
S pecial counsel Robert Mueller has complained that the summary conclusions of his Russia probe lacked context.

He told Attorney General William Barr the memo did not fully capture the substance of the investigation, which exonerated Donald Trump of collusion.

Mr Mueller said he was worried the letter which summarised the main conclusions of the probe would create public confusion over what had been found.

His agitation was set out in a letter to the Justice Department just days after Mr Barr issued a four-page document that summarised the special counsel's conclusions.

Attorney General William Barr, centre, discusses the release of a redacted version of the report / AP

The letter lays bare a simmering rift between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Mr Barr's summary adequately conveyed the gravity of the findings.

The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Mr Barr of unduly protecting the president and of spinning the probes conclusions in the US leaders favour.

"After the Attorney General received Special Counsel Mueller's letter, he called him to discuss it," Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.

"In a cordial and professional conversation, the Special Counsel emphasized that nothing in the Attorney General's March 24 letter was inaccurate or misleading. But, he expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel's obstruction analysis," she added.

Donald Trump was exonerated of collusion / Bryan Woolston/Reuters

In a March 24 letter, released two days after the Justice Department received the report, Mr Barr said Mr Mueller did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Mr Trumps campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The letter also noted how Mr Mueller had not reached a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice despite presenting evidence on both sides of the question.

Justice Department officials were confused because Mr Mueller had not made a determination, prompting Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to step in and decide the evidence was insufficient to support an obstruction charge.

The letter did not detail the obstruction evidence Mr Mueller accumulated and did not describe his legal analysis as he examined nearly a dozen episodes of potential obstruction.

The report makes clear that Mr Mueller's thought process was shaped in part by a Justice Department legal opinion that says a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Mr Barr has sought to downplay any disagreements with the special counsel, and has brushed aside allegations that he mischaracterised the findings.

He said Mr Mueller answered "no" when he asked him whether he would have recommended indicting Mr Trump but for the Justice Department's legal opinion.
T he suspected gunman accused of killing two people and injuring four others at at North Carolina university has been named by police.

Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, is alleged to have opened fire on students in a classroom at UNC Charlotte before being detained by police officers.

He was taken into custody and charges against him are pending, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said, following the horrifying scenes that unfolded on Tuesday.

Local media reported that Terrell was a student at the university but officials have yet to confirm this.

North Carolina university shooting - In pictures 1 /13 North Carolina university shooting - In pictures Family members and friends wait for their loved ones at a staging area after a shooting on the campus of University of North Carolina Charlotte. AFP/Getty Images University shooting: The campus was placed on lockdown AFP/Getty Images People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after the gun attack AP Students and faculty file out of buildings with their hands up during a lockdown. AFP/Getty Images Police Chief Jeff Baker gives an update to the media following the shooting AFP/Getty Images A medic walks between police cars after a shooting on the campus of University of North Carolina Charlotte in University City, Charlotte AFP/Getty Images Students and and staff leave buildings with their hands up as police move to secure the area AFP/Getty Images A campus police officer carries a tactical shield after the shooting AP Students gather on the campus of the University of North Carolina Charlotte AP UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip DuBois receives a hug after a news conference regarding a deadly shooting on the campus AP

It came on the university's last day of classes before exams next week, prompting a lockdown of the area and widespread panic across campus as students scrambled for shelter.

Students and faculty file out of buildings with their hands up during a lockdown / AFP/Getty Images

The suspect's grandfather Paul Rold, of Arlington, Texas, said that Terrell and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago after his mother died.

Asked about the gun attack, he said: "You're describing someone foreign to me... this is not in his DNA."

People gather across from the campus of UNC Charlotte after a shooting incident at the school. / AP

Campus Police Chief Jeff Baker said two people were killed and three remained in critical condition late on Tuesday.

He added that a fourth persons injuries were less serious and that students were among the victims but would not confirm how many.

Mr Baker said authorities received a call in the late afternoon that a suspect armed with a pistol had shot several students.

Officers assembling nearby for a concert rushed to the classroom building and arrested the gunman in the room where the shooting took place.

Run, Hide, Fight. Secure yourself immediately, the university said on Twitter shortly before 6pm (11pm UK time).

The school said on its website the campus was on lockdown and that students and staff should remain in a safe location.

Charlottes mayor, Vi Lyles, said on Twitter: We are in shock to learn of an active shooter situation on the campus of UNC Charlotte. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives, those injured, the entire UNCC community and the courageous first responders who sprang into action to help others.

Monifa Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots. She said she directed students fleeing the scene to take cover inside a parking deck.

"I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running towards me," she said.

"We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we're in the parking deck and there's a shooter and we don't know where he is, he won't have a clear shot."
A second customer has tested HIV positive after having a vampire facial at a spa in the US.

VIP Spa in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was shut down in September 2018 after the first client reported contracting HIV following the controversial beauty procedure.

The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) announced it was now investigating two confirmed cases of HIV, adding that the injection-related procedures the two clients had undergone at the spa between May and September 2018 may have led to them developing the virus.

The NMDOH investigation has not identified potential exposures for HIV transmission other than the injection related procedures at the VIP Spa, said a health department spokesman.

Additional laboratory testing on specimens from the two clients indicates recent infection with the same HIV virus  increasing the likelihood that the two HIV infections may have resulted from a procedure at the VIP spa.

The department added that it was now offering free testing for all former clients to check for blood-borne diseases including hepatitis B and C and HIV.

Vampire facials involve drawing blood from a persons face, passing it through a centrifuge machine and then injecting it back into the face using microneedles.

The treatment allegedly stimulates collagen production in the skin thanks to the centrifuge machine which isolates plasma in blood. This contains most of the nutrients and growth factors for new skin.

The facial was made popular following celebrity endorsement by the likes of Kim Kardashian West although she later admitted regret at having the procedure.

It was honestly the most painful thing ever! It's the one treatment that I'll never do again, she wrote on her website.

Kardashian was pregnant with daughter North when she had the facial / Getty Images

However, skin specialists insist the procedure can be conducted safely.

When proper protocols are followed and there is no sharing of equipment for patients, then it should not be an issue, dermatologist Dr Kenneth Mark told Grazia magazine.

There is speculation that the two HIV-positive customers suffered blood contamination from the microneedling device used by VIP Spa, if it was not sterilised properly between uses.

But the salons owner Luly Ruiz said she only used disposable needles to carry out vampire facials.

I open them in front of my clients every time they come, she previously told KOAT-TV.

Dermatologist Dr Doris Day offered another possible explanation for the spread of HIV.

They may have drawn blood from more than one person at the same time and crossed samples  meaning blood products drawn from one person were used on another, she told Allure magazine.
V enezuelas opposition leader has called for his supporters to revive protests a day after violent clashes in the capital.

Juan Guaido is trying to unseat President Nicolas Maduro but he remains defiant despite the calls to action from the opposition.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Mr Maduro was prepared to flee the country in the face of his oppositions call for protests but reversed the plan after Russia intervened.

"They had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it. Russians indicated he should stay," Mr Pompeo said in an interview with CNN.

Senior US officials also claimed three prominent figures in Mr Maduro's government had agreed the president had to go, but later backtracked.

Teargas and gunfire as Venezuela tension escalates

US National Security Advisor John Bolton said those figures allegedly included Defence Secretary Vladimir Padrino - who has since reaffirmed his support and appeared alongside Mr Maduro in his televised address.

Mr Maduro vowed he would be victorious in the face of what he called a coup attempt backed by US imperialism and the events on Tuesday would not go unpunished.

"[Prosecutors] will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace," he said in his speech.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (REUTERS) / Reuters

Violence blighted Venezuelas capital city after Mr Guaido urged a military uprising against its president.

Armoured vehicles were filmed being rammed into anti-government protesters as troops loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro tried to restore order.

At least 36 people were injured in clashes having been hit with projectiles including rubber bullets in Caracas.

Venezuela Clashes - In pictures 1 /41 Venezuela Clashes - In pictures An opposition demonstrator throws back a tear gas canister on a street near the Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Airbase "La Carlota" in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters Demonstrators gather near La Carlota air force on in Caracas, Venezuela. Getty Images Opponents to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro face off with Bolivarian National Guards in armored vehicles who are loyal to the president, during an attempted military uprising in Caracas, Venezuela AP Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (L) accompanied by military commanders and members of his cabinet at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas AFP/Getty Images People drive their motorcycles near a burnt bus during anti-government protests, in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters Damage is seen during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters National Guard vehicles are seen on a freeway bridge during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters Supporters of President of the Venezuelan Parliament confront armored trucks of the Bolivarian Armed Forces during a protest at the Altamira area, in Caracas, Venezuela EPA A satellite image of fire on the road and protesters at the western end of Francisco de Miranda Airbase, in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters Pro-Guaido demonstrators clash with Pro-Government military police officers near La Carlota air force on April 30, 2019 in Caracas, Venezuela Getty Images An opposition demonstrator with wounds gestures in front of a burning bus, while holding a rock, near the Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Airbase "La Carlota" in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters An opponent to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro returns a tear gas canister thrown from military personnel guarding La Carlota air base in Caracas, Venezuela AP Venezuelan citizens protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro outside the Venezuelan embassy in San Jose. AFP/Getty Images Venezuelans run away from tear gas during scuffles with security forces in Caracas AFP/Getty Images People react to tear gas near the Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Airbase "La Carlota", in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters Supporters of opposition leader Juan Guaido clash with police in Caracas EPA Venezuelan citizens protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro outside the Venezuelan embassy in San Jose, AFP/Getty Images A soldier gestures while riding on top of a car with fellow soldiers and supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido (not pictured), who many nations have recognised as the country's rightful interim ruler, during anti-government protests, in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters Soldiers supporting Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido take cover during clashes with members of the Bolivarian National guard loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, in front of La Carlota base in Caracas AFP/Getty Images Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, recognized by many members of the international community as the country's rightful interim ruler, talks to media out of airforce base La Carlota Getty Images Opposition demonstrators face military vehicles near the Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Airbase "La Carlota" in Caracas Reuters Members of the Bolivarian Armed Forces with firearms participate during in a demonstration in Caracas EPA An opposition demonstrator throws a tear gas canister during clashes with soldiers loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after troops joined opposition leader Juan Guaido in his campaign to oust Maduro's government, in front of La Carlota military base in Caracas AFP/Getty Images Opposition demonstrators clashes with soldiers loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro AFP/Getty Images Members of the Bolivarian National Guard who joined Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido are seen after repelling forces loyal to President Nicolas Maduro who arrived to disperse a demonstration near La Carlota military base in Caracas AFP/Getty Images Opponents to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro confront loyalist Bolivarian National Guard troops firing tear gas at them, outside La Carlota military airbase in Caracas, Venezuela AP Opponents to Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro throw stones at soldiers loyal to the president inside La Carlota airbase in Caracas, Venezuela AP Soldiers are seen inside the Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Airbase "La Carlota" as an opposition supporter takes cover, in Caracas, Venezuela Reuters Members of the Bolivarian National Guard loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro run under a cloud of tear gas after being repelled by guards supporting Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido upon arriving to disperse demonstrators, in front of La Carlota military base in Caracas AFP/Getty Images An opposition demonstrator runs during clashes with soldiers loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after troops joined opposition leader Juan Guaido in his campaign to oust Maduro's government, in front of La Carlota military base in Caracas AFP/Getty Images Opposition demonstrators clashes with soldiers loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro after troops joined opposition leader Juan Guaido in his campaign to oust Maduro's government, in front of La Carlota military base in Caracas AFP/Getty Images

It was also claimed Colonel Yerzon Jimenez, the operations head of a national guard unit, was shot in the neck by demonstrators.

The furore began early Tuesday when Mr Guaido released a three-minute video, filmed near a Caracas air base, in which he urged civilians and others in the armed forces to join a final push to topple President Maduro.

Leopoldo Lopez, his political mentor and the nation's most-prominent opposition activist, was surprisingly seen stood alongside him after being released from house arrest.

Violent clashes in Venezuela on Tuesday. (REUTERS) / Reuters

He had been detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest.

Mr Lopez said: "I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers.

The chaos marked the most serious challenge to President Maduro's rule yet after months of mostly peaceful protests led by Mr Guaido.
E milia Clarke has admitted that she hasnt seen the final Game of Thrones episode, admitting she wants to scream and cry through it with fans.

The actress, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO hit, wants to watch the finale  and go through all the emotions  with a fan by her side at a special screening to raise money for her charity SameYou.

Shouting out to fans on Instagram, Clarke wrote: MIND BLOWING EPISODE. (I cant lie- I WEPT) but you guys....there are three more left and YOU could win a private screening of the grand GoT finale and come hang with me in London!

I cant promise Ill tell you the ending, but I can promise youll have an absolutely amazing time. Like seriously....Ive not seen it, youve not seen it but together we can scream and cry alllll the whole supporting my charity SameYou!!! [sic].

In her Instagram upload, Clarke was dressed as her on-screen lover and nephew Jon Snow  played by Kit Harington.

The actress concluded her post by telling fans how to enter the competition and providing links to her charity SameYou, which she launched earlier this year after revealing her traumatic medical past.

Game of Thrones Season 8 episode 4 Preview

On screen duo: Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington as Dany and Jon / HBO

She launched her own charity to raise funds to help treat those recovering from brain injury and stroke, urging anybody who has been through any neurological disorder to share their story with her.

The popular fantasy hit will conclude in three weeks, with fans desperate to know who will sit on the Iron Throne.

Last weeks episode, The Long Night, was the longest broadcast in the shows history at 82 minutes. It took 55 consecutive night shoots to film.

Game of Thrones: Season 8 - In pictures 1 /58 Game of Thrones: Season 8 - In pictures Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 2 HBO Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 3 HBO Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington (Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow) in Season 8 Episode 2 of Game of Thrones HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 2 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 1 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 1 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones HBO Maisie Williams as Arya Stark HBO Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 trailer HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 trailer HBO Maisie Williams as Arya Stark Helen Sloan/HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 trailer HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 trailer HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 HBO Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 trailer HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 trailer HBO Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth HBO A scene from Games of Thrones, Season 8 HBO Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark HBO Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister HBO Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister HBO Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth HBO Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister HBO John Bradley as Samwell Tarly HBO Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister HBO Conleth Hill as Varys HBO Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen HBO
F ika is an important concept in Swedish culture, centred around sharing coffee or food with friends or colleagues and taking some time to talk.

Its an appropriate name for health start-up Fika, a Bethnal Green-based company which wants to move the dial on mental health through conversation and encourage people to build up their emotional fitness.

What weve done with our language over the years is we use the phrase mental health and what we are referring to is mental illness. Weve created this huge problem with stigma, explains Fikas CEO Nick Bennett.

For the last two years weve been developing something focused on prevention in this space.

Heres what you need to know about Fika and emotional fitness

Emotional fitness: the hot new workout

Bennett started out running a digital ad agency before leaving to venture into the world of start-ups and product building. After creating various apps linked to his background in advertising, everything changed in 2014 when he lost his close friend Ben to suicide.

I spent a long time really wrestling with did I do something wrong, did he do something wrong, and pointing the fingers everywhere, he says. It was a pivot point for me  I set about how to take myself out of the businesses I was in to look at the problems in the emotional health spectrum.

This is how Fika came about  an app which focuses on building up emotional fitness, in the way you would physical fitness. Bennett likens it to the 7 Minute workout app. Its very simple, seven minutes and you work out. [Fika] is five minutes, an emotional workout. Just like the other one, theres loads of benefits.

The benefits of working on emotional fitness include improved focus, confidence and resilience. Fika worked with seven psychologists to create content in the app, borrowing from theories behind cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and solutions-based therapy to create emotional exercises covering areas such as goal power, positivity, adaptability, confidence and relationships.

Nick Bennett, CEO of Fika / Fika

The app is designed to be used alone or face-to-face with a friend, to encourage the building of confidence and relationships. Exercises may cover positivity, such as thinking about what youre grateful for today, or how to set goals to achieve what you want.

"We had to learn to get used to working out and doing pull-ups. This is the same," says Bennett.

Where can I download Fika?

Unfortunately, you cant download Fika on the App Store, the way you can with other wellness apps like Headspace or Calm. Currently Fika is exclusively working with UK universities, including Lincoln, Exeter, Manchester Metropolitan and Coventry, who make the app available to their students.

Why this focus on students? According to the Mental Health Foundation, over 15,000 first-year students reported they had a mental health problem in 2015-2016, up from 3,000 10 years earlier. Students who face problems are also more likely to drop out of university altogether.

The service is for universities who provide it for their students so they can use it for free, explains Bennett. Were developing the product so it works and will begin rolling out larger trials with all of the partners throughout the rest of the year.

Partnering with universities also allows Fika to carry out empirical research into the impact of the app, to prove it works. There are plans to make the app available for mainstream use but they are way down in the pipeline.

We have to be focused because were a young business with big ambitions. Higher education is where were starting, says Bennett.

The app features five-minute emotional fitness workouts / Fika

It makes sense to keep the app small and focused, rather than pursue millions of downloads at the expense of the user base. Mindfulness apps are often criticised by using the very device that is accused of contributing to anxiety. Bennetts perspective is that its important to engage with tech because its not going away.

Instead of pointing the blame at [smartphones], why dont we look at how we can use it, and find the way to use technology to contribute better and make an impact? Tech is an enabler and if you enable good habits then youre doing a good thing and using tech in an impactful way, he adds.

Overall, Fika wants to change the way we as a society views and discuss mental health to help shift the way it is tackled.
A t what point does a smartphone just become a camera? Is it when the device has a total of five lenses, one on the front, four on the back?

This seems to be the question Huawei is posing to the world with its latest flagship smartphone, the Huawei P30 Pro.

Launched at a flashy event in Paris, the keynote went into extreme detail on every function of this dazzling array of lenses, and how this set-up will make your pictures so much better

But, what is it like to use the phone itself? Or is a smartphones functionality irrelevant next to camera spec?

After using the P30 Pro for a few weeks, heres what we thought.

Huawei P30 Pro: Design

Lets start with how the phone looks. It has a 6.47-inch curved OLED screen, with a small dewdrop notch at the top of the screen to house the front camera.

The curved aspect of the device makes it easy to use and handle, particularly given its size. However, the deep curve means that when youre using apps like Instagram, certain parts of images are cut off to make way for the curve. Your aversion to this will depend on how much you love Instagram Stories, but it is a factor.

The P30 Pro has a 6.47-inch OLED curved screen / Rob Le Mare

That dewdrop notch design seems a mis-step for Huawei. This year weve already seen some creative ways to get around the notch, such as Honor View 20s pinhole design, also on the Samsung S10 range, as well as a sliding back on the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3, so its a shame Huawei didnt pull something magical out of the bag with regards to the notch.

The Huawei P30 Pro has a full glass back, for wireless charging and reverse wireless charging and comes in four colours: Amber Sunrise, Breathing Crystal, Aurora (Huaweis signature blue and purple design) and Black.

If youre worried about shattering that glass back, luckily Huawei provides a clear phone case in the box to protect the phone.

One thing that is notable, that camera set up protrudes quite a lot on the back of the device, meaning it doesnt sit flat on its back. It did make us concerned about scratching the lenses as this is the part of the phone that is always resting on a surface.

Huawei P30 Pro: Camera

Huaweis camera lens tech is provided by Leica, and given how well last years P20 Pro went down, you know its going to be good on this years version.

In that quad camera set-up is a main 40-megapixel lens, an ultra-wide angle 20-megapixel lens, an 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom, and finally, a new Huawei Time of Flight camera.

The device has four Leica camera lenses on the back

This final lens acts as a flood illuminator; it sends out light and the camera records how long it takes for the light to bounce back, so it can see how far away the object is. This is supposed to improve portrait photography, as well as facilitate augmented reality aspects, such as 3D measuring like Apple.

General shots look good enough for Instagram without any filters or editing

This set-up does mean pictures look incredible. When trying out the zoom features at a gig, the clarity is quite impressive. Selfies look particularly clear, and you can play around with those AI beautification features to FaceTune your face in any way you want.

General shots look good enough for Instagram, without any editing or need for filters, and portrait images achieve a lovely depth of field effect successfully.

The portrait mode on the P30 Pro achieves a lovely depth of field effect

The only grievance is that sometimes pictures can come out too over-edited and too sharp, compared to the more soft focus you can achieve on the Google Pixel 3 for instance. Sometimes it can be better to shoot in the Pro mode and then you can play with the settings to achieve the desired effects but if you cant tell your aperture from your ISO, thats not always the easiest way to get the picture you desire.

Aside from that, there is an almost unbeatable camera array on the P30 Pro and even that zoom feature provides a lot of fun.

Huawei P30 Pro: Software

Software is one instance where the P30 Pro didnt quite live up to expectations. The phone runs Huaweis EMUI software, based on Android Pie, and its not the most user-friendly interface.

This is something which has plagued Samsung phones in the past and whilst the company seems to have finally got it right with the Galaxy S10s OneUI interface, Huaweis EMUI isnt there yet.

Theres a lot of bloatware  at least 10 Huawei apps that feel unnecessary, particularly if youre an Android user and are prone to having everything stored in the normal Google Android apps. The constant need for customisation is frustrating after a while too, and will hardly win over any iPhone users, who are used to Apples clean design.

Huawei P30 Pro: Performance

You cannot fault the performance of the Huawei P30 Pro. The battery is the best around, it easily lasts two days with no concerns over battery anxiety, unlike the Samsung Galaxy S10+.

The Pro also features 40W super charge capability so it can reach 70 per cent battery in only half an hour, meaning you basically have no excuse to ever have a flat battery with this device.

The battery life on the P30 Pro is unrivalled

This powerful battery also helps with topping up charges for other gadgets that can be charged wirelessly, including earphones and other phones.

As the P30 Pro is fitted with the Kirin 980 processor, its fast and responsive with everything you want to do, and theres no lag at all. This is certainly a device you can rely on to get your where you want to go.

Huawei P30 Pro: Verdict

Its difficult to sum up the Huawei P30 Pro. On the one hand, the battery, performance and camera cannot be faulted. Yet, the software isnt easy to navigate and the design isnt as exciting as the newer models that have come on to the scene this year.

This may be because Huawei is concerned with other things, namely its folding phone the Huawei Mate X due to be released later this year. But considering most people wont be forking out nearly 2,000 for a folding device for a long time, the normal smartphone range is where the majority of buyers will be browsing in 2019 and there might not be enough to convince them with this phone.

Huawei P30 Pro: price and availability
The committee is scheduled to meet again later on Monday afternoon to add up the millions of dollars in new tax revenue gained by repealing the exemptions.

Elkhorn Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, the committee's chairwoman, said she wants to lower the proposed state sales tax increase in LB 289 from 3/4 of a cent to 1/2 cent.

Seward Sen. Mark Kolterman voted against repealing all the sales tax exemptions. He said repealing all those exemptions should be studied further, for possible action next year, to avoid the political opposition likely to arise during debate in 2019.

LB 289 proposes to raise about $575 million in new tax revenue that would be used as increased state aid to K-12 schools. That would allow school districts to significantly reduce their use of local property taxes. Linehan said the goal is to reduce the average property tax bill for schools by 20%.

Gov. Pete Ricketts has pilloried the bill, calling it the "largest tax increase in state history" and saying it doesn't represent "tax relief," because it raises some taxes to reduce others.
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Four people arrested during a home search in Stony Point are facing drug-related charges, Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman said in a news release.

On Tuesday, the Alexander County Sheriffs Office assisted the North Carolina Department of Probation and Parole in searching the home of Gary Combs of York Road, the release said. The sheriff said his residence is subject to open searches due to Combs probation.

Officers found Michael Joseph Passmore, 42, at the home and charged him with two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia. The release said he was in possession of pipes, baggies and scales.

Passmore, of Stony Point, received a $5,000 secured bond by a magistrate and is being held at the Alexander County Sheriffs Office Detention Center.

Authorities said they also found William Cody Blevins, 23, at the residence and charged him with the two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia. He received a $2,500 secured bond.

Also arrested were 26-year-old Tabitha Dawn Morrison of Taylorsville and 23-year-old Tiffany Amber Deel of Statesville. Both were charged with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia and received a $2,500 secured bond each..
The pretrial process affects members of society outside of the justice system. The almost completed new Iredell County Detention Center is just one example.

According to jail administrator Bert Connolly, 72.8 percent of the 311 Iredell inmates are pretrial, meaning they have been charged but not convicted of a crime. All of those defendants included in that number have a bond they havent paid.

Donny Bradley, a bondsman in Statesville, said in 2018, more than $8 million went to public schools from bondsmen or insurance companies paying the forfeiture when a defendant didnt come to court.

According to people throughout the Iredell County justice system from a defense attorney to the sheriff to a bondsman, bail is meant to ensure defendants come to court and keep the public safe. The disagreement comes with how effective bail is at achieving that as the system is currently structured.

Industry under fire

Bradley owns Doc Bail Bonding LLC in Statesville. Hes been in the bail business for more than 10 years, and hes seen it change. He stays on top of news regarding bail and pretrial services, sharing updates on Facebook and encouraging friends to advocate for bondsmen.

More Information Factors to be considered when assigning and setting bail: 1. The offense 2. The states evidence 3. Family, employment, finances, character and mental condition 4. Current intoxication level 5. The amount of time spent living in the community 6. Criminal record 7. History of failing to appear or fleeing 8. Any other relevant evidence Ways a defendant can be released: 1. A written promise to appear in court 2. Into the custody of someone else who is responsible if the defendant does not appear 3. An unsecured bond which a defendant does not have to pay up front 4. A secured bond which a defendant does have to pay up front 5. House arrest with electronic monitoring 6. Other pretrial services, if available

It seems to be a busy job. The front of Bradleys business has a neon sign reading open 24 hours. Bradleys office has a lot of motorcycle memorabilia. Theres a childs drawing hanging behind him as he sits at a desk with three monitors. He pulled up article after article about pretrial services and bail reform. Hes printed bills and a state study of pretrial services.

I believe were trying to do a justice within the justice system, Bradley said. I believe were trying to do a reform within the justice system because I offer, here, free job placement. I offer free counseling for drugs and alcohol and for marriage counseling, all that. Were trying to be the reform of the judicial system.

Bradley added that not all bondsmen offer those services, but the good ones do.

For a fee, bondsmen vouch for people charged and waiting trial to be released. Bradley explained that the fee could be anywhere from zero to 15 percent of the persons bail. Most charge 10 percent.

If the person a bondsman has vouched for doesnt appear for their court case, the bondsman has 90 days to retrieve the defendant, or the bondsman pays the full bail. Bradley said there are three types of bondsmen.

Some work under money theyve given to the Department of Insurance. That must be a minimum of $15,000. Others are hired by someone who has given money to the Department of Insurance and work under that same amount. The third type works for an insurance company which pays for the bail of someone who failed to appear at court. Bradley said the bondsman is still liable for that failure though.

Bradley said there are some bonds he wont bother with for business reasons. He pays $48 in paperwork for each bond and pays the insurance company hes associated with.

Bondsmen are the backbone of the pretrial justice system in the state of North Carolina to make sure the victim gets their day in court and the defendant gets his plea of guilty or innocent, either one, once theyre charged, Bradley said.

Between March 28 and April 16, six bills have been filed in state legislature proposing pilot programs for alternative pretrial services, amendments to acts making pretrial release easier and studies of the use of bonds.

Bradley expressed frustration about bail reform advocates. He wonders why people listen to criminals about what should happen to criminals pretrial.

I believe in reform. I told you I do it here, Bradley said. Im not being an advocate against any criminal. I love the criminals because I love to see them change.

If people released pretrial flee without having used a bondsman, law enforcement is responsible for getting the suspect back. Bradley said the process of retrieving an individual can be costly, especially if the suspect ran to another county or state.

Bradley said he doesnt like news because the stories are one-sided. He played a video of a bail reform advocate interviewed by the Raleigh News & Observer, talking over it from time to time with his own opinions and arguments to her points. The advocate was a woman who made a plea deal after spending months in jail before trial in California.

In 2018, California did away with cash bail altogether.

Theyre putting all the blame on us (bondsmen) that the jails are overcrowded, Bradley said. Were the only entity that touches every branch of the judicial system, Bradley said. We touch the jail. We touch the (District Attorney). We touch the criminal defense lawyers because its our defendant too. We touch the human health services because theres a lot of that going on in this system. We touch the judges. We touch the cops that arrest them. We touch everybody. We touch the magistrate because we go in to do the bond at the magistrate sometimes. So we touch everyone in the judicial system. Were the only ones that do that. Why wouldnt you come to the one that touches everybody? Not that were smarter than anyone, but its like, we might be able to throw some stuff on the table that you could really use, you know?

Not a punishment

Bail is not a punishment. It has a purpose, Connolly said.

Connolly said bail is supposed to ensure a person comes to their court date and to protect the public.

If a person pays their bond, it will be returned to them when they appear at their court date.

According to general statute 15A-534(c), magistrates deciding what pretrial method to use or setting bond must consider eight factors including the offense, the persons criminal record and how likely they are to flee once released.

Weighing those factors, magistrates have five options for what happens to a defendant pretrial. Written promises and bonds are most common.

Magistrate Dianne Sanders said there is a chart used to assign bond that recommends a range for bonds on the offense. Magistrates then consider the other factors to assign a bond within that range.

More Coverage With 72.8 percent of the jail population incarcerated due to an inability to pay a bond, we took a look at those serving the longest without yet going to trial. Here is a look at the inmates serving the longest, with a bond set, with days incarcerated through April 29: Roshedia Keisan Bruner  475 - $1,000,000 - murder Brentley Jason Byers  645 - $2,000,100  two counts statutory sex offense with a child by an adult; failure to appear on misdemeanor; intentional child abuse resulting in serious injury Donald Ray Fitzgerald Jr.  737  $5,552,500 - 37 counts of first-degree rape; two counts indecent liberties with children; domestic violence protection order violation, two counts first-degree sex offense. child; 68 counts of statutory sex offense with the defendant more than six years older than the victim; four counts of statutory rape of child younger than 15 years of age; 35 counts first-degree sex offense with a child; 13 counts second-degree forcible sex offense; 13 counts second-degree forcible rape Michael Anthony Pizza  771 - $100,000  five counts statutory sex offense with a child by an adult; five counts indecent liberties with children Chad Bradley Moore  844  robbery with firearms or other dangerous weapons; bond surrender, common law robbery, assault inflicting serious injury, simple assault, simple assault and battery or affray, communicating threats, felony breaking and /or entering, attempted first-degree burglary, two counts injury to personal property, larceny of a motor vehicle James Robert Tewell  883 - $600,000  two counts rape of a child by an adult; nine counts second-degree forcible rape; 71 counts of statutory sex offense with the defendant more than six years older than the victim; three counts statutory sex offense with a child younger than 15 Desmond ONeil Thompson  1,028  $520,000  one count of murder; assault officer discharging official duty and inflict injury; assault with deadly weapon inflicting serious injury; resist, delay or obstruct a public officer Joseph Nicholas Shaver  1,049 - $650,000  nine counts first-degree sex offense with a child; 69 counts indecent liberties with a child Samuel Tyrone Young  1,102  $200,000  14 counts of rape first degree; 25 counts of statutory sex offense with the defendant more than six years older than the victim Ted Dean Melton  1,409  $175,000 - 26 counts of statutory sex offense with the defendant more than six years older than the victim; 20 counts sexual offense with a child; nine counts third-degree sexual exploitation of minor; 24 counts indecent liberties with children; one count sexual offense (first degree)

Iredell District Attorney Sarah Kirkman said guidelines are set by the senior resident superior court judge. Currently, that judge is Joseph Crosswhite.

Of course, each case is unique, and the facts and circumstances of each individual case must be considered when the official  whether it be a judge or a magistrate  determines bond, Kirkman said via email.

Defense lawyer Ken Darty said judicial officials setting bond should only be considering if the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the community. If not, terms should be set, and as long as the defendant meets those terms, they should be free.

Darty used his client Derone McNeill as an example. McNeill received a $2 million bond after he was arrested for multiple counts each of second-degree rape, second-degree forcible sex offense and sexual activity with a student April 3.

Hes got a child thats in high school. Hes got a wife. Hes married. Hes got a house. Why should he lose all that because hes been accused? Darty asked.

The bond was reduced to $100,000 April 8, and McNeill made bond.

Darty said people who cant make bond and stay in jail meet consequences when they havent been tried in a court of law. They cant keep their jobs. Their connections in the community suffer.

Theres no such thing as a speedy trial anymore, Darty said. Theres sit in jail and wait until were ready to try you.

Darty said he believes the longer a person is in jail, the more likely theyll want to make a deal, and he says hes known clients to want to make deals even though he doesn't consider it to be in their best interest to because he thinks theyre innocent or the state doesnt have enough evidence to make their case.

I would not say that prosecutors use the current system to our advantage, Kirkman said. We strive do what is just and fair under the facts and circumstances of each particular case.

While all types of people are affected by the current bail system, Darty said low-income populations are less likely to make bond than people with financial resources.

If youre talking about serving justice to everyone and treating everyone the same, you should be in favor of a pre-trial justice system, Darty said.

Jail expansion

Instead of building a useless jail to house more people, why not use that money to create a pretrial services program? Darty asked.

More Information Iredell County Inmates How does bond impact the inmates of the Iredell County Detention Center? Heres a breakdown of the jail population as of last week: 72.8% are pretrial, with bond not paid. 5% are pretrial with no bond set. 9.8% have been sentenced on some charges, but still pretrial on others. 12.4% sentenced only.

With the majority of Iredell inmates awaiting trial with an unpaid bond, its a fair question.

We just paid how much money for a jail? Bradley said. Are we going to get any of that money back if its empty or its full? No. We paid that.

Sheriff Darren Campbell said the department saved for the jail expansion.

The jail expansion isnt something anybody wants, Campbell said. Its something here thats been needed.

Campbell said the growing jail population is related to an expanding county population. Iredells population has gone from 90,000 to 180,000 since the last renovations on Iredell County Detention Center.

Part of growth is you dont just have perfect people move, Campbell said. You also have the bad. You have the criminal element. We see that constantly.

Campbell said first-time offenders who dont pose a risk to the public should be released or receive a low bail.

However, the people who do receive high bails are usually repeat offenders or people charged with violent crimes like murder. Campbell said bond can also serve as a deterrent to crime.

Campbell said it costs $70 a day to keep an inmate in jail, but hes weighing that cost against letting someone out who will endanger the public again.

I make no apologies for advocating for higher bonds, Campbell said. We do that because I understand the offenders and I understand the people committing crime, but I also have a loyalty to the victims who are victims of crime. Nobody is out there advocating for them. If we have somebody thats got a rap sheet 10 pages long, and theyre turned right back on the street, theyre going to reoffend.

Tweaks to the system

With people waiting more than three years in jail to receive the speedy trial our constitution allows them, Bradley, Darty and Campbell all had suggestions for changes the system could make to give defendants truly speedy trials.

Darty suggests setting terms like being regularly employed or being sober. If those terms are violated, then a defendant has done something to be in jail.

He also said more prevention programs would reduce the number of people being assigned bond in the first place.

Campbell said a limit to the amount of times a case can be continued in court would keep defendants from sitting in jail for over a thousand days.

There have people that we bring back and forth to court five, six, seven, eight times, Campbell said.

Bradley suggested creating a position to see how long a person has been in jail and how long the maximum sentence is, putting people in court who have been in jail for the maximum sentence of the charge.

He also suggested more training and flexibility for law enforcement. Bradley said he knew of five panhandlers who were arrested and incarcerated when the punishment for panhandling is a fine.

With six bills going through state legislature about pretrial justice, Iredell County is not alone in its pretrial woes. The more people asked about what should be done for those waiting years in jail for their trial, the more answers and suggestions are gathered.

No one is content with the status quo, but what should be done for positive change is unclear. Priorities of defendants, victims and those who earn their living serving the justice system like bondsmen, defense attorneys and law enforcement are all weighed against one another.

My key thing that I want to get the general public to know is: not all things are what you hear, Bradley said. Theres always two sides to the story, and you have to listen to both sides of the story.

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She said that a threat on her life in front of her child brought DSS into her world and she was scared. This ended up being a blessing to her because she was just really, really glad to get out of that situation alive. I proceeded to take care of my daughter and home. I began succeeding in my job and everything around me.

She says she continued to face mental abuse over the years and abuse from outside the family as well. And life just kind of took its toll on me.

She said she started drinking a little too much, and about three months later realized she didnt want to be like her abusers, so she checked herself into rehab.

Going through what she described as a very bad and stressful custody battle, Kirby said she was asked to take a parenting class. However, she felt she didnt really learn a lot with this particular course, so she decided to go online and saw a parenting class offered through SCAN.

I paid for it and I went to it and I loved it.

Correcting the behavior

While going through clinical director Laurie Trosuks class, she said she learned things about her parenting she needed to correct.
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Agriculture Minister Petre Daea says that about 50 hectares of a vineyard plantation in the Urlati area, Prahova County, have been damaged to various degrees by the latest extreme weather phenomena, and although the anti-hail installation were operational their rockets could not stop the devastation in this area.

"I am in Urlati, in a vineyard plantation that is about 100 hectares, and the half of it is damaged to varying degrees from 50 percent upwards. I saw the shoots that were shattered in contact with the hail, the rain and the obvious wind. Specialists have decided on the spot to start treatment with cupric substances to heal the wounds generating by the stripping away of the saplings. We are focused on vegetation and we will see the actual degree of damage. This plantation is not in danger. What's in danger is this year's yield," Daea told AGERPRES on Wednesday.He said the anti-hailing system was operational on Tuesday, April 30, with 16 rockets having been fired nationwide for crop protection, but the extreme weather phenomenon occurred at a much higher altitude than anti-hail rockets could reach."The anti-hail installations were operational yesterday. As many as 16 rockets were fired, but unfortunately they could not stop the phenomenon, as this formation, the cloud that triggered this catastrophe formed somewhere 11,000 metres up in the air; the specialists say the rockets can operate up to 8,000 metres high. This was the first time that such phenomenon occurred. It was for the first time in Romania that hail struck before May 1. We had been ready since April 15, we activated the command centre, the launching points were activated, rockets were launched at all command points and the effect was this as nature was stronger than our science and our possibilities for intervention. Three rockets were fired in Vrancea County and the situation got under control, but here in Prahova t did not because they were on the same path with the tornado," Daea explained.Asked to comment on a post by Minister of the Environment Gratiela Gavrilescu, who complained about inefficient interventions with anti-hail rockets, Daea replied: "I do not comment on what the deputy prime minister says. I said what I found on the spot yesterday. Today I am on the spot. "As far as the state of agricultural crops is concerned, Daea added that they may be damaged in some areas, but he cannot provide information because checks were still being carried out at the scene.Environment Minister Gratiela Gavrilescu posted on her Facebook page on Tuesday a message publicly asking for the dismissal of those who did not intervene effectively with anti-hail rockets, given that the code orange weather warning issued by the National Meteorological Administration "was issued in due time.""Today, hail has ravaged the Dealu Mare area. Entire vine plantations and agricultural crops have been irreparably damaged over large areas. The torrential rain showers and hail blocked road traffic and streams of water penetrated into backyards and houses ...Why did not they intervene effectively with anti-hail rockets? I have inquired and found that the weather warning, code orange , had been issued in due time early by the ANM. I urge the immediate dismissal of those who did not meet their service duties! "The National Weather Administration issued on Tuesday after-noon code orange for hail, strong gales and torrential showers in the counties of Buzau, Prahova, Ialomita and Calarasi, where a tornado occurred as well.
The European Commission is planning new countermeasures against Romania following the country's relaxation of

anti-corruption laws, a commission spokesperson is quoted by dpa news agency as having said on April 30.

At issue, it is reported, is a vote last week by Romanian Parliament on revising the Criminal code and Code of Criminal Procedure. dpa says earlier in April the commission already warned Romania that it would face '''swift and decisive action'' should Parliament pass that legislation.In response to a journalist's question on Tuesday on what the commission response would be, the spokesperson said: "If your question is whether swift and decisive action will happen in the case you mentioned, the answer is yes. Yes, it will happen." He did not provide further details on what such countermeasures would be.According to dpa, one possibility is an infringement proceeding, which would ultimately land at the European Court of Justice. Another is a sanctions process for rule-of-law violations, known as Article 7, which the European Union has already launched against Poland and Hungary.Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty opens a path for sanctions against a member state and a temporary loss of EU Council voting rights. The mechanism is triggered when one of the bloc's members violates the values of "human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities."
This year's elections to the European Parliament will have a major impact on the next EU institutional configuration, will be a good opportunity to reconfirm the joint pro-European commitment of the member states and the European institutions to lay the foundations for an "ambitious and united" vision for the future of the European design, Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said in Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday.

"This year's European elections will have a major impact on the EU's next institutional configuration and consequently on the future of the European Union and its policies. Therefore, I believe it is important to use this opportunity of European elections to reconfirm the common pro- European commitment of the member states and European Institutions to lay the foundations for an ambitious and united vision for the future of the European design," Dancila said at a joint news conference with Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

The Romanian prime minister underlined the active role of the ongoing Romanian presidency of the EU Council in supporting the efforts in the Brexit case in order to avoid upsetting the European Union's activities in the event of the UK's exiting the EU.

"The Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU has got actively involved, within the limits of its competences, in supporting the EU's efforts towards the Brexit file and handled a series of legislative files in the context of Brexit aimed at avoiding disruption of activities in the event of the UK exiting EU. I mean energy, transport, fisheries, social affairs and education,"she said, agerpres.ro informs.

She also referenced the agenda of the Romanian presidency of the EU Council, which included specific subjects that the country set to promote: combating discrimination, intolerance and xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism, and promoting gender equality.

"In the reflection on the future of the European Union that will culminate with an informal summit on the future of the Union on May 9, Romania remains firmly convinced that the only effective response to the current challenges lies in approaches and actions based on the principle of unity and cohesion focusing on concrete priorities and the pursuit of policies that have produced unquestionable results such as enlargement policy. A strong and united European Union is in the interest of both current and future members. Today's discussions revealed how important to the European Union its enlargement policy was and continues to be, to its capacity to generate growth, political stability, economic and social development. We are therefore considering the EU's commitment to enlargement policy as a long-term investment," said Dancila.

Dancila participated on Wednesday in a meeting of the heads of government of the Central and Eastern European states that joined the European Union after 2004, according to the Romanian government.
Romania's Prime Minister Viorica Dancila met her Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw on Wednesday, underscoring the importance of a declaration adopted at a meeting in Warsaw of the heads of government of Eastern and Central European countries that joined the European Union after 2004, and voicing her conviction that it will help shape up the future of the EU.

The two leaders met on the sideline of the anniversary meeting of the prime ministers of the Central and Eastern European countries that joined the European Union after May 1, 2004. They also addressed issues related to the EU's multi-annual financial framework, cohesion policy and common agricultural policy. The Romanian prime minister underscored the importance of all policies promoted at EU level that which must be found in the multi-annual financial framework, according to a press statement released by the Romanian government, agerpres.ro informs.

The head of the Polish government praised the results of Romania's presidency of the Council of the European Union and asked for country's co-operation to support the development of a European policy in support of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Dancila and Morawiecki also discussed macro-regional development, mentioning the Three Seas Initiative and the Via Carpatia project.

Regarding bilateral co-operation, Dancila and her Polish counterpart appreciated the benefits of the first round of Romanian-Polish intergovernmental consultations in Warsaw on May 25, 2018.

The head of the Romanian government pointed to the added value this type of consultations has generated in the bilateral relationships and reaffirmed the intention of the Romanian government to organise a second round in Bucharest in the second half of 2019 complete with a business forum.

She pleaded for providing additional substance to the economic co-operation between the two countries, in favour of increasing the volume of bilateral trade and increasing Polish investments in Romania and Romanian investments in Poland.

She reiterated the Romanian government's interest in organising a Romania-Poland business forum in Bucharest as part of the next round of bilateral intergovernmental consultations and made known Romania's decision to capitalise on the opportunities generated by the results of the summit in Bucharest of the Three Seas Initiative. At the same time, she mentioned Romania's interest in expanding the bilateral legal framework allowing for an in-depth interaction at the economic level.

The two prime ministers also discussed current world affairs and agreed to intensify co-operation at the level of defence ministries.

They also agreed on a common schedule of bilateral events for the immediate future.
Berkshire owns multibillion-dollar stakes in six of the largest U.S. banks plus American Express. It also owns close to 10 percent of American, Delta and Southwest airlines, and more than 8 percent of another carrier, United Continental.

Investors like Warren Buffett  no one seems to have any data about how much does he get involved in corporate governance, said Martin Schmalz, associate professor of finance at Oxford Universitys Said Business School, who has done research on common ownership. The theory says he does not aggressively push firms to compete more aggressively.

Meanwhile, proposals to expand Medicare come as Berkshire plows ahead on its Haven joint venture with Amazon.com and JPMorgan Chase to cut health care costs for employees at those companies.

Buffett also said in February that Berkshire was likely to become a significant buyer of its own stock, especially if it extended its three-year drought for major acquisitions.

Some lawmakers have proposed restricting buybacks unless companies commit to paying their workers more. Berkshire employs more than 389,000 people.
In the restaurant world, fires happen. There are open flames, high temperatures and grease plus the electrical wiring and other hazards that exist for any other business or residence. In addition, the buildings that housed both Goody Goody and Hilarys were relatively old, which can make a small fire worse.

It is true that insurance, presumably, will pay for the damages. But that is only part of the story.

For an unknown number of months, the staffs will be without jobs  or will be scrambling to find one  and the owners will be without income. That is a major financial assault on the people who own and work at the restaurants.

But it is more than that. A restaurant is a family, particularly at diners and especially at long-established diners. Some employees at Hilarys have worked at the location longer than the owner has owned it. Fires like these break up the family, and they will never be able to come together in quite the same way again.

Thats something to think about the next time youre at a restaurant. Theyre in a tenuous business. Maybe you could add a little extra to the tip.

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The team found little change in drug overdoses, whether intentional or accidental, after the new policies took effect. This falls in line with the growing consensus that, unlike other deaths of despair, drug overdoses probably are linked to increased availability of addictive (and lethal) drugs.

But the number of suicides that werent related to drugs dropped noticeably. Among adults without a college education, increasing the EITC by 10 percent appears to have decreased non-drug suicides by about 5.5 percent. Raising the minimum wage by 10 percent reduced suicides by 3.6 percent.

When they implement these policies, suicides fall very quickly, Godoey said in an interview.

Although raising the minimum wage led to an immediate decrease in suicides, raising the EITC had a delayed effect, resulting in fewer suicides the following year, once the tax change came into force. In both cases, it appears as though taking home more money had a positive effect.

The effect was strongest among young women and others who were most likely to have minimum-wage jobs. Among men, black and Hispanic Americans saw the largest effect.
From December 19th through December 26th we will be granting free access as a gift to our readers presented by McBride Homes
He was in the high school drama club and starred in several productions. He credits brothers John and Rich Contini, longtime local stage stalwarts, with fostering his love of performing arts.

He graduated from high school in 1978 and worked at several jobs, including one at the old Stadium Cinemas in downtown St. Louis. Then he joined the Navy in 1984, saw the world and "pushed a lot of paper."

When he retired in 2004, he stayed in Virginia Beach and worked at selling insurance and commercial painting.

But in 2013, a passing word from one of his five grown children led him to a box of old photographs that had been set out as trash on a Virginia Beach sidewalk near his home.

The box was filled with some "really nice and glossy" matted photos taken around Chicago by James Belsanti.

"While I'm looking through it and it starts to rain," O'Brien said. "I didn't want them to get ruined so I took the box home."

The box sat more or less undisturbed until he enrolled in 2017 at Regents University. "Decided to use my G.I. Bill money to get a bachelor's degree," he said.
ST. LOUIS  The citys top prosecutor on Tuesday challenged a judges order a day before that her office relinquish records to a special prosecutor in a pending grand jury investigation.

Lawyers for Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner appealed to the Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals to block Circuit Judge Michael Mullens order that Gardners office comply with a Feb. 21 search warrant for data on the offices servers.

Gardners lawyers argued that Mullens order, which required Gardner to turn over user names and passwords to allow police to access the server, will destroy the privilege doctrine and would eradicate the necessary confidential nature of criminal investigations and open the floodgates to others, including criminal defense attorneys, having access to the privileged information of any CAO investigation.

Police officers Monday evening seized a server from the circuit attorneys office about two hours after Mullen issued his order. Gardners appeal said 10 to 15 police officers, plus lawyers working for a special prosecutor, secretly entered the Circuit Attorneys Office and took the Offices server.

The search warrant in question seeks six months of electronic data, including emails and attachments, as part of a months-long grand jury investigation of William Don Tisaby, a former FBI agent Gardner hired to investigate then-Gov. Eric Greitens.

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ST. LOUIS COUNTY  Prosecutors filed murder charges Tuesday against a man from Black Jack in the shooting death of his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend in Hazelwood.

Jordan P. Beck, 21, was being held in jail in lieu of $200,000, cash-only bail. Beck is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and two counts of armed criminal action. He lives in the 4900 block of Kennewick Drive in Black Jack.

Authorities say Beck went to the home of his ex-girlfriend, Celia Kollie, about 1 p.m. Monday in the 1400 block of Annilo Drive in Hazelwood. Kollie and her mother were sitting in the kitchen when he shot the glass sliding door to get inside, police said. He then chased Kollie into the garage and shot her until he ran out of bullets.

Beck told police he could not bear to see her moving on, police said.

After the shooting, police say, a man ran from the scene. Police later arrested Beck less than two miles away, in the 2200 block of Riverwood Place Drive.
EAST ST. LOUIS  Two preschool teachers accused of making students stand naked in a closet were each charged Wednesday with aggravated battery and unlawful restraint, both felonies.

Shavonda Willis, 41, of Fairview Heights, and Mary Agbehia, 27, of Edwardsville, were charged in incidents Feb. 1 and March 13 involving two boys and one girl, according to charging documents filed by the St. Clair County states attorneys office.

Both teachers were charged with each having ordered one of the two boys, one 5 and another 6, to stand in a closet and remove clothing he was wearing, according to court documents. Agbehia also allegedly took the 6-year-old boys shirt off without his consent before ordering him to stand in the closet.

Willis is also accused of pretending to give the girl, 3, an injection.

The teachers were employed at the Head Start program operated by Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center and led a class of about 20 preschoolers.
The woman, identified by family members as Ashley Hall, is expected to survive her wounds but remains hospitalized. She has not been charged with a crime, though authorities said the investigation was continuing.

Bell agreed with Noble's account that Crews had warned she would use her Taser, and said Hall continued to run. But he said Hall did not pose a threat to Crews.

"In this case, the officer's safety was never in question," Bell said.

Bell said his office had reviewed surveillance video in the case but that it would not be made public yet. He said evidence would be released "at the appropriate time."

The officer's attorney said he met with prosecutors and told them that they were "overcharging" his client and that when a jury finds that there is not enough evidence to convict Crews on that charge, the "whole city is going to burn down" and it is going to be on them for setting the wrong expectations.

"This was in no way intentional," Noble said. "If she were here right now, she would tell you she never meant to shoot her and that she was never in fear for her life. This was an accident. A very tragic accident."

'Fighting for her life'
UPDATED Wednesday with appeals court's order.

ST. LOUIS  In the latest front of an ongoing legal battle, Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner is seeking to disqualify the special prosecutor running a grand jury investigation into her office.

In a petition to the Missouri Supreme Court, Gardner seeks to disqualify Gerard "Jerry" Carmody as special prosecutor, claiming nepotism because he has his two adult children, Ryann and Patrick Carmody, working on the case.

The Carmodys declined comment, citing a judge's gag order.
Pittman, chancellor since 2015, said Robison had been a college employee since 1992 and manager in Workforce Solutions for at least the past 10 years.

The money came from the state, disbursed as part of the Missouri Community New Jobs Training Fund, Pittman said. The Training Fund was a program designed by the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Pittman said Robison diverted the money to a fictitious company and spent it for his personal use.

"It's been going on at least 10 years and may have been going on even longer," Pittman said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. "He had diverted funds from that group into this fictitious company, outside of the college's financial control."

The phony company, according to the lawsuit, was called MS Services. The company is still actively registered with the state, the community college's lawsuit says.

Pittman said the scam started unraveling when an employee came forward recently and told supervisors about "the financial irregularities." The community college began investigating and has since hired an outside accounting firm to track the money.
ST. LOUIS  A woman from St. Louis County pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and admitted conspiring with her husband and others to provide money and other resources to a former St. Louis County resident who died fighting for the Islamic State.

Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 39, could face 15 years in prison when sentenced in August, and will be removed from the country at the end of her prison term, according to court testimony Wednesday. Her plea agreement says that she and her husband, Ramiz Hodzic, shipped supplies to Abdullah Ramo Pazara and others in Syria, where he was fighting Syrian government forces.

Sedina Hodzic knew Pazara was engaging in deadly combat "with malice aforethought," the plea says. Sedina Hodzic learned in 2014 that Pazara had died in combat.
JEFFERSON CITY  General Motors officials are expected to meet with Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday to discuss a $1 billion expansion project at the companys Wentzville assembly plant.

Although details of the expansion were not immediately available, GM is expected to request a package of incentives from the state to help pay for job training and retooling at the light truck and van manufacturing facility, situated about 40 miles from St. Louis in St. Charles County.

Those incentives have already been the subject of sometimes heated political wrangling on the Senate floor, where two St. Charles County lawmakers have questioned programs backed by Parson aimed at job creation.

One of those lawmakers, Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, said he was pleased to hear GM was considering making a major investment in the region.

But he said he was still waiting for details.

Its hard for me to comment because Im still not sure what they need, Eigel said.

Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, said he would welcome an expansion at the plant but was skeptical about the need for additional incentive programs.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who is running for president, said Barr was ignoring the lies and deceit and misconduct by Trump in the Mueller report. Hawley called the investigation essentially a failed coup on the part of former FBI higher-ups who hated Trump.

Some committee Democrats honed in on Barrs previous use of the word spy to describe what the FBI did in investigating Trumps campaign. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Conn., questioned why he used a word with connotations different from authorized department investigative activities.

Barr said it was a good English word, not a a pejorative.

Hawley immediately defended Barrs use of the word, saying the FBI engaged on spying on the Trump campaign and spying on the president of the United States.

Then, reading a 2016 text from former FBI counterintelligence chief Peter Strzok that described the smell of Trump supporters at a Virginia Walmart, Hawley said that open disdain and open hatred for Trump and his supporters was the reason why the FBI began the investigation.
JEFFERSON CITY  It could become harder for people to sue businesses for damages under legislation advancing in the Missouri Legislature.

In action Wednesday, the House voted 93-58 to raise the standard for Missourians seeking punitive damages in civil lawsuits.

The legislation is one more piece of an ongoing effort by Republicans and business groups to swing the states legal system away from high-dollar lawsuits that have drawn attention in St. Louis.

In March, for example, the GOP-controlled Senate endorsed legislation designed to cut down on high-dollar legal settlements coming out of the city court system, following an overnight filibuster.

The legislation approved in the House would require people to prove a company intentionally caused harm in order to punish the company. The damages also serve as a warning to other companies that they could face similar sanctions if they dont follow the law or intentionally harm people.
An updated appraisal could cost the state approximately $7,000, the analysis said, which would come from the state parks earnings fund.

The analysis says that since the propertys deed requires the property to remain dedicated to public use as a state park, that legal challenges could await any planned sale.

The analysis also says that the state could also be on the hook for auction fees  approximately 10 percent of the sale price  but that the cost would likely be passed on to the buyer.

Parks boosters have assailed the attempt to sell the park, and the Department of Natural Resources itself declined to discuss selling the park following public backlash against the idea.

Rep. Robert Ross, R-Yukon, said where the sales proceeds go would likely be determined by litigation. The question of whether the state could legally sell the land would also likely end up in the courts, he said.

This will be litigated, said Ross, a critic of the purchase. When the state bought the land, that became an asset of the state of Missouri and now if the state of Missouri decides to sell that, that does not guarantee that that money has to go back to the ASARCO (lead mining) settlement.
OKLAHOMA CITY  U.S. wildlife officials say an endangered carnivorous beetle is making a comeback and should be downlisted to threatened.

The American burying beetle was once found in 35 states and three Canadian provinces. When it was listed as endangered in 1989, it was only in eastern Oklahoma and Block Island off the cost of Rhode Island.

Amy Leuders is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services southwest regional director. She said Wednesday that conservation efforts over the past 30 years have helped the beetle recover. Leuders says populations now can also be found in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, and on Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts.

The large, nocturnal beetle eats decaying animals. Its active only in the summer and lays its eggs beside small carcasses that it buries.
The indictment of former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger underscored a systematic weakness in St. Louis Countys governmental structure. For too long, the countys resources have been used to further political agendas. Its time for St. Louis County to adopt a professionally managed form of government and amend the charter to give day-to-day, operational control to a politically neutral, appointed county administrator.

Think about it: What organization with thousands of employees and a budget of more than $600 million would choose someone with no executive government experience to lead it? Yet this is what weve done time and again in the county. This latest instance resulted in national headline-grabbing corruption.

Hiring a professional administrator trained in the business of managing government and its resources would lead to improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, equity and ethics. Professional administrators maintain political neutrality and put the welfare of the entire community first.
When the indictment was unsealed Monday against then-St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, regular readers of this newspaper shouldnt have been all that surprised. Post-Dispatch reporters had telegraphed for more than a year, through aggressive reporting and research, that Stenger had immersed himself in ethically and legally murky waters.

Ahead of the November general election, this editorial board nevertheless endorsed Stenger over four challengers. Some critics are questioning the role we played in his re-election and the resulting turmoil. So lets rewind and review.

On Oct. 21, under the headline, Reluctantly, we endorse Steve Stenger for St. Louis county executive, we outlined the reasons why he was the least-bad option on the ballot. That wasnt so much an endorsement of the Democratic incumbent as a critique of his opponents gross incompetence. The choices were abysmal.
As someone involved in getting Amendment 1, known as Clean Missouri, on the ballot, I spoke with thousands of Missourians who supported reforming our state government. I worked with volunteers and personally gathered signatures. By seeking to undo Amendment 1, our legislators are violating the trust of their constituents. Undoing Amendment 1 would prove them right when they assert that nobody is paying attention to what they do. But voters must remember that when its time to vote.
New dentists really have their eye on the future of the profession and making it better for everyone, said Dr. Lindsay Compton, chair of the ADA Subcommittee on New Dentist Engagement, which selected the winners. They willingly take on large tasks and contribute to the integrity of the profession. Many of the pursuits were selfless and took an extreme amount of time of sacrifice to make the profession better.

I am so honored to be named a 10 Under 10 recipient, Riordan said. I absolutely love the dental profession and working with my peers in organized dentistry. I have met so many amazing leaders throughout my early career who have helped me along the way. I am so humbled to be recognized for doing what I think is the natural thing to do. I firmly believe that if one truly loves dentistry, it is our duty to do all we can to protect our future in the profession. Being given recognition for doing that is surreal  I am beyond honored by this prestigious distinction.

Riordan joins colleague Dr. Amanda Fitzpatrick, of La Plata, Mo. who also was recognized this year as a 10 Under 10 winner. They both join colleague Dr. Jon Copeland, a Wildwood dentist, who was recognized in the inaugural ADA 10 Under 10 class last year.
In late February 2019 Russia began a two month victory tour using 20-car railroad train filled with Syrian War souvenirs. Several flatbed cars carried combat vehicles captured from Islamic terrorists while enclosed cars were fitted out as exhibit spaces showing smaller items as well as visuals of Russian military accomplishments during more than three years of operations in Syria. The tour traveled 28,000 kilometers and passed through sixty towns and cities. Government controlled media gave the tour lots of publicity, especially as it was about to arrive in a specific location.

The Russian military operations in Syria were never very popular, at least according to opinion polls and Internet chatter complaining about a family member who was killed there. Early on there were a lot of protests from families that had a son serving as a conscript in the military who ended up in Syria or Ukraine. Because of growing public pressure after the Cold War ended in 1991 conscription service had been reduced to one year and laws were eventually passed making it illegal to send conscripts to fight in foreign wars. The government tried to do it anyway and keep it quiet.

Despite continuing efforts by the military to prevent troops in Syria from using their cell phones to record and post on social media their experiences in Syria, such material continues to appear. Public protests over Russian involvement in the Syrian war, which began in late 2015, faded away by 2017, partly because the government kept conscripts out of Syria, and partly because Russians became more concerned over the declining economy and standard of living than who was being sent to Syria. More Russians were living in poverty and that was a problem much closer to home. Since 2013 the price of oil, the major Russian export, had fallen by more than half and never really recovered to the original levels. In 2015 economic sanctions were imposed in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That became yet another unpopular war.

The victory tour train cheered up some Russians but it also generated public protests over the continuing Russian military operations in Syria. The state-controlled media ignored the protests in some cities visited by the victory tour train but people with cell phones got pictures and video onto the Internet. No wonder Russia is still trying to cut itself, or at least the general public, off from the World Wide Web.

Earlier the government had portrayed Russian operations in Syria as an excellent opportunity to get combat experience for new Russian weapons and military equipment and thus increase export sales. This worked and the government publicized the resulting sales. Ignored was the fact that potential enemies (the West in general but also China) got to discover the shortcomings of the Russian gear used in Syria. That was only mentioned in Russian media when it resulted in additional upgrades to weapons and equipment.

As a practical matter, not many Russians were personally hurt or helped by the Syrian operations. Only about 80,000 Russian military personnel and contractors (former military serving at much higher pay scales) served in Syria since 2015 and there were never more than 4,500 Russians in Syria at one time. After 2016 the average number of Russians there was about 2,000. Casualties were low with about one in 200 Russians killed and nearly two percent wounded or otherwise injured while there. The special pay for service in Syria enticed many Russian military personnel to volunteer and even return several times. For pilots and special operations troops Syria was a well-paid/low-risk opportunity to get some flight time and combat experience. For career military personnel this enhanced career prospects. Several hundred thousand Russians benefitted from the additional jobs and work opportunities the increased export sales generated as well as the military getting additional cash to replace expensive weapons used and to maintain the new aircraft that saw heavy use in Syria.

For most of the time, Russian troops have been in Syria the main activity has been providing air support for Syrian government forces and technical assistance for rebuilding the Syrian military and large quantities of battle damaged or worn out weapons. The air operations have been the most expensive item, costing over two billion dollars so far, even though most of the bombs dropped were dumb rather than guided weapons. Most of the airstrikes were against urban areas in support of the Syrian government strategy of encouraging pro-rebel civilians to flee the country. About six million Syrians did flee and few want to come back. During the first year of Russian operations, the air operations were most intense, with up to two thousand sorties a month. But once the Syrian forces were no longer threatened with defeat, the air operations declined and after about 40 months there have been about 40,000 sorties. Some months there are only a few hundred aircraft going out on a mission, which is often just reconnaissance or standby for a possible target showing up in the few areas where there was still fighting.

Back home, as most Russians saw their income shrink and standard of living decline, they noted that the government was not doing much to help, pleading poverty and massive budget cuts. At that point, several billion dollars a year being spent in Syria became a very real, and often very personal loss for a growing number of Russians. The victory tour train was a reminder of that more than some kind of military victory. So the reappearance of Syria war protestors was as much about economic defeats at home as it was about military operations overseas.
In the West Bank the Palestinian Fatah government is threatening to cause an economic catastrophe by refusing partial payments from Israel and donor nations unless everyone stops deducting the money Fatah spends on supporting and encouraging terrorist activity. This issue has become more of an issue since 2018 when Israel passed a law to deduct from the $130 million a month (it collects in taxes and fees for the Palestinians in the West Bank) the amount (over $20 million) Fatah pays out to Palestinian terrorists in prison or to their families for deceased terrorists. The U.S. had already enacted a similar law and was deducting a similar amount from the $300 million it currently gives to the West Bank Palestinians. Other foreign donors have taken similar measures.

Fatah complains that the U.S., Israel and other donors are being unfair. Yet it is no secret that many Palestinians become terrorists because they are attracted to the financial rewards, which are considerable for many impoverished (by Fatah corruption and incompetence) young residents of the West Bank. Palestinians who are jailed, injured or killed (martyred) while trying to kill Israelis receive large payments from Fatah. For example families of dead terrorists get an immediate payment of $1,700 from Fatah plus monthly payments for the life of the immediate family. These monthly payments ($400 to over $1,000 depending on the number of wives and children) can make a family relatively affluent and open new opportunities, like enough cash to afford a people smuggler who can get one or more family members to the West. There is also a bonus ($86 a month) if you are a legal resident of Israel and a similar monthly bonus if you were a resident of Jerusalem. Fatah is currently paying about $200 million a year to the families of over 26,000 martyrs (dead terrorists) as well as smaller payments to 6,000 badly injured while trying to kill Israelis. Monthly payments to jailed Palestinians vary according to how long they have been in jail, how many dependents they have and so on. There are also bonuses for how many Israelis the prisoner killed or injured. Some of these convicts get over $50,000 a year. Fatah currently spends about $160 million a year to reward over 6,000 jailed terrorists. Fatah considers this payment program a success even though hundreds of Palestinians have died in the Fatah-promoted violence. These attacks also left a few Israelis dead and for Fatah that is political gold as far as Arab language media is concerned. With this approach, Fatah and Hamas together currently spend over $400 million a year to make murder economically attractive to many young Palestinians. Most of it comes from Fatah although Hamas is trying to make more payments to Palestinians in the West Bank who support Hamas and attack Israelis in the name of Hamas. The Arab language media throughout the Middle East take for granted that these payments are just and necessary for the war against Israel. In response to the current American and Israeli efforts to penalize Fatah for what is spent to encourage terror attacks, Fatah made it clear it would not halt payments to families for dead or jailed terrorists. Instead, it cut pay to Palestinians who worked for the West Bank government. But by refusing money still being offered Fatah will cause widespread shortages of food and other necessities in the West Bank. The ensuing Palestinian outrage and resulting damage would be blamed on the efforts to halt pay for slay terrorism support. Fatah is pleading with Russia and Arab oil states to help them out. Russia is broke (and prefers to be on good terms with Israel) and the Arab oil states are fed up with the Palestinian preference for self-destructive behavior.

Syria Is Complicated

Israeli intelligence believes that Iran has decided to scale back their plans and operations in Syria until they can come up with more effective tactics to cope with Israeli airstrikes and border defenses. Iran has also cut financial support for IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) operations in Syria. Iran is not pulling its forces out of Syria, just trying to make them less of a target for the Israelis. This is especially necessary for Iranian weapons shipments into or through Syria as well as efforts to build weapons manufacturing or upgrading facilities. Some of the suspended IRGC efforts in Syria are being moved to Iraq. In Lebanon the well-established (since the 1980s when founded by the IRGC) Hezbollah has done the unthinkable and is asking the public for donations because Iranian subsidies have been cut, apparently drastically. The Iran government is spending more money to relieve the economic problems most Iranian face back in Iran. Beyond that, the American revival of economic sanctions has left the Iranian government will less cash, a lot less.

Israel still wants Iran out of Syria and would prefer that the Syrian Kurds get their autonomy. Israel is willing to make a peace deal with Syria and Turkey. Israel has successfully attacked Iranian efforts to build a military infrastructure (bases, arms factories, forces on the Israeli border) in Syria and this has made the Iranian leadership angrier and very frustrated. Iran is seen as even more unstable and unpredictable than Turkey. While Iran has backed off from the Israeli border and spent more time and effort concealing its operations and personnel in Syria, there are still plans to destroy Israel. These apparently revolve around upgrading over 10,000 of the longer (50 kilometers or more) range rockets Iran has provided Hezbollah in Lebanon. The upgrade is mainly about adding GPS guidance systems that will allow for precision attacks on Israeli targets (especially populated areas). Mass use of these rockets could overwhelm Israeli anti-missile defenses. Iran is also seeking to rebuild the Syrian missile factories and supply Syria with more modern missile technology. These efforts are regularly hit by Israeli air strikes.

Meanwhile, there are a number of complications in Syria that have led to a military stalemate. Many of these revolve around what to do with the Syrian Kurds and the remaining Islamic terrorists. Iran has problems with Israel in Syria, as well as its own allies. The Iranians want the Syrian government (controlled by the Assad clan) to accept Iranian domination (as Hezbollah does in Lebanon) and agrees with Turkey that the Syrian Kurds should not get autonomy and should accept rule by Iranian backed Syrian government as well as the existence of Turkish controlled border areas. Iran has a major problem in that no one wants them in Syria much less acting as an occupying military force dedicated to starting a war with Israel.

The Russians would prefer that the Turks and Iranians got out of Syria and that the Assads and Kurds worked out a compromise, which the two seem willing to do. Iran is a major impediment to such a deal. The Americans, Israelis and most other Middle Eastern nations agree with this approach and are pressuring Iran to get smart and get out. That is unlikely to happen voluntarily.

April 29, 2019: In the south (Gaza), Iran backed Islamic Jihad launched a rocket towards Israel but the rocket was defective and veered off into the Mediterranean where it exploded. Islamic Jihad takes orders from the IRGC and there is little Hamas can do about as Hamas needs Iranian support as well.

Elsewhere along the Gaza border a fire balloon from Gaza landed near an Israeli settlement and started a brush fire that was soon put out by nearby civilians and firefighters.

April 28, 2019: The Israeli domestic intelligence service (Shin Bet, similar to the British MI5) revealed that it had prevented a Hamas plan to carry out a suicide car bomb attack near Jerusalem. Hamas had recruited Yahya Abu Dia, a Palestinian living outside Jerusalem and arranged for him to buy a car and rent a garage where the car could be fitted with explosives. Dia was communicating with Hamas handlers in Gaza via the Internet in a manner he thought kept his communications secret. Dia was arrested on March 31st before he could get any further with the plan, which apparently sought to carry out the bombing during the recent Israeli national elections.

April 27, 2019: In the south (Gaza), Israeli troops opened fire on three Palestinians who were attempting to damage the border fence. Apparently, the three escaped back into Gaza. Elsewhere along the Gaza border a fire balloon from Gaza landed in an Israeli nature reserve and started a brush fire that was soon put out by firefighters.

In Egypt, the ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) franchise in Sinai announced it was expanding operations into normally peaceful southern Sinai. There have been several ISIL attacks in southern Sinai recently but none were very successful. Southern Sinai has fewer people and a lot more security than the north. Southern Sinai also has a very lucrative (for the locals and Egypt as a whole) tourism industry, which brings in millions of Egyptians and foreigners (including Israelis) each year. All the Islamic terrorists have to offer the locals is dead civilians, unemployment and poverty. Expanding Islamic terrorist operations into southern Sinai has a low priority for Islamic terror groups, especially when there are more accessible targets in the north and to the west in the more populous Nile River parts of Egypt.

Despite the upsurge of ISIL activity in south Sinai, few Israelis heeded government warnings about the risk of visiting south Sinai resorts during the recent Passover holiday. Over 110,000 Israelis went to south Sinai as Egyptian security forces began searching for ISIL personnel in the area. Apparently, the Egyptian security in the tourist areas was up to the task. After all, thousands of Egyptians would be out of work if foreign tourists decided otherwise. The Sinai tourist resorts are still recovering of the 2015 disaster when ISIL got a bomb onto a Russian airliner departing with Russian tourists. The Egyptian tourist industry took several years to recover and the many recently reemployed Egyptians in the Sinai resorts want to keep it that way. While many Egyptians dislike the return of the old military dictatorship (pretending to be a democracy) a more immediate concern is obtaining and holding onto a good job. The tourism industry has always done that and Islamic terrorists never seem to learn that you dont topple a government by going after the tourism industry and turning many potential supporters against you.

April 26, 2019: In the south (Gaza), Hamas mobilized about 7,000 Palestinians to stage several violent demonstrations at the border fence. Israeli soldiers fired on Palestinians who threw rocks, explosives or firebombs at them. The return fire left up to fifty Palestinians injured. Hamas had assured Israel that this demonstration would be kept away from the fence as part of a ceasefire deal but that has not been happening. Hamas has been trying to negotiate and implement a ceasefire with Israel but has been unable to get all factions in Hamas (and Gaza) to agree. While there are more radial factions in Hamas, there are also Iran-backed Islamic terror groups (like Islamic Jihad) who take their orders (and millions of dollars a month) from Iran and Iran does not want a ceasefire. Iran is less hostile to Hamas and Fatah (which controls the West Bank) from forming a united Palestinian government for the first time since 2007 (when Hamas split and became independent in Gaza). Iran wants Hamas to be the dominant partner in a united government and Fatah, Egypt and Israel agree that would not be a good thing. Egypt considers itself in competition with Iran for the loyalty of the Gaza Palestinians. Actually, most Gazans would prefer to be on good terms with Egypt but Iran has several very radical Gaza groups on the payroll and these thugs will not tolerate Egyptian dominance in Gaza.

In the north (the Lebanon border), the UN concluded that Israel was correct when, in January, it accused Hezbollah of building a third tunnel across the border. That is a breach of the ceasefire agreement that maintains the peace between Israel and Lebanon, a ceasefire that is monitored by the UN.

April 25, 2019: Israel has established a second F-35I squadron. While Israel currently has only 14 F-35s it has already put most of them to work with the first squadron. Israel will have 20 F-35s by the end of 2020 and 50 by 2024. At that point, the two squadrons will be at full strength. Israel is currently purchasing 75 F-35s but because of the impressive performance of the first ones, the Israeli Air Force is urging that another 25 F-35s be ordered.

April 21, 2019: Iran has selected a new leader (Hossein Salami) for the IRGC. The Iranian supreme leader wanted a more fanatic general running the IRGC because that organization was suffering from poor morale because of the growing popular anti-government protests inside Iran and the lack of IRGC victories overseas. And then there is the recent defection (to the United States) of a senior IRGC officer, who brought lots of documents with him as well as personal experience about how IRGC operates. Iran is facing a widespread popular uprising and even some IRGC personnel are siding with the people against the religious dictatorship the IRGC was formed to protect.

In the south, Israeli troops arrested two Gaza Palestinian who had used wire cutters to get through the border fence. Both were carrying knives when arrested. These Gazans were apparently economic refugees and not terrorists but both types try such desperate measures to get into Israel. You can cut through the fence but while doing that you will trigger other sensors and troops, or a remotely controlled machine-gun, will prevent any further progress.

April 20, 2019: In the south (Gaza), someone fired a rocket at Israel but the rocket was defective and landed in Gaza near the border fence.

France has cautioned Lebanon to oppose Iran building missile assembly and upgrade facilities in Lebanon. France has long been pro-Lebanon, in part because of the large number of Arab Christians who have been there for nearly two thousand years. Lebanese generally see France as a friend and respect French advice. The French pointed out that the Israelis are quite serious about attacking Iranian facilities no matter where they are in Lebanon. Iran-backed Hezbollah represents a minority of Lebanese but has managed to gain veto power over the elected Lebanese government. Most Lebanese do not want a repeat of the devastating 1975-90 civil war but Iran and Hezbollah are less concerned about that.

April 19, 2019: In the south (Gaza), Hamas mobilized about 5,000 Palestinians to stage several violent demonstrations at the border fence. Israeli soldiers fired on Palestinians who threw rocks, explosives or firebombs at them. The return fire left up to fifty Palestinians injured and one of the injured died. During the demonstrations, someone fired at Israeli troops with rifles. Israeli forces returned fire at likely firing positions and the firing stopped.

April 18, 2019: In Syria, the government is suffering a serious fuel shortage. Since late 2018 Iran has not been able to smuggle in petroleum products by sea. The Americans have been successful at finding and halting the use of tankers for smuggling. Egypt has cooperated by honoring American requests to block suspected smuggling tankers from the Suez Canal. Tankers that can fit through the Suez Canal but take the long way (around South Africa) to Syria are automatically suspicious. Iran is short of cash to pay for more detection-proof smuggling efforts and is doing what it can by sending fuel to Syria via truck. The American success at detecting and punishing shipping companies engaged in smuggling has caused most shipping companies to back away from lucrative (if you dont get caught) Iranian offers to smuggle petroleum. This, plus the recent American designation of the IRGC as an international terrorist organization has infuriated, and frustrated, Iranian leaders. Economic and corruption problems in Iran continue to cause popular unrest. Iran needs a win, somewhere, somehow and so far that is not happening.

April 16, 2019: In Egypt (southern Sinai), police began checking IDs of all north Sinai residents working in south Sinai to see if that was how ISIL was getting terrorists into the heavily policed south.

April 15, 2019: In the south, someone in Gaza launched two fire balloons and one apparently landed in an Israeli forest and started a brush fire that was soon put out by locals.

April 14, 2019: In Egypt Libyan military leader Khalifa Hiftar visited to discuss the current situation in Libya, where Hiftar forces are taking control of the capital. Egypt has long supported Hiftar, who from 2014 on formed the most effective military force in Libya and took the lead in defeating or destroying Islamic terror groups. This included keeping Islamic terrorists out of Egypt and assisting Egypt in controlling their Libyan border. Other Arab states, like the UAE, also supported Hiftar although the UN considered him a potential new military dictator. The United States has concluded that is not the case, in part because Hiftar is a naturalized U.S. citizen with long ties to the CIA (after Hiftar fled Libya for disagreeing with dictator Kaddafi, who was overthrown in 2011). Hiftar also has the support of Russia but Egypt and the UAE are the most important allies. The Americans and French have also supplied some special operations forces to help Hiftar (and keep an eye on his activities).

The Indian Army used its new emergency purchase authority to order 240 Israeli Spike MR ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) and twelve launchers. The army has long sought these missiles but the usual procurement process failed. Back in late 2017 political pressure caused India to cancel a half billion dollar deal worked out in 2016 for an Israel firm to set up a factory and team with an Indian firm to produce Spike ATGMs. The army has been warning for over a decade that without a new ATGM India would be at a serious disadvantage. But the procurement bureaucracy and DRDO (the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization) said it could develop and build a comparable ATGM in four years. That would be a miracle. No one in the military believed the DRDO but this was not about what DRDO could do but about the incompetence and corruption that has characterized DRDO for decades. DRDO may not be of much use for the military but for Indian politicians, it is a vital part of getting elected and staying in power. DRDO provides jobs and cash for that. Meanwhile, Israel remains a major military supplier for India. Since 2000 Israel provided India help dealing with Islamic terrorists that Pakistan began using aggressively against India in the 1990s. India noted that Israel was a major supplier of military equipment worldwide and was especially good when it came to border security and dealing with Islamic terrorism. The alliance between Israel and India has grown stronger since 2001 and now India is quite open about it. There are more and more signs of shifts in long-established alliances involving Israel.

April 13, 2019: In western Syria (Hama province), Israel carried out another airstrike, from Lebanese airspace, on Iranian guided missile facilities. This site is rumored to be where Iran is carrying out nuclear weapons and ballistic missile research. Foreign technical experts have been seen at the site, including some North Koreans and Russian speakers. Several people were killed, including two Iranians, and possibly other foreigners. Numerous structures were destroyed. Israel apparently coordinated this attack with Russia, which, according to an understanding Russia has with Israel gave advance warning about these airstrikes. This attack apparently used the new Rampage air-to-ground missile, which arrives at the target at very high speed (similar to ballistic missile) and is very difficult to intercept. Syria had an S-300 air defense battery in the area. The S-300 could, in theory, intercept a Rampage missile but apparently, the Syrian S-300 batteries, although manned by Syrian troops, cannot be used without Russian permission. The Israelis are said to provide Russia with 15 minutes advance warning of attacks so the Russians can ensure there troops are out of the target area and S-300 systems are not used. Although Russia has tested S-300 and S-400 systems against ballistic missiles they do not want to be tested against Israeli high-speed missiles. S-300 would likely do poorly and that would be bad for export sales.

In the south, Israeli troops arrested three Gaza Palestinian who had crossed border fence. One of the Palestinians was carrying a knife and all three were arrested and questioned.

April 12, 2019: In Egypt (southern Sinai), two ISIL gunmen were killed in a failed attack on a checkpoint. One of the attackers was wearing an explosive vest, which failed to go off. One of the attackers turned out to be a German Moslem who had tried to reach Syria to join ISIL and when that proved difficult he traveled to Egypt via Russia and joined ISIL.

April 10, 2019: In Egypt (north Sinai), two ISIL bombings overnight left four policemen dead.

April 9, 2019: In Egypt (north Sinai), an ISIL suicide bomber attacked a market place, killing four policemen and two civilians. Another 26 people were wounded.

April 8, 2019: The United States designated the Iranian IRGC a terrorist organization. This will cause problems in Syria where the IRGC is in charge of all Iranian support for the Assad government as well as operations against Israel and continuing aid for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The IRGC is also supposed to handle the billions of dollars in reconstruction aid the Assad government is trying, without much success, to raise. The terrorist tag will also interfere with Iranian arms smuggling operations. For example, Irans second largest airline, Mahan Air, began scheduled service to Venezuela recently. Iran is believed to already have some IRGC personnel in Venezuela and has discussed sending more, but openly. The Quds Force (the IRGC terrorism specialists) supports many illegal, and some legal Iranian and Hezbollah operations in South America. These are no secret and one of the few countries where Quds and the IRGC can operate openly is Venezuela. The U.S. blacklisted Mahan in 2011 because it was being used to support Quds Force operations. In January 2019 Germany banned Mahan Air from landing in Germany and in March so did France. All this means Mahan has few places where it can use air space or even land. The IRGC was shown to be operating Mahan Air to move equipment and personnel for terror operations in and out of Germany before the German ban. The IRGC operates several freighter aircraft, most of them 747s. The IRGC owns several Iranian airlines in addition to Mahan Air. Noting how Mahan Air 747 freighters were used Israel concluded that these air transports were being used to move military equipment. One clue was the fact that so many flights tried to stay as far away from Israeli air space as possible even if it meant greatly increasing the cost of the flights. When flying to Venezuela Russian and Iranian aircraft use Syria as a stopover area, to refuel or take on or discharge personnel and cargo.

April 5, 2019: In the south (Gaza), Hamas mobilized about 10,000 Palestinians to stage five violent demonstration at the border fence. Israeli soldiers fired on Palestinians who threw rocks, explosives or firebombs at them. The return fire left up to 84 Palestinians injured.
JW Player Expands to APAC by Opening Singapore Office

The company has hired ad-tech veteran Marc Irwin to lead the APAC headquarters to better support its clients in the region.

New York City( )

JW Player, the leading independent video technology company, today announced it has hired Marc Irwin as Head of APAC to lead its new Singapore office serving the APAC region.

Mr. Irwin brings many years of executive-level experience leading media, advertising, and technology companies into the APAC region. Previously, he led Outbrains supply-side expansion into Asia and most recently served as head of APAC expansion for Adyoulike, a native advertising platform and is charged with building JW Players APAC operations.

Were seeing tremendous growth in video content, consumption and advertising across the world, and the Asia-Pacific region is no exception. We look forward to becoming a true partner for companies around the region by leveraging our proven and flexible video technology platform, said Dave Otten, Co-Founder & CEO of JW Player. Were thrilled to bring Marc onboard to lead this effort, better serve our growing client base, and look forward to expanding our reach across the Asia-Pacific region.

The addition of the Singapore office will look to provide even more specialized support for the over 100 APAC media companies and brands that already trust JW Player for their video technology needs. With this increased focus and in-region team, the company will also look to accelerate its growth across the region.

Driven by mobile consumption, media companies across the region are rapidly expanding their video production and JW Player is positioned to help them make the most out of their growing inventory with the industrys fastest player and most seamless advertising integrations.

"Customers like The Star Malaysia have recognised the importance of controlling their own content distribution, user experience, and monetisation, added Stephan Rioux, Global Chief Revenue Officer of JW Player.

JW Players expansion to Singapore comes on the heels of tremendous success with its European expansion, which completed their first full years after launching in the middle of 2017. The EMEA region has seen 178% year over year growth with the addition of world-class clients such as Schibstead, Sonoma, Alma, and Eurosport.

Im thrilled to join JW Player, the worlds leading company for digital video monetisation. With purpose-built solutions such as OTT, built in recommendations, and contextual article matching, JW Player continues to push the boundaries for digital video, stated Marc Irwin, Head of APAC.

The Singapore office is the companys third international office alongside London and Eindhoven.
Jenny Rodgers is being remembered for her bright smile, loud laugh and passion for life would fill the room wherever she was.

The general manager, lower North Island and national schools manager for Scouts New Zealand died in the crash that claimed the lives of eight people in total, north of Taupo on Sunday April 28 2019.

Her dedication to family and passion for scouting was deep. Jennys passing is a loss for the movement on many levels," says Scouts New Zealand.

Jenny, who started out in scouting at 14 years of age, joining one of the first mixed gender units in the country, proudly achieved her Queens Scout Award in 1984.

She was a dedicated volunteer taking on many leadership roles in Scouts across her 30 years of service.

Jennys caring and selfless nature meant that she was fondly known as Scout Mum to many. Her ability to take people under her wing and to go out of her way to help others no matter the task was something that will be sorely missed. Jenny lived by the scout values and role modelled them every day.

She was an ardent supporter of Gang Shows, particularly the Hutt Valley Gang Show and would spend hours perfecting costumes that the young people could wear with pride.

She was also a valued staff member of Scouts New Zealand for over ten years and was the heart and soul of scouting in the National Scout Centre. The variety of roles held over this time made Jenny to go to person for volunteers and staff alike. Jennys positive can-do attitude and commitment to scouting values will be missed.

Jenny is survived by her husband Andrew, who is also a dedicated volunteer within scouts, her three daughters, granddaughter, mother, siblings and wider family.

Scouts New Zealand is setting up an online memorial page as well as a Givealittle page.
One person has died in a house fire in the Bay of Plenty.

Emergency services were notified of the fire at around 2am on Mataatua Road, Ruatahuna.

"One other person from the house was taken to hospital in a moderate condition," says a police spokesperson.

"Police are working at the scene today, along with Fire and Emergency New Zealand, to determine the cause of the fire.

"Police are unable to provide any information regarding the deceased person until the formal identification process has been completed."
Leading Aircraftman Phoebe Van Der Plas has achieved more than she thought possible when she joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force five years ago.

I have opportunities to travel and a job that offers diverse challenges, says Leading Aircraftman Van Der Plas, who was part of a 55-member New Zealand Defence Force contingent that provided support for Solomon Islands recent general election.

One of two Safety and Surface Technicians from the RNZAFs No.3 Squadron sent to Solomon Islands, Leading Aircraftman Van Der Plas helped carry out daily maintenance on safety equipment and flying clothing used by the aircrew of the two RNZAF NH90 helicopters deployed to the Solomons.

It's a great opportunity to learn how we function in an operation.

It's also awesome to experience the warm hospitality of the locals.

Safety and Surface Technicians are trained to maintain aeronautical life support equipment such as flying clothing, aircrew helmets, life jackets, parachutes, life rafts and helicopter emergency floatation systems. They are also in charge of aircraft painting.

We work behind the scenes to keep our aircrew safe, says Phoebe.

She joined the RNZAF in January 2014, drawn by the opportunity to travel the world and pursue a career that involves adventure and sport.

After graduating from Tauranga Girls College in 2010, she worked for a year in the tourism industry and toured Europe with a friend.

During her first year at university a chance conversation with an acquaintance who was keen on joining the Air Force sparked her interest.

I thought a military career presented a good challenge so I enlisted."

One of the highlights for her so far was representing the NZDF in football against the Royal Air Force.

The match was played at St Georges Park in Staffordshire, the training and preparation ground for all of the England national football teams.

Taking part in a tri-Service charity boxing event at Linton Military Camp, flying to Mount Ruapehu on a T-6C Texan II aircraft and participating in an exercise in New Caledonia are three other memorable highlights.

Im in the early stages of my career and I am looking forward to more adventures and opportunities in the future."
He suggests using external resources to improve communications, especially with the news media.

Much of the remainder of the report dealt with Ballads first five months of operation  from February through June 2018. It states that all complaints received by the monitors office were each reviewed and resolved without any changes to Ballad Healths operations being recommended.

It also praised the formation of a Clinical Council comprised of care providers from the 21-county service area, reporting The council has the potential to positively impact quality of care throughout the service area and be a key voice in a communication strategy.

The health care system issued a statement in response to the report.

Ballad Health agrees with the COPA monitors conclusion that, Ballad Health has begun this journey successfully. Our priority is to deliver excellent healthcare to our communities, and that is what our team members remain focused on. We are committed to working with both states to make Ballad Health and the care we provide better for the region.
Five men pulled from a Southwest Virginia cave Sunday were within 120 feet of the entrance.

The men, who ranged in age from 34 to 59, were extracted from Cyclops Cave in Russell County, near Cleveland, Virginia. They entered the cave Friday night but got trapped after heavy rain made conditions difficult.

They were about 120 feet from the entrance down three inclines of 30 feet, 40 feet, and a 50-foot incline, Jess Powers, emergency management director of Russell County, said Monday.

The entrance to the cave is vertical, so Powers said the men slid down into the cavern, which stretches for miles.

The first was rescued about 3 p.m., and the final man was brought out about 6 p.m. Sunday.

We sent all five to the hospital. Because they got wet, they were suffering from hypothermia and they were exhausted, Powers said. It took a while to get the first one out and then the second one was airlifted to Bristol [Regional Medical Center]. We removed the ones in the worst need of medical care first.
PRETORIA, April 30 (Xinhua) -- A group of seven young South African scientists will soon start spending time at China's leading technology institutions, conducting research with Chinese scientists.

The Chinese embassy in Pretoria on Tuesday hosted a send-off ceremony for the scientists who would spend 6 to 12 months in China. The seven scientists benefited from the South Africa-China Young Scientist Exchange Program signed by the two countries in 2017 to give young researchers from both countries an opportunity to share knowledge and develop skills.

Nokuthula Mchunu from the Agricultural Research Council who would be doing her research on the engineering of enzymes for industrial technology at Tianjin University of Technology said this is a great opportunity.

"In science, you don't grow in a silo, you're more likely to grow in collaborations. They (Chinese scientists) have more capacity and resources. The important thing is the human relation, if we get continuous relationships with the Chinese collaborators, it would be great," she told Xinhua.

Another scientist Dr Lizelle van Dukes said that she was "excited to be exposed to this opportunity to grow" and that she would be keen to collaborate with Chinese scientists.

"China is one of the leading countries in the fourth industrial revolution and we can't go alone, we want to work with South Africa," said Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Lin Songtian.

[ Editor: WPY ]
ABINGDON, Va.  You can soon say goodbye to Abingdons Main Street sign listing the towns civic clubs.

What you might soon see at that site, near the towns municipal parking lot, is a selfie spot, according to Kevin Worley, the towns director of outdoor recreation.

Lets open that up as a view spot, Worley said at the April 25 work session of the Abingdon Town Council.

We can do some things there. Theres all kinds of good opportunities to create that as a photo spot, as a tourist draw, as a selfie spot  whatever you want to call it. We have the opportunity to make that a pretty visible spot.

The existing sign has stood for decades, Worley said. Most people who drive through there dont even look at it.

Worley grinned.

How many times have you drove through there, and do you really look at all the civic signs that are up there? Worley asked. Can you name them?

Worley figures anyone who wants to know what civic clubs exist in Abingdon will not come searching for that sign. Instead, he said, theyll be searching the internet.
I think it might be better in the countys interest and probably [would] come out a whole lot easier  or a less financial burden, if you would  if they could look at providing some resources to Mount Rogers, whos already in place and providing those services, helping us maybe recruit some members within the community or bring some resources in, rather than to try to spend this huge amount of money to put that in place when theres already something there that just needs a little help along, Stamper said.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  Seven-year-old Creed Rosenbalm was ready to roll when students at Emory & Henry School of Health Sciences surprised him last week with a modified power toy tractor, giving the special needs child the mobility he lacks.

The students unloaded the John Deere toy tractor in the parking lot of Mini Miracles in Bristol, Tennessee, where Creed is a patient. Once behind the wheel of his new ride, Creed navigated around a parking lot of spectators who had come to watch the union of boy and tractor.

This probably is the best thing ever for him, said Jamie Rosenbalm, whose son has been obsessed with tractors and lawnmowers for years.

Hes excited to ride it to my friends house next door when we get home. It probably will go everywhere we go.

Physical therapy and occupational students at the school partnered with Childrens Assistive Technology Service (CATS) earlier this year to provide a modified ride for the Kingsport youth, who was born with a malformation of the brain that affects mobility.
According to the professor, the study abroad opportunity has the potential to be a life-changing experience.

Were only staying there for two weeks, but in that time, students can learn a lot about how people live in different parts of the world, how they think differently as a result of their economic and political circumstances, how they cope with hardships and joys in different ways, and how their lifestyles are very different from ours, Finney said.

Thats very important for students to understand in order to be global citizens. These trips allow students to understand who we are in the context of the rest of the world.

Weve been preparing for the trip all semester, but we dont want to tell the students what to expect when they get there. We want them to have real, authentic, first-person experiences. We want the students to think for themselves about what their expectations are and to reflect on those, he said.

Our mission is to help students be citizens of the world, and I believe part of that is having a sense of empathy and being able to put yourself in other peoples shoes.

A cultural exchange
ABINGDON MEET & GREET WITH TOWN MANAGER: Abingdon, Va. Monday, May 6, 4-5:30 p.m., Findlay House, 300 Green Springs Road. Abingdons new town manager, James Morani, will hold a public meet and greet on Monday. Three or more members of the Abingdon Town Council may attend. To RSVP, email Town Clerk Kim Kingsley at kkingsley@abingdon-va.gov or call 276-492-2149.

ABINGDON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN COMMUNITY MEETING: Abingdon, Va. Tuesday, May 7, 5-7 p.m., Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator, 851 French Moore Jr. Blvd. All are welcome to share their dreams for Abingdons future, which will help shape the towns 20-year comprehensive plan. Town staff will provide an overview of the project and share information with the public.
DEXTER, N.Y. -- New York State Police have arrested a Dexter man for allegedly sexually abusing a young child for six or seven years, according to a news release.

Patrick A. Hill, 44, of 14938 County Route 59 in Dexter, was charged with felony predatory sexual assault against a child and sexual conduct against a child.

Hill is accused of sexually abusing the child from when the child was age 7 or 8 until age 14, police said. The abuse occurred in Dexter and Watertown.

Police did not describe the abuse or say how Hill had access to the child.

Hill was charged April 30 following a year-long investigation by State Police and the Watertown Police Department.

Hill was arrested and is being held at the Jefferson County Public Safety building, pending arraignment.
LIVERPOOL, NY - A Liverpool middle school student has reported being followed by a man in a white four-door passenger vehicle on Monday.

Liverpool police are investigating the suspicious incident, according to the village of Liverpool. The student said the vehicle was occupied by a man in his 60s with gray hair and a short gray beard.

The Liverpool School District, the Onondaga County Sheriffs Department and the New York State Police have been notified of the incident.
New baby animals at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo include a Sichuan takin calf named Windsor, baby goats named Troy, Verona and Ithaca and a baby lamb named Mumford.

If this sounds like a theme, it is  the zoos animal care staff has chosen I Love New York as their guide to naming new arrivals to the zoo this spring and summer. Zookeepers are naming all new animals for New York State towns and cities.

The idea for a naming theme started last year, when keepers used The Land Before Time movies to name new arrivals during the zoos Dinosaur Invasion! exhibit. That theme resulted in 15 animals named for Land Before Time characters  including snow leopard cubs Ozzy and Strut and red panda cubs Loofah and Doofah.

Our keeper staff had so much fun with the dinosaur theme that they wanted to do another theme this year, said Zoo Director Ted Fox. So far they have chosen all Upstate New York names, but depending how many new arrivals we have, we may be naming an animal Manhattan or Brooklyn by summers end.

Besides Windsor the baby takin, the zoo has seven baby San Clemente Island goats with New York place names -- Troy, Verona, Savannah, Elmira, Sidney, Ithaca and Hamilton. A male Black Welsh Mountain lamb born last month is called Mumford, and a female born this week is Aurora. The zoo also has a locally endangered Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake named Cicero because she is native to the Cicero Swamp.

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon endorsed the idea to localize zoo animal names and honor the great state of New York. McMahon said, New York is a vast and diverse state with a rich history. It is great that we can help be part of that story by naming our new baby animals after different locations. McMahon continued, I encourage everyone to check out our amazing zoo and the great work that is done there every day!

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Follow the zoo on www.facebook.com/syracusezoo for updates on zoo animals and events throughout the year.
SYRACUSE, N.Y.  Heres what adults need to know about whether they need to get the measles vaccine as the nation experiences its biggest outbreak of the contagious disease in nearly 20 years.

What if you already had the measles?

If youve already had measles, your body has built up its immune system to fight the infection and you cant get measles again.

If you are vaccinated, its important to know if you got one or two shots.

Two shots provide lifetime protection from the measles virus, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One dose provides protection for preschool age children and adults who will not be in a location at high risk of measles transmission. College students, healthcare workers and international travelers born after 1957 need a second shot if they are visiting a place where there is a high risk of transmission.

What to do if you dont know if you were vaccinated or how many shots you received.

You dont need to do anything if you were born before 1957. Most people in that age range were infected with measles and are presumed to be immune. The first measles vaccine did not become available until 1963. If you were born after 1957 and cannot find records showing you were vaccinated or are immune to measles, you should get vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. There is no harm in getting another MMR vaccine if you are already immune to measles. Another option is to have a doctor test your blood to see if you are immune.

How effective is the measles vaccine?

Two doses are about 97 percent effective at preventing measles if exposed to the virus. One dose is about 93 percent effective.

Ive been exposed to someone who has measles. What should I do?

Call your doctor immediately. He or she can determine if you are immune to measles based on your age, vaccination record or laboratory evidence.

More than 700 measles cases have been reported nationwide this year, the highest number since 2000. Most of those cases are concentrated in Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and Rockland counties. No cases have been reported in Central New York.

Here are more answers from the CDC to questions about measles and vaccine.
Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, New York, interprets and preserves the history of the Erie Canal and its contributions to New York and the nation. It is home to the National Historic Landmark Enlarged Erie Canal Schoharie Aqueduct, whose significance recently landed it on the Preservation League of New York States Seven to Save list of historic structures. The sites history also includes a pre-Revolutionary Native American settlement and Fort Hunter, which was built in the 18th century.

On Thursday, May 9, at noon, Schoharie Crossing Education Director David Brooks will present Schoharie Crossing: A Canal Tour Like Never Before at the Erie Canal Museum, 318 Erie Blvd. E., Syracuse. Admission is $5 per person, and there is no charge for Museum members. Tickets may be purchased at the door or at https://eriecanalmuseum.org/store/product/lunchtime-lecture/.

Located in Montgomery County, New York, Schoharie Crossing is the only spot where all three phases of New Yorks Canals can be seen at once. Brooks will discuss and share images of the sites Canal history and its unique features, which include many structures from the Erie Canals past and present.

The program is part of the Museums Peggy Lou Feldmeier Lunchtime Lecture Series, which hosts presentations on a variety of topics about the history, science and people associated with New York States inland waterways. All lectures are open to the public.

David Brooks has served as education director at Schoharie Crossing since 2014. He holds an advanced degree in American history, and is actively involved with historical and museum organizations in the Mohawk Valley region of New York State.

The Erie Canal Museum is wheelchair accessible, and a number of free parking spaces are available in Museum-designated spots across the street under routes 81 and 690.

Email outreach@eriecanalmuseum.org or visit https://eriecanalmuseum.org for more information.

Established in 1962, the Erie Canal Museum protects and showcases the only remaining weighlock building in the United States, and shares the history and lasting impact of the Erie Canal through hands-on displays, interactive exhibits, and original artifacts. It is open Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The Museum is partially funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
By Kellie B. Gormly | Special to The Washington Post

Some people who saw Paul and Kris Scharoun-DeForge from a distance felt pity for them. Others discouraged them from getting married. But the couple, both of whom were born with Down syndrome, believed they were the luckiest people in the world.

In fact, their family believes they might have had one of the longest marriages of any couple with Down syndrome. And one of the happiest marriages of anyone - with Down syndrome or without.

Paul Scharoun-DeForge died last month after 25 years of marriage to his sweetheart. When a family member read his eulogy, it began with his deep gratitude for his life and his belief that luck shined on him wherever he went.

To an outsider, it may not seem that way - but to those of us who knew and loved him, its absolutely true, stated the eulogy, read April 6 at his packed funeral in Liverpool, near Syracuse. He was 56.

The story of Paul and his wife, Kris, 59 - which has been chronicled by various media outlets over the years - is a tale that reaches far beyond people with disabilities.

"They are role models for everybody who wants a good relationship," said Susan Scharoun, Kris Scharoun-DeForge's older sister. "They were a team: They deferred to each other and looked out for each other."

Kris loved to cook, and her husband loved to eat her cooking, Scharoun said. He also kept a copy of the insulin scale for his wife, who is diabetic. When she took her blood-sugar levels, he always checked in, offering encouragement or suggestions. He often said, "Darling, calm down," when she was upset, and he said it gently and without an authoritative tone. The soothing worked.

Kris and Paul have dinner at Susan Scharoun's house. (Photo courtesy of Scharoun family via The Washington Post)Photo courtesy of Scharoun famil

Paul died of complications from early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which more than half of people with Down syndrome have in their 50s or 60s, according to the National Institute on Aging.

He and his wife both came from families of eight kids. When they were born, family doctors told each of their parents that because of the Down syndrome, they would not have full lives, Scharoun said. The doctors recommended they be put in an institution, she said.

Each of their parents had a deep faith in their children and ignored the advice, which turned out to be a smart and critical decision, for they both grew up to live extraordinary and productive lives.

They both worked at jobs - he at the Arc of Onondaga's workshop, an organization for people with disabilities, and she at Pizza Hut and then the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. The Scharoun-DeForges were popular and well-liked and were proud to be godparents to their niece.

The couple, who met at a dance for people with disabilities in the 1980s, were immediately smitten and dated for years, marrying in 1993 after a five-year engagement but not before they faced legal hurdles.

Because of their intellectual disabilities, they had to prove to the state they knew what they were consenting to by getting married, according to Scharoun. To prove it, they had to take tests that measured sexual knowledge, feelings and needs. They attended classes sponsored by Planned Parenthood that helped them acquire the skills they needed to pass the test, Scharoun said.

Kris said in an interview with The Washington Post that, even before the tests, she knew exactly what she wanted. It was she, after all, who took the initiative and asked her man to marry her.

"He made me laugh," she said. "I looked into his eyes and saw my future, and that's when I proposed to him. . . . He said yes."

At a wedding shower before their marriage, a friend asked the bride what it was that she really loved about her groom. She replied that she really loved that he had Down syndrome, her sister recalled.

"For us, that was a complete acceptance of self," said Scharoun, 63, a psychology professor at Le Moyne College in Syracuse.

She remembered her sister saying: "I am perfectly fine - in fact, I like a man who is like me."

When they married, Paul and Kris took each other's names and became Kris and Paul Scharoun-DeForge.

"The combination of the two names was just perfect," Scharoun said. "Our family was just so delighted to have Paul join us, and his family was delighted to have Kris join them."

Paul and Kris give a toast at Kris' sister's wedding. (Photo courtesy of Scharoun family via The Washington Post)Photo courtesy of Scharoun famil

The Scharoun-DeForges lived together in a state-supported apartment community for people with disabilities, where they shared a master bedroom and where staff members would sleep in a second bedroom.

About a year ago, Paul showed advanced signs of dementia, and he had to move into a separate residence about 10 miles away for intensive nursing care.

"Little by little, you do get used to having them less there," Scharoun said. "He was still a part of the family, but you could tell he didn't really recognize people."

However, his wife would say that her husband never stopped recognizing her, even if he simply showed signs of familiarity. Even with advanced Alzheimer's, playing music would perk him up - Christmas carols or country, she said.

"When he would see Kris, he would just look at her, and you knew there was that recognition," Scharoun said. Her spouse, Susan Hynds, wrote and delivered the eulogy.

Kris - who said she loved her husband's "big, beautiful blue eyes" - was devastated when he had to move out.

But she and her husband met for Sunday dinners at Scharoun's house in Onondaga Hill, a Syracuse suburb. Last summer, when Kris was recovering from pneumonia at a hospital, her husband surprised her on their 25th wedding anniversary with a visit.

And then something beautiful happened: Someone spontaneously called a church deacon, and the couple renewed vows while sitting in wheelchairs in the chapel in Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

In August 2018, Paul and Kris renewed their vows while Kris was in the hospital with pneumonia. (Photo courtesy of Scharoun family via The Washington Post)Photo courtesy of Scharoun famil

In March, Paul returned to inpatient care with pneumonia, and his wife sat next to him and held his hand. Later, he put his head on a brother's shoulder and died peacefully.

"I was very, very upset," Kris said, who had recently drawn a picture of a butterfly that hung on the wall by her husband's bed.

"I gave it to my sweetheart, and he loved it," she said, adding he loved butterflies.

She even imagined him as a butterfly.

"I think of Paul flying up in the air . . . and being free," she said.

The couple often spent their anniversaries vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains.

On Aug. 13, the date of their wedding anniversary, she plans to go to their special place to scatter her husbands ashes and to imagine him flying away.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuses new police chief will need to complete an aggressive classroom and physical training regimen in order to remain chief after this year.

Chief Kenton Buckner came to New York from Arkansas in December and will need to complete nearly 400 hours of training in his first year to get certified as a cop in this state. The police union, with which Buckner has publicly butted heads, has said it believes Buckner wont pass muster and will be dismissed.

Buckner will need to complete 386 hours of training by Dec. 1, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Criminal Justice Services. Areas of training include New York State law, procedural justice, human trafficking, elder abuse, crisis intervention and supervised field training.

Hell also need to show proficiency in four areas: physical fitness, defensive tactics and principles of control, emergency vehicle operation, and firearm use.

Some of that training has already been completed.

In a televised interview last month, Police Benevolent Association President Jeff Piedmonte said the union is counting on Buckner coming up short.

"Were banking on that hes not going to be eligible to be the chief of police, Piedmonte told Spectrum News. He has 12 months to be certified through the Department of Criminal Justice Services to complete 460 to 480 hours of classroom work, physical training, physical assessment and we dont think hes going to be capable of getting all of this done to be qualified come December.

A spokesman for the department, Sgt. Matthew Malinowski, said the chief plans to complete all the required training on time.

According to DCJS, Buckner, 49, will have to meet the standards established by the Syracuse Police Departments academy for recruits. Hell complete his training and be evaluated at the SPD academy.

The physical standards for a male recruit between 40 and 49 include running a mile-and-a-half in 13 minutes 50 seconds, and doing 18 push-ups and 29 sit-ups, according to police recruiting material.

The department declined to outline standards for other areas of proficiency, like defensive tactics or firearm training, citing officer safety.

Contrary to rumors within the department, taxpayers are not paying for any physical or other training for the new chief, according to spokespeople for the department and City Hall.

Piedmonte, the union president, said he doesnt think its right that Buckners training will be done at the Syracuse academy. That means cops who work for him will be administering some of the tests and hell be training alongside recruits.

The chiefs rank could put undue pressure on the officers conducting the tests, Piedmonte said.

Piedmonte declined to elaborate on his previous comment about whether the chief will make it through the certification process.

Buckner spent 21 years as an officer in Louisville, Kentucky, before becoming chief in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Any police personnel who come to New York from another state need to get certified as an officer by the Department of Criminal Justice Services. Buckner has one year from his appointment date (Dec. 1, 2018) to complete the training needed to be certified here.

In the meantime, the mayor has appointed him chief on a provisional basis. He is able to carry a gun and badge and fulfill all the duties of a city cop.
MANLIUS, N.Y. -- Emergency crews from Manlius are at the scene now of a crash involving two cars and a telephone pole, according to an employee at the Manlius Fire Department.

Two cars were involved in a crash on Palmer and Peck Hill roads that also damaged a telephone pole, according to the employee.

The crash occurred around 8:15 p.m. Crews from the fire department were still on scene as of 8:45 p.m., the employee said.

Its not clear how many people were injured, if any.

Syracuse.com will be updated with additional information as soon as it becomes available.
WASHINGTON  Franklin W. Sager, a high school math teacher from Broome County, has launched a campaign for the Republican nomination to take on Rep. Anthony Brindisi in the 22nd Congressional District.

Sager, 45, of Port Crane, is the second Republican to enter the 2020 race in the district, joining George Phillips, of Endwell.

Sager said Wednesday he sees no reason to wait for former Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-New Hartford, to decide if she will seek an election rematch with Brindisi, D-Utica. Tenney said last week she hasnt ruled out the possibility of trying to win back the seat she lost in November.

Sager said he believes in President Donald Trump and his agenda. The married father of four said he wants to work in Congress to help the president accomplish his goals.

Im a big supporter of the president, Sager told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. But I was a little disappointed. I feel like a lot more could have been accomplished. We had to struggle to get funding for a wall that we could have gotten done in the presidents first two years when we had a majority in the House and Senate.

Sager said he supported Tenney during her one-term in the House, but he was disappointed that she didnt push harder to eliminate a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions included in Trumps overhaul of the tax code.

If Im elected to Congress, my main goal is to pass tax reform 2.0 and make some changes that would be better for people in Upstate New York, Sager said. The economic recovery that has been hitting the rest of the nation has been slow to happen in Upstate New York.

Sager said he plans to formally launch his campaign in late May and expects endorsements from key Trump allies. He has already met with seven of the eight county Republican chairs in the eight-county congressional district.

The political novice said he has raised about $200,000 for his campaign that will be reflected in a report he plans to file with the Federal Election Commission at the end of the years second quarter.

The only public disclosure report Sager filed to date shows he raised $100 as of March 31 and had loaned his campaign $2,196, according to FEC records.

Although he has never served in an elected position, Sager said he has a wealth of real-world experience that would help him represent the region in Congress.

I grew up poor in the inner city of Binghamton, so I know what its like to struggle, Sager said.

Sager said he worked for AIG, a global finance and insurance company, for about 14 years until 2012. He currently teaches math at Johnson City High School and operates a construction company with his brother.

Brindisi defeated Tenney by 1% last year after the 22nd District election turned into one of the most competitive House races in the nation.

The 22nd Congressional District covers all of Madison, Oneida, Cortland and Chenango counties and portions of Oswego, Broome, Herkimer, and Tioga counties.

Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
This weekend in Central New York, the spring high school prom season continues.

Our photographers are headed to these proms:

Nottingham High School junior prom

John C. Birdlebough High School (Phoenix) junior/senior prom

Marcellus Senior High School junior prom

G. Ray Bodley High School (Fulton) junior prom

Westhill High School junior prom

Pulaski High School junior/senior prom

Does your school have an event but is not on our list? Reach out to us by email to let us know. We may be able to send a photographer to capture the moments.

You can catch up on all the proms we have already covered this year at syracuse.com/proms. Youll also find coverage of past proms there too.

More to come

In Central New York, prom season continues throughout the spring. There are events almost every weekend through the middle of June. Heres a list of the events we know about so far and will do our best to cover:

West Genesee High School senior ball

Tyburn Academy of Mary Immaculate prom

Liverpool High School junior prom

Rome Free Academy junior prom

Madison Central School junior prom

Hamilton Central School junior/senior prom

Sandy Creek Central School junior/senior prom

Morrisville-Eaton Middle/High School junior prom

Bishop Ludden Jr./Sr. High School gala

Syracuse Academy of Science junior/senior prom

Cicero-North Syracuse High School junior prom

Solvay High School senior ball

Union Springs High School junior prom

Mexico High School junior prom

Hannibal High School junior prom

Bishop Grimes Jr./Sr. High School junior/senior prom

Manlius Pebble Hill School junior-senior prom

East Syracuse-Minoa High School junior prom

Christian Brothers Academy senior ball

LaFayette High School junior/senior prom

Henninger High School junior prom

Fayetteville-Manlius High School junior prom

Faith Heritage School ball

Weedsport High School junior prom

Altmar-Parish-Williamstown High School junior/senior prom

Belleville-Henderson High School junior/senior prom

Dana L. West High School (Port Byron) junior prom

Onondaga High School junior/senior prom

Skaneateles High School senior ball

Henninger High School senior ball

Mexico High School senior dinner dance

Fabius-Pompey High School junior/senior prom

Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central junior/senior prom

Public Service Leadership Academy at Fowler senior prom

Cazenovia High School senior ball

C.W. Baker High School senior ball

East Syracuse-Minoa High School senior ball

Fayetteville-Manlius High School senior ball

Rome Free Academy senior ball

G. Ray Bodley High School (Fulton) senior dinner dance

Corcoran High School senior prom

Cicero-North Syracuse High School senior ball

Nottingham High School senior ball

Auburn High School senior prom

Westhill High School senior dinner dance

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School senior dinner dance

Liverpool High School senior ball

Morrisville-Eaton Middle/High School senior dinner dance

Does your school have an event thats not on our list and youd like us to consider covering? We want to know about it. Send us an email to let us the school, event and date. If you can provide more information, like the name of the prom adviser or coordinator, that would be even better. Well look into it and see if we can add it to our list.
WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP)  An upstate New York judge who stoked social media outrage for sentencing a former school bus driver to probation in the rape of a 14-year-old is getting numerous vitriolic phone calls, court officials said Tuesday.

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky last week sentenced Shane Piche to 10 years of probation, sparking an online wave of condemnation from people arguing that the punishment was too lenient. The 26-year-old was accused of raping the teenager at his residence in Watertown, New York, last summer. Piche, who was a bus driver in the victims school district, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February.

Piche also was required to register as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest of three categories based on the risk of another offense. Three orders of protection were issued and Piche was ordered not to be left alone with anyone under the age of 17.

The sentencing drew national media attention and harsh criticism. Twitter users posted the phone number and address of McClusky's chambers in Watertown.

The Judges chambers have received numerous vitriolic calls regarding the case, the vast majority from out of State, by individuals who know nothing about the facts and circumstances of the case, thanks to social media, state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen wrote in an email.

Look, I'm not SAYING Judge James P. McClusky is a child rapist. I'm not even saying that he WANTS to rape children. I'm just saying that it's really curious how someone can look at an admitted child rapist and think "ok, but that's not THAT bad. It's not like, GOING TO JAIL Bad" pic.twitter.com/Ds2ChkhrjR  PerraVieja (@Yeoldedogg) April 29, 2019

Chalfen said the judge was well within the sentencing range for this type of negotiated plea conviction. The maximum state prison time he could have received would have been from 1 1/3 to 4 years, he said.

Jefferson County chief assistant district attorney Patricia Dziuba said all parties acted within the parameters set by law and that the prosecutor handling the case sought up to six months of jail time along with probation, supervision and treatment. She declined to criticize the judge's sentence.

Piche didn't make a statement during his sentencing.

Calls seeking comment were left Tuesday with McCluskey and Piche's attorney, Eric Swartz.

"He'll be a felon for the rest of his life. He's on the sex offender registry for a long time," Swartz told television station WWNY of Watertown.

The station said a victim impact statement given to them by the victim's mother read, "I wish Shane Piche would have received time in jail for the harm he caused to my child. He took something from my daughter she will never get back and has caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety."

Chelsea Miller, of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said based on the mother's statement, it's possible that the judge and court officials didn't understand the harm the survivor experienced.

"Unfortunately, this can discourage survivors who see jail or prison time as a form of accountability," Miller said.

Other judges also have faced public pressure over sex-crime sentences in recent years.

In a prominent example, California voters recalled Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky last year after he sentenced college swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail on a sexual assault conviction. Turner denied the accusation.

Persky cited a probation department recommendation, Turners youth and his clean criminal record in departing from a minimum sentence of two years in prison. Californias Commission on Judicial Performance ruled that the sentencing was done correctly, but critics said the punishment was too light.
By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA  A Gwinnett County jury on Tuesday handed down Georgias first death sentence in more than five years to a woman convicted of murdering her stepdaughter.

After 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, the grim-faced jury of six men and six women sentenced Tiffany Moss to die by lethal injection for starving 10-year-old Emani to death in the fall of 2013. Moss showed no emotion as the unanimous decision was read aloud.

The final verdict capped off a disturbing trial. Testimony and graphic autopsy photos revealed the grisly details of Emanis death and its gruesome aftermath. Moss and her husband stuffed the girls emaciated body in a trash can and set it on fire to try to cover up the crime. Moss becomes the only woman on death row in Georgia and, if executed, would be just the third woman put to death in the states history.

Moss decision to represent herself was also highly unusual for a capital case.

The 36-year-old did nothing to defend herself in either the guilt-innocence or sentencing phases of the trial. She didnt prepare for trial. She never once addressed the jury. She presented no evidence. And she asked no questions to any of the states witnesses.

While Moss remained silent, prosecutors depicted a devastating portrait of a woman who kept the young girl with an infectious smile confined to her room and denied her food until she wasted away.

All the while, Moss fed and cared for her own two children who lived with Emani in an apartment complex near Lawrenceville.

Theres no joy when a jury imposes a death sentence, District Attorney Danny Porter said after court adjourned. But this was one of the worst cases Ive ever seen. The first time you look at it it made you sick. The last time you look at it it makes you sick.

As for Moss decision to represent herself and do nothing in her own defense, Porter noted that jurors notified the court they were at an impasse before they were sent home late Monday afternoon. At first and all last night, Porter said, I thought she had outsmarted us. Maybe Moss had come up with a brilliant strategy to make jurors think she was unfairly undermatched as two prosecutors laid out the case against her, Porter said.

The only other rational explanation is that she was resigned to whatever was going to happen, he added. She was going to let someone else inflict (her punishment).

On Monday, when he asked the jury to sentence Moss to death, Porter recounted testimony from a medical examiner who described the stages of Emanis suffering while she was denied nourishment week after week after week.

There are some crimes that are so horrible, so heinous, the only balance you can pay is with your life, he told the jury. Justice demands the proper payment.

More than a year ago, Moss decided to go it alone, saying she was putting her fate in Gods hands. She turned down representation from state capital defenders Brad Gardner and Emily Gilbert, who had been assigned her case.

Superior Court Judge George Hutchinson allowed Moss to be her own lawyer, but he appointed Gardner and Gilbert to be standby counsel and they sat in the courtroom gallery behind Moss, ready to assist her when called upon. In prior court motions, the defenders disclosed that Moss had suffered brain damage. The details of this were presented to Hutchinson in a hearing closed to the prosecution and to the public, and the records of it remain under seal.

During the trial, when it became apparent Moss was going to put up no defense, Gardner and Gilbert asked Hutchinson to let them be Mosss lawyers once again. But Hutchinson refused, after Moss told him she wanted to continue representing herself.

As the death sentence was read, Gilbert broke down sobbing in the courtroom. When asked for her thoughts on what had transpired, Gilbert said, I think this ridiculous spectacle speaks for itself.

Gardner said his office will file Moss appeal, and he believed, based on a conversation he had with Moss in a holding cell after the trial, she will allow that to happen. In fact, he and Gilbert filed a motion for a new trial on Mosss behalf just hours after the final verdict.

Under Georgia law, once someone is sentenced to death, there is an automatic appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. Even if the condemned killer doesnt want legal representation and files no appeal, the states high court will still review the record of the case and issue an opinion, Porter said.
Syracuse, N.Y.  For the second time in three years, water levels in Lake Ontario are so high above the long-term average they threaten to swamp shoreline homes.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in Sodus Point this week, said the high water is part of the new reality of a warmer, wetter world.

We have to plan that these changes in climate will continue, Cuomo said. We have to accept that flooding and increased water flow are the new reality. Lets start building for that new reality.

Before 2017, however, Lake Ontario showed no clear trend toward higher levels. The average lake level from 2001 to 2010 was the second-lowest of any decade since the 1940s, according to a decade-by-decade analysis of data from the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, in Michigan. The highest annual levels since 1900 occurred in the 1970s, a particularly wet decade.

On Sunday, Lake Ontarios water level was up to 247.24 feet, about 15 inches above average for this time of year, according to Frank Bevacqua, public information officer for the International Joint Commission, which manages the lakes water level.

Cuomo said flooding is likely this weekend along the lake, and areas downstream near Montreal have already been hit with flooding. The lake and river had severe flooding in 2017, too, after record rainfall.

In 2017, the American-Canadian joint commissioner authorized a study on the causes of flooding. That report, issued last November, doesnt conclusively tie the high water levels and flooding in 2017 to climate change, but hints thats a strong possibility.

Although it is difficult to attribute conditions in one particular year to the effects of climate change, one of the predicted outcomes from climate change is more severe storms and extreme precipitation, notes the report, compiled by the 16-member Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee.

Michael Veres, a climatologist and professor at SUNY Oswego, which sits on the shore of Lake Ontario, agreed that its difficult to conclude that any single example of extreme weather is evidence of climate change.

That said, it is expected that rainfall amounts around Lake Ontario and surrounding areas will increase, or continue to increase, with global warming, and that rainfall will also become more intense, Veres said. Both of these support the assertion that events like these are more likely to occur in the future.

The IJC report contains the same warning. Climate change could bring more rain to the Lake Ontario basin, fueled by extreme storms that drop several inches in a day, the report says.

Months with extreme precipitation over Lake Ontario would be anywhere from two to three times more common during 2050 when compared to the current climate, the report said.

Climate scientists say that extreme rainfall has already increased in the U.S., particularly in the Northeast, and that it will get worse. A recent study by University at Albany researchers found that that rainstorms dumping at least 2 inches of rain are happening much more often since 1979. Thats likely a foreshadowing of the future, said the lead researcher, Macy Howarth.

Rainfall events that can cause significant flooding are increasing in frequency and in magnitude, Howarth told Syracuse.com.

Bevacqua said the 2017 high water levels were caused by record precipitation.

The fact that were seeing extreme water supply conditions just two years later is very alarming, Bevacqua said. It doesnt necessarily mean that weve scientifically determined that theres a trend toward more extreme events.

Regardless of the reasons behind the high water levels, Bevacqua says he agrees with Cuomo that that planning for them is essential.

The governor is correct: Its very important to prepare for extreme events because we have seen them happening, Bevacqua said.
[April 30, 2019] Strategy Analytics: Global Smartphone Shipments Dip 4 Percent in Q1 2019 According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics (News - Alert), global smartphone shipments fell 4 percent annually to reach 330 million units in Q1 2019. Global smartphone shipments are showing signs of stabilizing and the outlook is improving for later this year. Samsung (News - Alert) maintained first position with 22 percent global smartphone marketshare in the first quarter of 2019, staying ahead of Huawei in second, followed by Apple (News - Alert) in third place. Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "Global smartphone shipments dipped 4 percent annually from 345.4 million units in Q1 2018 to 330.4 million in Q1 2019. The global smartphone market has declined again on an annual basis, but the fall was less severe than before, and this was the industry's best performance for three quarters. Global smartphone shipments are finally showing signs of stabilizing, due to relatively improved demand in major markets like China. The outlook for later this year is improving." Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "Samsung shipped 71.8 million smartphones worldwide in Q1 2019, dipping 8 percent annually from 78.2 million units in Q1 2018. Samsung remains the world's number one smartphone vendor, but it is coming under growing pressure from Huawei, who has larger presence in the huge China market. Huawei surged 50 percent annually and outgrew all major rivals to ship 59.1 million smartphones worldwide during Q1 2019, up from 39.3 million in Q1 2018. Huawei captured a record 18 percent global smartphone marketshare in Q1 2019. Huawei is closing in on Samsung and streaking ahead of Apple, due to its strong presence across China, Western Europe and Africa." Woody Oh, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "Apple iPhone (News - Alert) shipped 43.1 million units to capture 13 percent global smartphone marketshare in Q1 2019, dipping from 15 percent a year ago. Apple lost ground in China during the quarter and is struggling to make headway in price-sensitive India. However, decent price cuts in China and India during recent weeks indicate the iPhone will bounce back slightly in those two countries in the next quarter." Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "Xiaomi returned to fourth place, capturing 8 percent global smartphone marketshare in Q1 2019, broadly at the same level from a year ago. Xiaomi is very strong in India, but it is struggling in China. OPPO held fifth position with 8 percent global smartphone marketshare during the quarter, rising from 7 percent a year earlier. OPPO is now expanding hard into Western Europe, with new models like the Reno 5G, and this should help OPPO's worldwide presence to improve in the coming months." Exhibit 1: Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments and Marketshare in Q1 2019 1



Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units) Q1 '18 Q1 '19 Samsung 78.2 71.8 Huawei 39.3 59.1 Apple 52.2 43.1 Xiaomi 28.3 27.5 OPPO 24.1 25.4 Others 123.3 103.5 Total 345.4 330.4 Global Smartphone Vendor Marketshare (%) Q1 '18 Q1 '19 Samsung 22.6% 21.7% Huawei 11.4% 17.9% Apple 15.1% 13.0% Xiaomi 8.2% 8.3% OPPO 7.0% 7.7% Others 35.7% 31.3% Total 100.0% 100.0% Total Growth YoY -2% -4% Source (News - Alert): Strategy Analytics The full report, Global Smartphone Shipments Dip 4 Percent in Q1 2019, is published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, details of which can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/y75uhw62. About Strategy Analytics:

Strategy Analytics is a global, independent research and consulting firm. The company is headquartered in Boston, USA, with offices in the UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India and China. Visit www.strategyanalytics.com for more information. 1 Numbers are rounded. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190430006305/en/

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Re: Maruti starts fleet testing of Electric Vehicles in India Tesla Battery Degradation data







Quote: Battery degradation is one of the biggest concerns for electric car owners and potential buyers, but data from Tesla battery packs have been very reassuring so far.



Now the latest data shows less than 10% degradation of the energy capacity after over 160,000 miles on Teslas battery packs.

A group of Tesla owners on the Dutch-Belgium Tesla Forum are gathering data from over 350 Tesla vehicles across the world and frequently updating it in a public Google file.



We have previously reported on the data, but they have since added many more vehicles and those vehicles have been driving a lot more  completing more battery cycles.



The data clearly shows that for the first 50,000 miles (100,000 km), most Tesla battery packs will lose about 5% of their capacity, but after the 50,000-mile mark, the capacity levels off and it looks like it could be difficult to make a pack degrade by another 5%.



The trend line currently suggests that the average battery pack could cycle through over 300,000 km (186,000) before coming close to 90% capacity.



Here are the relevant charts from the data gathering effort (full chart on the left and zoomed to 80% on the right):



Screen Shot 2018-04-14 at 2.56.15 PM Screen Shot 2018-04-14 at 2.54.02 PM

There are a few outlier battery packs out there and they tried to figure out why by gathering other data, like frequency of DC fast-charging and daily state of charge, but theres no clear indication that any of those factors have any significant impact based on their data.



With this said, Jeff Dahn, a renowned battery researcher and the leader of Teslas research partnership through his battery-research group at Dalhousie University, said that he recommends charging to only 70% daily in order to extend battery life.



Tesla warns that it does not cover battery degradation from battery usage under its Model S and Model X warranty up to any specific level:



The Battery, like all lithium-ion batteries, will experience gradual energy or power loss with time and use. Loss of Battery energy or power over time or due to or resulting from Battery usage, is NOT covered under this Battery Limited Warranty. See your owner documentation for important information on how to maximize the life and capacity of the Battery.



But for the Model 3, Tesla introduced a warranty with a new 70% battery capacity retention guarantee.



The Model 3 is equipped with different battery cells and a new battery pack architecture, but if data from the Model S is any indication, it shouldnt be an issue.



Electreks Take



Battery degradation is often a big concern for new electric vehicle buyers. To a certain degree, the Nissan Leaf might be to blame since it had a lot of issues in that regard, which is why Nissan has a much more comprehensive battery capacity warranty now.



A recent study shows that with the original 24 kWh pack loses about 20% of their capacity over 5 years and Nissans more recent 30 kWh battery pack loses capacity more quickly than the older pack:





But Teslas vehicles arguably have a much more advanced battery thermal management system than the Leaf and data from early Model S vehicles has been really encouraging as we can see above.



As for anecdotal data, my own Model S, which is one of the first 2,000 vehicles ever made, only lost about 6% capacity over 5 years.



CEO Elon Musk has been hyping even more potential for Tesla battery pack by once referring to a battery pack that Tesla was testing in the lab. He said that the company had simulated over 500,000 miles on it by repeatedly cycling it and that it was still operating at over 80% of its original capacity. At that point, the car itself is more likely to give up than the battery pack at this kind of mileage.



Nissan Leaf Battery Degradation data



Quote: In a recent study 283 Nissan Leafs manufactured between 2011 and 2017, had their SoH (State of Health) measured 1.382 times. The data is from 82 Nissan Leafs with 30 kWh batteries and 201 with the 24 kWh variants.



The measurements were made by using a OBD device and the Leaf Spy app.







The study has some interesting conclusions and I recommend you to read it (only 14 pages), but in this article Ill focus on one:



30 kWh batteries are more affected by charge/discharge cycles (distance traveled) while 24 kWh versions were more affected by time.





Why are 30 kWh batteries more affected by charge/discharge cycles?



Its not surprising that the 30 kWh versions suffer more from charge/discharge cycles, since they are more often charged to 100 %. Remember that the option to limit the charge to 80 % was removed when the 2014 model year debuted (to game EPA range ratings). This means that none Nissan Leaf with the 30 kWh battery has this option.



If you want to improve your electric car battery lifespan, you should know that its better to charge to 80 % and discharge till 0 % than to charge to 100 % and discharge to 20 %. Nonetheless, if you can use the battery between a SoC (State of Charge) of 80 and 20 % even better And if you really want to take care of your battery, try to use it only between 70 and 20 %.



Moreover, having the battery sitting at 100 % SoC is worse with the 30 kWh version than its in the 24 kWh variants. Because in the same conditions the 30 kWh battery will likely be hotter. In the 24 kWh battery pack, each module has 4 cells, while in the 30 kWh variant there are 8 cells per module. A more dense battery pack will dissipate heat more slowly.







Why are 24 kWh batteries more affected by time?



Its also not surprising that the 24 kWh versions are more affected by time and older Leafs show much higher degradation levels, since the lizard battery only arrived in 2014 with the 2015 Nissan Leaf.



24 kWh battery (model years 2011-2014): higher degradation levels

24 kWh battery (model years 2015-2016): lower degradation levels (lizard battery)

While the lizard battery cells remained with LMO cathodes, they had the electrolyte improved to be more heat tolerant. Only in 2016, Nissan finally started using NCM cathodes in their battery cells with the introduction of the 30 kWh battery version.
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These could be the worst of times for high-end flagship smartphones.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday told Alphabet shareholders that his companys flagship phones, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, released last fall, had encountered some year over year headwinds.

Samsung maintained that its flagship phone lineup, which includes the Galaxy S10, has been selling well, but it acknowledged that sales were being cannibalized by its lower-priced models.

Meanwhile, Apple saw iPhone sales plummet, year over year  15 percent during the holiday quarter of 2018, despite holidays typically being a hot time for smartphone sales. Wall Street analysts have predicted further drops for the first three months of 2019.

Were starting to see a backlash against these expensive smartphones, said Ramon T. Llamas, senior research analyst for mobile devices technology and trends at IDC, a market research company in Framingham, Massachusetts.

At a time when innovation has been moving slowly, consumers cant justify the spend for incremental change and are retreating to less expensive stuff, he told TechNewsWorld.

A thousand dollars for a phone is pretty ridiculous, said Phoenix, Arizona-based Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research, a high-tech research and advisory firm.

People should not be paying that, he told TechNewsWorld. Theyre not getting the value for their money.

Hitting Price Wall

Many consumers have hit the wall when it comes to what theyre willing to pay for a smartphone, observed Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, a technology advisory firm in Hayward, California.

It used to be that premium-priced flagship phones delivered substantial new features or design points that softened the sting of their much higher costs, he told TechNewsWorld. Incremental improvements dont offer the same sort of pain relief.

People are holding on to their phones longer, too, not only because they see their existing phone as good enough, but also because its taking them longer to pay for it, since they paid so much for it in the first place, noted St. Paul, Minn.-based Gerrit Schneemann, senior analyst at IHS Markit Technology.

Whats more, in areas where the overall market is still growing strongly, high-end devices are beyond the reach of many new and existing smartphone users, further limiting the addressable market, he told TechNewsWorld.

Flagship phones have less appeal now because theyre more about prestige than any significant differentiator, remarked Tuong Nguyen, senior principal analyst at Gartner, a research and advisory company based in Stamford, Connecticut.

For example, cameras used to be a key differentiator, but now, many mid-tier phones have excellent cameras, he told TechNewsWorld. Its at the point that its not worth it to the average consumer to replace an existing phone for one with an even a better camera.

Mid-Range Phones

While the market for premium smartphones shrinks, mid-range phones seem to be doing well, Pund-ITs King said.

Reports that Google plans to introduce a new lower-cost Pixel 3 handset suggest that the company is going where customers want to be, he noted. I expect other handset makers to follow a similar path.

Those reports say the new Pixel 3a could appear as early as next month, when Google holds its annual I/O show for developers.Theres going to be a shift from the top-tier guys to the middle-tier guys, Tirias McGregor predicted.

With the help of Qualcomm and others, high-end phone features are being added to the mid-range phones, he continued. If these top OEMs keep going after these really expensive phones, theyre going to continue to lose market share.

Mid-range and low-end phones fit into emerging markets and the economic situation of users there, IHS Schneemann noted.

Whether in Southeast Asia, India or Latin America, mid-range and low-end devices are affordable options for more users, he said.

Apples struggle in India is a reflection of the reality that most Indian users cannot afford to buy an iPhone, Schneemann added.

Approaching Saturation Levels

Even a mid-range phone may be a tough sell in the future.

I believe were approaching saturation of the overall smartphone market, said Frank E. Gillett, principal analyst at Forrester Research, a market research company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

As we approach saturation, the smartphone market will become a replacement market, he told TechNewsWorld.

Meanwhile, high-end smartphones will approach saturation sooner than the overall market.

Were going to see a decline, and the high-end smartphones will stabilize at a new level, Gillett explained.

Theres still going to be a bunch of people who want big screen, high-end smartphones, he continued, but it means theyre going to keep them longer, and the market of buyers will no longer be expanding.

5G to the Rescue?

A wild card for future sales of flagship phones could be 5G technology, which promises faster data speeds. Those sales will not be immediate, though.

Even though the rollout of 5G will be quicker than 4G, it will take some time for subscribers to get access to it at scale, Schneeman explained.

In the U.S., Verizons rollouts are geographically limited, he said.

There is also still no killer application which would not only move existing premium smartphone users to upgrade quicker, but also move those subscribers with cheaper handsets to move into the premium price range, Schneeman added.

I think 5G will have a significant impact, he said, once handsets in more than one pricing tier are available.

Media and services that take advantage of 5G will roll out a lot slower than expected, King predicted.

Itd be a mistake to believe that 5G alone will somehow pull the smartphone market out of its current malaise, he said.

No one is going to get rid of their phones because of 5G, contended Forresters Gillett.

Moreover, the interesting 5G features are going to be limited to dense urban areas and its going to cost more to use it, he pointed out.

Because its more expensive, people will just wait until they get their next phone to get 5G, Gillett said. That wont fuel any growth.

Advocates of 5G may have a problem selling the technology to consumers.

Joe and Jane consumer have no idea what 5G means, nor do they care  at least not right now, IDCs Llamas said.

Is 5G going to save smartphones? he asked. I dont think so. If it is, its going to take a long time to happen, and a lot of consumer education.
Highly anticipated: AMD has revealed that it will launch its next-gen 7nm Navi graphics architecture in the third quarter of this year. The 7nm Epyc Rome processors, meanwhile, will start shipping in the second quarter before also launching in Q3 2019, using the Zen 2 architecture with possibly up to 64 cores or more.

The news came during AMDs quarterly earnings results. The tech giant slightly beat analysts expectations despite revenue falling 23 percent year-on-year to $1.27 billion, which it blames on lower client processor sales. The companys net income was also downit fell 80 percent YoY to $16 millionbut AMD says it gained desktop PC market share for the sixth consecutive quarter.

Other than the Q3 launch period, few details were revealed about the first Navi card, but CEO Lisa Su did reveal that it would be priced lower than the $699 Radeon VII. This means that, unlike Nvidias launch strategy, we could see a more powerful (and expensive) Navi flagship arrive at a later date.

Su was also asked if Navi would feature the same type of ray tracing abilities as Nvidias RTX cards, but she declined to answer.

AMDs second-generation Epyc processor, Rome, will also launch in Q3 after sampling this quarter. It is built on TSMCs 7nm process and is the first product based on the Zen 2 architecture. Weve already seen a sample of the chip in the wild that featured 64 cores and 128 threads, and its predicted that Rome will help force Intels server market share below 90 percent.

Due to falling console sales, AMDs Enterprise, Embedded and Semi-Custom segment revenue was down 17 percent YoY to $441 million. But Su believes this will improve next year, thanks to the PlayStation 5 using Zen 2 and Navi.

We delivered solid first quarter results with significant gross margin expansion as Ryzen and Epyc processor and datacenter GPU revenue more than doubled year-over-year, said Su. We look forward to the upcoming launches of our next-generation 7-nanometer PC, gaming and data center products which we expect to drive further market share gains and financial growth.
In brief: The latest IDC report on the state of the smartphone market has been released, showing that the industry was down 6.6 percent year-over-year in the first quarter. And while Samsung and Apple saw their shipments fall, it was a good period for Huawei, which has once again passed Apple to take the second-largest share of the market.

Total shipments for Q1 2019 stood at 310.8 million units, down from 332.7 million units a year earlier. Despite its YoY change declining 8.1 percent, Samsung still held on to the number one spot with a 23.1 percent market share.

It was an even worse quarter for Apple. The iPhone maker's shipments fell from 52.2 million units to 36.4 million. Big rival Huawei, on the other hand, saw its numbers jump by almost 20 million units compared to a year earlier. The tech firms spent 2018 swapping between the number two and number three positions, but the Chinese company is now above Apple once again.

Huaweis success comes despite its ongoing battle with the US government. If it werent for the company shipping 59.1 million smartphones during the last quarter, up from 39.9 million in Q1 2018, the industry would be looking even less healthy.

With 71.9 million shipments, Samsung remains at the head of the pack. It controls almost a quarter of the market but Huawei is catching up. The Korean firm's recently posted quarterly profits were down 60 percent, but that was due to weak chip performanceit said the Galaxy S10 phones logged solid sales.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Huawei is laser focused on growing its stature in the world of mobile devices, with smartphones being its lead horse, IDC program vice president Ryan Reith said in a statement. The overall smartphone market continues to be challenged in almost all areas, yet Huawei was able to grow shipments by 50%, not only signifying a clear number two in terms of market share but also closing the gap on the market leader Samsung. This new ranking of Samsung, Huawei, and Apple is very likely what well see when 2019 is all said and done.

Main image credit: Karlis Dambrans via Flickr
What just happened? Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who spent almost seven years inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK before his arrest last month, has been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his 2012 bail conditions.

The Australian national was given refuge at the residence in 2012 while on bail in the UK over charges of sexual assault and rape in Sweden, which he denies. But on April 11, Assange was arrested after the Ecuadorian government withdrew his asylum claim.

#BREAKING: @wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested by police at the Ecuadorian embassy in London pic.twitter.com/4e3Xhu0Wzy  Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) April 11, 2019

Assange was found guilty of breaching the bail act last month and was sentenced today. The 50-weeks handed down by judge Deborah Taylor was just short of the maximum one-year sentence.

Assange told the court he had been "struggling with difficult circumstances," and apologized to those who "consider I've disrespected them."

"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done," he said. His lawyer added that Assange was forced to take action as he feared kidnap and torture by the US. Because of his work on WikiLeaks, Assange was said to be gripped by fears of rendition to America.

Judge Taylor told Assange that "by hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK."

You exploited your privileged position to flout the law and advertised internationally your disdain for the law of this country, she added, noting that the policing resources outside of the embassy during the time he was there cost the taxpayer 16 million.

Assange will face a hearing on Thursday related to his potential extradition to the US over allegations that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to five years in prison.
A hot potato: An Oregon aluminum supplier has admitted to altering test results and falsifying certifications over a nearly 20-year period, costing victims millions of dollars and potentially putting lives at risk. Fortunately, nobody was hurt during two failed NASA missions directly linked to the faulty materials.

An Oregon-based aluminum extrusion manufacturer has agreed to pay $46 million to NASA, the Department of Defense and other customers to settle charges related to a 19-year fraud scheme that ultimately resulted in two failed NASA missions.

Hydro Extrusion Portland, Inc., formerly known as Sapa Profiles Inc. (SPI), admitted to altering test results of extruded aluminum and falsifying certifications for nearly 20 years. Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski of the Department of Justices Criminal Division said corporate and personal greed perpetuated this fraud against government and other private customers.

Jim Norman, NASAs director for Launch Services at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said that while NASA does perform its own testing, they are not able to retest every single component which is why they require and pay for certain parts to be tested and certified by the supplier.

When test results are tampered with and certifications are falsified, missions fail. Such was the case with the nose cones on the Taurus XL rockets involved in NASAs Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) and Glory missions in 2009 and 2011, respectively.

The two failures resulted in the loss of more than $700 million and years of scientific work at NASA alone.

It is critical that we are able to trust our industry to produce, test and certify materials in accordance with the standards we require, Norman said. In this case, our trust was severely violated.

NASA no longer uses the supplier as a government contractor and proposed the company be banned government-wide.
The big picture: Is Google taking the Pixel as seriously as it should? Perhaps not, according to one investor, who likened Google's hardware approach to that of Microsoft from a decade ago. There's still time to make some corrections and it could start next week at Google I/O.

Google parent company Alphabet in its recent earnings call took a moment to address Pixel hardware sales. CFO Ruth Porat didnt go too deep on the matter but what she said was enough to get peoples attention and warrant a follow-up from one investor on the call.

Heres the full quote courtesy of Ars Technica:

Hardware results reflect lower year-on-year sales of Pixel, reflecting in part heavy promotional activity industry-wide given some of the recent pressures in the premium smartphone market.

Without giving away numbers, Porat revealed that the Pixel 3 isnt selling as well as its predecessor. She also concedes that there is some serious competition in the premium smartphone market. Again, we dont know how bad it is for the Pixel 3 but as Ars notes, it was bad enough to be mentioned in the earnings call.

In addition to questionable changes like the move to an all-glass back and sticking with just 4GB of RAM, Googles distribution network for the Pixel pales in comparison to the competition. As Ars highlights, the Pixel 3 is available for sale in just a dozen countries and has zero retail presence. Apples iPhone, meanwhile, can be found in some 70 countries around the globe, in more than 500 Apple retail stores and is offered at virtually every carrier store in the US. Samsung is doing even better with the Galaxy S10, offering the flagship in around 130 countries worldwide.

Later in the Q&A portion of the call, Bank of Americas Justin Post said the following:

On the hardware business, I think there's some concerns that it's just not getting off to a really strong trajectory. [There are] some comparisons to Microsoft 10 years ago. Really, just help us understand how that hardware business is important to Google and how you're thinking about it long term.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai handled the inquiry about as gracefully as possible, highlighting the companys success with its Google Home smart speaker before transitioning into talk about the future of the mobile industry including foldables and 5G.

What could help Pixel sales, however, is a cheaper variant which is expected to be unveiled at Google I/O next week. An entry or mid-range Pixel would allow Google to target a different demographic than the big guys and their high-end flagships.

Lead image courtesy dennizn via Shutterstock
Tech companies have been forced to up the ante when it comes to user privacy lately, primarily due to the growing number of data breaches and scandals they've been responsible for (directly or indirectly).

Most notably, tech giants are now more transparent with their users about how their data is used and collected. Easy-to-understand privacy policies are now the norm, and several companies even offer the GDPR's mandated data deletion tools to all customers, whether they're in the EU or not.

Google, for example, does let you delete data it's gathered about you so far. However, it's only a temporary measure; you can't permanently stop the company from learning about your search habits, location history, and more (though you can temporarily "pause" many of these functions).

The obvious solution to the dilemma may be to simply delete your data at regular intervals, but many users likely forget the functionality exists. Fortunately for them, Google is offering a compromise of sorts now.

In addition to the previously-noted pause and data deletion tools, the search giant will soon let you choose to have your location and search data auto-deleted every three or 18 months. These scrubbing controls are arriving in the coming weeks, and they could expand to cover other forms of data (such as your Google Assistant history) in the future.
Cosmetic clinics in the United Kingdom will have to check first the mental health status of patients seeking for Botox treatments.

The Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners, a trade body focusing on cosmetic firms, is introducing this practice to help protect the vulnerable and to prevent people with body image obsessions from being exposed to dangerous practices and undergoing potentially harmful treatments. This is also in response to the National Health Service of England's stance to make the cosmetic industry more responsible.

NHS England Medical Director Prof. Stephen Powis has encouraged professionals who provide procedures such as facial fillers and injections to join the council. At present, only 100 out of the 1,000 practitioners are registered, and Powis said too many service providers are operating as a law unto themselves.

"We know that appearance is the one of the things that matters most to young people, and the bombardment of idealised images and availability of quick-fix procedures is helping fuel a mental-health and anxiety epidemic," said Powis.

Botox And Quick Fixes

People with body image issues are said to be more likely to turn to quick fix procedures such as Botox and dermal fillers.

"Cosmetic procedures like Botox are now widely available on the High Street, are putting people at risk and can have a damaging effect on the mental health of young people," said Kitty Wallace of the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation.

The British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons previously warned that Botox and dermal fillers must not be treated as casual beauty treatments because risks such as infection and facial paralysis can arise.

"Administering an injection of any kind is a very serious procedure and requires an experienced and qualified health professional," said Gerard Lambe, a spokesman for the association.

Council On Cosmetic Procedures

The JCCP has been established to assist the public who are seeking, considering, or undergoing non-surgical treatments such as injections, fillers, lasers, peels, and hair restoration surgery. The council will advise patients on safety matters and how to gain access to approved practitioners.

Council members are expected to meet the new criteria, which includes assessments to check if customers are suitable for treatment. Once registered with the JCCP, practitioners will agree to undergo online training on recognizing the signs and symptoms of mental ill health and vulnerability and the psychology of appearance. Customers who will show signs of vulnerability could be directed to NHS mental health services.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body Dysmorphic Disorder affects 1.7 percent to 2.4 percent of the general population or about one in 50 people. Those with BDD often find faults with parts of their body although, in reality, the perceived defect may only be slight or nonexistent. BDD patients also suffer from obsessions about their appearance that can last for hours or up to an entire day, leading to distress and difficulty in functioning.

Based on 2013 data of the American Psychiatric Association, in the United States, BDD occurs in about 2.5 percent in males and in 2.2 percent of females and often begins to occur in adolescents. People with BDD also commonly suffer from anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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NASA astronaut Christina Koch is well on her way to setting the record for the longest stay in space by a woman.

Koch is currently part of the American space agency's Expedition 59 and 60 crew, which launched to the International Space Station in March. She is joined by fellow astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir.

The mission carries a huge importance for NASA, especially for Koch, who will be spending a total of 11 months aboard the ISS. Her extended stay on the orbital facility will help researchers learn more about the effects of long-term space mission on the female body.

How Space Can Affect Human Health

NASA has already outlined its plans to send Americans back to space within the next few years. Some of the space agency's intended target locations include the Moon, the Red Planet Mars, and even to other points of the galaxy.

Such missions would require astronauts to spend long durations on spaceflights, which could result in serious health effects on their bodies. This is why it is crucial for researchers to collect as much data on the impacts of long-term stints in space.

Agency scientists have already gathered data on male humans, courtesy of former astronaut Scott Kelly's 340-day stay on the ISS from 2015 to 2016.

Kelly experienced significant changes in his body, particularly with his chromosomes. His nearly yearlong mission on the ISS caused his telomeres, or the compound structures at the end of chromosomes, to shrink.

This development is mostly associated with aging and can increase the risk for illnesses such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Some of Kelly's chromosomes also went through structural changes, with some parts swapping, inverting, and even merging with each other. These effects have been linked to infertility and certain types of cancers.

Women's Bodies React Differently To Long-Term Spaceflight

Koch's 328-day mission in space will provide NASA with data on the female body. Researchers believe spaceflight affects men and women differently, as suggested in a 2014 study.

The paper showed that women are more likely to experience faintness than men due to a cardiovascular issue known as orthostatic hypotension.

Meanwhile, men are more susceptible to vision problems during spaceflight because of a condition called neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).

With both sets of health data, NASA scientists will be able to get a clearer picture of how the human body reacts to the environment in space. This will help astronauts prepare better for long-term missions in the future.

"Astronauts demonstrate amazing resilience and adaptability in response to long duration spaceflight exposure," said Jennifer Fogarty of NASA's Johnson Space Center.

"These opportunities have also demonstrated that there is a significant degree of variability in the responses of humans to spaceflight, and it is important to determine the acceptable degree of change for both men and women."

By the time Koch completes her ISS mission, she would have beaten Peggy Whitson's previous record of 288 days on the space station from 2016 to 2017. It would also bring her just a few days shy of Kelly's nearly one-year stint.

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Dr. Young-hae Chi, a lecturer at the University of Oxford, believes that aliens are already here on Earth and they are inbreeding with humans.

This sounds like the premise of a sci-fi movie, but he insists that this is exactly what is happening right now. He says that there is a very strong link between climate change and recent alien abductions.

Invisible Aliens On Earth

In an interview with The Oxford Student, Dr. Chi expounded on his theory that invisible aliens have arrived on Earth. He explained that there are four types of aliens: small, tall and bold, aliens with scales and snake eyes, and insect-like aliens. The fourth one, he said, is the one giving the orders.

He also stated that these aliens are conducting several different experiments, including "the production of a hybrid." He said there are three possible reasons why they are here on Earth.

"One possibility is that they find our DNA valuable for the preservation of the stock. Secondly, to create species which can survive in the future climate conditions...Thirdly, some abductees report that these hybrids are of a very high intelligence, so are they producing these hybrids as a problem-solver, a future leader?" he shared.

Dr. Chi based this idea from the testimony of humans who claim that they have been abducted by aliens. They said that they were "involved in sexually oriented actions with aliens or even other human abductees under the influence of mind control." They also reported seeing hybrid fetuses and toddlers in the spaceships.

Invisible Aliens And Climate Change

This is not the first time that the Korean lecturer has spoken about the invisible aliens that walk among humans on the surface of the Earth. In 2012, at a conference organized by Ammach (a support group for abductees), Dr. Chi argued that the breeding program was meant to save humans from extinction. He went on to say that if the human race acts on climate change now, not only they can save themselves, but also prove aliens wrong in their judgement of their moral capacity.

He has also published a book to expand his theory.

The idea seems absurd but, according to Politico, the U.S. Navy is drafting a new guideline for reporting encounters with "unidentified aircraft."

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New research predicts that in 50 years, the popular social media site Facebook will have more dead users than living, creating a virtual graveyard.

Carl Ohman and David Watson from the University of Oxford's Internet Institute calculated that by the end of the century, the number of memorial accounts would range from 1.4 billion to 4.9 billion. The findings raise a question on how digital data should be handled in the future.

The Dead Don't Die On Facebook

According to Facebook, as of March 2019, the biggest social media site in the world has 1.56 billion daily active users and 2.38 billion monthly active users. To calculate how many users will not be around by the end of the century, the researchers used the number of monthly users as of the end of 2018, which reached 1.43 billion users, and the mortality data from the United Nations.

They revealed that more than 500 million users will be dead by 2060 and 1 billion will be dead by 2079. By 2100, 98 percent of all currently active users of Facebook will be dead.

Asians will account for nearly half of the total number of memorial accounts on the popular social media sites. India and Indonesia will account for almost 279 million dead Facebook users by 2100.

However, this calculation is based on the assumption that no new users will sign up on the social media site, which is unrealistic. The researchers offer another scenario when the number of Facebook users grow by 13 percent every year until every person in the world has an online profile.

They calculated that 4.9 billion memorial pages will be on the social media site by 2100. In this case, the dead will not outnumber the living until the early part of the 22nd century.

Under this condition, Africa will have the most number of dead Facebook users. Nigeria, in particular, will contribute over 6 percent of the total number of memorial pages.

The findings appear in the journal Big Data & Society.

Preserving Digital Data For Future Historians

The researchers explained that the study is not intended to predict the future, but "as a commentary on the current development and an opportunity to shape what future we are headed towards." They noted that other social media platforms will likely have the same fate.

"Facebook should invite historians, archivists, archaeologists and ethicists to participate in the process of curating the vast volume of accumulated data that we leave behind as we pass away," stated Watson. "This is not just about finding solutions that will be sustainable for the next couple of years, but possibly for many decades ahead."

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One Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) contains enough venom to kill at least 60 people. Finding an antidote to the venom, however, can save lives.

In a new study, scientists from Sydney were examining the Australian box jellyfish when they stumbled upon information that could lead to an antidote to its fatal venom. The research team successfully used the famous CRISPR gene editing tool to discover the antidote.

The study, which has been issued in the journal Nature Communications, can help experts develop not only the antidote to the venom, but also create non-addictive painkillers for people with chronic pain.

The Australian Box Jellyfish Is Deadly And Dangerous

The deadly box jellyfish can be found in the coastal waters of Australia and the Philippines. These aquatic animals are deemed dangerous because of their deadly sting.

A single sting from the Australian box jellyfish can cause excruciating pain, and with enough venom, the sting can even lead to cardiac arrest then death. The venom is in the jellyfish's 60 tentacles, which carry millions of microscopic hooks. These tentacles can grow up to three meters long.

Unlike most jellyfish, these aquatic species not only float, but they actively swim at a rate of 7.5 kilometers per hour (5 miles per hour) when they are hunting small fish and prawn in shallow waters.

Moreover, there are two types of box jellyfish, namely the Chironex fleckeri and the Irukandji. The Chironex fleckeri is the larger of the two species.

"We studied the biggest, most venomous and scary one," Prof. Greg Neely of University of Sydney, one of the lead researchers of the study, said. "Our drug works on the big beast. We don't know yet if it works on other jellyfish, but we know it works on the most-deadly one."

Finding The Antidote To Australian Box Jellyfish Sting Using CRISPR

Prof. Neely and his colleagues examined jellyfish venom collected by Jamie Seymour of James Cook University off the waters of Cairns in Australia.

Using the CRISPR gene editing tool, the researchers took a vat of millions of human cells and knocked out a different human gene in each one. Afterward, they added jellyfish venom to the sample and looked for cells that survived. The jellyfish venom is so deadly that it can kill cells at high doses.

Dr. Raymond (Man-Tat) Lau, the lead author of the study, explained that the jellyfish venom pathway they identified required cholesterol. Since there are a lot of drugs that target cholesterol, the researchers were able to use these available medicines to block the jellyfish venom pathway.

Dr. Lau said they took one of those anti-cholesterol drugs that are safe for human use and used it against the venom. It worked.

If the antidote is administered to the skin within 15 minutes of being stung by the jellyfish, it can immediately block the symptoms of the sting. The drug can stop the necrosis, skin scarring, and pain caused by the sting, said Prof. Neely.

However, the researchers have yet to determine whether the drug can stop a heart attack. This will need more research and funding in the future. Meanwhile, Prof. Neely and Dr. Lau are currently looking for potential partners to work on making the jellyfish venom medicine available to the public.

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A Samsung Galaxy S10 5G owner claims that his phone exploded for no reason at all.

After looking into it, the South Korean brand says it was caused by an "external impact" rather than an internal malfunction.

Galaxy S10 Explosion

As the AFP reported (via The Economic Times of India), the Galaxy S10 5G user, who is identified only by his surname Lee, says that his smartphone exploded "without reasons."

"My phone was on the table when it started smelling burnt and smoke soon engulfed the phone ... I had to drop it to the ground when I touched it because it was so hot," Lee told the AFP.

Images of the aftermath provided to the news outlet show the device with severe burn marks and its glass cracked on both the front and back.

Lee said that Samsung refused to reimburse him for the smartphone, which costs 1.39 million won or roughly $1,226. After reports of this refusal made the rounds online, the company explained the reason behind the decision.

"After retrieving the device from the customer, Samsung has closely inspected the device and concluded that the damage was caused by external impact," Samsung said in a statement (via CNET).

For those who don't know, the company rolled out the Galaxy S10 5G in South Korea, its home country, on April 5. The device is expected to launch with a $1,300 starting price for the 256 GB model on May 16 in the United States via Verizon, who inked a timed-exclusivity deal with the phone manufacturer for the first few months in the market.

History Repeating?

This isn't the first time that Samsung has had to deal with one of its devices blowing up. Back in 2016, it had to do a lot of damage control after Galaxy Note 7 units started catching fire left and right. Eventually, it was forced to do a massive recall across the globe, rebranding the smartphone as the Galaxy Note FE or Fan Edition.

Another problem that Samsung is facing is the Galaxy Fold breaking in the hands of reviewers, leading to a recall and a delayed launch. Also, a teardown of the foldable phone then went up online and highlighted its "overwhelming fragility," which the company then asked to be taken down.

In other words, the smartphone maker already has its hands full with the Galaxy Fold, and if Galaxy S10 5G units start exploding in the wild, then it's in for some tough times ahead.

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A father who thought he donated his daughter's body to science has been deceived by alleged black market organ traders in Illinois.

Heartbroken and still grieving after losing his daughter five years ago, John Butsch is trying to get the body of his daughter back after unknowingly giving it to criminal organ traders.

The last wishes of his daughter Alexandria, who died at 26 years old, were for her body to be donated to science. The organization they trusted with her body was the Biological Resource Center of Illinois.

Unfortunately, the Biological Resource Center of Illinois was raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation months after Butsch donated his daughter's body to them.

"I'm fairly stoic about these things, but it's painful," Butsch said.

The Story Of John Butsch And His Daughter Alexandria

Butsch's daughter suddenly died in 2014. Butsch thought he was honoring his daughter's wishes when he donated her body to the Biological Resource Center of Illinois.

After donating the body of his daughter to the resource center, Butsch received her allegedly cremated ashes.

However, Butsch now fears that those ashes were fake. Investigators have confirmed that most of his daughter's remains were removed from the Biological Resource Center of Illinois during the raid. The body has been kept in a federal holding place in Detroit as part of the investigation.

"We have no way of knowing if they are Alexandria's ashes," the heartbroken father said. "In fact, we are pretty convinced they're not because she's in a freezer in Detroit."

Butsch said if his daughter's body had been cremated, there would be no parts to take to Detroit. Since her body was identified, the ashes they received must be fake.

Butsch and his family are not alone in their suffering. More families who donated their relatives' bodies to the Biological Resource Center of Illinois are also heartbroken over what happened. They are still waiting for the bodies of their relatives to be returned to them.

Because Butsch knows his family is not alone, he created a group called BRCIL Donors so that they could work together to make sure the same thing does not happen to other families.

Butsch said he believes there is a community of people who can sit down with senators and representatives and say, "Look, we have to control this industry or we've got to forbid it."

Criminal Involved In Black Market Organ Trading Is Still A Funeral Director In Illinois

Unfortunately, the man involved in the trading of organs in the black market is still technically a funeral director in the state of Illinois.

Authorities are investigating Donald Greene Sr. and his son Donald Greene Jr., who owned and operated the Biological Resource Center of Illinois. In April, Greene Sr. was charged with wire fraud while his son was charged with concealing a crime.

In 2017, a report by Reuters revealed that the Biological Resource Center of Illinois was part of a massive, nationwide black market trade all over the United States. The FBI said the Greenes sold individual body parts donated by families in the black market organ trading system.

Bodies of the victims were chopped and shipped for cash. An entire body costs at least $5,893, livers were brought to medical-device companies for over $600, and legs were sold to product-development companies for $350 per piece.

At the center of the black market was the Biological Research Center, which sent at least 650 body parts to the Biological Resource Center of Illinois.

Despite facing a felony charge, Greene Sr. is still a funeral director in Illinois. He and his son are expected to appear in court in June.

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A church in Wisconsin known as the Lion of Judah House of Rastafari is on the spotlight for openly using marijuana as a sacrament.

City officials of Madison, where the church is based, are reportedly cracking down on the church, but the people behind the House of Rastafari are defending their right to practice their religion.

The church, co-founded by Jesse Schworck and Dylan Bangert, has already grown to include about 6,000 new members since it started accepting donations and distributing marijuana to parishioners in March, according to a report from CBS Boston.

The Weed-Using House Of Rastafari

Cannabis is still illegal in Wisconsin, but the House of Rastafari appears to have found a loophole by using it as a religious sacrament.

In a report from WISC in early April, Schworck pointed out that both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act allows the members of the church to use marijuana as part of their spiritual practice. The Rastafarian religion, he added, uses cannabis to achieve the good and weed out the bad.

"This is a non-profit church," explained Schworck. "We all use cannabis to meditate and also for the religious purpose for uplifting our mind and our body and our spirit."

The co-founder of the House of Rastafari describes the church as open, encouraging people to come as they are. It's common practice for the parishioners to talk, have fellowship together, and break bread, according to Schworck.

Membership is open to everyone who signs up online or in person, provided they fill out a membership card that assures the founders of their sincerity of being part of the church.

Within a month or so, the House of Rastafari is expecting to complete the church and fully stock it with marijuana-infused tea, edibles, and other products for their practice.

Officials Not Happy With The Church

While the church founders insist their use of cannabis is grounded on spiritual reasons, a number of city officials are not convinced.

"I have not seen any documentation or anything that supports they are, in fact, a church," said assistant city attorney Jennifer Zilavy. "Even if they are a church, marijuana is illegal in this state. You can't sell it. It can't just be 24/7 and you can smoke weed and that's our religion."

She added that the founders are simply fronting the church to sell cannabis products.

However, Schworck says that the city can't prove any of the allegations, adding that their church isn't selling weed nor distributing it to non-members.

He also provided WISC with a number of documents, including one from the state of Wisconsin endorsing him as a nonprofit church. Another document is from the IRS, exempting the church from tax as a religious entity.

Madison police recently showed up at the church in response to a noise complaint, confiscating marijuana from the establishment. While there were no charges or arrests, a cease-and-desist letter was delivered.

Schworck is planning to file a federal injunction to stop what he describes as harassment and intimidation.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A select few can already put products inside Instagram Stories, but now they'll be able to do the same on regular Instagram posts, as well.

Seemingly in a bid to disrupt the very lucrative world of online shopping, last month Instagram started allowing users to buy products from a select group of brands without leaving the app, and now it's taking that a step further by extending the feature to celebrities, influencers, and other notable individuals on the platform.

Starting next week, Instagram will allow these folks to tag products in their posts, giving audiences the ability to buy whatever is featured, be it clothes or cosmetics, directly from Instagram.

Shopping On Instagram

Currently, many creators on Instagram have to go through a number of things just to feature products. They have to tag brands, add details in the caption, and respond to countless comments and direct messages just to let their followers know what apparel they're wearing or makeup they've put on, says Instagram. The new feature is supposed to iron this kink out, removing that unnecessary friction and making the experience better for users who want to shop from within the app.

"We are committed to making the shopping experience simple, convenient and secure. This is yet another important step in our shopping journey and we'll continue to listen to feedback from our community on how we can make the experience even better," Instagram wrote in a blog post, as Engadget reports.

Instagram Checkout

The company will test the feature with a select few creators over the coming weeks, including Gigi Hadid, Kim Kardashian West, and other notable celebrities and influencers. It's also giving publishers such as Elle, GQ, HypeBeast, and many others access to the tools. The only requirement from them is that they have to be part of Instagram's Checkout beta, which includes major brands such as Nike, Zara, and others. More brands are expected to hop onboard in the coming months, as well.

"Discovery and the ability to drive cultures forward are in our DNA, and Instagram is a vital platform for us to provide this experience to our readers," according to Huan Nguyen brand partnerships VP of HypeBeast in North America. "The ease of transacting provided with this update will allow us to deepen our relationship with our followers and improve their shopping experience within the platform."

Donations

Another new addition is a new Donation Sticker that's accessed from within Stories, which allows creators to call to their fanbase for help with a variety of causes. The author can select a nonprofit organization they want to raise money for and add the sticker into their story. They'll be able to see who's donating and how much by visiting the story pane and swiping up on the screen. The sticker is currently only available in the United States.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Vice President Mike Pence will visit St. Landry Parish on Friday to offer support to the three historically black Baptist churches destroyed by an arsonist in late March and early April, a White House official confirmed.

The vice president will tour the remains of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church and meet with the Rev. Gerald Toussaint and other community leaders to offer his support, the official said. Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser also confirmed he and U.S. Rep Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre, would attend with other officials, per a tweet from his staff.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is also slated to attend, his communications director Ty Bofferding confirmed. Cassidy said he appreciated Pences gesture and plans to work with community leaders to continue the healing process and support those affected by this tragedy.

Mount Pleasant was the third church ravaged in the string of arsons. The three churches  St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre, Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas  were destroyed in a 10-day span between March 26 and April 4.

Toussaint said he, the Revs. Harry Richard and Kyle Sylvester of the other destroyed churches, and the Rev. Freddie Jack, president of the Seventh District Missionary Baptist Association, will be among those gathering Friday.

Toussaint said hes appreciative to have the support of the federal government and hopes something positive can develop from the vice presidents visit. He said hes concerned by violence happening across the country, specifically referencing the burning of his church and gun violence on school campuses.

He said the acts arent by chance and the flow of hatred in the country needs to be stopped.

We need to take a different look at stuff in our country, Toussaint said. We cant go on continuing to play a blame game or continue to have this civil war of Democrats against Republicans, when the same things keep happening.

He said the Scripture calls for men to humble themselves and practice both self-love and love of your neighbor. Starting small, like building unity after the church fires, is a good place to start, Toussaint said.

For stuff to grow you have to start at the bottom. You dont throw a seed in the air for it to grow, you put it in the ground. You have to plant a good seed, he said.

Toussaint said the St. Landry community began planting good seeds at an interreligious service held Tuesday evening at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas. Several Christian congregations, including local Catholics, Baptists, and Episcopalians, gathered to fellowship with one another and foster togetherness.

Everybody left hugging one another, he said.

The Rev. Harry Richard, of Greater Union Baptist Church, said he isnt sure what to expect from Pences visit, but hes grateful the vice president is taking the time to show care to the churches and their congregations, especially given his other responsibilities.

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Just showing up is good enough for me, he said. It makes me feel like the country is closer than it may seem sometimes with all thats happening.

Higgins said his office was closely involved in the planning of Pences trip.

"The security nature of a visit from the vice president is quite extensive, but I can tell you there has been talk about such a visit and that my office has been involved from the beginning to help coordinate it," Higgins said in an emailed statement. "The White House asked us to help."

Holden Matthews, the 21-year-old son of a local sheriffs deputy, was arrested in the church burnings and charged with aggravated arson, two counts of simple arson and three hate crime counts. Matthews was denied bond April 15.

Judge James Doherty said Matthews is considered a continued risk to the community due to the evidence against him and the seriousness of the charges.

Can't see video below? Click here.

Louisiana State Fire Marshal H. Butch Browning testified at Matthews bond hearing that physical evidence at the scene, photos and videos taken from Matthews cell phone, and cell tower records connected Matthews to the crimes.

Area surveillance video also captured footage of a pickup truck matching the characteristics of a truck owned by Matthews father, Deputy Roy Matthews, in the area of each of the three fires, Browning said.

+2 'Light in the darkness': Pastors react to generosity after GoFundMe reaches over $1.8M goal Donors raised more than $1.6 million in roughly 36 hours to support the three historically black Baptist churches destroyed by arson in St. La

Advocate Washington correspondent Elizabeth Crisp contributed to this report.
CONVENT  A Lutcher man has been sentenced to 30 years in state prison in a 2016 slaying in which witnesses testified the victim identified his killer by name before death.

Judge Tess Stromberg, of the 23rd Judicial District Court, handed down the sentence Monday for Burnell Gordon, 37, after his Jan. 31 conviction on manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon counts, prosecutors in St. James Parish said Tuesday.

A doctor, a nurse and the aunt of 19-year-old Darrell Johnson testified at trial that the mortally wounded Johnson identified Gordon as the shooter. Prosecutors said investigators determined Johnson was shot in an ambush near the front door of his aunt's home on Courseault Street in Lutcher on June 15, 2016.

Lutcher man faces 60 years in 2016 St. James Parish slaying CONVENT  A Lutcher man faces up to 60 years in state prison after a St. James Parish jury found him guilty Thursday of a 2016 slaying in whi

During the three-day trial in Convent, Gordon's defense attorneys maintained his innocence, saying prosecutors had no forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene, including DNA or fingerprints. They also claimed Johnson had robbed Gordon's home and held his children at gunpoint shortly before the slaying and questioned Johnson's identification of Gordon under poor lighting.

Tyler Cavalier, spokesman for District Attorney Ricky Babin, said Tuesday deputies received no complaint about the alleged robbery at the time and had no evidence to substantiate it.

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But defense attorney David Belfield III said Gordon's children identified clothing of the alleged armed robber that matched what Johnson was wearing once he was taken to the hospital.

In closing arguments in January, prosecutors Adam Koenig and Steven Tureau pointed out that the defense attorneys' claims provided a motive for Gordon's attack on Johnson.

At trial, jurors rejected the second-degree murder count that Gordon, 2445 N. Central St., was facing but convicted him 11-1 on the reduced charge of manslaughter.

A second-degree murder conviction would have brought mandatory life.

In November, Louisiana voters supported changing the state Constitution so unanimous jury verdicts were required for all noncapital felony cases, but the ballot amendment's language limits the change to crimes committed on Jan. 1 of this year or afterward.

Stromberg allowed Johnson to serve the sentences for his two convictions at the same time instead of consecutively, avoiding another 20 years. Prosecutors said they will bill Johnson as a habitual offender to seek more prison time. Gordon has two past felony convictions for narcotics-related charges, prosecutors said.
Just four days after the tragic killings of 26 people at a Texas church, the Rev. David Collins, an Albany pastor, gathered leaders in his congregation to discuss forming a security team for their small Baptist church.

"I can't imagine something happening to small town Albany, but you never know," said Collins, pastor of Blood River Baptist Church in eastern Livingston Parish. "We're definitely praying nothing like that will ever happen, but I imagine the people in Texas thought the same thing."

The team is made up of deacons and members who are former and current emergency responders like police officers and firefighters. Collins said their new security protocols began Nov. 12, when they discreetly checked the parking lot, bathrooms and lone open doorway  down from the three doors they used to always leave open. Collins said they also plan to install security cameras to monitor the property and are considering addressing the whole congregation about emergency procedures.

And, he said, the church will pay the fees for the security team to complete tactical training classes newly offered by the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office, an eight-hour course required by state law for someone to carry a concealed firearm in a place of worship.

"I remember growing up in churches and we never had to think of this, but we live in a fallen world," Collins said. "We need to keep our focus on Jesus Christ ... but at the same token, we have to protect each other too."

Faith leaders and their congregations across the Baton Rouge area have found themselves discussing safety and security as they try to grapple with the reality of the massacre by a man armed with a military-style rifle on Nov. 5 at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. In that incident, an armed neighbor  and former National Rifle Association instructor  grabbed his own rifle and exchanged fire with the gunman outside the church. That neighbor and another man later gave chase as gunman Devin Patrick Kelley drove away. Kelley later died of a self-inflicted gunshot, authorities concluded.

'Let's go:' Former NRA instructor recalls chasing down, stopping Texas church shooter SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas (AP)  A former National Rifle Association instructor who grabbed his rifle and ran barefoot across the street to op

Some local churches, like Blood River Baptist Church, are choosing to take advantage of legislation passed in 2010 that allows church, synagogue and mosque leaders to approve members already equipped with concealed carry permits to also pack heat in their houses of worship  providing the members undergo an additional eight hours of tactical training annually. But other faith leaders have decided it's more important to maintain gun-free zones in their sanctuaries and address safety in different ways.

Tactical training

The Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office advertised on Facebook two days after the Texas church shooting that it would offer the required tactical training to certify concealed carriers to do so at their places of worship, the course Collins' selected security team has decided to take. Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said the courses were not a reaction to the recent shooting in Texas, but he said that incident definitely drew more response about the new program.

"Those things get people thinking, and they want to make sure they have the training they need," Ard said. "We are getting a lot of interest."

In less than two weeks since opening sign-ups for the courses, almost all of the 75 available spots have been filled, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lori Steele. She said the office will look to offer more dates for the training if residents continue to sign up. The course costs $125 per participant.

Ard said he spoke with some faith leaders in Livingston more than a year ago about their interest in having some designated parishioners armed at their services. He worked with some of his deputies who already were certified as state concealed handgun permit instructors to develop the curriculum for the church, synagogue or mosque training. It is prohibited by Louisiana law to bring a concealed gun into a house of worship except under this provision that allows for designated carriers who are trained.

+17 Some St. Tammany churches training members to carry concealed weapons as part of security team The image on the screen was stark: a Bible next to a gun with the inscription, "One will save your soul. One will save your life.''

Although the instructors for these faith-based tactical courses have to be state-certified teachers for concealed handgun permits, there is no statewide or standard training for the tactical training specified in state law. State Police keep a log of approved concealed handgun permit instructors, but they do not track who has submitted approved syllabuses for the faith-specific training, said State Police spokesman Senior Trooper Bryan Lee.

Ard said his office's curriculum goes over roles and responsibilities for lay security officers, how to interact with law enforcement, tips for emergency planning, education on firearms and ballistics as well as how to respond if someone does open fire in a church.

"The No. 1 thing we want to make sure we're paying attention to is safety for everyone," Ard said. "People have to understand what they have in their hand and how dangerous it is."

Though Live Oak United Methodist Church in Watson has had security procedures in place for the past few years, including two off-duty officers patrolling during services and a security team, the Rev. Mark Crosby, senior pastor, said he plans to send some members to the Livingston Parish sheriff's tactical training.

I think itd be beneficial because the size of our campus, its hard for even two (off-duty officers) to be able to patrol (everywhere)," said Crosby, whose church has about 3,000 members.

He said he realizes some members might not be keen on having concealed weapons at church, but he said he hopes the majority will be grateful to know someone in their trusted community is armed.

"My thought is, had there been a uniformed (officer) or even an usher outside the doors that was carrying (in Sutherland Springs), could they have prevented this massacre from happening?" Crosby said.

Although the Texas church shooting sparked conversation about safety between the Rev. Conway Knighton, of St. Mary Baptist Church, and other clergy, the Baton Rouge pastor said he still feels comfortable with only fully trained security officers wielding guns  something his church has invested in for Sunday services. St. Mary pays for two off-duty sheriff's deputies to patrol the premises, which Knighton said is much safer than having his civilian members carrying guns into church, even if those civilians undergo an eight-hour training.

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"Officers are trained to make split decisions; most parishioners aren't going to have that," he said. "In hostile situations or unusual situations, if they're not trained to deal with that and you just have (someone without) professional training, other people can get hurt by that."

The Rev. Nichelle Landry, pastor of Victory International Ministries in Baton Rouge, said when the Texas church massacre came up at a Bible study the week following the incident, one of her volunteers offered to go through the certification process to carry a gun at services. But she declined.

"That was not my vision for God's house," Landry said. "I can't tell him what to do on his personal property, but we just want to remain prayerful, be aware of our surroundings. That's what we're encouraging our congregation to do."

Landry said her leadership team discussed further security options for their church, but they chose instead to beef up their evangelism, prayers and outreach to the residents of Baton Rouge.

"We cannot allow fear to seep in," Landry said.

Weighing options

For other faith leaders, it's about striking a balance.

"(Security) is something that we always think about, and yet we're sensitive to not let it affect our mission and our identity as a really open place," said Rabbi Natan Trief, of Beth Shalom Synagogue in Baton Rouge.

Trief said this past week, Beth Shalom leaders set up a security task force to head the synagogue's future safety protocols, weigh options and decide what methods will be most beneficial for them.

"(These kind of attacks) have been happening for a while, but (Texas) kind of fueled the desire to get on top of this once and for all," Trief said. "I just think the sheer number, the size of the town and that he literally went up and down the pews ... those statistics really allow you to see evil really close up; it strikes a chord."

Trief said during the synagogue's biggest holiday services, they hire an off-duty officer to patrol. Otherwise, the synagogue benefits from having some congregation members who are law enforcement officers and can always be aware at services. He said the new security task force will look into the option of training some eligible members so they could be armed at the synagogue but said the task force first will consult security professionals to see what's best.

For the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge, Chief Financial Officer Joe Ingraham said he doesn't expect security protocols to drastically change immediately, but he said there's now a bigger push to better streamline procedures for all emergencies.

He said the diocese already has implemented an emergency-related smartphone app with information on what to do during events like hurricanes or active shooters, but it is still working on expanding that to each parish, which have varying security practices. Some individual parishes, often because of size, traffic or location, have a security guard, while others do not, Ingraham said. But, he said, he doesn't expect Catholic churches to pursue concealed carry options during Mass and would expect "strong opposition" to such a proposal.

"Unless the person is very skilled with a gun, like a police officer, you could cause a lot more problems," Ingraham said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has encouraged faith leaders to create procedures to follow during emergencies, including active shooters, through its Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The center was created under former President George W. Bush in 2006 in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, to better connect the faith- and community-based groups with the emergency management sector.

The center has since expanded its mission and provides resources to prepare for active shooters for faith-based groups across the country, including online trainings and videos as well as guidelines for how to set up an emergency plan.

At Istrouma Baptist Church, administrator Ray Raney developed a security plan for the church four years ago, which included hiring officers and using walkie-talkies among the team.

"I know how important it is," Raney said. "The only thing that's going to stop somebody with a weapon is a weapon."

He called most churches "soft targets" because attackers know they are typically gun-free zones. But at Istrouma on Sundays, he said they have two off-duty Baton Rouge police officers, six to eight current law enforcement officers who are also attending services, and security cameras. Raney and two of the church's pastors also have been certified to carry a concealed weapon at church, trained by certified deputies from the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, who annually come to the church to recertify them.

"That's really where that training should be, in your church," Raney said, so officials can plan for particulars of the building or campus. However, he said Istrouma does not want to extend that training to more civilians, which he said he thinks could add confusion during an emergency situation.

"We try to be as proactive as we can," Raney said.
Hancock Whitney said it has reached a deal to acquire Lafayette-based MidSouth Bank in an all-stock transaction valued at about $214 million.

Under the terms of the deal, MidSouth Bank shareholders would receive 0.2952 shares of Hancock Whitney stock, which translates to a premium of just under 7% of MidSouth's closing share price of $11.87 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The deal gives the much larger Hancock Whitney, which has headquarters in New Orleans and Gulfport, Mississippi, access to MidSouth's branches and depositors at a relatively cheap 5% premium.

"The real value in the transaction to us is their tremendous core deposit base," said Michael Achary, Hancock Whitney's CFO, who added that "there is significant overlap of market share and an opportunity to consolidate costs."

Hancock Whitney will add 32 MidSouth branches in Louisiana to its own network of 110 in the state, plus 10 out-of-state branches, mainly in Texas. MidSouth has about 500 employees, compared with Hancock Whitney's 4,000.

Achary said the bank hasn't yet decided where cuts will come, but he has told investors that when it has fully absorbed MidSouth the cost savings will add between 13 and 15 cents to earnings per share.

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The deal is expected to close and the banks will converge their systems in the third quarter of 2019, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

MidSouth Bank, which had assets of $1.7 billion at the end of March, was founded during the gloomiest days of the mid-80s oilfield bust. During the recession of the late 2000s, the bank got national attention for billboards it took out between Lafayette and Houston, letting small businesses know it had $200 million to lend.

But the bank was hit hard by the collapse in oil prices after 2014, with a portfolio that had a high exposure to oil companies -- more than 20% of the total. Two years ago, MidSouth's board fired its founder, C.R. "Rusty" Cloutier, and tried to shore up its finances with a $55 million stock offering, the closure of 17 branches and a deep cut in shareholders' dividends.

"MidSouth is a bank that has a concentration of energy loans and certainly as they navigated the energy cycle they had some challenges," Achary said.

But Hancock Whitney president John Hairston said buying MidSouth now, after it has come through the worst of its oil exposure, represents a "low-risk transaction" that will bring them into new markets in Beaumont and the greater Dallas area, as well as northern Louisiana.
Baton Rouge Metro Airport is looking for someone to develop a full-service or select-service hotel on one of two tracts of airport property.

The airport has issued a request for proposal to develop one of two 3.4-acre tracts. The minimum requirements are for a 110- to 125-room hotel, affiliated with an upscale or upper-upscale hotel brand. The hotel will have restaurant space, either operated by the hotel or leased to an operator, serving three meals a day. Other amenities, including 3,000 to 4,000 square feet of meeting space, a business center and a fitness center, also are part of the plan.

While there are five hotels near the airport, none of them has a restaurant, said Jim Caldwell, an airport spokesman. We really need that in here, he said. If we want to get airline crews in and secure contracts, that is needed. An additional restaurant is also needed for north Baton Rouge.

One of the sites is a parking lot by the airport parking garage. There would be the ability to connect the hotel to the airport terminal by a covered breezeway or a climate controlled overpass. An overpass also could link the hotel to the parking garage. The other site is undeveloped green space, across from the long-term parking lot. The hotel also could be connected to the parking garage via overpass. Baton Rouge Metro is asking for base rent of $30,736 per year for each spot, plus payment of 6% of gross revenue. The minimum guarantee would be no less than $250,000 per year by the third year of operation.

The request for proposal notes that a marketing study done by Pinnacle Advisory Group of Boston found that since 2012, the supply of hotel rooms has increased by 13.8%, while demand has gone up by 14.1%.

Proposals for the airport hotel are due by May 23. After that a selection committee will meet to go over the offers and make a recommendation at a later date.
A Denham Springs man who is fighting his conviction and life sentence in the 2013 heroin overdose of his girlfriend shouldn't be penalized for his appellate lawyers missing a key filing deadline at the state's top court by less than three minutes, his new attorneys contend.

Jarret McCasland, 30, was the first person convicted of second-degree murder in East Baton Rouge Parish under a seldom used provision of that murder statute that allows police to arrest someone on the charge if distributing or dispensing an illegal drug is the direct cause of the death.

Jury convicts Denham Springs man of murder, was accused of injecting girlfriend with heroin before her death A 26-year-old Denham Springs man accused of giving his 19-year-old fiancee a lethal dose of heroin in Baton Rouge in 2013 was unanimously conv

The Louisiana Supreme Court refused last year to consider McCasland's appeal of his second-degree murder conviction and life prison term because the court received his appeal paperwork two minutes and 50 seconds past a midnight deadline in May 2017.

"Two minutes and fifty seconds. Mr. McCasland lost his right to appellate review in the same amount of time it would take to listen to a song on the radio," Sam Winston and Jim Boren, his post-conviction attorneys, argue in papers filed last week at the Supreme Court.

Winston and Boren are asking the high court to reconsider McCasland's case, arguing that his appellate lawyers provided him ineffective assistance of counsel.

Chris Alexander, one of McCasland's appellate attorneys, previously asked the justices to reconsider their ruling, but that request was denied in September by a narrow 4-3 vote.

Alexander said Wednesday the process of electronically filing McCasland's appeal at the Supreme Court was initiated before the midnight deadline, "but due to a computer glitch was not recorded on their end until 12:03."

"We submitted proof of this from our computer folks and from the associate in our office who was responsible for filing the brief," he added.

Alexander said he's surprised the brief wasn't accepted "under the circumstances."

"This case is too serious. There is too much at stake here," he said.

Denham Springs man gets life sentence in 2013 overdose death of girlfriend, tells judge he is innocent A 27-year-old Denham Springs man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for his role in the drug overdose death of his girlfriend after a judg

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III, whose office prosecuted McCasland in the death of 19-year-old Flavia "Cathy" Cardenas, said there is "no basis in law" for the relief sought by McCasland's new attorneys.

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"This is the second attempt to have the same issue considered," Moore said.

"We believe the facts and circumstances of this case demonstrate that justice was served and that the Louisiana Supreme Court will continue to follow its own rules and regulations and will rule accordingly."

The state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed McCasland's conviction and sentence in April 2017.

The rarely used provision of the state's second-degree murder statute under which McCasland was charged doesn't require prosecutors to show a defendant specifically intended to kill.

The 1st Circuit said in its 2017 ruling that McCasland, "along with his actions, is the type of offender the statute meant to address."

His conviction in 2015 was unanimous.

Judge refuses to alter life sentence for Denham Springs man in girlfriends alleged heroin death Despite saying the mandatory sentence he imposed bothers me tremendously, a Baton Rouge state judge refused Monday to reduce a Denham Spring

McCasland's trial attorney, Rodney Messina, argued to the jury that Cardenas purchased the heroin and injected herself with a fatal dose at her mother's Baton Rouge house on July 26, 2013.

A friend of Cardenas, however, testified she saw McCasland inject Cardenas with heroin and cocaine earlier that evening at the friend's house.

McCasland didn't testify in his own defense. He told sheriff's detectives he injected Cardenas with cocaine the evening before she died but not heroin.

Prosecutors said McCasland had a history of drug dealing and argued he sent Cardenas a text message the afternoon before she died asking if she wanted to get high. Texts from McCasland indicated he continued to distribute heroin even after his girlfriend died, prosecutors told the jury.

Cardenas was taken to the hospital for a drug overdose in June 2012, her mother testified. Cardenas was 17 at the time and didn't know McCasland.

McCasland and Cardenas were arrested together in April 2013, three months before her death, on drug charges.
State Superintendent of Education John White has quietly become the co-founder and chairman of the board of a national nonprofit group aimed at connecting low-income high school graduates with solid jobs.

The organization, called Propel America, is led by White and Paymon Rouhanifard, former superintendent of the Camden, N.J., school district.

Papers were filed with the Secretary of State's Office in September spelling out the organization, which White calls a tax-exempt public charity.

White and Rouhanifard, the group's co-founder and CEO, spelled out the effort's goals during a 40-minute session at a recent, elite gathering in San Diego sponsored by Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley, a social venture investment fund.

But the undertaking is little known in Louisiana even while pilot projects are being launched in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

White said Propel America is one of two nonprofit groups he belongs to, noted that other top state officials do the same thing, and said the work does not detract from his role as state superintendent.

He is also a member of Chiefs for Change, which includes state and local school superintendents nationwide.

"If there is a time when I have to do exclusively business for one of the two nonprofits, I would take a day off," he said Tuesday. "But the mission for the work is completely critical to the children of Louisiana."

He said he did not publicize his role with the group because the pilot projects involving 50 students are not an operation of the state Department of Education.

Gary Jones, president of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said White's role warrants attention.

"I am not sure that all BESE members are aware of it yet, but some of us have recently become aware," Jones said. "I am sure at some point we will have a discussion about it."

White told the San Diego gathering that, aside from those with comfortable upbringings, there is a "huge group of kids" who do not have a viable plan for after high school and lack any system that can connect them with good jobs and education.

Education Superintendent John White gets positive job review from BESE for sixth straight year State Superintendent of Education John White got a positive job review Wednesday, the sixth consecutive year he has done so.

He said Propel America "is an attempt to develop a system of connectivity to good jobs for students who have done everything we have asked."

Backers say the program targets students who do not qualify for TOPS or other college scholarships, are reluctant to get saddled with college debt but who could fill high-wage jobs that employers are eager to address.

White said Tuesday, "Our country has swung and missed for our high school graduates."

He added, "If you are a young person growing up in Baton Rouge, you should be able to come out of high school and know that there is a short, affordable path to a good first job."

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According to the organization's website, Louisiana and New Jersey are forging pathways to a credential in skilled trades and health care, including pipe-fitting and work as an electrical helper.

White said students are recruited for the program as high school seniors based on attendance and a willingness to work.

Effort to remove state Superintendent of Education John White fails, again The latest bid to oust state Superintendent of Education John White has failed.

Kristen Smith, executive director for Louisiana, is working on the pilots in the Ascension, Jefferson and West Baton Rouge Parish school districts.

The aim is to increase the pilots from 50 students initially to 1,000 per year for the next three years.

Under the plan, within a week of high school graduation, students enter a "boot camp" for three to six months working with industry veterans and teachers.

Financing is cobbled together from a variety of sources.

The aim is to pave the way for high school graduates to learn the skills they need within 12 months, and to create a low-cost template that can be duplicated nationwide.

Partners in Louisiana include Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge Community College and Associated Builders and Contractors.

+3 Despite nearly six years of controversy, Louisiana's John White among longest-serving superintendents in U. S. In nearly six years on the job, state Superintendent of Education John White has battled two governors, teacher unions and an assortment of an

White, who has held the job since 2012, is the longest continuously serving education superintendent in the nation.

He has survived pitched battles with former Gov. Bobby Jindal over Common Core and with Gov. John Bel Edwards, who in 2015 vowed to replace White but has been unable to do so.

White, who is paid $275,000 per year, operates on a month-to-month contract because of an impasse on BESE, which hired him.

Rouhanifard, who was superintendent in Camden, N.J., from 2013-18, has won praise for academic improvements made during his tenure running the hard-scrabble district.

Another leader of the effort is Sophia Pappas, former head of early childhood education efforts for public schools in New York City, who works for the George Kaiser Family Foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

White is a former deputy chancellor for the New York City Department of Education.
WASHINGTON  Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' executive order barring the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israel and the order's accompanying news release last May were both drafted by pro-Israel advocates, according to emails the Center for Public Integrity obtained for a report on Israel's influence in state government.

The news isn't an explosive revelation  Edwards has been vocal in his pro-Israel stance and previously has acknowledged that he issued the anti-boycott executive order after meeting with Israeli Consul General for the Southwestern United States Gilad Katz. A few months later, Edwards traveled to Israel with a group that included Katz for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And in January, Edwards participated in a Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans-sponsored evening reception recapping his trip.

Gov. Edwards discusses cyber security, partnership opportunities with Israel during meeting with Netanyahu JERUSALEM  Gov. John Bel Edwards and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday to discuss possible future partnerships on cyb

Gov. John Bel Edwards hoping Israel trip will pay off in research, economic development opportunities Gov. John Bel Edwards is hoping that a recent trip to Israel will strengthen Louisiana's connections to Israel and lay the groundwork for new 

But the new report sheds light on how the process was handled and the powerful pro-Israel groups who had a hand in its creation, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Israel Action Network, an American-based organization that advocates on behalf of Jewish interests in Israel and is part of the Jewish Federations of North America.

No state contracts, to date, have been directly challenged as being in conflict with the order or causing issue, according to the state Division of Administration.

Public Integrity reported drafts of the order and news release were sent to Edwards by Mithun Kamath, a lobbyist for the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and ex-campaign staffer for former Sen. Mary Landrieu.

The draft executive order had been reviewed by AIPAC and Israel Action Network, based on Kamath's emails Public Integrity obtained.

+2 Gov. John Bel Edwards bans state contracts with businesses that support Israel boycott Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued an executive order barring state agencies from doing business with any company that takes part in a

Gov. John Bel Edwards returns from Israel; See who joined him on the trip Gov. John Bel Edwards has returned to Louisiana after a week-long trip to Israel, promoting partnership and trade opportunities between the st

Influential lobbyist Ryan Haynie also was employed by the Federation to advance the issue and drafted a pro-Israel speech for Edwards.

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"Israel is America's closest ally in the Middle East and a beacon of democracy in the region," Edwards, a Democrat, said in the statement announcing his executive order last year. "The United States, and by affiliation Louisiana, have benefited in innumerable ways from our deep friendship with Israel. Any effort to boycott Israel is an affront to this longstanding relationship. I am pleased that Louisiana will join what is now a critical mass of states in supporting our closest ally."

Edwards' action was quickly praised by the Israel Action Network which also noted the significance of bipartisan passage of legislative resolutions commemorating the 70th anniversary of Israel and Louisiana's relationship with Israel.

These state actions address the discriminatory nature of BDS (the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement) and the ability for states to control their own commerce," JFNA senior vice president William Daroff said in a statement. "We thank the Governor and the many community activists who made this possible in Louisiana."

+6 Gov. John Bel Edwards tours Israel as people react to synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh JERUSALEM  Gov. John Bel Edwards laid a wreath for victims of the Holocaust as the world wrestled with brutal victimization back home.

+6 Gov. John Bel Edwards tours Biblically significant sites in Israel, continues security and business meetings TEL AVIV  Gov. John Bel Edwards and others with him on a diplomatic mission trip to Israel this week took in several of the country's Biblica

Meanwhile, the executive director for the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights called the move "sad" and said Edwards' order "trample(s) on the American Constitution to ensure a foreign country can evade accountability for human rights abuses."

Public Integrity used Louisiana and Edwards' order as an example of how the bitter debate over Israel has shifted to State Capitols and, more broadly, how special interest groups write public policy.

"Palestinian rights activists calling for people to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel have racked up policy victories over the last 14 years across the globe and in the U.S., particularly on university campuses," Public Integrity reports. "In response, pro-Israel advocates have taken the battle to state legislatures, where their lobbyists have worked with sympathetic lawmakers to shut down an effort they say threatens the very existence of a Jewish state."

Louisiana is one of 27 states that Public Integrity found to have enacted laws and executive orders at the behest of pro-Israel lobbyists.
A bid to launch the long-delayed La. Hwy. 415 connector in West Baton Rouge Parish, and ease traffic problems across the Baton Rouge area, breezed through a key Louisiana House committee Tuesday.

The measure, House Bill 578, would earmark $25 million a year for six years using a portion of proceeds from the 2010 Gulf oil spill.

Another $25 million would be used for five years to upgrade La. Hwy. 1 south between Golden Meadow and Leeville, as well as private funds.

Sen. Rick Ward III, R-Port Allen, who spoke in favor of the bill, said he thinks the legislation has a bright outlook.

"I think the prospects are very good," Ward said after the meeting. "Both projects have a significant impact not just where they sit but into the entire regions."

The measure cleared the all-important House Appropriations Committee without objection and next faces action on the House floor.

West Baton Rouge Parish was awarded a $5.5 million grant in 2017 for final plans on the connector.

+9 Bridge repairs on Mississippi River spell trouble across Baton Rouge area: 'It's a real mess' While bridge repairs continued Thursday on the west side of the Mississippi River, motorists scrambled through another day of traffic gridlock

But surveying work has been delayed for nearly two years on the $130 million upgrade.

Louisiana is getting $53.3 million per year for another 13 years from BP PLC to compensate the state for economic damages caused by the spill.

Under a 2014 state law, the money goes to the state's "rainy day" fund and into a trust fund for the elderly.

However, Senate leaders have previously raised the possibility of redirecting the money into highways amid the state's $14 billion backlog of road and bridge needs.

Ward said backups on the west side of the Mississippi River represent a chokepoint for the region, including in March when bridge repairs caused massive backups.

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+2 Emergency repairs to Intracoastal Bridge complete ahead of schedule; 2 southbound lanes open Repairs to the Intracoastal Waterway Bridge were finished Friday, about one week ahead of schedule and a step that state officials said will i

"It honestly gridlocked the entire five-parish region every morning and every evening and on some days it absolutely gridlocked the region for a 24-hour period non-stop," Ward told the committee.

"We have been looking for avenues to do something," he said.

The project would give commuters an alternative north-south route along the Intracoastal canal.

Motorists could use the La. 415/Lobdell exit that now dead-ends at the Intracoastal canal to reach a flyover that would connect with La. 1 south between Port Allen and Plaquemine.

Backups on La. 1 are daily fare, especially during morning and evening rush hours.

Backers of the bill noted that La. 1 is heavily used by big trucks servicing ExxonMobil and other plants along the corridor.

Jesse McCormick, lobbyist for Associated General Contractors, said while his group does not typically endorse specific projects this one is an exception.

McCormick noted that, under the plan, half of oil spill proceeds would eventually be used for bridges and preservation and the other half for new projects.

"It will be the largest single investment in the last 30 years for our roads," he said. "It is an incredible bill and a once in a lifetime opportunity."

The House sponsor of the bill is Rep. Tanner Magee, R-Houma.
In 1993, at 17 years old, I was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to a mandatory life sentence at Angola.

In 2014, my conviction was overturned with the help of the Innocence Project New Orleans. The judge who overturned my conviction found me factually innocent after it was proven that prosecutors had withheld evidence that would have helped my defense, and two people admitted they had been coerced into falsely accusing me.

Man freed from life sentence released again after arrest in murder case deemed 'not prosecutable' A man who was jailed over a 1993 murder last week immediately after he was freed from a life sentence for cocaine possession is finally out fr

I am the victim not only of prosecutors who violated the law, but also of our money bail system and the predatory bail bond industry.

After a judge overturned my conviction, the district attorney decided to reprosecute me. I wanted so badly to go home to my family; I had spent more time behind bars than I had lived as a free man. But I still could not go home because I could not afford to pay my $25,000 bond (itself reduced from a $250,000 bond).

I ended up spending an additional 18 days in jail while my family and friends borrowed enough money to pay for a bail bond. I felt ashamed that they had to raise money to purchase my freedom after the agony and humiliation they experienced during the 20 years I spent wrongfully incarcerated.

Freed Angola lifer John Floyd suing New Orleans police, DA's Office over his conviction, imprisonment A former Louisiana State Penitentiary inmate who had his murder conviction overturned has filed a suit in federal court, claiming he was wrong

After 14 months of relentless reprosecution, the district attorney eventually dropped my charges. But the bail bond company did not return any of the money I had paid them  even though I was found innocent.

Recently, however, I learned that the commissioner of insurance investigated the bail bond company that I paid and found that it had overcharged me for my bail bond. It was not just me. The commissioner found that dozens of bail bond companies have overcharged as many as 50,000 New Orleans families by an estimated $6 million. That is a lot of people and a lot of money!

After learning that I had been overcharged, I was angry. But I was also relieved, knowing that I and the other families would receive compensation.

I figured the bail bond industry would not be happy about having to return the money. But I did not expect that the Legislature would introduce a bill  SB 108  that would prohibit the insurance commissioner from ordering this money to be returned and another bill  HB 171  whose purpose is to protect the bail bond industrys profits.

It took 20 years for me to be exonerated. But it took only about a month for a bill to exonerate the bail bond industry that cheated my family and my community out of millions of hard-earned dollars.

Our elected representatives should applaud the insurance commissioner and encourage the bail bond industry to return the money they overcharged. I am baffled and disappointed to see the opposite happening.

Jerome Morgan

New Orleans
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A bill that would outlaw abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected by a doctor cleared a Senate committee 5-2 Tuesday after discussion over application and litigation costs.

Senate Bill 184 was authored by John Milkovich, D-Shreveport, who supports banning all abortions and who said it was a scientific fact that life begins at conception.

The bill does not specify when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. But ultrasounds generally can detect them around six or seven weeks of pregnancy  in some cases, later than many women discover theyre pregnant.

Most women first find out theyre pregnant between four and six weeks, according to The American Pregnancy Association.

Louisiana senator links vaccines, autism on Senate floor; officials say 'myth' causes measles resurgence A sitting Louisiana legislator linked vaccines to autism on the floor of the State Senate Monday, perpetuating a long-debunked theory on which

Several people came to testify in support of Milkovichs bill, but drawing the most attention was Jennifer McCoy, a woman from Wichita, Kansas, who served two and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit arson at an abortion clinic.

McCoy has also been linked to Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion extremist who admitted in 2009 to killing Dr. George Tiller of Women's Health Care Services, which services included late-term abortions.

The only exception the bill carves out is abortion in the case of preventing the death of the mother or risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.

Sen. Yvonne Colomb, D-Baton Rouge, offered an amendment  that ultimately failed  that would have carved out exceptions to the ban in cases of rape and incest. Milkovich said he opposed the amendment. but since he didnt have a vote on the committee, it initially passed without objection.

But later, when Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life Ben Clapper said he opposed the amendment, Sen. Bodi White, R-Baton Rouge, called a second vote.

I had doubts about the amendment, but I kept looking for someone in opposition  other than the author and I knew he would be in opposition. On my own, I cant tell, White said.

Sen. Bill Cassidy defends vaccinations after state lawmaker makes unfounded autism claims WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy took a state lawmaker to task on Tuesday after the Shreveport Democrat used his platform at the Louisiana

The committee then voted 4-2 to strip the amendment.

Ellie Schilling, a New Orleans attorney, said the bill would drastically cut the time a woman has to decide if she wants to have an abortion or carry her pregnancy to term. Schilling argued that this would contradict previous laws the Louisiana Legislature passed, like a bill extending the mandatory wait time for a woman to have an abortion from 24 hours to 72 hours.

By pushing the ban so early in pregnancy youre going to force people very quickly to make that decision, she said.

Since the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, courts traditionally have ruled that a state cannot ban abortion before viability, which is typically between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. Heartbeat bills and bills seeking bans at 15 weeks  like the one Louisiana passed last year  often are struck down in courts.

Several on the committee who were in favor of the bill questioned how it would work logistically and how providers would be held accountable.

You need to do some work on this bill, said White to Milkovich.

The bill now heads to the Senate floor.

Louisiana Senate committee passes bill to put the death penalty to a public vote in 2020 A bill that would let Louisiana residents vote on whether to ban the death penalty in the state advanced out of a Senate committee 4-2 Tuesday

The Rundown: Death penalty, sports betting, vaccines and more Louisiana politics news Today in The Rundown: Lawmakers are again trying to end the death penalty in Louisiana; sports betting cleared by the Senate; Cassidy pushes b
Influential industry lobby group the Business Council of Australia insists its members play a key role in developing all its policies amid claims of a building internal rebellion over climate change policy.

While the council supports Australia's commitment to the Paris Agreement it has faced criticism over its stance on climate change policies especially a social media reference to Labor's 45 per cent emissions target as "economy wrecking".

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) said it had now spoken to around 30 BCA members on the peak body's stance on climate issues.

"At least five or six have confirmed that they are unhappy with the situation," said Dan Gocher, the ACCR's director of climate and environment.
Nine Entertainment Co chief executive Hugh Marks maintains Disney's upcoming launch of its own video streaming platform does not preclude deal with Stan, saying he is still in discussions with all the global entertainment giants.

Nine's local video streaming business signed a short-term content arrangement with Disney in December, bringing shows like The Lion King and Toy Story onto the Stan platform. The agreement was widely considered a precursor to a more significant deal.

Nine Entertainment Co chief executive Hugh Marks at the Macquarie Conference.

Disney has since revealed the launch of direct-to-consumer streaming platform Disney+ by the end of 2019 in the US with a global roll-out to follow, leading to some skepticism from parts of the media industry that Nine would be able to secure a long-term deal. Nine is the owner of this masthead.

Mr Marks, at a Macquarie Conference on Wednesday, said Disney was now made up of three businesses since buying a swathe of Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox assets, with Disney content, Fox content and US television show and movie streaming platform Hulu.
3 FACES 

(M) 97 minutes

Jafar Panahi heads for wide-open spaces in 3 Faces  big news for fans of the Iranian director who was put under house arrest in 2011 and banned from making films for 20 years.

It was a sentence to which Panahi reacted with characteristic stoicism and courage, coupled with a singular ingenuity. He began by recording the housebound existence he was forced to lead and smuggling the resulting film out of the country on a thumb drive.

Then he made more movies as international support mounted and the regimes policies softened, to the point that he could take this trip across the country to tell a story about the hypocrisies that can come into play when an Iranian woman decides on a career in the arts.
It was pitifully easy to get the goods on Peter Killin.

Illustration: Matt Golding Credit:

The Liberal candidate for the Melbourne seat of Wills and his homophobic attack against his senior colleague Tim Wilson was seventh from the top of a Google search.

But it still seemed to surprise the party on Wednesday when journalists started calling to confirm it was that Peter Killin railing against Mr Wilson  one of Australias highest-profile openly gay politicians  in online comments made in December.

Killin was gone within hours, the sixth Victorian Liberal candidate to be dumped so far, with his resignation coming hours after the partys candidate for Isaacs, Jeremy Hearn, was sacked for hate-speech against Muslims last year.
The term "doctors' wives" was coined during the 2004 federal election to describe a purported demographic of middle-class women turning against John Howard because of his stance on moral issues such as the Iraq war and asylum seekers.

This campaign, in Tony's Abbott's Sydney seat of Warringah, it's more a case of "bankers' wives".

In the affluent streets of Manly, Balmoral and Beauty Point, many residents who have voted for the Liberals are turning their support to independent candidate and former Olympic skier Zali Steggall. Abbott, who has held the seat for 25 years and enjoys a healthy 11 per cent margin, finds himself in the fight of his political life.

Zali Steggall supporter Anna Josephson with her dog, Tass, at her Beauty Point home in the seat of Warringah. Credit:Janie Barrett

While some media reports have named several male finance heavyweights as backing Steggall, the Abbott backlash has been led by their well-connected wives.
Ninety per cent of patients having knee or hip replacements are obese or overweight at one NSW hospital, epitomising the heavy double burden of the obesity epidemic and ageing population on Australia's healthcare system.

Just one in 10 patients who underwent elective hip and knee replacement were of "normal" weight, the 10-month audit of 247 patients at the unidentified public hospital found.

Obese hip replacement patients are more resource intensive for hospitals, researchers say.

Obese patients accounted for 62 per cent, while 28 per cent were overweight.

"Very seriously obese" people - known medically as class 3 obese, with BMIs between 40 and 45 - accounted for 14 per cent of the joint replacement patients, while "seriously obese" - known as class 2, with BMIs between 35 and 39.9 - accounted for 20 per cent.
And while there have been some male victims in these cases, the overwhelming majority have been female.

In most cases (but not all), these behaviours have occurred in the context of a relationship that at some point involved actual or threatened physical violence.

For the past few years, we have been keeping track of cases in which offenders have been convicted of controlling or coercive behaviour in England and Wales, and the results reveal a range of deplorable behaviours. For example, some offenders have

Few issues have received as much attention in Australia in recent years as family violence. Yet for all the work that has been done, it is perhaps surprising to note that most of the above behaviours  with the exception of actual or threatened physical violence and stalking  are not criminal. (At least, they arent criminal unless a court has previously issued an intervention or protection order, but what message does it send to victims if the abuse they suffer is only criminal if it violates a court order?)

A number of Australian law reform bodies have considered introducing a new coercive control offence here. These include the Australian Law Reform Commission in 2010, the Special Taskforce on family violence in Queensland in 2015, and the Royal Commission into Family Violence in Victoria in 2016. However, all ultimately rejected this course of action.

But most of these decisions were made before the UK laws came into effect, or at least before we knew how such an offence would work in practical terms. That is no longer the case.

Now that we know what sorts of behaviours this offence would target, it is time to ask again: should coercive control be made a crime in Australia?

The Victorian Law Reform Commission certainly seems to think so. It was recently asked to consider whether family violence victims should be entitled to compensation from the state if they have been subjected to non-physical abuse, even though it is not yet a crime. The commission rejected that approach, and instead suggested the more appropriate response would be to criminalise such conduct.
Islamic leaders deserve recognition and support for their move to send moderate preachers to universities to pre-empt radicalisation. The threat is real and has chilling precedent. Security agencies have learnt Islamic State is particularly targeting Australians, including students. The insidious methodology is well-established: radicals approach potential recruits at universities and mosques and via the internet before shepherding them into chat rooms.

The Victorian Board of Imans is linking moderate imams with campuses. Credit:Joe Armao

Some of the members  including the ringleader  of the Islamist extremist group that perpetrated the September 11, 2001, US attacks were recruited while at university.

The Victorian Board of Imans decision comes as evidence emerges that a suspected organiser of the Easter Sunday attacks by Islamist extremists in Sri Lanka, which killed 253 and injured twice that number, studied at the same time at the same Melbourne university as two other terrorists. Sri Lanka has more than three times the Muslim population of Australia, yet Australia is believed to have produced three times as many radicalised Islamists as Sri Lanka.

Campuses are the place they [radical preachers] can find a base for their hate ... particularly among international students who are not familiar with the positive relationship Australian Muslims have with other Australians, the boards deputy secretary, Alaa el Zokm, states. Unqualified firebrand preachers are, he says, propagating hate against other religions.
Two buildings have gone up in flames and covered the heart of Brisbane in a smoky haze on Thursday morning, with more than a dozen fire crews battling the blaze, which is now under control.

Eleven fire crews, totalling more than 30 firefighters, managed to contain the flames to the two buildings.

Emergency services raced to the boarding house and commercial building on Vulture Street in South Brisbane just after 6am.

The fire started in the boarding house and partially spread to the commercial building next door.
Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer's lawyer has confirmed $7 million has been paid into a trust account to pay workers laid off from his Townsville nickel refinery three years ago.

The principal of Alexander Law, Sam Iskander, told reporters in Townsville on Tuesday the money had been received and the legal firm would be processing the sacked workers' claims.

Clive Palmer's lawyer Sam Iskander (right) said 69 claims had already been made by former workers and the first payments were expected within 10 days. Credit:AAP

Mr Iskander said 69 claims had already been made by former workers and the first payments were expected within 10 days.

Mr Palmer he said he expected there could be 335 claims in total during the four-month window to make a claim, after which the money would be returned to his company.
Colin Dean can no longer work as a stonemason. About six weeks ago, the 52-year-old was diagnosed with silicosis, a deadly lung disease that causes cancer and scars the lungs.

Until the past decade, he had worked mainly with bluestone, marble and granite. But the rising popularity of stone kitchen benchtops led to the increased use of cheaper artificial materials, which contain much higher amounts of crystalline silica.

Former stonemason Colin Dean has been diagnosed with silicosis.

The Rushworth man didn't know it at the time, but ingesting the dust would have dire health conseqeunces.

"For the last two or three years I was short on breath, but I put it down to being a little bit unfit or my age. Obviously it wasn't that," he said.
When Shan Windscript started teaching history at Melbourne University five years ago, she didnt imagine she would be paid "starvation wages".

Ms Windscript, a PhD student, said she cleared just over $300 a week for about 20 hours' work at the prestigious university.

"I have to support myself living on starvation wages," she said.

"I have to work seven days a week just to simply earn a living wage and that ultimately and inevitably affects my PhD research. So I feel that if I keep doing this Im trapped in this casual teaching, tutoring trap."
A few years ago, my family benefited from the help of an excellent au pair from Germany. In the vein of Mary Poppins, she was practically perfect in every way, except for one minor fault: she had an annoying habit of musing out loud on the perceived inadequacies of Australia compared with her home country and frequently started sentences with, In Germany ... Cue meditation on German superiority.

It happened so often that it become a kind of joke in our family, something my husband and I still mimic with a bit of a giggle.

Labor has promised to increase the wages of privately employed early childhood educators by 20 per cent. Credit:Gabriele Charotte

I thought of this when Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan went on the ABC to warn that Labors proposed childcare shake-up  including subsidies that would see free childcare offered to the majority of families earning up to $69,000, higher subsidies for families on incomes up to $174,000, and a commitment to address the appallingly low wages of early years educators in this female dominated sector  was a fast track to a socialist, if not a communist, economy".

Oh dear, just two weeks into a federal election campaign and already were invoking the spectre of the communist bogey man. That was fast.
Two inspiring Aussie mum police officers  one of whom is also a cancer survivor  have initiated a charity running event which now has more than 400 participants both in Australia and overseas.

Tammy Watson and Natalee Cunningham are raising money for Police Legacy.

WA Police officer Natalee Cunningham and Northern Territory cop Tammy Watson became friends last year not only due to their line of work and the fact they are both mums, but also through a mutual love of running.

They met in person for the first time at the Police and Emergency Services Games in Mandurah last year and soon after instigated the Run4Blue charity event in an effort to raise money for Police Legacy families across Australia.

Police Legacy looks after widows, widowers and dependent children around Australia who are left behind when a police officer passes away.
A former Mandurah police sergeant will be sentenced later this year after he pleaded guilty to five child sex offences.

Andrew James Maher, 42, was charged with two counts of exposing a child under 13 years of age to indecent matter, and three counts of using electronic communication with intent to expose a person under 16 years of age to indecent matter.

Andrew Maher. Credit:Kate Hedley

The offences were committed on October 2 and 3, 2017, and he was arrested after an investigation by the Child Abuse Squad.

He appeared in the Perth District Court last Friday and pleaded guilty to all charges.
Loading Demographically appropriate people, food and wine offerings, native animals and sunsets, he said. It becomes our nature versus your nature; an arms race in which everyones racing to the bottom. In this industry, having the greatest hits  wilderness, or fantastic wine regions  offered only more competition, and that competition was inevitably rigged by the size of your advertising budget. In this environment, places needed to find what made them different.

In his search, Mr Taylor has scoured Perth, Fremantle, Mandurah, the Perth Hills and the Swan Valley. Hes been to Esperance, the Porongorups, Albany, Denmark, Geraldton, Broome, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Busselton, Bunbury, to name a few. Hes spoken to everyone from Perths biggest hospitality providers to vineyard owners to mum-and-dad tour operators. And its his job to distil it not into a campaign slogan or a colour scheme  that will later be the job of an ad agency  but to write whats essentially a story. A manifesto, as he calls it. Its about finding whats different and weaving it into a story everyone can see themselves in, he said.

WAtoday asked if in his quest for the 'different', hed heard the same things this publications reader surveys on Perth branding identified, such as embarrassingly quiet city spaces, or a city where everything shuts at 5pm or everyones in bed by 9pm. Mr Taylor grinned and said hed heard many such responses. Id love to give spoilers but Id end up annoying boards, he said. He was more forthcoming when asked about the good that would be held up alongside the 'different'.

You have the coastal seascapes, possibly the best medium-sized city on the planet, you have the global biodiversity hotspots, the prehistoric landscapes of the Kimberley, the second-largest Mediterranean landscape in the world, the sea people of Geraldton and Broome, he said. Tasmania, Mr Taylor said, had before his intervention been marketing itself with nature-focused slogans that made it largely interchangeable with destinations such as New Zealand and Alaska. He refocused Tassie on the weird, the quirky and the spooky; the challenging aspects of its indigenous history, and its contradictions  such as being both the birthplace of the Greens and Australias largest exporter of woodchips. Its the tension between those two things that makes Tasmania interesting, he said. Isolation was another major factor, and thats something Tasmania and WA have in common.

Elements of WA's 'brand narrative' will form part of the criteria of a separate creative process, a tender for which was advertised between December and February, with the successful tender yet to be announced. Tasmanias brand narrative manifested in campaign material that included the tagline "go behind the scenery". If youd gone in 2012 and just said, go and make a campaign that says go behind the scenery, youd have been shown the door immediately, Mr Taylor said. "The scenery is what they were marketing above all else. But if you say [go behind it], you are implying a cultural experience behind the scenery. As a visitor you can access a place through its people.

Loading Some of Tasmanias marketing materials [to come from the brand strategy] ended up highlighting the surfing sushi chef, the canyon chaser, the bushie. WA's people and culture were as unique as Tasmania's, according to Mr Taylor. The diversity and breadth of locations in WA is staggering, he said. Its the size of Tasmania, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales together. Tourism can be very concerned with surface.

But locations [such as Tasmania and Western Australia] arent flop and drop locations. It means you have to work harder when you go there, but you get more reward for your effort. There is the opportunity to turn the camera around and focus on the people  it can be as powerful, if not more powerful, than scenery. He cautioned that there were other major factors influencing international tourism, including the experience on the ground, the accessibility of the location, and the economic conditions of source countries. A brand was only one of these. But all the factors seem to be lining up for WA, he said.
They came for ratings but they ended up with dead teenagers instead. In March 2017, Netflix released 13 Reasons Why, a teen drama that infamously depicted the graphic suicide of the shows protagonist. At the time of its release, mental health experts came out in droves to perform a new-age form of damage control, giving guidelines to the parents of young viewers.

A scene from 13 Reasons Why, a Netflix series that deals with suicide and depression. Credit:Netflix

They condemned Netflix for its shortsighted decision-making and its overlooking of the evidence on suicide contagion (exposure to suicide resulting in increased behaviour) in this vulnerable demographic.

This week the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry released a paper that confirmed the worst fears of clinicians, like myself, who were on the ground as the show was released, responding to an influx of adolescents in crisis.

After taking into account the trend of increasing youth suicide, the number of 10 to 17-year-olds who killed themselves in the US in the month after 13 Reasons Why was released was almost 30 per cent above average. The impact on young people in Australia was not included in this study, but at the time headpsace, the youth mental health project, described a spike in its crisis calls, searches for suicide content online increased, and clients in my clinical practice would often bring up the show.
Not unlike the epic Game of Thrones television series, the final stages of the 2019 election battle are finally upon us.

After what seemed like an eternally long phoney war, the political forces of both parties are spread far across the land, fighting hand to hand in marginal seats, where the weapon of choice is not swords and arrows, but local grants and free sporting amenities.

Which way will voters swing this time? Illustration: Dionne Gain Credit:

Which side will ultimately seize the upper hand? We dont have long to wait now to find out.

At such times, its handy to step back and consider the vast sweep of Australian political history.
Film legend Baz Luhrmann will film his next blockbuster in Queensland, delving into the life of Elvis Presley.

Despite Presley having never visited Australia, Luhrmann will make a biopic on the life of the King at Village Roadshow on the Gold Coast.

The film production is expected to inject more than $105 million into the Queensland economy.

"He is bringing a bit of Memphis to Mudgeeraba, a bit of Graceland to Gaven, in summer we can certainly bring the sultry humidity of the deep south," Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

The role of Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager and a key part of the film, will be played by dual Oscar winner Tom Hanks.
Victoria's parliament has placed animal activists in its sights, vowing to review the state's legal protections for farmers against trespassing animal rights activists.

The Andrews government is supporting the Liberal and Nationals parties' push for a state parliamentary committee to consider the effectiveness of current laws in deterring activists.

About 150 animal rights activists blocked the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets in Melbourne, calling for an end to animal cruelty. Credit:Zach Hope

But anti-cruelty campaigners say the public would never learn about what happens on farms and in abattoirs if it weren't for the aggressive tactics of a handful of "brave whistleblowers".

The parliamentary push comes weeks after dozens of vegans shut down Melbourne's CBD and took over farms and slaughterhouses, as part of co-ordinated animal rights protests across the country.
Jakarta: The controversial redevelopment of the Sari Club Bali bombing site into a five-storey restaurant is on hold again, with proponents of a Peace Park due to fly in to Denpasar and meet the owners early next week.

The first stone of the new development was due to be laid on Wednesday and full construction work was due to begin on May 9.

During a press conference as recently as Monday, Rini Sekartiani Jaya, a spokeswoman for the family of the land owners said: "there's no on-going negotiation. It's up to their side [the Bali Peace Park association]. But we are open for communication."

She said that the construction time table would proceed as planned.

But Made Badra, the head of Badung tourism office, confirmed on Wednesday there had been a "rapid change in the situation".
Seoul: Thousands of trade union members and activists are marking May Day by marching through Asia's capitals and demanding better working conditions.

A South Korean major umbrella trade union issued a joint statement with a North Korean workers' organisation calling for the Koreas to push ahead with engagement commitments made during a series of inter-Korean summits last year.

Myanmar workers holding a placard that reads "Government to sign 98 facts of ILO law," shout slogans on May 1, demanding workers' rights. Credit:AP

Many of the plans agreed between the Koreas, including joint economic projects, have been held back by a lack of progress in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

May Day rallies are also being held in the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar and elsewhere in Asia.
London: A man charged with the murder of his Australian fiancee allegedly bashed her to death with a metal bar following the deterioration of the relationship, a court has heard.

Roderick Deakin-White allegedly killed his partner Amy Parsons at their home in Whitechapel, in east London, on April 25.

Amy Parsons' body was found in the couple's London apartment following a call over concerns for her welfare. Credit:ninevms

The 37-year-old graphic designer was charged with her murder. He appeared at the Old Bailey court in London on Wednesday via video link from Thameside prison.

The court heard Deakin-White allegedly hit his 35-year-old partner with a metal bar and then tried to take his own life.
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May has sacked her Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, saying an investigation suggested he was to blame for leaking discussions about Chinese telecoms company Huawei from her National Security Council.

Last week it emerged that Britain would allow Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network, seeking a middle way in a bitter dispute between the United States and China over the next generation of communications technology.

Gavin Williamson was sacked after leaking top secret information from the National Security Council. Credit:Bloomberg

The NSC is a forum in which senior cabinet ministers discuss top secret national security information, and the leak, first reported in national newspapers, sparked anger in Parliament.

May wrote to Williamson that an investigation into the leaks had provided "compelling evidence suggesting your responsibility for the unauthorised disclosure".
EyesOn DESIGN 2019







The 2019 EyesOn Design weekend of events will once again pay tribute to some of the most beautiful automotive design in the world.

The activities begin with Vision Honored, a black tie gala and silent auction at the MGM Grand in Detroit on Friday June 14, honoring Leonardo Fioravanti, recipient of the 2019 EyesOn Design Lifetime Design Achievement Award.







Signore Fioravanti will come to Detroit from Turin, Italy to receive the award and to attend the EyesOn Design car show on Father's Day, June 16.

Many Fioravanti-designed vehicles will be on hand at Vision Honored, and at the Sunday car show, including the car featured on the 2019 commemorative poster, a spectacular blue 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona owned by Keith Crain.

EyesOn Design, recognized two years running by USA Today as one of the top five car shows in the country, is the primary source of revenue for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, supporting research, education and support programs for the visually impaired.

Tickets for both events are available for purchase. Here are some details about the Sunday automotive design exhibition, which includes an optional champagne brunch along Lake St. Clair.

1100 Lake Shore Road, Grosse Pointe Shores, MI

Vehicles are chosen based on the years theme by invitation only, and between 200 and 300 vehicles are at the show on Fathers Day. In addition, EyesOn Design features special exhibitions and concept and production vehicles which debuted during the previous years auto show circuit, including ones which were awarded at EyesOn Design at the North American International Auto Show.

EyesOn Design receives its support from both domestic and foreign vehicle manufacturers, as well as automotive suppliers and other loyal companies. Judging is facilitated by active and retired exterior and interior designers from leading automotive and supplier companies.
Mazda NA Reports April 2019 Sales Results







IRVINE, Calif. (May 1, 2019)  Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported total April sales of 19,702 vehicles, a decrease of 14.5 percent compared to April 2018. Year-to-date sales through April saw a decrease of 15.4 percent, with 90,535 vehicles sold. With 25 selling days in April, compared to 24 the year prior, the company posted a decrease of 18 percent on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis.

CPO sales totaled 5,195 vehicles in April, an increase of 27 percent compared to April 2018. Year-to-date CPO sales through April increased 20 percent, with 19,052 vehicles sold.

Mazda Motor de Mexico (MMdM) reported its best ever April with monthly sales of 4,295 vehicles, an increase of 2 percent compared to April last year. Year-to-date sales through April increased 18 percent, with 20,484 vehicles sold.

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.
The ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, officials from central and provincial authorities, heroic Vietnamese Mothers, former soldiers, visitors and local residents.

During the Vietnam War, the Ben Hai River was the natural landmark that separated northern and southern Vietnam and the Hien Luong Bridge crossing the river was a symbol of the agony of partition and the aspiration for reunification.

In his speech at the flag-raising ceremony, Quang Tri Secretary Nguyen Van Hung recalled the wartime years when the province was the fiercest battlefield and the direct home-front of the southern battleground.

Despite being blasted with dozens of tonnes of bombs, ammunition and toxic chemicals, the people of Quang Tri remained steadfast and held onto their land until the final victory.

The province was liberated in 1972 and, after 47 years since liberation, Quang Tri has gradually overcome its difficulties to record significant achievements in all fields.

The flag-raising ceremony was an occasion to look back on the memories of a heroic period, honour the brilliant feats and pay tribute to the enormous sacrifices of the previous generations.

After the ceremony, Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh paid a visit to the Truong Son National Cemetery, Route 9 Cemetery and the ancient citadel of Quang Tri.

Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh leads a delegation to walk on the Hien Luong Bridge from the northern bank to the southern bank of the Ben Hai River.

Balloons are released to mark the reunification of northern and southern Vietnam.
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,
Robin Robinson did not win her bid for re-election as Recorder of Deeds. While she is disappointed, she reflects on her past four years in office: When I came into office in January 2018 there was much that I did not know about the Recorder of Deeds office. Having worked for a title agency prior to my time as executive...
Its been an exciting day, Rister said after the event. The presentations were great, and with the six advancing to the finals, the judging will be even more difficult tomorrow than it was today. Seeing the former students, mentors and donors tonight has been fantastic.

Rister said that those who complete the course refer to themselves as AGEC 425 Survivors, and multiple students said it was among the most time-intensive  and rewarding  classes they took while at A&M. He added the course predates the symposium, back to 1987.

Rister described the former student support, both from those who went through the program and from those whose time at A&M predates it, as outstanding.

Their reasoning is, We didnt have it when we were students, we know what it means, and we want to help grow the next generation,  Rister said, crediting Texas Farm Credit CEO Mark Miller especially for articulating that perspective. Texas Farm Credit is slated to sponsor the symposium at least for the next four years, Rister said.

A number of former students who now work in myriad business enterprises attended, including 2018 graduate Caden Eary.
In the classroom, Hancock said, her two favorite things are the units on colors and pottery. The most fun, though, is when she gets to try new things with the students and see what works.

Every time, she said, the students creations have more personality than her example because of their ideas and mistakes.

The ability to fail and try again is the most important lesson students can learn in art, Hancock said.

A mistake is not the end, she said. Sometimes, the mistake is the best thing that happens all day, and you end up with something really, really cool that you didnt even imagine before. We call it a beautiful oops. Its an opportunity. Its not the end.

Hancock advised anyone thinking of going into teaching to do it only if they love kids more than the idea of sharing knowledge or changing the future through their students.

Life is tough on kids these days, and its just so important that they know that you love them or know that you like them. ... I think that you make the biggest impact with the way that you treat kids, and if they believe that youre an adult thats appropriate and kind and that you see good in them because some of them dont see kind, appropriate adults that say anything positive to them or give them any kind of hope that things are going to be better for them in the future, she said. Sometimes were it: the nicest person that they see all day or the most trustworthy person that they see all day.

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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department identified the suspect as Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22. They said he's in custody with charges pending.

Monifa Drayton, an adjunct professor, was walking onto campus when she heard the shots. She said she directed students fleeing the scene to take cover inside a parking deck.

"I heard one final gunshot and I saw all the children running toward me," she said. "We started to get all the children pulled into the second floor of the parking deck and the rationale was if we're in the parking deck and there's a shooter and we don't know where he is, he won't have a clear shot."

She added: "My thought was, I've lived my life, I've had a really good life, so, these students deserve the same. And so, whatever I could do to help any child to safety, that's what I was going to do."
A revolution is coming in the new season of Handmaid's Tale!

The official full-length trailer for season 3 has dropped and we're getting a few clues on what to expect from the new season. It picks up after Offred chose to remain in the oppressove regime of Gilead in an attempt to save her daughter.

June appears to try and enlist former enemies Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) and Serena Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) as new allies in her battle against the patriarchal society.

'Heresy, that's what you get punished for,' June narrates as the trailer opens.

'Not for being part of the resistance, because officially there is no resistance. Not for helping people escape, because officially there is no such thing as escape,'



Hatching her plan, June continues, 'If I'm going to change things, I'm going to need allies: Allies with power,' as Aunt Lydia and Serena appear.

The trailer also shows June reuniting and having a flirty exchange with love interest Nick.

June's friend Moira (Samira Wily), who successfully fled the regime to Canada, also makes an appearance.

In a tense exchange with Serena, June is seen telling her 'As Mrs Waterford you have influence,' to which she responds 'Up to a point.'

The duo smoke cigarettes as they appear to conspire while sitting alongside each other by an indoor pool.

The end of the trailer shows June and Serena standing in a burning building.

The new season comes out June 3rd.
London Eisenbeis, 10, tragically passed away when her heart condition was triggered by the excitement of going on a waterslide in Feb. 18, 2018. (London Strong Foundation)

10-Year-Old Girl Dies From Excitement on Slide She Waited Two Years to Ride

A 10-year-olds excitement to ride a giant water slide for the first time triggered a dormant heart condition, leading to the little girls tragic death.

London Eisenbeis, 10, had waited for two years to be tall enough to ride the 270-foot Super Loop Speed Slide at a water park in Michigan, the Daily Mail reported. When she finally went to ride the slide in February last year with her parents and sister, tragedy struck.

London looked at her dad, gave two thumbs up and smiled, went down the slide and came out in cardiac arrest, Tina Eisenbeis told The Sun. The excitement threw her rhythm.

Londons heart was thrown into an abnormal rhythm as her adrenaline spiked. She went into cardiac arrest as she dropped down the four-story slide.

The girls family were unaware at the time that London had been living with a heart conditionLong QT Syndrome.

There were no signs of the condition, she just dropped, Eisenbeis told the outlet. The day before she had been doing flips in the air.

Londons mother realized something was wrong after hearing a whistle going off and children and parents evacuating the pools.

When she walked over to find out the source of the commotion, a parents worst nightmare became her reality.

[My husband] was looking down and there were sheets up and I knew it was one of my kids, she told the outlet. It was an awful thing.

London was transported to hospital, where she remained for nine days on life support.

The little girl sadly passed away on Feb. 27.

Londons mother told The Sun that at the time of the incident, her daughter did not receive any medical assistance from a defibrillatora portable device that helps electrically restore function to a heart that had stopped beating.

Eisenbeis told the publication that she believes using a defibrillator could have saved Londons life.

Since the little girls death, her parents have established a non-profit foundation called London Strong, which offers CPR training classes raises funds for defibrillators to be fitted in locations around the community.

She hopes the work of the foundationand spreading the word of the circumstances of her daughters tragic deathcan save lives.

The 17-Story Slide that Killed Caleb Schwab

The 10-year-olds tragic death recalls the case of Caleb Schwab, who was killed while going down a 17-story-tall Verruckt (German for insane) waterslide at Kansas Citys Schlitterbahn Water Park on Aug. 7, 2016.

Caleb, also 10, was going down the slide when he went airborne and hit a metal rod that held the safety netting in place, resulting in the boys decapitation.

The two other passengers in the raft, sisters Hannah Barnes and Matraca Baetz, both suffered serious facial injuries, The Mirror reported.

Several people have faced criminal charges in connection with the incident.

Among them were two Schlitterbahn maintenance employees, David Hughes and John Zalsman, both acquitted on Oct. 18, 2018.

A judge also dismissed second-degree murder charges on Feb. 22 against the water park owner, the designer of the 17-story slide, and a general contractor.

Wyandotte County Judge Robert Burns cited improper evidence in dropping second-degree murder charges against Schlitterbahn owner Jeff Henry, designer John Schooley, and general contractor Henry and Sons Construction Co. The judge also dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against operations manager Tyler Miles, The Kansas City Star reported.

While making his ruling, Burns noted the tragedy of Calebs death.

I obviously recognize that the circumstances and events giving rise to these indictments are indisputably tragic, Burns said. A young childs life was lost and his troubling death was mourned by family, friends and the entire Kansas City community and beyond.

Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio said in a statement: We welcome todays decision which dismissed the charges against all defendants. We are thankful for all the support and encouragement weve received.

The evidence included video from a Travel Channel show documenting construction of the Verruckt, in which Henry and others emphasized the risks to riders on a raft dropping 17 stories before climbing a second, 50-foot hump.

Part of the reason a Wyandotte County judge dismissed the #Schlitterbahn case is because the Kansas AG office improperly presented this Travel Channel video of the Verruckt.

A child died on the ride which resulted in claims of negligence by the owners. @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/TB50uTYF6a  Steven Dial (@StevenDialTV) February 22, 2019

The slide never operated again and has been torn down.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Two missing Maine boys were found safe on April 30, 2019, according to police. (Presque Isle Police Department)

2 Missing Maine Boys Found Safe, Father Arrested: Police

Two young brothers from Maine, who were believed to be taken by their father, were found safe on April 30, according to police.

Presque Isle Police Department officers said in a statement that they had located Joel Strother II, 12, and Carter Strother III, 10, in North Carolina. Their father Joel Strother has been taken into custody.

We have great news! The children have been located and are safe! The father Joel Strother has been arrested and is  Presque Isle Police Department  2019430

During the investigation, detectives determined the father had possibly taken both children in a 2006 metallic or pewter colored GMC Terrain with temporary paper registration plates to Florida on April 26. In an earlier post, police said the children could have also been taken to North or South Carolina.

A felony-level warrant was issued for the arrest of Strother last week.

As we continue to investigate this case involving Joel Strother we have determined he is operating a 2006  Presque Isle Police Department  2019430

We need your help! The Presque Isle Police Department is seeking information on the whereabouts of two children. The  Presque Isle Police Department  2019426

Authorities said on April 29 that they were able to contact Strother, who refused to cooperate with law enforcement.

Thank you to all of you for your shares, comments and tips regarding Joel and Carter Strother! We have had a phone  Presque Isle Police Department  2019429

Authorities said information about the childrens whereabouts came from a tip from someone who saw the police Facebook post appealing for information from the public.

Thank you everyone out there on Face Book! Because of you all sharing this information and getting the word out, we had a very happy outcome, the statement read.

According to the FBI, there were over 424,000 National Crime Information Center entries of missing children in 2018.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said they have assisted law enforcement in more than 25,000 cases in 2018. Of those, four percent of cases are family abductions, while 92 percent are endangered runaways.
Chinese businessman and CEO Tiens Group, Li Jinyuan (C), parades in Nice as part of a celebration for the 20th anniversary of his company, on May 8, 2015. His company was revealed to be running a pyramid scheme. (VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Officials Bribery Case Reveals Dangerous Pyramid Scheme Operated by Billionaire

A recent Chinese court verdict sentencing an internet censorship official to prison for corruption crimes has revealed a darker web of misdeeds by a billionaire entrepreneur who once bribed him.

In March, the Beijing Municipal Court sentenced Chen Hua, former deputy director at the Beijing office of the Cyberspace Administration, to nine years imprisonment and a 600,000 yuan (about $90,000) fine for graft. He was found guilty of embezzling more than 3.2 million yuan (about $475,000), and accepting bribes of more than 1.05 million yuan.

One of his beneficiaries was Li Jinyuan, founder and chairman of Tiens Group, which is headquartered in nearby Tianjin City. The court found that between 2006 and 2013, Li paid Chen roughly 880,000 yuan in bribes.

Following the court verdict, media attention turned to Li and his companyrevealed to be running a pyramid scheme that resorted to violent tactics to recruit staff.

Li founded the company in 1995 as a business selling health supplements and skincare, cosmetics, and household products. By 2018, Tiens was ranked 214th on a listing of Chinas top 500 privately owned enterprises compiled by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a national chamber of commerce.

Li had big ambitions for the company. According to a Dec. 29, 2018, report by Chinese state-run media The Paper, Li repeatedly said the companys goal was to make the Fortune Global 500 List. By the end of 2018, Tiens Group claimed to have branches in 110 countries.

Pyramid Scheme and Recruitment Efforts

On Jan. 7, the state-run Beijing Daily ran an expose revealing that Tiens Groups business model was actually a pyramid scheme, operating under the name of direct selling. Through misleading advertising, Tiens duped millions of customers into believing the purported benefits of the health supplements it was selling, which were, in fact, phony, according to the report.

The company had been operating like a criminal enterprise, responsible for multiple deaths through its aggressive recruiting practices, the report claimed.

A search on the online portal for Chinas Supreme Court reveals that a company named Tianjin Tiens was the subject of 2,781 criminal cases brought by local authorities, alleging that the firm committed crimes in its business operations. Tiens has been convicted of running multi-level marketing activities, considered illegal in China. Other criminal allegations involve illegal detention, intentional injury, robbery, involuntary manslaughter, and murder that resulted in a total of 155 deaths, according to the court cases.

They all fall into the same pattern. Company staff tried to recruit new members by inviting the victim to a secret place, under the pretense of dating or other social activities. Then the victim would be forced to join the company, the court cases revealed. If the new member refused to join, the company staff would resort to inhumane torture methods or intimidation to coerce them.

Prior to the most recent bribery case, several media reported horrific details of the torture. For example, a March 2014 report by the state-run Guangzhou Daily revealed that perpetrators poured hot water onto victims.

Strangely, Tiens Group remained unaffected. Over the years, the company issued several public notices on its website, claiming that the Tianjin Tiens firm mentioned in media reports had nothing to do with Tiens Group.

Chinese authorities and media didnt announce any further investigations into Tiens claims of innocence.

Moreover, Chinas state-run media Xinhua sang high praises for Li Jinyuan in a March 2018 article.

The article described Li as a patriotic entrepreneur who became extremely successful through perseverance, moral integrity, and having big dreams.

Serving the country through industrial development is Li Jinyuans true wish, the Xinhua article wrote. This year, his goal is to create a world-renowned Chinese national brand.

Tianjin Tiens is, in fact, Tiens Group.

In January, Chinese state media began to change its tone, accusing Li and his company of swindling and killing people.

As often happens in Chinas political environment, a shift in media attitudes means falling out of favor with the Chinese authorities.

Flaunting His Wealth

Following the bribery case, Li was labeled a national enemy and Chinese media began digging into his lavish lifestyle.

According to an April 17 report by Chinese news portal Sohu, Li owns a mysterious mansion complex in Tianjin, 100 acres in size, surrounded by a 10-foot high fence.

The complex was modeled after the royal palace during the Tang Dynasty. Li paid 1 billion yuan ($149 million) for the furnishings alone, and bought 15 swans. Media have since reported that the palace was demolished by authorities.

According to Tiens Groups official website, it has held annual company-wide celebrations in six countries: Russia, Thailand, Germany, Indonesia, Kenya, and France.

At a 2002 party in Germany, Li rewarded the firms top performing salespersons with 100 BMW limousines, 43 private yachts, 32 private jets, and six luxury villas, according to the Sohu report.

In May 2015, to celebrate Tienss 20th anniversary, the company paid for 6,400 of its employees to go on a four-day holiday tour to France and Monaco. Li booked 140 hotels in Paris, and more than 4,700 rooms in Cannes and Monaco for their trip.

Who is Tiens Groups Secret Supporter?

Known as the richest person in Tianjin, Li started to accumulate wealth when Zhang Lichang was the citys Party boss. Later, when Dai Xianglong was the citys deputy Party boss and Zhang Gaoli became Party boss, Li got even more political support.

The companys website showcased pictures of Li with top officials, including former Politburo Standing Committee member Luo Gan, former propaganda boss Li Changchun, and former head of Chinas rubber-stamp legislature Wu Bangguo. There is also a picture of Li shaking hands with the former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin. All aforementioned officials are known members of the Jiang faction, who are loyal to Jiang and oppose the current leadership under Xi Jinping.

Since Xi took power in 2012, he has launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign to rid the Party of misbehaving officialswho were often also members of the Jiang faction.

Those senior officials Li once took photos with have all retired from politics.

With another backer, Chen Hua, being sacked, Li could be next. As of press time, Lis company is still operating. The whereabouts of Li are unknown.

No punishment has been announced for Li or his company.
AG Barr Concerned That Steele Dossier Was Russian Disinformation

Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday he is reviewing whether the infamous Steele dossier was a product of Russian disinformation.

Barr made the explosive revelation during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing regarding the results of the special counsels probe. The investigation severely undercut the Democrat-funded Steele dossier, which alleged a well-developed conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian government.

Barr was asked about the origins of the dossier during an exchange with Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

Can we state with confidence that the Steele dossier was not part of the Russian disinformation campaign? asked Cornyn, a Republican.

Barr replied: No, I cant state that with confidence and that is one of the areas that Im reviewing. Im concerned about it, and I dont think its entirely speculative.

If the dossier was indeed the product of disinformation, it would mark a significant twist in the Russia probe. The Democratic National Committee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons campaign financed the dossier, which former British spy Christopher Steele wrote. The dossier, which Steele provided to the FBI as well as to reporters, has served as a roadmap of sorts for the conspiracy theory that President Donald Trump and members of his campaign colluded with Russia.

Special counsel Robert Mueller said in a report of his 22-month investigation that there was no evidence that members of the Trump campaign conspired with Russians to interfere in the 2016 campaign. Mueller was also unable to establish that Trump associates acted as agents of Russia.

The report said former Trump attorney Michael Cohen did not visit Prague, as Steele claimed. The former British spy, who relied on Russian sources and others who claimed to have links to the Trump campaign, claimed that Cohen visited the European city in order to meet with Kremlin insiders to discussing paying off computer hackers.

Steele also made the salacious allegation that the Kremlin has a blackmail video of Trump with Russian prostitutes in Moscow in 2013. No evidence of the video has surfaced. The Mueller report cites one witness who claimed to have heard a rumor about a tape of Trump that they believed to be false.

Muellers findings have led to additional scrutiny that Steele, a former MI6 officer who worked in Moscow, was provided with disinformation from his Russian sources.

Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief who worked in Russia, has said he believes the dossier was a disinformation tool used by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hoffman wrote in The Wall Street Journal in January 2018 that it was possible Russians who hacked Democrats computer networks learned about Steeles efforts to investigate Trump and decided to plant false information.

Hoffman recently told The Daily Caller News Foundation he hopes that U.S. intelligence officials are conducting a counterintelligence investigation into the origins of the dossier.

Steele was hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS in April 2016 to investigate Trumps ties to Russia. He has acknowledged in court depositions that he could have been fed disinformation by his Russian sources, but he claimed he was trained to spot such efforts.

By Chuck Ross

From Daily Caller News Foundation

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on June 13, 2013. Mueller testified on the oversight of the FBI. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Agreement Reached to Have Mueller Testify on Russia Probe: Lawmaker

WASHINGTONThe Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said on May 1 an agreement had been reached to have special counsel Robert Mueller testify to Congress on his probe into Russian election interference.

Representative Jerry Nadler told reporters the agreement was for Mueller to testify sometime in May, but that a specific date had yet to be agreed upon.

Sen. Lindsey Graham at #BarrHearing: Heres the Mueller report. You can read it for yourself. Its about 400-and-something pages I [read unredacted version] & I found it not to change anything in terms of an outcome. https://t.co/ckBw1kk8G0 pic.twitter.com/QzqcXgdg4H  The Hill (@thehill) May 1, 2019

Attorney General William Barr released the redacted Mueller report to the public on April 18. He stated again at a press conference on the same day that Robert Mueller, the special counsel, discovered no evidence to establish that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

After reviewing those contacts, the special counsel did not find any conspiracy to violate U.S. law involving Russia-linked persons and any persons associated with the Trump campaign, said Barr in the morning conference. So that is the bottom line.

He delivered his remarks to reporters ahead of the delivery of the Mueller report to Congress.

After nearly two years of investigation, thousands of subpoenas, and hundreds of warrants and witness interviews, the special counsel confirmed that the Russian government-sponsored efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016 presidential election but did not find that the Trump campaign or other Americans colluded in those schemes, Barr reiterated.

He said that Russian operatives did, in fact, try to influence the election, but they didnt collude with President Trump or Trumps campaign.

That is something that all Americans can and should be grateful to have confirmed, Barr noted.

Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Jason Kenney gives a thumbs up as he is sworn in as premier of Alberta in Edmonton on April 30, 2019. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press)

Albertas New Premier Urges Senate Committee to Scrap Oil Tanker Ban Bill

EDMONTONAlbertas new premier says the province will launch a constitutional challenge against a federal government bill to ban tankers off British Columbias northern coast if it goes ahead.

The Senates committee on transport and communications was in Edmonton Tuesday, April 30, for a public hearing on Bill C-48.

Premier Jason Kenney said the bill represents a grave threat to the economic interests of Alberta and Canada.

Not only do we disagree with Bill C-48 in its current form, we do not agree with the bill period, he said.

We believe it must be scrapped.

Kenney says Bill C-48 represents a grave threat to Albertas and Canadas economic interests. We believe it must be scrapped. Calls it an attack against Alberta. #ableg #cdnpoli  Colette Derworiz (@cderworiz) April 30, 2019

Kenney said the province believes the bill is unconstitutional because it only affects oil coming out of the Alberta oilsands.

If this legislation is about tanker traffic, then tell us why would it not apply to B.C. natural gas, he said.

I am confused by this legislation. If it is so important, why arent we looking at other Canadian coastlines?

The bill would prohibit oil tankers carrying more than 12,500 tonnes of crude oil and related products in waters between the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the Alaska border.

The legislation passed in the House of Commons last spring and is being debated in the Senate.

Some senators on the committee said they are conflicted by testimony theyve heard across the country.

Leaders from several north-coast B.C. First Nations previously testified that if the Senate doesnt approve the bill, a spill could kill their thriving but fragile marine-based economies.

On Tuesday, senators heard similar concerns from Albertans about the provinces oil industry.

Mayor Don Scott of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said the bill is divisive and would threaten national unity.

It should never become law, he said, explaining it would hurt both Fort McMurray and the oilsands in northern Alberta.

Chief Craig Makinaw of the Ermineskin Cree Nation said theres a perception that all First Nations are against oil and gas development.

Theres a lot of misinformation and fear-mongering about having pipelines across your lands, he said.

Makinaw said oil and gas have helped his First Nation become one of the most financially stable in the country, and noted hes simply asking for a reasonable solution that works for both provinces.

Dont pick winners and losers, he said. Lets find a way forward where we can all benefit.

Al Reid, executive vice-president with Calgary-based Cenovus Energy Inc., testified that the bill would hurt the oil industry.

To be truly internationally competitive, we need the economies of scale that come from access to northern B.C.s deep water ports, he said.Unfortunately, Bill C-48 offers no pathway to reasonable compromise. It simply closes the door to Albertas primary export.

We can do better than this legislation, which should be at a minimum allowing for regulated, safe oil shipping corridors.

Senator Paula Simons, who is from Edmonton, said shes torn on how to handle the bill.

On the one hand, weve been to Prince Rupert, weve been to Terrace, weve heard very emotional and powerful evidence and testimony from particularly First Nations and fisher people there who are desperate to protect their really beautiful territory, she said outside the committee meeting.

On the other hand, I am an Alberta senator and I am not sure that the government has made a scientific case for a ban that is this extensive.

Academics who addressed the committee said the bill would affect many aspects of Albertas oil industry, and noted it would be difficult for the federal government to come up with a win-win for both the province and B.C.

Its pretty blunt on what it isits banning oil exports off the northwest coast of B.C.. So I dont think theres a political in-between there, said Andrew Leach, an associate professor of economics at the University of Alberta. Maybe a little bit of softening on the different refined products.

At the end of the day, its pretty stark. Its almost a yes or no.
Anti-Semitism Showcased by New York Times Is Part of a Bigger Problem

Commentary

The New York Times is not an exceptionradical anti-Semitism has become mainstream on the left.

The newspaper has deservedly come under fire in recent days for publishing two anti-Semitic drawingsand for initially failing to apologize for what the editors called an error of judgment.

Another disgusting display of vile antisemitic trope celebrated in the @nytimesworld. The @nytimes is signaling to the world that antisemitism is real, here, and welcome. pic.twitter.com/crv9vvVUAw  Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) April 26, 2019

Last week, The New York Times published a cartoon in the opinion section of its international edition that it described as depicting the prime minister of Israel [Benjamin Netanyahu] as a guide dog with a Star of David collar leading the president of the United States [Donald Trump], shown wearing a skullcap.

The publication retracted the cartoon on April 27, acknowledging that the image was offensive and that it was an error of judgment to publish it, but didnt issue a formal statement of apology until April 28.

On the same day as the retraction, however, NY Times published yet another anti-Semitic cartoon showing what appears to be a blind Netanyahu taking a selfie while holding up a tablet with the Star of David.

As a result, NY Times finally announced that it has decided to suspend the future publication of syndicated cartoons in its international edition.

Waitthe @nytimes featured ANOTHER Netanyahu cartoon? This one AFTER the Thursday cartoon depicting Netanyahu as a dog? Am I reading this right? Is the Times obsessed with Israels prime minister? pic.twitter.com/r1KsSaYWtw  Dan Senor (@dansenor) April 29, 2019

The cartoons inspired justified outrage from across the political spectrum. Everyone from Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt to Israels ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, condemned the NY Times for running the blatantly anti-Semitic cartoons.

The national conversation about anti-Semitism, however, should extend well beyond this specific controversy, which is only the tip of the iceberg. Our country is witnessing a resurgence of anti-Semitism on the political left, and we need to call it out by name wherever we see it.

Every single American should be outraged when one of our elected representatives in Congress suggests that Jews are buying off lawmakers by bribing them to support Israel.

Every single American should be disgusted when a presidential candidate such as Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) diminishes the slaughter of millions of Jews during World War II by comparing the Green New Deal to the fight against Nazi Germany.

Every single American should be appalled when a political party passes a milquetoast anti-hate resolution that doesnt even mention the hate-fueled remarks that inspired it.

Words matter.

There are many people on the left who try to draw a fine line between Israel-hatred and Jew-hatred (see Omar, Farrakhan). This distinction is completely false. Its inexcusable Jew-hatred and must be identified as such.

The left far too often gives anti-Semitism a pass if its disguised as criticism of Israel.

The anti-Semitic cartoons published by the newspaper are only a symptom of the anti-Semitic disease that has infected the left in the United States. The reaction to the cartoons was swift and impassioned, as it should have been. The reaction of the NY Times, as could have been predicted, was muted and half-measured.

Condemnation of The New York Times is appropriate and necessary, but a far more robust response is necessary if we are to stop the spread of anti-Semitism in this country.

If were serious about eradicating anti-Semitism in our society, we need to extend our criticism to those who tolerate and enable itand the liberal establishment is a perfect place to start.

Jason D. Meister is an advisory board member for the 2020 Trump campaign.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Arizona Sheriffs Office Denies Sandal-Shaming Hiker After Lengthy Rescue

An Arizona sheriffs office was criticized for sandal-shaming a woman who attempted to hike 10 miles in sandals.

Undersheriff Michael L. Johnson of the Gila County Sheriffs Department said that officials rescued a group over the weekend on a hiking trail Fossil Creek.

This hiker failed to take the posted bilingual warnings seriously as she and seven others had to be rescued out of Fossil Creek yesterday. Definitely not appropriate footwear for the ten-mile hike, the sheriffs office wrote on Facebook and included of the womans feet in sandals.

This hiker failed to take the posted warnings seriously as she and seven others had to be rescued out of Fossil Creek yesterday. Definitely not appropriate footwear for the ten mile hike. Posted by Gila County Sheriff's Office on Monday, April 29, 2019

Johnson told Yahoo News that the group of people were aged 10 to 36. They had already went about five miles down the trail before trying to climb back up.

We arrived about 5:00 at the trail head and were able to get down to the bottom by 6:00. And then, once we got them some electrolytes and got them rehydrated, the rescue was just working our way out with them slowly, Johnson said of the five-hour-long mission.

He elaborated on the length of the rescue, saying, I think they hit the top of the mountain about 9:45 that night.

Can't say it enough. NO matter how short a hike  always prepare for being stuck out in the back country for multiple days and use common sense! Posted by Locations Unknown on Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Johnson noted that there are a number of signs posted suggesting hikers to have water with them along with sturdy hiking shoes. He said the female hiker in sandals couldnt head back up the trail due to her shoes.

The bottom part is the original sandal, but the top part, one of our search and rescue guys kind of fashioned the straps to keep the soles on the persons feet, Johnson said. He just used some medical bandage and stuff that he had with him to come up with that part of it.

When the office posted the photo of the womans sandals, they were criticized.

We try not to embarrass people or anything like that, he said of the Facebook post. We just want to get the information out there for people to take it seriously.

But many Facebook commenters said they were right.

They posted these photos as a reminder that people need to read the signs and abide by them, or endure the consequences. I hope the rescued people end up having to pay for their rescue. It would be an expensive lesson learned, but would teach them to think things through in the future, wrote one woman.

No common sense anymorethey need to pay for the rescue! added another. Other people said the hikers should have to pay for the rescue.

Added another: These people are why shampoo bottles have instructions on them.

Warning Over Platform Sandals

Platform sandals, which were a trend in the 1990s, are now en vogue again, and they have triggered warnings from at least one medical professional.

Last week, shoe designer Steve Madden reintroduced its foam platform sandals for Urban Outfitters, and on Monday, model Suki Waterhouse uploaded a photo of herself on Instagram wearing 4-inch platform sandals by designer Simon Miller, The New York Post reported.

But one doctor said that these kinds of shoes are terrible for your ankles, feet, and overall posture.

Are you jumping on this trend that is back from the 90s? Posted by Mix 94.1 on Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Definitely stay away from this one, Dr. Hillary Brenner, who works in New York Citys financial district, told the Post about the sandals.

In her interview with the newspaper, she said that the platform sandals rigid soles can throw off your posture and gait, and could tweak your ankles or worse.

Shoes with flexible soles like tennis shoes can allow people to shift their weight while they walk.

Brenner said that its nine times out of 10 that parents who wear the platform sandals visit her office for a sprained ankle, according to the Post.

According to a 2009 article from the New York Times, about 25,000 ankle sprains take place each day in the United States.

Tricia Hubbard, an undergraduate athletic training director with the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, told the Times that if there is no treatment, about 30 to 40 percent of people with simple ankle sprains develop chronic long-term joint pathology.

Most research is showing that with any ankle sprain, the ankle should be immediately immobilized to protect the joint and allow the injured ligaments to heal, Dr. Hubbard told the news outlet. At least a week for the simplest sprain, 10 to 14 days for a moderate sprain and four to six weeks for more severe sprains.
Bear cubs after being rescued from the site of a car crash that killed their mother in Arizona on April 26, 2019. (Arizona Department of Public Safety/Hayden Police Department)

Arizona Troopers Rescue 3 Black Bear Cubs After Mother Killed in Crash

Three black bear cubs were rescued by an Arizona trooper after their mother was hit by a car and killed.

Arizona Highway Patrol troopers were responding to the crash near Dudleyville on April 29 when they stumbled on the cubs, and managed to load two into the back of their patrol car.

Pictures released by the Department of Public Safety show the 4-month-old cubs clambering on the seats in the back of the vehicle, while an officer from Arizona Game and Fish Department tracked down and caught the third cub.

Sergeants Tarango and Marquez, with assistance from DPS and a concerned citizen, arrested these three bandits, charged with raiding picnic baskets! wrote the Hayden Police department in a statement on Facebook.

The three cubs, who had a very slim chance of surviving without their mother, were taken to the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.

Theyre only 4 months old, so theyre pretty helpless right now, James OBrien of Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center told the Arizona Family newspaper.

Bears are incredibly smart animals, he said. They need to be challenged. Our bears here are given games to play and puzzles to do.

According to the Arizona Fish and Game department, the mother bear was likely killed instantly in the crash on State Road 77 south of Winkleman.

One of the first responders was taken to hospital to be treated for a scratch on the forearm caused by one of the cubs as they bundled them into the car.

According to the conservation center one of the cubs arrived with a bump on the nose, but otherwise they were in good condition.

AZGFD Tucson & Mesa responded today to three bear cubs orphaned and recovered by the AZ Hwy Patrol after a rare auto-on-bear accident on State Road 77 south of Winkleman. Their mother was likely killed instantly. The cubs are en route to the SW Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale. One first responder rescuing the cubs was scratched on the forearm by one, is seeking treatment at Oro Valley Hospital and likely will be released. Posted by Arizona Game and Fish Department Tucson on Monday, April 29, 2019

Their weights are where they should be, theyre eating good, and thats always a good sign, OBrien told Fox news.

Theyve got some decent fat on them from when I handled them for a little bit yesterday.

The police department took the opportunity to remind the public on the dangers of approaching bears with cubs: Rememberif you see bear cubs, the momma is not far  stay away and dont touch. Call the police right away.
Attorney General William Barr returns to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled "The Justice Department's Investigation of Russian Interference with the 2016 Presidential Election." on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 1, 2019. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)

Attorney General William Barr to Not Testify in Front of House Judiciary Committee

Attorney General William Barr will no longer testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, May 2, as Democrats voted to allow staffers to question Barr.

Its a shame Members of the House Judiciary Committee wont get the opportunity to hear from Attorney General Barr this Thursday, because Chairman Nadler chose to torpedo our hearing. The attorney general gave clear, informative testimony in the Senate Wednesday, as he offered to do more than a month ago in the House tomorrow, Republican Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Wednesday about the scheduled hearing with Barr.

By rejecting the chance to question Attorney General Barr or read the materials hes provided, Democrats are trying to prolong an investigation the special counsel completed. Ultimately, though, theyre ignoring the will of the majority of Americans who want Congress to move on and secure our border and continue to strengthen our economy, he continued.

Its a shame Members of the House Judiciary Committee wont get the opportunity to hear from Attorney General Barr this Thursday, because the chairman chose to torpedo our hearing. Full statement: pic.twitter.com/MwuH5JyuMU  Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) May 1, 2019

The House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to allow staff lawyers to question Barr, adding an extra hour to his testimony time before the committee. This comes as Barr threatened to cancel his testimony before the committee Thursday over disagreements with Democrats regarding the format for the hearing.

He wanted the traditional five-minute rounds of lawmakers asking him questions instead of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadlers proposal of allowing committee staffers to question Barr about their concerns.

Nadler, a New York Democrat, issued a subpoena to Barr on April 19 asking for special counsel Robert Muellers full, unredacted report.

In a letter to Barr, Nadler said he had until Wednesday to deliver the full report, adding he cannot accept any proposal which leaves most of Congress in the dark. Barr has already pledged to give a version of the report where the only redactions will be grand jury info, which is illegal to share, but Nadler still issued the subpoena.

Both Democrats and Republicans have called for Muellers report to be made public in full. Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan also said anything related to Muellers probe should be released to the public.

Democrats and cable news pundits have said the Mueller report is a cover-up.

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Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington on May 1, 2019. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Barr Makes Clear Hes Pushing Ahead in Thorough Investigation of the Investigators

WASHINGTONDuring the May 1 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, Attorney General William Barr made it clear that he has multiple targets in view in a comprehensive review of the Clinton email and Russia collusion investigations.

The focus of Barrs review is two-fold: First, how the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI investigated former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons use of a private email server to conduct official U.S. diplomatic business.

Second, why the DOJ and FBI launched an investigation of allegations that aides to President Donald Trumps 2016 campaign colluded with Russian interests to sway the election against Clinton.

Barr did so with a series of terse yes responses to questions posed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.):

Sen. Graham: Do you share my concern about the FISA warrant process?

Mr. Barr: Yes.

Sen. Graham: Do you share my concern about the counter-intelligence investigation, how it was opened, and why it was opened?

Mr. Barr: Yes.

Sen. Graham: Do you share my concerns that the lack of professionalism in the Clinton email investigation is something we should all look at?

Mr. Barr: Yes.

Graham was referring to four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants granted to the FBI to spy on Trump aides Carter Page and George Papadopoulos during and after the campaign.

Serious questions have been raised about whether DOJ and FBI officials honestly represented evidence justifying their requests for those warrants. Michael Horowitz, the DOJs inspector general, is expected to issue a report on the FISA warrants in May or June.

The FISA warrant questions are also linked to concerns that Graham was referencing to whether or not there was credible evidence to justify the FBIs decision to spy on Trumps campaign aides.

Later in the hearing, in response to a question from former Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Barr revealed just how deeply hes going in his review.

In a lengthy preface to a question, Grassley noted to Barr that the inspector general found during its investigation of Hillary Clinton for mishandling highly classified information, there was a culture of unauthorized media contacts.

During the Russia investigation, the leaks continued. Leaks undermine the ability of investigators to investigate. Further leaks to the papers while Congress questions to the department go unanswered is unacceptable.

What are you doing to investigate unauthorized media contacts by department and FBI officials during the Russia investigation?

Barr responded that we have multiple criminal leak investigations underway. The attorney general didnt provide further detail on specific leaks.

But Grassley has previously asked Barr in a letter about a 2017 leak to The Washington Post about the issuance of a classified surveillance order used to track former Trump campaign aide Page.

Officially, Barr testified May 1 before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his March 24 four-page description of special counsel Robert Muellers report on his investigation of the Russian collusion allegations.

Barr told Congress in the description that Mueller concluded that no American colluded with Russians to influence the 2016 election, but that Mueller deferred to Barr to decide whether Trump or his aides obstructed justice.

Barr is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on May 2 to answer questions about his description, but there are last-minute questions about whether he will actually do so.

Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats on the panel want Barr to answer questions put to him by staff lawyers.

Barr is strongly opposed to doing so because he thinks questioning witnesses before congressional committees is the responsibility of elected senators and representatives.
Barr: Mueller Couldnt Explain Why He Made No Decision on Charging Trump

Attorney General William Barr said that special counsel Robert Mueller was not able to explain why his team didnt decide whether or not to recommend charges against President Donald Trump over potential obstruction.

Muellers report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election could not establish conspiracy or cooperation between Trumps campaign and Russian actors. The report also debunked a number of claims outlined in the infamous dossier paid for by Trumps opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton.

Mueller also probed whether the president tried to obstruct what Trump repeatedly referred to as a witch hunt, but ultimately made the unusual choice not to conclude whether the president obstructed or not.

We were frankly surprised that they were not going to reach a decision on obstruction, Barr said in his opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1, reported the Wall Street Journal.

We did not understand exactly why the special counsel was not reaching a decision and when we pressed him on it, he said his team was still formulating the explanation, Barr said of the March 5 meeting.

Muellers team stated in the report (pdf): We determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment.

The team cited an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that the president could not be indicted or prosecuted while in office, but Barr said on Wednesday that Mueller had told him the offices opinion was not a factor in his decision not to bring charges.

While the team could not establish obstruction, it said if it had confidence that the president did not, it would have said so.

He said that in the future, the facts of the case might be such that a special counsel might consider abandoning the OLC opinion, the attorney general said. This is not such a case.

If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state, Muellers team wrote. The evidence we obtained about the presidents actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

Barr said on Wednesday that once the team made the decision to punt on obstruction, it became his responsibility to make the choice based on the evidence gathered by Mueller in addition to other evidence from outside the investigation.

We dont conduct criminal investigations just to collect information and put it out to the public, Barr said.

I think that if he felt that he shouldnt go down the path of making a traditional prosecutive decision, then he shouldnt have investigated.

Barr said in an April 18 press conference before the report was released to the public that Muellers team did not make a traditional prosecutorial judgment regarding this allegation.

After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report, and in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other Department lawyers, the Deputy Attorney General [Rod Rosenstein] and I concluded that the evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense, Barr added.

Barr said that he and Rosenstein kept in mind that Trump was facing an unprecedented situation.

As he entered into office, and sought to perform his responsibilities as President, federal agents and prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office, and the conduct of some of his associates. At the same time, there was relentless speculation in the news media about the Presidents personal culpability. Yet, as he said from the beginning, there was, in fact, no collusion.

Barr issued a summary in late March of the main conclusions in the report, including that Trump had been exonerated on alleged Russian collusion despite years of hammering by political opponents and a slew of media outlets. The summary was claimed to be misleading, but Rosenstein later defended how Barr handled the issue. The full report was issued several weeks later with redactions.

Barr said that the redactions were required by law.

On Wednesday, he said that he asked Mueller to submit the report with redactions already marked but that the special counsels office ignored the request after initially saying they could do so, causing the delay between the submission of the report to his office and the release of the redacted report to the public.

From NTD News
Attorney General William Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 1, 2019, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Barr to Brief Senators on FBI Spying on Trump in Counterintelligence Briefings

Attorney General William Barr committed on May 1 to brief congressional lawmakers on the possibility that senior FBI officials used counterintelligence briefings with President Donald Trumps transition team to gather intelligence on the incoming administration.

Barr made the commitment during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Justice Departments investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote a letter to Barr on April 25 requesting a briefing about Barrs ongoing review of spying on Trumps campaign. In that letter, Grassley cited text messages between former senior FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok that, according to him, appear to suggest that the bureau used counterintelligence briefings with Trumps transition team as intelligence gathering operations.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on May 1, Grassley asked Barr if he would commit to brief lawmakers on the matter and issue a written response.

Yes, Senator, Barr said.

Grassleys letter cites text messages between Strzok and Page, in which they discuss using a CI guy at a November 2016 briefing with members of Trumps transition to see if thete [sic] are any news [sic] Qs, or different demeanor. In the same message, Strzok suggests using someone identified as Katies husband to see if there are people we can develop for potential relationships.

Were these efforts done to gain better communication between the respective parties, or were the briefings used as intelligence gathering operations? Grassley wrote. Further, did any such surveillance activities continue beyond the inauguration, and in the event they did, were those activities subject to proper predication?

Barrs comments at the May 1 hearing were the first since the Justice Department released the final report on special counsel Robert Muellers investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller concluded there isnt enough evidence to establish that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and the special counsel didnt reach a decision on whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ruled there was insufficient evidence to bring an obstruction charge.

Mueller took over the investigation of the Trump campaign from Strzok and Page. In addition to discussing what appears like an intelligence gathering operation, the pair also spoke about stopping Trump from becoming president, an insurance policy in case he won the election, and impeachment after Trump became the president-elect.

At the hearing on May 1, Barr also revealed that the FBI failed to warn then-candidate Trump about Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked Barr if he was aware of any defensive briefings given to the Trump campaign to warn about Russias attempts to interfere in the election. Cornyn referenced a statement by former Attorney General Loretta Lynch noting that such defensive briefings are routine in counterintelligence investigations. Barr said he wasnt aware of the FBI ever providing Trump with a defensive briefing.

That failure to provide a defensive briefing to the Trump campaign, that would be an extraordinary or notable failure. Would you agree? Cornyn asked.

I think, under these circumstances, one of the things I cant fathom is why it didnt happen. Why if youre concerned about interference in the election and you have substantial people involved in the campaign  I dont understand why the bureau would not have gone and given a defensive briefing, Barr said.

The absence of the briefing is particularly troubling, considering that Strzok was the lead agent running the counterintelligence probe. In addition to talking about stopping Trump from becoming president, Strzok displayed a strong personal bias against Trump.

While Democrats have focused on the findings of the Mueller report, Republicans are intensifying their scrutiny of the origins of the FBIs investigation into the Trump campaign. Declassified documents show that the so-called Steele dossier appears to have formed a significant part of the investigation. The dossier was funded by Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign and the DNC, and was drafted by a former British intelligence officer.

At the May hearing, Barr would not rule out that the dossier itself may have been part of Russias disinformation campaign.

Can we state with confidence that the Steele dossier was not part of a Russian disinformation campaign? Cornyn asked.

No, I cant state that with confidence and that is one of the areas that Im reviewing, Barr answered. Im concerned about it and I dont think its entirely speculative.
U.S. Border Patrol said agents detained the largest group ever intercepted at one time, consisting of 424 individuals, in New Mexico, on April 30. Pictured is a second, smaller group of 230 illegal immigrants apprehended on April 30 in Antelope Wells. (U.S. Border Patrol)

Border Patrol Catches Largest Group of Illegal Immigrants Near United States Border

Border Patrol agents have caught the largest group of illegal immigrants ever to be intercepted at one time, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Officials said in a statement that the historic interceptioncarried out in New Mexico on April 30amounted to a total of 424 illegal immigrants.

The group, detained after midnight in Sunland park, consisted mostly of Central American families and unaccompanied minors.

A second group consisting of 230 illegal immigrants was intercepted in New Mexicos Antelope wells at around 2 a.m., CBP said.

LARGEST GROUP APPREHENDED#BorderPatrol agents apprehended the largest group of 424 illegal aliens just after midnight this morning in Sunland Park, NM. A second group of 230 illegal aliens was also apprehended in Antelope Wells, NM this morning. More: https://t.co/54XxK78XB2 pic.twitter.com/i5owidRi1t  CBP (@CBP) April 30, 2019

This is an ongoing situation that U.S Border Patrol agents are facing in southern New Mexico: hundreds of parents and children being encountered by agents after having faced a dangerous journey in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers, CBP said in a statement. Criminal organizations continue to exploit innocent human lives in order to enhance their illicit activities without due regard to the risks of human life. In most cases these smugglers never cross the border themselves in order to avoid apprehension.

Unprecedented Border Security Crisis

Earlier, CPB officials said in a press conference on March 27 that extraordinary steps were being taken in response to an unprecedented humanitarian and border security crisis.

Unusual new measures include reassigning up to 750 Customs and Border Patrol Officers from ports of entry along the southwest border, who will soon be supporting Border Patrol with care and custody of migrants.

The United States Border Patrol (USBP) continues to apprehend illegal alien families and unaccompanied children in steadily increasing numbers. To process and ensure appropriate care for those in custody, resources including personnel have been diverted from other border security priorities, a CBP spokesperson said, according to the Texas Tribune.

This shifting of resources and personnel will have a detrimental impact at all Southwest border ports of entry, the CBP said in a statement. CBP will have to close lanes, resulting in increased wait times for commercial shipments and travelers.

Immigration officials were cited by the Tribune as saying that resources from the checkpoints are intended as a temporary measure.

Overwhelming the Entire System

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan told the press conference in El Paso that a dramatic increase in illegal crossings along the southwest border was a major strain on law enforcement resources.

The surge numbers are just overwhelming the entire system, McAleenan said, according to the El Paso Times.

CBP is facing an unprecedented humanitarian and border security crisis all along our southwest border, McAleenan said in a statement. And nowhere has that crisis manifested more acutely than here in El Paso sector. Here in El Paso, we have almost 3,500 migrants in custody this morning, in facilities designed for many fewer. We had over 1,000 apprehensions on Monday. The vast majority are families from Central America.

Arrests along the Mexican border jumped to 66,450 in February, 149 percent more than a year earlier.

The number of illegal immigrant apprehensions in the Border Patrols El Paso sector grew by about 800 percent over the past year.

Nationwide, CBP had more than 12,000 migrants in custody this week, CBP said in a statement. The agency considers 4,000 to be a high number of migrants in custody and 6,000 to be at a crisis level. More than 12,000 migrants in custody is unprecedented.

Immigration officials expect that in the month of March, CBP agents will make over 100,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions.

If accurate, those figures will represent the highest monthly total in a decade.

When you have checkpoints shutting down and you have huge distractions away from the core mission of border security, that puts our country in a very vulnerable position, said Manuel Padilla, commander of the Department of Homeland Securitys Joint Task Force-West and the former head of the Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, according to The Associated Press.

Migrants Entering Mexico

About 300,000 migrants from around the globe entered Mexico with the intention of illegally crossing into the United States in the first three months of 2019, according to Mexican officials.

The countrys Interior Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero said at a press conference on April 23 that Mexico had seen an increase in migrants from Honduras and a smaller number from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba along with African and Asian nations, reported local news website Mexico News Daily.

Sanchez Cordero described this migration flow as unprecedented and unusual and added that six caravanas madrecitas, or little mother caravans that have around 2,000 people in each, entering Mexico in recent months.

On April 18, an Epoch Times reporter who was at the border reported that Border Patrol agents had arrested seven Chinese, one Mexican, and one El Salvadoran minor who crossed the border illegally at Mission, Texas.

Out with #BorderPatrol in Mission, Texas, and just caught 7 Chinese, 1 Mexican, and 1 El Salvadoran minor. All trying to evade capture. Chinese man said he paid $15k for the whole package (flights to Mexico, smuggled across border), Epoch Times reporter Charlotte Cuthbertson wrote on Twitter.

Out with #BorderPatrol in Mission, Texas, and just caught 7 Chinese, 1 Mexican, and 1 El Salvadoran minor. All trying to evade capture. Chinese man said he paid $15k for the whole package (flights to Mexico, smuggled across border) pic.twitter.com/Ic9MPhg7le  CharlotteCuthbertson (@charlottecuthbo) April 18, 2019

The increase of migrants trying to enter the United States is backed up by CBP data.

Earlier this month, CBP said agents encountered over 103,000 individuals on the southwestern border in the month of March. Of those, 92,000 were Border Patrol apprehensionswhich is an increase of 35 percent compared to February.

The agency also said that for the first half of the 2019 fiscal year, agents arrested over 385,000 illegal immigrants at the southwest border, which is more than double the apprehensions during the same period last fiscal year.

Epoch Times reporter Janita Kan contributed to this article.
Pete Doherty, then of The Libertines, performs on stage at British Summer Time Festival at Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom, on July 5, 2014. (Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

British Musician Pete Doherty Hospitalized After Getting Stabbed by Hedgehog Spike

British rocker Pete Doherty is recovering after being hospitalized for an injury caused by a hedgehog spike.

Doherty, who once fronted the band The Libertines, was stabbed by a hedgehog and the wound became infected.

In a selfie shared with his Twitter followers on Tuesday, April 30, Doherty is seen shirtless and holding up his arm, hooked up to an IV drip.

He captioned the selfie: Nozzleville, West Virginia.

Nozzleville , West Virginia pic.twitter.com/h4zKmUVHFO  Peter Doherty (@petedoherty) April 30, 2019

The 40-year-old musician, who according to Fox was on tour with his current band The P Madres, later also shared a photo of a card with a hedgehog on the front and the words: I am so sorry youre feeling prickly.

I felt a bit of a prick pic.twitter.com/Q2dyOfvuzs  Peter Doherty (@petedoherty) April 30, 2019

Doherty got pricked when his dogs picked a fight with the critter. He explained in earlier tweets that his dogs, Zeus and Narco, got a hold of the hedgehog and he sustained the injury when he tried to free the critter from their bite.

He explained: Zeus and Narco had the cute wee verminous Shnuffle shuffle Pig of the the Hedge in their gobs and I wrapped my hand in a tshirt and freed the wee bugger and got a tiny cut.. That was Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

He wrote that he felt fine for a few days before the infection started to get the better of him. Eventually, he checked himself into a hospital for treatment.

Cue three days in a van with a carefree attitude to potentially infected forefingers. Infectious new songs on the album though [sic].

Cue three days in a van with a carefree attitude to potentially infected forefingers Infectious new songs on the album though  Peter Doherty (@petedoherty) April 30, 2019

Posting from the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Doherty wrote: A picture me in a hospital bed with an infected hedgehog spike wound thank you to the wonderful men and women who work within the NHS. What absolute angels and a million times they deserve our respect and thanks.

He also shared a selfie of himself holding up a heavily bandaged left hand and entirely wrapped index finger.

In a recent radio interview, a clip from which Doherty posted on Twitter, Doherty said he had always wanted to be famous. I didnt really care how.

Doherty is perhaps best known for being co-frontman for The Libertines. His other projects include the band Babyshambles, and the current Peter Doherty and the P Madres.
Burger King may sell plant-based burger across US this year

TORONTOBurger King could soon be selling plant-based burgers nationwide.

Restaurant Brands International, Burger Kings parent, said April 29 that a month-long test of the Impossible Whopper at 59 restaurants in St. Louis has gone so well that it will start testing it in additional markets. The company said it may expand sales nationally by the end of this year.

The sandwich is made with a plant-based burger from Impossible Foods, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup. Burger King is the first fast-food chain to test the Impossible burger, but other chains are offering plant-based burgers from competitors like Beyond Meat.

Chris Finazzo, president of Burger Kings North American operations, said during an earnings conference call April 29 that the Impossible Whopper was attracting new customers. He said the chain will sell the Impossible Whopper out nationally if the reaction in other test markets is a strong as it was in St. Louis.

Its really difficult to distinguish between the Impossible Whopper and the original Whopper, he said.

Burger King wouldnt say which markets will get the sandwich next.

The news was a bright spot in otherwise disappointing first-quarter earnings for Restaurant Brands, which said its first-quarter net income fell 9% to $135 million on weaker same-store sales growth.

The Toronto-based company reported net income of 53 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs like fees to a restructuring consultant, came to 55 cents per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 59 cents per share.

The company blamed poor weather in Canada for a drop in same-store sales at Tim Hortons. Burger Kings same-store sales grew 2% as the company tried to revive U.S. breakfast sales with a $5 monthly coffee subscription offer. Same-store sales were flat at Popeyes.

Restaurant Brands posted revenue of $1.27 billion in the period, beating analysts forecasts.

Company shares fell 3% to $63.43 in morning trading.
California Mother Gets Life in Prison for Murder of 3-Year-Old Daughter

A California mother has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder and torture of her 3-year-old daughter.

Almost four years after she killed her daughter and hid her remains in Mexico, Mayra Chavez, 27, was sentenced to 37 years to life on April 30, according to the Ventura County district attorneys office.

She had been found guilty in December 2018 of second degree murder, assault resulting in death of a child, and torture.

Kimberley Lopez died in June 2015 just three days after her third birthday.

Chavez had yanked out he legs from under her to change her diaper, according to KTL, causing the child to bang her head. She suffered two seizures, but her family did not seek medical treatment and she died later that day.

Chavez tried to cover up the death when authorities began to investigate in 2016, and pleaded guilty earlier this month to perjury relating to false testimony she gave in 2016.

Chavez was finally arrested in January 2018, along with her boyfriend.

Kimberlys grandmother, Maria De Jesus Lopez, 45, later admitted to helping Chavez take the body of the 3-year-old to Mexico, where Chavez tried to dispose of her remains with the help of her 34-year-old boyfriend who is also the girls father.

Lopez was sentenced to 180 days in prison after pleading guilty to helping cover up the death.

The mother of missing Oxnard girl Kimberly Lopez pleaded guilty to perjury charges this week, months after being found guilty in Kimberly 's death. Posted by Ventura County Star on Friday, April 12, 2019

By coincidence, the father, Omar Misael Lopez, shares the same surname as the grandmother, but she is Chavezs mother, not his.

According to the District Attorney: Upon learning of Kimberlys death, Ms. Lopez assisted Chavez and Omar Lopez in covering up Kimberlys death by lending the couple her car and providing them with money so they could dispose of Kimberlys remains in Tijuana, Mexico. Kimberlys body was never recovered.

In a further attempt to cover their tracks, the parents later went back to to dig up their daughters body and destroy her remains, which have not been found.

Kimberly died after being returned to her mothers care for the second time since she was born. She was placed in foster care at 9 months old when she tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana, according to authorities. She was returned to her mothers care, but brought back into foster care when her mother started to abuse her.

Chavez was able to regain custody for a second time after she took drug and parenting classes. But when her daughter was returned, she continued the abuse, according to authorities.

This abuse ultimately led to her death, said a statement from the District Attorney. Omar Lopez, Kimberlys father, testified that he and Chavez disposed of Kimberlys body in Tijuana, Mexico.

The father, Omar Lopez, pleaded guilty last April to one count of felony child endangerment, and one count of perjury for his part in the death.

He has yet to be sentenced, but according to the district attorney he is expected to be sentenced to 14 years.
Cambodian leader Hun Sen arrives at Beijing airport to attend the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on April 25, 2019. (Greg Baker-Pool/Getty Images)

Cambodia Inches Closer to Beijing as EU Reviews Preferential Trade Status

Cambodia, facing the possibility of losing its preferential trade status with the European Union, has decided to seek support from and further bolster ties with Beijing.

It was Cambodian leader Hun Sen who disclosed that China would provide assistance, in a post on his official Facebook page on April 29. Hun said Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had promised support, although he gave no further details. Chinese authorities hadnt confirmed the move as of press time.

Hun also disclosed that China will provide 600 million yuan (about $89 million) in military aid to Cambodias defense sector. He was recently in China on a five-day trip to attend the Belt and Road Forum that ended April 27.

Currently, Cambodia benefits from the Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative of the European Union. Effective since 2001, the initiative allows the worlds least developed countries to export any goodsexcept weaponsduty-free and quota-free to the EU market.

Locals have already expressed doubt that China could come to Cambodias aid.

China is not capable of providing relief to Cambodia when it loses the EBA because China is an exporting country, not an importing one, said Rong Chhun, president of one of the countrys biggest worker unions, the Confederation of Unions, in a recent interview with Radio Free Asia (RFA).

China has its own motivations for helping Cambodia, he said.

Special Trade Status Under Threat

The EU is one of Cambodias biggest trading partners. In 2017, Cambodia exported roughly $5.8 billion worth of goods to the EU, accounting for about 40 percent of Cambodias total exports, according to EU data.

However, in February, the European Commission began an 18-month review process, which includes a six-month period of intensive monitoring and engaging with Cambodian authorities, to determine if Cambodia should be temporarily suspended from the EBA because of its human rights record, according to a Commission press release.

In 2017, Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved Cambodias main opposition party, Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which eventually paved the way for Hun to win his sixth term during a general election in 2018. Media have since reported that Huns government has jailed many political dissidents, and cracked down on independent media outlets in Cambodia.

RFA, in an April 30 report, reported that the Cambodian government refused to allow U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia Rhona Smith to meet with Kem Sokha, leader of CNRP, during her April 29 to May 9 visit. Sokha has been under house arrest since being released from prison in September 2018.

China Relationship

China quickly has expanded its economic relationship with Cambodia. According to Chinese state-run media Xinhua, trade volume between the two countries was valued at $5.8 billion in 2017, an increase of 22 percent from a year earlier. At the same time, China has invested heavily in the Southeast Asia country, with $12.6 billion in fixed asset investments from 1994 to 2017.

However, trade with China is heavily imbalanced. According to UN trade data, China imported just $688 million worth of goods from Cambodia in 2017, compared to the United States purchase of $2.13 billion.

Cambodia is also heavily indebted to China. The country owes $3 billion, or almost half of its foreign debt, to China, according to multiple sources.

Huns government is one of the earliest supporters of the One Belt, One Road initiative (OBOR, also known as Belt and Road). Launched by Beijing in 2013, its the Chinese regimes flagship project to build up geopolitical influence via investments across Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America.

According to Reuters, Hun struck several deals in his latest trip to China, including an agreement to have Chinese tech giant Huawei to develop Cambodias 5Gthe next-generation of wireless communications.

Cambodian political analyst Kim Sok, who now resides in Finland after gaining asylum, said in a recent interview with RFA that Hun was selling Cambodia to China by supporting Beijings OBOR initiative.

In return, [Hun Sen] gets nothing in terms of national interest from the Chinese  only protection for his personal power.
Canadian MPs Give Unanimous Support to Bill Combatting International Organ Trafficking

Canadian members of Parliament have unanimously given their final approval to a bill meant to curb international organ trafficking.

Bill S-240, which was originally sponsored by Senator Salma Ataullahjan and received the unanimous support of the Senate before coming to the House of Commons, makes it illegal for Canadians to get organs abroad without the consent of the donor, and makes people involved in forced organ harvesting inadmissible to Canada.

The bill passed third reading in the House of Commons with amendments on April 30. It will now go back to the senators to vote on the amendments from the lower house before it can be signed into law.

Arif Virani, parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice, noted that the private members bill has the support of the government and that it is the culmination of over 10 years of parliamentary work.

It is worth recalling that four bills dealing with this issue were introduced to the Parliament prior to Bill S-240, some of which were sponsored by [Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj] and by the former minister of justice Irwin Cotler, Virani said. The provisions contained in Bill S-240 will allow Canada to demonstrate leadership in a fight against organ trafficking and the protection of international human rights.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis, the sponsor of the bill in the House of Commons, said in an interview that he became involved in the proposed legislation after learning that in certain countries around the world, but especially in China on an industrial scale, people are getting killed for their organs.

Sometimes the organs are removed while [the victim is] still alive in a terribly painful process, and those organs are then used for transplantation, Genuis said.

The Epoch Times first broke the news in 2006 on Chinas state-sanctioned organ harvesting from non-consenting live donors, who die during the process. Reports by whistleblowerslater confirmed by investigations conducted by researchers including former Canadian MP David Kilgour, international human rights lawyer David Matas, and author and journalist Ethan Gutmannshowed that the victims of the forced organ removal were prisoners of conscience, including Falun Dafa adherents and other persecuted groups such as Uyghurs and Tibetans.

These provisions [in Bill S-240] dont solve the whole issue, and there is more work to be done, but it formally puts Canada on the right side of this and ends any possibility of Canadian involvement, Genuis said.

Genuis urged parliamentarians to follow up on the bill so that it will pass in the Senate before the next election, which is expected in October. If the bill doesnt pass into law in this Parliament, the process would have to be restarted from step one.

Lets make this a legacy of the 42nd Parliament  that we were able to do something incredible for the worlds most vulnerable, Genius told parliamentarians during a debate of the bill in the House of Commons before a vote on the bill.

Legacy

Virani explained during debate that the proposed legislation strengthens Canadas response to organ trafficking by creating four new criminal offences related to organ trafficking, extending extraterritorial jurisdictions over these new offences, and amending the Immigration and Refugee Act to add a new ground of inadmissibility to Canada for those who have engaged in conduct deemed an offence under the bill.

This piece of legislation is the result of successive efforts made by parliamentarians in both houses to address what is truly a horrendous crime that continues to exploit vulnerable individuals right around the planet, Virani said.

Wrzesnewskyj, who had sponsored similar bills in previous Parliaments, said he became concerned about this issue after hearing of reports of forced organ removal by criminal groups in Ukraine and organ removals in illegal clinics in India, where poor farmers had their kidneys removed to pay off debts.

The most barbaric practice brought to his attention, Wrzesnewskyj said, was the multimillion-dollar businesses run by the Peoples Liberation Army of China, who through their military hospitals had built an industrial-scale operation that removed to-order body parts and organs of prisoners of conscience incarcerated in Chinas vast penal network.

Eleven years after I first tabled legislation to deal with the trafficking in human organs, I am heartened that legislation to combat this horrorto combat this modern form of cannibalismwill finally be enacted by this 42nd Parliament, Wrzesnewskyj said.

NDP MP Murray Rankin told Parliament that his party wholeheartedly supports the bill, and urges all parliamentarians to support it as well.

We want it to be a legacy of this Parliament, so we can address what my friend, the parliamentary secretary [Virani], properly called a horrendous crime.'

With reporting by Limin Zhou in Ottawa.
Chinese workers walk at an offshore oil engineering platform in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province on Sept. 1, 2016. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Oil Trading Executive Detained for Alleged Tax Fraud

SINGAPORE/SHANGHAIA Chinese trading executive at Litasco SA has been detained by police in Shanghai for alleged tax fraud committed in late 2015 before he joined the company, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Li Buhua, the chief representative in China for Litasco, the Swiss-based trading arm of Russian oil producer Lukoil, was detained in mid-April by the Putuo Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, said one of the sources, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the matter, adding that no charges have been made against Li.

Li was detained for allegedly violating laws regarding the payment of value-added taxes, the source said, although they could not provide further details.

The Chinese government has been cracking down on tax fraud for the past several years, especially those related to value-added tax, said the law enforcement source.

The source, who declined to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the press, said Lis alleged tax fraud took place in late 2015.

A second source, who was briefed by Lis colleagues, said Li was detained on April 19 at a train station in east China. The source did not give further details.

Li joined Litasco in January 2017. Before that, he was employed by Shanghai GYIE Cross-border E-commerce Co from October 2015 to May 2016, according to his profile on LinkedIn.

A person who answered the main switchboard number for Shanghai GYIE refused to direct the call to anyone else in the company when contacted by Reuters.

Litasco did not respond to a request for comment.

Officers contacted by Reuters at the Putuo branch of Shanghai Public Security Bureau declined to comment.

A call to Lis mobile phone went to an answering service.

Li started his oil trading career with Chinese state oil trader Sinochem Corp in the 1990s and later also worked for Swiss commodities trading house Glencore.

By Chen Aizhu
Chris Watts, who admitted to killing his pregnant wife and daughters in Aug. 2018. (Colorado Bureau of Investigation)

Chris Watts Wants to Appeal Conviction for Killing Wife and Daughters

Chris Watts, the man who is serving five life sentences for killing his wife and two daughters is looking for ways to appeal his conviction.

The 33-year-old man is researching his legal options and is contacting attorneys on the phone from prison, reported People.

Obviously, it would be an uphill battle for him, because he pleaded guilty, a source who knows about Wattss case told People.

Chris Watts Is Looking Into Ways to Appeal Conviction for Killing Wife and Daughters: Source https://t.co/3R5hGcrwuH  Julia Hatton (@Findsuitablejob) April 30, 2019

And with a guilty plea, you forfeit some of your rights to appeal. But thats not absolute, so theres a small chance that it could work out in his favor.

The source said the appeal would be expensive, and he doesnt have the money. But he is still exploring his options.

The insider also said that Watts is intelligent enough to understand that the appeal is unlikely to change anything.

But hes sitting in prison with nothing but time. Its sinking into him that he could be in that same cell for 50 years. And now hes trying to decide whether there are any legal remedies for him, the source said.

Watts admitted to killing his wife, Shanann, 34, and their two children, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, before disposing of their bodies at a secluded oil field where he worked in August.

Watts was charged with three counts of first-degree murder with deliberation, two counts of first-degree murder of a child under the age of 12 by someone who is in a position of trust over them, one first-degree count of unlawful termination of pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased body, People reported.

He pleaded guilty to the killings last year and is serving five life sentences after prosecutors and Shanann Watts family agreed to drop the possibility of the death penalty.

Video of Shanann Watts Shortly Before Her Death

Its 1:48 a.m. and a pregnant Shanann Watts is arriving home from a business trip to Phoenix.

Front-door video at her Frederick, Colorado, home captures the moment a friend drops Watts from the airport on August 13, 2018. She can be seen carrying her suitcase up the driveway and to the door.

The short video clip is believed to be the last time Shanann Watts, who was 15 weeks pregnant, is seen to be alive. Within hourspossibly even minutesShanann was slain, authorities have said.

Her husband, Chris Watts, pleaded guilty in November to first-degree murder and other charges in the death of his wife and young daughters. He was sentenced to five life sentences with no possibility of parole.

Watts was having an affair with a co-worker, according to police. He initially denied cheating on his wife but a police probe confirmed the affair.

Friends Regret Defending Him

Days before his arrest, friends of Watts let him sleep over and defended him against rising suspicions of his involvement, a decision they now regret.

Thats something Ill never forget, that we, we allowed this guy in our house, Watts friend Nick Thayer told KUSA. I mean, had we had any inclination that we thought he was involved at all, no way would I have let him in my house with my wife and kid.

Kris Landon, a friend of Chris Watts described him as a family man that would do anything for his daughters. He knew the Watts family for about four years.

His entire persona was as a family man, talking about his wife and his girls, Landon told People. I believed until the other day that his entire life was those girls, and that he would die for them.

Epoch Times reporters Colin Fredericson and CNN Wire Service contributed to this report.
Venezuelan military deserters, of the National Guard, who dont want to be identified, stand at the border point with Venezuela, in Pacaraima, Brazil April 11, 2019. (Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

Disaffected Venezuelan Military Tell of Rising Desertions to Brazil

Venezuelan military personnel are deserting to Colombia and Brazil in growing numbers, refusing to follow orders to repress protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro, six of them told Reuters.

A lieutenant and five sergeants of the National Guard, the main force used by the Maduro government to suppress widespread demonstrations, said the bulk was going to Colombia, the most accessible border, but others like themselves had left for Brazil.

Colombian immigration authorities said some 1,400 Venezuelan military had deserted for Colombia this year, while the Brazilian Army said over 60 members of Venezuelas armed forces had emigrated to Brazil since Maduro closed the border on Feb. 23 to block an opposition effort to get humanitarian aid into the country.

Most military people that are leaving are from the National Guard. They will continue coming. More want to leave, said a National Guard lieutenant, speaking earlier this month. She had just crossed into Brazil on foot, arriving in the frontier town of Pacaraima after walking hours along indigenous trails through savannah.

Officials in both countries said the pace of desertion has sped up in recent months as political and economic turmoil in Venezuela has worsened.

The deserters, who asked to withhold their names due to fear of reprisals against their families, complained that top commanders in Venezuela lived well on large salaries and commissions from smuggling and other black market schemes while the lower ranks confronted conflicts in Venezuelas streets for little pay.

They already have their families living abroad. They live well, eat well, have good salaries and profits from corruption, said the lieutenant.

The Venezuelan governments Information Ministry, which handles all media inquiries, did not reply to requests for comment for this story.

In February, Maduros ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, claimed during a Security Council meeting the number of military desertions had been exaggerated. Foreign ministry spokesman William Castillo said at the time that just 109 of the 280,000-strong armed forces had deserted under Maduro.

A Venezuelan sergeant, who proudly donned his National Guard uniform for an interview in a hotel room in Pacaraima, said he could not provide for his two small sons on his $12-a-month salary.

We risked our lives so much for the little we were paid, he said. I left because of this and the bad orders the commanding officers were giving us.

Venezuelan freedom fighter @MariaCorinaYA joined me live from Caracas, where she says #NicolasMaduro no longer holds strong control of his military. #TrishRegan pic.twitter.com/9wcssrSrOI  Trish Regan (@trish_regan) May 1, 2019

The head of Venezuelas opposition-led congress, Juan Guaido, backed by most Western nations, is trying to oust Maduro on the basis that the socialist presidents 2018 re-election was illegitimate.

But top armed forces commanders have remained loyal to Maduro because they earn well in dollars and have too much to lose by abandoning him, according to the National Guard deserters.

Maduro has placed military chiefs in high-level jobs running state companies so they do not turn against him, the sergeant said.

Maduro knows that if he removes them from those posts, the military will turn their backs on him and could oust him in a coup, he said.

Maduro has called Guaido a U.S. puppet trying to foment a coup and blames the countrys economic problems on U.S. sanctions.

Este rostro ES VENEZUELA hoy. Chavez, Maduro y su Estado criminal son culpables de 20 anos de destruccion, violencia, hambre y muerte. Cuantos muertos hacen falta para que el mundo asuma su Responsabilidad de Proteger? pic.twitter.com/6LxQglYlwG  Maria Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) April 27, 2019

Inmates in Uniform

Rebellion in the middle ranks of the National Guard has been contained by intimidation and threats of reprisals against officers families, the deserters told Reuters. They said phones of military personnel suspected of anti-Maduro sympathies were tapped to watch their behavior.

In Venezuela, gun ownership is not something thats open to everybody. So if the military have the guns, they have the power https://t.co/pOdsekefc8  Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) May 1, 2019

With desertions on the rise and dwindling support for Maduro, the government has used armed groups of civilians known as colectivos to terrorize Maduro opponents, the interviewees said. Rights groups in Venezuela have warned of rising violence meted out by the militant groups.

The government has also released jail inmates and put them in National Guard uniforms, to the disgust of soldiers with years of military career behind them, the six deserters said. It is unclear if the former inmates or militants are paid by the government.

A lack of food, water and medicines, along with extended blackouts, have added to a sense of anarchy, the deserters said.

The uniformed sergeant said he feared bloodshed at the hands of the colectivos trying to keep Maduro in power if the armed forces balked at government orders to repress protests.

There wont be enough soldiers left with hearts of stone to fire on the people, he said. We military know that among the crowds on the streets there are relatives of ours protesting for freedom and a better future for Venezuela.
Trump May Be Sued for Violating Emoluments Clause, District Judge Says

WASHINGTONU.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Emmet Sullivan refused the Trump administrations motion to dismiss a Democratic lawmaker-initiated lawsuit claiming that Americas first billionaire president violated the Constitutions rarely cited Foreign Emoluments Clause.

The lawsuit alleges that President Donald Trump is violating the clause, which prevents any Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them from accepting any present, Emolument, Office, or Title  from any King, Prince, or foreign State. The clause forbids government officials from receiving gifts from foreign states and monarchies without the consent of Congress, in the hope of shielding the small-R republican character of the United States from corrupting foreign influences.

Appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, Sullivan has been a thorn in the Trump administrations side for some time. In December, he struck down administration policies that made it more difficult for foreigners who claim to be victims of domestic or gang violence to seek asylum. That same month, the judge lashed out at former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, suggesting the defendant was guilty of treason, as he postponed his scheduled sentencing for lying to the FBI.

In the April 30 memorandum opinion in Blumenthal v. Trump, Sullivan wrote that the 201 Democratic representatives and senators were justified in seeking relief in the lawsuit and that their request was constitutionally valid.

The request the lawmakers made for an injunction requiring the president to adhere to the Emoluments Clause is also valid, because the Trump administration hasnt demonstrated that granting it would interfere with his ability to ensure that the laws be faithfully executed.

Sullivan, who is based in the nations capital, also ruled that Trump ignored the ordinary meaning of the word emolument as intended by the framers of the Constitution by claiming it referred only to profits he generates directly through his own work.

Lawmakers claim the fact that Trump has many businesses around the world, coupled with his refusal to sell off those assets, is proof in itself that he has violated the Constitution. They say his decision to put those assets in a blind trust run by two of his sons still doesnt make his actions constitutional. Some Trump critics have said if a foreign diplomat stays at a Trump-owned hotel, this is evidence in itself that the emoluments clause has been violated.

Trumps lawyers counter that the clause only applies if Trump directly profits or takes in a gift from a foreign power in exchange for taking a specific action as president. Other Trump defenders note that the American people knew he was an active, successful businessman when they elected him, and that requiring a complete divestment of his businesses while president is unreasonable.

George Washington, who was first to serve as the nations president under the then-newly adopted Constitution, apparently did not believe the Emoluments Clause applied to the presidency, according to legal scholar Seth Barrett Tillman.

President Washington accepted and kept two diplomatic gifts, but he neither asked for nor received congressional consent. Washingtons conduct was widely reported in the press. So it would seem to indicate that he, his administration, Congress, and the public did not believe that the Clause applied to the presidency.
From the reality television show Dog The Bounty Hunter Beth Smith (L) and Duane 'Dog' Chapman arrive to A&E Television Networks Upfront celebration held at Rockefeller Center in New York City on April 21, 2005. (Fernando Leon/Getty Images)

Dog the Bounty Hunter Star Beth Chapman Calls Cancer Toughest Battle

Beth Chapman, the wife of Duane Dog the Bounty Hunter, has spoken out about her battle with cancer this week and again credited her faith.

Fighting cancer is the toughest battle Ive ever been in, the 51-year-old was quoted by The New York Post as saying. But my faith in God and the love of my family is helping me through.

Thats the first time she has spoken out about her cancer since she was told about the diagnosis last year.

According to the Bradenton Herald, Chapman is slated to speak at a local church in Florida on Mothers Day.

In September 2017, she announced that she was diagnosed with throat cancer. Doctors told her months later that she was cured.

However, in November 2018, Chapman revealed that her cancer had returned and had to undergo emergency surgery in Los Angeles. She started chemotherapy soon after that, according to reports.

In April, Chapman was also rushed to the hospital while she was vacationing in Hawaii. She reportedly had breathing issues and was sent home to rest.

Beth started chemo for throat cancer last month. The treatments are in LA. They are going well, but they certainly take their toll on Beth, family attorney Andrew Brettler said in January. The Chapmans certainly have a lot on their plate. They just started filming for the new WGN show while Beths been going through treatment, Brettler added.. [Its] not easy.

She is expected to speak at The Source Church in Bradenton, Florida, on May 12, according to the Herald.

Duane Chapman also elaborated on his wifes battle with cancer, saying, I have cried a lot over this because Beth is my everything.

"Another bend in the road, yet not the end of the road,#faith, #love #stayhumblepray." Beth Chapman Posted by Duane "Dog" Chapman on Thursday, November 29, 2018

He said, Despite all of the obstacles I have overcome, this is by far the biggest test of my life and mark my words, I will not let her die, according to the Daily Mail in late March. Previously, the two have spoken about faith. Faith is probably the number one thing in our lives, no matter what were faced with.  Through this cancer episode, we had to drum up as much faith as we could. And the Bible talks about having faith as small as a mustard seed. And thats not much.  And I thank God that we had at least that much faith to get her through that, Duane said several years ago about her cancer during the first bout. When we made a pledge many years ago, I said Id love her in sickness and in health until death do us part, he told People magazine of his marriage. And that truth has really, really come alive in my mind. And I have to stand on that; I gave her an oath that I would love her forever. And thank God its not till death do us part at this point.
Donald Trump Jr. delivers a speech during a ceremony for the official opening of the Trump International Tower Hotel in Vancouver, Canada on Feb. 28, 2017. (Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)

Donald Trump Jr. Slams Instagram for Apparently Deleting Photo of Him With Wounded Vet

Donald Trump Jr. slammed Instagram on April 30, accusing the company of bias and censorship after it apparently deleted a photo of him and a smiling U.S. Army veteran.

If Instagram can censor this great American hero for simply posting a picture with me, who wont they censor? The bias has to stop. Its gone too far, he tweeted.

On Instagram, he also wrote that INSTAGRAM IS AT IT AGAIN WITH THEIR BIAS DELETING POSTS and deleted my friend crispy11bs post that was simply a post of him and I catching up at the NRA show.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Donald Trump Jr. (@donaldjtrumpjr) on Apr 30, 2019 at 5:08am PDT

Trump Jr. said that there wasnt anything political in the post.

The presidents son said it was possibly deleted presumably because Im in it and thats too much for the social media gods in California.

He continued: Omar aka Crispy is a vet severely wounded in conflict who has undergone I believe over 100 surgeries to fix the damage done. Hes been a vocal supporter of other wounded vets and an inspiration to so many because despite everything he manages to live his life to the fullest.

If @instagram can censor this great American hero for simply posting a picture with me, who wont they censor? The bias has to stop. Its gone too far. https://t.co/sX6oAkO5I6  Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 30, 2019

Instagram hasnt issued a statement on the matter.

This man is amazing and he should not be censored, in fact we would be better off as a nation with many more with his attitude, demeanor, and patriotism. I suggest you give him a follow. The [expletive] has to stop. If Instagram can censor a hero like this who the hell wont they suppress??? he asked.

Censorship?

In March, Trump Jr. wrote an opinion piece for The Hill, accusing social media giants of censorship by using algorithms to reduce the reach of posts.

As you probably guessed, this stealth censorship was specifically aimed at conservatives, Trump wrote.

Despite the occasional brave gesture, politicians have been far too sluggish in recognizing the extent of the problem. But the Republican Party and the conservative movement are becoming more vigilant against the suppression of our speech, as we saw at last weekends Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), he continued.

Left unchecked, Big Tech and liberal activists could construct a private social credit systemnot unlike what the communists have nightmarishly implemented in Chinathat excludes outspoken conservatives from wide swaths of American life simply because their political views differ from those of tech executives, he added.

According to a report from Epoch Times, the social credit system has apparently already appeared in Australia.

Officials on the Darwin council in Australia went to Shenzhen, China to have a chance to see exactly how their Smart Technology works prior to being fully rolled out, the report said.

Meanwhile, officials have put up poles, fitted with speakers, cameras, and Wi-Fi to monitor people in Darwin.

Well be getting sent an alarm saying, Theres a person in this area that youve put a virtual fence around.  Boom, an alert goes out to whatever authority, whether its us or police to say look at camera five, stated Josh Sattler, the Darwin councils general manager.
Richard Guerra (L) and his son Jody Guerra on their ranch, La Anacua Ranch, near Rio Grande City, Texas, on March 22, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Drugs, Illegal Aliens Not the Only Headaches for Border Ranchers

ROMA, TexasIllegal immigrants and drug traffickers arent the only incursions that border ranchers are battling in southeast Texas.

A tiny interloper has brought the areas cattle industry to its knees. Its called the fever tick.

Fever ticks can carry a parasite that causes babesiosis, commonly known as cattle fever, which can decimate a herd.

The parasite attacks and destroys the animals red blood cells, causing acute anemia, high fever, and enlargement of the spleen and liverultimately killing 90 percent of a herd that hasnt been previously exposed to the parasite, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC).

Cattle rancher Richard Guerras 9,000 acres have stood idle for four years, with not a cow in sight and feeder pens overrun by weeds. After being quarantined 22 times in the past 15 years, it has become cost-prohibitive for him to run cattle. At full capacity, he can run 1,000 cattle; now, he stays afloat by leasing his land during hunting season.

Guerras ranch sits about a mile north of the U.S.Mexico border, near Rio Grande City, Texas. The Rio Grande is the international boundary, and no fencing exists in the area. The border is ground zero for fever tick infestations, largely because of cattle and deer crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico and infecting U.S. herds.

Right now, one of our biggest problems, even though we do have some human trafficking, is the problem with fever tick. Fever tick comes from Mexico. Mexico does nothing to control it, Guerra said on March 22. Look at our pens, theyre empty. We got feeder pens right there. We can handle as much as 500 head of steer in there at one time. But right now, theyre empty.

There is no cure or vaccine for the fever tick, and Guerras biggest hope now is for a border wall to be built, cutting access for the wildlife bringing the tick over the border.

It only takes one fever tick carrying babesiosis to infect a host animal, and it only takes one infected host animal to pass babesiosis to a fever tick, said Callie Ward, communications director for the TAHC.

Right now, 2,655 premises, totaling 950,500 acres, are under quarantine in Texas, according to TAHCs February data. Texas was home to 16.4 percent of the nations beef cows in 2009, according to Texas A&M University.

Once a fever tick is found on a cow, a ranch goes into quarantine for nine months, under USDA rules. During that time, the cattle must be dipped in a vat every 14 days.

As a consequence, we have to hire helicopters to do our workto gather our cattle, Guerra said. Thats $350 an hour. Well, that gets pretty expensive. So the point being that by the time I get my cattle out of the ranch, out of a quarantine, Ive already spent a lot of money. And it could be that, and it mostly is that, Im not gonna make any money that year because of all these costs.

The nine-month dipping protocol would hit an average 500 cow-calf ranch with a cost of $250 per cow, as well as a 47 percent increase in cash expenses, and an 80 percent decline in net cash farm income, according to a study published in 2010 by Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University.

The extra costs include the rounding-up and dipping of the cattle every two weeks and increased maintenance and repairs to fencing, due to increased use. The cost doesnt include cattle deaths, weight loss, and reduced calf numbers as a result of the extra work.

Neighboring ranches also are affected and must undergo tick inspections and two dippings.

Guerras son, Jody, who will someday become the fifth-generation on the ranch, said the stigma around the fever tick adds another challenge.

Lots of cattle buyers now dont want to buy anything south of San Antonio, he said. Even though they might be clean and passed inspectionpeople are leery of purchasing cattle from this area, just because they dont want to take a chance.

Jody estimates that anywhere from 50 percent to 65 percent of the ranchers in the Rio Grande area have stopped production.

One of the biggest sales yards in Starr County shut down its operation because theres just not enough cattle production to keep it open, he said.

Geraldo Lalo Garza bought the local sales yards last summer and reopened them in November as Triple G Livestock Auction. But business is slow and its an uphill battle. Right now, were losing money, Garza said. He is hoping his trucking business can support the yards until things pick up.

My main ranches are right here on the border, on the river side. Most of them have quarantine, he said. But the next nearest yards are 70 miles away or 140 miles away, so if the tick invasion abates, hes in a good position.

Fever Tick Background

Fever ticks were once rampant throughout most of the United States, but a concerted, 54-year effortfrom 1906 to 1960pushed the problem back to the U.S.Mexico border. A buffer zone was created, which includes more than half a million acres, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville, Texas, to Amistad Dam north of Del Rio, Texas.

Texas is in the midst of an outbreak, which have been happening periodically since 1960, Ward said. Many cattle, equine, cervids, and nilgai antelope that cross from Mexico into Texas carry fever ticks. USDA employs mounted tick patrols (tick riders) whose job is to ride horses along the border looking for stray animals that may wander from Mexico. They apprehend and treat the animals.

Guerra blames Mexicos nonaction for the fever ticks regeneration in the area.

Mexico again does nothing, nada, nothing. So those cattle come across, wildlife comes across, he said. Yes, our technology and our advancements in vaccines and all of that, has really helped. But this doesnt stop the problem. We need to stop the problem at the border. Thats why were in favor of a wall.

Other Border Issues

A border fence would also help control other cross-border problems, such as the human and drug trafficking that invariably encroach onto the Guerra ranch.

When they get into a gun battle, we can hear them, Guerra says of the Mexican cartels across the Rio Grande in Miguel Aleman.

Weve had occasions on this property where we have had armed intrusions. People with guns have come through here, carrying loadsloads of marijuana, or drugs, or who knows what.

Guerra considers himself lucky that hes only ever found one dead body on his ranch.

I always sleep with two or three guns by my side and during the day, when Im out and about in my truck, I always carry a firearm with me. Fortunately, Ive never had to use itso far.

But its also the repairs needed to fences and gates that add up.

Anytime these illegals do damage to my property, Ive got to pay for it, to repair it, Guerra said.

Jody said things started changing 15 to 20 years ago.

Weve seen a change in the type of individual that we encounter. Gone are the days of just a couple of people coming across, you know, looking for some assistance, looking for some direction, he said. Now, were encountering the groups of individuals who may be escorted by armed individuals. We see more evidence of individuals who are coming across that are now drug smuggling.

Meanwhile, Guerra remains hopeful that he can get the ranch up and running again before handing it to the next generation.

My heritage is here. I was born and raised here, so my whole objective is to try to protect what we have. But its sad in a way that were not able to operate cattle right now because of the fear of the fever tick.
European Regulators Fear Deutsche Bank US Stress Test Failure

FRANKFURTDeutsche Bank is in danger of failing U.S. stress tests, a European bank supervisor told Reuters, adding to pressure on Germanys biggest lender to make changes to its investment bank after failed merger talks with Commerzbank.

European Central Bank regulators are concerned that Deutsche Banks standing has weakened since it flunked U.S. stress tests in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and a repeat would cause a bigger dent in confidence among customers and business partners.

The Federal Reserve, which will complete its examination of Deutsche Banks U.S. operations in the coming weeks, could also impose conditions curbing its Wall Street investment bank, further undermining its earning power, the official said.

A spokesman said Deutsche Bank had invested heavily to ensure that the bank meets regulators demands and has made significant progress. The Federal Reserve, which is expected to announce the results by July, and the ECB declined to comment.

While Deutsche Bank had made significant improvements in recent years and eased relations with the Federal Reserve, systems it uses to monitor its business and risks, which determine how much capital it needs, remained weak.

Deutsche Banks future in the United States, where it opened 40 years ago with just 76 employees before expanding rapidly in 1999 by buying Bankers Trust, is already in doubt.

Investors and credit rating agencies have expressed worries about Deutsche Banks investment bank, which accounts for most of the 9,000 people it now employs in the United States, after last weeks collapse of merger talks with Commerzbank.

The key challenge for Deutsche Bank remains to demonstrate that the investment bank can effectively compete  and earn acceptable and stable returns, ratings agency Moodys said.

Rating agency Fitch said Deutsche Banks investment bank has yet to show that it can recover lost market share and navigate an uncertain market environment.

Both agencies have the group tagged for a possible credit-rating downgrade.

In the first quarter revenue at Deutsche Banks investment bank, which accounts for more than half its overall revenue, slid 13 percent from a year ago. Costs were higher than its income.

Nonetheless, Deutsche Banks management is signaling no major changes as it aims to be a credible competitor to U.S. powerhouses JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Christian Sewing told analysts last week that he would continue to review strategic alternatives but that it was non-negotiable that the bank remains globally relevant, including in the U.S. and Asia.

Soon after assuming office in a sudden management reshuffle last year, Sewing made cuts at the investment bank, mainly affecting the loss-making equities division and the business that serves hedge funds in New York and London.

But some investors have been calling for more drastic measures, with concerns heightened after six weeks of frantic yet fruitless merger talks.

Berlin had pushed to create a national champion and end questions over the future of the banks.

But management on both sides called off talks, blaming a need for capital, restructuring costs and difficulties implementing a deal.

By Tom Sims & John ODonnell
Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the International Association of Fire Fighters conference in Washington on March 12, 2019. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)

Firefighters Rally Behind Trump on Social Media After Labor Union Endorsed Biden

President Trump retweeted a series of almost 60 tweets today on Wednesday, May 1, in response to the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) endorsement of former Vice President Bidens 2020 bid for the White House, reported NBC News.

On Monday, April 29, after Biden initiated his campaign in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the executive board of firefighters union made its endorsement.

The IAFF stayed on the political sidelines during the 2016 election, not endorsing Hillary Clinton in the race against Donald Trump. However, President Trump believes that his policies over the past 2 years have done more for the firefighters themselves, implying that the labor union does not represent their interests and does not speak on their behalf. Trump wrote on Twitter:

Ive done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO! https://t.co/Tw0qwTiUD6  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019

The president then reposted a series of statements posted over the past few days by actual firefighters and their friends and family members who said that they supported Trump over the former Vice President. They were responding to an original post by Fox Newss Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service officer who says that the union leaders do not necessarily speak for the employees, in this case, the firefighters, stating that:

NONE of the Firemen I know are supporting Joe Biden for President.  https://t.co/4fxN35oevu  Dan Bongino (@dbongino) April 29, 2019

Here are some of the Twitter posts made by various firefighters supporting Trump and their opinions concerning the labor union:

The union bureaucrats endorse him but the due paying members dont, and they wonder why unions are getting smaller and smaller  Wade Ross (@wadar1969) April 29, 2019

Im a firefighter and I dont endorse Joe Biden My vote goes to President Donald Trump!!!!  Tom (@icemanTom) April 29, 2019
This picture taken on October 13, 2017, shows a man (R, wearing blue tie) identified by local Hong Kong media as former CIA agent Jerry Chun Shing Lee standing in front of a member of security at the unveiling of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Salvator Mundi' painting at the Christie's showroom in Hong Kong. (Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images)

Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to Spying for China

A former CIA officer pleaded guilty May 1 to conspiring to deliver classified information to the Chinese communist regime, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

Jerry Chun Shing Lee, 53, accepted a plea deal with prosecutors, which was approved by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in the federal court for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to the DOJ statement.

In May 2018, Lee was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on charges of retaining documents relating to national defense, and conspiracy to gather and deliver that information to aid a foreign government.

Lees work for Chinese intelligence coincided with the breakdown of CIA spying operations in China from 2010 to 2012, during which more than a dozen CIA informants in the country were killed or imprisoned, The New York Times reported. Lee is suspected to be the source of the breach, according to the report.

The former CIA officer was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City in January 2018.

Fluent in Chinese, Lee is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Hawaii.

Lee worked at the CIA from 1994 to 2007. According to the indictment, he worked as a case officer, with the primary role of recruiting clandestine human intelligence sourcesthat is, recruiting people to spy for the United States.

In his role, Lee had access to the identities of CIA spies and informants; details of intelligence operations; and methods the CIA uses to avoid detection by foreign spy agencies, the indictment said.

After leaving the CIA in 2007, the indictment said, he moved to Hong Kong and began working for an international tobacco company, which fired him in 2009. In June 2010, he started a tobacco business in Hong Kong with an associate.

In April 2010, Lee was approached by two Chinese intelligence officers who offered to pay him $100,000 for information, the indictment said. They also said they would take care of him for life. A month later, Lee reported the meeting to the CIA, but didnt mention the offer for payment.

Prosecutors said that from May 2010, the Chinese intelligence agents started giving Lee a series of written tasks. The tasks largely involved divulging sensitive CIA information, including national defense information, the indictment said. Until 2011, the agents requested at least 21 pieces of information from Lee.

Lee prepared documents in response to the tasks, including a sketch of the floor plan of an overseas CIA facility. He also allegedly made numerous unexplained cash deposits into his personal bank account totaling hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars.

Prosecutors also accused Lee of repeatedly lying to CIA officers about his visits to China and other actions in the country.

In 2012, Lee and his family traveled to the United States to return to living in Virginia. During his trip back, FBI agents searched Lees hotel rooms in Hawaii and Virginia, and discovered that he had notebooks containing operational notes from meetings with informants; locations for these meetings and covert CIA facilities; and true names and phone numbers of spy recruits and covert CIA employees, the indictment said.

Lee is due to be sentenced on Aug. 23 and faces a maximum of life imprisonment. However, actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than maximum penalties, according to the DOJ statement.
An oil storage tank of Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft is pictured at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, Russia February 26, 2018. (Vladimir Soldatkin/Reuters)

How Russia Contaminated $2.7 Billion of Oil Exports to Europe

MOSCOW/LONDONIt was a quiet Easter holiday at the offices of major European oil companies and refiners when an email in Russian landed. What the hell does it say? one manager recalled thinking as he sent it to his Moscow office for translation.

He was in for a shock.

The letter was from the state pipeline company in Belarus, Gomeltransneft, telling oil refiners and pipeline operators in Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic that the crude heading toward them from Russia down the 5,500 km (3,400 mile) Druzhba pipeline network was heavily contaminated.

We ask you to immediately take all measures to avoid potential losses and other negative consequences, said the Gomeltransneft letter dated April 19 and seen by Reuters.

For the next 10 days, refiners and oil firms in Europe cut purchases of Russian oil by up to a million barrels a dayor 10 percent of European oil importsin a major disruption to supply from the worlds second largest oil exporter.

The disruption sent oil to a six-month high above $75 a barrel, tarnished Russias reputation as an exporter at a time of rising competition with U.S. oil sales and triggered a Russian probe into whether the pipeline had been sabotaged.

As the crisis entered its 11th day on April 30, oil buyers had yet to hear directly from Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft, the owner of the network that exported the tainted oil, 10 sources at Western oil firms and trading houses said.

I have to rely on gossip and rumor to get an idea when clean oil will resume flowing, said a trading manager at a Western oil company which had to suspend purchases of Russian oil in Germany, which is connected to Druzhba via Poland.

Transneft, the worlds largest pipeline company run by Nikolai Tokarev, declined to comment.

Transneft moves about 10 million barrels of oil a day in Russia and exports more than 4 million barrels a day.

Managers at all large Russian oil producers also said their attempts to get information from Transneft had failed and it remained a mystery as to how the oil had been contaminated or who was to blame.

Huge Problem

Oil contamination is not unique to RussiaEuropean and Asian buyers of U.S. oil have rejected a number of cargoes from Texas over the past year citing poor qualitybut the scale and severity of the problem is rare, industry sources said.

Before the incident, Transneft, which operates 68,000 km of pipelinesenough to go almost twice round the worldwas considered very reliable.

It poses a huge problem for European refineries dependent on Russian pipeline flows, said Amrita Sen at the think-tank Energy Aspects. While this looks like a one-off, it does raise the question of the need to look for alternative suppliers as a back-up.

The oil was contaminated with organic chlorides, compounds used in the industry to boost extraction from oilfields by cleaning oil wells and accelerating the flow of crude.

The compounds must be removed before oil enters pipelines as they can destroy refining equipment or, at high temperatures, create the poisonous gas chlorine.

Tests by Belarus on oil from Druzhba showed organic chloride levels of 150-330 parts per million (ppm) between April 19 and 22, according to Gomeltransneft documents seen by Reuters, well above the maximum 10 ppm allowed by Transneft.

The state oil company in Belarus said on April 30 it was not expecting to get clean oil before May 4 and said it might take months to resume normal operations.

Clean-Up Costs

Contaminated oil has been found in Belarus, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, and the Baltic port of Ust Luga, all of which are served by the Druzhba network, said multiple sources involved in trading Russian oil said.

This oil is not sellable. You cannot just dump the price and sell it at a discount. No one wants this oil, a second source at a Western oil company said.

Buyers who have received contaminated oil now need to store it somewhere and dilute it with cleaner crude to lower chloride levels, an operation that could costs millions of dollars for each large crude tanker, according to oil trading sources.

The oil at the Ust Luga port, for example, could gradually be loaded onto ships mixed with better quality crude but solutions are less obvious for oil still in the pipeline.

Germany and Poland would need to reverse the flow and pump the crude back to Russia, or ports in Poland, as the refineries in those countries lack sufficient storage tanks to keep it until it can be diluted.

This will take months and Russian exports and even production may have to fall, said Sen at Energy Aspects, adding that European countries might have to tap strategic oil stocks if the outage lasts longer.

In Paralysis

Taken by surprise and left in the dark by a lack of communication from Transneft about how long the crisis will take to resolve, Western buyers of Russian oil have started looking at ways to shield themselves from further losses.

Last week, the worlds biggest oil trader, Vitol, refused to take a cargo from Ust Luga saying it was contaminated, forcing the port to shut down for 24 hours, according to several sources at Western oil companies and trading houses.

Vitol and Transneft, which owns the port, declined to comment.

Ust Luga reopened for crude loading on April 26 but as of April 29, the levels of chloride were still at about 80 ppm, according to two industry sources.

Even though Russia says it has resumed shipments of clean oil, we are still very much in paralysis as the quality is bad, said a major Western buyer of Russian oil.

Belarus has given a preliminary estimate of its losses from contaminated oil at $100 million, according to Gomeltransneft.

At least 10 tankers with a combined 1 million tonnes of contaminated oilworth more than $500 million at current priceshave already sailed from Ust Luga, according to a dozen traders.

The buyers of the shipmentsTotal, Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura among otherswill now have to store the oil somewhere in Europe and gradually dilute it, according to trading sources.

Total, Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura declined to comment.

Sabotage?

For now, there is no explanation as to how the oil was tainted. The scale of the contamination suggests corrupted crude could have been pumped into the pipeline for days, if not weeks.

Belarus said on April 30 that the volume of contaminated crude could be as high as 5 million tonnesequivalent to a months exports via Druzhba of about 1.2 million barrels a day and worth $2.7 billion at current prices.

In a news briefing on April 26, Igor Dyomin, an aide to Transefts Tokarev, told Russian media the contamination was intentional.

The pollution was detected at the private Samara Transneft-terminal, where oil is pumped into the Transneft network by several small producers, Dyomin was quoted as saying.

He did not name the producers and said investigators were searching several private companies in the Samara region.

Tokarev reiterated on April 30 in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the contaminated oil had been pumped deliberately by a private company.

Anton Tomilov, first deputy director at the Samara Transneft-terminal, said his company had sold the crude oil loading terminal in 2017 and he didnt know who owned it now.

Reuters was unable to identify the current owner.

Putin said on April 27 that law enforcement agencies could step in if Transnefts internal investigation failed to provide enough answers.

By Olga Yagova, Gleb Gorodyankin, & Dmitry Zhdannikov
Jarrod Ramos Pleads Insanity After Being Accused of Maryland Newspaper Shooting

A key suspect in a Maryland shooting entered an insanity plea on April 29 after being accused of killing five people who worked for the local newspaper back in 2018.

Lawyers advising Laurel resident Jarrod Ramos, 39, have denied the suspect is criminally responsible for the June 28, 2018 death of five people in the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, 33 miles southeast of Baltimore.

The man accused of killing five people in a shooting at Marylands Capital Gazette has until Monday afternoon to consider an insanity plea. https://t.co/m3chznIREA  WTOP (@WTOP) April 29, 2019

Deadline looms for Capital Gazette shooter to consider insanity plea https://t.co/ZyoPACNUfS pic.twitter.com/nu69XFxhs2  Washington Informer (@DC_Informer) April 29, 2019

Ramoss plea has been changed to not guilty by reason of insanity because of a mental disorder, according to a court filing in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. The lawyers also said the accused did not have the capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct.

The Maryland man charged in the Capital Gazette newspaper shooting that left five staff members dead has entered a plea of not criminally responsible to all charges in the case, citing a mental disorder that prevented him from conforming to the law. https://t.co/8z9Ipi04cP  Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) April 30, 2019

The legal bid came after Ramos was indicted on 23 charges in the attack, including first-degree murder of Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Ann Smith, and Wendi Winters. He originally pleaded not guilty.

Maryland newspaper attack suspect enters insanity plea by  https://t.co/1MrhnQfKPo pic.twitter.com/6Ut7gjgfRG  Westlake Legal Group (@WestLakeLegalGr) April 29, 2019

After the attack, police captured Ramos, who was hiding under a desk at the Capital Gazette office. Authorities accuse Ramos of using a shotgun to blast his way inside the newsroom. He is also charged with attempted murder, assault, and gun crimes.

At a court hearing in April one attorney representing Ramos referred multiple times to his clients bizarre language and bizarre behavior, leading up to the mass shooting. William Davis said the accused had longstanding mental health issues and a period of mental health disturbances, adding a mental health expert has been working with the defense.

In any case the state will conduct an independent evaluation to determine whether Ramos is criminally responsible for his actions. A doctor will write a report with recommendations to be sent to the defense attorneys, prosecutors, and court.

A judge or jury would usually consider whether the defendant was criminally responsible after the trial scheduled for November has ended.

If they rule in Ramoss favor and find him not criminally responsible, he could be sent to a mental health prison facility. However, if he is deemed to be criminally responsible, prosecutors will push for Ramos to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors claim Ramos carefully planned the attack and barricaded the rear exit of the office to prevent people from escaping.

Ramos also has an extensive history of harassing the newspapers journalists since the paper published a story about a woman accusing Ramos of harassing her online for months.

The accused filed a suit against the paper in 2012, claiming he was defamed over his 2011 conviction in a criminal harassment case. The lawsuit was dismissed as groundless and Ramos responded by sending profanity-laden Twitter posts about staff at the newspaper.

In the days after the attack, area judges and an attorney received letters signed with Ramoss name that threatened the newsroom.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Former school bus driver Shane Pich (L) appears in court for sentencing in Watertown, N.Y., on April 25, 2019. (WWNY/7 NEWS via AP)

Judge Sparks Outrage for No Jail Time in Rape Sentence

WATERTOWN, N.Y.An upstate New York judge who stoked social media outrage for sentencing a former school bus driver to probation in the rape of a 14-year-old is getting numerous vitriolic phone calls, court officials said on April 30.

Jefferson County Supreme Court Judge James McClusky last week sentenced Shane Piche to 10 years of probation, sparking an online wave of condemnation from people arguing that the punishment was too lenient. The 26-year-old was accused of raping the teenager at his residence in Watertown, New York, last summer. Piche, who was a bus driver in the victims school district, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape in February.

Piche also was required to register as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest of three categories based on the risk of another offense. Three orders of protection were issued and Piche was ordered not to be left alone with anyone under the age of 17.

The sentencing drew national media attention and harsh criticism. Twitter users posted the phone number and address of McCluskys chambers in Watertown.

The Judges chambers have received numerous vitriolic calls regarding the case, the vast majority from out of State, by individuals who know nothing about the facts and circumstances of the case, thanks to social media, state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen wrote in an email.

Chalfen said the judge was well within the sentencing range for this type of negotiated plea conviction. The maximum state prison time he could have received would have been from 1 1/3 to 4 years, he said.

Jefferson County chief assistant district attorney Patricia Dziuba said all parties acted within the parameters set by law and that the prosecutor handling the case sought up to six months of jail time along with probation, supervision and treatment. She declined to criticize the judges sentence.

Piche didnt make a statement during his sentencing.

Calls seeking comment were left Tuesday with McCluskey and Piches attorney, Eric Swartz.

Hell be a felon for the rest of his life. Hes on the sex offender registry for a long time, Swartz told television station WWNY of Watertown.

The station said a victim impact statement given to them by the victims mother read, I wish Shane Piche would have received time in jail for the harm he caused to my child. He took something from my daughter she will never get back and has caused her to struggle with depression and anxiety.

Chelsea Miller, of the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said based on the mothers statement, its possible that the judge and court officials didnt understand the harm the survivor experienced.

Unfortunately, this can discourage survivors who see jail or prison time as a form of accountability, Miller said.

Other judges also have faced public pressure over sex-crime sentences in recent years.

In a prominent example, California voters recalled Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky last year after he sentenced college swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail on a sexual assault conviction. Turner denied the accusation.

Persky cited a probation department recommendation, Turners youth and his clean criminal record in departing from a minimum sentence of two years in prison. Californias Commission on Judicial Performance ruled that the sentencing was done correctly, but critics said the punishment was too light.
Larry Elder Talks Mueller Report, Jussie Smollett, and Most Credible 2020 Democratic Candidate

In this episode of American Thought Leaders, Epoch Times senior editor Jan Jekielek sits down with radio and talk show host and best-selling author Larry Elder, the Sage of South Central, who has made a habit of challenging conventional wisdom.

They discuss the post-Mueller report politics, the Jussie Smollett case, and the Democratic side of the race in the 2020 presidential campaign.

Jan Jekielek: Larry, a lot of things are going on in the news right now. So I wanted to hit you up on your thoughts.

Larry Elder: Like what?

Mr. Jekielek: Well, lets start with the aftermath of special counsel Robert Muellers report. We know there was no collusion now, or its definitive. And there are still some folks out there trying to kind of stretch that out a little bit.

Mr. Elder: No collusion, no coordination, no corruption, no interference with the investigation, no assertion of executive privilege, no finding of obstruction of justice. As far as Im concerned, I wouldnt call it an exoneration the way the president has, but certainly, they didnt find the stuff that they wanted to find and now, theyre continuing to investigate and investigate and investigate. What I find fascinating is one of them said right away, We want the full Mueller report. We believe that the redacted one has all sorts of evidence of obstruction of justice and collusion. We want the full report. Why do you need the full report if you have all the evidence already? Theyve already decided the president has committed obstruction of justice. Theyve already decided hes committed impeachable offenses based on what is in the Mueller report.

Mr. Jekielek: They, meaning the people 

Mr. Elder: The Democrats. But they want the full report. So that it would confirm what theyve already decided: that its in the report. Its just bizarre22 months, $30 million, all these investigators, all these people whove been subpoenaed, all these depositions that have been taken, and they didnt find what they want. They didnt find the collusion, the corruption, the coordination with the Russians. And what Trump is angry about is two things: Hes angry about the assumption that, but for the Russians, he would not be president. Hes also angry about all the time he spent defending himself, time that he could have been spent advancing his agenda. So I understand why hes so angry. And that is why Mueller found that there was  and that is why [Attorney General] William Barr found and [Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosensteinthis is important to mention that Rosenstein was right theresigned the four-page letter that the Democrats are now saying were four pages of lies. Rosenstein co-signed that. And he was right behind Barr when he had that press conference, where Barr outlined the findings of the Mueller report. So if youre going to call Barr a stooge for Trump, you have to call Rosenstein a stooge for Trump. And Rosenstein is the one who appointed the special counsel.

Mr. Jekielek: Right. So lets jump to all the questions that the Mueller report raises now. Like what are the things weve been  we had a sense there wasnt a lot of evidence of collusion, you know. Two years ago, we were already writing about that, but in our investigations and the investigation of a number of folks, there are a lot of questions and a lot of investigations that have yet to be had, from what I understand. I wanted to hear your thoughts about that.

Mr. Elder: I dont see what more Congress can find out that the Mueller investigators didnt find out. This is not about trying to find out the truth or anything. This is about harassing the president up until the election. They dont want him gone. Some people are saying they want him impeached. They dont want him gone. They want him there. They want him bloody. They want him mangled. They want newspapers every single day to be about, We subpoenaed this person. This person resisted. This person didnt bring the documents. President Donald Trump is hiding something. Trump is hiding something. And by the way, Trump is hiding something. Thats what they want. They want a bloody candidate limping into the election  Hell be easier to beat. Thats really what they want.

Mr. Jekielek: And so what about all the questions that have been raised around the Steele dossier and how it even kept  how did all this happen? There was no collusion.

Mr. Elder: Those are my questions. Id love to find out how this whole thing started. Im still unclear. Apparently, George Papadopoulos, one of Trumps aides briefly,  bragged to somebody about some Russian tie. Next thing you know, theres an investigation, and then the Steele dossier that the Democrats paid for, that was clearly unverified, becomes a factor in getting the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrants. Id like to find out about how this investigation started, what role the dossier played, and what role the bias of the investigators played in going after President Trump. Thats what Id like to find out.

Mr. Jekielek: Why dont you outline a little bit about what we already know from your perspective?

Mr. Elder: Well, what we know is that the Russians tried to interfere with the election. What we know is that they took out a lot of ads on Facebook. What we know is that they tried to penetrate voting machines. Theres no evidence that they did. And in my opinion, they did it because they wanted to just sow dissent. They probably felt the same way that most people did and that Trump was a sure loser. So what well do is well put ads that are going to be pro-Trump to try to make the thing a little more competitive, so that when Trump loses, hell be able to argue that he was robbed. All we want to do is create crisis, create chaos, and sow dissent among Americans. If you look at the Facebook ads they took out, most of them had to do with racethe blacks and whites. Sometimes, they were pro-black, sometimes they were anti-black ads they took out. They were just trying to sow dissent.

And frankly, in my opinion, they were very successful at doing it. Were still having this conversation, and after the Mueller report came out, were having a conversation about the conversation of the Mueller report. So the Russians have been very successful in getting us to get at each others throats and spent very little money to do it.

Mr. Jekielek: So theres now evidence that the British government was spying on the Trump campaign. What do you make of this?

Mr. Elder: Im sure a lot of people were spying on the Trump campaign, and we probably do a lot of spying as well. Campaigns are nasty, nasty things. And in Trumps case, in his defense, people thought of him as a racist, as a fascist, as a Nazi. Those are the kinds of things that were said about him. Anybody that works for him is working for a fascist and a racist and a Nazi. He was a surefire loser. I think on the very day of the election, Nate Silver put the percentage of Hillary winning at 85 percent.

So you werent able to get the A-list people to work for Trump. Thats why you got people like Paul Manafort, who wasnt even relevant to the 1970s. And so youve got a lot of second- and third-tier people working for Donald Trump. And they were not the best of the best, in large part because they did not think Trump could win and didnt want to work for somebody like Trump. When Trump tried to get law firms to defend himself, he went around D.C., and a whole bunch of law firms said no. They thought he was toxic, didnt want to have anything to do with him.

And so Trump ended up having a lot of people around him who were not the most savory of people, in part because he was called a fascist and, in part, because the media said that hes a dead-bang loser. So, not too surprising. A lot of respectable people, who otherwise would have worked for a campaign like that, refused to work for him.

Mr. Jekielek: So how is it in your mind that something as salacious and utterly unverified as the Steele dossier could become the basis of these investigations?

Mr. Elder: I think there were a number of people in the so-called deep state that sincerely believed that they were being patriotic by going after this dastardly guy named Donald Trump who was vulgar, who was profane, who was racist. Thats what I thought.

And then you have the media that hated Trump from Day One. Let me back up. They didnt hate him from Day One. They enjoyed him at first, because he was getting good ratings. Then, they realized that the American people were taking him seriously, and they realized that they had a hand in giving him a whole bunch of free publicity when he first ran, that they then began turning on him.

So you had a perfect storm. You have a candidate that a lot of people didnt like. You also have the inherent bias against Republicans from the media. And then you had a bunch of zealots within the government that really thought that they were being patriots by going after this guy. So thats why this thing happened.

Mr. Jekielek: And finally, one of the casualties in all of this, and actually maybe even for good reason, has been faith in some of our core institutions, like the FBI, for example. I dont know if you would agree with that. And secondly, if Im right, what can we do to fix this?

Mr. Elder: Well, there were certain zealots in the FBI high up, investigators on the Mueller team who, in my opinion, felt that Trump was just a bad person. And thats what animated them. I dont think that we throw out the baby with the bath water. I think the FBI is a respectable institution. I think Christopher Wray, the current FBI director, is somebody that I trust. I think we had some bad actors and bad apples, and I think thats what we need to need to get to the bottom of.

Mr. Jekielek: So youre advocating for investigations?

Mr. Elder: I really do believe there ought to be an investigation of this investigationhow it started. I think it should be an investigation about the Steele dossier. What role did it play in getting these FISA warrants? And how can something like this happen? If they really felt that Trumps campaign had been infiltrated, they shouldve given him a warning. They should have come to him and said, Look, there are some problems here. They didnt. It was almost like they wanted him to continue to associate with Russians, so they could then argue that he was some sort of a plant or a stooge. Normally, what you would do in a campaign, if theres some evidence that the Russians are infiltrating, you go to the candidate and give them a heads-up. They didnt do that.

Mr. Jekielek: Lets shift gears a little bit. Speaking of investigations, you know, some weeks ago, I was sort of shocked to discover that all charges against Jussie Smollett were being dropped. And since, I think the Chicago Police Department is suing for the cost of the investigation. And now, recently, Ive been reading that the two brothers who were accused of the attack are also suing. Can you unpackage this for me a bit?

Mr. Elder: The whole thing is a mess, isnt it? When it was pretty clear that Smollett had not been attacked by two people at 2 oclock in the morning while he was getting a sandwich from Subwaywhen they were pretty clear that that didnt happenI recall one reporter from People Magazine TV. She said, I was dreading that this day might come, meaning the day that it was exposed to be a fake. So she would rather believe that there were two Trump-supporting goons patrolling the streets at 2 a.m. in Chicago looking for gay black guys to beat up. Shed rather believe thats true than to believe that this guy lied. Thats pretty incredible to me. The whole thing is a mess.

And youre right, the brothers have retained a lawyer, and theyre now suing for defamationnot against Jussie Smolletttheyre suing defamation against the two lawyers who made a bunch of statements, that in the brothers view, were false. Ive never seen lawyers being sued for making claims that are designed to advance their clients interests. I dont think the lawsuit is going to go anywhere, but it is an indication that this thing is a hoax. And what Smollett is essentially doing by still insisting it happened, is hes calling the state attorney, Kim Foxx, a liar. She happens to be black. Hes calling Eddie Johnson, the Chicago

Mr. Jekielek: How is it that hes calling her?

Mr. Elder: Well, she insists that he did it. She says that the reason for the charges being dropped is that this was an alternative dispute resolution, that he still did it, the charges were valid, and he, in fact, pulled a fake crime. So hes calling her a liar. Hes calling the black superintendent of police, Eddie Johnson, a liar, hes calling the two brothers liars. Theyre black. So its going to be very challenging for Smollett to play the race card, but Im sure hell be able to figure it out some sort of way of doing it. After all, hes the gay Tupac.

Mr. Jekielek: So how do you think this is all going to play out?

Mr. Elder: Hes already lost his role on Broadway. He was playing the first black ballplayer to come out as a gay person. Hes lost that role. And the head of Empire just said that itll be very difficult for him to come back. So it doesnt look like hes going to come back from that either. So hes lost a whole lot.

Mr. Jekielek: You think America is going to believe hes innocent in the end as, as hes maintaining, despite 

Mr. Elder: I havent seen any polls, but I doubt very many people believe hes sincerely innocent. I mean, theyve got the brothers receipts buying some of the rope and the bleach or whatever it was they used. The brothers themselves have said that they were encouraged to do it by Smollett. The police believe that it was a fake crime. The state attorney believes its a fake crime. And youre right, the city of Chicago is suing him to recover the overtime money that was spent investigating this thing. So, theres no question, in my opinion, that this was a fake crime, a fake hate crime. And Smollett has now been outed as a liar. And what he tried to do is to use the hostility toward Trump, the assertion that Trump has made the country worse because of his alleged racism, to advance his career. I mean, its hideous, its absolutely hideous, and he should be shamed. He should be afraid to leave his house in the daytime.

Mr. Jekielek: So lets shift gears again here, and lets talk about this very crowded field of Democratic presidential contenders. Weve learned that Joe Biden has now thrown his hat in the ring.

Mr. Elder: Threw his hair plugs in the ring. Joe Biden has run twice before. He would be a formidable candidate. In my opinion, hed be the one that would be the most difficult for Trump to beatif Biden can survive the primary. I dont think he can. This is a guy who voted for the Iraq war. This is going to come back to haunt him. He voted for the crime bill that a lot of people now think is racist. Hes going to have to apologize for a lot of positions hes taken in the past. I dont know that Joe Biden is down with the Green New Deal, down with a $15 minimum wage, down with Medicare for All, down with guaranteeing a job whether you want one or not, down with abolishing ICE. These are mainstream positions now in the Democratic Party. And if and when Biden begins to shift towards those positions, hes going to seem insincere. So why not get somebody who doesnt have to shift to those positions? Get somebody whos younger, who already adopts those positions, thats going to be his problem. And, these guys are, these Democrats are interested in winning.

Theyre not going to give him a pass just because hes Joe Biden, just because he used to be the vice president to Obama. One of the freshmen congresspersons criticized Obama and said just because he has a pretty face and a pretty smile, it doesnt mean weve got to forgive the droning that he did. So theyre not above criticizing Obama and, therefore, theyre not above criticizing Joe Biden. So hes going to have a very, very difficult time. High name recognition, [so] out of the gate hell be the front-runner. But little by little, I think hes going to have a lot of difficulties. And also in this era of Me Too, hes gonna have to explain his tendency to a crowd  Its not a big deal, but its something hes going to have to talk about.

Mr. Jekielek: So, one of the things that Ive seen talked about a lot recently is how the Democratic Party is very good about keeping consistent around talking points. In fact, you know, apparently much better than, say, the Republicans. So this seems to flaunt that idea.

Mr. Elder: Well, the Democrats have different views on a lot of things. I mean, you have a socialist who is right behind Biden, and thats Bernie Sanders. And you have other Democrats who are saying, Im not a socialist. They dont know what to do about the Mueller report. You have some Democrats who want him impeached, others who say that we ought to concentrate on issues that Americans care about. So there are some differences. And youve even had some of the Democrats say that the idea of allowing felons in prison to vote is insane. But you have Sanders saying it and you have a Kamala Harris saying we should give it a conversation. And you have Mayor Pete saying its ridiculous. So there are going to be some differences. And therell be highlighted as this thing cooks up.

Mr. Jekielek: But thats similar to what we saw in 2016, right? There were all sorts of different perspectives, all sorts of attacks. But finally, you know, when all was said and done, everyone kind of consolidated around the candidate. How do you see this playing out?

Mr. Elder: Except for 2016, the fix was in. Hillary was going to be the candidate, and that was that. Thats why they set up the superdelegate thing. And based on the DNC emails weve now read, theres no question that they wanted Hillary to win and they expected her to win. This is a whole different deal. Obama is staying out of this so far, he has not put his thumb on the scale one way or the other. Hes met with almost a dozen of these candidates and has encouraged them. Im sure Biden is not all that happy about that. So its going to be a whole deal. This is going to be a free-for-all. Its going to be very entertaining to see who emerges.

Mr. Jekielek: So you dont think theres going to be a fix for Biden, even though he has the greatest chance as you suggested?

Mr. Elder: I dont know what theyre doing about superdelegates this time, but whatever theyre doing, it wont be the same as last time though. I think Biden has to earn it on his own, and hes going to have a really difficult time. Hes white in a year where its not a good year to be white. Hes male in a year where its not good to be male. Youre having all these Democrats being askedthe ones who are malewill you have a female running mate? And Cory Booker just now said yes. What is that? Im going to have a female running mate irrespective of how qualified she is, or whether or not she is the best possible running mate? This is how these guys are. Its all about identity politics. We havent had a female president, so therefore, we should have at least a female vice president. Thats how they roll, and I think thats going to be a real problem.

Mr. Jekielek: So who would be your favorite pick on the Democratic side?

Mr. Elder: I am not impressed with any of them. Im really not. The one I think is the most challenging for the president, as I mentioned earlier, is Joe Biden. Harris is too radical. You know, their whole agenda: raise taxes, Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage while we have an economy thats rocking and rolling. I think its foolish. And raising taxes on rich people, a wealth tax. The top 1 percent already pay about 40 percent of all the federal income taxes, while getting about 20 percent of the nations income. The rich are in fact overtaxed, but the left wants to tax them even more. I just dont think the average American is comfortable with how radical the Democrats have become.

Mr. Jekielek: So its also been said that the Trump agenda has been very successful on the economy side at least. And so what do you see the Democrats put up against that?

Mr. Elder: You know, in a normal world with an economy this good, the president, as he pointed out, should be up 10 [to] 15 points. Bill Clinton was impeached, and because the economy was doing well, he retained his popularity. In fact, his popularity even went up during the impeachment thing. So, normally, its the economy, stupid, until its not the economy, stupid. Its the economy, stupid, when Democrats are running; when Republicans are running, its not. When George Herbert Walker Bush was running for re-election in 1992 in October, Investors Business Daily looked at a collection of newspapers, the front pages of their business storiesof the stories having to do with the economy. And 90 percent of these stories were negative. Even though we were in like the 16th consecutive month of positive economic growth, a majority of people thought we were in a recession. We were [not] even close to being a recession.

The next month, November 1992, after Bill Clinton wins, Investors Business Daily looked at the same newspaper to find out if they changed their tone, and they did. Only 14 percent of the business stories were negative. Same data. Data hadnt changed. Their interpretation of the data had changed because their guy was now going to be in the White House. All of a sudden, the economy had done a 180 in their minds.

My point is, if this were a fair and balanced media, thered be story after story after story about how people are employed, about how many businesses have been started, how the revenues have grown. But because they hate Donald Trump, its no longer the economy, stupid, its Trumps comment about Charlottesville, its the separation policy on the border, its Trumps racism, its all sorts of issues having nothing whatsoever to do with the economy, when in October of 1992, it was all about the economy.

Mr. Jekielek: So the medias position has changed since  or the medias role or perhaps a gravitas in society has changed since George H.W. Bush. And how do you think that will play into peoples decision-making?

Mr. Elder: Well, I do believe that this term fake news has struck a chord with a lot of people. And I think a lot of people are much more skeptical about the media than they used to be. If you look at the ratings of Trump, depending upon the polls, maybe 37 [to] 38 percent. Congress is even lower. The media is even lower than Congress. And that is, in part, because I think people have realized that there is fake news. The way the media gave Hillary a pass on the server deal. Heres a woman who clearly violated the Espionage Act, which does not require intent. All it requires is an act of gross negligence. Whats more grossly negligent than putting a server unsecured in your basement when youre secretary of state. And she lied and said that she hadnt received or sent classified information when in fact she had. She lied and said she hadnt received any information that was stamped classified, when in fact she had. She destroyed 30,000 emails that were under subpoena. Her conduct was absolutely outrageous. No question. It was a violation of the Espionage Act.

Theres a sailor who took a picture of his nuclear submarine, [with] no intention to harm the country. He did a whole year in jail for violating the Espionage Act. Intent [is] not a requirement. Yet, James Comey stood up there, outlined all the bad things Hillary had done, and, at the very end of the story, gave us a twist and said, But she lacked the intent. So, therefore, no reasonable prosecutor would have gone after her. So, therefore, Im not going to do it. Intent is not a requirement of the statute. He gave her a pass. And I think people are seeing this, and theyre seeing whats going on with Trump for the past two years.

The Mueller report did not find collusion, yet the Democrats are still just yelling and screaming about collusion, but they gave Hillary a complete pass. This is the kind of double standard that drives people on the right crazy.

Mr. Jekielek: And youre seeing the same double standard in the media.

Mr. Elder: Absolutely. Yeah. Barbara Bush once said shes surprised when any Republican wins because the media are so against us. I think that Pew Research found out that only 7 percent of reporters describe themselves as Republicans. Ninety-three percent call themselves something else. The New York Times has not endorsed a Republican for president since 1956. The Washington Post never has. Never? So, Jimmy Carter over Ronald Reagan? Really? I mean, this is the unfairness that Republicans always have to deal with. And its almost on steroids, given the hostility they have toward Trump.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

American Thought Leaders is a new Epoch Times show available on Facebook and YouTube.
Australian Politician Sacked for Anti-Muslim Rant

A Victorian Liberal Party candidate for the federal election has been dumped over an appalling anti-Muslim rant.

Jeremy Hearn, who was contesting the seat of Isaacs in Melbournes southeast, was cut adrift on the morning of May 1.

There is no place in the party for people with these views, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Herald Sun.

Hearn apologised overnight for saying that Muslims are people of bad character who should be denied Australian citizenship.

In comments on a magazine article, he also accused Muslims of wanting sharia law in Australia and called for taxpayers to stop funding Islamic schools.

Those comments were entirely wrong and I apologise unreservedly for them, he told AAP on Tuesday night.

The one-line apology was not enough to save Hearn, with Victorian Liberal Party officials moving to cancel his endorsement.

Senior Victorian Liberal MP Alan Tudge lashed his offensive remarks.

Those views dont represent the views of the Liberal Party, the minister told Sky News.

Labor holds the seat of Isaacs, which includes suburbs such as Dandenong South, Chelsea, Braeside, and Mordialloc, by 2.3 percent.

US Muslim Leads the Way in Preventing Radicalisation

An American Muslim is encouraging his fellow Muslims to help prevent radicalisation by standing-up and opposing the Islamist establishment, which claims to speak on behalf of all those of Muslim faith.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a practicing Muslim and physician, believes that Muslims have a role to play in standing up to the current Islamist establishments to help prevent radicalization, he told 2GB Radio on March 12.

Radicalisation is a long process, Jasser said. The beginning process is a separatism where groups, leaders, imams start to tell our communities that this country is against them, that theyre victims.

They become basically estranged. Then that separatism consciously turns into a sense of trying to find redemption  and they develop a cause that they want to die for, which is jihad.

Jasser has met many Muslims who have a high moral standard and even reject some of the theocracy.

Unfortunately, they have remained silent while those with a radical interpretation of Islam have moved into positions of authority.

They have not developed publishing houses, they have not developed a sense of courage, if you will, to stand up against, he said. They are sort of like the silent Germans in Germany that did not adopt Nazism but did very little to fight the establishment of the regime.

Jasser said these establishments have created a monolithic interpretation of Islam that is dominating mosques even in the West.

The texts, the publishing companies, the interpretations, and translations of the Quran and versions of the Hadith, which is the stories of the prophet, are really monolithic. They come from either Saudi Arabias theocracy or Al-Azhar University in Cairo, or the Khomeini in Iran, so that simple establishment is the problem, he said.

As an American, we talk about President Trump fighting the establishment, which is the swamp. If you use the same analogy in the Islamic world, the clerics, the imams, the governments are all this establishment which is a power structure that controls, through billions of what I call Petro-Islam spread around the world, has created a very monolithic interpretation of Islam.

The antidote to this is to develop a new Sharia, he said, a new Islamic interpretation of law thats in the 21st Century.

That new school of thought is going to have to be done by imams that are schooled in Sharia but that cant happen overnight.

Jasser said that just as Muslims had taken on Bidahs or inventions, like science and new computer technology, he believes the Islamic world can also take on new political science to reform Sharia law.

Epoch Times reporter Richard Szabo contributed to this report
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at an Alaska airport was up for a surprise when they found a man carrying a big plastic bag of moose poop, a TSA spokesperson shared on Twitter on April 23.

Yes, you can bring moose poop to a checkpoint! Lisa Farbstein, TSA Public Affairs spokesperson wrote in a message on Twitter.

TSA has no policy preventing people from traveling with animal poop, but check with your airline on its policies because having to leave souvenir poop behind would be crappy, she wrote.

Yes, you can bring moose poop to a checkpoint! And someone did last week at Juneau Intl Airport. @TSA has no policy preventing people

from traveling with animal poop, but check with your airline on its policies

because having to leave souvenir poop behind would be crappy. pic.twitter.com/6aW5ALpSE4  TSAmedia_LisaF (@TSAmedia_LisaF) April 23, 2019

The man with the moose poop showed up at the Juneau International Airport on April 15. The luggage scanners caught a large organic mass in his carry-on bag. Farbstein told KTOO that the airport authorities were alarmed because it could have meant explosives.

The TSA officers opened the bag, they saw the moose poop inside, said Farbstein.

And the passenger told the TSA officers that he collects this and likes to present it, For politicians and their bleep policies.

The passenger was taking the animal droppings home from his Alaskan adventure, a TSA post on Instagram said.

TSA actually will screen just about anything people bring to the checkpoint, Farbstein told KTOO. But it is smartand if its more on the unusual sideto check with an airline to see if they have any limits or restrictions as it relates to what it is you want to bring. 

The authorities let the man board his flight with his bag of animal poop. Farbstein said the whole episode didnt warrant an incident report but it was shared with TSAs social media team and the posts gained attention. The one on Instagram has over 14,800 likes.

In another odd airport incident, a drug smuggler attempted to avoid airport security by not washing his feet for a month.

The man, supposedly acting as a drug mule, was arrested for smuggling a form of methamphetamine in his shoes in an airport in Jiangsu Province, China, Chinese media Litchi News reported on April 3.

The man, given the false surname Yang, attempted to avoid airport security. To avoid being caught with the drugs, he didnt wash his feet for one month.

The police who made the arrest said that they could smell the odor of Yangs feet from about 10 feet away. Yang was arrested on February 20.

The police found that Yang had stashed 10 bags of a drug called Yaba, a tablet that is a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine and is common in Southeast Asia. The word Yaba is from the Thai language, which translates as mad drug.

The report said that Yang had accrued several thousand dollars in debt while gambling in a neighboring country. A drug trafficker offered Yang payment in exchange for transporting the drugs.

The man to whom Yang was delivering the drugs was arrested on April 1. No further information was given about that man, nor his arrest.

Epoch Times reporter Daniel Holl contributed to this report.
Mother and Two Roommates Accused of Abusing Toddler to Death

A mother and her two roommates faced allegations of abusing a toddler to death, in a Wisconsin court on April 29.

Mother Rena Santiago, who lived in a Two Rivers apartment with Bianca Bush and David Heiden, has admitted that all three abused Gilbert A. Grant II., 2, for about eight months, according to a cause statement obtained by Action News 2.

Documents filed at Manitowoc County Court reveal the adults had attacked Grant using several weapons for physically disciplining him, including an open hand, a belt, shoe, plastic toy, remote control, and water bottles. This left him with bruises to the head, legs, back, feet, and arms.

Heiden admitted in the court document to pushing Grant so he would fall over and forcefully shaking and yelling at the child to go to sleep.

[The] defendant said shortly after that the victim was quiet, still, and looked to be sleeping with his eyes open, the document said. He thinks the shaking is what killed the victim because of the force he used.

Other forms of alleged abuse include Santiago shoving her fingers down Grants throat to force feed him, making him eat his own vomit, and shaking him violently.

More information on the alleged abuse of a 2-year-old in Two Rivers. The mother and two roommates were arrested April 27th. Posted by WFRV Local 5 on Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Bush confirmed in the document she rents the apartment and allowed Santiago to perform sexual acts in exchange for money in the same bedroom Grant was sleeping in. Bush would also help set prices for Santiagos services.

Santiago admitted she smoked marijuana while Grant was in the apartment, according to the document. She also said she flushed drugs down the toilet before police arrived on scene when Grant was not breathing on April 26 and was pronounced dead soon after. It was just five days after his second birthday.

The mother allegedly told police she knew about Grants visible bruises and explained she did not take him to a doctor for checkups for that reason. She also admitted to witnessing all the boys physical discipline and approved of it.

Santiago, Heiden, and Bush appeared in court for bail hearings where bond was set at $100,000 for each person. The District Attorney said her office is still reviewing the case for formal charges, which could be filed before the end of the week. The charges are widely expected to include child abuse, prostitution, and drug use.

Three people are accused of beating, torturing, and killing a toddler in Two Rivers. One of the accused is the toddler's mother. Posted by NBC26 on Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The trio are next scheduled to make an initial court appearance on May 6.

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families is conducting a Child Protective Services system review of Grants death. A public notification regarding the review was posted online. The department confirmed the Manitowoc County Human Services Department is cooperating with the review.

The departments division of safety and permanence conducts reviews when it is informed of a childs death, serious injury, or egregious incident due to suspected maltreatment.

DEATH INVESTIGATION: Two Rivers Police say they responded to a home on April 26 after someone reported a two-year-old child that was unconscious and not breathing. Posted by News 9 WAOW on Monday, April 29, 2019

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Orange County Republican Councilwoman Mounts Challenge to Katie Porter

After the Democratic Party seized control of the House of Representatives in November, the historically Republican stronghold of Orange County, Calif. became a central focus of the national media.

With four Republican districts flipping to Democratic control, Republicans are now mounting multiple challenges for 2020 to try to reverse what happened in 2018.

In the 45th Congressional District, which includes the communities of Irvine, Tustin, Orange, Mission Viejo and parts of Anaheim, candidates are already beginning to announce their intentions to run. The District has a 3-point Republican registration lead, which led many to wonder where former Republican Congresswoman Mimi Walters went wrong last fall. After the final results came in, Democrat Katie Porter bested Walters by 4 percentage points.

As of April 2019, a number of Republican challengers have already announced they are running against Porter. The Epoch Times had the opportunity to speak with Yorba Linda City Councilor Peggy Huang about the state of the district and her decision to run.

Huang was first elected to the City of Yorba Lindas City Council in 2014, serving as Mayor Pro Tem and Mayor in 2016 and 2017 respectively. She still maintains her seat on the council.

Born in Taiwan, Huang moved to the US at the age of 7, eventually settling in Irvine, Calif. where she attended University High School. She studied Political Science at UC Berkeley and received her Juris Doctor from University of the Pacific.

Following a number of years as a trial attorney, with an emphasis on victims rights and sexual abuse, she decided to run for local office.

After Walters loss last fall, Huang decided to jump in the race to unseat Porter.

On the issue of why Katie Porter won in the district, Huang cites Porters ability to rally the college age population. This was largely due to the fact that Porter was a professor at UC Irvines law school and had a presence on campus, where Walters didnt target student related issues.

The kids at UC Irvine are not necessarily dedicated Democrats. There are just looking for someone who is going to listen to them she stated.

She also noted that Mimi Walters support dropped because of her support for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduced Californias SALT deductions. Republicans frustrated with Walters opted to sit out of the election as a form of protest to her actions.

Many thought that because it was a Republican district, that a few missing votes wouldnt matter. Now Republicans understand their vote truly counts and they wont make the same mistake, she added.

Huang believes her platform on addressing the student loan crisis, assisting disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society, and supporting foster youth will resonate with voters.

She also cites her experience in governance the City of Yorba Linda and overcoming challenges she has faced in that capacity as qualifiers for her run for congress.

Huang told The Epoch Times that in her capacity as a councilwoman and as mayor, she made herself open to all groups and addressed all issues. I make myself available seven days a week and spend hours listening to community representatives concerns. I am always willing to listen.

Another issue Huang says Orange County is facing is healthcare, which was a major issue for the Democratic Party in 2018.

The double digit increases of healthcare costs that puts a burden on the family is tremendous. The Affordable Care Act did not address costs and did not live up to its name. Huang claims. If you look back at the trajectory of the costs it has been rising more rapidly than when it was just a fee for service, free market system.

On the topic of the push for Medicare for all, of which Katie Porter is a major supporter, Huang says we already have socialized medicine in America. That is the Veterans Healthcare system. The VA is truly socialized medicine and we are doing a horrible job taking care of our vets.

Huang believes that universal healthcare is an expansion of the existing VA system. Do we want to put 300 million into the existing VA system. There is no discussion on how to improve the VA system. If your model for single payer is the is an expansion of the VA, it will go down in disaster.

Huang also cites transportation and ending congestion on the major throughways that go through the district as a major priority. She stated that the county needs to get on board with San Diego Countys efforts to expand the 5 freeway, among other projects to decongest the roads.

Due to a growing population, she also sees the district suffering due to a lack of affordable housing and the high cost of living, which she says she will work to address. We cant have people working here live in Riverside and drive in. We love the economic engine of Orange County, but we are also suffering from it.

When questioned on why shes qualified to take on Katie Porter, Huang stated that she has been working on regional issues that are important to the district and has been involved in issues of the economy for the region.

I am the chair of the Economic Community and Human Development Committee for SCAG (Southern California Association of Governments), she said.

SCAG, being the largest metropolitan planning organization in the country, represents around 18.5 million California residents.

Regionally, I am already tackling the issues that are most important to this region. Transportation, affordable housing and homelessness as well as education, she explained.

With the California primaries being moved from June to March of 2020, the election is less than a year away. With Orange County now seen as a swing region, Huang explained the importance of bipartisan solutions.

The problem today is that people are unwilling to compromise. As a society, we must come to an agreement and move towards each other. You can do so much if youre patient. First and foremost, you have to have a vision and the patience to get there.

Many more are expected to enter the race, as there still remains roughly ten months remaining until the primary. Californias 2020 Primary election will be on March 3rd 2020 for all Presidential, Congressional and statewide initiatives.
Starbucks recalled its Bodum+Starbucks Recycled Coffee Presses from the United States and Canada on May 1 after finding that the presses pose a laceration hazard.

The recall warning, issued by both the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada, says the plastic knob at the top of the French press may break when the user is pressing down on the coffee press plunger, which can expose the plungers metal rod and cause injury.

According to Health Canada, Starbucks sold approximately 230,000 of the presses in the United States, and an additional 33,200 units in Canada.

As of April 24, 2019, Starbucks has received eight reports of lacerations in the United States and one report of a laceration in Canada.

The affected products were manufactured by Bodum, a well-known French coffee press maker, and sold exclusively by Starbucks from November 2016 to January 2019 for about $20. Starbucks initiated a voluntary recall of the product when it became aware of the issue.

The co-branded coffee presses make eight cups of coffee and are partially made from recycled materials. The press cylindrical glass beaker, screen, and plunger are held in place by a dark gray plastic frame with a locking lid and a light gray handle. The coffee presses measure about nine inches (23 cm) in height and four inches (10 cm) in diameter. The bottom of the press is embossed with Bodum and Made in Portugal.

Their SKU number, 011063549, is printed on a white label on the bottom of the base.

As with all French press coffee presses, consumers could put ground coffee and hot water into the carafe and then push the plunger and screen through the water to filter and brew the coffee.

Both product safety agencies advise that consumers should immediately stop using the coffee press and call Starbucks for store credit by contacting Starbucks at 1-888-843-0245 between 8:oo a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST. Starbucks is not accepting returns.

Past Starbucks + Bodum Recall

Five years ago, Bodum USA recalled its Bodum rose gold glass coffee presses that were sold exclusively at Starbucks as they too presented a laceration hazard.

The recall, issued by both the CPSC and Health Canada in January 2014, affected 28,000 presses sold in the United States and approximately 1,100 presses sold in Canada. The presses were sold nationwide and online in both countries from November 2013 through December 2013 for about $40.

The glass carafe part of the French press could fall out of its metal frame and plastic base, and if the glass broke or shattered, it posed a laceration and burn hazard to consumers.

Bodum received 14 reports of the glass carafes breaking or shattering, including two from Canada, when the plastic base separated from its metal frame. While there were no injuries reported in Canada, two minor lacerations and two minor burns were reported in the United States.

The coffee press glass carafe, screen, and plunger were held in place by a rose-gold colored metal frame with a black molded plastic base. It was 10 inches (25 cm) high and 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter with a locking lid and could make eight cups of coffee. Bodum was printed on the glass carafe, and the SKU number 11029732, Bodum, and Made in Portugal were printed on the bottom.

At the time, consumers were advised to stop using the presses and return them to the Starbucks store where purchased or to contact Bodum for a full refund.

Recent Bodum Recall

While Bodum is famous for making French presses, it recently had to recall its Chambord stove top espresso makers in a stainless steel finish.

The recall warning, issued by the CPSC on April 23, says the espresso makers handle can be ignited by the flame of a gas stove, posing fire and burn hazards. Bodum received one report of the espresso makers handle catching fire. No injuries have been reported.

About 500 of the espresso makers were distributed in the United States at Fairway Market, Indigo Books and Music, and other home appliance stores from January 2017 through January 2019 for about $70.

The recall includes 6-cup (12 ounce) espresso makers with the SKU number 10617-16 printed on the bottom and the word Bodum embossed on the lower half of the product.

The CPSC warns consumers to immediately stop using the recalled espresso makers and return them to the store where purchased for a direct refund, or to contact Bodum to receive a prepaid mailer to return the espresso maker for a full refund.

The Chambord espresso makers were manufactured in China.
Parents Demand Answers as Their 1-Year-Old Gets Bitten Multiple Times at Day Care

Parents of a 1-year-old are demanding answers after their daughter was bitten eight times at a pre-school in Maricopa, Arizona on April 25.

Rylee Umsted went to pick up his daughter Mila from Sunrise Preschools when he found bite marks all over her back. The accused is a 2-year-old from the same classroom who has been expelled.

She was shaking and I knew she didnt want to be there, Umsted told ABC15 Arizona.

The parents were told that the incident happened in only 30 seconds and about 20 minutes before the father arrived at the school. The teacher told them that there were only three children in the classroom when the incident happened.

A teacher was changing a diaper when another child went on top of her and started biting her, Milas mother, Rocio Enriquez said.

One bite mark that you look at youd be like, shed be screaming bloody murder. So I want to know if someone heard a scream, where was management? Enriquez added.

Parents want answers after 1-year-old girl bitten multiple times at day care https://t.co/Jj2A6F8d7L pic.twitter.com/9K7SXE2kYF  FOX8 WGHP (@myfox8) April 29, 2019

The mother said she couldnt believe it until she saw it. The couple accused the daycare of not letting them see the surveillance video.

We dont know what to think because we dont know the true answer, Umsted said. But theres a video out there that tells the truth.

The couple doesnt want the same to happen to any other child and wants changes made at the daycare facility.

Sunrise shouldve either had two teachers in that room or they need different training, Umsted said.

Lashawna Goulburne, the mother of the accused 2-year-old, said she only came to know about the incident the next day, and didnt know that police was called for her childs actions.

Hes not at fault here, Goulburne told ABC 15. Hes two, and we pay, not only me but the other family, we pay for our children to be protected and be monitored and safe.

The Schools Response

Dana Vela, President of Sunrise Preschools, told the media in a written statement that the school is sorry about the incident. She said the caregiver who was present with the children then has been suspended without pay till further investigations take place.

She called the incident heartbreaking and unacceptable and said the school will work to make sure it doesnt happen again.

We are deeply concerned about the incident that occurred at the Sunrise Preschools Maricopa location. The safety of our children is our number one priority. Sunrise Preschools immediately provided care and assistance to the injured child.

We are in contact with parents of both children involved. We are cooperating with the proper authorities and are unable to provide additional details at this time, she said in the statement.

The president invited questions and input from the community at info@sunrisepreschools.com.

Our mission is to educate as well as care for children. In this instance Sunrise will use this unfortunate incident as a way to further educate ourselves with input from our parents and the community, she said.

Another Similar Case Reported in Arizona

Another Arizona mother has reported a similar case on social media of her 15-month-old who was bitten 25 times in another daycare.

Alice Martin said her daughter studying at Tucsons Creative Beginnings Preschool came back home fussier than on a usual day two month ago.

Please share. We just EASd and moved to Tucson. Within 5 days of starting her new daycare my daughter was bit 25+ Posted by Alice Bryant on Sunday, April 28, 2019

Within 5 days of starting her new daycare, my daughter was bit 25+ times. I filed a police report for negligence and notified the Department of Health who handles daycare accreditation, the case has is still under investigation, the mother said in a Facebook post on April 29.

The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) is investigating the incident at Creative Beginnings Daycare and working with law enforcement. The investigation is not completed and ADHS cannot comment on pending investigations, said the Arizona Department of Health Services in a statement released to Fox News.
A New Zealand mother is warning parents to be aware of the risks of teething gels after she says applying too much Bonjela nearly killed her 7-month-old.

Jessica Vermunt posted on a Facebook parenting group that her daughter was rushed to hospital after giving the toddler the popular brand of teething gel.

I am currently in Starship Hospital with my 7-month-old baby who was literally minutes from dying after having too much Bonjela, Vermunt wrote in the group on the social media platform, the Daily Mail reported.

The active ingredient in Bonjela will turn your babys blood ACIDIC and cause complete renal failure, the mother wrote.

She said her daughter Athena was experiencing considerable pain due to teething, so she applied a more than normal amount of gel, not realizing it could be harmful.

Im aware that she had more than normal but the point remains that this has the potential to kill your child and there is no real information or warnings about the severity of it, she told nzherald.co.nz.

The mother told the publication the pair were at the doctors for four hours before Athena stopped breathing and became unresponsive. The baby was sedated and put onto a breathing machine while the doctors performed blood infusions and transfusions.

Vermunt told the publication her baby was minutes away from death from too much teething gel, but has now made a full recovery.

They diagnosed her with salicylate overdose. Salicylate is the active ingredient in Bonjela, Vermunt told the publication.

It is unknown whether the child is at risk of long-term complications due to the teething gel overdose.

Bonjela Responds

A spokeswoman for Bonjela was cited by stuff.co.nz as saying the company was aware of the incident and was trying to contact Vermunt to find out the details of the distressing incident.

Bonjela manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser issued a statement, as cited by Newshub:

We have been made aware of an incident relating to Bonjela and are currently trying to contact the consumer directly to understand what exactly has happened. Meanwhile, we are sending our best wishes to the infant for a quick recovery. The health and safety of our consumers is a top priority for us.

We take the health and safety of our customers very seriously. All Bonjela products in Australia and New Zealand are thoroughly reviewed and approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the regulatory body for therapeutic goods in Australia and the New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority (Medsafe) for safety and efficacy.

As with all medicines, parents should use oral teething and mouth ulcer gels only according to the directions on the packaging and should speak to a healthcare professional if they have any concerns.

Gel Use Warning for the Under-16s

Most mouth gels like Bonjela contain salicylate saltsa chemical similar to aspirinwhich relieves mouth ulcers and mouth pain.

The gels gained attention in 2009 when the United Kingdoms Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) advised that children under 16 should not be given mouth pain relief gels containing the salts.

The MHRA said there was a theoretical risk that products with the salts could lead to children developing Reyes Syndrome, a rare condition that causes serious liver and brain damage.

There have been no confirmed cases of Bonjela or Bonjela Cool Mint Gel causing Reyes, the agency said.

However, the regulator has received reports of three children hospitalized with suspected serious adverse drug reactions after using oral gels such as Bonjela.

In all cases, Reyes Syndrome was suspected but not confirmed.

There have also been four reports of vomiting or diarrhea in children following the use of Bonjela. In three of the cases the gel had been given for teething pain, and in all cases, the children recovered completely.

Reckitt Benckiser told Reuters at the time that Bonjela and Bonjela Cool would be clearly labeled as adult brands.

The manufacturer also told Reuters the warning did not apply to its Bonjela Teething Gel, which does not contain salicylate salts and remains safe for children from just 2 months old.

New Zealands equivalent of the MHRA, Medsafe, told Newshub it decided Bonjela was still safe for use on children in 2009 and has not looked at it again since.

There have been no cases about this product reported to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM) since 2009 and as such, Medsafes last advice on bonjela was in 2009, group manager Chris James said, according to Newshub.

We cannot take action if there is no evidence of harm but we strongly encourage the family or healthcare professionals treating the child to report to CARM.

James was cited by stuff.co.nz as saying that, If the products safety information is adhered to, Bonjela is a safe and effective product.

In 2009, Medsafe considered taking similar steps to those taken in the UK and reviewed mouth gel products for safety.

According to stuff.co.nz, Medsafe concluded the products were safe when used at the recommended dose.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Maureen Beattie (L) and Marcella O'Riordan enjoyed Shen Yun at the Eventim Apollo in London on May 1, 2019. (Mary Mann/The Epoch Times)

LONDONFor the president of the performers union Equity, Shen Yun was so impressive.

Veteran actress Maureen Beattie, who is only the second ever female president of Equity, saw the performance with fellow actress Marcella ORiordan at the Eventim Apollo in London on May 1.

They both had nothing but positivity towards the performers.

Excellent, wonderful performers! I mean its so impressive, so impressive, the training they must go through, its extraordinary, said ORiordan.

You can tell that all the dancers can act as well, tell us the story and its wonderful to hear a story you dont know anything about, said Beattie.

Beattie has played many roles in British theatre and on television in a career spanning over 40 years.

In 2018 she became president of Equity, a union that represents more than 45,000 performers in the UK.

New York-based Shen Yun takes audience members on a journey through Chinas 5,000 years of semi-divine culture in a performance that is frequently described as eye-opening.

Beattie said she could sense the performance was divinely inspired.

We need a bit of inspiration in our lives, dont we, in our little mundane, worldly lives, she said.

Sometimes its good to think about higher things, things to do with the spirit and how we might better ourselves and be kinder. Sympathy for others  and thats just in the show very much, so its wonderful, she said.

Full of Magic

Through about 20 vignettes, the performance relays the essence of genuine Chinese culture using performing arts, and inspires viewers through stories based on universal values and themes that have slowly faded away from our lives.

Beattie was also very impressed with the digital backdrop incorporated in the performance, a patented visual effect in which dancers can seem to move seamlessly between the stage and the backdrop.

She said it was so clever!

Full of magic, the show, wasnt it? she exclaimed.

Beattie was also moved by the messages in the vocal performances, which touched upon values and beliefs treasured in traditional Chinese culture.

One in particular spoke about how the meditation of Falun Dafa, which many of the Shen Yun performers practice, could save lives.

Oh, youd always want to save lives, wouldnt you? Beattie said. Everyone is so unpleasant to each other, so we want to be pleasant. If we are not nice to each other, we are not going to save any lives, are we?

With reporting by Mary Mann and John Smithies

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.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks about the Trump administration's Cuba policy during a press briefing at the U.S. Department of State in Washington on April 17, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Russia Convinced Maduro Not to Leave Venezuela, Pompeo Says

A top U.S. administration official said on April 30 that illegitimate dictator Nicolas Maduro was ready to leave Venezuela but didnt follow through after Russia coaxed him into staying.

The revelation came as the countrys legitimate interim president, Juan Guaido, called for the largest march in the countrys history on May 1 with the initialization of his final phase plan to oust the embattled socialist dictator.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Maduro was about to depart by plane as Guaido called for a military uprising. Earlier in the day, Pompeo said on Twitter that democracy cannot be defeated.

We literally had Nicolas Maduro getting prepared to get on this airplane and head out of the country before he was stopped, stopped really at the direction of the Russians, he said at a gala in Washington.

Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

National security adviser John Bolton meanwhile pointed out Cubas role in propping up Maduro. In an interview with Fox News on May 1, he said: The Russians are all over this; the Cubans are all over this.

As the unrest swelled, Maduro stayed at the Cuban headquarters in Venezuela because he didnt trust his own armed forces enough, Bolton said. He also hit back at the incorrect characterization of a coup detat, referring to Guaidos legitimacy as interim president.

The coup here has been by the Cubans and the Russians who have grafted themselves onto Venezuela, Bolton said. I think they are running it in some senses more than Maduro is.

Russia and China for years have fed Maduros regime billions of dollars through loans and energy deals. They both continue to support Maduro over Guaido, who is recognized internationally with the backing of more than 50 nations. The State Department didnt respond by press time to a request for further comment on Russias involvement.

Weve watched throughout the day, its been a long time since anyones seen Maduro, Pompeo told CNN on April 30. He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay.

Pompeo also said that he believed Maduro would have left had the Russians and Cubans not intervened with sufficient support.

In early April, the Treasury Department sanctioned two Venezuelan shipping operators and a vessel that delivered oil to Cuba. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has warned Cuba to cease its military involvement.

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba, Trump said on Twitter on April 30.

If Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations for the purpose of causing death and destruction to the Constitution of Venezuela, a full and complete.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2019

On-the-ground footage showed some of Maduros military forces deserting their posts and joining Guaido during street clashes. As the crowd swelled to thousands, more than 100 were injured as Venezuelans sensed what could be their strongest opportunity yet to overthrow the regime.

Today we continue, Guaido said in a post on Twitter early on May 1. We will keep going with more strength than ever, Venezuela.

Russia has denied Pompeos account, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova telling CNN that Washington tried its best to demoralize the Venezuelan army and now used fakes as a part of information war.

In earlier remarks, Zakharova said that Washingtons involvement in Venezuela may cause a collapse of the situation.
Scandinavias SAS Looking at Ways to End Pilot Strike

STOCKHOLMThe CEO of Scandinavian airline SAS has told negotiators to thrash out what concessions the company could make to end a pilots strike that has disrupted travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Well into the fourth day of the strike, neither SAS nor unions in Sweden, Denmark and Norway have contacted the other side, and no new talks are scheduled, SAS and the unions said.

SAS pilots went on strike on April 26 as wage talks broke down, grounding around 70 percent of the airlines flights and affecting about 280,000 passengers, including cancellations set for April 29 and 30.

SAS Chief Executive Rickard Gustafson told Reuters the dispute was damaging the airline, which is part-owned by the governments of Sweden and Denmark, with big financial consequences.

We simply have to put an end to this conflict. It is deeply damaging to the company, and it erodes our customers confidence in the company, Gustafson said in an interview.

I have instructed our negotiation team to continue to work on (our proposals) and see what more we can do to find constructive solutions within reason. We also need to survive after the conflict, he added.

Sydbank analysts have estimated the strike is costing the airline 60-80 million Swedish crowns ($6.3-$8.4 million) per day, a rate that would wipe out the expected net profit this year in just two weeks.

SAS pilots in the three countries went on strike after talks over wages, careers and work schedules broke down. The Swedish union has said pilots were seeking around a 13 percent pay hike.

The aviation industrys employer body in Sweden says pilots already have high wages, averaging 93,000 crowns last year. The Swedish pilots union disputes the figure, saying salaries start at 34,000 crowns, rising over 25 years to 98,000.

SAS has been cutting costs for years amid competition from low-cost rivals such as Norwegian Air and Ryanair

Close to bankruptcy in 2012, SAS sold assets and cut wages and thousands of jobs in return for a life-saving credit facility. It has been profitable in the last four years but fuel costs are rising and overcapacity is still squeezing the sector.

We cant have a cost explosion in the company. That would leave us with no competitive power, Gustafson said.

A growing global pilot shortage has meanwhile bolstered pilots bargaining power, as seen at other airlines including Ryanair, Lufthansa, and Air France.

The Cockpit Association of Norway and the Swedish Airline Pilots Association said they were willing to resume negotiations if approached by the employer.

Meanwhile, regional rival Norwegian Air said it was adding flights to its schedule in response to extraordinary demand.

A search on Norwegians booking site showed flights to many destinations were sold out, while others cost three to four times more in the coming days than in subsequent weeks.

By Anna Ringstrom, Terje Solsvik, & Nerijus Adomaitis
A MasterCard sticker is seen on a glass door of a store on May 25, 2006 in Niles, Illinois. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

Stronger Spending Powers Mastercard Profit, Revenue Beat; Shares Hit Record High

Mastercard Inc. on April 30 beat quarterly profit and revenue estimates, as a strong U.S. job market, rising wages and surge in online shopping boosted transaction volumes, sending shares of the worlds second-largest payments processor to an all-time high.

The companys gross dollar volumedollar value of total transactions processedrose 5.4 percent in the first quarter, with growth across all geographies.

Around 24 billion transactions were processed, up 18 percent from a year-ago quarter. The gain was led by an 8.4 percent rise in the United States and a 29 percent jump in Europe.

Retail sales in the U.S. rose to their highest in 1-1/2 years in March, according to data published earlier this month, with almost all sectors including autos, electronics, appliances and food and beverage registering growth.

In the U.K. too, retail spending remained healthy, Mastercard said, despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. Consumers have been stockpiling goods to get ahead of any border delays due to the separation of the country from the European Union.

The companys stock rose as much as 4.1 percent to $257.4 in morning trade.

Total net revenue rose 8 percent to $3.9 billion, in the quarter ended March 31, beating the average analyst estimate of $3.86 billion.

Mastercard, like rival Visa, has been looking to digitization to drive its business and diversify its customer base. The company recently partnered with Apple Inc. and Goldman Sachs for the Apple card, which can be accessed digitally on an iPhone.

Mastercard earlier this year dropped its name from its logo to distance itself from the notion it was only focused on cards, and suggest it was making a big foray into digital payments.

A collaboration with Goldman Sachs on its online consumer business platform, Marcus, to bring new products and services to market over time could also be on the horizon for Mastercard, the company hinted in its post-earnings conference call.

Brokerage Jefferies said the companys clean EPS and revenue beat, and partnership win with Apple were positives in the quarter.

Net income rose 26.7 percent to $1.9 billion in the quarter.

Adjusted earnings of $1.78 per share beat the average estimate of $1.66, according to IBES data Refinitiv.

By Aparajita Saxena
UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip DuBois is hugged in Charlotte, N.C., on April 30, 2019. (David T. Foster III/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

Suspected Shooter Allegedly Dropped Out Before Opening Fire at UNC, Say Officials

A young man suspected of using a deadly firearm at one of the nations first public universities on April 30 was a former student, North Carolina authorities have revealed.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) has arrested Trystan Terrell, 22, for questioning after a gunman opened fire at the University of North Carolinas (UNCs) Charlotte campus, killing two white males, sending two to the hospital for life-threatening injuries, and wounding another two with non life-threatening injuries.

SWAT has taken one suspect into custody without incident.  CMPD News (@CMPD) May 1, 2019

The suspect in the UNC Charlotte incident has been identified as Trystan Andrew Terrell, (DOB: 06/06/1996.) He is in custody at this time with charges pending against him.  CMPD News (@CMPD) May 1, 2019

No ages or names were released at the time of publication.

At approximately 5:40 p.m. shots were fired on the UNC Charlotte campus. Campus police and the CMPD responded quickly to the scene and the campus was placed on lockdown, UNC Charlotte Office of Emergency Management said in a Facebook post dated April 30. The suspected shooter is in custody. While police continue to secure the campus, it is believed that there is no ongoing threat.

PLEASE SHARE: Our officers and @UNCC_Police are still clearing buildings on campus. Please hang tight until we get to your building. Do not leave until your building has been cleared.  CMPD News (@CMPD) May 1, 2019

CMPD confirmed Terrell had been studying with a history major at the university but dropped out earlier this semester.

The suspect appeared to smile and shout something towards the news media, which was filming him while he was being escorted to police headquarters, NBC Charlotte reported.

According to the broadcaster, sources revealed the shooting happened in a classroom while students were in the middle of giving a presentation.

Terrells Texan grandfather, Paul Rold from Arlington, confirmed the suspect and his father moved to Charlotte from the Dallas area about two years ago when his mother died.

Terrell taught himself French and Portuguese with the help of a language-learning program Rold bought him and had been attending UNC. The grandfather said Terrell showed no interest in guns or other weapons and any suggestion he participated in a mass shooting stunned him.

Youre describing someone foreign to me, he said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. This is not in his DNA.

Police said the scene was secure, and officers were inspecting the buildings room by room to inform people who were hiding that it was safe to come out. They said there is no reason to believe anyone else was involved in the shooting.

Scene secure. One in custody. No reason to believe anyone else involved. CMPD and UNCC going room by room on campus to identify any students, faculty or others who may be sheltering in place.  CMPD News (@CMPD) April 30, 2019

The university has more than 26,500 students and employs 3,000 staff. The campus is northeast of the city center and surrounded by residential areas. A family reunification center was set up by police and the university at Harris Teeter, 8600 University City Boulevard.

ALERTUNC Charlotte Students and families, please head to 8600 University City Boulevard. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Posted by City of Charlotte Government on Tuesday, April 30, 2019

ALERT: UNC Charlotte Students and families, please head to 8600 University City Boulevard. We are sending all students there to be reunified with their families.  CMPD News (@CMPD) April 30, 2019

UNCC professor and Mecklenburg County Commissioner Susan Harden went to a staging area to provide support.

It breaks my heart. Were torn up about whats happened, she said. Students should be able to learn in peace and in safety and professors ought to be able to do their jobs in safety.

Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said he believes there needs to be a hard look into how the shooting happened.

A student should not have to fear for his or her life when they are on our campuses, he said. Parents should not have to worry about their students when they send them off to school, and I know that this violence has to stop  in the coming days we will take a hard look at all of this to see what we need to do going forward.

Associated Press contributed to this report.
African Swine Fever Getting Out of Control in South China, Pig Dealers Profit by Selling Infected Pork

Pig farmers in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in southern China have witnessed firsthand the decimation caused by the spread of African swine fever. But local authorities are denying that the pig deaths are the result of the epidemic.

Meanwhile, some pig dealers are processing the dead animals and profiting from selling the pork to unknowing customers, according to local accounts.

The first African swine fever (ASF) case in China was detected in the northeastern province of Liaoning on Aug. 3, 2018. By April 19, just over 8 months later, it had spread to all 31 provinces, regions, and municipalities of China.

ASF is a highly contagious and deadly disease affecting pigs and wild boars; theres no cure or vaccine. However, the disease has no known harmful effect on humans, even if infected pork products are consumed.

Some nearby countries such as Mongolia, Cambodia, and Vietnam have since reported ASF outbreakswhich had not seen the disease prior to the epidemic in China.

Piles of Dead Pigs

A local resident in Bobai County, Guangxi posted a video online on March 25, in which dead pigs can be seen piled up on the sides of the streets. Shot from the vantage point of a person driving a vehicle, the person says in the video that he could hardly drive through the piles of carcasses.

Bobai County is a top pig-breeding area of Guangxi, with more than 5 million pigs raised in local farms every year, according to government data.

In response to the video, local authorities published an announcement on the county government website the following day, saying that veterinarians have determined that the pigs died from swine lung disease and erysipelas, an infectious skin disease often characterized by diamond-shaped lesions. The announcement also claimed that on March 19, under the direction of a local agricultural and rural supervision team, biological samples were taken from a Bobai County slaughterhouse and some pig farms. All test results came out negative for ASF.

But locals say otherwise. A netizen, whose moniker is Three Years, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times on April 29 that Bobai is his hometown. His parents in Bobai told him that abandoned dead pigs have piled up all over the county. In some pig farms, the entire herd has been wiped out. They believe the mass deaths can be caused only by a highly contagious and deadly disease like ASF.

Central authorities confirmed the first outbreak of ASF in Guangxi back in February, in the city of Beihai, roughly 100 miles away from Bobai.

Similarly, a resident surnamed Ji in Maoming City of neighboring Guangdong Province told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that he believes the ASF has spread to the city since the end of 2018 and has not been contained.

There are basically no live pigs in our local area now, Ji said. The symptoms are very obvious, and the sows usually show the symptoms more quickly. They would have a high fever and stop eating, and would die in two or three days. This is consistent with ASF symptoms.

Maoming is the largest pig-breeding city in Guangdong Province. According to Ji, pig farms are closing down one after another. But the local government has continually said that there is not a single case of ASF in Maoming. In April, it issued a ban on abandoning dead pigs, tacitly acknowledging that there has been a high number of pig deaths.

Central authorities have confirmed ASF cases in Guangdong Province since Dec. 19, 2018, including the first case in Zhuhai, then nearby Guangzhou and Huizhou cities.

In September 2018, Chinas Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture announced that it would provide compensation to pigs farmers, either to cull pigs on infected farms or for proper disinfection and carcass disposal.

However, in areas where local governmentssuch as Maoming and Bobaideny the ASF outbreak, pig farmers cannot receive such compensation.

Underreported Cases

Chinas state-run media reported that nationwide, there have been 1,161 infected cases and 783 deaths as a result of ASF, for the months of March and April.

But industry insiders and Chinese farmers believe the spread of ASF is far more extensive than what the authorities portray.

Our full expectation is that the number of cases is under-reported, Paul Sundberg, executive director at the Swine Health Information Center in Ames, Iowa, told Reuters.

Dirk Pfeiffer, a professor of veterinary epidemiology at the City University of Hong Kong, pointed to the spatial randomness of Chinas reported outbreaks, unusual for an infectious disease, which normally develops in clusters. He also suspects the ASF epidemic is worse than reported.

Authorities do not permit the commercial sale of African swine fever test kits. Official confirmation must come from a state-approved laboratory.

To share information, a number of pig farmers across China have formed a chat group on WeChat, a popular social media platform. One of the chat members shared screenshots of the chatroom discussions with the Chinese Epoch Times.

Pig farmer Liao Zhibiao (WeChat username) from Maoming City wrote: The Maoming TV station dared to report that currently there is not a single case of ASF in the entire city!

Pig farmer Yan, also from Maoming, wrote, There are few pigs left in Maoming. Even all the sows [usually kept for breeding] have been sent to market! The pigs that have not yet died are being slaughtered and processed into pork for sale.

The price is so low, that its beyond your imagination. Its cheaper than any fruits or vegetables on the market. I hope the government will stop telling obvious lies, he wrote.

Another person echoed Yan, saying in the chat: In our area alone, the number of infected pigs in one town would be higher than several hundred. Every farmer is working hard to sell all the pigs that are still alive, as the ASF will wipe out all pigs eventually. 

Pork from Sick Pigs Sold on Market

Locals in Guangdong Province also have reported that there is a group of pig dealers who approach pig farmers in ASF-affected areas to purchase sick or dead pigs from them. A source who wished to remain anonymous told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that many of these pig dealers have been bargaining hard with pig farmers, then processing and selling pork or pork products to urban residents. They advertise to pig farmers that we will resolve all your hassles and worries within one day, and purchase the pigs at 150 yuan ($22.3) each.

The source provided the phone number of one such dealer. When the Chinese-language Epoch Times communicated with him, the pig dealer said, however many pigs you may have, we can purchase them all. He also mentioned that pigs may be transported to other provinces. We have shipped several batches [of processed pork] to Henan Province already. Henan is located in central China, about 880 miles north of Guangdong.

The ASF virus is not known to have harmful effects on humans, but some experts have expressed concerns that not enough research has been done to study its effects on the human body. Chen Bingzhong, a Chinese health expert, told the Chinese-language Epoch Times in a February interview that it could have the potential to affect ones nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, given the typical behavior of a virus.

The netizen Three Years also said his parents told him about the pig dealers. Local people dont dare to buy pork anymore. They wont buy at prices lowered to one yuan [15 cents] per pound, he said. My parents said they will not eat any pork products this year, including their favorite pork mooncakes.
Photographer Lara Arnott enjoyed Shen Yun at the Eventim Apollo in London on April 30, 2019. (NTD Television)

LONDONOne of Londons top society photographers said the dance in Shen Yun was unbelievably beautiful.

Lara Arnott, who regularly photographs events for Tatler magazine and Sothebys auction house, described the colours as so spectacular.

Theres just something going on to feast your eyes on every minute, she said. Theres the background, thats constantly moving and changing with the most beautiful scenes, its just stunning.

And the dancing is just unbelievable, its almost emotional, how beautiful it is, she added.

Arnott saw the performance on April 30 at the Eventim Apollo in London.

Shen Yuns mission is to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture through music and dance.

The classical Chinese dance company is in the midst of its 2019 world tour, with six companies performing in over 130 cities across four continents.

Besides dance-based stories, the New York-based company also performs classical Chinese dance vignettes and musical solos.

Incredible Art

Arnott said reviving traditional Chinese culture was a brilliant idea.

The fact that I didnt know so much about this incredible art goes to show there definitely needs to be more awareness of it, she said.

China was once known as Shen Zhou, or divine land, a term describing a time when it was widely believed that the divine transmitted a rich culture to the people of the earth, according to Shen Yuns website.

But after seven decades of communist rule, most of this culture was pulled apart by Mao Zedong and subsequent leaders. Multiple campaigns aimed at dismantling traditional culture had a warping effect on Chinese identity.

Seeing that genuine Chinese culture was on the brink of being lost, a group of overseas artists was determined to bring it back. This was how Shen Yun Performing Arts was born, back in 2006.

We could all do with seeing a little bit more of this, Arnott said. Its so relaxing, so uplifting, and I feel very moved by it, so I think we could all do with a little bit more of it in our life.

However, she thought it was despicable that Shen Yun cannot perform in Mainland China.

The people of China need to experience how talented their past is. I think thats unbelievable, its despicable, it needs to change, she said.

With reporting by NTD Television and John Smithies.

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.
Texas Community on the Lookout for Arson Suspect After Half a Million Bees Killed

A criminal investigation is underway in Texas after half a million bees were killed. Dozens of hives were set on fire, and some were even dumped into a nearby retention pond.

Shocked beekeepers in Brazoria County have offered a reward to help find those responsible, and they asked locals to keep an eye out for possible suspects nursing any tell-tale bee stings.

But despite the $6,000 bounty, the local sheriffs office said that tracking down the suspect in the senseless case will be difficult.

A deputy spotted flames and smoke when he was out on patrol in Alvin in the early hours of April 27, according to Crime Stoppers. He extinguished the flames, but not before thousands of dollars of damage was done and hundreds of thousands of bees were killed.

Last night someone did major damage to a BCBA (Brazoria County Beekeepers Association) Bee Yard in Alvin, wrote the beekeepers association on their Facebook page where it posted pictures of the damage. Its bad enough to think in todays world this would happen but dumping them over and then setting fire to them is beyond comprehension.

PRESS RELEASE: The Brazoria County Sheriffs Office is seeking information in reference to the Arson and Criminal Posted by Brazoria County Crime Stoppers on Monday, April 29, 2019

I broke down in tears when I saw a floating brood frame in the water with bees still caring for the brood, said the unnamed author of the post.

The local beekeepers association has offered a $1000 reward for any information leading to a conviction, in addition to $5,000 being offered through the Crime Stoppers organization.

The president of the BCBA, Steven Brackmann, told the Houston Chronicle there are 30,000 bees to a colony on average. He estimated nearly 20 hives were damaged and around half a million bees were killed.

Vandalism is one thing, Brackmann said. But for someone to go in and spend their time dumping over those hives and lighting them them on fireI think its someone that doesnt like beekeepers or bees.

Every colony that we lose is a major catastrophe to the environment, Brackmann told KTRK.

Varon Snelgrove with the Brazoria County Sheriffs Office described the case to KTRK as being unusual, and senseless.

Last night someone did major damage to a BCBA Bee Yard in Alvin last night. Its bad enough to think in todays world this Posted by Brazoria County Beekeepers Association on Saturday, April 27, 2019

There are no witnesses, its a relatively rural area. Its a matter of getting out and beating bushes,

According to KTRK, the suspect faces two charges: arson, and felony mischief. Both carry between six months and two years behind bars.

Locals expressed their outrage in response to the incident in many social media posts.

I hope they are caught, wrote one person on Facebook.  Then I hope they are covered with honey and placed in a sealed off box, or a coffin, and then someone releases wasps, hornets, bees and spiders in the box, or coffin.

Many suggested that people should keep an eye out for people suffering from stings.

If you are in the Alvin area, pay attention if teenagers have bee stings & report them, wrote one person.
The Curious Case of the Gel-Injected Shrimp From China

Ms. Yang in the southern China port city of Guangzhou bought six high priced giant tiger prawns in Octobershe was happy with the purchase until she found gel inside the heads of the prawns.

Such gel, the presence of which is not typically detectable upon superficial inspection, is injected some time between when the shrimp are caught and when theyre sold, in order to add weight and thus earn a greater profit. Shrimp sold live have not been injected, because the injection would kill the shrimp.

Chinese food authorities have not been particularly active in pursuing the cases brought to their attention, according to interviews and news reports, and there is not even a consensus at which point in the production line the operation takes place.

China is the third largest exporter of seafood to the United States, and it also exports significant amounts of shrimp and catfish, representing 2 of the 10 most consumed seafood products in the country. Nearly $150 million worth of shrimp were imported from China between January and October 2015, according to data by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The problem of adulterated shrimp has persisted for over a decade, despite new cases regularly reported in the Chinese press. Some of the first well-publicized cases of the gel-injected shrimp appeared in 2005, the same year in which the municipal government of Tianjin launched a strike-hard campaign against shrimp injectors. The report, which referred to the campaign gave no details about how many were arrested, or whether the shrimp adulteration rings were broken.

It is unclear how much, or if any of the gel-injected shrimp make their way to these shores, but food safety experts said there is reason to be concerned. The Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert on Dec. 11, 2015, about the presence of new animals drugs and/or unsafe food additives from seafood imported in China, including shrimp.

An Unwelcome Gelatinous Addition

In some of the cases that have been examinednot always an easy task in Chinathe gelatin found in the shrimp was the innocuous, edible kind. It is usually extracted from animal skins and bones, and composed of collagen. But because the operation is illegal and unsupervised, there is no telling whether the next gel used will be industrial.

Wu Wenhui, a professor at Shanghai Ocean University, said in an interview in the Chinese press that customers should be wary about industrial gel ending up in shrimp, given that its cheaper than the edible version. Industrial gel is used for furniture, print, and contains many heavy metals such as lead and mercury, which harms the liver and blood, and is even carcinogenic.

Gel-injected shrimp purchased by a Chinese Internet user, alongside a picture of the gel found inside them. (Weibo.com)

But the act of injection is itself potentially unsafe.

Even if what was injected was edible gel, which may not itself be harmful, who can guarantee that the process is aseptic?  said Liu Huiping, a member of the executive council of the Tianjin aquatic products association, in an interview with the Beijing News.

Mr. Zhang, a seafood merchant in Shandong Province told Chinese media that large shrimp such as Penaeus and tiger prawns, which are mostly imported from Southeast Asia, are candidates for injection because of their size. Their individual prices are high, and more money could be extracted from adding to their weight.

Why It Continues

The scandal of injecting shrimp has been known, and has persisted, for over a decade.

Commentary articles in the Beijing Youth Daily point out that this scandal exposes the ineffectiveness of Chinas food regulation system. According to these articles, there are too many departments and an unclear division of labor. With poor cooperation between the departments, holes in regulations easily emerge. Even with the reorganization of the State Food and Drug Administration in 2013, the situation hasnt improved.

There appears to be a lack of will to solve the problem. An investigation by Beijing News was revealing. Cui Hongtao, the deputy director of administration for industry and commerce in the seaport of Tianjin told Beijing News that the administration for Industry and Commerce only accepts products for investigation that have already failed the Agricultural Departments examination.

They will get less than 2% of whats coming in, so importers will take their chances sometimes.  They might try to send in something thats not okay.  Patty Lovera , assistant director, U.S.-based Food & Water Watch

The journalist then took shrimp to several Agricultural Department offices, and was told that the examination could not be conducted without a clear objective, otherwise they dont know where to start.

But the examination of injected shrimp is not complicated. Cui Chunming, deputy director of the Tianjin Sanitation Supervision Department, told Beijing News, There is no need for examination, because you can tell whether there has been an injection with your own eyes. Regardless of whats being injected, it is not allowed, and the adulterating is illegal behavior.

Related Coverage Chinese Man Tricked Into Buying Hollow, Hormone Injected Strawberries

Several shrimp sellers in different places in China told Chinese media that they got the gel-injected shrimp from the wholesaler. In a 2012 case, a shrimp seller said, This kind of shrimp has already been here for a long time. Beginning five years ago they came like this from the wholesalers.

A rough picture emerges in which greed trumps morality, and the state is ineffective or worse in responding.

Wholesalers or retailers see the chance to increase their profits by injecting shrimp, and are willing to cheatand possibly endanger the health of consumersin this way. Even if retailers arent involved in injecting shrimp, they know when they are receiving adulterated goods from the wholesalers. But they accept them and pass them onto their customers. Chinas food regulators are unable or unwilling to put a stop to all this.

U.S. Options

Patty Lovera, assistant director of the U.S.-based Food & Water Watch, thinks American customers should be concerned about shrimp from China, We do know that they are struggling with food safety regulation in China, and there are constant stories written about food safety problems, said Lovera in a phone interview. Our FDA, they have an office in China, but they dont get out very much to do a lot of inspections. A couple hundred inspections a year is nothing compared to how many food operations are out there.

Lovera also mentioned the FDAs lack of manpower for inspecting food imports. They dont have very much inspection at the border here when its coming in. They will get less than 2 percent of whats coming in, so importers will take their chances sometimes.  They might try to send in something thats not okay.
Copies of the "Mueller Report" printed by the US Government Publishing Office are seen at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on April 24, 2019. MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

The Mueller Investigation and the Chinese

Commentary

From my perspective as a career CIA operations officer, the Mueller investigation is amazingly revealing in ways it was never intended to be.

The battle lines have long been drawn, with the left claiming impeachable offenses and President Donald Trump claiming a witch hunt.

Yet, the release of the Mueller report appears to strongly support Trumps position, not only since Mueller determined that no collusion with the Russians took place, but because evidence suggests he and the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership were aware of this fact at least 18 months before the investigations conclusionbut continued it anyway.

Occams razor indicates the most likely explanation for continuing a legal investigation where no legal justification exists was a political desire to do so: Mueller and FBI and DOJ leadership were philosophically opposed to Trump, just like the rest of the so-called resist or resistance movement.

Many here in the United States have argued that the resistance movement is not real, but there is direct evidence to the contrary. For example, in 2018 we saw a young woman named Reality Winner badly damage her life by purposely leaking a classified document to the press only because she believed it would damage Trump. She is still in jail serving a more than five-year sentence.

In March, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officer Ron Hansen was convicted of spying for the Chinese over a long period of time. His sentence will be handed down in September where he is expected to receive a relatively light sentence of 15 years in exchange for his cooperation with U.S. authorities.

His initial motivation for spying against the United States appears to have been money. During the investigation, however, a number of Hansens conversations were captured and transcribed, revealing that Hansen hated Trump, was deeply committed to the resist philosophy, and viewed working against Trump as his duty.

Hansons betrayal of the United States was discovered when he approached another DIA officer and pitched to him the idea of spying for the Chinese, as well. It appears that resisting the Trump presidency played a significant role in the pitch. Hansen seems to have argued in the pitch that, in addition to a large monetary payout from the Chinese, it was a good way to fight back and resist the current administration.

Having been directly involved many times in exactly these types of human intelligence recruitment operations, I can tell you that the pitching of another DIA officer was something that the Chinese intelligence service studied very closely and approved every aspect of long before it took place.

The implication here is conclusive and astounding: The Chinese intelligence service and the Chinese government leadership as a whole have one public window into the resistance movement, and that is the Mueller investigation. The Hansen pitch makes clear that the Chinese have concluded the resist movement inside our own government is something they can exploit for their own ends.

If the Chinese have concluded that the resistance movement is an opportunity for them, then likely so have the Russians, and probably other foreign adversaries, as well. And if our enemies have concluded the resistance movement is an opportunity for them, then anyone concerned about foreign interference in U.S. affairs would be naive at best to continue to claim its not a national security threat to us.

Its long past time to add a question to the polygraph required to receive a top-secret clearance confirming that ones personal political beliefs are not more important than protecting classified information.

Regardless, the Chinese have just told us all we need to know about the true motivations behind the Mueller investigationand countless other leaks and roadblocks set up throughout the federal government to resist the duly elected president of the United States.

Brad Johnson is a retired CIA senior operations officer and a former chief of station. He is president of Americans for Intelligence Reform.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Jordanian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood set fire to a mock Israeli tank during a protest to celebrate the 'Gaza victory' in the war against Israel, in the capital Amman on Aug. 8, 2014. (KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/Getty Images)

The Muslim Brotherhood Is a Terrorist Organization With Socialist Roots

Commentary

As the Trump administration moves to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, its important to know its roots and what its really about. The reason that the Muslim Brotherhood and its international model enjoy support from socialist movementsdespite the fact that the Brotherhood opposes every progressive trend those movements claim to believe inis that they all believe in the same basic theories of totalitarian governance.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not a form of traditional Islam. The organization started in 1928 as a modernization movement that merged Islam with the ideas of socialism. It promotes a system of theocratic socialism, and has from the get-go pushed for offensive jihad to spread this system of totalitarian governance.

A main model of socialist theocracy was the invention of Sayyid Qutb, who is considered to be the founding father of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. His books, Milestones (1964) and In the Shade of the Quran (written 19511965), played a large role in creating the new Islamic regimes that have swept the Arab world.

Qutb also was an advocate for offensive jihad, which helped spur the creation of tyrannical regimes under this new form of Islamism.

According to Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Qutbs revisions to Islam warped the concept of sharia (Islamic law) to merge socialist politics into a system of theocratic government. He explained in a previous interview that Qutb evokes a lot of Islamic ideology to push for theocracy.

Jasser explained that, under this model, criticisms of the government become synonymous with attacks on the religion. This allows the socialist tyrants to kill critics and political opponents, under the guise of defending religion.

Its likely because of its political roots that socialist tyrants in the West push for the Muslim Brotherhoods acceptance, despite its almost blanket contradiction to their talking points. Beneath the surface is the same drive for social control and political power.

This new brand of Islam concerns itself with communism, socialism, nationalism, liberalism, and all the currents from the West, according to the 2005 book The Saudi Enigma: A History by Pascal Menoret, which cites leftist Islamic scholar Ali al-Umaym.

Meanwhile, this blend of socialism and Islam was a key factor behind modern Islamist terrorism. Part of this was from the Soviet Unions liberation front movements, such as Yasser Arafats Palestinian Liberation Front. Another key part was from the Muslim Brotherhoods influence behind the terrorist group al-Qaeda.

Qutbs brother mentored Osama bin Laden, and Qutbs ideas helped inspire al-Qaeda. The New York Times reported in 2003 that, at the heart of that single school of thought stood, until his execution in 1966, a philosopher named Sayyid Qutbthe intellectual hero of every one of the groups that eventually went into Al Qaeda, their Karl Marx (to put it that way), their guide.

If you look at countries such as Iran and Afghanistan before this new form of socialist theocracy took root, you may notice something interesting: The cities looked like those in Western countries. Women there dressed similarly to women in the United States in the 1970s. They have since become victims of this tyrannical system of religious socialism.

And have you noticed that, despite the fact that socialists in the West support international Islam, those same socialists seem to oppose the Saudi Arabia model? This is likely because the Saudi model never fully adopted socialist Islamit adopted some parts of it, but mostly kept the older conservative model.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Muslim Brotherhoods Egyptian model for Islamism came to the doorstep of Saudi Arabia under the banner of modernization.

Socialist and communist movements were spreading in Saudi Arabia, with calls for Egyptian reforms to replace the traditional form of conservative monarchy. Among those movements were the Central Committee of Arabian Workers, the Organization of Saudi Communists, and the National Liberation Front, which later became the Communist Party of Saudi Arabia.

A group of Saudi princes joined these movements, which led to the Free Princes movement. The head of it was the father of modern Saudi progressivism, Al-Waleed bin Talal, who was known as The Red Prince. They were labeled as a form of veiled communism, and their attempted coup was thwarted. Despite this, however, individuals such as bin Talal were still pushing for its agenda.

Saudi Arabia has since designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, as has Bahrain, Egypt, Russia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates.

The United States soon may do the same, despite heavy pushback from legacy news outlets and socialist politicians.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement, The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process.

Muslims who oppose the Muslim Brotherhood theocratic model have backed the decision. Mohamad Tawhidi, a reformist imam and peace advocate, wrote on Twitter: If President Trump designates the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist org, it will be the biggest hit to the global Islamist movement. [Muslim Brotherhood] has the most organized network of institutions, politicians & banks. This will shake their empire. Do it. Asap.

If President Trump designates the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist org, it will be the biggest hit to the global Islamist movement. MB has the most organized network of institutions, politicians & banks. This will shake their empire. Do it. Asap. Regards https://t.co/VfWuPDz82d  Imam Mohamad Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) April 30, 2019

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Sayyid Qutbs role in the Muslim Brotherhood. He was a founder of the Egyptian Model of the Muslim Brotherhood. 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.
This Is Us Star Chrissy Metz Makes No Apologies on Her Faith: No Question About It

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A poster at the NRA annual event at the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianpolis, Indiana on April 28, 2019. (Nathan Su/The Epoch Times)

Trump Says New York Wants to Illegally Take Down the NRA

INDIANAPOLISAfter New York Attorney General Letitia James began to investigate the National Rifle Association (NRA), President Donald Trump tweeted on April 29 that James and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are illegally using the States legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization.

The NRA is under siege by Cuomo and the New York State A.G., Trumps tweet stated.

James has reportedly confirmed the state investigation. Her office issued subpoenas to the NRA and affiliates on April 26, telling them to preserve relevant financial records for the investigation, according to The New York Times.

The NRA is under siege by Cuomo and the New York State A.G., who are illegally using the States legal apparatus to take down and destroy this very important organization, & others. It must get its act together quickly, stop the internal fighting, & get back to GREATNESS  FAST!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2019

Trumps tweet came only two days after the NRAs CEO, Wayne Robert LaPierre, vowed to defend free speech in the case of NRA v. New York State and Gov. Cuomo. LaPierre gave his speech at the NRAs 2019 annual event in Indianapolis on April 27.

The precedent we establish here [through this legal case] is going to have consequences for all of Americas free speeches, said LaPierre. This fight and its outcome is not going to only affect NRA; it is going to affect the rights of all groups of all kinds in every corner in this country, as to whether or not you can engage in open and free speech without the fear of political retaliation.

The NRA has sued Cuomo and the state starting in May 2018 over claims that Cuomo acted to financially impair the association through official state actions. LaPierre said in his speech that the NRA was not even able to have checking accounts in the state of New York because Cuomo did not like the NRAs political opinions.

Under pressure from the state government of New York, the NRA has lost several longtime business partners that provided services to the NRA before, LaPierre said.

Simply put it in this way: the governor wants the NRA blacklisted, he said.

The NRA has received support from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for its legal action against Cuomo.

It is clear to Americans that Governor Cuomo went too far in his crusade against National Rifle Association, LaPierre said. The American Civil Liberties Union has joined right alongside the NRA in this fight, and NRA stands shoulder to shoulder with them in this fight, and I am proud to have them as a partner for free speech of America.

The ACLUs support for the NRA surprised many attendees at the 2019 NRA annual event who listened to LaPierres speech. To many conservatives who support Second Amendment rights, the ACLU has often been viewed as a leftist, progressive organization.

The ACLUs legal director, David Cole, wrote an article last August titled New York State Cant Be Allowed to Stifle the NRAs Political Speech.

Theres nothing wrong with the governor singling out a political adversary for criticism, or even mockery, Cole wrote in the article.

However, he added, In the ACLUs view, targeting a nonprofit advocacy group and seeking to deny it financial services because it promotes a lawful activity (the use of guns) violates the First Amendment.

LaPierre accused Cuomo of weaponizing the states banking regulator in order to police and silence the NRA. He said that the state agencies, under Cuomos direct instructions, have pressured banks and insurers to shun gun promotion organizations, especially the NRA.

LaPierre showed a screenshot of a tweet by Cuomo as evidence of Cuomos longtime intent to bankrupt the NRA.

If I could have put the @NRA out of business, I would have done it 20 years ago, Cuomo wrote in the tweet.

Another example LaPierre gave was that James, Cuomos hand-chosen candidate for New York Attorney General, called the NRA a terrorist organization before she was elected last year.

The NRAs case has so far prevailed in the legal process.

According to a report by New York Law Journal last November, U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy of the Northern District of New York decided that the NRAs claims were sufficient to be evaluated at trial. The claims were that actions by Cuomo and the State Department of Financial Services stifled the NRAs rights to freedom of speech.

The allegations of direct and implied threats to insurers and financial institutions because of these entities links with the NRA, and the allegations of resulting harm to the NRAs operations, are sufficient to make out plausible First Amendment freedom-of-speech claims, McAvoy wrote when he rejected part of New York States motion to dismiss the case in court, according to the report.

The governor of New York has become unhinged, because restricting free speech in this country is not what we do, LaPierre said.

LaPierre further mocked Cuomos actions by saying: If the governor gets his way, the pornographers, marijuana dealers, radical charitiesthey will all be allowed to have banking accounts, collect donations, pay their insurers, have checking accounts [in] New York. But hey, not the NRA.

This case we are dealing now is perhaps the most important First Amendment case in the history of the United States of America, LaPierre said. The character and the identity of the National Rifle Association is going to reveal itself in front of the country in the most visible way. We are going to be seen standing there for the entire Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment and the First Amendment rights, for this whole country in the months ahead, for all of your individual liberty.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence went to the NRAs annual event on April 26 and spoke to more than 7,000 attendees there.

The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, said Trump in his speech.
A South Korean man watches a TV news program with a file footage about North Korea's rocket launch at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 7, 2016. (Ahn Young-joon/AP)

US Judge Orders Chinese Banks to Hand Over North Korea Records

WASHINGTONA U.S district judge has ordered three Chinese banks to comply with U.S. investigators demands that they hand over records connected to the alleged movement of tens of millions of dollars in violation of international sanctions on North Korea.

In a heavily redacted court opinion released by the U.S. Justice Department on April 30 and dated March 18, Washingtons chief federal district judge Beryl Howell said the subpoenas were for records of dealings between a now-defunct Hong Kong-based front company and a North Korean state-run entity.

The publicly released court document didnt name the banks, the Hong Kong company, nor the North Korean entity. It stated the front company was established by a North Korean national and a Chinese individual, who also were not named.

It stated the Chinese regime had ownership stakes in all three of the banks, the first two of which have branches in the United States.

The subpoenas were issued in December 2017 as part of a U.S. investigation into violations of sanctions targeting North Koreas nuclear weapons program, including money laundering and contravention of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act.

According to the court document, the subpoenas demanded a wide range of bank records dating back to January 2012.

The document highlighted transactions totaling $105.34 million, including $45.78 million that went through a U.S. correspondent account of the first Chinese bank; $1.63 million that went through a correspondent bank account of the second bank, and $57.93 million that went through a U.S. correspondent account of the third.

The judges ruling said U.S. Justice Department officials visited China in April 2018 and August 2018 to discuss the failure of the banks to respond to the requests for evidence.

The documents were not produced, and in November 2018, U.S. prosecutors filed a court motion seeking to compel the banks to comply.

Howell ordered the first two banks to produce the records promptly or testify before a grand jury. She ordered the third bank to produce the subpoenaed records by March 28. It was not clear how or if the banks responded.

China is North Koreas neighbor and main trading partner but has committed to enforcing international sanctions aimed to press Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

Beijing also has said it opposes unilateral sanctions outside the U.N. framework, and has accused Washington of using long-arm jurisdiction in targeting Chinese entities.

In May 2018, news blog The Washington Reporter obtained information that a plan was being formulated by the White House national security adviser John Bolton, Treasury Department, CIA, and State Department to sanction 13 Chinese bank executives for their continued business with North Korea, in violation of United Nations sanction agreements. The U.S. sanctions would freeze their assets and enact travel bans, according to the report.

The list included three executives from China Construction Bank, one of the big four state-run banks in China; three executives from Agricultural Bank of China, another state-run bank; and three executives from the Postal Savings Bank of China, a commercial retail bank, according to The Washington Reporter. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has not confirmed the report.

By David Brunnstrom. Epoch Times staff member Frank Fang contributed to this report.
Von Miller Wont Be Charged Hammerhead Shark Incident, Boat Owner Fined

Former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller will not face charges for posting a photo of a hammerhead shark on social media.

The operator of the boat received a $2,000 fine, reported the Denver Post, citing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Miller, who played his entire career with the Denver Broncos, posted a photo of the shark in March 2018.

Miller was on a deep-sea fishing trip off the coast of Miami and helped reel in a hammerhead shark before he posted a photo of the tail on social media accounts. He was criticized at the time.

.@VonMillers fishing trip in Miami was eventful  pic.twitter.com/5STErS3THT  Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 30, 2018

According to TMZ, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) blasted Miller and the crew for the fishing trip.

Miller said the shark was tossed back into the water alive.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said that harvesting hammerheads is prohibited in Florida waters. If a shark is accidentally caught, there are regulations to release it back into the wild to ensure its survival, and federal officials said the operator didnt follow those regulations, according to the Post.

Von Miller was not found guilty of any crime. But not everyone involved is off the hook. Posted by TMZ on Friday, March 29, 2019

We followed the rules and I did everything I was supposed to do, Miller said at the time, it was reported.

The shark was about 9 1/2 feet in length.

Other details about the incident are not clear.

Shark Bites Bait Bag

A commercial fisherman and his girlfriend saw a large great white shark lunging from the water to get a bait bag near the Florida Keys.

The shark was estimated to be about 15 feet in length, according to the Miami Herald.

Oh my God, Suzy Grumbo, the girlfriend of Carter Bates, can be heard in the video.

The big shark emerged near Summerland Key on April 23 to get a taste of what was inside Batess chum bag while Grumbo filmed it.

As of April 26, it had about 200,000 views on Facebook.

Ive certainly never seen anything like this before, she told the Miami Herald. Yeah, it was definitely the most humbling experience I think Ive ever come across, she added to NBC Miami. Its like going from this small town girl to the girl with the great white shark, you know?

Wow! A great white shark made a rare appearance in the Keys, taking a few bites from a fishermans chum bag. Read more: https://hrld.us/2UBMVxb Posted by Miami Herald on Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Bates said he worked as a commercial fisherman for about 10 years, and he added to the paper that he was fishing for yellowtail snapper.

The great white, he said, was circling their vessel for about three hours before it bit the chum bag.

Bates noted that the large fish didnt want the snapper that they had caught.

It only wanted the chum block, the Herald quoted him as saying.

When its there, right there, its like yeah, a little intimidating, but at the same time amazing because thats a creature Ill probably never ever see again, Bates also told NBC Miami of the animal.
President Donald Trump stops to talk to the media about the shooting in a California synagogue as he makes his way to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House as he travels to Green Bay Wisconsin for a campaign rally in Washington on April 27, 2019. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images)

White House Rejects House Committee Request Into Security Clearance Processes

The Trump administration has rejected a Democratic-led House committees request for information concerning security clearance processes and background documents for White House staff, according to a May 1 letter obtained by The Epoch Times.

The nine-page letter, penned by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, explains to House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, (D-Md.) who is leading the probe, why there is no legitimate need for access to such protected documents, arguing it presents a total disregard for individual privacy.

The Committees demands fall well outside the realm of legitimate congressional information requests, Cipollone wrote.

Respectfully, it is not within the authority of Congress to second guess how the President selects his advisers or who has access to the information necessary to provide the President with fully informed advice, he said.

The probe comes as more than two dozen White House officials were allegedly denied security clearances by career staff, only to have them approved by staff supervisors. Although career staff can recommend security clearance eligibility for individuals, the president has the final say.

Cipollone, in his letter, noted that the administration respects the authority of Congress to conduct legitimate oversight but said no executive branch employee has been authorized to disclose to the Committee information about individual security clearance files or background investigation.

It is highly improper for the Committee to induce or encourage the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information in order to launch public political attacks on individuals as part of advancing a partisan political agenda, Cipollone wrote.

Individuals applying for security clearance must undergo a personnel security background investigation, according to the State Department. The clearances are granted after investigators look at sensitive personal information.

Cipollone argued that the committees activities may discourage individuals from pursuing careers within the government or participating in the security clearance process. He said that the committee is not legally entitled to obtain such documents and respectfully urged them to cease such improper methods.

He also said that Cummingss recent position on security clearances directly contradicts his previous position that the government should ensure that FBI records containing sensitive background security information provided to the White House are properly protected for privacy and security.

Cummings, in response to the White House letter, claimed it was just the latest example of the presidents obstruction. He said that Congress has a legitimate role as a check and balance on the Executive Branch.

Todays letter from the White House refusing to produce any security clearance documents requested by the Committee is the latest example of the Presidents widespread and growing obstruction of Congress, Cummings said in a statement to Fox News on May 1.

One of the dozen White House officials whose security clearances were allegedly denied by career staff was senior White House adviser Jared Kushner. Kushner pushed back at the claims in an interview with Fox News where he said that he has complied with all investigations, including the Senate, the House, and the special counsel.

Over the last two years that Ive been here, Ive been accused of all different types of things, and all of those things that turned out to be false, he said on April 1.

Weve had a lot of crazy accusations like that we colluded with Russia  I sat for nearly 20 hours of interviews with them.
White House Requests $8.6 Billion for Border Wall, Clamps Down on Asylum Fraud

WASHINGTONThe White House has put $8.6 billion in its budget for a border wall for fiscal year 2020, enough money to build around 300 miles of wall on the southwest border.

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan told a House Appropriations subcommittee on April 30 that the White House is seeking $5 billion of that for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), from which he said approximately 200 miles could be built. Combined with funding from the Department of Defense, hes hoping to get $8.6 billion to build roughly 300 miles of new wall, he said in written testimony.

Simply put, the system is full, and we are well beyond our capacity, he said, referring to the record number of migrants showing up at the southwest border. This is a proven deterrent that will enhance our ability to apprehend those entering our nation illegally.

It follows the White Houses request from last year for $5.7 billion for a border wall, of which Congress allocated only $1.4 billion. In response, President Donald Trump called a national emergency that unlocked federal funds to make up the difference, but not before causing the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history.

With that money, the federal government is on track to build about 97 miles of new wall this year, with a total of 277 miles by the end of next year, according to Todd Semonite, the commanding general and chief of engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Asylum Seekers

The United States is seeing a record number migrants arrive at the southern border, many of them in large groups, as families, and as unaccompanied children.

In March alone, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) counted a record 103,492 migrants. Thats up from 50,347 in 2018 and 16,794 in 2017.

Because of the large influx of people, CBP has taken on the role of a rescue agency, leaving less time and fewer resources to catch drug mules and traffickers crossing the border.

It has also stretched the budgets of the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, which cares for unaccompanied children.

McAleenan said DHS is on pace to run out of funding before the end of the year, and said he is planning to submit a supplemental appropriations request to Congress.

On average, about 16 percent of the migrants coming over the border assert they have a credible fear of persecution in their home country, which starts a lengthy legal process that can take years to complete. Claiming credible fear usually means a ticket to stay in the United States indefinitely. However, very few of them actually qualify for asylum.

Democrats, working with Republicans in Congress, can fix the Asylum and other loopholes quickly. We have a major National Emergency at our Border. GET IT DONE NOW!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2019

Last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) estimated that of the roughly 94,000 people who claimed credible fear only 6,000 had enough evidence to prove they qualified for asylum. Thats about 6 percent.

The White House puts that number at 12 percent.

As of November 2018, credible fear cases represented 26 percent of the backlog of removal cases, according to the DOJ.

On April 29 the White House announced a plan to clamp down on asylum fraud, calling it the biggest loophole drawing illegal aliens to our borders. Trump is asking the executive branch to come up with proposals on how to accomplish the following goals:

speed up and make more efficient the process for resolving credible fear claims

Adjudicate all asylum cases in immigration courts within roughly 6 months

Charge fees for asylum applications and work permits

Prevent those who entered or who attempted to enter the country illegally from receiving provisional work permits before being approved for relief

Immediately revoke work permits for those who have already been ordered to leave the country

Separately, McAleenan said he is working on a proposal to Congress that would address what he calls the key drivers of the immigration crisis.

He gave little indication what would be in the proposal, but hinted it will address laws that prevent the United States from returning children to non-contiguous countries.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on May 19, 2017. (Reuters/Neil Hall)

WikiLeaks Assange Gets 50 Weeks in Prison for Bail-Jumping

LONDONA British judge sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday, May 1, to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Judge Deborah Taylor said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offense as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody.

She said Assanges seven years in the embassy had cost British taxpayers $21 million (16 million pounds) and said he sought asylum as a deliberate attempt to delay justice.

The white-haired Assange stood impassively with his hands clasped while the sentence was read. His supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court chanted Shame on you at the judge as Assange was led away.

The Australian secret-spiller sought asylum in the South American countrys London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assanges lawyer Mark Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters that his client sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the U.S.

He said Assange had a well-founded fear that he would be mistreated and possibly sent to the U.S. detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Summers read a letter from Assange apologizing for his behavior in 2012 and saying I did what I thought was best.

I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances, the letter said.

Assange was arrested April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nations foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

US Extradition Hearing

Separately, the WikiLeaks founder is also facing a Thursday extradition hearing over a criminal charge in the U.S. He has been charged with helping former Army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning obtain access to U.S. Defense Department computers in 2010 in order to reveal secret government documents.

The charge of one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion was kept under seal for over a year until his arrest in London three weeks ago.

Under UK law, the U.S. government has 65 days from arrestso until June 15to provide full extradition papers to a British district judge.

Jennifer Robinson, one of the lawyers on Assanges legal team told CNN on Saturday: It is a matter of international concern that a publisher is being held in a high-security prison facing extradition to the U.S. for his work that has won journalism awards the world over. We are very concerned about his health.

Robinson added: He is grateful for the solidarity shown around the world.

In the weeks since his arrest, Assange has been held on remand at HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead, southeast London.

One of the most secure facilities in England and Wales, Belmarsh prison has the capacity to hold over 900 inmates and is well known for once housing infamous terror suspects Abu Hamza al-Masri and Anjem Choudary within its high-security unit.

Andy Keen-Downs, chief executive of Pact, a rehabilitation charity that provides family services at prisons across the country, said Belmarsh receives a mixture of inmates who are allocated single or shared cells.

In the middle of the prison is the area built for high-security prisoners, Keen-Downs explained.

Conditions are very basic. Prison staff work hard to keep prisoners safe, but like most prisons there are occasions when there could be violence. It could be a very intimidating atmosphere, he continued.

The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
By LEIGH PROM

Diners at the Wild Magnolia in Martinsville were treated to a special evening Thursday, April 25, as Laws Choice Distillery owner Henry Law, with his cousin, Kenny Law and former congressman Virgil Goode entertained guests with stories about the history of moonshine in Southwest Virginia.

Approximately 50 guests were greeted by a couple of vintage moonshine vehicles parked in front of the restaurant and were also able to taste variations of Laws Choice whiskey.

The emcee for the evening was former Martinsville mayor and current city councilman Danny Turner. Turner said people were amazed by the presentation.

People just kept asking questions, just total interest what went on in our backyards, when a lot of these people were growing up or what their grandparents got into, Turner said.

He added the crowd seemed interested in hearing about the high level of violence involved to protect the moonshiners interest.

Goode focused on the historical aspect of moonshining, including some family history. He noted that even George Washington had a still in 1776. Alcohol taxes were needed to fund the countrys wars.

He talked about his familys history with moonshine including his great-uncle, who he said worked for the Internal Revenue Service. Goode explained it was his great-uncles job to inspect the legal stills in Franklin and Henry Counties  of which were approximately 99 in 1894  and to collect the taxes that were due.

According to Goode, legend has it his great-grandfather David Goodes death was a result of having imbibed to excess one day which caused him to fall from his horse. Davids injuries were fatal.

His grandparents, however, were opposed to alcohol consumption and involved with the Anti-Saloon League of Virginia. The Anti-Saloon League was the leading organization lobbying for prohibition in the early 20th century.

Goodes remarks also included information about the coming and going of prohibition and about the Moonshine Conspiracy.

The men in the Law family found themselves in and out of jails throughout the year in an effort to feed their families and for the thrill of moonshining. Henry said there were always one or two of the fellows absent at Christmas.

Bootlegging was especially attractive due to the prospect of bringing home several hundred dollars a week compared to $50-$60. Henry described the moonshine business as being very hard work.

For everything we did, we built it, he said. This way they didnt have to provide law enforcement with requested serial numbers.

Moonshiners are decent guys, Henry added. We love the business. We love it. It was a rush.

Mike Pashley, owner of Wild Magnolia, said he was pleased with how well the evenings event went, and added he would host another such event if the vendors were also interested.

Anytime we can do anything to promote city business its a good thing, Pashley said.

Elesha Light, who attended the moonshine history and tasting event, said she comes to Wild Magnolia a lot and that she enjoyed the moonshine tasting and learning more about moonshine history. She felt the evening brought the community together as they learned about and sampled local moonshine.

Allen Hale said he glad he attended the event because it reminded him of his familys history.

For me, it was a trip to the past because my father ran and manufactured moonshine, Hale said. It was how we made ends meet. The samples were fantastic. The smells and tastes took me back to a young time.

Editors note: Holly Kozelesky contributed to this story.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump and senior White House officials are working to salvage political support for a revised trade pact with Mexico and Canada, stunned by bipartisan blowback that appeared likely to scuttle a key initiative.

Several Democrats said Trump put on a charm offensive Tuesday during a White House meeting, soliciting their feedback on what he would need to do in order to win their support for an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

It was much different than the antagonistic approach he has taken with Democrats in recent weeks while they ramp up investigations into his finances and businesses. White House officials have said Trump really wants the Canada-Mexico trade deal to be successful, and he knows he needs support from Democrats to achieve this.

"I think if you leave the White House today, the tone of the conversations were pretty good," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., who is locked in a separate battle with the White House over accessing Trump's tax returns.

Trump's new courtship of Democrats on trade came as he's simultaneously trying to prevent Republicans from bolting. A number of Republicans have objected to Trump's hardball tactics in the trade talks and want him to start offering Canada and Mexico some immediate concessions.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has told the White House this week that the trade agreement cannot pass the GOP-controlled Senate unless Trump first lifts tariffs steel and aluminum tariffs against Mexico and Canada. Trump has said he is reluctant to do this before both countries agree to import quotas, but patience among Republicans for this negotiating style has worn thin.

"Well the administration feels that this is a great negotiating tool and they feel that it's a separate issue, but I don't think it is," said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. "I think we need to see action on the tariffs in order to get trade done."

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who has also raised concerns and is meeting with White House officials about trade issues on Thursday, said "something's going to have to give or we won't have a successful implementation or vote on the" new deal.

Trump is now relying on support for Democrats in both the House and the Senate to help him revise NAFTA, which was one of his top campaign promises. Trump had initially threatened to try and invalidate the existing trade agreement if lawmakers don't accept his new deal, but White House officials have not made that threat publicly in recent weeks.

"My hope is that we don't see any stepping out of the current nafta before that happens, that would put only more pressure on the right politically and that would be something that would be detrimental," Scott said.

Trump has used a "take-it-or-leave-it" approach when negotiating with both Congress and foreign leaders in the past, but he is now handling the Canada-Mexico trade talks differently. Democrats have said they will insist on strict enforcement of labor standards in exchange for their vote, and they want union leaders to be on board with any deal. Top union officials have so far refused to endorse the deal until changes are made.

Democrats have been careful, though, and have not flatly rejected the deal like they rallied to oppose many of the White House's other tax and economic proposals. That's in part because U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has worked very closely with Democrats and union leaders throughout the negotiations in order to keep them updated on developments and seek their input. At the White House meeting on Tuesday, Democrats praised Lighthizer in front of the president.

But illustrating the tightrope White House officials are now walking, Lighthizer wasn't even at the meeting. That's because he was with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in China, trying to broker a separate trade deal.

White House officials believe the trade deal they are trying to strike with China will not need congressional approval, but the Canada-Mexico deal will because it revises an existing trade agreement.

And White House officials have signaled they want the Canada-Mexico trade deal to be completed by the end of this year, before election-year politics overwhelm Washington in 2020.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who also met with Trump on Tuesday, would not rule out the possibility that the trade agreement might be passed by the end of the year.

It's "Too early to tell," he said. "We need to know about enforcement, we need to know about other things."

And while Trump tries to mollify Democrats, his meeting Thursday with Scott and other Republicans is meant to quell an uprising on his right. Both sides are simultaneously making demands, and Trump appears to be listening to all the feedback.

"So I think the president will have to come to the table with something that is a meaningful concession to concerns on both sides of the aisle and bicameral concerns," Scott said.
BRIDGEPORT  Stamford school officials failed to take action when a 5-year-old child was threatened by a classmate, which resulted in the boy later being sexually assaulted by the same classmate, a lawsuit says.

The suit, which alleges the classmate stabbed the boy with a pencil and later bit his penis, was filed April 23 in state Superior Court in Bridgeport on behalf of the parents of the 5-year-old against the Stamford Board of Education and the city of Stamford. It states that the principal and staff at Roxbury Elementary School breached their obligation to keep the young boy safe and violated state law by failing to report the first incident to the state Department of Children and Families.

Norwalk lawyer Michael Skiber, who represents the parents of the 5-year-old boy, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In mid-May 2018, the mother of the 5-year-old boy told her sons teacher that a classmate of her son had stabbed him with a pencil on May 10, the lawsuit says. The mother also reported that the other student crawled under a bathroom stall that her son had locked and blocked the 5-year-old from leaving the stall, begging him to die here with me.

The lawsuit states that school officials, despite being informed of the incident, took no action to keep the two students separate, instead allowing them to remain in the same classroom and interact with each other.

On May 21, 2018, a substitute teacher, who had not been informed about the previous incident between the two students, was in charge, according to the suit. The substitute excused the 5-year-old to go to the bathroom. The aggressor student left the classroom  the lawsuit does not state whether he was excused or not  and went to the same bathroom.

The aggressor student went into the stall the boy was in and bit his penis, causing him serious injury, the lawsuit states.

As a result of the assault, the 5-year-old boy suffered serious and permanent physical and psychological injuries that will require treatment, the lawsuit states.

The family is seeking damages totaling more than $15,000.

On its website, DCF instructs educators and other people who work with children on a day-to-day basis that they are required by law to report suspected abuse and neglect inflicted on any child under the age of 18.

The suit specifically calls out school staff for failing to alert DCF to the first incident, alleging that they failed to prevent the second incident from occurring.

In 2014, two administrators at Stamford High School were arrested for failing to report an incident to DCF.

The school district declined to comment on the case as it is ongoing litigation. Sharon Beadle, public affairs officer for Stamford Public Schools, said that DCF and the Stamford Police were notified although she did not know whether that happened after the first or second incident.

Staff reporter Sophie Vaughan contributed to this story.
NORWALK  The Maritime Aquarium may not have the largest collection of animals in the country, or the most diverse, but it can say it is the only aquarium in the world with a master-level understanding in water quality.

Barrett Christie, the aquariums director of animal husbandry, became the first person in the world to pass a national mastery-level exam focused on water quality in public aquariums.

Christie recently passed the Level 3 water-quality exam administered by the Aquatic Animal Life Support Operators (AALSO), an organization of water-quality and mechanical-system professionals who care for the systems that make large-scale aquatic animal care possible.

Christie oversees more than 12,000 animals, from jellyfish and coral to seals and monkeys, at the aquarium. Of all the aspects he oversees as a part of his job, Christie said water quality monitoring is the most important.

Water chemistry is the most important thing we do at the aquarium for the animals. We take care of the water as much as we take care of the animals, because the water chemistry has to be perfect for everything here, Christie said.

Each week, the aquarium runs about hundreds, if not thousands of tests to monitor the water for substances like copper or chlorine, Christie said. Otherwise, the artificial seawater manufactured by the aquarium could actually be toxic to its animals.

This (qualification) will help us to refine our procedures and ensure that our labs are operating at the absolute peak of efficiency, Christie said.

Each year, the AALSO offers examinations on life-support and water-quality theories, and also on operational procedures, ranging from basic to advanced duties. Christie is the first person to pass the master-level water-quality exam in the two or three years its been offered.

Levels one, two or three are awarded to any zoo or aquarium life-support operator who successfully passes the respective exam covering established criteria for that level. The Level 3 water-quality exam covers such areas as water chemistry, stoichiometry, advanced mathematics, laboratory safety, quality control, and the interactions of chemicals dissolved in water.

As the only aquarium in the world to employ a certified Level 3 water-quality technician, The Maritime Aquarium is even better equipped to meet the challenges of providing the highest standard of care to its animals, said Dave Sigworth, the aquariums spokesperson.
A 20-year-old man entered a homes unlocked front door, snatched a 4-year-old girl from her bed and bound and stuffed her into a wooden trunk at his grandparents house, telling police hed been scoping out children who he thought lived in deplorable conditions, authorities said.

The child was reported missing at 3:30 a.m. Thursday and somehow managed to escape a few hours later that morning. She was found safe near the house where Thomas Dewald had been staying in Waynesboro, about 165 miles west of Philadelphia, near the Maryland line, Pennsylvania State Police said.

No parent or child should ever have to worry about whether theyre safe in their homes, State police Lt. Mark Magyar said late Monday.

CHILLING: A homeowner calls 911 on an intruder. 'I had to shoot him.'

"The community affected by his cowardice actions can rest easy knowing this animal is in custody," Magyar added to Fox 43.

On Monday, a state trooper investigating the kidnapping spoke to Dewalds grandmother, since her red brick house matched the childs description. The woman told the officer she had entered her grandsons room in previous days to see if he had made his bed, and thought she heard a baby crying near a wall air conditioning unit, the affidavit said. She said she couldnt find the source of the crying, and Dewald had already left for work. The woman told police hed been staying with her for about four or five weeks.

Troopers searched the home and found a wooden trunk under the air conditioning unit. Inside it was black tape covered in blonde hair, dirt and grass, the affidavit said.

Dewald returned home as the troopers wrapped up the investigation and police say in the affidavit that he admitted to taking the girl.

He told troopers he had been canvassing neighborhoods, looking for unsupervised children who seemed to live in deplorable conditions and in homes with no video surveillance nearby, the affidavit said. He went on to tell them he entered the 4-year-olds home and after an hour inside decided to take her based on the condition of the house, according to the affidavit. Police allege he told them he considered taking the girls brother, but decided he was too heavy to carry down the stairs.

According to the affidavit, he told police he might have touched the girl inappropriately once in his room at his grandparents house. Police say he told officers he then taped the girls wrists, ankles and mouth and put her in a wooden chest, telling her he would be home from work around noon.

At about 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, the girl escaped the residence, police said.

According to the affidavit, Dewald told troopers he broke into another home on Sunday, intending to take one of the three children residing there, but decided their living conditions were acceptable. State police also say he was frightened by the family dog. He also put tape on the bottom of his shoes so he wouldnt leave shoe prints, the affidavit said.

Dewald was arrested and faces multiple charges in both incidents, including kidnapping, criminal attempt kidnapping, burglary, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint, criminal trespass and indecent assault.

No attorney is listed in online court documents. Dewald remains in Franklin County Jail.

Dewald's grandfather, Larry McFadden, told Fox 43 he is stunned by the allegations.

"It's pretty hard to deal with, obviously. I don't know the grandson you're describing, obviously," he said. "The grandson I knew was expecting to be... starting his career, and he's a very religious boy. At least, I thought he was, and he's very intelligent. That's the hard thing to accept cause this certainly isn't intelligent. He's going to put away in jail for the rest of his life - that'd be my guess."
NORWALK  Twenty-eight exhibits and five years after opening its doors, South Norwalks Sidewalk Gallery will close at the end of June.

Owners Jennifer Hunter and Bill Gramigna announced their plans to close the gallery, which has been in its 18 S Main St. location for five years.

Early on, it became clear that this area is saturated with so many fine artists, and so our existence drew in throngs of interested local artists. We enjoyed bringing diverse exhibits and celebrating the amazing abilities of the lucky exhibitors, Hunter said in a Wednesday announcement.

The gallery was unique in the way it displayed its artwork. A 50-foot, curved white wall ran almost the entire length of the place and on it works were hung facing outward, toward the gallerys large glass windows, through which the works could be seen from the street. Behind the wall was office space, out of which Gramigna ran Press Proof Studios, the marketing firm he founded 33 years ago.

Gramigna and Hunter stumbled upon the space, a former kitchen appliance store, in spring 2014 while searching for a new location for Press Proof Studios, which had previously been headquartered in Westchester County.

I saw those windows, those eight-foot windows, 11 of them that wrapped around the building on a curb. I said, Thats perfect for us. I said, Were going to build a curved wall, put dramatic lighting up and were going to use it as a gallery  the Sidewalk Gallery, Gramigna remembered. In two weeks, we were in the space and we were doing exactly that.

Gramigna recalled hanging an exhibition, adjusting the lighting and then walking by with Hunter, his wife, later night to see the artwork lit up.

Wed walk by and wed be like little kids. Every single time, Gramigna said.

Together, Gramigna and Hunter created a home for the arts, where they featured an array of local and national talent. They recently gave South Norwalk artist Andrea Jacobs her first ever exhibition. Last summer, Gramigna and Hunter, along with a group of local artists, helped to organize a fundraiser in support of Dennis Bradbury, owner of the 22 Haviland Street gallery just a few doors down, who had suffered a broken collarbone after a fall. They helped to curate a pop-up exhibition celebrating the artwork of Brien McMahon students and, last fall, gave the prominent Norwalk artist 5iveFingaz just his second solo exhibition in his home city.

Its not only the windows at Sidewalk Gallery lit up with art at night, that makes the streetscape so vibrant in this part of town, Jen and Bill are also neighborhood allies in bringing people together around art, said Bradbury. Its getting hard to afford real estate in this part of South Norwalk. Ill miss them and their Sidewalk gallery and the kind of spirit & experience they cared to share with the community.

Bill and Jen are two of the most genuine people I have ever met, said 5iveFingaz, who was introduced to Gramigna and Hunter through Bradbury. Nowadays there are so many gallery owners that have huge egos and try to direct or dictate what good art should be. But Bill and Jen would open their doors to both established artists as well as up-and-coming artists just the same.

Hunter said the decision to close was a combination of high overhead and stress of the job.

We just want an opportunity to stop and pause and live a little. We havent traveled at all and we really have only been working and working and working, she said.

Before the Sidewalk Gallery closes, Hunter and Gramigna will have one final exhibition, which will open Friday, to commemorate the past work shown in the space. On the long gallery wall, posters from 19 of the gallerys 28 exhibitions will be hung in hopes to give the community a last review of the history of Sidewalk Gallery, Hunter said.

Her dream is that another gallerist will be able to use the space to publicly display art.

Its been a good run, Hunter said. Maybe somebody will pick up where we left off.

justin.papp@scni.com; @justinjpapp1; 203-842-2586
Build Like A Woman | Youtube

Misha Nonoo designs versatile clothing that professional women can wear in any situation  from the boardroom to weekend errands, to date nights and beyond. While Nonoo got her start designing for other brands, she quickly moved on to launch her own eponymous label in order to create the ready-to-wear pieces she herself wanted to wear, but wasnt finding on the market.

As Nonoo described it to me in an interview: "The inspiration for having my own label came from this impetus Ive always had that I needed to create my own vision and execute it in my own way."
During the meeting with the Vietnamese legislator, Gladys Bejerano introduced the operation of the ten-year-old State comptroller and inspection agency of Cuba, saying that it plays an important role in supervising and regulating activities of Cuban government and state agencies, especially state-run enterprises.

She also briefed the guest on the operation of Cuba's administrative and economic management and monitoring apparatus in the context of implementing the process of updating socio-economic models in the country.

Meanwhile, Marino Murillo, who is also head of the committee for implementing policies to update socio-economic models, outlined key points in policies related to updating Cubas socio-economic model, as well as contents of the countrys new Constitution concerning this long-term development strategy, at his meeting with the Vietnamese official.

He appreciated exchange and experience of Vietnam in both theory and practice for strategic orientation sand macroeconomic policy making of Cuba.

During the meetings, NA Vice Chairman Luu congratulated Cuba on its approval of the new Constitution, which creating a solid foundation for long-term development in the country.

He expressed his belief that under the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party and the ideological orientation of historic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, the Cuban people will successfully implement the process of updating the socio-economic model.

The two countries should continue to promote the sharing of experience in policymaking, and in managing and supervising economic activities, along with enhance practical projects, he said.

During the visit which ended on April 30, the Vietnamese NA delegation had a working session with representatives of the Cuban Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance, during which the two sides shared their experience in ensuring rights and interest of labourers and in promoting social equality.
NORWALK  A longtime Democrat, and candidate for mayor of the city, changed his party affiliation to Republican on Tuesday to defend Norwalk.

Darnell Crosland, who works as a criminal defense attorney in Stamford, registered as a Republican at Norwalk City Hall on Tuesday, according to News 12 Connecticut. He told the news organization he made the switch to give him an opportunity to lead the city.

Crosland is looking to unseat three-term incumbent Democratic Mayor Harry Rilling. He told News 12 that he thinks Rilling is a Republican at heart.

Rilling told News 12, We're going to run on our record. I'm proud of what we accomplished and there's a similar feeling among our residents.

Though Crosland said people have questioned him about the change, he stands by it in order to defend Norwalk, but not President Donald Trump, News 12 reported Crosland said.

In Norwalk, registered Democrats (more than 20,000) outnumber registered Republicans (more than 10,000) by double. But there are more than 22,000 registered voters that are unaffiliated.

Tuesday afternoon, Crosland took to Twitter, saying, A New Day Has Begun. Owens come home and support our movement. We miss and need you back in Connecticut.

At the end of the post, Crosland tagged Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and political activist known for her pro-Trump activism. Owens, who attended Stamford High School, is also the director of communications Turning Point USA, a conservative advocacy group.

In a follow up post on Twitter, Crosland briefly wished Owens, who turned 30 on Monday, a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday, the post said. Its your day and today is our New Day here in Norwalk. Blacks can be Republican.
Never before have so many congressional committees issued so many subpoenas demanding documents and testimony from so many executive-branch officials, with so little attempt at negotiation or accommodation. President Donald Trump says he will invoke executive privilege on "all" of them. Attorney General William Barr balks at appearing before a House committee to discuss the Mueller report without changes in the format. Democrats threaten impeachment, and solemn commentators proclaim that Trump's refusal to comply subverts America's constitutional system of checks and balances.

How quickly Washington forgets - when it is convenient. Trump is not the first president to resist congressional investigation of the inner workings of his administration, and Barr is not the first Cabinet officer to negotiate the terms of his appearance before a committee. In fact, the responses are unremarkable.

Does anyone remember President Barack Obama? In 2011, the House Oversight Committee investigated a disastrous Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation, intended to track illegal gun sales, that put weapons in the hands of Mexican criminals. An assistant attorney general denied to Congress that the Obama administration even knew of the program. The administration later admitted the claim was false.

The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Justice Department documents about Operation Fast and Furious and the deceptive claim. Attorney General Eric Holder said he would comply with the subpoenas only if the House committee agreed in advance to close its investigation. The committee threatened to hold the attorney general in contempt.

Obama invoked executive privilege. The administration claimed that compliance with the subpoena would "inhibit the candor" of executive-branch deliberations and that "compelled disclosure would be inconsistent with the separation of powers established in the Constitution."

The House voted 255 to 67 declaring Holder in contempt of Congress - but Holder unsurprisingly declined to prosecute himself. The House went to court seeking to force his compliance, but the Obama administration ran out the clock. Holder never complied with the subpoena and went unpunished for the contempt.

Then there was President George W. Bush and his response to the House Judiciary Committee subpoenas regarding his administration's 2006 dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys: Bush invoked executive privilege. The House voted White House counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress and went to court seeking enforcement of the subpoenas: the first such lawsuit in American history. The House won in District Court, but a court of appeals immediately stayed the decision, which ceased to matter at the end of the Bush administration.

Resistance to congressional demands for documents and testimony goes back to America's earliest days. After Gen. Arthur St. Clair's calamitous encounter with native tribes in the Ohio territory in 1791, the House launched the first oversight investigation into executive malfeasance. The House empowered a committee "to call for such persons, papers, and records, as may be necessary to assist their inquiries." The House demanded relevant papers and testimony from Secretary of War Henry Knox.

President George Washington convened a Cabinet meeting to discuss the demand. According to the notes of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, the Cabinet unanimously agreed that the House had the right to conduct an inquiry (apparently because it involved the expenditure of public money) but that congressional requests for information from a Cabinet officer must be presented through the president himself. Washington and his Cabinet also concluded that the president has the right to withhold any papers he believed "the disclosure of which would injure the public."

In response, the House passed a substitute motion "that the President of the United States be requested" to provide what papers "of a public nature" as might be "necessary to the investigation." In the end, after exercising his discretion, Washington sent the House all the papers it had asked for.

What does this history tell us? That disputes over congressional demands for documents and testimony are as old as the republic. Congresses demand; presidents resist. Generally, after a political tussle the two sides meet somewhere in the middle. As a leading scholar of the subject, Cornell University law professor Josh Chafetz, has written, "most disputes between the executive and legislative branches over information have historically been settled by negotiation and accommodation."

This process cannot take place if one side assumes that it has unilateral authority to demand whatever it wishes and that any delay or resistance from the other branch is categorically illegitimate. Trump should abandon his attempt to defy "all subpoenas," but the House should recognize that the executive is an equal branch of government with constitutional privileges of its own. For a president to assert the rights of his office, as almost every president has done, is neither blameworthy nor impeachable.

- - -

McConnell, a former federal appellate judge, is a law professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Consumers would pay 6.35 percent on digital downloads and drinkers would see 10 percent higher prices on alcohol under a Democratic package of tax increases of more than $1.3 billion that accept some of Gov. Ned Lamonts ideas for broadening the tax base and reject others.

Both paper and plastic bags available at most retailers would cost consumers 10 cents, if the budget becomes law.

The tax-writing legislative Finance Committee, in a partisan vote late Wednesday afternoon, approved the elimination of Connecticuts gift tax and the $250 business entity tax. It would use $50 million from the states $2 billion surplus for each of the two years of the budget starting July 1.

Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, the veteran chairman of the committee, said in a statement that previous budgets that used $600 million in one-time revenue sources, made this years budget more challenging to craft. He defended this proposal, which is expected to pass the committee and become part of the negotiations with Lamont over the next few weeks. Thats a reflection on how tough it is to get everyone to agree on a package, he told the committee.

The money thats being raised here is going to work hand-in-glove with the budget in the Appropriations Committee, said Rep. Chris Perone, D-Norwalk, a member of both panels. This is a challenging situation, so the revenue we raise here is being spent wisely and prudently. But we have a long way to go.

The committee agenda included taxes on electronic cigarettes. Services including interior design, parking, ride sharing, dry cleaning and safety clothing including hard hats, would be subject to the 6.35 percent sales tax. Lamont had proposed new sales taxes on non-prescription drugs, veterinarians, haircuts, as well as legal and accounting services, all of which escaped the legislation.

The package includes a 2 percent tax on capital gains that would affect about 14,000 high earners in the second year of the biennium.

We rejected a lot of proposals that were made, said Rep. Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, co-chairman of the committee, under questioning on the new taxes by Rep. Chris Davis, R-Ellington, ranking member of the committee, who was concerned about the effect of the new taxes on small businesses. I dont think the process will put a business owner into a deficit situation, Fonfara said.

Davis asked whether the tax package is aligned with the spending legislation approved on Tuesday by the Appropriations Committee. Democrats said it is. Its only May 1, so nothing is off the table, Rojas replied.

From what I gather here were talking about significant tax increase, Davis said, warning that those with the means to leave the state, may move. Billions of dollars of Connecticuts taxable wealth has moved out of the state. By putting something like this in place, I fear we might be doing more harm than its worth.

Tax package highlights $85 million in tax cuts. About $936 million in new taxes in the first year and $1.28 billion in the second year. A new 50 percent excise tax on the wholesale price of all E-cigarette and vapor-inhaling products. Limits the $200 property tax credit to seniors and those with dependents. Breweries would get a 50 percent break on sales for off-site consumption. Increase the amount of money being diverted into the Special Transportation Fund by $305 million over three years. Daily, computerized collection of the sales tax to expedite collection. Sales taxes on the private sale of used cars. Long-term borrowing of $1.7 billion in the first year and $1.6 billion in the second. See More Collapse

He said this tax package could discourage entrepreneurs.

If you want to relax and watch Netflix, youre going to pay more if youre living in the state of Connecticut. Its spending more, its taxing more, its borrowing more. Were way behind the rest of the country in job growth.

Rojas said that some of Lamonts proposals were unacceptable, so other areas had to be looked at. We continue to look at the rest of the package, Rojas said. I dont know that anybody here is particularly happy to make these changes. These are certainly difficult decisions.

Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, warned that the budget could bring the state back to massive amounts of revenue loss, similar to the income tax shortfalls of the post-Great Recession era of about 10 years ago. He warned that the expansion of the sales tax base could hurt businesses of all kinds. I dont either approach is right, either the governors or this package, he said. This is just not the way to start the dialogue.

A 10 cent tax on paper and plastic bags at most retail outlets is part of the bill, as well as a new 1 percent additional local meals tax to go back to cities and towns. The chemicals that make up e-cigarettes would be subject to a 50 percent excise tax on wholesale charges.

Currently, digital downloads are taxed at 1 percent and restaurant meals at 6.35 percent.

In the associated bond package, approved early Thursday morning in a bipartisan vote, the committee rejected Lamonts proposed sharp cutback on long-term borrowing, called the debt diet.

Lamont, in a statement prior to the committees late-afternoon meeting, said he understands that the legislation spending and tax packages are the basis of final budget negotiations heading toward the June 5 legislative adjournment.

Our debt diet was reviewed favorably by the ratings agencies and resulted in an outlook upgrade, Lamont said. What the markets  and businesses  are telling us is clear: Cut back on the borrowing while maintaining our states infrastructure, get the state on firmer fiscal footing, focus on a reliable, sustainable solution for transportation investment, and get the state growing again.

While Lamont wanted to cut $600 million in annual bonding, the committee approved $1.7 billion in the first year and $1.6 billion in the second year of the budget.

We totally embraced the debt diet, but we did not want to cause starvation, said Rep. Livvy Floren, R-Greenwich, a leader of the bonding subcommittee.

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, said that the Democrats budget will touch everyone in the state.

This budget contains much more than a tax on the wealthy, Fasano said. This includes higher taxes on everyone. It moves our state in the opposite direction of the progress we have made over the last two years in our bipartisan budgets. The proposal we have before us today is exactly what Democrats tried to pass two years ago.

Fasano said he believes the legislative Democrats are attempting to bully the first-term governor. Yet again we are seeing the governor get pushed around by members of his own party. Is he going to take a stand on anything, or is he going to continue operating in fear of Democrat legislators?

The liquor industry cried foul over the new alcohol levy.

The proposal is a massive tax increase on consumers that received no oversight or chance for public comment, said Distilled Spirits Council Vice President Jay Hibbard. This backroom deal violates every tenet of good governance and will incentivize consumers to purchase alcohol in neighboring states. By driving consumers across state lines, state revenue will be hurt through lost sales. This is a bad deal for consumers, and ultimately, state coffers.
I spoke with her (Williams) that morning and did relay to her that there was already a plan in action in regard to animals that were needing shelter, Schellpeper said. She asked if she could get into Wood River for volunteer services and would be coming to help if she could get into town. Angela made it to Wood River, came through the south doors of the station and I directed her to the meeting room where we had the incident command set up.

Schellpeper said when Williams got to the fire station, she talked to the person in charge at the time. This was not Todd King since he was out of the station at the time, she said.

Richardson said she did not want to get into a he said, she said deal and that the important thing is that animals are taken care of.

I think there have been a lot of hurt feelings, disgruntled employees and volunteers let go, she said. I would like to move forward in a positive fashion. With what happened during the flood, I do not think we will know for sure how things played out. However, I feel there are lots of people concerned for the animals welfare, which is a good thing. We all need to learn to work parallel and know that their mission is the same: the welfare of the animals.
For the second year in a row, members of Bikers Against Child Abuse rolled into the Little Diana memorial service Tuesday at Grand Island City Cemetery.

One member of the group, from Grand Island, also attended last years memorial, which is held at the grave of Diana Molina. The members of the group dont like to give their real names. The Grand Island man, known as Boondock, was joined by Caveman, from Gibbon, and Grey Beard, from Hastings.

They are members of the Central Nebraska Chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse. On the back of their jackets are the words, No child deserves to live in fear.

They come to show their support for the cause.

This is what were trying to stop from happening, Boondock said, referring to the death of Little Diana. The organizations goal is to protect and empower the children of abuse.

The motorcyclists were among nine people who attended the service, which is organized by the local chapter of the Association for Child Abuse Prevention.

The service is always held in April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Thesenvitz has been active in many local and state civic organizations, including serving on the Bio Nebraska Board of Directors. She remains on the Nova-Tech board after retiring from day-to-day operations. Her daughter, Teresa Grabowski, is the company president and son, Gary Thesenvitz, is vice president of facilities and equipment. They play critical roles on a seasoned leadership team.

Gloria exemplifies the hard work, spirit and determination of the Nebraska life sciences leader, said Phil Kozera, executive director of the Bio Nebraska Life Sciences Association. Her willingness to take risk and drive to excel in her companys mission is a 30-year legacy of success. We thank her for all that she has done for her company, city and state.

In her acceptance speech, Thesenvitz thanked Bio Nebraska and Ricketts for their support.

She also recognized her dedicated staff at Nova-Tech.

Without their loyalty, passion and dedication, I would not be standing here today, Thesenvitz said.

Their singleness of purpose, their commitment, has fueled that journey.

She said building a tech-based industry in Central Nebraska has been rewarding.

It is one of my personal satisfactions knowing that students in our area can consider a career in the sciences and have the option to come back to our community and have a good career at Nova-Tech, Thesenvitz said.
Bryan OConnor of the Nebraska Chapter of Pheasants Forever was helping the students plant the shrubs.

OConnor said the planting project came about as the Central Platte NRD had some shrubs available that it was willing to donate to area habitat improvement projects.

Bill Hiatt of the Central Platte NRD was there to help with the planting project.

It is nice to get out and work with other organizations and let people know that we are willing to work with them and teach folks about habitat and why it is important, Hiatt said.

He said the kids not only learn about the proper way of planting, but also about the various species and the benefits they provide the environment.

OConnor said they also wanted to include students from the Success Academy, which has participated in past community conservation and habitat improvement projects.

Butterfly milkweed was one of the shrubs planted. OConnor said the shrubbery both improves the aesthetic aspects of the shooting park and provides vital habitat for pollinators, such as butterflies and bees. They are also a food source for wildlife as the shrubs produce berries for birds and other animals to eat.
The Arc is the largest national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. We encompass all ages and more than 100 different diagnoses, including autism, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome and various other I/DD. With nearly 700 state and local chapters nationwide, The Arc is on the front lines to ensure that people with I/DD have the support and services they need to be fully engaged in their communities.

The Arc was formed nationwide in 1950, in Grand Island in 1954, by parents of children who wanted to be included in their communities. In the Hall and Howard County areas, our chapter, The Arc of Central Nebraska, provides the supports and information needed to be an important part of the community.

My family has belonged to The Arc for almost 20 years. The Arc has helped us become better advocates for our son. Become a part of our mission and join a local chapter today. Our executive director, Audrey DeFrank, can be reached at (308) 379-8070.
Jacksonville School District 117s board has approved a contract to replace the Washington Elementary School building facade after an inspection found safety concerns.

The board approved the $913,000 contract with Springfield-based Pulliam Masonry last week after the safety concerns were identified.

The district already has done some minor work to ensure student safety, and the rest of the work will be completed once school lets out in June, Superintendent Steve Ptacek said.

If we do not take action immediately, the loose bricks could create a hazardous situation for people, Ptacek said.

The district put safety measures in place to prevent dangerous situations while students are still present, but those will not last long-term, Ptacek said.

The building has not received substantial masonry work since it was built in 1932, Ptacek said.

While the building is in line to be renovated should the district have the money, the masonry needs have to met immediately, Ptacek said.

The project will include tuck-pointing around the entire building; replacing lintels, beams, stones and bricks; and roof work.

The project will cost $896,997 for the masonry work, with another $15,880 to replace window lintels.

These are all things that are original to the building, Ptacek said. These things give away after a time and have to be replaced to retain the integrity of the building.

While the work would have been included in an overall building renovation project, it cant wait for renovations, Ptacek said.

This will cost a substantial amount without any real visual changes to the building, he said.

The money to cover the cost will come from one of the districts four major funds.

If we were a regular district, something like this would fall under a Health, Life, Safety need, Ptacek said. This would qualify for a Health, Life, Safety bond and would not have to come out of the districts four major funds, which is basically our savings account.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
EDWARDSVILLE  Madison County Sheriffs Department conducted a ceremony Wednesday morning to honor law enforcement as 26 riders from all over the United States left from St. Louis to begin their 1,300-mile-bike-ride to Washington D.C.

This is Law Enforcement Uniteds (LEU) 10th ride to honor fallen officers and to support survivors. The groups goal is to raise a million dollars. The amount raised will be kept a secret until their ending ceremony on May 12.

Our organization is Law Enforcement United, its a nonprofit organization, we raise money for other nonprofit organizations. Our main one is Concerns of Police Survivors, Tommie Booth, Apple Valley Minnesota Police Officer and Minnesota team captain, said.

According to their website, C.O.P.S. provides resources and programs for those who are affected when an officer is killed in the line of duty.

The majority of our money that we raise during this bicycle ride goes to pay for a camp called C.O.P.S Kids Camp. Its in Troy, Wisconsin. Its where children whose parents were killed in the line of duty get to go for a little over a week in August and they get to learn what we refer to as the new normal; how they get to live without a parent who paid that ultimate sacrifice to give their life up to protect somebody else, Booth said.

Kids from all over the country attend the camp and the funds LEU provides for the camp pays for it completely.

They get to meet kids that are in the same predicament that theyre in. They realize that theyre not alone, Booth said. During this camp, they get to do all the fun stuff: they get to shoot bows and BB guns and go canoeing, fishing and ziplining.

Children who attend the camp also get to meet with a counselor for additional support.

The most important part of this camp is, every day these kids get to go to counseling and they do counseling groups and sessions with kids that are their same ages, Booth said. These kids make connections that live with them for the rest of their lives.

Each rider has to raise $1,500 minimum to ride, but many riders raise much more than that.

I raise about 30,000 to 40,000 dollars a year by myself, Booth said.

The 26 riders will be accompanied by a much larger group during their final stretch to Washington D.C.

We will hook up with a bigger group in Chesapeake, Virginia, of almost 500 riders to finish our last 200 miles and ride in for Police Week, Booth said.

National Police Week begins Monday, May 13. For more information about the bike ride visit leunited.org or their Law Enforcement United Inc. Facebook page. More information about C.O.P.S. can be found at concernsofpolicesurvivors.org

Reach reporter Breanna Booker at bre.booker@edwpub.net.
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Linkedin Gina Doggett with Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere in Paris (Agence France-Presse) Amboise, France  Wed, May 1, 2019 12:07 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735a1b8f 2 Art & Culture France,Italy,Leonardo-da-Vinci,art,artist,anniversary,Amboise Free

Five hundred years after the death of Italian master painter Leonardo da Vinci, the Loire Valley town where he spent his last three years will host top-level festivities celebrating his life.

The Renaissance genius died in the French town of Amboise in 1519, at the age of 67. And France's Emmanuel Macron and Italian President Sergio Mattarella are travelling here on Thursday to mark the anniversary.

Leonardo was 64 when he was invited to France by the young Francis I, at a time when rivals Michelangelo and Raphael were rising stars on the Italian peninsula.

And with his own commissions drying up, it came as a great relief and no small vindication for the Tuscan artist, who received a handsome stipend as the "first painter, engineer and architect of the king".

He brought with him three of his favorite paintings: the Mona Lisa, the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, and Saint John the Baptist -- all of which today hang in the Louvre museum in Paris.

The joint celebrations come after months of mounting diplomatic tensions between Paris and Rome over the hardline policies of Italy's populist government and its support for France's anti-government "yellow vest" protesters.

The anniversary also has raised tensions over the works of Leonardo that are owned by France after Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said the Mona Lisa should be brought home to Rome. He has since brushed the comment off as a joke.

Read also: At Amboise, Leonardo's last years paint a picture of Franco-Italian harmony

'Fascinated with Leonardo'

Known as the "Sun King of the 16th century", Francis I was widely seen as bringing the Italian Renaissance to France, extending his patronage to both artisans and architects.

Arriving in 1516, Leonardo was installed at the Clos Luce, a sumptuous manor house just a stone's throw from the royal chateau in Amboise where the king had spent part of his childhood.

At the time, Francis I was barely 23, and his ambitious mother Louise of Savoy "knew that Leonardo would be the man who would allow her son to flourish," Catherine Simon Marion, managing director of the Clos Luce, told AFP.

"As for the young king, he was fascinated by (Leonardo's) knowledge of anatomy, botany, spirituality. He came to see him almost every day, calling him 'my father'," she said.

"Leonardo gave him a kind of apprenticeship in knowledge."

An underground tunnel was dug through the soft limestone between the Clos Luce and Amboise's chateau to facilitate these frequent visits.

During his three years in the riverside town, Leonardo organised lavish parties for the court and worked to design an ideal city for Francis at nearby Romorantin -- one of the polymath's many unrealized projects -- all while continuing his research.

"He would follow his intense curiosity until the end," Simon Marion said.

Read also: Tuscan paradise where da Vinci's genius bloomed

'Genius and mysteries'

His right arm was paralyzed, but as Leonardo was left-handed, he was able to continue work, adding the finishing touches to the Mona Lisa, historian and television personality Stephane Bern says.

But whether he considered the painting finished by the time of his death, "we will never know," he says.

"What is pleasing about Leonardo da Vinci is both his genius and his mysteries."

On Thursday, after visiting Leonardo's grave at the royal chateau and then lunching at the Clos Luce, Macron and Mattarella will travel to the sprawling chateau of Chambord, whose central double-helix staircase is attributed to Leonardo -- though the first stone was not laid until four months after his death.

"It's not often that we have a chance to celebrate Franco-Italian friendship, especially these days," Bern said, in an allusion to the ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two neighbors.

The commemorations have sparked a further dispute after Italy baulked at the idea of its museums loaning their Leonardo works -- including the iconic Vitruvian Man drawing -- to the Louvre for a blockbuster show in October.

Although no longer in the headlines, the dispute has yet to be settled with the two sides still to agree on a definitive list.

With fewer than 20 Leonardo paintings and 22 drawings still in existence, many Italians are resentful that the Louvre possesses five of them.

The Mona Lisa and two others were sold to Francis I by Leonardo's muse and probable lover Gian Giacomo Caprotti, better known as Salai or Little Devil, even before the master's death.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 1, 2019 14:29 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735a4d47 1 Art & Culture Art-Moments-Jakarta,art-fair,art-and-culture,art,arts,arts-and-culture,exhibition Free

Contemporary art exhibition Art Moments Jakarta will be held from May 3 to 5 at Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Hotel in South Jakarta.

For the inaugural event, the art fair is set to host various programs, such as Art Talks, Art Workshops by Ganara Art Space and free guided tours for students.

The Art Talks program will be held on May 4 and 5, with the first session scheduled to run on May 4 from 1 to 5 p.m. The program will cover a variety of topics, including street arts, re-calibrating art circuits, Islamic arts and online art-market revolutions.

The second session is slated for May 5 at 11 a.m., and it will focus on hybrid cultural products that can be traced through traditional Indonesian aesthetic values and Islamic values in the art works.

Read also: Slated for May, Art Moments Jakarta aims to become new art destination

Art Moments Jakarta will also open its doors to young art enthusiasts. During the Art Workshop by Ganara Art Space, children aged 3 and above as well as adults will be able to explore pottery arts, printing and painting inspired by artworks made by renowned artists such as Yayoi Kusama, KAWS, MR., Robert Indiana and Kim Seok.

The program will run from May 1 to 5 and will be divided into two categories, all-day open-ended workshops and scheduled workshops.

Moreover, students who are interested in visiting the event as an education experience are welcomed to join free guided tours. Those who come in groups of a minimum of 15 students are also entitled to complimentary tickets.

Founded by Leo Silitonga, Art Moments Jakarta aims to be a platform for art enthusiasts as well as the general public to witness and get engaged in the growing Indonesian art scene. (jes/wng)
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Linkedin Rizki Fachriansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 1, 2019 09:42 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87359f1b9 3 Entertainment Avengers-Endgame,Avengers,Movie,artist,filmmaker,Marvel-Cinematic-Universe,marvel Free

The long, at times embarrassing, history of American studio blockbusters is founded on consolidated efforts to capture the coveted lightning-in-a-bottle moment that is expected to pave the way for more of the same.

Financial and, to a certain extent, critical success have served as harbingers of homogeneity. A certain crop of culturally significant pieces of filmmaking from the preceding era is bound to be retroactively seen as a sprawling scrapyard in which image-makers of the following generation could freely take apart fool-proof elements and formulas and transplant those used parts into their nascent bodies of work to ensure that they stimulate calculated responses from the public.

This is not to say that every visionary in their own respective era is automatically subservient to the blind pursuit of Hollywoods brand of commercial success. Underneath the shiny surface of mass appeal, paradigmatic outliers such as Tim Burton or Sam Raimi fought to keep their artistic license once they arrived at the utilitarian landscape of corporate mandates and profit margins.

It is not by accident that yours truly mentions those two names, as Burton and Raimi belong to the formative first class of what I would like to call the School of Modern Comicbook Superhero Cinema. Their works within the subgenre, spanning from the late 1980s and mid-1990s  Burtons Batman and Batman Returns  and the early 2000s  Raimis Spider-Man trilogy  more than anything else, are now taken as quasi-religious texts that inform the creation of super-powered monomyths in the postmodern age demarcated by 2008s one-two punch of Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight and Jon Favreaus Iron Man.

The stark contrast (pun unintended) between the stylistic and thematic modes of Nolan's and Favreaus seminal progenitors marked the beginning of a debate regarding which would rise victorious in the race for pop-cultural domination  was it the formers brand of textual grit and moral ambivalence, or the latters penchant for snappy humor and colorful personalities? The debate would extend far beyond cinema discourse, to the once-maligned niche of geekdom  present days purveyor of coolness, thanks to hegemony, after decades of cultural prejudice  which turned what used to be a reasonable discussion into a vicious verbal colosseum where self-proclaimed fanatics of DC Comics/Films and Marvel Comics/Studios would duke it out.

Fast forward a decade later, it has become clear that the pendulum has swung very far toward Marvel Studios. With each successive entry in its long-term corporate agenda  ambitiously dubbed Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)  Disneys flagship superhero arm plants its claws even deeper into public consciousness. Similar to its modern counterpart, Marvels postmodern house style has been taken as something resembling a gospel. It did not take long for DC Films to (figuratively) concede defeat and take pages straight from Marvels playbook as it launched its own cinematic universe.

Avengers: Endgame, billed as the grand conclusion to Marvels decade-long investment in longform cinematic storytelling, therefore functions not only as a narcissistic pat on the companys own back, but a paean to corporate synergy triumphing over often-risky choices that once defined and were once espoused by  individual artists.

Read also: Avengers: Endgame sets box-office record at $1.2 billion

Endgame continues the story thread left hanging at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, where a bunch of superheroes literally vanished into thin air following franchise big-bad Thanos insidious act of finger-snapping while wearing an oversized gauntlet filled with colorful magical rocks. Similar to its predecessor, Endgame banks on the premise of narrative finality as an obvious metatextual proxy of company policy  of course character A dies, while B is resurrected because the formers multiple-picture contract has expired, whereas the latters next film was already in the pipeline months prior. The jarring introduction of mortality in Infinity War, as well as its pervasive omnipresence in Endgame, seemed more indicative of corporate machinations than organic narrative growth.

In any case, my somewhat grumpy dismissal of Marvels unabashed corporate transparency does not lessen the sheer cultural impact of Endgame or the entire MCU in general. Its massive success, which now borders on cultural monopoly, is already accepted by most members of the moviegoing public as the new template for future blockbusters.

Endgame is indeed fun and competent, in the broadest and most superficial sense of the adjectives. The good old Marvel charm has been refined and optimized throughout the last decade, so maximum audience appeal has always seemed guaranteed.

The film is, above all, historic. Marvel and Disney have finally completed their quest for cultural domination, thus reserving an entire chapter in an as-yet-incomplete book on the postmodern history of American superhero cinema.

The long history of blockbusters is defined by attempts to capture the coveted lightning-in-a-bottle moment that is expected to pave the way for more of the same.

History, as they say, does repeat itself. (wng)

***

The writer is a reporter at The Jakarta Post. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of the Post.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Sydney, Australia  Thu, May 2, 2019 01:01 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735b15dc 2 Science & Tech Australia,scientists,jellyfish,nature,Science Free

Australian researchers believe they have found an antidote to a sting from the world's most venomous creature, the much-feared box jellyfish.

Researchers at the University of Sydney had been investigating how the venom is so deadly that one box jellyfish can kill 60 people.

The team noticed the venom needs cholesterol to kill human cells and decided to test whether existing drugs could stop it.

"Since there are lots of drugs available that target cholesterol" the team tried one out, said lead author Raymond Lau.

"It worked," he said. "It's a molecular antidote."

Running tests using human cells and mice, the team found it could stop tissue scarring and pain associated with the sting as long as the medicine was injected within 15 minutes.

Read also: Swimmers return to bathe with Palau's golden jellyfish

Stings from box jellyfish -- which can be smaller than a fingernail or up to three metres long depending on the species -- can cause acute muscular pain, violent vomiting, feelings of "impending doom", hair that stands on end, strokes, heart failure and death within minutes.

So far they have only tested the sting from the larger, more deadly species.

"We know the drug will stop the necrosis, skin scarring and the pain completely when applied to the skin," said Associate Professor Neely.

"We don't know yet if it will stop a heart attack. That will need more research, and we are applying for funding to continue this work."

The team hopes that eventually a topical cream or spray can be developed to prevent stings that are thought to kill dozens of people each year and hospitalise thousands more.

Topics : Australia scientists jellyfish nature Science
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Linkedin Hiroshi Hiyama (Agence France-Presse) Tokyo, Japan  Wed, May 1, 2019 12:33 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735a2888 2 People Emperor-Naruhito,Chrysanthemum-Throne,Reiwa Free

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito pledged Wednesday to stand by the Japanese people as he formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, the day after his father's historic abdication ushered in a new imperial era.

It was the first time in more than 200 years that a member of the world's oldest royal family has chosen to step down, and solemn rituals accompanied both Akihito's abdication and Naruhito's enthronement.

Naruhito officially became emperor at midnight, when the country also began the new imperial era of Reiwa or "beautiful harmony", but the transition was formalised in a Wednesday ceremony.

The ritual, off-limits to all royal women, saw 59-year-old Naruhito accept the regalia relinquished by his father a day earlier: a sacred sword and jewel as well as the seal of the state and the imperial seal.

Naruhito then delivered his first address to the nation, vowing to "act according to the Constitution" while "always turning my thoughts to the people and standing with them".

The new monarch wore formal Western clothing including a heavy gold chain of office during the ceremony and his speech. He was joined by Empress Masako, wearing a long white gown and diamond-studded tiara, for his address.

The nation's 126th emperor said he would "reflect deeply" on the example set by his popular father Akihito, and that assuming the throne filled him with a "sense of solemnity".

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, replying on behalf of the people, said: "We are determined to create a bright future for a proud Japan filled with peace and hope at a time when the international situation is changing dramatically."

After heavy rain dampened celebrations for the abdication on Tuesday, Japanese took advantage of sunnier weather to flock to the Meiji Shrine in the heart of the capital, where free sake was served ahead of a display of horseback archery.

Celebrating history

Others watched the ceremonies and speech, which were conducted behind closed doors at the palace, on big screens outside Shinjuku, the world's busiest station.

"I am someone who loves history and what we are experiencing now will be talked about for a long time," 21-year-old law student Mito Okuno told AFP.

"That's why I wanted to come in person," added Okuno, resplendent in a striped kimono, who came some 600 kilometres (370 miles) from the town of Himeji to experience the moment.

Naruhito will make his first public appearance on Saturday when he will again address the people of Japan.

But the real pomp and ceremony will wait until October 22 when he and Masako will appear in elaborate traditional robes for a palace ceremony before parading through the streets of Tokyo to be congratulated by a host of world leaders and royals.

Naruhito will greet his first foreign head of state as emperor later this month, when US President Donald Trump visits Japan to meet the new monarch.

His father will move out of the palace later this year and now assumes the title Emperor Emeritus.

The Oxford-educated Naruhito faces the delicate balancing act of continuing his father's legacy of bringing the monarchy closer to the people while upholding the centuries-old traditions of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Like his popular father, he has warned of the need to remember World War II "correctly", without downplaying Japan's early 20th-century militarism.

He has suggested the royal family should modernise, and vowed when he married Masako -- who left behind a promising diplomatic career -- to protect her "at any cost".

Read also: End of an era: Japan's emperor kicks off abdication rites

A different Japan

She has struggled with palace life, including being subjected to enormous pressure to produce a male heir, and has suffered stress-induced "adjustment disorder" for much of their marriage.

The couple have one child, a 17-year-old daughter called Aiko, who cannot inherit the throne because she is female.

In a statement released on her birthday in December, Masako pledged to do her best despite feeling "insecure" about becoming empress.

In the candid statement, she said she was recovering and could "perform more duties than before", crediting the "powerful support" of the public.

Naruhito is ascending the throne in a very different Japan to the one his father took over when he became emperor in 1989.

Then, Japan ruled the world economically, its technology was the envy of every industrialised nation, and its stock market was at highs unlikely to be matched again.

But following a "lost decade" after the bubble burst, the country is locked in a battle against deflation and sluggish growth while its population ages rapidly.

Akihito's abdication, the first in 200 years, has resulted in an unprecedented 10-day public holiday for the famously hard-working Japanese, with many taking advantage of the break to travel.
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Linkedin Edvard Pettersson (Bloomberg)  Wed, May 1, 2019 21:06 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735aecbc 2 Art & Culture Thyssen-Bornemisza,Camille-Pissarro,masterpiece Free

Spains Thyssen-Bornemisza museum has won its long U.S. legal battle to hold onto a Camille Pissarro masterpiece that was confiscated by Nazis from its Jewish owner in 1939 as she fled Germany.

While expressing some misgivings about the museums actions, a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled on Tuesday that it is the legal owner of the painting, after acquiring it decades ago along with other artworks from Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza. The American heirs of the original owner had alleged the baron knew the painting was stolen when he bought it from a New York gallery in 1976.

The government-owned Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid acquired hundreds of artworks, including the Pissarro, from the baron in 1993 for $350 million. The U.S. court ruling comes almost 14 years after Claude Cassirer sued to recover the painting his grandmother was forced to sell for a pittance to avoid being sent to an extermination camp. No one disputed the artwork was looted, but the judge agreed with the museums argument that it was purchased in good faith.

There were sufficient suspicious circumstances or red flags which should have prompted the baron to conduct additional inquiries about the provenance of the painting, U.S. District Judge John Walter said in his written decision. However, the court concludes, based on all of the evidence, that TBC acquired lawful ownership.

Based on the Spanish laws that applied in the case, the museum isnt legally at fault because neither the Baron nor the museum had actual knowledge the painting was stolen, Walter said. Still, the judge noted that the museums refusal to return Nazi-confiscated art to its rightful owners was inconsistent with non-binding international agreements, which Spain had agreed to honor.

The court has no alternative but to apply Spanish law and cannot force the Kingdom of Spain or Thyssen-Bornemisza to comply with its moral commitments, Walter said.

The judge specifically referred to the 1998 Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art that appealed to the moral conscience of participating countries to return confiscated art works and the 2009 Terezin Declaration that affirmed these principles and encouraged public and private institutions to apply them as well.

We respectfully disagree that the court cannot force the Kingdom of Spain to comply with its moral commitments, Steve Zack, a lawyer for the heirs said.

Claude Cassirer died in 2010, but his heirs continued to argue in court that the museums purchase wasnt valid because the baron knew the Pissarro was stolen. After three trips to the U.S. court of appeals, the case went to trial in December.

We are very pleased with the courts decision that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundations ownership of the Camille Pissarro painting stands, and that after a full trial on the merits, the foundations ownership has been confirmed, said Thaddeus Stauber, the foundations trial attorney.

According to the lawsuit, the baron was a sophisticated art dealer and would have noticed numerous red flags, such as evidence of labels removed from the back of the canvass and the lack of provenance after it was first exhibited in Paris in 1899.

Read also: 'Significant' number of artifacts recovered from gutted Brazil museum

Original owner

Julius Cassirer, a German industrialist and part of a prominent Jewish family in Berlin, acquired the artwork titled Rue Saint-Honore, apres-midi, effet de pluie in 1898, the year after Pissarro painted it. Lilly, his daughter-in-law, inherited it after her husbands death. As persecution of Jews escalated, she fled Germany. But the government refused to let her take the masterpiece, forcing her to sell it for about $360, though she never got any money, according to the lawsuit.

The painting resurfaced in 1951, when a Beverly Hills art dealer and former U.S. military translator in Germany acquired it in Munich. Then, a St. Louis art collector offered it for sale at a New York gallery auction in 1976. Thats when it was purchased by Thyssen-Bornemisza, a Dutch-born Swiss citizen who inherited his fathers industrial empire, a chunk of his vast art collection and a baronial title from Hungary.

The case is Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, 05-CV-03459, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).
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Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) JAKARTA  Wed, May 1, 2019

The countrys second largest coal producer PT Adaro Energy has established a renewable energy division as part of the companys long-term plan to enter the clean energy business.

Adaro Energy president director Garibaldi Thohir, popularly called Boy, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that renewable energy could become the companys future as the coal business would be more challenging in the next 15 to 20 years.

The company has made a number of preparations to support investment in renewable energy such as the establishment of a new business unit, the development of a pilot project for solar power generation and the plan to take part in state-owned electricity company PLNs auctions for the construction of solar power plants.

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Linkedin Winny Tang (The Jakarta Post) Fiji  Wed, May 1, 2019 19:05 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735acd05 1 Business ADB,Asian-Development-Bank,Fiji,power-plant,water-access,sanitation,renewable-energy Free

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed US$2.6 billion this year to support Indonesia, primarily in developing infrastructure projects, said Ramesh Subramaniam, the ADB director general of the Southeast Asian department in Fiji on Wednesday.

ADB plans to give loans to help finance two large energy projects. One will be a $600 million loan for power distribution, covering Kalimantan, Maluku and Papua and another is a $500-million project loan for scattered gas-fired power plants in Sulawesi, Kalimantan as well as East and West Nusa Tenggara provinces that the bank had been working on with state utility company PLN.

Besides that, ADB is also committed to supporting the Indonesia Infrastructure Finance Facility, which will finance various infrastructure projects in energy, waste management and water supply sanitation, particularly at the local government level, across the country.

In addition, ADB plans to provide more funding to support disaster recovery in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Last year, the international organization pledged $1 billion for disaster recovery programs in Indonesia.

In order to carry that commitment forward [] we are working on a new project loan, which needs board approval in late May, Subramaniam said.

The loans will be used to improve Palus infrastructure such as roads, water sanitation and irrigation facilities that were shattered as a result of the soil liquefaction phenomenon.

ADB currently runs 19 projects valued at $3.9 billion. One of the projects includes helping 120,000 rural households get connected to electricity and upgrading 24,000 kilometers of rural roads. (evi)

Editor's note: This article was updated on May 2, 2019 to accommodate clarifications from Asian Development Bank.
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Linkedin Jon Afrizal (The Jakarta Post) Jambi  Wed, May 1, 2019 09:42 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa87359f85c 1 National Sumatran-tiger,wildlife,Berbak-Sembilang,Jambi,Sumatran-tiger-conservation Free

Berbak Sembilang National Park (TNBS), located on the eastern coast of Sumatra, will be made into a Sumatran tiger conservation site to stop poaching in the area.

Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA Jambi) head Rahmad Saleh Simbolon said on Tuesday that the project was expected to save the remaining tiger population.

London-based conservation group Zoological Society of London said there were currently about 40 Sumatran tigers in the park, which is made up of forest and coastal areas.

We do hope they can be preserved and bred, Rahmad said, adding that the local administration and residents should support the initiative.

Berbak Sembilang park, according to him, has a sufficient food supply that would allow for the tigers to breed properly. The park is located next to the Orang Kayo Hitam forest, which is severely damaged as a result of forest fires and currently under restoration.

This has to be done for the sustainability of the tigers and to restore the forest," he said.

The tiger conservation project manager of the Zoological Society of London's Indonesian office, Yoan Dinata, said the population of Sumatran tigers on the island was 150, with only an additional 300 outside the island.

Of the 300, some are in zoos on Java Island, while the rest are in Europe and Australia.

Some parties have succeeded in breeding Sumatran tigers, including a zoo in Sydney, Australia, where three tiger cubs have been born since the beginning of this year, he said, expressing hope about a better future for the critically endangered species.
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Linkedin Theresia Sufa (The Jakarta Post) Bogor, West Java  Wed, May 1, 2019 19:41 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735af57a 1 City bus,bus-accident,West-Java,bogor,puncak,accident,traffic-accident Free

At least five people were injured when a tourist bus rolled and crashed while ascending a steep section of Jl. Raya Puncak in Bogor regency in West Java on Wednesday.

The bus was carrying a group of elementary students from SDN Cisoka, Tangerang, Banten to the Taman Wisata Matahari waterpark in Puncak, Bogor, according to police traffic unit chief Adj. Comr. Muhammad Fadli Amri.

Wednesday was May 1, the public Labor Day holiday.

Fadli added that the accident took place at about 12 noon as the bus was heading away from Jakarta.

The bus [overturned] as it was negotiating the Selarong slope. We suspect it could not climb and its brakes did not work, he said on Wednesday.

On the ascending road, the bus moved backwards uncontrollably and the driver twisted the steering wheel to the right, causing the bus to roll over, Fadli said.

The five injured people were all taken to the Ciawi regional hospital for immediate medical treatment. No fatalities were reported.

Police apprehended the driver for questioning and seized the bus to examine it. (rin)
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Linkedin Marchio Irfan Gorbiano (The Jakarta Post) JAKARTA  Wed, May 1, 2019

The government has expressed hope that a number of fiscal incentives such as income tax reductions and low transaction taxes will further encourage local companies to hold initial public offerings (IPO) and float their shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

The more firms that go public, the better it is for our national economy as well as for the credibility of our capital market, Taxation Directorate General spokesman Hestu Yoga Saksama told businessmen at a seminar in Jakarta recently. If that happens, we are optimistic that tax revenue will be even better.

The government has already offered a 5 percent reduction in corporate income tax for companies listed on the stock exchange as stipulated by Government Regulation No. 56/2015. The tax cut will be applied if at least 40 percent of the companies shares are held by more than 300 public investors, with share ownership of up to 5 percent.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 1, 2019 11:07 967 db1d47cf6ffbed4060cffaa8735a41fa 4 City Jakarta-administration,jakarta,Jakarta-traffic,traffic,park-and-ride Free

The Greater Jakarta Coordination Board (BKSP) has revealed a plan to create five park and ride facilities on the outskirts of Jakarta to reduce the number of private vehicles in the capital city.

The plan was announced after BKSP secretary Tri Kurniadi met West Java provincial administration secretary Iwa Karniwa in Bandung on Monday.

"Our idea is to ensure that people from Bekasi, Bogor and Tangerang dont enter the city with their private vehicles. Instead, they would park their vehicles at the park and ride spots and then use LRT trains or Transjakarta buses," Tri said as quoted by tempo.co.

The park and ride facilities are to be built in various locations of West Java, such as Bekasi regency, Bekasi city, Bogor regency and Bogor city.

"Almost 1 million vehicles from the satellite cities enter Jakarta every day," Tri added.

The BKSP will complete the detailed engineering design this year and proceed with the construction in 2020.

"The budget will be allocated by the Jakarta administration, while the respective administrations will be in charge of land procurement," Tri said.

He added that the budget funds would depend on specific aspects of the park and ride facilities, which would cost at least Rp 1 billion (US$70,000). One park and ride area is expected to accommodate 1,000 vehicles. (vla)
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Linkedin Josa Lukman and Stevie Emilia (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, May 2 2019

Mega Mendung by Handiwirman Saputra

The inaugural Art Moments Jakarta fair will officially open its doors to the public for two days, starting on Saturday, giving art lovers the chance to view works by prominent Indonesian and international artists  including Banksy, Kaws, Mr. and Cyril Kongo  right here in Jakarta.

Over 30 leading galleries will bring together artists and their works for Art Moments Jakarta, held at Sheraton Grand Jakarta Gandaria City Hotel and Gandaria City Mall in South Jakarta from May 3 to 5, with vernissage and VIP preview scheduled on Friday.

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Linkedin Arya Dipa and Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Bandung/Yogyakarta  Thu, May 2 2019

Heating up: A group of Papuan activists and students clash with police during a May Day protest in front of the Kamasan student dormitory in Yogyakarta on Wednesday. The dispute erupted when the officers tried to stop the protest, claiming that there was another group of protesters who were also scheduled to rally in the same area.(JP/Bambang Muryanto)

The annual rallies to mark International Workers Day took a violent turn in some cities across the archipelago as a number of protestors clashed with authorities.

In Bandung, West Java, police attacked two journalists while hundreds of protesters were detained after a riot on Jl. Cikapayang, as the group marched toward Gedung Sate.

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. Research suggests that it, as well as calming redness and decreasing inflammation. It's also been said to help withand lots of other ailments.

Image credit: Rick Proctor, via Unsplash

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The University of Liverpool has come under fire after it emerged that students have been charged for long-term assignment extensions they requested because of medical needs.





Image credit: The Liverpool School of English via Flickr

Felicity, a disabled postgraduate student, was charged the 50 fee for an extension of three months, which then increased to 200 when she appealed to extend it further.

She told the BBCs Victoria Derbyshire programme that she felt this could amount to discrimination, as the requested extension could be considered a reasonable adjustment, this would have to be implemented under the Equality Act of 2010.

Another student, Kayley, said: I am locked out of my university account because Ive been charged for an extension and I cant pay for the charge at the moment. This 200 tuition fee left her with no access to her emails or documents needed for her dissertation.

Julia, a student who suffers from chronic pain caused by Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, said her studies became a test of my pain tolerance, and not my academic ability.

The university responded to these claims by saying that in line with their policy, a 50 tuition fee charge is applied for each three-month extension period, which covers access to study services as well as tuition and supervision.

Since 2017, undergraduate tuition fees for home and EU students have increased by 250  the total amount is currently set at 9,250.

International students pay substantially more, with Liverpool charging between 16,550 and 34,550 per year for 2019 undergraduate entry. The University of Liverpool said they were reviewing the [extension tuition fee] policy.

These events have sparked outrage and camaraderie online. Kirsteen Paton, a sociology lecturer at Liverpool, tweeted: Solidarity with our brilliant University of Liverpool students fighting disability discrimination. Universities need to be held accountable.

She went on to say that these students had the support of Liverpools branch of the University and College Union.

Solidarity with our brilliant University of Liverpool students fighting disability discrimination. Universities need to be held accountable. @ULivUCU2 support you, well done speaking out and making visible what all too many universities try to hide https://t.co/r4gLB2PK4p  Kirsteen Paton (@KirsteenPaton) April 29, 2019

Student wellbeing has attracted media attention, particularly in light of the university mental health crisis. Many students identify as disabled because of their mental illness, while those who are physically disabled often experience poor mental health.

In 2018, a study by the Institute for Public Policy Research reported that the number of freshers who reported a mental health condition was five times greater than in 2008.

Mental health problems now affect a quarter of UK university students; the number of student suicides has reached a record level and those dropping out has trebled.

one in ten According to the largest ever survey on student mental health,think about self-harm often or all the time.
Australian Navy takes Patong Beach by storm

PHUKET: Visitors at Patong Beach yesterday morning were treated to a welcome surprise as Royal Australian Navy (RAN) landing craft, including two amphibious vehicles, made their way onto the beach. The mission was to deliver a huge store of much needed life-saving equipment to Patongs lifeguards.



By The Phuket News

Wednesday 1 May 2019, 12:54PM

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise at Patong Beach yesterday delivered much needed surf lifesaving equipment and engaged children in surf safety skills. Photo: Patong Municipality

The exercise was part of the Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2019 (IDE) deployment which saw the RAN flagship HMAS Canberra, which at 27,000 tonnes is the largest ship in the RAN fleet, and the HMAS Newcastle make port in Phuket.

The event yesterday, Phuket Surf Life Saving Day 30 April 2019, saw the Australian Government donate 1,500 buoyancy vests (life jackets), 170 childrens size rash shirts, 20 rescue boards, 10 children-size nipper surf boards, six rescue tubes and a resuscitation mannikin.

Australian Ambassador Allan McKinnon was present to award certificates at the main ceremony, along with David Field of the Phuket Lifeguard Club, who for two decades has helped develop Phuket lifeguards life-safing skills through his association with the Surf Life Saving Association in Australia.

The Amb McKinnon yesterday also launched the second version of the Thai lifesaving manual, which was put together with help from Lifesaving Australia.

As part of the exercises yesterday, more than 170 children taking part in the Phuket Life Saving Australia  Thai Kids Water Safety for community training program took to the water with lifeguards and more than 40 personnel from the IDE deployment for surf safety training on some of the new equipment provided.

Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup warmly welcomed the effort by Australians to develop surf safety in Phuket.

We support this cooperation between Australia and Thailand, teaching water safety to children on Patong Beach today, she said.

This training is for basic knowledge of self-survival and other skills in the water, as taught by the Surf Life Saving Australia and the Royal Australian Navy, who have extensive knowledge, ability and experience to teach children, Mayor Chalermluck said.

Among the skills exercised in the water yesterday were basic swimming, nipper board training, using buoyancy vests, flag signals and basic CPR.
Royal Coronation brooches become available in Phuket

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana yesterday (Apr 30) officiated a ceremony to homage to His Majesty The King as part of event to formally launch the sale of Royal Coronation brooches in Phuket.



By The Phuket News

Wednesday 1 May 2019, 03:18PM

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

An event to mark the sale of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches at the Big C on the bypass road was held yesterday (Apr 30. Photo: PR Dept

Phuket Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana (left) fits one of the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches to Rattaphat Sinpul, Southern District Director for Big C Thailand. Photo: PR Dept

People who want the official coronation pins can buy them here at Big C. I would also like to ask people to decorate their homes with a picture of The King and by posting the His Majestys royal standard, Governor Phakaphong said.

Rattaphat Sinpul, Southern District Director for Big C Thailand, welcomed the Governor to the event.

Mr Rattaphat explained that only Big C has been granted the right to physically sell the Royal Coronation commemorative brooches.

They are available at 30 Big C branches in five regions across the country, he said.

The Big C on the bypass road is the only Big C outlet in Phuket to sell the brooches, he added.

Yesterday marked the opening of the second round of the sale of the brooches at the main Phuket Big C shopping centre, Mr Rattaphat explained.

The first round opened last Thursday (Apr 25), when 5,000 brooches went on sale.

Yesterday, 2,500 brooches went on sale, and tomorrow (May 2) the third and final round will see a further 2,500 brooches become available, he said.

The brooches cost B300 apiece.

I am very glad to be the part of 2019 Coronation ceremony. This is a very important ceremony that will be remembered in Thai history from generation to generation, Mr Rattaphat said.

The sale of all official memorabilia is being coordinated by the Treasury Department, which has set up an official portal for nominated vendors of commemorative items. (see Treasury web portal here.)

Meanwhile, Thailand Post has has been nominated by the Office of the Permanent Secretary under the Prime Ministers Office as the only official online vendor for the pins.

People who miss out on buying a Royal Coronation commemorative brooch in person may still order them online via the Thailand Post official website.

Orders will be accepted until May 15. (See the official ThailandPostMart website, click here.)

The Office of the Permanent Secretary, under the Prime Ministers Office, on Monday (Apr 29) warned manufacturers and sellers of fake coronation brooches that they could be jailed for up to 20 years and fined up to B400,000.

Sompas Nilphan, an Adviser to the Office of the Permanent Secretary, said the government has assigned his agency to produce and sell the coronation brooches to the general public.

All proceeds from the sales will go to His Majesty the Kings charities, Mr Sompas said.

The government has invited the public to wear the coronation brooches from April to July this year, he added.

Peoples demand for the coronation brooches is high, causing some sellers to sell them at much higher prices. The authorities have also found that there are fake coronation brooches being produced without permission and sold as genuine, Mr Sompas explained.

Makers and sellers of counterfeit coronation brooches could be jailed for a maximum of 20 years and fined up to B400,000, according to Article 240 of the Criminal Code, he added.

Members of the public were asked to notify the authorities if they found counterfeit coronation brooches by calling the governments hotline at 1111 (24 hours).

For more information, people were asked to visit the official Facebook page of the Office of the Permanent Secretary, under the Prime Ministers Office, at www.facebook.com/OPM.Society.
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Ontario could allow several hundred cannabis stores to open but is being stymied by the federal governments bungling of supply, according to the provincial finance minister.

More than six months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government legalized recreational pot in Canada, supply still doesnt line up, Finance Minister Victor Fedeli said. Thats why Ontario has set a limit of 25 bricks and mortar stores, and outlets across the country are struggling to fill their shelves, he said.

Its all dependent on the federal government unleashing supply, Fedeli said in an interview Tuesday at Bloombergs headquarters in New York. Health Canada appears to be the area that is ill-prepared to license the producers.

Suppliers require Health Canada licenses to cultivate and process cannabis. There were more than 400 license applications under review at the end of last year.

Canada became the first Group of Seven country to legalize recreational marijuana in October but stores didnt open in Ontario until April 1. Premier Doug Ford scrapped the former Liberal governments plan to open government-run pot shops, replacing it with a private retail model.

When it comes to alcohol, the province is forging ahead with its plan to expand sales in corner, grocery and big-box stores, Fedeli said. He pointed out Quebec has about 8,000 liquor outlets while Ontario has only 3,000. Some 218 convenience stores are already selling alcohol outside of Toronto without any issues, he said.

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Symbolic transformation

The time has come for us to treat adults like adults, the minister said, adding the government will probably take a phase-in approach to the wider alcohol roll-out. It has no plans to privatize the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, one of the worlds largest buyers and retailers of alcohol, he said.

Fedeli was in New York with Ford wooing Wall Street investors with his plan to ease the cost of business while gradually eliminating the budget deficit by fiscal 2023-24. The province is projecting a $10.3 billion deficit this year, after an estimated shortfall of $11.7 billion in the fiscal year that ended March 31.

Part of the program is streamlining government and eliminating waste, including a plan to sell about 486 properties. Thats projected to raise $105 million to $135 million over four years, according to a government news release on April 29.

Fedeli cited the example in his home town of North Bay where a new provincial police station was opened but the old one sat empty for years, racking up heating and maintenance costs. He said he drove the for sale sign into the ground himself and the property was sold.

This is absolutely symbolic of the transformation happening in government, Fedeli said.

Read more about:
Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei once recommended that his senior executives watch a TV series called Proof of Identity. In that 2009 series, a communist spy who had infiltrated the nationalist army during Chinas civil war struggles for years to prove his loyalty and identity after the communists prevail.

Today, 32 years after he founded the telecom giant with $3,000 of borrowed money, Ren is struggling to prove that Huawei is a private enterprise and independent of the Chinese government.

The task is more urgent than ever. In recent months, the Trump administration has said China could use Huaweis equipment to spy on other countries, although it hasnt offered proof. Critics accuse the company of being controlled by the Chinese government. Huawei has repeatedly denied these allegations, saying it is owned by its employees and wouldnt spy on its customers.

Regardless of the issues of ownership and control, which have been subjects of heated debate, Huaweis struggle stems in part from its own internal conflict. The company has been deeply influenced by Western competitors. Huawei wants to help determine the worlds technological future, and Ren himself has said the company may need to adapt to get there.

But at its core, from its organizational structure to the way it builds employee loyalty, Huawei closely resembles the Chinese Communist Party itself.

Rens management thinking will naturally carry very deep imprints of the Communist Party culture, according to a 2017 book, Will Huawei Be the Next to Fall? (A different version was published in English as The Huawei Story.)

Although effusive in tone, the book  named after the sort of question Ren often poses to employees to inspire urgency  offers hints of why Huawei has struggled to reconcile its global ambitions with its Chinese values. The book benefits from access, including interviews with more than 100 top executives. The lead writer, Tian Tao, a management professor, has been a friend of Rens for two decades, and Huawei sometimes gives out copies as gifts.

Huawei disputed that its internal identity contributed to its problems. Citing strong financial results, it said in a statement that overall, Huaweis identity is accepted by customers across most of the world.

All we can do to address the issues of identity is to remain open and transparent, and we intend to do that, it added.

Huawei isnt the first Chinese institution to grapple with how to relate with the rest of the world.

Since the late 1800s, China has debated how much it should learn from the West while retaining what many people see as core Chinese values: patriotism, loyalty, collective values over individual rights. The idea is known as Chinese substance, Western application, and it calls for seeking the tools for Chinas economic and military revival without embracing ideas like individual rights, rule of law and transparency.

That model served China well for decades. But it falters when institutions like Huawei start reaching out to the rest of the world. Many in the West worry that Huawei doesnt share their values and that it could become an actor for an authoritarian state. It will take more than a few rounds of media interviews to overcome that mistrust.

Ren understands the differences between the two systems. In a September speech, he instructed the companys public relations department to highlight the Huawei values that align with the West to help reach consensus.

We have our own value system. We dont accept the Western political value system completely, Ren said.

Still, he added: Their civilization was built in thousands of years. A small company like Huawei wont be able to change it.

Judging from the book, his speeches and other appearances, Ren is a student of Western learning. He has said he admires U.S. political and legal systems because they offer better protection for businesses  not an unusual idea among Chinas business class. He paid IBM consultants for nearly two decades to help Huawei institute U.S.-style corporate management. To catch up with the Western competitors, he once said, Huawei needed to wear American shoes even if it meant hurting its feet.

Only by learning from them with all our humility can we defeat them one day, Ren was quoted as saying in the book.

Still, while Huawei is eager to learn from the West, its soul is steeped in Communist Party culture.

In a country with little business management philosophy and experience, Chinas entrepreneurs had to resort to the traditional political and party culture for guidance, according to the book.

Huaweis structure looks strikingly similar to the partys. Each is run by a senior group of seven officials, with similarities even further down the line. It calls its management training program its Central Party School, which is the name of the Communist Party institution that trains promising cadres.

When it comes to team-building and loyalty-building, Ren turned to the partys system of self-criticism, in which cadres confess to their misdeeds. Self-criticism sessions are called democratic life meetings, just like the partys.

This is the Chinese heritage, the books authors wrote. Western companies will never understand it. Even if they understand, they wont be able to practice it.

Huawei also routinely holds ceremonies for its executives, from the board down, to pledge integrity and honesty, much as the party does. Ren, a former military engineer, also infuses Huawei with a militant culture. He sometimes refers to major business deals as a Battle for Triangle Hill, a reference to a clash during the Korean War that included Chinese and U.S. troops.

The ultimate Battle for Triangle Hill, he has said, is to surpass U.S. rivals. His 2012 annual letter ends with the sentence, With lofty aspirations and esprit de corps, we are striding across the Pacific Ocean, referring to the lyrics of a famous song about the Chinese army crossing the Yalu River to fight the Americans and South Koreans.

He told CNBC that he liked using military terms because they were easy to understand. When I cant find a better term to easily describe how business works, I use military terms, he said.

Huaweis hard-charging corporate spirit  known as wolf culture to outsiders and employees and as striving culture to executives  can trace its roots to the party. When Huawei came under attack a decade ago after some employee suicides made headlines in China, Ren remarked, according to the book: Whats wrong with striving? We learned this from the Communist Party. Well strive for the realization of communism until the end of our lives.

Even Rens leadership status looks like that of Deng Xiaoping, Chinas former paramount leader, who started Chinas reform and opening period in the late 1970s. Deng gave up his titles in his later years  although he remained chairman of the China Bridge Association  but he held the ultimate authority in Chinas decision-making until his death in 1997.

Although Ren is Huaweis chief executive, he has said he holds no decision-making power except for vetoing proposals and removing executives from their posts. Huaweis board secretary, Jiang Xisheng, told journalists last week that Ren had limited veto power.

But within Huawei, he is clearly the paramount leader.

One cant use ones veto and impeachment power too often. Once or twice a year would suffice, he was quoted as saying in the book. Nuclear deterrence only works when the bomb remains unexploded.

Huaweis pledge to remain open isnt likely to be enough to win over those put off by its culture. To win trust in the West, Huawei may have to change its DNA.

The same goes with China. When value systems are incompatible, and the two sides see each other as existential threats, it will be hard to find solutions.

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Three Thunder Bay foster homes  closed by the province in 2017 after the death of a First Nations youth  had feces- and blood-stained floors, no working stove or food in the fridge, and were staffed by workers ill-equipped to handle the complex needs of youth in their care.

The shocking conditions are included in an investigative report by the office of Ontarios Advocate for Children and Youth, which closed Tuesday as part of the Ford governments restoring trust, transparency and accountability law. The offices investigative role moves to the provincial ombudsmans office May 1.

The advocates report examined three Thunder Bay homes operated by Johnson Childrens Services Inc., a company headquartered in Vaughan. The homes opened in March 2016 and were closed in May 2017, shortly after 17-year-old Tammy Keeash disappeared from one of the homes and was found dead in a waterway.

The advocates office was alerted to alarming conditions in the homes by a whistle-blowing employee who contacted them in June 2016. What investigators eventually found were appalling living conditions, allegations of some staff working while high on cocaine, and a Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services providing little licensing oversight.

The report makes clear that the troubling findings are not unique to the Thunder Bay homes. They reflect a child protection system widely criticized as warehousing its most vulnerable and high-needs children in group homes and company-operated foster homes with no quality of care standards, and no minimum qualifications for caregivers.

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Could a similar situation happen again? Yes, the report says bluntly.

There are still no standards of care for kids. Still no standards for who works there. And still no method of allowing service providers to share information. All of this puts kids at risk, said Irwin Elman, who was the provinces child advocate when the report was produced.

In an interview, Elman noted that a coroners report in September 2018, on the deaths of 12 youths in residential care found the same problems. And he challenged minister Lisa MacLeod to act.

What is completely frustrating to me is that this new government has had the coroners report on their desk for eight months and our report on their desk for months. And nothing has changed, he said. This minister has said the buck stops with her. Well, its been eight months. Something has to change.

In a statement to the Star, MacLeod blamed the previous Liberal government for the clear lack of oversight and relaxed regulation described in the advocates report.

It is why we took immediate action to strengthen the investigative powers of Ontarios ombudsman to include the child welfare system, MacLeod said. We will be holding Ontarios childrens aid societies and other service providers to higher standards to keep our kids safe.

Diana Cooke, director of investigations for the advocates office, noted in an interview that the ministry also hasnt defined the services that should be provided by foster homes, like those in Thunder Bay that describe themselves as treatment facilities.

If there is no objective criteria, how will the ministry or placing agencies determine whether treatment is actually being provided, whether it meets the needs of the young people being cared for, and whether the cost is appropriate for the service being provided? said Cooke, who will head the new child and youth unit in the ombudsmans office. If the ministry fails to develop objective criteria, the system will remain as it is, which is buyer beware.

The children in the Thunder Bay homes struggled with complex needs and mental health challenges, including self-harm, depression, acute suicidal ideation, sexual assault trauma and substance abuse, the report notes. And staff were untrained to deal with them. Some had not even completed their post-secondary education.

The report describes a youth buying the book Borderline Personality Disorder for Dummies to provide to staff to help them better understand her diagnosis. Staff orientation and training amounted to reviewing, on their own, a PowerPoint presentation unconnected to the service the homes provided, the report says.

The lack of training extended to the administering of medications. One youth was provided an entire months worth of medication all at once, the report says.

In another instance, a staff member did not want to wake a child to administer medicine because there was not enough food in the residence for a young person to take any medication that was required to be taken with food. A youth once told a ministry licensing official that staff left pills and knives out on the counter.

Two employees of the homes told the advocates investigators that other employees used cocaine and may have been under the influence of drugs while in the home.

Even the basic needs of young people who were placed in the (Johnson) homes in Thunder Bay were not met, the report says.

One of the homes did not have a working stove or oven for meal preparation, the report notes. A youth at the home said she had to use her own personal money to purchase meals  a fact confirmed by staff at the home. The young resident had also offered to give staff gas money.

Employees and residents described unwashed and bloodied clothes being left in garbage bags and causing an unbearable smell. The home had no petty cash to buy tokens for the washing machine. Files from childrens aid quoted a young resident complaining that younger girls in the home did not know how to take care of their menstrual mess, and there is blood all over the bathroom as a result.

One staff member noted that the day she was hired, the homes kitchen floor had not been mopped and fecal matter had leaked around the toilet.

In a written response to the investigation, Johnson Childrens Services said it accepts the reports findings. By opening the Thunder Bay homes, the foster care agency says it was trying to respond to an alarming lack of appropriate services for Indigenous youth in care in northern Ontario, and that many residential care providers struggle to find experienced staff.

Despite the scathing findings, Johnson Childrens Services said it regrets the closing of the advocates office.

The office has a strong track record of extracting valuable learnings from unfortunate situations, it said. Children in our care have often remarked on the importance of the office and their good treatment in contact with the office. Service providers are losing a valuable service.

The report lays much of the blame squarely on the ministry.

Johnson services operated as a foster care agency, which means its homes had no more than four children. It received a licence from the ministry that allowed it to open as many homes as it wanted. The report notes it could open new homes without notifying the ministry. The ministry only conducts randomized annual reviews of 10 per cent of its homes. Group homes, on the other hand, typically serve eight or more children and each home set up must receive a ministry licence.

The ministry spends about $1.5 billion annually on a child protection system that serves some 14,000 kids taken from abusive or neglectful parents and placed in foster or group homes. There are 49 childrens aid societies in Ontario, including 11 Indigenous ones.
When Dave Coon went to bed at his home in central Ontarios cottage country Monday night, the guest cabin on his waterfront property was high and dry  by Tuesday morning, however, that was no longer the case.

I was still in bed, and my neighbour phoned and said, youd better look out the window, because your guest cabin has now got a bit of an angle to it, Coon said Wednesday in a phone interview.

The 74-year-old retired police officer, whos lived in Bracebridge, Ont., since 1977, said the cabin is now sitting in a big hole all twisted up after a tree dislodged by flooding knocked out one of the stilts the structure had been sitting on.

Its an example of the property damage residents in the area have been dealing with as the community experiences what its mayor has described as a historical flood event.

The cabin was initially built in the late 1990s for Coons now-deceased in-laws and had been used by renters who recently moved out. No one was living there when it was surrounded by floodwaters and collapsed, which Coon describes as a salvation.

Engineers are now keeping an eye on the building to ensure it doesnt drift out into the river, Coon said, adding that theyve told him the cabin cant simply be hoisted back onto the stilts.

It will have to go  Im going to use the word nicely  to the dump, he said.

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Coon said hes not alone  roughly 15 people in his neighbourhood are dealing with fallout from rising water levels, although he believes the damage to his property is the most drastic hes seen.

Bracebridge is among several communities north of Toronto that have been dealing with recent flooding, which local authorities worried could worsen Wednesday as Environment Canada warned up to 40 millimetres of rain could fall in some areas.

The ground, already near saturation, has little ability to absorb further rainfall, the weather agency noted.

Freezing rain warnings and special weather statements were also issued for a stretch of flood-hit areas from the Bruce Peninsula into western Quebec.

States of emergency remained in effect in numerous municipalities, including Bracebridge and the nearby townships of Muskoka Lakes and Minden Hills. The town of Huntsville lifted its state of emergency on Wednesday, saying that water levels in the area were steadily decreasing.

Bracebridge Mayor Graydon Smith said that while water levels have come down since the weekend, they are still above those last seen in 2013, when the region saw its worst flooding in a century. He said tens and tens of thousands of sandbags have been distributed since flooding began last week.

Its a huge undertaking, he told reporters Wednesday. In 2013, we didnt put out even a fraction of the volume of sandbags that we have out now.

About 200 members of the military are in the are to help with sandbagging, evacuations and other flood-response efforts.

Smith also noted that Transport Canada has expanded navigation restrictions to include several local waterways, including Lake Muskoka and the Muskoka River, in an effort to help first responders do their jobs.

Weve heard many reports over the last week of people that have been boating into areas which have disrupted those that are actively trying to keep water out of their area, said Smith. Theres also been a great deal of concern for the safety of anybody thats in a boat or other vessel on the water because of the large amounts of debris.

Homeowners who can only access their properties by boat are exempted from the order, as are contractors acting on behalf of those homeowners, Smith said.

Further south, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has issued a shoreline hazard warning for Lake Ontario, urging people in the Greater Toronto Area to use caution along the waterfront.

All shorelines, rivers and streams within the GTA should be considered hazardous, the TRCA said in a statement, warning that properties along the shore and on the Toronto Islands could experience flooding.

The islands were closed to the public for nearly three months in 2017 due to flooding that caused Lake Ontario to reach record highs. The TRCA warns that water levels on Lake Ontario are approaching the heights reached in 2017, and are expected to continue rising until late May or early June.

In southwestern Ontario, the Essex Region Conservation Authority said Leamington and Windsor had experienced some flooding and noted that localized storms could bring heavy downpours on Thursday.

Across the border, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo travelled to the town of Olcott in Niagara County on Wednesday to review flood preparations, and members of the National Guard have been placed on standby.

Cuomo reiterated his complaint about the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canada entity that controls outflows from the lake into the St. Lawrence River, saying its not doing enough to protect New York property owners.
OTTAWA  Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says the current period of technology-driven economic disruption has eerie similarities to the rise of monopolies and the super elite a century ago  and may require Canada to take similarly drastic steps to address the situation.

Asked about the power of tech giants and growing wage disparity between CEOs and workers, Freeland said there are important parallels with the trustbusting era of the 1900s, when massive corporations and monopolies were broken up by governments.

You had a technology revolution then, you had globalization then, you had a tremendous amount of innovation, tremendous wealth being created, but you also had the rise of the super elite and a lot of people being hollowed out, Freeland said on Tuesday.

The good news, Freeland said, is that Western societies figured it out by creating social safety nets and coming up with ways to share wealth more widely.

The bad news is before we figured it out, we had to live through the First World War, the Second World War, the Great Depression and the Bolshevik Revolution, Freeland said.

So lets hope we can figure it out more quickly this time.

Freelands comments come at a time when politicians in the United States are actively calling for antitrust investigations into tech giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon, with an eye to breaking them up.

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Antitrust law is a way to prevent corporations from engaging in anti-competitive behaviour like price-fixing, bid-fixing, and abusing market dominance.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is pushing for strict regulations to break up companies including Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. According to the New York Times, Warren told a crowd in Long Island City on March 8 that those companies think they can roll over everyone.

Two weeks later, the Democrat that chairs the Houses antitrust committee, David Cicilline, called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook.

There is  mounting evidence of anticompetitive conduct by Facebook that may warrant scrutiny by federal antitrust enforcers, Cicilline, a congressman from Rhode Island, wrote in the Times.

For example, the social media goliath has reportedly systematically spied on its rivals, giving it valuable information on how people used competitive products.

While the idea appears to be gaining momentum south of the border, at least in Democratic circles, theres been almost no discussion of a similar course of action being taken in Canada  even as the Liberal government looks to create new regulations for social media platforms and internet companies.

The Competition Act  Canadas antitrust law  allows a tribunal to examine companies practices and prohibit anti-competitive behaviour, including the abuse of dominance in a market.

Theres nothing wrong with becoming big. Theres nothing wrong with doing really, really well and achieving high market share. But if you abuse it and engage in abusive tactics (that) are primarily meant to harm your competitor, thats when the law can step in, said lawyer Oliver Borgers, a senior partner at McCarthy Tetraults competition and foreign investment group.

What we dont have as a framework today is that if youre just big, and we just think itd be better if we broke you up into smaller pieces? There are no laws on the books that allow that.

But if the Competition Bureau thinks a company has abused its strong market position, Borgers added, they can seek fines and orders for the abuse to stop.

Joe Martin, the director of Canadian Business History at the Rotman School of Management, questioned whether antitrust laws  or even the Canadian government itself  have the power to regulate companies that are not only international, but almost post-national in nature.

How does a nation state, never mind Canada, how does the United States deal with this? said Martin, who used to lead Deloittes international consulting operation, in an interview.

I havent got my head around how nation states deal with post-nation state businesses.

But Dwayne Winseck, a Carleton journalism and communications professor, said that he believes tech giants require serious countervailing regulatory forces including requiring behemoths like Facebook and Google to divest themselves of the companies theyve acquired over the years.

The big internet companies do dominate in their respective areas, in particular digital online advertising, Winseck wrote in an email to the Star.

(We need to) rely on formal regulatory measures with a clear legislative foundation and judicial oversight, (rather than) the great penchant growing in too many circles ... for voluntary codes of practice, as in the EUs Disinformation Code of Practice and the U.K.s white paper on online harms.

The governing Liberals seem to have already moved on from the idea that social media and tech giants will voluntarily move to safeguard democracy. Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould told reporters last month that she believes self-regulation has failed, and that the government will move to take more active measures.

Whatever attempt at regulating tech giants the Liberal government lands on, theres little time for this Parliament to debate  let alone pass  new legislation, with just six scheduled sitting weeks left before the summer break and the coming election.

But the government will have an opportunity to provide greater clarity on its thinking at the end of the month, when the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Fake News holds its hearings in Ottawa.

The committee  which includes representatives from nine parliaments, including Canada, France, and the U.K.  was created after the U.K. Parliaments investigation into Facebooks Cambridge Analytica scandal, and is continuing to study how governments can hold digital platforms to account.

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